#also that zag figure is so fucking cool

[nitw]

crying

#also that zag figure is so fucking cool #👀👀👀👀👀👀 #i wish i could get more into figure collecting im just very broke every day all the time #leo.txt #zagreus #hades game

[quinloki]

Kinktober 2023 - Day 18

Let's get a little ... Forgetful.

Character: Trafalgar Law Reader: cis!fem reader Warnings: Uh... look, okay, this starts with a fever dream and moves into a reader that doesn't remember anything. It's also a 3rd Corazon AU. It's weird and I'm not sure what to tag, aside from some body worship it's really hard to categorize what the fuck happens.

Summary: You literally risk death to get away from Donquixote Doflamingo, which would be less terrifying if you could remember anything. -:- 2737 words

Heart Shaped

DEAD DOVE -- YOU BETTER READ THE WARNINGS. (I don't want any bitching. Welcome to my "Akira" One-shot because I still don't know what was going on in that movie, and idk what's going on in this, but I liked both.)

The stern man loomed over you, his face unreadable. He doesn’t say anything, ripping your clothes from you – maybe even your limbs, you’re not sure. Except they’re still there. You’re whole under him, broken only in the fact that you can’t seem to protest.

You’re not sure if you want to. Aside from the rough and ill consideration of your clothes, he’s almost gentle. Gloved hands move over your skin. His hands are huge, and so is he, easily towering over you. You can see yourself in the reflection of his sunglasses, the jagged and well-manicured zig and zag of his facial hair is etched on his face as firmly as his fingers are against your body.

You want to reach out to him, but you’re not sure why. Salvation seems an impossible hope, as soft lips kiss your body. The kisses are cool against your skin, not cold, but cooler than you are. Maybe you’re sick? Skin fevered as you fight an infection or mend some injury you can’t see or feel right now.

The gloved hands continue to caress your skin, warmer than the kisses that travel along your clavicle. Harsher than the kisses. Not enough to leave bruises, but enough that there’s no chance you can squirm away.

His thumbs follow the lines of your thighs, following the crease along the inside of your thighs, tickling the dark curly hair nestled there. A small shiver escapes your lips, the first sign that you could make noise, and a soft tremble rolls through your bones.

“There we go, that’s a good sign.” He says in a voice deep and disinterested.

It can’t be a good sign, you try to say, but your lips don’t work with you.

“Don’t try to force it.” He admonishes, a spark of emotion in the otherwise flat voice.

The figure before you shimmers a little, as your mind cannot recall a time Vergo’s voice held emotion. Maybe you were thinking of the wrong heart?

A taller man fusses over you now, taking Vergo’s place. His blond hair is hidden under a red cap, and the unusual makeup on his face hides kind and strong features. Not quite a clown, but allusions to being one. Brown eyes look at you as he smiles, his hands wandering over your naked body just like Vergo’s were.

“I’m going to take good care of you.” He promises, trying to reassure you. “Don’t panic, just relax, I’m a friend.”

You can’t be a friend, you try to say again, but again the words don’t come into being.

“Shh, shh, don’t keep trying to talk.” He urges, as cool lips press against yours. Softly, gently, almost as though he’s afraid to kiss you. A soft breath escapes you and he smiles, rough and scarred hands dancing along your curves easily.

His fingers slip carefully against your nipples and your body twitches just a little as goosebumps skitter across your chest. Another gentle run of his fingers and your nipples stiffen, allowing large fingers to tease and gently squeeze the hardening flesh.

You could feel a tingle between your thighs from the attention, and feel blood rush through you. It made you feel hotter, almost making you dizzy. You wanted him to stop, but you wanted the pleasurable feeling to be stronger. You tried to move your hands, but there was resistance. You could move them, but they weren’t going anywhere.

“Don’t struggle, just let me help.” He says softly, leaning down and steadying one of your breasts licking it with a tongue far warmer than his lips. The tingle was the first real thing you could comprehend feeling, the pleasure sending jolts through your chest.

Your body squirmed because of it, and you realized on some level that you were bound. Wrists and ankles at the least, but you weren’t anywhere that you knew. The room was just a color, a strange, shifting shade of red, green, pink and black. Some sort of liminal space.

Maybe you couldn’t speak or move because you were “-dreaming?”

“I told you not to talk.” He says more sternly this time, switching to your other breast. “Conserve your strength for this, and you’re not dreaming, not really.”

If you weren’t dreaming, then what was happening? You didn’t try to ask the question out loud, but the concern raced through your mind despite it.

“You have a fever.” He says, flatly, the fleeting happy tone disappearing from his voice.

He shifts again, your addled mind releasing the form and visage of Rosinante and seeing Vergo in his place for a moment, suckling your tit. He teased the other with his fingers as the heat in your body began to pool between your thighs. The harsh countenance of the man kept you from trying to ask any questions, but the vision of Vergo didn’t stay long this time.

Things shifted, the formless color-filled room giving way to something far different.

A bright light over you, almost blinding you to the world around you. A hard surface beneath you. Cold, but not uncomfortably cold. Soft, but snug, padded leather restraints kept your wrists by your hips, and your ankles were off the side of the table, held, you assumed by the sensation, by similar restraints.

There was warmth against your stomach, and you looked down to see a man with dark hair attending to your chest the way you’d been hallucinating. Tattooed fingers danced over your skin, sending delicious pleasure through you. More than pleasure it was making your blood rush.

“Ah…” You gasp, feeling heat in your face. He looks up at you, golden eyes bright despite being shaded by his messy hair and the harsh light.

“Do you see me now?” He questions. His voice has hints of emotion in it, but it’s mostly flat.

You nod, and he gives you a deviously sweet smile, teasing your nipples with his fingers and watching you squirm a little.

“What do you remember?”

You shake your head. Nothing is coming to mind.

The devious grin falters, and his fingers stop working. His hands continue to wander over your body but it seems more clinical now, less pleasurable, and simply warm.

“You wanted to leave the Family.” He says, a smile coming back to his lips. “It was risky for you to ask me for help, but luck or your own intuition worked well for you. The deal,” he sighs a bit, rolling his eyes. “Was that I would get full access to your body for the time it took to get you clear of Dressrosa.”

“… Why?”

“Why did I want full access? Or why were you willing to give it?” He tilts his head and shrugs, answering before you can clarify. “I suppose I wanted to be able to commit all of you to memory.”

The even look on his face falters slightly, but it could just be a trick of the bright light overhead. Something makes your heart twist.

“As for why you agreed,” he continues, standing up and pulling a blanket from somewhere you couldn’t see. “I suppose because you wanted to get away from the Young Master that badly.” He says, laying it over you.

The title rattled something in your memories and you tug at the restraints. He looks down at them and shakes his head. “Sorry, I can’t release those yet.

“The Tang has some tricky maneuvering to do, and you were, technically, dead for a couple minutes. Probably the biggest cause of the memory loss, but hopefully it will clear up quickly. What I do isn’t magic though, and I had to stitch a lot of you back together. Some of it was superficial, controlled by my fruit, but the rest needed to look real.”

He shifts a little, sitting down beside you. “I’ve never brought someone back from something like that, and when you successfully came back around it was two days of hit or miss. I couldn’t get your fever to break until we dropped you in a full on ice bath.”

“Once you stabilized, I decided to warm you up and start on my payment.” He runs a hand over your forehead, the look in his eyes making your chest tight. “But, if you don’t remember, I don’t want your last, or maybe only, memory of me to be something like that.”

“… What’s… what’s your name?” You ask. Your stomach knots. You know you should know it, he’s said as much, but you want to know it.

“… I have a few. The Young Master calls me Cora-chan. Most of the Family calls me Corazon.” He brushes his fingers through your hair, it’s warm and relaxing. Nothing in the action makes you uncomfortable. “My actual name is Trafalgar Law.”

“Trafalgar… D Water Law…. Right?” You question and see a genuine smile cross his face.

“You remember something.”

You nod slightly, shutting your eyes and grimacing a little. “Not enough.”

“It’ll come back.”

“Before or after I know?”

His brows furrow. “After you know what?”

“Why I asked you.” You clarify, and Law just looks at you for a moment before you continue. “Was it because I trusted you would do so much for so little? Did I think that if you denied me that dying at your hands would’ve been best? Did I think that even if you rejected my request you could still protect me somehow?

“What was I to him?” You question, breaking away from your initial train of thought.

“To… Doflamingo?”

“… Yes, I think so.”

“A gift. A toy. I don’t know what he did or didn’t do to you.” Law admits. “But he dressed you in riches, and paraded around Dressrosa with you. You weren’t from the island, and I never heard a surname for you. Just (Y/N), on the rare occasions he called you by name.”

Law looks uncomfortable. “Otherwise it was always –.”

“Little heart.” You said at the same time as Law, and he nods.

There was a long silence between the two of you. Law didn’t shift or look uncomfortable, and you didn’t do much except stare off into space and let your mind wander a little. Mostly, toward some semblance of a decision. You wanted to make a choice, it didn’t matter the way, not really, but there was something at the edges of your mind that motivated you.

“I… want you to take your payment.” You say finally, heat rushing through you. You look at him when you say it, but you can’t keep eye contact for long.

“Why?” He questions softly.

“I want to agree to it now, when… when your desire is the only motivator. I don’t want to offer myself as some kind of revenge against a man I cannot remember, that I do not want to remember. Something in me just wants to be able to offer myself up this way.

“Freely.

“Truly.

“Honestly.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Breathing in slowly and letting it out just as slowly. “You’re certain?”

You nod. “All I have right now are the barest parts of myself, and it’s what I want.”

He’s quiet a moment longer before he stands up and sheds his shirt. There’s something in the tattoo on his chest that rustles through your memories, the hearts on his shoulders stir something different, but you’re not trying to hold onto any of it.

Just him.

His gaze finds yours for a moment, and he leans over you, a question on his lips that he decides to keep to himself. His chest is warm against yours as he leans down and kisses you, fingers slipping through your hair and cradling your head as he pushes against your lips with more heat.

His other hand pulls the blanket off you, causing you to gasp at the rush of cool air. His tongue follows in past your parted lips and your gasp turns into a soft moan. The fervent kiss is gentle, and controlling. He kisses you how he wishes to, and you let him.

Your hands flex in the cuffs, but instead of admonishing you he shifts, and runs his hands down your arms, easily reaching over the table to do so. He breaks the kiss a little, leaning back enough to look into your eyes and kiss the tip of your nose.

“Stay still.” He whispers, nuzzling into the crook of your neck and letting his words fall gently into your ear. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“Room.” He commands and you feel your whole world shift.

Your mind isn’t sure how to comprehend what follows. Like the fever dreams of earlier, but even more surreal. Law takes you apart piece by piece, but it doesn’t hurt. There’s no tension or pain, and he seems to set the pieces of you exactly where he wants them. He holds onto one of your hands, and kisses a soft trail along your skin that comes into your senses from everywhere.

A kiss at your collarbone is then against the back of your thigh. A soft sigh warms the skin of your shoulder and your knee at the same time. Whenever your fingers tighten against his he reassures you, promising that you’ll be fine. Nothing will move in a way that will exacerbate your injuries. All you will feel is pleasure, and he’ll put you back exactly as you were.

But for now, for these moments, he’s going to explore all of you. There’s intimacy in his actions on a level you’d never experienced before. He was literally inside you, against the lines of your organs, caressing the bundles of your muscles. Nothing burned, nothing ached, it was a warm touch and gentle sensation.

Fingers, teeth, tongue – Law systematically seemed to commit your body to every sense he could manage. He breathed in your skin after licking along the lines he had created, savoring the sounds that fell from your lips.

By the time your brain could make sense of the sensations he was putting you back together. It had been euphoric in its own way, but you just hadn’t been sure how to parse the strange shifts of pleasure as they moved smoothly from one part of you to another. Especially when none of those parts were normally connected to one another.

“Are you alright, snow drop?” He questions softly, having freed your arm so he could hold your hand as he sat down beside you. His face was flush. He almost looked drunk on something.

You nod. “Comfortable.” You begin, giving him a sleepy smile. “I feel comfortable.”

He smiles, but your sleepy smile twists and tears slide down the sides of your face despite your efforts. You take in a deep breath, willing yourself to calm down.

“Sorry, sorry, I just…” Law’s fingers tighten against yours and he runs his other hand over your hair soothingly.

“It’s okay.” He assures you. “You have nothing to apologize fo-.”

“I don’t want to leave you.” You sob. “I don’t even know why, but…” Biting your lip you look away. You aren’t sure what the shock on his face says, and you didn’t even mean to say what you said in the first place. Your mouth had simply moved before your brain could stop it.

There’s a long silence between the two of you, and once you’ve gotten yourself back under control again you squeeze his hand.

“I’m… That was cruel of me.” You admit quietly. “I only, er, we only agreed to what we agreed to. Whether I can remember all of the details or not doesn’t mah-ma-matter.” You tried to keep your voice steady, but tears burned in your eyes and down to your chest at the end of your words.

Law takes your hand into both of his, head bowed and pressed against your knuckles as he sits beside you. You’re not even sure he really heard what you just said, but he’s silent for what seems like forever before he looks toward you again.

“You really want to stay with me?” He questions.

You sniffle and nod.

He reaches out, wiping a tear from your cheek. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that the Heart Seat left the family for emotional reasons.”

“But, you-.”

“I already betrayed them by freeing you.” He interrupts. “And for the same reasons I’m willing to do this. So don’t worry.”

#Release the Quin #Kinktober 2023 #x reader #reader insert #trafalgar d law #trafalgar law

[felswritingfire]

(Hades) Gods x Shade! Reader

No matter how much you try, mortality will always catch up to those who are not of gods. Even the most blinded of them learn this eventually. You take your death with grace, choosing to go and explore this new world as soon as Lord Hades permits you to go, impressed by how little you complain and demand. You are one of the brighter parts of his day (night?).

You drift along, catching certain snippets of other Shade’s conversations as you wander aimlessly. You notice a crack in the wall; deciding to muster up your courage, you slip through it to find yourself in the glowing green torches of Tartarus. With what little you have, you hold it close to your translucent body and push forward.

You’re quick to notice the large glowing ball with an oddly familiar symbol floating in the middle of it. You take your time circling it, feeling compelled to touch it. When you do, a beam of light comes slicing through the dreary air to reveal a mighty god who stares down at you at your shocked form...

Zues

Cause of Death: Lightning Strike

Zues is confused when he sees you. He’s even more confused when you start screaming at him, waving your hands about and threatening to fight him yourself.

“You fucker! You killed me!”

He raises a brow. “I think I’d remember if I killed you.” You flipped up your middle finger at him and his eyebrows drew into an angry v. “How rude! I am the God of Gods-”

“I don’t care!”

Zagreus had to high tail it to you before Zues tried to smite you (possibly a second time).

Suffice to say you hoped you’d never bump into that boon again. And you didn’t. No, the God of Gods and Lightning himself decided that he’d have to make a house call himself (Hades was not pleased when a bolt of lightning came crashing down and left a scorched black ring in the carpet).

He picks you out quickly and you try to zoom out of the lobby until he catches you by the back of your robe and then you’re swinging and yelling profanities at him. He’s kinda amused now instead of angry- you’re just so weak and tiny compared to him. It’s hysterical- ow! Did you just bite him?

After you and Zues finish your little “spitting match”- Hades kicks Zeus out and you're forced to hang out in Tartarus for a bit (“but I’m just a simple fisherfolk! I can’t fight anything!” You cry, Hades does not spare you a look as you're dragged out by Meg).

You think maybe that’s the end until you’re approached by a… a squirrel? You almost punt it when his voice spills out as he shoots into a long prattle about how much of a jerk Hades was and how he couldn’t handle someone as grandiose as him appearing before him. Threatened him as a god or something- you were busy trying to figure out how you were going to kill this guy and make sure he stayed dead.

Turns out, after the two of you chattered (argued) a bit about whether or not he actually killed you, Zeus had some neat stories about the gods.

While you were interested in his children’s and brothers’ and sisters’ stories, he was interested in your stories of the mundane. A simple fisherfolk? That was a word? You just fished and traded? Amazing! Tell him more!

After this particular interaction between the two of you, Zeus really ended liking you. Maybe a little too much, but, aw well, it wasn’t everyday a mortal soul had the balls to argue with him for something he doesn’t remember doing (he probably did. Probably. Most likely). He swore that he’d come and see you everyday as he sat on your shoulder as a squirrel, going on and on about how you should feel blessed to be praised by one such as he. You were about to throw him until a giant hand came out and grabbed him (seemed you drifted too close to Lord Hades’ desk), the hulking god flinging him out of a portal.

He continues to pop up and bother you and, to be honest, he’s kinda growing on you. Also, I’m gonna be frank and lay it out that, if he likes you enough, he’s probs gonna want to smash, especially if you lean more towards the feminine side (he’s fucking AWFUL). It’s up to you if you wanna indulge that or not, I don’t recommend it, but you can if you really want to.

We’re going with the option you don’t smash- he’ll be salty at you for a whole ass day before he comes back the one after that as a rat (Hades kept finding out his forms that he used to sneak in so it was an ever constant menagerie of appearances to keep up the disguise) and is like: “I thought you would miss me too much so I came back before you could even complain.”

Zag likes to watch the two of you interact because he finds it absolutely fascinating. It’s like watching… He doesn’t know what it’s like but he’s having a blast as you roast his uncle to bits. It really helps him out when he’s feeling a bit down after failing getting out one too many times.

When you first get Zeus an Ambrosia, he thinks it’s poison and then he gets all prideful because of course you would give him an offering, he was the strongest of all the gods! Him and him alone!

“Silly, mortal, you cannot poison me! I am a god.”

You squint your eyes at him before you huff and pull the bottle closer to you. “Fine, whatever, I’ll just give it to Zagreus- or better yet, Hades if you don’t want it.”

“No! No! I want it! Give it to me! It’s mine!”

During this time, he’s actually experiencing some purer emotions in life- he’s genuinely giddy that you got him the Ambrosia and asks how you got it. You hold up a makeshift fishing rod and grin at him, telling him you snatched it from some nasty shades before you wandered back down to Tartarus.

His gift to you is a little lightning pin that, when you're in danger, will send a nasty bolt of lightning down on your enemies. You wonder what good it’ll do since you’re dead already, but shrug and accept it, thinking that he looks years younger and friendler when his smile isn’t packed full of ego and pride.

Poseidon

Cause of Death: Drowning

Poseidon, Lord of the Oceans, Earthquakes, and many other things, is simply- how do you say? Amused? It’s the best way to describe it at least. Of course he was mostly surprised when he appeared expecting the Little Hades to be waiting for him just to meet a Little Shade in his place.

“Why, hello there, Little Shade! You wouldn’t happen to know where the Little Hades is, would you?”

You shake your head, he doesn’t miss the way you nervously play with your hands, drifting back as some of his droplets float close to you.

He laughs at your simple reply. “Shy one aren’t you?” He leans closer to you, squinting and running a hand through his beard while he hummed.

You fight the urge to take a step back, the smell of salt water making your stomach churn.

His eyes flutter shut as he takes a deep breath. He takes a moment before he opens his eyes again and a look of understanding flashes across his eyes. “You drowned. Didn’t you?”

You stare up at him, eyes round and glassy. You nod.

Before your conversation can go any further, Zagreus comes running through the window, surprised to see his Uncle talking to a Shade (you look so scared- he hopes that you aren’t being bullied). You’re quick to take your leave bowing to both and passing the boon to the Prince before you scurry away into the cover of the other Shades.

He hums to himself, a cryptid smile on his face as his eyes follow after you. Such a strange little thing you were- he wouldn’t mind seeing you again.

It takes a bit, but he does happen to see you again, by peaking through a fountain in a fountain room in the Underworld. He spies you trying to poke at the water that he happened to choose, but jumping back each time. You face scrunched up into one of pure frustration. He asks if you’re doing alright there, Little Shade? Causing you to flash out of existence for a moment before settling back down and looking into the pool with wide eyes. Posiedon almost busts a gut with how hard he’s laughing and you huff telling him that it wasn’t funny.

He says otherwise, but asks what you’re doing. When your face bursts into a large blush you mumble something that he doesn’t quite catch and he’s left with more questions than answers as you take the chance to phase out of the chamber when Zag walks in and steals his Uncle’s attention for a split second. He furrows his brow before asking his nephew about you, which Zag, surprisingly, supplies rather quickly, seeing as the two of you talk a lot: apparently you’re deathly afraid of water after you were thrown into the ocean by your supposed best friend. The memories of the waves crushing you deeper and deeper beneath them sticking with you even in death. So, you were trying to curb that phobia. Posiedon nods, letting the words sink in before he offers the Little Hades a thumbs up and says he’ll help with that.

The next time you see the god, he’s eager to call you over and explain that he’s figured out what you were doing last time and offers to let you mess with some of the drops of water that follow him wherever he goes. You stare at them, eyebrows furrowed and looking just as sick as a shade could look. Yet, you still nod your head and hold out a shaky hand. He smiles at you, praising you for your courage and flicks one towards you; it floats gently before it rests serenely on your palm, allowing you to feel the cool sensation of the droplet. You marvel at it, still shaking with an anxiety before you nod. He pulls it away, it shoots back to rest next to his head and you thank him for going out of his way to help you and ease your fears.

He remarks that you should fear the water out of respect: it’s unpredictable, terrifying in it’s own right- vast and, seemingly, never ending, what could possibly be more terrifying than the unknown, hm? He continues to say that you should also hold onto a bit of bravery at the very least, for untold treasures come from there for those who look.

After that conversation, Poseidon makes it a habit of having you hold onto his droplets of water, making them slightly bigger each time for you to get used to them.

By the time you’re able to touch them freely without experiencing crippling fear- the droplets are almost the size of you. Poseidon praises you the more you grow out of your fear.

You do eventually open up to him about how you died and he never tells you that he already knew. Just allows you to talk in a soft voice as you recall it. It’s a nice bonding experience for the both of you and Posideon decides that you’re his favorite Shade and he’ll treasure you for as long as you exist.

The first time you get him a bottle of Ambrosia, you come to him shivering and sopping wet. He’s confused and concerned as he hovers to you.

“What happened to you, Little Shade? Are you alright?”

It takes you a moment to be able to speak. “I- I found a bottle of Ambrosia. I thought-” you take a deep breath, holding out the bottle with both hands- “I thought you’d like it.”

It’s one of his prized possessions now, he takes little sips of it once in a while, but other than that it remains as one of his most precious memories. He’s very attached to you at this point and you’ll forever have his blessing. His gift to you, aside from the undying loyalty, is a shell necklace, if you ever need him- you only need to whisper his name to it and he’ll appear in an instant.

Athena

Cause of Death: Exhaustion

Athena had been prepared to meet with Zagreus- not a curious shade staring back up at her with all the relevance of one of her worshippers.

“What business do you have with me?”

She raises her brow at your gobsmacked expression, watching as you screw your face up before bowing. “Apologies, m’lady, I only happened to bump into your…” you look at where it glows, furrowing your eyebrow, “your orb?”

“Boon.”

You nod your head in understanding before bowing your head again. “Again, my sincerest apologies.”

Luckily, she didn’t smite you, instead asking the question of how you were even talking to her. Getting a shrug from you, you say that maybe it’s because you worshipped her (unofficially, you were never able to make it up to her shrine much to your disappointment) when you were alive- maybe a deeper bond is there compared to someone who had never prayed to her for her protection and guidance.

When she hears this, she’s very interested, pressing you to elaborate further when the Young Prince comes jogging out of the glowing window, waving to you. You slink away, passing the boon to him and bowing to her once again before you disappear into the mass of Shades that choose to wander their new home as well.

After the conversation, you had caught the Goddess’ attention, planting a desire in her to see you again. Even going as far as to write a letter to ask her uncle for a council with you after a week passed of her placing her boon in Tartarus so that maybe you would drift too close to it once again. But each time only the little prince would find them (which she was fine with, but it still left such an unflattering taste of defeat on her tongue each time it wasn’t you). She figured it would be a moot point to send the letter, but it was worth a try.

But she decided to place her boon down once more before she sent it out. Just to try. And this time it worked.

You were the one she saw and she was absolutely delighted- not that she showed it, choosing to keep her stoic and sharp expression. You greet her in a similar way before: awed before bowing your head to her. You continue to go on about how you're happy to see her again and, despite how little you had been buried with, you hoped that she would take this- a broken sword, despite the worn hilt and the deep scars the littered what was left of the flat of the balde; it was still polished (at least what was left of it)- as a proper offering to her for all she had done in your life- even if it truly wasn’t all her doings.

She takes the sword in her hand, holding it high, her eyes shining as she studies it: truly, it was a warrior’s blade. She watches as the history and memories flash in the smooth iron. She remarks that it is a remarkable offering, but she cannot accept it. It feels wrong taking a weapon of a warrior such as yourself.

You smile as her, shaking your head, urging her to take it, for you didn’t need that blade in this afterlife. You had already fought your battles, killing the man who you had been battling with and quelling the rage that had followed you since you were a child for revenge. Eventually, dying from the strain of the fight with a feeling of contentedness.

Athena raises her brow, remarking how that sounded more along the lines of Ares rather than her.

You nod, but say that you couldn’t help but desire her help for she was the goddess attached to your favorite animal. She had to fight the urge to laugh, a shaky smile slipping through as she nods at you. Such a silly thing you are. She decides that she’ll take the sword as a reminder of you, no matter where you should go now. She also decides that you were forming a rather soft cradle in her heart.

After this, she is quick to ask Zagreus about you every chance she gets- not that he minds too much, he tells her about how you’ve been helping him train and you’ve even told him about your life when you were alive (“a general, can you believe that? They’re so young!” Zagreus says as he shows her the new move you taught him). She’s only the slightest bit miffed at hearing that you and Achilles have begun to form a sweet friendship. She’s pleased to hear that his father has been trying to barter with you to get you into Elysium, though she’s a tad confused on the reason you refuse to.

She asks you about it one day and you say that it would take longer to see her and you would prefer to avoid that. It was the only time the goddess has ever had to fight down a blush.

When you get her a bottle of Ambrosia, she’s in pure awe at the huge bottle.

“How did you get one this big?”

You lean against the new sword you managed to get your hands on- something simple and obviously used- you offer her a lopsided grin. “Well, not just any Ambrosia would work, so I decided to try my luck with Lord Theseus and, The Great Bull, Asterius. Took me a couple of tries but I managed to beat them and snag it.”

Athena smiles warmly at it, telling you that she’ll treasure it and think of you every time she takes a drink of it. She realizes in that moment just how important you had become to her, never feeling this… soft for a mortal soul in her life. Her gift to you is a shield and a new sword: the shield bares her symbol of an owl while the sword was ornate with a divine glow. She promises that no matter what they’ll protect you and so will she, you only need to call out her name.

Aphrodite

Cause of Death: A Broken Heart

When the Goddess of Love first sees you- she thinks you’re absolutely gorgeous (of course not as gorgeous as her). The sad look in your eye and the slight frown that rests on your lips makes her almost fall in love right then and there.

“Hello, little one- do you know where the little godling is?”

You shake your head. “I’m sorry, Lady Aphrodite. I know not where he is.”

She raises her brows, a smile on her face. “How did you know I was Aphrodite, my dear?”

You look up at her, a sudden glint in your eyes has her yearning to see it once again. “No one else could be so breathtaking, my Lady.”

Oh. Oh, she likes you.

She chooses to chatter away with you- despite you mostly listening, adding little things here and there, she feels a strange sense of fullness, like she just ate a full and warm meal for the first time in a very long time, by the time Zagreus arrives. You bid your farewell and she can’t help but follow you with her gaze as your transparent form blends in with the other Shades.

Aphrodite is thrilled the next time she runs into you- or rather you run into her boon. She missed the melancholy look in your eyes, she also doesn’t miss the fact that you’ve come bearing gifts this time: an assortment of colorful flowers rests in your arms and you offer it to her. That glint coming and going like a shooting star as she accepts the offering, holding it up to her nose to take in their sweet scent. How sweet were you to hand her something so delicate.

She asks you where you got them and you remark that you made your way up to Elysium. She’s surprised to hear as such- you didn’t seem like the warrior type. You shake your head, your eyes sweeping low. You weren’t a warrior, far from it- a simple florist if anything. You just drifted until you made it up there and plucked some flowers to make bouquets. You mumble that maybe you’ll be more useful in death.

She tilts her head at the comment, beginning to ask until Zagreus is jogging up to the both of you and it was time for you to leave. She’s a tad annoyed, but reminds herself that the little godling didn’t know- simply trying to break out of this dreary place he calls home and see Olympus in all its glory. She’ll just ask next time.

You gave her another bouquet, this one more beautiful than the last, when she gets the chance to ask you her question. Your eyes pool with a mournful look as you gaze up at her, your hand resting over the place where your heart used to beat as you look to the ground. You explain that you were young when you were wed- just as you were young when you died. You were married off to someone you did not love- someone awful, vile, who beat you down daily just to build you back up so they could laugh when they toppled you over once again. You remark about how you could feel yourself dying little by little, your delicate heart bleeding as your want for life began to dwindle away. You grew sick and you would sit by the window day in and day out, staring out and wondering what your life could have been if you were married to someone you loved. A ghost of a smile blooms on your lips as you look up at her, that glint she oh-so loved twinkling in your eye as you say that you did not die in as much loneliness and pain as you could have; having been making a bouquet dedicated just to her love and sweetness: your Lady Aphrodite who you love, ever so much.

She’s shocked when she realizes the tears that drip down her cheeks, her hand coming to caress your cheek (really your head, she was hulking compared to your small form) with her fingertips. She comments that she would accept every bouquet you made and treasure each flower like it was the one you made for her with your last breaths in the living world.

After that interaction, she comes down a lot more, asking Zagreus if he could bring along her darling florist so that she could talk to you. He always obliges, loving to see the two of you chatter about (well, her chatter about, you usually just listened with a smile on your face as you used the flowers you had plucked into flower crowns for him and Lady Aphrodite). You two become a sort of comfort for him when he’s getting frustrated: seeing your usually melancholy demeanor light up as soon as the goddess appears and in turn the goddess becomes something less vain and more gentle as she speaks to you.

At some point, you’ll probably meet Ares himself- the two never that far from each other, also she adores you, so it only makes sense for you to meet him. He’s honestly a tad unimpressed when you first meet, but when he hears about the heart ache you faced he gains a sense of respect for you, remarking that love is a battle in and of itself and you fought valiantly to keep your ability to love freely (Aphrodite might convince you to have a threesome, I’m not gonna lie, she’s attracted to you on a deep level and she has her trysts with Ares- it’s perfect in her eyes. Though she won’t push you if you don’t desire it).

When you first get her Ambrosia, she’s flabbergasted before it turns into worry for how you got it and the potential danger you were in.

She takes the bottle of gold liquid and the flowers that you had so carefully arranged. Her attention, though, is focused on the said bottle of Ambrosia. “My Darling Florist, how did you get this?” Before you can answer she shoots into a flurry of questions. “Are you alright? Did anything catch you? Hurt you? You don’t seem hurt. Oooh-” she puffs her cheeks out, her gaze sharp- “why did you get me this? It’s dangerous!”

You wait for her to calm down. “I apologize for making you worry, but I simply snuck around and grabbed it from some witches- they didn’t even notice me. And I-” you tap your fingers together, a blush blooming across your face as you look away from the goddess and she decides that she craves seeing that expression on you again- “I thought that you deserved it. It’s a much better offering than my silly bouquets.”

Well, aside from the ‘silly bouquets’ comment (which she corrects you on very quickly), she’s absolutely flattered and it might be the final nail in the coffin that has her falling for you, the little shade in front of her. She decides that you hold a piece of her heart in your translucent hands, though she chooses to keep that information to herself.

Her gift to you is a hairpin that matches hers, though if you don’t have enough hair- she says, you can always pin it to your robe. It’s a blatant claim on her part, but it also helps ease the residual heartache that followed you into death. And, hopefully (a personal hope of her), each time you look at it, you’d fall deeper and deeper in love with her as well.

Artemis

Cause of Death: Arrow to the Heart

She’s confused when she sees you, quick to voice her confusion as well. Also depending on if you're more feminine or masculine (and I don’t mean woman or man, I just mean how you present yourself), she will treat you differently depending. So, for now, we’re gonna go with the more “feminine” option:

“Who’re you?”

You bow. “An honor to meet you, Lady Artemis, I seem to have bumped into that orb on accident. Wasn’t sure what it did and the curiosity got the better of me.”

She hums, she perks when she notices your bow. “You’re a hunter?”

You smile, holding it out to her. “Yes, indeed, my Lady- I prayed to you a lot.” You laughed, adding. “Hoped to join your hunters when I was young.”

She’s quite happy to hear that and begins to chatter along with you. For some reason feeling oddly at ease around you. It’s probably because you were a fellow hunter but she simply can’t help the way she grows an odd sort of… adoration? Something like that, she thinks- for you. She almost laments the fact when Zagreus comes to get the boon.

You nod to him, biding your farewell to the Goddess and passing the boon to the Prince. She doesn’t miss how Zagreus’ eyes shine as you walk away. She almost comments on it but bites her tongue, wanting to observe the prince and the dreamy look that drifts over his features, even as you disappear.

The next time the two of you meet, she asks if she can see you in action. You agree and search up ahead to find something to demonstrate your skills on. You’re quick to find a few Numbskulls. She watches as you take a deep breath, your eyes narrowing on your unassuming targets and your footsteps become silent as you skirt closer to them. You nock an arrow, never looking away. Her eyes gleam with thrumming adrenaline at the way the muscles in your arms tense as you draw the string back. The low groan of the wood barely above a whisper as you wait for them to line up. You hold your breath, releasing the arrow- it goes through all three of them, making them break into dust in a consecutive line, a harrowing scream being wretched from them as they fade from existence. You release the breath you were holding and stand, sending a smile to the young goddess whose eyes shine with stars.

She praises you for your amazing skill and sings of your prowess. You shake your head, looking down at the ground as you argued that you were but a simple bow folk in your living life. Nothing more, nothing less.

She begs to differ! That type of skill only belongs to those of her highest ranking huntresses! She continues to gush about you until Zag comes up and, once again, greets the both of you. That dreamy look coming over his face as he looks at you. She watches as you once again disappear into Tartarus, this time though, after you’re gone, she turns to her cousin and shoots into a tangent about why he had never told her about you before and where did you come from? She has to know!

He answers all of her questions to the best of his abilities but there are even some he doesn’t know about, for example: how you died.

Artemis accepts this and decides that she’ll just ask you the next time the two of you meet.

And, true to her word, she does. She asks you point blank and you can’t help but be slightly taken aback. You laugh softly, leaning on your bow as you begin to recount that you were traversing her forest, as you had done many times before, and noticed fresh foot prints of man. You decided that it would be a good idea to look and you found hunters trying to kill her Golden Stag. You had dove in as quickly as you could, shooting one- the arrow sailing in a clean arch through his wrist before he could let loose his arrow. But as you went to nock another arrow- a searing pain in your chest and heart. You looked down to see blood pooling around your robes, dying the olive green of your cloak a wine red. You remember the last thing you saw was the Golden Stag running away. You smiled telling her that you were happy he got away- you don’t know what you’d do if he had been captured despite your effort.

Artemis suddenly remembers that day: her stag rushing to her and urging her to follow him- he bounded through the forest, frantic and panicked. When they got to a clearing, she was quick to notice the blood and the drag marks of a body. Her stag pressed his nose to the ground sniffing at the pool of blood, his eyes watering and bulbous tears slid down his muzzle. It suddenly made sense. You were the one he was mourning for.

She couldn’t help but grab your hands, resting her forehead against the back of them; thanking you for protecting her stag when she couldn’t. You smile at her, bowing your head to her and thanking her for the countless hunts she went on with you. You pull your hands away from her and hold out your bow to her. She asks what you think you're doing in a watery voice and you say it’s an offering. You couldn’t give much when you were alive and you still can’t give much now, but, this bow- it shall treat her right.

She sniffles as she takes it, trying to hold in tears. She vows to treasure it for all of time as she admires the worn wood.

That day, the two of you became closer as comrades, she would actively come down to say hi to you (and encourage Zagreus to take the leap and court you after she learned of his growing affections for you). The two of you would talk about everything you could think of, explaining how your hunting styles differed or how you could set a trap easier. She had realized that she had never felt this carefree with anyone before. She felt like a child. It felt nice.

When you snag her a bottle of Ambrosia- she’s swaddled in a whirlwind of emotions.

“You… You got this for me?” She asks as she takes the bottle of golden liquid.

You nod, that gentle smiling spreading across your face. “Of course. You had helped me so many times- it is only fair, my Lady-”

“Artemis-” she sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles- “call me Artemis, my friend.”

She finds you to be a perfect friend- a breath of fresh air from home. She may not feel any romantic feelings towards you, but she still holds you in a dear place in her heart. Her gift to you is a new bow and quiver that will never run out of arrows. The bow is enchanted and you’ll never have to fear it breaking for it will protect you for as long as you exist- in this realm or another.

Ares

Cause of Death: Blood Loss

When Ares first sees you, he is… well- he’s impressed that you stumbled upon his boon, but at the same time… He’s a tad miffed? That you found it?

At the very least he’s condescending as all hell about it:

“What is this? A little lamb came to beg me for power? How foolish. No matter how hard you struggle you will never be much more than some little shade.”

“Ah, sorry, my Lord! Didn’t mean to bump into it!” You hold up the basket in your translucent arms, “I wanted to see if I could find some new ingredients to bake with! I do oh-so miss it, sir.”

Well, he wasn’t expecting that.

He ends up allowing you to chatter on with him despite his obvious judgement on your, what he calls, “soft mortal hobby” until Zagreus comes to do his daily try of breaking out from the Underworld.

As he watches you drift away (after passing the boon and giving words of good luck to the Prince, who happily takes it), he kinda hopes to see you again

And see you again he does! He literally sees you the next day- night? Whatever, he’s never sure when he drops a boon in there- it’s damn dark-

He’s presented with a basket of treats and your gleeful greeting as you chatter that you found ingredients to make some Baklava and you thought that, maybe, he’d like to try it?

He smiles- cruel and sharp- and asks if you truly think that this is a fit offering for a god such as himself?

You shrug, saying he doesn’t have to eat it if he doesn’t want to

He laughs and takes it and you two are off chattering again: him regaling you with his war stories and you of the ingredients you had (somehow) found down here until Zag shows up, once again, the boon is passed to him (this time along with a slice of the delicious, warm Baklava. Which, he’s confused on what it is but he finds out very quickly that it’s his favorite treat).

The two of you talk a lot, which Ares is pleasantly surprised about, usually he’s the scorn of everyone- not that he cares, it causes conflict and he likes that. But you’re so calm and sweet that he just can’t get a rise out of you. Which, on one hand, pisses him off to no end, but, on the other, it’s such a nice change of pace for him. He’s used to the bloodshed and animosity of battlefields- the iron tinged air that follows after the warriors that traverse those fields. And yet, here you are: a shade that always has a treat for him when you run into him and the smell of warm sweetness wafting after you.

So when he learned exactly how you died- he was absolutely floored.

“How did you die, little baker?” He asked one day, fiddling with his knife, tilting it discreetly so that your reflection was in it.

“Oh!” You smiled sheepishly, glancing away from him and placing the bag of flour (how did you even get that? He’d have to ask you next) back into your basket. “Well- you see, I bled out.”

He raised his eyebrow, suddenly very interested. “How? You’re so…” he tilted his head and flipped his knife so that the blade pointed at him and the hilt pointed at you, he poked your arm with said hilt. “Soft.”

“Well…”

You explain that you had a little brother who had a nasty habit of getting into trouble- he was a good person, just made foolish choices- and this time, it had cost you your life. He had pissed off the wrong person and, well, when the man had attempted to grab your brother when the two of you were out walking the stalls on your break- you did the only thing you could think of: you fought.

Of course it went horribly, you’ve never been in a fight before then and, despite all the work you did with dough, it didn’t help much when the man pulled out a knife and dug it straight into your gut. But, you don’t mind too much- your brother’s alive and well and, from what you understand from asking Lord Hades, he had started to be more aware of himself and who he angered. Which made you super happy and proud of him!

Ares can’t help but feel some sort of pity for you. So much life to be taken so quickly and placed in- wait. Why weren’t you in Elysium?

You’re incredibly confused when Ares suddenly disappears (Aphrodite appearing in his place in the blink of an eye- she greets you happily and asks if you have any of Baklava to share today. You do not but you do have some Loukoumades if she wanted some. She did). You’re even more confused when the Underworld shakes and angry yelling fills the entirety of it for a solid ten minutes before all goes back to normal.

You tell Ares about it the next day and he simply hums. Keeping it to himself that he made a whole scene about you not being in Elysium by popping up and butting heads with Hades, of course he got kicked out. That still doesn’t stop him from sending angry letters that can span anywhere from one word letters (usually containing a curse word) to a 30 page essay on why you should be in Elysium instead of milling about in such unkempt places.

The first time you go out of your way to get him a bottle of Ambrosia is the day that both scares the shit out of him and makes him hate you for giving him mushy feelings.

You came to him in, almost literal, tatters: your greenish, transparent form ripped in places, the few wisps of you following after your torn form like they were tied to a string. You had held it up to him in a basket, a plate of Baklava sitting next to it, along with some other treats. “Lady Aphrodite mentioned that she wanted to try my Baklava, so I made her some! Though the Ambrosia is just for you, my Lord!”

He blinked at you, taking the basket in a delicate hold. He turned it this way and that, his chest feeling… warm? He wanted to grimace at the soft warmth that thrummed through his veins, yet it was replaced with a smile as he held up the gold liquid. “Thank you, little Baker.”

It was the first time he felt something so unexplainably soft: so gentle and warm as it settled somewhere between the bottom of his ribcage and the top of his stomach. He listened as you told him how you had gotten it: with Zagreus’ help (you even got to meet Lord Hermes! It was so amazing! He had scoffed at that) he led you to a room with Ambrosia as the prize and, despite the young prince’s worry, you managed to beat the monsters and collect it, mostly, by yourself.

Ares was so flattered, but he couldn’t help the way that your tattered form made him feel a sort of worry. He waved his hands through the wisps of your body before he snapped his fingers and a small blade appeared: a beautifully constructed blade that was an exact replica of his (albeit much, much smaller). He handed it to you, telling you that you should have a proper weapon if you’re going to go out of your way to fight in his name.

Dionysus

Cause of Death: Alcohol Poisoning

Dionysus, unlike many, is incredibly excited to see you sitting there. He adores mortal souls and can’t help but look at them each time Zag chooses his boons and he has the chance to glimpse at their souls (despite his tendency to let them go completely after they die- he can’t help but wonder about them once in a while).

“Why, hello there! What’s a little thing like you doing strolling up to my boon, hm?”

He can’t help but notice the way your eyes are a tad dull, but he writes that off as the dark of Tartarus since it’s gone as fast as he noticed it. You smile up at him, absolutely beaming at the God of drink and madness. “Hello, Lord Dionysus!”

“Oho, you could tell it was me? What gave it away?”

The two of you laugh, diving into a conversation. He offers you a cup of wine and is put off with how long it takes you to decline it. He almost thought you looked absolutely ravenous as you peered into the deep red liquid. He shrugs it off and continues to chatter with you until his favorite Zagman stumbles upon the two of you. He’s quick to say hi to you and even leans down to ask you… something. Dionysus misses it, but still watches the way you stiffly nod before you pass the boon to the prince and scurry off.

He’s tempted to ask about it, but decides that he should probably ask you himself instead of trying to pry. Mortals didn’t take well to people snooping around their private lives, which he could respect.

The next time he sees you though, he relaxes you into a sort of peaceful lull as he chats with you before he drops the question.

You stare blankly at him, that dark look in your eye coming back and making his skin crawl. You suddenly laugh it off waving your hands as you tell him that a god shouldn’t worry about a little ol’ shade like you.

He doesn’t push for an answer but the question still swirls in his mind, even as you toddle off after his Zagman pops up. He decides that he’ll actually ask the Prince this time around.

He asks him point blank and Zag, despite him being hesitant at first, decides to spill how you died. You had been the black sheep of your family, never truly fitting into the carefully set path that they wanted you to follow- so you found solace in drinking from a young age. It had taken the edge off of everything, Zagreus recounted you telling him. It filled you with a warmth you had been missing all your life and you couldn’t help but indulge more and more in it until it slowly became your own personal poison. Dionysus grimaced, for once feeling a sort of queasiness in the pit of his stomach as Zagreus continued on with your story. So, one day, you had drunk yourself into a deep stupor after an awful argument with your parents. But, this time, you never woke up. Instead you woke up floating in the river of blood- the River of Styx.

Dionysus had nodded after the Prince finished the story, playing with the goblet in his hand and swirling the red wine that resides in it. He offers a bitter smile to Zag and bids his farewell (of course leaving a boon of his choice with the lad) popping off back to Olympus.

The next time he runs into you, he asks if you’re feeling alright- if you want to talk. You blink at him, confused at first until realization dawns you. You bite your lip, looking down. He’s quick to assure you that you didn’t have to talk about anything- you two could just have a good time like always. You tell him that you’d like that, not yet ready to face your past. He nods, immediately telling you about an embarrassing story about Ares and how much of a lightweight he was which had you letting out an ugly snort along with your loud cackles.

The god begins to take it upon himself to have you smiling more and maybe remedy those dark clouds that appear in your eyes once in a while. He’s pretty observant despite being piss drunk half the time, it also helps that he’s very intune to your emotions for some odd reason, so he’s quick to pick up on when you feel down or your having something the equivalent to a relapse. He has you drink just a little bit from his goblet since it’s better than quitting cold turkey. And that little bit is always enough to quench your thirst and calm you down. You’ve been needing less and less of it as the days (nights?) pass by.

The first time you get Dionysus Ambrosia is the same day that he almost swears that he’ll marry you. He’s quick to grow emotional with the sheer fact that you went out of your way to get something so special for him, his face almost splitting with how wide of a smile he has on his face.

“You got this for me, man?” He says, holding up the bottle in his hand and inspecting it like it’s a precious jewel. “You know this stuff is hard to come by, super hard.”

You nod, the clouds far from your eyes now. “I had to thank you some way and punching a couple of Shades to get my hands on that was worth it.”

“You punched people for me?”

“Of course.”

He fights the urge to squeal and pops the top off, summoning another cup and pouring some in it. “Here’s to us!” He says as he hands you the cup.

He’s honestly never had so much fun just existing with one person. After that he’s never far from you, one usually not seen without the other around- even despite the Underworld not being Dionysus’ favorite place, he can’t help but be willing to venture down there to see you in person (he’s been trying to convince his wonderful Uncle Hades to let you come up with him to Olympus for a little bit- he’s even got his dad and (other) Uncle in on it. Hades officially hates all of them). His gift to you is a matching goblet that will supply you any beverage of your choice. It also has the double power to protect you from all that wishes to harm you, but you’ll learn that in due time. It’ll be more fun that way, Dionysus muses.

Hermes

Cause of Death: Falling

Usually, Heremes wouldn’t have taken the time of day to chatter mindlessly with a shade. But, it was a different story when that shade summoned him through bumping into his boon- now it’s just interesting!

“Eh? Who’re you? It’s kinda strange for a shade to be here and not my Cos, huh? Did something happen to him? You his stand in or something? That’d be kinda funny because you don’t seem like his stand in- not buff enough or something like that.”

You blink slowly taking in the words of his mile a minute speech as he continues to prattle on. You take a seat in front of the quick mouthed god, getting yourself comfortable as he flutters about and chatters. Not like you minded- he filled in the places where you couldn’t with steady conversation. You nod to some of the quips he makes, just to show you were still listening.

He decides then and there that he likes you a lot and that you should meet Charon. As soon as Zagreus pops up to collect the boon- he grabs the back of your robes and goes zooming off with you in tow. You wave to the panicked prince, allowing yourself to be dragged around. He continues to chatter on and on, only taking a break when he reaches the Boatman (who was not expecting a Shade to be accompanying the God of Messengers). He sets you down, tries to introduce you two to each other- realizes he doesn’t know your name, so you end up telling them your name- and then is quick to say goodbye, after he gives a scroll to Charon, and shoots off.

You end up staying with Charon after learning a bit more about the quiet boatman and Hermes is quite pleased when he realizes that he’d be seeing you around a lot more. He’s quick to flutter about you and chatter for a few quick seconds before zipping off. You wave at him.

The process repeats for a while before he finally takes a moment to really sit with you, Charon having gone to pick up more souls and lead them down the River of Styx. He chatters on aimlessly, asking little questions here and there before he decides to ask the million dollar question: “How did you die?”

You blink slowly as him before murmuring that you fell from a very high place, you head cracking open on the rocks at the bottom and now here you are. He asks why you were messing about on a high place, as that seemed to be something most mortals avoided doing. You explained that there was a kitten stuck in an old root on the ledge and you couldn’t just leave her. So, you crawled onto the branch and put her back onto safe ground, but the root gave way and then you went tumbling to your doom.

Hermes is surprisingly quiet throughout the entire exchange until you reach the end and he says: “you’re a real bleeding heart under all that quiet, huh?” You nod solemnly and he laughs, pulling you into a side hug. How could something with such a fleeting life be so selfless with it? He squeezes you harder before he stands up and bids you farwell, shooting off once again. And, again, you wave as he goes.

He grows attached to you quickly afterwards, bringing you little things that might help make you more comfortable down in the Underworld. Of course Charon is there to keep you company which he’s happy about- and he voices that exact thought to the boatman, who just grumbles out a long: uuuuaagghhh as his reply. He pats his arm and says that he knew he’d get it.

When you manage to get your hands on a bottle of Ambrosia- he’s completely blind sided that he almost trips on his own feet. His face flushing a deep red as he takes the offered bottle.

“How’d- how’d you get this?” His speech is all jumbled and jumpy, though he tries to keep the giddy excitement bubbling in his stomach as bay.

“I saved up my coin,” you said, nodding to Charon who nods back. “And bought it from Charon. I would’ve fought for it, but I’m no warrior.”

A smile splits across his face and the wings on the side of his head flutter. He’s quick to scoop you up and hug you, floating up with you as he does.

Hermes is an absolute giddy mess with your offering, not sure if he should kiss you or simply remain holding you. He had a special place for you before but this just solidifies his adoration for you. His gift to you is a pair of boots with wings on the side of them- an exact replica of his (in your size! Somehow-). He promises that they’ll help you get anywhere you want quickly, also the two of you match! How cute is that?

#hades #hades game #zagrues #zeus #posidon #athena #artimes #ares #aphordite #hermes #dionysus #zeus x reader #posidon x reader #athena x reader #artimes x reader #ares x reader #hermes x reader #dionysus x reader #x reader #reader insert #non bianry reader #gender neutral reader #sfw #hades imagine #hades game imagine #not a reblog #I had #too much fun with these #IT TOOK ME FOUR DAYS #BUT THEY'RE DONE

[c-is-for-circinate]

As promised: let's talk Hades, and how acts of abuse can create toxic environments for everyone around them, and also how people react to those environments--and to them being disrupted.

(For reference, I have just kicked Theseus's ass for the first time, it was exactly as satisfying as it was intended to be, and then I got predictably slaughtered a couple of chambers into Styx. Spoilers for everything through that point, but please no spoilers in reblogs/comments for anything after that!) Also, TW for a whole lot of discussion of abuse, particularly verbal and emotional abuse, and abusive familyworkplace dynamics.

Okay, so. To start out with, Hades is an abusive parent. He engages in innumerable acts of verbal and emotional abuse towards his son, because yep, that's what you call it when a parent constantly berates and belittles their kid for every perceived failure, including the ones the parent themselves could have prevented. Sometimes especially the ones the parent could have prevented. Zagreus failed at his office clerk job because Hades refused to teach him how to do it and then blamed him for not already knowing how. Cerberus tore up the lounge because Hades, who was actually there, chose not to stop him. Hades created, possibly deliberately, and then took full advantage of every opportunity he saw to insult and demean his kid, and the clerk job flashback shows us that he was doing so even before the escape attempts started. I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page here, but: yep, that all constitutes abuse, even if they're gods. Even if Hades has reasons for Being Like That. Even if you think Zagreus seems okay and unharmed by it (which: repeatedly throwing yourself into a gauntlet of violence that inevitably ends in your own pain and death because you're so desperate to escape home, not actually an indicator of someone who's okay). We all good on that?

Cool. Because I'm not really here to talk about how Hades' abuse directly impacts Zagreus right now (although there's for sure an essay in that too). I'm thinking about how it impacts everybody else.

Hades isn't as obviously unreasonable with anybody else in his kingdom the way he is with his kid. When we see him lecture somebody else, it's usually for an actual failure to do their job: Hypnos for literally falling asleep on the job and not doing anything that was assigned to him, Megaera for letting us past her so many time, Orpheus for being a court bard who refuses to sing. His attitude is super confrontational and unpleasant, but on the surface it doesn't necessarily look as fucked-up. Thing is, though, whether any individual act of aggression towards an employee/family member is justified or not (I would generally argue 'not', because aggression towards employees/family members is, y'know, not justifiable)--it's not about the individual acts. It's about the entire cultivated atmosphere of toxicity and abuse.

One of the very first things Meg ever says to us is, "I'd rather be on your bad side than his." Up until that point, we've got no reason to believe Meg has any history whatsoever of fucking up at her job. In fact, we've got plenty of reason to believe she's good at it. She's fiercely proud of it, she's frequently Employee Of The [Time Period], and we've apparently never even met her sisters because she handles her shit herself. But she's still scared of Hades. Dusa, who is an anxious wreck at all times because oh god what if she gets fired what if she gets fired what if she gets fired, in spite of apparently being absolutely exemplary at her job, is scared of Hades. Every single shade in the Hall is clearly terrified of Hades, and it's not because of what he's done to each of them. It's what they've seen him do to other people.

Which is how toxic environments work, whether they're work environments or families. The Court of Hades is of course both, always, with the bonus hell layer of you can't quit even if you DIE. An abuser in authority doesn't have to target you in order to make you feel scared, cowed, and desperate to please them. Humans (and gods who are basically extra-powerful humans) are good at learning by example. The residents of the Court get the picture.

So this Court is a minefield--and everyone except Zagreus is very good at tiptoeing around mines. We see it in Meg, so desperate to do her job well. We see that Hypnos very clearly does not give a shit about anything, but he still makes sure to have a list of excuses ready if/when Hades ever confronts him about failure to do his job, just in case. We see it when Achilles tells us that my ability to help you is constrained by the authority your father gives me, or whatever the line was sixty runs ago when he couldn't let me into locked chambers. The system, such as it is, works, and if Nyx talks to Hades as little as possible, if Thanatos avoids the Court entirely, if Achilles treads very carefully and knows how to keep his head down--well that's just the system, right? That's just how things are.

Even Zagreus seems to have had a role in that system as the court fuckup. He's the kid who didn't have a real job or purpose. He could take the focus of Hades' generalized, day-to-day ire off of everyone else, without triggering some of the more direct and violent ire because the work he was doing didn't really matter (a LOT of Hades' rage-triggers seem to be related to job performance, which means that the people with real jobs are of course the most at risk). And he could do so "safely" (big emphasis on the quotation marks there) because he alone of the court is Hades' actual kid, who's Prince of the Underworld no matter how much he fucks up. If one of Nyx's other kids gets something really really wrong, she might be able to protect them from some consequences, but Hades doesn't have any layer of supposed parental affection holding him back from getting violently furious about it. Zagreus gets a nice bedroom and the abuse is limited to words rather than divine power, and Hades is a dick to everyone but he only occasionally condemns people to eternities of torture, and only for good reasons like refusing to sing when your job is to be court bard, so it's fine, everybody's fine, everything's totally fine, right?

Except it's not fine when everybody is so clearly worried about anything going wrong. And it's especially not fine for Zagreus, who's the person to finally say no. He's leaving, for his own sake, because he deserves better and he's finally convinced he can have it. And that turns the whole system into disarray.

I am endlessly fascinated by the ways this game portrays different characters reacting to this upheaval in their carefully-mapped minefield. It's different for authority figures and peers and servants, different based on how people are positioned in the house under Hades' rule, and it's so spot-on and I love it.

Nyx, for instance, is absolutely calm about the whole thing, because Nyx has power. Hades can't hurt her. Hades can't even really do much against her children, not when Hypnos and Thanatos are gods in their own right. Yes, Hades rules the kingdom, but Nyx owns the land, and she gives no shits about his rages. And it's interesting, too, to see the lines she doesn't draw. The deal seems to be that Hades doesn't fuck with her, and doesn't outright threaten her kids (because Hypnos is bad at his job, demonstrably so, and Hades hasn't ruined him yet), and she doesn't interfere with the way he treats the people around him. She gives Zagreus advice and support and the mirror, but she also doesn't take a direct stand against Hades. He can't hurt her, but he could make life...difficult. She's protected, her position in the minefield is more of a safe viewing platform than slogging through the middle of it, but the mines are still there.

And then we have Achilles, who is one of my favorite characters in the whole game because of how he reacts to this whole situation. Achilles, like Nyx, is so supportive. Every single time you see him he has something encouraging to say. He gives us his Codex, secretly finds us weapons, trained us for years, clearly wants us to succeed. And still he's limited, not necessarily out of fear for himself (though he has to be scared for himself, he knows what Hades does to people who anger him), but out of concern that if he gives Zagreus too much help in one way, he won't be able to provide help at all later. He's still so careful.

Achilles and Nyx are so fucking important to this story because they're the only authority figures Zagreus really has in his life except for his father, and they are so supportive. They're what keep this story from being a nightmare of psychological horror and depression. They can't stop the pressure from Hades and this life in his house being miserable for Zag, but they can give us hope, remind us that Zagreus is still loved. And they have such an incredibly important role when it comes to guilt, which is one of the biggest ways toxic systems maintain themselves.

If Zagreus leaves, what happens to everybody else? Who takes Hades' wrath then? Who becomes court scapegoat if he's not there, and also, who gets punished for his escape? These questions matter, and we see him worry about it! He asks Nyx and Achilles both, is it going to be okay that you're helping me, are you going to be alright, will my father hurt you for this? And they are both so firm about telling him no. No, I will be fine. See, here's the list of reasons about why I'm going to be fine, why my position in this minefield is secure. They make a point of telling us that it's fine, that we do not need to hold ourself back from getting out of this abusive situation for their sake. That is instrumental in Zagreus's ability to keep making these escape attempts without feeling too guilty and worried and selfish to go on. (Another thing that's actually really important in setting up that dynamic--we see that Hades cares about Cerberus, even if he's using him as a pawn against us, and Cerberus seems to be the one figure in court who Hades doesn't get mad at. The dog isn't at risk, and that is really essential in keeping the story from getting too grim.) These people who we care about refuse to let themselves be held hostage to secure our good behavior.

It's also really useful for raising the stakes later in the story--we see Hades arguing with Nyx once or twice, and we see Zagreus feeling guilty about it, but it's also a sign that we're making enough progress to piss him off. After I finally made it out of Elysium on my last run, I came home to find him furious with Achilles in a way that actually makes me nervous, because Achilles does not have nearly as much security in his position as he says he does. (Achilles is such a good teacher/authority figure, because he knows goddamn well what Hades could do to him, and still refuses to let fear for his own situation stop him from helping the abused kid under his care escape his. And no, not everybody has the capacity to do that, but it matters so much coming from the guy who helped raise us. It matters so much. I do not even have the words for how much.)

It's also no mistake that many of the people we find supporting us along our journey are either the people with the most power in their immediate environment, or the least. Sisyphus helps us because what more could they do to me than this? Orpheus is a little wild around the eyes and somewhat disconnected from reality, and he wishes us the best because someone should get what they want and also he no longer gives a single fuck what happens to him. Eurydice has her own cozy little corner of Asphodel, as safe from Hades' rage as anybody anywhere in his realm because she's tucked in such an out-of-the-way middle place she's outside his notice. Dusa is so scared of everything anyway that, crush aside, she isn't any more threatened by us escaping than she is just by her everyday life here. Charon is unfathomable and unstoppable; Skelly literally exists to be a punching bag, and yet he also seems basically immune to pain, no matter what we do to him. There's no threat from Hades there.

So the people most at risk when I flip the world on its ear are the ones who have so much standing that they have something to lose, but not enough to protect them from losing it. Which of course brings us to Than and Meg--who are, of course, the two people who also seem by far the most upset by my attempts to leave.

As authority figures, Nyx and Achilles are constantly reinforcing the message that it's Hades' fault, not ours, if they or anybody else get caught in the crossfire of his wrath. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and it's not my guilt to bear. From Megaera and Thanatos, we get the opposite message--I am fucking with things, I am hurting people, and I need to stop. Zagreus isn't just abandoning them, as a friend or brother or lover or all of the above they're Greek gods who even knows. He's betraying them. They were in this together, as friends or lovers or whatever, but now Zagreus is sending earthquakes through the minefield they both still have to stand in. He is about to capsize this boat in the middle of a thunderstorm, he is fucking with the system, and they're the ones who are going to get most hurt.

I'm so curious how this is going to work for Than, who out of everyone we meet holds the closest role to Nyx's in terms of being sheltered from Hades' wrath. He's the guy who gets to leave, after all, even though he always has to come back. I've seen the least of him out of anybody so far because it took forever for me to get to Elysium, but two things really stand out and I'm so interested to see where they go. One, he really genuinely does care about Zagreus. He wants us safe, he wants us unhurt, the accessory he gives us only grants its bonus if we clear a room without taking injury, he keeps showing up to help. And two, he wants us to give up and go back and recognize how good we had it. Which is SO fucking interesting, considering how miserable Zagreus so clearly was, and how legitimate his reasons for being miserable were.

It makes me wonder so much about Than's standards for comparison. Does he know something we don't about what's waiting for us on the surface, something that might theoretically hurt Zagreus even more than staying down below? Has his life, which apparently allows him more freedom than anybody else in the Court, sucked horribly in ways we haven't seen, and that's why he spends so little time there in the first place? Either of those things is plausible, both of those things are plausible, and yet either one leads to this sense of patronizing, because he refuses to simply tell us. If something terrible is awaiting us, don't give us vague warnings, tell us what it is and let us decide for ourself! If you're fucking jealous because we might get out entirely and you're still stuck coming back here, say so. If you're worried about your mom--and he does bring her up, how could Zagreus turn his back on her like that, does seem to worry for her--then let's have an actual conversation about how many times she has insisted I do this and also how much I love her.

And, right, it's clear that a lot of Thanatos being upset is simply, you were going to leave me without even saying goodbye, you want to leave ME, which is understandable! But, like, he is demonstrably the one god who gets to visit the surface. He's the one person we actually COULD expect to see again. And he is absolutely also upset because there's an Order To Things, and we're fucking it up. We used to be his careless callow reckless friend who could talk back to Hades and get away with it, and now we're not, and everything is changing and we might leave him altogether, and we might leave him alone in that court without us, and he hates it.

Is it a short-sighted, selfish fear on his part? Yes, absolutely. Even if he's not scared of Hades on his own behalf, he is still frightened by what happens if we upset this system--and maybe it's the sanctity of a much bigger system than the Underworld that he's worried about! Maybe it's the whole divine and cosmic order. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect is enabling the abuse Zagreus has been dealing with for however-long he's been alive. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect OUGHT to be overturned, or at least shaken up. But this is what toxic systems DO. They convince the people within them that they have to be maintained, that a broken system that hurts the people within it is far better than no system at all, that changing the world is too scary and too dangerous. And Thanatos wants his whatever-Zagreus-is-to-him to be there, because he loves him and also because that's how the world works, and those things are all tangled up in one another, and that is how relationships are in a messed-up family like this so therefore I love it.

And Meg. Meg, the best for last, my dear, beautiful, furious, bitter, scared angry tired girl. I adore her. I am absolutely never going to date her, because the thing Zagreus needs most in his life hurts her, more directly than anybody else in the story, and that sucks, and it's not Zag's fault but they still shouldn't be together. Meg has taken more injury from this situation than anyone, quite literally as well as metaphorically, and it's not her fault any more than it's ours, but oh boy it has made her lash out and it's awful and it's perfect.

Meg's place in the Court of Hades is unique because she's not dead, not a mortal, not anything other than a god--but she's also not family. Nyx is not her mother. She's very much part of this system, she and her two sisters belong to Hades-the-realm and therefore also Hades-the-king, she can't leave, but she also doesn't have that protection of Nyx watching out for her in the same way. She's not royalty. She and her sisters (if you ask Hesiod instead of Virgil, which seems to be the interpretation the game's going with here) sprang from the blood of maimed Uranus at the same time as Aphrodite, but fuck knows Aphrodite isn't claiming them as siblings. And she can't be fired, exactly, but she sure can be demoted, and she sure can be made miserable in her job. Meg is vulnerable in a way very few people in Hades' employ are. She's a lot harder to do away with than any one random shade, but she's also a lot harder to miss blending in with a crowd.

What's more, she's the one person in this whole mess who is specifically tasked with stopping us from leaving. Hypnos isn't ordered to put us to sleep and keep us in our room. Thanatos can't be compelled or punished if he doesn't hunt us down. Achilles isn't told to lock us up and keep the keys. Meg is the one stationed at the doorway to Tartarus to keep us in. Meg is the one who gets in trouble when we leave. Meg (who Hades knows goddamn well Zagreus cares for, or cared for, who he absolutely knows we used to date) is the one who has to fight us again and again and again. And she's the one who keeps dying.

Again, it's this incredibly fucked-up guilt/hostage situation deliberately designed to keep people from fleeing abusive situations. Meg's insistence on fighting us now puts Zagreus in the position of having to hurt her himself again and again. Now suddenly we're the ones sticking a sword in our ex-girlfriend. Now suddenly someone can point to our desire to leave, to flee, to escape, and say, how selfish. How cruel. How terrible of us to want to go, when we're even willing to hurt the people we love to do it.

Except, right: Hades is the one who demands Meg stand there and stop us. Hades is the one who puts both of us in that position. Meg is also in an abusive situation, and she's willing to hurt us to protect herself. "I'd rather be on your bad side than your father's." It's easy to blame her at the start for being complicit, for being a tool of our father's abuse, for being on his side. It gets harder as the game goes on. I've killed her so many times. There's no way for her to beat me. She knows at this point that she can't beat me. She still fights, every single time, still throws herself upon that spike, not because she thinks she has any chance of stopping me but because she is so damn scared of what will happen if she doesn't try.

In fact, Meg's the one person we have actually seen face consequences for our actions so far, instead of just facing the threat of them. Her sisters are here. Her sisters, who she clearly does not want here, who are wild and violent and who she does not want in her life or anywhere near her, let alone near the job she takes so much pride in. She gets to deal with them now. (Hades doesn't have to deal with them. They're still not allowed in his court. But Meg does.) She gets stabbed, and bludgeoned, and shot, and lightning-struck, and poisoned, and every other thing we do to her. Thanatos doesn't. Nyx and Achilles and Hypnos don't. Bug Meg? Oh yes. Meg pays.

And yes, ok, she is complicit in this system. Everybody is complicit in this system. Zagreus who's trying to escape on his own behalf instead of overthrowing his father for the sake of everyone he'd otherwise be leaving behind is complicit in this system. Pointing fingers and pulling strings of who's more at fault? and who do we blame for this? is exactly how this sort of system perpetuates itself. Your sister always talked back at the dinner table and put everyone in an even worse and more violent mood. Your coworker refuses to work more than forty hours a week so now you have to take overtime to pick up their slack. You're enabling your dad by asking your sister to shut up, you're enabling your employer by working as hard as you do so you don't get fired, everyone's at fault, everyone's to blame, everyone is--

It's not everyone. It's Hades. It's Hades at the root of everything, and probably something big and institutional and fucked-up even beyond him. But even if everyone down in this Underworld does have to be trapped here forever, even if he's trapped here forever, Hades is neither challenging the system that put them here nor trying to make that fate better for anyone else stuck with him. He's just created an entire kingdom of backbiting and misery and people who can either go along with his whims or suffer the consequences.

At this point in the game, Meg is so fucking tired. Every time we run into her in the lounge, hunched over a table, the venom in her voice when she tells us "Do I look like I have anything to say to you?" is so bitter and so exhausted. There was a system, and she knew her place in the system, and it was a system divinely ordered by the gods themselves, and sure it was cruel but that's the literal will of the universe as far as she knows it. She had a role, and her role was vengeance and punishment and violence against those who'd committed the most egregious of sins in life, and there was a point to it, she was the divine deterrent to convince people not to do those things, and that was just, and that was right. The GODS THEMSELVES said so. How do you argue with that? You can't possibly argue with that!

And Zagreus is arguing with that. In trying to leave, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that nothing in the Underworld ever gets to leave it. In disobeying his father to do so, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that what the gods say is LAW. He's breaking everything.

And of course he's not trying to do any of that. He's not trying to destabilize the system at all. He's just trying to get himself out of it, to a place where he feels like he belongs and maybe a parent who's slightly nicer to him than this one. But toxic systems like this one break when the people within them have access to another option. When the kids find a way to actually leave, and not answer the phone, and not come home for holidays, and not deal with it any more. When the employees have the economic freedom to quit. When opportunities granted by education, money, social support, etc etc etc, show up and give people a choice. Even if the option is only ever for Zagreus--he's demonstrating that an option exists. Which is, of course, the one thing the system cannot ever allow.

I really like this game.

#hades game #hades spoilers #C plays stuff #driveby meta attack

[astraskylark]

Can we talk about Weiss in V8 chapter 13? Can we talk about how amazing she was in that episode despite all the batshit crazy insane shit happening around? Like it starts out with a full on Team RWBY Vs Cinder battle royale.

Weiss is literally never still even for a second here. She's clearly learned from Volume 5 that staying still in battle for a fighter with her attack type is a bad decision so she's constantly moving over here appearing on all sides in a matter of seconds while keeping the movements of her teammates in mind as well.

She's literally mid fight here half through zooming across the battlefield after an attack and she's already setting up a glyph to boost Blake up so she can attack Cinder keeping the momentum of the fight going in the split second she needs to move across.

Weiss's fighting style often leans to support and a series of attacks rather than one heavy blow. And support is probably the most complicated role to play in a fight.

It's all about insane mid battle calculation. She has to keep track of her team's movements to perfectly time her glyphs (also deciding what type of glyph based how her teammates are moving and their surroundings) and HOW EXHAUSTING IS THAT??? Because she not only has to keep track of the opponent's movement but she's also keeping her eye on three other people who are in continuing motion looking for any gap she can offer support in??? While constantly moving on the field and launching her own attacks in tandem with the others???

The minute Ruby is falling back Weiss is already pelting ice picks at Cinder. And okay mad props to Cinder because this entire attack sequences from RWBY was hardcore and Cinder managed to dodge it all. And back to Weiss.

So we have this insane battle where everyone is mentally exhausted and then we have Neo attacking Ruby and Yang falling into the void. And I've seen a lot of people shitting on how Ruby and Weiss didn't react fast enough and let me just say they acted exactly how you'd expect them too.

I don't have the pic here cause Tumblr has a limit but if you remember the split screen showing Ruby,Weiss, Blake and Neo we can all see Blake already starts moving. Ruby starts getting attacked by a feral Neo a second later and has no time to even process any event(a running theme this volume Rubes your breakdown is coming).

Now here Weiss starts moving a literal second later. And now remember this is Weiss, master of mid fight distance calculation.

The minute Weiss turned and saw Blake she knew. She knew that judging from how fast Yang fell of the ledge and how fast Blake moved the only person who had a sliver of a chance of saving Yang was Blake. She knew she would be a second late if she tried. She knew that summoning a glyph in the event of Blake missing would be no use because she's done the math in that heated second of fear and anguish and knows that she will be too late.

Which is why Weiss Schnee master of logic and cool headedness in the battle field and emotional wellbeing off the battlefield knew what would happen a second later. She knows Yang. Weiss was the first person we've ever seen Yang be vulnerable around. And I bet the reason Weiss was so sure Blake would find her way back to them is because Weiss and Blake are alot more similar than you think. So Weiss knows. She knows the Blake Belladona would not hesitate for a second to jump into the literal unknown for Yang.

She would too. But they're in the middle of battle and Ruby is being attacked and thousands of Atlas and Mantle citizens are in the middle of a space that shouldn't exist and she knows despite how she wants too she cannot jump. And she cannot let Blake jump either because she cannot and will not lose another member of her family today. And she immediately pulls Blake literally dragging her from the surface(and this is no easy feat because we know how crazy swol Blake is and adding that with mad grief Blake is basically the strongest most impulsive person in that space right now) and you can see from that single frame that Weiss herself is so close to tears but she has to hold it together for Blake. For Yang. For Ruby.

And once Blake takes off in a rage she knows that Cinder is left with no one to fight her. And Weiss (who is probably a little traumatised after having been stabbed and almost dying because of her) she immediately faces Cinder and Weiss is frantically dodging because remember Cinder was able to take on all four of them with barely a scratch and now Weiss is facing her alone.

And I also love this because it seems like Weiss is just zig zagging her way in a frenzy but she's trying to make herself really difficult to target here. You know how they say to run zig zag when your being chased by an animal right? That's what she's doing here. She's stays in a position for just enough time for Cinder to shoot her fire and then immediately takes off in a tangent making cinder have to spend a split second trying to reorient her attack cause all her attacks shoot in a straight direction.

I included this picture because she looks so fucking cool here. She literally fights fire with FIRE and I love her stance and pose and if you've actually read this far you can kinda guess I love everything about her.

And now we see her skating up. Because she knows the advantage and how being in a higher position can help. She needs to get to higher ground. And I'd like to highlight that Weiss only takes this pathway cause at that moment it is completely empty. She assumed that people had already finished evacuating from there which is why she chose that place. But it turned out that particular door was one for Atlas and Atleasians were alot more hesitant to use the gates than people from Mantle which is why there are people still there(this might also have been a convenient plot narrative to make Jaune aware that Cinder was here, who knows we shall see)

She uses her gravity glyph to try and hinder the airborne higher ground advantage that Cinder has. And it works. Cinder is momentarily focussed on Weiss allowing Penny to regain her stance and figure out her weapon situation.

And then an Atleasian steps out and Weiss realises in a matter of milliseconds that shit she has to protect them.

And if you notice Cinder is imitating Weiss's attack here. Weiss attacked Cinder with the same Ice pick move 5 minutes ago. And Weiss has to protect herself and the now emerging Atlas citizens. And I love how it's shown that she doesn't have the time to fully summon her Knight so only summons the arm and blade and protects everyone from actually getting hurt. Also I don't know if this the first time we've seen the summoning glyph for the knight in this angle but it is absolutely gorgeous and I really want to see what the Nevermore one looks like.

And I ran out pictures but Cinder literally tosses Weiss over the edge and the only thing stopping Weiss from certain fall in the void is her own gravity glyph which she is maintaining after all of the stuff I mentioned before.

I mean we know that Weiss has the lowest stamina of the team and the role that takes up the most energy. And she's still standing and she still going to fight in the next episode.

I just-- GODS Weiss Schnee is an absolute legend and possibly the best ally to have on the battlefield. She's is a super skilled ,level headed and versatile fighter whose constant presence and observations in the battlefield are such an asset and I wouldn't be far off in saying that she's probably the smartest fighter after Ruby and there's a reason they're partners because for every wacky absolute bonkers plan Ruby has, Weiss will be there to build the foundation to launch off from. And I cannot wait to see her learn and grow even more.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #weiss schnee #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #me writing a weiss simp post? #more likely than you think #rwby meta #or a weiss analysis post I guess #I mean i know we're all super distracted by the extremely distressing events of the last ep #but weiss was a silent heroine in this #and deserves more appreciation #because damn what would team RWBY do without her #ey i hooe we never find out #anywho #I LOVE WEISS SCHNEE SHE'S SO COOL #long post

[celestialrry]

bunny

6.3k

summary: Harry's shy and you need a tutor.

warnings: like none, cursing?, severe fluff

You rushed into class, and scrambled over to sit in your chair, huffing as the clock struck 9:00 a.m. the moment you touched the seat. Why you signed up for a morning class you knew you would never want to wake up for is beyond you. Why the class you were taking was about English literature, a genre you had only read less than 3 books in was also beyond you. Being undecided in your major didn’t have many perks, you had come to find.

“Alright class, first things first, you’ll be having a test in this class next week about what we studied this past month.”

As your professor droned on, your heartbeat started to pick up. A month into your second year of university and you already had a test? This was absolute torture. You were psyching yourself out at this point, almost positive you would fail, until you zoned back into class to hear a deep voice speaking.

The boy with the curls almost reaching his shoulders in the back of the class, Harry, you thought. He was terrifying and intimidating, but he raised his hand almost every other question and got it right. Always. He was the answer to all of your problems. The one who always wore those tattered brown Chelsea boots and long coats. You had even seen a peek of tattoos on his hand once.

The rest of class was spent thinking of ways to ask him to tutor you. So far, you would suggest to pay him for his time, do it only when he’s available (you would switch your schedule around for him, you were already going to ask a lot of him), and just try to be really nice. You always tried not to judge on looks, but Harry seemed quite scary, and you were afraid he’d turn you down immediately.

Soon class was dismissed and you grabbed your trusty bag (it had survived multiple sleepovers at Niall’s and that boy could destroy anything by just touching it) and slung it over your shoulder, looking to see Harry walking out of the classroom. You hurried over to him out of the doors and caught up to him. “Hi, um, Harry?” You asked, and he stopped in his tracks.

He looked back at you and his eyes widened. He had to look back down for a moment so you couldn’t see him flush out of surprise. He looked back up at you and smiled softly. “Hello.” Harry mumbled, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. No one really ever spoke to Harry all that much. People just never approached him and he had no idea why (his friends had tried to clue him in that he did seem a bit intimidating with his brows furrowed almost all the time, his body littered with tattoos, and the fact that he’s quite a buff guy, but you couldn’t really tell from his oversized sweaters that he seems to wear every single day, but that’s besides the point) and it confused him a bit. It also made him a bit shy around anyone he didn’t already know, because he didn't want to come off too strong at first and scare anyone away.

You smiled at him and introduced yourself before you continued to ask him what you had been dreading out of pure nerves. “Um, I know this is weird, but we’re in the same English lit class and I notice you know like, all the answers to what Mr. Reeves asks, n’I just really wanna pass this test so I was maybe wondering if you could tutor me or something? I would pay you of course-”

“You don’t-you don’t have to pay me.” He interrupted you from rambling on for too long because you tended to do that a lot, and Harry had no idea but he had just saved himself about ten minutes of time. If you were his chance at a new friend, he wouldn’t want it to start off on money, because helping a friend wouldn't be a job. “Oh!” Your mouth formed an “o” shape and your eyebrows raised at him. “Are you sure? I mean that's fucking awesome if you really don’t want money, but I would just feel so bad taking up your time without giving you anything in return.”

You prayed that he would say that you really didn’t need to pay him anything. If he meant it, it means this boy was a godsend and you would be happy spending time with this bloke if he is really that sweet all the time. You wouldn’t expect it just because he rarely ever speaks to other people. The most words you had ever heard him speak was when he was answering a question from Mr. Reeves-

“S’fine, really. If I tutor you, um, it's basically like studying m’self so...” He trailed off scratching the back of his neck, and bringing you back to Earth. You broke out into a grin and bounced a bit on your toes, because he was going to help you pass the final and you didn’t have to pay him. “Perfect! Wow, Harry, you’re an angel. Thank you so much,” You complimented him as you grabbed your phone from your back pocket and as your eyes darted away from his face for a few moments, he attempted to bite back his smile, because you were talking to him, and calling him an angel.

You pulled your pink-case covered cell and unlocked it, handing it to Harry and saying, “Here, put your contact in so I can text you about meeting up, s’that cool?” To which he nodded and took your phone gently and began typing his name and number in, and biting back his tongue when he was about to tell you he had the same phone case as you, because you probably wouldn’t care (you actually would care a very great deal, but Harry had been so used to being ignored he figured he wouldn’t muck up his one chance at a new friend). he handed your phone back to you and you just shoved it back in your pocket, the smile never leaving your face.

“Thanks again Harry, it really means a lot. I’ll text you later, yeah?” You said, slowly beginning to walk to your next class. He just offered you a small smile before continuing the way he was before you had asked him to tutor you. Why he didn’t want money was still itching at the back of your brain, mostly because when you told your best friend, Niall, about it later that night he had said “What kinda college student turns down money?” before going off into a rant about how he wished he actually knew what he was learning so he could tutor someone and get some extra cash. You reminded him he already had a job, but it seemed tutoring was “so much easier than dealing with kids whose parents didn’t give a rats-ass if they yell in the restaurant.”

｡:°ஐ

You and Harry had arranged to meet on Wednesday, because you only had one morning class as did he, and would meet in the library at 12 p.m. You don’t think you had ever been so anxious walking into a library before, but here you were, opening the double doors and swiping your student I.D. (which had a horrid picture on it, they really never tell you when they take the photo) before your eyes scanned the front part of the library you could see. It was safe to say you weren’t in the library very often, if seeing your frazzled face as you zig-zagged through the rows of bookshelves was enough to go by.

You made your way to the back, where you assumed the tables for studying and reading would be, and as you turned the corner of one of the oddly tall bookshelves, you thanked your instincts for the first time, and scanned the area until you found a certain flop of messy brown curls hunched over at a table.

“Hi Harry,” You chittered, flopping down in the seat across from him and immediately pulling out your notes and the book you had been reading for class, Pride and Prejudice. “How are you?”

For the first time, you noticed he wore glasses, when he looked up at you and pushed the clear tan frames up the bridge of his nose, a bit startled by your arrival. “M’good, you?” He asked, no emotion or tone behind his voice really. It sounded like he just wanted you to stop talking almost, but you settled on the fact that it was your nerves telling you he hated you.

“’Bout as good as I can be with teachers up my ass all week.” You said, and a small smile struck his face. You wondered what it would be like to make him laugh. Shaking your head from your thoughts, you cleared your throat and looked at your notes before back up at him. “Alright, so m’a bit confused on why Charlotte marries Collins? I mean, ignoring the fact that they’re all related, I’ve re-read it so many times but the old English they use is so confusing.”

After your question, Harry delves into the answer, not going on an extraordinarily long tangent, but a decently long one, explaining the relationship between them, and why they married when he wanted Elizabeth first, and so on. What was even better was that he explained it all so easily you understood it all (and his voice was sweeter than honey), you just kept wanting to ask more questions, so you did.

Harry was talkative when you kept asking him questions, and it seemed like he was enjoying himself, but whenever the conversation swerved into personal life, Harry shut off and became more quiet. It wasn’t like you were asking him about his family drama, the conversation had smoothly sailed into something about high school.

“I wish I read this book in high school when they gave us the chance.” You sighed, flipping through the pages to where you had put a sticky note to write down your confusion. You truly regretted not being one of those reading types, but you preferred to hear things more (like Harry’s voice), and listening to music became your ‘hobby’ instead.

“Yeah, reading it earlier makes it pretty easy now.” He shrugged, going through his own notes. “I just wasn’t much of a reader, did you read a lot in high school?” It's an innocent enough question, and after spending about 2 hours with Harry, you already knew you would want to get to know him more, but it seemed he didn’t feel the same. “A bit.” He said, tensing up. While you were mildly confused by his body language, Harry just didn’t want to talk about highschool. He read a lot, and was so in his own world he found it hard to really have many friends. He had a few loyal ones, but books would always be there, as cheesy as that was. High school wasn’t fun for anyone, he was sure of it.

“You seem like you’d read a lot, you just give off that vibe, y’know?” You said, looking at him. He lifted his gaze from his notes and you truly could not tell what he was thinking. He gave a small “hmph” in response to your question that wasn’t really a question and looked back down at his notes, gathering them all quite fast. “I think we’re good for the day, just text me if you want anymore help.” He mumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder and rushing out of the library. You sat there with your mouth slightly open in shock at the way he left so abruptly. After a few moments you packed up your own things and practically ran after him, bursting through the double doors and trying to find him, to-you actually didn’t know what to do. You didn’t even know what happened. That’s why you found yourself on your couch with Niall as he ate all your snack food, deep in a long-winded advice session from him.

“He just ran out Niall, I don’t even know what happened, like did I say something?” You asked, picking your nails in distress, your eyes following the chip that disappeared in his mouth seconds later. “What’s this bloke’s name, again?” He asked, after chewing (Niall could be vulgar, but he wasn’t an animal). “Um, Harry. Longish brown curls, pretty green eyes, y’know? I-I don’t even know his last name.”

The blonde’s icy blue eyes widened in recognition after a moment of thinking, and he slapped your bicep gently. “Harry Styles! I’ve heard o’him. Apparently he has like two friends and never speaks, s’not hard to believe you have a thing for him, bug.” Your brow raised incredulously, and you were quick to defend yourself, and Harry. “I do not have a thing for him, and just because he doesn’t have many friends doesn’t mean he’s a-wait what do you mean it's not hard to believe?”

Niall rolled his eyes and sat up a bit more, turning to actually face you. “You like the quiet types, s’why we aren’t dating, obviously, n’I never said he was a dud, love, just tellin’ you what I heard.” You just nodded, deciding to not worry about it so much. “There’s many reasons we aren’t dating Ni.” You gave him a compassionate smile and pat his knee. The two of you then burst out into laughter and your worries about Harry faded away.

Until the next morning that is.

You had been going over the study guide Mr. Reeves had emailed everyone that morning and realized you weren’t sure about quite a few of the things you were supposed to know. Sighing, you opened your phone and clicked on Harry’s contact typing out a text.

Hey Harry! Wondering if you could meet up sometime again this weekend just to go over the study guide?

You hit send and prayed that he wouldn’t just ignore it, especially after running out last time. After looking back at the email, you heard your notification bell go off just a few minutes later.

I can do Friday at 8pm, and Sunday around 3.

A smile of relief graced your face at his quick response, no matter how short his texts were, he was still willing to help you, and you were extremely grateful. After texting him back and agreeing to meet back at the library, you went back to working on another assignment, happy that you were able to get more studying in, not about the fact that you got to see the quiet and unusually attractive Harry Styles again. That was not the reason.

｡:°ஐ

Eventually it was Friday night. Your friday nights usually consisted of Niall dragging you somewhere you did not want to be, like a frat party (he always made sure you got home safe though), or you sitting at home, watching a movie and binging on cookies that you had baked just 30 minutes prior. Tonight was different however, and you were attempting to open the doors of the library, because it was locked, but you were positive the library wasn’t closed.

A soft voice said your name, and you turned around to see Harry standing a few feet behind you, his hands in his pockets and his bag on his shoulder. “Harry,” you exhaled in relief. “I was about to text you, but it’s locked and I know for a fact it shouldn’t be closed because the hours say 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every weekday.” You stated matter of factly, pointing to the hours painted on the door. He walked a bit closer to the door and adjusted his glasses a bit, pursing his pink lips as he read the hours. “You’re right.” he said simply, his sage eyes darting to the handle. You wordlessly stepped back and he went to the handle, pulling the door a bit, and pushing it. It moved a bit for him, but it was obvious it was locked.

Your mind raced for solutions, the only ones you were able to find was going to your flat, or wherever he lived, and you were almost positive he wouldn't want you in his house. You heard a little sigh leave his lips as he let go of the handle, and stuck his hands back in his pockets, rolling on the balls of his feet adorned with black boots today. “We could go to my place? If you’re comfortable with that of course, I won’t force you, but it’s like the only place I can think of and my roommate won’t be home tonight to distract us, something about staying the weekend at her boyfriends, but-”

“Sure.”

Your eyes fell back onto his face at his words and you gave a small smile, happy that he had agreed. “Alright, c’mon then.” You said, walking towards the direction of your flat. Only a few moments after you began taking steps he stopped you with his voice. “Wait, you walked here?” He asked, his face twisted up with something you couldn’t tell. “Yeah, m’only fifteen minutes away.” You shrugged. “It’s pitch black-um, come with me, I drove here and you can just direct me to yours.”

You just agreed and followed him to his car, which was an awfully nice black one, you weren’t sure of the brand, but as you got in, you could tell he took really good care of it (not that that was attractive to you or anything). Your words during the drive consisted of you telling him the four turns to take before directing him the best place to park in your lot. You ignored his gaze on you as you led him up the two flights of stairs to your hall, because “The elevator has been down for ages, and I’ve sent about four letters to the landlord, but all I’ve gotten in return is just unnecessary exercise for two months.”

He chuckled a bit at that and you swore your heart grew two sizes as you led him down the hall to your door. You unlocked it, and let him in, quickly walking in front to scan and make sure it wasn’t messy. You were never one to leave the house while it was dirty, but Niall had come over earlier to convince you to come to a party, and you were scared you hadn’t picked up his mess. He truly was like your child in a sense. Taking a sigh of relief at your clean flat, you turned around to see Harry closing your door and you brushed against him to lock it, you never kept your door unlocked at night.

You led him to the living room and dropped your bag on the floor next to the couch, and he did the same, pulling out your books and notes, as well as your laptop. Harry followed your actions and you could tell he was a bit uncomfortable in your flat, or at least that’s what it seemed like. “Do y’want some water or anything? I’m not sure what other drinks I have because I’m pretty sure Niall drank everything in here, and ate it probably as well.”

He looked up at your words and hesitated, bringing his bottom lip between his fingers. “Erm, I’ll have a water, please.” Now was not the time to ask about Niall or who he was to you, he told himself, because it didn’t matter. You nodded and stood up, hurrying over to your kitchen and grabbing two glasses of water for the both of you before handing one to Harry and sitting down on the couch again.

It was a bit weird at first, but soon enough the two of you slid into an easy conversation about the study guide, it was mostly you asking and Harry answering, but occasionally he would ask you something (that you were sure he already knew), and you would answer. It was a good back and forth, and you found yourself thinking about how it would be nice to talk to Harry like this about himself. You wanted to know everything, his favorite color down to the weird little quirks he has (you’ve already picked up on one, like when he itches the bottom of his nose with a curled index finger and slides it to the button of his nose before scrunching it).

“We’ve been studying for about two hours,” You noticed, looking at the time on your computer screen reading 10:03 PM. “I’ve just about filled my brain with enough information about fictional characters for today.”

You looked over at Harry to see him grinning a bit at your joke, and for the first time you noticed he had dimples. You were positive there was nothing wrong with him, other than the fact that he didn’t seem to want to be your friend (it wasn’t his fault, you could be a bit too much for people sometimes). “Okay, I should probably get back home to Luna anyways.” He said, his offhand comment filling your brain. Luna? You prayed you haven’t been taking his time away from a girlfriend, and before your brain could catch up your mouth was already moving. “Oh, who’s Luna?”

Harry looked at you like he forgot he mentioned her and his eyes widened a bit. “Oh, um, she’s m’kitten.” A wave of relief rushed over you, as well as another reason to want to get to know him more. A man so intimidating people didn’t approach him, had a kitten? Harry was flushing out of embarrassment of telling you this little fact, and looking down as he put his things in his bag to avoid eye contact with you, you did not care about his kitten, and you were indirectly telling him to leave, he didn't think he ever hated speaking more.

“That’s such a cute name!”You exclaimed. “Do you have any photos of her? It’s okay if you don’t want to show but I love cats, always wanted t’get my own.”

Nevermind.

30 minutes later, and he was sitting next to you awfully close on the couch, showing you his photo album of Luna. Some of the photos had Harry in them, one in particular, a mirror picture, where he was wearing sweats and had chosen to go without a shirt, holding Luna in one hand by his side. He swiped off of that one with lighting speed, and although you were telling yourself he obviously was embarrassed by you seeing his bare torso, which he shouldn’t be because wow, you couldn’t help your curiosity. “How many tattoos do y’have?”

He moved his head to face you, and only then did he realize how close the two of you were sitting. “Uh, I don’t know, fifty-something? I lost count a while ago.” Your eyes lit up at his words and a grin spread across your face. “Wow, that's so cool. Did it hurt a lot? I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo but I have no idea what, and where. I thought a small little butterfly on my ribs or something would be cute for a good year, but I don’t have much connection to butterflies really, and I feel like if I get something tattooed on your body for forever I would want something that really sticks with me.”

He couldn’t help it.

As you watched Harry while you were rambling on about tattoos you could see him smile. Truly smile, one where his teeth showed and everything. You tried not to get too giddy about it, but it was just so beautiful. “It started hurting less the more I got, and tattoos don’t have t’be something y’really connect with, I have a bunch jus’ because I thought they looked cool and had a decent meaning,” He said, and you were positive that’s the most he’s ever spoken to you. “I actually have a butterfly on m’tummy.”

“What other one’s do you have?” You asked, attempting to get him to talk as much as he could.

It worked, because soon the 30 minutes became an hour, and the hour became two, and he was in your flat at midnight. It seemed the two of you had no idea how much time had passed, because when you checked your phone it said it was five past midnight, and you reluctantly told Harry.

“Shit!” He muttered, and that was the first time you’ve heard him curse before. He looked at you, concern taking over his features. “M’so sorry for staying so long, I didn’t want to impose, I-”

“Harry, it’s okay, I promise. If I didn’t want you here, I would've told you to leave.” You said, and that seemed to calm him down a bit. “I’ll walk you down.”

You slipped on your coat and grabbed your keys, while Harry grabbed his tote and the two of you made your way down the stairs, this time a comfortable silence overtaking the stairwell. You reached his car and smiled at him as he unlocked it. “Thank you Harry, for everything, m’sure after Sunday I’ll be aces at analyzing characters.”

He smiled at you and fiddled with his sleeve before stepping closer and wrapping his arms around you. You were surprised to say the least, but your arms found their way around him as well and you reveled in his warmth. He stepped back after a moment and let his hands slide down your arms before bringing them back to his sides. “M’sorry, I should’ve-I just-you’re so nice n’I just-thank you.”

You couldn’t help but watch him try to stay afloat as he struggled to explain the hug. He really felt like he did though, because you were just so sweet, possibly the sweetest person he’s ever met, and you wanted to know about him, and his tattoos, and his kitten, and he doesn’t think he’s ever wanted to be with anyone for a hours on end, but he’s already decided that he’d want to be trapped in a room with you for days.

“No need to thank me, get home safe okay?” You smiled at him, reaching out and squeezing his arm and holy shit he’s fit. He looked down at your hand for a moment before smiling big and nodding, parting with a “G’night, I’ll see you Sunday.” before hopping into his car and insisting you walk up first. Rolling your eyes you smirked a bit and started walking up your stairs, turning around and waving at him before he sped off. That was quite possibly the best Friday night you’ve ever had.

｡:°ஐ

Harry was reeling, in the best way possible, but still reeling. After you got together to study on Sunday (and after you both aced the test, which you had given him the largest hug and a kiss on the cheek for), the two of you had hung out almost everyday after.

You met Luna during that following week, and he was expecting her to stay in his bedroom, because Luna didn’t really like new guests all that much, but she had immediately scurried up to you and walked in figure-eights around your feet. Your giggle of excitement was the best thing Harry had ever heard, and he had to take a moment not to squeal out of adoration.

He had opened up to you about, well, a lot. Told you how people just didn’t approach him, which was why he was so off-put when you did, and that he just didn’t want to scare anyone away. You shook your head and sat closer to him on the couch, lifting your hands to pinch his cheeks and pout as you said that he was “the sweetest person” you knew and you had “no idea how anyone could be scared of such a softie.” It was safe to say his face was flushed the entire conversation.

You had also commented on his sweater collection once, and everytime you would shiver, he’d pull off his own sweater and give it to you to wear, even in the courtyard when the weather was reaching 30 degrees. You had refused due to the fact that he would be cold, and eventually he just gave you a sweater you had expressed your liking for. He had handed it to you and you frowned in confusion and said, “Did you bring that just for me?”, because he was already wearing his own, and he had nodded and once you put it on he mumbled, “Keep it.” You did.

It got to the point where the two of you had spent so much time together you introduced him to Niall, to which Niall had commented, “So this is the Harry bloke you’ve been talking about all the time. Nice to meet ya, mate. So, how did you grow your hair out so long?” You had hit his shoulder for embarrassing you, but it seemed Harry didn’t even skip a beat when he started talking about how he had decided to grow his hair out. It was a story you’d heard before, but with Harry speaking, you would listen to the same words over and over again.

When you each went home for winter break, Harry had hugged you tightly and kissed your cheek, telling you that it was only 2 weeks, and the both of you would be back before you knew it. When the two of you weren’t texting, you were calling each other, and he was right, because you had both gotten back yesterday, a day full of hugs of goodbye’s from families, and full of cheek and forehead kisses, along with hugs and cuddles from Harry. You teased him about the gift, a book you had told him was the only one you wanted to read, he mailed you, and he teased you about his gift, a sweater with  a hand-stitched (by you) small little moon where the left breast was, for Luna, and posters of his favorite artists, because he didn’t have anything on his walls.

Today was a day of “movies and cookies, it rhymes” as Harry had put it, and you had just knocked on his door, adorned with the sweater he gave you and some sweats. He opened the door almost immediately, a large smile on his face as he brought you in and gave you a large hug, to which you returned. “Missed you.” He mumbled into your shoulder. “I saw you yesterday, dimples.” You said, squeezing him before letting go and poking the indent in his cheek that just got deeper. “I told you I hate that nickname, bunny.” He smirked. “Oh, shove off.” You smiled, making your way to his living room where Luna was curled up on the couch on the right side, close enough to the end that no one could sit there, but close enough to the middle that practically half of his couch was taken.

“Don’t move her,” He said, walking up beside you. “She’s been crazy all day and she's finally relaxing, little devil.” You just shrugged and looked at the cookies he had already set out. “As long as I get these, I don’t mind where she is.”

The two of you settled next to each other on the couch as he chose an old horror movie that you begged not to watch but according to Harry, “S’not even scary, pet. Nothing is realistic, swear.” You just grumbled in defeat as he started to play it and just stuffed cookies into your mouth as you fell against the back of the couch.

Half an hour later, and your head was tucked in Harry’s chest, while your legs fell over his own. His hand was splayed across your back, rubbing up and down gently and mumbled “It’s okay”’s and “I’ve got you”’s while you peeked out to see the giant ant’s taking over. He really couldn’t believe it, you of all people were in his arms at night. He wished it could be every night, and when he heard your breathing slow down he suddenly took it back.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

You hadn’t planned on sleeping over, but just the other day were you complaining about not getting enough sleep because of your “stupid Philosophy professor”, and there was no way in hell Harry was going to wake you up. He hesitated for a moment, before turning off the T.V. because in the time he was deciding on what to do the movie had long stopped playing, and wrapped his other arm under your knees, gently picking you up and taking you to his bed.

He laid you down and tucked you under the covers, grabbing a pillow for himself before making his way to the couch for the night. He made sure to set an alarm to wake up before you did, and make you breakfast.

When you opened your eyes, the last thing you were expected to be met with was a white ceiling with a sleek silver fan nailed in. You sat up groggily, looking around the room to recognize it as Harry’s room. You had only been in here a few times, mostly to scavenge his closet, but you knew his room when you saw it. You swung your legs out of bed, and slowly made your way to the living room, where you were met with a sleeping Harry, spread out on the couch in his sweats, without a shirt. You tried not to linger your gaze on all his tattoos and abs as you walked by him to check the time on your phone. Almost 9 a.m., and by the vibrating phone next to yours, with the same case, you could tell he meant to set an alarm but forgot to turn his ringer on.

He had an alarm set for something, and he never told you what he was doing this morning, so you decided you would wake him up, just in case. You grabbed his shoulder gently, and tried not to think about how warm he was, shaking him gently and calling his name. “Harry…” You said in a sing-songy voice a few times. He pouted in his sleep and grunted a bit, before scrunching his eyes open. He practically jumped back when he saw you and his head fell back against the arm of the couch. Of course he wouldn’t wake up before you. “Morning.” You grinned. “G’morning. M’sorry if you were confused when y’woke up. I just brought y’to my bed cause you fell asleep, n’I was gonna wake up before you but obviously that didn’t work out.”

You just shook your head and smiled, trying not to think about his morning voice. There were a lot of things you had to try not to think about with Harry. “No worries, wanna go grab breakfast at the diner down the street? Heard they have killer hashbrowns.”

And all thanks to you, Harry wonders what he had to worry about in the first place.

After breakfast, you went back to your place, Harry in your living room while you got dressed for the day, changing your sweats to jeans and slipping back out of your room. “Alright, what’s the plan?” You asked, tugging the sleeves of his sweater down to make paws. It wasn’t like Harry hadn’t seen you with his sweater on, but it seemed to make him more flustered everytime you did wear it. He shrugged and looked you up and down quickly. “I like your sweater, where’d y’get it?” He joked, in an attempt to mask his blush.

“From this really cute guy, he just gave it to me one day.” You shrugged, and watched as he bit his bottom lip in an attempt not to smile too much. “Really cute?” He asked as you stepped closer to him. “Mhm, his name is Harry.”

“Please stop.” He said, and you stepped back, confused by his sudden change in emotion. “I’m just joking, Harry.” You said, attempting to save the moment. His bottom lip trembled and he sat down on your couch, his head falling in his hands. “I know, n’I don’t want you t’be.” He mumbled as you sat next to him. He pulled his head out of his hands and looked at you, his heart beating faster than it ever has.

“I really like you, bunny. And I don’t wanna ruin our friendship because you’re the best thing that's happened to me in a really long time, but I cant- I can’t listen to you joke about how you think I’m cute if y’don’t feel the same.”

You swear your heart bursted at his confession. A smile overtook your face and you moved so you were right next to him. You placed your hands on the sides on his face and kissed his nose. “You think I don’t feel the same? For someone so smart, m’surprised you haven’t realized it before,” you said softly, as he looked at you in wonder and shock. “I really like you too.” You leaned in and placed your lips on his, about to pull back when he didn’t respond. He then began to kiss you back and his hands found a home on your hips. When the two of you pulled away, he smiled like a fool and pecked your lips once more.

There was never anything to worry about with you, he was sure of it.

#would you believe me if I told you this took 4 days to write #harry styles imagine #harry styles #harry styles fluff #harry styles one shot

[jaredhopworth]

“one day I’ll make a lotr AU for TMA and then you’ll all regret knowing me” - me, a few weeks ago

“You have a lot of lotr posts for a TMA blog” - my friend, when they followed me

Y’all already know what this is

Okay so the Sauron figure is Jonah Magnus, currently going by Elias Bouchard (he’s a maia he can change his name if he wants to fuck you. IDK he was probably James Wright when the Annatar equivalent arc happened). Now that that’s established, Jonathan Sims works in Minas Tirith as the Guy Who Keeps The BooksTM. Jurgen Leitner is Sorta GandalfTM and he’s just discovered that the ring is in the position of a human, Sasha James also of Minas Tirith, who got it from.... like idk a relative shut up it’s my AU.

Leitner goes to the libraries of Minas Tirith to research and after he leaves in a tizzy Jon sneaks in and takes a peek at what he’s been reading. He’s a smart guy he connects the dots and is like “holy shit I want to see what happens with this hang on” and follows Leitner.

Leitner goes to speak to Sasha who agrees to take the ring to Rivendell, Tim Stoker who was listening in demands to go with her (that’s right im zagging on y’all). Jon who just arrived on the scene bursts in and is like “please please I know about this doomsday thing and I know I’m unrelated but I want to see the elves” and Leitner goes “...... okay fine”

Leitner doesn’t travel with these three because he doesn’t want to attract attention to them so he promises to meet them in one of Rohan’s larger villages. He is KilledTM (by one of the ringwraiths I guess, though it would be funny if the steel pipe was like a mace in this AU)

So instead of meeting Leitner, the three (who bond a bit even though Jon is kind of a tool) meet grizzled Ranger Daisy Tonner and her less grizzled Ranger partner Basira Hussain. Basira tells them that they know Leitner and have seen the shadows in the East grow and the two promise to see them safely to Rivendell.

Together they travel to Rivendell, and meet with its lady Gertrude Robinson (she’s alive in this I needed more ally characters shut up). She holds the Council of Robinson (this sounds less cool) and in it, a shire hobbit interrupts. It’s Martin Blackwood! He’s here as a friend and guest to the dwarves of Erebor cuz his relative or smth helped with the lonely mountain stuff it’s irrelevant, he was living with them for a bit.

Jon hates Martin instantly because he just kinda came into this thing with seemingly no applicable skills or relevant role. Even though he did the exact same thing. Martin thinks Jon is cool for knowing obscure lore.

A Dwarf, Melanie King, from Erebor joins the Fellowship. A Mirkwood Elf also joins, Gerard Keay (I need more people also I like him). He’s also here to report that Helen (saw the ring be found by Sasha’s relative and this knows where it is) has escaped from the elves who were keeping her after she was entrusted to them by Leitner and....

Michael Shelley! Who is the foster human son of Gertrude.

(Also there’s some politics concerning Gerard as the prince of Mirkwood with Eric Delano as the king and Mary Keay having betrayed the elves to work against the free people of middle earth we don’t have time to get into it)

And thus there are Nine Walkers against the Nine Riders (pick and choose nine of the avatars to fill in here)

I’m going to end the post here cuz it’s gotten huge but if you want the plot run down like. Reblog it and tell me in the tags I guess byee

#tma #lotr #crossover #the magnus archives #the lord of the rings #about 100 characters

[cerasus--flores]

Tartaglia is streaming: Hades

"Streaming Hades with Sulien in a bit guys!", aka the streamer au ajax/mors caeli headcanons I promised the server

cw: it's just mors caeli fluff/crack tbh, bulleted headcanons, lots of brainrot so true

Ajax starts playing the game on stream out of a mix of curiosity and desire for a challenge

You see, the guy is very, very skilled at action and fighting games. Of course he is, have you seen him?

So when he saw this new action rougelite that everyone was losing their minds over, it piqued his interest quite a bit. Then he saw that it took his oh-so-skilled boyfriend around 25 runs to finish the story, and well, he was sold

his particular liking for greek mythos might've helped tho

Anyhow, he brings the idea of playing the game on stream to chat, they immediately start taunting him, saying how he'll "get his ass handed to himself" and whatnot; usually he wouldn't listen, but this time he snatched his chance, and asked Sulien to step in and play navigator for a bit

Famous last words, cause Sulien is a bastard navi

"You should pick the bow first chance you get, Fruit Tart, you'll do great with it"

Ajax dies five chambers in

The weapons he handles best are the spear, the gauntlets, and the gun, because of course

A completionist at heart! Will not stop until he's at least completed a max heat run with all the weapons, to his own dismay and Sulien's amusement

"You know you can dodge, right, my love?" "I don't recall fucking asking, babe."

Alright now what you fuckers came here for

Of all the characters, Ajax gains a particular appreciation for Achilles (ironic), and, of course, Thanatos

Achilles was already a figure he enjoyed quite a bit, and the seeing this take on how he ended up after his rage filled demise was really pleasing to him. "He's just a really cool warrior, what can I say"

And Than, oh dear

When he first appeared in-game, everyone in chat was already chanting Sulien's name.

He instantly falls in love with him, gives him nectar and ambrosia, tries and follows his storyline super closely.

Ajax: I think Thanatos is pretty cool

Sulien: Really? I liked Zagreus much better, myself

Kisa has cheered: "please get a room"

Everyone starts saying that they're literally just Thanatos and Zagreus, Tart thinks it's adorable, Sulien is mentally screaming

"what do you mean we're like them omg stop >/////<" and the like

So like s/o to Lane and Mendra for this one but

The bell tolls and Ajax, albeit unintentionally, goes "Than :D!" just like Zag does in-game, Sunny immediately deadpans with "Right here, Zag"

Ajax just looks at him with stars in his eyes and one-shots Sulien right then and there on stream

And chat? Chat is losing it, calling them "cuter than the actual in-game ship". Sulien would pull his bf in for a hug to hide his blush, who would then go "Death's sweet embrace, right, solntse?", laughing to himself.

What came afterwards was the closest anyone other than Ajax ever came to hearing Sulien whine.

They get asked to cosplay them a lot too. Ginger over here thinks it's a great idea, and mister tsundere thinks that no it isn't actually. They eventually settle on a sub goal.

But embarrassment and purposefully shitty navigation aside, Sulien loves cheering Childe on.

He'll give him a pet or a kiss on the cheek every time he finishes a boss fight and/or floor successfully, and when he finishes a particularly good run, he'll just go straight for the lips.

And every time, Ajax's face lights up as if he hadn't gotten a kiss earlier. The sense of accomplishment, and the sheer happiness he always gets, every time his boyfriend gives him attention? What a high

And, while he was a bit embarrassed about it at first, there's a point where Sulien can't be bothered to think about the fact that they're on stream anymore

His boyfriend is enjoying a game he also likes, he's having fun and winning, he gets to give him affection, and he gets to see the face he loves so dearly light up like that?

For that, he'll deal with the shyness later. Him and his love are having fun, and that's all he cares about now

bro that ended up SO SAPPY anyways @heyitslane-sl @almond-adeptus aha

#ciaran writing away #mors caeli #tandrone #ajax tartaglia #sulien ambros

[doubleddenden]

Well I said I was going to have to figure out how to work out the team shot and trainer card, but it turns out I didn't need to do much, so it all went about as planned.

All of these Fakemon are not made by me, and in this case are made by Watertrainer from DA. I did do another lazy splice and rearrange of my own trainer sprite though. I wanted to sort of give myself a similar vibe to the protagonist design, and I think I'm okay with the design, although I am a bit too lazy to resize my head lol.

Anyway, my team from Solar Light and Lunar Dark.

more under the cut

I actually played a demo a few years back that went about to Rassic City, but got stuck due to a bug that stopped me around gym 4 or 5. The game's creators are (or were at the least) pretty cool, with one even offering to fix my bug for me (and he probably did, I just didn't know how to implement the fix). I said it in my review, but I really like the fakemon concepts and designs, and there was so many that I wish I had room for about 4 more Pokemon. Apparently a lot of the designs were conceptualized pre gen 4, and that's just fantastic.

I've been trying to do some unique things with my regional cards, but SLLD is actually somewhat unique among the fakemon games I've played because it's pretty unique in that its more traditional without a regional gimmick. So, I improvised a bit with sort of a clipped design and some zig zags at the corners. I also made a new background design by making a grid out of a series of circles, so hopefully that looks good too. Plus, I used pentagons instead of my usual stuff to try and account for the bigger sprites, and I had space between them, so I did a little sun and moon mural for the Solar and Lunar title thing

As for how Poke Den got to Rikoto, well, how does he get anywhere other than by accident? I feel like he probably went for a boat ride in Tandor or something, took a nap, and found himself in Poke New Zealand Rikoto. The stakes weren't really as high as other regions, so I imagine he just kinda went "fuck it" and decided to explore and take in the beautiful scenery. And as usual, for some reason he pisses off just the right people and ends up babysitting some kids that keep claiming they're his rivals.

Gonna be real, I liked the fact that I stumbled across the New Zealand map in the game because I wasn't able to tell before, but now its super obvious. Rikoto is a beautiful region and probably my favorite in terms of diversity in the recent fan games I've played, not to mention I would KILL to live in the tropical areas.

this is my team

1. (Mega) Salaslam: Water/Poison: Our starter for the region, and funnily enough, just like my first Pokemon ever, a Typhlosion in Silver, I didn't realize she was a girl until like, 7 gyms in. She's strong boi, and I relied on her a bunch especially in late game after I acquired her mega. I think I like water types in theory the best, so I imagine it was a very obvious pick for me, especially when its baby form is so adorable. Probably went from the rambunctious baby to friendly but dangerous monster as it evolved.

2. Aeroma: Flying/Grass: One of the earliest caught Pokemon on the team, and I almost replaced him, but he's honestly very useful and comes in clutch when I need him to the most. I imagine ours sings a lot since it learned Sing and Grass Whistle at some point in our journey

3. Lunape: Psychic: A traded monke boy that I loved so much as a Moonky. I just loved saying his name. Moonky. It awoke something primal in me. Its funny because I accidentally over trained him at first, so he initially wouldn't listen to me until until like gym 3. I imagine we're good friends now. He's actually pretty good for capturing Pokemon, not so much for battles, but he comes in clutch sometimes. In fact, he pretty much carried my team in the champion battle.

4. Werehide (Shiny): My favorite of the bunch I believe. Apparently there's a bug that makes it easier to find Shinies in this game, which I believe since I found 2 of them, but this one was my first and I decided to keep her. She spent the longest time as her previous form, Beopup, until like level 53 so she could learn Play Rough. I imagine she was my shoulder buddy for the longest time because of that, and despite being theoretically the "weaker" of the team, she kept up just fine as Beopup. After evolving, she became SO much stronger, I actually solo'd the ice gym with her, I think. The only issue is that Werehide's ability is Hustle, which makes her hit like a fuckin truck, but she's about as accurate as a broken clock. I do imagine she's like my dog and is a good doggo that likes pets, but goes feral in a fight.

5. Dinopion: Fighting/Dragon. I almost replaced him too, but there was really no reason. As a Dinomite, he was kinda weak and kept getting KO'd a lot, but once he evolved he started kicking ass and didn't ever stop. His Moxie ability, monstrous attack, and diverse move pool make him such a MONSTER to deal with for my enemies, but he is kinda frail. But if he outspeeds you and knocks out one of your guys, you've basically already lost the battle. My Dinopion was basically able to Solo Rick's Elite 4 team. I gotta imagine he's a rough and rowdy but good dino boy with a hankering for power and glory. I think my guy likes him a lot now because he's a DINOSAUR, and we like dinosaurs in this house.

6. Natoron: Ground. I LOVE DINOSAURS. And this guy is a heckin' dinosaur!!! He had a tough time at the beginning, but once he evolved once, he started kicking ass. There was an awkward time towards the last few gyms where after he evolved again, he started losing a lot more, but he's been very reliable as a wall and tank. By the end, he had both Earthquake, Head Smash, and Stone Edge, so he could dish out a SHIT ton of damage. I gotta imagine he's a bit slower, usually tries to eat grass when he sees it, and he's a gentle giant that my Poke self adores because he's a DINOSAUR

Anyway this was fun to make. I'm gonna be looking for more fakemon games to play through because I just love em, and I love making little trainer cards for my playthroughs.

#pokemon solar light and lunar dark #fakemon #pokemon fan game #trainer card #doubled32

[blackbutterfliescal]

A Storm Of Trouble

A Michael Clifford One Shot

Pairing: Pirate!Michael Clifford & Reader

Word count: 3.3K

Rating: Just For Fun

Requested by: Not requested but it was supposed to be part of the Michael Week @sadistmichael hosted. I’m late as always but I’m still gonna post it 🤷‍♀️

Content: second person POV, gender neutral reader insert, best friends finding themselves in a night of chaos, drinking, swearing, violence but no graphic details, reader as a sex worker, brief appearances of Calum being A Little Shit

A/N: This all started because of that damn earring... I know that romance (in any form) does well on here, but I thought it would be fun to write a friend fic. Sue me. Big thank yous to @mashlums @haikucal @sexgodashton @jae-writes-fanfiction and @cheekysos for encouraging me on this one!

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Feedback is always appreciated! 😊

———

The wooden slats above Michael’s head groaned, heavy with footsteps and many years of wear on the high seas. It was clear that the ship was docking somewhere for the night to restock supplies, but Michael couldn’t be stirred from the hammock where he rested just below deck. Several minutes passed as he concentrated on the slow drip of water into the pail in the corner, looking for some sense of peace in the chaos the rest of the crew was creating. The metal made a sharp sound with each drop that hit, but it was a tone he’d grown accustomed to after many months aboard this particular ship. He often used it to lull himself to sleep, struggling to ignore Calum’s incessant snoring. It wasn’t until one of his crewmates shouted the name of a familiar port that Michael paid much attention to the commotion happening on the surface. Usually preferring to stay aboard the ship and not risk any potential scuffles on land, he now understood why so many of the crew were anxious to disembark.

Port Royal was notorious for the wide array of debauchery around every turn. Especially this time of night, it was always crawling with other scoundrels just looking for a bad fight or a good fuck. Or maybe a good fight and a bad fuck. The derelict port had such a reputation for its treatment of outsiders that none of the king’s men ever dared a visit, leaving the people who were floating through to act as their own law and order. 

The grimy, dilapidated buildings just past the worn dock called to Michael. He’d lived a pirate’s life since he was orphaned as a young boy, sailing far and wide, but this port was the closest thing he had to a home. He only hoped that he could find his oldest friend still in the hut just past the wall where the land met the sea.

———

Michael made his way beyond the wobbly old dock, peering in the dimly lit pubs only briefly as he passed. His well-worn leather boots carried his tired feet through the filthy streets to an all-but-forgotten yet somehow still familiar scene. Covered by the shadow of the night couples of every sort were pressed against each other, no doubt trading secret desires. At his unfamiliar approaching figure, the silhouetted couples all vanished into the brothel before him quicker than he could blink an eye. 

Hidden from easy view in the moonlight, the door slammed against the frame just as Michael approached. His hands, rough from years of work as a swabby, landed hard against the faded green wood thrice before it swung open. It rested uneven on its hinges and revealed a plump young woman in dark red corseted dress. The ruffles around her neckline were no longer a crisp, clean white but still managed to pull Michael’s attention directly to her ample bosom. His eyes continued to work over her figure. He didn’t miss the way her stomach pushed out against the ribbed garment covering it. She was such a sight that Michael considered a short detour before beginning to search the brothel for you.

“Well, ain’t ye a handsome devil. Fancy cracking Jenny’s teacup, eh?”

Before Michael could let a smooth response fall from his mouth, footsteps landing hard under long strides sounded down the hallway. Michael’s eyes, dark with lust, brightened as he took you in. You were exactly as he remembered and somehow completely different. It had been years since Michael was last in Port Royal but the two of you had kept up through letters as you were able. 

“Back off, wench. This one’s wit’ me.” The woman in red threw a scowl and a few choice curses at you as you squeezed past her in the doorway, arms quickly finding Michael in a tight embrace. “Oi, s’that a hornpipe in yer pocket or are ya just happy t’ see me?” You offered him a cheeky grin as his face warmed, caught red-handed, and he cast his gaze past you to find the woman in red missing from the door frame.

———

As seemed natural, you and Michael found yourselves kicked back in the corner of the closest pub. Boot-clad feet resting high on the table and a second bottle of rum nearly gone, you shared laughs and stories between swigs that were drowned out in the raucous noise of the other patrons. Two large men were attempting to settle their score through a game of fisticuffs at the bar and neither seemed to have their wits about them, stumbling on their own feet. A number of recognizable faces from the brothel were here to pick up company for the night, or maybe just the next few minutes. The most familiar face among them was Ash. A wordsmith of sorts, he had settled in close to a pretty, young blonde with eyes so blue that you could make them out across the room. Michael could pick out the back of Calum’s head as he raked in a pile of coins, no doubt employing his sharp mind in a game of liar’s dice.

Unphased by the rowdy crowd, the two of you were content in a universe that was contained entirely at that corner table. Michael told you stories of all the places he’d visited since you’d last seen him. Tales of India and China and all the bounty you could imagine. To be no older than he was, he’d done a lifetime’s worth of travelling. It didn’t come easy though. Work aboard a pirate ship, even with a fair captain, was endless and often meant risking life or limb to secure loot. He also listened intently as you recounted your tale of the one who had left you high and dry after a broken engagement. It had left your heart with an unhealing wound as deep red as the rope burns on Michael’s calloused hands. His eyes remained soft as you spoke of the person you thought was finally going to pull you out of the life you led. Routinely selling your body to the highest bidder had never much bothered you. You often found a sense of power at being the agent of someone’s deepest desires.That was until this one particular person became a frequent caller of yours. You knew no shame about the way you earned your coin but now you were crushed under their broken promises of a steady life, a life that didn’t mean hiding from the law or rousing up drunk sailors just to put food in your stomach.

Neither of you would have chosen life as a criminal for yourselves, but any trace of life before this felt like it belonged to someone else. As Michael began to yell for another bottle of rum, the back door to the pub flew open and landed harshly against the wall behind it. The man standing where the door had been was intimidating.Twice as large as Michael and covered in tattoos. He was flanked by a woman whose arms looked strong enough to crush you with ease and a bald man with a weathered scar down the right side of his face, covered only briefly by the leather patch on his eye.

“I knew I smell’d a bilge rat. Clifford! We ‘ave a debt t’ settle!!” His accent was heavy and you thought maybe it was Irish. His eyes landed on Michael, lounging in the far corner. As Michael’s eyes went wide and he leapt to his feet, he felt his head spin from the booze. The man that had barged in drew his sword and that was enough to bring Michael back for just a moment, long enough to process that he was in trouble. He quickly pulled you to your feet and tugged you behind him. “Shame! We’re jus’ leavin’!”

It took most of your self-control not to spray out the last burning chug of alcohol you’d just thrown back before being snatched up from your seat. You made a quick recovery, considering the amount of rum you’d already swallowed down, crashing out the front door and spilling into the muddy road. You weren’t sure how long the two of you had been in the pub but you’d clearly missed any indication of the current downpour. You splashed through the streets, following Michael’s already soaked form in and out of countless doorways. As he cleared what had to be the twentieth doorframe, he stepped quickly into the corner and pulled you with him. You landed against his broad chest with a thud. It would have knocked the wind out of you if you hadn’t already been breathing heavy from the zig-zagged marathon.

As you took a step back from Michael, he let his fast grip fall and looked around at where he’d landed the two of you. He saw the pigs in the opposite corner sleeping in the cool mud and the horse’s stall just next to the pig pen. He held his index finger to his pursed lips, signaling you not to disturb the livestock. Just as you were finally able to catch your breath, you felt it hitch in your throat again as the large brutish man called out to Michael. “Alright ye filthy animal. I know yer hidin’ ‘round ‘ere somewhere.” You shared an amused glance at the choice of words. Michael began to slowly draw the large blade looped through the belt hanging against his hip, preparing to go down fighting. You felt a brief sense of panic at the realization that you’d left your own sword behind. Spying a smaller handle on Michael’s other hip, you reached your hand out to grip the tarnished handle and pulled it up in front of you. The knife flashed in the low light, smaller than the blade you were accustomed to, but desperate times....

Taking careful steps, or as careful as possible after two bottles of rum, Michael inched his way out of the barn door and into the rain. You were a few steps behind him and hadn’t cleared the door yet when the scar-faced man appeared behind Michael with a taunt. Just as he raised his blade to engage Michael, you brought the heavy handle of your weapon down on top of his head. The man immediately fell face-first into the water at Michael’s feet. Michael’s hair clung to his face in the rain as he spun to give you a wide-eyed but silent thank you, hoping the others that were still after him weren’t close enough to hear.

No sooner did the thought cross his mind than two menacing shadows appeared at the other end of the barn. You stashed Michael’s knife in your belt, bending down to snatch the sword from the man lying on the ground, and took off again hot on Michael’s heels. You followed him around the back of another house and down a pitch black alley.

As you emerged on the other side, a loud grunt sounded beside you, followed by the clang of Michael’s sword meeting the Irishman’s. It was shortly followed by his partner’s blade meeting your stolen one. Though you’d had your fair share of practice with a sword, you felt like a novice next to Michael’s skillful hand. Metal clashed as the storm raining down on the island intensified, lightning strikes flashing through the sky with every scrape of swords. The woman you were up against was clearly a better swordsman than you and you weren’t sure how long you’d be able to keep up. You weren’t sure how it had happened, but she had you backed against a wall. Your sword was the only thing keeping her blade from bearing down on your throat. As quickly as you could manage, you brought one hand to your belt, pulling the knife out again before landing it in the woman’s side. Her mouth fell open and she stumbled back from you as you removed the blade. Her sword clattered to the ground and it wasn’t long before she fell beside it. The wound wasn’t enough to kill her but it would keep her out of your way so you could help Michael.

You hadn’t been able to spare him a glance as you fought for your own life but you weren’t shocked to see that he was holding his own against the giant. You ran up behind the man with a yell and he spun around to meet your blow. After sending you stumbling back a few steps, he turned to face Michael again. He wore the shock on his face as Michael’s blade came to rest in the hollow of his throat. The man slowly lowered his weapon, realizing Michael had bested him. You heard a shuffle behind you as the woman reached for her sword. Your boot landed heavy on top of the metal as you trained your sword on her, daring her to make a move. Behind you, Michael’s words were lost in the sudden boom of thunder. Only when you heard him call your name did you take your eyes off the woman on the ground in front of you. Michael was backing away as he lowered his weapon, seeming to have settled his debt. You slowly removed your foot from the sword on the ground, giving the most menacing look you could manage, and ran after Michael’s retreating figure. When you caught up to him, you noticed that the sleeve of his open shirt had been torn and under it there was a gash in Michael’s bicep. After much persuasion, Michael agreed to follow you back to the brothel to get it cleaned up. If it became infected, it could cost him his life.

———

Bringing Michael in would have caught attention in any state, but as he held onto his arm and dripped rainwater everywhere, you gathered more stares than you would have liked. He leaned over the kitchen table, waiting for you to gather supplies. It wasn’t pretty but you doused the wound with alcohol and Michael seemed more upset at the loss of rum than the burning it caused. Once it was cleaned to your satisfaction, you ripped the hem of your clothing to tie it around his arm.

“Thanks.” His eyes were soft as they met yours. “I would ‘ave been a dead man without yer help.”

“Yer goddamn right! But what else are friends fer?”

You shared a laugh as Michael pushed himself back upright with his other arm, following you back to the front door and out into the night. The storm seemed to have run its course and left only a light drizzle in its wake as you made your way through the streets again, walking under cover of any roof you passed. You walked with your heads ducked between coverings as you laughed and recounted your astounding victory over Michael’s assailants, wondering what happened to the scar-faced man. 

Up ahead, you spot a familiar figure walking in your direction. Without warning, you shove Michael into a dark alley and shush him with wide eyes. Luckily for you, your unfortunate recurring caller had kept their gaze on the ground in an effort to keep the still-falling droplets off their face. They hadn’t seen you disappear but you hadn’t noticed how incredibly narrow this alley was. You shivered as you felt Michael’s warm breath fall across your rain-slicked face. Your feet stood between his and there was hardly enough room between your chests to take a full breath in. Michael’s eyes stayed trained on you, looking for any sign of an all clear. You watched intently, waiting for the caller to pass by. Once they made their way by the narrow opening where you hid without suspicion, you placed your hands on Michael’s sides to steady yourself and pushed your head toward the street. As the figure made a turn, you counted to three silently and stepped out into the street again with a dramatic exhale. Michael slowly followed you with a quizzical look on his face.

“Ya can wipe that look off yer face, ya smug bastard. I ain’t talkin’ ‘til ye explain the burly man and his goons chasin’ ya earlier.” Michael’s expression dropped with a humorous scoff, unwilling to share what had landed him in such trouble. Nights like tonight were exactly why he preferred to stay aboard the ship. He just couldn’t resist the chance to catch up with you. You also knew that tonight would cost you. Literally. You’d have to up the ante the rest of the week to make up for the night out but you felt that Michael was worth it.

———

Conversation continued to flow easily, as if nothing between the two of you ever changed. You weaved through the streets, careful to avoid main thoroughfares for worry of any more excitement. Two close calls was enough for one night. It didn’t slip your notice that both of you took to yawning big, deep breaths much more frequently as the last few hours slipped by, a sign that the morning light was well on its way. You knew you’d be able to catch a few hours of sleep once Michael was back on the water, but you also hoped he’d be able sweet-talk someone into letting him curl up in his hammock for a little while. You didn’t give it too much worry though. You knew Michael never had trouble sweet-talking his way through anyone. He’d always been a charmer.

As you made your way through the last side street and onto the dock, you heard a loud rumble of footsteps and immediately braced your newly-found sword. Your other hand fell on Michael’s knife, still tucked into your belt, and quickly handed it over to him as he drew his own blade. A flash of surprise crossed his face as if he’d gone all night without realizing the knife was missing. The sounds of enraged men grew louder as they rounded the corner. Michael immediately recognized Calum at the front of the crowd, realizing quickly that Calum’s clever antics had landed him in trouble yet again. You followed Michael’s lead and dropped your weapon as he let out a full-bellied laugh. As Calum dashed past you down the dock, he yelled out a casual greeting and flashed a cheeky grin. “Michael!” One hand raised to meet his brow in a salute. “Michael’s friend!” Another salute.

You joined Michael in another fit of laughter. As he turned to watch Calum running down the dock to their safe haven, Michael saw their ship and realized the ropes were being pulled off the dock as the ramp to the ship was being dragged back over the railing. A few curses fell from his lips as he took off in a dead run after his friend, yelling something unintelligible over his shoulder that was surely meant for you. You thought it was something about not groping for trout in any peculiar rivers but had no idea what he could mean and dismissed it as Michael being Michael. Your sides began to hurt from laughter as he passed the angry mob to catch up with Calum. Both men leapt through the air at the same time as their ship pulled away from the dock. Calum’s hands grabbed hold of the railing while Michael employed his knife to keep hold of the ship. Calum pulled himself overboard with ease and turned to quickly bring Michael onboard with him. A few brave, but ill-fated, members of the mob risked a jump but landed in the water with a splash. They resurfaced with enough curses to make Blackbeard blush. Michael threw an obscene gesture at the disgruntled men before lifting his gaze to wave goodbye to you as they made off into the bright sunrise under a clear sky.

———

taglist: @easierlftv @haikucal @mashlums @youngblood199456 @calumbroutledge @atlcalm @another-lonely-heart @castaway-cashton @itsjen223 @bloodyoathcal @vapor5sos @myloverboyash​ @justhereforcalum​

#michael2020 #michael fluff #michael clifford fluff #michael x reader #michael clifford x reader #michael one shot #michael clifford one shot #my writing #mine

[o-wyrmlight]

Initial impressions of playing Hades for a solid 8 hours straight (spoilers inbound):

Achilles gets the father of the year award

Nyx gets the mother of the year award

Hades is a dick, no wonder Zagreus wants to get tf out so much. Go find mom, Zag, she's out there somewhere.

Usually I don't like roguelikes but?? I like this a lot??

It's not very repetitive, or boring, it has an actual story that goes along with everything that happens. There's a lot of dialogue. Like, a LOT of dialogue. Dialogue that REACTS to things you do. People you TALK TO. How you DIED, even. I've never seen two bits of dialogue the exact same.

SO MUCH VOICE ACTING. SUCH GOOD VOICE ACTING. LIKE SERIOUSLY.

Orpheus is trans?? Trans rights

Chaos is agender?? Agender/nonbinary rights

Apparently you can get into a poly relationship with at least 2 other characters or stay single or go for one of them so Poly rights and Gay rights and Straight rights too and Bi rights and mm yes gimme that repppp

Meg is cool. I like her. Do your job girl.

The other sisters? Especially Tisiphone?? Absolutely horrifying

Is it murder if the souls I kill are already dead? Fuck off Tisiphone

You die a lot. You get gud. Lol

Seriously in these 8 hours straight I've been playing I've managed to be able to regularly go from Tartarus to the Bros/Elysium

By Bros I mean Theseus and Asterius these guys are Bros and I love them and their queer platonic bromance

QPR rights

But seriously bros let me pass please I want to find my mom and make Zagreus happy

And beat the shit out of Hades. I'm pretty fucking sure he's the final boss. IT'S NOT A PHASE, DAD.

Also really want to let Orpheus know that his beautiful muse Eurydice IS ok and figure out how to get them back together

CAN I USE THE KITCHEN PLEASE also how many areas are there in the game that Zag has to fight through

Also love the varied designs of everyone in the game is so,, nice. The gods' portraits perfectly convey their personality and I love Nyx' design so much.

Oh also Hypnos... sleepy snarklord. I'm going to date your brother. Or die trying.

I probably will. He's Thanatos, the God of Death. Sometimes we play a game of 'who can kill more people?'. We've played it 3 times. I won once.

My favorite weapon is the spear.

I never use the spear's spin attack.

I hate the gun. Fuck the gun.

#hades #hades spoilers #is good game i recommend

[writingsofmyimagination]

28 Days |2|

GIF by: @suggamiin​

Genre: Werewolf Au (Jimin x Reader)       Part 1 

Rating:18+

Summary: You’re relationship with Jimin has flourished. Your maker wanting to claim you as his pushes Jimin and your adoptive pack to the old ways.

Word Count:7540

Warnings: Swearing, drinking, violence (wolf and human), Smut - Ice play, slight exhibitionism, sleepy sex. Slight Dom Jimin

Originally this was only going to be one part, now it’s two (I’ve tagged the people who mentioned about wanting a second part...Thank you!)

@safi4x​ @nerdygaloresposts​ @sockie-the-dumbass​ @jimin-75​

And now i have basically just finished writing an epilogue for this so if you want to be tagged hit me up! (up by this friday)

Please enjoy all the sin!!

The Yaegerbomb burned your throat with sweet victory after beating all the guys to empty the glass first. The pumping of the bass from the latest dance hit reverberated right through your chest like an irritating drum. You were shoved and pushed from the side alerting you your time at the bar was done, next, move along. Laura glared daggers to the unknowing inebriated guy. You lifted the pair of glasses dripping with condensation from the bar. Over your head of course to preserve the precious liquid inside. Only lowering to normal height when the fanfare of the bar was passed and the booth you were inhabiting was in safe sight.

“Remind me again why we go OUT to drink?” you put to the group.

“To celebrate another uneventful full moon” Hobi beamed, face flushed red, eyes only half focused.

“To celebrate your third one with us” Laura added shifting back into the bright red, fake leather half crescent seating. You chose to remain standing, resting on the sticky table. Jimin hooked his hand round your waist and pulled you in between his legs.

“Yeah but we can do all of that you know, with PYJAMAS on, AT HOME!”

“We’re not all hermits like you babe, we actually like to let off steam after a forced change” Jimin teased, increasing the grip momentarily on your hip. You turned with a smirk

“Being surrounded by a bunch of alcohol infused people all compacted together is not how I’d choose to let off steam” You relaxed in-between his legs a bit more, perching in between the warm thighs.

“Yeah and we all know how you prefer to let off steam” Yoongi blurted out toying with you. Even with the flashing lights momentarily shining on his new dirty blonde hair that did nothing to brighten the dark teasing look in his expression. Your mouth in a playful shocked “o”. The others giggled knowingly; you shared your feigned look of surprise with all of them.

“Oh come on, if you’re both not disappearing to one of the spare rooms at the house you reek of it”

Yoongi was not wrong.

“Your point being?” you chuckled back in response with half a glare. Yoongi just responded with an amused smile signalling his defeat.

“Exactly” The last swig of your drink hit you the wrong way. You needed air! In a trying to be cool rush you zig zagged and criss-crossed your way through the buzzing crowd; completely failing to notice Jungkook watching you leave from across the dancefloor.

You took yourself down the alley that backed onto the club. You attempted calming, slow breathes attempting to ease the chaotic nausea in your stomach. The orange hue of a street light was failing in its job to illuminate clearly where you stood. The pound of the bass was heavier and throbbing more and more around your skull with your enhanced hearing and spinning vision.

Nausea slowly seeping off, a familiar smell painted over the dampness of the alley. You were not mentally equip to deal with Jungkook in whatever approach this was.

“Jungkook now is not..”

“I saw you head out in your ‘I’m pretending to be casual escape walk’ and just wanted to see if you were okay”

His heart was annoyingly in a good place, you were also now low key irritated that it had to be your cheating ex with a years’ experience of you to notice. You had to tell yourself as much as you and Jimin had something completely out of this world you’d only known each other a matter of months. So it’s a given that some delicate details about each other were still yet to be discovered.

“I think you’ve lost the privilege to be concerned about me don’t you” Your defensive tone was also infused with bitterness. His eyes bloomed wide, the annoyance that started to fill in his gaze quickly morphed into deep regret and sadness.

“Well I don’t see Jimin here” he muttered, pettiness shining through.

He had to go there

You straightened yourself up

“What and that gives you some sort of upper hand. Jungkook it’s over, you have to deal with it” Your frown was lethal.

“If I could take it back I would, you’re the one I want to be with, you’re the one I lo..”

“Don’t even! Just leave!”

Your previous relationship with him now finally served a good purpose; the look you shot him was one he KNEW meant you were done and not to be argued with. Your whole body sighed with relief as well as at the daunting prospect of going back inside to the social nightmare of clubbing. You were briefly aware of a shadow shrouded figure entered the alley

Brushing your lack of motivation off your leather skirt you stood up straight and started to head back in, in the direction of the new alley inhabitant

Before you had a chance to react to the unmistakeable scent of a werewolf your back was shoved into the cold wall. Your utter disbelief and shock rendered you near defenceless. His body pushed up fiercely against you barricading you in. One of his hands firmly silencing any cries from your throat. He delved his face into your neck inhaling harshly as you struggled against him

“I’d recognise my scent anywhere” he growled.

“And what a catch you are” he added. The tar like of his eyes, only broken by the raging gold flecks

Wait is he…

One of his hands dipped and started creeping up your thigh. Adrenaline flushed through your system like wild fire, screaming into his hand; trying to thrash yourself free. Your wished you heart that was smashing into your ribcage would smash through your chest and into his jaw.

You drew air into your lungs, the cold fresh air burned down your trachea. The cool air whooshing around you as the creep was flung crashing into the brick’s opposite. With his body out the way Jimin was shooting sharpened daggers to the body on the ground.

“What the Fuck do you think you’re playing at” Jimin snarled taking a step to be more in front of you shielding you.

“Well if it isn’t one of Yoongi’s puppies” The man responded with venom scrambling to his feet

“Jimin…” His attention and head shifted towards you. Big mistake. Your eyes blooming wide was the only warning he got of the impending attack; it was too little too late. A powerful punch landed square on his jaw followed by a loud grunt from him and a high pitch scream from you. His balance lost for a moment. Recovering strong, his eyes now glaring almost glowing red; saturated with nothing but rage. Jimin lunged going for the jugular, your peripheral vision caught intense, sudden movement.

“ENOUGH!” Yoongi’s voice boomed down the alley. Jimin obediently stopped dead in his tracks, fear sparkling in his and the creep’s eyes.

The way they both glared at Yoongi you thought they’d both be bowing. He approached all of you, his presence calming your nerves. Nothing would get out of control with him around.

“Jimin enough, go and sort yourself out, Y/N go with him!” he barked. You nodded dragging Jimin under the street light to evaluate the damage on his face. Blood was dripping down his chin, you managed to catch it on your sleeve before it dripped onto his shirt. His lip was split, not too badly thankfully.

“Trevor I don’t need to tell you this is neutral territory”

“Neutral or not she’s ours and you know it”

“You turned her and left her! You had no idea she existed until tonight” Yoongi snapped back. Jimin kept batting away your concerned hands at his face.

“You know that’s not how it works; Max will be hearing about this. She’s mine!”

“Good, at least this will be handled the proper way according to you guys anyway. And I think you’ll find she’s spoken for. She isn’t property it’s 2020 you asshole” Yoongi spat. There was a warmth inside you, Yoongi standing up for you was sweet and comforting for what it was worth. Trevor spat some blood on the floor through a devil glare and stomped off down the alley.

“Jimin, take y/n back to mine, you can stay there tonight just as a precaution”

“But Jungkook will be home” you protested

“I’ll be fine” you added

“I’ve seen what he’s been drinking and I heard you shun him so he’ll be drinking a hell of a lot more, I doubt he’ll be home for a while and even when he does he’ll be fucked okay! It’s not a request y/n”

Before you had a chance to protest further Jimin pulled you past the others and made your way back to Yoongi’s.

//

“Stop faffing and let me look after you” You scolded Jimin for the umpteenth time. His split lip had stopped bleeding and had started to swell. You were trying to combat this by holding a tea towel shrouding ice cubes to his face. You were sat on your legs next to Jimin who’d just slouched on the sofa.

“I’m fine, it’ll be cleared in a day or two, stop fussing”

“But it’s my fault, if I hadn’t called you…”

“Babe its fine” he reassured taking your hand that was aimed for his cheek.

“Promise?”

“Yes, stop worrying” After a prolonged stare, ending in his diamond sweet smile reigning victorious.

“God I can’t believe that asshole is my maker” you slumped further down onto your legs.

“What did they mean settle it the right way? Am I going to cause you guys a lot of trouble being in your pack?” In your drunk state your thoughts had started to spiral and Jimin knew it, pulling you onto his lap.

“Hey, hey. Stop! You trust Yoongi yeah?

“Yes, of course I do” you responded almost offended

“Well then trust him to deal with it”

“But what needs to happen?” you pushed further. Jimin was hesitant for a second, wanting to avoid getting into it; especially when he had you unconsciously squirming on his lap.

“Well normally nothing would, we’re normally free to go to any pack as long as they accept you. Technically you don’t even need to be in one but seeing as wolves are social animals it tends to happen. But Max’s group live in the dark ages mentally so they see it as if they made you, you are theirs and that’s it; you have to go with them”

“So what if it’s challenged?” you urged

“The two packs will need to fight for you”

“WHAT!”

“I’m not having anyone fight for me!”

“I know, I know, but it’s just how it’s got to be done with these guys”

“Uggh!” you groaned shifted off of him and headed to Yoongi’s room.

“Where are you going?”

“To get an oversized shirt to wear to bed”

“Wear mine” his shirt was already peeled off and being offered to you. You were not displeased with the view

You chuckled lightly

“Jimin I appreciate the gesture but that won’t even cover my ass”

“Y/N please, I don’t want you covered in Yoongi’s scent” You smiled

He was so sensitive to smell even for a werewolf. You shimmied out of your white off shoulder crop top, taking your bra off under his shirt. He dragged you in between his legs teasing the zip at the top of your leather skirt down. His eyes endearingly looking up at you, chocolate filled gooey eyes consuming you as his palms massaged your behind and tops of your thighs gently pulling you again into his lap.

Your hands sat cradling the back of his neck, fingertips gently caressing his hairline.

“Please don’t worry tonight, nothing is going to be done about it this evening before anything happens Yoongi will call a meeting anyway and you can say whatever you want then” Your hips angled into his lap following the squeeze on your behind.

“Do I get the feeling you want to try and help me not think about it?” You ground your hips into him again. You could already feel your arousal beginning to pool.

“Uggh!” he whined throwing his back.

“What?”

“I can smell you and I won’t even be able to taste you tonight” he whined pouting his ballooned lip to you.

“God I can’t even kiss you!” he added. He was pissed, that boy loved nothing more than to be between your thighs, to have them compress around his head as he absorbed everything he could as you came.

“Well lucky for me you have other assets beside your mouth” you placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before nestling, placing light kisses along his collar bone. His eyes lazy watching you pick an ice cube from the towel. Hissing as the cold water trailed down in between his chest bumping over the definition of his hands leaving the trail a disrupted line. His hand gripped yours when you’d trailed the ice around his right nipple.

“Okay that’s enough, bed!”

“Did you bring it?” Jimin asked in a half pant setting himself lying on top of you, knee pressed to you core. Foreheads touching both fighting every urge to lose each other into desperate kisses.

“Mmmhmm, in my bag” exhaling as he left you on the bed. Jimin had convinced you it would be a good idea if you started carrying your bullet vibrator around with you more often. On multiple occasions he’d more than proved it was a great idea; especially once during a particularly tense break during one of your exams. He’d easily swayed you into one of the dance practice rooms and had you shoved up against the mirror.

“Why have you brought that in?” You queried questioning eyes taking in Jungkook’s bobbly polka dot scarf.

“Do you think he’ll mind if I’ve borrowed it to fuck you?” The wicked grin that crept across his face had you shaking your head, your lip bit between your teeth.

“You are awful Park Jimin” You did not hesitate when he secured it at the back of your head blindfolding you. You had to concentrate on bypassing the scents from Jungkook’s scarf and only the musky, wood and comforting scent of Jimin. The path down your body that would normally be formed by his lips was replaced with the light buzzing of the vibrator. His face wasn’t far from yours, his hot amaretto tainted breath told you that; one of his arms was planted next your head keeping him steady.

“Jimin, please!” you whined, full of impatience. He’d conducted the bullet passed where you wanted it way too many times.

“You want it?” he spoke in your ear

“Take It” He didn’t have to ask you twice. When the vibrations hit your throbbing clit your head blissfully rolled back into the mattress. Your free hand dug into his hips when his fingers easily thrust into you

“Fuck your beautiful when you’re like this”

“I bet you can’t wait until you finally have my cock inside you, until my hands are around your throat and you’re begging me to give you what you want. You clenched around him panting out obscenities.

“Oh you like that when I talk dirty in your ear don’t you” You’d automatically depressed the small button on top of the bullet to increase the setting.

“You know I fucking do, stop teasing me and just do it already” you ordered breathless. You were pressing your hips harder into the vibrator chasing that seducing rhythm. Just as you were about to fall off the edge his fingers left you and snatched the vibrator from you. Hips chasing nothing.

“Where are your manners?” he teased.

“Jimin I swear to fucking god I…” You both stilled, both your ears catching the noise of the front door clicking open and shut. Jimin being the asshole that he is only saw this as an opportunity when he realised it was Jungkook who was stumbling around.

“Jimin, stop! He’ll hear” you pleaded weakly, his hands easily pinning yours above your head as well as easily securing them with just one of his hands. The other snatching the toy from and cruelly holding it harsh against your clit on full power.

“Only if you can’t be quiet” The vibrations were too powerful to escape and too powerful for you to be quiet. Jimin was using his body weight to keep your body from squirming to ease the vibrations.

Asshole

Even funnelling your moans through your lips seemed futile, they seemed to fill the room.

“Just cum and I’ll stop”

Like you had a choice at this point. Your cries were not quiet, the second your whole body started convulsing he stopped the vibrations and let go of your hands.

Your heart rate steadied, the sweat on your skin cooled. His fingertips ghosting your skin elicited goose-bumps where they traced. He slid the scarf from your eyes, the first view of his smug face had you giggling quietly.

“Asshole!” you scolded whacking his arm.

“Baby I haven’t even fucked you yet”

“You can’t be serious!” He was deadly serious. He crept off the bed and etched the door open as quietly as he could.

“He’s passed out on the couch” Not believing him, you stumbled to where he was. Jungkook was indeed passed out on the couch in an awfully uncomfortable looking position. He hadn’t even closed the curtains so the moonlight sifted in illuminating his flushed out face.

“Happy?” he quipped his head to the side closing the door. You pulled him by his belt into you; only the clinking of the buckle coming undone was heard over your hurried breaths.

“Baby I don’t want to be loud” you whined as your hand crept down his waistband.

“Better get on your hands and knees then” you elicited a groan from his lips when your hands wrapped around him.

He shoved your face down into the pillow gripping at the back of your neck.

“I guess I’ll have to go slow to try and keep you quiet” You nodded into the mattress, already gasping as he soaked his cock in your arousal. His hand left your neck and balled up your shirt in his fist pulling you onto him. Long drawn out groans escaped both of you. Fully inside you he stopped moving

“God, you feel so good every time” he grunted finally moving, your hand scrambling to grip the side of his thighs as he was tortuous in his lack of speed. Your moans deep and prolonged with each thrust.

“I bet Jungkook never felt this good did he?” he panted

“No, faster!”

“Is that what you want?”

“Fuck, yes, I don’t care about the noise”

“You changed your tune quick. Music to my ears”

His hips snapped into faster thrusts; you cried your moans into the mattress. Your knuckles stained white holding onto the cotton barrier. His hand firmly snuck back to the back of throat and pressured on either side. Jimin readjusted himself slightly; each snap of his hips now hitting the velvet goldmine sitting inside you. You started pushing back onto him, the gentle light headedness seeping in. You turned your head to the side to take some fresh air into your lungs

“Fuck Jimin, I’m close don’t stop” you cried out after a harsh thrust. The cry was not shrouded in the pillow. Your words sent him to jerk his hips more sporadically and his grip tightened on your throat. That was enough. Your muscles released the pressure in overwhelming waves. He carried on thrusting into you, shoving you into a state of over sensitiveness which had you whimpering in high gasps until he finally grunted and his hips started jerking. He went to pull out but your hand clamped onto his thigh and pushed him into you giving him no choice but to grunt your name and cum inside you.

Your hips collapsed on the bed with him behind you hand resting docile on your side.

“There’s no way that didn’t wake him” Jimin chuckled. Jimin’s phone screen brightened up and vibrated loudly against the wood side table. You rolled onto his chest as he selected the message that had just come through

-sod JK, there’s every way that I heard it-

“When the hell did Yoongi get back?” you asked burying your face into his chest.

//

You spent the whole of your lecture staring at your phone trying to coax a message from Yoongi to pop up. Your word document open on your laptop remained empty, not a word typed.

//

“We’ll know more later” Laura tried to offer

“It will get sorted” She still wasn’t helping. You responded with a blank water filled gaze; eliciting a warm hug which actually was half comforting.

“Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be going to lunch with Jimin after his practice before the meeting?” Laura spread her books and notepad like a deck of cards on the library desk

“Yeah” you replied.

“Well go on then, I’ll send you my revision notes from today seeing as you failed massively to take any”

“Thanks, catch you in a bit”

You’d actually never been over to the dance studios on campus; it was a damn side better aesthetically than the science building. The reception area was neat. The navy-blue sofas pressed against the window matched the scattering of large bean bags beside them. Elegant dance pictures framed and hung on the flawless white paintwork of the walls. You took the door labelled ‘Practice Rooms’ and headed for no.4. Number 1 & 2 were clearly the larger rooms; 1 was clearly more of a show room as there was a large rectangular window peering in. Practice room 4 was much smaller and only occupied by Jimin and Hobi.

Both the boys were glistening with sweat that had permeated in pools on their tank tops; loose trackies sat on their hips. The door lightly knocked shut behind you. Shoes off bag down on the ground. Both sets of eyes glancing their way acknowledging your entrance; bodies still moving flawlessly in sync with each other focused on the music throbbing round the studio. It was definitely something choreographed by Hobi, the sharper more prominent moves contrasting to the softer, fluid movements of Jimin’s contemporary strengths.

“Well that was definitely something” praising the masterpiece you’d intruded on.

“Think so?” Hobi questioned regaining air in his lungs.

“Oh come on, you know it’s good!” When it came to dancing modest was not something he was capable of.

“He’s been a …. Douche this morning” He went to hug you, pushing your palm on his chest in refusal.

“Erm no. Sweaty. I’d like my outfit to not be covered in Jimin sweat” His shoulders slumped, Hobi finding amusement in your words.

“Toold!” Hobi teased retrieving his holdall, slinging it round his shoulders.

“I’ll catch you guys later. Y/N please don’t worry about later we’ll sort it”

“I’ll do my best”.

“Honestly I wish people would stop even mentioning it”

“Well I wish you wouldn’t worry about it” Jimin countered. You slid yourself onto the beech table pressed to the back wall. Jimin swiping the damp hair from his face.

Why is everyone so fucking calm about this.

“So what do you wanna do for lunch. I think a burger from Benny’s will ease my overthinking”

“Yeah?” He stalked over to you nudging himself in between your legs, forefinger tracing under your neck angling your head aiming to meet his lips.

“I was thinking maybe more you?”

“Well that was about as smooth as a cactus” you quipped. Both his hands interlocking with yours lifting them around like they were joysticks.

“And what makes you think I’ll be in the mood with all this fighting stuff?” He edged into you as far he could his cheek brushing against yours

“Because you know when I touch you…” He gripped your thighs tugging your clothed core onto his thigh

“Mmm”

“… just right” the whisper and breath crept along your ear, fingers tip toeing their way up your body creeping to hold snug around your neck.

“I can get you begging for me to fuck you” Your half weak smile powered up to a full-on smirk.

“You know you can’t resist me” he cooed, the innocent beautiful face hiding the demon tempter beneath.

He was right

No matter your state of mind with you both being essences your bodies would take over; completely over fuelling and over writing any processes your rational mind was running. Like animals in damn heat.

Your hand tugged at the drawstrings of his bottoms.

“I think you’ll find you’re trying to seduce me. Sooo…” Your hand wandered, pushing under the elastic waist band. Palm pressing against his cock

“It’s you who can’t resist me” You can’t resist each other. The deep groan in his throat, the slow tilt of his head back. Your senses ran wild. Pupils blowing out like balloons, your irises flaming golden at each other. The primal wolves taking over.

Lips chasing yours plump with need as you slid of the table hand still nursing his growing member

“Tell me you want me” you breathed between heavy kisses. You want to hear his desperate breathes for you

“I want you” A relieved exasperated exhale fanned across your neck, hand leaving his straining cock with no more contact. His own hand under your control to unhook your jean buttons. Forehead nudged to yours watching your hand disappear.

“Want this?”

“Mmm need this” the plea slipping past his lips. Hungry eyes looking down lip between his teeth.

If a look could have you flatlining it was him biting his lips

“You want to make me feel better? Want to make me cum, whine out your name?” Your words were slightly broken, the delicate swirls of your fingers on your clit his hand following your movements.

“God yes!” The growl pried from his lips.

“Then go lock the door” you whispered.

//

“Okay so we all know why we’re here” Yoongi began stood, the fireplace behind him crackling an orange hue into the room. The five of you all lounged around the option of sofas, determined curious stares all facing the Alpha. The leather jacket was non-existent but the standard white tee and jeans remained consistent. The rest of you were much more at home; slouched in variety of comfy hoodies and trackies. This house was huge and often played host to pack sleepovers.

You and Jimin were snug to each other, his arm cocooning you into his chest. When Yoongi started to speak Jimin felt your heart start to rattle unnerved in your chest; he placed a light squeeze at your waist.

“So I went to see Max last night and safe to say they haven’t changed”

“So you’ll be fighting?” Laura questioned; you sensed no fear in her voice just utter curiosity.

“No” Everyone began shuffling, uncomfortable air and unknown suffocating the room. The unwelcome spirit stirring.

“Trevor was pretty beat up when I went. Max was not too impressed by the whole ordeal if I’m honest he was furious. He’s basically washed his hands of the situation and told Trevor he will not be fighting his battles…but was adamant the old ways are still followed” he continued

“We agreed that is only fair that if one alpha isn’t fighting then neither should the other”

Nausea oozed through your being, uncomfortably smashing your thoughts everywhere. The others all wide eyed still suffering from the shock that:

1. Max actually seemed to been reasonable

2. Yoongi was not going to fight.

Will I have to fight for myself?

I’m not strong enough yet

I’ll have no…

“I’m putting it to you guys. Obviously, Y/N it’s out of the question you’re nowhere near strong enough yet”

Gee thanks!

“Guys I can’t…” you launched yourself up. Jimin wanted to hold you close but he knew you were adamant

“I can’t have you fighting for me this is ridiculous. You didn’t ask for any of this.

“It should be Hobi he’s next strongest” Laura piped up. Everyone completely ignoring you trying to make their point. Arms tightly folded nails digging into the skin of your arm

“Yeah I’ll go, I’ll be more than happy to wipe that smirk of that assholes face” Your glare hit Jimin a call for backup. He shifted to speak

Thank you

“If anyone it should be me” leaning forward with sincerity. You flayed your hands, fingers wide

For god’s sake!

“Jimin I don…” Yoongi began

“I know I’m not as strong as Hobi but I’m not that much weaker either and besides don’t you think out of everyone I’ve got the most motivation and drive; I mean she’s my girl!”

“Jimin we can’t ris…” Yoongi returned

“No Yoongi, I think he has a point, like we all love Y/N but he will have the most resolve and determination and the facts it’s his essence he’s fighting for will be all the better” Hobi giving Jimin a supportive smile.

“I agree” Laura arm raised up in solidarity.

“Joon? Tae?” Yoongi glancing to the quietest two of the group. Nothing would ever be decided without everyone’s opinion being noted.

“Makes sense to me”

“And me”

In the time they’d all ignored you, annoyance had crept into your skin, a toxin flushing out any desire to spend time with these guys this evening.

“Okay, fine it’s sorted then. Jimin you’re in you’ve got 3 days” Yoongi beamed casually, shoulders down, weight lifted.

“Now let’s enjoy the evening” Yoongi went to hand you your glass that had been resting on the mantle. You blankly refused.

“I think I’ll just go to bed” Tone low with agitation seeping over your words. Jimin stood.

“Just leave it” You spat, everyone calling after you as you stomped yourself to the bedroom.

You launched yourself into the chair in front of the mirror with a huge huff. Staring harshly at your mirror image. The glistening glint of fluid filling your eyes.

Nope!

You shoved yourself up and rummaged aggressively through your bag for one of your virology books. Fundamentals of molecular virology by Nicholas H Acheson. Had been you’re favourite so far this course.

Nothing like reading about genius designed killing machines to take my mind off going full breakdown.

You were only minutely disturbed by the low throb of the TV downstairs, and the occasional outburst of laughter.

-Baby, I’m sorry, please don’t be angry with us. Can I come up yet? -

-I’m angry you’re all so easily wiling putting yourself in harm’s way just for my sake. And NO!-

- I LOVE YOU! That’s why I’m doing it. The others love you two-

The three words that you can’t wait to hear in a new relationship. The three words that should fill you with that queasy happiness. They only made you irritable.

-Don’t you dare say that for thre first tiem in this situation. Getting beaten the fuck up is not how I want you ro show it to me -

You cursed yourself at the angry spelling when your words popped up in the conversation bubble of your chat. You lent back kicking the book to the floor snuggling yourself into the duvet as much as humanly possible. Jimin would have to fight you for his side of the duvet later.

//

You felt his struggle begin, the struggle which disrupted the calm ambience of your sleep. You drowsily rolled over, huffing with your movement. He crept up behind you, a nervous mongoose rolling next to the sleeping snake. You were too dazed to fight for too long and eventually allowed him to press himself up against you, the reluctant small spoon.

“Baby…” he whispered

“Not now” you exhaled weakly. His hand pulling down the collar of your top placing a delicate drawn out kiss against your skin.

“Jimin” you warned softly. He preceded to creep sloping his arm up, resting his hand between your breasts. You were not going react, letting sleep slowly re-capture you. Being the stubborn one he was he nudged his hips into you. You felt his lips crease on the back of your neck.

“Please… baby” The sucrose dripping off every word into a whine.

“What!?” clunking yourself around to face him. Features barely visible, diamonds in his eyes shimmering none the less.

“I Love You princess” You took a few seconds.

The anger draining out of you as you exhaled a forgiving chuckle.

“I also want you” he nudged you to lay on his chest.

“To trust me”

“You know I do” The smell of alcohol diffusing of his skin.

“Let me finish, I want you to trust me to do right by you and fight for you okay” The happiness that had swelled had now deflated to nausea.

“I’ll win okay. There’s no way you’re going with them. You are far too precious to all of us for that to happen”

“Precious?” bemused.

“Okay cheese loaded choice of words but I…”

“Okkkaaay” you exclaimed pressing a forefinger chaste to his lips.

“I’ll try and be a calmer bitch, but I’m well within my right to be scared that my boyfriend is going to be fighting an absolute tank”

“That a low dig at my height?” he chuckled pinching your hip

“You really do have a thing about that don’t you” you teased.

“Well good thing I love you anyway then” You shuffled up kissing him.

“Oh decided to say back it to me then” Your palm flat across his chest, fingers gently circling his chest

“Say it again, I was half asleep before” You cooed, the pleasant beat of his chest, lulling you sweetly.

“I love you, now go to sleep I can hear you heart slowing”

“Mmm I can get used to you saying that”

“Only if you stay mine”

“Mmmmhmm” you mumbled.

//

“You’re getting so much stronger and faster” Yoongi praised panting the second he heard the human knackered pants from the next. You were on the floor, back heavy on the cool concrete floor. Enough energy was mustered to grab the blanket you kept in your cell. Your exposed body at least had some cover until the energy was mustered to dress yourself.

“You...think?”

“Yeah your doing so well, progressing so much faster than the others did” The light metal clink of his buckles clear as a bell.

“You decent?” he added.

“Enough” you managed, Yoongi creeping around the corner peering down at your feebleness.

“Recovery is tough for me”

“I can tell” he chuckles securing the blanket round you assisting you to your feet.

After your first full moon you quickly learnt it wasn’t all plain sailing from there. Yes in human form everything was enhanced; hearing, smell, strength. Every sense amplified. In wolf form though it was bit more complicated. Stamina and strength needed to be trained, perfected. Yoongi had been taking you out for runs and various exercises. You knew he’d taken you out today to tire you out and distract you like a toddler; I guess in wolf world you were in a way. You were becoming more confident with your capabilities and using the abilities you now possessed. With your wolf form being tested you needed a good few hours of recovery time. Most of which you spent in bed or in a bath.

“Help me to bed please”

“Obviously”

You crashed the second your head graced the pillow

//

Bed depressing next to you, that addictive scent swallowing you whole; warm arms pushing gentle at your stomach shifting your body closer to him.  An unyielding kiss pressed to the top of your shoulders. The subtle nudge of his crotch into your behind signalling his intentions. Half pulled out of your sleep you responded with a weak nudge of your behind into him. Consent given shirt pushed up over your chest. Harsh kisses on the top of your back; your weak spot. Fingertips creeping down your side tugging your hips harder into his already hard cock. He really couldn’t control himself around you, so easily driven wild. Hands now slick in your arousal open mouth bites at your shoulders. No words spoken, just breathier pants slowly escalating. Band snapped; patience dry. Your hips were shoved forward, cock sliding through, coated enough in your juices to thrust into you with ease. Your close-mouthed moan loud in his ears. His even pace torturous and sweet. It stayed even, slowly winding the coil tighter and tighter within you. Part of you wanted to beg him to go faster the other part wanting the steady climb to never end. You wanted to keep feeling anything, anything to keep you away from you fear of later.

Fist flying to his hip gripping his flesh. The restraint he had to muster to not accelerate his hips. He wanted you to come undone hard and slowly.

“Harder” His hips snapped slower, more deliberate pressure harder and your spot.

“Not that your mouth” It had hardly left your shoulder you wanted his teeth sunk deeper.

“Are you sure?”

“Mmm” you choked

“Bite me” you begged breathless, growl pursing through his lips. He was never going to deny you anything you wanted. Canines growing against your skin. The sting of skin being pierced had you clenching around him causing him to choke, pushing the blood swirling in his mouth out the side of his lips. The warm trickle running down your shoulders painting the sheets red.  The copper taste swallowed down. Blood wasn’t amazing to were’s; I mean that’s for the vamps but it wasn’t disgusting either. It was mildly nice; but to Jimin yours was so fucking sweet, a delicacy he would savour every chance he got.

One harsh thrust and you were done. Each pulse seeming longer than the last, by the last one he was jutting into you swearing your name. Heat flushing away you rolled to face him. His hand cradling your cheek. His looked completely fuck out, blood staining those pump lips and in the creases of his mouth.

“I love you” he panted; those word hit you again. Salty tears filling slowly over your pupils.

“Oh baby don’t” he pleaded. His thumb brushed away the first droplet to fall down your flushed rose tinted cheek.

“It will be fine, Yoongi wouldn’t let me if he didn’t think it was doable. And if something was to go wrong then he would probably fuck the rules of anyway for you. He’s so bonded to you”

“I know but… what if this is the last time you make me fall apart”

“It won’t be, I’m not giving up your pussy for shit!” He was good at making you smile and giggle no matter your mood. It was a pure talent.

“Now that I do believe”

“There you go”

“Please just get ready and go now before I start completely balling it”

You’d been banned from going, at the request of Jimin of all people. He didn’t want to get distracted and did not want you to see him get hurt. Yoongi also backed this so your fate was decided; not that you didn’t give them hell for it.

//

“So… who’s the puppy that’s going to lose” Trevor goaded walking forward breaking the crescent of his pack stood for the show. Jimin stepped forward announcing his participation.

“Why am I not surprised”

“Alright stop the bullshit let’s just get this redundant old thing out the way” Yoongi interrupted at the centre of his pack’s crescent.

“Fine, you both know the rules” Max Began

“No jugular attacks! The wolf to be down for 7 seconds loses” he continued. Trevor and Jimin squared up to one another

“I’m going to enjoy fucking your scent off her” Trevor toyed, vicious glare with venomous eyes

Jimin did not even dignify that with a response; shifting and jumping straight to attack.

Animal whines echoed through the blanket of trees surrounding the gathering. Yoongi, Laura, Hobi, Tae and Joon stood, quiet in silent confidence. Max’s pack however were goading and cheering Trevor on like a pack of wild animals, they outnumbered Yoongi’s pack by five.

Snarls seething with venom, blood matting the fur surrounding their jaws. Jimin pressing against the rage trying to keep the cool head with difficulty.  An equal fight, both being launched by their necks to the ground. Paws swiping at faces leaving streaks of blood.

“Jimin!...Get Up!” Laura wailed, Trevor had slung Jimin against a tree and he’d not moved.

“1”

“2”

“3”

Jimin’s vision had blurred, indistinguishable noises rattled round his head. Body on fire, the overwhelming taste of copper disgusting in his mouth. His body not responding to commands. Trevor’s wolf walking away, swag in his step already declaring himself the winner. His pack cheering…

“4”

Something illuminated inside him, his body on fire from the inside, like it wasn’t even his pain. It felt like he could feel your pain, your distress; the agony of being without him. It broke him, the tears formed at the corner of his eyes stinging the wound at the corner of his eye.

At the house you rolled over, a sharp pulling in your chest. Something detaching inside you. Your groan and cry falling on no ears.

Jimin snarled quietly, rejuvenated, he would not have you feeling so distraught. If Yoongi’s pack had been smart they would have warned him Jimin had pushed himself up, paws sore but he was past caring. He began to sprint; Jimin being faster than Trevor could react smashing him into a tree. Determined bark growling out past Jimin’s mouth. Teeth clamping down on Trevor’s neck just below his jugular; tugging hard before flinging him into the tree again.

“1”

“2”

“3”

Trevor’s pack were swearing. Profanities thick directed at him.

“4”

“5”

“6”

“7”

The silent pack now erupted with cheer, rushing over to the limping form of Jimin. Both guys transformed back, wounds seeping, a pair of panting naked bodies. Wounds being assessed of both participants. Most of Trevor’s were round his neck, thick lacerations going down to his chest. A covering of scratches spanning his torso. Jimin had one particularly worrying gash in his neck, he was unbothered. Trusting in his friends and their ability to stop the flow of blood. His healing ability would do the rest. Eventually. His right eye was curtained with red, cut above his eye pissing with blood. His torso wounds were mildly more severe than Trevor’s; but Jimin just wanted to get back to you.

Yoongi relieved, waltzed up to Max, A begrudging handshake occurred.

“Now it’s done! I don’t want to hear of anymore shit from your guys. You go near here again and they’ll be hell to pay” Yoongi snapped. Max frowning more at the wailing sack of shit that was Trevor on the floor.

“Of course,” He seethed through gritted teeth.

//

You’d sat numb in a ball on the sofa staring blankly at the tv. Noise becoming white, words and light becoming indistinguishable mashes of colour. You heard the distinct whirring of Yoongi’s car as it drew closer. You rushed up to lean against the sofa, folded arms, nails anxious between your teeth. The door clicked; feet fast to greet whatever was about to walk through that door. Laura walked in first, holding the door ushering Tae and Joon inside. Hobi and Yoongi supporting Jimin who was just about supporting his weight. You’re not sure what happened first, the hand flying to your mouth or the tears now running down your cheeks. The thought of your fate a speck of dust in the wind compared to overwhelming state of Jimin’s welfare.

“Oh my god!”

The boys lowered him to the sofa, his face creased up wincing. You flew to the first aid kit Yoongi insisted on having for shifting injuries. The others began flapping around and preparing things.

“Can I just be with MY girl please” Jimin groaned. All eyes on the two of you, the antiseptic wipe briefly leaving his eyebrow.

“You mean?”

“Told you” He croaked. Your sweet smiles mirrored in each other. A long kiss against his forehead followed by the others leaving.

“We’ll be at Laura’s if you need anything. Y/N just make sure you slow all the bleeding down, he’ll be fine”

You spent a good hour or so wiping the field of cuts. The alcohol causing a stream of curses from Jimin’s mouth. You went to un-tape the red soaked towel from around his shoulder and neck. His battered hand stopped yours.

“Please don’t. There’s no way you want to see that”

“But it’s got to be cleaned”

“Trust me it will be fine”

“Can we just please go and rest together, don’t know about you but I’ve had a shit day” He teased

“Even the early afternoon?” you countered, feigning insult.

“Well I mean that was alri…ght” You supported him up off the chair.

“Do not make me add to your injuries Park Jimin!” You jested. The fact his sense of humour was intact pulled the plug to your overflowing concern.

#bts smut #ksmutclub #smutcentralnet #btswriterscollective #kwritersworldnet #btsguild #bangtanarmynet #networkbangtan #park jimin #BTS jimin #jimin x reader #werewolf au #28days #bts

[c-is-for-circinate]

Ok, Hades gameplay reaction time!

(Because I have been terrible this quarantine year about posting thoughts about stories I've been invested in, and I'm really enjoying this game, and I'm playing basically blind and I have theories, and what is tumblr for if not recording those things to look back on later.)

I love this specific kind of fantasy/speculative fiction, that straddles the line between 'allegory clearly designed to explore a real-world issue' and 'the themes of this reflect real-world issues but also everything is times one million for drama and setting's sake'. I love it so much. Because, look, this is a story about a teenager/young adult trying to gather up the skills and resources and help he needs to escape his controlling, possessive, emotionally abusive father's house. That's it. Strip away all of the trappings, and that's what the story is about. By comparison, I think about Star Wars. (I love Star Wars too.) That's also a story about a dysfunctional fucked-up family dynamic. But that family is fucked up because dad went on a magic-corruption-induced killing spree, and his twin children were separated at birth to be raised in seclusion with the intention of someday taking him down, and look, that's cool, but it's definitely not how people actually are. All of the dysfunction in that family is an outgrowth of the fantastical setting, which means it is fantastical dysfunction. It can occasionally mirror or remind us of real-life interactions, but it's a fantasy. Which is great and fun to watch and very comforting and so on, but I don't necessarily want that in every story, and I love Hades because it is not that, at all. When you extend out the basic 'kid trying to escape his toxic home environment', Hades is the story of Zagreus trying to get out with the help of his dad's estranged, complicated, wealthy and powerful family, who are absolutely part of the reason why dad is Like That in the first place, and may not be any more reliable in the long run but who he needs right now. And his stepmom and teacher, who love him enough to help him leave, unconditionally and supportively (ask me how many feelings I have about 'look, Hades can't hurt me for helping you, don't worry about me, I am going to take care of you and that means helping you get out of this house' coming from an adult authority figure, ask me). And his dad's employees, who like him but also have to fear the old man's wrath, and walk that line in different places the best they can. And stepmom's long-estranged parent, because this is a story about families and how they split apart and come back together. And all of that is so real, so grounded in actual, concrete, this-is-how-humans-work family dynamics. But it's also individual. The story works so well because Hades isn't just a silhouette of the controlling asshole father; he is clearly The Way He Is for reasons, complicated ones, good and bad alike. The Way He Is has details, particularities, paperwork, a dog he pretends not to love and rely on. He is specific. Nyx and Achilles are specific, not just generic kind stepmom here to be a trope inversion and cardboard cutout teacher. Nyx has backstory and personality of her own, Achilles has a complex history, opinions, a missing lover, and they BOTH have very particular relationships with Hades that aren't just boilerplate script. Yes, there's abstraction there, you meet these characters in brief visual novel-esque three-line conversations over the course of dozens of escape runs, of course there's abstraction--but there's the very real sense that all of these people have nuance, have good and bad days, that they've made choices to be who they are, even if we don't know what those choices are yet. And, like Star Wars, some of the ways in which this story is so specific rely entirely on the fact of the otherworldly setting! I've seen stories that go the other way, that try to use their setting entirely as window dressing, and they end up feeling so flat I can't even remember them right now because they don't let the environment lend complexity and nuance to their characters at all. The environment these characters live in matters. The absolute control Hades exerts over his surroundings is a divine power. The fact that everyone Zag runs into, for or against him, is either immortal or immortally dead, changes how the react to

one another and to the situation at hand. The shape of his attempted escapes (gauntlet combat with a variety of legendary weapons) might be an allegorical construct of the genre, true, but it doesn't work in any sort of real-world setting where there exists the possibility of authority figures above or aside from Hades and his extended fucked-up family. That's part of why the family is so fucked-up in the first place. But these changes still fit well within the realm of, 'yeah, if you took this extremely real-life dynamic and added these factors to it, I can envision people doing this thing'. I can envision these specific people doing this thing. They add to the specificity of these characters. Letting them be influenced by their unreal surroundings makes them more real. So hell yes for good storytelling!!!!

I'm still relatively early in the game (by which I mean I'm like thirty runs in but only just got past Meg for the third time, because I am not good at this game, although in my defense it's only the seventh video game and second button-mashing game I have ever played in my life so there's that), but I'm starting to develop suspicions about Persephone. Because, look, outside of Persephone's absence from the underworld, this story knows its Greek mythology, uses it, revels in it. And there is some kind of mystery still shrouding Persephone leaving in the first place. She left a goodbye to Cerberus in her letter but not to her own son. Nyx has warned Zagreus multiple times not to let the Olympians know she's his mother. He literally never even knew she existed. That's complicated! Add to that, Persephone left--the exact thing we are trying and failing to do again and again and again. She left with one note, which means either she managed a one-shot speedrun out of the entire realm or she had some other way to leave, because if she'd washed up in the Styx pool to plod back to her room and try again, she wouldn't've needed to leave the note in the first place. And, you know, she's Persephone. Really quite famous for leaving the Underworld! Also quite famous for being forced back. So. I'm wondering if Zagreus, so conspicuously absent from her goodbye, has something to do with it after all. Six pomegranate seeds condemned Persephone to six months, half a year, half her life. I wonder if a child that's half of her her constitutes a fitting trade instead. Which, of course Hades would be even more resentful and dismissive and cruel to the kid he got in place of the wife he loved (who he chased away by being cold in the first place). Of course Persephone would have difficulty saying goodbye to her son in those circumstances. It would make sense. The tricky thing here is how the Olympians fit into it, because I also suspect the rift between Hades and Zeus sprang from Persephone's departure. And yet, if the Olympians never knew Zagreus existed, let alone that he's Persephone's son--how can he count as payment into the deal in their eyes? So in that case, what does Zeus think is the justification for Persephone leaving, after the pomegranate thing? Or are we just not doing the pomegranate thing at all? It would be a shame to lose it entirely, out of a story that really seems to enjoy the myths it's playing with. And there should be something complex here, something more than simply 'mom fucked off and left because dad sucked and now I'm following her because same'. It feels more complex than that. 'Mom and dad had a baby to try and save their marriage, it didn't work, but when mom left she had to leave me behind because otherwise dad would have gotten the cops and her extended family involved' feels more right, while still just as grounded in reality as the story has been so far.

I sort of want to write some meta about how each of the six legendary weapons corresponds to their original divine wielder, but I haven't unlocked all of their codex entries yet (look I am very bad with ranged weapons in this game ok, I am working on it), and I still need to think about the details. Aside from, of course, fuck yes of course Hestia's the one with the railgun. Leave drama and elegance and traditional weaponry to her brothers and sister (Demeter, who knows how to get her hands dirty, gets a pass). Hestia is out here to get shit done. With a grenade launcher.

#hades #hades game #zagreus #hades spoilers #I do not know this fandom are there tags I should be using? #C plays stuff #long post #driveby meta attack

[salemsarc]

i’m not even my own - ao3

It was rare to have anyone other than Tadashi watching Kei’s games.

Kei was running off of a slight adrenaline high walking off the court. The Sendai Frogs had just won against a formidable rival, and Kei was a part of that team. Warmth pooling in Kei’s gut didn’t disgust him anymore, he accepted his passion for volleyball long ago.

Before the match, Kei was opening his texts before confining his phone to his gym bag for the duration of the game.

From: <3Tadashi<3

good luck tsukki !! i’m in the front row

A smile crept up onto Kei’s face, which surprised some of his teammates who were glancing around the locker room. Sure, he was a lot less cranky since high school, but he was nowhere near Hinata’s level of enthusiasm. Kei only sent a short reply to Tadashi before he was about to turn off his phone, another text had caught him off guard.

From: Akaashi

Hey. I’m watching your game. Can we hang out and talk after?

Kei didn’t pretend that those words on the screen didn’t cause him some unease. It wasn’t like he wasn’t on good terms with Akaashi, rather the opposite. They texted frequently (under Kei’s standards) and still made time to go out to brunch or watch a movie occasionally. Just slightly strange that he would request to see each other so suddenly, especially right after one of Kei’s games.

Now that Kei had thought about it, Bokuto didn’t have any games for that week. Akaashi attended every one of Bokuto’s games, the beefcake claiming that Akaashi was his good luck charm. That man was a saint for being able to deal with Bokuto’s antics on such a frequent basis.

Thinking time was over, one of Kei’s teammates slapped his shoulder roughly, causing his phone to clatter to the floor.

“You can text your girlfriend later, Tsukishima,” said his teammate with a teasing lilt in his voice.

Girlfriend, sure. Kei picked up his phone from the ground and shoved it into his bag. He could worry about Akaashi later.

Tadashi was waiting for him, of course, right outside of the gym. Kei’s teammates were still inside, probably doing some stupid locker room ritual that Kei had no interest in. The way that Tadashi’s irises were sparkling in pride still made Kei’s insides swirl around.

“Congrats, Tsukki!” Tadashi threw his arms around Kei’s lanky body despite the fact that Kei was pretty sweaty. “You kicked their asses! God, I’m so lucky to have such a cool boyfriend.” Kei’s insides swirled a little harder at his words.

Tadashi followed up by pressing a chaste kiss to Kei’s lips, having to go onto the tips of his toes to reach his excessive height. Kei didn’t make any fuss because he was feeling particularly sappy for Tadashi at that moment, and his teammates probably weren’t around.

“Yeah, well, everyone else also played the game too, you know,” teased Kei.

“I hate you, just take the compliment!”

“Fine, thank you for the compliment that is definitely the truth.”

Tadashi smacked Kei’s shoulder lightheartedly at that, but he knew what Kei was thinking. He always did.

“Oh! I was sitting with Akaashi during the game, are you guys going to hang out now?” Kei didn’t pay any mind to the stands during his games, regardless of Tadashi’s presence. But he did remember getting a brief glimpse of Akaashi’s emotionless resting face.

“Mm. He said he wanted to hang out and talk.” This time, Kei tried to hide his unease.

“Stop worrying so much, he probably just wants to catch up.” Hiding was pointless.

“He’s by the parking lot, I’m going to go now.”

Kei chose to ignore Tadashi’s remark on his nervousness and instead leaned down to slot their lips together. He held it there for a few seconds, just to be safe.

“Oh, wow, Tsukki. This bold in public? I’ll be waiting for you when you get home!~” Tadashi made a point to drag his pointer finger down Kei’s chest before leaving. His finger carved sparks and tingles in its path of destruction.

He should go find Akaashi.

Akaashi was, indeed, waiting for him at the parking lot entrance. He was by no means short, standing only seven centimeters below Kei’s own stature. But, the jacket he was wearing (or vice-versa) made Akaashi appear Tadashi’s size.

“Ah, Tsukishima. Thanks for agreeing to this so last-minute.” Akaashi had peered over his phone to regard Kei.

“It’s not that big of a deal. I would have just spent some time with Tadashi,” uttered Kei. He didn’t include what he thought that time would ensue, he also chose not to think about it.

“I feel bad for interrupting your time with Yamaguchi, are you sure this is okay?” Akaashi asked. He was shifting his weight back and forth between his legs. It made the oversized jacket sway back and forth, and make a small sound when the zipper collided with a nearby car. Akaashi looked nervous about something and it made Kei’s insides swirl in the opposite direction.

“It’s fine. Seriously. I spent a lot of time with Tadashi as it is,” They did live together, after all, “I don’t mind going somewhere with you for one afternoon.” He couldn’t make his face look any more pleased, as much as he tried. Kei prayed that Akaashi would pick up his sentiment so he wouldn’t have to admit it himself.

“Okay, thank you,” Akaashi’s lips curled up briefly before he showed Kei his phone screen. “Can we go here?” It was a small coffee shop he went to with Tadashi on occasion. Kei simply nodded before beginning to navigate.

Almost no time had passed when the two boys arrived at the coffee shop, it was only a small walk away. Upon receiving their drinks and Kei’s slice of cake (It was most definitely for Tadashi, not himself, grump master Kei would never consume sweet, sugary confections.), they found a table to sit at.

“You did a good job today. A lot of your blocks only had a brief window of decision, I admire your analysis,” complimented Akaashi.

“Coming from you, of course. I’m sure you overthink how you tie your shoes.”

Small talk felt empty when it was obvious that another matter was gravely present. Akaashi just chuckled before taking a long sip of his hazelnut coffee. He took a deep breath.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you some things,” muttered Akaashi while he threaded a hand through his obsidian hair.

“I assumed as such. Why else would you voluntarily spend time with my joyful demeanor?” The sarcasm came from Kei as deadpan as ever.

“Do you mind if I ask something about Yamaguchi?”

“Not really, no. Unless it’s something weird and perverted.”

“How did you realize you were in love with him?”

The question cut through the tense air like a dull butter knife. Kei certainly wasn’t expecting such an emotionally-charged question from Akaashi. Did he want romantic advice? That wouldn’t be like Akaashi, it had to be deeper than that.

“I guess it was right before graduation. Tadashi was really upset over leaving the volleyball team, especially as captain. I didn’t really mind, but I suddenly felt myself feeling upset because Tadashi was. It was when I realized that I didn’t have some silly crush on Tadashi for all those years, but that I was just in love with him.” Kei recalled the moment as if it had happened the day before.

“In hindsight, it was stupidly obvious how in love with him I was. All the signs were there. Even the dumbass freak duo figured it out before I did.”

Akaashi was listening intensely when Kei met the boy’s eyes once again. Now it was clear why Akaashi asked him to hang out, really it should’ve been a lot sooner.

Kei thought about how Akaashi’s mood dropped whenever Bokuto would go into his emo mode during a game. He hid it extremely well, but Sugawara had pointed it out to Kei once, and he never unsaw it. Akaashi’s sets were still precise as ever, but the way the ball sprang off his fingertips made it feel like Akaashi was the one getting his spikes constantly blocked.

“What signs.” Akaashi asked immediately with a sideways cough right after.

“I would sacrifice a lot for him. Tadashi sucked at English so I always would teach him whatever he struggled with after practice, no matter how much work I had. In general I gave all of my free time to be with Tadashi. What’s that song? If I had to choose between him and the son, I’d be one nocturnal son of a gun. As embarrassing and nauseatingly cheesy as it sounds, it’s true.”

Kei thought about how many plans Akaashi cancelled to go to Bokuto’s games. He would always provide the same reason, that he had to be there so Bokuto wouldn’t go into emo mode. Tadashi asked Kei if he was being held at gunpoint.

“The jealousy, too. Sometimes girls would confess to Tadashi after school, and he would come to practice feeling self-confident, but still describing how bad he felt for rejecting their feelings. I was happy that he felt more confident in himself, but some ugly part of me wanted to kiss him right in front of those girls. I guess showing them that Tadashi wasn’t available. But he was. I didn’t want Tadashi to date anyone. Turns out I didn’t want him to date anyone that wasn’t me.”

This time, Kei didn’t think about Akaashi. He thought about Bokuto talking to him during the training camp. A girl confessed to Akaashi that morning and he responded with a simple rejection. Kei may be taken, but he sure isn’t blind (with his glasses). Akaashi was really fucking attractive. It was surely a common occurrence but Bokuto was still dejected. Bokuto didn’t bring his voice volume above a respectable level the entire morning. His mood brought down the whole warm-up. Even Kei felt his arms stinging just a little bit more from the ball.

“Oh, okay. That was really detailed.” Kei had finished his answer and met eyes once again with Akaashi. He appeared more somber than anxious like he had before in the parking lot. Dark eyes were zigging and zagging to find some imaginary answer in the coffee shop.

“I mean, you asked. So, I answered.”

“Yes, I guess I did. Wow.”

“Did that help you realize that you’re in love with Bokuto?”

It was a little too blunt, even for a person like Kei, but he felt like he needed to state the everloving obvious. Akaashi’s eyes blew open like saucers and his mouth stood slightly agape. Only for a fleeting moment, however. He quickly composed himself into emotionless-Akaashi-mode and took an even longer sip of his now cold coffee to solidify his composure.

“Yes, it did. Thank you Tsukishima,” stated Akaashi flatly.

“No problem. When are you going to tell him?” Kei had no desire to press further into Akaashi’s personal feelings.

“I’m not. I can’t.”

Akaashi’s visage was inflicted with a familiar pain. Kei had felt the same emotion himself, he saw those cracks festering onto Akaashi’s state of mind. He could see the doubts swimming into Akaashi’s eyes that would leave him dizzy and longing.

“Akaashi.”

He met Kei’s gaze, and promptly gave in. Akaashi was not about to start crying in a coffee shop where he could feel the stares of a family behind him. Instead, he spilled out all the thoughts that were imprisoned in his mind.

“It’s the classic ‘ I don’t want to ruin our friendship! ’ kind of deal, I know. In the stories and movies the person ends up confessing anyways and of course, the other person feels the same way because this is a romance, coming-of-age movie after all! But this is real life! Just because it worked out for you and Yamaguchi doesn’t mean I get a happy ending too!” The subtle jab at the end, most likely unintentional, made Kei feel a dull guilt.

“I’ve known that I’ve been in love with him, I wish I was that stupid. This was just my reality check. I go to all of his games no matter what, just because he wants me there. Do you know how much I’ve missed out on from loving him? Koutarou could ask me to give him the world, for fuck’s sake, and I would do it. Yet, I feel like throwing up every time he asks me to set to him with that godforsaken confidence in his eye.”

“Yes, I’m in love with Bokuto, but I can’t fucking live like this!”

Kei had never seen Akaashi express so much emotion in his years of knowing him. It was more than every year combined. Kei cursed the emptiness he felt. He couldn’t understand what Akaashi was feeling.

Venting his emotions did nothing to stop the tears already dripping down Akaashi’s face. Upon realizing this, the setter shamefully wiped the wetness from his face with his jacket sleeve. No, Bokuto’s jacket sleeve. The player gave it to Akaashi the previous day because it was cold outside and Akaashi didn’t bring anything to keep him warm.

“Keiji! I can’t let you get sick! I would be a terrible person if I let you suffer like this,” screeched Bokuto. The same excitable man ended up getting sick and Akaashi took care of him because he felt guilty.

An uncharacteristic hand grasped Akaashi’s shoulder. Kei had reached out to him, just like that. Akaashi couldn’t help but halt his downward spiral and look up in complete surprise.

“Just tell him. If he rejects you, whatever. Then you can get over him and stop giving him everything. If not, then there you go.” Kei said firmly.

While it was just a hand on his shoulder and some words of common sense, the gesture being from Kei created a new level of authenticity. Kei felt uncomfortable as all hell for doing this, but he couldn’t watch Akaashi dig himself into such a deep hole. It was by no means a gesture of comfort, but rather of desperation.

“Text me how it goes, okay?” Kei moved to get up and leave. He felt terrible for leaving all too suddenly, but he knew this wasn’t his area of expertise.

Akaashi understood.

Akaashi picked up his emotions that he had scattered all over the table and neatly put them back inside of his head. He dusted off the crumbs of emotional vulnerability from the table. It was a moment of instability, but Akaashi had managed to pack it all down. No more troublesome Akaashi burdening his friends with his useless feelings. Everything was back in its rightful place in the universe.

“Goodbye, Tsukishima. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.”

#haikyuu #tsukkiyama #fanwork #bokuaka #ao3

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Spoiler Review: Chat Blanc

(Spoilers below)

Ehem.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK Gabriel agreste.

Okay, on to the review.

-Gabriel talking to his comatose wife again. Blah blah blah

-Alix betting Marinette didn't give Adrien the gift.

-Rose betting she did.

-Marinette failed.]

-Rose! Damn girl!

-Rose just straight up Mental b**** slapped confidence into Marinette. Nice.

-Supportive girls ftw

-”DONT FORGET TO SIGN IT”

-Marinette using Ladybug powers to get into them windows.

-Tikki is like “Don't be stupid”

-Marinette is having too much fun

-Adrien dealing with Gabriel being a s***y parent again.

-MARINETTE SIGNED IT!

-ADRIEN SAW HER LEAVE.

-Adrien KNOWS!!!! 

-He looks so happy. Damn it look at that smile.

-Plagg is trying to fix this, but Adrien is convinced.

-”Marinette is Marinette! Ladybug is...”

-”Marinette <3″

-Plagg telling this boy  to stop thinking like usual. But NOPE. He is on a mission

-”Everything will be fine. I promise.”

-Bunnyx appears. Apparently timeline shenanigans.

-Okay the time world is cool. But I have questions for later.

-The bowl on the head to prevent spoilers. If only Zag knew about this revolutionary technology.

-Seems like Alix Knows Marinette and Adrien are ladybug and Chat noir. So that figures. I had a feeling, but now I know.

-Oh DAMN PARIS IS UNDERWATER

-Chat Blanc. oh damn. He is CRAZY. Why is he crazy?

-The moon is broken.

-Chat blanc is... OH DAMN

-Chat blanc admitting to have made mistakes. SEE PEOPLE HE DOES IT.

-He is crying! omg my son no.

-oh damn!

-Marinette knows he knows! OH FUCK!!!

-oh so Bunnyx and rewind time and see what caused things. neat. She is a time DVR.

-Marinette’s hair is down, for some reason. YAY!!!!

- Alix lost the bet. AND TIME IS F***ED

-Adrien is wearing the beret. He wants to talk with Marinette.

-Oh my... is he.

-”It means that I love you Marinette.” 

(Jokes aside, I legit slid out of my chair holding my chest wondering if I got shot)

-Oh damn are they gonna.

-ADRINETTE KISS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

- They held hands, she is on her tippy toes! FUCK THAT IS GOOD S***

-Chat noir hydoken-ed a building.

-Oh gosh, the slide show of their relationship is so adorable. Chloé is pissed. GOOD. Sabrina ships it.

-I wish I can see Lila being salty. But its best she isn't in this episode.

-Oh Luka, you right there. Playing a song, as the girl you love is dancing with another man. OOOFFFF. Well, at least you are happy for her. Good on you my dude. I respect that.  (10 OUT OF 10 BEST LUKA APPEARANCE)

-They are having ice-cream together!

-Paris is talking about how f***ing cute they are. GOOD.

-Hawkmoth finds out. Their love destroys Paris? WTF

- Gabriel. YOU ARE A PIECE OF S***! HE IS MAKING HER BREAK UP WITH ADRIEN OR ELSE!!! 

-Gabriel was smart not to be there in person, TOM would have rekt him. OR sabine. Or both. Marinette is hurting oh no. The macrons are on the floor. NO!

-She is at the mansion. Oh the umbrella.

-NONONONONONONNONONONNONO

-She had to break up with him. Adrien looks hurt too. oh fuck they are both crying

-HAWKMOTH PLANNED THIS! FUCK HIM! HIS SON’S HAPPINESS MEANS NOTHING! HE CAN CHOKE ON HIS BUTTERFLIES.

-Gorilla is the only adult I respect. Best dad. Adrien’s true father.

-MARICHAT REVEAL! MARICHAT STANS GET YO JUICE.

-That hug

-You know, I realized. Adrien Knowing Marinette was Ladybug actually saved Paris from Hawkmoth winning.

-If Marinette got akumatized, he gets the ladybug miraculous. Which is like an Insta win.  (Well at least winning earlier)

-Nathalie is a snitch

-Hawkmoth was weirdly excited for the fact that Adrien was chat noir.

-Time portal signal is static, gotta change the antenna.

-Bunnyx in fear, Marinette gotta save the day

-Chat Blanc is crazy strong. But also CRAZY

- a lucky charm eraser.... I know where this is going.

-We will never know the name of that hamster they want to have.

-Ladybug has got some insane Judo moves.

-Why do I have the feeling Chat blanc is holding back? Probably doesn't want to destroy the miraculous.

-Damn, thats a big fall.

-oh damn, Chat blanc’s ladybug is dead and so is hawkmoth. Guess Akuma can out live their master. OOOF

-So NO ONE wins.

-Okay, time shift. HOW DID THEY GET TO HAWKMOTH’S LAYER WITHOUT KNOWING HE WAS Gabriel? That is a literal plot hole.

-Hawkmoth activated his facedown trap. Dead mom in a glass casket. Adrien takes mental damage because Hawkmoth is a fucking piece of human garbage

-Adrien is in pain.

-Gabriel can use the force to call back his cane.

-GOOD GRAVY! HOW HARD DID YOU HIT HIM GABE! YOU PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE S***. 

-Knocked him from the mansion to the Eiffel Tower. HOW HARD ARE YOU HITTING HIM.

-Gabriel... you are giving an emotionally unstable 14 year old the power of INFINITE DESTRUCTION. You are an idiot.

-Chat is trying to fight it.

-Oh s***. Well Hawkmoth, you f***ed up.

- okay back to blanc.

-OKAY DAMN CHAT! F***er was about to pull a destroyer god and erase the universe. Or at least the earth. Chat Blanc = Beerus confirmed. Yea, he was holding back.

-He flicked the bell, was he giving her a hint?

-Ladybug got it. She saved him. Oh this hurt.

-LADYBUG FIGURES OUT THE ERASER.

-Wait, so Ladybug remembers the fight with Chat blanc and thinks that falling in love with Chat noir will destroy the world.

-FUCK YOU THOMAS.

-Okay so she fixes the letter.

-Bit of Ladrien.

- The lady noir scene hurts at the end, cause ouch

______________________________________________________________________

This episode... I knew how it would end. But f*** does it hurt so much more. It hurts infinitely more.

Oblivio gave a tiny sample of what their lives would have been. Chat blanc gave us a meal The love square fully realized, it was beautiful.

I think the episode fails in what it was trying to achieve. That the identity reveal is dangerous. 

No, the answer is as long as Gabriel breathes, Adrien will never be happy no matter what.

Aside from that. I think it was an amazing episode and I think it beats Oblivo as the most self indulgent episode for me. I watched it like 7 times already.

9 / 10

There are a few minor things with the episode that stop it from being perfect, but I do think its my favorite episode this season. right with Oblivio and Star train.

#ml #ml spoilers #chat blanc review #chat blanc #gale reviews #ml reviews #marichat #adrientte #adrinette #my heart #it hurts #oof #I wasn't ready #ladynoir #ladyblanc

[apenapaperandadoofus]

PLEASE SHARE IT. PLEASE, I NEED IT.

ASK AND YA SHALL RECIEVE

Keep in mind I was about 12-13-ish when I wrote it and I was in my angsty stage so this gets a bit dark pft

here are the first 2 chapters -there are like 9 in total I think- if ya want the fnaf one then tell me bc I actually have to translate it and everything bc I wrote it in Spanish lol 

.

.

.

TW mentions of abuse sorta and alcoholism

"Come back here you lil' shit!!!"

"I'll kill ya, I swear to God I'll kill ya!!!"

I could hear him behind me, stumbling and crashing into things, with that stupid glass bottle in his hand.

I have to keep going or he will really kill me. I kept running zig-zagging through the trees trying to lose him.

"You little fuck!!! How dare you run away from me after all I've done for you?! I was the one that gave you a roof under your head, the one that fed you and took care of you and THIS is how you repay me?!"

Yea right. I'd rather be in the streets than have to live with you in that damned house again. C'mon (Y/N) you're almost there!!

"I'll do the same thing I did with them to you!! You'll end up like all those kids, like all those dirty bastards!"

CRASH!

A flash of lightning crashed behind me.

Keep going, keep going.

Suddenly, as I keep climbing up I see something.

A cave.

Yes!! Now I can finally get rid of him! I quickly started climbing, finally getting into the cave. It was really chilly, but it would at least protect me from the rain, and since it was nighttime and he was drunk he'd have no chance of finding me.

Or that's what I thought.

"Ahh, there you are my dear (Y/N)~ You are quite slippery you know? You remind me so much of her, my little Frisk. But you both had to escape from me didn't ya. Do you know what happened to Frisk dear?"

He chuckled and came closer, while I was walking backward trying not to stumble.

"I killed her." He smiled. " It was an accident, I didn't want to, but she was being a naughty little girl~ [EW WTF WHY DID I WRITE IT LIKE THAT LMFAO GREAT WAY TO MAKE HIM CREEPY AF AMANDA]" he came closer, and the smell of booze reached my nose.

"G-get away from me you creep!"

He laughed and pushed me, making me stumble and fall down. I tried to crawl away but then he started kicking me.

IM ALSO NOT PUTTING THIS PART BC IT WAS CROSSING THE LINE A BIT AND I WANTED TO MAKE IT DARK ANYWAY THE THING IS THIS SHIT ESCALATED REALLY QUICKLY AND I GASPED BC HOLY SHIT WHAT WAS WITH ME

Basically, he said more creepy shit bc I wanted to make him a huge asshole, but I still don't feel comfortable putting it and I'm sure for other ppl its uncomfortable too so uh, lets just say the guy was just really really bad and wanted to do really bad things to uhh, the reader 

This, this guy had the nerve to- ugh!!

"S-stop it"

He quickly grabbed me by my hair and brought my face closer so we were locking eyes.

"Y'know no one cares about you! You're nothing! But if you stay with me you'll see I can be a good guy! I promise I  will treat you better! I will do anything for you. You just have to be a good girl and stay in your room."

"No!!"

I quickly spit on him and kicked him in the stomach. I was not going back there, not going to suffer through all that again. I got to my feet and ran deeper and deeper into the cave

"You can't escape (Y/N)~" I heard from behind me.

I ran faster. I'm not going to let him win. I'm not.

" You'll just end up like Frisk!"

Crash!!!

I yelped and tripped on a vine, falling into a hole, hearing his echoed taunts getting farther and farther away.

Is this it?

Is this how I die?

Will I really end up like Frisk?

No.

I won't die. I can't die. Not today.

Those were my last thoughts before I was surrounded by darkness.

Chapter 2 [this one is more fun  I lol]

"You little bitch!"

"Come back here!"

"You'll end up just like Frisk"

"I promise we'll get out of here....

Frisk"

I woke up with a start. My head dizzy from the fall.

Where...am I? Who's Frisk? Why can't I remember anything...? Hold on, did I loose my memory? What the-

"Heck!!" I heard someone say behind me. I quickly turned around, and saw a kid who looked to be around my age, floating a few feet away from me. Their hair was up to their shoulders and they were wearing shorts with a cute green stripped sweater.

"Seriously?! And just when I get used to being dead?! Do you hate me that much world!?" The kid yelled while waving their fist at the top of the cave.

Huh.....

Wait.....

Dead?

Am I dead?

If so where the heck am I?

Is this what the afterlife is like? Being stuck with a 10 year old ghost kid? Is it because of that one time I stole a ring pop from John? Because if it is he totally deserved it, he wasn't even gonna eat it!

"Am I really dead..?" I whispered.

Suddenly the ghost kid turned around and looked at me.

"Wat?" They asked.

"Am...am I dead?" I looked at my palms trying to figure out what was going on.

The kid sighed.

"No. You're not dead you dummy, you just fell down into the Underground, and somehow that awoke me...huh... that's weird."

Oh. So I'm not dead. That's nice I guess.

"Um, wait, the Underground?" I stood up, and stretched a bit, trying to check if everything was alright.

"Yea. With monsters and stuff. You just fell down from Mt.Ebott. You'd be the second human here to fall down."

Wait. The second one? I thought six more had disappeared in here a while ago.

"You mean the seventh human." I corrected them.

"Noooo, I mean the SECOND human, jeez are you deaf or something?"

They glared at me as if I was the dumbest person they had ever met.

"Nuh-uh. If there's one thing I remember is that 6 humans had fallen before me"

"Well then you remembered wrong because last time I checked I was the only one. That fall must've really damaged your brain" they chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. They really were stubborn and they were pretty rude too! If it were up to me I would've walked away by now but since I am down here somewhere I don't know with MONSTERS, I should really have an ally and they seem to be my only hope. Maybe they're nice once you get to know them, so I should really try to befriend them.

"So uh, ghost kid...what's your name?" I looked at them with a sweet smile, trying to be friendly.

"My name is Chara. And I was the first human to fall down here. What's yours?"

"My what"

"Your name, you idiot. Don't tell me you forgot that too." They smirked.

"Pshh I didn't forget my name!" I puffed my cheeks and looked the other way. I honestly had no idea what my name was but I wasn't going to let that ghost kid treat me like a dumbass again.

"Fine then, what is it?"

Shoot.

"U-um i-its uh..."

Let's seeeeee... what's a good name? Oh jeez what are some good names I could use right now?

As I was panicking suddenly something came to my mind.

"Frisk." I said.

I have no idea who Frisk is, but it felt just right. And it was the first thing that popped into my mind so.

"Oh. That's a peculiar name. But we'll then, Frisk. What are you going to do? Do you want to go back to the surface?" They eyed me with curiosity. I honestly had no idea what I would do. But I just had this urge to go back to the surface. But there was nothing up in there for me was there? I mean maybe I had a family or something's that's looking for me right now. Or maybe I could just be a homeless nobody.

"Do you promise me we'll get out of here?" "Yes. And we'll go and look at the stars in a field of golden flowers, like the ones in your book. It's a promise."

"I want to go back up."

That seemed to get Chara's attention.

"R-really? You want to go back up there? With those assholes?" They scoffed.

"Yep. I just feel as if I have something important to do over there. Like a promise."

"Ah...well, if you want I can show you the way! We can go meet these monsters, they took care of me while I was in here! They could help you!" They smiled and started going ahead of me.

"Uhm, sure, I guess! That'd be cool!" I said as I started walking behind them. If I manage to get those monsters' help, I'll be out of here and try to get my memory back and fulfill my promise.

CRINGY I KNOW BUT WERE GETTING TO THE PICKUP LINES AND THOSE ARE HILARIOUS IN A BAD WAY LMAO MAYBE I CAN LATER POST THE OTHER CHAPTERS PFT

Chapter 3 

"So uh..Chara..will these people have food?" I asked while walking behind them.

"Food?" "Yup" "You're stuck in a place full of monsters and all you can think of is food?"

Before I could answer though, my stomach let out a loud growl. I giggled.

"I guess that answers your question."

We became quiet again until Chara turned around and looked at me.

"So how old are you?" "I'm about to be twelve" "You're pretty mature for a twelve year old" they scoffed. "Well you're pretty immature to be whatever age you are." Chara laughed.

"I'm thirteen. So that basically means you have to do everything I say since I'm the older one" they stuck their tounge out.

"That's not fair!" I proclaimed. "The world isn't fair." The smirked. "Your face isn't fair"

"Damn, Frisk, you got me" they said with mockery.

"Shut up"

They laughed and then looked at me with a serious expression. "No but really, if you want to survive here you'll have to listen to me or else you'll die. And if you abuse the SAVE point it'll stop working. If you loose determination too."

"Woah. Wait what? A save point? Determination? I am really confused right now"

"Ugh, I'll explain later. Right now we have to get to the RUINS."

"Is that were you lived when you were stuck down here?"

"Tch, why do you care? And I wasn't stuck. I lived here because it's the only place were murder isn't the first option and monsters aren't assholes."

"Hey, stop being so rude, I just want to find out more about you! I really want us to have a good relationship if you're stuck with me for a while!"

"Just mind your own business."

"Ughh you're so-"

I suddenly stopped walking when I saw a single gold flower in the middle of the path.

"Why'd you sto- ohh that's creepy."

"It's just a flower. It won't do anything."

I kneeled down to look at the flower better, for some reason this flower looked different than all the other ones.. I was about to reach out for it when all of a sudden the flower turned around and smiled at me.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

What. The.

This flower could talk?! What?!

"Oooook Frisk this is definitely creepy, don't touch it and walk away."

I ignored Chara and smiled at the flower. They seemed friendly, so why not?

"Hey there! I'm, um, Frisk. I'm new around here."

Flowey noded and smiled at me.

"Oh! So since you're new you probably don't know how the Underground works! I guess lil' old me will have to teach you! Ready?"

"Frisk I'm not really getting good vibes from this guy." Chara said again, this time a little bit more serious.

"Shhh" I stood up and looked at Flowey, nodding.

"Thank you Flowey!! You're really nice! So how does this all wo-?" Suddenly I was being surrounded by darkness, with Flowey standing in front of me.

"Where is-" I suddenly stopped talking when I saw a red...heart? In front of me.

"See that red heart over there?" Flowey asked me.

I nodded.

"That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"

"Woahh, that's so cool!"

"Your soul starts off weak, but it can get stronger if you gain a lot of LV."

Suddenly Chara appeared beside me and shook their head.

"Frisk I don't think he-"

"Frisk! You may be asking: Flowey, what does LV stand for? Well, for LOVE of course!!"

Oh. I guess in here is not that bad if their policy is like the place where the Carebears live.

"Fris-"

"You want some LOVE don't ya? Well don't worry! I'll share some with you."

After he said that a few white pettals appeared in front of Flowey. I guess that's how you get some LV right?

"Frisk, I'm serious right now, do not touch the bullets."

I looked at Chara.

"Thanks but what bu-"

"DOWN HERE" Flowey yelled to get my attention. I turned to look at him with a nervous smile, he just rolled his eyes and kept talking.

"LOVE, is shared through some....little...white... friendliness pellets!"

Ok. Now that was definitely suspicious. And where those the bullets Chara was talking about before? Jeez this guy really got me, but I mean. He's a flower why in the world would he kill me?

"Are you ready Frisk?! Catch as many as you can!" Then, the...white friendliness pellets, started moving towards me. How in the world was he doing that?! This place is so weird, filled with talking flowers and dead kids suddenly becoming alive again. I just want to go home!

"Frisk!! Watch out!!" Chara yelled beside me.

"What?"

I looked at Flowey and saw the pellets getting closer to me. Before I had the time to dodge they got me and I felt a huge amount of pain. I fell to the ground on my knees, gasping for air, trying to make it go away.

What was happening?! I quickly looked behind me when I noticed that the yellow bar that was once full, was suddenly empty. It said 1/20.

Chara rolled her eyes.

"You dummy! Those were bullets! And to even top it off you have literally one hp left!"

"One hp...? Wait Chara what is goin-"

"You idiot." I heard a creepy voice say behind me.

I slowly turned my head around, looking at Flowey, with my eyes widening.

"F-Flowey?"

"In this world, it's killed or be killed!"

"Wha-what?"

"Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?"

"Chara!" I yelled trying to get up, but a couple of bullets appeared beside me and surrounded me, trapping me where I was.

"DIE. " I heard Flowey yell, while the bullets started closing in on me.

Maybe I could dodge them? Or find a way to escape? Where was Chara and why weren't they helping me?

I heard Floweys's laughter get louder and louder while the bullets got closer and I shut my eyes.

I guess this is the end now. I will really die. Did I seriously think I would survive in this Underground world? Really? They're monsters for God's sake! Of course I would die here. And I wouldn't be able to fill my promise. My eyes started tearing up. I could feel the bullets really close now, about to touch me when-

All of a sudden, a fireball hit Flowey in the face, making him disappear with the bullets. Chara appeared beside me.

"Phew! That was close! At least she got here in time! I told you he wasn't a good person Frisk! If you want to survive here you'll have to do exactly what I tell you to do, or else you'll die." They nagged me.

I tried standing up once again, trying to see who saved me.

"What a horrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth." Came a sweet voice from above me. I felt their hands go in my back and a weird warm feeling surrounded me.

When the warm feeling was gone, I didn't feel pain anymore. That was weird. I finally managed to stand up, and looked at the lady who saved me.

She's a.....goat? Lady? Monster?

She had a really pretty purple tunic, with a weird white symbol in the chest area.

She smiled at me and waved her hand.

"Ah do not be afraid my child. I am TORIEL, caretaker or the RUINS. I pass down here everyday to see if any humans have fallen down."

I looked at Chara, who looked to be about to cry. Maybe this was the monster they were talking about before? The ones that took care of them probably?

I shook my head and smiled at Toriel. She did look like she had good intentions, and yes, they did save me from that wretched flower. But I wasn't going to be dumb enough to fall into the same trap again, so this time I had to be cautious.

Toriel smiled back, and turned around, grabbing my hand.

"Come, my child, I will guide you through the catacombs!"

And with that, she grabbed my hand and walked with me, leading the way.