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muzzleroars · 3 months

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How would Lucifer feel about his student's states rn? Michael is literally a walking corpse and Gabriel nearly died/is similiar to him rn and his other two students just try to be normal as much as possible while internally screaming, Raphael trying his best to keep optimistic and be a leader and Uriel trying not to panic over finally getting to think about the stuff he has written down and contemplating all the secrets he's keeping from his brothers

lucifer, once he's able to process the world around him, would see them as the victims of god's corroding presence, that no matter if one was banished from his side or cleaved to him in perpetual adoration, they must all ultimately deteriorate. he has very complicated emotions concerning the archangels, at turns feeling a great pity for them in their servitude, knowing how they must have been punished, how they lived under constant threat, constant surveillance, knowing that if they did not perfectly conform to god's capricious whims they could lose everything they had ever had, ever been...but then at other times expressing a deep, bitter hatred for what they had done, not just to him but to all the angels who followed him, to all the damned souls, so many of which did little or nothing at all to deserve so hideous a fate. not only did they uphold it, but they actively contributed to the condemnation, to slandering lucifer and his angels to the righteous and the damned over generations. and not even hell itself can hate as lucifer does.

in michael's fate he almost sees god's kingdom laid bare, and it's obviously the one that makes him most volatile - he had been closest to michael but michael had also cast him out, michael the most egregious victim but only because he had so fought for all the evil that god perpetuated in this world. god's greatest champion now his most heinous casualty. michael would likely try to conceal himself, but lucifer knows far more than he thinks - hell has whispered it to him already, long ago now, and besides, this is an evil he recognizes from eons prior. god did many things and lucifer, by his side, saw angels created only to be destroyed, to test what it meant to lose light, that all the rest of the host of heaven never knew. and lucifer, as a seraph, would have had the responsibility to carry out that ritual - he left many like michael is now in his "practice" (god promised they were never really alive, they would be erased and there would never have been any pain) lucifer, really, is the first one that can give michael any verifiable information on his state, though there is nothing he can do for it - so fallen, he cannot complete the process now as he may once have been able to as a high seraph. and he grieves for michael. he grieves horribly, to the point that it causes him physical agony, trying to touch him, to feel what he feels but unable to when michael is not truly damned. the fire left in him sparks, ignites, explodes, until smoke is billowing out of every crack of his ashen body, yet he erupts into unstable reactions that michael can do nothing but take. lucifer mourns, telling him how he always knew this would happen, that god would twist and shatter michael into so many pieces, that making him prince had been the cruelest punishment he could have given him...but then condemning him for his stupidity, that he had finally gotten the fate allotted to a mindless, barbaric dog and choked himself on his own collar. he is no better than a husk, rotting in hell just like the rest of them but fully conscious, trapped in a corpse falling to pieces and showing everyone the greatest reward for his loyalty. and finally lucifer rails against him for taking what he says without fight, look at how still michael clings to penance, to think this will do anything for either of them. in part lucifer is vindicated in michael's fate, in part he aches for him, a part of him believes he made his bed and a part of him wishes to help him out of it. the most terrible thing is that he seems to far prefer lucifer's abuse, and can't stand to see that beneath it all, his old teacher's love still remains.

gabriel garners a relatively different reaction - though lucifer doesn't really have the humor for smugness, there is a distinct lack of surprise seeing him as fallen. he always knew gabriel was likely to join them, sure he had the heart for it but wasn't quite there yet in his head. however, there is a similar honesty to what lucifer tells him - he fell into treachery, but that betrayal is hardly limited to the council he slaughtered. reflected in his fall is all the damned he stabbed in the back, how he may have had some form of mercy for them in his heart, how he may even had compassionate dealings with them, but how little it truly mattered in the end. in judecca for his ultimate treachery, but just as at home in ptolomaea. so lucifer deeply resents what he considers gabriel's "fake" service and the careless, disingenuous hope he gave to the souls of hell who are already tormented enough - having hope doubles that cruelty, and he doubts gabriel even considered it. yet it is also clear lucifer trusts him more than he does the other archangels at this point and in his favorable change of emotion would tell him he was proud of his liberation of heaven. gabriel took great personal risk to finally act so late on his conflicted feelings, yet able to break the angelic yoke, and lucifer is sympathetic to what gabriel experienced at the hands of the council - he is the one gabriel is most able to speak to about his loss of faith and meet understanding of it. lucifer is far more extreme in his hatred of god, but it provides gabriel about the least judgmental outlet he could have when he feels a particular need to express his grievances. lucifer still believes gabriel is different from other fallen angels and doesn't care for the fact that he continues to feel kinship to those in heaven, but he is the most comfortable with him (as an aside, gabriel quickly clears any remaining virtues out of hell when lucifer is released because. well. they would never last)

raphael and uriel he is most distant with, not trusting them yet still observing them closely. because lucifer does hold on to the love he had for all of them, and more than gabriel or michael, he sees the result of fear in these two and how evil becomes self-sustaining. they attempt to apologize to him, but there is a distinct tension, an anxiety carried forward despite them now knowing the truth (uriel especially, given that he himself edited the record of lucifer's fall) and it makes lucifer burn in despair, in hatred of god. in them, he sees the full effect of what's been done to his memory in heaven, how much he's become an object of loathing and warped in the minds of even those he loved the most. so he avoids them almost entirely, not even desiring to feel pity for their positions given how comfortable they still are by comparison even to their brothers - if he does speak to them, he's almost sure to bring that up and little else, almost forcing himself not to care for them despite knowing that he does. because he knows raphael is there sacrificing his own wellbeing to sustain the other three, and he knows uriel feels defunct, vestigial but laden with all the knowledge of truth. for as low as lucifer is, he could never detach himself to the point of apathy, he can't close himself off to the suffering of others no matter how abstract it is to him in his misery. so...very occasionally as they continue to try to speak with him...he offers them advice on what to do. it's shocking when it happens each time, as they usually either get the cold shoulder or some venom spat at them (with him ever so often just blaspheming to scare them off immediately). but for raphael he will sometimes tell him just how to solve some argument, or when the problem doesn't require his intervention and instead should rather be solved only by those involved. for uriel, he tells him with all the truth he has it is now his place to administer it wisely, to methodically come to know what must be told and when, and that his presence will be necessary if they wish to move forward without all the lies perpetuated under god. these moods typically don't last long, but they serve to ease something in all of them as raphael and uriel remember the lucifer they once loved little by little.

#lucifer has become a being of extremes and that begins to show #because he hates deeply. he hates only as god himself can hate #and the archangels are some of the best targets for that hate as the true object of it is now dead #but also. despite it all. his love endures #he has been tormented as no other being. but his love survived it all #ONCE AGAIN. paradise lost. the being who second-guessed hurting adam and eve in their happiness #the being who wished no cruelty but acted on it because he was in so much pain. because eden reminded him of all he lost #BOY....i love this weird guy from christianity #cake answers #lucifer #michael #gabriel #raphael #uriel #rise and fall au

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trashlie · 12 days

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ILY FP 258

I can't believe we're actually passed episode 250 lmao I Love Yoo is truly the never ending story (affectionate). I appreciate how much of the story we really get to dig into at this pace and while I know a lot of people have long-since dropped it, I imagine the rest of us (those reading this post because why else are you here?) also appreciate it. And that's what is even more refreshing about this episode - if refreshing is even a word we can use to describe it. Getting the extra scenes from other characters, a look at their lives and from these glimpses, what we can glean in the unsaid between the lines.

Can you believe I used to prey on Kousuke's downfall? There's so many posts of me talking about him from a different view, believing that the only way he could grow and develop and make the changes necessary to make him a better person was for him to crash and burn, to fail so significantly that he would be forced to pen his eyes to reality. But here we are, me, fervently swaddling him up like a baby and shoving him into my pocket because GOD he needs to be protected.

I don't even remember when it was, that my view on him began to shift, when I went from "he's interesting but awful" to "GOD THIS IS MY SON AND I WILL FIGHT EVERYONE YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME" but.... lol there's no going back!

That's enough rambling, let's jump in.

There is something so painfully devastating about every time ILY confirms to us something we have long-since known or suspected through nuance, foreshadowing, reading between the lines, etc: That Kousuke isn't Rand's biological son, that Shinae was at the formal for Gun Kim, that Kousuke has been manipulated his whole life. Nothing in this episode regarding Kousuke is actually new to us. We have known, and talked about, for months and months long before the confirmation reveal that Yui drugs Kousuke - that he has been manipulated by her his entire life, that she orchestrated his life to manipulate him into situations she could take advantage of. It's the way she spoke about Rand's affair around Kousuke, the way she commodified Rand's love so Kousuke became convinced he'd never earned his father's love, the way she spoke of their family vs others and convinced him from such a young age that everyone was out to get them, to destroy them, and that he couldn't let them get close, couldn't let them near - and how Nol was very much a target planted in his mind.

But it's the fact that he is speaking of this and acknowledging it! Until now, Kousuke has heavily lived in denial. Again, we know this. We talk a lot about the chasm between reality and the reality he believes in. We talk a lot about how Kousuke couldn't face reality, even though on some level he knew everything he believed and was told was not quite true not quite real, but that he was so afraid of the truth, he couldn't do it. Kousuke admitting that he's been driven by fear and envy explains everything about him, and why he could not accept the only unwavering unconditional love he was offered.

A few weeks ago I saw a video on instagram of this father talking about a conversation he had with his daughter, who was feeling a little uncomfortable with her friend group. A new girl started to play with her and her best friend and she said she wasn't exactly jealous, but that maybe it was that she was afraid that there wasn't enough love to go around. Her dad had to explain to her that love is not like a pizza - it's not finite, a limited amount that could be taken and hogged by someone else. But Kousuke never learned this. His father's love was commodified and he was made to fear this other kid who he mistakenly believed knew a version of his father he'd never been privy to. He never learned that love is finite, that Rand could have enough love for the both of them, and feared that Nol would hog it all - that he WAS hogging it all because whether or not it was good or bad, Nol received more attention that Kousuke did. And that speaks VOLUMES about how Kousuke sees Rand, what he thinks of their relationship. In his mind, he is still unworthy, that he's not noteworthy enough.

This part gets to me so badly. We, as omniscient readers, know that Rand has tried his best, but that Yui runs a spectacular interference with which he can't compete, largely because of the roles their family have placed them in - Rand the busy businessman, Yui the mommy homemaker. But no matter how hard he tries, it isn't good enough. Rand tries to reach Kousuke, but the manipulation and paranoia are so far gone that the times Rand does have the chance to convey his feelings, Kousuke can't even believe it, because he thinks he's not good enough to deserve that love, that he hasn't fully qualified for it yet. And despite that, Nol, who Kousuke feels hasn't done half of what he has to deserve Rand's love, gets the attention. It doesn't matter that it's negative attention, that Rand barks at Nol, that Nol feels Rand hates and regrets him, because ultimately, it's still more than Kousuke receives. And worse, to him, every time Rand is busy reprimanding Nol, he turns away from Kousuke to do it.

I want to make it clear that this is a deep trauma point of Kousuke's. He's never learned healthy love and the only person who gave him healthy love was someone he was set to fear and fight. Something I think about a lot is the flashback to Kousuke, in the bushes, watching Nessa and Nol's display of warm affection, before Yui appears literally looming before him. In that moment, he witnesses something he's been deprived of. "We're not like other families"'. He's told from a young age he shouldn't compare himself to those healthy families, to warm and affectionate relationships that he will not cultivate in this household. From such a young age it is normalized, that they aren't like others, that they are cold and distant. From a young age, he's made to stuff down his feelings, his tender wants and desires, in order to earn them. To be a good little boy who makes his parents proud. To make his father look his way.

There's also something about the way he says "I've been a good boy" that echoes Shinae learning she's been manipulated by Yui, devastated and angry and yelling about how she's been a good girl so why do these things keep happening to her, all she wanted to do was help her dad. Two people who, from a young age, felt they had to be so obedient, so good, to not be a burden, and despite following the rules, despite doing as they were told, despite trying to be whatever version of "good" they believed in, the world still beat them up and mistreated them. The world still punished them.

As Rin in our discord server pointed out, though, to some degree, Kousuke is very much a person who can - and does - act out, when he's emotionally high-strung. He's a volatile man, and it's largely to do with the fact that he's been drugged to placate him for so long. He never learned emotional regulation, he never learned how to deal with high-stress situations or to face conflict or to own up to things. This is something that some readers who hate Kousuke and expect him to act a certain way because of his age are missing. You don't just learn these things with age. You learn them with experience and Kousuke was deprived of the opportunity TO have those experiences. He never had to learn these behaviors, and now as an adult he cannot function when overwhelmed.

Idk this whole episode is just heartbreaking. It's devastating. I remember when I was someone praying on Kousuke's downfall and now I want to take it all back ;___; I always believed he had to crash and burn to be able to see the world for what it really was and to face his fears, but this is somehow so much worse.

And even though he's drunk, I don't think he's going to forget all of this in the morning. Rather, I think what he's voicing are things that have been plaguing him since waking up in the hospital. From that moment, we saw him wary and distrustful of his mother, we saw his concern for Nol rising above everything else, but grappling with the understanding that he doesn't deserve to stand in front of Nol anymore. These aren't epiphanies coming to him just because he's drunk; it's more like he's only voicing them because he's drunk. But even when he sobers up, he will probably still be haunted by these fears, these agonies, these truths, this understanding.

How does he face his mother after this? How does he face anyone? He may not even feel like he can trust Jayce - who while very kind to him, is still employed by his family. He may not even feel like he can trust Hansuke (though I really hope that's not the case).

He's so miserable and it genuinely hurts to have him lay it all out for us - everything we've known and suspected, like how it was so painfully clear he WANTED Nol's friendship, their brotherhood, but feared it, didn't believe that there was enough love to go around, that there could only be one of them and that even if it was for good or bad reasons, Nol cast him in the shadow. And all these years, watching as Nol, as Yeonggi, grew into this person who sounded so very much like this unknown version of their father, someone funny who makes others laugh, someone goofy, someone so boyish in the ways Kousuke was never allowed to be. Watching as he gathers friends, while Kousuke, so unlikeable, is wanted only for his money, for his status, for the clout.

He doesn't even know WHO HE IS! Questioning his own traits he's believed of himself, wondering if this is even him, if these parts of him are real or does he just act it, say it, pretend it, while trying to fulfill a role he was shoved into. That makes me feel SO deeply sad, because it's something I've been anticipating for so long: Kousuke wondering WHO he really is, how much of him is real and how much of it is the result of manipulation.

And that moment that he catches himself and says no no that's offensive and rude you can't be like that. ;AAA;

For him to admit how much he envies others, how much he craves the kind of connection others have, the kind of family others have, to feel that love and warmth that he's been deprived of, forced to endure this solitude because, as he believes, he didn't get the good parts of Rand. And what will happen when he learns that Rand isn't his father? That he never stood a chance to inherit any of those traits. Kousuke has operated on this belief that, if he tries hard enough, he can earn the things he craves, but I fear learning about his parenthood will make him think that no matter how hard he tried, he would never earn that, because none of it was ever him, could have gone to him.

I think this is where Shinae, in the future, will come in. I feel so very strongly that she will be someone who helps Kousuke to see that this isn't true, that these kinds of personality traits aren't something inherited, but rather something learned. For him to one day realize it's the paralyzing fear that holds him back, not his genetics. Of course, I acknowledge this will still take a lot of therapy but...

Something else very remarkable to me is the way Kousuke recognizes Shinae in Shinhye, because their eyes "feel the same" and he opens up to her - on some level, whether or not he is consciously aware of it, Kousuke knows, or maybe just wants to, that he can trust Shinae. That she is someone who is safe. He even knows how she feels about his mother. I don't think we'll see a lot of Kousuke and Shinae's friendship until we're passed our timeskips, but it makes me feel a little hopeful about it, that she'll be able to reach him, because she feels like someone who is safe. It's the way he sees Nol in her and wants to try to have that do over, a relationship with someone who has unconditional love for him. It's the way he knows he mistreated Nol, that it was wrong, that he took it all out on this kid he was so afraid of because he had no other outlet, and he wants to do better but knows that there's nothing to salvage anymore.

But also, it just makes me hope more and more that in the future we WILL see a reconciliation between the brothers. As I say every time, it doesn't mean they have to become brothers or friends, but I just want them to see each other fully. Kousuke knows what he did to Nol. He doesn't deny it, even if he might not say it out loud unless he's drunk. But Nol is still so in the dark. Yujing is trying to tip him off and make him aware of it, but I hope one day when Nol realizes it, when he finds out that Kousuke, too, was Yui's victim, that he wasn't the only one, that Kousuke was made to fear Nol's love, he might.... understand. I'm saying understand here loosely because I don't want people to get the idea that I mean Nol will forgive him and Kousuke will be justified, but rather that Nol would be able to understand why Kousuke felt that way, and move on. But I can't help but hope that it will lead to an understanding, a reconciliation, where maybe they can try to be in each other's lives.

I think it's also interesting that Shinhye was somewhat honest, even if she wasn't very forthcoming, with Kousuke about her own family. It sounds like her mother has been gone for a long time, that she's been on her own the whole while, and I think it reinforces the idea that she believes both that Simhan is her father and that he rejected her, that he didn't want anything to do with her. It lines up, too, with how she feels that he wouldn't react well if he saw her (although I think she credited that to looking like their mother). In the same way that Shinae has felt abandoned and cast aside by their mother, Shinhye probably thinks their father never tried reach out, to find them, to maintain a relationship with her. Or perhaps it's that her mother fed her lies about him, made her believe him a different type of man, made her believe there would never be anything of their relationship to salvage. And given that she's the one who Kousuke opened to, it makes me think that there must be some kind of parallel there; the way she mentioned her own mother feels like maybe her mother, too, was a manipulative - or at the very least, dishonest - person.

I don't speculate a lot on Shinhye because frankly I don't think I know enough about her to really try to talk about her, but I do think that it's very likely there's some kind of connection between Shinhye and the Hirahras or Gun. To be clear, I don't believe she's working with Yui at all. I think it's more like... Alyssa isn't the only girl who has been trafficked by Gun. What's the likelihood that Shinae and Shinhye's mother was? Given her history, the gambling addiction that was so egregious her reputation haunted Shinae and chased her to a new neighborhood and school, was she seeking money somewhere else, somewhere more dangerous? Is that part of why they had to change their name? There's so many questions left about them, and I look forward to learning more about her, but, much like with Alyssa, I think it will take time and be dropped in little tidbits like this - things to read into and try to glean something from.

And maybe we'll see more of this duo in the future? It would feel a little weird to give them this one single run in, but I'm not entirely sure. Quimchee likes to keep us on our toes. After all, Minhyuk and Shinhye have also had only the one run in. Still, I think it would be interesting to watch, if Shinhye ever felt.... I want to say maybe compelled? to dig in more to Kousuke, ever feel a kind of kinship. I don't think she'll open up to him at all, but rather, maybe she'd keep going back because a. he's wealthy and there's more she can nick from him (assuming he doesn't realize she stole anything while in his apartment, if he even remembers any of this) and b. wanting to gather more intel.

Like I said though, she's hard to read so I don't want to cling too hard to any ideas and, instead, sit back and enjoy the show.

#ILY Brainrot #ILY FP #ILY Spoilers #I Love Yoo #Kousuke Hirahara #Shinhye #idk what to tag her as because we know she isn't known as Shinhye anymore #and because Simhan and their mother never married AND she was from a previous relationship Yoo isn't even her family name #so I can't really use Shinhye Yoo lol #alas #anyway this episode was DEVASTATING and quimchee said it's the beginning of the sad episodes meant to happen in March #literally said 'It's all downhill from here'#which I take to mean til the timeskip #BUCKLE UP BABIES WE'RE GOING FOR A BIG CRY SESH ;______;#i gotta say tho this episode didn't even make me cry - i guess because none of this is new and I've been bracing myself for it #Kousuke is so fucking wet cat it agonizes me ;_____;#I could write a whole essay on how Yui destroyed him and Nol in one fell swoop #i think a lot about precocious little Kousuke who tried so hard to be a good little boy and rushed through school because he wanted so badl #to hurry up and catch up to his father and join him in the workplace #all the opportunities he lost #the way he tried to fit himself into a personality a person he never picked out but just believed would get him what he wanted #he lost himself in the process #or maybe he never even got to know himself #i think too a lot about Kousuke who played piano and gave it up when he came to believe it wasn't important to his dad #that it didn't garner the attention and praise he seeked #so he dropped it to better mold himself into someone he thought Rand WOULD be proud of #FUCKING DEVASTATED #I'M GOING TO JUMP OFF THE ROOF SOBS

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hypocriticaltypwriter · 9 months

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Now tell me some info and stuff on Chrysta! ((Cherri))

Like was she born there in Santa Carla? How DID she meet the boys? What is her personality like? Is she secretly a vampire?👀

Give me all the info bby gorl I will happily read every little thing🍒🤭

MJ, YOU DONT KNOW HOW HAPPY I AM THAT YOU ASKED!!! 💜💜💜💜

I'll gladly tell you... In the form of an infodumping 6 hour essay-/JJ

BUT ON A SERIOUS NOTE... This might be a bit long, but I'll gladly share~!! Thank you so much for asking eheheheh 😈😈😈😈 I'm also using this ask to Ramble, so I'm so sorry YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ MY 'LONGER THAN THE BIBLE' POST 💀💀

Chrysta wasn't born in Santa Carla, but she's been coming to live with her aunt (mother's side) every summer since she was around seven, so she's always considered herself a local- the same goes for other residences who know her well. She lives way back in good old Utah when during the school year and other seasons. With her father and his wife, after her mom was put in the hospital due to some health issues. But she tries to call her mom every night.

Chrysta's summer home is along the small strip of stores near the boardwalk, where her Aunts house is a makeshift hair and nail salon.

The front is the whole workplace, while a hall separates the rest of the house- and upstairs basement made into Chrysta's room. Chrysta also grew up getting to know Mister Emerson well as when she was around nine her aunt had sent her over to the old man's house to give him some home-cook meals as a thanks for a favor Chrysta was never told- kept secret from her.

And ever since she was kind of a delivery girl for her aunt - if of course she didn't hate it, she enjoyed Mister Emersons company and his silly stories about vampires.

Sure it was definitely something that made ten year old her hide under the covers with a flashlight every night, but the older she got, the more she began to outgrow the fear over something so ridiculous- especially with her aunts rules and stories. She wasn't allowed to even be out on the boardwalk by the time the sun set.

Her curfew was always Eight on the dot, not allowed outside or to invite anyone in. No matter how many times she asked for a genuine answer, her aunt would always say the same thing: "That's when the vampires come out to play."

Of course Chrysta is a teenager in the 80s, and she wants to live her summer days to the fullest, so she usually waits till her Aunt retires to her bedroom to watch soap operas, and sneaks out her room window and goes to have a night out on the town... That's how she met the boys. 👀👀

Since the beginning of the summers, Chrysta had been visiting Santa Carla, and she had already built her reputation of being a drop-dead flirt and total tease. She knows how to sweet talk herself out of a situation or to get a free bite to eat. Of course, even if she's built the label for herself, she isn't cruel or bratty.

She's a total sweetheart! Chrysta seems to get along with many if they're willing to be friendly back of course and even if she isn't best friends with anyone, she's at least a little acquainted or on good terms with most.

So, being the little tease that our Miss Campbell is, Chrysta met the well-known trouble makers of the boardwalk back at the beginning of the summer 87... Er, well, sort of.

(SPOILERS FOR THE LOST BOYS PREQEUL SCRIPT YOU CAN READ FOR FREE HERE!)

Also, wanna write a story or make a comic about how she meets them and her whole backstory, but I'm still thinking about it, but here's the basic outline!

Chrysta is a part of the extremely distant Russian descendant on her mother's side. Yet her face is the spitting image of the princess Anastasia David had fallen for many years ago... It was what had gotten the bleached haired individual and the rest of his motley crew to keep staring at the stranger and her friends standing afar.

It wasn't until Chrysta's friends had whispered to her about the watchful eyes of the boys all perched on their bikes Chrysta had looked back to fully face the four. Eyes locking with the pair of cold blue ones.

As confident as she had been labeled, she immediately brought her gaze shyly to the ground, excusing herself from her friends and disappearing into the busying crowds along the boardwalk. Moments later, the four boys followed after, leaving their bikes parked outside the video store.

And the pursuit continued for a while, stalking and searching through crowds, picking out anyone who looked similiar to the strange, familiar stranger, and when they had found her once more, she had looked back to see them following, only to hurry off and away from their eyesight again.

And it was only after Chrysta had disappeared through the door of the salon she worked at, giving one final expecting glance toward the four vampires they realized something.

She wasn't running away. She was playing hard to get.

So the game of cats and mouse continued almost routinely every night she snuck out, no matter where she was, they'd be there a moment or two later, somtimes vice versa.

And it wasn't until one night Chrysta had decided to hide away inside the video store she'd ACTUALLY meet David, Marko, Dwayne, and Paul. She'd been sneaking around trying to avoid them in the store, peeking around aisles and walking into the next one when they would go to the one she was in- just stupid cheesy cute stuff like that that .awesome me squeal and roll around giggling.

Chrysta does finally get trapped when David and Dwayne cut her off on the opposite side of the aisle, Mark and Paul, on the other, leaving her nowhere to go.

She did talk to them and finally got some names, pulled on her charm, ect- overall playing along and enjoying the company of these new strangers... Until Max had shown up, assuming the the boys were bothering her and tried to get them to leave, thankfully Chrysta explained they weren't doing any harm and made sure to keep their case clean in front of the Video store owner.

Reluctantly, he believed her, but told them to leave as he'd told them multiple times not to come around here anymore.

As a thanks for sticking up for them, David offered her a ride on their bikes, just to check out the boardwalk and beach. Just 'one' ride.

Chrysta was a little unsure at first, like those stoies or cliches of the girl running away on the back of a boys bike. But after some convincing at playful peer pressure from the rest if them, she decided why not. A little rebellion never hurt anyone!

Right?

----

ANYWAY HERE SHE IS IM SORRY I RAMBLED BUT THIS IS MY BOO IN ALL HER GLORY!!!

You can also see her ref sheet for more stuff here!

I hope I answered your questions and let me know if anything wasn't clear enough or you need more specifics!

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aliatori · 5 days

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Leap of Faith

Gabriel’s not entirely keen on the idea of leaving the Enclave.

Sure, it ain't the Umbra with the cool comfort of its misty shores, and Watcher knows there’s much and more to do back at The Storm’s Eye, but Gabriel's well and truly charmed by the unique delights of the Sungold. With so few days left before the Squall and Tide are set to get underway on their respective courses, he’s determined to enjoy them.

A waterfall twice as wide as Gabriel is tall roars behind him. Its waters whip to a frothy white as they descend over the crest. The noise fills his head with a pleasant blankness like the rush of blood in his ears in the heat of battle, or the pressure of Xeheia’s holy waters in his ears as he submerges to pray.

There's also more green than his eyes rightly know what to do with all around: moss and lichen draped over every inch of rock jutting up from the clear blue waters, vibrant hues of jungle decorating the sloping peaks of other Trinoran isles on the horizon, and bell-shaped petals the pale hue of fresh sweetmelon draped on flexible branches overhead.

One shade in particular snags his attention at present: the sea-glass green of Hugo’s eyes, sharpened to a fine pique.

“What?” Gabriel spreads his arms wide. Since he’s already divested himself of everything but his focus, the gesture affords Hugo an unimpeded view of his nakedness. “You act like a doddering old man preparing for your own burial at sea, I’m gonna call it like I see it. There was a time you’d’ve beaten me and been down in the water already. Now you’re sittin’ there like a sour headwind.”

A gratifying flush blooms from the vee of Hugo’s lavender vest to the underside of his jaw. Anger, lust, or general vexation—the source of his consternation hasn’t ever mattered to Gabriel, and sure as all seven hells it doesn’t matter now. He just likes that he’s ruffled Hugo’s feathers.

“Let’s say I’ve developed a certain distaste for sailing close to the wind.”

“Let’s say you’re full of shit.” Gabriel ticks points off on his fingers as he lists them. “Fisting a god, stealing ships out from under the noses of merchants, bringing me and the fold to the Enclave in the first place, hells, burning down a whole godsdamned Imperial port—yeah, I know that one was you, don’t look so surprised. Play at even keel all you like, but don’t pass it off as anything but an offering for your secret-eater.”

Hugo puts his hands behind his back. The new definition in his scarred biceps means he must be clenching his fists. Another point in Gabriel’s favour.

“That’s a creative way of calling me a liar. For you, anyway.”

“If I wanted to call you a liar, I’d say it plain. I’m saying it ain’t the whole truth, and you know it, and I’m sick of settling for subterfuge and signal flags from you. We’re past all that.” At Hugo’s flat expression of disbelief, Gabriel laughs without mirth and adds, “As past it as the two of us are ever gonna get.”

Hugo rocks back on his booted heel. A raw wound flashes across his face. There’s a stretch where Gabriel thinks Hugo will find some forthcomingness. But then he looks off into the distance, treating Gabriel to a familiar stoic profile, so whatever notion he’s grappling with only bloodies the waters of this particular argument.

He’s long past the days of chasing after his former captain, and lucky for him, there’s a quick and diverting exit from this conversation he no longer wants to have. He’s three strides from the edge of the waterfall when a coil of familiar metal captures his forearm.

Alright, so maybe he doesn’t chase after Hugo.

But there’s still the fucking riptide of his presence to contend with, drowning any urge to break free. There’s a fissure in Hugo’s expression, a crack in the hull in want of sealing.

“This…” Hugo begins, trailing off, gesturing with his other hand to encompass himself, Gabriel, the cliffs, the seas beyond. “Brings back memories that are difficult. Unpleasant to recall.”

The tempest of Gabriel’s temper builds and breaks on his indignant exhale. “Yeah, you don’t have to remind me of how bleedin’ unpleasant you find the fold. You’ve made it pretty godsdamned clear. So piss off and—”

The rest of his swears vanish in the warmth of Hugo’s lips on his, urgent, insistent, tongue all velvet heat as he delves into Gabriel’s mouth. He kisses like it’s the only apology he knows how to give, or like he’s gasping for air, or like a prayer in a language they still share, and by the time they break apart, Gabriel’s heart rivals the waterfall as it pounds in his ears.

“Not every part of those memories is unpleasant,” Hugo says in a low rasp, grazing his teeth along the stubbled skin fluttering in time with Gabriel’s pulse. He pulls back to fix him with a stare of breathtaking intensity, lips pursed in thought. “Everything worth remembering includes you.”

A mutiny erupts out behind Gabriel’s ribs. It’s as close as Hugo’s gotten to the words he, for whatever gods bedamned reason, talks circles around, the ones involving ‘I’ and ‘love’ and ‘you’ next to each other.

He’ll take it. For now.

Gabriel cradles the back of Hugo’s head in his palm and draws him close until their foreheads touch. “’Course it does. I’m unforgettable, by your own lengthy and colourful admissions. And spectacular. The best captain to sail the Fourfold and veritable holy terror.”

“Second best.”

“I’ll remember that when I’m heaving half the fucking ocean up to save you from getting pincered by a bunch of navy dogs.”

“Perhaps you’d do better to remember why you’re permitted on Enclave shores at all.”

“Well, Jihane and me have taken a shine to each other, so I reckon I’ll be invited back. Especially since it’s the Squall she asked to sail aboard and not the Tide.”

“And I wish you luck in accommodating Jihane and her… exacting standards.”

“Nothing the best captain in the Fourfold can’t handle.”

There—a rebellious twitch of Hugo’s lips, buried beneath the overwrought consternation he strangles it with.

With a snort, Gabriel shoves Hugo’s bare shoulder. “Even second-best captains aren’t afraid of such a tiny risk like some cliff jumping. Besides, I ain’t hearing any alternative propositions for the evening’s entertainment.”

“I have a few.” Hugo looks Gabriel over from head to toe with filthy intent, and while tempting, the beck and call of the sea below raises a different kind of tide in Gabriel.

“Would it kill you to relax for a godsdamned turn and follow my lead?”

One bold eyebrow wings up. “Kill me? Hardly. But it would certainly be a leap of faith.”

Gabriel turns away from Hugo to look over the cliffs and the basin below. It’s a glittering, dizzying drop, enough to make his head spin, but he’s no stranger to a plummet. His blood heats in anticipation.

“Everything’s a leap of faith these days, Captain Melançon, in case it’s escaped your fine weather eye. Comes with being at the beck and call of forces beyond our ken. So why not start here?”

Without waiting for an answer, Gabriel pivots, swallows the ground in two long strides, and launches himself off the cliff's edge, his joyful bellow echoing through the oasis. The freefall snatches his stomach and pins it to the base of his throat. He flips through the air, ass over end, clutching his knees to his chest in the last moments, and then—

He plunges into the sea like a shout, saltwater rushing over the ink of his bondmark and bringing him to a second kind of life. Gabriel exhales as momentum drives him further downward. Xeheia’s presence fills him as he inhales blessed water, a thunderous euphoria joining the mortal delight of a leap off the edge.

For a moment, he’s tempted to drift further down, to commune, to pray. To find where aquamarine becomes sapphire becomes deepest black.

But for now, there are other matters to tend to.

With the orange and pink sunset to guide him, Gabriel orients himself skyward. A series of powerful kicks gets him most of the way to the surface. He breathes out Xeheia’s sustenance, breaches, and inhales the soil-after-rain scent of Enclave air, grinning wide and laughing loudly. The power and majesty of the waterfall impress even more from this angle as he treads the waters disturbed by its arcing flow.

Squinting, Gabriel glances up and sees Hugo leaning over the edge before vanishing beyond it. Figures. It’ll be a decent climb back up the cliff, so he may as well enjoy a swim before he heads back to the uptight son of a bitch.

Instead, he finds himself in a meditative trance as he treads water, lulled into a prayer-like state of calm by the nearby waterfall. Gabriel’s never been this close to one or seen one this large. It’s not the Depths, or the enchanted veins of water laced through the Storm’s Eye, but there’s a holy might to it all the same.

Then a motion from above draws his eye.

There’s no mistaking Hugo’s form—not the ass-naked state of it, nor the elegant twist of his lean limbs as he dives off the cliff into the waters below. Gabriel holds his breath as he watches Hugo soar through the air in a graceful arc, then expels it in jubilation a moment later, whooping and hollering. A blink later, Hugo slips beneath the surface, cutting through the water clean as a knife, vanishing without a sound.

Each passing moment turns Gabriel’s excitement acrid. The bubbling sensation toes the line of fear. His own difficult memory flashes behind his eyelids unbidden: Hugo floating, lifeless and prone, bleeding and blackened.

Before true terror can take hold, Hugo takes hold instead, using the element of surprise to drag him beneath the churning surface of the lake.

The world vanishes in an expanse of crystal blue threaded with green. Gabriel aims a vicious kick in Hugo’s direction, aiming to dislodge his hands from his ankles. Maybe bloody his nose up a bit for the trouble, too. He manages the first goal if not the second. Hugo treads water beside him; orange-gold sunlight from above dapples across his skin, his silver-streaked hair floating in an aura around his head, grin no less fierce for being toothless. He rotates in the water and propels himself upward.

Bold of him to show his scarred back to Gabriel.

He does Hugo a kindness by letting him get a couple good gulps of air in. After all, Gabriel’s rarely interested in an unfair fight, no matter his reputation past and present. Then he glides over, grabs Hugo on either side of his waist, and drags him right back under.

Were it not for the blood-warm waters of the Enclave flooding the spaces between their limbs as they wrestle, it could be a time ten Risings passed. He could be a first mate again, lust-sick, half ready to put a knife to his palm already, insubordinating his way to a dunk in the sea for the joy of Hugo’s attention in Xeheia’s waters.

The present makes itself known in other ways. Hugo, the slippery bastard that he is, lands a punch on Gabriel’s tit with his artifice hand as he shoves away. The pain forces a bubbly stream of Watcher-blessed air from his lips. But the throb of the impending bruise matches the interested one in his dick, which hasn’t changed much at all.

Gabriel gives chase. They collide in slow motion, the powerful currents from the waterfall making the lake harder to move through. He wraps one arm around Hugo’s thighs from below, blocking Hugo’s slow-motion swat with his other elbow. The angle gives him a great view even with all the thrashing: the dark curls between his legs, the scarred muscle of his chest, and the ferocious set of his jaw. He looks away from Gabriel, towards the surface, throat bobbing. His lungs must be burning by now.

Here, another marker of change. Once, there was a time Gabriel would have held him under and watched him drown. (Would have tried, anyway.) Instead, he releases Hugo, content to gloat about his victory when they’re both above water again.

Hugo swims towards him instead.

Strong hands, one metal and one flesh, grip Gabriel’s shoulders, Hugo using him like an anchor to situate himself. Fathoms-deep emotion lurks in the vivid green of his eyes, and there’s Gabriel’s heart again, twisting like a fish out of water. Heat builds low in his belly and coils outward as Hugo weaves himself into Gabriel’s bulk—chest to tits, thigh wedged between his legs against his stirring dick, and of godsdamned course, a hand in his hair, to get him right where he wants him.

Gabriel doesn’t mind. Much.

Not when Hugo places his mouth to Gabriel’s, demanding even as he yields, a moan vibrating through his chest as Gabriel breathes sacred air into his lungs. Hugo drinks him down. His calloused palm charts a course along Gabriel’s neck and collarbone, coming to rest in the valley of his chest, right next to his thundering heart.

It fills Gabriel with uncanny rapture.

His bondmark fills with magic, skin thrilling as his power seeks, quests—

And finds nothing.

It’s gotten easier, these spiritual stumbles, but not easy. Xeheia’s gift proves a storm wind howl, searching for a port, or maybe a shore to destroy.

Gabriel gives it both.

His limbs burst with power, merging and uncoiling into four, six, then eight tentacles. There’s a pain like a good, deep stretch, then a sickening lurch of his stomach, and then finally bliss, Xeheia’s magic coursing through him as rapidly as the nearby waterfall. Hugo pauses their breath sharing to draw back, eyes widening in surprise, then narrowing as Gabriel wraps slick, powerful limbs around each of Hugo’s. His pupils are wide as the dark moon, his teeth digging into his lower lip, and that’s when Gabriel kisses him.

It’s like this they breach the surface, a tangle of arms and legs and tentacles, Hugo held fast in his embrace whether he likes it or not. They’ve drifted to a distant curve of the cliffs around the brackish lake, the roaring waterfall behind them.

Gabriel won’t ever feel Hugo bond-to-bond again, but this—his Xeheia-blessed arms tracing the ghostly scars of his butchered bondmark, coiled against the wet heat of his folds, squeezing the taut muscles in his thighs and calves—is as good a substitute as he’s getting. If he focuses hard enough, Gabriel can almost sense the faint echo of magic, the last shred of Xeheia left in Hugo’s spirit.

He's got other things to focus on, though.

“Quit while you’re ahead and release me, Berthelot,” Hugo says, pitching his voice in that too-familiar way to be heard over the thunderous susurrus.

“Your mouth says one thing, but your cunt says another.” To illustrate his point, Gabriel slides the muscular tentacle between Hugo’s legs back and forth. The slickness there ain’t all him, that’s for godsdamned sure, and Hugo’s strangled gasp only proves his point further. “You know what a white flag looks like. So go on and wave it, then, if you wanna go so bad.”

Consideration weighs down Hugo’s expression. While he’s thinking about whatever vagaries are in the offing, he pinches Gabriel’s nipple hard, rolling it between his fingers afterward.

“You ain’t exactly helping your case, doing that.”

Hugo, being Hugo, does it again, just harder this time. A final limb, barbed and sensitive, begins to unfurl from the slit tucked between Gabriel’s tentacles, swelling along with the heat in his blood.

“And what,” Hugo begins, dipping his head and sinking his teeth into the corded muscle of Gabriel’s shoulder, eliciting a string of curses from him. “What case am I trying to make, exactly?”

“Oh, the usual.” Gabriel’s airy tone belies the strength he uses to grip Hugo’s jaw, heart pounding as he admires the black tips of his limbs curled against Hugo’s neck. “I best you, you refuse to admit I bested you and act the sore loser, we fire some shots across the bow and maybe punch a few earnest holes in the hull, then we both get what we want anyway.”

“Is that right?” Hugo tries to pry Gabriel’s arm away, fingers splayed across the sacred ink spilled there. He’s still got a tentacle or three free, so he lifts one from the water and wraps one coil of sucker-covered muscle around Hugo’s forearms, lacing them tight as his own precious boots. “Seems you’re getting ahead of yourself without a plan. As usual.”

Unbothered, buoyed by pleasantly warm currents, bitten by sharp teeth of lust, Gabriel admires the picture before him: Hugo, arms bound above his head, muscles tense against the restraint of Gabriel’s Xeheia-blessed body, glaring daggers even as his hips grind and roll against limb between his legs.

Gabriel trails his barbed cock along the outside of Hugo’s thigh and curls it around his backside, a quiet moan rumbling in his throat at the resulting shiver of pleasure. Fury darkens Hugo’s features, but the circles along the undersides of new limbs can sense—can taste—the fresh arousal pulsing from his cunt.

“You know me—I learn by doing. So I reckon we’re about to find out together.”

#the forsaken and the forsworn #hubriel #gabriel berthelot #hugo melançon #my writing #I've missed Gab's birthday two years in a row but NOT THIS YEAR #happy birthday to my favourite horrible baby bastard boy #enjoy this reprieve before your suffering begins anew #I'm just emotions about them all the time and especially as equals #it's a double Gab feature today #so I'm making up for lost time

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