#only those that appear in clusters. but i put them there anyways

[velaraffricate]

so I've been working on my latest conlang, irkan osla (or just osla for short), for a bit now and would like to showcase its writing system in this post! osla has a syllabic alphabet, not too dissimilar to korean hangul, where letters are stacked according to certain rules to make syllable blocks.

osla's syllable structure is (C)(C)V(V)(C), here's how the stacks work for each type of syllable:

all letters have small, wide, and tall forms depending on their position in the syllable. here are all the letters with their IPA value and romanization:

and here's an example text! i translated parts of the minecraft end poem into osla. maybe i'll make another post just focusing on the grammar when it's more developed. the poem says in english:

What did this player dream? This player dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created. And it dreamed it destroyed. It dreamed it hunted, and was hunted. It dreamed of shelter.

Does it know that we love it? That the universe is kind? Sometimes, through the noise of its thoughts, it hears the universe, yes.

this post is getting long, so under the cut you'll find a "sans-serif" version as well as the poem in osla and its gloss if you're also a linguistics nerd and wanna know what's going on under the hood (the roman numerals stand for the 3 noun classes)! thanks for reading!

The way regular people would write something quickly on a piece of paper with a regular pen is an aspect of creating neographies that I feel is often overlooked, so I developed this sans-serif version that people would probably be more likely to use when writing their shopping lists or diary entries:

And, finally, here's the poem translation:

pak oṇḍul phan wimbakis?

DET.I.SG.PROX play-AGN what dream-PST.3SG.I?

pak oṇḍul lümaṇiuṣerothi han buloni an wimbakis. kaṣkhaothi han nilothi an. wimbakis, run sëmamkis. wimbakis, run xokthakis, han bumxokthakis. zöga an wimbakis.

DET.I.SG.PROX play-AGN sunlight-II.SG.DAT and tree-II.PL.DAT of dream-PST.3SG.I. Fire-II.SG.DAT and water-II.SG.DAT of. dream-PST.3SG.I, that create-PST.3SG.I. dream-PST.3SG.I, that hunt-PST.3SG.I, and PASS-hunt-PST.3SG.I. shelter of dream-PST.3SG.I.

ṭauraka, run kaak samare? run glutsüna flia?

know-NP.3SG.I, that 3SG.I.ABS love-NP.1PL? that universe kind?

imba ethamo, khaṣiŋli an ka’am hu’aŋni pitë, glutsüna ṣaraka, ti.

some time-NOM.III.PL, noise-ACC.II.SG of 3SG.I.GEN thought-NOM.III.PL through, universe hear-NP.3SG.I, yes.

#i hope the quality of the images isnt too unbearable :') #if you wanna write something with this script go for it and tag me!! but pls dont take it for your own projects and all that #i actually didnt notice its similarity to hangul until after i was done lol #id actually developed a completely different alphabet first but thought it was too boring #and like ngl i am literally so happy with how this came out lmao its so pretty and fun to write #definitely my 2nd if not most fave writing system ive ever developed for my clongs #(also btw technically not all small versions of consonants would actually be used #only those that appear in clusters. but i put them there anyways #like theoretically you could forgo all the wide and tall letters and block structure and just write the small letters in a line #like a more traditional alphabet. but this is more fun) #also hi if david peterson reads this i will literally die thx ily #i just realized universe in the last sentence is supposed to be accusative fml!!!!!!!!!!! always gotta doublecheck my cases man ah man whyy #conlang #conlangs #my conlangs #irkan osla #neography #conscript

[icedthoma]

the presence of shadows

pairing: thoma x shuumatsuban!reader

summary: this was just supposed to be a simple, one time food delivery mission. alternatively, in which you catch feelings for the kamisato clan's chief retainer (and hope he at least gets a raise, after all ayato puts him through).

notes: LMAO IM BACK did anyone miss me /hj this was literally supposed to be an ayato fic whups. i wish we got more shuumatsuban lore :(

anyways like/comment/reblog if you enjoyed ^^

"i have a very important mission for you, y/n."

"yes, my lord." you appear on one knee in front of ayato seemingly out of nowhere. "fatui? vagrants? treasure hoarders? say the word, my lord, and i'll eliminate the threat in an instant."

he chuckles quietly. "i admire your enthusiasm. perhaps this is why you are one of my most capable members of the shuumatsuban, and why i am entrusting you with this operation." your gaze is glued to the floor, but you hear a slight rustling of what seems to be some kind of cloth as ayato's well polished shoes turn to face your direction.

chancing a glance up, you're met with that trademark grin that means whatever your boss is planning, it can't be good. beckoning for you to stand, ayato holds out a bag in front of you. "deliver this to thoma, please," he says, the smile never leaving his face. "he should be at the komore teahouse around now. that is all."

you blink rapidly for several seconds, automatically taking the bag into your arms. it's warm. swallowing any questions you have, you bow slightly in acknowledgement. "yes, sir."

you're gone before ayato could say anything more, exiting his office as silently as you had entered.

domestic missions are your least favorite, and this was the first one you’ve had in a while. you love a good challenge, experiencing the thrill of a fight against those that would threaten inazuma's safety being one of the best parts of your job. a task as monotonous as delivering food...definitely couldn't compare.

you huff a sigh as you walk past the large tree in the forefront of the city where many street animals often gather, clutching the bag of food tighter in your hand while you prepare to climb the final obstacle of the many stairs leading to the teahouse. it always feels odd, strolling around in normal clothes instead of your uniform in broad daylight. your discomfort is a constant reminder that your life never was and never would be "normal" ever since the previous kamisato clan head took you in.

children are gathered around the many buildings clustered around the city's rural area, laughing and falling over themselves while they play card games and chase each other around. you can't resist the smile that tugs at the corner of your mouth at the sight of them.

the work you and your comrades do is forever shadowed in darkness, your identities and history confidential even in death. none of these people relaxing in ignorant bliss will ever know of the work you do, and perhaps that's a good thing.

you finally arrive at the teahouse and greet taroumaru with a respectful nod as you make your way in. despite you being in civilian clothes, he recognizes you as one of the shuumatsuban immediately. maybe it's the kunai knife hidden in your sleeve.

none of the rooms have the blond haired retainer who's practically famous throughout the yashiro commission. you've never had the chance (or need) to meet him personally, but from what you've heard, he seems to be quite the character. all you know is his rocky history as an outlander getting settled in inazuma as well as him being allowed some level of authority over the shuumatsuban. that was certainly a surprise to you. anyone who earned the trust of ayato to that extent must be truly special.

you enter the only room that appears to have been recently in use, electing to leave the food on the table before using ninjutsu techniques to conceal yourself in a dark corner and make sure the mission is carried out to completion. a few seconds later, the door slides open and thoma walks in with a yawn, stretching his arms over his head as he sits in front of the table. 

“ooh, finally, some food! i’m starving,” he says, cheerfully making to untie the bag. “how did this get in here, anyway?”

from your position blending with the shadows against the wall, your brow furrows in scrutiny as you watch thoma hum to himself about how much he looked forward to lunch today, green eyes sparkling despite the dim ambience of the room.

how come none of the accounts you’d heard mentioned him being such an absolute ray of sunshine? unacceptable. 

the humming abruptly stops, and you’re snapped out of your thoughts as thoma stares down at the food you’d brought him, his mouth hanging slightly open in...disbelief? horror? he looks like he’s going through the five stages of grief all at once. 

stretching up to get a closer look at the table, your eyes widen and you’re barely able to suppress a gag at what you just had the misfortune of seeing. the bag had apparently contained some kind of rice cake soup, but whatever that suspicious dish sitting in front of thoma was definitely did not deserve the title of being associated with rice cake soup. 

thoma finally picks up his chopsticks and pokes at the bowl, coming up with what looks like chunks of sea ganoderma mixed with the fish that’s definitely been overcooked to a crisp. 

ayato may be your boss, but you can’t defend him where his cooking skills are concerned. the scent from the open bowl wafts over to your corner, and there’s no stopping the choking cough that escapes you at the suffocating aroma. you don’t even think you can call this food. 

thoma’s gaze whips over to where you’re hidden, and he blinks in surprise. “...hello?’ he calls. “anyone there?” his eyes glance over what appears to be a bare wall of the teahouse. after a moment, he shrugs and his attention returns to whatever poison you’d just delivered to him. then, for reasons beyond your comprehension, he scoops up a spoonful and brings it up to his mouth.

you may have only just met the man, but you’re pretty sure having “kamisato ayato’s cooking” written on his gravestone as cause of death is a fate too cruel for anyone. “wait--” you cry out, disguise dissipating as you seemingly spring up out of thin air. halfway through lunging towards the table you realize what exactly you’ve just done, but it’s too late now. 

upon your sudden appearance, thoma jerks backward in surprise, the soup in his spoon splashing onto his lap. the two of you lock gazes, eyes wide in shock (thoma) and horror (you). 

great. years of training under the shuumatsuban, and you’re rendered helpless by an awkward situation with the yashiro commission’s best housekeeper.

“i--who--” thoma starts, snapping you out of your stupor. you sprint out of the room before he can get another word out. 

"napkins!” you yell, launching yourself over the counter on your way to the supply room. taroumaru lets out several amused barks at your predicament, much to your annoyance. so much for professionalism...

upon your return, thoma has already taken off the red cloth around his waist that had received the brunt of the soup’s impact. you hand him the napkins silently, face burning. 

there’s no malice in his expression as he takes them from you and wipes down his clothes. “you’re one of the shuumatsuban, aren’t you?”

well, there’s no point hiding it now. “how could you tell?”

“not many people can appear like that out of thin air,” thoma points out matter-of-factly. “i’m somewhat familiar with their ninjutsu techniques myself--or at least, as much as sayu lets slip to me.” he laughs, shaking his head as he gives up on the pungent stain on his garment and setting it to the side. “either way, it’s nice to meet another one of you. i’m thoma, by the way. i’m assuming lord kamisato sent...”

“yeah. he sent the soup, and by extension myself, i guess.” you shoot a narrowed glance at where that gross dish was still sitting on the table, blissfully undisturbed this entire time. “listen, i’m sorry about your clothes. i didn’t mean to reveal myself like that without a warning. i just--uh--didn’t want you to die of food poisoning. or something.”

“oh, don’t worry. this is a...regular occurence. i’m used to it.” with that, he sits back down and goes for another spoonful.

“hold on, didn’t I just say—”

thoma swallows hard, setting the spoon to the side and looking like he’s about to throw up any second. “oh wow. this is. delicious.”

you stare dumbfounded at him. “are you insane?”

“it’s my job,” he says with a pained smile.

throwing your hands up in the air, you storm out of the teahouse is frustration. “I cant watch this anymore.”

unfortunately, luck is not on your side as ayato somehow manages to catch you despite your desperate attempts to evade him, throwing a new bag of poison in your arms and sending you off to deliver it to wherever thoma is at the moment. 

today, you catch him on the outskirts of the city surrounded by what seems to be half the stray dog and cat population in inazuma. humming cheerfully, thoma distributes food among the animals, bending down to rub their soft fur as they feast. 

“hello again!” he says as you approach from behind, purposefully letting your footsteps be heard. “nice day today, isn’t it?” 

you sigh and hand him ayato’s latest concoction. “sorry. it’s about to get worse for the both of us.” it’s admirable how his upbeat expression doesn’t falter in the slightest as he readily takes the bag of food from you and ushers you to a spot of grass that’s not filled by any dogs or cats. 

“i love coming here, you know. isn’t it nice looking at all the animals’ happy faces when i bring them some treats? ahh, i wish i could just take them all home. but i know lord kamisato would never allow it.” thoma sits down cross-legged and takes out a pair of chopsticks from the bag. “thank you for the meal!” 

you watch curiously as he opens up the box inside to reveal the driest looking crystal shrimp you’ve ever seen arranged in a bed of lettuce. you’re no food connoisseur by any means, but just imagining yourself taking a bite out of one already has your mouth parched. 

“lord kamisato’s cooking really sucks...” you mutter under your breath, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by the man at your side. 

one cursed shrimp is already caught between his chopsticks. “i never thought i’d hear one of the shuumatsuban criticizing lord kamisato so openly!” 

“i’ll only be in trouble if you snitch,” you shoot back lightheartedly, resting your chin in your hand. “you know, he didn’t order me to make sure you eat it, just to deliver it to you. why do you insist on subjecting yourself to this...this...”

“this...?” 

“this absolute insult to liyue cuisine!” 

thoma’s laughter is contagious, and despite your attempts to resist you find yourself laughing along at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. “oh man,” thoma says, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “i am so glad you’re the one bringing me all these.” 

you choose to ignore how your heart skipped a beat at his last sentence. “i’m surprised you can still tolerate me after the stunt i pulled when we first met, not to mention how every time we’ve crossed paths has always been accompanied by ayato’s suspicious dishes,” you say instead, fishing out a second pair of chopsticks from the bag. “tell you what. if you’re so dead set on eating this stuff, i’ll eat one too. it’s only fair.”

thoma’s eyes widen as he quickly pulls the box towards him. “h-hold on,” he chuckles, “that’s not necessary—”

“too late,” you say with a grin, leaning back with one piece already between your chopsticks he hadn’t seen you steal. at his surprised expression, your growing smile becomes harder to suppress. “come on. you can’t beat a member of the shuumatsuban when it comes to theft.”

thoma leans forward to rest his chin on his palm. “…okay, you win. you shuumatsuban are really impressive, huh!”

it wasn’t often you got to hear someone other than your coworkers or ayato compliment your skills. after all, the whole point of the shuumatsuban was to remain hidden in the shadows, out of sight for the greater protection of inazuma’s citizens. whenever you completed a job, you were usually out of the scene before anyone could realize what had happened.

but as thoma stares at you with a look that could only be described as awe, you think that being acknowledged every so often maybe isn’t so bad after all.

clearing your throat, you tear your gaze away from his blinding smile and take a bite of the shrimp. “well. bottoms up!” across from you, thoma does the same.

after a solid minute of fighting for your life just to swallow one mouthful, you turn to thoma who’s face looks rather green.

“water—” you cough, rummaging around in the bag, but unfortunately it was devoid of any drinks.

thoma clears his throat several times and the color begins to return to his face. he stands up and offers a hand to you, which you gladly take as you shakily get to your feet.

“that was…”

“interesting,” you finish, attempting to subtly muffle your coughs with your fist. “archons…I think we need to unionize into a Victims of Kamisato Ayato’s Cooking organization or something.”

the two of you head to the komore teahouse, and taroumaru eyes the two of you knowingly upon your entry as he greets you with a teasing bark. “oh, be quiet,” you manage to whisper, before downing several glasses of water like you’ve been stranded in the sumeru desert.

“shall i order us some food?” thoma asks, reaching one hand over to pat taroumaru’s head affectionately. “you certainly deserve to eat a proper meal.”

ignoring how your stomach growls, it takes all your willpower to deny his offer. “thanks, thoma. but i still have a lot of work to do today that i better finish or else lord kamisato will have my head.”

“ah…” he says, the disappointment showing on his face for only a second before his signature smile is back. “i understand. would you be willing to grab dinner with me some other time? it doesn’t have to be today.”

“with you? i mean, of course i wouldn’t mind, if we both aren’t too busy…”

“then it’s a date,” thoma says it so matter of factly you found yourself nodding along before you realize what he just said.

hoping to celestia the heat in your cheeks isn’t visible, you pause on your way out the door and slowly turn back. “what did you say?”

“i, uh. said it’s a date,” he repeats with a nervous laugh. “should i not have said that? i’m sorry��”

“no! no, you’re fine,” you hurriedly interrupt, glaring daggers at where taroumaru has somehow acquired a box of popcorn and is watching this scene play out with glee. “it’s fine. i’d love that, actually..”

“then i look forward to seeing you then,” thoma calls as you exit the teahouse.

for someone who practically lived and worked in the shadows their entire life, perhaps “normalcy” wasn’t so unattainable after all.

you can almost forgive ayato for his terrible cooking. almost.

#LMAO THIS ENDING WAS SO RUSHED BYE— #it’s been like two years since I’ve posted cut me some slack #genshin impact x reader #thoma x reader #genshin x reader #genshin thoma #thoma #genshin impact thoma #genshin fluff #fluff #genshin fanfic #genshin impact #thoma genshin

[blackwolfstabs]

Parker's Secret Santa Gifts🎄for @fantasylandbitch

RUN

Red Border Collie Kirby, German Shepherd/Wolfdog Sam, and Siamese cat Mindy take on the wilderness as an unpredictable trio.

fandom: Scream // Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey!AU characters: Kirby Reed, Sam Carpenter, & Mindy Meeks-Martin a/n: this fic is basically a scene taken from the film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) and writing it with the 3 Scream characters listed above. because of this, Kirby, Sam, and Mindy are NOT animal shifters, they are strictly written as if they were ONLY animals to begin with (of course my creative ass could come up with a whole Scream universe where most, if not all, the characters were animals haha) that said, i DO NOT own the movie and have purposefully written this for one of the best people in the world (@fantasylandbitch)

Kirby Reed - Red Border Collie Mindy Meeks-Martin - Siamese Cat Samantha Carpenter - German Shepherd Wolfdog

A night in the wilderness wasn’t exactly ideal for the trio that had endured it, even if they were animals. Sam was the most instinctively reactive, due to her being part wolf. Kirby was the most reliable as far as tracking and problem-solving, given that she was an FBI K-9 and a purebred border collie. And Mindy, well… she was the only cat, and she wasn’t exactly in-touch with her wild side. She was more of a house cat with a mouth that could put anyone who dared to try her in their place. She was quick-witted and a fantastic strategist but strictly in a domestic or urban realm.

The night hours in the forest had been filled with noises and unwanted thoughts, pressing all three to stay alert and even encourage Mindy to retreat from her place in a tree to be close to her canine companions. If any menacing animal crossed their path, they’d hoped that Sam’s wolfish appearance and nature would fend them off. Luckily, all had gone smooth, and with the sun starting to glow in between the trees, Kirby had been the first to get up and search for some food. After all, they hadn’t eaten for over 24 hours now.

Sam and Mindy were still asleep in the small corner of fallen branches and logs that were clustered together. Mindy had tucked herself close to Sam’s side, while Sam was semi-curled around her, both peacefully indulging in the dreamworld. It wasn’t until Mindy’s long tail started to curl and flick her canine friend’s muzzle that one of them started to be drawn out of sleep.

Sam’s ears and lips twitched, but she didn’t move, seeming to think that it was just a part of her dream. But then it happened again, something soft and feathery stroking her nose. She tried to move her snout away. When it happened a third time, she growled in frustration and drew her paw over her muzzle. She felt her pads meet whatever was tickling her nose, but the minute she tried to paw it away, a startled noise jolted her awake.

Mindy jumped to her paws with a pained yowl and yanked her tail free. She whipped around, fur bristling. “Watch where you put those big-ass paws, Sam!” she hissed.

The other just blinked at her sleepily. “Then watch where you put your long-ass tail,” she retorted.

The she-cat sat down to groom herself, replying in between licks, “I didn’t mean to, I was dreaming…”

She just received a groan.

Before they could engage in anything else, Kirby trotted up from beyond the trees to round them up. “Alright, guys, rise and shine.”

The only feline straightened from her short grooming session. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” she grumbled flatly.

“I’ve found our breakfast,” the border collie reported, tail wagging.

At the mention of food, Sam raised her head, and her ears perked. “You went hunting?”

The other shook her head, “Nope. Not yet anyway.” She met Mindy’s blue eyes, “We’re gonna need your cat reflexes.”

The appointed shrugged, “Can do.” She then raced past the eldest canine, who looked back to the last member that was still lying down.

“Come on, Sam,” she encouraged, already turning to lead the two to her discovery. “I’m surprised you weren’t up sooner. I thought you’d be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by dawn.”

Sam bit back a groan as she pulled herself to her paws and followed her. “Never. 7:30’s the earliest… and that’s on a good day,” she replied, to which she earned a chuckle.

Kirby’s spot was only a half mile away, except it wasn’t a spot. It was a lake. She knew cats always had a taste for anything they could hunt, plus the only cat was Mindy. She was easy to please. However, she remembered Sam being very specific about things, whenever they were in K-9 training together. “Mindy,” she called her to attention.

The siamese hopped up onto the neighboring rock, “Don’t worry, I got it.” She crouched down and stared into the rippling surface, her crystal eyes steady for any sign of shimmering scales. While Kirby was still and patient, any sign of prey vanished at the vibration of the other canine across the way prowling the bank.

Mindy’s tail lashed in annoyance, while Kirby barked over to her. “Sam, be still! You’re scaring all the fish away!”

Sam leapt away from the lake and galloped back to where they were. She slowed to a trot as she came up with her head lowered. “Sorry, I was just trying to help…”

“It’s fine,” Mindy replied, then went back to concentrating, “Just nobody move.”

The pair of canines waited patiently, both watching the way their feline companion crouched like a statue, the tip of her tail the only part of her that twitched. And then, when they thought breakfast would turn into lunch, she swiped a paw into the water and hooked out a trout, which she tossed in Kirby’s direction. “Snap its neck!” she ordered.

The red border collie pounced immediately and snatched the fish in her jaws. She felt bones crack and the body go limp as she bit down, but she made sure to shake it to make sure it was dead. “Thanks, Mindy,” she spoke around her mouthful of scales, carrying it to a dry spot.

“Yep!” The she-cat crouched down again, on the lookout for her next victim. “Are you ready, Sam? You gotta be quick, because they’re slippery.”

“Mm-hmm,” the other nodded.

“I warn you, because you can be clumsy with those paws sometimes…” Sam gave her a small warning growl, to which she carried on. “Okay, found one! Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Fetch!” Mindy scooped up the next fish and flung it out of the water. But of course, it didn’t land where it was supposed to. Instead, it went completely sideways, out of the intended receiver’s reach.

“Mindy!” Sam barked, having to jump up from where she sat and hunt down the fish flopping around in the grass. For something born and built to only move in water, it was able to manage missing the shepherd’s trained paws.

Over yonder, Kirby glanced up from her meal and licked her lips. “That’ll wake you for sure, right?” she teased, recalling her comment from earlier. 

But the younger dog wasn’t listening as she snapped at air and chased her writhing prey, without looking up to see where it was leading her. For someone that had a split pedigree of herding and hunting, she looked ridiculous. She could’ve sworn that Mindy had done this on purpose, because that was just the kind of cat she was. She constantly messed with her brother, Chad, but because she and Tara were dogs, they were intentionally put in certain positions, just for her amusement. She didn’t care for canines like her brother did and often thought of them with the typical stereotypes, but the two sisters were different. They were all really close. That was why she could get away with teasing them.

“Watch where you’re going, Wolfie!” 

She heard Mindy’s meow over the distance that had grown between them. “I… am,” she answered in between snaps. “You… should… watch where you… fling it next time!” And just as she thought she was about to have it, she crossed paths with two bear cubs nosing around some brambles. The fish flopped into their space, which made Sam slam on her breaks.

“That’s not good…” Kirby abandoned her breakfast to race over to where she could warn off any trouble.

However, Sam wasn’t about to back down from a couple of cubs. She was half-wolf, and she had just made a fool of herself trying to chase down a stupid fish. She was not about to just give it up like that. So, when the bears turned in her direction and grumbled from being disturbed, she held her ground. She barked with a territorial snarl intertwined.

A ways behind her, she heard Kirby call out to her. 

“Sam, get away from them!”

Then Mindy piped up.

“You’re gonna get mauled!”

But a wolf never backed down, especially when prey was involved. At least that’s the way it was in her bloodline. Her father, Billy Loomis, was a pure-blooded wolf, and if she ran away from this, she’d never hear the end of it. “I made a fool out of myself, chasing this thing all the way over here,” she objected, “There’s no way I’m just gonna walk away.”

One of the cubs gave a small roar as they stepped towards her, and she took that as a threat. Her fur bristled, and she bared her gums, snapping her jaws and letting a few aggressive barks out. And to her luck, the pair cowered away and scurried up the nearby trees. She chased them to make sure, then returned to finally win-over her fish. The wolfdog picked it up and shook it around, like Kirby had done. She carried her head high and trotted towards the others, like she was a show dog. “See? They’re only cubs. They don’t stand a chance against wolves,” she crowed.

Mindy rolled her eyes. “Half-wolf,” she corrected.

But Sam just shrugged it off. “Yeah, tell that to all of the trainers that gave up on me because I’ve ‘got too much wolf’ in me…” That’s why she never made it to any field of service in the canine working class. Her coat favored more of her german shepherd side, but she had many wolfish tendencies and characteristics. Plus, she was huge for a domesticated dog. 

Kirby’s ears perked as the body of a 6-foot bear strode into the clearing. And it didn’t smell friendly at all… not that any bear typically did, but this must’ve been the mother of the cubs Sam had scared off. She was going to warn her, but Mindy beat her to it.

“Uh, Sam?” Her pupils dilated, and her fur began to bush. “Y-you might wanna hurry over here… like right now.”

The hybrid dropped the fish and cocked her head. “Why?” 

A loud, outraged roar bellowed through the wilderness, scaring birds out of the trees and all of the fish to the bottom of the lake. It made Sam jump and the fur on her spine stand up. She spun around to meet razor, yellow fangs and foaming spit dripping from a grizzly bear’s mouth. Her ears flattened, and her tail instinctively tucked in between her legs. “Oh shit…”

The FBI K-9 by the bank barked and dashed forward. “Sam, run!” Mindy was already hauling tail in the other direction, which meant she was in the clear.

Sam leapt backwards as the mother bear swiped at her, yelping as she did so. A flash of red and white fur blurred her vision, and she heard Kirby’s defensive barks get in between her and the predator.

The bear roared and went for the smaller canine now, who guarded her companion. However, the two had similar motives when it came to being protective. Sam lunged forward and grabbed the collie’s scruff to pull her away and out of reach. She was actually small enough to where she was able to carry her, but she didn’t seem to like that very much.

“Okay, okay, I got it!” Kirby twisted in her hold, already trying to reach the ground with cycling paws. “Just go, and don’t look back!”

So, Sam dropped her and gained enough speed to catch up with Mindy, the three leaving the lake, the bears, and that tricky, slippery trout far behind.

Little did they know, that was only the start to the wild adventures they were about to embark on during this homeward bound journey…

merry christmas beth!!! you have been one of the most amazing people i've ever met and i'm so honored to call you my friend. watching Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey with you was one of my best memories this year, and it's all thanks to you. stay true, stay beautiful, and stay you. 🩶 happy holidays, my fellow wolf warrior! 🎄✨🎁

- parker (BWS)

#parker's secret santa gifts 2023 #parkerwrites #scream #scream 4 #scream v #scream vi #sam carpenter #mindy meeks martin #kirby reed #homeward bound #scream au #border collie #german shepherd #wolfdog #siamese cat #ao3 #ao3 writer #ao3 author #ao3 fanfic #scream fanfic #merry christmas #happy holidays #fantasylandbitch #blackwolfstabs

[basilbellona]

HK Headcanon: Monomon was a decade or two away from cracking electricity.

I've seen it suggested (I genuinely cannot remember if it was by more than one person and I apologize, but I know it was at least suggested here) that Monomon is responding for creating charged lumaflies. This is likely due to 1: a tank of them being near her resting place, which indicates they might have been a more private research project. 2: They're also found in many areas througout Fog Canyon. And 3: it lines up with her science-lady perception and some chemical reactions have been observed to create electricity. (I'm not a chemist, do not use me as a reference.)

But I also favor the notion of them being a natural phenomenon that absolutely n o b o d y has any idea about.

And Monomon making it her personal mission to figure out what, why, and how these creatures are.

Part 1: Lumaflies v.s. Charged Lumaflies

According to the Hunter, "[t]hey usually drift about peacefully, but sometimes they cluster together and spit out a sharp, crackling flash that will stun and burn even large beasts like myself." It is unclear if by this he means regular lumaflies cluster together and combine their innate electrical charges or if charged lumaflies are a subspecies of lumaflies. Their differing behavior suggests the latter, but there's not many groups of lumaflies in peaceful, natural to compare them to. (The infected state of the lumaflies in the Watcher Knight's room certainly can't be considered normal circumstances.) It's a small, inconsequential mystery for the player in Hallownest’s ruins.

Part 2: Canon Use of (Charged?) Lumaflies and Associated Precautions

Assuming that lumaflies and charged lumaflies are of the same species, it makes sense that they're kept in separate glass lamps. The large chandeliers in the Watcher Knights' room have separate lamps to seemingly hold one or a few lumas as light sources, and likely to prevent a harmful shock. (The lower parts of these chandeliers seem slightly more opaque. Might be made of quartz, designed to produce a dispersed, aesthetic glow. But these parts appear to hold at least 1-3 lumaflies— unless they're flat sections of glass/quartz? Anyways,) I imagine the first crafters of luma-lamps and lumafly carers learned the hard way not to put a bunch of (agitated) ouch-flies in a jar. It might be brighter but, definitely not worth the potential danger. Thus, the separate lamps are put into practice. Can it be called inefficient if it's safe? Perhaps not, but that probably wouldn't stop the Teacher from trying to find a way to make it better.

Part 3: Integration of Electricity and Charged Lumafly Husbandry

That makes me wonder, if she d i d crack the mystery to their charge, how would that electricity be integrated into Hallownest? Slowly. It'd probably start out as a lightly tested energy system only accessible for the elite, until it becomes a safer and a widespread commodity. The bugs of Hallownest display a masterful knack for engineering. (The worst of it being in use at the Crystal Peaks and White Palace.) Pretty much all their machines (save for those in the White Palace and the Soul Sanctum key door) seem to be mechanically activated and involve switches, pulleys, and gears. The only sources of activation we see are either pressure/inertia or soul. Both require bugs to consciously put systems in place to keep it activated. Not too much though, it seems, since it’s not that hard to flip a switch or, if you're the King, to produce soul. But electricity is much more versatile. It'd replace those bulky machines and labyrinths full of gears. Plus, it's a much more powerful, versatile source of energy. (SAD for lumafly lovers like me, though.)

Though, what would this mean for the charged lumaflies? How would they be treated? Would they simply need to be kept in groups to produce charges, or must they feel threatened and stressed to do so? Do they expire faster if they don't stop shocking? Are the natural pauses between shocks their safety cooldowns? Wouldn't the stress still negatively affect them? Would groups of charged lumaflies need to be conditioned to shock in alternating patterns so they electricity keeps flowing? Would people breed stronger c. lumaflies for more charge? Would the mutant-lumaflies escape their feeble handlers, resulting in a hoarde of lightning beasts that raze Hallownest to the ground???

Hopefully, all of the above are factors the Teacher would consider.

Side Note: Volt Twisters?

And as a side note— maybe I'm underestimating the arrogance of the Soul Sanctum residents, but I cannot see a rational scholar looking at this artifical ouch-fly and going, "Mm. Yes, I should eat that to gain their power." However, there are people in real life who do that with synthesized substances so I'm likely just thinking wishfully. Just because I can't stand artificial tastes and smells doesn't mean others cannot. And bugs definitely have alcohol. They definitely have revelry. There's probably some other artifical stuff in the mix, too. And there's the whole soul-sucking business in the Sanctum, and the King himself tampered with the Void Beneanth the World. But regsrdless of whether they're natural or artificial, this makes me wonder... Is the reason why the volt twisters only show up at the Colosseum because they were kicked out for charged lumafly "drugs"? "Oh no, don't put that lethal, sense-exploding substance inside you that's not supposed to be inside you, noooo." Kinda hypocritical, given the aforementioned soul-sucking. But feasibly in character for the upper-crust madman running the place.

Maybe these guys were ahead of the game, though. If only Monomon hadn't become a Dreamer— we might have gotten a Hallownest glowing with electricity; a much more dangerous but adaptable place.

But on that note, how the heck are the music players powered? By soul? That seems to be what powers the trams, if their glowing buttons are anything to go off of. Maybe the Pale King would approve of inegrating electricity as both a sign of his kingdom’s advancement and him not having to expend himself for his cool projects anymore. (Probably his alone because only he might be able to power them, as far as we know.) It could even let them become widespread household/town items.

So, yeah. Monomon was/is smart and I think she deserves to solve a natural mystery

#wow this is long #i hope it provokes Thought tho bc i find it interesting #let's gather together like c. lumaflies and make something explode mutuals #hk headcanons #hollow knight #hk monomon #monomon #hollow knight monomon #hollow knight pale king #hollow knight pk #hk pale king #hk pk #the pale king #monomon the teacher #drug tw #tw drugs #hk soul master #hollow knight soul master #soul master #hk watcher knights #watcher knights #trams and music players and lights oh my

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

More snippets of my series of crossover one shots!

Dani popped by the firehouse to say hello, wearing an old t-shirt dress instead of her usual hoodie and jeans. Cody and Frankie wanted to hang out with the newest princess of the Infinite Realms, and Frankie was no doubt going to have a set of questions for her to answer.

Eventually, they got bored, and ran off into the forest with Dani Burns and Blades.

They came across a small cluster of trees, a vine and bush of blood red flowers. Cody touched the petals, not quite thinking of any danger. He would wash his hands when he got back to the firehouse.

Dani hovered closer to the tree, keeping a cautious distance away. She examined a few of the plants, being sure not to touch it. Unfortunately, Cody was not as cautious, and accidentally got the pollen all over his hands.

Dani brushed against Cody's jacket, the cuffs now covered in pollen.

She recognized the flower just as she got close enough to the tree to breathe in the pollen.

These were blood blossoms.

The reaction was instant.

Dani immediately shot back as if she was hit. Her nose started to bleed rust tinged ectoplasm, and she started to vomit straight blood.

"Blood blossoms, their poison. Makes ghosts unstable." She wasn't breathing now, not that she needed to, but her slow heartbeat was even slower, parts of her fading from existence as she struggled to keep herself together.

She started to fall out of the sky, Blades grabbing her and racing away. Dani tugged at the place her ecto-dejecto pen was under her skirt while Dani Burns focused on stabilizing all the wrong things. Dani Burns finally stopped long enough to see the injection pen, and spiked it into her thigh. She started to solidify immediately, getting better as the ecto did its work.

They took her back to the firehouse, where Dani Burns called Danny.

Danny burst out of a green portal in a ratty t-shirt and basketball shorts, obviously rolling right out of bed. He has an entire duffle bag of ectoplasm and even more ecto-dejecto, even a Fenton Thermos.

"Blood Blossoms are ten times as potent as an exorcism, and twenty times as deadly." He said, popping off the top of an ectoplasm thermos. Dani chugged it, her form growing more solid. She looked more lively, chatting with Frankie like nothing happened while Cody used the back door to head to the showers.

The firehouse was set up in a way that there was a separate door for when Kade came back from a rescue too covered in soot or contamination to change in the common areas. The entire place could be hosed down with no damage to the house. Cody grabbed a duffle bag filled with a change of clothes in his size, making sure not to open it until his stuff was on the washer and he had taken a shower.

In the main garage, Danny looked relieved, and exhausted.

"I had a bit of a flashback to when we met." He admitted to Dani Burns. "Dani was incredibly unstable when I was pitted against her. After I defeated her, she needed half a dozen of those ecto-dejecto pens to even be solid. I had to put her in a thermos anyway."

A green portal opened, and a redhead with a slightly haunted baseball bat left the portal. She wore a steel toed boot on one foot, and a walking boot on the other. A flaming circlet framed her brows, giving her the appearance of an eldritch general. Her smile was a bit too sharp as she smiled warmly towards Dani.

"Ellie! Danny said something about a patch of blood blossoms? I guess I need to make them even more extinct."

"Yeah, Cody found them. He didn't know they were bred to torture ghosts. He touched them, I didn't realize what they were, and now I am gonna be Frostbite's favorite patient for a little bit."

"Yeah you will. Hey, I'm Jazz, the only being in the Ghost Zone that can touch and kill Blood Blossoms without dying that can fit into this room. Can one of you robots come with me? We are burning this stuff in a place where the ashes can be safely disposed of. Blood Blossoms are nasty."

Heatwave went with Jazz to dispose of the deadly plants. Jazz summoned a bucket of blue greek fire and burned every last vine, along with the tree.

She left to join her younger brother and sister, being sure to dismiss the flames fully before leaving. Heatwave was shocked to find no coals or ash left where the tree once stood. Just an empty hole.

#maccadam #danny phantom

[samuraiko]

Orym vignette request~

“Nap” or “Will’s sisters”

I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do, so… you're getting both! :D I hope you like them!

-------

"A Moment's Respite"

Orym approached the tall, graceful woman standing at the cliff edge and bowed. "You summoned me, Tempest?"

"Yes." She turned as Orym straightened, and he could see that her eyes were shadowed with worry and concern. "Orym… are you… all right?"

"Tempest?"

"It's been almost four weeks since the attack, and I don't think you've slept more than three or four hours a night since then." Keyleth reached out and very lightly stroked back Orym's soft brown hair. "I know you want to be vigilant, but… you can't protect me or anyone else if you're asleep on your feet."

"It's… not just that, Tempest. It's…" He tried valiantly to hide it, but the druid saw the flash of anguish in his eyes.

Too late, Orym looked down at his feet awkwardly, and Keyleth sighed. Then she put one hand on his shoulder and began to walk through Zephrah, guiding him along at her side.

"Come. I have an idea."

Together they walked through the village, and those they passed bowed their heads in respect to Keyleth. Eventually, the two arrived at the foot of a large tree. Unlike most of the trees of Zephrah, this one stood far taller, its branches spreading wide and its canopy high. The trunk was an almost shimmering white, but most intriguing of all was the number of ravens that sat upon its branches.

Now it was Keyleth's turn to look momentarily stricken, and she briefly closed her eyes, then re-opened them and looked down at Orym.

"Do something for me, Orym."

"Of course, Tempest. Anything you command."

Keyleth pointed up to a small cluster of branches. "Climb up there, and rest." She raised her voice ever so slightly. "The ravens shall guard your rest." In response to her words, a few of the ravens fluttered away from the cluster to make room, then they looked down at Orym respectfully.

"Are… you sure about this?"

She nodded and smiled, then rested her hand on his shoulder. "Yes." Keyleth lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "This is where I come when I want to dream of the one I loved and lost. I see no reason why you can't do the same."

Orym swallowed hard and nodded, then he clicked his heels and sprang several feet straight up into the air to land dextrously on the branch that Keyleth had indicated. He set aside his sword and his shield, though keeping them within easy reach, and stretched out his legs while leaning back against the tree.

One raven, larger than the rest, coasted down from higher in the tree to land beside him, and the halfling couldn't help but smile wanly at it.

"You're gonna guard my rest, right? You're almost as big as me, so I'll trust you."

The raven tilted its head and lightly pecked at Orym's chest, just over his heart.

Orym closed his eyes, did his best to swallow his tears, and slowly, slowly, slowly, let the exhaustion and pain and heartache take him as he slid into sleep.

-------

"Found Family"

"ORYM, CAN YOU COME HELP ME, PLEASE?" Berenie's voice carried from the kitchen, and a moment later, the halfling appeared in the doorway.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"I just realized I forgot to pick some fresh herbs from the garden, would you mind going outside and getting some for me?" She saw him raise one hand and immediately shook her head. "No, no, no, don't waste your Druidcraft on that. Besides, I need more than one type of herb so you'd have to go outside anyway."

Orym laughed softly. "Fine, then, which ones do you need?"

"I need…" Berenie glanced over her shoulder at the recipe book. "Tarragon, some dill, and a double handful of parsley."

"Roast stew tonight, I take it?" Just the thought of it made his stomach rumble, and he heard a giggle from behind him as Lita came in.

"I heard that in the hallway, Orym."

"Sorry, I haven't had breakfast yet. I only just finished my morning routine and-"

"Oh, no, don't let Maeve hear that you skipped breakfast, she'll take your head off."

"I didn't skip breakfast, that's why I was actually coming in here-"

"DID HE FORGET TO EAT AGAIN?!" came a bellow from outside.

"I didn't forget, Maeve, I just finished exercising!" he called out the kitchen window, while Lita gave him a knowing grin and Berenie went back to preparing the stew for the evening meal.

"ORYM, DON'T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING BEFORE GETTING SOME FOOD INTO YOU, YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR STRENGTH UP!"

"But Berenie needs some herbs-"

"DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!"

Berenie laughed and called out, "If you're going to come in here to yell at him, maybe you should bring me some herbs instead!"

"Nah, I'll get them." Orym swiped some freshly baked waybread from the table, broke off a piece, and popped it into his mouth. With his mouth still full, he glanced back at Berenie and asked, "You said dill, tarragon, and what else?"

"Parsley, double handful."

"Got it. Back in a little bit." Munching on the bread, he left the house and circled around to the large garden in the back, where he found Maeve on her hands and knees, tending to one corner where she kept her medicinal plants.

"G'morning, Maeve… see? I'm eating." He waved the waybread in her direction, and she gave him a measured glare.

"I've seen sparrows that eat more than you. And with all that you put yourself through, you really should be eating better, Orym."

"It's fine… I'm like half your size, so I only need to eat half as much."

Maeve tossed a clod of earth at him, which he easily dodged. "Make sure to get something more substantial into you after you finish picking those herbs for Berenie. Will needs something solid to hug."

"I've not heard him complaining," Orym murmured under his breath as he gathered the requested herbs.

"True, you usually just have him making other sounds-"

Now it was Maeve's turn to dodge as Orym chucked a handful at her, his face flaming red.

"MAEVE!"

"I'm not wrong, though!"

"Oh, shut up."

Maeve laughed and went back to tending her plants, while Orym finished gathering the herbs for dinner and came back inside. Lita and Berenie were working side by side in the kitchen, Berenie industriously scouring and washing the heavy iron cauldron, and Lita quickly making some eggs and bacon.

Orym set the herbs beside Berenie on the counter, then accepted the eggs and bacon from Lita. "Thanks, Li."

"You're welcome, little brother."

#critical role #campaign 3 #orym of the air ashari #fanfiction #a moment's respite #found family #writing #maeve #lita #berenie #keyleth #zephrah

[darkclouud9]

hi hi hi hi. so I have a unique worldbuilding piece that uses soul marks. all it basically does is tie one's soul to one-three animals. these animals typically change the appearance of the person's soul, making them hybrids.

some souls have unique things about them (that I will eventually make). I think the only one I have something for so far is that ghast soul marks can not be removed. you can remove ghast skin, but not the actual soul mark. but, soul marks don't do anything except glow in the dark and just signify that one has those markings.

usually, all soul marks are hidden anyway, but depending on how heavy the clothing is, the glow can show through.

also yes, a lot of the soul marks are based on the animal/mob they are. I used a lot of the ear shapes for them.

also shush, I just realised I forgot the creeper soul mark. I'll do it soon.

sadly, I don't have anyone for squid, because Etho is the only one I've even remotely thought of squid for, but since he's a shapeshifter, he doesn't count. also forgot to put Xisuma under strider...

some clusters I don't know how to name, so instead they just get triple named oops.

#hopefully my writing is clean enough T-T #also ignore the tilts. i got rid of most of them at least #had to check my notes for what some were. i dont have anything for Joe #Martyn and Keralis werent under anything #but i did have a small hc for raccoon Martyn (and Iskall) so i just put them down. they may change. #and ive seen horse Keralis before. so maybe. #i wanna draw more of these so if you have anything gimme #hermitcraft #impulsesv #zedaphplays #well Impulse was a dummy but still. #also Gem's a deity and Impulse is am angel. i dont really know how to go about those since theyre not rly animals #Impulse just has the wings and occasional halo. and Gem's relates to other factors. her dont physically show #also feel free to use these just give credit. #not sure anyone will care abt them anyway. #just some silly things #WAIT I JUST CHECKED THE TIME THESE TOOK 2.5 HOURS????? #WHAT

[scarletwritesshit]

Yosuke Hanamura x F!Reader ❀ Town of Blossoms ❀ June 3rd, 2013

Junes was awfully crowded for a miserable day like today. The sun hadn’t even reached its peak yet, and temperatures were already reaching scorching high numbers. The refrigerated vegetable aisle was crowded by procrastinating shoppers hesitant to leave the refreshing cool air. They could just as easily throw themselves into one of the freezers, at this rate. Could the staff even blame them for considering that? Hell, they might as well join the customers in the frozen meal aisle.

It was no use fighting through the other shoppers right now. Your primary goal was to hopefully catch Yosuke at the food court during his break. Last night, you did make a promise to see him after all.

The interior of Junes wasn’t the coolest place in the world, but you still got blasted in the face with heat as soon as you stepped outside. Unsurprisingly, the lines of people awaiting a chance to order a frozen dessert were beginning to crowd the food court.  You made your way to the shortest line that you could see and secured your position before anyone could put you further behind. Out of the corner of your eye, you were looking around to attempt to catch glimpse of Yosuke. It was hard to tell if he was outside with lines obstructing your view from all sides anyways, and if he was out at this time, he had to be already sitting down in the shade.

Now, if only this damn line would pick up the pace. For one thing, you wanted to get something to cool you down before the sun's rays roasted your body. It would also be nice to meet up with Yosuke soon so that he wouldn’t be under the wrongful assumption that you forgot about him.

Finally, it was your turn to order. You went for a large cup of standard vanilla ice cream, as it was the safest option considering the mass amount of other people who have already had the chance to order. The swirl towered over the rim of the cup, and it was quickly beginning to soften and liquify. You fought your way out of the cluster of people, which were thankfully leaving the food court for their cars. Other than the few people still waiting in line, the food court was almost completely empty.

With the majority of the tables unoccupied and the court finally clearing out, it wasn’t difficult to spot Yosuke sitting by himself in the shade. He was paying no mind to his surroundings, as he was more focused on whatever he was doing on his phone to care. His headphones were on and he was tapping his foot to the beat of the music: an absolute genius tactic to keep coworkers and needy customers away during his brief moment of peace.

You almost felt bad for disturbing him in such a relaxed state, but you wanted to fulfill last night’s promise of visiting him during the day. A little bit of hesitation lingered, though, yet you still walked over to the table he sat in and slid into a chair across from him. Yosuke looked up from his phone to see who had decided to pay him a visit, and immediately upon seeing that it was you, he sat his phone onto the table and slid his headphones around his neck. Before he tapped his phone screen to stop his music, you could faintly hear what sounded like some kind of early 2000s Western rock, but you couldn’t tell which band it was. It was most likely one of those numerous bands he constantly talked about, none of which your fried brain could remember at the moment.

"I didn’t even expect you to make it all the way out here in this heat today," Yosuke said, pleasantly surprised by your appearance.

"I needed to do a bit of shopping anyways, so stopping by to see you on your lunch break wasn’t going to hurt," you said. "Besides, it’s been too hot to do anything else."

"Yeah, tell me about it… Business has been absolutely crazy at the food courts lately. Everyone has been fighting tooth and nail for some of those 300 yen soft serves, but I see you’ve went big."

"I’d have the normal sized cone scarfed down before I could even take a seat, so I had to take things a step further."

You scooped a hefty portion off of the top with a spoon and eagerly shoved it into your mouth. Immediately, you were met with brainfreeze, an awful thing to deal with while having a mouth still full of ice cream. Yosuke was getting quite the enjoyment out of your suffering, whether or not he was actually putting in any effort to hide his snickering.

"Bite off more than you could chew, huh?" he said, mockingly.

Somehow, you felt as if you had in both a literal and figurative sense.

After the pain in your head subsided, you could finally retaliate against his snarky comment, albeit a bit too late.

"I’d like to see you finish one of these by yourself then. Or are you soft, just like the texture of the ice cream?"

"Soft? I’m anything but soft! I helped track down a murderer and...and stuff..."

"Relax, it’s a cold dessert, not a cold-blooded killer," you said, taking another bite. Much to Yosuke's disappointment, you weren’t met with brain freeze twice in a row.

"You know exactly what I meant."

"Do I? Maybe you’re the one who didn’t know, you big goof."

"I am positive that I know the exact message being conveyed here. And uh...speaking of soft desserts..."

"Yes?"

"You uh...got a little something on your face."

"Huh? Where?"

Yosuke leaned over the table, stopping himself before he got too close to you. He seemed surprised that you didn’t instinctively flinch backwards with him being so bold as to approach you in such a manner. In fact, you did just the opposite by subconsciously leaning in ever so slightly closer. He remained silent and motionless for a moment, as if he were carefully debating his next action.

Yosuke lifted up his right hand and gently slid the back of his thumb across your cheek.

"Right...here."

A little bit of ice cream was on his finger, showing that he was indeed being truthful about seeing some on your face.

He sat back down in his chair, flicking the ice cream off to the side.

"...Thanks," you said, unable to figure out how to properly respond. Fortunately, the summer heat was helpful in hiding your blush.

Yosuke nodded in acknowledgement, then looked away while fidgeting with his headphone cord. He seemed to have understood what he had done, and how it could have been perceived, yet he still felt some kind of guilt.

To get his attention back, you gently tapped on the table. He looked at you, curiously awaiting your next move. Perhaps he was worried that you were going to sock him across the food court, like a certain martial artist that you once knew would’ve. Yosuke did not flinch in fear, but merely accepted his fate.

Of course, you would never do that to him. There was absolutely nothing was wrong with a friend trying to lend a hand, which is what he was simply trying to do. No big deal, right?

It wasn’t something that you should be preoccupied with anyways. Neither should Yosuke, but he still seemed to be braced for your retaliation for his rather unique form of assistance. Before any misunderstandings should arise, you diverted his attention to hopefully a more positive subject matter.

"Do you have any plans for after work any day this week?” you asked. “Perhaps we can take a walk through the shopping district or head down to the river.”

"I don’t have anything pressing planned, but..."

"But what?"

Yosuke crossed his arms on the table and planted his face into them. He let out an exhausted sigh, sounding drained and defeated.

"Listen, man. The heat doesn’t look like it’s going to let up, and working here sucks enough life outta me. I want to actually, yknow, enjoy our time together."

Which, was completely understandable.

“I-I’m not saying I hate your company or anything! I just…” he said, realizing that his response may have sounded worse than intended.

"I get it," you said, trying to reassure him. "The offer will always be up for when you do catch a break."

"I know, I just don’t want to come off as avoidant all of a sudden, that’s all."

Yosuke looked up at you and seemed immensely disappointed at having to decline your offer. It can’t be helped, though, as what would you realistically do when sitting outside was agony enough?

"Hana, it’s fine. Taking some time to avoid the wrath of hell itself isn’t going to cause any harm."

"Still, I feel like I’ve been constantly letting you down."

"Are you letting that 'prince of disappointment' stuff get to you again?"

"...Maybe."

You pulled out an extra plastic spoon that you took from the counter and stashed away. From the start, you knew that you would be unable to finish such a large serving ice cream all on your own. The larger portion was intended to serve as an excuse for spending more time with Yosuke, but it wasn’t going to last much longer with the hot air lingering even in the shade.

You slid the spoon across the table to him, lightly hitting him in the arm. He looked down at it, then back at you.

"What was that about not being soft? You aren’t going to let yourself be defeated by cheap Junes ice cream, right?"

"Well, when you put it that way...hey wait! I'm not soft!"

He ripped the plastic off of the spoon and started aggressively digging into the ice cream from his side. What could he possibly be attempting to prove by inhaling a half-eaten bowl of mushy ice cream? He was shoving it in his mouth with such enthusiasm that you couldn’t help but laugh at his disregard for the vanilla ice cream that seemed to miss its mark.

"W-what's so funny?" he said in between bites.

"Oh, nothing. You just have a little something on your face, that’s all."

Yosuke didn’t respond. He merely narrowed his eyes at you, annoyed that you used his own trick against him. He looked back down at the formerly behemoth mound of ice cream and continued scooping away at what was remaining.

When the bowl was practically empty, Yosuke took a glance at his phone and was alerted to how much time had passed. From the look on his face, you could tell that he would have to return to wrangling inventory and customers inside Junes shortly. He stood up from his chair and hesitantly slid it back under the table.

“Sorry to cut our time together short, but I’d best be going. The boss is probably going to kill me if I stay out any longer with all of these customers around.”

“Wait,” you said, stopping him in his tracks. “I’ll walk back with you.”

“Huh? Okay...even though it’s not that far to the warehouse.”

“I’m going back inside anyways,” you said while gathering the trash into the cup. “There’s no need to see each other off so soon.”

“I thought that you would want to go home as soon as you could in order to escape this murderous weather. Braving the heat for little ol me, I see how it is.”

He really is difficult to fool, huh? He’s more of a detective than meets the eye…

“Oh shut it, Hana. I’m simply trying to make my suffering in the heat worthwhile.”

“Okay, okay I get it. Calm down…”

The walk back through Junes was a rather slow one. He was clearly dragging his feet, and you were purposefully slowing him down further. To try and appear busy in order to avoid an earful from the higher ups, Yosuke pretended to care about the stock of food and merchandise lining the shelves. One of his coworkers gave him the side-eye for being so slow to return back from break, but was more shocked to see you walking so close to his side. Rather than say anything, the onlooking Junes worker turned away and continued attending to the shelves that he was stocking previously. He was now probably snickering in his own world at the thought of Yosuke ever managing to acquire a partner.

As reluctant as you two were to part ways for the day, Yosuke did eventually have to bring himself to return to work. Though the separation would be temporary, you still found yourself craving perhaps just a few minutes more of conversation with him. Free from any distractions, you remembered the original reason, or at least what you claimed to be, why you came to Junes in the first place; a restock of ice pops.

Annoyingly enough, people were still crowded where the ice pops were located in the freezer department. With no energy left to fight through the crowds, you instead settled on a box of kinpaku. The ice cream wouldn’t hold up as well as the pops would in the heat, which meant you had to head straight home if you wanted to preserve any form of edible quality.

While walking to the checkout with your box of ice cream in hand, you accidentally bumped into something sticking out of a store display. It wasn’t a violent smashing noise or the impact of a box, but rather, a softer rustling sound when it hit the floor. You turned around to investigate, noticing a bundle of blue hydrangeas laying in the middle of the aisle.

Despite how badly you wanted to keep your ice cream from melting, you picked up the bundle of fresh flowers and carefully place them back onto the display. It would be a sorrowful tragedy to see such beautiful blossoms trampled over…

Author's note:

kinpaku is another name for golden ice cream which is mainly known for the gold foil it is wrapped in rather than a unique flavor see what i did there golden ice cream persona 4 golden haha funny

#persona 4 #p4 #fanfiction #fanfic #fluff #yosuke hanamura #yosuke hanamura x reader

[evanthenerd83]

“The Glue Effect”

The more we explore that vast, unrecognizable expanse known as the Multiverse, the truer the Rule becomes.

Now, you might have heard it from your college professor, probably in such fascinating classes as Advanced Meta-Realistics or Hydromental Comprehension. Or seen it on those horrid, yellow-faded posters that can be found everywhere these days.

It has become a way of life. Or what passes for life after what happened in the 20s. If you, for some reason, have remained blissfully ignorant? Let me fill you in.

The Rule, or the Inevitability, as the Administration likes to call it, is this: The further you go, the weirder things get.

Laws previously thought to be immutable are rewritten. Visual appearances get shifted around, parts replaced by things only slightly similar. Cats become man’s best friend. Dogs start speaking what could be English… if you think English consists of phrases spoken like Google translate broke down, that is.

You know. Stuff like that.

It is a mercy we haven’t stepped past the Local Cluster. Doing so isn’t impossible, just highly unlikely given the sheer infinity of possible universes one can potentially fall into.

Theorists spout randomly generated numbers when questioned by an eager press; seven-thousand, eight-hundred and fifty-six, ten billion, or even five thousand, five hundred and fifty-five. I don’t blame them for misleading the public. I wouldn’t know what to say if asked such a stupid question.

…

The Rule was why Recovery Team Echo returned a little bit different. It had embarked as a team of big, strong men. They returned as small, weak men, covered in glue.

Of course, they weren’t covered in glue. No. No. No. They were glue, they’d been turned into glue by what sick, sadistic “comedian” is responsible for casting that infinite-sided dice, which landed on one of the least terrible probabilities.

I was sitting at my desk. It is a good desk. Wooden, nice and smooth; my terminal has undergone a red-screen of death. Not my fault. Some idiot intern sent me a link. How was I to know not to click on the link? I wouldn’t have known where it would lead me, which happened to be something I can’t mention here.

The Administration has a strict no-disclosure clause in its employee contracts. Just writing this puts me at risk of being called into the Human Resources office and given my Black Slip.

You do not want to know what that entails, dear reader. Just know that some fates are worse than death.

Anyway… I was sitting in my rolling chair, looking at my shoes, hoping that my Supervisor wouldn’t do her rounds, when the lamp flickered. Like a torch thrown underwater.

Then came the sound of… squishing. Wet footsteps echoing from all nineteen directions. A sound like millions of bugs were being stepped on, ground into an unseen floor by eight boots. That sound can send the sanest person somewhere a sane person most definitely doesn’t want to go. Which is madness.

I swiveled around.

And four things came shambling out of the brick wall directly behind me.

I say ‘things’ because, at first, I couldn’t tell just what they were. They walked upright like men, or the standard bipedal format most life takes. Two arms and legs, a small head. Two eyes. A nose. A mouth outlined with lips. You get the gist.

But they were also not men. Their skin was completely white, bubbling. The fierce light being cast by the overhead bulbs reflected off of their… uh, their skin-or-surface.

Whenever their feet-or-blobs left the floor, they left behind puddles.

They stopped moving. No longer could they move, because those blobs masquerading as feet got stuck to the floor. They had dried within seconds of entering our reality.

They then stood there. In a row. Four of them, all standing there. Before me.

…

I opened my mouth, “Uh…”

“Recovery Team Echo,” said the largest of the figures. “Reporting back.”

Its voice was all bubbly. The words were interrupted by a thick, heavy accent of glue.

The smallest figure shook its head. Both eyes were focused on the floor. Tears streamed down its cheeks, hitting the floor with a SPLAT.

I took a deep breath. Which echoed in the vast, open office.

“What happened?”

“Retrieval was unsuccessful,” the Largest spoke.

“Subject was dead?”

Now it was the Largest Figure’s turn to shake its head. “Not dead… no, but they wished they were. By the time we located them… they’d already… we found…”

“Subject was affected by their location. Universe consisted of glue. Subject could not be located in an orderly, timely manner. Subject was glue.”

The Second-Smallest figure mimed removing a pair of glasses, then remembered its current state.

“And talking,” shuddered the Second-Largest figure. It was wetter than the others, which I took to mean nothing.

I glanced back at the other side of the office. The heavy metal door was closed. Good. I didn’t need Rachel stumbling across an employee having a conversation with four gluey beings. Especially not on Administration time.

Rachel would probably go as white as glue. Or had given me a Black-Black Slip for breaking established interaction regulations without consulting our resident psychologist.

We weren’t on good terms. Not since the incident a week prior, when I absentmindedly handed a member of the Subject Health and Safety department a cigarette. Without noticing that they were wooden.

One more demerit, and I’d be relegated to janitorial duty. Again.

I turned my attention to the Largest. “Who is your supervisor?”

The Smallest made a sound like a half squeak. The Second-Largest mimicked pinching its nose. The Second-Smallest began to whistle.

Oh dear. That wasn’t good.

A nagging suspicion nudged my mental shoulder, winking.

“Don’t tell me,” I sighed. “Upon entry into the location, you…”

“We got split up.”

Cripes.

I ignored the nagging suspicion, which had ditched the conspiratorial wink-and-nudge for a joyous Irish jig. My teeth ground together. Sparks could have flown.

Anger was a popular vice. Especially the frustration variety, given the almost sentient sense of ironic humor the Multiverse displayed. A need to tease those who tried to interfere with its will.

If it had a will, of course.

“How long did it take you to…”

“I don’t know. Didn’t get enough time to establish how time worked in the location.”

“If you had to guess?”

“If today is May the eighteenth…” the Largest cast a futile glance at its wrist. “… Uh, what day is it?”

My eye twitched. The nagging suspicion got married to another nagging suspicion, this one flirting with a wedding guest; Disaster.

“The twenty-seventh.”

“Two…” the Largest coughed. “Two… days.”

I took a deep breath. A defense mechanism against what other folks in this line of work, who are far more comfortable invoking the wrath of their supervisors, would gratefully welcome. Outbursts of anger.

Pure, unadulterated anger. White hot. Supernovas borne from frustration, impotence, and hopelessness in the face of forces beyond our pitiful existence.

The heavy metal door remained closed. Yet I knew. I just knew that, at some point, in a few seconds, Rachel—the firecracker, dedicated legalist, a redhead with combustible blood—would come sauntering through, and I would find myself standing before Administration, hands cuffed behind my back and eyes blindfolded, ears tensed to detect the sounds of a Tear.

“And your… supervisor?”

The Smallest burst into tears. Which dried upon its cheeks.

The Second-Smallest whistled even louder. I winced, some part of my brain working under the impression that it would serve as a call.

The Second-Largest mimicked leaning against the brick wall. It didn’t really lean against the wall, because it would have fallen through it. Just like the subject.

The Largest just stood there, hands at its sides, a loyal soldier taking a beating from a commanding officer.

I reached for the telephone on my desk.

Better to call her myself. Give her the bad news myself, and earn myself some measly little merits.

Even if it wouldn’t do much. Rachel might not have been cold blooded, but she didn’t hesitate to avenge the rules.

And that is when the door opened.

…

“What’s that,” she tapped her foot. “Demerit number…”

I gulped. “N-number eighteen.”

Rachel glared at me from across her desk, hands clasped. Blue eyes cold as ice bore themselves into mine. Something fell loose inside of me.

That something being pitiful, servile fear.

“I… I’m sorry,” I bowed my head. Bowed it so low, it almost… no, it definitely hit the floor.

Rachel scoffed. She flipped a strand of hair back over.

A gesture as old as time. The universal symbol for dismissal. Or disgust.

“Henley. You idiot.”

I felt heat light up my cheeks.

#evanthenerd83's storytime #short story #january 2023 #sci fi & fantasy #creative writing #original writing #comedy #workplace comedy

[magdelanesingerin]

Session 7: Accountability

(A life Alone, Chapter 3) -3017 words, M

 “How did your conversation with Jaskier go? Did you get a chance to say the things you were hoping to say to him?”

 Geralt sits back against the now-familiar couch in Nenneke’s office, arms crossed over his chest, and can feel his brow furrowing as he considers his answer. He’s feeling a lot of things after his conversation with Jaskier.

 “It was…fine. A relief. I got to apologize for the things I did and said, and he was willing to hear me out.”

 “I’m really glad; that was excellent work you did getting to that point, and taking the risk to be vulnerable and honest,” she says, and he fights the urge to flinch. He feels like she’s being condescending, but six weeks of appointments have taught him that she’s being completely serious in her praise. It’s hard to take.

 “Hmm. Um. Thanks. We talked for a long time, after. That was…good. He agreed to– we’re going to try to be friends. Just…just friends,” he says haltingly.

 “That’s wonderful, I’m glad that he was receptive,” she says, before she leans in a bit with narrowed eyes. “Now, I think I know what you’re trying to say, but I heard the word ‘just’ sneak in there, and I want to be clear– you know that a platonic friendship is not of inherently greater or lesser value than a romantic or sexual relationship, yes?”

 “Yeah, I just meant that–I wasn’t good at–” Geralt sighs heavily, shaking his head as he struggles to put the words together. “I didn’t allow us to be friends, really. The first time. Not for long, anyway. I want this to be different.”

 “Hm, good,” she nods, leaning back in her chair again. “I think it will be. I’d like to explore that experience, if we can. I’d imagine that conversation was…difficult for you, in a number of ways. It probably brought up a lot of emotions, and it’s a good opportunity for us to continue to work around identifying and anchoring those emotions. Let’s start here: what are you feeling right now, and where is it in your body?”   ___________________________________________________________

     Geralt paused for a minute in the doorway watching the three of them together clustered around the end of the long dining room table. They looked completely at ease, despite having met only a few hours before. Aiden and Meg welcomed Jaskier into their after-dinner conversation like he’d been there for years. The fireplace crackled behind the trio, Aiden lounging back with his long arms behind his head, and Meg with her legs sprawled across two chairs. Jaskier leaned forward with his elbows resting on the glowing wooden table as he told the other two some animated story, beautiful and backlit by the glow of the flames. He could hear Eskel and Lambert in the living room arguing happily and laughing about something. It was a perfect evening.  

     This had been so easy to include Jaskier, for him to fit into Geralt’s family. To be treated like one of their own.  

     Geralt felt suddenly overwhelmed; this was supposed to be a fling. A fun, straightforward dalliance with a hot guy he picked up at a bar. Nothing serious. He wasn’t supposed to be standing there in his family’s house thinking about a future with this man. He retreated back into the kitchen, leaving the lights off, to lean his palms against the cool porcelain of the sink for a minute while his mind whirled and his breaths came fast and shallow.  

     Eskel appeared with a stack of dirty dessert plates and forks, adding them to the pile of dishes on the counter that they’d have to deal with later. The clatter of ceramic and silverware sounded impossibly loud in Geralt’s ears and seemed to go on forever. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth against the sound. Eskel paused, leaning over to look at Geralt’s face bent over the sink in the near-dark. “Uh-oh, I know that look. What are you panicking about right now?”  

     Geralt clenched his jaw and shook his head, not looking at his brother. “Nothing. I’m fine. Just a headache.” It was a bad lie and he knew it. His eyes flickered to Eskel’s face for a second, seeing a slightly cocked eyebrow and a tilt to his head that confirmed he hadn’t bought a word of it. “It’s fine,” he repeated stubbornly, knowing that the growl in his voice made the lie even more obvious.  

     “Sure, ok.”  Eskel backed off with a resigned shake of his head. He knew better than to push his younger brother. He’d talk when he was good and damn ready, and not a moment before.  

continue on Ao3

#my fic #A Life Alone #Geralt #The Witcher #modern AU #Poor Jaskier #you really got him at his worst #bless his heart

[angryschnauzer]

He’s A Keeper

Summary: Working as an artist hired by Durrell Zoo, you spend your days sketching the day to day life of the animals and the keepers. One keeper in particular catches your eye.

Pairing: AU Zookeeper Henry Cavill x Female Reader (no race or size mentioned)

Fandom: Henry Cavill

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Friends to Lovers, Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Fingering, Safe Sex/Use of Condoms, Realistic Sex/Relationship discussion, Vaginal Sex.

Typo’s are allowed to run wild and free, only the finest organic free range fuck ups for me.

I do not operate a tag list, but if you follow @angryschnauzerwrites​ and hit ‘notifications’, you’ll get an alert every time i post something new. Back catalogue/masterlist can be found there and also on AO3

He’s A Keeper

Working the pencils over the sketchpad you quietly captured the beauty of the animals the zookeepers had nursed back to full health, the Ruffed Lemur currently hanging off the keepers arm as he spoke through the headset to the group of excited school children watching through the glass. 

You’d been hired by the zoo to capture day to day life at the zoo throughout the summer season, drawing the animals and the humans, however there was one particular human you had found yourself drawn to numerous times, and that was the rather tasty zookeeper by the name of Henry. He also had one of the sexiest voices you’d ever had the pleasure to listen to, so as he explained about the Lemur’s your mind wandered, as did your gaze;

“... originally from Madagascar, and have been part of Durrell zoo since 1982 where they have been essential to the breeding program…”

Your mind fell even further into the gutter at the word ‘breeding’, your eyes raking down Henry’s body, taking in how the branded t-shirt clung to his chest before tapering down to a narrow waist where it was neatly tucked into cargo pants that did little to hide how thick his thighs were and a pert arse you could bounce a satsuma off of. Biting the end of the pencil you had all but given up drawing, only realising that the talk was over when the group of school children were being herded onto the next exhibit by their tour guide and teachers.

When the kids had disappeared you finally got back to drawing, watching as Henry finished up feeding the Lemur’s before he met your gaze and smiled at you. Tapping your pencil on the glass he frowned and shook his head, before smiling and pointing to the sign in the corner of the window that said ‘do not tap the glass’, getting closer you tried to mouth your words to him, but was surprised when his eyes went wide in almost shock, before looking down and realising you had pressed your chest to the glass, your low cut cami top helping to accentuate your cleavage. When you looked up again he was gone and you let out a sigh of disappointment, before he appeared through a door to the side of the viewing area;

“Hi” he had a smile that could charm the panties off a nun; “Did you want me?”

“God yes…” Oh fuck, did you say that out loud?; “Sorry, i mean, you’ve dropped the foam bit off your headset...”

He glanced into the enclosure just at the moment one of the larger Lemur’s picked up the small round piece of foam and staring straight at Henry, proceeded to rip it into tiny pieces.

“Furry little fucker…” he cursed under his breath before turning back to you, but before he could say anything a group of other keepers came walking in and soon you were hanging onto the periphery of their conversation where they were discussing going for drinks after work. Moving to pack your stuff up as you presumed they weren’t including you, but a call of your nickname drew your attention;

“Hey Da Vinci, you up for a few beers after work?”

You hesitated to answer, glancing at Henry who had a smile across his face and a hopeful look in his eye;

“We’re all going…”

“Ok, yeah sure, that’d be great” you agreed. 

-

An hour later you were sitting on the wall outside the main entrance waiting for the rest of the keepers to finish their shifts, smiling as you saw them coming out of the doors, and the ensuing 10 minutes that followed as people sorted out who was driving and how many people could fit into just a couple of small cars. As spaces were allocated Henry laughed and shook his head;

“I am NOT riding five up in a Renault Clio, i’m too tall, i’ll have to fold myself in half! Where are we going anyway, i can take my bike and just walk home after”

Waiting as everyone discussed location and finished off seat allocation, they’d finally decided when Henry turned to you;

“Hey, i think the last seats are in the stoner wagon…”

“Oh…” you didn’t have anything against anyone smoking pot, but didn’t fancy being in a car you could barely see out of the windows of.

“But you can ride with me on my bike?”

Looking to where Henry was pointing, you saw a fairly large trails bike, the kind that could go 50mph over rough land and through forests;

“I… I don’t have a helmet…”

“Wait here, let me run into the locker room and grab the spare i keep here”

Everyone else pulled away as Henry ran into the zoo, and you glanced at the bike. You’d never been on a motorbike before, so this would be a first. Stowing everything loose in your backpack, you hooked it over both shoulders just as Henry reemerged from the building, swinging his keys from one finger as he came to stand in front of you;

“Hey, thanks for waiting”

“No worries! So, where are we going again?”

“The pub in Rozel does good food and pulls a great pint” he nodded to his left and you saw a row of motorbikes; “You ever ridden?”

Shaking your head you laughed; “No, never”

He carefully helped you put the helmet on, his nimble fingers helping to secure the strap beneath your chin before putting his own on and climbing onto the bike, pushing it off the kick stand and nodding for you to climb on. You tried to sit back, but he wrapped his arm behind his back and pulled you flush to his body;

“Gotta hold on tight, otherwise you’ll throw the balance off. Lean when i lean and just squeeze a bit harder if you’re scared, the ride won’t take long” he shouted over the thrum of the noisy engine idling.

The ride down to the small village of Rozel had been exhilarating, from the vibration of the motorbike between your legs to the way you were able to wrap your arms around Henry’s waist and cling to him as he hurtled around the country roads at what seemed like warp speed, when in fact it was little more than 30mph. By the time you arrived in the small fishing cove your heart was racing and you actually let out a reluctant moan at the thought of removing your arms from around Henry’s waist.

“C’mon” he grinned as he helped you off the bike; “I’ll buy you a vodka and coke to calm your nerves”

“It wasn’t nerves” you muttered to yourself, smirking as you know he heard you.

-

The group had managed to find a cluster of small tables chairs and benches in the corner of the pub beer garden, and as the sun had set behind the hills to the rear of the pub, the cold Atlantic sea had glowed in pale blues and pinks. You were squashed into a bench with Henry on one side and another enormous hulk of a keeper on the other, and as the temperature had dropped you’d found yourself thankful that Henry had casually rested his arm behind you so you could leech some of his warmth, but it didn’t stop a violent shiver involuntarily running up your spine.

“Cold?” Henry asked quietly, before gently wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you close; “Any better?”

You nodded and let out a very quiet whine as you smiled at him, completely surrounded by his scent and warmth. It made your stomach do a flip and you clenched your thighs together, something that didn’t get past Henry as your leg twitched against his thigh. Before either of you could say anything an enormous bowl of cheesy fries was set down between you, your stomach growling at the aroma’s that wafted around you as it turned out someone had ordered sharing bowls for the whole table.

With the meal mostly devoured as you’d sat side by side on a small wooden bench in the pub garden, laughing as you fed each other and strings of cheese hung from your fingers. As the giggles of a joke faded away you glanced at Henry’s almost finished pint;

“Hey, you aren’t planning on riding that bike home are you?”

“Nah, i’d never drive after a pint, let alone three… my place is just behind The Navigator restaurant…” he paused; “Oh god, where are you staying, do i need to call you a taxi?”

“No no, i’m renting a studio up the hill, on the hairpin bend”

“Oh…” 

It wasn’t a bad ‘oh’ and there was definitely something loaded in the subtext, so when people had started to leave and arrange ride’s back to St Helier and St Johns it felt natural for Henry to stand with his arm around your shoulders as you both waved everyone off.

“Can i walk you home?” he asked, his voice low and full of promise, and you nodded as he slid his hand into yours, leading you along the low coast road that skirted the harbour.

-

You hadn’t gotten far before the evening turned even better, a brief suggestion of a walk along the beach as the tide was out soon had your feet in soft sand as you were pressed to the weathered stone of the sea wall, Henry’s lips on your neck as your fingers dug into his back, his teeth nipping and biting at whatever exposed flesh he could find. You hadn’t even realised he was going lower until he was on his knees in front of you, those sea blue irises staring up at you as he pressed kisses to your legs where your shorts ended. His fingers softly rested on the button and he finally spoke, his voice low and thick with lust;

“May i?”

Nodding fervently you bit your lip as you watched him slowly unbutton you, pulling the garment down your legs until you were able to step out. Never breaking eye contact he lifted your leg and gently rested it on his shoulder, pressing open mouthed kisses up your inner thigh until his face was pressed against your panties and his wide tongue worked against the soaked cotton and lace. His finger crooked beneath them and tugged the scrap of fabric to the side, seeking out your clit before tracing down to your cunt and tenderly teasing the entrance.

“Henry… please…” you whined, desperate for more

“Don’t you worry, i’m gonna make you see stars…”

Pushing his head forwards his lips caught your clit as he slowly slid two fingers into your soaked channel. You let out a long groan at the feel of his lips and fingers finding the right spot immediately, his other hand cupping the back of your thigh before he ran it around your hip and caught your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours as he quickly drove you closer and closer to the edge with that added touch of intimacy. Suddenly he hummed against your clit and the world exploded, making you cum so hard you truly did see stars as a white heat bloomed in your belly and you rode Henry’s fingers until you were spent.

As you rested against the wall behind you he carefully withdrew his fingers, licking them clean as he tugged your shorts up your legs. You couldn’t help but to notice the obscene bulge in the front of his cargo pants, your hand rubbing over the smooth curve of it;

“You keep doing that and i’ll cum in my boxers… “ he panted out, his lips inches from yours; “What’s your room like?”

“Its a little summer cabin studio right at the end of the garden, away from the other holiday rentals and the main house… what about you…”

“Shared flat with two other guys from the zoo. They’re probably drinking in the lounge right now… so, your place?”

-

Unlocking the door you stepped inside and turned on a small lamp, standing aside so Henry could come into your small summer living space.

“Mmm nice” he nodded and looked around; “Wanna give me the tour?”

You snorted out a laugh at the formality, and held your arm out;

“Well this is the kitchen area, right next door we have the smallest shower room in Jersey, and here’s the bed” you didn’t need to take a single step for the ‘tour’, the room seeming even smaller as Henry took a single stride and wrapped his arm around your back, pulling you flush with his chest. Never breaking eye contact he gently trailed a single finger over your cheek, his thumb brushing your plump bottom lip;

“Are you going to be good for me?”

Your legs almost buckled at the deep baritone of his voice, igniting something within you that you hadn’t even known existed, eagerly nodding;

“Yes Sir”

Lowering his lips to yours he kissed you, his tongue pushing past your lips as he took control, walking the pair of you back until your legs hit the bed and you fell back onto the soft unmade covers. Covering your body with his, he quickly stripped you of your clothing, his mouth trailing behind his hands so every inch of you was gifted with a kiss. 

Standing between your legs he pulled his t-shirt over his head and you couldn’t help but to moan at the sight of his body; toned and just the right amount of hair on his chest and a treasure trail on his abdomen that surely led to untold riches. Quickly sitting up your hands joined his on his button to his cargo pants;

“May i?”

Henry released his hands and nodded, watching as you carefully plucked the button before lowering the zipper painfully slowly, his boxers tented obscenely and you couldn’t help but to cup him in your palm, the searing heat of his engorged cock a welcome feel in your hands, the wide mushroom head clearly visible through the stretched fabric. Unceremoniously tugging the rest of his clothing down, you felt yourself getting wetter as his beautiful cock was finally revealed; big, thick and uncut, you had to taste him and quickly ducked your head forwards, swallowing his head between your lips as his hands flew to your hair to steady himself.

Now it was your turn to drive him crazy with your mouth, taking him as deep as you could even though it was barely half of his length, you wrapped both hands around what was left, the thick root of his shaft filling both palms. A few more pumps and he pulled his hips back with a gasp, a trail of spittle hanging from your lips to his bulbous tip;

“If you keep doing that i’m gonna cum far too soon…” he said, his voice shaking; “Lay back and let me treat you right…”

Scooting up the bed you settled against the pillows as you watched Henry shed himself of the rest of his clothing, his boots and socks hooked off, cargo pants and underwear all left in a messy pile at the side of the bed, before he crawled up the mattress like a Panther stalking its prey.

Capturing your lips for another searing kiss, you felt his hot shaft against your belly, burning against your skin and you so desperately wanted to feel him inside you. Pulling away just slightly you were already breathless;

“Just a second…” reaching for the small drawer at side of the bed you pulled out an unopened box of condoms, Henry sitting back on his knees as you ripped the box’s cellophane open with your teeth and pulled out a small foil packet, tearing it open before smoothing the latex over Henry’s shaft. Looking up to his face he wore a rather sheepish smile;

“Sorry, shoulda’ thought of that”

“S’ok, a girl’s gotta keep sharp these days…”

“Right…” he met your gaze; “But you know, if you had gotten pregnant, i would have stood by you”

“Umm thanks? But its for STD’s. I’m on the pill”

“Oh… good thinking…”

A tense pause hung over the pair of you, before you reached up and rested your hand on his chest;

“Shall we continue?”

At your words the tension in the room suddenly dissipated, Henry kissing you as he slid a hand between your bodies so he could position himself at your entrance, groaning as he pushed in slowly breaching your body. Your tight channel hugged him tight, unfamiliar with such a size splitting your walls so he paused, pressing light kisses to your face as your body grew accustomed with his size and the heavy weight of his dick in your pillowy soft embrace. Finally you moaned out his name;

“Henry… please…”

“What do you need?”

“Move… please move. Fuck me, please”

Pushing up on his forearms he started to fluidly move his hips, slow and steady, each thrust was gentle but firm, your body yielding to him as he started to increase the pace, the sound of hot bodies meeting filling the small wooden cabin as the gentle sounds of the sea not far away filled the rest of the night. Soft moans spilled from your lips at the feel of his body playing yours like a delicate instrument, waiting for the chorus and the inevitable crescendo. But he was going to play the entire symphony first, knowing how to get you to sing the high notes as the thrum of your bodies were in tune with each other completely.

With the stretch of his girth and the way the curve of it meant he was able to find your g-spot with every thrust you were fast approaching your orgasm, your body trembling as your lips found a life of their own;

“Henry… please, so good… keep doing that… oh god, i’m gonna cum…”

“That’s it, my good girl, cum on my cock, let me feel you squeezing me so tight… feel so amazing right now… that’s it, you can do it…”

With a cry you came, your legs wrapped around his waist as you pulled him deep whilst your body shook with a fierce orgasm, triggering his own as he pumped a heavy load into the condom.

Finally spent, Henry settled on top of you, his weight a heavy comfort as your sweaty bodies lay skin to skin, the gentle roughness of his chest hair against your naked breasts a tender reminder of his virility. When he started to soften he finally shifted, holding the condom at the base as he pulled out and staggered the few steps to your small bathroom;

“I’ll be back in a second, gotta sort this out…”

The door closed and you shifted on the bed, pulling the duvet back and sliding between the sheets, listening as you heard the tell tale sound of a man urinating and the high pitched, double barrelled squeak of a fart. The flush of the toilet and water running soon after meant you knew the second he would reappear, a flannel in his hand and he stopped dead, his cheeks suddenly bright crimson;

“You heard that didn’t you?”

“It's a small wooden cabin… yes i did”

“Sorry” he approached the bed and with a warm flannel he carefully cleaned between your thighs, pressing a kiss to your lips as he did. When finished he sat on the side of the bed; “Can i stay the night, or did you want me to go?”

“Have you got work tomorrow?”

“Nope. You?”

“Nope. Please, stay”

He quickly threw the flannel into the sink in the bathroom, before with a giggle climbed under the duvet and pulled you into his arms;

“So, how many more condom’s you got?”

-

The morning light broke softly through the trees that surrounded your cabin, your body sore but sated, knowing every bruise and ache came from soft lips, sharp teeth, or skilled fingers, apart from that one ache deep inside that you knew exactly what had caused that delicious soreness, and the owner and cause of all of it still softly slept in your bed. Climbing out you quickly used the bathroom, and as you came back into the room the artist in you couldn’t help but to admire how the dappled morning light cascaded over Henry’s body. Slipping his work t-shirt over your head you pulled your sketchbook from your backpack and settled onto the only chair in the room, quietly working carbon to paper.

Henry woke 45 minutes later, the gentle scratching of your art making him squint at the bright daylight, before laying back on the pillows with his arms spread;

“Still life class?”

Setting your sketchbook down you padded across the room and climbed onto the bed;

“Sorry, i couldn’t help myself… the way the sun was hitting the muscles of your back and shoulders, you were like an anatomy masterpiece”

With a laugh and moving much quicker than you thought he was possible of, he grabbed you by the waist and turned you, his body atop of yours;

“Well that’s enough of that, i would like to become better acquainted with your anatomy… and as we’ve both got the day off i suggest we make the most of it”

Laughing you fell into his embrace, sighing with happiness. Henry really was a keeper, as you were for sure not going to let him go. 

#henry cavill #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill smut #henry cavill x you #henry cavill fanfiction

[stuff-from-the-void-matron]

Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (7)

(c!Technoblade x fem!Reader)

(I know y’all are getting tired of waiting for Techno to arrive, so am I! But I have no solid control over the story plot lol but I swear it’ll happen soon!! And y’all know the drill! Reblogs and comments keep this story going. So if you want a chapter 8 then please show this chapter some love! <3)

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(FORGOT TO MENTION ART!

The amazing 'YeetUsFeTUSDelETusss' on DA was so cool and drew two pictures to bless our eyes!!)

READER HERSELF!

READER PROTECTING HER BOYS!

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Only Tubbo showed up the next day, and he said he sadly couldn’t stay for long because him and Tommy were needed back at L’manburg for a while. Meaning him and Tommy wouldn’t be able to visit for a bit, but they’d try to visit as soon as possible! Hearing they’d not come see you for who knows how long made you pretty sad. You honestly looked forward to when they’d visit. It was honestly the highlight of your day. But you knew whatever nonsense was going on in L’manburg currently would need their attention. Though you wondered what exactly was going on. You recalled a decent amount of the ‘history’ of the Dream SMP but you knew you could be misremembering or even mixing things up. But you did remember the big things that happened. Like the wars and stuff. So needless to say you were concerned.

‘What point in history am I in right now? Whenever it is, L’manburg is apparently still standing,’ you thought pensively before asking Tubbo what was going on that they’d need to stay in L’manburg.

Tubbo sighed and said it was ‘just some drama’ but apparently their, meaning his and Tommy’s, older brother figure Wilbur had been president of L’manburg for the entirety of the time L’manburg had existed. But some new citizens who joined them found out he’d not been properly elected and didn’t think it was fair to everyone that Wilbur had basically just made himself president without any input from everyone else. Which you could see was not right but this information told you that you were in the pre-election time. Which meant Schlatt and Quackity hadn’t won yet… But that hinged on this universe even being the same one that you’d watched on youtube. Things could be different here for all you knew. You’d always believed in the multiverse theory so who was to know WHICH universe this was. Or how you even got here. All you could do really was to just… wait and watch.

A couple hours passed during the short visit and towards the end Tubbo showed you how to message others, ie; him and Tommy mostly. You’d known how to message others and put in commands and stuff in regular minecraft but you’d just sort of never thought to try those things here in this place. Though to be fair you’d been dealing with a lot of stuff so fiddling with your inventory and everything hadn’t been your top priority. And when he’d mentioned messaging him your first thought had been ‘how?’, because this was a ‘real life’ minecraft, where things were very similar but not always exactly like how it was in the real game. The biggest difference being that there was no computer keyboard or ‘screen’ for the type/chat option to be at the bottom of like in the game.

But to your surprise the place to type in a message was actually IN your inventory. More specifically it was at the very bottom of the main section right below where your items were stored in the hot bar. You’d never paid the long ultra thin box at the bottom any mind, assuming it was just part of the weird design. But no, Tubbo showed you with his inventory how if you tap on the thin box (that you’d honestly thought was just a line) it expands into a typing window! Your eyes widened at that and watched as he tapped the typing box again and a little keyboard appeared below the typing box and he started typing something into it. You squinted and he said to message someone you needed to be sure to type ‘/msg’ and then whoever’s name you’d like to send the message to!

He demonstrated this by typing out the first part then right after it typing your ‘name’; aka Reader. Briefly you wondered why it had been made that but you brushed that thought away to focus on what Tubbo was doing. You saw him type ‘hi reader!!’ before hitting Enter. Then a second later you heard a soft ‘ping!’ sound and you just KNEW your inventory was waiting to be pulled up. Like knew in an instinctual sense. Like how you knew to blink or how to walk. Just an instinct you couldn’t explain so you brought it up and there at the bottom the ‘line’ was flashing a pale red. So you did what Tubbo had done and tapped it, revealing the little typing box. Only this time it had a message in it! It said, ‘Tubbo whispers to you: hi reader!!’ and you smile. Excited now you type out a message to him and hit send. He got it and laughed after he read it. 

‘Reader whispered to you: hello my little goat boy!! :)’

After that he blinked when more messages popped onto his text box. These were from Tommy and Wilbur it looked like. With a sigh he checked his clock and dismissed his chat box before saying he was sorry but he had to get going. He’d actually stayed longer than he was supposed to. You were sad to see him go but knew he’d be back, and hey, now you could message him and Tommy to make sure they got back to L’manburg safe instead of just wondering like before. So you told him to be careful on his way back and to message you that he was safe home when he arrived, and also if he needed any help. He laughed and cheekily said he would but gave a shy smile when you pulled him into a hug and gently knocked your antlers with his horns, but he happily returned it. Not so secretly enjoying the affection. But he had to pull back and leave.

That left you to your own devices.

-0-

With nothing better to do you initially spent the next three days building a couple fountains in the village (which was getting pretty big..). One tiny frog shaped one in the little grotto at the west side of the village and a much larger more traditional one in the opposite side of the village. You’d even set up park benches, flower plots, lamp posts, and stone sidewalk around the bigger one. It was very pretty and the villagers seemed to be enjoying it. But after that was done you’d sorta gotten bored. You weren’t really inspired to do anything else to the village so you thought of ways to occupy yourself. Eventually a metaphorical lightbulb flickered to life above your head and you got an idea. 

You could go to the Nether! 

Sure you weren’t the biggest fan of the place but it beat sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for a reply from your only two friends like some loser. And hey, you liked giving piglins gold. They made cute little piggy snorts when they were happy. So with that loose plan in mind you got up from where you’d been lounging by the creek and brushed yourself off before heading out to the place outside the bamboo and prickle berry wall you’d placed the first Nether portal. You crafted one real quick before tensing up when you heard the sound of rustling behind you. Assuming it was a creeper or something you glanced back, not that it would hurt you but you still found it unsettling for anything to be sneaking up behind you. You caught a brief glimpse of something small and white disappearing into a cluster of ferns. You paused, wondering what it was but then about a block to the left of the ferns a chicken and her chick walked out from around a tree. ‘Oh, must have just been a baby chicken’, you thought with a mental shrug before turning back to your task of lighting the portal with your flint and steel.

Once activated you stepped into the purple swirling mist and your vision warped before you ended up in the Nether again, stifling heat and all. 

-0-

You’d been exploring the Nether for what felt like hours. The place was goddamn enormous! You’d followed the same sand block trail from the last time you’d been here, seeing the piglins and a few striders along the way. And to your delight a familiar little piglin baby started following you. She (you think she’s a ‘she’, that’s the vibe you’re getting anyways) had to be the one you’d played with the last time you’d been in the Nether. You crouched down and patted her head and pulled a golden carrot from your inventory before gifting it to her. She squealed happily and munched on it. You kept walking along the sand path before reaching the fortress. That’s when you diverted your path to the right and started exploring that way, careful to keep laying down sand as you did. You thought the baby piglin had stayed back but after a while of walking you heard a soft snort and glanced down to the left of you to see her happily trotting along with you, still nibbling on the golden carrot.

You wanted to melt, she was such a cutie pie. You stopped and asked if she should be travelling so far away. Won’t her parents miss her? She blinks and seems to understand you before shaking her head ‘no’. You figure she must have some pretty lenient parents. But you suppose piglins are sturdier than humans so it makes sense they’d keep their kids on a looser leash than humans would. So you ask her where her parents are and if they’d be okay with her wandering off with you, a stranger. She tilts her head and shrugs. You purse your lips and ask if she can take you to her parents so you can ask if they’d be okay with it. This time she shakes his head no. So you ask her why and she seems to be thinking how to answer before she goes over to the closest block of sand and starts drawing in it. You look over her shoulder and see her drawing three hearts. Then your stomach sinks when you see her draw an ‘X’ over each heart, meaning one thing..

“Oh sweetie, did your parents lose all their lives?” you ask in a gentle tone.

The tiny piglin nodded and your heart broke for her. You asked some more questions and discovered she wasn’t really being taken care of by any one piglin. The other piglins knew her parents were gone so they’d sorta chip in to make sure she had food. But that was really it. This made you feel worse so you just sighed and patted her head and said she could join you while you explored the Nether. She snorted happily and you two continued on your way. Eventually after walking for a bit you came across a warped forest. You had to admit the biome was much prettier in person. The stark contrast between the Nether’s usual red color scheme and the teal of the warped forest was really beautiful. Even the weird little green/orange fungus that were growing everywhere were cute. You even picked a handful to keep, placing them in your inventory before continuing your little jaunt with the baby piglin. 

That last thought made you mentally pause and realize that you couldn’t just keep calling this kid ‘baby piglin’. So you stopped walking and looked down before saying you forgot to introduce yourself. She could call you Reader (since that’s what your little name thing said..). Then you asked what her name was. She blinked before snorting a little, like she was clearing her throat, and said, “Azogamay.” 

You smiled and said you liked her name, making her give a cute little tusked smile. Then as you continued exploring you both made small talk. Nothing deep (how deep could conversation get with a little kid) but you asked each other the usual questions. Like favorite foods, favorite colors, favorite animals, etc. Then Azo (you’d taken to shortening her name to make it easier) answered one of your questions with some gibberish that made you pause. You glanced down at her and gave a ‘huh?’ that made her giggle before apparently remembering you weren’t a piglin. She said she forgot and spoke Piglin. That made you raise your eyebrows because you’d never thought about other species in the game having their own language. But now that you were thinking about it, it totally made sense. Of course they would, duh. Now very curious you asked her to teach you a little! Like did she know how your name would be said in Piglin? Her answer surprised you…

“Eaderray!” she said in her quiet baby voice.

Now you two had entered a wide soul sand valley, which made Azo anxious. She hid behind your leg, making you recall that Piglins didn’t really spawn in this biome or like soul fire (which is super common here). You had to admit the place was rather creepy. It didn’t help that the soul sand beneath your feet was emitting a rather creepy whispery wail. So you decided to turn back and try another direction. Azo seemed relieved and trotted along behind you. But once you were walking again you remembered your last thought and had a vague feeling about this ‘piglin speak’ and wanted to hear more. So you asked Azo some other words, just to test this theory of yours. And well…

Skeleton? Eletonskay…

Blaze? Azeblay…

Strider? Iderstray…

Lava? Avalay...

Gold? ...Oldgay (that may have made you snicker).

But you got the idea and honestly you cannot be held accountable for your reaction after you realized Piglins honest to fucking god spoke PIG LATIN.

You lost it. You laughed so hard you doubled over and had to brace your hands on your knees to keep from collapsing onto the ground. Azo didn’t know what was so funny but your laughter was contagious and she ended up laughing too, intermixed with little snorts that made you laugh even harder. It was a whole cycle. And by the end of it you’d laughed so hard you started coughing and had to sit down to catch your breath. The giggles returned a couple times but eventually you got control over yourself enough to be able to breathe normally again. As you sat there, little Azo looking up at you in amusement, you couldn’t believe the absolute batshit nonsense that was happening in your life right now. But out of everything that had happened, you think finding out Piglins spoke pig latin had to be the funniest. Though you wanted to test your theory further so you said to Azo,

“Ellohay Azogamay, isyay isthay ightray?”

Azo’s eyes brightened and she perked up, looking close to bouncing from excitement as she realized you were speaking ‘Piglin’ to her. She started babbling at the speed of light, in a way that all excited toddlers seemed to be able to do. While it was cute enough to pull a chuckle from you the downside was that you could not understand a single word Azo said. You got her to slow down, telling her you didn’t speak Piglin fluently so she would have to go slow with you otherwise you’d be lost. She nodded, just happy that you could understand Piglin. So she slowed down a lot and chatted with you that way. And that’s pretty much how the rest of your time in the Nether went. You traversed through the hellish dimension and brushed up on your pig latin with the little piglin. 

It has definitely been a LONG time since you’d even thought about the made up ‘language’. You’d had a friend in elementary school who had been Obsessed with it. It was all they spoke sometimes and they’d talked it up so much that it caught on with the rest of the class, yourself included, and soon everyone was using it to write notes to each other, like a secret language. You’d even speak to each other only in pig latin during recess and lunch breaks. You’d been fluent in it and didn’t even have to think before speaking. Though after a year it had lost its popularity and everyone slowly stopped using it since the fad was over. But you still remembered a good deal of it. Enough to speak it slowly anyways. But the more you used it the easier it was to speak it. It was like riding a bike you supposed, you never truly forgot it.

-0-

Things were going fine until they weren’t. You’d stopped to have lunch in a crimson forest, more for Azo’s benefit than your own, and were sitting and eating for a while before Azo started playing with a baby hoglin. Which had been fine, you’d seen baby piglins and hoglins do that in the game before, no biggie. But they’d gotten rambunctious the way kids do when they’re playing together. And while chasing each other around Azo had smacked into one of the adult hoglins, which had pissed it off enough for it to snarl angrily and start chasing Azo. And Azo in turn began squealing in fear while running away. You’d dropped the steak you’d been idly munching on and sprinted after the two. Sadly the hoglin was closer to Azo than you and managed to get one good hit in with its tusks, the force behind it practically yeeting Azo up into the air. You yelled in horror as you watched the baby piglin fall down into a lava filled ravine. 

Panic flooded your body, you knew zombie piglins were fireproof but regular piglins were not as far as you knew. Let alone baby piglins who just took a direct hit from a damn hoglin. So without thinking about it you dove into the ravine after Azo, catching her in your arms and fully planning to hold her up above the lava since it wouldn’t hurt you. Once she was in your arms you jerked back instinctively, not sure why, just maybe bracing for the impact with the lava. You waited but… nothing. About that second you realized that you weren’t moving anymore. You’d come to a halt and at first you wondered if maybe you’d landed on a block and not noticed. But… one glance down revealed you were not in fact standing on a block. Actually you weren’t standing on anything. You were hovering about 3 or 4 blocks above the bubbling lava at the bottom of the ravine. You were so stunned that you almost missed the sniffling snorts that started up next to your face but thankfully they broke you out of your shocked state. You looked at Azo and your heart broke when you saw her tearing up and looking close to crying. Forgetting momentarily about whatever the fuck was going on with you floating you focused on soothing her.

“Aw sweetie, are you okay? You took a hit from that hoglin, where does it hurt?” you cooed.

She was babbling mostly, being too upset to try to speak English. And understanding crying pig latin was almost impossible. So you just asked her to point where it hurt. She reached for her back and side and you softly told her you were going to lift her shirt a little bit to see if there was a mark, and she nodded shakily and sniffled while you did. You winced at the blooming bruise and adjusted her so you were basically cradling her and with your free hand you opened your inventory and started looking through the potions. You grabbed a healing potion and uncorked it before offering it to Azo, whose snout wrinkled at the potion. You told her it was alright, it was a healing potion that would make her feel better and get rid of those bruises for her. She looked unsure but still let you raise the mouth of the potion bottle to her lips so she could sip it. She took a few sips before hiccuping, potion swirls wafting off of her after she did. The baby piglin blinked and felt the pain in her back and side start to disappear. 

You smiled and said that must feel better, Azo nodded and was happy she wasn’t hurting anymore. You let her take one more sip for good measure before putting the cork back into the bottle and stashing it in your inventory. But once that was done you were reminded of your current predicament. You were still floating in place above a ravine of lava.. With zero clue on how to move too. Briefly you internally panicked at the thought of just.. never being able to move again!! Being stuck fixed in one spot forever with no way to get down or live freely! Though before you could panic further you took a deep breath and told yourself to relax. This wasn’t permanent, it couldn’t be. There logically has to be a way for you to move. You got yourself stuck here and you’ll get yourself down as well.

And the last thing you wanted was to look scared with Azo here with you. She was just a little kid and needed the only adult around to be strong for her. So you put on a smile and reassured her that things will be okay and you’ll figure out how to get them both safe on land in no time. Azo nodded, looking less worried than before. So you started trying things you think would get you to move. You could move your limbs no problem. Proven by how you could move Azo around with your arms and kick your legs about without issue. But your body as a whole was still locked in place. Though when you leaned your upper body to the left you hit a breakthrough! Tilting your torso to the left managed to move your whole body to the left by about a block and a half! Now onto the right path you started leaning your torso this way and that, figuring out what movements actually got you moving and which ones didn’t. Figuring out how to move side to side and forwards and back was pretty easy. But it was figuring out up and down that was tricky. 

At the moment going down was the last thing you were interested in, what with the lava beneath you. So you tried focusing on going up, and after a lot more wiggling about that you were sure made you look like an idiot to anyone who could be watching (Azo only giggled a little) you finally figured out that to go up you had to tense and stretch your torso a specific way. Like exactly how you would do if you were trying to reach something on the top shelf, only you didn’t have to move your arms or legs the same way, just your torso. Like how people straighten themselves to seem taller, not slouching at all. After getting that down you manage to go up and then over out of the ravine. Which was a relief and a half. Now that the threat of sinking into lava wasn’t a worry you instead fixated on getting down. Thanks to figuring out how to get up you had an easier time getting the hang of getting down.

Once your feet touched the ground the floating thing disappeared and gravity was restored to you, making you able to walk around normally again. You gave a small cheer, Azo snorting happily as you carried her back to your spot on one of the crimson mushroom tree tops. Once seated you let out a breath and felt your shoulders relax. You hadn’t even been aware they’d been so tense, but you guess it made sense what with how you just sorta had a weird physics related mishap. But now that you and little Azo were safe you felt like you could breathe again. 

You took a golden apple out of your inventory and took a bite, the sweet juice soothing your metaphorical ruffled feathers. You noticed you mostly just eat for the taste now. Which was fine you guessed. When you glanced down you held the apple close to Azo’s face, asking in semi-good piglin if she wanted a bite, chuckling when she eagerly sunk her little teeth into the sweet fruity flesh of it. You gave her the rest and just watched the other Nether inhabitants mill about peacefully. Today had been a wild ride for sure. At least compared to your usual peaceful days. You leaned back against the lump of red fungus behind you, Azo cradled in your arms, and sighed calmly. You’d been ready to rest your eyes when you heard a soft ‘ping!’ that had you blinking back into focus. It was your communicator app thing. Thinking it was just Tubbo messaging you to say goodnight or something you casually opened the message. But when you did you raised an eyebrow at the note from your kid.

‘Tubbo whispers to you: the election is tomorrow afternoon, can you come? 

‘Tubbo whispers to you: i’ve got a bad feeling.. i’m not trying to pull you into our mess’

‘Tubbo whispers to you: but idk i’d feel better if you were there.’

You had a bad feeling too… You hoped what you likely knew was going to happen DIDN’T happen but.. it probably was. So you sent back a quick reply to Tubbo.

‘You whisper to Tubbo: of course I will! you can show me around your home! :)

You tried to keep your reply upbeat and happy, not wanting to feed into the teenager’s worry. Even though you were probably more worried now that he was. But regardless.

It looked like you were visiting L’manburg.

#technoblade x reader #technoblade #c!techno #dream smp #dsmp #mcyt x reader #c!tommy #c!tubbo #c!wilbur #piglin #piglin oc

[hibiscusangel15]

The Death and the Strawberry: ReVise

Ichigo and Rukia are the protagonists of Bleach, so I'm rewriting canon accordingly.

Cover is an edit by @ grimmjows_ on Twitter!

Day 3 prompt: star-crossed lover's high

Summary: Each choice falls before them like a grain of sand. Ichigo and Rukia dare to shatter fate once more.

Or, a rewrite of the ending of Bleach. For Day 3 of @ichirukimonth​ 2021.

Rating: Teen and Up

*Also crossposted to AO3 and FFN!

A voice.

A voice was calling to him.

In this unending dark, someone dared to call out. He couldn’t make out who it was. All he knew was that something was wrong. Missing. Dully gnawing at him like those cursed chain links from when he nearly Hollowfied.

Who was it? Who wanted to rip him away from here?

This place was…

It was…

Ichigo squinted at the soft sunlight that bled through the screen doors. It didn't take him long to pick out familiar reiatsu flaring around him. Byakuya stood near a cluster of others he did not recognize. Inoue was with another group. Renji’s agitated reiatsu bounced back and forth nearby.

Rukia stood alone.

A pristine back garden awaited him beyond the door, not a leaf nor a branch out of place. Carefully pruned bonsai sat along the back wall. Neat bushes lined a stone path leading to another intricate gate across the way.

The Kuchiki mansion.

How did he get here? He couldn’t even piece together what led him to this point. The last thing he could remember…

No, not even that. It was as if he’d simply appeared here.

A servant shuffled past, bowing her head to him.

“Wait!” He grabbed her shoulder. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

Anxiety briefly flashed across her face. “I-I’m sorry, Kurosaki-dono. I must be on my way.”

He let her go and she walked much faster in her panic to be rid of him.

The servants flitted back and forth, none slowing down long enough to answer this simple question. Eventually, he parsed out the closest reiatsu to him. Renji was only a few rooms down. He’d ask him then.

Ichigo threw the screen door open without so much as knocking. “Oi, Renji!”

Renji nearly jumped out of his skin. “What the hell, Ichigo! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” Ichigo said as he studied his new attire. Renji wore a pressed montsuki haori-hakama instead of his Shinigami uniform. “Why’re you dressed like that anyway?”

Much to his surprise, Renji flushed. “Does it look that weird? I mean, this marriage is happening so fast, I wasn’t sure if any of it would turn out okay.”

“Whoa, you’re getting married?” Was that why he was here? To attend Renji’s wedding? “That’s great! Do I know them?”

Renji frowned like it should have been obvious. “Did you hit your head or something? I’m marrying Rukia.”

Just like that, Ichigo’s world split apart. “What?”

Renji wasn’t listening. At the very least, he hadn’t heard him. “I’m so happy Captain Kuchiki gave me his permission. I wasn’t sure he’d approve. After all this time, I never thought that Rukia would even—”

“No.”

And this time, Renji heard him. “Huh? What do you mean no?” There was nothing else behind his awful, vacant grin. It was like he couldn’t see past his own giddy thoughts.

“Rukia can’t. She wouldn’t.”

The rest caught in his throat and Ichigo tore away. How awful it was to lose everything within a fraction of a second.

This wasn’t real.

There was no way any of this was real.

In his blind rush to find Rukia, he very nearly barreled into someone else. A thin cloth fluttered out of their hands as they screamed.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue said, her hands flying to cover her mouth. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Ichigo looked past her. “I need to get to Rukia. Do you know where she is?”

“I think she's still in her room getting dressed! I was on my way there, too, actually. I just put the finishing touches on her veil!” Inoue’s face brightened. “Those strawberry flowers you and Karin sewed were really nice, but I had to add a few flourishes myself!”

Strawberry flowers? Was this some kind of sick joke?

Ichigo slapped a hand over his mouth and tried not to gag.

“Kurosaki-kun! Are you okay?”

He reeled back from her hand on his arm. “I…I need to get to Rukia,” he repeated. “I’m sorry, Inoue.”

Ichigo ran past her, honing in on Rukia. She was not in her room, as it turned out, but in the back garden staring off into space. The shiromuku hanging off her tiny frame looked out-of-place and wrong. Like a symbol of grief instead of purity and joy.

“Rukia!”

She continued to stare off towards the same point in the distance.

“Ru—”

And there, standing high and proud above them stood the Sōkyoku and the execution stand, fully rebuilt.

“Why…Why is the Sōkyoku back? I destroyed it!”

It was only then Rukia looked at him. Her eyes were cold. Lifeless. Certainly not the eyes of a happy bride-to-be.

“Rukia…” he whispered, the sound soft and unrelenting, “why are you marrying Renji?”

“Because I must.” It had the intonation of repeated rehearsals, of swallowed pride and lies she forced herself to settle into.

“No, this doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes any sense.” Ichigo pushed his bangs back with his hands, scraping desperately at his memory. “I don’t know how I got here, Rukia. I can’t remember where I was before this. Rukia, you can’t marry Renji. You can’t.”

Rukia smiled, a mournful, pithy thing that splintered his heart. “You needn’t fight anymore, Ichigo. You needn’t bear such a pointless burden. I chose this.”

“What?” He recoiled like she had punched him in the gut. “No. No. Weren’t you the one who told me that if I get hurt, then you’d help me? Didn’t you say if I couldn’t fight, then you’d fight in my place? If I was in pain, then you wanted to help me deal with that pain, right? So why are you standing there and saying all those things as if this isn’t causing me pain? As if I wouldn’t fight for you every second of my life if I had to.”

Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to speak.

“It’s the same for me, too. I know you’re in pain. I know you want to fight this. So please, let me fight for you. Let me protect you from despair.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Rukia, I lo—”

She immediately clapped both hands over his mouth and shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t you dare say such a thing. If you make me happy now, it will ruin everything, don’t you see?”

He turned away from her. “I don’t understand. I won’t! If you don’t want to marry Renji, then why?”

A small flash of a memory came back. Happiness. He’d threatened to take it away from them.

Ichigo sucked in a breath. “Yhwach.”

“Don’t speak his name,” Rukia warned, but it was too late.

The dam burst and with it came the memories of his last battle. He, Chad, Inoue, Grimmjow, Nel, Yoruichi, and Ganju finally caught up to Rukia and Renji after being separated for much too long. Countless battles erupted around them. Even so, both he and Rukia had to make sure the other was alright.

Rukia scolded him for worrying about her, but it was halfhearted and lacked its usual punch. She was exhausted. They all were. From endless war and justifying the continued destruction of an entire race of people. The Shinigami had wiped most of the Quincies out two hundred years ago, and now Yhwach, their leader and god, had done the same.

Was it worse than what the Shinigami had done? To betray your own people for your own self-preservation?

They fought and bled and died for a cause that didn’t even matter in the end. All so Yhwach could gain even more power than he already had. More of a coward than a despot. Though those always ended up being one and the same in the end.

Inoue took advantage of this breather by healing all of them at once. An orange dome surrounded the group and slowly but surely healed all their wounds and restored their energy. They all thanked Inoue for her hard work, but her attention was elsewhere.

The large tower before them. She must’ve been acutely aware, as they all were, that one very important person was still missing.

The members of their group had branched off one-by-one until only he and Rukia remained. Aizen had used his zanpakutō to direct Yhwach’s attention off them and then…

“We were about to defeat him, right? Why can’t I remember the end of it? What happened to us, Rukia? What is this?”

A single tear spilled down her cheek. “We were not strong enough to defeat Yhwach. This is a future where we fail.”

Ichigo shook his head. “No, that’s impossible. Not if I was with you. Not unless—”

He turned around and was once again met with an endless void. No matter where he looked, pitch darkness awaited him.

“Ichigo.”

Yhwach’s voice did more than just fill this space. The very air overflowed with his presence. It was like he had been dragged to the bottom of the ocean.

“You,” Ichigo spat despite the harsh air.“ Where the hell are you, bastard?”

“I am everywhere. I am the world. I am your future and everything you are.”

“Come out and face me!”

“Did you not like that glimpse of the future I had shown you, my son? It is only a courtesy to let you taste it before I take your powers from you.”

“Fuck you!”

Yhwach's laughter pounded in his ears. A frothy mess of black ooze and eyeballs clambered up from the dark to latch onto his right foot.

Ichigo tried to step back, only to find his other foot stuck in another roiling black mass. He reached behind him for the familiar weight of Zangetsu, but there was nothing. Desperate, he landed blow after bare blow with his fists. This did not deter it from clambering up his legs, his torso, his arms.

“Goodbye, Kurosaki Ichigo. I did appreciate the small challenge you presented me for a time.”

Is this it? Ichigo wanted to scream. All my battles, everything I fought so hard for. Was it all for nothing?

The black mass crept up his neck, savoring its ascendency until the last minute. Ichigo shut his eyes. He would not face his end. It was far too painful to bear.

“Ichigo! Get up, Ichigo!”

His eyes fluttered open. “Ru…kia?” he choked out through the black ooze.

Bright light poked through the endless void above him. The ooze wriggled, confused, then chittered in outrage when something tugged him out and up toward this light.

Ichigo sat up with a gasp then immediately doubled over. A hole roughly the size of a large hand was carved into his chest. Just as suddenly as it had come, however, stray bits of Yhwach’s cloak broke off to fill the wound.

The pain disappeared, and with it, the fogginess in his head. Yhwach stood frozen above him, an arrow pierced directly through his chest. Ishida stood a few feet away, bow drawn as if he anticipated firing more arrows to ensure his victory.

“Get out of there, Kurosaki!” he yelled. Ichigo scooped up the otherwise incapacitated Aizen under an arm and leapt towards him and Rukia.

He set Aizen down at Ishida’s feet, careful not to bump his head against the razed stone. Aizen smirked even through the blood. “I don’t need your pity, Kurosaki Ichigo. And I certainly don’t need to be saved by the likes of you.”

Ichigo scoffed. “Just shut up and stay down. Rukia and I will handle this.”

Aizen was much too stubborn to follow orders. He grunted as he pushed himself to his feet, clutching his stump of a left arm to staunch the bleeding. If Yhwach could truly see everything, then he must have caught a glimpse of Kyouka Suigetsu’s release at one point in time. It was only a matter of using it against him that was the trouble.

As it turned out, the progenitor of the Quincy was not as omniscient as he claimed. Odd to think that if not for Aizen, he and Rukia both would have been dead by now.

Rukia stood upon a secure pile of rubble, her bankai form pure white and awe-inspiring in the light. She glowed. There was no other word that fit more.

She stared straight ahead without acknowledging him, a trail of ice pouring forth towards Yhwach.

Ichigo vaguely recalled Yhwach gaining the upper hand and a black wave enveloping them both. So she’d broken through that barrier without freezing everything else around her? She’d grown so much stronger in such a short period of time.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her, wanted to make this short victory real. Instead, he asked, “Rukia, are you okay?”

“She can’t talk to you right now, idiot. Didn’t she already explain how her bankai works?” Ishida snapped.

Ichigo blew out a slow sigh. “I know. I just want to know if she’s alright after that. It can’t have been easy, controlling a new bankai to such a degree.”

Her reiatsu shifted slightly, and he knew the compliment had made her happy.

Ichigo turned to face Yhwach alongside her. “Right. I’ll lend you my strength, too, Rukia. We’ll erase Yhwach’s existence together.”

Ishida's power was wrapped up in the silver arrow he shot. Now a large portion of Yhwach’s reiatsu had been given to Ichigo rather than it being taken from him. A reversal that tipped the tide in their favor.

He’d be sure to thank Ishida later.

“Bankai.”

An impossible surge of black energy swirled around him, cloaking him in heavy shadows. The power of the Final Getsuga Tenshō that had once been hampered by Yhwach’s influence was now freed. He could tap into this power without the burden of loss snapping at his heels. And now, with Yhwach’s power folded into it, he could increase that power by an unimaginable degree.

Rukia’s reiatsu also soared to impossible heights, enough to rival his in its sheer strength. White energy first clashed then melded with his. A huge vortex of their reiatsu swirled about them, eclipsing the sky with their might. Like ying and yang, ice and fire. The black sun and the white moon united.

Ichigo raised his sword, aiming it directly at Yhwach’s frozen form. “Mugetsu.”

That awful future he saw would not come to pass. He and Rukia would make sure to rewrite it all here and now.

The energy shot forth and encompassed the Quincy Emperor. All at once, relief fell over the Soul Society like a sigh.

“Hey, Aizen,” Ichigo said. “Is this all…real?”

Aizen scoffed. “You’ve never seen the release of my zanpakutō. Of course this is real.”

He nearly sank to his knees. It was over. They won.

Rukia released her bankai, slow and steady. A cold wisp of air spiraled from her lips as she thawed. It was then Ichigo wrapped his arms around her tight. He had to be sure. Had to know if their victory was not some sick fantasy carved from the depths of his heart.

She hesitated for only a moment before returning his embrace. A strained noise escaped his throat. She was here. Rukia was here and alive and so, so warm in his arms.

He pulled back just enough to cup her face in a hand. A faint pink flushed across her cheeks and it made her look all the more wonderful.

“Rukia, I love you.”

Long before this, all the wars and the blood and the fighting, he might have been embarrassed to say this aloud to himself, much less in front of others. But after seeing what could have been without her, he did not care about such trivial matters anymore.

“I love you, too, you fool,” she whispered.

They did not need any more words. It only took a glance, a moment of trading unspoken agreements. He wanted to kiss her then and there, but now was not the time. Not with Aizen bleeding but free next to them.

Not when they were surrounded by so much death.

And still, he had to make sure.

“Please don’t marry Renji,” Ichigo said.

Rukia frowned. “Where is this coming from?”

“I had this weird vision when Yhwach tried to take my powers. I was at your brother’s place and Renji was…He was going to marry you. Nothing in the Seireitei had changed. The Sokyoku had been rebuilt. Yhwach was defeated, but he wasn't gone. We could never be happy again or he’d come back. And the worst part was that you were so beautiful in your dress and you looked so sad.”

She shook her head. “That wouldn’t happen. This is our future now, Ichigo.”

“We shattered fate.” He stood up straighter. “Isn’t that right, Ishida?”

Ishida shoved his glasses up his face. “Not necessarily.”

“Oh, c’mon, can’t you let us have this one victory without worrying about the semantics?” Ichigo grumbled. “You Quincy are all the same.”

A small smirk tugged at the edge of Ishida’s mouth.

“Yeah, well, I guess I need to thank you for reversing Yhwach taking my powers. But I know Rukia and I broke through those awful futures all on our own.”

“Yhwach may have been powerful, but he was not as omniscient as he claimed. If he was, Aizen’s attack would not have done any damage.” Ishida sighed. “The reversal process is always difficult to keep up. All those futures he saw were limited to those I let him see with my power. Without it, I don’t think we would have lived.”

Ichigo looked away. “There are much worse fates than that if we lost.”

Ishida had to know this, too, having once shared Yhwach's mind for a time. It must have been hard, knowing the many ways all his friends could have failed. The many deaths they had endured.

“There were.” Ishida threw him a wry smile. “But now we won’t have to live through any of them.”

Ichigo stuck a hand out to him. “Thanks for keeping us safe all that time.”

This time, Ishida’s smile softened into something more genuine when he clasped his hand. “If I told you what I was planning, I knew you would hold back. Besides, there’s no way you or Chad or Inoue-san would ever agree to it.”

Much to his surprise, Ichigo yanked his hand forward and headbutted him on the spot. “You idiot! You’d have made us worry either way! Don’t ever do that again, bastard, or I’ll really kill you next time.”

Ishida rubbed the sore spot on his head. He looked as if he was about to snap at him, but the words stopped before he got them out. Instead, he began to laugh. “Good luck with that, Shinigami.”

Before he pulled his hand away, Ichigo tightened his grip. “Wait. There’s something I need to give you first.”

Ichigo took a deep breath and shut his eyes. “The remaining power of the Quincies should be in the hands of someone who can use it for the better. Ishida, this power should be yours.”

All at once, an intense reiatsu flared around them. Ishida grimaced but did not waver. This was his birthright. His revenge to finally see through.

The last Quincy. And the first to see through a new era.

Ishida let go of Ichigo's hand, settling into this newfound power. A genuine smile crossed his face. “Thank you, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo smiled as he took Rukia’s hand in his. “You're welcome.”

He had given up all but one part of the Quincies' power. Among the thousands of Schrifts and reiatsu Yhwach had absorbed over the centuries, Ichigo kept one very familiar power close to his chest: his mother's. It comforted him to know just how strong she was—and enraged that Yhwach would dare take that away from her when she needed it most.

This power was an heirloom, one bright and warm like the sun poking through the clouds. Ishida could have all the rest of it. The strength and love inherited from his mother would burn in his heart to honor her forever.

Several Shinigami captains suddenly arrived on the scene, many of whom concentrated around Aizen. Hitsugaya, Byakuya, and Soi Fon pointed their zanpakutō at him, but he was undeterred.

Head Captain Kyoraku surveyed the rubble and ruin with an unhurried air. “My, my. What a mess. It’s going to take ages to get all this repaired.”

Aizen eyed the new Head Captain up and down, obviously unimpressed. “You seem awfully lax, Kyoraku. All of you are. Just because Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia erased Yhwach does not mean you have won.”

Kenpachi grinned down at him. “Is that a challenge, Aizen?”

Head Captain Kyoraku held a hand out to stop him from engaging in battle, that same relaxed smile on his face. “Kurosaki Ichigo, you bear the power of the Soul King remarkably well.”

Ichigo frowned. “Uh, I guess. I was hoping I could grant it to someone else like I did Yhwach’s power to Ishida. I’m not suited to be the next Soul King.”

“And yet who besides Yhwach has handled this power with such ease?” Kurotsuchi piped up. “The weight of the worlds and the balance of all the souls in existence rests on your shoulders, and yet you stand there as tall and proud as ever. Kurosaki Ichigo, you truly are a fascinating subject.”

Rukia tightened her grip on Ichigo’s hand. “Ichigo will not be the next Soul King. I will not allow it.”

“No, I suppose you won’t. But there must be a new Soul King if we ever hope to fix the barrier between the worlds. We cannot continue to let our worlds intermingle for much longer, Kuchiki-san,” Kyoraku said.

Without warning, Rukia drew her zanpakutō. “I said I will not allow it. Captain Ukitake did not give up his life just so Ichigo can throw away his.”

Ishida drew his bow beside her. “Would Soul Society really confine Kurosaki’s soul for all eternity? After all he’s done for you?”

The moment the captains’ reiatsu wavered, Aizen’s reiatsu rose further. The captains surrounding him took a cautious leap back to avoid the sudden blast.

“If Kurosaki Ichigo is the new Soul King, then I will simply take this power for myself. Even in my current state, none of you are a match for me.”

The stump of his left arm rippled and immediately a suitable replacement shot out in a rush of veins, bone, and skin. The hole that Yhwach had punched through slowly knit itself together again.

Soi Fon tensed, immediately summoning her shikai. “We need to move now!”

“Stand down!” Kyoraku shouted. The captains all looked to him, bewildered. He was far too collected for the situation at hand. Even as Aizen’s reiatsu burnished around him, he merely folded his arms in his large sleeves and sighed. “Do you really think it wise to challenge all of us again, Aizen? With Kurosaki Ichigo wielding the power of the Soul King and Ishida Uryū as the new Quincy Emperor? Did you not see what Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia did to the last enemy of Soul Society?”

“I am grateful that they erased one more nuisance from my path to victory.” Aizen spread his arms out wide. “I did not wish to merge all the worlds, but I wouldn’t mind ruling over this new deathless purgatory, either.”

Kyoraku smiled. “Tell me, Aizen, if you had won and created the Ōken, what would you have done after killing the Soul King?”

“Captain Kyoraku!” his lieutenant hissed, but he paid her no mind.

“What a ridiculous question. I would seize the throne for myself and rule over the worlds.”

“Ah, but what about the balance of life and death? Would you allow it to collapse like Yhwach or were you planning to reshape reality as you saw fit?”

Aizen’s smug smile fell. “You’re being awfully chatty, Kyoraku. Tell me, is this your attempt at stalling until Urahara Kisuke and Squad Zero come to capture me once more?”

“I’m not stalling for anything. I want to understand you, Aizen. I want to know if you would truly be a suitable substitute for the Soul King or if all that power is just for show.”

All the Shinigami’s reiatsu heightened. After everything they had endured, would Kyoraku really allow Aizen, of all people, to rule over all the realms?

“Because our worlds do need a little retooling. As it is, Soul Society isn't well-equipped to deal with these constant invasions. Hollows run rampant no matter what world they’re in. The souls of individuals wind up isolated from their families when they arrive in Soul Society.” He shook his head. “Perhaps the Quincy and Fullbringers would not seek out revenge against us if we didn't work in such strict absolutes. Would you dare to change that, Aizen? What was your true goal?”

Before Aizen could give his answer, a crystal spike erupted from his chest. Blood spurted from the edge of his mouth. “What? What is this?”

“Everyone was told that Muken houses the most treasonous of prisoners. At the very least it contains those that cannot be killed by normal execution methods.” Kyoraku took the box holding the keys that released him from Muken from his sleeve. “But it also had another purpose. It was not written down, but passed on orally from Central 46 members to Squad Zero and a select few members of Squad One.”

The crystalline substance began to encompass Aizen’s entire body, immune to his insane bursts of reiatsu or the harsh blows he landed along its surface.

“In the event that the Soul King should be destroyed, those held in Muken would become a viable substitute. Your immortality alone renders you the perfect replacement. And we would still use your power to our will and separate the worlds, as Shinigami long before us did to the first Soul King.”

“Damn you!” Aizen spat, the very debris around him crumbling to dust as his reiatsu climbed ever higher. “Damn you all!”

“Looks like you got your wish after all, Aizen,” Kyoraku finished. And with that, an amber crystal fully engulfed Aizen in a permanent scream.

The captains all exchanged unsure glances with one another, but Aizen did not break free. The crystal had managed to imprison the Soul King for countless millennia, after all.

Kyoraku turned to Ichigo. “Kurosaki-san, if you don’t mind?”

He looked to Rukia. She squeezed his hand once then let go.

“Okay. I’ll transfer the remnants of the Soul King to him.”

Something tugged him forth, not so much by his own will than by an odd compulsion he recognized as the crystal's own power. The stone was cold to the touch. That wasn't what made him shudder. Being face-to-face with what could have been his own unfortunate fate haunted him. Had he managed to kill Aizen in battle, had no other substitute been available and Soul Society more rigid in its traditions…

The crystal sapped the remainder of the Soul King's power from him. Just like that, it was done. The new Soul King had been instated.

Ichigo sensed the muddled mixture of worlds separate once more. Grimmjow, Nel, Pesche, Dondachakka, and all the Arrancar and Hollows' reiatsu shifted away. Soul Society still had much to repair, but otherwise, every soul was where it was meant to be.

If that was so, then he understood now where he had to be. Who he was.

Ichigo was a Shinigami, and nothing could change that. He and Rukia protected everyone. And that was who they would continue to be for as long as time would allow.

Squad Zero, Urahara-san, and Yoruichi and her younger brother showed up not long after. Kyoraku spoke to them in hushed tones. They would take care of the logistics of moving Aizen to the Soul King’s palace. For now, Kyoraku had one last loose end left.

Right as he looked over at Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia immediately tensed. “Kyoraku-san!”

Ishida put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. “It’s fine, Kurosaki. I know I’m not completely innocent. Far too many innocent Shinigami died because of my inaction.”

“But—”

Ishida shook his head. “I never said my plan to kill Yhwach was perfect. I knew several Shinigami would die in the process.”

“Ishida!” Rukia said, a low warning in her voice.

He paused but did not look back at her. “Thank you, Kurosaki. Kuchiki-san. I’m glad we could be friends.”

Ishida knelt down and immediately offered his hands up to be cuffed. “This is not nearly enough recompense for what I allowed to happen. But I hope that in time I can atone for the upset of the balance of the worlds with my life.”

For a moment, all was silent and still.

Kyoraku snorted and the tension cracked. “Geez, everyone’s so tense today! I’m not Yama-jii!”

Ishida looked up.

“The Quincy have suffered enough under our hands. It’s time we learn to coexist peacefully for a change.” Much to everyone’s surprise, Kyoraku knelt on the ground. “Kurosaki Ichigo. Kuchiki Rukia. Ishida Uryū. The three of you have saved us all. On behalf of all the Shinigami, we are truly indebted to you.”

He prostrated himself before them. Soon enough, all the captains except for Kurotsuchi and Kenpachi followed suit.

Ishida looked all around him, startled by their undying respect. The Shinigami and the Quincy working together…His grandfather would have been so proud of him.

Rukia clapped a hand to her mouth. Her brother was one of the first to kneel to her. The man she had come to respect so much offered up his own to her without hesitation.

Ichigo wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The weight of being a savior was heavy. Even now, Rukia did not seem to fully grasp how amazing she was. She saved the balance of the worlds. She deserved every ounce of reverence the worlds had to offer.

“Ishida-kun!” a far-off voice yelled. Inoue, Chad, and Ganju floated down safely on her shield. She jumped off before it touched the ground and ran towards them.

“Inoue-san…” Ishida pushed himself off the ground. His expression became more guarded. “I—”

Suddenly, Inoue tackled him into a hug, tears pouring down her face. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Ishida-kun! I felt your reiatsu all the way up in the palace, and I knew it had to be Ishida-kun fighting to protect us! If you were with Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san, it had to be okay!”

Truth be told, Ichigo had wondered if Ishida doubted the strength of their friendships all this time. But now, looking at how Ishida’s eyes misted over, he knew that was never the case. He never wanted to betray their trust. He always kept them in his thoughts when he fought.

What he lacked the most was the belief that he deserved it after everything he’d done.

Ishida patted Inoue’s head with a gentle smile. “Thank you for having faith in me, Inoue-san.”

Both Ichigo and Rukia exchanged a private smile of their own.

Chad wrapped his arms around them all without warning.

Ichigo squirmed in his grip, his face growing red as Rukia was forcibly pressed against his own chest. “Oi! Chad, what the—”

“I’m happy.”

“Eh?”

Chad only pulled them closer to him. Inoue began to bawl her eyes out as she continued to cling to Ishida and Chad alike.

Ichigo’s expression softened. He and his friends would not have to fight in wars ever again. There would be peace at last.

“Can I get in on that hug, too?” Ganju whimpered as moved tears flowed down his face.

Ichigo’s scowl immediately returned. “Hey! Stop that, you stupid pig straddler! Don’t you have your own friends to hug?”

“You guys are my friends!”

He broke away from Chad’s embrace to try and kick at Ganju. The group broke off one-by-one as they tried to pry the two scuffling men apart. Chad immediately hefted the both of them up and held them apart with his usual unaffected air.

Inoue flailed around as she tried to calm Rukia down from punching Ichigo and Ganju for causing such a commotion.

An odd sort of peace, but one they would not trade for anything. Their future full of bickering and fights and having one another’s backs despite it all laid before them. They only needed to seize it.

Ichigo’s eyes snapped open. The servants of the Kuchiki mansion bustled to and fro, organizing everything in a rushed blur.

He was late.

“Crap!”

He threw off his sheets to get ready. The most important day of his life, and he just had to wake up late.

Byakuya and his dad’s reiatsu closed in on the room.

“Ichigo! How dare you not be ready yet!” his dad scolded when they slid the door open. “Rukia-chan might almost be done putting on her shiromiku and you’d still be snoring away like some lazy bum! I knew I should have woken you up myself!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep in. I’ll be ready in a couple minutes!”

Byakuya gave him a decisive once-over. “It is fortunate that Rukia has much to prepare, or I would have killed you on the spot.”

Isshin’s laughter grew more nervous when Byakuya left with that sentiment.

“Wait, that was a joke, right? You’re joking?” his dad’s voice trailed after him.

Ichigo snorted as he went to close the door again.

“Ichigo!” Renji’s voice called out not long after. “C’mon, hurry up! We need to leave for the shrine soon!”

He whirled when the door opened once more, shocked to find Chad and Ganju also peeking in on him. Chad only made it worse when he threw him an encouraging thumbs-up.

“What the hell?” Ichigo sputtered. “I’m trying to change here! Get out!”

“Do you need help? We can help you!” Renji said. “Rukia already has Ishida, Inoue, and your other human friends helping her out! Let us help you get out of those clothes!”

Ichigo flushed an angry red. “I  said  get out!”

He slammed the door in their faces, ignoring Renji and Ganju’s whining.

The montsuki haori-hakama hung in the small closet right next to the tuxedo he would wear later. The Shiba waves swirled over the chest and he ran a hand over the fabric. The last person to use this had been Shiba Kaien.

Knowing the Shiba clan was his family too was one thing. Rukia telling him about her painful past with Shiba Kaien was another. It was an honor to wear this. To be accepted into a lineage and history with both the Shiba clan and Rukia.

It did not take him long to put it on, surprisingly enough. He supposed all that time wearing the Shinigami uniform helped somewhat.

Renji and Chad quickly ushered him towards the shrine while Ganju went to join the seat by Kuukaku and the rest of the Kurosaki family. Both Kuukaku and Karin tried their best to get Yuzu to stop bawling in her happiness, to no avail. Ichigo smiled and patted a patient hand on top of her head.

“Don’t spoil her, Ichi-nii. Do you have any idea how long it took me to put on her make-up? Now it’s just running down her face,” Karin whined.

“Hey, it’s fine. I’m just glad you guys had time to come here today.”

Yuzu braved a smile. “Of course, Ichi-nii. We wouldn’t miss this for anything!”

Kuukaku waved him away. “They’ll be fine, Ichigo. Go on and get ready before Rukia comes.”

Ichigo took a deep breath as he headed towards the small room where he and Rukia would rehearse the steps one last time. He was pretty sure he got everything down, but when it came to the new vows he’d written, he wanted to make sure he said them all perfectly.

Rukia deserved that much.

His dad caught his eye and waved him over. Upon seeing how tense Ichigo was, he teased, “Getting nervous, son?”

“Shut up, old man.”

Isshin patted a heavy hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright. I was nervous when I married your mother, too. It’s hard getting up in front of your friends and family and being all mushy. Especially with what you have in mind.”

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. “Do you think it’s too much?”

“It’s definitely going against tradition,” his dad admitted, “but since when have you ever been one to follow tradition?”

Ichigo tried to hide his smile, but he was pretty sure his dad saw it anyway.

“Now, go make my third daughter happy, will you?” his dad said and smacked him hard enough on the back to make him stumble.

The rehearsal room was pristine. The various sakazuki for practicing the sankon no gi were filled with water instead of sake. He dug several carefully-folded papers from the inner pocket of the montsuki haori-hakama, reading its contents over and over under his breath.

A quick rap to the door alerted him to Rukia's presence and he hastily stuffed the papers away again.

Ichigo looked back right as the door opened. His heart leapt when he met her eyes. There really was no other way to describe it. The tender clichés and songs and poetry—all of it could not adequately describe what he felt for her. Could not match the overwhelming rush of warmth and excitement.

Kurosaki Ichigo was in love with Kuchiki Rukia, and in her power, he was rendered nothing but a fool on his knees.

She smiled at him, a cocky tilt of her reddened lips that made him smile all the wider. "You still need to rehearse, Ichigo? I didn't think this part of the wedding would make you all that anxious."

Ichigo snorted as she stepped lightly beside him. "Oh yeah? And who was the one who downed all the sake when we first rehearsed the sankon no gi?"

A startled blush crept across her cheeks. "You're bringing that up again? Who's the one who keeps forgetting to bow at the right times?"

"You're so annoying."

"Insolent fool."

The two of them exchanged a glance then started to laugh at the other's fake pouting.

"I love you, Rukia."

She waved dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Save it for the vows, idiot."

He patted the inner pocket of his montsuki haori-hakama one last time. The paper crinkled under his touch.

Ichigo offered a hand out to her. "You ready?"

She placed her hand in his and he ran a slow thumb over her slim knuckles. "Are you?" she teased.

"I've been ready since the day we met."

"Huh?"

Ichigo pushed open the doors and the two headed out to meet their destiny.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Ichigo remembered to bow at all the right times, and Rukia did not panic and down all the sake during the sankon no gi part of the ceremony. When it came time to read the vows, however, Ichigo set aside the ones pre-written by the shrine maiden and took out the packet hidden in his inner pocket.

The shrine maiden did not bat an eye at this. Ichigo had cleared it with her long before this day. Despite how unconventional it all was, she couldn't deny that Kurosaki Ichigo's more personal vows were far better than the script she had written out.

Rukia looked over at the papers, questions swimming in her wide eyes.

"Kuchiki Rukia," Ichigo began. "It cannot be understated how much I hate the rain. It rained the day Ginjou stole my Fullbring powers. It rained the day Byakuya and Renji took you back to Soul Society to be executed. It rained the day my mother…"

He took a shuddering breath. He'd read it over and over again in his mind, but to say it aloud here felt…

And then, the sun peeked through the shrine and settled like a warm hand on his back.

"The day my mother was taken from my family."

A slight breeze blew through his hair.

Go on.

"You've always been a stubborn pain in my ass. You yell at me and hit me, and somehow, you drive the rain away. You kick at my despair and sit firmly in my heart to make sure it never returns. Before I met you—before you gave me the power to protect everyone and everything—I always felt helpless. I was never strong enough, never good enough. But because you came into my world, I'll never have to know what that feels like ever again. Because of you, Rukia, the rain has stopped."

"Ichigo…"

His breath hitched when he finally dared to look over at her.

This was not how he expected her to react at all. The deep scowl across her face made him pause.

"Uh, Rukia?"

Rukia suddenly snagged his collar and slammed her forehead against his. "You idiot! You should've told me you were going to do this!"

"Huh? What the hell? Why're you mad at me?" he shouted, pressing his sore forehead closer to hers.

"Why do you think?" She pushed back against him. "If you told me you were going to write your own vows, I would've done the same! Now you're making me look like a fool!"

"Oh, believe me, you're doing that all on your own!" he snapped back. "Headbutting me during our actual wedding ceremony? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Why, you—"

Ichigo braced himself for a slap to the face or a kick to his shins. Instead, Rukia cupped his face in a hand and kissed him.

A shocked murmur ran through their friends and family. The Shiba clan and Keigo whooped in support, clapping far too loudly for the quiet shrine.

Her lips were smooth and sweet and pulled away far too soon. "Fool," she whispered as her cheeks bloomed pink. "Now we're even."

Ichigo burst out laughing. How could she always make his heart feel even lighter than before? Kuchiki Rukia was tiny and rude and God, did he love her with all his heart.

The shrine maiden cleared her throat and the two turned back to the front. Her mouth twitched as she tried to hide her smile. "If we may continue with the ceremony please, Kurosaki-sama and Kuchiki-sama?"

They exchanged a sly glance before offering their apologies and completed the rest of the ceremony without further incidents. When he slipped her wedding ring on her finger, she gave the most radiant smile.

Rukia was everything to him. She was his world, his future, everything he fought so hard to protect.

Their rain had cleared away at last and he could not ask for anything more.

END

This was probably the most difficult one-shot for me to write. Canon has so many loose threads in it that even a slight tug will cause the entire last arc to unravel lmao. I tried my best to cover all the plot holes left at the end, but it is possible I missed some stuff.

Thanks for reading and happy Ichiruki Month! I have a few more Ichiruki one-shots planned for this month that'll be way less dense than this, so I hope you look forward to them!

#IRMonth2021 #Day 3 Prompt: star-crossed lover's high #Ichiruki #OTP: Black Sun and White Moon #Kurosaki Ichigo #Kuchiki Rukia #Ishida Uryu #Aizen Sosuke #Kyoraku Shunsui #Inoue Orihime #Chad #Kuchiki Byakuya #Kurosaki Isshin #Bleach #my fanfiction

[wariocompany]

alright i'll bite. please tell me about ur headcanon for dj grooves ^_^

DJ Grooves is the answer to the eternal question, "what if penguins could have Histrionic Personality Disorder?". Histrionic Penguinality Disorder, even. This kids' game can fit sooo much mental illness in it.

Basically my HC is that he has HPD and, unlike many stereotypes about people with the disorder (and Cluster Bs in general), he uses it to his advantage and is a way nicer person for it! Maybe he got therapy IDK.

For those unfamiliar with HPD (unfortunately for me I have 97 mental illnesses and am banned from most public spaces so I am) it's a Cluster B PD (meaning "dramatic" PD, someone with a distorted image of the self) where people act with the sole intention of bringing attention to themselves, be it negative or positive. Other traits of HPD havers below with some annotations relating to Grooves:

("But Ibrahim, Grooves is sincere to a fault what on Earth are you talking about!!!!" to YOU maybe. I know him personally.)

Being flashy and attention-grabbing is, very evidently, Grooves' work ethos and how he plans his films. For instance, he refers to the Time Piece props as "flashy new props" to "fill the sets with glimmer". Whenever he is personally in a scene, he underlines the word "me" to emphasise it (see the "scene" box on this clapboard):

He also appears, when he was younger, to make films with a key intention of it bringing attention to himself:

Rash decisions without thinking them through are also common among those with HPD, and I feel that Grooves does this a lot. For one, he immediately hires Hat Kid as a star actor for little reason other than thinking it might help him end his losing streak, including ripping up her bills and establishing her legally as a bird (LMFAO) despite the fact that humans are literally not allowed on set AND are not insured, meaning he can get sued to hell and back if something happens to her.

Moreover, he uses the bomb from Train Rush with the intention of killing HK with it, but fails to consider that the bomb was capable to blowing up an entire train - he should know this, as the only way he could know about the bomb was from watching the movie or hearing about the plot. That is, the bomb going off would kill him, too, he just doesn't think that far ahead.

Flirtatious behaviour is obvious, especially with Cond, as he calls him "darling" and even "Con" in that cut voice line (Ahem). Not to say this is inherently flirting, but definitely in certain contexts.

Another trait not mentioned in the list but very frequent is that those with HPD often think relationships are more intimate or special than they really are. In my opinion this happens during the Heart-to-Heart, should HK refuse to give him a Time Piece: "You're so persistently selfish [...] I brought you to stardom, and you won't share?".

Anyway, the thing about Cluster B in the medical field is that many symptoms described by professionals focus strongly, if not exclusively, on the negatives: how they hurt others, themselves, etc. There's rarely any discussion of how someone with a PD may have their PD manifest in cases where they've learned to use it for the better, usually with therapy and self reflection. So for this HC I kind of want to subvert that, so to speak? To me, Grooves is an embodiment of how one can employ HPD for good.

That is, he knows how important being a star is, and how important attention and love is for him, which is why he works so hard to bring that same feeling for HK. He puts a great deal of effort into giving her a taste of the movie star experience, and endorses her as "the next big thing" and an immaculate "diva" wherever possible. Seeing as he appears to be the star of his own movies a lot of the time, I would wager that he revels in that spotlight and simply chooses to give it to someone else out of kindness.

Because, like, there's this assumption that pwHPD are unable to stand that and, while this can be the case and even is, it's not impossible either for them to practice compassion and give others a "turn" with the spotlight. Okay this is long and ranty bye.

#hi de ho

[gavin-plz-call-me]

Melted Ice Cream

TW: Internalized Acephobia, brief mentions of gender dysphoria and blood.

All Vincent wanted to do was cuddle on the couch with his boyfriends and watch a movie, but they had different plans. Them having sex without him leads Vincent to question his place in the relationship.

Fandom: Boyfriends (webcomic)

Use of Cannon Names: Prep-Vincent

Jock-Kevin

Nerd-Adrian

Goth-Felix

AO3

Words: 3K

The movie that Adrian had picked out was surprisingly really good. It was some cute slice-of-life anime movie that Vincent was sure would be a bit boring, not that he’d ever complain when he got to be in the arms of his boyfriends, but the characters were compelling and the storyline was phenomenal. Vincent was cuddled up next to Kevin, who held an arm around Vincent, drawing mindless circles against him as the four paid attention to the movie. This, Vincent decided, was the most perfect moment he had ever lived: watching a good movie and basking in the love of his boyfriends.

That didn’t last long.

It started off subtly enough, the couch moving slightly under Vincent as someone shifted their position, the quiet sound of a peck on a cheek. They were things that were so often just the background noise to Vincent’s life, that he could easily tune them out in favor of seeing if the girls in the movie would confess or not. Kevin’s arm slowly moved away from Vincent’s shoulder, he shuddered at the loss of warmth and finally looked up to see what was happening beyond the movie. Kevin’s retreated hand found its way to Vincent’s thigh, squeezing it firmly as he nibbled on Adrian’s ear. Adrian, who was currently making out with Felix, subtle moans already starting to form in his throat.

As appealing as the scene before him was, Vincent knew already that tonight was not the night he wanted to do this. All he wanted to do was cuddle up with his boyfriends and finish the movie, but they had other plans. Not wanting to impede their pleasure, Vincent resisted as Kevin tried to pull him off of the couch. “Not tonight guys,” He said, laying down on the couch, looking up at the men currently standing up, about to move to the bedroom, “I’m gonna finish the movie, you guys have fun.”

Kevin knelt down, his warm hand brushing the hair out of Vincent’s face, “Are you sure?” he asked, “‘Cuz if you’d rather, we can all finish the movie and-”

“No,” Vincent interrupted, he could already see the hard-on blooming in Kevin’s pants as he knelt down beside him, and Adrian’s face was already his signature shade of beet red as he gazed at Vincent too, they wouldn’t enjoy the movie now anyways, “go have fun, really.” Kevin gave Vincent’s face a good look for another few seconds before pressing a kiss to his forehead and disappearing into the bedroom with Felix and Adrian.

Vincent grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair, laying down on the couch. The heat from where the other three had been sitting moments ago was still there, but it was quickly fading. Vincent could finish movie night by himself, maybe get some cleaning done around the apartment, then, when his boyfriends were finished, he could cuddle up with them and fall asleep. That would be nice. The movie was getting better and better by the second, the girls having finally confessed, went on a date, which was currently being interrupted by one of their ex’s.

A loud moan of pleasure ripped through the apartment, covering up the audio to the pivotal scene. No one was louder than Adrian, that’s for sure, and while it was hot when he was participating, Vincent felt more like an annoyed neighbor than a loving boyfriend. He didn’t dare turn up the TV, though, he wouldn’t want even more noise complaints. The moans showed no signs of stopping anytime soon, so Vincent paused the movie, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door, locking it behind him. There was no way he’d be able to concentrate, let alone hear the rest of the movie, and with his relaxing night interrupted, he didn’t have the heart to clean. A nice drive would do him good. The blonde moved down the stairs of the apartment complex, into the parking garage, and clicked his key to remember just where he had parked. His car gave a satisfying beep that echoed through the enclosed space.

Vincent climbed into his convertible, whose roof was currently up, turned it on, and quickly made his way out of the garage and onto one of the main roads. Vincent rolled down his window, letting the wind fall softly across his face. None of the stations were playing anything that interested him, and Vincent didn’t feel like hooking up his own phone, so he turned it off, basking in the silence.

Silence rarely brings good things to a mind in crisis.

Bored, Vincent’s mind began to wander to his boyfriends. He hoped they were having a good time together, but it was hard to imagine any of those three could leave the others unsatisfied, so there wasn’t too much to worry about there. Did they miss him?

A sudden red light had Vincent slamming on the break, stopping his car, but not his thoughts. Did they miss him? Of course they did, the logical side of Vincent’s head said, but the more he thought about it, the more unsure he grew. They were probably having mind-blowing sex over at home, he probably handn’t appeared in their thoughts since the second they closed the bedroom door. Why would they? He wasn’t there providing them pleasure, he almost never was. For some reason, Vincent’s sex drive was just never as high as the others, he was always turning them down, day after day. It was only a matter of time before they stopped trying to include him, it was only a matter of time before they-

“MOVE IT ASSHOLE!” A scream accompanied by a cluster of honks brought Vincent back to; the light was green. Vincent slammed on the accelerator, taking off once again. He really shouldn’t be driving if he was going to keep getting distracted, so he signaled and turned into a parking lot, rolling his window back up. He leaned back in his seat, eyes gazing up at nothing in particular. Maybe he was broken. That had to be it. There was asexuality, but Vincent was sure that didn’t describe him. He liked sex, he wanted to have sex, at least every once in a while, and he thought his boyfriends were incredibly sexy, so what was the problem?

Tears began to sting in his eyes. The problem must lie within himself. They’d see that soon, wouldn’t they? He hoped to whatever gods were out there in the universe that they’d never see the problem, but Felix, Adrian, and Kevin were smart. They’d realize it eventually, and he… where would he fit in once they realized?

Tears free-flowed down his face now. Vincent didn’t bother trying to stop them, just letting himself silently cry. Thoughts swirled around his head, too frantically for Vincent to stop them. They clouded his mind as his tears clouded his vision. A sudden buzz of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts for a moment. He picked it up and was greeted by a picture of Felix flipping the camera off. Why was Felix calling him so soon? It was only...Vincent had been in the car much longer than he thought he had. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to compose himself, Vincent picked up the phone.

“Vince, where are you?” Felix’s voice sounded in his ear with that slightly groggily tone his voice always got right after sex. Vincent could tell he was on speaker “Your keys are gone.”

“Yeah, I…” Vincent looked out the window, looking for an excuse that wouldn’t expose his hurt, “The movie got boring so I thought I’d get us some ice cream.”

“Ooh!” Adrian interrupted before Vincent could say more, secretly he was grateful as he could feel his throat beginning to tighten again. “Get me cotton candy please!” Kevin and Felix called out their orders, cookies and cream and mint chocolate chip respectively, after Adrian. Vincent hummed in acknowledgment, before letting out a quick “love you” and hanging up the phone. Something about their cheery attitudes made him want to start crying again, but he forcefully held the tears in, hoping his eyes wouldn’t look too blotchy when he got home.

Vincent quickly made his way through the drive-through, ordering the three ice creams, not bothering to order one for himself. His stomach was in knots, and the thought of eating made him more nauseous than anything. He turned the radio up, not particularly caring what blasted through his speakers, only wanting something to keep his mind away from dark thoughts. When he arrived back at the parking garage Vincent thanked his past self for putting concealer in his glove compartment. He quickly touched up his under eyes, masking the remnants of red that remained on his face, then finally left the car to take the elevator upstairs.

The living room to the apartment was still empty when Vincent finally unlocked the door, stepping inside. Vincent let out a slight shiver as a blast of cold air from the apartment hit him. He made his way to the bedroom. There he found Felix, Adrian, and Kevin cuddled against each other. Felix was dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt, Adrian in Kevin’s shirt, and Kevin in nothing but his underwear. Vincent was glad that they at least dressed before he came home, but the room, which still smelt strongly of sex with a bottle of lube haphazardly strung onto the floor, still gave away what activities they had been partaking in. Vincent handed out the ice creams, flopping into bed next to Felix when he was finally done.

Kevin reached over and stroked Vincent’s arm, “Didn’t you get yourself any, baby?” He asked through a spoonful of his treat.

Vincent hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Already ate it,” he lied.

“God,” Adrian called out from beside Kevin, “Cotton candy ice cream is the best.” He moaned in delight, savoring the sweet taste of his ice cream. Vincent slightly tensed at the moan, broken, his mind called out.

Vincent leaped out of bed, “I’m gonna go do the dishes,” he said, not facing his boyfriends. If he got one look at them he knew he’d cry again.

“What?” Adrian whined, “But cuddles? Dishes can wait.”

“I won’t be able to relax knowing the dishes aren’t done, I-” He tried to get more words out, but his breath hitched slightly. Praying his boyfriends didn’t notice, he quickly escaped the room for the kitchen. There really weren’t many dishes in the sink, just a few plates, cups, and silverware lay. It could have waited till morning, Adrian was right, Vincent knew that, but he turned on the sink anyways. The rush of water from the faucet did nothing to cover up his returning bad thoughts. Why couldn’t he be more normal? He couldn’t even eat ice cream with his boyfriends, couldn’t even cuddle up with them, and relax because his brain just wouldn’t stop thinking. His throat began closing in on itself as his hands shook from the exertion of keeping the tears inside. He wouldn’t cry, he wouldn’t place that burden on his boyfriends. They were already burdened enough to have him in their lives, right?

CRASH

The glass that Vincent had been washing slipped from his hands unceremoniously and fell to the ground, smashing into hundreds of pieces. A piece ground horribly into his calf, leaving an angry red mark that began to bleed, but the pain of the scratch was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. The broken cup, as broken as him, would be yet another burden on Felix, Adrian, and Kevin. Ignoring the blood, ignoring the loud sobs that had finally begun racking his body, Vincent kneeled on the ground, trying to pick up the mess with shaking hands.

Before he could satisfyingly clean up his mess, a pair of hands grabbed his, forcing the glass back onto the floor. Vincent tried to pull away, the only thing on his mind was cleaning up the mess, not being a burden on his boyfriends, maybe they’d keep him around longer if he did this. “Vincent,” A voice called out, stern and full of concern. The blonde refused to turn towards the voice, just struggling to get to the glass, “Vincent,” the voice called out again, “You’re bleeding.”

Those words caused Vincent to snap back. He looked down through still misty eyes at his own hands, which were still being held still by the wrists. Blood was leaking out of his palms from the shards of glass that had embedded themselves into his skin, the blood dripped onto the floor and onto the hands of the hands holding his. “We’re gonna get you cleaned up, okay.” The voice from earlier, that Vincent finally recognized as Kevin’s, said softly into his ear. Vincent nodded, allowing Kevin to help him up and walk towards the couch. Kevin supported Vincent as he slowly sat down, then sat next to the blonde, keeping him close. Soon enough, Adrian came running in with the first aid kit, his glasses slightly foggy from the exertion of running around looking for it.

Felix grabbed the first aid kit from the nerd, kneeling down in front of Vincent and grabbing the worst injured hand. They all sat in silence for a while as Felix fished out the glass shards from Vincent’s hands with a pair of tweezers. Vincent whimpered from the pain, hiding his face in Kevin’s neck, reveling in the warmth of his presence. Tears continued to leisurely roll down Vincent’s face; tears from the pain and because of the lingering smell of sex that permeated around him. Adrian sat opposite of Kevin, rubbing the prep’s shoulder supportively. “You’re doing so good, baby.” Kevin was the first to speak, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead. Vincent’s tears leaked out of his eyes with renewed vigor at the simple, loving action.

When his hands and leg were properly cleaned and bandaged, Felix placed gentle kisses against his hands. “This isn’t just about the cup, is it?” Adrian asked, cuddling closer to the crying figure, “You…you were acting off for a bit there. If you wanna talk about it, we’re here for you, Vince.”

Vincent really didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want the burden of his own brokenness, his own feelings, to be dropped on his boyfriends, but sitting there being held by the three men he loves more than anything or anyone in the universe, he couldn’t help it. “I-” Vincent choked on a sob, “Why do you guys keep me around?”

There was silence for only a brief second before Felix bolted up grasping Vincent’s face in his shaking hands, “Why would you say that Vince?” His slightly calloused fingers wiped tears away from the prep’s face.

“I mean, I’m broken.” Vincent averted his eyes from Felix’s, looking down at his own empty palms, “Who’d want a boyfriend who never wants to have sex?” The three other boys opened their mouths to speak at the same time, but Vincent only continued, “I mean, tonight, you guys were...were together and...and I could only think about how jealous I was. About how much I just wanted to cuddle on the couch with you guys, but...but if I told you to stay, you’d find out how broken I really am. Can’t have sex, can’t communicate, hell, I can’t even wash the dishes right.”

Felix’s hand slowed to a stop on Vincent’s face, “Look at me, sweetheart,” he said softly, gently encouraging Vincent’s face to move upwards, but he refused. “Vincent, please look at me, please.” His voice cracked slightly. At that sound, Vincent finally looked back up at Felix, whose eyes were now flooded with tears to match his. “You are not broken,” he said firmly, “and I will not sit here and let you talk about yourself like that.”

“But it’s-”

“You have always been there for me when I’m feeling dysphoric. When I look in the mirror and all I see is a girl, you’re there to help me find myself again. You shut me down when I insult myself, so like hell am I’m gonna sit here and let you do that to yourself.” Felix’s forehead met Vincent’s, whispering against it, “please let me, let us, help you see the you we see.”

Two more heads made their way towards Felix and Vincent’s, tears rolling down their faces as well, “We’ll keep you around forever,” Kevin murmured into Vincent’s collarbone, “You’ve done so much for us, you’re so good.”

“I’d never have sex again if it meant keeping you by our side,” Adrian sobbed, grasping Vincent’s shirt that had long grown damp from the four men’s tears.

Vincent wanted to insist that he didn’t have to do that, but his tears stopped his words. They were no longer tears of sadness, or fear, or self-hatred. They were tears of happiness. His boyfriends, the men he loves more than anyone else in the world, were there by his side. Vincent’s eyes may only see the bad in himself, but their eyes? They saw an amazing man whom they love, who may not be perfect, but who is? The flaws Vincent saw were perfections to them, and Vincent felt all that love at that moment. So much love, it was almost too much to bear.

After a while of crying together, Vincent finally spoke again, laughing slightly through tears, “your guy’s ice cream is probably melted.”

“Who cares,” Kevin said, “Who needs ice cream when we have you?” And so the boys stayed, enjoying each other's embrace, wiping each other’s tears, while the three melted ice creams and the broken cup lay forgotten until morning.

#boyfriends webcomic #boyfriends webtoon #boyfriends webcomic fanfic #Jock x nerd x prep x goth #TW acephobia #tw gender dysphoria #tw bl00d #hurt/comfort

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

i'm so TIRED of people with vivid imaginations trying to convince every1 the things their brains came up with happened in MDZS, just saw some1 say about lan mom "SOMETHING went down between a creepy teacher and their mother. She gets forced into marriage with a man she doesn’t love and IMPRISONED before eventually committing suicide/ falling sick and dying" like WHERE? the only piece of information was LXC saying "i have no idea WTF happened" so he doesn't know, MXTX doesn't know but you do???

Some of this is a shock for my system so early in the morning... alright... I guess we're gonna go step by step with this just cause people are awful at reading, along with my stance on this particular bit of prevalent discourse.

Since this is greatly misinterpreted for whatever reasons, here is the relevant passage and only one in the text we get concerning the Lan parents. I'm going to add that this is alllll relaid by Lan Xichen and to keep that in mind with what is highlighted.

He spoke slowly, “The reason that my father often practiced secluded meditation was my mother. This place, compared to a place of living… was more like a place of detention.”

Wei WuXian was surprised.

The father of ZeWu-Jun and HanGuang-Jun, QingHeng-Jun, used to be a famous cultivator. He made his name at a young age and had many things waiting for him in the future. However, at the age of twenty, he suddenly backed away and announced his marriage. He had also ceased to care for much of the world. Although it was called secluded meditation, it was much more like retirement. People had come up with many possible reasons, but none of them had been verified.

Lan XiChen bent down amid the clusters of gentians. He gently stroked those thin, tender petals, “When my father was young, when he returned from a night-hunt once, he saw my mother outside of Gusu city.” He smiled, “I heard that it was love at first sight.”

Wei WuXian grinned as well, “The young are often sentimental.”

Lan XiChen continued, “But, the woman did not care for him the same way. In addition, she killed one of my father’s teachers.”

This was beyond imagination. Although Wei WuXian knew that asking too many questions would be very rude, however when he remembered that they had been Lan WangJi’s parents, he felt that he just had to ask. “Why?!”

Lan XiChen, “I do not know. But, I assume that it was something along the lines of ‘grievances’.”

Wei WuXian didn’t ask anymore into this and forced down his curiosity, “And… what happened later?”

“And then,” Lan XiChen explained, “When my father heard of this, of course he was in much pain. But, no matter how he struggled, he still took the woman to his sect in secrecy. Ignoring the objections from his clan, he knelt with her for the Heavens and the Earth without making a sound and told everyone in the clan that she would be his wife for the rest of his life, that whoever wanted to harm her would have to pass through him first.”

Wei WuXian widened his eyes.

Lan XiChen continued, “After the ceremony was completed, my father found a house and locked my mother inside. He found another house and locked himself inside. It was called secluded meditation, but it was in truth to repent.”

He paused before speaking again, “Young Master Wei, can you understand why he did such a thing?”

Wei WuXian answered after a moment of silence, “He could neither forgive the one who killed his teacher nor watch the death of the woman who he loved. He could only marry her to protect her life and force himself not to see her.”

Lan XiChen, “Do you think that this was right?”

Wei WuXian, “I don’t know.”

Lan XiChen looked somewhat lost, “Then, what do you think would be right?”

Wei WuXian, “I don’t know.”

A while later, Lan XiChen whispered, “It could be said that my father did this without a care for anything else. All of the seniors of the clan were enraged, but they had all watched him grow up. They could not do anything except guard this secret, hint to the outside world that the wife of the GusuLan Sect’s sect leader had an unspeakable disease and could not see others. After WangJi and I were born, we were immediately taken away to be cared for by other people. When we grew older, we were brought to Uncle to be taught."

“My shufu… has always had a frank personality to begin with. Because of how my mother caused my father to destroy his own life, he began to hate those who behaved improperly even more. Thus, he poured his heart into teaching WangJi and me. He was especially harsh as well. Every month, we could only see Mother once, inside of this cottage.”

They were two young children, who faced everyday only their harsh uncle, strict teachings, and mountains of books. No matter how tired, they had to straighten their soft backs to be the most outstanding disciples of the clan, the model students in others’ eyes. They could rarely see their closest relatives. They couldn’t fool around in their father’s arms, they couldn’t act spoiled in front of their mother.

But they had clearly done nothing wrong.

Lan XiChen, “Everytime WangJi and I went to see her, she would never complain about how tedious it was being locked inside of here, unable to step out once. She had never asked about our studies, either. She especially liked to tease WangJi, but WangJi, the more you tease him the less willing he is to talk, and the worse of an expression he puts on. He has been like this ever since he was young. However,” he chuckled, “even though WangJi never said it, I knew that every month he was looking forward to the day he could see Mother. He was like this, and I was the same.”

Wei WuXian imagined a young Lan WangJi hugged inside of his mother’s arms, his snowy little cheeks flushed pink. He laughed as well. But before his smile had even melted, Lan XiChen continued, “But one day, Uncle suddenly told us that we would have no need to go any longer."

“Mother was gone.”

Wei WuXian’s voice was soft, “How old was Lan Zhan back then?”

Lan XiChen, “Six.”

He continued, “He was still too young to understand what ‘gone’ means. No matter how much others comforted him, or how much Uncle scolded him, he would continue to come back here every single month, sit down in the hallway, and wait for someone to open the door for him. When he grew older, he understood that Mother would not be coming back, that no one would open the door for him, but he kept on coming here.”

Lan XiChen stood up. His dark eyes looked into Wei WuXian’s, “WangJi has been so stubborn ever since he was young.”

The leaves rustled and the gentian flowers swished alongside the wind, their scent lingering. Wei WuXian’s eyes landed on the wooden hallway of the cottage. He could almost see a small child wearing a forehead ribbon sitting with proper posture in front of the house, waiting quietly for the door to open.

He spoke, “Madam Lan must’ve been a very gentle woman.”

Lan XiChen, “In my memories, Mother had indeed been so. I do not know why she did such a thing back then. And, in truth, I…”

He took a deep breath before confessing, “I do not want to know either.”

After a few moments of silence, Lan XiChen closed his eyes. He took out Liebing. A gust of night wind suddenly sent forth a sobbing note of the xiao. The sound was deep, like a sigh.

Wei WuXian had heard Lan XiChen play Liebing before. Its timbre was just like Lan XiChen himself, as warm and graceful as a breeze and the rain of spring. Yet, now, although his technique was as excellent as ever, the tone evoked a strange mixture of feelings.

The night wind swept by. Lan XiChen’s hair and forehead ribbon were already somewhat disheveled. However, the GusuLan Sect’s sect leader, who had always regarded appearance highly, didn’t pay any attention to them. He only put down Liebing after the song had finished, “Music is forbidden at night in the Cloud Recesses. Today I have overstepped far too many times. Excuse me, Wei gongzi.”

Wei WuXian, “How so? ZeWu-Jun, have you forgotten that the person standing in front of you is the person who has broken the most rules…”

Lan XiChen smiled, “The GusuLan Sect has never revealed these facts about Lan Wangji and myself outside of itself. I should not have told you. Tonight was my sudden urge to unburden myself, a spur of the moment.”

Wei WuXian, “I’m not the kind of person who talks too much. Don’t worry, ZeWu-Jun.”

Lan XiChen, “Regardless, I would assume that WangJi would not hide anything from you anyways.”

Wei WuXian, “If he doesn’t wish to talk about something then I won’t ask.”

Lan XiChen, “But, with WangJi’s personality, how could he say anything if you do not ask? There are some things that even if you ask him he would not say.”

Now that we have the context of the Lan parents laid out the only definitive answer for anything concerning their personal motivations for anything is "I DON'T KNOW". Their secrets and thoughts literally died with them.

And this entire story Lan Xichen told in the end, had nothing to do with his parents. He did not tell Wei Wuxian about them, he was speaking everything unsaid about Lan Wangji's motivations and his love of Wei Wuxian. He does not care why his parents did what they did, but he does for the one that is alive. His brother who he had just had a bit of a veiled conversation about Lan Wangji's pure trust in Wei Wuxian. Who, in Lan Xichen's eyes, had already rejected his brother's love and did not feel the same, mirroring the past of their father's apparent unrequited love. He is saying Lan Wangji is sacrificing his all, unvoiced.

His pressing of if his parent "are right" is him asking Wei Wuxian what he feels about those sacrifices, if he can see the sacrifices Lan Wangji had gone through. At this point he along with Lan Wangji have assumed Wei Wuxian knows and remembers what he had said within the cave. He is telling Wei Wuxian his brother has alway been this way for those he loves regardless of what they may be perceived as by outsiders.

"Today I have overstepped far too many times. Excuse me, Wei gongzi.”"

"I should not have told you. Tonight was my sudden urge to unburden myself, a spur of the moment.”

Meaning, it was not his place to tell this about his brother, but there is no one else that would, and Lan Wangji would never say anything about his feelings again. Lan Xichen is first and foremost worried about where his brother has placed his love, as he knows, regardless of what rumors surround those he loves, his brother will still be forever loyal to them without question if he believes them to be in the right.

Lan Xichen is warning Wei Wuxian he needs to take care in his actions as he approaches Lan Wangji as Xichen is well aware already of how Lan Wangji will go through hell for others he adores. From the start it was never about his parents, as Lan Xichen says, "I do not want to know either,". But what he does want to know is where Wei Wuxian stands with his own feelings towards Lan Wangji or if he is still using his brother as he has thought for years. Leaving Lan Xichen to protect him as best as he can while Lan Wangji stays hurt for others with no happiness for himself.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the Lan parents #It literally does not matter what was between them as they are dead and gone #Lan Wangji is the one left seemingly continuing their tragedy and rumors #the lan parents are a damn metaphore for Lan Wangji's feelings