#i really dont know what happened here i just typed and stuff came out

[queen-of-the-boos]

Hrrnnghh

Birthday has me thinking about Fun Fred......i mean moreso than usual (which is saying something)

#sighs wistfully #i wish he was here with me right now #my heart both aches because I want to be with him and its also a little fluttery because im thinking about #how happy and cute he always is around my birthday #he treats me like a queen #I wish i could go to sleep tonight and wake up to my exact same life except i would be going to my job as a maintenance tech for them #all of them #my dear metallic friends #why am i. crying? its not a bad cry (?) #anyway idk what this post was supposed to be im just #i feel as if im in a dreamy state of bitersweet melancholy #I wish I could just hear him call me cupcake or birthday girl #its so cute and makes my heart feel like sunshine #I wanna walk around with Bon Bon in my arms #I Want To Be With Them #maybe then i wouldnt have to plan my own birthday party and feel like a nuisance for asking people to come #mmm sorry for the random vent? #i really dont know what happened here i just typed and stuff came out #anyway

[mit0bee]

Twisted Wonderland boys with an S/O who's afraid of bugs (me too)

Did I literally just post 5 minutes ago? yes. am i posting again? yes. Stuff you should read: Bulleted HC's because i dont feel like writing an essay like i did with floyds tent hc, no beta we die like men, mention of multiple types of bugs Characters: Leona Kingscholar, Malleus Draconia, Trey Clover, Jamil Viper, Vil Schoenheit, Epel Felmier, Sebek Zigvolt, Floyd Leech

(can be read as platonic but i did write it with a romantic relationship in mind)

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

Leona literally came running into the room thinking you had died or smthn, but no. you were screaming, standing on his bed....all over a small cockroach.

Bro actually sighed. like, a super big sigh, one that youd only get from a dissapointed mother while he stomped on the bug.

"Seriously, Herbivore? You took care of multiple overblots, but a single cockroach gets you all worked up?"

hes grinning so hard. youd want to punch him with how hard hes grinning.

all hes thinking is about the amount he can tease you about this

but, yes. he does get rid of the bug.

unless he was sleeping. then he forces asks ruggie to do it nicely.

MALLEUS DRACONIA

implodes the bug.

im not kidding.

he literally goes full on oceangate on that bug and implodes it

you didnt even have time to properly freak out before the bug was wiped off the face of the earth

"tsunotarou what was that sound?"

"nothing light of my life" *hiding bug corpse*

"are you sure bc i thought i saw a bug"

"nope. no bugs here? should we buy some bug repellant to ease your mind?"

".....no its okay."

you knew he somehow killed the bug.

and it only made you love him even more than you already do.

TREY CLOVER

catches the bug for you and lets it outside.

unlike the first two, he tries his best not to kill the bug.

he pulls the "how would you feel if i stomp on you and kill you?"

"if you killed me while i was a bug i'd thank you"

"you'd be dead, [name]."

"....id thank you from the grave."

he just sighs and shakes his head

probably convinces riddle to let him put anti-bug measures around heartslaybul for you (it didnt take much convincing riddle hates bugs too)

JAMIL VIPER

screams with you

probably set ramshackle on fire more than once while visiting you

you both have to call kalim or adeuce to come exterminate the single cockroach on the ground

again, that one tik tok sound where its like

"YOU KILL THE BUG, YOURE THE MAN!"

"SINCE WHEN."

thats a daily interaction between the two of you

if it happened at scarabia, he'd stay at ramshackle for the next month

literally would abandon kalim (or if he really cant be trusted he'd just bring kalim with him to make sure he didn't cause any problems)

VIL SCHOENHIET

screams with you x2

isn't as dramatic as jamil, but he definitely freaks out about it too.

about the bugs? no. about the bug bites.

again, youd have to call someone to save the both of you so you dont pass tf out and die while he gets eaten alive by a fruit fly

wym fruit flies dont bite? you cant be too cautious.

somehow always has bug repellant with him in the warm seasons

hes prepared and will NOT get any bug bites

EPEL FELMIER

zero reaction, or has a positive one.

"what in tarnation do you mean you hate bugs?! they help with fertilizer blah blah blah blah blah blah (i dont know farming stuff)!"

you have to CONVINCE him to get rid of the bugs, but he'll eventually cave and do it just for you

if you ask him to put up anti-insect measures he'd look at you like youre crazy

"[name]. bugs are actually really good for our ecosystem. back at home we always had to take care of the bugs, or else our crops would die."

"shut up. please. ily, but i cant deal with these bugs."

"okay okay okay fine"

will reluctantly set them up

overall a 4/10 for bug measures he will do it just not unless you beg

SEBEK ZIGVOLT

yells.

not in fear, but in anger because how DARE such a miniscule thing try to terrify the people he cares about?!

doesnt explode it like malleus

but strikes it with lightning.

yk his dorm card groovy? thats what hes doing to a little centipede.

expects you to praise him for protecting you

sure, its a given that he would, but he would very much so appreciate your thanks, and maybe a head pat or smthn

give him one.

now.

FLOYD LEECH

like trey, he lets the bug free

sometimes.

other times he kills it and chases you with the corpse

or keeps it alive and chases you with the living bug

if you REALLYYYYYYYYYY dont like bugs, like straight up sobbing, freaking out, then he wont but otherwise? have fun bro

someone has to seperate you two when you see a bug, because he will do something

sometimes if he's feeling generous he wont do anything and you'll be like "tf? what did you do to be so nice?"

"cant i just be generous towards my shrimpy?"

"no."

".....yeah i almost grilled grim thinking he was food."

"you WHAT."

all of this because of a simple bug

oh to be young and in love ----------------------- m.list @mit0ee 's work, please do not steal!

#twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #malleus draconia x reader #malleus x reader #trey clover x reader #trey x reader #jamil viper x reader #jamil x reader #vil shoenheit x reader #vil x reader #epel felmier x reader #epel x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #sebek x reader #floyd leech x reader #floyd x reader #no beta we die like men

[koiiiiijiii]

Heyyy, What if reader is in the hummingbird crew and is in a secret relationship with joker

Can u make some Sfw and nsfw headcanon

sorry, i decided to do only sfw part because i didn’t really came up with the idea how to add nsfw part here ://

hope you’ll enjoy!!

warnings ; only my not proofed english erorrs.

joker saw you on league of streets before, for sure. he knew that you were from hummingbird crew and the fact that sangho choi had a request to sabbath to deal somehow with your crew.

he never liked that idea tho, in the first place because hummingbird had you and shelly, and joker could never compete with girls, it seemed unfair and unnatural for him.

but when he saw you leaving the changing room right after incident with missing drug from that guy in red glasses, and you clearly heard their conversation, wooin immediately bellowed to catch you and joker grabbed you by wrist and pulled your hand on the level of his eyes. that red glasses pice of shit immediately screamed that it was your team that stole "something" from him. your hart, in turn, has already sunk into your heels, and soul has left your body, a bunch of suspicious-looking guys were ready to tear you apart because of someones lost thing, while you and your team just tried to win cycling competition. joker didn’t immediately realize with what force he was squeezing your wrist, and when he looked from wooin to you, he felt as if his heart was pinched. he, being a huge guy, squeezed your hand so hard that there would definitely be a bruise... "a girl's hand.. so small" - he thought to himself and relaxed his grip on you. joker didn’t like to mess with girls. especially with someone nice like you. he clearly catched himself on the idea that he doesn’t like your scared face turned to him. one your still free hand started to pounding on his elbow and forearm demanding to let you go.

when wooin learned that that guy had no proofs that it was you or your team he was furious, and joker just knew that this guy is no longer safe. he actually didn’t care. the only fact that he cared, when he made sure everyone had left the room and discovered that he was right, there was indeed a bruise on your wrist. he was ashamed, really ashamed, to offend a girl who, in addition, had done nothing wrong.

you were sitting on the floor, leaning on the boxes, when you saw that white haired guy squatted down in front of you and held out his hand. "what does this thug need??" - your thoughts were spinning in your head, and you felt bad that you refused dom’s company to pick up your stuff from changing rooms.

"give me your phone" - you heard his harsh voice. what in the earth he wanted from you?. "hey your friends already learned that i didnt stole anything, now join them and leave." - tears were alredy welling up in your eyes and it was so insulting and unpleasant for you. "im sorry..." he paused and added "i wanted to ask your number. i know one good ointment, it helps with bruises. if you dont mind. just let me know were i could meet you."

on the evening of that day, you met in the park, and he shyly handed you a transparent bag with ointment and bandages.

he muttered an apology under his breath once more and was about to leave when you grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and stopped him.

“give me your phone” - now was your turn to ask.

he freaked out a little but handed you the phone and you typed in your number and made a call, so you had his number too.

you named him as a “nice big guy from snake team”

the next time you receive a call from joker was one week later, and he asked you to help him to patch him up.

you had no idea what happened to him, but you just felt that you need to return a favor and help him.

he said he was waiting for you in the park where you met, sitting on a bench. when you came blood was dripping from his nose, and there were abrasions on his hands and face.

worried, you rushed to the nearest store and bought water to wash the wounds and to apply that ointment that he brought you.

he didn't make a sound when you moistened a piece of screw, washed his wounds and applied ointment, sealed it with plasters, and as soon as you finished, joker thanked you.

you spent about 30 minutes more in each other company and he walked you to your house.

that night you received a “good night” text from him.

after that, your correspondence became more regular, as well as meetings.

and you both agreed not to share that information with your teams. you simply knew that dom will want to fight with joker because of the fact that he hurt you in first place and joker said that it is better not to let wooin know about him hanging out with “rival crew” member.

#[ ~ koi.talks🗣] #windbreaker #windbreaker webtoon #x reader #windbreaker x reader #windbreaker headcanon #headcanon #webtoon #joker windbreaker x reader #joker x reader #joker windbreaker

[olderthannetfic]

I always see people who have never been antis, talking about/questioning how some antis even ARE antis when you look at their taste in media - ie the ever famous joke of "Hannigram is #problematique" "but it's a show where he eats people" or whatever.

I thought I'd weigh in as someone who could, hypothetically, be called an ex-anti (which, thankfully, nothing ever really came out of it - it was just very 2014 keyboardwarrior-esque behavior of me being a chronically online young adult who would share posts in a group chat making fun of certain shippers, or reblog posts about how 50shades is The Most Problematic Media Ever to exist -- basically I was an anti with anti-lines of thoughts, but i never, like, a ran a Shipping Discourse Blog or whatever)

For me, personally, it was a few different things. I can now see how it's incredibly hypocritical that teenaged me shipped Light/L, while still thinking that Dramione was Bad And Abusive. It ultimately boiled down to a) being pretentious, and b) just not understanding media or what proshippers REALLY believed, with a side of c) not realizing that nuance exists. like i was pretty late to join tumblr, I think I immigrated here during PEAK "yourfaveisproblematic" era which definitely did have an impact on my opinions and my tastes.

to elaborate, a.) being pretentious. i mean this one just kinda goes without saying. "I engage in media in a way more intellectual way than you do, don't you know that? You're a filthy and disgusting person who writes Snape/Hermione because you're an actually disgusting pedophile IRL who would probably date your own student that you're abusing if you could. Meanwhile, I'm a very smart, good, and pure person. When I read Uncle Vernon/Harry, I'm doing it in a G-d honoring whump way that clearly condemns abuse, incest, and rape. Unlike YOU who only writes harmful stuff as a way to get people off :/"

(as an aside, i think this line of thinking will ALWAYS be present in fandom and popculture in some way, sadly. ie the recent trend of people hating on booktok bc the books are 'trashy' and how these porn addicts should read real classic literature instead.)

as for b.), not understanding media - i cannot emphasize enough that i was GENUINELY stupid and disconnected enough to think that proshippers REALLY WERE pro-All Of The Degenerate Dead Doves That They Wrote.

why did i feel this way? why did i understand that Lolita clearly isnt pro-pedophilia, but for some reason i thought that someone shipping weecest was? well, first of all, i think that fanfiction is (generally) seen as Less Serious than classic literature, and fandom is a fun place, so i guess i somehow thought that every fanfic/fanartist who wrote Problematic Things, especially Problematic Things that they portrayed as Sexy, really DID enjoy the thought of that Actually Happening To Real People.

and i think THIS is the bulk of why antis ARE antis. i'm not calling them all stupid - i do think BEING an anti is stupid, but at the same time, there are people who are truly smart and good-intended people who just have some really off color opinions about, like, homestuck ships or whatever. Lawlight is okay because notebooks that kill people don't exist so it's IMPOSSIBLE for the Harmful Aspects of Light/L to be romanticized! but schoolyard prejudiced bullies DO exist and are a REAL problem so Drarry is BAD (*truly completely unaware of the fact that there's 'realistic' aspects of the Light/L dynamic and 'unrealistic' aspects of Drarry - such as, for example, Hogwarts arguably being even MORE of a fantasy setting than DN is.*) I know that media literacy is the hot buzzword of the year to throw around in 2024, but, like, i really did not have media literacy.

as for c.), not realizing nuance exists - ok "nuance" might not be the best word here, but i dont know how else to describe it. like, each time ive typed the word "problematic" out in this ask, i've done so in a very tongue in cheek/ironic/retroactive way, but, like, those posts about how Everything Is Problematic, Including Your Fave ARE true. and i didn't like the fact that my favorite media or favorite person might've Made A Mistake! i need to Talk About Its Issues Because I'm So Betrayed That My Dear Sweet Comfort Media Would Do This To Me. I Need To Prove I Clearly Condemn It.

like, i legit morally could not justify reblogging a twilight post without adding in the tags '#this is my guilty pleasure it sucks that the books were so racist though' or whatever. Most people were lucky enough to avoid that line of thinking, but there was an actual group of people who felt a genuine need to virtue signal all the time, partly bc, hey, they WERE passionate about talking abt #issues in media, but also bc of a subconscious fear of If You Reblog A Singular Piece Of Hetalia Fanart, You're Literally A Nazi And Will Get A Callout Post Written About You.

and during all of this i was at the tail end of my high school experience (yes i know im younger than most of your audience, ha). i was going through A Lot emotionally, going through a lot of life changes, and lived in a very . . . interesting household/place where i couldn't do ACTUAL good in the world that i was passionate about. so to make up for the fact that i was genuinely in no place to do legit activism, clearly i had to save the gay community by arguing about johnlock queerbaiting or whatever.

^ and honestly i do think that is the position of most antis. theyre isolated and cant seem to do Enough in the Real Scary World so they have to resort to talking about how bad of a person someone is for "shipping abuse", bc theyre not in a situation where they could, for example, ACTUALLY fight the good fight to end abuse or raise awareness for it.

There was way more to it and way more that I could say, if I wanted to, but this post is long enough as it is and probably doesn't make much sense.

I feel bad for antis, honestly, or at least the ones who are antis in the way I used to be.

--

Oh yes, passionate young fools who think they can at least fix the internet if not their lives make up most of the cannon fodder. Some of the ringleaders are just mini dictators and wannabe cult leaders, but most anti-leaning types are just traumatized or clueless, even a lot of the ones who do serious damage and don't just mock shit in private with their friends.

[pansear-doodles]

crying begging sobbing on my knees for more info on da modcats in your main AU

also what are the other lizards munker takes care of

reminds me, im not sure if the modcat owners are chill with me still continuing to portray their slugcats considering... what happened. (but believe me that i would never fucking do weird stuff to em since i see them practically as other peoples' ocs- this includes shipping them)

but if they do have problems with it, they oughta tell me. id respect their decisions either way. i dont want to further discomfort them. (i also dont want to bring it up to them myself if its okay to still use them. honestly i dont think anyone here wishes to talk about that and its just awkward idk?)

anyway- ill make several of em brief.

dronemaster - created by an iterator? sent to study the new age of civilization and possibly destroy it, but could not. befriends sporecat

sporecat - a gardener and rain deer rider, they help gourmand with agricultural impacts.

beecat - takes care of pups in orphanage. teaches them too. goes on expeditions sometimes to discover certain trees.

wanderer - suns' first slugcat creation. after realizing they delivered a bad pearl to pebbles, they hid away from society in shame until spearmaster discovered their existence and helped them come out of the shadows.

martyr - an echocat who constantly bothers saint after discovering that they're both stuck in the strangest form of a cycle. often torments them but also cares for them.

lancers - orphan siblings who look out for each other. bear some striking resemblance to monk, survivor and hunter but is purely coincidental.

friend and poacher - also siblings who look after each other. have contrasting personalities. friend befriends lizards and poacher kills them. cue the shenanigans. friends of monk.

noircat - friend's love interest but very casual about the relationship. would later befriend survivor.

wingcat - a messenger of sorts who came from a faraway place. decided to hang around seeing a civilization develop. friends with vinci and other prankster cats. attracted to batcat.

batcat - a loner type. appears in the shadows. if edge is a word i can use, i shall, but its up to faeling lol. is friends with wingcat and is attracted to em.

vinci - one of the prankster types who hates pebbles and draws graffiti often on their can.

nomad - a gliding slugcat from a faraway land who has streetsmarts but isnt so smart. feeling ashamed for letting their old village burn, they walk alone- but befriends another slugcat named Arbiter, who accompanies them.

arbiter - nomad's close friend. the creation of an iterator who is long passed. initially wanted to stay their shambled place, but decided to leave and really explore the world with their bestie nomad. is the actual streetsmart and smart, but appears quite menacing and shady.

pearlcat - a strange slugcat from faraway, arriving in a mysterious working train. alongside her is her pup named junior. she wields the power of pearls and would later befriend artificer. she would share the knowledge she has to gourmand.

aaaand a bunch more.

again if you are the owner of a modcat, and you are not comfortable with me depicting them, please absolutely let me know!

also monk takes care a LOT of lizards of varying types and colors.

#ask #my anthro au

[thegoober010]

HELLO! PAW PRINT ANON IS BACK!

I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THE ONESHOT!!! IM GOING INSANE ITS SO GOOD!!!

I have a bit of a different request this time! (It’s not Mettaton, I know, shocking.)

Could you do some Sans x reader headcanons? Preferably hurt/comfort if thats alright :33

IF IM SENDING TOO MANY REQUESTS PLEASEEE DO SAY SO!! I DONT WANNA OVERWORK YOU!!!

-🐾

AAAAAA IM SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT <333!!!

AND ITS TOTALLY FINE PAW PRINT ANON MWEHEHHE DW I LOVE DOING REQUESTS <333!!! AND OMG ITS NOTR METTATON RELATED!!!?!??!? shocking!!! absolutely BAFFLING!!

JKJK LMAO OFC I CAN DO THIS :)!! IT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR NESXT TIME BTW LIKE WHAT TYPE OF HURT LIKE IF THE READER GOT INTO A FIGHT WITH THEM OR MAYBE THEY NEED COMFORT AFTER A BREAKUP OR IF THEY NEED COMFORT AFTER RELAPSING, AN ED, OR SUM THATD BE HELPFUL FOR NEXT TIME BTW <33!! IMA JUST DO IT THAT THEY HAD A BAD DAY AT WORK TODAY THE READER WORKS AT LIKE GRILBYS OR SUM TEEHEE

SANS X READER HERE WE GOOO 🗣🗣🗣

TW/CW -> None really- Just a depressed reader!

word count -> 1k/1164! I didnt write as much on this post sorry!! im pretty tired rn its 1:15 am where im at rn LMAOOO

"Are you alright?"

Fuck your life, you just came back to the house after a long, grueling, shitty shift. You were so tired you almost collapsed onto the snow before you even made it home. You just wished it was peaceful for once, that you didn't feel burnt out, overwhelmed all the time, you just wanted to sleep and never wake up, maybe then you wouldn't feel so tired. As you opened the door you placed your bag on the couch and made your way to San's room, who was not only your best friend but your boyfriend as well. He always helped you, even though you didn't particularly enjoy talking about your feelings to him especially on nights like this he was always there for you, always making sure you were okay and took care of yourself and had a good rest after these long days. You mumbled to yourself as you opened the door to his room until you realized. "Fuck he's not here." You grumbled. You rubbed your temple as you sat on his bed, you were stressed and you needed him. Why can't he just be there for you? Why does he always have to be off somewhere else and then appear late whenever you need him. It pissed you off even more, you knew you were thinking irrationally, he was always there for you it's only a few times where he can't be and is busy, you were just too stressed to think properly though, too stressed to even think about anything else besides how badly you just need someone to help you out right now. You crawled on top of his bed, covering yourself with the blanket. The shift was honestly terrible, many customers were overly rude at Grilby's today, mostly newcomers, and it was so damn busy you couldn't really do much about those people/monsters, you were so frustrated by all the orders and all the insults thrown your way, in fact you got way less tips than usual which caused you to be even more upset, money wasn't much of a problem but come on! Tears swelled up in your eyes from all the built up frustration from not just this shift, but all the past shifts that were almost the exact same situation, you hated working on those days and how underemployed that place was because you had to work twice as hard due to that as well.

After a good 10 minutes of you laying on the bed, muttering to yourself about all the stuff that happened and about how much you just needed someone for once and crying silently, you heard the door creak open. You wiped away your tears quickly with the blanket, shifting slightly and pretending to fall asleep. You knew it was sans and if he sees you like this he'd ask, and you don't want to bother him with any of your problems. "I know you're not asleep." Sans said walking up to you, he sat on the bed near you. "What happened?" he asked. You let out a sigh as you hugged the blanket tighter. "I don't want to talk about it." You grumbled, your tone annoyed with a hint of sadness. Sans stared at you for a bit before fixing your hair. "Are you sure? I mean you've been coming home more upset than usual, is work alright? Anything happening?" Sans questioned, his tone of voice growing more concerned. You furrowed your brows as you could feel the corners of your eyes sweet up with tears once more. You covered yourself with the blanket, not even daring to look at Sans. "Stop it, just STOP. I told you I'm fine! You don't have to pry into every little detail of my life I just want you here with me I don't want you digging into this I told you I'm fine, I just wanted you here with me, fuck." you yelled at first, calming your voice down as to not wake up Papyrus and to try to calm yourself down. Your voice cracks, you didn't really mean to come off as rude, you're just tired, you don't want him to get worried or to try and fix your problems, you just want him there with you, to give you a hug or just give you comforting words, you don't want him prying too much into this, you don't want him getting worried.

Sans seemed taken aback by your remark. He stayed quiet for a bit before nodding, he understood how you felt. Everyone has different ways they deal with this situation and how they want others to react, some want others to pry into their life and try to help solve their problems, others just want them to be there with them during this but not get too involved in the situation and many other things, everyone reacts differently to this much stress. Of course he was a bit shocked and to be honest a little hurt by your words but he knows you're just stressed and don't mean to be rude. He truly does understand, he knows how you feel, so he will be there for you. "You're obviously not fine, but I understand you don't want me to be involved in the situation, you just want me to be there for you, I understand." Sans replied, he gave you a comforting pat on the shoulder before laying with you on the bed. He let out a long sigh as he crossed his arms behind his head. "Take some deep breathes, that usually helps with stress, and make sure to sleep well." Sans said, you nodded. "Come on, let's take a few deep breathes." Sans said, you rolled your eyes but it does usually help. You did as he said and took a few small and quick deep breathes, trying to make the tension in your body disappear and just try to relax. "Feeling any better?" Sans asked, you shook your head no which caused him to chuckle a bit. "Yeah I kinda thought so. Deep breathes won't immediately make you feel bette but it helps with tension, for now just rest, cry if you want, I'm here for you alright... I won't judge you for being emotional okay. I love you too much for that." Sans said giving a reassuring hand on your shoulder. You nodded, you turned your head to face him and give him a small smile. "I appreciate that.." you muttered, he gives you a quick nod. "No need to do that, just rest, I'm here for you. No matter what happens remember that okay, I'll always be here for you." Sans replied, he wrapped an arms around you, pulling you closer. You let out a soft sigh as you moved closer to him, you closed your tired eyes and felt yourself slowly start to fall asleep in his arms. He kept his arm wrapped around you and watched you slowly fall asleep.

"Sleep well, I'm here, okay."

#undertale sans #sans x reader #sans x y/n #undertale angst #undertale hurt/comfort #hurt/comfort #one shot #toby fox #undertale fanfic #undertale fanfiction #fluff #stressed reader #im feeling silly ngl 😼 #im so sleep deprived rn wtf 😭

[leolingo]

say your thoughts about guapoduo........ i want to know more about what you think of them

WELL THANK YOU FOR ASKING!

/qsmp /rp ok they’re a fairly new development on the server so i dont have That much to go off of but as of right now lets just say i really love their sense of partnership! they’re so good to each other — so helpful, so encouraging! they feel like family, almost, and these kinds of domestic dynamics have always appealed to me the most… i love pairings that can rely on each other and it feels like they’re slowly building up to that type of stability

ficlet thingy under the cut i went a little off the rails

cellbit, for one, is so high strung right now this guy is living off of coffee and tangible paranoia but all it takes is one “hola, gatinho” for him to let go and forget about the horrors for a little bit. he needs the distractions, really, and roier plays the part so well!

cellbit is driving himself nuts here, looking over maps and rewriting his own notes and he really shouldn’t stop because things just keep happening, there’s no time to pause! but sometimes… sometimes roier comes around just to check in on him or to show him something — and he’s weak. roier has the best understanding of portuguese in the server by far, out of all the hispanics and english speakers. this means cellbit can speak his own language when he’s tired, without worrying about translating, and roier will still keep up with him.

roier gives him itens all the time — stuff cellbit doesn’t have because he’s so busy with research — and never asks for anything in return, though cellbit tells himself he’ll pay it back tenfold, some day. roier’s also a really good dad. bobby and richarlyson get along better and better everyday. what’s not to like, really? cellbit’s a bit defenseless in the face of this. he’ll admit it, he’s been caught off guard.

and as for roier…. roier has such a big heart. this is known. ask anyone on the server. so, genuinely, what was he supposed to do? upon meeting a man so intelligent he turned the island’s secrets inside out in his first week and ended up marred in the process, what was roier supposed to do? not giving him a hand just wasn’t an option. then cellbit reached out — guapito this, guapito that — and push quite literally came to shove. now they walk around in fours: cellbit, roier and the kids. because that’s all of them, and they have the family portraits to prove it, even if they don’t call them that. yet. roier pretends he can’t see cellbit whipping out his camera for candids through the day, but he does.

he’s just glad to be able to tend to someone. roier’s a lover, always has been. attentive, patient and oh-so-kind — despite his jokes and quirks, which cellbit likes! — and he takes pride in being able to care for the people closest to his heart.

bottom line is this: cellbit needs a little extra love sometimes. just the amount he forgets to give himself. luckily, roier has enough to go around :)

#ask #spiderbit #mine #guapoduo #my works

[once1upon1a1wonderland]

So, random thoughts about the recent update on EN. (I don't know what's happening on JP server, so please don't tell me anything.)

I was thinking.... Maybe it's because I'm tired.... (2 hours of sleep), but I had a thought. What if Malleus just wins? Even if only briefly.... like he actually manages to engulf the entire world with his sleep curse. (Ahem, blessing.) I mean, how are we.....

Supposed to stop that.

(The dragon looks so cool though!)

I.... I don't think fighting is the answer here... I really dont.... Malleus is the next thing right under omnipotent. He's not quite there... but dang! What the heck man! What is going on in your head!? You're so weird it's actually intriguing. I want to know what he's thinking, because this plan of his is just ridiculous! Ridiculous in the sense that there's no way his plan can actually pan out the way he wants it to forever. Like, 1000 years of sleep huh? What do you think will happen when you allow everyone to wake up? Or.... you gonna change your mind and just keep them asleep longer? You're not giving everyone their dreams. You're dangling it in front of them like a carrot on a stick. Making them think they have what they want, only for it to be stripped from them one day. But hey, at least you get to keep Lilia, right? I get it. He's hurting. And he's acting pretty desperate. I'm going to ask the same question I have asked before. How much is the blot affecting his mind? Morphing in with his thoughts to help him believe that this is rational? He wants something so simple and innocent, but is going about it in an incredibly selfish way.

In the original case of Maleficent, she is defeated by a sword stabbing into her heart.... I hate to say it, but there's only two ways to stop Malleus at this point. Either manage to talk him out of it, or killing him. Yeah, it hurt to type that. But I'm just typing the facts. There is no way we'll be defeating him the way we did with the other overblotters. Which is how I got the idea of, what if he "wins". At least the type of win where everyone feels like they're all doomed and all hope is lost right before someone figures out a way to stop him. I know from Malleus' perspective at the moment, he's already won.

Okay, rant over.... maybe

.

..l really need sleep.

No! I don't need help from you.

Here's random Dragon Gifs... because.... I don't know. Because I feel like it.

K, this one below, not a dragon, but it looks cool!

Y'know, my blog name has become Ironic now. I named it 'Once Upon A Wonderland Twists into A Dreamland' because I decided it sounded cool, and I wanted a blog name that had a meaning behind it. The "Once Upon a" part alluding to the fact that a lot of fairy tales start with "once upon a time". Though I believe half of the tales Twist takes from technically don't start like that. But y'know... popular trope.... and then the "Wonderland" part in my blog name because: "twisted wonderland". Now the "twists into a Dreamland" part came about because I had thought of make-believe worlds that we find ourselves going to as a sort of Dreamland. A place to escape to for a while.... (also I wanted "Twist" somewhere in the title.) Hence the name: Once Upon A Wonderland Twists Into A Dreamland. Now it seems my blog name has predicted what happens in book 7.... 🤣 I don't know. I like ironic stuff like this. It's funny.

#twisted wonderland #malleus draconia #overblot Malleus #dreamland #twst thoughts #ignore me. im tired and need sleep. how am i still awake.... #dragons #hornton #book 7 update #twisted wonderland book 7 part 3 #twisted wonderland en update

[favesgrave]

since i am so normal i started up an earthspark warrior cats au and then my friends (hi friends @echoblaze5 @benadrylcandlewhack @velvety-vixen @badgerdigsbones @satellitedish38) brainstormed more ideas for it so big thanks to them. anyways here's the stuff under the cut:

okay so i'm still chipping away at actual plot but the current sort of story is that megatron (he's called stoneheart in this au and badger came up with that name so ty badger) led his own clan that was basically the decepticons and went to war with the autobot clan. at a certain point he has a bit of a change of heart and is like "so guys. maybe this fighting isn't worth it"

his warriors are understandably like "dude what the fuck do you mean. we've been fighting for YOU and now you're backing out. traitor" and he ends up getting chased out. optimus (who i havent thought of a name for yet) is like "oh you silly goose. if you want peace then come on over and live with us!!!"

it's. a big adjustment.

he goes from stonestar to stoneheart and literally no one but optimus trusts him because they used to be pretty tight

also this has no big impact on the plot but i thought it'd be cool if autoclan (that is NOT their actual name i am working on it!!!) lived in a cave on a mountain and decepticlan (again not their name) lived on an island in a lake to sort of resemble how things were in g1. you know with the ark in the mountain and the nemesis underwater. yeah you get it

ANYWAAAYSSS. decepticlan's a bit messy after they drove out stoneheart because they didn't really think that far ahead, it all just kind of happened. starscream (who i'm gonna call finchshriek for now) is like "guys i'm the deputy so duh i'm the leader"

back in autoclan barn cats dot and alex join with their apprentice-aged kits robby and mo!!! most of the humans r probably kittypets (suggested by echo) but the maltos are barn cats and they r small enough to lay on fluffy ears

everyone loves fluffy ears

eventually dot and alex have two more kits, twitchkit and thrashkit! because yeah if we can have kits with the prefix "flip" then they can keep their names

stoneheart's been a warrior in autoclan for a while now and optimus is like "hey. hey watch this" and makes him twitchpaw's mentor when the time comes

okay pretty much everyone was talking about this (except me cuz i was drawing) but miko is a hardcore kittypet with a spiked collar and her owners put pink streaks in her fur. she follows bulkhead around a lot and talks his ear off. and we came to the conclusion that bulkhead is also a valid warrior name!!!!

also elita is the deputy of autoclan. i might name her something like rosethorn

twitchpaw and thrashpaw's warrior names r twitchflight and thrashkick

nightshade, jawbreaker, and hashtag also exist. nightshade already has a warrior name so that one was easy. jawbreaker might be called something like boulderjaw (or who knows might just say fuck it and keep jawbreaker) and for hashtag, we settled on the prefix "flash"

jawbreaker's mentor is gonna be grimlock. hashtag's will be rosethorn

i just thought of this while typing but i think the dinobots could all just be a random litter of kits wheeljack found abandoned in the wounds and he'd adopt them

speaking of wheeljack!!! he is missing an ear and has a bobtail because velvet said so and is absolutely correct. that's kinda it for him for now

bumblebee is called beestrike!!! as an apprentice he was friends with breakdown (who i might call blueleap or blueskip cuz he's got a fearless attitude or whatever) and they'd meet up at gatherings and sometimes in secret by sneaking out of their camps. ben was like "bee could be like how graystripe was whenever he saw silverstream and make little cat biscuits" and yeah that's pretty much him. once the war breaks out their friendship becomes strained and even when there's peace, it's gonna be a little awkward at first

i dont know if i'd bring knockout into the au but he was easy to think of. he's decepticlan's medcat and is named scarletshine

this was probably unintelligible but i had to make the post somewhere

#i am cringe but i am free #earthspark #earthspark au #warrior cats #warriors #warrior cats au #megatron #earthspark megatron #optimus prime #earthspark optimus #malto family #twitch malto #thrash malto #starscream #breakbee #if you want #transformers #transformers earthspark #transformers au #maccadam #maccadams

[findmeabowlofundertale]

PART 7 IS HERE

[Previous part] [Next]

It might be the longest yet but to be completely honest I have no idea. So uhhhh read it when you have plenty of time bc I thrive on reactions there’s a lot of important stuff in here, just like with part 6.

I took tons of inspiration from many, many sources. I feel like I should have a works cited page or something haha ^^;;

But yeah, as usual there will be notes at the end.

I really wanted to give a better progression of time, but between part 6 and this one, not gonna lie, I got a little mixed up moving things around. So. Sorry, as usual, for the lack of realistic relationship progression. (Though, it has been several weeks for them…) It should be slower, but for one, I’m excited, and for two, when you don’t spend much time around others and then suddenly meet some you really click with, you can get attached pretty fast. I just want them to be good friends already! Realism be darned, this is primarily for myself, so… yeah. Anyway, enjoy(?)

- - - -

Hey! I was just checking if tomorrow was still a good day to meet? <

> HELLO. YES. TOMORROW STILL WORKS FOR ME

> ALPHYS WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US. BUT IS TOO SHY TO ASK.

A new message in a different conversation popped up on Asteri’s phone. It was from Alphys. She opened it.

> HI PLS IGNORE WHATEVER DR G IS SENDIGN

She rolled her eyes with a good-natured sigh.

Alphys chill. You’re welcome to join us if you want. <

Back to Gaster.

I let her know I’d be happy to have her. <

> THANK YOU

> SHE JUST GETS LIKE THIS. SOMETIMES

No problem. See you tomorrow! <

Tomorrow she was finally going to ask him why he texted like that. Her phone dinged. Alphys again.

> If ur like totally sure! I dont wanna impose

You’re not imposing. <

Besides I think I worked out some of the Japanese from the books you guys found. I found a few things in the dump that helped. I wanna run it by you, if you’re free. <

> OMG REALLY?!?

> Ok yeah i’ll totally be there!!

> Happy to help!

Turning it around as an invitation seemed to work well. Asteri smiled. She almost put her phone down, but then an idea struck her.

Can you do me another favor, actually? <

Tell me what you two have eaten lately. <

The typing message came, went away, returned, and went away again several times before Alphys answered.

> well uhh haha so he tried making pasta last week i guess but it didn’t turn out, so he’s just been bringing in the leftovers and “forgetting” them in the break room fridge??

> I was going to eat some so it didn’t go to waste but

> asteri it’s So Bad

> so

> Idk

> but theres been a new box of donuts in here like every day so…

Asteri dragged her wing down her face.

How good of friends do you have to be with someone before you can strangle them <

> LMAO

> u want me to ask him?

Asteri sat up straight in her chair.

DO NOT TELL HIM I SAID THAT <

> LOLLL ok i won’t

Alphys I MEAN IT. <

I don’t want him to take it the wrong way. <

> lmao i won’t tell him don’t worry

> don’t think you can strangle a skeleton anyway

I doubt it. Not when their heads can come off <

> hIS WHAT

Asteri grimaced. Whoops.

My bad I thought you would have known about it considering what happened <

> wHAT DO YOU MEAN CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED

She snorted a laugh.

> ASTERI

Apparently skeletons come apart. <

They can move their bodies from their head but if they go too far they lose control of one or the other. And apparently one time he tested that without warning anyone ahead of time and got too far from his head so it was just his body wandering around blind until he ran into someone and freaked them out <

> Oh My God

> I wanna say ur joking but that would literally be just like him

Ask him if he knows he dropped a phalange in the break room and see how long it takes him to tell you that story <

> asdjklf;hsk I can’t just say that!!!!

Trust me he’s way too excited to talk about it. <

If it goes badly you can say I dared you. <

> omg ok i’ll do it

Asteri chuckled and put her phone down. Alphys was a lot of fun to talk to. They had kept in touch since the dump, since she was more adept at texting than Gaster. He absolutely texted like an old man. Which was hilarious considering that he had absolutely no excuse for being out of touch with technology. He quite literally worked with it every single day. Well, who knew? Maybe he just wasn’t one for written communication. After all, people wrote much differently than they spo—

Wait, no, that really didn’t make sense for him.

…Is that how he would talk, if he spoke aloud? Geez.

She shook her head and got up. Not worth thinking about. She should go get her notes on Japanese in order for Alphys.

⁂

Bread was shoved against Gaster’s chest.

“Sandwich.”

He looked down at the plastic baggie-covered-sandwich and took it, then gave a grateful but confused smile. “Thank you, but… why?”

Asteri didn’t have arms to cross, and her wings were too big, but she approximated the gesture well enough and her tail flicking in agitation against the red rock beneath her made her mood clear. “Because I said I would start bringing you food if you didn’t eat.”

A startled, somewhat indignant noise caught in his metaphorical throat as he straightened in mild offense. “I made pasta when I got home last time!”

“Did you eat it?”

The silence and the way his eyelights immediately flitted away were answer enough even if Alphys hadn’t filled her in yesterday.

“Gaster!” she scolded.

He threw his arms in the air and signed with a blue pair of hands that blinked into existence instead. “It was inedible!”

“It can’t have been that bad.” Surely nobody who had been alive this long didn’t have basic cooking skills. No matter what Alphys said.

“H-Hi, um, am- am I interrupting?”

The very same lizard had walked up to them without either of them realizing. Gaster lit up, though more in triumph than delight. “Not at all.”

“Hey! Good to see you again,” Asteri greeted. “You’re just in time to watch me lecture an old man.”

Gaster made another offended noise. “I am not the only monster who fought in the war, you know!”

“Alright, fair enough,” Asteri conceded. “But you’re the only one of my friends who has, so I’m teasing you about it.”

The finger he had held up in anticipation of giving a rebuttal drooped as the indignation melted away, and a slight smile pulled at his expression instead, eyes flicking away with a hint of green. He still wasn’t used to being called anyone’s friend.

Asteri looked down at Alphys. “Did you get some of it?”

The lizard monster nodded and pulled a container out of her bag. Monster food didn’t spoil, so the fact that it was a week and a half old didn’t matter, fortunately. Which was not the case with human food, as Alphys had learned the hard way from scavenging at the dump. She handed the container over. Gaster’s flattered smile immediately disappeared, replaced with dawning horror.

“Asteri.”

She manifested a green hand.

“Asteri, wait.”

She took the lid off. Well… no, it decidedly didn’t smell great, but…

“Asteri, please! Do not eat that. It is inedible.”

She huffed and swung her head back over to look at him in mild annoyance. “It cannot be that bad. Look. I’m a decent cook, so I’ll try it and give you some tips on what could be improved. I’m not going to judge you.”

That was a lie, she had already judged him a little bit.

He looked mortified. “I am begging you.”

Asteri raised an eyebrow and glanced at Alphys for input. She gave an awkward smile, so stretched it was more like a grimace. “I-It’s, um…” The question put her in an uncomfortable position between her two friends.

“Alphys, tell her! It is horrendous! Nobody could eat that!”

“Oh come on! Nobody can be that bad at cooking. It’s PASTA, how bad could it possibly be?”

“BAD! It’s terrible! You will take damage from that penne!”

Asteri scoffed. “You can’t accidentally put malicious intent into food, now I know you’re exaggerating.”

Alphys looked back and forth between them, growing increasingly anxious as they argued, until finally she screwed her eyes shut and clutched her bag and blurted, “Okay, i-it’s awful!”

They both turned to look at her again. There was a beat of silence before Gaster lit up in a triumphant grin.

“See?!”

Asteri made a face. “Hmph. Well, even if it somehow does deal damage, I’ve got plenty of HP.”

A green, drippy hand reached into the container and picked up a fistful of pasta. The two scientists looked on in terror as she opened her mouth and tossed it in. She chewed. They held their breaths. She swallowed.

There was silence at first. The anticipation was tangible. She closed her eyes, took a breath, then opened them again.

“How do you two feel about heading to my place?”

Alphys blinked. “O-Oh! Sure…?? I-I don’t mind the walk.”

“I am not opposed,” Gaster agreed, slightly confused.

“Good. Because I’m teaching you two how to cook. My god, that is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”

⁂

The attempt ended four and half hours later with the three of them covered in sauce stains and on the kitchen floor. Asteri held her face in her wings, Gaster was face-down, and Alphys was flopped over onto her side, staring at the various spills and the overturned pan and bowl across the floor from her.

Asteri raised her head and stared upward. There was a splatter of something on the ceiling. She heaved a sigh. “Terrible job everyone. But at least we tried. Let’s get this cleaned up.”

With a grunt, Alphys righted herself. “Okay…”

“Gaster, are you conscious?”

The man didn’t move at all, but a pair of blue hands manifested above him. “Unfortunately.”

“Alright, well, get up. This is no time for embarrassment. You’re helping clean.”

He sighed silently but obeyed, pushing himself up from the ground and onto his knees. His glasses were barely hanging onto his face. He made no effort to correct this. “I am so sorry about this mess. What can I do?”

Asteri stood and dusted herself off with her wings, then gestured upward with her tail. “Help me wipe that splatter off the ceiling.”

He craned his neck to look where she was pointing. “Ah...” How did they even manage that?

She looked around, utterly overwhelmed by the chaos her kitchen had descended into. “Alphys, can you get the dishes in the sink? Then we can collect the rest of the dishes, and… ugh, wait, no. There’s the pans. And I didn’t put away the plates on the drying rack. Uh, okay. I can get the counters, but the leftover ingredients that are still good can… no, um. The rags are… But first, the floor. No.”

There was nowhere to put anything, and stuff was everywhere, and there was ruined food to scoop up, and good food to find containers for, and she needed to find a bucket for the mop, and… This was too overwhelming.

“Th-There’s containers with lids in that cupboard, but the fridge is… If you, uh…”

It was exhausting to even think about. Looking at it just drained her. All she wanted to do was sit back down, but then the spills would just dry and get even harder to clean. She didn’t know how this had even happened. She was exhausted from trying to keep the both of them on track, and as patient as she was, it had run out after two or three hours of damage control. This was so far beyond reckoning, she was beginning to shut down. If she didn’t get a grip, she was going to end up crying in frustration, and nobody needed that right now—

“Asteri.”

She turned her head. Gaster had approached without her having noticed until she saw his hands move. Whatever dismayed look was on her face must have been bad, because he set a hand on the closest thing she had to a shoulder and looked at her with an level of concern she really, really wished she didn’t warrant. He shouldn’t have to worry about her, this was her idea, and… and…

He looked into her eyes, his own flared in a deep blue, almost indigo. She couldn’t seem to look away. They burned like fire magic, warm and captivating. There were shades of blue she didn’t even know existed. The colors danced like flames, swirled like milk in coffee. The stress bled out of her. Her posture relaxed; She felt… calm. Serene.

The color in his eyes slowly faded, and he smiled softly.

“Do not worry about it. Let us clean up our mess.”

“How did you do that?” Asteri asked, a bit hazy, as he steered her to a seat at her kitchen table.

He signed something with his blue hands that she didn’t recognize first, then realized his mistake. “Lighting our eyes with color, or—” He repeated the sign, which she interpreted as “eyeglowing”— “was one way skeletons expressed certain emotions, but it was also how we calmed each other. It was context-sensitive. I was unsure if it would work with you,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head a bit sheepishly, “but I acted instinctively.”

“It was really nice,” she murmured, leaning forward on the table until her head was resting against her wings. “Made me tired though.”

“It simply calmed you enough to realize that you were already tired.”

“Mm…”

He stepped away. “Just rest.”

“But there’s so much…”

“Alphys and I have cleaned up far worse.” Several more pairs of blue hands manifested around him once he reached the center of her kitchen.

“D-Definitely,” the younger woman chimed in. She wasn’t thrilled to be cleaning up the entire kitchen, but could tell Asteri needed to sit this one out. “Me and Dr. Gaster got this.”

“Technically,” Asteri mumbled into her wing, “‘t’s “Dr. Gaster ‘nd me.””

Alphys stared at her and ignored the correction. “Where are your dish towels, Asteri?” she sighed instead.

The shapeshifter pointed to a drawer with her tail.

She then watched as each of Gaster’s several floating hands went about doing something different, all while he stood in place, real hands folded behind his back except to levitate a few heavier things to different places. Alphys worked on whatever he wasn’t doing at a given moment. They worked in perfect sync, like they had done this dozens of times before. It was fascinating to watch.

They were finished within an hour. It passed in a blur.

“Thank you guys so much,” Asteri said once they finished. “I really appreciate it.”

“It was the least we could do after making such a mess.”

“I know we were going to talk linguistics, Alphys,” she said as she sat up and stretched, “but I don’t think I have the mental energy for it. Do you guys want to watch a movie instead?”

“I can’t remember the last time I watched a film,” Gaster mused. “I would like that.”

“Y-Yeah, a movie sounds nice!”

Asteri stood. “I don’t have much to eat though… I’m sorry.”

“I-I can make sandwiches, if, um, i-if you don’t mind. That’s not really cooking, so…”

“That’s fine with me. Here, I’ll help. I can do that much as a host, at least. Gaster, do you want to look through the movies I’ve got?”

Once they finished making the sandwiches, they met Gaster in the living room. After agreeing on a movie, they sat on the couch, Asteri in the middle. Too tired and distracted with the film starting, she forgot she had wanted to try to watch how Gaster ate. Oh well. She was exhausted. She didn’t last much past the halfway point of the movie, soon thereafter conking out and beginning to slump over. Being much taller than Alphys, the shorter woman had to keep pushing her back up.

“Doctor,” she hissed after the third time. He startled, having been completely engrossed in the film, and looked to his coworker. “Doctor, c-can you help, please?? She keeps falling over.”

“Oh! Yes, my apologies, Alphys.”

It would have been easier to turn her SOUL blue and pull her upright, but this wasn’t a battle, and she wasn’t conscious so he couldn’t ask her if it was alright. So instead, he turned and carefully clasped her not-quite-shoulders, then gently pulled her upright. She started to fall over again as soon as he began to let go, though, so he tilted her towards himself instead. Her head fell limply against his shoulder. She sighed in her sleep, but otherwise did not stir.

Alphys watched the way he smiled down at her before turning his attention back to the movie, noticed the way Asteri settled against him, and she smirked.

The movie ended after midnight, and the two reluctantly woke Asteri up to bid her goodbye. She was only half-awake, but thanked them for coming and told them to be careful on the way home. In the back of her mind, she realized she had ended up leaned on Gaster’s shoulder, but told herself not to think about it too hard and went to bed.

⁂

In lieu of the cooking lesson disaster, Asteri and Alphys met up at the former’s house on a different day to go over Asteri’s notes on Japanese.

“I am s-so sorry about, um, a-about the other day,” Alphys stammered as they approached the house. “I d-didn’t even! I-I didn’t even kn-know cooking c-could go… l-like that.”

“Honestly, neither did I,” Asteri said grimly, holding the door open for her friend. “But it was nice of you two to clean up for me. I appreciate it immensely.”

“I-It was mostly him! Thank goodness f-for blue magic, right?”

“And multiple pairs of hands.”

“O-Oh, r-right!” Alphys chimed as they walked through her front room. “You never saw him with a bunch of hands before, right?”

Asteri led her into a room toward the back of the house, something like an office, where she kept her notes. This room had magical fire burning in a few alcoves to lower the humidity. She flipped the lights on.

“Yeah, I didn’t know he could summon that many,” she mused. “He had three summoned when he showed me green magic, but I assumed that was about the limit. I didn’t expect— what was that? Ten?”

“Y-Yeah, I think ten is- is it. I think he f-felt really bad about the mess, so…”

Asteri gestured to a chair if Alphys wanted to sit, and sighed as she dropped into her own seat at the desk. “Yeah, I know. I told him it was fine, though. I hope he didn’t push himself for my sake.”

The lizard monster plopped into the offered chair and waved a hand. “He’s fine. Just, um, y-y’know, he gets. Self-conscious.”

“I do know that,” Asteri mumbled with a knowing sigh, sitting at her desk.

Alphys’ eyebrows furrowed. “W-Why, um, w-why did he need three extra hands to show you green magic, though?”

The memory of the skeleton shrugging out of his dark coat and yanking his sweater all the way up to his armpits brought heat back to her face. She pushed the feeling down and managed to maintain an otherwise calm expression. “We were discussing SOUL magic, which I wasn’t familiar with since I don’t make a habit of fighting. He said that because we didn’t know each other very well, he didn’t want to use it on me. I didn’t understand, um… turning a SOUL a certain color, so he…” She swallowed, beginning to struggle not to look as embarrassed as she felt by the memory. It wasn’t a big deal, it was educational. Surely it would be more embarrassing to make it a big deal to a scientist of all people. She shrugged as casually as she could manage. “…He showed me.”

Alphys’ eyes turned into dinner plates and she giggled incredulously. “He turned his own SOUL green and SHOWED you?!”

Asteri’s whole face flushed. “I-It stayed in his body!!”

Alphys was grinning, claws over her mouth. “Oh my god.”

“It was purely educational!”

“Did he- D-Did he, like, take his shirt off??”

“He pulled it up,” Asteri muttered. “But it wasn’t a big deal, alright‽”

“You’re preeeeetty defensive f-for it not being a big deal, Asteri,” Alphys teased.

“I-I just didn’t know what to expect! It’s not like I’d seen a skeleton’s body before!”

Alphys wiggled her eyebrows. “Why’re you blushing so hard then?”

“BECAUSE I SAW THE MAN’S SOUL, ALPHYS! That’s not exactly an experience I’m accustomed to having with someone!” She sighed and rubbed her face with her wing, tail reaching over to grab her papers.

Fortunately, Alphys dropped it, though the smirk didn’t quite disappear.

“Here. Look. These are some words I believe I have the meanings of.” Asteri shoved a handful of papers at her with her tail. “But since you’re familiar with the actual speech, I was hoping you could help me by giving me the pronunciation of any words you know. Then, once I know which letters make which sounds, hopefully we can meet again and compare what else I’ve transliterated. The writing has almost no spaces, so I can’t tell where words end and begin. I was hoping you would be able to help with that once we make some progress.”

“A-Ah, okay!” Alphys shuffled through the papers. “Um, so you have the word for “goodbye,” and I know that one!” She held the paper out and pointed to it. “It’s, um, “sayonara.””

Asteri frowned, leaning forward. “That can’t be right. The text is only five letters.”

Alphys’ expression withered into confusion, then uncertainty. “Oh… um, okay, let me look again.” She searched the papers once more. “Okay, here- here’s “yes,” I know that one is- is definitely “hai!” And, um, here, you have a few! A-A few different ones. For “wait.” I’ve heard, uh, “matte o,” uh, th-the most.”

Again, Asteri looked at the papers, and it didn’t make any sense. “None of these have enough letters to be those words… Did I get all of these wrong??”

Both of them stared at the columns of words in silence for at least a solid minute.

“Maybe… M-Maybe you should watch some of, um. Some anime?”

Asteri sighed and flopped back against her seat. “You know, you’re probably right.” Her head turned back to the other woman. “Alright. Hit me. What are we watching?”

Alphys lit up like a lightbulb. Before she could answer, though, Asteri spoke up again.

“Just! Know. That there will be a lot rewinding and pausing.”

“Th-That’s okay! I know exactly what we can watch! And!” Alphys reached into her bag, then pulled out a DVD case and held it aloft. “I always bring my favorite with me in case I meet someone who wants to watch it!”

Asteri squinted at it. “Sailor… Moon?”

It was a lot more productive than Asteri anticipated. Seeing Japanese text in the background occasionally along with hearing the way it was spoken helped her get a better sense of how the language worked. Brief segments of seeing a character write something or sound something out helped immensely. By the time Alphys left, they had tossed around theories ranging from the language not having written vowels to each letter being a word. Some of the words in Japanese that she heard translated to a whole phrase in the subtitles, or vice versa, which fascinated Asteri to no end. She had spent almost the last two decades studying monster languages, but now, to try to puzzle apart a brand new one? Oh, it excited her like nothing else. Words for things that their language didn’t have, entirely different grammar, and most immediately interesting: a new alphabet.

It left her with much to think about. Alphys promised that next time, she would bring some of her other series to pick from. That was great, and Asteri was looking forward to it, but more than anything, this had made her all the more determined to learn more about fonts and speech-based magic from Gaster. The next time they met, she was getting to the bottom of it.

(The next time they met, she did not.)

⁂

This time, their walk was less meandering through Hotland, and more making a beeline for New Home. Gaster had been having actual meals all week, so Asteri agreed that they should get donuts together.

“I feel like you’re the only reason this donut shop is still open, Gaster.”

He grinned, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as they walked in. “They know my orders by heart here…”

That pulled a little snort from her. “Of course they do.”

“Doctor!” greeted the man behind the counter. “Where have you been!? We haven’t seen you all week, we started to worry you tripped and fell into the CORE!”

He laughed humorlessly. “There are safety rails to preventing that, fortunately.” In most areas, anyway. “Asteri here has been trying to get me to eat a more balanced diet.”

“Oho! Good for you! We sell sandwiches too, you know!”

“Perhaps I will try one, sometime. But today I am being rewarded with donuts for eating well all week.”

The man laughed, hearty and loud, and turned to Asteri. “You’re taking good care of the doctor for us all, huh!?”

“I’m certainly trying,” she answered, unable to help her smile. The worker— owner? —knew Gaster well. She was glad he knew that there were other people who cared about him.

“You picked a good one, Doctor! I’m happy for you! It’s about time you settled down!”

Oh.

Both of their faces flushed with magic. “No, no no no, it’s not like that!” she clarified, while Gaster frantically signed more or less the same thing. The monster behind the counter just shrugged and let it go.

“My bad! I’m sorry, I just got excited for ya, Doctor! But still, glad you’ve got a good friend! So! What can I getcha!?”

After they ordered (though Asteri insisted it not be an entire box of donuts this time, just a couple), they found a booth to sit in and made themselves comfortable.

“He seemed very excitable,” she giggled.

“Every one of his sentences has at least one exclamation point,” Gaster informed her with a chuckle. “Even his questions. I have never seen him use a period.”

“Wow, really? Is that tiring to read?”

He picked up a donut and hummed for a moment. “No, not any more than it is to listen to.”

Alright, this was good! This time, she was finding out more about speech and text magic, and she wasn’t going to let anything derail her!

“Speaking of which, Gaster,” she began, looking up from her own plate, “I was going to aaaaaaa….sk…..”

She had looked up in time to see Gaster mid-bite. Yes, that was right: mid-bite. His mouth hung open as their eyes met in mutual confusion. Then, after a split-second, he finished biting the donut and signed while he… chewed, or whatever it was that happened next. “Asteri? What’s wrong?”

She gaped at him. “Your mouth opens‽”

Well, there went tact.

Understandably, he shot her a confused, mildly worried look as he took another bite. “Asteri, we have eaten together several times now.”

She felt her face heat up. This is why tact is important. Good grief Asteri, does all your sense go out the window when you’re around him‽ Pull it together!!

“W-Well, um. I was busy writing notes the first time we met… and the other time, with the pizza, I got distracted… then, um. Last time, we were sitting in the dark and the movie was starting, and I was exhausted. So I. I never… saw you… do that?”

He raised one brow and stared at her in what could only be described as a mixture of skepticism and concern, then opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to show that yes, it really did work that way. His teeth clicked together. Despite her best efforts, she just stared. It definitely made the way his head was shaped make more sense.

“You truly never saw me open my mouth, this entire time?” She shook her head, eyes still glued to his jaw. He breathed a single laugh and took a sip of his drink. “Perhaps I should teach you about skeleton biology, then.”

Her eyes blew wide and immediately flicked up to meet his, incredulous. If her face wasn’t hot before, it was now. For a split second that felt like an eternity, he just looked back at her, not comprehending what he had said that could have elicited such a response. Then it registered and his face turned red, eyelights blazing hot pink.

“I meant explain it!!! Here! In the booth! In an educational and—” He was signing too quickly, she didn’t make the second word out, but she imagined it was probably “professional” or something— “manner!! Obviously I would not…! Make any such advances!!”

“R-Right, yes,” she stammered, looking away. “O-Obviously.” She debated pointing out that he had practically taken his shirt off and showed her his SOUL a couple weeks ago, but decided that what had just happened was enough embarrassment to both of them for one day.

The awkwardness was palpable.

“I’m...” She released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I was already a little flustered, so my mind jumped right to…” God, what was wrong with her?! She rubbed her face with her wing. “Th-That was beyond inappropriate of me, I apologize.”

“I certainly could have worded it better,” Gaster objected on her behalf, still embarrassed but fortunately not upset. “It is not your fault.”

Asteri sighed. “I feel like such a heel, though. I don’t know where my mind is today. God. I shouldn’t have even gone there. You’re my friend. Obviously you wouldn’t suggest that. Especially like… that.”

Yeah, it was way too smooth of a line, he’d never be able to swing tha— what is WRONG with me‽

“No, no, please,” he insisted, “do not berate yourself! I was careless in my wording, and neither gave any consideration that you might have been embarrassed by the misunderstanding at the counter. Forgive me.”

The misunderstanding at the…? Oh! Yes. She was a little frazzled by that. But mostly she had been flustered by…

The realization almost knocked the wind out of her.

It was his mouth. I was watching his MOUTH.

God, should she just tell him that? No, no, it would make things uncomfortable because he would think it was for a way weirder reason than it actually was and then he would never want to eat around her again. She just needed to get a grip. There weren’t a lot of monsters with teeth that weren’t covered by something like skin or a beak. The form she preferred to stay in was a lot like her parents’, and lacked lips. They didn’t kiss each other, they would just gently nibble wherever was convenient: shoulder, cheek, neck. (It was only once she got much older that she had learned that biting someone’s neck or shoulder was not considered an innocent display of affection by most other types of monsters.) She had just gotten caught up with the subconscious realization that he was like her in that regard. Skeletons probably didn’t kiss either. Maybe they bit, like her family. That was all. She was thinking about biting (kissing) and how nobody else did that, and then he said that and it completely threw her.

Shoot, she had been quiet a few seconds too long. “Don’t- Don’t worry about it, Gaster! Really. Um, look, I feel terrible about making you uncomfortable, and you feel bad about making me uncomfortable, so now we both feel bad and are uncomfortable. Let’s just start that conversation over, yeah?”

“Yes. I would like that.” He nodded, sitting up a little bit straighter with a grateful smile.

For a moment she hesitated, but then decided that embarrassment aside, it probably would be good to know. “If… If if isn’t too uncomfortable of a topic after all that,” she started, tentative, “it might be beneficial if you did tell me a little about skeleton… biology. J-Just the basics. So there aren’t any future misunderstandings.”

Gaster nodded once more. “I think that would be wise.” He shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable. “Since it has become relevant, I will start with our jaws. I can open mine, as you saw. However, I do not need to, technically speaking. Neither to vocalize, as you have no doubt noticed, nor to eat. Some skeletons had fused skulls, lacking this hollow here.” He pointed to the space between his back teeth and the hinge of his jaw. “They could not open their mouths, so they ate with magic. Like so.”

Asteri watched in stupor as he held a donut up to his closed mouth and it began to disappear.

“This is fine, and sometimes more convenient, but it takes more concentration for me, personally, so I prefer to simply bite my food.

“Some skeletons appeared to have fused skulls, but were just particularly skilled with distortion magic, and pulled the magic that made up their skulls around their mouths so that they could emote more similarly to monsters with skin, showing more or less teeth depending on their expression. All skeletons use distortion magic naturally, which is how our eye sockets emote and we appear to frown and smile.”

Asteri nodded. “Distortion magic is used by shapeshifters as well, to some extent. Though, our nature is to be able to change forms, so it isn’t what allows us to shift, only what we might use while in a particular form.”

“Then you understand.”

“Yeah. Though you use it so subtly I didn’t place it as distortion magic until you said so.”

He smiled at that. “Thank you. I have a decent amount of skill with it, though I am by no means particularly adept. Generally, skeletons emoted with a mixture of eyeglowing and changes in font. But only other skeletons could see fonts, and eyeglowing required knowledge of what each color meant in each context— something other skeletons knew innately— so when confronted with other monsters, or humans, some skeletons chose to use more distortion magic to make their expressions and emotions clearer.” He paused. “Being… the only skeleton left, I admit I am at times tempted to make more use of distortion magic so that others may better read my expression. But, at the same time, I do not want to act like something I am not.”

“That makes sense,” Asteri murmured. “I can understand the pressure to change in order to be understood, while also feeling like you shouldn’t have to abandon your culture.”

He looked on, waiting for her to continue if she wished. She hadn’t meant to get into it, this was about him, but if wanted to listen…

She took a breath.

“My parents were big on that. Shapeshifters were never especially numerous, even on the surface, I guess. Even so, there were many clans, never a single kingdom like other types of monsters had. The one my family was from didn’t generally take bipedal forms. They were more inclined towards the reptilian, amphibian, and piscine or other aquatics. Legs and tails were prioritized over arms. More legs, stronger tail, easier to run or swim, easier to hunt. As a result, the ability to form arms was slowly lost. I can become a many-legged creature easily enough, even something with grasping forelimbs, like a crustacean. But “humanoid” arms? Those are beyond me, no matter how many times I’ve tried over the years.

“When I was a kid, I shifted a lot more. My parents encouraged me, of course, to experiment until I found a form I was comfortable with. But I knew what came easily, I knew what felt nice to exist as. But… I didn’t like how it looked. I didn’t like that I didn’t have arms like everyone else. Even the dogs in Snowdin were bipedal and used their front legs like arms. I wanted to be solid, all in one piece, like everyone else, and I wanted arms. I was always trying to shift to look more like the other kids, especially the lizard monsters, but whenever I tried to form the arms…”

She held her wings out and focused. They condensed and solidified into two humanoid arms, but rather than finish turning lavender like the rest of her body, they stayed a bluish color. Within a matter of seconds, they started dripping, becoming almost goopy, and it only took a few moments for them to melt back into the semi-transparent cloak of magic that draped around her as “wings.”

“Doesn’t work. I learned how to form hands, like you’ve seen me do, but they’re drippy too, and they’ll fade if I don’t stay focused. I used to be really self-conscious about this form, but my parents reminded me that I didn’t have to pretend to be ‘not a shapeshifter.’ Shifting was for my own comfort, not the comfort of those around me. There was no need to imitate others, only to take inspiration. If I preferred to stay in multiple pieces, then the other kids would learn to just accept that that’s how I looked. I didn’t have to look like other monsters; we had our own culture, our own look. We didn’t have arms, or lips, and we didn’t resemble any particular animal like a lot of the other monsters did, but we were us, you know?”

She smiled, bittersweet for a moment as she remembered them, then looked back to him with a happier smile. “Did you know, the first time I saw you summon extra hands, I felt so validated?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Truly? Even though I have hands naturally?”

“Yeah. I’d never seen anyone need to summon them, so it was kind of nice to see that there are other people who do after all. I-I feel a lot less self-conscious about forming them when I’m with you. O-Or Alphys, I guess.”

He smiled down at the donut on his plate. “I am glad that I helped you in some way. There were… not many skeletons who signed, and as such not much accommodation for someone who needed their hands free. So I understand some of the anxiety that comes with summoning hands. Nowadays, though, nearly everyone understands sign language, and no one has ever questioned my extra hands. So don’t feel self-conscious, I am sure no one questions yours either.”

Asteri’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “You might also not get questioned because you’re a bit eccentric,” she teased.

“Heh.” He hid a smile of his own behind a donut. “Is there anything else you would like to know about skeletons?”

Plenty, like what it was like to grow up signing in a culture where speech was so vital to expression, but she wasn’t about to say that. Instead, she pretended to think about it while she chewed. “What do the colors your eyes turn mean?”

“An excellent question,” Gaster commended her. “It is heavily contextual, though...”

She materialized a hand out of her magic and took out her pen and notebook. “Alright, hit me.”

He chuckled at the fact that that was her immediate response, and launched into the explanation.

“Green is happiness, safety, or contentment. It may also flare up when healing or using green SOUL magic. If I had expended much energy or focus when I explained turning a SOUL green, it may have lit my eyes. Green is rarely seen in a negative context, but it can be associated with hope for change or asking for help from another person, such as healing.

“Pink is surprise, or embarrassment. It may also show hesitation or anxiety.

“Red is associated with physical pain, but may also show up as resilience or fortitude despite injury or impending harm.

“Orange, like it, may show resilience in the face of hardship; a call for bravery. An act of defiance, perhaps. However, that is red-orange. A more neutral orange, or yellow-orange, is typically confusion, puzzlement, or, more rarely, betrayal. Using orange magic extensively may light one’s eyes, as with green. This goes for any colored magic.

“Yellow may show stress, fear, or a feeling of righteous indignation. Other times, however, yellow can convey a sense of absoluteness or surety in one’s actions.

“Violet is associated with need. It can also be fear, when it is less saturated in color, but it is fear more in the sense of helplessness. It more often expresses exhaustion or hunger; a display that one is in need of something in order to go on. It can also convey a frightened anger. Certain shades of violet can show sadness as well. It is one of the more versatile colors, like yellow.

“Blue, specifically light blue, is calm, but not in the sense of contentment, as with green. It is a calm in spite of something. A sense of waiting, of…” Something clicked in his mind. “Patience. A conscious decision to wait, to endure. For this, eyes may also glow light blue when highly stressed as an outlet.”

Asteri wrote as fast as she could to get all of that down. When she was finished, she looked up. “What about dark blue, like the color your eyes turned when you calmed me down in my kitchen?”

“Ah,” he hummed. “That is where context becomes important. A skeleton’s personal magic has its own color, similar to how monsters with flesh may have different color irises, hair, fur, or skin. Mine is the deep blue you saw. That is also why the hands I summon are blue. Contrary to what it may seem, my skill with gravity magic—that is, colored magic of the blue variety— is entirely unrelated. Thus, if I glow my eyes intentionally—” His eyelights lit up blue— “it is this color blue. In terms of meaning, though, it is similar to red in that it is a call to endure, but also to green in that it conveys a sense of calm. It is something akin to wholeness, a feeling of completeness… Importance. Community, perhaps? Deep affection for those around you.”

“Love,” Asteri supplied, the word tumbling out of her mouth before she even gave it a second thought.

Gaster stilled, the simple answer taking him by surprise, then slowly broke into a smile. “Yes, that’s it,” he signed slowly. “It is love. Selfless love, specifically.”

She thought it prudent not to comment on how appropriate that color was for the situation in the kitchen.

“That’s fascinating, Gaster,” she said softly, instead. It was always so enjoyable to listen to him. She always learned so much. Even if, yet again, she hadn’t gotten to talk with him about fonts.

Appropriately, his eyes turned green.

“Colors mixed together, flickering, or alternating can also change the meanings,” he added, “but again, context is necessary. Knowing those basics will allow you to understand the essence of what is being conveyed, even if not all of the nuance.”

“Thank you for the lesson. Mm, I should tell you more about shapeshifters sometime,” mused Asteri once she had finished writing everything down. “Since I’m learning so much about skeletons.”

“I would like that very much,” he agreed, perking up more.

“Well, it’s not like I have to be anywhere, if you want to hear now. Is there anything in particular you want to know?”

Gaster thought for a few moments, and Asteri took the opportunity to finish her second donut. It had a lemon drizzle on it, and it was delicious.

“Can you take any form, disregarding arms?”

She grinned and nodded. “Yeah. Want to see something weird?”

He didn’t say no, so she went ahead. Her features melted away and shifted around, and a moment later Gaster was looking at an almost-mirror image of himself. He made a startled noise.

“Oh, this is really weird,” she said in her own voice. Her jaw— his jaw— moved as she spoke. She wasn’t accustomed to speaking in a form like this so she used distortion magic to enunciate, which looked very strange

He shuddered, grimacing. “Stars above, that is not how teeth work.”

She laughed apologetically and let herself melt into something formless again, then into a familiar yellow lizard. “How’s this?”

“Quite good!” Gaster grinned, a little more relaxed. “Alphys has one more head spine, though.”

“Oh, whoops.” With a little melting, she moved the head spines around and added another one. “Better?”

“Perfect.”

Laughing again, Asteri melted once more and then returned to her regular form. “Good! Alphys is easier, I’ve been different types of lizards before. I’ve never been a skeleton. That was my first attempt.”

His brow bones rose. “That was impressive for a first attempt!” He looked to the side and tilted his head. “Highly unnerving, but impressive.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled, flicking her tail out behind her. “Sorry if that was too strange.”

“It was only a little strange,” Gaster admitted with an awkward smile. “It was odd to see another skeleton— but not bad!” he added quickly when he saw her eyes widen. “I know you are going to apologize, but there is no need. It was not odd in a bad way.”

She rubbed the back of her head with her tail. “Ahah… you know me well.”

He might have puffed up just a little at that. “May I ask more about shapeshifters?”

“Oh! Yeah, go for it.”

“I have two questions. Please answer whichever you like first. Can you become larger or smaller? And when you imitated Alphys and myself, you appeared to have arms. How is that?”

Asteri nodded. “Ah, right. Well, they weren’t real, functional arms. Did you notice how it looked like my clothes changed to look like yours? That was all part of me. The imitations were only that: imitations. I couldn’t walk around like that. Well, maybe as Alphys, but not for long. It was more like I shaped my magic around myself like a shell rather than created an actual, functional form.

“And no, I can’t change sizes… exactly.” She held a wing up. “These “wings” are all of my unused magic. Since I can’t form arms, I keep it wrapped around me like a cloak, and I can use it to grab things or gesture. But in essence, it’s all the bodily magic that isn’t being used as part of my current form. If I used all of what’s available to me, I would be huge. And I’m already pretty tall! So I can get bigger, yes… within reason. Getting smaller is more complicated. It would leave more magic left over, which I would have to do something with, so it would likely end up as part of my wings. I prefer to be bipedal, and I think the size I am now looks best in proportion to my wings, so that’s why I stay like this.”

“Fascinating,” Gaster signed, exhaling as he shook his head slightly in wonder. “May I ask why you chose the colors you did for your form?”

“Sure!” She took a sip of her drink and shifted to get more comfortable. “But you may be surprised how little of it was actually a choice. My parents were usually shades of purple and blue, so it’s sort of a default. Shapeshifters do have “base forms,” so to speak. We’re sort of goopy. Not sticky or anything, but kind of… gelatinous? But not totally transparent; complete colorlessness is super rare, I guess. And just like most other monsters, what your parents look like will affect how you look. My parents’ families tended toward cool colors: greens and blues and grays and purples. So this lavender color is actually more or less the color I am naturally. I did decide to make my hair and a few other features green, because I like the color. Sometimes it changes shades, though. My eyelights are purple too, but that wasn’t actually a conscious decision. It’s difficult to go completely white, but I can if I focus for a second.”

Her eyes turned white instead of their usual heliotrope.

“How does it look?”

“A bit unnerving,” Gaster confessed.

She chuckled and let them return to normal. “Yeah, I bet. I think they’re purple because the rest of me is, too. Maybe I’ll experiment with colors, I haven’t done that in a long time.”

Gaster tilted his head, brow bones furrowing slightly. “You are perfect as you are.”

Asteri’s eyebrows shot up, and she gave him an incredulous smile to hide the blush that crept back up her face. “Alright, Mr. Smooth-talker…. You sure you aren’t flirting with me?” she half-teased.

Watching him get flustered again was funnier when she knew he hadn’t meant it that way. “No! I meant that your form suits you! There is no need to change what is already—” His eyes went pink. “I merely intended to say that you need not worry about how you look! That… That is all. You look… like Asteri.”

“You’re sweet, Gaster,” she cooed, propping her head up on her wing. “I knew what you meant that time. Well. Sort of.”

He covered his face with both hands, then dragged them down his skull. “I apologize. I do not know what is wrong with me today.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m feeling a little off myself. There’s one last thing, if you’re still interested.”

“Yes, please.” Anything to change the subject.

“So, when I melt, I’m mostly purple still, right? Well, if I melt completely, I’m actually more like a gradient. Purple in the center, around my SOUL, and then it fades to this blue-green the further away it goes. So my working theory is that the more “solid” magic is this lavender color, and the magic that’s easier for me to manipulate is this.” She wiggled her other wing. “So all the easier-to-manipulate magic subconsciously ends up together in my wings, rather than being intermingled with the rest of me. It can become solid, and it turns purple then, or whatever color, but this is sort of the color it is “at rest.” Which is also why the hands I make are green. They’re not “summoned” so much as “materialized,” since most of my extra magic is around me at all times.”

“That is very, very interesting.” Gaster studied her wings from across the table. “I did not know other monsters’ “extra” magic was colored, I thought it was only skeletons.”

“Maybe you should study biology next,” she offered with a snicker.

“Perhaps I should.” He thought for a moment. “That is a good idea, actually. Magical biology has much bearing on what I am working on. I know enough for the project, of course, but studying how various monsters’ magic works may be beneficial.”

“Oh?” She hadn’t expected him to agree. “What, like study their magic compared to their bullets or something?”

He perked up and pointed at her. “That is an excellent idea!” He pulled a pen out of his coat pocket and scribbled something on a napkin. Asteri only got a glimpse before he tucked it away, but she couldn’t read any of it.

“You have terrible handwriting, Gaster, yikes.”

His head snapped up so quickly she thought it would go flying off his neck. He looked mortified. Maybe it was a touchy subject. She immediately tried to backpedal.

“N-Not that there’s anything wrong with that! As long as you can read it, that’s all that matters!!”

His eyelights flicked to the side, pink and yellow magic blurring along with them. After a moment of uncertainty, he answered, “I am… a little self-conscious about it.” His signing was slower, more unsure. “Usually I write more… legibly. But I tend to forego that discipline when writing to myself.”

Discipline? Maybe she misunderstood his signing. Either way, she shook her head. “Uh, hey, don’t sweat it. I’m not judging you. I shouldn’t have commented on it, I’m sorry. Nothing wrong with writing however is quick and easy if it’s just a note to yourself.”

He just nodded.

Well, this was going nowhere. He had all but shut down, his eyes were still pink— she was guessing anxiety and embarrassment— and he was sweating bullets. Ah, bullets. Yes. She should change the subject.

“So, um. How would you compare a monster’s magic to their bullets?” She summoned a small one of her own and let it hover above her held-out wing with a big smile. “I made ones that look like asterisks! Isn’t that fun?”

He looked up at the bullet for a moment, just blinking. “You… made it look like an asterisk?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I thought it was sort of funny, considering my name and their uses as footnotes, and for marking reconstructed or hypothetical words in linguistics. Though I guess that last part is more of an inside joke—”

“No, I meant: you consciously decided what your bullets would look like?”

Asteri blinked at him, face blank, then slowly her mouth pulled in a sheepish smile and she stared down at her lap, letting the bullet disperse. “Is… Is this one of those things that I think everybody does, like biting each other, but it’s actually just a shapeshifter thing?”

“I—” He squinted at her. “I want to ask about the biting, but we can come back to that. Yes, most monsters do not consciously shape their bullets. Mine, for example, are almost exclusively bones. As were most skeletons’. I can change their size, damage output, and orientation, but I cannot change their shape.”

“Oh…” She frowned in thought. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Huh…”

He pulled the napkin back out and wrote on it again. Though, this time he held a hand between her and it so she couldn’t see. She must have really hurt his feelings. She’d have to figure out how to make it up to him.

“I am curious about what you said about shapeshifters biting each other, though,” Gaster prompted once he had put the napkin away again and moved to stand, one brow bone raised.

Asteri smiled anxiously as she stood to follow him to the door. They waved to the man behind the counter before she responded.

“Well! Um. We don’t— well, my family didn’t have lips. Usually. So I never saw my parents kiss, they always just… you know… bit each other.” She shrugged, still clearly awkward about it with the way she was smiling and looking everywhere but at him. “Like a little nibble! Not a chomp or anything!” That was probably more like bedroom stuff. She shuddered. Gross. The last thing she wanted to think about was her dead parents’ intimate life. “Just wherever was convenient: cheek, shoulder, neck…”

She expected him to look alarmed, like most people (including all two of her past partners, as brief as they had been in her life). Instead, he just nodded thoughtfully, looking off somewhere in the distance. “Biting as kissing. That makes a great deal of sense. I am surprised I did not see more skeletons do that.”

She swallowed. “What… did skeletons do to show affection?”

He looked back to her and smiled, fond memories that she couldn’t see playing in his eyes. “We tapped our skulls together. Romantically, yes, but also between family or friends.”

She wondered who he was remembering. His parents? Siblings, maybe? Dear friends? A partner? It dawned on her then that he might have lost children. God. How awful! She desperately hoped that was not the case.

“That sounds really nice,” she said instead. Bumping heads sounded more than nice, actually. She should focus on that. “I think there’s a shortage of physical affection between friends. As a culture, we should have more of that. Physical displays of affection are not inherently romantic!”

His grin widened. “I agree completely.”

Maybe he was thinking along the same line that she was. “Were there any particulars? Like, facing each other was romantic, but from the side was platonic, for example?”

“No. Though, naturally, facing each other could be more intimate. It was not necessarily though.”

“Was it specifically for greetings or goodbyes, or could it be anytime?”

“Anytime it felt right.”

Asteri smiled lopsidedly and leaned toward him. “May I, then, my friend?”

His eye practically turned into stars and lit up green. He leaned down to meet her. “Please.”

They tapped their heads together, his forehead against the top of hers. It only lasted a second, but both of them felt giddy.

“I have not done that in years,” Gaster confessed with a pleased laugh that squinted his eye sockets shut. “I forgot what a pleasant gesture it is.”

It was, too. Just enough to feel important. Not as impersonal as a handshake, but not as vulnerable as a hug. “I liked it,” Asteri agreed. “We should do it to Alphys.”

He giggled. “Good idea! I hope she will be agreeable to it.”

“I think she will be.”

They had started walking, slowly. Since they were all the way in the capital, she should probably head home soon. But, like always, she didn’t want their time to end yet. She hummed a sigh and swung her wings. “It’s too bad I live so far away. It’s like there’s never enough time.”

Gaster hummed softly, silent in thought for a moment, then seemed to settle on a decision. “Asteri,” he began, uncertain. “If I promise to go home and sleep at a reasonable time, would you mind terribly if I accompanied you on your way home?”

The thought was nice, but… “Gaster, you live right by this shop, I’m in the middle of Waterfall. That’s nice of you, but even with the ferry, that’s just too far. You’d have to turn around as soon as we reached my house if you wanted to get home at a decent time. And I know you work tomorrow.”

“Did you know that collapsed stars are so dense, they are thought to affect the fabric of spacetime?”

She squinted, then broke into a knowing smile. “That’s fascinating, but trying to get me wrapped up in something else so we can start walking in that direction without me noticing won’t work. I’ve got another friend who does that. Nice try.”

“No, I am getting at something,” he insisted. “Truly.”

He looked so unsure, it was a little unsettling. Asteri nodded. “Alright… go on.”

He took a breath. “Objects with large amounts of mass have more gravity. Spacetime is like fabric, and things like planets and stars are like marbles sitting atop it. They dip into it, warp it. A gravity field, ultimately, curves spacetime. So if one were to manipulate gravity just so, one could “fold” the fabric of spacetime and jump to another location.”

She blinked. He waved his hands as if to clear his previous explanation away. “Imagine this instead.” The blue hands appeared and held the edge of his lab coat out taut. He located two stray sprinkles from the donuts and stuck them to his coat a few inches apart. Next, he made a fist and gently pushed against the fabric. “It dips,” he explained with yet another pair of hands. “The pressure of my fist on the fabric is like gravity on spacetime. See those two sprinkles? Watch them.”

“Alright,” Asteri murmured. “I’m watching.”

“If I push harder, it pulls the fabric downward.” He did just that, and when the fabric was too taut to stretch, he moved the edges of it inward with the extra pair of hands. He kept going until his fist was all but enveloped in the fabric. “See how the sprinkles are now closer together?”

She nodded.

“Those are points in spacetime. With enough gravity, they get “closer,” even though there is technically just as much fabric between them.”

“I think I understand,” Asteri said. “What are you getting at, though?”

He smiled, lopsided and still a bit hesitant, and all the blue hands disappeared as he went back to signing regularly. “If one can generate enough gravity, one can affect spacetime. If the gravity is high enough, two points in space can be brought close enough together to travel in less time.”

He watched her for a response, his hesitant smile becoming a nervous grin.

It dawned on her. “And you can manipulate gravity. Hang on—” Asteri held one wing out and dragged the other across her face. “Gaster. Gaster. Are you- Are you implying that you can teleport‽”

He giggled.

“Yes?”

The sheepish look, like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar rather than had just told her he could do something largely considered impossible, was simultaneously endearing and infuriating.

“You’re offering to TELEPORT me home‽”

Actually he had meant that he would walk with her, and then teleport himself home later, but the excited glimmer in her eyes that she was trying to hide beneath her incredulity was too much. He shrugged one shoulder and let his grin stretch.

“If you would like?”

She had to bite her tongue to not instantly scream yes. “Please,” she said instead, though that barely restrained her excitement. “That would be so cool.”

Her enthusiasm was beyond endearing. “You will have to hold onto me,” he prefaced. “Tightly. The closer we are, the most smoothly it will go.”

“I can flatten, if that’s better?” Asteri offered, already beginning to spread her magic out. She could wrap around him like a piece of paper, if that was what it took. But he stopped her with a shake of his head.

“No, no, that isn’t necessary. I have taken others with me before, there is no need to change shape.”

“Oh, even better.” Within a matter of seconds she reverted to her usual form. “I’ll try to stay solid, though… in case part of me falls off or something.”

Gaster frowned in thought and rubbed his chin. It should be fine, but… “Just in case,” he agreed.

She focused, and her body fused together. She rolled her head on her neck afterward. “It feels so weird to make my actual form this solid. How do you deal with such a limited range of motion?”

He scrunched up his face. “I have never seen you turn your head especially far…”

Asteri smirked. “Would you like to?”

He tilted his head and returned the smirk. “Would you like to see me remove mine?”

She laughed. “Sure. Here, hang on. Let me turn around. Alright, count of three. One, two…”

She let her magic loosen from her neck—

“…Three!”

— and spun her head 180°. Just in time to see Gaster pop his head off and hold it in his hand. She shrieked in a mixture of surprise and amusement, and he gave a startled giggle. Several passersby did spit takes.

They returned their heads to the way they ought to be and laughed.

“Not many people take well to me doing that,” Asteri confessed.

“Not a single person in the underground thinks it funny when I remove my head either.”

“You do it that often?” she asked, snickering.

“Well, no…”

“That may be for the best, actually.”

“I am glad that you, at least, enjoyed it. We should get going, though. This way.” He led her around the side of a building. “It is better to do out of sight; less questions. As you are no doubt aware, this is not a common ability.”

“Ah, right.”

Once they were away from the main thoroughfare, she moved closer. After making sure she was all in once piece, she nodded. “Alright. How close should I be?”

He shuffled closer. And then closer still. “You will have to hang onto me.”

Oh, that was right, he had said that. “Just…?” She held her wings out.

“Yes. And I will hold onto you, also. Just so you are aware.” He looked a little unsure. “We will be very close.”

Was he uncomfortable with it? She hoped not, but maybe she should check. “Well… I don’t mind if you don’t?”

“I do not mind, I just did not want you to be uncomfortable, after the… misunderstanding earlier.”

She almost snorted. “It’s not a problem, Gaster, don’t worry about it.”

He nodded once and took a breath. “Alright then, here we go.”

They pressed their sides together and she wrapped her wings around him, her tail winding around his hips. Both of his arms curled around her torso. He seemed to realize that she didn’t exactly have shoulders that he could hold easily, so he needed to hold around her waist. They ended up mostly facing each other.

It’s not a big deal Asteri, it’s just for safety. …But good lord, when was the last time anyone held me?

“Ready?” A pair of blue hands asked.

“Ready.”

And the world shifted, blurred, darkening until it seemed it couldn’t possibly get any darker yet somehow it did, until was nothing but pitch black. In a matter of seconds, the bright light of New Home had given way to nothingness. It was the deepest, emptiest dark she had ever known. That such nothingness could even exist was beyond her. Asteri couldn’t see anything, anything, not even the glow of her wings. She couldn’t see her own magic! What was happening!? She was alone…! There was nothing. Nothing. It felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her breathing shuddered. She couldn’t breathe! The absolute and perfect darkness panicked her, and she cried out, grip tightening around the only solid thing there was to hold onto.

And then she was held closer in turn. The feeling of arms tightening around her pulled a gasp from her lungs.

“G-G-Gaster? Gaster?? Wh-Where- Where- Where are you‽” She could feel him holding her, still, that hadn’t changed, but in her panic she wasn’t thinking.

She heard a hum. No real melody, just a hum, but it was a familiar voice, close to her head. Close to her. Close to her. A voice, right there. Her breathing evened out, and she relaxed slightly. Gaster was with her. She wasn’t alone.

He tugged her, gently, in a direction, still humming, and they walked— carefully, awkwardly— toward what she soon realized was a teeny, tiny speck of light, very far away. But the darkness gave way to that light far more swiftly than she expected, and soon she could make out the cave that held her house, in Waterfall, within the light. Despite seeing it, she still couldn’t see herself or Gaster, like the light didn’t reach them somehow. But they reached it, and suddenly they were stepping out into the green-blue grass near her house.

She looked around frantically, still clinging to Gaster. The darkness was gone. She looked down. She could see herself. Her eyes flitted upward, and she realized Gaster was looking down at her with immense concern and, it looked like, guilt. His eyes were rapidly flickering between deep blue, yellow, violet, and red-orange. It took another second for her to realize that a pair of blue hands were signing near her.

“—SO sorry, are you alright??”

“I-I’m okay.” Her voice came out weaker than she meant for it to. “I didn’t catch… what you were saying. I’m sorry, um. J-Just give me a second?”

He gave her as long as she needed, which ended up being closer to a solid minute, after which she realized she was still clinging to him for dear life and disentangled herself, embarrassed.

“Are you alright?” he asked again, worry clear on his face.

“Yeah… Just, um. Just a little rattled.” The wording occurred to her only after she said it aloud, and her head snapped up. “UH! Sorry, not sure if that’s, um. O-Offensive??”

He shook an arm back and forth, rattling his bones. “Not at all.” She smiled a little at that, and he relaxed a little in turn.

Still, he practically dripped with guilt. “Asteri, I am so, profusely sorry for not warning you about the dark. I was so preoccupied with explaining how it works that I neglected to mention that strong enough gravity bends light. I am accustomed to it, but I should have warned you.”

“That was scary,” she admitted quietly, and hated how juvenile it sounded. “It was like it got dark, then even darker.” She wrapped her wings around herself. “I’ve never been unable to see my own magic before.”

He met her eyes. “I am sorry for putting you in a situation that made you afraid.”

The urge to deflect was strong, but once again, the look on his face silenced her before she could even speak. His eyes glowed ultramarine for her. Earnest, always. Never a modicum of condescension or mockery. She had been afraid. “Can we go inside?”

He nodded, and they went to the door. It was dark inside when she opened it; she immediately looked down at her wings. Still visible. Thank god. She wanted to cast some kind of fire magic, but she was embarrassed that the darkness of her own home had her so afraid. She knew where the light switch was, could have found it with her eyes closed, so instead of summoning fire, she took a deep breath to steel herself and then made a beeline for it. The lights came on, and she sagged against the wall in relief. Gaster stepped over the threshold and, after slipping his shoes off, approached her and crouched beside her where she had slid down the wall.

“Asteri…”

She looked up at him with some unnamable, weak emotion. “Gaster?” God, her voice sounded so pathetic.

“Let’s get you off the ground.”

He held out his arms, but she shook her head. “I’m too shaky,” she whispered.

“May I lift you then? With blue magic?”

She paused, unsure, then nodded.

“This will probably feel strange.”

There was a ting sound, and suddenly she felt heavy.

“You are blue now. Just relax.”

He stood. Slowly, she lifted off the ground. The whole time, she kept her wide eyes fixed on Gaster’s continually glowing blue ones. He moved her over near her couch, walking as he did so that he was never more than a few feet away. Once there, he lowered her to her feet, holding out his arms. She fell against him once he released her SOUL. This time she didn’t bother with dignity, she just wrapped her wings and tail around him and pressed her face into his shoulder.

She was still shaking, Gaster noted as he brought his arms around her.

He gave her a second, then carefully moved them until they were sitting on the couch. She clung to him like he might disappear if she let go.

“Can you… hum again? It’s okay if you don’t w—”

He didn’t let her finish, just hummed whatever tune he could think of. She relaxed a little. He wished he could offer her more than humming.

“Are your eyes open?” he signed with blue hands behind his shoulder after a minute or two. He wanted to check if she could see him signing before he tried to say anything. She nodded.

“I don’t wanna close them…”

His heart clenched. He supposed some took better to the darkness of tessering (or “teleporting”), but nobody had even been this affected. Then again, the only people he had taken with him before were Alphys, one of his old lab assistants, and… Well, that was it. He really should have thought this through instead of acting on impulse just to spend more time with her.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Not mad at you,” she mumbled into his sweater. “J-Just. Scared. I don’t even know why.”

“You do not need to have an explanation.”

“Gaster?” She hesitated, then asked, “Could you… do that with your eyes again?”

“Of course.”

His eyes actually had never stopped glowing from the moment Asteri had begun to panic during the tesser, but she couldn’t see him then; all light was pulled away. But he knew what she meant in asking him this. She pulled away, but didn’t completely let go of him. He made no move to let go of her, either. He waited until she looked up at him, then flared his eyes even brighter. Deep shades of blue whirled like eddies.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He didn’t sign anything, only nodded and hummed another slow tune and let her watch his eyes as long as she needed.

After a few minutes, she had stopped trembling and seemed to have mostly come back to herself. Once she looked away on her own, he let his magic fade. For a regular skeleton, the whole ordeal would have been exhausting. Using gravity magic to bend spacetime, using it again to lift her so delicately, glowing his eyes so brightly for so long, and summoning hands over and over— those things together expended a lot of energy.

For a regular skeleton.

But she didn’t need to know that.

“You have beautiful magic,” she muttered as she finally relaxed back against the couch. Their shoulders pressed together, but he didn’t mind. It seemed like the contact was helping her.

“Thank you.” His eyes glowed a soft, pale green. “I am quite proud of it.”

“No I mean… the stuff that comes naturally. Your eyes.”

His cheekbones and eyelights dusted with pink and he smiled, unsure what do with such a personal, genuine compliment. “Thank you… very much,” was all he managed to say, along with: “Your wings are quite stunning too.”

That warmed her face along with her heart. After another few minutes, she spoke again. “Gaster, you’re a really good friend.”

“Aha,” he chuckled humorlessly. “I do not feel like it after frightening you like this. But thank you.”

“You are though. You keep taking care of me. C’mere.” She pushed herself upward and managed to tap her head against the side of his. The smile it earned when he turned to meet her eyes again was worth the slight exertion.

“You take care of me too.”

“Bullying someone into eating well and making him sandwiches one or twice a week don’t count as taking care of somebody,” Asteri argued with a little smile that betrayed the way his words had warmed her.

“But creating two disasters and then trying to make up for them does?”

She laughed, and the sound made his SOUL feel lighter. “Well when you say it like that…! Maybe we’re both just a little bit of a mess.”

“Only a little,” he agreed with a quiet laugh.

They leaned back against each other, and the ensuing silence was amicable.

“Really though,” Asteri murmured after another few moments. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to calm me down and reassure me. I don’t even know what it was about the darkness that scared me, really. It was just… all-encompassing. It was darker than dark. I’ve never, ever been in total darkness. Maybe that was it. I always have leftover magic, my wings always glow at least a little. But in that… place, I couldn’t even see my own magic.”

Gaster nodded slowly. ““Darker than dark.” That is a good way to describe it.” He let a moment of stillness pass. “I do not know if it is a comfort or not, but so long as we were touching, you were in no danger.”

She looked up at him.

“It is easier to affect the gravity around a smaller area, which is why I said we needed to be so close. If you had pulled away, though, so long as I could still feel where you were, I could bend it in a larger radius around you. It is merely more effort and concentration, but it would not have hurt you.” He wouldn’t have let it.

“What if… someone stepped outside the radius?” She asked quietly, not sure she wanted to know the answer. “What if someone got lost?”

He shook his head slowly. “In truth, I do not know.”

It was probably best not to dwell on it.

“How do you know where to go if you can’t see anything?”

“Hmm…” How to explain it? “I need to know which two points I am traveling between. I cannot do it without a set destination. Otherwise, I would not know the exact way to manipulate gravity. It is much easier to do when I have already traveled to a specific location.”

“Like creasing paper,” Asteri suggested.

He stilled. Creasing paper. Now there was something he had never considered. “I meant that it was a familiar feeling, a better sense of how much gravity to use. But the notion that repeated travel creases spacetime, creates paths that are easier to follow with each subsequent use… that has fascinating implications.”

“Hopefully good ones,” Asteri murmured. “Creased paper is hard to write on, and you can never quite smooth it out again. Would that be… bad? For spacetime? Like if things got caught in the creases?”

What an intriguing concept. He hummed in thought.

“Because… you said collapsed stars warp spacetime, that things with a lot of gravity dip it. I don’t know much about outer space, but aren’t stars actually really, really big?”

He nodded.

“Then…” She pressed the end of her tail against a couch cushion. “They do something like this, right? Make a curve over a large area?” Another nod from him. “Then isn’t what you’re doing more like pinching spacetime? Not curving it?”

He raised his brows and gave a slow, conceding nod. “That is… not incorrect.”

“Is spacetime like lycra? Or like linen?”

He frowned in confusion and looked to her. “What do you mean?”

“Because stretchy material is hard to crease, it goes back to its shape. But linen wrinkles and creases so easily it’s infuriating.”

“I believe it must be fairly elastic,” he answered after a moment of thought. “Or else the movement of small celestial bodies would create permanent effects.”

“Hmm…”

Then again, smaller objects typically had less gravity. ‘Small (relatively speaking) object with a great deal of gravity’ would be approaching the description of a stellar remnant. But she didn’t need to worry about all that. He would do more research on it when he got the chance. For the time being…

“I think that with as long as I have been doing this, it is reasonable to call it safe for the universe at large. I am not the only monster to ever discover a way to traverse a distance in less time.”

“That does make me feel better,” Asteri admitted.

“Good.” He sat up a little, and she did too. “Have you recovered from our travels?”

She stretched and nodded as she began to yawn. “Yeah. I think so. Thank you. Do you want something more to eat? All we had was donuts.”

He waved his hands, “I don’t want to trouble you after all of that.”

“No, it’s no trouble. I would end up cooking for myself anyway.” She stood up and gestured with her head toward the kitchen. “Come keep me company. But I’m doing the cooking.”

That drew a dry laugh from him. “That is probably for the best. I am sorry I cannot help more.”

“Your company is plenty of help. Come on. I was going to make youvarlakia. It sounds… really nice after everything. It’s a soup. I think you’ll like it.”

Asteri cooked, and Gaster followed her around the kitchen, handing her things and making lighthearted conversation about people at work and silly things that had happened. She told him about some of her friends, in turn, and things they had gotten up to in the past.

“They sound like they are a great deal of fun to be around,” Gaster said as she finished a story about one of their last get-togethers. “I would like to meet them one day.”

She laughed. “They would flip. They still don’t believe that I’m friends with you, they think it’s some kind of drawn-out prank.” Granted, she hadn’t talked with them much in the past month or two, so there hadn’t been much opportunity to tell them more details.

“I still do not understand that,” he said with a huff as he helped set the table. “I am only a person. People speak about meeting the king with more nonchalance than they do me.”

“The king isn’t known as a recluse, or the underground’s most brilliant mind.”

His eyelights flicked away, faintly pink. “Hmph.”

“Alphys has mentioned some of her friends too. We should all meet sometime,” suggested Asteri as she dished out the soup.

He tugged at his turtleneck as the sat down, looking uneasy. “That sounds like a… greater than average number of persons.”

Oh, he didn’t like big groups. That made sense. “It doesn’t have to be everyone at once,” she offered instead. “We could just meet one or two people at a time.” She brought her spoon to her mouth to taste the youvarlakia. Ah, delicious. She loved that lemony tang.

“That would be preferable,” Gaster admitted. Turning his attention to the bowl in front of him, he tried the soup. It was thick, and savory, and warmed him from the inside. He smiled. “This is delicious. I was unsure what it would taste like, but it is wonderful.”

Asteri beamed. “Aww, thank you! I’m glad you think our supper tastes… soup-er.”

He snorted mid-bite and almost choked. She laughed.

“My family used to make it after trips to Snowdin,” she continued once he recovered. “Sometimes I just make it because it sounds good, even though never gets very cold here. It’s better with bread, but I didn’t make any this time.”

“I have not visited Snowdin in a long time…” He took another bite and then set his spoon down to sign. “Mm! If you make this again, may I have some? I can pay you for it—”

She reached around the table with her tail and smacked his hand. “You aren’t paying me for anything. Absolutely not. A meal with a friend is its own reward.”

He giggled sheepishly. “Alright. I admit…” His eyes roamed around the room, took in the light and the warmth and the feeling of being there. “…This is much better than eating alone.”

Asteri laughed in agreement and raised her spoon. “Exactly! That’s the spirit! “Better scraps shared with love than a feast shared with loneliness.””

His smile couldn’t get much wider. “Here we have the best of both: a feast, and good company.”

She beamed and lifted her bowl. “To good friends, and terrible jokes!”

He laughed and lifted his bowl in agreement. “Hear hear!”

- - - -

TADA

So, yeah, I know, kind of a weird place to end, but after putting Asteri through that I wanted to leave it on a high note.

I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD LIST SOME REFERENCES! Number one is Handplates, which is where the concept of bone-rattling, Gaster’s blue magic hands (along with ten being the upper limit of how many he can summon at a time), and eyeglowing is from. Though my take on it is a bit different. Glowing various colors happens more often (at least for Gaster), and I changed the meanings of some of the colors. But I really liked the idea that it helped skeletons who had more fixed features emote. However, I also love the idea of highly expressive skeletons, so I borrowed the idea of distortion magic from @ asktheasterfamily! I loved their Gaster, he’s great. (I should reread that sometime…) “Tessering” is a direct reference to A Wrinkle in Time, one of my favorite books as a kid. If you’re wondering how that kind of gravity doesn’t affect everything else around them, especially in such a small space, the answer is, “don’t worry about it.” Something something magic, [insert explanation.]

Oh, also!! Alphys’ favorite anime is Sailor Moon because Mew Mew Kissy Cutie hasn’t been made/released yet.

I felt like I couldn’t fully express just how much and why Asteri was affected so much by the darkness while tessering, but if you can imagine perfect darkness in every direction with no sense of up and down… yeah. Oh, and now imagine that you’ve never been completely immersed in regular darkness before because you glow naturally. Yeah.

She and Gaster are in that awkward friend stage where you’re not sure if the strong feeling of really really liking someone and wanting to be around them all the time is platonic or romantic. Hence all the awkwardness. I guess that isn’t a universal experience, but it sure has been a consistent thread through most of my friendships. So, yeah, no. No real romance yet!! Just the awkward beginnings of a deep friendship~ (Which is the basis of romance anyway.)

Okay wrapping this up, there’s a lot of stuff in here that sets up future events and plots points!! But it might not be the things you expect… ;)

Thanks for reading!! I absolutely love screaming in the tags or replies (YOU ESPECIALLY BENANA), so if you haven’t commented but feel inclined to, don’t be shy!! Even a “!!!” is appreciated. Maybe I should just post this on ao3 man idk

I’ll be working on part 8 soon!!

#WOO IT’S DONE #But as always I’ll probably edit it later pfft #OH AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THE COLORED TEXT IS HARD TO READ AND I’LL CHANGE IT #Asteri backstory #(gonna make another poll for the title soon) #seeker writes #seeker oc #asteri #gaster #⁂ gaster #long post #good lord this is SO long #⁂ fic #⁂

[hella1975]

Hi, I followed you for your fic and I saw you had some posts about having ADHD.

I'm also ADHD, could you tell me about your writing process? I get stuck with things staying in the notes app and they don't really get past that stage.

I'm not sure if it's an interest thing, if the notes fulfill the want so there's no need to put it together. If you have anything thoughts about how to keep up the consistency for fic that'd be appreciated.

Hopefully this isn't too serious of a question, I just have some trouble with wanting to write but not having a purpose for it and I was wondering if that was a brain thing/relatable.

Thank you in advance for any response ☺️ also good luck with your uni stuff~

thank you anon! and dw this isn't too serious at all. i think it's interesting that you ask about keeping consistency bc ironically the biggest tell of my adhd in my writing is my INCONSISTENCY, as you can see with the way updates happen. i wrote 200k words of taob in one year and now i update twice a year on average. i wrote 60k words of tams within a few weeks and now it hasn't been updated since july. and these are just my public projects where i at least have the added pressure of knowing people are waiting for an update, you should see the state of some of my original wips! basically my point here is that my adhd is VERY apparent with my writing habits, but these days i work with it instead of trying to fight it. even before i knew i had adhd, i was aware that my writing came in periods. id go a few weeks churning out insane amounts daily and then dry up for months on end, and each time id enter the 'have i lost it??? will i ever write again???' spiral until low and behold, something would inspire me again and id be back to typing like a madman. i used to seriously fight my dry periods bc of that fear of 'losing' my writing, but that never helped and honestly turning writing into a need instead of a want probably made it worse.

it's one reason - aside the fact it is rude and annoying, i dont want to pretend it isn't or put the blame on me bc that's not what im saying here - that constant demands for fic updates bother me so much, bc people dont realise that the writing style i have now where yes we unfortunately go long times without updates is actually how my writing comes out at its best standard. so yeah! it can be incredibly frustrating and even scary to feel physically unable to write, but if it's something you like and want to do i do truly believe it'll always come back sooner or later, or at least that's my experience :)

#but if it is literally you cant get it out of the notes app i do also have writing sessions #where i sit myself down one day and go 'we are going to WRITE' (this is where all my coffee shop posting comes from #bc ive associated coffee shops so viscerally with writing now that if im in a particularly bad/long block i find a free day #and just sit and something about being in a coffee shop just. brings it out of me) #ive known this about myself long enough now to know which periods are just my normal dry ones #and which need that extra push but maybe learning to differentiate like that could help you? #see what happens if you give yourself some kind of target? like take one of your ideas in your notes #and literally treat it like an assignment like 'i want 500 words on this by friday' #EVEN IF IT'S BAD! i feel like that mental block even if it's subconscious is often what stops people #just treat it as something between you and the document. no one else is gonna see it. it could be the worst thing ever written #and nothing is gonna change bc of it. taking those kind of pressures off yourself makes INSANE amounts of difference #good luck! i hope even just one part of this was helpful but remember experiences with these things are individual #ask

[artcommunityvent]

heres my rant for today: (sorry in advance for long post)

i hate how modern art communities have to “fandom-ify” every single new trendy thing literally DAYS (and sometimes even hours) after it drops. i know this is a lot of the same sentiment as those people that just go “popular thing bad” but honestly it really puts me off some medias because i dont want to associate with anyone else who likes it

do we really need a million different fan ocs and aus for EVERYTHING? and like, i know its nothing new, obviously we have the onceler and undertale aus to look back on, but its exhausting at this point because while those communities were presumably genuine, in the present day it just feels like the fandom equivalent to an industry plant. and most people dont even stick with the thing they decide to make their entire personality!!

remember when spiderverse came out and everyone made spidersonas? who can you name thats actually drawn their spidersona more than once? it feels like everyone just trend hops, and yes i know thats how the internet is but its just exhausting especially when it brings down otherwise creative and inspired works

fnaf security breach: everyone makes fnaf aus and glamrock animatronics, then spiderverse as previously mentioned, then welcome home dropped and thats becoming a shitshow with how yall are fandomizing what is essentially a small creator telling their ocs lore in a creative way, and now its happening with digital circus. im so tired of seeing projects that are cool and visually appealing becoming a cesspit of bland, unoriginal aus and piles of fanart only to get dropped when the new shiny comes out

and i wanna elaborate on welcome home for a second because i know damn well if one of these people who makes “daddy dom priest wally is actually the devil” aus had an oc they loved, and someone came along and made their own aus of it in the same way, that person would bitch and cry oc theft. some people dont even change up the characters design, like how entitled do you have to be to essentially just steal someones oc and call it your own? it disgusts me how people are treating clown and honestly i wish they would put the series on indefinite hiatus or complete their story privately to teach these people a lesson

another thing that puts me off is how every piece of media has to have the “fandom daddy” for lack of a better term. glamrock freddy, hobie brown, wally darling, or jax, its all the same thing repackaged; someones gotta be the tumblr sexyman. its so tiring—ESPECIALLY as a lesbian who doesnt really wanna center men in my life at all—to wanna see fanart of the media you like and its only: “heres the one character everyones horny for drawn in a totally different and more sexualized body type” with everyone in the comments salivating over them. i really like digital circus! but all i see are people who would walk across a mile of broken glass just to suck a fart out of jax’ ass. what about the other interesting characters? why does EVERY conversation with popular media have to be about “which guy is the most fuckable” (guy specifically because come on, when has a female character been the highlight of attention; using the previous example have you seen ONE person talking about digital circus that even remembers zooble exists)

it feels like nobody can appreciate work anymore without having to claim some form of ownership over it, to say “hey this thing is so popular and important that it is now a part of my identity!! look at my millions of ocs that i will draw one time and never again!” im just tired of people being unable to passively interact with media they enjoy and everyone seeming to fight over and prove some connection to the things they like

tldr: im tired of everyone in the art community making heaps of fanart, aus, and fan ocs for stuff the second it gets popular and then totally forgetting about it the next time something else gets popular

(and before yall bring up hyperfixations: i am autistic; i understand having so much love for a piece of media for a short while and then dropping it for no reason and its heart shattering; BUT AT THE SAME TIME this pattern is on oxford to me and its on such a large scale that it infects the greater art community as a whole)

That is indeed the nature of media consumer at its finest. I do feel like it is more appearent now due to the way most social media algorithm works. They only show what is trending at the moment, so naturally, we are exposed only to this specific thing until another trend eventually takes over.

Even artists who never create fan content can be influenced to do so by looking at the other artists, be it to dive in along the hype for the popularity of it, for the geniune fun, for the sense of community, and many more reasons.

- ☁️

#vents #general

[goatpaste]

🖊!

gonna be just randomly generating a character from my toyhouse to talk about for these ask :)

and the first one is my girly Davey!

I dont talk about Davey a ton, I do like her but I havent really taken the time to flesh out her roll in my lil oc fan part set up.

Davey was Hired by Roxanne, however unlike a lot of her other hires, Davey come to Roxanne to ask for a job. Roxanne is some dirty ex-sailr/treasure hunter who struck out rich and for the most part has been wandering around looking for the next exciting thing in her life. This came when she was invited to come watch a 'performance' at the Crowded House, owned by Roxanne. Its mostly top secret what goes on in there, beyond everyone knows that if you have the money and are someone you will have come around to the Crowded House for what can only be expected to be some sorta expensive club house.

Which in someways this isnt too far from the truth. Inside this cold plain rinky dink building with only two signs labeling it the Crowded House, is a luxurious high end parlor filled with every hoity toity in town. Their drinkings, conversing and all the good stuff waiting for the main show, which comes in the form of a short but straight forward contract to keep information on what goes on inside the walls of the Crowded House a secret, and a 'boop' on the nose from the scrawny lanky blue haired man working the booth at the entrance.

From here everyone is invited to view the underground fights performed by Roxanne's 'employees'. Fights with large beautiful people who beat the shit out of each other their nearly dead. A very specific interest being met here. People place bets, and deals and sponsorships between Roxie and her clients as they enjoy the show. The cherry on top, its all stand user fights, which most people invited in will have never heard of before coming here, and will never speak of outside the walls of this place.

Everyone goes home after getting their fill of the festivities

Except Davey

Davey stays behind to make her own lil deal with Roxie, fine and good to the boss in the bright pink stilettos, shes always looks for new ways to bring in money.

However Davey offered her something different, a new employee in the form of Davey herself.

Watching Roxanne's himbo, bimbos and whatever else she has in her, Davey wants IN. This was her new passion, this was the spark that was going to bring her back to life. She wanted a super power ghost that helps her beat the crap out of people for money in front of cheering crowds.

And well, Davey just happened to be Roxanne's type and they needed a new hire to even out their roster.

Davey has been with Roxanne for a year to the start of the events of my lil fan parts. She's hot headed and not the best person, she thinks mostly of herself and tends to go over board even for the environment of their type of work. She and Mac are best frienemies and LOVE to fight each other, their a crowd favorite to watch fights.

Her stand is Boomtown Rats, a stand with explosive abilities and is an all around little rascal of a stand who tends to wander off in casual situations just to bother other stands and stand users.

#jojo #jjba #jojo ocs #my ocs #nuclear heat #davey #boomtown rats #radio star

[mwahkazu]

hi mae! i used to write quite a bit, but i stopped after a while due to burnout but here i am again lmao

anyways, if you're okay with it, could you give some writing tips/how you do your writing process? dw if you don't want to or just can't explain it! :D

hi anon! oof…you’re experience actually brought back some flashbacks for me LMAO i went through the exact same thing a couple years back! ended up losing motivation/burnout, left and then came back for a second attempt 😅

i’ll do my best to offer you what i can and things that i found helpful to get back into the groove of writing <3

( long post ahead )

writing tips:

the first thing i heavily suggest is to just write. don’t focus too much on things like grammar, whether the story flows well, dialogue, or anything just write whatever comes to mind. you can worry about those things afterwards once you’re editing and revising!

along with that do some rough drafts! i know we all hated that stuff so much when we wrote essays and stuff for school but believe me having drafts truly does help when writing a story

if you dont like how one story turned out DONT DELETE IT. save it and come back to it another time! maybe you didn’t like how it flowed but you really liked that one dialogue or description you wrote and perhaps want to build a story based off of that or add it to a current wip

decide on what it is you want to write! maybe you just want to have a blog strictly centered around one character or person, write smau’s, oneshots, hcs, etc. or maybe even a culmination of everything! all of these are considered writing and will always have an audience wanting to read them on here

one of the main reasons my burnout happened was because i gave myself too much work and a schedule. i know some authors like to have a schedules for their work but i honestly found it very pressuring which resulted in my uploading works i wasn’t proud of or that were rushed :((

write whenever you feel like it! remember that you’re your own boss on here! there’s no problem with updating once every month or every other day. writing takes time. i assure you your blog isn’t going anywhere if you leave it or take a break from writing for a couple of days

at the same time you also need to know your limits as a writer. don’t feel the need to constantly be uploading fics every single day! that’s one of the main reasons writers on here sometimes abandon their blogs or series. ofc if you’re able to handle doing so then by all means go for it. but i know for most it’s taxing and leads to a lot of burnouts and lack of motiviation

so take your time. if you have an idea for a series or story plan it out first and then once you’ve got a good idea of how you want everything to play out then you can upload it!

don’t feel ashamed about looking up things online! i for one am constantly looking up ways to describe certain things like emotion, expressions, scenes, etc. ( insert me typing “synonyms for (word)” 😭 ). it just goes to show you want to improve your writing and make it more interesting!

writing is all about trial and error. there is no wrong or right way of doing it. i know when it comes to tumblr, getting your fics recognized and read by others can be very hard with the algorithm and such relying heavily on reblogs which most fics struggle to gain a lot of as people just opt for just liking.

but please don’t be discouraged by how many notes your works receive! as long as you stay consistent and true to your writing it’s bound to reach others and receive the recognition it deserves <3

writing process:

as for my writing process it’s a bit all over the place lol

a lot of my stories/smaus i come up with due to being inspired by something! whether it’s from a song, a prompt/dialogue starter i found on pinterest, a movie/anime show, aus/tropes, or sometimes having a random thought like “what if character a and character b were this and that”

but once i have an idea i start planning it out! i recently made the transition of planning out my writing from google docs to notion and omg… it’s become a life saver i highly recommend using notion as a way to plan out your fics snd such

everything is just so organized, there are templates online to use that you can add personal touches/adjustments to to really make it your own!

usually when i come up with a fic idea i already have a character in mind that i would like to do it for but if you dont have one or are struggling to decide, pick at random my friend LMAO ik a lot of my moots sometimes use a character wheel or random pick generator online to decide on characters and from what i’ve seen it helps them a lot😭

when planning out my fics i dont focus too heavily on every little detail. it’s called the planning stage for a reason. i just focus on the major points i want to make sure i hit, write out certain ideas i have in mind for a specific scene or dialogue sequence, character/world building and all that good stuff

creating a playlist for the story also helps me a lot too! really establishes the mood of the story and even gives me some additional inspo/support! one thing i recently started doing is finding a playlist on youtube that fits the mood of my story and then opening another yt tab and searching for ambience sound and playing them both at the same time lol ( trust the process )

once i feel satisfied with my planning i move on to the writing ( the most dreadful part of all /lh ). as i mentioned in the writing tips section, i just write whatever comes to mind and keep going until i get stumped or run out of ideas

if i hit that point i take a break and focus on doing other things like working on another piece or doing something outside of writing ( cough playing stardew valley ) or talking to my lovely moots <3

this is also considered a writing tip but take breaks! i cannot stress this enough. don’t spend hours just writing! take breaks in between, distract yourself with something else. sometimes your mind just needs a break from writing for a bit.

#✧﹒—﹒[ notes from the jar ] #going to leave it at an abrupt ending because i dont know what else to say😭 #it’s important to remember that these are just my tips and processes that i found works well for me everyone has their own preferences .. #and different way to approach their writing which are just as valid! it’s all about finding what works for you #apologies for the long post and any spelling mistakes i typed all this from my phone 🥲 #HOPE THIS HELPS ANON !! feel free to reach out for any more questions <3

[jade-04]

Dove (Part 8)

Eddie Munson x fem!Henderson!reader and Steve Harrington x fem!Henderson!reader

first part | part 7 | part 9

Summary: Dustin Henderson’s older sister finds herself in a predicament having to choose between Steve “the Hair” Harrington and Eddie “the Freak” Munson

a/n: no thoughts, just the sound of me typing. Also the gif I chose has almost nothing to do with this chapter, all I could think about when writing Robins part was this scene/ the white board from season 3.

Warnings: mention of a parents death, angst, swearing, Steve being an absolute dumbass

taglist: @happiejoon @simonsbluee @nervouslaught3r @7minutes-tomidnight  @sl-tfor-joseph-quinn @witheringawayagain

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“Come on, (y/n). I’m gonna take you home, I dont think this is the environment you should be in right now.” Eddie wrapped his arm around you shoulders and starting walking towards the stairs with you. You nodded without saying a word, you wanted to be home right now with Dustin, he would know what to do and what to say.  He always has ever since he was a kid. You could never understand how someone so young could be so wise beyond his years, but right now he was the only person you could fully talk to. You could talk to Eddie, but your voice was weak, you didnt know what to say to him after what happened. You could barely even look at Steve, let alone speak to him. 

Eddie was ushering you out of the house to his car as Robin got there on her bike. She looked between you and Eddie and then raised an eyebrow. “What happened here?” 

“Well…” Eddie took a very deep breath trying his best not to yell. “Harrington broke (y/n). I recommend you ask him the rest of the story. She’s not really speaking right now.” He looked down at you, there was so much worry in his eyes, he was hoping he would never have to see you like this after hearing about it from your brother. 

“Shit.” Robin shook her head before going inside. 

It wasnt long before you were sitting in the passenger seat of Eddie’s car, his jacket wrapped around your shoulders, it was the only thing that could really comfort you right now. You just wanted your brother. You hadnt even realized you left your car at Steves until you were halfway home. 

“Eds, my car.” Your voice was super quiet, but just loud enough so that he could hear you.

“We can come back and get it tomorrrow.” He said, sounding a little more angry than he meant to be making you flinch a bit. “Sorry, I just think you need to be around Dustin right now, he’s uh told me about this kind of stuff happening before and I know he can help you.” Eddie loosened his grip on the steering wheel a bit.

You were home within 10 minutes thank you Eddie’s speeding. When you got inside, you rushed to Dustin’s bedroom door and gave a little knock before going in. Eddie was trailing behind you a bit knowing that you would need it to be just you and Dustin for a bit. Dustin was shocked to see you home so early knowing it was movie night, but when he studied your face he realized your eyes were puffy from the amount of crying you had done earlier. He saw Eddie behind you and gave him a nod signaling to him that things were gonna be okay, but it needed to be just the siblings right now. After Eddie walked away and closed the door, Dustin finally spoke.

“(Y/n), what happened?” Dustin came to hug you. “Do someone hurt you?”

You shook your head. “Not physically, maybe a little emotionally.” You sighed. “Okay, maybe a lot emotionally.”

Dustin sat down on his bed and you sat across from him on the floor with you back against the wall. “Let’s unpack this, okay?” His voice was always calm in these situations because he knew you felt vulnerable and the smallest amount of negativity in a voice could break you even further. “What happened?”

You closed your eyes before explaining the situation to Dustin. “I was at Steve’s, we were making pizza, having fun like we always do and then we were having a flour war and he cornered me and kissed me.” You sighed. “He didn’t necessarily force it on me, it just was sudden. It scared me….it confused me.” 

“Okay, thats okay.” He  took a second to think about what he was going to say next. “Why did it confuse you?” 

You didn’t want to admit it confused you because you kissed him back, but when it came to moments like this, secrets weren’t an option. “It confused me because…because I kissed him back. I don’t know why I kissed him back, Ive never felt that way towards him.” You felt so shitty for admitting it out loud.

“Oh shit.” Dustin blinked a few times before continuing. “Yea that would confuse you. Do you like Steve, like in the way you like Eddie?” 

“No, I don’t think so. Im all lost right now.” You hugged your knees into your body. “I don’t like Steve the way I like Eddie. I think I was just all caught up in that movie-like moment that I don’t even know what took over me, but then after when I was absolutely balling my eyes out in the bathroom, he admitted he had liked me since June. How does somebody react to that? How was I supposed to react to that?” You squeezed your eyes shut feeling the tears well up.

Dustin moved to sit next to you. “It’s okay. I know this is gonna be hard, but one of them is gonna have to be let down and I think I know who you want to let down.” He placed a hand on your shoulder. “I see the way you look at Eddie and the way he looks at you. Yes, its fucking gross to see my idol kissing my sister, but I haven’t seen you this happy since before dad died. The choice is yours though.” 

He was right, in the 3 years since dad died, you hadn’t felt as free as you did with Eddie. Yea Steve and Robin were your best friends, really your only friends, but you’d only ever opened up to Robin. “I think I know who I’m gonna choose. Thank you so much, Dusty.” You turned to wrap your brother into a hug.

-------------------------------

Meanwhile, back at Steve’s, Robin was absolutely going off on him. She knew about you shutting down and what happens and why they happen. She was fuming when she saw Eddie bringing a broken you out of the house when she got there and knew Steve had to do with it. Yes, she encouraged him to tell you his feelings, but what could he have possibly done to cause this.

“Hey, Stevie.” She said in the sweetest tone possible before turning on him. “What the fuck did you do to (y/n)?! I get here and see Munson taking her out of the house and she’s not even speaking. How the hell did you manage to do that, huh?” Robin was extremely defensive over you in this moment, you were in a very vulnerable state. “I mean yea, I encouraged you to tell her your feelings, but what the hell could have possibly done to cause this. Also, what with the mess in the kitchen and the flour all over you? Did you-“ 

Steve cut her off before she could ask anymore questions. “Geez, Robin. Let me get a fucking word in. I told her I liked her, yes, but I fucked up. I was stupid.” He leaned against the wall.

“That’s not new.” Robin mumbled under her breath before letting him continue.

“We we’re making pizza and it turned into a flour war, hence the mess.” He motioned to himself and the kitchen. “Then I kinda cornered her, she surrendered, then I…kissed…her…” Steve winced as he said those last few words.

“You kissed her?” Robin scoffed. “Didnt think to ask her if you could, just went in for it?” Her arms were crossed, shoulders squared. She looked like a mother disciplining her child.

“I know it was wrong, but she kissed me back. I thought that was my sign, until she ran into the bathroom and started crying. So, I followed her. I told her how I felt and she didn’t say anything, just got up and jumped into the pool. I called Eddie, I figured he could fix it.” Steve was doing his best to look anywhere but Robin, but he could still feel the heat of her glare on him.

“Steve, Im gonna tell you something that is gonna be super fucking personal to (y/n) okay?” Steve nodded and Robin took that as a sign to continue. “Ever since her dad died, she doesn’t handle her emotions well. He was her rock and then he was gone, yea she has Dustin, but he’s not the same. So when she’s overwhelmed,  especially when she gets confused and can’t figure out her emotions or reasons behind her actions, she shuts down. You kissing her, then spewing out your emotions, confused her, man. You weren’t supposed to do that like that.” Robin did her best not to sound bitchy and more educative, but she was pissed and Steve needed to know.

“I had no idea…” Steves voice was barely above whisper.

“Yea, no one does, not even her mom. Obviously, me and Dustin know and probably Eddie now too, but she hides it. She avoids stuff that’ll trigger her. Why do you think we never watch Jaws? It was her dads favorite movie, she can’t even look at the cover without crying or how she hardly ever lets us listen to Journey in the car, it was her dads favorite band.  Why do you think she has no plans post-high school? It’s because she cant stand the confusion and stress of picking somewhere to go and what the hell she has to do for the rest of her life. She doesnt like having to choose, so she always goes with what she knows is certain. Like when she auditioned for the band, it was because she knows music, but having to choose between you and Eddie, she could never possibly do that. He’s her boyfriend and your her best friend, hell we’re her only friends Steve, she cant handle losing people.” Robin took a deep breath and looked at Steve waiting for a response, but when he didnt give one she continued. “Why do you think that a week ago she was scared to tell us she was gonna miss movie night and was bargaining with us? Hmm? It’s because she’s scared that if she fucks up, even a little bit, she’s gonna lose us. She lost the most important person in her life and we filled that spot the best we could.” 

“I didnt realize we were that important to her. She never talks about these things, she’s just quiet when we ask her how she feels if she looks anything other than happy.” Steve ran a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have done that, I feel so shitty. I never should have told her, especially after seeing her with Eddie.” He raised his hands to cover his face.

“Now figure out a way to apologize to her, dingus.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a/n: Literally my brain has been sprinting so the next part is 100 percent coming out today because its already like half written. Though, after how I wrote Robin in this chapter, it feels like Robin is the best choice for y/n right now if im being honest…

#eddie munson fanfic #stranger things #stranger things s4 #henderson!reader #eddie munson #steve harrington #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x henderson!reader #eddie x reader #eddie stranger things #steve and robin #steve stranger things

[nyaarr]

Hi, i just wanted to say quickly that im rlly inspired by your WFI series on ao3, so much so i wrote my own fics (id love for u too have a tiny look at them🙏). I just think it's really good, even though the ending left me crying a little😭 I wondered if youre going to do any more Anahardt stuff at all? I understand youve slowed down since ow isnt for you anymore, and thats totally understandable. I just had a few questions;

-Were there any ideas you had (old and new) for fics, or headcanons or stuff that never made it into an actual post/fic? If so what were they, id love to know

-Ik u said WFI part 3 wouldnt come out, but i was thinking if i could write it for you instead? As in, you tell me about your ideas you had for it, and why it never took off, and perhaps i could write it myself? sort of like a little reboot. if not its totally fine👌im not offended.

But yk, if you ever get any ideas of picking the hammer back up, dont hesitate to let me know. love ur work btw, super awesome!

Hii!

First of all, thank you! You're very kind :) I would love to read your stories, and surely other people here too, so hit us with the link.

Blizzard killed the love I had for Overwatch. Not for the characters, you know, but the game itself. They destroyed WoW first, then came for OW, and I'm pissed. I'm so pissed I uninstalled both months ago and grieved what we could have had.

I have a short anahardt story almost finished. :< It's another "they get together" type of story. I really enjoy watching them get close I guess :3

I also have another big story that I'll never finish: an OW + Pacific Rim crossover that was going to be about Rein and Ana. It's actually two stories, because I never could decide which plot I liked most, so... I kind of wrote both in paralell :_) I might actually post the first chapter as standalone one of these days.

I had a million ideas for WFI3 and 4, some of which were written down in different grades of completioness. Since I dropped the project quite some time ago, I only really remember that I put on paper.

WFI3 was going to be a mashup of short stories happening on different years instead of longer chapters. I wanted to cover around 20 years or so, and this seemed the best way forward. It was going to start from where WFI2 ended, kind of fix things so that they were in friendly terms again but strictly nothing more, and end it with Rein's retirement and Ana's death.

WFI4 was going to be more similar to 1 and 2, and was going to show what Rein and Ana were doing on their own before their met again.

One of the ideas I wanted to explore for Rein --which might have never worked, but anyway-- was having a big discussion with Jack about what happened with Ana at OW headquarters, and then snatching his armour on the way out and becoming a sort of a fugitive (an idea I got from Ironhardt). This was going to be a bit in line about what Sombra said about Brigitte not knowing stuff about Rein's retiremnt. He would be in hiding but helping people until the fall of OW, where the UN would stop actively looking for him. Then Brigitte would join him after he comes to the Lindholm's house looking like what the cat brought : )

They were to go here and there and answer the recall on Gibraltar. Torb and Bastion were going to be there, just like Jack and Ana (with their masks on), Tracer, Winston, and others, and everything was going to go to hell pretty quickly from there.

I envisioned Bastion and Rein's encounter a bit more dramatic that what Blizzard showed us. Blizzard always hinted at Rein having some sort of trouble with his memory and whatnots, which I was going to address at the end of WFI3 (the reason for it) and in WFI4 (where sometimes he thinks he sees and hears things, like a rogue bastion ticking or Ana's ghost -- which happen to be very real).

WFI4 would have some of the ideas of the Anahardt 2018 stories I wrote as well. Particularly the conversation they have where Ana explains what happened to her and why she did what she did-- with the difference Rein wouldn't have caved this time. I wanted Ana to work hard this time to get him back. He deserved it lol.

I wanted WFI4 Ana to be different in quite some aspects, after everything that happened to her. She wasn't going to know which memories she had were real. So in a way, Rein would understand what she was going through. And I wanted Brigitte to be fiercely protective of him, hissing at Ana, so to speak, and telling her to stay away.

I'm all happy that you find inspiration on my stories and that they make you write. If you want to continue what I started, go for it. I won't share my drafts or ideas in more detail, since whatever you write has to be your story, not mine, but the universe is out there so to speak. Go ham. Have fun. And share when you're done!

I'll give you a little parting gift though. The first bit of WFI3:

Sep 2056 -- Sweden

“Yes, I am sure.” Torbjorn rolled his eye, his patience obviously running thin. “It’ll be fine. Aha. Yeah, we have the SUV he borrowed from HQ. Ah, what now?”

There was a moment of silence so poignant that Reinhardt looked at his friend. He was glaring at the coffee table as if he wanted to disintegrate it, but then his gaze softened. 

“That’d be fine, I think. Thanks. Talk to you soon.”

He hung up with a flick of his wrist and leaned back on the bunch of pillows they were sharing in front of the TV.

“So…? What happened?” 

“Dr Shollner seems positive that you’d recover sooner since this time the rest of your leg is not in pieces.”

“That’s a relief!”

“He will perform the surgery in two days, back at the base.”

Reinhardt swallowed. That was not the plan. He was supposed to fly to Sweden, fix his leg in the hospital where Angela’s parents used to work. The whole point was not going back to Switzerland yet.

“I know, I know,” Torbjorn sighed, closing his eye and resting his hand over his midsection. “I tried, but it wasn’t negotiable. The good news is you’ll be back home with us the next day.” 

One night of being on bad drugs. He could manage that.   

“The better news is I’m going with you. So you better behave; I need my beauty sleep.”

“What? No. You need to rest. There’s no need to—I’ve got this.”

“Shut up. I said I’m going, and I’m going,” he snorted softly. “I can do some designing from home, but I’d rather bring some of my equipment here.”

“Designing?”

“For my arm,” he waved his hand, lazily. “And for your armour. No point in having surgery now if the armour is not helping you enough.”

Reinhardt shifted in the pillows. He was not sure how much of his plight was his armour, and how much was just wear and tear. However, he would take armour improvements with grabby hands. 

“And…” He started after a moment of silence, after noticing his friend was still frowning at whatever he learned over the phone. “Can you make it so that I could jump ah, let’s say, down from a building? Like taking a big plunge.”

“No! You should not be jumping off buildings. Wasn't last time more than enough?" The engineer glowered. "What’s gotten into you?”

“Ah, I was thinking it would be really cool if I could be deployed directly from the aircraft. You know, just dropping to the groooound, and boom!”

Torbjorn turned his head towards him, an indescribable expression on his face.

“No more brännvin for you. Or sugar.”

“Aww…"

#my art #overwatch #Wait for it