#and this hammy greets me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hongjoongscafe · 1 year

Text

Don't do that

Drabble

Pairing: jonghoxreader

Genre: slight angst, fluff

Summary: he despised skinship.

Word count: 1.6k+

Note: Happiest birthday @cheline 💓💓. Thank you for being such a great friend of mine😘. Although I am late by a few hours but you understand🥹. Hopefully, this year you might find a hammy for yourself and then send me many cute pictures and videos of that hammy. I hope you get to go to every concert your heart wishes for💓. Also, thank you for this cute idea😊💓

Masterpost

*DO NOT REPOST, PLZ*

“No, please,” Jongho whined and got away from you when you tried to cuddle him.

He has been like this forever. You knew that he disliked skinship but this much!? You were left speechless. There are many people you knew who didn’t like skinship but they always made a sweet exception for their dearest lovers.

You thought that he might be the same and be physically closer to you (not to say that you wanted to show off that he is only close to you– someone special). It made you sad.

Holding hands while walking or hugging by the beach. Cuddling during the movie nights. Half-hugging while admiring the pretty view. Kissing randomly in public or even in the privacy of your house.

Yeah, it was all just a dream. Oh, you wanted him to be closer to you and not feel like that.

It hurts, even more, when you recall the times when you came into the relationship with him, he was the sweetest. He would kiss your knuckles all the time. He would never leave your hand. It felt real back then. Right now, you felt like you both were in an arranged marriage. It sucked.

“Please, Jojo, I just want to hold your hand,” you requested. Trying to keep your voice low so that people around you in the street won’t listen to your frustrated voice.

“I don’t like it, y/n. You know I hate skinship,” Jongho sighed and walked further with you just standing behind.

~~~

ATEEZ was going on a world tour. Everyone was there saying goodbye to their loved ones. Hugging and kissing their partners. It made you jealous and sad. Jongho was standing next to you doing nothing but saying how he would surprise Atiny with his new ideas. He was excited about the concerts and everything that came along with them, i.e, interaction with Atiny and well, of course, the fact that he will get to explore many places.

You sighed and faced him, “Jojo, I’m gonna miss you.”

He looked at you and smiled, “me too! I’ll make sure to take some time out to talk to you. And I’ll bring a gift for you,” he winked.

You smiled and tried to cup his face for a kiss. But being the Jongho he is, he held your wrists and moved you away, “don’t,” he casually stated without knowing how much his actions hurt you. You only wanted to kiss him before he disappeared for three months. Three months without seeing him or going close at least felt his body heat.

~~~

Things were getting worse. You hated being on the internet. All you wanted to do was to throw your phone away and break the shit out of it.

Why, you may ask.

Well, Jongho was posting pictures with their translator. That wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was that he was holding her in those pictures. An arm around her neck, sometimes a hand on her waist.

Bitter you, you went through your gallery to find at least one picture in which he was holding you. But guess what, there were none. No, zero. If he was anti-skinship, then why was he being handsy with others? Is it you? Are you not enough for him? Or does he feel ashamed of you?

Your heart broke into a million pieces when you concluded: he doesn’t love you anymore and is dating someone else.

The next few weeks were nothing but terrible.

~~~

“Hey, how are you?” Hongjoong greeted you as you entered his studio. He was the only rational person you could talk to. He was the leader and knew his members better than anybody. He knew how to calm anyone's nerves and give the wisest advice.

“Hi, well, not the best,” you honestly said.

He sat straight and looked at you with concern kissing his face, “why? What happened?”

“I- I don’t know how to say it out loud��” you hesitated and a bit of anxiety shadowed down on you.

“Hey, here drink some water,” Hongjoong handed you some water. “Take your time and talk it out. Keeping it inside won’t do any good.”

You took the water and drank half of the bottle in a single breath, “thanks,” you panted, catching your breath. “You see, the thing is that… I am not sure if Jongho loves me anymore…”

Hongjoong's face had a big question-mark expression for a second before he chuckled, “why would you say that?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I just feel like it,” you sighed.

“Something must have happened that this thought came into your head,” he said.

“You know how he hates skinship, right?” You asked.

“Oh I know,” he agreed.

“He is like that in our personal life as well,” you began. “He hates when I get too close. He always dodges my touches. If I try to kiss him or make… any move… he just,” you sighed, “he just, hates it and stays far away,” you finally opened up.

“How does that make you feel?” He carefully asked.

“To be honest, it makes me feel shitty,” you said. “I feel like he doesn’t love me and feels disgusted by me that he won’t ever give in for skinship in public. How bad is holding hands?” a surprised sob fell from your throat. “I feel like– I feel like I am not enough. I feel like he is interested in someone else, someone who is perfect unlike me,” you wiped your eyes and drank the rest of the water.

Hongjoong nodded and thought for a second, processing what you said. He cleared his throat and looked at you, “in my opinion, you should talk to him frankly and tell him how you feel, you know? As far as I know, he is not cheating on you, I can make sure of that. He is whipped for you. He never stops talking about you… but as for skinship, I can understand where you are coming from and him ignoring and dodging your affections like that is bad. He should be more open with you, in the end, he is your boyfriend.”

Hongjoong smiled at you and continued, “you are just overthinking the facts. Give yourself a break and be easy on yourself. You are perfect and the prettiest star for him.”

Oblivious of you two, you didn't know that Jongho was hearing your conversation through the tiny crack of the door that was not completely closed.

Jongho felt the worst. You felt like that because of him. It was his fault that you felt bad about yourself and questioned if you are enough or not.

He needed to make it better.

~~~

It was night and you were asleep. You didn't wait for Jongho to come back home. You didn't have any energy left after your therapy-type session with Hongjoong.

Jongho came back about an hour before midnight and found you dead asleep in your bed. His heart broke after seeing your swollen eyes. He didn't take the risk to touch and accidentally wake you up. Instead, he started working on something.

Right when the clock hit midnight, you heard someone calling your name and shaking you. You whined and tossed and turned in the bed. Finally, you opened one of your eyes and saw Jongho sitting by your side. You got up and sat straight, “Jojo, what happened? Is everything okay?” you asked.

“Happy Birthday to you~ happy birthday to you~ happy birthday to my dear love~” Jongho sang the birthday song in a low, romantic voice and brought the cake in front of you.

You gasped. You had totally forgotten that it was your birthday. “Jojo…” you smiled and cut the cake.

He picked up a tiny bite and fed you. There was a little bit of cake at the end of your lips. He chuckled and cupped your face to lick it away. You froze. Never in a million years, you thought this would happen. But it didn't stop there, he captured your lips in a sweet and romantic kiss. His lips moved slowly and steadily against yours. They were warm and soft and fluffy. You never wanted to leave this feeling.

You both broke the kiss to take a breath. He chuckled and hugged you tightly in his muscular arms. “Happiest birthday, my love. You are the only one I have… Please never be sad and always talk to me. I love you and forever will… I can't imagine being without you. You are like my daily dose of sanity. I love being next to you… It's not that I hate skinship with you, it's just I am always terrified of something bad. Do you know what I mean? Some toxic people might end up hurting you… And in private, I'm scared that I will get addicted to your touch.”

You pulled away from the hug and looked into his eyes. “D-did Hongjoong talk to you?”

“No… I might have accidentally eavesdropped on your conversation,” he scratched his neck. “I don't want you to think something that is not true. You are the best I ever had and I won't ever change that. I only want you and no one else. Is that clear to you?” he asked

Your eyes become teary. You smiled and nodded and hugged him again. You took your sweet time to feel him up, trying to take up all the heat and feeling of his hard body against you. You felt safe and loved. “Jojo, I can take the criticism of toxic people but please don't be so away from me… That hurts more…”

Jongho pecked your lips, “I learned my lesson the hard way, I will never do this again… I love you, my love.”

.....

Sanaa’s note:

😊💓

Taglist:

@veneziamadness @cheline @sansmilkbread @jayb17 @constantlydelulusional @8tinytings ; @jhmylove

*lemme know if you wanna be added to the permanent or specific taglist*

Have a nice day/night💓

#ateez #ateez fluff #ateez angst #ateez fanfic #ateez jongho #ateez choi jongho #choi jongho #jongho fluff #jongho angst #jongho x y/n #jongho #jongho imagines #jongho x reader #dont do that

400 notes · View notes

ficthots · 1 year

Text

Statute of Limitations

A/N: Cute lil turkey day fic. As always let me know what you guys think and enjoy!

Warnings: SMUT. DNI if you are under 18. 18+ only.

Word Count: 7.4k+

The holidays can evoke many emotions that someone would not expect nor want. Thanksgiving was notorious for being the holiday where family members got in vicious spats over rivaling political ideologies. Christmas brought on dreaded yearning for loved ones who have since departed your life in one way or another. New Years held bouts of loneliness over your shoulders as you watched on as couples and strangers alike connected in a kiss to ring in the new year.

Many feelings that were not always welcome guests during this time of year. However, it was always easier to manage when you were surrounded by people who were in the same place you were in life. In fact, when it was your best friend, you wouldn’t even notice these waves of varying mental states because they were entertaining you and keeping you afloat.

More than afloat. Joyous. Elated. Hopeful. Content.

But that is to be discussed at a later time.

You were frantically running around the house, trying to make sure that everything was where it should be. That everything was going according to schedule. That everything was perfect. Because it was supposed to be. Had to be.

“Turkey will be done at five forty-five. Candles will be lit at five-forty. Bar area is stocked and ready. Name cards. Where are the name cards?” Your eyes darted up from your crumpled list that sat in your hands, pen marking off items as you mumbled out loud to yourself, beginning the search for the name cards.

His curly head bopped down the stairs, seeing you hunting around the house for what he already knew was in hands. He held up the brown paper, smile growing as he did. “Name cards? Got ‘em right here, hammy.” A breath of relief tumbled from your lips as you watched him go around the large dining table and place the cards where they were supposed to be.

You trailed behind him, slightly moving and adjusting them to be where they actually should have been. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed what you were doing, turning and facing you with his hands on his hips. “They looked just fine where they were.”

Wiping your hands on your pants after taking some lint off of a napkin, you weren’t looking at him as your eyes scanned the table for any other imperfections that you could immediately see. As you went to slightly move a pillar candle two inches to the left, his hand darted out and captured yours in his, drawing your attention to him.

He offered you a large smile, hands moving to cup your cheeks as he did. “Everyone’s going to be here within an hour, hammy. Why don’t you head upstairs and start getting ready, yeah? Your clothes are laid out on my bed, your bathroom stuff is on the counter, I can handle what’s left down here.” Reluctantly agreeing with him, his hands turning you around and in the direction of the stairs, you kept turning, not really ready to hand over the full responsibility of him taking over for the last forty-five minutes.

“Go!” He shouted, hands shooing you away, laughter following his words as you pouted your way up the stairs. Just like he said, your outfit was laid out across the bedding, your personal care items atop the counter in the bathroom, a fluffy towel hanging on the rack to greet you.

He knew you would be flustered with planning out every miniscule detail you could for this dinner so he took it upon himself to make sure the other aspects did not fall through the cracks, simply making sure you were taken care of.

Josh always made sure you were taken care of. That’s why he’s your best friend and whom you love the absolute most in the world. Truly, you could not imagine a life without the ball of sunshine that was Joshua by your side.

He had been in your life for years, originally meeting him through Danny, but there was something about him. You two meshed so well, becoming close in high school and hardly being separated from them on out.

As you all grew older, new traditions popped up and stuck with your small group. One of those traditions was the annual Thanksgiving supper. Each year was a rotation between the couples of the group. Each pairing hosted at their own home with an immaculate table scape and menu to accompany along with a new tradition that would happen at their home.

It was fun, lighthearted, and a reason for everyone to see one another during the holidays. Given you are one of the two singles in the group, the other being your best friend, the burden fell on your shoulders this year. A group text message revealed that everyone else had decided to partner you up and to be ready to host the soiree of the year at one of your houses.

Planning began immediately, beyond infuriated that everyone took pity on the two lonesome creatures of the posse and you decided that you were going to put them all to shame, hosting the best bash they had seen yet.

Josh was just along for the ride, happy to be included in whatever you needed from him. You had been staying at his house for the last two days as you prepped for the upcoming party, doing as much ahead of time as possible. He was there, right behind you, reminding you to take a breath, sit down, and eat some actual food every once in a while.

He knew how type a you could be, incredibly anal about the details of it all, because once you set your mind to it, he knew it was going to be done, sparing no expense of yourself. He had seen in the past how you could and would schedule your life down to the last second, wanting any and all control over any situations you found yourself in. Josh would watch as you would forget the littlest things to survive, like sleep, and would gently guide you into the direction he knew you needed to go. He would ensure that you were being taken care of. That’s who he is.

This wasn’t the first time he had seen you like this and he knew it would not be the last either. As long as he was there besides you, he would be happy as a clam to aid you in whatever way he knew how to. To make sure that you would slow down and enjoy what life was offering, tonight was going to be no different.

Josh wanted you to see what you had spent weeks obsessing over and notice how beautiful it had all turned out. Your goal had succeeded, this was going to the best gathering that had happened yet. All he wanted was for you to see that. To see how magnificent it was. How magnificent you were.

As he finished moving the chairs to where they needed to be, basting the turkey once more, playing the music you had meticulously picked out for the evening, he heard you come bounding down the stairs. He couldn’t help but beam at you, seeing how radiant you looked in only the dim lighting and candlelight from the room that set the table aglow.

Attempting to swallow his heart back down from his throat, a blush crept onto the apples of his cheeks as you smiled at him. He couldn’t hold your gaze any longer, eyes darting down to the record he held in his hand, hearing your gasp as you took in the space.

“It’s unbelievable, Josh. Look at this! Oh, it’s perfect,” you squealed out as you moved around the space, double checking whatever you could. As you checked the watch on your wrist for the time, your eyes went wide, shooting up in a panic at him.

“I basted the turkey four and a half minutes ago. It looks devine, hammy,” he could see the relief actually roll off your shoulders at that. A small grin took over your lips, a silent thank you being shared between the two of you.

When the first knock of the night came in, he watched you shoot up straight, hands clasping together in front of your chest, excitement tangible from you as you rushed around the table to link your arm through with his.

“Ready handsome?” You leaned into his side as you spoke out, head lightly resting against his own. He couldn’t respond to your words, only offering a quick nod as he moved you both to the door.

As he opened the door as dramatically as he could on the left, you still holding onto his arm, blocking the entryway so they couldn’t entirely see what was behind you both, he gave a large grin.

“Welcome one and all! We are so pleased you could join us at the twenty twenty two Thanksgiving celebration. Now, I hope you all came prepared to witness the best of the best because that is what we have offered you. Please, help yourself to the bar and chat amongst yourselves,” as Josh finished his small speech, everyone giggling at his words, the laughter stopped as soon as you both stepped out of the way.

Greenery was hung and wrapped around the wooden beams, candlelight danced on the walls, and no one could seem to figure out where to look first. You were beaming with pride as Josh shot you a quick wink, knowing all of your meticulous planning had turned out as immaculately as you had hoped it would.

Drinks were flowing right after and given that everyone hadn't really eaten anything but the hors d'oeuvres you had set out as everyone started mingling, your guests were growing tipsier by the minute. Just as you had planned.

As the dinner bell rang, signaling it was time for everyone to find their seats, a chorus of oo’s and ah’s flew around the room as Josh brought the turkey and ham to the table. Applause rang out into the room as you and your party partner thanked everyone, Josh pointing to you and speaking out that this was all your doing.

“Before we eat, we are ready to share our tradition that will happen at every Thanksgiving we are set to host.” You sipped your drink as you finished speaking, pointing to Josh across the table as he sat at the other head spot and urged him to start. Heads bounced back and forth between you both as you giggled out to him.

“This was Josh’s idea so I think it’s only fair he shares what it is and he has to start!” He rolled his eyes at your words, smirking into his glass as he did. “Fine, fine. Our tradition is that instead of everyone saying what they are thankful for this year you must divulge one secret! Statute of limitations applies to whatever is shared so there is immunity!” Eyes around the table went wide, some excitedly shouting out that they loved the idea, others collectively groaning with one another.

His smile grew, eyes going wide as he peered at you, clearing his throat as he finished his drink, standing from the table and over animatedly began telling his secret. “Once upon a time,” his brother groaned as he started, trying and failing to trip his sibling as he made his way around the table. “Come on, just tell your secret!”

Josh shushed him, flicking his ear as he did. “Shut up. It’s my turn to speak.” Sam rolled his eyes at his brother, letting him continue his tale. Josh cleared his throat as loudly as he could, continuing on where he had started. “In a time far from the one we are in now,” he moved to stand directly behind his twin, hands landing on his shoulders as he did.

“I pretended to be this devilishly handsome fellow here,” he bent over, cheek smashed against cheek before standing back upright as quickly as he had knelt over, “To take out Jessica Park on a date where the entire time she thought I was my twin. I did however get lucky that night! It was quite weird hearing her moan out my brother's name whilst I was in bed with her, but I digress.” He plopped back in his seat, everyone laughing and howling at his confession, clapping and cheering for him.

Jake eyed his brother, set on murdering him in that moment from the sheer look he sent his way before he spoke up. “You knew I had a massive thing for her, you jackass.” Josh shrugged with a laugh as he poured himself a glass of wine. “Oh I am fully aware of that. She had a thing for you, not me, which is why I was you for the evening.” His lazy smile graced his face as you snickered behind your glass.

Josh clapped his hands together, eyeing the dining room table and its occupants before selecting the next person who needed to confess their secret.

Tears streamed down everyone's faces at the stories being shared. When Danny finished, he sipped his drink contents, a shrug accompanying his final words. “I swear it’s true.” He set his glass down on the table, surveying who was left and needed to share. His gaze fell to you, a smile taking over his face as he looked at you.

“Last, but certainly not least, my dearest friend. What is your secret?” You sighed, seeing the giddy look of Josh to see if he was going to discover some new information about you or if it was information he had already filed away in the folder about you in his head.

Looking out over your friends from behind your glass, you took one last swig for confidence, eyes setting on Jake as you set the glass down. You leaned forward on the table, seeing the unremarkable similarities between him and his twin, but noticing how insanely different they were. As the candlelight held their features, your heart swelled at the sight of Josh and the adoring look that graced his face as he waited with baited breath to hear what you were going to reveal.

Eyes falling back to his counterpart, you spoke out with a laugh. “Jakey, I am the one who hit your car, not Josh.” His eyes narrowed at you before turning his attention to his brother, Josh’s jaw hanging open at your words. Everyone sat in utter silence, waiting to hear what his reaction was going to be.

“No, Josh did. I saw him in the driver's seat.” You couldn’t contain your giggles, liquid courage assisting in your tale. “He switched seats with me. It was me,” Jake shook his head, cradling his face in his own hands as he roughly rubbed, a long groan following it. Everyone’s laughter picked up right after as his shoulders started to shake from his own laughing.

Josh stood, grabbing the carving knife as he did. “Alright, I think that is enough secrets for the next decade. Who wants turkey?” Plates were shoved in his face after his question, earning an exasperated sigh from the boy. “Wait your turn! Hammy, you first.”

When the last of the guests filed out of the house for the night, you collapsed into a heap on the couch, a yawn escaping your lips as you did. Josh couldn’t fight the smile that was taking over his face at the sight of you.

He lifted your legs, placing them tentatively in his lap as he did. He poked your cheek, leaning back on the couch, a sleepy smile taking over his face. “I would say that was a success. I don’t think I will be able to eat again for the rest of the week. Which is probably for the best since there aren’t any leftovers.” His hand rubbed along his slightly pooched stomach, rolling your eyes at his flair for the over dramatic.

“Thank you for the help, Joshy. It was a great night,” he shrugged, hand rubbing along the bare expanse of your calf, eyes slipping shut as he breathed out. “It was all you, ham. You did amazing. Seriously, the best one we’ve had yet. I heard Jita saying she wasn’t sure how she was going to top you next year,” you giggled at his words, happy that it had been such a hit.

“Can I ask you a question?” You hummed at him, letting him know he could continue on. “What other secrets do you have? I feel like I got cheated out of one because I already knew about the one you shared.” You peeked an eye open at him, seeing his excited gaze staring down at you.

You thought about it for a second, turning onto your back and staring at him. “Fine. But I get another secret from you. Deal?” He thought about it for a second before agreeing with you. You sighed in thought, trying to figure out what you could share with him.

A sheepish smile took over your face as you thought about what to say. “I have this coworker. I hate him. Ever since I met him he was super misogynistic towards me. Called me sweetheart, sugar, the whole nine yards at work. I decided that I had had enough of it and took it upon myself to secretly do things to annoy him every single day.” Laughter wracked your body at Josh’s shocked expression.

His own chuckles seeped into his words, hands still firmly planted on your legs. “What do you do to him?” You shrugged, thinking back to what you had done to him as of late. “I move his food and drinks in the fridge. Like I’ll hide them. I wear my badge as a lanyard because the rattling of it drives him insane. If he walks by me I’ll whisper his name out with some occasional name calling just loud enough for him to hear, but I act dumb when he asks me if I heard that. I also move his coffee cup throughout the office so he can never find it. Oh, one time I took all of the trash wrappers I could and placed them on his desk. Everyone else hates him too.”

Josh was hunched over in tears, snorts falling from his lips at your admission. Your snickers matched his as he calmed back down, wiping at his eyes. “Wow. That’s amazing. What are you going to do when he finds out?” You reached your hand out, pushing fallen curls from his forehead back up.

“I have you to beat him up for me,” his face went serious as your words settled over him. “Baby, you see me right? I mean I’d give it a shot, but I can make no promises here.” Your laughter roared over his voice, his own nervous giggles mixing. “I’m serious! How big is this guy?” You were trying to catch your breath at his words, hearing his worried tone seep out more than he would’ve liked to admit.

You poked him with your bare foot as you relaxed back into a calmer state. “Your turn. Another secret and make it a good one!” He drummed along your leg, searching his mind for a secret he had yet to share with you. It was difficult seeing as he shared every detail of his life with you that he possibly could, but as he settled on one, you watched guilt take him over.

“Alright, but I’m not very proud of this one, okay? When I was little I would steal money from my grandma,” your jaw fell slack at his words, eyes as big as saucers at his words. “No, no, it’s not as bad as that! She had this jug that she would put loose change in and I would take the change, bring it to her, and she would be so proud of me for saving change that she would exchange it for paper money, and I would get ice cream.” He scratched the back of his neck as he finished, clearly guilt ridden with what he would do as a child.

Being his best friend meant making it worse. “Wow, Josh, that’s horrible. I can’t believe you stole from your grandma. You’re going to hell for that, you know that right?” You could see how sad he was getting from sharing that secret, knowing that it was most likely one of his deepest and darkest secrets he ever had. It was adorable.

You sat up, moving to almost sit in his lap, cupping his face in your hands, forcing him to look at you. “Joshy, I’m messing with you. You were a kid. It’s okay, I promise.” You were stifling laughter, his cheeks and the tips of his ears burned bright red as you leaned forward placing a quick peck to the tip of his nose.

Seeing that he was still feeling bad, you fought within yourself about telling him this next secret. “Okay. I’ll tell you one of my deepest secrets if you promise to keep it a secret, okay?” His eyes fell to you, nodding slowly as you removed your legs from his lap, sitting directly next to him as you got the courage to tell this. “You have to tell me another one first though.” He groaned, head hitting the back of the couch at your words.

His tongue darted out and wet his lips, deciding that in order to hear this juicy secret of yours he was going to have to share another one with you. He cleared his throat, trying to determine which direction this could go in. “When I was like fifteen I was watching dirty stuff on the computer,” you chuckled at his words, cutting him off as he spoke, “As one does.”

He nudged you with a laugh of his own. “Let me finish! Anyways, Sam came into the room and saw what I was watching, ran and told mom, mom came storming into the room pissed. I’m in a panic, knowing I need to come up with something quick and I do. I told her it was a popup on the computer and I couldn’t get it down.” You were gasping for air at his story, heads almost pushed together as his brilliant smile shown at you, happy to see you were enjoying his utter embarrassment from his teen years.

Playing with his fingers, he chuckled after seeing you weren't going to speak yet. “Your turn. Tell me a secret,” he was speaking softer, almost in a whisper as he came back to reality.

“No one knows this. Literally no one,” his brows furrowed, seeing how nervous you were getting, peeking his interest as you gnawed on your lip. “I almost didn’t graduate from college.” Josh’s eyes went wide, but as he went to speak you held your hand up to him. “That’s not even the worst of it.”

He settled back down, waiting for you to continue. “I was failing one of my classes. It was two weeks to graduation and the only way I was going to pass was if I got a two hundred percent on the final. So, I went to my professor's office hours to talk to him about what I could do to pass. This man was one of the most gorgeous men I have ever encountered before in my life. One thing led to another and I ended up sleeping with him.”

You had never seen such a shocked expression take over his face. You giggled at it, feeling a million pounds lighter after being able to share that with someone after all this time. “It wasn’t even for the grade, which is the crazy part. I did however end up graduating and walking two weeks later.” He started laughing with you, in awe of the confession you had just divulged.

Hearing that you had slept with one of your professors was a shock in itself, but he wasn’t sure why he felt a growing bulge in his pants. Imagining you with a professor, telling them you would do anything you could to pass the class and graduate. It was hot.

Adjusting himself as nonchalantly as he possibly could, you caught your breath, realizing how close to Josh you were in that second. His eyes darted down to your lips, smile still as prevalent as ever, dimples deep as happiness coursed through him at being able to share this space with you.

“It was bad. I shouldn’t have done it.” You whispered out, your breath fanning across his lips, seeing his pants grow tighter at your words. He shook his head, tongue moving across his bottom lip, “No you shouldn’t have.” His voice was huskier than before, going a touch deeper, lust fluttering with his words.

He was psyching himself out, almost unable to be sure if this was real, having wanted this for so long and you not feeling the same he wasn’t sure if this was real. If you were real at this moment.

Your smile was small, battling within yourself if you wanted to take this next step. Cross this threshold with him. For him. Josh had never shown true interest in you, you thought to yourself. Maybe it was the alcohol buzzing through you that gave you an extra boost of confidence because you threw caution to the wind, leaning forward, lightly letting your lips feel his.

Not hesitating, he deepend it, hand cupping the back of your neck, pulling you to him and tongue pushing into your mouth with haste.

Whimpering into his mouth, feeling the plushness of his lips push back against your own, clawing at him to get him as close as possible. Swallowing each other in any and every way you possibly could.

Years of tension, angst, yearning had built up to this moment. This singular moment that you could have bursted into tears for. That you spent countless nights dreaming about.

About him.

It took all the strength you had to pull away from him, both heaving and watching the rise and fall of each other's chests. You wanted to give him once more chance, one more opportunity to turn this down. To think twice.

While you knew that this is what you had been craving since you were young, you couldn’t make that assumption for him. Your eyes danced across his features, his kiss swollen lips bright red as he eyed you in utter confusion.

“I’m going to go upstairs and change into my pajamas.” Was all you said to him. Squeezing his hand briefly, a silent telling of what you were asking of him.

Josh didn’t have a second thought in his mind. He watched you ascend the stairs, right into his room, as the door clicked behind you, he bounded up them two at a time to reach you.

There wasn’t a single possibility in which he would let this go. Let you go. He opened the door and saw your dress pooled around your feet, a breath of relief expelled from your lungs seeing that he in fact wanted this just as much as you, if not more.

He crossed the room to you, attacking your skin with his searing kisses. You had just caught your breath and instantaneously it had been knocked out of you as you felt his hands paw at you.

Your head lolled to the side, greeting him with the entire expanse of your neck. He nipped, sucked, and licked the soothing marks he was leaving behind. Wanting to create a lasting memory of tonight on you.

Knees hitting the edge of the bed, you sat, eyes boring into his as he stared down at you. Your doe-like eyes screamed at him all you had been wanting to say for years. His heart was doing somersaults in his chest.

Peeling off layer after layer of his clothes, you watched. Of course you had seen his naked torso. Plenty of times. Countless times.

But this was different.

Vastly different.

Seeing the pink tint that sat on his skin, how his chest rose and fell with short breaths, his stomach caved in as you touched his hip bone. It was the most intimate you could be.

His bulge greeted your hand as you moved it further south. Eyes slipping shut, lips parted, unable to watch your movements, too entranced in what you were doing to him.

Moving his briefs down, his hardened cock greeted you. The swollen and leaking tip, a bright pink that perfectly accompanied his lips, the few veins that trailed along the shaft, the kept bush at the base. He was gorgeous.

Taking him in for a brief moment as your hand firmly held him, you felt like you could cry tears of joy. This man was beautiful. A complete wonder.

You lightly traced the slit of his tip with your tongue, watching as his eyes fluttered behind closed eyelids. Not wanting to waste anymore time, you accepted him in the warm embrace of your mouth.

Relaxing your jaw to take as much of him as you could, he whimpered out, a cry escaping his lips at the feeling of bliss you gave him. It was almost painful how good it felt.

You moved up and down his length, hand working the base of him when you moved back towards the tip, his hand tangled in your locks, cradling the back of your head and guiding your motions.

Normally, Josh was a much more vocal partner, but given how in shock he was with what was happening before him, he was silent. Worried that if he spoke anything, he would either finish too fast or scare you off.

He eventually had to pull you off, growing too close to his release. “Not yet, please.” You smiled up at him and he could’ve had a heart attack right then. Seeing his cock in your hand, right next to the breathtaking smile you gave him, it was a true sight to see.

Pushing you to lay down flat on his sheets, he savored your naked frame that waited with anticipation for him. He didn’t want to make you wait. He didn’t want to wait any longer.

The head of his cock moved through your folds, and if he hadn’t held back, he was sure he would’ve bursted on you right then. He was like a teenager again, worried that he would cum too fast and ruin it all for you both.

As he pushed into you, the moan that left your lips was simply pornographic. It sent a shiver down his spine, knowing he was the one bringing those noises from you. He was who was bringing you to the verge of tears because of how amazing this felt as he thrusted in and out of you with an earth shattering pace.

Your legs wrapped around his waist, bringing him closer to you, allowing him to sit even further in your tight heat. He stuttered, curls stuck to his damp forehead. “Cum in me, Joshy. I want you to cum in me pretty boy,” he finished immediately after, sending you into your own mind numbing orgasm.

Your body was in a constant tremor as you came back down, breath stuttering out of you, feeling your damp body sticking to his as he tried to gain the strength to open his eyes to see the beauty that was before him.

Neither of you said any words, his forehead nudged yours, pushing your head back to let him capture your lips with his. He hesitated getting up at all, but he knew you both needed to shower, exhaustion riddling both of your bodies after the events of the day and evening.

When you returned to bed together, without a second thought, you clung to him, head resting on his chest. His heart rate increased, unsure what entirely he needed or wanted to do in the moment. Something had shifted between you two, but he wasn’t sure what to do to maneuver through it just yet.

His eyes started to slip shut when he heard your sleep riddled voice speak out to him, pulling him back from the brink of unconsciousness. “Joshy?” His hand rubbed along the bare skin of your back, letting you know without words that he was listening.

“Why did you switch spots with me?”

Strike

Your irritated gaze fell on him as he turned around, a large goofy grin taking over his features at you. “Your turn, hammy.” You mumbled under your breath, knowing you were over sixty points behind him, just wanting the game to end.

You were a sore loser. You admitted that and took pride in it. Losing was not your thing. You had to be the best at everything and if you weren’t right away, you hated whatever activity it was that put you behind others.

This time? It was bowling with your best friend.

He was just so good. You had no idea how he had seemingly become a professional bowler, but it was irritating. If he wasn’t throwing a strike, he was getting spares left and right. He wasn’t even trying that hard either!

Throwing another gutter ball, Josh’s snicker came from behind you. You turned on your heel, shooting daggers at him, but he sighed, standing and coming towards you. “Let me show you how to do this.”

Trying to say no didn’t work because he stood right next to you, showing how your arm should’ve looked instead of it turning over like it was. As you did it again, he shook his head. “No, like this.” He showed you again, but your arm turned over on itself.

Josh moved behind you, pressing his body against yours, feeling the warmth emanate from him. His scent of patchouli and vanilla filled your senses, his hand coming up and covering yours, forcing your arm back and forth.

He was trying to focus on getting you to throw the ball how it was supposed to, but all he could think about was how close he was to you. Your hair brushing against his cheek, how cold your hand was as it cradled the ball, the cotton of your shirt rubbing against his bare arm, your smell of coffee and cinnamon. It was enthralling.

When you released the ball, watching it knock down all of the pins, his smile grew as he watched how excited you got at it. Turning around and wrapping your arms around his neck, squealing in pure joy, he was shocked, not even having seen you throw the strike, only able to focus on you.

Arms wrapping around your torso, squeezing ever so slightly, he was on cloud nine. You hugged him. Him. Josh. He had never thanked a god more than he did at that moment.

His eyes were darting around the backstage space, trying to find you. You had disappeared five minutes ago after telling him you would be right back and he was due on stage any second now. He wanted to see you just one more time.

As his brothers began making their way out, he assured them he would only be a few seconds behind. When you rounded the corner, a breath of relief flew from his lips. Your eyes lit up as you saw him decked out in his onstage garb. The screams of the crowd were deafening as you took him in.

Walking up to him, hands on your hips, a low whistle following. “Well I must say, you look dashing.” His cheeks burned at your scrutinizing gaze. Closing the gap between you two, your chest was pressed against his, a smile taking over your face as you held out a small piece of ribbon to him.

“This is what I went to grab. You gave me this during my first tennis match on the varsity team my junior year of high school. Told me that it would soothe my nerves and that you’d be with me, channeling your attention seeking ways, so I wouldn’t be nervous in front of anyone.” He could’ve collapsed right then, turning his wrist over and tying the velvet orange ribbon to his wrist with a small smile.

“Don’t remember the attention seeking ways portion,” he mumbled out, but you shrugged at that with a small giggle. “I might have added that in.” When he went to say something else, feeling like it was the perfect moment, the moment he had been waiting for all those years as you peered up at him, eyes dancing with an emotion he was sure was directed at him, his name was yelled from behind you both, causing you to jump back and away from him.

You gave a brighter smile that diminished as you took in his hair. “Go get ‘em. I’ll be watching, but hold on,” as you went to fix it, he was being grabbed and ran on stage so you caught his eye and told him where it needed to be smoothed and he did it. Shooting you a thankful wink as he did.

“If you could see that I’m the one who understands you, been here all along, so, why can’t you see, you belong with me?” You were belting the lyrics as you drove back towards the Kiszka family home, your best friend in the passenger seat next to you.

He rolled his eyes, not joining in with your singing of Taylor Swift as it blared through the speaker. You two had run to Walmart, grabbing snacks and drinks for a movie night together, and now as you pulled back into the driveway, you were giddy with excitement to watch The Purge.

You don’t know how it happened, but when you felt the car jolt after putting it in park and knock into the car sitting directly in front of you, your eyes went wide. Your head shot to the side, seeing the shocked expression of Josh in your passenger seat.

He erupted into a fit of laughter as you hopped out of the car, going to survey the damage. It wasn’t much really, hardly a scratch, but you knew Jake would see it. He was going to be livid. He was going to hate you.

That car was his baby. It was his everything. He was going to murder you and then hate you for all eternity after. Your chin wobbled, eyes filling with tears as you went around to Josh’s side of the car. “Josh, what do I do?”

He wiped the stray tears, trying to catch his breath. “Nothing, hammy. What’s done is done. God, Jake is gonna murder you.” He hadn’t taken in your expression yet, but a sense of happiness coursed through him.

Maybe if Jake did in fact yell at her and hate her, her little crush on his twin would diminish. I mean it was a slap in the face really. His twin? His spitting image? His opposite? Come on.

But when his head turned and saw the tracks your tears were leaving as you sniffled quietly, his heart actively broke. He didn’t realize how upset you truly were, but he fought within himself about what to do.

Pushing you to the side, he quickly made up his mind. “Get in the passenger seat,” your brows furrowed, fresh tears still falling as you wiped at your cheeks. “Wha-what?” You mumbled.

Josh grabbed you, pushing you into the seat. “Hurry, he’s going to be out any minute. Just sit there, stop crying, and let me do the talking.” As you went to tell him no and to let you take the blame, he hurried around to the drivers side and sat down.

His twin appeared in the front door, coming down the steps to where you two were. His eyes went wide as he took in the sight before him. Josh quickly whispered to you as he made his way to the door. “Keep quiet, okay?”

The door was pulled open, eyes wild with fury. “Are you fucking kidding me, Josh? Are you actually fucking kidding me? You hit my fucking car? Are you that much of an imbecile that you couldn’t see that there was another car in front of you?” Josh rolled his eyes at his brother's anger.

“Relax, dude. It’s not even that bad. I’ll pay for it.” Your eyes went wide, shaking your head at Josh, Jake’s back facing you in the car. He lightly held his hand up, silently telling you to stay where you were.

“Damn right you will. Fucking idiot,” his brother retreated from the driveway and back into the house with a slam of the door behind him. A shaky breath expelled from your lungs as you looked at Josh.

“I’m so sorry, Joshy. I will pay for it.” He gave you the most gentle smile you had ever seen in your life as he went to the backseat, grabbing the grocery bags and nodding towards the house. “Don’t worry about it, hammy. He’ll be fine in the morning. Come on, let’s go watch the movie.”

As Josh waited for you near the hood of the car, you had no idea what was going on in the turmoil of your brain, but as you took in the skinny boy, a warmth blossomed in your chest. Gratitude? Relief? Whatever it was, you shook it off, not wanting to pay much more in mind to what it was.

His light laugh echoed into the quiet room. “I knew you had a crush on Jake at the time. You were so petrified that he would hate you that I knew I needed to take the fall,” your sat upright in the bed, wrapping the blanket around yourself as you did, eyes looking down at him in pure shock.

“I mainly did it to get you to stop crying,” he hesitated as he tried to decide if now was the time to tell you this. Share his deepest secret he had. “But I was so in love with you that I didn’t want to see you so upset. So we switched.” He finished with a shrug, nerves rattling him.

He had said it. It was out in the open now. Up to you to decide how to play this out.

“You liked me?” It was a whisper shared out in disbelief at what he had just said to you. He laughed, pearly white teeth sitting on his lip as he nodded. “Still do, hammy.” His eyes moved up to meet yours, seeing them flutter as you let the words sink in.

Not knowing what else to say back to him, heart overwhelmed with the notion that even back when you two were teenagers he was so in love with you that he was willing to take the fall for a car accident that you caused, and now as you admired the gorgeous man below you, you could only jump him.

Landing on top of him, placing kisses anywhere you could land on his skin, his laugh bellowed out into the room, arms wrapping around you and holding you flush against him. His hand held your face still, letting your lips dance together.

His fingers tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear, a light smile coming out as he admired your beauty from this close. “You know they set this up right? Danny said it was their plan all along. They were tired of not seeing us together,” Josh spoke out, breaking the peaceful silence that had settled over you both.

Laughter shook both your bodies, your head falling forward, resting your forehead on his bare chest. “Of course. God, we were pretty oblivious, huh?” He nodded, but finished with a small shrug.

“Yeah, but now we get to make up for all that lost time.” A small squeal flew from you as he flipped you both, lips landing on your neck as he did.

Best friends were there to make things better during the rough times of the holiday season. However, you wouldn’t even notice these waves of varying mental states because they were entertaining you and keeping you afloat.

More than afloat. Joyous. Elated. Hopeful. Content.

Wrapping you in pure love that had been trailing behind you for years, just waiting for the right moment to appear after the statute of limitations granted immunity to those sheltered feelings.

#josh kiszka #joshua kiszka #greta van fleet #greta van fleet smut #greta van fleet fan fiction #josh kiszka fanfiction #josh kiszka imagine #josh kiszka fanfic #greta van fleet imagine #josh kiszka smut #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka x you #josh kiszka x y/n #josh kiszka x reader smut #jake kiszka #sam kiszka #danny wagner #ficthots

364 notes · View notes

milarqui · 7 months

Text

Scarlet Lady: Silencer

Directory | Intermission 2

Tikki watched the encounter from one of the flowerpots nearby: since Chloé wasn't carrying a bag with her now, this was the best way she could stick close to Chloé in case there was an Akuma.

Unfortunately, that still meant having to deal with Chloé's issues and her father's. Such as today.

“How good to see you, Bob!” the Mayor said, greeting a rotund man with sunglasses over his bald head she knew was Bob Roth. “And little Xavier–”

“Ah! XY!” Oh yeah, this was the boy Chloé liked for some reason. His music was decent, but nothing to write home about.

“Of course!” M. Bourgeois apologized. “You remember my princess?”

“How could I forget,” Roth said neutrally. Not that Chloé seemed to care, as she was making eyes at the singer.

“Hello XY! I got you Daddy's best table!” Chloé said.

“Thanks, Clarice,” XY said in a bored tone.

“Uh, it's Chloé,” her wielder corrected, not that the singer seemed to care. “Daddy, don't forget to comp XY's meal!”

M. Bourgeois was clearly not as enthusiastic about the idea as his daughter.

“Ma chérie, that's a little–”

“Don't worry, you can still charge M. Bob.”

“Ha. Ha,” the older man laughed humorlessly.

“Thanks, Cassie.”

“Chloé.”

Once more, XY didn't seem to care much about the correction, as he pulled out a laptop.

“Alright, let's hear what you cop– uh, created,” M. Roth said, as XY pressed a key, and music came out of the laptop's speakers. Chloé sighed in pleasure, but Tikki sighed in boredom. All of that boy's music always sounded the same to her ears.

“It's so cool, like you~” Chloé said. Tikki wondered if her wielder had an ear defect or if she was just blinded by her celebrity crush.

“It's the same as last year,” M. Roth stated. Tikki would have said that it was the same as everything else XY had ever made, but she had to stay hidden.

“Eh?”

“Oh, so it is,” XY blandly replied. “My bad.”

“No big deal. As for visuals...”

“Visu-what?”

Tikki blinked.

“Don't worry, we'll use my usual method,” M. Roth continued. “If you're short on new ideas, borrow someone else's.”

As if the manager couldn't fall lower...

And yet, as the two men laughed, she could see Chloé smiling.

Given her attempt to steal Marinette's design for the hat contest, Tikki could tell Chloé just felt like at home amidst her fellow plagiarists.

----

“We're looking for visually and musically creative talent! You have two weeks to send in your videos!” Bob Roth, the well-known manager, announced in his usual hammy style, from Marinette's phone as she showed it to his friends.

“It's the perfect chance to showcase Kitty Section!” Marinette suggested.

“And your designs!” Luka added with a smile.

“You guys will make something awesome for sure!”

Everyone in the group turned to Adrien.

“Huh?” Rose mumbled in shock.

“Adrien, you're not joining us?” Marinette asked, worried.

“It goes against my dad's contract, but it's okay! It doesn't bother me!”

“Sure looks like it bothers you,” Marinette replied, taking in on her friend's tense smile and shadowed features.

----

During the next two weeks, both Kitty Section and worked hard in everything to be made. Rehearsals, choreography, fittings, brainstormings, designings... a lot of work went into a music video, particularly one that had to be thrown together in such a short time, but the five teenagers rose to the occasion with greatness.

It was during one of the rehearsals that Marinette had the perfect idea for the designs.

“You know I love unicorns~ And nothing makes me feel better~”

Quickly, she began to put her idea down to pencil and paper, letting her prodigious mind become awash in patterns and designs... unaware of the fond looks the group's lead guitarist was giving her.

“I see their faces everywhere I go~ Dreaming about them in the night!”

----

“I only want them to be mine, mine, mine!”

And, of course, when the final product was finished, they sent it to their unofficial fifth member.

“THEY LOOK SO GOOOOOD!” Adrien cried out, tears waterfalling out of his eyes as Plagg patted his cheek.

“There, there,” the Kwami said, having expected this reaction. It wasn't as if he hadn't complained about it for the past two weeks.

“No fair~!” Adrien kept crying, even as the video kept playing.

“I dream about them every night!”

----

SUBMISSION ACCEPTED

“We did it!” Kitty Section and their costume designer cheerfully shouted.

Unaware of what was about to happen.

----

One week later, Marinette was at the Liberty, talking with her friends, slightly worried.

“They're sure taking their time...” she noted: despite the promises that they would get an answer soon, M. Roth's company had yet to send an answer on the video contest.

“They must've gotten a lot of videos and haven't chosen a winner yet,” Luka pointed out, knowing how things could be in the musical field–

“DUDE, WHAT THE FRIG?!”

Everyone turned to Ivan, who had just rushed into the room, clearly angry about something. Which was way out of character for the boy.

“Ivan, what–?”

“That dweeb XY ripped us off! Look at the TV station!”

Juleka quickly picked up the remote and turned on the TV, which showed the tail end of a music video.

One that all five people in the room were intimately familiar with, given that they had worked on it for two weeks. Hell, the singer's costume was almost identical to what Marinette had made for them!

Only, there were a few differences: every Kitty Section reference on the stage had been replaced with an XY monogram.

“XY is here to debut his new sound and style!” the announcer said. “A true original! You've outdone yourself, XY!”

It was only five seconds of video, but it was more than enough to suddenly turn the interior of the room into an atmosphere that promised both sides of hell for the singer and his manager.

“Oh, you hack frauds are dead,” Marinette declared, clearly ready to press her point straight into Roth's face – along with her fist. And the same for everyone else: for all that they were the nicest people around, Bob Roth had really managed to press their buttons.

----

Arriving to the studio where XY was showing off his 'new video' was easy.

Entering, however, became harder.

“No solicitors,” one of the men-in-black at the entrance stated.

“Hey! That's our music and our costumes!” Marinette yelled, filled with righteous anger at how her and her friends had been robbed of their work.

“And your problem,” the man-in-black replied, uncaring.

Kitty Section looked at each other. It was time to plan.

----

“ROOOOOAR!”

“Ahh!”

“Eek!”

“HELP!”

Ivan had grabbed his video's costume and was now running after Rose and Juleka, who were screaming in 'fear' as they attempted to stay ahead of Ivan.

“Our friend is akumatized!”

“There's no heroes to save us!”

The men-in-black rolled their eyes.

“Kids, c'mon.”

“That's not going to work on us.”

“Do you think we're that stupid?”

Behind them, Luka and Marinette struggled not to burst out laughing at the oblivious men-in-black, as they took advantage of their distraction to sneak inside without them noticing.

Yes, you are that stupid, Marinette thought as they made their way in.

----

Finding where the thief was showing off their ideas was somewhat complicated, mostly because they couldn't just stop someone and ask, but a few minutes later they found the studio behind one large door.

“Your new single is way better than your last one! It's your best hit!” they heard Alec Cataldi exclaim as they opened the door.

“There he is!” Marinette whispered.

“How can they praise him when he messed up the music?!” Luka asked, disgusted, while Marinette took in the decorations that were such a rip-off from the ones she had made.

“And he made such a cheap costume and set up!” she realized, offended that XY would so mess with her work. “Isn't he rich?!”

“And where'd you get this look?” Alec continued asking, not realizing what the singer and his manager had actually done.

“Oh, my personal designer, uh...” he said, nodding at a girl standing next to him.

“Chloé Bourgeois.”

“Right, Cleo.”

“Of course,” Marinette growled. She had already tried to steal her work once, who else would it be? The two of them angrily pushed open the door and walked up to the hack and the thief, who were accompanied by the manager. Marinette pulled up her phone.

“M. Roth, I sent you this video on the group you're blatantly copying!” she shouted, queuing Kitty Section's music video.

“Oh, please, there's no similarity!” the manager blatantly lied.

“We were just... inspired!” XY had the guts to say.

“'Inspired'?!” Luka shouted, grabbing the cheap knock-off mask XY was wearing and ripping it off.

“OW!” Luka hadn't been gentle when he did it.

“You didn't create this mask, Marinette did!”

“Mon Chouka!” Chloé chimed in. “I worked so hard on that mask! Are you calling me a liar?”

Marinette felt like ripping off that false innocent face off her... face.

It looked like Luka would beat her off the punch.

“I'M NOT CALLING YOU A TRUTHER!”

----

“Fine, you won't admit the truth? Then I will! Right now, LIVE!” Marinette shouted, pointing at the manager in righteous anger – only for the manager to grab her by the arm.

“If you do that, I'll ruin you and your friend's careers by telling them you're the copycats!” Roth maliciously replied. “Who do you think they'll believe? A renowned producer, or some nobodies?”

“Wha–?!” Marinette exclaimed in shock.

“You won't make another costume ever again!” Roth threatened.

“Of course, I won't let that happen to you, mon Chouka!” Chloé said.

He liked to think he was a calm guy. But... that comment made something snap in him, and he turned to fire a glare that could have probably stripped the paint off the studio's walls.

“Uh, um...” Chloé babbled as she realized that maybe she had made a mistake. “W–What's that look for?! I did nothing wrong!”

She turned around, giving her back to him.

“I'm just saying, with your looks, you could go solo like XY! You just have to ditch your loser friends!”

Luka was so beyond rage, that when he saw the black butterfly fusing with the mask he had taken from XY, he didn't care.

“And forget about Dupain-Cheng, her designs are way too complicated! Do you know how hard it was to copy them?”

That did it. He put on the mask.

“And also–”

He flipped her off with both hands.

“Oh fuck.”

----

Luka quickly transformed, becoming covered in what looked like a motorcyclist body suit, complete with a helmet that only showed his eyes, and he reached out with his left hand.

“Uh, Luka, what are you–”

“Shhhh,” Luka – or, more like, Luka's Akuma – shushed, getting closer.

“Eek! Don't touch me!” Chloé shouted, and suddenly grabbed XY, who found himself with Luka's hand on his lips.

“Huh?” the singer mumbled.

“L–Luka?” Marinette said, shocked as she finally realized her friend had been Akumatized.

As Luka pulled away from XY, out of the singer's mouth came a wiggling blue jellyfish-like thing.

“Haha! I'm the best! I'm the richest! I'm famous!” the jellyfish said in XY's voice, before it was snatched by Luka.

“EEK! Akuma!” Chloé shrieked, before running off behind one door. “See you later, bye!”

Then Luka started to move his hand...

“Tsk, there goes my chance to silence her for good.”

… and somehow spoke with XY's voice.

“Luka, don't do this!” Marinette begged, approaching her friend. “It's not justice!”

“Marinette, I won't let anyone hurt you again,” Luka said, still with XY's voice. “You're an extraordinary girl. Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody.”

Marinette felt her cheeks starting to burn as she kept listening on Luka's words.

“You're the music that's been playing in my head since the day we met. I won't let anything happen to you.”

And, as Luka left, Marinette clenched her fists.

That was the most romantic thing I've ever heard... she thought, and you said it in XY's voice!

But, never mind that, she needed to hide and transform! So she quickly ran out the exit and into the first bathroom she could find.

“A love confession!” Pollen said as soon as she could come out of Marinette's bag. “I'm not surprised, my Queen commands attention!”

A blushing Marinette closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the matter at hand.

“P–Pollen, he's an Akuma! Who knows if he meant it!”

“Hm, I don't know~” Pollen sing-sang, clearly enjoying the moment... even if it was not the moment.

“G-Geez, Buzz On!”

----

“You can't escape me, Bob Roth!” the Akumatized Luka said, still using XY's voice. “And I'll force you to tell the truth on live TV!”

“Eek!” the manager yipped, sounding almost like a little girl. “Don't touch me! I have influence!”

“I can't let you do that, Luka!” Marigold shouted, landing between the Akuma and the manager.

“About time!” Roth complained – and before she could react, he grabbed her by the shoulders and used her as a shield. “Stop standing around and protect me!”

Marigold didn't even have the time to get loose before the Akuma touched her lips with his fingers – and another jellyfish, this one with the same colors as her costume, flew out of her mouth.

“Venom! Bien Joué! Just use your Lucky Charm already!” she heard herself shout before the Akuma stole her voice.

WHY?! she silently cried out. The cowardly idiot not only had ruined her plan to protect his ass, he had taken advantage of the distraction to run away, taking a lift at the other side of the building.

“Byeeee!” the thief sang as he disappeared – and, to pile on Marigold's misery, the other idiot showed up.

“Marimold!” Scarlet shouted. “Hurry up and sting him!”

I can't use Venom without my voice! she thought, and tried to convey it with signs.

“You can't talk?!” Scarlet realized, and then (like the Chloé clone she seemed to be) started to laugh at her. “Hahaha! What a loser! I can't believe you let your voice get stolen–!”

“An opening.”

That was Marigold's voice.

And Luka's fingers on a shocked Scarlet's mouth.

Idiot, Marigold thought. Knowing that she'd be unable to bring her full power ahead, she pulled out her top and swung it to grab a higher point. Scarlet followed her, and as they climbed away from the Akuma, Marigold picked her top-phone.

Text Chat Noir, she sent to Scarlet.

You text Chat Noir! Scarlet replied.

“You can run, bugs, but you can't escape me for too long,” Akumatized Luka said. “I'll find you and Bob Roth!”

----

At the entrance of the studio, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka were still waiting for Luka and Marinette to come out... and they were getting worried.

“I hope everything's going okay...” Rose said, and Ivan nodded.

“The commercial break's been going for a while too...” Juleka answered, checking her phone.

The gate to the studio opened all of a sudden, and a large man ran out, clearly in a hurry.

“Wuh?! Is that Bob Roth?!” Juleka asked, shocked.

“Why's he running?” Ivan wondered.

They got the answer when someone walked out, following Bob Roth, wearing a full body leather suit and a helmet covering everything but his eyes.

“Who is that?!” Ivan shouted.

“You don't think...” Juleka could recognize who had passed by them... or, rather, who it was supposed to be.

Rose was just stunned at the sight of the obvious Akuma.

And then the three members of Kitty Section looked at each other with dread.

“Maybe we shouldn't have let them go alone,” they agreed.

----

Back at home, Adrien was showing Nathalie his friends' music video, pointing out the blatant thievery Bob Roth and XY had carried out.

“It's in Père's best interests to know his business partner's unethical practices,” he argued, “like plagiarism.”

Much to his relief, Nathalie nodded. Clearly, she could see that this was a serious matter.

“I'll pass on your concerns,” she said, and firmly walked out of his room, carefully closing the door behind herself.

“That's all I can do, though I don't have much confidence,” he said as Plagg came out of his hideaway. “Unless there's a public backlash...”

However, Plagg wasn't looking at him, but at the window.

“Hey, look.”

Adrien looked, and saw something unexpected.

“Marigold?” he realized.

“Scarlet Lady?” Plagg asked as well.

“That means...! My friends might've been Akumatized! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Adrien cried out, brandishing the Miraculous Ring. “Plagg, Claws Out!”

----

“I am here!” he announced, and was pleased to see Scar jumping in shock. “I checked your texts about the Akuma, what's the plan?”

Marigold put up an awkward face, while Scar made a lot of gestures while attempting to say... something.

“Wait, you lost your voice?!” he realized, and began to laugh. “Hahaha! Truly we've been blessed!”

Then he approached Marigold and gave her a playful nudge with his elbow.

“Goldie, we don't need to rush with this Akuma, right?” he said, winking at her.

But then, instead of speaking up, she moved her lips and made a wordless noise, similar to the one Scar had made.

“Oh no, my poor Honeybee!” he exclaimed, realizing she had suffered the same as Scar, and he hugged his fellow heroine. “We'll get your voice back right away!”

He could feel Scar's anger and what was likely her flipping him off, but he paid her no mind. He pulled his baton-phone, knowing that it was the best way for her to 'speak' now.

“So you can't use your powers... and you can't detransform,” he said, summarizing the situation. “So we're fucked."

Marigold quickly tapped away at her top-phone, sending a message.

“You want to make Silencer say 'Venom' or 'Lucky Charm' with your stolen voices?” he asked, and she nodded. “How?”

She sent him another message, and he quickly read it.

“Huh?! Would that work?”

She smiled as she sent another message.

“Well, you're right that we don't have much choice.”

He got another message... but this time it was worthless. Namely, Scar making a selfie.

“Thanks for the contribution, Scar,” he sarcastically said.

----

The phone rang at the Hôtel de Ville, and a hand pressed a button.

“André, it's me, Bob!” the manager screamed. “I need the police!”

“No problem, Bob,” Silencer said, using the voice of André Bourgeois, who was now voiceless and struggling against the tight ropes holding him in place. “Just tell me where you are.”

----

As soon as the lift doors opened, Silencer reached out and grabbed Bob Roth.

“Thank you for escorting my prisoner, Officer Roger,” he said with Andre Bourgeois' voice, shocking the poor police lieutenant.

“Who–?” he asked, shocked at being tricked by an Akuma, but he was drowned out.

“EEEEK!” Roth said, once more screaming like a little girl as Silencer pulled him and threw him on a chair.

“I could easily take your voice, Bob Roth,” the Akuma said with Marigold's voice. “But what I want is for you to admit what you did!”

“NEVER!” the manager shouted.

“You think I can't make you?”

He switched to Scarlet Lady's voice.

“I can ruin you like you threatened to ruin Marinette!”

Then to Andre Bourgeois'.

“I know everyone in showbiz, Bob!”

Then to XY's.

“I'll never sing for you again, Dad!”

“Fine, fine, I'll do it!” Roth begged. “Why couldn't you just threaten my son?”

“Like that would've worked,” Silencer said, giving the manager a deadpan look.

“Damn, you knew.”

----

As they entered the studio once more, the television stopped showing ads, which were replaced by Bob Roth's cringing mug.

“Dear viewers, we're back with an exclusive interview with Bob Roth~” the voice of Alec Cataldi sounded out, although Marigold knew it wasn't him: this had to be Silencer!

“Hey, maybe we should let this play out,” Chat Noir suggested, eager to see the man getting punished for stealing his friends' work, but Marigold sent him a message.

“'It would be revenge, not justice. He'd just take it back later,'” he read aloud before sighing. “Well, you're right. No fun, but right.”

Marigold playfully stuck her tongue at him. Then he got another message.

“'You better not let an Akuma make XY or Chloé Bourgeois look bad'...” he read, wondering how that could not happen, and looked at Scar, who was also sticking her tongue out at him. “Leave the convincing to Marigold.”

----

The heroes quickly bursted in the set, and Chat Noir tackled Silencer out of the way while Marigold took Roth away.

“Mind your business or I'll shut you up forever!” Silencer threatened with Scarlet Lady's voice.

“Aw, but I'm hilarious,” he said, grinning and fending off his stretched-out arm.

Marigold dragged Roth to the first room she could find that would be isolated enough, which, much to her joy, was a dressing room she could use to pull off her plan.

“See here, Marigold! You need to hurry up and get rid of this guy!” Roth ordered, but she paid him no mind as she began to put together what she needed.

“This is all those brats' fault anyway, kitty whatever. Should've just let me steal the idea,” the man kept talking, making her twitch in anger. “Are you seriously doing arts and crafts right now? And where's Scarlet Lady?!”

Alright, that did it. This wouldn't be heroic, but it would feel amazing.

----

Scarlet Lady cuddled up with the tied up XY, who was struggling to move away from the superpowered stalker.

----

With Silencer running to attempt to find Roth, Chat Noir knew it was time to find the enemy and see what Marigold had come up with to do her part. And he also knew how to trick the Akuma.

“Oh nooo, Marigold, where'd you go?” he shouted, knowing that Silencer would be unable to resist the chance.

“I'm here, Chat Noir!” the Akuma said with Marigold's voice. “I defeated Silencer, meet me at the film set!”

He struggled to avoid cracking up, and just barely kept his laughter out of his answer.

“Sure, you got it!”

As he began to run for his destination, he found Marigold in the same corridor, holding her top with a few additions.

“There you are!” Chat Noir happily exclaimed, and he eyed the top. “What is that, 'Venom'?”

Marigold nodded.

“Got held up?” he asked, and Marigold's smile told him there was a story there that he'd love to listen to.

----

In the same dressing room Marigold had taken him to, Bob Roth was currently (unwillingly) cooling his heels thanks to the judicious application of a full roll of duct tape, tying him up to a chair, and rolled out of the way like junk.

“DAMN YOU MARIGOLD!” Roth screamed.

----

As they entered the film set, they found Silencer there, alone, and Chat Noir smirked as he pointed at Marigold.

“Too bad, Silencer, Marigold still has her superpower!” he taunted.

“Impossible!” Silencer exclaimed with Marigold's voice, making Chat Noir grin even wider. “I stole your voice! How could you summon Venom!”

And then the tricked-out top began to shine and twirl, and Marigold stuck her tongue at the Akuma, who realized too late that he had been tricked by the heroes.

“Aw crap,” he said, still using Marigold's voice, but before he could attempt to run away, Kitty Section tackled him.

“Hold still and take it, Luka!” the three teens shouted, grabbing him by the arms and torso to keep him from moving.

“Wuh – guys! Let go!” Silencer said, still using Marigold's voice.

“Omigod is that how you talk?!” Ivan said, laughing at how ridiculous it looked.

“No! Snap out of it!” Juleka ordered, while Rose hugged him even tighter.

“You can't do this!” the blonde girl shouted. “This isn't what we or Marinette want!”

The words caused Silencer to stop struggling, as he pondered the truth of it... giving Marigold the time she needed.

“An opening!” Kitty Section announced as Silencer became paralyzed by Venom, finally allowing Chat Noir to grab the Akumatized object.

“Thanks for the help, Kitty Section!” he said, smiling.

“Juleka, he knows our name!” Rose whispered, excited, but her girlfriend was checking something else.

“Uh, where'd you get a net?” she asked, pointing at the object in Marigold's hand.

Amazing what you find in dressing rooms, she thought, as the jellyfishes flew away from Silencer and she caught them with the net, putting her voice back where it belonged. Picking the one she had seen coming out of Scarlet's mouth, she found her sitting next to XY, who clearly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the universe other than here (and who could fault him?).

“Here, Scarlet, we got your voice back,” she said, showing the red-with-black-spots jellyfish. “Just put it in your mouth.”

Scarlet made a disgusted sound and crossed her arms in front of her.

“What?”

Scarlet kept making similar wordless sounds and tried to push her back when she approached the voice.

“Just take it already! You have to fix things!” Marigold yelled, annoyed by Scarlet's skewed priorities. Then she looked down at it... and decided that, if Scarlet didn't want it, then she could probably use it.

But when she made to eat it, Scarlet changed her opinion. Clearly, a life without hearing herself talk was too hard for her to imagine.

----

As Scarlet cast the Miraculous Cure, Marigold rushed back to find Luka, who was finally recovering from the effects of Akumatization.

“Ugh,” he mumbled, still a bit disoriented. “What happened?”

“You were Akumatized, but it's fine now!” Marigold said.

“It's a scandal, Marigold!”

Everyone turned to the piece of junk Bob Roth, who had managed to drag himself to the film set along with the chair.

“Tying me up in a dressing room?! But at least you did one thing right!” he yelled, turning to Luka. “Serves you right, thinking you could make me tell the truth! Like I'd admit I stole Kitty Section's song and look for my son! HA!”

Then the man noticed how Marigold and Luka were smirking, and he felt dread going down his stomach.

“... uh, why're you smiling?”

“Because, Bob Roth,” Marigold said, before pointing to a camera... manned by Chat Noir, “you are on Candid Camera!”

“Smile!” Chat Noir added with a smile that wouldn't be out of place in the Cheshire Cat.

“GAH!” Bob Roth yelled, as he realized he had actually confessed the truth to all and sundry! He had to fix this quickly! “Ahahahaa! Obviously I was just joking! I love, uh, Kitty Section, which is why I'm signing them a record deal and having them finish the show!”

As he said this, he was sweating like it were midday in mid-summer, knowing that he was this close to getting his business ruined.

“Can we get that in writing, Bob Roth?” Luka imperiously asked.

----

As Kitty Section quickly went to pick up their things, Chat Noir had to leave, and Marigold hid away so she could undo her transformation, just as her hair comb beeped for the end of her transformation. Returning to the set, it was to see everyone getting ready for singing their song, and she walked up to Luka.

“Luka, um, did you mean what you said? As an Akuma?” she timidly asked, but he shook his head.

“I'm sorry, Marinette, I don't remember. I hope it wasn't mean.”

“Ah, no–” she said, but before she could add more, he spoke.

“You're an extraordinary girl, Marinette,” Luka said, and she felt her entire face burning. “Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody. You're the music that's been playing inside my head since the day we met.”

Marinette gave a silent nod, and as Luka walked to the scenario, she collapsed on the floor and against a wall.

THAT WAS SO MUCH BETTER IN HIS OWN VOICE! she yelled in her mind, even as the ghost she was giving up squeed in delight.

Poor Marinette was left K.O. by the sudden confession, and as she gathered her wits, things were not much better.

“T–That was a love confession, wasn't it, Pollen?” she asked.

“Sure sounded like one to me!” her Kwami teased her, as the music started.

“Aw, geez,” she muttered, as she noticed Luka's eyes zeroing in on her. “How am I supposed to act now...?”

----

After all the kerfuffle was finally sorted out, Adrien was in the middle of his piano practice, as he went over what had happened to his friends.

“Thank goodness things worked out for Kitty Section,” he said; not only did they get that record deal, they had also ensured that all of their work would never be associated to XY, who (along with his father) was very lucky had not been slapped with a demand for plagiarism. Even if Gabriel Agreste had threatened to make things worse for Bob Roth.

Someone knocked on the door as he talked to himself and Plagg.

“Adrien, delivery,” Nathalie announced, and he stepped off the piano to grab the rather large package she had brought to him.

Putting it on a low table, he ripped off the tape.

“Huh, wonder what–”

And then he opened the package and gasped.

“My own Kitty Section costume?!” he shouted in joy. This must have been sent before everything that had happened, which meant Marinette had taken the time to sew him up one in the middle of all the hard work she had done.

“Oooo,” Plagg said, somewhat amazed at how good it looked.

To hell with piano practice, this was super-cool! He quickly donned the entire costume – unicorn mask included! - and posted it on his social network accounts. He may not be an official member of the band, but he would gladly show his love of his friends' group!

----

He had learned many things about crocodiles while taking care of Fang, and one of them was that crocodiles liked to hunt by ambush.

“Alright, Jagged, why'd you call me over so late?” Bob said as he entered the room.

The crocodile was not an animal that liked to run on land. No, they would wait under water, near the surface, unmoving... until prey got close enough.

“I'm in a bad mood so you better have a good reason!” Bob continued to yell, unaware of what was about to happen to him.

Because, as far as Jagged had been concerned... this man was prey today. And he was about to make clear his displeasure about the rotten thing he had tried to do.

“Why's it so dark–”

What a perfect cue! He stepped on the light switch, and the spotlight flashed over him.

“Bob.”

“EEEEKK!”

Ah, the sound of prey that knew how utterly fucked it was. He glowered at the bastard that had tried to ruin several lives that were very important to him.

“Let's talk about you threatening my favorite designer. And my ki– uh, her friends.”

Whoops, nearly slipped out. He hoped Fang was having as much fun as he was.

----

CHEW CHEW CHEW

Tasty thing! Shiny, with color of meat like Father gives me! Feels good to rip!

“DADDYYYYY! JAGGED STONE'S STUPID LIZARD IS EATING MY SHOES!” Loud Human shouts.

Who cares? Father said to chew on these things Loud Human put on her legs, and that was what he was going to do!

----

Desperada

@zoe-oneesama I think Jagged would have learned stuff about crocodiles, even if Fang still behaves like a dog! (Also, can't wait for Crocoduel)

By the way, that's 441 pages, 176582 words, 951399 characters.

#scarlet lady the novel #fanfiction #milarqui #long post #marinette dupain cheng #marigold #adrien agreste #chat noir #scarlet lady is better than canon #silencer #luka couffaine #kitty section

14 notes · View notes

readyplayerziggy · 1 year

Note

There's only a single note in Carmilla's room, resting right next to her bedside table, when she awakes on the morning of Valentine's Day.

"To the charming, beautiful, bloodthirsty Countess Elizabeth Bathory." It starts, which likely would have facilitated the murder of whoever wrote the letter if it wasn't Medea.

"I have prepared a special Valentine's present for you, the most beautous woman in Chaldea, in the Caster lounge. I know it might take some time for you to waddle down here, but I assure you, your present will be well worth the effort.

As a warning, however, be sure not to accidentally walk in on the Merlins. Their room is next to the Caster Lounge, and we're pretty sure they fuck in there.

Love, your charming witch, Medea."

"I hope Auntie delivered the note to the right room..." Medea fusses, before teleporting away to go collect herself, leaving a big, purple box in the middle of the lounge, conspiciously perfect for Carmilla to open.

Carmilla, the Countess of Blood, terror of the Kingdom of Hungary, butcher to hundreds, snorted to herself as her alarm clock went off, sending a shrill ring through the room. Lifting up a hammy arm, she slapped the offending device into silence and slowly let her hand slide back off the table, turning herself over to get off her side and pull the sleep mask off her face, smacking her lips at the awful taste of hangover breath that greeted her.

"Fucking hell. How much did I drink last night?" She groaned to no one, rubbing her temples as she swung her tree trunk legs over the side of her quintuple wide mattress, scratching the underside of her stomach.

It probably wasn't a great idea to drink the night before Valentine's but she had needed a bit of a pick-me-up after the series of disasters that accompanied her attempts (and eventual "success") at cooking something for Medea. Looking over to the awful device that had disturbed her hangover sleep (and her amazing dream of her girlfriend in a wrestling bikini) she raised an eyebrow at the note on the table.

Slicing it open with a fingernail and squinting to read it in the low light and the blurriness of hangover vision.

"WHAT THE?! WHO DARED ADDRESS ME AS BATHORY?! Oh wait, that's Medea's handwriting." She yelled out already plotting the murder of whoever called her by that accursed name before her vision settled and let her see it had been written by the only person allowed to use that name.

"Mmrmrm, Surprise in the Caster's lounge, mrjmmrmr, Watch out for the fucking Merlins, mmrmg, Love Medea, awwww." Carmilla cooed, giving the end of the note a kiss.

"Well I've gotta get dressed!" She said feet pounding against the floor as she began to rush through her morning routine, the sound of thumping and shaking echoing out into the hall as Carmilla got herself primped and pampered as quickly as she could. It wouldn't do to keep Medea waiting~.

#muse: carmilla #gainprincess

30 notes · View notes

peony-pearl · 1 year

Text

Little Dragon

This was originally going to be a comic of sorts, but I haven’t gotten around to really working on it. Instead I decided to at least write it out. The end part was originally going to be lighthearted, but then @seeksattentionhatesattention wrote some adorable tags about a lovely scene between Ursa and Azula and that’s what I went with ^^

******************

The night was growing late; Iroh still hadn’t come by to claim Zion, which was rare. The meeting must not have been going well.

Azula knew very well it wasn’t a regular meeting. She’d heard about the invasion attempts and subsequent arrests. Odds were Iroh was going to come home in different clothing than when he left so the maids could scrub the blood out.

It wasn’t the invasions that kept Azula up; she could handle herself. But her mother hadn’t come to bed, and even though she knew she was most likely watching Zion, her mother was no warrior, and Ozai was already in bed. Zuko, as well, had fallen asleep, having been under the weather lately.

‘I guess it’s up to me,” Azula rolled her eyes as she snuck down the hallway. As she got closer to the nursery, she could hear her mother’s voice, humming soft little lullabies to Azula’s baby cousin.

‘Hush little dragon, take a gander at the sky; and look at all the bright twinkling stars in your eyes’

Azula slid the door open just an inch, peeking in to see Ursa cradling Zion, patting her back gently as she smiled at the babe.

‘they glimmer and wink, playful and true; hoping to play a game with you’

Zion cooed as Ursa gently tapped her nose.

‘the shooting star beckons, the wishing star sings; their lights they shine and fill your wings’

Azula slid the door open just enough to sidle through, tiptoeing over to them as softly as she could.

‘and when you wake, they’ll think of you; and all the-’

“Oh!” Ursa exclaimed, seeing Azula just as she began to climb into the chair. “Azula, is everything alright?”

Azula looked up at Ursa, shrugging as she made herself comfortable.

“I’m fine. I’m just here to help with the baby since Uncle isn’t home yet.”

“Oh?” Ursa smiled. Azula pouted.

“I figured you’re probably stressed-” Azula said, leaning forward to look at Zion, who looked back at her cousin. Zion’s chubby cheeks became full with a smile as she pulled her hammy little hand out of her mouth. “-because SOMEONE won’t go to sleep.”

Ursa laughed as Zion gurgled and squealed back, as though talking to Azula. “Babies are like that,” Ursa said. “They often run on their own schedule. Much like a certain little girl I’m talking to.”

Azula frowned further at Zion. “Did you hear that? You need to listen better.”

“Now, now,” Ursa hushed, cradling Zion with one arm and pulling Azula close. The young princess bristled; she wasn’t used to being held like this, but she didn’t argue. “If you’d like to help me, do you want to sing to her?”

Azula panicked. “No.”

Ursa laughed again. “That’s fair.”

“... I want you to sing,” Azula said, nestling in closer to her mother’s side.

Ursa did her best to not show how she melted. “Then I’ll do just that.”

Azula listened as Ursa’s voice picked back up, filling in the empty spaces of the room around them. She had a warm, full voice; and Azula felt the reverberations as she leaned into her mother’s side.

The lamps seemed to glow a little hazier, a little dimmer, minute by minute.

The relaxing feeling of resting her eyes became harder and harder to ignore. Zion’s cooing echoed, like it was in the distance.

Azula didn’t hear the door creak open.

“Ursa? Oh-”

Iroh peeked in, finding his sister-in-law sitting with his daughter in one arm, and her own daughter fast asleep, with her other arm around her shoulders. Ursa greeted Iroh with a content smile.

“Come in; it’s alright,” she said as Iroh carefully closed the door behind him. She noticed he was wearing casual robes instead of the official garb he’d left in. “I’m sorry; Zion hasn’t quite fallen asleep yet.”

Iroh shook his head as he approached. “It’s alright; I know she’s stubborn,” he said, carefully lifting Zion from Ursa’s arm. “Family trait, I’m afraid.”

Ursa laughed, maintaining a hold on Zion until she knew the child’s weight was fully supported by her father. “Oh, I’m well aware of said trait.”

The two shared a quiet laugh as Iroh looked to Zion, who wriggled excitedly in seeing her father. “Hello, princess,” he greeted, kissing her forehead. Ursa watched and turned to Azula, shuffling both herself and her daughter around to rest the young girl in her lap. Azula murmured in her dozy state and snuggled in further. “I’ll leave you to get some rest. Thank you again.”

“Of course, Iroh.”

The Crown Prince nodded to Ursa, and he turned to leave, answering Zion’s cooing with updates of his day. “Yes, I know it was a long meeting, I’m very sorry. I’ll make sure to come home earlier tomorrow. Yes! Yes I promise,” he said, kissing her cheek as he opened the door. He prepared to close the door when he noticed Ursa still in the chair, holding Azula close as she hummed. It wasn’t often that Iroh saw mother and daughter curled up like this; and as he almost spoke up to urge Ursa to get some rest, he remembered how often, with both Lu Ten and Zion, he’d woken up sleep deprived to spend just a little more time with his children when a moment was too much to give up.

He smiled and he closed the door as quietly as he could.

Ursa brushed back Azula’s bangs, having not cradled her like this since she was a toddler. Ursa felt tears in her eyes; their relationship often wasn’t the kind she’d once hoped to have with a daughter; and yet there were the most fleeting moments that even if it wasn’t what she’d dreamed, it didn’t mean she couldn’t love her child.

Azula mumbled again, and Ursa stroked her cheek.

‘Hush little dragon, take a gander at the sky; and look at all the bright, twinkling stars in your eyes’

#atla #atla au #atla fanfiction #Azula #Ursa #Iroh #Zion #atla oc #my writing

42 notes · View notes

buffalojournal · 10 months

Text

Two Poems by Jessie Lynn McMains

Secret

is I stabbed summer watched it twitch and spurt, dark, arterial crunched the husks of late cicadas esoteric as the leaves we use to cross our sacred wounds mystic is her lemonlips the fuzz soft above them charcoal smudge of shadow over her clavicle I wanna wake up in November with a sprig of verbena planted in the pocket of my leather jacket her fingers fuzzing on the stubble of my brooding clouds crisp wind rustle in the oaktrees how sweet how soft she sing to me

At the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in Mid-October

everyone’s loonier than a junebug in a Canadian goose- feathered bed. One middle-aged fella in a Van Halen t-shirt with the sleeves torn off stuffs his mouth fulla straws and whistles “Dusty Crabapple Pie.” The old-timers in the back booth play poker for packets of non-dairy creamer and Sweet n’ Low, sling stories of glory days hunting Mud Mermaids and Wild Men. There’s a drunk lady who’s 30 or 45 or maybe 67, she doesn’t need anybody but she wants somebody to love. She stumbles from table to table, asks every man and half the women if they want to go neck in the bathroom. Her hair is the color of motor oil puddled on the floor of Moore’s Auto Repair, and if she’s especially fond of ya she’ll pull her shorts down and give you a flash of her star-freckled ass— but she’ll smack ya if you try to trace the constellations.

At the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in mid-October they have a secret menu. Sure, you can get the Grand Slam Slugger or the Moons Over My Hammy, but you should ask about the house specialities. Like Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammo, where they cut the flapjacks into crosses and arrange the bacon in the shape of a gun, and the eggs are boiled hard as bullets. Or Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving—a deep-fried turkey leg stuck through with lit sparklers. Sometimes, if the fishing was good that day, they have fillet of Mud Mermaid. Once in a blue moon you can get The Elvis Platter.

At the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in mid-October they only play one song, which is a mashup of songs by the most famous Hoosier musicians. It’s called “Hurts So Good Runnin’ With the Devil Billie Jean in Paradise City.” It would be obnoxious if you could hear it over the din of spoons and trash talk, if you weren’t so tired you’d pass out facedown in your flapjacks if you didn’t have to get back on the road to Michigan.

At the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in mid-October the night manager—who’s also the host—is the spitting ghost- twin of latter-day Elvis. Fat and bedazzled with a queasy quaalude smile. When you arrive, he greets you with a ‘hunka-hunka-burnin’ love,’ and when you leave he says: “It’s so good to see ya, darlin’. I haven’t seen ya ‘round here in years.” When you tell him you’ve never been to that Denny’s, or to Michigan City, before in your life, he says: “Of course ya have. I knew ya when you were knee-high to a soybean. We’d go down to the Town of Pines and boogie with the Wild Men. We’d go up to the state park and have hotdog-eating contests on the sand dunes. Don’t ya remember?”

At the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in mid-October you say no, you don’t remember, that wasn’t you, he must have mistaken you for someone else. “Not possible,” Elvis says. “Not possible.” And at the Denny’s in Michigan City, Indiana, at 2 a.m. in mid-October when you’re goose-tired and fulla greased hash and headed for Kalamazoo you never know. Darlin’, you just never know.

🦬 Jessie Lynn McMains

15 notes · View notes

sm-writes-chaos · 9 months

Note

Hi, may a happy STS be upon ya! (as usual I am @writeblr-of-my-own). As of now, what is the best scene you have ever written? Feel free to also share a snippet of the scene in question if you want to!

Uhbuh hmmmm

I feel like there’s a couple gems but I’m a little stumped on the best one. Perhaps this exchange? I just really like the dynamic and the dialogues fun

Hammerhead's face filled with rage, you could even see the steam coming out of his nose.

“Why the red face Hammie? Is that any way to greet a long time friend?”

“How could you just come into my house like nothing happened?”

“Oh, this is your house now, is it? If my memory serves me correct I believe the deed is in, my name was it?” He played with a playful tone, and it was the most annoying thing that made Hammerhead just want to punch him. Leland knew this and loved to tick him off.

“Since when have you ever cared about laws?”

“I don’t, but if it does something for me I’ll be glad to be a perfect little citizen.”

“You can’t just do what you want anymore, I won't let you take any more from me!”

“Oh? Hahah, you seem to be gravely mistaken.”

Leland got real close to Hammerhead's ear, and whispered,” I already have.”

It’s from an unpublished unfinished fanfic about Hammerhead and Leland Owl from Marvel.

Thanks for the ask!

#I wonder what is the best scene I’ve written #Ask #sts ask

3 notes · View notes

nevermindtheweights · 7 months

Text

"Videl, Videl! Oh you're simply overflowing with love and beauty! Won't you please let me nurture you and help you grow into a goddess of love~?" The blue butterball came bearing plenty of exotic (and fattening) dishes for the mountain of rolls and chins that was Videl, heart racing at the possibilities!!

The sudden arrival of this... umm... chunky... idol... lady(?) was certainly not what the heavyset tomboy expected to be greeted with. Furthermore, she did not expect the compliments to be heaped on too. The heavyset Videl, very much out of her element here, stammered for a moment as she tried to get her bearings.

"W-woah... woah... uuff... slow down... a-ahhh... a second here....!" She said, raising her hammy hands to try and insist that this lady slow her eager advance.

#submission #Muse: Videl Satan

3 notes · View notes

morttodea · 10 months

Note

Here comes Hyena!Ammy nudging a pretty good-sized bone to Bor's cheek, her scruffy brush-tail swishing side to side.

[ Would you like one. . . ? I may aid you with the bone marrow. ]

Hammy meat base form Bor!! They look a bit more mammalian than any of their forms so far but still had the bug-like qualities of the others.~ They greet her all the same, a headbonk and a delighted buggy trill! Bones to nosh on?? Yes, please! Their thick tail twitched and swayed eagerly, "Hell yeah I'd be down for some femors and ribs! Ya don't have to crack it for me, the moment I make a gap I'mma use my proboscis!~"

#active roachie #ama tcra su #CARRION EATING FRIENDS!!~ CARRION EATING FRIENDS~

5 notes · View notes

snaisj · 28 days

Text

Diabetes in Hamsters

~I would like to add that I’m not a vet/animal professional, if you have concerns about your hammie’s health seeing a vet is a must! This post is purely about my own experience, in the hopes it might help someone and their pet who are going through the same thing.~

My little guy is a Russian dwarf hamster, he’s diabetic in addition to being albino, but it he doesn’t seem to let this get the best of him in any way!

Although diabetes is more common in dwarf hamsters, it’s something that can affect any pet. Despite being notified of this common condition by websites, videos, vets and pet shop workers; I feel there’s a concerning lack of information on the topic.

I personally scoured through countless websites and videos on how to help my current hamster with his condition but had little to no luck, not even my vet knew what to do. In fact they quite honestly told me they had no experience or knowledge on the condition.

I phoned multiple vets to enquire if they could help and was told the same thing, and had truthly began to lose some hope until I was recommended an exotic vet.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, or suspect your hamster might be diabetic, I would 100% recommend going to see an exotic vet for your little one.

It wasn’t the cheapest, all in all I believe I was about £80 for a check-up and a urine test, but PLEASE don’t let this out you off, as the experience and knowledge these vets have compared to regular vets was worth every penny.

Some common symptoms to look out for include, (but are not limited to);

-Excessive thirst

-Excessive urination

-Weight loss

-Cataracts

These symptoms can also be signs of other conditions and illnesses so a trip to the vet is best to rule out possibilities and help your hamster best.

I was given two options by my vet;

1): the option of starting my hamster on insulin; which would require me to administer at least one dose of insulin a day

2): to leave him as he is and monitor him and his condition daily

Options 1 can be costly in the long run, (the cost itself wasn’t an issue for me, but rather what damage I could possibly do). Insulin would cost about £25-£30 a month, and the medication itself can only be kept for about a month so this would be a monthly finance for anyone considering this.

I decided to go with option 2, as me and my vet thought this would provide a calmer life for him. Although option 1 was tempting, I could potentially run the risk of over or under dosing him. Additionally, I was concerned about the impact holding him down and injecting him with a needle (possibly more than once a day), would do to his well-being and to our relationship.

He runs to greet me if he hears me nearby, and is happy to sit on my hand to come out of the cage. I was worrried that this would make him fearful of me and being out and about in his home, something hitch would impact my ability to check his weight, and cleaning.

As it stands my little guy has his sand box cleaned out everyday, and his bedding is done every other day due to his excessive urination.

His sand box also used to be every other day, however I noticed mould starting to grow one day when cleaning, (simply due to the amount of urine he would produce), so that routine was quickly changed.

His bedding admittedly isn’t as excessive as it should be, however with a wider area to clean the risk of missing spots when cleaning (and running the risk of amonia build up and mould), was simply not worth it in my mind.

Additionally, it would stress him out more as bigger-clean outs would be required far more often, and he’s not too fond of having his home turned upside down as I’m sure any hamster owner knows.

He’s quite content though, rest assured my hammie has adequate room and enrichment in his home. Deep enough bedding to burrow, enrichment, different substrates, boredom’s breakers, etc.

How do I personally help my hamster, you might wonder?

-Regular checks and cleaning of his usual sleeping/hiding spots and sand box (toilet area)

-He has a water bottle in addition to x3 tea light holders placed in his usual hangout spots, to ensure he has easy and adequate access to fresh water. (Shallow tea lights are better for this, however placing a clean stone in the bottom of a deeper tea light can help avoid your hammie falling in).

-his weight is checked daily and written down, as well as how much he’s drinking

-getting a urine sample was also a suggestion from the vet, as this can help to give you an idea on things like blood sugar levels

-cutting out sugary snack, and avoiding food and hamster mixes with added sugar, (things like carrots and raisins are a no go for my little guy as a result)

-added protein to his diet; a good source of this is mealworms, egg, chicken, etc

-we also avoid hides with cramped awkward spaces, like mazes for example. He previously had one and I used hamster safe sealant to hopefully make it safer for him, however again mould made an appearance so I’d recommend watching out for these.

*something to note is my first vet gave me reusable cat litter in order to obtain a urine sample, however this was a big concern due to the risk of him consuming the fake litter. The exotic vet I went to recommended instead placing him in a carrier, with no absorbing materials/bedding, and wait for him to urinate. Personally this did break my heart a bit to watch, and he wasn’t too cooperative with the process.

I was also told by my vet that he may have a shorter life-span as a result of this, however this hasn’t stopped my little guy from living his best life. Like any other hamster he loves foraging, running, coming out for some one-on-one interaction, digging, chewing, etc.

He’s like any other hamster, and no matter how long he lives I’ll do my best to provide him a happy, safe and loving home.

I hope this has helped give someone who was also lost a bit of hope and guidance. Though again would like to say that I am in no way, shape or form a professional. I merely have my own personal experience with this matter.

I can only say how it’s been for me and my hamster, but every pet is different, and a vet should alway be the point of call for any health concerns you may have.

A healthy hamster is a happy hamster 🥰

0 notes

princess-of-the-corner · 3 months

Text

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Olympus Coliseum (Hades Cup)

If you haven’t visited Olympus Coliseum since the Underdrome tournaments were unlocked, Auron’s whole exposition dump on its backstory will happen here.

However, Hercules and Megara will be standing in the entrance to the Underworld at the end of that cutscene.

Speaking of, this story episode opens with Hercules and Megara arriving at the Underworld.

“Hey,” Hercules half-heartedly greets with a smile that doesn’t really reach his eyes.

“Herc! You feeling any better?” Sora asks.

“Well… same routine,” Megara replies when Hercules can’t bring himself to answer, “Wonderboy here thinks his hero days are over.

“And Phil thinks it’s all in his head.”

“Gawrsh Herc,” Goofy replies, “We know you’re a hero!”

“That’s right… Blunderboy,” Hades taunts, before materializing in front of the river that leads to the Underdrome, “How could you mope on a momentous day like today?

“The Underdrome’s back, and you are gonna fill the stands.

“After all, your fans won’t settle for anything less than a certified hero.”

Hercules grits his teeth and tries to raise a fist, but gives up midway through.

“I mean, if you’re not up to it,” Hades continues as he throws an arm over Hercules shoulders, “you could always just, I dunno, LOSE!”

“I bet you’d like that!” Sora snaps.

“Excuse me?” Hades replies, “Hey, I’m not a selfish guy.

“I’m not like those high and might snobs up on Olympus.

“I stand for the masses! And have I got a massive idea!

“The games, ladies and gentlemen… are back!

“Yours truly, Hades – the one and only Lord of the Dead – brings you the ultimate games, to celebrate the re-opening of the ultimate coliseum!

“We’ll finally answer the age-old question: Who deserves the title ‘Ultimate Hero’?

“These games are gonna settle the debate once and for all! The winner reigns supreme.

“Of what? You guessed it!

“The Hades Cup!

“And I assure you that the ‘Great’ Hercules will be there. Otherwise…”

Hades drops the hammy announcer voice and turns his attention to Megara.

Hercules, even in his weakened state, puts himself between her and Hades.

“You’ll never see your girlfriend again,” Hades promises.

“Lowlife!” Sora spits as Hades vanishes in a fiery puff of smoke.

“You’re too kind, kid!” the Lord of the Dead replies.

If you haven’t gotten the Underdrome introduction yet, then Pain and Panic will explain that whole deal now, before going on to the new information.

Pain is handling registration for the Hades Cup, so you’re gonna have to talk to him before you enter. You can still enter the other tournaments by talking to Panic.

Registering for the Hades Cup continues this world’s story, and leads to a textbox cutscene where SDG and Hercules check out the tournament brackets.

“Who do we face first?” Hercules asks.

“Let’s see…” Sora remarks.

“It’s ‘Spin Strike,’” Goofy reads.

“Look!” Donald points out, “Auron’s in the tournament too!”

“Uh-oh!” Goofy replies, “We might have to fight him in the finals!”

“I bet he’s a real hero, huh?” Hercules remarks.

“Well, I don’t think he’s a bad guy…” Sora replies, before turning to face Hercules, “But you’re the only hero around here, Hercules. You know that.”

“Maybe before, now I’m just a wash–”

“Stop that!” Sora and Donald interrupt.

Spin Strike consists of one Morning Star, two Tornado Steps, and three Driller Moles. All six of those guys are Emblem Heartless, so this is just a regular enemy wave.

The gimmick for this tournament is that these are treated as normal encounters, but with Hercules joining in. This means that you get EXP from the defeated enemies, but also that you can get a game over if you lose.

Really, aside from Hercules being present as an assist character, this is basically just a normal enemy fight with Underdrome music, “Beneath the Ground”, playing over it.

“How’d it go out there, champ?” Sora asks after the last Heartless falls.

“I’m just not what I used to be,” Hercules answers, “Sorry to drag you down, guys.”

“Don’t throw in the towel yet, Herc!” Sora protests, “We need you in the semifinals!”

Further divorcing this from a regular tournament, you are returned to the Underworld Entrance after this, and have to talk to Pain again to continue to the next round.

“We’re at the semifinals…” Goofy remarks as Hercules and the Junior Heroes check out the brackets.

“Wak! Against ‘Bad Alert’!?” Donald shouts.

“Are they any good?” Hercules asks.

“It sounds like they’re ‘bad’…” Sora jokes, “but we can’t chicken out now!”

Bad Alert consists of a Crimson Jazz (conical, spell casting Heartless that conjures homing, explosive fireballs), six minute bombs, and a Crescendo.

The Crescendo is basically just the Loud Mouth from Chain of Memories, and I think it might actually be the EXACT same Heartless, but with a name change because inconsistent dub.

They can make trumpet noises to summon other Heartless, strike with their trumpet mouth to attack Sora at close range, or play music that heals other Heartless.

Sora can use the “Heal Stomp” Reaction command to force them to heal him instead.

Again though, this is basically just a normal enemy swarm, you just have Hercules helping you out.

Add in that all of the Heartless are pretty fragile, and it’s even easier than the first round.

“We made it to the finals!” Sora cheers as Hercules rests on the ground to recover his strength.

“If we win, we’ll all be heroes!” Donald exclaims.

“Oh, that’s why you’re so happy,” Goofy remarks.

“We can’t stay junior heroes forever, you know,” Sora comments.

“I’ll try not to mess things up,” Hercules promises.

“Enough already…” Donald replies.

“Look, over there,” Hercules points out Auron outside of the arena, facing a door, “He’s our final opponent, right?”

(Note, the arena is suspended above what I think is the River Styx, with an outer ring surrounding it.)

“Auron!” Sora calls out.

Auron turns to acknowledge him, a dark aura briefly emanating from his body.

“And you are?”

“Huh?” Sora questions.

“Auron…?” Donald presses.

“I must defeat you and atone for my crimes,” Auron states.

“Hey!” Sora shouts as Auron walks out the door, “What was that all about?”

Our Junior Heroes decide to give chase.

Back in the Underworld Entrance, Auron walks through the doorway to the Cave of the Dead.

Follow him to continue the story.

In the Cave of the Dead’s Entrance, Sora notices something and ducks behind a wall, pulling Donald out of view next to him, before both peek out to spy on Hades and Auron.

“Okay, let’s review,” Hades opens, “State your crime, prisoner.”

“I exist,” Auron drones, “That is my crime. It is… inexcusable.”

“Ooh, good, very good,” Hades praises.

“What’s wrong with Auron?” Sora wonders, “He’s never acted that way before.”

Donald shushes him.

“Okay, so you made one lousy mistake: you exist,” Hades continues, “But hey, I’m a forgiving guy. You keep your end of our little deal, and I’m willing to overlook a transgression or two.”

“I understand,” Auron monotones, “Defeat Hercules.”

“And his meddling friends,” Hades adds.

“What?” Auron asks, emotion returning to his voice, “No, only Hercules.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who’s in charge?” Hades sighs, before clamping a hand down on Auron’s shoulder and digging his fingertips in.

Some kind of energy flows out of Auron, through Hades’ body, and into a tiny statue of Auron Hades lifts in his other hand.

“Hercules and the other three,” Hades reiterates, “Are we clear?”

“We’re clear, Hades,” Auron replies.

“Lord Hades,” Hades insists, Auron’s body briefly flashing.

“Lord Hades…” Auron agrees.

“Good,” Hades praises as he releases Auron, ending the transfer, “Now go.”

Sora and Donald dive out of sight as Auron turns around and walks right back to the door to the Underworld Entrance.

“So that’s how he’s controlling Auron!” Sora realizes.

The cutscene fades to black as Hades walks deeper into the Cavern of the Dead, taking the statue with him.

Cue textboxes!

“What a jerk!” Donald shouts.

“He’d probably think that was a compliment,” Goofy points out.

“I can’t stand seeing Auron do that lowlife’s bidding…” Sora states, “We’ve got to help him!”

Auron walks right past them and through the door to the Underworld Entrance.

“C’mon, let’s go after him!” Sora shouts.

Pain and Panic are currently walking around, so to continue the story, you have to use the “Stop” Reaction Command on Auron.

This prompts a cutscene where he hops in a boat with Pain and Panic, and sets a course for the Underdrome, Sora failing to actually stop him.

“What’s wrong, Sora?” Hercules asks in a fully voice-acted cutscene.

“Auron’s in trouble!” Sora answers, “It’s like Hades brainwashed him!”

“He’s using some kind of a statue,” Goofy explains.

“You know something?” Hercules notes, “That sounds kinda familiar…”

Hercules hums.

“Hades may be using the statue to hold Auron’s free will hostage,” he theorizes.

“What do we do?” Donald asked.

“See if you can find that statue,” Hercules answers, “It’s gotta be somewhere in the Underworld.”

“Right! I’m on it,” Sora declares.

“Tell me you’re not thinking of leaving,” Hades remarks as he butts into the conversation, “You’ve got a match coming up.”

“I’ll fight Auron in the final,” Hercules offers, “One on one.”

“Oh, you will?” Hades questions. He starts contemplating that deal.

“I’ll draw things out to buy you time,” Hercules whispers to Sora.

“But–” Sora tries to protest.

“Just hurry back,” Hercules instructs, “I know you can do it!”

“Congratulations! You’ve got a deal,” Hades declares.

“Thanks,” Hercules replies.

“On one condition!” Hades continues, “The Keyblader, here, and his trusty friends have to meet the winner in one final clash, whaddya say?”

“That’ll drive the crowd wild…” Hercules deadpans.

“It’d better,” Hades replies as Pain and Panic take the boat back, “I promised the crowd the event of their afterlives.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy glare at Hades.

Pain, Panic, Hades, and Hercules set a course for the Underdrome.

“Sucker!” Hades mocks, “You know for me, the rest is smooth sailing.”

As Hades headed for the depths of the Cavern of the Dead, that’s where you must go for your goal.

Once you reach the Valley of the Dead on the other side, the next cutscene starts, in which Auron and Hercules clash.

“Now that is entertainment!” Hades declares.

Megara and Phil watch on in concern.

Upon entering Hades’ Chamber, our Junior Heroes find the statue holding Auron’s free will.

“Got it,” Sora announces, before running up to the statue and snatching it off the table.

This triggers a painful, continuous, and hilarious electric shock.

Goofy inspects Sora for a second, before tapping his shoulder, and getting stuck to him thanks to the electric shock.

Donald, being an idiot, taps Goofy, and gets zapped as well.

“What’s going on!?” Donald shouts as he’s zapped.

The electric shock stops, and our junior heroes hear the following Auron lines from Final Fantasy X.

“It is not too late! Let us turn back!

“Yes, but I… I cannot accept it.

“Where is the sense in all this?

“But… there must be another way!

“Your deaths will mean nothing!

“You must live!”

A flash of light, and everything returns to normal.

“I get it,” Sora remarks, “This is what belongs in Auron’s heart.”

“Gawrsh, he musta had a pretty rough life,” Goofy observes.

“Yeah…” Sora agrees, “but in the end, that’s really what made him stronger.”

“Let’s give it back!” Donald shouts.

Cue Dusks attacking.

“Nobodies?” Sora questions incredulously, “Where did they come from?”

In order to escape, you must defeat all of the Nobodies.

After the last Dusk falls, more peek in through the windows.

“Hey, go away!” Donald shouts.

The Dusks wiggle closer, only to get nommed on by some Rabid Dogs (Emblem Heartless that look like cartoonish dogs.

“Not what I had in mind,” Sora comments, “but I’ll take it!”

“We’d better skedaddle!” Goofy agrees.

Our trios bravely flee the scene, Auron’s statue in tow.

You are immediately deposited at the Underworld Entrance, giving the player one more chance to save.

Talk to Pain to watch the Hades Cup’s final match.

In the Underdrome, Auron has forced Hercules to the edge of the arena. He swings his sword at the hero, who catches it between his hands. Auron pushes harder, and Hercules is forced to one knee.

“Now! Finish him!” Hades orders.

Hercules struggles to push the sword away.

“Auron, no!” Sora shouts as he, Donald, and Goofy finally arrive at the scene.

“Hey, Auron!” Donald shouts as Sora takes the statue out of his pocket, “This belongs to you!”

Sora throws the statue at Auron.

It dissolves into sparkles in midair and is absorbed back into Auron’s body, restoring his free will.

Auron ceases his assault on Hercules, allowing the hero to release his grip on Auron’s blade without getting bisected.

Auron lets the sword drop to the ground next to Hercules as the hero lets out a sigh of relief.

“Sora. Donald. Goofy,” Auron greets.

“Auron!” SDG cheer.

“Why those little–” Hades seethes as he briefly turns red, before reverting to his blue coloration as SDG run into the arena, “Prisoner! What happened to our mutual agreement?

“I can give you a clean slate, but you gotta work with me.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me,” Auron replies, “This is my story, and you’re not part of it.”

Hades seethes and turns red again, before vanishing in a pillar of hellfire.

BOOM!

The smoke and flames clear to reveal Hades standing in the middle of the arena.

“That’s it!” he shouts, “This game is over. I’ve played by the rules so far.

“Okay, I confess! I was hoping Wonderboy would lose, but it was still a fair fight. C’mon, is that really so wrong?”

“Really?” Sora replies as Donald and Goofy dissolve into giggles, “A fair fight?”

“Laugh, laugh, laugh all you want!” Hades mocks, “Because the laughing is about to stop!

“Wanna know why?

“Because now we’re gonna play by my rules.” He snaps his fingers, and one of the gates at the edge of the arena opens to reveal a swirling whirlpool of souls in the middle of the River Styx, the same one from the climax of the original movie.

Megara shrieks as she’s teleported away from Phil and over to Hades, wrapped in smoke.

“Meg!” Hercules shouts.

Hades snaps his fingers.

“Hercules!” Megara cries out as she floats over the vortex of souls.

“Hey, I warned you right at the get-go,” Hades reminds them, “You don’t compete, you lose the girl.”

He snaps his fingers, and the smoke dissipates, dropping Megara into the vortex.

“No!” Hercules shouts as he dashes to the edge of the arena, jumps over the gap between the arena and the outer ring, and runs past Hades without missing a beat, “Meg! Hang on!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, he dives in right after her.

“Vim and Vigor” stars playing as Hades turns to face the party with a grin.

“Looks like Wonderboy has dropped out of the standings,” he remarks as the gate closes behind him.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Auron glare at him and fall into combat stances.

“Well, you’ve still got us to deal with!” Sora declares.

Hades teleports behind them.

“Oh yeah,” he chuckles as he turns red, “This is gonna be good.”

Auron has rejoined the party, so you’re given one more chance to swap around equipment and abilities before the fight begins.

As all of Auron’s abilities and gear were dequipped back when he left the party after the initial battle with Cerberus, and you HAVEN’T had the chance to correct that since then, I’d suggest taking this opportunity while you still can.

Unfortunately, just like when you first fought Hades during your first trip to the Underworld, he’s still invincible.

This first phase ends when Sora lands a finisher on him.

Hades bellows with laughter.

“We can’t win,” Sora realizes.

“How come?” Donald asks.

“Because it’s his Underworld,” Auron answers.

“Gee, then how do we beat him?” Goofy asks.

Hades gets ready to shoot back with a taunt, but the sound of crumbling stone interrupts him.

Someone’s shattered the gateway to the vortex of souls.

“I think a true hero should be able to help!” Hercules declares.

“But, you…” Hades protests as Hercules shines with his full power, Megara completely unharmed in his arms.

“I owe you one, Hades,” Hercules reveals as he lets the aura drop, “I didn’t hesitate to give my life for Meg’s. And then, I remembered:”

Pegasus lands next to him.

“A true hero is measured by the strength of his heart,” Hercules continues as he sets Megara down, “I’ll never forget that again.”

“Just no more crazy stunts,” Sora requests.

“People always do crazy things when they’re in love,” Hercules replies.

SDG chuckle.

“What is so funny you, imbeciles!” Hades shouts, “The Encounter” kicking in, “How dare you get a happy ending! How DARE you!”

Phase 2 begins, but now you have a fully-powered Hercules at your side.

Hades is still invincible.

However, Hercules can now generate spheres of aura, which give the “Aura Sphere” Reaction Command when Sora is near them.

Use Aura Sphere to swat the sphere wherever Sora’s facing. If he’s locked onto Hades, he’ll automatically swat it at him, dealing some damage and removing his invincibility.

Additionally, whenever Hercules isn’t attacking, Sora can use the “Aura Guard” Reaction Command when standing next to him, where they cross their blades and raise a barrier of light over each other to shield themselves. You’re going to want to do this whenever Hades uses an attack that hits the entire arena, such as sending out a wave of fire.

Hercules is not a party member, so you don’t have to worry about HP or MP.

He is, ironically, more invincible than Hades now.

Hades mostly attacks with various fire attacks, pretty much all of them new to this game, but he does also have one dark attack: a ball of smoke he throws at the target to deal damage.

One of his attacks has him raise a literal firewall, which causes him to turn red, restoring his invincibility.

Additionally, as a humanoid boss, he has revenge values that can be triggered by finishers.

It is very easy to bully Hades. He’s he KH1!Captain Hook of this game, as you can shoot an Aura Sphere at him RIGHT as he regains his invincibility.

Also be warned that Hercules will need a second to regain his strength after using Aura Guard, and he CAN’T create Aura Spheres while resting, so watch what Hades is doing before you use that Reaction Command.

Defeating Hades earns Sora +5 Max HP and Magnet Burst (Sora draws in enemies to unleash a finishing combo move, damage dealt relative to Sora’s magic skill), Donald an accessory slot, Goofy +5 Maximum HP, and Auron +15 Maximum HP.

A wounded Hades stumbles back.

Sora tries to land another hit on him, only for the Lord of the Dead to teleport out of the arena, and to the platform overlooking the vortex of souls.

“It’s… not over… yet…” a dazed Hades groans in pain and exhaustion as he continues to back away, unwittingly stepping over the edge and plummeting into the vortex of souls with a scream.

“What’cha gonna do now?” Donald asks Auron back at the Underworld Entrance.

“I lived my life defending others,” Auron replies, “But now… there’s no one left to protect.

“Maybe… it’s time I shaped my own story.”

“Yeah…” Sora agrees, “You deserve it, Auron – after everything you’ve been through.”

Auron chuckles.

“I suppose I should thank you.”

“Not at all,” Sora replies.

“Fine,” Auron agrees, much to SDG’s disappointment.

“I mean, sure, you could thank us a little…” Sora corrects.

“You should say what you mean,” Auron deadpans, “I guess I could spare a few words.”

He grins.

“Thanks for meddling.”

“Hey, what’s that mean?” Sora asks.

Auron smiles, but doesn’t answer as he walks off.

Sora obtains the Guardian Soul Keychain.

This turns the Keyblade into one themed off of Auron, granting +5 Attack, +1 Magic, and Reaction Boost (increases damage dealt by Reaction Commands by 50%).

Back on the surface, night has fallen as SDG reunite with Hercules and Meg among the ruins of the original game’s coliseum.

“Thanks gain, guys!” Hercules opens, “You’re the best.”

“Excuse us for meddling…” Donald grumbles.

“Aw… sounds like somebody’s feathers are a little ruffled,” Megara teases, “I’m kidding. Thank you, Sora, Donald, Goofy.”

“So where are you guys headed next?” Hercules asks.

“Aw, you know…” Sora’s answers, “You two lovebirds seem to be getting along just fine without us hanging around.”

Megara and Hercules get a little flustered, putting a bit of space between each other, but still shyly smile at each other.

“Yeah, we gotta go,” Donald agrees.

“Uh-huh, before we start meddlin’,” Goofy throws in.

“Right,” Sora affirms.

“Are you turkeys trying to put me out of a job?” Phil asks as he approaches the group, “If you keep acing every challenge, Champ, who am I gonna train?”

“Aw, you can’t abandon me now, Phil!” Hercules replies, “I gotta be at the top of my game in case Hades shows up again.”

“Hey, are we true heroes yet?” Donald asks.

“Yeah!” Sora cuts in, “C’mon Phil, how ‘bout it?”

“Lemme see now…” Phil observes, “Well, you’re not wise enough…

“Not quite… seasoned enough…”

“Okay, okay, we get the hint!” Sora interrupts.

“Look kid, it’s not my call!” Phil replies.

“Aw phooey,” Donald grumbles.

“Course if it was, you’d have no problem,” Phil admits, “I’d make you all heroes in a heartbeat!”

“Really?” Sora asks.

“Say it again!” Donald says.

“On second thought,” Phil remarks, “If those are your ‘hero’ faces, you still got a lotta work to do.”

The satyr walks off.

“Hey, what do you mean?” Donald asks as he runs up to him.

“Go away!” Phil replies, before dashing off, Donald giving chase after him.

“Phil!” Sora shouts as he joins the chase.

“Leave me alone!” Phil protests as he picks up speed.

We fade to Megara and Hercules.

“See that?” Megara asks as she looks up at the sky.

“Well, whadaya know…” Hercules remarks.

Sora and Donald stop chasing Phil to look up at the sky.

Phil sees what’s happening, and turns away so nobody can see his tears of pride as his students celebrate.

Constellations of Sora, Donald, and Goofy form in the heavens, accompanied by Olympus Coliseum’s theme playing triumphantly.

Our Junior Heroes have become True Heroes.

Thus concludes Olympus Coliseum’s story.

However, a new tournament has begun in the Underdrome.

We’ll have to check that out next time.

Hades is always a fucking blast

#submission

1 note · View note

fairest · 10 months

Text

The strums

I love summer tourist season. Especially when it’s hot and muggy. The suburban vibrates through my grid like ancient black holes compose music for the universe. The husband and wife in matching Cubs gear or sacrifices to St. Louis. In the lobby of the Willis I watch the foreign families place orders. The men take care of the children, the women take care of themselves. The stateless hide here, the fallen, while on the skydeck you buy tickets and pretend to fall. When I leave the lobby I greet the smell of human sweat in the wedge of revolving door. I go around again, I do it all before, my contribution to our stench. On Michigan Avenue I am the gray urban man. Oohing and aahing the climate control on my way into your experience. I embrace my role as a Karen. Stop riding your Divvy on the sidewalk! I am the cop, the trembling Russian soldier, the notetaker, the lookout. In the median strips of Mag Mile the state troopers idle. They protect not you, not me, they protect Neimans and its mormon products. “If the message of western civilization is I am alone,” you won’t find any notifications here. One thing I love about originality is doing the same thing all over again. Like dropping a thirty dollar bill in the beggar’s cup. This man is older than my arrhythmia. Mein herz gets medicine but his is still beat. It doesn’t give me the blues so much as the strums.

I am the body in joy. My happiness complete. It’s hard not to get sentimental about vinyl records, when you pull out a Nonesuch and hear, the first movement of Horenstein’s Mahler 3. Last week I streamed it three times after the barista made me the Purple Eye. He wanted to prove to me it was a real thing, three shots of espresso and drip, he showed me the listing in his training manual, a binder of three rings. On Monday morning I found the Horenstein vinyl. Gregg told me he’s not so into these slower tempo interpretations. Gregg pauses when I talk about my love for Tinter’s Bruckner 2. Tinter even got mad when people killed cockroaches, and you know those Europeans have seen a lot of vermin, and you know to be a vegetarian you must take things as they come. I watched All Quiet on the Western Front. I wasn’t moved, like the war’s advance. You can just read current events if you must be moved by World War I. An exhibit in progress.

Every June, happy intern parade, we love you Miss Hannigan. My conservative girls are poetry stars from eight years ago, frescos up their quads and down their hammies. With Uptown girls you need to talk, find out what they’re interested in, quote Pennymaker, quote Badioo. You’ve got to say things about boygenius like, Phoebe is the waitress wearing a mask, Lucy is the waitress not wearing the mask, Julian Baker is the waitress in the back on her smoke break, and then Uptown girls have to call you a romantic or a misogynist. You talk the same time they talk, like Iris and Nate in Dimes Square.

Downtown my girls are different. You can say um or for sure and not feel like an idiot. What are they carrying in those shoulder bags? Mischievous and tight and testing the sexual patience of the men on this commuter train. Even I can’t concentrate on my cancer while she does her eyebrows. The Evanston of the Mind. The Digestive System of Lake Bluff. She sees my hard chest in a Performance polo, licks her lips. Maybe I’m not like every other award-winning dentist who chose the quiet car. We’re back at her hotel and when I go to leave I see Nordstrom Rack price stickers in the heels of her heels.

Back at home they’re all asleep. I sink my feet into the bowl we use for salads. After seeing the home runs I put on California Split. Elliott Gould once said “blogging is not writing it is graffiti with punctuation.” That’s more Monica’s Dad on Friends than Charlie Waters, his character in Split. I want to write Patrick back about all the thrilling stuff he said about Succession and tell him it has the word success in it. He made this typo for “like” as “lips” and he corrected it and I said, don’t correct your typos, don’t bother writing, just keep typing, because when I’d read “lips” I’d thought it correct. The topic made you wanna open your trap, loosen your jaw, and let the spit that gathers at the collective corners of our mouth water the lawns of our brains with meanings. I want a creamy white sweater like George Segal wears in Split but it won’t look the same on my frame.

Yeah, I will write Patrick, all cunty poetry a footnote to Ginsberg’s “I won’t write my poem till I’m in my right mind.” I think there’s a lot of cunty poetry out there but it’s still very academic. We’re using cunty in a good way. I feel like I heard a lot of cunty stuff in Seattle this year with Charles, who manages to find the cool things. When I go to those creative writing events I always end up applauding a White guy who lives up to his capitalization. But all the freakazoids Charles finds, they’re working through interesting stuff, as those types usually are. Yeah, it was the best stuff about Succession. Better than my sentencing mind. Dad had to die early in the season, “an absence that needed to be felt in order to feel the full force of Kendall’s ecstatic embrace of fascism in his eulogy at the funeral, a funeral that he transforms into a black mass, baptizing himself as one of the True Killers…” we all want big fat letters like this stringing a zither across our navel, not “the hostile shafts of paid critics.” What I really need to tell Patrick is I wouldn’t have California Split without him, the two-toned credits my safe space, the absence of music but the engorging sound just like an OG Columbo episode, the murderer money, the finest example the elevator thrumming at the beginning of La Notte. Have you ever noticed the sign outside the titty bar. When Gould’s just walking up. Licking his likes. Lipping his money. The sign that says the titty bar has “the worst piano player on earth.”

My son says Daddy, what do you call the lines you string, do you call them the plucks, and I say you call them the strings, and on the strings you strum, but you can call them whatever you want because I will never forget the things you used to say. I wake up just after midnight and reorder the flow of the deck. In the morning I carry my son’s bike up the street and ride him around the track. Tears come to my eyes when I say the thing you need to do is look straight ahead, tighten your tummy, and think about what this will feel like when you don’t need Daddy’s help. He says that won’t be today. I say it could be today. He says it will probably be in, like, 200 days. I say it could be in 50 days. He says it won’t be tomorrow. I say, well, it could be today. The lesson of western civilization is that our children grow up. I’m sweating and overusing an underutilized part of my shoulder, the name of the part I forget, my masseuse says it helps with the initial lift. Helping with the initial lift is my business.

#Chicago #summer #writing #poetry #blogging #og

0 notes

allthewritem0ves · 2 years

Text

Thank You, Sam-I-Am

Settling back at home, Guy felt so relieved, it was as if he was wearing a coat made of lead and just got to take it off. It was a wonder to him how much can change in such a short amount of time. In what was supposed to be a search for Sam’s mother turned into a race against time to stop two feuding nations from wiping themselves off the face of the planet. In addition, his wife Michellee blessed him with a newborn son, whom they named Guy Jr., E.B. made a new best friend that Guy can see potential in becoming so much more, and all seemed right for everyone.

But to really bring things full circle, Guy had one more thing to do: a day of reflection with Sam, who, if it hadn’t been for him, he’d still be wallowing in his own self loathing while watching paint.

As Michellee was putting Junior in his crib for the first time since they got home, he said, “You know, honey, I’ve been thinking.”

Michellee looks at him and asks, “Yes?”

“I’m thinking about hanging out with Sam for the day tomorrow if that’s okay.”

Michellee puts her hand on his shoulder, smiling softly. “Of course you can. He’s your best friend, I’m sure he’d like that.”

Guy touches her hand with his own. As he looked her in the eye, he thought about how lucky he was that Sam came into that diner with his insatiable optimism…

——

Flashback:

Guy sat at the counter at Donna’s Diner after his failure with the Self-Flyer, looking at the job listings in the newspaper and deciding on becoming a paint watcher when-

“Afternoon, Donna! Love what you done with your fur!”, Sam exclaimed as he walked in.

“Oh, you. Same as it always is”, Donna replied. As she did so, Sam turned his head in Guy’s direction and gasped. Guy tried to conceal himself behind the newspaper, glancing from side to side, hoping that he wasn’t the one being targeted. Sam gasps twice more in a hammy manner.

Then he runs over. “Oh, wow! Look at this! We’re briefcase buddies! It’s like…finding a matching snowflake.”

Indeed their briefcases were identical. But in a sour mood and having a low tolerance for joy at the moment, Guy says, “It’s an unremarkable attache sold at most major stores.”

This didn’t deter Sam. “And we both bought it!…”

And the rest is history.

——

After putting Junior down for the night, Guy and Michellee retired to their own bedroom. But before going to bed himself, Guy calls up Sam.

“Hey, Guy!”, Sam said happily on the other end.

Guy chuckled. “Evening, Sam.”

“Soooo, how’s it going?”

“Everything’s fine. And yourself?”

“Stupendous! My mom’s going here in a few days once everything’s settled down in Ookia.”

“That’s great, Sam. I wanted to ask you something, by the way.”

“Sure. What is it?”

“I wanted to know if you’d like to meet me at Donna’s Diner tomorrow afternoon, just you and I.”

“I’d love to! So, I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. Good night, Sam.”

Then they hung up.

——

The next afternoon, Guy and Sam walked into the diner. Upon doing so, they were greeted with applause.

Guy was taken aback. Sam, however, relished in the glory.

“What’s all this about?”, Guy asked as the uproar died down.

A dining patron came up to them, showing a newspaper. “Didn’t you hear? You’re hot news right now.”

The duo looked at the headline on Who.S.A Today, which read, “Unlikely Heroes Bring End To Age Old Feud”. Below were headshots of Guy, Sam, E.B., Michellee, Pam, Looka, and Gluntz, along with a lengthy interview with the Dookess.

“Well, would you look at that? We made the front page!”, Sam says.

“I wonder how they got those pictures of us”, Guy pondered.

“Maybe they took them from a hidden camera or something.”

The two of them sat at a booth at the back of the diner. After ordering (what else?) green eggs and ham, they began to talk.

“You know, Sam, remember the last time when we were here and I thanked you for getting me to try green eggs and ham for the first time?”

“Yes.”

Guy lowered his gaze and laughed a little to himself. He looked back up and says, “I wanted to say thank you. Again.”

Sam grins from ear to ear. “You’re welcome.” Then he stopped to think for a moment. “For what?”

“For swapping briefcases with me.”

Sam lowered his smile and raised an eyebrow. “Guy, that was two years ago.”

“Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, I never really thanked you for that.”

Sam suddenly put his head in his hands. “I only did that to rope you into becoming my accomplice.”

“Don’t beat yourself up for that, Sam.”

“Every day, I can’t help but imagine how horribly things could’ve gone wrong. How much trouble I put you through.”

“It’s okay, Sam. We pulled through in the end, didn’t we?”

Sam shrugs. “I guess so.” His smile didn’t return.

“I wanted to thank you for everything. No one else could’ve pulled me out of the slumps like you did.”

“Except for Michellee, right?”

Guy laughs a little. “I wouldn’t have met her if it hadn’t been for you.”

“I thought you met her at your presentation. And that you two didn’t get off on the right foot.”

“You know what I mean. And do you know what else? You helped pull us together. Thanks to you, Sam, you finally reunited with your mother, I now have two kids to care for, and, surprisingly of all, we took on the armed forces of Yookia and Zookia and WE won. That all seems pretty cool if you ask me.”

Sam was smiling now. “I guess you're right.”

Guy then says, “And I owe it all to you.”

Then their food arrived. As Guy picks up an egg with his fork, he finishes his spiel with, “I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you, thank you, Sam-I-Am.”

#green eggs and ham #guy am i #sam i am #fanfic

1 note · View note

chaoticarouse · 2 years

Text

Daissanette Rachielle Carys

or Rachie, for short, is the name i live by with she/her as my pronouns. I was born at the eleventh month, thus, i might be the loveliest scorpion you'll ever met!

The Attention Stealer. There are plenty wondrous things exist in this big world, such as my hammies, thriller and horror movies, calming things, cooking, et cetera. Those has me fly away to the Cloud 9 for sure, and, being the cause of my euphoria explosion.

Yet, I Choose To Run Away. If someone who is racist, homophobic, hate spreader, oftenly involved to a drama, or even don't like me were around.

Besides That. I'm a devotee of the amazing women (Kep1er & aespa, and other ggs too!) And listen to a lot of pop songs. But, i also have a lot of different sorts of music on my playlist. And i really appreciate a wide range of tunes, including nursery rhymes that put me to sleep.

Little Things You Should Know. I'm a slowtexter, it might takes time for me to replying the other's messages due to stuff i have to done. I'm also a roleplayer writer and this probably be the reason why we met. To get rid of the confusion that greets you, perhaps, the information below will help.

Notes. You might know me as Rachielle Ivy, we're the same person!

Recite Me Your Tale, I Would Love To. Despite the fact that i'm a slowtexter, i try my best to be by your side in a snap if you need me. In other words, feel free to reach me out to share the burdens on your shoulder. I might not give you a perfect advice, but you can lean on my shoulder and cry as much as you want. Or you can talk to my little friend, Nachie, she'll helps you while i'm away!

Oh, here, here! In case you want to get to know me more, please leave your question to the sweetest kitten on my curiouscat.

Also, spotify!! Music is one of the daily essential, don't you think? Thus, do let me know if you are seeking for a spotify session buddy, i would love to be.

0 notes

takerfoxx · 2 years

Text

The Owl House, Season 2, Episode 11, "Follies at the Coven Day Parade," First Impressions!

It has been…seven. Long. Months.

Seven long months of waiting, of agonizing, of theorizing, of memeing, of shipping, of flaming, of raging at Disney, of often forgetting that Morinmark’s comics aren’t canon, of generally losing our minds waiting for The Owl House to return.

And now it has, and it hit the ground running.

So. The first episode of the second half of season two has finally dropped. We are getting brand new material.

Let’s do this.

Okay, a quick rundown, then I’ll start breaking things down. To begin, Luz is stressing over her promise to her mother to come home (and is it just me, or were the words her mother used in her memory of that scene from Yesterday’s Lie different than the actual lines? If so, that really indicates how much that moment has gotten Luz twisted up), and she’s trying to work up a defense for her to stay in the Boiling Isles. Meanwhile, Eda has learned that Raine is once again active as the head of the Bard’s Coven and will in fact be a part of the Coven’s Day Parade, which just smells wrong to her. And meanwhile, poor lil’ Kikimora is torn between visiting her family or taking part in the parade, as doing one will lead to being banished by the other.

Naturally, Luz feels that there is a solution to all of their problems.

Naturally, things do not go as planned.

All right. Let us begin.

LUZ

As I said, Luz’s visit to Camilla didn’t turn out how she wanted, and now with the promise of staying home looming in her mind, she’s starting to unravel.

Because Luz doesn’t want to go home. She’s happy in the Boiling Isles. She finally gets to learn magic, to better herself in a way that’s interesting to her, to have real friends that respect her, and to have an awesome girlfriend who is also an awesome witch. She’s basically the rare Isekai protagonist that knows that she’s an Isekai protagonist, and she is loving it!

Basically, her mom is really the only thing tying her to the human world. And, okay, I know I’ve been harsh on Camila because of the whole G-Rated conversion therapy vibes that the camp gave off. I’ve had time to think on that and cooled off enough on that front to realize that Camilla really is a loving parent doing her best and that Luz really did have major behavioral problems that needed addressing and the camp was probably actually benign after all and that misconception was basically just a poorly thought out joke that led to some very unfortunate coding. So, we’re good on that front.

But anyway, she does love her mom, and feels awful about hurting her. But she also doesn’t want to leave, and as such is building up her case to convince her mom that the Boiling Isles really is the place for her.

Unfortunately, the Boiling Isles are still the Boiling Isles, and, well…

Seven months of no Owl House and this is pretty much the first image to greet us back.

God, I love this show. Bless you, Hooty, you absolutely horrifying abomination.

What I find interesting is just how quickly she latched onto Kikimora’s plight, despite all the very terrible things that Kiki has done to her and her friends (which Eda was more than happy to provide a list of), Luz still wanted to help her, in part because Luz is the most cinnamony of all cinnamon rolls, but also because she empathizes with Kiki being stuck between her family’s expectations and her dream job, as awful as that job might be.

And okay, I know that it’s an unpopular opinion, but I’m just going to say it. I like Kikimora. I know she’s a terrible person, but she’s also really funny, really hammy, and sort of pathetic, so I can’t help but enjoy her. Plus, I’ve always had a soft spot for villains that really, really wanted something. I mean, come on: who didn’t sort of want Starscream to take over the Deceptions?

But while being caught between two worlds certainly has gotten her all wound up, it’s also causing another problem.

Namely, lying to Amity.

AMITY

Oh, our cotton-candy haired goddess, how you have been missed.

I love Amity. I’ve made no secret of it. She’s my favorite character. I knew she would be going in, and I was right on the money.

And what I really love about her, what this episode made a point of emphasizing, is that while she is still a hot mess of issues thanks to her terrible parents, her rejection issues, and her chronic need for validation, she is aware of her flaws, realizes fully that she was kind of pretty bad person for a while, and is actively working to be a better person! Obviously her dependency on Luz is a big part of that, hence why is does have a tendency to go above and beyond to be Luz’s Awesome Girlfriend, but even so. Trying to learn Spanish to come up with cute nicknames for her girlfriend? Oh yeah, A+ material. Tomato X Sweet Potato, OTP.

But this definitely comes into play when she figures out that Luz hasn’t told her the truth about the portal, especially when she winds up with Luz’s phone. Now, I was bracing myself for the Liar’s Reveal plotline, truly one of my most despised drama mines. I expected her to watch the video, realize the truth, and get mad at Luz and yell at her a lot.

But Amity doesn’t do that. Instead, she first goes to Willow for advice (more on that later), decides to respect Luz’s privacy and NOT play the video, and instead go to Luz and ask her about it directly!

Because Amity has grown up in a household that constantly violated her privacy, so she knows how important it is. Hell, LUZ violated her privacy, and we all saw how much Amity was hurt by that. As such, she is actively working to not repeat the toxic patterns of her family and respect Luz’s in turn.

And secondly, instead of getting mad over Luz lying to her, she instead intuits correctly that Luz herself was hurt by something and is scared and instead calmly just approaches her to talk it out. That’s wonderful! Like, this is what I wanted from these two, for them to have an actual relationship with open communication! It’s clear that these two dorks really don’t know what they’re doing. It’s both of their first times being in love, it’s scary to them both, but man, they are trying their hardest to make it work, and they’re succeeding!

Now, we don’t get to see Amity’s reaction to Luz telling her about her mom’s ultimatum, but I imagine it will be addressed in episodes to come.

I really want to see Amity meet Camila. Please let me have this.

EDA and RAINE

So far, Eda has been a true maverick, a rebel just doing her thing, rolling with the punches and trucking along. Horribly cursed? Eh, manageable. Lose her magic? There’s workarounds. Emperor’s Coven trying constantly to arrest her? Sounds like fun!

However, she does have one weakness, one that really gets to her.

She cares about people. A lot.

For all of her bluster, Eda can’t allow any of her found family to come to harm. We’ve seen her put herself in danger for their sake time and time again, and if anyone that she cares about was in trouble, Eda would stop at nothing to go after them.

And she really cares about Raine.

Poor Raine. To go from leading a rebellion against Belos to being brainwashed by what I can only describe as GILF Perfuma into licking Belos’s boots. They truly have had it rough, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier.

I don’t have a whole lot to analyze as this plotline is only getting started, but it’s still clear that despite having their entire previous encounter wiped from their memory, Raine still cares a great deal about Eda, even if Terra has twisted that care up into hostility. I mean, even though they’ve been manipulated into seeing Eda as an enemy, they still kept trying to give her an out! And did you see that tear?

It's clear that rescuing Raine means more to Eda than her curse or regaining her magic. I imagine that she’ll get through to them eventually, but it’s going to be a fight, especially with Terra in the way. Maybe Willow can help on that end, given her proficiency with plants.

And speaking of which…

WILLOW

Aw, yes girl! Get you those gains!

Sorry, I’ve become something of a gym nut lately, so I’m all for Willow pumpin’ dat iron.

Anyway, Willow and Gus have kinda been pushed to the sidelines this season, which honestly does make sense, as they’re basically just “the friends.” Even Gus’s solo episode got overshadowed by its own B-Plot. However, this episode did touch on something I’ve been wondering about for a while.

It’s clear that Willow has forgiven Amity and the two are on good terms again, but did you see that look on Willow’s face when Amity was braiding her hair? It’s clear that the years of bullying still sting, and there is still a gulf there. I have a feeling that this will be addressed in the future, which I am definitely here for.

Look, I love Amity to death, and it’s not her fault her parents are so rotten, but the way she treated Willow was just cruel. And even though she’s taken responsibility for that behavior, honestly apologized, and is making a real effort to be better, sometimes that isn’t enough. And I’m sure that having her former bully who stabbed her in the back when they were kids now be dating one of her closest friends kind of upsets Willow. Like, she’s also making an effort, but that pain doesn’t go away so easily.

It's clear that they all have a long journey ahead of them, though with the Day of Unity looming, they might not have much time to come to terms with things. However, I am most certainly here for the ride. This is gonna be great.

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #amity blight #eda clawthorne #raine whispers #willow park #hooty #emperor belos #lumity #follies at the coven day parade #reaction

22 notes · View notes