Tumgik
#i tried to put some ~details~ and ~symbolism~ in this but idk how well it shows lmao
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yeah yeah they made out in the cactus ring what else is new
aka another @mcytblrholidayexchange gift, this time for @finalcontrolroom :D
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yourlocalstranger123 · 9 months
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Hey! I was wondering if you could do obey me datebles with a yoimiya from genshin impact? She loves fireworks and has a child like way of looking at things and great with kids.
I love her so much🥰
Sorry if its to much or you not taking ask's. So just ignore if so😅 this way my first time so sorry.
《Summary》: You were quite the cheerful human to them. Being literally everyone's therapy as they enjoyed your cheerfulness and the warmth you give out. You were good with children too!
(Maybe they should start a family with you—)
Reader can be read as a girl or boy. Idk
A/N: I do not remember the lessons well so if I get some details wrong, apologies. Also Beel and Mammon has the same end color, sorry!!
ALSO!!! THERE WILL BE PART 2 FOR THE REST OF THE BROTHERS AND MAYBE PART 3
Easter egg: Did you notice I did a little something about the brothers? Y'know, what demon they are. EXCEPT for asmodeus, instead of "lust," it's "attraction/attract" bc I don't really wanna use the word lust for this....❌️ Also, with Satan, too. I put in multiple words that can equal like some wrath in a friendly way? For ex: his heart felt tortured but felt in a good way or etc. (Love definitely lmao)
(No. I do not have a favorite just because I gave levi a sticker. I can't find a good one for his symbol, so...AND BECAUSE I DEFINITELY CAN SEE HIM TRYING TO DO PICK UP LINES WHILE CONFESSING HIS LOVE TO YOU LMAO—)
(SAME WITH SATAN, I JUST DID FIRE...AND YOU'LL KNOW WHY)
Warning: Slight Angst, AND SORRY FOR THE CRINGEY CONFESSIONS. I TRIED OKAY 😭🤧
♤♡~《Obey me•°××× ×××°•Brothers》~◇♧
Lucifer
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(Both should be from obey me game official art)
× he always ignored you. Never really interacting with you unless necessary. You gained quite the popularity of being such a sweet, kind girl.
× But when you defended Luke and took responsibility when he accidentally took the grimoire as you and Beel were simply trying to hide him, he felt his heart ache. Why?
♤ He wanted to apologize to you for yelling at you and almost killing you, but his pride was overthrowing it. But....you...you still welcome him. Asking him if he wanted to join you and his brothers seeing your fireworks. Of course, he declined. Saying it's not worth his time and he's busy as the brothers complained at him for being so mean!
♤he secretly watched you out of the window of his office. Clenching his hands as he saw you all enjoying your fireworks. Heart thumping when he saw your beautiful and warm smile....how could you smile like that? Especially to demons...so freely..
♤ he decided to maybe try interacting with you. Only saying it's for business and only trying to make you comfortable. (He just wanted to spend time with you)
♤ seeing how busy he was, eyes drooping as his hair was messy while he was still doing papers. You decided to convince him to go outside, not letting him know something,,
♤ he went outside with a small blanket you wrapped around him. He sat down on a bench next to you as he looked where you pointed. His eyes shined, filling with bright colors as he saw fireworks firing beautiful into the night sky. He tried covering his face with his arm as he starting tearing up.
♤ he felt a warm hand wiping of his tears as you looked at him, patting his back. It wasn't out of pity, just pure warmth and concern. He finally lets himself rest. Leaning onto your shoulder as he listened to the popping of the fireworks....
♤ everyone was shocked when him, the work-alcoholic getting out of his office to spend some time outside?! He glared at the staring eyes but soften when you happily walked around. So cheerful as you played with the children approaching you. No wonder his brothers and other people had such a liking and attraction towards you.
♤ he was so proud and prideful that he had you on his side and in his life too.
"You're like the peace between heaven and hell. Bring warmth to both sides.....[name], I love you"
(When you kissed him, you could see him smiling as if he wasn't nervously blushing while doing it. And giving him an extra kiss on the cheek? You would make his day better)
Mammon
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(1st is wedding art from obey me game) (2nd is from @angyefdez in Twitter)
× he did really care about you. Only after money, of course, but he didn't know why you kept cheering him up when he's precious Goldie, the credit card was taken away. Always trying to cheer him up with your fireworks and being playful in a random park, which he somehow enjoys a lot and always hopes it every time his precious credit card is taken away.
× the way you laughed but still respected him as the great mammon made a tug on his heart. Clenching on his chest as he thought about you. Whenever he goes shopping and sees something you like, he imagines how happy you would be. Then poof, he suddenly bought it.
$ blushing furiously as he just shoves the gift into your arms and says, "You're w- welcome!" And just walks away. But you can feel the stare burning a hole through your back behind a wall as you open it. Chuckling as you hugged the gift onto your chest. Keeping it near your heart as you smiled. Suddenly, his heart suddenly goes wild! And as he clutched onto his chest, he looks away and blushes.
$ now he buys you gifts every time he goes shopping. Small, big, cute, fancy, you always seem to appreciate it. Praising him and thanking him every time. He sometimes pouts when you hang out with some weak old demon. He's the avatar of greed?! Why hang out with them?!
$ but every time you ask him if he wants to hang out with you and watch your fireworks, always forget about it and willingly follow you. Sitting on the grass, he smiles when you light up a firework and see the usual big warm grin as you run to him and carelessly flop down and wait.
$ he felt quite greedy over you, wanting more of your attention and being more spoiled with your love and affection. (Like who wouldn't)
$ As he watches the fireworks burning brightly, giving light to the dark of the sky. As if the stars are shining even brighter and reflecting off your figure, he looks at you. Smiling as his hand scoots over and comes over yours.
"You're my treasure. I will put you on top of everything, my daimond. [Name], please become my everything, I love you"
(HE WOULD BLUSH SO MUCH THAT STEAM WOULD COME OFF HIS HEAD IF YOU KISSED HIM! and on the lips? You definitely would make him pass out)
Asmodeus
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(Both are official art of obey me game)
× he enjoys fireworks, as it burns brightly and beautifully. He was surprised when he found you slightly messy and with your hair tied up as you're making fireworks. You noticed that he just stood there near the door of your room, watching you.
× You didn't touch him without washing your hands first, and he liked that. He liked that you respected his personal space and boundaries (even though he would love for you to touch him)
× Oh, how he loved to style your hair. It doesn't matter if it takes hours. He'll still do it. He watches you when you would play around with the children and twirl them around. He almost squealed when he felt you pick him up (even if you're shorter than him) and also twirl him around (like a pretty little princess fr. Just like the baby girl he is lmao-)
♡ His face goes slightly pink whenever he sits down as you show him some small fireworks for him to use. Every night, he lays down in bed, thinking about you and what you were gonna plan for him tomorrow. He giggles like a girl teenager in love as he drifts off to sleep, smiling.
♡ He walks along with you as you cover his eyes with a blindfold. He felt you stop and taking off his blindfold. Opening his eyes, he slightly gasped when he found himself near a lake as the night was a full moon. Hearing you chuckle and setting up the fireworks, he watches in awe. It was so beautiful.......
♡but the thing that most attracts his attention was you
"You are the one that shines brightly and beautifully in my eyes. You never wither away like a flower and always stay tall and strong, [name], I love you so much"
(He would kiss you first, definitely. Wrapping his arms around your neck or waist as he kisses you. You would take him aback if you kiss him back, and you could see him blushing as he grins. He'll definitely enjoy it if you picked him up and held him like a pretty little princess again and smothering his face with kisses)
Leviathan
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(Both from obey me game)
× He never really gave any thoughts about you. He always sees you playing games with children, either outside games, inside games, or even video games. Although your style of making up games was interesting, he still didn't pay much attention....Until you caught him wearing Ruri-Chan merch and her dress..... (You thought he enjoys cross-dressing or like wearing feminine clothing until he corrected you.....you may or may have not bought him more Ruri-Chan merch and dress)
× he was sooo embarrassed!!! He avoided you as much as he could and locked himself in his room for days!! Not until you knocked on the door, asking about Ruri-Chan and Anime. Saying that you were interested. Which made him hesitant but thrilled to show you the world of it. He squealed when he finally had someone to watch Ruri-Chan and Anime with him!
🎮 And when you asked him to play some video games with you, oh, you could see the excitement in his eyes. He made you come to his room every night and play with him [Don't let your dirty minds go wild >:( ] He would hog you so much that even the Brothers got jealous and tried taking you away from him for their own time with you.
🎮 He always envy those who captured your attention as if he doesn't already hog your attention. (Every brother would, especially Mammon since he is the demon of greed)
🎮 He would hesitate about going outside and spending time instead of staying in his room watching Ruri-Chan and playing video games. But he still followed you. He watches you play games with the children as you drag him over to join you and them. He never felt so active in physical activity. But it was worth it seeing the smile you had.
🎮 He found you making fireworks as you were excited to show him it. He quickly tried putting a blanket on the ground and patted the spot near him. You set off the fireworks as you ran back and laughed. Pointing at the sky, he saw fireworks blooming into a figure. It was Ruri-Chan! He was so excited and watched it as Ruri-Chan made different poses for each fireworks. He really loved spending time with you.....and he loves you
"U- uh, ahaha...." He flips the pages of a book as you stand there and chuckle. "A- are you Wi-fi? Because I can feel a connection!" Or "Are you my phone(life) charger? Because without you, I'd die!"
(Here's the real confession after those pick-up lines and he definitely still is stuttering hehe)
"[Name]...I- I uhm....I would love to spend my life with you...I love you!"
(He'll become redder than red itself if you kiss him anywhere, and he'll explode like a volcano if you kiss him on the lips.)
Satan
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(Both from game)
× he was interested in your fireworks. After you got closer with him, he actually asked for a custom firework. (The fireworks were like klee bombs on safety mode as fireworks) Amazed how it can burn so brightly without burning the near surrounding things since it was on fire....literally.....you kinda had to have a bucket of water ready since it was so hot that it actually burned something.(his heart) the plants ahhaah....
× his heart softly bounded against his chest lately. Did you put a spell on him? He grumbles for the whole day but soon lit up like a cat who sees their favorite person with a treat when he sees you. As soon as he realized, he blushed and quickly walked away. Leaving you behind cunfused.
🔥 this feeling felt painful, torturing, but felt so good. But it felt way worse when he wasn't with you for a while. And even WORSER when he sees you with some random demon. He just felt like ripping that demon to shreds, making them regret and wish they were dead.
🔥He starts to miss you, slightly pouting a bit. But he heard a meow outside his door, checking on it he sees you holding a cat as you have fireworks in a bag.
🔥 he happily held the cat in his arms as he excitedly followed you. Standing under a tree, he watches the fireworks with you. Leaning softly over to your shoulder. And he even invited himself to lay his head on your lap when you let him!
"You set my heart ablaze. It feels so hot but feels so good. But it hurts me to see you with someone else. You have my soul in your hands as it is on a firely blaze.....[name], I love you"
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mushangaa · 7 months
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Hanging Tree
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2023/11 (full view)
"Are you, are you comin' to the tree? Where they strung up a man, they say, who murdered three Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be If we met at midnight in the hanging tree" F!Leo and his horse Comet.
Just... I listened to the song from Hunger Games and got hit in the face with this image so I drew this almost in one go in one day expect for some details and colour corrections today. Peepaw is not well before he goes into the past TM. Comet tries her best. Comet is a Percheron bc I figured a tall Leo needs a strong big horse. Next to the youngsters and their horses both are huge.
I tried some different approaches with the colouring and which media to use first because I used inks, copics and watercolour pencils in this one and there have been some mishaps because I keep forgetting how much the coloured pencils seal off the paper if used first so those are definitely going to be the last step of any process if used. (comet has actually some blue shading via coloured pencils but the scanner ate those lol) But all in all I got out what I saw in my mind so I am very pleased. I could've worked some more details into the hazy background, make the clouds more apparent but the vagueness actually works well for the image as it is more a symbolic thing.
On that note, while the image is meant more symbolic for the struggles and grief Leo is going through if there are any concerns on trigger warnings I should put in the tags for this one please let me know because idk if it is warranted because of the noose around Leos neck? But yah, let me be clear, this is more about grief than anything.
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hoardlikegoldenirises · 9 months
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blurple time.
finally finished this~ months after he appeared 😅
you can tell there's a bit of a punk/industrial vibe infusing the whole design. i also drew from various details in the comics, and other random things like bulletproof leather jackets.
closeups, ramblings, (and a version with a cape) under the cut:
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i was originally not planning to add a cape cause i wasn't sure if i could make it work and tbh. still not sure. i like the way the purple cape looks from behind but the inside is like. idk. if it's purple then it looks weird, but the black feels off to me too... I don't think any of the other colors would work.
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oh also i decided this glows in the dark (predictable as always)
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Helmet's been through some sketches and stuff, spent a while figuring out the mechanisms and so on and settled on this design in the end.
Obviously you can see here the top is leather, it's based on a combo of a motorcycle cowl (with an angled zip you can just see there, and then the shoulders from an armored motorcycle jacket i was looking at. then the blue is meant to be a (heavily) modified like, boilersuit or whatever those are. mechanic's jumpsuit.
Plus all the spikes. Obviously there's no spider-punk in this setting but I like the aesthetics, and I like giving Hobie like a little thing of his own in terms of hobbies/interests so I thought adding that punk aspect would be fun, esp as it ties into his whole thing with being unsure of himself and being a little different and so on.
the lenses are one piece each, just with different colors of film on them, like you see on a variety of custom motorcycle visors. used chrome silver for the white "eyes," which i think would look cool and matches the metal hardware. very reflective. hobie prob won't be the only design with chrome/mirrored lenses for reflective purposes (thinking about the hobgoblin) (well. technically peter will also have aluminized lenses at one point but that's a spare mask for fires, not a main look)
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earlier concept which i drew on my phone actually lol. some of this i obv jus copy-pasted cause it was fine as is, other stuff got tweaked, like i ended up changing the lens shape to look a little more like the comics and i did end up scrapping that shape for the faceplate/chin.
and you can see there i edited a pic from the comics playing with what colors i wanted to use. i liked the steel blue that showed up in some of the older painted art from the Prowler's earliest appearances, and I felt like I wanted to give him a color other than purple and green, though I didn't wanna ditch the purple either, so I ended up with this kind of neon blurple + navy combo that I liked a lot. And the silver too.
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back of the jacket and helmet. Didn't originally plan on adding all those spikes but then I was sketching this out and I was like, oh... that would look cool... so i committed!! i like how it looks.
Originally I also had no logo/symbol on the front of the chest so I decided to put one on the back. Then I ended up adding that flat panel to the chest and added the symbol there too, and decided to keep the back one as well. i can def see a 19 year old being like, hell yeah... sick... people will definitely take me seriously now. and you know what. he's right.
i will admit i ended up a little dissatisfied with the story i told involving the Prowler in the linked fic, but... I also probably shouldn't have tried to wedge it between like five warring subplots. But it was like, the spot that made the most sense. If this was a cartoon I think it would be a like... 1-2 issue special focused more on him. And also peter would jump out the window. (The real tragedy that I didn't include cause it's hilarious, poor Hobie XD)
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Anywho. Is this mechanism needlessly complex? Perhaps. I tried to simplify it at one point but then the more I thought about it the less the simplified version worked so I stuck with the OG idea here. I mean, i guess I could have ditched the locking mechanism entirely but i thought it would be fun if the helmet was self-locking! I also wanted a way for it to rotate/go visor up even with the spikes, thus it being a pretty large rotating faceplate with the spikes on it instead of elsewhere. not that he ever puts it up in the fic. peter just takes hobie's helmet off there 😂
He's also wearing a balaclava under there which I didn't bother really drawing, mostly to protect his hair (which I put in twists for related reasons of helmet-wearing) (I briefly had been considering braids but then, well, ATSV and Miles G. happened and I said, well now I cannot do that XD) (I mean I COULD have but I wanted to do something else here lol) Anyway. The idea here is that it's a kind of slide lock with a spring-loaded peg that slots into the holes, and the square hole with the square peg locks the faceplate in place and prevents it from rotating, but when the square peg is in the round hole, the faceplate can rotate freely. The only wrinkle here would be that Hobie has to pull on both locks simultaneously or as close to it as possible or he'd risk cracking the helmet (i assume? stress and pressure etc.)
Sliding the lock forward also slides the whole plate forward, which lets me (in theory) have a flush, smooth silhouette while still allowing it to come forward enough to push up. It's not vacuum sealed or anything though. But it does have like... air filters and a voice modulator and some other things. MOST of the suit is super low tech and doesn't require electricity but the helmet probably has batteries or something. (peter's new webshooters at this point are also battery powered lol)
Helmet is pretty typical fiberglass construction with foam pads inside. Idea there is that Hobie made a lot of this stuff using campus workshop resources like autobody or machining shop on campus, for stuff like getting fiberglass, having a space to work in, making polycarbonate lenses etc. Though it's totally possible to do fiberglass work at home too. (peter also uses campus resources for his lenses specifically btw)
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Gauntlets!!! Uhhhh ngl very difficult. Trying to design armored gauntlets that don't look like knightly armor is very hard for me cause I always just google reference pics of knightly armor. LOL. I think these came out alright. There's a hint of motocross influence there too (though really even in modern days armor is armor so there end up being shared traits) The gloves ended up being mostly leather with some armored parts, though there is probably some inner armor which is not visible. The claws I left bare since you would not be able to sharpen claws coated in plasti dip—
oh yeah the purple color on all the hard parts is plasti dip, which is basically rubber paint.
The wrist gauntlets are very very very loosely based on a guy's grappling rope web-shooter thing which you can see in this youtube video: link. though i didn't wanna just rip him off so i mostly just said, alright, tubes and a harness—which the prowler already has in the comics anyway, albeit smaller. so really it's pretty much like the comics anyway.
Right wrist has the green laser dazzler, both have grapples, left wrist has EMP (not pictured) which Hobie uses in the scene I have him and Peter fight except then I realized recently I didn't actually explain what that was or how it was working 😂 I probably should have done that scene from Hobie's POV in retrospect. It's an EMP though and it scrambles Peter's spidey sense via interference/signal noise.
(electromagnetic signals being responsible for several cases of irl "hauntings" —> spider-man's haunted)
waist utility belt... I like the way the silver belt on the old art looks! So I decided to make these hard silver hinged cases instead of soft pouches (originally were soft but I changed my mind while coloring) — IDK if these really are metal or if they're just fiberglass with chrome paint lol but either way, shiny chromey, hinged to open, the insides are probably padded... buckle is actually metal though.
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Boots—modified snow boots. These are loosely based off of a real thing btw: link to blog post
The silver things are the magnets. Gauntlets are probably also magnetic but those are not visible like the boot ones. I also read some comments saying certain kinds of electromagnets would be preferable for something like boots but ultimately, IDK how to draw that, so I just drew it like they look in jen foxbot's prototype.
There was some other stuff I initially planned on including that didn't make the cut, aside from the cape. I was toying with stuff like a jetpack (or really, a jump jet), gliding/wingsuit, etc. but... I didn't use any of those. Kept it simple and streamlined for the most part. so no gliding for this Prowler, but hey, he's got magnet boots.
maybe in the future if Hobie ends up with an Iron Man-esque collapsible suit, perhaps he'll be able to fly, but for now, he's a college student making a supervillain persona so he can keep himself from getting evicted...
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And his face!!! cutie :3 loosely inspired by Greg Eagles' face (the voice actor for grimm from billy and mandy) Not that ATSV had no impact on this design but that was the main thing. Twists to keep his hair protected in the helmet under the balaclava etc. and something he can do himself, and then a twist out afterward.
plus you can see the nose rings I mention in Creep here.
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golby-moon · 9 months
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oh no I accidentally started making fakemon for the first time since my fake Fidough and Lechonk evolutions. these were designed for a few people from their discord usernames and from their own vague description of things they might wanna see
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first up is @whitster-lizzy
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I think by the end of a somewhat confusing back and forth that I was supposed to make a combo of Bulbasaur, Medusa, and poison ivy. I took inspiration from the last two, but just could not get Bulbasaur's plump little front half to look good morphed into a tail. instead, I went for more of a 'protector of the forest' thing and added a maternal vibe that Whitney kinda gives off and ended up with this. I wanted to put an emphasis on three for the three leaves of poison ivy, so even its tears (which may or may not be from sad edits and the inability to hug anything without poisoning them :(() carry that, as do the scales sporadically thrown around there. the arms became vines when I was too tired and frustrated to keep trying to redraw actual arms to get them to look right (oops) and the hair is just a mess as I'd expect vine-hair to be
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next is @rauko-is-a-free-elf, who started this whole thing with a comment about someone mispronouncing their name as 'Rocco'
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for whatever reason, I came up with an ice bird instead of something that screams 'rock type' idk why either. took inspiration from blue jays (one of their favorite birds) as well as peacocks with the tail and tried to go for sort of a crystal structure on there (along with dots that were supposed to be snow but failed to look like it) while still including the distinctive dark swoops blue jays have on their tails. the wings were supposed to be icicles and that was actually the first thing I designed rather than the head or the body. it really does make use of diamond shapes so I did try to add some rock type elements to it mostly in color scheme though maybe it would've been better without. I'm not really sure why it has a mask other than I wanted to give its face some dark lines like blue jays have but my brush was too thick to add too many little details. so mask👌
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now we have @bleuzombie
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I didn't have any sort of a prompt or direction for this one and based it entirely off of their username. I originally took inspiration from Machop in the way of body shape and went from there, developing a vaguely reptilian form somehow that looked a lot more lizard-y before the dark typing came out in the form of skeleton-bits not unlike the Cubone line. the spiky bat there is a reference to The Walking Dead ofc, which led me to develop more of a baseball vibe with the dark line under its eyes representative of the grease baseball played use to reduce glare and with the sorta long sock-like design for the feet, along with the baseball stitching pattern that doubles as what's supposed to represent the stripes like all baseball uniforms have. its hands have always looked boxing glove-y from the very first beginnings of the sketch so I just colored them to match the rest of the color scheme and oh no now it's a fighting type oops
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now @nickelkeep
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this one is also inspired by their username, which at first had me thinking about how dragons hoard coins but then somehow got turned into c a t and I don't really know why. either way I tried to keep a coin theme going (especially with its eyes, which are supposed to look like coins) while also making it a dark/fairy as sorta requested and it became a representation of the duality of cat: both angel and devil (also a twist of money being the root of evil and all that). so it got fluffy and spiky at once and now has pitchfork-themed whiskers and a few occult symbols to offset its scarf and heart motifs. I think this one was actually the first design I worked on and to the relief of everyone, I actually used a reference of a cat to get the pose right 🎉
(idk why there's a bad drawing of a nickel I think I was originally gonna make that into a background but I did decide against it in favor of making these look more like official pokemon character reference sheet things. enjoy the bad nickel anyway)
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next one up is @anyreiart
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idk what happened with this one. I don't know much about anyrei and their username doesn't inspire much in the way of fakemon (beyond a few seconds where I thought of making a sun-inspired something with the 'rei' becoming 'ray'), so I went with a theme based on what I do know, which is that they paint, along with two pictures that they sent, one of which was Gothorita (the other was for a hairstyle I think but I did steal the funky red and black checkered tie from that because reasons). going off of that, this one is supposed to look like a paintbrush with its body and its edgy anime hair, and its belt continues carrying the paintbrush motif. since I was provided with the request to make it goth, I added thick eyeshadow-esque lines under its eyes and kinda used the hairstyle from the picture while also turning it into a paintbrush that utilizes their favorite color as the paint color. carrying the gothic art idea, I tried to make its lower half (originally meant to be a blobby sort of easel shape before I changed it) into something resembling stained glass windows that was famous at the time (I got confused multiple times while making the stained glass design so it's not all that consistent uh). it was supposed to be dark type, but ended up giving off more of a ghost/fairy vibe after I realized I accidentally made it a ballerina paintbrush (oops)
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moving on to @as-lost-as-sams-shoe
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this one is heavily inspired by their username, starting with the scallion, which is a kind of oniony thing. they themself actually added the 'wrapped' part to push the pun a little further, which made me think of Swadloon and its cozy little leaf blanket, which naturally led to the scallion with its massive head and slimmer body (to match the shape of an onion more than a scallion admittedly) to be all wrapped up. scallions have leaves that look like they were cut straight across, which lead to the development of its 'bangs' (which was also inspired by the fact that scallions themselves grow underground and only the leafy parts are seen, adding a 'shy' element) as well as the tassels along the bottom of its leaf-wrap. the lines along its body are made to represent both the rings inside of an onion as well as the word 'rapscallion,' which is a term that can be used to mean villain or bad guy, earning it prison-esque stripes. its eyes are massive as a play on onions making people cry, and the smaller parts of its eyes that I can't remember the names of are based off of onion rings. the skull and crossbones shape is just to make it pirate-y, which is what I can't not picture when I read the word 'rapscallion' for one reason or another
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and finally @zybynarx, who gets a finished one as well as a sketch I scrapped and started anew
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I actually had a lot to work with for this one, as they specifically asked for a fire type puppy pokemon. first instinct is ofc to go for a dalmatian, which is the firehouse dog or whatever, and I wanted to make the lower half black as a reference to that scene from 101 Dalmatians where they coat themselves in ashes to appear completely black. I made some firefighter-y stripes and tried to make its back legs look almost like boots which looks, in a couple of word, super weird. I then added tinder fluff on head and a kindling sort of thing on the neck, but when I tried to develop the back half's design, my brain sorta died and I couldn't decide what to do, so I went back to the drawing board fully intent on making like a complete copy of what I'd already tried
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instead I ended up with this personification of tinder that's just all fluffy all the way down instead of the almost lion mane of tinder design I was originally picturing. I carried over the themes of adding firefighter stripes to allude to a firefighter's jacket as well as the kindling collar thing the other one had. I kept the bottom half black but made it more like wispy smoke than ash that trails behind it when it moves (which is a lot because puppy). the eyes are two pieces of coal and the nose is supposed to look like a match but doesn't. it looks very fluffy but is probably too squirmy to make a good lapdog. it just has that squirmy ball of energy vibe to it
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whether people really like these or not, it was definitely a learning experience, and I did pick up on a lot of things to keep in mind for future fakemon designs (particularly not to overcomplicate things and go more for consistency, which I did not originally do as I wasn't planning on make them into character sheets at all and didn't plan beyond the main drawings of the fakemon)
this craziness is a result of the @deancasanimebang (which is still accepting artists until October 1st :0)
(08/28/23)
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bonesandthebees · 1 year
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This part is just going to be about theories as to what could happen and details that I think are neat.
1. Reason behind Tommy's attack: So Tommy's been more skittish and on edge since Wilbur almost murdered him, that is a big given though he's been fairly good at hiding it. He's been carrying a knife around with him so that was a Chekhov's gun, very well played Bee. My best guess is that something happened that caught Tommy off guard (he hasn't been out since the ball, people are constantly pointing that out so I'm assuming it's a mix of him being anxious about almost dying and him being out for the first time in a while), he accidentally slashed Jack who saw it as an attack, maybe he said something before that gives him reason to suspect that that's why he was attacked, I don't know but people are not very logical if they have just been stabbed or otherwise endured bodily harm via knife. We don't know what Jack's exact wounds are so that is my best guess under the assumption that it was a slash of some kind on maybe his leg or something since Niki was helping him up but I'm not dying on this hill. Jack is a smart guy and probably won't jump to 'attempted murder' over one jab and if it was on his leg, it probably wasn't very severe since he would need to run back to the temple.
Basically, I don't fucking know but that is my best guess. My theory is about as solid as swiss cheese.
2. Ponk not giving the bottle of pills out of fear that Wilbur would overdose? Yeah that checks out. Even Niki is afraid of that. I do think that while Wilbur is not actively a suicide threat, he is very unstable and all it takes is one night or moment when he's alone and a sharp downward spiral for him to decide to restart the Pythia cycle. It's a smart move by Ponk but very very sad. But now that Tommy has joined the attempted murderer club, currently populated only by the dude who tried to kill him, I wonder if he's actually going to get those pills. I would hope so but I'm not sure who would get them for him other than like Phil and Techno but they'd be very occupied and I'm unsure if Wilbur would ever think about opening a door for anything when Tommy is in emotional distress and not the Deathlings favourite little guy right now.
Even if Wilbur knows that they wouldn't hurt Tommy, I don't doubt that his protective streak will kick into high gear, maybe to a point that he wouldn't trust anyone around him, especially if Tommy doesn't want to see anyone & in general his reaction to possibly seeing other people once he is out of crowd and back in his room with Wil.
But idk, we will see
3. Shrike symbolism!! I love that Wilbur is like "man, the little birdie in my chest could be a shrike but like, I'm not cool enough for that. I'm just a songbird" but Niki is kind of gently nudging him towards "don't underestimate yourself" while also just making a general statement, at least that's how I see it. But also maybe foreshadowing. Wilbur finally snapping and going sicko mode?? I'm waiting for it. I will not be caught off guard again.
4. Niki and Jack's backstory :((
We get another look at how dogshit and corrupt this country is and we get it from the perspective of someone outside the palace. Someone who first hand experienced the brunt of the corruption and just wahhh. She's being so open and vulnerable as to what happened, it's fucking awful with what's to come. I cannot put into words how distraught this makes me, especially when I was so happy with like 'oh Niki and Techno crumbs!!'. How dare u.
I think I'm done for now though. You'll know if I have anything else to say lmao
Great chapter, I am so nervous about the next chapter and what's going to happen in it.
2/2
- 🦈
oooo interesting theory as to what happened, you'll have to wait and see :)
yeahhhh the bottle of pills thing is probably okay for wilbur right now given he's a lot better than he was doing just a week before, but ponk and niki weren't sure of that. also not gonna say anything else regarding tommy getting painkillers. you'll have to wait and see for the next chapter.
the shrike symbolism was so fun to include i've had that written down for AGES now. niki was definitely trying to nudge him into thinking better of himself, so we'll ahve to wait and see how that progresses
(also just a note bc I don't really know where else I could talk about this, but shrikes are known for impaling their prey sometimes with their beaks. chapter 11, which is when wilbur has his panic attack after slipping up about schlatt, is called 'a beak jammed into a bone' referring to the bird in his chest and how it felt like it 'impaled' his ribcage when that happened :))
niki's backstory gave me a lot of opportunity to flesh out how fucked up the society they live in is. just the corruption that sits at the heart of it all. and yes techno and niki crumbs i love their dynamic <3
tysm for this shark anon!! i've missed seeing you in my inbox i hope you're doing well!!
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yeo-rims · 2 years
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can i just say i really appreciate your reviews on kdramas in general. youre one of the few blogs that actually appreciates good writing for what it is rather than what you would have liked it to be. so many reviews about little women on things people 'didnt understand' or 'didnt make sense' are solely because the show or the characters didnt move in the direction fans specifically wanted them to. when overall the writing was complex and well thought out, almost every character was three dimensional and flawed and real and went through their own personal growth, and the ending was conclusive and tied up loose ends to make up for all the plot twists. idk i just think that this drama is receiving more hate than the appreciation it deserves and i feel like youre one of the only people who really tries to appreciate its details and symbolism and meaning and i wanted to say thank you for that
oh god, this is so sweet! thank you so much. I am obsessed with writing about the shows that I'm enjoying, it's part of how i interact with them, and if there is something that I've realized is that I'd much rather focus on what I am seeing rather than what I wish it was, because nothing will ever be perfectly crafted for me, but that's why watching something that challenges our perspective is so good.
That's not to say i don't criticize when I think it deserves, some of my favorite shows had moments that made me completely upset, but I tend to think if that's from a personal viewing experience or if it is just the writing not being as complex as it is trying to be, or if the text isn't making much sense. Recently I've read a review on The Red Sleeve and they liked that the court ladies in that show were the villains because it gave Deok Im agency. I never thought it like that, but I could see where they were coming from. For me, as I've written before, made me dislike seeing their complexity reduced to petty revenge, even though, it is still a show that I really loved. When I was watching 2521 this year I had a different sort of disappointment, it came from me wanting a different ending, but I could see how the ending we got was not bad, just different.
The thing about Little Women is that the ending was actually what I wanted and coincidently what I think made sense and also gave us that sense of justice served that I personally love in stories about class/money. I wasn't watching the show to see them fail and die and spend their lives in jail/ i would've hated that message so much. I was just thinking about how, in my personal opinion, think Hwa Young was only incarcerated because the moment she involved In Joo in her revenge (even if it wasn't with ill intent) she was using the same logic behind the General's ideology. Not nearly as awful, but still by failing to see how complicated that money would make In Joo's life, she put someone that is like her (poor) in danger. That was the only mistake she's done, and that's why in the end her app is popular, she will still have money once she's out of jail, and In Joo forgave her, walked through acid for her, and in the process killing Sang Ah. Because the money they stole was, actually, never the Won's family money. The money the rich gets by exploiting the poor isn't something they actually earned, is it? So the show never went that route of "In Joo was actually in the wrong for stealing, she should pay for that" that some shows do by the end, like how many revenge shows we know that the male lead has to spend time in jail/running away? Granted, In Joo has been through hell, but her ending is literally a new beginning, it's what that house represents. She can start over in a house like that and rest her soul.
Yes, it was her dream to be with her sisters, but was it In Hye and In Kyung's dream to be with her? Why must we consider only 1/3 of the sisters when thinking about everyone's ending. Considering how much In Joo was still willing to sacrifice in order to let In Kyung have a nice future, do we really want her to still live for others? Yes, Do Il could've stayed, but why would he, really? At that moment, at least. They all need time to heal, and healing is different for everyone. In Joo isn't alone, she has Hwa Young, her sisters albeit distant, and even her parents in the group chat. And she can start over and make new friends and buy expensive ice cream with that money, even if she killed Sang Ah in the process, even if she lies and steal. I get not everyone is watching dramas for how long I am, but still, this is such a different take from what we normally see. Every sister got part of that money, even In Kyung who was against it! Because they deserve that shit, for everything they've been through, for everything they couldn't have been before. Even Do Il got the money and got out with no time in jail, why so? He never betrayed In Joo (moral of the story: don't be a class traitor lol).
But honestly, the show uses its extravagance to talk about the ideology behind capitalism in a way that isn't like, say, squid game. Little Women is genuinely fun, it is so creepy at times, the rich are insane like people were so obsessed over plot twists they forgot to see what was in front of them. A mutual of mine on twitter said something about how straightforward this story is (compared to other things jsk wrote) and honestly!! people overcomplicated the show and if they didn't give them the slightest explanation to things that were honestly very easy to get... then it had plot holes? At this point is not the show's fault anymore. Even if I also got confused at first with In Joo leaving jail so quickly I feel like she paid a fine or something, because in the next scene they are talking about the grandma's house being sold. What I mean is, sometimes a show really won't give any clues, but Little Women actually gave us enough for us to understand what was happening without it being spelled to us every single time. The team behind it trusted us that much, man.
Anyways!!! thank you! for these kind words, it really brightened my day <2
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starlitships-moved · 1 year
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Facts about my Gra.vity Fa.lls S/I:
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🦇🐈‍⬛ She has many different nicknames - Echo, Squeak/Squeaks/Squeaky, Wings, Fangs, etc. (Mostly given to them by Stan XD) 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ Her real name is actually Eden Aspen. She doesn't like people to know her real name... feels too personal in a way... So they just go with whatever nickname people give them! 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ She was drawn to Gravity Falls a few years ago, since she has always been really interested in the unknown, cryptids, anomalies, you name it! 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ One day, while she was out exploring the forests of Gravity Falls, she got kinda lost... and night fell. She was bitten by a werecat AND one of those vampire/fruit bats... IN THE SAME NIGHT. 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ They started working at the Mystery Shack a little bit before Dipper and Mabel visited for the summer. 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ Is friends with both Soos and Wendy! Even Stan has a soft spot for them! 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ To hide her bat wings, cat ears and tail, she wears hats, hoodies etc. And hides the tail in her pants! The wings, though... You know the episode "The Love God"? How he hides his little cherub wings in his backpack? That's what she does! Just cut little holes in a backpack and puts her wings through it to look like a bat wing backpack! XD 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ The only time she can really be herself is when halloween and summerween come around... She just tells everyone that her ears, wings and tail are a costume! 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ In fact, Stan started calling her all of those little bat nicknames because of her little bat wing "backpack".... But honestly? He KNOWS she's some sort of anomaly. He isn't stupid! XD 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ He just doesn't see her as dangerous/a threat, so he lets her work at the shack! (Plus he needs the extra help... it's so hard to find folks who actually WANT to work there!) 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ The twins eventually find out her little secret as well! But instead of fear, they just think she's so cool! Mabel loves her "kitty" ears, and Dipper asks a billion questions about her condition... XD 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ They actually have a symbol on the Cipher Wheel: a pair of bat wings! Because of this, Bill refers to them as Wings a lot. 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ Speaking of Bill... She accidentally summoned him the same way Ford did years ago: by reading that incantation in the cave! However, she didn't make any deals with him. (She actually just thinks he's something her brain dreamt up - that he isn't a real creature!) She kind of becomes friends with him since he keeps visiting her dreams... (he was trying to get her to make a deal, but she didn't know that XD) He's been visiting her regularly for several years, and she just thinks he's her imaginary dream friend! X'D 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ However, once Ford shows his picture to the kids, she is SHOOK. She tries not to let Ford know that SHE knows him though... it's kinda complicated - Like a mixture of embarrassment and being afraid he'll think she's working with bill... 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ That night when Bill inevitably visits her dreams, she tries to distance herself from him... Which he doesn't seem to like very much! :o ( tbh I think Bill actually started getting attached to this weird little human XD Platonic, romantic, idk but he's definitely attached :o ) 🦇🐈‍⬛
🦇🐈‍⬛ After she kinda broke off the friendship/relationship thing with Bill, the events of several episodes and eventually weirdmageddon happened! ( I don't have concrete details yet on some of these things though. Maybe later! ) 🦇🐈‍⬛
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tendouluvr · 3 years
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not telling them you’re pregnant - f!reader
- fluff, sliiiight angst maybe
- characters: suna, sakusa, semi
- warnings: pregnancy (i don’t go into detail of giving birth or anything), cravings, morning sickness aka throwing up, two mention of the act of sex in semi’s, some cursing
- wc: 1.4k, 888, 946
a/n: it’s f!reader cuz pregnancy but there’s no specific pronouns/gendered terms used
also idk how suna got so long, he was the last one i wrote for bc i couldnt think of anything lmao
[2. iwaizumi, atsumu, kageyama]
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SUNA
#! suna has been practicing late into the night the past few weeks
#! there’s a big game coming up and the entire team is feeling the pressure and adrenaline from the crunch time
#! you haven’t been feeling too good lately, a lot heavier and more tired than usual
#! thinking it was just stress from work and the missing presence of your boyfriend, you pushed through it and thought it would go away in the next few days
#! unfortunately, luck wasn’t on your side and you started to get sudden needs to throw up
#! it didn’t take you long to realize why your physical and mental drive have been down lately
#! you’re pregnant
#! or you believe you are
#! you bought a few tests, some of different brands so you can have a variety, and headed home to confirm your suspicion
#! a few minutes later, staring back at you was multiple positive symbols and the bolded ‘PREGNANT’s
#! taking a few deep breaths, you decided to tell suna tonight once he comes home
#! you thought it was better to let him know as soon as possible
#! it wouldn’t hurt anyone plus the faster you rip the bandaid off, the easier it’ll be to deal with it
#! so you waited
#! and waited
#! until 11pm that night, when suna finally came through the front door
#! “tarō! how was practice? can we talk?” you hurriedly greeted him
#! he was taken aback, not expecting you to be right beside him and in his ear as soon as he came in
#! of course you weren’t, you made sure to put some space in between you and him
#! but suna was stressed and tired, so everything is intensified to him at the moment
#! “can you back up?” he mumbled, pushing his way from in front of you to walk to the kitchen
#! “oh, sorry. can we talk?” you sheepishly smiled, hoping he would say yes
#! you’re not blind, you can tell that suna was tired but you really didn’t wanna put this off
#! you were just gonna tell him, he gets surprised, you both talk it out, and then go to bed and continue figuring things out tomorrow morning
#! but before any of that can happen, suna bluntly told you, “no. i’m tired. i’m sure whatever it is isn’t a big deal. can it be tomorrow? i wanna sleep.”
#! you didn’t get to answer before he was already walking away to the bedroom
#! understanding where he was coming from, you mentally agreed to talk to him tomorrow. one day wouldn’t change anything and you’ve seen plenty of people not tell their partners until a few weeks in
#! he was right, it wasn’t a big deal (yet)
#! so you waited until tomorrow
#! and waited
#! and once again, he came home late
#! “hey! can we quickly talk, babe?”
#! “i’m tired. tomorrow, okay?”
#! “oh, okay. night, rin!”
#! “g’night.”
#! night came and there was still no talk
#! this continued on for about 2 weeks, you finally choosing to not care anymore and just let him find out whenever he finds out
#! technically, you could’ve just blurted out a simple, “i’m pregnant.” any point during your nightly five seconds conversations
#! but seeing that he really was tired, springing it onto him would either put him in a full body shock for three days or he just doesn’t fully process your words until three days after
#! a month has passed, your stomach was still barely showing like most women at their one month mark
#! you decided to book an appointment for a checkup, it’ll be while suna’s at practice
#! and that doctor appointment was the exact reason suna found out
#! he was at practice when komori entered the gym
#! he had a doctor’s appointment for his annual checkup, and that’s where he saw you
#! you didn’t see komori, busy reading the directory to find your way to the right office
#! but he saw you on the way out. seeing that you looked a bit busy, he chose not to greet you and just quickly walk to his car lmao why is this funny to me
#! entering the gym, he greeted everyone and apologized for his tardiness even though it was excused
#! walking up to suna, he tapped him on the shoulder and quietly told him, “i saw yn at the hospital earlier. it’s been awhile since we all got together huh, they looked a bit different.”
#! ok so komori, being the smart person he is, deducted that you were pregnant when he saw your finger pointing at the ob/gyn office
#! and he genuinely thought suna knew so his comment was suppose to be a small joke that was meant to tease suna and his sex life
#! suna, however, was confused
#! look different? did you get surgery?
#! “what do you mean?”
#! komori rolled his eyes and gave a sweet smile at suna, “congrats you two! when were you gonna tell the rest of us?”
#! suna: 👨‍🦲 huh
#! “are you guys not pregnant?” he blinked at suna’s frozen reaction
#! suna became unresponsive so komori just walked away mumbling to himself about being sure he read the sign right
#! a loud whistle blew and it shook suna out of his daze, everyone got ready to play a practice game of 3 vs 3 while suna ran over to the coach
#! “hey coach, um i think there’s an emergency at home. can i go? ok thanks.”
#! his coach just stares after him as he sprints off, you think? is there an emergency or not?
#! suna quickly drove home, he may or may not have speed a little, and entered the apartment
#! “yn? baby?” he called out only to be greeted back with silence
#! probably still at the hospital....what were you doing there? he thought to himself while rummaging around the house to find anything that could give him somewhat of an idea
#! he was digging around in the bedroom when you came home, his head so frenzied he didn’t hear the front door open
#! but you heard the ruckus from the bedroom and immediately went into fight or flight
#! panicking, you took out your phone to call suna while quietly opening the front door to make your way back out before the intruder catches you
#! the phone rang and rang until it was picked up. “suna?” you whisper-yelled into the speaker. you had a habit of calling him by his last name when you were freaking out. he noticed and was equally alarmed
#! “what’s wrong?” he whispered back just as panicked
#! “there’s someone in our apartment. can you come home?”
#! “huh? oh, are you home?” he cackles into the phone speaker making you move the phone away from your ear, “it’s me, sweets, c’mere.”
#! you warily walked on your tiptoes over to your bedroom, peeking your head in and what a surprise, it is suna
#! “jackass! why are you home?!”
#! “why didn’t you tell me?” he cut straight to the point
#! “huh?”
#! “you’re pregnant. when were you gonna tell me?” his voice sounding stern, but the quiet smile dancing on his face tells a different story
#! “i tried.”
#! “huh? what do you mean?”
#! “all those times i asked if we could talk. i was trying to tell you.”
#! his heart dropped, eyebrows furrowing, while he stared you down
#! suna became unresponsive once again, standing there trying to think back to the first time you asked him
#! two weeks ago
#! “i’m sorry,” he quietly whispers
#! “hm? i..it’s fine....i was a bit sad, but i’m over it. at least you know now,” you casually shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal
#! “no. i shouldn’t have pushed you aside like that. even if you weren’t pregnant, even if you had just wanted to tell me about some stupid video you saw that day, i shouldn’t have told you off. i’m sorry, i love you a lot and you deserve so much better.”
#! “tarō, shut up. i accept your apology and i forgive you, now make it up to me by giving me a back massage while i show you the ultrasound pictures!”
#! he kisses you before lifting you up bridal style making his way to the bed
SAKUSA
#! contrary to popular beliefs, sakusa is not an obsessive germaphobe who finds everything disgusting but you
#! he wouldn’t be playing volleyball if he was that afraid of germs,,,,,
#! yes, he cringes if random little kids grab onto him after games because 1) he’s drenched in sweat and that feeling is not fun
#! 2) he doesn’t even know themmm
#! and 3) he wanna go home
#! but sakusa loves you and if you happened to get pregnant, he would love your kid(s) just the same
#! however, he never told you this. he never really had a reason to voice this out loud
#! so when you actually did get pregnant, you were confused
#! the only interactions between sakusa and kids you’ve seen multiple times were the moments between him and his fans
#! you guys have been to family parties and his nieces, nephews, and cousins looooves him
#! maybe it’s the fact that he’s a tall looming giant and they just want to climb
#! but besides those moments, you don’t recall him ever telling you upfront that he wants children of his own
#! and the constant stress and pressure he always seem to be working around also doesn’t help reassure you in any way
#! being an athlete for a living means always watching your body, health, and looks for the cameras (but omi could care less about the last thing)
#! he also has to make sure whether or not he’s working well with his teammates, practice and improve on anything he’s having problems with, and deal with atsumu’s dramatic ass
#! you’re an overthinker and because of that, all of these reasons were just reasons for you to postpone the pregnancy news to your long term boyfriend
#! it wasn’t too hard anyway, considering practice runs late sometimes and he’s busy majority of the time doing other stuff
#! when you guys do have alone time together, you both are so focused on one another that you actually forget that you’re pregnant and you never told him
#! you’re about to hit the three months mark now — time goes by fast — and sakusa has noticed you and your body changing
#! at first he just thought you were going through a phase of cravings and a bit of bloating, so he didn’t mention it and just let you be
#! he never got to witness you getting morning sickness because he goes on early runs or he was just out doing morning errands so he wouldn’t have to deal with it later that day
#! so when he caught you in the kitchen cutting up a lemon, the last thing he was expecting you to do was bring the lemon directly up to your mouth
#! “uh, what are you doing?” his deep voice caught you off guard, effectively stopping the hand that was holding the lemon
#! you just stare at him, not wide-eyed, not surprised, just stare
#! “eating a lemon.”
#! “i can see that.... why exactly?”
#! “dunno, the baby i guess.” you casually shrugged it off before popping the lemon slice into your mouth
#! “ah-,” he opened his mouth to stop you from eating the lemon, your words not fully processing in his mind, but cut off midway and froze when he finally realized
#! hearing him pause like that made you suddenly remembered that you never told him you were pregnant
#! you slowly turned back to look at him, mouth still slowly chewing the lemon slices
#! a moment of silence later, he unfreezes and just starts stiffly walking towards you
#! he grabbed you by the shoulders, made you look him in the eyes, before whispering, “you’re pregnant?!”
#! “y-yes..”
#! his eyes were wide, black pupils expanding as he stared you down, his lips slowly curving into a small smile
#! “you’re pregnant....,” he whispers, mainly to himself, hugging your head into his chest
#! “mhm, get off me i’m trying to eat,” you gently pushed him off but he wouldn’t budge
#! “omiiii please, if you get off i’ll give you a slice,” you tried bribing him. he couldn’t tell if you were being serious or just teasing
#! “no.”
#! “um ok, two slices?”
#! “no.”
#! “omi!”
#! he giggles before opening his arms to let you go
#! “why didn’t you tell me?”
#! you didn’t reply right away, making him start to overthink
#! did you not want the baby? or did you not want a kid with him? did you not want to be with him anymore? or was it not his?!
#! he childishly shakes his head side to side at the last question. he knew you wouldn’t do that
#! but you were still silent, making him nervously glance at you from the side
#! “sorry, piece of lemon stuck in my teeth. i just forgot to tell you,” the words easily flowing out of your mouth nonchalantly
#! sakusa’s fingers were literally about to start twitching from anxiousness beside you
#! a sigh of relief was heard from him and you turned to look at him
#! “you okay?”
#! he doesn’t answer, just gives you a smile and goes back to hugging you from behind
SEMI
#! you were currently sitting on the couch in your shared apartment waiting for semi to come home
#! he’s been on tour for a few months now, you both kept in touch by facetiming, texting, calling, and any other methods of virtual communication
#! you would tune into the live recording of all of his performances when you had time so you could watch him
#! a few weeks into tour, you suddenly felt different than usual but shook it off as nothing and probably just you missing your boyfriend
#! you believed that until one morning you were woken up by the sudden urge to throw up, dashing to the restroom as fast as your drowsy body can go
#! it was then that you realized you might be pregnant
#! the night before semi left, you both had sex to enjoy your last few hours together before he had to leave for a few months
#! with the new realization, you quickly dressed yourself to make a short trip to the store to pick up some tests
#! after half an hour of looking at yourself in the mirror, trying to wrap your head around this, you finally opened the first box
#! a few minutes later, all 5 tests were lined up on the bathroom counter showing positive
#! you stared at the tests, trying to make sure you weren’t reading it wrong
#! once you began to understand the responsibility of being pregnant a few hours later, you made a mental note to go out and buy some food for yourself the next day
#! you decided to sleep off the rest of that day
#! through all of the facetime calls with semi, you never once told him you were pregnant
#! you knew that if you told him he would freak out and either demand to go back home, or stay but all of his attention would be on you being pregnant alone at home for the rest of the tour
#! so here you are now, sitting with a 4 1/2 months baby bump waiting for your beloved to come home
#! it was around 6pm when the front door opened, sounds of shuffling bags and heavy steps could be heard from the musician
#! he cursed under his breath when he almost tripped over a duffle bag with some of his loungewear, calling out for you as he walks further into the apartment, “baby? i’m home!”
#! he was about to speak up again when he saw you asleep on the couch
#! bouncing his way over, he got onto his knees at the edge of the couch to observe your face. god i miss you, he thought to himself
#! he gently shakes you awake, you jolted in surprise not knowing you fell asleep in the first place
#! “hmm- what?,” soft murmurs falling from your lips as you adjusted your eyes at your surrounding
#! “eita!” he grinned at you, both of you pulling each other into a hug
#! “fuck, i miss you so much.” he whispered into your ears before placing his face into your neck
#! “i miss you more.” you tightened your grip around him making him move up on the couch to get more comfortable
#! you both moved around until he had you cradled in between him, your back against his chest
#! his hands going under your his shirt to caress you there when his movements stopped right on top of your stomach
#! it was silent as his warm hands rubbed your stomach in circles, the gears turning in his head
#! “are you- you feel- why’s your tum so round and hard?” he quizzically asked, still rubbing your stomach
#! “pregnant.” your voice a low whisper, he almost didn’t catch it
#! “what?”
#! “pregnant.” you repeated, a bit louder this time
#! “huh?”
#! “pregnant!” you sighed, moving his hand so you can get off of him
#! he grabs your wrist to stop you from walking away and turns you to look at him
#! “you’re pregnant?!”
#! “i just said that. yes.”
#! you knew you sounded blunt and a bit mean, it wasn’t his fault he doesn’t know at all, but your hormones have been making you crankier and it’s out of your control
#! “sorry. yes, i’m pregnant.”
#! his eyes continuously darts up and down from your eyes to your bump
#! “how long?”
#! “since you left.”
#! “was it the night before?” he was referring to your act of intimacy the night before he left
#! “yea.”
#! “wow. why didn’t you tell me?”
#! “because.”
#! “‘cuz what?”
#! “because i know you. you would either stop touring and come home, or stay but lose focus. i was just trying to not distract you because i know how important your career is to you. and because i thought that you’ll be having a six months break after this tour before your next comeback, i would tell you when you came home. i’m sorry if you’re ma-,”
#! “i’m not mad. oh don’t cry, babe, look at me.”he carefully cups your face, “it’s okay, it’s okay. i get why you kept it from me. and now that i have no schedule for the next six months, i can be there for you until the end of your pregnancy and the beginning of our baby’s life alright?”
#! you weakly nodded against his palms, and he brings you back down to lay your head on his chest as you both softly talk about the past months without each other
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thechekhov · 3 years
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Alright, alright, I caved.
After a slot opened up in me to be able to take on another show emotionally, I decided to invest in OwlHouse. I thought I would probably like it, but it won me over faster than I thought it would.
I’ve already watched a few episodes, but I realized that it might be more fun to do liveblogs, so here I am - with a liveblog...
I will be doing this episode by episode, and probably releasing them every once in a while. Everything will be under a cut, however, to save you all dash space.
If you’d like to follow, please track the #chekhov watches owlhouse tag!
(I’d also like to dedicate this post to the Tumblr Staff Rob, who did his best to restore this post for me when tumblr queue ate it.)
Without further ado...
Episode 1!!
Fair warning - this is technically not a ‘live’ blog, because I have already watched some of the show before deciding to do this, but I’ll still react to them to round things out.
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Immediately, this reminds me of Little Witch Academia... Anyone? No? Only me? I feel like maybe I’m getting my wires crossed, but there HAD to have been some inspiration taken from there?
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“No-- my only weakness! Dying!!“
Same, big snake monster. Same.
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Oh, backup snakes? This girl is READY.
Please don’t mistreat the snakes.
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Spider breath... This kid is on my wavelength. That griffin seems to be waiting to be put out of its misery though, and I don’t blame it.
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My child... where did you get that pigeon head though.....
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Nurse mother, do you REALLY think signing up your spider-summoning daughter for summer camp will actively make her antics slow down instead of ramp up to 60?
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Awww, baby makes AMVs... But also, NO ONE TOLD YOU TO THROW AWAY THE BOOK??? I know it’s symbolic, but goodness, isn’t that a bit much???
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wait a sec, is that Eda????
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Love the realistic bilingual kid experience of replying in English when your mom talks to you in your native language. Universal.
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Love this introduction of Eda’s character. She’s got that little green scarf on and everything. Like a tiny trash grandma.
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Oooh, okay, let’s extrapolate...
Lots of bones everywhere. I kinda love the aesthetic here - it’s gross and visceral, kind of like what Luz was making with her school projects. Yet in the middle of it all we have a rather clear gothic looking structure. Is this a power imbalance in the supposed kingdom?
The five circles of stained glass seem to perhaps indicate something like Hogwarts houses? Several different types of magic?
But Luz has no reason to freak out as much as she is - she LOVES weird stuff! Haha... No, I kid, I kid. I get it.
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“Am I in the bad place?“
Eyyyyy, gotta love shows referencing other shows. :)
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“Oh dear child... I’m not like you.”
Wow, what a DRAMATIC reveal for some pointy ears. :) I love her.
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We should all aspire to have such cool and stylistically well put together wanted posters. You can tell the commissioned artist really respects her craft.
Steven Universe fans watching this:
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I’m looking too.
Okay, okay, enough shenanigans, let’s have some LORE.
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I love this landscape. Teeth or bones, or whatever they are, this is one of the more unique settings we’ve gotten, though maybe I’m prejudiced because I love body horror and bones. The darker orange and red themes fit really well here.
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Things I’m desperate for: Giraffe Lore 
Things I’m more desperate for: Eda lore. Why do her limbs fall off? Is she a zombie?
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Things I’m not quite as desperate for: Hooty lore. He can keep that to himself.
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well hello there mysterious chekhov’s glyph which will DEFINITELY not be relevant in the second chapter (or end of season? Maybe? Idk it just seems important).
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Ah, yes. That would have been my reaction as well, to be fair. Somehow I didn’t expect to see this guy so early on. I figured he would be a low stress early villain that got assimilated into the Found Family. Kinda psyched that he’s just there from the start.
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....I’m just gonna presume this is all true and accept it at face value.
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Old Escape The Cops Lady and Tiny Little Demon King, I need your backstory. How did you meet.
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I love looking at background details, because like... you can tell the BG artists had fun. I particularly love how the 3 eyed toad doesn’t actually have any reward attached to her. Though the Knife Baby does intrigue me!
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“I write fanfics of food falling in love.”
Why am I being called out...
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“Noo! My weak nerd arms!”
Finally, a realistic portrayal of a protagonist thrust into a fantasy setting!
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.....................
Okay but. If only humans could pass through the barrier... wouldn’t that mean a human had to have deposited those things in there? Do they have a human on staff in this weird pseudo-prison??? Suspicious....
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Confession - when I initially saw ads for this show, I expected Eda to be a villain, not a loveable middle aged witch aunt figure. I am shockingly even MORE drawn to her this way. I expected betrayal. I expected her to be a lowkey threat?? But no. She’s just wholesome in the way a solid raccoon is.
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“Eda, are you okay?!”
“Yeah, this just happens when you get older...”
“........does it..?”
If I had to pinpoint the exact moment this show won me over...... it would probably be this one.
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I know it’s probably the wrong thing to focus on, but what is that insignia? Wings??? Like.... the kind OWLS HAVE?????
COINCIDENCE??? I THINK NOT!!!
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I’m really loving the landscape here. And those fireworks are... hmm... intricate?
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Gotta love the old tried and true Witch Apprentice Actually A Live In Intern trope. :)
Hold up...
Is that
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Is that Hooty? I thought he was just a door....
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Eda: This is my room for human stuff. I will also put my human in there.
. . .
Overall rating: I think this is a cute overall beginning. The prison break went hard! I enjoyed the characters and it kind of surprised me in a lot of ways. It definitely does a great job setting up a world with a lot more to explore while giving us a small taste of cool magic stuff and witchy battles. :)
Now on to Episode 2!!
Read the liveblogs in order by clicking here!
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ssweeneys · 2 years
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How do you think Cassie and Nate's dynamic shifted since season one? Cause I went back and rewatched yesterday and like he was so mean to her talking about her and showing her nudes, pretty sure he had them saved on his phone. Very odd. Almost like he was a little obsessed with her. I know season two said he met Maddy first but I think Rue's narration can be a bit skewed sometimes. Idk to me it just seems like he's speaking out of a place of rejection like maybe he tried to get with her and she was like nope. I don't think Nate was ever her type to begin with.
Putting under the cut simply because this got so fucking long lol and I don’t wanna clog up someone’s dashboard with my thoughts being all over the place. 
I wanna start off by saying, I agree that Rue's narration of things is a bit skewed. She's definitely not the most reliable or reputable source for information given that she's an addict (1) and her mental health is not at it's greatest.
I, personally always thought Nate had a thing for Cassie. In the Pilot when he brings up the sextapes to McKay he says that it doesn't matter if he likes her or not because it's irrelevant when McKay calls him out for digging her and then goes on to label her a whore. His attraction to Maddy was, he was led to believe she was a virgin and therefore she was untouched whereas with Cassie because of the emotional abuse and pressure from guys previously, he knew she wasn't. Nate's a very possessive human being. His way of gaining control in an uncontrolled environment is through ownership. It's why he treats women like their property, particularly how he did with Maddy throughout s1 and we get a small glimpse of in s2 when Nate is hounding McKay for info about his interaction with Cassie. Speaking to my boyfriend irl (from a real guy's perspective and he has a tumblr here so he may chime into this but...) some guys, like Nate, seek out those details when they're possessive types because it's a way for them to process it. Nate constantly belittling Cassie in s1 and making fun of McKay's interest in her does somewhat stem from a jealous place. He wanted to get into McKay's head about her and numerous times he succeeded in order to push the two of them away. Same with them at the gas station when he's asking Cassie so many questions and he sort of got into her head too. He's jealous, plain and simple. Cassie symbolizes a life Nate wishes he had, a love that's nontoxic and straight forward and structured. With Maddy it's the complete opposite.
Quote directly from Jacob Elordi about Cassie and Nate:
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Sydney's perspective on Cassie's attraction to Nate too:
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Keep in mind that everything we've seen thus far is a collection of flashbacks, memories, thoughts and real events. For the sake of storytelling, more elements come to light as necessary. So we really only get snippets of how these relationships started and there could be more to it that we don't know or will be revealed later on. Like with Nate meeting Maddy his sophomore year first before Cassie. For all we know, as Sydney suggests they could've had a flirtationship. There's obviously a familiarity there and these characters know each other. Like you said too, at one point he could've made a move on her and she rejected him.
More on the control thing from Jacob:
“I think he has an issue with control and losing one person would mean losing control of them,” Elordi said. “But I think there’s a much more sensitive side to it as well in that… I don’t know if you’ve ever been in love, but I think that state, you store it in your bones somewhere. I don’t think you ever really let go of that love for somebody.”
“I know as a teenager it’s incredibly hard to let something go. And [Maddy has] also known him through all of his bullshit,” Elordi said. “So I think he’s genuinely torn between loving two people. Which is the kinder way to put it.”
Jacob also says at the end of ep 2 in his interview that Cassie is helping develop Nate's character in a way where it does reveal his softer side. Their scene at the construction site just goes to show there's something about her he can't walk away from. Cassie is definitely more supportive and emotional and could bring out better qualities to Nate. Looking back on s1 there's a lot of hints towards Nassie. The pilot with him having her nudes saved, the carnival where he's questioning her relationship with McKay and Cal points and kinda goes hey, get you a girl like her. Cassie finding out she's pregnant and McKay brushing it off and basically guilt tripping her into getting rid of it. She says to him she didn't want to have a baby but she just wanted to dream about it for a moment. Cut to s2 where second ep, Nate is having dreams of what a life with Cassie could be and look like and how much happier he'd be if he had someone like her. They're very much on the same wavelength, I think and aside from Jacob and Sydney's chemistry, I do think it's fascinating to watch.
People are going to hate it and hate them for it. I get it. But, I do think it's necessary and it will be a learning curve either way. Plus, it offers both characters a lot of character development. How else will they grow if they don't make mistakes? I trust Euphoria. I may not always agree with everyone's actions but I love this show. I love the characters, every one of them and it resonates with me so deeply.
Also, I can be a little bias probably lol just because I've loved the idea of Nate and Cassie since s1. I've crackshipped them, rewrote them in AUs and shipped their faces so... that's just me. I'm not saying I condone what they do, how they do it, etc. It's entertaining and interesting to watch.
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plush-rabbit · 4 years
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Shigaraki Dating An Artist Headcanons
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A/N: I made it more focused on traditional art because that’s what I do so… yeah. There’s hints to digital but idk how that works so!!
Shigaraki always sees you buried deep in a black notebook with a pencil scribbling over and throwing eraser shavings into a trashcan. He isn’t interested in it at first, brushing it off but when Toga starts to clap and praise on well you draw and how you bow your head and shake your head rapidly, his interest is peaked.
He often comes in when you’re drawing Toga. Despite how bubbly she is, if you ask her to do a pose, she’s more than willing to stand still for a while, as long as you let her keep the portrait that is. He tries to take a peak but you brush him off, telling him you’ll show him later but surprisingly Himiko already took the portrait and you’ve already put away your journal and it’s so late. Well, good night Tomura and you place a kiss on his cheek and snuggle close to him.
He’s a bit peeved that you won’t share your artwork but he’ll roll his eyes and push down the bitter feeling rising in him. That is until Twice and Mr. Compress take a peak and suddenly they want to pose and it practically takes away all of the time, you two have together! No, he isn’t jealous; he just doesn’t want to be waiting ten minutes for you to never show up. He’s not jealous, really!
But then you go up to Spinner and you shyly ask if he’ll let you draw him. You just got these new colors and he has such pretty scales and in somewhere you hear a door slam. Okay so he might be a bit jealous that you’ve shown practically everyone your sketchbook and you’ve been drawing them too and you haven’t asked him but whatever. You also haven’t asked Dabi so it’s fine.
But then Dabi pops his head into his room and holds up a rolled piece of paper and pulls it down so your signature is visible and he has the audacity to smirk as him and give him a peace sign as he leaves the door open. Okay so everyone has seen your sketch book, whatever. He’s not gnawing on his lips and looking at the desk where you tuck away your sketch book.
You’re not home. You’re out doing something- Shigaraki thinks he heard you say you had to get new nubs or pens? He isn’t entirely sure, he was only half listening as his mind was somewhere else. You’ve been gone for a while so you probably wouldn’t be back if he were going to take a peak. He gives a glance at the door, checks his messages and then he’s off the bed and on his knees, pulling out your sketchbook and he feels a bit bad but his curiosity wins over.
You’re drawings are detailed, some have color, others don’t. The texture of the paper is a bit thick and it’s until he comes across a watercolor painting does he realize why. You have different styles of everything, some are sketches of the League together, most separate and with different symbols around some. Others are of people he doesn’t know, some anime characters he presumes and maybe a few original characters with the notes doted on the side. You have different styles, different shapes and things all around.
They’re really good. You’re really good. He likes the colors you use. He likes the imagery and wow, you’re really good. He reaches the end quickly, given each work a glance and appreciative hum. But he frowns. Where was he? You drew everyone from the League and even people who weren’t real so where was he? Surely you must have drawn him at one point. But he keeps flipping and looking in the back of pages and there’s not even a doodle of him.
“Tomura, what are you doing?” You hold a plastic bag of art supplies in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other.
“Where am I?” He gets right to the point, rising to his feet and holding the sketchbook carefully in his hand, pushed outwards to you.
Your mouth is pulled into a thin line and you walk past him to drop the bags on the bed. He follows you with his eyes and you grab the sketch book from his hand and put it against your chest. You can’t meet his eyes and your leg is bouncing.
“You’re not in this one,” you mutter.
“Yeah, I know so—”
“You’re in my other one,” you look up at him and quickly avert your gaze. “I- I like drawing you- a lot- so I have on mainly just for you.”
“Really?”
You roll your eyes. “Yes. It’s embarrassing. So—”
“Can I see it?” His eyes are wide and he takes a step closer to you.
“Tomura, it’s embarrassing!”
“We’re dating,” he deadpans, holding his palm out to you. When you look at him shyly, he rolls his eyes. “Please.”
“Admit you were jealous,” you pipe, bouncing on your heels and a slow smile curving onto your features.
“I was not—”
“Then no.” You turn around and begin to rummage through a plastic bag, pulling out the contents and dropping them on the bed.
“Ugh, fine. I was jealous. Now let me see.”
You stand up straight and flash him a grin. You kneel down and pull out a smaller sketch book, holding it out for him. He takes it quickly, going to sit down on the bed and he begins to flipping through it carefully.
As you said, there are drawings of him there. He’s asleep in a few, in others he’s eating, smiling, in a few he’s wearing outfits he doesn’t own and when he looks at you, your head is bowed and you’re clutching the sides of the desk until your knuckles pale. They’re all really good. In a few, you’ve only colored his eyes, other’s you color his hair. He wonders if it holds any symbolic meaning.
“They’re really good.”
“Yeah?” You ask, head still turned away from his. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do. Why didn’t you show these to me before?” His finger runs through the edge of the pages.
You shrug. “It’s a lot of pages of you. ‘Fraid you were gonna get a big ego or something,” you joke lightly, face flushed when you look back at him. “Sorry.”
He nods slowly and closes the sketchbook and hands it back to you. “Well, if you ever need to draw me again,” he scratches the back of his neck, “well, you know.”
You rise and press a kiss against his cheek. “I know.” You lean on his shoulder and run your fingers against the back of his hand. “And I will.”
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burnedbyshoto · 4 years
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reincarnation
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— Five chances to fall in love. Five reincarnations to find the person you’re destined to be with. It just so happens that in each life you keep meeting a man with brown hair and a sweet involvement of primroses —
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pairing: kaibara sen x fem!reader
warnings: soulmate au!, reincarnation au!, royalty au!, fake dating au!, college au!, villain!kaibara au!, fluff, angst, cursing, alcohol consumption
word count: 11,820
a/n: this is for the bnharem flower server collab!!!! check out the masterlist here, its pretty dope as fuck!!!! also I know dat none yall know who he is because we sleep on class 1-b, but i worked so hard on this and I wrote it in a single day, and its 4 am rn and im exhausted so pretty please help a girl out and just read it ;-; I also tried out a new... voice??? idk how to even explain dis, but yes huzzah!!!! kaibara sen rights!!!!
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
The world is a fantastic place.
And to my beautiful reader, know that this is a world where soulmates exist. A world where someone is created flawlessly for you is someone who holds you to the highest symbol, who carries you through the most significant highs and lowest lows without a whine or grievance. 
A soulmate is destined to be yours, but sadly they are hidden within the world. 
My dearest reader, you only have five chances to figure out who your soulmate is. Five reincarnations to figure out who the one who is meant for you. Lucky for most humans, soulmates are found within the first two reincarnation cycles but heed this warning.
At the end of you and your soulmates twenty-first year, you must find each other and fall in love. Should you fail to find and love your soulmate, you’re put into another reincarnation to try again. Each attempt is marked on your wrist, a Roman numeral to indicate whether you have succeeded or failed. You will carry the rest of that reincarnation unable to ever see your soulmate ever again, but when the tattoo changes colors, you know the person you love is the one for you.
Good luck, my dearest reader, this is a challenging journey, but I know that you will do well.
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆ i ⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone on their first reincarnation!”
Your eyes looked up to the handmaiden, who was currently helping you dress for the ball tonight. You were to wear a heavy dress of silks and satin sitting prettily on your body, the detail exquisite, the meaning behind each embroidered flower astonishing. 
You knew that the importance of your appearance was paramount as the daughter of a duke and duchess. You could very much be a future Queen consort considering that the royal families were dried of ladies. This was to be a ball in your name, a moment for courting, and arrangements to be made. 
At the age of eighteen, it was much later than other people would have expected it to be, after all, most balls such as these were to be done in the sixteenth year, definitely not the eighteenth. Two years truly made a difference.
But to your parent’s advantage, it would mean that by tonight you would most likely be engaged to some man you had been educated on years before. 
Glancing down at the small Roman Numeral I on your wrist, you smiled, nodding your head. Around this area of the world, most people already seemed to be on their second and third reincarnation. For all that was good, your parents themselves were on their third and second reincarnation. They weren’t soulmates but figured a life of leisure and power was better than a life of love since they had more chances.
“I know that I am the only one on my first reincarnation cycle around here,” you sighed, your manicured finger tracing the innard of your wrist. The red ink was strong against your skin, so strongly procuring against your skin, a statement of your isolation from your soulmate. 
Long ago, you had learned about soulmates, you remembered the warm light that held you in your earliest memories that explained the concept, and you further learned more as you grew. A near 75% of the population encountered and fell in love with their soulmate on their first reincarnation. Of course, once you fell in love and lived happily ever after, that was it for you, or so that’s what everyone claimed as there had been no true love gold ink gracing anyone’s wrists on their second or so on reincarnation. 
You were a bit of a romantic, keening in the thought of having someone perfect for you. Inexplicably yours, impossibly perfect for you.
You often wondered if you had already met your soulmate, but the barring symbol of no one else having a roman numeral one on their wrists made you realize it was no one you already knew.
“Mrs. Lane?” you spoke, your fingers twisting into the silk undergarments you wore.
Your hair was done already, the makeup sitting beautifully on your skin. But there was an undeniable fear in your eyes when you brushed over the mirror before you. 
“Yes, Your Grace?”
“Have you met your soulmate already?” you asked, your stomach twisting in the thought of what may happen tonight. Could you really handle maybe passing a handsome gentleman or a beautiful woman with a Roman numeral one on their wrist and resist not immediately believing it was your soulmate?
“I have,” she nodded, exposing her slender wrist to you, the gold Roman Numeral II shining beautifully in your gaze. “He works in the palace, actually. Why do you ask, Your Grace?”
A soft smile graced your face at the sight of the golden ink. For too long, you had only seen it within your literature. Never once having been exposed to it in your world that was heavily plagued with those who cared more about politics than love. 
“It just occurred to me that I had never once asked if you had,” you smiled, your fingers letting go of your tightly held undergarments. “But let us carry on, my guests should be expecting me soon.”
~
Balls were glamorous and needless to say, quite fun.
The music was lively, the food was exquisite, and the people were merry and handsome as they danced around the floor. Most balls you attend always leave you rosy-cheeked with both alcohol in your blood and from the rounds of dancing you would participate in, but tonight was different. 
Your cheeks were rosy with exhaustion, hours of being twirled along the dancefloor, terribly bleak conversations going on between you and a hopeful courter, and the refusal of alcohol from your parent’s behalf. They wouldn’t have you messing up their only chance of seeing you married to the Prince, who was duller than a rock. 
Your feet hurt with the unforgiving throb of the tight heels you had to wear, and in this moment of peace, you wanted to cry when you watched two men come to approach the table where you sat between your parents.
“Your Grace,” the older man bowed lowly, his most likely son bowing as well.
“Duke Kaibara, what do we owe this pleasure?” your father spoke clearly and eloquently, the smile on his face charming, but you knew better. 
He didn’t want a marriage of equal status — especially not when the Kaibara family was known for their war abilities, which were meaningless in a time of peace.
“My son wishes to have a dance with your own daughter,” Duke Kaibara spoke with a transparent lie painted on his face.
Attempting not to scoff, you glanced over at the man who stood beside the Duke.
He was reasonably tall, his stature befitting of someone of his class and quite honestly much better than the Royal Highness himself. Unruly dark brown hair that you could tell immediately had his servants in a craze to put into the slicked-back style it was attempted to be in, the few strands falling into his eyes, making him more comfortable to look at. His eyes were as black as midnight, shining bleakly yet with stern sharpness to it that had you questioning his stoic aura. 
The black of his suit was also adorned with pops of gold and royal blue, definitely a commander.
“Y/n would love to accompany him for a dance,” your mother spoke, her hand pressing against the back of your dress, lifting you up to stand before you could even think of protesting.
“I’m glad,” the Duke laughed heartily, and you sighed quietly.
With your hand pressing into his own, both of you walked in silence to the dance floor. 
The song began, one that involved more one on one time and less prancing with everyone on the dancefloor, and you were unsure whether you appreciated that at all. On the one hand, it would have saved you the horror of having his smoldering eyes everywhere on you, but it also meant you two could waltz around without a care.
“I don’t care to marry you,” he spoke suddenly, catching you off guard immediately. “As a matter of fact, I had no desire to come to your ball.”
“Well, that’s a bit rude to say,” you splutter, your fingers digging into his shoulder while you nearly stumbled in your box step. “There was no need to tell me that!”
“My father thinks that because we are both in our first reincarnation, it will give some leeway into having our union, but he is too much of a romantic.”
“And just who are you exactly, Your Grace? I know of your surname, but if you are going to be speaking to me so brashly, I have the right to your birth name.”
As the two of you spun against the floor, the throb in your feet ignored; his eyes came down to meet yours in a piercing gaze. Was he shocked by your lack of submission?
“Sen,” he spoke, his lips pursing. “Sen of House Kaibara.”
“Well, Sen, you are incredibly rude!” you flustered, smoothly moving with him with the sudden pick up of speed in the music. “Even if you are not here for my hand, the least you could do is pretend!”
“You looked like someone who appreciated honesty, Your Grace,” there’s a glint in his eyes. Something you can’t quite pin or understand, but it sends your stomach into a loop at the way his lip quirks with his words, and how his eyes narrow almost as if in teasing.
“Oh, I definitely am, but even that was too honest for our first conversation,” you bite back, your long ruined lipstick-stained lips pulling into a smile. “Have you never been around a lady before? You should really be paying attention to your etiquette classes, Sen.”
“Are you really lecturing me on my etiquette while calling me Sen?” he asked, his jaw-dropping just the slightest in disbelief, using a heavy hand on your waist to pull you in and twirl you out of the way of a drunken pair of dancers. “I think it might be you who needs to be paying attention, Your Grace. Especially if you are defying my every word and not turning into a submissive rock at my commands.”
“It is a woman’s job to make sure a man knows their place,” you snickered, twirling with the beat of the song. “I am simply doing that.”
Kaibara’s mouth opened, words almost daring to pour out, but alas, the song was over.
The two of you parted, bowing to one another while the other dancers did the same while everyone cheered and rejoiced in their ability to dance to this song.
“Would you like to go on a walk with me?” Kaibara asked, his hand reaching out towards you. 
“I don’t care to walk with you,” you breezed, quickly repeating his first words to you ever. “But I assume it will be better than returning to the table to be sold off.”
Although Kaibara’s stoic face had long remelted over his face, you couldn’t deny the glint of amusement in his eyes at your words. With yet another outstretched hand, you took it, and off the two of you went. Away from the party and into the cold night.
The both of you wandered aimlessly through the gardens of your estate, the hedge labyrinth being something you went through with him under his predictions as you already knew the answer to this puzzle. 
You felt at ease with Kaibara, the initial belligerence of his personality seemingly disappearing the more you talked with him. He was still quite aggressive, his words clear, loud, and intentional with each speech he made. But you found yourself enjoying it more and more, especially after the two of you bonded over the spinning fountain in the royal palace. 
“Do you like flowers?” he asked when the two of you sat against a stone bench.
“Depends,” you hum, placing a finger on your chin. “I am less than thrilled with flowers with thorns. Do you have any idea how many idiot men have given my flowers with thorns in them?”
“I will assume a lot?”
“Three! That is three too many!”
Kaibara laughed merrily, his hand running through his gelled unruly hair, while his head dipped back to stare at the sky. 
“I’ve only gifted someone a flower once, and I did not go according to plan.”
Your eyebrows scrunched, you studied the man who stared up at the sky in a way that looked like he would fight the gods themselves should they appear. The soft glow of the halls barely reached this side of the garden, but with the help of the heavenly moon, you saw him clearly. He was a stranger, you knew that, but there was something about him that called for you, pleading you to learn more about him — everything about him.
“What was the plan?” you asked softly, your bare foot hitting his leather-clad shoe with a pointed toe. He had helped you take off your shoes the moment you entered the garden.
“Well, we were the same age, as you and I are,” Kaibara nodded, his hands pressing to the bench behind him as he shifted his weight to lean on his hands. “As I spoke earlier, my dad was a romantic, and embarrassingly enough, I was too at one point…”
He trailed off, and your head tilted, you felt like you knew where he was going with this.
“I offered the girl I loved a red rose, but she told me that we would be wrong together. She was on her second incarnation, and I was on my first, so there was no way we could be destined for one another,” Kaibara confessed, his tongue wetting his lips while he shrugged. 
“That is quite unfortunate,” you frown, your gaze dropping to your hands. 
“It was.”
The two of you fell into a tense silence, your mind unable to procure any form of thought to ease the tension between the two of you. But you looked up and saw a bush of white primroses before you. With a surge of confidence, you stood up and took a single primrose from the bush. Returning to Kaibara’s side, you placed the primrose in his hands.
“You may not appreciate this primrose, but our estate is known for the primrose, it's a trademark of my family. You may not have found your soulmate yet, Your Grace, but when you do, they will be amazed to call you theirs.”
Kaibara’s hold on the white flower was delicate, his fingers twirling the stem between his fingers while he sat there. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, and he nodded, his eyes warming up while he locked eyes on you.
“You’re a bit weird, you know that y/n.”
“Only those I trust know that,” you winked, further delighting in the way that a crooked grin sat on his face.
Unfortunately for you after that night, you would never have one like that again. The arrangement to marry His Royal Highness was set, and you would never see Kaibara again after your wedlock to the Prince that happened on your twenty-first year alive — not that the two of you realized that.
You long after passed away.
You lived a happy life, a full life, but the thoughts of his Grace Duke Kaibara Sen always plagued your mind no matter what you did. How you wished that he was to be reborn too so that you could possibly meet him once again.
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆ ii ⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
“Sen, leave my primroses alone!”
“I just can’t believe you still have these?!”
Your face was abnormally warm while you stared at your childhood friend Kaibara who was currently walking around your entire room, deliberately, and horribly going through your personal belongings. He was in workout clothes, black gym shorts, and a grey t-shirt under a yellow windbreaker; the sight of him so comfortable in your room made you a bit more embarrassed. 
The two of you had been friends for forever! Your parents were best friends and soulmates, so they figured that both of you would be soulmates. While it had been a cute and innocent thought when the two of you were young, it wasn’t so nice with the two of you nearing twenty-one and with no actual relationship in sight. How your parents found each other on their first attempt was beyond you, especially since you had the exact ii marked on your wrist.
But the worst part of your parents trying to convince both of you that you were soulmates was the thought that the two of you had once sort of dated. It had happened in secret, after all, both of you agreed should your parents find out it would equate to some block party celebration — which both of you didn’t want.
Still, the two of you were only sixteen when it happened, and while it could have happened that the two of you were meant for one another considering, you shared the same birth year and were on the exact reincarnation it didn’t work out. You loved Kaibara, you indeed did, but the romantic feelings between the two of you quickly burned out. Thankfully, it hadn’t made anything genuinely awkward between the two of you, and your parents never knew!
Win-win!
But the first memory you ever had of Kaibara and you, it involved a primrose. It was spring, and he had found a bush full of them, and with his chubby baby hands, he had picked them out for you and gave it to you. You had loved it, and it seemed to become an unspoken tradition between you and him.
Every significant moment between your lives, he would always give you a primrose, even when they were out of season. 
The last time he had given you a primrose was when both of you graduated high school and went onto college. He had gone to a different one from you, and it was like facing death itself when you no longer saw him in your classes. Nowadays, the two of you only saw each other during breaks and the occasional facetime.
So in the middle of summer break, he was over in your room after a run — judging everything you were saving apparently.
“I should destroy these flowers; they’re not supposed to be kept like this,” Kaibara sighed, the stems of the dried and pressed flowers so brittle between his fingers. He looked back down at the box he had found, his free hand stretching out towards your storming figure to keep you at bay. “Damn, y/l/n, did you really keep every single primrose I ever gave you?!”
“It’s sentimental, asshole!” you cried in embarrassment, your hands trying to grab the box that indeed held every primrose he had given you with a tag that had the day you got it and why.
“How have I known you my entire life and still not know this about you?” Kaibara grinned, his knees bent, and ass jutting out to keep you from nearing too close.
“I’m going to kill you!” you sobbed, your fists beating into his back while he simply continued on.
“I haven’t seen you face to face in months, and you’re going to kill me? You’re sort of the worst best friend ever,” Kaibara admitted, finally relenting and letting go of the box and leaving your possessions alone. 
You quickly covered the box, grateful that he hadn’t destroyed anything, and sighed when you put the box back in your bookshelf. Out of sight, out of mind for now.
“I do have a favor to ask of you,” Kaibara admits, your bed groaning quietly under his weight while he sat on your bed. Your face immediately questioned his motives; you knew your best friend probably better than he knew himself, and you knew that there was no bliss in having him say those words to you. All your life, his favors had nearly landed you in the hospital after all.
“And what favor is this?” you asked, your arms crossing while you looked at him with your eyebrow raised. “Am I going to have to go egg your highschool rivals' house again? Oh! Am I going to tell your girlfriend to not be intimidated by me anymore?”
Kaibara’s grin melted away, a stoic and unnerved face glaring back at you. Being best friends with someone like him was not a good thing at times like this, it seemed.
“Then I’ll go ask Ami for help then,” he spoke without a hint of mercy, his hands pressing onto his lap to stand up.
“Wait, no, Sen! I was joking! Please don’t do this to me!” you whined, shoving him back down onto his bed so that he was sitting there with a still expressionless face, but his eyes gave him away. “Anyone but stupid, Ami!”
“Well, if you don’t want to help me, I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you,” he pointed out with a slow blink.
How he got under your nerves sometimes.
“What do you want then?” you grumble, sitting down on the bed beside him, your arms folded and a pout on your lips. 
“I need you to be my date on top of pretending to be my girlfriend,” Kaibara replied immediately, his eyes resting on you with ease and grace. You looked ready to question everything he was saying, so he moved on to explain. “My parents were invited to a wedding, and I need to win a bet.”
“What kind of fucking bets are you making that it involves having a girlfriend? I thought you were anti-soulmates?” you question, your gaze unamused while your dark-haired friend raked his fingers through his spiky hair. 
“Okay, first of all, I just found your creepy primrose collection, so I know you’re still in love with me, but I’m going to need you to back off —” he dodged a punch you aimed for his shoulder— “But the bet was made because no one thought I could get a girl like you.”
“You can’t get a girl like me.”
“I already have, hello?”
You grinned at his look of discontent at your statement, but you finally sighed, your head coming to lean on his shoulder. You smiled, feeling his head resting upon yours, and a silent agreement was exchanged through this pose. 
“When’s the wedding?” you ask, your eyes closing at the gentle rolling heat emitting from his body.
“This Friday.”
“The theme?”
“Summer? I don’t fucking know.”
“How long have we been dating?”
“Seven months.”
“Oh, so detailed,” you softly sigh, eventually laughing when his fingers twisted the skin on your shoulder. “Do you still kiss like a twelve-year-old boy?”
“No,” he groaned, his hand covering his face. “We shouldn’t have to kiss anyways.”
You laugh more, your shoulder pressing into his a few times while you bite your lower lip, “I’m just making sure we cover all the bases.”
“Yeah sure,” he sighed, holding your hand in his. “Thank you for agreeing.”
“I’m going to look hot as fuck, and I expect to make sure that everyone at this wedding is starstruck by me.”
“I’m sure they will be.”
~
The apples of your cheeks burned from all the fake smiling you had done while exchanging hellos with the other guests you had never seen in your life at this wedding. It was the wedding for Kaibara’s boss, which explained why your parents were not here today — most parties had both your families in attendance after all.
“When Sen told us that the two of you were finally dating, I think I actually cried,” his mother told you, her hands grabbing yours when you sat beside her. As part of the favor, Kaibara had asked you to run most of the crowd control just because he was horrible at keeping things… not hostile. “Your parents told me that they didn’t know either!”
You laughed, your gaze flashing over to Kaibara, who was in the middle of a conversation with the guests who were sitting at his left. A coworker, it seemed, and if you knew any better, a coworker he liked just based on his body language.
“Yeah, it just sorta happened over a call?” you squawk unsure of how to handle this best. “I guess it helped that we’ve known each other for so long!”
She nodded her head, her eyes swimming with mirth and love while she sighed happily. 
“I can’t wait until it’s your wedding with Kaibara!”
With a nod of agreement, you were almost too excited when plates of food were distributed to you all. For the remainder of the dinner, you and Kaibara put up a solid front, the both of you falling into old habits of once being lovers to pull off this scam. It was the gentle whispers between the two of you, the silent exchanges, and the physical actions of your relationship that seemed to tie the story together.
“Y/n?” Kaibara’s female coworker spoke to you in the middle of a joking argument between you and Kaibara. You paused mid-rant, your head dipping towards the table so you could see her past Kaibara’s chest. 
“Yes?”
“Do you mind coming to grab some dessert?”
With no reason to say no, you nodded your head, a smile gracing your figure.
The two of you went over to the esteemed dessert table. Piles upon piles of sweets and goodies sat on the table that called your name while you skimmed around with his coworker.
“I’m Kimi, by the way,” she introduced herself when you zeroed in on a brownie.
“Nice to meet you!” you smiled, the name further confirming the fact that she was the one that Kaibara liked.
“Likewise,” she smiled, bringing a Rice Krispy treat to her plate. “Um, Sen told me about the bet, I know that it’s all fake.”
Your eyebrows raised, you hadn’t known that much.
“Don’t worry! I’m not spilling! This is a bet against Tsurabara, and I want him to lose anyways,” she quickly interrupted, her hand rubbing the back of her neck. “You two looked ready to start a big fight, so I thought it was best to get you out.”
A burst of soft laughter bubbled in your throat while you nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s okay! I’ve known Kaibara since we were in our mom’s bellies, this isn’t anything!”
Kimi’s eyes blinked rapidly, her eyes casting to the side in some sort of inferior action that you knew almost too well as the best friend of a handsome boy. “He likes you too,” you whispered, winking at her before walking back to the table to provide your fake-boyfriend and his parents with their favorite desserts.
But as you returned to the table, you were stopped when Kaibara stood up, his face set in a soft scowl, and his stare a mile away.
“Please go and dance with our son, y/n!” his father asked with sincere hope in his voice. “The two of you have been entertaining us this entire time, please go have fun!”
You wanted to say that it was fine, but it seemed in the three minutes that you had gone, Kaibara had been made to do this. He grabbed the plate of desserts in your hand, dropping them onto the table and led you out to the dance floor where everyone was gathered.
And as a slow dance came through, a weird sense of deja vu overcame you when he held you close. 
“I haven’t danced with you in years,” you mused when your wrists rested onto his shoulders, his hands warm on your waist. 
“And that’s my fault?” Kaibara asked, his eyebrows raised in amusement and annoyance.
“For sure,” you sighed your gaze stubbornly on his. “If you didn’t let me go to all those high school dances with a date that wasn’t you, I wouldn’t have this problem.”
“You’re a brat, you know that?”
“You say brat, but I prefer the term… aware of my worth.”
“You’re as equal in value as my pinky toe is.”
And even though there was never an awkward moment in your relationship with Kaibara, there was this melting that occurred between the two of you. Something invisible that melted away between the two of you while you swayed side to side while in his arms. Your head rested on his shoulder, and he lay on your head. A peaceful silence while you danced in time, a perfect movement between the two of you while the music seemed to fade away.
“I’m going to kiss you, okay?” he whispered in your left ear.
There was a weird yet pleasurable shiver that traveled down your spine with his hot breath against your ear. You liked it, but that still didn’t stop the twist in your stomach when you pulled away. His eyes were dark and serious, so very much Kaibara Sen it seemed.
“Okay.”
His lips met yours in a soft embrace. The smoothness of his lips softly parted between yours, dancing in different ways from your swaying bodies, and much more fulfilling than any other kiss you had ever shared with him before. Your fingers locked in the back of his hair, and he drew shapes into your back.
Kiss after kiss was exchanged between the two of you on this dance floor, each sequential kiss blazing your heart brighter and brighter until you realized that your heart was hammering disgustingly loud in your ears when he finally pulled away for the last time. You didn’t think that this favor would have landed you in the hospital, but with the way your heart failed to stop drumming violently throughout your body after the many kisses the two of you shared that day, it was hard to say that he didn’t. 
But after that day, you came to realize that you still liked Kaibara, but he didn’t feel the same way. You cut off contact with him when he started dating Kimi, and the two of you last saw each other Christmas on your twenty-first year alive. He was happy and in love, and you quietly sat with your head in the storm clouds.
After that… you never saw him again, which made you think that made your parents have been right about the two of you being soulmates. 
But you had to move on for this reincarnation, it seemed.
You lived, loved, married, and died.
The box of primroses he had given you your most prized possession until the day you peacefully passed away.
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆ iii ⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
“Can I please get a black roast coffee... in the biggest size you have,” you sniffle, your eyes red, fingers dabbing a tissue at the falling tears on your face.
“Uh, that’ll be seven hundred yen,” the man with the name tag Kaibara S. spoke.
You handed him the cents in your hand and waited for your receipt.
“This is only five hundred,” Kaibara slowly stated, and it seemed to push you over the edge because you began to bawl.
Primrose Coffeeshop was the only coffee shop that had discounts for broke college students such as yourself nearby, so it was the place you went to practically every day. So it was to no surprise to workers such as Kaibara to see that you were finally breaking down.
The world blurred in the time he told you that it was okay to not have the adequate amount since you were always buying things from the store, to someone quite literally leading you back to your mountain of textbooks and laptop, and the coffee coming out and being placed at your table. Through your tear drowned eyes, you looked at the assignment you had to write.
Twenty pages of research for something you didn’t understand at all. 
“Are you okay?” a voice interrupted the hiccuping snuffled sobs that continued to pour from your mouth.
With a tear-streaked face, a wet nose, and blotchy skin, you looked at the dark brown haired barista who seemed to have gotten off of his own shift. His apron rested on his forearm, his hair still pushed back with the hairband that sat on his face, and his clothes were plain and simple. His face was pretty stoic to look at. Given the apparent discomfort in his eyes, he must have taken a lot to ask you this.
“N-No!” you sobbed, your lips trying to keep shut to stop the self-proclaimed horrible sobs that still tried to pour from your mouth.
“What’s… uh… what’s wrong?”
“My whole life is falling apart!” you laugh humorlessly, your hands slapping the coffee table with a pathetic sniffle. “I-I’m on my third reincarnation, and the statistics of finding your soulmate this late in the cycle have plummeted dramatically! My thesis for my p-paper isn’t viable anymore because I didn’t c-contact my professor on time. So I h-had to make a new one… I don’t even know!”
Kaibara remained silent, unsure if he should stay or leave. He had only asked because his coworker had been weirdly worried for you, and well… he did too, but this was a bit too much for him. Why couldn’t you have just said you were alright?!
“That… sucks, I’m sorry.”
You let out a choked sob, the veins in your face bulging in your attempt to just… stay quiet.
Kaibara stared at you, pity and concern seeping into his bones the longer he looked. With a sharp sigh, he pulled the chair out and sat down. “How can I help?”
Somehow from this one interaction, a weird comradery began between you and the barista you had ordered from for two years. 
In the span of an hour, he had helped you calm down, calmly instructing and aiding you in your academic endeavor to understand what you were doing. It was a paper for a stupid physics class you were forced to take, and thankfully Kaibara was a physics student himself. 
Kaibara introduced you to some reliable papers, explaining to you the things you didn’t understand in very perceptive depth and understanding that you didn’t get from your own professor. An hour into talking and you realized that you were no longer crying, your coffee went drunk to completion, and you were smiling while he pointed to different things on your screen.
“I’m y/l/n y/n,” you finally introduced yourself when he was standing to leave. 
“I know,” he nodded, a soft smile on his face. “You have been ordering from me with that name for two years now.”
“Well, it wasn’t ever an introduction, though,” you pointed out with a sigh. “Besides, this is much more official.”
He nodded in agreement, his hand pulling off the headband in his hair, letting his shaggy hair fall onto his eyes. “I’m Kaibara Sen, and I know you didn’t know my first name.”
“I did not,” you agree, your head bowing in both thanks.
He seemed to debate something in his head, teetering between telling you and not, but with a tilt of your head, and a lean towards him, he broke.
“I’m in here a lot, I don’t know if you’ve noticed? I work fulltime on top of going to school and guessing by the professor’s name, you also attend Tokyo University,” Kaibara said, his eyes locked onto yours. “If you want, I can help you out for the rest of the semester with physics. I know that it can be a hard class.”
“Are… are you serious?!” you gasp, your hands pressing to your mouth in undeniable joy and mirth.
“Completely.”
“I’d appreciate that so much!” you chirped, your body resisting the urge to hug him in your gratitude. 
“Okay, that’s good,” he nodded, his feet already moving towards the exit.
You watched as he walked to the door, but noticed that he hesitated when he reached the door.
Wordlessly he lifted up his left arm and showed off a tattoo.
iii
“I’m also on my third reincarnation,” he admitted with a shrug, and the embarrassing memory of your breakdown hit you heavily over the head while your face grew red hot. “It’s totally okay if you haven’t met your soulmate yet, that’s why we have multiple shots, right?”
You were for a loss of words, only managing to nod your head in stunned embarrassment. Kaibara smiled, his face genuinely pleased while he pushed onto the front door.
“Then, I’ll see you later, y/l/n.”
Like that, a friendship was born between you and the cute barista.
Without even this new tutoring system between the two of you, you had always shown up at the coffee shop every day, but now it was put at specific times — typically taking in mind his shift and class schedule. Day in and day out, he would help you out with physics, teaching you about work and joules and energy, and you, in turn, would buy lots of coffee and pastries and even helped him with his own work that wasn’t physics related.
You came to know more about Kaibara too.
About how he was born the same year you were, or how the both of you were a bit scared about the fact that you were on your third reincarnation. You both would even make up extremely extravagant stories of your past lives. Of how you were royalty and the smartest geniuses alive who had created the items you had used to this very day. 
Jokes of knowing Newton and Plato and Shakespeare never failed to make the both of you smile during moments where you weren’t worrying about your academia. 
Kaibara Sen was someone you could come to see could be very special in your life. His often neutral and stoic personality quickly melted away to become invigorating and chaotically loud. He was someone you would very much appreciate to be friends with, no matter what class you could have met him in or timeline you met him in.
“How do you feel about this year?” 
Your words were soft in the empty coffee shop, the warm sweater you wore snug on your body while you drank a new concoction Kaibara made for a future menu item.  It was something sweet, not overwhelmingly so, just enough that made it pleasant to drink without milk or sugar — not that you didn’t mind a cup of black coffee every once in a while.
“I’d rather not make it to a fourth reincarnation,” you heard Kaibara admit, from beside you, his face buried in the notes he was rewriting during your studying session. “This seems like a good time frame to have things end with the person I’m meant to be with. Nothing crazy is happening, it’s calm… I like that.”
“You have no sense of adventure Sen!” you laugh, your hands bringing the coffee cup to the table and writing down your thoughts and rating for the drink onto the yellow paper he had given to you for an official review. “I think I’m going to push it to reincarnation number five, I want to see the flying cars and moving cities.”
“I’m not sure if that sounds horrible or like a nightmare,” he dryly stated, flipping his notebook for the next significant section to write on.
“Don’t be rude,” you huff, your pen scratching out the mistake you made with a frown. “I mean, I wouldn’t remember anything, but it would still be nice!”
“And just who do you think your soulmate is?” Kaibara asked, his pencil dropping on his notes while he shook his sore and tired wrist out. He looked at you with a crooked grin that made you smile back, and he leaned in to whisper, “I can imagine that you’ve pictured what they look like.”
“How’d you know?!” you ask in mock surprise, your hand pressing to your mouth in a dramatic effect.
“You look the type,” he snickered, leaning back against his chair. “Okay, what does a lover boy look like, and what does lover girl look like?”
“Okay, so ideally, a male soulmate will look like a supermodel. Like the kind that just drives girls and older women wild because goddamn is he fine,” you whistle, your tongue wetting your lips in an attempt to mask your humor from this.
“Yes, I can see you with someone like that too,” Kaibara sagely nodded his head, his fingers now grasping the pencil in his hand. “Now, the other?”
“If it’s a girl… I don’t care, just as long as she’s super tall,” you sigh wistfully, your smile growing when Kaibara seems to agree with this information.
“You are ready to meet your soulmate, I’ve decided,” Kaibara announced his pencil scratching his paper as he began to write again.
“Oh thank you, kami-sama, please reveal to me the name of my betrothed.” 
“I will, under one circumstance, and one circumstance only.”
The smile that spread on your face was warm, your eyes looking at how his lips were curled into his own smile that he often enjoyed hiding from you.
“What must a mere stupid mortal like me do?”
Kaibara finished writing his section of the notes before pulling away, his eyes severe while they peered at you. Dark, serious, and very, very intense.
He often confused you; he was so dark and brooding at times but often melted into someone you could only describe as a twelve-year-old boy finding out that his parents installed his favorite game to whatever console he loved most. His eyes, despite their deep charcoal color, seemed to melt into warm chocolate the longer he held your gaze, and finally, he spoke:
“Go on a date with me?”
Your eyes blinked rapidly, and a sour feeling erupted in your chest at his words.
Oh no.
“I… I can’t,” you spoke, your eyes traveling to your lap, the previous warmth in your chest disappearing quicker than the speed of light.
Kaibara blinked, his jaw opening and closing repetitively, almost as if in confusion and misunderstanding of the situation. 
“Can I ask why not?” he spoke, but his voice had never sounded this hollow before.
“I’m actually seeing someone right now,” you admit slowly, your stomach twisting and knotting because dear god had you led him on this entire time? “We uh… we started dating a bit after you and I started talking.”
Kaibara’s face was void of all emotion, the deep chocolate gone from his eyes, replaced with only reliable bitter charcoal. 
“Are they… are they your soulmate?” he asked in the softest of whispers, a tone you recognized as someone who was doing everything in their power not to cry. His nostrils flared, and he trembled slightly, his stoic mask entirely see-through to you. 
“I hope so,” you admit, your fingers digging into your sweater. “I’m sorry, Sen.”
Kaibara’s lips press into a thin wavering line, and he shakes his head, “No, it’s okay. Um, let’s finish up?”
He didn’t accept the rejection well, although he was still a good friend and helping you out, you could read this man better than yourself; it seemed because you could see how much it pained him to sit next to you every day and help you. Study sessions diminished by a lot, his free time being occupied more and more until it was finally after midnight for new years, and despite whispering that you loved your partner at the stroke of midnight, the tattoo remained red — not golden.
 You visited the Primrose Coffeeshop the moment it was opened, and to your dismay, Kaibara had left the shop, and his phone number no longer worked. 
You stayed with your partner; both of you agree to just live out the rest of your life in love since you had been so sure of the other being your soulmate. But no matter how much time had passed, the shape of your soulmate began to resemble Kaibara, but you knew better than to wish for such silly things, especially in this world. For if it was true, there was no use to even trying to find him — after all, the world forbade it.
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆ iv ⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
The world was emerging with the beginning of quirks.
There wasn’t a high population of individuals with quirks yet, but there was a growing number of them. People hated those with quirks, pushing backs against the “freaks” of nature, demanding that they get put down and killed without a moment’s thought.
Without a doubt, people with quirks would begin to fight back, some turning to villainy, some to vigilante work, and some to hero work. 
Everything was masked, no one could know anyone’s true identity, or else it would end in heads being chopped off. It was like a comic book gone wrong.
And you? You were a hero, someone just trying to get by because while you didn’t want to be a freak of nature, those with powerful quirks using them against the quirkless still was not a righteous society.
Right now, you were living the most perfect life.
A secret hero that the quirkless were starting to appreciate, keeping a big evil villain in check, succeeding in your job, and in love with none other than Kaibara Sen, who you were so positive was your soulmate.
You screeched as Kaibara held you over his shoulder. Your legs kicked as he threw you onto the bed. His grinning face blowing raspberries into your exposed stomach. Your howls doing nothing to stop him. 
“Stop it!” you shriek, trying to remove his lips from your abdomen. “I’m–Sen–GOING TO PEE IF YOU DON’T STOP!”
Kaibara pulls away, peppering kisses up your chest until he’s kissing you over and over again. Your lips can’t even form a pout from your exhaustion, letting him kiss you so weirdly while you lay in defeat. “If you peed yourself, I would have made you clean it up.”
“You’re the worst boyfriend ever!!!” you moan in exhaustion as Kaibara nuzzles his nose into the crook of your neck. 
“I know, it matches your worst girlfriend category too,” Kaibara grins against your skin, and your fingers tug at his hair, trying to get him to kiss you again.
“Mm, so I’m the worst girlfriend? I might call Silence on myself then,” you tease, your lips pressing against his. 
“I would fight her to keep you then,” Kaibara brushes your hair out of your eyes, and your eyes flutter. God, there was so much you would do for this man. You loved him so much, it hurt you.
“Alright, baby, I have to go! It’s ladies’ night!” you sigh into his mouth despite doing everything you could to keep him there. Kaibara’s hands keep you close to him as his tongue slips into your mouth. You moan in half-hearted defeat at the feeling of his tongue dancing with yours. 
“You can tell Fukuda-san she can rip you out of my fucking hands,” Kaibara growls as he sucks softly against your neck. You arch into him as you shake your head. 
“Stupid, she could totally beat your ass, and you have that — fuck, you have that meeting of yoURS!” you smack his chest when his fingers brush against your bare skin. “Kaibara Sen!”
“Fine, fine, fine!” Kaibara chuckles, pulling away, love lacing his eyes. “I love you, stay safe tonight? You girls can’t handle your liquor.”
You roll your eyes as you peck a last kiss to his lips. “Only because we go straight for the hard stuff!!!”
Kaibara walks you out of his house, and into your car. His face sticking through the window for some last kisses. You give him as many as you can until you have no more time to waste. “Okay, bye! I love you!” you chirped, finally driving off.
You watch as Kaibara continues to wave at you from the street, a smile on your face until you turn the corner. Your smile instantly drops as you’re far away. 
You give a call to Fukuda, and she instantly picks up.
“Hello? Are you ready? There’s a lot of activity going on tonight… I’m worried,” Fukuda’s voice cries, and you’re consumed with the smallest bit of guilt as you drive faster. 
“I’m sorry… where to first?”
~
You ran along rooftops, your eyes locked on the man running away from you. Your breathing is harsh, raspy. You’ve been running for almost an hour now, jumping and weaving through pipes. You’re trying to get to him, the one man you’ve been chasing for years now. The man that taunted your dreams. Your life.
Your eyes caught onto the rubbish on a nearby ceiling, and you threw out your arm. Yellow energy shoots from your arms as it attaches to the objects and falls. Trapping the man by high walls, and a fifty story drop. 
“Come on, you know you want to give in!” you pant as the man stops running, turns around, and his guard is up. His gaze concentrated on you entirely as you stopped in front of him. The yellow energy filling your hands as you raise your own guard. “Give in.”
“As much as I would love to wrestle it out with you, sweetheart, I’m in a loving relationship.” his voice is dripping with sarcasm as whirring noises emit from his skin. 
The two of you were among the minuscule population that had superpowers. A revolutionary feat that had the world in battle. You were a superhero. As if you were straight off a comic book, you fought against people who threatened those beneath them. Hell, most times, you were a glorified therapist! You really only hardly ever got into fistfights, but this man. This… vile man in front of you was an exception. He was cruel.
Using this power of his to create chaos and mayhem. It was not something you liked, you hated him for it, and you have been trying to get him. To corner him! But he was always one step ahead. A finger brushes away from you as you try to get him.
It was a dreadful and repeating dance now, one the two of you frequently explored. You would lunge forward, and he would take a step backward, you would spin out, and he would pull you back in. Even the way you two fought, it was fluid, sharp, deadly, yet melodic. The occasional locking fists could have been a dance had it not been for the fire in your stance.
The masks on his face covered everything on him, but you knew he was looking at you. The only thing you needed though, was to have him pinned to the ground. His wrists in a handcuff as you dropped him off to the police. Then you’d be able to go home to Kaibara, to tell him the only secret you kept from him. 
You ducked under his gyrating fist, something you had known too well as it sent you flying into walls on multiple occasions, but he stopped jumping backward when you rolled to the side.
“I will have to bid you adieu, my sweet Silence! Duty calls, and well, I’m merely here to distract you!”
Your eyes widened as an explosion blew in the distance, and you whipped around. You snap back through to see him waving goodbye, and you freeze. “Oh, no...”
You took off in the direction of the explosion, your heart hammering away as you near it. Screams and cries echoing through the streets as you jumped in to help. Your words aiding everyone in the fiery trap. “Don’t worry, I’m here for you!” You repeated over and over, but their pain never stopped.
~
“Hi, beautiful,” Kaibara says, walking into your room. Your eyes look up at him in the mirror, and your smile is affectionate. Kaibara is in a pair of dark blue slacks. A white button-up shirt that hugged his chest beautifully, and a black-tie with a jacket on. His hair combed back, overall, he was drop-dead gorgeous. 
The brown-haired man walks to you and hugs you by your waist. Kaibara’s eyes dawdling on your outfit as you turn your head to press a kiss to his temple. “Hi.” 
“Let’s go for dinner now?”
You nod your head, this dinner was a much-needed distraction from the explosion after all. “Yes, let’s go.”
The dinner is fantastic. 
You love the way Kaibara’s eyes burn like steady embers into you the entire night, his energy never once wavering. His hand held yours after the meal was over, listening to you all while he pressed fluttering kisses to the tattoo that reads iv. You giggle out his name as he refuses to quit, and your cheeks burn.
“Y/l/n y/n,” Kaibara states, and you raise your eyebrows inviting him to continue. “I met you years ago, and you’re… incredible. Your energy is intoxicating as is your smile.” Kaibara smiles as he kisses the back of your hand. “I love the way you hate Tuesday mornings, I love that you always jump onto your bed, you do not have to, but you do. You complete me, you make me want to be a better person, and I have only one thing to ask…”
Your eyes sparkle with unshed tears, and Kaibara presses up and kneels before you.
“Will you marry me, y/n? Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
A black velvet box presents itself on his palm. A luminescent diamond ring shining against the light surrounded by primroses, the flower you said represented your love with him. Your tears shedding uncontrollably from your eyes while you grin like a fool.
Your head nods over and over.
“Yes!” You cry as you pepper wet kisses all over his face. “Yes, please! Yes!”
The diamond ring slips onto your finger, and you can’t even begin to describe your emotions as you kiss him. The cheering of the crowds disappearing as you hold him even closer.
He asked you for your hand that night, and yet you felt united in a whole other way. The overwhelming love between the two of you palatable the entire night.
~
You struggle against the wall, gasping as the villain holds you by your throat. You had foiled his next plan and were now paying dearly for it. 
You slam your foot into his crotch, and he grunts, letting you go. You collapse to the ground gasping for air. You stagger but act quickly, sweeping his feet out from underneath him. He falls to the ground, and you shoot energy from your hands, allowing you to smoothly and rapidly hop on top of him. You press your knees into his arms, and he hisses.
His legs sweep up, kicking you forward, and you tumble off of him.
So the two of you embark on another dangerous dance of yours. Fukuda screams in your ear about the dangers lurking around you if you don’t get out of there! But you had landed a hit, you were going to get him today!
You duck under a punch and shove a palm to his ribcage. He stumbles backward, you narrow your eyebrows as you lock an energy strand around his leg, pulling him in. You race over, but you miss the whirring of his skin. You’re blown backward, white-hot pain scorching your cheek, the mask on your face cracking in two. You gasp for air, the mask breaking completing as it falls to the ground. You couldn’t hear Fukuda yelling at you anymore as knees slam into your chest, and you wheeze.
Your eyes lock onto the villain before you. His arm cocked back for another devastating punch, but he’s frozen. His body is still. You don’t feel your energy power up, only that your arm is thrust up, and he’s thrown off you. A sickening crash is heard, and you sit up wheezing. 
You stare at the man, your vision dizzy, and you feel sick.
Not because you’re dizzy, but because of the face that’s revealed as his mask falls.
Kaibara.
His eyes are so vast, and your eyes are tearing up.
He can’t stand up, and you stumble to your feet, swaying where you stand.
“Get the fuck out of there, y/n!” Fukuda’s voice is yelling at you, and you flinch, finally hearing it. 
“Sen…” You whisper, your head shaking in disbelief. “You can’t be… how are you, Spinner?”
The villain’s name. The name you loathe, the name you refuse to use. You prefer ‘villain’ because giving him a name gives him an identity. A reason for him to be committing the atrocities he’s committed.
How was this man in front of you the person you loved with all your heart? 
You can’t remember running away. You only remember that you’re back in your house sobbing as you stare at the diamond ring on your nightstand.
~
You stare at the ceiling of your room. You feel hollow. 
Since that fateful encounter, neither one of you has attempted to reach out. Neither one of you calling, texting, or showing up. You hated it, but you couldn’t stand seeing him here. How could you ever talk to the man you love knowing who he was? What he was; what he is?
You knew everyone had secrets, but why was his secret this, anything but this…
The engagement ring is on your finger still. It makes perfect sense, everything tells you that it should be there. But it feels heavy… it weighs you down in more ways than its weight. Could you really forgive a man like him? Yes, he’s your Kaibara, but he’s also Spinner.
Notorious as the underground crime king. Spinner was someone you’ve been fighting since day one. It made you nauseous, just thinking about how that man was your Kaibara. 
How were they the same person?
The floorboards in your hallway creak, and you slam up. Your eyes concentrating on the doorframe. Your mouth runs dry as you stare at angry black eyes. His mouth pressed into a flat line as his hands roughly weave through his hair. 
It hurts knowing that it wasn’t a hoax. You knew Kaibara Kaibara like the back of your hand, and being able to read him now burned your throat and heart. You lick your lips as he steps closer, his eyes focused on you. 
“You’re Silence?”
“You’re Spinner…”
Kaibara shakes his head, his lips barking with cold humor as he can’t believe it. To be fair, you can’t either as you stare at his conflicted features. 
“I don’t understand?” he admits, his eyes swimming with confusion, anger, and yet longing. 
“You and me both,” you laugh bitterly, shaking your head as you look up at him. “Care to explain?”
“I don’t really want to.” Kaibara shakes his head, his smile sad, and you blink. 
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?” you snap, your brows furrowing when you stalk over to Kaibara, who held his ground. “You’re the one causing all this mayhem, and you’re not going to even explain it to me?!”
“What’s the point, y/n? So that you can cry the next time we meet? You’re not going to give me mercy! You don’t understand! So why should I bother?!” Kaibara’s face clouded, angry, and focused. 
“Because you fucking love me!” you hiss, shoving Kaibara with your full strength. This entire time you’ve been able to pull off using mere fractions of your power. Enough to fight with Kaibara, but definitely not enough to send him stumbling backward. 
Kaibara’s black eyes snap on you as he gathers his balance. “Don’t do this.”
“I am a hero!” you tremble, your hands pulling at the roots of your hair. Your heart is racing in the worst of ways. You feel faint, ready to fall over, and never wake back up. “I save people nearly every damn day, Kaibara! I save people from you!”
There’s a glower on his face, and you know it’s because you’re putting Kaibara on a fence he doesn’t want to be. A wall that he hates. Kaibara always had something to say, he wasn’t one to pretend to not have an opinion, and so this was killing him.
“Some people in this world deserve to have checks,” Kaibara states, his steely voice calm, his eyes raging. “I don’t do anything to people who don’t deserve it.”
Your nostrils flare, and you can feel your throat thick with emotions. What the actual fuck was he on? “Really? Do these people deserve to die? People fucking deserve to get their life blown to shreds because of what? Because you think they’re corrupt? Oh, grow the fuck up, Kaibara! No, I don’t believe your bullcrap! Do you think I really haven’t tried finding correlations? Correlations for every single crime you committed? Yes, these people are terrible! But that’s why we have other ways of stopping them! You can’t play fucking god and decide whether these people deserve to live or not! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
You’re pressed flat against his chest. Your chest heaving with lack of air and overwhelming emotions. Kaibara’s face contorted with anger. His black eyes flashing before sinking into blackness. 
Then you say words you wish you could regret, words that broke your heart as you said it.
“How can you expect me to love someone like you?”
He left your shared place after that. The year ended, and there was nothing to stop the tragic downfall of both Spinner and Silence, both of you never recovered from this moment.
⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆ v ⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆⋄⋆⊹⋄⋆
“Kaibara, is that you?!”
Your eyes looked at the brown-haired man walking into the hero agency where you were currently a sidekick in. 
It had been two years since graduating from UA, and you were here with Miruko, a signing that had honestly shocked many, many people when it happened. Sure enough, as an alumnus of UA and being a part of his rival classroom 1-A, it was a pleasant surprise to see someone outside of your classmates.
“Y/l/n?” he greeted you in return, his hands resting on his hips, his body completely decked out in his uniform. You guessed he started his day before you.
“It’s been so long!” you grin, stopping at his side with your hands clutched by your thighs, “How can I help you today?”
“Well, I need some help. I’m here to recruit you to help with Gang Orca’s mission.”
You watched him hand you a folder and immediately upon reading it understood why he was here for you. This was a job that was perfect with your quirk.
“I can help out,” you say after reading the file, a smile on your face. “Will you be there?”
“I am his sidekick, plus I gathered most of the evidence,” Kaibara shrugged, and you nodded.
“Okay, sounds good, Spiral.”
Kaibara smiled, his eyebrow lifted while he walked away. “Good, see you then.”
You and Kaibara always got along, maybe it was because both of you were the only people in UA who were on their fifth reincarnation cycle, but knowing you weren’t alone was always nice. He was still kind to you, even if he seemed bland at times, but you came to see that it was just… him. Regardless he was a formidable foe and a strong hero. Your only regret was not getting as close to him as you could have since the rivalry between the two classes never lessened.
The team-up mission went smoothly. The extraction of the hostages on top of capturing the brass of the cult, and stopping their influence on victims of their power was an excellent boost to your reputation and Miruko’s agency. Still, you had suffered minor injuries and had an EMT checking you out this very moment.
Your eyes fell on Kaibara, who was a few strides away. He had a nasty looking bruise on his jaw, a punch he had taken for you during your lack of attention. Signaling that you were fine now, the EMT let you go, and you walked over to Kaibara, your guilt looming heavy in your stance.
“Sorry for getting you hurt,” you apologized, your finger looming over the spot where he got hit on your own skin.
“No problem,” he brushed it off with a shrug of his shoulders. “You didn’t see it, plus you still got it handled in the end, which was much more important.”
“Yeah, but now I feel like I owe you drinks or something,” you huff, not at all pleased with how he was okay with this.
A silence fell over you two, the EMT avoiding eye contact as if this was like avoiding the plague. But with your vision glued to your feet, you didn’t catch the way that his eyebrows bunched and relaxed over and over in thought until finally, he spoke.
“I could go for drinks.” 
And so this night where you and Kaibara found yourselves at a bar with drinks in hands, did you realize that you wanted to actually get to know him. You didn’t want to associate Kaibara as the other fifth reincarnation cycle guy, or the guy from class 1-B, you wanted to know him for… him. 
It turned out, he felt the same way. 
Thus began a strange but quaint relationship between the two of you.
Kaibara ended up being a personality you enjoyed to be around a lot. He often danced between being a straight face and serious, to chaotic and enthusiastic, to sometimes straight-up aggressive and demanding. The fluctuation often amuses you, three different branches to his personality, much like the three spirals on his gloves. 
“I don’t think I’m ridiculous,” you point out, your finger following Kaibara’s walking form as he was grabbing the two of you drinks from his fridge. “I get that most people give up at this point, but I really do think I’ll meet my soulmate this time about!”
Kaibara looked at you incredulously when he sat next to you, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbow so you could see the Roman numeral for five tattoo on his wrist. “What makes this lifetime so special? Besides, we know that soulmates always meet in every reincarnation. If you and your soulmate haven’t clicked since the first cycle, what’s the point in fighting so hard at this cycle?” A frown overcomes your face, and you glare at Kaibara, who struggles to uphold a serious reaction. “I’m sorry, too far?”
“Shut up.”
His laughter fills the room while you turn away from him pouting. 
“So you don’t want to meet your soulmate?” you asked, trying your hardest to not sound too nosey but just the perfect amount of curiosity. 
“I’d love to meet my soulmate, don’t get it wrong,” Kaibara sighs, his back falling onto the back of the couch, his head tilting up to the ceiling. “But it’s… weird to keep my hopes up. With no memories of past reincarnations, it seems like I’m stumbling around in the dark.”
You hummed, your fingers bringing the drink to your mouth and taking a small sip from it.
“Would you like to go on a date with me?” you asked when you brought your cup down.
Kaibara looked at you, his eyes like the void, daunting dark yet beautiful, “Why?”
“Well, if this is going to be my last reincarnation, I don’t want to live a life of regrets,” you smile, your head tilting to the side. “I would always regret not asking you out.”
His face melted into one of softness and undeniable excitement at your practical confession, “As long as you think your class could handle you dating someone from class 1-B.”
“I think that’s more of a question of if your class can handle you dating someone from class 1-A!”
So the two of you began to date.
It took no time for you to fall inexplicably and wholly in love with Kaibara Sen; he was perfect for you. Day and night he was someone you could entirely rely on, never once would he slip up, always coming to aid you when you needed it and vice versa. There were still hard nights, after all, you were still human. 
But rain or shine, momentous fight or sweet staples of your relationship, the both of you always ended up in the same bed, holding each other close as night consumed you. 
Before you knew it, it was New Year's Eve, and instead of going out tonight, you and Kaibara decided to stay in. A feeble nervous attempt in the hope that the two of you genuinely were soulmates. Five reincarnations later, and now you would finally find out if he was made for you if you were made for him.
“I want to give these to you,” Kaibara spoke to you when you came to the couch, a hefty blanket in your arms that you planned on drawing the both of you in while you watched the fireworks display on a TV monitor. Today was your first day off in a while, and because the crime rate was notoriously low on this holiday, staying home together sounded better than a clashed reunion of your high school classmates.
Your eyes found the small bouquet of primroses in his hands, the pink and white flowers sitting charmingly in their tan paper. A smile spread across your face immediately, and you brought your lips to him in a chaste kiss.
“They’re beautiful, thank you,” you happily sigh, moving to sit at his side, snuggled comfortably against him with the blanket over both of you. “What do they mean?”
“I can’t live without you,” Kaibara whispered, his eyes locking against yours.
And with warm cheeks, you smiled earnestly and connected your lips against his. 
The bouquet went forgotten as the two of you continued your passionate kiss, the words of ‘I love you’ continuing to pour from your lips well past midnight. Hope and endearment fully saturated between your hopeful mouth.
And alas, my dearest reader, I’m glad to tell you that at last, you found the one meant for you.
Primroses graced each of your lives with Kaibara Sen; after all, they were the flower of love, a flower that also meant that you couldn’t live without the other — a real sign of soulmate love through reincarnation. And my sweet reader, the moment your lips removed from Kaibaras as the stroke of midnight passed, the words of love exchanged between the two of you with complete honesty, you’ll be pleased to know that the tattoo turned to gold.
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trashcatsnark · 3 years
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WHY THE FUCK WERE UP SO LATE??? FUCKING UR SO LUCKY I CANT BEAT UR ASS OTHERWISE ITD BE KNUCKLE CITY
anyway, speaking about johnny boy i was thinking about him + nibbles and our like collective desicion that he is essiently a cat and it is really weirdly fitting that it just makes me like ???? so like cats themselves are a reoccuring motif within the game from the start, when u go to viks, when ur chatting up takemura and at the end with the rooftop that also doubles as like the millionith matrix reference. they follow v and they take up the role of the bakeneko, which i think in the game is defined by them appearing near death ? or just disaster. the obvious thing is that it is to do with v's inpending death and their whole sitation but like the general point is like the cat symbolises the death that follows v as the cat follows them. this puts johnny in an interesting sitation from his catlike nature to how he seems to like and get along with nibbles, he is linked with cats. he is also the parasite that is killing v. he is V's bakeneko. their signal of death. the events start because of his relic, jackie dies for him, and soon does most of the cast from act 1, and a large part of the death from then on is a direct result of them trying to solve the relic and johnny's whole presence is a signal for hey v ur fucking dying. he is death for them. the bakeneko.
makes me wonder if his catlike attributes were intentionally done cause that boy aint right or we just accidently walked on a really thematic fitting landmind
Spoilers within, again, also leave my sleeping schedule alone, I do not function. Additionally, I have a lot to say about Nibbles, omens, cats, and pets then how they all relate back to Johnny so congrats on opening a flood gate my friend!
 think the thematic thing with Johnny and cats and the bakeneko has to 1000000 percent be intentional, because he even sees a cat when Alt is kidnapped. And that goes back to Cyberpunk Red. Like that was used and utilized and then became such a large part of the story. 
Johnny is clearly meant to be a bakeneko; he’s actively next to the cat in that conversation, leaves when it does, see the same cat before Alt’s death, and is again the visual representation of what is happening to V. He is the symbol of their death, whether he wants to be or not. 
I think it’s also interesting to note, the Bakeneko, which is described as an omen of death and misfortune isn’t the only way we see cats used thematically within the game. Albeit, this way is more subtle and perhaps intentionally so. We also see the maneki-neko; the lucky cat statues are everywhere in game. In V’s apartment, Misty’s shop, Vik’s clinic. Everyyyyyywhereeeeee. 
So, we see two mythological cats from Japanese culture. One brings misfortune and one brings good luck. And Johnny exemplifies both. 
Johnny is a visual representation of all that is destroying V. His mere existence and presence a constant reminder that their death is around the corner. An ever present omen that V’s clock is ticking. He also often pops up to have a comment just before massive relic malfunctions and disasters. The end of every main game quest is punctuated with a relic malfunction and a lecture from Johnny. 
But without the chip and by extension Johnny, V would already be dead. If the chip hadn’t been the exact right place to be damaged and activated by the gunshot; it would have killed V right then and there. And while this wasn’t an active choice on Johnny’s part, he is the visual representation of the chip. Even then, he later does make an active choice to save V’s life. When V is hit with the worst malfunction yet; Johnny grabs them, “you aren’t dying yet, I got you” and he takes them to safety. He refuses to watch V seize and die in a puddle of their own sick in the middle of nowhere (for me it’s always at the sunset hotel, idk if this changes based on the order you do the events tho) So, he takes control, he eases their pain and takes them somewhere safe, somewhere that means something to him, and swears to die for them. 
Luck both good and bad. Fortune and misfortune. A sign of better days and an omen of death. A maneki-neko and a bakeneko. The time bomb in V’s head and the guy who saved their life. He is both. 
Now, stepping away from the mythological aspects. Lets talk about Nibbles the cat, Johnny, and pets within Cyberpunk 2077. Animals and by extension pets are considered a luxury in Night City. They’re taxed to fuck and back, generally only the wealthy can have them. Its also often brought up that real friends and family who stick by you are very difficult to come by. V becomes through Nibbles one of the rare people to have a pet. One of the other people who had a pet is, Barry their neighbor. 
Barry and his mission is one of the first you can unlock and see in the game. He’s V’s downstairs neighbor and his story is played out so fucking similarly to V’s. Barry lost his best friend, he’s quit his job because he can’t handle the weight of the NCPD’s corruption, and he’s thinking of taking his own life.  V has lost Jackie, its stated in game they get less work than usual because of Konpeki (cant be put on a crew), and very early on can say to Misty “be better off putting in my head”. 
But for Barry that friend ends up being a pet tortoise. And its clear what that tortoise represents; a constant companion, a safe place, and a comfort. Something Barry couldn’t find among his peers until later on when they learn just how much he’s been hurting. And this is treated as such a tragedy, that he only has a pet to turn to. 
And so V gets a cat, because they too are fucking hurting and having a little meowing bundle of skin running around their apartment helps. Something to come home to, something to make that apartment a little less empty, a little more alive. 
So, how does this particular aspect of Nibbles/cats/pets relate to Johnny, I hear you wondering (as well as wondering when Im going to shut up). Well, we know Johnny is linked symbolically with cats and thats the choice of pet for V. And we knows pets have been likened to support without judgement; a companion who you can tell everything too and they won’t abandon you. 
And while Johnny has heaps of judgment and is a dick. He is V’s only constant companion. I know a good junk of people don’t like him or his commentary; but imagine V’s life without Johnny in it through the game events. Imagine how lonely they’d be. 
Johnny is the only one who knows everything and is there with V from the start to the final moments in Mikoshi. 
Vik and Misty know, but they’re no edgerunners, they have no idea everything V is doing out there. Part of why as much as I do love Vik, his frustration with V hurts so much in the end because he talks like V hasn’t done anything to save themselves. Because, Vik doesn’t know what V’s been doing this whole time. 
Each part of the main quests in Act 2 are linked to an NPC; Judy, Panam, and Takemura. And not one of them know or are there throughout the entirety of V’s journey. Judy doesn’t get told the full details of what’s happening until later in and stops helping V one Evelyn is saved. Panam doesn’t learn the full details or anything really about the chip until much later. And her quests become her own personal journey once V finds Hellman. And then depending on V’s choices, Panam can come in to help at the end. Takemura knows V is dying and is there to help with the parade and then he’s gone; either dead or in hiding. He refers to anything that doesn’t involve him as V’s shady dealings and leaves it at that. He’s there to interrogate Hellman but he doesn’t know all V did to find him. None of them know everything, none of them have been there the whole time. And that’s not a condemnation of them, I do not expect them to drop everything to be glued to V’s side 24/7 but, I can’t fucking imagine how alone V feels. 
River has no involvement in any main quests and only finds out anything if V chooses to romance him. Kerry knows what Johnny told him and depending on the ending may even leave V. Again, wanna be clear, that isn’t a condemnation on his character. I understand why he does this and i understand his hurt and how it led him to that. 
But this is about how truly fucking alone V is in all of this. Not a single person there start to finish, not a single person knowing all that they have suffered, all that they have been through and are going through. 
Except Johnny. He tells V in the oil fields, closest to him by far, there 24/7, yet they don’t seem to hate him. And he’s that for V too; there the entire way, their demon never leaving.  Johnny knows everything happening; because he’s part of what’s happening. He’s been there through every struggle, every step, every slap in the face as V’s tried to save themselves. Has felt their pain as they lose themselves, has known the people who’ve had to die for them to get this far, as felt their heart break when all they found was betrayal by the Voodoo Boys, Ai Alt asking how V’s life is her problem, getting recommended a hospice by Hellman. 
And as dickish as he is, his comments help. V always has someone there, as much as he sucks. He always has something stupid or naggy to say to help keep some of that weight off their shoulders. Imagine if they didn’t even have that. If Johnny never talked to them, never showed his face. 
A constant companion, like a supportive pet cat except he can talk and did a lot of meth. 
And this is a sidenote that has nothing to do with cats specifically, but that through Samurai music this isn’t the first time Johnny could be compared to an omen. Its no secret that the music was largely created around the game and as such, many of his songs have direct parallels and messages related to the game. Never Fade Away while in universe written in regards to Alt’s death also has so much in common with his journey with V. This brings me to the song Black Dog.
“Black Dog inside my head, guiding me until the end.”
Black Dogs are figures in Irish Mythology  who much like bakeneko’s are talked about in game; are omens of death and misfortune. I just find it interesting I suppose, like Johnny is either a dirty alley cat or a big mangy dog, but either way he’s here cause someones about to die.
Okay this is well over a thousand words, Imma shut up now. This is probably a mess, but anyone here for coherency is in the wrong place. 
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its-bianca · 4 years
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Why to keep a journal in 2020 🖋✨
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Whether it’s an art journal, audio, text based, I think we all need to take some time to get our thoughts out of the jumbled pink blob that is our brain.
get your thoughts out - It’s hard to keep all your thoughts in your head. I used to think that I could just think everything out in my head, but eventually I learned that putting them down, having a physical manifestation of my thoughts actually helped to rationalize my thought process more clearly.
learn things about yourself - Like therapy, writing down your thoughts often helps you wonder why you think that way and go deeper into your reflections, especially when you aren’t cycling the same thoughts over and over again in your head. By getting your thoughts out, you’re making space for new thoughts in. In a weird way, journaling has actually made me realize why I’ve been so upset with my family, why I hate certain places, and why I’m so stressed out all the time.
understand your thought process - Also like therapy, you realize your thought process with how and why you got there. Are you falling into logical fallacies? Are your thoughts biased towards a certain perspective? Do you fall for common tropes or stereotypes about other people? Getting these thoughts out might help you realize these missteps in judgement and logic. Being introspective and self-aware goes a long way.
motivation & inspiration - I sometimes get inspired or motivated to do work, because I (a) Write down reasons why I’m proud of myself and the little things I’ve accomplished that day which motivates me to do more work, or (b) Write down why I’m so stressed and pile of work I have to do which makes me realize that it actually isn’t that bad and motivates me to actually complete it. Things get less overwhelming when it’s not constantly jumping around in your head like a broken blender.
me time - We’re so invested in trying to understand and get to know the personal lives of other people, yet sometimes we need to take a moment for ourselves, especially after a long day. It really doesn’t take that long - just 10 minutes of thinking about yourself and your thoughts can go a long way.
be a better writer (or artist!) - This depends on the type of journal you’re going for and how you’re getting your thoughts out, but writing a journal could help you hone in on those skills. Writing or speaking aloud our thoughts can improve how your articulate your thoughts, especially if you’re like me and aren’t good with translating the jumbled mess in your head into understandable words. Drawing or writing poetry to express your thoughts could improve your skills in representing what you mean through imagery and more abstract symbolism. Journaling actually helped me a lot, because when I was younger, I got nervous to speak up in class because I didn’t know how to articulate my thoughts well; it might make essay writing go faster!
be in a coming of age movie - romanticize your process (healthily!). Sitting down with a journal, a cup of tea, and your favorite writing or drawing utensil sounds so romantic and cozy. Fit in with the tumblr studyblr aesthetic and post pictures if that encourages you.
So how do I start?
First, find out how you want to journal! I prefer physical notebooks, because I spend so much time on my laptop already, and I just like the feeling of being able to unplug and actually write something (also makes for more aesthetic pics...). I write in long-form, hardly any paragraph breaks, hardly any doodles, and not really planned or anything. I use a pen so I can’t go back and erase anything that I feel sounds bad or clunky or fix my grammar, because I don’t want to fixate on trivial details when I really want to just jot everything in my head. I find words work best for me, because that’s just how I best express myself. 
Next...it’s up to you now! I started getting into the habit by just committing myself to write something everyday, even if it was just half a page. It took many tries over some months to really nail it down, but once I started, it really took off from there. After about 1-2 months of almost daily journaling, I started cutting back a little. Yet, I hardly ever go for more than a month of not checking in and writing something down. Nowadays, it’s more like once a week or every couple days. I find that I journal when I’m feeling the most down, because it motivates me to pick myself up and do something.
Some extra tips: 
(a) If it helps, schedule a time with yourself to journal. Even just having a 15 minute chunk in your Google Calendar could help you to stay committed to it.
(b) Don’t feel pressure to write about any certain topic. It’s not an essay draft book, it doesn’t have to be a diary, it doesn’t have to be anything. I might draw or create a bullet journal-like spread in my writing journal, or I might not. It all depends on how I feel that day. Don’t feel like it has to be a diary where you have to write about everything that happened that day, or don’t think every thought has to be well articulated.
(c) Just have fun with it! Toy with a project idea, pour your soul out, get your thoughts on all every item on your to do list and how much you hate/love it. Just do whatever! There are no rules.
idk how to end this post so OK NOW GO! 
Another post on the different types of journals & notebooks
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ganondoodle · 4 years
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demise backstory (summary)
I didnt actually plan on wrtiting a summary of demises backstory (that i came up with, idk if its any good) but im realizing how long it will take me to draw it all, especially with job related things getting in the way all the time, so i guess im gonna post a badly summarised version of it right here right now, some things might change but thats always the case with my writing, nothings set in stone.
(please be aware that im not the best writer and didnt put much effort into this, it got longer than i thought but well meh :V ignore the typos, i wrote this at 1 am ;O; )
I didnt proof read anything, so this is a mess, anyway here goes nothin:
As far as i know, there have been multiple cases of hyrule having some sort of alternate mirror version of itself or just an alternate world somehow somewhere, so my personal idea about this is that demise WAS what hylia is for hyrule, a deity of protection. thats also where the whole inverted triforce symbols come from in my design for him, im not saying its lorule, but its definitely inspired by it to some degree. so they also had a triforce (here simply called "relics"), but it was split into the three pieces, for each of the three main nations/countries one, originally it was split like this as a way of sharing it equally AND to keep it safe, since if someone was to want the whole thing, theyd have to fight three different giant nations for it, which was thought as being pretty impossible.
as i said before, demise (might not have always been his name idk) was their deity of protection, he was there to keep the peace, to prevent the three countries from going after the relics themselves, tho he was always a cocky bastard he wasnt as destructive and hateful as he is now, back then he was still the servant of their gods after all. for a long long time he was successful at keeping everything as it was supposed to be, but of course, it cant go well forever, i dont have all the details yet but basically, those three nations started war after war, he was able to keep it from escalating for quite some time  but at some point, the people found out that if they destroyed his statues (just like hylias in canon) to prevent anyone from praying to him, he wouldnt know, at least, not immediately (my idea was that the statues are a sort of communication link to whatever their god was, so in ancient hyrule, if you prayed to one of hylias statues, and asked for her protection/help, she would know instantly and show up within seconds) 
alot of battles were fought without demise hearing anything about it, until someone found a statue that wasnt fully destroyed. when demise showed up however, the person had already died as they were wounded when fleeing from the battlefield. wondering how this all came to be he went to look for where that person came from, since if there was actual big trouble he should have known about it much sooner.  
he must have missed the biggest battle his world had ever seen, given the sheer size of it .. and the amount of corpses scattered all over it.
this only happened because of the greed of the people in power for the rest of the relics, which promised power, more power than they already had, plus who wouldnt want to know what happen if the relics were combined again, given how they've been seperated since the beginning. 
Fueled by anger and grief over how many people had lost their lives without him even KNOWING that a war of this size was happening, demise tried to ask the gods as to what he was supposed to do, how could he stop these needlessly cruel wars over something so small ? but the gods were silent. 
so he had to decide on his own, what was the best thing to do ? after careful consideration he couldnt think of anything else but to destroy the relics, after all, he could touch or use them himself as means to prevent him, as an already powerful deity, from falling for that greed for power, just like the inhabitants of his world did now.
the first one was the easiest, they didnt know his plan and let him wander their sacred halls with no second thought .. until he raised his sword once he stood in front of that cursed relic that led only to bloodshed and death. of course the news started to spread that their protector had apparently turned against them, some thought it was because they destroyed his statues, others because they thought he feared they would be more powerful than him once they gathered all the relics. on his way to destroy the second one he was met with resistance, but nothing he couldnt get through. the third one was a fight of an army against one deity. demise won, but not without killing some of the people he swore to protect .. and the only reason he was doing this, was for their own good.
after the deed was done, instead of everything getting better, it was getting worse. the people were more united than ever. against him that is. and the world fell apart. the oceans started to shrink, the winds would blow more harshly with each passing day, plants would wither away as if robbed of life before it began. demise was never overly beloved by anyone even back in the beginnings, but he could deal with them hating and resenting him, as long as they wouldnt go to war against each other, he was happy, more or less. what he couldnt handle was watching as his world started to die a slow and agozing death, right before his eyes, without him being able to do anything against it. and the gods stayed silent.
was it because he destroyed the relics ? were the gods mad at him for going against their orders and deemed it appropriate to punish him by having to watch the people suffer ?or was it that the gods that were bored of playing with this world and moved on to the next ?
he would never know the answer. 
the world died slowly over hundreds of years of painful suffering, desperately trying to to stay alive. even then the last remaining survivors knew him only as the destroyer of their world, responsible for their suffering. his former self wiped from memory, and only hate remained. 
after the last mortal died, the last tree withered and the oceans were gone. there was nothing left to guard, nothing left but the ruins of the past and the painful reminder of how this all came to be. the question of why it had to happen, was never answered, as the gods abandoned him and his world a long time ago.
in a fit of rage he sought to destroy the last temples, the once sacred places which inscriptions have long faded away and the place he once called his home, where he used to speak to his gods before they fell into this agonizing silence and as he drove his sword through the sculpted stones which once housed their voices, it split into two . ..
..and through the cracks blew a wind carrying the scent of a world that was still alive.
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