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red-dead-sakharine · 4 months

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Tickles - Part 7

Raphael x Tav, RaphaelPOV, soft!raphael, gn!tav, fluff, hurt/comfort, body worship, conflicted!cambion

Part 1 | P 2 | P 3 & 4 | P 5 | P 6 | P 7 | | P 8

Raphael sat at his desk in the boudoir. He had sent Korrilla to to keep an eye on the adventurers again. While he had an avid interest in keeping them alive before, his investment has now skyrocketed to new heights. The mere thought of losing his little mouse has become unbearable to him.

He wrinkled his nose. The fact that he had become so... attached to this mortal bothered him somewhat. It was a weakness. It was un-devil-like. It was pathetic. That was his fiend blood talking, and he knew it. His mortal side longed for Tav's affection. Their touch. Their understanding. He's had a long and difficult life. But never in all his years, has he felt as whole as he did last night, when his little mouse held him tight and told him he was perfect. He had craved this. And he feared it. And he hated it. The thought of killing the mouse crossed his mind. It would prevent him from more mistakes. From indulging in this weakness. But he could not bear the thought.

He sighed. No matter how much his father's blood rebelled against it, he would keep his mouse safe. And once the brain was defeated and he had the crown, he would keep them close and never let go again.

He threw a glance at the clock, almost midnight. His fingers drummed impatiently on the desk - just once. But that already was something that irked him. It was unlike him to be restless. When you live for thousands of years, you perceive time differently. But today he was eager to act, but he had to wait for the right moment and it made him antsy. A feeling he rarely experienced.

Finally, a knock on the door frame announced Korrilla. Raphael's insides were doing handsprings, but he kept his composure and projected a picture of calm superiority on the outside. Though as the dwarf approached, his nose wrinkled again, "What is that smell?"

"Your favorite misadventurers have been trudging threw the sewers all day." Korrilla grumbled slightly.

"Ah." That explained things. "I take it, they are back at the tavern now?"

The dwarf nodded, "Yes. When I left them, they were fighting over the rights to the bathtub."

The devil's nose flared in disgruntlement. This would mean he'd have to wait even longer for them to all get to sleep. He tried not to let his frustration show, "Did anything of note happen today?" "They seem to have found the entrance to the temple of Bhaal but couldn't get through the door." Korrilla reported. Raphael hummed in acknowledgement, "They'll figure it out, I'm sure. Good work." he waved the warlock off, and she nodded and left. No doubt to go burn her clothes. That sewer stench would never get out.

The devil's fingers drummed on the desk once more. How could a day feel so impossibly long?

He waited several more hours - the finger drumming on the desk slowly increased in frequency as the night dragged out. In the early morning hours, Raphael finally stood up. Surely, the tadpoled mortals have had enough time now to get clean and fall asleep.

Still, to not end up in another embarrassing disaster, he decided to appear outside their room. And so he did. With a flash of fire and ash, he appeared right in front of the door to their room in the elfsong tavern. The place was quiet for the most part. He could hear some drunkards from below, but at this time of night most of the merry folks had already passed out. He cautiously put his ear to the door. Nothing. Good. Slowly, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. He scanned the room for the vampire spawn, but he wasn't there. Probably out feeding. Next he looked for the animals. He didn't see them at first, but a few steps further into the room, he spotted them: Curled up at the foot of the tiefling's bed. A quiet spell later he could be sure they wouldn't wake, and disrupt him.

Now for the reason he was here...

[mood music]

He turned to where he had been during his first visit, and there they were. His little mouse. He quietly moved over to them - and frowned. There was a bruise on Tav's face, that hadn't been there last time he saw them. Who dared to hurt you, mouse!? He was angry at whoever caused the damage, but he was also quite confident that the culprit was already dead. His favorite mortal probably cut their way through several Bhaal cultists today. The thought made him smile. He made a mental note to try and watch from the shadows sometime. He found the image of his mouse covered in the blood of their enemies incredibly arousing.

He took a deep breath and shook the thought off, though. This was not why he was here. He knelt down in front of Tav's bed and looked them over. They were lying belly-down, the uninjured side of their face squished against the pillow. It looked a bit funny, but also incredibly endearing to the fiend. He smiled at the picture and just drank it in for a while.

When he had memorized every detail of the sight, he began to act. He gently pulled the blanket down to their waist and snaked his fingers below the nightshirt. He leaned in, hoping the mortal would smell his perfume, and he whispered every so quietly into their ear, "O apple of my eye..." He meant to wake them as gently as he could, to avoid repeating that calamity from last time. His fingers gently stroked Tav's back. He enjoyed the feeling of their skin. Soft. Vulnerable. A few battle scars here and there, that told tales of victory and prowess. "Little mouse... I'm in your house." he whispered and smirked at his own rhyme. His fingers ran across their shoulders, one by one, tracing the shoulder blades. "You're so fast asleep, little mouse, you don't even wake at this..." He whispered against their ear, and his fingers traced back down their spine. Perhaps they are too exhausted. It didn't matter. He kept caressing their back, their sides. And he looked at their face. That beautiful - squished - face, looking so peaceful and without worry. Looking so kissable. He leaned in, "Little mouse, you're such a sight." His words were barely audible, and he followed them with a gentle kiss to Tav's cheek.

That finally caused them to stir. They inhaled deeply, and without even opening their eyes, a smile formed on their lips, "Raphael?" they mumbled into their pillow. He smirked to himself. They knew his smell. "Yes, little mouse. I was in the area and thought, I'll stop by..." he lied in a whisper, and stroked their back gently. Their smile widened, "Glad you did." they mumbled sleepily. He brought his face close to theirs and placed another kiss on their temple, "Just relax, sweetling." And they sighed happily. His hand moved up to run through Tav's hair. Another sigh. He could not help himself but to place another kiss on their cheekbone, and their smile grew even wider. They liked what he did. He felt proud and happy. He caused them to feel good, and it was his accomplishment.

His hand trailed down their back. Now that Tav was at least somewhat awake, he became more daring. He placed his hand at their waistband and waited - an unspoken request, like the ones before. He looked back into Tav's face, and their eyes were open now. Looking at him in the darkness, still smiling. He had his answer. His hand slid down into their pants, gently stroking over their butt cheeks, one by one. The mortal's eyes closed again. Enjoying the attention.

His heart swelled with pride. Never would he have thought that he'd feel so good, just from causing some mortal pleasant feelings. But he did. He felt elated to be the cause of their happiness. And after all, this wasn't just some mortal. This was his little mouse.

For a short moment, the feral fiend inside him wanted to tear off their clothes and ravage them on the spot. But he calmed the monster and pushed it away. This was not why he was here. His fingertips ghosted over the mouse's rear, and he heard them sigh. It made him feel so good. This was better than a short moment of sexual relief. This was... soft.

He began to like soft.

He looked back into Tav's face and they were still smiling. Likely drifting somewhere between waking and sleeping. He would be gone by the time they woke up in the morning. Perhaps they will think this was all a dream. He wasn't sure if he liked that idea, or if he wanted them to remember his visit. He pondered over it, while he continued to caress their butt cheeks, then their back again. Trailing down their right arm - the only one he could reach. His kissed their hand. Another sigh. He trailed kisses up their arm. That happy smile never left their face. Their beautiful face. He leaned in again to place a kiss on their bruised jaw. They hummed. Another on their cheek. The smile grew larger again. Another on their temple. On their nose. And after a moment's hesitation, on their lips. They kissed back lightly. Obviously more asleep than awake, but still reacting to his touch. He was filled with love. He kept going, gently stroking and kissing them, until the sun poked their first rays of light into the room.

He finally stood up to leave. But he hesitated. He wanted them to know, he decided. He wanted them to know, it wasn't just a dream. He used his powers to nick a single rose from a bouquet he had in the devil's den. It appeared between his fingers, and he left it on Tav's bedside table.

Then he bent down to place a parting kiss on Tav's cheek, and pulled their covers back up to their shoulders. He drank in the picture for a few more moments before he vanished. Leaving behind the smell of his perfume, ash and sulfur.

His heart sang with delight,

he had enjoyed this night.

👉 Part 8

#fanfiction #tickles rds #raphael x tav #raphael x reader #ace #bg3 #body worship #free use (sorta)#raphael bg3 #bg3 raphael #baldur's gate 3 raphael #raphael baldur's gate 3 #raphael the cambion #rds #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3

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toiletwipes · 1 year

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because we're friends | simpbur

~2.4k words / i tried my best to make it gender neutral reader but if there's any mistakes, feel free to let me know. [after hanging out with a friend and getting caught in the rain, simpbur takes his friend to his apartment to stay for the night. and he can't be normal and his friend knows.] 18+, minors do not interact.

You were just staying the night, for the night only. It’s pouring and you both walked here and both of you are broke idiots, he chants inside of his head, whatever could happen won’t happen. To take advantage of you while you’re helpless and with a dead phone? The temptation is there, his fingers twitch in his lap, the two of you sitting across from each other on his discounted couch.

You were just a friend who was just staying the night. Just that.

And yet, his mind runs from him. Because watching you watch some random movie, the flashing lights on your face only highlights what he likes seeing. Likes the dips and curves of your face, the way your eyelashes bat at him when you beg him to buy you something at the store. The way you pout at him. Fuck. He can’t stop looking at your mouth now. His mind runs from him and he can’t stop imagining you with spit-slick lips, bruised lips, lips wrapped around-

“-rything alright there, Wilby?” And the fucking nickname, his face burns. He lets out a low hum, focusing back on reality, looking you in the eyes. You’re not that concerned, only noticed his staring just now, most likely not aware how long he has been. (The answer being the entire time you’ve been watching your show.)

“Good. Just thinking.” Mhm, thinking he is, alright. But you smile, nodding and looking back to the screen, wiggling in your seat as you get comfortable. You send him a look as you stuff your feet underneath his legs. They’re cold, he notices and he can’t handle the effect you have on him. Fuck’s sake, your feet are only underneath his legs, but you’re touching him. Willingly, and willingly leaving yourself vulnerable. In no less than a second could he pin you down and work his fingers inside you, bruise your lips anyway he’d like. Because you trust him.

Both his fingers and his dick twitches.

And because you trust him, you end up scooting closer to him and his chest heaves with impure thoughts and desires. You don’t notice though. Switching the way you’re seated leaves you leaning against his side, with his arm tucked awkwardly behind you. But even then, you hum to yourself before reaching behind and pulling on his hand, wrapping it around your waist. His fingers graze uncovered skin by your stomach. He nearly jerks back before he forces himself to relax.

And his mind races. This position you’ve put yourself in. Tucking yourself into his side and wrapping yourself in him, letting him touch your bare skin. His heart pounds inside of his chest and he almost hopes you can feel him sporting a boner. He wants to shove his hand down your pants, up your shirt, in your mouth, fuck, the options were endless. More than anything, he wanted to push your face into the couch cushion and fuck you till you begged him to stop. And so again, his fingers twitch and you jerk away, giggling. “Sorry,” he mumbles, already pulling his hand away.

You shake your head, pulling on his hand again and even pushing it onto more uncovered skin, pushing your shirt up a little more. “I’m just ticklish.” And you twist your face a little just to smile at him.

He had so many questions, they’re just threatening to spill out of his mouth and fumble the wording and fuck everything up. But most of them are lewd and unbecoming of the friendship you’ve allowed him. Still, his fingers twitch and this time you relax as he flexes them, flattening them against your skin.

His own skin feels aflame, sensitive to every movement you make and he can’t even tell what the show was about. What they’re saying, who they are, they’re all lost to him.

And he misses a question. “Sorry, I spaced out- what did you say?” He tries to be casual but your next words send a shock through his veins.

“I’m not even surprised, I said, Wilbur- are you gonna keep staring at me or are you going to do something about it?” And his bones turn into stone, everything about him freezes and he can’t move. As if he had ice in his system and not blood.

“What can- what can I do?” His breathing starts again but it’s heavy, his head light from the lack of breathing and blood flow. Unknowingly, his hand presses harder against your skin.

“You mean besides killing me?” You laugh but his mind moves ahead of him, even thinking of that too. His dick jumps at the thought of you, bleeding, staring at him. And he pushes it away, no, no he wouldn’t. Not when you’ve just given him explicit permission to- to-

Fucking hell.

Shifting in his seat, he keeps his hand on your skin, relishes it more now. But his other hand moves to wrap around your middle too, pulling you into his chest. “So I can- you’ll let me-” he cuts himself off as he presses into your back, feeling the full force of your soap hit him. The lotion you’ve told him about. He presses his nose and mouth hard against the skin between your shoulder and neck, breathing and moaning as he breathes out. Months of pining, months of looking at you, months of jerking off to you, months of wet dreams and months of pushing all of that away-

He can stop pushing the thoughts away, indulge in them a little. “Do you know how long I’ve thought about this?” He asks, one hand pressing on your stomach and the other slipping up to your chest, the fabric of your shirt hardly holds him back.

“This being?” Your voice hitches as his fingers graze your nipple, pinching, pulling, flicking.

“Touching you.” And his hand comes up to wrap around your throat, not so much squeezing as much as it’s just touching. Your skin is just so fucking soft. And it smells good. He can’t ever imagine being anywhere else anymore. And just as fast as he wrapped his hand around your throat, it slithers back down, both hands coming up to grope your chest, mouth moving as he licks the light sweat on your skin. Why you would wear a sweater to his apartment when there’s no air conditioning, is behind him, but it only serves him. He moans at the taste of salt, of sweat. Licks your skin in small circles, loving the taste of you.

Nudging your head to the side, he loves the way your chest heaves, the way soft whines and pants come out of you, loves to tweak the buds in between his knuckles and sucking at your neck, biting and kissing and moaning at the sounds that come out because of him.

“Are you gonna let me fuck you?” He asks, and he doesn't mean to, almost regrets it because wouldn’t that be a thought, to surprise you when he pulls your shorts down and shoves his cock inside of you. Oh, it’s so good, his dick jumps and he presses his body more into your back, nearly toppling the two of you over, and this way you can feel his dick against your back.

“Can you last that long?” Probably not but the way you tease him, it has him groaning against your wet skin, smelling so much like his spit.

“Don’t need to,” he mumbles, licking his way back up your neck and pressing closer, leans further to lick the skin of your jaw. Your head tilts back into his shoulder so nicely, he just has to suck a bruise into the skin there. And when he shoves his hand into your sweats, your mouth drops open and your eyes blink several times but they stay dilated.

“Wilb- fuck, Wilbur,” you whine as your hand reaches behind you, knocking his beanie off of his head and tugging on his hair. His mouth comes off of your skin as he moans, his hips jerking and rocking into your back. “If you keep touching me like that, I won’t- fuck, fuck, fuck.” He didn't care what the end of that sentence was going to be, he needed to hear what you sound like when you come. When he makes you come.

“Just like that, baby,” he mumbles, unable to close his eyes, pushing past the burning in his wrist as you whine right into his ear, your hips twitching and jerking on their own too as you make a mess over his fingers, his hand. You would’ve fallen face first into the cushion if he wasn’t holding you so close to him. “Just like that.”

The hand with you all over it goes right up to his mouth, licking every groove of his skin that’s covered in come, licking it all away and moaning at the taste. (The sight of which makes your insides burn, however boneless you are.)

In the next minute, he’s wiping the spit off of his hand on his own sweats, tugging at your sweater, which you take off gladly, and he shoves his hand between your body and your sweats, shoving them down. He feels your body shiver, bumps rising on your skin but all he feels is the intense burning of want, of need. He needs to be inside you right now, it drives him crazy.

“I’m so- so fucking close right now, I need you to tell me where I can come.” It’s like pulling teeth, speaking those words. You said anything, and fuck, maybe he might ignore whatever answer you have and come inside. His dick is so hard, he needs to be inside of you. He’s losing his fucking mind.

It’s as if you can hear his thoughts, or maybe he’s just saying them as they come, it doesn’t fucking matter. What matters is the grip tightening around his hair and you breathing out the word inside. The fucking butterflies he just felt. Fuck.

Shoving his pants down enough to pull his dick out, he smears pre-cum between your legs, your thighs, thrusting between them and the both of you moaning, it’s fucking bliss.

The moment he slips inside of you- he curses, you’re squeezing so tight around his cock, his mind blanks and he can only squeeze an arm around your stomach, the other one is squeezing the meat of your thigh, trying anything to hold back from blowing his load so fast when he just got his dick inside. “Fuck, f- I need a second,” and you’re breathlessly agreeing, squeezing his forearm, tugging his hair, whimpering in his ear. It’s almost too much entirely.

The pleasure doesn’t die down, but he manages to breathe through it, focusing on kissing your sweaty skin. And after a brief moment, you let go of his arm to pat it, asking if he’d be able to move now, leaning all of your weight onto him.

The first thrust out blinds him, pushing back in punches the breath out of his lungs. The way you’re breathing, sounds like you’re just as affected as him. He hopes, in a distant thought, that this wouldn’t be a one-time thing. Hopes that by the end of this, when the two of you are spent and exhausted and filthy, you’ll let him touch you again.

Minutes go by after slow jerks of his hips and then you whine, asking if he could go faster and fuck if his hips didn’t snap and the sound of skin smacking against skin, it’s enough to make the both of you groan. Fucking you, on his couch by the way, is the main wet dream. And the fact it’s happening right now? He’d come right then and there if he hadn’t worked so hard to come down from just that. Setting a much faster, a bit brutal pace, he’s hurtling towards his orgasm quickly, he can feel it.

“Let go of my hair,” he gasps, and as soon as you do, accidentally letting go of his forearm, he pushes on your shoulder and back, adjusting as needed as he works up to what he wanted to do earlier. Pressing your face into the cushion and fucking you like he’d die if he stopped. Your moans shift into sobs when he reaches around your front, burning at both ends.

And in a moment, in a flash, he squeezes your hip and leans over you, groaning as he spills come inside of you. He gives a few shallow thrusts, moaning over and over. And he stays there for a second, softening as he pulls out but groans anyways, the sight of his come spilling out of your hole? He acts without thinking, pushing two fingers to keep them in and your cries pull him out of his fuzzy head.

“Are you feeling okay?” He hums your name, pulling out his fingers and rubbing over your skin. Covering it in filth. His heart only pounds harder, he gets up from behind you, letting you lay on the couch. Fuck, seeing your hazy eyes, seeing you in a space he put you in from fucking you alone? He tries his best, grabs the blanket he’d tossed on the back of the couch and wipes you down, stomping the bubbling feeling of something good in his chest as you whine from the touch. “Here, let me take you to bed,” dropping the blanket, he tries his best to help you up before biting his lip and picking you up, hurrying to his room as quickly as possible. He wasn’t the strongest guy out there, and if he dropped you in his attempt to help? When he fucked you- and didn’t that give him butterflies to think about, fucking you hard enough your legs are jelly.

It doesn’t take long for you to come down, wherever you went, and by then, you’re ready to sleep. He thought about tucking you in, because what sight that would be, but the thought of waking up to you in the morning? Maybe fucking you in your sleep if he woke up, hell, you fucking him awake, riding him and using him like he used you? It makes him bite down on his lip to hold back a moan as he slips into bed behind you. And it melts his insides whenever you shift to turn in your sleep, tucking yourself into his chest. Sighing deeply.

He’s so far gone on you.

#simpbur #c: simpbur #eggplicit #c: simpbur smut #simpbur smut #simpbur x reader #simpbur x you #simpbur x y/n #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot x you #wilbur soot x y/n #minors do not interact #minors dni #k: free use #<- sorta #a: neutral

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automatonknight · 8 months

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here's the prick i was talking about^ i have so many thoughts and notes about him but they're mostly incomprehensible so when i organize maybe them i'll post them who knows

#art #oc #id in alt #um ummm #idk. if you have any questions as always feel free to ask #ANYWAYS. geez making him has been so fun i love this asshole so much i'm going to put him through the horrors #salute to you Kordian if you see this if you hadn't shown me stalker i probably wouldn't be running in circles about patches now #more notes. i actually have no idea how magic works in-universe i just thought it would be cool. he's not good at using it he sucks. he's #shocked himself so many times probably. will that stop him? no #he practiced fencing for a few years so he actually like. knows how the fight flows or whatever. i think he definitely picks out targets wh #don't get their bearings quite as well and dances around them and shit like that he just likes to be mean i guess #idk idk. also he joins the lovelies at one point. that's like. semi-canon. it's sorta like with triumphant and normal walenty to me. like #they both exist but the. so to speak. evil one kind of doesn't in a way if you get me. i mostly thought it would be a fun thing to think #about. and also patches would do that and then he'd freak out like what the fuck am i doing and leave #another random thing about his pronouns. well i mostly use he/him for him. that 'any' is more in a way that if you referred to patches as #she or they or it or anything else he wouldn't care #but he usually doesn't mention it and stuff

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kaladinkholins · 3 months

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BRB thinking thoughts about Taigen's character, the TaiMizu ship, and a big chunk of fandom's perceptions regarding both those things.

(Inspired by @farintonorth's post related to this topic that just got my brain going brrrrr)

OK so let me just... start off by saying that I think that reducing stories to their tropes is seriously detrimental to the way some people are interacting with fiction, and while that honestly warrants its own post about the subject, I wanna talk specifically about how this affects the way some people in the fandom talk about Taigen and TaiMizu.

Because yeah, tropes are useful shorthand to refer to certain dynamics or archetypes etc, and they are indeed the building blocks to any story. But in a well-written story, characters and their relationships, actions, and motivations, are much more complex than just tropes. Because in a story that has characters who are more than just cardboard cutouts, their behaviours, backgrounds, motivations and all of that, are inseparable from the context of the overall story they exist in.

So like, sure, you can say Mizu and Taigen have an enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers dynamic. I also use those terms because it's easier. But I also think this is where things start to get a bit twisted, especially from an intertextual sense. Because "enemies-to-lovers" is also commonly used to refer to other ships in other media, whereby it tends to be rooted in an imbalanced power dynamic, such as oppressor-oppressed and bully-victim.

And while that's a whole can of worms that I won't be getting into because it can quickly derail into a whole separate sort of fandom discourse, I'd just like to make it clear that Mizu and Taigen, in particular, do not have an imbalanced power dynamic. They are not bully-victim or oppressor-oppressed. The only understandable reason why someone might actually think their relationship is imbalanced is if

A) they only watched the first episode, or

B) they cannot grasp the slightest bit of nuance in a character, or

C) they're being obtuse on purpose simply because the Mizu/Taigen relationship, or Taigen's character in general, just doesn't suit their tastes.

While yes, Taigen, along with his whole gang, had bullied Mizu when they were children, that dynamic does not exist between them whatsoever in adulthood. Whatever imbalanced bully-victim power dynamic that had once existed between them was decisively ripped apart the moment Mizu beat him in that duel in the dojo, and then completely obliterated by the end of the season.

Mizu is not a defenseless victim at Taigen's mercy. Mizu can beat Taigen's ass any time she wants (and she DOES, repeatedly in fact), and could even kill him if she felt like it. She taunts him openly and without fear ("I like your hair"; "I can beat you with any weapon you choose") and all he does is bark back, because that's pretty much all Taigen ever does. Time and time again, he yaps about how much he wants to kill her, but time and time again, his actions prove that all of it is just an empty threat. Because though his words say "I hate you", his actions demonstrate the complete opposite. He's shown how protective he is of Mizu, how unhesitatingly he sacrifices himself up for her, how loyal he is in enduring days-long torture to not give up information about her, how even when near-death and in pain, he's still willing to keep standing back up so he can fight by her side and help her win against her enemies.

And Mizu is not an idiot! She sees that too. She does not see him as a threat, an enemy, or even a bully. Especially not by the end of Episode 3, and definitely not by the end of the season. When she finds him in the dungeon in Episode 6, she smiles from relief, and doesn't think twice to take him with her. Mizu finds him, at best, an annoyance, or at worst, an infuriating hindrance on her quest for vengeance. Which is why, when Taigen is about to say, "It's a shame our duel's set for tomorrow; I have to kill you before you get your revenge," Mizu whacks him on the head without a second thought before he can even finish his sentence, and leaves him lying unconscious, face-down, in the snow.

And this further emphasises how he does not hold any power over her. There is no abusive power dynamic between them. She is more powerful than him, he knows this, and all he's ever done after they've met up again in adulthood is get his ass whooped by her, get mad about it and pester her and follow her around, get his ass whooped by her some more, and put his life on the line to protect her.

"OOoooOOoooH b-but he called her a demon at the end of Episode 7 and threatened to kill her again!!!" Oh my god. He called her that because he's calling her out on her selfishness to stay silent about her knowledge of Fowler's plans to attack Edo. Because to him, loyalty and honour as a samurai is more important than anything. So in his own brash-and-immature Taigen way, he felt betrayed that Mizu did not hold the same principles. That's why he got angry. He wasn't even that mad about letting Akemi get dragged off by the Tokunobu guards. It was about saving the Shogun and the Shogunate as a whole. That's why the first thing he does in Edo is not find Akemi, but try to warn the Shogun about Fowler's attack.

Look, I'm not defending his stupid ass, of course. Because calling her a demon especially after their cute little wrestling time was obviously rude and inappropriate, especially since words like "demon", "monster" and "Onryo" have had such a deep effect on Mizu throughout her life, and continue to contribute to her self-hatred. But like? That's the fun of realistic and flawed characters, and realistic and flawed relationships. They're not perfect, and it's why we as an audience root for them, wanting to see them work through their shit and find a way to prevail despite it all.

Also, him saying that was in the heat of the moment. He was angry, he felt like his initial belief of who Mizu was—a strong and loyal samurai, just like him—was shattered, and so he lashed out. Was it rude? Definitely. Was it immature of him? Yes, incredibly. But it's also very much in line with his character, because even though he's grown a lot over the course of the season, the show isn't over yet, so obviously his character arc is just beginning, as that is also the case for the other three main characters: Mizu is beginning to accept herself, Akemi is beginning to grow into her position of power, Ringo beginning to train under Master Eiji, while Taigen is beginning to simply be a better person.

On that note, when speaking of Taigen's immaturity, I think that's also one of the main things that people tend to gloss over when it comes to his character. Because when you boil everything down to its bare essentials, Taigen is, essentially, a boy. I've talked about this before, but to reiterate, Taigen very much behaves like an unhealed child. Even as an adult, he is insecure, prone to throwing tantrums, and is desperate to latch onto some material goal in hopes that it will make him feel better—initially he was chasing status/glory/greatness, and then when Mizu tells him that "Nothing comes from being a samurai but death," he immediately decides he wants to run away with Akemi in hopes that he will be happy.

And it's a big step, acknowledging that he doesn't truly want greatness, but had always just assumed it was his only path to a good life. But it's clear he still hasn't really figured it out. Because if he did run off with Akemi to get married and live in the countryside, he still wouldn't be happy. Because he still doesn't know who he really is, or what it is he really wants. Marriage at this moment is the last thing he needs, and as he is now, he would be a pretty awful husband. A simple life would be good for him, but would he be good at a simple life, when he still has so much he needs to work through?

So anyway, what I'm getting at here, is that he's trying and he is learning and growing. So yeah, he is flawed, but honestly? So is Mizu. And the funny thing is that they're flawed in very similar ways.

Because Mizu is also an unhealed child. That's why she's so angry all the time. That's why she pushes people away. That's why she, just like Taigen, is so happy when given the chance to playfully wrestle in the forge, laughing and rolling around like children without shame or pretense.

Again, this shows there is no imbalance between them. They had grown up together as peers from the same town. And while Taigen had had the upper hand back then, because he'd had a gang of other kids with him, that is definitely not the case anymore. Today, they are equally flawed, equally strong, equally skilled swordsmen, and equally bull-headed.

However, yes, Mizu is definitely leagues more mature than Taigen. But she still holds a lot of childhood wounds that mirror Taigen's own. And we see this especially in relation to her mother. Similar to Taigen who had an abusive and alcoholic father, Mizu's Mama was an opium addict and had hit her, berated her, had shaved her head without her consent as a child, and as an adult, had constantly emotionally manipulated and guilt-tripped her. Mizu's love for her Mama was what had driven her to a path of vengeance in the very beginning. And when she'd found out Mama was still alive, she had wanted nothing more than her Mama's love, and it was this alone that pushed her to agree to the marriage with Mikio in the first place. And now, knowing from Fowler that her birth mother is someone else entirely, is what makes her agree to keep him alive and haul his ass to London to seek answers.

Thus, integral to Mizu's self-hatred is also Mizu's intense longing for love and family. Just like Taigen, whose pompousness comes from his insecurity about being the son of a poor fisherman, Mizu's goals are also shaped by who her parents are. Remember, her vengeance is not against just anyone who's corrupt or evil, but specifically against the men who she believes had assaulted her mother, the men she believes had made her a monster, the men she believes had abandoned her to die and continue to try to kill her. Her vengeance is against a father, on behalf of a mother. In The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, Mizu is not merely the Ronin, the Bride, or the Onryo, but also the Child.

This is also why Ringo is so good, not only for Mizu, but for Taigen as well. Ringo is wise and caring and considerate, but above all, he is in tune with his inner child in ways that Mizu and Taigen are not. He is always earnest and positive, he sees the world with childlike wonder, but is not naive or blind to its ugliness. His whole life has been a battle. Ringo brings out the best in Mizu, consistently acting as her moral compass and conscience, and Mizu's choice to save Akemi in the final episode is only because she promised Ringo that she would. Because it's the right thing to do. Ringo inspires her to be a better person, and to think outside of her narrow-minded goal of revenge. At the same time, Ringo also brings out the best in Taigen. While at first Taigen had looked down on both Mizu and Ringo ("Half-limb to a half-wit"), by the end of the season, he's proud to have Ringo as a friend and ally, he listens to Ringo's advice ("What would Master do?"), and asserts to the fucking Shogun that Ringo is a worthy warrior to have by his side.

Okay, I've gone on a bit of a tangent here, but my main point is that Mizu and Taigen are incredibly similar. They are equals. They are both flawed, unhealed children who are chasing some impossible outlandish goal in hopes that it will fill the void in their hearts. They also both have a long way to go in terms of character development if they were to ever build a healthy romantic relationship (either with each other, or even with anyone else). So while I believe things will be rocky (because duh, it's a story, we all live for the drama, etc), I think with Ringo's help, they'll get there eventually.

#blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #mizu x taigen #taigen x mizu #taimizu #taigen blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #meta dissertations.pdf #im not a taigen defender. but i AM a taimizu truther #wank.mp3 #sorta #fandom.rtf #shut up haydar #like i KNOW we all love mizu and want her for ourselves but cmon. let's be real here for a second.#ahem. hear ye! put down the delulu for a mere moment!#and ask thyself. why am i beefing with this pathetic bald man? a man who is the definition of a wet rat?#thus. my brother in nerd ass shit. i beg thee put down thy weapon. this man is not worth beefing with! he is literally... just some guy.#yes...he is bitchy. however! he is also a loser obsessed with mizu. remember this. he is not thine enemy. but simply...one of us.#also lmao like jokes aside lemme be clear. you ARE ALLOWED to hate taigen and taimizu all you like!!!! feel free to do so!!!!#but please just acknowledge it's like. a preference thing. like it's just not your cup of tea! thats A-OK!#but please dont insist that the ship is toxic unhealthy abusive etc #but if you still feel the need to do so. then for the love of god just tag your posts as anti-[insert whatever here] so it helps ppl mute #i knew how to tag shit as anti-makorra since i was fourteen! 😭 like it's basic courtesy cmon

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befuddled-calico-whump · 1 year

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Spy/Team Leader whumpee shrinks themselves for a high-stakes intelligence mission, but something goes wrong and they get caught

- Normally they give their enemies a hell of a fight, but now all it takes to restrain them is the weight of a hand, or even a single finger, and it's frustrating

- Whumper has to build a doll-sized interrogation set. While they feel ridiculous, it's worth it to watch their enemy struggle

- Needles instead of knives, a glass of water instead of a tank, a breadboard and a battery instead of expensive electrocution equipment... maybe whumper should invest in a shrink ray

- Not to mention the dramatic difference in size and strength. Where whumpee would normally be full of insults and banter, they seem a little too scared of being crushed to say anything too dramatic

- Whumpee is freed by a stranger, but still unable to get to their normal size until they reach their base. Despite being rescued, they still don't feel safe

#it came to me in a dream #and its a little goofy #but still the concept of being strong enough to fight and then suddenly not even being strong (or big) enough to break free of a string?#yes #whumper just uses the miniature mockup interrogation kit that interrogation equipment conpanies send out as advertisements #'what is this a torture kit for ants' nope its for Tiny Spy #crack whump #sorta #whump prompt #g/t #g/t whump #tiny whump #spy whump

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thetriggeredhappy · 6 months

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did you guys know that i play and compose music as a hobby

well i put my stuff up on bandcamp if you wanna check it out

i'm trying to save up money and would appreciate the support! i'm planning on doing writing and drawing commissions over the holiday season as well, so be on the lookout for that. thanks again to everyone for the support and kindness over the years - it means more than a tumblr post can ever express.

keep it breezy

#shut up me #the fiendship tag #my art #bandcamp #a lot of these are sorta character themes and boss themes for my original work and stuff #i use them for background music when i play d&d with people #pardon my queueing this up for throughout the day #also no shade if you just feel like listening to these for free i literally maxed out the 'allowed streams' button for that exact reason

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goldensunset · 4 months

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i don't really know how to word this but like i feel like i'm gonna forever have to deal with the pain and heartache of one of my very first pokémon games- the first 'normal' pokémon game i've ever played, that i will have lasting nostalgia and love for as a result of it being formative to my introduction into the series- being the one that will forever be looked down upon for bad graphics and technical issues as a result of the game having been rushed

like i honest to goodness want to scream and yell and cry into the void about how this means everything to me and will always be one of my fave games just in general. but how am i gonna do that without someone being like 'the broken overpriced mess? the one that's missing all this stuff from the older games that was great? the thing with all the cringe? that one?' or whatever. and the thing is they aren't wrong for their criticisms either like i know the fact that they rushed this wonderful game hardcore is a massive stain on its reputation and it hurts me too but like i cannot turn off the brain full of love in me and be a mean critic. or even an impartial one. i mean i criticize everything i love don't get me wrong i am constantly running my mouth about what i like and don't like. but at the end of the day i approach all media with an unusually optimistic mindset. if you see me talk a ton about something no matter what i'm saying you can bet it means i love it.

just. aaagh. it's always tough being a new fan of an old series. i'm like too embarrassed to express my opinions bc i feel like they're invalid y'know? i feel so exhausted every time i see something to the effect of like 'oh those poor kids these days having to deal with such bad quality everything what a bad time to be a fan of pokémon wow y'all make me feel so old' well see the thing is i actually am thriving and i love it here. and i'm also an adult myself so i have more critical thinking skills than people who played red when they were like five years old did. and even with the power of critical thinking i manage to be in love with this. join me in marvelling at the beauty of life

#sorry for the massive rant i am full of both love and rage but i feel alone in this world about this particular subject #my other fav complaint is like 'they make it too easy to xyz these days'#to me that reads like 'i suffered so why shouldn't they'#yes we should encourage people to spend 100 hours grinding to do basic story requirements.#to weed out the true gamers from the weaklings. or maybe we could use the spare time in our lives to touch grass #the only easy-fication change in sv i don't like is the ability to access boxes right from the menu #that kinda cheapens the need to strategically organize a team before heading somewhere #i can.. sorta understand being miffed about the remember moves mechanic?#frankly platinum was so stressful with not being able to freely switch without great hassle/cost #it would have been a fair enough compromise to make you pay a bit of lp or something #or do it for free but having to go to like a pokécenter or something #i'll never agree that exp share is bad though sorry #pokémon #ok but about the 'i feel bad for kids these days with these ugly designs/lame 3D models' thing #yeah i have news for you every gen has its ugly/stupid pokémon.#dude look at exeggcute #and some of the oldest spritework is hideous #granted the ds era spritework was beautiful #but i don't see what is so bad about the 3D models of today? they're both nice...#dude play an indie game or something if it's that important to you idk #it will never be the 90s again. it will never be the 00s again. i'm sorry.

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laugtherhyena · 19 days

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Every time I see your sprite work, it just makes me want to make a sprite edit of Akane with the design I made for her in my "She Was Saved" AU (An AU based on the idea of Akane surviving the events of DRA), but I've never done any sprite work so, do you have any tips?

Ok ok so, first things first, i wanna make it clear that none of my sprites are made from scratch, they're sprite edits, hence why i always tag them as such. Every single one of them used some canon character as a base for the base sprite (that one fitst sprite where the character is just standing there with a simple expression) and a handful even have canon sprites uses as bases for poses. Just figured i should make that clear so there's no confusion here.

While I'm not sure if I'm the best at giving tips n stuff, here's what i could think off;

I think the most important tip i can give anyone who wants to get into sprite editing is MAKE A BUNCH OF LAYERS‼️Save things separately just to be sure rather than merging them because that almost always leads to more time spent later down the line. While the amount of separate things certainly varies from artists to artists here's the one i use for my edits.

The app i use (Ibis paintX) allows me to make folders with a bunch of layers to them so i use them to keep stuff more organized.

On the first pic well have a folder with the base sprite, one for the different poses and in Beni's case two for the different eyes she has (one for the normal eyes and one for the ones that are part of the glasses, normally i only have one layer with all the eye variants)

On the second image I've opened the folder that holds the base sprite, or should i say just sprite since it's in this folder that i organize everything that belongs to one specific sprite when I'm making them as to not get myself confused. Anyways, you can't see in the screenshots but the first layer has her glasses, second has her eyebrows and mouth and the third has the eyes.

Fourth has the main body lineart and fifth has the main body colors, please keep those separated as by doing so you make it easier to add those lil effects onto the character's faces on certain expressions + having the lineart of the main body always helps when sketching and connecting the different arms to the main body.

Lastly you got the arms, but ideally you should make the arms/poses in a way they can be placed over the body layers since that just makes things easier to put together, i just have this habit of placing the no pose arms under everything else.

When editing i make the different arms and eyes in advance so that when i start making the different sprites i can just duplicate the canva with the first one a thousand times and everything will carry along with those. Saves time in the long-run + you don't need to separate all layers on them (lineart, colors, shading) since they're just parts there's no problem in just merging them together.

A very important thing to note tho i that if the character has glasses or any accessories that you plan on removing or moving around in some pose/sprite this accessory should be made in a different layer from the main body, this makes editing easier than if you had to just erase and refill the part where the accessory was in the sprite you don't want it to be in.

A similar rule should be applied to the character's hair, if they have short or mid length hair you can just add the whole thing to the main body sprite, but if the character's hair is long you should make this bluk/back part of the hair in a separate layer placed under the main body layers. This also apllies to any back accessories.

Here's Akira as an example; she has one layer for her glasses, one for the back/bulk of her hair and one for the guitar case she carries.

These are essentially the basics of if, so let's go over to some actual tips.

Make the sprites on a small canvas.

Since the Danganronpa another games are made on game maker the size of the character sprites is surprisingly small, while I don't think you should just do it on the same canvas size as the actual sprite, it's good to have a smaller canvas so that the lower amount of pixels gives it a look similar to the in-game sprites + as you can see by mine, they don't actually look low quality at all.

(if curious, the go-to canvas size i use for most of my edits is 773x1020)

Use other sprites as references/bases

Especially if you're just starting on making sprites, use the canon ones for bases, references or even just straight up trace them. This will make the sprite look closer to canon and will start making you undertand the elements that make up the style of the sprite, do it enough times and soon enough you'll be able to make poses on your own without needing a sprite from the game as a base.

Remember! What's wrong about tracing is not the act of tracing itself, as the act of doing so is a great exercise to help you learn, the problem is when you do it and claim you made it 100% on your own. Since these are sprite edits, there's not a problem in doing so.

Observe and learn what makes up the style you're trying to replicate

This is hard to talk about since it really is something that comes with practice, I've been making sprite edits for like 5 years now so this stuff is like written on the walls of my brain by now. Just try to look and analyse the sprites and slowly you'll start seeing patterns and small onto them that you didn't noitce before, like how Linuj's sprites have a bit if line weight to them but are still on the thinner side, how he tends to make the hands a bit on the smaller side, how when he color the character's skins he makes the area near the top of the head a lighter shade than the rest of the skintone, the way he usually makes the character's mouths, and even some more complex things like how the male characters will have very little to no eyelashes while the female characters tend to have a whole lot of them, etc.

At the same time, there's no shame in deliberately ignoring some of these things. Personality the small hands REALLY bother me in a few cases and i tend to just make mouth shapes on a whim instead of trying to stay 100% close to the style. It's just a question of messing around and figuring stuff out, it won't look perfect on the first go, but overtime you'll start to get the hang of it.

#i hope this small sprite editing tutorial helps! if you have more questions feel free to send them #these are sorta all i could think of for now #you did mention that these are for an Au Akane so you could also try editing these out of her sprites themselves #instead of making a whole base and multiple parts just pick the sprites and edit the new design over #it could possibly be easier for a beginner? i do feel like making them in this form leads to better results tho #anyways. fun fact! i used the eyelash thing as a subtle form or trans coding on Akira's sprites :]#i love you small details that people won't notice unless pointed out ❤️#hyena ramblings #sprite edit #edit #sprite editing tutorial

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wolvertooth · 8 months

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ok so im reading wolverine volume 2 to try to get some context for whatever the fucks going on in uncanny. at somepoint, sabretooth starts hunting wolverine more frequently, saying hes his father(which turns out not to be true, dont worry lol). hes been given this belief and nobody can figure out why.

after being given hallucinogenic poison, sabretooth starts to break free from the need to kill and logan starts to remember something…

at first i thought he was trying to say ‘papa’ or something, but then its revealed he was trying to say ‘partner’(uglyyyyyy panel omg)

im not sure if logan remembers them being partners at this point, but he definitely does later. but the thorazine? not ever brought up again(as far as i saw, maybe it is. its hard to find what comics come next in canon since its not contained in a single series, theyre all over the place).

anyway, he then gets xavier and jean to look into his brain, and he finds some memories that dont make sense. (shout out to this bit where creed straight up wants to take him out for a bday date)

(also shout out to whoever put this speech bubble below them LMAO)

logan then goes to the facility in weapon x where the memories were fabricated. in the animated series sabretooth goes too, but i guess he wouldnt need to in the comics since its implied he already has. i think sabretooth found out about it somehow, got captured, and given the new memory of being logans father. this makes sense since after the hallucination thing sobering him up, he drops that belief.

my theory though is that sabretooth got a lot more fucked up by weapon x than logan. i mean, im pretty sure the false memories were all given after they worked together, and they dont seem to have any other reason(outside of using trauma to activate their need to kill) than to make them all want to suddenly turn against eachother. and i think sabretooth specifically was a failsave for if logan ever escaped, to go seek out and kill him.

both big memories(the one with them being partners in suits and the one where silverfox was killed) were based around logans birthday. so thats probably the reason behind sabretooth seeking him out on his birthday every year, being mixed with the ingrained need to kill him, just based on the little amounts of context he has. BUT the reason for him angering logan? for bringing out the animal? for constantly bringing up silverfox? hes trying to get logan to remember. hes trying to help break him from the memory blocks.

and hes trying to break free from his own programming. and its clear that at somepoint, he did. and he just wants logan to be free from it too.

the memory blocks are tied to logans animal side, but even later on when his animal side is finally released by sabretooth, it didnt really do anything for his memory. because at that point logan already remembers, while sabretooth is still under control of it. though, it is mentioned that something in sabretooths brain is unlocked from wolverine stabbing a claw through it? like he became more in control. that his need to kill is now his own choice. so maybe at that point he was just trying to get him to do that(also it kinda sucks that the canon gets passed around to different authors who will just ignore or get rid of established lore, so none of it really sticks for very long and the characters motives keep changing).

its weird though how logan remembers, yet still keeps trying to fight him. he knows its all fake, but still keeps the same opinion….basically sabretooths stuck with a partner whos forced by the narrative to never like him no matter what he does, while being equally doomed by the narrative to never be able to change. no matter how many times they break the spell, as long as the plot keeps going, theyll always be reset to their basic character traits. #peak romantic tragedy.

#victor creed #sabretooth #logan howlett #wolverine #sabrevine #I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE….tldr weapon x fucked with sabretooths brain and made him want to kill logan #and its also tied to his bday based on fabricated memories #but its tragic af bc logan got to somewhat escape from his animal side(sorta) and sabretooth is forced to live with it every day #and at his worst hes just a broken record of needing to kill logan + logans bday + they used to be friends #its never revealed how he broke free from it that time. but he does later on get a psychic to help with the urge to kill.#like goddddd so many authors DONT GET HIM and fuck up his never ending arc #it’ll be like PROGRESS oh hes bad again PROGRESS nvm hes back to normal #and theres tinyyyyy moments where logan is allowed to like him then. back to hating him.#tho i feel like logans more a narrative thing than a weapon x thing

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