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lanadelreyscokewhor3 · 1 year

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PREACHERS DAUGHTER- P.B PARKER

Pairing: Best Friend! Peter x Fem! Reader

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: you and peter were complete opposites, you the goodie two shoes preachers daughter, him the bad boy next door. yet fate has pulled the two of you together, and you can’t help but feel a certain lust for him.

Warnings: ORAL (fem), teasing, kissing, marking, pet names, best friends falling in luvvv, swearing, weed involved, booze mentioned, praise kink, masturabtion mentioned, lotsss of dirty talk, peter blowing smoke into reader mouth

based of the album- preachers daughter, by ethel cain

It was mesmerizing- the way his fingers moved.

You felt as if you were under a trance, the watch on the chain swinging back in forth in front of your eyes, hypnotizing you.

His rings, silver and shining in the pale moonlight the clock hands, the veins that ran up his wrists acted as the numbers that blurred together after some time.

Each component drew you in as his fingers strummed each string, moving up and down the fingerboard to play each chord, a sweet melody emerging from the instrument.

Your mind was far, far off from the homework you swore to yourself you would be doing tonight, despite having your best friend over. You knew you couldn't focus on anything but him, yet you let him slip through your window, with the cracked and peeling paint you refused to paint over- because you and Peter were the reason for its damage.

You refused to change anything he had touched or wrecked, whether that be the broken dresser handle that was hanging on for dear life, or the jumble of photos the two of you had pasted on your walls while drunk out of your minds.

They looked awful, all crooked and cluttered to fuck, but you didn’t touch them.

Refused to. If Peter placed them there, that's where they stayed.

You looked up at them now, gaze focusing on the smiling faces that stared back at you, that watched over your every move- in a comforting sense. Their presence lingered, as you peered back over to Peter, following the sound of strum from the strings, the sound coming to a screeching halt as he suddenly fished for something in his ripped jean pocket.

He was so beautiful when he was concentrated.

The subtlety bite of his lip, pearly whites tugging on the flesh with a sense of urgency as his jaw would clench. The way his messy, slightly ruffled russet hair would fall in front of his eyes, rings glimmering as he slid his hand through the locks to push it back into place.

You wanted to run your fingers through his hair, wanted to tug on them to make him hiss in pleasure, the way he did the one night he had decided to use your thighs as a pillow. Peter's reaction was tenuous, a slight growl escaping from the cage of his clenched teeth.

You noticed, though. You always noticed, when it came to him.

“Bunny? You want one?” he asked softly, pre-rolled in blunt twirling between his large fingers, making you stare in awe.

“Bun?”

Oh shit, you were staring.

“N-no Pete it’s okay. I’m good for now.” you smiled, a heat rising to your cheeks as you forced yourself to stare back down at your tattered notebook filled with scribbles and numbers you had no clue what to do with.

It was better than looking at his fingers and getting caught again.

Anything was.

“Alright pretty but you let me know if you want one okay? Your asshole of a father won't find out, if that's what you're worried about.” he chuckled softly, throwing you a wink as he toyed with the drug, a cat with its dinner.

Of course that's what you were worried about. You were the minister's daughter, a holy saint if there ever was one. The good girl, your father's little angel.

We have a reputation to uphold Y/L/N. Don't mess it up, or there'll be consequences. Big ones.

You had followed his words as he did with passages in that dog-eared bible of his, the rosemary beads sprawled out as a bookmark for his pages.

So, how in the world did Peter Parker- the boy wrapped in sin your father warned you about, end up as your best friend, the man you trusted with your life? You didn't know, but you were thankful for it.

It made you laugh every time Peter offered you a smoke, he knew your answer had never changed, yet he always offered anyways. He was sweet that way. It was different with weed, you supposed.

You were always terrified your father would be able to see right through you, be able to sniff the drugs on you like a hound dog. You made excuses for booze.

Your father provided red wine during Sunday services, the blood of the lord for all to taste, cannibalism in its cleanest, purest form. Counting on two hands the number of times you and Peter had snuck into the old, gothic church your father managed, getting drunk off the wine in the wooden pews under the stained glass windows was impossible.

You watched as Peter leaned his guitar against the windowsill, grabbing a lighter from his other pocket, the snake tattoos curled and wrapped along his finger seeming to hiss at you in the dim light of your room.

“Peter?” you called, making his head snap up, the fire from his light diminishing as fast as it came. “C-can I light it for you?” you asked shyly, watching as that boyish grin that you loved so much came to his face, dimples appearing as he took you in, realizing you were serious.

“You wanna be an angel and help me out eh?” he teased, making you nod frantically.

Angel.

The words alone had your toes curling in your thigh-high socks you knew Peter adored, his fingers always seeming to toy with the little black bows whenever he got the chance. He towered over you even more than he already did as he stood, making his way over to where your body was lounging on the ruffled white sheets.

“Dad’s not home ya know. I forgot about that.” you tugged on your inner cheek, watching as Peter dropped to his knees before you, like a devil about to spread its wings.

Begging for mercy before you.

“Does that mean you do wanna hit then?” he asked, blunt between his teeth as your thumb flicked the flame to life, watching the blues and oranges crackle as you lit his joint.

“Don’t know how.” you shrugged, watching as he exhaled, the sweet sickly smell of weed filling your senses as he exhaled.

“We can try something if you want bunny. D’trust me?” You nodded, eager to obey his commands. He smiled, rings cold against your chin as he grabbed it lightly, the pads of his fingers slightly calloused from the strings.

“Say ahh bunny.” You opened your mouth widely, the smoke he had inhaled floating into your mouth as he exhaled, fogging up your lungs. He was so close you could hear the thud of his heartbeat, could feel the soft heat rolling off him in waves to soothe you in a gentle embrace.

“Atta girl!” he laughed as you felt the sticky taste coat the back of your throat, mouth turning dry as the Saraha.

“Peter this tastes like shit.” you groaned, coughing and sputtering as he gently slapped your arm. “No swearing. Or else I’ll wash your mouth out with soap.” he teased, making you burst out in laughter as he rolled onto the bed, smooshing your lower half with his bodyweight- making you groan as his head lolled.

You felt your skin warm to the touch with how close he was to you, your legs parted slightly so he could wedge his way between them and rest on you.

“I gotta do my homework silly.” you smiled as he took another puff, his eyes turning a fair shade of red as he watched the smoke slither upwards.

“I can be your study buddy if ya want.”

“I’d get no work done if you were my study buddy. You distract me too much.” you teased, giggling as his hand reached over to tickle your thigh gently. “We’d make such a great team. We could be on the mathletes together bunny.”

You rolled your eyes at his sly commentary, a hand slipping through the soft, messy tumbles of his hair as he sighed in happiness. Nails began to scratch his scalp soothingly, and his chest began to rumble- purring like a cat as you tended to him.

Just as you wanted.

The curtains rustled in the breeze that snaked through the cracked window goosebumps appearing on your bare skin as the papes blew. You looked out through the glass, scoping out the graves that surrounded your house.

You could map out the entire cemetery as you had lived in this old, creaking house your entire life- could picture every little twisted path and old rusting benches that were scattered. It was peaceful here, the only real company consisted of the ghosts and Peter when he came over to visit.

Your father was never really present, too busy with the works of the church than his own flesh and blood.

It was an easy silence between the two of you, one you enjoyed immensely. It was different than the other silences you had dealt with in your lifetime- long and uncomfortable. With Peter, they were pleasant and easy, a place where you could be in your own thoughts and not feel bad about it.

You were lost in them now, as you looked down at him.

He’s never looked so beautiful. How did I get so lucky- to score him as my best friend?

Continuing your head scratches, you let your head lull against the headboard, closing your eyes to tune out the world. He continued to smoke, hand resting on your thigh with each inhale.

“You got somewhere I can put this angel?” he asked, hand waving as he gestured to the stump of the blunt, the weed diminishing. You hadn't realized how much time had passed, the hands on the clock hoping forward since the last time you had looked over at them.

“Over there is fine.” you pointed to the little dish on the dresser you had left for him whenever he was over, degrading it whenever your father returned home.

You didn't comment on how much Peter had smoked, just as you didn't comment on how much whisky your father drank whenever he got mad.

You didn't care enough.

He shuffled up, puffing the remainder towards you, the smoke cascading around your cheeks, tickling your eyelashes as the old bed creaked.

“You’re such a doll, you know that?” You smiled.

“Maybe. It's not like you tell me allll the time or anything.” you teased, poking fun at how sweet he was to you. No one was as ever kind to you as Peter was. It made your insides tingle, made your skin all sensitive to the touch.

He smiled that cheeky grin that drove you wild, tapping the ash into the dish before he crushed it with his fingers, rings glittering in the soft candlelight. Your homework was long forgotten at this point, your attention solely focused on the beautiful angel of a man that stood before you at the foot of your bed.

“Hi.” you waved to him, his hand raising to wave back from across the room.

“Hi bunny.”

“Cmere.” you insisted, and he smirked as he crawled onto the bed, the look in his eye hungry as he took you in. You looked at him now, really looked at him as his strong arms slid to each side of you, caging you in his hold.

He was black and blue, the beautiful melancholy shades in between. The way he loved was different than anything you had experienced before. It was scary, a freefall into the depths of the icy water you were scared to tread. But it was numbing- the way he cared.

A soft and sweet energy, that pricked you gently like pins and needles. His breath was warm as he refused to break eye contact and you wanted to shrink into the depths of the mattress as you felt yourself cave.

“I bet you taste so good.” he confessed softly, his words making you shudder with delight.

You knew where this was going. It was heading down the old beaten path the two of you had stumbled down so many times, when you were both drunk off sin in the walls of the church.

You liked it.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah angel. Mmm god I think about tasting you all the time, your skin, your lips, your fingertips..” he trailed off, head dropping down to your chest, rubbing his nose against the skin of your collarbone.

You felt your hips wriggle, wetness seeping into your panties. “What do you think they taste like?” you sighed as his teeth gently grazed you, biting into your flesh to mark it as his own.

“Like cinnamon n sugar. So. Fuckin. Sweet.” he kissed your neck between each word as you gigged softly, his plump lips making you squirm.

“You’re so addicting baby. The things I wanna do to you…” he smirked, licking a stipe where your silky nightgown dipped, revealing the slight curve of your breasts.

Heels were dug into the ruffled sheets, the sound of your books falling to the hardwood below echoed as the strong breeze brushed you again. No amount of wind could chill the fire that was burning in your veins right now.

“But we can’t do them. Cause we’re best friends.” you pouted, running your fingers along the back of his neck, curving them around to trace each vein that pulsed as he shivered.

“Who says?” he whispered, like he was in a trance, and you felt your dress being pushed up, up, up to pool around your waist, your stomach exposed as his head dipped down towards it.

“Best friends do everything together bunny. Don't you think about me like I think about you?” he asked mischievously and you nodded frantically.

“Mmm sometimes.”

“Cause I think about you alll the time. Think about how good you’d be for me when I’m strokin my dick.” he confessed, shuffling down to trail kisses across your stomach, your legs spreading wider as he found his home between them.

“Y-yeah?” you whimpered, heart beating so fast you heard the blood racing in your ears, his voice sounding distant. It was hard to focus, but at the same time it was hard to focus on anything but him.

The human body was a funny thing, sometimes. How yours could bend and contract to his will at the whisper of his voice, at the touch of his skin.

“Mmm yeah. You make me wanna do such bad bad things. But you’re too sweet for that.”

Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god.

“Peter-”

“Can I tase you? Please? Just a lil lick, I swear.”

You moaned at his words alone. How did they sound so sweet, so innocent when there was so much filth behind them? You could never say no to him.

Never.

“Please.” you urged, the chill breeze making you tremble as he removed your thong, your knees bent slightly over his shoulders. It happened in a blur, time seeming to jump and snap back again as he had you under his thumb, hanging onto every word he said.

The first lick sent you into overdrive, body shifting up gears as you crude out his name- hands tugging at his strands of hair as if they were reins. The faint scent of weed trickled through your nose, blemishing your skin and sweat as it trickled.

You couldn't think. Couldn't move, couldn't speak.

You and Peter had fooled around before but this…this was new territory. And it felt good. A lick turned into a taste as you heard him growl, tongue stroking through your sensitive folds again.

“You- you said just a taste-” you panted out, hips thrusting against him as he chuckled.

“I lied. You should've known.” he teased, eyes meeting yours again- stare so intense you had to look away.

It was frightening- the eye contact. It was an endless void, a freefall you weren't sure if you'd have a hand to catch you. It was filled with an emotion you couldn’t quite place, a haziness that made you feel sluggish, like you had drank too much cheap booze, and smoked too many cigarettes.

You were as breathless as the summer's night outside as he dived back in, malnourished and needy as he devoured you. His lips suctioned around your clit, sucking it sweetly as you wethered and moaned.

“So so sweet…” he murmured. You felt yourself snap under him as his tongue pushed you over the edge, releasing onto his face as you cried out. His hands tightened their grip around the barricade of your thighs, chin gleaming with your juices as your body shuddered from the aftershocks.

“That's a girl. My sweet sweet angel.” he sang out, shuffling up to kiss your lips gently, the taste of yourself staining your mouth. You savored his affections, wrapping your arms around his neck, desperate for something to cling to.

You were scared to let him go, scared he would leave you vulnerable and open like all the others. He sensed your hesitation, rolling over to the side of you, nuzzling his head into your neck as you continued to hold him close.

“Was I good?” you asked meekly, your biggest fear not being enough for him.

He just smiled.

“More than good. The best.” he whispered, kissing your skin. You exhaled a sigh of relief, tension seeping from your bones as you cradled him.

You heard an owl coo out from the branches of the old oak tree that scratched your house, the wind howling against the old siding. You basked in the emptiness of the room, no one here but the two of you and the peeling posters that peered down at you from the walls.

He wasn't leaving you. He wasn't embarrassed or ashamed and he was staying with you. He wanted to do this.

It was hard to think about, hard to wrap your head around it as you had been so shameful of your desires towards him for so long. The old wooden cross that was hung above your bed seemed almost mocking as it reflected in your vanity mirror, a symbol of overcoming sin now with a meaning diminished.

“You awake?” you asked Peter softly, ripping your eyes from the wood, knowing your father's words would haunt you the longer you were left to your own avail.

There were so many responses you wanted to spew out to him.

God loves you- but not enough to save you.

But you didn’t, to save yourself the abuse of his wrath.

“Mmm.” he mumbled sleepy, the weed putting him a place of serenity and calm as he synced his breathing with yours. “Did you want me to return the favor?” you mumbled, feeling bad he didn't get the same opportunity you did.

He just shook his head. “Another time angel. Let me just… lie with you. I like when I just get to be with you like this.” he yawned, bed creaking as he slung his arm around your waist to pull you closer.

“Okay. Whatever you want.”

Silence.

You sighed, flexing your feet, then pointing your toes. The red polish glimmered as the shadows of the wax dripping off the candles bounced off the walls, the smell of the incessant to “hide” the weed smelling of sandalwood.

A truck rumbled in the distance, its tires rolling against the gravel. Peter sat up, eyes flickering to the headlights that beamed towards the house, making you feel anxious as you clung to the bedsheet.

Was your father home early? He wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow night, and you knew if he walked in on you and Peter- you’d never hear the end of it.

“Is he home?” Peter shook his head as he moved towards the window, and you readjusted your nightgown. His hair was messy and rumpled as he stood, hands resting on the windowsill as he peered down.

A grin was on his face as he turned back to face you, your heartbeat slowing its dangerous pace with an exhale.

He wasn't home. Or else Peter wouldn't be smiling.

“Well? Who the hell is at my house at-” Your eyes flickered back to the clock. “Eleven at night?”

Peter just shrugged, a cheeky look on his face as he walked towards the bedroom door, grip on the brass handle tightening as he swung it wide open.

You heard the front door open, two familiar voices echoing from down the hallway.

Bucky and Steve.

“Look who decided to pay us a visit!” Peter laughed, making you shake your head with a smile.

Look who decided to visit indeed.

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crownmemes · 2 months

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Daddy Issues Sentences, Vol. 2

(Sentences for discussing the effects of an absent parent and/or confronting one's own father. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Doesn't it bother you that you don't know who your dad is?"

"I sometimes expect too much of you."

"Tell me about your father? What was he like?"

"Your father was a great man."

"Since when have I had the power to stop you from doing anything?"

"On one level or another, we all want to kill our father."

"I came to make peace with you, even though you're the father of lies."

"You disappoint me."

"Nothing I do is ever good enough for you."

"If the test of a man is how he treats those he has power over, it was a test my father failed."

"No, I'm sorry, but your dad was wrong."

"I don't think I'll be winning any 'father of the year' awards."

"It is difficult for a father to bear less than perfection in his son."

"Of course, I believed him because he's my father."

"Your mother and I kept asking ourselves what we'd done wrong in your upbringing."

"He’s your dad. It doesn’t matter what he does, you’re going to love him."

"All I ever really wanted was for him to love me."

"You have big daddy issues."

"I have a theory on what makes good boys 'good'. It’s not because of some moral imperative."

"What did I do that filled you with so much hate?"

"You can't keep letting other people define you!"

"The situation between my father and myself has not changed."

"You're an embarrassment to me."

"I don't know what your daddy issues are, but don't deflect them on me."

"Even the best-intentioned parents end up damaging their kids."

"I wanted so much to be like you..."

"Why is it you always think you know what's right for me?"

"All I'm saying is, make peace with your father another way."

"My father was emotionally stunted, afraid of getting close, and definitely not the best at goodbyes."

"You're ashamed of me."

"Please don't tell my father!"

"I think I could have forgiven her if she hadn't made me love her, but she did."

"The only people who keep insisting they're not terrible parents are terrible parents."

"He's still the man that's my father, but I'm not the son he used to know."

"Actually, my father is a rather important man."

"I guess nobody gets to choose who their parents are."

"Can I ask what he's done to deserve your loyalty?"

"He's my father. I have the right to avoid his funeral."

"Please let me be your daughter again..."

"I don't like people referring to him as my father."

"I would have killed my father if I could have."

"The relationship between a father and his daughter is tenuous."

#rp meme #rp memes #roleplay meme #roleplay memes #rp prompts #roleplay prompts #sentence starters #assorted;#sad;#family;

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thegingerwrites · 20 days

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I'm calling this "the grass isn't always greener au" and I'll probably never write it but it was stuck in my head today:

The Clone Wars are over, Palpatine is dead and the galaxy is more at peace than it has been in a lifetime. Anakin is no longer a Jedi. He has been living with Padmé and their children for two years now and everything is fine. Everything is definitely, absolutely fine.

And yet Anakin can't help but feel like he made some kind of mistake in leaving the Order when Padmé told him she was pregnant. He can't regret her or their children. He can't regret the fact that he no longer has to deflect blaster bolts on a daily basis. He can't regret peace.

But he does miss Obi-Wan. The ragged threads of their bond are still present in his mind when he can bring himself to sense them. (And he does, often, like picking at a scab or the empty cavity of a missing tooth. He prods at the empty space, making sure never to go far enough as to make Obi-Wan aware of it. He hasn't seen Obi-Wan in months). He misses having a purpose, a bright shining goal, the feeling of fulfilling his destiny even if the pursuit of that destiny aged him in ways he is still coming to terms with.

He was never the Jedi he should have been but now he is no longer a Jedi at all. And maybe if he had held himself together for just a little longer, he could still be one today.

The Force gives him the chance to find out.

Anakin wakes up in the body of Darth Vader, two years after the fall of the Republic, broken and in pain, fully invested in the power of the dark side.

He flees the Executor as soon as he can. Taking stock of his mechanical limbs, full-body burns, and life support suit, Anakin has no idea where he is or what has happened to him. But this is him, some alternate version of him. When he takes off the helmet and stares into his reflection in transparisteel window of his escape pod, he sees himself. Despite the changes, the burns, the eyes, he recognizes himself.

He seeks out Obi-Wan through the tenuous, broken bond in both of their minds. This may not be his world and this might not be his master, but Anakin knows he could find Obi-Wan anywhere if he allows himself to reach out to that connection again.

Darth Vader appears on Obi-Wan's doorstep on Tatooine, begging for his help. It takes Obi-Wan time to understand what is happening but they sit and talk and everything that happened in the last days of the Republic is slowly revealed. Everything that Anakin did, everything that he became.

They talk for hours, Anakin reveling in Obi-Wan's companionship again, taken aback by how much his master loves him, even this version of him and all that he did, and Obi-Wan nearly brought to tears by the idea of having Anakin back again. What Obi-Wan wouldn't do to sit side by side with Anakin again, to have even the smallest speck of hope that Anakin might come back to him.

By the light of his hearthfire, Obi-Wan asks Anakin to take off his mask, so that he can see his face again. Anakin would do anything for his master but especially this older, sadder version who loves him so desperately and he obliges. Obi-Wan reaches a gentle hand out to stroke Anakin's pock-marked cheek. He presses a kiss to his pale and scarred forehead.

Then Anakin wakes up in bed with his wife, pulled completely from the alternate reality and back in his body again, his eyes wet with tears. Without hesitation, he reaches out to his bond with Obi-Wan and pulls.

Perhaps Anakin didn't make a mistake in choosing peace. But he certainly made one in leaving Obi-Wan behind. And if Obi-Wan's love could survive all of that, it can definitely handle a few years of strained silence and damaged trust.

Anakin races up the steps of the Jedi Temple in early morning sunlight and for the first time in two years, meets his old Master for tea.

#obikin fic #obikin au #obi wan x anakin #obi wan/anakin #aniobi #i almost titled this “the grass isn't always greener”#maybe i could write this if i convinced myself it didn't have to be 30k long #hmmm 🤔#i thought about putting in a read more but it's less than 700 words people can deal

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gold-snek-hoe · 2 months

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Hello and welcome to Opinions from an Internet Nobody. Today's essay:

"Ger therapy" is the new "You need Jesus": One Weirdo's Navigation through Cultural Shame

This is a supposedly well-meaning sentiment that is often weaponized against people who are behaving outside of perceived cultural norms. It's a favorite of homophobes who see queerness/transness as a mental illness, but I've been seeing it used to demonize kink (which historically is often linked to queerness), and more generally any "weird" behavior that makes people uncomfortable.

For example, otherkin, systems (especially those with fictives), and people who take fictional characters as partners. Y'know, "weirdos" who "can't separate reality from fiction." And, sure, sometimes there can be a problem with that distinction, but I know as well as you that most internet strangers saying "get therapy" don't actually give a shit about the mental health of those they target. It's code for "your behavior makes me uncomfortable, stop it."

Same sentiment as "you need Jesus."

This has actually taken me a long time to figure out. I've been in therapy for my entire adult life, working through various traumas, severe depression, anxiety, all that. Those were the biggest problems as they negatively impacted, and often endangered, my life. It was only after my hospitalization in 2020, where I was finally put on much needed medication, that I could start to grow into myself.

I changed my name. I top surgery. I came out as polyamorous. I finally got my official autism diagnosis. Now I'm fuckin' married! But... there are still things I'm working through in therapy. Mainly, shame over my "weirder" behaviors. My current therapist has been a huge blessing in helping me accept the things I was too ashamed to admit.

Now, I feel comfortable enough to share.

I'm otherkin. Always have been. My connection to my humanity is tenuous, and I'm sure that's connected to my autism. When mad, I feel phantom horns sprouting from my forehead. I have a tail that swishes back and forth at the base of my spine. In my soul, I am monstrous, and years of therapy has not erased that.

I feel like I'm only half in the physical world most of the time. This doesn't hinder my real-world success (I graduated college Summa Cum Laude, have an IMDB page, and am on my third book), but informs the way I look at the world. There's a whole other universe in my head that hums along with me in my day-to-day. That's part of why I'm so skilled as a writer. To ask me to divorce from that is to tell me to stop existing. Sorry, it's how I've always operated.

Lastly, and this is the one I'm really anxious about, I have a fictional husband. Now, looking at my blog, you might say "yeah, no shit," but I don't just ship myself with him. I mean I practice pop-culture Witchcraft, and the Goblin King is my patron. I mean I have a Labyrinth-themed tarot deck that I talk to him with. I mean I held a ritual to spiritually marry him. Basically, I Snape-wived myself.

And guess what? My therapist isn't concerned. It's not hurting my ability to live my life. I have other interests, hobbies, and goals outside of him, which he actively encourages in all our tarot sessions! I wouldn't be doing this if he didn't support me. My IRL spouse is usually there for whatever magical shit I'm doing, and supports me! Some of my closest friends know, and the only complaint I've gotten is "this guy seems important to you, I wish you told me sooner." Hell, my MOTHER knows and supports me, which is huge, because our relationship was pretty damaged after I came out as trans.

If you have a problem with the way I live my life, when literally nobody else does, take a good long look at why. You don't give a fuck about my mental health. You just don't like that I'm weird.

Tl;dr: My mental health is better than it's ever been since embracing the weird, so leave me and my imaginary husband Marak Sixfinger alone.

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jisungsdaydreamer · 9 months

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Cowboy Like Me | TEASER | 18+

«GENERAL M.LIST» · «NAVIGATION» · «TALK TO ME»

SYNOPSIS How can falling in love with someone feel so right? How could it ever be wrong?

Pairing: Lee Know x fem!reader Genre: Hollywood au, non modern au, angst, smut Warnings: explicit sexual content, playboy agenda, heavy drinking, mentions of drugs, slight age gap, virgin reader, toxic relationship dynamics, may contain inaccurate depictions of the time period, slight descriptions/mentions of infidelity, some misogynistic dialogue (& more to come) Release Date: TBA

It’s no secret that Lee Minho is one of the most sought after dreamboats to ever grace the silver screens of Hollywood.

Rumored to have torrid affairs with only the most dazzling starlets, it’s no secret that he’s popular amongst the ladies either. Unfortunately, after Minho is caught in the middle of a sordid scandal with a noteworthy director’s wife, he journeys away from home to escape the damaging media circus swarming him.

Taking refuge in the small sound production studio in which he was first discovered as a star, Minho reconnects with his old passion for music, and in doing so, stumbles upon a fledgling singer who turns his life upside down. You and Minho are worlds apart; while you’re a sweet, up and coming artist, Minho is an infamous lothario disillusioned by fame.

He knows he should leave you alone, stay away from you. He knows he should refrain from dragging you into his unfortunate spotlight, from making his demons yours. He knows the way his pulse quickens around you is wrong, and that loving you is the last thing he should be doing. Minho also knows that he’s failing in his efforts to quell his feelings for you, slowly surrendering his heart to you.

But it’s not just the world around him that is a caveat to his romance with you. Minho has never truly given or received love, limiting his amorous endeavors to a single night or the ones fabricated by movie scripts. You deserve better than him— a strong, kind man who isn’t afraid to love you, to devote himself to you, to show you off to the world, paparazzi and tabloids cast aside. Pursuing you would not only jeopardize Minho’s own tenuous reputation, but your future as well. It means disaster, a tragedy instead of romance. But how could he not, when this is the most authentic he’s ever felt, after a lifetime of playing other characters?

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#skz smut #stray kids smut #lee know smut #lee minho smut #lee know x reader #lee know x you #hollywood au #lee know angst #lee know x y/n #lee know #skz fic #lee know fic #skz historical au #lee know historical au

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youllalwaysfindyourwaybackhome · 6 days

Text

so I was listening to Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus this morning and some potential parallels in the lyrics and ideas really, really struck me and I'm starting to think that it might be a part of the 'Red-themed' group of songs (or as I'm now calling it - the Marooniverse) but I would love to know if anyone agrees

"As the decade would play us for fools" and "Down that passage in time" -> the song is looking back at least ten years into the past

"You said some things that I can't unabsorb" -> uhh more of a general vibe here of the long lasting consequences of the relationship that has been conveyed in multiple songs but also "I see the permanent damage you did to me" from Better Man

"Will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon" -> "So scarlet, it was maroon" and "And I wake with your memory over me" from Maroon

"You turned me into an idea of sorts" -> "The idea you had of me, who was she?" from ATW10

"If you want to break my cold, cold heart just say, "I loved you the way that you were"" -> "I'd like to be my old self again but I'm still trying to find it" from All Too Well

"Too impaired by my youth to know what to do" -> "I'll get older but your lovers stay my age" and "You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine" from ATW10 and "She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years everything had been above board/ she wasn't sure" from The Manuscript (and also "In the age of him she wished she was thirty")

(A bit more tenuous now, but the shared words made me wonder) "And you saw my bones out with somebody new" -> "Struggled through the night with someone new" from This Love

"Say you'll always wonder" -> "And I bet sometimes you wonder about me" from I Almost Do and "I bet you think about me" from IBYTAM

"Cause I wonder / Will I always / Will I always wonder" -> "I bet... I bet.. I bet..." from the verses of I Almost Do

#why do you guys think #chloe or sam or sophia or marcus #ttpd

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utilitycaster · 11 months

Note

hi! I'm sorry if you answered this already and I missed the post, but what are your general thoughts on the party being split for so long?

Short answer: I think it's great. I think the best way to answer this accurately is to cover some of my past complaints about the campaign, and discuss how this split is addressing the vast majority of them. This is also, I suppose, serves as an argument for why it's worth getting caught up with Campaign 3 for anyone who fell off of regular watching.

I'll begin by saying that I understand the desire to have something akin to Campaign 2 but in Marquet: a group of people deeply tied into the lore and fabric of the setting and yet displaced within it, finding each other. I still would have liked to see that story. I do not fault people for being disappointed in not getting that, particularly given what Marquet means as a setting, and this still is not that campaign. But pretty much all of my other complaints have been addressed by the apogee solstice and the party split and so I'm not here to mourn what I know didn't happen, and instead to talk about how the last ten or so episodes have been banger after banger.

I said this elsewhere recently but my issue wasn't that the campaign was building up to the apogee solstice setpiece; it was that it took about 30 episodes to even reveal that was what the buildup was for, and yet, somehow, 35 episodes to finally be done with Treshi. Which meant in turn that the party was constantly kind of shepherded from place to place. Even the sidequests were mostly part of the buildup - Heartmoor Hamlet is a good time, and achieves quite a lot in only a handful of episodes - but it is, ultimately, mostly there to wipe out Ashton's debt which would be a detriment to getting to the main plot. The modular, party-driven nature of Campaign 2 just wasn't an option, since they could have quite possibly avoided the solstice (akin to how Campaign 2 completely avoided the Augen Trust plot and required a drastic reworking of the Lucien plot). But because it started so early, it was hard to get a sense of what would actually motivate the characters so that they could be guided more naturally by hooks they'd be likely to take, since they were doing fetch quest after fetch quest with a wealthy patron (I love Eshteross with all my heart but that kind of figure early in the story is tough to incorporate; more on that later) and getting lore dumped at by NPCs and never really had to scramble or take weird jobs killing rats in the sewers or even share rooms in an inn with people they didn't already know before the story started.

Which is the second part: the party did not really mix that much. Imogen and Laudna came in codependently joined at the hip, and Orym and Fearne were also quite close. Ashton and FCG had a looser arrangement, and Chetney was the only true free agent. So a lot of the time, the party felt like three groups working together with tenuous bridges rather than a coherent party, and they never quite had either the downtime to cohere, or the massive crisis to force them together. This party has actually seen quite a lot of death, but Bertand's happened too early, and while Laudna's didn't quite reset to the status quo, it also occurred just as the Treshi plot had ended and so the timeline was becoming even more accelerated. The seeds of something were there, but they needed something more to actually take root.

Enter the apogee solstice and the party split. This has fixed basically everything:

The fact that the solstice happened means that now we're in damage control mode. There's a clear motivator for the party, but one that they genuinely care about rather than one that requires the DM being like "and THIS NPC wants THIS thing."

It also forces the party to develop those relationships outside of the friend they started with. The obvious first reason is that the groups are split up along those lines. That is not an accident or a cruel joke; that's fucking necessary, frankly, to get the party to bond. As my meta about Laudna and Orym points out, not having their emotional support prior colleague - even by sending - and frankly, yeah, not even knowing they're alive, for certain, is what will make these characters actually grow and change. As we saw, the same is true for Fearne, Imogen, and FCG.

It notably removes the spotlight from Imogen, which is good, because the cool development happens after the character-focused arc, when they can process, rather than during. She's still Ruidusborn, but what that means is very different from what it meant pre-ritual.

Then there's the practical element of travel. This party probably isn't going to be teleporting nonstop, but they did have comparatively fast travel in the form of a skyship from very early on, and in another three levels Fearne will have transport via plants, and Imogen can take teleport as a cast spell the level after that, and then we'll never get to see much of the world...but if you break teleporting a bit? You send them into the middle of the wilderness? Yeah, they're going to need to have those watch conversations that were far too few and far between early in the campaign.

And allies! This party's doing it backwards. They've lost Eshteross; Keyleth's fate is unknown to them; Ryn is a statue; Beau and Caleb's fates are similar question marks. After so much time of having patrons and friendly wizards telling them what to do? They're alone, and they have to survive by their wits and by leaning on each other.

The fact that we've got guests is good both because we get to see different facets of the main cast's characters through their responses to these new companions, and because we're getting to fill some of the gaps in the party (people with more longstanding relationships to deities; people with 20 INT scores). It also pushes Bells Hells, in some way, closer together, by having to assert that they are part of a group with shared experience. And it's just a delight to have them.

This is also just fun for fans in that we're getting to see some of the most wished for locations - the Mighty Nein's time in Uthodurn was brief and very focused, and everyone's been clamoring for Molaesmyr and Issylra. For all that Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein fought world-wide threats, they were largely contained to a specific region, and I think this is really setting the stage for how big a deal the apogee solstice really is, by flinging the party across the world and showing how everyone is affected.

Anyway: love the party split. I honestly would have been happy with one or two more episodes of the other party and am looking forward to a similar length arc for this party, and honestly, even then, it might take a few episodes for them to reunite, and I think they'll all be better for it.

#answered #muthserra #critical role #critical role spoilers #two other thoughts that are personal/hunches and don't fit above #first is that my guess is still that this is the last full-length campaign so pulling out all the stops for locations & guests is smart #(i would love to be proven wrong but. suspect i am right)#and second is that my favorite ships are in the same groups for the most part so i'm vibing

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childotkw · 5 months

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Um, not sure if you've been asked this before (I could've sworn that at one point you had, but i can't for the life of me find the post) but do you have any thoughts about genderbent Regulus Black?

I can see there being a much more different sibling dynamic between them and Sirius as there isn't an heir and backup dynamic with Walburga and Orion no doubt seeing Regulus as a tool to be married off. Not to mention they'd be much more strict with Sirius without a backup heir to replace him.

Not to mention it would be interesting if Tom saw Regulus as a chance to better win the loyalty of the pureblood community, after all having a bride from one of the most prestigious pureblood families would raise his standing by a lot.

I absolutely love your female Harry AU's especially "I pray(death parts us)" and "Serpent In These Still Waters ", and I love the marriage dynamic between Tom and Harry.

However I do wonder about the arranged marriage dynamic that Tom could have. Especially with someone who was born into the world of pureblood politics.

No pressure obviously to answer if you're not interested, but yea I was just wondering.

Ohh yes I know the one you're talking about! I ended up with Rana Black being the fem!Regulus name - you can read the original outline here.

I do have many thoughts about it - mainly how Ran would have grown up shaped by society's expectations and how she would eventually grow to cast those expectations off.

In my idea, Rana manages to convince Orion to ship her off to Beauxbatons. Orion, because his daughter is his favourite child, agrees to do this one thing for her, despite any objections from his wife. Rana actually eventually moves permanently to France with Kreacher as her ""guardian"" (because let's be real, the wizarding world has a pretty broken view on how young children should be raised and this isn't that far out of the norm for them). So Rana misses a large portion of the bullshit that is brewing in Britain.

But...

Walburga sees, Walburga knows. In the brief instances she actually interacts with her daughter (who seemed to grow up between blinks, who turned from a slim and silent shadow of a girl into a calm and confident young woman far from her mother's influence), Walburga learns.

Rana is not some demure wife-to-be. She is a...liberationist. A young woman with incorrect and damaging opinions on what her place in the world should be. Her time in France, in that school, has warped her understanding of her duty.

So, Walburga must fix this. As the new heir to the Black legacy, Rana has a responsibility to their House. She must bring in the next generation, and she must accept her place.

Walburga looks at Narcissa, at Bellatrix, and knows she must find her daughter a husband that can curb her radical views.

She also decides, rather firmly, that it's time her daughter learns deference. Learns to bow.

Orchestrating an encounter between her daughter and the Dark Lord is easy enough. Walburga is one of the few that still sees Tom Riddle in the face of Voldemort, and that tenuous childhood connection gives her enough leverage to push her daughter into the man's space with the implied permission to teach the girl how to drop her chin.

Only...that's not what happens.

Voldemort sees Rana's spark, sees her potential and her ideas and her biting cynicism towards the structures of their society; sees the way her eyes constantly drift towards the horizon, towards France, and finds himself a little curious at this until-now unknown Black.

(Voldemort is, after all, a radical himself. Why Walburga thought he would dismiss Rana's ideals or find her foolish is beyond him.)

Marriage isn't the first or fourth or even twentieth plot he envisions with Rana Black - but eventually it does creep into his purview.

And that intrigue, the future he could see forming with everything Rana Black brings with her, is enough for him to kick things into gear.

The biggest problem - the only problem, really - is that Rana Black does not want to marry.

Anyone.

Not even the Dark Lord.

#anonymous #HP #regulus black #tom riddle #regulus x tom #fem!regulus

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roseandshadows · 1 year

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In relation to Rhys and Azriel’s conversation in the BAM bonus chapter, which has been used to argue Rhys is against Elriel, let’s talk a little bit about how Rhysand views Lucien and how Rhys believes Lucien’s bond with Elain guarantees his cooperation and alliance.

“Perhaps Lucien being Elain’s mate would help – somehow. I’d find a way.” (ACOMAF, Chapter 68, Rhys POV)

Since the very inception of their bond, Rhysand has been plotting the usefulness of Elain and Lucien’s mating to his court. After the calamity in Hybern with the sisters being Made, Feyre infiltrating the Spring Court, and impending war, Rhysand is ready to use all the tools in his arsenal. This includes his sister in law’s new bond with Lucien, who is a valuable strategic player with courts Rhys has tenuous relationships with. Not only does Rhys recognize the value of Lucien as an ally, he knows just how formidable Lucien would be as a foe. And it seems he believes the surest way to navigate that alliance is through the bond with Elain.

“You trust Lucien.”

Rhys angled his head at the not-quite question. “I trust in the fact that we currently have possession of the one thing he wants above all else. And as long as that remains, he’ll try to stay on our good side. But if that changes…His talent was wasted at the Spring Court. There was a reason he had that fox mask, you know.” [Rhy’s] mouth tugged to the side. “If he got Elain away, back to Spring or wherever…do you believe, deep down, that he wouldn’t sell what he knows? Either for gain, or to ensure she stays safe?” (ACOWAR, Chapter 18).

Rhys does not fully trust Lucien to remain a close ally of his own volition and he knows Lucien could cause considerable damage to them. I believe this fear amplifies in ACOSF as Feyre is now pregnant (which triggers all kinds of protective instincts in Rhys), but also his death pact with her and impending death for them both. Their deaths would leave the Night Court in a fragile state with numerous enemies (Koschei, human queens, Autumn Court) ready to strike during that vulnerable time. And as Lucien gets closer to the Band of Exiles, the Inner Circle starts to doubt his trustworthiness, as shown in this conversation between Cassian and Mor.

“Lucien is living with Vassien. And Jurian. He’s supposed to be our emissary to the human lands. Let him deal with it.”

Mor took another bite from her pastry. “Lucien can’t be entirely trusted anymore.” …”Even with Elain here, he’s become close with Jurian and Vassa. He’s voluntarily living with them these days, and not just as an emissary. As their friend.” (ACOSF, Chapter 4)

It seems that even with the draw of the bond with Elain, Lucien is still finding himself growing close with the Band of Exiles and the Inner Circle worry how that might affect his ability to send them accurate information and work as their emissary. So with all this in mind, I’m not surprised at all by Rhys’s reaction to finding Elain and Azriel together on Solstice and how poorly that conversation went.

When discussing Lucien and the Blood Duel:

“I’ll defeat him with little effort.” Pure arrogance laced every word, but it was true.

“I know.” Rhys’s eyes flickered. “And your doing so will rip apart any fragile peace and alliances we have, not only with Autumn, but also with the Spring Court and Jurian and Vassa.” Rhys bared his teeth. “So you will leave Elain alone…” (ACOSF, BAM/Azriel bonus chapter)

So while Rhysand has always valued an individual’s ability to choose for themselves, that doesn’t negate that at the time of this conversation he has an entire court and people to consider with his death, and that of his mate and child, looming on the horizon. The pressure Rhys is under is astronomical. I’m not sure how much of Azriel and Elain’s connection Rhys has noticed up to this point, but it sounds like he is not willing to let what he believes is the only thing guaranteeing Lucien’s alliance go. That might change in future books as Feyre, Rhys, and Nyx survived the birth and Elain continues her own journey and makes her choice about the mating bond, but while she decides Rhys is willing to exploit the connections that bond brings.

#elriel #pro elriel

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theresattrpgforthat · 10 months

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hello! im sure you already have a post for this, but im looking for any game that are similar to dnd but not, yknow? versatile and familiar, adaptable to different settings, preferably use polyhedral dice so my players dont get mad at me, etc

additionally and kind of separately, any that have a souls-game esque combat or weapons system, like diverse, upgradable, bonus points for magic.

i really appriciate the work youre doing on this blog, ttrpgs can be kind of daunting to get in to any stuff like this really helps :-)

THEME: Echoes of D&D

Hello friend, thank you very much! I love introducing people to the possibilities of this hobby. I have 3 recommendations for the first half of your request, and 2 for the second half.

Backwater, by Backwards Tabletop.

Backwater is a tabletop roleplaying game in the genre of southern gothic horror, set in a post-apocalyptic New Orleans. This game explores social issues relating to fear, poverty, religion, and alienation in its southern U.S. setting. Prominent among the genre's themes is a conscious criticism of superficial values and regional or familial history, depicted through the region's decaying structures and aristocratic families. It contains the supernatural, though the true horrors are often humans themselves.

Backwater is set in a post-apocalyptic future with a tenuous social order, and it reimagines the genre as a reflection on issues in not only American history but also our present world. Players take on the role of wardens—roaming peace keepers in the American Lands—protecting order at civilization’s southern reach.

Pieces of Backwater are going to feel familiar if your touchstone is D&D. You’ll have characteristics like Athletics and Charisma, which have number values, similar to Ability Scores. You’ll pick an Archetype, which looks very similar to Character Class. However, parts of your character are bought using a point-buy system, which gives you more flexibility than D&D, and allows players to make choices that make the most sense for their characters, and levelling is pretty consistent, which means that you’ll feel the character growth as you play. Most of the game uses d20’s, but you’ll see d8’s, d6’s, and d4’s in your weapon damage.

Backwater itself is a game for gothic horror, so you’ll see a specific theme going on there, but the system itself has an SRD that you can use for other kinds of genre - such as Backroads, another game published by the same creators. Probably worth checking out!

Seeking Sunlight, by Irus the Nazgul.

A tabletop RPG about diving into the depths of an endless labyrinth in order to find light, and bring hope back to your village to keep it alive for just a few days more. Push back the boundaries of the dark, fight against the odds, and survive in a harsh world without natural lighting.

Seeking Sunlight carries a lot of the themes of souls-like games, and might carry a bit of the diversity you’re looking for when it looks to mechanics. There’s magic to be had in the forms of character classes like the Battle Witch and Pyromancer, and while the book comes with a list of armour and weapons, it also comes with instructions on how to create your own custom weapon, using listed properties in the book. I feel like the make-it-yourself weapon system lends to the kind of diversity you might be looking for.

Apart from dungeon delving, you’re also going to be building and protecting a settlement, the qualities of which are decided by the player group. There’s also mechanics for Dread and Stress - penalties your players will take to represent the horrors of the dungeon below. And even with all these moving pieces, this core rulebook is one-sixth the size of D&D, and is Pay What You Want. Definitely worth checking out.

Cursebrand Chronicles, by Promethium Books.

Ghestal, a world once ruled by beasts and magic unimaginable, now ruled by the most terrifying beast of all: man. In humanity’s greed and ambition, political turmoil turned to atomic fire. Nearly three decades have passed since the bombs fell and the old world with it. Now the remnants of civilization huddle behind massive walls in great super cities living in fear of fiends and horrors that stalk the land.

Only those who bear the Cursebrands, marks of corruption and damnation, are immune to the creeping death of the Miasma. They alone have the power to tread the wastelands and ruins of the old world in search of glory, wealth, ancient secrets, and perhaps the one treasure the world needs the most: Hope.

Cursebrand uses a familiar d20+stat system, which immediately makes me think of D&D, but the polyhedral dice appear to be used differently - you can get bonus dice for rolls that range from feeble (d4) to Mythic (d100). Character creation involves a combination of rolled ability scores and point-buy skills, which give players more control over the characters they want, while magic takes the form of Cursebrands, a mark of your immunity to the Miasma, an in-game threat that has warped and killed much of the world around them. These brands give you access to skill trees, which you will move along as you level up.

I think for many of these reasons Cursebrand might fit what you’re looking for - and if I read the website correctly, this game system is also present in Epic Age, a high fantasy game by the same designers.

The Carnation of Gotos, by mundosinfinitos.

"(…) Every man, animal and plant was petrified, turned into solid rock for eternity. Although, he bestowed the blessing of life in the flesh on every statue in the world. You are a sculpture that has come to life (…)"

For a small, 2-page game, The Carnation of Gotos packs a punch. It has a solid idea with a very specific tone and setting for your characters to play in. It uses d6’s only, but it draws from games like D&D, Castlevania, and games such as Dark Souls and Elden Ring. It’s also made by Benjamin Reyna, a TTRPG designer who loves working in the dark, hopeless tone of the games you might be looking for - I’d also recommend checking out his games Maze of the Spider and his Souls-like archive to see if there’s anything else that fits what you’re looking for.

Cortex Prime.

Cortex Prime is less of a ready-to-go ttrpg and more of an rpg toolkit. It is an in-depth instruction manual on how to make your own game, which can then be used to play out pretty much any genre or setting you’re looking for. The rules use any dice from d4’s to d12’s, usually rolling more than one kind for any given task, and assigning the dice to different results and the overall Effect.

The biggest con for this game is that you have to put in a lot of work before you can start playing, because you need to first learn the system, and then decide how you’re going to make it work for you. One of the pros however, is that the book is apparently very good at teaching you the game. If you want an example set-up for the game, Xine has an example setup that is more ready-to-use, called Cortex Lite, that you might want to check out. There’s also the Dungeon Newb’s Guide to Cortex Prime on Youtube, which is absolutely worth a watch if you want to get a primer on the system.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

In the Time of Monsters, by Possum Creek Games.

Savage Worlds, by Pinnacle Entertainment.

Fabula Ultima, by Need Games.

Tactical Games Post

Crunch and Structure Post

#dnd #indie ttrpgs #souls-like #tabletop games #asks #game recommendations

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anxresi · 1 year

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Chloe Bourgeois and the show’s overall treatment of her...

To me, it’s like… imagine a scenario where Leonardo Da Vinci stood near the throngs of visitors at the Louvre screaming “STOP admiring my Mona Lisa! It’s just a stupid painting that’s now overshadowed the rest of my work! If you don’t stop… I’ll… paint a silly moustache and goofy glasses on the portrait… so NO ONE will like it!”

Sadly, what creators like Thomas Astruc don’t realize is that most people tend to have long memories, and won’t forget the former glory of their creations even if they ripped the originals into a billion pieces. Their childish pettiness and jealousy also has a habit of working to the detriment of their work, as it not only affects the target of their ire but also the rest of their product as a whole.

I mean, think of what we COULD’VE gotten with Chloe after S2. I’m not just talking about any potential redemption arc hopes now (which I accept have well and truly tossed in the garbage by this point) but the immediate aftermath… the tenuous bond she could’ve forged with the rest of the Miraculous Squad as Queen Bee the Anti-Hero, the parallel between that and trying to build bridges as a former bully with those she used to pick on and are rightly suspicious of her, the impact this would’ve had the other characters as they come to terms with the ‘new’ Chloe, the newfound loving paternal relationship she might’ve had with her dad when she stops demanding things every few minutes, her mother desperately trying and failing to bring back the ‘Chlorine’ she raised to be a monster to take over her fashion empire one day…

Sounds great, don’t it? ‘Well not for you, any of that! Let’s introduce a boring Mary Sue-type who’ll never have any development to take Chloe’s place! Then we’ll slowly turn her into more and more of an intolerable brat over three seasons, culminating in a flashback episode that basically retcons half the show and leaves Chloe 100% to blame for ALL of Marinette’s problems! Not only that, let’s see how many other supporting characters like Kim we can destroy and drag down with her! Who cares about them, anyway? It’s all a means to an end in ‘sticking it’ to the audience that we, THE STUDIO, are in charge, and not a bunch of dumb fans who like complex personalities and slow character burns! If we give you zero-dimensional sociopaths and non-existent continuity that’s what you’re gonna get! And you’ll LIKE it!!’

Actually, no I don’t. And in the headlong rush to smash up everything Chloe and Queen Bee-related to replace it with that featureless dollop of nothing known as Zoe/Vesperia, I actually think they’ve damaged Miraculous as a brand irreparably. Maybe not among the ‘target audience’, but certainly amongst a lot of older fans and leaves me thinking that this lack of ambition, along with plenty of other notably bad writing decisions, will consign this show to forever be considered as ‘mediocre kiddy fodder’ in the future rather than the animated classic the great premise would suggest. Talk about self-ruination.

Oh well, life goes on. Plenty of other good stuff to watch, so can’t get too down about it all. Thanks for reading, & have a nice day. 😇

#miraculous #ladybug #miraculous ladybug #chloe bourgeois #ml salt #disney #ml #zag

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grailfinders · 4 months

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Grailfinders #332: Dobrynya Nikitich

today on grailfinders we’re saying good riddance to Tunguska and the year 2023, but not before getting one last build in! our final build in 2023 is none other than Dobrynya Nikitich, the legendary bogatyr dragon slayer. and dragon rider, it turns out. maybe even just dragon? tbh I stopped reading this event after the story chapter that was almost literally just every character gathering around to say the sentence “Koyanskaya is not Daji” over and over. I might not have a great handle on what Nikitich is, but I’ve got what she can do down pat, so let’s get into the build!

Dobrynya’s a Drakewarden Ranger to have a permanent dragon partner to ride, as well as a Champion Fighter for a meatier axe, and a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer to grab her armor phantasm, as well as her later ascensions. I mean she’s definitely got a lot of draconic blood, it’s just all wrapped up in a pervert horse. oh god I just realized he's staring at her underwear in the FA art what the hell

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: wait a minute, didn’t we just shoot you into space?

Ancestry & Background

our first question of the day is, “what the hell is Nikitich?” our second question of the day is “do we really want to waste time waffling on what she is when Custom Lineage exists?”

answering no to the latter gives her +2 Charisma as well as Darkvision and the Strike of the Giants feat to fight for better working rights for meteored animals. or it gives you a frost strike you can do once a turn proficiency times a day to deal an extra d6 of cold damage and force a constitution save on whatever you hit, reducing their movement speed to 0 for a turn if they fail. I know the ice axe doesn’t show up until third ascension, but I think a treat is warranted here.

Dobrynya talks a big game about how tenuous her connection to humanity is, so she’s an Outlander now for proficiency in Athletics and Survival. Folk Hero would also fit here, but a dragon is not a beast in D&D, so that animal handling proficiency would be completely wasted.

Ability Scores

I’m not going to lie, this build needs a lot of stuff, so we’re just going to point buy things this time around. even then, it’s pretty hard to get everything where it needs to be. Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom will be set at 14, the former two to be good with an axe while wearing a bikini, and the last one so we can multiclass, and to make your dragons’ breath a little hotter. Constitution is at 13 so we don’t die. meanwhile, Charisma is all the way down at 9. we’ll need to invest a little for multiclassing later, but she’s not the life of the party. that means we’re dumping Intelligence at 8. not much worse than charisma, but she does leave all the thinking to others most of the time.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: starting off as a ranger nets you proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Animal Handling, Nature, and Perception. I know your dragon isn’t a beast, but there’s Fou who… is probably an aberration. well, at least there’s Taigong Wang’s tapir, which… also isn’t a real animal… but there’s the sheep thing! yeah, I don’t think that counts either. so much for an animal sanctuary, huh?

for further bafflement, we’re actually going with mostly OG ranger features this time around. but if you’re going to be a dragonslayer, it probably helps to have Dragon as a Favored Enemy for advantage on checks to track and find out about them. thankfully, most dragons are pretty easy to track on account of their size and their tendency to hang out in the sky. that being said, you need to slay/mount a white dragon before this is all done, so getting used to the Arctic is a must. thankfully, you’re a Natural Explorer up there, so it’s pretty hard for your traveling group to get lost or slowed down. you can also track creatures a lot better!

2. Ranger 2: second level rangers get a Fighting Style, and the Dueling style will even out the damage differences between two-handing and one-handing your battleaxe. you really need to lean over your dragon if you want to hit anything, so a free hand to grab onto something helps out a ton.

you also learn some Spells this level- Hunter’s Mark lets you deal extra damage with every attack against a target for up to an hour, and you can swap it to another as a bonus action if the first gets ko’d. it also gives you another bonus to tracking the target down! it’s hard to get species-specific bonuses in D&D, but if you only use this spell against dragons it’s kind of the same thing, right?

also, you get Jump, to jump. getting onto the back of a dragon after every time you attack is rough without something to boost you up.

3. Ranger 3: at third level you gain a Primal Awareness of the world around you, giving you some extra spells as you level up. I’ve said it before that I’m pretty sure your dragon isn’t a beast, but it’s better safe than sorry, so you get Speak with Animals for free. you can also cast Longstrider now to dash as a bonus action. when your main way to attack is hitting things with a big piece of metal, some extra movement can be very helpful.

you also become a Drakewarden this level, which gives you a Draconic Gift- it’s Thaumaturgy and a language. thankfully, you also get a much cooler draconic gift- your Drake Companion. you can summon a small dragon as an action whose appearance and breath type you decide on. it moves after your turn, but it can’t do anything but dodge unless you spend your bonus action commanding it. you can summon your drake once a day for free, or re-summon it by spending a spell slot. since you can decide on your drake’s appearance and breath weapon separately, you aren’t shackled to ice-type attacks this entire run, thank goodness. tbh I don’t think we ever see Nikitich’s ride use its breath attack. it could be anything! it could even be ice! though we don’t get any breath attacks until level 11- right now, this just gives it a damage immunity, and it can use its reaction to add its element to a nearby creature’s regular weapon for one attack, dealing an extra d6 of damage.

4. Ranger 4: use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma to multiclassing levels. I wish we could keep this lower to match her… her, but we’ll make do.

5. Ranger 5: fifth level rangers get an Extra Attack each action, as well as second level spells! you get Beast Sense for free, but we’re more here for Magic Weapon. it’s not quite the glowy blue axe you get at third ascension yet, but this should help cut through dragons a bit easier.

6. Fighter 1: bouncing over to fighter gets you another Fighting Style, like Great Weapon Fighting. now if you hold your axe with both hands, you can re-roll 1s and 2s on your damage dice. with your dragon, giant strikes, and hunter’s marks, you can add a lot of dice to your axe.

you also get a Second Wind once per short rest, healing up as a bonus action. in most builds this is basically free healing, but even with the draconic wrinkle it’s still a nice addition.

7. Fighter 2: second level fighters can Action Surge once a short rest, adding an extra action to your turn

this doesn’t give you more bonus actions, but it’ll be super useful later.

8. Fighter 3: third level fighters get their subclass, and as a Champion you get an Improved Critical, allowing you to crit twice as often. again, you can add a lot of dice to specific attacks, so adding them all to a crit just makes it even sweeter.

9. Ranger 6: now that we’re a couple levels in, let’s start talking about how we’ll take down Koyanskaya. if we’re going into Tunguska, we need to get prepared- that’s why this level you get another Favored Enemy in beasts and another Natural Explorer biome- forests. that should help with most of what you’ll be facing in there. probably.

10. Ranger 7: at seventh level you forge a Bond of Fang and Scale with your dragon, granting it a flying speed, and letting it grow large enough to ride on- though you can’t do both at once. it also starts adding elemental damage to its own attacks, and giving you resistance to the chosen damage type.

also, you can cast Lesser Restoration now. it’s not quite debuff immunity, but curing a debuff right after you get it is pretty close, right?

11. Ranger 8: for our next ASI, pick up the Fury of the Frost Giant feat for +1 Constitution, permanent resistance to cold damage, and when you get hit by an attack you can blast them back with ice, forcing them to make a constitution save to avoid cold damage and being frozen in place. you can do this proficiency times a day.

your Land’s Stride exists now too, so you can pass through any nonmagical terrain without worrying about being slowed down or hurt by plants.

12. Sorcerer 1: it’s been long enough, let’s ascend. as a Draconic sorcerer you get Draconic Resilience, giving you an extra 1 HP per sorcerer level (so. 1 for the build) and a permanent mage armor effect as long as you’re not wearing real armor, making your AC 13 + your dexterity modifier. it’s not super strong with your dexterity, but if you’re going to stand in front of 999 turrets this should help some miss.

you also learn some charisma-based spells! light and message are just kind of here because… why not. a lot of stuff in FGO glows for no reason, and if you’re on the Chaldea team they’re going to give you a communicator at some point. Blade Ward is another layer to your armor, giving you resistance to physical damage, and Sword Burst is spinning around in a circle. it’s a neat trick!

you also get a breath weapon a little early by casting Burning Hands. as a level one spell it’s pretty weak, but it can always be upcast.

13. Ranger 9: ninth level rangers don’t get a lot, but third level spells are nice! now you can Speak with Plants (boring) or turn that axe into an Elemental Weapon! this gives your weapon a +1 to hit, and deals 1d4 damage of an elemental type on hit. it’s not as good as hunter’s mark, but it does work on any weapon, not just your own attacks. also, flaming axes are cool.

14. Ranger 10: tenth level rangers get a third Natural Explorer biome like, for example, Mountains. sadly, “blasted hellcape” and “corporate office” aren’t biomes you can pick from- partially because they’re synonyms. that being said, if you’re stuck in the death zone you can use Nature’s Veil to hide yourself as a bonus action, becoming invisible for a round up to proficiency times a day.

15. Ranger 11: eleventh level rangers get their guts thanks to casting revivify, and your Drake’s Breath finally kicks in- as an action, you or your drake can breathe elemental damage in a cone, forcing everyone inside to take elemental damage if they fail their dexterity save. you can use this once a day for free, and you can gain extra uses by spending spell slots.

16. Ranger 12: now that we have multiclassing and feat stuff done, we can finally get a handle on your Strength for more accurate and damaging attacks.

17. Ranger 13: thirteenth level rangers get fourth level spells, letting you get in touch with your wild side and become a Guardian of Nature. there’s two ways to use this spell, but we’re here entirely for the first, turning you into a cat monster… turning you into more of a cat monster, increasing your walking speed and darkvision distance, and giving advantage and bonus damage to strength-based attacks.

18. Ranger 14: fourteenth level rangers get one last Favored Enemy, so let’s track down Koyanskaya and end that Aberration once and for all! (she is an aberration, right?)

if things go south you can Vanish as a bonus action, which despite coming later that NV, only lets you hide rather than actually vanish. you also can’t be tracked without magic, but you’re level 18, your enemies have magic by now.

19. Ranger 15: fifteenth level drakewardens have stronger breath attacks as well as a Perfected Bond, adding more elemental damage to your dragons attacks, and making them large enough to ride on while flying. on top of that, you can now spend your reaction to give yourself or your drake resistance to an attack proficiency times a day. it says “or”, but you can always be a rules lawyer and say it’s an inclusive or! I won’t tell!

you can also cast greater restoration this level, reducing the effects of exhaustion or removing one effect that is charming, petrifying, cursing, or reducing a stat or HP total of yourself or a party member. again, it’s not debuff immunity, but it’s the closest you can get in D&D.

20. Ranger 16: use your last ASI for more Strength. it’s not complicated, but neither is Nikitich.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’m giving riding a dragon its own spot on the pros list. why? because riding dragons is cool, and you’re playing an RPG to feel cool.

as far as actual gameplay goes, you are fantastic at dishing out Burst Damage. whether that’s piling all sorts of damage modifiers onto a lucky crit, or action surging to blast a crowd with two breath attacks at once, you can fire off a lot of damage in a short amount of time. (also, while it’s technically not Rules As Written, you should be able to easily argue that freezing them in place with frost giant stuff would at least give them disadvantage, if not a force failure, on dex saves, forcing them to take the full brunt of 20d6 damage if you time it right)

as a ranger, you have a surprising amount of Utility for a mostly martial fighter, greatly improving your party’s time while traveling and providing emergency debuff removal and revivals. you’re no healer, but sometimes staying alive is a victory all its own.

Cons:

your multiclassing requirements alone use three ability scores, and that’s before we factor in the two other stats we need for the build to play well. all this means we never really get a chance to get the abilities we want high, which leads to…

weak spells that are easily avoided by enemies. your casting modifier for both kinds of spells is only a +1, so they’ll be whiffing a lot before you reach level 10.

we don’t even get started working on your strength, your main attacking stat, until level 16. even if we skip over the giant thing for later, that’s still not until level 11. you’re not very accurate for a majority of the build, let’s leave it at that.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Dobrynya Nikitich #Ranger #Sorcerer #Fighter

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xenokattz · 1 year

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My brain is running with Kermit flail in 17 different directions and so list

FIC: finished

Kay Nicté: Nashuri AU, no powers, porn with plot & feels & family dynamics; Shuri doesn't want to go to a resort on spring break; she has way too much critical, life-or-death work to do in the lab. Ch'ah Toh doesn't want to go back home to his cousin's resort on spring break; he has way too much respect for his culture to sell it out to tourists. One mezcal tasting flight later, they can't seem to keep their hands off each other. Or any of their other body parts either.

<5000 words

The Pearl That I Carry in My Heart: Nashuri, Attoye, big damn post-canon fic, world building. The Elder's brows furrowed. "Am I understanding you correctly, Princess? That your suggestion for strengthening our alliance is arranged marriages between our available tribal leaders and theirs?"

Shuri smiled, a forced twisted thing. "Not quite, Elder. My suggestion for strengthening this alliance is an arranged marriage between K’uk’ulkan and me."

>100,000 words

FIC: in progress

Beautifully Created: Attoye, canon divergence AU, kidfic, world building, what do you call it when you start with smut and end with smut but the whole wide middle is angst and politics? Wakanda already knew about Talokan when Namor made his ultimatum thanks to information from Okoye. Attuma would like to know how she got that information and why the queen & princess seem to hate his guts when he's never met them before. 50% finished --read on ao3--

Kiss Me by the Fence Rails: Nashuri, AU modern day. Shuri is a brilliant engineer who just Does Not Get dating. She wants to get better at it and at sex in order to finally shoot her shot with her high school crush. She asks Namor, an equally brilliant architect, to help her out with all of that. He's her brother's business partner so he won't try anything shady, he's dated lots, and deep inside under that cranky exterior he's a good guy. Simple and easy, right? <5% finished --read on ao3--

FIC: planned (in no particular order)

When It Rains, Leave Me Alone: Attoye, companion piece to The Pearl, angst with eventual HEA but first make them hurt: Okoye, daughter of the Border, former general of the Dora Milaje, Midnight Angel, Head of Security of the Kingdom of Wakanda. She has reached the highest heights as well as the lowest lows possible in her career. W'Kabi, who she had once thought of as the other half of her heart, has chosen exile over their marriage and admission of treason. Her undeniable attraction to General Attuma could add further fractures in the already tenuous Talokan-Wakanda summit. All the while, she also needs to protect Wakanda's people, especially Princess Shuri, who seems to be determined to break her own heart.

Transcendence to Endure: Nashuri, prequel within a sequel to The Pearl, mildly angsty babyfic for all, history of Talokan world building, TW: pregnancy/delivery trauma. Péepen Xail Almehen of Xel-há and Yzniquanto of the Iréchikwa Tzintzuntzani navigate a world slowly burning from the invasion of the Conquistadores. Shuri kaRamonda, Black Panther of Wakanda, and Ch'ah Toh Almehen, K'uk'ulkan of Talokan, navigate eleven years of marriage.

Wholly, Thoroughly, Completely, Drowning: Nashuri, Attoye, AU Canon divergence. Talokan & Wakanda have always known about each other. When T'Challa got sick, Shuri asks for Namor's help. In return, he wants her to stay in Talokan for a year and help undo the damage he perceives T'Challa made when he opened up Wakanda.

Para Siempre: Attoye, AU modern day, no powers. Megapop star, Okoye, is burnt out from back to back to back touring plus a very public divorce from hip-hop star, W'Kabi. One of her longtime security personnel, Attuma, suggests decompressing at his family's little hotel-resort in the Yucatan during the off-season. Please stop, I don't have time for all this help

Untitled Bridgerton-style Black Panther AU: Attoye, Nashuri, AU no-colonisation alternate history, alternate powers. In an alternate history 1800-ish, Princess Shuri of Wakanda, of the Transafrican Alliance travels to Talokan of the League of the Mayapan in order to cement their alliance against the European powers encroaching on both their lands. For protection, she and some of her entourage disguise themselves as shipmates and servants while General Okoye and some of the kingsguards dress as tribal leaders. K'uk'ulkan, halach uinik of Talokan and de facto leader of the League, asks his highest ranking nobles to look for possible spouses among the visiting Wakandans to tie their kingdoms by blood as well as treaty. Lord Attuma, nacom and favoured cousin of the K'uk'ulkan, agrees to court Princess Shuri. But the woman he escorts off the pier is not the princess. And the real princess has her own agenda on this diplomatic visit that promises to wreck all the Feathered Serpent's plans.

Untitled Single Dad Namor + Dr Shuri: based on a fanart by @milkfromcats, Nashuri, AU X-Men style mutants, TW: refugee experience. Namor has lost almost everything in Mutant Purges and the trek to get safely to Wakanda. The most important thing in his life now is taking care of his sisters' children, Namora and Attuma. But he has no idea what to do with kids, nevermind traumatised orphans. Shuri is a brilliant doctor and privileged to have the funds to volunteer her time with the influx of newcomers to Wakanda. Every one of them is wonderful but she has a soft spot for Attuma and Namora, who often visit with lopsided braids and sugar-stained tops, tugging their exhausted father along. His love for them tempers the tragedy etched in his face and she can't stop wanting to ease his exhaustion.

Untitled Sequel to Beautifully Created: But I can't explain it yet because spoiler

Untitled Nakia Time Travel Fic: At the moment Talokan overwhelms the Sea Leopard, with the outcome of the battle between Shuri and Namor to be determined, Nakia finds herself thrown overboard. But instead of drowning, she wakes up several weeks in the past, to the morning Queen Ramonda asks her to find her only living child, kidnapped by an unknown hostile force.

Untitled Bucky/Sarah: Something Something feral WinterBucky finds Sarah somewhere between CATWS and Civil War.

NONFIC

School: stop writing, idiot, it's finals

Scholarship/bursary applications: n/a for now

Garden: n/a plants are asleep

Work: streamline lab manual

#nashuri #attoye #black panther wakanda forever #shuri x namor #okoye x attuma #namor x shuri #attuma x okoye #Talokan #fan fiction #when we stress we make lists

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heliads · 1 year

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So, Before You Go Chapter Two: Warnings of a Bygone Era

Hellas is gone; so too is your life as a cartographer. You and the Darkling must quell Alina Starkov’s attempt at an uprising in order to protect the Grisha of Ravka. However, your gods are not as dead as they seem, and that which you have taken for granted will soon prove to be quite unpredictable indeed.

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Centuries ago, when your mother was still perfecting her spells, a trickster named Odysseus fought in a great war of heroes. After all unnecessary blood was shed, he had to spend years on the open sea, encountering obstacle after obstacle slowing him down. That is what he gets for angering Poseidon. To incur the wrath of the gods is to have your entire life transformed into something even you can no longer recognize. Risking the might of the immortals is something no one should do. Even one of their own heroes.

The war has begun. You can tell from the ringing in your ears, the slow tilt of magic between your fingers, that the cascade of events has already been set in motion. You and Aleksander are already hurtling towards your intended fates, the leap of faith utterly dizzying but still everything you need to complete your mission.

In fact, you’ll be starting on that today. Although neither you nor Aleksander will truly know if Alina Starkov is alive until you lay eyes on her, the odds of her survival seem to be growing by the hour. Genya Safin hasn’t given up hope, you can tell that from one look at her. Then again, Genya believes a lot of things, and you’ve had reason to doubt where her true loyalties lie every day since you rescued her from the First Army. Genya says she believes Alina dead, but she says whatever will get her away from you whenever your paths cross.

Genya is lying to you, most likely. You can see it in her eyes whenever she looks at you or Aleksander, how the only thing she can identify in either of you is some horror beyond her comprehension. She’s not wrong to worry; you do want to kill her friends, if they’re still alive, and you will hurt her if she betrays you in anything other than thought. This is how change is made. Does the farmer think of the feelings of the stalks of wheat as he prowls through his fields with a scythe? No, only of the children he will feed with his bountiful crop.

So your motivations are different from hers, so you’ve had centuries longer than her to learn the consequences of letting your goals slip away from you. If you let the enemy get even one tenuous foothold over you, they’ll use it to choke you out. You want to shake her by the shoulders until she understands that.

This is what happened to the Hellenids, can’t she see? A race of people blessed by your gods, and the rest of the world hunted them to extinction. There is no such thing as peaceful coexistence when the otkazat’sya hate Grisha to the point of burning them alive as witches. Either you establish yourself as enough of a threat that they dare not kill you, or you roll over and let them slaughter you in droves.

Genya does not comprehend the full extent of what generations of hatred can do to what seems like a prosperous society, however, and so she holds her breath and walks with light footsteps around you as if that will make the threat of your presence any less severe. It’s funny, the two of you talked quite frequently when you were still Y/N Stassov, former mapmaker and then-star oprichnik, but you suppose your transition from being Alina’s good friend to wanting her dead may have burned a bridge or two. In your defense, Alina stabbed you first.

Genya’s a false lead on information on Alina, then, and by extension, so is David. You found him not long after you saved her, and although you’re fairly certain that she’s been feeding him rumors on how you and Aleksander are utter monsters, he’s still here within the bounds of your camp, so there’s not a whole lot they can do to damage your movement. Not yet, at least.

What motivates you to believe that Alina may still be alive comes from Aleksander himself. He’s been having visions lately, brief snippets of scenes that solidified into real experiences. He sees her, he tells you. He sees her in places she should not be, with people he does not recognize. He could be mad, or, far better, David’s connection could still be fragile and present. She could actually be there.

The first thought you had upon hearing of his visions is that you wish your mother was still alive. It is something you have repeated to yourself several hundred times since she was murdered, but it remains true nonetheless. Hecate was a gifted witch, and who better than the goddess of magic to help you understand the relationship between Aleksander’s visions and the truth of what is happening to Alina at this very moment?

You have no doubt that were she here, Hecate would be able to reforge the connection in a heartbeat, strengthen the visions until Aleksander could appear by her side whenever he pleased. However, your mother is a ghost to you now, out of your reach until you cross the Styx for good and choose death over life once and for all. The only one who can help you with magic is yourself.

You do your best to confirm Aleksander’s rumors, but seeing as you are not the one with the stag’s connection, you can only pick up when his mind is briefly torn between locations, not what he’s seeing nor if they are real. The only thing you can do is seek out the other end of the connection. You have to find Alina.

Aleksander took a while to accept this when you first brought up the idea to him. He argued that both of you going on a wild goose chase to hunt down the Sun Summoner would risk the safety of your recovered Grisha. The answer is that only one of you can go, and seeing as Aleksander is the one who has known these Grisha the longest, you suggested that he stay here while you seek out Alina.

He had not liked that either. Whenever the two of you part ways, you have a habit of running away from him for anywhere between weeks to centuries. You had laughed when he mentioned that, and swore that you no longer wanted to be separated. Loneliness doesn’t suit you, nor him. At the end of the day, he agreed to let you go, but only after making you swear that you would hurry back as soon as possible.

Your scouting trip begins the next morning at dawn. Aleksander’s vision involved glimpses of the sea and churning waves, so you travel to the coast, borrow a boat from a First Army shipyard, and take off. You begin a tracking spell to scour the open seas for Alina’s craft. You watch ribbons of emerald magic soar from the bow of your ship, scattering in all directions in search of the Sun Summoner. Hopefully, they’ll get back to you soon, and then you can report back to Aleksander with the truth of her health or a dead body. Either works for you, you just need certainty.

As you travel farther from the Ravkan shore, however, the skies begin to darken, the wind kicking up with an almost unusual speed. Storms aren’t uncommon on the sea, but it is strange how soon this one descends upon you. You’ve had your fair share of seafaring time in all your centuries, having spent a good few years charting destinations from nation to nation as you reinvented life after life. You’ve seen storms. This one is unnatural.

Lightning flashes, a wave crashes over the railing of your ship and suddenly, you are not alone. The sky lightens enough for you to make out a silhouette standing on the deck, a figure where there had been empty wood before. You raise your hands in preparation to cast a spell as you realize just what it is.

There is a man on the ship. A man, but somehow not, translucent like a spray of water frozen in a human form. He looks at you, and you realize with a shuddering breath that you know him. This is Poseidon, god of the sea, and he died decades before your mother.

Yet here he stands before you now, perhaps not in corporeal flesh but still here, a spirit attached to a physical form. This should not be possible, but your eyes do not deceive you.

You incline your head quickly. “Lord Poseidon.” It may have been years since you have greeted a god, but that does not mean they will be any less willing to overlook the normal respects paid to immortals.

Eyes still fixed on the boards of your ship, you flinch when you hear him speak. It is his voice, the memory of it still lingers in your head even if distorted through water and sea foam. It rattles against your temples, trying to force its way into your mind like a spell. “Rise, child.”

You hesitantly raise your gaze, but Poseidon remains there nonetheless, refusing to vanish like a mirage into the waves around you. “How are you here?” You gasp out.

His gaze hardens. Poseidon was one of the eldest gods; you had forgotten what it was like to be so close to that much power. In one flash of his eyes, you can feel a tidal wave building strong enough to wipe out a city, an earthquake capable of cleaving the very ground in two. “You wished us gone forever, did you not? We have been trying to reach you for quite some time, daughter of Hecate. You refuse to listen to us.”

You shake your head slowly. “I mourned you. All of you. I prayed for you to come back, and you did not answer me then. I am making a new world, one that will not kill its heroes like it murdered you. Why would any of you have a problem with that?”

Poseidon stalks forward, dark brows furrowing. His visage is stony, as if cut from the very abyss of the ocean itself. He frightened you as a child, you remember hiding behind your mother whenever he came to pay a visit. He still has that effect on you now, but this time, you keep your back straight and eyes locked on his.

“You go about this the wrong way,” he spits. “You make a monster of yourself. All of the Hellenids are kept in place by you. Our memory rests on your shoulders. We wanted a hero, daughter of Hecate, someone to finally bury our legacy with all the glory we deserve. You are letting that son of darkness twist your mind.”

Your hands curl into fists by your sides. “You have no right to question my judgment. You died, all of you, because you stuck to the old ways. Maybe I’ve changed, but it’s what’s keeping me alive. If you wanted a better hero, you should have survived long enough to keep them safe.”

Posideon glares, great and terrible god. “You would do well to heed our warnings, Hecari. Even ghosts have power. Remember this.”

He raises his arm, and the entire sea comes to life around him. You watch with horrified eyes as the waves grow at a breakneck pace, reaching up so high you think they might drench the sun itself. All at once, they come crashing down towards you, an entire sea of water plummeting right on top of your ship. Your eyes close just before the water hits you, and the darkness swallows you whole.

It takes a while to open your eyes. Consciousness comes back slowly, running out before you like an athlete in a contest. You realize that you are lying down, and when you are able to carefully raise your eyelids, you recognize the scene around you as your room in Aleksander’s base. You have no memory of making it back from your ship to this place. In fact, you have no memory of surviving Poseidon’s message.

You look to your side and see Aleksander seated there, hands clasped as if in a prayer. You want to tell him that it is not worth the effort, but he seems too relieved that you’re alive to care about the nuances of trying to properly reach the gods.

He reaches out to take your hand. “How do you feel?”

You swallow to clear your salt-dry throat before speaking. “Fine. What happened?”

Aleksander sighs. “That’s exactly what I would like to know. My scouts found your ship a matter of hours after you took off. They say you were lying on the deck, completely unconscious and unresponsive to their attempts to wake you. They thought you dead. So did I.”

You can imagine that scene quite well. Aleksander in his study, already worrying about whether or not you would come back to him, only for his scouts to race in with a story of finding your fallen body. It would not go over well for anyone involved.

“So they brought me back, then,” you murmur, “that does clear a few things up.”

His grip tightens on your hand, but he forces himself to relax. “What did you see out there? Did she do this to you?”

You shake your head slowly. “No. No, not Alina. It was–” Your voice cuts off painfully, and it takes a few moments to regain your strength enough to continue. “I saw him. I saw Posideon. He spoke to me.”

Aleksander’s brow furrows. “Impossible. Your gods are dead. They cannot reach us.”

You let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. “I know. That’s what I thought all this time, but I know what I saw. He was there, Aleksander. He was there, and he warned me that if I stuck to this path, I would risk the wrath of the gods.”

Aleksander seems just as confused as you are. “Why would he care? He abandoned you in death.”

“The Hellenids are a dead race,” you answer him. “They get their strength from memory, their power from their permanence in the cultural consciousness. If I ruin their legacy by making the streets run red with otkazat’sya blood, their image is tainted. That impacts how they live out their afterlife in the Underworld. It permanently alters their spirits.”

Aleksander’s voice is a low growl. “They shouldn’t have died, then.”

A weak smile tugs at the corners of your lips. “That’s what I told him, actually, but he didn’t take to that all too well.”

Aleksander glances at your interlocked hands, then back at you. “Forget him. If all Poseidon can do is issue threats from the Underworld, there is nothing he can do to stop you. We are remaking the world, my love. We are changing the progression of fate. We are better than your gods.”

“That we are,” you decide. “He can only offer advice. We will keep going. If he tried to stop me, it means Alina truly is somewhere out there and he was trying to hide her existence from me. We can train our troops, pursue your visions. Has David made any progress?”

Something dark flashes across Aleksander’s face, and you frown. “Has something happened?”

“David’s gone,” Aleksander mutters through gritted teeth, “He waited until you had left and tried to run. Genya led him out.”

Your eyes briefly flicker shut with disappointment. Genya had been smart to wait until she sensed a weakness to launch her escape. If both you and Aleksander had been present, there was no chance she could leave; there would always be at least one of you close by to keep an eye on them. With you gone and Aleksander subsequently distracted, of course she would seize the opportunity to make a move.

You just regret that David was lost in the process. Although the Durast’s attempts at limiting the extent of Aleksander’s pain had been minimal at best, he was still a brilliant man, and you can only assume that he’s now in the hands of the enemy. You can tell by the newly darkened black lines cracked into Aleksander’s hands, as well as the faint residue of blood on the front of his kefta, that Genya has been subsequently punished.

Punishment will not bring David back, however, nor will it stop the rest of your rescued Grisha from noticing that perhaps the sense of loyalty amongst your soldiers is not at its strongest. Hope is a dangerous thing during a war, you’ve learned, too little of it could cause a hundred men to lose to as few as ten. You need your troops to rally their spirits, to believe in their leaders more than ever before.

You and Aleksander launch a few new assaults on First Army men, bringing in even more refugee Grisha than before. The numbers swell, the attitude at your base improves. That's all you can do for now. It takes everything in you to keep it together. You saw Posideon. You saw Poseidon. He should be dead. He is dead. Yet he appeared to you anyway, and with a warning no less. The gods do not like to be ignored. This is not something that you can shake all that easily.

Yet shake it you must. Your war is picking up steam now, a fierce wildfire unable to be put out. There is no stopping this, only shaping it, and you refuse to call it all off now. If you could not save your people, at least you can save Aleksander’s. The Grisha deserve a world that will protect them. If you must snuff out some of the nonbelievers, well, every war has its costs. This is yours.

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