#I have nowhere else to go when it comes to other jobs around my area

[monstersofsilence]

help. please and thank you (refined)

typing this up again because I do not like how cluttered the previous one was

straight to the point: I need money for food. we have been scraping by okay but there are days that we don't have certain things to make whatever

whatever amount you give is nothing more than plenty to me. maybe something enough to get a frozen pizza .w.

if you do give me money, I will gladly draw whatever cheracter of yours. fully drawn and colored! the least I can do and to make up the previous times I asked for money but not give anything in return

my paypal link here!

some rules:

- no nsfw

- no mecha (can't draw that .w.)

- no furry (can't draw that either .w.)

- drawing can't be used for nft or cryptocoin or whatever

you can DM me either on here, tumblr, or my discord, pyriteofsilence, the ref of your character. I will draw it!

again, pay however much you can. I do not mind whatsoever as long you all got money left for yourself. I know this is a broken record but I just feel bad if people give me a large amount than what I ask for. I don't ask for much .w.

#wanted to fix the previous post #it just looked cluttered to me #also this will help hold me off #because I am left with one left option of possibly going back to the agency #gonna set up an appointment to apply on Monday #as much as I hate the staffing agency #I have nowhere else to go when it comes to other jobs around my area #and it frustrates and upsets me whenever I think about it

[shiny-jr]

✍︎ damnation [ the diviner ]

– Summary: When you commit a crime, you receive a punishment. This is especially true in your society. No matter the crime, your punishment is the same: banishment. But to where you will be sent in exile and how miserable will it be? No one knows, because no one has ever returned.

– Warning: Yes, this is a yandere thing. Gender-neutral reader.

– Characters: Floyd Leech, Jade Leech, Azul Ashengrotto.

– Note: I’m actually not super proud of this result. Out of the three out so far, this one is probably like my least favorite. Maybe that’s why I’ve been putting this off for a while and also rewriting Scarabia’s result a lot, just because I don’t want to feel like I did a bad job on it once I do complete it. Currently, at the time this is being posted, Scarabia’s result is like halfway done. Here’s to hoping its a good result. 

– Pages: 40

– Not satisfied? Try looking here for the quiz to take it yourself and see where you end up banished!

The Hyena Chieftain   |   The Diviner   |   The Vizier’s Vassal

Damp. It was damp, and you awoke to the sound of crashing water. The surface you found yourself on was soft, comfortable. Sitting upright, you were surprised to see multiple blankets and pillows with mismatched patterns and some stitched with completely different colors. Around you was patterned fabric curving upwards, like a tent, but when you moved, this bed you were laying on swung with every movement. It was like a hanging nest, you realized, as you curiously removed part of the fabric wall that allowed you to step out.

It was somewhat dark, but there was just enough light from a huge gaping hole in the ceiling for you to scan your surroundings. There was a waterfall right in front of you, the water falling from the space above. You were behind the waterfall, in a hidden space with that hanging bed, lit candles scattered around, with lots of other little knick knacks and doodads that made it look like the home of one of those witches that collected crystals and other items. In one corner was a mirror, where you finally caught your reflection, it startled you. Instead of chains and a prison uniform, you wore long dark robes that pooled around your feet and a long piece of darker sheer cloth over your head and shoulders that made you look like a ghost that appeared in the woods and fog. For a second, your appearance actually startled you, because you didn’t recognize yourself.

What was this…? This wasn’t a prison cell, and if it was, it was a pretty neat one. With all those books on the small wooden shelf in the corner, you’d at least have something to occupy yourself with. But there were no bars, no guards, and no shackles… What exactly was going on? The last thing you remember was being banished and forced to go through a portal and… now you were here.

When you looked back up at the waterfall, you could see more light coming from the other side. With nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, you slowly made your way towards the source behind the barrier of water. Luckily you wouldn’t have to get drenched, because there was a small path of round smooth stones around it, tucked away and neatly hidden in a dark corner. One by one, you hopped along the steps, the sheer cloth flowing behind you until you were in front of the waterfall, now in a much larger, very spacious room, a cave, actually.

There were no exits or entrances, besides the hole in the ceiling and maybe someplace under the water. Speaking of water, it was much more prominent in this area compared to the space you had woken up in. There was a small dry flat where you could sit, but it was only a few feet big, before the water encompassed the rest of the space. Except for more flat round stepping stones, leading to the center where there was a firm pedestal holding up what looked to be a glimmering glass orb. Its glow gave off a dim light, shining off the rugged dew covered walls.

Entranced by the orb, you tilted your head, watching from afar as shapes appeared on its glassy surface. Balancing on your toes, careful to not fall into the water, you got closer to it until you were right in front of it. For a moment, you just wanted to reach out and touch it, but you didn’t. It felt like one of those things you shouldn’t touch, like a museum display that should be behind red rope and inside a glass case. But just because you were hesitant to touch it, doesn’t mean you could take your eyes off of it. Lowering your face towards it to get a better look, you squinted at the moving image it displayed, like it was some sort of screen.

Inside the glass, you could see a figure. But it most certainly wasn’t human. Their lower torso was that of a fish. A mermaid, or rather, a merman. He looked so real! With bright stunning red hair that defied all logic by somehow looking soft even when underwater, realistic looking flesh judging by his bare upper torso with only a satchel strapped around his shoulders, and his entire lower half consisting of a sparkling green-scaled tail that swished back and forth quickly to propel himself forward. There was even a little yellow and blue fish swimming beside him. How cute… It almost reminded you of the tale of The Mermaid and The Sea Witch.

“Yes, hurry home, little prince. Run back to dear old daddy and join the party.”

The sudden voice caused you to jump, turning your head up and gaze away from the orb only to see a large figure that had camouflaged itself in a smooth curved nook within the dark stone walls. You hadn’t even noticed them watching you! You adjusted to the darkness again, steadily able to make out the mass, and your eyes widened in shock as you did.

Hidden in the curve in the wall that acted as a cozy spot just an inch above the water, was a huge mass. First you saw sharp gray eyes, more focused on the orb than you. Then you saw his hair, beautiful wavy gray curls that reminded you of the waves of water. Slowly you noticed his skin color, his face was an odd gray like part of his thin torso but the rest of him… was pitch black. But he had no legs, in place of where he should have appendages to walk, he had large black tentacles with purple undersides. Like an octopus, exactly like the Sea Witch you were just thinking about moments ago––

“Waking up a bit late, aren’t we, angelfish?” Those eyes seemed to glow as his gaze flickered up to your frozen form. He appeared relaxed, tucked away and seated in the little nook, with his hands folded neatly in his lap. Before you could even consider a proper response, he turned his attention back to the orb, apparently much more intrigued with it. “Nevermind. Did you know, when I used to live in the palace, we had fantastical festivities and feasts. But now look at what they’ve done to me… banished!” Banished? Dramatically he leaned out of his corner, and you could finally see the light shining on him. Until he abruptly slid out of his spot, vanishing into the water.

You felt a slight sense of dread rise upon you when you frantically looked around and couldn’t see him in the dark waters beneath you. Just before you could react to your flight or fight instincts pushing you to run back towards the bigger piece of land, you felt a tentacle wrap around your ankle and pull you down. A yelp escaped your lips as half of you became submerged in the water, but you kept afloat by clinging to the small round stone piece you had been standing on before.

The octopus man was now across the stone from you and in the water as well, but you could only wrack your brain for escape plans or a way to beat this creature if things came down to it. However, it seemed that perhaps those ideas were unnecessary, because he scratched your chin gently as he cooed, “Oh, what would I do without you and the twins, my treasure? You, so helpful and supportive.”

Twins…? As in, the twin pet eels belonging to the sea witch? So this was really like the story? This was your punishment? Then that meant the theory your friends whispered about was true. Criminals would be banished to a fairytale. It was a ridiculous theory, something you adamantly refused to believe. Especially because some people would fantasize about going on mystical adventures or having a lovely romance with heroes and royalty. But how could you continue to refuse to believe when you were literally face-to-face with an octopus man? What did that make you then? If you remembered the stories right, the only others that the sea witch were close to was her pet eels and no one else. So how did you fit into this role? Let’s see, in the end, the protagonist won, that was without a shadow of a doubt. But the antagonists… the eels were accidentally obliterated by their owner when she went mad with new power, and the human prince with the mermaid princess plunged the sharpened bow of a ship straight through the sea witch. You shuddered at the mere thought of meeting a similar fate. You needed to get out of this somehow…

As the man in the role of the sea witch continued to scratch your chin affectionately, you were soothed a bit by the touch… That is, until his smooth charming voice became a shout,

“Those flimsy fishfolk will continue to celebrate in a few days time, but we’ll give them something to really celebrate soon enough… Floyd! Jade!”

You jolted back at his sudden increase in volume as he pulled his hand away and turned his attention to the magical orb still showcasing the swimming merman. You heard a hiss of pain and some mumbling from the orb, but it wasn’t coming from the red-haired merman.

“Keep an eye on that pretty little prince. He may be the key to the king's undoing."

You heard two different responses: an of course, Azul and a sure thing, Azul, both responses happening simultaneously. So the octopus man's name was Azul…

As soon as the orb flickered out, you climbed back onto the single stone and observed as a twisted sort of expression took hold on Azul's face. The type of expression that meant someone was plotting something terrible but the mere thought of it pleased them.

For a moment, you considered, didn't you know how the story would play out? Didn't that give you an advantage? This could be your ticket out. Without a second thought, you hopped back to the larger flat stone surface as you declared, "I had a dream."

In the midst of his pondering and scheming, Azul waved you off without so much as a second glance. "That's nice. No wonder you were lazing around all morning. Now, I have work to—"

"I saw you in it. And the prince with the king." You blurted out, which instantly stopped him from descending down into the murky depths. But he didn't yet look at you quite yet.

Entertaining the conversation, he hummed, "And, pray tell, what was this dream about?"

You hesitated. How should you word this without getting caught? You knew that if this Azul was anything like the sea witch, then he would be crafty and cunning. "I think… It was about the future."

Now that caught his attention. He finally turned around, raising an eyebrow with an intrigued smile, "Tell me more, won't you?"

"I will… but on one condition." You lowered yourself to kneel on the flat surface, using the cloth hanging around you as a cushion for your knees. When he swam closer and was peering up at you, you continued, "I'd like you to let me go." Living in a cave for the rest of your life, didn't exactly sound like a dream. Besides, you had much higher standards than these rags you currently wore and the old furniture behind the waterfall.

At your words, Azul appeared surprised before he laughed, "Let you go? Have you forgotten that you're my property? Remember, you signed the contract. In exchange for a chance to save your drowning loved ones, you sold your entire being to me, mind, body, and soul. So the knowledge in your mind, even in your dreams, belongs to me."

Yikes. For a moment, you forgot he was supposed to be the bad guy because of how pretty he was. But his multiple tentacles were a slap in the face, a reminder that he was not human. But at least you know now that whomever you replaced supposedly made a deal with the octopus to save others. But that knowledge did little to help.

From out of thin air, a golden contract appeared which he took in one tentacle to skim over. "According to our deal, your servitude to me is due to expire in exactly one year. However, since I do care so much for my treasure…" Well that's the fattest lie you ever heard. "I'm willing to hear your complaints and should you be persuasive enough, I may just change the contents of the contract."

Well, starting with the obvious. "I don't want to stay here in the cave."

"I allow you to roam and give you the freedom that comes with your job of spying on the humans for me." He responded quickly, efficiently. "Besides, don't I take such good care of you?"

That didn't work… Next, "I have high standards, you know. I want to live better than this."

"And you will receive your just reward if you stay with me. You'll get to live fabulously once I've regained all the wealth that was stolen from me!"

Ugh. Damn it. It seemed like he had an answer prepared for everything. You really didn't want it to come to this but you had no choice if you wanted to leave. "I can help you get the king's triton, then everything in the ocean will belong to you."

"I already planned on doing that." He grinned. God, that stupid confident smirk was getting on your nerves.

But! You had one more ace up your sleeve. Slowly you shrugged, eyeing the relaxed and amused octopus man, "You're right. I should've known you would’ve gotten that covered. Imagine that: ruling all the oceans and being all powerful… in the water. But what about the land? Sure, you may have the power to bring tsunamis and hurricanes, but waves and storms can only get so far inland. Will the ocean be enough for you?"

Instantly responding to your words, you could see his smile flatten as the cogs turned in his head. Apparently, just the water was not enough for him.

"Let's say… a kingdom on land is a good place to start." This was risky, but you really had no choice. If you could somehow manage to trick both the merman prince and human princess, Azul could use the merman prince as a hostage in exchange for the king's triton and he could take the land kingdom from the human princess. How would you do it? You had no idea. It was a work in progress, but it had to be done. When Azul finally gazed up at you with a contemplative expression, you added, "If I help you with this, with getting the king's triton and the nearby land kingdom, I want my freedom in exchange." You already knew how the sea witch operated. There had to be a catch, in case you fail. "If I fail… you can extend my contract."

Quickly he switched from contemplative to talkative, lamenting his worries, “Ah, but you’re priceless to me! As my only eyes and ears on land, how could I let you go? Yes, your proposition sounds attractive, but let’s reconsider this, shall we?”

Damn it! He still wanted more. What a greedy bastard… You wracked your brain for an answer, deliberating on what else you could possibly give in exchange to walk free. That’s when you had it. If you might be able to take the merman prince hostage for the triton, couldn’t you also utilize the human princess in more ways than just for her kingdom? Brightening up, you began, “How about a royal human to do your bidding? How’s that sound?”

Instantly his eyes widened and he couldn’t help but laugh incredulously as he leaned his head against his hand with his elbow propped up against the stone. “A royal? Serving me? Tempting. You drive a hard bargain, my dear diviner. You have a plan in that wonderful little mind of yours, don’t you? Okay, before we change the conditions of this contract, let me hear this plan of yours. Then, I’ll decide.”

You summarized your plan without divulging any bits of the future, not too worried about Azul turning on you because a pair of legs and a trusty ally were required for this plot to work. After describing the details and events that would need to happen as vaguely as possible, you sat upright and watched as he reflected on the proposal. Steadily his contemplative expression shifted, his lips curling into a grin as either something must’ve dawned on him or he came to his conclusion. “Hah, how can I say no to you, my dear? Very well. Because you’ve served me well all these years, I’ll grant you this wish.” Call you crazy, but he actually seemed the tiniest bit sincere when he said that part… In one tentacle, he summoned a quill but of fish bones, which he used to write on the golden contract in neat cursive penmanship. “In order to gain your freedom, you will have to seduce the pretty red prince so he will enter a contract with me to be with you, which will allow me to use him to gain the king’s triton. Then, you must also earn the trust of the human princess and lure her far enough out into sea so that I can take control over her land kingdom, and then she will be the royal that will take your place.”

That sounded good to you. Once you gained your freedom, you’d find a way to get far far away from the water. You’d take enough riches and belongings from the land kingdom’s palace to support yourself and live in splendor. Then, you’d go live a fabulous life somewhere miles and miles away from the ocean. Where this greedy sea sorcerer couldn’t ever reach you, even if he wanted to try and use you as a tool again. It was an ambitious plan, but you’d make it work. Afterall, you didn’t want to try and stick around long enough afterwards to see if the villains would die anyway even after a plot change.

After making the adjustments to the golden contract, one tentacle held it up for you to read and another held up the writing utensil. Azul continued to linger in the water, the rest of his octopus appendages under the surface while his arms were casually folded over each other and resting on the flat rocky surface. When you looked down at him, he flashed a smile and hummed, “This will be a beneficial transaction for both of us, won’t it? Doesn’t it remind you of when we met? You, stuck in the middle of the ocean from a shipwreck, begging me to help. And I, the saint-like man that I am, extended a helping hand to you where you signed the contract that would bind you to me for years. But it hasn’t been a miserable type of existence, has it? The twins should be thanked as well. They’re the reason I even considered accepting your plea, since they had enjoyed your company for years.”

Well, considering how neat and well-decorated the room behind the waterfall was, perhaps this mysterious character you’ve replaced was content here. But you weren’t. You only hummed in response, acknowledging his words as your eyes went over the lines of the contract.

At the very top, read: I hereby grant unto Azul, the Sorcerer of the Sea… one soul, in exchange for… The text went on in detail, describing how in exchange for the original character’s soul, they were granted the power of enhanced breath, giving them more time under water. It must’ve been written in haste, because the signature was sloppy and only read V. Div. Wonder what that meant. It was a temporary deal. Now, there was more written, more added on, to create the current deal you were about to make. It detailed the requirements you would need to meet in order to gain your freedom or increase your sentence as property of the sea sorcerer. There was another line, empty, for you to sign. Snatching up the utensil from his outstretched tentacle, you ignored his growing smirk as you hastily signed: V. Div.

“It’s done then!” Azul cheered, smiling smugly as he snapped his fingers which caused both the writing utensil and contract to disappear.

You’d need to get to work quickly. According to the story, on the same day the sea witch is watching the mermaid princess was not only a day of celebration for the merfolk but also that very night was when she first saw and saved the human prince. Yet, a few minutes ago, Azul had said that the celebration was in a few days time. Which meant, you only had a few days to meet the sea prince and capture his attention. “I want to start work on the plan. Now. Do you think you can get the… twins to change the prince’s course? If they can drive him towards the shore, I might be able to catch his attention.”

“I see…” Imagining the scene that would play out, Azul chuckled and swam a few feet back. “I’m sure you can make an arrangement with Floyd and Jade. After all, they do adore you.”

So that was what they were called here. Floyd and Jade. You’d have to be careful not to mix them up, or they might suspect something would be wrong. What you didn’t expect to see was a flash of teal appear in the water. By the time you turned your head to it, it was already gone. Quickly you scanned the waters, growing a little nervous despite the fact that Azul seemed unbothered as he disappeared underneath the same murky depths the movement was coming from. When you carefully leaned your head closer to the water, you could barely make out the shape of more items below like a mirror, shelves of coral filled with glass bottles of mysterious substances, and openings that must’ve led to an underwater cave system. So Azul likely lived down there with the twins.

When you noticed a slow rippling water effect, you quickly looked up to see teal-colored hair with a pale, a very light shade of cyan, face. But it wasn’t a regular eel like you were expecting, it was half human. Just like Azul, but eel instead of octopus. He poked the top of his head out of the water so only his upturned eyes were visible. On his head, you noticed some strands of black had stuck to each other hung on the right side of his face. His eyes were particularly odd, the left was an olive-color and the right one was a sort of enchanting yellow. Several feet behind him, you could make out bits of what must’ve been his lengthy tail emerge from the water. His gaze focused on you intently, and he appeared to smile with his eyes. You assumed he was smiling, because you couldn’t tell since the rest of his face was hidden by the surface of the water.

Wait a minute… if he had a twin, wasn’t there supposed to be two?

When you looked down at the end of the water you were leaning over, you screamed just as that hidden second eel came swimming toward you at terrifying speed from right below you. Without so much as a warning, you were pulled into the water. Fearful of meeting your watery grave here, you fought in his grasp, which did practically nothing against his strong grip and large slippery tail that coiled around your legs to stop your squirming. You hesitantly, confusedly, stopped your flailing when this second eel let out a joyfully yet somewhat mocking laugh as he held your face above the water.

You barely had time to catch your breath from that mini heart attack, when you finally looked up at this guy. This eel did look extremely similar to the first, but there were a few key differences. This one had downturned eyes, the black strands were on the left, and his left eye was yellow while his right was olive. Yet some things they both had in common were their sharp nails on their webbed hands and their even sharper teeth.

“You let your guard down! Had it been anyone else, someone you couldn’t trust, I could’ve easily drowned you, you know? When will you learn? Humans just aren’t built for water. You got the whole legs thing going on. Look at me! I have feet! You should just let Azul turn you like us, right, Jade?” He mocked what you were guessing was his attempt at a human. It wasn’t a very good one.

You hadn’t even noticed that the first eel was already at your side as well, now both twins were right beside you and you were currently in the water. In the water you were practically at the mercy of these two. The first eel, who was called Jade, spoke more eloquently but you didn’t like his sly curved toothy grin. “It would be fascinating to see their legs twist and morph into a tail or other appendages of some sort, but that is ultimately not up for us to decide, Floyd. If our dear friend doesn’t wish to change and Azul wants to keep them human so they can continue to spy on land, then they will stay human. Although I would’ve enjoyed watching the excruciating transformation process.” You didn’t like the way he said that with a smile…

The other eel, who had been called Floyd, appeared irritated and was ready to say something when his twin pointed to something in his hand. To which immediately he attitude went from sour back to happy in a single instant. Talk about mood swings. Floyd’s deep frown quickly shifted as he held up a sizable clam. “We got you something!”

You didn’t have to worry about drowning… for now. You didn’t even have to waste energy kicking your feet continuously to keep you afloat, because the twins had positioned their tails as support for you to lean on. Now that they had actually let go of you, you didn’t think you were going to die right this second. Especially since one just offered a gift, and Azul would’ve probably interjected to save you, right? Right…? Nervously you smiled, about to accept the clam, “Thank yo––”

CRACK!

In the middle of your sentence, Jade placed a cold hand on your shoulder as Floyd took the clam in both hands and cracked it in half. You were stunned as he discarded one half and presented the other half to you with a proud grin. “There ya go!”

“Ha… Thanks…” You awkwardly accepted the half of the clam that was left. It didn’t fully register in your mind what this gift really was until you had it in your hands and looked down at it. In the half, were pearls. Lots of shining dark pearls that matched your robes. Beautiful pearls, the rare type, that could easily go for over a thousand for a single piece. At least, that was the common price back home. When realization dawned on you, you clutched the pearls close, eyes shining as you looked up at the twins with the brightest smile, “Thank you! Thank you! They’re beautiful!”

Both extremely pleased, Floyd giggled as Jade proceeded to reach for the pearls and spoke, “Allow me.” When you handed them over, he attached two of the orbs to small metal pieces that connected around your earlobe like earrings, and the rest he placed on a black string connected to tiny nets that held the rest of the pearls around your wrist like a bracelet. “They fit you quite nicely, if I do say so myself.”

Floyd flashed a grin, musing aloud, “Hm, what do you think they have for us in return, Jade?”

Your elated smile fell flat as you processed their words. They wanted… something in return?

“That’s a good question, Floyd. I can’t help but wonder as well.” Jade hummed as he pulled away.

Stupid! You’re so stupid! You shouldn’t have accepted those gifts! Judging by their toothy grins, they now expected a gift in return. It wasn’t fair! They gave you one gift, but you’d have to work to get them two gifts, one for each twin! What could you possibly gift something that can be appreciated by two eel-men, eels that you had next to no knowledge about? Wait… the land! They probably might be curious about land objects! Your frown shifted to a confident smug sort of smile as you gestured them closer. “I have an idea. If you guys can take me to the shore and somehow force that red-haired prince to come close enough to see me, I’ll make sure to give you both amazing gifts from the land! How does that sound? You can, well, I don’t care how you do it. You can scare that prince and chase him to your heart's content, for all I care! So, will you help me? Pretty please?”

You watched as the two eels exchanged looks. Their eyes glimmered with mirth and bubbling excitement, seemingly conveying something through their gaze. Must’ve been some weird twin telepathy or something, but you knew you had them hooked when toothy grins spread on their lips.

✧   ✧   ✧   ✧   ✧

You had been on the surface for a few hours now. Again, without warning, the two eels had dragged you under the surface, rapidly through the underwater tunnels that took a quick minute to navigate. When you reemerged on the other side, coughing out sea water, you cursed the twins. You were certain, had it been anyone else and without the gift of enhanced breath to hold in air longer thanks to the contract, you would’ve probably drowned during the short swim. And you know now for a solid fact, that Floyd and Jade enjoyed tormenting you so. You were tempted to just forget about the gifts in return entirely due to their stunt, but the thought of them being upset and doing something worse refrained you from doing so. Which is why you went a little further inland to gather random things and carry them in the satchel you brought, but when you came back what you didn’t expect to find was a merman. And not just any merman, one with bright red hair and a green tail.

You nearly dropped all your things when you saw him on a large rock out in the water, trapped within a net and seemingly unconscious. Oh my god, had they kidnapped him? The first thing that popped up in your mind is that they jumped him, but you’re really hoping that this was not the case. Leaving your stuff on the sandy beach, you quickly moved forward to wade through the water until you had climbed the rock his motionless body laid on. As swiftly as you could, you cut the net with a broken shard of glass, careful not to hurt the prince.

“Come on, come on…! You can’t stay here too long, someone will see you.” You hissed under your breath. He couldn’t die, not yet. Not when you needed him alive in order to win your freedom. A dead prince wouldn’t be much leverage against the king of the sea. You had no idea what the twins did to him. Thankfully, he didn’t appear hurt, but you hardly knew enough about sea-creature anatomy to be considered an expert, so you couldn’t be sure.

Pulling the net off of him and discarding it on the rock, you heaved it further up so he wouldn’t get trapped in it, before returning your sights to the merman. When you returned to his side, you knelt down to his level, removing the tiny cut pieces of net from him. As your gaze traveled up, you froze when you saw his eyes were open and gazing right at you.

He was frozen, but not in fear. On his handsome face was a sort of expression of wonder. His eyes were blue, as blue as the vast ocean, and they never looked away from you. Still defying the laws of logic, his captivating red hair was practically dry, soft and wavy as it curled down the side of his face and to his lower neck. You ignored the slow movement of his beautiful emerald green tail, trying really hard to not stare at the sparkling scales that shined in the sunlight. What people would pay for a real merman tail, especially one so stunning…

It was time to turn on the act. Slowly reaching forward, you placed a hand on his cheek and frowned in worry as you murmured softly, “Are you alright?”

His mouth opened, but no words came out. He gaped like a fish, slowly blinking, as if he truly didn’t believe his own eyes. When he steadily lifted his own hand to place atop yours that rested on his cheek, his tail began to move a little faster. Then, with no warning, he jumped back into the water.

You sat there, surprised, as bits of the water splashed onto you. “Um… okay. You’re welcome?”

As you stood up, gathering up the net and thinking about different ways you could use it, you felt as if you were being watched. When you looked behind you, you could see the sea prince shyly peeking at you from behind the rock. Just as you tore your gaze away from him, you heard his melodious voice,

“Thank you, for… for freeing me.” He had gained the courage to distance himself from his hiding place, having enough bravery to swim closer until his hands were against the large rock you stood on and he wasn’t hiding his face in the water anymore. The prince watched curiously as you bundled up the remains of the net. It seems he really was a curious one, because he couldn’t help but lean forward and ask, “What are you going to do with that?”

Surprised by his sudden interest, you shrugged. You had to answer, keep him intrigued. You’re hoping your theory was true: that he would fall in love with any human so long as they were interesting or good looking enough, since he must’ve never even seen one so close before. “I’ll probably use it to hold stuff, maybe as decoration.”

He looked astonished as he exclaimed, “I never thought of using nets like that! I should try that for my collection… Oh! I’m Rielle! What’s your name?”

When you hesitated to respond, he appeared nervous, as if beginning to regret telling you his name. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked? But that wasn’t the reason for your hesitance. The reason was because you were debating on whether you should use your name or not. Maybe an alias was better? You thought back to how Azul called you his diviner, and the signature under the contract was V. Div. After a moment, you finally swung the net over your shoulder and replied, “People just call me Diviner, or V. Take your pick.”

“Those are wonderful names! I think I’ll call you both of them!” Rielle responded cheerfully, floating beside you as you wade through the water. He must’ve remembered something, because his joy morphed into nervousness as he looked over his shoulder. “I, uh–– I have to go…! But… can I see you again? Please, Diviner? I’d like to get to know my savior! I know it’s a lot to ask, but I really want to see you again!”

Perfect. You had him, his cheeks painted with that pink hue was evidence enough. When you reached the shore, right at the edge where the waves brushed against your feet, you turned to him, watching as he lay at the very edge of the water, looking anxious as he awaited an answer. You smiled, nodding, “Of course, Rielle. I’d love to see you again!”

The prince broke out into the brightest grin as he threw his arms around your torso, almost dragging you into the water in the process as you had to kneel or he would topple you. The young royal was beaming. When you were on your knees and at his level, he held your arms as he explained, “I can’t wait! Let’s meet tomorrow, right here, at the same time! But you have to promise me, you won’t tell anyone about me.”

“I promise, you have my word. We’ll meet tomorrow. Here.” From your satchel on the sand, you retrieved a hairclip you had found on your scavenging adventure. It was old and rusted, but it was still pretty. When you reached forward, he didn’t move as you used it to decorate his hair. “Just to make sure, I’m giving this to you. So I’m depending on you to take care of it, and have it next time we meet.”

That always works, and it did this time too. Especially since you knew he collected and obsessed over human artifacts and objects. Rielle felt his own locks, and his cheeks turned as red as his hair. “I love it! I adore it so much! I’m never taking it off! I have to go now but… I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?!”

“Okay.” You chuckled at his energy, waving as he began to swim back into the depths of the ocean.

When he was a few feet out, he looked back at you with bright eyes and a wide smile, waving frantically as he called out, “Bye, V! I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise!” With a dive and a glimpse of his tail, he was gone, just like that.

You lowered your hand, sighing. At least that was over. You got him in your grasps now, all that was left was the princess. And if your theory was right just like last time, capturing the human royal’s attention would be even easier. Did all fairytale royals fall in love so easily, or was it just them? You never quite understood the attraction behind each of them.

“Bravo! Well done! I must say, your sweet tone and kind actions directed towards Prince Rielle nearly made me jealous! Your plan went well accordingly, I must congratulate you on a good show! Rielle really is quite… gullible and pathetic, isn’t he?” A voice from your golden shell necklace appeared to speak, like some sort of transmitter.

“Azul?” He saw that, which could only mean… You suspiciously scanned the waters, approaching slowly, until you spotted that familiar teal amidst the waves. You frowned at the two lurking about, and when you were close enough, able to feel the water but still far enough to run back to the safety of the land, you demanded, “What did you do to that poor guy? Do you know how worried I was? I thought I was gonna have to perform CPR on him and then I remembered that probably wouldn’t even work on a fish!” The two, amused by your words, laughed in response.

Floyd giggled, speaking in that shrill tone that could only mean he was in a good mood. “You’re so funny! But why’s it matter what we did? He’s alive, isn’t he? And you said to do whatever we want!”

“That’s true. You did say to do as we pleased. We merely did as we were told. Shouldn’t we be praised?” Jade hummed while eyeing the satchel at your side. “I wonder, did you carry out your half of the bargain?”

“For your information, I did. Go crazy–– Actually, I take that back. I said that last time and look what happened.” You tossed the twins the satchel of goods and treasures you collected, filled with random plants and other useless human items they might take an interest in. As the two rushed to claim their spoils, you gripped the golden shell around your neck while murmuring to the sea sorcerer, “I’m going to keep coming out here to meet with Prince Rielle, gain his trust and affection. In a few days, I’ll be going for the princess next. And I know exactly how I’m going to go about doing it.”

From the shell you heard an intrigued hum. “Oh? Do tell, my dear diviner.”

✧   ✧   ✧   ✧   ✧

“Child’s play! This is mere child’s play! Even easier than winning a game of chess! It’s too easy!” Azul sang, seemingly in a very good mood ever since you returned to the cavern after successfully seducing the youngest prince of the sea. He had such a wild look on his normally calm and composed face, acting as if he’s already won with that cocky grin and laugh. When he looked at you, he smiled, a true one. Not one of those kinds he forged to coax you into doing something for him. This one was a happy sort of grateful one. “My treasure, you truly are irreplaceable. Even a royal human couldn’t possibly do what you do. I’m beginning to have second thoughts!”

You narrowed your eyes at the octopus man just lounging right past the waterfall. “Watch it. We had a deal.” You warned.

“I jest! Of course…” Before you could notice his strained smile, he switched the subject back to the matter at hand. “Picture it, my diviner. Darling prince, son of king triton, leader of the merfolk, falls hopelessly head-over-heels for human! It would send ripples throughout the entire ocean!”

“Maybe you should’ve opened a news company or something with juicy headlines like those.” You scoffed as you rummaged and organized the belongings of this room that previously belonged to the true diviner before you. You wonder what happened to them?

At your response, Azul laughed. Surprisingly, not another fake one that he used to make clients think they were funny whenever they said a horrible joke. And it wasn’t a concerning slightly maniacal type of laugh like from moments ago. “Perhaps I should, it could be profitable.”

You reemerged from behind the waterfall, walking carefully on the stones as the sorcerer perked up at your presence. “Nice. Glad I can give you an idea with that. Focus on the news later, please. For now, remember––”

“Prince Rielle will enter a nasty spat with his father and so, in his moment of great need, Floyd and Jade will appear to offer him a suggestion. That’s when he’ll come crying to me, begging for a way to be with you! Then, I offer him a deal he cannot resist, one that grants me power over him. That’s the gist of it, isn’t it?” He recited, looking over at you for confirmation. When you nodded, he continued to smile, but he eyed you a little strangely. “I find it a little odd how you know so much. Are you certain?”

Staring right back at him, you locked eyes, attempting to keep your cool and remain confident. If he saw you crack, he’d know something was up. “I told you, it was a dream. So far my dream was right, I say we keep going with it.”

“Yes, yes, whatever, we’ll continue with our chartered course. And by the way, I don’t believe you when you say the prince fell for you just because you’re a human that saved him.”

At his offhand comment, you raised an eyebrow, sitting yourself on the ledge by the water, closer to him to better engage in conversation. Placing aside the belongings for now, you demanded, “What do you mean? Of course that’s why he fell! Why else would he care?”

Upon hearing your confident response, he chuckled, shaking his head as he continued to scribble lines upon lines on his scrolls. “I’ve watched the princes for years, Rielle just happened to be the weakest of all the young royals. Of course you being human, the object of his fascination, and saving him, a hero in his eyes, helped, but that isn’t all. I’ve learned about the prince inside and out to fool him, and he tends to think that most only want him for his voice and for his status. Yet you know nothing of his status, and said nothing of his voice, plus you didn’t frown at his interest in human objects. That must’ve been a first for him.”

Considering his words, it made sense. In a way the reasons behind the prince’s affection made you feel a tad guilty, but it wasn’t enough to deter you from the end goal. Maybe if Azul was feeling merciful, he would spare him. Whatever the case, you wanted your freedom and still aimed to live a life of luxury later on. But slowly you shook your head, “It doesn’t matter. The point is, he’s in love and I have him where I want him.”

“How cruel.” He purred. “I believe I’ve thought up a fine fate for Prince Rielle… I think the sea king’s headstrong, lovesick son will make a fine addition to my garden.”

Right, his garden. Really, it was more like a sick twisted bed of weeds and unfortunate souls. As those words left his lips, you scrunched up your nose in disgust and leaned over the edge of the water to peer at the depths below. It was dark, so you couldn’t see it, but you knew it was down there somewhere in the underwater portion of the cavern. Based on what the three sea creatures had mentioned about it, you knew it was a portion of space where Azul kept those clients that failed to fulfill their contracts, which was essentially all those that ever made a deal with him. His victims, countless merfolk turned to ugly little polyps, forced to spend eternity as miserable little creatures trapped within the garden. What a horrible fate.

Glaring at the murky waters where Azul kept his secrets and deeds hidden from your prying eyes, you scorned, “You’re terrible.”

“Oh, how you wound me!” Azul cried dramatically as he held his hands to his heart… hearts? Didn’t an octopus have multiple hearts? Did that mean Azul has more than one heart? Weird…

As you silently wondered about the heart thing, you stepped away from the water. You didn’t ever want to get on his bad side and get turned into a polyp. Yet, you couldn’t help but wonder, the whole reason you were here was because the one before you failed to uphold their end of the deal, whatever it was. “Why didn’t you put me down there? Down in your garden?”

For a moment, Azul was quiet, which unnerved you. Why didn’t he answer immediately? He lowered a scroll he was reading over, and from the corner of his eyes he glanced at you. His smile now was… different. When one of his smooth but slippery and soft tentacles extended up and curled around your arm, you couldn’t move. Despite how Azul looked, he was much more capable physically. You had watched him juggle multiple tasks with ease by using his many appendages, and he had more than enough power to defend himself from unruly clients. The purple underside of his tentacle stuck uncomfortably to your flesh, preventing you from going anywhere. “Air-breathing little flora won’t exactly last under the salty waves and away from the sunlight. Besides…” The sea sorcerer smirked at you, “I like you as you are, you’re morethan just useful to me.”

✧   ✧   ✧   ✧   ✧

A few weeks passed, and you continued with that vision of freedom within reach. You spent your hours busy, chatting with Azul and listening in as he lured in clients and trapped them, taking everything they had; entertaining the unsettling twins and listening to their reports and stories as they angered Azul by taking you out of the cavern to have fun in the hidden cove; meeting with Rielle, continuing to gain his affection and earn his love by talking about his stifling life as the son of the sea king and teaching him about the human things he adores. And finally, plotting. Plotting your meeting with the human princess.

The plan was simple enough. In the story, the human prince was saved by the mermaid princess after a storm hit his ship and caused it to sink. The mermaid returned the prince to the land, where he eventually regained consciousness. In his dazed state, he heard the mermaid singing and could just barely make out her face before she disappeared. From that moment forth, he becomes determined to find the woman who saved him, and is convinced that she’s the one meant for him.

Simple enough. All you had to do was insert yourself into the role of savior once again. Jade was tasked with making sure Prince Rielle didn’t see or approach the humans and the ship, while Floyd went with you to… speed up the process. You’ve learned that both twins were destructive, but Jade liked to appear polite and restrained at times, while Floyd was much more willing to wreak havoc with zero reservations. Besides, yes you had enhanced breathing but you couldn’t swim that far out that fast, which is why you required the presence of one of the twins because they were incredibly quick and strong swimmers.

It would actually be Floyd helping you do most of the saving, you were just the pretty face to keep the princess captivated. Which he was totally fine with, because he didn’t have the patience nor the charm to act all lovey-dovey. If it were entirely up to him, he’d toss the princess on the shore and call it a day without even checking if she was actually still alive. Luckily, it’s not up to him. It’s up to you.

You watched the explosions of light and colors, fireworks being fired into the sky off the sailing ship. It was a familiar sight to you, but for a creature of the sea like Floyd, it was not so much. Clinging to his back as he swam along, you noticed he quickened his speed as his eyes were captivated by the light show. “Wow, it’s so bright! I wanna touch it. Hey, hey, you’re human so you know human stuff. What’re those?”

You chuckled at his child-like wonder, shaking your head. “Fireworks, they’re just lights used for celebrations. I don’t think it’s possible to touch them, and even if you could, you might get burned.”

A frown formed on his lips as he complained, “Whaaat? That’s stupid! I wanna catch some fireworks in a jar and take it home to show Jade. Then whenever I shake the jar, it’ll go boom! Making more of those explosions noises and flashing colors!”

Fireworks in a jar under the sea. Huh, that would actually be sorta cool. As Floyd approached the hull of the ship, you released your grip on the eel and grabbed part of the wooden hull. Quietly, you gazed down at him in the water and replied, “Tell you what, I’ll see what Azul and I can do about that for you if this mission ends on a good note. That sound fair?”

“Yeah! Yeah! I––”

“Shh!” Quickly you shushed him, watching as he lowered the rest of his face in the water. But from the sparkle in his eyes, it was obvious he must’ve been hiding a grin. The chattering and voices of those on board with the sound of the waves were loud enough to drown out most noises, but you couldn’t risk anything. “Let’s keep it down, okay? Or they might hear us.”

Floyd continuously gazed up at you, before murmuring, “Hey, when the ship goes down and you’re lookin’ for the princess, can I take one of the drowning sailors?”

For that you had to pause and stare at him, not believing what you heard for a moment. Actually, scratch that, you believed it. That was one of the twins you were talking about. The eel continued to peer up at you with impatience, as if itching to just start the chaos already. When he lifted his head and his mouth was no longer concealed by the water, you saw you were right. Big toothy grin. You sighed, “Fine. One sailor, but do it quickly and quietly, then you find me. Okay?” Better some random sailor be drowned or torn apart by the eel instead of you.

“Okay~! Thank you! You’re the best!” He sang with the brightest beaming smile. To think such a desire for a morbid reason could make him so happy… but you were not going to divulge further into the topic. You didn’t know what kind of fun Floyd wanted to have by tormenting some poor person. But enough of that, you had bigger fish to fry.

For now, you focused on climbing until you peeked past a sizable opening in the side right by where the floor would be. As you peered in, you could hear instruments like a flute and accordion, in rhythm was dancing steps. The candles on board the ship provided plenty of lights, stretching out the shadows across the board. It looked like some nice fun, as everyone appeared to be having a grand old time. There was even a barking dog bouncing around. Right–– you remembered that one, that big dog happened to belong to the princess.

“Max! Come here!” A voice called, whistling and calling the energetic dog toward them.

Target spotted. Off to the side, a little bit away from the dancing crowd, was the very princess you had been searching for. She was pretty, with long hair as black as the night and icy blue eyes. Although, she didn’t dress exactly as you imagined, not really resembling the pictures of princesses of old in your textbooks from school. The princess dressed like a commoner or even a simple sailor, with a loose white blouse, a red sash tied around her hip, and a long but simple skirt that ended just a few inches above her ankles. Yes, she was definitely pretty, but you still didn’t quite get what should’ve originally been Rielle falling in love at first sight with her. Maybe you’d never get it, and it was probably for the best.

“Whatchu’ lookin’ at?”

You gasped at the sudden voice beside you, shocked to see Floyd was so close that he was shoulder-to-shoulder with you. He had somehow climbed the hull when you weren’t looking, and now was curiously peering inside too. When you looked back down, you could see his lengthy tail hanging down the side. When you looked back at him, he was eyeing the humans on board with a mix of confusion and boredom. “Floyd! What are you doing here? What happened to the whole sailor thing?”

“Ehhh, I’ll look for ‘em later.” He shrugged, suddenly losing interest. Maybe that was for the best too. You didn’t need possibly more blood on your hands. Floyd continued to watch the dancing people, resting his cheek flat on the edge where you were both hidden by the shadows and behind barrels and other supplies. “Which one is the princess? I can’t tell. They all look the same to me.”

Hesitantly you used your head to gesture to the woman playing a flute and dancing around with the dog. “Her.” As soon as he honed in on her, you scolded him lightly, “And don’t even think about trying to jump her like you and your brother did to Rielle.”

A fit of giggling came out of him as he lifted his head and glanced at you, “Aw, why not? Why can’t she be the sailor I choose to go after?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Those razor sharp claws on his webbed hands appeared extra shiny today. They dug into the wooden edge where you both were peering over, carving little splinters of wood off as he hummed, “Hm, I dunno… Maybe I should dare. It would make you stay.”

There was no sign of him relenting, and it was beginning to make you nervous. If Floyd wasn’t willing to help you by the time the storm hit, then you could kiss your freedom goodbye. It almost made you lose your composure, but somehow you managed to stay cool and continue with a soft smile, “What would Azul say if he found out the plan failed because you were feeling possessive?”

Rolling his eyes, he laughed before it turned to whining, like an angry tantrum, “I don’t care what Azul says! I think the contract was stupid anyways. It’s not fair that he gets to decide your fate just because he wants some lame old artifact triton! It’s not fair! No fair at all!” Before he could bang his fists against the hull in frustration, he grabbed onto you, and you felt his weight dragging you down. He was literally trying to pull you back into the water. You couldn’t call for help because the humans would see you and everything would go astray, so you could only desperately hold onto the side until you were yanked down into the sea.

The cold water hit you, sending such a shock through your system, but you weren’t drowning. With your head above the water, you turned to Floyd who kept close. What unnerved you was that he no longer had a dopey smile on his face. “What are you doing…?! You’re going to ruin everything!”

That didn’t seem to weigh too heavily on his mind, because he only scoffed and his frown deepened. “Who cares about some stupid sailors and humans anyways?”

For a moment, you wished you had Azul’s strength so you could defend yourself here. Because you knew, Floyd was much stronger, and the only reason he wasn’t dragging you back like a ragdoll was because he respected you or liked you… somewhat. In his own weird Floyd-way. “I’m human, Floyd.”

“Yeah, maybe, but you're not stupid. Or boring.”

In the distance you could hear thunder rumbling. Oh no. The storm was coming, and if you didn’t change Floyd’s mind, he wouldn’t help you at all. In fact, he might try to get in your way. The waves were starting to become rough and wild, but the eel diligently kept you above the surface at all times no matter how savage the sea became or how the rain began to feel like needles pricking your skin or even how harsh the wind hit you. “I don’t want to live in that cave my whole life! Imagine if you had to live there, and the only way out was to ask someone else to take you or let you out. Wouldn’t you hate that?”

By now he had to shout to be heard over the howling wind, and he didn’t seem convinced. “Hmmm… yeah, but it’s not me. It’s you. Besides, I like you living right there with us.”

When lighting struck the white sails of the ship, setting the sheets ablaze, you knew time was ticking by. Yet you couldn’t snap, because that would only cause Floyd to snap too. You had to stay calm and think, quickly think of a way to convince him to help you. “Azul probably doesn’t want me to leave either, he’ll probably have some plan in mind to trick me at the last minute. Besides, I know you and Jade probably won’t let me leave anyways, even if I really wanted to. But think about it Floyd, if Azul gets that old triton and the land kingdom, he’ll have everything! Even stuff like those fireworks.”

That seemed to have a bit of an effect. You could only watch the ship, half ablaze, crash into jutted rocks, causing many on board to jump and abandon ship. Meanwhile, Floyd was still considering your words. Until what felt like an eternity later, he gazed down at you and spoke. “I wanna see more fireworks with you.”

“What?”

“Is your hearing going or something?” Annoyed, he repeated it louder this time, “I want to see the fireworks with you.”

Finally he was relenting. Hurriedly you agreed, growing more desperate with every passing moment, your calm facade had already cracked long ago, “Alright, we’ll see the fireworks together! With Azul and Jade too, we’ll use enough fireworks to paint the whole sky bright! We’ll even fire some ourselves. Does that sound like a plan to you?”

You impatiently watched his irked expression shift, having to squint your eyes to see through the rain and high and low rising waves. Had it not been for him holding onto you still, you probably would’ve been swept away in the powerful currents. Then, you saw it, a smile tugging at his lips, and he began cheerfully again, “Sounds like a plan~!”

“Great! Mmph––!” With no warning, he dove under the waves, moving much quicker under the water but you could only hold your breath for so long when you didn’t even get an opportunity to prepare yourself. You felt the pressure of the water push on you, soaking you down to the bone, but you continued to hold on to the eel as he swam at an incredible speed. When you heard the muffled sound of an explosion and saw a burst of fire above the water, you knew you only had seconds left.

According to the story, moments earlier, the princess must’ve gone back on the ship to save her dog from the inferno. Her foot would become stuck in the floorboards as the dog she carried made it overboard to a rowboat. But right then, the fires would reach the stored gunpowder, triggering the explosion that would blow the ship to smithereens and knock the royal unconscious, throwing their body into the ocean below.

When you reemerged above the water with Floyd, you saw the sharp jagged rocks, the burning ship slowly sinking, the debris floating all around you, and bits of wood on fire falling down from the cloud of ash and smoke in the sky. The eel had spotted the human princess at the same time you did, and he zoomed right over to her drifting form slipping off a piece of the floorboard. As soon as you were close enough, you grabbed her, holding her tight with both arms as Floyd, not particularly interested in the princess and more intrigued by the shipwreck, held you with one arm.

“I think I want blue fireworks. Do they have blue ones?”  

You can’t believe that during all this chaos and while you were still trying to save the princess, Floyd was still on about fireworks. Exasperated, but still trying so hard not to snap at him, you exclaimed with an incredulous sort of laugh, “Yes, they have every color, even blue! Can we please, for the love of god, Floyd, just get her back to shore and go home?”

Thankfully, Floyd didn’t cause any more trouble and the shore wasn’t that far away. You had found a secluded little beach, where you left Floyd in the water and dragged the girl onto the sand, away from the now calm tides. Before it was night when everything happened, but now it was the dawn of morning. You stayed beside the unconscious princess, checking for a pulse, which she still had. In the chaos, the ends of her skirt had gotten torn, she lost her shoes, but she didn’t appear to have any major injuries save for minor scratches and bruises. Slowly she breathed, a sure sign she was alive. Frankly, it was a miracle she even survived that explosion, and it was all for a dog.

Ah–– right. This was when Rielle was supposed to start singing, and the princess would slowly regain consciousness, and would see his face. That was not happening, you were not singing. You were not like that curious merman prince that had taken to happily singing to you whenever you met up with him. Slowly you placed your hand against her cheek, she was still as you quietly hummed, and after a few minutes, as the sun began to shine, she stirred.

A soft smile made its way on her pink lips as she unconsciously pressed her cheek into the palm of your hand. That’s when you noticed her eyes slowly, groggily, opened half-way, and her hand ghosted over yours. She was looking at you tiredly, she probably couldn’t see too well at the moment, but her blue eyes continued to gaze at you with growing awe. “You’re safe now, don’t worry.”

As soon as you heard barking in the distance followed by voices that were getting closer, that was your sign to go. You sprinted back to the water, diving in once deep enough and quickly being snatched up by two eels that took you somewhere hidden to spectate. You were led off to the side, in the shadows of some large boulders, out of sight, close enough to watch but far enough not to hear.

You recognized the large energetic dog that came bounding to its master, and you could guess that the person who followed and appeared quite messy was a servant of the princess that had also survived the shipwreck. The servant helped the royal up, looking incredibly relieved to see them alive. However, the princess, now more awake but still woozy, was frantically scanning the ocean’s surface and the beach around them. An amazed smile formed on her face as she stumbled forward away from the servant, saying something you couldn’t hear, but she held her hand to her heart. Still weak, the servant supported her weight and escorted her away, out of sight, with the dog following in tow.

When the humans and their pet were finally gone, you continued to stand beside the rock, glaring down at the twins. Specifically the one that’s caused you the most trouble so far. That’s when you broke your silence. “I hate you.”

“Awwwwww, I love you too!” Floyd teased, looking so very pleased with himself.

Jade glanced at the two of you, sensing something happened enough to annoy you, which made him smile. “It appears that things went swimmingly in my absence.”

✧   ✧   ✧   ✧   ✧

More weeks passed, you finally had a moment to relax as you allowed the prince and princess to marinate with their feelings for you. Floyd was somewhere, probably with Azul. When you got back from the mission, the two had gotten into a spat over how the mission nearly failed due to the eel’s mood swings. Which was fine, as long as it didn’t involve you, you didn’t care. You were relaxing, laying on the hammock you set up away from the water but close enough to the waterfall to hear the quiet and calming sound of the running water flowing down into the cavern.

As you lay there in peace, attempting to rest your tired eyes for a few moments. You heard movement. Jade was likely lingering about, doing whatever those eels did in their underwater portion of the cavern, but lately he’s been taking to using your half of the space for his new gardening hobby. It seems he really took a liking to the foraged items you bring, specifically the mushrooms you found. You would consider taking some from his garden and using them in a meal, but Azul warned you that for some reason, Jade liked the poisonous kind, so you were no longer keen on risking anything by going ahead with that idea of yours.

“I should make you aware, the prince came for you a few days ago.”

You stopped using your weight to swing you back and forth slowly on the hammock, only when it stopped did you peek one eye open to look at Jade tending to the various different types of mushrooms growing in the darkest dampest corner of the cavern. “What?”

“Prince Rielle came earlier than you expected. It seemed that he had his dispute with his father already destroying his collection of human artifacts, and you being absent from your usual morning chats with him made him so sick with worry that it drove him to take the drastic measures you predicted.” Jade wasn’t facing you, he was using the freshwater you gave him to carefully sprinkle over his beloved shrooms. “I must commend your odd new divination abilities, they were quite accurate, but not entirely correct. The prince did indeed trade his voice for a pair of legs which he declared he would use to walk and search for you in the land kingdom. The only thing that can save him now, is a kiss from you. So do try to avoid that. I thought it strange that Azul was not entirely… content with the deal, for whatever reason. It seems something was on his mind.”

You narrowed your eyes, focusing intently on the back of his head so he must’ve felt your stare burning holes into the back of his skull. You knew that he knew you were watching, judging by his quiet chuckle, the quick rise and fall of his shoulders from his short laugh. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Isn’t it common courtesy to compliment companions? I only wish to have a nice conversation with you, my dearest friend…” For a second he paused, he continued speaking clearly and smoothly, but everything he said in that tone he always used sounded like a lie, a trick, words meant to put you at ease and lure you into a false sense of security. Yet, you didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, you couldn’t trust him. While his twin preferred to cause turmoil with his stubbornness that caused frustrations and wreckages, Jade preferred to go with the flow, confuse and disorientate his victims. “I only wish to help you with your dream of freedom. By the way, you needn’t worry about the prince or the princess. I made sure the tides and his friends carried Prince Rielle to shore. He happened to meet Princess Erika, and last I checked, both were searching for someone and they had joined forces to search for their true love. It seems that Princess Erika has spent the last weeks searching high and low across the land for you, while Prince Rielle has been concerned for you and plans to find you as well. Of course, neither royal knows they’re in love with the same person.”

For a second, you had to refrain from sighing. Actions spoke louder than words. Yes, you were relieved that the two hadn’t fallen in love with each other and were still focused on you, but you couldn’t let them stay together for long. If only you could actually choose both of them and live off the wealth their two kingdoms acquire, but alas, you already made a deal with Azul. Well, that aside, Jade had called you his dearest friend. Part of you didn’t know if that was just sweet talk to get you to lower your guard, or if he was being sincere. Azul had once mentioned that the twins adored you, but if this was their way of adoration, then it was weird and you didn’t want it. But, you decided to test your luck and prod with a scoff, mocking his previous words. “Dearest friend, hm?”

“Of course. However, you’ve become much more interesting these past few weeks.” Jade finally turned to glance at you with a sort of smile that you weren’t sure how to describe. His fingers ghosted over his beloved plants as he recounted, “When we were children, Floyd and I had never seen a human until you. When we lured you out to sea, you didn’t cry or scream, you were calm and amused us with your words. So, we became friends. Azul didn’t meet you until later, but he didn’t hold the same high opinion of you as my brother and I did. It was only later, when you were in your hour of need and with a kind word from us, did Azul finally take an interest in you as a tool for his business ventures. And I can’t help but notice that his disinterest in you lately has changed. It’s as if… you no longer are the same friend I once knew.”

You felt yourself go still, keeping your gaze on the few stalactites on the ceiling above, because you felt him staring at you with those mismatched eyes. Ever so slightly, his tone shifted, losing its charming feel to it.

“Should anyone I trust and call my friend choose to betray me, there is a special treatment I’ve prepared just for them. In truth, I’ve prepared several options, but I’m sure I can imagine more on the spot.” The longer he spoke, the more the growing horror slipped through your calm facade, making it crack as he went on and on with a cruel toothy grin. “The prince you fooled traded his voice away just to be with you again, so one could cut off your tongue and say you match him in muteness. On the other hand, there’s the princess you saved, I could tie you to a sinking surface as you pray she finds you before it’s too late. Ah, but then there’s your ability to breathe underwater longer, as granted by Azul. Well… in that case, I could still watch you drown as you wait with your waning breath, chained to the bottom of the seas with only fear and your thoughts swirling about as you reflect on every moment you tricked me and my brother until your lungs reach their limit and implode––”

There was no other way out, you were trapped in here with this monster. The only way out was the underwater portions of the cavern which you couldn’t reach because Jade would catch you the moment your toes touched the water. You would starve in this cavern, that is if they didn’t use some other twisted magic to bring about your demise. You would die here.

Then, his smile shifted as he noticed your visible panic and fear, before he tilted his head and chuckled, “Heh, of course, this is all hypothetically speaking. You weren’t my friend to begin with, so I hold no ill-will towards you. But I must tell you, you’ve been of great company to me recently. When Azul placed a contract on my human companion, I saw them begin to wither with the lack of freedom and heavy duties. But I’m assuming that changed when you, my new friend, arrived.”

That kind smile of his unnerved you after everything he said. To think you had actually been hanging out with this guy before and having nice conversations with him a few days ago, you were blinded by the gifts he brought you… That’s when a thought came to you. You felt your heart stop as you hopped off the hammock and demanded with as much of a composure as you could gather after his freighting words, “Does Azul know…?”

“...” His silence unnerved you, you wanted to snap and just tell him to spit it out, but you knew then that if you did that, he wouldn’t tell you at all. For now, he’d only hang the answer above your head, use it to make you impatient and frustrated. That was what he wanted. After a moment of seeing you remain calm, he slowly nodded, “This is Azul we are speaking about. I’m sure even in your short time here, you realize that he isn’t a man that leaves any stone unturned or coral unsearched when it comes to important business opportunities for him. And this opportunity you’ve presented him happens to be the most bountiful of all.”

Jade was right. It would be more shocking if Azul didn’t know by now. Afterall, you could only resemble someone you didn’t even know for so long. And if he knew, he was likely plotting to keep you here. You knew how the sea sorcerer worked by learning about him with your time here and by knowing the fairytales.  

By now, the eel had swum closer, apparently deciding that this conversation was much more interesting than his mushroom garden. “I’m assuming Floyd hasn’t yet realized, or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Oh no, you did not want Floyd finding out. You had no clue how he would react. You were hoping that he was more fascinated like Jade was, but you couldn’t even be remotely certain as to how that would go. Ignore that topic, you switched it to another person to be wary of, the one you’d be tied to for an eternity if you didn’t escape his slippery clutches soon. “Are you going to tell Azul?”

For a moment he appeared to ponder on the idea, and as he lifted his head out of the water, you saw that grin that placed you on edge. Now, you were too nervous to get close to him in fear of the malicious threats spewing out of his mouth earlier. You had a feeling that he wasn’t lying about all that. His eyes seemed to glow a tiny bit as he hummed, “Contrary to what most believe, I’m not here for the money or because I’ve known Azul for years. He even instructed me not to let you out at all anymore unless he approved, especially now that he’s gone to retrieve his reward from the prince. It seems he doesn’t want you seeing others. But I serve whoever presents more interesting opportunities for me. I wonder, what more wondrous things and moments can you share with me, my friend, hm?”

Oh my god, Azul was minutes away from getting the triton, that is if he didn’t have it already. You had to get out of here. Now. “Actually…” You were beginning to concoct a plan of your own. Perhaps you could still fulfill your contract, even if the sorcerer would get in your way. If you had to guess, the twins were meant to be an obstacle. However, if you could get them on your side, then things would go much smoother. “I have something in mind, if you’re willing? But it involves me leaving the cave.”

Jade smiled, “No, I’m not willing.”

Well, that didn’t go according to plan. But you can’t say you didn’t try. Your last resort now, before Azul could return and somehow force you to remain as some eternal slave, was to escape on your own. You did your part, didn’t you? Sort of… You seduced Rielle so he entered a contract with Azul, you seduced Erika so she was always by the water now looking for you, it was the perfect set up for Azul. You did essentially everything he wanted you to do.

When the eel disappeared into the waters, that’s when you took action. You weren’t going to risk swimming and getting lost in those underwater tunnels only to get caught by Jade, oh no. If you couldn’t escape below, you’d escape above. With all the nets you had gathered from your scavenging and the time you had alone behind the waterfall, you made a fine sort of escape to climb, if you do say so yourself. It was definitely long enough to reach the very top where the water was coming from. So when Jade was nowhere to be found, you tied one end of the net to a hook and tossed it to the top. Pulling on it, testing its strength so it wouldn’t drop you down into your own personal prison, once you deemed it sturdy, you began to climb. You couldn’t manage to escape last time in your world, but now you could, and you’d get the freedom you desired.

Once at the top, you heaved a giant sigh of relief, part of you not believing it was that easy to get out. The only reason you got out with no issue was because Azul wasn’t present to open his hand and beckon you to come closer, with the magic shell necklace dragging you forward. As you picked up the pace to a run, you tried to remove the necklace, smash the shell, something–– but it never budged. The necklace was the shackles tying you to the sea sorcerer. You could only hope that it had some limit, like it wouldn’t work if you’re several miles away from this place. At this rate you don’t care where you went, you just had to get away before he became too powerful and dangerous.

Hey, on the brightside, maybe with his new power over the sea and part of the land, he’ll lose interest in you entirely! Yeah! If you were in his position and had control over the entire ocean and a whole kingdom on land, you wouldn’t care for anyone else, not even a human who had helped you get to that point. If you were Azul, you’d forget all about the human and instead focus on your newfound riches and power all at your disposal. That placed you at ease, and cleared your mind enough to allow you to focus on the most important matter at hand: your escape.

You needed to get far far away, go somewhere new and start with a fresh slate, seduce some lords or heiresses, maybe even a king or queen, and begin the life of luxury and wealth you deserved. You found your ticket out on a boat preparing to set sail. Yes, it was risky, but according to the tale, the sea witch never sunk any ships. The ships she had been impaled with and tried to use were all older vessels that were already at the bottom of the sea. So, you would be good. With ease you snuck onto the ship as the crew was nearly done loading the cargo. You blended in as one of the people onboard, only feeling better when the ship officially left the port.

The sun was setting, but you could enjoy its fading warmth on your skin and listen to the waves that rocked the ship gently like a cradle. The sky was painted a deep purple, the orange and red fading the more the sun inched down the horizon, making it darker and darker. For the first time in a while, you were at peace, you felt free already. There were no eels to torment you or no octopus to pester you, not even the merman that sang about love or the human princess––

“Excuse me?”

The sudden voice caused you to snap out of your train of thought. Slowly you removed your arms from the edge where you had been leaning, and you glanced back, prepared to smoothly slip your way out of this one should it be someone questioning who you were and why you were on this ship. However, as soon as you turned your head and quickly flashed your practiced smile, it dropped just as fast as you put it on. There, standing behind you, was the human princess, gazing at you with those beautiful icy blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, but you look so familiar…” As her eyes stared intently at your face, she visibly brightened up, a smile forming on her lips as she spoke hopefully, “We’ve met before, haven’t we? I knew it!” Taking your hand in hers, she continued to peer up at you while going on joyfully, “You’re the one! The one I’ve been looking for! What’s your name?”

It took everything not to just jump overboard right at that second. In your head, alarms were blaring, but you somehow managed to keep in your mess of emotions as you forced that smile back into place on your face. “It’s… V.”

“V… V!” She laughed, embracing you tightly, much to your surprise. “I’m so happy I found you! I wanted to thank you for saving me, but I couldn’t find you anywhere, no matter how much I searched! To think that you would end up here, on the ship I prepared to search for you on! I couldn’t find you in town or in the woods or anywhere! So I figured the only other place you could be was maybe in the water, maybe you lived in the coves or caverns! And here you are!”

You needed to get off this damned ship––

“Well, well, there you are. I was worried for a moment when you were nowhere to be found.”

At the end of the ship, near where the captain was supposed to be steering, was the very person who you were running away from, your captor and now, based on his new accessories, the new king of the sea. The five sharp white shells stringed with tiny pearls decorating his silver hair like a halo, made him look like royalty. It must’ve been a crown. In between his slim fingers, he tightly held the large golden triton. The triton glimmered like a giant knife in the fading light now blocked out by an increasing number of gray clouds heavy and pregnant with a storm. He had spoken loud and clear, causing everyone on board to notice his presence, making all onlookers gasp in horror at his inhuman appearance.

When his eyes turned to you, you felt a chill travel down your spine. There was no escape.

His black appendages curled around him in an unruly mass, taking up a considerable amount of space. Although he may have looked like a monster to everyone, including the princess standing protectively in front of you, you might’ve been in awe if you weren’t so fearful of losing your freedom. Part of him was beautiful, but his endless greed and this sort of crazed look in his eyes made him look frightening.

“You left our cozy little abode, but you led me right to the princess, so I can’t be cross with you. I couldn’t ever stay mad at you, my precious treasure. But… I was prepared to give you everything your heart could desire, my dear diviner. The world would become your oyster. I’ll lift shipwrecks off the ocean floor and empty them of all their treasures for you. I’ll summon storms and waves to drown any enemy you name. I’ll use all the magic in my disposal, all the magic in the world, just to amuse you and keep you beside me longer. Everything… Everything would have been yours…!” He stopped his growing rant, taking a deep breath, a forced sigh as he breathed, “But at least I’ve found you.”

Your necklace! He was still tracking you, he did still want you for whatever selfish reason. And now, he had the triton in hand. Which meant he must’ve already encountered Rielle again, and forced the king to give up himself in order to replace Rielle’s name in the contract. Who knew what he did to Rielle? He likely used the triton to end him swiftly, to make sure no one would get in his way.

Azul eyed the princess with disdain, “I no longer want that useless girl. No princess or even a prince could ever live up to your worth.” Without warning, he started crawling, and fast. With no legs, he couldn't run or walk like a human. So he crawled like some desperate creature, clawing his way forward with his tentacles dragging behind him, terrorizing all those on board and making them run and part ways for him to continue forward like a train at high speed. When he closed in on them, it only took one appendage to slap away Erika like she was nothing but an annoying buzzing fly in his way.

At inhuman speed, he grabbed you as you fought in his slippery grasp and screamed, “I have nothing more to give you!! Why can’t you just let me go?! You have everything!”

“Not everything, angelfish.” He chastised, wasting no time jumping into the sea until you were both under the cold water. When he tapped your chin with the sharp end of the triton, he instructed, “Breathe. Let’s make another deal, this one you will want to hear out.”

Hesitantly, unsurely, you breathed, watching bubbles emerge from your breaths, surprised to see it worked. It must’ve been the magic of the triton he touched you with. That’s when you finally spoke, snapping, “Why would I make another deal with you, you lying cheat?”

For a moment, he actually looked hurt, before he snapped back. “That’s amusing, coming from you. You were ready to run away before our deal could properly be completed!”

“I did everything you wanted, you had all the pieces! You won’t grant me the freedom you promised! I know how you work. You’re a sham! You planned to keep using me as a tool!”

Pursing his lips, Azul paused before replying, “Yes, I did. But that was before. That’s when I believed you were the V I knew before, but then I noticed you were acting strangely. Your so-called prophecy dream, your words, your actions, it was all off. You weren’t the same person.” As he spoke, his appendages let go of you, but they remained lingering behind and around you, trapping you in like a cage where your only option out was him. The sea sorcerer. “I saw it clearly. Those wretched little royals don’t deserve you! Prince Rielle is gone, and I ordered Floyd and Jade to sink Princess Erika’s ship, they get to do as they please with the humans on board. You won’t be seeing neither the princess nor the prince anymore, they won’t be pestering you. Onto more interesting topics. You’re something special, something otherworldly, am I wrong…? I read it in ancient texts once, about how sometimes there are people who mysteriously replace someone, and those people are not from anywhere known. You were banished from your world, just as I was banished from my home. They forsake us because they fear us, but we’re better now. You know what it’s like to be looked down upon, and you loathe it, don’t you?”

When he saw you were frozen, hanging to his every word with familiarity flashing in your eyes. The judges looked down at you, and the mere thought that everyone back home was watching your last moments at the trial with disdain… You must’ve been a criminal because the court said so, right? At that moment back then, you wanted to prove everyone wrong. You weren’t just some lowly nobody that should be forgotten and left to rot. You had worth, and skills, looks, personality, everything that could outweigh anyone.

He knew he was right. “I’m right, and you realize that. I said I don’t have everything. There’s one more thing that can make me the happiest man in the world. And that is… you.”

You felt his tentacles against your back, forcing you closer and closer to him until you were inches away from his face, his eyes gazing at you with a mix of greed and pleading.

But his voice, his assertive voice, was losing his confidence. The more he spoke, the more frantic and desperate he sounded, making you believe that even though he was pleading, you wouldn’t exactly be granted a choice in whatever he was about to offer up to you. “Let this be our final eternal contract. Be mine not as a tool or property, but as a partner. W-With you, we can rule not only the entire ocean but every inch of land too! I know what you want, I see it in your eyes and I know it because you’re like me…! I need you...! You need me! You don’t want freedom, you want wealth, power, and glory!" Slowly, steadily, all his appendages wrapped around you, constricting you, binding you in place. There was no real choice, no freedom, that was an illusion. The only choice he was offering was him. "Join me, sign the new contract, and you can have it all… But only if you choose me. Come on now, make your choice, we don’t have all night, my Dear Diviner!”

#twst #twisted wonderland #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst #floyd leech #twst floyd #yandere floyd leech #jade leech #twst jade #yandere jade leech #azul ashengrotto #twst azul #yandere azul ashengrotto #octavinelle #damnation twst au

[queer-n-here]

Y'all thank you for your responses! So here is: Large and in charge reader, who's only nice to their on true love: OSAMU DAZAI!

(And yes, as you can see, I voted on my own poll. And yes, I voted for Tanizaki. I'm a simp for him broooooo)

Also, bruv, I dunno why but I got so carried away and this got really angsty. Like... I never do angst. NEVER. Yet here we are. I wonder if I'm okay. Well whatever.

Contents: Dazai getting drunk with reader.

Warnings: No smut, kinda angst, I totally digressed from the original plot line I had planned, and now I want nothing more than to give Osamu Dazai a big fat hug.

Dazai had found himself a new hobby: watching people's reactions as you talked to him.

I mean, most would think, really, how interesting can THAT be? But being the sort of person you were, all mean and menacing at one look but really soft and gentle on the inside, it was rare for you to really hold a conversation without coming off as intimidating. So when people saw you smiling softly at Dazai's jokes, and watching him fondly as he chatted away, they were generally more than surprised.

Dazai remembered distinctly the day you'd met. Fukuzawa had found you fighting solo against three of the Port Mafia's best ability-users, and known with one glance that you were stronger than even you knew. It hadn't taken him long to convince you to join the Armed Detective Agency; with painfully dead parents and a burned down house, you didn't really have anywhere else to go.

You passed their little entrance test, even though after they revealed that it was just an entrance test you couldn't help but be slightly annoyed. All that hard work to try and save that girl only for the whole scenario to be fake. Should've just ignored it.

It had been two years since then. And even though you wouldn't really say it out loud, you were happy that Fukuzawa had taken you under his wing.

How else would you have met Dazai? Or any of the others, who you did secretly like, even though you were unsure about expressing it.

One day, Fukuzawa sent you and Dazai to investigate a letter that the detective agency had received. The sender threatened to blow up the Gundam Factory in Yokohama, which was a popular entertainment place for tourists. Fukuzawa did contact the owner, but since the area covered by the Factory was quite large, and the number of people who were already there was also ginormous, the owner asked for them to investigate the culprit before the bombs could go off.

It was an easy job, and you two had it finished before 3 in the afternoon. All that was left now was some measly paperwork, which you would have to take care of alone because Dazai despised that part of work with a burning passion.

And so Dazai decided to fool around a little.

He took you to a bar, somewhere in a deserted alley in the middle of nowhere, walking with his hands on the back of his head and making nasty comments about everything he could lay his eyes on. You followed silently.

"Say," He yanked open the door of Lupin. "What about you, though? Where do you generally spend after-mission free time?"

Dazai led you into the bar, plopping down on a barstool in front of the counter.

"I sleep," You said, sitting down next to him.

"Huh?" He made a weird face. "That's it?"

A bartender appeared behind the counter.

"Mn," You nodded, looking at the bartender.

Dazai ordered 'his usual', and you decided to have the same as him. It wasn't bad, frankly, sitting there next to him on adjacent barstools and hearing him ramble on about everything and somehow nothing at the same time. He drank and drank and drank and drank, till he was telling you about Ango, about Odasaku and the days they spent together. He drank till his pale cheeks were flushed red, till his neck didn't have the strength to hold his head anymore, till his head was pressed into your chest and his shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

You stroked the back of Dazai's head. Sober, he was a goof, running around pretending that everything was jokes and comedy. Drunk, he was much more grim, face set firm even as more tears splashed down it, eyes miserable in a way that made your heart ache.

"What's making you sad?" You asked him, desperate to take away at least some part of his sorrow.

But he didn't answer, shaking his head and clenching the fabric of your shirt so desperately it felt like he was hanging on for dear life.

You let him, wrapping your arms around him slowly, pulling him closer. You couldn't do anything but that, and the mere thought of it made you feel like the most useless being on the planet.

You paid for the drinks and heaved Dazai up on your shoulder, letting him stain a different part of your coat with tears as you walked away from the bar.

You took him to the agency dormitory, but once you were in front of his door you couldn't go any further.

"Dazai," You said, your voice gentle as you slowly put him down, and he wobbled on his feet. "Do you have your keys?"

The man couldn't even stand, and had to lean against the door for balance to look up at you. "Hmm..."

He began fumbling through his coat, hands slowly and thick with the weight of the alcohol in his veins. Finally, he produced a key, holding it up and pressing it into your chest. His tears had finally stopped.

You wiped the remnants off his cheek with your thumb. "Let me open the door, hmm?"

Dazai moved to lean against you instead of the door, and you placed an arm around his waist to support him as your free hand opened the door. You led him into the room, sitting him down on the floor near the doorway so you could take off his shoes. When you looked up, however, he had laid back on the floor, glossy eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"Say, [Name]," His voice was thick, his words were slurred. "Some people believe that right and wrong are relative... That there's no black and white... D'you think that's true?"

You looked at him. He was regretful, you could tell. But the fact that you couldn't help him, that you couldn't snatch all that pain away from him and swallow it was enough to make you bodily ache.

"I don't think I have a definite answer for that," You said, wishing you had, wishing you knew how to comfort him. "Why do you ask?"

Dazai's hands rose, clutching at the lapel of your jacket and pulling you closer to his face, making you hover over him on the floor. "D'you think... In a world like ours... We can ever do 'the right thing'?"

You shifted your weight to one hand, raising the other to caress his cheeks softly. "If you try hard enough, yeah. Even if no one's a hundred percent good, ever, if you try hard enough... I think that's all that matters."

"And..." Dazai's brow furrowed, and he looked adorably confused. "How hard is hard enough?"

You couldn't help but think of how, in any other situation, Dazai would've made a sexual pun out of those words.

"Hmm..." You thought of it, wanting to give him an answer that would satiate him. "Your best."

It was a simple answer, and yet Dazai's eyes widened, as if you'd solved the biggest mystery of the universe. "Just that?"

You nodded. "Just that. That's more than enough, Dazai."

And he nodded back, wrapping his heavy arms around your shoulders and pulling you closer, burying his head in your chest again. He fell asleep like that, holding you like a child.

You took him into the room later, taking off his coat and sweater and untucking his shirt before placing him on the futon and covering him with the quilt.

The next day when you saw him at the agency, he was back to his clownery, but something about the way he looked at you had changed.

#dom male reader #top male reader #dom reader #sub bsd x you #bsd x you #bungou stray dogs #sub bsd #sub bungou stray dog x you #sub bungou stray dogs #sub dazai #sub dazai x you #sub osamu dazai #sub osamu dazai x you

[oldshrewsburyian]

I love this ask! A Persuasion Campus novel please. (Must go lie down at the thought of Ciarán Hinds as a college professor.)

So, to address your parenthetical first: you've seen Circle of Friends, right? I didn't love it, and his role, iirc, is not sympathetic; however:

The academic gown over the three-piece suit is just gratuitous. AHEM. A Jane Austen campus novel AU is tricky, I think, because I have to undo most if not all of the family relationships in favor of other connective nexuses (nexes? nexii? help). Here goes. I might have spent too much time thinking about this over my morning tea.

Sir Walter Elliott is, inevitably, the college president. He's photogenic. He loves uttering empty and incorrect platitudes about his own achievements. He loves schmoozing with important people. Unfortunately, he's perfect for the job.

The Admiral and Sophy have been at the university for ages, and the Admiral loves to tell the story about how he was her spousal hire in 1987, not the other way around.

Elizabeth is using family money to take a never-ending PhD in fashion history. She's always weirdly vague about her project, and finds a way not to participate in chapter exchanges. Rumor says that it's Sir Walter's influence keeping her from being kicked out.

Mary took an M.A., married money, and has been (dis)contentedly living on the UWS ever since. It's not quite true to say that she's never looked back. She visits colloquia and other open department functions with a depressing persistency, and appears not to notice that this is sometimes awkward for people who are united by their passion for a subject in which she never excelled.

Louisa and Henrietta are grad students, and remarkably carefree with it. Somehow their work does, in fact, get done.

Harville is, I think, Wentworth's sailing club buddy.

Mr. Elliott will be a smarmy visiting academic at another area institution. Unfortunately, I know his type. Eventually it will come out that he's eternally "visiting" because of a plagiarism scandal in his past.

Lady Russell is, of course, Anne's PhD supervisor. Who else would be in loco parentis and giving prudent and unwelcome advice?

Anne administers the interdisciplinary center in eighteenth-century studies. While she is several decades younger than those who usually take on such jobs, this works out well for several reasons. She has a head for detail, and is conscientious to a fault. Also, the faculty are (almost) all extremely fond of her, and the importance of this in getting academics to comply with bureaucratic necessities cannot be overstated. She's an alum of the program, and did finish her PhD. Lady Russell still sometimes sighs, a little too audibly, when she sees her erstwhile star student being competent in the front office. But care-taking duties during her mother's long illness meant that Anne's progress through the degree was slow, and international conference travel to boost her reputation didn't happen. The job market, with its precarity and long-distance upheavals, didn't either. So here is Anne, still in the department. Anne herself may not have the career or the life she dreamed of, but she has employment and health insurance, which is more than many recent PhDs can say. She sings in a choir. She tells herself that she has a good life.

Frederick Wentworth was Sophy's student. (I will miss her big sister energy, but a PhD supervisor also has the lifelong privilege of dragging you and telling you to get your life together, so here we are.) Lady Russell thought he was always going to burn out. Sure, he looked good on paper: a bright scholarship student from a state school in the fields of nowhere. But his project, studying contested empire and constructions of masculinity in the Atlantic world using network analysis, was always too ambitious. Until it wasn't.

With several fellowships, a postdoc, and a visiting position at a SLAC behind him -- the OUP monograph is in press -- Frederick Wentworth is back. Lady Russell wasn't on the search committee. But not only is Frederick Wentworth competent to teach the gender studies courses the department wants and the survey courses the university wants, he is also willing to take on the military history courses that the jocks want. "Thank God," says Sophy bluntly, once he's accepted the offer, "I won't have to read their opinions of my haircut in the student evals anymore." Also, there's that OUP monograph. No one quite says out loud that they have in their midst that rarest of creatures, the photogenic male historian who actually is a historian. But the consciousness runs through the halls like a current. This, for the department, could be a beginning.

For Anne, it is something else. It's not that they dated, exactly. It was never that formal, or that limited. Only in retrospect, really, did she realize that it was odd to spend an entire day walking around looking at architecture, or to end up with intertwined ankles on a museum bench, or to cook freely in each other's kitchens, before having an understanding. The understanding came. It was a November night, and they were sitting on a bench in Riverside Park, and she didn't feel the cold. They had agreed that they'd go on the job market together. They would read each other's applications the way they read each other's dissertation chapters. And they'd move to wherever one of them got a tenure-track job first. And then everything fell apart. Anne still thinks that Dr. Russell was right, that it wouldn't have been fair to hold him. More, she thinks that she herself could not have borne to lose what they had in a slow death of long-distance phone calls, too-brief visits, awkward negotiations of what they could and could not expect. Better to be sensible. Better to make a clean break while they were still young, still resilient. But she has never felt resilient. And now Frederick Wentworth is back.

#persuasion #campus novel au #will i actually end up writing this?

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not buying something for a friend on card when they only have cash? (profanity warning up ahead lol) 🦈🦈🦈

A few months ago myself and some of my friends (fake names: Lucy F, Mark M, Kai NB, Jenny F, Charlie NB) decided to go see a movie at the local cinema (we chose it because it's the cheapest in the area). For a very long time, this place only accepted cash unless you booked tickets in advance but after COVID now operates exclusively on contactless payments — no exceptions. Whenever we got there everybody had already booked tickets so we went right into the theatre to get good seats (tickets don't have specific seats at this cinema; it's first come, first served). Once we got our seats of choice, we decided to go to the cinema shop for food in pairs so that nobody would take out spot and after Mark and Kai went, Lucy and I went.

I went first and paid for a medium popcorn and a small box of Maltesers but when it was Lucy's turn she only had cash, therefore could not pay, which made her get snappy at the worker there who obviously couldn't do anything about it. Lucy then asked me if I could pay on card and she could repay me with cash (which is a reasonable request but shit goes sideways after this) so I checked my balance to see if I could. Turns out I only had twenty cents left on my card.

Side note: we're all teenagers and Lucy, Mark, Charlie and I don't have jobs because at the time we were still considered to young to be hired in my area unless we wanted to get paid severely below the minimum wage (McDonald's, I see you). My money consists solely of birthday money that I can spend on buying gifts for myself and others, and going out with my friends. I budget myself strictly because I don't have a steady source of income and keep my unspent money in my savings dedicated towards university. My parents won't start a uni fund for me until I get my first job (which I personally think is fairly reasonable so that I can work for my education) Also I've been saving money in my budget to see this movie for a while since I was excited about it's release (FNAF lol).

Anyway, I tell Lucy I only have 20c and I'm sorry, but she snatches my phone without asking to look at my bank details to see $400 in savings (I know it's not enough for uni but please bare with me /lh). I naturally freaked out in my head and take it back from her, worried that she was going to try buy food anyway, read my bank account details or take money out of my literal uni fund. When I quickly explained it was my only fund for university and I didn't feel comfortable whittling it down (we're in public and there's a line of three people behind Lucy) she gets mad and properly yells that I'm being a "selfish bitch" and only thinking about myself, and that I should just pay for her anyway so she can give me the cash (I would have nowhere safe to keep it in my house as my sister takes any physical money and lies about it, which she has done to me before). I offer to go back to the group and take someone else down like Jenny or Kai who can make the trade or that she can share my food (she likes popcorn and Maltesers) but she again called me a "bitch" at the top of her lungs in a public space with people behind her and families with young children nearby, and stormed back to the theatre, leaving me to apologise to the workers and members of the public.

We go back to the theatre and I again offer for her to share my food and ask if any of my friends could do the trade but she once more announced I was a "selfish, stupid bitch" quote unquote and that it didn't matter anymore anyways. She proceeded to sulk the rest of the movie and later when we walked around the area just for fun.

Later when we all went home, it turned out Lucy, immediately after I got on my bus, made a group chat with everybody but me to talk shit about me. I found out about this because I was on the bus home with Mark (we're practically neighbours) and he showed me the messages right away. She had completely changed the story to make her a hapless victim that I, the unfeeling antagonist, publicly shamed even though after the movie I apologised to her again (I genuinely felt like shit after all of it) and explained the situation to my curious friends (Lucy agreed with what I said then — except I kept out the "bitch" stuff — but rewrote the whole story in their group chat).

At school she started avoiding myself, Mark, Charlie, and other friends who didn't go see the FNAF movie with us because apparently they were all on "my side" (I didn't realise that this whole thing was a big deal or that there were definitive sides people had to choose). Kai and Jenny (who were sticking with Lucy but still talking to the rest of us) came up to me separately and told me that Lucy was "hurt by my actions" and just because I didn't like her, didn't give me the right to "take that experience away". I asked why they thought I didn't like her and that's how I found out she had been talking shit about me for months behind my back (and others like Mark and people who didn't go see the movie), which did upset me because I still considered Lucy a friend despite all this.

Kai and Jenny told me to apologise. Mark and Charlie told me not to. I haven't yet and it's been over a month now. Lucy, Kai and Jenny still hang out with us but Lucy still shit-talks myself and others and will consistently bring up that I didn't pay for her despite the fact that it was ages ago now and I really didn't think it was that deep.

Do you guys think I'm the asshole for not draining my uni funds to get my friend a popcorn and Maltesers, and then not apologising when she tried to turn our friends against me over it?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[yelenasdiary]

Forbidden || Meet The Characters - Natasha Romanoff

No Warnings | 0.6K

Forbidden Masterlist

Hi there! I'm Natasha, Yelena's older sister. I have a place in Drybellow where I run an orphanage for young girls. I'm sure Yelena has told a little of our back story and why I have this orphanage, so I won't bother you with more details on that. 

I house 16 girls from ages 6 to 20. These girls have nowhere else to go, these are girls who have run away, girls in trouble and girls who's parents couldn't look after. I do my best; I have a small background on basic medicine, so I am able to treat them correctly when they need it. I educate them and teach them things a woman in this world should know. I'd do anything and everything for them. 

We all live together on some land, well, you'd probably call it a small ranch. We grow our own fruits and vegetables, and we have some animals. Everybody helps out and has their own chores to do before they go off and do their own thing. I don't like to make them feel like they need to work to keep a bed here, when they are ready, I help them find a job and a new home to stay at. Most girls will write and give me updates on their new chapter of life and others like to come back for a visit. 

Some of the older girls and I like to knit things like blankets and clothing for new-borns, that's one of the ways we make some money to help keep this place running. Gardening is also something we all do, the younger girls love planting anything they can find so our home is full of orange, yellow, red, and purple plants. I like to try and keep the younger ones more entertained, long walks around the small, wooded area near the ranch, walks along the coastline, painting when we get some supplies, playing in the mud, enjoying their freedom and letting to be children is important to me. 

Every single girl that comes into my care will leave with the skills they need to care for themselves, look out for themselves and make something wonderful of themselves. But enough about that, I'm sure I've just bored you with all that information. 

As for me, I like doing many things. I do a lot of reading, mostly books that teach you something. Cooking, I love to cook! I've taught the girls how to fish and sometimes when the girls go on a walk, they'll bring back a dead rabbit for me to cook. When my days aren't spent looking after the girls, I'm usually trying to keep track of where Yelena is! We have a system; she is to write to me when she's off catching outlaws and if she doesn't, I'll go looking for her. That's if I don't hear from her within two weeks. 

I don't do all of this by myself though. I have to thank Maria Hill for being such a rock through all of this. She has been with me since I told her about the idea of buying this old, broken and run down property and turn it into something beautiful. She helps with everything, looks after the girls as if they were her own, we both do. Without Maria, this place wouldn't be possible. 

Well, I won't chew your ear off any longer! Feel free to write us a little letter, we're the ranch closeted to the railway station in Drybellow! We would love to hear from you. Stay safe out there! 

~ Natasha, Maria & the Girls of Black Hill Ranch.

Taglist: @madislayyy | @riveramorylunar | @teganmiller | @kyleeservopoulos | @yelenaslyubov | @kacka84 | @lesbiarmy | @meurgen | @caporal-nino | @sl-ut | @scarletwidowblackwitch | @dogtamer415 | @mousetheorist | 

If you want to be on the taglist for this series, please see the masterlist. It's link at the top of this post.

#fanfiction #marvel #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #forbiddenau

[jelliclekay]

Okay, I got a lot of interest in posting this. So here's a little thing I wrote with Bombalurina and my OC Calfuray!

Background: Takes place a few days after Bombalurina leaves Macavity. Calfuray is mates with a Macavity hench cat.

“I knew you would be up here,” Bombalurina remarks, but Calfuray doesn’t acknowledge the red Queen’s presence. Calfuray is huddled against the brick wall lining the rooftop, arms wrapped around herself as though she’s trying to hide from the world.

“Not really anywhere else to go.” Calfuray mutters to herself, but Bomba still hears her, the silence on the roof loud enough that Bomba can hear the nervous tapping of the purple Queen’s claws against the hard floor. 

Bomba sits herself next to Calfuray, who doesn’t budge from her position. It’s a rare moment where Bomba gets to talk with the other Queen alone, with Calfuray’s mate having her practically under lock and key. But when he’s away on a job, the purple Queen always finds a way up on the roof despite Macavity and the hench cat’s best efforts to keep the area locked down. 

The two sit in silence for awhile, Calfuray still nervously moving her body around, clearly bothered by something. Bombalurina wants to ask her what’s wrong, but doesn’t want to make the Queen uncomfortable by bringing up whatever happened to make her so fidgety.

“I hate the way that thing looks at me.” Calfuray blurts out of nowhere, and Bomb is caught off guard by the usually silent Queen's outburst.

"Who-" Bomba starts to ask, but Calfuray continues.

“Macavity. I hate him. The look he gave me earlier today when he and Jonathan were planning... whatever it is that they're planning. It made me sick.” Calfuray says angrily, and Bomba is stunned at how brazenly the Queen is talking about the cat who could kill her with a flick of his wrist if he overheard this conversation.

Had Bombalurina heard all this just a month ago, she might had been offended at the horrific things she was hearing about Macavity. She might have been tempted to tell Macavity about all this, as a way to impress him or show her loyalty to him.

But now, Bombalurina just sits and listens. She can’t blame the other Queen for her deep hatred. Calfuray has certainly been there longer than she has, and Bombalurina can only imagine what the other Queen has been through.

“Bombalurina.” Calfuray finally speaks again, “Why are you still here?” 

Bomba is caught off guard by the question, and she stays quiet.

“You have to know by now why Macavity brought you here. He's just... desperate to try and replace Demeter, and he's using you to do that. You don’t deserve that. I know you know that you don't deserve that."

Bombalurina bites her lip, sinking down against the cool red tile behind her. Again, just a month ago, she might have tried to claw Calfuray's eyes out for even insisting that Macavity didn't want her. But she doesn’t know what to believe anymore.

"Go back to that Junkyard place. It's where you belong. I know you're tough, that you can hold your own against the cats who live here. But you don't belong here."

"And you do?" Bombalurina retorts back, and Calfuray lets out a cold, empty laugh.

"It's too late for me." She claims, the bitter defeat evident in her voice, “But it isn’t for you.”

“What makes you say that?” Bombalurina demands to know. 

"I’m sure the cats in that Junkyard miss you. But me? I have nothing outside of Jonathan. Nothing outside of this place."

Bombalurina wants to argue with her, try to desperately convince the purple Queen to come with her if she does decide to leave.

But the sudden cackling of laughter and booming voices from the streets below jolts Calfuray to her feet.

"Jonathan is back. I have to go.” 

“Calfuray, wait-” Bombalurina scrambles to her feet to try and reach out for the Queen bolting towards the door, but she’s too slow to catch the skittering, terrified Queen this time.

#cats the musical #bombalurina #cats the musical oc #if anyone takes the time to read this thank you #it was just a little self indulgent thing

[yuesya]

Much madness was one of my favorite One Piece works. I'm still not over your idea of m!Madeleine where he ends up in Tottoland bureaucracy as the most well adjusted one because canon Madeleine is.... a person with an unique mind. If you can write any more deftails on that whether it's how he interacts with siblings (i.e. Cracker), his daily life, or any of his true self that peeks out from his warm kind mask. I'm not picky.

Hello and thank you for reading! ... I actually had to go back and dig up that old post haha. But yes, m!Madeleine! In which Madeleine is a Well Adjusted Individual, but only if you compare him with his alternate Madeleine personas and, like. The Charlotte family in general lol.

More below the cut, since this got a little long:

So, m!Madeleine is very calm and mild-mannered in the day-to-day. Cracker still doesn't get along very well with him in the beginning ("Just look at him! How am I supposed to trust that face?" "... What kind of excuse is that, Cracker?") and it's precisely because of that affable front. He gets along with everyone, and Cracker refuses to believe that anyone can be that good-natured. His brother is definitely plotting something!

Eventually, though, m!Madeleine gets tired of all the pointed needling and snarky comments and pulls Cracker into a sealed area via Dream Dream Fruit. In the tried and true fashion of a lot of shonen manga out there, you become friends after beating each other up with your fists.

... Or well, not friends, but Cracker is definitely a lot less twitchy around m!Madeleine after finding out that he's a person who does have his own limits just like anyone else out there.

On m!Madeleine's part... y'know, I kind of feel like we should probably stop calling him that by this point. Macaron? Let's go with Macaron.

Anyways!

So, on Macaron's part. Even though he'd been unwillingly stuffed into the bureaucracy things by Peros at the start, he still does his job well. And he comes to take a certain sense of pride in watching over his siblings and keeping everything running smoothly on the island. It also helps that Big Mom is very much Not Interested in paperwork or anything of the sort, so she's never around the administration buildings. Win-win for everyone all around!

Macaron is content to ignore Big Mom for the most part, but he eventually grows to care for his siblings. Bloodthirsty idiots, the whole lot of them. He loves them anyways.

Katakuri and Cracker and all the others out there, constantly fighting so others in the family do not have to... it's not a job Macaron would ever wish to take upon his own shoulders, he doesn't think he has the stomach for it. But he can respect his brothers for the sacrifices that they make, for the sake of the family.

It means that siblings like Macaron and Brulee can remain safely within Totto Land and support them from the back. Keep everything in the territory running smoothly. Take care of all the younger siblings that they have, give them a safe environment to grow up in-

Macaron is a fairly laidback person, by and large. It makes him the number one Charlotte that people want to use as their point of contact with the Big Mom Pirates. He's the only one in that insane family who's not insane! Who will sit down and talk to you all reasonable and polite and you'll never have to worry about Macaron getting irritated and pulling a sword on you out of nowhere when he suddenly loses his temper.

Looking at you, Cracker.

... Anyways. There's a lot of things that Macaron can overlook and politely pretend to forget -as long as it doesn't threaten his family.

He's not a fighter like Katakuri or Cracker, but he's far from helpless, contrary to the impression that most people have of him. When Urouge and his crew breach the nursery, Macaron is actually reading a story to the young ones. The young man lifts his eyes, and very carefully does not frown, knowing that his impressionable little siblings are watching him -knowing that they take their cues from them, and so he has to remain calm and unruffled- but it doesn't stop him from clicking his tongue.

He'll have to go over the island's security measures with Peros after this.

"You have," he says flatly, "Exactly five seconds to turn around and leave. If not... I won't be responsible for what happens next."

Armed with nappies and toys and holding a colorful picture book, Macaron certainly doesn't cut a very imposing figure. The Fallen Monk Pirates laugh at him.

Macaron nods, and closes the book. Then, wholly ignoring the enemies in the room, he turns towards his little siblings.

"Let's play a game," he smiles. "Close your eyes and count to thirty. No peeking! Good children who listen will get an extra treat in their afternoon snack today."

"B-brother, what-?"

"Shhh. There, there. Be good, hmm?"

Then, Macaron turns.

Sleep, he commands, and the power of his Devil Fruit flares to life around him with a nightmarish glow.

...

...

...

"Oh, I'm really out of practice... Brulee is going to be so cross with me for making a mess like this... ah, Pudding! Good timing, sister. Will you run a message to the Head Chef for me while I do a bit of cleanup here? Put in an extra order for some extra treats to be delivered to the Nursery today. Eclairs will be nice, I think.

... What's with that look on your face? Run along, now. There's nothing for you to worry about here.

...

... Did you not hear me? Pudding. You have nothing to worry about."

#QA #Writing #some m!madeleine stuff! #or rather #macaron now i guess #technically i guess we could've had the name stay madeleine #but madeleine is very much a feminine name? #and in my mind it's associated with f!madeleine so #macaron! #hopefully that works too #and there isn't already a canon one piece character called macaron lol #that would be fun #;;;

[bigfan-fanfic]

Spooky Season Special: Until Dawn (Male!Reader x Chris)

Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four

Chapter 5: Prey

- Six Hours Until Dawn -

"Locked? How the hell?" Matt growls, trying to pull open the gate behind you all, which suddenly locked.

You wouldn't blame yourself for being a little distracted. What happened back there?

You had been perfectly willing to give yourself up, but... had Chris accepted your wishes, or had he chosen to kill his best friend instead? He swore he hadn't, but... there's something going on here, but it's just out of reach of your shock-addled mind. It doesn't matter anyway - it's time to get help.

"There's some seriously uncool shit going down here." Matt scowls.

You glance down at yourself, still spattered in Josh's blood. "Yeah, you think, Matt?"

Matt winces. "Oh. Sorry."

You reach the cable car station, only to find an axe embedded in the door. "Look, an axe!" Matt grins. "I feel safer with an axe."

You're about to point out that maybe he ought to be more worried about the scary man who likely put the axe there and left a big shiny bruise on your face, but the moment passes, and Matt convinces Emily to slide through the small window beside the locked door. She complains the whole way, but a moment later opens it.

"Wow. I did it." Em smiles softly, sounding surprised.

Matt hugs her. "Good job, Em. You rock."

"Yeah, you're okay too. We did good."

The celebration is short-lived, as when the lights go on you realize the cable car station has been vandalized, and worse - sabotaged. And the keys are nowhere to be found.

"This.. this is bad." Em says, but you admire that her voice has stopped wavering. "Guys, we need another plan. We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

You nod. "Okay, uh..."

Hopeful - "Should we climb down?" Calm - "The fire tower..."

"There's an old firewatcher tower around here somewhere. It probably has a direct line to the ranger station we can use!" you say with delight.

Matt and Em glance at you, before Emily nods. "Good idea. I mean, the radio tower's probably ages old by now and might not have a signal-"

"It's the only plan we've got, unless we wanna climb down and break our necks." Matt adds, and Em gives him a sharp look.

You let them take the lead as you follow them around the outside of the cable car station, Emily sniping angrily at Matt for not moving fast enough and for not catching her.

"What if this doesn't work?" Emily suddenly whimpers, as you all trek up towards the fire tower.

"It has to." Matt grunts.

Pragmatic - "We should have a backup. Hopeful - "It's going to work."

"We need to make a plan just in case. I don't want to be stuck up there freaking out if it doesn't." you say, shuddering.

"Exactly." Em agrees.

"Maybe we just... find a place to hole up with the others? Safety in numbers." Matt muses.

"As long as it's not back at the lodge." Em mutters. "It's where that psycho would suspect."

You consider this. "Maybe. But... worse comes to worst, we can overwhelm him this time."

Before Emily can tell you that this is probably the worst idea you've ever had, Matt trips a little over a loose floorboard, and leans down to find a pink cell phone.

"Is that... Beth's?" Emily asks.

"I thought the police swept, like, the whole area." Matt frowns.

You shrug. "Guess they missed this. Maybe the twins didn't stay put, and they moved through the area."

In silence, you all continue moving up the mountain.

"Watch your step, Em." Matt says carefully, causing her to scoff.

"Yes, Matt, unless you plan on catching me this time, I'd rather not spend my evening plummeting to my death off a snowy cliff top."

You roll your eyes at her sniping. Even you are starting to get a little tired of her constant complaining. But you remember taking her side over Jessica, and you figure it's best not to alienate anyone else.

There's a loud, haunting sound from behind you, and the three of you whirl, slowly backing up.

There's a horde of deer approaching, and they don't seem particularly friendly...

NEW Butterfly Effect: Y/N sided with Emily; Jessica felt insecure AND Mike failed to impress; Mike stumbled when chasing after Jessica; Mike was too late: Jessica was dead!

Butterfly Effect: Y/N kept his cool in the Masked Man’s trap; and Chris admired Y/N’s clarity of thought…

Butterfly Effect: Josh teased Chris about Ashley; but Chris was not baited; AND Josh was impressed with Y/N’s personality…

Butterfly Effect: Emily and Jessica fought; Y/N sided with Emily; Y/N felt guilty...

The Soul of Discretion: Ashley discouraged Matt from using the telescope; Y/N did not expose Ashley; Matt didn’t see Mike and Emily flirting; SO Matt did not confront Mike; AND Emily and Jessica fought.

Be His Hero: Y/N was caught by the Masked Man; AND used in his trap, so Chris chose to save Y/N and Ashley, AND Chris confessed his feelings for Y/N.

#until dawn fic #until dawn x reader #until dawn x male reader #chris hartley x reader #chris hartley x male reader #until dawn

[sagetheenbymage]

AIGHT SO!

I bet Ian was scared to leap even if they had no choice in the matter. They were scared that they're putting everyone they love at risk even though the only other option is nuclear fallout. Ben has to give one of his famous pep talks to convince them to do it.

Ian wrote a will in case they didn't come back or came back unsuccessful. It was very well thought out, a guaranteed tearjerker. I also had more thoughts along this line, but it's getting a bit too dark for our purposes so I'll save it for a fanfic.

I have a fic I'm working on about Ian having a university friend and her son as a guest over because the son's trans and it's dangerous for them in their state, featuring Ian being the best adoptive parental figure ever.

Ian wants to volunteer for big brothers and big sisters soooo bad but their work schedule is too chaotic to do that. At least that's what they tell themself. They're anxious about the whole gender binary thing but refuse to admit it.

They have a cat or two. Their cat(s) the bestest cat(s) ever and no one can tell them otherwise.

In their university classes, especially at the higher levels, there were eight girls, twenty-six boys, and them. The girls immediately bonded together for survival, and while they didn't exactly know what to do with Ian at first, in the end, they saw someone who treats them as respected peers and let them into their clique. I had more about this but it became too detailed and I realized it was running into fic territory so now I have yet another WIP, thank you very much.

Ian keeps many things in their desk in case of emeowgency. Snacks, juice boxes, first aid kits, even pads (they keep a basket in one of the washrooms stocked with them and no one knows it's them that does it but it's gotten a few people put of tight places). There's the emotional first aid teas and chocolates and stim toys, and a change of clothing for when it gets late enough that they decide it's appropriate to throw formality to the wind and get through the rest of the leap in jogging pants and a comfortable hoodie. It's also got all sorts of technology, gadgets and computer mice they swear they're getting around to fixing, all sorts of odds and ends and spare parts.

They're not exactly a furry but they're not far from becoming one if pushed in the right direction.

Soon after they were hired, Magic got pissed that there's nowhere for them to use the washroom in the building. He finds out that Ian goes to the café across the street over their breaks and otherwise just holds it. He tried going through the normal channels to find a solution, because Ian is not the only trans employee even if they're the most prominent, the normal channels failed him, and so he did what any decent Admiral would do and looked after his people. By this I mean he tire off the gender signs on the washrooms himself, and sent out a general memo that was quite intimidating to anyone who may object, and very comforting to those who appreciate his gesture. I don't feel the need to fic this, but here's a snippet of conversation between Ian and Magic:

"I- I hope you didn't go through all this trouble for my sake?" Ian asked, emberrassed.

Magic looked them firmly in the eye. "Not just your sake. There are a few who are still in the closet at work and only got outted by accident during background checks, and a few who aren't, but work in other areas so you may not have met them yet. But that's not entirely it either. Marines... We value one thing above all else: looking out for our people. As soon as I hired you, you counted as one of my people. There is no reasonable thing that I would not do for you or any other member of my staff. If a rule is stupid and brings unnecessary discomfort? I change or disregard it. If someone's in trouble, I'll get them out of it if I can. I did it because it's the right thing to do by my people. And maybe it can set an example for them when this project is wrapped up and they go on to new jobs, maybe lead projects of their own."

Phew okay that was a lot of words and took nearly an hour to type up, hope you enjoyed!

OKAY FIRST OF ALL THANK YOU <333 this did actually make me feel better :)

and!! Ian in university!! I love that honestly. Ian seems like they would totally be a good parental figure for someone to look up to. And the big brother and sisters headcanon is <333333 I don’t know how else to describe it actually

And cats!! When they get older they want to have like a shit ton of cats 100%

I love love LOVE the headcanon of Ian using stick toys. I just do.

They’re surprisingly close to becoming a furry but they will deny it till the day they die 😂

And Magic is the dad of the project like!! Ugh I love all of these so much

Thank you, you made my bad day a lot better :)

#quantum leap 2022 #ian wright

[funkymbtifiction]

I’m starting to think majority of the people in my work force are SJs especially since it’s an office job that majority of Sjs gravitate towards. But how do I know the difference between the SFJ and STJ without knowing them personally? It’s a bit difficult to know the difference since most STJ 9s come off super sweet where I confuse them for SFJs.

My experience with 9/ITJs is pleasantness, but it doesn't neuter their preference for factual information and efficiency at all. SFJs are more people-oriented, and STJs are more task-oriented, if that helps.

From an observation view and based on things our facilitator says, she talks about things that happened in the past mainly about her family, but she also says facts are facts and follows the book I’m starting to think she’s an ESTJ 7 which I know she’s a 7 because her motto is to have fun and participate!

That would be an interesting (and rare) combo, but would make a fun time at the office. Does she fit the traditional ETJ behaviors? I could see this sort of pairing as diminishing the "scattered, unfocused, can't finish anything" nature of 7-ness, because ETJs are dominant judging types who want to see their ideas actualized in the world.

Would being a 7 TJ make them less strict and softer? since most of them happen to be so bossy and direct.

They'd be insistent on maintaining "a happy" mood around the office and being positive, wouldn't like naysayers or those who throw cold water on their ideas, need stimulation and activity and to keep things light and cheerful. And the instant re-framing and suppression of their emotions in favor of a positive and confident self-outlook.

She’s notices changes in facial expressions and body language but also doesn’t like to figure out complex things and tells us we’re making things way more complicated than it is. From the beginning of our training she told us what helps her remember things is by writing down them and pinning them on the wall so we can remember it too and doing it again and again. When the power went out in her others people’s homes she thought maybe their computers would still work since hers was still working. If thinking something works for you works for everybody be a sign of someone with a high Si function and always talking about their past experiences?

This isn't enough to go on, other than she seems sensor-ish, and yes, it could be SJ.

Would you think that people who come up with different scenarios and continue thinking of “what ifs” of a situation would be 6 or Ne based?

Ne if there's no negativity attached to it; 6 if it's actively fearful. (In other words, Ne: here's the six ways we could do this project, vs 6 here's the six ways this could end badly.)

And to be honest, Charity, what work force would be great for us Ne doms? Office jobs in my area make the most money with no college degree but I have to remember so many details and that’s what’s driving me nuts so it’s challenge I’ll take on but I also wanted to know what you think.

You're an ENTP, right? Something in marketing would probably be a better fit for you, since Ne/Fe is pretty good at figuring out how to appeal to people and bring them on board a business or a project, but it doesn't involve a huge amount of follow through, especially if you can hand over the rote detail work to someone else. ENTPs can be pretty good "people-people," so it's better if they're not stuck at a desk but are actively working toward something that they can see come to fruition quickly, rather than that takes forever or seems like it's going nowhere. (Endless numbers and data vs. "we just put up this building on First Street!").

#question #mbti

[softbobamilktae]

The Strings of My Heart [36] - It's Okay to Cry

← Chapter 35 | Chapter 37 →

Pairing: Zoro x Jupiter

Genre: fluff, angst, f2l

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: none

Summary: Zoro’s moved to sunny California for college to escape from the life of fame for a little while. But when he loses his violin case in the second week of school, he’s sure his college experience has just gone up in flames. What will he do when, despite all odds, his case is returned to him?

Jupiter could tell Zoro was having a bad day.  He was clearly holding onto his last nerve each time a kid talked to him.  He was doing a good job of holding it together, but it was clear he wasn’t in the mood for conversation this evening.  Jupiter wondered if he was in the mood for anything, really.  He’d already made dinner and fed it to everyone, which always seemed to elicit a disaster, so she supposed maybe he just needed a break for the night.

She caught him right after he’d cleared the table off.

“Hey, Zoro?”

“What?” he asked sharply, and Jupiter had to admit she’d never heard him use that tone of voice before.

“Do you want me to clean the kitchen tonight?”

He had about ten plates in his hands.

“No.  It’s fine.  I’ll do it.” He took the dishes to the counter without saying another word.  He wasn’t really looking at her much, either.

Jupiter watched him, quite concerned.  Even on his bad days he wasn’t usually this irritable.

“Are you sur-”

He set the plates down on the counter abruptly, causing them to clatter against each other.  He set his palms against the counter, and without turning to her, ground out, “Jupiter.  Please, just leave me alone.”

Well, that told her everything she needed to know.  He just needed alone time right now.  Badly.

“Ok.” She’d go find something else to do for the moment, then.  Maybe she could get him to talk before he went home.

It was nearly an hour later before she headed back out to the kitchen.  The dishes had all been washed and put away, and Zoro was nowhere to be seen.  Had he left?  One quick check of the garage told her that no, he hadn’t.  So, where was he?

She headed upstairs to her bedroom, but a noise coming from the bathroom gave her pause.  Was someone crying?  She knocked on the door.

“Zoro?”

The cries silenced.

“Are you ok?”

The door opened a moment later, and she frowned as she caught sight of the tears on his cheeks.  He was quick to wipe them away.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“It’s just been a long day…” he frowned. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“It’s ok.  You needed some space.”

“I wasn’t very nice about it…” he muttered.

She shrugged. “You weren’t very rude about it either, though.”

He cleared his throat. “Well, I should probably head home.  It’s getting late.”

She shook her head. “Come to my room.”

She took his hand gently and dragged him down the hall to her room.

“Jupiter.”

She nodded toward the bed. “Lay down.”

He blew out a breath. “But-”

“Lay down.  We’re going to cuddle for a few minutes.  You’re clearly stressed out.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, so he gave in and sat on the bed.  She plopped down and patted the area between her chest and shoulder.

“Come on.”

He sighed and leaned against her, and she wrapped her arms around him.  He was near tears again.

“Did something happen today?” she asked softly.

He hummed. “One of my older students yelled at me for correcting her bow hold today.”

“I see.” Jupiter ran her fingers through his hair. “Can you tell them you won’t teach her anymore?”

That was when the tears really started. “I did.  It’s just not…the first time something like this has happened.” He sniffled. “I don’t like my job, Jupiter.  I thought it would be easier than most social interaction I have because we have something in common, but a lot of the people I teach…it just seems like they’re doing it so they can say they know how to play.  And that’s fine, I guess, but it makes it harder to talk to them because they’re not passionate about it.” He sighed. “And I just…I just want to quit.”

She thumbed at his tears. “Then quit, Zoro.”

“What?”

“Why do you think you need to work?”

“We need money.  I need money.  I have rent to pay, and car insurance, and all sorts of other stuff.”

“Ok, I’ll pay you to watch the kids, then.”

He sat up just enough to look her in the eye. “No, I won’t let you do that.”

“Zoro, do you know how much money I make?  I can afford to pay you ten times what you make at the studio, and I’ll know my siblings are safe, and I’ll know that you’re happy.”

He frowned.

“Zoro, come on!  Don’t make that face.  It’s what you’ll be doing when we have kids, anyways.  We’re not going to hire a nanny to take care of them!”

“I know, but, Jupiter…I’m your boyfriend.  You don’t need to pay me to take care of your siblings.”

“I’d sure pay a friend if they were babysitting for me.  I don’t see how a boyfriend is any different.  It’s not like we’re married right now, so we don’t share our money yet.”

He sighed. “Ok, but what about my job?”

“Tell them you’re putting your two weeks in.”

He rested his cheek against her shoulder again, clearly considering everything she’d said. “Ok.  Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.  I don’t see why you need to work when I’m making enough money to support all of us and then some.”

He sniffled. “Yeah.  I miss sleeping with you at night, though.”

“Do you want to stay tonight?”

“Can I?”

Jupiter laughed. “Of course.  I didn’t even want you to move out, silly.”

He hummed in satisfaction and nuzzled his face into her neck. “Ok, I’ll just stay like this, then,” he mumbled.

◇◆◇◆◇

The next morning, Zoro was woken by yelling coming from downstairs.  It was late enough that Jupiter should’ve been gone for work already, but he was sure one of those voices was hers.  He crawled out of bed and headed towards the staircase to see what was going on.

“Mom, you are not going to just abandon us again!  I won’t let it happen!  Stop running away from us like you didn’t want to have all of us!”

Zoro peeked over the railing to find Jupiter and her mother standing in the kitchen.  There were four suitcases packed and sitting on the ground.

“I told you, I’m done here.  Andi is old enough that I don’t need to nurse her anymore.  Take care of everything yourself.  Hire a babysitter or have Zoro take the kids with him to work; I don’t care.  I’m moving to Florida.”

Jupiter was practically fuming at this point. “Don’t you understand, Mom?  We need you!  The kids need you!  Dad isn’t here anymore, so it’s just us now.  You can’t just leave us because you don’t feel like raising us anymore!”

“But I can.  I gave you guardianship.  Isn’t that enough for you?”

“If you’re leaving, I need custody of the kids.  Not guardianship.  I don’t trust that you’ll ever come back, and they need to know that they’re in a stable home.  Andi is nine months old, Mom.  If you leave, Zoro and I will be her parents as far as she knows.  Do you really want that?”

“I don’t care.”

“Ok, fine.  We’re going to sort this out with the court, then.”

“No, we’re not.  You have guardianship, that’s enough.”

Jupiter blew out a hot breath. “Mom!”

“We can go to the courthouse to talk to them today, but if there’s nothing we can do immediately, I’m going to Florida.”

“Ok, fine, we’ll do that, then.”

Jupiter had taken two steps towards the staircase when she noticed Zoro.  She gave him a look that told him how extremely irritated she was at the moment.

“Can you watch the kids?  Andi’s probably going to be awake soon.”

He smiled faintly. “That’s fine.  Do whatever you need to do.”

She nodded, but she continued on her path up the stairs anyways.  Once she was at the top, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into her bedroom before shutting the door.

“What am I supposed to do, Zoro?  She’s leaving us!  Again!  And probably for good this time.”

He sighed and pulled her into a hug. “I don’t know.  I’m so sorry this is happening.”

She frowned and leaned against his chest. “What am I supposed to do?  The younger kids are going to ask someday where Mom and Dad are.  How will I tell them that Mom just left?”

“I don’t know, honey.”

“Zoro?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you move back in?  Is that too much to ask?  I…I can take Mom’s room.  You can have this one.  Is that ok?”

“Yeah.  We can do that if you’d like.”

“Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you for always having my back.”

◇◆◇◆◇

Cyan found himself back in that same café for the sixth time that week.  Esther worked almost every day, and it seemed to him that she didn’t particularly enjoy it.  She didn’t often smile, and it appeared that she didn’t talk with any of the other workers.

Cyan didn’t know what to do.  The coffee was great, but he wanted to talk to her.  He wasn’t sure how to, though, and he had to admit to himself that maybe it was really weird to talk to her after his initial reaction to her.  Zoro hadn’t even felt that way about Jupiter, so why had he felt that way about Esther?

“Here’s your coffee.”

Cyan glanced up to find Esther glaring at him.  He grimaced. “Um…thanks.”

Ok, so he was not going to talk to her.

Did they really know each other?  Was that why he’d recognized her?  There was no other explanation for why she was glaring at him, was there?  Maybe she was just having a bad day?

“You can stop coming back here every day, Cyan.  You should know by now that I’m sick of seeing your face.”

That made him pause. “What?”

Esther rolled her eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

Cyan would’ve asked what she meant, but he didn’t have time.  His break was almost over by now, and he needed to get back to the hospital now.

He spent the rest of the day extremely distracted.  What on earth had she been talking about?  They knew each other, but how did they know each other?  Had he totally blanked out the time they’d met before?  This made no sense.

He was still thinking about it as he got ready for bed that evening.  The name Esther still didn’t ring a bell, and her face didn’t either, so what was he missing here?  Did they go to school together?  Maybe.  He was so out of it half the time in class that it was entirely possible that they’d been in a class together and he’d just forgotten about it.

He couldn’t recall doing anything to anger anyone else, though, and surely, he’d remember that.  Maybe if he went through his old workbooks, he’d find an answer?

He pulled out his computer that evening to do a deep search through his documents.  Had he made a note about this on one of his documents?  A few minutes of searching later told him that yes, he had known an Esther.  Esther Singh, his lab partner in chemistry his first semester.  Was it the same girl?  He wouldn’t know.  He hadn’t made it to a single class besides his first one, and even that he’d had to leave early because of his schedule.

Even so, what did it matter to her?  He’d informed his professor at the beginning of the year that he likely wouldn’t make it to most of the labs, so he’d assumed that his partner had been put with someone else.  Had she not?  Had she done all of those labs by herself?  That seemed a bit odd to him, especially considering that the professor had been so willing to work with him, someone who wasn’t even making time to go to the class.

This left him right back where he’d started: confused about why some girl was unspeakably mad at him.

Chapter 37 →

This is part of the Dad!BTS series that can be found here

Series M.list

A/N: hahahahaha yet another scene I get to get out of drafts…also a double post today because 🤪

It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!

Taglist: @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger @jinnie-forthe-winnie

#softbobamilktae original stories

[steverubenfaer]

Living Vacation

After living in San Francisco for more than 20 years, it was time to leave. And as in all of my previous moves, the principal reason for leaving was because I was done there. I wasn’t sure where to move to, but nowhere in the US sounded appealing (not much does after you live in SF and won’t live anywhere colder). A friend lived in SMA, and suggested I move down there, and it just happened pretty quickly after that. I had always wanted to live in another country & learn their language, and since I had just started a business, the lower cost sounded great. The timing seemed perfect.

The most remarkable part of moving to SMA was how easy it was, it didn’t feel any different than moving within the US. Things are a little different, but it wasn’t difficult to move. I really liked my first year in SMA; I missed hiking around the Bay Area, but I walked all over San Miguel, aesthetically it has few equals. But I always felt that something was ‘too easy’ about living here, something I could never define. When I brought this up to people living in SMA, they immediately recognized what I was referring to, and could answer me with responses I knew had to have come from previous thought on this exact issue. One guy absolutely agreed with me, and said ‘so what? I decided long ago that it was worth it.’ Someone already had this exact dilemma years ago! At first this didn’t bother me, because there was so much to explore. But I really wasn’t sure if after I had seen everything there was to see, would there be anything left under the hood to keep me in SMA.

One of the unexpected awesome things about SMA is all the places to travel nearby; for gringos almost any Mexican town with a square & church are lovely. Guanajato, Salvatierra, Pozos, there are tons of cute towns less than 2 hours away, gorgeous places that Americans have never heard of. After a year in SMA my partner wanted to move out of town because of the cuahetes. I would have stayed in SMA longer, but felt like living somewhere else could be fun – and for the first time, I started thinking about the concept of moving before I felt like I was done with a place, just to try someplace new.

My partner & I wanted to travel, but we had full-time jobs, and were a bit poor. So we had an idea – why not move around Mexico, changing home base every six months or so. We could experience living in new cities; but also travel on the weekends and explore many new places, place that would each take days of travel & much cost from SMA but were easy from the new base. Since winter was coming, we decided to try the Yucatan for our first such endeavor, and we took an exploratory trip to Merida to check it out. We weren’t super impressed with Merida, it seemed a little like Queretero, a huge modern city wrapped around a small Centro Historico. We were looking for a prettier city, something more colonial, and checked out Valladolid a couple hours away, really the only other major city in the Yucatan. We loved it immediately, it is small but gorgeous, and decided to move there for 5 months, leaving for somewhere else yet undecided before the summer. Our leases ended March 31, and for the first time in my life, I moved somewhere with an expiration date.

If moving to SMA was not that different than moving somewhere in the US, moving to Valladolid was definitely different, way different. It wasn’t so easy like SMA, it had more of a third world feel, doing things was more difficult. Paying the water bill meant going to headquarters, where there might be a long line, or the cashier might have just left for an hour, with everyone still waiting. There is no laundry machine in the entire city hooked up to hot water. Little things took much more time than they should have. No one spoke English. Nothing major, no real issues mostly just things of convenience, but just a lot of little things that made life a little ‘harder’ there.

It made me realize what it was about SMA that was so easy – SMA just completely caters to gringos. It is the world’s largest retirement home basically, designed for easy living for gringos who don’t want to learn Spanish, who basically want the same experience as America, except with better weather & lower prices. Not that everyone in SMA is on that program, but if that’s what you want out of your life, there is no place I have seen that caters to you like SMA; you can pretty much live your life the same way you did back in the States. If you are one of those people, SMA is not that different than living in the US. If you are one of those people, Yucatan might be a difficult experience for you, at first.

There were a lot of expats, but surprisingly, there were almost no gringos; the expats and visitors were almost all from Northern Europe, and you always heard French, German, and strange Scando languages around town; going out to dinner felt like being in a Bergman movie. The city itself has a very Euro feel to it, at night it seems like you are in Rome the way everything is lit.

Valladolid isn’t a place I would consider moving to forever (too small, weather), but for 5 months it was a lovely experience. Because I knew I was moving out soon, it made me feel like my entire life was a vacation, even though I was working the entire time. It was a very different feeling than a more permanent move, where you are trying to ‘spread roots’ or ‘build up your network’. But we were there to travel around the peninsula, and that we did, and it was spectacular.

In 5 months, we were able to travel almost every place we wanted. Everything is close by in the small peninsula, we definitely felt like it was enough time to see everything. And travelling in this part of the world is super cheap, much cheaper than Guanajato. Busses are cheap, rental cars are reasonable, nice Airbnb’s or hotels easily under 1000. Breakfast for 2 for 100 pesos or so; Valladolid is pretty inexpensive, but the surrounding villages/towns are much cheaper.

Basically, the plan to travel while being poor & having full time jobs worked; by moving to a new place, and traveling on weekends, We were able to work full time, travel to many new places, and life seemed like a vacation. I know I wasn’t the first to think of this idea, but I’ve never heard it quite expressed in this way.

I’m back in SMA, but there’s nowhere here for me to explore anymore, and it’s time to move on. What would be perfect would be to string together 6-mont stints in various cities around Mexico, centers that have concentric circles to explore. Oaxaca, Puebla, San Cristobal, SLP, Monterrey, are just some of the cities that seem like they would be great to live in for 6 months, to explore the town & surroundings. At some point maybe I’ll want to land somewhere & ‘spread roots’, but for now, the allure of exploring these Mexican towns is more seducing.

[pulsedemonremastered]

real question, looking for advice if anyone's got any, asking for jobs advice. been unemployed for over a year now . (not straight thru, had a few lucky months at a bowling alley)

under a readmore for dashboard courtesy. it got long and yeah im pissed about the situation. bitching here and there, especially near the end

&rbs are off, if you have an answer please put it in the replies <3 . please read the whole thing before that though

what's a good way to consistently make at least enough money to help around my house with small bills and groceries (a hundred, two hundred a week maybe?), when im stuck walking and biking everywhere, &my handmedown laptop will threaten to blow up if i try to run anything too powerful

if you suggest me something that sounds like some kind of a scam i will delete it though

& nowhere's hiring around me (i live surrounded by a bunch of schools, they like to hire as many freshman to college aged part timers as possible out here) and when they ARE & ive applied, i get emails back saying someone else had better qualifications or something.

the yardwork, babysitting/dogsitting etc etc scene in my area is dominated by the kids in my area, too. everyone's already got someone doing that stuff, i checked. figure it's because people never pay kids much, i imagine it's the same with the companies around here

and when somehow i do land an interview i make sure i smell nice look nice i sit up straight. etc. i talk as clearly & confidently as possible, got a good firm handshake. and i still manage to flub it.

i'll call twice a week at minimum asking to talk to a manager, to follow up with my interview and get told they'll call me back & i get ghosted. i call em back again and it's always the same shit

trying to sell my art, trying to make myself marketable has always made me queasy, &besides being supremely burnt out right now, i don't have an ounce of artistic consistency in my body. i am NOT in control of how it comes out looking. i considered commissions and like. i'll do it, if anyone's interested. but i'm worried they wouldn't go well

like im gonna keep hunting !!!!!! im not giving up my local search, im not. super fit. im willing to bike around 5miles at this point, even in the TX summer, even at risk of injury. im sick to death of being broke and having nowhere to go and nothing to do.

i don't have anybody "irl" to talk to, either, no friends in my immediate area to ask about this.

no close friends in my immediate area at all, actually. i can count the people i was in school with growing up on one hand. and everyone's moved away to other states besides my girlfriend, & she lives 30mins away & has her own job & shit going on. can't ask her to drive me around all the time

it's all starting to feel hopeless. like, i haven't given up completely, im not JUST complaining about it. i'm still working on finding something

& im lucky enough to have a mom that isn't mad at me or anything. i'm lucky she loves me enough to have put up with this with me for so long. i'm lucky enough to not be life-or-death levels of desperate

(which is why i won't make a donation post unless it's important)

but she doesn't have any advice for me, either. she has hundreds of facebook connections in her industry.

sometimes shit's tight, sometime's the fridge is bare & we apply to food stamps, the lights turn off & my aunts, or one of her friends helps us out. but she keeps a roof over our heads. & she's always got ten to twenty people putting her name in, when she's out of work

but i don't have that. &im hanging onto my last thread here for dear life

#vent post #<- more or less just for blacklist #delete later #maybe . i don't know. i don't like complaining about my personal shit online too much #& if i had anywhere else to go with this. i swear to god i would #long post #it's long enough on desktop so on mobile it will probably be abysmal

[venusiansilk]

⋆˙⟢ AFTER MIDNIGHT.

looking for venus and separated from your so-called friends, your husband taehyung wishes you'd come home on time.

f!reader ⊹ non-idol, marriage au ⊹ big domestic fluff. small angst ⊹ it's corporate\mathematician!taehyung x astronomer!reader ⊹ 3.4k ⊹ footnote. this is a repost from my old account. so, if you read it you may recognize it. c:

꒰ 𝐌𝐃𝐍𝐈 ! ꒱

you’ll be the death of him. he’s absolutely certain of it.

he already has reservations about you going out for a ‘night on the town’ because you insist on grouping up with your mindless coworkers, but this entire ordeal solidifies for him that he does not like the friends you’ve found at your new interim job. 

they’re not good friends.

significantly younger than you and much less responsible, he’s happy you’re making friends, but he wishes it wasn’t with them. it shows very clearly in their behavior, their interests, and their complete disregard for the safety of both themselves and you. and taehyung understands. of course, he understands. you want friends and he wants you to have them as well, but not with people like them, no. not friends that allow you to drunkenly wander off and have the audacity to let the words ‘i don’t know’ slip so casually from their lips when your husband calls frantically asking where you are and why you won’t pick up your phone.

the two of you are new to this area and for some reason, taehyung can tell this move in particular weighs more heavily on you. it’s one of many but perhaps one too many. you sacrifice everything you know just to be with him and make your marriage function well without unbearable distance at play. although his work is successful, it does mean a lot of traveling for you both. a lot of traveling usually ends in a lot of moving and relocation. he’s already riddled with a pang of awful, unshakeable guilt as you both have, for the fourth time now, moved away in compliance with his job, forced to start all over again, but now he worries that this time, you’re not adjusting as well as you did previously. because taehyung seems to only get better at his job and he continues to receive promotion after promotion, rising through the ranks of the company he’s been with for years now with relative ease. it doesn’t come without consequence, though; success isn’t earned without sacrifice. it means he spends a grand amount of time submerged in his work. it means you’re always making new connections so you don’t have to be so alone, always carving out spaces for yourself to belong in the center of newness, only to abandon those efforts and move away with him again despite finally settling in. he can reason why you aren’t as picky about your friendship decisions as he’d like you to be. he tries to keep it all in mind. but these girls you call your new friends, they’re young, senseless, and they quite simply prioritize their pleasure over their principles. he knows this because he’s currently calling you for the twentieth time seething. it’s now going on half past midnight, but you’ve yet to stumble through the door or send any informative message regarding your whereabouts. to make matters worse, you’re only now answering his repeated calls and attempts to contact you. “oh my god, finally.” he gripes when you answer. frustration fills every layer of his voice. “angel, it’s after midnight. where the hell are you right now?” on the other side of the call, he’s greeted by your amused giggle. “hello to you, too, baby.” “angel,” he snaps in frustration. “it’s not funny. where are you? i talked to your so-called ‘friends’ and they have not a single clue where you are. did you know that? and know what else? your location is nowhere near where they said they are.” you sigh in his ear. “m’just looking for stars, wandering around this very lavish neighborhood.” and he knows. he already knew before you told him. he already knew before he called them exactly what you were doing. you and this god-awful habit of picking up your feet and letting them guide you wherever your curiosity is piqued is your personal brand. “we should’ve moved here.” you mumble. this is what you do so frequently, but it doesn’t stop the stress or the worry that always instantly bubbles up within him when it comes out of your mouth. “you’re wandering around the streets alone at midnight?!” his voice raises, incredulous. he’s in complete disbelief. “what happened to our mutual curfew? i’d like to remind you that this is exactly why we have this curfew, angel.”

yes, you both agree to keep the aimless explorations to a minimum. you both agree to be home together by a certain time each day. he agrees not to work past midnight. you agree not to walk around in the middle of nowhere past midnight. for some reason, only one of you is keeping their end of the agreement and it certainly isn’t you.  he hears you grumbling on the other line, static clinging to his ears as you shuffle your phone around. the noise is discomforting, but there’s nothing that’ll make him hang up this phone. it’s quite evident he’s now responsible for bringing you home safely even though they were supposed to do so. they abandoned the task without even making you aware. they simply forget about you and enjoy their night out. awful, horrible friends he never wants to hear you say you’re going out with again. that’s why he stayed up, why he waited. he knows he can’t trust them with you. not with you, not his precious angel. and you? god, you’re so full of all this love you endlessly funnel into stars and novelty and the hearts of others. all your eternally blooming tenderness. your softness is his favorite aspect of you, but you’re so damn forgiving — too forgiving — too good-natured to the point of naivety. you believe in so much wonder; you witness so much beauty. it’s hard for you not to look at others with the same fond and curious eyes. you’re warm-hearted, but you accept even the most unacceptable characteristics sometimes. your heart is made of honey and it shows in how willing you are to embrace even the worst in others. you always want to and choose to see the greatest attributes, highlighting and clinging to those even when it comes to your detriment.  it terrifies him, of course. he fears if he doesn’t keep a tight grasp on you, you’re liable to wander straight into the core of a danger he can’t save you from, quite happily and ignorantly at that. it’s the avid explorer in you, searching for acolytes in the form of astral advancement. everything is always discovery and possibility with you, never caution and peril. but it’s also how he’s come to love you more than anything else that dares to exist. because he’s spent so long keeping his eyes on you, watching your back, gripping your shoulders to catch your clumsy steps, taking care of you. being your safety net because he’s found that, over time, you’re the most precious thing he could ever be tasked with protecting. he’s spent all these years with you keeping you standing steady by his side. taehyung will never willingly allow any harm to come to you, not then, not now, and not ever. he lets you roam freely but he always follows shortly behind because if he lets you, you’ll go as far as your legs will allow. it’s been like this since high school, being adored by your humble shadow closing in on your every move. “oh,” he hears your murmur into the phone. “it is after midnight.” “yes,” taehyung emphasizes. “it’s after midnight, angel. you’re not here. you’re not with those girls. i’ve been fucking terrified. your location is fifteen minutes from them. how did that happen, baby? how?” “i…don’t know.” your voice is sheepish and surprised as if it’s only just dawning on you what you’re doing. “i was looking for constellations. but it’s so bright out here. and then i was just walking. i thought maybe i could catch a glimpse of venus in the sky from a darker area. it’s supposed to be visible tonight.” despite all his anger and concern, your revelation makes him melt inside. you really are his supernova girl. always staring at the sky and labeling star patterns with relentless intrigue, always pointing to the plethora of twinkles and detailing all the marvels he’s missing in all his own ignorance of their beauty. that’s why he works as hard as he does. astronomy, star exploration, star gazing, and planetary admiration — that’s all you care about at your core, aside from loving him.

it’s the totality of your passion and you need big telescopes for that kind of hobby with all kinds of unique attachments. he knows if you could, you would stay curled up on the balcony with one of your many, incredibly expensive telescopes, asking him if he sees the things you see for the rest of your days. he’d stay there with you. very happily. very willingly. with nothing else but his love, attention, and proximity to offer. he never does see those things like you, no. they’re merely bright little blips to him. he can never make out anything to distinguish them from one another, the distinctions forever lost on him, yet he always says yes and exaggerates how beautiful he believes all your findings to be. it’s because he loves the sight of you adoring. it’s all because your excitement shimmers in your eyes and you stare at the sky so fondly, your voice breathy with love as you explain how awestruck you feel about all that you’re able to observe in that infinite abysm above you. he isn’t surprised in the slightest that you managed to drunkenly wander away, entranced and guided by a path of brilliant, hot-blooded clusters of light. the frequency with which you leave him deeply concerned for your well-being just angers him. “did you see it?” he asks, voice softening and adoration taking the place of his previous harshness. he saunters toward the door, ready now. he grabs his keys with his phone still glued to his ear. he’ll keep you on this phone until he has you in his arms. if the call disconnects, kim taehyung is most assuredly going to have a conniption. “i did not.” you sadly inform him. “i forgot how much i dislike the city. so many artificial lights. they drown out all my favorite stars and planets.” the corner of his lips quirk. ever the countryside cutie. his work carries you to suburbs and the center of capital cities, but periodically you like to remind him that he can take you out of the country but he can’t take it out of you both. he knows you’ll follow him anywhere, though, so when you complain about missing the quiet, eternal sleepiness of your hometown, all he can do is smile.

꒰ you miss it for the view, but you practically begged him to take you with him out of that empty, nearly lifeless place. ꒱ it was drowning you in all its stillness, because you think you’re a planet, too, and you feel so smothered when unable to spin on your own axis or follow your own orbit. and he loves you so much he’ll take you anywhere as long as you want to go. he loves you so much he needs you to have all the room you require to aimlessly drift around in your little trichiliocosm for as long as you feel like. weightless. “being in the city is more exciting, yeah?” he asks as he slides into his car. “you say you don’t like it, but you’re always dragging me to things on my time off.” an insulted scoff. “i didn’t say the city was without its own excitements, just that i, personally, dislike how bright it is because it blocks my preferred view. i think that’s how i made it to this neighborhood, though. no lights here, really. the view is better. why didn’t we look into moving here?”

o god, his heart races in his chest. no lights? anyone can take you and they’ll be none the wiser. he keeps the call connected to this car so he can hear your voice while he drives and continuously verifies you’re safe until he makes it to you. he follows the gps directions of your pinned coordinates, praying that time will show him mercy and leave you untouched. he can’t believe you’re casually rambling around in the near-dead of the night — drunk — utterly vulnerable, and alone. not a care in your world, only celestial spheres and globular clusters on your mind.

so typical of you, so terrifying for him. “are you unhappy where we are, baby?” he asks, trying to swallow down his expanding fears.. he continues to prompt you with questions simply for the response, simply to know that you’re still on the other side, but it is a genuine inquiry. he wants to know if this move, in particular, is harder than the others. is the instability of it all getting to you? “i’ll never be unhappy if we’re together.” your voice is a delicate declaration coated in finality and genuine sentiment. it makes his stomach flutter wildly. it’s alarming how you still do this to him after all this time. he can’t deny the relief he feels to hear you say it, to hear you confirm you don’t regret choosing a life of following by his side. “we’ll always be together.” he promises. “the severity of which you’re stuck with me might seem like imprisonment to anyone else.” this makes you laugh, the dulcet sound he regards as a blessing. it’s one of his favorite things he’ll ever hear, your amusement. your giggle. your projections of pleasure in any fraction. it’s undeniably true that you’re, by far, his favorite thing to love. a soft confession. “i don’t mind being stuck with you.” “i wish you didn’t mind coming home on time.” he counters in an equally softened grumble. “no more going out with those girls. they don’t even know where you are right now and they’re not looking for you, baby, just so you’re well aware of why i’ve been panic-calling you for the last forty minutes.” you whine. “they’re my only friends here so far.” “and they’re content with allowing any old thing to happen to you. that’s not going to work for me, as your husband, and the man with strong stock invested in your existence. you being left to recklessly run along on your own like this directly conflicts with my desire for your safety to be maintained at all times. you know i adore you, angel, but you also know you’re a flight risk. you need safer people in your circle, not enablers.” he turns into the neighborhood you’re said to be walking around in, clenched muscles finally releasing. he feels himself start to relax knowing he’s close to you and soon he’ll have you engulfed in his arms as you should already be. he regrets letting you go out without more of a protest. he should have just gone, too. he knew they wouldn’t keep an eye on you and watch you well. “honey, that’s mean.” you groan. “i am safe. you don’t trust me to take care of myself?” he laughs at the sheer absurdity of your question. “not even a little bit, angel. it’s almost one am and i’m picking you up from an area you probably can’t even tell me the name of.” “well, what does that even matter? i’m fine!” he sees you then, stomping your foot on the corner of the cobblestone sidewalk like the brat that you’ve become because he lets you get away with everything, because you have him so completely tangled and wrapped around your finger. you have him preoccupied with mapping out a galaxy of constellations in the form of kisses along your body. he has to tighten his grip. he has to stop letting you talk him out of his frustration and into giving you whatever you desire.

꒰ he knows he probably won’t because he loves the way you cling to him when you get your way and he likes having you so close you’re both sharing breaths. so of course you’ll more than likely always have your way when he’s involved. ꒱

when he gets close enough, he puts the car in park instantly and unbuckles himself, tumbling out with haste to come to you. there’s no more anger, only gratitude to find you. he feels so goddamn grateful you aren’t hurt. “oh my god, baby.” he breathes, arms wrapping around you tightly when he sees you, an avalanche of relieved kisses falling over the crown of your head falling over you. “i was so worried about you. don’t you ever do this again. ever.”

he can’t let you go. he squeezes you tightly, holding you to his chest where he knows you’re safest, where he knows you’re loved because it’s the same place his mountain of devotion for you stands. something inside told him to wait up for you, wait until he come strolling through the door, singing your most ardently to alert him. your arms slide around his torso, gripping the fabric of his shirt as you nuzzle your nose into the space between his neck and collarbone. taehyung clings to you tighter; he needs to feel you more than ever. “you scared me to fucking death.” his voice is overflowing with all of his accumulated concern despite being a near-whisper. “i can’t believe you got this far this time, angel.” your voice is bashful and embarrassed as you respond. “m’sorry, hyungie. i got a little adventurous tonight, huh? i should have called you or answered earlier.” distressed palms cradle your cheeks, fretful almond eyes peer into you. “this is why i keep your location on at all times and freak out when it gets turned off. you do nothing but make me worry about you when you start wandering.” you sigh, disappointment evident. “i was just trying to have a good time, baby. i haven’t been out in a while.” he bites his lip nervously. there they are again, the painfully sharp pangs of guilt that materialize whenever he’s reminded he works so hard to give you every single thing you want, but all you ever want is his time and attention, the two things he doesn’t have an abundance of as his career expands. but he can’t be lazy with you. he won’t be. he’s your husband. and love, good love, is willingness; love is labor. he signed up for a lifetime of putting forth his all for you so the life you choose to keep with him is one you enjoy and don’t have doubts about.

taehyung takes his role as a husband very seriously. he’s a man who loves the ground you walk on, worships it even. he’s a man that chases your laughter. he’s a man that craves being loved by you. “ah, i know. i’m sorry, angel.” a kiss to your forehead. “i know we moved here and i’ve been so busy that i haven’t really taken you out much and i complain when you try to drag me out. i know you’re just trying to get to know the area and make friends. i’ll treat you better.” you pull back, looking over him. he observes you all the same, capturing the way moonlight reflects in the pool of your eyes within his mind to keep forever because when you’re cradled by the moonlight, it seems intentional. like the night is choosing you. like the ether above gazes at you just as frequently and lovingly as you do it. his warm hand caresses your cheek, adoring you in every way fathomable. even when you make him nearly combust into a supernova of distress. “i’ll do better, baby. i’ll make more time for you. i promise. i love you.” he declares, leaning to place a ginger kiss on your smooth lips. “let’s go home. i don’t care how hot my body gets tonight. you better not even try to get out of my hold.” his remark makes you release an obnoxiously elongated whine that elicits laughter of his own. “you’re a furnace at night. you know you’re only allowed fifteen minutes of pre-sleep snuggling. don’t try to use my mistake as a segue to perpetuate my misery.” he snorts, tugging you closer. “you should have thought about your sleep comfort before you gave me a heart attack.” your eyes narrow. “you know. this is exactly why i prefer my telescopes to you.”

⟢ tags. ꒰ babes from my initial post ꒱ @taehyungcentral @dollsuguru @pupkashi @catchuuu.

series masterlist. ꒰ tba ꒱

© 2024 elusivemoon. all rights reserved.

#𖥨. ݁ 𝐛𝐲 𝒗𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒌 ꒱ ֺ🩰ৎ #taehyung x reader #kim taehyung #taehyung #taehyung fluff #kim taehyung x reader #kim taehyung fic #taehyung fanfic #taehyung angst #taehyung imagine #v bts #bts v #v x reader #v x you #bts fluff #bts fic #bts x reader #bts taehyung #bts taehyung x reader #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #taehyung x you #taehyung x y/n #taehyung scenarios

[byanyan]

@lee-sol sent:ㅤgraduation season is upon them, and naturally, as one normal teenager would, he’s got a lot on his mind. and whenever he has a lot on his mind, he tends to avoid it, by focusing on other important tasks, anything he can do to keep himself from thinking. conveniently(?), he still has tons of homework to finish, thanks to the teachers cold enough to give homework towards the end of the year. for the most part, distracting himself is working, but something’s still at the forefront of his mind. he has a feeling that it won’t leave his mind until he addresses what’s on his mind, and this seems like the perfect time to bring it up, when his attention is on something else, rather than on them entirely. he anxiously taps his pencil against his the desk, trying to find the right words to say. and after drawing so many blanks, the words finally just slip out of his mouth. better to get it over with, rather than think about it much longer. “ i’m moving out of here soon, i started looking at apartments a few weeks ago. ” it seems like really important information to keep from them, but he hadn’t known how to bring it up until now. “ before you uh— jump to any conclusions, the ones i’ve been looking at are still in the area, just near the local college, so i wouldn’t be moving too far away. i’d feel weird not having my sisters nearby. ” there’s a reason they’re not included in the list, he’s just beating around the bush, overtaken by a sudden wave of nervousness. “ and i was wondering… if you’d like to move in with me? i’ve been setting aside funds from the odd jobs i worked as a kid, when i had extra cash leftover from paying for all the necessities, and i get paid really well at work, from what my boss pays me, and from the tips i get, so i’m not too worried about rent. ” there’s a pause, he has to take a deep breath to keep his nerves at bay. “ and uh— you’re almost always here, anyways. so, i feel like our relationship is at that level where moving in together just feels… right. ” the tapping of his pencil finally comes to a halt, that initial nervousness is gone, and some weight has been lifted off his chest, but he knows there’s still more to say. “ i don’t expect you to have an answer right away, i’ve just— been figuring out how to ask you for awhile now, and since graduation’s coming up soon, now seems like the right time to ask. ”

ㅤpen scratches across lined paper in quick yet idle strokes, though rather than words being formed by the ink left behind, it's a doodle. having long ago lost interest in the homework they're supposed to be finishing, they've taken instead to drawing a cute, rather angular cat with a mischievous look in its eyes. enveloped in their own little world as they are, byan takes no notice of the anxious tapping of sol's pencil until he speaks, breaking the otherwise quiet atmosphere of the room.

blinking in surprise at the words which come from seemingly nowhere, their sketching ceases. attention shifting over to where their boyfriend sits, still staring down at his own school work, they finally take notice of the way his pencil bounces off the desk's surface. he's nervous. this isn't unfamiliar, it's the way he's approached a lot of big, often important conversations in the past — he has an easier time talking about things if he can half-focus on something else, if he doesn't have to look them in the eyes or watch their reaction to what he says. it's not something that's ever bothered them, but they can't help but wonder why him moving out of his family's home is one of these kinds of conversation.

fortunately, before their mind can jump to any conclusions like 'oh god, he's moving to another city' or 'he's breaking up with me, isn't he,' sol stops that train of thought in its tracks. relieved when they're assured that he's not going far, byan releases the breath they hadn't realized they've been holding.

ㅤㅤ—and then he keeps talking.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ'i was wondering… if you’d like to move in with me?'

it's a question they're not expecting. one they're not prepared for. it catches them by surprise, catches them utterly off guard, so much so that they almost don't hear anything else that comes after it. ...move in with him? he... wants to live with them? while it's true that they're already here most of the time, having practically invited themself to live in his room, there's something very different about being asked if they'd move in with him. about being asked to join him in a place that would be both of theirs, and no one else's. it's... not the sort of thing they've ever thought someone would suggest to them. not the sort of thing they've ever thought someone could possibly want to do with them, of all people.

the funny thing is... housing is something they've been trying to figure out for the last few weeks, too. with graduation approaching so quickly, and their eighteenth birthday following it at the end of june, they've been reminded more and more insistently that they'll be out of the group home after that, whether they find somewhere to live or not. it's not something they've shared with sol, not wanting to worry him or have him ask his family if it's okay for them to stay here out of pity, or anything like that. they've always been able to figure things out on their own, to make things work without anyone's help, and this wouldn't be any different. thus far, however, the only options they've managed to work out are applying for a dorm at the college, which for all they know it might already be too late for, or moving the last of their things out of the group home to join the rest of their belongings here and at lena's while they continue to crash on couches and in sol's bed.

this question, though... it kind of changes everything. and sol doesn't even realize it.

ㅤㅤ" ...okay. "

sol's only barely finished speaking, explaining that they don't need to answer right away, and the response escapes past their lips before they can stop it, preventing them from thinking about it too much. keeping them from saying no due to their own stubborn pride, over not wanting to become too dependent on him and have him spending all his savings on them. he's moving into his own place regardless of whether they go with him, right? he'd be spending the money whether they're there or not. there's no reason to let their pride get in the way. moving in with sol, living with him for real... coming home to him every night, waking up next to him every morning in a place they can both call their own... they want that. it actually surprises them how much they want it.

ㅤthey agree; the more they think about it, moving in together... it does feel right.

ㅤㅤ" okay. yeah, "ㅤthey continue a moment later with a nod, their voice sounding more sure this time, albeit perhaps a bit more casual than it should when it comes to such a significant step forward in their relationship. gaze dropping back to their notebook, to the sketch marking the corner of the page, byan pulls their lip ring between their teeth, the only real sign of their own nerves. doing so also helps them to bite back the smile that twitches at the corners of their mouth, threatening to spread wide across their lips.

ㅤㅤ" let's do it. i'd... yeah. i'd like that. "

#lee-sol #━━ ˟ ⊰ ✰ answered: ic ⋮ i am a vulture that feeds on pain. #━━ ˟ ⊰ ✰ verse: modern ⋮ come on up / bring the pain. #i'm still crying over this ajkhfds it's so cute #byan's just like 'if i act like it's no big deal that makes it easier for both of us right' #poor sol's nervously rambling off in paragraphs and byan's just like 'ok'