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yukidragon · 4 months

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Sunny Day Jack - Infection AU Headcanons

Hey, have you seen the resurgence of the MLP creepypastas with infection AUs on twitter? I stumbled across this trend, and it gave me an itch to create an apocalyptic AU, but with characters who are already intended for an adult audience.

Yes, it’s another Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack AU, and a very horror-themed one to boot. Yes, I also know that it’s pretty funny that this comes right after this super sugary sweet short story about Jack pleading for more cuddle time with his sunshine, doesn’t it?

What can I say? Sometimes I like to explore the horror side along with the romantic side of Sunny Day Jack.

Content Warnings: This post is going to get pretty graphic at times due to its central focus on body horror and biological infections. There will also be elements of psychological horror, violence, murder, yandere obsession, occult practices, acts of terrorism, and all the other warnings that apply to the main game. Also, one or more of our favorite characters might meet with an unfortunate fate. I’ll see if I can offset all the horror somewhat with some sweet and spicy stuff as well, since we all know Jack isn’t going to let a little lot of blood stop him from filling his sunshine with lots and lots of love.

Minors DNI!

It took me a while to consider how I wanted to go about the infection itself. Sure, I could stick with the tried and true zombie formula, but there’s way too many games that just tack on zombies as DLC without adding anything unique that ties to the original setting. It gets kind of repetitive after a while. I wanted something a little more interesting, perhaps a little more supernatural.

Then I remembered that there are times when Jack starts looking suspiciously like a zombie himself, especially when his bony finger is exposed. However, nowhere is his undead putrefaction clearer, than this heartbreaking picture posted on the SnaccPop Patreon. Even just the publicly posted teaser picture from twitter shows us that his body is rotting like a corpse.

Credit to Sauce for their gorgeous art. Remember, don’t share anything that’s posted privately for members only on the patreon. If you want to see the full picture in all its glorious heartache for yourself, why not consider joining to check it out? You’ll not only get access to exclusive art, but also audio dramas and many other delightful things. You’ll also be supporting the team and helping them to continue working on the games and other projects that give us so many fun stories to explore and enjoy.

The Diseased Lamb

The apocalypse I’ve crafted for this AU is more heavily based on the Sunshine in Hell continuity than the game itself, and it references a number of my previous headcanons. As such, I’ll be sticking with my version of the MC, Alice, for this AU, but I hope my ramble can inspire you with ideas for how to run your own MC through an apocalyptic scenario with the SDJ characters.

The horror of this AU, as it does with the game, all starts with the tape, or rather the incident that it recorded back in 1984, changing both it and the man who was murdered on that day into something no longer human.

LambsWork Productions is such a suspicious company, particularly with that name that feels like it’s implying that it’s creating sacrifices. It wasn’t just meant in a figurative sense, as the entertainment industry is full of cults. A homeless drifter picked up off the street would make for a perfect sacrifice for some profane ritual. No one would come looking for him, and those who knew him when he died could be silenced with an NDA… if they didn’t die as well, of course.

Joseph Cullman, who used the name of James Haberdae when taking the role of Sunny Day Jack, was just one of these poor souls that Lambswork sacrificed. He and so many others were to give, and give, and give so much of themselves, far more than they ever imagined that they would. They were drawn in deeper, convinced to participate in things that they didn’t quite understand, that felt not quite right, but… they could lose it all. They’ve already come so far, done so much. It’s a sunk-cost fallacy.

LambsWork Productions was a company up to some shady business, with connections to other not quite so savory business partners. They slipped subtle propaganda into their various shows aimed at so many different audiences. The 80’s was an era rife for turning kids shows into a 30 minute long television commercial at its most blatant. Much like how the Flintstones pushed cigarettes on kids in our world, and got their own line of multivitamins, even wholesome mascots could be used to push agendas, even unwittingly. (There’s a good Film Theory that talks about propaganda in the media if you’re interested in more about this topic.) The SunnyTime Crew weren’t just selling branded merch like cream pies, dolls, and lunchboxes, they were endorsing other unrelated products such as pharmaceuticals.

The incident of 1984 brought it all to an abrupt end. Maybe in the game’s universe it was an intentional thing, a sacrifice to accomplish something supernatural. Maybe it wasn’t part of a massive conspiracy, just a sudden murder that interrupted plans already in place that had unexpected consequences. Maybe the company was just shitty and had nothing to do with Jack being trapped in the tape for 40 years.

In this universe, it wasn’t an intentional machanation of LambsWork Productions, but the unforeseen results of so many it played a part in.

While I suspect Jack died of gunshot wounds in the game, as I mentioned in previous theories here and here, in this universe, it was the result of a terrorist attack. The SunnyTime Crew were mascots used to push a product that had… unfortunate results. People got sick, suffered horrible side-effects, even died. There were even rumors that a sickness was manufactured in a lab just so that particular product could be sold to cure it. Naturally, the actions of companies associated with LambsWork wasn’t the fault of the actors, but the SunnyTime Crew had inadvertently become the face of the brand. In the eyes of people resentful of a soulless company that victimized them, anyone who worked with them was seen as guilty.

For actors at LambsWork Productions, their days were long and started early. Often, they had to rely on the coffee, donuts, and other snacks in the breakroom instead of a proper meal.

No one realized the food and water had been spiked. Everyone was already pushing themselves hard, often forced to do their job and put on a bright smile for the public even when they were exhausted or sick. If they felt the urge to sneeze or cough, they had better hold it in until the cameras weren’t rolling.

Unfortunately, tried as he might, Jack couldn’t stop himself from coughing up blood in the middle of filming.

Although tempting, this isn’t the start of a zombie outbreak. It’s a deadly illness to be sure, but not one the terrorists intended to infect the children. This was to send a message to the company as well as serve as revenge to see these shiny “innocent” stars bleed and suffer like others had because of corporate greed.

Though it would be horrifying and tragic if this was a zombie outbreak and the SunnyTime Crew were the patient zeros. Mary would rush from the audience to her starlight’s side, holding onto him tight while yelling at someone to call an ambulance… Joseph moans out one final “Sunshine…” before an unnatural hunger overtakes him, and he tears out her throat with his teeth.

A temptingly dark image, but maybe we can save a zombie specific AU for another time. For this infection AU, things are a little bit more complicated than that, and a bit more sad. Joseph didn’t know what was happening to him, just that he was in pain. He had a terrible chill that burned his insides, his eyes growing watery with a red tint, and he couldn’t stop coughing. He didn’t even notice the blood at first leaking from his mouth and eyes until he heard the screams of the audience.

Mary ran to Joseph’s side as he collapsed to the floor. He tried to turn away from the audience to spare the children the sight, but wound up vomiting up blood all over the colorful studio set.

He wasn’t the only one, unfortunately. The rest of the SunnyTime Crew, even guest stars and members of the stagehands were unwell, but not nearly as bad as Joseph. As the star of the show, the terrorists wanted to make a statement with the gruesome death of Sunny Day Jack. They didn’t want someone as strong and healthy looking as him to survive, so he was especially targeted by tainted food and drink. Even his medication, makeup, and cigarettes were tampered with.

Mary tried her best to help Joseph. She was used to being sick. She helped make sure he wouldn’t choke on his own blood and did what she could to keep him breathing until the ambulance came, but his death came swift and gruesome. He died in her arms while she was still performing CPR on him, bathed in his blood and her tears, as the cameras continued to record their last “kiss.”

Mary died later in the hospital, just like in the regular universe, but much sooner, as she became infected as well. Although the illness wasn’t airborne, it could be transferred by bodily fluids. Though the terrorists only meant to target certain people for one specific incident, microorganisms can’t be simply shut off once they’re set loose.

The terrorists had wanted to make a statement using the very illness that they claimed was manufactured by isolating an especially dangerous strain in a lab and unleashing it publicly. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect they were going for. The exact events of that day were covered up, including the message that they were trying to send. Instead, the negative side-effects that the original product resulted in were blamed on this new more deadly strain of the infection, and the pharmaceutical company eventually came up with a cure for that too… but not without more casualties.

Many of the terrorists did get arrested and quietly charged with domestic terrorism. In the end, the company they went to such extremes to expose for their crimes became the hero, and all they accomplished was giving them a villain to escape their own misdeeds.

Quietly, LambsWork Productions buried the SunnyTime Crew show and all traces of its memory to escape any bad press. It moved on to new shows, and new partnerships with the pharmaceutical company in the future, though the higher ups never used any of their characters to overtly endorse any unrelated brands again.

In the modern day, the illness that may have been created in a lab, but was made so much more deadly by terrorism is mostly a non-issue with the standard vaccines people get as they grow up. Few people think about it at all. The outbreak incident was a blip in history, with the show never being mentioned at all in association with it.

40 Years Later

The timeline of events plays out mostly the same from here, though perhaps with a few less survivors from the incident of 1984 in the modern day. Though it might not matter when the second incident unfolds.

In many supernatural stories where someone is unjustly murdered, the way they died plays a part in how their revival affects the world… or in this case infects.

The apocalypse started when a VHS tape was played, and Alice became patient zero.

Jack didn’t mean for it to happen. He only wanted to help his sunshine. She was already sick when he appeared. Not only was she suffering from chronic illness like in the regular universe, but she had caught the modern day version of the very infection that had killed both of them in the past. It was treatable in the present, and she was vaccinated, so she was just isolated at home with nothing to do but heal and distract herself from feeling so miserable and alone.

In this case, the curious and compelling VHS tape Alice bought from the thrift store became far more of a distraction than she could have ever imagined.

Jack appeared when Alice was at her most vulnerable and took care of her. The longer they spent together, the better she felt. Her symptoms faded, and his company was surprisingly comfortable, familiar. It was almost nostalgic, like someone had taken care of her like he did long ago…

Alice wasn’t cured, she was asymptomatic. The infection had been altered supernaturally to make her better, but it became something else, something beyond the capabilities of modern medicine. Its change was influenced by Jack’s fears - his fear of the cold, sleepless hell he had been damned to, the fear of the decades loneliness and the endless cycle of pain, and most of all the fear of losing his sunshine.

Understandably, a patient zero is the last person you want working in the food service industry. Worse, a heatwave had struck Texas, sending a lot of customers to Yogurtopia for a cold and tasty treat. Having to deal with so many people distracted Alice from Jack and left him feeling a little lonely… and increasingly afraid that all of these people might make her forget him.

Symptoms

Unlike the infection 40+ years prior, this supernatural affliction spread slowly, the vector not from body fluids but being in the infected’s presence, seeing and hearing them in close proximity. Touching them directly spread it so much faster. In the initial stages it led to nightmares, an increasing sense of paranoia, and a cold prickling pain not unlike the staticy feeling one got after a part of their body fell to sleep, especially focused on the face and hands. This feeling would steadily spread to other parts of the body as the infection got worse.

The progression led to hallucinations, voices that whispered one’s own deepest fears, which led to an increase in depression. The infected grew to have difficulty sleeping, but when they did they only experienced nightmares. The only thing that alleviated symptoms was physical touch with another person that they felt affection/desire towards, but this in turn would spread the infection.

The psychological effects worsened as symptoms progressed, creating an increased sense of paranoia that they were being haunted, but also that this entity was erasing their existence from everyone who knew them, which led to fears about being alone and forgotten. In a sense, the virus was turning people into yanderes, desperate for human connection.

There were visual hallucinations as well, which started as shadows and colors at the corners of their eyes, an entity constantly stalking them. As the infection progressed the hallucinations became more vivid, turning into distorted inhuman figures with protruding bones coming from rotting strips of skin, and other such horrific images.

The infected changed physically too. Their blood took on a strange blue tinge to it and a hint of green. The colors became more prominently distinct and clearly unnatural in later stages of infection, creating an RGB effect as it leaked from the wounds, eyes, and mouth. Between the discomfort underneath the skin and psychological paranoia, patients usually scratched themselves until they bled, especially around the face and hands. Some even clawed their own eyes out to escape the horrific hallucinations.

The infection didn’t affect everyone the same. For some the symptoms progressed faster, and for some they had fewer symptoms. There were even some that claimed that they recovered from the infection.

There was some truth to the rumors. Being infected by close proximity sight/sound of the infected had a cumulative effect on symptoms, but it faded when not in their presence. Unfortunately, physical contact makes the infection spread far worse than sight or sound. It’s thought that maybe if they’re kept in isolation away from other infected they might recover, but this makes their symptoms of paranoia and desperation for human contact worse, leading to them harming themselves or others in their need to alleviate the symptoms.

The problem was that the infection couldn’t be detected until the blood’s color started to change, well after a person would be a danger to themselves and others. Despite lockdowns and stay at home orders, it spread beyond the city, beyond Texas, and even went international. People infected couldn’t handle being isolated alone as the infection progressed. Forcing them only made it worse.

Violence broke out, from infected people driven mad by paranoia and those desperately trying to escape being infected. The more an infected person was wounded, the more of that unnatural blood spilled in the later stages, the more they changed into something that became no longer human.

Some of the infected had their bodies warped, their proportions stretching and contorting until they were almost cartoonish, elongated, torn, and bloody. They were so desperate for company, and many infected clung to one another, flesh merging together until no one could tell where one person ended and the other began. These amalgamations were dangerous and violent, paranoid of being pried apart and some parts wanting to bring others important to them into the amalgam.

While there was hope of recovery for those infected in earlier stages, once they were warped to such a degree, there was no saving them.

Patient “Zero”

The first public case of this infection reaching its unnatural stages that gave it the nickname of the Color Plague was the incident with one Nick Herraras. The name of the infection might change later if I come up with a better term for it, but we’ll go with Color Plague for now.

Poor Nick was found on the streets, covered with what initially was mistaken for paint, only to be later identified as tainted blood. Some thought he was patient zero, driven to a crazed and desperate state as he wandered the streets, babbling incoherently about “sunshine” and “him.”

On the same night there had been a call to the police that reported a breakin at an apartment building where a woman lived alone. When colorful blood was found at the scene of the breakin, it was quickly deduced that Nick had been the culprit behind it. Alice King, the victim, reported that she had been asleep at the time, but she managed to scare the intruder off with her gun, which led to him being found wandering the streets.

The truth was… a bit different than Alice told the police.

The day had been a stressful one. Aside from the long shift, a regular customer at her job had been acting… strange lately. Nick had come to see Alice with increasing frequency, even lingering until closing hours.

It all started off innocently enough for Nick, just a harmless crush that turned into a serious case of lovesickness. Alice had been such a sweet breath of fresh air from his stressful life as an online celebrity, and despite the paranoia and hallucinations that affected him, he fixated on her. It got worse after his hands touched hers when taking his order from her. Her warm touch alleviated his slowly worsening symptoms like nothing else could. He became obsessed with her even as the hallucinations terrorized him to stay away.

Nick needed her.

Alice picked up on the way Nick kept staring at her even when she was taking care of other customers. It made her grow increasingly nervous, especially when Jack voiced his concerns about both Nick and the dangers of other people in general. Many of the regulars were starting to act strange and shifty as well.

Despite the voices warning Nick away, he approached Alice. He got in too close and rambled a bit about how he noticed that she didn’t ever go home with anyone. Did she have a boyfriend? He was exhausted and disheveled at the time, his wild eyes occasionally darting away to chase shadows before fixing back on Alice. He didn’t even give her a chance to answer, rambling on about how he had been watching her for weeks now, and he had seen her posts online. He saw her give that kid who spilled his yogurt a free replacement last week, and she helped an elderly man find his misplaced car keys. That was so kind of her. Her art was so pretty and her online profile said she was single, so she was, wasn’t she?

The cold got worse and Nick had to touch her, he needed it. Alice tried pulling away politely, but his increasingly desperate grabs for her caused her to panic. In a desperate bid to keep a hold on her, he dug his fingers into her wrists, hard, until a large gloved hand that seemed to appear out of nowhere wrenched his away.

It was the first time Jack had touched anyone besides his sunshine, and it was so cold. It sent Nick into fits, clawing at his hands where Jack had touched him, the hallucinations getting worse. The sight terrifying Alice.

Nick hadn’t been alone during that incident. James Harrison had been worried about his friend’s increasingly strange behavior. He tried to talk sense into Nick when he started acting increasingly erratic. When Nick grabbed onto Alice, James helped pry Nick off her, but he felt a terrible cold that made his hands itch when he succeeded.

James managed to calm Nick out of his fit, after a little while. He apologized to Alice for the scene, trying to smooth things over so that she wouldn’t call the cops. In the arms of his friend, Nick managed to start calming down and start coming back to himself. He was comforted by the warmth of someone he cared for and who cared about him. With everyone shaken, James escorted Nick home.

When in the company of his friend, feeling that warmth of connection, Nick was okay. But that night when he was home alone after he had reassured James over and over that he was just tired, he needed sleep, and that he would see a doctor tomorrow… his mind went back to Alice.

The hallucinations were so much worse, eating away at Nick. Only Alice could make them go away for good, he was sure of it. He even knew where she lived. He also knew how to pick locks, how to be quiet. If he just saw her alone without anyone around, he could make her see just how much he needed her, how much he wanted to get to know her, love her. His thoughts about her had deteriorated from an innocent crush into a sick obsession that he believed must be true love.

The plan did work, to a point. Nick managed to break in without alerting others in the apartment complex or waking Alice up. He just never expected that she wouldn’t be alone in her apartment.

In a sense, what happened to Nick ties into my past theory that he (and the other love interests) were all yanderes. It might have been debunked, but it can be something fun to play with in a universe where there’s an infection that turns people into monstrous yanderes.

After the incident with Nick at Yogurtopia, Alice was pretty shaken up. She felt paranoid going home that night. Fortunately she had Jack to watch out for her. It was only because of his reassurance and comfort that she was able to get any sleep that night.

Jack was also the only reason why Nick didn’t get his hands on Alice again that night.

Sunny Day Jack isn’t a violent person, or at least he has convinced himself that he isn’t, but he isn’t going to let anyone hurt or take away his sunshine. No matter what it takes.

Alice woke up to Nick’s hysterical screaming. She burst out of bed in time to see him fleeing from the apartment. She also saw Jack looming in the dark like a terrifying sentinel, something otherworldly and dangerous. The moment Jack sensed her fear though, he was back to normal, soft and reassuring. He told her someone broke into the apartment, but he managed to scare them off… somehow. When Alice asked about the blood, Jack told her (truthfully) that Nick was already bleeding when he snuck in. In fact, he started hurting himself before he ran away. She wondered if Jack lied to not scare her with the fact that he was capable of violence despite his kid-friendly persona, but later the next day she heard from the police that the wounds were in fact self-inflicted.

After all, Jack doesn’t need to get his own hands dirty when he can have Nick take care of it for him.

Word of the infection spreads, along with the infection itself. Alice refused to allow her family to come visit her after she told them about the breakin, when she feared that she might be infected as well due to her close proximity to Nick and him bleeding all over her home. She was examined by doctors, but when they didn’t find anything, she was sent home with instructions to self-isolate and monitor herself for any potential symptoms that might appear.

Once more, Alice was isolated in her home with only Jack for company. He cleaned up the mess for her so she wouldn’t have to look at the blood, and helped reinforce her door so that no one could break in as easily again… but the news made it clear that the world was becoming an even more dangerous place.

A Lonely Apocalypse

As one might expect, an infection that spreads by sight and sound spreads quickly, especially when it makes people desperate to reach out and touch others, spreading it even faster. Quarantine zones were broken easily, and chaos descended across the entire world. Infrastructures fell apart in the chaos, such as electricity, internet, and plumbing. Infected people broke into homes to find others to join them. Civilization collapsed.

Alice lost contact with her family when the internet and phone lines went down. Last she heard was that they were in isolation and they were all fine. Mercifully, no one was showing symptoms. Barbie had left her apartment and returned to their family home before travel became dangerous. The King family could watch out for one another, but Alice worried about them and her friends dearly.

Shaun, being more trope savvy about zombie apocalypses did decently well for himself despite the circumstances. He managed to escape being infected and has been able to isolate with Olivia and a few other survivors. Animals, mercifully, seem to be immune to the infection, so MoonPie is safe in his care as well. He’s slowly breaking down the “rules” of the infection in order to understand it and why some people are affected more strongly than others. He, like so many others, wants to figure out where it comes from and if it can be stopped. He is also pretty damn sure that this infection is something supernatural, so science alone can’t explain it, let alone put a stop to it.

Shaun and Alice communicated via internet and phone before both went down, so they knew that the other was safe until that point. Because Alice was suspected of being infected, she couldn’t join him and the other survivors. By this point she had a strong suspicion that she was an asymptomatic carrier of the infection.

But it was fine. Alice didn’t need to join up with survivors anyway. She had Jack to protect her. Shaun didn’t know who this Jack was, never having seen him in person. It stung to know that he was Alice’s new boyfriend, but he managed to joke that he was looking forward to meeting Jack “when all this craziness is over.”

The joke came out even more strained due to very real fears that might never happen.

When Ian first heard about the infection back in Texas, he wanted to take a flight back immediately and check up on Alice. However, by that time the city had been put under lockdown. Without any word about Alice, he grew increasingly worried about her, since she was already dealing with a chronic illness. When he heard through a mutual acquaintance that she might be infected, he was racked with guilt for leaving her, blaming himself. This wouldn’t have happened if he never left for college.

A lot of things never would have happened if he hadn’t left.

Alice picked up the phone for Ian once. Though it was hard on her, she was relieved that he was safe. When he wanted to see her, she told him under no uncertain terms not to. It was only when she outright told him that she was infected that he stopped begging her to change her mind.

The news shocked Ian, horrified him. He broke down, babbling apologies, and Alice told him it was fine. She forgave him for cheating and told him to not feel guilty about that anymore. He should focus on staying safe and not worry about her anymore. He needed to focus on taking care of himself now.

This was a final message from Alice to find closer with Ian and sincerely wish him happiness in spite of everything. What happened between them still hurt her, but in the wake of an apocalypse it was a more distant pain, smaller in the face of far more immediate threats. She also had Jack to support and comfort her. She had his love to heal her wounded heart and keep her safe. She felt stronger thanks to Jack in spite of everything.

Despite Alice’s attempts to alleviate Ian of guilt, his guilt only grew worse. He felt like he had to do something. Alice ended the call after telling him definitively to forget about her and not call her again, but how could he after everything they’ve been through? After how badly he failed her? He tried calling her back, but she finally blocked his number.

The guilt and his feelings for Alice ate Ian alive. It made him determined to get back to her and make things right, quarantine or no quarantine.

Even if that meant he got infected too. At least then they would always be together… like they should have been all along.

So Ian is trying to find Alice while avoiding the infected. It’s almost certain that he’ll fail the latter, but perhaps not the former… though what state he’d be in when he finally finds Alice might be something far more horrific than the boy she used to know and love.

Building a Life Together While the World Falls Apart

Although the world is crumbling down around them, Jack is getting stronger. He’s become more solid, stronger, and others can see him now. He can defend his sunshine from the infected, and he’s actually very good at it. Somehow he always manages to find a way to chase them off.

While for the most part Jack comes away unscathed from such encounters, sometimes he gets a little scratched up, which results in Alice fussing over him. He’ll never admit it, but he gets a little careless sometimes just to be spoiled by his sunshine. He knows it’s naughty of him, and he really doesn’t want to worry her, but it feels so good to be cared for so sweetly. He always asks her to kiss his boo-boos better, which leads to kissing other places as well.

Alice knows perfectly well that the aching Jack feels in his cock isn’t from any injury he took, but she’ll still kiss it until he feels allll better anyway~ He makes sure to make her feel very good as well in return.

Given how stressful things are and how isolated survivors have become, sex is a pretty obvious way to pass the time. Jack takes every excuse he can to seduce Alice, as long as the place they’re staying in is secured. He’s not going to be reckless with her safety. The infection might not affect her, but the infected are another story. He doesn’t care if anyone sees them (and really he’d enjoy showing off how much his sunshine loves him), but an infected isn’t simply going to sit back and appreciate the show.

Whenever Jack catches Alice worrying about her friends and family, he makes sure to redirect her focus on him as much as possible. He’s very good at distracting her with his love, placing kisses all over her body between sweet words of comfort and praise. She’s doing so well handling everything. She’s so strong, so kind, and so beautiful. She doesn’t have to handle it alone. He’s right here for her. He’ll always be with her, forever, and he loves her so, so much, more than anyone in the world.

It’s for the best that it’s just the two of them now. Even if Alice is infected, Jack is either immune or asymptomatic too, so it’s perfectly safe with just the two of them. He doesn’t have to worry about losing her to the infection, and she doesn’t have to worry about accidentally infecting him like she would her friends or family. They’ll be safe as long as they stay away and stay together, just like they’re doing now. Jack promises to make sure that neither of them will ever have to feel lonely ever again.

At present, the pair managed to secure an abandoned house. Well, mansion. Only the best for his sunshine, Jack said. Sure it took a lot of work fixing it up and cleaning up the messes, but as long as they’re together, they can handle anything life throws at them. They can face the world together, just the two of them.

After securing the place against invasions from infected or survivors taking advantage of the chaos, they managed to fix the place up to be rather cozy. They’ve secured a fair amount of supplies, and even started growing food both on the grounds and in a greenhouse. Alice knew a lot of tricks for how to grow plants effectively thanks to her mother’s expertise in the subject, and Jack handled much of the grunt work thanks to his strength.

It was kind of nice at times, like they were in their own little world. They could almost forget the outside world… if not for the occasional screams and wailing in the distance.

Despite the circumstances, and the occasional conflict, life in the mansion was actually pretty good for Jack and Alice. With animals being immune, they even got some pets in the form of dogs, cats, chickens, and even a couple rabbits. The animals also weren’t a threat to steal away his sunshine, so Jack was able to open his heart to them and love them as well, which helped to balance him emotionally a little.

That isn’t to say that it’s not hard on the two of them psychologically. Alice had to shoot people, infected and not, in order to survive. Jack wanted to handle all threats that came their way, but the infected had numbers on their side. Even supernatural powers have their limits, and this virus that he unknowingly started has gone far, far out of his control. He couldn’t stop it even if he tried.

That isn’t to say that Jack wouldn’t be the key to stopping it somehow. Someone just needs to put the pieces together and figure out the cause of the infection, then maybe they can figure out a way to stop it once and for all.

I think I’ll wrap things up on that note. I hope you enjoyed this ramble of supernatural biological horror. Let me know if you want to hear more about this or any other AU or story I’ve made. Thanks for reading!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Infection AU #Sauce-y Art

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saintsenara · 7 months

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this piece was written for @ladiesofhpfest monthly minis, focusing on andromeda tonks.

grief is a theme which has been prominent in my reading and writing lately, and one aspect of grief which i am particularly drawn to at the minute is the fact that grief can often make the grieving quite unpleasant. the rage of grief, its vindictiveness and petty cruelty, are subjects which i think this fandom often shies away from. after all, nobody likes to think of their faves being horrible in their sorrow.

but i think andromeda makes a good case study for this feeling. i'm always struck in deathly hallows by how there's such a potent undercurrent of anger and disapproval in the way she deals with harry and hagrid. i like the description of her looking haughty - above and beyond the visual comparison it draws between her and bellatrix - and i like her complete lack of interest in doing anything other than talk about tonks and her fear for her.

i've written a lot about how i think someone in andromeda's position would understand the risk which tonks has taken on by joining the order (i'll die on the hill, written about in several of the pieces i did for the fest this summer, that she is aware that bellatrix has convinced voldemort to leave her and ted alone, which then becomes forfeit). and so here i'm thinking about just how furious she'd be when her fear and rage and warnings about that risk were proven to be completely justified - set around dirge without music by edna st. vincent millay. because andromeda does not approve. and she is not resigned.

Spring did not amble into summer that year, as it usually did.

It did not drift with mellow ease from April’s pale into May’s gold, lying idly on the grass in Richmond Park with the cracked-sugar coating on mini eggs on its fingers. It did not wake up one morning and put all its jumpers into storage, then fish them out again three days later when there was still a chill in the morning air. It did not spoon mint sauce onto its Easter lamb and watch as the tendrils of the broad beans curled themselves around their frame.

Death was squatting in her house, disarraying the furniture and stretching the sleeves of her cardigans, a winter’s dirge in his horrible voice and a sepulchral damp trailing in after him whenever he opened the door.

And although she had prided herself for years on her skill as a hostess, she was growing furious with her unwanted guest.

May was a month of rain and of rage.

For all the others - the other mothers in the club she had not asked to join, whose company she loathed, whose losses she refused to comprehend - it seemed that May was a month of silence.

She could picture them, sitting mutely by empty beds, the ephemera of childhood clutched in their white-knuckled hands, as if it will help clear the fog. She could see them searching through the gloom for the glittering past; the memories of summer’s haze which parents cast unthinkingly away, believing that there will never be a time when they will have to beg death to let them remember the way a seven-year-old face looked on a particular May morning.

She could picture them, sitting mutely by the fresh-turned earth of newly-dug graves, spring’s white flowers - apple blossom and yarrow; baby’s breath for their unbreathing babies - laid before headstones slick with the unseasonable squall. She could see them letting the rain mingle with the tears on faces rubbed raw, until the one cannot be distinguished from the other in the drops falling to the earth.

But she could not sit. She could not search or cry.

She could only spit; and snarl and scream until her teeth clashed through the dry and splitting skin of her lower lip and blood pooled in her mouth.

While death laughed at her.

They had never been able to work out where Nymphadora’s talent - the clay suppleness of tendons and bones, the shape-shifting malleability of skin and marrow - had come from.

Ted had been a solid man, substantial in the way that bookshelves are: never rickety; never uneven; smelling of wood polish and leather. He contained a hundred thousand little treasures; he was a source of knowledge, a place of solace on rainy days; a best friend in the aftermath of a lonely childhood.

And she herself was solid, in the way that music is: the tempo can be varied but the notes remain the same. One sister can strike out on her own, but there is a refrain which follows her, the same funeral dirge which lilts in the air after her sisters, letting the careful listener know that these three women are one and the same. No matter what one was pretending.

Nymphadora had none of her father’s solidity. She was an opal: gaudy and colour-changing and brilliant, but with a softness beneath it all. She was fragmentary and fractured. She had wanted her jokes to be laughed at. She had wanted to be taken seriously.

She had wanted to be loved, in all her contradictory, flesh-and-blood glory.

She lay now beside her lukewarm lover in the earth.

She did not speak to her daughter when she visited the graveyard, its pathways washed with rain, a yew sagging against the church’s ancient walls. She did not speak to Ted either, though he mouldered next to his daughter. She did not leave flowers leaning on their headstones. She clenched her fists until her nails pierced the dry and splitting skin of her palms, and blood dripped over her wedding ring to the ground.

She was too angry at them both; at how they had clearly been in cahoots to turn themselves into food for the worms, and leave her pouring tea for death and keeping the radiators blasting. This is how it had always been - Ted’s gentleness turning into permissiveness when it came to Nymphadora throwing herself from the tops of trees or telling old ladies who reprimanded her on her knicker-baring miniskirts to go swivel, and she was forced to become the strict one, the one who disapproved of burping and pot noodles and joining the Aurors.

Neither of them had ever listened, adventure twinkling in their identical eyes and schemes whirring in their swashbuckling minds. They thought her silly - nervous and elegant and a lover of order. In their unkinder moments, they thought her rigid, icy, cruel. She could still picture Nymphadora at the breakfast table - sixteen and sulking over being told off for overindulging at a party and being sick all over the hydrangeas - and how it had felt to know her eyes were raking over her mother’s heart-shaped face for the fragments of Narcissa and Bellatrix that a quiet life in a Muggle suburb could not erase.

But look at that. She was right and they were both dead. And she was furious.

She did not speak to her husband when she returned to the house, where death was laying on the sofa instead of babysitting. There were crumbs on the coffee table, the gingery shards of a whole biscuit now snapped and softening. Like Ted - with his hair the colour of saffron cake and his eyes like spring water - would be in the damp of May’s earth.

As a child, her after-dinner habit had been bridge - a constant torture since Bella would never pay attention long enough for them to have a really good game. As an adult, it was coffee and chocolate liqueurs on the sofa with Ted.

As a widow, it appeared to be screaming.

The morning dawned as grey as all its cousins; May was a month of rain and of rage. Death clattered around the kitchen, leaving eggshells on the floor and teabags staining the worksurface with their tannic drool. The disorder made her skin itch.

She looked at herself in the mirror, her face prickled and pink from a shower which had scalded her. The heat was a comrade; the water was boiled up to a flesh-burning point, her blood was hot enough to eat her marrow, turning her from the inside out into mulch. Somehow it all evened out.

Ted and Nymphadora were competing over who could decompose the quickest, laying in the graveyard and giving thanks for all the damp. It would putrify them all the quicker. Still, how shocked they would be when victory was snatched from them before their sightless eyes. If there was a prize for shattering first, the person they’d left behind would win.

Her day was one of half-drunk coffees and constant movement. She could not sit, there was no way of relaxing with a magazine on the sofa when death was leaving so many crumbs. There was no way of staying in the house when there were so many fragments lurking on shelves and in wardrobes. Ted’s jumpers curled up like newborn kittens in a drawer; his mismatched socks were lined up like limp orphans in the laundry basket.

A hairbrush, entangled with bright pink strands, lay on the stairs. She had told Nymphadora to take it up with her the last time she went to bed. Her daughter hadn’t listened.

She was so angry at her.

#asenora fics #andromeda tonks #fragments #ladies of hp fest #monthly minis

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milktea-kitty · 2 years

Text

Little Lamb (Sero Hanta x Lamb! Reader)

Warning: Pure Fluffy fluff, School boy pining heheh

————————————————————————

Sero was not one to be careless with his clothes. But somehow, his friends noticed how the hole in his left sleeve kept coming back.

“Dude you gotta get that fixed, it’s like the third time that’s ripped. You could get hurt during training Yknow.” Kaminari exclaimed.

Sero gave a nervous chuckle,” Don’t worry man, I’ll just go back to the support classroom before we head back to the dorms today. “

Bakugo scoffed grabbing the boys’ attention as they didn’t even know he was listening in to the conversation.

“How exactly did you manage to rip that shit again, soy sauce?”, he replied.

“Um- ..well-“, before Sero could answer, the bell rang signaling the end of the day.

Sero shot up and sped out their door with a ,”See you guys back at the dorms!”

The 3 boys were left confused as to why he was in such a rush. Mina and Jirou walked over giggling at what they witnessed.

“It’s so cute isn’t it?” Mina says.

Kirishima and Kaminari looked at each other with confusion before Kaminari replied,”What is???”

Jirou perks up,”Of course Bakugo is the only one to figure it out, you’ll guys’ll just have to learn the hard way.”

“Follow him dummies and you’ll see.” Mina laughs with Jirou following next to her.

Now extra curious, Kirishima and Kaminari tiptoe just outside the support course door, hearing voices inside. Trying their best to be stealthy, they peak in to see Sero and you.

The sweet girl with a lamb mutation quirk as well as hatsumes partner. They knew that while Hatsume deals with the more technical side of support, you were busy drawing costume designs and sewing. They remember seeing a glimpse of you and your fluffy little ears after the sports festival (which you shyly declined joining out of fear).

“Again senpai? I sewed it really tight last time. I’m sorry…”, you sighed disappointed with your work.

Sero’s eyes widened and became a little fearful, “ AH, no no (y/n)!! It’s me, I need to be more careful when I’m using my quirk, haha.”

You giggled a little at his silliness, “Well, if you want I can finish this really quick. Did you want to sit down while I patch it up?”

“Y- yes, I can sit (y/n).”

Sero took a sit next to you and watched as your hands methodically move the needle in a fluid motion.

Half way through, you get so focused you forget Sero was next to you as you start humming a gentle tune.

Sero doesn’t take his eyes off you, so entranced with your beauty.

He met you when he first got his costume, having been designed by you and Hatsume. He didn’t think a girl such as you could exist.

Two fluffy white ears and a matching tail. Always wearing that little bow and bell choker around your neck that made you stand out as a lamb even more. Your soft and timid nature, your delicate frame, just all of you. He didn’t think you’d ever wanna hang out with a guy like him; so far out of your league, but you never shied away from him, which only made him want you more.

You gasped causing Sero to break out of his daydream.

“I’m sorry senpai! My humming must’ve been annoying you, I got a little too focused on what I was doing I forgot you were right there!” you cried out.

“It’s alright (y/n), really! It was actually-..pretty cute seeing you all focused like that, hehe..” he replied nervously.

Your cheeks went bright red not knowing what to say to respond to his compliment.

“I..thank you senpai. I think- you’re pretty cute too..” you say a little quietly.

“I MEAN.. Like in a manly way… cause you’re a hero, I bet heroes don’t get called cute but like handsome!! You’re handsome..I MEAN-“

“DO YOU WANNA GO OUT WITH ME?!”

“YES”

You both sit in silence for a couple seconds having processed the mess of a conversation.

“….I um finished the hole too…”

“Oh, right , thank you (y/n)”

You both sat still looking at the floor not knowing what to do next.

“(Y/n).”

“Yes senpai?”

“Call me Hanta now, please”

“…..okay, senpai”

He looked at you before laughing at how cute you were.

“Hey, I’ll text you, okay? We’ll get it all set up.”

“O-okay sen-..Hanta.”

He blushes hearing his name come out of your mouth for the first time while walking out the door.

And subsequently tripping over Kirishima and Kaminari on the floor.

“WHAT THE FUCK.” Sero exclaimed

Kaminari looks up rubbing his head before saying “(Y/N) GO ON A DATE WITH ME INSTEAD, I KNOW HOW TO TREAT A LADY RIG-“ before getting smacked hard in the head by Kirishima.

“DUDE, you’re RUINING the VIBE” Kiri exclaims.

You start to giggle and then laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, as Seros ears turn bright pink from his friends idiocy as well as listening to the cutest laugh from the cutest little lamb he’s ever met.

#sero x y/n #sero x reader fluff #mha sero #bnha sero #sero hanta #sero x reader #mha fluff #bnha fluff #mha x reader #bnha x reader #sero x lamb! reader

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daenystheedreamer · 11 months

Note

pls more abt viserys Omaegorverse I'm so fascinated it's insane and i honestly think grrm would b proud

im so happy u love it and this means so much but i do NOT think he would be proud 😭 he would read my posts (gun to his head ofc he wouldnt just. do that.) and sit in silence for a few minutes and then he would say. Maegor isnt gay what are you talking about. and i go well thats not really the point and anyway sexuality is kinda fluid and its more about opportunity and power than about sexual attraction although i will concede- and then he sends elio and linda with spears to hunt me down.

he's canonically a nothing character with personality of 'Beloved Of The Commons' n nothing else so i can kinda do whatever tf i want with him which is fun. he's also mostly there to be a sad wet cat that gets kicked by everyone and everyone he loves dies or is weird about him in some way. he's my special little sad uke twink i brutalise for my personal entertainment <3 im so maegorcoded so tyannacoded... anyway more about my babyboy viserys below<3 warning its SOOO long like fifteen fucking paragraphs Jesus christ

trigger warnings for like everything. incest death depression mental instability murder psychosis uhhh. torture and suicide. just all of it do NOT read unless youre like super certain you wanna read about my deviantart OCs because guys it is NOT worth it

childhood pre-Torture Labyrinth. he's born in 29 AC and was 8-ish when he was at the deathbed of Aegon1. aegon the uncrowned is three years older than him, and rhaena is six years older. jaehaerys is 5 years younger, alysanne is 7 years younger vaella who i kept alive is 10 years younger. just to give an idea of ages and general canon info :>

his only personality trait is Promising and Beloved of the commons. i think him and aegon were friends :) younger brother so he followed after him a lot. slightly scared of rhaena the big cool older sister who has a pet dragon. think his granddad is soooo cool doesnt really think about The Implications of conquest or anything. normal boy normal childhood (as normal as possible when ur siblings are married...) also he is gay because it adds to the horrors later on 🥰

something i think is Inchresting is the rhaena, aegon and viserys are named for rhaenys, aegon and visenya :3 i think viserys is like hercules right where he was named in an attempt to appease The Wife. aenys was like hiiiii auntie/stepmum visenya look i named a kid after you you dont wanna kill me right?right? and she looks at this kid who didnt claim a dragon isnt a girl isnt maegor and goes oh so youre insulting me huh.

i think rhaena aegon viserys had a slightly weird dynamic. rhaena the lesbian getting forcibly betrothed to her younger brother by her father is gonna make things weird, also aegon was 15 and rhaena 18 which adds just the best most awesome sauce to the mix. i think viserys had very complicated feelings on that especially if he is gay cos like... rhaena obviously does not love her brother romantically right. so u are a boy and ur sister is a lesbian but you dont have that word. and you are gay and your brother is cool and the crown prince and everyone is screwing their siblings and that makes your brain chemistry weird. and now your brother is marrying your gay sister. What about you. the dragon has three heads??? idk he's like 12 at this point he just goes back to playing hide and seek with jae+aly.

Uh oh daddy's dead. daddy's dead and uncle maegor is king now with his three wives. Uh oh. oh awesome he's kidnapped you and you're his squire now that's so cool. well its mostly a power play and hes not actually making u do anything as long as you stay locked in the red keep all day he leaves you alone. also maegor's insane girlfriend stares at you like you're a baby lamb that would make a delicious lamb tostada. but hey your big brother aegon has a dragon now and him and rhaena are gonna save you soon. Uh oh aegon's dead. aegon's dead and maegor is king for real for real.

everyone steers clear of you in the keep. you used to play with your siblings and the commoners and you used to play on dragonstone and kings landing and now no one wants to touch you. no one is calling you maegor's squire now, the pretence is gone. you are maegor's hostage. you fantasise about a different outcome, where maegor took you to the battle as his squire, and that you being there might have changed what happened. maybe you could have warned aegon. but you know nothing would have changed. youre not a dragonrider. you're worthless you're powerless. youre 14 years old :)

alys harroway is dead. maegor killed his wife. you knew alys, you saw her around the keep. she seemed very nice. she was very quiet and stayed in her rooms. she was always pregnant. you wonder why she married maegor, why she and tyanna are so strange with each other. you hear rumours. you wish you had talked to her. but she's dead now. maegor killed her. maegor tortured her. she's a whore now. you look out the window and see her rotting leg on a stake outside, her torso on another. you wish you had talked to her.

visenya targaryen the looming shadow over your life, the woman you're named after who looked at you with nothing but scorn, is dead. your mother is gone and she took jae and aly. what about you? what about you? is she not your mother too? are you not her little boy anymore? you are 15 years old. maegor killed alys' family when he was angry with her. is he going to kill you now?

ok second person pov over the gimmick is getting lame. anyway this is where the AU deviates: instead of viserys dying of torture, maegor is like hey maybe my nephew will be more fertile than my BITCH wives. and visenya the blood witch before her death compiled a bunch of old valyrian a/b/o fanfiction and said son if you ever find yourself with infertile wives. Consult These Texts. then tyanna and maegor made viserys mpreggable i dont care about how or like. what his body looks like. im not into the fetish of omegaverse LMAO i dont want to think about the fertilisation or birthing process or what organs he has thats unnecessary. only thing thats important is viserys can incubate babies and they are birthed via c-section :3

quick lore dump: vis is forced to maegor -> rhaena crashes the wedding but vis is so broken at this point he just doesnt want anyone else to die and has resigned himself to maegor so rhaena reluctantly surrenders -> alyssa jae and aly DO go to the red keep after they find out about the wedding and jae dies fighting maegor which makes viserys fully break -> alyssa now has husband dead 2 kids dead her son is queen and she also loses her fight :( lives on dragonstone with alive vaella -> alysanne is given to the faith -> rhaena agrees to a truce and she is hand of the king now and viserys' main protector -> vis gets pregnant and the kid is basically a reincarnation of jaehaerys -> tyanna loses her shit and tries to murder/sterilise/whatever viserys so maegor kills her cos he's finally got his babymaker -> vis has a daughter who's the reincarnation of tyanna -> faith uprising, shut down -> vis has his second daughter final child daenys who's birth is heralded by the martyrdom of poxy jeyne poor in the quashed faith uprising

vis is in the torture labyrinth for a couple decades. life sucks husband sucks everyone is weird about him. very death in venice people are weird about the boy type deal. has to wade through gender and sexuality politics of westeros which means several men going utterly insane about him including a couple kingsguard knights (celibate hypermasculine freaks bound to be insane sexually). one point early-ish on he DOES start believing this one kingsguard knight will save him from The Hells The Horrors but maegor finds out and kills that guy adn sexually humiliates viserys in front of the kingsguard and makes their son watch. So that fucks up vis' psyche for a while :3

rhaena and alysanne try to convince him to rebel and run away that they will use their dragons and fight. but maegor has made vis so paranoid and crazy he thinks maegor knows everything knows all his thoughts so he's terrified of plotting escape cos he thinks maegor will kill everyone. plus maegor made sure to force kids onto him early so that vis wouldnt be able to leave :3 world's most evil babytrap of all time.

vis doesnt interact with anyone except rhaena aly maegor his kids and the kingsguard so yeah its bad for him. ceryse hangs around for a while but shes like yeah i dont want any part of this shit dude being queen is NAWT worth it and she goes back to the hightower to plot marrying her niece off to maegor's son.

also there's a curse on the kingsguard all of them die really horribly and early. its a fun little thing for me personally because in f&b maegor's kinsguard is cartoonishly bad and jae's is cartoonishly perfect so i though Hey what if we did a little curse on the kingsguard ey. that would be fun. the only guy who stays long is a bracken because brackenfail cancels out knightfail. he's all godly and pissy about the gay marriage thing but he's also a monarchist so even though he think maegor is satan he's like well. he is my king i must serve him i obey my vows. he thinks viserys is a freak of nature but slowly grows to respect him and helps kill maegor + takes the fall for it. they have a weird father figure/white knight/weird tension thing that never gets consummated yay ^_^ the maegor torture labyrinth will have you 21 years old and best friends with a 50 year old celibate knight like dang where tf ser bracken at today 🥹

viserys snaps in 66AC with no like big catalyst or anything. he just has a good day where he's mostly lucid and he's angry and he's tired of everything and he's sick of maegor and he wants freedom he wants to be free. he wants to breath the air without panicking that maegor is going to hurt him. and maegor says some disgusting comment to him while theyre alone in the throne room and vis just snaps and start fighting him. daenys shows up cos she had her own Visions and Voices and they just start whaling on him. bracken knight helps too he takes most of maegor's counter attacks his organs are all over the floor but maegor dies impaled on the throne YAY

vis is like. A bit better for a while. his son is now king and vis is seeing that oh it doesnt get better does it people will still die. also his son jae has this weird oedipus complex about him thanks to maegor's insane parenting and viserys is fully aware of that so its not fun times for him. jae and daenys try to make him better try to invent therapy but its the middle ages they dont have that yet. they finally send him off to harrenhal (BAD IDEA) because they think viserra (the elder daughter btw, the tyanna one) might be able to cure him with her weird witchcraft. they think she's insane too but its the last option... viserra thinks vis is lame and weak but she does love him in ehr own way or maybe just pities him. anyway she does her best and it works for a while but viserys sorta gives up cos the depression is too much. and viserra believes in euthanasia as a mercy and thinks this is best for him this will let him be at peace. daenys has a premonition about it and tries to stop him. she has a big blowout fight with jae about it too and curses his bloodline and prophesises the long night. burned the red keep a little bit, you know how it is.

blah blah blah anyway daenys and vis end up dying in the gods eye together in a murder/suicide suicide/suicide murder/murder whatever. viserra has the lake dragged and they're found holding each other like a mother and her fetus :3

Fucks sake this post is long. holy shit holy fuck. my fucking bad guys my bad im so sorry. Holy shit. anyway thats my deviant art oc tee hee ^_^

#ive never read a little life but i suspect i have somewhat cribbed it. my bad guys brutalising a fictional gayboy is just so fun #au:omaegorverse #you guys have GOT to blacklist that tag if u dont wanna lose any respect you have for me. it is So embarrassing im sorry to be lke this 😭#ask #anonymous #oc:viserystargaryen

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hannahssimblr · 6 months

Text

Chapter Thirteen

Jude slides into the seat across from me at the table of this brightly lit Turkish kebab place on Liffey Street. He’s only bought a bottle of Pepsi, while I’ve piled the table high with taco chips, lamb kebab, chicken goujons and a giant strawberry milkshake. I eye him as he twists open the cap of his drink.

“Wow, greedy.” I say.

He laughs. “Yeah you’re going to have to have me airlifted out of here. Can I’ve a chip?” He reaches out but I smack his hand away. “You’re doing that thing that boys always complain about, when girls don’t order enough food so they steal theirs.”

“Come on.” He says. “Just one, for God’s sake.” I relent and let him, but only one. I eye him suspiciously as he plucks it out of the box.

“Did you want to count it?” He teases. “To make sure I’ve not hidden another one in my hand?”

“Okay just shush for a minute.” I urge him. “I just really want to eat.” He signs and leans back in the seat, taking slow, leisurely sips of his pepsi while I tear at my food like some kind of feral beast. Nothing has ever tasted as delicious as this particular kebab, in this particular restaurant, even though the floors are sticky and there’s a drunk man snoring in the booth across from us thus creating an interesting ambience.

“Skipped dinner?” He queries after a few minutes of silence where he allows me to satiate myself.

“Mmm.” I say. “Didn’t have time to eat.” I grab a napkin and swipe it across my mouth, afraid that it’s as coated in sauce as my hands are. I try to get some small talk going to distract from what is probably an abominable sight for him. “So you ate at some Mexican restaurant earlier?”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Risky move, I’d say, bringing an American to a Mexican restaurant.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because everyone knows we can’t ever compete with the way they do it over there. Everyone’s always like ‘Oh you don’t know Mexican food until you go to the states’. Or whatever.”

“Or Mexico.” He supplies, and I grin.

“In case your memory has been lost to the sands of time, I did actually live my entire teenage life in Dublin. I was here for the inception of the burrito craze, but still, you’re right. It’s not the same.” He drums his fingers on the side of the plastic bottle. He’s still got some of that zippy, restless energy that he used to have, but not as intensely as before. I no longer get the sense that he might rocket out of his seat at any moment. “It was nice to see Shane and Claire again, they both look good.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! Shane looks so much fitter than he ever did, he’s in great shape.”

“He’s been training a lot. He has to drive back home twice a week to train with the team, and even outside of that he’s in the gym the whole time.”

“Good for him.”

“Bit miserable though, you don’t think?”

He smirks. “Clearly you think so.”

“Well.” I begin, swallowing a huge mouthful of kebab. “He doesn’t really ever do anything fun. He gets barely any free time, and even at that his coach has all these strict rules about how much he’s allowed to drink and whatnot.”

“Alright Evie.” He says in a mock-condescending voice, but it makes me feel a little ashamed all the same. I never realised how easily unkind words spilled out of my mouth before, and it’s not even like I have a particular problem with Shane. But Jude is being nice, he goes on speaking before I start flailing around looking for an excuse for myself.

“I remember having to do that back when I was on my school rugby team.” He reminisces. “Funnily enough, another rule was abstinence.”

I glance up from my food. “Really?”

“They said that sex’d diminish our energy and testosterone and we’d end up playing a weak game, but…” He shrugs. “I don’t think it ever made a real difference. It was probably another one of those weird Catholic rules that your country is obsessed with.” I bristle a little bit against the way he says ‘your country’ like he’s divorced from it, like he hasn’t got our weird Catholic blood in his veins.

“So come on, Evie.” He says, leaning his elbows onto the table. “What’s been going on with you? I can’t believe it’s been so long since we spoke.”

“I know.” I say. “I guess we lost touch at one point there.” I slide my eyes up to meet his, not feeling as jovial as I had a minute ago, and his smile falters to become a little rueful. “Yeah, I regret that. Life got so busy for me so quickly after I moved, I guess it was kind of a whirlwind situation.” He touches his hair self consciously. “But I thought of you often, I always imagined that we might see each other again.”

“Ah well, here we are.” I say. “A year and a half later.” I watch his hand reach out to touch my arm but I swiftly move it out of the way to grab my milkshake so that his palm hits the table instead. He curls it slowly into a fist and pulls it back onto his lap. “You look really different.” He says. “You know, I always think of you with that really long hair.”

“Yeah I cut it all off.”

“ And are you still running? And swimming? Do you still do all of that?”

“No, actually, I don’t.” I say. “I suppose I fell out of the habit of it when I moved here, I don’t really do many of the things I used to do.” I’m different now, I’ve changed so much since we last spoke. I look different, I do different things, and I feel differently about him now than I did when I was seventeen. I have to keep repeating this in my head as he gives me the kind of familiar smile that threatens to wipe out the last nineteen months.

I stare at him unsmiling. “How’s things in Berlin? Better than they were here after all?”

“Really good. Hey.” A frown comes between his eyebrows and the corners of his pretty mouth turn downwards with concern. “Are you angry with me over losing touch?”

“Why’d you ask?”

“You’ve just gone so chilly all of a sudden, I don’t know.”

I pause for a moment. “It’d be a bit intense if I was still angry over something like that, wouldn’t it?”

He doesn’t say anything.

“Well, good to know you got my email. It’s a pity it wasn’t worth responding to.”

He laughs with surprise, as though he was expecting me to act the way I used to act. Docile. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. I could have dealt with it better, but I was in a new city, and there were all of these new people. I left it sitting there too long and then, well, it felt like it’d be weird to respond after so much time.”

“Well, you know if you really wanted to you could have emailed me in a new thread.”

He arches his eyebrow “And equally, you could have sent the first message.”

I snap my mouth shut and pick through my food again, knowing that he’s right, but also knowing that I wouldn’t have been capable of doing something like that, double emailing him, like some kind of pathetic, desperate fool. The kind of pitiful low that I’d never have stooped to, not in front of him.

“You have a new piercing in your ear.” I say quietly after a few moments of silence, grasping at anything that will stop this conversation heading down a too-vulnerable path. He reaches up to fiddle with the third tiny hoop in his ear, this one on the left side, looped around his anti-helix.

“Yeah I figured that I already have a girl’s name and my dad thinks the other two piercings mean I’m gay so I might as well double down.” He grins. “I got it done when I went to Slovenia, actually. It was painful.”

“Little baby.” I tease. “I don’t remember mine being that bad, I got it done when I was like sixteen.”

His eyes go wide as he suddenly recalls. “I remember your piercings, you used to have four on one ear. Let me see.”

I turn my head to show him that they’re all gone now, nothing dangling from them but a simple set of gold hoops in my lobes. “I took them all out.” I admit. “They just didn’t feel like me anymore.”

“Damn, I always thought they were cool.” I almost remind him that nothing about me back then was cool, but then stop myself because I know now that language like that is a trap and he’ll only feel obligated to deny it.

“Any other surprises up your sleeve?” I ask him, and he quickly steals another chip. I don’t stop him, finally starting to feel human again.

“Funny you should ask.” He says as he chews on it. “I got this in Thailand.” He rolls up the left sleeve of his sweatshirt to show me the tattoo on the smooth inner skin of his forearm. It’s a mango on a stem with two leaves, done in simple black ink with this appealing, sketchy style. It looks a bit like something he might have drawn.

“Oh, nice.” I say. “Did you design it?”

“No, the woman in the tattoo parlour did. We were just passing by and I knew I had to get something done by her, like, I knew it was a kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“Does it mean something special?”

He grins. “Nope, it’s just a nice drawing.”

“Fair enough.” I wonder what it’s like to be so nonchalant about something that’s going to be on your body for the rest of your life. It’s exactly the kind of free spirited thing that I wish I was capable of doing, but sometimes I have anxiety dreams that I’ve gotten a tattoo that I regret in a really prominent place like my face and for some reason nobody will laser it off for me. I take them as a sign that I’m not ready for anything so permanent. He picks at my chips again and I slide them towards him so he can tuck in with fervent enthusiasm, and while he eats I ask him about Thailand.

“I went May last year.” He says. “I always wanted to visit. So my friend Jonas and I decided to take off for a month while we had the chance and it was incredible. Seriously. I think everyone should go and experience it if they can.”

“Really? What was it like?”

“I can’t even do it justice by trying to describe it to you. C’mere.” He pats the seat next to him and pulls out his phone. “I’ll show you some pictures.”

I slide out of my seat and move in next to him, being very careful to leave enough room for Jesus between us in case our legs touch and sand of those dangerous feelings I used to have come flying back.

“No Blockia.” I comment.

“Hm?”

“Your old phone. It’s gone.”

“Yes.” He grins. “I couldn’t fight the future anymore, it just wasn’t practical, I needed Google Maps to get around.”

“They have torches built in now, did you know.”

He exhales a laugh and shakes his head. “Alright, well, let’s look at my holiday to Thailand, when you’re ready.” And he starts scrolling through photographs of the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, his phone screen becoming like a travel brochure with almost unrealistically spectacular vistas. Thailand looks like paradise, crystal blue waters and white sand, these huge rocks covered in lush vegetation jutting out of the sea and the sky awash with gold as the sun sets over a bay. “That was Railay Beach.” He narrates. “Jonas got food poisoning from a street vendor and was holed up in the hotel for two days so I just wandered around on my own.” Next he shows me photos of beach bars with thatch roofs, of intertwining roots of mangrove trees and of people selling shell necklaces under colourful tents. He’s taken a snap of a hand painted sign that says, in English: Beach This Way.

“You know, in a funny way, it kind of reminds me of the beach we stayed on.” I tell him. “Just something about the way those signs are painted, it’s like how it was at the Surf Shack.”

“Actually, I thought the same thing.” He says, and flicks to the next picture, which is him and a big, blonde German looking guy, presumably Jonas, standing in a little wooden boat holding a pair of oars. “Oh, this is when Jonas was better.”

“I like your hair band.” I say, snickering.

“Ha. Yeah, well, my hair was longer, I needed to keep it out of my eyes somehow.”

“Did you keep it?”

“The hairband? Why? Do you want it?”

“Oh yeah for sure, gimme. It’s so stylish.”

He laughs and flips through more, and tells me about them all, Phuket, Ko Samui, Phi Phi islands, and even Bangkok for a few days before they flew home again. In all of the photos he’s got that golden tan that I remember he used to have, summer coloured skin lost now to the winter, and he looks so free and easy and so happy, riding on a motorbike, lying in a canoe, shirtless on the beach and stretched out doing a goofy pose on a sun lounger, I find myself mesmerised by this depiction of his life, like he’s only ever having good days, only ever in gorgeous places, smiling, happy, and I let myself get sucked into the fantasy that a life like this is possible for me too until he scrolls too far and I have to look at a picture of him kissing his girlfriend. My stomach drops instantly.

“Oops. “ He says. “Went too far.”

I laugh awkwardly. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s okay.”

“That’s my girlfriend, Astrid.”

“She looks pretty.”

He nods in agreement. “She’s, yeah… she’s absolutely beautiful.” He quickly flips to another photo of her where she’s not locking lips with him and makes me look at her smiling face so that I can pretend I didn’t spend months cyber stalking her. I don’t really know what to say. “Yeah, wow, she’s something else.”

He stares down at the phone with this adoring expression on his face as though he’s the luckiest man alive and this feeling comes over me that I haven’t felt in a very long time. It’s the same way I felt when he rejected my misguided teenage attempts at seduction, and the same way I felt when I saw his face when he spoke to Michelle. It’s the feeling that I’m not what he wants. I’ll never be what he wants. The memory of it is too much and all over again I feel the stinging pain of knowing that I offered my love to someone who saw no worth in it.

I start gathering my empty milkshake cup and the greasy papers onto a tray to dump them into a nearby bin. “We should get going now.” I tell him. “I’m sure everyone else is waiting for us at the bar, and they’ll be closing soon.”

“Right.” He says, pushing himself upright and swiping salt from his black jeans. “Thank you for the chips, by the way. I wasn’t even that hungry but those things are like crack to me.”

“No problem. And I appreciate you coming with me to get food.”

Prev // Next

#sims #sims 4 #ts4 #simlit #sims 4 story #sims story #writing #fiction #romance #sims4 storytelling #sims 4 storytelling #sims storytelling #lucky girl part 2

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thatanimewriter · 2 years

Photo

...MMM, DELICIOUS.

➳ request: Hellooo! I’ve come to request once again! May I request a scenario in which the reader serves Souma, Akira, Ryo, Takumi and Satoshi (seperatly) ordered food but says they cooked it themself as a prank?Would they know? Would they be honest or would they lie bc they don’t wanna hurt the reader? ~💠

➳ character/s: yukihira soma, hayama akira, kurokiba ryou, aldini takumi, isshiki satoshi

➳ warnings: swearing, hinted australian!reader (soma), lack of knowledge of takeout food chains in japan

➳ notes: omgggg 💠 anon, hellooo ;v; this request is great, i love you. giving me the best fuel for food wars content. you’re welcome back any timeee and sorry for the wait, i’ve been LAZY.

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 / 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 / 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 / 𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

── 𝐘𝐔𝐊𝐈𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐀.

i’d like to think he’d be nice about it

and i’m sure he’d try

but uhhh

he’s not the best ay lying.

so he might as well not have

“hey babe! i’m back,” soma calls out, dumping his paper bag of miscellaneous goods on the table in your dorm.

“hello,” you responded, using a spoon to decorate the plate with the sauce you’d ordered as a side to compliment the steak and vegetables.

“whatcha makin’?” he asked, leaning on the kitchen island as he watched you plate up. you smiled at his curiosity, pushing forward the plate and holding out cutlery.

“why don’t you try and see?”

taking the cutlery from you, he took a bite out of the food you’d laid out for him, he raised the steak to his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. a small frown decorated his features as he looked back and forth between you, who was beaming at him - little did he know it was out of amusement rather than pride - and the steak that took up at least half of the plate.

“yeah, it’s... good,” he said finally, but not particularly excited to take another bite.

“no it’s not, you fucking dumbass.”

“what?”

“i didn’t cook it, soma, it’s from fucking outback steakhouse,” you explained, your smile twisting into a smirk. “and for the record, australia does do it better and i do not accept whatever the hell this is as an aussie steak.”

“...make one for me please-”

you ruffled his hair lightly as you took a bite of the steak yourself. “like, now?”

“yes. now.”

sighing, you pushed the steak to the side and fixed your outfit before turning to the fridge, silently thanking fumio for restocking as you laid your eyes upon a nice cut of steak. “alright then. wanna compete?”

“yeah, i don’t think so,” soma responded immediately. “i don’t think i can compete.”

“right answer.”

── 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐌𝐀 𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐑𝐀.

mean.

he probably considered ignoring it

but you got takeout indian

that was your first mistake

and he can’t allow this by any means

hayama stuck his head through the door at the familiar aroma of curry. he smiled gently as he saw you standing over the stove, lamb rogan josh simmering in a pan.

“mind if i have a taste?” he asked, wrapping his arms around your waist and peering into the pan.

internally, you were giggling with your feet kicking in the air because he’s fallen for the trap! but instead you hummed in consideration, avoiding eye contact with him to feign shyness.

“i don’t know...”

“i won’t judge if that’s what you’re worried about,” hayama said, but you arched an eyebrow at him, an amused smile beginning to play on your lips. “ok, maybe i will, but i’m more than qualified to help you,” he added.

“ok then, if you’re sure.”

as he took a clean spoon and fork from the drawer, he tried the sauce first, an intense silence overtaking the room as he tried to register the flavours. he opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it as he reached for a sizeable chunk of lamb.

“how does it smell so nice but taste so off? what the hell did you do?” he demanded, inspecting the curry further as he used the wooden spoon nearby to push the curry around the pan. “you’ve used the right spices but cooked it wrong.”

snickering to yourself, you pat him on the shoulder as you pulled the ubereats receipt from your pocket. “that’s because it’s from the place down the road.”

“they’re white, aren’t they?”

“i don’t know what ethnicity they are, i got it delivered.”

── 𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐁𝐀 𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐔.

mean pt 2.

you, too, made the mistake of getting takeout

but not just takeout, no no

IKEA CINNAMON ROLLS

he. was. D I S G R A C E D.

“oi.”

turning around, you smiled as you say your boyfriend standing by the doorway. walking around the kitchen island, you pulled the bar stool back and pat the seat, beckoning him to sit with you.

“you’re back earlier than expected,” you commented, taking your rightful place on his lap when he sat down. ryou made no move to shove you off, but he didn’t try to get any closer to you either.

“what’s in the oven?”

“decided to try make some scandinavian cinnamon rolls,” you answered, readjusting your position on his lap.

“why scandinavian?” ryou asked, interest slightly piqued since, y’know. it’s his culture, which turned out to be the reason you ‘made’ them.

“because it’s you!”

“i’m not a cinnamon roll.”

“respectfully disagreed,” you said, booping his nose and hopping off of his lap as the timer went off. using some oven mitts, you took the tray out and left it on top of the stove to cool, but not before taking a shaker filled with pearl sugar to decorate.

“they don’t look right.”

“huh?”

“they look weird,” ryou repeated, scowling at the cinnamon rolls on the baking tray.

“i’m sorry, babe. i can’t control how bread rises.”

cautiously, ryou poked the treats before just taking a bite from one, ignoring the burning feeling on his tongue. “these are fucking disgusting. not sorry. i’ll make some to show you how it’s supposed to be done. watch me destroy your cinnamon rolls.”

“wowwww. dissing ikea so casually.”

“well, that’s why they fucking suck.”

── 𝐀𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐌𝐈.

he’d lie

he can’t hurt your feelings like that

it wasn’t inherently bad

he could just... do better

and he would if you just asked him

listen. he physically can’t handle italian food cooked by anyone who isn’t italian themselves, or at least has trained in italian cuisine (preferably in italy). but he’s also the fattest doormat ever. he lets people step all over him if it prevents conflict or him hurting feelings. tonight is a prime example.

you just threw in some spaghetti bolognese from, like, fasta pasta into a pan to heat it up again because by the time it got to you, it was lukewarm. not great. and takumi, like most of the other boys in this post, can recognise the smell of his cuisine anywhere.

when he came in, he paused for a moment because that’s not how he makes it and he’s confused by your methods.

“darling, what are you doing?” he asked, standing beside you as you stirred the food you’d ordered, but expertly set up as if you’d made it.

“making spaghetti bolognese, wanna try a bit?”

“sure.” taking the fork from you, he tasted whatever the fuck you had done, raising his eyebrows as if he was surprised by the taste, but he really did have to fight the urge to become the kombucha girl from tiktok.

“how is it?”

“yeah, it’s good,” he said, forcing another bite. he felt bad at the disappointed look on your face.

“it’s probably not as good as yours though...” you mumbled. takumi pouted slightly, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead and caressing your cheek gently.

“i can teach you if you want.” he was taken aback at your sudden jump in mood, blinking obliviously at your smiling face.

“yeah! we’ll see how you go against fasta pasta!”

“wait, what?”

── 𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐊𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈.

also lies

except he knows it’s takeout

he just wants to play along

also, he recognises where the food is from

it’s his guilty pleasure food chain-

he heard the crunch of fried chicken and he came RUNNING. pretty much bursting through the doors, he pointed at you, who was just sitting with a plate of fried chicken and chips. nothing incredibly special. but as isshiki demanded to eat some, you had the idea to pretend you’d made it yourself.

“ok, but i cooked it a little while ago,” you said, holding out some for him to take. “might not be as hot.”

“that’s entirely ok, babe, i will have anything you cook.”

you would be mistaken if you thought isshiki wasn’t going to full send the piece of fried chicken. on the first bite, he knew it came from kyochon chicken, because he’s addicted to their korean fried chicken. BUT, he was gonna play along with the concept that you cooked it yourself.

“i’m in heaven,” he stated, mouth still full of food.

“yeah, ok, talk when you’ve finished eating, please,” you said, handing him a napkin.

“make more,” he requested once he’d finished his mouthful. “i need more.”

chuckling to yourself, you shook your head. “as much as we both enjoy kyochon chicken, we don’t need to soak up my money when you know you can make it easily as good.”

“AWWWWW-”

“so, i’m gonna take the rest of this chicken while you make your own,” you added, taking another piece and relishing in isshiki’s betrayed look.

“what?! but i want some tooooooo.”

“babe, i told you, make it yourself, unless you want to pay for some yourself,” you teased, shielding your chicken from the hungry man.

“a worthy investment.”

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spooniechef · 11 months

Text

Brining (0 spoons)

It’s been a rough few weeks in this particular spoonie kitchen, hence the radio silence - I’ve been sticking to known-quantity recipes, most of which I’ve already posted here. However, there’s another trick I thought it’d be worthwhile sharing. This is more of a technique than a recipe, but given where the world in general is at right now, it’s a good one to have in your metaphorical utensils drawer. With the cost of living being what it is, meat’s getting expensive, and while the cheaper cuts aren’t much cheaper, sometimes they’re the difference between “I can get this” and “not in the budget”. The thing is, cheaper cuts are generally tougher, and there’s not always time to slow-cook things. (Also, particularly in the UK where I live, there’s an issue with energy bill inflation and too much slow-cooking makes the energy bill untenable.)

Thus, brining. It doesn’t work with stewing meat or anything like that, but it works wonders on tougher cuts of meat, and can lend just about any meat some nice flavour.

Brining is kind of like marinading, and can sort of go hand-in-hand with marinading, but the general structure of a brine is different to that of a marinade. As the name suggests, it involves salt water. Letting your meat sit in salt water for at least an hour before cooking tenderises the meat and lets a nice salty flavour infuse your meat right from the get-go. Also, you can add just about anything water-soluble to the brine and get some extra flavour. So here are some bullet-pointed notes.

Cuts that need a brining are things like Denver steak, flank steak, pork shoulder, pork or lamb neck. These do tend to be more affordable cuts, but they’re also tougher, and normally get some work with a tenderising mallet. For spoonies, that’s not exactly a good option, hence brining. Beyond that, you can brine just about any kind of meat you like - for example, I find brining chicken leg quarters makes the meat more tender and lends to a crispier skin after cooking.

An hour is the absolute minimum for a brine, and how long it sits in the brine depends on how thick - and how tough - your cut of meat is. For something like flank or shoulder, I’d recommend a couple of hours minimum, and neck cuts probably need an overnight brining.

Amount of salt per bit of water varies depending on how much salt you actually like, but a quarter-cup of salt to a litre (4.5 cups) or so of water should work fine. The water should be lukewarm - not so cold as to not let the salt dissolve, definitely not so hot that it’ll start boiling the meat.

You don’t necessarily have to keep it in the fridge while it’s brining for only an hour or so, but it’s not a bad idea. You should definitely keep it covered while brining. The meat may change colour on the surface a bit; if it does, don’t panic - it’ll be fine.

I add juices and water-soluble spices to a brine more often than not, but note - a little goes a long way. A couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and a quarter-teaspoon of chilli flakes works very well, especially with beef, but you can work with just about any juice, ground spice, and/or crushed fresh herbs (also garlic cloves). Dried herbs don’t work as well, but can help if you’re brining for a long time. You can technically use a drop or two of tabasco sauce, but that’s about the limit - if you start adding too many sauces like soy sauce etc, it becomes a marinade and the brining doesn’t work as well to make the meat less tough. It wants to be mostly salt water.

So there’s another trick for the utensil drawer. This coming month, I’ve got plans towards more batch cooking in the “some variety of meat pie” direction, and possibly chilli.

#The Spoonie Chef #tips and tricks

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emmylous-world · 1 year

Text

Inferno - pt.1/?

《SUMMARY》

♤ Jason has a crisis ♤

Devil!Jason Todd x GN!Reader

Word Count: 1k

A/N: This is so short I'm sorry, but life yk, This has been on my mind for a while now, just Jason sitting on hell's throne all sexy and stuff. I wanna thank my good friend Serv, for helping me with this *Disclaimer: Due to ADHD, the chapters are going to be short, but the series will be long and not edited or proofread*

Warnings: swearing, violence, blood, mature subjects

•♤♡♤•

Jason sat in the dining hall, alone and in silence, the room was grand and dark, with pillars of black marble all over the room, and the floor was shiny black tile, matching the king's dark soul. Tall, brightly lit candles and upturned animal skulls full of wilted roses were arranged along the long dark wood table. Sat before him was Jason's dinner; Lamb, a joke, a reference to the saying of the devil feeding off of virgins, and since humans were gods' sheep and he was their shepherd, the lambs were the virgins. He picked up a shiny set of utensils and cut through the steak, he sat in silence, simply allowing him to wallow in his thoughts.

The day started with Jason waking to a knock on his door and then one of his servants calling him done to the grand hall to access the recent events, a ward barrier on the far east side of Hell was cracked and was being invaded by creatures of unknown kind. He sent patrol groups out to scout the invaders, which caused Jason to go into a frenzy, barking orders and losing his temper, maybe after dinner, his lover Emma would help him get his frustrations out, with soft touches, her whimpers, and moans. Jason got up after drinking the last of the red wine and wiping the lamb sauce from his lips. He headed towards his chambers, hopefully, to fuck the brains of Emma, but right now, tonight, he had to take, to feel like Hell, his kingdom isn’t falling apart, and he was desperate for it; control.

“I need Emma?” he snaps on his way out. His black robe drags on the floor behind him while he makes his way down the halls. Once at his chambers, he threw off his robe and shirt, letting the chilly air hit his skin, he sighed, he liked the cold, the feel of the chill down the spine and into the bones. But Emma hated the cold, he knelt down and lightly blew on the logs, putting them ablaze. He poured himself a glass of scotch and sat at his desk, flipping through letters and files, nothing appealing or interesting showed themselves to him. He pulled out a pen and a slip of paper, jotted down some notes, and his thoughts about the day; well what the underworld considers a day. He put down his pen and sat back in his chair, rubbing his hands down his face with a huff and a groan. He got up from the desk, threw back the last of the scotch, and walked over to the fireplace. He poured himself another scotch and sat down in one of the armchairs, waiting for Emma. A half hour or so had passed when a soft knock on the door and his

“Come in” he gruffly spoke.

“My Lord, you call?” Emma’s voice sang, she then gracefully walked over, standing before him, in all her glory. In her light blue nightgown, her golden curly hair was pinned up, strands falling down the sides of her face. She shone so brightly making the glooming place of the underworld not seem so gloomy.

“I heard about the wards in the south,” she ran her hands down his biceps “Any news, what has the council have to say?” He looked up at her, you could almost see him crack, the sear pressure of his world falling apart put on his shoulders. Instead of responding, he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her deeply, He felt it down to his bones, his shoulders released and he ran his hand up her back and took out her hairpin, letting the bronze curls fall into her his. He could smell her soap, lavender, and honey, where she got it in this damned place, he didn’t care, her scent drove him mad with desire. He pulled her in closer to him, her breasts flushed against his chest. Gasping her name over and over again.

Jason sat against the headboard, a book in his lap and a cigar between his lips. Emma was sound asleep beside him, all wrapped up in the blankets, soft snores falling from her lips. The room was dim, the only light coming from the lamp on the nightstand, the walls were dark mahogany, the curtains were black and the floor was black marble. On the other side of the room was a set of french doors leading to a balcony, they were opened, letting a breeze in. He wished he could stay there forever, in peace. he took a drag, from his cigar, filling his lungs with smoke, he closed his eyes, relishing the moment.

Jason closed his book, and softly brushed his hands through Emma's hair. He got up and walked over to the balcony. The view from above was magnificent, the rugged fire rock mountains, spitting ash and hellfire surrounding the fields, and the castle itself was black stone, it was old, it had sat in the valley for hundreds of thousands of years. Jason put his hands on the railing, it was rough under his palms, and the wind was cold on his bare chest. Goosebumps rose all over his arms, making Jason shiver, the stone was rugged under his bare feet. Jason ran his hand over his face, he was restless, sleep wouldn’t come no matter how much he tried, because dark things haunted his mind, putting him in a place viler than his kingdom. He wanted to scream, he pushed off the rail and went back inside. He went to the closet and changed into a pair of sweats and a black tank, once changed he filled up a water bottle and headed to the gym.

The gym was big and dim, just how Jason likes it. He went straight to the punching bag, wrapping his hands in boxing tape, and went at it at the bag, letting the pent-up frustration and rage onto the bag. Hours spent at the bag, knuckles bleeding until the nonexistent sun rose.

#jason todd fanfiction #jasontodd #jason todd x reader #jason todd fanfic #jason todd angst #jason peter todd #redhood #dc characters #dc comic #devil!jason #red hood imagine #jason todd x you

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dialovers-translations · 2 years

Text

Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Reiji Ecstasy [03]

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

ー The scene starts in the dining room of the Mukami manor

Yui: ( I don’t mind having dinner with Kou-kun and the others and all, but... )

Kou: Hey, this cut of meat is super delicious, you should try it! I’ll share some with you!

Yui: Waah, thank you!

Azusa: The meat’s definitely good, but so are the vegetables...

Here you go.

Yui: Ah, sure. Thanks...

( But if I simply let them do their thing, I’m going to end up with a mountain of food on my plate... )

( I’m glad they’re trying to look after me, but it’s kind of putting me in a tough spot... )

Reiji: ...Are you going to finish all of that food by yourself?

Yui: Well...

( I’m sure I could if I try my best but if I’m honest...It’s going to be a tough call. )

Reiji: If you cannot, why not simply make it clear by refusing the food?

Azusa: Don’t worry...It’s delicious, so I’m sure you can finish it.

Yui: Y-Yeah. I’ll try my best.

Kou: Exactly. Ah, by the way, that lamb meat pairs really nicely with the blueberry sauce over there!

Yui: Really? In that case...

Kou: I’ll pour some on there for you, okay? Here you go!

Yui: Yeah...Ah, it’s delicious.

Kou: Rightー?

Azusa: Ah, you’ve got some sauce stuck on the corner of your mouth...I’ll get it for you, okay?

Yui: Eh? Don’t worry, I can do that myself...Thanks.

Azusa: I see. ...Too bad.

Yui: ( ...Too bad? How so? )

Kou: Huh? You seem to have slowed down? Are you tired, perhaps?

Yui: ( In a way, yes... )

Azusa: Right! ...Hey, Eve. How about I feed you?

Yui: Eeh!?

Kou: Ah! I’ll feed you as well! Come on, open your mouth. Say ‘aahn’~?

Azusa: Eve...Over here too...

Yui: ( W-What now...? )

Reiji: ...Excuse me. Look over here.

Yui: Eh...?

Reiji: I am offering to take the task of looking after you on me.

Yui: Eeh?

Kou: Heehー I didn’t expect that to come from Reiji-kun’s mouth. What a surprise.

Reiji: Silence. ...You two, please stop standing there as if you have been struck by lightning. (1)

Yui: ( I-I mean...I’m shocked because I never thought Reiji-san would say such a thing. )

Reiji: ...If there is anything you would like to say, go ahead.

Selection

→ Nothing in particular (M)

Yui: No...Nothing in particular.

Reiji: Is that so? Well then...Let us start with a spoonful of this soup. Here you go.

Phewー... I suppose it should be cool enough for you now.

Yui: ( He actually cooled it down for me...I can’t believe this. )

Reiji: Now then, open your mouth, please.

→ I will feed you (S)

Yui: Um, in that case...I will feed you instead.

Reiji: You will...feed me?

Yui: ( I figured it’d be less embarrassing to do the feeding than to get fed but...I guess he’ll turn my offer down. )

Is that a no?

Reiji: ...Not on this occasion.

Yui: Eh?

Reiji: If we find ourselves having a meal by ourselves in the future...I suppose I will consider it.

Yui: O-Okay!

Reiji: ...Therefore, please do as I say and open your mouth. Let us start with the soup. Well then...

Yui: ( Uu...Seems like I’ll just have to suck it up. )

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: Nn...Nnh...

( It’s a bit much to swallow...! )

Reiji: Aah...How improper of you to let it spill from your mouth.

Azusa: Ah...I think it’d be better if I do it after all...

Reiji: No need. ...I will get it.

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( Eh? ...He’s leaning in towards my face...! )

ー She closes her eyes

Reiji: Nn...

ー Yui opens her eyes again

Yui: ...! Reiji-san, what are you...!?

Reiji: All I did was lick off the soup you let so shamelessly drip down your face?

Kou: Uwahー ...Pretty sure he planned all of that.

Azusa: He’s surprisingly bold...

Yui: Reiji-san, um, I can eat by myself so...!

Reiji: Well then, why don’t you try a bite of salad next? Be careful with the dressing...or we might just get a repeat of what happened just now?

Yui: !

( W-What to do? )

Reiji: Your cheeks...they’re bright red. However, this is your punishment...for letting your guard down around other men.

Yui: Wha...!?

Reiji: Well then...Why don’t we get back to eating? What would you like to have next?

Yui: ( Seems like he’s raring to continue... )

( I’m pretty sure I’ll get teased about this by those two for a while...Haah. )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) The expression in Japanese literally means ‘to make a face as if one has just been hit by a peashooter’.

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #reiji sakamaki #lost eden #diabolik lovers translation #lereijiecstasy3

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on-noon · 8 months

Text

Calista came home to her mom sitting tired at the table, a sandwich half-made in front of her.

When she saw Calista enter, she hurriedly put together the sandwich. Calissta made herself one as well, and sat down across from her mother.

"Calista, I have a hard request to ask of you. Someone who I know from the academy called me today. He asked that you go on a date with his son. I'm sorry, I couldn't say no, he didn't leave me any time. And you know how hard it is for me to go against anyone from the academy."

"I'll do it. I can handle one date. What time?"

"Tommorrow. At seven, at the Restraunt Sivario"

Calista nodded, and they ate the rest of their sandwiches in silence.

Sebastian knelt before his father, Llynel.

"Tommorow you will be having a date with the daughter of one of my friends from the academy. You will be at Sivario at a quarter to seven."

"Yes, father." Sebastian said. Right upon leaving his father's study, Sebastian's brothers came up to him.

"So, Chin, I heard you got a date. Finally," Aster said.

"Only because dad set it up for you," Raythier said.

Sebastian smiled his awkward smile.

"But the date will still be up to him. Need some pointers?" Aster said.

"I'll be fine, thank you."

"We at least need to help you get dressed," Jochlan said. Sebastian nodded.

Calista was walking home from her long shift at work. She was thinking of all the homework she had to do. She looked at her watch. 6:40. She had a good few hours to get a chunk knocked out. Oh. The date. She had to get all the way downtown, a thirty minute walk.

She turned around and picked upon the pace. The quicker she got to the stupid date, the quicker it would get over.

Sebastian arrived in a new tailored suit, with a sword at his side at Sivario at precisely 6:45. He walked in.

"Table for two, please. In the best table for date," Sebastian says.

The server leads Sebastian to a table secluded in the corner.

"Could I ask for the name of the person you are waiting for?"

"Calista Porthos."

The server nodded, and turned to leave.

"Could you bring out the best wine you have?" Sebastian asked.

"I will warn you. Our best wine costs ten thousand coin, more expensive than a young person such as you should be spending on a date."

"I have room for it in my budget, worry not."

The server nodded.

Calista arrived at Restraunt Sivario at 7:12, in her sweatshirt and pants, her hair a mess.

"Can I help you?" the server asked.

"I'm supposed to be here for a date. I'm late." Calista said.

"Are you Calista Porthos?"

Calista nodded.

She followed the server back to a corner of the restaurant. She sat down across from Sebastian, in his full suit. She hurriedly brushed back her hair.

"Hello, Calista," Sebastian said. "It is great to meet you."

Calista nodded and got seated. "I don't think I know your name. And sorry I'm late, my shift went longer than scheduled."

"No worries about that, I'm glad you were able to make it. I'm Sebastian Ernos."

Calista looked at the wine glass in front of her, and the wine glass in front of Sebastian.

"I don't really drink," she said.

Sebastian nodded. He waved the waiter over.

"Could you please take away the wine?" Sebastian said.

Both of them sat in silence as the waiter took away the glasses and the bottle, and then they watched him carry the tray away.

"What hobbies do you have?" Sebastian asked.

"Reading, although I haven't read a good book in a while," Calista said. "What about you?"

"I'm not sure. I'm on a quiz bowl team and I fence." He brushed his hand through his hair, showing his Academy tattoo on his forehead.

The same tattoo Calista's mother always tried to hide.

The waiter brought out two menus.

Sebastian looked at it quickly, then set it down.

"Manwa al Lain, is that some sort of sheep meat?" Calista asked.

"I think so. It's a meat that's covered in sauce with herbs sprinkled on top, I've never been certain of the meet, but it has a texture consistent of that of lamb."

The waiter returned "Are you ready to order?"

After Calista nodded, Sebastian did as well.

"I'd like the Scalia Noodles," he said.

"Could I get the Chicken Lamni?" Calista asked.

The server nodded and wrote down the orders.

After the server left, the two started talking about their respective schools, starting with what classes they were each in.

"Linear algebra is my favorite class I've ever taken, although that might just be because we get to do some very cool proofs in it at my school," Calista said. "It's a lot of work though."

"I have to take it next year, and I'm not looking forward to it. I prefer the more concrete subjects to math."

"If you don't like math why are you taking linear? I really enjoyed it, but that's specifically because I enjoy math."

"The Academy requires it to graduate."

"Of course it does," Calista says.

The server brings out their food.

Calista unrolls the silverware napkin to find three forks, two of which are identical, and the third a smaller version. She decided to use the small fork, for fun.

Sebastian ate his meal, trying to match the pace of Calista. She was awkward in eating it, poking at it at first, and so Sebastian ate small bites, and took breaks so that she wouldn't still be eating long after she finished.

Calista ate fast once she had tried everything, she found it all to her liking except whatever leaf they put on the side of the meat.

Sebastian than ate faster, trying to match Calista's speed. But, bound by the constraints of manners he had learned, he found he could not reach her pace.

And so, caught in this dilemma, Sebastian had to make a choice. He took bigger forkfuls of noodles, put them into his mouth even with noodles already there.

"You really love those noodles, huh?" Calista asked.

Sebastian waited while chewing the huge glob of food inside his mouth. Once he finally swallowed, he replied "They're my favorite thing at this restaurant."

By this point, Calista had finished three-quarters of her meal, and Sebastian two-thirds. Sebastian had forgotten just how many noodles the bowl held.

He ended up taking an extra two minutes to finish after Calista had scraped the last of the sauce off her plate.

The server came by and took the plates, "Shall I bring you a desert menu?"

Sebastian looked at Calista.

Calista was staring at Sebastian.

"What would you like?" Sebastian asked.

"Nothing tonight," Calista said.

The server nodded, and left to get the bill.

"Would you like me to walk with you to your car? I know the parking around here is a mess," Sebastian said.

"I walked here"

"If you want, I could drive you home."

"That would be nice, thank you."

The server brought out the check. 10,321 coin. Sebastian took the receipt and signed it. He touched his wrist to the chip reader, the standard tip he gave automatically deducted. He nodded his thanks to the server and they left.

Sebastian and Calista walked outside to the side of the building. While calling his car down, Sebastian also increased the tip percent, as he had found the server very helpful.

His car floated down from its parking spot on the roof. Immediately once it rested on the ground, Sebastian opened the passenger side door for Calista.

Once they were both in the car, and Calista's address was plugged in as the destination, Calista apologized to Sebastian.

"I'm sorry for cutting the date short, I've got a lot of homework to get caught up on."

"It's alright." Sebastian said. "It didn't seem like you were enjoying the time either."

"The restraunt was too fancy. I felt like I didn't fit in there."

"Really? My brothers agreed that it was the best place in the city for a date. But I guess they can be wrong."

"How about this," the words were slipping out of Calista's mouth before she had thought them through. "I'm free this Saturday for lunch. I'll show you my favorite date spot, it's a little sandwich shop."

Sebastian and Calista exchanged phone numbers, and the car beeped that it had reached its destination.

"I'll text you the time and place, thanks for driving me," Calista said while exiting the car.

Once she entered her house, Calista texted her friend, Iris. "i think i've got a second date with a guy on saturday"

Sebastian drove away, thinking about Saturday. He'd have to skip the award banquet, but he'd sat through the three previous years' ceremonies.

#short story #apparently i write romance now?#about the setting: it has whatever i want it to have. there might be magic in the next installment

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hummingbird-of-light · 7 months

Text

No. 30 “It’s okay just to say ‘I’m not okay’.” (“Not much longer...”)

Continuation to Prompt 1

“Shh, not much longer and the pain is gone, doctor.”

He felt a hand running through his hair, heard the deep soothing voice of the man who was slaughtering him, taking him apart bit by bit. It was taunting him.

“You’ll make the perfect dinner for Monty and me. He’ll be just so happy.”

Another blow with the hatchet. Another piece of his body getting chopped off. He wanted to scream, but no sound left his voice.

“What kind of Scotch do you think he prefers? Lagavulin or Talisker?”

Another blow, cutting his left arm off.

“Well… I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as the haggis is perfect.”

Right arm.

“I really hope that you taste just as good as a lamb.”

Left shoulder.

“After all, Monty is an expert and might notice the slight difference.”

Right shoulder.

He gritted his teeth in anger and despair. Scotty… He couldn’t let this bastard take his husband!

“I’ll just tell him that it’s the sauce. The sauce makes all the difference.”

McCoy shuddered when the cold blade touched his neck. He knew that the next blow would be the last.

“Don’t worry, doctor, I’ll tell him your regards.”

He meant to say something, important last words, but he didn’t get the chance to do so.

A quick pain and his head was off.

He screamed out loud, sitting upright in bed. Cold sweat was running down his forehead and he ran his hands through his damp hair.

McCoy gasped for air, trying to breathe slowly. His heart seemed to explode, pulse racing.

He felt arms wrapped around him, but only after a moment realized that a soft Scottish brogue was talking to him.

Scotty. It was Scotty!

He was holding him in his arms, rocking him gently.

“Shh, it’s alright, Len. Everything’s fine, mo ghràdh.”

Slowly, the doctor managed to nod as he sank deeper into his love’s hug.

They were fine. They were both safe and sound. The police had found them in time.

“A nightmare again?”

Another nod.

“Will… ye tell me about it?”

McCoy felt his blood turn cold in his veins. No… he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell his love about it. He couldn’t bother him after everything the man had been through.

So he slowly placed his hand on Scotty’s cheek and stroked it gently.

“I’m okay. I’m fine. Let’s… let’s just go back to sleep.”

Scotty’s worried eyes met his. They stared at each other for a long time.

“Len… It’s… it’s okay just to say ‘I’m not okay’,” the Scotsman whispered after a long moment of silence.

McCoy felt his eyes widen at these words and suddenly hot tears streamed down his face.

“I… I…”

All this time he had held it in. All this time he had wanted to protect Scotty.

But maybe it was time to talk. Maybe Scotty was ready.

So McCoy talked, hoping that it would help them both to overcome what had happened.

#whumptober2023 #no.30 #lyric #It’s okay just to say ‘I’m not okay’.#Not much longer...#star trek #fanficfion #slaughter #violence #major character injury #ptsd #nightmare #dr. leonard mccoy #montgomery scott #scones #khan noonien singh #mega_whumps_characters

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themetalvirus · 1 year

Text

unedited and shitty 👍 500 word eggy thing i hate and will probably never finish. i made an ao3 once and it has sat empty and untouched for years. anyway

The steel door in front of them did not care whether or not they stared at it, but they stared at it nonetheless. The heat radiating through it warmed their cheeks and reddened their faces. Whether or not they would be able to partake in what was inside was purely up to chance. Who knew what Dad’s mood was like today?

Eggman had been out since morning trying to secure this castle town in some nowhere county in Spagonia with some nobody royalty that needed “redirection”. The castle itself was still in the process of being mechanically remodeled to fit his superior tastes, and this imposing door was certainly not there when they had last checked that morning.

Sonic bounced on his toes, coattails and quills bouncing in time. Shadow fidgeted with his inhibitor rings, tightening and loosening them endlessly. Silver, of course, trembled like a chihuahua fresh out of a cold shower. Their silence was a heavy fog, and they could almost feel the density of it making a dew on their fur. It was impossible to relax.

The fog was snapped away and reality came into clear focus from Silver’s stomach growling, loud and gurgling. Giggles were had, but they trailed off into nothing.

Three pairs of ears perked when they heard shuffling in the room they were facing, and years of experience and hypervigilant fear instantly identified it as Dad. The moment of truth was upon them.

The door hissed open, and to the boys, they were granted access through the pearly gates into Heaven. There was Eggman, chest puffed and smile wide, and he made a grand gesture to the central dining table.

The scent of the buffet before them instantly overtook their senses and made their mouths water. They leaned cautiously with wide, shining eyes at the feast. There was meat of all kinds, turkey and ham and lamb chops and – was that duck? Beds of decadent leafy greens in deep, fresh hues dutifully held piles of shining fruits and vegetables, some drizzled with exotic-looking dressings and sauces. Pies, tarts, pastries, non-alcoholic wine for the boys served alongside champagne glasses filled with sparkling water…

Surely, their father was happy about today. There was no other reason he would have commanded the servants in the castle to whip up the best of the best for their new head of affairs. (This wasn’t much different from their day to day treatment before the takeover.) They were rewarded handsomely for his joy.

“Well?” he asked, tone simultaneously inviting and mocking in a way only parents could achieve. “Are you gonna dig in, or am I going to have to feed all of this to the dumpster?”

AUTHORS NOTE: i thimk they deserve nice treats :)

#exoticbutterstxt #the egghogs #added to the tag on jun 3 2023

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mrs-solo-walker · 1 year

Text

Comfort Movie Tag Game

Rules: post 10 of your favorite comfort movies and then tag 10 people.

Tagged by @peyton-warren

Se7en (when i stumble over my inner demons again and have to calm them down. this movie absolutely brings inner peace)

Skyfall (in the mood no one wants to see/have me...i don't know why but it brings me down)

Full Metal Jacket (when i have the feeling again that i can't breathe freely)

Schindlers List (when i have to cry and can't, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. this movie destroys me every time. and i can't watch it unprepared.)

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (The Secret is in the Sauce, just a beautiful story with depth)

The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain (just awwwwwwwwwwwwwww)

Watchmen (in ultimate cut, 215 minutes pure love)

My Neighbor Totoro (this is so fucking cute)

The Silence of the Lambs (when i need to focus this movie is a guarantee)

Breakfast at Tiffany's (just a great lovestory)

i could list 100 different films here. for me, films are often a kind of self-therapy.

@ellethespaceunicorn , @ylva-stark , @cavillomania , @sluttyphoenixsworld , @dedicated-to-mr-cavill , @nuggsmum , @geralts-yenn , @miss-rebel-without-applause

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somebirdortheother · 1 year

Note

weird asks (and yes, I should be writing, I’m going right back to it) - 1, 4, 38, 43 :)

Hahaha... yikes... I should be in the same document, but here I am, answering, and about to send you some asks, too...

1 - My comfort character has always been and will always be Hannibal Lecter. My first viewing of Silence of the Lambs occurred when I was 6-7 years of age. I couldn't sleep, and I saw that the living room lights were on. Turned out my dad was having his quiet evening time, watching Silence of the Lambs. He looked at me standing in the doorway and was like "Why are you standing? Come watch." Hannibal Lecter was just negging Clarice over her shitty shoes at the time. I WAS HOOKED.

Also Data. Lieutenant Commander Data - you're the realest.

4. - Which cryptyd being do you believe in? - You know... I'm partial to Sasquatch.

38 - A soap bar that smells good - LOL. Those goat milk thingies.

43 - My hot take on spicy foods - So, once, my coworkers and I purchased "Mad Dog Plutonium N.9" - which is the hottest possible sauce on Scoville Scale (9,000,000 units). Comparatively, Tabasco is 800,000 units. Anyway, I had it. Yep, it burned. For a long time. I'd do it again. Spicy foods are wonderful, but I also don't crave them all the time. I don't necessarily need to cry while eating, although sometimes one is in the mood, you know?

#weird ask game #coraleeveritas #ask game #Somebird asks

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stray-cattt · 2 years

Text

Sweet Dreams, Harsh Mornings

A Valorant Fanfic, once again. If you would rather read it on AO3, link is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40655328

Summary: Based off of the post by @honestlyitsjustsam on Tumblr that says "Goodnight ill be thinking of Cypher being in the arms of his dear wife Nora, laying down on their bed and then their cute daughter jumping to their bed to join and snuggle them but only for Cypher to actually wake up from his dream to his alarm sound on his cold and lonely bed surrounded by the monotone steel walls of the headquarters" So I will be using that as my summary :) Some Arab is used (like three words) Disclaimer tho, I don't speak Arabic I used google translate.

In my opinion, not my best work but wooo writing go brr anyway!

Baba: dad, أمي: mom, عسل: honey

Cypher smiled sweetly at Nora next to him, the sun rays illuminating her face with their gentle glow. Cypher slowly pushed her hair out of her face, carefully as not to wake her. A content hum fell from his lips, his smile growing wider, noticing the drool that was leaving his wife's mouth. He let out a soft chuckle, his eyes looking at her, so calm and serene. How did I get this lucky? Cypher asked himself, as he memorized every freckle that adorned her face.

The quiet morning either fortunately or unfortunately, did not last much longer. A quiet squeak broke the silence between the two. Cypher rose his head a bit to look at the source. The door was left slightly ajar, but no person was in sight. He was left in confusion until a small laugh was heard behind him. Cypher laid back down and pretended not to have heard a thing. Suddenly he felt a weight on him, smiling he turned to meet his daughter’s eyes. Giggles escaped out of her mouth filling the room.

“Baba! It’s time to get up!” She yelled slightly, shaking the poor man ferociously.

“Alright, alright, I’ll get up.” He sighed, putting his arms up in defense. Seeing as her father was awake, she then moved on to wake her mother. Before Cypher's arms could scoop her up and protect his sleeping wife, she pounced.

“أمي! Gotta wake up!” She squealed as she shook her mother.

“Hm?” Nora groggily said, a confused look written all over her face.

“Up! Up!” Their daughter said jumping up and down on the bed.

“Alright, I think that’s enough little one,” Cypher said, now standing. He made his way over to his wife's side before picking up the small girl. Said girl pouted at him and rammed her head into his chest in defiance, only earning a hearty laugh from him.

“Are you hungry?” He asked her, booping her nose, effectively distracting her from her pouting fit. She gave a swift nod before reaching out to her mother. Cypher shifted her to his left hip, turning to his wife, who was trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

“Good morning عسل.” Cypher smiled. Nora smiled back, getting herself out of bed. She only walked a couple of feet before pecking Cypher on the lips sweetly.

“Good morning love,” Nora replied, running a hand through Cypher’s curly brown hair. “And good morning to you too, trouble maker.” She said, turning her attention to the small girl in Cypher’s arms, ruffling her hair. The girl just smiled widely in response before sticking her tongue out at Nora.

“Now, let’s go get some breakfast. Shall we?” She asked, holding out a hand for Cypher to take. He grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together, bringing her hand up to his mouth and giving it a soft kiss.

The three of them all spent the day together from dawn to dusk. Starting the day off with creps and jelly all over a certain someone’s mouth, and ending the day with lamb, sauce yet again found its way all over a certain someone’s mouth. Who that someone was will forever remain a mystery. Cypher sat in his chair reading a book as Nora got the young one ready for bed.

“I wanna sleep with you and baba!” The girl whined as Nora tried to lead her to her room. Ears perking up at this, Cypher diligently placed a bookmark in his current place. He walked over to the source of the commotion with a hand on his hip. Crouching down, his knees popping in the process, he met his eyes with his daughters.

“Do you not want to sleep in your big girl room tonight?” Cypher asked her, brushing some hair behind her ear. She shook her head strongly before rushing over to him and clasping her hands around his neck. Cypher stood letting a sigh leave him as he heaved the girl onto his hip for the second time that day.

“She sure is a stubborn one.” Nora smiled before crawling into bed.

“Yeah, I have no idea where she gets that from,” Cypher said with sarcasm.

“Well, it certainly isn’t me.” She responded, laughing quietly. Cypher rolled his eyes in response but let a smile grace his lips. Carefully he laid down his daughter next to Nora before climbing into bed himself. Cypher flicked the lamp off, then rolled over to meet the eyes of his lover. But instead of being met with her eyes, he was met with her lovingly stroking their daughter's hair, she was humming a song lulling their young one further into sleep. Cypher’s eyes held nothing more than love for the two amazing women in his life.

“I love you, Nora,” Cypher whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping girl in between them. Nora smiled and opened her mouth to respond, but a loud alarm startled Cypher out of his slumber. He jolted awake, still processing his dream as bits and pieces of it flooded into his brain. Cypher felt his stomach churn, wanting so badly to go back to his dreamland. He crossed his arms around himself as tears began to roll down his face. Cypher looked around him to take in his surroundings, the cold monotone steel walls staring back at him. A similar feeling of loneliness washed over him, almost as strong as the day he lost them both.

Cypher tried desperately to wipe his tears off but they just continued to fall. Deciding he wouldn’t be able to get himself together before breakfast he let them fall, no longer trying to stop them. He sat in his bed, staring at the wall, praying that he could go back to his family. But even if they were somehow alive, once you join the Valorant Protocol, you can never go back to the life you once had.

Cypher’s absence did not go unnoticed by the agents that morning, as the distinct smell of his tea was nowhere in the air. Sova made a note to himself to check in on the man and bring him a bagel once he finished his food. The other agents also made sure to check up on him even though he ensured them he was doing well once he had left his room. And if Cypher stayed up the next few nights working on projects to keep himself from dreaming of the again, that’s not my secret to say.

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