#tor’s wearing something different than black

[ronkoza]

More honeymoon cows, these Arne sketches are most likely photos that Tor took.

Tor belongs to @littleulvar

[at1nys-blog]

The Prince at sea

Pairing: Akagami no Shanks x Nefertari!Buggy

Summary: Buggy, is Vivi's brother, snd is going to be the next King of Alabastra. But he knows he was not meant to rule a kingdom but to seak adventures at sea

Shanks lived a life filled with adventures and stories to tell but he feels like something is missing

A/N: a friend of mine asked me to write a ff about Shanks and Buggy and remembering I saw a picture where Buggy and Vivi were related i decided to use that idea and write this. Everything is the but: Shanks and Buggy being younger than from the original story; Roger is still alive hence the crew is still there.

Masterlist

It was in moments like those that Buggy thanked his younger self for his curiosity.

Back in the days, when he was still an innocent and naïve boy, he regretted having eaten that devil fruit but now? Now he was excited to use his powers and escape the castle.

The best part of it was being able to deceive Pell, Buggy never thought that being able to tear his body parts into pieces was the best way to escape Pell’s hawk vision, but here he was.

Dressed in all black Buggy scattered his body parts in different directions and once he was safe from preying eyes he walked down to the city.

Even thought the time was late in the night, the prince noticed a few people still out, playing some music while other danced or simply kept conversing. He likes this atmosphere and wished, in different occasions, to be part of that world and not the one he was born into.

Buggy knew it wasn’t his fault, nor was his family’s. Is not like they chose for him to be born in royal family, nor that his spirit was tied to the sea. It happened and that’s all.

Buggy wouldn’t have noticed the time he arrived in front of the tavern if the man behind him didn’t push to get in himself. The prince was only able to see he was wearing a straw hat and the color of his hair: red. Buggy thought of fire burning with brutal force you are drowned into it. That red was so…

-Are you coming inside?-the owner of the straw hat spoke getting his attention. Buggy noticed the guy was holfing the door open for him.

-uhm…yeah.- the prince answered covering at his best the hood of the cape to hide his face. He didn’t recognize the man but that didn’t mean he didn’t recognize the prince. -thanks.- he added entering.

What he found inside was nothing knew but having a first hand experience was a totally different thing.

The music was a mix of what he grew up with and something new, more chaotic. Yeah, chaotic would be the way to describe it for Buggy. It was very chaotic but in a nice way, his ears were not affected by it. In all honesty he liked how the different melody were somehow complementary to each other.

Once again someone pushed him, and once again the prince saw the red hair half hidden by the straw hat. He was intrigued by the guy, who was he? Where is he from? Why is he in Alurna? How long would he stay? Would he be an ally or a foe? Millions of other questions filled Buggy’s head but he didn’t have time to ask all of them. He had to get a room and some supplies for the journey ahead.

-…thank you very much. At the back tor the camel right?- he heard and looking at the waitress behind the counter he saw her nodding with a blush on her face. Was the man that attractive to blush?

-great. My friend here will pay for both.- it took him a second to realize what was happening.

-WHAT?- he turned to face the young woman. -no, we are not friends. I don’t even know the guy. Don’t listen to him.- when he turned to ask the man to apologize for the inconvenient he was already gone. -I guess I have to pay for the both of us.- he scoffed but he knew the waitress wasn’t going to let him go until getting her payment.

Buggy walked upstairs defeated with less than half the money he left with. Yes, he was the prince, and yes he was able to pay for someone else but if asked he didn’t know how to explain that much amount of money.

-…so how much do I own you?-the red hair with the straw hat surprised him.

-let’s see, a room is 6.000 berries for night. Each meal is around 500 berries and 1.500 if take out. So, saying you stay one night, having one service for dinner and breakfast, counting in three take out meals for at least, let say… three days? Yes three days makes nine take out meals your total would be…- before Buggy could come to the total the guy owned him, he reminded the undercover prince for the price of the alcohol and a camel.

-right.- he answered with a roll of his eyes. He didn’t stand the man a single bit, how can women blush at his single words? That was a mystery for later, or never. Buggy didn’t care.

Thinking about the additional fees he decided to overcharge whoever decided to play with him.

-the total would be 280.000 berries.- he smirked. He knew he didn’t have that much money, and he didn’t care as much as he was supposed to. He wanted to play with the red haired man too.

The foreigner checked his pockets and the money sachet and concluded he, indeed, didn’t have the money to pay him back.

-I have 150 berries, is okay?-

-you know what, is okay, keep the money. Good night sir. I might see you for breakfast.- he said and locked himself in the room.

The morning came too early but Buggy couldn’t wait to get to the beach. It had been too long since he went there the last time and it wasn’t to have fun or dreaming about new adventures and islands, it was to welcome to Alabasta a ruler of some kingdom he forgot the name.

-Good morning.- the prince was able to avoid slapping him on the face as an instinct. -so I had all night to think of a way to pay you back.-

Please don’t say in nature. Please don’t say in nature he thought. He had heard some of the women, and men, using it as a way to pay their debts or to get a simple ampoule of spice.

-you see, the universe provided me…-

-STOP IT HERE I DONT WANNA HEAR IT- the prince covered his ears but even like this he could hear the man next to him laughing. He uncovered them slowly, painfully slowly, and looked at the red haired man confused. What was that funny to laugh?

-Oh lord, you should have seen your face. Don’t worry, I was kidding.- he said sanding a wink at Buggy. -on a more serious note. I want to pay you back and I might have found a way since as of now I am out of money.-

-well you still have 150 berries.- looking at the expression he made the prince understood that was a lie. -what is your idea.-

-since is pretty clear to me you can’t defend yourself I will accompany you wherever you are going.-

-is not a long journey and the desert bandits don’t attack in daylight.- he really didn’t want to stay in his company. What if the stranger was to find out his true identity and kidnaps him? He wanted to leave the castle, yes, but not like this.

-Oh come on, I am plenty funny. You could use a laugh every now and then.-

-I said no- he simply replied.

-okay okay, you don’t like a commedian. I know a lot of stories.- he tried but Buggy didn’t care. -I have set sail a lot. I really have stories to tell.-

Now this was something he was interested in. The red haired guy took his silence as a good sign.

-okay, but I have one condition. We don’t ask for names.- that was the only thing that mattered. Not exposing his true identity.

-Can I at least ask to see your face?- silence again.

-Not here.-

Two hours in the desert were starting to take a tool, not on Buggy that for sure. He was used to the heat, it wasn’t anything new.

-You want to stop a little bit?-

-if we do, we become easy targets for the bandits.- the prince thought that was a good idea to teas his new companion.

-Oh my bad, I guess I overestimated you.- that touched an open nerve. The red haired scoffed. Buggy was in wait for an answer, anything, something in him was craving to hear his voice. The man just licked his lower lip for a brief second, which wasn’t unnoticed by the other one. -okay then. But you know I don’t understand why you proposed to protect me if you can’t take a few bandits.- he hoped to get a reaction but once again he failed. No answer, just a click of the tongue.

His mind starter to travel, going places it never went before. Now he understood why women blushed in his presence, he did because it had the same effect on him.

-Okay maybe two minutes. There.- the man pointed at a rock where they could take shelter for a couple of minutes, as promised. The red haired took place in the shadow the rocks casted and took off the cape, using its fabric to create a little of wind. Buggy on the other hand didn’t dismount from his camel. He was fine there. -if you don’t want to draw attention get off that damn animal and come here.- never in his life a commoner, a town folk told him what to do and he did but with him… Buggy felt different, his guts were telling him to listen to that, very attractive, man. His body acted on its own, getting off the camel he walked and once he was protected from the heating sun, took seat next to him.

The read haired kept him words. They stayed there, in silence for only a couple of minutes and then headed once again to their destination. It was only when they went back on tracks that the man asked his first question: where were they headed?

-the bitch side. I used to go there as a kid before my mother died. I want to see it one more time before is too late.- Buggy answered. He wanted to go there before being crowned king, he had to.

-is never too late to see the sea.- inquired the foreigner.

-it is when your job takes away all your free time.-

-what is your job?-

-is complicated. I don’t like to talk about it.-

In between questions, answers, jokes and teasing comments the duo was almost there, Buggy recalled another two or three hours of travel.

Once again the hours were spent talking about nothing much; sometimes they would stop to eat a little bit of what they had with them until they finally saw the sea.

Buggy’s eyes turned into two shining starts, that was clear as water. The red haired smiled, since the first time he met him, he never saw him like that excited to have the sea in front of his eyes.

He wanted to comment on that, tease the younger one a little bit but decided to let him be. He wanted him to enjoy the moment. Sitting on the hot sand, soon to get cold, he kept an eye on him. He looked how he played with the dry sand, taking it in his hand and letting it free a second after, looking how it went back to its place grain by grain.

Looking around the beach the foreigner was surprised to notice the familiarity of that shore. He was sure not far away from where he was standing, Roger had docked the ship.

-OHY SHANKS YOU ARE FINALLY BACK.- someone screaming from behind the trees got the duo’s attention. -We thought you were dead man.- he added.

Looking better from where the voice was coming from Buggy noticed a ship. It wasn’t much noticeable in between the greens of the leaves but he could tell it was a ship, and if it had been docked there it meant one thing.

-you are a pirate?- the question rolled out his tongue so easily.

The pirate tried to find a way to explain himself but he looked more like a fish gasping for water. Buggy felt that behavior was due to the fear of having to escape and never come back so he spoke one more time. -Don’t worry I won’t call you out to the City Watch, trust me.-

The two looked at each other for a couple of seconds but it felt like hours. The sea was not interesting anymore, the red haired’s friend was never there to start with now, it was just the two of them and a promise to not say a word about pirates.

It was just them until…

-Shanks move your ass back on the ship, Roger wants to talk to you.-

-Eye eye coming, just keep an eye on him. I think he is royalty or something like that.- he said in a too loud of a tone.

-I am not.- Buggy screamed, trying to sound confident in his sentence but his voice betrayed him.

-Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night handsome.- he answered and then turned to his vice captain and asked once again to look out for the guy.

It was when the pirate was out of Buggy’s sight that he went to ask if there was a piece of paper and a pen he could have use. He scribbled something and once it was folded he went inside the little hut and then left to let loose the two animals that walked them there. The pirate watched confused, but if it was true that he was from the royal family he didn’t question his behavior. Who knew what was he going to do if questioned his doings.

-now, can I talk to your captain?- the vice captain nodded, still very much confused but let the boy on board and called for his captain. The owner of the ship came in seconds, followed by Shanks on his left.

-I want to join your crew.- he simply said making everyone laugh.

-fine with me.- answered Shanks the red haired pirate, he remembered how the boy’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the sea and how interested he was when he mentioned his adventures.

The captain laughed some more and then declared he was happy to have a new crew mate.

Vivi Nefertari knew what had to be done, her brother had left clear instructions if he wasn’t to return the next day. She was to tell where he told her he was going; she was going along with the guards and she was to check the hut by the beach. She was the one to find the letter because in Buggy’s eyes she was the perfect ruler for the kingdom and Vivi knew. She knew Buggy was meant for the open sea,for the excitement, the fear of the unknown and why not for the experience of true love.

Buggy never stopped thinking about his old live style, he never stopped thinking about his family but now he had a new one. A one he found by accident thanks to a bold man with hair like fair that now had control over his heart no matter what.

[fumblingmusings]

*Kicks door down* Okay so the reason Arthur needs... has to have a property out Glastonbury way is because it's just absolutely dripping with old folklore in a manner that the Home Counties like Essex or Kent around London just plain aren't. Those are Saxon and Anglo and Norman. He needs to reject Norman every once in a while. He goes North for Cumbrian lakes and West for Somerset wassailing and even more West to sit at the bottom of a Cornish tin mine when those moods take him.

Glastonbury is weird and old and filled with things that just don't make sense at first glance, never mind the music festival next door (which I am sure Arthur attends off his face for the entire time). Half of it is a manufactured neo paganism of course but it only springs up here because of these old stories. And I think it makes Arthur all the stronger for it.

And it's Celtic, not Norman, not German, not even Roman... it's like the core part of Arthur from when he was a baby. It's his connection to his mother and his siblings. If he ever feels truly like a black sheep, all he needs do is return here and remember. Like even Bath, as wonderful and beautiful and important as it is - is still Roman.

Okay, just to rattle of odd things about the town and why I think it's kind of important when thinking and conceiving of Arthur as a character. It's a microcosm of his history and culture and what's been done to him.

So.

Glastonbury is built at the foot of a hill. The hill stands out like a sore thumb from the surrounding area as everything else is flat. The church fell during an earthquake in the 1200s (we just... don't have earthquakes strong enough to do that) but we kept the tower. A hollow beacon.

Glastonbury has several iron age lake villages nearby and the Somerset Levels were once upon a time underwater and so all you had was the Tor, poking out as an island amongst the fens, something it does even now in the fog:

And it was the Normans who drained it and made the island join the mainland but that island is probably possibly potentially where King Arthur is buried. We think. Obviously this is contentious.🤭

So it's maybe. Probably. Most likely. Avalon itself. Isle of Apples. England's national fruit. Glastonbury has the apple festival plus the orchards in the parish and considering it was after all an island once...

Glastonbury Abbey, long before it was a ruin, argued they had his bones. Arthur's. The reformation lost them and the abbot was hung drawn and quartered by Henry VIII. How convenient. Glastonbury Abbey by some counts pre-dates the Roman attempts to enforce Christianity. So it's old as heck. Older than any Anglo-Saxon invader.

It had an English Hawthorn (aka - I shit you not - a Mayflower [cough cough Alfred cough]) tree that bloomed twice a year in the dead of winter and no-one could understand why (stories about the holy grail feature and pop up in other places in Glastonbury). Parliamentarians burned it during the Civil War (Godless and pagan as it was and as spiteful and superstitious as they were) but they used to take cuttings from the tree to send to the Royal Family each Christmas because of its winter flowers. Other cuttings were made and descendants of the tree survive in other places. There's a butt ton of folklore for Hawthorns which I don't have time for but essentially they're fairy houses and borders and don't bring the flowers into your house or you will die. It smells of rotting animals but tastes of bread and cheese. It's a fucked up plant essentially. And it had pretty flowers that we wear on May Day celebrations. Dichotomy. That's... that's Arthur.

And then there's the springs. The Chalice Well and the White Spring. One runs red. One runs white (no it runs clear but it does have chalk in it). They pop out literally across the road from each other despite having completely different sources. They've never dried up in 2,000 years.

One is blood (the Holy Grail returns) and one is milk (I think it's supposed to be the goddess Brighid's milk but I may be misremembering - it's someone's breast milk) so the spring's path and pools runs the most fantastic iron red and clear...

So. Not to be like... insane. But Arthur needs to have a home here. He needs to be able to come back to a place which is his connection with his mother that isn't just the standing stones and tombs of Avebury and Stonehenge and West Kennet. A place which is alive and lived in and used.

A place where the Romans couldn't touch it where the Saxons fought battles to get it where the Normans changed the landscape beyond recognition where Henry VIII sold it and hung drawn and quartered it where the Parliamentarians purged it where his namesake rests. A place where he can drink milk and blood (ooft that's a bit metal eh) and remember. It's a big bundle of changes and trauma and yet it remains all his.

And then he takes too much acid and kind of looses it during the music festival and comes back to five days later with two STIs and desperately needing a bath. #WorthIt

Look at this nonsense. You just know Arthur is passed out in a hedge after listening to something like Marina Diamandis' Savages on stage and having an panic attack of how close it hits home.

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

archetype au

ok so sapnap is going to check up on dream right?? cuz yknow keep him hidden but dont leave him alone too long he already had solitary confinement-

and then he hears something shatter, so he starts running to get there faster; and when he opens the door, he sees shattered, white porcelain on the floor of one side of the room, and dream, curled up into a ball and hiding his face in his knees on the other.

turns out dream brok his mask and has!! mixed feelings on doing this.

on one hand XD wouldnt let him take it off, even when he was alone. hed done awful things in that mask and wearing it almost made him feel like he wasnt human. no one, not even him at this point, was comfortable seeing the hollow smile carved into the mask.

on the other hand, it was his mask. he made that way before the smp, and he was so proud of it. he could still trace the cracks from where it broke previously, and even knew where each one came from. and hed always hide behind it when he needed, too; he never was a big fan of just showing people his face, he needed to trust them for that dammit. but he still didn't want to repair it.

so sapnap got him something new. a plain, black facemask, with a blindfold to go with it. it took a minute tor him to learn to see through the blindfold, but it grew to be more comfortable than the mask was. sapnap didnt mention the stitched patterns appearing on the mask; a flame here, some goggles there, maybe a crown with pink and red jewels or a priate hat with a rainbow feather. he simply smiled when he noticed a new one was stitched on, no matter how lopsided.

He goes and just breaks his mask because its something that he feels mixed on. And I think that’s accurate. Because that’s something that represents everything that he isn’t and at the same time, it was his.

Then we got Sapnap helping and giving him a blank facemask to replace it somehow and then we got something that’s his and he goes and adds different patterns on it and oh god.

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

Critiquing the HOA prom and dance outfits, Part 1

I started thinking about all the different dresses and suits everyone wore for the various proms and dances. Some of them were really good, and some of them were really bad. So, I wanted to go through all the outfits one by one and critique them and give my opinion. We’re gonna start with the 7 girls and all their dresses.

Nina

Season 1 Prom: the purple and black dress

This dress is incredibly pretty. Purple is not my first instinct for Nina, but this works and it works very well. This dress is a nice shape, I like the black belt around the middle and the lil black sweater she’s wearing with it, and it’s a very nice color. The very subtle black patterns on the dark purple is very very beautiful and pleasing for me. This is very dark and wintery but like so are all of these dresses. I love this dress, it’s very nice.

Masked Ball: the double dress

This is a really pretty and fun dress on its own, and I love the sheer draping on the sleeves, but unfortunately Nina has fallen victim to plot device and fallen victim to Jerome, so it feels unfair to judge her because of that. If she was able to have a do-over and I were in charge, I would’ve given her something red, maybe like a deep red, I think that would look nice.

Patricia

Season 1 Prom: the black ruffled dress

Patricia girl I am so fucking sorry. Who did this to you. What designer decided “yes, this is the one”? The only things saving this are the sleeves and the bracelets, which feel very appropriate for Patricia, but I cannot get over how bad this dress is. It’s awful it’s terrible I hate it.

Masked Ball: the little black dress

This dress is what the season 1 dress was trying to be. Tight and black is very Patricia, and this flatters her very well, and I’m a huge fan of all the accessories she’s added, I honestly think they help make the dress. I’m a big fan of this dress, I think it looks great.

TOR Prom: the deep purple gown

This is the only dress that any of the girls wear that’s floorlength. I’m glad she didn’t go black for the third time in a row; I’m a fan of the deep purple. I’m not sure I’m the biggest fan of the neckline and the straps, but overall this is good and I like this. One of my prom dresses was a very similar style and color; this is a good senior prom dress.

Amber

Season 1 Prom: the blue dress, aka the doll’s dress

I like this dress! It’s cute. I’m not generally a big fan of ruffles, but they work here on this dress, and I think that’s because it’s a one-shoulder dress. I also love that she wore a side braid with this dress, it gives it a little symmetry and it works real well. This makes her look very sophisticated, which is a good look for prom.

Masked Ball: the peach dress

This dress is very cute, and I like the color and how like shimmery/satiny it is, but I’m just not sure it screams Amber. This is a little bit muted/subdued. I wish one of her dresses had been a little brighter. The masked ball was a little less formal than prom, so there was definitely opportunity for something fun and bright. I would’ve loved to see something pink or yellow, personally.

Mara

Season 1 Prom: the black and white dress

This is my favorite dress of hers. I love the overall look, and the black and white makes her look very classy. The fact that her date actually matches and coordinates with her helps. This is a great outfit, love it.

Masked Ball: the ruffled purple polka dot dress

Mara + the color purple is a match made in heaven. This dress, however, is a different story. It’s...it’s not that good. The ruffles on the top are a little yikes, and all the polka dot puff balls on the skirt kind of look like they were just glued on there. Masked ball is less formal than prom, and this dress sure looks it. She gets bonus points for the UNBELIEVABLY high heels she’s wearing with this dress though.

TOR Prom: the pink dress

Mara honey pink is not your color. And you’ve got two separate shades on this dress and they’re not even ombre’d together. There’s a big disconnect between the top and bottom of this dress. Also I’m not a big fan of the fabric of the skirt, but that’s just me. This is by FAR her best hairstyle, I love the hair she’s got going on here, but it’s really unfortunate it’s paired with this dress. Keep the hair, toss the dress and pick a new one.

Joy

Masked Ball: the double dress

Like with Nina, this dress is cute, but Joy fell victim to plot device. If she got a do-over and I got to choose what she wore, I would choose something gold or rose gold, I think that would suit her very well.

TOR Prom: the purple jewel tone dress

This is a very fun style, and I definitely had a prom or homecoming dress that looked very similar to this. This color is absolutely gorgeous on her; jewel tones suit her VERY well. I’m not sure how I feel about the long parts of the skirt, but like maybe they help her feel taller, and hey, I get that, I’m short, too.

KT

TOR Prom: the lavender one-shoulder dress

This is cute!!!!! I like it! A very fun dress. And while I like the color, if I had my way I would’ve chosen a different color for her, maybe teal or green or something. But overall, good dress, a very common prom/dance dress and I like the bling and the sash around the waist.

Willow

TOR Prom: the sparkly dress

If this dress hadn’t been sparkly I would have marched over to the house of whoever was in charge of costumes and had some VERY strong words with them. I think this dress is gorgeous, and the colors actually match her hair pretty well. However, because it’s Willow, I would’ve chosen brighter, bolder, and more fun colors.

In conclusion: most of these dresses are really pretty and flatter the respective girls very well, with a couple of exceptions. However, there is a LOT of purple here, which is nice cause I like purple and it’s not always a common color, but there sure are a lot of purple dresses here; 5 of the 7 of them had a purple dress. My biggest critique is that there are a lot of cool colors, and I definitely would have thrown in some warm colors in there somewhere.

My personal favorite dress is Patricia’s little black dress, closely followed by Mara’s black and white dress. Tag your fave (or least fave) in the tags below!

Up next: the boys

[shinonometrash]

💕🍄The 12 Days of Ayumu 🍄💕

JULY 17TH!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYUMU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AYUMU 😭💕😭💕😭💕 Doing all this translating has done nothing except make me miss him even more 😭 But!!! Today is the big day!! And so we have the thing I’ve been saving for last!!!! The absolutely cutest Ayumu story I think I’ve ever read !!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I wanted to cry when I read it it was so sweet I love him so much sdfgnkjkjnfg

I was a lot more creative with translating this story to make it sound more fun and natural, since I’m finally getting comfortable enough to start doing that, I really hope you guys enjoy it !!

it’s pretty long, so I’m putting it under a readmore

Ayumu Shinonome: Happy Birthday ♡

technically this story is about Ayumu celebrating our birthday, rather than about celebrating his, but...

In the S ward is one of the most popular downtown areas in Tokyo.

2PM —

Middle schooler: Hey, look at that guy over there

Middle schooler 2: Oh my gosh, yeah!

Middle schooler: He’s a host, don’t you think?

Middle schooler 2: He’s definitely a host!

(…No, you’re wrong.)

(I’m just wearing a formal suit.)

Middle schooler: Eek…this is the first time I’ve seen a host in real life!

Middle schooler 2: I guess that’s the norm around here, we are in Tokyo after all!

Thanks to the middle school students who seem to be in the middle of a field trip, I now see the passersby struggling to contain their laughter.

(This couldn’t get any worse. Ugh, this sucks.)

(Really. I was already reluctant enough to do this as is…)

Speaking of which—

MC: Ayumuuuu~!

At last, the reason for all of this torture has arrived.

MC: Sorry! Did I keep you waitin-…

MC: !!!

(Uh…is she okay?)

MC: Ayumu, you…you look…so hot…

MC: Ahh, you look amazing!!

Ayumu: Dummy!! Keep your voice down!

(If she says something like that too loudly…)

Middle schooler: Oh no, look! He’s got a customer…

Middle schooler 2: She must be a huge regular…

Ayumu: …gah, come on, let’s go.

MC: Huh? Already?

MC: I haven’t changed into my pumps yet…

Ayumu: It’s fine, come on! Hurry up!

MC: Ahh, hold up! I came all this way so at least let me put my arm around yours…

MC: Gahh, slow down! You’re walking way too fast!

MC: Ayuumuuuuuu!

This all started about two weeks ago.

MC: Ayumu! Look! This is what I was talking about!

Ayumu: Eh…? Scary…

Fresh out of the bath, my girlfriend suddenly plops down on the ground.

Ayumu: …What

Ayumu: Don’t tell me you broke my limited edition Tyrannosaurus mug…

MC: No, no, that’s not it!

MC: It has to do with this year’s KappaMC Birthday Celebration!

Ayumu: Gross

Ayumu: You’re creating your own birthday celebration…?

MC: It’s a great idea, isn’t it!

MC: I see this kind of thing a lot on social media!

Ayumu: Even so, you’re not supposed to post that about yourself

Ayumu: That sort of tag is made by enthusiastic fans…

MC: Well then, I’ll ask you to do it, Ayumu! Since you should be my biggest fan!

MC: Pleaaase do it with me~?

MC: Take me on a date in a formal suit please!

Nonsense, I thought. At the time.

However, at a later date…

Toru: Ahh~ This seems to be real popular these days! Suit men

Ayumu: …what?

Toru: If you search anywhere on social media sites, you’ll get tons of hits~

Toru: Guys uploading selfies in suits

…I don’t get it.

What’s so fun about showing off a suit?

(Although, she did say something the other day about wanting to go on a date with me in a formal suit..)

Ayumu: Frivolous. Completely.

Toru: Noo, you just need to choose the right place to go!

Toru: Shall the Great Toru offer you some guidance~?

Ayumu: No thanks. There’s no way that’s ever happening…

Toru: Hm, well I don’t know what kind of person your partner is, but—

Toru: Sometimes it’s important to spice things up a bit so that you don’t fall into a rut!

Ayumu: …

Toru: Again, I really have noo idea who your partner is buuuut

Toru: I think women who like that sort of thing would be really happy~

Ayumu: …

(…bah. He’s probably right.)

(She does seem like she’d like that sort of thing…)

That’s why I decided to title it “The Extraordinary Production”

I end up regretting this as soon as we start stage one—meeting up downtown.

(Ah, well, at least I won’t feel as out of place at the next stage.)

Yes, and the next stage is—

MC: Look! Look! Ayumu! The view outside is sooooooo pretty!!

Ayumu: Ah, I see.

(Naturally. We are on the 38th floor.)

By the way, the seats here are filled almost full.

Of them, about half are reservations.

MC: Whoaaa, did you see?? This afternoon tea set!!

MC: The tea stand! It has five tiers! Five!!

Ayumu: Ah, I see.

MC: Hey, at least act more surprised!

MC: Fives tiers? This is the first time, for me at least, that I’ve ever seen anything like this!

(…yeah, I suppose it would be)

I say this because—

Toru: How’s this place look?

Toru: “Enjoy some luxury afternoon tea on the top floor of a high rise tower”

Toru: Whoa, the tea stand, it’s got five tiers!

Ayumu: Ah, I see.

Toru: Ugh, what kind of response was that!

Toru: Are you even listening?? The tea stand has five tears!!

Toru: Isn’t that alone pretty much a win right there?

Ayumu: I don’t get it.

Toru: In a date, it’s either a win or a loss…

Soma: But doesn’t it seem likely that it would make his date happy?

Ayumu: !

Soma: Women who are particular about food will also care about how many tiers of sweets there are, will they not?

Soma: Glutto-no, women who eat everything with enthusiasm,

Soma: I think they would be very pleased with a five tiered tea stand.

Ayumu: Haa…

MC: What should I do?? My heart is beating so fast, I’m so excited…

MC: I don’t think I’ll be able to eat all five tiers…

Ayumu: If it’s you, you’ll be fine.

Ayumu: …since you’re a glutton.

MC: Huh? What did you just say right now…?

Ayumu: Nothing, don’t worry about it.

Seeing the waiter passing by, I raise my hand to get their attention.

Waiter: Did you decide what you would like to order?

Ayumu: The afternoon tea set for two people, please.

Ayumu: The original black tea blend.

Waiter: Understood, thank you.

As soon as the waiter walks away, I purposely sigh dramatically.

Ayumu: So noisy

MC: Wha-…I didn’t even sa-

Ayumu: Your stare

Ayumu: It feels like you’re trying to stare into my soul or something since a while ago.

MC: …hey, b-but that….

MC: I mean! I can’t help it…

MC: You just look way too amazing today, it’s like my eyes are being sucked in…

Ayumu: …

(…what is she even saying, this girl)

Ayumu: This isn’t the first time you’ve seen me like this though, is it? In a suit?

MC: That’s true, but…today is special…

MC: You wore the suit for me, didn’t you?

MC: That automatically makes you look, like, 30% hotter!

MC: I’m just so happy, I can’t stop looking at you

Ayumu: ….I see.

There was a strange pause before I replied.

Probably because I was remembering the advice that Toru gave me.

Toru:  You definitely need to be sure to always compliment your date’s outfit~

Ayumu: …wha?

Toru: Well, if you’re wearing a formal suit

Toru: Then your date should also be in formal wear, right?

Ayumu: that…well…

Toru: And so, you need to be sure to give your date lots of compliments!

Toru: Cause girls always put several times more effort into things like their makeup and hairstyle!

Ayumu: No, no, she doesn’t have me beat there

Ayumu: If we’re talking hairstyle, it’s definitely me…

Toru:  Bah, well, saying things like “that looks great on you” or “you look pretty” is always a safe bet

Toru: And then…

Ayumu: You don’t—

MC: “I don’t”?

—“you don’t look too bad yourself, either”

That’s it. All I have to do is use what she said as an opportunity to compliment her back.

(So, come on. Say it.)

(Just light and natural.)

(Sound genuine about it…)

Ayumu: You don’t—

MC: Ah!!

Suddenly, my girlfriend jumps out of her chair as if remembering something.

MC: Sorry, is it okay if I go to the restroom for real quick?

MC:  It’s…my shoes, I’m still wearing my sneakers

Ayumu: …

MC: No, I know already, you don’t have to tell me

MC: “You should’ve just worn your pumps from the beginning”

MC: That’s what you were about to say, right?

MC: But these shoes don’t quite fit right…

MC: “It’ll be fine if just change into them right before I meet up with Ayumu”…is what I had told myself

Ayumu: …

MC: I’ll just change into them real quick!!

Ayumu: …

(…This sucks.)

I just let a perfect chance that I’ll probably never see again slip by.

(No, it’s fine though.)

(It’s not like I absolutely HAVE to give her a compliment.)

That was just Toru’s opinion.

She didn’t specifically ask me to do it, or anything.

And so, from there, while I’m with my girl…

MC: Ahh, that was so delicious!

MC: The cake and the scones and the tea, they were all the best! Ayumu: …

MC: Oh, and the clotted cream too!

MC: It was the first time I’ve ever had it but it went surprisingly well with the scones~

MC: I wonder if they sell it at that other shop…

(…this is it.)

Her head is probably full of the afternoon tea we just had.

I want to make her happy…more than anything.

(But it’s impossible to compliment her when things are like this.)

I’ll just start by making a statement about what she’s wearing, but it’ll have a compliment at the end.

“I noticed your dress has lace on top of the turquoise fabric. It’s not bad.

“Those pumps must not be comfortable to wear. But they go nicely with the dress.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you wear this much makeup. It looks nice.”

(I’m psyching myself up too much, aren’t I?)

I guess it just goes to show how much I’ve been looking forward to this day, though.

MC: So where are we going next?

Ayumu: Anywhere is fine, as long as it only takes about an hour.

MC: Hm? What does that mean?

Ayumu: This.

I pull two tickets out of the breast pocket of my suit.

MC: Whaa…the opera??

Ayumu: It’s in about an hour from now. So we can’t go unless we go at that time.

(The idea wasn’t mine, though.)

Yes, this idea…

Toru: Hmm, what other places would be good to wear a formal suit to…

Toru: What about a luxury brand store?

Ayumu: Huh?

Toru: If you wear a businesswear vs a formal suit to a shop, the staff will treat you differently, right?

Toru: Because they’ll be acting even more polite to you

Toru: There’s no doubt that your date will feel like a celebrity!

Toru: Right, Goto?

Goto: Don’t touch me, I’m not responding to that.

Toru: And after you can take her to a fancy restaurant inside a hotel or a bar with a gorgeous night view!

Toru: Sure it might be a little cliche sounding, but it’ll certainly be something out of the ordinary that you won’t forget!

Toru: Hey, Gotooo!

Goto: Look, even if you touch me, I’m still not going to respo-

???: Aww, aren’t you guys sweet

Toru: …huh?

Tsugaru: Don’t you know this is the perfect time to go watch the opera?

Ayumu: ..……good afternoon. How long have you been there?

Tsugaru: Now that hardly matters, does it?

Tsugaru: More importantly, if you’re going to put all that effort into a date, you should go to the opera.

Tsugaru: It’s like a date specifically meant for formal wear, is it not~?

Tsugaru: Hmmm, but…

Tsugaru: It’s possible the person you’re planning to take on a date doesn’t understand the opera, though.

Ayumu: …I should first confirm whether that’s true or not, though

Ayumu: Hey, have you ever watched the opera?

MC: Uhhhh, that’s…

MC: Well, I’ve seen Phantom of the Opera…

Ayumu: That’s not the same thing

Ayumu: That’s just a musical.

MC: …well of course I know that much!

MC: So, this is a first

MC: It’ll be my “first time”!

Ayumu: Wait…do you hear that—

MC: I want my first time to be with you, Ayumu!

MC: So please, take my opera virginity—!

???: Ahhh!!

A sudden scream drowns out her playful chattering.

Woman: A purse snatcher…!!

Woman: Somebody, please! My bag!

(Seriously? A purse snatcher?)

Before I get a chance to confirm, she jumps into action.

She starts chasing the purse snatcher.

(Dummy! What is she doing??)

Purse snatcher: Damn it…!

The criminal escapes to the back alley at the end of the road. Of course, my girl isn’t the type to give up so easily.

MC: Stop right there!

While she chases after the purse snatcher, I enter the next alley. 

If the criminal turns the corner here, I’m pretty sure I can cut him off.

Sure enough—

(…he came.)

MC: Ayumu!

Purse snatcher: Shit…!

I’m in front of the criminal, blocking his path, while she’s at his back. He turns around and rushes at her.

Purse snatcher: Move it!

MC: Just who do you think you are!!

Her next move is quite something. As the criminal charges at her, she swiftly grabs his right hand, twisting it behind his back and shoving him to the ground, planting her body weight on his back.

Purse snatcher: Ouch! Ow ow ow!

From there, we hand over the criminal to the authorities and all live happily ever after—

Or not.

MC: The interrogation took longer than I expected…

Ayumu: Yeah, it did

MC: But if we leave now we should be able to just barely make it in time…

???: Oh my gosh, look at her

I hear a whisper from a woman passing by.

Woman: Yikes, look at her, did she get into a fight?

Woman 2: Maybe she fell? There’s a hole in her stockings

The innocent exchange seems to have reached her ears.

MC: Oh…

There’s no denying that she looks beat up right now.

Her dress is dirty and the knees of her stockings have holes in them. 

(Of course.)

(She had to straddle the criminal on the ground to secure him.)

However, her stockings aren’t the only thing that tore.

MC: I-I’m sorry, I’lll go change them right away…

Ayumu: The lace

MC: Huh?

Ayumu: The lace part on your dress, too

MC: !

Ayumu: Did it get caught on something? Like a nail?

Ayumu: When you were chasing after the purse snatcher

MC: …ah, yeah…

Seems I probably guessed right.

MC: I’m so sorry, I’ll go change into a new outfit…

MC: Ah…but, the time…

Ayumu: …

MC: Please just wait a second…I’ll figure it out someway or another…

MC: To change…I’ll just, I’ll go buy some new clothes…

Ayumu: It’s fine, the way it is now

Strangely, the words seem to just flow out of my mouth on their own accord

Ayumu: You don’t look bad

MC: Uhh…?

Ayumu: It doesn’t look bad, does it? How you look right now

It’s still the outfit she put so much effort into, just a bit worn out now.

Either way, it’s still very ‘KappaMC’-like.

(Really, it’s not bad.)

I run my hands through her messy hair to smooth it out.

She looks up at me, confused.

MC: Um…Ayumu…?

Ayumu: Let’s go

MC: Wait, I can’t go to the opera looking like this…

Ayumu: We’re not. Going to the opera, that is.

MC: What! No! Don’t say that!

MC: You already bought the tickets and everything…

Ayumu: Don’t worry about it, really, it’s okay.

Just a slight change in schedule.

Truthfully, I had planned on bringing her ‘here’ after the opera, anyway.

(Ah, but this timing actually isn’t bad at all, it works out well.)

Ayumu: Aren’t you coming?

MC: But…I look like a mess…

Ayumu: You look fine, don’t worry about it

Ayumu: I rented out the place

MC: Rented out??

MC: Here??

Startled, she looks around at the surroundings.

(Ah, well, it makes sense. Reacting that way.)

If I was in her position,  I’d probably react the same way,

Ayumu: Your hand.

MC: Sorry?

Ayumu: Your left hand. Give it to me.

MC: Oh, um, alright…

I grabbed her nervously outstretched hand and led her to middle of the stairs.

(Finally.)

Now we just need to stand here for five more seconds.

Honestly, this is the most nerve wracking part of the whole day.

(But, well, it’s her birthday.)

(And it’s special.)

Ayumu: 3…2…1…

At the exact moment I point, balloons float up into the sky.

MC: Balloons??!

She watches as the balloons float upwards, eyes wide in surprise.

I use her distraction as an opportunity to pick up the bouquet I had hidden.

Ayumu: Happy birthday

Her mouth falls open wide in shock.

Yeah. It really isn’t like me to do this sort of thing.

But, the one who thought of this surprise, make no mistake, was me. I came up with it.

(This is a once in a year occasion, after all.)

(And I thought she would like it, if I did this.)

Ayumu: So? What do you think?

MC: … Ayumu: MC?

No reply.

(Uhh, what’s the status here?)

(Maybe I messed up…)

MC: A-a…yu…

(Ah-yoo…?)

MC: A-yu-muuuuu…!!

(Whoa wait just a-)

Ayumu: Oof

Sniffling, she throws her arms around me.

MC: I-I…j-just…nnnf, I’m…I’m so, nnnnff, so happy…I, nnnf, love it…s..so much..!!

MC: T-th…! This…surprise, nnnf, it…it’s…!!!

Ayumu: …

MC: P-plea…zz…please sta…stay with, nnnf, with me…fore…forever, nnnf…!!

Ayumu: …dummy.

Ayumu: I can’t understand what you’re saying.

That’s a lie. 

Truthfully, I understand perfectly what she’s saying.

(“Stay with me.”)

I’ll stay with you, for the rest of our lives.

In return, don’t ever let go of me.

I did something today that I never would’ve even dreamed of doing before, all because you’ve changed me.

Ayumu: Happy birthday

MC: T-thank you…

Ayumu: So, what shall we do from here?

First, I have a room for us to stay at.

But after we check in, we can spend our time however we’d like until dinner time. 

(Ah, no, but before that we need to change.)

(As you’d imagine, going to the restaurant looking like this would be…)

MC: …iss…

Ayumu: Hm?

MC: Kiss…I want to kiss you…

MC: From here on…with you, forever…

Ayumu: …

Ayumu: …dummy

I was asking about later today, but…

Is she asking for a kiss with a runny nose and a tear soaked face?

There’s a lot of things I want to say to that, but��

(Ah, well, it’s her birthday…)

Her lips taste salty, as expected.

But…I don’t hate it. Maybe I’ve gone crazy too.

MC: Thank you…

As we pulled away from the kiss she sniffled loudly.

MC: I, um, I feel like I’m dreaming…

MC: My head feels all fuzzy…

Ah, I see.

MC: I’m gonna…just you wait…!

MC: Next time it’s your birthday, I’m gonna think of an amazing surprise…!

Ayumu: No need to.

I have nothing but a bad feeling about that.

Ayumu: Seriously, don’t. Hard pass.

MC: …hmph, meanie!

MC: If this is how you feel, now I’m DEFINITELY going to plan something!!!

MC: Like making dinosaur balloons, or dinosaur 3D pancakes, or…

MC: Maybe I’ll rent out a whole museum…

MC: Mmph, mmm…

It’s really not necessary. Coming up with some sort of surprise.

(If you’re here with me.)

As long as you stay here next to me—

If we can kiss like this, then that’s enough for me.

-The End-

Isn’t that CG gorgeous??? And wasn’t that story soooo frickin adorable??? sbkhgkjadbf I have so many feelings about this 😭💕😭💕

And thank you so so so so sooo much to @world-a-to-z​!! Like I’d mentioned at the start, I was never part of the Peach fanclub because I only started reading Ayumu’s stories almost exactly a year ago now. And so, I didn’t have access to this story. So what did this absolutely wonderful person do?? Transcribe this entire story in Japanese!!!! And then was kind enough to send it to me, along with the screenshots of the backgrounds (which were pretty necessary for all the scene changes, I think) and the CG, so that I could translate it. So please give her a HUGE HUGE thank you for making basically almost the entirety of this birthday celebration possible!!! 💕💕💕

Thank you guys so much for celebrating with me! I hope everyone had a lot of fun!!! I can’t wait to actually sleep again now...I spent sooo much time doing all these translations whoops ><

In case you missed a day, or want to reread anything, you’ll find links to all the posted content here!

[k-llama-llama]

Income

Stray Kids AU: 9th member

Tori x Stray Kids

The boys start to pick up on something during a vlive.

A/N:  Please check out my PATREON (patreon.com/kllamallama) for exclusive posts you can’t get anywhere else, as well as lots of other cool benefits!

Requests are OPEN and your feedback is still greatly appreciated!

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“Tori, can you dance to Blueming?” Seungmin read the comments.

Tori wrinkled her nose at the camera. “Wouldn’t you rather see me dance to something else?”

Minho watched as the comments rolled in. “Are you afraid to show them? Have you already forgotten the choreography?”

Tori shook her head with a laugh. “Not a chance. But Stay just watched me promote for two weeks, I’m sure they’d like to see me do something else.”

“If you won’t show them Blueming, then I guess we’ll have to.” Seungmin pushed himself up off the floor.

“Yah, don’t embarrass me.” Tori laughed.

“I won’t.” Minho gave the camera a thumbs up. “I taught her everything she knows.”

“That’s not true.” Tori whispered as she pulled up the song on her phone.

She rarely did solo vlives, preferring to feature in someone else’s or just wait for group ones. But having just finished her solo promotions she’d figured that it would be nice to do a solo vlive and thank the fans for being so wonderful during her first ever solo.

Of course, then Seungmin and Minho had decided to join in on her ‘solo’ vlive.

“I hope everyone is ready for this.” Tori laughed as she hit play on her song.

“The dance is a lot harder than it looks.” Tori said, looking at the camera and readings the comments as the boys freestyled behind her. “It took me along time to learn it, but I wanted to make sure that Stay would enjoy my performance.”

“Stop talking, here we go!” Seungmin shouted.

Tori scooted over so that the camera had a good view of whatever the boys were planning.

Which was apparently an overexaggerated rendition of her song. Minho looked close to throwing out a hip, and Seungmin looked like he was putting everything into it, but was probably going to roll an ankle.

“Yah, Lee Know!” Tori shouted. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I’m a flower blooming!” He protested, before beginning to sing. “I feel Blooooom, Bloooom!”

Seungmin made a noise that sounded somewhere between a whistle and a squeak. “I gotta know, Tor – how did you do this in those dresses.”

“Everything is easier in a pretty dress.” Tori explained. “Look, I still have my nails done.” She showed the camera the delicately done blue roses. “I need to pick a new design. Do you think I should get a mermaid design or clouds?”

She was asking the camera, but the boys didn’t hesitate to give their input as well.

“I vote mermaid.” Seungmin said.

“I vote clouds.” Minho answered.

“I wasn’t asking you guys.” Tori leaned forward to read the comments. “You guys all have different opinions. How about I post on Instagram tomorrow, and everyone can vote there, okay?”

“Vote clouds!” Seungmin shouted.

“Be quiet, weirdo.” Tori gave him a shove. “Thank you all so much for hanging out with us tonight, and for supporting me during the Blueming promotions. I promise to do another vlive soon!”

The guys said their goodbyes, and then Tori blew one final kiss and shut off the camera.

“Phew.” She collapsed back to lay on the ground. “We did it.”

“We did it?” Minho crouched down next to her. “You just talked the whole time.”

“And then just wanted to dance to other songs.” Seungmin added. “As much as we love Twice, I think everyone wanted to see you dance to your song.”

“They’ve been watching it for two weeks.” Tori did a backwards somersault to stand up. “I can dance to something else. I still need to work on the Open Mind choreography though.”

“You dress different now.” Minho said, looking up at her.

“What?” She glanced at Seungmin, who just shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“She’s just in her practice clothes.” Seungmin said. “Maybe a little less homeless than usual.”

“Thanks, man.” Tori rolled her eyes, turning to look in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. She was wearing low rise baggy sweatpants and a black cropped tank top. It didn’t seem any different from what she’d normally wear.

“I don’t mean right now.” Minho said. “I mean in general. Yesterday you wore a Chanel shirt to practice.”

“Sumi gave it to me.”

“And the day before, you had sneakers that were easily a thousand dollars.”

“You know….” Seungmin tilted his head. “You were using that new bag – the black one with the pearl stuff on it. Is that Chanel too?”

Tori crossed her arms. “The shirt and bag were from Sumi. She has a brand deal. And the sneakers I bought with my own money.”

“Since when do you wear designer stuff?” Minho asked.

“Since now?” Tori rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about? I’m not allowed to dress nice?”

“Sure, you can. I’m just trying to find out why you won’t perform your solo song but are dressing in nice clothes you pay for with your solo stuff.” Minho tilted his head.

“What do you mean I won’t perform my solo song?” She exclaimed. “I performed it like a hundred times over the past few weeks.”

“So you’re tired of it?”

“Sure…I…I guess so.” She hesitated slightly, and they both noticed.

Seungmin sat straight up. “You’re lying. Why are you lying?”

“I’m not lying.” Tori protested.

“You’re not tired of your solo song, and you bought all of those clothes for yourself.” Minho declared. “It’s not a bad thing.”

“Just tell us why you’re being weird about it.” Seungmin told her. “Why don’t you want to perform or admit you bought things for yourself?”

Tori sighed, looking at the ground. “Was it that obvious.”

“Yes.” Minho said.

“Not really.” Seungmin said.

Tori sighed again. “I don’t know….you guys put a lot on hold for me to be able to promote this song. I just don’t want to drag it out any more than I already have.”

“You aren’t dragging it out. Your song is awesome.” Seungmin told her. “You can be excited about it for as long as you want, because we’re excited about it too.”

“And why would we care about what clothes you wear?” Minho asked. “We’ve literally never cared.”

“I know…but it’s more of…you know, that I’m making…”

“Money?” Minho finished. “Is this because you’re making money?”

“We’re all making money.” Seungmin looked confused.

Tori just looked at the ground.

“But you’re making more.” Minho realized. “Is that what this is about? You feel weird because you’re making more money than us?”

“It’s just with the girl group and then this…plus the thing I did with Zoey…I just didn’t want to make it weird.”

 “Tor, we don’t care.” Seungmin laughed. “We’re proud of you, everyone is.”

“I know, and I love you guys for it.” She frowned. “I just didn’t want to…rub it in, I guess. By starting to wear all of the nice clothes.”

“It’s your money, you can spend it however you want.” Minho said.

“I bought the shirt when I was out with Sumi. And the sneakers were Yinnie’s idea and I didn’t want to seem weird but I-“

“Tor, you don’t have to explain it.” Seungmin rolled his eyes. “You can dress as nice as you like. All it means is that you’re doing awesome, and we’ll expect nicer Christmas gifts.”

She bit her lip. “I’m good at Christmas gifts.”

“Cool. So stop being weird about your song.” Minho flopped onto his back. “Dress however you want and we’re not going to have a problem.”

“What if I just start wearing all Gucci or something?”

Seungmin snorted. “You aren’t making that much money.”

“I could be!”

“You’re not.” Minho replied. “And honestly you’ve been ordering your clothes from Amazon for too long. This is probably good for the group in the long run.”

“Amazon has a lot of nice stuff.”

“Not as nice as Chanel.”

“This is true.”

[pseudofaux]

No one has asked tor sirius? let me be the first! can we get sirius using a riding crop on mc please? 😌

PLEASE SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER

(Requests are closed, readers, but there are a lot to be filled in May and likely June, too! Feel free to follow along or just check in and enjoy as many as you like. A masterlist will go up when they are all completed.)

“Arms crossed,” he reminds her, not unkindly. Sirius is always at his sweetest when she is brave before pain. He is only sweeter when he’s taking care of her afterwards, his low voice full of praise as he recounts her efforts.

It’s what makes it worth it, honestly. That and the fact that she likes the pain. She settles her wrists one on top of the other over her head. His bed is so long they land short of the pillows, falling onto the clean cotton of his sheets. He always dries them in the sun instead of using magic crystals for the sundry task like so many others do. Sirius cares for and makes his bed like a military man, which explains why the blanket below her back is pulled so perfectly taut.

It won’t stay that way. She knows better. He does, too, that’s why he made the bed so neatly. Maybe a man might like to see how badly you mess it up, little lady. His voice had been so smooth and deep when he said that she nearly feel off her own feet. His dark chuckle when he saw her swaying made his hand at the small of her back a very necessary thing. She was glad for it all.

“Ready?” He asks. He always checks.

She dips her head as politely as she can while laying on her back. She tries to make it elegant, because his maturity always makes her want to meet him there. “Please,” she says.

He acknowledges her with a thoughtful sound and presses the tip of the new crop against her hems. Sirius asked her to pull her skirts up to her thighs—he always does, there’s something specific about that he enjoys— but of course he’ll need more room than that, so he uses the stiff black tongue at the end of the crop to slowly lift her skirt and settle it on her belly. She can feel the stitched black leaf stroking her skin as he sets the skirt down and pulls the crop out from underneath. The tongue of this new one is so beautiful, silver and purple threads making the black look impossibly deep. The way he sometimes makes his whippings feel.

“Right, then,” he says, all warmth and business, and immediately smacks her lightly, high on her legs. Little wake up slaps to get her good and ready for what’s to come. She loves him for it. No one has ever given her pain with such care. She waits as demurely as she can manage.

The first real hit is on her left thigh, and she can feel the shape of the tip of the leaf and a shower of sparks behind her eyes that surely must have fled or danced off the pain, which is hot as liquid metal. And then it has a twin, crisp and cold as a winter bruise, when he slaps her right thigh. She is breathing through her mouth as though that will pull more of this sensation into her body. Her eyes slowly open and he’s breathing through his mouth, too, the dear man.

“How was that?” he asks, voice as hot as liquid metal. His tone is nearly flat and she knows that’s because he’s trying to keep his excitement under wraps. The devil is in her today and won’t let that stand, so she shifts her thighs against one another, pressing the edges of the new marks together, sighs dreamily, and murmurs “Wonderful.” And then through her low-lidded eyes she watches his go wide.

Maybe the devil is in him, too, because he presses the black leaf to the seam of her legs. Just south of the gusset of her panties, so close she feels how it gently grazes her through them and she shudders. Then she parts for him immediately. Sirius mutters “‘Wonderful’, hmm?” and zigzags the tip of the crop between her legs. Wider, that means. Wider she opens. Usually he hits up and down the fronts of her thighs, making patterns he will match at different times (he always gives her the most beautiful marks, and never gives them to her in a pattern she can anticipate, putting her wholly at his whim, exactly where she wants to be). Only then does he has her open for the delicious whipping of her sensitive inner thighs before he turns her over and fucks her abraded skin and mewling mouth into the tumble she’s made of his wool blanket.

But she’s always game to follow his lead at something different. He takes them such wonderful places together, after all. And his bed is so very big and everything on it so freshly laundered.

“Spell ‘wonderful’ for me, Alice,” he says quietly. She nods as though she is curtsying, even though her hands remain above her head, wrists crossed with no restraint. She did tease him, but she’s a good girl.

Just above the inside of her right knee, lightning lands and makes her w more gasp than exhalation.

Two quick smacks high on the left, very high. Her o comes out naturally, though perhaps it is also very high.

Sirius touches the tip of the crop gently against her right thigh again, just as high as he was on the left but so much more gently, the touch is like a fingertip. And indeed, he strokes it all the way down, slow and even, and she catches on and holds her n in the air until he punctuates it with a very sharp hit just above his first mark of this game, and it’s perfect pain, shimmering and oozing and hot, and she sobs with gratitude.

“More letters in that word,” he prompts, but he makes it sound like praise and she starts shaking from the thrill coursing through her entire body, and from her thankfulness for his care and encouragement.

Sirius lets her breathe out the d without any distraction, and an “I love you,” slips out of her instead. He smiles and leans over her to give her a quick kiss, which stills her comfortably.

“You look beautiful,” he says. The praise is warmer than liquid metal. It turns the tingly excitement in her to a more settled bliss. She knows it is still all disorder inside her skin, but the feeling is pleasant, less out of control. Even if she does get out of control, Sirius is right here.

She makes her e clear and slow, slow enough that he can get in a swat. He does, in the vulnerable middle of her left thigh. Both her legs jerk from it.

Need. She has so much need. He does not make her wait. He gently grinds the tip of the crop into her right thigh and murmurs “Right here.” She nods and the r becomes an “ar-uh!” when he quickly straightens himself and brings the tip back down, flat and with great force. He looked like a swordsman and she is sweating like a damsel deep in the mist blissful distress.

He lets her pant for a moment and strokes her legs with comfortable touch. Surely he feels the heat he’s made. She knows he knows it is there. It’s probably why he ignores it for now.

“I liked how you held the e,” he says. “Do that again with the next one. And eyes on the ceiling, Alice, don’t make me remind you again.”

It feels like she holds the f for a long time, but when he does bring the crop down it’s on her belly, and there is more breath than she thought she had left to go out of her in a hiss. It wasn’t a sharp hit but it was unexpected and heavens, does it concentrate the way her panties rest against her, squishy and wet.

Her u is so pathetic she can feel the way he stops in midair. She clears her throat and apologizes. In her head she makes it right, I-love—

“You,” Sirius says over her letter, and brings the crop down on her mons. The cotton over her is a pillow that absorbs the smack. But not all of it. Still, her groan is from knowing what comes next—or so she dearly hopes— than from the hit itself.

“Wait on the next one for a moment,” he tells her, and gives her a series of lashes on the tops of her thighs, shifting the heat again, putting her closer to where they usually go.

“That’s better,” Sirius says warmly. “What comes next?”

“L,” she whispers.

“That’s right,” he says. “Look at me, Alice.”

His face is flushed and smiling. He’s the picture of good health and humor, and he makes her want to launch herself into his arms and cling to him, but she stays put and waits for what he’ll say or do.

“How do you feel?” he asks. As though he doesn’t know.

“Wonderful,” she says honestly. “And agitated.”

He laughs and leans down to kiss her forehead. “Do you want to take these,” he whispers, poking her slit directly with the crop so she gasps under his chin “Off, or leave them on?”

“I want you to take them off,” she breathes. She’s allowed to be honest, he always wants her to be honest. “When you want to,” she adds.

His hum is so low it rumbles and she can feel how soaked she already is by the way more arousal slips out of her at the sound. “Wear them just a little longer, then,” he murmurs, and stands back up.

Sirius clears his throat into his fist. “Eyes,” he reminds her, and hers zip back to the ceiling. “Last letter?” he asks.

The crop comes down with perfect force on the wet cotton before she even says her l, so it is a song coming out of her, her need sharper than the slap, hot enough to stop an entire winter. Her hands grip one another so tightly she can feel her arms trembling.

He’s slipping her panties off her hips with careful hands. She nearly asks where the crop is before she realizes how impertinent that would be, and how grateful she is to feel his gloves. The air of the room feels so very cool on her heated flesh; his touch stabilizes her as he drags the sodden fabric off her legs, and it keeps her from feeling lost.

“Very good,” he tells her. The words are somewhat tense and she dares to allow her eyes to drift to him. He catches her doing it, of course, and smiles from behind the glove he’s just pulled off with his teeth. “That’s not so good, but I’ll allow it,” he drawls, tossing it behind him. “I’d say you’ve still earned a reward.”

He sits beside her on the bed and she babbles out overexcited thanks until he kisses her and slips his tongue into her mouth and two fingers into her sex, and then she is not sure she could spell if her life depended on it.

Thankfully he doesn’t ask her to.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't pt. 2: nilfgaard!

pt. 1 on the northern realms here

okay i'm making this because 1 witcher netflix is the most convoluted and confusing thing i've ever seen and does literally no world building and 2 special interest make autism brain go brr.

about this series

this is gonna be a multi part series about the witcher universe but this is all about nilfgaard!

ciri's timeline in twn encompasses the entirety of the first northern war, beginning with the attack on cintra and ending with the battle at sodden

the show ended in 1264 when we saw geralt meet ciri

this is just covering the human portions of nilfgaard. i'll talk about elven allied groups like the scoiatael later.

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

background

the witcher takes place on the continent, which is mainly divided between south and north

the north is a collection of many kingdoms while the south is basically just nilfgaard and its many territories, dependencies, provences, and vassal states.

some of these conquered areas include toussaint, vicovaro, nazair, and mettina

nilfgaard loves invading the north. a lot. like this is the driving force of most of the plot in the witcher.

basic info

nilfgaard an insanely powerful absolutist monarchy, ruled by an emperor who has a huge collection of talented mages, spies, commanders, and advisors

as of ciri's timeline in twn, the emperor is emhyr var emreis, or, to those on more intimate terms with him: the white flame dancing on the graves of his foes

[ID: middle aged white man with slicked back shoulder length greying black hair. he is wearing a black dress with a red and black embroidered shirt underneath. he is wearing a gold medallion around his neck, has black leather boots, and is holding a silver goblet. end ID]

emhyr is crazy important, both as a character and to the politics of the witcher. he's also a member of the house of emreis, which i'll go into detail on in a bit.

he is also a major walking spoiler, so i won't talk about him in the context of twn or the books

nilfgaard is divided between the "heart" of the empire, also known as lower alba or simply nilfgaard, and the conquered territories, dependencies, provinces, etc

for all of nilfgaard's imperialism, it does allow these areas to retain a lot of their original cultural identity, to the point where someone from vicovaro would not really consider themself nilfgaardian

this works out because nilfgaard would not consider a vicovarian nilfgaardian either

lower alba

lower alba is the home of "real" nilfgaardians, and is also where the capital city is located

theres a bit of racism and racial purity here: lower albans consider themselves superior to the rest of humans due to their elven ancestry

this elven ancestry is also why nilfgaard is far more sympathetic to nonhumans than the north and uses a language similar to hen llinge (elder speech)

there are a LOT of notable albans, so i'll just keep it to the important ones and my favourites: carthia van canten aka cantarella, morvran voorhis, stefan skellen, the house of emreis, and vattier de rideaux

the capital, known as the city of golden towers or simply nilfgaard, is home to the imperial palace, where the emperor spends most of his time

i say most because there is also a summer residence at loc grim palace

now that we know the basics of the core empire, let's visit the other territories!

toussaint

the duchy of toussaint is one of the most important nilfgaardian states, and definitely the most beautiful. it's main economy is in wine

toussaint actually has no secret service or military, something quite rare on the continent. it does however, have a large system of knights errant that love chivalry

the capital is beauclaire, which is where the duke/duchess live

as of twn, its ruler is the duchess anna henrietta. i'll let you all make your own assumptions about the lovely annarietta

also for some reason in toussaint, people have 2 names that are smushed together. so anna henrietta becomes annarietta, sylvia anna becomes syanna, carolina roberta becomes caroberta etc

annarietta is also distantly related to emhyr, her great grandfather is the half brother of emhyr's father

the most notable toussaintois are the mages fringilla and artorius vigo

here's fringilla in twn. [ID: young black woman in a long sleeve grey-blue cloak. her hair is pulled back and she is looking slightly up and to the right with a blank expression. end ID]

vicovaro

"THERE ONCE WAS A MAID FROM VICOVARO..."

okay vicovaro is vassal state near the southernmost part of the empire, but we know it more for the people from it than what it actually is

there is an actual ruler, but the state is largely controlled by two key houses: the var anahid family and the dyffryn family

the capital is vicovaro, but the houses have their own land. we don't really hear about the var anahids, but the dyffyn house controls dyffra

notable vicovarians include assire var anahid and cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach. cahir in twn is right there.

[ID: young white man in black armour. he has an angular face and brown slicked back hair. he is scowling]

mettina

okay mettina is a bit confusing since it is the shared name for three different places. the first is the administrative unit mettina, which includes the provence mettina (2) and the provence maecht. in the provence there is also the capital city mettina (3).

tor lara aka the tower of the swallow is in mettina, and not much else tbh

maecht was the home of duny (that little man) for an unspecified number of years

[ID: young white man with dark curly hair. his face is dirty and sweaty and he is frowning slightly]

"wait! i thought duny was the urcheon of erlenwald, and that's in cintra!" don't... don't think too hard about duny. he lived in mettina for a while and took a trip to cintra where he met pavetta.

ebbing

for all intents and purposes, ebbing is an autonomous state, although nilfgaardians do have a hand on the wheel

includes salm, a technically sovereign provence, but is de facto dependent on ebbing

ebbing is most notably home to stygga castle, the one time fortress for the school of the cat, and bounty hunter leo bonhart

also, roegner of ebbing, pavetta's father, is from here

nazair

nazair is kinda the least important of the more important nilfgaardian dependencies

it was independent for a while but was conquered by cintra under queen calanthe and then nilfgaard under emperor emhyr

its main industries are cinnabrite and silver, both luxury goods

the only mildly important nazairi is becca of nazair, ciri's 6 times great grandmother

other minor areas

alba, toussaint, ebbing, and vicovaro are really the only important nilfgaardian areas, although mettina and nazair are mentioned quite a bit. borders change a lot, especially with an imperialist power, but this is the general list of nilfgaardian areas as of the first northern war

regions - daerlan (notable for military), eiddon (owned and ruled by alban spy vattier de rideaux), liddertall, magne, rowan, ruach, slopes (home to haern caduch, the bear school fortress), tarnhann, winneburg, and ymlac

provences - angren provence (contains dol angra, a profitable trade route), cintra (1264-1268), etolia, gemmera, geso, mag turga, mettina (contains kingdoms mettina and maecht), and nazair

vassals - cintra (after 1268), ebbing, toussaint, and vicovaro

tl;dr: the most important part of nilfgaard is lower alba, which is surrounded by many dependencies including toussaint, vicovaro, nazair, and mettina.

thank you for reading! i'm definitely gonna make more parts and will link them here when i do!

[snorlaxlovesme]

wishing for a shadow

Did anyone ask for a fix-it fic that actually addressed how fucked up it was to make a 15 year-old girl fight naked?

We really don’t talk about Hagakure Toru enough. I know that invisibility is a pretty well-used superpower by now, but Toru has been invisible ALL HER LIFE, ALL THE TIME. There’s so much good story potential there and Horikoshi is like, let’s have her do peace signs in the back of class 1-A pictures sometimes or whatever.

So here’s 8k words of Hagakure actually having a personality and searching for a way to have a hero costume. Cheers!

(Content warning for nudity, obviously, and implications of nonconsensual groping due to the invisible nudity. Did I mention that fighting and rescuing people naked as a teenage girl is really fucked up?)

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

Toru hated her hero costume.

Or maybe it was fairer to say she hated her quirk. While everyone else had a special power that they could turn on and off at will, Toru had to deal with her quirk all. The. Time. And it was exhausting. Wearing special clothes on the train so she wouldn’t be sat on or shoved against a wall. Flicking on a designated lamp in her parent’s house so they’d know when she was home. Making just enough noise in class so that people remember she existed. 

Being invisible had so many unnecessary drawbacks that early on in Toru’s life she decided there must have been a reason she was given this quirk. And maybe the reason was that she was meant to be a hero.

After all, it was the only real way to practically apply her quirk, wasn’t it? The choice was either to use her unique ability for good or fade into the background of her own life. So she chose to stand out, and what better way to do that than to apply to UA, the best hero school in all of Japan?

Newsflash: Hero school was hard. And even though no one could see them, coming back to the dorms every day covered in bruises and scrapes was not how Toru had planned to live out her teenage years.

What Toru really wanted was to be a normal girl. To go to the mall with her girl friends for make-overs and stay up way too late texting each other about which boy would ask them to the next school dance. She wanted to wear her hair in goofy styles and cry about zits and not worry about a building crushing her during her midterm exams. It was a simple dream, but Toru didn’t have a simple life. She’d thought by now she’d be over these silly fantasies, but when she saw her classmates’ modifications to their hero costumes the feeling hit her again before she could stuff it into that part inside of her where she kept her lost dreams.

Midoriya was testing out kicks at Ground Beta with his newly armored boots while Uraraka laughed a few feet in the air, marveling at her lack-of-queasiness from her new electromagnetic helmet. Toru stared forlornly at the new pair of gloves she’d received, with new colorful stitching. Her costume was….

Well, it wasn’t. The whole point of an invisibility quirk meant that she couldn’t wear a costume. It would kind of defeat the whole point then, wouldn’t it? To remain transparent, she couldn’t have any floating garments or gadgets attached to her body. Even the gloves themselves were technically a hindrance, but she needed some object to orient herself with her setting, otherwise her depth perception would suffer. It was a lot easier getting her bearings if she could tell whereabout her body was, and without her gloves she tended to move slower, not entirely sure where the rest of her body was while she moved.

Practically speaking, not having a costume for someone with a quirk like Toru’s made sense. Reasonably speaking—

“Oh! Hagakure-san, is that you?” Iida asked, embarrassed. She was lucky it was him who had run into her. His hero costume was made of bulky armor, so she doubted he felt it when he had brushed his arm against the side of her naked boob. She shrunk away.

“It’s not your fault, Iida-kun,” she said, hoping he could hear the smile in her voice and not the fakeness of it. “I’ll be more careful.”

It was hard, though. To be careful. The students of 1-A were gathered in a loose crowd in front of Aizawa-sensei, ready to hear what their mission was for today’s exercise. Toru was used to standing on the outskirts of groups to avoid being bumped into, but today she had gotten swept up in the middle. She held her gloved hands out at her sides, her default position to show everyone how much space she was taking up, but she still jumped when she felt Ojiro’s tail brush the small of her bare back. He flinched too, and sent an apologetic smile in her general direction, though nowhere near where her face actually was. She apologized again.

She hated her hero costume.

-

When class 1-A returned to the dorms, Toru made a beeline for her room, not that anyone noticed until her door slammed shut. She dug through her closet frantically until she found her warmest, fluffiest pink robe, and through it over her shivering body. She was so sick of this.

Aizawa-sensei was known as one of the toughest teachers of UA. He was also known for not playing favorites. But would it have killed him to warn her that they were doing underwater exercises today? While everyone else had at least some form of pants and a shirt to do their rescue dives in, Toru had to swim through the freezing-cold pool completely naked. It might have been an advantage if she didn’t have to spend most of her mental energy trying not to touch her rescue victim (Sato) with most of her body. 

And coming out of the water? That was a treat. The water droplets that clung to her transparent body made her look like a sex-shop mannequin, perked nipples and all. She had no choice but to leave the training grounds immediately, nothing but wet footprints in the cement to prove she was even there to begin with. Toru waited until she had dried off before returning to class, making up a lie to Aizawa-sensei that she felt sick and hoping no one but Sato saw her dripping wet figure before she’d fled.

How come no one else had to deal with this? She’d tried to talk to Momo about it once, feeling like she of all people would understand Toru’s pain. After all, she had a quirk that required her to show a lot of skin as well. But ironically enough, Momo had responded that her quirk wasn’t so bad. And besides Mineta, all the other boys in their class were very respectful about not looking at her while she pulled back her hero costume to use her Creation quirk. Using it in public was hard, but certainly not impossible. Besides, Momo had pointed out, in the heat of hero-ing she barely had time to think about modesty. She was too focused on saving people.

Toru had left that conversation at that. Any further discussion would make her sound jaded, and that’s not the type of image she liked to project to the world. She didn’t have an actual image, so to others Toru’s attitude was all she had. So she kept quiet about how frustrating it was to have to constantly avoid being sexually harassed while saving people, all while hoping that others didn’t think she was sexually harassing them. Toru, the fifteen year old girl with a very unfortunate quirk, didn’t want to be made out to be a villain for something she simply could not help. But what was the right answer?

Toru searched the floor of her messy dorm room until she found a terry-cloth towel and then began to scrub her head with it, trying to dry off as quickly as possible and maybe just scrub the rest of this awful day off of her. The type of towel she was using would cause her hair to frizz (she watched enough beauty gurus online to know), but it made no difference to someone like Toru. The world didn’t know the incredible condition she normally kept her hair in. 

Sometimes it felt like everything about her was a secret.

-

“Just hot soba again, Toru-chan?” Tsuyu asked her the following week at school as they grabbed their lunch trays. Even though her voice was even as she said it, Toru could tell there was concern in it. Even at lunchtime, Toru could always be found with either bread or a sweet on her tray. It had been quite a while since she’d eaten a red bean bun. She just wasn’t in the mood lately.

“Yeah, I’m just not very hungry today,” Toru told her friend, trying to sound chipper. She didn’t want to concern anyone, not in the least, but it was getting harder and harder to keep up her upbeat attitude when everything about her quirk just seemed to be bothering her lately.

Tsuyu nodded, though she didn’t look convinced. But thankfully she wasn’t the type to pry, so she led them to an empty table in the cafeteria. Toru sat across from Tsuyu and removed her face mask, a plain black one that she had bought online a few months back when she had hay fever. Lately she’d been feeling very self-conscious of people constantly talking to her chest, so she started wearing the mask to give people something on her face to focus on when they spoke to her.

She slurped her soba noodles in silence, not having much to say, when Midoriya and Todoroki passed by.

“Are these seats taken?” Todoroki asked. Toru glanced around to make sure they were talking about actual empty seats, not hers.  But there were two vacant seats next to Tsuyu, who gestured to the boys that they could join them when she continued peeling an apple for herself.

“Have they bothered trying to see if Eri’s quirk would work on him?” Todoroki asked, continuing a conversation they must have started while getting their food.

Midoriya shrugged. “I haven’t asked lately. I think they’re still scared that Eri wouldn’t be able to control her quirk and would rewind him too far. She’s still so young.”

“When would be an appropriate age for her to finally use it on him, then?”

“Are you talking about Togata-senpai, ribbet?” Tsuyu asked.

Midoriya nodded, looking pained. “I don’t know, Todoroki-kun. He’s still coming to school, at least, but not full-time. Without his quirk he doesn’t have much use for the hero courses he was taking.”

Toru had vaguely heard about this from Tsuyu and Ochako. Apparently the third-year who had done a fight demonstration for class 1-A after the provisional exam was injured during the Shie Hassaikai raid.  He’d been hit by one of the darts manufactured to take away people’s quirks while rescuing a child. Toru, in one of her darker moments, had selfishly wondered what would happen if she had gotten hit by a dart like that. Would all of her problems be solved? If her quirk was erased would she be visible? Could she finally live her life like a normal girl?

But then she had passed by the hospital wing shortly after, to get some bandages for Kaminari. Togata Mirio sat alone in a hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around his waist and the blankest expression she had ever seen on the normally-cheerful upperclassmen’s face. She was thankful for her quirk in the moment, so Togata didn’t have to see the shame written all over her.

The feeling still burned through her at the mention of his name, so Toru kept to herself as she ate her lunch, seamlessly blending with the background as she often did.

“Le Million isn’t gone just because Togata-senpai doesn’t have his quirk,” Tsuyu told the boys insightfully. “He’s still plenty heroic without his Permeation.” 

“He could always just be a citizen for a few years until Eri gets older, I suppose,” Todoroki said idly. “Or he could be a police officer. Quirks aren’t required to be a part of the force.”

Midoriya stared off into the distance. “I guess. I just can’t imagine him in a police uniform instead of his hero costume. It’s too hard to think about.”

Toru slurped her noodles a bit too loudly at that, and all at once all eyes were on her. Well, her chopsticks.

“Hagakure-san?” Midoriya said.

Toru cleared her throat delicately before speaking. “Hero costume? I thought that Togata-senpai couldn’t wear clothes while using his quirk.”

“Oh!” Midoriya said cheerfully, understanding her surprise. “The only time you saw him fight was in his P.E. uniform, wasn’t it? No, Le Million’s hero costume is this really awesome full-body suit with a cape and the number one million written across the chest! I think he got the inspiration from—”

“But how does it stay on him?” Toru asked, cutting Midoriya off before he could start rambling.

If Midoriya was put off by her interruption, he was kind enough not to show it. “It’s woven out of some specially-made fabric,” Midoriya said. “The inspiration appears to be from—”

And for the second time that day, Toru cut Midoriya off. But this time it was to abruptly leave the table, leaving the rest of her soba and her friends behind.

-

Toru hoped all the work she had put in making friends with her classmates for the past few months would make up for her rudeness at lunchtime. But after hearing that there was a specially-woven fabric that could form to quirks, Toru could no longer sit idly by.

This could have been her solution! Not the one she had secretly, selfishly wished for, that her quirk would one day disappear and she would wake up a normal, visible civilian. But the more attainable goal, that she could find a way to make a costume that wasn’t so revealing. Something that gave her more coverage while still allowing her to maintain the one advantage that her quirk gave her in the field.

She had run immediately to the Principal Nezu’s office and requested Togata Mirio’s contact information, saying that it was urgent and related to education. The principal gave it to her with little hesitation, perhaps seeing an outcome to their meeting that she couldn’t fathom with her human brain. But Toru didn’t care, so long as she was able to talk to Togata about the nature of his costume.

Texting him had been a little nerve-wracking, especially since her senpai probably didn’t even know she was alive, but after explaining through text that she was a student from 1-A with some hero questions, Togata seemed perfectly happy to meet her in the courtyard on campus and chat with her.

Feeling better than she had in weeks, Toru made an effort in her appearance. Wearing a form-fitting black turtleneck, checkered skirt, and thigh-high stockings, she was feeling more like herself than she had in a very long time. Another girl would probably style her hair or apply make-up for a meeting with an upperclassmen boy, but Toru didn’t. She brushed her transparent hair and let it hang down straight, not that anyone else would know the difference. She did choose a more stylish mask today, looping a purple one with a bedazzled kitty face on it around her ears before heading away from the dorms to their meeting spot.

She sat on a bench in the courtyard, a few minutes early, and anxiously tapped on her thighs as she waited. Now that she was here, she was starting to get nervous. As excited as she was to talk about hero costumes, it was now occurring to her that her blank-faced senpai might not actually want to talk about hero work now that he had been forcefully relegated to civilian status. He’d gone through a traumatizing ordeal and had his whole life ripped away from him only a few months ago. Was she being incredibly selfish again?

“Hagakure-san?” Toru heard, and leapt to her feet awkwardly as Togata entered the courtyard.

“S-senpai! I’m glad you could come on such short notice!” she squeaked. She shouldn’t have asked him to come, what was she thinking—

“I like your mask,” he said with a sunny smile, coming to sit beside her on the stone bench. He didn’t look upset in the slightest. “I really love cats.”

“Really?” Toru asked stupidly.

“Yeah!” he said enthusiastically. “The way their tails swish back and forth, their rough tongues, their little toe beans? Cats are the best. If I could spend a day in a pile of cats, that would be the best day ever.”

Toru….did not know how to respond to that. The last time she saw him he had looked so depressed. She didn’t think that he would come here to talk to her and look so happy. Togata was sitting beside her, all six-foot-something of him, with his broad shoulders and his perfect hair and he was talking to her about cats. What did she call him here for again? 

Thankfully, Togata could not see the way she was gaping at him and just took her silence as a means to continue. He went on a Midoriya-like ramble for the next few minutes or so about his favorite breed (Singapura) before Toru finally found the will to speak.

“Togata-senpai?” she said gently, trying to make up for her earlier rudeness with her friends by at least interrupting this boy kindly. He stopped talking to look at her curiously. “I actually didn’t come here to talk about cats. I was hoping to talk to you about hero work…if that’s okay,” she tacked on lamely, hoping not to offend him.

He looked unbothered, smiling at her kindly. “Sure! I have a lot of experience out in the field, so I’m sure I could offer you some advice if you need it. Is something bothering you?”

“Well,” Toru said, looking down at her lap. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to bare her soul so openly to someone who was basically a stranger to her, so he kept her explanation brief. “Due to my quirk,” she splayed her arms out to gesture to her invisible form, “I don’t have a lot of options, costume-wise. Midoriya told me that your Le Million costume was constructed of a special fabric so that you could wear it while using your Permeation quirk, and I was just wondering if the same material might work for my quirk as well?”

Togata looked on thoughtfully. “Well, you see. My costume was made from my own hair.”

Toru blinked. 

“Your hair?”

He nodded. “With Permeation, I phase through every solid object around me when I use my quirk. You saw me fight your class, I could barely keep my P.E. uniform on,” he said with a bashful chuckle. “But if my costume is made from me, I can use my quirk on it so both me and my clothes permeate. You see?”

“Oh,” Toru murmured. 

She really didn’t realize how much hope she had in this plan until it was dashed right in front of her eyes. There wasn’t some special all-in-one fabric swatch she could use to make her own full-body suit with a cape. She was Hagakare Toru, and life did not treat her that kindly. She would spend the rest of her hero days either shivering from the cold or being unintentionally (or even worse, intentionally ) groped by every person she attempted to save.

Her vision swam from disappointment, and when the tears started beading in the corners of her eyes, she did nothing to stop them.

“Hagakure-san! What’s wrong?” her senpai asked, flapping his hands wildly in concern when he saw the water drip down the invisible contours of her cheeks.

“I just thought—I just hoped I could have a costume like yours, Senpai,” she sniffed miserably. “I can’t stand doing hero work with no clothes on. I don’t want to want to be a hero if I have to be naked for it.”

Togata seemed to finally understand what she was here for, and the sympathy in his eyes showed it. While the pity was appreciated, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be around anyone right now. She stood to leave, but before she could turn away from him Togata touched her very gently at the elbow. She stopped and looked down at his hand, and he immediately took it away. 

“Wait, don’t go yet. I understand completely what you mean. I spent so much of my first year at UA forced to laugh it off whenever my clothes would fall off while training with my classmates. I know how it must feel for you, to an extent.”

Toru thought of her classmates, who brushed off her concerns dismissively. “You do?”

That constant smile returned to his face, though there was a sad twist to it. “Embarrassing. Vulnerable. Incredibly lonely.”

She blinked a few more tears away and nodded.

Togata continued. “It’s hard when you have a quirk with such a unique drawback. No one wants to think too much about how hard it might be for you. Especially since you’re so cheery; you can’t possibly be bothered by it. Sound familiar?”

To a tee. 

“It sucks having to be the positive one all the time,” she said, brushing her cheeks with the palm of her hand. “It means no one likes you when you act truly unhappy.”

Togata swallowed and nodded. She wondered what it must be like for him now, to have lost his quirk and still keep that sunny smile on his face. She wondered how genuine he was when he first showed up here, or if he was putting on an act just like she did every day.

She thought to ask him. “Togata-senpai—?”

But Togata was already pressing on. “But I do think there’s something we can do for you. While the material for my suit won’t be usable for you, there’s no reason why the same method of costume production won’t work for you, Hagakure-san.”

“My hair?”

Togata shrugged. “If it worked for me, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for you. It’s worth a shot, anyway. How long is your hair?”

Without asking, his hand reached out. Toru never got used to this. It was always worse because of how horrible people were at guessing body position. You’d think that after looking at so many humans on a day-to-day basis that people would be able to reasonably guess where certain body parts were, but Toru was often unpleasantly surprised by where people grabbed her first. 

She closed her eyes and waited for it to be over, but his hand never fell. She cracked open one eye and saw Togata’s hand, suspended a few inches above the crown of her head. Her eyes then flicked to his face, where he waited patiently for her.

The saltwater didn’t seem to have fully left her eyes as she reached up her hand and took hold of his own, before guiding it gently down the length of her hair. His fingertips grazed the very ends of the strands for a moment before letting it fall back to her shoulders. He smiled again.

“That should be plenty to start.”

-

“Shouldn’t we be going to the Costumes Department?” Toru asked as she followed Togata’s lead, walking towards a wing of UA that she’d never needed to enter before today. 

“Nah, they’d take too long to make it. They’re always backed up. But the Support Class students are always itching for new projects,” Togata said like the wise senpai he was. “No one is more Plus Ultra than UA students themselves, after all,” he said with a wink.

Toru took this logic in stride as she stood before the Support Class Workshop, but admittedly she was a little nervous. They were still students, after all.

“What if they mess up?” she asked. She’d be foolish to not voice her fears now, before it was too late.

Togata seemed unfazed. “Then we try again. Hair isn’t a finite resource after all. It grows back. And if you can find someone with a helpful quirk, your costume material could grow back faster than you think!”

Toru supposed she couldn’t argue with that, so she steeled herself for whatever was to come and opened the door.

A drone zipped past her head and out the door, so quick Toru didn’t even have time to duck.

“Don’t leave the door open!” a student covered in grime yelled from on top of an incredibly tall ladder. “My babies will escape!”

“Babies?” Toru asked curiously. Togata closed the metal door behind them and caught another drone flying their way before it could smack into the wall. The student who had yelled at them before was already focusing her attention elsewhere, picking up an electric tool that Toru couldn’t identify and hopping inside of the cabin of a giant mech.

“That’s Hatsume Mei,” Togata told her. “She’s a first-year, but she’s already at the top of the Support Class. If anyone can help you, it’s her.”

“Is that praise I hear?” Hatsume Mei called out, poking her head out of the robot and grinning wildly. “Le Millioni! It’s been ages. What can I do for you?

“We’re actually here for Hagakure-san today.” Togata explained the situation to her while she worked, undeterred when Hatsume climbed back in her machine and continued working on her invention. He told her of Toru’s unique problem as impersonally as possible, only telling her the necessary details, which Toru was grateful for. Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her skirt as she waited until Togata ended his explanation, wondering if Hatsume could fashion a costume for her out of her own hair.

“So you said it was mid-back, right?” Hatsume Mei yelled over the sound of a drill. She was back inside the robot and sparks were shooting out of it at rapid intervals. Toru and Togata ducked their heads in tandem as some shot their way.

“Closer to my lower back, actually!” Toru shouted back. 

Toru had always been incredibly proud of her hair. It was a personal thing, obviously, since no one could see it, but that didn’t stop Toru from meticulously maintaining it from a young age. Even if it wasn’t visible, Toru could still feel it, so she’d always gone out of her way to treat her hair properly so she could at least revel in the sleek texture of it. She’d followed beauty influencers online for years to discover the perfect balance of shampoos, conditioners, leave-ins, and other miracle products to keep her hair in perfect condition. Hair length like hers could only be achieved through proper care of healthy hair.

The drilling noise cut off suddenly and Hatsume pulled herself out of the robot and climbed down the ladder. She flipped up her grease-smudged goggles to eye Toru curiously. Toru, used to this reaction, let herself be scrutinized. 

“I can work with that,” she said finally. “Though there is the caveat of it being invisible. I need to be able to see my materials in order to make a beautiful baby out of them.”

There was always something, wasn’t there? Every time Toru thought she was taking a step in the right direction, the rug was pulled right out from under her—

“That’s an easy fix, though,” Togata said. “Temporary hair dye will help you cut it off of her and work it into usable fabric. Then you can wash the dye out when you’re all done.”

And just like that, there was hope again. Toru looked at Togata in amazement.

Hatsume smiled grandly at Togata. “Look at that! Beauty and brains. What don’t you have, Le Million?”

A quirk , Toru thought glumly. But Togata didn’t miss a beat. “Time to waste, Hatsume. Toru needs this costume done as soon as possible, okay?”

“Don’t they all,” Hatsume said flippantly, tossing her tool on a desk behind her. “Alright, cutie,” she said, addressing Toru this time. “If you want support gear from me ASAP then I’m going to need you to come back to me as quick as you can with dyed hair, got it? Then I’ll get to work on turning it into something usable for you.”

“Do you really think you can do it?” Toru asked. All of this hoping was exhausting her.

“Ye of little faith. I perform miracles in this workshop every day!” she shouted, extending her arms out widely to gesture to the room of junked parts. “Now, begone until you’ve returned with dyed hair. I have schematics to work up.”

And just like that, they were kicked out of Hatsume Mei’s workshop of miracles, something Toru believed in for the first time in a long while.

-

Two days later, Toru walked out of the Workshop of Miracles feeling lighter than she had in all the time she’d been a student at UA. Most of that was due to the 13 inches of hair cut from her head, but she couldn’t deny that optimism had something to do with it too.

“I like the haircut,” Togata told her as he met up with her outside of the workshop. He was smiling that same sunny smile, but Toru didn’t have it in her to question it after feeling so high. 

She shook her head from side to side, reveling in the feeling of the tips of her hair hitting her face. The other night she had approached the girls of 1-A with a proposition: make-over night. Thrilled beyond all belief, they were incredibly eager to follow her to the drugstore for a night of fun, picking out nail polish and facial masks and of course, hair dye. After mixing it with care, Ochako had taken a specially purchased paintbrush to apply the dye evenly and consistently to her hair, making sure every strand was fully coated. The morning after, she had sent an email to Aizawa-sensei saying she wouldn’t be able to participate in Stealth training for a week and then took the day to bask in the feeling of being truly seen.

“It’s a shame I didn’t get to see it while it was still long,” he said as he walked beside her, matching his pace with hers as they made their way to the cafeteria. Despite the fact that she had a freshly-cut, lilac-colored bob swishing on her head, he still made the effort to focus his gaze on the space between her hairline and her mask, a white one with rainbow-colored cat whiskers. Toru smiled widely.

“It’s alright, Senpai. You didn’t miss anything,” she said genuinely. 

What he wouldn’t want to miss was still yet to come.

-

This was, perhaps, the one time Toru truly allowed herself to be manhandled. Even the word “allow” felt a little strong, for Hatsume Mei had come to her with an eagerness that couldn’t be denied, but with Toru being just as ecstatic as the engineer was, she didn’t push back too much when Hatsume insisted that she blindfold Toru for the reveal of her new costume. So after tying a UA uniform-standard tie around her eyes, Hatsume set to work dressing Toru, making easy work of her and not once misplacing where certain body parts might be.

“Are you guys almost done in there?” Togata asked from outside of the crudely-made fitting room. It wasn’t more than some strategically placed Support Pieces and a curtain draped between the stacks, but it was more privacy than Toru usually got when she undressed, so she was grateful.

“Al-moooooost,” Hatsume sang, in an extraordinary mood, which only made Toru’s spirits climb higher. After the rustling of fabric and a few tugs later, Toru felt herself being spun in a circle and led to the outside of the fitting room. Togata remained quiet as Hatsume untied the tie and pulled it from Toru’s eyes in a grand flourish.

Before Toru was a large full-length mirror, with Togata off to the side, watching with quiet awe. She almost couldn’t understand his expression at first, until she turned her body slightly and saw her hair catch the light, a purple shimmer still tinting parts of it even after she’d washed it several times.

But that’s all she saw.

Toru walked forward and touched her hand to the mirror before pulling it away. The glass felt cool and smooth beneath her palm, but she had not seen her approach the entire time she’d walked towards it. Only Togata and Hatsume’s giant smiles as they stood behind her.

Togata’s expression started to dip when he saw the tears rolling down Toru’s cheeks, a similar sight to what he had seen the day he first met her, except now they were suspended alone in midair.

“Oh, no. Hagakure-san, if you don’t like it—”

A little laugh bubbled out of her before she could stop herself, then another, until Toru found herself crying and laughing in equal parts.

Togata looked confused until Hatsume, who had never stopped grinning, handed over her goggles to him.

“Click the right button twice for thermal imaging, Beauty,” she whispered to him.

And then Togata was able to see Toru as she truly stood, a smile practically splitting her face in two as her hands roved up and down her body. Just her 13 inches of hair had made enough material for a shirt the length of a crop top, with spaghetti straps crossed behind her back. Her bikini-cut bottoms covered her front and backside completely, and there was even a tiny bit of material left over to make a tie for Toru’s hair, so the longer strands of her bob could be pulled back into a small ponytail at the back of her head. She was invisible, but she was covered , for the first time in her life, and Toru couldn’t stop crying as she clung to the feeling of security around all her most intimate parts.

“Now once your hair grows back, I’ll be able to add more to it, of course. This is just the prototype stage. If you take your vitamins or, if you’re like our senpai over here, you find someone with a hair-growth quirk, we’ll be able to add all sorts of pieces to it, such as—”

Hatsume couldn’t get any more words out, crushed as she was in Toru’s vice grip embrace.

“Thank you,” she cried into the engineer’s neck. “Thank you so much.”

Hatsume hummed and patted her back. “All in a day’s work. Glad I could help.” She rubbed Toru’s bare shoulder for a moment before jumping back. “Oh! Wait, I didn’t show you the best part.”

She extracted herself from Toru to head back to the makeshift dressing room, where she brought out the briefcase that all UA students carried their costumes in. Toru’s had previously only contained her white striped gloves. But when Hatsume opened it up, she saw much more.

It almost looked like a miniaturized closet, a rod going across the top of it and a tech-y looking hanger dangling from the middle. On the bottom of the velvet-lined case were a bunch of black discs the size of silver dollars, each with a blinking red light.

“This—” Hatsume said as she pointed to the hanger “—is where you put your costume after you’re done wearing it. The hanger is weight sensitive, so when your costume is on it, it will light up green so you know that it’s there even if you can’t see it. Should it not be in your case and you need to try and locate it—” Hatsume picked up one of the small discs “—use one of these sensors to track it. Your costume gives off a signal that can be registered on one of these from up to 500 meters away. There’s a tiny twist of wires in both pieces that act as a homing beacon. I made them as small as possible so they’re barely visible to the human eye unless you’re dancing in front of a stark white background. Otherwise you should be good.”

Toru twisted and turned about, patting down her sides, unable to even feel the wires Hatsume was talking about. The engineer was good. 

“Why are there so many sensors?” she asked.

“Ah, yes. These also double as tools to be given to your team when you go out on assignment for hero work. Now your teammates can locate you even if you can’t respond to them aloud. Helps with rescue ops and things like that.”

Toru didn’t know what to say. 

“You put a tracking device in my suit so my friends can find me?”

“Yes, essentially.”

Toru swallowed, the emotion in her throat coming close to clawing out of her. How did Hatsume know? How could she have known that Toru was terrified of getting lost or injured during her hero work? Of no one knowing where to look? She’d never told anyone that. She was Hagakure Toru, the upbeat attitude of 1-A, the comic relief when everyone else was feeling overwhelmed. How did she know Toru was petrified that a stealth operation would turn into a mission where she’d be lost forever?

“I can’t take the credit for that idea,” Hatsume continued good-naturedly. “Brains here came up with that one.”

Toru turned to her senpai, who had been standing back the entire time and staying out of the girls’ way as they discussed the details of the costume. He was still wearing Hatsume’s ridiculous-looking goggles, which meant he could still see Toru, though it seemed like he didn’t need the goggles at all for that to be possible. Maybe he’d been the one person truly seeing her this whole time.

She stepped toward him, not at all feeling self-conscious for perhaps the first time in her life and took his hands in hers.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, Togata-senpai,” she said, her voice packed with sincerity.

She’d seen so many smiles from him in these past two weeks, but the crooked one that climbed up his face now felt the most genuine out of all of them.

“I’m always here to help,” he told her.

-

No, this was the most genuine smile she’d seen him wear in weeks.

“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!”

She laughed good-naturedly as the former-hero Le Million lay on the floor of a cat café, covered in kittens. He’d been shrieking with joy for the past half hour while she sipped her coffee and watched him. This was the least she could do for her upperclassmen after all he’d done for her lately. A small orange kitten crawled over his chest and flicked its tail at Togata’s nose, and he looked like he just won the lottery.

“This is the best day,” he said happily, his hands patting at the floor while an older striped cat batted at his fingers. “I feel like now I owe you something, Hagakure-san. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I absolutely did,” she said, setting down her cup. A cat sitting on the chair across from her scurried away at the noise, not being able to comprehend how the cup had seemingly moved on its own.  “And frankly I owe you about a thousand more cat cafés after all you’ve done for me.”

Togata sat up, holding the striped cat up to his face to give her forehead a kiss before setting her down to run away. He looked at Toru, eyes still full of light. “Now that’s just silly.”

Maybe so, but Toru felt he deserved it nonetheless. She wouldn’t be feeling as happy, as safe, as she felt now without his help. And the trackers…she really couldn’t thank him enough. He’d done so much for her despite barely knowing her. 

She wished she had been able to do the same when she saw him in that hospital bed all those months ago. When he was feeling lost, who had helped out Le Million? Back then, Toru had seen the pain on his face and had only thought of herself. Toru felt the venomous shame coursing through her veins again. Underneath all the smiles and child-like exuberance was a boy who was suffering without his quirk. The fact that she’d envied someone who’d been hurt so deeply still made her stomach twist. The cat café could provide him temporary happiness, but she could see that saving people was the thing that caused him real joy. 

“Togata-senpai?” 

Togata, who’d been dangling a feathered toy in front of an uninterested black cat’s face, looked up.

She was going to ruin his good mood, but she felt like she had to say it. 

“I’m sorry you lost your quirk.”

For once, Togata didn’t plaster an automatic smile to his face. “Why do you say that?”

Toru fiddled with the hem of her uniform skirt awkwardly, unable to look him in the eye. “You seem like a really kind person. I know that you would have made an amazing hero.” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “The fact that you lost your quirk is really unfair.”

Togata remained quiet. Toru did as well, not knowing if she should continue or change the subject to lighten the mood. Hagakure Toru, known for her cheery attitude, was not known for her grace when it came to serious topics. She probably shouldn’t have brought it up. It was out of her own guilt that she felt the need to mention it, and now she was forcing Togata to think about it—

Togata stood up, leaving the bell toy in front of the cat, and sat at the table with her. His voice was uncharacteristically somber when he spoke.

“I won’t lie to you. When I lost my quirk, I thought it was unfair too. I’ve worked hard my entire life to be able to turn my quirk into something useful, and having all that hard work taken from me so suddenly felt like a slap in the face. Like a part of me was taken, you know?”

Toru nodded sympathetically.

“But you know what?” Togata said. “After a while I began to realize that no one can control what is or isn’t fair in their lives. We can only control how we react to it.” 

There was truth in the simplicity of his statement. Toru felt it in her bones every time she’d been dismissed, ignored by people who often forgot about her if she didn’t work so hard to take up space. Life was unfair, and the bitterness she felt in her heart about her own quirk probably wouldn’t go away for a long time. But stewing in hate wasn’t going to help her move forward either.

Togata continued, “I lost my quirk, maybe permanently, but that doesn’t change my purpose. Le Million’s goal is to save a million people. I don’t need to be a hero to do that. Every day that I help someone in need is another person saved, and I use that reminder to stay focused on the future.”

Toru thought about that. “Does that mean I’m another person you saved?”

Togata hummed pensively. “Maybe. But I think that asking for help means that you already did half the work for me. And now that you can do hero work more comfortably, you can save lots of people too!”

The smile forming on his face was infectious. She felt the corners of her lips turning up, hope lighting a fire in her heart that hadn’t been there a month ago. 

Toru put her hands on her hips, but kept a teasing edge to her voice.. “Don’t think that you can use my rescues towards your count, Le Million!” Toru retorted playfully. “If you want to save a million people you need to do it fair and square!”

Togata laughed at her joke—a full, exuberant sound that Toru found she quite liked. The conversation tapered off from there as her senpai located a lone Singapura cat basking in the sunlight a few tables down, but Toru was fine with that. Something told her that this was the beginning of a new chapter for both of them. 

The future was looking brighter for her already, and with a new costume and a new friend, she was excited to see the kind of hero she’d turn out to be.

[akindofmagictoo]

manuscript search tag game

I got tagged a few days ago by @vellichor-virgo! thanks! 

my words are elegant, hidden, glare, climb 

elegant (untitled Lord of the Rings fic) (listen, i’m a simple woman. i write two women who have lots of excellent characterisation parallels, i must give them opposing visual aesthetics) 

“Have you decided what you will wear to the ball?” 

Thalia set the blankets in the appropriate cupboard as she nodded. “My mother helped me pick out a lovely dress. Light green like sun on leaves, with many little flowers across the bodice and shoulders.” She ran a hand over the area to demonstrate. “It reminds me of one I wore when I was young.” 

Artemis smiled. “It sounds lovely. I myself have not decided, but I have a dress or two that will work well.” 

Without the poncho, Thalia could now see that Artemis wore a slim black tunic with a high collar, both elegant and practical. At her neck gleamed a hint of mithril mail, the same silver as the bracers on her arms, and she wore a belt of braided leather buckled in silver. Sleek, and very different to Thalia’s own usual garb, which was usually looser and lighter in colour. “I take it you intend to wear something… darker.” 

“Most likely, yes.” Artemis’s eyes twinkled. 

hidden (Dragonsong) (:D) 

“No, I squired with a residential knight. Tor,” added Aurelia.

“I’m not a knight anymore. No need for the title.” 

Aurelia started. The match slipped from her fingers. “I—” 

Before Isi could explain herself, the door opened and a man entered the room. He, too, wore a knight’s uniform, but otherwise looked very different from Aurelia. Tall and broad, with tanned skin and greying hair. The lower part of his face was hidden by a beard; the upper part gave little away. His eyes were bright and alert as he looked at her, but he greeted her merely with a nod. “Your reputation precedes you, Tor Isadora.” 

“Then you should know that I am not a knight anymore.” 

glare (Hurricane) (ah cheeky Theo is great) 

The dice clattered on the deck. Another excellent roll for Theo. “I’m not cheating, I promise.” He adopted a snooty expression and finished, “I’m not a pirate.” 

Aella glared at him and he dissolved into laughter. She threw a die at him, her own expression faltering. He ducked, snatched up another, and tossed it back. She had to fall over sideways to avoid it. Her breath came in sharp pants between giggles, and it took her several tries to regulate it. 

“You’re suggesting that I’m cheating,” she said, once she’d wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’d think I’d be winning, then.” 

“Maybe you just have terrible luck.” 

Getting to know Theo seemed like a sign of good luck to her, but she kept that thought to herself. The wind ruffled his hair and a strand tickled his cheek. He huffed and tucked it behind his ear, then reached forwards. She tried to slap his hands away, but they’d already closed over the dice. 

“My roll, silly,” she said. 

He put his hands behind his back. 

climb (Hurricane) (me? posting a short excerpt for this? it’s more likely than you think) 

Hands skidding and splashing on the wet deck, he pushed himself to his feet. He staggered straight towards the hatch to the bunk area, half-falling rather than climbing down the ladder. A few other women followed him, including Aella. Where the others looked relieved, though, Aella appeared distinctly sulky. She hesitated, then slammed and bolted the hatch behind her. 

I will tag @diphthongsfordays @isherwoodj and anyone else who wants to play! your words are guard, grin, grime, grey 

[lovemesomesurveys]

Do you prefer your nails long or short? Why? I’m a constant picker, so my nails are basically non-existent. Do you have any vinyl records? I have The Sound of Music. Do you actually listen to them? No. I found it at a record store years ago and just wanted it at the time to collect. What kind of shampoo do you prefer? Nice smelling ones that do all the good stuff for your hair. What about your favorite bodywash? I use Caress bar soap.

Are you picky about brand name for anything? Yeah, with certain things. Are you still in touch with your best friend from high school? No. Do you think Darlie Routier is guilty, or the case is worth reexamining? I’m not familiar with that one. Do you ever watch Cold Case Files or World's Most Evil Killers? No, but I watch other crime shows like that. Have you ever visited any celebrity gravesites? No. How do you feel about archaeology? The things that get discovered can be quite interesting and cool. Any animals whose behaviors you find particularly interesting? I find the behavior of people and animals interesting in general.  Have you ever had an exotic pet? No. Would you have a big cat (like a tiger) for a pet if you could? Absolutely not. The world is a scary place - do you believe there's still good out there? Yes. What simple things in life bring you the most joy? Coffee, good food, good books, good TV shows... What are your favorite smells? I have several. Ever found anything cool at a thrift store? What was it? I don’t go to thrift stores. Do you still use a radio, or just use your phone/computer for music? I use Spotify on my phone. How do you find new music to listen to when you want it? Usually I look at the top 50 chart on Spotify. Recently, I’ve found new music through my brother. Do you like all those dystopian future books/movies? Some of them. Brave New World was one of my favorite books that I had tor read in high school and I was obsessed with The Hunger Games when it came out. Have you ever had to block people online for harassing you? No. I typically just block spam and bots. What kind of socks do you prefer to wear? (Crew, ankle, knee, etc) Ankle. Do you have any family heirlooms? What? No. Isn't reality scarier than anything in those horror movies? I’d say so cause it’s real and something you’re actually experiencing yourself and it can feel like you can’t escape it. If you collect anything, what is your favorite piece of that collection? I love all my stuffed animal giraffes and knickknacks, key chains, graphic tees... all my stuff. How did you meet your significant other (if you have one)? -- How did you meet your best friend? She’s my mom. Are you friends with anybody you didn't like at first? I don’t have any friends. Are there any musicians you didn't like at first, but grew on you? Yeah, it happens. Is there anything you used to love, but now dislike? I’m sure, but I don’t feel like thinking of something right now. Have you watched Seth MacFarlane's The Orville? No. What is your favorite thing to do on The Sims? I like making them and furnishing the home and then getting into a story and such that I create for them. If you have any, what is your favorite expansion pack for The Sims? I have several, including the college, beach, seasons, pets, etc. Did you ever play The Sims Medieval? No. Do you have any tattoos? Nope. If yes, is there any meaning behind them? -- If no, do you want any? What would you like? I’ve wanted to get ‘free bird’ for several years, but I doubt I’ll ever work up the nerve. Have you dyed your hair more than once (and different colors)? I’ve dyed my hair numerous times. Which hair color you've had has been your favorite? Red for sure. I recently had to cut my hair really short and as it was I was well over a year due for getting my hair dyed, so all the red is gone now, but once my hair grows out more I plan on dyeing it red again. Your favorite place to be aside from your home? The beach is definitely one of them. If you were stupid-rich, would you ever actually want a mansion? Nah. Did you ever read Good Omens? Nope. Are you planning on watching the show based on it? Nope. Do you enjoy any of those old black and white horror films? Nah, not my thing. Does glitter annoy you? Yes. It’s pretty, but also quite the nuisance. What kind of makeup remover do you prefer? (If you wear makeup.) I always just used water, honestly. I didn’t wear much makeup when I wore it. Do you like any board games or card games? I love board games and card games. What is your favorite part of your physical appearance? Nothing. Do you know anybody who puts ketchup on their mac n cheese? Probably. I know that’s a thing, which I personally don’t understand. Can you drink your coffee black? No. What is your favorite kind of tea? I like peppermint and chamomile. What is your least favorite beverage? I don’t like juice or the protein drinks I’m supposed to be drinking. Root beer floats -- delicious, or nasty? Delicious. Wow, I don’t remember the last time I had one, though. Are there any foods you never get tired of? Apparently ramen since I literally have it every night. Do you remember your first celebrity crush? Who was it? I think it was Aaron Carter. Do you shave up past your knees (if you shave your legs)? No. What color are the eyes of your significant other (or crush)? I don’t have either of those. Did you see the miniseries When We Rise about LGBTQ+ activist Cleve Jones? No. What are your guilty pleasures, if any? I don’t have any; I like what I like I don’t care. Do you think you could ever be in an open relationship? Absolutely not. Any old home remedies you use when you're sick? Tea can be helpful with certain things for me.

[crimson-dxwn]

Origins: Clan Wren

Summary: A millennia before Star Wars: Rebels and the Skywalker Saga, the Mandalorians are on a mission to conquer the galaxy. Krownest was not always under Mandalorian control. How did Clan Wren originate? The answer is below. 

Love the enemies to lovers trope? I’ve got you covered. Born of my obsession with the Old Republic and Mando culture.

Rating: Teen. Probably going to be explicit at some point. 

Warnings: mention and brief description of injury, mention of slavery

Many many thanks to @detroitbydark​ for listening to me obsess over my OC’s and Mando culture as well as many HC’s.

Chapter 1 - Surrender

The last thing she registered was the smell of burning flesh and singed hair as darkness overtook her unwilling mind. Screams echoed in the deep blackness as the sensation of being lifted tugged at her body. Were they hers or her enemies’?

It could have been hours later, days, seconds as Seren woke. Instead of the battlefield, it’s obvious she was in some sort of med center. Every surface was swathed in clinical white and durasteel. The scent of disinfectant filled her nostrils instead of the sweet, metallic tang of blood, grounding earth, and spent tibanna. Her brain, slow to gather information, was jarred from what she imagined must have been a grenade blast, if the soot under her fingernails was to be believed. Seren willed herself to take deep breaths against the panic of being in an unfamiliar place, dressed in a hospital gown, her rifle nowhere to be seen. Monitors connected to tiny stickers on her skin, tethering her to the machine beside the bed that beeped softly. Before she could rip the leads off and form a plan of attack, a med droid entered the room, no doubt summoned by the monitor.

Will it start speaking Mando’a?, she wondered. Her brief assessment of her surroundings had given her little evidence to the victor of the battle to defend her homeworld. Krownest. The med droid remained stubbornly silent as it unwinds the thick bandage wound around her left forearm. Pain flared in the limb as the last layer peeled away, taking new pink skin with it. A hideous burn glared back at her. No wonder I passed out. The droid removed the old bacta and replaced it as she watched. Bacta was expensive. There was no way the Mandalorians would waste it on a foot soldier, let alone one from the opposite side. She let out a breath of relief, finally satisfied with her answer.

“I am BD-47, medical droid for The Dauntless-”

No…

A scene from before the battle replayed itself over the buzzing in her ears. “This is The Dauntless, flagship of the Mandalorian Navy. Surrender now or prepare for invasion.”

- you have suffered a third degree burn to your left upper appendage, but are otherwise unharmed. I have applied a final bacta treatment which will complete the healing process. You will have light scarring that will fade in time.”

“Where am I?” she croaked out to the droid’s retreating backside.

“You are in a field hospital on the surface of Krownest.”

“My aunt…”

“-is right here.” A clear, familiar voice cut through the modulated drone of BD-47. The prickle of tears was difficult to resist as her aunt carefully embraced her, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed.

“I will leave you to rest,” said BD-47. The droid hastily left the room, as if it could sense human emotion and was repelled by it.

Iryn’s hand hovered over her bandaged arm. “Thank the goddess you’re safe. I saw them carry you in, unconscious-”

“My rifle?” The woman shook her head. Destroyed, most likely. Her aunt seemed unhurt, despite the ferocity of the earlier fighting. Their people had put up a fierce resistance. After all, they came from the same origins of the same Mandalorians trying to conquer their world. Her people had just adapted differently. War wasn’t their religion, their creed, their way of life. But threaten Krownest, and the warrior genes would show themselves. Cin’ciri demagolka. Snow demons. But none of that mattered now. They had been defeated, and the rush of energy from battle had faded into soreness and melancholy. What will become of us? They hadn’t dared speculate on the fate of their world if the Mandalorians had been allowed to win. Now it was a painful reality that demanded to be faced.

Her aunt Iryn’s hands enveloped hers, warm and dry. “They gave us a choice. Surrender or be executed. I wasn’t about to let our people be exterminated in one fell swoop. We surrendered. Krownest belongs to Mandalore now.”

----

Seren gaped at her aunt Iryn’s defeated expression. The once-proud woman’s shoulders were bowed, and pain was evident in her golden-brown eyes.

“Mother?” she dared ask. “Gone,” her aunt replied. Dead, then. Iryn embraced her as they wept. Her father, Iryn’s brother, was long gone. Seren only had her aunt now.

“She loved you so much. Ursa would’ve wanted you to survive.”

She paused at her aunt’s comment. I did survive. What will happen to us now? Her hand strokes the side of her face as she says it, tears still sliding down her face. Her chin, normally lifted and imperious, wobbled. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

“Aunt Iryn. What did you do?” her own voice wavered despite her efforts to keep it steady.

“I did what I had to to save our people. We can keep our culture, our gods, our land for the most part,” she pause dto take a shaky breath, “but Krownest is now a Mandalorian colony.”

“Surely they didn’t agree to such generous terms after we put up such a fight.” Iryn considered her for a moment, but gave nothing away.

“You always were shrewd. It will serve you well in the future,” she said wistfully. Not for the first time, Seren wondered if her aunt was in shock.  

She was tired. Tired of her aunt’s evasion, tired of confinement, of being kept in the dark for goddess knows how long. She didn’t care if she was rude. At this point, she just wanted to know.

“Iryn. Tell me the truth. Tell me what you agreed to.” Her aunt’s face turned ashen. Slaves, she thought immediately, they’re going to sell us. Seren suddenly felt her face drain as gray as her aunt’s. It certainly explained why she was in a med center and not dead in a ditch on Krownest.

“You’re not fully healed yet. I’ll come back when the bacta is finished working.”

“No,” she said, with as much conviction as she could, “You need to tell me now. I deserve to know.”

“Brides,” Iryn choked out, “-they want marriages. They want to settle Krownest, start a base here.”

All Seren could do was stare. Yes, she expected something this vile, but hearing it was another thing entirely. This is where you hoped you died in the fighting. So was the fact that her aunt, the Countess, had agreed to such humiliating terms. She was essentially selling their people under the guise of a treaty. She bit out a harsh reply.

“How could you -” she spat, and began to continue her tirade, wounded and terrified. Her aunt cut her off before she could elaborate. “-it was this or die. Compromise or execution.” She looked down at her folded hands. “Could you say you wouldn’t have done the same? Condemned our entire people to death?” Unshed tears shone in Iryn’s eyes, beseeching her niece.

Seren wanted to say no. She wanted to say she would’ve fought to the death to prevent the Mandalorians from settling their world. At any cost. But what was the point in defending a world if all its people perished? If there was no one to say funeral rites for them, to wrap and burn the bodies, to continue their way of life? Her rage abated, and a heavy understanding took its place in her chest. The finality of the defeat sunk in, the grief of her mother’s death. Her head bowed of its own volition.

“No,” she said finally, “I would have made the same compromise. Our people can still survive.” “I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” he aunt offered, lamely.  

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

Tor Wren’s head hit the ‘fresher wall with a thump. The adrenaline of battle was wearing off, as it always did. The water was still running pink as his legs struggled to keep him upright. He spat his own blood from a split lip down the drain as the blood of his enemies washed off his body. Weary eyes watched the bloody swirls mix together and wash down the drain.

Eight blessed hours of sleep later, his comm beeped insistently. Tor desperately needed rest, but he answered his CO. Briefing room at 0700 for orders. He replied Affirmative, and flopped once more onto his spartan bunk aboard The Dauntless, clad in only his black undershorts, having no energy for any other activity. The cry of his alarm woke him at 0600 as usual, and Tor finished his usual workout in record time, despite the soreness from the battle planetside a day before. He reveled in the warmth seeping into his body from the exertion, drops of sweat running down his spine. Krownest was a temperate planet, and it was winter. As much as he hated to admit it, their men had struggled fighting in the snow. They’d lost many more than they should have to attain victory. The knee-deep wet pack had slowed their warriors - they wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Nor would they have to, on Krownest at least. He recalled their enemies rushing towards them, seeming to float over the white ground, moving faster than he thought possible, as he trudged through the heavy pack in his durasteel boots. Snowshoes. They fought in snowshoes. His intel hadn’t told him that.

Tor rinsed off in the fresher as quickly as possible and donned his beskar’gam. The gleaming plates had saved his life more than once. It was his legacy, his heritage. He hoped his ancestors were proud of the accomplishments he’d made, the battles won with honor.

All his life he’d been looking for a fight. As a boy he’d been teased for being from a farm family, which theoretically shouldn’t have made him lesser. But for the other boys and girls he played with, it was a sign of weakness, otherness. His father knew how to fight, as did his mother. They just chose another path. A sense of inadequacy still burned him deep down, even as a man. Some wounds always chafed open again.

Making his way to the briefing room, he nodded at a few familiar faces as they hurried to their duties. Would it be Kalevala next? Or somewhere beyond the Mandalore sector?

The briefing room was packed with men and women of many ranks and Tor found an open seat close to a few friends he knew from his battalion.

“As we spread our way of life across the sector and across the galaxy, we will need bases. Bases farther from Mandalore and strongholds of our people and culture. We can do this in two ways: conquering worlds and recruiting.”

“Our newest acquisition, Krownest, has ample resources and an enviable planetary position for strike forces. We plan to start a Mandalorian colony here where our people can live and work, as well as establish a base. The inhabitants will be allowed to coexist, keeping their own ways if they so choose.”

It was a reasonable strategy. Mandalorians were intensely proud of their own culture, but tolerant of others as long as they stayed in line. They would never be able to hold conquered worlds otherwise.

“As part of the treaty with the Countess, three hundred of our warriors will make alliances with theirs to help ensure that the treaty remains intact.”

“Alliances, sir?” someone spoke up.

Commander Von looked a tad uncomfortable for a moment.

“Marriages,” he replied.

Tittering voices rose up across the room.

“All of you are expected to form alliances with the people of Krownest. Respect their culture and they will respect ours. These partnerships will be crucial for the long-term settlement of this world. Do not think your assignment is any lesser than those who move on with the fleet,” Tor could practically feel the anger and anxiety that was rising in the room, “We know this is a controversial move, but think on it and we know you will understand its strategic value. And on that note, we will not tolerate any improper or illegal behavior. You will treat your partners with respect, and affection will come in time.”

Tor couldn’t hold his opinion in any longer. He stood, his seat squeaking out behind him with the force of the movement.

“Forgive my candor sir, but you’re expecting me to marry someone I’ve never met, whose planet we just conquered,” he remarked, as calmly as he could. Tor wasn’t even sure he was asking a question, it was more repeating an order he’d never thought he’d receive.

“Captain Wren. I expect you to do your duty to the Mand’alor.” There it was. The command they couldn’t refuse. The tittering voices were silenced as the words sunk in. If the Mand’alor ordered, as true Mandalorians, they were duty bound to obey.

“You will stay on Krownest, train as commandos, and establish a new base here. This should be regarded as an honor. Dismissed.”

Tor expected many things from this briefing, but an arranged marriage was not one of them. His place was on the front lines, with his men. He’d left his family and their profession back on Concord Dawn. He didn’t want to settle down, and he sure as kriff didn’t want to marry a woman who hated him. Humble as his family origins were, they would frown on their eldest son marrying an aruetii woman, an outsider. The Mand’alor was cunning, he’d begrudge her that.

----

She had crushes, before. Nothing serious, just puppy crushes, mooning after boys she thought were cute. As Seren got older, she started dating, but nothing stuck. A few months here with one, a few months there with another. Marriage had never been a consideration with any of her past flings. She kicked herself for being so flippant. Maybe if she’d found someone before the battle, she would have been spared this. Or died, the voice in the back of her mind reminded her.

Now she stood in front of someone she’d never met, her sworn enemy, murderer of her people and conqueror of her home, reciting wedding vows in a foreign language. They’d put her in her mother’s dress. Her mother, who hadn’t even been cremated yet. Seren’s stomach turned at the wrongness of it. We don’t get married in wintertime. Then again, something about having a traditional ceremony would have felt just as wrong, more wrong even.

But the Mandalorians were impatient to solidify their position, to move along to scorch their next earth, and so here she was, standing in front of the Parliament building holding hands with a helmeted figure she’d never met. Thank the goddess for his gloves and gauntlets, because she was sure she would’ve been sick if his skin touched hers. She tried to focus on the icy wind chilling her to the bone through the thin weave of her dress. Their leader instructed in Basic, with her aunt beside as a figurehead. That was all she was now, a flimsy symbol of their conquerors’ grace in victory.

That morning, Seren stood in front of the mirror in her aunt’s house for what must have been an obscenely long time, staring mutely at her reflection. She wanted to be wearing something - anything - else. The dress didn’t fit, and she looked like she was trying much too hard to impress at a wedding that felt like a funeral.

“Beautiful,” her aunt said, brushing her dark hair over her shoulder. Traditionally, this would be the last time she’d wear it down and loose.

“-doesn’t matter. I don’t want to look beautiful for them.” Iryn sighed and met Seren’s eyes in the mirror.

“This isn’t how I imagined this day either. But our people have been through hardships before, and every time we’ve come through stronger.”

In response Seren ground her heel into the floor and looked down, desperately trying to detract attention from the tears threatening to form - again. There wasn’t any use in crying, and she didn’t want them to see her as weak or afraid. Platitudes weren’t helping.

“I wish Ursa was here to see you.”

“Me too,” Seren offered.

In truth, she was glad her mother wasn’t here to see her marry a stranger. Seren was Ursa’s only child, and she had dreamed of planning her daughter’s wedding and getting to see her in her own dress, decorated with embroidered patterns that were passed from generation to generation. She’d never looked much like her mother, but even now, wearing her wedding dress, Seren could only catch wisps of a familial resemblance. It was easy to see where her features came from with her aunt peering over her shoulder. Green fabric gaped at her breasts and stretched tight over her hips and thighs. Ursa had always been built like a rail, whereas her daughter grew curvier, with a small waist and wide hips that had been the bane of her existence as a teen, but men loved to trace with their eyes and gather into their hands.

The simple dress was better than the backless gown she’d left at the med center, but only marginally. She’d rather her trousers, tunic and vest, but they’d been burned to a crisp in the grenade blast. She wished it showed less collarbone. Everything the dress was meant to accentuate, Seren wanted to hide. Looking around, all the Mandalorians had their armor on and she felt soft, vulnerable - a turtle without its shell left to die in the sun. Her hands ached for the stock of her rifle.

Fortunately, the vows were stiff, impersonal and over before she knew it.

Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi baj’uri verde.

We are one when together, we are one when parted, we share all, we will raise warriors.

Tor had always thought it strange that their traditional vows didn’t mention love. Now though, he was grateful for it. Wrens don’t break their word, he could practically hear his father saying. And if he said he loved this stranger, he certainly would be.

[breakingsomething]

the fall part seven - the one where everyone hates marvin

basic summary: marvin struggles with morals and knowing when to stop.

trigger warnings: suicidal ideation, injury, talk of medication

tagslist: @synonymsforzombie @spicydanhowell @skyewardlight @dreaming-of-stories-and-stars @cest-mellow

the more marvin got to know anti, the less he felt he understood about him.

marvin just didn't get him. anti was a snarky asshole, sure, and he did occasionally threaten marvin with murder, and he did refuse to call him by his name, instead using the sign for "cat" when referring to him… but he also seemed so painfully human sometimes. on marvin's second visit, marvin had cracked an innocent joke at henrik's expense that made anti laugh, a real laugh that wasn't forced or mocking. and while anti immediately pretended it hadn't happened, it was still so unlike him that it completely threw marvin. not only that, but it started to make him question everything he thought he knew about anti.

he wondered about what naomi had said, about how none of them had ever been close enough to anti to understand him. none of them but jamie. of course, it had never really been an option for them to be friends - anti had made sure of that - but marvin couldn't help but wonder.

speaking of jamie, anti had actually been the first one to mention him at all, about five days after marvin's first visit. "have you seen him?" was the first thing he said.

"i - none of us have, anti. not since you drove him the fuck away," marvin said, crossing his arms. he was surprised anti was still bothering to ask. anti scowled and turned away from marvin, glaring out the window.

"i didn't drive him away," he signed grumpily. "well, i did the first time, i will admit that. but the second time was definitely on you bastards."

marvin scoffed. "oh, how? how us? you were the reason he had fucking nightmares and was afraid to cry in case we slapped him. you were the goddamn problem."

"and that's why he ran away from me," anti said. "me. the first time. i wasn't there the second time. i haven't seen dapper in like a year, kitten. did you never wonder why he left you guys?"

marvin went silent. he realized his leg that wasn't crossed over the other was bouncing rapidly, and pressed his fist down to stop it. "i… have, but i assumed it was just… memories of you." he tilted his head, just looking at anti for a moment. his hair had gotten long enough to hold back in a small bun, and he was wearing the same black t-shirt as the last few times; or what looked the same, anyway. marvin frowned. if anti cut his hair slightly shorter, changed his eye colour to grey and grew a beard and mustache, he could be jamie's identical twin.

"do you miss him?" marvin asked before he could stop himself. anti whipped round, eyes narrowed and glowing bright orange, before turning back to face the window.

"he was just my time traveler," anti signed. "my weapon. i miss him like i miss my fucking kitchen knife."

marvin figured this wasn't true, but didn't press the issue.

a couple visits later, he asked something that had been bothering him. "who is jay, by the way?"

anti visibly flinched at the question.

"who told you that name?" he signed forcefully, his hands slicing through the air sharply. marvin held back a smile.

"you did," he said, trying not to laugh as anti's eyebrows shot into his fringe. "when i came round here the first time. you were, like, hallucinating with your fever or something. you kept calling me jay."

anti stared at marvin for a second, mouth hanging open slightly. marvin giggled at the sight.

"what else did i say?" anti demanded. the tips of his ears had gone red. "tell me!"

marvin smirked, casually leaning back in his chair. "oh, loads of things. so many secrets. you told me all about your secret love for country music, and how you once had a crush on danny devito, and how you've always wanted to play the banjo -"

anti punched marvin's arm, hard enough to leave a bruise, before sinking back into his pillow, exhausted. "fuck you," he signed, very slowly. "now i know you're talking shit." he hesitated, and looked like he was going to say something else before simply signing "bitch."

marvin laughed, before a cold feeling trickled down his back. why was he laughing with this guy? this man who'd hurt his brothers so badly? most importantly, why was anti someone who could even make him laugh? why did he seem so normal?

he still didn't know why he was visiting anti every day.

he hadn't mentioned it to his brothers. not that he'd been talking to them anyway. he had tried with chase several times, but he always brushed him off. marvin was worried for him, and henrik too. really, he wished they'd just talk to him. he wished he had the courage to open up to them himself. he wished jackie hadn't left.

every time he looked at anti's broken nose and arm and many cuts and bruises that still hadn't healed, all he could think about was his brother.

everything was far too confusing these days. marvin thought that if someone had told him a year ago that he would one day be on better terms with anti than jackie, he would have just laughed.

now he didn't know what was going on anymore.

it was two weeks of dumb conversation before anti brought up what they had been avoiding.

"your brothers don't know you're visiting me," anti said. "the feeling of deja vu i'm getting is unreal right now."

marvin had scoffed, sitting back in his chair despite the sudden anxiety coursing through him. "this is different though. obviously. i'm not tor- i'm not - we're just talking."

"you shouldn't be talking with me though, should you?" anti smirked at the look on marvin's face. "your brothers would freak out. doctor especially. and jinx. i mean, to be fair, i can see why they wouldn't exactly be fond of me."

"does your hand get tired signing so much bullshit?" marvin snapped. anti's smile grew, and so did marvin's hatred for the man. "there's nothing wrong with what i'm doing. the situation is - different now."

"is it?" anti signed with raised eyebrows. "then bring your brothers round here. i'm sure they'd love to visit me, and i'm sure they'd love to see how well acquainted the two of us have been getting. jinx could tell us stories about his children, hm?" he laughed, sounding hoarse and strangled. "doctor could tell us about what he did during that two month leave he took back in 2017 when he was about to start his first real job in this same hospital. or - or, speaking of this hospital, which seems to have seen some shit, by the way, we could talk about our old friend jack -"

"shut the fuck up." marvin didn't phrase it as a request. it was a demand, and his eyes were blazing. anti dropped his hand and clasped it with his mostly plastered other one in his lap, smiling still. marvin wanted to fucking strangle him. "my brother is fucking - he's - i -" he shook his head wildly, trying to clear his head. "i don't have to explain myself to you."

anti shrugged, wincing at the pain in his arm. "fine by me. i don't care."

marvin huffed loudly, face burning with anger. "you are such a bastard!"

"why?" anti asked innocently.

marvin stood up suddenly, head rushing from the sudden movement. "fuck you. i'll see you - sometime, maybe."

he walked briskly towards the door, not stopping or looking back to see if anti was saying anything. he continued out of the hospital and caught a bus home, fuming.

he had thought about maybe even visiting jack. but he had never met the man while he was awake, despite apparently being his creation, and he'd only ever visited him with chase before. they were talking of moving him anyway; he wasn't safe so close to anti, but they'd originally had no choice but to keep him there. fuck, it was a lot to think about.

once he got home, he realized he'd forgotten his keys, so he was forced to knock. henrik answered, face souring when he saw who it was. "fuck, you again," he groaned, rolling his eyes as he walked back inside, not waiting to see if marvin would follow him in.

"love you too, henny," marvin said sarcastically, before realizing that if he was going to talk to his brothers about something this important, he shouldn't be an asshole, at least for the moment. "where's chase?"

"in his room," henrik sighed. he was crouching in front of the fridge, rummaging around looking for something. "i don't know what he's doing, maybe... filming, i think. marvin, where is my leftover kung pao chicken? i specifically wrote my name on it and everything."

ah. marvin knew where that was. too late to tell him, though. "no idea, man," he said, making a face behind henrik's back. "listen, i need to talk to you two. about - i'm gonna go get chase, actually, then we'll talk."

"fantastic," henrik grunted, knocking over a carton of eggs and struggling to hold it in his arms while also holding onto the shelf to keep everything else from falling. "can't wait."

marvin left him to his own devices, bounding up the stairs two at a time and knocking on chase's door. "hey, little bro? i have to talk to you and henrik, if that's ok. can you meet us down in the kitchen asap?"

chase didn't reply. marvin frowned and knocked again. "chaser? mi hermano, mon frère, mein bruder, min bror… i can say it in more languages. don't make me do it. come on, bastard, open up."

it was too quiet. marvin's heart was suddenly palpitating with fear, hands trembling slightly. "chase? are you ok?"

and then all he could think about was what chase had told him, the reason he'd had the gun, what he'd been planning to do. how none of them had even noticed. marvin's breath hitched, and he pounded the door even harder.

we took the gun. and henrik's here. he can't have done anything, he can't. nevertheless, marvin yelled in once more, breathing heavily with panic. "chase!" he cried. "chase, come on, open the door or i will break it down with magic, i swear i will -"

"what the fuck are you doing?" came a voice. it was henrik, holding a mug in his hands. marvin struggled to regulate his breathing, staring at him.

luckily, he didn't have to answer. chase's door clicked open, and there he was, bedhead and eye bags and all. chase ran his fingers through his blonde hair, blinking. "the hell?"

"shit!" marvin sobbed, and he threw his arms around his little brother, burying his face in his neck. chase hesitated before hugging him back, and marvin could hear him yawning into his chest.

"what's going on?" henrik demanded. "chase, are you alright?"

"just sleeping," chase mumbled. "sorry i scared you."

"scared - scared us?" henrik moved into marvin's field of vision, arms spread wide in confusion. "what is happening, why would we have been - chase, you were just napping, yes? marvin, what is wrong?"

chase pulled away and looked up and marvin, eyes silently pleading. he'd asked marvin not to tell henrik the truth about the gun, and so far he hadn't, although he felt he definitely should. marvin turned back to henrik, taking a shaking breath. "it's nothing, i'm just paranoid."

henrik shook his head. "don't you lie to me. what's going on?"

marvin could not deal with this right now. "henrik, i -"

chase stepped back, hands in the air in front of him. "listen, it was - it was all - i just -"

"i've been visiting anti in hospital!" marvin blurted out, unable to take the tension.

that seemed to work. the two brothers turned to him, identical expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces.

"you've… you've what?" henrik said softly. chase didn't say anything, just blinked rapidly, wringing his hands in front of him.

marvin winced. "guys, i… i didn't mean for it to turn into what it is. i just wanted to - to understand why -"

"have you forgotten what he's done?" henrik said. his quiet, flat tone was making marvin's heart race faster, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. "have you - he's - marvin, he is literally in the same hospital as jack. jack, our friend, mine and chase's best friend - jack who anti put in hospital, jack who anti put in a coma. have you forgotten? do you need reminded of - how, how, can you stand to -"

"i just want answers," marvin interrupted. "i don't know what else to do."

"marvin, the second he is out of hospital, he will go right back to trying to kill us!" henrik shouted without warning. his eyes were wild behind his glasses. "i don't - i don't even know what they will do once he is better, given that he's a fucking murderer, given that he's kidnapped children and put people in comas - what kind of answers do you want from him?"

"i don't know!" marvin cried. his nails dug into his palm, and to his horror, tears filled up his eyes. he tried to blink them away, taking shaky breaths. "i guess i just needed something that you couldn't give me, considering we've all completely glossed over everything that happened! it's been, what, two months since we lost jackie? and yet, not one of us is talking about what happened -"

henrik makes a noise of frustration. "you talk like he's dead -"

"he might as well be!" marvin inhales sharply, his whole chest shaking. "he might as well be dead! that's something we're not talking about either!"

"so you found solace in anti," henrik said, voice suddenly flat again. "instead of your own brothers, your brothers who love you. well done."

"'brothers who love me' - that's rich, henrik, coming from you," marvin spat. "you've never had anything but contempt for me, you hated me from the moment we met."

"like the feeling wasn't mutual," henrik shots back. he had his arms crossed in an x shape on his chest, like he was holding himself up. "like you didn't despise me too. you aren't a fucking victim here, marvin. in fact, you're - you're the only one here who's not a victim!" he barked out a harsh laugh. "i was kidnapped by that man, held in a basement scared out of my mind for almost two months, getting b-beaten whenever i tried to shout - chase's kids were stolen, he spent three weeks in prison - what about you, marvin? what has anti taken from you?"

marvin was silent, his stomach rolling. he kept eye contact with henrik, refusing to look away, and his brother gives him a cold smile. "exactly. exactly. it's enough that you rescued him when you could have just left him, it's enough that -"

"couldn't leave him to die," marvin choked out, voice suddenly hoarse. "not at jackie's hand. not at my brother's hand, my big brother who i thought would never hurt a soul - not him. i couldn't."

"tell me," henrik said. "did you enjoy seeing him hurt? would you have saved him if it had been anyone other than jackie on the other end of the knife?"

there it was. that question he had been asking himself, the question he said he didn't know the answer to. the question he did know the answer to.

"yes," marvin said quietly. "and no."

he stared at the floor, unable to watch his brother's face contort in disgust and anger. marvin's tears fell to the carpet beneath his feet.

"that's what i thought," henrik said quietly. "and that just - oh, that just makes what you're doing so much worse."

marvin shook his head, glancing back up. "i just want to understand…"

he trailed off. henrik waited, and when marvin didn't continue, he snorted. "continue whenever you feel like it."

"i want to figure out why jackie did what he did," marvin said loudly, face flushing with rage and shame. "i want to understand him, i want to understand anti, i want to -"

"there is nothing to fucking understand about anti," henrik interrupted, taking a step forward to get closer to marvin. "he's a monster. he hurts people. me and chase saw him, saw what he was like - you tell him, chase!"

they turned to look at chase for the first time since they'd started fighting, and were both surprised to see he had slumped halfway down the wall, hands covering his face. his whole body was shaking, falling forwards and backwards with the force of his breathing.

"chase?" henrik asked uncertainly. "are you -"

"shut the fuck up," chase whispered. "just shut the fuck up."

he turned and raced into his room, his hands leaving his face to open the door just long enough for them to see he was crying.

marvin and henrik were silent.

"fuck," henrik murmured. he ran a hand over his head round the back of his neck. "fuck."

he whipped round to face marvin. "this is your fault," he hissed. even through his glasses, marvin could see the wetness of his eyes. without another word, henrik turned on heel and marched down the stairs, a door slamming somewhere out of marvin's view. he stared at the space where he'd been standing, fingers numb.

his asshole marvin list just kept getting longer.

-

the next day, he decided to call naomi.

he'd made many mistakes in the past two months, but this was something he could fix. marvin sat down on his room's windowsill, curling up into himself as he clicked her name in his contacts. if he couldn't fix things with his brothers, he was at least going to try with naomi.

she didn't answer the first two times. on the third attempt, she picked up right as the dial was about to end. "pye?" she mumbled. "hey, haven't heard from you in like, two weeks."

marvin smacked his head off his knees. "i'm sorry," he said softly. "in case you can't tell, i'm kind of a coward. and, uh, i'm bad at fixing my mistakes and… being a good person in general."

"no you're not," naomi said. "i was being a dick too. i didn't realize - i shouldn't have pushed you when i know what anti is like."

marvin shifted on the spot uncomfortably. "well, i shouldn't have started yelling, and i especially shouldn't have said the word -"

"insane?" naomi finished. "it's ok. i get it, i - i would have been pissed off too if i were you."

"no, but - but anger doesn't give me the right to be a bitch," marvin protested. "i can understand where you were coming from, too, and i understand you don't know everything about anti."

there was a pause, and marvin listened to naomi breathe and the kids playing outside in the late summer sun.

"maybe we're both assholes," naomi said eventually, and she laughed quietly. "i - marvin, i'm sorry. i've not been myself."

he hesitated, tapping his foot on the floor and knocking his other knee against the window in time. "are you alright?"

she sniffed, and something clattered on the other end of the line. "at this exact moment in time? i suppose."

"what about in general?"

"i… don't know. i - fuck. i am not - i think i might be forgetting english." she giggles awkwardly.

marvin smiled, though she couldn't see it. "no, it's ok. i speak some swedish. languages man here, hello. tell me what you wanna say."

she took a breath. "allt är fel," she mumbled. "jag vet inte."

marvin took a moment to figure out what she was saying. "um… why do you think everything is wrong?"

naomi sniffed again, louder. "i don't know how to explain. i mean… it may have something to do with how i haven't taken my medication in weeks."

"you - fuck, why?" marvin cried before lowering his voice again. "naomi, it's important to keep taking them consistently so that -"

"i know," she snapped. "or… i thought i knew. then i… i started feeling worse again, and i thought it wasn't working, that i didn't need them anyway and could get better without them. i know how dumb that is, but when i'm in that kind of state…" she trailed off.

"it's ok, i get it," marvin reassured. "have you been going to -"

a loud beep resounded in his ears. he pulled his phone away from his face, wincing, only to see he was getting another call from a number he was getting used to seeing. he bit his lip and returned his phone to his ear. "nai, i'm, uh, getting a call from the hospital. i'm so sorry, can i call you back? i know how important this is, but -"

"no, it's cool," naomi interrupted hurriedly. "take it, that could be more important. i'll call you tonight." she paused. "love you, pye."

a ridiculous smile spread across his face, and he briefly clapped his hand over his mouth. "i… love you too, nai."

he could hear her giggling as she hung up and marvin answered the call from the hospital. his smile immediately disappeared, however, when he heard dr reid's distressed tone on the other end.

"marvin?" she said. "is anti with you? he - he's left, somehow. i don't understand how, he shouldn't be able to leave without - is he with you? tell me he's with you. marvin? marvin, are you there?"

-

two months prior

jackie only knew of one place to go. one person he could trust.

what was his address, again? jackie was hurt badly and barely conscious; normally, in this state, he would have gone to his friend curro for help, but marvin knew where he lived and could potentially find him there. and marvin was a traitor. traitor, traitor, cared more for anti than his own brothers. fucking pig. jackie had to stop him. had to stop him before his brothers got hurt.

his necklace was pulsing underneath his hoodie, heating up against his skin. baboom, baboom, it went. like a heartbeat. in fact, if jackie stopped moving… it was in time with his own heartbeat. what a strange coincidence. what a very strange coincidence.

street names flashed in front of him. buildings, streetlamps, lit up signs and cars and people. very dark. jackie usually hated the dark - it negatively affected his photokinesis. tonight, he loved it. revelled in the pitch black shadows that warmed his body like they never used to.

then he was knocking at a door. he was glad his new magic had teleported him so close - actually, fuck, when had he learned he could do that? how had he done that? the cold surface of the door felt nice against his face. calmed his thoughts. fuck, fuck, his head was spinning.

then the door was being pulled open and he whined at the loss of contact, clinging to the doorframe so he wouldn't fall. "jackson?" came a familiar voice. "what are you… what are you doing here?"

jackie opened his eyes, staring up at the confused blonde man standing in the doorway. without a word of explanation, he leaned forwards and pulled the man into a clumsy kiss, letting go of the frame to grab hold of his coat.

for a moment, the other man kissed him back, then pushed him off just as quickly. "dude, what - you're bleeding, you're fucking bleeding, come inside quickly. what - what happened, can you talk?"

jackie's breathing was heavy and irregular, and only wheezing gasps came out when he opened his mouth. "fuck," the other man said. "do you have your inhaler with you?"

jackie shook his head rapidly, which was a bad idea considering how dizzy he was. he took one step forward into the flat and promptly fainted, the floor rushing ever closer.

when he woke, he was no longer in the floor. jackie was laying on a bed; a familiar bed. ok, so he knew where he was. how had he gotten here? he didn't remember.

"you're awake, thank the stars," said the man, walking into the room with a bundle in hand. jackie noted hazily that his own hoodie had been stripped, leaving just his bloodstained shirt. "can you tell me what happened?"

"mm," jackie vocalized, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. everything ached, and when he rolled his sleeves up, he could already see bruises forming. he didn't dare to look at his chest, where it was definitely worse. "brothers… kicked me out, magic's going crazy, i didn't mean to hurt - didn't mean to hurt anyone, aaron, i swear -"

"shh, calm down, calm down," aaron soothed, sitting on the bed and pressing his legs against jackie's. he placed a hand on his boyfriend's face, gently running his fingers down his skin to his lips. "you're hurt. who did this? and what do you mean, your brothers kicked you out? did they find out about… about the whole black magic thing?"

jackie tried to nod, but his head hurt too much. "yeah," he managed instead. "i… aaron, i didn't know where else to… you're the only other one who knows about this."

"you're lucky i know how to treat wounds," aaron told him, dropping the bundle of clothes next to the bed. "and that i care about you enough to use my rarer magics that i save for necessary occasions."

"don't understand why you care about me so much," jackie mumbled as aaron helped him lay back down. "you've only known me, like… four months."

"ten, actually," aaron said. he pressed his lips gently to jackie's forehead, drawing a small breath out of him. "stay still, i'm gonna take a look at your chest."

"can i stay here?" jackie blurted. he blinked rapidly, trying to stop his vision from blurring. "p-please? i - i don't have anywhere else to go… i know i'm not supposed to speak with you, i know you c-could get in tr-trouble from the organization, but i can't - aaron -"

"relax," aaron murmured. "of course you can stay. i'm risking a lot by dating you anyway. if the organization found out, they'd have my head. possibly literally, depending on how they're feeling."

jackie was silent, letting aaron play with his hair. his eyes fluttered closed and he let out a contented sigh despite his current state of injury. then, "'m sorry. love you, aar… aaron, i…"

he passed out again before he could finish.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

“I like this human disguise.”

Starscream admired his holoform in the camera of Pharma’s digital notepad. He liked this appearance - his thin face, the silver rings through his earlobes, his severe grey eyes and lean, elegant frame. The crop top hoodie detracted from the elegance, but it fit, he thought. This wasn’t a very high-class city, so carrying oneself like a king would be strange here.

“Why are each of our hood-sweaters missing something?” Moonkiller tugged at the armholes of her purple sleeveless hoodie. A bold tattoo of the Decepticon symbol was on her shoulder.

“I think it’s a human thing. They like playing around with these ‘hoodies’.” Pharma conjured an additional article of clothing for tors holoform - a pack of hairclips, the color of Bulb-Rust - and clipped them into tors bleached-blonde hair.

Moonkiller’s holoform leaned back against the body of Moonkiller herself, which was currently parked on land despite being an aircraft carrier. It was made invisible at the moment, so it looked like she was simply leaning on air.

“Pharma, half of your fuselage is out.”

“I don’t mind it. If the humans like it, I’ll keep it.” Pharma tugged at the side of the chest window in tors hoodie. It revealed a swatch of skin about where you’d expect.

Starscream finished his preening, tying his unusually cut black hair back into two ponytails, one above the other. “Don’t the humans have a different word for fuselage? And hull?”

Pharma shrugged. “Maybe.”

Moonkiller hoisted the holoform duffel bag onto her shoulder. “If it is a necesary term, we will learn it.”

“Well, there’s a city out there that we need to blend in with.” Starscream conjured one last item for his holoform - wireless earbuds, to block out excessive noise - and started off towards the flashing lights and towering buildings close by.

The city was teeming with life and artificial lights - no amount of stars in the sky could compare to the blinking yellows and flashing neons of every sign and building. The scent of fried foods was thick in the air, and conversation and chatter could be heard at every corner. Amongst the crowd of wildly varying humans, Starscream, Pharma and Moonkiller went unnoticed.

One failed attempt at holding Pharma back from hijacking the cash register and three food cart visits later, Moonkiller was munching away at a churro.

“Human food may not be optimal for military supply, but it tastes wonderful.”

“I’ve visited other human-inhabited planets before! They... didn’t quite have this many humans, but they still had great food.” Pharma took a bite of tors birthday cake flavored ice cream, and a passerby looked on in disgust, as if biting rather than licking ice cream was akin to taking one’s pants off in public.

“We’ve still got someone to look for,” Starscream said between bites of eclair.

“Who?”

Moonkiller looked confused. “Did we not... discuss the mission with you, Pharma?”

“No. Maybe you just discussed it between you two, and forgot.”

“...ah. We might have. His name is Cryogen. He’s moneycapped, for 500,000 shanix. His alternate form is unnatural, a subzero exploration rover created by Perceptor.”

“Ohhh. Him. I think he likes Pax-03 a bit more than Pax-08, but there’s a good chance he could be here.”

“Do you know what his holoform looks like at all?”

“Kinda short, skinny. Long silvery-blue ponytail. Wears a cloak all the time. Creepy hands.”

“That’s a weird detail to notice.” Starscream remarked, licking the eclair filling off his fingers.

“He’s got creepy hands, though. Really creepy hands.” Pharma shivered. “First thing you notice.”

“...I’ll take your word for it.”

Moonkiller had finished her churro, and was now eating a second. “If Cryogen is not here, we can go straight to Pax-03, to finish off the city planets as quickly as possible.”

Pharma looked back up at Moonkiller, tors half-eaten ice cream cone in hand. “...could we set tonight aside for just trying human food? Learning a little more about human society?”

She looked back at Starscream. He was actually eating something, for the first time in days.

Well, they still needed to learn more about human society, and hey, maybe they’d find Cryogen trying to inconspicuously order food.

“...regrettably, I will allow it.”

[aion-rsa]

Top New Fantasy Books in April 2021

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Fantasy helps us take a break from reality when we need the respite, or learn more about our real world. Here are some of the fantasy books we’re planning on checking out this year…

Top New Fantasy Books April 2021

The Light of the Midnight Stars by Rena Rossner

Type: Novel Publisher: Redhook Release date: April 13

Den of Geek says: It’s always good to see more Jewish voices in fantasy. This book sees the root of superhero stories made specific as a threat can only be defeated by a cast of Jewish miracle-workers.

Publisher’s summary: Deep in the Hungarian woods, the sacred magic of King Solomon lives on in his descendants. Gathering under the midnight stars, they perform small miracles and none are more gifted than the great Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters. 

Hannah, bookish and calm, can coax plants to grow even when the weather is bitterly cold. Sarah, defiant and strong, can control the impulsive nature of fire. And Levana, the fey one, can read the path of the stars to decipher their secrets. 

But darkness is creeping across Europe, threatening the lives of every Jewish person in every village. Each sister will have to make an impossible choice in an effort to survive – and change the fate of their family forever.

Buy The Light of the Midnight Stars by Rena Rossner.

The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Books Release date: April 13

Den of Geek says: Alternate genders and inventive magic spice up a serial killer story in a weird city.

Publisher’s summary: In a daring and deadly heist, thieves have made away with an artifact of terrible power―the death mask of Louis Charbon. Made by a master craftsman, it is imbued with the spirit of a monster from history, a serial murderer who terrorized the city.

Now Charbon is loose once more, killing from beyond the grave. But these murders are different from before, not simply random but the work of a deliberate mind probing for answers to a sinister question.

It is up to Krona Hirvath and her fellow Regulators to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer while facing the terrible truths left in his wake.

Buy The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Type: Novel Publisher: HarperTeen Release date: April 20

Den of Geek says: The line between genre fiction and genre YA is sometimes muddy. Is it about the age of the protagonist? Purely a marketing decision? We’ve decided to err on the side of promoting Witches Steeped in Gold here, mostly on the strength of the dynamic between the two prickly characters.

Publisher’s summary: Divided by their order. United by their vengeance.

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance. 

Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.

Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.

Buy Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart.

Top New Fantasy Books March 2021

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

Type: Novel Publisher: Scholastic Press  Release date: March 2

Den of Geek says: The next entry in this well-received series mixes fantasy and horror in a twisty mystery about a ghost-hunter in an atmospheric New Orleans.

Publisher’s summary: Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows . . .

Unless it’s the other way around?

Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while traveling for her parents’ TV show.

But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the colorful, grisly local legends. And the city’s biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.

Buy Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab.

A Broken Darkness by Premee Mohamed

Type: Novel Publisher: Solaris Release date: March 30

Den of Geek says: This is another one hard to categorize. It’s a little bit fantasy, a little bit science fiction, and a little bit eldritch. The first book in the series showed off Mohamed’s unique aesthetic and mix of serious stakes and wry humor.

Publisher’s summary: It’s been a year and a half since the Anomaly, when They tried to force their way into the world from the shapeless void.

Nick Prasad is piecing his life together, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity – including his former friend Johnny.

Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees more portals opened to Them, leaving her protesting her innocence even as the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more…

Buy A Broken Darkness by Premee Mohamed.

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: This political fantasy follows in the footsteps of The Traitor Baru Cormorant. We’re intrigued by the story of a character tangled in her own ambition, and fantasy where words are more important than swords.

Publisher’s summary: This Machiavellian fantasy follows a scholar’s quest to choose the next ruler of her nation amidst lies, conspiracy, and assassination

When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen’s closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic. Resourceful, analytical, and quiet, Lysande appears to embody the motto she was raised with: everything in its place. Yet while she hides her drug addiction from her new associates, she cannot hide her growing interest in power. She becomes locked in a game of strategy with the city-rulers – especially the erudite prince Luca Fontaine, who seems to shift between ally and rival. Further from home, an old enemy is stirring: the magic-wielding White Queen is on the move again, and her alliance with a traitor among the royal milieu poses a danger not just to the peace of the realm, but to the survival of everything that Lysande cares about.  In a world where the low-born keep their heads down, Lysande must learn to fight an enemy who wears many guises… even as she wages her own battle between ambition and restraint.

Buy The Councillor by E.J. Beaton.

Top New Fantasy Books February 2021

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

Type: Novella Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: Feb. 9 Den of Geek says: De Bodard is a staple around here for lush settings and unique characters. Here she turns her hand to a romance (and maybe love that doesn’t work out after all) compared to Howl’s Moving Castle. Publisher’s Summary:

Fire burns bright and has a long memory….

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate―and her own?

Buy Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard.

City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand

Type: Novel Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers Release date: Feb. 9

Den of Geek says: This novel sits at the crossroads of fantasy, horror, and YA. A gothic city provides a pleasantly weird background to a dark adventure about teens who lurk on the rooftops of the city.

Publisher’s Summary:

“Guilders work. Foundlings scrub the bogs. Needles bind. Swords tear. And men leave. There is nothing uncommon in this city. I hope Errol Thebes is dead. We both know he is safer that way.”

In a walled city of a mile-high iron guild towers, many things are common knowledge: No book in any of the city’s libraries reveals its place on a calendar or a map. No living beasts can be found within the city’s walls. And no good comes to the guilder or foundling who trespasses too far from their labors. Even on the tower rooftops, where Errol Thebes and the rest of the city’s teenagers pass a few short years under an open sky, no one truly believes anything uncommon is possible within the city walls. But one guildmaster has broken tradition to protect her child, and now the whole city faces an uncommon threat: a pair of black iron spikes that has the power of both sword and needle on the rib cages of men has gone missing, but the mayhem they cause rises everywhere. If the spikes are not found, no wall will be high enough to protect the city—or the world beyond it.   And Errol Thebes? He’s not dead and he’s certainly not safe.

Buy City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand.

The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck

Type: Novel Publisher: Pantheon Release date: Feb. 16 Den of Geek says: Tidbeck is known for her strange and literary short stories, full of musing and teeth. Her take on portal fantasy is bound to bring something new to the subgenre. Publisher’s summary: From the award-winning author of Amatka and Jagannath—a fantastical tour de force about friendship, interdimensional theater, and a magical place where no one ages, except the young In a world just parallel to ours exists a mystical realm known only as the Gardens. It’s a place where feasts never end, games of croquet have devastating consequences, and teenagers are punished for growing up. For a select group of masters, it’s a decadent paradise where time stands still. But for those who serve them, it’s a slow torture where their lives can be ended in a blink. In a bid to escape before their youth betrays them, Dora and Thistle—best friends and confidants—set out on a remarkable journey through time and space. Traveling between their world and ours, they hunt for the one person who can grant them freedom. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious traveler who trades in favors and never forgets debts, a crossroads at the center of the universe, our own world on the brink of war, and a traveling troupe of actors with the ability to unlock the fabric of reality.   Endlessly inventive, The Memory Theater takes us to a wondrous place where destiny has yet to be written, life is a performance, and magic can erupt at any moment. It is Karin Tidbeck’s most engrossing and irresistible tale yet. Buy The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck.

Top New Fantasy Books January 2021

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Type: Novel Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: Jan. 12, 2021

Den of Geek says: McGuire’s Wayward Children series is a loosely connected group of novels all playing with fantasy tropes. What does it really mean to be a chosen one in a magical world? In the latest installment she turns her careful wit to centaurs and unicorns.

Publisher’s summary: “Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to “Be Sure” before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines―a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

Buy Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire.

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

Type: Novel Publisher: Ace Release date: Jan 12, 2021

Den of Geek says: Romance and magic come together in what looks like a fun tale with a wide variety of characters. The roguish setting reminds us of The Lies of Locke Lamora with more women. Publisher’s summary: Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees the “wanted” sign, seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance, prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.   Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.

Buy The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner.

The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: Jan. 19 Den of Geek says: A gorgeous and mysterious fantasy world is ready to unfold. The world-building here looks delightfully weird, with sailing ships on fields of greenery.

Publisher’s Summary: On the never-ending, miles-high expanse of prairie grasses known as the Forever Sea, Kindred Greyreach, hearthfire keeper and sailor aboard harvesting vessel The Errant, is just beginning to fit in with the crew of her new ship when she receives devastating news. Her grandmother—The Marchess, legendary captain and hearthfire keeper—has stepped from her vessel and disappeared into the sea.

But the note she leaves Kindred suggests this was not an act of suicide. Something waits in the depths, and the Marchess has set out to find it.

To follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, Kindred must embroil herself in conflicts bigger than she could imagine: a water war simmering below the surface of two cultures; the politics of a mythic pirate city floating beyond the edges of safe seas; battles against beasts of the deep, driven to the brink of madness; and the elusive promise of a world below the waves. 

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Kindred finds that she will sacrifice almost everything—ship, crew, and a life sailing in the sun—to discover the truth of the darkness that waits below the Forever Sea. Buy The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson.

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