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mybutcheredtongue · 5 months

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I'll Love You 'til the Grass Around My Gravestone is Deceased

harry potter timeline sirius black x fem!reader

CHAPTER THREE (see full series list here)

1992

The first day of term is always fun. Everyone arrives at breakfast happy and excited, the first years arriving particularly early because they're scared they'll miss it.

You take a seat at the staff table, a copy of Astronomy's Articles under your arm. You settle yourself between McGonagall and Hagrid. McGonagall's currently engaged in conversation with Dumbledore.

"Morning, Hagrid," you greet cheerfully and he looks up, giving you a great grin.

"G'mornin'! 'appy first day of term!" He booms and you chuckle.

"Happy first day of term."

You pile breakfast items on your plate, summoning a teapot from the middle of the table to pour some tea into your cup. With a wave of your wand, Astronomy's Articles opens itself in front of you on the first page, and you read as you eat.

"Anything interesting?" You hear Dumbledore's voice beside you and with the call of your first name you turn to him and shrug.

"Nothing I hadn't seen myself! There should be a meteor shower at around 12-ish on Friday night," you reply. "Meteor showers are wonderful, I would definitely recommend."

Dumbledore hums thoughtfully. "I have had the treat of viewing quite a few meteor showers in my lifetime," he says. "Once, I could have sworn that the meteors seemed to form the shape of a very animated chocolate frog."

McGonagall chuckles quietly and you join her.

"How do you know it was a chocolate frog and not just a regular frog?" You ask.

Dumbledore considers this for a moment. "I suppose I must have had a particular craving for chocolate that evening," he replies simply.

His plate is empty, clearly having awoken much earlier than you, and you return to your breakfast, flipping the page of your magazine onto a puzzle page, littered with crosswords, word searches, anagrams and some sudoku squares. Something for later, you think.

"How was your summer, Minerva?" you ask. Her first name has always felt odd on your tongue, after you spent 7 years of your life calling her Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, it was fine," she replies. "Nothing too extravagant."

"Did you go to any quidditch matches?"

"A few. I seen — "

"RONALD WEASLEY!"

You jump at the loud yell, turning to the source of the screech: a red envelope floating in front of Ron Weasley's face at the Gryffindor table. You exchange a look with McGonagall, returning your eyes to the scene playing in front of you.

Mrs Weasley's outraged yells are so loud that plates and spoons rattle on the Gryffindor table. Harry is wide-eyed beside him, watching in horror as Ron dips so low in his seat that only the top of his crimson forehead was visible.

" — STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE — "

You wince, knowing well how it feels to receive a howler at school.

Poor Ron.

"— LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED — "

Harry's face has turned the same shade as Ron's, and every eye in the Great Hall is on the howler.

"Bloody hell, just run out of the hall, Ron..." you mutter under your breath in exasperation.

McGonagall hums in agreement beside you.

"— ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

The howler then spins around to Ron's younger sister, Ginny, and its tone changes drastically. "Oh, and Ginny, dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud."

The howler drops and bursts into flames and curls into ashes. Harry and Ron sit stunned, as though trying to comprehend just what had a happened. A few people laugh before gradually a babble of talk breaks out again.

You chuckle, opening your magazine again and flipping the next page. "Happens to the best of us."

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

You wander down to the dungeons, your shoes audibly clicking against the hard stone floors. You wrap your arms tightly around your body, your hands bunching your woolly sweater at your sides.

You had spotted a poster for a 'duelling club' run by Lockhart and it had piqued your interest. You wanted to attend to make sure someone didn't die or get fatally injured because Lockhart seemed the type to not know a defensive jinx if it punched him in the face.

You push open the big wooden doors to the room he's occupied. Several students turn to look at you, but your eyes land on another man standing beside Lockhart, an unimpressed expression on his face.

Hm. Looks like Snape and I have had the same idea.

"Seems we have a late comer! No matter, join in with the rest, young lady!" Lockhart chirps.

You sigh, walking up to him to stand next to Snape. "It's me, Gilderoy." You tell him your name and he just blinks blankly.

You narrow your eyes in confusion. "We work together."

Blank.

"I literally sat beside you at breakfast this morning? You asked if I'd read your book."

Lockhart just stares in confusion, before his face contorts into an overdramatic picture of recognition. "Ah, yes! Yes, of course, I — uh — I recognise you, yeah! Of course I do!"

You scoff, rolling you eyes as he turns around to face the students. "Prick," you mutter under your breath.

You watch as Lockhart steps out onto the long, narrow stage and walks ostentatiously along it. "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me?"

A beat.

"Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works."

You have to cough to cover up your derisive snort.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," Lockhart says, flashing a wide smile. The look on Snape's face when Lockhart calls him his assistant is absolute gold. Then, his eyes lock on you and he pauses for a moment, nodding to himself. "And, well, we also have our dear, uh...Astrology Professor here too!"

"Astronomy."

"Astronomy! That's what I said," Lockhart continues. "Professor Snape tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

You raise your eyebrows, glancing over at Snape as he pulls his wand from inside his robes, stepping out onto the stage to face Lockhart. As much as you have a...tumultuous relationship with Snape, you would definitely not be as keen and enthusiastic as Lockhart is to try and duel him.

You're excited to see that smug grin wiped off Lockhart's face, though you would love to do it yourself. You bet he'd remember your name after that.

Lockhart and Snape turn to face each and bow, though Lockhart's is considerably more flamboyant with much twirling of his hands while Snape jerks his head irritably. They raise their wands in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart tells the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"One...two...three — "

Both of them swing their wands up and over their shoulders. Snape cries, "Expelliarmus!".

There's a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart's blasted off his feet, flying backwards off the stage wildly and smashing into the wall.

You bite your lip to stop your laughs.

You notice some of the Slytherin students cheering while others nervously watch Lockhart in anticipation, collectively breathing a sigh of relief when he unsteadily staggers to his feet.

The look on his face is priceless.

"Well, there you have it" he says, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm — as your see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However, I felt it instructive to let them see..."

"Well, what spell would you have used, Professor Lockhart?" You pipe up, ultimately stirring the pot to make for a more interesting evening.

You remember when there was a duelling club in your school days. You'd had the pleasure of being paired with Lucius Malfoy, delicately delivering a few hexes to him. He'd had to walk around school with an ear the size of his ego, which was quite the difficult feat because it was exceptionally gargantuan.

Lockhart blinks stupidly at you, rolling a hand through his wavy blond hair. "Well, the Shield Charm, of course!"

"Shouldn't you demonstrate that as well?"

"Well, I — I hardly think the students want to see another demonstration...I'm sure they're dying to try it for themselves!" Lockhart stumbles.

You shrug. "I just think the students might want to witness...what does it say in your book? 'An extraordinary display of barely comprehensible wizarding prowess'?"

Lockhart's mouth opens and closes twice as he tries to think of something to say in return, before landing on a great grin and wiggle of his eyebrows at you. "Well, alright then! I'll let you try and defend my spells, young lady!" He eyes Snape, laughing nervously. "Best give you a break, Professor Snape!"

Snape mutters something under his breath and steps off the end of the stage to stand beside his Slytherin students.

You pull your wand from your pocket, facing Lockhart, bowing.

"One...two...three!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

A blast of red light explodes from Lockhart's wand, and as though there was an invisible shield in front of you, it bounces off harmlessly and is deflected into the roof.

Lockhart lets out a relieved sigh, as if he was expecting it to rebound and hit him instead. He chuckles lightly, regaining his confidence. "It's a good thing I went easy on you there!"

You blink at him, unimpressed. "Truly."

"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professors, if you'd like to help..."

You start moving through the crowd, but Snape beats you to Harry, Ron, and Hermione first. You watch as he splits the two boys up, Ron huffing as he moves over to Seamus Finnigan, and Snape beckons Draco Malfoy over to pair with Harry.

You wince, well aware of their rivalry. They almost remind you of James and Snape when they were young, though that was a much more inequal affair at the time.

You sigh, pairing others together and stepping out of their way to observe their moves.

Well.

Disastrous is a kind word for the carnage you witness.

Lockhart is screaming hysterically over the battling crowd, attempting to quell the fights. The pair in front of you, Pansy Parkinson and Parvati Patil, are unleashing whatever horrible spells they can think of. Pansy's face has broken into a million boils, and Parvati's left hand is currently repeatedly hitting her own face.

"Hey!" You shout at the two. "Finite Incantatem!"

Parvati's arm stops moving, and Pansy's face stops breaking out. Some of the boils recede and disappear, while some linger and you sigh.

"Madam Pomfrey's," you say to her and she scampers off, screeching about Parvati on her way. "Where the bloody hell did they learn those spells..." you move away from Parvati.

Lockhart skitters through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "I said disarm only. I think you may need another demonstration on how to block unfriendly spells...how about a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you?"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," says Snape. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

You scowl. How could he be so cruel? "Mr Longbottom is perfectly capable of performing a simple shield spell, Professor Snape."

He glares at you, black eyes glinting maliciously. "Well, best not allow for any risks, yes?"

"You're being unreasonable — "

Lockhart looks between the two of you, as though choosing which side is the safer option. In other words, which of you he'd least like to piss off.

"Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter, let's see how you fare!" Lockhart booms nervously and you click your tongue, glaring at Snape. His face contorts into a twisted smile as the two boys step up onto the stage.

"Now, Harry," Lockhart says, "when Draco points his wand at you, you do this."

He raises his own wand, attempting a complicate sort of wiggling action.

He drops it.

He picks it up, saying, "Whoops — my wand is a little over-excited."

Snape bends down to Malfoy's ear, whispering something in it. Harry looks nervously up at Lockhart and says, "Professor, can you show me that blocking thing again?"

Lockhart cuffs Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?"

You snort. He is his father's son, that's for sure.

Lockhart isn't listening though, excitedly shouting, "Three...two...one...go!"

Malfoy raises his wand quickly and yells, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand explodes. You watch in shock as a long, black snake shoots out of it, falling heavily onto the floor between them and raises itself, ready to strike.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape says lazily, clearly enjoying the spectacle in front of him. "I'll get rid of it."

"Allow me!" Lockhart shouts, and before you can do anything, he brandishes his wand at the snake and there's a loud bang, throwing the snake ten feet up into the air and landing back down on the floor with a loud smack. Enraged and hissing furiously, it slithers straight towards Justin Finch-Fletchley and raises itself again, fangs bared, poised to strike.

Panic sets in through your body and you flick your wand, frantically yelling, "Immobu — "

Then, a hissing sound. You watch in disbelief as Harry walks forward towards the snake, hissing at it, and it slumps to the floor, docile, its eyes now on Harry.

Justin stares at Harry in horror. "What do you think you're playing at?" He shouts, and storms out of the hall.

"Harry..." you say gently, trying to appear calm and collected, despite genuinely thinking you may have jumped out of your skin.

Snape steps forward, waving his wand, and the Snape vanishes in a puff of black smoke.

Ron grabs the back of Harry's robes, tugging it and pulling him out of the hall. It's utterly silent and tense in the room and you swallow hard.

"Alright, everyone, I think it's time to get going," you announce, and the students obediently depart from the room, muttering between themselves.

Snape makes to leave but you grab onto the arm of his robe angrily and he turns to glare at you.

"What were you thinking, telling Malfoy to summon that snake? He was supposed to be practicing a shield charm!" You snap.

"A let down on Potter's part. He was unable to cast the shield charm."

"Oh, don't give me that. You knew what you were playing at, you shifty — "

"It is my fault," Lockhart chimes in and you think you can genuinely feel your will to live slipping from your grasp. "I weakened the snake to allow for young Mr Potter to have a better chance, but it seems I should have — "

You spin and glare at Lockhart. "Oh, really, is that what you were doing? Because it seemed to me like you just mumbled out whatever sounds came to your thick skull and hoped it'd do something!"

"Now, now, young lady — "

"It's Professor, you dimwit! I am a grown woman, I am your colleague! Don't patronize me!"

You scoff, anger bubbling terribly in your veins, as you brush off the front of robes and glare at the two idiot men in front of you. "Don't you ever put your students in danger again. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

You spin on your heel and angrily storm out of the hall.

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

→ all kinds of interaction appreciated ♡

->-> read chapter four here!

#harry potter #fanfiction #the marauders #hp #hp fanfic #fanfic #angst #sirius black #sirius black x reader #sirius black x you #angst with a happy ending

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readerinsertsaremyguiltypleasure · 1 year

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Heyyy I was wondering if u could write like a moon summoner x darkling smut . She could be disguised as the queens lady in waiting when in reality she’s the kings personal bodyguard . Alexander could find out who she is when she appears to help save Alina when she’s attacked on the way to the little palace .

thank uuuu

Hi. Thanks for the prompt. I took a couple of liberties with this one, so I hope that's okay.

First of all, I went with a sun summoner reader. Whenever I read "moon summoner", I just picture the reader conjuring a mini moon and hurling it at their enemies like a Poké Ball, which I'm pretty sure is not what you had in mind. So, seeing as moonlight is just reflected sunlight anyway, sun summoner seemed the best compromise.

Secondly, I couldn't quite make the lady in waiting thing work, so I made it that she is just part of the King's Guard, but that is where she is hiding.

Everything else fits with your prompt. I think.

Anyways, I hope you like it.

_____________________________________

You had known something was going to go wrong on this trip. You had felt it as soon as the King had told you that you were to accompany General Kirigan to oversee the latest skiff’s maiden voyage. You were Grisha, yes, but you were also part of the King’s personal guard; not officially part of the second army. Guarding the General was not your job.

It wasn’t like he needed the extra help, anyway. And as far as everybody else was concerned, you were merely an Inferni. The strongest Inferni in Ravka, but an Inferni nonetheless. As far as they knew, your power was inconsequential to that of the Darkling.

They were wrong.

But that was how you liked it. If they knew the truth about you, they’d give you a responsibility that you knew you couldn’t live up to.

But knowledge of your true power or no, the King had still wanted you on this trip - just in case - and now you were in the middle of an ambush.

A scream caught your attention, and you turned to see your newest charge, Alina Starkov, being dragged into the woods by a fierce look Fjerdan. You ducked behind a tree as more bullets came your way, and then ran off after them.

It didn’t take long to find them. They were in the middle of a clearing, not far from the treeline. The Fjerdan had Alina pinned to the ground, axe above his head and ready to strike.

There was no way you could get across the clearing in time to save her. And they were too far away to pass off your powers as that of normal fire.

But you couldn’t let her die. She was like you.

She was a Sun Summoner.

Willing up as much power as you could, you brought your hands together and then sent a bolt of light across the clearing. Your aim was true, and you burnt a whole straight through the Fjerdan’s chest.

You hadn’t realised you weren’t the only one who had come to Alina’s rescue until it was too late. If you had known the Darkling was right behind you, you would have let him deal with it. The cut worked just as well with shadow as it did with light, after all.

‘You��re no Inferni,’ said General Kirigan, staring at you like you were a jewel he had long searched for.

And despite the fact that your secret was out and your life was now changed forever, you couldn’t help but preen under his gaze.

Genya had always warned you to be wary of powerful men… but you’d always had trouble listening to her advice.

----

When you got back to the Little Palace, Kirigan had passed Alina off onto Genya and had then all but dragged you to his private quarters. The echoing of the door closing behind you both made you nervous.

You tried distracting yourself by surveying the large map of Ravka on the table, but Kirigan didn’t let you remain distracted for long. ‘An interesting day,’ he said as he slowly walked towards you. ‘I started out with no Sun Summoner. Now I have two.’

The way he moved was almost predatory, and it made something inside you stir. Something you didn’t want to analyse too much.

‘Why did you hide?’ he asked.

‘I can’t tear down the Fold.’

You figured it was best to get straight to the point. You may not have been under his command, but you knew he was not one to purposefully anger.

‘I’m not powerful enough, and if I failed, I would no doubt be punished.’

Kirigan regarded you, now close enough to touch you if he so chose. ‘So, to hide, you turned your sun powers into that of just normal fire. Clever.’

He took a step back, and a moment later, the room was filled with his shadows. You couldn’t even see him anymore, though you knew he was still right in front of you.

‘Show me,’ his voice came from the darkness. A command if ever you’d heard one.

You knew it was no use defying him, so you brought your hands together and conjured the biggest ball of sunlight you could, sending it up above your head. It was enough to light the area between you and Kirigan, but nothing more.

But then he stepped forward and grabbed your wrist.

The power you felt flowing through you was like nothing you’d ever felt before, and without you even realising it, your small sun blazed into an inferno, lighting the whole room as if it were the middle of a cloudless day.

The look Kirigan gave at your display could not have been described as anything less than hungry.

‘You’re perfect,’ was all he said before his mouth was suddenly on yours, devouring you with a possessive kiss.

High on the power of his amplification and the fact that this handsome man wanted you, you returned the kiss eagerly, and you soon found yourself being lifted onto the table behind you.

The moment Kirigan’s hand left your skin, your sunlight faded, but that was okay. So had his shadows, and you could still see him quite clearly as he deftly undid your kefta.

‘To think I had you under my nose the entire time,’ he said between smaller kisses to your neck and jaw. You were sure you were going to have marks in the morning.

You didn’t care.

Once he had your kefta off, your hands scrambled at his own clothes, but he grabbed your wrists, stopping you. He didn’t say anything, but you got the point.

He was in control.

Satisfied that you were going to comply, he released your wrists and got back to undressing you. It felt like mere seconds before he had you in nothing but your underwear.

He stroked his hands over the skin of your thighs, making the power inside you ripple. If this was what just his hands on you felt like, you couldn’t wait to feel the rest of him.

‘Do you want this?’ he asked, voice little more than a growl.

You unconsciously licked your lips as you watched him slowly undo the buttons of his trousers.

‘Saints, yes,’ you breathed. In that moment, you didn’t care that your life was never going to be the same again. In fact, you revelled in it. It felt good to no longer have to hide. It felt freeing.

It also felt good to be fully appreciated. To be wanted.

Kirigan groaned and pushed the material of his trousers out of the way so he could fist himself. You eyes remained fixed on him, mesmerised by the sight.

He gave himself a few pumps before stepping forward and pulling your underwear aside with one finger. He lined himself up and then used his free hand to grab your chin, forcing you to look in his eyes.

The lust you saw in them made you whimper, as did the feel of his skin on yours.

‘You and I are going to do so much together,’ he said, and he pushed himself inside you with one solid thrust. You gasped and resisted the temptation to close your eyes in pleasure.

Kirigan’s gaze never left yours, even as his hips set a brutal pace, and his lips curled into a smile that was full of victory.

‘Now you’re mine.’

#darkling smut prompts #set in season 1 so no spoilers for season 2 #the darkling x female reader #the darkling x reader #darkling x reader #general kirigan x reader

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skrrtscree · 1 month

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P3M MAKOTO YUKI MISCONCEPTIONS

To be honest, it kind of annoys me when people watch the persona 3 movies and come away with it with the wrong idea of what Makotos character is in them. I don't mean the people who don't like the movies or their portrayal of him. It's fine if you don't, btw. Media is subjective, and different people will take away different things from the same thing, but I feel like some people end up completely missing the mark and mischaractizing that version of him.

For all the odd choices the p3 movies make, I'm adamant that his character and his arc is the best part about them, so it kind of urks me when i see tharpeople take away from it is that 'he's emotionless and devoid of personality' or 'a complete asshole who doesn't care about anything' both of which is untrue in all the films.

CW: blood in one of the images (the car accident scene, it just shows the hand but still)

First of all, the whole him being 'rude and uncaring' thing; To be honest, nothing he says strikes me as rude, it all comes off as blunt and not fitting the situation (him asking if they can leave during the hospital scene, and his answer seemingly having no sympathy when they talk to Natsuki). Of course to those who don't know him that well, he comes off as cold especially since his facial expression or tone barely change.

And the uncaring bit continues to get debunked through every film. Even in the first film, where he's closed himself off and doesn't care about living. He awakens to his persona to protect Yukari, he helps Fuuka collect her stuff twice despite not knowing her and even listens to her talk about Natsuki, he summons a different persona and throws himself at the Priestess to save Junpei. He goes against what he was told to do and goes straight into Tartarus because of the fear that his team will die if he doesn't.

It's made clear in the first movie that despite avoiding connections with people, he still can't let people die, deep down he cares about those around him getting hurt and wants to prevent that. It seems to heavily be rooted by his PTSD of the accident, him getting flashbacks to it in both the second and third full moon at the thought of someone dying. He's willing to throw himself in danger, not giving up even if he gets hurt or could exhaust himself, he has no care about his life, but he still cares about those around him.

The only claim I could see holding weight is the 'no personality' part but that's mainly because he spends half of the first film following orders from other people, but that itself can be seen as part of him, he doesn't have any direction or any care about his life so he follows what everyone tells and wants from him. He fights because he was told hed make a great asset to the team, he stays behind because him going would make Yukari mad, he has no reason not to listen or any argument to refute it, and this is dismantled near the end where he refuses to listen when they tell him to run because he can't let anyone die.

This is all I've gathered from the first movie still, I could carry on for all of them (and there is alot to talk about in each one in regards to his character) but I think I've made my point. Not only does they continue to prove those points incorrect, his character continues to evolve with the events around him.

I don't think there's a right or wrong way to write or portray makoto. The movies are not the be- all-all-end all of his characterization, but when you're talking about or writing that specific version of him, just don't end up writing him in a way that completely contradicts what the film shows.

#makoto yuki #minato arisato #persona 3 #p3 #persona 3 movie #persona 3 protagonist #p3 protagonist #persona #let me state agian this is just referring to his movie counterpart #not peoples personal depiction of him without the adaptations #i dont want ppl to get the wrong idea with this post im not condemning ppl who dont like the movies #i just fele rlly strongly abt ppl who misunderstand what the movies were going for #i rlly hope im not coming off as pretentious srry im just rlly autistic abt him💀💀#I'd like to hear what other ppl think or explain how they see it #maybe my perception of him is a bit different bc i see alot of my own traits in this version of him (austim and all)

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pholla-jm · 8 months

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Failure

IMAGINE: FAILURE X READER GENRE: HURT/COMFORT WARNINGS: MENTION OF ABUSE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can't believe I let them die... it's all my fault. I am part of the Lower Moon. I was supposed to protect my fellow peers. Mukago specifically. Mukago was often scared of fighting with demon slayers. And for some reason I took it upon myself to protect her.

But even I failed at doing that.

It was supposed to be easy. Just a normal scouting for information and maybe kill a couple of humans along the way. Mukago could be be pretty careless when killing humans. She doesn't care who the human is, she is killing them.

Me, on the other hand, only killed specific types of humans.

I don't know what happened really. All I know was that I was gathering information. My best guess is that Mukago was killing humans. Word of that got to the demon slayers and some lower rank demon slayers were sent to investigate.

When I heard Mukago scream, I ran straight towards that direction. I was too late though. Her head was already rolling on the ground, her body starting to disintegrate.

The demon slayers eyes met mine, and they readied their sword to attack me. But they were too slow. I was able to activate my blood demon art before they even got too close to me.

After I finished my mission I went to my room in the infinity castle. I know, I get my own room.

Muzan liked having me closer to him for some reason. I was always a bit confused as to why because if he wanted to summon me, he could just tell Nakime to summon me and I would be there in a split second.

Let's get back to my current situation. I could feel the panic start to set in my stomach.

I just know that Muzan is going to be furious about the outcome of our mission. I let one of the lower demons die. I am for sure going to die. I didn't want to die, I didn't want to get hurt. However, I knew I made a big mistake so the punishment should surely be death. And knowing Muzan it would be painful.

Next thing I knew, tears were flowing down my (s/c) skin. I couldn't control them. They started cascading down my face like a waterfall, and my breathing started to get heavy.

I remember these... panic attacks. I had them quite often when I was human.

"(y/n)". I froze up hearing the familiar voice calling my name.

My back was facing him, so he couldn't exactly see my tears. So I quickly wiped them away, hoping he wouldn't see me crying. That would only make me seem weak to his eyes. I tried to control my breathing but it was hard to do.

"Yes... Master." I muttered, not facing him.

"(y/n), face me." He says and I silently curse to myself. I turn myself around, still keeping my head facing the ground.

"Tell me how the mission went." He says and just like that, I feel my panic attack start again. My breathing started to get heavy, I could feel my heart palpating. My words were stuck in my throat. I didn't want to tell him. I don't want to get hurt.

The next thing I know I could see his nice leather shoes in my vision. One of his hands was on my upper arm, and his other hand reached for my chin. Forcing me to look up at him.

Muzan's eyes widen looking at me. "Slow down, (y/n). Take a deep breath."

I do what he says... because why wouldn't I listen to him?

"I'm so sorry Master, I deserve to die." I say as some tears start to trickle down my face. "Did you find some information?"

I nodded my head, "Yes... but I let Mukago die. One of your lower rank demons are now gone..." I whisper.

"I do not care." His words cause me to look up at him surprised. He could sense my confusion, so he continued. "I do not care that she died. She was weak anyway. Scared to fight any demon slayers. She was bound to die anyway with that mindset." "It was my job to protect her though... and I failed. I am a failure."

"I don't ever want to hear those words come out of your mouth again." He sternly says causing my eyes to widen and my heart to stop beating. He was mad, I just knew it. I look back down at the ground. "I'm sorry M-" "You are not a failure."

"I'm sorry?" Now I was confused.

"Stop saying you're sorry. There is no reason to be sorry."

I felt his hand on my chin, forcing me to look into his ruby eyes.

"Now, tell me why you think you are failure."

I took a shaky breath, "When I was a human... they always called me a failure." Muzan's eyes furrowed, "who?" "My parents.... if I did one thing wrong, I would get severely beaten." I let out a bitter laugh as I remembered a memory.

"I remember one time I was cleaning the kitchen and I forgot to clean out the ashes in the oven. When my dad came home, he was so furious. He took me outside, along with the ashes, and dumped them on me. After that he smacked me in the face. He called me a worthless failure... just because I forgot to take out the ashes. There was another time that I tripped in the house, and my mother got so mad for no reason. She kicked me repeatedly until my ribs broke and locked me in room. She said something along the lines that I was an embarrassment."

I was suddenly pulled into an embrace. My eyes widen when I realized that I was in Muzan's arms. He was hugging me...

"What-" "You are not a failure."

I stopped talking, not wanting to anger him. It felt strange though. I never seen Muzan give affection to anyone. Why was this any different?

It felt nice though... Hands being used to give affection instead of harm. Strange, but nice.

I slowly wrapped my arms around him, leaning my head into his chest. In response, he hugged me tighter, but not too tight.

"You are very dear to (y/n), do you understand?" I just nod my head. "Good." He whispers still holding me in his embrace. I don't know how long this will last, but I will enjoy every second of it.

"What happened to your parents?" He asks out of nowhere. "Oh... I ate them. They were my first meal after you turned me." I felt Muzan smile slightly, "good."

#demon slayer #muzan kibutsuji #kny muzan #muzan x reader #oneshot #demon slayer muzan #demons

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magicamicitia · 1 month

Text

Volume Two, Chapter 2

“We can’t die.”

Twilight nearly lost her balance for a moment.

Staring down at the cold hardwood floor of the gym, she looked into Fluttershy’s eyes.

But they didn’t look back.

Rainbow Dash was hunched over the body, aggressively shaking Fluttershy while screaming at her to wake up. Applejack was trying to hold her back, but to no avail. Pinkie Pie was frozen in shock, covering her mouth with her hands trying to not throw up. Rarity was on her phone, probably calling an ambulance? Twilight couldn’t tell. Her ears rang, drowning out the sounds of panic around her.

For a second, a terrible thought consumed her mind.

Had the fake witch she’d summoned done this?

Then, she remembered she never even conjured the witch in the first place.

She had so many questions.

“How… What happened?” Was all she could muster out through her shaky lips.

“We don’t know,” said Applejack. “She just suddenly gave out an’ fainted.”

She looked a little more than fainted.

“Kyubey.” Twilight suddenly remembered.

The other girls looked up at her.

“Where’s… Kyubey?”

He had to fix that. He had to fix that somehow. He just had to.

Didn’t he?

“I’m right here.” A high pitched voice emerged from behind the potted plastic plants. “You know, I knew this wouldn’t end well.”

Rainbow Dash raised her head at him, there were tears streaming down her face now.

“What do you mean? What do you know?” Twilight had never seen her sobbing like this before. “What did you do to Fluttershy? Fix her!”

“I’m not the one who has Fluttershy right now.” The little creature shook his head. “Maybe you should ask Sunset Shimmer for help.”

“Sunset…?” Applejack began,but before she could finish her train of thought, Rainbow Dash was screaming again.

“That girl…! She did this?! How?!”

Something clicked in Twilight’s brain.

“Soul gem.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash turned to her.

Twilight placed her shaking hand on top of the gemstone hairpin, as if trying to feel for something.

“Soul… gem.”

Kyubey shook his head in disapproval.

“Looks like you figured it out, Twilight Sparkle. I tried to tell you this was a bad idea, you know?”

Rainbow’s eyes were filled with something between confusion and wrath.

“You…”

She carefully dropped Fluttershy on the ground, and stomped towards Twilight.

“You were working with her, weren’t you? You did this! You little-!”

Applejack held Rainbow Dash back from grabbing Twilight by the neck.

“Calm down, Rainbow. Twilight wouldn’t do somethin’ like this. I don’t reckon she can. Right, Twilight?”

The guilt in her face must’ve been obvious.

“Oh brother.” Was all Applejack said.

At that moment, footsteps were heard coming from the hallway.

No.

Please, no.

Had it been five minutes already?

Out of all the times…

Please, not now.

The door burst open, and Sunset Shimmer appeared, holding Fluttershy’s soul gem.

“Twilight, I’m sorry, but I can’t- GW-OCK!” She choked on her own words seeing the corpse on the floor. Her face was almost blue with disgust.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes laid on the gem on Sunset’s hand.

“Give it back…” She pushed Twilight away.

“Give it BACK!!!” Rainbow was bolting towards Sunset now.

All she could say in response was a “Hah-!” before she was being choked onto the wall.

“Did you do this to Fluttershy?! I should’ve known! Give it back to her before I mush your face so hard you start looking like a dried peach!”

“Wait… I can…. Explain…! Twilight!” She cried out.

“Twilight?” Applejack looked at her with worried eyes. “You’ve gotta explain what’s goin’ on!”

Twilight was sitting on the cold ground, breathing heavily. She could feel her heart accelerating by the second.

Sunset’s gasping for air brought her back to the harsh reality.

She stood up, wobbling, and raised a finger in Rainbow’s direction.

Bang.

A beam of magic shot out of her hands, and landed straight through Rainbow Dash’s head. The girl fell over on the floor, releasing Sunset.

“What in tarnation are you doin’?!”

“She’ll be fine.” Twilight coldly interrupted.

“Fine?! You blew her brains out!! What the heck is wrong with you?!”

Twilight walked over towards Sunset.

“Gem.” She reached out a hand.

Sunset placed the soul gem on Twilight’s palm. There was blood all over her face now.

She turned back around, this time looking at Kyubey.

She stared into his eyes for a while, and he stared back.

“Fix Rainbow.” She ordered. “Or do you need her soul gem to do that, too?”

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at the white creature. But he didn’t waver, his glance dead set on Twilight.

There were a few moments of silence before kyubey leaped towards Rainbow Dash’s body on the ground. He lightly pressed the ring on her finger, and suddenly, she gasped.

“What the…” Rainbow quickly got up and looked around confused, as if she had just registered the attack against her.

“How’d you know?” Kyubey asked.

“I took a gamble.” Twilight responded.

She walked over to Fluttershy, still lying on the floor, and carefully placed the muddy soul gem on her limp palm.

It started glowing again as soon as it made contact with the girl’s skin, and she inhaled quickly like she had just broken out of a trance.

“Fluttershy!” the others exclaimed.

“Wha… Where am I? Where’s the witch?”

“Yes, Twilight.” Rarity inquired. “Where is the witch?”

“And what on Earth did you two do to Fluttershy?!” Applejack added.

Twilight sighed, gathering her energy.

“I’m sorry, everyone. There really was no witch all along. I guess I was mistaken.” she eyed to her side as she said that, like looking into her friends’ eyes was unbearable at that moment. “As for Fluttershy…”

Kyubey flinched, as if he knew what Twilight would say next.

“Why don’t you explain it to us, Kyubey? I’m also a bit confused.”

“Kyubey? What’s he got to do with this?” Pinkie asked.

As the girls all stared down at him, the little white fairy simply shook his head in disappointment, and after a long sigh, began to talk.

“You know, most of the time, when it comes to this conversation, things never end well. It’s ideal if you never even have to find out about this in the first place, but now that we’re here…”

“The soul gems.” Twilight interrupted “What are they?”

“I’ll get to it, you know.” Kyubey said in a disapproving tone. “You see, humans are very fragile beings. Even with a most minor injury, they become easily incapacitated in combat. When a magical girl makes a contract, we do you the kind favor of placing your souls in this compact and handy form known by you all as ‘soul gems’.”

“You WHAT?” Rainbow yelled.

“See, that’s the reaction you usually have when we tell you this.” He continued. “I honestly don’t get it. Did you really expect to fight witches and win while carrying so many weak spots? Isn’t it much easier to only protect one spot of your body? Frankly, it’s an almost flawless system. The only downside is that you can’t separate yourselves from your bodies for a distance of 100 meters.”

“S…Separate…?” Fluttershy placed her hand over her soul gem, holding it close to her chest.

“I knew it. Just like I thought…” Twilight adjusted her glasses. “As long as our soul gems are intact, I guess we can’t die.”

#magicamicitia #mlpmagicami #mlp au #pmmm au

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oblonger · 1 month

Text

Buh-Body swap AU anyone?

Based on @sincerely-sofie 's post

Next [>]

[X] Start

Kip prepares for his final battle

Kip had entered into Dark Crater with every intention of either defeating Darkrai, or die trying.

The eerie silence that echoed through the dungeon, and the heavy atmosphere that got worse with every step had Kip terrified of the foe he was about to face.

But each floor of the dungeon made way for his terror to slowly be replaced with fear, which slowly took a turn to confusion.

The hallways and rooms were completely devoid of the monsters that Cresselia had described there being. Not once was there any monster house or summoning trap that actually brought any monsters to them.

"Darkrai really wanted to kill us, so why is he just letting us walk around in here freely?"

Kip, Cresselia and Twig entered into the final corridor.

Cresselia spoke.

"I can feel his presence just up ahead."

Kip turned back to look at Twig, who had insisted that he travel in front of her.

Kip wanted to ask if she was ready, but she looked pale and was sweating bullets. She was huffing as though she just ran a marathon, and her legs were shaking so bad she had to hold onto a stalagmite to support her weight.

Kip instead asked if she was okay.

Twig stammered, her voice sounded a bit deeper than yesterday.

"I'm... Fine."

Kip's brow creased and he stepped towards her, an action that she responded to by taking a shaky step back.

"Are you sure? You look sick."

Kip noticed the way she took in a sharp breath. He saw the way she tightened her grip on the rock, leaving scratch marks on it. He saw her tail flame flicker a deep purple for half a second.

"Yes."

It bothered Kip at how she'd been trying to say as little as possible throughout today.

He began again to ask another question before Cresselia interrupted.

"Darkrai is approaching!"

Twig flinched upon hearing that.

Kip spun around and ran to Cresselia's side.

If Twig was too sick to defend herself, then he will protect her.

Several seconds passed. Kip could feel a drop of sweat run down his face.

This was it. This may very well be the day Kip dies.

At least he got to spend it with Twig, despite how weird she was acting.

Darkrai rapidly passed by the corner into the short hallway that the two stood at the entrance of.

Both Kip and Cresselia flinched when Darkrai seemed to... Slip on ice? That wasn't what happened, but it was the only way to accurately describe the sight of Darkrai flailing his arms about, trying slow himself down before slamming face-first into the wall, and landing on his back.

Kip heard Twig give a low growl upon seeing him.

Darkrai rubbed his face and shook his head before sitting up straight. Muttering some curse word that Kip didn't understand, but felt very familiar.

Darkrai turned his head to look down the hallway and his eyes widened.

Darkrai shouted "OH THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE!" In a voice that sounded exactly like Twig's.

Kip didnt recall Cresselia saying anything about Darkrai being able to change his voice outside of dreams that he was in.

Darkrai floated his way back up and towards them while pointing past Kip and Cresselia.

"I DUNNO WHAT HAPPENED BUT THAT'S NOT ME- THAT'S DARKRAI. HE MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO SWAP OUR BODIES OR SOME JUNK!"

Kip's mouth hung open. Was this another trick? It doesn't sound like it. Darkrai wasnt talking at all like he used to...

Kip looked at Twig, or maybe Darkrai, behind him. "That's not true, right?"

"Of course not." Twig quickly responded. "He's hoping to deceive y-, Confound- er-" Twig muttered something that Kip couldn't quite make out. "This is certainly a trap... ah, 'dude'."

Kip wanted to believe her, but the wierd way she's been acting had him almost convinced that Darkrai was actually Twig.

Kip steeled his expression. "Alright. well if what you said is true and you really are Twig instead of Darkrai, then tell me what-"

The real Twig, in Darkrai's body, shouted. Interrupting Kip.

"THE CODE WORD'S 'DESPACITO'!"

Kip fully turned his back towards Twig to face Darkrai.

"Yep, That's Twig. I've got this one guys!"

Both Darkrai and Cresselia shouted something in disbelief at the same time as Kip charged towards Darkrai.

To say what happened next was a fight would have been an extremely generous description.

Darkrai weakly swung his free claw at Kip, which he easily sidestepped. Kip wrapped his front legs around Darkrai's waist and lifted him over his head, before swinging him down onto the ground behind him, and crashing Darkrai's face into the rock floor. Sending his limp body rolling across the ground before settling face down. All the while Twig cheered for Kip.

Kip couldnt help but puff out his chest in pride at successfully using that wrestling move he'd wanted to use for years after Twig described it to him.

Several moments passed as the atmosphere of the room slowly drained from an electric elation, to reluctant confusion.

Kip broke the silence. "Now what?" He asked.

Cresselia tapped a finger on her chin. "I... I dont know.... I've never heard of something like this happening before."

Darkrai gave a low growl.

"I suppose we don't have anything to worry about, now that Darkrai is in a body with none of his powers."

Darkrai moved his head to rest on it's side so he could glare at Twig and Cresselia. If looks could kill, then Cresselia and Twig would have died on the spot.

"Why don't you just kill me." His voice, shaking with wrath.

Twig hummed. "That's an option."

Kip wanted to agree. But hearing Darkrai say that, and comparing to how Darkrai often spoke in a way that made him sound invincible...

It sounded like he felt completely defeated.

Cresselia's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, that would be the best course of action." The rings on her started to glow a bit as Darkrai moved his head to have his face on the ground again.

Kip shouted. "Wait!"

Cresselia and Twig looked taken aback as Kip searched for something to say.

"Why... why don't we let him live?"

Twig looked at him with confusion while Cresselia looked offended.

"You want him to live? After everything he's done to you and the people you care for. After he tried and almost succeeded in bringing the world to its end? You believe he is capable of redemption or deserving of mercy?"

Kip noticed the way that Darkrai's fist clenched upon hearing those last words.

He didn't. He well and truly didn't. He wanted so badly for Darkrai to be killed and guarantee that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone ever again.

But seeing him on the ground like this, looking... Pathetic...

Kip wished he didn't, but he felt bad for him.

"Well... Don't you want your body back Twig?"

Twig stared at Kip for several seconds before her eyes quickly shifted to Darkrai's tail flame and then back to Kip. She remained silent.

"What do you believe will happen if Twig receives her body again?"

Kip flinched. He knew exactly what she meant. If they switched bodies again, it would be a death sentence. For everyone.

"It would be in your best interest." Darkrai growled, muffled from the ground.

Kip felt a small lump in his throat.

Why did he feel bad for him!?

Kip replied with the only argument he could think of. "But we dont know if they will switch bodies again."

Cresselia narrowed her eyes. "It has happened once, there is no reason to believe it wont happen again."

Kip was grasping at straws to figure out anything he could say.

"How do we know that it will happen again?"

"We don't know if it won't!" Cresselia snapped.

Kip could feel sweat forming on his head. "He can't hurt anyone right now though!"

"That could change!"

Kip was running through everything he could think of to try and rebut her argument.

"Don't you think he at least should get the shot at a second chance?"

He didn't know where it came from. He didn't think he believed what he said.

At least, until he thought he heard Darkrai's breath quietly catch on itself.

"You're insistence on allowing a chance at redemption is admirable, but this is an exception! He is truly evil and deserves nothing more than death!" Cresselia looked upset before, but now she looked downright furious.

Kip swears he heard darkrai whisper something about how she's right.

He and Cresselia argued in circles for nearly an hour.

After about the 6th time that Kip emphasized that they dont know if they'll switch bodies again, Cresselia gave an exasperated sigh, while pinching the space between her eyes.

"Fine. I will allow Darkrai to live. On one condition."

Kip could feel dread building up within him.

"If you believe they are about to return to their original bodies," Cresselia looked up at him. He swore she would burst a blood vessel at any moment. "You are to kill Twig by your hands."

Twig practically lept back away from her in shock. Kip's blood ran cold.

Both he and Twig shouted the same thing. "What!?"

Cresselia glared at him. Not even reacting to Twig's shock. "If we kill Darkrai while he is in Twig's body, we have no way of knowing if his soul will return to his own or not."

Kip could feel his body shaking.

"That is the only way to guarantee that Darkrai will not be able to return."

Kip stared at the ground. Everything was spinning. When remembering the crippling loneliness he felt when Twig was erased from time...

And to be the reason that she dies...

Kip couldn't even imagine that. He felt like he might throw up, just thinking about how the best person he'd ever met would be the one he'd have to kill.

Cresselia waited for him to respond before huffing.

"If you are incapable of swearing to this action then I will end this." She slowly started to approach Darkrai while preparing an attack.

Kip couldn't do anything but watch as she approached him. He wanted to stop her, he wanted to say something, but every time he tried he felt like the only thing that would come out would be vomit.

Suddenly, Twig flinched and her eyes widened, looking more angry than when she had first approached them.

"WAIT A SECOND, YOU HYPOCRITE!!!" Twig's voice boomed and echoed through the cave as Cresselia spun around to face her. "How dare you speak of me-!"

"NO, HOW DARE YOU!" Twig shouted over Cresselia. "YOU JUST SAID THAT YOU DIDNT THINK KILLING HIM WHILE HE'S IN MY BODY WOULD WORK!"

Cresselia looked red with anger. "I am a legend! That-"

"WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THAT MAKE!?" Kip doesn't think he'd seen her this angry since after her fight with Grovyle.

"YOU CAN'T JUST SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO KIP AND THEN ACT LIKE YOU'RE SOMEHOW ABOVE YOUR OWN WORDS!!!"

Cresselia looked like how Darkrai had glared at them earlier.

"You know then that what I say is true!"

Twig somehow looked angrier than Cresselia.

"YEAH, SURE, FINE! I SWEAR OR WHATEVER!"

Cresselia swiftly plucked one of the feathers from her neck and shoved it onto Twig's chest.

"Then leave and know that if Darkrai returns, it will be your fault alone!"

Twig grabbed the feather while swatting away Cresselia's hand. "GLADLY!"

Twig made haste over to where Kip was and shoved the feather into the satchel he wore. Before rummaging around and pulling out an escape orb. Twig grabbed Darkrai's limp body and slung him over her shoulder. Twig reached her free hand towards Kip and he, reluctantly, put his hand in it. Twig didn't say anything as she activated the escape orb in her other hand. In a bright flash of yellow light, Her, Kip and Darkrai were outside the entrance to Dark Crater.

~~~

The journey back home took a few days and the entire time was spent in agonizing silence. Aside from Twig, still clearly irate, telling Kip that she didn't feel sleepy at any point during the few nights. And the talk Kip had to the ferryman about their destination and payment.

At no point did Darkrai ever bother trying to walk on his own, or make conversation.

~~~

Kip was very glad that they returned home at night. Having to explain that the guy who tortured and traumatized everyone in town was actually Twig now, was a conversation that Kip would rather die than navigate through.

Twig dropped Darkrai onto a bed with a complete lack of care. Darkrai grunting as he landed on it, before slowly curling up. Twig moved over to sit on the settee. Deeply sighing in frustration while she sat down.

Kip started emptying his satchel of the things they had. A bunch of baubles and orbs that they never needed to use, a couple of TM's, and the feather Cresselia had given them. Twig's eyes narrowed with disgust as she stared at the feather.

Kip looked at her. "Are you alright Twig?"

Twig stared at the feather before sighing and resting the side of her head on the arm she has propped up on the armrest.

"Peachy." She growled.

Okay. So she's not alright at all.

"I just." Twig continued. "I had no idea that Cresselia could be such a..." Twig expression shifted angrily for a few seconds before she spat out a word in English that Kip didn't recognize.

"So you acknowledge that she isn't who she presents herself as?" Darkrai muttered, not moving his body an inch.

Twig shot a glare at him before rolling her eyes and looking out over the ocean. "Oh yeah, like YOU would know anything about that."

Kip noticed the way Darkrai's entire body tensed up when she said that.

Kip sighed as he continued sorting through the stuff. Twig watched him.

"Why did she even give us a feather anyway?"

Darkrai rubbed his face. Still clearly trying to get used to falling asleep.

"It's a lunar feather." He grumbled. "If you wish to not give anyone nightmares, keep it nearby."

Twig raised an eyebrow. "Wait, so can you or can you not control it!?"

Darkrai growled a bit "Discard it and discover for yourself."

Twig threw her head back while swinging her hand around in the air. "Great! Cool! Awesome! Just another thing I have to worry about! Swell!"

Kip wanted to say something to help. But he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't just worsen Twig's mood.

Twig rose from the couch she sat on. Shooting her arms out to balance herself when she did so faster than she anticipated.

"I'm going on a walk. I'll stay off the main paths."

Kip watched her in painful silence as she ascended above the steps, and the heavy feeling in the air gradually disappeared.

Kip sighed as he finished putting away his things and layed down on his bed. Facing away from Darkrai.

Several minutes passed while Kip was trying to figure out why he felt like scum.

"Why did you defend me." Darkrai suddenly spoke, more like a demand than a question.

Kip thought for several seconds before just admitting that he didn't know.

Darkrai scoffed.

"Rest assured Mudkip, your efforts will be in vain. The moment I return to my body, I will kill you both and accomplish my designs."

Kip didn't respond.

After a long time, Kip could hear Darkrai's soft snoring behind him.

Tears silently ran down Kip's face as he fell asleep. Wondering how badly he just screwed everything up.

#fanfic of a fanfic #the present is a gift au #pmd eos #pmd #writing #This is written going off the assumption that Cresselia figures out just how badly she hurt Darkrai after their battle #so she'd still act like a wet sock towards him and people that sympathize with him #Body Swap AU #heavily considering continuing this one in some way.

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cryptiqish · 6 months

Text

some quick thoughts on nerdy prudes must die

first off - this is 100% a return to form for starkid for me. tgwdlm was like. lighting in a bottle but i really, really am not a fan of black friday - so i dipped after that, and never really looked into nightmare time etc. as i'm not super into the hatchetfield eldritch lore stuff - honestly, i figured i was aging out of it. THAT SAID. holy shit. npmd is brilliant

every single goddamn song is a banger. every one. it's so rare for me to like everything at least to a little bit, but when i can interchange my entire top 5 you know it's brilliant. high school is killing me, nerdy prudes must die, dirty girl, hatchet town...all top tier starkid in general. up there w tgwdlm

angela giarratana and will branner steal this entire show. absolutely insane stuff from both of them. will in particular...oh man. it's his show and you just KNOW it

oh shit!!! oh fuck!!!! i didnt think thered be a skele'uhn here... im so fucking scared of skele'uhnz!!!

it's FUNNY

i <3 the weird anime nerd kid. rip king

jon's vocals and just. general range in this is amazing to see from tgwdlm

i will say i wish this maintained the more straight slasher vibe of the first act all the way through but that’s just personal preference since i'm less into the overarching eldritch lore stuff as mentioned. with that in mind though, i didn't find the lords in black stuff as jarring as i thought i would (and the summoning's a banger) - so it works narratively. i think at the end of the day i prefer my standalone shows - not everything needs to be an extended universe - so i was pleasantly surprised at how relatively well this could function as its own thing.

following that - i think this is the closest starkid's gotten to like, off-broadway quality - with plot modifications i could 100% see it making the jump. the production quality - of both the musical itself and the proshot, is amazing - everything pops, it's incredibly polished and just looks brilliant (again, such a step up from BF.)

shoutout to the costume design in particular. top tier work again. ghost max looked crazy good.

for something that in actuality didn't get a lot of focus...can’t stop thinking about how the whole max jagerman grace chastity dynamic is like the absolute HARDEST thing to randomly come out of starkid. the implicit themes had absolutely no right to go that hard!!!! it’s a silly horror comedy!

devout repressed christian and a boy that thinks he’s god. and then she deals with the first sign of sexual attraction to him by killing him??

and then his ghost comes back for vengeance, viewing it as divine justice - and then she ends the musical enacting her own vengeful divine justice?? straight up with modified reprise of his song?? they’re one and the same?? the prayer motif???

“will you pray for me / when i’m gone / or is this the eternal dark without a dawn” and “who will pray for you / when your body’s gone” is like the rawest motif of all time and it’s in the same musical that has an ten minute long barbecue joke sequence unrelated to the plot

nothing sexier than the motif of killing god and god killing you, in general. i do think i loved this one because it played with a lot of my fave tropes and themes of horror - high school slasher, archetypes, coming back wrong, religion, all that

"the big game" kept cracking me up it's so dumb and yet

anyway this whole thing just felt like we've unlocked...i dunno, a new level of starkid?? i was blown away and i'm sure for those more invested in hatchetfield beyond tgwdlm it hit even more, but it's left me so excited to see what's next from them for the first time in years.

#team starkid #nerdy prudes must die #npmd #starkid #NO REASON THE GRACE AND MAX THING HAD TO GO THAT HARD. FOR WHAT REASON. fuck i would have loved if that got a bigger focus #i wasn't as invested in steph/pete i think because of it - they were very cute but the batshit insanity of those two offstage was compellin

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yumizcorner · 10 months

Note

(Bangchan ) Teachers pet part 3?!🫣😪

Teachers pet~ pt.3

BangChan x reader

A/n: sorry again for not posting but I didn’t had any motivation. Sorry to Shelly my love for not responding to your request for so long. I hope y’all like it so enjoy :)

Y/n and her friend were sitting a restaurant,eating their sushi and talking. They celebrated the start of the summer break with a bit of soju and gossip.

„So…what’s going on between you and mr. Bang now?“ her friend asked her. Y/n told her friend about her relation to Chan since she knew she could trust her. „I don’t really know…the last time that we had sex is months ago and I quickly left his flat when I woke up since he wasn’t there anyway. I can’t really remember but I think we almost confessed to each other“ she says and sips some soju. „You didn’t talk to him since that? Y/n you have to make things clear“ her friend says and shakes her head. „Why would I,Sooyun? We couldn’t be a couple anyway since he’s still teaching me“ she says and sighs. „It’s our last year. You guys could keep it secret until you graduate or something,don’t you watch any tv shows?“ she says with a soft laughter.

Y/n also laughs but that quickly Fades as she sees Chan enter the restaurant. She quickly ditches her head down. „What the fuck,Sooyun. You fucked summoned him“ she says while her friend Sooyun looks around confused. „Huh? What do you mean?“ she says,squinting her eyes. „Oh there’s mr. Bang,he’s coming our way“ y/n‘s eyes widen. „What? No!“ Y/n quickly sits up straight to not make it more akward then it already would be.

„Hey there ladies“ he says as he arrives at their table. „Hey Mr.Bang“ Sooyun says and y/n smiles,nodding softly as a greeting. „What are you doing here?“ sooyun asks,knowing that y/n wanted to know it but never would’ve asked. „I‘m just grabbing some food for me and my friends“ It’s a bit of an akward silence as no one talked anymore. „uhm…could we maybe talk about something for a second?“ Chan says,looking at y/n. „Uh sure“ she says and gets up,glaring at Sooyun who winked at her teasingly.

„I think there are some things we should talk about“ He says in a serious tone as they leave the restaurant,standing next to his car. Y/n mentally prepared herself to get dumped as she nods softly. „Can we sit in my car,I don’t want anyone to see or hear us“ she nods and sits into his car. „So…last time we…had something“ he starts but quickly sighs. „Y/n,I think I caught feelings for you and I know that shouldn’t have happened but I just couldn’t help it“ he says and looks at her. Y/n‘s eyes are wide and she stares at him,blinking. „God please say something“ Chan says,looking at her.

„I…feel the same“ she says in a soft voice. „Really?“ Chan asks as his face lights up. Y/n nods which made him grab her face and kiss her passionately. Y/n was a Little shocked for a moment but she quickly returned the kiss. Their kiss started to turn into a make out session and they ended up,making out messily. It was obvious that both of them were needy so Chan pulled away and pulled his seat back,singing Y/n to get on his lap.

„But your friends-“ she says as he wanted to buy food for his friends. „They won’t die if they don’t get their food in a second“ he says and lifts her up on his lap. „But I’ll die if I can’t have you now.“ he says and smirks,kissing her again. She returns the kisses,not being able to not softly grind her hips against his lap and crotch. „sooyun is-“ Chan cuts her off with another kiss. „Stop talking about your friends when I want to fuck you,y/n“ he says and kisses her again. „She‘s waiting“ Y/n says as she breaks the kiss again. „Your friend is smart,I think she knew what would happen“ chan says before he slips his hands under her skirt and caresses her ass. Y/n knew she couldn’t resist him anyway so she just gave in and kept on grinding him.

Even a blind person would be able to see how desperate Chan was in that moment.

Y/n was now sitting on his thigh with her back leaning against his chest. His left hand was touching her breasts while his other hand was in her panties,rubbing her clit. She was moaning and whimpering under his touch while Chan‘s bulge poked her back. He was on his way to insert a finger into her,to prepare her,as she stops him. „Don’t. I don’t need it please just fuck me Chris“ she says desperately and turns around to face him while she‘s still on top of him. Chan chuckled as she opened his pants and pushed his underwear down,making his throbbing hard dick spring free.

She managed to place herself above his cock,holding onto his shoulders as she slowly lowers herself on him. Chan hisses as she does so,gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut. „god I missed that feeling so much“ Chan says and lays his hands onto her hips.

After a few minutes,y/n managed to sit on his full cock,being filled to the brim. „I‘m proud of you,baby. I didnt expect you to take me that well after all that time“ y/n smiles proudly as he suddenly spanks her ass,making her moan. „Did you have someone else? Did you allow someone else to touch you?“ he asked,spanking her again. Y/n shakes her head before she leans down to his ear. „I‘m yours but I couldn’t help touching myself from time to time.“ she whispers into his ear while she starts moving on his cock,moaning softly into his ear.

Chan quickly lost control over himself and started to fuck himself up into her pussy while she kept on riding him. They were both moaning loudly while y/n‘s head was buried in Chan‘s neck and his hands gripping her ass tightly. „Fuck you feel so good“ Chan breathes out,making y/n clench. „Did you think of me while you touched yourself? Did you imagine me ruining you?“ he whispered,making her whine and clench more. Y/n can only manage to nod as her whole body feels overwhelmed in a good way by all the sensations she felt.

„You wouldn’t let anyone else fuck that pretty little pussy of yours,would you? Hm,you little slut?“ he asks,picking up his pace and fucking her even harder. „No Channie~ It’s yours“ she moans out,her back arching as she moves faster as well. „Fuck~ I could fuck you forever“ he says,his head throwing back as he speeds up even more.

„Chris- I’m-I’m close“ Y/n whimpers out,being a moaning mess. Chan smirks and reaches down to rub her clit which made her squirm and cum after a few seconds. „Mhh such a good girl~ fuck y/n“ he said as he kept on fucking her and rubbing her while she was whimpering,getting overstimulated by him. „I can’t get enough of your tight hole squishing me“ he says and fucks her rough and hard once more before he cums inside of her. Y/n whimpers as she feels his hot cum inside her. „I missed that feeling“ she whispers while she breathes heavily just like Chan,both of them catching their breath.

Y/n wants to get off of him but Chan stops her. „Wait“ he says and tries to reach for something that’s behind him. When he finally reached it he had some wet wipes in his hands. He carefully placed her on the seat next to him,making sure her head doesn’t hit the roof of his car and started to clean her up. Y/n was whimpering a bit,being still sensitive but Chan caressed her hair lovingly and then kissed her forehead,helping her to get her clothes back on before putting his own on again.

Y/n then called her friend,Sooyun,wanting to tell her that she will be going home. „Sooyun? are you still in the restaurant?“ she asked softly. „why?“ sooyun asks back,knowing the answer but still wanting to hear it. „if you’re still in there then Chan can drive you home as well.“ Sooyun laughs at y/n‘s answer. „Did you really expect me to drive home with you two after you had sex….in the car I’m supposed to sit in.“ she says before she puts on a sweet voice. „I‘m already home so don’t worry,okay? Get some rest and call me up tomorrow and tell me everything……well maybe not everything but the things that are necessary.“ she said and said goodbye to Y/n before hanging up.

Chan drove y/n home and made sure she was in bed as she arrived there before he drove home himself. Y/n fell asleep with a smile that day,being happy that she can finally be sure about Chan‘s feelings towards her.

pls support by reposting/liking/following/commenting if you like my post!

(not proofread)

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tonkatsubowl · 9 months

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intruder alert.

yandere!blade x trailblazer!fem!reader nsfw themes (violence, a bit of non-consensual stuff? kidnapping). read at your own risk. things that a crazy blood killin' yandere would do to u... like stalking...terrible things yknow english isn’t my first language, so please don’t mind the grammatical errors. (っ◞‸◟ c)

⪩ our beloved trailblazer was being tailed by blade all this time. but did anyone really know? naw. not until something or...well, someone broke into her room that very night.

TERM DIRECTORY ◖y/n: your name ◖e/c: eye color ◖h/c: hair color

there were many things that he admired you for.

your strength, your capability to save (and destroy) worlds...and that stellaron that dwells inside of you.

and that beautiful face of yours. how perfect you are. how you had the ability to kill him. to slay him. to end him. to rip and tear him into pieces and to never spare a single piece of flesh from him.

...but you didn't―and you wouldn't do that, for you were a hero across the entirety of the multiverse.

strangely enough, you've been having nightmares every night. but who would be surprised? how many people have you killed up to his point to save a world? how many people have you failed to save? how many people have you witnessed die before you? it would be no surprise that you would be haunted by the nightmares. the sins that you bear upon your shoulders can be too much for you to handle at night―especially when there was an unwanted visitor just waiting right outside of your door as you struggled to fall asleep.

...but you were capable of fighting. and a capable fighter knew of their surroundings. summoning your weapon, you pointed the tip of your weapon at the tip of the door, your hostile voice greeting the darkness,

"who's there? show yourself."

...

or were you just too tired?

yeah, you were definitely too tired. your weapon dematerialized into colored spectacles, letting you fall back to your bed in exhaustion. god, you haven't been sleeping too well, you haven't been doing too well at night either. you should talk to himeko and see if the crew could manage some sort of sleeping aid for you.

with a deep sigh, you rub your eyes, and the feeling of another presence goes away after you realize it was just a phony.

getting up, you let out another sigh, escorting yourself to the bathroom. placing both of your hands under the running water, you decided to wash your face. you were debating whether or not you should go out and grab a small snack from the express' kitchen or the vending machine that pom-pom recently installed, but... no, you decide you will.

exiting out of the comfort of your room, you make your way towards the commissary. as you opened the door to it, you felt a cold, unfamiliar hand cover your mouth, forcing you to against a wall. you yelp, shutting your eyes tight as you felt your back collide against the material behind you.

opening your eyes, you lightly gasp behind your assaulter's hand, witnessing the familiar gaze of demonic golds. blade. those strange, deadly pupils of his...murderous and lustful for blood. you recognized them anywhere.

"mmh―!?" you lifted a leg violently as an attempt to kick him away, but due to blade's trained reflexes, you failed a protecting yourself. instead, he used his body to pin you against the wall behind you. removing his hand from your mouth, he squeezed each side of your cheek, forcing you to look at him.

"you haven't been sleeping well enough, doll. and it shows," blade purrs, eyeing at you carefully.

how the hell did he get onto the express? how did he come here undetected? you needed to get away asap, but you couldn't. not with the most dangerous man practically holding you up close to him.

despite your situation, you could smell his well-scented cologne. he smelled...amazing. his scent, the warmth that protruded from his chest as he pinned you against the wall. you felt your heart flutter, but you forced yourself to think. think straight. think right!

attempting to summon your weapon in one of your hands, you failed terribly when blade had violently grabbed your wrist, literally slamming it back against the wall. now, you were completely vulnerable at his hand. you were completely his.

glaring at him, you were unable to say anything, but you wanted to say so many things.

'why are you here?'

'how did you get here?'

and other questions that could be common in a situation like this.

but blade read you―and he read you well.

"don't worry about how i got here, doll," blade murmured, forcing you up a bit by lifting your chin up even further, pressing your lips against his. a rough, fiery passionate session of you both exchanging kisses. or well, him practically forcing himself onto you...

"you should worry about getting your rest tonight. and i'll be sure you get some shut eye. the others can look for you as long as they want―because you are mine, y/n."

"―?"

that was when your world went black, and you felt cold.

your body fell limp against blade's as he knocked you out cold, unconscious into the spiderlily's grasp. he watched as you fell, and he held you so close...so close to himself. you were a precious treasure to him, and the express tried to take you away from him.

and now, finally...the both of you were finally reunited.

through the silence of the starry-lit universe, he took you away, leaving others to wake up the next morning to your disppearance.

soon, the express would release an emergency search party for you. dan heng, march, pom-pom, welt, and himeko would panic, trying to look for you. but you left no traces of nothing. no evidence of trying to find you.

but that didn't matter, did it? he hunted you down across multiple worlds and universes and finally...

...you were finally his. rightfully so.

#honkai star rail #blade #hsr blade #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail blade

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swanmaids · 10 months

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original character-focussed fic recs

One of the best feelings for me as a fic writer in this fandom is when somebody tells me that they liked one of my original characters. Character creation can be hard work and nerve-wracking, so it’s really rewarding whenever people tell me that it’s paid off. This fandom has a wealth of fantastic, memorable original characters, so I wanted to make a recommendation list of some of my favourite fics that feature them. The fics in this list are a range of lengths, ratings, warnings, and themes, and I’m hoping everyone will be able to find something to their taste here.

Of course this list is not exhaustive, and I’m always open to more recommendations!

All the splendour they could bear by asterisq; t, 1k, cntw.

The Ar-Pharazôn (& Sauron) regime commissions art for the temple. The artist tries to survive the assignment.

Bitter Heart, Bitter Heart by thegreatpumpkin; f!Galathil/OFC, t, 20k, nawa.

She had loved her brother better once. She had loved them all better once; but too many times she had swallowed bitterness, and now her heart was all sown with ashes and salt. Noble Celeborn, wise Celeborn, shining in his place beside the king! Galathil was reminded at every turn of the ways in which she did not measure up.

The Bread Maker’s Lament by havisham; Morwen & OFC, t, 1k, nawa.

A young woman, living in First Age Hithlum, grapples with grief and loss, and bakes bread.

The Carpenter’s Son by @kareenvorbarra; OFC/OMC, m, 9k, rape/noncon.

An untold story of conquered Dor-lómin, in which an Easterling carpenter has a child by his Hadorian slave.

The Constant Gardner by tehta; OFC & Egalmoth, t, 4k, nawa.

Running Yavanna’s errands in First Age Middle-earth is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

To die in the light by @skyeventide; Maedhros & OFC, m, 6k, violence.

A thrall escapes Angband. This is the journey of what comes after.

Dwell in death’s shadow by @undercat-overdog; Curufin/Wife, g, 3.5k, nawa.

A child eavesdrops on an argument he was never meant to hear.

an ecstatic accident by void and fire by Chestnut_Pod; g, 0.5k, nawa.

Follow the blue roads of Arda.

The Elf Who Circumnavigated Arda in a Ship of Their Own Making by @arofili; OC & OFC, g, 1k, nawa

Three letters home from a Telerin adventurer.

Far Too Many of You Dying by @starspray; OFC & Teleri, t, 1k, cntw.

After the Noldor depart, Alqualondë is left reeling.

Four Winters by @aipilosse; Celegorm & OFC, t, 6k, nawa.

Four winters in the life of Gwíneth, daughter of Urthel. A rescue, a hunt, a fall, and the abyss.

His Hour Had Come by @polutrope; Saeros & OFC, g, 1k, nawa.

Saeros' daughter reflects on the life and actions of her father.

Lost at Sea by starspray, Uinen & OFC, 0.4k, g, nawa.

An Avarin elf accidentally gets lost at sea and gets stuck halfway onto the Straight Road. Uinen helps out.

These Newborn Shores by @kazaera; t, 14k, nawa.

It's the early Second Age and the Host of the Valar have just departed. The disparate refugees now sitting on the new shores of Lindon, tasked with building the fleet of Númenor even as they are still reeling from Beleriand's destruction, must find a way to move forward despite their losses.

Figuring out where to get their clothes from would be a good place to start.

Not by the Hand of Man by Sath, Tar-Miriel/OFC, e, 7k, nawa.

After his chief priestess is assassinated, Sauron summons his most powerful servant, a woman of Far Harad, to Númenor.

on a long road (miles to go) by Solanaceae, g, 5k, cntw.

Andreth in the House of Adanel.

One Who Holds by @slightnettles Elrond & OFC, g, 4k, nawa.

As the War of Wrath and the breaking of Beleriand approach, a woman of the Easterlings meets a young Elrond.

SeaLight by Anerea; g, 0.3k, nawa.

A Telerin Elf's first experience of the waters of Belegaer, at the end of the Great Journey.

A Seduction by The_Wavesinger; Tar-Miriel/OFC, e, 2k, cntw.

Tar-Míriel attempts to take revenge on her husband by seducing his sister.

Si la mar fuera de leche by Chestnut_Pod, Elros/OFC, Elros & OCs, t, 23k, nawa.

Ten years after the Valar pulled Númenor dripping from the sea, Elros receives a visitor.

Starlit Waves by raiyana; Cirdan/OFC, m, 2k, nawa.

“Congratulations, my love, you have made a plank. Yet again.” Dry tones teased his ears softly, the silent footsteps of his beloved Ngilith giving him no warning of her approach.

Talathien by maerzkindt; Haleth & OFCs g, 7k, nawa.

Linnoril, a woman from the group later known as House of Hador, returns to her mother's folk of the Haladin and joins the guard. An exploration of reconnecting, forming new bonds and playing fast and loose with First Age Edain lore.

The Thousand Stories by herenortherenearnorfar; OFC/OFC, t, 19k, mcd.

They're important, the myths people tell about themselves, about their histories. You can learn a lot from a tale or seven.

A Traitor’s Issue by herenortherenearnorfar; OFC & OFC,t, 16k, violence.

Ulfang's daughters(in-law) seek aid in the aftermath. Reckoning with their own grief and choices (or lack thereof) they navigate Angband, the nightmare they grew up with, now the only place they can turn for help.

The “Unmarried” Queen - Deficiencies in Numenorean Scholarship by Sath; Tar-Telperien/OFC, g, 1k, nawa.

Rosie Cotton and Samwise Gamgee's granddaughter, a scholar of short stature and lofty goals, finds an earth-shattering document being used to steady a table leg in Minas Tirith.

Willow-Meads by Narya_Flame; g, 5k, nawa.

a willow-spirit, some places she went, and the people she met.

the wind that shakes the mountain by platinum_firebird; OFC/OFC, t, 2k, nawa.

The tale of Mazlav, daughter of Temolv, chieftain of the Uzba clan; and of how she met her lover and companion-in-arms, Aalta of Ishahú.

With the Stars in the Darkness and the Love in the Light by Zdenka; Haleth/OFC, Haleth/Goldberry, Nellas/Goldberry, t, 3k, nawa.

At Nienor's request, the women of Brethil share stories and songs about Haleth, the river's daughter, and those they loved.

#my post #fic rec #the silm

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topgunreacts · 9 months

Text

Principles of Aviation

An IceMav omegaverse tale

Chapter One Snippet

The call from destiny came on a Tuesday morning. Its arrival was not terribly early, but Maverick had been out bar hopping well into the witching hour, so seven AM might just as well have been half past midnight. Maverick rolled over carefully so as not to disturb the bed’s other occupant, and picked up the phone. He was midway through a groggy greeting when the voice on the other end of the line interrupted him.

“Mitchell,” a man barked. “We’ve found you a match. You’re to report to the Pheromonal Analysis and Pair Bonding Allocation Center in one hour. Bring your rut prescriptions.”

The voice was stern. Mildly annoyed. And quite familiar to Maverick’s ears. Captain Anderson didn’t make a habit of leaving his hoity-toity office to visit TOPGUN’s facilities across the station, but whenever he did, he always made time to hound his least favorite naval aviator regarding said aviator’s unacceptable marital status. Last year, in a moment of deceitful brilliance, Maverick had managed to get the brass off of his back—for good, he’d thought. It was a good story, with a leading lady worthy of the starring role. But the fact that Anderson had summoned Maverick to the fun police directly from home could only mean that the jig was up.

“Yes, sir,” Maverick said.

Click. The line went dead. Groaning, Maverick hung up the phone and rolled back over until he was on his back again, glaring up at the slowly rotating ceiling fan.

“It was nice while it lasted,” said a sleepy, feminine voice to Maverick’s left. The mattress dipped as Charlie turned to her side and propped up her upper body on one elbow. She’d been warning Maverick about this very phone call for months.

“I think we have to see other people,” Maverick said. “They know we’re not going to breed.”

Charlie gave him an affectionate smile. “Maverick, anyone with a functioning nose could tell we’ve never had sex with one another. Did you really think this would work?”

“I hoped it would.”

Charlie gestured towards the phone with her chin. “So, is PAPBAC having you meet another female today?”

“A male,” Maverick corrected.

“Really.” Charlie raised her eyebrows, thought for a moment, and then frowned. “Maverick, you didn’t—”

“Tell them I was gay to buy more time? Yes. Yes, I did.” Swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress, Maverick sat up. The five drinks lingering in his body in the form of nausea protested, but Maverick brushed them aside. “I really, actually thought to myself, ‘Hey, Mitchell, you know what would make the Navy stop pressuring you to do the mommy-daddy dance to produce more alpha male pilots? Telling them you’re gay.’ And I did not for one moment imagine that they would simply switch tracks from straight to otherwise and find me some prince charming in heat who needs my dick to calm him down so he can fly straight.”

“Well, of course they did. You’re famous now,” Charlie said. “Maybe if you’d done this before you finished TOPGUN, you’d have gotten away with it. They seemed eager to let your father’s line die out back then, anyway. But the Layton changed everything. It proved to the Navy that you’ve got pheromonal and genetic potential. They’re not going to let you fly under the radar anymore.”

Grumbling under his breath, Maverick wiggled out of his underwear, wadded them up, and threw the ratty ball towards the laundry basket in the corner. Miss. “Why not?”

“Because everyone’s eyes are on you,” Charlie said, slowly edging towards the warm spot Maverick’s body had left behind. “And they see an intelligent, talented young man whose recklessness needs to be tamed if he’s going to advance his career. They want to see you steady. Stable. If you aren’t going to breed, then maintaining a long-term relationship with a male omega is perfect for that. It forces you to settle down, and ensures he will, too.”

“But why push this so hard right now, all of a sudden?”

Charlie settled into Maverick’s side of the mattress and shrugged. “Maybe this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or maybe that male they matched you with needs immediate attention.”

“Of course he does,” Maverick muttered darkly. “Of course my life doesn’t matter as much as his.”

Swiping a hand over his face, Maverick stood and made his way naked to the bathroom. Charlie didn’t care. She’d seen it all before, and hadn’t been interested.

“Don’t take your medication,” Charlie called to him. Like Maverick, she wasn’t a morning person, and would remain in bed until the last minute. She even showered at night to sleep in as late as possible. “The first thing they’ll have you do is quit, cold turkey. You might as well get a head start.”

#top gun #icemav #writing #top gun fanfiction #iceman kazansky #maverick mitchell #principles of aviation #alternate intro post #less metadata more Substance

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toxinellebug · 3 months

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Shadybug’s Revenge- The Sweet & The Sour

(Hopefully an extra long post will make up for the wait. Please enjoy the strange French idioms and google their english counterparts.)

Just as there is no such thing as a free lunch, Magic ALWAYS comes with a price.

Especially when it is used for selfish or evil purposes.

Playing fast and loose with powers beyond your understanding was a recipe for disaster.

—————————————————————-

Marinette had so many ideas, none of which she intended to use more than once.

A pattern is trackable, it can be defended against, followed. Repeating the same tactics was a sure fire way to get caught.

So, as satisfying as it was to pilfer Sabrina’s locker, leaving Chloe without an acceptable excuse for not having a week’s worth of homework, it wasn’t a plan that could be used again.

Because Sabrina wasn’t stupid; she would realize she was being targeted and her locker wasn’t safe.

As an expert in breaking into lockers herself after years of doing so at Chloe’s command, the ginger-haired girl would have no problem hanging back to see who was lurking about the lockers when all other students should be elsewhere.

She could possibly even plant a booby-trap in hopes of identifying the culprit.

No, it was better that the homework thing was a single occurrence. Frequent theft would alert Chloe. This way, it was more likely to be believed as Sabrina’s incompetence rather than sabotage; leaving Chloe furious at her personal servant and none the wiser.

Marrinette DID have plans for Chloe’s own locker, but that would have to wait- multiple instances involving lockers so close together was too suspicious.

That was fine, it gave Marinette more time to experiment-

The biggest perk of her new powers was the “Lucky Charm”, which had limits;

She could only summon 1 Lucky Charm at a time. If she tried to summon a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Lucky Charm, then the previous Lucky Charm would disappear.

BUT!

The Lucky Charm would remain, even if she de-transformed, until she willed it away.

Of course this meant that if she transformed again and tried summoning a new Lucky Charm, then the item she summoned from her last transformation would disappear, but this also meant she could keep a Lucky Charm for as long as she wanted, even if it was out of her sight.

This was by far the most useful function, since just as dough can take hours to rise, sometimes a plan needs a few days before it bears fruit.

——

The Le Grand Paris was a fortress of a Hotel.

Andre Bourgeois took great care in sparing no expense when it came to security; from the latest cameras and alarms to bribing Enforcers to do extra patrols around the Concorde.

Sneaking inside was going to be a challenge that would take a while to plan out.

Thankfully, there was something else M. Bourgeois took pride in.

Being married to the renowned “Queen of Style”, meant if he didn’t want to end up in

la niche du chie, he couldn’t let their “little princess” wear anything that was out of season.

As far as Chloe was concerned, any outfit that was a year old was considered a moldy antique, and she would sooner die than wear the same dress twice.

Which meant she got new clothes more often than the Boulangerie got flour deliveries.

But Chloe Bourgeois did not “go shopping”. That was for average, poor people.

Instead, she selected only the most expensive designs from fashion catalogs and had them wrapped and delivered straight to her room.

It’s been said that there is no parade more elaborate than the monthly draught of butlers and bellboys; their arms overloaded with carefully wrapped parcels that stacked above their heads, marching single file down the halls of the Le Grand Paris, marshaled in by security staff guiding them with orange batons like an aviation ground crew, all the way to Chloe’s personal suite.

Should a single shoebox be dropped, the fool responsible would be fired on the spot.

This was typically followed by “the purge”, where clothes, shoes, and accessories from the front of her closet that were deemed too old and “utterly useless”, were carried out to the incinerator with other burnable trash.

Items from the middle would be pushed to the front, and the items in the back moved to the middle, making the back of the closet free for all her new purchases.

It was her father’s idea of being “frugal”, only replacing part of his daughter’s wardrobe at a time to get the most use out of her “older” clothes, and her newer purchases having to wait to be shown off…

Unless something came up where she needed to demonstrate her superiority.

Chloe Bourgeois was waste incarnate; and her “wardrobe refresh” had a schedule you could set your clock by.

THIS was the Hotel’s weakness- the flaw in its top rate security.

The tricky part was deciding how to take advantage of it.

Marinette had an idea of what she wanted to do, but putting it into motion without anyone suspecting anything magical was the catch.

As much as she wanted Chloe to suffer, breaking the rules The Supreme had set would only lead to her own downfall.

Thankfully, her Lucky Charm was intuitive; it seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do and provided her with an object that was best suited to achieve her goals.

This was something she had to remind herself of, because the red and black polka-dotted hard cover of a thick book on flying insects was the last thing she was hoping for.

She hated bugs.

But so did Chloe.

The longevity of the Lucky Charm was tested, as it took four days for Marinette to find a page that inspired her.

Truly, using her Miraculous was far more educational than spending time in school;

Mme. Mendeleiev never went into specific details about certain species of bugs, like the Tineola bisselliella.

Prior to receiving her earrings, Marinette would have never guessed that breaking into the entomology lab of the Sorbonne University Pierre and Marie Curie Campus, only a few blocks away from the recently fully condemned ruins of The Notre Dame Cathedral, was far easier than trying to sneak into the Le Grand Paris Hotel.

Before her powers, she would have no way of knowing that while Enforcer Patrols on the 8th arrondissement are quite heavy along the store fronts along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the backsides of the stores where trucks and delivery vans load, were rather lacking in security. Only a single outer camera per building, and only 1 patrol sweep per hour based on her Lucky Charm radar.

There was definitely no way Collège would teach her how to fool a hard-wired camera that would sound an alarm if physically tampered with.

That trick she learned on her own-

Her yoyo’s ‘phone’ also conveniently had a camera function.

Positioning herself on the dove white cement block wall just above the security camera allowed her to get just the right angle to snap a pic of the loading doors.

Using the string of the yoyo and wire from a discarded clothing hanger in a nearby dumpster, she was able to affix the screen of the ‘bug-phone’ displaying the pic in front of the security camera lens far away enough to see the screen but close enough that the red and black edges of the yoyo were out of sight.

With this, she could take her time picking the lock with her Lucky Charm to get inside without anything showing up on camera footage.

(*POSSIBLE S5 SPOILERS*

Idk if you remember, but in the Paris Special it clearly showed that, just like Ladybug in the 5th season finale in her fight against Monarch, Shadybug has enough control over her powers that she doesn’t need to throw up her yoyo to summon a lucky charm.)

Dior… Chloe’s go-to shoe brand.

Unlocking the back door? C'est du gâteau!

The problem would be what awaited on the other side.

Summoning another Lucky Charm gets her a small red and black hand-held object even smaller than the patrol radar. Its shape reminds her of those ‘walkie-talkies’ she’s seen in old movies, but this has 3 antennas and a glowing LCD screen with a large central button.

The screen reads:

WIFI2.4G: 2400-2500MHz WIFI5.2G: 5125-5350MHz WIFI5.8G: 5725-5850MHz

Marinette has never seen a device like this, but she has a strong gut feeling that she knows what it does.

This was the moment of truth….

Pressing the central button makes all 3 lines of text blink before changing to:

{disabled}

Heart racing, she opens the door- it is pitch black save for 3 small red LED lights in the center back and sides of the room, indicating the presence of interior cameras- obviously placed to catch employees slacking off when they should be loading or unloading product, or as a back-up in case the hard wired camera outside was disabled.

The interior cameras would no doubt transmit video directly to a monitored, online data center rather than the closed system outside that was recorded and viewed later.

There was no telling how long the WIFI could be down before interruption of service alerts Enforcers to do an extra sweep of the area, so she pushes the button on the jammer again.

Based on a previous internet search, she now had roughly 5 minutes for the cameras to reboot, and even less time before the door alarms go off.

As luck would have it, similar to her parents’ store, the keypad for the alarm is on the wall right next to the back door.

Leaning in close and using the glow from the signal jammer’s LCD screen, she quickly glances at the 4 most worn out numbers on the key pad.

The number of guesses she has is irrelevant; she only has 30 seconds worth of ‘tries’ before the alarms blare and all nearby Enforcer cars surround the building.

‘No pressure.’

She gets it on her 5th try.

But that doesn’t mean she can relax…

The timer is still counting down on when the cameras will be up and running once more, and she needs to locate Chloe’s order before then.

The blinking of the red LED lights alerts her that her time is up and she dives behind a pallet full of boxes by a far corner in what she can only hope is a blind-spot, ducking out of sight just as the lights changed from blinking red to a solid green.

She takes a moment to catch her breath-assuming she hasn’t lost count, she now has about 36 minutes to find the shoes set aside for Chloe, make the switch, then re-set the alarm, lock the doors, and retrieve her yoyo before the next Enforcer Patrol comes by.

If she was caught, she had no doubt The Supreme would ensure she was never heard from again.

Yeah, she would be the world’s biggest liar if she tried to tell herself she wasn’t scared out of her mind right now… Who wouldn’t be?

Why did she think she could do this??

This back room storage area was way larger than she anticipated, (it was only the first floor, surely the bottom floor was only for incoming and outgoing products while the upper 4 floors had their own storage rooms for their respective merchandise, right??) and she had no flashlight- not that she could use it while the cameras were on.

She didn’t want to interrupt the WIFI signal again until she needed to leave; the WIFI going out for too long or going out then coming back on again right away too many times would probably be the same as announcing that somebody was here messing with the system.

If her plan was to go without a hitch, there couldn’t be ANY reason for anyone to suspect that Chloe’s order had been tampered with.

Comment diable was she supposed to find anything in the dark in under 30 minu-

…. Tu te fous de ma gueule?!

It had to be the magic earrings, there was no way Marinette Dupain Cheng could ever be THIS lucky;

There, on the pallet of boxes she had chosen to hide behind, illuminated by the faint glow of the LCD screen in her hand, was the letter “B”.

A slow sweep across the label revealed O…U…R…G…E….

‘Y a pas moyen...’

…O…I…S.

30 boxes worth of flats, heels, and boots.

For Chloe?

Yup. That seemed about right.

Marinette didn’t have enough materials for all of them, but she would make do.

Quickly picking out 8 boxes of flats, she opened the fanny pack she’d swiped from the back of her father’s closet and pulled out what looked like 16 desiccant packs.

Enough for 1 per shoe- only someone looking closely with a keen eye would be able to tell that the words “silica gel” had been hand stamped on each paper sachet, rather than professionally printed, and sealed with a glue-stick instead of a heat press.

Carefully swapping the real packs for her fakes, Marinette was careful to re-package the designer tissue paper in each shoe box and stack them up carefully on the pallet.

The morning crew would come and see to it that each box was professionally wrapped, and then loaded onto a delivery van headed to the Le Grand Paris so that Chloe could enjoy a Friday after school “parade”.

Pressing the jammer button on and off again gave Marinette 5 minutes to run back to the back door, press the “arm system” button, and lock the door behind her.

She only needed 2.

Leaping up the side of the building, she retrieved her yoyo and checked the watch function; still 8 minutes to spare before the next Enforcer patrol.

Ha! Hardly exciting (je touche du bois.)

She couldn’t believe it; she’d just successfully broken into DIOR.

At this rate, a heist at Le Grand Paris would be a snap!

Who would’ve ever believed that clumsy Marinette was such a pro at pulling off heists? Was this what success felt like?

It felt pretty good!

All that was left to do now was parkour her way back home, dump the desiccant packs, then wait until her parents went down to open the Bakery in the morning to return her father’s vintage bag to the forgotten depths of his bedroom closet.

He’d never know it’d been missing.

In 3 days, the tiny, pinhead sized eggs stolen from the University lab would hatch into voracious larva that would eat their way through the paper sachets before beginning to devour every designer blouse, skirt, and dress they could crawl to.

By the time Chloe reached the back of her closet and noticed the chew holes, the damage would be done… Thousands of euros worth of damage, and the larva would have already found hiding spots to form their cocoons.

De-transforming inside her room, Marinette giggled at the thought of Chloe opening her closet doors weeks later and screaming through a face full of fluttering moths.

The imagery alone made it worth how exhausted she felt.

Was this the fatigue you were supposed to feel once the surge of adrenaline wore off?

Well, nothing a few hours sleep wouldn’t cure.

———

…Or not.

The shrieking tone of the morning alarm was enough to make anyone curse, and Marinette was no exception… But she couldn’t recall the last time it was enough to make her wake up with a headache.

All of her muscles felt sore, which didn’t make sense since the suit did all the hard work and physical exertion.

Was this still that adrenaline burn out? Or did she manage to come down with something?

She wouldn’t be surprised; spending too much time outside and breathing in Parisian night air was guaranteed to make you sick.

But without an actual fever, her mom would never let her stay home from school.

She would have to suck it up and muscle her way through the day.

It would probably also be a good idea to avoid transforming for the next few days- she’d definitely had enough excitement to last her for a while and a break was overdue….

….That had been the plan anyway.

But some opportunities were just too good to pass up!

Gabriel Agreste, yes, The Gabriel Agreste, famous designer of the world renowned “GABRIEL” brand was holding a derby hat design contest at HER school!

The winning hat would even be featured in his next Fashion Show!

La cerise sur le gatea? M. Agreste himself was coming to select the winner. IN. PERSON.

This was HUGE.

There would even be live news coverage!

Though Marrinette was pretty sure this was mostly a publicity stunt thought up by the school to make angry parents forget about “The Boiler Room Incident,” she couldn’t deny that this was a rare chance.

Not for her, of course.

There was no way Chloe would leave her alone if Marinette tried to enter, and with her being so close to M. Agreste’s son, it would just take one word from the blonde and Marinette would not only be disqualified, but probably black-listed as well.

That was fine.

Okay, no, it wasn’t fine.

It was the exact opposite of fine! And totally unfair!!!

But…

Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter.

After all, years of being Chloe’s figurative punching bag meant Marinette knew Chloe’s ultimate weakness; Attention.

The only thing Chloe loved more than her hair was being in the spotlight.

A chance to appear on TV alongside Adrien Agreste was as good as a siren’s song.

But there was no way that Chloe had any hope of winning that contest, unless she cheated.

Cheating happened to be one of the few things Chloe was actually good at, and she did so every chance she got.

It was almost too predictable; Chloe would just have Sabrina steal someone else’s idea, then, without lifting a finger, pay a professional to make it for her, then present the hat at the contest as her own work.

It would be Chloe’s word versus her victim’s, and Marinette knew exactly how that would play out.

This was also in her favor; no matter what, that evil girl would INSIST the design was her own, even though she wouldn’t bother to take notice of whatever it was.

Chloe never cared about what she stole, only that she felt joy in making the people she stole from suffer.

It didn’t matter who got hurt.

There was no way to know who was entering the contest without taking a peek at the sign-up sheet, and there was no way Marinette could risk doing that without painting a target on her back.

It was so much easier to make yourself invisible when people weren’t actively seeking you out to make your life miserable.

Chloe had a new favorite patsy, (some opinionated girl with glasses), and Marinette had no intention of reminding her former bully that she still existed.

Besides, she didn’t need to know who Chloe decided to steal from.

All she needed was her earrings, a little something from home, and a quick online search of the schedule for today’s bus routes.

The judging would take place 2 hours after the end of the school day. Not much time for a teenager to put together a hat from scratch, but for a professional Milliner it was nothing.

Which is why when lunch time hit, it was no surprise that Sabrina left Chloe’s side to “eat lunch at home today”.

As if.

The 32 bus wouldn’t take Sabrina anywhere near her apartment.

But it would take her to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where some name dropping and the Bourgeois credit line would allow her to have any boutique or atelier drop everything to create whatever design she brought to them, no questions asked.

It would also ensure that afterwards, everyone would deny her ever coming there in the first place.

(The name ‘Audrey Bourgeois’ carried a lot of weight, and her daughter never hesitated to throw it around.)

Now, the thing about Sabrina Raincomprix was that she was a good lackey; obedient, dedicated, and cautious.

Having a strict, Enforcer father who believed in “Guilty until proven innocent.” meant that she was paranoid about getting caught doing Chloe’s dirty work, and would go to great lengths to keep her ‘master’ from falling under suspicion.

The ginger-haired girl wouldn’t be eating anything today; her lunch break would be spent traveling to deliver the stolen hat design, then taking the long way back to school to avoid being spotted.

This also meant that after school, she would have to take a bus back to pick up the finished derby, then take a 2nd bus that would drop her off near Place de la Concorde, then take a 3rd bus back to the school so it looked like she had only gone straight to the Grand Paris Hotel to pick up Chloe’s hat and bring it to the school for her, because heaven forbid that brat should carry anything herself.

The final trait that made Sabrina such a good servant?

She was punctual.

Due to Chloe’s short temper, Sabrina had an extreme case of what Max Kanté had once called “Allegrophobia.”

She was so afraid of being yelled at for not being on time that she had a consistent habit of not double checking things before rushing off to where she was ordered to be.

Even the tiniest of delays was enough to give her anxiety.

Marinette knew from experience just how easy it was for someone to take advantage of your anxiety.

It was high time those 2 got a taste of their own medicine.

However, this would require a sacrifice, and a risk bigger than any she had taken so far.

The Supreme had been clear; she could not be seen, no one was to know about the existence of her Miraculous or magic.

It was for this reason that she had carefully restricted use of her powers to inside her room, the rooftops at night, or in secluded places where she was absolutely sure no other living soul was around.

But if she was going to out-cheat the world’s nastiest cheater, Marinette would have to transform in broad daylight and intercept Sabrina en route.

If Sabrina- no, if anyone saw even a hint of her spots, it was all over!

She could see it now; The Bakery forced to shut down, her parents sent to a Penitentiary camp, her citizenship revoked- no, make that her very name erased from existence and she was forced to work underground in some coal mine with weighted balls and chains around her ankles, never again allowed to see the light of day!

… Okay, so nowhere had it specifically said any of that was going to happen, but The Supreme did say the penalty would be severe, and honestly? It was possible.

If she was really going to go through with this, she would have to be quick and more than a little clever.

She doubted her Lucky Charm could conjure up an item to erase people’s memories.

So far, all her Lucky Charms had been items that actually existed- hard as it was to believe that something like magic could have limitations.

Not that Marinette would ever leave her fate up to magic alone, not when she had technology on her side.

The internet was just as powerful as her earrings, only instead of ‘Lucky Charms’ it could conjure up things like detailed city maps with street views via satellite, as well as the pick-up times of the buses that stopped at those streets.

It was only a matter of deciding which one of those streets would be ideal for an ambush.

The hardest part?

Coming up with an excuse to get out of running the cash register at the Bakery after school.

Marinette reviewed the options in her head;

Lying about wanting to enter the design contest wouldn’t get her anywhere.

Faking an illness was just as pointless- her mom would stand watch to make sure the thermometer wasn’t tampered with while checking for a temperature.

Any studying for a major test could be done after the Bakery closed and before she went to bed.

Non, nope, and no bueno.

If she wanted to escape her after-school obligations, she not only had to be creative…

She had to be gross.

——

She was late coming home after school, she had to make a detour to find a Picard vending machine.

Luckily, her leather satchel made it easy to conceal her purchases.

She ran past the Bakery counter, ignoring her mother’s glare and answering demands of “Where have you been?!” with her own rushed “Can’tTalkMyStomachIsKillingMe!” as she raced up the stairs to the 2nd floor bathroom.

Locking the door behind her, she stared at the toilet with dread.

Her kwami floated out from her bulky jacket pocket to stare at her with what Marinette imagined was the creature’s own version of a cringe.

Well, nobody asked for its opinion.

Vending machine bread was cheap, but the taste was way off in her humble opinion. Too much yeast. Though she hadn’t purchased it with the intention of eating it…

A minute, maybe a minute and a half was all it took for the brioche to bloat up after hitting the water. A single flush was all that was needed to make the evidence vanish, as well as clog the drain.

She pulled out the plastic covered slice of chocolate cake and hesitated; no matter what she made it look like, ganache dissolved in water wouldn’t fool anyone.

“Vous ne pouvez pas utiliser un gâteau au chocolat pour raconter des salades.”

Not without miraculous intervention, at least.

Tikki visibly winced before being sucked into the earrings as Marinette transformed.

No idea why; it should be used to it by now…

She had no idea what Lucky Charm could possibly make her little act convincing, but here goes nothing-!

A small round object wrapped in red plastic with black polkadots landed in her hand.

What was she supposed to do with this??? What even was this?!

She slowly tore open the packaging and - Merde! Was this camembert??

Yup, that’ll do it.

Holding her breath and resisting the urge to gag, she smushed the cheese between her palms for a moment to let it “breathe”, before breaking off bits and plunking the pieces into the porcelain bowl.

Squashing the still wrapped slice of cake in a similar manner, she opened that up and dumped it in the water as well.

De-transforming, she stuffed both wrappers into the inner pockets of her jacket and waited.

According to the time on her phone, 11 minutes had passed before her mother came pounding on the door, inquiring just what she was doing in there?!

Well, she wasn’t folding pastries…

Saying that would’ve been counter-productive though, so instead Marinette gave her most pitiful groan before stammering about clogging the toilet.

The door handle shook and her mother ordered her to open up.

‘As you wish, mommy dear…’

Thankfully, her facial expression didn’t match her thoughts.

Sabine Cheng covered her nose and mouth with horror as Marinette sheepishly stepped out of the bathroom, hunched over and clutching her stomach.

Her pink streaked hair in was in disarray, and her heavy eyeliner was running from sink-water “tears” as she mumbled about how much her stomach had been bothering her since lunch.

Her mother doesn’t even bother to hide her agitation and disgust as she waves her away; ordering her to take some Imodium from the medicine cabinet in the 4th floor bathroom, then go up to her room.

She’ll bring her something light for supper later if she’s feeling hungry, but for now she has to find some gloves so she can sort out the toilet quickly and get back down to watch the register.

Marinette deserved a César Award for the way she trudged up the stairs, head down in shame, her dark pigtails a droopy, frazzled mess.

Once she made it to the 3rd floor, she bolted up to her room faster than galette sold out on La Fête des Rois.

The anticipation was starting to get to her, she actually felt her stomach turning for real, but there wasn’t a moment to spare.

She had 1 last thing to grab from her room before setting things in motion…

Her transformation (still didn’t have a name for it yet, not as if she really needed to since it was a secret), was only needed to get her from her balcony to the rooftop of the building next door.

De-transforming back, Marinette made her way down the fire-escape before making a beeline for the bus stop.

She needed to get to Sabrina’s return route before the ginger-haired girl made her way back to Place de la Concorde.

There was nothing suspicious about Marinette riding the bus- she was just a normal girl, with a normal, crappy life, wasting what was left of her precious pocket money on public transportation.

(For real though; what did it take to get a red and black wallet Luck Charm filled with cash??? For the record, she was perfectly ok with said cash vanishing from reality after it’d already been spent.)

Traveling by yoyo would be lot faster, but not even thick Parisian smog could hide that loud red and black suit.

You’d think if The Supreme wanted her to stay hidden so badly, she would be given a Miraculous that was more inconspicuous than black and red spots on hexagonal spandex.

Whatever.

Picking an alleyway with a dumpster to hide behind that would still give her a somewhat decent view of the sidewalk was simple enough after having studied the street views online.

What she was unprepared for was the absolute boredom of waiting for Sabrina’s bus to arrive-

Whoever came up with the saying “There is only late or on time.” clearly had never arrived an hour early with nothing else but the thoughts in their own head to keep them occupied.

Marinette had chosen a spot roughly 9 meters away from the next bus stop Sabrina would have to take to connect her route.

After getting off one bus, it should take her around 17 minutes to walk over from point A.

The goal was to intercept before she could make it to point B.

It was laughable how easy it was to crouch behind a dumpster in the middle of the day without drawing any attention.

Laughable, in a sad, nobody-cares-where-you-are-or-what-you’re-doing-and-never-will, kind of way…

The timer on her phone beeped, signaling Marinette to transform and summon her Lucky Charm…

A bag of Marbles?

Guess it was time to test how well super-powers affected aim.

Staying low with as much of her body behind the bin that she could manage and still peek out, she waited for the first hint of orange hair and an argyle sweater vest.

Her timing was nothing short of miraculous; her thumb flicking the tiny glass ball and shooting it out perfectly beneath the sole of a wedged sneaker, sending Sabrina tumbling backwards, her glasses flying free through the air, hat box dropping from her arms to roll into the nearby alley.

A snap of the fingers had the black and red marble vanish from existence. As far as anyone could tell, that silly girl had tripped over her own feet.

Flailing around to find her wayward glasses took priority, giving Marinette the time she needed to swap out the derby in the hat box, roll it closer to the alley entrance, then de-transform and make herself as small as possible behind the piles of garbage next to the metal bin.

The minutes were ticking away and Sabrina was absolutely frantic as she picked up the box and sprinted towards the stop just as her next bus screeched to a halt- loudly pleading for it not to take off immediately without her onboard.

Marinette would end up waiting a little longer, making sure the bus was long gone before she left that alley to head towards a different stop that would take a more direct route near her home so she could sneak back up to her room before Sabrina could make it back to school.

She came in the same way she’d gotten out, and there was no sign she’d been missed.

No surprise there…

De-transforming left her with a sharp, throbbing pain in her abdomen that had her bent over and hugging herself, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth.

Qu'est-ce que???

It wasn’t that time of the month yet, but this was the same level of cramping she would expect on ‘heavy flow’ days.

Was it from climbing up and down several flights of the fire escape? Or maybe she really was sick? She had been spending a lot of time outdoors, practicing with her yoyo and getting used to ducking behind billboards and scaling buildings.

Also, sitting next to literal garbage probably didn’t do her any favors.

Whatever it was, the solution was clear; She just needed to take a few nights off, maybe get more than 3-4 hours of sleep for a change.

But for right now, she needed to watch the news.

Turning on her laptop, Marinette opened the TVi News webpage and clicked on their livestream.

It would’ve been great to witness the event in person, but she couldn’t risk being seen by Chloe.

Besides, she wouldn’t have to worry about hiding her own reactions to what was about to go down when she was in the safety of her own room.

Clara Contard introduced herself reporting live from the Françoise Dupont cafeteria where students were about to introduce their original Derby Hat creations!

She was overly chipper as she told viewers how today’s winning design would not only be selected by Gabriel Agreste, but also modeled by his son, teen supermodel Adrien Agreste, in his next fashion show!

The camera panned for a wide view to show all of the students who were competing standing at different tables, some nervous, some excited, all waving to the camera.

Marinette recognized a few of the students either from having shared a classroom in previous years, or simply from them laughing at her in the hallway.

Honestly? She hated everyone who entered the contest, with the exception of 2 people, though she doubted they had any chance of winning.

There was a feverish murmer in the background before Mme. Contard announced that the “stars” of the show had arrived; the camera cut to the cafeteria doors opening for Gabriel and Adrien Agreste’s grand entrance.

M. Agreste was taller than Marinette thought he’d be; silver hair parted down the middle, round, white framed glasses, and dressed in a palette of soft blues and neutrals.

He was a far cry from the intimidating design mogul she’d envisioned. But if anything, that made more sense-

This looked exactly like the type of man who would spoil his son rotten; too weak-willed to say “no” to any outrageous demand.

As for Adrien,

Well, it’s not like they had any classes together, and she was always too busy keeping her head down and avoiding being noticed to ever pass him by in between periods, but he also looked different than what she’d expected based on the billboard ads and posters littered all over the city, or as she liked to call them, “visual pollution.”

His hair was cut asymmetrically, and the eye make-up was new…

But what was with that outfit?

Exactly what look was he going for; Sterile-punk in Asylum white?

Mon Dieu, that had better not be the next trend!

Marinette’s huff of annoyance at this point was habitual- she wasn’t interested in watching Chloe’s BFF strut and smile for the camera.

His every move, from the way he walked to his practiced wave was so overly rehearsed and unnaturally flawless, Marinette wouldn’t be surprised if someone told her he was an AI generated hologram rather than an actual human being.

What a stuck-up showoff…

Honestly, she wasn’t really interested in watching any of the contestants either, save for Chloe. But who knows? Maybe she could enjoying watching Fashion Icon Gabriel Agreste verbally rip into each of their designs and leave them in tears like that one cooking show with the angry British Chef?

At least that would be entertaining.

No such luck.

The man was the definition of positivity to the point it was sickening;

He stopped at each table-giving the cameraman a chance to focus on each separate hat and allowing the students their moment to shine.

He looked over each derby closely from multiple angles, giving specific praise over little details that he thought stood out, and at times, constructive criticism over some minor construction flaws, followed by encouragement before moving on to the next entry.

He was so nice, she felt nauseous.

Though, that could’ve also been a side effect from her previous running around.

She’d honestly thought he’d have at least some negative feedback over Rose and Nathaniel’s entry.

Not that Marinette was hoping for it; Rose and Nathaniel were among the few students at Françoise Dupont who weren’t complete trou du culs.

True, neither of them had ever tried to be friends with her, but they’d also never joined in with everybody laughing at her expense, either.

But that didn’t excuse the monstrosity sitting on the table in front of them.

If she had to take a guess, she would say that Rose dragged Nathaniel into the contest with her; probably babbled on about all her unicorn and kitten filled fantasies for him to sketch out, then used a hot glue gun to try and make it a reality.

A hot fuchsia bowler with rainbow yarn coming out of the back as… a mane?…a tail?… something.

There was what looked like a cardboard horn that had been assaulted with glitter, and electric cobalt blue cat ears cut from craft-store faux fur that were uneven in size.

Rather than a ribbon around the base of the rounded crown, there was a collage-like border made from what was probably every flower sticker Rose owned.

At least Nathaniel had the decency to be embarrassed, as evidenced by him pulling the drawstrings of his hoodie tight in an attempt to either hide himself from view, or self-asphyxiate.

Personally, Marinette would’ve gone with the latter.

Even Adrien averted his eyes- the glitter shedding uni-kitty derby too bright to look at directly.

Rose was naturally, blissfully unaware.

But M. Agreste didn’t so much as flinch!

He complimented their boldness and stated his admiration for their creativity. He gently pointed out some issues- such as the the hot-glue seam slowly coming apart, and suggested that a buckram fabric molded with starch would hold its shape better than cardboard and be easier to affix to the crown of the hat without weighing it down.

He gave them tips on cutting faux fur and how to trace a pattern to make the ears come out more even.

He even stated that he was intrigued by the floral collage, but was concerned that paper stickers would eventually lose their adhesion and fall off, before suggesting using fabric dye and multiple flower shaped rubber stamps on plain ribbon as an alternative to achieve the same effect.

He thanked them both and said he hoped to see them in future contests so he could witness their progress.

Marinette frowned and swallowed back the acid burning at the back of her throat.

She hated to admit it, but she was envious.

There was no way her mom would’ve let her enter, and even if she snuck out to compete anyway, Chloe would’ve found a way to ruin her work or used her connection with Adrien to get her kicked out.

She knew that, so sulking about it was pointless.

But still, how awesome would it have been to receive honest, non-judgey feedback from someone with so much experience in the fashion industry?

A chance to have her designs taken seriously and to discuss how she could improve with someone who actually knew what they were doing without being looked down on?

She didn’t care about winning some lame school contest. But some one-on-one time with a professional in the world of design?

She wanted that.

Badly.

Marinette hated how stupid she felt for resenting Rose Lavillant just because she was enjoying an opportunity that she herself wanted but had been unable to take.

It was so dumb to feel jealous over Rose when it wasn’t even her fault.

It was Chloe’s fault!

Chloe was the reason Marinette wasn’t allowed to stand out, why she didn’t have any friends, why now even her own mother was preventing her from following her dreams!

Stubbornly using her sleeve to wipe away moisture that had begun to form at the corners of her eyes, Marinette focused on her laptop screen.

The moment she’d been waiting for was nearly here…

Gabriel and Adrien Agreste approached Chloe’s table and stopped abruptly as the blonde girl rushed over to clutch onto the teen boy’s arm with her high-pitched squeal, bouncing on her heels in giddiness and not even bothering to acknowledge M. Agreste until the older man awkwardly cleared his throat and adjusted his light blue-violet ascot before offering his greetings.

Under normal circumstances, the smug look on that witch’s face as she gushed to M. Agreste about how she could not wait to see “Adrikins” (Ugh, was that his pet name? Gross…) wearing her hat at the next fashion show, would’ve been enough to make Marinette lose her lunch.

Today, however, knowing what was to come, left her avoir la banane.

M. Agreste chuckled and said he liked her enthusiasm, but he would need to see her entry first.

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully, saying something quaint about “getting formalities over with”, before snapping her fingers to order Sabrina to attention.

The bespectacled girl stepped forward dutifully, hat box in arms, and carefully removed the lid-

Marinette bit her lower lip, and Chloe announced to the room she was “now presenting the winning design!” as Sabrina lifted the derby hat out of the box for M. Agreste to see.

The camera zoomed in on the hat:

It was a classic derby bowler shaped in pale, dusty rose colored wool felt with a thin chiffon trim along the outer edge of the brim in a slightly darker shade. The the dark blues and greens of the patterned ribbon around the base was reminiscent of the scales of a butterfly’s wing, and had an iridescent sheen.

The focal point of course, was the glazed black, scalloped medallion in the center of the side bow, embossed with a white, flourished “G”.

The camera zoomed back out to capture both Chloe’s self-satisfied smirk and Gabriel Agreste’s reaction;

Blessed be for HD, otherwise Marinette would’ve missed the slight crease between M. Agreste’s brows as his smile began to falter.

There was a moment of hesitation, another awkward clearing of his throat, and a quick darting of his eyes indicating that he would rather the film crew direct their attention elsewhere….

Clara Contard would have none of that, so M. Agreste tried to gracefully step forward and angle his back towards the camera, a valiant effort to shield Mlle. Bourgeois from view that was in vain.

You had to admire his efforts; he attempted to handle the situation as delicately as possible-

“Young lady, I believe you may have misunderstood… The aim was not to submit your favorite hat that you would like to see again, but to come up with your own, original design for Adrien to model. I apologize if that was not made clear-“

Oh, the shift on Chloe’s face from cool confidence to furious indignation would’ve given a lesser man whiplash, but to M. Agreste’s credit, he only slightly stepped back in surprise at the blonde’s foot-stamping outburst.

“How DARE you?! This hat is MY original design! Are you calling me a liar???”

M. Agreste didn’t get angry, didn’t raise his voice… Merely pursed his lips into a tight line before inhaling a deep breath and letting it out gently-

“I’m sorry to say but, while it is an older design, it is in fact, one of my own.”

Lifting the derby and turning it upside-down revealed the “GABRIEL” label, expertly sewn unto the creamy white silk lining inside.

“This model hit store shelves well over a year ago, as part of my late spring collection.”

The camera was only able to zoom in on Chloe’s red face and quivering lip for about 3 seconds before she was once again blocked by M. Agreste’s torso and only the muffled sound of “Mme. Contard, please show some decorum.” was heard before they cut to commercial.

Chloe Bourgeois, publicly humiliated on live TV.

What a beautiful day~

Was there an option to give this livestream 5 stars? Because Clara deserved the highest ratings!

Marinette was kind of sorry that she’d had to sacrifice her own hat- even if it wasn’t her style anymore, even if it had been bought on clearance from a discount boutique that specialized in what was no longer in season.

She had saved up all of her allowance just for a chance to own anything from the “GABRIEL” brand, and had felt a small sense of pride in being able to buy it for herself.

But sentimentality was for the weak, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng was no longer that pathetic little girl that wore her heart on her sleeve like some air-head.

At first she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with Chloe’s counterfeit derby, (black and grey pinstripes with a square metal studded band… based on the panoramic view at the start of the livestream, Théo Barbot had been the unwitting victim this time,) but now she decided she was going to keep it.

Maybe she’d mount it on her wall as a trophy to remind her that she was no longer a vulnerable little pear for Chloe to squash beneath her heels.

(The pear thing is another French idiom. No, I’m not making this up!)

Relishing the spoils of victory would have to wait, though.

Marinette closed her laptop and stretched, wincing slightly. There was no point in watching the rest of the contest.

All she cared about now was taking a hot shower, some pain killers, and lying down with a heating pad to see if it would help with her cramp.

…That shower was cut short in order to rush back to her room to interrogate a certain red and black floating insect.

“Ce que l'enfer est-ce?!”

Above her navel was a black, spindly mark the size of a kumquat. It was tender to the touch and it certainly had NOT been there this morning!

As always, the kwami said nothing, not that it could with that, whatever-it-was, over its mouth… if what it had was considered a mouth.

Instead, those round, blue eyes widened-for a moment they even looked frightened-before glancing nervously over at the loft and Marinette’s bed.

The tablet from The Supreme was still tucked under her mattress.

She didn’t remember reading anything about black splotches suddenly appearing on her body, but the tablet was the only lead she had.

Hitting the power button and waiting through the identification scan, Marinette ignored the red screen and the intimidating symbol glaring at her- she was more interested in the icon at the bottom corner.

It was flashing again.

There was a new message.

Marinette felt a shiver run down her spine; she hadn’t received any new messages since the first 1 on the day she received her earrings.

She should be relieved The Supreme is contacting her again, right?

She was ‘the chosen one’ after all, so whatever The Supreme had to say must be important.

It might even help her.

The Supreme would take care of her.

There was no need to feel afraid.

….Right?

Her hand was definitely not shaking as she tapped the message icon to open to full screen:

“Mlle Marinette Dupain-Cheng,

At this time you might be aware of certain afflictions to your body.

Unfortunately, this is the result of prolonged Miraculous use, and will continue to spread.

It should please you to know that a remedy does exist. However, the means to alleviate your condition are not without stipulations;

Another Miraculous has been stolen.

If you are able to recover it, your malaise shall be remedied with haste.

Be warned- failure to do so will only allow the aliment to spread to the point of being fatal, regardless of further use of the Miraculous.

Please be advised; Only one can be spared.”

At the age of 13 going on 14, Marinette had a plethora of profanities at her disposal, yet none of them felt sufficient for this level of ABSOLUTE B.S.!

What kind of sick joke was this?!

After skimming through a detailed description of the Butterfly Brooch and the powers it granted its holder, she came to the conclusion that the only joke here was her.

She threw the tablet down in anger, the loud clatter sending the kwami flying away to hide in the waste bin under her desk.

Of course it had all been too good to be true!

She wasn’t lucky, she was cursed!

‘Only one can be spared.’

What was that supposed to mean? Did The Supreme think she would feel pity for the Butterfly thief and beg to save them too?

Fat chance.

You know what? Fine! Et merde!

Elle était prête à couper la poire en deux.

Her eyes narrowed with renewed resolve.

If playing the role of ‘Miraculous Repo man’ was what it took to to save her skin and be able to dish out long overdue karma, then that’s what she’d do.

They’ll see who’s laughing then….

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