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faebaex · 1 month
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Omg the courting fics with Malleus and Sebek were really cute! Could you make something like that with the Octatrio?
I had every intention of writing for all 3 members of Octavinelle but the Azul piece ended up being so long that I thought I’d just post that. 
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You’d been avoiding Azul for days now and you knew that, sooner or later, your luck would run out on that front.  Why were you avoiding him?  Not even you were sure; you just knew that he was looking for you.  In your limited experience with the suave dorm leader of Octavinelle, you’d come to learn that the more Azul wanted to speak with you, the riskier the deal would be.  When you turned the corner and saw Azul waiting for you at the top of the stairs, you knew your luck had run out.  This hallway was the only way to reach your alchemy class and you were running far too late to wait him out.
You grimaced as Azul gives you a confident smirk, both of you knowing he’d had you trapped.  Finally, you sigh, “Five minutes, Ashengrotto.  I’ll give you five minutes.”  His mask of confidence waivers and you sense the relief behind the façade.  “That will be more than enough to start with.  Thank you for your consideration, Prefect.”  Then he clears his throat nervously before beginning to move.  He rolls his hands around each other while alternating leg shakes.  You can hear him quietly counting to himself.  After a few moments, he is finished and looks at you expectantly.
“Ah?” you let out a questioning sound.  He covers his embarrassment with a cough and explains, “It was a dance.”  You know your eyes are open wide and you suspect your mouth is hanging open, but you still manage to stammer, “I…I see?”  You did not see.  After a few more moments of silence, Azul clears his throat again and wishes you a pleasant class before sliding past you and down the staircase.  What was that all about?
The next time you encountered Azul, it was coming back from flight class.  He seemed as startled as you at the meeting.  With the memory of your last meeting still fresh in your mind, you thought you’d try to just quickly excuse yourself.  “Ah, I’ll just be passing on your left, ok?”  Before you could pass him though he interrupts, “Prefect, if I may, another moment of your time?”  You cringe a little, “Oh, s.sure?  I guess.  What…what’s up?”  He visibly braces himself before he starts moving.  This time it was mostly arms moving at certain times and angles.  It almost felt familiar and after a moment, you had it.  “Is this that dance from Magicam?”  Cater had shown you a video of the viral dance moves that were sweeping Magicam currently and you were fairly certain this was an interpretation of that. 
He finishes by striking a pose that seems perfectly fit for a photo.  You clap politely and ask, “Are you practicing for your Magicam account?  Going to have the whole lounge staff join you or something.”  He frowns slightly, “No Prefect, that was not my intention.”  Then he turns his face to the side, and you notice a red creeping up on the tips of his ears, “This is more of a personal performance goal.”  You hold up your hand, gesturing toward him, “Well that was pretty good.  I think you are on your way to that goal.”  He looks very relieved at your reply, “Is..is that so?”  Then he gathers his composure and bows his head a little, “Well, I thank you for your notice.”  You wait a moment to see if he has more to say, but he continues to just look at you expectantly.  Finally, you fidget a little and remind him, “Well, I should be going.  Class and all.”  You wave and turn to jog away and back to your next class.
It was a hard day of studying when you wandered over to Mostro Lounge to have a small dessert as a reward for your long session.  Looking up from your tea and cake, you see Azul across the room speaking to the students staffing the bar.  The confident business Azul strikes you in comparison to the awkward Azul you’ve been interacting with these past few days.  He gestures with his hands to finish off whatever direction he was giving, and you suddenly decide to approach him and say hello.  You slide up behind him and place a hand on his back, “Hey Azul, nice to see you again.”  He turns to gaze at you coldly, muttering, “Prefect?”  Then his eyes widen and he sputters, “Pre..Prefect!  What are you doing here?” 
Instead of responding, you decide to give him a moment to gather his thoughts and composure.  He quickly does and dons his usual suave persona, “I mean, why how wonderful to have you dine with us this evening, Prefect.  You should have told me you were coming, and I’d have been certain to save you a table by the window.”  You smile at the quick change in tone, “Oh that is fine, I just came over to see you, Azul.”  He flushes a touch along his checks, “M..me?”  You lean in and whisper, “Yes, you’ve really tried hard lately to catch my attention, so I thought I’d reward you by giving it to you.” 
He looks shocked by your statement for a moment before leaning in to whisper carefully, “You’ve noticed then?”  He looks around at the number of interested eyes on your conversation, “Ah, this is not the best place for conversation, Prefect, won’t you follow me to somewhere more suitable for this conversation?”  You nod and turn to head to his private office, but he lays a hand on your arm quickly, “No, not in there.  I have a better place.”  So, you allow yourself to be escorted from the lounge and down into the corridors of Octavinelle.  “Sometimes, it’s nice to get away from work,” he comments softly. 
You smile gently, thinking about how you’ve just discovered a new side to the serious Azul you know.  You’ve been doing that more often lately; you think as you remember the strange dances you’ve seen him attempting.  As if thinking a similar thought, Azul asks, “I hope I haven’t been too distracting for you lately, Prefect.”  You smile, “I wouldn’t say distracting is the word.  It was more like memorable.”  He gasps and squeezes your arm a touch tighter, “Is..is that so…” before muttering under his breath, “so it is working after all…”   You ponder out loud, “Although you seem to be not quite used to dancing.  Is it because you aren’t used to being on land?”  Azul halts, causing you to also need to stop.  He seems lost in thought as he mulls over your question.  You continue to quietly observe him, and he finally notices your gaze, “On second thought, Prefect,” he begins hesitantly, “I think I have something special to show you.” 
He pivots on his heel and pulls you toward a different hallway leading deeper into the dorm.  You hesitate but seeing his nervous smile, give in and follow along.  He takes you past the public lounges and study rooms and toward a corridor that smelt strongly of salt and sea.  You figured this must lead to the very edges of the dorm and the water beyond.  As if to confirm your thoughts, Azul pulls you into a locker room and shows you where you can change into borrowed swimwear.  You wonder for a moment how they can possibly have something that fits you and that just happens to be sitting around but, after pulling the garment on, it conforms to fit perfectly and you realize the answer is, of course, magic. 
You pull a towel across your shoulders and head into the adjoining pool room.  The near end of the pool was shallow enough to step into, but the far end disappears into the gloom.  From the rhythmic way the water moved, it was clear that the pool connected to the sea outside.  You hadn’t realized Octavinelle had such an exit into the sea, but you supposed considering the location, it made sense.  “There are potions in the cabinet to your left,” comes a voice from the deep end of the pool.  You suppose Azul must be above water for you to hear his voice but any bit of him you could glimpse was hidden by the darkness of the deep sea beyond.  You pull a familiar potion from the cabinet.  It seemed not so long ago you’d used such a potion to visit Atlantica Museum to satisfy the bet you’d made with Azul.�� “Are you sure its not too late to swim all the way outside?  Maybe we could have a nice night just swimming in here,” you say as you swirl the potion around in the flask, looking at it meditatively.  “We’ll be fine.  There are lights here and there once you get past the dorm.  I know a good spot for an evening swim.  I am Dorm Leader of Octavinelle, after all.”  You supposed that was true, so you uncorked the bottle and swallowed the potion down.
You head hesitantly into the pool and hear a voice when you are below the waves, “This way Prefect, don’t be frightened.”  You follow the pool down as the tile floor gives way to cement and then finally just the seafloor.  You reach the opening at the far side of the pool and poke your head out cautiously.  As promised, there were lights here and there once you exited the dorm.  The light they gave off didn’t appear to travel as far as you’d suspect underwater.  You look about, unsure of where to go when you hear Azul call again from beyond the nearest light.  You swim in that direction and the sound of his voice guides you away from the dorm and to a nearby reef. 
You gaze in interest at the colorful corals when you hear Azul’s voice right at your ear, “You should hold onto one.  Humans are buoyant and have difficulties staying on the seafloor.”  You take his advice and grab hold of a nearby coral to help keep you stead as you float weightlessly on the seafloor.  You turn to thank him and are caught speechless at the sight.  You’d seen Azul in his merform only once before, during his overblot.  Now, without the imminent danger of rampant magical warfare, you had the chance to really take him in.  The blackness of his tentacles crept up to his chest and turned to cover his arms.  You thought offhandedly he looked like he was dressed in a sleek suit with no shirt beneath it.  That wasn’t what was most eye-catching though, in the darkness of the sea, the underside of each tentacle had a bioluminescent glow that highlighted each sucker and edge. 
“Stay there and watch,” Azul asked gently.  You could only nod mutely as the swaying of his glowing limbs mesmerized you.  Then the movement of his tentacles increased until you realized it was no longer motion from the sea but a purposeful cadence from Azul himself.  You watched them move in captivated silence until you realized you were seeing another dance from him, a dance from under the sea.  You had no idea how long it lasted, you sat holding onto the coral and gazing at his display in quiet awe until finally you realized the gentle swaying of his luminous limbs was merely the motion of the waves once again.  You look up and meet his curious eyes, “Do you approve?” he asks simply. 
You tilt your head and smile up at him, “What was that?  It was so beautiful.  I’ve never seen such a thing.”  He reaches out a hand before lowering it slowly.  Then, with a few flicks of his tentacles, he manages to settle himself on the seafloor next to you.  “It was a dance, an octomer dance.”  You carefully reach out and set one tentative finger on the nearest tentacle, feeling the strange texture of it under your digit, “I wouldn’t have taken you for such a good dancer.  Not after those attempts on land.”  He laughs shallowly in a self-mocking way, “Grandmother insisted I learn the traditional dances.  ‘Don’t underestimate the importance of body language,’ she always said.”  Your smile turns a bit coy as you reply, “Well, I’m not sure what your body was trying to say there but I was definitely listening.”  He turns a hopeful look to you, “Does that mean you’d like to stay a bit longer and chat?”  Finally, you felt like Azul had made you a deal that captured your full attention. 
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faebaex · 1 month
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Every MasterChef event I get this 🤏 much closer to quitting the game.
Why?
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THIS.
Every MasterChef event it's such a pain to get the SRs for me for no reason 😭 the biggest waste of a 10 key and for what??
The gatcha mocks me and I don't like it 💀
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faebaex · 2 months
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Tangled in Wonderland - Cornered
author note: Hiii next chapter! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed the twist, it makes me so happy! This might not be the chapter you expected, as it focuses more on the aftermath, but rest assured more is to come! ʚ(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )ɞ Please make sure you read the warning underneath before proceeding to read this chapter. Thank you!!
characters: Rook Hunt x GN!Reader
Warning: This chapter deals heavily with mental health, with a description of a panic attack from the outset and descriptions of depression early on in the chapter. This chapter also mentions stalking. Please do not read if these topics make you feel uncomfortable in anyway.
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“… Vital signs… Erratic…”
“… scan of… quickly!”
“… Bioscan…”
You felt disorientated. A ringing in your ears, accompanied by different, distinctive sound, drowned out most of the sounds you could hear. It took you a moment to realise that the other distinctive sound was the thumping of your own heartbeat in your ears.
“… Complete… Pref… signs… attack…”
Your entire body felt rigid, as if encased in ice, yet your skin felt like it was on fire. There was a deep dread, which felt like it was simultaneously seeping out of your pores and clawing up your throat, threatening to close it in it’s merciless grasp. You couldn’t breathe. Were you going to die? Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t—
“P-prefect!”
The feeling of hands on your shoulders suddenly brought your awareness back, and you realised that you were still in Idia’s dorm room. But something wasn’t right… What was happening…? What is that noise…?
“Prefect, I need you to breath.” Idia told you, his voice not stuttering despite the frantic look on his face.
What is he talking about? Is that sound… You?
It took your brain a moment to process that you were hyperventilating, your breathing coming out in short, terrified gasps. You were shaking violently, and it felt like Idia’s hands on your shoulders were the only thing keeping you grounded.
“I-I can’t!” You managed to wheeze out, your voice high-pitched and laced with distress. Your eyes darted around the room wildly, as if you were looking for somewhere to go but finding no way out.
“Yes you can,” Idia instructed firmly, “focus on me, and I’ll help you.”
Your eyes snapped onto Idia’s golden ones, and you held onto his gaze like it was your only lifeline, because in that moment, it felt like it was. Slowly, he coached you through how to breath, counting steadily up to five when you breathed in, and down from five as you breathed out, his hands on your shoulders the entire time.
“Commencing bioscan of target…”
You closed your eyes, blocking out Ortho as you focused solely on your breathing. Breathe in for five, breathe out for five, breathe in for five… Breathe out for five…
“… Panic symptoms receding… Heart rate slowly lowering back to base line…”
It felt excruciating, but eventually the ringing in your ears faded away and the thumping of your heart grew steadier. The dread was still there, curled deep in your stomach like a heavy weight, but the fear was no longer clawing at your insides, constricting your throat like a noose. You kept your eyes closed as you continued breathing deeply, until you felt a squeeze on your shoulders. It was light, almost feeling shy, but it was definitely there.
“… A-are you okay?”
Your eyes snapped open, and you finally took in your surroundings properly.
You were still in Idia’s dorm room, sitting on his bed, but now Idia was awkwardly crouched in front of you, his hands on your shoulders, and Ortho was floating beside you. They both looked very concerned, but Idia seemed to notice that they were crowding you a little and let go of your shoulders, sheepishly taking a step back and slowly sitting back in his desk chair. Ortho remained at your side however, head tilted as he studied you.
“… Prefect?” Ortho verbally nudged, and you swallowed. You were frightened to speak. Frightened that your voice would crack and betray your inner turmoil.
“I-i…” You began, and your voice got stuck in your throat. Ortho zoomed to the side, rummaging through one of the boxes you had brought back to the dorm together earlier and returned to you, coaxing a bottle of sports drink into your hand.
“Sip this, you need the electrolytes.” Ortho advised, and your shaky hands struggled with the sealed cap before Ortho pinged it off with one well timed flick. You’d have been amused in a different situation. You slowly sipped at the sports drink, absently noting its berry flavour, as you tried your hardest not to think. You really didn’t want to think right now. Not about that.
“I-I have to go…” You stuttered out. You prayed that your legs would be able to hold your weight as you attempted to stand, and thankfully they were, despite how badly you were shaking.
“Prefect, wait—” Ortho began, but you didn’t listen, heading straight for Idia’s door.
“Let them go, Ortho.” Idia said quietly, slumping down in his chair as he watched you leave.
Your shoulders were hunched and you kept your head low as you walked back to Ramshackle, internally begging whatever cruel fate was out there not to allow you to run into anyone. Thankfully, you didn’t, and you have never been more grateful that Ramshackle was fairly close to the Hall of Mirrors than you were today.
In another positive turn of fate, Ramshackle was empty when you arrived. That must mean you had been in Ignihyde all morning, and the NRC Tribe had already left for their afternoon training in the Pomefiore ballroom. You headed straight for your room, securing the door closed and drawing your curtains, descending your bedroom into darkness. You didn’t even bother changing out of your clothes, immediately seeking refuge in your bed, curled up in the foetal position with your head under the covers. You didn’t want to know. You didn’t want to think. You just wanted the darkness to swallow you up.
You stayed like that for three days.
The first day was a Sunday, so whilst your absence was seen as laziness by your more judgmental peers, it drew no particular concern. But the second day was a Monday – a school day. Grim had tried to drag you out of bed, coaxing and complaining that if you didn’t get up now, you’d both be late. But you didn’t move, and slowly it started to dawn on Grim that something wasn’t right with you. Eventually, and rather reluctantly, he left for school, casting a worried glance at you before he closed the door.
When he returned at lunchtime, he noticed that you had barely moved, and his worry swelled. He had brought you a sandwich he had snagged from the cafeteria, placing it on your pillow as if that would somehow coax you to eat it. He joked that you had to eat, because he needed his henchhuman on top form to be able to carry out all his deeds for him. When you didn’t crack a smile and just stared blankly at him – through him – his fur puffed up, stricken with concern over your state. He spent the rest of his lunchbreak running around Ramshackle, gathering things that he thought could help. He placed a glass of water on your bedside table, and tugged another blanket out of your wardrobe and laid it haphazardly over your curled up form. He even swiped a diffuser from who knows where and placed it on the fireplace by the mirror, the scent of lavender slowly filling the bedroom.
Grim soon had to leave again to return to the main building for afternoon classes, and you were once again left alone. Your eyes were tired but whenever you slept, you kept seeing that picture. Like it had been seared onto the inside of your eyelids and burnt into your brain. You didn’t want to see it. You didn’t want to think about it. So you stayed awake, huddled up in bed and away from the world.
Grim returned immediately after classes ended, his face showing how anxious he was as he opened your bedroom door and hopped on your bed to check on you. He noticed that the sandwich he brought you at lunch was untouched and, in a fit of desperation, he disappeared downstairs only to return with a can of his premium tuna. He placed in by the sandwich and tried to talk to you, only to receive no response again. Ultimately, he gave up, but instead of leaving he dove under the covers and curled up by your side, not moving for the remainder of the evening and night.
The third day mimicked the second, with Grim bringing you another sandwich from the school cafeteria in hopes that it would entice your appetite. He was glum when he left, feeling like he was getting nowhere. But it was that afternoon when he returned from classes that he finally snapped, the anxiety too much to bear. He dove under the covers once again but this time he pressed his face close to yours, his big blue eyes looking straight into yours. You could see the worry and concern swirling in them, a faint glimmer of tears starting to threaten the surface.
“Henchhuman, you gotta eat!” Grim implored, the desperation clear in his voice, “you haven’t moved in days. Should we go to the infirmary? … Tell me what to do!” He begged, wanting nothing more than some guidance on how to deal with this situation, guidance on how he could help you. His desperation only grew as you said nothing.
“Is the food not good enough? Tell me what you want, I’ll get you anything! I’ll even work a shift at the Mostro Lounge to get you the good stuff! J-just tell me what I can do!” It was the sound of Grim’s voice cracking that broke through your somber reverie, like a chisel through ice. Your limbs still felt heavy and your mind clouded by fog, but something inside you had changed. You had been blind to how your behaviour had been affecting Grim, and now guilt started to well up in your heart. You blinked, and slowly you shifted in the bed. Your body felt stiff, your muscles tensing and screaming out at the slightest motion but you persisted until you were leaned against the headboard. With shaky hands from malnutrition, you managed to unwrap the packaging of one of the sandwiches that Grim had brought you, taking a small bite out of one before recoiling and immediately reaching for the glass of water on your bedside instead and quickly sipping some. Your mouth was so dry that it made the sandwich taste like cardboard, and the water turning the sandwich to mush wasn’t exactly any more pleasant but at least you weren’t at risk of choking.
Grim had crawled out from under the covers, watching you with hesitant eyes. You tried to give him a small smile to reassure him but with your lips so dry, it only caused the skin there to crack painfully, so you stopped. “I’m sorry Grim…” You managed to murmur, your voice hoarse, “I’ll come with you to class tomorrow, I promise…”
Grim stared at you for a long moment, worry still shining in his eyes before he shook out his fur and clambered onto your lap, pushing the hand the held the glass of water softly, urging you to drink again. “Y-you better, henchhuman! Crewel has really been on my case, y’know! He said we’d have to do double homework to make up for it if you missed any more classes!” Grim nagged, and it was clear he was trying to encourage you in his own little way, refusing to mention how he had been watching you lifeless in bed for the last few days.
You ate the sandwich in silence, having to force the last quarter down but doing so because you knew your stomach needed the food. The whole time you stroked Grim’s head with your free hand as he laid in your lap. Usually he’d make a fuss if you treated him like this, but today he sat quietly, letting you brush your fingers through his fur.
You took one last sip of water and slowly lowered yourself back down into the bed, forcing yourself to resist curling up in foetal position and give your limbs some much needed stretch. You promised Grim again that you’d definitely go to class with him tomorrow and you closed your eyes, cuddling him into your side.
The next morning was hell. You woke up earlier than you’d usually do, knowing that you’d need the extra time to prepare physically and emotionally to leave your bedroom. You left Grim snoring away in bed as you walked into your bathroom, grimacing as you caught sight of yourself in the mirror. The circles under your eyes were awful, and you didn’t want to imagine the snark that Vil would have in store for you if he caught sight of them. This was going to take a lot of work. You stared at your reflection in the mirror, your dull eyes staring back at you. Mentally, you tried to give yourself a pep talk. There was no point getting so distressed over what you had discovered at Ignihyde, you told yourself. You had no leads at the moment, so any lead was a good lead, right…? You felt despair start to curl in your heart when you thought that home might not be what you think it is. Desperately, you reached up and pinched your cheek hard to snap yourself out of those thoughts. Ow.
Thankfully you were up early enough that the hot water hadn’t been used up yet by the rest of your little house guests, so you could at least enjoy a hot shower. By the time you had finally made yourself look presentable enough, it was almost time to leave, so you had to make use of one of the sandwiches that Grim had brought you for you, splitting half with him. Throwing on a face mask for good measure, you turned to pick up your phone from your bedside table and froze. Your hand hung in the air for a moment but then you let it drop, staring at your phone conflicted. Eventually, you picked up Grim and finally left your bedroom.
You walked to classes with Ace and Deuce, who both shared concern over your sudden illness. It seemed that Grim had told people that you weren’t feeling well, and Ace and Deuce hadn’t been able to check on you because Vil was concerned you could be contagious. He wasn’t letting anything ruin their chances at the SDC, especially not the common cold. You assured them both that you were fine and instead asked them about their competition training, successfully filling up the conversation until you reached classes.
The day of classes was dull, and you understood almost none of it considering the past few days that you had missed. Thankfully, you didn’t catch an earful from Crewel. He had taken one look at you before ominously tapping his pointer to his gloved palm a few times before warning you to make sure you caught up on the subjects you had missed. Despite how boring your classes were today, you wished they wouldn’t come to an end. Because you knew when they came to an end, you’d have no choice but to confront the inevitable.
But sooner than you would have liked, you were exiting your final class of the day and splitting off from Ace and Deuce as they went to continue their training at the Pomefiore ballroom, and Grim mumbled an excuse and took off without telling you where he was going. That was never good, but considering Grim had sat painstakingly by your side for the last few days, you could turn a blind eye to any of his troublesome activities for a while.
Muscle memory took you to the library, but as you sat yourself at your usual desk, you found yourself just staring into space. You hadn’t even opened any of the books on your pile. With a deep sigh you pushed yourself away from the desk and took your leave. You knew you had to confront what had been plaguing you these last few days, and even as bile rose up in your throat just at the thought, you needed to rip off the band aid and be done with it.
You had just made it out of the school building and were starting the long walk back to Ramshackle when a voice called out behind you. It wasn’t a voice you wanted to hear, your shoulders tensing just at the sound of it.
“Prefect, bonjour!”
Of all times, now was not when you wanted to have to deal with Rook Hunt.
You sighed as you turned your head, seeing Rook waving at you grandly as he approached you. “Are you walking back to Ramshackle? Then I shall accompany you! I foolishly left my stretching bands, and Vil will be very displeased if I turned up to practice without them.”
“We can’t have a displeased Vil…” You muttered dryly, and Rook nodded in agreement with his usual eccentric smile. “I do hate disappointing beautiful Vil, so let us walk together.”
You knew better than to walk in silence with Rook, even if that is what you would have actually preferred, so you initiated some small talk about how the preparation for the SDC was going. As usual, Rook was eager to sing the praises of the NRC Tribe’s members; he spoke of how much Ace and Deuce had improved with their footwork in leaps and bounds, and how Epel was blossoming into his beauty. How Kalim’s smile shone through even the darkest of practices, and how Jamil was starting to break out of his shell and fill the stage with his presence. And of course, he sang about Vil’s leadership and tenacity to shape even the roughest of stones into beautiful gems.
“Ah, but I digress! I would love to hear about you, prefect! Where have you been these last three days?” Rook inquired, his unreadable eyes fixed on you. His gushing about the NRC Tribe had only taken you halfway to Ramshackle, and there was no point trying to outrun a hunter. That would probably just excite him.
“Oh, I wasn’t feeling too well so I took a couple of days to rest in bed.” You responded. It wasn’t necessarily a lie, but Rook’s eyes narrowed on you all the same before a small smile played on his lips.
“Really? Because I associate the behaviour you are displaying more with fear than fatigue from illness.” He said nonchalantly and you whipped your head around to stare at him before you could stop yourself. He had that infuriating little smirk on his lips as he watched you, studied you, taking in every little detail of your reactions.
“I thought the beastman students were more your vibe.” You snarked at him, not bothering to hide the hostility in your tone, he’d detect it either way. Rook only shook his head, maintaining his smug smile.
“Non, non, non, sweet Trickster! I observe those who interest me, and you are very interesting.” He informed you, taking a step closer to you which made you immediately sidestep away with a frown. Rook didn’t look offended or perturbed, he simply kept speaking. “Your heart rate is higher than usual, your pupils are dilated and your hands are shaking. Your complexion is paler than the norm, and you are wearing concealer to hide some rather unsightly dark circles beneath your eyes.”
Rook watched you as he delivered his analysis but you said nothing, keeping your eyes away from him and staring at the floor instead. Rook was silent for a moment before he delivered his final judgment.
“Those aren’t the symptoms of someone suffering from fatigue, sweet Trickster. Non, those are the symptom of someone who is very scared. What happened to you when you went into Ignihyde?”
You grit your teeth, feeling an odd sense of outrage fill you. It shouldn’t be surprising to you that Rook knew you went to Ignihyde that day, he stalks everyone that he finds interesting, and he already let you know he finds you very intriguing. But no matter how you tried to rationalise it, the knowledge that he had been stalking you had you brimming with resentment.
“If I complained to our beautiful Vil that you have been stalking me, you could lose your position as Pomefiore’s vice housewarden.” You stated cooly, “I might be magicless, but I am the Prefect of Ramshackle Dorm. An allegation from me would have to be taken seriously.” You hid none of the animosity from your expression as you turned your head to glare at him.
… But his expression surprised you. He had his hands raised in surrender at your threat, but instead of the smug smile he usually wore on his face when he was goading his prey, he looked concerned. Like he was worried about you.
“Forgive me, sweetest Trickster. Usually, I abide by Roi du Poison’s words not to interfere with other dorms’ affairs, but after seeing you look akin to a terrified lamb marked for slaughter, I felt so uneasy that I couldn’t help but check in with you.” Rook told you gently, and you pursed your lips. You didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or thankful for his concern, to be honest. Would he even be concerned over you if you weren’t an interesting little prey for him to toy with?
“You went back to Ignihyde with Monsieur Doll after running into him at the Mystery Shop, even assisting him with his shopping. A kind act from our sweet Trickster. But then you took to your room for days and began behaving like a frightened dove upon contact. Monsieur Doll doesn’t seem like the type to behave untowardly…” Rook continued, watching your expression for even the smallest micro-expressions, no doubt.
You could finally see Ramshackle coming into sight and you had to stop yourself breathing a sigh of relief. Rook wouldn’t be able to bother you for much longer whether he liked it or not – he’d need to get to the Pomefiore ballroom before Vil noticed he had been absent for too long. But considering he knew that you had gone to Ignihyde, you didn’t want him to start snooping around there to see what had happened. What if he found out? Found out that you’re…
Your tone was sharp as you addressed Rook.
“It’s none of your business why I went to Ignihyde. And for the record, Ortho was a very gracious host. You’re doing him a disservice by assuming any different. The fact of the matter is that I got sick. I got sick in a place where I have no family or connections, where I have nothing, so sue me if I got a little shaken up about the experience. Again, not that it is any of your business.”
It was a weak excuse, one that you had thought up on the fly and you were certain that Rook wouldn’t believe it at all. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered what making sure that he didn’t go meddling around Ignihyde and finding out anything. Ortho might be able to hold his own, but you weren’t sure how well Idia would fare against the enigmatic Rook.
You were a little worried that he wouldn’t let it go, but Rook simply nodded. The unreadable glint in his eye was back, so you had no idea what he was thinking. You could only hope that it was something about leaving you alone.
You walked the rest of the short distance to Ramshackle in tense silence, but the ever-eccentric Rook still opened the Ramshackle main door for you with a dramatic flourish, as if he wasn’t affected by the tense atmosphere at all. Of course he wasn’t. Being the root cause of many tense situations must give you some resistance.
You were given no reprieve from Rook yet, considering you both walked up Ramshackle’s staircase for different reasons. You to hole yourself up in your bedroom, and him to collect his forgotten stretching equipment. Now you were wondering if it was even truly forgotten, or if this was just a convenient excuse for him to ambush you. This school was truly turning you into a cynic.
“Trickster, if I may…” Rook began as you began to part at the top of the stairs, ready to turn in different directions for your respective rooms. You stopped reluctantly, but only half turned toward him, showing that you very much considered your previous conversation over.
“This may seem a little ingenuine now, but should you ever feel yourself floating adrift without aid, I will happily be your paddle. You need only let me know.” Rook imparted, and his tone seemed pure, despite how flowery he had come across.
The promise didn’t fill you with any warmth or security, nor did it make you feel bad for the animosity you had shown him, but it did soothe the burn you were feeling from having your privacy invaded somewhat. You didn’t smile, but simply nodded at him. “I’ll keep that in mind.” You responded diplomatically.
Rook’s cheerful smile was back on his face, as if your hostile conversation had never occurred. “Now I must hurry back to my tribe! To think such beautiful moments are happening without me catching sight! A tragedy! Adieu, sweet Trickster, until we meet again!”
You rolled your eyes as you turned away and continued back to your own room. Hopefully that meant that you were free from Rook’s sights for a while. You knew you’d need to be extra careful going forward, as its not like you can tell when Rook is watching you.
You entered your room and closed your door with a heavy sigh, as if you were breathing out all the interactions you had sat through that day. You pulled off your face mask and flung it to the side, taking a heavy seat on your bed. Like it or not, it was time.
Your eyes fell to your phone, that sat cold and discarded on your bedside table. Your only lead, perhaps the answer to everything, was housed inside that phone.
But why was it so terrifying?
You sat there, just staring at your phone for a long moment, trying to build up the courage to simply pick it up and hold it in your hands. You knew you needed to act, you had no idea what time Grim was going to be back home – perhaps early if he was going to check up on you – and you didn’t want to give him any more cause for concern.
You swallowed hard… and reached out for the phone. It was time.
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faebaex · 2 months
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⊹₊ January Recap ₊⊹
Hiii! Thought I'd implement a new recap section for my blog at the start/end of each month. I think its a nice way to show what I've done each month (and hold myself accountable) and give a preview of what is coming ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
January Fics
Tangled in Wonderland - Pick Your Poison
Tangled in Wonderland - A Simulation
Upcoming in February
Tangled in Wonderland:
Rook Hunt, Malleus Draconia
???????
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Now I have a question!! The Tangled in Wonderland series takes up a lot of my writing time and realistically I won't be starting any more fics until that series is over.
But!!
I wondered if I should break up the flow a little by posting smaller, headcanon-y posts inbetween? Similar to the vibe of Big Spoon, Little Spoon and Octavinelle with a Jellyfish!Reader. These would be quicker for me to write so it would provide something in the gap between fic chapters.
Is that something you all would like?
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faebaex · 2 months
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BOOK 7 STORY SPOILERS
Okay okay okay ok--
SSR Crowley card right??? BUT-
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Is it just me or did anyone else notice the bottom of the staff??
Looks like a key, right? For opening coffins?
But also to me, it looks a little like the key spells something?? At first I thought it was Levan? Raven?
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faebaex · 2 months
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Tangled in Wonderland - Faebaex's 1000 Follower Event - Finals Ⅰ
Event: Tangled in Wonderland
Reader has suddenly been transported into the fictional world of their favourite mobile game, Twisted Wonderland, in the place of the often unlucky main character. Knowing everything about the events of the game and the characters within it, Reader now has to figure out how to navigate this situation, ideally without getting dragged into overblots and the like!
How It Works
We are nearing the end of the series! I had tons of fun writing this series and got way more invested in it than I thought I would! But alas, all good things must come to an end...
But not without some final polls!!
Now I have some ideas for some final polls, but if you have an idea for a final poll that you'd like to see before the series ends, please leave a comment or drop me a message! I can't guarantee anything, but I'm open to suggestions!
Now on with the polls, today's theme is...
The Biggest Losers
... That sounds so mean ;-; but for the characters that scored low in the bonus polls, there is another chance for them! Because they deserve it!
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faebaex · 2 months
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Screaming I love it when that happens. "Your world is a simulation but so is mine" aaaaa
As soon as I heard the character disappeared I wondered if it was 'Yuu' and it was and ahhh. What kind of gacha game/game does the mysterious Yuu come from?
Aaaaa I'm glad you like it! ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
I don't want to give too much away, as the game will likely be followed up more in the next chapters, but right now I'm thinking it is Twisted Wonderland's equivalent of Twisted Wonderland. Kinda. I have some ideas brewing for it, but I also want to not get too carried away and make it too ridiculous!!
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faebaex · 2 months
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Tangled in Wonderland - A Simulation
author note: ... so this got out of hand and ended up being over 6500 words x-x really curious to see how you guys like it and react to the twist. i'm so anxious if you guys will enjoy it that i can't even right my usual rambly A/N!!
characters: Idia Shroud x GN!Reader, Ortho Shroud (Platonic)
Thump. Thump. Thump. Slam.
You sighed.
The sound of quarrelling which, through Ramshackle’s thin walls, sounded like it could be happening right next door to you.
The sound of a quiet but stern lecture, a voice full of authority that would not stand being questioned.
You rolled over in bed and checked the time on your phone. 7:00 am. On a Saturday. You groaned and rolled onto your stomach and buried your face in your pillow – not the best quality but comfortable enough – as Grim snored, spread out at the foot of the bed. You were pretty sure he could sleep through a hurricane.
Just why had you agreed to allow the NRC Tribe to stay here, again? Perhaps it was masochism?
But that didn’t do Vil any justice. He had warned you that tenacity was Pomefiore’s thing.
The morning after Vil had grandly declared that he had moved in was… Something. The best way you could describe it was that it played out like a fever dream. You had hoped it was, actually. You kept pinching yourself, hoping you’d wake up any moment. Of course, you didn’t.
You had woken the next morning to Vil knocking on your door. He was rather insistent, as he didn’t leave even when you ignored his knockings in favour of burying yourself further into the warm comfort of your bed. Finally, you dragged yourself out of bed and ripped open the door, glaring bleary eyed at Vil, who stood looking annoyingly immaculate for so early in the morning.
“I’ve prepared us some breakfast. I see you need time to get ready, but please do hurry. I have a schedule to keep.” Vil informed you, not even waiting for your response as he turned on his heel and walked down the hall. You grumbled and slammed the door shut, reeling both from the early morning veiled insult and the fact that somehow Grim had slept through it all, still snoring away peacefully on your bed.
You readied yourself as quickly as you could but took an extra few moments to smooth out your appearance more than you usually would. You’d be sitting opposite Vil Schoenheit after all, and you could really do without his comments this early in the morning.
You walked down to the lounge to see that Vil had indeed set the table up for breakfast. Mismatched bowls filled with yoghurt, berries, and some sort of… Seeds? A jug of orange juice also sat on the table, just enough for one glass each, along with a heartier jug filled to the brim with water. You had to admit, you hadn’t had such a healthy, well put together breakfast since you got there. Most days you had to forgo your breakfast entirely in order to stop Grim terrorising the school population before first period began. If this was Vil’s charm offensive, you could get behind it.
“This was the best I could do with your dorm’s… Limited implements,” Vil sighed as he drizzled a modest serving of honey on his own bowl of yoghurt before pushing the honey container towards you, “I would have brought my blender but I wasn’t if Ramshackle had running electricity.” Vil commented dryly, “does Crowley not ensure you have the needed facilities to live adequately? That man is shameless.”
Now this was a conversation you could get behind.
“Crowley doesn’t ensure anything ever.” You grumbled as you drizzled some honey onto your own yoghurt bowl under the watchful eye of Vil. The amount you put must have been satisfactory because he didn’t say anything, only began to mix his spoon in his own bowl.
“The prize money from the SDC would help change that. You could get yourself better kitchenware, maybe some more soft furnishings…” Vil began, and you rolled your eyes as you munched on some berries. Nice segway.
“Not interested.” You responded bluntly, although Vil didn’t seem too surprised by that. He picked up the orange juice jug, pouring you a glass first before filling his own, as manners would dictate. “Why are you so against the NRC Tribe staying here? You only stand to gain from doing so. Whilst there may be a bit of disruption, I’ve assured you that I would keep disruption to your routine to a minimum. I must say… I do find your stalwart refusal a little odd.” Vil stared hard at you now, and you tried not to visibly squirm from the intensity that he was studying you.
It seemed that all your efforts to not bring attention to yourself were doing the exact opposite in this situation. Vil found your behaviour odd, and Ace and Deuce had also found your behaviour odd when you didn’t attend the Pomefiore ballroom when you were requested to do so. It was rather annoying, actually, how all your hard work to be as unnoticeable as possible was turning out to be fruitless.
But if there was one thing you could rely on for a believable defence, it was the inherent selfishness of the Night Raven College students (and arguably, staff).
“Why should I go out of my way to help you? Regardless of what you offer, it sounds like a pain. I have to accommodate seven extra students? On top of all the trouble I get from Grim anyway? Sounds like a drag. Plus I enjoy having my own space.” You quipped back, your expression indifferent.
“Hmph. It seems like you fit in here more than you think.” Vil shot back sassily, an elegant eyebrow raised at your open self-centeredness.
All throughout breakfast you and Vil had an unproductive back and forth where he tried to gain some ground on getting the training camp to go ahead in Ramshackle. It was exhausting, but you managed to hold out long enough that breakfast was over and there was no reason to stay at the table any longer, for either of you. You were just leaving the lounge when there was a energetic knock on Ramshackle’s main doors. You sighed, wondering why someone else was now knocking on your door, but for all you knew it could be Ace and Deuce, wanting to walk with you to class. That reminded you that you needed to get Grim up too. Reluctantly, you walked towards the entrance, pulling one of the creaky doors open.
“Bonjo—”
You slammed the door shut.
“That was rude. Rook is here to walk with me to class. He also is delivering my blender.” Vil scolded, having followed you partially to the entrance, obviously predicting that it was Rook. You groaned loudly regardless of this, bumping your forehead lightly against the entrance door’s old wood. You had to deal with Rook Hunt now too? This was getting out of hand.
Grudgingly, you pulled open the door again, not bothering to mask your expression of displeasure as you stared at Rook, who stood with his usual enigmatic smile on your doorstep, with a blender tucked carefully under his arm.
“Ahh Trickster! How delightful your disgruntled expression looks first thing in the morning! Magnifique! Like a raging storm cloud threatening the blue skies! And Roi de Poison, as radiant as ever! Like the brightest of suns in comparison! Oh, how I wish I could burn this image into my mind forevermore!” Rook enthusiastically sang, and it was as if you could feel your mood plummeting in real time.
“Oh give it a rest…” You muttered under your breath, having to duck out of the way as Vil breezed past you and grabbed the blender off of Rook. “Yes, that is quite enough of that, Rook. There is no cloud on this earth that could threaten my shine.” Vil commented, disappearing back into Ramshackle to no doubt deposit his blender in the kitchen. “Of course not, beautiful Vil!” Rook eagerly agreed.
Now why were you catching back handed insults from both Pomefiore housewardens?!
You grumbled under your breath about this, but Rook didn’t seem to mind or care. He continued to smile at you, watching you with those ever-observing eyes.
“You seem agitated, Trickster! But might I say, you do look beautiful this morning. A fine colour to your cheeks and a wicked glint in your eye! I see that your shared breakfast with Vil has done wonders for your complexion and spirit already.” Rook continued, managing to look harmless and sly at the same time. Quite the feat.
How exactly did he know that you had breakfast with Vil?! Had he been watching you? You cursed internally, swearing to yourself that you’d buy some thick curtains for Ramshackle out of your next allowance. But knowing Rook, that wouldn’t be enough.
Instead, you glare at Rook and point a finger at him, which he watches with glee, as if he is enjoying the situation. “Stop talking.” You say firmly, and he holds his hands up genially, not at all offended at your shortness. In your opinion, Rook Hunt was a whole valid reason on why you didn’t want the NRC Tribe to stay at Ramshackle.
“Rook, it’s time for us to go. I don’t want to be late.” Vil declared as he strode out of Ramshackle, and you had to agree with Rook in that the run down exterior of Ramshackle didn’t take away from Vil’s shine in the slightest. It was quite amazing, and also kind of irritating. “You should leave shortly too, being late would be unbecoming of a dorm Prefect.” Vil sniped over his shoulder at you as he began to leave with Rook. Rook gave you a hearty parting wave, “farewell, Trickster! I do hope to be sharing a dorm with you soon!”
Not at all ominous, thank you Rook.
“And don’t forget about Grim.” Vil called, not even bothering to turn towards you as he continued on in the direction of Night Raven’s main school building.
Oh, damn it. Grim! You rushed back upstairs, on a mission to get Grim out of bed and out of Ramshackle before you were late and Crewel chewed you both out again.
After that, Vil was a semi-permanent fixture at Ramshackle. He would return in the evenings, no doubt after running the NRC Tribe ragged during practice, and then he would put you through your paces. He’d critique most of the things you did, and it wasn’t like his words of advice were unhelpful, it just didn’t help that they were delivered with the trademark Schoenheit sass. More often than not you were left reeling because he delivered his flyby judgments with such poise and poison, you were suddenly gaining a new appreciation for poor Epel.
Eventually you relented and agreed to allow the NRC Tribe to stay at Ramshackle until the SDC, but under very strict conditions. You would be receiving Vil and Rook’s share of the prize money if they won. You were not to be disturbed under any circumstances by the members of the NRC Tribe, and they were strictly forbidden from entering your bedroom. Groceries would be provided for the duration of the training camp. You also made it clear that you would not be responsible for any shenanigans that Grim pulled off during their stay, so not to even bother pestering you about it. And lastly, you would not be attending the SDC.
It was a difficult decision for you to make, but you realised that with Vil hounding you about allowing the NRC Tribe to stay, you were perhaps interacting with Vil way more than you potentially would during book five’s story path. A foul thought crossed your mind, Vil overblotting because negotiating with you had eaten into his preparation time for the SDC. At least with these conditions, you effectively minimised your role in book five to pretty much nothing, and if book five’s story decided to run its course like normal, then it was nothing to do with you.
Vil had stared at you with a knowing look when you first came to him telling him that you would agree for the training camp to go ahead, but his face slowly fell into a judging frown once you got to the end of your conditions.
“You don’t want to see your friends perform at the SDC? You do realise this is one of the biggest events of the school calendar? There might not ever be another opportunity for you to witness such a spectacle, let alone one that your friends are performing in. Not to mention… They’ve been working so hard.” Vil questions you, his tone almost scolding, and his eyes wrought with curiosity as to why you’d be so callous to the two who you’d known the longest since arriving here.
You kept your expression indifferent, giving an excuse that loud spectacles weren’t your thing. You did feel bad that you would miss Ace and Deuce’s big moment, but there was no way you could allow yourself to get dragged into a potential overblot situation again.
Of course, all of that felt meaningless now, considering that they weren’t even complying with the conditions that you had set out.
You could vaguely hear Ace complaining to Deuce about having to be up so early despite Vil technically giving them the morning off, whatever that meant. You hoped that the voices would eventually die down and you could get a couple hours more sleep, but the banging, thumping and voices went on and on. You even attempted to pass sometime by playing around on some mobile games that you had downloaded, a guilty pleasure that was a temptation too hard to resist when Crowley gave you the phone. But the noise never abated, and with a disgruntled sigh you got out of bed and decided to get ready for the day.
It felt weird being on campus so early in the morning on the weekend. It was mostly empty, which you assumed had to do with most students forgoing breakfast to sleep in, although there were a few early risers milling around campus. Some were heading towards the gates, likely heading out to town, whilst others made their way to the many other facilities that Night Raven had to offer. You yourself had decided to visit the mystery shop on a whim, thinking you could pick up a snack or two for during your breaks at the library.
You were walking up the path towards the shop when some… Large boxes came floating out the door… You stopped in your tracks, blinking several times. Were you that tired that you were seeing things now?
“Sorry Prefect, I don’t want to accidentally bump you!” Said a chipper voice coming from behind the boxes, startling you and making you hop out of the way. Behind the boxes was one Ortho Shroud, and suddenly the floating made sense. Not so much the boxes, though.
“Ah, my brother got a little caught up yesterday and forgot to do his usual food order, so I came to the mystery shop to pick up a few supplies to tide us over!” Ortho told you as he saw you eyeing up the boxes in his arms in confusion. He floated towards you where you stood off the path, and gently placed the boxes down, and they were nearly as tall as you were! Just a few supplies?!
“What are you playing?” Ortho asked enthusiastically, and you belatedly realised that you had one of the mobile games you had downloaded open on your phone, and muscle memory made you want to close it down immediately, but Ortho’s big, excited eyes made you feel too guilty to do so.
“Oh, uh… It’s just a game I downloaded, I don’t know much about it…” You fielded awkwardly, hoping to brush the topic away but Ortho only floated closer to get a better look at the screen.
“My brother plays that one too!!” Ortho gushes with glee, the sudden burst of elation catching you a little off guard. Really? This didn’t seem like Idia’s type of game… You swear you vaguely remember him saying he wasn’t that into dating sims… Although, you did suppose this one wasn’t a conventional dating simulator at the very least.
“But what happened to your screen?” Ortho asked, ripping you out of your thoughts, his head tilting to the side curiously. Now that did make you lock your phone to attempt to hide your shamefully cracked phone screen. Kalim, that’s what happened, you thought dryly. “Oh it’s nothing,” you said quickly, “I just had a small accident with it. It still works just fine!”
“Let’s get my brother to fix it!”
Oh no.
Ortho was beaming at you, eyes sparkling at the idea. You could feel your heart sinking.
“Oh no, no. I wouldn’t want to bother him! It’s totally fine, I promise!” You said hurriedly, hoping to derail the idea and make a quick escape, but it seemed like the idea had already firmly taken root in Ortho’s brain.
“It wouldn’t be a bother! My brother is really good with machines, he’ll get it fixed in no time! Plus, you two can talk about that game together! I’m sure he’d love to know there was someone else on campus who likes the same game as him!” Ortho encouraged.
Ah. So that was what this was about.
Book six had Ortho really encouraging Idia to share his gaming interests with the other students at Night Raven. Considering that the Ignihyde chapter was the next in line after book five, it did make sense that Ortho was taking this coincidence and running with it, considering you had just made it a thousand times easier for him to do so by just happening to like the same game as his beloved brother.
… But how were you supposed to say no to those eyes?! How were humanoids allowed to have such heart wrenching eyes?! It wasn’t fair.
You chewed on your bottom lip in indecision. It would be useful to get your phone screen fixed, even to stop Vil’s sassy barbs that he kept firing at you whenever he caught sight of it (something something “your belongings are a reflection of you” something something, blah blah). And this was Idia you were talking about here. He would probably freak out as soon as Ortho brought you to his room, fix the phone as quickly as possible and kick you out. Win, win?
“Okay, sure.” You relented, watching as Ortho lit up even more at your positive response. You swear you saw his hair get brighter. “But I can’t stay for long, I have other things planned for today.” You stated firmly, giving yourself an escape plan if needed. Ortho still seemed delighted regardless, moving once again to pick up those ridiculously large boxes he had been carrying. You followed suit, picking up the box from the top of the pile, much to Ortho’s surprise.
“It’s okay, I can carry them!” Ortho assured, but you shook your head, adjusting your grip on the box. It was a little heavy, but nothing you couldn’t handle. “Nah, I can’t let you carry them all by yourself. Besides, this is the least I can do if you’re going to fix my phone for me.” You remarked casually, beginning to walk with Ortho towards the Hall of Mirrors.
“You’re very kind, Prefect.” Ortho hummed, seeming quite taken with your courteous gesture.
The walk to the Hall of Mirrors from the mystery shop wasn’t long, and as you stepped through the Ignihyde mirror, you realised that you’ve never actually really seen the inside of the Ignihyde dorm. Sure, the game lets you buy Ignihyde backgrounds such as the entrance and the lounge, and you can get Idia’s dorm room as a background on his birthday, but other than that, the Ignihyde dorm has largely been a mystery compared to the other dorms. You had no idea what to expect.
It was… Very white. And shiny. Kinda made you wish you had brought a pair of sunglasses. The hallways were deserted, and you felt like you stood out like a sore thumb. You suddenly started to feel uneasy about the whole thing.
You followed closely behind Ortho as he led you to Idia’s dorm room, not trusting yourself not to get lost. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, even with the boxes he was carrying partially obscuring his view.
“Ortho, are you sure this is okay?” You asked, unable to hide the unease in your voice. Ortho didn’t stop, continuing to float along the hallways and making turns where necessary. “Don’t worry, Prefect! It’ll be fun! We’re almost there!” He insisted, and you very much felt that you and Idia were about to be in for a very unfun time. Ortho suddenly turned and opened a door that you would have missed if it wasn’t for him, as it blended into the wall so well.
“Idia, I’m back!” Ortho announced, floating in nonchalantly. You followed awkwardly, managing to bump the door closed behind you and place the box you were carrying on top of the other ones that Ortho had left by the wardrobe.
You took a moment to glance around the room. It wasn’t… As messy as you thought it would be. Wow, the background you can buy in the game really doesn’t do it any justice. That or Ortho cleaned up.
“Ah Ortho! Come check this out! I finally beat the final boss in that boss rush and got some cool new— Gah!!”
Idia had swivelled in his chair to look at Ortho but saw you instead and almost tumbled straight out of it with the way he flinched backwards, face morphing into terror. You gave him a small smile and waved awkwardly, but that only seemed to make it worse.
“I invited someone over!” Ortho stated cheerfully as Idia ducked behind the high back of his chair to avoid being seen. Rather fruitlessly too, considering you could still see his characteristic flaming hair.
“I-I can see that, Ortho! W-w-why did you invite an extrovert into my room?!” Idia complained, trying to keep his voice low but not really succeeding. The interaction was so odd to watch that you wondered if you should leave but settled for looking away instead. Ortho didn’t seem bothered at all, smiling at Idia like nothing was wrong.
“This is the Prefect from Ramshackle! I ran into them at the mystery shop, and they helped me carry our shopping back! Wasn’t that kind of them?” Ortho rambled on, floating over to his brother. Idia seemed to pluck up the courage to peek over his chair to get a better look at you, prompted by Ortho’s words, but when you looked back towards him, he shot back down in his chair, the ends of his wispy hair turning bright pink.
Wait, was he blushing?
“B-but Ortho…” Idia stammered out, but it seemed that Ortho had no mercy for him today.
“The Prefect’s phone screen is broken, and I told them that you could help fix it!” Ortho piped up over Idia’s stammering, his smile taking no prisoners, “you can help them, right Idia? Something so simple won’t even take you ten minutes.” Ortho encouraged, beaming smile still on his face.
Talking tech seemed to kick Idia out of his fluster somewhat, and you could hear Idia’s back thump against his chair as he opened one of his desk drawers and started rifling through it. “Tch, typical normies with no protection on their device, then crying when it gets bodied. So noob coded…” Idia muttered under his breath like he’d forgotten you were right there as he finally found what he was looking for, pulling the kit he was looking for out of his drawer and placing it on his desk.
Ouch.
He pushed his keyboard back, assumedly making space to him to work. “Gimme. The quicker I fix it, the quicker they leave, right?”
“Prefect isn’t a normie! They play the same game as you!” Ortho retorted and you cringed, as you sincerely hoped that wouldn’t get brought up into conversation before you could leave. But apparently, Ortho had taken it upon himself to defend your honour from his brother. Lucky you.
“Show him, Prefect!” Ortho compelled you, and you would almost find it funny how he was basically strong-arming Idia to have an interaction if it didn’t involve you. You sighed internally, powerless to Ortho’s big eyes, and walked slowly towards Idia’s desk, loading the game up on your phone. You held it up, arm outstretched so you didn’t get too close and give the guy a heart attack.
“It’s this one. I don’t play much, but this is the game I play the most. I at least make sure to login every day to get the bonuses and stuff…” You mumbled awkwardly, not actually understanding why you felt so awkward either. It wasn’t like it was a big deal. But suddenly your phone was snatched from your hand, and you were startled to see that Idia had grabbed it.
“You play this too?! I’m so into this at the moment. How far are you in the story? What cards do you have? Who is your favourite? Ugh, this screen totally kills the vibe. Hang on, let me just…”
You blinked in surprise as Idia rapidly fired off multiple questions about the game at you before putting your phone on his desk and hunching over as he got to work. It was like he was a completely different person. You knew it was the case that he could become very lively when he got to talk about his hobbies and interests, but seeing it happen in person was… Truly something. You looked between him and Ortho, with Ortho looking absolutely delighted about the interaction, and gesturing for you to take a seat on Idia’s bed whilst he worked.
“Oh, uh… I’m not very far in the story, I cleared the prologue but that’s about it. I don’t get the chance to play often… I don’t get many chances to roll the gatcha either, I never have any currency…” You answered. You didn’t really know any of the characters well enough to say what cards you had or who your favourite was, so you kept quiet on that.
“Sounds like you’re still in noobville. I’ll teach you how to play, but first I have to… Whee hee hee…” Idia volunteered, his voice pittering out as he got more entranced on working with your phone. The room lulled into silence, and you began conversing with Ortho instead, random giggles and mumbles from Idia in the background as you and Ortho chatted. Midway through one of your conversations with Ortho you noticed that Idia had been working on your phone for way longer than ten minutes. Now, you had no idea how long it took to replace a phone screen, you were no engineer. You also factored in that Ortho could have just been bigging up his brother’s ego when he said it would only take him ten minutes, but did it really take that long to fix? It felt like you had been in here way over an hour…
Ortho was projecting some clips of his favourite video games when Idia finally swivelled around, brandishing your phone with a manic grin.
“The freshly refurbished Prefect Custom Gamer Deluxe! I replaced the screen and reinforced it so it won’t break again but still has high grade touch screen sensitivity. I upgraded the battery to a larger capacity model so that you can game for longer, and of course a 2TB memory card. The original memory was awful, where did you get it? Sam’s bargain basket? Kek.” Idia gushed about your newly juiced mobile, fully in his element, “I didn’t know what your preferred colours are, so I didn’t add any custom lights. Blue’s good, though.” He commented, and that is when he finally caught you blinking at him, staring rather blankly.
“… Did you get any of that? Sigh, noobs OTL…”
You didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so you quickly snapped yourself out of vacant stare and quickly spoke, “I think so… It means I won’t have to delete anything to update my games anymore, right?”
That seemed to be enough, because he was smiling that startingly sharp toothed grin again. “Exactly.”
The room fell into silence again, with Idia seeming to realise that he’d burst out into a rave about his interests. He held out your phone towards you awkwardly for you to take, and you stepped forward quickly to take it, but Ortho was faster.
“Show the Prefect your cards on the game you both play!” Ortho insisted cheerfully but forcefully, clearly not willing to let this interaction between you and Idia ends just yet. You don’t know if it was because it was a game, or because he had been suitably warmed up from the tech talk, or Ortho’s wide, eager eyes. Maybe even a combination of all three, but either way, Idia agreed.
“So… Uh… Did you hear all the aggro online about what’s happened?” Idia muttered as he waited for his game to boot up. It booted up a lot faster than yours usually did. Is that what he did to your phone? If so, you weren’t going to complain.
 “Can’t say I have…” You answered honestly, and Idia scoffed lightly under his breath. “Oh right. I forgot you’re a casual.”
Why did it sting when he said it like that?!
Idia spent some time giving you some tips on free ways to get in game currency so you could roll on the gatcha more, and even recommended some social media accounts you could follow to get information on future events so that you could plan your resources and gatcha rolling accordingly. It was… Pretty helpful, actually. It was oddly nice to just chat innocently about a hobby for once, instead of constantly having to have your guard up in case someone tried to screw you over.
Idia made you boot up the game on your own phone (which you were pleasantly surprised to notice loaded up just as quickly as his own) and took a look through your card collection. He wasn’t impressed (“do you even statgrind?”) but gave you some advice regardless on who your best cards were and the more effective way to power them up, so you didn’t get locked out of the story when you progressed.
“Now show them your cards, Idia!” Ortho suggested yet again. You hadn’t missed his thrilled expression as you and Idia had been chatting, realising that he was likely delighted that Idia was talking to someone in person for once. But he was being awfully pushy about Idia showing you his card collection, even when the conversation didn’t need to be facilitated by him…
The tips of Idia’s hair went bright pink yet again, and you couldn’t resist raising a brow. What was he so embarrassed about? They were just cards, right? Idia tucked his chin in, turning his screen away suddenly. “I-I-I don’t know, my collection is pretty a-average…”
“No way! You have so many cards, show them!” Ortho tugged on Idia’s arm, with Idia trying to hide his phone in his lap, “or I’ll just project your cards for the Prefect to see!”
Idia sat up straight, looking very panicked at Ortho’s oddly specific threat. “O-okay, okay! Let me just…” He tapped away at his phone, and you had no idea what he was doing, but eventually he turned the screen back to you, showing you his card collection in all its glory.
Wow. He had tons of SSR cards. Even some UR cards… By the look of it, he seemed to only go for the ultra-rare cards of the same characters, so they must be his favourites. You looked at his card collection, nodding appreciatively and making a comment here and there, but otherwise you didn’t really have much to say. Idia’s hair was still tinged pink, and even his cheeks had an awkward half blush for reasons that escaped you.
Out the corner of your eye you saw Ortho staring at you rather insistently, as if he was urging you to keep the conversation going. Just why were you allowing yourself to be exhorted by this kid? Clearly, Ortho Shroud’s powers of compulsion know no bounds.
“Who is your favourite character?” You blurted out, hoping that would satisfy. To your surprise, Idia’s hair burned brighter, the pink flaring up at your question.
“O-oh, um… I-i… I can’t show you, because of… You know, all that aggro online…” Idia mumbled under his breath, looking down at his lap. What was up with him?
Either way, now your curiosity had been piqued.
“Tell me about the drama.” You asked, although you supposed it came out sounding more like a demand. Idia looked up at you suddenly, staring at you for a long moment, “… a-are you sure? It’s pretty long…” He mumbled, and you nodded anyway. Perhaps this would finally satisfy Ortho and then you could make your exit.
Idia’s demeanour entirely changed again, his elbows landing on his knees and he leaned towards you, his hands caging his phone. “This has been big news in the community. Like, God tier discourse. Everyone has come together to try to figure out what is going on, scrubs and tryhards alike. People have been mining the data files, I’ve tried hacking the serv—”
“Wait, wait, wait!” You stopped him, waving your hands to get him to slow down, “tell me what happened before you talk fandom dramatics.” Idia rolls his eyes but acquests.
“So a couple of months ago, something happened to the game. I’m not talking a limited time event or anything like that. I’m talking one day, every logged in for the next daily login period, and a character was missing.” Idia informed you, and you raised your eyebrows at this.
“Like, gone?” You questioned, and Idia nodded, frantically enough that his wispy hair bounced a little. You scratched your cheek, finding yourself slightly intrigued in this despite just doing it to get Ortho off your back. “I don’t think I follow what you mean…” You admitted, almost a little sheepishly, “how can a character just be gone? Wouldn’t you still have their cards?”
Idia, to his credit, didn’t seem to be bothered by you not following, only nodding along eagerly with your train of thought. “Right? But that is where it gets even weirder…” Idia begins to tap at his phone again, changing the filters on his card collection before turning the screen back towards you again, “because the cards are still there, but the character is missing.”
The sight was eerie, almost ominous. You deduced this character must be one of Idia’s favourites, considering how many cards he had, all maxed out. It made sense why he was so invested. But the cards themselves, they were…
Empty.
The cards were still there, in his collection. The background of the cards was still visible, even the other characters that appeared in the art were still there. But the character the card belonged to? Gone. Just an odd, inky smudge left in their place.
“That’s…” You couldn’t finish your thought, finding yourself at a loss for words at the bizarre, oddly chilling sight.
“Right?!” Idia hissed, really getting into the conversation now.
“Surely it must be some sort of event, right? Something to do with the story?” You tried to reason, and Idia shook his head wildly.
“That’s what we all thought, at first! Maybe they were springing some big event on us that none of the info trading accounts had managed to dig up. Sure it was a bit early for a Halloween event, GG developers, but it wasn’t like that hasn’t happened before.” You nodded along to Idia’s logic, this was exactly what you had assumed. The creepy feel of the cards definitely gave a Halloween vibe.
“But the official game pages never posted anything about it. And they weren’t responding to comments or messages about it either. So, we started to wonder if it was an update gone wrong, or a bug, and the devs were going to patch it. But still, we heard nothing from any official channels.”
You were staring at Idia, transfixed by this odd phenomenon. You’d never had anything of the sort happen in any of the games you had ever played, that’s for sure.
Idia’s cheeks flared a little pinker as he continued, “I-i have every one of that character’s cards, so I was able to check that it wasn’t just one card that had the issue, it was all of them. Other players reported the same issues, so that’s how we knew it was a game wide issue. The devs finally issued a statement, some vague BS about how they would be troubleshooting some issues with the game but not exactly what they were trying to fix. I personally think the devs have no clue what’s going on. Which is stupid, who doesn’t know what’s happening with their own software? Is it amateur hour over in that studio…” Idia finished, starting to mutter under his breath.
You mulled all this information over. Wow, clearly fandom drama in Twisted Wonderland was way more over the top than in your world.
“That’s really… Wow.” You hummed, which you thought summed up the situation quite well. You were pondering over it, eyes back on your own phone as you opened your card collection back up. You guessed you hadn’t noticed because you hadn’t rolled any of that specific character’s cards in the gatcha. You were kind of grateful, actually. It probably would have given you a fright.
“Uh…” You heard Idia hum, and you looked up at him, seeing him watching you with an apprehensive expression, “I have something to show you, if you want to… See… But you might find it weird…” He said slowly, his posture more hunched than before.
“Oh, okay?” You nodded, waiting for him to continue. You wondered if you were making him uncomfortable and had overstayed your welcome, considering Idia was starting to become more withdrawn again. His social battery was probably starting to go flat. You’d leave after this, you decided. Maybe quicker, if he was going to show you something really weird.
“The character is gone from the game’s cards, but they still appear in promotional materials that were posted online. Do you… Want to see?” Idia asked hesitantly, and whilst you found the way he asked the question a little odd, you had no reason to decline.
“Sure, why not? I feel like I’m invested now.” You smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back, only turned his gaze to Ortho. “Ortho, can you project the promotional art?”
“Easy! Searching promotional art… Loading… And, done!”
… … …
You felt your blood run cold instantly and you couldn’t stop the look of petrified horror that froze upon your face.
Projected onto the muted walls of Idia’s bedroom, in crystal clear clarity, was the promotional art of the character that Idia had been telling you about, just as he had asked Ortho to do. There was no inky smudge replacing their appearance, and they were posed rather dramatically, the norm for promo art. But something about it had your heart stopping in your chest and your hands trembling in your lap…
The promotional art…
The promotional art looked exactly like you.
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faebaex · 2 months
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Currently writing the Ignihyde chapter of Tangled in Wonderland and have instead written over 1500 words heavily featuring Vil instead (⸝⸝๑ ̫ ๑⸝⸝⸝)
I guess I enjoyed writing Vil more than I realised
There is also some Rook! But just a sprinkling, because the next chapter is his. So just a lil nibble
So yeah, bear with me, this next chapter might be a long one (,,> ᴗ <,,)
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faebaex · 2 months
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Tangled in Wonderland - Pick Your Poison
author note: next part finally! i enjoyed writing Vil, I've never written for him before and really wanted to do a good job. i thought alot about his values and how to put across his character, so i hope it doesn't seem too ooc, as i have never written him before now! next up is Ignihyde, and i'm planning to get that out before the end of the month! I've had an idea for that chapter for months, and i'm really excited to write it and add a little twist ≧✯◡✯≦ hope you enjoy!!
characters: Vil Schoenheit x GN!Reader
Something was definitely up.
Really, you should be relieved. This is what you had wanted all along, the whole reason that you had kept a low profile in the first place. But for some reason, now you just felt disconcerted. Uneasy, like there was an axe hanging above your head, ready to drop any moment.
Azul had still overblot. It wasn’t unexpected, especially considering you were the one who gave the Heartslabyul braincell duo the hot tip on where exactly they should look to get some leverage on Azul. You had no idea of what Leona’s involvement was in the whole situation, if he was at all, and you weren’t present to witness Azul’s overblot. But that wasn’t the part that had you all shaken up.
No.
The part that disturbed you was that Jamil’s overblot still happened, and you had absolutely no involvement in the events. You made sure you stayed well away from Scarabia, from Kalim, from Jamil. Even when you inevitably ran into him in the cafeteria kitchen when you were feeding the fire fairies, you made sure not to stare into his eyes, staring at his lips or anywhere else instead. You excused yourself as soon as possible, even though you were sure you’d aroused Jamil’s suspicions at least a little bit with your flighty behaviour.
You had wondered what the consequences of this would be. Would Jamil’s initial plan be a success and Kalim would end up ousted from his role as housewarden? Would Jamil take his place and finally be satisfied? Would his overblot be avoided altogether?
Clearly not.
You first noticed that something was up when Grim didn’t return back to Ramshackle one afternoon after the two of you had split up the work of feeding the fire fairies. You had hoped that he was just taking his sweet time, but he didn’t return that evening, or the evening after that. You debated with the idea of going and helping him out, but eventually decided not to. You felt a little bad, sure, but you trusted Grim’s tenacity to get him out of trouble.
When Grim finally returned home, he was practically bursting at the seams to tell you everything that had happened during his absence. Such willingness earned him a can of premium tuna, which you kept on hand for bribery. As you had expected, he had spent the last couple of days playing through the story route for book four. After becoming embroiled in the study hell that brainwashed Kalim was forcing on the Scarabia students, Grim escaped only to fall straight into the arms of Octavinelle. From what Grim had told you, book four played out exactly the same as the game, even without your presence, with Octavinelle’s meddling resulting in Jamil’s plan being foiled and him subsequently overblotting. Grim was particularly proud to tell you that even when Azul and the Leech twins had asked about you, he had not said a single peep about you. You gave him another can of premium tuna for that, hoping that one it was true, and two that he would be more inclined to continue being as discrete in the future.
You wondered if book four had continued as planned without your presence because the main character was more passive during that book then they were in all previous books. It was getting harder to wrack your brain and remember all the finer details of each book, especially considering that actually being in Twisted Wonderland when these events were unfolding was giving you seriously nauseating amounts of déjà vu.
All of these feelings led you to your next plan of action. With the culture fair fast approaching, that meant that book five was also on the horizon. And that meant you would have to deal with Vil Schoenheit. You’d been lucky enough to avoid any interactions with him at all since arriving in Twisted Wonderland, and you wanted to keep that streak going, preferably. You needed to not participate in the SDC at all, and you definitely couldn’t have the NRC Tribe staying at Ramshackle.
So yet again, you kept your head down. You didn’t go to the audition with Ace and Deuce, although you did feel bad enough about ditching them to watch their practices once or twice. When Rook’s message on an arrow summoned you to the Pomefiore ballroom after school with Ace and Deuce, you refused to attend. The Heartslabyul duo were confused at your outright refusal, but you managed to convince them that you had no interest in the SDC and simply wanted to focus all your energy on finding a way home. They both seemed to accept that, even if they found your behaviour a little odd.
That resulted in the Headmage paying you a rare visit in the library a few days later. He had implored you to find ‘enough kindness in your heart’ to share Ramshackle dorm with the SDC members. You had refused, of course, even after he tried to sweeten the deal by promising to pay for renovations to Ramshackle, which you knew were never going to happen. Crowley even had the audacity to promise to increase his exploration in a way home for you, which very almost had you throwing one of the books you had in front of you at him. You didn’t particularly want to upset the library ghosts. You managed to chase off Crowley by using the opening he had given you when he had brought up your home situation, with you pressing the Headmage on what exactly he had been doing this whole time. You were hoping that was the end of it, and if you just kept your head down and refused to cooperate, you could stay safely in the background.
But of course that wasn’t the end of it, because for some reason everyone at Night Raven College wanted to test your patience, even if you hadn’t officially met them yet.
You had left the library late that night, having gotten carried away reading one of the books you had sourced. Whilst the books that you read in an attempt to figure out a way home were often dense and confusing, you often came across interesting sections. You’d never dreamed that you’d be reading textbooks about magic, real magic, so it was so easy to get lost when interesting tidbits about forgotten magical practices or magical artifacts came up. You were startled when one of the library ghosts gave you a not so gentle fright to let you know it was late and you should probably go home, and you didn’t need any more persuading.
You were sure that Grim had probably fended for himself for dinner and you wondered if he would be that upset if you snagged one of his tins of tuna for himself as you crossed over the threshold into Ramshackle. You yawned, not bothering to cover your mouth, and attempting to stretch your stiff shoulders and back as you slowly ambled through the walkway towards the kitchen.
“If you paid more attention to your posture, you wouldn’t be feeling stiff at all.”
You froze in the walkway when you heard that familiar voice that shouldn’t feel familiar.
You doubled back several steps until you were looking in through the doorway towards the lounge, where none other than Vil Schoenheit sat on your couch, demurely sipping from one of your mugs. Your expression must have said it all, because he brought the mug away from his lips and raised an elegant eyebrow at you.
“Must you gawk? It does nothing for your features.”
You hadn’t even realised your mouth was hanging open, and you promptly snapped it shut. “What are you doing here?” You stuttered out before you managed to regain some of your composure, “I told the Headmage I wasn’t interested in hosting the NRC Tribe, so if he told you that—”
“I know what you said. I’m here because I think you should reconsider.” Vil remarked, a certain haughtiness in his tone that told you he thought you were being unnecessarily difficult. He gestured toward a free seat on the sofa, as if it was his lounge, not yours.
You blinked, slightly taken back by the audacity before you leaned heavily on the doorframe, pinching the bridge of your nose as that familiar feeling of frustration that you got when you had to deal with any of characters pestering you began to build in your bones. “Look—” You began.
“No, sit. We will be having a proper discussion about this.” Vil cut you off with an air of authority, one wielded by someone who often got their way, one way or another. Your eyes narrowed, your hand dropping from your face so Vil could feel the full impact of your disdain. “This is my dorm, Schoenheit, you should be treating me with more respect. You can’t order me around here.”
Vil gave you a smile that was as demeaning as it was beautiful. “Of course. But we are both housewardens, and housewardens should treat each other with mutual respect, no? The least you could do is give me the courtesy of a discussion.”
If you never had to deal with another housewarden again, it would be too soon.
You huffed but relented, moving over towards one of the sofas and all but threw yourself down, with elicited another eyebrow raise from Vil. Your phone tumbled out of your pocket on impact, lighting up in all its cracked glory and drawing Vil’s eye. “You should really get that fixed.” Vil commented dryly, and you scoffed whilst flipping it over, hiding it from his critical gaze.
“There is nothing you can say that will convince me to host the NRC Tribe here, so you’re just wasting your breath.” You said bluntly, hoping to end this pointless conversation quickly, but Vil didn’t look phased.
“I thought you might say that, so lets just cut to the negotiations. If you allow the NRC Tribe to stay here until the SDC concludes, Rook and I shall donate our share of the prize to Ramshackle dorm. Should we win, of course.” Vil looked at you expectantly, and you rolled your eyes.
“Crowley already tried to bribe me, and I’m not buying it.” You responded cooly, “I don’t intend to stay at Ramshackle, or even Twisted Wonderland, long enough to enjoy any benefit from allowing the NRC Tribe to stay here.” A bluff, considering you had no new leads on how to get home, but Vil didn’t seem to catch on, “also, all that hinges on the NRC Tribe actually winning the SDC. Not saying I don’t have any faith…” Which of course you don’t, you know the outcome. “… But as I’ve already made clear, I really don’t want to host, especially not out the goodness of my heart.”
To his credit, Vil seemed to be mulling over your words, placing his mug of tea down so he could fold his arms gracefully in front of him. “Ah yes, I see… The Headmage did mention you had been researching quite steadfastly. You know, tenacity is the pillar of Pomefiore…” You swear you could see a hint of respect in his eyes as he looked on at you approvingly, before he continued on with his train of thought, “then how about something more short term to sweeten the deal? Such as…” His eyes darted down to your poor phone. “Perhaps I could arrange for your phone to be fixed?”
You scoffed. “Who are you, Azul?” Vil frowned at that comparison, looking a little affronted. Good.
“How about this, then. The NRC Tribe stays here for the time that we need, and that’ll be it. You won’t be expected to carry out any support duties, nor give us any of your time. Furthermore, I’ll provide groceries for the full duration that we are at Ramshackle, and I won’t tell Crowley about it. Perhaps then you can put your living allowance for that month towards something to help with your research? All you need to do is allow us use of your free rooms and living space for a limited period. And of course, if NRC tribe are victorious at the SDC, I still intend to donate my share of the prize to Ramshackle.”
It was a tempting offer.
What you wanted was to not be involved with the SDC at all, and this allowed you to do that. You wouldn’t be the manager, or support in any form. You wouldn’t even have to see the NRC Tribe if you didn’t want to, you’re pretty sure you could negotiate further with Vil that the members weren’t to disturb you at all during their stay. You had already seen how Vil had ruled with an iron fist during the story, if it got him what he wanted, he would see it done.
But… With the NRC Tribe staying at Ramshackle, there was a risk that Ace and Deuce would gravitate towards you, and then Grim would get dragged in, which would likely end with you getting caught up and… You shook your head, looking towards Vil resolutely. “No, that’s not going to work for me. Sorry, but the NRC Tribe are going to have to find somewhere else for their training camp.”
Vil stared at you for a long moment, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he was studying you before he sighed, twisting his wrist around elegantly to check the time. “I’ll allow you to sleep on it. We can continue this topic again in the morning. Its time for me to retire for the evening, I don’t want to waste the effects of that herbal tea.”
You crooked an eyebrow as Vil stood, following suit shortly after. He drank a sleep tea in your dorm, even though he had to walk back to his own dorm? Odd, but each to their own. Maybe it was a Pomefiore thing? You did vaguely remember from the game that Vil set strict standards for himself…
You followed him out of the lounge, planning on giving him the courtesy of walking him to the door. Whilst he had invaded your home, he had been civil, which was more than you could say about half the other people on campus who pestered you on campus.
Of course, you had no idea just how deeply Vil had taken root in your home during your absence.
As you left the lounge, Vil turned towards the staircase instead of continuing down the walkway to where the main doors lie. “Uh, Vil. Wrong way. The entrance is this way.” You directed politely, only for Vil to continue walking. As he reached the first stair, he looked over his shoulder at you, with a look you could only describe as coy.
“Didn’t I mention, my dear? I’ve already moved in.”
For the second time that evening, your jaw dropped. Was he serious?!
“Vil—” You began, but he was already continuing up the stairs, clearly unbothered by your surprise and discontent. “I’ll see you in the morning, bright and early to continue our discussion. Sleep well, Prefect.”
You could only watch as Vil climbed the stairs and disappeared deeper into Ramshackle, hearing the creaky sound of the door of the room he had chosen opening and closing as he retired for the night. You were rendered absolutely speechless. You had never anticipated something like this happening. Even without agreeing to having the NRC Tribe stay at Ramshackle for their training camp, you still had Vil Schoenheit staying here anyway?! You scrubbed your hands over your tired face in frustration.
Just what else were you in for?
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faebaex · 3 months
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He's damn right I've got something more to say.
Old man took the FULL 100 rolls to grace me with his presence 😭😭
Idc I'm telling Malleus that I can't roll for him bc Lilia BLED ME DRY.
This the real reason Malleus overblots, girl me toooooo
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faebaex · 3 months
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Update!
A long overdue update! Happy New Year!! :3
Hiiii! I am still here and still entirely in love with Twst and its fandom! Life has got in the way a little (recently graduated, moved house, looking for a job, etc) and the blog fell a little to the wayside T-T
But! I want to get back into writing! And not the once a month fic kinda writing!
On that note, Vil's chapter of Tangled in Wonderland is in production, with Ignihyde, Rook, Malleus and Lilia to follow! And at some point, I'll be putting up the last few bonus polls for the series!
Also I hit my next milestone of 1500 followers, thank you all so much! I wasn't really expecting it to happen so quickly, even with the Tangled in Wonderland series not yet finished (and I still need to finish Adventures of the Gargoyle Studies Club which was another milestone fic aaaaaa). I'm not really sure what to do for this next milestone, or if I should leave it and do something bigger if I hit the next milestone??
Anyway! Thank you all for sticking with me, even if my writing schedule has been all over the place! I read all your comments and reblogs and they honestly make my day and make me so happy to continue writing about my silly little ideas and thoughts.
(ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡
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faebaex · 3 months
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Haiiii, will you ever write more about lilia and your oc? I am so so so invested on it T-T I really liked it!
Hiii!
Wow I never expected to hear this! Thank you so much this is so flattering TwT
Tbh I put the series with my OC and Lilia on the backburner because I thought no one was really interested... But I would love to write some more, and knowing someone is looking forward to it is really encouraging!
(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.゚
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faebaex · 3 months
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Hiii!! I love your Malleus fic series “Eye of the Storm” so much 😭😭😭😭 I keep on re-reading it non stop holy shit 🥰
Hiiii!
Asldfjlg thank you so much for your lovely message T-T this is such a huge compliment!
I do plan on continuing Eye of the Storm!!! I actually want to set some time aside to continue all of the fics that have fallen through the cracks!
ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡
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faebaex · 3 months
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Masterlist
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≪ °❈° ≫  Welcome to the Night Raven College library… Now do be quiet, lest Crowley hunt you down… ≪ °❈° ≫
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All Students
╰─▸Big Spoon or Little Spoon? (Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw & Octavinelle)
╰─▸Big Spoon or Little Spoon? (Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde & Diasomnia)
╰─▸Hot Chocolate (500 Follower Valentine’s Event)
╰─▸Piece of Cake (500 Follower Valentine’s Event - Second Years)
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Series
Tangled in Wonderland
╰─▸Prologue
╰─▸Library Liaison (Riddle Rosehearts)
╰─▸Leonotis Leonurus (Leona Kingscholar)
╰─▸Fighting Fire with Fire (Azul Ashengrotto)
╰─▸Three’s a Crowd, Four is a Party (Scarabia)
╰─▸Tall, Tall Tales (Floyd Leech)
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Riddle Rosehearts
╰─▸ Off with your head!
╰─▸ Roses are Red (500 Follower Valentine’s Event)
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Azul Ashengrotto
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Jellyfish!Reader
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Stingray!Reader
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Jade Leech
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Jellyfish!Reader
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Stingray!Reader
╰─▸Comfort Headcanons
╰─▸Workplace Hazard
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Floyd Leech
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Jellyfish!Reader
╰─▸Octavinelle with a Stingray!Reader
╰─▸Accidentally Courting an Eel  Ⅰ  Ⅱ    
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Rook Hunt
╰─▸500 Follower Valentine’s Event
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Malleus Draconia
╰─▸Eye of the Storm  Ⅰ  Ⅱ  Ⅲ
╰─▸Halloween 
╰─▸Light Fae Reader  Ⅰ  Ⅱ
╰─▸Midnight 
╰─▸Adventures of the Gargoyle Studies Club  Ⅰ
╰─▸Comfort Headcanons
╰─▸Clumsy in Love (500 Follower Valentine’s Event)
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Silver
╰─▸Lovesick (500 Follower Valentine’s Event)
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Lilia Vanrouge
╰─▸Cursed with the Gift of Reincarnation  Ⅰ   Ⅱ
╰─▸College Mementos - CGR series
╰─▸Bitter Memory - CGR series, ft @vannrou’s beautiful art 
╰─▸500 Follower Valentine’s Event
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Leona Kingscholar
╰─▸Catnap
╰─▸Love is Blind
╰─▸Lioness Princess Reader
╰─▸500 Follower Valentine’s Event
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Rollo Flamme
╰─▸500 Follower Valentine’s Event
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OCs
Violetta Palebloom
Profile
Lilia Vanrouge
╰─▸Soulmates  Ⅰ  Ⅱ
╰─▸The Mirror’s Prophecy
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faebaex · 3 months
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i just found ur account and oh my GODDDD i love ur twst fics !!!! is ur masterlist updated? is there a specific tag you use? i want to make sure im not missing any of your works!!
Hiiiii!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
This really lovely message was the final push I needed to finally update my masterlist! Everything should be there now! I don't have a specific writing tag but I'll try to do better in keeping my masterlist updated!
⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
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faebaex · 3 months
Text
Okay I've been thinking this for DAYS and I just need to get it out of my head:
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Jade and his little baby girl stance 😭
Standing there like butter wouldn't melt
100% certified baby girl fr he could frame me for many crimes and i just couldn't be mad
Your Honour i LOVE HIM
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