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somehow-a-human · 1 month

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Whose POV is it anyway?

An Introduction

DO NOT ASK NEIL ABOUT FAN THEORY

Cracking down on the storytelling of Good Omens season 2 through the lens of a changing narrator.

If you haven't read this interview with Good Omens cinematographer Gavin Finney, and you're interested in the fantastic dedication and detail that went into this TV show, definitely give it a read. Not only is it lovely, but Neil also posted the article with a caption mentioning that it's got so many secrets in it. Obviously that made me take a closer look.

I have already gone into a fair bit of detail about the different Lens Filters that Finney mentions in the article in a separate post and I will be referring to them quite a bit so if you aren't familiar with them I would suggest reading that first!

This first post is going to cover the basics of changing narrator/POV's and I'll be writing additional posts for separate episodes/minisodes/scenes since there's obviously way too much to cover in a single go. So shall we take our first look?

It's no secret that something's a *bit weird* with season two, and there are SO many theories about it. I love to read speculation, metas, theories, and opinions, it's definitely fun but my personal ideas align more with the idea that we're simply being shown the events of season 2 through the memories of multiple narrators, different POV's, and it slightly skews the story, sometimes within one continuous scene.

I am also a sucker for a good multiple timeline theory but that isn't this post.

Lens Filters

As I stated above, I wrote a post about each of these individual filters earlier. What I didn't go into in that post was speculation about the filters. While I think they're pretty straightforward, especially the filter for hell (Black Pro-Mist ((BPM)), I think the other two have a bit more room for speculation.

Bronze Glimmer Glass

BGG was described by Finney as being used for 'bookshop scenes', but after S2 back numerous times and paying as much attention as I could to the lighting and colouring of the scenes, I think this is generally true but not always true. There are times when bookshop scenes seem to use a different filter, and other locations also seem to be shot with the BGG filter as well. I think BGG aligns with Aziraphale's POV. Or if Not Aziraphale, an outside-of-Crowley narrator? Based on the scenes (which we'll specifically get into in other posts) which BGG seems to be used, context clues, character behavior, etc, I think BGG clues us in that we're seeing, if you will, through Aziraphale's eyes.

Black Diffusion FX

BDFX was described as being used for 'Crowley's present day storyline' and fuck me, that's not ominous or weirdly phrased at all Mr. Finney! This filter definitely aligns with Crowley. Most of the time he's separate from Aziraphale it seems that this is the filter being used, and certain scenes switch filters mid-scene when he begins to go off on snarky Crowley-centric commentary.

Catch-22 & Herzog

The books on Gabriels bookshelf, great books obviously, but I think books that are also meant to give us context about the story. Pride and Prejudice is a love story about making snap judgements on someone's character, and coming to recognize somebody might be good despite their title or appearance. The Crow Road is a story about life, death, love, morality, mystery, and God. 1984 details the tragedy of Julia and Winston's attempt at falling in love while living under in a police state. You see my point?

That's why I wanted to touch a bit more on Catch-22 and Herzog specifically when talking about the possibility of changing narrators/POV's in Good Omens 2.

Catch-22 frequently switches narrator and the events described are often not necessarily sequential. This way you're getting information about previous scenes as the story continues, so while you're reading the book you're forming a more complete image of the events as the story continues from different characters POV's and iterations of the story. Sound relevant?

Herzog is the other book I wanted to talk about. To be fair I haven't read Herzog in full like I have Catch-22 but I pulled out my copy to reference and flip through a bit to remind myself. Herzog unlike Catch-22 doesn't switch narrators but the narration by the main character, Herzog himself, switches between first and third person throughout. When he is narrating through his letters, you get a deeper look at his thought processes and emotions. It also relies on flashbacks to bring context to the life of Herzog.

While these books touch on other elements that are relevant to the Good Omens story, namely Yossarian's relationship and views of God in Catch-22, the way these stories are told intrigued me for this context.

Crowley's Hair

Yeah I'm gonna mention the hair, because I think the hair is linked. Crowley's shorter sideburns, trimmed mutton chops in the 1827 flashback, and shorter Job wig seem to be clearly aligned with the BDFX filter/Crowley's POV as far as I can tell. I don't know if this means it's just another way to denote POV, but it seems way too consistent not to mention it. The longer sideburns, fuller mutton chops, and longer Job wig all match up with Aziraphale's POV or the BGG filter. My thoughts here are that his hair is another hint of who may be relaying the information to us, AKA is it internal or external. I am making my best guesses though and there are still some situations that I feel less sure about. For example, when Aziraphale takes the Bentley to Edinburgh and Crowley is in the Bookshop with Jim his sideburns are long, is it because he's remembering these scenes unreliably? Is Aziraphale imagining the events? Is it because Jim is present? A brief fluttering thought I toy with from time to time is the fact that in the before-the-beginning scene they are long, and what that means in context of the rest of the season.

S2 Promo Posters

Finally this set of season 2 promo posters showing the characters thoughtfully considering scenes in their heads just gives me a lot of these POV vibes.

I'm planning on doing individual posts for specific scenes, episodes, and minisodes that require detailed breakdowns. I'll update this list with links as the posts are finished!

POV "Your 'Something's Wrong' Voice"

POV a Trip to Hell and a 25 Lazarii Miracle

POV a Companion to Owls

POV The Dirty Donkey & I think I Found a *Clue*!

POV Bodysnatchers & Cosplaying a bookseller

POV 1941

POV The Ball

POV The End?

Whose POV is it Anyway - a Conclusion

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bad-and-drawn-that-way · 2 months

Note

HEAR ME OUT- DUMBIFICATION, DEGRADATION AND PRAISE WITH VOX

THOUGHTS??

I also have a headcanon request that I'll do separately in list form! This is actually a scene from a scrapped multi-chapter fic idea I had for a secretary reader. As to why it was scrapped, I didn't know how to finish it so I ✨gave up! ✨

Ngl this is actually only half of the scene, there's scraps of this whole extra kinky round-two thing with some casual exhibitionism, but we'll see how this does first. That being said, enjoy!

At Your Service [Vox x Secretary Reader] NSFW AS FUCK

(NSFW writing under the cut. Minors stay away <3)

It was an early morning like any other. Vox is sitting at his desk, looking over the paperwork he had from yesterday. It’s far too early and his bougie oversized office offered little comfort as you sleepily walked in. Hearing the door open, Vox looked up and smirked as he noticed the coffee in your hand.

"Good morning." he greeted you, motioning to a chair for you to take a seat.

"Morning," you smile a bit tiredly as you enter the room. You were never much of a morning person. Once the initial adrenaline of stepping out of your house had burned out, you needed the extra caffeine boost to keep your energy going.

A yawn slipped past your lips as you sat in the chair across from his desk.

"Wimp," Vox chuckled, poking fun at your inability to start a morning as early as him. It had become a regular topic of banter that started most of your work mornings together.

"Capitalist cocksucker," you wave him off. "Not everyone can be up at the ass crack of dawn in a freshly pressed suit, Sir. A few more sips of this stuff and I'll be good to go." You say as you lift your coffee to your lips.

You hum and lick some foam off your lip as you pull out your laptop. "Any changes to today's agenda I need to know about?" you ask him.

Vox smirked, rolling his eyes as he pulled up one of the hundreds of tabs he had open on his computer. "I can tell you're still a bit tired, but if you're sure... " he paused for a moment, glancing over his schedule."Yes, actually. There has been a small change to the overall plan. We're going to be running a new campaign today, so I'll need you to be ready to assist with that."

"What would you like me to oversee?

"I want you to be over on the promotion side for this new campaign," he said as he looked up from his paperwork. "Make sure that we get maximum visibility on this. The security system may have been a spur-of-the-moment idea, but it could bring in huge fucking numbers if we pull it off. I want as many people as possible to know about it and twice as many sales as views minimum.”

You nod, take notes, and start writing an email draft to get meetings scheduled. "Do you want the visual hypnosis team to work on the campaign or the auditory team?" It was common knowledge that Vox had hypnotic abilities, but it was less common to know how it had been incorporated throughout his entire company. Inductions were slipped into nearly every advertisement, program, and product that the company made.

"Have both of the hypnosis teams work on it," he answered. "We'll have the visual team focus primarily on the advertising for the campaign, and the audial team will work on creating the sounds and audio to slip in. We want this to be a very effective campaign, so the more hypnotic technology we can put into work, the better."

You stop typing, looking up at him incredulously. “Are you sure? The last time we doubled down on inductions we had to do that whole cover story to explain why half of hell turned into braindead zombies for a week.”

“It’ll be fine,” Vox waved off your concerns. “That was years ago and we’re better at this shit now. We can always blame it on Alastor somehow if shit goes wrong.”

You nod along, "If you’re sure. I've personally been incredibly susceptible to the combination, so forgive me if I don’t watch any of your programs for the next month," you say idly without thinking.

You didn’t notice as Vox paused. You didn’t notice the toothy grin that could have prepared you for what was to come either. "How susceptible were you previously to hypnosis?"

You nod along, not listening to his question as you finish sending the email to the hypnosis teams. Your brain catches up with you as you hit send and you freeze like a deer in the headlights. The look on your flushed face was priceless and Vox would have burst out laughing if he wasn’t so invested in hearing your answer. "I, uh.." you look away from him, "I was focused and said too much out loud. You weren't supposed to hear that."

His eyes were still on you, a clear look of curiosity flashing across his expression.

"You're right, I wasn't supposed to hear that,” He grinned. “But you said it and you’re not getting out of this that easily. You said that you are quite susceptible?"

You cringe, knowing you couldn't dodge a direct question from your boss. Even if he was an ass and an absolute man-child. "I..." you bite your lip curling in on yourself and crossing your legs as you take a sudden great interest in your laptop. "Yeah, I may have... experimented a bit."

His eyebrows raised, and he leaned slightly over to get a better look at you.

"Experiments?" he spoke softly. "What type of experiments?"

You sputter, your entire body flushing as you stammer out a panicked reply, "I, ah, um.. don't know if that would be a-appropriate to um.."

He chuckled slightly, now seeming rather amused by your reaction. "I assure you, I've heard much worse than whatever you may be worried about telling me."

"E-even so," you try to reason. "It's embarrassing. It's one thing to do it, it's another to tell your boss about it."

His eyebrows raised further. "You've done hypnotic experiments on yourself, and you're embarrassed to tell me about it?” He chuckles and rests his screen on his hand. “Yeah, no. You’re not getting out of this. What exactly did you do?"

You stare at him, before sighing and opening up a blank document. It was too mortifying to say out loud. He may have the power to squeeze the information out of you for his entertainment, but you’d be damned if you gave him the satisfaction of saying it out loud. You silently type up that you've tried being hypnotized both sober and when high and how you had done free-use edging with a group while high and hypnotized. Without a word you turn the laptop around so he can read it, your face on fire as you look anywhere but at him.

He had been expecting something a bit more tame, but now he was intrigued. It seemed that you had quite the mind on you to explore such risky topics. When he finished reading it, he raised his eyebrows even further, seemingly somewhat impressed.

"Well, I'll be damned," he commented. "That's not what I expected... What made you wanna try such things?"

"I like the feeling of it," you muttered as you turned the laptop around and promptly deleted the damning text.

His eyebrows raised a bit, intrigued. "You like the feeling of being hypnotized? You like letting someone else be in control of you?"

You pressed your lips together, blushing hard as he asked his question.

"Is that a yes then?" he inquired, his grin growing as the pixels under his mouth went dead. "You don't want to give me a straight answer, but the way you're stuttering and blushing makes it pretty clear that you do."

"S-Shut up," you bite back at his call-out as you finally look back at him.

Vox laughs as he just keeps winning the game he’d caught you in. "I think I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

"Y-Yes, sir." You say, cringing as you realize that sounded completely different given the topic compared to when you usually called him that during work hours.

He chuckled again, finding your response more than a bit amusing. "Well then, I take it that you have no issues with me being in complete control over you, then?"

You would combust into flames if you could. Your legs clenched together as you took in his question. You looked down at your laptop, stammering as you felt yourself quickly slipping into his grasp. "T-The campaign-"

"Yes, yes, yes," he interrupts you, seeming rather amused by this. "We'll talk about the campaign after that. I'm more interested in how much control you're willing to give up to me right here and now."

"I..." you pause, staring down at your hands clenched on top of your laptop. Were you really about to do this? Fuck it.

You look up at him and nod.

A grin appeared on his face as you nodded, even more amused now that this little bit was going exactly the way he had hoped. The two of you had flirted here and there, but never anything more than the occasional passing comment. If anything, it had just been a part of the playful and teasing game you’d be playing together for the past few months with you as his assistant.

He had no idea if you had ever truly noticed his advances or the way he’d stare at your ass in that pencil skirt you always wore during meeting days. But now he had the chance to unravel every last secret that’d been out of reach. Vox was nothing if not an opportunist.

"Good girl," he said softly. "Are you ready for me to control you now?"

You stand, going to place your phone and laptop on a nearby table. You stop and take a shaky breath, smoothing out your pencil skirt. You turn and walk back to him, this time hesitating instead of simply sitting in the chair across from his desk.

"Yes."

He smiles at your obedience and hesitation, noting the way that you smoothed down your skirt. You had already given up quite a lot of control to him, and it seemed that it was just going to be even easier from this point on.

"Then come here," he said softly, motioning for you to do so.

Your heart was pounding hard in your chest and you felt how hot your cheeks were as you stepped forward and moved to stand before him. His attention had been on every part of you, taking in every inch of you. He didn’t have to sneak in glances like before, he could just take it all in on his own time. He was enjoying the way that he seemed to be able to control you with a seemingly simple command. And to think he’d barely lifted a finger.

His eyes moved downwards as you stood in front of him, and his expression became a bit more serious than mere amusement.

"Let your skirt fall to your ankles," he instructed.

You practically shivered at the command, screaming internally at how embarrassed you felt and yet squirming at how just a short command from him was enough to send sparks through your body.

Your face flushed as you slowly undid the zipper on the side of your hip, taking a sharp breath before letting the fabric fall to the floor. You hugged yourself as you looked to the side, stepping out of your skirt and standing half-exposed in front of him.

He couldn't help but smirk as you did exactly as he commanded. Your legs were now exposed, and he noted how they were quivering slightly.

"Good girl," he smirked. "Now, let's step this up."

"But you’re still wearing too much. Let’s move on to your top next, shall we?" he suggested with a spark of playful amusement.

Oh god, was he really going to make you do this? It would have been one thing if he had been the one undressing you, but the fact he was making you do it for him like this was going to be the double death of you. You shakily undo the buttons of your blouse, trying to keep your heart rate under control as you pull it over your head and let it fall to the floor by your skirt.

You look at Vox, hoping he’d finally have some mercy and touch you himself, but he only lazily drags his gaze over your body with a hum of approval. "And finally?"

You were only left in your bra, underwear, sheer black thigh-high tights, and your heels. You felt incredibly vulnerable in his large office. Anyone could come in through the door and the windows that overlooked the city suddenly felt far more exposing than they ever had before.

You could see the spark of excitement begin to rise in him as you bit your lip and paused. Your hesitation was only making this a bit more exciting for him. He could hardly keep up the playful mask when his claws were threatening to tear into the armrest of his chair.

"Go on... " he said softly and slowly, his voice now beginning to become a bit huskier.

You took another shaky breath as you slowly reached back to unclasp your bra. You shook just knowing he was looking at you. That he was pursuing this. It made you hyper-aware in every way as you tossed the garment to the side and then finally stepped out of your underwear.

His gaze on your body was intense once more, seeming to take in every inch of you. He could not stop himself from being intrigued by your body and by just how vulnerable you were right now.

Your shaking was making it even more enticing to him. "Good girl," he said softly. You move to undo the garter and roll down your tights, when he stops you. Leave those. They’re perfect.” The dead pixels under his mouth might as well have been drool with the way his eyes hungrily took in the sight of the tights pressing into your skin so perfectly.

“Are you ready to move on to the last step?"

You take a deep breath before lowering to your knees in front of him and nodding. You'd never done anything like this with a single person, finding it so much easier in a group. His lone, laser focus on you made you feel every twitch and spark and overwhelmed you in the best of ways.

"Yes, Sir."

He looked down at you once more, this time taking in all of your body as you were now kneeling, your hands resting on his chair.

"Now..." he said quietly as he reached down in a rare moment of tenderness as he lifted your chin. "I want to ask you a very simple question, but you must answer honestly. Do you enjoy this? Do you enjoy giving up your control to me?"

The smallest moan slips past your lips without your permission. Despite your embarrassment, you answer truthfully. “Yes. I love it a lot, actually.."

He smirked at the moan and the truth in your words. You were enjoying this... he could tell. You truly loved giving up your control to him. And he loved taking it.

"Good girl," he said with a soft chuckle at your veracity. "Very, very good girl. You enjoy letting me take c̶o̸m̶p̴l̶e̵t̵e̵ control of you, don't you?"

You take a deep breath, feeling your body relax a bit as you feel a bit of yourself give into him as you finally gather the nerve to look him in the eye. "Yes, Sir."

His expression seemed to shift a bit as you gave in even more. His amusement was more apparent now, as he now had you exactly where he wanted you.

"I love that you enjoy this so much," he said softly. "Does it make it more fun for you to know that you are pleasing me?"

You nod, shifting on your knees. "It does," you say earnestly. "Your approval isn't something easy to earn."

The slight shift you made was enough to cause him to smirk once more. Every time you moved, he would find something new about you that appealed to him.

"I approve of this tremendously," he grinned. "It is obvious that you enjoy giving up your control over me and letting me take control of you. It is clear that you enjoy giving me pleasure."

You let out a hot breath, your eyes darting down to between his legs as he mentioned giving him pleasure. You weren’t subtle about it either. Vox chuckled, amused more now than any other time during the interactions you two have had so far. You whine, your fists clenching where they rested on top of your thighs. Your chest shifted with every movement as you waited for his instruction.

"So eager," he breathed. He reached down and tucked your hair behind your ear as he committed the view to memory. "Go on, then,” he purred. “Show me what you’re willing to do for this.”

"I'm happy to give you a demonstration," you say to him with a smirk. Vox chuckled, happy to see some of your usual sass seep into the moment. He just knew you had a bratty side to you. The duality of how eager you seemed to submit and that bit of knowledge filled him with anticipation for all the different sides of you he wanted to see.

You scoot forward and reach for the zipper of his slacks. You chuckle as his breath hitches when you slowly pull down. He moans softly as your hand only continues following a path down as you palm him slowly over his slacks. There was already a bulge formed there that made you twitch with delight.

Looking up, you see Vox watching you with wide eyes. The smirk on his face only grew larger as you slowly pulled down his slacks and boxers You could feel the heat of his gaze on you, his breath becoming more and more audible with every slow movement.

You hum with pleasure as you focus your attention on his half-hard cock in your hand. It was easier to let go and forget your insecurities when you had him in front of you like this. For as much as you’d fantasized about him, you had never dared to dream you’d find yourself in this situation with him. You lean down and use your hand to slowly pump him before you lock eyes with him and lick a trail across the underside of his cock.

“F̷̮͛u̷̞͗c̵̹̈́k̸̝̎i̷̝͝n̶̗̎g̷̭͒ hell,” Vox swore, his grip on his chair tightening. His breath got increasingly more audible, his throat hoarse from his attempts at restraining any noise he might make. He’d been dreaming of this for far too long. He had you pegged all wrong. He always thought you were innocent. Flirty, but he couldn’t truly imagine you’d have a side like this. You always seemed too pure despite your sass. How happy was he, to be proven wrong.

"Good girl," Vox huskily breathed as his fingers tangled in your hair.

You lower down to press a kiss to the head of his cock. He hissed as you sucked lightly and collected his pre-cum on your tongue. You let your tongue loll out for a moment to show him before you lower yourself and take him in your mouth. Your tongue swirls around the tip of him and your fingers dig into his thighs as you bob your head shallowly. You tease him with subtle motions before you start to take his length down your throat in earnest.

Every movement you made only increased the heat of the situation exponentially and Vox found his cool demeanor quickly fading as he panted above you. “F̷̰͠u̵͕̅c̵̠̓k̸̞͊i̵̢͊n̵͓̅g̷̤̃ ̶̠̋ḫ̵̑e̵̩̾l̶̦͋l̶̩͆,” he gasped as your tongue lapped at the base of his cock. How the fuck were you doing that when he was jammed past your non-existent gag reflex?

You hummed around him, your eyes watering as you choked on him. He could see the mirth in your eyes and he knew you’d be teasing him with a snarky remark if you weren’t too busy drooling on his dick like a goddamn champ.

Vox lets out a stuttering breath. As hot as it was, he wasn’t going to let you just get away with keeping your attitude intact. Out of selfish pleasure, he let you continue your ministrations for a moment longer before his fingers tugged at your hair, bringing your attention back to him.

You let him pull you off of his member, your tongue hanging out as you catch your breath and smile dumbly at him. His expression remained very much one of satisfaction and admiration as he observed you. That dumbly, innocent smile of yours was rather endearing to him, as it went hand in hand with the way you were acting.

"You really are quite the little showstopper, aren’t you?" he said quietly as he took in your porn-quality face. He idly wondered how the hell you ended up working for him and not Valentino. He was not about to complain about the unexpected victory.

You hummed happily, letting yourself go more for him. It was such a stark contrast to how tense you were when you were working. He'd never seen this side of you before and he hadn't even hypnotized you yet.

He had now realized just why you got so tense when he approached you with that offer. You enjoyed this in such a way that it was almost intoxicating, that it was almost addictive. It was a stark contrast to the version of you he knew that strived for greatness and top results at all times. You must have been so wound up from it all that you just whiplashed into the complete opposite frame of mind to release.

If you were already like this in front of him, then what would you be like after he had you completely under his control?

You nod, smirking as some drool fell to your chest from when you had your mouth on him moments ago.” What can I say?” you say teasingly. “Oral fixations keep a girl eager.”

Vox grinned with the look of a hungry predator as his eyes roamed all over you. Every god damned inch.

“You actually want this, don’t you?” He chuckled. “You want me to turn you into a brain-dead d̶͈͊ȍ̴̪l̵̺͊ḽ̸̏.”

"Please," you whisper as you look up at him with pleading eyes.

You could see the hunger within his eyes as you said that single fucking word. It didn’t take lifting a single finger for you to desperately plead for his control. You’d been wanting this just as bad as he had. The whole goddamned time. Vox buried his face in his hands and you looked at him with concern. You couldn’t see the way he grinned or feel how his body trembled slightly. You could only gasp as your vision was filled with black and red spirals when he lowered his hands and looked at you with a wicked grin.

You sit back on your knees, your eyelids growing heavy as your mouth falls open. Your body felt like it was floating and it was enough to make you feel like you were high. The hypnotic effect of his demonic abilities was how he'd reached the powerful position of an overlord. Even if you hadn't been so susceptible, you would have been powerless under his gaze as a normal person.

Any hypnosis you’d experienced before took many sessions of induction. It took a bond, trust, and a lot of mental bandwidth to be so vulnerable. But Vox could just drop you at a whim. And the pull of his tide dragging you under was stronger than anything you’d ever succumbed to before.

You were blissfully unaware as Vox’s expression shifted into feral joy. Your submission. This control. It was all his for the taking. You were giving him everything he’d ever craved and he could already tell that once he properly tasted this power, he’d never want to let go. He’d become an addict, for sure.

Your mind and body felt like they were floating. All you could see was Vox as your empty and needy self waited for his command. Your body felt almost weightless now, every sense and thought centered solely on him. His commands were all that you cared about now, his desires were now like law to you, and your body, empty as it was, only had one desire.

"I want you to do as I ask without question, do you understand?" he asked, his voice shaking with delight and raw hunger.

"Yes," you sigh, your every breath feeling heavy as you’re pulled deeper under his spell.

He had already gotten you to admit you were a submissive slut and he already got you to strip for him. All before he had even used his power on you. Now? Now, he could make you do or tell him anything he wanted. You were his.

"Good girl," he grinned. "I want you to stand up and walk over to that door over there," he said, pointing to one of the nearby doors to the room. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," you say calmly. Whereas before your embarrassment left you feeling exposed, you now felt relaxed and light. Your embarrassment and insecurities didn’t exist under Vox’s control. There was only the need to satisfy him and be blessed with ecstasy in return.

You walked over to the door in nothing but your sheer thigh-high tights and heels. You place both of your hands on the door and stand with your hips out, waiting for Vox.

Vox glitched hard and admired the way that you followed these commands so easily. This was his. He found himself growing more addicted and possessive by the second. His mind was already buzzing with all the ways he could mold you to his every need and desire. He’d never felt so in control of another person like this and it satiated a dark craving in him.

"Now, I want you to take off those tights and throw them over to me."

You bend over in front of him, fully exposed, yet carefree as you peel off your tights and hand them to him with a relaxed look on your face. Vox sparked again as he got a full view of your need for him. Once your tights were off, you handed them over to him calmly. All you could think about was pleasing him and satisfying him. Your anxiety and self-conscious tendencies were washed away.

Vox ordered you to put your hands behind your back. He grinned and tied your wrists together with one of the stockings. He snatched your underwear from the forgotten bundle of clothing by his desk and made you open your mouth for him. He stuffed them in and used the other stocking to tie around your mouth.

Now that you were completely bound, your mind was completely free to focus on the feelings and sensations you were experiencing. He dropped the hypnotic spell on you and you gasped into your gag as your mind cleared and he pushed you forward so your face and tits were flush against the door. You shuddered hard and let out a broken moan as his palm rubbed against your leaking cunt.

Vox grinned and leaned down to speak by your ear as he slid his fingers in. “You have n̷͙̈o̷̹̎ idea how much I can’t wait to fucking d̷̲͆e̶̗͘s̴̳̈t̸͚̆r̷͎͒o̸͙͊ỹ̸̝ ̸̞̉y̷̰̓ǒ̵̦u̵̬͂.”

Your gasps and moans were muffled by the fabric in your mouth and you pushed against him as he roughly played with you. His hand slammed your head against the door and held you in place as his fingers curled and scissored inside of your sloppy heat. Tears pricked your eyes as your heart and mind raced. You were completely vulnerable to him, but now your embarrassment was rearing his head at the worst (b̴̼̊è̶͔s̶͜͝t̶̹̽) possible moment.

The chance that there could be anyone on the other side of the door had you thrashing desperately against Vox’s ministrations. Vox delighted in your internal struggle and couldn’t help himself as his claws dug into the back of your hair so he could pull you back hard. “I’m going to make sure e̶͖͌v̷̞͐e̶͈̽r̶̡̂y̸̨͊o̵̤̚n̴̦̈́e̴̥͌ ̵͜͠k̵̜̔n̷̝̈́ǒ̷̮w̷͎̅s̸͓̈́ who̸̩͂ ̶͔̀y̸͎̐ő̸̳u̸̗͊ ̶̞̏f̶͎̔u̷̠̅ć̵͈k̶͙̚i̴̜̿n̸̘͐g̷̨̿ ̸͔̌ belong to,” he growled as he lifted one of your legs and slipped himself inside of you.

Your eyes rolled back and you screamed into your gag as he slipped in and out of you with ease. He’d been so hard from the build-up of it all and you were literally dripping for him by this point. Vox growled and lost control as he picked up the pace of his actions, moving you around to different areas of the office and fucking you in as many positions as possible. He wanted you exposed. He wanted you defenseless. He wanted you marked in the blood and bruises of his ownership. He wanted to ḋ̴̥ó̶̰m̵̯̕i̷̗͗n̴͈̽a̵̱̒t̶̤̎ȇ̸͚ you. And he would.

Neither of you could keep track of the amount of times you’d come. Your mixed desire was dripping from your cunt as he’d buried himself deep inside of you every time one of you peaked. This was all he wanted. That was all you wanted. No more thinking, no more emotions, just the sheer fucking pleasure.

Your eyes rolled back into your head as you cried from how good he made you feel. He knew how to unravel you into nothing more than a babbling mess with every clever touch and command. It was becoming too much and yet you felt like you wanted more of it. You were overwhelmed as you felt yourself quickly approaching an orgasm.

“That’s it,” Vox growled as he fucked you against his desk. He chuckled darkly as he smacked your ass. “Fucking do it, c̴͖͆o̵͕͋m̷̟̉ẽ̵̞.”

You threw your head back and screamed as your entire body convulsed around him. You couldn't do anything but take his relentless thrusts as he pounded you into the desk. Vox growled, nearly on the verge of cumming himself when he suddenly rips himself off of you. You let out a muffled sob as you clench around nothing.

Your entire world is suddenly filled with bright blue electricity as you feel everything shift suddenly. You almost fall, but are caught by Vox’s hands. You squint as your eyes adjust to the sudden change of lighting and Vox undoes the gag around your mouth as you realize you’re now in his surveillance room.

Your eyes go wide and you gasp and you see yourself on the monitors with Vox crouched over you. Every screen was showing a live feed of you from several different angles, showing how vulnerable you were in this situation. The footage of you was quite an entertaining sight for Vox as his wires came out of nowhere and threw you onto his chair.

"V-Vox,” you gasp as you look up at him with wide eyes. The overlord’s grin stretches wide as he grabs onto your shaking legs.

It was the first time you'd actually used his name.

At work, you were professional. In his office, you were playful. However now that he had you in his lair, he would mark a new side of you… Here, you were your true self, fully and utterly submissive. Here was his favorite.

You couldn't help but moan shamelessly as he lifted you with his cables and sat in the chair beneath you. You threw your head back with a scream as he dropped you onto his cock and turned the chair so you had an eyeful of each and every monitor with your shameful display recorded.

You moan as you bounce yourself on him, meeting every one of his feral thrusts. Your mind was completely gone. Every grunt and growl that slipped from his lips only fueled your need. The marks on your hips and back from where his sharp nails clawed in burned just as deliciously as the stretch of him inside you.

Pain and pleasure all in one were now filling your mind. His grunts and growls were becoming louder, as were yours. You couldn't control it. This situation was pushing you further and further toward the edge.

You leaned into him, gasping as he made you lose your mind.

"P-please." You begged.

"Beg for it," he said growled, "Beg f̸̼̑ó̶̙r̴̠̀ ̵̫́m̴̡̾è̸̼."

You moan low as you desperately plead with him. "Please Vox, plus fucking break me! Please please please, Sir, please I'll be good. I'll do anything, please, Sir, fucking please!"

"You'll do anything for me," he said, with a grin on his face as he saw you getting more desperate with your plea. The red recording symbol on all of the screens wasn’t enough to make you see the incoming danger. You were too overwhelmed with the pleasure quaking through your body as Vox pumped into your sloppy cunt.

Your entire body shook hard as his movements suddenly stopped. A long whine of frustration and the roll of your hips made Vox grin. You were so desperate for him in the moment, you didn't notice the gravity of the position you were in.

"Fucking please don’t stop, I'll do anything Vox, please," you begged as you desperately rutted against him.

"I'm going to give you exactly what you want," he grinned as he whispered in your ear. "If you do everything I say from now on, then I'll give you everything you want. Sound like a deal?"

You sob, nodding rapidly against him. "Fuck, please, yes! It's a deal, so please!"

Vox suddenly thrusts up into you hard, making you scream as the room flashes with electricity. The deal was made and the pact was sealed.

"Good girl," he said quietly and calmly, as he pet your hair.

His grin was downright sinister as he pulled your head back.

"You're mine now."

Your eyes went wide as you realized the gravity of what you had just done in the heat of the moment. "Wait, I-" you gasp as you're cut off as Vox starts to mercilessly pound into your heat.

"I heard what you said," he grins as his claws dig into your hips and draw blood. "I heard it a̸̩̎l̴͚͗l̷̖̓.. And I'm going to hold you to e̵̻̐v̶͎͌é̵͉r̶͕͊y̷̳̍ word of that agreement."

If you thought Vox was rough before, it was nothing compared to how he used you now. He tossed you around like a toy and you sobbed as he broke you.

Your eyes were crossed as you screamed and took everything he had to give you. "Vox, Vox, Sir, fucking please!" You babbled, practically worshipping how he destroyed you now that he owned your soul. It was too good to care about the consequences. It was too much. All you could think of was how badly you needed him.

Your screams and moans were now all he could hear as you completely lost it. He was using everything that he could to break you and he seemed to enjoy every second of it. He was doing you dirty, but it was also exactly what you desired. All you wanted now was his approval, as he completely controlled and dominated you in body and spirit.

#vox x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vox #this shit is DEPRAVED #that being said the second half i had drafted was even more feral than this #this was the WARMUP

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roz-ani · 3 months

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One issue I don't quite get and want to briefly comment on is the idea that Alastor has to be either an old-school villain who's just evil for the sake of being evil, or more of an antagonist with actual depth, emotions, and traumatic backstory to explain his actions, letting the audience relate to him. I think we're going to extremes here. We don't have to go, "Oh, I understand why he would do that". The main goal is for us to say, "Oh, so that's his deal".

While we don't know exactly what Alstor's deal is, what the exact terms of his contract are etc., he is, without a doubt, the most complex character in the show. He's in a unique position since he technically helps Charlie achieve her goal, but it's obvious he's in it for selfish reasons, with some grander scheme going on behind the scenes. May he eventually be the one the main cast will have to fight at some point? Sure. Would it be even more fun because he is a part of the said cast? Absolutely.

Let's get one thing straight: Alastor is evil. He's in Hell for a good reason. He's a cannibal and a serial killer. And I know we can absolutely forgive characters for doing the absolute worst, but he is not a good person. And yes, you can like (and simp for) evil characters. (If you think being a fan of intriguing fictional creations makes you a terrible person, you need to get off twitter and tiktok to actually interact with real people.) At the same time, the finale of season 1 simply made it clear that Al does have depth, and that he's going to be a three-dimensional character. Not that his actions are going to be suddenly justified.

But why can't we explore evil characters while enjoying them and letting them be evil? We can. Alastor started his carnage in Hell before making his deal, so it's not the main reason behind his less-than-questionable actions. For now, he's looking for freedom so he can (re)gain power and be in control again. At the same time, he is growing attached to the other characters. I highly doubt he'll be redeemed; we'll just learn more about him, his backstory, and his goals.

Can you even call Al an antagonist? If you ask me, he's more of an anti-hero. Heck, do we know who he is? Not really, and that's the point. He's one of the main characters, but he makes himself separate in both the story and the writing. He's a wild card.

We don't know what's coming for the Radio Demon in season 2. The first one established that there's more to him and that he started growing fond of the other characters, while the finale made Al realise it almost got him killed. He was humiliated and it reminded him even more that he's still under someone else's control. At least, that's how I see it. Alastor may become more sinister as the story progresses, and as he's getting more and more desperate to free himself of the contract. AT THE SAME TIME, he did come back to the Hotel with a smile and consent for a group hug, so it's not like he's going to blow it up in the first episode. He's not against the Hotel itself. He's doing his own thing, knowing that the titular establishment is an inherent part of his story. All paths lead to the Hazbin Hotel. My guess is that he will simply become more active.

Alastor is already a three-dimensional character; there is no doubt about that. But it's not like he's getting reckoned here. I don't really understand where this notion of our Radio Demon being an old-school villain came from in the first place. He's always been a mystery. Okay, maybe in the pilot it was not so clear-cut, and I'll admit, it would be fun to just see the Radio Demon as a powerful entity overlooking the hotel for his own pleasure. Turning him into a villain later on? Meh, depends on what would happen in the story if that were the case. Watching Jack Horner in "Puss in Boots", reminded me how much I missed villains that were not an initial antagonist's evil-incarnate-superior. However, it was quite quickly established that there is more to Alastor. He would have to appear pretty rarely to not go through any character arc in a show with such an ambitious storyline as Hazbin Hotel (and what a delightful character would we lose if that was the direction the writing team would have taken?). I would mention the pacing actually harming that development, but it's clear this is the show's biggest problem, and we just have to take things for granted.

If anything, Alastor is being restrained from being purely evil. To me, he's a combination of both of the character types I mentioned at the beginning, leaning more toward the well-developed anti-hero. Just let evil characters be evil and three-dimensional.

#alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #roz writes #mine

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wolven91 · 9 months

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A Role Reversal

The taurian huffed with her arms crossed, she was inches away from breaking something fragile just to feel better. She was going to be stuck escorting a goddess damned male around, it was the absolute last thing she needed this week.

They were always so flighty, so frustrating. To say the wrong thing was to have them clutching at themselves as if she’d slapped them.

Urie often found herself in trouble and receiving reprimands when trying to treat a male as she would anyone else. She was instructed to do so! But she always ended up either insulting them or saying something inappropriate and she'd have to once again take a gender awareness course.

She didn't mean to disrespect them, she just tried to treat them as an equal, as one of the gals!

The door opened to reveal a diminutive human male. The brand new species that the whole galaxy was buzzing about. Something had happened during their introduction, but the story was oddly difficult to get an official report on.

He looked somewhat similar to a taurian male, flat chest, cute butt. What was truly interesting was that he had no horns. His skull was completely different to a taurian, yet the lack of horns seemed to trigger the same feelings Urie got when meeting a tuarian at the bar that she’d try her luck with.

In male taurian culture, they would shave their horns down to be as 'desirable' as possible before covering them with a ceremonial sash. This human had no need, it was… scandalous.

"Hey there!" The human gleefully greeted her, surprising Urie with his boldness. She checked herself, sometimes males would want to assert themselves so they weren't seen as meek.

"Er…Hello! My name is Urie and I'll be your escort whilst on the station." She said in a plain, respectful tone and gave a well practised formal bow. It was only then she noticed she was bowing over the outstretched hand of the human.

"Uh, sorry." She said quickly, grabbing the hand, then wincing. She wasn't meant to just grab them, that wasn't 'correct'.

"It's okay! You got a great grip! We'll have to arm wrestle at some point, that'll be funny as all hell!" The fleshy creature laughed with a jovial tone.

Urie'smind blue-screened as she wasn’t certain exactly how to handle this. She'd love nothing more than to arm wrestle a male. To touch them was exciting enough, to actually do something fun?!

This had to be a trap. She'd stick to the training. It was the only safe option.

The following couple of hours was maddening. He'd talk to her freely and calmly. He'd laugh at her faux pars. When she accidentally bumped into him, he deliberately hip checked her right back.

By the time they reached the food court they were both laughing uproariously.

"So, I have to ask. You mentioned that you were looking for a partner?"

"A mate, yes." Urie nodded.

"How come you haven't found anyone? A lass like you should have guys hanging off you I would have thought? What is it, do you snore?"

"I intimidate them." Urie replied with a dejected tone.

"...how?" He asked an incredulous voice. She brought up a thick arm and tensed her bicep, which bulged and twitched.

"Well count me scar-roused." He stated confusing Urie as he spoke with an awed inflection.

"Most males are intimidated by us, we're bigger, more dangerous. Males have to be careful because IF I'm one of 'the bad ones' then I'm a massive threat. You're... you're not usual. No male would act or talk the way you do..." She said before putting her hands flat against the table so he could see where they were, claws extended and digging into the table top.

As a taurian, she wasn’t even close to the largest of the races, but she still had a few feet on the smaller human. The table they sat at was designed for their species, but their differences were highlighted at this moment.

The human merely chuckled and waved a dismissive hand.

"Ah, I know kung fu. We'll be okay, I'll spar with you sometime if we get the chance." He said with a casual air.

Urie blinked. The idea of pinning him down was the only image in her head now. She couldn't help but pin him with her gaze as he finished his meal, she used her mighty mitts to smother the toothy grin that refused to leave her face.

The following day, in the evening, Urie opened the can of beer with one hand, grasping the top with her index claw and thumb, while her index finger’s claw picked at the tab and opened it with a practised move. She poured some of it in the outstretched pint glass, once the beer roughly reached the top, she poured the rest in her far larger glass. She didn't have as much now, but she honestly couldn’t care less, it was worth it.

This was the very first time that not only had she had a chance to drink beers with a male, but he didn’t seem to be forcing his taste for her benefit. It also helped that he was so attractive.

There had been males that enjoyed drinks, or acted like females, but they all seemed off to Urie. Males acting like females and half looking like females, wasn’t something she wanted, she just wanted someone who was happy to be themselves and she liked what males looked like, there was no need to be ‘feminine’ to her to be equals. She just wanted to spend time with one that was chill and understood that she meant no harm if she missed a social hurdle.

Urie side-eyed Kerion.

She’d never met a human before, she had no real information on what they were like, it had been barely a month since they had appeared. Her first impressions were that they were odd. Very odd. He was attractive, no doubt there. His hornless forehead lent him the air of a male who genuinely tried to make an effort on their look, but he'd not acted like a male all day or the day before. He'd listened to her opinion, offering banter or other opinions without expecting that she would agree with him. They were just equals, a budding friendship devoid of a power struggle.

They both ended up sitting on a bench overlooking the community marketplace of the station. It was at the very commercial centre of the various city-sized sections of the station. The ceiling, a latticework of glass overhead glittered as they orbited the blackhole giving it a 'beautiful' look, a serenity that lent to the calm atmosphere of this isolated spot.

Urie’s eyes widened when she realised with a jolt that others used this a 'lovers' overlook. She just felt it was a nice quiet place she went to be alone! She’d always come here on her own, this was the first time she had someone with her up here. She didn’t mean to get him alone like this.

Cringing at herself, she looked at the human again and wondered what he was thinking right now.

Did he know? He wasn’t dumb, he had to know!

Was he pretending he didn't know? He was kind and never made her feel lesser, it would be what he’d do…

Was he waiting for her to make a move? Where did that idea come from…

Was she supposed to kiss him? She wouldn’t mind doing that…

The silence felt pregnant, but Urie wasn't sure what to say or do, she sat there wiping the condensation off the side of her glass as she tried to figure out what he wanted her to do now.

When a yawn tugged at her face, she began to stretch before a fantastic idea graced her. Subtly after the apex of her yawn and stretch, when she relaxed back against the bench, she brought her free arm down along the back of the bench and around Kieron's shoulders.

He didn’t react at first, if anything he chuckled before turning against her.

His legs stretched out along the bench, his back fully against her side and with his free hand, gently plucked her wrist and put it around himself, finally resting his smaller arms over her forearms and began to drink again from his smaller pint glass.

“Mm, I’m glad you finally made a move. I was worried I was going to have to take the jump.” He said quietly.

“I… didn’t mean for this to happen. I mean! Er.. I’m glad this happened, but I didn’t expect…? Yeah, I didn’t expect this to happen.” She tried to explain, why was her mouth so dry?

He shook against her side.

“Haha, don’t worry. Whatever the case, I’m glad we’ve got to this moment. By hook or by crook, this has been a lovely day. You’re good people Urie.”

Her heart fluttered when he said her name. Goddess, she felt light headed.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #taurian #furry #human x furry

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vitanithepure · 8 months

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Gale's romance

To absolutely nobody's surprise I am back with my thoughts about Gale and I am honestly surprised how many of you still follow me and interact with what I have to say, love you all so much 😭

Again, a freaking long one (over 1200 words, I wrote fanfics shorter than this...), but I need to get it all out of my system to properly function. Of course spoilers for Gale's story and a bit of the main storyline.

First of all - his introduction. Not less of a jump-scare, but somehow this one seemed to fit him better? He doesn't come out of the portal and begin judging our capabilities, instead we help him out, and if anything - I felt an instant level of sympathy for the wizard falling face first on the ground straight out of an unstable portal.

His bashful "I'm usually better at this."? It just served to even out the field and I love it. I was literally sitting there grinning at the screen and thinking "oh, how the mighty have fallen" :D

We still get all the talks known from EA (apart from the failed spell one? Did anyone manage to trigger it? Did they remove it?), so I won't be going over them again, because there is still a lot of new stuff to go through. Although they seem to fire up differently and it makes Gale seem a lot more considerate. Sure, at first he still hides the exact reasons and I still think it's understandable. In my playthrough he brought up his orb problem on the road, in front of the others with us claiming we need to know about it.

He even leaves us the decision if we want him to stay or not, but we cherish this man in this house, so I have no idea what goes down if and how he leaves. Not really interested in learning that, too.

Him showing us the Weave was as wonderful as it used to, didn't notice any changes here, then again - why change something that just…works? And now, in hindsight, I cannot help but see how it sets the tone for the whole relationship with him, be it romantic or otherwise. He shows you this part of him he loves, tries to show because even he, with all his eloquence, cannot find the right words to express what magic means to him.

I feel as if he was not expecting much from it, judging by the mumbling, adorable mess we made of him just imagining a walk, hand in hand. As we learn later (much later, but I think it's important to mention it here) he never considered being this close to anyone after the orb fiasco. Not because he still loves Mystra but rather he realizes how much of a risk it brings. He himself calls himself a "menace" and that, for me, speaks volumes about his character.

Ok, now onto the new parts, previously unavailable in the EA.

I mentioned my reaction after the first talk with Elminster in another post, but I'll say it again: fuck Mystra.

I was worried that there might not be a way to rid Gale of this cursed orb, I was bracing for the possibility that there might not be a happily-ever-after here. Because he seemed set on going along with Mystra's wishes, and I felt bad for standing between the man and his honest faith. Misguided, not fanatical, just honest faith.

I was thinking "yeah, this will probably happen at the end of the game, we'll cross that bridge when we get there". BUT… one moment we are fighting Kethric Thorm and the next Gale is ready to sacrifice himself. "Wait, it's too soon, it can't end like this, WHAT THE HELL is going on?"

"Fun" fact? Gale can really do it from what I saw and it just… ends the game right there and then. I am not ever going to even consider that a viable option, for anyone. It just makes me sick thinking about it in hindsight.

So yeah, no, sorry Mystra, we are not going along with your stupid plan. It really feels like he went along with it in a shell shock state through the whole act II of the story and it made me feel so bad for him. Gale felt like a complete shadow of himself since his first talk with Elminster.

Can you look me in the eye and with a straight face tell me a man ready to die makes a whole fucking illusionary world for just the two of you, shows you his home, his safe place, tells you he loves you and gives you his all? Yeah, yeah, you can tell me "he doesn't want to regret anything", but that's the point! He already regrets so much, and that means he is not ready to become vapor!

So, in the style of Meredith Grey, we go all in with "choose me" and…wow, does he ever. It was like a switch went off, Gale instantly is back to his old self, already having a plan to make it all work. A terrible idea, worthy of the 10 wisdom stat, mind you, but an idea still.

Of course in the meantime we get another visit from Elminster, who drops a few - actually good! - words of wisdom Gale's way and says Mystra wants to talk. Of-fucking-course she wants to, her pet refused to die and she can't fathom why.

I know the talk can go differently depending on what you suggest him to say, I don't know if we can skip the talk altogether and what are the consequences of that, but on my first playthrough I actually encouraged him to seek forgiveness and the talk went… fucking awful if you ask me. Is there a honest to god good way to do this talk?

Hated it when Mystra went all "oh yes, now that you are alive I'm not taking care of your orb until I send you on yet another suicide run, but don't worry - I believe in you, 'kay-thanks-bye!"

I guess this is faith for you - everything becomes a trial for it.

Moving on! The first big romance scene for act III of the story left me in emotional shambles.

In this moment Gale knows he wants to do *everything* and *anything* for us. He wants to gain power for us, to give us everything we deserve because if he gave Mystra his all he won't be holding back for us. And when we say we don't want it… you can see how absolutely devastated he is - up until he hears what we are really telling him.

"You are already everything I need you to be."

God, the animation here was so amazing, you can practically see the moment realization strikes him. He can live without Mystra, he can live without power, but he can't live without you. That he matters to someone, not for what he can do, but just… for him. And he was never loved that way, he himself says that, much to the dismay of my bleeding heart.

And that is that! Our story with Gale ends here, without a bang, but that is good. Gale is no longer the man he used to be, his ambitions now centered around a happy life with us. And I'm all giddy and teary-eyed for him.

Mind you, the ending felt…rushed? But perhaps that's just me not ready to say goodbye after all this? The game ending is a dash of adrenaline and I felt like there was just not enough time to unwind after. Guess I need to headcanon the rest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Either way, if you managed to stay to this point - a big thank you for reading!

#gale of waterdeep #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

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graendoll · 11 days

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I'm almost through season 6 of the queer EMT show and I have a couple of thoughts I really need to get off my chest.

Before I dive in I want to share an observation. It feels like there are two tiers of main ensemble cast and I'm basing this on the character development of each of them. Tier 1 feels like its Bobby, Buck and Maddie who have gone through the most dramatic character arcs, while tier 2 is Athena, Hen, and Eddie. I can't decide which group Chim is in tbh and this is hardly scientific so...

The point of all that is that everything else I'm going to say is based off my observation that Buck is more fleshed out and developed as a character than Eddie.

So now to the point!

First, Buck absolutely adores Eddie. Like is definitely 100% in love with the man. I'm only on episode 14 of season 6 so I haven't even gotten to the onscreen bi realization or the coming out scene outside of gifs on this here hell site. But currently, the way Buck looks at Eddie is so fucking heart eyed its ridiculous.

The hysteria when Eddie is in danger - the screaming at the mudslide, the absolute hard reboot at the shooting? Buck is completely beside himself at the idea of losing Eddie. He literally cries on Christopher's shoulder at the thought of losing him and Chris losing his dad.

This is not standard BFF behavior, I'm sorry.

And don't even get me started on the couch metaphor...I have too much to say about that to include it here.

But what I do want to talk about is the coma episode. Because I feel like that episode was a purposeful "no-homo" episode and here's why:

Buck is in an alternate universe and runs to Hen and Chim, sees Maddie and Bobby. But Eddie is literally just referenced once as "the angry guy" and his contribution to the entire episode is to bring Christopher to see Buck while hes unconscious. Which is weird!

Yes, Eddie rescued Buck and yes he tells the medical team to do better than their best, but compared to Buck literally hauling Eddie's limp body into an ambulance? It's a pretty vanilla response.

And then he doesn't show up in alternate Bucks reality. This is, i believe, one part writers trying to no homo the thing and one part writers implying that Eddie and Chris are a replacement for Bucks "real family" which undermines the entire guardian arc in a very weird way. So it definitely seems, during s6 at least, that Buddie was flat out not happening (again...I'm on e14 only).

So if Buck is in love with Eddie through narrative and acting choices (based on recent PR from Oliver S implying hes lowkey played Buck queer) where is Eddie at? What gives?

I'll tell you what gives.

Eddie is the most repressed motherfucker on the planet. Eddie goes to a call involving a vibrator getting stuck in a woman and he barely clocks that's what's happening.

This man has only had missionary sex for the purpose of baby making and it shows. I have definitely HC'd that Eddie is demi but he's also just locked down so tight. No wonder he spent a whole season beating the crap out of random strangers in illegal fights!

So, what's my point?

My POINT is this. Eddie may be queer underneath all that repression, but he has no idea. None. Zero. Zip. Eddie thinks he can't find a wife and mother for Christopher because he's BROKEN, not because he's maybe just not that into women.

And yes, Buck coming out might give him a clue. Tommy being gay might show him something he hasn't really seen in terms of what a gay man looks like. But that Catholic guilt ridden man has a LONG way to go before he will confess to the fact that he wifed up his bisexual BFF because of non-platonic reasons.

We'll see how the story pans out. But anyone who thinks season 7 is going to end in a Buddie romance is likely incredibly wrong. I mean I haven't seen the episodes yet. So give me a week. But it seems unlikely. Eddie's character is in a very different place than Buck.

Doesn't mean these two don't live together in marital bliss rent free in my head though 😜

#911 #911 show #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #meta #kind of #more like ranting #911 season 7 #911 season seven

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thought--bubble · 5 months

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She's Happy Now Part 5/5 (Final Part)

Modern Aemond X (Ex Girlfriend Reader)

Warnings after the break

She is happy now Master List

Modern Aemond Master List

Full Master List

Banners by @arcielee

Warnings: angst,

A/N: I apologize for the delay on this. Had midterms then covid, a job promotion I've been fighting for (should find out on Monday, please pray for me), then a family loss back to back, and was kind of struggling for a moment. I'm happy to get this out, tho!

Could I talk to you for a moment?

Your palms are sweaty while you wait for him to respond.

He looks dumbstruck.

"Hello?" Your patience is wearing thin.

"Oh, um yeah, of course." he gets up, composing himself and settling back into that stoic look of his. "We can go to the gardens? For some privacy?" He sounds indifferent, but in his head, he is analyzing every word he says.

"Fine," you say, unable to mask the anger that you feel. The walk to the garden is quiet, not one word spoken between you. The tension is thick, and you can't help but wonder if this is a good idea. Still, you continue on. 'This is long overdue' you think to yourself.

"I can't believe we are both going to be off at college in a few months, I'm gonna miss you so much" you clutch onto Aemond while laying under the rosebushes in the garden of the keep. Your secret place. Where aemond would take you to be alone.

"It will be fine. We will talk every day and I'll come visit you and you will come to visit me and before you know it we will have graduated and we will be getting married" Aemond says while entwining his hand with yours. "This is just a temporary separation. we'll look back on it later and wonder what in the 7 hells we were so worried about. " he rolls onto his side looking at your face. He pushes a strand of hair behind your ear. "Hey look at me" he says gently.

You turn your head and see his eye looking at you intently. "We are going to be fine baby. Happy as we've always been. I promise."

"You really promise?" You had been worrying for weeks about the upcoming distance. The tales of long-distance relationships between 2 college age students weren't exactly full of glowing success stories.

"I promise, I swear to you. We will be fine. We are simply meant to be" he raised your hand to his mouth and kissed your knuckles. "Always have been"

You enter the garden and sit on a bench that overlooks the rosebushes. Your rosebushes. Aemond is standing by the bench awkwardly unsure if he should sit so close. Your annoyance with him just standing there gets the better of you.

"Sit down, would you?, you're always bouncing its giving me anxiety." Your eyes are downcast, but you know he sat down next to you because you can feel it.

"I heard your little speech. Clearly, there is something you wish to say to me so..... just say it, " you say irritation in your voice. Clenching and unclenching your fists.

Aemonds mouth goes completely dry, and his hands start shaking. He imagined this scenario repeatedly over the last few years, and now that he is here his entire body is laced with anxiety.

"I owe you an apology" he says firmly.

"Yeah.... I guess you do" you say jaw clenched.

Aemond sighs and runs his hand down his face. "I fucked up. There's no question on that...... and I've thought of you practically every day since. You were more than my girlfriend. You were my best friend. My favorite person." He rubs his hands together trying to shake the nerves.

"Then why? Why? Why did you do it?" Your voice is trembling a mix of grief and rage

"Because I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I know you deserve a better explanation than that, but I don't have one. I didn't plan it out. It wasn't some big conspiracy. It was me. Being a complete moron." He hangs his head and runs his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Your eyes start to well with tears. You lift your head and look toward the sky. "That's it? We lost everything because you're an idiot?" You clench your jaw. "You destroyed me, and it didn't even mean anything?"

He tries to think of a response to this, but he just can't. He doesn't have an answer that will make this better

"I didn't destroy you" he finally says after a long pause.

You look over at him, and your rage boils over. You shove him by his shoulder. "How can you say that? How could you possibly know how I felt? What it did to me?"

"You can't be destroyed." He pauses "you are so strong and-"

You interrupt him "stop. Just stop."

He says your name with an exhale. " I'm not trying to downplay the pain I caused you. I know it was immense. But I can't pretend that I destroyed you. You're so much more than us. You are smart, strong, and beautiful all in your own right. It's impossible to destroy something like that."

You sigh, frustrated. " I guess you're right. I survived. I made it. I'm happy now. " You bite your bottom lip

Aemond pauses and takes a deep breath. "H-he makes you happy huh?" The heartbreak in his voice is undeniable.

You think about this for a minute and smile. "Yeah. Yeah, he does." You feel a twinge of guilt,"even though I waste so much time being angry at you. He is patient. Caring......" You trail off.

"You deserve that." Aemond puts his hand to his chest as if to ease the swelling he feels there. "You deserve someone who puts you first. Someone who is smart enough to recognize what they have"

You ponder this for a minute. Cregan really has been immensely patient. Where a lot of people would have walked away from someone who seemed like they were still hung up on their ex, he was there. Patient understanding.

He sighs. "I know I can't change what I did....... But do you think. That it would be possible to be in your life again? Not the way I was. I know that, but honestly, I'd take anything." He wrings his hands wracked with nerves. "There is a hole in my life, and I know it's you."

Your chest tightens. You know the feeling. You have tried to fill that hole with hate and anger. it weighs heavily on you. "And what exactly do you suggest?"

"Friends?" He turns and looks at you directly now. "Please? I'm not asking for you to forgive me.... I'm not asking that you forget what I've done, but...... I can't go on without you in my life. " he sounds like he is holding back tears. " I've loved you for so long, and it isn't just a romantic love... it's deeper than that. " his breath is shakey.

"I'm still so angry" you say head down looking into your lap. "I don't want to be but I am"

He holds his breath and closes his eye. " I am too. I have been kicking my own arse for the last 4 years every day for chasing you out of my life." He rubs his palms down the front of his trousers. "Asking you this... it isn't easy but I have to try, don't I?"

You finally lift your head and look into his eye, and a wave of butterflies goes through you. You chuckle lightly. "Pretty brave of you, I have to admit. Since I was hoping you would spontaneously combust all through the ceremony"

He looks at you with reverence. As if he has been hiking through the desert and has finally found an oasis. He tucks some of your hair behind your ear. "That would have made things a bit easier, huh?" He laughs, but there is no humor behind it.

You feel a tingling sensation that goes all the way down to your toes at his touch. Your response is automated. Like you are being controlled by someone else. You bring your fingers up to his face and caress his cheek.

He takes in a harsh breath and closes his eye. A single tear escapes and trails down his face. "God, I missed you," he says just above a whisper.

With that, you lose it, and tears start flowing freely.

He opens his eye and lifts his hand to your face. "Can i?" He asks

You nod, and he cups your cheek. He leans in, pressing his forehead to yours. "I don't deserve it... but I need you...please..... give me a chance to be in your life, in any capacity."

"We'll be together forever," Aemond says, sure of his words as you lay in the grass next to each other. "No matter what. You're a part of me now. I can feel it"

You giggle and roll onto your side, holding onto him. "I know. I can't imagine my life without you in it." You shake your head. "That would be just terrible"

"Then let's make a promise," he turns on his side facing you. "No matter what, it will always be me and you. Always. We will always find a way"

"I promise always"

Aemond is holding your cheek and looking into your eyes. Hoping and praying for a response.

"I promise..... always" you say through tears. "We can find a way..... to be there for eachother I know we can"

He hugs you and pulls you tight up against him. He nuzzles his face into your hair and whispers. "Thank you, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me"

He pulls his head back and looks into your eyes. "I know your with someone. I know you are happy with him. I would never do anything to take that from you. I..... i.... I just need to know you. I need to know who you are now. Who you've become."

With that, the levy finally breaks, and you are no longer talking to your ex-boyfriend who broke your heart and ruined everything but an old friend. A friend you missed dearly. You talk about everything you have done since you stopped talking. About you and Cregan your job. Your hopes for the future. He tells you about him. He tells you about how he has become an adjunct professor and that his love life is non-existent. You joke and laugh, both crying and laughing at the same time.

You get so lost in talking you don't notice the sun going down or the guests clearing out. What finally pulls you out of your conversation is Cregan entering the garden with his hands in his pockets.

Cregan shuffles toward you kicking lightly at dirt and small rocks as he makes his way over.

You stand up from the bench and wipe your face. You have a big smile on your face.

"Hey.... I've been looking for you" Cregan says apprehensively his eyes shifting back and fourth between you and Aemond.

"Sorry.... just out here making peace, " you smile while looking down at Aemond, who is still sitting on the bench.

Aemond stands up and extends his hand to Cregan. "I don't think I introduced myself properly earlier. I'm Aemond brother of the groom"

Cregan takes his hand hesitantly and shakes it. "Cregan...... "

You turn to Aemond and open your arms for a hug. You give him a hug and then pull back taking his forearms in your hands. "We will talk again soon. I want to hear all about that interview for the permanent teaching position"

"Yeah... talk soon" Aemond smiles and makes his way out of the garden. Giving you one last look back before he exits.

"So......" Cregan is looking all around not making eye contact with you.

"Hey," you take his hands "there is nothing to worry about. You were right earlier. I wasn't over it. Not because I want him still but because I never let him apologize"

He looks at you, a small smile creeping onto his face. "And has he?"

"Yes, and oddly enough, I feel a lot better," you say, the relief evident in your voice.

"Good" he says as he wraps an arm around you guiding you out of the garden.

As you walk, you think. You don't know if you and Cregan are going to make it in the long term. You don't know if one day you and Aemond may find your way back to each other. What you do know. Is that you needed this. That for the first time in years there isn't this heavy weight. You know that you can look back on your memories and smile. Knowing that although it didn't last, you were still lucky to experience something so beautiful, so meaningful. You feel lighter. And you know you really are happy now.

Just before you a Cregan exit the garden, you take one last look toward the rosebushes. And smile.

To be added to taglist click here

#aemond fanfiction #modern aemond #modern aemond angst #modern aemond x reader #modern aemond/ you #aemond targaryen #ewan mitchell verse #ewan mitchell fanfic #ewan mitchell #jess fics #my modern war criminal bf

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waitingongravity · 2 months

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Alright, so. So there's PLENTY of unfinished business in the Abyssal Hunter storylines.

Let's look at what we know of already and what that could mean:

First off, the stuff that has already been established in previous events: There were three big leaders in the Church of the Deep: Quintus, Amaia, and some other dude who has only been referred to as Him. This Him is acquainted with Specter during her time as an experiment subject. We can pretty safely assume that much like Quintus and Amaia, He will be the one orchestrating the events of next uhhh... event. Besides that, we have Ulpianus and the Last Knight. Those two swam off into the sunset at the end of Stultifera Navis, and we can only assume that they are still hunting seaborn to this point. The curious thing with the Last Knight is that we got to see him plenty in IS3. We know he's a powerful piece of work, and that in true Don Quixote fashion he is unreasonable with. The real question for me is what the hell he's going to do in a world where Ishra-Mla hasn't taken over yet. Will he be more helpful? Proooobably not. Speaking of: ISHRA-MLA. I've seen a lot of speculation over whether Skalter is fully non-canon to the main timeline, or if she is merely an eventuality. Skadi's condition is not looking good, and we haven't really been presented with any possible solutions. Specter is fighting off infection and insanity through her seaborn blood, but Skadi's issue is seaborn in nature. That being said, I'd like to stay optimistic. Skadi's arc has been an upwards one, even if it's only slightly. I'd like to believe that the difference between IS3's timelines and the Canon is that Skadi had more time to grow stronger mentally and emotionally to resist the pull of Ishra-Mla. Or at least stall long enough to find a solution. Of course, this transformation is also affecting Specter and Gladiia. Much like oripathy, they may be doomed, but maybe there's hope for a comfortable life.

AEgir is a nation we know next to nothing about since they're all the way in the Water. An unknown settlement of AEgir was spotted right under the Stultifera, and we know Ulpianus preventing the Hunters' return to AEgir is one of the reasons why the fish apocalypse didn't happen. Whether that is just proximity to the ocean or something in AEgir itself, I think we'll be diving out of Iberia and into that AEgir colony. I doubt we'll go into AEgir proper, but that doesn't mean AEgir won't send its own people out. Okay, now for the operators relevant to all this: The obvious one is Andreana, our lonely cuttlefish. She is essentially a cheap walmart knock-off Abyssal Hunter, so many think that she'd be getting an Alter or some story focus as she goes full fledged (full scaled? Whatever.) While I see that as a possibility, a lot of Andreana's character is just NOT CARING about any of that. She outright rejects the opportunity from Kal'tsit to learn more, and wants to leave her mysterious past behind her. Honestly, I can respect it. My guess is that Andreana might get involved but stay out of it, unless someone (like her employer Incandescence who we've yet to see in-game) gives her a reason to care.

So who else do we have involved in this? Well, Deepcolor is pretty sus, and the only other AEgir operator besides Skalter. I'll be honest, I always thought she was up to no good. Do NOT trust her >:I. There's also the chance she's some loose AEgir agent or something that lost contact after the Great Silence. But I still don't trust. Here's the sleeper pick: Blue Poison! The curious thing about Anura, besides how cute they are, is that they were enslaved by AEgir and brought to Iberia in hopes that their toxins could be a new weapon against the seaborn. This puts Bloopy in an interesting position as both someone with a vested interest. Hell, she could truly be the secret weapon in the event.

With all this in mind, here's my idea for what the event could/should be. Ulpianus can be the new 6 star, whatever he's a loser I don't care about him. More importantly, BLOOPY ALTER as a limited unit. That's right, Andreana can keep her gun, we all know she loves that thing more than anything. Let Bloopy be the first 6 star Arts Defender or something! Or a new Fighter since we know she boxes. I dunno, just make her busted so I can feel vindicated in my love for her. and finally, 5 star... I dunno, some AEgir girl from the settlement under the Stultifera. Give me a manta ray girl! Flat friend. Or angler fish? Hmmmm. As far as the plot, I think it'll be a two-pronged threat. On one end, He and the rest of the Church of the Deep implement a final plan, either relying on the super advanced tech AEgir have, or simply being the culmination of the evolution which has been a running theme for these events. Under Tides saw the seaborn evolve to talk, Stultifera Navis saw them evolve to be incredibly powerful and adaptive. Who knows what we'll see next? As for the AEgir settlement's conflict, I think we could see a next step in the other relevant issue in Iberia: the persecution of the AEgir peoples and the role of the Inquisition in the fight against the sea. I doubt the settlement will be safe for long, so perhaps over the course of the story we will see them integrated into Iberia, and offer their own tech/abilities in exchange for a stronger frontline. Of course, all this is assuming that the settlement isn't just an long-abandoned ruin. I'd also like it if the Doctor actually got involved in this event. Kal'tsit is a given of course, but I think the Doctor's presence might be appropriate for the conclusion of this trilogy. Much how like Lone Trail concluded the story started by Mansfield and Dorothy's Vision, there might be big story turning points at the end of this. And given the forces involved? This wouldn't be surprising. Anyways this was a super disorganized ramble I typed mid-ttrpg session so I'm sure I missed a lot or messed stuff up. I'd love to hear any more speculations, this stuff is very fun to think about.

#arknights #abyssal hunters #specter #blue poison #andreana #gladiia #deepcolor #ulpianus #Grav shut up challenge grav shut up challenge #challenge failed

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semiweirdshipper · 1 year

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I need to write these three narcissistic, dangerous, intelligent A-holes in a fic together with a reader, like, soon.

Geez, just imagine the chaos.

Herman is the reader's primary care physician.

Hannibal is their psychiatrist.

And then Wesker can be their boss or something like that.

The reader is just trying to get by (definitely has suffered some kind of past trauma, possibly has a mental illness or maybe even some kind of disease. I don't know yet, but I'll find a way to make them unique), and they're going by without realizing that these three powerful men have feelings for them.

Imagine Hannibal learning that Wesker has something to do with the reader's stress, and so he goes to seek him out to kill and/or eat him only to discover that Wesker is much more intelligent and dangerous than he thought- and he too also has feelings for the reader. Oh, the irony.

Herman can be a step ahead of both A-hole 1 and 2 by using his professional, sappy charm to woo the reader into a dinner date or a walk in the park or something. (Writing this prince charming of a man is like drinking redbull- He gives me wings, baby!) And maybe one of the other two A-holes show up or do something dramatic to try and ruin their time. Hell, maybe Wesker and Hannibal work together to ruin the damn date, I don't know, but I'm bound to write something stupidly insane.

All three of them want the reader to themselves, but there's competition. What are they gonna do about each other without ultimately ruining the reader's happiness and trust? All three of them are extremely manipulative, so charming the reader is a breeze, but what about when the reader becomes overwhelmed because- hello!- their doctor, boss and psychiatrist are all each asking them on a date! Ahhhhhhh.

Gosh, the things I could do with this concept... I know, I know, I need to stop. I just figured that getting the idea out of my head this way would help me concentrate on updates that are actually important.

Thanks for listening to my goofy rambling, my loves. Maybe this idea could be something that blossoms into a story one of these days. We'll see.

#Dead by Daylight #hannibal series #resident evil #albert wesker x reader #herman carter x reader #reader x hannibal lecter #fanfiction #story idea #reader insert #slashers #personal post #slasher fanfiction

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highwaytothedangerzone502 · 2 months

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Foxtrot Alpha Alpha - Chapter 36

Pairing: Hangman x Female OC

Word Count: 2373

Warnings: Swearing

Summary: Hangman learned his lesson a long time ago to never show his true feelings when someone's words or actions hurt him. To do so showed weakness that could be exploited, and Seresin men couldn't show weakness. Of course, there was an exception to every rule, and Jake's always came in the form of women, three in particular: his mom, Juliette Kazansky, and the girl whose name he could no longer bring himself to speak. She was the girl that got away; she was his biggest 'what if' and his biggest regret; she would forever be the ghost that haunted his dreams. Jake believed that's where she'd stay, for he would surely never see her again after what he did.

Or so he thought.

Notes: This is the sequel to India Lima Yankee; I'm using the same callsign for the Female OC as in Ghost Story because I just really like it, but they are different characters; chapters in italics are flashbacks.

Chapter Songs: King Of My Heart Beautiful Drug

****

Ghost

Standing at the threshold of Hangman's apartment turned out to be even more daunting than anticipated. Staring at his door, Ghost thought grimly: I really should've figured out what to say before I got here. But there's no turning back now. Here goes nothing.

Her hand thudded heavily on the wooden door. She waited impatiently for a few seconds before knocking again. Once more, nothing. Ghost sighed, figuring he wasn't answering because it was her. She knew he was home; otherwise, his blinds wouldn't be raised. Unless he had headphones in while he worked out... that was a good possibility.

Ghost hesitated, grabbed hold of the doorknob, and twisted it. The door opened without resistance.

"Guess some things really never do change." Ghost stepped inside and set her backpack on the floor, calling out, "Hangman? You home?"

Noise in the back of the apartment caught her attention.

Please don't let there be a girl here...

"Hangman?" Ghost called out again, slowly walking toward the noise. She warily poked her head into the bedroom. "Jake, are-"

"Fuck!" Hangman's voice boomed to her right, and she jumped to face him. Staring at each other like startled deer, Ghost's eyes trailed down his glistening body, water droplets rolling down from his shoulders to his abdomen to his-

Ghost whirled around, cheeks flush from embarrassment and silent awe at what she'd seen. Meanwhile, Hangman hurriedly wrapped a towel around his waist and demanded, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," Ghost replied, wincing at how stupid the words sounded coming out of her mouth.

"And you couldn't have called?"

"Would you have picked up?"

His irked silence gave her the answer. "That's what I thought."

"So you thought waltzing in here was a good idea?"

"I always told you to keep your doors locked before someone unsavory person walked in." I just never thought I'd fall into that category...

"Did you come here to tell me 'I told you so,' or is there another reason?" he snapped. Hangman moved to his dresser, pulling out fresh clothes.

"We need to talk. I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready."

"You're going to be waiting a while."

"Fine. I have nothing else planned today anyway."

Turning on her heel, Ghost exited the bedroom and strode to the kitchen. The bedroom door slammed shut behind her. If Hangman thought his rude demeanor and behavior would dissuade her from talking and persuade her to leave, he was vastly mistaken. Ghost opened her backpack and pulled out the box of letters, setting them on the kitchen island, pristinely clean like the rest of Hangman's apartment.

He took his sweet time getting ready, so Ghost contented herself with rereading the letters as a reminder of why she'd come here as the stress of the impending talk began to loom over her more and more.

Relax. We'll work this out. It'll be fine. Perfectly fine. We'll-

Her affirmations were cut off by her ringing phone. Glancing at the screen, she saw her mom's name. Ghost frowned and silenced the call. Not right now. The drama over Maverick being her dad could wait until later when she was emotionally capable of handling it. She was dealing with enough at the moment.

"One existential crisis at a time," Ghost mumbled to herself while she silenced the second call from her mom. A third call came in, but this time, from an unknown number. Either Charlie was borrowing someone's phone to try and reach her, or a new person was trying to call her. Curiosity got the better of her, and Ghost answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Annalise."

The voice sent ice running down her veins. She shouldn't have answered. "What do you want, Kyle?"

"To talk."

"Did Hangman's threats not get through that thick skull of yours?" Ghost snarled, bracing herself on the counter to keep her hand from shaking. Something about his eerily calm tone set her on edge.

"Either you tell me where you are so I can come talk to you, or I will find you," Kyle said, "and I will not be alone."

"Come anywhere near me, and I will get that restraining order in place." Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Ghost's attention. Hangman walked in, throwing a shirt on, staring at her in concern. He must've heard the last bit of the conversation. She mouthed 'Kyle' to him, and his expression went livid. Without a word, he held out his hand, and Ghost placed her phone in it.

"If you call my girl one more time-" Hangman growled, his lip curling involuntarily- "there will be hell to pay. I have a lot of pent-up rage right now, and I'd love nothing more than to use you as my personal punching bag."

My girl. The declaration sent shivers down Ghost's spine, even though she understood he only said it as a way to deter Kyle from reaching out to her again. Ghost had learned long ago that some men respected another man's claim on a woman more than the woman's outright denial of him.

Kyle said something else, and judging by the murder in Hangman's eyes, it was nothing good. Ghost's suspicion was confirmed when he snarled, "Do not touch her, or I'll make you wish you were dead."

Hangman hung up after that and returned the phone to Ghost, who asked, "What did he say?"

"I'm not going to repeat it, but... be careful. Kyle's obsessed with you, and he's with Nick now. He has backup if he decides to confront you. Just... be on guard."

"It's good he doesn't know where I live then."

"Don't underestimate Nick's abilities. Even if you've blocked your address from being found by normal methods, if he wants something, Nick will find it." Hangman opened his mouth as if to add more but shut it and moved away from Ghost. He opened a kitchen cupboard and pulled out a glass, filling it with water. "So, why did you barge in here?"

"To talk. About everything. Including-" Ghost slid the box to him- "these."

The color drained from Hangman's face. Deathly quiet, he queried, "How did you get those?"

"It doesn't mat-"

"Yes, it does! You weren't supposed to read these! Where the hell did you-" The epiphany suddenly dawned on him- "Coyote. God... damn it!"

He swiped at the glass of water, sending it flying across the kitchen and shattering against the wall. Shards scattered everywhere, and Ghost might've been concerned about the sudden show of rage had Hangman not suddenly sagged against the counter, shaking.

"How much did you read?" he asked, deceptively calm.

"I didn't intend to read any of them at first since you hadn't been the one to give them to me. Then I decided to read the first one," Ghost admitted guiltily, hating how much this appeared to be affecting him. "And then I couldn't stop. I read all of them."

Hangman scoffed. "They were the ramblings of a delusional aviator. I don't see what was so riveting in them," he replied, heading to a closet and grabbing a broom and dustpan. "You shouldn't have read them. They weren't meant for you."

"Then why were you addressing them to me?"

"Because maybe it started out that way, and it was the closest I could come to telling you what was on my mind without actually burdening you with it."

Ghost shook her head. "We'd been friends for years, Jake. Burdens aren't meant to be carried alone. Your burdens were mine, and vice versa."

"My burdens stopped being yours when I killed you and Ghoul!" He snapped, furiously brushing the shards of glass into the dustpan. She waited for him to finish the chore before she spoke, mainly because she wasn't sure what to say next. Hangman, however, decided he hated her silence and asked a question of his own. "What are you doing? Why are you still coming after me when I told you to leave me alone?"

"Because I told you once that you were stuck with me. Yes, we had a fight. Yes, it was a nasty one, and in our grief, we fractured our friendship. We both had parts in it. You tried to mend it early on, but I was stupid and ignored you. I'm sorry it took me this long to realize the demons you were facing in the aftermath of it. I'm sorry, Jake," Ghost said earnestly, finally taking a step toward him.

"Why do you care so much about fixing us after all this time?"

"Because I loved you back," Ghost replied, sliding his last letter over to him. "Unequivocally, unabashedly, wholeheartedly, I loved you."

I still love you.

At the echo of his written word rolling so easily off her tongue, Hangman's green eyes searched her face, scanning for any lies and deception. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I need you to understand that as long as I'm around, you are not alone in this world. That you will always have someone willing to pull you out of that darkness."

"I don't want to have this conversation, Ghost."

"I don't care. It needs to happen. It's needed to happen for a long time now."

"You should go."

Ghost stood her ground. "No."

His nostrils flared, and he pointed firmly at the door. "Go."

"On one condition."

"This is not a negoti-"

"Do you love me?" Ghost interrupted, stepping toward him again.

"What?" The question took him aback, and he shook his head. "That's not-"

"Do you love me?" Ghost repeated.

"I can't do this, Annalise. We can't-"

She would not be deterred. "Tell me you don't love me, and I will walk out that door right now and never return. I will give you what you want. But first, you have to tell me that you don't love me."

It was a dangerous game she played. For all Ghost knew, Hangman would tell her those dreaded words, and then she'd have to follow through with her promise, even if it killed her to do it.

Hangman took a step back from her, shaking his head. "Annalise, please, I can't- I'm trying to protect you. Why can't you see that?"

"Protect me from what? What do I need protection from? Why won't you answer my question about if you lo-"

"Just stop. Please, stop asking-"

"Is this because you're afraid I won't love you back?" Ghost stared him down, challenging him to answer. When her question was met with silence, she decided to finally reveal the truth that she'd been lying to herself about since the accident that had torn them apart. At the risk of having her last guard wall between them torn down, if it meant she got him to answer, then she'd do it. She'd do anything for him. "Because I do. I love you, Jake."

Hangman froze, the genuineness of her statement crashing over him as his gaze searched her face once more for the lie, but he wouldn't find one. All he would see were the tears welling in Ghost's eyes as she said, "I love you, Jake. I love you so much that if leaving is what you truly want me to do, then I will. If you tell me you do not love me, I will walk out that door without another word or argument. I will do as you wish, and we- we can live our separate lives and be cordial to each other when social situations are required, but I will not talk to you during those times or contact you outside of them. I will find a way to live my life without having the hope that one day, you will once again be in it. But first-" Ghost closed the distance between herself and Hangman, heart and head aching in terror at what his words would be to her request- "you need to tell me that you do not love me."

"Annie, I..." Hangman gulped, and Ghost could've sworn his entire body shook. "I'm a danger. To you, to everyone who-"

"That wasn't my question," she said sharply. "Do you love me?"

"I'm cursed! You don't deserve a life with a man who could get you killed or a guy who was so weak that he thought jumping into the black waves would solve all his issues. You deserve-"

"Jake!" Annalise exclaimed in exasperation, grasping his forearms firmly. "I will decide what type of man I deserve! And I will be the barrier between you and the black waves when they try calling for you to jump into them again. I will stand with you through the good and the bad. Just tell me: do you love me?"

"I love you!" Jake burst, chest rising and falling rapidly at the emotion he loosed. He broke from her grasp, clasping his hands behind his head as he walked away from her. Hangman took a few deep breaths, calming himself, before facing Ghost and closing the distance between them. He cupped her face, and in the gentlest of voices, he said, "Annie, I have loved you from the moment you tried to take my head off with your guitar. I never said anything because I did not want to drag someone as bright and full of light as you down with me into my darkness. I wanted you to find someone who deserved you, and I never saw myself as that man."

I love you. I love you. I love you. The words rang loudly in her head, and Ghost couldn't quite believe she was finally hearing them fall from his lips after all this time. She covered her hands with his, unable to tear her gaze from her sparkling green eyes.

"You-" Hangman began, kissing her brow- "have bewitched me- body and soul- since the day I met you, and I love you."

Ghost smiled at the reference to her favorite film. She tilted her head up to brace her forehead against his. "Forever?"

Without hesitation, without stumbling or missing a beat, Hangman replied, "And always."

Ghost closed the gap between their lips, and no more words needed to be said.

****

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traegorn · 4 months

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I need to stop doing this to myself.

(A Rant Where Trae Has Written Too Many Books This Month)

So since most of you started following me because of Witchcraft or podcast stuff, I realize a lot of you don't know how much fiction writing I do.

Primarily what I've published are comics. The big one is UnCONventional (which ran from December of 2009 to December of 2019), but I also did a steampunk comic called The Chronicles of Crosarth (which I put on hiatus in like 2018 intending to come back to... but I haven't, and I make no guarantee that I will even though over 650 of the 800 planned pages are done). Crosarth is... fine? The art isn't great in either of these, but UnCONventional carries itself with the humor.

But that's all old stuff. You may be like "Trae, what have you been producing for the last four years," and the answer is "not a lot." I got major creative block with the pandemic. Peregrine Lake, the "Northwoods Gothic" comic I was supposed to launch in 2020 (which has some characters from UnCONventional in it) didn't materialize when I said it would. What storytelling energy I had went into Stormwood & Associates and The Meatgrinder (my two actual play podcasts), but that was it.

And then 2023 happened, and the juices started flowing again.

Peregrine Lake is moving forward -- but with me just doing the writing. My urge to draw has not returned, but my urge to write has. A friend of mine, Ethan Flanagan, is drawing it, and I've written the first year of comics. It likely won't launch any time soon (the artist I'm working with is busy as hell so we want to get a shit-ton of the comic done before we launch it -- we have like the first month and a half of the comic ready?). But yeah -- it's happening. I hoping for Spring, but we'll see.

The other thing though is that I've started writing, like, novels. I've always had like twenty ideas in my head, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I decided to start with the idea I cared the least about (in case I fucked it up): A queer urban fantasy story.

In the last month and a half I've written complete drafts of two different novels in this setting, and am halfway through another one... and have another one outlined.

I, uh, had some ideas.

If you're asking yourself "Hey Trae -- what the fuck? That's a lot" you need to know a few things that aren't obvious. At one point in college, in 72 hours, I produced over 40 pages of text between three research papers. All were for 300 level courses, and I may have disassociated while writing them because I frankly don't remember most of it. But, like, they were decent papers.

One of those papers is in Google Scholar.

Anyway, yeah. I haven't been sleeping great because I've been obsessively writing, but you might ask "Why didn't you just write one and get it ready to publish?" That's a great question. Because I wrote a book, and when I was 3/4 of the way through it I realized something very important: This book would make a great sequel to a book I haven't written. I've been writing book two in a series where I haven't written book one yet.

Well fuck.

So I finished that draft, and I went and wrote book one. Now that book? That book I'm getting ready to publish. I expect to have it out in January. Part of my editing process involves setting what I think is a completed, good, revised draft down for a couple of weeks and then returning to it with fresh eyes. We're in that waiting period right now.

But I still had a bunch of energy.

So the first thing I did was a revising draft on book two (the one I wrote first), but I finished that. And had more energy. And more stories in this setting kept popping up.

So I started a third book. And I'm halfway through the first draft of that book. But then I realized yesterday... shit, this isn't book three.

This is book four.

I need stuff to happen before we get to this story.

So now I've outlined the actual book three, and am working on literally both of these books at once (I'll take a break for Christmas and then go do a final edit on Book One).

And... I'm just like... why am I like this?

I need to stop myself for a few days and get more sleep.

#writing

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monstaxdirtywonk · 1 year

Text

Heaven is a place in hell with you pt. 5

Member: San as Hades X Persephone reader

Synopsis: it's based on the myth but I've done some changes to fit my narrative for the story.

Genre: Fluff, Angst, eventual smut

The moment you saw the stairs opening you had a love struck expression and ran down to the bottom. Without a second thought, you hugged him and didn't let go until you realized you should keep your distance. But as you were about to leave his grasp, his arms wrapped around your shoulders and he kept you there for a bit more. He missed you. In comparison to his endless life 3 days were supposed to be mere seconds but they felt so long to be apart from you.

"How are you feeling, love?" He asked and started playing with your hair.

You looked up at him through your long lashes and felt like melting from his touch.

"Very excited to learn more"

He laughed and let your hair go.

"I have something in mind I'd like to share with you but first I have to spend some time with Thanatos because he is addicted to being around me at least twice per week".

He isn't the only one.

"It's not a big deal. I was a bit hostile when I first met him and I'd like to apologize for my manners".

"I'm sure he doesn't mind but you can do that yes. Thanatos is a bit of a prankster and I honestly don't know where he gets his positive energy given his...position. He might be a bit too upfront and friendly with strangers and some find this rude but ultimately he is a sweet friend".

You nodded. It wasn't his fault nor yours. You were a bit more grounded with strangers since forever but after getting to know Hades better, you felt more safe in meeting new people and getting to know them.

"Let's go to the throne room, he's gonna meet me there"

You followed him and took a seat on a couch near the throne.

"Can I ask what do you have in mind when you said you want to show me something?"

"Poems. I won't tell you anything more than that but I'm sure they will touch your heart with their lyrical nature and inspiring words".

Oh no, he is going straight for your feels. How are you gonna keep yourself collected, you have no idea.

You heard someone knocking and he told them to come in.

"Why are you even knocking to begin with?"

"I knew Persephone would be here so I didn't want to interrupt in case something was going on".

You took your hands and hid behind them. Maybe it'd take you more time to forgive him now that you're thinking about it.

"Stop making her shy". Hades looked at him dead in the eyes. He looked very scary when he wanted to.

"Sorry lord but teasing others is a habit I find very hard to get rid of".

"Just pull yourself together. What did you want to tell me that you couldn't wait and had to shorten the already little time I have with Persephone?"

"Ah yes...about that. I'm gonna leave for some days".

"Women hunting....per usual".

Hades sighed and he was gonna turn from passive aggressive to aggressive in no time.

"You take advantage of my love for you to live your womanizer life and on top of that you interfere with mine?" Just leave already! I give you two days. TWO DAYS. No more than that. You are lucky I even entertain the idea in the first place".

Thanatos smiled and came closer to Hades to kiss him and hug him but he had none of that.

"Don't be mad at me. I'll mature some day".

"Don't worry. One day a woman will get you for real and that will do it. Till then, I'm living with a teenager."

Thanatos laughed.

"I hope that will ever happen but we'll see".

"Thank you too" He said and you couldn't understand why he thanked you as well.

"You make him softer and easier to manipulate".

"Hey!" Hades yelled, blushing ever so slightly.

"I've always been so understanding, you have no room for complaints".

"That's true. But the last two weeks you've been even better".

Hades gestured for him to go because he had enough of his annoying yet adorable friend already.

"Byeeeeee"

"Two days, okay?"

"Yes, sir"

Just like that, he was gone.

"He is very energetic, I have to admit".

Hades laughed at your observation. His friend was very energetic and he couldn't keep his mouth shut either. He almost exposed Hades. Now that he thought about it, he had to keep him from going as a punishment for having such a big mouth.

"Talkative. Energetic. Dramatic. But very pure and gentle when he wants to".

"It seems like Thanatos isn't the only gentle guy around here". You eyed him in a "You know about who I'm referring to" way.

"I'm not that gentle. I cam be fierce too!".

"You did look scary when you got all serious with him before".

"I don't want you to think I'm scary" Hades was worried. He knew his looks made others have pre judgments based on his cold demeanor but he wasn't scary, especially for you.

"I'm not thinking such a thing don't worry. All I've seen from you so far is a wise, kind of grumpy but sweet man."

He smiled at that and he felt relived he seemed approachable to you.

"Now, should we do our little reading session?"

"Yes. I'd love that".

Hades went to the corner of his room and searched for a particular book in his bookshelf.

Sappho wrote many books about love and I wanted to share some with you.

It's not just poems, it's romantic poems too. You were panicking to say the least. It's so easy for a thing or two to spill when you least expect it.

"Let's make this a game. You're gonna go around the pages randomly, and the one you're gonna choose-without looking-is the one we will read first."

You loved the idea. Lottery with poems.

"Don't cheat! Look elsewhere".

You closed your eyes to make sure that you weren't cheating and your hand stopped on the 33rd page.

"This one" you said and gave it to him.

He cleared his throat and started reading out loud.

"Thank you, my dear

You came and you did well to come,

I needed you; you have made love blazed up in my chest--bless you

Bless you as often as the hours have been endless to me while you were gone".

Oh this was written just for him.

"That was beautiful" you clapped your hands in excitement.

"I made a good choice". You chose a good poem that spoke to you more than your own words could. Sometimes we don't want yet to admit how we feel for someone, but other people's words can be a happy middle ground to express how you feel without the added of vulnerability of forming sentences with your own words.

"You did. Every single poem of hers is a piece of art. It's like music, dancing and singing combined."

"Which one is your favorite?" You asked.

"There is a line that really speaks to me the most".

"Someone, I tell you, in another time, will remember us

Mortals don't have everlasting lives but they can have everlasting loves. Isn't it better to become immortal for what you've done, how much you loved, what you created, rather than live without purpose like in my case?"

His eyes got hazy and they seemed to become increasingly emotional. Without a second thought you moved closer to him, completely overstepping all boundaries and hugged him. He broke down in tears, feeling relieved he was in your arms and had someone next to him that could withstand his emotional weight.

"We make our purpose. It's all about how you view what you're doing, even a simple task can be meaningful to you if you change its meaning."

"That's true and I'm not complaining about that. I just want to find love too. Remember when I asked you what makes you long for the most when we met?"

You nodded and wiped away some of his tears.

"For me it's that".

You wanted to kiss him, you really did. But there was no going back after that so you hugged him instead. It was your time to cry now too, because you had to confess your longing for love. Your longing for his love.

"I feel the same way. I felt the same way two weeks ago too. But I couldn't admit that, not even to you, I'm still in denial about it myself. I shouldn't be like this as a nymph. But why is my nature so contradicting to my heart's desires?"

"I have the overwhelming desire to kiss you that I can't control. You shook my world upside down in such a short time span."

You wanted that more than anything too. You already felt entirely hopeless with your love. But you couldn't, it was too dangerous.

"If Artemis finds out about this, she's gonna kill. I'd die for you because I'd come here again but I don't know if you'd let me go through the most traumatic experience".

Hades started petting your hair again, erasing all those catastrophic thoughts from your head.

"As long as I'm here, no one will ever hurt you"

"That's not true and you know it. Remember what happened to Kallisto, when Artemis found out about her relationship with Zeus?"

Kallisto was a princess and she joined the nymphs and swore to maintain her virginity just like every girl that stayed in Artemis' circles. But when Zeus corrupted her and she bore his son, Artemis nearly killed her and she was ultimately turned into a bear. You knew Artemis was particularly fond of you, but you also knew how important her principles were and she wasn't making exceptions for others easily.

"But I will protect you. As long as you want me to, of course".

What is he even saying, you wanted him more than anything but

"I'm not doubting your power or glory. She'd never hurt you after all, but I am just an insignificant mortal and I will feel all her wrath for the both of us".

"Are you implying that I only care about my safety? If that was the case we wouldn't even have this discussion in the first place, I would just sweet talk you to bed and then be gone like Zeus does. But you are more than that, you are someone I will protect whether we end up together or not. I know most have selfish motives, even when it comes to love, but mine aren't. I'd sacrifice even my life for you , if I had one".

You felt really sorry the words you said sounded like that. You never doubted his ability to love, you only doubted his ability to love you, specifically. You felt entirely worthless of receiving his love, but ultimately he decided who was worthy of that.

"I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I'm not scared of death, because it'd bring us closer, but I don't want to betray my mistress, my mother figure, who gave me so much love, a house and warmth. But at the same time, I don't want to live life based on others expectations, I want to choose my destiny and make my own path."

"I know about that. Artemis is admirable for adopting you and providing for you but I can see how you feel frustrated over the entire situation. I don't wanna say anything on this matter because I don't want to influence you in any way".

You were very grateful he had a neutral position regarding the whole ordeal. You needed some time to yourself to think about it before telling him what was gonna happen between you two.

"I don't want you to take a quick decision or feel pressured about what to do. I wasn't planning on confessing to you today. But I couldn't hold myself back for voicing one of my desires. What I said is only a small fraction of my feelings for you. But I feel like I'm gonna scare you away if you'll know the depth of my love so I'm gonna remain silent for the time being".

Your heart was beating so fast from the second confession that happened back to back. Your chest was raising and falling faster than usual, feeling flattered and aroused by his words.

"I'm scared to tell you anything for now, because I don't wanna admit how I feel yet. But if I will ever end up with a man, I swear to Zeus, you will be the only man I'm gonna be with. If that is what you wish for, of course".

You were tearing up again, unable to keep yourself together after coming so close to spilling out the depth of your desires. Hades laughed when he heard the last sentence.

"There is nothing in the whole world, the whole universe, the vast sea or the underworld that I want more than to be with you. So don't even question that for a second".

Now it was time to start weeping because he made it so much harder for you. You didn't have the will power to hold yourself back from ending up in his arms.

"Please don't cry love. We're gonna find a solution, alright?"

You nodded your head but didn't move from his embrace.

"You know you are really not that scary at all".

Hades laughed and you heard the vibrations through his chest. You were so happy you were able to lighten up the mood a bit and make him feel some relief for a second.

"Can we stay like that for the last ten minutes of my visit?" You asked him with pleading eyes.

"Yes sweetheart. Whatever my girl wants".

His girl. You wanted to be his girl more than you wanted to see the light of the next day. Being his girl didn't include a lot of sunshine to begin with, but he was the brightest star in the night sky.

Next chapter:

#ateez #ateez smut #ateez fanfiction #ateez san #ateez san smut #ateez san fluff #ateez san angst #ateez angst

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koalas-koalas-everywhere · 5 months

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Honestly? While there's no doubt that Luffy fucked up in Whiskey Peak? Like 80% of the outrage and 100% of the accusations of "ooc"ness come from 1) the misconception of Luffy being this super intuitive guy leading to him being put on an altar, and 2) a refusal to allow him any emotional depth.

To start off – Luffy's not that intuitive. The closest thing to it is what the crew call his "animal instincts" in Water 7, where he predicts that he will have to fight Rob Lucci, like he predicts other fights before and after. Only – is that really what happens? He "just knows"? Because, from what I remember, he very clearly identifies him as the leader and the strongest member of CP9 (#366: "of all the people we'll be fighting in a little while, the strongest is that pigeon guy! I'l definitely be the one to send him flying!"). Of course he assigns himself to fight him. That's his reasoning every other time, as well. At times (certainly not often, but sometimes), he demonstrates actual strategic thinking, like with Moria.

I think a lot of people want to think that Luffy "intuits" the Straw Hats' potential or even their pasts when he asks them to join, but we don't see any evidence of that. What we do see is a lot of instances where Luffy witnesses good things about his friends, both in terms of skill and of character. In Brook's case, he literally just went "talking skeleton cool cool cool cool cool". And that's all. It might be hard to swallow that some of the deepest and strongest bonds we see in the series, the most important ones and the cornerstone of the story, are based on something as flimsy as "hee hee I like you be my nakama", that Luffy didn't somehow know that they needed to be taken in. But that's just the way it is. Hell, if it had been solely up to him, Kureha, Iceberg and a bunch of random zombies without a will of their own who were trying to kill them would be part of the crew.

I think that what happens is that Luffy is very undiscerning and undemanding about who can join the crew or even sail with them (he also let Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 go with them without a fuss, same with the Franky Family, who he only knows from, you know, having beat up Usopp and stolen 200mil berries from them) and we want to think that there's some deeper reason for it. We know that it's nothing rational, because we're not so detached from what's happening on the page, so that leaves some kind of instinct telling him that these are the right people. It's a nice idea – it gives Luffy some unconventional wisdom to make up for his lack of it otherwise and fits well with his upbringing in the jungle.

But there's not really anything special about the people he picks up, except the fact that he picks them up. Not in the sense that they're special because of him, but that they become special to him. That's the real reason why he goes after Nami and Robin and Sanji when they leave. It's not that, oooh, he can sense how tortured and traumatized they are and that deep down they're good people. Nah – he just believes them when they say they are his people, so he refuses to abandon them.

And, okay, this might seem damning in the context of Whiskey Peak, because where was this faith when it came to Zoro, who arguably earned it more than anyone else in the crew? To be honest, that's one of the points where I'll concede that Luffy fucked up the most, but there is another matter at play here: everyone else claimed to be on his side, or at least be a certain kind of person, before apparently turning on him. He chose to believe that original impression out of loyalty.

Not only is Luffy not that discerning, he is known for being a sucker for deception. He can't lie, and he's so honest that most of the time he can't even conceptualize that someone might be lying to him. ("Are you going to betray me?" "No." *grins*) The idea that he could just... take a look at someone and divine either good or evil intent goes directly against canon. He gets taken in by CP9, by Kanjuro, hell, he buys that King Cobra betrayed Alabasta as Vivi is telling him of how Crocodile manipulated them.

And that leads me into Whiskey Peak and point 2.

Before we start, think back to Wano, if you would. (If you haven't reached Wano, don't worry, the spoilers in this paragraph are very light.) Imagine that, after spending the day with Tama, and Tsuru, and Kiku, and the rest of the village who gave up their scarce supplies to feed them, Luffy and Zoro go to sleep. The morning after that, Luffy wakes up to a massacre. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has been cut down. The people who helped them, the people who he was talking and laughing with just a few hours ago, dead or near enough. He recognized Tsuru among the pile of bodies and she still has some breath left, so he asks who did it.

Basically, imagine sympathetic victims to the Whiskey Peak massacre.

When we read Whiskey Peak, we know there's something fishy going on. For starters, it's Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9's town, which makes it suspicious enough. Then, before the attack, we see them writing a letter saying that they wanted the Straw Hats to go there, making it obviously dangerous. This is without even getting into the clear threat evident to us readers because we know this is a story and that there's no way the heroes will have it that easy. We mistrust and refuse to sympathize with the Whiskey Peak inhabitants from the start. Until the reveal that Vivi's undercover, they're enemies and future meatsacks to us. We forget that that's not the case for the Straw Hats. Especially, that's not the case for Luffy, who takes everyone at face value.

I think a lot of people maybe get too caught up in their image of Luffy as a sort of chaos, "do things for the laff" entity who'll liberate you from tyranny in exchange from food, so they don't realize that there might be emotional, non-transactional reasons for his behavior. That he feels thankful to the people who help him, because he's survived on the kindness of others all his life and he would've died without it (and if you think that doesn't apply now that he's a pirate, go back to read the Baratie arc). That he might get attached to the people who are kind to him and others. That, even if he doesn't feel affection for them, he'll still be outraged when their kindness is met with cruelty by others. We joke about his disproportionate responses to being fed (aka overthrowing the government for a bowl of rice), but that's because he's not acting under a perceived debt, but out of a bond he's created with his benefactor/s.

So Luffy, who couldn't understand duplicity if it showed up with a twin, gets to a village full of people who happily welcome him and his crew, who appear to do this for every weary traveler that has just passed through the harrowing ordeal of Reverse Mountain. They offer them food, drinks and shelter for as long as they need it. Not only that, they all spend hours partying together, chatting, having fun. Than, Luffy wakes up to find everyone either slaughtered or nearly – the people he was partying with not long ago, from the elderly to children, and, okay, gross, but let's recognize that One Piece is a piece of media with an antiquated system of gallantry that says that it's also an outrage that the women were also hurt. He walks up to one of them and asks them who did it. He says it was Zoro.

Take a moment to place yourself in his shoes. This was objectively a horrifying experience. You wouldn't be surprised if he went after the culprit if it was a stranger. And while I think he should have given Zoro the benefit of the doubt, there's something actually a lot more horrifying in the fact that it was one of his friends who did it: that means Luffy's responsible. He's the one who brought Zoro there, after all. Most codes of honor would have the leader of a group vouching, at least implicitly, for its members.

And it might have easily felt like a betrayal. Not because Zoro went against Luffy, but because he let him down.

A lot of people bring this fight back to loyalty – hasn't Zoro shown Luffy how loyal he is? (And, you know what, I think we could have an interesting discussion about that? About what's said, what's implied, also what's actually witnessed by the characters, but never mind.) Zoro promised him he'd be the best, and that he'd stick by Luffy in his path to achieve that... but he never promised he'd never cruelly cut down an entire village in the meantime, something which is not beyond what any other pirate would do, loyalty notwithstanding. And a good thing, too, because he did, in fact, do that in WP!

That's the other thing. Imagine waking up to a whole village of people who helped you and your crew cut down by a member of said crew. The children included. The idea of there being a good reason for it is actually more out there than a prideful and powerful man who agreed to become a pirate, specifically to establish himself as the strongest in his field, would lash out at the flimsiest offense to his ego, to be honest.

Basically, it all goes down to how this guy, so honest he can barely conceive of being lied to when he's directly informed of it, should have walked out to find bloodied piles of bodies and gone "this guy with violent tendencies I met like a month ago killed dozens of people, including children, who fed us and sheltered and fed us, who I like because of that, probably did it for a good reason". Forgive me if I bring up the children too much, it's just that, if there's one demographic you don't expect anyone to have enough of a good reason to maim, it's that one. Faced with this kind of scene, it makes sense to doubt your initial judgement of a person.

Of course, what he did see of Zoro before that should have told him enough to at least doubt. At the very least, he should have heard him out before killing him. Zoro did try to explain. (Then again, if someone admitted to slaughtering a whole neighborhood and then claimed to have a good reason for it I wouldn't be jumping to hear them out.)

That said, it's not about Luffy doubting Zoro's loyalty, it's about doubting his character when faced with incredibly damning evidence against it. One the one hand, maybe Luffy's the one who should've been more loyal. On the other, the fact that his loyalty didn't extend to forgiving one of his crew when they apparently go rogue and attack not just an entire village, but of full of people who helped them and continuously did the same for others, just goes to prove that he doesn't have the moral backbone of a wet noodle, in addition to checking out with his tendency to develop an attachment to people who feed him.

#One Piece #Whiskey Peak #Monkey D. Luffy #Roronoa Zoro

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