#even if it's a bit 'corrupted' i can definitely DEFINITELY salvage these | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gale-gentlepenguin · 1 year

Text

Gale Reviews: Sonic Frontiers

(thanks @knightsweeties for the super sonic penguin)

So I recently finished Sonic Frontiers and I want to give it a thorough review of the latest installment.

For this review I will be judging on a number of categories (on a scale of 1-10)

The Controls and Mechanics

The Story and Writing

The Open World

The Closed Levels

The Side quests

The Combat and Boss fights

The Music

After I rate all of these I will give my overall rating of the game.

Spoilers below. Let’s blast through with Sonic speed!

___________________________________________

The Controls and Mechanics

So Sonic games have been a very mix bag with how Sonic controls and feels. In this game, I would say that it has the best controls of any sonic game since Generations.

Sonic is manageable and has the capability of moving fast. His drop spindash is great to use in the open world, his homing attack is classic, the ring dash and Rail grinding are decent. And the ability to boost is welcome and good for bringing back momentum.

Though I will say sonic does feel a bit slow when not boosting, and in the open world his speed is lacking until it’s maxed out or he has max rings.

But Sonic feels very much sonic and something that felt like such a drag in previous games is now vastly improved.

Sonic has a lot of movement options and the abilities they give him Add for some good travel.

Solid 8/10

____________________________________________

The Story

So this is where a lot of people find contention with the game.

The overview is that the chaos emeralds get drawn to these mysterious islands. Sonic and Co. go to see what’s going on and find themselves discovering an ancient civilization and unlocking secrets about the chaos emeralds and about the world around them.

There is an AI called Sage that seems to be antagonizing Sonic and working for Eggman. By sending these robotic behemoths called “Titans” after them.

Sonic finds that he can travel in and out of the island’s cyberspace, and has to save his friends who are in cyber space limbo by beating the titans.

With each island you learn about the ancients through the Koco (Little Rock not koroks) that show memories of the ancients.

(Huge spoilers)

Turns out that the ancient civilization that was on the Island created the cyberspace, brought the chaos emeralds to earth and made the titans to fight against an ancient evil that had been targeting them. In desperation they sealed that evil in cyber space. The evil managed to trick Sonic into destroying the titans to free it and dooming the world and all of existence.

But thanks to Sonic’s friends saving him from Cyber Corruption. And Sage helping him get the chaos emeralds they go and fight the evil villain in Space.

“The End”

Which is according to itself the embodiment of the Void.

Super Sonic and Sage defeat the evil and Sage sacrifices herself to destroy it.

Overall the story is a bit messy, tells a lot and yet very little. The plot of why they are there is the weakest part. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best. I do find the Ancient civilization and “The End” interesting. But I know so little even with the final boss’ monologue (which I loved btw)

What does make it good is the character dynamics. Ian Flynn definitely had a hand in writing this. Now depending on how one feels about the characters can determine how they feel about this story. I find Sonic and his friends dynamics were written very well and while the voice acting was a mixed bag, the character moments were genuine.

I loved that Eggman was starting to care about something/someone just as much as himself. It shows that Eggman is more than just an Egg of ego. But he is in denial over it, it also adds to his unique view of what he values. We also get to find out how he views his adversaries and even his own thoughts through his Egg memos.

Sage was a great character and I hope something can be salvaged of her.

Overall 6.5/10

I wanted more story from it, and I agree with Eggman, im left with more questions than answers.

__________________________________________

The Open World

So in the Open World, it is actually more of a semi open world. There are 5 islands.

Kronos Island: The first Island. This one acts as the starting place. It’s mainly tropical and I think is one of the best overall islands. It helps the player get use to the mechanics. The enemies are easier but show the fighting mechanics and has the most exploration material. It acts as the intro to Sage, the map trials, the Portals and establishes the formula of the game. The character you bond with is Amy, and the Titan you fight is Giganto.

Ares Island: The Desert island, This one introduces more mini bosses and makes sure the player learned all the mechanics of the game. Enemies are tougher, Koco are harder to get, and there is more exploration options. But it’s easier to get lost and you can find yourself trapped in caverns for a quick sec if you don’t consult the map. The character you bond with is Knuckles and the Titan you fight is Wyvern.

Chaos Island: Magma island: This one is the most punishing of the three as it expects the user to throughly explore and the hardest to traverse. It does hold the most secret areas and the mini bosses are the most versatile and fun to fight. The companion is Tails and the Titan to fight is Knight.

Rhea Island: This is the smallest and most straight forward island. No titans to fight, no companions, just 7 towers to climb and shut off. It’s actually the most like a Level.

Ouranos island: The final island. It’s more compact than the first 3, but has the most dangerous enemies. The companion you bond with is Sage, and the Titan fight is “Supreme”. The most powerful titan. And in Hard mode, you fight the last boss The End.

The formula for the island is simple

Get Gear wheels from mini bosses or by completing the map>Complete the portal levels to get Chaos Emerald Keys> Collect the chaos Emeralds> complete the island special puzzle> then go get the last chaos emerald that is on the Titan by climbing it via Shadow of the Colossus> Transform into Super Sonic and have the epic showdown

All the islands have Portals that take Sonic to levels where he needs to beat their requirements to get keys to unlock the chaos emerald containers. There are also optional collectibles like memory tokens, Power and defense seeds, and Kocos, purple coins,

Memory tokens are needed to help progress some of the story, but a bunch aren’t needed unless you want some of the background information and character development.

In the game Sonic starts at level 1 in four stats. Attack, defense, ring storage, and speed.

Collecting Seeds and giving them to the elder Kocos up his attack and defense

Collecting Kocos and handing them to the elder ups your speed and ring storage.

Purple coins let you go into the fishing portal which lets you have access to special items or sort cut collecting the previous collectibles.

Overall the Open World is fine. Some aspects are empty, the collection of Koco and upgrading is a bit tedious since you have to go one level at a time. But seeds can be done almost instantly.

It is a bit repetitive, but the movement in the open world is great and you can just run around being sonic for some time. It’s fun

Overall 7/10

I do wish some things weren’t tedious, but it’s still fun.

———————————————————————

The Closed Levels/ Portal levels

I really enjoyed them. Each level was a reference to previous Sonic games and levels. The shifting focus of the levels added variety, and while some were more tedious they never felt Awful or a drag. The best ones were very fun.

Now they are required to get chaos Keys but you don’t need to play all of them if you perfect a few. So if a level seems too hard to get all the requirements you have done wiggle room. But personally I like the challenge of getting all the reqs. It does help that you don’t have to do all 4 at once but it’s possible to do. It is more forgiving. Though the movement/momentum is harder to maintain in the closed levels. Which kind of sucks. If it was easier to keep high speed I’d give this a perfect 10

But overall 9/10

____________________________________________

Side Quests

The Fishing Minigame is fun.

I enjoy chilling out and catching ridiculous things with Big. It’s not hard it’s a good way to get the bonus content like the egg memos, or get those lost Koco you need to max out your stats without going crazy.

The side stuff with characters is cute. Completing the map with tiny objectives is fun. I loved doing it, and it rewards you by making travel easier,

My only complaints are that there weren’t more of them, adding more to the open world.

9.5/10

____________________________________________

Combat and Boss Fights

If you were expecting complex combos and perfect fighting mechanics, you won’t get that. You will get fun finisher moves and clever means of taking down enemies.

Most mini bosses are more like puzzles and you have to figure out how to take them down. It’s usually a fun time and once you know how to fight them it’s usually pretty fair.

The Titan fights as Super Sonic however…

Are on a whole other level of hype.

The gravitas, the epic music blaring as you clash with these behemoths. The fights really help you feel the scope of how grand these robots are. And the quick time events are easy yet SO cinematic.

My favorites are easily Knight and Giganto.

Knight being my favorite finisher.

Depending on how much you grinded and how fast you get use to the titans’ gimmick determines how fast the fight will go. If you been slacking the titans WILL beat your ass.

10/10

for what I would want from a sonic game. The hype is there

___________________________________________

The music

It f***ing Slaps.

Go listen to the sound track.

Sonic does good music always, but this has to be my favorite collection.

Undefeatable is amazing

And Dear Father nearly brought me to tears after the last boss fight.

The music is the very soul of the game

Easy

10/10

____________________________________________

Final thoughts

This game is an 8.5/10

I will say it does have some problems, some things being empty and each island feeling repetitive. The upgrade process can be tedious. BUT, what it does well, IT does very well.

I think that this Game opens the door for Sonic in ways the last entries haven’t.

Sonic was always about freedom, so giving him a semi open world was great.

It’s been a long time since I felt joy playing a sonic 3D game. But I think Sonic Frontiers is a great game to jump into and one where people can enjoy themselves and characters.

#sonic frontiers #sonic frontiers spoilers #Gale reviews

24 notes · View notes

regaliasonata · 4 months

Note

For the character ask game!! Precious boy Aiyon pls ty 😌😌😌

First Impression

-Originally I thought Aiyon would have a sort of Ivan and Eric demeanor with his character. Pretty valiant and upbeat but deadly on the battlefield, the type of guy who wouldn't hesitate to smile when kicking your ass in a fight like..."I'm gonna beat the shit out of you but also make jokes just to show how I'm leagues away in power than you".

Impression Now

-Gay as hell, a bit witty with jokes but can always be there for you when needed. Definitely a victim of the writing playing him down sadly but he's still lovable and needs a bunch of hugs.

Favorite Moment

-Definitely his debut when he was soloing Brineblast and the mixture of water and electricity just...man it was awesome.

Idea For A Story

-he's a lucky spirit trapped in a pandora's box like contraption and Ollie uses the wishes, thing is each wish brings about a change into the universe which they have to salvage.

Favorite Relationship

-Aiyon/Ollie together is really nice, need more interactions with them.

-I know it's usually one pairing but imagine this BROtp....Aiyon/Mesogog, a monstrous dude that was to bring dinosaurs back and hates humans meets this goofball who actually has met dinos and isn't human, becomes easily attached. Solon approves.

Favorite Headcanon

-Aiyon was an orphan that was part of a band of rough but skilled sellswords working for an aristocratic royal family on Rafkon but took them down after they executed his group in cold blood. He has a secret power inherited via rafkonian mystics based on gold and luck because he's the incarnation of an ancient Rafkonian legend(a golden dragoon like deity) and works to assassinate every higher up within the universal alliances, a vigilante that despises some of the order that old empires had before they were dismantled years later. I'm talking like BAD, Aiyon puts what Dark Spector and Astronema did to shame and the thing is that part of him is only known via a nameless legend from millions of years ago, he used to be the deadliest assassin within the cosmos that even Zordon and Vile held a sweat at the mention of Aiyon's title. No one knew his identity but with a run in with Zayto the two fought on a literal dying star when the knight was ordered to find said fugitive, Zayto took Aiyon down but spared him since it was obvious Aiyon just wanted to change the corrupt order of the universe at the time and after hiding his past and changing his title Aiyon joined Zayto and became a rafkonian knight in hope to do more justice for the future. It's unclear but it's estimated his kill count is in the trillions as there were a lot of crazy higher ups running rampant...Aiyon here is one of the strongest rangers and wouldn't hesitate to revert back to his old self if the Morphin Masters didn't get their shit together by the end of Dino Fury, Zedd better sleep with one eye open.

#power rangers #mighty morphin power rangers #mmpr #power rangers dino fury #power rangers cosmic fury #Dino fury #cosmic fury #gold ranger #aiyon #mutual ask #character ask #send me asks #i cooked #Aiyon unlocking his Inner Unohana fr

4 notes · View notes

loregoddess · 2 years

Note

Oooo. More head canons for the other paths/endings please! I like the way you think.

As a forewarning, most of these are a bit darker as they're more me trying to figure out how the story might continue after the endings, since that's one of my favorite mental exercises to do with non-golden endings.

Roland's Ending: -Roland was given the title of Minister of Salt specifically because Idore thought it was suspicious that Frederica conveniently "disappeared" before House Wolffort swore allegiance to Hyzante and didn't/doesn't trust Serenoa one bit. Idore also sees Roland as an easily controlled puppet, and essentially Roland is, since he's resigned himself to doing whatever to protect the people of Glenbrook. Ironic then, that Serenoa is given governance of Glenbrook. -Idore is right not to trust Serenoa entirely. True to Serenoa's general lack of spine (sorry buddy, I really do love you, but I can't find a nicer way to word that atm), Serenoa won't oppose Hyzante outright in any way, and in fact carries out his duties as Minister rather well, but is also more willing to turn a blind eye to "heretics" and others who go against Hyzante's rule whenever he can afford to do so. -Also, if he ever ran into Frederica, even with the radical changes to her appearance she's undergone to stay under the radar, he'd be able to recognize her, but short of one of the other more faithful Ministers there to witness and pressure Serenoa, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to try and stop Frederica, and again, would turn a blind eye to her attempts at insurrection, though he wouldn't try to go out of his way to help her either. (In a slightly? happier version of Serenoa running into Frederica in this route's end, he might do some things to aid Frederica, but only if he thought he wouldn't be caught since Idore can hold Roland and the rest of House Wolffort's safety above Serenoa's head as a means of controlling him). -Also, I dunno why, but I just get the feeling Serenoa never gets around to talking with Roland about the fact that they're half-brothers. Idore definitely figures it out at some point and uses that against Serenoa when he can, but Roland never learns this. -Ezana vanishes after the end of this route and eventually joins Frederica's cause.

Benedict's Ending: -Given that Benedict is the one pulling the strings to Serenoa's rule, it's easy to imagine that said rule falls apart into utter chaos when Benedict eventually dies. Serenoa himself doesn't have the will or resolve to rule without Benedict's guidance, but by the time he has to rule alone he's pushed away his closest allies so much so that he can't rely on them. -Frederica wouldn't outright oppose him, but would jump at the nearest chance she could get to help the Roselle, even if it means abandoning Serenoa (although again, I don't think he'd try to stop her either, since he knows their relationship is strained to the point of being past salvaging in this timeline, but he still respects her and loves her enough to let her find her own path). -The corruption running rampant amongst the richest of merchants leads to something of a power struggle since everyone more or less knows Serenoa was never in charge in the first place, and everyone wants a piece of their own power. -Roland ends up leading a rebellion against Serenoa's rule, waiting until Benedict dies to do so since he understands that's his best chance for success. The fact that he's the "rightful" heir to the throne, along with Idore's machinations, means the rebellion would likely be quick and successful once Roland stops operating in the shadows. -When it comes to the two facing off, I don't think that Serenoa would be in the right headspace to be able to best Roland, and Roland's triumph over Serenoa and his rather disastrous rule seem all the more righteous to the impoverished people Roland was fighting for. -Not to continue raining on the parade, but given Benedict's negative character growth in this, I don't think Anna ever really gets to follow through with the chat she told Erador she'd have with Benedict in her second character story, since the two become somewhat estranged over the years following the end of this particular route.

Frederica's Ending: -Given that this is somehow the least dismal of the three endings, the headcanons here are a bit lighter (yay?) -We all know Tenebris is a joke, so in the power struggle that overtakes Hyzante, it's definitely Exharme who wins out in the end. Likewise, using Benedict's strategies, Gustadolf is able to pretty easily stamp out Svarog's rebellion, and then turn the tides of the war against Hyzante with alarming speed. The war wages on for years, but Gustadolf does win in the end due to superior technology (and since everyone who understood how the Aelfric worked in Hyzante are like, really dead, so Exharme can't rally enough researchers after fighting with Tenebris in time to turn that technology in his favor). -Despite losing Serenoa to Idore, the remainder of House Wolffort and the Roselle, led by Frederica, don't encounter as many hardships while searching for Centralia. There is hardship, since I mean, travelling across uncharted lands with unknown dangers and stuff, but nothing as horrifying as Idore's final attempt to destroy them. -This is very much just the unfortunate "they certainly are standing next to each other" logic of the ending illustration for this route, but Roland and Jerrome hit it off. Do I mean that romantically, platonically, in a familial way? I have no idea, but the two become very close. -Also given some of the things Benedict said before leaving, Roland's able to kind of piece together that Serenoa's his half-brother, and does get confirmation about this before the fateful battle with Idore. As a result, Roland takes to protecting Frederica as if she were his own sister-in-law despite how things ultimately turned out. In the timeline where Cordelia is with House Wolffort, she also develops something of a sisterly relationship with Frederica. (In the timeline where Cordelia got left behind, I have no idea how Roland sleeps at night but since I think that was an oversight of the writers since they kept forgetting Cordelia existed, we're pretending that isn't ever canon). -Likewise, Erador takes Roland and Frederica's protection very seriously, knowing that Serenoa would have wanted him to protect them.

And that is...that? Sorry for the short essay's worth of writing again, but I really do like imagining just how much worse (or eventually better) things get at the end of certain stories with multiple endings.

#me: wow these endings sure are sad and these characters suffer time to imagine it 10x worse #but anyhow this was also fun to write out since I rarely talk about darker fiction ideas and stuff #alynnl #I still don't have an ask tag #triangle strategy

17 notes · View notes

doom-nerdo-666 · 1 year

Text

I'm sure some of you remember a screenshot about how DE's expansions could have starred different playable characters and take place before the main events.

(Source is this video by Horde Mode Gaming because it was an easier way to find it)

And i know most people wished DE had more going on in terms of expansions besides The Ancient Gods.

I like to think that one would focus on an ARC/UAC soldier and the other on a Sentinel warrior and even got some ideas on how they could work:

Both characters could be blank slates for the sake of Doom tradition.

The ARC/UAC campaign could take place a bit before the main game while the Sentinel campaign could involve an event like the Sentinel civil war.

Both characters could have some weapons that the Slayer has but others that are different: ARC guy would obviously have a Plasma Rifle but the Rocket Launcher and SSG would be different while the Sentinel guy would have a Ballista but also have different, Sentinel versions of other weapons.

(Whether or not the ARC guy uses 2016 UAC guns or new ones depends but Sentinel guy would definitely be an opportunity for an entire Sentinel themed arsenal)

They could have their own unique alt fires/weapon mods, including mobility related abilities for their SSG's (I wrote something about an SSG with a jet rocket that pushes the player up if they aim down).

Some "base" weapons could be replaced/changed like what if the BFG for the ARC guy is different.

In general, they could get mobility/movement abilities (Wall running, jetpack/booster thing that makes you fall slowly, slide/ducking etc) in case they don't have some abilities the Slayer has.

They could both have equip launchers (I think a 2016 MP skin even gave a shoulder thing to a UAC armor and then there's the UAC Revenant lore) but i can expect the ARC guy's equip launcher to be less advanced than the Sentinel one in subtle ways.

Maybe the equipment items could be different too? Depends.

New enemies would be cool because even if they're variations of existing ones, i like to think they could have been more unique in terms of gameplay and design (Like the Plasma Powered Revenant finally being used).

Some base enemies could change too like in terms of visuals or abilities/AI (I like to imagine a Possessed Blaster with the armor of the ARC guys in Phobos and a Plasma Rifle in their arm resembling the player's version both in visuals and gameplay).

Maybe the Hell-razer, Hell Guard and Harvester could've returned and even get some visual and mechanical changes.

Level design could have some new concepts, at least to those that love the platforming like new features for platforming, hazards, puzzles and so on.

New power ups could be cool too.

Maybe some pickups could change visuals, not just because of fans who aren't into the "neon/arcade/self-aware" direction but just to explore themes and i guess how the 1-up having Doomslayer's helmet wouldn't make sense for different playable characters.

(Also depends if the 1-up couldn't be a Sentinel crystal or UAC made object like 2016's Mega-health or even some weird Hellish/Maykrish sphere)

(Also, imagine if the Sentinel had their own radsuits)

The ARC guy's campaign could be an excuse to do more with Hell on Earth ideas like new countries or types of locations (Maybe even salvage some D4.10 ideas; I can also see less "Hellification" if they want to be consistent with the SGN being the most corrupted place on Earth).

Sentinel guy's campaign would need a lot of creativity to explore the Sentinel world but i'm sure there's still a lot of concept art of things not realized yet.

(Otherwise, occasional trips to some places in Hell could do)

Both characters could have their own mech phases, with the ARC and Sentinel mechs having their own mechancial differences.

I can see upgrades and even weapon mod drones being different too (Even ARC guy gets upset at the UAC drone but the Sentinel guy doesn't have problems with the Sentinel drone).

Maybe melee could be different, whether or not it means a slightly different system from glory kills if these 2 characters aren't as strong as the Slayer (But still needs to feel good and fit with the formula)

Depending on endings, i can see the ARC guy being killed by a Marauder.

Some thoughts

It's a bit of a shame that Eternal is not as supported even if id is busy with a new game, because it feels a bit too soon but also because of how this game broke franchise records and even received so much critical acclaim.

(I also recall hearing that id moved onto Eternal shortly after 2016)

You can even point out the amount of loyal fans it got (Both new and old).

Because there's even stuff like unused skins, unreleased Master Levels and other content that means id had more plans for the game.

But also because there's a lot of potential for what could be done with the game, specially if a next Doom game is very different (So expansions for Eternal could've explored the formula a lot more just in case).

At least this game has mods (Not just for itself but even in other games, specially because DE modding has more limits), even if how "eternal" the game is and stuff about preservation/documentation/etc is always worth considering.

Because with id being busy with their next title (Which some expect to be a new Quake), i wonder if it'd be a risk if an expansion were to be done by a different studio (As long as they had the right knowledge, good ideas, effort, support etc).

And TAG was made under a tight spot due to a season pass contract.

It's also another thing when you look at cut content or concept art and feel like something deserves a second change or even looking at someone coming up with ideas like drawings of fan demon designs just to explore the "sandbox" of a formula.

Meanwhile, what happened between 2016 and Eternal i heard could've been covered in an official comic book but it's been a while since those news.

#doom #id software #doom eternal #idea #opinions #uac #sentinel #playable characters

0 notes

kira-fluff · 2 years

Text

just for the night? - kuroo fanfic

the late night streets get to you as you round another corner, the dim streetlamps shrouding what little light shown on your darkened path. yet, no matter what you try to tell yourself, it's not just your imagination - you're pretty sure you're being followed. - "you're the only one i could call...can you stay with me?" tw: stalking stranger, anxiety, coworkers!au, timeskip!kuroo fear/comfort, language, fem!reader a/n: yes i decided for no reason to format things differently don't judge me pairing: kuroo tetsuro x fem!reader

you'd consoled yourself the moment you stepped out of your office. work once again ran a little late (and by "a little", you meant that you were supposed to be out at quarter to five but instead it was 2am). it didn't bother you too much other than sitting uncomfortably long hours at your desk reviewing your graphic design elements after your coworker notified you that the files you'd sent and so foolishly didn't backup, had been corrupted - your work unable to be salvaged.

you took a small break to scream into the void called the break room, sighing as you glared at the cheap coffee stirrers, the coffee long-since empty.

you loved your job, you did. you loved graphic design - you'd fallen in love with it in college and switched your major immediately. though you imaged yourself perhaps working at a wedding planning company or a large-scale business that sells fashion ware, you were surprised when you were offered a hefty sum in order to work in Japan Volleyball Association's Sports Promotion Division. to be totally honest, you weren't all that "sporty" but you definitely wouldn't pass up on such an excellent opportunity. to your surprise you fell in love with the design elements that the job entailed. you had efficient coworkers as well, none of them wasted each others time, they were relatively cordial, and above all - valued hard work.

there was one in particular who you relied on greatly - kuroo tetsuro. he was hard working as he was charming, taking his time to explain the details of the new software that you didn't quite understand even though he wasn't even in the graphic design area - he worked for public relations. he was just a little bit older than you, but he seemed to have decades of experience.

you especially admired the way he seemed to make and maintain connections wherever he went. he was unbelievably busy, yet he still made time to answer you numerous questions over a club sandwich in the break room. he'd always smile in a way that when you'd first met him, you'd believed was a sort of smug smirk, but later realized was his genuine smile. he was also a huge dork. you'd never forget the time you'd mentioned all his many connections and he proceeded to gush to you about his high school years, time spent invested as the volleyball captain, the fact that he knows the famous kenma kozume (and they're best friends!?), his memories playing against hinata shoyo, and many other names you'd only just become familiar with due to your investment in the company. it put a sort of calmness in you. you smiled softly at him as he talked about how he almost majored in chemistry, telling you about his periodic table jokes that would elicit the same cringing reactions with a laugh.

you didn't notice the fact that he only talked this way with you. your banter seemed to fall easily from your lips - in the past you'd been hesitant for fear of appearing argumentative - but with kuroo, it was almost as if being argumentative was what he fed off of. maybe it was. sometimes he'd take the silliest stance on a certain topic, his chin resting in his hand, trying to hide his growing grin. he loved the way you'd react, often becoming energetic and frantic in your explanations and rebuttals to his "well-crafted" arguments.

before you knew it, you were bringing an extra cup of coffee every morning. he wouldn't think it was weird that you knew his order, right? he always would get the same thing in the break room.. everyone on staff probably knew his order.

you slyly placed his coffee cup on his desk, moving away to silently sip your own. he arrived a few minutes later. you thought for sure he'd be dumb-founded. yet as soon as he saw the coffee cup on the table, his eyes lit up and immediately met yours. his eyes took on a deeper sense of warmth as he confirmed who'd delivered a special treat - you'd had the same order in your hands. you mouthed a shy, "thanks" before sitting down.

from there it became a regular occurrence for kuroo to try and top your "gifts", if you'd call them that. it never delved into romantic waters, at least in your eyes. it was typically lunch, or perhaps a bagel.

he was your favorite person in the whole world. it was your little secret.

you scanned the parking lot, looking for signs that your friend had come to pick you up. she wasn't here. no surprise, you'd called to cancel her pick-up knowing you'd be late and you'd notified her that you would call if you needed a ride later. you felt really bad, though. you didn't want to bother her as it was already 2am and you know what? you don't live that far away anyway. you could just take the metro back to your apartment. it'd be fine. totally not like it was pitch black outside. you gripped your purse a little tighter, glancing down at your heels, tight pencil skirt and stripped, collared shirt. steeling yourself, you shook your head, gathering up the courage to walk to fifteen minutes it would take to get to the metro. you needed the exercise anyway, right? just your luck that your car decided this week was the perfect time not to function properly.

you'd been walking for maybe eight minutes when you took notice of a hooded figure. they seemed to be heading the same direction you were. why were they always in a dark, mysterious hoodie? you cursed yourself for not thinking to change into heavy clothing to appear as masculine as possible. not that you had any clothes available anyway. you didn't have time for this. you just wanted to get to the subway station and get on the train and go home. you could've wasted time going a longer route to see if the figure was truly following you but your feet hurt like hell and you were exhausted as is.

you began to panic as you picked up the pace, practically speed walking, and the figure increased their speed as well. tears stung at your eyes as anxiety began to well up inside you.

i'm going to die. i'm going to die and no one is going to find the body. this is the end. is this how i want to die? i'm not ready to die. i'm scared. why are they following me? what if they're a murderer? how long have they been following me? i'm such an idiot, why didn't i just call my friend? now i'm gonna die just because i didn't want to bother people.

in a state of immense panic, you tried as subtly as possible to whip out your phone. you skimmed through your contacts, frantically searching for someone to call, someone who would pick up. your breathing was slowly becoming more and more rapid, your pace picking up faster, using your phone reflection to see where the stalker was - he was getting closer.

kuroo tetsuro.

the thought flitted through your mind and without much thought, you swiped to his contact and pressed call. you vaguely recalled him asking for it once for the sake of an over-the-weekend project your team had to finish together.

it rang once. twice. thrice. then a gravely, "hello?" sounded on her side of the phone.

"kuroo...?"

the sound of shuffling, presumably to get out of bed or readjust his position.

"...y/n...?"

your voice broke as you whispered a soft, "help me."

there was more shuffling on the line, the sound of a zipper and a snap of a button.

"where are you?"

"i-i... i think i'm being followed."

"where are you?" he asked more urgently.

you glanced at the street names, "...takeshita..i think..."

the sound of the ignition reminded you to take a deep breath.

"i'm on my way."

"please hurry..."

there was a soft humming noise, "stay on the phone with me, okay?"

you nodded, though you knew he couldn't see you.

you used your phone's camera, noticing the strange figure was closing in on you. you took yet another deep breath, though it only seemed to make you gasp for more air. you were sure you had blisters now.

a firm hand grabbed your wrist and let out a loud shriek.

you squeezed your eyes shut, fearful of what was to come. instead came a soft voice.

"y/n, it's me. it's ok."

you hadn't realized you were crying until you let out a stifled sob. his eyebrows knit together in a pained and worried expression. would it be overstepping to hug you?

he rubbed soft circles on your hand, ushering you to his car. you were still sniffling quietly, shaking.

kuroo gripped the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. he glanced at you, you were hugging your shoulders. you remained silent for the drive - and he didn't make any attempts at conversation. he'd only asked for your address, the quiet humming of the ignition below his thrumming fingertips.

he glanced at you frequently throughout the drive, worry imbuing deeply in him. were you walking home? this late? he made a mental note to drive you home from work each day. only if you wanted to, though. you scared the shit out of him when you'd called, first of all because you're gorgeous and he totally forgot he had your number and you're so cute and sweet and kind and-- but then your helpless cry... he never wanted to hear you that fearful ever again.

he pulled into your apartment complex, getting out and moving to your side of the car to let you out.

"i'll walk you to the door if that's ok."

you nodded, moving toward your apartment complex elevator. he seemed to carry a protector aura around himself, coming closer than usual as he reached for the elevator button after asking you which floor you were on. you could feel his heavy gaze on you now as the elevator beeped up toward the next floor.

at last arriving at your door on the fourth floor, you both awkwardly stood - awaiting the other to say goodbye. kuroo nodded his head hesitantly, "well, call me anytime if you need anything," he paused, unsure, "you gonna be okay?"

no, you wanted to say. stay, please. you nodded, plastering the most believable grin you could muster. after all, you couldn't bother him more tonight than you already did. the both of you had purely a work relationship, you hadn't even spent time together outside of work before. he stood a moment longer, searching your eyes indefinitely. you turned your gaze downward, fearing he'd see the fear that still controlled your heart.

he slowly backed away, his eyes trained on you, "alright...well, i'll see you around," he paused again, "you sure you don't want to-" he hesitated again... he couldn't just ask you to stay over at his place, right? that would weird you out for sure. still, he was worried about you. so worried.

"no, it's okay, i won't call the police." you'd misunderstood where his question was going. "there's no use if i don't have anything to go off of."

kuroo looked at you warily, "still, is it okay if i text my buddy daichi? he's a cop."

you couldn't hold back a little smile, "another one of your volleyball friends?"

kuroo returned your smile in full effect, "of course."

you bowed and he turned away, understanding your signal of goodbye, yet it seemed your hands had a mind of their own.

"uhh...y/n..?"

your eyes widened. without even perceiving it, as soon as he turned around, your fingers tightly grasped his black jacket.

"ah, um... well...sorry!" you apologized profusely.

kuroo stared down at you with a mixture of confusion and.. something else. "is something wrong...?" he asked, stopping in his tracks and turning his whole body toward you.

it was now or never. to be honest, you were scared shitless. even through the drive back, your thoughts were preoccupied with the mysterious and dangerous figure flashing through your mind.

what if he followed you back here? what if he was planning on hurting you or kidnapping you? or worse? what IS worse? what if he would wait for you to finish work again? what if he broke into your house? you could picture it now, a black and unidentifiable figure looming over your sleeping body, an evil grin splitting their face. you'd be sleeping soundly when suddenly your senses would wake you up. it would take you a minute - too long - to adjust to the darkness in the room. too long to realize you're not alone. before you could scream, they'd have you knocked out or your mouth covered or worse - you wouldn't even be able to scream, just like in your nightmares.

"...." silence at between the two of you, but kuroo waited. "....can you...i-i'm scared...and, and i don't think i can be alone...i-i don't want to be alone. can you please...."

before you could finish what you were saying, you were enveloped in a tight hug. "if you're okay with it, of course i'll stay." he held you so tight for a moment you were unable to breathe before he let you go.

you laughed shyly, ushering him into your apartment. thank god you remembered to clean last weekend. you'd also happened to have a few toiletries that you had snatched up from freebies from hotels that you gave to him.

as the two of you neared the time for bed, another predicament came over you. you were pretty sure you would NOT be able to sleep alone tonight. maybe you could sleep on a chair? or pull an all-nighter? but you have work tomorrow. you have a spare pull-out couch so kuroo can sleep there, but your bed is also spacious..... what? there's no way he'd agree with that. but you also know you either get no sleep and tomorrow's hell and you take the day off.... but then you'd feel like you forced him to come over for no reason. would it be weird to ask? it definitely would. but he can say no, right? it wouldn't hurt, right?

mulling this over in your head, you missed kuroo, post-shower, padding across your wooden floors, his tooth brush lazily hanging from his mouth. as you turned in surprise, you just nearly choked on your spit. this was a dumb fucking idea. fuck, you couldn't do this.

his amber eyes met yours again, a question flitting in his pupils, "you okay?" you nodded again, turning away with a slight flush on your face. it's not like he was shirtless or anything.. but his suits didn't always show off his toned body the way his casual t-shirt does. it almost looked like it was a size too small the way it clung to his muscles like saran wrap.

he returned to the bathroom, giving you room to fan your face in privacy - the room was suddenly feeling rather hot.

when he came back into the bedroom, you were situated comfortably under your covers, yet your lights were still on, indicating that... perhaps you were waiting for him?

just as he was about to head to your living room, you surprised him with a quiet, "hey". immediately he swiveled back to you, grasping the door frame with with muscular hands.

"yeah?"

"can you, um, like... can you stay with me? like, at least until i fall asleep? i totally understand if you're tired or something or if that makes you uncomfortable but i just really don't think i'll be able to sleep tonight without nightmares and i am just quiet literally terrified. sorry maybe this was a stupid idea i'm sorry-"

"sure."

you blinked, shocked that he agreed so readily. "uh-uh-uh... ok! um, so basically if you want you can like.. lie down...? i'm sure it would be uncomfortable to sit up the whole time and stuff..."

he let out a breathy laugh, sinking into the covers with a bit of hesitation, but double the warmth.

you sighed contentedly, his presence practically lulling you to sleep.

you yawned, "i'm really glad you answered.. and i'm really glad you came and saved me... and..." you yawned again, "...i'm really glad it was you." you closed your eyes contentedly, allowing yourself to feel your five senses calmly, the way your body sunk into the covers, your eyelids growing heavy. it helped that you could hear the soft breathing of, strangely enough, your favorite coworker beside you.

before you knew it, you were fast asleep.

you awoke to beads of sweat covering your forehead, the darkness of the room causing you to panic. your eyes blinked against the blackness, fear returning to the forefront of your mind until you felt a heavy feeling against you. not in a way that felt like a prison, but instead like a shield. it was then that you realized it was not a pillow fortifying you but a muscular bicep that spread over your torso, enveloping you in a tight embrace. soft breathing blew lightly against the crook of your neck.

you glanced at the clock. 4:48am. you sighed against your sheets. the body next to you, kuroo, stirred before groaning softly and pulling you tighter against him.

he was still here? he must've fallen asleep waiting for me to sleep. you held back a little giggle as you closed your eyes once again, feeling sleep calling back to you as your fear dissuaded. you were too tired to realize that you, in fact, spooning with your coworker. your favorite coworker. your coworker who is hot and kind and cute and dorky and adorable and precious.

but hey, that's a problem for the morning, right? it's okay, just for tonight?

a/n: this came to me suddenly because of my anxiety whenever i'm out in public. it didn't occur to me until i realized how often i avoid social situations that most of it is due to my fear (specifically of situations like these). hope you like it! lmk if you'd like to see "his pov" as a mini fic!

326 notes · View notes

moved-to-void-kissed · 3 years

Text

Split of Twin Flowers

After being rescued from the realm of darkness, Aria seeks a way to give Ves a chance at living her own life, while also continuing to survive in her own right. Aqua brings her to the scientists at Radiant Garden to see if they have a solution, and for Aria to explain her situation, but the only option available may carry some worrying implications.. (3937 words)

Takes place after the ending of KH3. Content warning for mentions of battle scars, talk of a character being possessed, an event comparable to an exorcism (it’s kind of hard to explain in non-series-specific terms, sorry), and rather a lot of self-insert-focused exposition.

(Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but are by no means required. I recommend reading this piece on the original document, but if that doesn't work, a transcript has been copied and pasted under the readmore.)

This is a piece I have been working on for a long time, and am very proud of, so I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it. I hope it isn’t quite as heavy as the content warnings may possibly indicate. I’m also using it as my post for the twenty-ninth day of sapphic September; there’s just one more to go!

Document transcript:

The door to the laboratory opened halfway, and a young woman tentatively poked her head around it. Upon seeing that she was not interrupting anything, she smiled and emerged more properly, brushing a lock of blue hair from her face.

“Oh, Master Aqua!” The lone scientist in the room smiled warmly as he noticed her. “Thank you for coming. I’m glad to see you’re alright.”

“Thank you, Ienzo.” Aqua replied, even if she did still in fact look rather tired. The long battle to defeat Master Xehanort and the true Organisation still felt fresh in her mind, and although it was a fight that the light had eventually won, it had still taken quite a toll on her. Not only that, but she hadn’t had the same chance to rest as the others - though thoughts of locating Sora still weighed on everyone’s minds, Aqua had been more concerned with finding a way back into the realm of darkness in order to rescue Aria, her partner who she had so unwillingly abandoned..

Now that Aria was finally free as well, Aqua could let herself relax a bit more, and with that lowering of her guard came much contemplation of everything she had gone through.

“Um.. Master Aqua?”

“Ah!”

She’d been staring off into space again, judging by Ienzo’s worried expression half-visible under his hair.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, don’t worry!” she replied, slightly embarrassed at her lapse in concentration. The young scientist did not look entirely convinced, but he seemed content enough to continue.

“I’m the only one here at the moment, but I should still be able to help with what we talked about over the Gummiphone. Did you happen to bring Aria with you?”

At this, the half-open door Aqua had come through continued to swing open as if of its own accord, only to reveal another young woman entering the laboratory with a somewhat nervous expression. She had clearly been through a lot, and the realm of darkness she had reportedly been trapped in for aeons had definitely left its mark on her; several large patches of darkness could be seen spanning her face and body, with one reaching down her left eye like a melting wound.

“Yes, I’m here..”

Her catlike eyes flickered nervously around the room, and it soon became apparent that what Ienzo had thought was a cape were in fact a pair of black feathered wings, both subconsciously curling around her shoulders. It was only upon recognising that Ienzo was the only one present, and that his initial reaction to seeing her was not as negative as she was expecting, that she was able to relax slightly and explain herself from behind a now-steeled facade.

“My name is Aria.” she said, looking up at the scientist from under her messy blonde hair. “Aqua said you might be able to help me achieve something. Has she already.. told you about, well-”

“We’ve already spoken a little bit using the Gummiphone I was given before, but he said it was best for us to come and talk in person to try and get everything clear.” Aqua stepped in after sensing Aria’s hesitation and took her hand to support her partner. “It’s alright - you can trust him,” she whispered close to her ear.

Trusting only in her love’s reassurance, Aria started to explain her intentions to Ienzo, who seemed content to listen even considering the clear presence of darkness she had; this silent gesture of tolerance was greatly appreciated. She appeared hesitant to reveal much of her true nature as a Heartless, but she did what she could to inquire whether the young scientist knew any way for a heart to be released from its current body and inhabit a different one, allowing the dormant self within the original body to reawaken. Unfortunately, Ienzo remained pensive, even after she had said her part.

“So, you’re looking for a way for a heart to enter a new body? I’m sorry, but.. I’m not sure we’ll be able to help you. Any of the resources we could have used - which is to say, the replicas, they would have been perfect for this - were taken by Roxas, Xion, and Naminé’s hearts.”

“Oh. So, there is nothing you can do?” Aria persisted, but Ienzo shook his head.

Then came a flash of hesitant inspiration.

“Unless..” He trailed off and turned to look down one of the corridors leading away from the main lab space. “Could you two come with me, please?”

“Of course!” said Aqua brightly, as Aria nodded in assent.

==========

The three left the main hub of the laboratory to walk down the corridor, which felt as though it was turning downwards into a basement level of sorts. Once there, they came to a tall door which Ienzo unlocked with some sort of biometric scanner, and this opened out into yet another laboratory space with a similar layout to the first - however, this one seemed in a less presentable condition than the other, and its lack of windows seemed to be what was giving it a more foreboding presence. There was a distinct sense that something bad had happened here, once upon a time.

“After you and the other Guardians of Light helped to defeat Master Xehanort,” Ienzo was saying to Aqua, “we went back to the Keyblade Graveyard to see if there was anything to salvage from the battlefield, and we were able to bring this back with us.”

He gestured to a container at the far wall, in which the two Keyblade wielders could now see a strange white figure suspended inside, resembling a featureless mannequin. It appeared to be dressed in some kind of dark robes, of a dull purple colour inlaid with sharp red motifs, worn over pieces of tarnished metal armour. A number of scuffs and dents littered the otherwise-smooth surface, and Aria could sense traces of a dark presence seeping from the container, despite the blank nature of the figure itself.

“What is this..?”

“This is one of the replicas that Even created, back when he was still Vexen, and a member of the first Organisation.” Ienzo explained. “The first twelve were prototypes, initially abandoned as failures, since they were made before his assistant provided the data needed to perfect them, but.. From what I understand, the real Organisation - which Vexen was also a part of at the beginning - repurposed those twelve into vessels for Xehanort’s heart, as backups in case the people they brought through time fell in battle again.”

“That’s right, I remember fighting these now.” muttered Aqua. “But, didn’t they fuse into one form, eventually?”

“That’s what I thought, too, from your accounts of the situation.” replied the scientist. “I’m not sure if Sora defeating the replicas in battle made them all separate out again, since they weren’t really designed to be fused, or if this one was already too damaged to combine with the others in the first place. Regardless, it was the only one we recovered.”

He now turned to face the blank figure with a concerned expression. “We’ve been running some experiments to see whether it can be repurposed for anything, but.. There’s a lot of darkness still lingering within it, so it wouldn’t be safe for a heart of light to inhabit without risking it also being afflicted by that darkness. And we haven’t found a good way of destroying that darkness without compromising the replica, either.”

“I could sense the dark power when I saw it, so corruption would seem a likely outcome.” Aria mused. “This would also be darkness from Xehanort, so.. it isn’t that surprising that some part of it stuck around. Persistence did seem to be his only worthwhile trait.”

She had crossed her arms in contempt at this last part, but seemed satisfied enough to relax after studying the replica further. “It shouldn’t matter any more than he did in the long run, though.”

“Hmm..” Aqua seemed concerned about the prospect, but was trying to keep an open mind. “What do you make of it, Aria?”

“Well..” She took a moment to examine the figure with an unchanging expression. “The replica body itself has sustained some damage from the fight, but I don’t see why that would affect my ability to inhabit it - it’s just possible that those injuries would reflect in my new appearance, which is.. nothing I’m not accustomed to. And, if the heart within a replica determines its appearance, then maybe what’s left of my heart - or, I suppose, the heart that I once was - would be able to smooth over those gaps. Though, if it’s the latter, that could mean my appearance ends up changing, which.. is not what I want.”

Aqua tentatively nodded, but Ienzo seemed more visibly confused.

“I’m sorry to interject, but- what do you mean by “the heart that you once were”? You’re saying that that’s different to your heart, somehow?”

“..In a sense, yes. How do I explain this..?” There was a slight pause as Aria tried to gather her thoughts, and it was clear she was still trying to think by the hesitant nature of her words that followed. She had seen right through to the heart of the man standing before her, which glowed with a newly-restored lustre. It was a heart that sought to help people, and sought knowledge in order to do that, though there were visible flickers of a long-seated regret present as well. Still, it was a heart that she judged would not judge her, so she decided to provide it with the truth she hoped would sate it.

“Though I look mostly human to you, this- isn’t technically my body, however much I treated it as such. If I were to let go of this vessel, or be driven out from her, you would see me as I really am - a Heartless, a flowering thing. However, Heartless are created when a heart is consumed by darkness, so.. surely the appearance I would take if I were to possess a blank replica would be that of the person this heart - my heart - used to belong to. Only, I don’t- I don’t really see myself as him, or as Ves. I am different, I am my own- well, person, if I can even call myself that. Yet, when I imagine my appearance outside of this vessel, I can only see myself as a Heartless. Does that make any sense?”

“I think I follow..” the scientist mumbled, though his still-furrowed brow seemed to indicate otherwise. “So, you kept your memories of who you were, even after turning into a Heartless? Kairi had implied that the same thing happened to Sora, but.. I’d just attributed that to him turning the Keyblade of heart on himself to free her, so it wouldn’t have happened to anyone else.”

This claim caused Aria to shake her head. “To my knowledge, the method is irrelevant; what matters is the intention. The more willingly a person opens their heart to the darkness, the more of their mind they keep when their heart is consumed, and they become a Heartless. I believe this is what happened with Ansem, though he actively sought after darkness so strongly that he retained a human appearance as well as mind. The emblem on his chest was the only way an onlooker could tell his true nature. When it comes to my original self, he was a Keyblade wielder, very similar to what I know of Sora, but… though he certainly did not willingly or deliberately let his heart be consumed, he was able to accept his fate in his final moments, and that is what allowed the Heartless formed at his demise - so, in other words, me - to retain some semblance of mind and self. Just.. not as much of it.”

“Oh. Yes, I think that makes more sense now. Thank you for the clarification.” said Ienzo. He was writing something furiously in a book that seemed to appear out of nowhere, then became startled when he realised his blunder. In an instant, he opened his mouth to ask something, but closed it with relief when Aria’s expression reassured him she did not mind him making notes about her.

It was Aqua’s turn to speak up now. “It’s so interesting to hear about this from you, Aria - but, I can’t say I’ve seen that kind of behaviour in any of the Heartless I’ve fought before. Had you noticed it at any point while we were in the realm of darkness?”

“Not that I can recall.” she replied. “It isn't exactly that common of an occurrence, considering most people’s disdain for the darkness. And, not only that, but..” She turned away from the other two here, and her next words came much more reluctantly again.

“Before I took over Ves, I remember feeling that I was losing myself - all I was driven by was this desire to be complete again, to be human again, but that was fading away over time. Then, when I found her, I didn’t necessarily feel more human, but what sense of humanity I did have was no longer fading away. So, if I hadn’t found her or someone like her in time, I probably would have lost my sense of self completely, and become just as mindless as most other Heartless are. It’s only thanks to the type of Heartless I became that I was even able to possess her in the first place, and.. I didn’t start to truly feel more like a person until I met other Keyblade wielders, and they interacted with me.”

“I see, I see.. So you’re saying that, in those Heartless that retain a sense of who they were before becoming Heartless, the remnants of normal heart behaviour - of humanity, if you will - have to be nurtured by others in order to be sustained, and will just be lost to the darkness if not actively encouraged?”

“Yes.”

Ienzo paused to finish hastily scribbling this knowledge down in his notebook, then lifted his head in realisation once he had had some time to think. “I think I might remember something of that from the old Organisation, actually.. Though, the memory is very hazy..”

To stop his mind from wandering as it wanted to, he returned to address the matter at hand.

“From what you’ve said, Aria, it does sound like you’d be able to make use of this replica - and you may well be the only one who could. I don’t think there’s any other solution here for you, and.. I say there’s no better way to find out than by experimenting. Give me a moment to get everything ready, and then we’ll be set to see if it works!”

Aria nodded, content with the proposal, but Aqua reached out to take her hand with a worried expression.

“Aria, are you sure you want to do this..?”

“Of course I am, Aqua. This is why I came here.” she replied. Then she hesitated again. “..Why, is there something wrong?”

“Well, no, it’s just-” Aqua took a moment to settle her whirling thoughts, holding both of Aria’s hands in her own now. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when I use my Keyblade on you. I don’t want to hurt you, or even destroy you. And, if something happened with the darkness infecting the replica, then..”

Aria couldn’t bring herself to meet Aqua’s gaze, but it was clear she appreciated the consideration, and did her best to reassure her love. “If I could leave of my own accord, I would have done so by now, but.. we’ve become too intertwined for me to do that myself. And Ves is not quite strong enough to drive me out from within - it’s enough of an effort for her to stay existing in the first place. So.. an outside force seems to be the only way to separate us. And there isn’t anyone I’d trust to wield that force, other than you.”

Despite herself, Aqua couldn’t help but smile at the last admission, and she felt her normal confidence returning. “..Alright then. If you’re sure about this, then.. I’m happy to be able to help.”

The two embraced for a moment, then there was a pause of silence as Aria took a few steps back to stand in the middle of the room. Once Ienzo had brought the replica out of its container, he carried it around to the other end of the laboratory, closer to the other two. Aqua summoned her Brightcrest Keyblade, then slowly raised its tip to be level with the X on Aria’s outfit. She took a deep breath, then pointed the Keyblade directly at her partner, echoing the movement used to open the paths to new worlds.

Aria instinctively flinched when a thin beam of bright light shot forward from the tip of Aqua’s Keyblade, striking her directly in the chest. She was then forced down into a kneel as an aura of pink-tinted darkness began to escape from her body. Her expression was grim, as if she was in pain, but Aqua caught sight of a hint of a smile before the darkness now emanating much more rapidly from her form started rising up to create something above her. It almost completely engulfed her body as if to pull it upwards too, seeming particularly concentrated around her head and wings, before disconnecting entirely to drop a drained figure to the floor. This left a dense collection of dark pink wisps, amalgamating in the air.

Ienzo was now well off to the side, looking rather alarmed, but his expression was replaced with complete surprise when the amorphous cluster of darkness coalesced, giving way to what looked like a floating mass of pink petals. Eventually, it turned around to reveal a large jagged mouth and piercing yellow eyes, staring with an expression he found difficult to interpret. The Heartless stayed floating in place for a moment, as if disoriented, then suddenly appeared to notice Aqua, staring at her curiously.

“Aria..?”

Her tentative call was clearly recognised by the flowering monster, which began to float cautiously towards her. She still had her Keyblade summoned, and her hand was trembling ever-so-slightly - whether with nervousness, uncertainty, or something else entirely, it was impossible to tell. Then, Ienzo stepped between the two and lifted up the replica body, hoping that Aria still remembered the plan.

“Here!”

It seemed the Heartless remained aware, as she moved forwards more purposefully after this, and collided directly with the empty vessel’s centre. A few petals scattered from the force, but it took only a few moments for the Heartless’ form to disappear entirely, appearing to be absorbed into the replica body. This caused another aura of darkness to manifest, enveloping the blank surface of the replica and making Ienzo recoil from the body - but it caught itself as it fell from his grasp to end up kneeling on all fours. A few more moments passed, as the darkness engulfed the entire body in a shell, before gradually dissipating after a few gold sparks were seen being forced out of the system.

The figure that stood up was slightly smaller than the replica had looked in the container, with catlike ears now poking upwards from a fluffy head of golden blonde hair. As she lifted her head, a cluster of cute freckles were seen scattered across her face, though in what Aqua thought was a slightly different arrangement than before. There were other little differences here and there, as well - the shape of her face, the way her hair fell at the back, how she stood dressed in the unfamiliar clothes from the replica in the middle of the silent laboratory.

But all of Aqua’s worries disappeared when the girl standing before her opened her eyes. Neither the bright, empty yellow of the lesser, mindless Heartless, nor a piercing orange like the seeker of darkness, nor even the harsh cold shade between the two that Aria’s eyes had been before, but a warm and resolute amber was the colour that met Aqua’s gaze, and regarded her with a renewed sense of gratitude and love.

“Aria!”

The Keyblade Master ran across the room towards her partner and nearly knocked her over with the energy of her emotions. Aria was nervous, but comfortably allowed herself to melt into Aqua’s embrace, now able to feel the connection between the pair even more strongly than before. Something felt so much more tangible about her presence now, and the relief coursing through her new body was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“Aqua, it really worked..!” she smiled, speaking in a quiet voice filled with gratitude.

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” exclaimed Aqua, who also had a few tears in her eyes. “How do you feel? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it’s all fine, I promise.” she asserted. “The replica’s darkness was not organised; it was just remnants that my presence has removed. I feel.. different, but in the best possible way. I could never have done this without you here with me - thank you, so much, for being here..”

She trailed off, still smiling at her partner, and another wonderful moment came and went. Then, a movement from behind Aqua caused Aria’s expression to take on a slightly fearful quality, and she turned her head to see what was happening. The cause of this movement was the figure left behind when Aqua set Aria free, who was slowly trying to get to her feet, her heart’s light flickering nervously. A bright green eye could be seen darting anxiously around the room from under her hair, but she was too weak to properly move, and quickly fell back to the ground again. Ienzo stepped in to support her, and his assistance was clearly welcomed as she was just about able to stand.

“Please take her somewhere she can recover.” Aria requested hurriedly. “After everything I put her through, she needs every opportunity she can to rest and adjust to being herself again..”

“Don’t worry. We have good facilities here.” Ienzo assured her. “Everything will be fine.”

This did little to ease Aria’s guilt, but the gesture was nevertheless appreciated. “Thank you, Ienzo.”

The scientist nodded, and then slowly helped the girl walk to the corridor. She appeared to be very shaken, and was glancing at everything with apprehension and unfamiliarity, but as she turned the corner of the corridor, she looked back at the couple still standing side-by-side, and met the eyes of both her saviour and her prison.

(For all that you have done to me, I know why you do not deserve forgiveness.

But, this is not the first time we have seen each other face-to-face since that day, thanks to that mirror you found in the darkness.

And ever since that moment, you have sought a way to free yourself from me. To let me live the life you once denied me. To break the hold that any other being you’d call your kind would do everything to strengthen.

You calculated the risks, but you still took them - the risk you would lose everything and the one person you cared for, for the sake of me getting to “get rid of you”.

So, who am I to judge a person - the person you have become - by the actions of the creature you once were..?)

A ghost of a smile flickered over her face, and the long-held vessel finally free again spoke of her own accord for the first time since the age of ancient fairytales.

“Thank you, Aria..”

#a call from the void #creations from the void #kingdom hearts selfshipping #this post is okay to reblog!#sapphicseptember2021 #selfship #selfshipping #love: wayfinding waters (aqua)#selfship: survivors of the dark (aqua/aria)#self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria)#and also featuring #self‑insert: ruby in the light (ves)#read the post carefully before opening the readmore please #or opening the document (which is how I recommend reading this one)#I have spent a long time trying to write this piece #i am proud of it

28 notes · View notes

anadipity · 4 years

Text

Had a Bad Day?

Summary: So you had a bad day, but thankfully, Midoriya knows how to cheer you up.

Pairing: Midoriya Izuku x reader

Genre: Fluff, Smut

Warnings: NSFW

A/N: My first piece for the BNHAxPOC Week event. This fic is completely race neutral, so sit back and enjoy. (also wow, it has been a hot second since I’ve written an “x reader” fic)

You missed your train and were late to work. You forgot your umbrella on the one day of the month that it was pouring. You forgot to grab your lunch. Someone spilled water on your work computer, corrupting an important file. And your boss was in a bad mood all day.

Long story short, today has not been good. You keep hoping that something will go right, but nope. You even miss your bus home because you’re working overtime to salvage some of the files on your computer, so you end up walking home because that was the last bus of the day, and there are no Uber’s available near you. It’s an hour long walk and your heels break along the way. Everything sucks, and you’re at your wits’ end by the time you reach your apartment. You’re definitely going to need a long crying session tonight.

As you enter your apartment, Izuku, your fiance, peeks his head around the kitchen door, smiling when he sees you. “Welcome home!” he greets, and seeing his face instantly dissolves some of the tension from your body. Something about your expression must be off though, because Izuku’s smile falters as he walks out to give you a tight hug.

“Are you okay,” he asks, smoothing his hand over your hair (though making no effort to comb his fingers through your curls - a mistake that he’s learned to avoid after many failed attempts).

At the softness of his tone, you begin to cry against his shoulders, explaining about how everything that could go wrong today did. Throughout you bawling your story, Izuku leads you to the kitchen, and sits you down at the table, placing dinner in front of you and kissing the crown of your head. He waits patiently as you finish talking, wiping his hands so that he can brush away the tears that caress your face.

“It’s okay,” he says. “It’s all over now, and it sounds like all of this can be fixed. But we can handle that tomorrow, okay? Tonight, you’re going to relax, and get some cuddles, and take a break, okay? And then tomorrow, I’ll help you send out some emails and make some calls, and we can get you some new shoes, okay?”

You nod, with a final sniffle, and Izuku smiles at you.

“That’s my girl,” he says. “Now, do you want to eat?”

You nod one last time in response. “Thank you for the meal.” The food is delicious, and after eating, Izuku insists that he be allowed to wash all the plates while you settle down in the living room and pick out something to watch. You end up deciding on a rerun of a t.v. show that you’ve already watched, and the episode is just starting when Izuku sits down beside you, tucking himself by your side and draping an arm around your waist.

You’re more invested in watching Izuku’s expressions than in the show itself, and you barely notice when the end credits begin to play. You turn off the tv, and lean your head against Izuku. He shifts to wrap his arm around your shoulder, as you settle yourself.

“Are you feeling a bit better,” he asks after a few moments of silence.

You nod your head against his chest, snuggling closer against him. “I’m feeling a lot better. Thank you Izuku.” You tilt your head upwards so that you can look at his face, finding that he’s already staring at you with a gaze so tender that you feel bare, vulnerably so - as if he’s seeing into your deepest, most hidden crevices, seeing you for everything you are, but accepting you nevertheless. The feeling fills you up so completely that you nearly want to cry.

Izuku leans forward, closing the distance between you as he catches your lips with his own. You allow yourself to be taken willingly, rolling over onto your back as Izuku presses you against the couch cushions. Already, an electric warmth b up in your lower belly. The chaste motions of playful nips quickly give way to wet tongues and heavy breaths. With Izuku swirling his tongue inside you, exploring every crevice of your mouth, it’s impossible to ignore a heat building up inside you. You try to subtly lift your hips, in an attempt to get some sort of relieving friction by rubbing against Izuku’s thighs. But the boy pulls away from you, a playful smile across his face as his hands hold you down.

“Someone’s impatient,” he teases with an innocent freckled smile. It’s an adorable expression that you normally find endearing, but right now, it’s absolute torture.

“Izuku,” you beg. “Please, I need you so bad.”

His expression softens, but there’s still the tiniest bit of amusement in his otherwise gentle gaze. “You’re so needy today, Y/N,” Izuku says, as he lifts you up, bridal style, and carries you to the bedroom. Upon setting you on the bed, he reaches his hand down, slipping it below your skirt to press against your crotch, as he moves his fingers up and down in a way that’s just barely enough.

“More,” you plead. “Please fuck me, Izuku.”

Izuku leans down to kiss you once again. At the same time, his hand shifts his hand over slightly, slipping his fingers beneath the hem of your panties.

“So wet,” he sighs into your mouth, as he begins to rub small, tight circles against your clit. You can’t help but moan, grinding against him in order to gain even more pleasure. It feels so good, so good, so good, and you can feel the knot of arousal in your tummy stretching taut, close to snapping. Your head rolls back and your eyes flutter close as you prepare for a sweet release. But suddenly, Izuku’s movements stop, and he pulls his hand away from you, lifting it up from his mouth to suck your juices from his fingers.

You whine, feeling tears building up in your eyes because you need him so badly.

“Izuku,” you groan.

He looks down at you, eyes widening with concern. “Y/N, sweetie. I thought you wanted me to fuck you,” he explains.

You nod, watching as Izuku strips himself of his clothes, revealing his beautiful, toned body. Next, he removes your clothing as well, leaving you bare for him to fully admire. He kisses you again, as his hands trail across your body. They eventually settle at your breasts, as his thumbs brush against your already hard nipples. Your breath hitches in your throat, and Izuku pulls away to admire your pleasure.

“So beautiful,” he breathes, as he lowers his hand towards your chest, and flicks a tongue against one of the hard buds. You moan at the ministrations, as Izuku unravels you, bit by bit. “So fucking beautiful.”

Wanting him to feel some pleasure too, you reach down until your fingers meet his length. He’s so delightfully hard, as you wrap your hand around the shaft, brushing your fingers against the weeping head. Izuku breath hitches, causing him to suck hard on your nipple.

“Fuck,” he moans. “Y/N, I need you. I need you so bad.”

You spread your legs wide, allowing him easy access to your dripping core. “Please,” you answer.

Izuku brushes his fingers against your lower lips, shutting his eyes tight in delight as he feels just how much you want him. Then, he opens those green orbs again, admiring you.

“Is it okay if I’m a little rough?”

“Just fuck me, Izuku,” you beg, not caring if (actually kind of hoping) that he tears you apart.

His smile shifts, changing from his usual warm grin to one that radiates power. He leans in close to you, and whispers against your ear, “Then on your knees for me, slut.”

You didn’t think you could get any more wet, but hearing Izuku sound so dominant has your arousal building up all over again. You flip yourself over, kneeling on the bed with your chest pressed against the mattress, giving Izuku a lovely view. He presses his fingers against your crotch again and begins to finger you in earnest, inserting two fingers inside of you right off the bat, scissoring and stretching you out in preparation. His other hand grabs at your ass cheeks, squeezing and slapping them to make them jiggle. He adds a third finger inside of you, and you feel like you might cum right now. You turn your head, wanting Izuku to see your face, wanting him to see exactly how he’s making you feel.

He’s already watching you when you turn around, stroking his cock to the rhythm that his fingers are moving inside of you. And then, he removes his fingers, and you almost cry at the absence. But soon, you’re being filled in a new way, as Izuku aligns his cock with your wetness, and pushes inside of you. His thickness fills you up to the brim, practically spilling out of your tight pussy. Izuku groans as he bottoms out, and you’re moaning so loudly that you try to bury your face in the blankets.

But Izuku grabs your hair lightly, yanking your head upwards.

“Let me hear how good I make you feel,” he orders.

You respond with a mewl, as you feel him pull out halfway before ramming back into you. Fuck, it feels so good.

“Izuku,” you call out over and over again.

The boy chuckles as he squeezes your ass, watching as it bounces against him. “Guess you just needed my cock, huh?” he asks, though he doesn’t give you a chance to respond as he fucks you senseless.

You so badly want to feel more, so you reach down to rub little circles against your clit, but Izuku pushes your hand aside. Instead, he grabs you by the waist, and sits down, so that you’re now riding him, bouncing up and down on his dick. The slapping sound of wet skin on skin fills the room, and the delicious smell of sex permeates the air. Izuku brings one hand to your chest, squeezing hard at your nipples, as his other hand rubs your clit forcefully. He kisses your neck, leaving love marks all along your skin. At last, his lips reach the sensitive spot behind your ear, as he breathes against the tender skin there. His hands come to rest at your hips, helping you to bounce onto him with extra force.

“I-I’m gonna cum,” you cry.

“That’s my girl,” Izuku whispers, sucking at the lobe of your ear. “Let go completely for me, okay?”

There’s one bounce where he hits you just right, and you aim for that sweet spot. With you being so deliciously tight, and wet, and warm around him, it only takes a few more pumps for Izuku to come undone, his fingers pressing into your hip bones where they’ll surely leave marks against your skin, as his cum fills you up completely. Before long, your own orgasm hits. Your eyes flutter close as you at last reach your climax, squeezing every last drop of the sweet milk from Izuku’s cock, mixing it with your own to create the most lovely of mixes.

After a few minutes of panting, Izuku asks shyly, “Was that okay? Was I too rough?”

You shake your head. “That was really nice,” you answer.

Izuku sighs, relieved that you enjoyed yourself, before lifting you off of his cock. White cream spills out of you as you stand on shaky legs, and you feel heat rise to your cheeks, embarrassed. Despite there being no external sign of your shyness, Izuku presses a kiss to your forehead.

“Let’s clean up, shall we,” he suggests, sweeping you up into his arms and carrying you to the bathroom for a shower. Izuku lavishes you with care, massaging soap into your skin, and gently cleaning out the cum that he left inside of you. You sigh as you lean against him, happy to be sharing this intimate moment with the man you love. After getting cleaned, you throw on a clean shirt and shorts, and Izuku pulls on some lounge pants and a t-shirt. He quickly changes the sheets, before pulling you onto the bed beside him and enveloping you in his arms. “Are you feeling a bit better?” he asks, as he rubs gentle circles against your back.

You nod. “Much better. Thank you, dear.” You tilt your head up to look at him, at the sweet and kind man who’s always so caring with you. “I love you.”

Izuku pulls you closer to him, nuzzling his nose against the curls of your hair. “I love you too,” he answers. You close your eyes, sleepy from the long day, feeling safe and warm in this moment. Suddenly, the day that had started out so badly, doesn’t seem so awful anymore. How could it, with Izuku right here by your side?

85 notes · View notes

rabble-dabble · 3 years

Text

The Cancer King's Court ~ The Humans

Dave Strider, Rose Lalonde, and Jade Harley/The Crimson Defender, The Lady Clairvoyant, and The Witch Scientist.

This version of Dave Strider came very close to becoming Davesprite in his timeline. Up until his final conversation with Rose.

Dave can’t stand the thought of leaving Rose to die all alone by herself. He’d grown close to her after spending so long with her in a doomed timeline. He couldn’t bare to lose her. So, he gets an idea.

If he goes God-Tier, he could potentially bring Rose back in time with him. So, Dave puts off time traveling back in exchange for reaching his quest bed. Upon going God-Tier, Dave brings Rose with him back in time to save her life, seeing how he can now just fly over to her planet and pick her up.

The two explain their situation to their doppelgangers, causing them both to pester John to try and stop him from following Terezi’s advice. Like in canon, John reconsiders and manages to avoid dying. God-Tier Dave is now able to steamroll the challenges of LOHAC with ease, guiding everyone and their counterparts to their quest beds so that they can reach God-Tier as well. Ultimately, this seems like the best case scenario…. until everyone discovers the timeline is now doomed.

Simply put, Dave was supposed to become Davesprite and Rose was supposed to be left behind. Because that didn’t happen, Paradox Space judged the session to be void.

This effects Dave more than he lets on, since it was his decision to take Rose with him in the first place. Both Roses are able to sus this out pretty easily, even as he tries to bottle it up, and they motivate John, Jade, and Other Dave to comfort him. The Roses conclude that the Horrorterrors may be able to help them, so they go to them for guidance.

The Horrorterrors remember a similar situation with one of their “chosen”, so they inform The Invincible Heir of the situation. Equius gets Karkat to bring him and Nepeta in to investigate. After seeing how well they’ve managed to ace their session, the Meowrails decide it would be a good idea to get some of them to join the Court.

Equius approaches the Roses first, believing them to be “human highbloods of proper breeding and stature” that he can easily approach. While they mistake his mannerisms for humility at first, they quickly put the pieces together and explain, no, humans don’t have a caste system. Nepeta takes Equius aside so he can recuperate and the two come back after a moment. They explain that they may have a means of salvaging their doomed timeline. However, it would require some morally dubious actions.

While the moirails do preface the info with the knowledge that all these atrocities will be undone, the Roses are still pretty horrified. They meet up with humans to discuss this and, at first, it seems like everyone is in favor of rejecting the offer outright. Until Dave speaks up. He and Rose came from a doomed timeline because John was manipulated. They ended up landing right in another one because Dave trying to save his only remaining friend was arbitrarily declared a mistake. Who’s to say that this isn’t happening to thosands of other versions of them across the multiverse?

Rose recognizes he’s only saying this to vent out his guilt and counters that they have no way of knowing if the offer is legitimate. Equius and Nepeta’s explanation sounded almost cultish from their perspective, after all. Dave immediately concedes and almost finds himself confessing how much all of this is weighing on him.

Then John and Jade raise their points. If these guys are willing to kill thousands of people, what will they do to them if they refuse the offer? A doubly valid point, seeing how the Court specifically targets God-Tiers.

Silence reigns over the humans. Equius and Nepeta had been so polite that they hadn’t even considered how pressed up against the wall they were.

So, they change gears into figuring out a plan to beat the Cancer King’s Court.

Dave, Rose, and Jade decide to go undercover. Pretending to agree to the offer so that they could find intel to Other Dave, Other Rose, and John. After all, the Court would probably be interested in having a Time Player, a Space Player, and a Seer on their team. The home team would still have two of those advantages at least, so their not losing much.

Dave, Rose, and Jade meet up with the moirails and say that they agree, on the sole condition that Other Dave, Other Rose, and John are spared. Equius and Nepeta agree and the three and inducted in.

Karkat doesn’t buy this for a second.

From what he remembers, the humans are a lot more intolerant of morally dubious actions. So, he decides to test their loyalty. He sends the three of them to gather up a bunch of God-Tiers for him to absorb, sending Gamzee with them so he can poke and prod at their minds all the while. Gamzee reports back that they’re spies after reading their minds and asks permission to kill them. Karkat shuts that down and chews him out for it. He instead takes the humans aside so he can convince them.

Firstly, he proves his intentions to them by making a big show of reviving a timeline left destroyed by Lord English in front of the whole Court, instructing them to act like this is a normal thing. He allows the destoyed civilizations within to rebuild and guides them to prosper. Then, he shows them what The Condescension is capable of with her current power, letting them witness how she bends fate to her will. If he has that power, he could not only fix their doomed timelines, but save all doomed timelines everywhere.

He leaves them to think things over and immediately begins indoctrinating the revived timeline into his army. Another pawn towards his end game. They are indebted to their King, after all.

From the humans perspective, however, he made incredibly valid points. He revived an entire timeline, showing that his good intentions are genuine. Plus, the Condescension shows just what kind of horrific evil he’s up against and the kind of power he’ll have by the end of it. That last note leaves Rose hesitant. Power corrupts, after all. Dave and Jade are a lot more trusting, out of desperation and naivety respectively.

But, all the same, they know their friends probably won’t accept this. Rose elects to be the one to give the intel. They all agree, she’s the only one capable of lying to them. Even if it hurts like hell.

The Humans play the same role in the Court as Tavros does. People are more inclinded to trust them, so they’re good for gathering up God-Tiers. And, if they need to drag those God-Tiers in by force, a Time Player and a Space Player are hard to beat.

The Humans get along well with the trolls, all things considered. It helps that they couldn’t spend much time with them and are going in with a mostly clean slate.

The sole exception is Dave and Terezi. After all, Terezi is the whole reason Dave’s timeline was doomed. Terezi is willing to accept full responsibility, however, and apologizes for what her counterpart did in his timeline.

The two are able to get past that eventually, but Terezi soon starts asking some uncomfortable questions.

“JOHN’S TRUST 1N YOU S4V3D H1S L1F3. DON’T YOU F33L… D1RTY B3TR4Y1NG H1M L1K3 TH1S?”

“ok but like i’m not though. he’ll understand that. …he has to.”

How much of that is The Hung Jury and how much is Main Terezi, I’ll leave up to you.

Conversations between Rose and Kanaya are awkward here. Their romance was a bit of a boil. Rose barely knows this Kanaya, which throws her through a loop given they’re narried married in this timeline. The whole thing is rather surreal for both of them.

Ironically, the troll Rose spends most of her time with is Gamzee. Gamzee insists on having “smart sister poke around in this thinkpan of mine”. While Rose enjoys psycho analyzing him, that’s not what he’s there for. In truth, he’s planting thoughts into her head psionically. Making her side with the King more. He knows she’s the weak link in the human’s loyalty, so he’s going to keep her on lock.

Conversely, Jade spends most of her time with Tavros. They bond over a shared love of animals and over their timelines getting screwed for actions well outside their control. It helps that Tav is still nursing his crush on her. She’s lucky Gamzee hasn’t noticed.

To the King, the humans are among him most effective enforcers. If only their friends could see them now…

OKAY THE HUMANS BEING SMART IN THE BEGINNING AND THINKING LIKE “But what happens to us if we don’t go along” I LOVE I VERY MUCH LOVE THANKS

also I’m torn at the thought that dave is just thinking he fucked up because he wanted to save everyone even the doomed ones and he believes it’s his fault for making this doomed timeline I'm ;0;

AND THEN THE LYING LIKE I MIGHT CRY

also i’d like to think that john, double rose and double dave definitely knows somethings the Fuck Up (or at least rose and dave, john on the sense that he knows his friends are definitely more antsy around them now) and also that they hang out and converse a lot just being “left alone” in that timeline while their friends go obey king karkat’s orders. i mean they wouldn’t just SIT there, not dave or especially rose, so I bet they’d also kinda go out in the furthest ring in their timeline to try and find some info on cancer king while their friends are away. and then they might become a threat....

JSAHDFKASHDJ IM GOING TOO LONGER HERE’S YA ART!!

i mixed the three into kinda “team uniforms” because i’d imagine as being humans and having a very bad relationship with trolls in general (hello john almost dying called?? they want their timeline back) and when they first joined it kinda inforced on them that they’re a team collecting info for their friends back in the other timeline and looking like BFF gang with their stupid cool hoodies and jeans (lol!)

25 notes · View notes

commanderfloppy · 3 years

Note

cute commander asks! have 3 and 9 for floppy and 14 and 15 for whoever you'd like (or also for floppy if you want)! @kerra-and-company

3. What’s their favorite dessert?

Fancy cakes. Ones that have multiple layers and often other elements, like a ganache or custard. She loves all the different flavors and elements, trying each bit one at a time and then all together.

Sadly it can be hard to find places where there’s actually a nice bakery outside of cities so it’s a rare luxury for her. (Maybe someday she’ll try to make a cake on her own...don’t know how that’d turn out though)

9. Do they prefer rainy or sunny weather?

Practically? Sunny weather is a lot better for most commandery duties, it’s easier to travel in, fight in, camp in, etc.

But personally she does like the rain quite a bit. Since she grew up in a rainy swampland, it can remind her of home, it's also very calming to her. Honestly even being outside in the rain is great to her, she doesn’t mind getting wet and it can be refreshing.

14. What’s their favorite holiday?

I don’t know if this counts as a holiday (it is a seasonal event), but Link absolutely loves the super adventure box. The fact that someone created a whole new world to explore is amazing to him, he loves being in such a different atmosphere.

Plus, since the box is a simulation he can do a lot more adventuring and fighting than he normally can, getting less fatigued and not causing pain flares.

15. Do they collect anything?

Damia definitely has a collection of trinkets that she’s salvaged from the ruins of Orr, a comb, a necklace, a chipped pot… Little objects that weren’t too destroyed by the corruption of Orr. While some of the objects are unknown in their origins, with a good handful of them she actually met the original owner (in ghost form), she likes to carry those stories with her in the form of the objects.

She also definitely has a small shiny rock/pearl/piece of preserved coral she found collection.

#gw2 #ask game answers #commander floppy #Link the twink #damia rose #now I want to draw floppy attempting to make a cake with dragon's watch #not sure how It'd turn out #I bake a lot so I'm not sure how hard it would be for someone new to baking #if she followed the directions really well then she'd probably be ok #but sometimes the directions can be unclear so...#'it says here beat 4 eggs...but what kind?'#'Moa eggs? no that's way too big...not a drake egg either.''#'did you just say it wants chicken eggs?'#'it makes sense for the size but why... oh right I guess this is a human recipe..'

2 notes · View notes

sepublic · 4 years

Note

Something that I do think is very delicate and very good work the Owl House crew is doing is balancing the thematics of when characters actually mess up versus surviving and being scared. Amity is a good example. Amity bulling Willow and the burning of her memories - very bad, with problems happening and the narrative tags her on that. It is distinctly shown as bad. Her not fighting her parents - carefully neutral. It's not a good thing but it's not a moral failing.

I think that same treatment might have also happened with Lilith actually. Her cursing Eda, nearly killing Luz and general not being a good person? When did she actually succeed at anything this season? But her attempting to hide her betrayal from Belos? Lilith is a coward so it's not a good thing - but in contrast to how that fed into Eda's curse and everything else... Nothing additional is added on to events for the cowardice. Just the already present ramifications of the betrayal Nothing more

It ties into yet another major theme of this show; About how the system can be incredibly skewed towards people, and sets individuals and groups at each other’s throats just to survive! Indeed, a lot of people ARE forced, or at least encouraged and enabled, to do terrible things just to get through in life… Lilith did claim that she and Eda came from humble beginnings- And given how presitigious the Emperor’s Coven is framed, membership there could be seen as a means of escaping poverty for some!

Of course, individual accountability, as I’ve said before- It IS a thing, and even if you had reasons and the system was definitely enabling you… You’re still guilty, and one must acknowledge this! Amity acknowledges, maturely, that she was too harsh to Willow… But unfortunately, she’s a bit too harsh when she blames herself for not outright defying her parents, like she’s not a little kid who’s desperately trying to survive abuse!

It leads into this question of where you draw the line, of someone just trying to survive and doing the most reasonable, pragmatic thing… And when even if they WERE doing what was best for them, they still screwed someone over and hurt them? Even if someone were to cross that line… Well, it doesn’t ALWAYS have to be impossible to fix things, or at least make them better! We see that with Lilith…

And it gets to this theme of addressing the systemic cause and root of an issue! That sure, these people are still to blame… But in the end, punishing them isn’t productive, and while getting them to change their behavior helps; More people are gonna keep doing bad things if the system is still around! That in the end, it’s everybody’s top priority to dismantle an inherently oppressive and corrupt system! THAT is the main target, that’s the source of it all; And once you take it out, you can properly focus on mending those who HAVE been hurt and/or encouraged by the system… Without having to worry about more issues coming, further down the line.

It’s kind of like how Luz is someone who gets to the ‘root’ (ba-dum tsss) of the issue between Amity and Willow, instead of just letting Amity speedrun through the damage and going back to how things adversarially, or at least neutrally and painfully, were- Luz says NO, we’re discussing why you and Willow severed ties, and for both your sakes, we’re confronting this! Even if you won’t be friends again, it’s still going to be better than what’s been going on beforehand… And it’ll probably mean that you won’t hurt other people for similar reasons, and Willow herself won’t be in as much pain!

In contrast, Lilith is a character who doesn’t tackle the root cause of an issue… She instead focuses on symptomatic things because that’s easier for her! She doesn’t really consider why she cursed Eda, or at least tackle the cause of this, her own insecurity… Instead, Lilith just keeps deprecating herself! She doesn’t consider the root cause of Eda being distant with her, Lilith just focuses on the fact that Eda IS and tries to incentivize her sister to join the Emperor’s Coven, without actually reflecting on her support for such a corrupt group!

But as you said; While Lilith is definitely to blame for a LOT, the Coven System isn’t exactly helping issues either, and laid the foundations for her sins. And sometimes, the way the system is set up… You can’twin, it’s a lose-lose scenario. No matter which Magic Track you choose, you’re still losing most of your magic; If you choose to be a Wild Witch and embrace free magic and individuality, you’re also persecuted! And if you join the Emperor’s Coven, you become a corrupt enforcer and a covenscout!

The most people can do is just… Lose as little as possible. Minimize losses. That’s what Luz and the others did in the Season Finale, right? Because in the end… They lost a lot of things! They lost Luz’s way back home and her contact with her mother… They lost all of Eda’s magic, and most of Lilith’s! Luz says it herself, she lost… But then, she may as well ensure that while her own losses are minimized, Belos’ are maximized. If Luz can’t win, she may as well try to take the system down with her. Sometimes you can’t always ask for more, sometimes you just have to hold onto what you have, and appreciate it… And Luz is someone who already does this anyway, so it hurts to see this happen to her!

With Lilith, it’s a bit more karmic as she still needed to address her support of Belos and his corruption; But even then, it’s worth noting that openly defying the Emperor himself has a lot of consequences that she’s intimately aware of. Even if you’re critical of someone for doing bad things to survive, in the end, sometimes you just don’t want them to keep them suffering… Because wasn’t suffering the reason why so many people did so many terrible things? Tearing down what others have or gained isn’t productive, but building things up IS…

Of course, sometimes- The only thing to do is tear down! Specifically, the corrupt system that caused all of this… Whether Belos gets to survive and change for the better is irrelevant for now, because the Coven System hasto go! There is no keeping it around, and maybe there IS making it better, as Lilith may have aimed to do… But really, the only way to improve upon the Coven System is to delete it entirely, or reform it well past recognition!

In the end, it’s for the best of a person to tackle their own issues; But sometimes, you just can’t bear to be too harsh or critical on them, for not being their absolute best! Sometimes a person not hurting others is enough… And it’s why people like Luz, who are so productive, can help people! Luz recognizes a problem and KNOWS it’s bad and treats it as such, and is intent on keeping it from ever happening again… But she also recognizes that holding a grudge isn’t necessarily going to make things better!

Sometimes you have to focus on what you DID manage to at least do, or not do (such as not hurting someone). Give yourself some space to breathe, because even if what happened was bad, you need to at least give yourself a little credit because you’re just trying to survive in a system that’s skewed against you! And once you’ve caught your breath… As we see with encouragement from people like Luz; THEN you can focus on improving things! Every little step and bit of progress helps, don’t be TOO critical for not immediately fixing things, or doing what others have done.

As long as you make the intent and effort to be better or at least stop doing worse, and then work from there… It’s good. Because sometimes, you can’t make things better, and can’t improve on them, nor hold onto what you already have… Sometimes, all you can do, as seen with Amity and how she handled Willow in the past- Is try to minimize your losses. And know that while what happened is bad, it’s important not to be too critical of oneself, and to ultimately focus energy into eventually fixing things, or at least finding an opportunity to do so… Or again, managing to salvage and protect what you DO have; Which is imperative for Amity, as she really needed to learn to at least protect her own sense of self-worth.

Sometimes, all you can ask of yourself or a person, is to survive… And while what happened was indeed objectively bad, maybe the person themselves isn’t too terrible… Or at least, there’s room for understanding, and using that understanding to tackle the root cause of the issue, even if that understanding won’t necessarily lead to forgiveness. Mostly, it’s better to just focus on what productive things you can do- And when the chance comes to make things better, as seen with Lilith, or Amity… You better take it, because you don’t know if another chance is ever coming around!

You’d better take that chance, if you really DO feel bad about what happened, even if you did ‘have no other choice’, because that means instead of beating yourself up or trying to reset what can’t be undone, you’re instead focused on preventing more incidents and tragedies from coming! And in the end… Is that not enough, or at least all you can do? Just as Eda can’t repair or undo her trauma in life, nor seize that education she deserved… The least she can do is ensure that people like Luz at least get to have that missed opportunity!

If you can’t help yourself, you may as well help somebody else…! Eda or the Bat Queen can’t erase what was done to them, but they can at least pave the road so others later down the line can have something better, and never experience what they had to suffer. It’s just how Luz is someone who can’t undo her past ostracization from society; But she can work to change the system so that nobody else has to feel alone, nor left out! It’s because she went through terrible things that she’s so insistent on others being excluded from such experiences, and it goes to show how Luz really DID learn from what happened- Even if she shouldn’t have gone through it to begin with! Really, you just gotta work with what you have, even if it’s not ideal.

#the owl house #owl house #the owl house lilith #lilith clawthorne #the owl house amity #amity blight #the owl house luz #luz noceda #the owl house eda #edalyn clawthorne #analysis #ask

32 notes · View notes

walpurga-nacht-academy · 3 years

Photo

Djinn’s Bride! ~A Celebration of Love~

Part 9

[Walpurga Nacht Academy]

[Djinn’s Lamp]

Djinn: Woken up from my centuries long nap, I am summoned by a mage of great power back to the realm of the mortals. As a djinn of incredible power and looks, it is no wonder that I am so sought after. To create life from nothing, to bring my Master uncountable riches, even making dancing elephants and camels - that is just scratching the top of the list of my accomplishments. And yet, how dissatisfied I feel with it all. When the call of the lamp pulls me away, I can’t help but think ‘Ah, what menial job will I be made to do again?’ It’s really a drag.

BUT! Instead of the king that I expect to see, or the cunning vizier, I am faced with eight beauties. And what’s more - they all want to marry me?! How did a poor, handsome djinn like me end up in this situation?! Well, if you want to find out-

Marcia: Ha? What the hell are you doing now?

Djinn: Haaaa, and I was just on the last line too. Gotta start from the top, I guess. Don’t interrupt me again, girlie. Ahem. Woken up from my centuries-

Marcia: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!! I’m serious right now! What the hell is this super lame monologue? It gives me the shivers just hearing about it! Seriously, just when you couldn’t get any creepier too… Oops, didn’t mean to say that aloud~

Djinn: To think you would be so out of touch with things… Alright, listen up, girlie, what I’m doing right now is a recap! I’m reminding our lovely audience of what just happened in the previous episodes so they get caught up to speed. So, to get back~ on~ track~! Woken up from my cen-

Marcia: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait just a sec! Audience? Recap? Episodes? This isn’t a TV show, you know?! And why’d you make yourself sound way cooler than you are! Don’t think I’ve forgotten your betrayal just that easily! Ugh, I was supposed to get rich in a flash and yet… My heart is still wounded! Women don’t forget slights that easily!!

Djinn: Hm, you’re really not getting the appeal are you… Gonna have to deduct points for that… Hm…

Rosa: Heeeeeeey! Stupid, greedy Marcia!! Stop being useless and pay for your mistakes! Repent!

Marcia: Grrrr! You sure like to weigh in a lot for a moron, dumb, idiotic, moronic Rosalia!

Rosa: HEY, YOU SAID MORON TWICE!! I HEARD YOU!!

Marcia: Bleh!

Djinn: Hm, kinda childish too… I’d have preferred a more mature style…

Marcia: Geh! You’re taking that into account too?! Haaa, you’re sure taking this seriously…

Djinn: Obviously! This is my future we’re talking about after all. On that note…

[RUMBLE]

Marcia: THE FLOOR IS MOVING AGAIN, UGH!! AND IT’S A PLATFORM TOO??

Djinn: Now!

Marcia: !!!

Djinn: IT’S TIME TO STAAAAAART!

Marcia: …

Djinn: … Hm?

Marcia: Eh?

Djinn: Well?

Marcia: Huh?!

Djinn: Your introduction! In~ tro~ duc~ tion~! It’s essential to getting the fans to root for you, girlie! That’s how you make it through the show~

Marcia: … No, I still haven’t got an idea what you’re talking about… But if it’s about making a pitch, I’m your girl! Ahem!

[Hey, hey, hey~ Marcia Pyroeis reporting for duty! I’m a third year with a bright future in store, I promise ya! Getting along well with both my juniors and seniors and always knowing how to get out of a pinch! That’s me!]

Hehe, so whatcha think, hm? A keeper right?

Djinn: Hm~ It’s got energy. It’s got charm. I LIKE IT! FULL POINTS!

Marcia: YAHOO! Now, then how about you come closer and-

Djinn: Not so fast!

Marcia: Huh?! What now?! You said “FULL POINTS” didn’t you?! So why-

Djinn: Hm, that’s true. But you can’t think that would be enough! Love at first sight is just a fantasy, you know?! That’s why, we gotta check compatibility too!

Marcia: Co-Compatibility? Ugh, this got a lot more annoying all of a sudden… Do we have to, haha? After all, I’m already heads over heels for you! Anything more and I just might lose my mind~

Rosa: Woah, that scummy power of hers comes in handy at moments like this!

Blanche: It’s… definitely something impressive…

Djinn: Woah, woah, woah, for real?! Hm, I shouldn’t really be doing this, but I guess you’ll be getting a few extra points there, girlie!

Diana: He’s easy to fool.

Marcia: Really~? You’re way too kind~ Now then, now then, how about we-

Djinn: Not so fast!

Marcia: ???

Djinn: You definitely have a lot of the right qualities. BUT!! I’m not an easy sort of djinn, you know?! I just don’t give my heart out to anybody! That’s why before we tie the knot you must first undergo a SURPRISE SCENARIO!

Marcia: EH?! SURPRISE- EH?! EEEEEH?!

Rosa: HE CAME UP WITH SOMETHING RIDICULOUS AGAIN!

Djinn: To properly test a couple’s compatibility, you can’t just stop at first impressions! There needs to be understanding and cooperation. That’s~ why~ THE SURPRISE SCENARIO WILL TELL US ALL WE NEED TO KNOW! IT’S FOOLPROOF!

Marcia: Crap, and I thought I had this in the bag… Ugh, this is so annoying… But, if it’s just some stupid question, I’m sure I can breeze through it… Alright! Let’s give it a shot! I’ll show you I’m the best suited for this role, dear~!

Agatha: ……. gross….

Djinn: Ooooh! That’s it, girlie! That’s the spirit I’m looking for! That sort of energy - IT’S FANTASTIC!

Marcia: Hehehe, it’s definitely gonna be my victory, you moron…

Djinn: Ahem. This is your scenario: Adil and Farah have been dating for 5 years now after meeting at a company party, where he accidentally spilled some punch on her dress and was chastised thoroughly for it. Because it was an outfit from a well-recognized brand, Farah demanded that Adil take care of the dry-cleaning himself. Unfortunately coming from a low standing family he could not afford the fee for it, so he decided to make a deal with a corrupt bank manager to get the money in exchange for smuggling a few precious magical gems into the embassy which will be used to blow up the building once the ambassador and the king of the country are inside. Though he’s reluctant to agree he remembers the sick mother who’s at home, and realizes that he cannot burden her with this issue since she has also just started attending college to get her degree as a bread researcher. In order to get access to the basement of the building, Adil calls up some old acquaintance from his time in the magical police who helps him secure an invitation thanks to his cousin who is actually the Prince of a foreign land. They pass Adil off as the royal confectioner, a role he is able to perform thanks to his previous career as a successful movie star actor. On the day of the heist they are able to sneak into the basement, but on their way out they bump into Farah who turns out to also be the Chief of Security for the king that’s coming to visit. In the ensuing scuffle Adil is suddenly reminded that Farah is in fact his long, lost childhood friend that he hasn’t seen since the hurricane hit their town and almost razed everybody to the ground. They embrace tearfully and realize that they have feelings for each other~

Romantic, right~?

Marcia: WHAT’S THE HELL KIND OF SCENARIO IS THIS?!

Djinn: Hm? What do you mean? It’s obviously a romcom!

Marcia: ‘OBVIOUSLY’?! HOW IS ANY OF OBVIOUS?! MY BRAIN IS JUST HURTING FROM TRYING TO WRAP MY HEAD AROUND IT!!

Djinn: Hey, hey, that’s super rude! It’s a great premise with a cool hook! Anybody would be able to relate to them! Especially Adil! Isn’t he just super cool?

Marcia: Haaaaaaaaa?! What the hell is cool about him?! Rather just what the hell is his deal?!

Djinn: Eh? His deal? Is there something you dislike about him?

Marcia: Dislike?! There are a ton of things I dislike about him! Like, what the hell is up with his thinking process?! He’s gonna make some shady deal with a corrupt banker for some dry-cleaning fee?! Isn’t that way too extreme?! He could have just used a cleaning spell!!

Djinn: ….

Marcia: Or rather!! You’re telling me that somebody who’s been in the magical police and was a famous actor didn’t put some money aside for emergencies?! What kind of negligence is that, huh?! And how old is this guy to have held so many jobs and still be on the bottom rung of a company, huh?! It makes no sense!!

Djinn: …

Marcia: This whole situation is just senseless!! Ain’t he complicating things too much with his insane logic?! I don’t get it!! I don’t get him at all!! Who even came up with this type of story?!

Djinn: … Me…

Marcia: … Huh?

Djinn: It was me. I am the author of “Super Lovey Dovey Secret Agents Who Are Also Childhood Friends, But On Opposite Sides of the Battle Raging On Between Their Two Companies, So They Must Make sure Their Supervisors Don’t Find Out About It”.

Marcia: Crap!

Rosa: IT’S EVEN GOT A RIDICULOUS NAME!

Djinn: You know, I always fancied myself a bit of a screenwriter. This was supposed to be my magnus opus… My masterpiece… The story that would mark my debut in the literary world… and yet…

Marcia: Just joking~!

Djinn: Hm?

Marcia: Hahaha, you took all that seriously! It was a joke! All just a joke, I swear! You’ve completely misinterpreted my words~

Rosa: SHE’S ACTUALLY MAKING A MOVE TO TRY AND SALVAGE ALL THIS?! SERIOUSLY?! IS SHE FOR REAL?!

Djinn: … Is that so?

Rosa: EEEEEH?! HE’S BUYING IT TOO?

Marcia: Yeah, yeah~ That story!! It was, uh, super cool!

Djinn:... Really?

Marcia: Of course! It was, um, sooooooo dynamic! A lot of things happened and… Adil was such a cool character! Yeah! Yeah! Really, uh, carried the story and all that!

Djinn: …

Marcia: You have such a gift for this!! Seriously! I’m in awe of your talent!! Hahahaha…

Djinn: … I see.

Marcia: Hm? Se-See what exactly?

Djinn: It’s been made clear to me just what sort of compatibility we have.

Marcia: Th-That soon?! Hey, you barely even gave me a chance to work my char- I mean! Don’t you think that it’s still too early to tell, hm~? We should get to know each other a little better before that~ Hey, hey~!

Djinn: Hm, no, rather I think that it’s [TIME UP]!

Marcia: EEEEEEEEH?!

[CLICK]

Rosa: SHE GOT CAUGHT IN THE HOURGLASS TOO!!

Cass: Mi-Mi-Mi-Miss Pyroeis!!

Diana: …

Blanche: This is…

Vita: How unfortunate~

Djinn: And done~ Now, let’s see who’s next, hm~?

Rosa: WAIT JUST A MOMENT!

Djinn: Hm? What is it, fluffy hair? Do you wanna volunteer?

Rosa: E-Eh?! No, no, no, no, no! No way! Absolutely no way!

Djinn: Mm, maybe it’s for the best. Flat types like you are kinda…

Rosa: HEY!

Blanche: Excuse me.

Djinn: Oh, you too, bunny girl? Man, I sure am popular~! Having so many girls after me~

Blanche: … A-Ah. In truth, there was something that I was curious about…

Djinn: Sure, sure~ Go straight ahead~ If it’s from my future cute wife then any request is A-OK with me!

Rosa: Then-

Djinn: Ah, except asking to drop out of the wedding, of course!

Rosa: Ugh!

Blanche: No, it’s rather… Just what are your specifications for a ‘wife’?

Djinn: Specifications?

Blanche: Yes. I understand why Himalia-senpai was locked up, but even though Marcia was… well, even though she acted the way she did, was just that the reason you locked her up?

Djinn: ‘Just that’?! You don’t get it, bunny girl!

Blanche: Hm?

Djinn: It’s all about compatibility! Com~ pa~ ti~ bi~ li~ ty~! If we’re not a good match then getting married is a no go for me! I don’t wanna get stuck in a loveless relationship and suffer at the hands of somebody cruel~ My heart is too fragile for that!

Blanche: I-I see… then, just what exactly did you find displeasing about Marcia and Himalia-senpai specifically?

Rosa: Ha?! Blanche?! Don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking of going through with it?! After all the time you protested?!

Diana: No. It’s not that.

Rosa: Huh?

Diana: If we want to strike, it’s best to be forewarned.

Rosa: Eh?

Cass: Um, it, me-means that we should ga-gather as much information a-as possible, Miss Mo-Morgainne…

Blanche: I think it would be beneficial for both of us to understand your preferences a little better, don’t you agree?

Djinn: Hm~ You’re making some sense there, bunny girl. I guess I have nothing to lose from coming forward about this… Alright then! Now listen carefully! I’ll explain to you why compatibility matters!

You see, more than anything… I think violent women are super scary!

Blanche: Huh?

Djinn: Seriously~ When I saw that Amazon pick up that marble table like it was nothing at all, I got super freaked out! That thing was at least around 400 kg, you know?

Rosa: THA-THAT HEAVY?! WHAT IS HIMALIA-SENPAI?! A MONSTER?! A GODDESS?!

Djinn: Aaah, just seeing it come flying at me made me so nervous… And I’m made of smoke too! No, no, a violent type just won’t work!

Blanche: I… I suppose that’s understandable… Then Marcia?

Djinn: Hm? The tomboy? Hmmm, well, I have to admit I like the type who’s full of energy. Seeing a girl smile while giving her best really brings out that healing quality~ But…

Blanche: But?

Djinn: WOMEN WHO ARE TWO-FACED ARE NOT CUTE AT ALL!

Blanche: !!!

Djinn: Seriously! Changing her mind like that just because she found out that I was the author! There’s no way I could be able to stand a woman like that!

Blanche: I see, that is-

Djinn: If she started lying from the first and kept at it, that would have been another issue! At least my feelings would have been spared like that! But being told so rudely that my work is bad… NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SORT OF WIFE I WANT!

Blanche: …

Rosa: Hey, isn’t it kinda all about him again?

Marcia: Blegh! Like I could even pretend to like that sort of badly written thing in the first place! There are limits of what you can ask from people, you know?! You moron! Idiot! Lame!

Rosa: Hey, are you seriously still goi- EEEEEEH?!

Marcia: Pffft, the expression you’re making now is even more stupid than usual, Rosalia! Guess it’s nice when you have no brains and a pretty face, huh?

Rosa: GRRRRR! BEING LOCKED UP IN A HOURGLASS IS NOT PUNISHMENT ENOUGH FOR YOU!! YOU OGRE!!

Marcia: Haaaa, you’re still barking? Hahaha, now that's a funny sight, you kno- HUH?! WAIT! HUH?! YOU CAN HEAR ME?!

Rosa: I CAN HEAR YOU! I CAN HEAR JUST FINE! I CAN HEAR YOU GOING ON ABOUT HOW STUPID I AM, YOU JER-

Blanche: This is…

Djinn: Hm? Ah, so you’ve noticed, didn’t you?

Rosa: Noticed? Noticed what?

Diana: June’s is soundproof.

Rosa: Soundproof… Huh? You me-mean the hourglass?! Eh?! I-Is that even possible?!

Agatha: Stupid… amoeba… doesn’t… even… know… her… own… dorm… subjects… heheheheh

Rosa: HAAAAAA-

Blanche: Is this related to the complaint about her being violent…?

Djinn: Hm? Well, it’s rather… she’s just kinda annoyingly loud, you know? Loud women are also a no-go for me! I like my peace and quiet~

Blanche: I see…

Rosa: Eh? Hey, is it just me or is this guy’s list of preferences all over the place?

Diana: Mm.

Cass: It’s, um, ra-rather confusing…

Rosa: Right?! He says he wants somebody energetic then he turns around and goes [I like my peace and quiet~]. It’s completely contradictory!

Blanche: It’s… not ideal… But we must try to figure out a way to escape from here still. Or else…

Rosa: Gulp.

back | next

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twist #twist oc #twisute #twisute oc #walpurga nacht academy #rosalia morgainne #blanche dion #marcia pyroeis #diana arrow #cassandra delphinne #agatha voisin #vita dies #djinn's bride #djinn's bride event

5 notes · View notes

theincompetentgenius · 4 years

Text

Warlords React to Clumsy MC

anon: Headcannon request for Ikesen Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Kenshin, Hideyoshi, Masamune with an MC who is super clumsy and oblivious. Kinda like the female version of Mitsunari. THANK YOU!!!! :3

anon: Hey!!! Can I get a HC for Nobunaga, Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Masamune & Hideyoshi reaction to an MC who is super clumsy and always endangers herself, like always tripping or something xDD Thanks!!!

Alright, so I’m combining these two HCs because they’re almost the exact same (even ask for the same warlords-- maybe the same person requested twice?) Also it was a bit difficult because I felt like there would be a lot of overlap in some of the warlord’s behaviors, but I tried my best. Anywho, I hope you enjoy them!

Nobunaga

Nobunaga is going to have a difficult time understanding how this woman (of all the people in the world) saved him from the deadly assassin. She can barely walk without tripping over her two feet, so he’s confused as to how she protected the warlord in the fire. Nevertheless, her clumsiness and angelic behavior prove to Nobunaga that she can’t be much of a threat and genuinely has his best interests at heart.

The warlord has a hard time flirting with MC (or showing any other form of attraction) because Nobunaga’s flirting often goes over MC’s head. She interprets his flirting as friendly comments that come with his charismatic and authoritative personality. However, this doesn’t bother him too much. Instead, he makes his moves in a direct manner and clearly paints the correct image in MC’s head. Poor MC can’t hide the red flush on her cheeks, which only increase’s Nobunaga’s teasing.

This MC is not ready for Nobunaga’s games of strip go. When the warlord first mentioned the idea, she didn’t realize that she’d actually have to take off her clothes. She thought the warlord was joking around. A few rounds later and our poor girl is trying to salvage her purity by peeling off her socks instead of her undergarments. It doesn’t make it any better that Nobunaga can read her like a book, so he knows her next moves.

When Nobunaga takes her to the battlefield as his good luck charm, he’s aware that she can become a major liability. That’s why he always keeps her close when there’s no activity. When he’s out on the front lines, she is protected by special guards at all times.

He also uses MC’s clumsiness to keep his hands around her. He’ll tell everyone that he’s simply doing it to protect her, but the smirk on his face suggests otherwise. Nevertheless, MC has no issue with his overly-affectionate gestures because there’s no such thing as being “too loving” in her eyes.

Mitsuhide

Mitsuhide would have the TIME OF HIS LIFE messing around with MC. She’s clumsy, oblivious, and basically Mitsunari 2.0? If you ask him, she’s the perfect target for his shenanigans (of course he’ll deny his schemes with a questionable attitude).

When our residential snake corners poor MC for his tantalizing flirting, she’ll assume it’s for some friendly conversation. Although the look in Mitsuhide’s smirk literally screams DANGER, this MC will have no problem talking to him. In her eyes, there’s nothing romantic or cheeky about his approach-- just typical Mitushide behavior.

She wouldn’t even realize that Mitsuhide was teasing her until the other warlords give her a detailed explanation with proof.

Despite all his teasing, Mitsuhide would most likely keep this MC at a distance (especially if there was a budding romance). He wouldn’t want to corrupt her childish innocence because it would only bring his misfortune and sadness. Mitsuhide wouldn’t want to be the reason that she returned back home in pieces.

However, this beloved MC would manage to grab his heart with all her kindness. She’s aware that he’s done some wrongs, but he can always turn a new leaf if he has the right intentions. She’ll go out of her way to help him fix his moral compass because it's her duty as his friend. However, only Mitsuhide himself can bring about the change to his moral compass.

Throughout their journey, MC is bound to find herself in trouble. However, she won’t run into too many external problems because Mitsuhide tends to resolve the problem before it escalates. Whether it be with his sharp words or his accurate gunshots, there’s not much of an issue here. He’s always keeping an eye on her to ensure she doesn’t entangle herself in something dangerous.

Kenshin

When Kenshin first meets MC, he is surprised that she is the chatelaine of Nobunaga’s palace. He immediately notices her clumsy demeanor as she bumps into the corners of the market stall. She’s dropping fruits from her arms as her other bags fall from her arm. How could the leader of the Oda forces trust someone like that to take care of his palace?

However, he finds himself drawn (both voluntary and involuntarily) towards MC. There’s an undeniable charm in her sincere and innocent attitude. The god of war doesn’t have to worry about being attacked, betrayal, or other darker behavior. By talking to her, he can relax and let his guard drop once in a while.

As MC skips around, humming her favorite tune, Kenshin can’t help but watch with soft eyes. All the time he spent with her was chipping away at his frozen heart, revealing that there was something underneath. If you looked closely, you could even see the corners of his lips tugging upwards.

The cage era in Kenshin’s route is definitely going to last longer with this MC. Because she’s so trusting, oblivious, and unwilling to be rude to Kenshin, it takes her much longer to vocalize that this imprisonment is unfair to her. To make things worse, Kenshin feels the need to constantly keep MC under his watch because she’s a walking target.

With due time, she’ll find her way out of the cage without hurting Kenshin’s feelings. However, he’ll still feel responsible for keeping her safe. He constantly has his arm around her or will be walking behind her for safety reasons. Every time MC notes that someone was being rude or perverted towards her, Kenshin makes a mental note to pay them a lovely visit later.

His heart melts when he sees her playing with the soft bunnies! The two most adorable beings have somehow united under his roof and the only threat MC faces here is the barrage of bunnies that might topple her over. However, there’s nothing but a smile on her face as she’s swallowed by the crowd of bunnies.

Masamune

May the lord have mercy on this MC

Between Mitsuhide and Masamune, I feel like Masamune would be worse in terms of bugging MC. His attempts to hit on her are so direct that even oblivious MC cannot ignore his attempts. And whenever she tries to play dumb, Masamune sees through her and amps up his flirty attitude.

Don’t be surprised if she happened to trip over a stick in the middle of her conversation and he caught her perfectly in her arms. Our one-eyed dragon is ALWAYS looking for these convenient moments to swoop in and save MC. Plus, its a bonus to watch her cheeks flush as he holds her against his muscular chest.

However, its not all doom-and-gloom around this warlord. He’s always making mental notes about her favorite foods, especially sweets. Whenever he has free time or MC is feeling down, Masamune goes the extra mile to make her favorite dishes (down to the smallest details). If there’s less time, he’ll just make a bunch of sweets because they remind him of the sweetness of his lover.

You know how the sweet girl gets kidnapped by the evil bad guys, only to be saved by the oh-so-handsome lead male? That’s exactly what Masamune expects and tries to do every time that MC gets herself into hot water. For the first few times, MC is extremely grateful, but she soon realizes that she needs to learn to defend herself the next time someone tries to hurt her.

After lots of persuasion, Masamune agrees to teach her some self-defense techniques. Earnest MC tries her best to keep up with his moves, but she stumbles over from the force of her own kick. Masamune can’t help but laugh when she trips over her feet, but he’s always ready to help her get back up.

Not-so-earnest Masamune also uses these training as opportunities to get close and personal. He’ll grab her by the wrist and spin her to his chest. A soft smirk will rest on his lips, alluding to something more.

Hideyoshi

You know that period where Hideyoshi mistrusts MC because he thinks that she might be a threat to Nobunaga? Well, that probably doesn’t exist here. The longest it might last is about a few hours? Maybe a day? That’s because the moment he talks to MC, the warlord realizes that this MC wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly. In fact, he’s never met a female who literally embodies a cinnamon roll.

Hideyoshi has a heart attack every thirty seconds around this MC. There’s so much that could go wrong in such a short amount of time, so he always holds her hand whenever they go outside. Besides, the warmth in her hands only made it more tempting to keep his hand in her’s.

This man would shower MC with the cutest gifts on the planet. Whether it's an ornate necklace or adorable little desserts, Hideyoshi would feel the need to constantly spoil MC. She could ask for almost anything and he’d rush to get it.

MC always wants to help out Hideyoshi because he can be quite swamped with work, but he’s a bit hesitant to let her around his stuff simply because she has the tendency to drop everything. Instead, he assigns her to duties that rely on her strengths, such as designing a new kimono for him.

When he’s out on the front lines, MC always lingers at the back of his mind. Is she alright? Have the warlords been bothering her or making any moves on her? While it stresses him out, it also provides the warlord with the motivation to return safely and soundly to his beloved.

Do you remember those women who constantly flirt with Hideyoshi? Well, they’d approach Hideyoshi and MC as the couple walk through the markets, fawning over the warlord. Poor MC sees them and immediately assumes they’re Hideyoshi’s good friends. Hideyoshi himself has to politely decline the invites of these thirsty brats, explaining to MC that they aren’t as friendly as they look.

#ikemen sengoku #nobunaga oda #kenshin uesugi #mitsuhide akechi #masamune date #toyotomi hideyoshi #ikesen #ikesen nobunaga #ikesen masamune #ikesen hideyoshi #ikesen kenshin #ikesen mitsuhide

253 notes · View notes

wildbootsappeared · 3 years

Text

Continental Divides Chapter Discussion #0: Humble Origins/Editing and Rewriting

I recently enjoyed hearing Negrek talk about the behind-the-scenes of the most recent chapter of Salvage and was inspired: I figure some of you might be interested in hearing some of that type of thing for Divides, too. CD touches on some pretty complicated subjects (historical events and politics and glazed-over-science) that are worth teasing apart a little more. So I’m going to start slowly adding in some chapter reflection posts! Keep in mind that these will probably be full of spoilers, and you’ll want to get caught up before you read em.

If you want to hear me talk about something specific, feel free to shoot me a question.

(By the way, if you’re not reading Salvage yet—fam, get on my level. I’d describe it as a black humor odd-couple tale of … friendship??? Hm, that’s definitely not the right word, is it? Anyway! Featuring: an absolute goblin of a pokemorph, dismemberment, corruption, and Very Good Decisions. And lovely prose, by the way.)

With that, let’s get into it!

(CD spoilers below!)

Art by Giulia Bernardelli

From Humble Origins

I’ve mentioned before that Mark and Natalie were my first original characters. They were side characters in my first ever fic from … god, 2003 or 2004-ish? So in many ways, they’ve grown up with me.

I learned about fanfic shortly after Ruby and Sapphire came out in the US, so of course baby OSJ had to try her hand at a Hoenn journey fic. I’m really sad that I don’t have a copy of the original text anymore because it was hilariously bad. You see, Brendan and May had to run away from home (instead of just … journeying like every other trainer?) because they were IN LOVE (after, like, a day and a half at most) but their parents WOULDN’T LET THEM BE TOGETHER. The story featured dazzling moments of creative genius like … Brendan and May “sneaking” into Rustboro at the wee hour of 10 am, whereupon May ran into a lamp post somehow.

Later, Mark and Natalie appear to yell at our poor heroes and then at each other. Lots of yelling. In their first inception, Mark and Nat were basically discount Jesse and James but with less dress-up and queer subtext. Mark had a glorious moment of running while dragging his feet (?). Also, during a double battle against Brendan and May, I forgot about his zubat, so it fainted because “it was tired from flying,” despite having no feet and despite taking zero hits during the fight. Then Mark took shelter from the rain under a tree, where Natalie yelled at him some more and decided for both of them that they had to team up “temporarily” to get the red and blue orbs back from those meddling kids or something. I had grand plans for this whole plot where Natalie would kidnap May to get the orbs, but then May would end up in Magma’s hands (like a human hot potato), and Brendan would have to rescue her??? Something, something, Mark and Natalie see the error of their ways and team up to help Brendan and May … do stuff?

Anyway, I never finished it, and that’s definitely for the best.

I did revisit Mark and Natalie a few years later, though, this time for a story of their own called Out of Hand. I didn’t finish that one either, but I do have the original text this time (plus snarky comments and a “review” from me ten years after the fact). I can’t honestly tell you it was … good. Maybe good-for-a-highschooler. But! When I stumbled upon it again in 2018, there was enough in it that almost worked that I started to think about how I’d handle those themes and characters as an adult.

A lot has changed since then, but that 2010 draft of Out of Hand established some of the skeleton of Continental Divides. For example, that was when Archie became Natalie’s brother to help explain how she got involved in Aqua. I decided to keep that structure because it was a good way to let Natalie start as a neutral party/reader proxy and then quickly become embroiled in the conflict. It was also the first time Mark’s sister appeared, though I don’t think I’d decided what to do with her at the time except to use her as decorations in his angsty dreams, haha. His smoking habit also started in 2010. I, too, thought he’d quit “years ago,” in literal real time. Jokes on me—it turned out to be a useful way to signal the start of him losing control, the negative influence of Cora/Magma in his life, his hypocrisy, and his guilty feelings about things he’s burned. Scarlet appeared for the first time in this draft, too. I think I was equal parts trying to humanize Archie and to write my way through feelings about growing apart from/pining for someone. Her backstory took up a disproportionate number of pages in the old draft, but I liked the idea of keeping her around as a figure who could complicate Natalie’s relationship with Aqua and with Archie. The 2010 has a couple fights between Mark and Natalie that I respect for bringing real danger to the protagonists ... but also can’t help laughing at. They literally fight until they tumble over a waterfall, like a cartoon. Silly as those scenes are, you can also see how they laid a foundation for scenes like the fight in Chapter 9.

CD is basically me responding to Out of Hand with, “I see you and I raise you.”

2010-OSJ had some vague feelings about inequality and environmentalism, but none of it was very well thought-out. She mostly wanted to tell an enemies-to-lovers story, in part because she thought she was living in one IRL. Nowadays, I’ve got a lot of feelings about climate change, political divisions, activism and responsibility, corporations, policing, and whether or not violence is a good answer to certain kinds of questions. Hoenn is a safe space to explore those feelings. (It’s got pokemon, so it’s inherently more fun, right???)

Kyogre and Groudon are such obvious parallels to sea level rise/more intense storms and rising temperatures/wildfires respectively that I couldn’t resist. And in Magma/Aqua I see a lot of parallels to political conflicts happening in the US right now. The far left and the far right don’t share a vision of what a “better world” would look like, but they do share a mutual mistrust of “the swamp” and all the ways the government tag-teams with corporations to dunk on ordinary people. I’d love to believe that someday we could team up across the aisle to fight corruption together. It’s certainly hard to imagine how we could get to a better world with one half of the country pitted against each other … Something has got to give eventually, probably not peacefully.

My versions of Magma and Aqua aren’t exact parallels to the US political left and right—both are pretty left-leaning, for one—but I still find a lot of hope in the idea of two enemies from rival factions learning to (eventually) care for one another and work together towards common goals. At the very least, it’s something I can manifest and control on the page, and that makes me feel better about all the things I can’t control.

Editing and Rewriting

My first attempt at Continental Divides was inarguably an improvement on earlier versions of Mark and Natalie … but it still took quite a bit of rewriting to get to the draft that’s available to read now. The first draft in 2018 opened with what’s now Chapter 3, the protest in Rustboro. I had the right idea with “starting at the beginning,” but starting with an action scene was the wrong move: we didn’t know enough about Natalie to care when she was in trouble or to understand why she was making any of those choices. Moreover, even though the political content is important, this is ultimately still an enemies-to-lovers story: the beginning needed to center Mark and Natalie’s relationship. You know, to establish some interest before it all implodes. The next attempt ran a little long, though, and the current version condenses their initial meeting and Nat’s backstory much better. Maybe the next time I start a new project I’ll have an easier time knowing what makes a good starting point, but this time there was a lot of swinging back and forth to find a balance.

If you’re interested in seeing how my first chapter changed over time, you can see that here.

I’m really happy to have a first chapter I know is a solid representation of the subject matter, tone, and writing level of the later chapters. Getting stuck in an editing loop is a real danger … but if you’re ever going to edit part of your fic, let it be the first chapter. A good first chapter is critical to keeping potential readers onboard. I can tell from feedback that I’ve stuck the landing now.

Hope you enjoyed this not-so-little reflection on the origins of this story!

Some music (Spotify links):

Night of the Long Knives - Everything Everything

MMMMHMMMMM - Four Fists

#continental divides #pokemon fic #pokefic #pokemon fanfic #team magma #team aqua #fanfic #writing about writing

5 notes · View notes

virginpornstar · 3 years

Text

What I Learned From All Of My Hookups In 2020

I knew 2020 would be less slutty than 2017-2019 due to the fact I wasn’t living in ATL. I still had plans to travel monthly, discover new cities and new men, and be a slut everywhere I go. Covid-19 ruined that. So 2020 was far less slutty than I had anticipated, but I still had a lot of fun this year. We have to roll with the punches, and readjust our plans when the plague strikes. I still learned a lot about myself and my sexual interests with each new penis that entered my body. Here’s what I learned from all of my hookups i n 2020!

1. GUYS THAT DELETE AND CONSTANTY REMAKE NEW DATING APP PROFILES HAVE MENTAL ISSUES

Hooking up with New Castle started off fun, but then he kept acting weird. I asked him why he’d always delete his Grindr profile then make a new one every other week, then he’d go off on me for asking why. I did realize he’d make profiles advertising himself as a top, then ones as vers, then others as a bottom. A clear sign the man didn’t even know what he wants. We had some good times until he started acting crazy, and then randomly blocking men when I couldn’t hookup.

2. GUYS TREAT ME DIFFERENTLY NOW THAT I’VE LIVED IN ATL

Left Tackle and I had been hooking up off and on since 2016. Yet suddenly in 2020 he wanted to start acting differently, like he’s too good for me. Um what? He also acted grossed out and disgusted after following all my ATL sexual adventures, and I think he started to think I was tainted after reading about me hooking up with a poz guy while on vacation. Oh well. Fuck buddies aren’t meant to last forever. I will not have a guy treating me like he’s too good for me, when in fact I’ve always been too good for him.

3. I NEED TO STOP HOOKING UP THE NIGHT BEFORE VACATION

I noticed a pattern of when I’m supposed to have a slutty vacation weekend I end up hooking up the night before I leave. Which either makes me dickmatized and not horny on the trip, or I get my hole ripped and then I can’t even fully enjoy hooking up while away. I’m still gonna fuck, just not as much or as enjoyably if I hadn’t gotten fucked the night before. I still enjoyed my encounter with Big D, even if he did rip me.

4. I CAN’T STAND VIRGOS

Philly Jawn and I had been following each other online and flirting here and there for years. Then when I was staying the weekend in Philly he and I finally made up. it started off well at first, and we even fucked, only for him to act distant and start ghosting me afterwards. Fuck that nigga. I can’t stand Virgo men since they always do this distant shit, and are terrible communicators. If you’re not interested then say so. Don’t waste my fucking time.

5. FORT LAUDERDALE WAS MORE FUN THAN MIAMI

Miami was my last vacation before Covid-19 plagued the earth. It’s also the last time I flew anywhere. I was so excited to hookup with all these hot Miami men, yet somehow Fort Lauderdale was way better than Miami. The bathhouse was definitely far superior in Fort Lauderdale than Miami at least, and I had way more fun hooking up with guys there than the bathhouse in Miami.

6. MIAMI IS TO LATINO GAYS WHAT ATL IS TO BLACK GAYS

I hooked up with so many latino men in Miami/Fort Lauderdale. They are the dominant population. It made me nostalgic for my younger years. I didn’t really get with many latinos in ATL, since black men rule that city. I had many latino lovers in the past, so it made me a little nostalgic. Sometimes a latin lover is all you need to give you great vacation sex.

7. I’M STILL NOT POZ FRIENDLY BUT MAKING PROGRESS

Miami has long been the biggest HiV hot spot in America. Their infection rates are far worse than Atlanta. So it did seem a bit fitting to hookup with a poz guy for the first time while in the HIV capital. When in Rome...granted I only hooked up with him because he was the only cute guy at the bathhouse at the time. If there was anyone more appealing, I wouldn’t have settled for a poz guy. I also wasn’t comfortable enough to do anal, but it’s still progress to have hooked up with a poz guy without penetration.

8. THE PHILLY BATHHOUSE WAS MORE FUN THAN I EXPECTED

I love checking out the bathhouses in every city I travel to. I didn’t have high expectations for the Philly bathhouse since I knew there wasn’t going to be a pool or hot tub, and those are my favorrite amenities at bathhouses. Yet surprisingly the Philly bathhouse was poppin, and I went on a Wednesday afternoon. It was very diverse, and although I didn’t fuck anyone, I still had a good time.

9. IT’S FUN TOPPING SOMEONE’S DAD

I always thought it was hot hooking up with a dick that’s created life. I hooked up with this DL divorced father of 2, he was young and around my age, but still hot knowing he had kids. I topped him, and then he became my plug. I do miss the weed provided more than I miss him.

10. I DON’T MISS THE BUMS IN THE SOUTH

My northern hookups have come bearing gifts. Weed, money, etc...I don’t miss the bums in Atlanta always begging for handouts. Asking for money, transportation, asking for shit. I’ve had so many guys give me shit without even asking like my DL Latino lover. Maybe I should remain in the north, although ATL keeps calling my name.

11. WHITE MEN LOVE BLOWJOBS

One thing I miss about Atlanta is the men there loved to fuck. Being in the suburbs with mostly old white men and DL guys I’ve realized most of them just want head. I used to be oral only, until I got on PrEP and lost a relationship to never wanting to fuck. So now I love to fuck, but keep encountering guys, like Mushroom Man, where all they want to do is get their dick sucked. Sorry, oral only isn’t enough for me to have a good time.

12. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO CATFISH A GUY TO GET THE DICK THAT GHOSTED YOU

Chubby Chaster and I spent hours talking one night on Grindr, then he started ignoring me the next day. Oh hell no! I will not be ignored. I got into the whole anonymous profile thing briefly after my friend encouraged me, and weirdly so many guys are into that. I did end up getting Chubby Chaser to come over, and I kenw as soon as he saw me he must’ve been pissed to realize it was me. Oh well. I still made him cum.

13. WAY TOO MANY DL BOTTOMS IN THE SUBURBS

When I think of DL guys, at least the ones that turn me on, I think of guys with girlfriends/wives that are masc men you’d never be able to tell fuck guys on the DL. They’re also tops. Yet somehow all the DL guys with wives/girlfriends/baby mamas where I am now seem to all be bottoms. WTF! How can you fuck your girlfriend’s pussy, but somehow can’t use your dick to fuck a guy’s ass? Yet you want to let guys fuck you in the ass? That’s not fun for me. I top like once or twice a year, yet hooked up with so many DL bottoms this year.

14. I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

Gorilla and I have hooked up off and on for years. He’s a Scorpio too, and we never get along. Yet the sex is good. He’s been in an off/on relationshp for years, and seems to only hit me up whenever they’re off. Yet we fucked, then suddenly he started being distant afterwards, and then posting his man on social media. Ugh. I can’t stand that shit. I’ve been in that shit where I fuck new guys whenever my ex and I were off, and then when we’re on again ignore the new guys. I hate that cycle, and it’s not fair to the new people I got involved with. So I hate getting involved in that cycle in other people’s relationships since I wanted consistent dick.

15. NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU’LL MEET YOUR FUTURE SUGAR DADDY

I kinda only hooked up with Gasolina because i’d not had dick in months. I was a little desperate. I wasn’t that attracted to his pics, but he had a big dick, and I’m glad we did end up hooking up. Since he turned into my sugar daddy and I had many fun times this summer with him.

16. INVITING OVER A THIRD CAN SALVAGE A TERRIBLE HOOKUP

Panty Man got on my damn nerves. We rented a hotel together for the night, even though we barely knew each other and had only texted/talked on a dating app before. I knew as soon as we began talking, this wasn’t going to work, but I didn’t feel like leaving since I paid for half. I invited over New Castle, and then things turned into a threesome. They didn’t touch each other, but both fucked me. I had a good time, because I invited over another guy. I wouldn’t recommend inviting over a third to salvage terrible sex with your boyfriend, but it works for random hookups.

17. I LIKE CORRUPTING GOOD BOYS

I knew Rocky and I didn’t have any long term potential. He lived too far for me, and his health issues were something I don’t think I could deal with. But we still had some nice times together. He was such a good church boy so I had fun getting him to drink, try edibles, and even wanted him to try poppers. I love introducing men to new things.

18. I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER DATE A WHITE MAN AGAIN

It’s crazy to think I wasn’t even really attracted to black men until 4 years ago, and now I don’t see myself getting serious with any man that isn’t black. Farmer J was the last white boy I went out with/hooked up with, and he will hopefully be the last for the foreseeable future. I’ve had great encounters with white men before, but I never came close to an actual relationship with a white guy. Now after the ignorant comments Farmer J said, and it’s a lot of the ignorance that comes with dating a white man that is attracted to black people, but knows nothing about black people. His offensive comments that he never would’ve realized are offensive, and his voting history were a complete deal breaker for me. Completely reminded me why once you go black, you never go back.

19. GUYS ACT SKEPTICAL ABOUT FILMING YOUR SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS THEN GET SUPER INTO ONCE THE CAMERA IS ON

I saw The Reverend again for the first time in 4 years. I wanted to record more content for my OnlyFans. I knew he’d be skeptical due to the nature of his career, but I have masks and know what I’m doing. I’m surprised how into he got when the camera was on. I always turn my tops into the director since I’m too high on poppers to worry about angles, but it was a fun time. We got some really good footage for my channel.

20. A RANDOM HOOKUP CAN LEAD TO A RELATIONSHIP

Before BMore Bae entered my life I wasn’t looking for love. I had just launched my OnlyFans, wanted to record content, make money, enjoy life, save up before moving to ATL, and then boom. He comes over, he’s cuter than expected, and I caught feelings. I caught feelings fast. It’s been an roller coaster, but it’s so true. Love enters your life when you least expect it. I’m so glad it did. We’ve already made so many beautiful memories together, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.

2 notes · View notes

know-the-way · 4 years

Note

can we get a “do not despair” post for spellwood too?? feeling pretty sad after part 3 and would really like to hear how they could turn it around

Sure! Strap in - this is gonna take some turns. And if Spellwood/Blackwood ain’t your thing, just leave m8 - it’s not for you.

Right. So.

Honestly, at this point - the only thing keeping anything about this ship afloat in canon is their history. We know they have one, but we don’t know much about it. I had really hoped, since they had cast an actor to play young!Faustus, that meant we’d be getting a backstory. But apparently, all we were getting was a 20 second scene that reveals very little.

However, it does reveal something.

1. The book Faustus had was clearly referencing old world Gods & goddesses and it would seem - his interest/study of the mystical (i.e. eldritch terrors) dated back to when he was a boy. Along with pretty much everything else about him, I would very much like to know WHY he had the desire to study that. Why was he so desperately searching for power at such a young age? And why was he looking for it beyond the religion he was born into, which gave him the gift of magick and promised limitless power to the “worthy” already? In essence - Faustus, WHO HURT YOU. Considering his view of women, I’m gonna guess whoever hurt him was one. Maybe his mother? Maybe both of his parents? Idk, but the little shit definitely got fucked over somewhere in his youth by someone he probably trusted. Said it before and I’ll say it again - he practically screams ‘child abuse victim’ (a la Draco Malfoy, if you need a reference) and I’ll stand by that until I’m proven wrong.

(I was also really struck by the line “that boy knows nothing of true Hell” which Faustus says to Lucifer after Nick beats him in the witch’s cell. What hell has Faustus been through himself in order to say that?)

2. That scene also showed us Zelda & Faustus studied together and were familiar enough with each other to notice a change in attitude (“why are you in such a snit?”) and snipe back & forth from what appears to be a very young age. Which seems to suggest they spent a fair amount of time together at (and possibly before) the Academy. Not a shocking or new revelation really, except it kind of confirms their relationship wasn’t a whirlwind romance and that Faustus asking for Edward’s permission to marry Zelda wasn’t on a whim.

The main questions I have following that scene are if that excerpt he ripped from the book was actually about Hecate and her power. If so, is her power more vast than we even understood by the end of part 3 (i.e. can even she defeat eldritch terrors)? And could the reason Faustus got so upset reading it be that it said only women can call on Hecate, thus thwarting his search for an absolute escape?

Something confirmed about interacting with mystical entities is that they can/will drive you mad. Ambrose says this after Sabrina returns from her quest and finds everyone dead - “Blackwood was driven mad and feral by his insane worship of those eldritch terrors he prays to.”

And if mysticism can drive you mad - and he’s studied/sought these things out since he was a boy - it stands to reason that he’s been slowly feeding and incubating that madness until it finally fucking snapped.

(Side note - an Acheron configuration, which will also drive you mad, is an arcane device from ancient magick, too. So maybe Edward studied these things with Faustus at one point together? Curious.)

We saw him experience a big and sudden shift in part 2 - where his faith in the Church of Night waned with every challenge to his authority by Sabrina. Things had been going along fine the 15 years or so of him being high priest, that maybe he was finally starting to trust his faith in the Lord Satan, until Sabrina showed up and started meddling with the order he’d established. And THEN - in a last ditch effort to take back control and become anti pope, she interferes again and Satan himself doesn’t even seem to care how heretical she’s been.

So back to the eldritch terrors he goes - setting a contingency and pledging his loyalties to them in exchange for protection and power. But they also want an offering (“oh, they like offerings, yes they do”). Proof of loyalty by blood. Solution - poison the coven. Here’s your offering - an entire building’s worth of souls. Bing, bang, boom - “we’ll hide you in this cozy time rift at Loch Ness and siphon every last bit of sanity out of you while you’re there. Oh gosh, they’ve found you and taken our gift egg from you. Well, we can’t have a repeat of that, so while you go pursue it - make sure you get rid of any ties to this reality that you may have. Anything that would hold you back from the glory we’re promising you. Destroy them all, if necessary. The twins can stay ‘cause you’ve raised them to be insane, too, okay off you go!”

But what’s this got to do with Spellwood? Well. The two go hand in hand, the way I see it and here’s where the very small bit of hope for them as a couple (very small) lies.

It’s apparent that, at least somewhere in their history together, Faustus wanted Zelda. She seems to be the only thing about the Spellmans he could ever tolerate and why? Well, perhaps because he cared for her, perhaps they found a common ground in feeling inferior their whole lives (hurt/comfort is kind of their jam), and/or perhaps he just found her attractive (understandable). And if he didn’t have any affection left for her by the time part 2 rolled around, I do not know why he’d continue to pursue her after she cut their physical relationship off. Zelda was going to gain power by marrying the high priest, but there was nothing in it for him beyond... having her as his wife. Which perhaps he truly had wanted since they were young together.

But then he realized it would be more complicated than he thought when Sabrina really amped up her interference with presenting Edward’s manifesto and accusing him of murdering her parents (still never explicitly confirmed, btw) (also still very curious about when he said ‘you haven’t even read mine’ to her at the wedding - makes me wonder if what was in it wasn’t as egregious as the Church of Judas tenants wound up being). And so - he put Zelda under the Caligari spell to keep her from helping her family while he destroyed them once and for all. Except her. ‘Cause he wanted her. Not until he found out she had betrayed him in hiding Leticia did he seek any type of ‘vengeance’ towards her directly. Then, though he was far from sane before, he went well and truly mental after that.

So I see it like this - if he was driven mad and used by the eldritch terrors, he didn’t really have a grasp on reality nor would he have understood what he was doing. He wouldn’t remember any earthly affection he might have for someone because his mind would be corrupted by other worldly things. Thus - a conscience, remorse, and reparation might be possible if they’re able to restore some humanity back to him.

It’s a long shot... by a lot, but in the same way Sabrina told Nick he couldn’t have known what he was doing while under the influence of the Dark Lord’s essence (which we can certainly open a healthy dialogue about taking responsibility for your actions no matter what you’re going through/under the influence of *clears throat*) - so, too, could be the case for Faustus.

If proven as such - and they can additionally confirm some backstory that, at one point, he and Zelda did truly care for each other - it might be possible to salvage the dumpster fire that is their current predicament. If done carefully and with a fuckton of explanation. That’s a lot of built up character history to waste.

(At the very least, just give me an explanation, RAS. I am BEGGING you.)

*slow exhale* Okay, I’m tired. And wow, that’s a whole novel. Okay. Right. Thanks for your question, hope this helped. Bye!

#spellwood #faustus blackwood #caos spoilers #zelda spellman #fan theory

47 notes · View notes