#and i even KNEW it was coming. i read the novel beforehand. and even before that i got spoilered by a classmate (still mad about it)

[robinsnest2111]

thinking about Thorin and Bilbo, remembering Battle of the Five Armies and how that movie fucking destroyed me at the theater, had me trapped in an hour long crying and sobbing hellscape, tears and snot running down my face after it ended

#even just remembering them and how it all ended is making me tear up again lmao #never gonna be over their tragic end NEVER #looking back it's kinda funny how i was the guardian person at 18 for all my other friends who hadn't turned 18 yet #so we could all watch the evening showing at the theater without getting into legal trouble for staying out too late #but i was the one who needed to be hugged and patted on the head and comforted because one part of my otp died #and i even KNEW it was coming. i read the novel beforehand. and even before that i got spoilered by a classmate (still mad about it) #like i KNEW there would be death but it still hurt my fragile little bagginshield shipper heart lmao #can't believe that it's been almost a decade now

[yumeka-sxf]

Thoughts on Spy x Family CODE: White

My thoughts on CODE: White will likely be different from most people since I knew pretty much the entire plot beforehand. I'm a spoiler fiend when it comes to my hyperfixations like SxF, so I read the novelization of the movie back in January and kept up on all the promotional videos and images that were released. But when it was finally time to see the movie for myself, did that ruin my enjoyment? Not at all. For me, it actually made me enjoy it more because 1) I knew what to expect so I wasn't disappointed, and 2) I found myself looking forward to seeing all the scenes I only read about or saw short clips of.

With that said, yes, I enjoyed the movie so much! If you're a Spy x Family fan, or even just a casual enjoyer of the series, it's a ton of fun. It has all the elements we love about the series: clever humor, sweet family moments, and spy action/drama. And because it's a movie, we get to see all of this with a movie animation budget instead of a TV series budget, which is another plus!

One thing to keep in mind with these original, stand-alone anime films based on series is that they're meant for a more general crowd than just fans of the series. Since theaters attract a wider audience than late-night TV and online manga chapters, movies like this serve as a means to introduce the series to people who may only have a vague idea of what it's about. That's why these movies contain a storyline that can fit mostly anywhere in the series chronology and don't have anything canon-altering.

CODE: White is an interesting mix of plots that, for the most part, blend together well. There's the main plot that continues throughout, which is saving Operation Strix by having Anya learn how to make the meremere for the cooking contest, but then there's the Yor jealousy plot B which is resolved in the first half, but is then replaced by the next "plot B" in the latter half of the movie, which is saving Anya from the military.

A lot of people didn't like the "Yor gets jealous" subplot when it was first revealed before the movie even came out, since it seemed to be a rehash of her being jealous about Fiona. I personally didn't have a problem with this since I don't think it's unreasonable for her to get jealous a second time, especially when she thinks she sees Loid doing something extreme like kissing another woman (as opposed to just talking). But the way it was resolved could have been a bit better in my opinion. The ferris wheel scene in the movie very much mirrored the bar scene from the series, but the reason the latter is so effective is because we get to hear Loid's inner thoughts during it; we know he's going full Twilight-mode and isn't being sincere, and that's why Yor kicks him. But then at the park, he talks to her much more genuinely and they work things out. But in the ferris wheel scene, we don't get to hear his inner thoughts so we don't get any indication as to whether his repeating of the marriage vows, etc, is him being sincere or not. Then she smacks him, they insist they aren't fighting when Anya brings it up, and that's the end of it.

I do like the fact that Anya reads their minds and seems happy with what she "hears" in their heads, but I still think the subplot would have felt more complete if it ended after Yor realized her mistake rather than have Loid do the ambiguous Romeo act again. Or it could have been brought up one more time later in the movie, for example, Yor apologizes for hitting him, he talks to her more sincerely, etc. If you're gonna rehash the bar scene, at least rehash the scene that brought it closure, which is the park bench scene. Again, I'm totally fine with the jealously subplot overall, just thought it could have been wrapped up a bit better.

Other than that, there were just a few little issues I had, like how was Anya able to afford what was probably an expensive liquor? (was she really packing that much dough in her little bag? She went straight from the bedroom out the window so it's not like she "borrowed" any money from Loid). Also seemed weird that she didn't pick up on Yor's infidelity worries until last minute. A few things stretched the line of believability a bit far too, like Loid's ability to make perfect masks so quickly, and Anya just happening to hit her head on the button that conveniently opened all the windows on the bridge. Also something here and there that didn't align with the manga, like Yor not having any reaction to sharing a room with Loid, whereas she has a totally different reaction to this in chapter 94. Maybe a bit more resolution for the fates of the villains too. I guess Luca and Dmitri survived the crash, but what about Snidel? Did Loid actually kill him or just knock him out? And if it's the latter, Snidel seems like the type who would want to get revenge. A quick cameo of what happened to them in the end would have been nice.

Speaking of the villains, normally I wouldn't like the fact that they're pretty one-dimensional and not that interesting, but for a movie like this where most people just want to see the Forgers being themselves in fun and exciting scenarios, taking time away from that to make more developed villains who likely won't be seen again in the franchise, would have not been the best choice, lol.

But even though I had some criticisms of the movie, all of them are minor and not enough to overshadow everything else that was enjoyable about it. Besides all the humor, of which there was plenty, there were so many cute "awww" family moments that perhaps didn't lend anything to the plot, but were still important to establish the characters and their relationships, and thus make us care about what happens to them. Like the scene of Anya, Yor, and Bond playing at the hotel...it could have been skipped without anything seeming out of place, but it reveals so much about the characters without being blatant about it: how Yor wants to please Anya despite being a bit embarrassed at first to take part in her game, and then how Anya's eyes light up with happiness when Yor starts playing with her...for a series like SxF that's character-driven rather than plot-driven, scenes like this are so important and I'm glad the film creators realized this too!

There were also so many cute, subtle scenes as well, like when Loid and Yor smile at each other after chiding Anya, as if they're happy to share this moment of exhausting yet satisfying parenting; when Anya reads Loid's mind after he saves her but doesn't reveal what he's actually thinking yet we can imagine what it is based on her expression; Loid showing feelings of comradery with the restaurant owner because their pasts are so similar; Anya quietly and sadly hugging Bond in the bedroom; and in the ferris wheel after Yor feels so embarrassed about misunderstanding what happened with Loid and the woman but then can't help but smile with motherly love when she sees Anya waving at her...the movie is filled with moments like this that are like little love letters to fans who know the true heart of SxF isn't so much the action and spy drama as it is the family relationships.

And of course, as I mentioned before, the animation of the movie is fantastic! Not just the action scenes, which are great by the way, especially Yor's fight with Type F, but the character expressions as well. Anya's always had the most varied and hilarious faces of all the characters, but the movie goes even harder with her expressions, especially when she has to hold in her stool! Her faces were making me both cringe and laugh at the same time! The animators did such a good job making me feel sorry for her but also laugh at her.

I'm not a fan of potty humor, but I was confident SxF would make it funny, and I was right! The poop god sequence in particular was as equally cringe as it was hilarious!

To conclude, CODE: White is a must-see for anyone who likes or loves Spy x Family. I can't say it's a cinematic masterpiece or anything, but for what it's supposed to be - a fun and enjoyable film for those who like the series, it definitely delivers! Can't wait to see it at least two more times during its showing in the US...and more times in the future!

#spy x family #sxf #spy family #spyxfamily #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #bond forger #sxf code white #spy x family code white #sxf movie spoilers #sxf movie #sxf spoilers #sxf manga spoilers

[r0mantic-f00l]

(sooo finally did it, sorry for posting late! just a fair warning, this is super sad, so read with discretion. also not proof read)

Just a Man

Sirius Black was pathetic.

Nothing more than a man who found delight in people's suffering.

In your suffering.

So you ended it with him. You did not know how, did not know where the strength and courage came from to put yourself first, yet you did know that the infatuation, the excitement that Sirius Black was, it faded. Like a mere illusion.

It was as if you woke up one day from a dream, or was it a nightmare? Is it possible for an experience to be both?

Every connection with him was cut off. You no longer talked to his friends, no longer possessed his shirts and vinyl albums and jewelry he had gifted you. You put it all in a box and left it outside his door.

It sounds as if it was easy, just leaving him in a heartbeat. Not loving him anymore. It was not easy, no. It was a battle. A battle with him, yes, because he refused to let go. But a battle with your heart too, because it refused to let go of him. Hope still lingered that perhaps all those things he would whisper to you in the midst of lust or drunkeness were true, were statements that he meant deeply.

You knew he didn't.

That's why you left.

But he couldn't leave you.

That is why Sirius Black was pathetic.

-♡-

The glow of the streetlight near to your apartment slid through the cracks of your window's blinds whilst you lied on your bed, reading a book that you had only begun a couple days beforehand.

Ticking of the clock that rested on your bedside table would distract you from your reading, reminding you that it was nearing midnight and you needed to get sufficient rest to make sure you would wake up the next day early enough to do everything you wanted to do.

However, the book was too captivating.

A knock on the door, followed by the shouting of your name finally dragged you away from the novel.

You knew who it was.

You hoped it wasn't him.

But you knew it would be.

You walked out of your bedroom and into the living room, where your front door was being abused by a repeated knocking.

Exasperated, you unlocked it and only opened the door by a smidge, a little crack showing two familiar faces.

Peter Pettigrew, holding up Sirius like a broken doll.

"No." You protested before Peter could even utter out a word.

The man sighed as he begged you silently with his eyes to listen to him whilst Sirius swayed where he stood.

"He keeps shouting your name."

"So?"

Peter scoffed.

"So he wants to talk to you, and he won't rest until he does."

"This is the fourth time this month, Peter." You spoke through gritted teeth, your patience running very thin.

"And it won't happen again. Promise."

It was an empty promise. Of course it was. Any promise made on Sirius' behalf always failed to come to fruition.

Yet before you could say anything further, Sirius murmured your name with his head hung low, seemingly too inebriated to recognise the door in front of him.

"I can't do this again, Peter. I want to move on." Subconsciously, you opened the door a bit further, the creaking noise gathering the attention of Sirius, who rose his head and widened his eyes when he saw your face.

He smiled widely, drunkenly, and cheered your name as if you were the answer to his prayers.

"I'll pick him up in the morning." Peter rushed his words out and left, making Sirius stumble in his footing and instead balance on the wall beside him, leaning against it as he grinned at you.

You sighed and fully opened the door, wrapping your arm around Sirius' back as you helped walk him into your apartment.

"Hello, my love." He murmured into your ear, the smell of vodka and cheap beer wafting into your nose as he leaned down to you.

You scowled and dropped him on your sofa, going to walk away to the kitchen to get him a drink of water before he held tightly onto your wrist.

"Where are you going?" Sirius pouted, like a spoilt child.

"Kitchen. Need to get you some water." You replied simply, and walked away when Sirius begrudgingly let go of your wrist.

The trinkle of water into the glass was not loud enough to cover Sirius' shouting as you stood by the sink, sighing as he spoke.

"Y-You would never beli-believed what happened to me tonight." Sirius slurred, turning around on the couch to face the kitchen.

"This girl, some random girl, came up to me and started- just started flirting!" He gasped out, shocked for some reason whilst you walked towards him with a glass in your hand.

"So, so I told her I have a girlfriend--"

"You don't have a girlfriend, Sirius." You placed the glass of water down in front of him and walked behind the couch.

The man grinned and rolled his head back, gazing at you with that typical arrogant, dangerous look.

"Yeah, but, I will do."

Your eyebrows furrowed as you crossed your arms.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Sirius leaned forward and took a sip of his water, humming as he drank it, and placed it back down as he turned to face you.

"Well, whatever thing you're going through now, you-you'll snap out of it soon." He smiled and ran his hand through his hair.

"And we'll be back together like nothing happened."

You scoffed and walked away from him, tired of his naivety.

"No, we won't."

Sirius chuckled and stood up from the couch, following after you.

"Hey, where you going, darling?"

"I'm not your darling!" You snapped, turning around to face him.

Rage filled your bones with the energy of your broken heart as you stared at Sirius, who only appeared perplexed, as if your reaction was unwarranted.

"I'm not your love, I'm not your girlfriend, I'm not your safety net to fall back on whenever you're bored and desperate and alone." You stepped towards him, watching as his eyes became clearer and his back straighter.

"I will never be any of those things ever again, because I don't love you anymore."

That hit something within him, Sirius appearing to become sober and shocked. And finally hurt by you. Finally he knew the feeling of rejection, of not being good enough.

"Y-you don't love me?"

You shook your head, willing away the tears building up in your eyes as Sirius' hands lifted to hold your face, but then staying in the air as if they did not know where to go anymore.

"I don't love you. Not anymore. Now that I know you're nothing special."

Perhaps that was too far, too cruel, but you wanted him to experience the same feelings you felt whenever he would complain about you to his friends, whenever he would flirt with other girls, whenever he would ignore you like you meant nothing to him.

You could see in his eyes that his would crumbled, could hear the shattering of his heart as he stumbled back.

"But you... you don't mean that." Sirius sniffed, chuckling dejectedly as he stated into your eyes. He half-expected you to laugh and say it was all a joke, or to beg for his forgiveness and hold him in your arms until the morning.

After all, he only came to your apartment for your warm and familiar embrace. An embrace that made him feel safe and loved.

"I do mean it. I've never meant anything more. I don't love you, and I want you to go."

Sirius shook his head, a tear slipping from his eye.

"No."

"Sirius, leave."

A sob broke out of him before he knelt on the ground before you and hugged your body, clinging desperately onto you as he cried.

"No, I don't want to leave, I-I..." He couldn't form words properly, sobbing with the overwhelming emotions of sadness overtook him.

"I can't leave you."

You shut your eyes, holding your head up as you fought the strong urge to sink to the floor and kiss away his tears.

"Please, Sirius. If you... if you feel anything towards me at all, please go away."

The man turned silent, his hold on your body slipping away slowly as he remained knelt on the floor.

The sight reminded you that he wasn't a saint, a god, a dreamer with the purpose of putting a little excitement into your life.

He was just a man. Nothing more. Nothing special.

Sirius stood up, his cheeks wet and his eyes red whilst he avoided looking at you.

He nodded, appearing to respect your wish as he began to walk away.

He took slow steps towards the door, leaving you frozen in place as you watched him walk away.

Before he opened the door, before he could go away for good, he turned back to you.

"I'm sorry."

Then the door opened, and shut.

And you cried.

You did not know why, perhaps it was the overwhelming emotions of relief and misery and love that made you crumble and cry, yet you did know that with every tear, every smile, every laugh and every frown; none of it would be as strong as it was with him.

-♡-

#marauders #marauders era #sirius black #sirius black x reader #angst #angst with no comfort #toxic relationship #Spotify

[peppermintsparker]

it's always been you

summary -- the one where peter parker realises how badly he's messed up. cue a heart to heart with aunt may, a heartbreak and a love confession warnings -- mentions parental death (gwens dad), minor explicit language, little bit of angst and mostly fluff authors note -- this is a part two to this fic so please read that beforehand!!!

Peter Parker cannot believe how badly he had messed up. Really, if someone had tried to bestow the ‘worst person in the world’ award upon him, he wouldn’t even think to turn it down; he knows he deserves it more than anyone else possibly could. Not only had his selfishness caused Gwen to lose her father, he had also lost you. His best friend, the other half of him. The biggest and brightest part of him.

There’s a lot of things that he knows to be true: Aunt May is the best cook, grass is green, Flash Thompson is a grade A asshole. And that you are, without a doubt, the most important person in the world to him. Peter knows he loves you, more than he should love a best friend really, and he knows that losing you would be the catalyst to his downfall.

And, Peter Parker absolutely does not want to live in a world without you. Only, now he sort of is living in a world without you. He knows that he has to make it right, and he has to fix what he’s broken. Only, he’s not quite sure how he is supposed to fix something that he doesn’t know can be fixed; that’s where May Parker, the wisest woman he’s ever known, comes in.

“Y/n told me that she loves me,” Peter confesses over dinner, five days later. There’s an air of nonchalance about him that he knows will likely drive Aunt May crazy, but he needs to get through this conversation first. “I went to go see her, after Gwen’s father died. She cried, and I apologised and told her that I had kissed Gwen. When she told me that she loved me, she told me that she knew I was a boy that would never be hers.”

May looks rightfully perplexed, trying to figure out what the right thing to say in this situation would be. “How do you feel about Gwen?” She asks; a question Peter’s not sure that he knows the answer to. Though, he sort of does know the answer deep down; she’s pretty, and smart, and sweet. Gwen Stacey would totally be his type if he wasn’t in love with you.

When Peter fails to answer, May knows that it’s time to try a different approach. “Okay, picture this: you’ve graduated from school with a doctorate in mechanical engineering and now you’re working in a lab. It’s a Friday evening and it’s been a busy week and at the end of the day, you drive home. Who, and what, are you driving home to?”

It’s quiet in the kitchen as Peter thinks about it, trying to envision where he is in the future. He knows that if Gwen had asked him this question, he’d have to say it’s her. But when it’s May Parker asking, the answer feels like it could be different. And it makes him feel guilty, like he’s leading Gwen on. But it’s you, Peter thinks, it’s always been you.

“It’s Y/n,” Peter answers when dinner has long been over. May is sitting on the couch, watching a movie on the television when Peter comes to interrupt her downtime. “I’ll come home from the lab, and I’ll be tired from a long week. And, Y/n will be sitting at the kitchen table, music playing in the background, maybe from the radio or Spotify, whilst she works on her novel. Maybe we have a dog or cat, but there will be several loose pages in front of her. She’s editing, and looks tired, but still so beautiful. She saves her work, gets up to kiss me. And all the tiredness and stress just dissipates, melts away. Because I’m home. And, it’s Y/n. It’s always been Y/n.”

May smiles at him so brightly that Peter thinks that it could power New York City forever. And, he knows that he’ll have to break Gwen’s heart in order to love his best friend the way that he wants to. “Go, Peter,” May tells him, the movie forgotten about now. She doesn’t mind, she’s seen it before and her nephew needs her attention the most right now. “You have to talk to Gwen, and Y/n.”

“I can’t, May. I can’t.” Peter knows that he sounds desperate, and that there’s only so much his Aunt May can help him with. But, maybe it’ll be enough anyway. “I can’t break Gwen’s heart, not when she’s lost her dad. But Y/n is everything to me, and I don’t want to live in a world where she isn’t mine.”

“I know that Gwen has lost her father, and that is a hurt she will feel forever,” May pauses for a second, trying to gather her emotions as she thinks about Ben, and how grief is a hurt that is always felt. “But not telling her? Peter, that is going to make her feel worse. Gwen deserves better than you pretending to love her. And, she will move on and she’ll find the one for her. And in ten, or twenty, years time, she might even be grateful to you.”

Peter nods, moving to press a kiss to his aunt’s forehead before rushing to grab his skateboard from where he’d dumped it in the entrance way. He’s quick as he skateboards through the city streets, avoiding getting hit by the traffic. One knock, two knocks, three knocks before Gwen opens the door. “Peter!” Gwen exclaims, voice full of surprise. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today, you wanna come in?”

“No I, uh-” Peter pauses, trying to come up with the right words. He hates that he’s about to break Gwen’s heart, but he knows that it’s necessary for the sake of love. A deep breath before, “no, sorry. I’m not staying long. I feel like such an ass for telling you this but I can’t not tell the truth and I really am so sorry for the loss of your father and I know this isn’t a great time but Y/n told me that she loves me and I left without saying anything because I’m with you. Only, I love her. Like, a lot. And, it’s Y/n, you know? It’s always been her.”

“I know.” Gwen smiles, and Peter’s not entirely sure what to think. And, Gwen must sense the boy's confusion because, “I know it’s always been Y/n for you. The two of you have been best friends for twelve years now and I see the way that you look at her. You look at Y/n like she strung all the stars in the night sky. I won’t lie and say I’m not upset by this, because I am. But you love her. So please, Peter, go and tell her okay? I’ll be okay.”

Peter’s quick to press a kiss to Gwen’s forehead, “I love you.” He’s honest, and earnest, and even though Peter doesn’t mean it in the romantic way, it still warms Gwen’s heart to hear him say the words. “I know it’s not in the way you want me to mean it, and I’m sorry that it’ll never be you. But I love you, Gwen Stacy. And, goodbye.”

In the blink of an eye, Peter is already skateboarding back home, stopping at your house with a hopeful smile on his face. Your bedroom window is open, and Peter can hear your music playing and the sound of you typing on your keyboard and oh – how it fills his heart with joy to hear the familiar sounds of the Peter + Y/n playlist. Skateboard abandoned in a bush, he climbs up the trellis until he’s leaning against your windowsill. “Hey, you.”

You jump, whirling around on your desk chair to see the boy you’ve loved your entire life. It’s a fresh sort of pain, and you can’t help but wonder why he’s practically hanging off your windowsill. “Get in here, idiot,” you shake your head at his foolishness. Peter does so, sitting on your bed to look at you. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you meant to be with Gwen?”

“I told Gwen I don’t love her,” Peter starts, trying not to laugh at the look of pure shock and disbelief on your face. “Well, I did tell her I love her but not in the way she wants me to love her. Not in the way that I love you. Because, I do love you. I don’t know when I started loving you but I shouldn’t have left that night. I should have said it back, but-”

“Gwen.” You finished for him, and Peter just nods. Truth be told, you’re not sure what there is left to say to Peter. Everything you wanted to say, you had already said so there wasn’t much else left to say. You turn away from him, and Peter worries that he’s blown it so he hangs his head in dejection whilst you save the document you’d been working on.

“Tell me again.” You practically demand, whirling back around on your chair. You don’t know why you’re so desperate to hear him say those three magic words again; maybe it’s because you’re not entirely sure it’s real. “I need you to tell me again. Please.”

And Peter does, with a softness that could put the finest of wools to shame, three words delicately weaved together with the finest of red threads; connecting the two of you in an everlasting love that you’ve only dreamt about. “I love you. I loved you at ten years old when you finally learnt to tie your own shoelaces, I loved you at thirteen when I comforted you through your first heartbreak. I loved you at fourteen, when we were each other's first kiss. I loved you at sixteen. And I’m standing before you aged eighteen years old, and I love you.”

And this, you knew for sure: Peter Parker would always be part of you. He would always be yours.

#tasm!peter parker x reader #tasm!peter parker x you #tasm!peter parker fluff #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #tasm!peter parker #the amazing spiderman x reader #the amazing spiderman x you #the amazing spiderman fluff #the amazing spiderman #peach writes

[esta-elavaris]

Flufftober Day 27: Outdoor Event ~ Cullen Rutherford/F!Inquisitor [1,526 words]

My Flufftober '23 masterpost can be found here 💜✨

Evelyn’s sense of satisfaction over just how nicely they’d managed to clean up Skyhold was dampened around the exact moment Josephine deemed it good enough to throw its first ever soiree. But her arguments that the roof could, and absolutely would, cave in any minute now fell on deaf ears – especially when Josephine informed her that what she had planned would take place in the gardens, anyway. Cullen’s dry addition that he wasn’t sure the sky was too structurally sound either, however, did draw a laugh out of her – which, in turn, drew a smirk from him when Josephine’s back was turned.

Ever since her near-death experience back at Haven, he’d been more…warm with her. Not that he’d been cold beforehand, just more tentative. That one night had shown them that there was little time for that, and the result was that they were driving everybody in the castle mad with whatever was blossoming between them. For they could not rush this, either.

In the end, Josephine proved a formidable opponent, and Evelyn found herself trapped in the gardens one brilliant summer day, decked out in a gown of white lace with an entire greenhouse’s worth of roses atop her head. She had to admit the finished effect was rather fine. And that opinion was reinforced when Cullen entered the gardens, caught sight of her, and stopped short in the doorway, staring as though stunned into stillness. He only moved when one of the guests stuck in the hallway behind him complained – and even then, he only looked away long enough to side-step his way into the garden without bumping into anybody before those golden-brown eyes of his were once again fixed on her.

She smiled, although she couldn’t do so too smugly, for he was not the only one staring. While Evelyn had been privy to the argument between he and Josephine as to whether he could wear his armour to this thing – and Josephine’s adamant insistence that if he did, it would have all of the guests worried that he suspected another attack from Corypheus was eminent – she never could have guessed that he’d come like this. Like…like one of the heroes from the novels Cassandra thought none knew she read.

Garbed in a dazzling crimson coat, a slightly darker gold-embroidered waistcoat beneath which covered all but the collar of the white linen shirt beneath, and dark brown breeches and boots, had she not known him, Evelyn wouldn’t have questioned it if she’d been told he was a neighbouring prince or king or some such thing. Although given her experience with nobles and royals, she was rather glad he was not. Even if the King of Ferelden had eventually written to apologise for his foul mood at Redcliffe.

“See something you like, Inquisitor?”

Sometime during their staring contest, Varric had materialised at her side and was now offering her a very self-satisfied smirk. She started, and then recovered quickly, looking away and snorting.

“Shut up.”

“Now you sound like the Seeker. I have to say, I do feel like your beau stole my look.”

“Not enough chest on display for that, I think.”

“Much to your devastation, I’m sure,” Varric teased.

“Did you need something, Varric, or did you just come to poke your nose into my personal life?”

“The latter,” he admitted happily. “I was going to ask if either you or Curly had made a move yet.”

“Excuse me?”

They hadn’t – neither of them. In Evelyn’s case, it was because she was the Inquisitor, and that technically made her Cullen’s boss. It would be inappropriate if she…well. And he hadn’t because…well, she didn’t know why. But she was sure he had a very good reason.

“I’m curious.”

“Varric, if you’re writing a book about us, I swear-”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “Listen…there may or may not be gold on the matter.”

“On whether we’ll-”

“On when. There’s no if about it.”

“You’re betting on us?”

“Only within your inner circle – you have my word that beyond it, we’re all very professional and we dutifully pretend we have no idea what all of the talk is about.”

Evelyn groaned. “Who? You, obviously. Sera, I’m guessing. Probably Dorian, too, because he’s been very curious lately. Are there any others?”

“Just one.”

“Bull?”

“Nah, he won’t have anything to do with it. Unprofessional, unfair advantage, the whole deal. Although he did hint that he’d be open to advising bets if we sweetened the deal.”

“Blackwall?” she guessed.

“Please, he’d fall on his sword before he speculated on the infallible Inquisitor’s love life,” he shook his head, as if disappointed in her thinking.

“Who, then?”

“I think answering would put my life on the line.”

Only two people in Skyhold could have him saying such a thing, and Cassandra would never involve herself in something like this.

“Not Leliana?” she stared in disbelief.

The dwarf grinned.

“She had none of Bull’s qualms about unfair advantages. We had to add the condition that she wouldn’t use anything her spies saw or heard, but she still sees everything the rest of us don’t when that War Room door closes behind you.”

“Yes, because that’s the perfect setting for us to start stripping off,” she responded drily. “Leliana and Josephine could spectate. Offer constructive criticism – that sort of thing.”

“Now you really are giving me ideas for a book.”

“Varric.”

“I’m only teasing, Inquisitor. It’s good, you know. Seeing you get caught up in something not all about death, demons, and the end of the world for once.”

His tone took on such a tone of sincerity at the end that she found herself stunned into speechlessness – until finally, she breathed a quiet laugh and nodded.

“It is nice,” she admitted, albeit very quietly.

Even out here, in a garden full of guests vying to take the measure of her, along with hoping for a chance encounter that may lead them able to boast to their connections that they made Inquisitor Evelyn Trevelyan laugh with a clever joke, when she was off to one side trading glances with Cullen, she simply felt like a woman getting stupidly giddy because the man she liked smiled at her.

But, of course, the presence of the guests couldn’t be ignored for long. Varric had scarcely left her side for ten seconds before she was drawn into conversations that either treated her as an authority on the Maker’s will (which she found horrifying), saw her recounting her recent brush with death (again, she wasn’t a fan of that), or reciting what she’d learned of Skyhold’s origins and speculating on details of its architecture (which was…interesting, actually).

The sun had climbed high into the sky before she got a moment’s respite, bathing the gardens in golden light and warmth that should not have been possible this high in the mountains. It only added to the sense that there was something not entirely natural about this place. Whatever it was, though, it felt benevolent. Everything did, after the ruin of Haven.

She sought the shade under the gazebo, half-lamenting that she’d been too busy playing host to engage in more staring contests with Cullen – who was now woefully nowhere to be seen, perhaps having retreated to his tower after showing his face – when a hand touched her upper arm. Proper Inquisitor-appropriate smile already rising to her face, she turned and then felt the smile brightening and becoming sincere quite of its own volition. The man she’d just been thinking of stood beside her, holding a silver goblet of wine in offerance.

“You look like you could use it.”

“Not a fan of the ensemble Josephine and Leliana put together for me, then?” she teased lightly, accepting the wine and nodding her thanks.

“No! I mean yes, I…Maker’s breath- I didn’t mean…not that…” he trailed off, sighed, and then regarded her openly. “You look breathtaking, Evelyn.”

Her eyes widened before she could stop them, and he winced a little, folding his hands before her.

“I, er, apologise if that was too intense.”

“It wasn’t, Cullen,” she said quickly, “not at all. I was…thinking the same thing.”

Of course, then it was her turn to ramble nervously.

“About you, I mean – not myself. I’ll need a few more titles under my belt before I reach that point.”

He chuckled, his shoulders loosening as the nerves slipped away. “Well, should you reach that point I could hardly fault you for seeing things as they are.”

Evelyn smiled, ducking her head if only so that the rest of the garden wouldn’t see how she blushed.

“I actually came to see if you wouldn’t be too worn out to have dinner with me – later, after this. In my tower. I thought it might be a nice way to decompress.”

When she lifted her head, her cheeks still blazed, but she didn’t care.

“I’d love that. Maybe then I can ask you whether you’d rather Varric, Leliana, Sera, or Dorian won a hefty bag of gold.”

Although when she then realised she’d have to explain that remark, she did rather regret bringing it up in the first place.

Links: AO3 -- FF.net -- flufftober masterpost -- dividers by cafekitsune

#esta’s flufftober ‘23 fills #flufftober2023 #flufftober 2023 #flufftober #Cullen Rutherford/f!inquisitor #Cullen Rutherford/f!Trevelyan #Cullen Rutherford fic #dragon age fic #dragon age inquisition fic #dragon age fanfiction #dai fanfic

[ridiasfangirlings]

Reading the new Zero Fragments chapter and I have Niki thoughts (ew, Niki thoughts). One of the things that struck me about this chapter is how much Niki seems like the…anti-Munakata, in a way? Like we know Niki was a genius and extremely talented but this chapter shows how he doesn’t really care about anything, nothing ever seems to catch his interest at all. Niki has no motivation for anything at all and even the things that do interest him may be temporary — I feel like the chapter very heavily implies that the reason he only comes home once a month is that he feels like he’ll get ‘bored’ of Saruhiko if he sees his kid every day, for Niki it’s much more satisfying to go a while without seeing him because this way he won’t lose his interest. Even the thing he’s most intrigued by in all the world he can’t see too often, because then it will become boring and he won’t be able to enjoy it anymore (and of course this becomes creepy when you remember he’s thinking of his child this way, that he loves his kid’s adorable despairing face).

By contrast we know that Munakata also has a high intellect but he seems to be insatiably curious about everything, even something as simple as surfing is interesting to Munakata simply because he’s never done it before. Munakata never gets tired of doing puzzles, never gets tired of learning new things, never gets tired of drinking his tea or trimming his bonsai, never gets tired of moving forward towards his goal. Niki is explicitly mentioned as being someone who in the process of growing up “did not experience the ‘expansion of objects of interest’” and that he was destroying things all the time, it doesn’t seem like he really had any familial ties at all. Munakata however despite being different from his family is still very attached to them and accepted all their affection even though he knew that they would never fully understand him (I was rereading Case Files a while back and I like how that novel put it, that people would say to Munakata’s parents ‘the kite has bred a hawk,’ and then the novel states ‘but the kite loved the hawk,’ that Munakata is different but his family deeply loves him anyway). It’s revealed in this chapter that Niki even went overseas for school the way Munakata did but where it seems like Munakata took the time to learn and broaden his education Niki just got bored and played around and was eventually expelled.

The story’s last line about Niki not ‘mixing with the ups and downs of destiny that secretly moved the Dresden Slate’ interests me too. K’s whole thing is about the idea of ‘bonds’ — characters are constantly being connected in different ways, a minor character in one story can become important in another, characters who never interact in the anime may have met beforehand regardless, everything is connected. But Niki exists ‘outside’ that, where his only real connection to all these bonds is through Saruhiko (and possibly Yata to a small extent, though even that’s due to the connection of his son). It makes me think a bit of Mikoto and that ‘outside the cage isn’t a place where humans can live’ — does Niki exist outside the ‘cage,’ in a sense? Like he’s not going to actually cause a natural disaster if he loses control the way Mikoto would but it strikes me as something similar. Mikoto stays in the cage because he has people he loves and wants to protect, and leaving that cage means leaving those bonds behind (and when the latch on that cage becomes irreversibly broken he chooses to die rather than escape, for the sake of everyone he cares about). Niki doesn’t care about anyone though, he just does things because he feels like it and he doesn’t care about what destruction he causes in his wake. I wonder if that then is part of why Fushimi was so afraid of Mikoto — even if he wasn’t consciously aware of it I wonder if Fushimi’s body felt like here’s a person who could be the same as ‘that guy’ if he let himself go, and he reacted instinctively to that.

#Fushimi Niki #k project #Talking K #k meta #everyone hates Niki #especially his son #I wonder if he's a bit of an anti-Totsuka too #not clinging to anything or letting anything hold his interest for long #but without Totsuka's empathy or humanity #also that chapter added terrible context to the scene in the LSW manga where Saru hallucinates Niki's body coming back to life

[four-loose-screws]

FE7 Novelization Translation - Chapter 11 Section 1

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———————————

Chapter 11: Four-Fanged Offense (Section 1)

Eliwood and his allies successfully hid their identities, snuck into Bern, and arrived in one of its villages.

There, the atmosphere celebrating the coming-of-age ceremony for Prince Zephiel could be felt throughout the entire area. From the people's passion for the event, anyone could pick up on just how much they liked him.

After settling in, Eliwood’s army started a meeting, and the topic was what their next move should be to reach the Shrine of Seals. But just from the information Pent knew alone, it was clear that they had a difficult journey ahead.

This was the path Athos asked them to follow to defeat Nergal, however…

"I manage the top military affairs in all of Etruria. When I learned of the existence of the Shrine of Seals, I sent subordinates several times to investigate. …But not a single one of them came home. Bern does not allow anyone to infiltrate it."

Hearing that anyone who made it to the shrine was captured by Bern on the spot, made everyone’s faces darken.

"And if they learned your true identities, Bern would likely take this as an excuse to attack Lycia."

Though the Lycian League and Bern had long maintained an alliance, Desmond, the current king, with the full backing of his powerful military, had started to show aggression towards Lycia.

Considering the circumstances, if Eliwood, as a noble of Lycia, was captured, then it would cause the war-mongering king to become even more aggressive. 

"...That is the one situation we absolutely must avoid…" Eliwood muttered, worried sick about their current situation. 

That was when Pent and his wife both took a step further closer to him. "...This is where we come in."

"Huh?"

"We would fulfill our duty just by attending the celebration after the ceremony, but we shall visit with the queen and greet her in private beforehand."

Pent and Louise were originally going to Bern anyway to celebrate the crown prince's coming-of-age, as ambassadors representing Etruria.

They would take advantage of that opportunity to gain information regarding the Shrine of Seals.

"You can do something like that?" Eliwood asked. Though Pent may be the Count Reglay of Etruria, still, it was unthinkable that anyone would be able to so easily meet with the queen the day before such a significant event.

But to dispel that thought, Louise said, "The Queen of Bern, Lady Hellene, was from Etruria before she married, and is a distant relative of ours."

"As we converse, I'll ask something about the Shrine of Seals. …She likely won't give up any information easily, but it's better than doing nothing, isn’t it? Don't worry. Even if we fail, we will not speak a word about you." Count Reglay left it at that, then took his wife with him and went to Bern's imperial city.

Though it may be a risky gamble, all they could do right now was rely on Pent.

Still, it would be a waste of time to simply wait for Pent’s return.

“I wonder if there isn’t anything we can do?” Eliwood said, unable to bear just sitting around.

“I wish! But we can’t do anything that will make us stand out…” It was also against Hector’s nature to wait, and so his mind was racing, thinking about whether or not there was something they could do. Still, they couldn’t reveal their identities, so any flashy movements were entirely off-limits.

Having said all that, they were still stuck, without a single good plan.

It was then that Legault proposed, “So what if we gathered information about the Black Fang?”

“Gathered information?” Eliwood repeated.

Legault nodded and answered,  “That’s right. Here in Bern is the Black Fang’s base, though even I was never taught where it is. The Black Fang as it is now is completely changed from what it once was… But don’t you think that it would be beneficial to gather information on our enemies? Even if indirectly.”

“...That’s good thinking. Thanks, Legault.”

And so, Eliwood and the others scattered around town to seek information.

They did not notice at all that their targets were nearby, actively pursuing them…

ー

At that same time, two of the Four Fangs, the Reed brothers, were in the northeast section of the same town.

They learned that their target, Eliwood, had headed into the Nabata Desert.

They were deliberating over whether their best course of action would be to pursue him or wait for him to move closer towards them. About one dozen of the Black Fang’s members under their direct control were lying in wait around town.

“This is such a pain. Let’s just chase them down, Brother!” Linus complained.

Lloyd shook his head. “No, we should be cautious and wait here. It would be far more painful to travel all the way to the desert, don’t you think?” 

“But just waiting around sucks…” As Linus was protesting his brother’s decision, he saw a girl they knew out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, if it isn’t Nino!”

“Ah, Brother Lloyd! Brother Linus! What are you doing here? Working?” The girl saw and rushed right up to them. She was full of energy, and looked nothing like she had anything to do with the Black Fang.

A black headband held back her short hair; and she had big, round, pretty eyes and a cute face. Wrapped around her small body was a large cape. No matter how anyone looked at her, she seemed to be a normal girl. It was entirely unthinkable that she had any connection to these high-ranking members of the Black Fang.

“Yeah, you could say that." Lloyd said in response with a wave.

“How about you? Where are you going in such a hurry?”

She answered Linus' question excitedly, "I have a job to do, too! Mother told me to deliver messages, so I'll do my best!" Her face was filled with the joy of knowing that she was helping her mother. "See you! Let's play again when our work is done!" She waved goodbye and ran off. 

After she disappeared, Lloyd muttered, "She's a good kid."

"Yeah, I can't believe she's her kid." Linus grumbled.

Nino’s mother was Sonia, their father’s second wife. As Sonia’s child, she was also a member of the Black Fang.

It was unthinkable that the woman manipulating their father, and such an angelic, innocent girl could be related in any way.

As they pondered that thought, just as they watched Nino turn a corner, they saw a red haired young man appear.

‘No way… Is that our target?!’ Lloyd couldn’t believe his eyes. 

“Brother! Isn’t that guy over there Eliwood?!” Linus next to him saw the exact same thing he did, and was just as shocked.

At Linus’ words, Lloyd checked one more time to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. “It can’t be him. We were told he was headed for Nabata, right?”

“Forget about that. We’ve finally found him, so let’s go get him, Brother!” Having been saved from the work of finding their target, Linus laughed out loud and clapped his hands together.

But Lloyd remained cautious. “We should… But now is not the right time. It is against our law to act in the middle of a town.”

The Black Fang would never kill anyone that was not their target.

It was not just Lloyd who followed that law, but everyone else who had sworn their loyalty to the Black Fang since long ago. Even though now, as a whole, the organization's obedience to that law was waning.

They knew the root cause. It was the new members brought in by Sonia, always at their father’s side and acting as if she was their true leader. 

However, they had no solid proof. Without proof, they could not have her driven out from the Black Fang.

And even with proof, it would still be difficult to do anything. In her shadow was the man named Nergal. Though they had only seen him two or three times, his dangerous and ominous aura made even the brothers, who had survived countless battles, feel their blood run cold.

But for now, carrying out their orders came first.

‘...Should we report one more time to Father and wait for his orders, just to be safe?’ Lloyd was suspicious of their current order.

His father asserted that they were in line with his will, but considering how he was behaving, Lloyd could only conclude that he was doing as Sonia told him to. 

“Linus, I’m going to report this to Father. You keep an eye on them." He decided, keeping Linus held back, who looked like he was going to run off at any moment.

Linus made a clearly displeased expression. "Is it that bad of an idea to go after him right now?"

"It is. Hold on for just a bit longer. You should figure out where he's going, and that is it. Alright?"

"Alright." Linus replied in a tone just as displeased as the expression on his face. 

While his brother’s behavior worried him, Lloyd ran off to return to their base.

And he was exactly right to be worried.

'...Still, it would be shameful not to bite when my prey is right in front of me!’ The Mad Dog thought, and called over one of his men in town with him. “Hey! Igor!!”

“What is it, Linus?” Igor appeared to answer his call. 

A violent smile flashed across Linus’s face and he said, “We’re going on the offensive! Lure our target into the center of town!”

“W-Wait a minute! Are you really gonna go against Lloyd’s orders?”

“...He only told us not to let any of the townsfolk get hurt, right? We’ll just make sure not to do that.”

“But…”

“Please, Igor! I want to show Brother our good side! Whadda ya say? Please!!” Linus clasped his hands together and begged his unwilling subordinate.

Though it contrasted his rugged, boorish personality, Linus sometimes showed this side that was softer, and difficult to say no to.

“...Jeez, you never listen to anyone!” Igor said, but deep down, respected his leader. Even if it meant sacrificing his own life, if it was for Linus, then he would have no regrets. 

And it wasn’t just Igor, but all of the people who fought directly under the Reed brothers, who were fiercely loyal to them.

☆

Eliwood and his allies started asking around town to gather information about the Black Fang after Nergal’s appearance, but their efforts did not prove fruitful. Whenever they mentioned the words “Black Fang,” they heard the same praise every time that the Black Fang was a group of heroes taking down greedy, ruthless nobles.

However, every so often…

“Something about them feels different from before.”

He also heard that opinion.

“There’s nothing more we can do. Let’s go back to the inn for now.” Eliwood ordered, just before a man clad in black suddenly blocked his path.

“You’re Eliwood, ain’t ya?”

“Are you with the Black Fang?!”

The man clearly knew his name. Eliwood quickly unsheathed his sword, and shifted into a battle stance without any openings.

This member of the Black Fang, Igor, responded back to him in a deep, threatening voice, "...I am. The Fang never lets anyone escape! You will all die here!"

"Eliwood, is he our enemy?!" Hector rushed over to him.

"Yes! We will fight back!" Eliwood said without moving his eyes away from his target. He could hear the sounds of several sets of footsteps coming their way. It was probably his allies, rushing out after having realized the Black Fang appeared.

"C'mere! I'll tear out your windpipe!" He said to provoke them, then turned his back to Eliwood and ran into the center of town.

ー

"Ummm… This should be the place… Maybe he's not here yet?"

As Eliwood’s battle with the Black Fang was starting, Nino entered an empty house in the south-west west corner of town.

The Black Fang owned houses in various towns all over the continent, used for handing down orders and trading information. Nino was inside one such house. Her mother had given her a letter with a message for Jaffar, then ordered her to deliver it. 

"Ahhh! The weather is so beautiful today! This is the best kind of day to take out bad guys, but all my jobs have me running errands! I just want to grow up already and help everyone out!" She muttered as she gazed at the peaceful town outside the window.

From this house, she could not see the battle between Eliwood and the Black Fang. 

The moment she turned around, facing the inside of the house again and fighting back a yawn, she noticed that a person had appeared without her realizing it, and shrieked. "Wah! D-Don't scare me like that, Jaffar!"

The person who appeared without a sound was the very person she was here to deliver her message to - Jaffar.

"Did something happen? It's unusual for you to be late to receive a message!"

She'd handed off orders to Jaffar on many occasions already. He'd always been on time until now, so for him to be late made her curious as to why.

But Jaffar answered in the same monotonous tone as always. "...My previous job took longer than expected."

"Wow, even you have a hard time too sometimes! I didn’t expect that. What a surprise!"

"...If I have another order… then hurry up and tell me what it is." His face was a bit pale as he pushed her to hurry. 

"Oh, yeah! I got this from Mother…" She took the parchment out of her breast pocket, and tried to hand it over to him.

But she then realized that he was bleeding from his abdomen, and started to freak out. "Wh-What happened?! That's blood you're covered in, isn’t it?!"

"...It's just a scratch. Nothing you should be worried about…" He tried to callously push her away as she rushed in closer to him, but did not have the strength to do so.

"It can’t be a scratch if you're bleeding that much! C'mon, show it to me!

"Scratch, wound, it's all the same. Now hurry and tell me… my next… target…" Was all Jaffar managed to say before he collapsed. 

As her ally fell forward, Nino panicked and rushed over to him. "Jaffar?! H-Hey! Hang in there!"

She called out and called out, but Jaffar showed no signs of returning to consciousness. 

Nino pressed both of her small hands on the wound, still gushing blood, and whispered with a terrified look on her face, "What should I do…"

☆

#fire emblem #fe7 #fire emblem 7 #the blazing blade #the blazing sword #eliwood #hector #lyn #lyndis #nintendo #gba #game boy advance #japan #japanese #translation #novel #light novel #fe7 novelization translation

[asukamood]

Do you all remember this?

Yeah so I was pretty inspired for a part two so here is it, I also headcanon DS Dream not being able to stand spicy food.

Why? He looks like he would vaporise if he did. I also like to project onto him.

Anyways, enjoy.

Part 1 — Part 3 — Bonus Chapter

====

It was currently 2 pm or an hour after Nightmare broke down the entrance door to pieces before launching himself at Dream like a grenade. 5 minutes after his emotional outburst, Nightmare processed what he had done and his pride shattered in seconds, eyes widening in horror at the realization.

Dream had laughed at the reaction, succeeding in pissing the living out of Nightmare. He needed to find a way to get revenge but how—

Oh never mind, he got an idea.

“Heeeey Dream?“ He called, spacing out the first word as he sneaked closer to the latter, who had his mind focused on a novel. “Wanna play a game?”

“I know that tone.” Dream said, not getting his eyes off the page he was reading. “You’re planning to stir trouble again.”

Nightmare scoffed, crossing his arms as his face twisted into a pout. “Excuse you, I’m a very innocent man.” The ‘unlike what your future self thinks’ part was left unsaid, a ghost thought wandering in his mind. He didn’t need to confuse that Dream more than he already was.

“Mhm.” Dream fake acquiesced, not even bothering to put his thoughts into words anymore, too caught up in the story.

Nightmare took offense to that and almost immediately snatched the book from the other’s grip, who took a solid second to process what just happened. When he finally did, he sent a glare in his direction.

“Nightmare, give it back.” He ordered, his eyes glowing with warnings.

“Nah.” He put the book aside, making sure to keep the page Dream was on. If he had made him lose it, he was pretty sure the other would immediately run to the tree and bite into the first apple he would see. “I want to play the game with you.”

Dream raised an eyebrow. “What’s the game? I swear if you tell me it’s seven minutes in heaven—“

“No no no!” Nightmare exclaimed, waving his hands hysterically. “It’s not that, I promise!” He let his arms fall to his sides again when he was sure he managed to convince Dream. “It’s truth or dare.”

“Truth or dare?” Dream repeated, scratching his chin in thought. This game looked innocent on paper but it could quickly escalate depending on the truth or the dare.

“Yeah but instead of the traditional one where we have to pick questions on the spot and where we get to choose one of the two, I suggest we use a wheel and write our questions and dares beforehand and just pick them once the time has come. It’s gonna be more entertaining this way, I would know.”

Dream opened his mouth and closed it several times, visibly conflicted. This game screamed disaster and chaos but Nightmare looked eager to play it, plus, with the emotional outburst an hour ago, he feared he would get upset again.

A long defeated sigh escaped his mouth. “Okay, I’ll partake in your… suspicious game.”

“Great!” Nightmare didn’t even try to comment on the ‘suspicious’ part, he had to admit it sounded fishy. “You can go get the wheel, I’ll start gathering the papers.”

Dream nodded and disappeared around a corner to reach their room while Nightmare rolled on the floor to get to the drawers, sanity? Never heard of it. He grabbed two pens and tucked papers below his elbow before skipping back towards the couch. He was about to go and walk to take two empty baskets until he remembered that he could just teleport them to him.

He glanced at the corridor, Dream didn’t seem to have found the wheel yet. Perfect.

He held his two hands up and closed his eyes, sure enough, two baskets appeared out of thin air and he smiled. These powers could be very convenient when they wanted.

“Sorry, it was buried underneath all your figurines.” Dream apologized through the door before opening it wide, he was holding the famous wheel in his hands. “Who knew that this thing you bought on impulse that one day would come in handy.”

“What can I say? I’m a genius." Nightmare wriggled his eyebrows as Dream gave him a deadpanned look.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” The brown-haired man sat on the opposite couch and put the wheel down in the center. “How many dares and questions do we have to write?”

Nightmare hummed. “Ten each sounds good.”

“Alright.” Dream agreed and took the pen that Nightmare was handing him. After that, they spent around ten minutes focusing on the task at hand in silence, which was only broken by Nightmare’s furious scribbling and Dream’s hesitant one. He had never been the creative one, unlike Nightmare who was the complete opposite when it came to that.

“Well, you sure do have a lot of inspiration.” He commented after a few, watching his hand sliding down the paper rapidly and his pen waving right to left without rest.

‘Perks of writing fanfiction for so long.’

“I wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be very fun to come up with something for hours.” He replied, tongue sneaking out in concentration. He had so many ideas in mind but he had to write only the juicy ones, that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience after all.

“Okay, I’m done!” He exclaimed a few seconds later, throwing his pen on the table once he did.

“Just give me a few seconds.” Dream’s hand hurried to finish the sentence he was writing before putting his pen down as well. “Here.”

They both folded each paper carefully, making sure that they were neither recognizable nor readable, before dropping them in the right basket once that was done.

“Now that the boring part is done, it’s time for the fun one! Who begins?” Nightmare was already bouncing on the couch with a beaming face, it’s been ages since he got a moment like that with Dream, of course, he would be excited.

“You’re the one who suggested the idea so you can start.” The black-haired man nodded, spinning the wheel not long after. It spun quickly on itself before slowing down and ending onto Truth.

“Here we go-“ He dove his hand into the sea of papers and grabbed one of them randomly before pulling it out and unfolding it. The writing was elegant and consistent, it must have been one of Dream’s.

“ ‘Have you ever pretended to be sick to get out of plans?’ What? That's a boring one Dream!” Nightmare whines, trying to divert the other’s attention on the fact he was currently sweating bullets.

“Answer the question, Nightmare. On our birthday last year, you faked being ill so we wouldn’t go to the animal shop didn’t you?” Dream had a scary face when asking that. His eyes were empty but widened and seemed to swallow the light before pulverizing it somehow, his mouth formed a straight line and his eyebrows copied its example. Anger was obvious in his features.

“Uh-“ Nightmare stammered, holding his hands up in front of him as if they were shields. ‘Shit, I didn’t think he would remember that.’ “Listen, I know I promised it but come on! You know I’m scared of dogs!”

“So you admit it then?” If Nightmare had to describe how dangerous Dream seemed right now, he would tell you that he currently looked like a Dark Souls boss.

“Please stop making that face. You’re terrifying like that.” He trembled like a leaf in the wind. “Yes, I admit, I did it.”

“Then why did you promise we would go if you were planning to pull that cheap trick on me?” He insisted, hardening his glare.

“yoUR TURN-“ Nightmare slapped the wheel himself to dodge that question, not wanting to tell him that he lied just to see Dream’s excited face because he was down very bad for him. Nope, his ego wouldn’t be able to take it.

Luckily for him, that trick seemed to work since his eyes finally stopped staring into his soul and dropped on the object below instead. The wheel spun before coming to a stop on ‘Dare’.

Nightmare’s lips twitched upward in a satisfied smile while Dream let out a sigh.

“I would have liked to accuse you of rigging the game but I’m the one who set up the wheel so I’ll just settle with a sigh.” Nightmare rolled his eyes.

“Stop wallowing in defeat and pick a dare already, we have maaaany more rounds to go.” Dream nodded and calmly took a paper before unfolding it.

“ ‘Put a blindfold on and eat whatever the person in front of you gives you.’ “ Dream paused, staring at the paper a few seconds after finishing reading. Then, he looked up at Nightmare.

“Why do you do this to me?” His voice was filled with despair. “I thought we were friends.”

“But we are, I just like messing with you.” Nightmare flashed him a grin while handing him a long black tissue. “You know the rules, and so do I.”

Dream eyed the tissue with pain in his eyes, and glanced at his friend before letting out a breath and accepting his fate. Nightmare was waiting for him to continue the song but suddenly remembered that the song was released in 2009 so Dream just couldn’t get it, what a shame.

He wordlessly tied a knot behind his head, making sure his eyes were covered. He couldn’t see anything obviously but from an outside perspective, he looked like a turtle ninja whose bandana fell on their eyes. Nightmare bit his bottom lip in an attempt not to burst out laughing.

“Alright, I’ll be right back, don’t move okay?”

“I see absolutely nothing. Where do you think I would be able to go? My grave? The hospital?” Nightmare snickered at that, flickering his forehead and earning a yelp.

“And you call me dramatic.” He shook his head before disappearing into the kitchen.

He opened the drawers and frankly started to look for a particular red tube of sauce. After a few minutes, he finally grabbed what he was looking for.

Tabasco.

An evil grin made its way on his face.

Oh Dream, sweet summer child, you have no idea what's about to happen.

Talking about him, the guardian of positivity, who was still blindfolded and alone in the living room, found himself thinking of not-so-joyous things. What if someone broke in right at this moment, came up to him, and ran through his chest with a knife, thinking they were Nightmare? What if—

“BOO!” Dream’s body jumped back against the couch as a high-pitched and not-so-manly scream was ripped out of his throat. Nightmare burst out laughing, almost doubling over.

“H-Holy shit-“ He wheezed, barely able to get a proper sentence out. “That was so loud I think the entire village heard it-“

Dream’s cheeks flared up with hot blood, embarrassment evident. “You jerk. What was that for?!” Nightmare didn’t reply, too busy laughing his head off.

“Haha, sorry sorry.” He snickered a few more before eventually calming down, an arm wrapped around his stomach. He looked over at Dream and stopped breathing for a second.

Nightmare was sure he was over Dream, he was sure he was. Yet here he was, turning into a tomato in seconds just for thinking about how cute Dream was looking right now. He was down so bad, it wasn’t even funny anymore. Suddenly, he was very thankful for that blindfold blocking Dream’s vision.

“Anyways, I got you just the perfect dish~” Oh god, Dream did not like that tone at all.

“Ugh, please just get this over with so we can do something else.” Dream tilted his head sideways with a frown, hands trembling a bit with nervousness.

“Your wish is my command, my Lord!” The jab to that title was left not understood by the other, who was a century too young to get it. Anyhow, the man happily obliged and proceeded to shove a spoon filled with Tabasco in the other’s mouth.

Dream’s mouth clamped around the spoon, taking the liquid in, not realizing it would be the cause of his demise. Nightmare slowly pulled it out of his mouth, staring at Dream’s face to see his reaction.

His eyes may have been hidden but the remaining parts of his face showed enough. At first, wrinkles of confusion appeared on his face as he took in the texture of the ‘dish’ seeing that he was probably expecting something solid.

That’s when the pain kicked in.

His eyebrows shot up at once and his face froze in that expression for one second until a noise that was a weird mix of a choke and cough sprang out of his mouth. He leaned forward awkwardly before falling and knocking the table over, gasps spilling out of his mouth like water droplets in the rain.

A hand hovered in front of his mouth while the other was grabbing onto dear life on his shirt where the heart would be.

Nightmare was starting to have trouble breathing because of how hard he was laughing.

“Are you-“ Good lord, his voice was strained and sounded like a middle-aged smoker, the painful husk of a burning throat evident in his tone. “Are you trying to kill me?!”

Nightmare snickered, crouching in front of him and tearing the blindfold off to reveal a Dream whose face was as red as the sauce he swallowed and eyes threatening to spill out tears. His pupils rolled over to look at Nightmare, which was glowing with the sparks of betrayal and pure pain.

“It’s okay Dream,” He cooed with a mocking tone to avoid being caught simping even though quite honestly, Dream looks like he wouldn’t even notice anything, because of how blurry his vision seems to be at the moment. “It’s only gonna hurt for a moment.”

Nightmare lifted Dream’s torso towards him and hugged the latter, patting his head while Dream sniffled. “I’m feeling merciful today so let’s stop here and continue later when you’ll be feeling better.”

“You’re a douchebag.” Dream rasped the words, hissing up. “Ugh, do you even know how bad that hurt? I couldn’t even speak the following seconds because of how painful it was.”

Nightmare hummed. “That’s what you get for laughing at me earlier, now come on, we���ll get you some milk.”

“All that because of earlier?” Dream groaned, letting his face fall on Nightmare’s shoulder. “I hate you so much.”

“Nah you don’t.” Nightmare snuggled even closer, happily playing with other’s brown locks.

That color suited him better than blond ever would.

====

Aaand here, I also wrote a part three where they actually have access to technology because why not? I don’t know if I should really post it though. Let me know if you want to check it out anyway.

#dreamswap #fluff #crack #truth or dare #ds dream #ds dream x ds nightmare #ds dreammare #game #sims #regrets #i have a lot of them #I’ve seen so many videos of that idea but no fanfic #I corrected that #i’m sorry #i couldn’t stop thinking about it #anyways #now I’m gonna work on some DS Drue one shot #dreammare

[queenharumiura]

When Neo realizes she can write out backstory for AUs bc why not-- also realizing I have an OC for a reason. All the creative freedom. @dyingresolve (tagged bc I was talking to you about it and figured you’d like to read it)

A soft rapping at her door caught her attention as she was reading through a novel to pass the time. Only one person within the Varia (that she knew of) would knock on a door that softly.

She opens the door to confirm, “Welcome back, Rav. Not resting after that long mission? Missed me that much, did you?” Being a sociable person, Haru got along with most kinds of people, but there were those within the Varia that she particularly got along well with. Ravein, was special, given the fact that he was someone Sentai-san used to go on missions a lot with. That was probably the reason why Ravein was the one entrusted to watch over Haru whenever Sentai-san went on missions. He was also the one that continued to look after her when Sentai-san died on a mission a few years back.

As such, Haru often viewed him as a silent uncle. The man wasn’t mute (she’s heard him speak at least a word or two before) but he always insisted on talking via technology, whether it be a tablet, a phone, a laptop, etc. His only response was to hand her a folder.

Used to his antics of never explaining himself, she accepted the folder and looked inside to see files of information. She pulled out one of the files, noting that it was about a married couple from Japan who died in a tragic mafia-related accident 13 years ago with their daughter. She was going to question him on why he was giving her this information, but she couldn’t help but notice that they looked familiar.

She could see some of her own physical attributes in both of the Miura couple.

“They died with their daughter?”

He wordlessly taps the folder again, which she shuffles through to the incident report. The incident resulted in a number of fatalities that day as civilians got dragged into a fight among mafia. The report detailed how much damage was caused by the fighting between mafia, which mafia were involved, and the identities of the victims. The Miura couple died together, and were easy to identify. The daughter, Haru was missing until they found a child a distance away from them, but given by the state the child was found in, the child may have been in the center of the explosion.

In no condition to be properly identified by appearance, prints, and the like, they were at a loss at first until they found the bracelet the child was clutching in her hand. The gift was given to her a month prior by her grandparents, and that’s how it was deemed that the missing Miura daughter was found dead on the scene along with her parents.

He taps on the folder again, prompting her to shuffle through more paperwork to find DNA testing to show that there was a match between the mother and child.

Flipping through the leaflets of paper, she scans over the biographical information of the Miura couple, her parents.

“I don’t… who was the child then?”

Even more tapping. She flipped through the papers until he poked at one of them.

The famiglia involved with kidnapping children would steal children lure the parents out to come in search of their missing child. Sometimes, they’d send out a kid to distract them with before killing them. Handling children that way was much easier when they figure they have no where to go. They become more obedient when you tell them it’s their fault their parents died. In the case of complicated kidnapping, they may send a child in with a similar build, to take the place of the missing child. Sometimes, if anyone had kids they wanted to get rid of, the famiglia could be paid to make them disappear. That’s probably who the sacrificed children were.

If she was kidnapped beforehand, it would be easy to lure desperate parents into a trap using something she owned.

Nervous, she noticed the last file in the folder listing names of other children who had their identities stolen from the incident. Her name being on the list.

“I suppose the substitutes didn’t know what was going on.” How awful, resorting to such means to take children away from their homes. Who know what became of all the children they’ve taken, but she couldn’t imagine it would be good. She was lucky to get out of it alive. From what she was told, she was in a bad state when they found her.

Her amnesia likely stemmed from the maltreatment she suffered at the hands of her captors. She still has physical scars from the event, so one could only imagine how much abuse a young girl suffered. It’s no wonder that she lost her memories after waking up from a bad fever.

[You have grandparents that are still alive if you want to see them.] 

Ravein had typed this message in a memo app on his phone for her to read.

The fact that he was typing more than 3 characters at all was amazing to her. It was a rare treat for him to type so much. What was ever the point of communicating through technology if you resorted to Yes/No answers only?

The fact he typed so much led her to believe that he was uncharacteristically feeling a sort of way. It made sense when she remembers that he too was an orphan, and it was because of his own mistake that led to his parents death. Her background probably reminded him of his own past in some ways.

Though on the topic of her grandparents, she was curious about them, but Haru knew that she wouldn’t reveal the truth to them. She didn’t want to reveal the truth to the elderly. It was probably for the best that they simply thought they lost their family in an unfortunate accident rather than an orchestrated kidnapping event and that their granddaughter grew up to be an assassin. Even on the off chance that they’d be understanding and accept her either way, having ties to the Varia wasn’t safe. She hesitates on actually giving an answer as she couldn’t answer right away.

She still needed to process all this information. Maybe—she’d want to at least see what they were like and then put a lid on that chapter of her life.

“About the tests…”

[Records were deleted after the results came out.]

Cold-hearted, maybe, but she didn’t remember a thing about her biological family. She didn’t feel much aside from pity for their loss. She’d spent the majority of her life with the Varia, and to her, they were her family. A bit messed up, sure, but family nonetheless.

“I haven’t heard of this mafia famiglia responsible for everything.”

Ravein gave her no response, which was suspicious. Sure, he wasn’t much of a talker in general, but he wasn’t the sort to go completely silent either.

Eyes leaving the papers in her hands, she glances up at him, eying his every movement, trying to pick up on nonverbal cues. What she could tell was that he was hesitating.

[After investigation, their misdeeds came to light, the Vongola launched an operation to persecute them. Some of their leaders had already escaped by then.]

If the majority of your famiglia were wiped out aside from a select few, it was hard to say that the famiglia even existed to be spoken about, she supposed. It was a bitter pill to swallow knowing that all the children involved were either sacrificed, or were orphans.

[He asked that this be kept from you until you’re 18. I’m late. Was on a mission.]

Ravein was indeed away on a mission for a few months, and he’d only just returned. The ‘he’ could only be referring to Sentai-san, her adoptive… father… mentor… figure? She’d always said that she didn’t particularly care to know about her past, but he probably clued into the fact that she was lying. Secretly, he was investigating on her behalf to give her closure.

Her name was Haru Miura, born on May 3rd, age 18. She was a year older than she thought she was.

[He cared for you.]

“I know. He was always so secretive and tough, but he always cared.” It still angered her to know what he died without ever telling her his real name- or anything about his past. She was sure there was a reason behind it, but she still wished to know more about him to remember him by.

It was things like this that helped her understand that he cared for her.

With his mission complete, he pats her shoulder and leaves her alone to her thoughts.

She brings the files to her bed and shuffles through them again, reading over everything slowly, taking in the information slowly. “Guess I can start celebrating my birthday properly starting next year.”

#Neo drabble #Varia!Au #((admittedly for other Varia aus it won't go down like this bc I normally write them being of similar ages but sshhh)) #((For the sake of this one I do what I want and Ravein is free domain for me to use for plot)) #((I was too lazy to add in icons so whoop whomp))

[braun50ditlevsen]

Prestantiousnovel - Chapter 546 One day* wrathful flock recommendation-p2

Fantasticfiction - Chapter 546 One day* control edge reading-p2

Novel-Hellbound With You-Hellbound With You Chapter 546 One day* natural quarter Hellbound With You "A real villain, huh." He echoed, switching backside at her yet again. Appearing like he seriously pondered about it. "That appears to be pleasurable." "Alicia…" mentioned Ezekiel, a little bit tilting his travel since he gazed deeply into her eyes, leaning even better. "Will you much like me?" he expected, a glint of mischief playing at a corner of his slender mouth area. Hellbound With You "Remember to don't plan a single thing nuts to eliminate the whole world because you're fed up. Restrain the devil inside you. I am talking about, sequence him eternally." His thoughts mailed chills down Alicia's vertebrae, and she knew why. This person really was incredible. ... "A true villain, huh." He echoed, changing backside at her once again. Giving the impression of he seriously pondered over it. "That noises exciting." "They have nothing to do with my rely on in you. And have your hand off my top of your head, Ezekiel." She ordered as well as the guy smirked. He patted her top of your head gently after which quickly pulled his hands off her, almost as if afraid that another challenging impact will land on his confront. android karenina Chapter 546 Eventually* "A true villain, huh." He echoed, switching rear at her all over again. Looking like he seriously pondered over it. "That appears pleasurable." "That's correct. My job is lastly through." He uttered, his vision got a far off seem once again. "You're appropriate. I might really get bored after this." Hellbound With You Ahead of Alicia can even form a answer, "Just kidding," he said and then he made his gaze backside ahead of him. "If only you fortune, Alicia, for your own new task. Don't be concerned an excessive amount of. The devil within me is well behaved." He instructed her as he continued walking. Just thinking about the whole planet finding out about the existence of the dragons and vampires and witches produced Alicia's abdominal churn. This mankind was truly beyond ideas to establish. He could help you save the globe without working with his physiological strengths. Knowning that was why he was genuinely frightening. He definitely could damage the earth also by his out from the world manipulation. If a person day… this guy would come to be an enemy… can any individual acquire against him? the case of jennie brice "A true villain, huh." He echoed, switching back at her once more. Resembling he seriously pondered regarding it. "That noises pleasurable." "It seemed… your rely on in me had really crumbled." He was quoted saying. Chapter 546 One day* Out of the blue, a substantial fingers landed on her go. Alicia's eye widened, speechless at what Ezekiel was performing. "That individual, huh…" he paused and made back again. "Too undesirable, but your hope is simply not potential, Alicia." He added because he walked away. Just as if the G.o.d of silence had just pa.s.sed by between the two, not one person spoke for just a moment. They simply stared each and every other until Ezekiel moved ahead. where can you find the katana in the forest "I question if that's achievable but…" he responded then appeared in excess of his shoulder blades. Their view achieved because he spoke which has a mischievous grin on his face. "I'll try." If you decide on 1st level(h.e.l.lbounder), search for 5 chapters beforehand (cost= 1 coin) Alicia subconsciously leaned rear, eventually comprehending how close up their encounters have been. If you do buy 1st tier(h.e.l.lbounder), look for 5 chapters before hand (price tag= 1 coin) He switched and did start to stroll silently in advance of her. But Alicia adopted and continuing chatting. "You have been the individual who asserted that time could modify all the things. Given that your tricky activity is finally over, I'm scared you'll get bored one day, and… your monstrous human brain may believe of a thing really crazy." *unedited chapter "It seemed… your rely on in me had really crumbled." He said. The witch queen acquired her view expand for the break up secondly but retrieved immediately and responded to. "Oh sure, Ezekiel." She blurted. "I like to punch you…" she ongoing, and like a super reach, her little fist landed on Zeke's jaw. "I always aspired to impact that emotionless encounter of your own!" Ezekiel halted. He picked up his encounter and searched up. His hands and fingers in his wallets, searching utterly calm since he witnessed the swaying foliage above them. Section 546 Some day* *unedited chapter "You need to don't plot everything wild to destroy the world even though you're fed up. Restrain the devil inside you. I mean, chain him forever." "Will you be utilizing for the job? Huh, princess?" That smirk was lower back all over again, and Alicia was rendered speechless. Her? Babysitting this horrifying devil? A Circuit Rider's Wife Chapter 546 At some point* Just like the G.o.d of silence experienced just pa.s.sed by between them, no one spoke for a moment. They merely stared at each other until Ezekiel shifted in front. Ezekiel halted. He raised his facial area and checked up. His hands and wrists in the wallets, looking utterly relaxed because he looked at the swaying simply leaves above them. "It seemed… your confidence in me had really crumbled." He stated.

#ull #Monsoons of Death #north am

[dindjarindiaries]

Omera, Or Winta’s Father, Was A Mandalorian - Theory

With The Mandalorian season 3 on the horizon, as well as large hints being dropped about Mandalorians uniting together behind Din Djarin and the Darksaber, I’ve been thinking more about this theory of Omera (Chapter 4: Sanctuary) and whether she has a larger role to play in all of this.

Before I begin to go in depth, please keep in mind that this is nothing more than a theory at this point. Whether or not it comes true, I’ll still be more than satisfied with all season 3 has to offer! I’ll now present a few reasons why I think it could be possible that Omera or Winta’s father was once a Mandalorian.

Omera Recognized Din’s Ship

When Din, Grogu, and the Razor Crest made its descent onto Sorgan for the very first time, the one who spots them first is Omera. As far as my knowledge goes, a Razor Crest isn’t exclusive to Mandalorians, so someone must’ve known that some Mandalorian was known to still be flying such a vessel around the Outer Rim. Since Omera’s the only one in frame at that moment, it seems to suggest that she was the one who urged the farmers to travel to the landing site of the Crest. That could very well be how Caben and Stoke knew to travel out to find Din and ask him for assistance in taking down the raiders.

Sorgan Villagers Knew A Lot About Mandalorians

The ponds of Sorgan were known for being in the middle of nowhere. It took Caben and Stoke a full day just to get to the Razor Crest, which means that resources on Mandalorians couldn’t have been easy to access. Yet, Stoke still tells Din that he’s read a lot about Din’s people, which means his information had to have come from somewhere. If an ex-Mandalorian lived on Sorgan, than it would’ve been a lot easier for Stoke to have access to readings and information on Mandalorians. This is especially important when Stoke says “if half of what I’ve heard is true;” Stoke has heard about Mandalorians, and who better to tell than an ex-Mandalorian themselves?

Omera Knew About Din’s Creed

Omera didn’t even have to ask Din where he would like his meals once he had made himself comfortable in the barn. Of course, we’ve also seen other characters know about Din’s Creed in advance, such as Mythrol in Chapter 1. However, for someone who lives in a place that seems pretty far out of touch from the rest of the galaxy, it’s quite remarkable that Omera knew this about Din and didn’t have to ask him about his helmet. Instead, her questions were more centered around him personally and his experience as a Mandalorian. Perhaps if she had once been one, but fled in the Great Purge or beforehand, she was part of a clan on Mandalore that was more like House Kryze or Wren.

Omera Has A Good Shot And Quick Thinking

We’ve seen that Omera’s shot is extremely accurate, enough to impress a Mandalorian like Din himself. She also had no trouble directing her fellow farmers in the heat of battle, such as when she commanded Caben and Stoke to remain in place and join the fight. At the very beginning of the episode, she was able to find a way to keep her and Winta hidden from the raiders in a very quick and impressive way. It’s very possible that Omera’s past is meant to be unknown forever, but her shot with a weapon that a Mandalorian favors could be hinting at a familiarity she has with such training and technology.

Omera And Din Became Close, Fast

This very well could’ve been simply because the two had chemistry, but Din is not too quick to trust and Omera seems to be the same. She was able to sympathize with Din in a way that many others in his life haven’t. If Omera had some shared experience of knowing what life could be like within a suit of armor, that could’ve been the driving force for her to become an anchor for Din during his time in Sorgan. It also, however, could’ve just been her kindness at work during Din’s weeks spent there.

Omera Was Going To Tell Din Something Before He Left

This is from the junior novelization of The Mandalorian, when it was said that Omera had something to say to Din as they said goodbye but decided not to speak on it. That could’ve been a confession of admiration and/or love, but it also could’ve been Omera finally confessing the truth about her past to him. Either way, Omera left Din without saying everything she needed to, and that could give her a good reason to reunite with Din for the Mandalorian cause in season 3—whether or not she or Winta’s father used to be one.

#i hold this headcanon/theory dear to my heart #omera #din djarin #the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 3 #theory #theories #the mandalorian theory #star wars

[redphlox]

I received my English copy of the bnha fifth light novel today and ahhh, the Todo family chapter was so insightful, fun to read, and sad all at the same time. I loved all the little details because they tie into the manga. These are just a few of my random incoherent thoughts and reactions I wanted to share with y'all:

Natsuo reflects that as a child, before Shouto was born, he wanted his father's "love and care" , so "he would act energetic and eager" for attention whenever Endeavor was around. But his father never acknowledged him. BUT, Natsuo is grateful that he had his "warm and caring" mother to "help him cope" with that rejection... UGH!! It's horribly devastating that his first memories are of being ignored by someone who's supposed to love him more than anyone else on this planet.

Natsuo goes on to think about how he felt like Shouto stole his mom from him after he was born because she started giving Shouto so much attention. As an adult, Natsuo understands that she was just projecting Shouto from their abuser, but it still hurt. That makes sense - Rei was the only source of parental comfort and acceptance he received and suddenly she was also gone. He must have felt emotionally abandoned, and even moreso (I imagine) after Touya died.

Speaking of Touya, Natsuo thinks about him in passing and I get the feeling it's painful to think about Touya. That makes sense too, considering why Touya died. In the chapter, Natsuo also reflects that Touya will always be the same age he is in his picture at the altar so it feels like time stands still in that room 😭 😭 😭 UGH!!!

Natsuo is just incredibly angry that his family is broken. He blames Endeavor because he sought out Rei for a quirk marriage, treated them like they don't matter, and abused Shouto.

Natsuo's onii-chan instincts start to kick in as he tries to make small talk with Shouto because they've barely talked. He kicks himself (mentally) for being so awkward but again, blames Endeavor because this is all his fault that he doesn't have a relationship with Shouto...

Meanwhile, Fuyumi really does go out of her way to make a happy family. She and Natsuo dance around each other awkwardly when Natsuo says something angry about their dad and she tries to be positive, trying to not upset the other. This makes so much sense in light of chapter 302 where Fuyumi says she always knew her family was broken but tried to pretend it was all okay. Ahhh. I love that this really ties into that chapter, which hadn't even been out yet at the time this novel was published in Japan. Hori must really guide this author and approve of things beforehand.

The amount of guilt and inadequacy that Natsuo feels because he couldn't do anything to protect his little brother when Endeavor was actively beating him is genuinely awful. That also coincides with his comment in 302 about slugging Endeavor and making him talk to Touya. This poor boy is filled to the brim with unprocessed sorrow and feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Not surprised either - this is a fairly common reaction for survivors of abuse and dysfunctional families, but it hurts to see Natsuo carry around this pain and misplaced responsibility.

Fuyumi does try to console Natsuo and tells him that his pain is still valid after Natsuo compares his abuse to Shouto's. UGH!!! 😭 😭 I love that even though both Natsuo and Fuyumi are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their dad (anger vs. willingness to give him a chance) that they don't dismiss each other. They're actually very considerate of each other's feelings. LOVE IT!! There's a sentence in this chapter about how Natsuo and Fuyumi have been together in this all this time and he can't hide his feelings from her. She knows him too well. YESSS, that sibling bond ♥

Fuyumi sets it up so that Natsuo and Shouto spend some alone time together while she cooks. Natsuo tries to play ball with Shouto but they just end up falling in the koi pond. Later, Shouto says he was caught off guard when Natsuo threw the ball because that was the ball Natsuo and their other siblings would play with all the time and Shouto always watched them and wished he could play too. 😭 😭 😭 😭 Natsuo sheds a few tears fndjdjsjsjdj. What could have been... 😭 😭 😭 This is literally a grieving process for them both - they lost their childhoods. There are no do-overs. And Natsuo blames himself for not going out of his way to invite Shouto to play. Like, Natsuo... You were also a baby 😔 don't be hard on yourself.

Shouto's baby-of-the-family genes kick in too when the soba he and Natsuo were making is a major failure and he's feeling emo about it. His siblings chuckle at him and tease him. Shouto is like, "THIS IS A TRAGEDY IT'S NOT FUNNY" 🤣 but smiles with them anyway.

Endeavor is almost crushed by a villain with a King Kong quirk lmao. The siblings watch this on the news. After Endeavor wins, Shouto goes back to mourning his soba. lmao.

At the end the siblings wish this is just the first of many get togethers!!! And I hope so too!! 💞

#Bnha #bnha light novels #Natsuo todoroki #Shouto todoroki #Fuyumi todoroki #Touya todoroki #Rei todoroki #Julie talks bnha #Bnha spoilers #keeping up with the todorokis

[pufflocks]

Summary: Home Scapes EP.1 – Resting after a meet up with old friends. Your boyfriend appreciates how loving you are when you are behind closed doors.

An-☆: Settings to Goth Rave for best experience. :)

Warnings: Minor NSFW { Pamering Of Bokuto } • proof read

Cast: Dom!M!Reader x Sub!Bokuto

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

A nice day to sit around and do nothing. The thought of just simply cleaning while the sun emits sunshine through your Condo windows. With the limited time you had if course. A friend on your boyfriends side agreed that you three would go out. There was nothing particularly to do for literally three grown men on a Saturday. Which was said by Akaashi as he chuckled at his own thought. You attempted to go out and just sit with coffee. It sounded nice enough to be fair to sit at a café and chat idley about anything.

Akaashi had the same idea apparently, but your brat of a boyfriend shut it down with his excessive whining. He said it was "stupid boring" or "he would fall asleep while drinking his tea". You rolled your eyes towards his demise of the idea. Could not believe he was an actual 25 year old man. Classic of him and Akaashi even threatened to ditch if he wouldn't stop crying about the places we chose. Silly Akaashi.

--

You ended up going to a library after many outdated ideas. Bokuto unironically likes to read books. On one occasion he even asked you to blow him while he read one about some action. His member moving in your mouth at every startle the book gave him with it's alluring characters.

Though in your mind, the library wasn't all enjoyable. It was just as boring since you're just looking at books and walking around. And another reason why your boyfriend entertained the idea so much. When you guys got there, Koutaro was quick to speed walking around like a nerd. Kinda felt like you were watching him at a playground with Akaashi. Who was by the way sitting down comfortably with a novel in his hand about cooking whatever. He wasn't good at it which was kind of interesting to know.

He was also attempting to make sure if Koutaro wasn't fucking anything up with his curious touching in one of the Harry Potter aisles. You chuckled at the side glances he gave him when every once while Koutaro dashed past you guys. It was cute in your eyes to see this ex-volleyball player aweing and running around like a kid though. He was very cute. Akaashi shook his head at the hearts in your eyes looking at your goofball of a boyfriend.

He sneered under his breath. "Shaking my head."

--

After a while of you reading some chapters of a book called 'Light N' Water', a book about romanticles love of two people, Akaashi stated he needed to go home. He decided to check out the cooking book and you said your goodbyes and headed home by foot since the library wasn't far away from your guys' condo.

--

When you got home you noticed how quiet Koutaro had gotten. Maybe he was tired from the library or walk home ? When fishing out the keys to your house a bulky arm gripped your own. Tuffs of white and black hair layed on your shoulder is how you knew why your usual loud mouth boyfriend was mute now.

"I know, I know." You start. Opening the door quickly to get both of our bodies through. "You can go sleep when you take a bath. Put on one of my hoodies and lay down on the bed." You said in a low voice near his head. Moving some hair back some more to kiss his forehead. Koutaro sighed half heartedly at the sound of relaxing then getting lazy head afterwards.

You spotted the small smirk on his face as he practically skipped to the showers. You realized after the reading session a while ago, he sleeps best with you near, after sex, lights off and the smell of you intensifying when you get closer in bed. You could not possibly doubt you felt the same vise versa as his natural scent of plain sage was enough to put your mind at sea.

A shower sounded great in the time of things but taking care of your might as well add, spoiled boyfriend was top priority.

"Y/N ! I'm done now, come come !" He shouted. He was back to being loud, but it would soon change and then you can get your well deserved shower aswell.

The smell of body wash filled your nose senses as you began to enter the bedroom. Most likely your body wash since he liked to think he doesn't know it's yours. As you walk further into the room you see he intently has a worn out black school hoodie you owned and some black boxers of his.

He giggled in a boisterous way when you eyed him for pulling the loose string on one of the hoodies sleeves. Hopefully he doesn't giggle in his sleep after this quickie, you thought. It's more terrifying than anyone could actually think to be honest.

You shook your head at the giggling thing you call your lover, as you fall on your stomach on the bed dragging Koutaro's hips closer to you. "Whoah-!" His fit of small giggles died down when you press an experimental hand down on his crotch. He sighs in content while jutting his hips up very cautiously. Not so shyly he covers his sleeve paw hands up to his face. Peeking excitedly for what's to come next.

Look at him being so good. Crazy how just a few hours ago and yesterday he was a happy jumping bean. Well he still was, happy I mean – just now he was more chill and pliant. Dressed up in his boyfriends clothes that smelt of his cologne and body wash like he owned it first. It most likely was at this point but no worries, he looked very beautiful in it and smelt of you.

He thought beforehand if he wanted to hold one of his many stuffed animals. A dalmatian dog named stew being his favorite. Why did he have so many was because he liked to hold them when getting fucked slow. People didn't know him like you did. Some even thought he was as loud as he was in bed, but he was actually very shy the first time.

No pushing was involved since he seemed a bit uncomfortable so the next time you brought up the idea of sex, you bought him a stuffed animal. He held it with care when you began prepping him as he played with the dogs dotted ears. Eventually there was no need for stuffed animals during sex, but every once in a while he buys them in rememberance of the time. You are sure the workers are curious of why he goes there so often — but it's not their business.

Tiny, the dalmatian stuffed dog, was his favorite because it reminds him of his boyfriend being patient with him.

"Kou baby, you sleepy a bit or just horny ?" You asked in a humming manner. Rubbing the butt of your palm on his half hard bulge. He always managed to leak out precum whenever you was the slightest bit of excited with arousal and that never failed to turn you on. Your boyfriend nodded to both of your questions as he unconsciously spread his legs open further for you.

"I wan' to cum because I smell like you today." He said. Eyes straining on the hand moving lovingly on his front. You hummed, nodding at his vibrating voice as you began to kiss his milky muscles thighs.

"Just relax. I'll take care of you, Kou."

Next up -> Long Misfortunes { You've been very unfortunate before your years with your boyfriend. Thankfully he fills the broken holes you encountered through your unfortunate life with baking. -☆ }

#Bokuto #Bokuto x male reader #haikyuu male reader #top male reader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x top male reader #dom reader #dom male reader #smutty fluff #soft Bokuto #ZenWritesFluff-☆ #ZenWritesSmut-☆

[zackcarrionvalentine]

This ended up longer than I was planning, but enjoy--

Mar tries to stare discreetly at the girl showering next to her. Thais' body is something to behold: curvy, soft, and plump in all the best places. Soap suds and water follow every roll and dip of the goat girl's cleavage and stomach. Mar's lips have never felt drier. Would kissing the rivulets off Thais' breasts feel better on them than just a swipe of her own tongue?

The idea of being able to touch her velvety, bare skin makes Mar's blood race. And then, the thought of her own bareness against Thais' has a sudden jolt of heat sparking in her lower belly. Mar takes a deep breath and lets it out. She wants to touch, grab, squish, maybe even bite; to press as close as possible, roll their hips together until the shorter girl is a whimpering mess and then-

Mar can feel slick beginning to creep down her inner thigh. Carried away in her fantasies again, no chance of anything coming true. And right next to the subject of them, at that!

Unless...

Mar is never one to give up easily...

"I think we're the only ones in here... Wanna 'do something', Thais~?"

-- @the-simps-nsfw-corner

Thais tried to keep her eyes concentrated on the droplets rolling down the wall, hands shaking at the situation she was in. Showering beside someone with not much between them to give privacy... This was nerve wracking for someone so shy!

"Eyes up front, Thais. It's disrespectful to stare at someone as they're naked... without their consent, at least..." Her thoughts only served to make her blush further. "Not helping!"

The girl lathered soap on her skin with renewed energy in an attempt to distract her mind and cover herself with something.

But slowly, unconsciously, honey eyes wandered to the adjacent shower. Up, up, up they went towards a leg, taking their time to admire a nice derriere. Up to land on the bathing student's stomach and, just as Thais made her way towards their neck, the arm partially covering their chest moved away, letting her ogle at a pretty pair of boobs.

She panicked, sparing a glance to the person's face. "Mar, I am so sorry!!" She screamed in her head before quickly returning her gaze to the wall. What made it worse was the hushed gasp she caught herself letting out. "What are you doing?!"

A clear voice broke her out of her self-scolding. "E-Eh?" She blinked a couple of times while turning to look at Mar's green eyes.

"She looks so p-pretty..." Thais admitted to herself. With her hair damp like that, framing her face and draping over her skin; it seemed impossible, but Mar looked even more breathtaking than usual.

"...do something?" The goat girl muttered ever so quietly.

!!!

Back to blushing it is as a flash of heat buzzed her heart and lit up her veins. Was this sticky feeling between her legs always there or...?

Her mouth opened and closed as an excuse tried to form in her head. An arm went to cover her chest. The warmth under her skin making her nipples stand alert, she couldn't let them sell her out like that. What would Mar think?!

"Well it's not like she would think something negative since she's-- Damn it, just shut up!"

She knew what Mar meant, it's not like she hadn't read similar scenes in her... novels...

With a racing heart, Thais finally spoke up: "Hmm... It appears you're right." She tried to play it cool by looking around, as if she hadn't noticed (or been panicking a whole lot beforehand).

If the opportunity is there...

"Do something? Why, I'm curious. Wonder what that may be~?" A tilt of the head, twirl of a strand of hair, topped off with a sweet smile, all to look cuter.

Why not take it?

#unlocked #chiles in my mouth #oc spice #oc spice interactions #NJRAKLGKELGF I AM LOSING MY MIND AAAAAAAA #MY HEART IS JUMPING OUT MY CHEST ASDSFJKDR #it's been long since I've written something like this (aka something more 'solid') hope I did okay! #SPECIALLY BC AAAAAAAA SPICE OC INTERACTION JFDKJFS #GIRLS <3 #also sorry it's long lol #spiced mergoat #oc ramblings

[caffeinatedseri]

Murakami and Ranpo

Some minor spoilers ahead for the third BSD LN, The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency." If you aren't concerned with spoilers, I did my best with summarizing the plot for anyone who hasn't read the novel.

In the third BSD LN, Fukuzawa and Ranpo are tasked with finding the culprit of an ominous death threat at a theatrical play. The threat is written as follows:

“An angel shall bring death, in the truest sense of the word, to the performer. —V.”

This threat fits perfectly with the play, which is a mystery play where each character gets killed by an "angel" who murders. However, the characters don't know if they're being killed by an angel or a regular person, because there's nothing supernatural about their causes of death (getting stabbed by a knife, poison, strangulation, etc.).

Each character was a former angel who had been banished from the celestial world, because they admired humans so much that God turned them into humans. Therefore, the characters in the play believed that an angel was sent after them to punish them for their sins.

This sets up two mysteries for us to follow:

1. The mystery of the real death threat, sent by "V" — who is the culprit behind it, who will they kill, and why?

2. The mystery within the play — is it an angel or real person killing each character, and why?

Paradoxes (and Things That Don't Make Sense)

The play is called, "The Living World is a Dream, the Nocturnal Dream is Reality," which is a quote from the real Edogawa Ranpo's work, but I couldn't find the exact source. The title proposes a paradox: reality is a dream, and dreams are reality.

Several other paradoxes present themselves in the story, but they appear most prominently in Ranpo's big speech where he solves the mystery of the play, and the murder simultaneously:

“The murder and the play’s story are connected on a deep level. This play reversed the tide of the narrative. A group of fallen angels tried to return to the heavens, but the angel of judgment tried to stop them. Meanwhile, the angel’s judgment was but a show, and the supposed victim, a human, faked it. The angel’s and humans’ roles were reversed, switching the judge and the judged. That’s the kind of play this was. "

"...the narrative is in reverse. Our structures have been swapped along with the victim and killer as well. In other words—he isn’t the killer, but a victim."

This reveal subverts the original expectation that the plot would follow two separate mysteries. Instead, the lines are blurred between reality and fiction, killer and killed, and dreams and reality because now the two mysteries are intertwined.

I think this part of the story is deliberately written to be confusing (or at least not very clearly explained) as to fit in with the themes found in Murakami's writing.

Who is Murakami?

Haruki Murakami is a famous Japanese author, and you may have read some of his famous works, "Norwegian Wood" and "Kafka on the Shore."

Since this is Bungou (Literary) Stray Dogs, Murakami makes an appearance in this light novel as the main actor of the play.

Before I go on to explain Murakami's role in the novel, I'll give a brief background on his real counterpart and explain how the theatrical play in the novel reflects the real Murakami's work.

Murakami writes in the genre of "magical realism", where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred as magical elements are seamlessly incorporated into the story. I'll be using "Kafka on the Shore" as the main example for this point, since it's a great example of Murakami's expertise in magical realism.

In "Kafka on the Shore," there are 2 interrelated plot lines, alternating with each chapter, similar to the 2 supposed mysteries outlined at the beginning of the novel.

Like its moniker, "Kafka on the Shore" resembles a "Kafkaesque" style of writing due to its surreal elements that are bizarre and illogical in the rules of reality.

In an interview about this novel, Murakami said:

"Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write."

The Outcome of the Play

In theme with Murakami's bizarre, magical-realism writings, several illogical events take place within the span of the LN:

1. Before the play even starts, Murakami (the character) and the rest of the cast completely disregard the death threat. Even though the logical and safe solution would be to reschedule the play, it is a very literal representation of "the play must go on" mindset.

2. Murakami gets stabbed mid-sentence, on stage by a white blade that magically disappears.

3. Murakami bleeds real blood and has no pulse, which would signify his death, but he doesn't actually die.

Despite all this, Ranpo is extremely good at observing various elements of a situation and putting them together to form a solution, much like how the interactions of "Kafka on the Shore"'s riddles form their own solution.

Ranpo appears on stage and makes an Oscar-worthy performance out of his announcement that reveals Murakami to be the culprit behind his own death. It doesn't make much logical sense that Murakami would fake his own death for a performance, but rather it's an action motivated by pure passion.

“I…,” muttered Murakami in almost a whisper. He raised his voice and continued, “I am an actor! I become someone I am not and live a life that doesn’t exist! My job is to expose what it means to be human! It doesn’t matter if I play the lead part or a minor part. It doesn’t matter if I am a villain or hero. I become them with every part of my body! There is no other job for me! This is the only way I can live!”

And here, Murakami reveals the final paradox of the play:

"But there is one thing that cannot be avoided while acting on the stage of life, and that is death! Death is not the opposite of life; it is life’s symbol and banner. However, it also provides a great paradox! Nobody alive has ever experienced it! That’s why to me, the greatest job of all would be performing the death of a person. Not death as a device or a mere convention, but real death that I could convey to the audience. That was the pinnacle of theatrical performance to me. And this is the outcome of my toil."

Murakami eventually gets arrested for the fake death threat and deceiving the police, among other things. The most notable moment after this comes in Ranpo's dialogue to Murakami:

“I thought you were amazing,” Ranpo suddenly said from behind as Murakami was being taken away. “I didn’t quite understand all of it myself, but I don’t think it’s something that just anyone could do. By the way, take a look at the audience. Look at their faces.”

1. Ranpo sees Murakami's act as something admirable, most likely because Ranpo appreciates a good mystery and had fun solving it.

2. Ranpo tells Murakami to look at the audience, to which he turns around and sees the faces of a broken audience who came to watch a play and instead witnessed a real not-so-real murder.

“You said your job was entertainment, right? But could you really call it that…when you look at their expressions?” For the first time, Murakami’s eyes showed a sign of weakness. “…I see.” A small voice, unlike what one would expect from a stage actor with a powerful voice, fell from the stage. “I was…only performing for myself.”

Murakami realizes that he traumatized his entire audience on his quest to reach the "pinnacle of theatrical performance." In his small world that consisted of just the stage, he failed to see the outside world and forgot to consider how his actions would impact others. It's also important to mention that it was Ranpo specifically who pointed it out to him.

The focus on the audience mirrors Fukuzawa's thoughts when Ranpo was giving his big speech before Murakami appeared on the stage:

Fukuzawa was at his wits’ end. From the playgoers’ point of view, the fact that people knew there was going to be a murder beforehand completely changed their view of the situation. Was it really okay to tell them that? But Ranpo showed no concern for the audience’s worries.

Ranpo, throughout the entire novel, is portrayed as this extraordinarily ordinary kid who means well but simply doesn't understand what others are thinking. He was taught that he wasn't special, but this only isolated him into his own tiny world, because the outside world was filled with things he didn't understand.

This leads to him upsetting a bunch of people by blatantly calling out things about them that shouldn't be called out, like the theater's owner Ms. Egawa, and even Fukuzawa at one point.

However, this moment when he calls out Murakami is pivotal because it shows how he's grown from this event. He's learned to be considerate of others. He's seen how he can upset other people with the things he says, and he's learned from that enough to show another person who's trapped in their own individual world.

Although Ranpo is depicted to be somewhat self-centered throughout this novel and even after it, Fukuzawa taught him that he isn't alone in this world. Because Fukuzawa showed compassion to Ranpo, a special fifteen-year-old kid who didn't know better in a world of monsters, Ranpo learned how to exist in a world where he was different from everyone else, and that was okay.

Thank you for reading! If you haven't read this LN yet, I would still highly recommend it because I didn't cover the entirety of the mystery, and it's a wonderful read to understand more about Ranpo and Fukuzawa's backstory.

#bsd #bsd meta #bsd analysis #bsd ranpo #murakami #bsd light novel #i actually read the LN a while ago #but didn't realize murakami was in it until i finished kafka on the shore

[wagner-fell]

I am still very new to this website and I don’t know how link a post but this fic is based on a post by @sandersgrey

(If someone reading this knows how to link a post please either explain it to me or link it in the comments because that post is *amazing*)

“Hmmm,” said Tessa, depositing Mina into Kit’s waiting arms and examining her buzzing phone critically. She shot a quizzical look in his direction.

Jem looked up from his novel. “What is ‘hmmm’, my love?”

Kit mimed vomiting but stopped dead in his tracks when she replied, “it’s Astrid’s mother. You remember her from parent teacher night, don’t you, my darling?” Kit swears they were being extra insufferable just to mess with him but he didn’t have the time to be annoyed when Astrid’s. Mom. Was. Calling. Tessa.

To understand why Kit was panicking as much as he was, you must know that Astrid’s mom was incredibly chill. She never got mad. The worst punishment she’d ever given her daughter was taking away her iPod for a week so she couldn’t listen to Mitski.

Was she calling about last night when Astrid, Mari and Kit threw eggs at the Shadowhunter’s that were giving Mari’s pack a hard time for no reason? No, that couldn’t be it. She’d given them the eggs.

Could the call be about the day before yesterday when Kit and Astrid got distracted doing homework and ended up snapping the coffee table clean in half while battling gladiator style with pool noodles? No, that wasn’t it. She’d just handed Astrid a twenty and told them to go to Kevin’s parents' shop and get a new one. Was she pissed because they ended up spending the money on ice cream instead? No, they ended up finding a table for free in the rubbing bin outside a fancy hotel.

Kit clutched his sister to his chest and prepared for the worst.

“Seo-yoon! What can I do for- Oh, hello Astrid!” Tessa paused briefly, presumably to listen to Astrid speak, and Kit sighed in relief.

“Kit is occupied at the moment but I can relay the message.” Another pause. “Oh don’t be frightened of me. I’m a tots rad mom. Your secret is safe with me.” Kit felt his face flush red as he heard his best friend’s laughter echo across the living room. “Okay! I’ll let him know. He has to get Mina to sleep before he can leave though. Lord knows he’s the only one who can these days.” Tessa chuckled at something Astrid said before wishing her good luck in her endeavour and ending the call.

She turned her attention back to Kit. “Astrid needs your help breaking into your teacher’s home to retrieve her cell phone.”

Kit blinked at her, dumbfounded. “You aren’t mad I’m going to go break the law?”

Because of course he was doing it. Astrid’s dad had bought it for her and he was extremely cautious about money. That was one of three things Kit knew about her dad. He was cheap, he lived in America and he loved the movie Fight Club.

Tessa ruffled Kit’s hair affectionately. “Please. I’ve raised two other Herondales. At least I know about this particular adventure beforehand.”

Mina began snoring softly and Kit handed her back to her mother. He grabbed his bag and started his journey to the door when Tessa added, “she also told me to say hi to a ‘daddy Kit’. Are you ‘daddy Kit?’”

‘Daddy Kit’ closed his eyes and wished for the sweet release of death.

“Why is Kit a daddy,” Jem asked, genuinely confused. “Aren’t I the daddy?”

Kit swung the door open so fast not even a speed rune could have aided him. But not before I heard Tessa reply, “Lily Chen certainly thinks so.”

Mrs. MacNamara clapped her hands together. “Why don’t we all go around and say a few things about ourselves?”

Kit buried his face into his hands. He’d been relieved when no other teacher had fulfilled the Disney channel stereotype of making every student introduce themselves to the new kid. But Mrs. MacNamara didn’t even seem to realize what she was doing.

All Kit’s fellow classmates groan. Expect one. Her hand shot up immediately. She was short, like smaller than Clary short. She wore a baggy pink shirt with the words ‘Queen Glimmer of Etheria’ sewed on with purple sequins and tight black jeans. Her colourful, choppy hair was in a low ponytail and she flew a few strands out of her eyes as her hand wiggled in the hair.

Mrs. MacNamara pointed at her. She stood up and smiled at Kit. “Hi. My name is Astrid. My hobbies include making my little cousin’s girl Barbies kiss, as it should be, and watching television shows where everyone is a terrible person so you can love all of them!”

“And what shows might that be?” asked Kit, already in the process of pulling out his phone and opening the Notes app.

“Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy again because it’s seventeen seasons as of right now. And to be fair it practically became a different show when they killed off Mark Sloan.”

“That’s enough, Miss Yang,” said Mrs. MacNamara. Astrid sat down and winked at Kit. Then she took out her phone and airdropped him a complete list of all her favorite shows, along with her number.

After Blessica’s pre-birthday birthday party, they went to Cirenworth and stayed up till four A.M. binging them.

They met outside a queer dry bar called Aries Not Welcome, the unspoken gathering place of the Merry Hoes. It was run by a poly lesbian couple in their mid-thirties. Quinn, Sydney and Aliyah may not have served alcohol but at least they were open 24/7.

“Did you bring the shit?”

Kit gave her a look. “The shit? How conclusive.”

“Shut up. You know, the shadowhunter thing.”

“The shadowhunter thing?”

“The, the, the glow stick that you draw with.”

“The glow stick that I draw wi-“ Kit closed his eyes briefly. “Do you mean a stele?”

Astrid snapped her fingers. “That’s it!” Kit shook his head in exasperation, smiling fondly. “I borrowed a torch from Quinn, let’s move.”

“Should I be worried that you know where Mr. Smith lives?” questioned Kit as he followed Astrid’s lead through the park.

“Should I be worried that your mom was fine with us breaking and entering?” she shot back playfully. Kit pushed Astrid and she fell off the path, laughing all the way.

“You called me ‘daddy’ to my mom’s face.”

She just laughed harder, slinging her arm around Kit’s shoulder. “It was over the phone, Christopher. And as I should.”

“Pffffttt. Why did you get your phone taken anyway?” She put her hands into her jumper pocket and looked at the ground. “Astrid.” She remained silent. “Astrid?”

She mumbled something under her breath. “What?” asked Kit.

“I WAS READING NINEJ FANFICTION!” she shouted.

Kit gasped. “I thought you were a die hard Kanej shipper,” he whispered.

“I’m a multishipper, okay?!” she replied, equally quiet.

“Does Blessica know?”

She shook her head. “And she will never find out.”

Kit saw the opportunity and he seized it. “She’ll never find out as long as you never call me daddy in front of either of my parents.”

She removed her arm from his shoulder and guided them out of the park, in the direction of the many apartments that lined this side of town. “I hate you.”

“Well, so does Mari. You're not special, Ast.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know Mari doesn’t actually hate you, right?! They’re just still in the enemy phase of your enemies-to-lovers romance. She only dislikes you because they feel something for you but they don’t know what so she interrupts it as loathing. In reality, her inner soul knows you’re hot and shmexie.”

Kit didn’t know how to process this so he just nodded and follow Astrid in silence to Mr. Smith’s house. (Plus, he was kinda glad that, according to his best friend, he had a little more time for Mari to ‘discover their true feelings’. If Kit screwed this up, he was out of countries to run off to.)

“Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What,” asked Kit, turning around to face Astrid and closing the drawer he was rifling through. “Did you find your phone?”

“Yeah. But I also found Blessica’s. She was Snapping Kevin. Platonic my ass. But he took the fucking trans flag out of her phone!”

Kit snatched Blessica’s phone out of her hand to examine it for herself. She was telling the truth. Where the glitter pride flag usually rested was just a clear purple case. Kit couldn’t believe his eyes.

“It’s one thing to misgender her every day.” Blessica had forced all four of the other Merry Hoes to sign a contract saying they wouldn’t do anything to harm him because of it. “But this is the last straw. You know what we have to do.” Oops.

“Yeah, but we don’t have any spray paint.”

Kit eyed Mr. Smith’s pink sofa, blue bar stool covers and white picture frames. “I think I have something better in mind.”

It would have been easier for both parties to just zip off the sofa cushions and tape them to the wall but by ripping them off in strips, they ensured he would have to buy new ones. And judging by the car he drove and the fiji water in his fridge, Mr. Smith could definitely afford it.

That reminded him, “I’ll finish up with this. Go put all his fiji water into my bag.” Astrid saluted him and ran off. “Wait.” She stopped and looked at him. “Steal all the remotes you can find.”

“How is he not awake?,” asked Astrid as they ripped the fabric of his seating from the stool.

He shrugged. “Don’t question it.” He shoved the bundle of cloth into her arms. “Glue this above the pink. I’ll handle the frames.”

“Say the magic word,” she sang.

“Please?”

“No. Lesbian. Come on, I thought you knew me better than that.”

Kit laughed quietly. “Can you lesbian glue this above the pink?”

She grinned at Kit. “It would be my pleasure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello! Sorry I haven’t written anything in so long. School just restarted and it has been…a lot.

@adoravel-fenomeno @thechangeling @the-blackdale @the-wckd-powers @thomas-gaypanic-lightwood @im-not-ruined-im-ruination @ithurielkeepsgettingkidnapped @noah-herondale-lightwood @arangiajoan @shelvesofgold @maxboythedog @book-dragon-not-worm @hardlymatters

Very sorry if I forgot anyone. Lmk if you want to be addEd/removEd from the tag list.

#mari the werewolf #mari machado sotomayor #mari machado #kit rook #kit herondale #astrid yang #blessica reyes #Kevin chu #tessa grey #jem carstairs #lily chen #mina carstairs