#i love him but don’t call me a slacker lmao

[asterefflores]

Yup, yours truly is back! To cause trouble again (sorry lol can't help myself) the last few ones have been great! And I loved em tho if I could trouble you a lil more I would like em to be a bit more longer? *Kicked* I'm a sucker for long reads (sorry (not sorry at all)) soooo let's get right into it.

Soooo, this time around my request is kid Cale!!! Or kid kimroksoo!!!! Whichever you decide to write (tho honestly speaking we both know the fun one would be roksoo who pout over the whole situation lmao, and ofc tristan NEEDS to THERE) either ways, so a curse or something similar had hit the one of the brothers or....both of em *eyebrow wiggle* (why take one when you can have both *crackles in evil*) now everyone is panicking cuz they have turned into children the others are dying from cuteness, the actual children raon, on and hong are having the time of life and Tristan is just shaking his head and sighing in the brothers are making trouble again and how can be forget the brothers where if it's one of em, then the other is having the time of their lives teasing thier brother and if it's both of em who are children, they are just sighing in why can't they be just left alone In peace?! Well rok soo is enjoying his slacker life even as a child since everyone is pampering him, Cale is shaking his head but secretly love all the attention he is getting from both his hyung and all thier family.

That's the request lmao, what do you think? (Sorry for the trouble lolololol)

Have a great day and tc!💐

Not really exactly as what you want or imagine I guess but here it is at last, tho it contains some spoilers lol,,

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

Tristan quietly sighed and rested back in his chair, closing his eyes with his arms crossed, deciding to rest a bit as Madelin made him promise.

“Your Majesty!”

‘Well, there goes my rest.’ Tristan opened his eyes and looked at his assistant, who suddenly barged into his office, looking unusually panicked with the communication device in his hands. “What is it?”

The assistant hesitated as he quickly realized he had disrupted the Emperor’s break time. “There is an emergency call from the Henituse Duchy, sir…”

Tristan paused with one blink. He suppressed a sigh and moved to sit properly with his legs still crossed, his hand reaching for the device to the side on his office desk, “Take the call.”

“Yes, sir.”

The assistant immediately pressed accept, and the screen appeared before Tristan, revealing a distraught Deruth Henituse.

Tristan tried not to frown horribly, just as he usually does whenever he looks at the man.

-Hyung—

“Tsk, I told you not to call me that.” Tristan sighed, instantly annoyed, “What do you want now?” He narrowed his eyes, “You didn’t call just to panic over what present to get for RokSoo and Cale, did you?”

The assistant prepared to disconnect the call as Deruth Henituse had done such a prank before, which only put their Emperor in a foul mood for almost a whole week. Having seen how the man was ridiculed intensely by their Emperor, the assistant was sure that no one from the Henituse family would dare pull such a stunt ever again. Well, maybe, except for the two redheads. Their Emperor was exceptionally kind and weak when it came to the two brothers.

-No, no…it’s RokSoo…

Tristan frowned slightly more as he could tell the man on the screen was hesitating and scared. “What the fuck did you do?”

-I did nothing!

Deruth quickly started explaining, frightened by the look in Tristan’s eyes that slowly shifted to something dangerous.

-We don’t know how to turn him back! And I’m afraid the curse is affecting his mind now! What do I do, Hyung?

“……”

Tristan kept staring for a long moment with a deadpan face. He calmly stood up, “I’m coming over right now.”

-Yes, please do, Hyung!

“Say Hyung one more time, and I’ll rip out your tongue.”

 

Tristan didn’t have to look at the screen to know from the silence that the man paled with a flinch, taking his threat seriously, as he should.

-…you will bring the Empress with you, right?

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Deruth, “No.”

Yet, here he was, in Cale’s office together with Madelin.

“Didn’t we agree for you to get along with Deruth Henituse, Tristie?”

“I don’t recall agreeing to become his Hyung.”

“Honey, you’re announced as that to the public.”

“Relatives could still be distant as to call each other formally.”

“And do you call him formally?”

“Why would I even need to speak to or about him?”

 

“……”

Cale watched in amusement at the couple before him. It’s always interesting to watch Madelin make the vicious Tristan Battlesea appear as a pouting kid throwing a tantrum with his arms crossed and looking away from his wife like that. 

“I apologize for having my father scare you into hurrying here, Dad, Mama.” He said as he brought the cup to his smiling lips while the two looked at him, frowning with a quiet sigh as he found it was lemon tea even when Ron wasn’t in the office with them. “Little Hyung is not dying or anything.”

“…little Hyung?”

“Hm?” He looked at the two, who seemed lost. “Are you saying that father didn’t explain the situation to you?”

“He said something about turning RokSoo back.” Tristan slightly frowned, “I would’ve used the spirits to check on RokSoo without needing to come over or hear from that dumbhead of a father—”

“Tristie.”

Tristan kept looking at Cale with his arms crossed, “—but I know RokSoo gets uncomfortable when I do so, so I didn’t.”

“Haa, how can I scold you now when you say something cute like this out of nowhere?”

Tristan gave his wife a deadpan look, “It’s common consideration of one’s discomfort, don’t you do it too?”

“Of course I do, but it’s so damn endearing when you do it.”

“I don’t see the logic in that.”

“Sure, you shy cutie.”

Tristan only sighed elegantly and just let his wife keep pinching his cheek tenderly, used to Madelin’s many loving teases, knowing there was no helping it when she was a bit upset with him.

“As sweet as it is to see you two loving each other, please don’t flirt in front of this poor, innocent son of yours.” Cale casually sipped the tea and stopped himself from laughing as Tristan looked silently grateful for the distraction.

Knock, Knock—

“Ah,” Cale looked at the door, “Hyung is finally here.” He put the cup on the table, stood up and calmly walked to open the door.

“…why are you smiling like that?”

Madelin and Tristan blinked when they heard a kid’s voice instead…

“Would my little Hyung please allow me to carry him?” Cale asked with a gentle smile.

RokSoo frowned at the punk before him looking at him with a playful glint in his eyes and arms open and awaiting to take him from Ron.

“Come here. I know your trip here was tough enough already.”

RokSoo let himself be taken from Ron’s arm, instantly relaxing in Cale’s arms while the punk chuckled.

“Hoo, was the Kitten possibly troubled with this servant?”

RokSoo shivered and quickly looked away from Ron’s benign smile. Cale was right; having Ron smiling at him was scary enough before, but it was even more frightening when he looked up, and the vicious old man kept smiling down at him like he was one of those little rabbits he liked to hunt down, ‘Vicious old man…’ He shivered again when the old butler laughed quietly.

“You should really fix the way you smile, Ron. At least when around kids.”

“……”

RokSoo lightly wrapped his tiny arms around Cale’s neck when the smile disappeared from Ron’s face at the comment, ‘This fearless punk!’ However, he felt safe when Cale started lightly patting his tiny back, knowing that no matter what in their house, no one could bother him or anything at all if he was with Cale.

He now really understands how good Cale is with kids. No wonder all the kids gravitate to his Dongsaeng wherever he goes. 

“Now, let’s take you to our parents.”

RokSoo blinked as he looked over Cale’s shoulder at the office, but he couldn’t see who was on the couches behind the door. ‘Tristan and Madelin are here?’ So that was why he was suddenly asked to get to the Duke’s office when he was about to take a nap.

“Ron, take the kids and give us a moment alone.”

“Yes, Puppy.” Ron smiled at the sigh from his Puppy Young Master. He looked next somewhere in the air, “You’ve been caught.”

“Gentle Human!”

Raon, Hong and Ohn suddenly appeared before the door, looking at Cale with puppy eyes.

“It’s been so long since we saw Purple Grandpa! We miss him! Let us see him!”

Cale lightly patted Raon’s head with his other hand and turned around with his usual smile, “Dad?”

“It’s fine.”

‘What happened to not wanting to meet anyone?’ Cale held back a chuckle and stepped aside, and the kids immediately ran inside.

“Purple!”

“We missed you!”

“Cheerful Grandma! Do you have cookies today, too?”

RokSoo and Cale sighed as they listened to Raon and Hong immediately asking for Madelin’s cookies, with Ohn sighing but happy to see the couple.

“Come in, Ron.”

Ron walked after his Puppy Young Master into the office and closed the door behind him, following the two redheads to stand behind the sofa.

“Ah…oh, crap…”

RokSoo stiffened when their mom suddenly froze as her eyes fell on him. ‘…why is she looking at me like that?’ He found Madelin’s wide eyes a little scary at that moment.

“…can I hold you?” She asked carefully, almost in a whisper, with hopeful eyes and awaiting hands, “Please…?”

“……” He silently nodded despite not feeling like leaving his Dongsaeng’s side, and Cale gently moved him into Madelin’s arms.

“Awwh…”

Everyone looked at Madelin, who seemed overwhelmed and lost for words, hugging the child in her arms so carefully as if afraid to crush him.

“Aww, no, I think I’ll cry~~”

She whined as she rested the side of her face atop RokSoo’s head while gently caressing his red locks.

 

Raon came closer to whisper to Madelin, “Isn’t my Human cute?”

 

Madelin nodded without looking at Raon, cupping RokSoo’s cheek, “He is~~” She whined again as she couldn’t contain her endearment.

“Hehe~” Raon turned to Tristan, poking his shoulder. “Purple Grandpa, isn’t Human cute?”

Hong jumped onto Tristan’s lap, looking up at him with his tail wagging happily, “He’s so sweet, right?”

“Haa…” Ohn sighed again at her young brothers, but she was also secretly waiting for Tristan to react as he stared long at RokSoo, seemingly shocked or observing.

“…undeniably cute, of course.” He slowly nodded, “Since when and how, though?”

“Shh, let’s bask in the moment.”

He sighed at his wife as she looked close to lying down with RokSoo tucked in her arms like one of her little teddy bears at home.

“Don’t you sigh at me!” She frowned at her husband, “You got to see baby Cale when I wasn’t around! You cheater!”

“My win.”

Everyone watched as Tristan only taunted his wife with a prideful nod.

Madelin tossed him a look with a raised eyebrow, “Let’s see if it’ll still be your win tonight, then.”

He let out an amused hum, “Should I take it as a challenge, then?”

Ron looked amused as he noticed his Kitten and Puppy Young Masters were rendered speechless at the couple’s loud flirtation.

“Purple Grandpa! Cheerful Grandma! You shouldn’t fight at night!!”

Cale held back a laugh while RokSoo sighed at the look from the couple when Raon suddenly interrupted their staring competition.

“Anyway,” Tristan calmly turned away from his wife to look at Cale sitting before him, “How and when?”

He brushed his hair back with his hand, “We suddenly woke up and found him a baby. He doesn’t know what happened either.” Cale said as he casually sipped his tea, “It’s been 4 days now.”

Madelin blinked and slowly looked down at reddish-brown eyes. “Are you hurt, honey?”

RokSoo felt awkward under Madelin’s loving eyes like this. “…no, mom.”

“Do you feel pain or discomfort anywhere by any chance?”

“…no.”

Madelin nodded while playing gently with his hair, “Good, at least we can have our time finding a way to turn you back.”

“Yes, no need to rush.” RokSoo assured her with a stoic face.

 

RokSoo frowned when he noticed from the corner of his eyes, ‘What is this brat laughing at?’ Cale’s shoulders shook slightly as he held back a laugh, hiding his smile behind the cup.

“I want to know, exactly what was that idiot panicking for?”

“Tristie.”

Tristan nodded and kept his eyes on Cale, “What was Deruth idiot Henituse panicked for?”

“Try again, honey.”

He turned to Madelin, “It’s enough that my question is understood.”

She held out her finger, shaking it like she was reprimanding a kid instead, “Nope, now try again, my love.”

“Haa, what was Deruth panicked for?”

Madelin nodded, looking satisfied. “Good, I’m proud of you.” She caressed his smooth cheek for a moment with loving eyes, “We’ll both have a talk with him later after this.”

Tristan didn’t look impressed.

RokSoo shivered at the smile and tone from Madelin, ‘Vicious…’ He was sure that promise wasn’t meant to be kind. For what reason did Tristan and Deruth get into another fight this time? When will the two get along?

“Father is worried because Hyung can’t use his Ancient Powers in this body to protect himself in case he gets in trouble or someone kidnaps him, which will not happen, obviously, not on my watch.” Cale sat relaxed, almost lying down as he explained while brushing his hair, “Another reason is that Hyung here likes it a bit too much, so he thinks RokSoo is slowly being brainwashed.”

RokSoo flinched slightly at being exposed, ‘Why is this punk so good at reading people?’ But could anyone blame him? RokSoo can slack off and be looked after like this; everyone will do everything for him since he’s a weak child now, and people will soon forget or leave the Hero Silver Shield alone, right? Although it’s a bit concerning he can’t use his Ancient Powers because they’re powerful on his small body now, as long as everyone is around him, he’ll be fine. No one dared to attempt anything ever since Cale became the Duke, so why worry?

“I see.” Tristan looked at RokSoo for a while.

“……” RokSoo felt unsettled whenever his dad looked at him as if observing him with knowing eyes.

“As much as I’d like you to be comfortable and enjoy your slacker life, I must let you know that you’ll soon turn so tiny to fit in anyone’s palm. Is that still okay with you, RokSoo?”

RokSoo almost choked on the cookie Madelin gave him.

“Tristie, you scared our poor kid!”

Tristan gave a slight shrug, “He should’ve been scared when he turned like this out of nowhere, but he chose ignorance.”

“Well…” Madelin hesitated and looked down at RokSoo, “Honey, you do have a bad habit of neglecting concerning stuff happening to you.”

“……” He looked down and felt awkward. ‘Will I really turn that small?’

-Yes, you will.

His eyes trembled at Tristan’s voice in his head.

“I can help you, though; I was just making sure if you wanted to stay a bit more as a baby.”

He looked at his dad.

“Someone played a prank, it seems, or not really a prank. I can only assume it’s to please…some people here.”

“……”

Cale stared long at his dad with everyone. “Killian did it?”

Tristan sighed, “Sorry, he took it a bit too seriously when I once told him I wish I could make Madelin see you two as babies since she…” He avoided everyone’s eyes, “…you guys know her condition.”

The room was too silent for a long moment.

“Tristie…”

Cale observed as Madelin looked so touched, almost close to crying. He couldn’t blame her when she had an incredibly considerate husband like Tristan Battlesea. It was really sweet of Tristan to care about Madelin, his beloved, to the extent of even taking her ranting seriously about having him seen one of their kids as a baby while she hadn’t. Since she can’t get pregnant, she can at least be overjoyed to see them as babies and live the dream for a while, but it is only a wish. It’s clear that Tristan didn’t mean it at all to actually turn them into babies. However, it seems the prank worked only on RokSoo and not on him because of the Invulnerability power.

“Hold on…” Madelin suddenly frowned as she slowly looked down at RokSoo in her lap, “…why will he turn so tiny then?”

Tristan hummed; his eyes looked amused. “…because it’s a curse based on your wishful thinking.”

“What?!” She turned sharply to her husband.

Tristan shrugged, “I know you’re thinking like, ‘I wish I could fit him in my pocket’ or something similar.”

“Wait, no! I mean, yes! He’s so adorable, ok?!”

“Cheerful Grandma! You can’t turn the Human to dust!”

“I won’t!”

‘Not as small as dust…’ RokSoo only sighed, munching on the cookie.

“How can I stop my thoughts, Tristie?!”

“You can’t; your wild head is something else, after all.”

Madelin gasped as if offended, “At least my wildness takes you to heaven every night!”

Ohn and Hong looked lost yet amazed, “You can fly to heaven?”

“I’m strong and mighty! The people of the Empire aren’t better than Dragons. I can come up with a spell and take both my humans to heaven and come back!”

“Haha,” Cale couldn’t help laughing elegantly with the cup in his hand, with Ron looking quite amused behind him. At the same time, RokSoo almost choked again as Tristan quietly sighed and tried to conceal the little embarrassment by calmly bringing the cup before him to his lips, even though he had avoided it the entire time since it was lemon tea.

“Anyway, I can lift the curse from RokSoo myself.” Tristan explained with a slight grimace as he put the cup down. “But first, come here.”

“……”

Everyone stared silently as the Emperor took RokSoo from his wife’s arms. “…you’re even younger than when Cale was inside the World Rock.”

No one got to say anything when Tristan gently hugged RokSoo in his lap.

“……”

RokSoo stayed still at first and slowly hugged back, getting used to Tristan’s quick hugs by now, but it was his first hug from his father as a child.

Tristan left a kiss on the top of RokSoo’s head and looked down at him, “There, now you’re even.”

“……”

RokSoo didn’t know what to say, while Cale and Madelin smiled at the scene as Tristan didn’t want any of his kids to feel neglected, even in the smallest things.

“Oh, no!”

Madelin panicked when suddenly, RokSoo glowed and seemed to shrink.

“Human is turning to dust!!”

‘Why dust?!’ RokSoo wanted to sigh as Raon kept saying scary things.

However, it felt like everything had stopped when Tristan put his hand on RokSoo’s head.

RokSoo was suddenly wrapped in a bright, silver light, growing bigger and bigger until the light faded.

RokSoo opened his eyes and almost shrieked at finding out he was sitting in Tristan’s lap.

As an adult. Sitting in his father’s lap.

“……” He was at least still dressed decently.

“This never happened.” He said while he calmly left Tristan’s lap and stood up, activating Dominating Aura and silently exiting the room with a stoic face.

“……”

No one uttered a word about what happened that day as they felt sorry for the poor older redhead more than pressured by his Dominating Aura.

[gloomxroses]

kaeya: i never knew you were such a slacker

me: SHUT UP, KAEYA!!

kaeya: care to join me at the tavern?

me: oh yes please!!

#you see….kaeya and i have a complicated relationship😂 #i love him but don’t call me a slacker lmao #jk he can call me anything😂😛 #kaeya #kaeya alberich #kaeya genshin impact #genshin impact #anime #weeb

[knickynoo]

Do you have any thoughts on Marty and his self esteem issues? In most of the trilogy, I feel like Marty ranges from experience a lot of insecurity at best, to like a considerable amount of self loathing at worst, (like pls Marty, Doc getting struck by lighting was not your fault? You’re not Thor?) . And there’s the whole chicken thing, so I was curious if you had any thoughts on where it stems from, how it’s affected him etc etc? Okay lmao that’s it, have a great day !!

Hello! Do I have thoughts?? Yes. I do.

So, one of the things I like so much about Marty as a character is that...he's kind of an enigma of sorts? Like. Here's this kid who skateboards, rocks that denim jacket and the cool sunglasses, plays guitar, has a pretty girlfriend, etc. You take all of that, and it should reflect a really confident, popular person. I mean, with all the stereotypical "cool guy" attributes considered, Marty should have Ferris Bueller-level confidence and charm. He should be strutting around, smooth-talking everyone, laughing in the face of danger, and possessing unshakeable self-esteem. But he does/has none of those things because, as we all know, Marty is A Mess (affectionate). And yeah, a lot of it seems to stem from self-esteem issues, which we do see sprinkled throughout the trilogy. Where's it all coming from? Well, a lot of places, most likely...

• FAMILY: Probably the biggest factor. Though I'm sure George and Lorraine were sincerely in love for a while at the beginning of their relationship/marriage, I think it's fair to assume that any real spark between them had pretty much fizzled out by the time Marty came along or when he was a young kid. Take a loveless relationship between a meek, subservient man and a woman who drinks away her feelings, factor in a 17-year-old boy who's probably never had any real semblance of parental stability in his house, and it's highly likely that kid is going to have some issues. It's really difficult to believe in yourself & feel secure when the norm is having parents who are wrapped up in their own worlds/rarely interact with each other, seeing your father get emotionally (& physically!) pushed around by his supervisor, and watching your mom cling to alcohol and sink into depression.

• Plus, there are the separate relationships George and Lorraine have with Marty. Granted, we don't see much of it, but what we see at dinner is probably a good example of a typical interaction. George is quick to steer Marty away from any situation where he may face rejection or hardship. And yeah, he may think he's protecting his son, but this strategy is actually pretty harmful. I can imagine that any time Marty is feeling nervous or let down, and goes to his father seeking encouragement, he's only left with the impression that it's better not to take any risks at all because he might fail anyway. Instead of being built up, any potential self-worth is being chipped away at by George.

And as far as Lorraine is concerned, I get the impression that she's (more often than not) critical and judgemental of Marty. She's not shy about airing her strong dislike for Jennifer, during which Marty stays completely silent and unresponsive. Perhaps Marty's general default around his mom is silence, due to him having learned a long while back that he's better off keeping his mouth shut. I can see Lorraine lecturing Marty often, picking apart every little flaw she may see in him (friends, grades, attitude, etc.), especially when she's had too many drinks and especially when you consider that Marty is probably her most "difficult" child. Sad as it may sound, I can't picture Marty walking away from very many interactions with his mother feeling good about himself.

• GENERAL ANXIETY/NEURODIVERGENCY: Marty is an easily flustered, anxious guy. And whether that stems from his home environment or genetics (I mean, look at George), I don't know. But he definitely seems to be a sort of nervous, hesitant kid, particularly in the first movie. I also, like most of the fandom, headcanon Marty as having ADHD. And like...if that's the case for him, it certainly isn't helping at all with the self-esteem stuff. He's written off as a slacker at school, told he'll never amount to anything, and probably struggles a lot to keep up in his classes and survive in an environment that almost definitely doesn't offer any form of support or accommodations. That would be a big blow to his self-worth as well.

People with ADHD also tend to be very critical of themselves, worry about what others think of them, and have a hard time with rejection. Hence, the one rejection at the audition followed by, I'm just a big, stupid failure and I'll never ever be good enough. My world is crumbling, I should just give up everything forever =(((

(What do you mean those weren't his exact words??)

• BONUS: Marty might also face a decent amount of social isolation/teasing due to his friendship with Doc, which would take a toll on confidence too. Also, I just...don't think that Marty has many friends??

When you take all the above factors, Marty's self-esteem issues make a lot of sense and, if not for Doc, would probably run a lot deeper than what we see in the trilogy. ALSO!

• Marty blaming himself for Doc getting hit by lightning in the DeLorean: I've seen a few people comment on this and how they think it's ridiculous that Marty felt guilty but...it's always made a lot of sense to me, actually. No, Marty didn't cause the lightning, but he did set off the chain of events that led to Doc being there at that moment. If he'd had the inner strength/self-control to walk away from Biff outside of the dance, he could have just joined Doc on the roof with the almanac and they'd have been on their merry way. And even if Biff had continued to challenge him, or even followed him, Marty likely could have created a diversion or gotten an adult at the dance to help and still made it up to the roof before the worst of the storm hit. But because he couldn't stand being called a chicken, he ended up taking a door to the face, had the book stolen back, and had to go on that little side adventure to retrieve it, which led to Doc needing to save him. So yeah, I'm actually team Marty on this one. His choice did lead to Doc being catapulted into the Old West, lol. I'd have been consumed with guilt too.

• The Chicken Thing: I'm not going to go into too much detail (HA!) because this is already ridiculously long, but I will say that I don't go by the more popular headcanon that says Marty's sudden inability to handle being challenged is due to the updated timeline taking effect and "altering" him. Essentially, that Marty growing up with a confident, successful father made him have higher expectations put on him, and so he was always striving to prove he could live up to them.

I actually don't think any ripples from the new timeline catch up to Marty yet during the course of the trilogy. (I tend to headcanon that as happening gradually in the coming weeks and months after he gets home). Instead, I think that Marty's inclination towards becoming feral at the words "chicken", "yellow", etc. is because of his life in his original timeline. Growing up with a jellyfish for a father, it makes sense that Marty would want to distance himself as much as possible from being associated with weakness. He'd want to prove himself that much more because everyone around him would probably think he's just like his cowardly old man.

And though I know it's not really possible (because they weren't planning on a 2nd or 3rd movie), I think a case can be made that there's a glimpse of the "chicken thing" in the first movie, in the scene of Marty and Lorraine in the car at the dance. I mean, he gets all upset and tells her not to drink, but then she calls him a square, uses the classic peer-pressure tactic of, everyone's doing it, and he caves instantly and takes a swig. Could be because he doesn't want to be thought of as a square, or could be because he's desperate to calm his nerves a bit. Either way, Marty doesn't seem to fare too well when challenged or put under pressure, so I lump this scene in as a "chicken" moment.

I...need to stop. I set out to write a quick response to this. Like, a paragraph or two. But this question activated Hyperfocus Mode, and I blinked and now it's 2 hours after I started and I have AN ESSAY.

Thanks for the ask! *goes to lie down*

#back to the future #bttf #marty mcfly #asks #nikki rambles #nikki be quiet challenge #🤐 #though...at this point you all know what you're getting into when you ask my thoughts or analysis #so I suppose you want responses like this?? #idk i'm always a little worried i'm going on too much and am annoying everybody #so i hid it under a cut so you can scroll past if you want lol

[dadsbongos]

*bows down to you* I would like to know your despair arc headcanons for antag reader! Literally love antag reader so much 😳

ahhhhhh nonny please let me treat you to my adoration, i can’t thank you enough for asking me about my despair arc hcs for antag reader

Request for: Fuck it, not even Hajime anymore it’s just antag reader. Girlboss moment Warnings: fuckin despair arc tings lmao there’s a lot to deal with, face cutting, abuse (emotional, mental, physical) cuz hi junko enoshima, manipulation cuz hi junko enoshima, self mutilation/harm, mikan/junko toxicity, gore, vomiting  ~~~

Headcanons:

🐇Okay so I’ve said it before but!! 🐇She was in that toxic relationship between Mikan and Junko 🐇Junko would make her and Mikan compete for any and all affections just to cause them both despair (which even if “won”, was still denied) 🐇And then anytime she could, Junko would just absolutely berate (Y/n)’s looks and talent, calling the Ultimate Copycat a “fake talent” and “just stealing” 🐇So after Junko died, (Y/n) found her body and cut off portions of her face and replaced them with patches of Junko to “be more like her Despair” 🐇She would find people who wanted to fight for hope and take them in, insisting that she was on their side and would lead them to her house for “safety” 🐇Then she’d just restrain them with Mikan so they could perform experiments and surgeries on them together 🐇Definitely helps Kazuichi build his bigger machines, using the more intelligence she has to make better plans for what they’ll do with them 🐇I imagine that as a copycat antag, she’s got a shitload of charisma so she prolly just gets a load of followers 🐇I’m not saying it’s a cult… but 🐇Probably was the influencer for Nagito’s decision to become Servant 🐇Since he was already serving her all the time pre-despair he decided to join the WOH as their servant  🐇As for when she got captured by the Future Foundation… 🐇Was probably one of the harder ones to capture like Nekomaru and Gundham since she could be the Ultimate at almost anything she wanted 🐇When being interrogated by the Future Foundation she was probably smug and cocky af 🐇A solid match for Byakuya, no joke 🐇Maybe worse, like at least he sort of mellowed out with responsibility 🐇Keeps her mouth tightly shut until they mention anything about her face or Mikan 🐇Because as much as she doesn’t truly romantically love Mikan, she’s not even sure she loved Junko, she does care about the nurse very deeply 🐇So it’s when they mention having captured her that they get any sign of emotion other than cockiness 🐇When they say they have Nagito, that also gets them some words from her 🐇But if they say anything about her face, she has a little breakdown and throws a fit about how she’s better than everyone else in the room and she could kill them all if she wanted and she’s more beautiful than any of them could ever dream to be 🐇Didn’t get the chance to help Izuru release Junko into the Neoworld Program, but definitely would have if she could

Stories:

“Would you kill for me?” Junko murmured, bringing a hand up to caress (Y/n)’s cheek, rubbing her thumb over the bone, “Would you die for me?”

“I would!” she cried hysterically, tears already streaming down her face, “Please, say it! Please, just say it! I would do anything for you, please, just love me… I love you! I love you! Just love me, please…”

Her brows furrowed, bringing her gentle touch back to whip the copycat in the face with a backhand slap, “You’re so ugly, a little piggy ripe for the slaughter.”

Sobs pulled at (Y/n)’s convulsing body as she heaved on the ground. Her throat closed and dried up, chest burning and stomach churning until she finally felt her gag reflex trigger. She spat out stomach acids as she wept over a love that was never hers.

“God, you’re so nasty,” Junko kicked her in the ass, knocking her down into her own puke, “Get out and don’t come back until I command.”

“Love me… love me… love me… please… I beg you…!”

~~

“Do you think if I crushed my hand, Junko would care?”

“No.”

“Sonia wouldn’t care if you crushed yours.”

Kazuichi’s eyes flickered from his work to (Y/n), “I know.”

“It’d be…”

“Despairful?”

“Absolutely morbid,” her tone was breathy, a grin easing up over her lips and heart beating faster as she set aside the half-finished Monokuma and pressed her hand onto the metal desk, raising her heavy wrench above her head. 

Kazuichi was quick to copy the moves, eyes wide in anticipation and muscles twitching as his brain desperately tried sending the signals for him to stop.

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

Screams echoed in the warehouse following the sickening crunch of bones under the torturous weight of their wrenches. Kazuichi looked at the girl through his tears, “Again?”

In the midst of her agonized cries, she nodded, blubbering about how horrific the pain was, “Yes, yes, again!”

And so, the countdown started once again.

“One, two, three!”

More bones broken, more pain blasting through their hands for their beloveds to reject everything they were. For the loves they held so dear to look upon them and their injuries and roll their eyes - because they were meaningless in their loves’ eyes.

And that was the despair they craved.

~~

Nagito held out his chain, grimacing when it was Izuru who took it rather than (Y/n) before shoving that hatred back into his chest. Izuru may be a despair-filled faker with no real talent he’d been born with, but he himself, Nagito Komaeda - Servant - was worse. 

He wasn’t worth the air in his lungs. Not even human garbage as he was barely passable as a human being. 

Then, his eyes traveled once again to (Y/n). His dearest and closest friend.

Izuru may have had more talents mastered, but she was natural. She was genuine and had taken the time to master her Ultimate herself while Izuru had them all planted inside his brain as if he had a right to them at all. It was like watching a slacker get all the credit that a hard-worker had already done. Infuriating.

He wished to see (Y/n) ascend into hope once more, he truly believed she could pave the way above everyone else. She had to. She was better than everyone else, it was up to her to return them to hope, once she realized hope for herself.

He believed in her and her hope - once Enoshima’s metaphorical hands were ripped from her spirit.

And he liked to think she had fresh patches of skin that weren't hers, still red around the scars and peeling, were there for the same reason he had a new hand that wasn’t his.

~~

“She’s so much like Byakuya,” Makoto mumbled, watching through the glass as their newest captured Despair, (Y/n) (L/n), tapped her nails against the table her hands were chained to.

“First that troublesome imposter and now her, who do they think they are? They’re not even near being worthy of the Togami name.”

Kyoko scanned the girl, “She was screaming at the guards earlier when they pointed out the scars and patches on her face. Perhaps bringing it up again will get her to talk about some things.”

“We…” Makoto stopped, shivering at the memory of Junko Enoshima’s corpse when they’d found it on the side of the road outside their old school. Patches missing from a bloodied, pulpy face, “We already know what happened. What more could you want her to talk about?”

“Maybe she knows where some of her classmates are.”

“The nurse freaked out when we mentioned her, maybe if we bring Mikan up to (Y/n), she’ll have a similar reaction,” the Ultimate Hope offered up.

Nodding, Kyoko turned towards the door into the interrogation room, “It’s worth a shot.”

~~

Five minutes was all they got, Makoto Naegi said. He was compassionate and understanding and so sweet. Of course, he’d set up a meeting between the lovers who didn’t know if they ever really loved each other.

Mikan was always unusually cold and smelled of lavender with a hint of vanilla, her hands were soft and her lips a lovely shade of pink.

Now, as (Y/n) held the nurse’s hand over the interrogation table and basked in her presence, she could feel how much she’d changed in despair. She was still cold but now she reeked of dirt and blood, no matter how many showers she’d taken. Her lips were much paler; dry and cracked. Hands rough and calloused.

“They told me you took her womb.”

“You took her face.”

“You’ll bear her children?”

“You’ll bear her beauty?”

It was always a fight. It was always a competition. For more. For love. For the affection and attention they’d been deprived of all their lives.

“Have you… tried conceiving?”

There was silence. Mikan looked down at the table and then back up at (Y/n).

Her skin was no longer peeling along the jagged incision sites but her scars were infecting when she’d been taken in and it was obvious. They were puffy and oozed every so often.

She looked back down.

“With who?”

Shaking her head, Mikan tightened her grip on the girl’s hand.

“Why didn’t you get me to do the skin graft?”

“You were probably busy.”

“I would’ve done it anyway. I’d done Fuyuhiko’s eye.”

There was more silence. Stiffness building in the girls’ bodies the longer their quietness buzzed in the room.

“Am I still beautiful…?” it was rare to see vulnerability in (Y/n).

“Almost like our beloved herself.” it was rare to hear a lie from Mikan.

It wasn’t the scars or the blood or the skin patches, it was the act of how she’d gotten them. Scars and patches didn’t make a person ugly, but stealing pieces of a dead woman’s face and using them as your own did.

#antag reader #sdr2 x reader #mikan tsumiki x reader #junko x reader #nagito x reader #anon chatter :)

[em-neko]

KISSED BY THE BADDEST BIDDER MAIN ROUTE REVIEW

hey! so i just finished watching kaylaslovely on youtube’s review of the main five (+ rhion) bidders routes and so i thought i would make my own review, because i felt like it. so here you go!

i will be reviewing all nine main routes, or main stories. each story will be rated using these five categories: plot, pace, romance, mc (since she’s different in every story) and love interest. at the end, i’ll give the story its final rating and i’ll let you know whether i recommend it or not.

i will try not to include any spoilers, but just in case, consider this your spoiler warning!

remember, these are my personal opinions.

summary: you are a maid at a hotel called the tres spade hotel, owned by the ichinomiya group. one day, you get dragged into the ivc (an exclusive party for the elite, held inside the hotel) and you basically get lost. while you’re wandering around the area, you enter a storage room where a lot of expensive items are held. little did you know, those items belonged to a blackmarket auction, the ivc was only a cover for said auction. being the clumsy queen that you are, you manage to bump into the statue of venus and knock it over. when the men responsible for the expensive items find you, they throw you into a giant birdcage and put you up for auction instead of the statue.

from here, you can pick one of the main five love interest (eisuke, soryu, mitsunari, mamoru and ota) to buy you. the other love interest (except for rhion) only appear in the second/third season, they purchase you from eisuke (presuming eisuke bought you but you never fell in love). rhion is part of an “au”, but his story technically takes place in season one. does that make sense? okay, perfect. now, on to the review!

EISUKE ICHINOMIYA: THE ARROGANT CEO

plot: 8/10, the plot is a cliche and fairly overused trope... but i love it. it’s well executed and feels unique and original, even though the core of the plot really isn’t.

pace: 8/10, in my opinion, i think the pace was very good. it wasn’t too slow or too fast (although it leaned on the slower side) and i feel like mc fell in love with eisuke at an appropriate time in the story. the ending felt slightly rushed but i feel like that’s a common theme with love 365 stories.

romance: 7/10, not as romantic as other routes (i mean, it’s eisuke we’re talking about), especially at the beginning, but there were moments that made me smile.

mc: 6/10, she’s definitely a bit of a pushover in this route. i wish she stood up to eisuke more, i wish she was sassier, it would’ve made the story sooo much funnier!

love interest: 7/10, eisuke’s kind of a jerk in this story, but hey at least he’s entertaining? (he has his cute moments tho)

final score: 72% (b-)

recommendation: sure? to be honest, it was pretty okay, a little boring compared to the other routes but for the low low price of literally 0$ (his main route is free), it’s not bad.

SORYU OH: THE COLD MOBSTER

plot: 9/10, i really liked his plot! i’ll admit, i’m not a fan of gang related stories, in fact, i usually hate them, but soryu’s story genuinely surprised me! i especially loved the fact that mc made a female friend along the way, usually other females in stories are seen as rivals (as in eisuke’s case), but it wasn’t the case here and that made me really happy. we support women in his household <3

pace: 7/10, the ending was really rushed in my opinion, like way more rushed than the usual rushed love 365 ending. when it ended i was like, “are you serious?” it just felt abrupt. the rest was fine tho.

romance: 8/10, the romance was subtle (due to soryu’s cold and mysterious demeanor), but you could definitely feel it. there was sooo much chemistry between the characters, so it felt really romantic.

mc: 8/10, she’s a little boring, but at least she’s relatable, like her actions/choices make sense in this story.

love interest: 9/10, c’mon, who doesn’t love soryu? there’s a reason why the whole fandom simps for this man. he’s the perfect mix of cold and innocent, and his reaction to regular people things (like going to the supermarket) is hilarious! he’s really sweet too and you can tell that he really cares for mc.

final score: 82% (a-)

recommendation: yes! even if you don’t like gang related stories, i’d still give his route a chance.

MITSUNARI BABA: THE WOMANIZING THIEF

plot: 9/10, i really loved the plot. it’s basically a romcom with action and criminal activity, it’s gold.

pace: 8/10, there were some parts that felt rushed, but overall i think the pace was fine.

romance: 10/10, the most romantic story of them all (i don’t expect any less from baba). their interactions are so cute and i loved watching them get closer and more comfortable with each other.

mc: 8/10, even though she’s kind of dumb, it works because this story is more comedic, her naivety and trusting nature helped the plot advance rather than disrupting it. she’s also really sassy in this story, i loved watching her shoot down baba!

love interest: 9/10, i love baba! i love the womanizer character trope, i know it’s an unpopular opinion but i still love it. he’s actually a total dork and he has the best lines, i smiled throughout the whole story!

final score: 88% (a)

recommendation: it’s one of my favorite main stories, so i definitely recommend it! however, if you don’t like romcoms or womanizers, you’ll probably hate this story lol

MAMORU KISHI: THE SLACKER DETECTIVE

plot: 8/10, his plot is intense. it’s action packed, there’s twists and turns and it definitely kept me on my toes. however, it is a little hard to keep up with at times, i definitely had moments where i got lost.

pace: 8/10, like mitsunari’s story, the pace was a little inconsistent, there were times when scenes felt rushed, idk if it was on purpose because it was a more “action-y” story, but even some of the “romantic” moments felt rushed.. which was a shame because there weren’t many.

romance: 7/10, it wasn’t very romantic, honestly. they had their cute moments, but they were rare. they have good chemistry, like the best friends you hardcore ship, but there just wasn’t much actual romance. i would compare their relationship to judy and nick in zootopia, like friends but a little more.

mc: 5/10, the mc actually bites back in this story, which is refreshing. however, she nags mamoru a lot, and i got sick of it really fast, to the point where i’d roll my eyes whenever she opened her mouth towards the end of the story. she acts like mamoru is a child incapable of taking care of himself, yet she gets angry when he calls her “kid” or treats her like one? wtf? ALSO, one third of the story is her being jealous of a dead person, which is literally so unreasonable and illogical. i could rant about her all day i swear.

love interest: 9/10, mamoru is so relatable, it’s not even funny. i love the way he speaks and i love the way he reacts in situations. he acts like he doesn’t care, but you know damn well the man cares more about mc than anyone else. he’s also surprisingly patient (which, few bidders are), as i said, the mc is really immature in this story, and even tho he acts annoyed, he never actually gets angry at her. there’s something really cozy about him.

final score: 74% (b)

recommendation: if you like action packed stories, i would recommend this story! with that being said, the mc really ruined it for me.

OTA KISAKI: THE DECEPTIVE ARTIST

plot: 5/10, it was too predictable. literally three chapters in i was like, “oh, i see where this is going” and sadly i was right! it was really dramatic, which i actually enjoyed, but the overly predictable plot ruined it for me.

pace: 7/10, the pace was fine, however i feel like mc realized she was in love with ota at the wrong time. i wished they would’ve picked a different moment (maybe later) in the story to make her realize she’s in love with him, or just change the scene completely. because it was like one moment she just saw him as her buyer and at the snap of a finger she’s in love with him, like what?

romance: 5/10, there was literally one romantic scene in the whole story. there were some other cute moments but they were completely overshadowed by ota’s attitude. also, the whole dog fetish really turned me off, especially because the mc was clearly uncomfortable with it.

mc: 7/10, i feel bad for her. she’s really submissive and shy in this story, but like it makes sense (i would act the same as her tbh, i’d be too weirded out to give any sass), so she gets a pass.

love interest: 4/10, ota is so unlikeable in the first season omg i’d almost forgotten how much i used to hate him. however, he becomes really sweet after season 3, you just have to suffer through the first seasons lmao

final score: 56% (d)

recommendation: i really like ota but that story was not it. i wouldn’t waste my coins, honestly. if you really wanna read ota, read one of his substories or any story after season 3, don’t bother with his main route. however, his cg’s were one of the prettiest, so hooray?

SHUICHI HISHIKURA: THE ALOOF POLITICIAN

plot: 8/10, i liked this plot. it felt more serious than the other stories, but that wasn’t a bad thing.

pace: 7/10, same problem as soryu’s story, the last chapters were hella rushed and it made the falling action pretty confusing.

romance: 7/10, it wasn’t very “romantic”, but there were definitely scenes were you could really feel the attraction between the two. i find they compliment each other well.

mc: 8/10, this story was not meant to be a comedy, but the mc made it one. she’s so stupid that it’s actually hilarious, i honestly couldn’t stop laughing at her cluelessness. usually i’d find stupidity annoying, but in this story, i loved it. it made the heavy storyline easier to digest.

love interest: 9/10, shuichi’s a vengeful bitch, which makes his soft moments that much cuter. i like how he has his quirks, and how he has a professional stoic side as well as a soft caring side.

final score: 78% (b+)

recommendation: yeah, for sure. however, if you don’t enjoy the stoic stern hard-to-read type, you might not enjoy this story.

HIKARU AIHARA: THE MYSTERIOUS HITMAN

plot: 9/10, i really enjoyed this plot. it was like a romcom mixed with a dark-ish drama, it was really unique.

pace: 8/10, the pace of the story was good, however i felt like there was a bit of repetition in the story, in scenes and in dialogue.

romance: 7/10, i absolutely love hikaru and mc’s bantering! i think they’re so cute and it’s just really funny to read. it’s subtlety romantic and you can definitely tell that they like each other. with that being said, hikaru’s treatment of mc at the beginning of the story really ticked me off.

mc: 9/10, okay, she had her annoying moments like she always does, but the mc is so funny in this story! she reminds me of the mc from our private homeroom. i really liked her.

love interest: 9/10, here’s the thing, if you don’t like tsundere’s... you’ll fucking hate hikaru, because he’s a tsundere to the max. i love tsundere’s sooo, yeah i loved him hihi. he’s fucking adorable and his dishonesty towards his feelings is really cute. he’s also a sad boy, which made me have a soft spot for him.

final score: 84% (a-)

recommendation: honestly, i did not enjoy this story the first time i read it. i think it was because i didn’t understand hikaru’s sense of humor at the beginning, so i thought he was just a dick and mc was an idiot for liking him, but when i reread it after reading a couple of hikaru’s substories, i actually liked it. so, if you like tsundere’s i’d definitely recommend this story, if not, steer clear.

LUKE FOSTER: THE GOOD DOCTOR

plot: 9/10, i liked it! it felt a lot sadder/darker than the other plots, but it wasn’t overly depressing. there were lighthearted moments throughout and i like how luke gave mc a job instead of using her for personal gain or pushing her around all day. it was also surprisingly intense, with a few steamier scenes here and there.

pace: 8/10, the pace was pretty good, but like hikaru’s route there were scenes that made me go “i feel like i’ve read this before...” there was a rhythm to the story, or at least that’s what it felt like.

romance: 8/10, this story was definitely more intense than romantic. they still had their cute moments though, especially towards the end.

mc: 6/10, the mc is so nosy, impatient and short tempered in this story omg. she’s so quick to judgement and she has no sympathy towards luke for like the first 11 episodes of the story which really bothered me. also, she didn’t seem to understand luke’s way of showing affection and it got a little frustrating. she’s just exceptionally bad at reading people.

love interest: 8/10. if you love sad sweet boys who are surprisingly hot, you’ll love him. his collarbone obsession might weird some people out, but i found it hilarious and it was the perfect way to balance such a sad story.

final score: 78% (b+)

recommendation: if you like sad yet cute stories, i think you’ll really like this one.

RHION HATTER: THE MAD AUCTIONEER

plot: 10/10, his plot is amazing! it’s so adorable, innocent and unique, all while somehow managing to make me a little emo. rhion’s also the only bidder (besides luke) who didn’t use mc for personal gain, he actually bought her for some sort of companionship which was really refreshing (wow, the bar is set low yikes).

pace: 9/10, the pace was really great, it’s a slow burn too, which i love, but the last couple of episodes felt a little rushed.

romance: 10/10, it’s probably as (or maybe even more) romantic than baba’s story. there are so many cute moments, even when mc and rhion don’t really know each other yet. the romance is really sweet and pure, but it feels so real.

mc: 9/10, i love how she interacts with rhion! she’s relatable in this story and her actions are sensible, she has a mind of her own and she isn’t afraid to speak it.

love interest: 9/10, it’s rhion. he’s so precious! his shy and sweet nature is such a nice change from the other bidders and i really love how he slowly opens up to mc. also i think his alter ego of the mad hatter is really cool!

final score: 94% (a+)

recommendation: it’s my favorite story on the app for a reason. i definitely recommend it, even if you’re more into the sexy stories, i still think you should give rhion’s main route a chance! i made my friend who isn’t even into otome games play it and she really liked it.

FINAL RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

i’ll admit, trying to look past the human trafficking bs was really difficult at first, but if you can manage to turn a blind eye to it and try to remember that it’s just a video game and everything’s fictional, it’s pretty good. the love interests are great, there’s some action, there’s a some drama and there’s a lot of humor. the sub stories are really good too!

#kbtbb #kissed by the baddest bidder #voltage inc #otome game #love 365 #love 365: find your story #kbtbb review #otome review #nina’s words

[sunnywritesstuff34]

Working

hello! It is time for more Boruto AU, with Sasuke this time! @ghostjellyfishheart was excited for this, so enjoy lmao. I apologize in advance for this. Just. Disregard the choppy transitions. Tune in next whenever for Boruto being incredibly confused by Sasuke and trying to figure out how to adjust to living in his house. It’s incredibly awkward. Can’t wait. 

(TW and CW for: unconsciousness, coma, critical injuries, tired Sasuke Uchiha, angry Boruto, probably ooc Kakashi and like six other ooc people, death, parental death, possible parental death, cursing, the Uchiha Massacre, one night stands, Sasuke is trying very hard okay he’s doing his best, both of them are good dads because I wanted them to be okay?)

Sasuke Uchiha was angry. No, scratch that, he wasn't angry, he was pissed. He was furious. He was beyond angry, he had reached the peak of anger and transcended to another plane, and that was something he didn't even think possible. For starters, it's not like his day was going well to begin with. Kakashi had stuck him with way too much to do, endless goddamn paper work. Apparently sharingan was mostly for battle, because it really didn't do shit when it came to focusing. And it's not like his paperwork wasn't important, it was. He had to review a series of reports from high profile shinobi on their teams and the work of their teammates, so and so and so and so, it was always something. 

In all honesty, he had signed up for this. Well, okay, he didn't sign up for it, but he agreed to it. After Naruto’s disappearance Sasuke was just about ready to throw himself into as many dangerous situations as far from Konoha as possible, but no. He didn't know whose idea it was, maybe Tsunade’s, maybe Sakura’s, maybe Kakashi came up with it all on his own, whatever. Now he was working as Kakashi’s right hand man (and shadow in a lot of ways) and, in his own word’s, the Hokage’s “Don't Be Stupid And Callous And Hurt People For The Greater Good Because It Really Didn't Go Well Last Time” reminder. He really was doing good work, he caught multiple oversights and made sure to hold Kakashi to his word about the decline of execution, especially for missing-nin. He nearly punched Ibiki in the nose about sixteen times for being ridiculous, but what the hell did he expect? Changing things on a fundamental level and rebuilding at the same time were hard, it was pretty tempting to fall back on old methods. It was largely Sasuke’s job to prevent that from happening, and he was really good at doing it without murdering anyone, surprisingly (though he came close a couple of times.) The destruction of the Foundation was extensive and incredibly difficult, and it was surprising to pretty much everybody except for Sasuke just how deeply corrupted the village was. They were also changing up Anbu, though that was still an ongoing process. Sai helped quite a bit in the destruction of the Foundation, and helped develop some sort of rehabilitation for people indoctrinated into it like him. He was very passionate about it, something that Sasuke totally understood. It was personal. 

All things considered, there were two reasons that Sasuke didn't cut and run as soon as Naruto wasn't around to keep him anchored any more. The opportunity for bettering Konoha and the shinobi world as a whole and… well… Sarada. Sasuke and Sakura had Sarada around the same time that Naruto had Boruto with Hinata (say that ten times fast) albeit in a less… graceful manner. Naruto and Hinata had a child after getting married due to mutual affection, and Sasuke and Sakura had a child because of… well, a one night stand. 

In hindsight, though it hadn't worked out with Sakura, he was grateful to have Sarada. She was a sort of anchor that kept him from running yet again, especially seeing as Sakura was busy running the hospital/teaching the next generation of medical nin/finding new techniques for medical advancement and health/going on a mission every once in a while. She was also, you know, his daugther, and he loved her. Sakura’s parents had a fit when they found out, and they had an even bigger fit when they realized that the two of them weren't getting married any time soon. If Sakura had decided that a marriage was best, Sasuke likely would have gone along with that. What else was he supposed to do? It wouldn't be fair to her, especially in the eyes of traditional families and clans. Sakura, of course, was having none of that, and Sasuke was incredibly relieved. Sasuke had raised his daughter for the most part, and he loved her more than anything, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that Sasuke Uchiha wasn't necessarily the image of “perfect father.” At first, he thought of Sarada as an ambiguously important responsibility, as cold as that sounded. But then she was born, and she had legs and arms and a brain and feelings, so of course he became attached. Actually, she was sixteen at that point, and she had become an excellent kunoichi. In fact, she was taking the jounin exams soon, which Ashina might be too if Naruto had stayed. Speaking of Naruto…

Sasuke had no idea why he was surprised. It seemed that no matter where Naruto was or how many years it had been since they'd seen each other, he would always, always be a pain in the ass. That would never change. Of course Naruto would show up with his children in the Forest of Death. Of course he would do it while Sasuke was swamped with work and trying to help his daughter prepare for the exams. Of course, of course, of course. Not that he was complaining (he was), at least not in the long run. It was better that Naruto come back eventually, but twelve entire years? That was a long time. A very long time, with no explanation. Just to show how thoroughly Sasuke was swamped, he heard the news in the middle of an incredibly important meeting with the daimyo and Kakashi. That didn't stop him from rushing to the hospital anyway, but it was inconvenient. Whatever, Kakashi (the damn slacker) would probably survive without him. Ino arrived distressed and covered in blood, only to deliver the message of a lifetime. Kakashi pretended not to care, especially since he was in the middle of a meeting and Naruto was technically a missing-nin. But he did care, obviously, he was just very good at compartmentalizing. Sasuke was too, but Naruto and Sarada seemed to be the only exceptions to this rule. So, he took off without explanation and rushed like hell to the hospital, because Ino said that Naruto had been in critical condition. The idiot always managed to get hurt somehow, but if he died before Sasuke got to chew him out for vanishing, he would resurrect the bastard so he could pound him into the dirt. Or hug him and never let go. It was a toss up, either one. Sasuke’s chakra was flashing dangerously, and it made everyone around him nervous, but at this point he could care less. The Uchiha opened the doors to the hospital and rushed to the front desk, but he was intercepted by an exhausted looking Ino.

“Where is he?” Sasuke blurted, and she glared at him momentarily.

“I'll tell you where, but it's not that simple Sasuke, you can't just rush in there-”

“Tell me where he is,” Sasuke growled. 

“Sasuke-”

“Ino why can't you just-”

“Sasuke Uchiha!” she shouted in a way that sounded suspiciously like the few memories he had of his mother. He blinked. “Would you listen to someone for once in your entire goddamn life? God, you're just as frustrating as Sakura said you were. Naruto is stable for now, but he’s in comatose. Hopefully he’ll survive. But his kids are sitting in the room with him, and if you storm in there all furious, you'll scare the shit out of them. If you have to go in there, do it slowly and calmly. And Shikamaru says they go by Boruto and Himawari, not Ashina and Natsu. They must have changed their names at some point. Either way, you need to calm down.” Sasuke paused, because (damn her) Ino was right. He had to calm down. He was pretty threatening on his own, but to these kids, who were already worried about their father? He collected himself briefly as Ino sighed. “He’s asleep in room 306. Please be careful.” 

“Thanks, Ino,” he managed before practically launching himself past her. Just before he turned down the hall, he paused. “And Ino,” he called over his shoulder. “If Neji comes by… tell him to go to hell.” With that he was off. The room wasn't hard to find, and he threw the door open. It was a private room, no other beds except the one where Naruto lay. He sucked in a breath when he saw him, because it had been so long and frankly the man looked terrible. His breathing was shallow and he was way too pale, but he was alive. God, he was alive, at least he was alive. Sasuke could hardly believe it. Naruto was alive, and he was here. He was so caught up in his own head that he didn't notice the two children sitting by the door until he turned around to face them. He froze in place as an awkward silence settled, and the first thing he could think was oh my god, he looks just like him. Ashina- no, Boruto, looked just like Naruto used to, he was nearly identical except for Boruto’s eyes being a slightly lighter shade of blue. There was a girl sitting next to him that looked alarmingly like Hinata, and she was watching him with more curiosity than defensive aggression like her brother. 

“And who the hell are you?” Boruto demanded. Sasuke blinked. 

“I um. I am an old friend of Naruto’s. I- I had to see him. My name’s Sasuke Uchiha.” 

“Boruto- Boruto Namikaze,” the kid explained begrudgingly. Sasuke sat down in one of the chairs against the wall, a few away from Boruto and Himawari so that Boruto could watch him from a safe distance. He’d picked up a thing or two about skittish children in his time, and he figured the best course of action was to remain passive until Boruto let down his guard. Like an unruly cat that hisses whenever you get too close to it. 

“What… what happened?” Sasuke asked, trying to start a conversation in a totally subtle way. Boruto winced and hesitated, almost looking… guilty.

“We got ambushed. That's all. He tried to keep us safe and it didn't… It's complicated.”

“Ah,” Sasuke muttered. “Right. Naruto is my friend, I've known him since we were kids. He’s always one for reckless endeavors.”

“Sometimes,” Boruto conceded. “I guess. He’ll… he’ll be okay. He has to be.”

“He will,” Sasuke assured him before he could stop himself. “He’s strong. Sakura Haruno is one of our top medical nin, she's not here right now, but she should be back from her mission soon, and she especially will be when she knows that Naruto is here. He's very important to us.” Boruto glanced over at him, tearing his eyes from his father. 

“How did you know him?” he asked tentatively. Sasuke smiled without realizing it. 

“He's my best friend. We went to the academy together, we fought in the Fourth Shinobi War. He was always there. He’s important to all of us, before he… before he left.” Boruto looked away nervously. 

“Right,” he muttered. “Of course, that makes… that makes so much sense. I mean, I always wondered how he learned ninjutsu, I guess- I guess it makes sense for him to be from a Hidden Village. I just never…” Sasuke stared at him for a moment.

“He never told you?” Boruto shook his head and traded a glance with Himawari. 

“No. He never talked about anything from before we were born. I never asked because it just… made him sad, I guess. I didn't like making him think about it.” Sasuke nodded numbly. Did he regret it, he wondered silently. Did he regret leaving? Did he ever think about coming back? The door opened just then and Boruto tensed again, whipping his head to the door. Kakashi stood in the doorway with Sai behind him. 

“Hello. It seems Sasuke made it here first.” Boruto eyed him warily, moving closer to his sister. Kakashi took one look at the bed and then looked away, trying to not think about it for the time being. He turned his attention to Boruto instead.

“Well Boruto Namikaze, it looks like we have a lot to talk about. But it's been a long day for you two, and I think we’d best keep the hard conversations for tomorrow, hm?” Boruto must have read that as a threat because he bristled at the words, and Sasuke silently wondered how, despite years and years and years of experience, Kakashi never got any better at learning how to speak to children. Sai watched pensively, like an owl, tilting his head. Sasuke could understand Boruto’s nerves, especially considering the company he was in. Sasuke silently cursed Sakura for leaving at the worst time possible, but he knew it wasn't her fault. 

“You should try and get some sleep tonight, we’ll probably have more information on Naruto’s condition in the morning. Don't worry, Sasuke’s house is comfortable.” Sasuke shot to his feet.

“What?” he demanded. Kakashi looked at him lazily.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. I think it'd be best for the two of them to stay with you for the time being. You have a child of your own, and lord knows I wouldn't trust anybody else to do it. Sorry Sasuke, I promise i'll pay you overtime. I can have somebody else handle your paperwork for a few weeks.” Sasuke blinked as the children looked between the man and his teacher. Finally, the Uchiha gritted his teeth.

“Of course, Hokage-sama,” he growled. “It would be an honor.” Kakashi nodded.

“See? It's not that complicated. I have business to attend to, I'll have a conversation with you tomorrow, Sasuke.” With that he was gone, and Sasuke found himself alone with two children. Two. he had his hands full with one, and now he would have to take care of three. And they were Naruto’s children, lord only knows what they would get up to. 

“Um,” Sasuke started. “I… I suppose… we should go… home.” Boruto hesitated before standing, tossing one glance over his shoulder at his father before walking out the door. Please wake up soon, Naruto Sasuke thought silently. But there were a few things Sasuke didn't realize at the time, and wouldn't for weeks. Naruto wouldn't be waking up, at least, not at first. 

Kyuubi would. 

#ehehehe #i cant wait to write the part with kurama #i need to flesh out boruto and himawari adjusting to konoha first before anything big happens #but #but it will be something #its choppy i know #Boruto is silently trying to figure out how to murder everyone in the room and run at all times #he's nervous okay #naruto doesn't get hurt often its very unnerving when he does #kakashi hatake #hatake kakashi #sasuke uchiha #uchiha sasuke #boruto #boruto fanfiction #boruto uzumaki #himawari uzumaki #hokage kakashi #he is trying #homie's not good at this #tsunade's helping tho #sakura will appear don't worry #she's just busy #and sarada too that'll be fun #naruto fanfiction #naruto au #naruto fanfic #naruto

[obxfics]

Saltwater Petals on Our Skin

summary: someone moves into shop next door to the Pogues’ surf shack

pairing(s): sarah cameron x OC, john b x sarah cameron, jj maybank x OC, kie carrera x OC

taglist: @summerintheobx​ @kiarascarreras​

a/n: okay i know the summary sucks but this is the flower shop surf shack AU i mentioned a few weeks ago, and its something new im trying! (i know i already have so many things to finish lol but im really excited about this). this will be a multi-chapter fic, and features an OC! the pairings for this fic may seem a bit confusing right now (since those are the pairings for the whole fic not just this chapter), but i hope it has a bit of everything so you all will be happy with it! also shout out to @thatjohnd​ who is practically my co-writer (most everything written in this fic is something we’ve both come up with and screamed about lmao) so without further ado, here is the first chapter!

The first thing John B noticed on his way into work was that the place next door, which had been abandoned for years and then under extreme renovation the past few months, had no workers loitering around but did have an absolutely ancient truck parked outside. For as long as he had been working at the surf shack on the beach, he couldn’t remember a time when that building had ever been occupied, but it looked like now its luck was changing. The truck was loaded, practically overflowing, with plants and pots and soil, and John B could see only one person struggling to move everything from the vehicle into the building. If a new sort of shop was moving in, why was only one employee doing all the work? He rushed over to help the stranger with a particularly large potted plant when he saw they were about to drop it.

“Oh!” the stranger yelped when John B helped them set the pot on the sidewalk. “Thanks for that. Would’ve been a disaster if I’d dropped Petunia here.”

John B smiled as he got a good look at the new neighbor. She was a small woman around his age, with warm brown skin and even deeper brown eyes that lit up as she smiled at John B. Her thick black hair was pulled up and tied back with a bandana, revealing a sheen of sweat at the nape of her neck from all the movement she’d been doing under the hot sun. What really caught his attention, however, were the delicate tendrils of ink flowering over her skin, climbing up her arms and disappearing over her ribs until they were hidden by her tank top.

“You, uh,” he forced himself to speak instead of standing there staring at her slack jawed, “you moving in?”

“Yeah! Opening up a new flower shop,” she replied as her smile grew even wider. “Do you work nearby?”

“Oh, yeah, I work right next door at the surf shack. I’m John B, by the way.”

“Marisol, but most people call me Mari. Nice to meet you, John B. Thanks again for saving Petunia.”

“You name your plants?”

“Not all of them. Sometimes the missus names them. She named Petunia, and I would never hear the end of it if I got her all over the sidewalk.”

John B blinked. He had never heard anyone besides Kie talk so openly about having girlfriends, but it was nice. Mari obviously didn’t have a problem with people knowing, and John B had no problem with hearing it at all. In fact, he thought Kie would be happy to have some sapphic friends. He would need to remember to tell her about them later.

“Glad I could help you stay out of the doghouse,” he joked. “I could help you with the rest of this if you want.”

“You don’t need to be getting to work?”

“Nah, those slackers can manage without me while I help out our new neighbor. After all, what kind of welcome would it be if I left you to handle this by yourself when it’s hot as balls out?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Not a very warm one. Well, then, come on, I’ll show you around the shop. Oh, uh, you’re not afraid of dogs, are you?”

“You kidding? I love dogs!”

Mari grinned at him as she hefted a bag of soil over her shoulder and nodded for him to pick up Petunia. “Then you’ll love Grace!”

As soon as the door was opened, a great beast of a dog zoomed through the entryway, heading straight for John B. Fearing for his life, and for Petunia the plant, John B attempted to side step the creature, only for the dog to fall at his feet and roll onto its back as if asking for belly rubs. John B stared at it, completely expecting it to forgo the docile act and lunge for his throat.

“This is Grace. There’s no need to be afraid,” Mari teased, “she’s an absolute sweetheart. She usually just lays underneath the table while I work.”

He slowly put the plant on the ground and reached out to pet the dog’s belly. Grace was huge, and seemed to e some sort of pitbull mix, but she seemed to be grinning as he got more comfortable and scratched behind her ears. Mari smiled as she passed the two of them to drop the bag she was carrying onto a nearby table. John B finally let Grace hop up and got his first good look at the place. The walls were lined with tables, probably where countless flowers would be displayed, a sliding glass door to a currently empty room, and there was a backdoor that led to a small garden bordering the beach. He was impressed with how gorgeous and grown it already was, beautiful tropical flowers blooming around what looked like a saltwater pond.

“How...” he trailed off, still staring at the piece of paradise right next to his surf shack. “How did you manage to do all this?”

Mari laughed and shrugged, coming up next to him to admire her garden. “I majored in horticulture, and the missus really likes flowers, so... I just put in the work. Took a long time to get this how it is, though. Trial and error with the one at our place.”

“You have this where you live?” he couldn’t keep the awe out of his voice.

“Like I said, we love plants. Hoping to get some fish in that pond there, make a sort of aquaponic system maybe.”

“Shit, you’re like, smart huh?”

“Science was sort of my thing.”

“And your wife?”

Mari threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, she was a fine arts major. But she’s probably more into the science of the flowers than I am. She like validates some of the shit I do with the flowers, but she’s actually read the studies that validate me.”

John B snorted and shook his head. “So the fine arts major knows more about horticulture than you do?”

“What can I say? She’s a genius.”

The two fell into easy banter as John B spent the rest of the morning helping Mari unload the plants and soil from her pickup truck. It reminded him a bit of his van; ancient but in beautiful shape. The truck, though, was probably prettier than the Twinkie with it’s shiny paint job and delicate lettering on the side advertising the flower shop. Around lunchtime, after they had just managed to finish all the unloading, John B leaned against the side of the truck, his forearms resting on the edge of the bed, as Mari sat cross-legged in the bed telling him a joke with Grace’s head in her lap. He found himself surprisingly relaxed with her, as if they were already close friends.

“So what made you choose here to set up shop?” John B asked after he took a sip from the bottled water she’d offered.

He immediately regretted asking the question, because he noticed how Mari’s shoulders tensed up, how her eyebrows pulled in, and how her jaw clenched. He wasn’t sure why, but this was not some simple question for her.

“Oh, well, Sarah is from the area, and I always loved the beach so... it was a no brainer,” she replied, a smile forcing its way onto her face, but John B could tell it wasn’t real. The dimple in her right cheek wasn’t visible, and through the whole morning he’d noticed how it would appear whenever she smiled or laughed. “You from around here?”

“Born and raised,” he said proudly, hoping to move the conversation from what made her so uncomfortable. “Even went to the local college before the old man who used to own the shack gave it to us. Said he was getting too old to be wiping out so much.”

Mari laughed, a genuine one this time, and he relaxed. There was a lot to learn about the shack’s new neighbors, but he had a good feeling. He just couldn’t help but feel like this was the beginning of something great.

#john b #john b routledge #john b x sarah #jj maybank #jj maybank x oc #kie carrera #kiara carrera #kie x oc #pope heyward #sarah x oc #outer banks #outer banks netflix #outer banks fic #obx #obx netflix #obx fic

[the-kings-of-games]

GX Month 2020

SUper late and I’m too lazy to do anything (as always), but this seems like fun to think about. So let’s go!

Day 1 (August 31): “Game on!” (It’s Judai/Jaden Yuki’s birthday today! Let’s celebrate!): 

Jaden is a great protagonist. I love dumb but OP main characters, especially when they got lucky-go attitudes. 

Day 2 (September 1): “Red, Yellow, Blue!” (Ah, the tier system at Duel Academy. Which dorm is your favorite?): 

I’m attached to Slifer Red, lol. They got a cat for mascot, what more do I need? Also, they serve tempura for lunch.

Day 3 (September 2): “Rule the School” (These kids might be saving the world, but they’re still students with homework to do and exams to pass. Celebrate the school life today!):

Don’t know what to put here, but I was a terrible student because I didn’t study or do things in a timely manner. Do better than me, kids. 

Day 4 (September 3): “Sometimes I Can’t Believe We’re Related” (10Join! Today is all about the iconic brother-sister pair, Fubuki Tenjoin/Atticus Rhodes and Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes!):

I love this sibling pair! ^^ Alexis is really cool, and Atticus is so far out of the left field. I really thought Atticus was going to be cool like his sister, or edgy like Zane, but nah, this guy is, like, I just want to support my sister and play this ukulele. They make such a contrasting pair, so it adds to the humor.

Day 5 (September 4): “Pass The Salt” (No story is perfect. So what is something you wish you could have seen in the story of GX?)

I can’t think of anything. 

Day 6 (September 5): “Going Down With The Ships!” (You know what I’m talking about. We all have an armada parked in the bay, but there’s that one ship, that one ship, that you would die for. Today is all about OTPs and OT3s!)

I really like Rivalshipping. I don’t really have that many ships for GX. 5D’s and Zexal are more of my jam. 

Day 7 (September 6): “Bring the THUNDER” (Ichi! Juu! Hyaku! Sen! Chazz it up! Today the world does in fact revolve around Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton.)

HANDS DOWN, one of my two top choices for favorite rival. (Jack’s the other.) My favorite things about Chazz are his name, his energy, and that fact that he’s a baby brother. He’s so cute! ^^ I just want to make fun of him.

Day 8 (September 7): “The Power of Friendship!” (Favorite dynamic duo, two characters you think would have been friends if only they met, how friendship saves the day, or maybe a friendship fail. It’s up to you!):

Chazz and Pharoah, lol. I need Chazz to hold that cat and pet it. Why didn’t he? :’(

Day 9 (September 8): “Born to be Bad” (Inherently evil, brainwashed, misguided, or misunderstood. GX boots a colorful cast of villainy. Who’s your favorite bad guy?):

I haven’t finished season 4 yet, but Nightshroud. 

Day 10 (September 9): Free Day/Introductions (Tell us about yourself and your GX experience! Your favorites, why you like it, how you got into it. Or leave the day open to do whatever you want!):

I’m known as kappa. I got Hulu, and Hulu has almost all the YGO series excluding VRAINS and SEVENS which is fine because I also have Crunchyroll and the internet, lol; so, I watched all the YGO series simultaneously, skipping back and forth between series. I did not watch any of them in order. GX was number 5 or 6, but it’s the one series I’m putting off. 

Day 11 (September 10): “Cyber Legacy” (No Yu-Gi-Oh! show is complete without a pair of brothers. Today’s stars are Sho Marufuji/Syrus Truesdale and Ryo Marufuji/Zane Truesdale!):

I love these guys! It was great to see them grow and become their own people. ^^ They had, I think, the most realistic relationship.

Day 12 (September 11): “But What If We Had Bikes?” (That’s right! It’s time for the GX crew to rev it up on their very own D-Wheels/Duel Runners!):

I CANNOT DRAW. SORRY LMAO

Day 13 (September 12): “And You Are…?” (Got a favorite OC? Or one you’ve been hiding in the closet? Introduce them to the world today!):

I only have a Rivalshipping OC baby. Her name is Mira Princeton, and she has Jaden’s brown hair and Chazz’s dark eyes (with a bit of a golden glow). Since both her parents can see spirits, it’d make sense that she can too, lol. Her companion is Yata-Garasu, a rare card that her mama won at a tournament. She likes pink and flowers. She is very close to Aster and calls him Uncle Aster. She’s four, and most of her life, she knows her dad as the “Slifer slacker but a really good duelist.” 

I love her. :)

Day 14 (September 13): “The Perfect Formula” (He duels with the power math and science! Today, show the world that you still remember Daichi/Bastion Misawa!)

Bastion is a funny character. “Everything is science. I’m going to disappear for several months. Don’t forget to forget me,” I think. 

Day 15 (September 14): “Insert pun here” (It’s meme day! Recreate your favorites! Make some shitposts! Be the troll you’ve always wanted to be!):

Bastion: SIr, I’m afraid your DNA is backwards.

Jaden: AND?

Day 16 (September 15): “Creation and Destruction” (The Gentle Darkness and the Light of Destruction. The eternal struggle. And also the Darkness that tried to drown the world. Huh. Feels a little unbalanced.):

It’s pretty cool to have darkness and light reverse, and then watch as darkness conflict with itself, lmao. The Light of Destruction would be a chaotic good, and the Gentle Darkness as chaotic neutral. (Don't quote me on that, I don’t do personality quizzes.) 

Day 17 (September 16): “Putting the D in Destiny” (Pro duelist by day and crime fighting vigilante by night. Today is Edo/Aster Phoenix’s day!):

He’s great. I like him. He’s the precursor to Declan Akaba’s D/D/D archetype. Maybe not. Can you believe that he actually said “Shmaden Shmuki on national TV???? LMAO

Day 18 (September 17): “In Another Life” (It’s AU day!):

Currently trying to write a fantasy-ish AU in which Jun marries the Supreme King. Trust me, I have no idea what I’m doing.

Day 19 (September 18): “I Was Here Too!” (GX has a vast array of unique characters, some of which we only saw once. Pick a “one shot” character and show them off!):

I really like Princess Rose. She was pretty, and her spirit monsters care for her. I appreciate that. 

Day 20 (September 19): Free Day 2/Support Fellow Creators (Show some love for your favorite creators, or leave the day free for whatever you please!):

Literally @ everyone whose work(s) and/or post(s) I’ve reblogged. Keep up the good work!

Day 21 ( September 20): “Prehistoric Predators” (The dino duelist with a fossil in his leg. Today is all about Kenzan Tyranno/Tyranno Hassleberry!):

Dino DNA is so funny; I’m sorry, Hassleberry, but I don’t like dinosaurs. At least you were cute as one. 

Day 22 (September 21): “Stop Blowing Holes In My Ship!” (Some ships are popular and some are…not. Today is all about rare pairs and crack ships! Give those underdogs some love!):

Tanya/Bastion is kind of cute. And I guess Chazz/Atticus too. ^^ 

Day 23 (September 22): “And For Today’s Lesson…” (The teachers at Duel Academy have their work cut out for them, but they still take care of their students. Show the DA staff some love today!):

Fonda Fontaine!

Day 24 (September 23): “Legend of the Seven Gems” (Resurrect the greatest light in history today with Johan/Jesse Anderson and the Crystal Beasts!):

Johan is very cute! I’m so glad they gave him a Southern accent in the dub. ^^ It makes him extra soft and lovable. I can’t believe that Johan/JIm is called Cowboyshipping, but I love that name so much.

Day 25 (September 24): “For The Glory of Academia!” (We got to see Asuka/Alexis and Edo/Aster over in Fusion Dimension, but what about the rest of the cast? Show us some Fusion counterparts today! What are these dorks up to and what part do they play in the war?):

I’m bad at rewriting canon. ^^: Sorry. 

Day 26 (September 25): “Dream Team From Overseas” (Austin O’Brien/Axel Brody, Jim “Crocodile” Cook, and Amon/Adrian Gecko. Today is all about them!)

I absolutely love Jim Cook, from him being Australian to having a crocodile as his best friend to getting burned with a mysterious object to cowboy hat. xD 

Day 27 (September 26): “Duel Monster Spirit Day!” (The world of GX is full of spirits. Do something fun to celebrate your favorite!):

Mine would be Scapeghost and Rose Garden Maiden! 

Day 28 (September 27): “Gold Eyes in The Darkness” (Today’s all about the Supreme King! Unleash the Darkness and create your content!):

I like his aesthetic. I’m into Chazz/Supreme King for sure.

Day 29 (September 28): “Don’t Forget Me!” (Have an underappreciated character you wish you’d seen more of? Give them some love today!):

Miss Dorothy! She’s wonderful, she’s friend shaped. 

Day 30 (September 29): Free Day 3 (Share anything. Anything at all. It’s free game.): 

The Chazz/Supreme King fic I’m working on: The Supreme King’s Husband (Prologue)

Day 31 (September 30): “Gotcha!”:

Is this a Pokemon reference? O_o

#kappachyun muses #yugioh #yugioh gx

[et-lesailes]

before and after // part one

PART TWO

pairing: steve rogers x agent!reader

word count: 2940

summary: you are an agent and part of project rebirth, and have taken an interest in the man picked for the project-- steve rogers himself. you can’t help but be drawn to him both before and after he takes the serum that makes him become the honored captain america, but it is only after that you finally get to show just how drawn to him you really are.

themes: virgin!steve, seductress!reader lmao. smut to come in the next part ~

taglist: @viarogers , @evanstush , @chibi-crazy , @chalamet-evans , @world-of-losers , @songforhema, @sebabestianstan101 , @tanyam93 , @bval-1, @wonderwinchester , @little-miss-exo, @poerebel , @pining-and-tired , @gogomez-509 , @patzammit, @a-distantdreamer, @malthestorytellerblog, @rainbowkisses31, @jbug491writinghelp, @quaiderade, @melannie77, @gigistorm, @lille-kattunge

note: so like this was only supposed to be one part but i got way too fuckin rambley so here we are. tbh i don’t even know if this is interesting or well written at all but it’s an idea i randomly had muse for and when i get these strong bursts of muse i feel like i don’t write as well for some reason?? i’m not sure?? so let me know what you think :)

JULY 15TH, 1943

A devious twinkle lights up your eyes as you look upon the group of new men just recently enlisted, remaining hidden from their view for now behind a truck while they are spread out across the grass doing push-ups as Colonel Phillips yells at them to pick up the pace. You are intrigued by one figure in particular, and that is the small, scrawny body of Steven Grant Rogers, a young and sickly man recruited by Dr. Erskine. You are aware of the super soldier experiment the doctor has in mind, and while the Colonel seems to be disgusted and in disbelief over the addition of the frail member, you have other thoughts. 

You watch as he struggles to even lift himself up on the ground, sweaty blond hair a mess around his thin face. Still, he persists. He refuses to give up it seems, and you feel as though you already understand why Erskine wanted him. 

“What a pathetic little guy,” the male beside you comments, your hand currently holding his arm, as usual. Sergeant Joseph Brooks is a rather cocky, loudmouthed, and brazen soldier, strong and skilled at what he does yet known to have aggressive tendencies. He is also your boyfriend despite all of this, and in your own odd way, you love him. You suppose you’re a little… crazy, when it comes to relationships. You like to feel thrilled and excited, you find amusement in even the most toxic of men, and several friends have expressed concern in the past. Why do you feel such an adrenaline rush from arguing at the top of your voice, throwing things around the room only to be manhandled into an angry , heated, but amazing fuck afterwards? Well, perhaps the last part answers that question itself. 

“He’s adorable,” you coo softly, and your boyfriend blinks before laughing. “Mm. That’s an even worse thing to say about a man, darling. You’re cold. Not that he really passes as a man....” You arch an eyebrow as you look up at him, tilting your head curiously. “What constitutes a man then, Joe?” He smirks and turns to face you more properly, gripping your hips and jerking you powerfully to his body. “Someone with muscle. Someone who can fight to protect their girl, then can take her as his own right after.” His voice is a low growl sending shivers down your spine, and you can’t help yourself as you grab the collar of his uniform, pulling him down for a rough and ardent kiss. 

“Grenade!” You hear the sharp voice of Colonel Phillips cutting through the field, and your kiss is broken. Joe seems rather alarmed and alert, but you nonchalantly turn your head towards the commotion, watching as the men scatter away. Only one remains, and he throws his flimsy body at the weapon, curled up on top of it as he closes his eyes tight. “Get away!” he yells at the top of his lungs, moving his arm in a swift motion. “Get back!” You cannot help but stare, awe alighting your impressed gaze as you watch the courageous and sacrificial act despite knowing very well that the weapon is not real. You then look towards the Colonel and Dr. Erskine who are watching as well, noting that even the Colonel himself looks affected for once. 

“And how exactly can a man fight a grenade?” you slowly whisper into your boyfriend’s ear before pulling back from him, approaching the scene of “attack”. “It’s a fake, darling,” you call out in a light and silky voice, and you can already feel all eyes on you. Being a woman in an army camp full of testosterone, this is a basic reaction as it is, but even you can say with confidence that you are attractive, and you take great pride in it. “Colonel Phillips here just loves to play tricks, don’t you?” You look towards the old man innocently, even batting your eyelashes, and he scoffs fondly. He does not take bullshit, that’s for sure, but he’s come to see you as a daughter figure. “Maybe you can motivate these slackers to do better.” He remarks, and you giggle lightly. “Line up, boys,” you demand with a simple call, and as expected, they all flock to you. Standing in a line, gazing at you in awe, Steve Rogers right in the center. Standing in between the big and burly men, he looks even smaller than he already did before, if that is even possible. Your eyes are fixated on his blue ones, watching him stare back with a slightly flustered expression, though remaining standing straight and dignified. 

“What’s a pretty little lady like you doing at a place like this?” one of the men calls, and you turn your head to look at him as a few snicker around him. “First of all, you can refer to me as Agent Y/L/N.” Your voice is suddenly sharp and commanding, and he seems to be surprised. “I supervise all operations within this division.” You step closer to him and tilt your head, letting your eyes practically pierce through his as you whisper, “And I look pretty doing it.” He barely gulps and you wonder if this man is all talk and no game-- he seems overwhelmed to simply be standing in a five foot radius of a woman. Smirking, you step back to look at them all, eyebrow raised. “I’m looking forward to working with you men, so you better train hard and try not to get booted. If you can’t handle it, then don’t waste our time, just leave.” You start walking up the line before pausing at Steve, now able to inspect him closer. “And do not,” you say, directed towards everyone as you look to each side of the line before keeping your eyes on him, “think that this unit is all about who has the bigger…” you pause as you trail off, eyes purposefully moving down towards Steve’s crotch before looking to everyone again continuing nonchalantly, “muscles.” You smirk as you see the red on Steve’s cheeks, then glance back at Dr. Erskine as you continue talking to them. “Being a good soldier is important, yes, but so is being a good man.” He flashes a small smile at you, nodding his head in approval. Still, your devious brain has you look at Steve again, enjoying making him sweat a little. You lean in, letting your lips barely brush against his ear as you whisper, “The way you handled that grenade was impressive, Rogers.” You allow him to know that you’re well aware of his name, figuring it might be a bit of a confidence boost for the guy. “I look forward to see how you handle the rest of this training… and me.” You pull back and his pacific eyes are wide, but he is still obediently staring straight ahead. “Yes, Agent Y/L/N,” he speaks as steadily as he can, and as you subtly let your eyes drift down, you smirk as you see the tent in his pants. 

“Well,” you abruptly announce, standing back again nonchalantly. “Continue on, men, and please try not to make Colonel Phillips get a sore throat over having to raise his voice so much.” You look towards the man with a playful smirk before turning around, swinging your hips as you make your way back to your boyfriend. You know all eyes are still on you, and you love it. He keeps a territorial hold around you, looking at all of them with a smug grin clearly to show off that he’s the one who has the pleasure of calling you his, and that no one else will take that from him. The jealous looks in return are amusing, but you only care about Steve’s as you look at him over your shoulder while Joe takes you away, giving him a coy wink. 

Colonel Phillips sighs as he looks at his men all watching you leave, some practically drooling. “That’s it. Five minute break, go get your damn heads out of the gutter. If you’re not back here at 16:00 sharp, don’t bother to come back at all.” 

_______

“Did you guys see that? She winked at me! Man, how lucky am I?”

Steve frowns slightly as he listens to Hodges brag, barely wrinkling his nose. He’s a bit confused. He’s almost positive you were winking at him, but that makes absolutely no sense. A girl has barely even looked at him with both eyes open, why would he of all people get the flirtatious gesture of one?  

Especially from someone like you. Not only do you have a boyfriend, but you’re the most beautiful and intriguing woman he’s ever seen. He never thought he would be interested in someone who seemed so mischievous, so bold. Like the other recruits, he’s known of you for a while now, even if you hadn’t formally introduced yourself until that day. The men had seen your face around, and they had instantly fallen in love with it. Steve is no exception. He’s felt drawn to you from the beginning, and he absolutely hates that his mind goes to quite vulgar places when he thinks of you, because he never wanted to be that type of man. For God’s sake, he’s never even kissed anyone before. He sighs as he looks away, running his fingers through his hair.

“What’s wrong, Rogers?” another recruit remarks, grinning. “Are you jealous? Aw, you couldn’t have thought you had a chance with her anyways, right?” Hodges joins in as he laughs in amusement, arching an eyebrow. “Have you even been with a woman before? Wouldn't they just ... break you? Especially a woman like that, oh I bet she’s a naughty little thing in the bedroom. Steve, buddy, you’d barely last.”

“The things I’d do to her,” another one speaks up with a playfully desperate groan before Steve can even reply. “That pretty little body is practically begging for attention, and I’d love to give it to her. God, I’d give anything just to at least see her naked, did you see her wiggle that ass for us when she left? I just want to fuck it off.” Steve frowns deeper, the vulgar talk bothering him even though he’s thought about such an action several times, even within the mere few minutes of having met you for the first time. He can’t help but remember the way you talked to him about handling you…..

He reddens. He’s hard again. ‘What is wrong with me?’ he thinks, trying to casually turn away from the others; they are thankfully still in the middle of talking about how much they’d like to fuck you to notice. He sighs deeply, taking a swig of water before leaving the tent, trying to think of anything else. He needs his focus for the next few hours, and the thought of your naked body intertwined with his is, for obvious reasons, only serving as a distraction. 

_______

AUGUST 3RD, 1943

“I got beat up in that alley.” Steve says to you, his eyes focused out the window of the car. “And that parking lot. And behind that diner.” You listen to him in slight amusement, but mostly intrigue. 

It’s been a few days now that you’ve gotten to know him, having witnessed his training and having had a couple of discussions about Project Rebirth. It is now finally the big day, and you have to admit you’re a little nervous. Steve, on the other hand, seems rather unfazed, as if he’s in any regular car ride going to any regular appointment. 

“Seems like you have a lot of fond memories here,” you joke, looking to him with a slightly raised brow. Humming, you also glance out the window. “Ever have any dates in that diner?” He blinks and scoffs, looking to you somewhat in disbelief. “Of course not. In fact, this is the longest conversation I’ve ever even had with a woman, let alone go on a date with one.” You chuckle softly, though for some reason, you like this. It is sometimes frustrating to you how obsessed men are with dating and sex, how they start so early. “What’s stopping you?” you ask, and he looks to you as if it’s obvious. “Uh, the fact that I don’t have any girls to go on a date with?” He looks down, adding with a bitter chuckle, “Women aren’t exactly lining up to dance with the guy they might step on.”

The car pulls up to the antique store and you hum thoughtfully. “I’d go on a date with you.” You tell him, suddenly looking at him seriously. Lightly placing a hand on his thigh, you add in a soft murmur, “And I’d definitely dance with you.”

He’s left in shock as you get out of the car, sitting there for a few seconds before realizing he needs to get out too, quickly trying to compose himself as he hastily opens the car door. 

_______

DECEMBER 7TH, 1943

You smile happily as you take a sip of your drink at your table in the bar, overhearing some soldiers nearby go on about Steve’s courageous battle with HYDRA. It’s been over four months now that Project Rebirth succeeded, and Steve, now known as Captain America to the general public, has been doing great. He is a true super soldier, and the same dedicated, selfless gentleman you had met months ago. 

“The hell are you smiling about?” a naturally rough voice breaks you out of your thoughts, and you look up to Joe coming back to the table barely biting your lip. “Nothing, darling.” You glance towards the beer in his hand. “Is another drink a good idea? You’ve already had a lot…” You know how the man gets when he’s drunk, and to be quite honest, you fear it. “I can handle it.” He says with a scoff, sliding into the seat across from you. “And once I’m done,” he mutters, reaching under the table to take a firm hold of your thigh, “I’m going to be craving something else, so you better make sure that sweet little body is ready for me.” 

In the past, this would elicit a little giggle and “yes sir” from your naughty little lips, but now, you find yourself losing interest each day. It’s not uncommon for you to feel bored with a boyfriend, but you’re also beginning to realize you’re a bit tired of the type of men you’ve been seeing. You’re about to respond to him when you suddenly notice a familiar strong and handsome figure entering the bar. You stare as you admire Steve in his army uniform, marveling at the way it frames his broad shoulders and gives him such an air of authority. “I’ll be right back,” you excuse yourself, not even caring how obvious you were being. Scooting out of the seat and quickly checking yourself, making sure the red dress you wore was still clinging onto your body just right, you made your way over to the man who was approaching the bar. “Hi there, Steve,” you purr, corner of your lips tugging upwards. “Here to celebrate after bringing down the latest HYDRA factory, I imagine?” He turns to look at you and immediately flashes you a charming smile, seeming genuinely happy to see you. “Of course. Even if I wasn’t in the mood, the boys expect rounds on me,” he jokes, and you notice the way his pacific hues “subtly” take in your appearance. “And why wouldn’t you be in the mood? You do so much for this country, Captain, you deserve to celebrate sometimes too...” you murmur with a natural seductive hint to your voice, unable to help yourself. How could you not? You had already thought he was damn adorable back in his pre-serum days, and now… now he is practically a work of art. You can tell that something in his eyes changed upon being called Captain, and while he should technically be used to it, it is clear you had meant it in a different connotation. 

You aren’t sure how experienced he may be now. The two of you have not been able to talk as much as before due to his constant missions, and even if you had been able to, you probably would not exactly be chatting about a body count. You know he has girls lined up, and for obvious reasons-- but if he’s ever actually slept with them, you are unsure of. You doubt it. He still seems like the same Steve underneath all the muscle, though you do remember having seen him making out with some blonde private working for Howard Stark. Maybe he’s not as innocent as he looks…

“Celebrate, hm?” he says, and his deep voice brings you back to reality-- a very welcoming one, at that. “Well, you know, since the serum I can’t get drunk. So to be honest, being at the bar isn’t much of a... proper celebration.” He admits with a low chuckle, and you barely grin deviously. “Oh, yeah? Are you saying you’re looking for a proper celebration…?” you ask innocently, and he barely bites on his lip. You look back towards Joe, and thankfully, he’s occupied talking with some other sergeant friends. Returning your gaze to Steve, you hum softly. “How about this, Captain,” you murmur as you stand even closer to him, “if you really want to celebrate, meet me in the bathroom in five minutes.” You run your fingers over his arm slowly, looking up into his eyes and barely smirking upon seeing the simultaneous desperation, excitement, and conflict in his features. “And if you don’t… well, I know how to take a hint, darling, so you don’t have to worry.” You give him a wink before turning around, practically strutting off to the bathroom as you make sure to wiggle your butt and give him a good show.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers smut #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers imagine #chris evans x reader

[ckret2]

Specimen 1, Specimen 2, Specimen 3, Monster 0

Summary: Your family has bred dorats for centuries, passing the business down from mother to daughter. You do what you must to preserve your business and your family. And when the Xilien military marches in and requests three dorats for a classified experiment, you're unable to refuse.

No matter what kind of monster they make from them.

A King Ghidorah origin story.

Continuity: Godzilla, Monsterverse continuity; borrows from Showa and Heisei Characters: three dorats that are going to become King Ghidorah, a 2nd person perspective Xilien OC, and assorted other Xiliens as necessary. Wordcount: 7500 Notes: This is a blend of King G's Heisei and Showa portrayals. ME-319 (the viewpoint character) is intended to be a Xilien expy for Emmy Kano. "Female Xiliens are parthenogenetic" is an explanation for why they all look the same in Astro-Monster that doesn't depend on them being some sort of mass-produced clones. Pronouns! "She" = "Xilien who identifies as a parthenogenetic woman," "xe" = "non-parthenogenetic Xilien, regardless of sex," "he" = "person/animal from a species with no capacity for parthenogenesis, regardless of sex." Assume that all pronouns, names, terms, and everything else are translated to more familiar references for ease of the human reader's comprehension, ex: "There's a reference to pineapples, are you saying there are pineapples on Planet X?" No. No I'm not, that's a translation. Loosely inspired by this prompt:

Anonymous said: hi! if you're taking prompts, wouuuld you be willing to write another ghidorah x reader insert? i'm especially intrigued by your past idea about how if someone called them by their original names, they'd start bawling lmao i'd just love to see these guys get some of the aDORATion they deserve (i'm so sorry but i had to, this just can't be mere coincidence)

###

You're a dorat breeder.

The breeding bit isn't difficult; for the most part, the dorats are perfectly happy to handle all of that themselves. Dorats have been domesticated since before recorded history, and have no trouble living and mating in indoor aeries as long as the rooms are large enough and the windows are tall and let in plenty of sunlight, natural or otherwise.

Your job is to keep them happy and healthy while they get on with their business: maintaining and cleaning your centuries-old three-story facility and the aeries suspended by chains far above the floor, keeping a close eye out for any dorats that look unwell or radiate sickly emotions to get them to a vet, keeping their food well-stocked, scheduling enough outdoor trips to ensure that the flight morphs get adequate exercise, and eventually selling them off to pet owners or to professionals whose work needs trained dorats.

You're a woman—that is to say, in a more biological sense, you're parthenogenetic—and although you've got distant cousins and a half-sibling who have fathers, you yourself only have a mother. You are the product of a single unbroken matrilineal line stretching back for over three hundred documented generations. And for several centuries, every cloned daughter in that line has been a dorat breeder. Not because you had to be—but because every one of you has wanted to be. You don't know whether it's in your genes, or whether anyone would want to work with dorats after growing up around their indoor aeries. Nature or nurture? It doesn't really matter, you suppose; you're satisfied with your job, whatever reason you chose it.

You like working with dorats. You like the way they rush up to you in a concerned huddle when you arrive for work in a bad mood, threatening to bowl you over by hopping up on their legs and beating their wings for balance because they want to get closer to your face. You like the colors they come in, from pale jade greens to citrine oranges to a thousand different shades of yellow—gold and neon and amber and more—to warm silvers and pearl whites. You like the broad wingspans and commanding presence of the flight morphs, and the acrobatic energy and even the occasional hive mind-induced stampedes of the spinetail morphs. You like their songlike cries, their shiny scales, the comforting weight of their emotions, the way they switch instantly from sinuous grace to floppy wiggling messes.

You like how small and surprisingly soft the babies are, so little you can cradle them in your hands: their teeth like rows of tiny needles when they yawn, their heads a third of their weight, scrunching up their legs and tucking their wings around them to form little balls when they sleep. You like how agile and elegant the adults are, long and serpentine, their wings simultaneously delicate and powerful, smooth scales and sharp horns and spines—you can see why museums the world over are full of ancient artwork of dorats made from precious metals and gems. But you like the adolescents the most: that's when they're long, ridiculous, uncoordinated noodles, just shifting from the infants' mix of slithering and bipedalism to full quadrupedalism, curious and hyperactive and quarrelsome with each other, constantly tripping over their rapidly expanding wings or getting their new tail spines tangled in everything from blankets to bushes to their own legs.

You've got about three dozen adolescents right now. You started with more hatchlings, but several have already been adopted. It's an orangish-gold pack, all things told, although it wasn't when they first hatched. The ones that are more green and white get adopted out fast as hatchlings, since they're comparatively rare; so much so that when you sell them, you make your customers sign a contract stating they're willing to bring them in to breed so that you can keep the colors in your gene pool.

Your current batch of adolescents is just beginning to head through puberty—as usual, at wildly different rates. Some already have horns that could pass for small but fully developed; some look like long babies, their heads and tails smooth and wings tiny. Most are in between. They still all play together, but already they've begun segregating themselves by morph when they're relaxing, the adolescent flight morphs lounging near (but not too near) the adult flight morphs, the adolescent spinetail morphs piled together in a pack right next to the adult spinetail morphs.

As hatchlings, they already gave you solid impressions of their personalities—who's withdrawn, who's outgoing, who's active, who's lazy, who's quarrelsome, who's cooperative. As they enter adolescence and their mating instincts begin to activate, you're starting to see more facets to their personalities.

And right now, you're thinking very hard about the personalities of three specific adolescent dorats—their quirks, their oddities, their likes and dislikes, their talents and flaws, their futures.

You're thinking about them because two soldiers and two scientists, wearing thin black shades and crisp gray uniforms, have dropped three reports on your desk: dossiers about Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple, as if they were persons of national interest rather than three baby pets.

###

Noodle has pretty white-ish gold scales, and—like many near-white dorats that are more gold than silver—he also has awful flaky sheds that come off in strips and tend to cling for days, which makes him a far less appealing pet than most dorats as pale as him. (Some breeders try to sell flaky near-white dorats in between sheds and let the buyer deal with the periodic draconic dandruff, since it doesn't count as a health issue that they’re legally required to report; you consider that unethical and always warn your prospective buyers.)

He's sedate almost to the point of lethargy; his best skill is napping. Noodle's definitely destined to be an indoor pet, which limits who you can adopt him out to. Hopefully even with his shedding problem, you'll be able to find someone who wants him for his ability to lounge about looking pretty rather than for an exercise companion. Though he will play enthusiastically and energetically with his peers, he tends to bow out early to watch the others play, passively absorbing their enjoyment via proximity rather than contributing to the empathic cloud of fun himself.

You suspect there's an edge of sly intelligence to Noodle's apparent idleness—perhaps he's realized that by lounging in the right place, where he can empathically benefit from the other hatchlings' entertainment without having to play himself, he can get more rewards with less effort. Would he be more active by himself, you wonder, if he had to work for his own entertainment? You might need to find someone to foster him for a few weeks to see what his personality is like when he's not around dozens of other dorats before letting someone adopt him. But aside from the possibility that he might be a clever little slacker, Noodle's a very unremarkable hatchling, all told.

Now that he's reaching adolescence, though, and the first few spines on his tails are coming in, he's demonstrated a new behavior quirk: when the adolescents separate by morph, rather that sitting with his fellow spinetails, he follows after the flight morphs and flops down amongst them. You wonder why. Does Noodle prefer the lighter psychic load of a crowd of flights? Does he think that if he socializes with them casually, then once they're old enough to start worrying about breeding, his preferred choices in mates will consider him favorably without his having to expend any extra effort wooing them? Or perhaps he wants to be part of the audience when his fellow spinetails come by to make their first childish, halting attempts at mating displays: their heads lowered, small wings tucked away, and tails waving high in what they'll soon have the muscles to develop into the spinetails' signature whip crack/rattle. And if Noodle does want to watch, why—to learn from his peers' techniques, or to admire them?

Broadly speaking, flight morphs tend to be more withdrawn than spinetail morphs—less inclined to socialize, less open with their ambient emotions. (Although there's wide variation, of course, since the reach of a flight's empathy is far broader but also under far more voluntary control than a spinetail's. They can reduce their psychic influence—but they can also choose to cast it across a far greater distance than a spinetail ever could.)

But even taking into consideration flight morphs' inclination toward tucking their emotions away to themselves, Sunshine—named for scales so bright yellow they're almost fluorescent—is one of the most withdrawn flights you've ever seen. You actually took him to a veterinary neurologist to ensure he doesn't have any kind of brain damage. The conclusion was he doesn't, he just keeps his emotions clamped up tight inside his little head.

However, aside from that, Sunshine's not skittish or sullen, and he doesn't act like he's being bullied or neglected by other dorats. He's more violent than most, which along with the clamped up emotions is a warning sign for trauma or high stress. But he keeps his violence to play fighting, has never done real damage, and always stops when his playmate cries for mercy; so you think he's just fond of fighting rather than lashing out due to anger. So you concluded that he's just remarkably introverted and left him to it.

With the onset of puberty, though, Sunshine's started to come out of his shell. He's one of the most rapidly-developing dorats in this batch, both physically and emotionally. He's already developed a couple of horns and a massive wingspan. He might have reached his adult wingspan, even, although the rest of his body hasn't quite caught up with his wings yet; he looks terribly awkward strutting around, wings akimbo and chest lifted too high when he walks.

Sunshine was also among the first flights to take an interest in showing off for the spinetails; he's been galumphing over to rear up on his legs and show off his wings since before they grew in. Now that they have grown in, he's attracting a lot more attention. (You wonder if the fact that his wingspan is disproportionate to the rest of his body makes spinetails think they look larger than they really are.) Some are flirting back, trotting up to rattle their tails or clap them on the floor if they don't have spines yet, at which point Sunshine rebuffs them and galumphs back over to the flights' company.

You wonder if he wants to flirt but not be flirted with because he doesn't yet understand the purpose of the displays he's practicing, or because he isn't yet pleased with the quality of respondents. Showing off wings doubles as a mating display and a threat display, depending on who it's directed at, so maybe he's just doing it on instinct without having quite figured out the nuances of how to use it. Or maybe he’s hoping to stir up more play fights.

However, you suspect that Sunshine is deliberately flirting. You've seen him off by himself, loner that he is, practicing popping—the mating display used mainly by flights, but sometimes by spinetails, where they stretch their wings as high as possible and then snap them down, producing a sharp pop of air and simultaneously shooting up. (You suspect that this display—and its effect on ceilings and light fixtures—is probably the leading cause behind most pet owners' decisions to spay their flight dorats.) You don't think he'd be training so diligently if he wasn't aware of what he was doing. 

Conversely, among the spinetail morphs, the most physically developed so far is Pineapple—named for his unusually rough brownish-gold scales and their faint undertone of green. (In your opinion, he has the most interesting scales out of this batch of hatchings, which makes him your favorite, appearance-wise. The jades and pearls might be a hit with pet owners; but they're easy to breed for with the right parents, while you don't know if you could recreate Pineapple's scales if you tried. Your pictures of him are a hit in breeders' circles.)

He's incredibly observant, and he's strong-minded for a spinetail, able to break out of a strong emotional hive mind with next to no effort and inject new emotions without thinking. You've seen games stumble to a stop because Pineapple noticed a prospective buyer come in, or someone trip and fall out of a nest, or a kerfuffle break out across the room, and whatever new emotion the sight inspired in him was enough to disrupt everyone else's concentration. You've had far fewer spinetail stampedes while he was here, at least among the hatchlings.

His capacity for inflicting emotions on his peers is almost on par with flight morphs', except that as far as you've seen he can't consciously regulate its effect. You think that Pineapple's unique talent could make him a useful asset if he received professional training, although you don't know of a specific field that would need a spinetail dorat with that kind of ability.

Pineapple is already larger than most of the other adolescents, has developed an impressive set of horns, and has a more even coverage of spines on his tail than any of the other spinetail morphs. They already rattle, which he seems to do involuntarily as he wiggles around in play, although he hasn't made any whip cracks with his tail yet. However, emotionally he's one of the slower developers. He’s practically still a hatchling in his behavior. He plays like he's half his age. He bounces back and forth between flights and spinetails with seeming no recognition of how they've segregated themselves—although once he calms down he inevitably settles down amongst his fellow spinetails, so evidently he's got some recognition of their new social division. He neither joins the spinetails that go over to show off for the flights, nor acknowledges the flights that come to show off for them with anything more than vaguely curious disinterest.

Pineapple's one of the last adolescents for whom you've developed some sense of whether he's likely to be an active or reactive partner—the one who approaches the opposite morph to put on mating displays, or the one who waits to be approached so that he can judge the display he's presented with. It's only in the last few days that you've seen Pineapple begin to watch the flirting flights more keenly, which suggests—but doesn't guarantee—that he'll be a reactive partner.

Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple. You don't see their personalities in the dossiers on your desk. The photos on each cover sheet have them posed awkwardly and uncomfortably, heads raised and tails flat on the ground, just like all the photos of the adolescent dorats that the four military representatives took during their first visit weeks ago. In their photos, they look withdrawn and tense.

They're listed by number rather than name.

###

Most of the dorats you breed become pets. But quite a few are taken to be trained to perform public services. Spinetail morphs are the most common service animal on X, and flight morphs are commonly used in counseling and psychological therapy. Many are trained as search and rescue animals: after fires, bombings, or natural disasters, when buried people can't be found with sight, sound, smell, infrared, sonar, or x-ray, often dorats can still detect their minds. Dorats are absurdly adaptable to different environments and atmospheres; they're often sent to new colonies to carry mail, pull heavy loads, and defend Xilien colonists from aliens. Low-empathy dorats can have the last of their empathy trained out of them or chemically suppressed and be used by the police or military.

You've never bred dorats for specific functions—hunting or therapy or what have you. You maintain thorough records of each dorat's family tree, and some of their trees go back dozens of generations—calling on records kept by your mother and her mother and her mother et cetera—but none of them are what anybody would call "thoroughbreds." All the same, plenty of your dorats have been snapped up for professional services before. Thoroughbreds have a higher chance of having the physical, psychic, and personality traits a job called for, yes, but also a higher chance of carrying detrimental genetic conditions. Many people who work regularly with dorats recognize the downsides of thoroughbreds and try to find the traits they need in aeries like yours.

So you were apprehensive, but not surprised, when four representatives of the military came in and asked to speak with you about your current selection of dorats.

In the style mandatory for all soldiers, police, and public officials interacting with civilians, they didn't present you with so much as their ID numbers, much less their personal names. They instructed you to refer to them as Soldier 1, Scientist 2, Scientist 3, and Soldier 4. They referred to you by your matrilineal ID number, ME-319, which felt slightly more personal than calling you by your national ID number, but not by a lot.

"We are conducting a medical experiment with potential military applications that involves dorats," Soldier 1 said. "Controller 0 has authorized very few details to be shared with civilians. We can tell you that we need three in early adolescence. We can tell you that this will be our seventh trial, and the first six concluded in a 100% fatality rate for our dorats specimens. We do not tell you this so that you will think that we are carelessly killing off dorats, but so that you will understand that we are frustrated and vexed every time another experiment fails and recognize that we are taking the utmost care with the dorats." (You can tell that xe's repeating something Controller 0 told xem to say—or, if not, at least that xe must work closely enough with Controller 0 to have picked up its mannerisms. The computer has a tendency to instruct the populace on how they should feel about its pronouncements and decisions; the inside of a Xilien mind is one of the few things it can't control directly, and so it puts the onus on its citizens to control their minds for it.) "We are not, as you can tell, testing them en masse in hopes that one or two will survive, but testing only two and three at a time, and pouring our every resource into ensuring their survival in each trial. Their deaths are incompatible with our objectives."

Despite yourself, you did find yourself thinking that they must be exercising a great deal of caution with the dorats, 100% fatality rate notwithstanding. Still, though, you had to ask— "Why are you testing two and three at a time, then? Why not one?"

Soldier 1 was silent for a moment, and you suspected xe had a direct link to Controller 0 and was waiting for it to provide xem an answer that xe was allowed to share. "Because the very purpose of the experiment requires multiple test subjects," xe finally said. "Our first four tests used only two dorats each. We found two insufficient for stable results. Our results improved when we began using three."

So what was it, you wondered. Was the experiment about dorats' empathic capabilities? Something else concerning their brains? Some new breeding experiments? What could require multiple dorats?

You suspected you'd never find out.

"What qualities are you looking for?" you asked them, with no further questions about the nature of the experiment; because, ultimately, it didn't matter what they told you and whether or not you liked it. No matter what, you were going to comply. You have to comply when Controller 0 comes knocking. Your only recourse for objection is if Controller 0 asks you for something and you know something it doesn't that will help it get what it wants more expediently.

Shortly, Soldier 1 answered, "Compatibility with each other."

"In what sense?" you asked. "Dorats that play together well? Genetic similarity?"

"Not genetic similarity," Soldier 1 said. "Our initial tests were conducted with dorats of the same breed, to poor effect." Xe grimaced almost immediately after speaking, and the next statement came from Scientist 2: "We have our own criteria by which we'll determine compatibility. Once you have presented your pool of available dorats, we will monitor them ourselves until we have made a selection." From the switch in speakers, you suspected that Soldier 1 had overstepped xir bounds and Controller 0 had revoked xir permission to lead the conversation.

"Monitor?" you asked. "In person? Or will you be setting up recording equipment?" You didn't like the sound of either option.

"Both, most likely," Scientist 2 said.

And so it was. Cameras designed to pick up visible light and heat energy were set up around the aeries. Most days, at least one of the four from the military was there—usually either Scientist 2 or Scientist 3—watching keenly while the adolescent dorats played, relaxed, and interacted; taking notes; and recording even more footage from various angles. After a few weeks, all four came in again, asked to speak with you in your office, and presented you with the three dossiers.

And here you are.

###

Here you are.

Looking down at the military's records on Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple. Here you are.

"Why?" you ask. You wouldn't have pegged the three of them for any sort of compatibility. You don't know that you've ever seen any of them interact one-on-one with each other, much less all together.

There's a pause as they wait for instructions from Controller 0; and then, with grim solemnity, Scientist 2 takes out a translucent badge and hands it to you. Congratulations: you're now one clearance level above the average civilian.

Scientist 3 speaks. "These two, because Specimen 2—" xe taps on Sunshine's dossier, "is sexually attracted to Specimen 3." And then Pineapple's. Something squeezes inside you. These are adolescents. They're only playing around with flirting—when a flight and spinetail at this age do pair off, they tussle and cuddle. Who was this army biologist with only a few weeks' worth of footage to say that this awkward little thing with disproportionately large wings was anywhere near anything like sexual attraction?

You don't say any of that. You say, very evenly, "Oh?"

"You've seen, no doubt, that he's been putting on mating displays for the spinetail morphs," Scientist 3 says. "We've analyzed multiple displays from multiple angles, and are absolutely certain that Specimen 3 is the only spinetail morph whom Specimen 2 is always facing when he displays. His brain activity and body temperature elevate when Specimen 3 takes note of his displays, but not when any other spinetail morphs do."

Specimens 2, Specimen 3. They've already been numbered.

"Specimen 3 does not appear to reciprocate Specimen 2's sexual attraction," Scientist 3 goes on. "But this is irrelevant. As long as Specimen 2 views Specimen 3 as an object of desire, he will remain invested in both protecting and impressing him—which should yield the behavior we want to see from them."

You think of Sunshine off by himself, getting used to his new wingspan, practicing launching himself higher and higher into the air each time he snaps his wings; and wonder what it is the military plans to use that young enthusiasm to train him to do.

You think of Pineapple, tail rattling accidentally as he wiggles in play or suddenly stopping to stare in fascination at an odd sunbeam or an aerie swinging on its chain; and mentally recoil at the thought of him being an object of desire—a prize to manipulate quiet little Sunshine into doing what they want.

You think of Noodle. Curling up to snooze, or scratching at his flaking scales, or flopping down between the flight morphs with his little wings curled tight around his chest. "Why Specimen 1, then?"

"Because he has demonstrated homosexual inclinations." The way Scientist 3 says the words is so clinically precise it almost sounds pathologizing. It feels like a slap on the face. (Even if hearing the word "homosexual" applied to a dorat is momentarily disorienting, when it's so natural to assume that's the default in non-parthenogenetic species. It's easy to forget that, by a biologist's definition of the term, they do have two sexes, not just two body shapes.)

"How do you know that?" You would have noticed if any of your dorats had progressed past practicing their mating displays, and Noodle doesn't even do that much.

"I'm sure you've noticed that he lounges with the flight morphs. When he watches spinetail morphs present their mating displays, his heart rate increases and eyes dilate in a manner indicating arousal, and his—"

"Okay." You don't want to hear more. You feel like you're peering in someone's bedroom window with night vision goggles. "But, what—what does that have to do with anything?"

"Had we chosen a heterosexual flight morph or spinetail morph, it could develop a sexual rivalry with the other two specimens," Scientist 3 says. "A heterosexual spinetail morph could perceive Specimen 3 as an obstacle to obtaining Specimen 2's attention; whereas Specimen 2 might perceive a heterosexual flight morph as a potential threat to his chances of wooing Specimen 3. However, a heterosexual flight morph will not demonstrate attraction to a homosexual spinetail morph, and a homosexual spinetail morph will not demonstrate attraction to a heterosexual spinetail morph, so neither Specimen 2 nor Specimen 3 will see Specimen 1 as a rival or vice versa. We can reap the benefits of Specimen 2's attraction to Specimen 3 without concern that it will produce a schism with Specimen 1."

You almost laugh at their bizarre, mating-obsessed logic. What are they going to do if one of the spinetails is bisexual, but hasn't "demonstrated" his "inclinations" yet? What are they going to do if it turns out that Noodle likes lounging with the flights because he has as yet unrecognized intersex traits, and he suddenly sprouts a set of wings to rival Sunshine's? What then?

But you can't ask. You're silent with horror.

Because dorats don't act like that. They don't develop sexual rivalries. If two set their eyes on the same mate, their competitions don't escalate past wrapping their tails around each other and rolling around, or battering each other ineffectively with their wings and hissing until someone gives up. Often, the competition stops early when the potential mate demonstrates a willingness to produce an egg with each. Two competing over one would never escalate to the point where it would pose a threat to their ability to healthily cohabitate or cooperate.

Unless the dorats are in miserable, confined, stressed conditions. So stressed their natural empathy shuts down so they don't have to feel their peers' suffering, so miserable that losing a chance to mate means losing a chance at what may be the only pleasurable activity they're allowed, so confined that they can't flee from an infuriated rival or an unwanted mate. The kind of conditions found in illegal doratfighting pits or unlicensed breeding mills.

What the hell is the military putting their dorats through that they have to be concerned about sexual rivalries?

How the hell did their previous sets of dorats die, for this "compatibility" to be their top criteria?

What the hell are they going to do to Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple?

You look through the window in your office door, where you can see your dorats. You spot Pineapple first, trying to climb one of the chains anchoring an aerie to the ground by twisting about it and inching himself up. Noodle is sleeping in a pile of flights, one leg sticking up inelegantly. Sunshine you finally spot high above, peering over the side of an aerie, watching Pineapple climb. There is nothing you want more than to run out there, scoop the three of them up, and carry them somewhere far away.

But you can't defy Controller 0. The best you could hope to do, now that you understand the military's criteria, is try to suggest a better trio; but each and every little dorat out there is just as precious as Noodle, Sunshine, or Pineapple. You can't sacrifice any of them in their stead.

The military representatives give you a moment. Then Scientist 2 takes back the dossiers. Soldier 1 says, "If you have no objections, we are prepared to take them now."

You say nothing.

"Very well."

###

You'd like to think that you're putting on a good show of stoicism for the military representatives. But the moment you step outside your office, you're swarmed by concerned dorats desperate to comfort you. Under the circumstances, it only makes you more miserable.

You reassure them as well as you can, push them off, and begin collecting the three... specimens.

Noodle flails when you scoop him up, but once it's clear you plan to drape him over one shoulder, he clambers around to position himself: head draped over your chest, tail tip dangling past your butt, claws curled into your chain mail shirt for stability. He flicks his tongue at your chin in concern a couple of times, then droops down and almost immediately falls back asleep.

You have to shake the chain Pineapple's climbing to get his attention, but he sees how Noodle's laying and copies him on your other shoulder. He covers your head with one wing as he scrambles onto you, but once he's settled he nuzzles against your cheek, attempting to cheer you up. You feel his confusion as he presses his head against yours.

You don't even need to whistle to get Sunshine's attention. He's already watching you—or maybe watching Pineapple on your shoulder. You point at the ground and stamp a foot, and Sunshine, well-trained, glides down off his perch and flops at your feet. You don't have any shoulders left for him, but he stays close, rubbing his head between your shins. Smaller dorats sometimes weave between their owners' legs when they want their attention or want to comfort them; when they get too big for that, sometimes they do this instead. You rub him just behind his jaw, partially to thank him for the attention and partially to coax him out from between your legs so you can walk, and you take all three of them to the door where the military representatives are waiting.

Their ship is just outside. A compartment in the back is already open. At least the dorats aren't going to be in separate cages. You pat inside the compartment, and Sunshine jumps up and in, followed by Pineapple slithering off your shoulder. Sunshine immediately huddles in a back corner, watching as Pineapple explores the space. You have to slide Noodle off yourself, and he stirs and sits up as you set him down.

"You three are getting adopted by the military," you tell them. You feel guilty, like you're lying to them, even though it's not technically untrue and even if it was they wouldn't understand you. "Be good for them, okay? The future of X depends on its soldiers."

"Make your farewell quick," Soldier 1 says stiffly. You're probably lucky that you get to say farewell at all.

You force a smile, lean into the ship, and tug them close one by one to press your forehead against theirs. You focus your entire mind on your love for them instead of your worry. "Noodle. Sunshine. Pineapple." You say their names as you're touching them; this will probably be the last time they ever hear them. You pull back from Pineapple before he can pick up on your sudden sadness. "Stay safe."

You step back and Soldier 4 closes the compartment.

You watch from the door as the ship takes off and disappears into the sky.

###

You never see them again.

###

That's not true. If it was true, it would be less painful.

Years pass. You have a daughter; she grows, takes over the family business, and has a daughter and a child of her own. You start giving talks about dorat behavior.

After one of your talks, a soldier waits in the back while the chairs empty and the people who lingered behind speak to you. Only when they're gone does xe approach you. A generation has passed since you last saw xem, and xe looks far older; but you still recognize xir face instantly. An ache that you haven't felt in years stirs in your chest again. "Soldier 1," you say, nodding.

Xe nods back. "Specialist 8." And before you can question the title, xe offers you a new clearance badge.

###

There's a heavy, oppressive feel in the lab, although you can't tell why. It's clean, well-lit. There's no signs of suffering. But the air weighs down on you anyway.

Maybe it's because you're on a moon. You've never been on a world with a sky that's always black. You feel like you're clinging to the side of a marble hurtling alone through the void.

Something about the oppressive feeling is familiar.

"At this point, we doubt the fact that you raised our specimens will give you any particular insight into them," Specialist 3 tells you as xe escorts you down the hall. "We have, after all, been working with them for far longer than you knew them. But we're very impressed with your expertise on dorat psychology."

You've already been told that they're still working with the three "specimens" you gave them. You're relieved they've survived this long. They'll be getting near old age by now. You wonder if they were ever allowed to interact with any other dorats. You wonder if the three of them were enough company for each other. Dorats that aren't pets usually live in groups with at least a dozen adults, and pets benefit from regular opportunities to socialize with other dorats. Did they ever get those opportunities? Did they ever go outside? Did they give their flight morph enough chances to fly?

You suspect not. You don't know why you suspect not. Something about the heaviness in the air.

As Specialist 3 approaches a massive set of double doors and slows down, you realize what about the heaviness is familiar: it feels like entering a doratfighting pit to rescue the captive dorats. This is what it feels like when dozens of dorats' empathy have collapsed and crumpled in, forming a dense despairing ball of shut down and suppressed emotions. They can't cope with their own misery, much less their peers', and so they close in on themselves. Your hand flutters up to your head, pressing your temple where you can feel the psychic weight.

But this is so much heavier than you've ever felt before. There must be hundreds, thousands—"How many dorats are kept in this facility?"

Specialist 3 hesitates. "Just the three," xe says. "Maybe some of the scientists have personal pets in their quarters, but I doubt it. They wouldn't want to bring their pets to this environment."

You don't think xe's talking about the airless moon. Xir gaze flicks to your hand pressed to your temple, and xe says, "You see what I mean."

"This can't be just three. How?"

"You'll see. This is what you're here to address." Specialist 3's hand hovers over the door controls. "Moment of truth," xe says. "From here on out, everything you see is absolutely classified. Controller 0 values the secrecy of this information more than your life. If you tell anyone..."

You nod. You know. It was spelled out to you very explicitly. Any intel leaks that can be traced to you mean the execution of ME-319, ME-320, and ME-321: you, your daughter, your granddaughter. The termination of the ME matrilineage. Of course, you'll never tell—but you're terrified that someday, someone else might, and the blame will accidentally fall on your family. You would have refused to take this assignment if you could have; but you have to comply when Controller 0 comes knocking.

Specialist 3 nods and opens the door.

You step through and the weight closes in on your mind so heavily it feels like your vision is going black around the edges.

For a moment, you can't understand what you're looking at. The room resembles a ship hangar, but directly in front of you is what looks like a mountain of gold coins. No, not coins. Scales?

The mountain shifts.

You fall to your knees.

It's a massive, monstrous mutant. Ugly knotted scars thicker than your torso run between its necks and down its chest. It's all spines, and claws, and horns, and fangs—its fangs alone are half the length of your body. You didn't know creatures this large could survive outside the vacuum of space. You can tell, just from looking at it, that it's nothing but a weapon of mass destruction.

And it has three heads. And it has the broad wings of one flight morph and the long tails of two spinetail morphs. And it has numb, delirious despair in its eyes.

There are massive collars around each of its necks and cuffs around its ankles and tails; chains anchor each collar and cuff to the ground. In a grotesque parody of rings on fingers, piercings jab through its wing membranes and wrap around each of its phalanges; short chains connect the piercings to each other, forcing it to keep its phalanges together and its wings closed. It spasms and growls—its growl is so loud you can feel the floor beneath you vibrate—and then goes limp on the floor; and then spasms again; and whimpers; and goes limp again.

You try to ask a question, but all you can do is mouth the word, "What," silently.

"Meet Monster 0," Specialist 3 says. "Codename: King, if you prefer."

You want to be sick. Of all the things you feared, never in your worst nightmares...

"You can see the problem," xe goes on. "He's totally shut down emotionally. We can make him move—we've got the technology to force him to move—but we can't force him to feel again. The experiment is only a partial success as long as his empathic abilities are turned off. If we have to, we can move forward with this alone. But I've seen your writing on rehabilitating doratfighting rescues; if there's any way you can... Hey, where—?"

You're not listening to xem anymore. You've found your feet and you're rushing down the stairs so fast you miss a few steps and almost fall, heading for the main floor of the hangar—hangar? kennel? prison? You sprint for the heads of the mangled creatures. The other soldiers and scientists on the floor, seeing you approach—wearing a jingling chainmail tunic and a look of fury the likes of which Controller 0's perfectly emotionally repressed soldiers would never display—dive out of your way.

You head straight for Monster 0's faces.

Each face towers above you. Their heads are lying on the ground and you still have to look up to meet their eyes. They don't look anything like themselves anymore. Their distinctive scales—the flaky white gold, the electric yellow, the spiky green-tinged brownish gold—all gone, replaced by a uniform dull, pallid brass. The heads, distorted and altered as they were forced to this unnatural size, could have come from triplets. If you hadn't been told they were your dorats, you wouldn't have recognized them.

The head on the monster's right growls as you approach, bearing his fangs threateningly, but his eyes are glazed. The one in the middle flinches and squeezes his already shut eyes tighter closed, as if he can dream his way through this and wake up somewhere else. Only the one on the monster's left manages to focus, looking at you tiredly, studying you.

You know then. You know.

"Oh, my babies." You look up at them, between each of their faces, throat tight. "This isn't you."

The one on the left slowly leans in—does he recognize you? The right one's eyes are beginning to clear.

You reach out to touch the left one's snout, then the middle one. "I'm so sorry they did this to you. This isn't who you are."

Slowly, the right one drags his head toward you as well. The middle one's eyes crack open tiredly. You can feel their exhalations washing over you in gusts; you hear their lungs roaring like wind through a canyon.

"Do you remember who you're supposed to be?" You don't hide any of your emotions from them this time. Love pours out along with pity and grief. You lean against them, one at a time, pressing your forehead to their snouts: Specimen 1, 2, then 3; middle, right, and left; and you tell them their names: "Noodle. Sunshine. Pineapple."

Their eyes shoot wide open. An electric wave snaps over their skin, jolting you hard enough that you stumble back.

Two soldiers rush up to take your arms and tug you back, and for a moment you're so disoriented you can't tell if you're being rescued or arrested. The vision-blackening pressure on your mind has lifted all at once, so fast you feel lightheaded. The three dorats lift their heads as high as their chains will allow them, looking at each other as though they've only noticed each other for the first time; or perhaps looking at themselves through each other's eyes?

And then the rage hits you—like stepping outside at the most deathly hot peak of summer and walking into a wall of heat. Rage so thick it's like a tangible force, rage so overbearing you immediately break out in a sweat.

Then they raise their heads, and they sing.

That's the only word you have for it. It's a sound like you've never heard before. Dorats coo, or croon, or caterwaul; but this is singing. Three notes, high and quivering; a discordant chord, tremolo, in clear soprano voices; a wail that nearly sounds Xilien.

Something in the chord pierces straight into your psyche. You can feel your heart break, your future vanish, your every reason for living shrivel up and dissolve. You lose everything in a second. All that's left is keen, soul-throttling despair. Nothing matters. Everything is over.

From somewhere far outside the black hole in your mind, you hear soldiers who might not have expressed a single emotion in decades break down in sobs.

And still the dorats are singing like they're trying to end the world. Their necks raised, their back arched, their legs straining, their wings trembling. One by one, the chains pinning their left wing shut begin to snap.

You sink past despair into apathy.

###

Your spirits are still low when you wake up in the med bay, but at least you're no longer ready to die.

You remember what it felt like, though. You'll always remember what it felt like.

You're being tended to by Nurse 4. Once xe's established that you're of sound mind, xe places a call, and a couple of minutes later Soldier 1 and Specialist 3 come in.

They both look haggard. Soldier 1 has superficial scratches high on the side of xir neck where public officials in direct contact with Controller 0 get their implants. "Well done," xe says wearily. "Controller 0 finds your technique questionable, but approves of your fast results. You'll be sent home with high commendations—but don't expect to be called in to do that again."

Somewhere far away, you think you can feel anger, throbbing. Like the beginning of a pounding headache.

You process Soldier 1's statement backwards and in pieces. "Again?" How many more were they going to put through that torture? And then: "Fast results? You—you knew? You wanted this? This...?"

You gesture at your own head, trying to somehow indicate the feeling of your entire life falling to pieces.

Specialist 3 clears xir throat. Soldier 1 glances away. "Among other things, our experiments aimed to enhance Monster 0's inborn capacity to project emotions. Weaponize it, if you will."

You can only gape at xem.

Specialist 3 says, "We had no idea he'd develop a means to project them vocally." Xir voice is hoarse. "This is a... fascinating side effect of his modifications."

"Although one that reduces his usefulness in vacuums," Soldier 1 says.

Usefulness for what? What are they going to use them for?

You feel despair creep over you again.

###

As promised, you're awarded a slew of high commendations from Controller 0 before you go home. You never speak of them again.

Controller 0 also assigns you a therapist with a clearance level high enough for you to speak freely about your experience. You only visit xem a few times. Once you pass Soldier 4 in the waiting room. You didn't realize xe lives nearby. You didn't realize xe had been on the moon.

It's three more years before you, along with everyone else, see the news of the first planet conquered by X's new living weapon, "King." You tune out the hollow military propaganda singing their new weapon's praises as you watch the footage brought back from that distant world. All you can see in the dorats' eyes is hatred.

In another few years, your granddaughter becomes the first of your matrilineage in centuries not to take over the family dorat breeding business. Instead, she joins the military. Science branch. She received an invitation directly from Controller 0 itself.

She gushes about the opportunity to use your family's dorat expertise to work with the famous Monster 0—and perhaps to help make and train more monsters. After all, "0" is the number reserved for prototypes. Rumors have been swirling for years.

Before she leaves for basic training, you pull her aside, take a risk that could endanger your whole family, and whisper Monster 0's true names to her.

###

To the end of your life, you will fear that your meeting with your three dorats—your meeting with the thing they became—only made things worse for them.

You will never know that, years after your natural death, what you reawakened in them will give them the strength to escape.

#####

(Replies/reblogs are welcome & encouraged! Check the “source” link below for my masterlist of KOTM fics, as well as my AO3 and Ko-fi links.)

#godzilla #kotm #dorats #xiliens #king ghidorah #ghidorah #fanfic #my writing #(click that link if u wanna see uptight soldiers obsessing way too hard over the mating habits of snake kittens)

[marawrder]

who is / was your favourite muse of all time to play?

@nosestealer ⏤ mun questions

i just answered this here for @pcltrghosts​ bUT if you don’t mind i’m gonna talk about another character that comes very close bc i love! ok buckle up.

idk if you’ve seen greek, this abc family show about a college campus where the greek system of sororities and fraternities is really over the top and it’s all about those relations between the frats and the sorority drama and you know. that stuff. VERY stereotypical, which makes it funny to me tho. a friend of mine had an rp board with that story as a background, sans all the characters but keeping the uni + its sororities and fraternities. there’s two main frats, one is the stereotypical rich boys in suits with trust funds and all that stuff, the other is the stereotypical brain-dead beer pong-playing lazy fucks who really are just there to party. the latter is called kappa tau gamma, and that is where my character, bertie cooper, comes in. he’s this big boy with the sunniest and most outgoing disposition, like he is always in a good mood and virtually nothing can anger or upset him. he is so lazy and laid back and literally everything is a joke to him, which made it so fun to write bc the internal dialogue was always so hilarious and i came up with so many gags that wouldn’t have occured to me in my life but for that character it was really non-stop. for some depth ( but only really just the tiniest amount, and maybe this too is only for the meme ) he had a twin brother that was his polar opposite and a Big Secret™. the secret is what his first name, bertie, is actually a nickname for. it really embarrassed him, so every time someone asked him, he would make up a new bert name ( bertram, herbert, albert, bertholomew ) so that nobody would know the truth. but it’s actually dagobert. ( you’re dutch and i’m german, so we’re probably both thinking about dagobert duck hehehe icon 8) ) the only people who know that secret is of course his family, but they’re in nevada while he studies in ohio, so there’s no threat of his secret coming out… except if his twin brother decides to spill. robin cooper is actually his younger twin ( by a few minutes ), but he is 100% more mature, and bertie would say too mature. he’s really out there hustling, starting uni to do law 2 years before bertie who’s just kinda chilling in that time. he has a real stick up his ass and is not a fan of bertie at all who came to his college and basically ruined his reputation bc they all mistake him for this lazy unwashed kappa tau bro when all he wants to do is HUSTLE >:(( and also he really condemns bertie’s life choices, you know putting partying before studying and all that. ( it sounds so cliché and goofy but. i wrote a screenplay based on this dynamic once for class and it was so emotional and tragic and i have so many feels ). bertie likes to annoy him non-stop but also doesn’t care much for robin’s opinion. they’re each going their own way. anyway, it was so much fun writing bertie bc he has such a distinctive voice for me and i’m a meme loving fuck so being able to make all these jokes really extended my lifespan by 10 more years.

i kinda went off oop but if you’re still with me and have the patience, under the cut i’ll introduce u to my highlight reel of bertie cooper

this one scene were the thread was unfortunately deleted but basically he’s talking to this girl called jean snart and is like ‘huh, snart. that sounds like a mix between sneeze and fart. i’m p sure i’ve used that word before.’

where he talks about his best friend and then says “yes, our friendship really equals hearteyes-emoji sparkle-emoji little-pink-heartsemoji two-dancing-bunny-ladies-emoji and all that stuff”

u know i’m not gonna give you any context but i have used the words Ur dad says hi and Slimthicc Apparel in a “serious” post.

“on this beautiful day bertie had already accomplished a lot: he got up, … now he was taking a nap on the couch on the living room.”

in his frat they give the pledges nicknames that stick their entire college career and.. he really called this one boy Bush because he lost at jenga… u know.… made a tower fall..

you know, using yeet in normal dialogue, as you do

“he made a surprised face that quite resembled the emoticon colon uppercase O”

he’s also a vet student and calls himself dogs’ rights activist :’)

and also this meme which isnt as funny if you explain it but i will ( also used pics of kellan lutz bc that was obv the fc 8) )

1. his family except for robin sees him as this innocent angel2. robin thinks he’s a clown lmao3. zbz stands for zeta beta zeta and that is a sorority that wants to be no 1 and therefore don’t associate with the slackers of kappa tau = they think he’s trash4. it’s….. it’s a robin costume…. get it….5. he was also pledge trainer for his frat!! he basically made the freshmen who were first joining the frat make all these initiation tasks from like crazy stuff to basically house chores lmao6. dobler’s is a campus bar where he once on a dare sang karaoke in “drag”7. “hot” but also a joke8. haha made u look!

and last but not least: this abomination

#nosestealer #long post / #( im SORRY THIS ESCALATED ) #( i swear i dont love him more than sirius but i felt like this needed CONTEXT ) #⌞ ⋆ ooc. ⏤ answered ⌝

[despairdiseases]

When you walk away (Nothing more to say)

chapter 2 -  #Pattonisleftoutonceagain

trigger warnings: sympathetic Remus and Deceit, mention of human taxidermy (just one sentence), grave-robbing (no active grave robbing), swearing, dogs, mentions of death but no one actually dies

summary: Just the boyos bonding in an old haunted church (I am sorry Patton stans Patton just would not allow of This Behavior™)

author’s note: uploaded another one! yay! the trigger warnings on this one are wild, I didn’t even realize that haha. Anyways, enjoy!

There was something wet on his face. Virgil scrunched up his eyebrows. The wet seemed to move, it felt kind of harsh on his skin. It was shaped...like a tongue. Virgil shot up, eyes wide. He looked at the spot next to him on the couch, staring at the golden retriever who was still trying to lick him. He moved away from the couch.

He heard someone chuckle behind him, "Good morning, Sunshine," he turned around to be faced with Roman, who was eating eggs at the table.

Virgil opened his mouth to say something, but found himself stuck, as if there was a hand around his throat, but inside.

"Rise and shine," Roman took another bite of his eggs.

Virgil scrambled for his phone. Uncle Emile is gonna kill him. Sure enough, there were 23 messages and missed calls in total. He was soon typing out a response: 'Hey, Em, I'm okay, sorry I scared you, I fell asleep.'

He looked at the smudged number on his forearm and decided to save it. He also texted this number 'Remus? Where did u go? u still in the house?'

He got the response almost immediately. 'no we went to starbucks lmao'

'so u finally woke up lolololololol'

He also sent a picture of Virgil sleeping on the couch.

'so,,,bootiful,,,,,,,so,,puree'

'lmao'

Virgil huffed and began typing: 'ok, I get it, stop spamming me. Also, bring me a caramel latte would u??'

'k'

Virgil looked at the time, 7:23 shining on the screen. He opened Notes, typing out a question for Roman: 'is that ur dog?'

He turned the screen to face Roman, who looked at it and then at the dog eating from his bowl, "Yeah, her name's Princess Stain The Sixth" before Virgil could ask him what the fuck, Roman continued, "Remus named her, we just call her Princess."

Oh, that explains it. Virgil nodded. There was a long silence between the two of them, Virgil looking at Princess while Roman ate his eggs.

"So...you're mute?" at last Roman looked up at the other. Virgil contemplated the answer. He didn't want to explain his condition and answer Roman's questions, and there was not much of a chance that he will ever speak around him. He nodded.

"Ah, sorry about yesterday, there aren't any mute or deaf students in our school. I know that's not an excuse, but still," he took the plate and put it in the sink, "Though I do have one question..." Virgil raised his eyebrows, "Why do you hang out with Remus?"

Virgil began typing, well, actually deleting more than typing: 'I mean, yeah he can be a bit extra, but he's not that bad when you tune out most of the things he says.'

Roman quirked an eyebrow, "'A little bit extra'? I'm sorry, are we talking about the same person? He listed off more gory and effective ways to kill the main characters while we watched the movie. One of which included a detailed process of human taxidermy."

'Okay, he can be really fucking disgusting when he wants, but at least he's not a boring prude.'

Roman shook his head, "Try living with him, after a week you would be crying tears of happiness if he stopped talking."

Virgil stared at him.

"R-right, sorry."

Both looked at the front door as it practically flew open, "Hi bitches! Dee already went to school, but I just couldn't leave you here," Remus walked over to Virgil and handed him a Starbucks cup. He took a sip and scrunched up his face. Pure black coffee, "Oops, sorry, must've gotten them mixed up."

How can you even drink that? Virgil questioned. He wanted an answer to that, but the Latte was more important.

"Okay, so we have a few minutes before the school bell rings, do you need anything?" Roman looked at the clock hanging above the fridge, then at the other two. Virgil shrugged, there wasn't anything he could take. Remus went to his room for his backpack. Virgil got out his phone again, seeing there was 1 unread message from his uncle: 'Alrighty, just make sure that it will not happen again :) love you too, meet me at school <3' Virgil smiled a little at that.

"Okay, that's everything, let's go!" Remus was already out the door, and Virgil ran to catch up to him, Roman just stayed behind them.

They were walking too fast, so Virgil couldn't type without it looking like a bunch of gibberish. Instead, Virgil settled into listening to Remus ramble on and on about that one cute boy in Starbucks with a broken nose, how Damon got almost bit by Princess again, about what time he wants to spray the graffiti in the boy's bathroom...wait what? Virgil tried to forget about the last part. He didn't want to get in trouble on his second day, this school will be different. He's gonna be a good student...well, at least a mediocre one. Yeah, mediocre is good, none of this graffiti business. He hopes Remus won't be offended. It was nice having a friend. Were they even friends? Virgil felt a nudge on his shoulder.

"Dude, you gucci?" Virgil nodded, "So yeah, as I was saying, deodorant doesn't taste that bad."

They departed while going to their lockers. None of their lockers were close to one another, which Virgil thought was a shame, but at least Remus isn't sure which is his. He wouldn't want to open it one day only to find it filled with dead possums or whatever Remus would think of. He caught the sight of Damon talking with one of the girls in his English class. When Damon finally noticed Virgil looking at him, he wasted no time approaching him, ignoring the girl, who eventually scoffed and walked away.

"So, the sleeping beauty finally woke up, huh?" Virgil gave him an unamused look, nudging his head against the direction of the girl. Damon looked back at her, "Oh, Bailey? Don't worry about her, just gossiping," he waved his hand dismissively.

"What are we talking about?" Remus said as he leaned against Virgil's locker.

"Okay, you didn't hear it from me, but Remy was caught fucking with Nate under the social studies hallway's staircase. Again. But, like, I dunno, it's just a rumour after all..." Deceit exaggerated his hand movements for a more dramatic effect.

"Okay, we all know the last part is bullshit. Of course he would get caught, he's such an amateur," they both looked between the three, their eyes landing on Virgil, "...You don't know who Remy is, do you?" Virgil shook his head.

"Remy is the school's professional slacker. He spends all of his nights at concerts and parties, then drinks coffee to try to stay awake, which doesn't work most of the time anyway, so he sleeps a lot in class. If you offer to buy him Starbucks he will do anything for you. He's also a major slut, a cheater. He's utterly disgusting. Don't ever talk to him," the longer Damon talked the more intense his death glare got, but although it was aimed at Virgil, it wasn't aimed at Virgil.

"You're only saying that because he broke up with you," Remus smirked.

At that moment, the glare was averted to Remus and Damon looked more offended than angry, "He absolutely did not! I broke up with him. It was his fault that he was drunk and still thought we were together. I didn't even know he was drunk. It's those godforsaken glasses, he never takes them off. Why the hell does he even wear them?" Damon crossed his arms.

"Maybe he doesn't have eyes..."

Virgil squinted his eyes and let out an exaggerated cough. The couple looked up at him.

"Oooh yeah, sorry, we forgot about you," there wasn't anything malicious behind Remus' words, as far as Virgil could tell.

"Anyways," the two diverted their eyes at Damon, who pointed his finger at Virgil, "You have economics, right?" Virgil nodded, "Great, we too," Damon smirked. At the word 'economics' Remus let out a loud and exaggerated groan. Damon just rolled his eyes, "C'mon, economics isn't that bad when you actually put in effort."

Remus put his face in his hands, "I don't wanna put in effort..." he drew out the last word.

"Nevertheless, we should probably get to class," and so, the three began walking down the halls. When they did get to the classroom, Remus and Damon already sat together and shrugged at Virgil. There were two empty seats. One was next to a sleeping guy with a leather jacket whose coffee was tipped over and slowly trickled on his desk. He assumed that was Remy, no thanks, he'd rather sit next to that cafeteria kid from the other day. As soon as he sat down the stranger beamed at him and began talking. Virgil learned his name was Patton, and that Roman had already told him he was mute, so he was sorry. Virgil accepted the apology. There was just something off about him that Virgil couldn't place a finger on. It wasn't the fact that Patton was too cheery and chatty for his own good or the way he always moved his finger, wiggling them around or playing with a pencil, no, Virgil got his fair share of hyperactive friendly kids who make friends with everyone they see. Patton got quiet when the teacher walked in. Almost...too quiet, if that's a thing. Virgil assumes it is. The kid isn't even paying that much attention, much more focused on doodling flowers and cats in his notebook. Virgil decided to ignore it, he wasn't about to stick his nose up some stranger's business. The only interesting moments in the lesson were when Remy woke up and realized he doesn't even have this class, or when one of the other teenagers disrupted the lesson and Mr. Porter got all red in the face. He let out a sigh when the bell rang. As he was getting up a hand wrapped around his shoulders.

"We're thinking about skipping the rest of the day, you comin'?"

Virgil furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Damon, "Don't act like you actually enjoy school. And before you...type anything, yes, it is only your second day, which means they will most likely let you off with a warning, so even if we get caught, you don't have to worry."

"So, you goin'?" Virgil shook his head. Remus raised his eyebrows, "You sure, emo?" Virgil shook his head again, this time slower.

"Well, skipping it is then," Damon walked out of the class as the other two followed. Virgil didn't complain, but it's not like he could anyways, "Around this time, most of the school hall monitors are at the cafeteria or the classrooms, so we can just walk out. If it's not a bad day that is, but even then it's typically just Oliver, who will let you go if you bribe him. Eight dollars usually does it," they were in the door when they heard a voice behind them and froze.

"Did you think you could just skip without me?"

They turned around to be faced with Roman with crossed arms.

"I mean, yeah, kinda," Remus said.

Roman chuckled, "Just because you are the 'Bad Twin' doesn't mean I am not getting sick of this school. So, how about you let me go with you and I won't tell anyone," he held out his hand. Remus stared at it for a while before spitting on his and shaking Roman's. Really, Roman should know better.

"Deal."

"Great, the twins together. Just what I needed," Damon grumbled, and Virgil couldn't help but nod his head in agreement.

"What do you think you're doing? Also, Roman, how could you?"

"Ah shit, not another one," Damon made an actual physically pained face that that.

"Logan, where's Patton?" Roman looked around.

"In the class, like you all should be," Logan pushed up his glasses.

Remus leaned over to the three, "Let's just keeps walking and pretend we didn't hear him," so, they turned around and walked to the school entrance, ignoring Logan's remarks and shouts as he followed them while the others tried to suppress their giggles, Remus especially. It was about 3 minutes after exiting the school and Logan realized there was no chance he could go back now, gave up, and tagged along. They all talked over where they should go, but Virgil's suggestion of going to the old abandoned church won by a majority vote, which meant that Damon, Remus and Virgil were all for it and Logan and Roman tried to protest but failed. The church was about eight minutes from the school. Neither of them knew why the church was abandoned, or how long it was, but nevertheless, it was pretty cool. Virgil didn't have a lot of time to explore the town, so walking around was refreshing. Well, it would be if it wasn't so damn hot.

"God fucking damn it, how can you walk in a leather jacket in this weather and not sweat?" Damon squinted his eyes at Remus.

"I don't sweat, it's disgusting."

Roman laughed, "So that's disgusting to you? Sweating? Nevermind that, how does that even work? You just don't sweat 'cause you don't want to?" he said with a mocking tone.

Remus gave him a deadpan look, "Yeah. Sweating is disgusting, so I don't do it."

Roman didn't know how to respond to that. Neither did any of them, except for Logan, "Well, there is a condition called anhidrosis, which is a reduced ability or inability to produce sweat. Is it possible that you have that?"

"No, I think I just don't like sweating," Remus shook his head.

"Can we stop talking about sweating and instead focus on the fact that the church is surrounded by a fence?" Damon gestured his hand towards the old church which came into view, "I mean, of course, we can just climb over it, but it has spikes, so..."

"Is there a hole under the fence? Or maybe in it?" Logan pushed his glasses up. Damon looked at him.

"It's iron, try again, sherlock," the group walked closer to the church. Remus was already touching the fence, trying to climb over it while Roman tried to stop him and get him back down. They all looked around when they heard a phone ringing. Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He sighed and put the phone to his ear.

"Yes, Patton?" the other four tried to be as quiet as possible, "Ah, no, I am afraid I'm not at school, I..." Logan looked between all of them, settling at Damon who was mouthing 'You're sick', if Virgil guessed correctly, "I got nauseous, so the teachers made me go home," there is a bit of silence, only a muffled quiet voice coming from the phone that neither of them could decipher, "Yes, I would appreciate. I apologize for making you anxious...Yes, of course. See you after school," he ended the call and put the phone back in his back pocket.

"You didn't mute your phone, are you fucking mental?"

"Remus, shut the fuck up, anyways, do any of you see a gate?" after Damon stopped talking Virgil pointed at Logan. The other four looked at him confused. He gestured for Logan to move, then pointed again. The four looked in the said direction, "Oh, there it is. Does anyone know how to pick locks?"

"I do," said two voices at once. Remus and Logan looked at each other, "To be honest, I am not surprised," Logan said.

"To be honest, I am pleasantly surprised. What else can you do with those hands, nerd?"

"Right, well, Remus, I am sure you have a bobby pin in that monstrosity you call hair," Damon scrunched up his nose.

Remus pulled out two bobby pins out of his bun, "You're just jelly of my long shiny locks."

"That greasy thing hasn't been washed in three years, I am not jealous. Trust me."

Remus and Logan walked over to the lock, "Padlocks are easy to picklock, this should only take a couple seconds," Logan takes on of the bobby pins out of Remus' hand and puts it in the lock. They can't really see what the two are doing, but as promised, they hear the padlock open. Remus throws the padlock away and Loga opens the gate. Remus is the first one to run in, walking to the front door. The rest followed and quickly caught up with him.

The church itself had two large towers on either side. It had a stone structure and the left tower was missing a roof on one side. It had long stained glass windows with a pointed arch, some of the lower ones were broken. The right tower and what had remained of the left had a sharply pointed spire with a cross on top.

"I am assuming this is gothic revival church since an original gothic church would be more broken than this."

"Who cares, let's go inside!" Roman was already opening the door. Surprisingly, the door was open. They stepped inside. The inside was massive. It was long with columns on either side. Instead of the ceiling was a ribbed vault, "Holy shit..." Roman's voice echoed through the church. The crunching of the leaves on the floor echoed as well. Everything echoed.

"Remus, if you scream I swear to god..." Damon glared at the said man. Remus just smiled and shrugged. Then he screamed. After everyone was done covering their ears and the echo slowly fainted, the four began yelling at him and Damon pushed him away, to which Remus just laughed.

They explored the church for a while, which involved Remus mostly hanging off the statues and drawing on the walls with pens, Logan taking pictures and analyzing the interior, Roman standing behind the podium and preaching about Beyonce and Damon and Virgil messing with the organ. After that, they went out in the back where the graveyard was.

"I bet the church was closed down because it was haunted. Do you think someone was killed here?"

Damon looked at Remus, "It's an old abandoned church, of course someone was killed here."

"Do you think there are ghosts?" Roman looked back at the angel statue covered in moss that they passed a while ago.

"Ghosts don't exist."

"Of course they do, specs," Roman spat back.

"Is that so? Do you have any physical proof to back up your statement?"

"No, that's kinda the point of ghosts."

"My dudes, I think I just found a grave robbed grave," they turned to look in Remus' direction. The said man was looming over a seemingly empty grave. When they took a closer look at it they noticed that the casket was opened and almost invisible under the dirt that fell back in the hole. The decomposed remains of the women in it looked terrifying, "That's, like, so cool. I wish that were me."

Virgil didn't think it was cool. Actually, he thought it was revolting and unnerving. The thought of him dying and someone just digging up his corpse to look for something to make money with is disturbing. He stepped away from the grave. He didn't feel safe anymore, instead, it was replaced with an eerie feeling that someone was watching them. He needed to get out of here. He pulled out his phone and began typing. He tapped on Roman's shoulder and the shorter man eventually turned around and read the message, 'u wanna go to dennys? i havent eaten anything all day and im starving'

Roman turned to the others, "Hey, wanna go to Dennys? I am starting to feel kinda hungry."

"Glad you mentioned it, my stomach acids are literally starting to eat me up from the inside," Remus turned around to face the other two.

"Yeah, sure."

"That is satisfactory."

#when you walk away (nothing more to say) #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus #sanders sides #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #analodemus #slow burn #the slowest burn

[cosmicmoved]

INTRODUCING SHO! about a week ago, i made this post about an idea for a new oc ( you can go ahead and read that too, if you want, just in case i miss something in this post) and i’m gonna be working on officially adding him to the blog! he’s on the muse page now but i haven’t finished writing up his stats so that’ll come a little later lmao,,,anyway, this post will serve as a little intro/primer post for Sho! it probably won’t be super detailed on the backstory front because i want to write it up properly but it should let you know what you need to know! (and maybe what you don’t need to know too bc some of these facts will be p useless lmaooo)

FIRST OFF! i want to reiterate that sho’s essentially a spin-off character to rika’s canon. he’s connected to rika through her co-worker (and the nephew of the woman who owns the shop where she works), hayato. sho and hayato studied under the same mentor when they were teens and are both from similar witching families (if you ignore the part where hayato’s dad is a tv illusionist & minor star lmao). hayato was kind of a prodigy genius type whereas sho was a slacker but they got on surprisingly well. rika and sho HAVE met but they don’t know each other that well and rika’s really not sure what she thinks of sho because he’s...the human embodiment of the winky kiss emoji ( 😘 that one).

you can find some basic info about sho under the cut! i might have forgotten something important so i’ll probably make more posts in the future but i got fed up writing this so it’ll have to do for now ):<

his full name is tsukidate sho ( 月館祥 ) and he doesn’t go by any nicknames since sho is already short and easy enough on its own. he was born 8th july, 1994 in kawagoe, saitama, and currently lives in shibuya, tokyo.

specifically, he lives in his office in kabukicho, tokyo’s entertainment district. since the service he offers is a little niche and maybe even a little frowned upon, he feels a little more at home there. if nothing else, he’s not going to draw much attention to himself by doing weird shit in the middle of kabukicho.

if you didn’t read the post linked above, it’s worth explaining what this service is. fuck, it’s worth explaining either way. sho is a ‘Witch Detective’. this is a title he mostly made up himself and it’s not exactly a real profession but the long and short of it is that he functions as a private investigator who works on cases dealing with magic and and the occult.

sho is a witch himself, hence the title, but he isn’t very closely involved with the broader witching community. i’ll get into his family history later (like i said before, i’m thinking something to do with divination and curses & i might draw inspo from onmyoudou? like not exactly that bc it’s not quite fantastical enough but that’s why i said inspo) but sho isn’t personally very interested in the exclusivity most commonly associated with the community and the fact that he offers his services to regular humans and witches alike is a point of contention.

although he’s based in tokyo, he’s willing to travel just about anywhere in the world for a job so long as the client is willing to pay for his travel and accommodation. now, you might think this means he only offers his services to the wealthy but he’s usually willing to take on a few cases at once so, if he already happens to be in your country and you want his help, he’s willing to help. (from a writing standpoint, this means that locations in threads aren’t a HUGE logistic concern because he could be anywhere at any time)

sho has little faith in the judicial system and he doesn’t like the police. to be honest, he’s not even that interested in serving justice. although he calls himself a detective, his work is mostly based around helping people solve mysteries or find things. essentially, he loves a good mystery and he’s a nosy bastard. BUT he also has the skills to justify sticking his nose in other people’s business.

the cases he handles vary from kind of silly to pretty fucking grim. he does tend to screen things first, just to ensure he’s not stuck chasing up things that aren’t going to go anywhere and he’s extra picky with cases from regular people for that reason. he tends to charge all cases the same though and it won’t cost someone more to ask him to help with something on the grizzlier side. honestly, he loves a challenge.

he’s a huge flirt. he doesn’t really hit on people so to speak, mostly because he’s not actually hoping the flirting will get him anywhere, but he likes attention so...y’know. winks more often than any normal person should. he’s not a perv bc that’s just not...funny or interesting to me ASDFGFD

he gets REALLY into the cases he’s solving if they’re interesting enough so, uhhhhh, be prepared for him to dump everything he hunts on you. he’s actually GOOD at his job and solving cases but he also tends to get carried away with his imagination so it might be a while before he reels himself in and gets focused on the actual point /:

he doesn’t like to shut up. he likes the sound of his own voice. also has no patience. has a clause in his contract for when people hire him that says that, if you find him annoying, you’re just going to have to get over it.

i’ll get into the full backstory at a later date but i want to add that, when sho was about 14 or 15, his best friend went missing. this is the one case he can’t seem to solve and it haunts him to no end because he was the last person to see his friend. one second he was there. the next, he was gone. but three hours of lost memory passed by in that second, leaving a confused gap in sho’s recollection of the event. sho is one of the only people who even believes his friend his still alive. he’s not sure why he believes so strongly that this is the case but there’s a gut feeling. something he can’t place.

and that’s kind of way he does the work he does. there’s something cathartic about helping people find the answers they need when you can’t find your own. he knows what it’s like to have nobody to turn to and, if he can help others find closure, that’s better than nothing. eases the survivor’s guilt a little bit.

#« 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 (sʜᴏ) » / 「 headcanon. 」 #ASDFGHJGFD GOD THIS IS A RAMBLY FUCKING MESS IM SORRY #but i've been trying to finish this all week and i've finally written a good amount so i dooooo not care #sorry if some parts make no sense i guess ASDFGFDS #i might post a starter call for him at some point once i've gotten through more of what i owe! ('''': #i want to write him asap bc he sounds like he's pain in the fucking neck #sorry if i didn't do a great job of explaining his personality bc i'm personally a BIT rubbish at that...u'll have to wait for the #ic content !!!!! ANYWAY UH I HOPE HE SEEMS INTERESTING #POSTING NEW MUSES ALWAYS MAKES ME NERVOUS BUT I LIKE SHO !! #might finetune the backstory a bit bc idk how i feel abt it but throws arms up !! yeah

[otome-reviews]

Midnight Cinderella: “School Days” Pt 2 Review

There’s something about our MidCin prince consorts as schoolboys that’s utterly charming :) Here’s my personal ranking of the second batch of stories, from least to most favorite!

#4: Byron

After precisely four run-ins with our king (and two attempts from MC at sharing cookies she made for the school festival), Byron and MC are in love. Good thing that rumor about B being engaged was fake news! But did I mis-read, or did Byron semi-propose to MC by the end of the story?! (“I don’t have a fiancée. That’s just a rumor. But then again, I wouldn’t mind welcoming you in that way.”) These two moved way way too fast imho - both in story time and IRL, since King B didn’t show up until Chapter 1 was almost over! That said, Byron was fantastic and cool as always, and Nico unsubtly wing-manning by ditching them on a “group date” was definitely a highlight!

#3: Sid

MC and our resident bad boy/truant embark on an adventure to find out who stole the student registry database. Which would be awesome and fun to read, if Wysteria didn’t have asshole teachers who were ready to suspend Sid for the crime without any evidence whatsoever! That’s just total bullshit. Sid was in fine form though imho, going from his classic “Yeah, you’re not my type. But if you want, I’ll give you a kiss” schtick to confessing his love in record time. Sid’s bad boy slacker spy thing really isn’t my jam tbh, but he does seems fun in this story ^_^

#2: Louis

Everyone’s favorite ice princess thinks “dances are stupid and pointless,” but you can’t really blame the guy when everyone only wants a piece of him thanks to his family name! Everyone except MC, of course. She’s just taken in by his pretty face, and I completely understand. Anyway, by the time MC convinced Louis to attend the dance with her, I was fully on board this ship! Overall, this ES really reminded me of a cute Cinderella story sans evil stepmother, and I really liked it! Favorite line: “It’s strange but...when I’m with you, I get all flustered.” 💕

#1: Leo

Leo’s story was my favorite in the batch by far, by virtue of featuring an organic friends-to-lovers story that spans a long period of time! There are so many other things I loved about this story: Leo’s nerdy, glasses wearing self (at odds with his slightly flirty persona), Sebastian his sassy talking parrot... have I mentioned the glasses yet?! I really really need to get my hands on this guy’s MS (after I read through Giles. I got your ask Anon, loud and clear!). Leo sounds like such a babe. ^_^ Favorite scene: when Sebastian calls out Leo (“You’re a flirt, Leo, a flirt”). Lmao. Sebastian’s not wrong... 😂

Overall, I slightly preferred the first batch of School Days stories because they were more slice-of-life-y overall, but nonetheless I enjoyed how different each mini-story this time was from each other. What did y’all think? :)

#midnight cinderella #midcin #midcin leo #midcin louis #midcin sid #midcin byron #school days #event #review #literally everything i post is queued if i can help it

[hollenius]

I'm so so sorry but I have to: Werner for the character meme (and/or Chuck McGill, if you can't think of anything!)

What the hell, I'm gonna do Werner AND Chuck

Werner

Fav thingabout him: He is so sweet; if I had a German uncle or grandpa or something, I'dwant him to be mine. He obviously takes his work very seriously too. He(initially) seems like a very cautious, careful sort of guy...unfortunatelythis attitude does not extend to all aspects of his life.

Least favthing: He's too sweet, dammit. His naivete and trusting nature made megenuinely angry, because I couldn't believe anyone could be so stupid aboutanything when he seemed fairly smart about everything else. I don't think youhave to be "street-smart" to understand that breaking out of an enclosedcompound without permission isn't the sort of thing you'd be allowed to getaway with. I was annoyed at how he felt like a plot device at the endthere--that he just existed to force Mike to have to kill him. It's a fault ofthe writing more than the character. Everyone could see the end coming from amile away, which is (as far as I can remember) unprecedented in the series.Even things that were heavily telegraphed and seemed obvious usually carriedsome sort of unforeseen twist, i.e. everyone thinking the lantern was going tobe involved in Chuck's death, but not knowing it was going to be a suicide. Thesecond they showed Mike building up a relationship with Werner, everyone knewexactly where it was headed. Also, this is a weird pet peeve, but I hate how healways called Mike "Michael". Bro, you've been working with him formonths, you are the only one who calls him that.

Fav line:(agh, unfortunately I can't recall any because I don't have any way ofrewatching season 4 at the moment. I love that he was courteous enough totranslate into English that he felt like he was going to throw up in the bumpyvan ride.)

brOTP: Him& Mike as cute old man drinking buddies.

OTP: Werner& his unseen wife, I guess. (That phone call before his death was so sad. I hope nothing happens to her, but this is the Breaking Bad Cinematic Universe, so bad things often happen to innocent people.)

nOTP: idk,Werner/Kai? I haven't really seen him shipped with anybody so I can't say Ihave any strong opinions on the matter.

randomheadcanon: (again, I need to rewatch all of season 4, because I remember thestory arcs, but not enough of the little details in dialogue and stuff.)

unpopularopinion: I have to admit, I don't know enough of what the popular opinions onWerner are to know what an unpopular opinion would be. I liked him, I just wishhis character arc felt less contrived and that he was treated like less of adevice. I also have seen some people in some places comparing him to Walt,which doesn't really make sense to me, because personality-wise they're justtoo far removed from each other. (Then again, people were even comparing dopeyPryce to Walter White, which was also a stretch!)

song Iassociate w/ him: I...I have no idea! Sorry. (So long, farewell, aufwiedersehen, goodbye?)

fav picture: the cute little drawings @callmcgills did of him! (Also, ugh, the shot where he is, uh, shot...is beautiful. Depressing, but cinematically beautiful. I’m not posting that here though.)

 Chuck

Fav thingabout him: Honestly, as a fellow cowardly, anxiety-ridden, socially maladroit, perfectionistolder child, aspects of him are extremely relatable, frightening as that may beto admit. (My younger brother is of the slacker/moocher variety, rather thanthe con man variety, though.) I don't agree with everything he does, but I understandwhy he does it. (This is actually pretty similar to my attitude towardsSkyler's actions in Breaking Bad--I don't necessarily agree with her decisions,but I mostly understand why she acts the way she does.)

Least favthing: I think he should've been willing to at least put Jimmy on some sort ofprobationary path to HHM after he landed Sandpiper. HHM was under no obligationto hire Jimmy after he passed the bar (a lot of fandom seems to feel otherwise,which makes no sense! I don't think any other firm would've wanted to hireJimmy either!) Jimmy probably would've still managed to screw something up, butat least then if Chuck wanted to officially bar him from working for HHM forgood, Jimmy would know why, and what it was that he had done to cause that. Itdoes no good to punish someone if he doesn't even understand he's beingpunished, which is what the whole issue is in the first place with Chuck goingbehind Jimmy's back and using Howard as the perpetual bearer of bad news.

Fav line:"Because if there's one thing kids love, it's local printjournalism."

brOTP: lmao Chuck is bros with nobody except his space blanket, and his ol'sipping-scotch-and-chortling companion Howard, before that relationship gotdestroyed...

OTP: ...althoughI must also confess a SHAMEFUL desire to ship Chuck/Howard, because it's gotsuch a messed up power dynamic, because they've known each other for at least18 years, because Howard's clearly still so much in awe of Chuck (which Chuckprobably enjoys), and because neither of them seems to have any other friendsor close relationships. (Are we ever going to learn what's up with Howard'swedding ring? Even my mom thinks Howard is gay at this point! And what's upwith papa Hamlin? Did he die? Retire?) Canon-wise, I'm actually really curiousabout Chuck & Rebecca's relationship, because I have to wonder what it washe did that caused her to divorce him, but not bear any particular grudge oranimus towards him afterwards. He was clearly really upset about the divorce,but doesn't bear any ill-will towards her either. She doesn't appear to enteredinto any new relationship after the divorce either. It's all very mysterious.

nOTP: I can'ttell if this person was serious or not, but I swear I remember seeing someonepropose some theory that Kim had fucked Chuck at some point, and that's gonnaget a BIG NO from me.

randomheadcanon: oh god I've got like five hundred of them at this point. Themassive infodump that was Chuck's obituary in the season 4 premiere contributedto a lot of them, I think. I imagine Chuck's freshman year of college, at age14, was absolute hell for him. He was so proud to get accepted to an Ivy Leagueschool, but had been upset it wasn't a more prestigious one, like Harvard,Yale, or Princeton. (He had applied to them and had a few interviews, but unbeknownstto him, he had been heavily penalized in their byzantine admissions proceduresbecause, despite his sterling academic record, they didn’t find him outgoing or athleticenough.) His parents put him on the train to Philadelphia by himself, with afew suitcases, a map, and $50. He had no problems getting to the university,but was pretty overwhelmed right off the bat by the fact that everyone else wasolder and wealthier than him; he had dealt with this to some extent in high school, butnot to this degree (I headcanon his fictional alma mater, Francis Xavier HighSchool, as a typical Jesuit all-boys preparatory school that draws heavily fromupper-middle-class suburban families). Here he was, a literal child, thrustinto the adult world, and the world of the elites, at that. He probably feltself-conscious about things he hadn't even realized he could feelself-conscious about before, and spent at least a couple nights sobbing intohis pillow, and praying that his roommate couldn't hear him. He made a coupledesperate attempts to fit in, with a relatively low level of success (e.g. goingto a party and trying to impress people there by playing piano, only to get abeer spilled on him instead), before deciding it wasn't worth it and he wouldthrow himself singlemindedly into his classes and extracurriculars. He had hisfirst-ever panic attack sometime during his first semester, and wound up at thecampus doctor's office because he had convinced himself he was having a heart attack.On being told he was physically fine, he was indignant, but all the same, henever told his family about the incident, or anyone else either. Somewherearound this time, he also gets a letter from his parents, telling him he'sgoing to be a big brother in a few months, and won't this be exciting for him?(He wants to tell them his life is too exciting for him as it is, but saysnothing, instead writing back that he is sure having a younger sibling to helplook after will be the greatest experience of his life. He almost convinceshimself that he means it.)

unpopularopinion: I DON'T HATE CHUCK. (The most unpopular opinion of all!) He's myfavorite character on the show, with the obvious disclaimer that saying acharacter is my favorite doesn't mean I approve of all the character's actions,etc. Also, I know he's just a fictional character, but I'm still pissed offabout people celebrating that he killed himself & saying they hope it waspainful & stuff like that. Like, how much of an asshole do you have to be?What a horrible thing to say.

song Iassociate w/ him: Burning Down The House j/k, probably Faure's Sicilienne,because I too, cannot play it on piano without screwing up

fav picture: Not a picture, but I can’t resist.

[conspiracieys-archive]

21?’s Tag

I was tagged by the very lovely @cthulhuwithtea

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

Nickname: Mercy !

Zodiac: Gemini binch!

Height: iunno. like 5′6?

Last Movie I Saw: uhh.... might have been Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales ?

Last Thing I Googled: ................................... ahegao

Favourite Musician: the ever lovely Ms. Ella Fitzgerald!!!!!

Song Stuck In My Head: Seaside Rendezvous by Queen!

Other Blogs: i mean i have them but i’m such a depressed slacker that i don’t rly use them anymore :( i wanna get back into my mag7 blog but it’s difficult by myself cause i need ppl to bounce ideas off of... cries

Do I Get Asks: YA ... i’m The Dusan Nemec Bitch or something :///// i love him and i love talking about him

Following: i follow a mismatch of blogs? who knows what content i’ll see when i log into this hellscape

Amount Of Sleep: anywhere from 2 to 18 hours lmao

Lucky Number: 2!!

What Am I Wearing: got on some leggings, a tank top, my Rockies hoodie, and a blanky. (bonus: got my fucken space heater pointed right at me) 

Dream Trip: i wanna go back to Vegas! also i am gonna eventually haul my ass up to Canada, also eventually i wanna study cooking in Mexico

Dream Job: i want to own my own small restaurant one day! not a big stressful one, but a small, only moderately stressful one. that presents a good challenge!

Play Any Instrument: i WISH. not anyMORE. i used to play violin when i was 10, but the classes were not going at the pace i was learning, and when i don’t learn fast enough i tend to get bored and quit... so ;__; we are trying to learn again.

Languages: like.. mild Spanish. i can ask where the bathroom is :/ i am DESPERATE to become fluent in Spanish but i have no motivation to do anything so... yeehaw

Favourite Songs: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off by Ella&Louis, Love of My Life by Queen, Lollipop by MIKA

Random Fact: walter white gazes at me every single day................... he protecc.........

Describe Yourself As Aesthetic Things: honestly i can’t think about myself in a positive way right now

First Fandom: .... Naruto ://

Tagging: @bikuai ... platinum please. @lcorrasami cindy my LOVE !!!, @pastelnuva pwease..., idk... anyone else ?? i guess ? omg

#tag meme #about me