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after-witch · 6 months

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Horrorfest: It Knows Not How it Sounds [Yandere Vampire Chrollo x Reader]

Title: It Knows Not How it Sounds [Yandere Vampire Chrollo x Reader]

Synopsis: He's going to kill you--and this is how you react? Curious, curious, curious.

For Horrorfest request:

Vampire! Chrollo could be interesting? He fits the image of a vampire well, with his inclusion of religious imagery, goth aesthetic and his personal search for his self (his “soul“). Perhaps he becomes interested in one of his would-be meals, being attracted to their humanity and their perspective on his vampirism (maybe them seeing it as a curse, not a boon)

Word count: 1565

notes: yandere, vampire, some descriptions of blood, mild wounds, dying; Chrollo is a pretentious asshole even as a vampire

Humans are so very interesting. And so very predictable.

Chrollo Lucilfer knew the first truth at an early age. He has learned the second truth over the years, the decades, and then the centuries.

For instance, humans always seek comfort. That is certain, whether they are rich or poor, old or young, beautiful or ugly. They want to be held and warm and fed; they want someone to comfort them when they cry; they want to be told that, in the end, things will be alright.

This is true even for the humans that he kills, for so often in their last moments, they cling to him, desperate, wanting him to be their savior even as he is the one draining their blood.

Therefore, it does not surprise him too terribly when your shaking arm reaches up for his face; when your increasingly exhausted expression takes in the sight of him, eyes wide, looking for kinship or absolution or someone to tell you it will be just fine.

It takes his victims some time to really comprehend what is happening, after all.

It is usually at this point that (if they haven’t already--not everyone is so slow on the uptake) they realize what he is--vampire--and he goes back to lapping at his victim’s blood, enjoying the way their muddled dying thoughts are spiked with a renewed bright acidic terror.

The taste is not his only reward. There is the entertainment, as well. The thoughts of the dying.

The thoughts come to him like moving pictures, flashes; not only visuals but sometimes words. Monster. Him, covered in blood. I don’t want to die. Lovers, children, things left unsaid. Mother. This word, so common, most often paired with the foggy memory of a chubby hand held in a larger one.

Your eyes widen after a moment and ah, there it is. Like a clock. “Vampire,” you mouth, lips that were perhaps once rose-red now growing paler, the more he blood he takes from you.

“Yes,” he breathes, and you make the softest of sounds when he nudges your head back with his hands, giving him access to the open, bruised weeping puncture wounds he’d created earlier. Your blood still flows freely enough, and he laps at the edges before he begins to suck from the wounds.

He wonders how he must look from your eyes, though he may see it soon enough. His pale skin and dark hair. The fangs jutting from his mouth. The blood on his lips. Even his clothing, silken black with delicate lace. A storybook vampire, he supposes; all that’s missing is the smell of dirt and decay, though that is perhaps a stench better left to his more unhinged colleagues than his own delicate scent of roses and musk; purloined perfume bottles were easy to come by when you could simply kill the ones who set them on varnished bureaus.

But what pulses through his mind is not pure abject horror at the sight of him or fleeting, terrified thoughts of a life that will be incomplete.

Instead, it’s something that startles him so fiercely that he yanks himself away from your neck:

Pity.

Pity, pity, pity. For him--for him!

A warm almost sour sensation lingers behind on his teeth, and he licks it away. He has never, in his centuries of killing, been… pitied.

Your head rolls a little to the side, eyelids drooping, but you gain enough awareness to realize that he’s no longer feeding on you. Your voice is a soft croak when you do speak, words spoken as if you don’t understand why you’re even permitted to say them at all. You should, after all, be dead.

“Why did you stop?”

He considers you for a moment. He keeps a grip on your shoulders--you might just fall, if he lets go--and makes you face him. Finally, he mirrors your question. But only to satisfy his curiosity, or so he tells himself.

“Why do you pity me?”

Your eyes widen again, but this time not in the realization of the monster before you. You likely don’t know how he felt your pity. He doesn’t care to explain it to you, either, and after a few moments you furrow your eyebrows.

If he weren’t feeding on you, it might be a cute expression. Perhaps it still is; even lambs to the slaughter can have their charms.

“You’re…” You swallow. “You’re a vampire,” you say. But that usual horror is replaced with something else, something Chrollo wants to stick his finger into and pull out so he can see it more fully. Pity, yes yes, but something more. What is it? And why do you feel it so strongly that he couldn’t stand the shock of it?

When he doesn’t respond, you continue.

“You have to kill people to survive.”

He snorts.

“That’s never given me pause before.”

And oh, the way you look at him is absolutely beautiful. Your eyes glisten with tears--not from the pain, surely, but for him?--and your lips, nearly colorless though they are, curl into a pretty pout.

“But it should, and I’m so sorry it doesn’t.”

You wince, the shock perhaps ebbing away, letting you feel the pain of your ripped flesh more fully than most of his victims have time to do. But you don’t even press your hands to the wound, and he likes you better for it.

But still. You pity him because he’s a killer? What a waste of the emotion.

“I have lived for centuries,” he tells you, speaking as if to a child, learning lessons at a father’s knee. “I have seen things your mortal mind could not comprehend. I have seen kingdoms rise and fall, seen civilizations turn to dust.”

He can practically see the cogs in the clock of your mind turning. Perhaps you will be one of those who foolishly asks him for the gift. He has rarely given it, and he wouldn’t give it to you; but he wouldn’t tear you apart for the audacity as he has some others. Your death would be merciful, calm--you’ve earned that.

But when you speak again, you don’t ask him to make you into a vampire.

“But you must be so lonely.” Your words are sudden, fast. Perhaps you don’t realize you’ve said them until it’s too late to wonder if you’re being too presumptuous, because you stumble over your next words. Or perhaps you’re just that emotional over the thought of him, and wouldn’t that be a delightful novelty?

“Everyone around you dies… your-your family. Friends.” You shake your head, blinking as a few tears finally do drop from your eyes. “You can’t live a normal life… you can’t go out in the sun.” You look up, as if you’re imagining the warm feel of it on your skin.

It’s a sensation he has long since forgotten, but to you it must be as normal as breathing. “I-I can’t imagine how sad that must be. To never be truly warm. To not see the flowers reaching up to the sky or see the grass in the morning, all green and dewy.”

Your arms, no longer trembling, wrap around your chest.

“I just…” You don’t look at him when you say these last words, but you don’t really need to, do you? Not with the way your voice is choked with emotion, the way tears fall so prettily from your eyes. “I’m so sorry that this happened to you.”

You are a wonder, truly. Bleeding from the neck, no doubt light headed from blood loss, in the face of a nocturnal creature who moments ago was draining the life from your body… and you apologize to him?

When you live for centuries, you often lose the ability to be surprised. But here is that sensation, now queer, once again. And all because you happened to take an unfortunate shortcut through the park on this night, making yourself easy prey for him to pull into a darkened alley and feast.

Now, though, he finds his hunger satiated. Or at least satiated until he finds another victim. Someone less worthy to stay alive than yourself, of course.

After some consideration, he leans backward, and releases his grip on you. His hands ache for the warmth of your skin underneath him, and not for the usual voracious reasons.

Yet another curiosity to add to his growing list.

You look at him like he’s lost his mind. Maybe he has.

“Aren’t you going to kill me?”

Perhaps, if he weren’t who he was, he might feel it too--this feeling of pity. Because you have no idea what he intends to do, and what it will mean for him to keep you alive now.

You have no sense of the impulsive need that has rooted itself in his brain, a need he hasn’t felt since he was a young fledgling of a vampire. He wants to know you; know what you think and why you think it.

What life has created you so earnestly that you can feel genuine sympathy for a creature like him? Have you known hardship, and it was an impulse to sympathize? Or has your life been so unmarred by difficulty that the pty came easily to you, pure, sweet thing?

The most important question of all, he thinks, as he pulls you closer to him and shushes the soft sounds you make--

Will you continue to pity him once he has taken you for his own?

#yandere chrollo #yandere chrollo lucilfer #yandere hunter x hunter #yandere vampire #yandere #afterwitch writes #aw horrrorfest

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jennamoran · 3 months

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The Far Roofs: Systems

Hi!

Today I’m going to talk a little bit more about my forthcoming RPG, the Far Roofs. More specifically, I want to give a general overview of its game mechanics!

So the idea that first started the Far Roofs on the road to being its own game came out of me thinking a lot about what large projects feel like.

I was in one of those moods where I felt like the important thing in an RPG system was the parallel between that system and real-world experience. Where I felt like the key to art was always thinking about the end goal, or at least a local goal, as one did the work; and, the key to design was symmetry between the goals and methods, the means and ends.

I don't always feel that way, but it's how I work when I'm feeling both ambitious and technical.

So what I wanted to do was come up with an RPG mechanic that was really like the thing it was simulating:

Finding answers. Solving problems. Doing big things.

And it struck me that what that felt like, really, was a bit like ...

You get pieces over time. You wiggle them around. You try to fit them together. Sometimes, they fit together into larger pieces and then eventually a whole. Sometimes you just collect them and wiggle them around until suddenly there's an insight, an oh!, and you now know everything works.

The ideal thing to do here would probably be having a bag of widgets that can fit together in different ways---not as universally as Legos or whatever, but, like, gears and connectors and springs and motors and whatever. If I were going to be building a computer game I would probably think along those lines, anyway. You'd go to your screen of bits and bobs and move them around with your mouse until it hooked together into something that you liked.

... that's not really feasible for a tabletop RPG, though, at least, not with my typical financial resources. I could probably swing making that kind of thing, finding a 3d printing or woodworking partner or something to make the pieces, for the final kickstarter, but I don't have the resources to make a bunch of different physical object sets over time while I'm playtesting.

So the way I decided that I could implement this was by drawing letter tiles.

That I could do a system where you'd draw letter tiles ... not constantly, not specifically when you were working, but over time; in the moments, most of all, that could give you insight or progress.

Then, at some point, you'd have enough of them.

You'd see a word.

That word'd be your answer.

... not necessarily the word itself, but, like, what the word means to you and what the answer means to you, those would be the same.

The word would be a symbol for the answer that you've found, as a player and a character.

(The leftover letters would then stick around in your hand, bits of thought and experience that didn't directly lead to a solution there, but might help with something else later on.)

Anyway, I figured that this basic idea was feasible because, like, lots of people own Scrabble sets. Even if you don't, they're easier to find than sets of dice!

For a short indie game focused on just that this would probably have been enough of a mechanic all on its own. For a large release, though, the game needed more.

After thinking about it I decided that what it wanted was two more core resolution systems:

One, for stuff like, say ... kickstarter results ... where you're more interested in "how well did this do?" or "how good of an answer is this?" than in whether those results better fit AXLOTL or TEXTUAL. For this, I added cards, which you draw like letter tiles and combine into poker hands. A face card is probably enough for a baseline success, a pair of Kings would make the results rather exciting, and a royal flush result would smash records.

The other core system was for like ... everyday stuff. For starting a campfire or jumping a gap. That, by established RPG tradition, would use dice.

...

I guess technically it didn't have to; I mean, like, most of my games have been diceless, and in fact we've gotten to a point in the hobby where that's just "sort of unusual" instead of actually rare.

But, like, I like dice. I do. If I don't use them often, it's because I don't like the empty page of where to start in the first place building a bespoke diced system when I have so many good diceless systems right there.

... this time, though, I decided to just go for it.

The Dice System

So a long, long time ago I was working on a game called the Weapons of the Gods RPG. Eos Press had brought me in to do the setting, and somewhere in the middle of that endeavor, the game lost its system.

I only ever heard Eos' side of this, and these days I tend to take Eos' claims with a grain of salt ... but, my best guess is that all this stuff did happen, just, with a little more context that I don't and might not ever know?

Anyway, as best as I remember, the first writer they had doing their system quit midway through development. So they brought in a newer team to do the system, and halfway through that the team decided they'd have more fun using the system for their own game, and instead wrote up a quick alternate system for Weapons of the Gods to use.

This would have been fine if the alternate system were any good, but it was ... pretty obviously a quick kludge. It was ...

I think the best word for it would be "bad."

I don't even like the system they took away to be their own game, but at least I could believe that it was constructed with love. It was janky but like in a heartfelt way.

The replacement system was more the kind of thing where if you stepped in it you'd need a new pair of shoes.

It upset me.

It upset me, and so, full wroth, I decided to write a system to use for the game.

Now, I'd never done a diced system before at that point. My only solo game had been Nobilis. So I took a bunch of dice and started rolling them, to see ... like ... what the most fun way of reading them was.

Where I landed, ultimately, was looking for matches.

The core system for Weapons of the Gods was basically, roll some number of d10s, and if you got 3 4s, that was a 34. If you got 2 9s, that was a 29. If your best die was a 7 and you had no pairs at all, you got 1 7. 17.

It didn't have any really amazing statistical properties, but the act of rolling was fun. It was rhythmic, you know, you'd see 3 4s and putting them together into 34 was a tiny tiny dopamine shot at the cost of basically zero brain effort. It was pattern recognition, which the brain tends to enjoy.

I mean, obviously, it would pall in a few minutes if you just sat there rolling the dice for no reason ... but, as far as dice rolling goes, it was fun.

So when I went to do an optional diced system for the Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, years later, to post here on tumblr ... I already knew what would make that roll fun. That is, rolling a handful of dice and looking for matches.

What about making it even more fun?

... well, critical results are fun, so what about adding them and aiming to have a lot of them, though still like rare enough to surprise?

It made sense to me to call no matches at all a critical failure, and a triple a critical success. So I started fiddling with dice pool size to get the numbers where I wanted them.

I'm reconstructing a bit at this point, but I imagine that I hit 6d10 and was like: "these are roughly the right odds, but this is one too many dice to look at quickly on the table, and I don't like that critical failure would be a bit more common than crit success."

So after some wrestling with things I wound up with a dice pool of 5d6, which is the dice pool I'm still using today.

If you roll 5d6, you'll probably get a pair. But now and then, you'll get a triple (or more!) My combinatorics is rusty, so I might have missed a case, but, like ... 17% of the time, triples, quadruples, or quintuples? And around 9% chance, for no matches at all?

I think I was probably looking for 15% and 10%, that those were likely my optimum, but ... well, 5d6 comes pretty close. Roughly 25% total was about as far as I thought I could push critical results while still having them feel kind or rare. Like ...

If I'm rolling a d20 in a D&D-like system, and if I'm going to succeed on an 18+, that's around when success is exciting, right? Maybe 17+, though that's pushing it? So we want to fall in the 15-20% range for a "special good roll." And people have been playing for a very long time now with the 5% chance of a "1" as a "special bad roll," and that seemed fine, so, like, 20-25% chance total is good.

And like ...

People talk a lot about Rolemaster crit fail tables in my vicinity, and complain about the whiff fests you see in some games where you keep rolling and rolling and nothing good or bad actually happens, and so I was naturally drawn to pushing crit failure odds a bit higher than you see in a d20-type game.

Now, one way people in indie circles tend to address "whiff fests" is by rethinking the whole dice-rolling ... paradigm ... so you never whiff; setting things up, in short, so that every roll means something, and every success and failure mean something too.

It's a leaner, richer way of doing things than you see in, say, D&D.

... I just didn't feel like it, here, because the whole point of things was to make dice rolling fun. I wanted people coming out of traditional games to be able to just pick up the dice and say "I'm rolling for this!" because the roll would be fun. Because consulting the dice oracle here, would be fun.

So in the end, that was the heart of it:

A 5d6 roll, focusing on the ease of counting matches and the high but not exorbitant frequency of special results.

But at the same time ...

I'm indie enough that I do really like rolls where, you know, every outcome is meaningful. Where you roll, and there's never a "whiff," just a set of possible meaningful outcomes.

A lot of the time, where I'm leaning into "rolls are fun, go ahead and roll," what it means to succeed, to fail, to crit, all that's up to the group, and sometimes it'll be unsatisfying. Other times, you'll crit succeed or crit fail and the GM will give you basically the exact same result as you'd have gotten on a regular success or failure, just, you know, jazzing up the description a bit with more narrative weight.

But I did manage to pull out about a third of the rolls you'll wind up actually making and assign strong mechanical and narrative weight to each outcome. Where what you were doing was well enough defined in the system that I could add some real meat to those crits, and even regular success and regular failure.

... though that's a story, I think, to be told some other time. ^_^

#the far roofs #jenna moran #rpgs

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puppetmaster13u · 4 months

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So I am rotating the batfamily, but not like, civilian or vigilante. I am slowly rotating them all having a Malone-sona of sorts that is their in to organized crime.

Like you can't tell me people wouldn't start noticing this family that the bats, the literal cryptids and monsters of Gotham, don't even touch and lets continue to operate despite taking the older crime families apart.

And to Gotham that screams power.

Alfred = Albert “Old Al” Malone I wanna say that he doesn't go out as 'Old Al' often, but gives off Godfather sort of vibes. Usually sitting there with an old cane (that definitely has a sword, they're all dramatic like that lol) half in the dark with a cup of tea or other drink. He gets to stretch his acting skills and honestly the kids definitely had a say in the persona. Old Al is something they all made together and they have fun implying so much fun shit.

Kate = Mary “Madam” Malone She definitely gives off 'snap your spine over her knee if not for the fact it would get your blood all over her clothes' vibes. Stylized nails, hair up in fishtail braids or ponytails or whatever, looks like she could tear out ones throat and they'd thank her. It's a running gag that she's in finances, even if no one in the underbelly believes it.

Bruce = “Matches” Malone I mean, it's classic Matches (though most probably assume that Matches isn't his real name) who seems rather chill until someone breaks the rules. Gives off vibes that he doesn't usually get his own hands dirty but will do so to make a point, and enjoy doing it. He sometimes uses Matches to check in on places he can't as a shadowy cryptid, and it's not like the lower income areas would fully trust Brucie Wayne.

Barbara = Madison “Maddie” Malone Now let's be honest, Barbara enjoys messing with people, she enjoys knowing every little thing as Oracle, and she definitely does that as Maddie. The thing is, no one knows how she learns about things, other criminals search for a traitor, for a leak, for anything, and get nothing. Which is utterly terrifying. Because there has to be some sort of information network, there has to be. And somehow they're so good that they're indistinguishable to any others.

Dick = Micheal “Mikey” Malone Honestly Dick uses this chance to get into a bunch of fights just for fun. Flirts a bit more freely but doesn't really have an interest in actually getting with someone. Just has funs and is known for throwing his own parties that usually end in free-for-all brawls. He absolutely loves being able to have parties that are the opposite of galas he's usually dragged into.

Cass = Molly Malone She's quiet and graceful, but she takes it to unnerving levels as Molly. Looks slim but carries guns on her at all time to better differentiate between Cassandra Wayne, Black Bat, and Molly Malone. Everyone knows if you need a weapon, guns, meelee, whatever, she's the one you go to. Gotham help you if you cross her though.

Jason = Peter “Petey” Malone Where Molly Malone goes, everyone knows Petey will be there as well. Jason absolutely adores the time he gets to do so, it's his turn to be silent and dramatic. Everyone can recognize the jagged scar over his neck, they can recognize it from corpses the Bats have gotten their talons on. Honestly he's delighted in being able to be Cass' enforcer of sorts and just have a good fight. Even if he complains about how making his Malone mute makes it where he can't quote Shakespeare like he wants to.

Steph = “Mia” Malone Ah yes, the explosive Malone. The one who has more arson charges than Firefly. Or at least she would if she was caught, but the entire Underbelly knows it was her. Steph is living her best life being able to pull all sorts of pranks and crazy shit and takes several ideas from Harley. Honestly she probably smells like gasoline or smoke all the time, and definitely put glitter in her hair. Maybe even has red hair as a Malone as well.

Tim = Alvin “Al” Malone He still goes by Alvin Draper too, which results in half the underbelly thinking that Draper is his middle name. Honestly he's having the best time, everyone knows to come to him for forgeries and less than legal identities, which he loves to create. I mean just look at how many new identities he creates for himself alone. He enjoys this type of thing, and hey, it's so easy to keep track of whose identity is fake when you're the one who made them. Plus it also lets him do good for those on the run for good reasons, a way to make sure people are safe.

Duke = Dennis “Denny” Malone Everyone knows Denny was adopted, but y'know what, I bet they don't care. And you know Duke is utterly insane, like jump off a bridge to escape the cops and create the We are Robin gang insane. And he gets to play that up as Denny. He will put forth the most batshit ideas and actually pull them off. I bet he uses his future-sight to cheat at different games and pool tables and all sorts of things, but no one can ever prove it. Because there is no proof, and the other people playing just has to deal with it.

Damian = “Mini M” Malone The little baby of the family, who everyone knows the older Malones absolutely dote over. This is his chance to act like an actual child, just with a hint of art theft. Hey, it wasn't like they got it legally either, so it's free game, especially if they weren't taking proper care of the art or a pet. He's just pleased to get to have even more pets, and that Goliath his demon dragon-bat gets to go on walkies.

Jarro = Jadan “Lil J” Malone Now Jarro is delighted to have a third mech, and is even more delighted for people to believe Damian (or technically M jr) and him are twins. Gives off someone is going to die- of fun with Mini M, and honestly enjoys being able to use his natural telepathy to be a small horror movie child that knows too much. Like will stare up at someone with wide eyes covered in blood and the others in Gotham's underbelly still aren't sure if the blood was his or someone elses. (it was neither)

================================================

Honestly I might write a oneshot or something for the Cryptid Batfam focusing on just them as the Malones family.

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adobe-outdesign · 1 month

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Could you review woobat? For some reason until like a few years ago I thought it was a moshi monster

Surprisingly, we don't have too many heart-themed Pokemon out there, all things considered (outside of Luvdisc and Enamorus). Woobat is a particularly delightful example of this; bats sometimes get a bad rep, so it's nice to see a bat that's adorable and has love as a theme instead of your standard "scary" bat. This also helps it stand apart from the Zubat line.

The titular heart is almost certainly a reference to the heart-nosed bat, but the overall design seems to be more based off of the Honduran white bat, which are absolutely silly creatures that I need everyone to acknowledge.

It's hard to go wrong with the classic "circle with wings and a face" design, and indeed, Woobat's pretty perfect as is. I like how the black is carried through for both the nose and the wings, as is the pink color, while the light blue serves as a good base color. Lack of eyes and a single tooth give it a lot of personality as well.

Also, the 'dex mentions that they stick to cave walls using their noses, which is fun.

Swoobat forsakes the puffball look in favor of having an actual head and body. Sometimes changing a design this drastically can be a risk, but I think it works here. The super fluffy mane connects it back to Woobat, as does the nose and the black wings, so it still looks like the two belong together despite the different body types.

Swoobat keeps most everything from Woobat, just adding a darker blue color for the body, a set of ears that look conjoined but aren't, and a tail. It also has eyes, which make it even cuter due to the overly happy expression and additional highlights.

The only thing I don't really like about Swoobat's design is that tail. I want to like it, because A) it uses it to grasp onto trees instead of its feet and that's neat, and B) it helps with the heart motif and carries the color through the design more. However, it's just really weird looking; the pink makes it look uncomfortably like flesh, and the entwined look really doesn't match anything else in the design. I honestly think the design might've been stronger without the tail at all. You could integrate the hearts into other areas of the design, like the wings or the ear shape. Other than that, though, I really like it.

One thing I will say about this line is that it would be good for a mega. It feels good as a two-stager to me, but Swoobat's design is plain enough that it feels like there's a ton to play around with and expand upon. Increase the amount of pink accents, make the mane a heart, play around with the wing shape—there's plenty of interesting things you could do.

Anyway, overall, some good bats with a fun theme. Woobat's got the better design overall, but Swoobat gets points for having a super cute face.

#woobat #swoobat #pokemon #pokemon reviews

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tswwwit · 8 months

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Lol omg at your last ask because imagine dippers under some truth spell and ends up spilling a bunch of secrets that Bill already knew and had stashed to use for later

This is no longer 'last ask' relevant because I had this partially written in my drafts for like a million years - but a Truth spell on Dipper would be very interesting!

So I took this prompt and didn't really answer it except in some ways.

Here's a thing!

“You never bring me any souvenirs.” Bill complains. In an all-too-whiny tone, and an all-too-close lean into Dipper's personal space.

Plus, it's a blatant lie. One Dipper shouldn't respond to.

He does anyway. “I literally brought you harpy feathers last week.”

“Doesn’t count! That was for a ritual you wanted to pull off!” Bill sounds miffed, though he also plants a palm on Dipper’s head and starts ruffling hair. “Now where's the emerald from last March? Or like, the headdress from that cult with all the rabbit bones? The good stuff."

Dipper grunts. He focuses on navigating back out of the cave, turning the clay tablet over in his hands.

Figures Bill would remember all the times he did get something. His memory is excellent. And he’s greedy, because a new toy every time is a big ask.

What does Bill expect, anyway. Not every situation Dipper gets into has something to bring back. What could he even offer? An ear taken off every monster he has to fight?

Wait, no. Bill would love that.

Dipper makes a face. “You've just proved that it's not ‘never’. With examples."

"Sure, but when’s the last time it was cool?”

Dipper sighs. No point in arguing. Bill could go on forever about how 'unfair' it is that he doesn't get trophies from every trip, or trinkets from conquered lands, or, again, ears from every enemy. When he’s decided to complain, no reasonable argument will shake him out of it.

“Too bad, then. You’re only getting some gifts.” Dipper shakes his head rapidly to dislodge Bill’s hand from his hair. "It’s hardly the worst thing that’s ever happened to you."

“Hey! I could argue that it’s related! In fact -”

Dipper tunes out the rest of Bill’s ramble, rolling his eyes. Listening with half an ear to Bill's ongoing tirade about being a poorly kept man, and unappreciated in his time.

Despite how much he already has, Bill always wants more. Somehow he sniffed out Dipper’s latest excursion, showing up right at the end and looking for ‘loot’.

Which Dipper, by all rights, should prevent.

Anything magical falling into Bill's hands can cause chaos, no matter how innocuous it seems. The flower incident alone is reason not to hand Bill anything, ever, and the fact that Dipper still does sometimes should be appreciated, damn it.

Bill's complaining on and on, but whatever. Eventually he'll get bored.

In the meantime, Dipper turns the clay tablet around again with a frown. He found something interesting, at least.

Whatever this is, it’s definitely not a language he recognizes. The script is strange, scrawled in different directions. For all he knows he’s holding it upside down. He hopes Bill doesn’t notice until he’s figured out -

"Whatcha got there?" Just as expected - and right on time.

Dipper feels the tablet yanked out of his grasp, unfazed. He doesn't break his stride.

"I found it in the lair, after... you know." Charred bones, explosions - Dipper wishes he could use, like water, or something, but mastery over even one element is powerful as is. "Anyway, that monster was collecting a lot of weird magic stuff, and this was the only interesting thing it had." He shrugs. Then, because Bill will like it, adds, "So... to the victor go the spoils?"

“Now that’s the spirit!” Bill gives him a grin, holding the tablet up to squint at it. Thankfully not turning it around. One point for Dipper, on not looking incompetent.

Still, if anyone can read it…

“What language is this?” Dipper not-so-subtly leans over, trying to peek around Bill’s arm.

"Old Draconic," Bill says, without missing a beat. Humming to himself as he apparently reads the text. Perking up a bit, smile widening. "Oh, hey! Iambic pentameter."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, sapling. I just wish when people did the whole 'ancient poetry curse' thing, they'd get a little more creative. You never see hexameter! Or tetrameter! Not even a tasteful use of spondee.” Bill sticks his tongue out. "Come to think of it - I don’t think anyone’s done a prose epic that made the reader wanna tear their eyes out since Joyce."

Sometimes with Bill, you have to read between the lines. The long, irrelevant babbling lines.

"Just tell me if I need to get Ford or not." Dipper says, flat. He rubs at the bridge of his nose.

Among all the other stuff, Bill said ‘curse’. Never, ever a good sign.

Though the monster he just took down wasn’t a dragon, and that wasn’t really a ‘horde’ so much as something resembling the contents of the Mystery Shack, there’s absolutely no good thing about a curse. If Dipper somehow triggered it -

Great. As if hanging around Bill alone didn’t invite enough bad fortune, he’s picking up parts of his own stupid curiosity.

"Nah, don’t bother with the loser uncle!" Bill waves his concern away, amused. “This is just purple prose! Buncha ‘oooh, bad things’ll happen if you mess with my stuff.’ Totally boilerplate spellcraft with some flowery wording.”

With a shrug, Bill dismisses the whole thing. Which includes chucking the tablet over his shoulder, but Dipper manages to snag it before it falls and shatters into a million pieces.

“Typical dragon horde enchantment. All bluster, no burning.” Bill keeps walking without a care in the world. “They’re full of hot air!”

“So I’m not cursed,” Dipper prompts, catching up to him. “Aside from you, I mean.”

“Flatterer,” Bill says, slightly warmer. He continues, shrugging. “No reason you would be! No dragons in the area, and the warning sign there’s too old. By my guess, the original horde was raided centuries ago! Just another piece of random crap that got dragged into that junkyard." And he ruffles Dipper’s hair again, in the second-most annoying way. "You’re stuck with me, though.”

Dipper ducks and twists, thus freeing himself from the minor torment. “I think I can live with that.”

One would think that chatting with a demon - one as cryptic and ominous and aggravating as Bill - would only cause irritation, at best.

It still does, of course. But when it comes to Dipper, Bill… sometimes lays things out straight. On occasion. Especially when he’s instructing, doubly when it comes to magic. Like he’s trying to pour all the facts he can into Dipper’s brain, overfilling the cup.

If his goal is to overload this one mortal mind, though, he'll have to work a lot harder.

Dipper gets out his notebook, while Bill looks away, and pretends he didn’t see it. Yet another poorly-veiled lesson, with Bill obviously trying to plant seeds re: actually casting curses. Tough luck managing that. His subtle lean towards chaos might escape the unwary, but to Dipper? Bill’s way too transparent.

The fact is, that Dipper absorbs things fast. Even Bill will admit it, sometimes without being prompted.

That Includes stuff Bill doesn't even know he's teaching.

Bill’s also rambling on about historical curses, and how often these things backfire, or misfire. It’d almost sound like a series of unconnected, gossipy anecdotes, if it weren’t for the extra technical details.

And Dipper’s not falling for it. As far as he's concerned, his first curse was his last one.

But then…

Even if he’s not going to use the knowledge, there's no reason not to learn it. Knowledge about making curses can also be used to break them, after all. Taking all the facts Bill smacked a ‘For Evil Purposes Only’ sticker on and using them to shatter an evil plan would be very satisfying.

They’re nearly out of the cave at this point, so Dipper figures it’s fine to let his guard down a bit. The monster's dead, all the traps were cleared out on the way in - everything should be fine.

He clicks his pen a couple times, and asks Bill to repeat that last thing, about the life drain. It gets a snort of amusement, but Bill’s more than happy to elaborate at length. Dipper struggles to keep up with Bill’s rapid-fire speech; he's trying to make this intentionally difficult, damn it.

Bill leads on with careless gestures and an uninterrupted stride. Getting ahead of Dipper by several meters, but Dipper’s got to note down what he says before he has to do something awful, like ask Bill to repeat himself.

Dipper is, in fact, so busy trying to write in shorthand, and walk, and not hit a stalactite with his face, all at the same time, that he sort of loses track of where he is.

And okay, maybe he trips over a rock slightly, and nearly faceplants, bonking against the sudden curve of a wall with a swear.

Dipper takes a step back, rubbing at his forehead. Annoying, but, whatever. There were a few traps around, but he pretty much cleared out the cave on the way in, so it’s probably - oh, hell.

Not fine, he dropped the stupid tablet.

Great. The only really interesting object, shattered into half a dozen pieces. So much from saving it from Bill; Dipper himself fumbled the bag.

He backs up to evaluate the damage -

The stone sinks under his foot, and something goes ‘click’.

With a start, Dipper raises a shield without thinking, arm jerking up as he wills his magic into the gesture. It's solid enough for something done on reflex, but an impact hits hard on his side, with sudden, stinging pain.

And a pretty hard impact, at that. He didn’t get it solid enough, damn it, wasn’t expecting something physical -

Dipper wheezes out a breath, slumping to the ground and clutching his stomach.

Alright. So. He got most of the traps.

He sits down, and lets his head thump back against the stone, teeth bared in a grimace. Stupid. Should have been paying attention.

The commotion makes Bill turn his head, blinking at Dipper sitting on the ground.

Then - because he’s an asshole - he starts laughing.

“I know I’m fascinating, sapling, but really?” He tuts, setting fists on his hips. “Not sure if I should be flattered that you’re obsessed with me, or disappointed that you’re dumb enough to walk right into a wall.”

Dipper sucks in a breath, gingerly touching his side. Doesn’t seem like - he glances down. Sure, it stings, and his shirt’s torn, a long, shallow cut on his stomach, just near the old scar. But that’s about it. Over to his side, an arrow rolls against the ground, stone head clicking against the ground.

Over by the cave mouth, Bill’s cackling. God, he’s a jerk sometimes.

But he must not have seen the trap set off, too wrapped up in his own stupid bullshit, or he’d be less of one. Dipper knows that for a fact. Though he’d really, really prefer he’d never had that experience.

“C’mon, kid. If you’re not even more brain damaged from your bump, let’s ditch this joint.” Bill jerks his head over his shoulder.

Dipper hugs himself around the torso, grimacing. Not bothering to respond. His heart is still pounding, or he’d have a retort ready. Adrenaline’s helped him out in a lot of situations, but not with talking. He’ll get up when he’s ready.

“What, you smash your skull open or something?” Bill raises one arch eyebrow.

Though Dipper knows why Bill’s like this, it’s still deeply annoying. He shakes his head in lieu of a reply. In a second, he’ll be calm enough to tell Bill exactly what he thinks of his incredibly poor bedside - and cave-side - manner.

“Figures. Can’t leave you alone for five minutes without your guts spilling everywhere.” Bill clicks his tongue, folding his arms and stepping forward. “What’s the damage?”

“It hurts.” Dipper says, through gritted teeth. Then pauses. Wait, he meant to say - He shakes his head rapidly, only for more words to force themselves out, unbidden. “I got cut again.”

Again, not what he intended. Dipper lowers his chin, teeth clenched. What the hell, he shouldn’t have said that. Bill’s mocking aside, maybe he did hit his head a little too hard. Once Bill gets the mockery out of his system, he’s going to be a total pest about it, too.

With a huff, Dipper slumps. Settling in for a sulk, waiting for the next jab - But there’s no insult forthcoming. Or argument.

In fact, Bill’s gone totally silent. Which is super weird.

Dipper looks up at the cave entrance, expecting a comment or a question, or at least a huge grin. He tenses up, hunching over.

And meets a frozen, unsmiling face.

Bill dropped his arms, they hang limp by his sides. His expression’s gone blank.

The next moment, he’s right in front of Dipper, kneeling and tugging at his arms with alarming urgency.

“Alright, lemme see.” Bill’s face is very close. Though he’s trying to pull his arms away, Dipper resists out of sheer surprise. Bill growls, eye darting around until it lands on the arrow. “Oh for - Really can’t leave you alone for five minutes. Move.”

Another pull, less hard this time. Like he’s trying to ease Dipper’s arms away.

“Wh- Hey!” Dipper plants a foot against Bill’s chest, but that hardly stops anything. He raises his arms. Holding them up, in fact, like he’s at gunpoint. Where’d this come from. “Don’t get upset, I’m fine.”

“Ha! Good one, sapling. Who’s upset, exactly?” Bill says, teeth bared, and in a deeply upset way. He tugs Dipper’s shirt, up, fingers tracing the cut before pressing into his stomach. “I’m just wondering if I need a replacement mortal this soon into your miserable existence. No big deal!”

Okay, this is too much.

Dipper struggles up, despite Bill trying to shove him down again. Bracing himself on the cave wall, and glaring. “Calm down already.”

“I’m perfectly calm.” Bill says, through gritted teeth. At best he looks miffed, but he’s at least stopped trying to make Dipper lie down in the recovery position or whatever. With a glare, he tugs up Dipper’s shirt, prodding at the shallow cut. “What the hell, kid. I thought you said it hurt!”

“Ow.” Dipper’s stomach jumps at another poke. He smacks Bill’s hand away. “It does, alright? Quit poking.”

Bill doesn’t seem impressed. His fingers trail over the larger, older scar on Dipper’s left side, then glares at Dipper’s stomach like it’s insulted him. A beat, then - “You don’t usually complain.”

“I-” Okay, true. Dipper glares anyway. “Shut up.”

He doesn’t complain because it’s the only option. For all that Bill whines and teases and taunts Dipper, all the time, about being some ‘fragile mortal meatsack’, already rotting before his eyes, he really doesn’t like it when it’s brought forcefully to his attention.

God, he shouldn't have said anything. Ninety-five percent of the time, there isn’t any harm to mention. But when Dipper does ends up showing he is kind of… mortal, and it’s small, he just. Doesn’t bring it up. For all that they bicker all the time, he doesn’t like to make Bill upset.

Bill grunts, mouth turned down at the corners. He stands up quickly, folding his arms. His lip curls up in a sneer. “If you wanted attention, kid, there are way better ways to-”

Oh, fuck that. Dipper flips him off, and starts storming off.

God, this is stupid. Whenever Dipper ever breaks a bone or something, he gets teased about being so weak and vulnerable. Which he is, but neither of them like the reminder.

These days, it also comes with some weirdly maybe-sincere ‘kiss it better’ thing that Dipper then has to disinfect. A lot of hovering, and rambling commentary. Sometimes creative descriptions of how much worse it could have been, and Dipper never needed those, at any time. Bill gets oddly fixated on such random little moments, and it’s just -

Dipper doesn’t like it, is all. Bill gets the way he gets, it’s a lot, and it’s easier just to avoid it. If he were a different guy - a human guy, or even mostly-human monster- Dipper might try to talk to him about it.

But Bill’s a demon. Not normal, barely sane even on his best days, and worse, he’s Bill, so. That conversation would go precisely nowhere.

Behind him, he hears said demon approaching, fast. Stupid jerk. He should be as tall as his real form. That’d be fair. More accurate, too, and then Dipper could properly stomp off without Bill catching up so easily.

Already the bastard is by Dipper’s side. A tall, irritating presence. Hovering close without grabbing on, which adds to said irritation.

Dipper leans away, but Bill catches him around the waist and drags him in.

“Don’t get so grumpy, sapling, you’re fine! A little nick in the outer layer rarely killed anyone since they invented antibiotics.” Though he pinches Dipper’s cheek, he yanks his head away with a grunt. Bill sighs. “Everything’s a-okay here! Looks like I don't have to find a replacement just yet.”

Bill’s an idiot. Dipper scoffs, though an unpleasant feeling crawls in his gut. “Oh yeah? Who would you replace me with?”

“Eh, not like I got anyone specific in mind.” Bill waves that off, nonchalant. “But I have options! Lots of options.” He bumps a hip against Dipper. “Keep that in mind before you go charging off into obvious traps.”

This goddamn liar. Dipper elbows him in the side, because the asshole deserves it.

Not that Dipper’s worried, or anything. From what little he’s heard of Bill’s exes in the demonic rumor mill - Bill’s been, as they say, less than successful. Already Dipper’s outstripped his longest by years.. Bill can lie day in and day out about his options, put on a brave face - but they both know he’s not going to find this again. Not easily.

“Good luck finding another husband, asshole.” Dipper says with appropriate derision. It’s annoying that Bill even brought it up. There’s a good riposte in there, somewhere - but while his brain is coming up with an insult, his mouth runs on automatic. “But I was really worried that you would last week. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day until you sent a dick pic. It was weirdly comforting.”

Bill turns toward him with genuine surprise. He even blinks a few times, no retort emerging, and Dipper looks back at him with equal surprise.

Until his mind catches up with what he just said.

Dipper digs his heels in the ground, slamming to a halt. Clapping both hands to his mouth, eyes wide.

Beside him Bill nearly trips at the sudden stop, flailing for balance with a swear.

Shit, shit shit. Dipper really didn’t mean to say that. He knows Bill’s not looking around, that he’s not interested. Cynically, that he couldn’t manage it if he was. Last week was just a one-off anxiety, like all the others Dipper’s brain comes up with when it gets too much free time. Totally irrational, and really hard to stop fixating on.

Bill keeps staring. Not angry, just confused, for long enough that Dipper wants to shrink into the ground and melt into nothingness.

Then he asks, “What the hell, Pine Tree?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know why I thought that. I don’t know why I said that.” Dipper cringes into himself, grimacing and ducking his head. He runs a hand over his slightly sweaty face. “I didn't even want you to know I got hurt.”

At that, Bill snorts. “Oh, please. I’d have seen that first time I got your shirt off. You can’t keep secrets from me!”

Dipper folds his arms, internally seething - and his stupid mouth moves to say, “I’ve done it before.”

This time, the silence is tense.

Dipper wipes his sweating forehead again, not daring to meet Bill’s eye. God he shouldn't have -

Before he can think, he blurts out, “I think something’s wrong.”

“Probably!” Bill agrees, with a smile just a little too sharp. He takes Dipper’s face in both hands, eye narrowed. “Hold still a sec.”

As Bill’s eye flickers blue, and the magic between them surges - Dipper squirms a bit, but. Well. If anything’s wrong with him - magically, anyway - Bill’s the best one to diagnose it..

Bill tilts his head to one side, then the other. After a moment, his mouth twists up into something unpleasant, eye glowing slightly brighter for an instant.

Then he sighs, and lets Dipper go. His expression is neutral, except for the slightest downturn of his mouth. His lips part like he’s about to speak, then twist up into a grimace.

Uh oh.

Whatever Bill saw, he didn’t like it.

“What?” Dipper pats his head, then his chest. If there was something weird, magically about him, he - wouldn’t be able to tell, actually. He’s too close to get a good look. Oh god, what if he did hit his head too hard, and something in his brain is bleeding, or worse. “Wait. Am I dying?”

“Worse! You’re telling the truth.” Bill claps his hands together. Though he’s smiling again, it’s brittle and annoyed. “Don’t suppose you know any curse breakers that aren’t your great-uncle?”

“Not really,” Dipper admits. Bill's words catch up to him, and he bites his lip. Then, because the situation deserves it, “Fuck.”

Protection curse. The tablet.

Damn it.

A part of a horde, from a long time ago. Messed with. It should have been something less awful. Like warts, or sprouting plants from his skin, or a big fireball. Pretty much anything else would be less awful.

Truth curses are rare, they’re difficult as hell - but judging by the words spilling out of Dipper, he’s caught a pretty strong variant.

Of all the curses that could hit him. Why this one.

Hell, maybe it’s intended to be the worst curse possible for the ‘thief’. That would explain how targeted this feels.

And knowing Dipper’s luck, that part was explained on, like, the back of the tablet.

“Welp! Good thing I’m not short on contacts, kid.” Bill grapes his shoulder, shaking him a bit, before he trails an arm over Dipper’s shoulders. “Who wants some fumbling idiot uncle to fix this kinda spell, anyway?”

Dipper would! If it was feasible. He makes a brief attempt at shrugging Bill’s arm up before letting his shoulders slump.

The idea of Ford hearing about this is….

Dipper sucks in a breath through his teeth.

Ford really would have a way around this. He'd certainly have the best intentions, Dipper’s certain. He'd...

Also not have the best sense of boundaries.

Though he'd be doing it for the right reasons, he'd ask the wrong questions. Out of concern, and arguably valid worry; he's never fully believed that Bill can't influence him. Despite how many times Dipper’s tried to explain it to him, Ford just can’t wrap his mind around certain truths.

With this curse, though. Between poor social sense, the Pines curiosity, and what Dipper might blurt out, while compelled to answer -

On this, Dipper agrees with Bill. They’ll have to find something else to break this.

In the meantime, he’ll manage, like he has all the other times his life has sucked. Hardly the worst case scenario. If Bill had been cursed - someone who lies like he breathes - Who knows? Give it a few days, and he might just explode from all the backed up bullshit.

“Wait.” A horrible thought strikes. Dipper reels on his husband, eyes wide. “Are you okay?”

“What, me? I’m a perfectly moral human man,” Bill says, resting a hand on his chest, lifting his chin with pride. “A boring sentient mammal who’s never found curses entertaining.”

Yep, Bill’s fine. As always, it’s Dipper who gets the short end of the stick.

He breathes in slowly, and lets it out.

Yeah. Still sucks. He’ll deal. Cursed, but not dead. In danger, but not the worst - and his husband’s being annoying, which means he’s perfectly fine. There’s a solution too - it’s just going to be a huge, annoying process getting to it.

“So,” Bill says, slowly. Drawing the word out in a long string, while he finger-walks his arm up around Dipper’s shoulder.

Uh oh.

Speaking of annoying…

“Watch it,” Dipper hunches his shoulders, not daring to look his idiot husband in the eye. “You’re this close to sleeping on the couch for a month.” Not a big enough threat, Bill’s still thinking- “Or for a year.”

“Oh, sure,” Bill says, in a distracted tone. His fingers pause on their walk, one ‘leg’ poised on Dipper’s clavicle. They hold the position for a long moment, tapping out a little marching step - and seconds later, his palm slaps down on Dipper’s shoulder. “So, Pine Tree! How do you feel about this ‘Bill Cipher’ guy?”

Though Dipper resists, and he really tries to, the words slip out past his teeth, his lips form the sounds -

“I love you.” God. Damnit. He clenches his fists, as Bill’s sheer smugness radiates from him like heat. “And I’m thinking about shoving you off a cliff right now.”

When Bill paused, Dipper thought he might have fended this off. Wishful thinking, really, Bill’s almost impossible to stop. Dipper used what leverage he had, but all he’s managed to avoid are the worst, most invasive questions.

When it comes to Bill, that’s pretty close to a win.

Not that it’s going to feel like one.

Bill has, in fact, been encouraged. Now that he’s heard something he likes, he leans in like a weird creep. Dipper can practically hear the leer in his voice. “And on a scale of one to ten, how handsome am I?

“Ten point five,” Dipper needs to loosen his jaw or he might break a filling. Being pumped for information is bad enough without pumping up Bill’s already ridiculous ego. “You bastard.”

Bill’s chest puffs out, there’s a strut in his stride. The grin is so wide now Dipper’s pretty sure it should hurt- and if he dares to pucker up, he’s not getting lips on his awful face. “And am I the most clever and sexually amazing guy in the universe or what?

This time, Dipper snorts.

“Definitely not.” He ignores the sharp, indignant sound next to him, tilting his head in thought. “For one, there’s succubi and incubi, so. Sexually, you’re not even on top amongst demons.” He glances over at the offended ‘o’ of Bill’s mouth. “And I know you’re not the most clever, because I win our debates nearly half the time. Maybe you’re up there, but not the most. And that’s just the surface level stuff.”

Dipper doesn’t have a complete cosmological view of the multiverse, but he has learned a lot. Mostly stuff he picked up from his husband, and demonic gossip. It’s absolutely enough to go on a long, long ramble about how Bill most likely doesn’t rank number one in anything. If Dipper avoids the topics where he actually is.

He’s barely fifteen seconds in before Bill starts scowling, with a grumpy hunch to his shoulders - But screw him.

Dipper starts smiling, just a bit. Then, to be a dick, he adds,

“The ten and a half is just me, anyway. To the average human, you’re maybe an eight..” Dipper continues, over another spluttered protest. Again, true; not everyone likes the slightly inhuman maniac cyclops look. “Six with your personality.”

Bill groans. “Ugh, you pedant.” He squeezes Dipper’s shoulder, jostling him slightly. “C’mon, you know what I meant! What’s the real - “

“Don’t ask questions if you can’t handle the answers,” Dipper warns, jabbing Bill in the chest. So far it hasn’t been too much, but it could be. Time to draw a line. “I will suck so much fun out of this for you.”

Bill Cipher, unintentional teacher once more. Now Dipper knows the curse isn’t about perfect truth. When he can deliberately misinterpret a question’s intent, and can go on tangents - that means he has loopholes. There might even be more, if he tries.

And if they can’t get this settled soon, he’ll need every one of those he can find.

“Clever brat.” Bill’s frowning, but he can’t disguise the amusement in his voice. His eyebrows wiggle, his arm hauling him close - "Go ahead, then. Anything else you wanna share?"

"I know two and half ways to kill you, Bill Cipher." Dipper gets right up in his face. He won’t let Bill push this any further. "Don't tempt me to use them."

Being face to face like this, Dipper watches Bill’s eye go wide - ha, didn’t expect that, did he. With that threat, he’ll -

Start cackling. And weirdly, turn a little pink. Dipper feels all the momentum he had whoosh out of him like sad balloon animal.

“Boy, you are a saucy one!” Bill whistles, low. He places his hands demurely on his cheeks, fluttering his eye at Dipper with amusement. “Oh, yeah. Talk deadly to me.”

By this time, Dipper figures he should be used to stumbling into demonic flirtation. Only it turns out it’s basically fractal in nature, and he keeps running into new and newer edge cases.

“Fun as this is - we gotta get you cleared up, and no time like the present!” Bill’s calmed down enough to scoop an arm around his waist, leading Dipper onward. “Can’t have you babbling everything to everyone, y’know?”

“What, you don’t want me telling you everything?” Total bullshit. Dipper elbows him in the side. “I thought you wanted to get in my head.”

“Hey! I didn’t ask for our game to be set on ‘beginner’ mode. That’s boring.” Bill flicks his fingers - but he’s got his ‘evading questions’ look on. “You’re lucky I’m so- oof.”

Another elbow, harder this time. Bill grunts, but capitulates. Rubbing at his eye briefly, he sighs.

“So! How many of my secrets would you say you know, Pine Tree?” Bill tightens his grip on Dipper’s waist, tugging him closer. “And I’m talking about the ones that I wouldn’t enjoy getting out in the world.”

“More than I can count.” Dipper says without thinking. Then, with thinking - “Oh.”

Dipper hadn’t considered how much Bill’s taught him, before this exact moment. How much he’s learned. Even unintentionally. Especially unintentionally.

Crap, even his threat before was kind of -

Shit. There’s definitely, absolutely, no way can they go to Ford about this. Total recipe for disaster.

“See? We both got liabilities in play here.” Bill moves easily as Dipper picks up the pace. If anything he’s amused, and not feeling nearly as urgent. Another reason he’s an idiot. “All we gotta do is get you patched up quick, and no more loose lips sinking ships! Easy-peasy.”

“It better be,” Dipper mutters. Nothing ever goes right for him. And by extension, them.

“Trust me, kid! I got this handled!” Bill snaps his fingers - and smacks Dipper’s butt with a wink. “I know some guys!”

#answers #Not my best work but I haven't posted in a while so here's a thing!#I will get better at writing I swear #There are references to the whump fic in this just so you know #It is canon that Dipper didn't die but the how and the aftermath are for the sequel #Anyway whump sequel is going decent and I have some ideas for other stuff #Don't worry Dipper Ford wouldn't even think to ask you the questions you're worried about #He assumes that Bill would never ever let you know those facts #And technically Bill never told Dipper either of those two and a half ways but you learn a lot from being married for a few years #I don't have any more interesting tag facts other than that don't expect a timely sequel to this because I have so much stuff to complete #I hope it's at least fun to read!

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centipedelightning · 8 months

Note

Could you do an Undertale, Underfell, and maybe Underswap with an enderman-like S/O, like they're really tall, jet black skin, can teleport, the whole shebang. But instead of eye contact making them aggressive, it just makes them really anxious and on edge.

(To clarify, I see teleporting and short cutting as to different things. Teleporting is instantaneous disappearing and then reappearing while shortcutting is more like a portal type thing)

(Love your hcs, btw. Here, have some chocolate 🍫 ❤️)

Enderman-like OCs and stuff are always so cool bc Endermen are cool. And thank you!! can't have chocolate without strawberries though! so here !! 🍓🍓🍓. I agree btw! I don't always write it, but I've always seen shortcuts as needing to happen at the edge of the screen/at certain points in the world like doorways. So portal-like if you don't think about it too much!

| UT/UF/US x Enderman-esque!Reader || Romantic || Fluff |

Sans

How neat!

Up until meeting you, he's been the only Monster that can disappear and reappear he knows.

On the surface, he definitely likes to race you and see who can get further faster. The deciding factor is genuinely only on if you can teleport before Sans can get to a shortcut.

Y'all's score is about even.

Listen. This man is like 5'2" (~157cm). Even if you aren't exceptionally tall, like 6' (~182cm), he has to try to look in your eyes.

Try to tell him pretty early on in the relationship, but even if you put it off you really don't need to worry too much.

For others though, he tries to act as a mediator to give you a second to prepare yourself.

His life as a stand-up comedian has also given him a few tips and tricks to help you.

Things like "Look just slightly past the person you're talking to" and "Look right between their eyes"

Once you guys are pretty established in your relationship Sans makes sure to keep something for you to hold onto in his pocket.

Sometimes it's a fidget toy. Sometimes it's a roll of tape he snagged out of the junk drawer on the way out the door.

Truly depends on the day.

Papyrus

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU DON'T USE YOUR TELEPORTING TO BE A LAZY-BONES LIKE MY BROTHER"

Tred... Carefully here.

He thinks it's neat sure, but if he catches you teleport from the couch to the kitchen for a snack back to the couch prepare to be lectured.

He's not mad at you he's just passionate.

You can buy his silence very easily if you are willing to surprise him with a grocery run without needing to drive.

Papyrus is scary good at reading people, so if you don't mention that you can't do eye contact, he'll figure it out by the end of the day.

So, regardless of whether you tell him or not, he will start fully turning his head away from you while you guys talk.

He doesn't even need to be able to see your face normally.

He can be doing something with his back to you and he will instinctively turn his head.

Yes, that does probably mean he turned enough to see you slightly.

That also means he can see what he's doing less so you might want to remind him to look forward lest y'all have a mess.

As a crafty guy, he'll make you some little item for you to hold onto if you need to.

Introduce him to fidget toys. He'll lose his mind.

Red

Stressed mostly.

Underground, someone who can teleport is bad news.

Once you get into his good graces, he's your biggest fan.

Have you ever been a living taxi? Do you want to be? regardless of the answer Red is gonna try to mooch a free trip out of you all the time.

Similar to Sans, he's short. You really don't need to worry about constant eye contact from him.

Or any Monster for that matter. I've always seen Fell-verses as not being eye contact heavy for probably obvious reasons.

Red still does try to give you some tips and they are somewhat similar to Sans'.

He likes to whittle things with interesting textures for you to hold and mess with.

Think something like a little animal figure with ridges and bumps and stuff.

Edge

So here's the thing about Edge.

He is not dumb and he is very emotionally intelligent.

That awareness of the world does not overpower his lack of chill.

He makes the Most Intense eye contact with people and you are going to need to tell him to knock it off.

Because you can be completely turned away from him and you will still feel his gaze.

Once your relationship progresses more, he stops trying to turn you to stone with his eye sockets.

By that point, he will also be comfortable telling you to do whatever you want so you don't need to worry yourself about looking in other people's eyes. If they say anything he is more than ready to tell them off for you.

Obviously, he also has a similar worry to his brother about your teleportation. At least initially. He's in the royal guard and a high-ranking member at that! He has a right to be a little wary.

What he won't tell you is that he's easy to please so you can do the bare minimum to prove your friendship/interest in him and he folds.

If you're the type that's into it, he really enjoys sparring with you. He thinks your teleporting is a really fun challenge.

Edge will find you the tiniest, most obscenely complex puzzle boxes on the market to give you.

He says it's something about keeping your mind sharp but it's more so insurance that you won't get bored of it too quickly.

That and he likes bragging about his datemate being able to solve complex puzzles.

Blue

Despite the height difference, he looks you in the eyes super hard all the time.

It's not to be mean or anything! He's just passionate and forgetful.

This is one of the few guys where avoiding eye contact is gonna be more on you.

He'll notice after a bit during conversation and relax a bit but until then...

He thinks your teleporting is pretty neat!

He's not crazy about the lazy applications of your ability, but who's he to tell you to stop teleporting?

He complains even less once he realizes you can take the both of you on spontaneous, last-minute date nights.

He likes to give you his things to hold onto.

He tries to keep it to a reasonable size but you have ended up with one of his action figures before.

Guess you can carry it in a bag?

If you like much smaller objects he'll give you cool rocks out of his collection

Stretch

He was already a couch potato before meeting you, he's even worse now.

To shortcut he still has to get up and walk to a spot where he can but you? You can just poof from wherever?

Yeahhhh you're on snack duty from now until forever. That includes the convenience store.

Force him to come with you. Don't let him get too comfortable.

Stretch isn't big on eye contact himself, so neither of you has ever had a problem with it.

Stretch will find you cool knickknacks to hold onto. usually super little ones with a button or switch. Something tactile.

If it's your style, he is also willing to sew you a little stuffed animal or something. It makes it happy to know it's being loved regularly.

#papyrus x reader #sans x reader #undertale x reader #undertale imagines #undertale scenarios #ut!papyrus #ut!sans #uf!papyrus #uf!sans #us!papyrus #us!sans #x reader #underfell x reader #underswap x reader #•centipede writes•

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annymation · 2 months

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Fun facts about “Kingdom of Wishes” characters

I’m bored, so have some random facts about the characters from my wish rewrite!

Random picture just cause I like to have eye catching pics as “thumbnails” for my blogs and also I can totally see my version of Asha making this pose.

Anyway, if you haven’t read my Kingdom of Wishes- A Wish Rewrite then this post might not make much sense, feel free to read it anyway though, there’s no spoilers.

On to the fun facts!

Asha✨

Asha sometimes sits hunched over when she's drawing. Her friends constantly have to remind her to keep her back straight otherwise she'll get a bad posture.

After Simon gave away his wish and became… Well, sleepy, she had to become the voice of reason in their group, the big sister in a way, since she was now the eldest. She wasn’t that good at leading before though so she left most of it to Dahlia.

Asha's favorite color is purple, obviously, and she dresses in purple for her birthday, however, her second favorite color that she also wears often is orange.

She's not very good interacting with kids, believe it or not, of course she likes kids, but she has a hard time knowing how to play with them.

Asha did meet the king in person ONCE before her 18th birthday… I’ll leave it at that.

Aster 💫

Aster is canonically the star Lacaille 8760

Picked this one because it looks like he’s boxed up in the middle of other brighter stars that make up the Microscope constellation, and yeah there is a microscope constellation and it’s straight up just a square. He’s one of the nearest stars to the Sun, at about 12.9 light-years' distance, however his light is so faint it’s almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

2. Aster’s eyes can see what people desire, more clearly if he holds the person’s hand, like an empath, but even without touching the person he can see what they want, but only if he focus, and the way he sees it is like words surrounding the person.

3. I said this once in a ask but I’ll say it again, I see Aster and Rapunzel’s powers as connected, not that all Disney movies are connected with KOW, but Tangled at least is pretty close. So, Rapunzel got her powers from a sun drop, right? Well, the sun is a star, we can assume she has star powers. My point is that if Aster was to sing the Rapunzel’s healing song they’d glow and heal any injured person around, and make the elderly younger, Magnifico sure didn’t know that though because if he did he’d just do what Gothel did and lock Aster up.

4. Aster could hear Asha reading stories with Sabino every night, and that’s one of the many ways they became interested in human culture.

5. Aster often annoyed some stars by complaining that their constellations didn’t look like what humans called them as, like the Cetus constellation doesn’t look like a sea monster, or the Leo constellation didn’t look like a lion, even though the stars had no control over how humans saw them as and they couldn’t change their positions in the sky.

Magnifico 🫧

Magnifico could look younger if he drank his wife's rejuvenating potions, but they taste horrible and every time she drinks them (Twice a year) she screams in agony like her insides are burning, only to then turn to him with a smile and ask "Want some, my love?" and he just replies with "... Thanks dear, but I think I'll stick with my skincare routine."

Most of his "passionate king" persona he got from copying his brother's mannerisms, after all, his father always said he should be more like his little brother.

He kinda hates that little hair strand coming out on his forehead, but no matter how much hair gel he applies on it, the hair strand always comes back... Also his brother had an identical one.

Kings and queens in Rosas usually don't wear crowns, as the culture is for them to feel close to the people, not above them. However, Magnifico gifted Amaya with a tiara, that has a red garnet on her forehead, red garnets are associated with love, passion, and desire, but it has also been known to represent other things such as courage, strength, and protection. Basically he gave her a lucky charm. He also gave her the sash with the drawing of a moon she wears on her waist, it used to be his when he was a prince.

I can’t for the life of me decide which one of these Magnifico would wear to sleep:

I can see him wearing either of them. Same for Amaya.

Amaya 👑

1.Amaya pretty much had to teach Magnifico how to be a likable figure. I implied it a little bit in the story with Magnifico saying stuff like “Well, I did have the best teacher” to Amaya after he made a little acting scene on chapter “When Blue Turns Green”. Point is, before meeting her Magnus was pretty much an antisocial, reclusive prince that avoided even being seen in public. For him to become the larger than life, enthusiastic king we know in the story he and Amaya had to practice his social skills a lot, think of it like Belle teaching the Beast proper manners, Amaya changed him… But for the worst.

2.Like I explained on her backstory, Amaya is from Greece, and she committed some very serious crimes over there. So every time Rosas receives visitors from Greece Amaya puts on the hood of her cloak over her head during the wish ceremonies. It’s kinda funny, any other wish ceremony she looks normal, but whenever Greek people are around she goes:

3.I imagine some fun shenanigans must have happened over the years with Amaya’s potions going wrong, like she tests it on a rat and it turns into a giant rat running around the castle, or she mislabels the potions and drinks one that turns her into a worm 🐛 so Magnifico gotta prove he’d love her even if she was a worn and turn her back to normal.

4.Amaya is kinda like the moon in this story, because the moon doesn’t shine every night, in some phases the moon is barely visible, just like how Amaya is most of the time more in the background while Magnifico shines like the sun, but, when it IS her time to shine, just like a full moon, she outshines Magnifico himself.

5.She likes to feel comfy, she often walks around the castle with no shoes on most of the time but no one can tell because of her long dress.

Aaaand that’s all I got, hope you guys like this additional content, might inspire some fun asks hehe 😜

Thank You For Reading!

#wish rewrite #wish reimagined #kingdom of wishes #disney wish #wish 2023 #disney #wish movie #wish #wish disney #wish star

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charliedawn · 1 year

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Can you do something (platonic) with the slashers reacting to finding bruises on nurse y/n that she gut from her boyfriend (if this makes you uncomfortable feel free to ignore I don't wanna make anyone uncomfortable p. S I'M IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITING your very talented)

Penny never pretended to be a good creature. He was unpredictable, horrifying even. He had attacked and eaten more children than he cared to admit...But then, he had met you.

You weren't judgemental. You had tried to find the best in him and it had led to him getting affected with this thing humans call affection.

He had come to care about you and watch you more than anyone else in the compound, which led to him finding out about the bruises and the fake smiles you would sometime offer to the others.

But, he wasn't fooled.

Penny *grabs your arm and suddenly pulls your sleeve up knowingly to uncover the bruises*

You *pull away quickly with glistening eyes*: "Do not touch me.."

"Y/N...", he moaned sadly as he saw the pain and hurt in your eyes as you pulled away.

"P...Patients must remain in their cells.", you muttered and tried to step away from him, but he growled and pulled you in his arms.

"...He won't hurt you ever again."

And that was a promise he intended to keep.

That very night, he made sure to escape and follow you home.

The moment you stepped inside, he heard yelling and something being smashed over someone's head.

He immediately stormed in to find you on the floor, blood dripping down your forehead as your boyfriend stood over you.

"That'll teach you to come back late.."

Penny's eyes turned red and in an instant, he was on your boyfriend and made sure to hear each of his screams as he tear him to pieces.

He then carefully picked you up and ran back to the hospital.

He wouldn't lose you. Not like this..

It took some time for J to realize what was wrong with you, as he wasn't exactly interested at first.

He wasn't blind to the way you pulled at the sleeves of your shirt to cover the bruises and the scars, or the amount of make-up you would put on to cover your face.

He wouldn't normally point them out.

But, he came to care more than her cared to admit.

"Hey, darling. Just wanted to let you know that your lovely blue complexion is showing.."

Your eyes widened in terror as you quickly raised your hand to your face and pulled out a mirror in a panic—only to find nothing.

You frowned in incomprehension before looking back at J who offered you a knowing grin.

"~Got you...You know, I really hate when pretty little things such as yourself get hurt. So, I'll do you a solid. The moment I get out of this cell, I'll do you a special home visit.."

Your lips finally cracked a weak smile at him before you replied.

"You wouldn't be the only monster in that house...Mister J."

His smile faltered and he cracked his neck slightly as he thought of someone raising a finger on such a sweet creature...And it led to that one fateful night when you were off duty.

You came home and the first thing you noticed was the trail of blood. Your bag hit the floor and you were about to scream when a hand covered your mouth.

"Ssh...Lovely. It's just me. Your old friend J'. Now, I'll need you to stay quiet for me, sweetheart."

You nodded understandingly before he let out a small sigh and released you.

"Now, you could stay here and call the police, even though I'd love you to leave me a few seconds head start...Or, you could follow me and leave all this sh*t behind ?"

He was offering you a way out and secretly wished you would take it.

You stared at his outstretched hand and then at the trail of blood before returning your gaze on him.

"Will you hurt me too ?", you asked and J seemed surprised before shaking his head and closing his fingers on your hand gently.

"Never."

Brahms heard everything.

You had just moved into his house and he knew that you were being abused.

However, you had forbidden him to act and he wanted to be a good boy for you...but, even good boys can sometimes act out of step.

It turned out to be the case when you returned home one day and your scumbag of a boyfriend decided it was the best time to get his nerves out on you.

"YOU'RE LATE, YOU B*TCH !"

He hit you and Brahms' hands bawled into fists.

Your boyfriend didn't have the time to even turn around before he was grabbed by the back of the neck and his face was slammed against the wall.

Brahms *breathing heavily* : "....Get out. Now."

Your boyfriend didn't need to be told twice as he basically ran out of the house.

Brahms *turns back towards you with teary eyes* : "...Y/N ?"

You were too stunned to speak and when he knelt in front of you, your eyes widened as he gently cradled you in his arms to carry you to bed.

Brahms *moving the hair out of your face to assess the damage on your face* : "....Brahms will make it all okay. Promise."

He then hugged you as you started crying in his arms.

You were asleep when you heard noises coming from downstairs.

You tiptoed to the ground floor and your eyes widened as you saw a trail of blood leading to outside.

You were about to follow it when someone entered, a dark shadow that stopped when it saw you.

"Sorry, did I wake you, darling ?"

You recognized the voice as Norman's and it did reassure you a bit, but your eyes then went back to the blood trail and then, you noticed the state he was in...It made you question what exactly had happened.

"Where were you ?", you asked and Norman sighed.

"Would you believe me if I said I was taking out the trash ?"

You arched a skeptical eyebrow and wondered if he was lying to you ?

"...I could have taken care of it myself.", you finally said and Norman smiled.

"I'm sure you could have. It's just that this particular bag was particularly filthy and I wouldn't have wanted it to soil your pretty little hands."

You couldn't help but smile at the end and sigh in defeat before taking his bloody hand and leading him away.

"Where are we going ?"

"The bathroom. To clean you up.."

You wouldn't talk about it. You wouldn't point out that your boyfriend was missing. You wouldn't ask how he did it.

You wouldn't ask, because you already knew the answer.

Norman had done what he thought was right, and you wouldn't be the one to judge him for it.

Now, Jack knows what it means to make a mistake. He made lots in his life.

But, when the mistakes become recurrent, repetitive and bloodier each time...It was high time he did something about it.

He once found you locked up in a freezer while your boyfriend was getting himself a beer...That was the last draw.

He took out his axe and ignored you when you tried to tell him he didn't have to do it...

Jack : "Like hell I don't ! He got more warnings than I ever had. He was dense enough not to listen. It's over, sunshine. Ain't gonna be passive and dumb this time around.."

And he wasn't.

The moment your boyfriend showed up at the door, Jack had swung his axe at him so hard, his guts spilled out.

Jack *covered in blood and panting* : "There's a good boyfriend. All bloody and dead."

He then turned around to face you and smiled, his eyes shining golden in the dark.

Jack : "You'll see, darling. I'll protect you. I'll protect you from bastards like us."

You tear up as Jack's axe fell to the floor as you ran to hug him.

"YOU'RE NOT LIKE HIM ! YOU'LL NEVER BE LIKE HIM !"

He was left stunned for a moment before he smiled and ruffled your hair playfully.

"Yeah...Right."

Boyfriend ? What boyfriend ? Nope. Never heard of him.

There was a parasite though.

He got rid of it.

#pennywise x reader #pennywise 2017 #jack torrance x reader #michael myers #norman bates x reader #brahms heelsire x reader #j x reader

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cyberdragoninfinity · 2 years

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I'm sorry but WHAT is happening in Duel Links??

*CRACKS KNUCKLES* ALRIGHT im certain other people could explain this better than I could (bark at me if any of this is wrong,) but, an attempt at a quick rough tl;dr of it:

so like. an important thing to note with DL is that like..... the in-universe explanation for Duel Links is that it's one of Seto Kaiba's new VR Next Evolution of Dueling Ego Projects, which like, ok sure, he Makes Those, but what's a little alarming with this one is that technically (almost) none of the characters In The Game are actually Those Characters Specifically, they're AI recreations of them with their original self's memories (that's already a lot, right out the gate.) (I say "almost" everyone because I think it's implied DSOD Kaiba and maybe Mokuba actually Are them because it's Their Game and they're always product testing it, there might be others though)

anyway another thing with this situation is that, uh, Most Characters in Duel Links Do Not Know They're AI. They just assume they're the original guy, that's just them! Hanging out in this cool new Duel VR! But then sometimes you DO get characters who actively are aware that they're just code in a video game (Yami Bakura and Bruno 5D's both comment on it), so you have this really interesting ecosystem of duelists who Are aware they don't really exist, and duelists who are None the Wiser. absolutely batshit.

and sure this is all well and fine with like, DM and maybe GX characters, ok sure it makes sense Kaiba would be recreating notable duelists of that era, but i cannot stress enough He Is Also Making AI Recreations of Dead People. DL very much takes place post-manga, post-DSOD. But Yami Yugi is There. Yami Bakura and Yami Marik are Very There. Manga Pegasus is there. Seto "I Will Never Learn to Come to Terms With Grief" Kaiba is actively raising the dead in his little VR card game simulator so they can live forever and there's a 50/50 chance they'll be FULLY AWARE that they died. JESUS.

There's also the hulking elephant in the room of Duel Links Has Been Including Characters From Series Kaiba Has Nothing to Do With For Quite Some Time Now--and a lot of those characters are like HEY. WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE. like I SWEAR someone from either Zexal or Arv-V was actively like "hi what the hell is KaibaCorp" so like...Kaiba's branding is ALL OVER THE VR WORLD EVEN IN THE WORLDS HE DIDNT EXIST IN. It's painting this absolute off the rails picture of Seto Kaiba trying to create this virtual multiverse of The Best Duelists From Every Timeline Living or Dead, and half the guys he's pulling in at this point are like *spawns into a perfect recreation of their hometown with no real idea of who did this* "what in the goddamn."

like guys from zexal/arc-v are actively IN GAME like trying to figure out why this VR world exists and who created it. It's absolutely wild and fascinating to watch. excited to see what happens when they add VRAINS world next month?!?!? idk anything about VRAINS really but it's probably going to make the DL lore even more bananas.

ANYWAY. ALL OF THAT SAID. NOW WE HAVE MAXIMILLION PEGASUS DROPPING IN-GAME OMINOUS SENTIMENTS it's kind of a culmination of all of the aforementioned shit. Duel Links Pegasus (an AI recreation of manga!Pegasus, who is fully aware A.) that's he's dead and B.) that there's multiple worlds and timelines crammed into this Virtual Reality) has a conversation with Paradox (an AI recreation of Paradox the Bonds Beyond Time Yugioh Movie Bad Guy, who, for all intents and purposes, fully believes he's the real dude and he wants to kill-die-explode-murder Pegasus SO BAD) breaking down that "hey, this place unites different histories, and if you kill me duel monsters won't cease to exist. Anyway, I'm not real! Ohoho! This world holds threads of tragedy, Paradox-boy!" <-- (not verbatim. but i wish it was.) Meanwhile Paradox is having a sputtering breakdown right next to him. This is a video game to play yugioh the trading card game.

like. it's just absolutely wild. konami could have just said "hey heres yugioh characters from every series. whatever" but no instead they threw in a bunch of mild psychological horror and inter-series friction and existentialism and it's a freemium video game that i have 600+ hours on on steam. yugioh duel links !

#ygo posting #wow! that was not quick or a tl;dr at all! SORRY DFGHDGF #i guess the real tl;dr is ''seto kaiba is mentally unwell and now he's making it Every Yugioh Character's Problem." lmao #honey-bunnysaurus #asks #anyway i wish someone would make a DL lore video essay so bad...really the only DL video content out there right now #is strictly about the meta of the card game (which dont get me wrong is also fascinating in its own right)#but i wanna see someone talk about the absolute insane lore that is happened directly outside of the actual card game!!!#i wanna be vindicated that im not the only person noticing this!!!!#duel links

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devilmayfamily · 1 year

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holds out cup a little crumb of dmc boys x reader with add/adhd please? maybe with some angst sprinkled in? i don't mean to be greedy, i am just a small simp 😔

GN!Reader Angst/Comfort Think I made myself tear up a little with these haha enjoy!

Dante

When you find something you love, you can talk about it for hours

Lucky for you, Dante loves hearing about your hypertfixations

He finds it wonderful to see you excited about something and wants to know everything you can about it

One day while talking to Dante, you notice him seemingly not paying as much attention as he usually does

He'd been writing in a notebook the entire you'd been talking

You instantly begin to think you might be annoying him or boring him and slowly stop talking

When you do, he looks up at you worried

"What's wrong sweet pea? Why did you stop talking?"

"Do I... Do I annoy you?"

He's quite shocked

You could never annoy him!

"Never! I love when you tell me all about the things you are interested in!"

"You've been looking at that notebook this entire time though"

Dante softly smiles before flipping the notebook so you see it

On the page is a list of everything you've ever told Dante about, new and old

"I've been keeping a list of the things you like. I was adding this to it"

Dante pulls you in, kissing all over your face until you start laughing

He will reassure you anytime you need it and sometimes even when you don't expect it

He loves listening to you ramble on and on and he won't ever let you think otherwise

Vergil

Vergil is a man with his own problems and one of those is perfection

Growing up, Vergil worked hard to earn his father's approval and maintain it

Getting ready for a mission one day, Vergil notices lots of things are missing or out of place

"Sweetheart, where is everything? I need to get going soon"

"Oh! It's, um..."

"Sweetheart, please"

"I remember! I promise! It's- It's..."

"Y/N! Why can't you just remember these things?!"

Vergil instantly regretted yelling at you

He knew you were trying your hardest

He couldn't get his apology in, however, as you ran off and he had to get to this mission at this point

You spent the rest of the day with Nero, the kid making threats to his father and reassuring you

When Vergil came home, he was greeted by an angry Nero

"You better fix this"

Nero lets his father in, taking him to you instantly

You're curled up on the couch, a look of fear when you see Vergil walk in

It breaks Vergil to see you scared of him, its the one thing he didn't want to do

"I'm sorry, love"

He has a few gifts for you; your comfort food, a soft sweater in Vergil's signature royal blue and a matching blanket

Without warning, you pull Vergil into a hug, ignoring the gifts

He holds you tightly, as close as he can get you to him

Vergil works on forgetting about perfection because really, nothing will ever be perfect

As long as he has you though, it's near damn perfect

He lost you

Again

"Angel! Come back! Where are you?!"

He told you to stay right next to him while he talked to this guy to get info

Now, he turns and finds you've run off

Again

"Angel!!"

It wasn't safe for you out here

Who knows what demon or monster of a human would find you

V knows you can hold your own but that doesn't stop him from worrying about you when you venture off like this

As V rounds a corner, he sees you battling it out with a demon

A demon that just pierced your leg

"YOU INSISTENT FOOL, LET GO OF THEM"

The demon flings you in a different direction before growling at the poet

V takes down the demon before rushing over to you

You were laying on the asphalt, the pincer of the demon still stuck in your leg

V doesn't say anything to you, just helps you up and gets you back to home base as quickly as possible

Vergil patches you up and makes sure you don't try running after your boyfriend back onto the battlefield

Later when V and Dante come back, Vergil leads Dante out of the room so you and V could talk

"I'm sorry for running off again"

"Oh angel"

V pulls you into a hug, trying not to hurt your leg

"Not out of sight anymore, please"

The two of you work on it over the next few weeks leading up to your next mission together

V's gentle with you as well, softly reminding you when you need it until it becomes second nature

And if you have to get out of his sight for something, you tell him before running off. A lot of the time he follows

V also reminds you he loves you more than anything

He doesn't want you getting hurt again

He has trust in you though

While you can't help it every time, he trusts that you'll come back in one piece

His little wanderer

Nero

You weren't listening again

Your attention was somewhere else and Nero could tell

He was trying to brief you on a mission but you weren't taking in anything he was saying

"Baby, you getting any of this?"

Focusing on Nero, you stiffen and your face becomes pale

You realize you've been daydreaming the entire time and the look on Nero's face tells you everything

He's disappointed

Blotches of color return to your face as hot tears slowly roll down your cheeks

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Nero watched as you bow your head, holding your wrist out, the sight making his heart ache

He knew the orphanage people were terrible to you for being a little different than everyone else but the stance you held was so defenseless, it was like you were expecting someone to hit you

He slowly walks over, taking your hand in his

He sits down next to you on the couch, slowly putting your arm down

You look up at him, the scared confused expression stained with tears making Nero tear up himself

"I'm not upset, baby"

You begin to cry again, this time pulling Nero into a hug

He holds on to you, slowly rubbing your back and whispered soothing reassurance into your ear

"You're safe now. I won't hurt you like they did"

"I'm sorry"

Nero quietly shushes you, telling you it's ok

Once you'd calmed down and Nero checked in with you to make sure you were ok, he slowly went back over the mission

He checked in with you to make sure you understood and rewarded you with kisses when you were able to repeat back to him

If you couldn't, that was ok. Nero simply went back over whatever part he was on

He was forced to watch back then when you two were kids, getting punished for being different. Sometimes taking extra beatings for trying to save or defend you

He wasn't going to let that continue now

You may be different, but that wasn't going to stop him from loving you anyways

He reassures you and rewards you for any and everything

You may be different but that's exactly what Nero loved about you

#dmc #dmc5 #devil may cry 5 #dante dmc5 #dmc vergil #dante sparda #dmc nero #nero sparda #vergil sparda #devil may cry #dmc v #v dmc5 #dmc v x reader #dmc5 vitale x reader #dmc5 vitale #dante x reader #vergil x you #nero x reader

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maverick-werewolf · 3 months

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Werewolf Fact #72 - Returning to Human Form

Time for Werewolf Fact #72! Wow, that's a lot. And that's not counting all the books and articles and ask responses and other things I've done over the years. It's been a fun ride.

But for now, let's turn our attention to something a patron pointed out I've never actually discussed... what makes a werewolf return to human form?

I'll be honest: popular culture has taken much more of an interest in laying out the details about returning to the human form than did folklore, overall. In folklore, the act of changing to and from was certainly the centerpiece of the horror, but popular culture and its emphasis on werewolf characters led into a deeper evaluation of such an experience. Folklore also generally discussed the transformation into a monster much more than out of it, at least in more laborious and horrific detail (see Lykaon, Niceros, etc).

We see painful transformations to the werewolf form in folklore quite a bit, as I've discussed before. In fact, the prime example is one of the earliest surviving recorded werewolf legends. And yet even turning into the bestial form was occasionally painless in folklore, involving donning a magic skin or performing a simple ritual to suddenly become a wolf. As for the werewolf returning to the human form, as far as folklore is concerned, that often seems almost or entirely effortless.

Obviously, in popular culture, it's much more common to have the dramatic to or from in either form. I'm personally a big fan of this, as you'd know if you've read any of my fiction (be sure to check that out at my website!), but if you really want to get down and dirty with werewolves being true to folklore, frankly it is overall common for neither transformation to be painful. And certainly it is even less common for the return to human form to be a particularly traumatic or jarring event. That doesn't make for a super dramatic story, though, so we see - especially in past werewolf stories, ones that emphasized horror more - the traumatic tos and froms.

With that out of the way, here are some methods of returning to the human form in folklore...

End of certain timeframe - The most common of triggers to return to the human form, many werewolves will reassume the human form after a certain amount of time has passed. For instance, werewolves in Greek myths like those of Arcadia could return to their human form after seven or ten years, if they hadn't devoured any human flesh. Likewise, other werewolves would return after a certain number of days or even weeks had passed, with or without other circumstances.

At will - There are cases of the werewolf returning to human form at will throughout folklore, or else it is unspecified if there are any other required circumstances or acts.

Removing the magic skin/item - This can vary from being difficult (such as with Sigmund and Sinfjotli) to being as easy as "peeling back the wolf skin," such as in the tale of the werewolves of Ossory. There are many other examples as well, with varying degrees of difficulty or triggers.

Using a salve - In some stories, a salve is rubbed on the body to reassume the human form. This is also the case with assuming the wolf form. This is more common in the Renaissance/Early Modern period, overall, often with Satanic werewolf or even witches-rebranded-as-werewolves-by-modern-scholars, though there are a few cases otherwise.

Putting on your clothes again - In some stories, a werewolf who sheds his clothes turns into the wolf form, and in order to don the human form once more, he must return to his clothing. Sometimes, the clothes turn to stone in the meantime, until he returns to put them back on. Or, such as with Bisclavret, the clothes may be hidden, trapping the werewolf in bestial form.

Curse removal - In some stories, whoever cursed the werewolf must lift the curse in order to return the werewolf to human form. This is the case in tales wherein the werewolf doesn't go back and forth at all but is someone cursed to become a wolf and stay that way until said curse is lifted, less like a traditional werewolf.

Daybreak - Some werewolves returned to the human form at daybreak. While this didn't appear in stories directly very often, it is mentioned in assorted sourcebooks, such as Baring-Gould and Summers discussing werewolves and how "the desire comes upon them at night." It can also be speculated based on events in stories, such as Niceros's Tale, but the circumstances there were never explicitly stated. So this one may be slightly more questionable than the others if you want direct story sources, but I'd say there are plenty of sources around enough to justify it being on this list.

I am not including those funky ones you see all across the internet that weirdos bandy about in their clickbait list articles, like "tossing iron over the werewolf's head" or whatever, because I need a lot more cross-referenced actual examples of those to include them in a list such as this, as opposed to unfounded Google results that D&D players then like to grab and turn into le silleh memes.

Note that this list, as always, doesn't cover every single possibility seen in folklore. I'm not even going to pretend I'm trying to do that here. That will be in the future Werewolf Facts book that I'm publishing in a few years (yes, I am working on that).

And that just about covers the general overview! Hope you enjoyed the post. Be sure to check out the links below. Until next time!

( If you like my blog, be sure to follow me here and elsewhere for more folklore and fiction, including books, especially on werewolves! You can also sign up for my free newsletter for monthly werewolf/vampire/folklore facts, a free story, and book previews.

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monsterfuckerconfessions · 5 months

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I'm aroace but somehow monsters can get me hot and bothered? It's probably because it's fantasy so I feel a bit removed from it, but it's nice either way. The thing you're doing with your blog is also really cool.

A plant monster who keeps a garden/forest, miles and miles of carefully, beautifully cultivated greenery with their own vines and flowers spread throughout, and one day you make the mistake of wandering in to this unearthly beautiful and completely animal-less place, and you know, they've been looking for a pretty new flower to add to their garden.

And you are so pretty, especially when you're being fucked open, flushed face and teary eyes as you contort in terrible, inescapable pleasure. And you're so good and quiet for them, you've always gone nonverbal under stress, with only cute little panting whines to interrupt the sanctity of their garden.

Sometimes they put together a human form, just for you, and you shake apart in a different way when held by firm hands and kissed by green lips than when you're held tight by vines with every hole pumped full.

They let you go, sometimes, only not really, because you could travel for miles and they'd still be in every tree and blade of grass, and you learned that very quickly. So instead you go to the river and wash off your cum and the sticky, sappy stuff the monster is fond of pumping you full of (you don't try to get it out of you, or to remove the soft plug that keeps you stuffed full. You only made that mistake once). You pick some berries even though you're never as hungry as you should be and curl up in a small cave, hoping the lack of greenery will keep them away. But later that night you wake up burning, trembling with it, and you knew you shouldn't have eaten anything of theirs even if they never poisoned you before, but now the aphrodisiac is burning it's way through your veins and you don't even have the strength to try to take care of yourself, forced to just lay there and sob silently.

And they just leave you there, shaking and alone. Because this thing doesn't even care about sex the same way a mammal would, they're just interested in the way your face scrunches adorably in pained pleasure and how your fingers twitch like they don't know what to do with themselves and the clenching of your thighs against the ground. So they just leave you there to watch, because you're their flower, part of their beautiful, perfect garden, and you're so lovely right now, how could they interupt?

But then, just when you think it's over and the aphrodisiac is leaving your system, a vine sneaks into your little cave and drags you out by your ankle, another already slipping into your pussy. There are more berries at your lips, the same as you ate before, because the monster got to see what you look like alone and now they want to see how you fall apart when you're full of them and nothing else.

And overtime, you know you should be dying. You haven't been eating or drinking or sleeping enough, but instead your skin turns green and not even starvation can save you. At the very least, your emotions should be dimmed, broken by the experience of (months? years?) of this, but if anything everything feels stronger, more immediate, and your tears come more easily because you are just a flower in their garden and every good gardener knows how to make sure a plant grows in exactly the right way, and this monster wants you beautiful and bright and weeping.

And maybe some day that sap they stuffed you full of will catch, and you'll swell up with baby monsters ready to inflict themselves upon the world and at that point you'll know:

There is no escape. From the moment you stumbled into the garden, you were theirs.

#monsterfucker confessions

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yakuzacanons · 6 months

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Yakuza Headcanons: Watching Spooky Movies

Oooooo it's the spooky season ain't it. Hello hello I rise from the grave to bring you some fresh headcanons for the season. For those with asks still in the inbox, I SEE em, just been busy with my horror movie marathon. Anyways, some headcanons below da cut to tide you over. Also welcome bouncing baby boy Ichiban to the gang!

Kiryu Kazuma

Isn't scared easily by much of anything so it's really easy to get him to watch horror movies. Mostly watches them because someone else is too scared to watch them alone. He's the person they can hide behind or who will tell them when a particularly horrifying scene is over.

Gore doesn't bother him as much as something or someone looking creepy or offputting will. Kiryu still won't get scared but he will get uncomfortable. Most of the time he just reacts by going "Ah... oh!"

Fond of the classics and will gravitate towards movies with a strong and likable protagonist. Likes The Evil Dead, Aliens, and Halloween. Directors don't matter much to him.

Majima Goro

He's a mixed bag. If a movie is well put together, then it can scare him pretty easily. He's most scared of ghost stories or paranormal things. Least afraid of slashers because he thinks he could just beat them all up.

Cannot stand jump scares. Sometimes he evens yells at his TV at home in irritation, saying things like "Oi, whaddya keep makin' loud noises for? Sheesh!"

Honestly, the weirder the movie the better. It might seem stereotypical for someone who looks and acts like Majima but he thinks the whole point of horror is to be interesting. Fond of Takashi Miike movies like Ichi the Killer, Audition, and Over Your Dead Body.

Akiyama Shun

Doesn't watch a lot of movies because he totally falls asleep during most of them. He'll at least give it a shot if you ask nicely though. Honestly more motivated by the fact you might cling to him during the scary parts than anything.

As much as Akiyama is a total ladies' man and romantic at heart, he always laughs whenever characters start being intimate during horror movies. He makes jokes out of it, saying things like "Babe, would you still love me if we were in a spooky movie?"

Movies with a good soundtrack actually help him stay awake. Jump scares annoy him though because if he falls asleep, the noise makes him panic. Fond of monster movies or movies about animals like Jaws, Shin Godzilla, and The Host.

Saejima Taiga

Genuinely not scared of a single darn thing. If you want to watch it, he's down to give it at least a try. He might nod off if he's tired or bored, but he tries his best not to. Horror comedy is okay with him too although he might not get all the jokes.

Most of the time he sits with his arms crossed, paying full attention. He's kind of funny in that he makes noises like "Heh" or "Hmph" when a character is caught off guard by something. Makes an occasionaly "Tsk" sound at jump scares. Otherwise he's not reactionary.

Particularly fond of slashers, probably because those usually have villains that are actually kind of his size. He enjoys the Friday the 13th series, particularly Jason X.

Tanimura Masayoshi

Type of guy to be like "Ooh let's watch this, I heard it's really scary" and then proceed to either get scared out of his wits or say something like "Wait, that's ALL?" at the end. Bases most of his movie choices off of other people's recommendations since he's usually too busy to randomly go see however many movies he wants to.

Doesn't really like horror that's super in your face. Gets more scared by the tension itself than anything. Always has movie snacks on hand.

Found footage is probably his most favorite type of horror. Likes The Blair Witch Project, Noroi, and REC. Fond of director Koji Shiraishi.

Ryuji Goda

Doesn't watch a lot of horror movies but like Saejima he's not scared of anything. He's also the type of guy to drop everything to spend time watching a movie with his partner. Gets a kick out of being a shield or protector during scary parts.

Likes movies with a lot of personality and campiness. Slow burns or psychological thrillers just put him to sleep. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, as long as it's entertaining.

Didn't think he'd end up being much of a horror fan but he's quite partial to John Carpenter. Likes The Thing, They Live, and Christine.

Nishikiyama Akira

One of the bigger scaredy cats of the group. Won't suggest a horror movie but will totally act like he's not at all afraid if you ask to see one.

Honestly, the two of you end up just kind of holding onto each other during scary parts or pulling up the blanket almost over your eyes when a character is about to die. Violence doesn't necessarily bother him but excessive gore kind of annoys him.

Enjoys a good ghost story movie but only if you'll watch it with him. Anthologies are also good too since it offers so much at once. Likes Ju-On, Ringu, and Tales From The Crypt.

Mine Yoshitaka

Likes certain horror movies. Not scared of much but he does get noticably uncomfortable with torture movies like Saw or Hostel. He just finds it to be weird more than entertaining.

Fond of more classic monsters like vampires or werewolves. Mine's the type of guy to actually have a decent home theater setup, even if he doesn't get much time to use it, so he doesn't go to the movie theater much.

Has a soft spot for some of the really old classics in the 30's like Frankenstein or Nosferatu. His favorite horror movie is Interview With The Vampire.

Daigo Dojima

Probably the only one of the boys who actively enjoys slow burns and more psychological horror. He doesn't get opportunities to watch movies much but he does have an interest in the medium as a whole.

Particularly loves anything with spectacular cinematography. Good directing, lighting, or costumes really impress him. Kind of interested in some of the technical aspects as well. Also probably the only of the boys to ever look something up on IMDb.

Especially fond of movies by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. His favorite horror films are Kwaidan, Cure, and Pulse.

Tatsuo Shinada

The biggest scaredy cat of all of the boys. Will attempt to watch a spooky movie with you at least once just for the sake of trying but will honestly just close his eyes if he feels overwhelmed. You HAVE to hold his hand though.

Probably the only one of the boys who actually gets squeamish easily. Gore and blood make him uncomfortable, although he has SOME tolerance in general. He'd just rather watch something that's not super heavy on bloodshed.

Horror films with a particular visual style, especially super colorful ones, make it a lot easier for him as he can actually see what's happening and he feels less worried. Movies like House or Suspiria are good for him. Also likes super over the top movies like The Lost Boys or Killer Klowns From Outer Space as they're so hilarious to him that he forgets to be scared.

Kasuga Ichiban

Somewhat easily scared. He gets more shocked or surprised than scared, honestly. The movie HAS to be interesting to some degree or he will just conk out and there will be no waking him. Doesn't mind jump scares since they help keep him awake at least even if the movie's bad.

Having said that, he does enjoy taking the time to see a movie that's genuinely just really good and talking about it with you afterward. Movies with really good effects tend to impress him a lot. It's also more visually memorable.

Tends to like movies where the main character has special powers. Partial to zombie movies since a lot tends to happen and involves multiple characters. He likes 28 Days Later, The Dead Zone, and Carrie.

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