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spectral-kitkat · 3 years

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Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

#miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous salt #adrien agreste #marinette dupen chang #marinette salt #master fu salt #ladybug and chat noir #fandom salt #thomas astruc salt #adrien deserves better #miraculous season 4 #miraculous season 3 #miraculous rant

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hizashis-lil-bunbun · 3 years

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BNHA Valentine’s Day Headcanons!

Happy first day of February! Some of my Discord friends and I were brainstorming how different My Hero characters would celebrate Valentine’s Day. So let’s give ‘em a whirl! All characters are adults or aged up to be 18+ in these scenarios.

Big thanks to @varnienne, @emmappelle, @sweet-darling91, @donica95, and @katsontherun for letting me bounce ideas off of them. 💖

⚠️MOSTLY FLUFF BUT THERE IS SOME NSFW AHEAD!⚠️

Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic)

SFW

Gotta start with my blonde bby. And the best way I can describe his ideal Valentine’s is BIG and LOUD!

He’s never been one shy away from telling you how he feels, but he’s especially talkative on V-Day. Going on and on about how lucky he is, how much he loves you, etc.

It’s love songs all day, baby! From blasting modern pop songs while he makes breakfast to sweet, old-fashioned tunes that he makes you slow dance with him to in the living room. He’s a true romantic (and a surprisingly good dancer to boot).

And he might even (re: definitely will) serenade you. The man is a musician after all! In fact, don’t be surprised if Hizashi wrote a song just for you.

As far as gifts go, Hizashi goes all out. He’s a hero and a celebrity, with the salaries to match. So you can expect a few big ticket items. Plus, he’s a good listener. If you ever mentioned something you needed/wanted/expressed interest in, chances are it will arrive wrapped up in red and pink paper on the day.

“Hey little listener! Remember how ya said you might wanna try painting? No? Well I turned the spare room into a studio for ya anyways! Maybe you can make me something to hang up at the station, yeah?”

But just because his gifts are expensive and flashy, that doesn’t mean he devalues your own. Hizashi will blubber and gush over anything you give him, from lavish luxuries to a something as simple as a homemade card. Loudly I might add. Make sure to have earplugs handy.

Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of having a radio star as your partner is that he’ll most likely have to work on Valentine’s Day. It’s even worse if he had teach that day as well. So don’t count on any fancy dinners until after the 14th.

But if you tune into his station on the day (and you will), there will be at least three or four songs dedicated to “his favorite little listener.”

NSFW

Even if he can’t be with you on the actual night, he’s definitely going to make up for lost time. Mood music, candlelight, the whole nine yards. He wants to romance you. To make you feel as good as you make him feel everyday.

Oral and overstimulation are the name of the game, and Hizashi is a giver through and through. He’s happy as a clam once he’s got his face buried between your legs, making you cum for the umpteenth time that night. Seriously, does he ever come up for air?

Praise is also a big thing for him. It flows from his mouth like the sweetest wine. And with his quirk, every whispered word and groan against your body feels just as intoxicating. Good vibrations indeed.

He also loves it when you’re vocal. No love song can compete with the way you cry and moan under his touch. He’ll make you sing for him all night long and into the morning hours.

“Damn, baby. I love you so damn much. Love the way you look cumming on my tongue. Think you can do it again?”

Eijiro Kirishima

SFW

Okay. This boy adores Valentine’s Day! Like it’s his favorite holiday.

And how can he not? Everything in the stores is red! He can stock up on red merchandise for the rest of the year in the span of a week. And believe me, he does.

This means his partner should expect a lot of the cliché gifts on the big day: teddy bears, heart-shaped boxes, and red roses to name a few. Oh, and he’s definitely got a stockpile of cheesy, punny Valentine cards centered around his and his friend’s hero personas.

His favorite is the one that says “I think you’re a Red Riot! Be my Valentine?” But maybe that’s partially because it came from you.

Kirishima doesn’t just shower you with crimson trinkets; he buys treats for everyone! Especially his closest friends. To him, Valentine’s is all about showing the people he loves most just how much he cares. And it’s honestly adorable to see him practically bouncing off the walls in excitement when he finds a little red treasure for this year’s celebration.

“Babe! Look at that red shark plushie. It looks just like me! So manly!”

*proceeds to buy seven of them: one for him, one for you, and one for everyone in the Bakusquad + Tetsutetsu*

But at the end of the day, once all the chocolates and stuffed animals have been given away, he’ll make sure you know there’s no one he loves more than you. He spends the final hours alone with you, eating a home cooked meal and cuddling on the couch. Times like these are his favorite, just being to hold you close and appreciate your presence in his life.

Fair warning though. You’ll probably end up watching some some cheesy romcom, cuz he loves those too.

NSFW

Of course, the red theme continues in the bedroom: red rose petals, red sheets, even a set of red lingerie he bought just for the occasion. Which he proceeds to rip apart minutes after you’ve gotten them on. Hope they weren’t too expensive.

Kirishima tries to be gentle with you, he really does. Savoring your pleasure and letting your orgasms crest and fall naturally. He wants to see you cooing and boneless by the end of the night.

But sometimes he underestimates his own strength and gets a little rougher than expected. Maybe he gives too sharp of a love bite, or squeezes your hips a little too hard. But it’s all done out of passionate love, so you don’t mind too much.

You might actually prefer it if he gets a little rougher.

However, if you wanna get kinky, there is one thing Kiri’s always down for: pulling you over his knee for a good, old-fashioned spanking. His quirk is perfect for it, hardening the palm of his hand just before it smacks down on the soft flesh. It’s like he has a set of built-in paddles. Trust me, if you let him get into a good rhythm, by the end of the night your ass will match the Valentine’s decor perfectly.

“Not pushing you too hard am I, beautiful? I know I can be unbreakable sometimes, but I never want to break you. I love you too much to do that.”

Mirio Togata

SFW

TBH, before he met you, Mirio was a bit of a player (which is kinda canon). Like “has a different date every year” player.

And can you blame him? He’s a total heartbreaker with that (le)million dollar smile and those baby blue eyes. He got so much Valentine’s chocolate from girls in high school, it was sickening! But with you, things are different.

For starters, he’s not so big on material gifts. Giving or receiving.

“How could I want anything more when I’ve got my sunshine right here?”

No, this sweet himbo is all about making memories with his partner! Sharing experiences and spending as much quality time together as possible.

So he plans everything days, sometimes weeks, in advance. Budgeting his time and money to squeeze as much love into a single day as humanly possible.

The moment you wake up on February 14th, he hits the ground running. Quite literally! He’s practically doing laps around your bedroom in his excitement to get the day started.

Valentine’s Day with Mirio turns out to be a marathon of couple activities. Bike riding to a local café for breakfast. Sight-seeing in Tokyo followed by ice cream in the afternoon. He even manages to sniff out a carnival for you to go to in the evening, letting you run amok on the rides and games. And yes, he definitely spends too much money trying to win you one of those giant stuffed animals.

By the end of the day, you’re thoroughly spent and just want to snuggle up next to him. And maybe have a late night snack of chocolate. Mirio is more than happy to indulge you, even offering to carry you home. Anything to be close to his precious sunshine.

NSFW

Despite your sleepiness and aching feet, Mirio insists he has one last surprise to give you. So he asks you to lay face-down on the bed and wait for him. Naked of course.

Once he finds what he’s looking for, he straddles your tailbone with his thighs and squirts something slippery onto your back. You yelp at the cold sensation and that earns a laugh from Mirio. He tells you it’s massage oil. One specifically designed to relieve muscle tension.

It’s like he knew you’d be sore after his day of non-stop adventuring. Almost like he planned it... What a smooth criminal.

It makes sense though. Maybe it’s because his quirk requires him to pass through things, but physical touch is his primary love language. Nothing grounds him quite like having you in his arms, worshiping every inch of your body.

He works you over, kneading at the muscles in your back, hips, and legs with steady pressure and prescision. He even rubs your feet, making the earlier pains melt away into bliss.

You’re almost too sleepy and relaxed to realize one of his hands is creeping up your body until it’s too late. Next thing you know, he’s curling his fingers into you, amplifying the pleasure of the massage in a new way. Like I said, Mirio’s a smooth criminal when he wants to be.

“Feeling good, sunshine? Yeah, I’ll bet you are. You always look so cute like this... just makes me want to kiss you all over. Maybe I will! But I think you’re still a little tense right... here.”

#hizashi yamada #kirishima eijirou #mirio togata #bnha headcanons #valentines #present mic #red riot #lemillion #bnha smut #mha headcanons #mha smut

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realcube · 3 years

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Haikyuu girls // The Strap - NSFW headcanons

pairings: kiyoko x reader, yachi x reader, saeko x reader

summary: you and your s/o decide to add a bit of spice to your sex so y’all use a strap - the following headcanons are how I think they’ll use it/react..

tw// aged-up au!, (she/her) reader, vagina-having reader, sexual intercourse, strap-ons, WLW sex, fingering, oral (receiving and giving), swearing, exhibition

Kiyoko Shimizu

honestly, you’re both very diplomatic when it comes to deciding who gives and who receives

whenever y’all do it, the mood kinda just decides for itself

however, since both y’all were just blankly staring at the bright pink object that sat in the middle of the bed, Kiyoko figured that she’d take one for the team

also, since it was her who suggested and bought the item, she thought it would only be fair if she gave it try first

so, she guided you through the steps of putting it on while strapping it onto herself

then, once she was done, she bent you over and got to it

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

Your eyes rolled back into your head from the unholy mix of ecstasy and pain Kiyoko made you feel. Never before have you felt so full. The way she mastered the smooth plastic toy so it occasionally brushed against your g-spot left you salivating and begging for more - just how she intended. “Kiyoko~” You whined, pushing your face out of the blankets so she could hear your desperate pleas, “M- Muh, More! Please..”

A light pant left Kiyoko’s lip as she retracted one of her hand from your waist to reach down at trace sloppy circles around her clit, but she was a lot more sensitive than she thought she would be so after that small bit of stimulation, she involuntarily tossed her head back and let out a low moan.

That was part of the reason she wanted to refrain from touching herself while pounding into you but the sight of your dripping pussy being stretched out by her strap along with the high-pitch mewls you let out was more than enough to leave her with a throbbing cunt and weak knees.

Without a word, she altered her movements so that she was now thrusting into you at a rapid pace, every movement of her hip directed at the spot you pleaded to be stimulated and upon your request, Kiyoko delivered. However, not without a cost. At this point, your g-spot was getting used and abused so quickly, your body was barely able to keep up.

Lewd wails escaped your throat, your mind clouded with pleasure and euphoria yet you were still conscious enough to notice that the slight vibrating of your thighs could only mean one thing.

Despite the fact you were struggling to breath through all the erotic sensations throughout your body, let alone think - as soon as you felt your orgasm arise, the natural instinct to ask for permission managed to muster up enough energy to allow you to croak out, “May I?”

Kiyoko couldn’t help but giggle, gently caressing you waist with one hand and abandoning her needy clit to attend to your puckered hole. “You’ve been a good girl.” She mused, a low groan falling from her lips as he speed decreased slightly just to tease you. “Go on.”

Her deacceleration barely effected you as by the time those words had reached your ears, you were already halfway through your climax. Bliss shot through your body, sending shivers down your arched spine and to your legs, which was promptly followed by a pornographic moan. “Sh..Shimzu!~”

Upon hearing you finish, Kiyoko slowly pulled out the strap to provide you with some relief before taking it off, throwing it aside and attacking her pussy with her fingers - clearly, she had been left unsatisfied after being aroused by your messy, horny state.

You looked over at her and were simply unable to stifle a giggle. However, you weren’t the one laughing when you tried to stand up to walk over there and help her but then you realised you couldn’t feel your legs. “C’mere.” You commanded, seeming slightly less dominant since you were still panting from when she was railing you just a few seconds ago, “I’ll finish you off.”

Hitoka Yachi

she rarely ever gives and this was no exception

(well, by that I mean she is a bottom but when it comes to giving gifts and stuff she is extra af but that is a whole other headcanon)

in fact, she was actually the one who bought the strap

however, it was now you who inserting it into her

but you both like it that way!

bc she usually hates being on top since she’s always scared that she’ll hurt you or leave you unsatisfied

anyway, you both mutually agreed that you were the top - despite the fact that y’all only do it once every millennium-

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

You finished deciphering the instruction and managed to put the god-forsaken thing on - and the fact that you had little to no hand-to-eye coordination probably didn’t help. ( Throwback to that one time you momentarily pulled out and then when you tried to plug your fingers back in, you accidentally ended up aggressively poking Yachi’s labia.)

“Okay,” You looked up, biting your lip upon seeing Yachi in nothing but lingerie with the dim candle’s lit in the background, making her look heavenly. The character develop - you sighed, recalling the first time y’all had intercourse and she insisted the lights had to be complete off and her oversized shirt and thigh-high socks stayed on. Not that you had a problem with that - in fact, you found it quite charming - but it was just amazing to see how much more confidence she’s gained.

You shook your head in attempt to shake away all the off-topic thoughts, “Are you sure you want me to do this?” You inquired, eyes soft and exchanging a loving gaze with her. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing this.” Although, it was Yachi’s idea to invest in a strap-on but you’d rather be safe than sorry as she might’ve changed her mind since then.

Yachi nodded, her signature sweet yet awkward smile gracing her lip while she fidgeted with the lace on the edges of the red panties she wore. “Oh, yes. I’m sure! I-I’ll be sure to tell you if it’s too much though.” She stuttered, losing her train of thought at the sight of you wearing the article. A deep blush rushed to her cheeks and she tried to stifle a snicker, “Safe-word: ‘waffles’, right?”

Waffles; a parallel to the name of your dog - Pancakes - which Yachi thought was so cute and fun but you - for obvious reasons - felt uncomfortable with her, in any case, screaming your dogs name in bed. So, you changed the word to Waffles.

You hummed in agreement, sending her one last kind smile before a mischievous grin made it’s way onto your face. “Bend over.” You demanded, glancing down to look at the massive piece of shmeat erect on your vagina; you’d by lying if you said it didn’t make you at least the slightest bit uneasy - but you had to push through, for Yachi!

Saeko Tanaka

at this point, you were used to Saeko whipping out the weirdest shit and using it during intercourse

if anything, a strap-on was pretty vanilla and conventional compared to the other things Saeko has used with you

which include (but not limited to): a wooden spoon, a candle, a TV remote, an Xbox controller, a whisk, ice-cubes in the shape of people, a needle, lego brick(s), a sandal, a guitar, a broom, a lava-lamp, a ketchup bottle, a hairbrush, a straightener, multiple bottles of shampoo (since she only uses the tiny bottles that she steals from hotels), her gear stick, a D20 and a pack of instant noodles.

so obviously you were pleasantly surprised when Saeko actually went out and bought a real sex toy instead of just using one of her make-shift ones.

“Only the best for you, princess!”

oh, and this goes without saying, she’s a top

it’s not that you’re a bottom though because you are from it as you’ve attempted to top her on multiple occasions

but it just never goes your way so no matter how dominant and/or persistent you are, you always end up receiving

not that you have a problem with it but- when I say she goes hard, she goes hard

literally she’ll stop whatever she is going if you seem even remotely horny and as soon as you give her consent to go further, it’s game over for you, honey

also, she is very much an exhibitionist so she really doesn’t care if she’s being to loud while her brother/his friends are over

in short, when you saw that bright pink toy lying on her bed sheet especially for you - it didn’t take long for you to realise that you should probably pre-book a few days off from work because you won’t be able to walk for the next week-

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

“Shut up, babe.” Saeko hissed at you, a evil smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, “They’re studying downstairs.”- not that she cared, she just enjoyed seeing you frustrated. So she couldn’t help but laugh at how much of a mess you were, sweat matting your hair to your forehead, your ass cheeks red from Saeko’s unmerciful palm, your leg twitching as you approached your orgasm and your mouth full of lewd moans being forced shut as Saeko insisted that you quiet down.

Saeko leaned in to whisper suggestive threats into your ear, “If I hear another sound leave that pretty little mouth of your’s, you’ll be punished later.” The tingle of her hot breath against your skin and the implications of what she said just aroused you even more, forcing you to repress your whines..for now.

Honestly, you seriously didn’t know if you could do it as surely, Saeko wasn’t aware of how differently it hit when she used a proper toy - or perhaps she just felt that cruel today. The optimum amount of pleasure you thought she was capable of bringing you was somehow doubled due to the mix of factors: her using a real toy designed to endue pleasure, the impressive balance of attention between your clit and ass, her erotic threats and the fact she was seriously going feral back there.

You were already close but her harsh groping of your ass, licking her fingers to provide the slightest bit of lubricant before sticking 3 digits straight into your strained, dripping cunt while her other hand tightened it’s grip on the back of your neck - all that was enough to tip you over the edge.

You thought you’d be able to ask for permission or at least give a warning before you came but your throbbing clit along with Saeko’s tip violently slamming against your g-spot left you unable to do so, while you attempt sounded a bit like, “I’m gonna- I-” followed by an involuntary, loud moan.

“Don’t you dare-” Saeko snapped teasingly, but obviously unprepared for how loud your moan would actually be - so rather than covering your mouth with her hand, for her own entertainment she slammed into your g-spot once more, this time with more force - leading to you choking on your own noise.

Saeko was used to leaving you out of breath and tired, so while your lay there with your ass up, trying to catch your breath; she took this opportunity to take off the strap (but left it dangling out your pussy since she wasn’t sure if you wanted her to take it out or not) and went to get some aloe-vera for your bright red ass and dark purple bruises on your neck.

“Geez, your pretty lil’ pussy could barely handle that. Maybe we should stick to the ketchup bottles.” She joked, squirting the aloe-vera onto her hands and gently gliding her hands across your lower back.

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twewy-comix · 3 years

Text

7th twewy VII - code: S.H.O.

(this is the liveblog post)

whoa, hey, let’s not jump to conclusions here!

god imagine getting a drink and it’s like 90% ice cube. sphere. whatever

anyway back to our normal friend josh

who can use jesus beams now! but still has shit defense and will get mauled by crabs the moment you look away!

center gay

f-”fujisan roku ni o-mu naku”............ god fucking dammit i hate sho

(the subs won’t tell you what the mnemonic is. but i did. just now. sho says it a lot in the jp version. it means uhhh something about a bird at mount fuji idfk who cares. i guess the thing he was saying while drawing the sigil last ep was a really, really long mnemonic for pi??)

fun twewy memories: trying to decipher that goddamn map

at least these guys lived! what a relief! (jk they die too)

so uh, the anime showed new wall reaper designs once each and then went back to the originals...??

me when im playing the second half of week 2 and keep getting mugged by taboo noise

CRABS

oh nvm i think that’s one of the new designs (he dies immediately)

MOVE OUT OF THE WAY JACKASS

yknow i never got why like, in movies and stuff when there’s a boulder or some huge object heading toward the characters, why they never go to the side?? even when there’s plenty of space to?? they just keep running straight, like that’s gonna do any good

Leave

they special day

fangs....moe.........

ok but i kinda prefer the game version where he saves joshua from getting killed by noise because he wants to do the killing himself? you cant just take away perfectly good brain worms like that, bro!!

anyway: zowee yaowee

m-...mark...??

oh. right, i heard they got permission to use the actual irl names for neo, i guess theyre using them here too (but they kept 104, ofc)

(”in the real life”)

anyway this was a fun little 7-episode anime

what

SPIDERS??

ok i noticed them in the op too but uhhh the game didnt have spiders, right? (are crabs like spiders?)

if only there were some huge red glowing beams of light from which we could infer their location!!!

ok blue ones work too

h-heart-shaped... moe???

okay so they switched on the lights as thanks for saving them before, but also beat’s here, but also he’s “accidentally” protecting them from noise on purpose(???) and now the textures are all fucked up

oh right, this hadnt happened yet. i guess it’s more dramatic on a roof at sunset

(z-zowee yaowee...?!)

they’re on the roof, but they have to go to the roof on top of the roof. what will they find there? perhaps... a third roof???

male gaze

fucking same

male gaze

oh come ON

so like, are cheesy paint roller guns standard issue for reapers

(oh so we get to see NEKU bleeding profusely from bullet wounds but not the character everyone wants to see bleeding profusely?? i see how it is.) (im everyone)

male gaze

they dont show his wings shattering either??? what sick fuck is responsible for not catering to me specifically

is that better or worse than zetta slow? i’d google it but i dont want that in my search history

oh right uhh the roof broke and now theyre floating in a dimension of prismatic roof pieces(??) that show memories(???)

male gaze (furry edition)

dude teleports all over the place and beats the shit out of them. pretty accurate to the game!

for one brief, fleeting moment, i thought they were gonna hold hands

rest in fucking pieces. pi-eces

then he explodes himself. and i guess dies, permanently, as dying always is in this anime, and we will totally never see him again

josh pushes neku off the roof, clear of the explosion. good thing there’s another roof not too far below

“oops, i could’ve sworn the other roof was on that side :3c”

he ends up back in blank white background zone. gosh, if there’s one thing i cant stand, it’s when art has a blank white background!

kitaniji is slow clapping, because secretly he sent the final mission to get rid of minamimoto for everyone. guess he heard one “megs” too many........

ah, so THAT’S why he dyed his hair in the sequel

#you cant complain about me repeating the same joke when the animators are making it this easy

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juhihuji · 3 years

Note

do u have any random facts or things about Depth of heaven and ur characters (sfw or nsfw 🤭) even if what you want never comes to light, I really enjoy reading the concepts and asks about ur OCs

Hehehe I haven't thought about the characters and their story in a long time, until recently...but I never put a huge amount of thought into them before either! I kinda just knew I...wished I could make something cool that had everything I wanted in that kind of game lmao. Even if it doesn't happen, I felt like I wanted there to be twists and secrets...if it never happens then nobody but me will ever know about them, huh! But, if it does happen then I'll spoil stuff for later! What to do...ah I'll share about it! But I'm giving it a spoiler warning for something that doesn't exist anyway lmao Also I'm not a writer or a scientist this is all wacky world rules ok xd also there might be inconsistencies idk I never wrote anything down I'll tell u their heights! June: 5'4 Puzzle: 6'3 Koa: 5'6 Adam: 6'1 Keizo: 6'7 Lloyd: 5'11 Static: 6' Cyril: 5'9 Holly: 5'7

In high school June and Puzzle were da weeaboos who listened to vocaloid on their phones at lunch. Puzzle wore cat ears, big headphones, and tutus to school. I think....I decided that because of her old bad design lmao. I thought I had a drawing of her in cat ears but I can't find it 😔 June prolly just wore hoodies and graphic t-shirts. They were each others prom dates! June wore a tux! Okay spoilery stuff ahead!

I have a general idea what I want the story to be, but right now I just see it as disjointed scenes in my head. I posted some June and Puzzle wearing dresses where I wanted a scene to happen in a casino on the ship. Cruise ship casinos are kinda lame though lol, but it'll be as big and cool as I want >:•3 and it's an excuse to have everyone in cool formal wear cuz that's always fun! The cult leader calls for a big party on the ship and everyone has to attend! It's also where he culls the herd...because not everyone is worthy of going to heaven...apparently Koa likes playing video games! He's on the top of the leaderboard for one MMO, and during one event the top prize was blueprints for an in-game item: roller skates! It would make for cool merch to put on your wall or something. There was a rumor among the playerbase that the blueprints could make skates that function as they do in the game. Koa won the prints then used them to custom build his own skates (they look kinda generic now but I haven't put a lot of thought into their design lmao). The combination of materials used and construction give them a magical quality that allows him to skate faster than any human could! He's always pushing his limits, and sometimes it gets him in twubble xd Keizo has an issue with bad dreams...at night he replays all the times in his life where people were rude to him or each other, how he needs to keep peace between them, he just really hates assholes! He has nightmares about them treating him badly and there's nothing he can do, because at his height and with his strength he'd come off as the bad guy no matter what! They push and push 'til he's about to snap...then he wakes up! The rage super heats his blood and his skin glows red and steam pours out his ears! His hair is all wacky cuz it holds it's shape on the pillow from all the heat lmao June and the rest of them find out about it when they see steam coming out from under his door at night. Don't wake him up though! If he's still glowing hot he'll sleep walk while in a berserk state. First, it makes him really rude himself lmao. He'll say all the nasty things he won't when he's awake! Second, if he sees someone doin' shit he don't like, they're gettin' these 🤜🤛 In his happy ending you'd see him with his hair flat for the first time wouldn't that be nice :•3 Adam is always doing experiments on himself, kinda just for shits, kinda because he wants to discover something amazing....!.....?!?!??! When he was younger, his sister, who he loved v much, died. He wanted to become a doctor, not because he wanted to find a cure for the thing that killed his sister...because she died in an accident! He wanted to find a way to make people invincible! He's always injecting himself with stuff hoping it'll make him stronger. He likes Keizo as a friend, but to Adam Keizo is a perfect specimen of an indestructable human. Adam's been fascinated with him for a while, but Keizo also just makes for a good subject for testing against! Also, they met when Adam was studying abroad and Keizo came up on a motorbike and attacked the wheels on Adam's scooter. Cute! :•) Keizo used to be a bad boy :•( Other experiments Adam's done: Eyesight like a HAWK Cat ears but for real Jelly bones(?) Longer ween 😳 Lloyd is a stinky tech wiz who likes playing around with AI's and robotics! He has myassive myega brains and he monitors many of the functions of the ship by himself in his server room. When the captain is captured and thrown off the ship, Lloyd uses his know-how and special accesses to make sure the cult doesn't make a mess of everything. He knows about and can see everything that happens on the ship...for fun he likes video games toooo! And plays with Koa! He likes buildin' lil gadgets n tings for fun too! They can come in real handy! nsfw! Stuff past here!!!!!!!!! June, Koa, and Lloyd are all inexperienced!

As a lover, Keizo tries to be gentle...but once he gets into it he can be a bit rough! If you're into it, just enjoy! Or speak up and he'll slow down! Hmmm I was inspired by a scene from the film Crying Freeman (which I haven't actually watched 8•|) of some ppl doin' it in a closet(?)...it's all dark and cramped and humid and their skin is so shiny and glistening it's probably the thing that awoken me to drawing people super sweaty. I just can't help myself 😳 def wanna give Keizo a scene like that. This doodle was inspired by it actually lmao

Adam is patient and gentle! Lots of kisses and verbal reassurance and checking in w/ u. He's aware of his age and he doesn't wanna come off badly so he'll let you do all the pursuing. And June will pursue him hard if she has to! He's also gonna make you beg and ask, just so he's sure sure :•) He loves to sit her up on the examining table n do things wit his mouf n fingers 😳 I'd probably make it an option to call him daddy in certain scenarios...up to u if u choose it find out what happens for urself idk 😳😳😳 or don't

Koa likes to tease you, maybe bully you a lil, but when it comes to intimacy he's a wimp! I just like the idea of making the bully bend to your will, but he likes it. It just feels good to wipe that cocky smile off his face! Step on him! Make him whimper! I know June's a virg too, but Koa is just so easy to tease it makes it feel like second nature. BUT the more time they spend together, the more confident Koa becomes. So! Enjoy havin' him under your thumb while you can cuz it might not last forever! Lloyd tries to stay composed when June starts showing an interest. He's usually alone in his server room, but secretly appreciates her company when she comes by. At first he'll act like he's too busy. He's not used to being around women! As his interest in June grows it becomes harder to hide his feelings! So June notices...and teases him! Cuz it's just so easyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYY 😩 Seeing his serious expression crack when you put ur hands in his pants is lots of fun :•3 And he shows you a voice he's never shown anyone else before 🤤 He does his research and with your help he'll learn exactly how to worship u 😌 IF it ever happens there has to b a new game plus where u unlock threesome scenes with Koa/Lloyd and Adam/Keizo :•x That's all 4 now! Sorry I'm fuckin' gross and don't know how to type :•|

#the depth of heaven #koa #keizo #adam #lloyd #june #ocs #puzzle #text post

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darkhymns-fic · 3 years

Text

Heroes & Thieves

Whether rich or poor, everyone has heard of the pair of dual-wielding masked thieves that roam both countries of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla - the Red Phantom and the Blue Angel. And of course, their frightening hound that would whisk them away into the middle of the night, leaving no trace behind. (Well, almost any trace, if one ignored the person-shaped holes that would decorated a ransacked mansion or vault).

But after breaking into a mansion with its overabundance of unopened presents, the famous thieves may have just met their match. Who was this weird ninja?

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters/Pairing: Lloyd Irving/Colette Brunel, Sheena Fujibayashi, Zelos Wilder, Noishe Rating: G Mirror Link: AO3 Notes: Colette has her item thief arte, while Lloyd knows how to lockpick. Obviously, they should work together as thieves! This is basically that fic.

Around 8k of silliness and dastardly thievery (kinda). Let me know if you enjoyed!

Meltokio usually didn’t get quiet until late into the night. Nor did it get dark enough either, with the lampposts, powered by magitechnology, lighting up the cobblestone streets. Every lone passerby, usually a high noble that had stayed over at a gala party far too late, was illuminated by the soft glow on their path. Sometimes it would also be a merchant rushing back home after finally closing up shop, or a beggar trying to find a soft place to rest now that local guards of the upper level patrolled a bit less.

Still, even with night owls roaming the streets, there were pockets of shadows just out of the light’s reach. Perfect for hiding those who wished to stay hidden, who wished to be as stealthy as they could…

“I think this is the wrong street,” spoke a voice that broke the night’s stillness.

If one could hear the soft padding to the right of the pathway, they’d only catch the fleeting image of a creature on all fours, with two figures riding atop it. But when Noishe really, really tried, he could be as silent as he could, the pads on his feet minimizing all sound. Although, when his claws were too long, they tended to clack against stone…

Lloyd, hearing both Colette’s concerns and Noishe’s click-clacks , tried to problem-solve this in the span of a minute. He already had a map out, which he couldn’t see much because, well, it was really dark here when they were out of the light like this… “Are you sure? This place looks pretty fancy…”

“I think this is the shop district? Not the residential area!” Colette sounded apologetic, even as Lloyd was slowly realizing that she was very right, and that he was very wrong… The potion shop that they had just passed was a bit of a dead give-away.

“Argh, dammit… Okay, new plan!” Lloyd patted Noishe on the head, getting his attention. “Go up the stairs over here, okay boy?”

“I always worry we’re too heavy for him…” spoke Colette, even as Noishe followed instructions obediently (but not without a whine), loping across some bushes to get to the giant stone stairway, still keeping to the shadows as much as he could.

“Don’t worry, Noishe is strong! And he can run like the wind even with double us on top! I just… forgot to clip his nails earlier…”

Of course, the constant click-clack kept making Lloyd wince, but luckily, the guards were not really outside tonight. As they reached the top of the stairs, Lloyd noticed one castle guard standing by the great doors ahead, leaning on his pike, his snoring echoing inside his helmet.

Colette must have noticed Lloyd’s look, poking at his shoulder just then. “Lloyd…”

“Huh?” Lloyd started in guilt. “Ah I know… We’re not going to go to the castle… Not tonight at least…”

Colette nodded, her smile bright enough for him to see in the dark. Or it was probably just because his eyes had adjusted by now. It was really only that smile, along with the lower part of her face, that he could see clearly, everything else covered by a dark mask. Although, he could see how the moonlight reflected off her eyes. “Yeah, but we can next time!”

“Hehe, definitely.” Despite the fact that he and Colette were talking in normal-volume conversation, very few people were outside, so it was much easier to be sneaky now anyway. Facing once again into the night, Lloyd adjusted his own mask, keeping it more firmly in place. The night would mute the bright red he had insisted for its shade.

Noishe rushed faster down the street, past rows of what Lloyd could only describe as mansions, with their three-story heights, their marble balconies, their stucco designs and overflowing gardens that decorated what seemed to be a mini-plaza within what seemed to be a high-class cul-de-sac.

The people here were ridiculously wealthy, even more so than the other cities they had visited. It only further strengthened Lloyd’s resolve. He knew he was doing the right thing, even if…

“That’s the one,” Lloyd pointed a gloved hand towards one mansion in particular, more grand (Grander? Was that the right word?) than the rest. It’s salmon-pink walls seemed to gleam within the moonlight. The color was a weird choice, but it wasn’t like Lloyd understood rich people very well. “Er, or is it, Colette?”

“Um…” Colette perused through the map they had brought, finger angling down the paper. “I think so! Just before the end of Regal Street.”

“Alright, let’s go!” He winced again. “Sorry, I keep shouting…” They were supposed to be sneaky!

Lloyd also tried to move extra carefully as his swords strapped to his waist rattled, just a little bit at least. Maybe these swords were usually too big to sneak around with, but they were his trusty set, also having both of them would make him stronger anyway! Holding onto one of the hilts, he tried to tiptoe towards the home, his boots barely making a sound across the pavement.

Colette had less of an issue with her own weapons, her double chakrams strapped behind her back, hidden away so that no gleam could be seen off their surface. Lloyd had his own swords in his scabbards but they still weren’t exactly light…

She was also the first to slide off Noishe’s back but was the last to leave him. Lovingly petting his long ears and shushing his whines, she calmed him down enough to lay near a rosebush, hidden well-away from the lights on the road. “It’s okay, Noishe. We’ll be back.”

But once she rejoined Lloyd, he could see her own determination in her eyes, reflecting his. She was as serious about this as he was, her unbound hair slightly shifting with the breeze. “Ready.”

Lloyd nodded. “Okay.” From his pockets, he pulled out something small but sharp, grinning at Colette with a bit of excitement. “Wanna bet how long this will take me?”

“Hm,” Colette visibly pondered on the question, her face still half-shadowed from the dark. “6 minutes?”

“Way too long! I’ll get this done in 30 seconds flat!”

“Wow, good job, Lloyd! That’s amazing.”

“Congratulate me after I lockpick it first!”

But he was already motivated by Colette’s belief in him, already kneeling in front of the ornate door and looking over its way too fanciful lock. Lloyd ignored its gaudy color, already setting himself to work inserting both pin and pick to fiddle at its mechanisms.

No one could lockpick better than a blacksmith apprentice like himself after all!

“And…got it! Too easy!” Lloyd nearly punched his fist in the air victoriously before realizing that maybe now was not the best time. “Heh, sorry. So how long was that?”

Colette, looking just as excited as he with the released lock, stared off into space for a moment. “Um… oops. I forgot to count while you were doing it!”

Lloyd’s pride suddenly fell flat at that. “Aw, I really wanted to know if I beat my record.”

“Maybe you could try again?”

Lloyd, very much considering the option to lock himself out of the mansion, shook his head. “Nah, just remember for me next time, okay?”

While it was fun to play these games, they had some work to do! Games could wait!

Lloyd carefully pushed open the door, peering inside to find only darkness. He leaned in even more, and promptly bumped his head against what seemed to be coat hanger next to the door. “Ow. Why’s that there?”

But he got ahead of himself, once again quieting his voice to a near whisper as he turned to Colette. “Do you hear anyone?”

It was one of Colette’s many talents; few had as sensitive of hearing as she did and could put it to good use. So when she moved past the doorway, angling her head to detect any stray sound, Lloyd did his best to hold his breath so that she didn’t pick any noises from him instead.

After a moment, she shook her head. “Mm, I think the coast is clear!”

Lloyd could barely contain himself. With a grin, he rushed in (while carefully closing the door and also quieting his swords) to finally get a look at the place they were going to do work in tonight.

…And it was much, much bigger than he had anticipated.

“Wow…” Lloyd whispered, looking around the main lobby with the plush couches, the grand piano off in the corner, and a fancy portrait of a woman hanging off the right corner, as if wanting to be hidden from view. Both him and Colette softly tread across the tiled floors onto plush carpets. Barely a hush to their movements, the air so still. No nighttime servants or guards that hung around, which surprised Lloyd, but he took it as a positive sign.

Still, he couldn’t help but be a little shocked when he kept finding new things every time he turned his head. The fireplace to his left was massive, dwarfing his own back home! And it was made of expensive material too, with etchings in its stonework. This didn’t even compare to when he looked ahead and saw glass doors that led to even more rooms.

“This guy must be loaded!” Lloyd had to say, then once again winced. He really wasn’t good at being quiet… “Though I guess everyone on this street is technically…”

But at least he wasn’t the only one shocked. Colette looked around as well, blue eyes wide beneath her mask. “We might need to make several trips…” she suggested, already heading towards an ornate dresser, its drawer handles seeming to be made of gold. “Since there’s an upstairs too.”

“Agh, that’s gonna be annoying. Let’s just try to get everything we can in one go! Noishe can help carry the rest.”

With that, Lloyd unhooked a satchel he carried at his belt – and proceeded to loot every expensive item in sight!

“I call the living room!” he half-yelled, half-whispered as he rushed towards the left side of the room.

“Ah! No fair…” Colette whined but he could see her already rushing away to another part of the house to do her own job as well.

When it came to stealing, there were no better thieves than he and Colette! But only for high-class places like this, even though this place was probably the fanciest they had hit just yet.

A place like this has to have jewels…. Or vaults full of Gald! Lloyd passed by a table placed in the middle of the room, overflowing with what looked to be wrapped presents. Hm, was it okay for him to look through these? Some of them hadn’t even been opened, and presents felt somewhat different… Wait, why am I worried about that?

Lloyd didn’t find any vaults so far, but there was no lack of Gald in this house regardless. Some of it just seemed to be laying around the furniture, including the plush sofas (which he made sure to check in-between the couch cushions for!) and even some were inside the presents? Not a very creative gift, but at least he could take it easy…

By the time Lloyd decided to pick up some items, he heard Colette from behind him. “I’m all set!”

“Huh? Already?” Lloyd turned to Colette, clutching a few expensive-looking hairbrushes in both hands. The fact that he had found more than one hanging around the living room was already kind of odd. “I don’t get how you do it so fast!”

Colette had her own satchel filled with taken goods. Though he couldn’t see, he could hear the soft clink of porcelain, along with what must have been the clatter of Gald. “Hehe. I’m a pro at item thief, remember?”

“Yeah, that’s-“ Lloyd stopped, narrowing his eyes at Colette, then sighed when he noticed the bruise on her forehead. “Did you trip earlier?”

“Um…”

“Did you trip yourself on purpose?!” Lloyd moved to see if she had any more injuries, hands reaching out and, well, still holding onto the hairbrushes and may or may not have brushed her hair in the process. “Colette, you don’t need to hurt yourself just to pick up stuff!”

“But it’s much faster this way! And I’m more likely to succeed at getting stuff if I use it!”

“I don’t…really get that…” But then again, she was right. He had witnessed that plenty of times! He just wished she didn’t have to hurt herself in the process.

Colette adjusted her bag of stolen goods one more time, but he knew it wasn’t heavy for her at all. Already his back was aching at just looking at the weight of her satchel. “Ready to go, Lloyd?”

Lloyd looked around the room. Nothing much else except some of the presents, and the rest had been filled with spoiled fish. Rich people had weird tastes in gifts. “Yeah, but uh, you think you can take one of these brushes…?”

Lloyd didn’t even get to finish his sentence. He saw Colette’s eyes widen, saw her turn around. He knew what that meant.

“Someone’s here!” she whispered, setting her bag down to retrieve her weapons.

Lloyd finally had the thought to just drop the brushes and reach for his own swords – but not before several objects surrounded them both. They were small, just the size of his palm. They looked like paper cards…?

“Show yourselves!” shouted a voice. Suddenly, a light erupted from those floating cards around them.

“Gah!” Both Lloyd and Colette shielded their faces from the brightness, but it wasn’t enough to hide them away for long.

The voice had come from the stairway railing up above (they hadn’t even gotten to explore the second floor!) and there stood a black-haired woman in strange attire – but she looked on them both as if what they wore was even stranger!

“So… you’re the infamous thieves that’s been targeting all of Tethe’alla!” She held up another of those strange cards between her fingers. “Gotta say, surprised you didn’t get caught sooner with that get-up.”

“Huh?!” Lloyd looked back down at his outfit, not understanding what the problem was. “Hey, red is a good color!” he shouted back.

Indeed it was! Though Lloyd and Colette wore masks over their faces to keep their identities a secret, this red jacket, with its arrays of silver buttons and collar strips that flowed out of his collar, was the most comfortable he had ever worn. And it looked cool too!

…That said, it was pretty awesome that they were famous apparently! With pride, he stood up tall, one hand on his hip while the other held out both his thumb and forefinger, trying out his new pose that he’d been working on. “I mean, what else do you expect the Red Phantom Thief to wear?”

“Phantom?” The woman raised an eyebrow. “Wait, I thought you were the Red Robin.”

His cool pose instantly faltered. “What?! Why do people keep calling me that!?” What part of his cool persona had anything to do with a bird?!

“Look, it doesn’t matter! Both the Red Robin and the Blue Angel’s thieving days are over!”

“Oh, she got my name right though!” Colette waved at the lady, not as worried about hiding herself anymore. Though her outfit only had some accents of blue, the name still fit her well, along with the mask that more or less resembled wings, filigreed with azure in comparison to Lloyd’s crimson one. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“Colette, she’s trying to put us in jail…”

“Ah, I just thought we should still be nice, since she must only be doing her job…”

Sheena stomped on the railing, making it creak. “Stop whispering to each other, you criminals! You’re going to give back what you stole!”

“Oh… but we didn’t technically steal anything yet!” Colette piped in helpfully.

“Don’t admit it!” Lloyd whined.

“Sorry! Unless she means the other things we stole… but we don’t have them anymore…”

“Huh, that’s right… Are we supposed to carry all that stuff around?” Lloyd scratched at his head, thinking hard on the concept. “It’d be too heavy and Noishe wouldn’t be able to carry all that and us too…”

“Why do you guys keep ignoring me?!”

“Uh, sorry about that,” Lloyd said, voice a little subdued.

Colette bowed her head. “I’m sorry too!”

“That’s not- argh!”

With that, the lady clearly had enough. She leapt off the railing, flipping numerous times through the air which made the pink sash of her outfit flow along with her body. Lloyd and Colette watched in awe as she gracefully landed a few feet in front of them, feet just past an elegantly detailed carpet that was behind her. In all her motions, she barely missed a beat.

Colette clapped. “Wow, that was really good!”

Lloyd couldn’t disagree. “Yeah, no kidding! That was cool!”

The lady stumbled slightly, losing her graceful composure, even for just a second. “W-What? You guys are the strangest thieves I’ve come across.” She shook her head, staring hard at them once more. With how quiet she had moved, so quiet that not even Colette had heard her at first, Lloyd wondered if she would make a good thief too… That would be competition!

“The name’s Sheena Fujibayashi. I’ve been tracking you two down for quite some time. Going all over both Sylvarant and Tethe’alla territory. Heard you took a fortune from Palmacosta’s coffers, but you bit off more than you can chew by coming here.” She narrowed her eyes at them, sharp in her gaze. “Your thieving days are about to end.”

That had caught Lloyd off guard. “Huh? You’ve been spying on us? That’s rude!”

“Criminals don’t get a say in that! And it’s not rude!” Sheena scoffed a bit. “It doesn’t take a genius to know you’d try to rob this place out of all of them.”

Lloyd groaned. “But that was our secret plan!”

“I guess it’s not a secret anymore…” Colette said sadly.

“However…” Sheena said carefully. “What I don’t get is how you guys even got past Meltokio’s walls? All the gates are closed. Including the sewer!”

“Sewer?” Lloyd asked, but he was careful to not slip up on his and Colette’s escape route! A thief never revealed his secrets after all! Well, unless she somehow spied on that too… “You’re gonna have keep guessing on that!”

“Oh, I just tripped is all!”

Lloyd nearly fell on his face at Colette’s admission.

Sheena raised an eyebrow. “Tripped? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing! It has to do with nothing!” Lloyd tried to subtly signal to Colette. “We don’t know how we got here at all! Right, Colette?”

“…Oh, right! Hehe, messed up.” She laughed and stuck out her tongue playfully. “We don’t know anything!”

“…Okay…weird…”

Seeing Sheena’s initial confusion, Lloyd saw this as a good opportunity to try and escape. Giving a tiny nod to Colette to catch her attention, he tried to see if they could rush to the door quick enough…

“Not so fast!”

That was when Sheena made a quick motion with her hands – looking almost like a prayer except for the rapid succession of signals she did – and the same cards that hovered around them suddenly glowed red. Lloyd felt a strange weight on his body, as if someone had just dumped luggage right onto his shoulders.

“H-Hey!” he shouted. He tried to turn to Colette, but could barely do it! “Let us go!”

“With my seals, you’re not getting away. I was sent to stop you and that’s just what I’m doing.” Sheena looked a bit smug as she spoke, a smirk on her lips. “So don’t blame your fate on me.”

“I can do exactly that!” But even as Lloyd struggled, he couldn’t seem to break free. Whatever powerful bindings were in these paper cards, they were more than he could handle. Who knew paper could even be considered a threat!!

“And…why do you keep calling us thieves?” he threw out during his struggles. He felt he was loosening his foot a bit! Just a little bit though.

Sheena said nothing at all at first, practically speechless in her shock until she sputtered. “Because… that’s what you are?!”

Colette shook her head politely, from what Lloyd could tell. Actually, she didn’t seem to be as restricted as he was… “But we’re not thieves. We’re heroes for the less fortunate! Right, Lloyd?”

“Yeah!” he said, trying to nod and instead just… stretching a little. Good enough. “We don’t take the money for ourselves, but for those who need it most!”

“…That’s still stealing,” Sheena intoned. “You’re taking stuff from other people to do that. That’s still being a thief.”

“It’s way more than that!” Lloyd argued, never stopping in his struggle. “The Red Robin doesn’t steal for himself… Wait, I meant Red Phantom!” Dammit, now that dumb name was stuck in his head too!

“Even if that was the case, it doesn’t change what you’re doing right now.” Sheena stared at the bags of stolen goods that were on the floor, all gathered from Lloyd and Colette’s wandering hands. “Things like this… they can’t go unpunished. And if you’re stealing from this place, then I definitely have to stop you.”

Lloyd blinked. “Is this your home? Is that why you keep bringing it up?”

“Huh?! Who said anything about that! Don’t be stupid!”

What was up with that reaction? Lloyd only felt more confused now! “Okay, sorry…I was just saying stuff…”

“I see.” Colette’s voice was tranquil, moreso than Lloyd had expected. She really wasn’t worried they were basically trapped right now… “This home is important to you, because it belongs to someone you care about. I’m sorry. If we knew that, we wouldn’t have come here.”

“W-What the heck do you mean? I never said that!” Any smugness Sheena had now completely left her face, now replaced by confusion. “And how would you not coming here if you knew make any sense?!”

“She’s got a point, Colette… We didn’t even know her until now.”

“Oh, that’s right!” In her blue, angel-wing shaped mask, Colette scratched the back of her head, giggling. “But, if we did know each other before, I bet we would have been great friends!”

Sometimes Colette went off-tangent on a conversation so fast, that even Lloyd couldn’t keep up. “Have you been thinking about being friends with her this whole time?”

“Is that weird?”

“Not really, just… maybe not the best time-”

“You two seriously need to stop messing with me! Ugh.” With a groan, Sheena pulled out an array of cards from her sleeve, holding them up to her face as if she had her own deck of aces.

“Hold on! Back up a sec, it’s true what Colette said. We’re giving all the money we take to give to those who need the help.” Lloyd tightened his hold on his swords, bringing the blades close, or as close as he could. “Haven’t you seen this city? People just have all…all this …” He tried, but mainly failed, at gesturing to the display of wealth; to the fancy velvet drapes along the windows, to the tiled marble floors, to all those fancy presents on the table. “Yet they don’t worry or help those who are living in poverty right beneath them!”

Sheena hesitated, even if for only a moment. Did she think the same thing too? She must have known of those slums just within the city, of the multitude of poor villages where so many starved during the harsher seasons…

Lloyd had felt that even in Iselia, always hearing of the far-off city of Meltokio and its vast treasure trove of wealth. But knowing that even here, where some people dined in golden houses, there were others living in the mud. “You have to see that isn’t right at all!”

“Lloyd…” Colette’s soft voice tugged at his chest. He had let his emotions run off again, but it was true what he believed. Every word of it.

“I understand what you mean…” Sheena said – and then her voice grew hard, ruthless. “But that’s not for you to decide. You can’t know every person’s intentions with what they own. You can’t know how the owner here plans to use what he has…” She got into a stance, one that Lloyd had never seen before.

“And a thief is still a thief! But if you want, you can talk all about your grievances with the king.”

He really had no idea what to expect from her, especially from someone who fought with cards. Lloyd tried once again to move, but he felt like he was stuck in quicksand. His feet just stayed rooted to the floor. Aw man, and he thought he had been moving his left foot before! “Stop!” he called out as Sheena moved forward.

And then Colette moved forward too. Wait, she wasn’t trapped?

Sheena was just as shocked as Lloyd was. “H-How did you get out?!”

Colette stood in front of Lloyd, holding out her double chakrams in front of her. She blinked, and it seemed she would join with the others in their confusion. “Ah, was that supposed to happen? I’m sorry. I think your cards must’ve missed me!”

Oh goddess, sometimes Lloyd really couldn’t believe Colette’s luck! (And his own unluckiness when it came to these situations.)

Sheena seemed to be on the same page there. “I missed?! Well… I won’t this time!” Sheena’s cards in her hand began to glow. “You can have a taste of one of my Guardians if you-!”

“Ah, whoops!”

Really, Lloyd should have expected what would happen next.

Colette tried to move to the side as much as she could, while also still covering for Lloyd who stayed frozen in time. Clearly she didn’t want to hurt Sheena at all, but also wanted to protect Lloyd. The brief conflict of indecision made the tip of her boot catch the edge of one of the many plush rugs that covered the first floor of the mansion.

“Watch out!” She tried to warn her enemy (or friend?), but Colette was already tackling right into Sheena who, by the force of the push, practically flew back down to the rug-covered floor.

That was when the rug seemed to pull right into the center where Sheena fell, further and further until-

“How did you know about my back-up trap NOOOOOO!!” But Sheena’s words were replaced by screams as she fell right into a strange makeshift pit that seemed to have been dug right into the mansion’s tiled floors.

“Oh.. I messed up…” Colette said, realizing what she’d done.

By then, the cards hovering around Lloyd drifted down to the floor, releasing him from their invisible binds. Lloyd wobbled on his feet, his previous struggling nearly making him kick out wildly in the air before he regained balance. “Whoa…” He shook his head, never wanting to be put in that weird situation. “Uh, did she just…fall…?” He leaned over to what looked like to be a giant hole in the ground, right in front of him. “And how is this even here?” He had so, so many questions. Maybe he wasn’t as unlucky as some people…

Colette was kneeling on the edge of the floor, her face so full of worry, clearly seen even through her mask. “Is she okay? I didn’t mean to do that at all…”

Lloyd shook out the previous stiffness from his limbs, sheathing his swords before walking towards Colette, kneeling with her. “Well, I mean she was going to arrest us. And she was going to fight you too!”

Colette pouted, hands clasped before her, still staring into that dark pit that seemed to have no bottom. But really, how did they even make a pit inside this mansion in the first place?! Maybe it was another rich people thing…

As she kept staring down, Lloyd gently placed his hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. “Lloyd, should we call for help?”

He sighed. “That’s…going to be kinda hard with what we were doing.”

Colette, lover of puppies and doggies, was able to pull off the look of the animal she so adored. Lloyd could barely resist that gaze.

“Agh, alright, alright! Maybe we can leave a note for the guards nearby or-”

“Hunnyyyy~!” called a voice from upstairs, freezing Lloyd’s words right in his throat, as if he had just been imprisoned again. “You there? What’s all the noise about?” The voice yawned in mid-sentence, its tone so casual and airy.

Lloyd stood up quickly, grabbing Colette’s arms to bring her up with him. “See? Help is on the way! Now let’s get out of here!”

“Ah, if you’re sure-” but Colette barely got to finish her sentence before footsteps echoed from above. Both of them grabbing their satchels of stolen goods (Lloyd with one, Colette with about five), they rushed through the door, as stealthily as they could!

…Until Colette dropped a few expensive plates from her satchel onto the floor. “Ah!” Crash crash kerplow!

The casual voice from upstairs shifted gears then. “What the hell-”

“Colette, leave those!” Lloyd grabbed Colette by her free… er, overcoat flaps on her back, since both her hands were a bit occupied carrying things. They made it out to the doorsteps, the night sky still dark. “We just gotta find Noishe and-”

…And their dog was nowhere to be found in the bushes they had left him in.

Lloyd sighed even more this time, the action pulling out his very soul from the pit of his stomach. “He ran away again!”

Colette’s tone held a bit of a reprimand in it, rare as it was. “You know he gets scared by himself, Lloyd.”

“But he whines too loudly to bring him inside houses!” Another sigh, but smaller this time. He adjusted the satchel easier on his shoulder. “Guess we’re hoofin it.”

“Okay,” Colette nodded. She piled on her bags onto her shoulders as if they were just a bunch of stuffed animals she carried around. “Where to first?”

Lloyd shot her a grin. “To where we can make all this flashy stuff finally useful.”

And like two thieves in the night – which they were not! – both Lloyd and Colette rushed off, past sleeping guards that never knew what happened.

Zelos had only just heard the commotion a little bit ago. Usually, he was a bit of a night-owl, but not this time when he had to just wait instead of having any fun…

So he might have slept through his time, for a little while, and he might have an angry Sheena on his hands because of that… But it couldn’t have gone that bad, right?

That was answered for him when he finally leaned over the banister and saw the giant, carved-up hole in the middle of his downstairs floor. “Uh,” he uttered, trying to remember if this had been part of the plan Sheena had detailed to him earlier. “Hunny?”

A brief pause before the voice of what sounded like a haunted spirit floated up from that pit. “Where the hell have you been?”

Zelos grinned, quickly leaping over the banister to land expertly on his slippers. (He forgot to put on his shoes). He was just a few feet away from the hole. “Catching up on my beauty sleep, what else?”

“You were supposed to stand by and back me up! You idiot! I-” But the ghostly voice was interrupted by a strangled screech. Zelos straightened up immediately, the hint of any smiles completely erased from his face.

He reached down, grabbing Sheena’s hand before she fell, fingers gripping tightly over his wrist. He had seen her hanging onto an outcropping in whatever pit she had made before she lost her hold. With sudden adrenaline, Zelos pulled her out, kneeling beside her as she finally made it to safe ground.

Sheena panted, one hand pressed against the floor while the other stayed locked with Zelos’. After a moment, she raised her head, staring hard at him.

The saucy grin came back to him so easily. “Thought you said you wouldn’t fall for me,” he teased.

She ripped her hand from his grip to curl it into a fist and give him a deserved smack against his shoulder. “Are you serious?!”

“Ow! Well if you’re going to be rough with me…”

“You call that rough?” Sheena got to her feet, face completely red, and already Zelos could tell she was stuck in several shades of embarrassment now. “You don’t even ask me how it went! ”

Zelos shrugged, knowing that would only anger Sheena further, knowing that would only make her feel like she failed even when she hadn’t at all. But it was the best action he had right now. The downstairs also looked a bit… empty, for lack of a better word. Certain knick-knacks seemed to be missing from their shelves, and he might have been missing a few presents actually?

“What’s there to know?” he asked, also standing up, face as serene as water. Most nobles of Meltokio were generally laid back, but Zelos had such a relaxed nature at times that he knew others found unsettling.

With Sheena though, she just got more annoyed. “Do you even care?! Months of tracking them down and planning and this is what happens… We could have avoided this if you were actually nearby like I said to be!”

Zelos held up his hands to her. “Whoa, whoa! Calm down, babe. It’s not the end of the world! I mean… maybe the pit wasn’t the best idea, just throwing that out there.”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Sheena ran her hands through her hair, groaning and looking ready to fall right back into that pit. “Of all the times I had to trip!”

When she yelled, he knew it was mostly aimed at herself then at him, most of the time anyway. So he didn’t take it to heart, watching the words prick herself. “But you still got them tracked, don’t you?”

Sheena let down her hands and sighed. “Yeah… Corrine is still following them. They don’t sense him at least.”

“See now? Gotta keep things on the bright side!” Zelos deftly walked around the pit, eyeing again the empty tables. Most of the stuff was replaceable anyway, though his eyes strayed to a certain painting hidden away in a corner. Interesting. Maybe they didn’t think it was valuable enough to take? Or maybe it was just too big to carry? Zelos wasn’t sure how to feel on that at least.

“Besides,” he said, turning back to Sheena with a flourish. “Not like we were actually going to arrest them anyway.”

Sheena frowned, but she didn’t deny it. Instead, she only looked more and more frustrated, her right eyebrow twitching. “I know that. But they didn’t.” Sheena paused, also noting the stolen items, leaving the lower floor of the mansion nearly barebones except for the furniture. “I still don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” Zelos asked, purposefully acting the fool and knowing that she knew.

“What you’re aiming for. We had orders from the Pope… You’re really sure he won’t find out?”

“Hey, if I was sure of anything, I probably wouldn’t even be here.” He winked at her. “But that’s why you wanted to be part of my master plan, right? Gets you excited.”

“I’m excited to kick you right in the kneecaps if that’s what you’re aiming for.”

Zelos laughed, the sound echoing even more harshly in the open room without all the clutter in the way. “See? You have so much energy!”

“I’m only going along with this because I don’t trust the Pope… Even less than I trust you.” Sheena scuffed the bottom of her heels against the floor, truly getting the ‘disgruntled bodyguard to a carefree playboy’ right down to the details. “But we’re going to have keep tracking them so you can finally get to have that talk you want.”

“Perfect! Then we just need a do-over, how hard is that?”

Sheena rolled her eyes. “But now they’re onto us. And why would they talk to us now when they think we’re enemies?”

“Trust me, we can’t have it any other way.”

He knew Sheena was trying so hard to make sense of his logic. “And this is why I still can’t understand you.”

“Then it’s all going according to plan then.”

And Zelos was ready to get his plan into action, but there was, maybe, just one tiny hurdle they had to deal with right now.

“Seriously though, how did you even manage to dig a hole in my floor?” And also, was she covering this? But he didn’t ask that.

“I have my ways of doing things, and you have yours,” she said in a huff. “It’s not even that deep of a hole…”

“…You certainly made it sound like it was.”

“I was just flustered, alright?!” She groaned. “This hole was supposed to be a backup plan… These guys must have known somehow! That’s why they tripped me…”

Zelos nodded, but if truth to be told, he only half-believed her. Sheena was so clumsy, but only at the worst times. Life was tough on the girl.

“Okay, but uh, we’ll need to have this fixed pronto. Don’t want ol’ Sebastian to fall in while he takes care of the place while I’m away.”

Sheena swerved on him immediately. Yes, he could already tell what his plan was. And why she didn’t like this at all. “No, you don’t mean…”

With an ecstatic smile, Zelos wrapped Sheena up in his arms, scooping her off her feet. “That’s right! I’m coming along to chase them down right with ya, hunny~!”

Honestly, even with the bone-crunching punch he received just after, it was worth it.

Sometimes you need to sacrifice a little comfort to go and help change the world, after all.

There was something about the Meltokio slums that reminded Lloyd of home, even as he and Colette’s boots would get stuck to the muck of the roads occasionally, or when they’d nearly slipped down the stone steps because it was damaged, city never sending in workers for repairs. (Okay, it was Colette who had slipped, and Lloyd had to quickly catch her, along with the numerous satchels she carried).

The air was quiet as any other part of the city, but the atmosphere of it was on edge, a bit frenzied. Lloyd saw a few eyes peek through the slats of a much too small window. The roof was caved-in, the boards rotted from mildew and infestation most likely.

Once they made it down one road, where it was too squared in by the buildings on either side, the mud building up even more around here – Lloyd signaled for Colette to stop.

“This is as good a place as any,” he said, putting down his own satchel to the muddy ground. Some of it splashed on his cool red jacket. He sighed, but now was not the time to be worried about that stuff.

Colette nodded, putting down her own multiple bags with barely any trouble. “You still think it’s not enough?”

Lloyd looked through the opening of his bag, took a moment, and shrugged. “Maybe for a little bit… I need to step up my own game to catch up to you.”

“It’s okay, Lloyd! I was following your lead the whole time.” Her mask reflected the moonlight, shining both azure and pink. It almost looked like she was ready to go to a fancy costume party with it on – and he wondered if he seemed the same way.

He cleared his throat, opened the bag more, then called out to one of the raggedly-dressed children he could see hiding behind the corner of a building. “Hey! Can you get everyone to come here?”

The child was speechless at first, looking ready to flee. But then they stopped, moving a bit into the light when they saw just who the pair was. “Who… Wait, you’re the Red Phantom?” A turn of their head, gazing at Colette. “And the Blue Angel!”

Ha! They got my name right! Just one other reason why the ruling rich class was no good if they couldn’t even remember the right titles.

Lloyd stood with a flourish, hand up in his signature gesture, with thumb out and pointer finger aligned towards the sky. He flashed a grin at the child. “That’s right! We came here to help.” And with that, he reached into the bag, pulling out what looked like a fistful of pure light to the child.

The child’s eyes widened, more pronounced on their weathered, somewhat pale face. Perhaps from so many nights of hunger and cold temperatures. It only hardened Lloyd’s resolve.

“I’ve… never seen so much Gald!” they breathed. Lloyd could barely tell their face in the dark, but the wonder in their eyes was all too recognizable, too familiar. There was sudden life in the face, compared to before. “Who is that for?”

He didn’t make a show of it this time. Lloyd said it seriously, remembering what he was here for.

“They’re for everyone in the slums. So you don’t go hungry.”

The child gawked at Lloyd, then back the precious coins he held in his hand. “But…this is too much. And the shops are closed anyway…”

Colette piped in, kneeling beside the child. “There should be a few open tonight! Especially the one nearby the inn. Do you know that one?”

One could almost hear a stomach grumble in the night at the mention of food. “The place with the Wonderchef?! We could eat there…?”

Lloyd nodded, carefully taking the child’s hand and giving him the money. “Show your family this if they’re doubting. But we should have enough for everyone in the slums.”

Maybe it was the way the kid’s eyes welled up at that moment, or maybe when he saw more and more people start to gather later, getting up from their beds to see if the rumors of charitable not-thieves were true – but Lloyd felt every burden lift up from his heart as he and Colette gave all that they could sell, all that they could gather.

And all while the rich up top continued to slumber away the night.

They didn’t stay long, as some residents would say later that the masked duo whisked away into the shadows the moment they dropped the very last Gald into an outstretched hand. Lloyd and Colette didn’t give any more words or speeches, this time moving just as silently as they did when they had been up on the higher levels.

… No one would notice them both now in the quieter part of the great city, both seating themselves on one of the many marble arches, watching the sky with its familiar patterns.

“It’s amazing we could sell what we could on the same night thanks to Professor Sage,” Colette commented, her voice a little winded from moving so much tonight. But there was something proud in her tone too, something that Lloyd could relate to right now.

It really was surprising just how much Raine knew of a few connections, like certain dealers that could take a few treasures and exchange them for Gald. Lloyd and Colette couldn’t always estimate just how valuable their goods were, so it was helpful their old teacher knew just how much…

“As long as we get her those relics while we’re out doing this, huh?” Lloyd said aloud, inwardly groaning at the idea of going to another stuffy ruin next. “Maybe we should just look for lost treasure in those places ourselves and sell them. Last time she got so scary when we gave her stuff, I thought she was going to steal us next!”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Colette winked. “We’d never be late to classes!”

“Colette, this is like my worst nightmare, please.”

Even a small tease felt too real, even as he couldn’t stop grinning from what they had accomplished tonight. Lloyd leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky. It stretched out, so long and dark, its wide array of stars taking over everything.

Still, he had to wonder.

“Colette… do you think what we’re doing is right?”

Colette moved to seat herself closer to him (or tripped, he couldn’t really tell), her expression thoughtful. “I’ve always believed in what you were doing, Lloyd… That you wanted to help people. And you are!”

“I know, I guess somehow.” The little nagging voice in his head kept repeating itself – and it sounded exactly like that strange lady they had met at the mansion before she fell into her own pit. “But maybe there is a better way to do it. And I know dad wasn’t a big fan of the idea of us doing all this either.” With that, he puffed out his chest, clenched both fists, and did the best impression of his dwarven father that he knew how. “Dwarven vow number eleven! Lying is the first step down the path to thievery! Also, eat your tomatoes, lad!”

“Wow, you sounded exactly like him, Lloyd!”

“Heh, thanks. I’ve been practicing a lot.” The trick was getting the gentle raspiness of his father’s voice just right! No easy feat.

But even that brief little ego boost couldn’t last, remembering the meaning of what he just said. “I guess I haven’t exactly been following those vows. Although… I didn’t really lie! Er, that much, I mean.”

“Hm.” Colette tapped a finger against her chin, thinking on his statement so much, and so seriously, that it was kinda worrying Lloyd a bit?

“Hey, you don’t have to think about it that much…”

“Oh! But I just wanted to find a way to help you.”

“Yeah, but now I’m thinking I definitely did something wrong here if it’s got you worried.”

She shook her head. They were both no longer wearing their masks now after their delivery to the poor of Meltokio, and now Lloyd could see the fullness of her eyes. It was a blue of a lighter shade, like a water’s surface during a sunrise. When she wore her mask, he couldn’t see that as much. Maybe they didn’t need to wear their masks all the time…

“I’m not really worried,” she was saying, her breath held rhythmically. She was choosing carefully what she would say next. “It’s just… In this world, there’s not much we can do otherwise, you know? So many people are suffering, and yet, those who have the power to change it, they just… don’t do it. Or they don’t care to. We can’t rely on them.”

From Colette’s words, Lloyd heard his own thoughts echo back. Some people, like his dad, could depend on himself, from building his own home to even taking in a human child that he barely knew. But not everyone could do that, he knew.

“There’s another vow your dad says all the time.”

“Huh? Oh, you mean…” He sighed, but the smile on his face was full of gratitude. “Never abandon someone in need.”

“Yep. And, I think we’ve been doing that the best that we can.” She grinned, a lock of her hair falling across her cheek. “Even if we’re using money from those higher up to do so!”

“Not like that money is being used for anything else! All that Gald was literally just sitting there!”

“Yeah! Though I guess we don’t know if they were going to use it on something good… Maybe they were going to donate that same money!”

“What?! Aw man, now you’re making me question it, Colette!”

But she simply laughed, the sound traveling through his chest and somehow making his heart feel a little less heavy. He smiled, laughing with her.

“Fine, let’s just say we did it faster for them,” Lloyd reasoned. “So now that family can eat tonight.”

“Yeah. Maybe…someday we can do it differently. But I like doing it your way!”

“Honestly, this wouldn’t have turned out so well without that item thief move of yours. I can lockpick but that’s kind of it…”

“And you’re the best at it! You beat your whole record by ten seconds!”

“Hey, I thought you didn’t count it last time!”

“Hm… maybe I just wanted to tease you.”

“Mean, Colette!”

But their continued laughter finally brought back someone familiar; the soft padding of feet along the pavement below them, with a whine that echoed throughout the night. Lloyd wouldn’t even chide Noishe this time, his mood lightening up much more than since when they left that mansion.

“Come on, boy,” he called out gently, and Noishe loped forward, putting his great head against Lloyd’s outstretched hands. A few scratches here and there and the dog’s fluffy tail began wagging, even as his whines continued. “It’s okay. Just bring us home, alright?”

“Will Dirk be awake now?” Colette asked, also patting Noishe along his back, fingers digging through the green fur. Colette would never pass up an opportunity to pet the whining animal.

“Probably… Let’s just sneak inside, we’re good at that! Uh, maybe we are.”

Colette already climbed atop Noishe’s back, the action as natural to her as tripping. “We can get him something from here, like a souvenir!”

Lloyd climbed on too, giving one last scratch behind Noishe’s left ear. “It’ll have to be something we bought and not stole, and I forgot to buy things… I’ll just make him something on the way!”

Meltokio’s walls were high, but there were many hidden cracks in their foundations. Some brought on by the ravages of time, some from disrepair or a lack of maintenance…

… and then some made from a person plainly tripping into a wall. Already as Noishe was rushing along the city, they saw it – that tell-tale Colette-shaped hole, from when she had tripped across an upturned grass tuft and tumbled right into stone like it was nothing.

At the sight, he could hear Colette make a sound full of embarrassment. “I hope I didn’t ruin this wall…”

“No way, it’s fine! Besides, this turned out for the best!” Lloyd would have to squeeze through it himself, as the hole wasn’t exactly his height, but even in Colette’s tumble, she had made sure to make her accident luckier than most.

And just as they finally made it out of the city, and were once again on open plains, with the stars so much brighter without the constant lights from below, so much wider that one could see the silhouette of the Fooji Mountains up ahead, Lloyd turned to Colette.

“Thanks, Colette.”

He knew the words had caught her off guard. Without her mask on, the flush on her cheeks was so much more obvious. Her eyes were bright from the two moons overhead. “Ah, for what?”

“For reminding me of what we’re really doing. I started questioning everything but, I know that we’re doing good. Especially having you with me.”

And maybe, it was kind of cute, her blush, and the way she looked at him just now. “I really do help you, Lloyd?”

“Yeah, of course! I’d have gotten caught on my first job if you weren’t there to tell me that people were still inside that one house.”

“Ah, right. You were just about to barge right in there!”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

Colette’s hands reached out to grasp Lloyd by the shoulders, balancing herself as Noishe walked. She did this all the time, but it felt different now, like the sky overhead, and the air so brisk against their skin. “But… thank you too, Lloyd. You gave me a way to help people.”

He grinned. “Then let’s keep doing it then.”

And they would, on another night, at another place. But for now, they let Noishe lead them on, past the mountains and for the trees far off in the horizon. Her hands on his shoulders kept him steady until the morning came.

...Yet in all that time, neither noticed the little shadow that trailed after them, its normally colorful fur of azure and orange now muted within the shadows it hid inside.

Sheena is counting on me, thought Corrine, his soft pads making no sound at all as he leapt after the thieves and their dog. It may have been fast, but Corrine could catch up, sensing them from way further behind.

Still, he followed, a small ringing in the dark.

#tales of symphonia #lloyd irving #colette brunel #sheena fujibayashi #zelos wilder #fanfiction

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redbeanboi · 4 years

Text

bucci gang college!au

the college au that you didn’t know you needed:

I’m bored and I’m still thinking about university because I’m swamped with work!! Here’s some hc’s I have of what the boys would study in university.

Bucciarati:

maybe it’s because I’m planning on doing it myself, or the fact that I can’t help but thirst over the image of Bucciarati in a turtleneck, but I can see Bucciarati studying History in undergrad and going for Library Science/Museum/Archival Studies in grad school. Bucciarati is always portrayed as a reliable worker who can keep his mouth shut, etc.... So I think this kinda fits into Archivist stuff, since, depending on who you work for (the government specifically), you constantly have to handle secret/sensitive material. Important and absolutely vital position! And Bucciarati working in a library/museum setting is also really cute to me, but if anything I can see him working as an Archivist for an organization or maybe even the government.

Giorno:

I know I’ve seen people put Giorno in some kind of Life science, like plant or animal study, but... and don’t get me wrong, maybe it’s because I project my boyfriend onto Giorno because they’re freakishly similar in a bunch of ways, but!! Giorno going into Mechanical Engineering/Robotics is absolutely my jam!! And after graduating from school, I can see Giorno eventually working for a company that makes prosthetic robotic limbs. Something about “breathing life” into an object and giving someone a new arm/leg/etc. gives me Giorno vibes... Also my boyfriend is sorta working on stuff like this so that’s another reason why I see Giorno doing this stuff. Giorno’s also very smart, and I think something like Mech E would really challenge and push him. Plus, when making prosthetic limbs or when working with robotics in general, a lot of engineers will observe and study animals and movement and such. Everything about this field of study just screams “Giorno” to me.

Mista:

I know we like to poke fun at Mista a lot, but I think he likes reading a lot and could easily apply himself to some difficult courses. Maybe it’s the fact that he works with guns a lot and is just very smart in general, but I’m thinking Mista would go into Physics. Catch him doing his physics coursework with Giorno because they’re both slumped on the same problem. Now, i don’t think he’d ever consider going into academia, but if he did, he’d definitely be that professor who just has his TA do the lectures while he does his research. I could also see him just working in the same engineering company as Giorno? Possibilities are endless, I think he’d be able to do anything really. Maybe he’d a mechanic if he doesn’t want to go to uni and goes to trade school instead.

Fugo:

Fugo going into law school?? I know that didn’t exactly work out very well, but I do think that he’d feel challenged and would get to make the most of his intellect. He’s a smart guy and I think he might do Philosophy for undergrad as most people would go that route anyway. Plus I like imagining Mista complain about Fugo’s readings (”this Plato guy thinks way too much about this damn cave—” “Shut up mista”).

Abbacchio:

Hm. Maybe law school for Abbacchio too?? On the other hand, because he seems to really like classical music and is the kind to dwell on the past, I could also see him doing Music History, minoring in either piano or composition maybe. If he decides to do some accompanist work for a classmate who’s awful and studies vocal performance, he will complain about it to the other guys (”how the hell can you be tone deaf and studying music at the same time??”). He and Bucciarati hang out a lot....sometimes Bucciarati will accompany Abbacchio to the practice rooms. Sometimes they’ll spend an awful amount of time there (mostly for practicing, alright?? they’re responsible students. don’t be cheeky)

Narancia:

I know it’s easy to get carried away with “ahahaha Narancia doesn’t know 16*55!!” but let’s set those jokes aside and acknowledge how smart he can be. Now since this is a college!au, I’m going to say that Narancia would go into some field of study that allows him to use his strengths. I think he’s always shown really good instincts. Also, I know he totally misinterpreted Giorno during this one fight, but I always love how Narancia is the only one to notice that Giorno’s waving to them during the Babyface fight (so what if he didn’t realize there was an attack yet!!)??? ++ Aerosmith’s ability to detect carbon dioxide is, in my opinion, the biggest example of his instinct/ability to catch onto things real quick. Narancia also remembers a lot of information (I mean, he got everything Trish asked for when he was running errands). And!! he is very concerned with Trish after Venice despite not knowing her very well. I think that’s very telling of his character. A guy who is very concerned for other people! So! I can see him doing healthcare in some shape or form. Narancia getting a BSN?? Nurse Narancia??? yes please!!

BONUS!!

Trish:

I know Trish becomes a popstar in PHF (which,,,, don’t hate me but,,, I’m not super crazy about it), but I can see her studying fashion design. Maybe it’s because I used to go to a school with a really rigorous fashion design program, but I can see Trish having fun there (while also being challenged!) and also putting out some really great work. Expect the guys to come and hang out with her in the studio when she has to work on projects overnight—Bruno and Abbacchio are the first to come and the rest come waltzing in soon after. Mista and Fugo usually come last to join them and bring a lot of snacks for the night.

-----

A/N: I’m going to probably write some kind of comp fic using these ideas but.... enjoy !! based on a conversation I had with @jojo-reads .... thank u friend.

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dilfdoctordoom · 4 years

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Star sapphire Bette Kane AU???!!

Yes!!!! It’s been on my mind for a while now & I really, really wanna write it ‘cause I think it could be fun. I don’t really. Have a plot. But I do know some of the things I want to happen! I’ve got the love interest down, at least. Not quite who I’d expected it to be, but, like, I’m a sucker for characters that nobody knows anything about.

And it ended up way longer than I first thought, so I’m gonna be putting it under the cut.

Bette has always had a connection to love, this is just an objective fact. Everyone she meets, every team she joins, she always tries to care about them, no matter what

But all the teams she’s on (Titans West & LA) have dissolved, everyone going their separate ways. She still talks to them but she feels kinda disconnected. There’s this overwhelming belief that she’s the second choice, that none of them genuinely care about her, that’s been instilled in her since she was Bat-Girl

So she leaves LA behind her, tries to forget the ghosts of all her dead friends, and moves back to Gotham. It’s home, even if she keeps trying to escape it, because a part of her will always be that little kid in a homemade mask, trying to impress her aunt, her cousin, the entire world to a lonely kid

And she finds that her older cousin Kate is back in Gotham too. They used to be close when they were younger, with Kate acting as a big sister to her at times, but since her teens, they haven’t talked all that much

Bette still wants that connection though. She loves her cousin (she loves all her family, even when that feeling isn’t returned) and since they’re both here, why shouldn’t they spend time together?

Kate always seems to blow her off and never gives a reasonable explanation. It gets to the point where Bette thinks that maybe Kate doesn’t want to spend any time with her, that maybe she’s the second choice once moe

Then she sees Batwoman

Then she knows

This is Bette Kane. She was a child when she discovered the original Bat-Woman’s identity and now she’s an adult, years of training and detective work under her belt, and she doesn’t even need that. She’d recognize Kate Kane anywhere

She’s been meaning to get back into the game anyway. She’d promised herself after LA she wouldn’t but after only a month back in Gotham, she feels that itch. She wants to be jumping from building to building, wants the adrenaline rush that only comes with freefalling off a rooftop. There are many things that Bette Kane loves and being a superhero is definitely one of them

She works as Flamebird alongside Kate and for the chance to spend time with her family, she pretends that Batwoman’s dismissal of her doesn’t bother her. She fixes on a smile and she goes along with the entire Plebe thing, even though she’s been doing this longer, even though she’s a fully capable hero in her own right

She’d take all the little comments, all the judgement in the world, to spend time with somebody she cares about

And in this world, like in so many others, Bette pushes herself until she breaks. Harsh words from her cousin, from somebody she adores, and she goes out into the field an emotional wreck. She should know better at this point but there’s an anger boiling under her skin and she needs some sort of release

She goes out on patrol and she comes across the Hook

She’s angry and she’s desperate to prove herself and that is never a good mix

She’s not so angry anymore when Hook leaves her bleeding out in the streets

She’s not angry at all

She just wants to apologize. She doesn’t think she’s going to make it (blood, there’s so much blood, there shouldn’t be this much blood) and she wants to tell Kate, Bruce, Kathy, Dick, Gar, everyone she’s ever tried to impress, that she’s sorry for being a disappointment

She wants to tell them that she loves them all, so so much. She wants them to know that there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for them

She doesn’t get a chance

But instead of the DEO coming across her almost dead body and using her a bargaining chip, instead of becoming a pawn in a game that nobody told her about, there’s violet light

There’s a voice, soft and kind, and it offers her an escape. It’s a ring and it asks her to accept it, to join its fight, and she says yes. How could she not?

The world fades out in a violet hue and when Bette opens her eyes, she’s no longer on Earth

Zamaron is so different to everything she’s known, the Star Sapphires a whole new ball game, but this is Bette

This is the girl that saved Batman when she was just a kid

This is the girl that was told to quit by her hero and refused

This is the girl that would do anything to spend time with the people she loves

She takes it all in stride. She’s been friends with aliens before, known an interdimensional imp. She can handle this

It helps that Carol Ferris takes her under her wing for training

Carol is everything that her previous trainers were not; kind, helpful, compassionate, caring. There’s no snapping at her if she gets something wrong, no refusal to acknowledge her skills. There’s a certain amount of respect and Bette has never been treated with that

She still doesn’t tell Carol much about her life on Earth. She doesn’t mention being the original Bat-Girl (doesn’t want to hear the overly familiar ‘but wasn’t she a redhead?’), doesn’t mention Kate or Bruce or Dick or the Titans

Out here, in the depths of space, with a ring powered by the love in her heart, she’s allowed to be Bette Kane. There are no expectations, no writing her off because of a dumb mistake in her youth. There’s just Bette, the power of love, and the growing feeling that maybe she can be accepted

And you have to remember, Bette isn’t like Dick. She doesn’t work with the Justice League and she doesn’t know much about the Lanterns outside of vague allusions from Bruce

When she meets Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner, she finds that she likes them. Really, really likes them. Guy isn’t the asshole that Bruce made him out to be and Kyle ━━

Kyle is the exact kind of person that Bette always ends up befriending. It certainly helps that Carol enlists him to help Bette control her abilities

(Because here’s the thing about the furthest ends of the emotional spectrum ━━ they’re dangerous. Rage can rip your mind apart, can change you as a person, can blot out any form of logic. And love, love is so powerful, so overwhelming, and Bette is so full of it. Control sometimes slips away from her and it’s always a battle to keep her head on straight)

So. She’s away from Earth, away from her family, and that should be scary. That should terrify her

But it’s so hard to be afraid when she’s surrounded by people that support her, that lift her up instead of knocking her down

And she knows that Kate and Bruce have only ever had good intentions. She knows that they were just looking out for her, but she’s starting to think that maybe they did more damage than good

On Earth, she was always, always thought of as the dumb kid, the airhead with a crush on Robin

Here, though, on Zamaron, she’s just the latest in a long line of Star Sapphires. She’s known for a mean right hook, the copious amount of sparkles added to her suit and her ability to befriend everything and everyone she comes across

Bette’s a likeable person. This is a fact; look at the teams she’s been on, look at the number of people she’s managed to work with

Bette’s also a lonely person. She puts her whole self forward and she’s never been treated in kind. She’s everybody’s second choice, the cast-offs, the stand-in until they can get someone better

(Maybe that’s not true. Maybe, maybe Bette doesn’t see it, the way Garfield brightens up when she arrives, the way Hank’s anger disappears because she’s making him laugh, the way Kate hugs her like she’s something important)

(But maybe, maybe the years have gone by and nobody has ever said those three little words to her. Maybe she’s spent her life without hearing anyone say ‘I love you’)

(And maybe that affects a person)

With Carol, with the Star Sapphires, with the Green Lanterns she’s slowly starting to befriend, it doesn’t feel like that. She’s not anyone’s consolation prize ━━ she’s a respected member of a powerful force of love

Can you imagine what that’s like? Going from your lowest point, bleeding out with the belief that you’re a failure to everybody you’ve ever loved, to a hero of the cosmos, with violet light sparking off you at every second? Can you imagine the thrill of it?

And flying! Bette has always been an adrenaline junkie, hasn’t bothered to keep it a secret, and this, soaring through the stars, is a high like no other. It’s pure joy and it’s all hers, not the product of someone else, not some false happiness designed to appease the people around her

Bette’s a nice person

A too nice person, some would say

And maybe Carol gets her first glimpse of this when, in a fight against the Sinestro Corp, Bette gets taken, prisoner

She’s a terrible choice, to be honest. Anyone, Yrra, Carol herself, would have been better

Because Bette knows how to make people like her

It’s a talent, really. One that’s been honed since she was a kid desperate for approval and one that might be a little out of practice (because with the ring on her finger, she never needs to pretend to be something she’s not), but it’s always there

You can’t spend years twisting and turning into a different person to please whoever you’re around for such a skill to go away

So Carol gets to see this, and the kindness, and that ability to make friends with anyone, when the rescue mission gets called off

Called off because Bette makes it back to Zamaron, offering Lyssa Drak a kiss on the cheek in thanks

Called off because fear doesn’t do much against a girl shaped by it. Because the machinations of the Sinestro Corp has nothing on the terror induced by the gaps in her memory, the razor-sharp smile she sees in her nightmares, the feeling she got on the edge of death

Called off because once Bette Kane sees somebody she thinks is attractive, she can’t stop herself from flirting

Called off because Bette is used to being friends with villains. Because Bette has forgiven everything Hank Hall has ever done, has rolled her eyes and told Tara Markov that her past doesn’t have to define her. Because she forgives, coming from a place of unending love

That’s not to say that things go perfectly all the time

She gets hurt. Sometimes it’s physically, when a threat is a little too much for to take, even with her training, even with her ring. She’s only human, after all, and humans falter all the time

And sometimes, it’s emotionally. She gets hurt when she goes to Thanagar and sees the face of one of her oldest friends, when she’s struck with the memories of his funeral

She gets hurt when she has to fight Charley Parker

She gets hurt when she feels the love radiating off them both regardless of what side they’re on

She cries for the first time in a long time on that day and she tries to hide on some desolate planet, away from Carol and her kindness, Guy and the way he always understands, Kyle and his calming presence. She wants to feel the hurt, feels like she deserves it (because she failed him, didn’t she? She didn’t look into his death and now one of her closest friends has become one of her greatest enemies)

She wants to be alone to punish herself and maybe if she was still on Earth, if she was with the Bats, that would be allowed. They are, after all, the masters of brooding on their lonesome

But she’s not on Earth. She’s in space, she’s surrounded by people that care about her and all their numerous friends

It’s Hal Jordan that finds her and she thinks there’s something funny about that. Something that would drive Bruce insane and she can’t help the choked back sobs when she thinks of him and his disapproving looks, his petty demands designed to stop her from being a hero, his funeral and the darkness that descended after it

There are plenty of people that know about regret, about feeling like you’ve let down the people closest to you, and the man that launched himself into the sun looking for redemption, who made his time as the spirit of vengeance offering second chances, is one of them

Her life as a Star Sapphire so far from perfect, but it’s better than the one she had on Earth for one simple reason ━━ she’s no longer defined by her past

Or by her future

She hasn’t told them that she was a hero. She knows that Carol suspects (she was, after all, the one that treated Bette’s wounds when she first arrived, the one that saw the Flamebird suit), but she doesn’t know about Bat-Girl. She doesn’t know how to tell any of them about her past

She doesn’t think she can tell them about her future. It looms over her, as it’s always done, this impossible reality where she will die, where she dons a Batwoman costume of her own

She used to want that, to be Batwoman, but the years have gone by and the mantle seems drenched in red. It’s not for Kate, not for the woman that deserves to be Batwoman. No, it’s soaked in blood for the girl that didn’t notice the holes in her aunt’s story

(Or maybe she did. Maybe somebody made her forget)

She’s never wanted to die, but now, when it seems like the universe is finally on her side, the idea is terrifying. She’d accepted it before, on some level, let herself run headfirst into danger because she doesn’t die yet, the future version of her said so, there’s still so much to do before the green of the Lazarus Pits takes her over

That acceptance has been gone for a while

She laughs with fellow Star Sapphires, gets drinks with Guy Gardner, goes flying among the stars with Hal Jordan when it all gets too much. She talks strategy with John Stewart, those years under a master manipulator finally paying off, she rests with Kyle Rayner while he sketches. She spars with Yrra Cynril, feels the rush of adrenaline that comes with the knowledge that this woman could kill her, and she talks about make-up and fashion with Arisia Rrab. She sneaks away somedays for a secret meet-up with a woman that’s supposed to be her enemy, indulges in the destructive nature of Lyssa Drak for just a moment, lets herself be consumed in soft kisses and whispered threats

And in all of those moments, the need to live is a thrumming, living beast within her

She knows she has to go back to Earth at some point, has to face her future head-on, but she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to die by an old friend’s hand

She doesn’t want to watch Duela Dent kill her. She doesn’t think that even a Lazarus Pit could really bring her back from that

Bette is afraid. She’s not a Green Lantern; she’s not supposed to be fearless

And really, it’s not her death that she dreads. It’s what comes after it. It’s the glow of a pit, the hollow smiles her future self gave. It’s the emptiness of her eyes

It’s the missing ring on her ring

(She thinks that might explain why her future self seemed to be missing something)

She doesn’t have the words to tell anyone this, though. She’s been taught to keep her fears to herself, lest they ben used against her, and besides

How do you tell the people that you love care about that you’re destined to die?

Bette Kane believes in destiny. She has two friends granted powers by the Lords of Order and Chaos, has seen twisted paths all lead to one final destination. She knows that she’s going to die, going to be thrown in a Lazarus Pit, going to fight against her family

(Her old one, at least. Future Bette never mentioned her new family and she hopes (she prays) that it’s because they’re safe, just far away from Earth)

She’s still Bette Kane, though, and a Bette Kane that’s spent so much time with Green Lanterns, with the champion of love. She learns about stubbornness in the face of an immense threat. She learns about survival through sheer willpower, through the endless power of love

She thinks she might be able to manage it

Bette Kane has always had a connection to love. Her ring works off of it, feeding off and into it, an endless loop that lets her soar among the stars

She’s seen love accomplish the impossible

She doesn’t see why she can’t just use love to stop that future

So she avoids Earth, the place she’s destined to die

It’s not that hard, not like she has to go there often

It’s not like anyone would want her back, anyways. She remembers her final conversation with Kate, remembers all of the times Bruce told her to give it up. She remembers her friends splintered and going their separate ways. She remembers slipping away for a year in between Bat-Girl and Flamebird and remembers nobody even noticing

What reason does she have to think that’s changed?

Which helps her decision to avoid Earth

And she does avoid it. It’s not hard, with all the different aspects of the emotional spectrum breaking out into fights, the Rann/Thanagar tensions, the million and one issues running through the universe

It’s easy to pretend that she isn’t even avoiding it

Until Carol needs her help

Until Carol asks for her help

Until somebody that she loves needs her

Okay, that’s all I have so far... it’s a work in progress. There’s still, like, what’s going on Earthside to work on.

But yeah!!!! This is the BS my brain has been focused on. It makes no sense, it’s bad & I love it.

#q & a #bette kane #star sapphire au

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subukunojess · 4 years

Text

Your New Best Friend

Finally, a new fic! I have always wanted to write for the Beetlejuice fandom and with the whole chaotic life going on, I got some time to write it. It has taken me months, but I finally finished this. I’ve always wanted to write a one-shot about what happened between acts of the musical and really delve into Lydia and Beetlejuice’s friendship. I hope you guys enjoy under the cut!

Your New Best Friend

Fandom: Beetlejuice the Musical

Major Characters: Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz

Word Count: 6,018

Links: Archive of Our Own, Deviantart, Fanfiction

Summary: What happens to Lydia after she summons a demon at Dinner Night and kicks out all the adults? A sleepover filled with vandalism, pizza, and beheadings, that's what. Oh and friendship too!

When Lydia Deetz summoned Beetlejuice in anger, she didn't know what to expect. Her entire plan turned out wrong that night. Everyone seemed to enjoy getting possessed by actual ghosts, treating it as if it were a joke. A money-making joke to dance and celebrate about. It made her sick. She had her doubts when she stood on the dining table and called out his name, sensing him materialize right by her side. She hesitated until she saw her own father kiss Delia, a woman he dared to replace her dead mother with. At that point, the third call rumbled out of her mouth in a natural scream that didn't hold back.

"BEETLEJUICE!"

Then all hell broke loose.

Food and furniture went flying in different directions. Chandeliers caught on fire. A murderous roast pig went on a rampage. It wasn't until the ghost summoned a giant version of himself, complete with massive hands and an even bigger head, that everyone decided to run for their lives out of the house. Lydia sat down on one of the chairs, watching all the chaos happen before her. She got a glimpse of Charles reaching out to her by the door and for a moment, she raised her hand slightly towards him, only for her to drop it and turned her head away while closing her eyes tight. She heard the front doors slam shut with a loud bang, then silence. She opened her eyes and she was met with an empty house. No family. No humans. No ghosts. Just her and the demon she summoned.

"You did it." Lydia said in a quiet voice, still in awe and shock that what transpired was real. She stood up from the chair and went up to the demon. "He's really gone?"

"Oh yeah," Beetlejuice nodded with a wicked grin on his face, "It's our house now, kid!" He snapped his fingers and a burst of energy surged through Lydia and the entire house, sending a shiver to the girl's spine. Then the walls popped with black and white stripes as the furniture and decorations warped into twisted contortions of themselves. Both the human and demon slowly turned into a circle, watching this change happen right before their eyes.

"Whoa." Was all Lydia could mutter at the moment once the initial changes were complete.

"Looks like we're not invisible anymore!" Beetlejuice crooned, his voice even more gravely as he wrapped his arm around Lydia's shoulders with a triumphant laugh and pulled her close, proud of his handiwork and excited for the chaos to come. For a moment, the lights flickered a couple of minutes as the two stood at the center of the living room, taking it all in. Then Beetlejuice dropped his arm and glanced at Lydia to see her reaction.

There was a spark in her eyes that the demon hadn't seen before. It wasn't like her resting mourning face or her mischievous grin. It was a genuine sparkle of awe and happiness. At least, he guessed it was. He wasn't sure with breather emotions.

Then Lydia did something that took him aback; she closed her eyes and let out a snarling roar that rolled into howling laughter. She twirled and hopped in place, flapping her hands as fast as she could while chirping and squealing. When she heard herself doing that, she opened her eyes and stopped immediately.

"I'm sorry." Lydia said, looking away out of embarrassment. "I-"

"What are ya saying sorry for?" Beetlejuice asked with a scoff before he grinned and bounced on his heels in excitement, waving his hands in circles. "No one has ever reacted like that to my work before. I like it! Gimme more of that! Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

Lydia blinked, flabbergasted at the response. Then again, this was a demonic spirit thing that was probably invisible since forever she was talking to. Although she had to keep on her toes, she decided to throw caution to the wind on embarrassment by pushing herself forward with a smile, waving her hands around as well.

"That was cool and scary at the same time!" Lydia exclaimed with a laugh as she and Beetlejuice bounced together. "The way they screamed and ran as your arms were like WOOSH! Now that's what I call a dinner party!" After a minute of laughter, she steadied her breathing and stopped in thought. She didn't think she'd get this far into her plan if she were being honest with herself. Lydia expected something to backfire and her father to punish her in some way. Now that she was alone with the demon, she didn't know what came next.

"... So what now?" She asked with a tilt of her head. Beetlejuice grinned.

"Anything you want, kid; we're free! No boring breathers or newly-deads tying us down! It's time to go wild and have some real fun!" He floated up a few feet in the air, streamers popping out of his hands before he landed back down on his feet. "Remember: no holding back on me, Lyds. Tonight's your night, so you get to call the shots! Think of all the things ya wanted to do without Chuck and adults around and do 'em!"

"Okay...?" Lydia quirked an eyebrow, hesitant. After thinking for a moment, she went and picked up an oddly-shaped vase from a stand nearby. Strange how Delia's 'art work' didn't change with the rest of the house. She jutted her hip to the side and mocked, "As my guru Otho always says..." She then threw the vase hard on the ground, shattering it into pieces as she exclaimed, "Shut up, Delia!"

"Yeah, shut up, Debra!" Beetlejuice cheered in agreement as he stuck a striped tongue out towards the broken pieces. "Serves her right trying to tell you what to do!"

Lydia nodded. She reached for another piece of artwork when she stopped herself. She didn't want to make too much of a mess and most of the other pieces were heavy anyway. It wasn't because she felt sorry for the woman trying so hard to get her to like her. To change. Not at all! She recovered by rolling her head back to stretch it out. She probably looked ridiculous, but this was her night after all. It wouldn't hurt to act like a demon.

"As much as I want to break more things, I got a better idea. Let's trash Daddy's office!" Lydia suggested.

The demon clapped and rubbed his hands together with a sinister smile. "Oooooh, let's!"

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" With a sly grin, the girl poked at Beetlejuice's nose, tagged him, then ran off with a laugh. It took the demon a minute what had just happened.

"Hey, that's not fair!" He protested, but laughed as well as he dashed up the stairs after her.

On the second floor, Lydia ran down the hallway and skidded until she arrived at her destination at the end of the hallway. She got inside the room first, surveying her father's office of what potential damage to cause. The office wasn't too elaborate, consisting of a file cabinet, book shelf, desk, and laptop. Charles didn't get to set up the desktop yet. From the corner of her eye, Lydia saw a picture frame lying face down on the desk. She carefully picked it up and gasped.

It was a family portrait with her dead mom. Emily Deetz was a foot or two shorter than her father, but she easily dominated the photograph with her smile. Lydia would best describe her mother as a chocolate cake decorated with black icing laced into spider web designs, cookies that looked like gravestones, and whipped frosting that were shaped to be ghosts. On the day of the photo, Emily wore a straw sunhat, a nice lilac blouse with a pair of jeans, a pair of rose-gold eyeglasses, and her bat necklace which was really a large rubber, red-eyed bat with a string attached to each wing. Her mom would say that on a full moon, she would turn into a giant bat demon that preyed on vampires, monsters under the bed, and tangerines. It made the young girl smile each time she said it.

Lydia placed a hand over her mouth and choked a silent sob. She didn't think her dad would keep the picture let alone have it framed on his desk. Before she could process it further, she heard the demon coming from down the hall. Alarmed, she unfastened the back of the frame and pulled the picture out, placing it in a pocket of her dress before she threw the empty frame to the ground.

"Hey, don't start without me, Lyds!" She heard Beetlejuice exclaim outside the room.

Lydia turned towards Beetlejuice, only to shriek when she saw a huge rotting egg slanted against the wall instead. She covered her mouth as she watched the thing sprout golden eyes.

"Guess I'm the rotten egg." The egg spoke in Beetlejuice's voice.

"Couldn't you just teleport or go through walls or something?!"

"Whoops! Kinda got lost in the moment there." With a puff of green smoke, Beetlejuice shifted back to normal, dusting his suit a bit. He then cracked his knuckles as he went inside the office. "So how should we wreck this place? You take the first swing." He then gasped and snapped his fingers before he suddenly pulled out a baseball bat from behind his back and handed it to Lydia with a smile. She smirked and rolled her eyes in response, but her face fell when she grasped the bat in her hands and surveyed the room. It was different thinking of all the things she could do out of anger versus actually doing them. The bat trembled in her grasp for a minute, but she thought about her father and steeled her resolve as she raised the bat.

"This is for ignoring me." Lydia said, then whacked the desk in front of her as hard as she could.

"Yes." Beetlejuice nodded with a wide grin, taking a step back as Lydia swung at the walls and furniture.

"This is for moving out of our house!"

"Yeah! Keep it going, kid!"

"This is for treating me like I'm invisible!" Lydia roared as she threw the bat down on the chair.

"There ya go! That's what I'm talkin' about! Lemme do something! Lemme do something! I can do anything ya want-" Beetlejuice stopped himself when Lydia opened her mouth to speak and he cut her to it. "Except setting the room on fire. Am I right? You breathers usually don't like rooms on fire. I can even eat anything!"

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"

"Anything."

Upon hearing that, the teen looked around until she spotted something in a hidden shelf: her father's laptop. Grinning, she grabbed it along with its plug and shook it right in front of the demon. "How about this then?"

Beetlejuice nodded, excited. "I never had that before! Throw it here!" The ghost smiled as he floated backwards and opened his mouth in order to catch the object like a snack.

Lydia immediately closed her eyes when she saw him open his mouth. Jaws should not bend that way. Ever. She counted to three and threw the laptop in Beetlejuice's direction. She heard a couple of chews and swallows before she opened her eyes to see Beetlejuice slurp up the charger cable like spaghetti. Once it was swallowed, he hiccuped and licked his teeth clean of keyboard letters. Lydia took a wary step back.

"Do you eat teens by any chance?" She asked out of curiosity, hoping that he didn't. The prospect didn't seem to look good as the demon floated in her direction and poked at her arm in thought. She sighed in relief when he shook his head.

"Nah, it depends. Yer kinda scrawny lookin' to me and ya probably taste salty. Besides, adults got more meat on 'em!"

"Oh... good to know. If we have any cranky neighbors, I'll feed them to you!" Lydia smiled nervously as she held a thumbs up, not knowing whether he was serious or not. Or both. Once she saw that the damage was enough in the room, she led the demon out to the hall.

"Before we do anything else, I got to change out of this dress. It's too... bright and cheerful." Lydia almost gagged, then she smirked at the ghost. "Meet me downstairs?"

"You know it." Beetlejuice pointed finger guns at the teenager before he teleported himself back downstairs, sitting on a chair covered in spikes. He stared off in thought.

"... can you believe it?" Beetlejuice addressed his audience as he pointed a thumb upwards. "A breather who actually sees me and she said my name. And we got an entire haunted house to ourselves! This is going to be- oh my gosh, I know this fanfiction trope!" In an instant, the demon took out a printed packet from his back and skimmed through it, squinting a little. "This is the part where the writer goes in between scenes from the original source material in order to show character development, relationships, and something called 'fluff'."

Beetlejuice paused with a neutral expression on his face until he suddenly burst out guffawing and slapping his knee, throwing the packet over his shoulder and causing it to burst into flames and disappear.

"Like that'll ever happen!" He exclaimed after his fit of laughter, standing back up. His face lit up when he heard footsteps from above and he turned his head to see Lydia at the top of the steps. Instead of a normal nightgown or whatever young breathers wore to sleep, she seemed to wear a red poncho that looked just like a spider web over a black shirt and leggings. She also wore fake claws in both her hands, a makeshift wolf tail tied around her waist like a belt, and one of those headband things with animal ears on her head. Around her neck was one of those traditional cameras he had seen breather tourist with whenever he got the chance to explore. With her pale face and eye shadow, she looked spooky.

Lydia let out a loud roar as she laughed, stomping down the stairs, "Grrr! I am Lydia Deetz, the Werewolf Demon! I've come to scare the breathers, kiss all the cool girls, and eat everybody else!"

"Oh no! Connecticut is doomed!" Beetlejuice laughed along with her. He floated right behind her and suddenly grabbed her, lifting her off the ground. Lydia was about to protest when she looked down and saw how high off the ground she was.

"I'm... floating? I'm floating!" She smiled and let the demon lift her up higher to the ceiling. She outstretched her arms and wiggled her claws, pretending she was a flying witch or a real ghost. She then snarled to the air.

"Ya need fangs ta be a werewolf demon!" Beetlejuice concluded after taking Lydia's new costume into consideration. With a blink of his eyes, a couple of Lydia's teeth sharpened into fangs, making the girl's grin grow. He chuckled and levitated back down to the floor. "What's with the red spiderweb get-up anyway?"

"My mom made it herself because I liked spiders. When I was little, I pretended to be a spider witch and I begged to be one when I got older. I wear it to bed every night ever since." Lydia said as she fiddled with one of the poncho's edges and she was placed down. "My favorite Halloween costume was this full body werewolf suit my parents got me when I was nine or ten. It doesn't fit me anymore, so I had to improvise."

"Huh. Even some breathers have good tastes." The demon commented, his face unreadable, but he gave her a thumbs up. Lydia poked her new fangs with the tip of her own tongue before her face lit up.

"I gotta get a picture of this. To celebrate our new house!" She went up to Beetlejuice and grabbed her camera, turning it around towards them and pressing on a button as the camera flashed and the demon winced, shutting his eyes tight.

"Sorry! Didn't think making an old time selfie would be weird." Lydia apologized. While he adjusted his eyes and the photograph started to develop, Lydia also took out her cell phone from one of her pockets. Although she had a phone and she appreciated the modern advances of cameras in her generation, there was something about using a traditional camera that her parents used and a physical photograph instantly appeared that appealed to her. Nonetheless, the occasion called for both types of pictures. When Beetlejuice was ready, Lydia opened up the camera on her phone and took a picture of herself and Beetlejuice with playful, snarling faces and no flash that time. She then went to her gallery and to her surprise, there was Beetlejuice clear as night on her screen.

Beetlejuice gasped, grabbing the phone from the teenager's hands as he examined the handiwork, "I'm visible in photos and technology now! I wish I could say the same thing about the other one." A third arm of his seemed to pop out from the ground, holding a photograph of Lydia and a blurry shadow creature with two yellow lights in the background.

Lydia rolled her eyes and giggled as she reached for her phone. "Glad to make your night, then. Let me just post the digital one on my tumblr and twitter."

The demon almost dropped the cell phone in shock, but Lydia caught it just in time.

"You got a tumblr too? We really are BFFFF's!" Beetlejuice grinned and bounced on his heels.

"How did you get a- oh, wait. Let me guess: it's a hell site, so demons automatically get accounts?" Both she and Beetlejuice smirked and shot finger guns at each other.

"Exactly. You're catching on to the whole being a demon thing!"

"Good to know." The teenager typed and started posting as she continued, "I'm not an online person myself, but sometimes I post some good shots and see what's strange and unusual out in the world. What's your username so I could follow you?"

"3xthecharmguide: Shameless plug-in is shameless!" He announced in an almost mocking monotone as he looked out towards what she guessed was space.

"What?"

"What?" Lydia snorted and shook her head. Once she had finished with her post, she searched for the username until she found his blog. "Huh.... just some pictures for now. I could help tune it out for you if you want. And wait till I show you Tik Tok!"

"You breathers are into clocks now?" Now it was Beetlejuice's turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion. The teenager chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"I'll explain it later." She was about to say something else when she felt her stomach growl and she winced. She didn't eat anything for the whole day and she was too busy organizing the dinner party with the Maitlands to care. Beetlejuice seemed to hear the growl and raised an eyebrow.

"Hungry? All that food from that fancy party is probably gone by now. And I think I saw that roast pig almost ate a man. It. Was. Awesome!"

It then occurred to Lydia: now that everyone living left, there was no one who would make dinner or drive to the grocery store anymore. Sure, she could cook simple things on the stove and use a microwave, but even with that, the fridge and pantry wasn't really filled up ever since she, her father, and Delia moved into the house. Curious, she turned to the demon.

"Can you cook?"

"Do you like stale popcorn and roasted rats?" Beetlejuice grinned as a large flame formed at the palm of his hand. Lydia stared at him in disgust, then pulled his hand down by the wrist without batting an eye.

"No, put the fire down. I'm good." She said, then shrugged. "We could order pizza? And I have a stash of snacks hidden in my room. If we're lucky, maybe there's a monster movie marathon tonight."

"Monster movie marathon?!" The demon exclaimed with a big smile on his face as he bounced on his heels. "Yes, yes, yes! That's a thousand times better! Let's do it!"

With a smile and a nod, Lydia strolled into the kitchen and dialed on her cell phone, calling the nearest pizza place in the area to order delivery as she opened the cupboards and got out two blenders. Luckily, the blenders didn't change with the kitchen and other appliances either.

“Hey, can I have two large pepperoni, one mushroom, and one Meat Lovers all with extra cheese please?” She asked as she placed the blenders down onto the counter and plugged them in. Beetlejuice hovered over her like a child wanting attention and Lydia gently pushed him away. When he kept insisting, she went to the freezer and got an ice cube out, placing it on the edge of the counter without any thought to it. In response, the spirit focused on the cube and hovered over it instead. As Lydia listened to the person on the phone and gave them the address, she couldn’t help but feel like a mother. She suppressed a gulp and hung up the phone once the order was placed, trying to dismiss that thought from her head.

"Lydia, the ice cube is shrinking!" Beetlejuice cried out as he pointed to the melting ice cube, poking at it with a finger.

Lydia stared at disbelief, blinking a few times. "It's melting."

"'Oh... okay." The demon shrugged and seemed to accept this as he picked up the ice cube and placed it in his mouth. A few seconds later, he stuck a black and purple striped tongue out from his mouth, exclaiming, "All gone!"

With a chuckle, Lydia opened the fridge and got the milk, ice cream, and syrups, placing them onto the counter. She then got a big spoon, what was left of the cereals from the cupboards, and any other condiments she could find since something told her the demon had strange tastes.

"Unfortunately, we only got neo- neopol- Napoleon? Uhhhh... the chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream!" Lydia stuck her tongue out from stumbling on the word. "We're so gonna get new flavors for next time. Like Rocky Road! Or black cherry chocolate chip!"

"Or maggot chili chocolate and horse flesh!" Beetlejuice added with a smile.

"Ewwww? I'm not going to ask." Lydia scooped up half a tub of ice cream for her blender and the rest for Beetlejuice's. She squirted strawberry syrup while the demon chose chocolate. As for toppings, they used sprinkles, different cereals, and mustard for some reason. For a last finishing touch, Beetlejuice added squirming earthworms and beetles in his blender. To make it fair, Lydia put two big helpings of gummy worms in hers. Once every ingredient was in, they blended their concoctions at the same time as some sort of race to see which one was done first. Beetlejuice won by default. Before they could prepare the other snacks,

Ding-Dong!

"Pizza's here!" Beetlejuice cheered at the doorbell and clasped his hands together with a wicked grin on his face. "Let's scare 'em."

Lydia rolled her eyes and shrugged with her own grin. "Why not?" With a snap of the demon's fingers, the two disappeared in darkness and the front door opened to reveal a young adult male carrying a large insulated bag of pizza.

"Uh... pizza delivery?" The man called out to the house, noticing no one at first. He then gasped when Lydia popped up from the ground in front of him, her arms behind her back.

"To be...." She moved her arm forward to hold out Beetlejuice's head in her claws as she dramatically posed, "Or not to be!"

"Is that really the question?" The head replied with a crazed look in his eyes as he stared at the delivery boy, a fanged grin on his face.

The delivery person dropped the bag and screamed at the top of his lungs in response before he charged out of the house and into the streets.

"I love that sound!" Lydia and Beetlejuice sighed in unison. Lydia then turned Beetlejuice's head to face her as she lifted it up and they both laughed with the demon's body jumping in joy from the background.

Monster Movie Marathon night was underway without a hitch. Lydia got all the chips, candy, cookies, and juice boxes she had in her bedroom while Beetlejuice set up a brand new television decorated in stripes and spikes because aesthetic. Along with their pizza, snacks, and drinks, Beetlejuice also conjured up some popcorn, soda, and a pair of 3-D glasses for himself. When they had gathered up everything, the two of them hopped onto the sofa, blender glasses in hand, and Beetlejuice turned on the TV with a snap to his fingers.

"Good evening, Spooks and Ghouls." An announcer greeted from the television in an eerie echo that sent nostalgic chills to Lydia's spine. "We welcome you to our weekend monster movie marathon starting with that classic cult film 'The Boogeyman straight from Hell!'"

Beetlejuice and Lydia smirked as they grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza each. Pizza, monster films, and no crummy adults? What more could they need? They clinked their blenders together before taking a swig of their respective milkshakes in unison. The two then proceeded to watch the film, occasionally commenting on how cheesy or inaccurate it looked with the demon explaining what would really happen. At one point, Beetlejuice had swallowed his blender in one gulp, glass and machine included.

Lydia still couldn't believe that this striped man lying down on the floor and staring at the screen with a grin on his face, the same man who had begged on his hands and knees for her to say his name earlier yesterday, was an actual demon from Hell. She knew demons took on many forms, but a chubby dead guy who looked like a dumpster-diving raccoon didn't cross her mind. Even though she had her doubts, she was enjoying his company. He was funny, gross, scary, and goofy once she observed him. Back in New York, her only friend was her mother. She didn't really have a best friend until now.

Time passed and another movie played. A vampire flick. Lydia slouched forward, her head resting on the palms of her hands as she watched the film with an eager smile, engrossed by its tone and horror. Beetlejuice took up the rest of the unusual couch with his legs hanging off of the armchair that looked more like a tentacle as he laid on his back, crossing both his arms and legs, and stared at the ceiling in thought. He couldn't believe his luck or what happened either. He found a breather that could actually see him. At first, he planned on ditching the kid and the dreadful house somehow, but that changed within the last few hours. Lydia was much more fun than the stiffs he knew both in the Netherworld and the breathers residing in the house. She was creative, spooky, funny, dark, and one of the few beings that could keep up with his antics. Who knew there were breathers like this out in the world and he hadn't met them yet! He wished he had someone like Lydia in his younger centuries.

Beetlejuice glanced to the side, watching as Lydia's grin grew at the sight of a breather's face contorting in horror with a shadow overwhelming them. The demon then smirked. Lydia Deetz was officially his new best friend and he was determined to keep it that way as long as possible. Forever even.

Before Lydia knew it, it was midnight. The movie marathon had ended and the TV shut off by itself. As she rubbed her eyes that seemed to buzz from focusing too much on the screen, she surveyed the damage of the living room. Or the after-living room now. Empty pizza boxes, chip bags, soda cans, and candy wrappers scattered across the floor. Crumbs were everywhere. Although Beetlejuice ate the most, Lydia felt stuffed from all that pizza and junk food she ate. She slowly stood up from the sofa and took a step forward, only to sway to the side.

"Whoa there, Scarecrow!" Beetlejuice caught the girl in his arms just in time and pushed her back standing. "Ya look like you're about to pass out in a grave."

"Me? Pass out? Not for Lydia Chrysanthemum Deetz! I'm full of energy!" Lydia protested while holding back a yawn as she stood up straight and put her hands to her hips... only to fall back onto the sofa.

Lydia took a few minutes to rest. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a tiny window near her eye. Upon seeing it, she jolted awake and sat up. It seemed that she was outside and someone put a replica model of the house and the hill it sat on near her while she was sleeping. She was going to dismiss it as such when she examined the detail of the model and some movement caught her eye. She squinted to find two familiar people waving their arms from one of the windows.

"Adam? Barbara?" Lydia blinked. Sure enough, a tiny Adam and Barbara were waving at her, looking quite shocked to see the now giant teenager. Lydia waved back only for her to let out a scream as something scooped her up in the air by her arms and hugged her tight.

"Lyds, yer just the right size to take over this town!" A familiar gravely voice boomed with a cheer. Lydia struggled against the giant demon's grip, feeling like her bones would pop if he got any tighter.

"I still need to breathe!" She wheezed out. With a sheepish "Oops!", Beetlejuice let go of her and placed her down next to him.

"Would you look at us? Two scary demons ruling Connecticut together and having our kind of fun. First order of business, we make stripes, black, and nail polish the top fashion statement. We're going places, kid!" Beetlejuice pulled Lydia close to him and started walking off, throwing his ideas out there. Lydia shook her head with a smile and was about to listen when she glanced up and caught something at the corner of her eye coming from his striped shirt. In a shirt pocket that seemed filled with who knows what, Lydia swore she saw tiny arms trying to climb out and a woman's head popping out.

"I can breathe! Freedom!" A tiny feminine voice squeaked. The teen's eyes widened.

"Um... Beej? What is that?" Lydia asked, pointing to his pocket.

"What is what?" The demon stopped, causing the obvious human in his pocket to scream and fall back down. He looked down and nodded. "Oh right, that! While you were napping, I decided ta get myself a random breather to play with. Don't worry, she's a big fan and my pocket's not that bad."

Lydia's face fell. "Beetlejuice, no. If we're gonna haunt anything together, we're not kidnapping people!"

Beetlejuice rolled his eyes and groaned. "Ugh! First, it's no killing. Now, it's no kidnapping! What's next? No floating? And it's not even a kid!"

"Oh, thank-"

"It's the writer."

"Dude!" Lydia threw her hands in the air, resisting the urge to strangle the giant demon. "You can't just go into a writer's house and steal them away!"

"Why not? There's no rule saying that I can't and she doesn't seem to mind. Right, babe?"

In response to the question, a tiny tan hand poked out from the pocket and formed a shaky thumbs up.

"See? She has a way with words!" The ghost chuckled, using one of his fingers to gently push the hand back into his pocket. When he saw Lydia give him a disapproving frown along with her arms crossed, he sighed.

"Alright, alright! I'll take her back to her house. But first, I'm takin' you ta bed. Ya gotta have a lot of energy if yer gonna be scary at your own haunted house tomorrow!"

"Wait, what?" Before Lydia could question or protest, she was scooped up by the waist and hung to the demon's side as he carried her off somewhere. Then it became blurry for her. She couldn't tell how much time had passed or where she was. As she let out a yawn, she started to see things. Memories of her when she was seven or nine. Nights when her father would stay overnight on a business meeting and she and her mother would pretend to be giant monsters parading in their home while eating and doing whatever they wanted. At the end of their play, Emily would pick her up, carry her upstairs to bed, and tell her a story as she tucked her in.

Lydia then remembered. She was at a haunted house in Connecticut with two ghosts in the attic and a demon who was taking her upstairs to bed. She groaned sleepily. No wonder grown-ups warned children about eating late at night. As she hung to the demon's side, she couldn't help but reminisce about the good times that she would never have again for a long time.

"Once upon a time... there was a girl who wanted to be... a werewolf...." She mumbled to herself with a soft yawn as the demon trudged through the hallway. "Her daddy wanted his daughter... to be a perfect little girl... but her dead mom wanted her happy... so the girl ran away to the woods... so she could become a werewolf. She... she... she-"

"She came across a demon deep in the forest." Beetlejuice continued with a sigh. "Very powerful, looks great in stripes, and had lots of cool powers and dance moves, but he was lonely because nobody could see him and nobody else was like him. When he saw that she could see him, he got really happy. So he offered her a deal. 'If ya summon me and gimme all the bugs I can eat, I can make ya a werewolf and we could be friends'.

The demon reached the bedroom and went inside, noticing that it was bare of anything interesting save for the dark curtains and spider sheets on the bed. He placed her on top of the bed as he continued, "So she tried to get all the bugs she could get. Mostly earthworms, ants, and some ladybugs ta add a little luck. Sure, she got mud and leaves all over her, but she did it. She said his name three times and poof! He was summoned just like that. He made her a werewolf without the bite thing and they hung out together in the woods, scarin' all the breathers they wanted."

Lydia grumbled in a daze, maneuvering herself so a blanket was covering her up. She smiled and snuggled against the bed, finally asleep. The demon was about to leave when he saw something fall from under her pillow and landed onto the floor with a silent flutter. Beetlejuice bent down and picked it up, examining it. It was a photograph of Lydia and her dad that he immediately recognized, but it was the woman that threw him off. He never saw her in the house or of the recently deceased around the area.

Then it hit him.

He said nothing, some of his hair strands turning purple as he pinched the corner of the photo and tore off Charles's head. He grabbed hold of the other corner, but let go after a long second. He opened the bedside drawer, placed the photo in, then closed it shut. Beetlejuice glanced over, watching Lydia turning to her side, out like a light. Before he disappeared, there was a hint of a smile as he patted the side of the bed.

"Sweet nightmares, kid."

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