#the thing we fail to take into account is that he's being trained not by just some random old man

[rjchocobi]

﹙🍃 𓂃 satan's right-hand man — lee haechan ! ﹚

♡ . . . synopsis ; you've known lee donghyuck your whole life, admired him from afar for half as long and yet, why does it take a cross-major project to get you to properly interact?

♡ . . . pairing ; computer science major! haechan × multimedia major! reader

♡ . . . genre ; non-idol au, college au (? very inaccurate portrayal of the education system haha). a few curses flying here and there.

“I don't think I can do it. There's way too many people around.”

You follow the tan-skinned target dressed in baggy jeans and a varsity jacket as he walks past your table, out of the cafeteria billowing murmurs of conversation. His brown hair flops down on his eyes, wired earphones making him oblivious to the world.

Or, in this case, you and your friend's schemes.

“Y/n, just breathe,” Gyuri chuckles, typing away on her laptop. “Most people here are too occupied with their own shit to care about yours.”

“Astounding analogy, truly,” you deadpan at the Literature major who shrugs, leaning back on the chair. The crop top you'd worn was sticking to your sweating back, uncomfortably so. “And sure, nobody would be curious as to why I'm walking up to the newly appointed captain of the soccer team. The last time someone asked him out, they went viral!”

“Hey, you're asking him out for an entirely different reason. Unless, you have a thing for bratty jocks with pretty faces?”

You couldn't stop the roll of your eyes. She was right, until you account for his soft brown eyes, tech nerd tendencies that came off as way too appealing than they had any business being and a presence that everyone heard yet missed when he wasn't around.

Oh god, you really were hopeless.

Gyuri pipes up next, looking away from the screen before her, “Also, it takes about five minutes to make it to the front gate. So, unless you have any other place in mind to ask him before the first game tomorrow, you should be running.”

The world screeches to a halt. Your eyes flicker to the wall clock, as you stand up immediately. “Shit, there's no way I'll make it to him before his usual bus leaves in these shoes!”

“Should I be concerned that you know his bus route?” Gyuri raises an inquisitive brow.

You muster your deadliest glare, grabbing for things and shoving them in your bag. “Don't make it sound creepy, weirdo. I used to take the same bus before we moved.”

“Eh, tomato to-mah-to,” Gyuri cocks her head. “Now, chop chop. You have precisely two minutes on the clock.”

Taking a deep breath, you try (and fail, evidently) to settle your stomach which had been dancing the tango on a loop for the whole day. “I'll see you later. And thanks for the coffee!”

Gyuri throws you double thumbs up. Whether in acceptance or encouragement, you don't have the time to figure out.

When you manage to stumble through the crowd going the opposite way, past the gates of your college campus and to the nearest bus stop, it's been nearly ten minutes. With your heart pounding against your throat, you scan the listing on your phone, “Let's see... Cheongpa 2GA, Cheongpa...”

“It got cancelled today. There was a big crash by the Hangang road.”

Your head shoots up at the distantly familiar voice, so fast that you're surprised you dodge a whiplash. He stands leaning against the pole upholding the overhead shade, a small smile on his face.

Inhaling sharply, you nod and speak after having reinstalled basic social skills. “Right. Uh, are there any other buses going the same way?”

“Not if you want to reach home past ten,” he muses. “I'll catch the next ride to the subway and take the train.”

The need to know why he was telling you this registered a little too late.

"Shouldn't you be looking for the Bogwang side buses, though?” he asks.

You nearly trip on the transition curb, going to stand beside him. “I'm visiting family in Cheongpa. Anyway, it's kind of weird that you know where I live, isn't it?”

He's still staring you down as he says, “Not as weird as you and your friend memorizing my schedules or tracking my hourly whereabouts.”

For the second time in the span of five minutes, you look up at him, finding the corners of his warm gaze crinkling with mirth. You feel your mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I—”

One syllable doesn't make it out your mouth before he's humming in approval. About what, you're none the wiser. “Yeah, you guys are not as quiet as you may think.”

Humiliation burns red across the apples of your cheeks and creeps up your neck. If Lee Donghyuck had managed to overhear, how many other within earshot knew all about your business?

You settled for an indignant response. “Hey, it's rude to eavesdrop.”

Donghyuck chuckles, an airy sound but still low; lower than the pitches you know his laughter reached. “Or I just have really great hearing. So, what is it you wanted to ask me so badly?”

You catch up on the teasing lilt. “What if I say it's a love confession?”

Your flippant reply has him lose his cool for half a second yet you still consider it a win. He shoves his phone back in his pocket, “Doubt it. Setting aside the massive stroking my ego will receive, you don't seem like the type to lose your mind over asking someone out.”

“Touché,” You mumble, your next words put on hold due to the people near your surging forward as the next bus arrived.

Donghyuck walks forward, so at ease you think he had taken and discarded your conversation in the matter of seconds. Before your heart could drop to the depths of hell, he looks over in confusion. “You’re not coming?”

You follow him wordlessly, hanging around the back of the bus. Donghyuck stands near you, chuckling when he sees you're unable to hold onto the handlebars above.

“Too high for you?”

“Shut up before I stomp on your feet. I can assure you it hurts like a bitch,” you threaten and he thinks you look about as menacing as a kitten.

“Enlighten me then, Y/n. What made you stalk me on a Tuesday?” he asks instead, moving a little closer as the bus lurches forward.

Ignoring the zoo of butterflies in your gut, you sigh. “Remember the project that's supposed to be thirty percent of the semester's final grade? Well, my assignment goes way off my area of expertise."

He hums in acknowledgement, full lips parting in an 'o' of realization as he catches on. "And what do you expect me to do?"

Ever the overthinker, you translate that to him wanting nothing to do with this. You drop your head, eyes trained on the yellow wedges you'd put on for the day. It had given you nothing but blisters. That's what trying new things, going out of comfort zones get you—a reality check.

You voice is too small for your liking, "I was thinking of making a videogame. Nothing fancy, just the barebones of an interactive interface. I thought if I get a computer major on board, we could both submit the project and present different aspects of the process."

The split second of silence before he speaks is gut-wrenching. “Killing two birds with one stone. It's a smart idea.”

You glance up to see a leisurely grin on his face. Is it weird that the loosest definition of a compliment from him is throwing you into a spiral? Probably.

“So? Will you work on it with me?” you ask, all too eager.

He pretends to think it over, hand on his chin and everything. Then, “Say 'please' first.”

For a second, you're rendered speechless. “What?"

“What?” He blinks owlishly, parroting you. “If a cute girl asks nicely, maybe I'll agree.”

Your jaw slackens. “Lee Donghyuck, you are a menace to society.”

“Because I ask for my fair share? I see how it is.” He pouts mockingly, running a hand through his fluffy hair.

“You get to present the project, too! That's a fifty-fifty bargain unless you have a better idea for partner-work that assures you an easy A,” you cross your arms over your chest. You may be a hopeless case of anxiety and lackluster connections but you're not that desperate. And who does he think he is, anyway?

Donghyuck chuckles, head bobbing. “Not nearly enough. If I'm doing this, I want you to do two things for me.”

You nearly rethink your decision for even asking him in the first place. But acting like his personal errand girl is not worse than showing up to class with a half-assed project. “Nothing that entails me publicly making a fool out of myself more than I already do.”

He holds his hands up in surrender. “I won't ask for anything like that. Who do you take me for?”

You eye him up and down. “Right now? Satan's right-hand man.”

Donghyuck smirks, poking his tongue onto the inside of his cheek. “Alright, then. Satan's right-hand man says you must first ask him politely and second... go out on a date with him.”

#🍨 ── 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙤𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 ᵎ #lee haechan x reader #lee donghyuck x reader #nct dream x reader #nct dream #nct dream fluff #haechan fluff #haechan x reader #haechan imagines #nct drabbles #nct #haechan #haechan nct

[answer2jeff]

when it rolls in like thunder: teaser.

dad!carmy x hispanic mom!reader series teaser!

warnings : dad!carmy x mom!reader, reader is implied female and hispanic, tooth-rotting fluff, mentions of childbirth. obviously.

authors note : guys i know i'm late to the dad!carmy train.. but give me a chance!!! i tried so hard to not absolutely love the idea of carmen being a dad and i failed miserably. take this as an apology. and shout out to my hispanic girlies bc we deserve some fics made specifically for us !

"Levántate, princessa mia," you gently raised her chubby arms and sat Valeria up in her barred crib, the golden finish complimenting her collection of hand-me-down stuffed animals from your childhood.

You reached for her soft beige pants that rested on her little dresser next to her crib. She'd only recently grown into it, going up a size or two now that she finally turned 8 months old. You and Carmen saw them at a thrift shop in Chicago during your, although beautiful, excruciatingly long pregnancy.

He knew he had to see his little girl in them, rocking them beautifully just like her stylish and tasteful mother.

—

"What do y'think, honey? I like 'em. I think she'll look so cute. Cheap for the quality, too. Damn."

Carmen felt the thickness of the fabric with his finger tips, rubbing them together through the cloth. He nodded his head in approval. He raised them up to let you get a closer look as he beamed with a grin.

"Oh, these are adorable! They're gonna take a little while for her to grow into 'em, though, no? Parasen un poco grande, amor."

You raised an eyebrow, unsure if an article of clothing that you weren't even sure would fit would be worth 8 precious dollars in your joint bank account.

"Well, we don't know how big she's gonna be. She'll grow into 'em."

Carmen was pretty convincing. His voice soft and persuasive and his pure excitement for fatherhood was enough to reel you in to every proposal he made. How could you say no when he was just so enthusiastic?

"What about you, sweet girl? Huh? What do y'think?"

Carmen set the pants back down on the clothing rack, kneeling down just to slightest bit as he raised a hand to your belly. You peered down at him in awe, the sight of him already bursting with love for your child making you go weak.

And as if you couldn't be more angelic, Carmen thought you were more beautiful than ever carrying his child. He moved the palm of his hand into a slow and gentle circle.

The kick of your soon to be newborn daughter against his hand was reassuring. The two of you nearly gasped, laughing in unison at her comedic timing.

—

Valeria let out squeals and babbles of impatience as you rolled her little lace socks over her small feet. The hassle of getting dressed in the morning, even after she got the leverage to make an absolute mess of her onesie while she ate breakfast in her high-chair.

Even bibs couldn't catch the sloppy mush of crushed strawberries before she'd wash it down with the liquid gold that was your breast milk. Valeria had a tendency to try and bite down during feeding when her mouth was all gums. But now that her teeth were nearly done coming in, it was an even more frequent offense. It startled you every time.

You tried switching to bottles: the ones with realistically covered and textured silicone nipples with a stopper to avoid the possible spills of milk, but they never sufficed. Valeria had to have the 'real thing,' or she was hardly ever satisfied. Carmen wondered how you did it. Well, he knew how, logistically, but he knew that it had to be emotionally and physically exhausting.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm tryin' to hurry. Geez, you've been spoiled since birth, mija," you sighed dramatically, nodding your head and placing a kiss on Valeria's forehead, her hair tickling your philtrum.

Suddenly, you could hear the sound of the front door opening and closing. Valeria immediately squirmed vigorously and smiled ear to ear as you scooped her into your tired arms. It was like she could smell him, the way she knew immediately that it was her dad.

"Who's that? Is that Daddy?" you turned to Valeria and bounced her up and down, her little hands already flaying around as giggle after giggle escaped her mouth. Your beloved husband called out for you once or twice, quickly realizing you'd been in the nursery when he heard the sound of his girls.

"Hi, hone—Oh my goodness!" Carmen gasped, peeking his head into the heaven-like bedroom. It seemed like he was immediately drawn to Valeria like a magnet. His white t-shirt stuck to his skin from the summer heat, his baseball cap casting a shadow on his face. He almost looked a little out of breath.

He walked in while gushing at the sight of Valeria all dressed in her mothers arms. The off-white, soft lettuce-cut top paired perfectly with her socks. The white ribbon in her hair literally tying the look together.

"Dada!" Valeria pointed her little finger to him, trying to escape your embrace and jump into Carmen's arms if she truly could. She'd become especially talkative lately. But she hadn't quite figured out to greet you with a sickly sweet 'mama' whenever you came around to pepper smooches on her head and smooth, chubby cheeks. You rolled your eyes playfully as you stood beside him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Did mommy get you all dressed up this morning? Hm?" Carmen smiled sweetly at his daughter and scrunched up his nose, just to hear her laugh at his expressions. He held her close against him with his right arm so that Valeria could rest her little head against his shoulder.

"Yep, I sure did," you chuckled, letting Carmen wrap his arm around your waist and draw you in for a quick kiss. Your hand lied on top of Carmen's. Every vein and knuckle was caressed by the pad of your thumb.

"Sorry I took a while. Jus' wanted to pick up some groceries down the street,'" Carmen mumbled into your hair before planting a kiss on the top of your head. "Thank you for bein' with 'er, baby."

You only nodded your head, leaning into his touch as your eyes fluttered shut. Last night was quite a riot. But Carmy, being the gracious hero he often was, arose the moment he heard sweet Valeria crying out for touch and attention from her crib. That baby monitor was the only thing that could help Carmen's anxieties calm and let him sleep at night, but was also the only thing waking him up nowadays.

"We got a real princess on our hands, huh?" you smiled at Valeria, her head rested on Carmen's chest and her hand pressed against his peck. She looked just as content. Her curly hair was thick and full of life. Those Italian genes ran strong. With the face of her mothers, friends and family raved about your resemblance everywhere you went with her. But those bright blue eyes and small smile of hers? All Carmy.

"Two princesses on our hands," Carmen corrected you.

With the angelic face of her mothers and fierce, yet tender eyes of her father, she'd be unstoppable.

"My princesses. My girls."

She already was, actually.

#AGH this turned out so cute #i'm so excited for this series!!! #let me know what you guys think<3 #carmen berzatto #dad!carmy #dad!carmy x mom!reader #carmen berzatto x reader #mom!reader #hispanic!reader #the bear

[babyangelsky]

Non is the hidden character and in this essay I will—

—endeavor to make a really good case for it.

This theory is predicated on the possibility of Non still being alive so for my purposes, I'm going to take that as fact. I'm taking a few liberties in places (to varying degrees of clownery) but that central point doesn't change.

This is a long one so get comfy. Okay? Okay.

As of episode 9, we can now be reasonably certain that none of the creepy shit the boys saw was of supernatural origin. They were hallucinations induced by the drug that New/Tan had them smoke in an attempt to get them to spill their secrets about what happened to Non.

Which brings me to Por.

We know two things about Por. One, that something—or someone—lured him out of the house and two, that he saw a ninth person on the house's CCTV.

Was the ninth person a hallucination? If he hadn't been lured out of the house, I'd say maybe. Since he was, let's assume he really did see someone for a second on the cameras.

Now, whoever it was didn't just get Por out of the house. He was specifically led down a predetermined path. When he gets outside and goes to the spot where he saw the figure, he looks down and sees a trail of blood.

He follows this trail and we all know what happens next. He gets deeper into the woods, away from the safety of the house, and starts to hear noises. He turns around, sees a hooded figure following him, and gets chased into a sharpened branch.

Even though New and Phi, although to a lesser extent, are the masterminds behind this little trip to the vacation house, at this moment they are both accounted for. New is playing jenga and getting high with Top and Fluke and Phi is up on the balcony having his dick bitten by Jin. They weren't the ones who lured Por and chased him.

Non did.

What, we're meant to believe that Por just happened to hallucinate a chase that happened to lead him right into a conveniently sharpened branch? And that of all the gin joints in all the cities in all the world, he just had to walk into mine the bad luck of encountering the one branch that was at the perfect height to impale him?

Which is, coincidentally enough, the exact death scenario that Non wrote in his script?

BE SERIOUS.

The only way Por meets this exact death is if Non was the one to kill him, and that leads me to the wire that ended up decapitating poor dead Uncle Dang. A wire which I truly don't think that was meant for him.

Let's follow this line of reasoning. We know that Top and Tee took the road when they went to get help for Por on the bike. This would ultimately fail as they got a flat tire and had to go back, having themselves a hallucination a piece along the way.

At that point, there was no wire stretched across the road. Once they got back to the house, no one would come outside again until morning when they heard Uncle Dang approach on his bike. The wire could've been strung up at any point after the boys got back.

Let's say that after ensuring Por got impaled, Non stuck around to see the aftermath and saw Tee and Top on the bike. Wouldn't it make more sense then for him to have strung up the wire to prevent anyone from leaving as opposed to stopping anyone from coming in?

Because if he is following his script then...

"But Leah," I hear you ask after having humored me thus far, "How would Non even know that the boys would be at the vacation house?"

This is where I sit back down at my vanity mirror in the dressing room at the circus and start taking some liberties.

For Non to have lived, someone had to help him. I mentioned yesterday that I was hopping on the Perth helped Non train and after giving it more thought, I'm doubling down. It's not only possible that Perth helped Non, he had to have done it, and not only because I want Non to be alive so very badly.

Why would Perth and his cheekbones be on the promotional poster for the finale (BESIDE NON I MIGHT ADD) if his character weren't important to the plot? Why would he be there if his only role was to massage Uncle Joe's shoulders?

Allow me to posit a Wild Ass Theory a la @respectthepetty :

If Perth's character helped Non and Known Criminal Keng escape Uncle Joe, that means the video where they were captured getting on a bus was authentic.

But because Uncle Joe and the mafia are still a threat, they can't just go chill somewhere. They have to go on the run and into hiding somewhere they won't be found.

Somewhere like a rarely visited vacation house in the middle of the forest with no contact with the outside world.

Or, alternatively, a creepy temple near that rarely visited vacation house.

Think about it. Non had already been to that house, he's familiar with it, he knows it's empty for long stretches of time and exactly how isolated it is. A terrified teenager fearing for his life is going to want to go somewhere familiar and that house (or the temple) is the perfect place to hide.

I don't think Non went to hide there with the intention, or the hope rather, that he'd get an opportunity for revenge one day. I think he just took advantage of a situation that fell into his lap.

The boys arrived in the afternoon and shit didn't start going down until later that night. That's plenty of time to sharpen a branch, lay down a blood trail, and put on his mask and cloak.

We know all the movie props and the camera and everything were still at the house so it stands to reason that Non had access to them. And we know he had access to the house because White found the knife that was used to cut Por's arms in the closet in the kitchen. The only way that knife could've gotten there is if Non put it there.

Not just any knife, by the way. It was Non's knife, the one that he brought to the house when they came to film and then used to cut Top.

I can't say with any certainty whether Non is acting on his own or with help, but I lean more toward him acting alone. Even if he escaped with Keng, it doesn't mean Keng is still with him all this time later and besides, I much prefer to imagine that ol' boy got eaten by a tiger.

One last thing. This isn't really part of my theory, more like support for it, but when Por is agonizing on the couch, he keeps saying sorry and trying to talk about what he and the boys did three years ago. It could just be a coincidence or deathbed guilt, but I don't think it is. I think Por knows exactly who killed him and that's why he kept apologizing and trying to confess.

In conclusion:

Hope you don't mind being tagged for the DFF round up @slayerkitty ! 🙏🏼

#i'm fully prepared to be wrong #i'm expecting it even #but GOD i hope i'm right #i need non to be alive SO BADLY #dead friend forever #dead friend forever the series #non #meta

[pilot-boi]

Pilot, I know you primarily bully Jaune. But would you mind having a go at Papa Arc talking to the Vacuo mural?

Orion Arc is not a hero, even though his son always thought he was. He’s just a man who loves his family and tries his best to do right by them.

So it’s more than a little strange standing there, in front of a mural of his own son’s face. His boy immortalized and honored in ways Orion could never dream of.

His son looks like a stranger.

“Mr. Branwen thought it might help to talk to ya.” Orion’s hand brushes over the palm prints of countless children, all paying their respect to his boy. “Don’t see much point, ain’t gonna bring you back.”

His son watches him, all quiet confidence and bravery. A true warrior, a hero. Where is his brash anxious son who begged to join the Huntsman Academies? How much of his son did he lose when Jaune finally left home? Somewhere along the way his boy grew into a man and he wasn’t there to help him.

“Your uh…” He clears his throat. “Your mother misses you.” And it sounds pathetic even as he says it. Even in front of a facsimile of his son he can’t say what he needs to.

“She was beside herself when you didn’t come back from Haven.” So was he, even more so than his wife. Orion paced the house for days, worry driving him to throw himself into work, into anything that would take his mind off the attack and the fate of his boy. “We were so relieved to hear from Saph about you and your friends.”

His friends. A group of seven that from all accounts Jaune grew closer to than even his sisters. Orion glances up at the others in the mural. Four of which fell alongside his boy, and the other three were left grieving.

Ren, Nora, and Oscar, he remembers them being called. He never thought he’d see his grief echoed in faces so young.

“As soon as we saw the broadcast, your mother was packin’ our bags.” Orion chuckles. “You shoulda seen her, she was fixin’ to march up to the General herself and teach him a lesson. If I ever wondered where you got your fire, I got my answer.”

His face falls, crumpling like paper. “And I triedta douse that fire.” How many times did he tell Jaune it was okay if he failed? How many times did he refuse to train him? How many times did he let his fear guide him to crush his son’s dreams?

“When you walked into the livin’ room with your transcripts in hand sayin’ you were gonna be a Huntsman whether I wanted it or not, why…” His eyes are stinging. If there’s anything his son inherited from him, it’s his tendency for emotions to live near the surface. “Why that was the proudest day of my life.”

He’d never been more proud. Never. His boy standing there with those papers clutched in his fist, and a defiant look on his face. “I won’t let you down.” Jaune had said.

You could never let me down. It’s what he should’ve said. Why didn’t he just say it?

Orion scrubs the heel of his hand into his eyes. It does nothing to stop the flow of tears. “Did I ever once tell ya how proud I am of you?” His voice is cracking and hitching, but if he stops talking now Orion knows he’ll never start again.

“You’re so brave and you don’t quit when things get tough. I saw how hurt you were after the Fall of Beacon, but you just got right back on that horse.” His baby boy, the most caring and most stubborn of all his children. Strapping the family sword back onto his hip because “Somebody has to, dad.”

Letters where it’s clear his boy isn’t saying half the trouble, but he’s saying enough that they know what trouble is. Hearing about the attack on Haven, a week and a half of terror. Saphron sending word that Jaune made it to Argus.

And then nothing. Nothing until the broadcast from Miss Rose.

Packing in a whirlwind, sending the girls to stay with Saphron. Renting the first available airship to Vacuo and contending with his wife’s motion sickness. By the time they got there, they were met halfway by a near armada.

But no Jaune.

Orion’s hand rests on Jaune’s painted cheek. A child’s hand against the larger-than-life hero his boy grew into when he wasn’t there.

Did he ever tell his son how much he loves him?

“Come back to us,” Orion begs, no longer trying to stem the flow of tears. Why bother? His son isn’t here to see them.

#rwby #jaune arc #papa arc #mine #asks #my writing #freshmiraclecheesecake

[gaybananabread]

rottmnt tickle head cannons? What is your favorite tickle trope for Rise? (As in who is your favorite Lee/ler scenario)

🐢Rottmnt Tkl Headcanons♡

~Oooooh my Rise hcs! Sorry I've been so dead recently, school is kicking my ass this semester (⊙⁠﹏⁠⊙). I'll do character hcs first, and the trope thing at the end. Much longer than my others for sure. I need to do more for these skrunkles tbh. Slight Rise spoilers if you squint. Sorry this took 8,000 years, and thank you for requesting!~

(Casey Jr Hcs)

💥Raph🧸

General:

We can all agree that this big ol’ teddy bear loves tickles, right?

Be it a fluffy comfort or destroying a bratty brother, Big Raphie is up for it.

Taking this into account, he feels like a switch.

Might admit he likes it around the right person, though his brothers have known for years.

He has to really trust someone to tell them.

Doesn't wanna seem like he's unfit to protect his brothers. As you can probably guess, he gets lovingly ejected from that mindset when people find out.

Lee:

If he gets a lee mood, he tries to hide it and fails miserably.

Big boy will have the dopiest grin around his playful brothers, which he does a horrible job at hiding.

Can't seem to focus on his advice-giving or training. It doesn't take long for his brothers to notice.

Worst spot is his underarms. You get him there and he'll give every dog near a NYC sewer grate a headache.

Melt spots are his palms and beneath his chin. Gentle scratches on either surface melt him into a happy, giggly puddle.

Likes being tickled by anyone really close to him. He's just gotta be in the right mood for it. April kills him most often.

Amazing thing to do to him is gentle melt-spot attention to help him relax. Toss in some reassurances and praise while you're at it. He'll be in a blissful daze for hours.

Ler:

Mostly a revenge-ler, but he can also randomly get ler moods.

He loves the Tickle Monster persona, always uses it on his brothers when they're being shitheads.

A softer ler, though he isn't afraid to wreck someone if they refuse to quit (or ask).

When he's being nice, soft scribbles, flurries of pokes, and side squeezes.

“Cootchie-coo, ya cutie!”

When he's not-so-nice, you get one or two giant, inescapable tickle-claws attacking you, big squeezes and occasionally neck nibbles if he's feeling evil.

Mikey, Leo and April get it most often, though each for different reasons.

Mikey straight up asks, and big bro is more than happy to provide. Boy loves a willing lee.

Leo’s always a shit, and some Raphie tickles work wonders on taking him down a peg.

April either offers to let him tickle her as a stress/mood reliever or engages a tickle fight.

He gives the best aftercare ever (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠｡⁠♡. Cuddles, back rubs, maybe a nap in his cozy lap if you're comfortable with it. Potential hot chocolate if you're patient.

🗡️Leo✨

General:

Sassy man gives off ler-leaning switch.

Always in the mood to lovingly murder his brothers’ lungs, but occasionally likes to forget his name.

This playful goof definitely likes tickling, though he refuses to admit it. He needs to protect his coolness, afterall.

Lee:

When the lee mood hits, everyone in the house is immediately notified. Not directly, of course, but it's pretty obvious that something's up.

WAY more one-liners and flippy jokes than normal. Awkward finger guns at the end of jokes, little prods and pokes for no reason, just general annoyance.

In his mind, he'll either annoy them into wrecking him, or they'll pick up on it and help. Either way, he gets tickled.

If anyone tickles him, it's usually either Raph or Mikey. Raph gets tired of his shit the quickest, and Mikey is good at reading people.

Worst spots are his thighs and feet. Get him there, and there's no way he'll be able to even think about sassing anyone through his laughter.

Melt spots are his forearms. After a long day of patrolling the city and being awesome, some light traces there will make him a very happy turtle.

Ler:

Okay but the SASS

He's such a teasy bastard of a ler. Will tease and coo at his lee until they're a flustered, blushy mess. Then he'll call ‘em cute one more time, just because he can.

He frequently gets ler moods, but those are way easier to take care of than their opposite.

Most of the time, his lee will be Mikey or Donnie. His bubbly brother is almost always in the mood for a good tickle “fight,” and Donnie needs to relax sometimes.

Has a bit of a rough style, but does get softer moods sometimes.

During regular moods, he loves to dig into sides and bellies, attack death spots and blow raspberries to hear a lee squeal.

On softer occasions, he'll gently skitter his fingers along death spots, switching places whenever the giggling gets too loud. Maybe some tickly kisses if you're lucky

His aftercare typically consists of cuddling during a Jupiter Jim movie, snacks, and gentle praises. Makes sure his victims are smiling, even when his fingers aren't wiggling.

🎨Mikey☀️

General:

Sunshine boy loves tickling, both as a bonding activity and a coping method.

He's a lee-leaning switch for sure. Ready to get his ass handed to him, but open to helping out his brothers’ lee moods or cheering someone up.

Has magical “can say the t-word at any time” powers. You know he abuses the absolute heck out of said powers, too.

Lee:

Lee moods are no rare thing for this boyo.

Gets them very frequently, though he's actually able to ask for help when he needs it.

Either accidentally or on purpose, he's able to fluster his ler. He'll ask for more, one specific spot, tell them that they're doing an awesome job, ect.

When he gets super stressed, some cheer-up/calm-down tickles are much appreciated (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

A massive squirmer, he can't help it. Make sure to pin or hold him, or you might get an elbow to the nose (accidentally, of course; he'd never stop apologizing).

Worst spots are his knees and neck. Either spot gets him screeching, though he isn't likely to try and stop you.

Melt spot is his palms. With his mildly-terrifying mystic magic, some feather-light touches can be reassuring. Just make sure to ask first.

Everyone kinda rotates through wrecking him, though Raph and Donnie kinda dominate the field.

Either because they catch on/get annoyed the quickest or something else, he's usually found with them.

Ler:

Surprisingly formidable ler

Don't let his cinnamon-roll vibe fool you: this man can and will wreck your shit.

Tweaks his style a bit for each person. Super observant and tailors how and what he does to each lee.

Compliment-teases are his specialty. He'll have you blushing in 5 seconds flat.

“Aww, I love your blush! It's so bright and cute, just like you!”

“This squishy belly is just so ticklish, isn't it? Here I thought it was just adorable!”

“Was that a snort? No, don't hide it! Those are the best!”

His ler moods are a bit rarer, but they are absolutely something to fear (or enjoy while they last (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)).

Super sweet aftercare. You can't escape cuddling (unless you can't handle the touch, he'll understand). Usually some hand-baked treats as well, depending on what he has hidden from his brothers.

General:

🛠️Donnie👾

He's a ler-leaning switch, but that's mainly because he's not always open for being touched.

He gets lee moods, but they're rarer. People have to ask before they try anything.

Even with ler moods, not always open to get somebody.

Communication with this boy is key.

Lee:

It takes a good combination of good day + not overstimulated + in a touchy mood, but he does get lee moods.

Tries to hide and ignore them, but it never works out. Either Shelldon finds him and helps, or one of his brothers stumbles across the mood.

If he’s super overwhelmed with a project and okay with touch, some light tickles are perfect for bringing him back to Earth.

Little hand flaps and kicks when you get him. Happy stims galore! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

Worst spot is his soft shell, though armpits are a close second. Loud, bright and occasionally hysterical reactions.

Melt spots are his belly plastron and tops of his thighs. Gentle traces and scratches on either spot leave him a stimmy, giggly puddle.

Most of the time, it’ll be Leo who tickles him. It’s usually for help calming down, though April isn’t far behind.

Will never admit it, but he does enjoy both sides of tickling.

Ler:

You know this mans uses his shell attachments to wreck people.

Those metal claws? Yeah, good luck- =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)

Very dramatic commentary on his lee’s reactions. His inner theater kid loves to shine. Either that, or complete monotone. There’s no in-between, and he’s never offered an explanation.

“Oh my, you’re laughing rather hard, my dear gigglebug!”

“Judging by this raucous laughter, I’d say this is your worst spot.”

“Oh, it tickles? Really badly? How unfortunate for you…”

Has absolutely made tickle-specific gadgets and I will die on this hill.

Remember the feather staff feature from the Shredder episode? He didn’t just have that for no reason.

Usually wrecks Mikey and/or Leo. They’re both very talented at provoking him, either on purpose or by accident.

His aftercare depends on his mood. If he’s cool with touch, he’ll cuddle and watch a movie with you. If not, you’ll usually get some pats from his claw and snuggles from Shelldon (yes lil’ dude is fine gimme a break)

📹April⚾

General:

Hmmmm toughie, but I’d say ler-leaning switch. Not all that ticklish, but willing to help if one of her brothers is in a bad ler mood.

She just kinda prefers to do the tickling most of the time, unless it’s for her bros.

Extremely confident, bears the magic power of saying the t-word whenever she pleases. You know she puts it to good use, too.

Being the sister of the family, she’s gotta put her bros in their places. Why not use tickling?

Lee:

While it’s not often, she’ll let Big Raphie tickle her if he needs to.

Sometimes that boy just needs someone to reassure him that he’s not hurting them while giggling their brains out.

She’s pretty good at sitting still, amazing poker face. Could easily dominate in the Arms Up game.

As I said before, not super ticklish. Serves her well in tickle fights (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Only her ribs really get her laughing, but other than that it’s bubbly, pitchy giggles.

Doesn’t really have a melt spot, though if she had to choose a favorite, it’d be her belly.

Ler:

VERY very teasy. Easily-flustered lees be warned (˘ ˘ ˘)

Loves seeing her lee blush and sputter, finds it endlessly adorable.

“What? Oh, it tickles? Good, thought I might’ve been going too easy on ya!”

“Oooo, someone’s blushin’! How cute~”

“Wonder what would happen if I went for your worst spot… Only one way to find out!”

Giggles along with her lee. They’re adorable—how could she not?

As big sis, it’s her job to keep her brothers in line. Why not use tickling?

Frequently gives Raph calm-down/confidence-boosting tickles. Boy’s too stressed, in her opinion.

After him, it’s helping Donnie relax or pry him away from a project. Leo also needs to be taken down a peg every once in a while.

Super snuggly aftercare. Back rubs, praises and even some teases for the road, if ya catch my drift~

🔥Cassandra🏒

General:

I’m feeling ler on this one. She doesn’t seem like she’d enjoy being tickled too much, though she definitely doesn’t mind wrecking others.

Before the Hamato fam stepped in, she didn’t really have much experience in the tickly field.

Maybe one of her foot-face mentors, but other than that, nada.

That absolutely changes when she joins the bros.

Ler:

Ready to vanquish any “enemy” lee mood to help her friends out.

Rougher style normally, though she can be convinced to dial it back. You wanna forget your name? She’s your gal.

Takes her role sorta seriously, though she can be playful. Just depends on her mood.

If she does tease, it’s more observational than anything.

She just kinda says flustering stuff without meaning to.

“Well, no duh it tickles. That’s the whole point!”

“Not there? You asked me to tickle you, but scold me the moment I get somewhere? I don’t think so!”

Attacks everyone pretty evenly, but she does have a preference for April and Raph. They’re the most fun to take down, in her opinion.

Cass respects boundaries, of course. You genuinely want her to stop and she’ll be off you in seconds.

Doesn’t grasp the concept of aftercare quite yet. Once you can breathe, she’ll start asking for feedback.

“How was that? Did it really tickle? Details, giggler, details!”

If specifically requested, though, she does give a mean back-rub and/or massage. If your back or neck is ticklish, though, you’re gonna have a whole new problem~ ( ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )

💮Splinter🐀

General:

Splints has ler energy, ya know?

Like April, not super ticklish. He isn’t the biggest fan of being tickled, but if it’s with very specific people, he’ll tolerate it.

Doesn’t interact tickle-wise very often, but he does have his moments.

Is very aware that his children love it and tries to connect with them in that way sometimes.

Ler:

With his ninja skills and small size, he can take down even the brattiest of lees in seconds.

You see his tail? Yeah, absolutely uses it to help wreck his victims.

Very playful, goofy ler. Laughs along with his lee, makes little comments on their reactions.

“Oh my, little one. I never would have thought you’d be so sensitive!”

“Heheh, what a cute laugh! You really should let me hear it more often!”

When he notices any of his kids are down in the dumps, he sneaks in a few pokes and scritches with his tail.

If that doesn’t work, they get the full-Splints treatment. Reassuring teases, rougher tickles and his undivided attention.

He’ll bug Draxum when he feels like it, which is more funny than anything.

Reducing the broody goat-man to a giggling, cursing mess is therapeutic for him ( ͡º ꒳ ͡º)

His aftercare is light and sweet. Head pats, reassurances, and a small cookie break for a nice close.

🌱Baron Draxum🐐

General:

Before the turtles, had little to no idea what tickling was about.

Sure, he knew that people laughed when it happened, but he couldn’t tell what was so great about it. It was just touch and laughter - no big deal.

Once the teetles got ahold of him, though? Yeah, that view changed pretty quick.

Turns out he’s a switch. Likes “destroying his nuisances” with the harmless technique, but doesn’t mind it being used on him.

Will never admit the latter, though.

Lee:

A LOT more ticklish than one would imagine. Like a few squeezes will leave him giggling and blushing like there’s no tomorrow.

He’s pretty good at hiding his lee moods, though they definitely aren’t repressible. Draxy feels them, but can keep others in the dark.

If anyone’s gonna notice, it’ll be Lou (Splinter). He knows the man the best, thanks to Mikey’s whole “fatherly-bonding” push.

Splints will help, though he’ll tease the shit out of the Baron the entire time.

While he’ll never tell the rat man, he enjoys the silly exchanges.

Worst spots are his hips and shoulder blades. Either place will have him stuck in a snorty, rumbling bout of hysterics.

Melt spots are his palms. He adores gentle traces there, lets him know somebody cares.

Ler:

Absolutely uses his mystic powers to help him.

Those vines? Yeah, restraints and tickle tools for days

Very smug ler, likes to tease his lees until they’re flustered messes. It’s done out of love, though, so can you blame him?

“This must be torturous, huh? The vines holding you still, my fingers on your worst spots… However, I don’t think I’ve heard you say stop…”

Usually tickles the teens if they’re annoying him, but also goes after Lou every so often.

He knows there’ll be repercussions, but life’s no fun without a little risk.

Huginn and Muninn are next in line. Surprising no one, they’re and attention whores. Draxy makes sure they get their fills.

Not the best with aftercare, but he tries. Back rubs and light praises while you catch your breath. Maybe some of his “confectionary wonders” if you’re brave enough.

*✧⁠◍Favorite Trope & Lee/Ler Pairing◍✧⁠*

Okay, so there’s no way I can pick a single favorite pairing. I love them all too much! I can, however, name my top 3.

lee!Raph, ler!April is definitely up there. I adore the big-siblings energy in their fics, and they just bond so well!

Pretty much anything with lee!Donnie in it. I love seeing the smarty-pants get got ( •̀ ᵕ •́ )

lee!Draxum and ler!Splinter. Okay, hear me out, but I love redemption arcs and enemies to friends/lovers/co-parents or whatever you wanna call what they have going on. They’re fun and I like fun.

For my favorite trope, I’m gonna have to go with cheer-up tickles, or more specifically, some stop-stressing-tf-out tickles. It’s always so fun to read how people would cheer up the boys, as well as write some super duper, totally not self-indulgent fics like that for myself. Maybe one day they’ll see the light, but don't count on it lol (¬////¬)

#rottmnt tickle #ticklish!raph #ticklish!leo #ticklish!donnie #ticklish!mikey #ticklish!april #ler!cassandra #ler!splinter #ticklish!draxum #sfw tickling community #tickle #sfw tickle headcanons #lee!raph #ler!raph #lee!donnie #ler!donnie #lee!mikey #ler!mikey #lee!leo #ler!leo #lee!april #ler!april #lee!draxum #ler!draxum #tickle hcs #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt baron draxum #rottmnt cassandra jones #rise of the tmnt tickle

[josnhoes]

Monster au courting ritual with Riddle, Sebek and Carter with human mc

Content warning: none

Riddle the werewolf is someone who prides himself on control. It's contradictory to his inner beast, but he refuses to faulter. That was until he met you.

He wishes he could say he fell for you slowly, but it was love at first sight. He takes his time to approach you with the intent to court you. Riddle isn't one to rush into something blind, so he is combing through old text to try and find information on human courting.

When that inevitably fails he calls in help from Trey. The living Doll had a way with people if anyone could get you to share information on human courting it was him. The information he came back with didn't help much. So he decided to fall back on how he would court another werewolf.

He provides healthy meals, and is almost obsessive with your health. Every party you have an invite to and a seat saved beside him. Lots of gifts as well, all usable like computers or books and such. He listens to all your worries and woes too. He will pull back if you seem to get overwhelmed. But he's always there waiting for his chance to prove himself to you.

Cater is a 4 tailed kitsune. Not nearly as strong nor wealthy as the 9 tailed Kalim; but far more clever. He's guarded emotionally and oh so careful with his words. So when he falls for you he tries to ignore it. He pushes those feelings off and does his best to simply be your friend.

But we all know ignoring your feelings never works. Instead as he spends his time with you, listening to your woes, watching you open up and smile...well he falls harder.

His courting is simple, he spends time with you. He shares his true self with you, showing how much he trusts you. He shows you his really neat magic and helps you make and maintain a magicam account. But despite that he keeps his feelings hidden until the time comes he has to tell you or you'll be taken by someone else. He doesn't want to get in the way of your happiness but he wants a chance to *be* your happiness.

Sebek the Lizard man is intense. Where Jack takes your feelings of being followed into account Sebek does not. He is trained to be a guard to ensure the safety of his prince. While you may not be his prince you are his human. So like the knight he is when he isn't guarding Malleus he's guarding you.

His courting is all about small gestures and keeping you safe. He helps you clean, warns you of things you should avoid, aids you in studying. It's all very sweet if a little much.

If you ask him to calm down with his courting, give you more space ect. He will comply but he'll be oh so pouty. Because even if you reject his courting he's come to view you as a close friend and he wants to spend time with you.

#monster!au #twisted wonderland #twst x reader

[soniclozdplove]

So I have a mini theory about TOTK based on the memories, major spoilers under cut

So Zelda is around 10,000 years in the past, in the Era where this iteration of Hyrule was first founded. I say this iteration because I believe that this isn't the true original Hyrule that we know to have been founded form Skyward Sword but most likely a refounding of the kingdom from further down the timeline, similar to how New Hyrule was founded by Link and Tetra after Wind Waker, but that's my own headcanon and I don't really want to deal with the whole timeline bs right now. Which is why I'm only focusing on Zelda doing time travel in TOTK.

So... my question here is, exactly how long was she in the past!? The answer is 10,000 years, I know, but I mean... how long was ZELDA in the past. Not Zelda the Light Dragon but Zelda as herself. Time travel is a finicky subject since, for us, she could have only been missing for weeks, maybe months, before the end of the game. For her it could have been much, much longer.

My idea stens from a few factors, first being her relationship with Sonia and Rauru and the second being the Imprisoning War. A little bit of Ganondorf thrown in there too.

First and foremost, the bond between Zelda and her ancestors. Queen Sonia and King Rauru treat Zelda, a literal stranger to their politics and therapy, like a daughter. Far more so than he rown father ever did! When she has something to say, they listen to her concerns and validate them. Now that could just be them being good parental figures to their decendant, but Rauru had no reason to believe a word Zelda said about her concerns over Ganondorf's treachery when, in her time, the Imprisoning War that hadn't even happened yet was little more than a legend and barely remembered history. Nobody even knew who the Zonai were by the time BOTW came along. Yet Ganondorf aoemhow knew Sonia would listen if Zelda asked to see her in private, and Sonia and Zelda were both able to put a contingency plan in effect to thwart the attamped assassination. True they failed in the end, but the initial attempt had failed and the fact Ganondorf knew Zelda's image would move Sonia to leave her protection and her husband says a lot in and of itself.

Then the war itself. First of all, war isn't a quick matter. There is jo su h thing as a fast war no matter what history claims. All war is messy and takes years to deal with the fallout. And the Imprisoning War wasn't a simple skirmish. It was a massive war that put the Hylians and their aloud forces to the rbink of extinction, one that had long lasting consequences including but not limited to the longterm exclusion of all males within the Gerudo tribe with the exception of Link over 10,000 years down the line, and even then that only happened AFTER he saved the tribe twice over. A war that is o far reaching it is mere jyth and legend yet still very present at the time of BOTW. By the time the Sages swear allegiance to Rauru, he was the last bastion against the Demon King in his rampage with the last of the Gerudo falling shortly beforehand. That is, the Gerudo who are OP as hell in BOTW in all accounts and are literally trained from childhood as elite warriors in most cases.

Zelda had FOUGHT in that war and had spent an undetermined time after its ending, preparing the Kingdome of Hyrule and the remaining survivors for Ganondorf's inevitable revival as best she could. That in and of itself will likely take years, especially since she had to find a caretaker for Rauru and Sonia's unnamed and unseen heir to ensure her bloodline lasted long enough for her own birth.

So, I bring you back to my theory... Zelda has been in the past for at least several years before she turned into the Light Dragon. She did not immediately go to the Temple of Time and swallow the secret stone. She had to have had at least several months after the war at minimum before she could transform into a dragon. I know the Tears make it appear shorter than it was but there's no way all the events of the 8 tears can happen within a span of a few months. It had to have been years.

#legend of zelda #long post #link #breath of the wild #totk spoilers #botw totk #totk #zelda #princess zelda #breath of the wild tears of the kingdom #breath of the wild totk #theory #light dragon #totk light dragon #ganondorf #totk ganondorf #king rauru #rauru #totk rauru #queen sonia #sonia #totk sonia #botw totk spoiler

[saintsenara]

Hi thank you so much for your Many posts spreading Love of Romione with such accuracy and eloquence. It makes me so happy seeing such well done defense for them in 2024! I would to hear anything else lovely you have to say about Romione forever and ever thank you (Maybe your Favorite Romione moment? Or When, in your opinion they fell in love with each other?) thank you!!!!! ❤️

thank you very much, anon! this is extremely lovely of you.

i've got one favourite romione moment here, but another is her being genuinely won over by ron's improved rizz once he's had a flick through twelve fail-safe ways to charm witches:

“Nice,” said Ron, as with one final flourish of her wand, Hermione turned the leaves on the crabapple tree to gold. “You’ve really got an eye for that sort of thing.” “Thank you, Ron!” said Hermione, looking both pleased and a little confused. Harry turned away, smiling to himself. He had a funny notion that he would find a chapter on compliments when he found time to peruse his copy of Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches.

hermione has a bit of a reputation in this fandom - largely, i think, due to the fact that she's written as so prim in the films - for being someone with an extremely low tolerance for frivolity. but, in the books, she's clearly perfectly capable of being silly and funny and a bit of a hopeless romantic. her being sincerely delighted to have the boy she fancies gas up her way with a wand [behave] is something so sweetly teenage that it always makes me smile - even before the added poignancy of the fact that this is a small joy for her after she's vanished from her parents' minds and is preparing to go on the run at any moment is taken into account.

it's why she decides to pack his tight jeans. change my mind.

as for when ron and hermione fell in love?

on the train. harry's reaction to meeting her is "wtf? moving on..." but ron is so bothered by her - groaning when she's sorted into gryffindor! my guy! - and she is so bothered by him - as we see in literally everything she does in the opening half of philosopher's stone - and this constant, prickling irritation, this desire to know what someone is up to at all times, this commitment to caring about what they do and say and think of you... is a very good indicator of love at first sight.

so - of course - it takes harry six more years to work out what's going on.

#asks answered #asenora's opinions on ships #romione #ron weasley #hermione granger #twelve fail-safe ways to charm witches coming in clutch

[filmhead-productions]

I know everyone and their mom has already said Snivy, Torchic, and Piplup will be the legends z-a starters. And they're completely 100% right, and here's why. Remember, this is only speculation, please don't take some rando's word as fact.

First off, evidence. I'm sure we've all already seen the Indigo Disk trailer with Snivy, Torchic, and Piplup with the previous legends starters, Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott respectively.

But has anyone said anything about the tera raids events? The first was Mighty Blaziken from January 19th to 21st; it's tera type was Flying type. And you're probably asking "but the new starters are probably getting megas and Blaziken already has one." Yes, but why can't he have two? Charizard and Mewtwo do, and Blaziken's quite popular, so a second mega isn't out of the question in my eyes.

Next was Mighty Empoleon from February 9th to 11th. It's tera type was Ice type.

As of this post, Serperior has yet to get a raid event, but I believe the next starter tera raid will be this haughty plant snake, and I believe it's tera type will be Fighting. Why? Because it completes this type trio:

Fighting > Ice > Flying

So we have three starters who final evolutions will be Fire/Flying, Water/Ice, and Grass/Fighting. But why these types specifically? Strap in, because this is where things get interesting.

Everyone knows that Empoleon is based on Napoleon Bonaparte, infamous general and emperor of France. So why not Water/Fighting? Because in 1812, Napoleon attempted to lead an army into Russia to conquer it. What he failed to account for was the frigid weather, which took out the majority of his troops and forced them to retreat. So maybe Kalosian Empoleon will be in this constant state of near freezing based on this event, it would be a glass cannon.

People chose Torchic as the fire starter since the rooster is France's national animal. It became France's symbol because in ancient times, when the Roman Empire occupied France (then named Gaul), the rooster wasn't worshipped, but rather the god it symbolized, Mercury, the Roman god of travelers, communication, and many others things. Mercury was also known for being very, very fast. So maybe Kalosian Blaziken will be a speedy pokemon.

About the travelers and communication bit, perhaps this oversized chicken will also be inspired by messenger pigeons, which were used during World War I to send messages across countries. (Let's hope that if abilities come back, this doesn't get speed boost again, lmao)

Finally, we come to Serperior. Pokemon designer Ken Sugimori said that Serperior was inspired by a manga called The Rose of Versailles, we all know this. It's about a woman raised as a boy trained to be a royal guard, who later leaves to join the side of the revolution. Kalosian Serperior could look more like a literal rose, covered in thorns, and will probably have a lance for a tail. This snake will definitely be both offensive and defensive, best of both worlds.

So we have a general, a guard, and a messenger. The theme surrounding these three things seems to be wartimes. A hint at the story maybe? Honestly, I could be dead wrong on this, but I don't care, I love this trio, I hope I at least get close. I might make another post speculating with other starters. Any thoughts?

EDIT 3/31/24: Ok so the next tera raid was announced, and I was kind of right. It is a grass type starter. However, it's Meganium with Psychic tera type...

Y'know what? I think I'll try and make a post predicting what this is about later.

#pokemon #pokemon legends #pokemon legends z-a #pokemon starters #snivy #oshawott #piplup #cyndaquil #torchic #rowlet #blaziken #empoleon #serperior #chikorita #meganium

[the-boy-meets-evil]

a simple agreement | kth

pairing: taehyung x f!reader trope/au: fake dating genre: mostly just fluff, slight comedy? rating: general (unless i add another chapter) warnings: mentions of drinking, taehyung's mother makes an appearance and i love her, reader is kind of snarky, taehyung is in over his head, it's just a fake dating trope because of taehyung's family word count: ~4.5k summary: taehyung comes from an incredibly wealthy family and hasn't ever given much thought to settling down. that is, until his father says he can't take his place at the head of the family business unless he's married. but maybe he's found the perfect solution. a/n: i wrote this initially for another fandom and have been having the absolute worst writer's block. so, i'm hoping this clears it up. initially i'd planned to carry the story on, so if you're interested in what happens next, let me know! it's also on ao3 here if that's your thing

“You okay, babe?” 

The question broke through Taehyung’s daze as he stared out the window onto his parents’ estate. It was nothing but beautiful green grass all the way to the stables in the summer. Now it was blanketed in fresh snow. Growing up here had not been all bad, he reminded himself, and it wasn’t bad to be back here now. 

He turned around to see you standing in the doorway, a perfect fit for this lifestyle of functions and charity work, a perfect fit for the Kim family. The weak winter sunlight streaming in the window caught your warm eyes, which were trained on him and looked softer than usual, at least for when the two of you were alone. Instinctively, you reached to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, forgetting you had pulled it half up and clipped it, keeping the long strands off your face. The long-sleeved cocktail dress complimented your figure perfectly while still being up to the Kim family standards for an event like this one. Even your heels were simple, all designed to be the perfect fixture on Taehyung’s arm for photographs without pulling too much focus.

By all accounts, you were beautiful, both inside and out, and it was something that Taehyung never failed to notice. When he had told his family you were officially together, they had been thrilled. Finally, it seemed their eldest child and only son had found someone he could be serious about. Finally, the papers would stop writing about the playboy heir to the Kim business. Finally, everything was falling back into the plans that the Kims had made for their son. You were poised, had gone to the proper schools, were a good conversationalist, well-read, a philanthropist, connected to the right society organizations. His mother took you shopping and to luncheons with all her friends, his father pulled him aside to express his approval. 

Once the two of you separated from the parents and all the obligations, you would turn off parent mode and you were actually one of the only people Taehyung had ever been able to truly be himself around. You never judged him, never made him feel bad or guilty or anything. Somehow, he could unload things he had never said to anyone and you took it all in stride, staying by his side. On paper, you were perfect. There was only one problem.

None of it was real. From the moment it had started, the whole relationship had been fake. The two of you weren’t in love and never had been. Taehyung had needed a solution and you had been the perfect means to an end.

Taehyung finally pulled his eyes back to yours again and he forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, darling.” 

You stepped into the room and closed the door behind you, eyes still appraising his face. If you had one fault, it was this. There was no way he could ever hide what he was thinking from you. Nobody had ever been able to read him so well.

“We don’t have to go through with this, you know,” you said softly, watching him as the words came out.

“What other choice do I have?” His jaw clenched almost imperceptibly as he said it but he knew you would have seen. He looked away to buy himself a second.

“Go it alone?” 

It was not the first time you had made the suggestion. Usually, when anyone else had said that to him, he just scoffed and dismissed it. There was just something different in the way you said it, though, as if you knew him well enough to say it from a concern for his happiness rather than anything else.

Taehyung sighed and with it tried to dispel some of the weight he was feeling. “I don’t care about the trust fund, I never have. But the business…”

Because that was the truth. He didn’t care if he lost out on his trust fund that stated he had to be married first. That had never mattered to him. But he did care about having a chance to make a difference in the business. The two had always been separate in his mind. Why should they be tied together? That was when Taehyung’s father had told him that he could not take over the business while unmarried, the investors and the board were all against it. According to them, it was at direct odds with everything the business stood for. That made Taehyung pause in a way nothing else had. Losing out on his trust was one thing, there were other ways to make money. He was not prepared to give up on the business without the fight of his life.

“I know.” Your voice was gentle, soothing, understanding.

“I can’t give it up when there’s still something I can do about it. I deserve the chance to leave my mark on it.”

“You also deserve the chance to fall in love, Tae.” 

Again, there was nothing condescending or judgmental about the statement. There was only concern for him. Even though your entire romantic relationship had been a sham, there was a level of care between the two of you that neither had been expecting. 

“I know,” he conceded.

Taehyung turned back toward the window and lost himself yet again. He let his mind drift back to when this had all started. Had anyone told him this is where he would be less than a year later, he would have asked if they were out of their minds. 

It was another weekend of doing the exact same thing as Taehyung and his friends did any time there was something to celebrate, bar hopping around the city until they were so gone that they barely knew their own names. And nobody could come up with excuses to celebrate like the group of them, who had been friends since their boarding school days. Taehyung would also argue that nobody quite knew how to party like them and few people could keep up. 

Although the night started like any other, you were different. Taehyung rarely worried about finding women on his nights out like this, partly because he did not want to generate another tabloid photograph for his parents to chastise him over that called him the city’s most eligible bachelor, and partly because none of the women were ever enough to hold his interest. 

That night was different, though. You were different. When he noticed you on the other side of the bar, he immediately called a friend’s attention to you, not even noticing that you were also with a group of friends. But, you had noticed them, the second they had walked in, you later told Taehyung. It had been impossible to not notice them, what with all the commotion they had caused. Despite yourself, you later admitted that you had been amused by the sight of them. 

As the night progressed, Taehyung had been compelled to try and speak to you, to use one of his fail-safe lines as he was quite drunk already. Was it even a good line? Had he delivered it correctly? He did not have those answers. What he did know was that nothing seemed to be working on the mystery woman you were. Instead, you wore an amused grin every time he approached you, which had likely been more than several times.

That was where the night went hazy. It was at that point that his mind had gone into protective mode to save him from remembering anything else that he had said or done. What his mind had not counted on, though, was that you would remind him the next morning. 

Taehyung awoke to the unfamiliar smell of delicious food wafting into his bedroom from somewhere else in the apartment. Odd, he thought, as he lived alone and did not have any memory of bringing someone home the night before. As he shifted to go investigate the source of the smell, he noticed a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water on the bedside table. He reached for the bottle and caught sight of a note written in very elegant curling lettering. 

Don’t take any more of these until 1 pm.

He frowned. It had crossed his mind that maybe some of his friends had crashed at his place last night since it had the extra space, was the nicest of any of their places. Taehyung was also pretty sure it was the closest to the last bar they had been at. But none of his friends had handwriting like that. So, the mystery continued.

Consulting the clock and finding that it was not actually after 1 pm yet, Taehyung stood up from the bed, waiting for the hangover to hit. Surprisingly, it did not seem that bad. Somehow he had managed to get into a pair of his pajama bottoms too, so maybe he had not been as drunk as he assumed. It was time to find out who the mysterious, cooking intruder was, and he braved the walk to the kitchen. 

There were no words when he rounded the corner and saw a woman with her back to him, whisking eggs in a bowl, skillet on the stovetop beside her. Her hair was in a messy knot on top of her head and she wore a baggy t-shirt with a pair of what looked like his joggers that must have been rolled over several times to fit her. The whole scene already made zero sense to him when you turned around. That was when his stomach had really, truly, dropped. The girl from the bar. Parts of the night came flooding back. 

“Morning sleepyhead,” you said cheerily.

Just as he was about to say something in response, the doorknob of the door to the flat turned and caused Taehyung to turn towards it with a sharp panic. Only one other person had a key to his apartment and would do something like this, dropping by unannounced, and incidentally, it was the last person that he would have wanted to walk in at that moment. There was no time to say anything to you, to tell you to hide, or explain why you ought not to be there. No, this was happening and he was in for it.

A well-to-do older woman with perfect skin and dark, almost black, hair pulled into a tight bun atop her head stepped cheerily over the doorstep. As always, she was immaculately dressed, with shoes and a handbag color matched to her outfit. Her eyes went to Taehyung first, a frown replacing the previous smile at his appearance. However, he was saved from the tut forming on her lips as she seemed to realize someone else was in the flat.

“Oh! Taehyung, I didn’t realize you would have company,” she said, throwing her son a glare as she looked at you in the kitchen.

Not missing a beat, you (Taehyung was calling you the beautiful mystery woman from the night before) smiled brightly and wiped your hands off, stepping forward.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Kim,” you said and gave your full name.

Taehyung was struck with several thoughts all at once. How did you know his surname? How did you know this was his mother? How had he not remembered such a pretty name? And most importantly, how was your voice so chipper and pleasant after a night out? 

“You as well,” Mrs. Kim said, not bothering to offer her first name to you. “I hadn’t meant to intrude…”

“Oh, you’re really not. Several of us went out last night and Taehyung was kind enough to offer some of us to stay here to not have to head such a long way home. You’ve only barely missed Jimin and Jeonghan,” you said quickly but without a hint of untruth behind the words. “I couldn’t help myself, though. I wanted to make sure to leave some breakfast as thanks before heading out myself.”

“Jimin and Jeonghan were here as well? Such lovely young men,” Mrs. Kim said, softening a bit. “Did you have fun?” 

“We did, and we were very careful to avoid anything that...well, you know,” you said, almost conspiratorially to the older woman.

What was happening? Taehyung wondered, not even for the first time, who this mystery of a woman that was completely charming his mother with no notice was.

“You should let this one come out with you more, Taehyung. She’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Mrs. Kim said to her son with a touch of affection and a larger hint of affection toward the stranger. 

“Have you eaten? I haven’t put the eggs on yet, I can easily add more,” you said.

“Oh, I’m fine, but you’re very kind,” Mrs. Kim said. “No, I was just in the area and was going to twist his arm here to come to lunch with me, but I’ll take a raincheck. Maybe if I play my cards right, he’ll bring you along as well.”

“Mother,” Taehyung said, speaking up.

“Oh, he does speak,” Mrs. Kim tutted. 

“You haven’t given me much chance,” Taehyung said and Mrs. Kim waved a hand dismissively. 

“Don’t forget the function tomorrow night and don’t you dare bring that Jennie or whatever her name was, she was awful,” Mrs. Kim said and went to kiss her son’s cheek.

“That’s tomorrow?” Taehyung asked, clearly having forgotten. 

“Yes, and you had better be on time with an appropriate date or so help me,” Mrs. Kim said before turning to you. “Say, what are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Mother,” Taehyung said again, warningly.

“What?” Mrs. Kim asked, feigning innocence. 

“You can’t just invite someone to a function at the last minute and put her on the spot,” Taehyung said.

“Why not?” Mrs. Kim asked. There was no hint of embarrassment behind her words. She just existed in an entirely different world.

“For one it’s a Saturday night and she may have other plans, for a second thing, it’s incredibly short notice, and for a third, she may not have an evening gown just ready to go,” Taehyung said, cheeks going red at having to have this conversation in front of you.

“As it happens, I’m not busy tomorrow night and I do have several dresses in my closet that work for a function,” you said and Taehyung snapped his head to yours in complete shock.

“Lovely, I’ll see you both tomorrow then,” Mrs. Kim and headed out the door. 

During his reflection on that first meeting, you had moved to stand beside him, not interrupting the silence that washed over the two of you. That was something he had appreciated from the beginning. While you were incredibly interesting to listen to and capable of holding a conversation on such a wide variety of topics, you were also just as happy to let the silence settle between the two of you. You were not like the other vapid society girls, unable to understand when their very existence was annoying. Then again, your existence was never annoying. 

Glancing over at you, he found that you were also gazing out the window. As if feeling his gaze on you, you turned your face slightly to meet his, your eyes again hinting at depths most did not get to see with the public face you wore. The two of you were somewhat the same in that regard, both used to putting on a show when you were around groups of people.

“I was just thinking about the first time we met,” he confessed and saw the corners of your lips twitch up into a smirk.

“What you remember of it,” you responded, not missing a beat.

“I suppose I should be glad I don’t remember more,” he admitted and you laughed, a melodic sound that routinely brought smiles to those around you.

“I wish I’d recorded you,” you said and he chuckled at the thought.

“You should’ve, it would be worth quite a lot now to the right buyer,” he responded and you turned to face him fully, eyes alight with mischief and joy.

“Maybe I’m just pretending I haven’t recorded you and I’m saving it for the right moment,” you mused and he rolled his eyes.

“You’re exhausting,” Taehyung responded without any real bite and you smiled wide.

“Which is exactly why this works, because I challenge you,” you shot back and he sighed. You were right, again. Not that he liked to admit how often you were right. And not that you needed him to. It was one of the many unspoken truths.

“I suppose we’d better go join the party,” Taehyung said and adjusted his suit nervously before fumbling with the buttons on the jacket. 

Your hands carefully brushed his out of the way and deftly fastened the jacket where he had been struggling. When you finished, you looked up into his eyes, studying him. “I meant what I said, you know.”

“About what?” Taehyung thought he knew, but he needed to hear you to say it one more time.

“About forgetting everything, calling the whole thing off.” 

Taehyung studied you for a moment, trying to find a trace of annoyance or insincerity, but there was nothing there apart from the same care you had shown from nearly the beginning. He took a deep steadying breath and fixed a smile on his face. 

“I’m still in if you are,” he said and turned to extend his arm.

“Course I am,” you agreed breezily and took his arm.  

“Then let’s go.”

The pair of you left the room and descended downstairs to the party, eyes on you from the moment that the two of you appeared at the top of the stairs. It was a party to celebrate another year of Taehyung, after all. Almost immediately, he found his mother’s eyes and she smiled warmly at him. There was a small part of him that felt guilty about it all, worried that she would find out the whole relationship had been a lie from the moment she met you. His mother had grown fond of you almost immediately, as had every other person who met you. 

His mother immediately came up and whisked you off to talk to another friend of hers about some function or other. Taehyung was honestly not listening, but his eyes followed you as you walked off anyway, catching the wink you threw back at him when you caught him watching. All he could think about was being nervous about what he was about to do. He had put the nerves down to not wanting anyone to realize that it was all fake and not considered any other possibility.

Before he knew it, and certainly before he was ready, Taehyung met your eyes across the room and saw you nod nearly imperceptibly. It was crazy to be nervous. The two of you had planned the whole thing out and Taehyung had practiced what he was going to say. Had practiced until he was completely sure and comfortable with how it was going to go. This was supposed to be the easy part. The hard part should have been convincing everyone that the two of you were in love, which had turned out to be surprisingly easy. Everywhere the two of you went, you both heard what a stunning couple you were, how lucky you both were to have found each other, how wonderful you both were to have around.

He stepped up to where the band had been playing but was now taking a break, grabbing hold of the microphone. It was traditional that he gave a speech to thank everyone for coming to celebrate his birthday. Nothing odd about this. He tapped the microphone and noticed how quickly the silence fell.

“Thank you all for coming to celebrate my birthday, it means a lot to see so many faces here tonight. Of course, the real thank you goes to my mother, who tirelessly planned such a wonderful event,” he said and paused to raise his glass to his mother. “I have to admit, I was not really looking forward to turning 27, I was kind of dreading it, actually. But then something happened that I never could have imagined.”

Exactly as the two of you planned, Taehyung found you in the crowd of people, standing right next to his mother, as you both agreed you should be. You gave him a dazzling smile and he felt immediately at ease again. It was just like you had told him. Focus on me, you had said, and pretend I’m the only one in the room.

“Then, I met one of the most beautiful, kind, intelligent women in the world. Her smile lights up every room she’s in and you can’t help but be happy in her presence. But, most importantly, as my mother will tell anyone that asks, she has no problem putting me in my place.”

There was laughter at this, just as you had assured him there would be. His mother was nodding along and gave you a smile. Taehyung made it seem as if he were taking a thoughtful pause.

“So, although we’re here celebrating my birthday, I hope you’ll indulge me in this,” Taehyung continued. “She’s been the most wonderful person to have by my side for the past nine months and I know it might seem like I’m moving fast, but someone once told me that when you know, you know.”

Here, Taehyung paused again to look over at his father. It came directly from a conversation the two men had before Taehyung had even met you. Using it here was showing that he had learned from his father.

“I’ve realized that I don’t actually know nearly as much as I thought I did, but what I do know is that I don’t want to learn with anyone else by my side. I don’t want to share adventures with anyone else. I don’t want to go through life without her for a single day,” Taehyung said as he stepped off the stage and moved through the parting crowd towards you and his parents. When he reached you, he withdrew a box. “My darling, will you marry me?”

You had a hand over your mouth as if you were in shock and Taehyung just gazed at you, showing nothing but the care he genuinely felt. This beautiful, kind, captivating woman had been the most supportive friend he had ever had and he had not even known you for a year.

Everything that he said in the speech was true. You were as beautiful as you were kind, as intelligent as were charming, and you challenged him in a way nobody had ever been able to challenge him before. This was the first time he could remember not getting bored of someone in a long time, possibly ever. When anyone else stood up to him, he would write them off. When you did it, however, he stopped and listened. There was value in what you said and you had a way of getting through to him even in his foulest of moods.

He watched as you brushed tears out of your eyes and was in awe of you yet again. How were you able to cry on command on top of everything else that you could do? Honestly, there seemed to be nothing that you were incapable of. It should have annoyed him and yet, there was no way to be annoyed with you.

“Yes,” you said, having pretended to compose yourself enough to answer. “Yes, Tae, of course I’ll marry you.”

Your always dazzling smile had gotten somehow brighter as you flung your arms around his neck and pressed your body against his. He realized that the two of you had not talked about what was going to happen once you said yes and there was a moment of panic. Of course, you had it covered though. You pulled away from him and placed your hands on either side of his face as you pressed your lips firmly against his. Instinct took over and he wound his arms around your waist more tightly, the box still in one hand, pressing you tightly against him. It was like he was on autopilot as he deepened the kiss. You, never missing a beat, matched him. Time stood still and Taehyung forgot that there were people all around until you gently placed your hands on his chest and pushed the two of you gently apart. At the same moment, Taehyung snapped back to reality and heard the applause all around the two of you.

In front of him, you smiled at him, eyes full of affection, as you held your hand out to him. Remembering that he had the box in his hand still, he slid the ring onto your outstretched finger. It fit perfectly, as he knew it would because you had already tried it on. He had wanted you to come with him to pick it out, but you reminded him that someone could see the two of you and it would spoil the plan. So he had taken a friend of his instead and picked out the most stunning ring he could imagine, knowing his mother’s approval was just as important. 

The rest of the party seemed to fly by in a whirl of people congratulating him and wanting to see your ring. You, ever the perfect companion, showed off the ring and gushed along with whatever anyone was saying. To anyone that didn’t know you, you would have seemed just a vapid as every other woman that ran in these circles, only caring about superficial things. But, Taehyung did know you and he knew that you were just going along with the plan you both made. That was what made you an infinitely better person than he was. It only served to reaffirm what he had said after the function his mother had roped you into: you were too good for him. 

While part of Taehyung was present in accepting the congratulations, another part of him was somewhere else entirely. The kiss consumed his thoughts. The two of you had never kissed, not like that at least. Any kisses had been quick pecks, usually on the cheek as was the custom in these social circles. Both of you had been very careful drawing up the lines and careful to not cross them. Both of you had agreed on that. This worked because things were not messy and the two of you had not gotten drunk and slept together, though Taehyung had considered it a time or two. Or ten, maybe, but who was counting?

She kissed you back, said a small voice in the back of his head. It was true. He knew that he had been the one to deepen the kiss. But you had gone along with it too. What Taehyung did not know, though, was if you were still playing the game or not. And more importantly, he did not know why it mattered so much to him if you were. This was all just a fake relationship, right?

#kvanity #btscarnivalnet #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts fanfic #bts x reader #taehyung fluff #taehyung x reader #taehyung x you #taehyung fic #taehyung imagine

[didyoutrydynamite]

I love the bioshock crossover and would humbly ask how would the interactions between jaune and the Lutece twins go around

Jaune: *After seemingly falling for eternity, he's surprised by a flash of light followed by the sound of thunder. Next came the howling winds, the falling rain as he plummeted through a storm. He had just barely registered the chaotic ocean waves below before bracing for impact. He manages to break the water's surface to gasp for air.* R-RUBYYYYY! WEISSS?! BLAKE!? *COUGH COUGH!* YANG-*COUGH* ANYONNEEEE!?

Boat: *Rows up next to Jaune, two pairs of arm pulling him into the boat*

Jaune: *Rolls onto his back, coughing up sea water*

Robert: Goodness, you seem to have fallen quite far.

Rosalind: Maybe farther than anyone before. Are you injured, young man?

Jaune: *Shaken, he sits up and takes stock of his surroundings* W-who are you? Where am I?

Robert: I am Robert, this is my dear sister, Rosalind, and you appear to have landed in our universe.

Jaune: *Eyes widen in confusion* Universe? What do you mean?

Rosalind: You see, young man, there are many different universes, each with their own unique properties and laws of physics. It seems that you have fallen into one that is not your own.

Jaune: *Stunned* How is that even possible?

Rosalind: That is the question isn't it? Tell me, have you happened to have stumbled between the fabrics of multiple realities?

Jaune: I- uh, fell in a void between portals, I guess?

Rosalind/Robert: *Nod to eachother* That'll do it.

Robert: *Leans in* What is your name?

Jaune: *Gulps* J-Jaune, Jaune Arc.

Rosalind: And that armor. Are you a soldier of sorts? A warrior?

Jaune: *Sits more comfortably in the boat* I'm a Huntsman, I was trained to fight monsters and bad guys.

Rosalind/Robert: *Share a look*

Robert: No.

Rosalind: I haven't even made my proposition yet.

Jaune: *Confused* What proposition?

Robert: It's never been anyone else.

Rosalind: Maybe that's the issue. Things have gotten quite messy as it is.

Robert: And adding a completely unknown variable won't be just as, if not more messy? We can't deviate despite the complications, Sister. One goes into an experiment knowing they can fail.

Jaune: Excuse me?

Rosalind: But one does not undertake an experiment knowing one HAS failed. Face it Brother, we've caught ourselves in a loop. No matter how many Bookers we throw into the fray, they inevitably fail or inadvertently perpetuate the loop. It is clear that we require a wildcard, an element of unpredictability that the universe has not yet accounted for.

Jaune: E-EXCUSE ME!

Robert/Rosalind: *Turn* Yes, Mr. Arc?

Jaune: Listen, I'm sorry if you're dealing with something right now, but I have to get back home. My friends and my world are in trouble, and I can't just sit around here.

Rosalind/Robert: *Share another look*

Robert: *Sighs and nods*

Rosalind: Mr. Arc. We understand your plight, but I'm afraid we can't send you back to your world... yet.

Jaune: *Peaked interest* Yet? So there's a way back?!

Rosalind: You see, by helping us solve our problem, you can also solve yours.

Robert: *Hands Jaune a box that seemed to have appeared from nowhere* There is a girl being held prisoner in the city of Colombia. Only she has the power to send you back to your rightful universe. Free the girl...

Rosalind: ...And you may return home.

Jaune: *Opens box to find notes, pictures, drawings, and a loaded gun* Will this be dangerous?

Robert: No more dangerous than fighting monsters, I'd presume.

Jaune: *Looks at the contents of the box with a mixture of apprehension and determination* I'll do it. I have to try. Where do we start?

Rosalind: First, we start with rowing. Brother?

Robert: *Sighs* Yes, yes. I know the- *Thoughtful expression* Mr. Arc. Do you row?

Jaune: Uh, sure. I can help row.

Robert: *Leans to Rosalind* I like this one much better already.

Rosalind: *Pleased smile* I'm sure he will prove to be a very interesting variable, Brother.

#jaune arc #rosalind lutece #robert lutece #bioshock crossover

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 63 – The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

This was the last WFA finalist for best novella I was able to get at the library, so I will I suppose just have to accept that I am not going to have an informed opinion on the category. The book is, well – Jamnia’s only other work listed on Goodreads is “Positive Interactions with At-Risk Children: Enhancing Students' Wellbeing, Resilience, and Success”, and you can really kind of tell. Not a bad book – there really is a lot of good stuff here – but subtlety is just nonexistent. Though I suppose better a plot that telegraphs itself from a hundred miles away than one that feels like the author was coming up with it as they went.

The story takes place in a ‘free and democratic’ city state established after a successful war of independence from a struggling and unstable empire, and now a not-particularly-enthusiastic sanctuary to refugees from the rest of the empire. Firuz is one of those refugees, with the added issue of being a mostly-trained blood magic adept, the proximate reason why they and their family had to flee in the first place. Disguising the exact sort of magic they practice, they get work as an assistant healer to the one of (and soon the) only free clinics in the city, doing their bits to try and help the refugee populations through the plague ravaging the city. The meat of the plot is about their investigation of the source of a second strange disease that begins spreading among the refugee population a year after the first plague dies down – looks a lot like anemia, though the word’s never used – and how they try (and just totally fail) to balance their relationships and family against the good they do working in the clinic.

The book is just very earnest, and awkward, and trying to do altogether too many things at once for its length. Also the fantasy!Iranian refugees are called ‘Sassanians’. Which, like, come on. That’s literaly calling your fantasy!France ‘Gaul’.

The medical mystery was fun – strange diseases! Dissections and autopsies! Hiding the magic that’s the only hope you have of figuring out what’s happening! - but it was too strangled for space competing with family drama and a subplot of Firuz adapting and teaching another natural blood mage and just general ruminations to really shine. Which is to say there were exactly two named characters who could possibly be responsible, and it was almost instantly obvious which of them it was.

Which left the book needing to be carried on those interpersonal relationships and character dynamics. Which were like, fine? But every character basically had their key traits and the point of their arc announced on the page – the only character written with any real subtlety or layers was the eventually revealed villain.

The book’s very much queernorm – the protagonist is nonbinary and their kid brother is trans and spends about half the book lashing out as he struggles to cope with his dysphoria. Absolutely no one cares. The brother does get hatecrimed on account of being an ethnic minority and a refugee though, which I admit is a mindset about what bits of reality need to be softened I struggle to wrap my head around. More annoyingly (and, like, actually important at all) it is kind of disappointing that it cuts off any real worldbuilding about sexuality or gender; there are three major cultures in the book, and we go through the entire thing without learning anything much about any of their standards or expectations of femininity or masculinity. The brother’s dysphoria is portrayed as a purely physical ailment – you could replace it with some exotic variety of chronic pain and his role in the narrative would remain functionally unchanged.

Which just seems like a profoundly wasted opportunity to me – it’s fun that there’s one pronoun set that’s used exclusively to refer to the divine! But also I desperately want to know what the differences in cultural understanding between the usage of the two different neopronoun sets used to refer to random tertiary characters are, y’know? If you’re going to devote such a relatively big chunk of wordcount to this stuff then, like, dig into it.

Anyway yeah – as a debut effort, this is really very good. But I’m pretty surprised to see it on any best-of-year lists.

#book review #the bruising of qilwa #naseem jamnia #sff

[angels--trumpet]

Ngl I'm a bit embarrassed to make this one but worms are worms and @funable-rainy simply has to have one conversation with me to make them wiggle so here we go 

This is mostly just a post I had to take down on Twitter cause it keeps trying to kill my account rip

Cw: 185, sfw

Gojo met Yuji when he was 17, Yuji was small, dumb, chubby and annoying but he was also so sincere

So kind, and so bright 

Everything Gojo knew that his world would sniff out and crush imminently

Like bloodhounds on a fox 

He was called to a mission around where the boy lived and barely prevented the stupid brat from eating the worst kind of poison in the world

One of sukuna fingers 

He made sure to give the brat a piece of his mind, and in return, he was given the other half of his packed-up brownie. Yes, he took it. He was hungry, and he ate all the candy he had on him beforehand, so he was running a bit low 

He just owed him that's all 

A favor for a brownie 

Yuji wanted to go to the park and play, so Gojo took him, and they played. Why did this kid had so much energy?

Yuji wanted to go get snacks, so Gojo took him to the corner store and they got snacks

Yuji wanted to sit down and eat his snacks and get told silly stories, so gojo told him the many stupid pranks he's Pulled before, the craziest missions he went on when he didn't have a good handle on his own abilities It's not like the kid would even remember what he said tomorrow anyway.

Gojo didn't stop visiting, and Yuji never forgot what he said, holding onto every word with reverence

Calling Gojo a friend

And the word held weight like it ment something, it wasn't like with Geto or Shoko this was different he loved the boy and wanted to protect him even if he had no obligation too, no reason other than 

"This boy is good and I want to keep him alive"

Gojo introduces Yuji to his friends one day, getting permission first from his grandfather to take him on a little field trip. He shows him around campus, his dorm room, he takes him around the city, and Geto even smiles that real smile he has when he truly is happy.

It felt so nice.

Then, the failed mission happened. 

He couldn't face Yuji he couldn't face Geto, trained on his own for days, perfecting what he unlocked so nothing could get that close again. He sees something is wrong with his best friend but can't bring his voice out to really dive into what's wrong.

So he leaves it be, thinking the other teen would get over it eventually. He surely has before about other things.

Yuji finds him, had rode all the way out from his home to Gojo campus all by himself. Gojo is grumpy about it, complains, and plays it over dramatic, so the boy giggles a bit dispute, saying sorry and actually meaning it.

But Gojo was also thankful. He's so glad to see Yuji again, even if he avoided him for months now. Geto Despite looking like he has not eaten or slept in days reminds him to call Yuji grandfather to make sure he knows where Yuji is since it was already too late to go and return him. Yuji spends and entire night and evening with Gojo, who just keeps the boy in his lap and lets him watch as many movies as he wants till he passes out.

Joyful screaming and flailing, talking put loud for Gojo to humm a response too.

Geto joins them, and for the first time in days he seems to fall asleep peacefully with the help of Yuji just being as he is. Gojo ends up being a bit more possessive of Yuji afterwords, Geto even seems to enjoy the boy's company more now than ever the only other person Gojo trusts to keep a good safe hold of him when Gojo needs to do things.

In a way Yuji seemed to save them, and all Gojo can give in return is hold a love he horbors in him that was completely inappropriate and not something he wanted to feel, but he cannot stop now.

He denies it and fights against it, never shows it past the regular care and love he usually gives Yuji.

He didn't want to ruin that.

Extra bits

Gojo totally freaks out over the fact that he fell in love with Yuji, who he is essentially co-parenting with Yujis grandpa how much he takes Yuji with him to do things with Geto. 

Geto still has this distance for normal people, but it's not too bad because he has yuji reminding him of the good Tho he is secretly trying to get Yuji to use CE so he can become like them but he suspects heavenly pacts because of Yuji unnatural strength.

When Yuji grows older he develops the biggest crush on Gojo, and everyone uses it as like blackmail the one thing that makes the strongest freez up and blush, well less like blackmail and more like a joke that they can finally laugh at this cocky guy. Yuji is Gojos' weakness, so as his best friend Geto makes sure to always keep Yuji protected with one of his curses, he won't admit it's cause he loves Yuji too and wants him to live a long normal life.

Yuji essentially has two scary dogs.

This ended up being a lot more angsty than funny like it originally came out to be when I was chatting in the goyuu server

#goyuu #gojo x yuji #Angels Note Dump

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

why do you love/like fuegoleon so much? / gen

Hiya! ^^

Honestly, I think this is a very good question to ask, because, one, it gives me an excuse to talk about him, but also get into a discussion why love him when the heroes of the series are other people. And... I'm not sure how long this will be, but perhaps it's better to buckle down.

Though, in a sentence I would answer: "Because of the vibes"

But. Let's get to the long answer

Admittedly, from the point of view of the grand plot, he seems to be a bit of a Sexy Lamp(tm). Meaning that he has no great contribution to the story as a whole, at least not until this point at least. Some of the criticisms I have seen about him include "[him] not being able to teach Asta about antimagic/devil union/ fighting". Which I think is unfair to use as a source of criticism because, well, Fue doesn't use antimagic. No other character uses antimagic. It's be the same as asking a Water Magic user to teach a Fire Magic user. The affinities are profoundly different, so it'd be incredibly difficult to teach someone with a different affinity from your own properly, or so I imagine. Sure, general guidelines and ideas could be discussed, and some techniques that involve mana, and not the magic type itself, are doable (an example would be Yami (or Sukehiro) learning about using mana zone in another way from Mereoleona). The reason why Yami is the best suited to teaching Asta in the beginning is because Yami teaches about ki which is a different concept, and gives Asta something, a foothold, into a fighting style. And the same applies to Devil Union. Fuegoleon doesn't have a devil. He's not affiliated with Forbidden Magic or the dark arts, so he's not suited for such a mentor. When it comes to not teaching Asta fighting, I think the most important aspects are that Fuegoleon was in a coma for the majority of Asta's early journey, and even during the times he was around, Asta wasn't his (Fue's) underling. We don't see Captains of different squads coming to mentor/teach other squads' knights. So, there is no reason for Fue to have undertaken this feat.

"He had one job and that was to keep the magic stone safe, and he failed". That's another criticism I have come across, and... I don't think people realize the situation there was. Sure, Fue lost his cool for a second, which against a Light Mage, is more than enough for it to be a fatal shot. And, Fue recognized his peer! Someone he trusted to keep the kingdom safe. Someone very high in the hierarchy! Of course he was taken aback by the betrayal. And the thing about betrayal is that it never comes from our enemies. Betrayal comes from our friends. So, him having that moment of shock doesn't make him weak. It makes him human.

Personally I've been drawn to determined, charismatic and intelligent characters throughout my life, and he is that as well. Yes, he is a bit aloof at times (the degrees depend on if you follow the manga, or anime, or take into account both of them), but he is still intelligent, charismatic and driven. He is a proper gentleman, but he is also a warrior, and a knight. He's level headed in a battle, and does know that hesitation and wavering can be fatal in a field of battle (which brings layers onto point 2). Irony is one of those layers.

He genuinely cares about his knights. This can be seen from how his knights defended Fuegoleon's efforts and dedication to Mereoleona, who accused the Lions (and Fue) of slacking off after the Star Festival. It's been established that Mereoleona is a force to be reckoned with, and that the Lions, are at least to a degree, afraid of Mereo. Plus, Mereo was the authority figure there. And the Lions, with Leo taking the lead, talked back and defended Fuegoleon. So, the Lions must really, genuinely, feel that Fuegoleon cares about them through the time and effort he puts in training and honing the Lions' skills, along with his own.

Fuegoleon is all about growth and looking into the future. The ideology of: What matters is what you choose to make out of your life. "Being weak is nothing to be ashamed of. Staying weak is." I find this incredibly inspirational.

He is resilient as hell, and willing to put the good of the kingdom before his own. I cannot properly describe the backbone he has to have, for him to be able to still serve the kingdom that overlooked his dismembering! He is still there! As a knight, and working side-by-side with the man who did dismember him! (Or at least looked through his fingers when his body was doing the deed. Granted that William's story is a whole different post and analysis, but this is about Fuegoleon's point of view.) The person who was pardoned by the system which they both serve! A little slap on the wrist to William, while Fue is there without an arm! Constantly at a disadvantage by having to use mana and concentration to have two functioning arms! Which probably is required for him to use some spells too, so he needs to first cast mana to make his arm move, which then fires a spell. Layering a spell on top of another, essentially.

The fact that Fue is able to uphold mana control and concentration constantly with his arm is really cool, and speaks of his skill level.

Tabs hasn't given him a Spirit Dive, which is Tabs having done Fuegoleon dirty. Must protect. Canon is doing Fue dirty. Fue is my poor little meow meow (kinda) /lh

He is genuinely a good guy. He wants the best for the kingdom, and its people. He's someone who always tries to do the right thing, and works for it. He puts in the effort and the hours, and really, really, tries hard. I just want to kiss his forehead and tell him that it's okay to take a break at times too. Because he must be tired. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. And still he tries, and continues forward. With the stubbornness of a lion.

He's handsome! <3

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk ^^

#anon flamelets #fuegoleon vermillion #black clover #fire vermillion month #this fits the theme of the month so why not tag it as such #thank you for the question!

[frostandflamesfanfic]

Stephen's Ruff Day (Strange x Reader)

Stephen's Ruff Day

Request: NO

Pairing: Stephen Strange x Reader

Word Count: 2.6k+

Warning: Just fluff with brief mention of sibling death

Summary: There's a new addition to the Sanctum Sanctorum and Stephen isn't too pleased about it. When little Billy starts causing trouble around your home, Stephen gives you an ultimatum: either he's trained or he's out. What happens when you happen to catch a sight that's too cute to handle?

“Can we?”

“No."

“Oh come on, why can’t we just-”

“No.”

“But he’s adorable!”

Stephen sighed as the scent of fish webbed its way into his airways. “I’m sorry,” he said rather unapologetically to the corgi puppy you currently had held up against his face, “but the Sanctum is no place for a puppy. Much less one who is less than three inches off the ground.”

You gave a mock gasp and pouted. “Hey!” you protested. “Don’t use his height against him. He’s vertically challenged like the rest of us.”

Stephen quirked an eyebrow.

“Well,” you shook your head at your six-foot-one-tall boyfriend. “Those of us who lost the genetic lottery. Unlike some people…” If there was one thing Strange knew you were self-conscious about, it was your height. You were the shortest of your family and your siblings never failed to tease you. In a way, it helped you become more independent. You came up with new ways to achieve your goals – a skill all too valuable in the world of the Mystic Arts. 

You had your first encounter with Kamar-Taj shortly after you and your brother, William, were involved in a classic case of wrong place, wrong time. An armed robber caught the two of you outside of a bank. You had frozen to the spot, but William was quick to protect you. The sound of the gunshot barely registered until you saw your brother sprawled on the cement by your feet. The paramedics said he had died the moment the bullet punctured his skin. There was nothing you could do.  

For years, you ran the event over and over in your mind. You wished there was something you could have done to change it. You’d have a new solution every day, but even then you knew it was impossible. Even if there was an incantation to help you reverse time, you were still an apprentice at the time – a sorcerer with only an inkling of knowledge about more complex spells. That was when you had a “genius” idea. If you weren’t strong enough to perform a time spell on your own, then you needed all the help you could get. That’s when you decided to tap into the Dark Dimension to strengthen your abilities. Sure, it was risky, but you couldn’t take being an only child anymore. 

You had it all planned out; you snuck out to the library after you were sure the lights were out throughout Kamar-Taj. Wong had finished taking inventory an hour after the dinner service and was reading a book with headphones in his ears. There would be no one to catch you until it was too late. By then, you wouldn’t have been on their radar anymore. You would have William back and that in itself would be worth it. Everything would have been perfect if you had only accounted for the fact your teacher enjoyed a cup of tea by the library fireplace in the evenings.

“You cannot change the past,” the Ancient One explained to you once. “Changing a fixed point in time could be catastrophic in terms of protecting the universe.” So when life gave you lemons, you used the experience to inspire you to be better. You couldn’t save your brother’s life, but you could assess a threat; you could put your life on the line for others throughout the multiverse. It’s what made you an asset to the Sanctum as a whole…and caused you to catch Stephen’s interest. Shortly after the two of you had met, Stephen had fallen for you. There was something about your personality. You had confidence which made you unafraid to speak your mind. Yet there was also a tenderness about you, which helped you form a connection with anything – including the squirming fluff-ball in your arms.  

The small pup had wriggled about as you were talking. It appeared that he wanted to be in Stephen’s embrace. He yipped and yapped before he finally launched himself into your boyfriend’s arms. His primary objective? Get Stephen’s goatee soaked with doggy saliva. 

“Stop it,” your boyfriend said boredly.  

The reply he received came in the form of a series of licks to the nose. 

“I said stop it.” 

The pup placed his miniature paws against your boyfriend’s grey t-shirt and jacket. You had to hand it to the small animal, when his mind was made up, he was determined to get what he wanted.  

Stephen groaned your name in frustration. “Make it stop!” he cried, putting an emphasis on the final word. 

You couldn’t help but chuckle. “He’s a puppy, honey.”

“He’s a terror,” he responded flatly. 

“He loves you already!” A giggle slipped past your lips. “His profile says that he’s extremely shy and takes a while to adjust to people.” You gestured to the position the small corgi had taken up in Stephen’s arm. “That doesn’t look to be the case here.”

Now that he was being held, the puppy seemed content. He was practically hugging the sorcerer’s arm like a teddy bear, never wanting to let go. His tan and white head snuggled into the crook of Stephen’s elbow, eyes preparing to shut. 

“Poor taste in character,” Stephen remarked, as he attempted to place the puppy back in the cardboard box containing its bed. “Besides, I don’t think a puppy with social anxiety is a good idea to have around a busy Sanctum.” 

That apparently wasn’t the answer you wanted to hear. You gave him the biggest pout you could. 

He stared at you before beginning to dislodge the puppy from his arms. “The Sanctum is too dangerous.” The small corgi squirmed and whined as he attempted to fight the odds currently against him. “Besides, with us out thwarting evil and visiting other dimensions, we’re hardly ever there anyway. Who would take care of him?”

“Wong could do it,” you argued. “And when we’re home, I can walk him, feed him. I can give him baths!”

“For God’s sake,” Stephen muttered. “This is worse than arguing with a five year old.”

“Oh come on, Stephen! I mean, look at him! How can you say no to this face?”

Your boyfriend gave you the straightest of faces as he looked you in the eyes. “Simple. Just watch and learn.” He looked down at the small puppy, his lips parting to begin to form a word. You expected to hear the harsh ‘no’ to leave his mouth, but that’s when the puppy gave the saddest whimper you had ever heard in your life.

It was the first time you had witnessed the great Doctor Stephen Strange hesitate in his life and it brought a smile to your face. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

“BILLY, PUT THAT DOWN!” you heard Wong’s voice exclaim as a crash sounded from another room followed by a series of playful howls. 

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Stephen grumbled as he gestured to the Cloak of Levitation to leave you alone. 

The two of you had just returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum after spending time in the Mirror Dimension. There had been a rumor of some less-than-satisfactory behavior in Ethiopia. Even though Kaecillius had been defeated, Wong seemed relatively certain there were still followers hidden within the shadows. Whenever you had felt a disturbance, you and your sorcerer of a boyfriend made any and all attempts to set the world right again. Neither of you wanted to deal with a Hong Kong-style attack anytime soon.

Another crash, this time from the Hall of Artifacts. You and Stephen shared a quick look and simultaneously bolted toward the source of the sound. What you saw caused a laugh to accidentally escape your lips. Billy was stretching out at Wong’s feet, short stubby tail wagging to beat the band. 

“This dog,” your fellow sorcerer huffed, “is a menace.”

“I don’t typically enjoy being the one to say I told you so…” Stephen leaned over to whisper in your ear, a smirk flickering across his features. 

“How could you let this animal be brought into the Sanctum, Strange?” 

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the smirk vanished from your boyfriend’s face. “What?” he croaked out. “Me? It wasn’t my fault he was brought in-”

Wong stared directly at Stephen. “As Sorcerer Supreme, you have duties,” he said, meaning business. “You have a responsibility to this Sanctum and the safety of its residents. That means standing your ground when someone wishes to bring chaos into the home.” With a brisk nod, he walked off.   

As it slowly became you and Stephen (and Billy) in the room, you couldn’t help but to giggle at how ridiculous the situation was. The other sorcerer, however, was far from pleased. “You just like seeing me get into trouble, don’t you?”

“Oh come on, why can’t you just admit you like him?” Billy woofed his agreement from his hiding spot behind your legs, head lolling to the side. “Besides…” You gave Stephen a quick peck on the lips, allowing your voice to dramatically drop to a whisper, “maybe I have a thing for bad boys.”

“Oh really? Well in that case…” a moment later you were attacked by a flurry of fuzzy fur against your face and a series of rapid licks. “Take care of your bad boy. See that he gets some proper training?”

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Billy’s fate was announced to all inhabitants of the Sanctum Sanctorum a few days after the Archive incident: either he will be trained, or he would need to be relocated to a new home. Stephen was tired of coming back to find Billy in his chair; Wong couldn’t stand the sight of dog hair and other…little surprises within the kitchen. It was either him or the rest of you, and the two elder sorcerers staked their claim to the building centuries prior to the small corgi. 

Not wanting to lose your pet, you quickly found and enrolled Billy into an obedience school. You worked with him every day, doing everything the trainer said to do and nothing they didn’t condone. It wasn’t long after that you soon discovered the best part of being a corgi parent: they were super fast learners. It only took a few tries for Billy to understand the most basic commands, given the fact he had been taken to a shelter at eight weeks old. He was a natural! 

Not only that, but you started to get your pup used to the applications of magic around the house. You’d have him follow you through portals, fetch things that were levitating, and even how to use the revolving gateways to do his business. 

Then one day, you were making your way through the Sanctum looking for little Billy with a fresh bowl of water. He had disappeared before your second to last training session and you were determined to find him before-

A series of high pitched yips sent your heart plunging into your stomach. There was a scrabbling of paws, followed by a very deep sounding, “no.” Your dog had found your boyfriend again and the only thing running through your mind was, “please, God, do not let me drop this bowl of water.”

As you skidded behind the door to the library, you blinked at the sight. Stephen was levitating in the air with the Cloak, eyes trained directly on Billy’s short and stubby frame. Said pup was settled on his hind legs, head tilted ever-so-slightly to the side. A single paw was raised in the air, as though Billy was planning on walking toward your boyfriend. 

“I don’t care how cute your real owner says you are,” Stephen remarked. “We need to be able to come to an understanding here.”

“Awo?” The curious whimper from your dog nearly made you melt into the floor. It was the most adorable sound you had ever heard. It was almost as if the pair was having a real conversation. 

“Whether you realize it or not, your owner is my partner. This means that we should be able to spend time together whenever we please.”

Billy gave a quiet woof and his right ear flopped into his eye. 

Stephen allowed a frown to slip onto his lips. “That’s not going to work on me,” he said in a serious tone. “Tomorrow is very important, Billy. Now I don’t expect you to understand as this is the first time you’re here for this occasion-” He hesitated and shook his head side to side. “There’s also the fact that you are, in fact, a dog and not a human.”

You had to contain another laugh as Billy yipped and wagged his stub of a tail in acknowledgement. It was almost as if he understood the fact he was a dog and was proud that your boyfriend recognized it, too. 

The Sorcerer Supreme let out an annoyed sigh. “Yes, yes. You know you’re a dog. Good job for being aware of that. But this is important.” With a subtle nod, Stephen floated down to kneel on the ground with the Cloak to give a stern look to the excited corgi. “Today marks the tenth anniversary of your namesake’s death. Now, why I’m explaining this to you, I have no idea. There is no way you’ll ever be able to comprehend this.

“Before you came along,” Stephen continued, “I have watched someone dedicate themselves fully to their craft…besides myself, of course.” He paused again to smile at a memory. “But that’s not important. What is important is how I have never met anyone as amazing as this. Someone who listens, who speaks their mind… and even though the day brings about some difficult memories, we would still spend it together and talk. We…even became a couple that day. It’s become tradition and…and well, I had a very special night planned for tonight.”   

Billy yipped. 

“Yes, now stop interrupting.”

A whimper sounded, causing another sigh to escape the tall sorcerer. After looking around for a moment, you watched as Stephen leaned down to pick up the small pup. “Happy now?”

His response was a rousing series of licks to the face. 

Stephen scrunched his nose up, generating a few wrinkles to naturally appear. “Okay, okay, stop. Stop it,” he urged. However, there was a flicker of a smile on his lips. “Maybe you’re not so bad. Even if you are currently taking up all of the attention around here now.” A second later, the smile vanished when he heard a creak in the floorboards. 

Stephen spoke your name softly, almost as though he wanted to savor its feeling against his lips. If you weren’t careful, you almost could have just imagined it. “You can come out from behind that door frame now, dear.”

As you revealed yourself from your hiding place, you couldn’t help the smile that was stretching across your face. It warmed your heart to hear Stephen talk about you so fondly. Even though you had been dating for over a year, there were times you had felt insecure about his intentions toward you. Despite your cool attitude, you had a difficult time comparing yourself to the other Sanctum Masters and often wondered why Stephen would ever want to stay with you. Now the proof was staring you directly in the face and you had never felt so loved. 

  When you didn’t say anything, Stephen raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?” he asked. 

“Hm?” you murmured distractedly, eyes locked onto the cuddly lump in your boyfriend’s arms. “Oh, nothing. Just glad to see my boys are finally getting along.”

“I wouldn’t call it getting along,” Stephen said. “He’s still a terror.” 

Billy squirmed in your boyfriend’s arms as he attempted to get over to you. As he tried to put him back onto the ground, he couldn’t help the small playful glint from flickering in his eyes. As much as Stephen didn’t want to admit it, you knew the man you loved had formed a soft spot for the pup that had also stolen your heart.

===================

Author's Note: I'm back!! Sort of. With everything going on in the news today, I thought it would be a good idea to pop on to finally finish and post this fic I've been working on for about a month now. I'm sorry that the ending of this story is a bit rushed and honestly crap. It was difficult to write this after losing a pet, but I couldn't help but smile a few times at the thought of Stephen having a pet.

To those who submitted requests, I'm still working on them! I've just been in a writing slump these last few days because of some life stuff and uni starting up soon. I hope to be able to sit down by the weekend and finally catch up. In the meantime, requests are still open (unless otherwise noted on the request page)! As always, don't forget to leave a like, a comment, and a reblog as they really help me out (especially the latter).

One more quick note before I shut up and retreat back to my writer's lair -- nothing makes my day more than seeing your comments! The support that I've gotten on my fics recently means the world to me. With that said, please, message me if you want to talk! I'd love to talk about my fandoms and my many, many, fictional spouses. I promise I don't bite! :)

#frostandflamesfanfic #doctor strange fanfiction #doctor strange #marvel mcu #doctor strange x reader #stephen strange fanfiction #stephen strange x reader #benedict cumberbatch #doctor strange imagine #doctor strange fluff #benedict cumberbatch gifs #mcu imagine #stephen strange imagine #gender neutral reader #pure fluff #stephen is a dog dad dont come after me

[yuikomorii]

I hope this doesn’t bother you, Admin-chan, but I just find it odd how Ayato and Ruki are your top boys taking account they’re rivals and well…Ruki wronged Ayato in many ways and I don’t wanna be that person but he’s one of the least problematic Diaboys so I don’t get why Ruki would treat him the worst out of them all. I mean, shouldn’t all Sakamaki’s be a threat to him, why only be so mean towards Ayato? That’s what I can’t understand.

// Don't worry, it doesn't bother me! I know Ayato and Ruki have very different personalities, and I've stated several times why I love Ayato, but Ruki is my second best boy because we share many interests and a thirst for knowledge. I'm actually in the mood to write an essay about it, so please excuse the length 👉🏻👈🏻

Ayato & Ruki Analysis, let’s go!

I love Ruki; he's such an intriguing character, but his attitude towards Ayato irritates me at times, especially because he sees Ayato as some sort of privileged brat who gets everything served on a silver platter, despite the fact that we know that’s exactly the opposite taking account that this guy had been mentally, emotionally and physically abused for decades.

The Mukamis are my favorite family, but I dislike how they constantly dismiss the Sakamaki brothers' trauma and adopt the "I've got it worse than you!" mentality.

Going back to Ruki, yes, what happened to him was indeed heartbreaking but the thing is, they wanted to show how Karma hit him. We know young!Ruki was a cruel child, he punished his servants for every little mistake and considered himself superior because of his position. Now, let’s talk about young!Ayato. He was literally Ruki's polar opposite; a kind child who didn't care about his Prince status and treated everyone equally, such as the butler, who was shown caring a lot for Ayato in LE and YB.

I usually like rivalry when it’s good portrayed; I really enjoyed the Shu x Yuma and Kou x Subaru ones, I think they were really well written. However, in Ayato’s and Ruki’s case… that’s a whole other story.

Ayato despises Ruki primarily because of romantic jealousy. Ayato may appear narcissistic and confident, but many people fail to realize how insecure and low his self-esteem is. Ayato is shown in MB to believe that no one will ever love him back. He is aware that if he falls in love with someone, that person won’t reciprocate his feelings, and thus he will get hurt. That's why Ayato kept rejecting Yui there and eventually let her go with Ruki. He clearly knows Ruki is better than him in every way, he just won't vocally admit it; he knows Ruki can easily win Yui's heart, and that's why he's a threat in his eyes.

Ruki's hatred for Ayato stems mainly from power jealousy. Ruki's main goal is to become Adam, but he can't because he isn't a pure-blood vampire, so he projects his insecurities onto Ayato, who, as the main guy, is considered the true Adam. Throughout the routes, Ruki appears to be impressed by Ayato as well. He once questioned whether Ayato truly is special, but quickly dismissed that thought. Another reason is that, as mentioned in his MB brute end, Ruki believes Karlheinz loves Ayato and his brothers. He is very insecure too; he knows Ayato is stronger and has a better chance of having Eve.

I’m honestly sick of how many times Ruki has called Ayato “unworthy” of being Adam but little does he know that’s not something he chose. I suppose people really overlook the fact that Ayato doesn’t want the powers, he couldn’t care less about Karl’s plan, he just wants Yui’s love. He was literally cursed to become Adam, that’s definitely no blessing. Have you seen his awakening symptoms in MB? The guy couldn’t even control his blood thirst anymore; he was literally ill.

And, while we're at it, what exactly did Ruki do to be "worthy" of the Adam title? His orphanage plan already failed because Kou, Yuma, and Azusa were all shot, and if Karlheinz hadn't shown up, he would have most likely been gone. He basically took care of them in Eden and "trained" them, which essentially means telling them the details of his plan, while his biological children were going through nightmares.

Anyway, I'm relieved Ruki is no longer obsessed with the Adam and Eve plan. In CL, he seems less addicted to it and I'm glad CL demonstrated that Ayato would indeed help Ruki if something happened to him; he became concerned when he suddenly fainted and was eager to save him and others as soon as possible.

I doubt they'll ever become friends because their personalities clash, but it's nice to see they don't hold grudges against each other anymore.

#diabolik lovers #ayato sakamaki #ruki mukami #sakamaki ayato #mukami ruki #dialovers #admin #(oh I’ve been waiting for this one)