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#there is still that singular perfection and it’s perfect in part because it seemed—at the time—so clearly to promise more.'
unspokenstydia · 2 years
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thiam: you were never mine (do you remember?)
“There was a time where we all trusted Theo. Including you.”
#there is still that singular perfection and it’s perfect in part because it seemed—at the time—so clearly to promise more.'#there’s such a resonance to that scene in 5x02 where liam catches theo’s grief and doesn’t know any better.#this moment where he thinks he could feel for this kid. could maybe even understand him.#and in that a possibility opens up—the briefest imagining in which stiles doesn't have to be right about theo.#he doesn't have to be any of the things he is. the one to bring carnage and betrayal upon them. there's a chance in that somewhere.#of course he will go on to do unspeakable things. and liam will too. /because of him./#but that moment is so beautiful to me because of how untainted it is by the things to come.#thiam#teen wolf#theo raeken#liam dunbar#twedit#fyteenwolf#thiam edit#dylan sprayberry#cody christian#tvedit#tslyricsedit#taylor swift lyrics#and i love that they reconnect (which is to say: liam goes against all warning to raise theo's body back to life)#at such a pivotal and fraught time in both their lives. where they literally need to change for the better—and oh god. are they trying.#and we don't know how it ends with them. if the last time we see them together is the last time they see each other. so 'enough' meaning:#they should have kissed in the elevator but they didn't. and to have ever believed in the sheer possibility of it was enough.#anyway !! this is their song <3#don't love this (the bacalisties font was torn out of my feral hands i fear) but i needed to get these images out of my head </3
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jedi-starbird · 2 months
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Alpha-17 and Obi-Wan being friends (derogatory) on 17's part and friends (threatening) on Obi-Wan's part is such an underrated dynamic
They could be so funny and terrifying, like Obi-Wan went through a soul shredding experience with Alpha-17 as his only company. They're friends because what else are you gonna be after you witness each other at absolute rock bottom from torture.
It's like 'dog put in cage of cheetah who's threatening to go crazy', except the dog is a grizzly bear and also threatening to go crazy.
Emotional support trooper except the trooper in question has never done any sort of supporting in his life and is actively an emotional distress trooper to a great number of the CC batch.
I want them texting everyday, I want Obi-Wan mailing handmade BFF bracelets to Alpha and Alpha sending pics back of him flipping off the camera but still wearing them, I want Alpha using Obi-Wan to keep track of and occasionally terrorize his cadets, I want 17 ending problems in the GAR (like Krell) before they begin because Obi-Wan has him shipped out on a personal transport at the first opportunity, decked out with slug-throwers Obi-Wan got him for his decant-day.
Natborn officers think this is all just an odd indulgence of General Kenobi, the Vode, however, correctly identify it as a goddamn threat and their danger assessment of Obi-Wan ticks up significantly.
When Alpha arrives on Kamino, Shaak Ti presses a shiny new comm into his hand. It has the Jedi Order symbol painted onto it alongside a smiley face sticker, and it pings immediately with a new message: Hello! I hope you're settling in well!
Alpha stares at the message, stares at the singular contact named 'OWK' and then stares Shaak Ti in the eye as he pitches the comm straight into the ocean. Shaak Ti's serene smile only grows larger as she calmly reaches into her robes and pulls out an identical comm, only this one has a frowny face sticker, and presses it into his hand. It lights up: I'm afraid we've bonded, Alpha :). Alpha shuts it off and pockets it with resignation.
Cody arrives on Alpha-17's personal recommendation.
A-17: He's the most difficult little bastard I have. You're perfect for each other. OWK: Thank you, he's very handsome :3 A-17: No. Stop.
The first thing he asks once he gets comfortable is who his general is texting so much that has him swinging his legs and twirling his hair. Cody assumes it's Anakin, given they seem joint at the hip anyway, but little does he know Obi-Wan's ability to consistently have the Weirdest Relationships Ever.
"Oh, it's Alpha-17, I understand you're familiar with each other?" Hmm. OK. Cody.exe is experiencing a processing error, please hold. He exits the room instead of answering. The next day he peeks over the General's shoulder when he's texting and sees walls of rambling messages from Obi-Wan. Alpha-17 replies every hour with a single text: Lose this number. Obi-Wan giggles. "He's so funny." he says.
When Obi-Wan meets the rest of the CC batch, Cody makes sure to stand perfectly angled so that he can record the reactions when his general cuts off their introductions with "Oh, no need, Alpha-17's told me all about you." It's always immediate FEAR.JPG followed by a slow spiral of What The Fuck.
What do you mean by that General. What does that mean Cody. What do you mean they text. No. Cody. What the fuck is happening, Cody. Alpha-17 doesn't have friends he has enemies and enemies he tolerates enough not to shoot on sight.
OWK: Wolffe reached for his vambrace? when I mentioned you A-17: That's where he keeps his spare knife. OWK: Hm that does explain the way he eyed me up, ambitious. A-17: Clearly not enough, he should have followed through. I taught them better.
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bloodywankers · 25 days
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Trigger Warning! Implied Non-con! Forced Relationship! Yandere Husband!
Unedited | 1.26k Words
Andre was always rational, never unnecessarily cruel or emotional. That was the worst part about him, he was cold, left you feeling touch starved and alone even in his embrace. He was strict, he wouldn’t tolerate deviation from his routine or attempts to ruin the perfect image he had built for you but he wasn’t cruel. At the end of the day it felt like you only had yourself to blame for your misfortune. He wouldn’t criticise you for no reason but that meant that the instances where he did, he was probably right. He wouldn’t scream or yell but in turn left you feeling like a disobedient child.
His affection left much to be desired but you blame yourself for it rather than him, because Andre was perfect. He always remembered anniversaries and birthdays, never letting you want for anything but you had always felt so alone. There was an emptiness that he couldn’t fill no matter what he did because Andre was an actor.
Nothing about Andre was genuine because a character with no flaws is no character at all. He seemed above your childish tantrums and far too sophisticated to enjoy simpler things, lived in a world that was perfectly tailor made for him. But you weren’t Andre, you weren’t logical, or perfect, your acting was subpar at best and you didn’t fit into his world. You were emotional and living in his cold world devoid of any warmth was not something you could tolerate so despite every well planned argument he placed in front of you, you stood your ground.
“I want a divorce.” You tried your best to keep a firm tone, you were sure he would take advantage of any hesitation that you showed.
“Darling, as I’ve said already, I—.” He spoke softly, as always, interrupting you with his finely built arguments, ones that you were sure would work in any other situation. Arguments that you could reason with if you had not been as fed up as you were, filled with unadulterated hatred for the man you were supposed to love. This time you were set on getting what you wanted, you were sick of feeling like this.
“I don’t care for whatever bullshit reason you have this time, I feel miserable every day I spend with you!” You probably could have gone through with this in a more elegant manner but you were at your limit. Andre had always been rational but you couldn’t understand him this time. You were sure he wouldn’t have trouble remarrying someone better, it’s not like you lived in the Middle Ages where divorce meant your life was over. It probably wouldn’t affect his image much. So why was he so hell-bent on keeping you stuck in a relationship where both of you would be miserable?
You expected another well balanced counter argument, maybe a comment about how foul your behaviour was, how unbecoming it was. But instead he stood there, a look you had never seen before and a scowl that seemed so out of place compared to his usual poker face. You instinctively sunk into yourself, trying to avoid what you thought was his attempt at reaching for you, what for you? You didn’t want to find out. But instead he walked past you, stormed out despite still maintaining his obnoxiously elegant posture.
You thought it would blow over, that he would come back and pretend nothing happened, he didn’t seem like the type to acknowledge such arguments. But he didn’t return at his usual time, and instead you found all the exits to your house locked and your set of keys missing.
When your husband did return, he didn’t go to your shared bedroom as usual, instead went straight for his office, you just barely caught him. Slamming the door to his study shut before you said anything else.
“What the hell is your problem?! Where are my keys?! If you’re going to act like this at least let me leave!”
”You will do no such thing.” That’s it. No reason, no explanation as to why he decided on this, just a singular order. You had started to back up, this was unlike Andre. The atmosphere in the room had changed.
“And why is that? Who do you think you are to decide for me?!”
Andre himself didn’t understand. The logical thing, the right thing to do would be to let you go quietly, to not put up a fuss and part ways. He didn’t have any love in him when he chose you as his marriage partner (before you had ever officially met him), you were just the right choice, at the right place, at the right time and with the right background. It wasn’t him who was drawn to you out of all other potential candidates, you were just the best choice. He has a good memory, that’s why he remembered your birthday, and your wedding anniversary. It would look bad if he didn’t buy you the best present money could buy.
Sharing a bed was necessary for any married couple, not because he searched for your warmth, desperately clinging to it every night, whether intentionally or not.
He took off his glasses and rubbed his nose bridge, brows furrowed as he came to the realisation. Love? He had come to love you? Has he always felt this way? For someone who boasted a memory as excellent as his, he couldn’t remember when it started. But there was no denying what this was, it was love, an obsessive love that ate at his insides every moment he kept trying to contain it.
If he told you that, you would understand, wouldn’t you? You’d forgive his past sorry attempts at being a good husband and give him a chance to prove himself, wouldn’t you? After all, you’ve always been understanding, despite your recent outbursts, you would try to understand him.
“Darling, let’s try to calm down.” That’s not what he wanted to say, he wanted to say he loved you, to scream it until his voice gave out but it wouldn’t come out, this in turn only irked you more. You looked ready to leave, too annoyed to even continue talking to him. He couldn’t have that, he’d beg if you wanted so please don’t leave.
Well, if he couldn’t tell you, he’d show you. After all, actions speak louder than words. So he grabbed your wrist before you could drift further from him and dragged you to your shared bedroom, ignoring all cries and protests from you. He made sure to lock the door behind him, you looked like you were ready to bolt out the door the moment he let go of you.
“You-! What are you doing, unlock the door now!” However, your protests seem to fall on deaf ears once more.
“You asked why I wouldn’t let you go? I’ll show you why.”
Andre had never been unreasonable or cruel but that night you realised he was as flawed as anyone else, as dirty as any other and as cruel as he could want to be. You realise how much you miss his distant and unfamiliar self, before you got to know him in so many different ways.
How unfamiliar he looked to you as he kissed you in places he didn’t dare to touch before, as his smile resembled that of a madman and his eyes reflected pure euphoria.
Your husband had always been unreasonable and cruel, you just never knew.
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exa-reblogs · 8 months
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Some identifiers for AI generated fashion images that I've noticed
So, recently and not unexpectedly, I've seen a major uptick in AI generated images showing up in my searches for fashion photos, specifically. I've seen people make posts like this for specific art styles, and for 2D art in general, but I wanted to share some observations I made regarding clothing, fashion, and runways. I've seen a lot of people getting fooled by these, but it seems like for every one person thinking it's real there's about three people informing them that it's AI, fortunately. I'll admit, a lot of them look somewhat believable at first, but once you look closer it becomes apparent that they're off somehow.
To clarify: this is about common inconsistencies I've personally noticed in AI fashion images, so that you can learn where to look for these and similar inconsistencies and avoid sharing AI content by accident.
There's this one "collection" specifically that seems to come up a lot (also, click on all these images in this post to see the details more clearly):
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There's more images like this and yes, despite the "houseofai" watermark I still see people asking who the designer is, or saying that they genuinely thought it was real at first. First and foremost: these are all clearly meant to be from the same runway show, right? Then why does each image look like it was taken on a different runway? The lighting and coloring are different in each one, and the middle one has vague red stairs in the background while the other two look like just a plain light-colored runway. This is something you'll obviously only be able to notice in groups of images and not singular ones, but it's a pretty dead giveaway if you see it.
Secondly: AI generated images, as a whole, tend to have this specific kind of super dramatic lighting with very bright, white lights and soft grey shadows. I'm not very knowledgeable about photography, so I can't explain it exactly, but I know it when I see it (and if someone reading this can properly explain it , please do.)
Thirdly: AI generated fashion tends to attempt perfect symmetry, but always fails somehow.
As for the actual outfits: the best that I can describe it is that a lot of the shapes and patterns just don't look like intentional human choices.
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What in the hell is that monogram on the upper right supposed to be? It's clearly mimicking a logo of some kind, but it's messy and indecipherable, not actual branding.
The heart motif is clearly the running theme here, but the hearts don't really make sense. Like the main one in two halves across the chest here: why does it have those two notches missing at the bottom that prevent it from coming to a point at the bottom like a heart is supposed to?
The bottom hem is way longer on the left than on the right.
The little shoulder hearts are like, bleeding into the shoulder seams; those lines in the hair look like they're supposed to be headbands, but they disappear at the part with the rest of the hair; the embroidery on the pants isn't in a clear or intentional pattern.
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Again, compare the lighting on this one's neck with the lighting on the last one's neck, totally different.
Those pink things on the chest look like they're trying to be hearts, but they're so clearly not actually hearts. If your collection is heart themed, why aren't you using actual hearts?
The quilting effect is uneven and the individual lines don't follow through and finish in the places they should. Look at the upper right sleeve, where the diamonds are misshapen and the diagonal lines are clearly disconnected. On the lower right chest, the lines just disappear. This can't actually with quilted garments IRL because the top layer is literally stitched to the bottom one along those lines with material in between. It can't fuck up like that, especially not a designer garment that costs your monthly rent.
Smooth zipper. Zippers seem to be a common fuck up.
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You can't read the text on the hearts. It's nonsense. Nonsense, unreadable text and fucked up hands are the absolutely surefire ways to identify AI art like this. Conveniently, there are no hands in these photos.
What are those embossed shapes on the sleeves? They're not identifiable as anything in particular.
That is not how zippers work.
I suppose that weird folding beneath the hearts is something technically physically possible. But it's much, much more likely that they would create smoother, less ugly seams with less excess fabric.
These generative AI programs don't actually comprehend what they're trying to depict. Thus, they make mistakes like these. Physical inconsistencies that are often totally impossible, but even the possible things are just... stupid choices that an actual designer isn't going to do. Yeah, sure, designs can be weird, asymmetrical, and imperfect on purpose. But it's way, way more likely that this is just an AI.
Experiment: look at these two images of retro-futuristic headpieces/eyewear and determine whether they're real or AI.
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Right one is easy, mostly because of the wonky bitch in the back. But some other inconsistencies I specifically wanna note: if the blue goggles color the "model"'s skin, hair, helmet, and the background behind the lenses blue, why doesn't it do the same for the eyes? And also, I've noticed that a lot of these images have trouble properly rendering the corners of the mouth, which is a weird detail but one you won't be able to unsee once you know to look out for it. Yes, there's a dark line where actual human lips meet, often with some subtle divots at the corners, but in the image on the right, it's rendered as a harsh, gaping hole more like something sculpted out of plastic than actual flesh. On the note of imperfect symmetry again: the left lens isn't perfectly round. And finally, this is a really good example of that giveaway lighting I mentioned. I don't know how you would actually achieve that lighting IRL, but it's so, so common in AI images.
The left photo is an actual model in 1967 wearing pieces designed by Pierre Cardin, a designer that the right image is definitely trying to emulate. The model has a look on her face that isn't super duper expressive, but it's still far beyond any of the AI images I've seen. Every AI fashion image I've seen thus far has totally blank-faced, expressionless "models". They might pout slightly, but I haven't seen any with visible teeth. Something tells me the AI would render teeth the same way it renders fingers. The emblem on the hat is actually perfectly symmetrical, and the glasses are clearly asymmetrical as an intentional design choice, not like the shapes are supposed to be the same but got messed up somehow. And she has ten fingers total, five on each hand.
Two more:
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These are both AI generated. I'm not gonna lie, i fell for the one on the left at first. The right is easy:
distorted faces
woman in back is being absorbed by the train(?) seat
those middle buttons on the jacket are totally useless
AI Lighting (TM)
But the "models" on the left look very, very convincing, and the lighting doesn't immediately register to me as AI lighting. The only really wonky thing on the faces is the mouth on the left "model". However, there's one dead giveaway: the headphone wires. Why are they different thicknesses? Why does the rightmost wire disappear into the jacket sleeve? Where the fuck does the leftmost wire even go? AI, I've noticed, struggles with thin lines, strings, and strands of things. Like with the quilted jacket above, you can often try and trace a single line, only to find that it drops off, distorts, or disappears. And sure enough, as soon as I noticed something was weird with those wires, I went to the Pinterest profile that posted it and found that they exclusively posted AI content. Speaking of the actual headphones, the leftmost ear cushion is sitting on an angle that doesn't make sense, and the one to the direct right of it is significantly thinner than the other three. Again, subtle failed symmetry.
This is by no means a comprehensive guide, and I encourage anyone seeing this to point out ways they've found to identify AI images like this. These are things I've just been on the lookout for lately. And when in doubt: conduct reverse image searches and try your best to identify solid sources for your images. AI images won't list designers, model names, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, etc., while actual runway and photoshoot images will, because there are human creatives behind them.
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skepticalcatfrog · 2 months
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Kerch, Ghezenism, and the Van Eck Family
The title pretty much sums it up. This is a rather extensive analysis, and to be honest with you all it is 2,500+ words. So get into this absolute beast at your own risk!
~~~
From my experience in this fandom, I've seen it discussed very frequently how important religion is in the Grishaverse. Not only is it very deeply developed, to the point where many of the different countries have unique beliefs - which I'm not sure is seen very often in newer literature - but the various religious systems are also deeply important to many major characters, such as Matthias and Inej. However, one aspect of Grishaverse religions that seems to be overlooked somewhat often is the Kerch religion of Ghezenism. This may just be me, but I have a lot of thoughts on it. A big reason for that is that Wylan is, and always has been, my favorite character, and the culture surrounding Ghezen is actually a very important part of his character for many reasons. When you look into it in the way that I have, you discover that there are a lot of peculiar aspects of Ghezenism that make it stand out, as well as many ties that it has to major aspects of the story.
Right away, one thing that makes Kerch religion different from the others is how deeply connected to the economy it is. So much so that a lot of aspects of the two subjects are one and the same. Given that Ketterdam is a city largely fueled by commerce, it makes sense that Ghezenism would heavily tie into Kerch culture as well. Symbols of Ghezen can be found in many places throughout the city, even beyond the Church of Barter. A very good example of this is Vellgeluk, the island where the Crows meet Van Eck expecting to get their reward from the Ice Court heist: “Smugglers called it Vellgeluk, “good luck,” because of the paintings still visible around the base of what would have been the obelisk tower: golden circles meant to represent coins, symbols of favor from Ghezen, the god of industry and commerce,” (Six of Crows, Chapter 44). This just goes to show how many people in Ketterdam, and the wider country of Kerch as well, put their faith in Ghezen. Vellgeluk is a chosen place for smugglers to do business, specifically because favors of Ghezen are still present there. 
Another interesting part of that passage is the fact that Ghezen is referred to as the god of industry and commerce. Kerch may have other gods, but as far as I can remember - and I may be wrong, but I don't think I am - we never hear about any of them. A similar situation can be found in Fjerda, where Djel is specifically the god of life, implying the existence of other gods. In Fjerda, it is very clear that Djel is mainly what they base their culture and belief system around. This makes perfect sense for a god of life, but isn't Ketterdam’s situation a bit more unusual? The most frequently discussed god, Ghezen, represents industry. We can assume Ghezen is the primary god within the Kerch religious system. Not to mention that their largest church is called the Church of Barter, barter obviously being a term that has much to do with economics. Ketterdam, if not the entire country of Kerch, seems to have no real concept of the separation of church and state. They quite literally hold auctions inside of the church; the auctioning of Kuwei is not a singular event.
The impacts of religion can also be seen in the culture and behavior of the people of Kerch, as seen in a brief section of Crooked Kingdom. “Kerch women—even the wealthy ones—didn’t bother with anything as frivolous as embroidery or needlepoint. Ghezen was better served by tasks that benefited the household,” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 14). Obviously, things like this are much more typical of religion. But I would argue that even this holds traces of the same values expressed by the connection between Ghezenism and the economy. It is specifically mentioned here that Kerch women are encouraged to participate in tasks that will “benefit the household”. This displays one of the very prominent aspects of the Ghezenite religion, which is that one of the most important things a person can do is be productive, and create a prosperous life for themselves and their family.
In addition to direct ties between Ghezenism and the Kerch economy, occasionally the legal system is put into the mix as well. While considering what consequences his father might face after the events of the auction, Wylan reveals this piece of information: “Knowingly entering into a false contract for the purpose of subverting the market wasn’t just illegal, it was considered blasphemy, a blight on the works of Ghezen, and the penalties were harsh,” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 41). Essentially what he means by this is that not only is tampering with the economy against the law, but it is also heavily frowned upon in a religious sense, and anyone who does so will face punishment from both sides. This is extremely unique, even within the Grishaverse. This single sentence also reveals another very interesting thing about Kerch society. The market, as it exists in Ketterdam, is believed to be a creation of god - it is referred to here as being a part of the “works of Ghezen”. That, more than anything, is concrete proof of just how interconnected the economy of Kerch is with its primary religion. This also means that committing a crime such as Van Eck did isn't simply illegal (which we can assume he has no issues with), it is also an act that goes against his own religion. But stop to consider for a moment: does he really have a problem with that either?
There are numerous examples throughout both books of Van Eck blatantly abusing the values of his own religion. On its own, the teachings of Ghezenism aren't inherently bad. After all, things such as tampering with the market for your own gain are actively discouraged using the threat of blasphemy, which I'd say is generally beneficial. The issue, however, arises when Van Eck in particular attempts to twist some of these values in order to justify his own actions. If there is one single quote from the duology that exemplifies this, it would be this one: “Ghezen shows his favor to those who are deserving, to those who build cities, not the rats who eat away at their foundations. He has blessed me and my dealings. You will perish, and I will prosper. That is Ghezen’s will,” (Six of Crows, Chapter 45). Van Eck openly believes that, since he is a member of the upper class, he is somehow more deserving of a blessing. He is insistent that “Ghezen's will”, or what he interprets as what Ghezen wishes for him to do, is to trample others in order to further his own success. 
It doesn't matter to him who stands in his way, and it never will, because his goal is only to make himself more wealthy; he simply hides this behind a thin veil of piety. This motivation is especially clear when he is speaking to Inej while he is holding her captive. “When I leave this world, the greatest shipping empire ever known will remain, an engine of wealth, a tribute to Ghezen and a sign of his favor. Who will remember a girl like you, Miss Ghafa? What will you and Kaz Brekker leave behind but corpses to be burned on the Reaper’s Barge?” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 7). He frames people less fortunate than him - in this case Kaz and Inej - as forgettable and unimportant. The only thing he considers truly important is wealth, which he equates to power. He even references Ghezen here, claiming again that all of his actions, as well as his empire and legacy, are meant to show his dedication to his religion. He also claims that his ability to attain this level of success is a sign that Ghezen favors him. That in particular is a display of his extremely warped view of Ghezenism. The truth is that his success can only be attributed to his unethical actions, but the fact that he claims it is due to Ghezen's favor means that he will never be able to be convinced that he is wrong. He has what he believes to be an airtight justification.
His classism is also extremely evident, while indirectly, in an exchange between Kaz and Wylan earlier on in Crooked Kingdom. ““Your father much for charity?” “No. He tithes to Ghezen, but he says charity robs men of the chance at honest labor,”” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 2). This shows that Van Eck is very protective over his wealth. Which, quite frankly, is more likely than not the exact opposite of what Ghezenism is intended to promote. Based on what we are shown from an outside perspective, it seems as though one of the main aspects of Ghezenism is to create a prosperous economy for everyone. However, what Van Eck seems to believe is that he is intended to simply accumulate as much wealth as he possibly can, and keep it all for himself.
It is incredibly clear that Van Eck doesn't care about the well-being of anyone other than himself when it comes down to it. It could be argued that he cares for Alys, and will care for their child when it is born, but this simply cannot be proven. Just look at the exact mirror of this situation: Marya and Wylan. Wylan states about his parents, “I think he really loved her. They fought all the time, sometimes about me, but I remember them laughing a lot together too,” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 14). If we are to believe that this is true, and Van Eck truly did love Marya, that doesn't change the fact that he didn't hesitate to send her away as soon as he discovered that Wylan couldn't read or write. There is no evidence to say that he wouldn't do the same to Alys, under similar circumstances. 
And, of course, this all leads back to the matter of Wylan. When Van Eck decided that Wylan wouldn't be useful to him, he stopped caring about him very quickly. Near the end of Six of Crows, we hear more of the specifics on Van Eck's opinion of Wylan. “I have hired the best tutors from every corner of the world. I’ve tried specialists, tonics, beatings, hypnotism. But he refused to be taught. I finally had to accept that Ghezen saw fit to curse me with a moron for a child. Wylan is a boy who will never grow to be a man. He is a disgrace to my house,” (Six of Crows, Chapter 45). Van Eck believes that Wylan is a curse from Ghezen, purely because he thinks that Wylan will be incapable of producing profits for their business. This is perhaps one of the most egregious examples of his blatant abuse of his own religion, because he is entirely willing to abandon and even murder his own son in order to fulfill his goals, which he claims is all Ghezen's will.
There is no feasible way Wylan would be able to grow up being raised by Van Eck, and not be affected by his religious ideas in some way. In fact, there is evidence contained in the text that proves this rather thoroughly. There are even certain things that have already been cited within this analysis that can be circled back to, such as the quote just above. This quote exemplifies the sort of treatment Wylan was subjected to while growing up. This is mostly speculation, but it's safe to assume he was told at a very young age that his own father considered him a punishment from god. That is objectively terrible, and we know that by the age of eight his father was his only parent. The psychological impacts that that would have on a child that young are unimaginable. 
Additionally, we can return to this quote from Crooked Kingdom: “When I leave this world, the greatest shipping empire ever known will remain, an engine of wealth, a tribute to Ghezen and a sign of his favor. Who will remember a girl like you, Miss Ghafa? What will you and Kaz Brekker leave behind but corpses to be burned on the Reaper’s Barge?” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 7). While Van Eck is not talking to Wylan here, and Wylan isn't even present at the time, this passage still indirectly displays Van Eck's feelings about Wylan. Here he is expressing the fact that he maintains that if a person is not able to create wealth and prosperity for themselves, they are essentially useless. As we know from the previous example, he believes this of Wylan as well.
It is evident that Wylan was taught Ghezenite values from a young age. While examining the exterior of the Church of Barter, his thoughts include this: “He didn’t need to be able to read the words engraved over the arch. He’d heard his father repeat them countless times. Enjent, Voorhent, Almhent. Industry, Integrity, Prosperity,” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 31). This is confirmation that Van Eck frequently encouraged Wylan to think about these values, and it can be inferred that it likely wasn't in a particularly positive manner. Industry, integrity, and prosperity are clearly the three main ideals of this religion, and we can easily be led to the conclusion that Van Eck is certain his son is capable of none of them.
It is also suggested that Wylan may even associate his father's disapproval with religion subconsciously as well. A good example of this is in Crooked Kingdom, after Wylan is taken to the Church of Barter. “Van Eck shook his head. “Every time I think you cannot disappoint me further, you prove me wrong.” They were in a small chapel topped by a dome. The oil paintings on the wall featured battle scenes and piles of armaments,” (Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 31). While this is also simply meant to provide the reader with a description of the environment, the juxtaposition between the two halves of this passage cannot be an accident. What we can observe here is that after Van Eck once again expresses his ever-present disappointment with Wylan, emphasis is immediately put on the fact that they are in the church. This, along with the other passages listed, creates a clear link between Wylan's negative relationship with his father and the effects that their shared religion has had on it.
What I consider to be one of the most important quotes for this subject, despite also being the shortest one used, comes near the end of Six of Crows. After Wylan has played his role in foiling Van Eck's plan to trick the Crows, he says this: “Maybe you can pray to Ghezen for understanding, Father,” (Six of Crows, Chapter 45). This is sort of the first act of retribution that the reader sees from Wylan. He has just made his father look like a fool, and then he practically spits in his face by taking the thing that was used against him for so long - their religion - and using it against his father instead. Not only is this moment incredibly satisfying, it also marks the beginning of Wylan's growth as a character that eventually leads to him being able to stand up to his father in more ways.
Despite being arguably the least explored Grishaverse religion in online spaces, I find Ghezenism to be extremely interesting when it comes to the ways it ties into the themes of the story. It represents wider, more general themes found throughout the book, such as the idea that people often value their own success over the well-being of others, but it contains even more when examined under a closer lens. It opens the door to a completely new aspect of further analyzing the relationship between Wylan and his father, and introduces vital elements of in-depth characterization for both of them. The way Wylan and Van Eck each view the same religion is highly indicative of their individual values, and that is a very interesting thing to expand upon. It simply goes to show just how much thought went into creating both the culture of this world, and the characters who live within it.
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yggdrasilhypno · 4 months
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I absolutely love freeze triggers so much, the simplicity yet power of stopping a mind and body in their tracks is truly incredible. It’s all about that look in their eyes as they seem to stiffen and set into that perfect position, just for you. That look of utter helplessness yet mindless delight as they lose all power to a simple word, unable to resist as they become a beautiful piece of art.
It’s almost poetic too, the unruliest of subs becoming nothing more than decoration with a singular word, kryptonite to their brains as their weakness is on full display for all to see. Even if they could resist, it’s the slow yet pleasurable click of each body part into position that keeps them so very happy to oblige and obey that singular word that gives them everything they need. It gives them purpose, it gives them pleasure, it gives them a position where nothing they do matters except how they look, glassy-eyed and still.
For me however, it’s the realization that sets into their eyes that truly excites me. Their thoughts finally coming together and realizing how deep they’ve been corrupted, how controlled they really are, how weak they’ve become. As each limb locks into place, it’s like they get another reminder of why they serve, why they obey, why they’ve chosen to listen to my words. It’s simple, really, it’s a lose-lose. They can either submit and lose entirely or try to resist, only to fail and realize just why they love to lose. Because it feels amazing to lose. Until next time~
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insuke69 · 2 months
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Imagining Hobie being so fucking clingy when you’re gone on a vacation or something:(((
★ Headcannons with Hobie x Latinx reader <;33
☆ Warnings: fluff, ‘implied’ smut (yes, they fuck in a memory), explicit words.
__________________
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——————
You’re off visiting family, away from Hobie just for a short visit since it’s a younger cousins fifteenth birthday.
You aren’t close with her but she adores you like an older sibling so why not? Two weeks isn’t that long anyway since you also would like to catch up with the very little non-toxic Hispanic family you have.
The flight is smooth besides the fact that it was over two hours of no service, songs on repeat in your headphones, and the book you’re so happy you remembered to pack.
______
You forget the time difference between Hobie in Camden and you over here, for you it’s midday and for him it’s the middle of the night and he seems so.. desperate.
His texts are slow and it’s obviously being done by his singular non dominant hand.
“Hi can you pls send a pic”
“2 me”
“Please??”
On your end, it’s almost so clear that he wants to see you like the good adorable partner he is, already missing you. You send him an innocent picture where you’re holding your phone at an angle above you and smile up at it through your lashes.
Meanwhile Hobie..
Hobie always would have an arm around you, or holding your hand, or his lips on any part of skin he could access on you.
He was alone on his houseboat, laying on only his side of the bed even if the usually warm and used spot beside him was empty and void of his lover.
He didn’t like the idea of porn, even if he was ‘living the dream’ of most men where his partner wasn’t around to stop him, he still hated it. It was fake and unrealistic with plastic or disgustingly young looking actors, so he settled for closing his eyes and thinking of the one who’s truely his.
Remembering how pretty the little whines were as they escaped your lips when he slowly eased himself into your tight warm hole..
And before he knew it; he was palming his erecting and fumbling his phone to text you.
His breath shudders slightly at the sight of you and he began imagining how your adoring hand would look around his length, his own fist trying to imitate his imagination tightly.
How your lips would wrap around the head of his weeping cock, how your cheeks would hollow out and make it all disappear, those cute gag sounds and tears that threaten your eyes when your nose reaches the small trimmed bush at the base of his member.
You fully expect a normal response from Hobie in a way. Anything ranging from “You look nice td” to something dirty, hence why you’re positioned in a way where nobody around you could see your phone screen.
Instead, a voice message pops up and a part of you wants to hesitate in checking what it is because you know that Hobie doesn’t really send voice messages unless his hands are really busy.
You play it against your ear quietly and your heart bangs against your chest at how needy his voice is, his gulps and whimpers and you can only imagine how beautiful he looks right now.
“Oh my fuckin’.. you’re so good lookin’ for me, I need ya so bad righ’ now.” You can hear his heavy breaths in the message and slight rhythmic sound, fap fap fap fap.
It immediately makes your heat grow warm between your legs and you adjust yourself in your seat with your thighs together tightly as an attempt to ease this, knowing that you’re at a nice fancy restaurant for your cousins ‘birthweek’.
You decide to excuse yourself to the bathroom and be a little more generous with Hobie, locking yourself into a stall and sending him a better picture where you’re topless and your chest and abdomen in perfect sight, pointer finger and middle finger holding a nipple between them.
“Here’s your damn meal <3” you captioned it before sending, putting your shirt back on as you awaited his response.
It was a video this time, angled so you could see his pretty dick being desperately fucked in his ringed left hand.
his eyebrows are knitted together and his mouth is dropping the cutest curses and whimpers before he cums, his seed spurting out onto his abdomen and hand before his lips move to utter a whisper.
"I need ya so bad, can't wait 'till you're back, love."
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yandere--stuck · 9 months
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Safety Hazard - Yandere!TFP!Ratchet x Human!Reader
You can't move. Can't speak. Can't even turn your head as you stare straight above you. You're too tired, but can't seem to fall asleep, either. A permanent state of disorientation and exhaustion as you try to make sense of the blue lights shining above you.
You flinch when something cold and metal makes contact with your face, body breaking into shivers as goosebumps pimple up over your skin.
"You are so cute, human…" Ratchet sighs, voice near a purr rumbling throughout his body, even to the singular digit that softly traced your face.
He knows he should use your name, but something about addressing you as 'human' makes something in his spark fizzle and burn. His little human. Almost like a toy, with how you lay so still and pliant on his medical berth.
All his.
The human body is so interesting. What Ratchet finds most fascinating is how susceptible your species is to chemical mixtures. Muscle relaxants and sleeping medicines slipped into a drink or meal before the team is supposed to head out for the day…
Now, he finally has one-on-one time with you. He didn't have the courage to confess to you, yet. And he's even more embarrassed to confess to his friends that he had feelings for you. For a human.
So, really, this is just practice! Practice for when it was finally the right time to confess to you. And when if you rejected him, he would have these memories to sustain him. Or, at least, he hoped they would. He'd done this plenty of times now, after all. Another great weakness of the human mind was that it lacked reliability when it came to accuracy and storage of memory, unlike a Cybertronian's.
A dark pulse of shame at the thought echoes throughout Ratchet's frame. In fact, maybe… Maybe this should be the last time.
"I love you so much," Ratchet confesses softly, as if that makes up for it. Gently, he moves his digit to settle against one of your pliant hands. Reflexively, your fingers flex. A shudder quakes you. The closest thing he can get to holding hands with you.
Part of him holds back because he knows there's so little he can do with you. But, an old bot like him can dream, can't he? Can dream of being young again. Before the war. When he was young, full of life and full of love.
And as much as he knows it will probably never work and that he should stop, he can't help himself. Ratchet wants more of you.
He vents shakily, looking over you as you rest on the berth. Slowly, he lifts himself onto the berth, crawling onto his stabilizers. He towers over you. And it both terrifies and electrifies him. Just being like this, close to you, you in his care, it's the most alive he's felt in years.
He's careful, though. Always, always careful. Careful never to hurt you. Careful to give the correct doses. Careful not to let you on to how he feels. Always so careful. So, so careful, it's exhausting.
Just once. He just wants to take one risk, and it'll be enough to last him an eternity. Ratchet puts all his weight on one servo as he used his other to slowly, carefully, cup your head. Just one, and it'll be enough.
"My human, if you love me back," Ratchet leans forward, daring to close his eyes. "Kiss me."
He lifted you up, nearly locking up as he felt the warmth of your lips on his dermas. You're perfect. So, so perfect. And so warm. So human.
Slowly, his servo roamed down your back, lifting you up closer to him, burying his face against your body as he peppered your face with kisses, sighing happily as he fully descended into the fantasy of you wanting him back, of loving him in return, of you being in control of his actions and not just forgetting this whole thing the moment you reawaken.
He hums as the shivers slowly melt away and you're once again pliant from the warmth of his heating helm and servos. He nearly becomes lost in pressing up against you. Trying to get closer. Closer. As close as a human and Cybetronian can get and maybe closer. Like he wants to hide you inside, keep you close to his spark.
Ratchet remembers himself, shaking the sparkstruck feeling off as he lays you back down against the berth, the mech being extra careful as he clambers down. Thank goodness no one was there to see that, how wreckless of him! No one should climb on a medical berth like that. You both could have gotten hurt…
As he watches you drift off to recharge- 'sleep', Ratchet finds himself lost in fantasies of doing this with you again very soon.
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wheeboo · 1 year
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streetlights | jeon wonwoo
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SYNOPSIS. in which you and wonwoo go on a midnight walk together. PAIRING. jeon wonwoo x gn!reader GENRE. fluff n cheesy cuteness, childhood best friends to lovers au, reader is the literal definition of a hopeless romantic (aka me fr), both reader and wonwoo just realising their feelings for each other tbh WARNINGS. none but just my efforts at building romantic tension and reader having their first kiss (: WORD COUNT. 1.9k
notes: honestly this is just me dumping my hopeless romantic thoughts in an imagine so uh... bare with me please.
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“Do you remember when we promised to marry each other by 30 if we were both still single?”
You don’t earn an immediate response, and you glance to see if Wonwoo was even still listening to you. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t, as a singular earphone hangs off his ear. Frowning, you give him a playful (and maybe slightly aggressive) nudge on the arm, distracting him out of his little world.
“Earth to Wonwoo?” You call out his name. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Huh?” Wonwoo faces back to you blankly, his dark eyes meeting yours as he slowly removes the earphone out of his ear and puts it away in his pocket. You see his lips part to form an apologetic smile, his face illuminated by the looming streetlights above as he fixes his hat and adjusts his glasses. “Sorry, what did you say?”
You roll your eyes, huffing out a pout to his response. “See, this is why you’re single. You’re too invested in your little books.”
Wonwoo scoffs dramatically, the corners of his lips curling into a sly smile. His face is full of amusement, knowing he's not one to back down from any of your playful banter. 
"Says the one who is always daydreaming about finding the perfect partner,” he retorts back. 
You feel an embarrassed blush spread throughout your face because unlike you, Wonwoo has had a fair share of experiences with love. “I-I just haven’t found the one, okay?” 
Wonwoo just grins proudly at your reaction. Despite being best friends with him for most of your life, the bickering banter between you both was an unequal match. Even in a playful manner, he always knew the right things to say to have you at a loss for words. Sometimes, he could just look at you and suddenly your voice decides to depart out of your body. 
That’s... normal, right?
The two of you find yourselves trailing down an empty neighbourhood street at the wee hours of the night. It happens when the two of you can’t seem to fall asleep, along with an added boredom that just calls for a late-night stroll. The streetlights cast a soft, orange glow on the pavement as you walk side-by-side, the only sounds being the gentle rustle of leaves, the distant chirp of crickets, and your footsteps echoing in the quiet night when the world seems to be at slumber. You notice a few of the streetlights seemingly more dim than the others, some even blinking, and one or two barely even working. 
These kinds of strolls weren’t as strange as others may make it seem. You both enjoy the comfortable silences of being next to each other, minding your own businesses, and allowing the air to clear away your thoughts. But for some reason, your mind only continues to wander to what Wonwoo had mentioned just minutes before. Do you... really daydream that much for a partner that might seem impossible to find?
Wonwoo peers towards you curiously, eyes tracing over your familiar expression and side-profile. He knows when you’re deep in thought from the way you purse your lips together, or the way your eyes seem glued to the ground like you’re trying to laser a hole through the earth. 
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asks casually.
You shake your head. “It’s stupid.”
He raises a suspicious brow, feeling the bits of worry slip in. “Nothing you think is stupid, Y/N. Come on, I know that look when you want to say something.”
You feel the slight pressure on your shoulders from his words, but he’s your best friend. You know you can tell him anything and everything, and not once has he spilled any of your secrets. In some way he’s like a locked diary, a sacred vessel that holds the deepest corners of your heart and even the most ridiculous of thoughts you may have told him. 
Through the years, he's been your confidant, your rock, and your only support. You've relied on him for comfort and strength, and he has never faltered in his role. Not even once. Somehow, the thought is strangely soothing.
“Is it bad I just have so many scenarios in my head that I look for when looking for love?” You ask him; it’s a genuine question. “Like, there’s so many things I want to experience, you know? The nervous hand-holding, the cliché umbrella moment, or even a kiss under the moonlight... I want someone to look at me like those stupid dramas!”
You don’t notice as you continue to ramble, but a flicker of something indiscernible passes through Wonwoo’s gaze as his attentiveness seems to slip away at your last sentence. Yet he quickly recovers himself, a small smile playing at his lips.
“A kiss under the moonlight, you say?” he muses, but he murmurs it under his breath as if acknowledging the detail more to himself. 
“I told you. It all sounds stupid,” You groan hopelessly. “I won’t ever experience those kinds of things. I’m too much of a coward.”
Wonwoo just chuckles quietly, and because of the embarrassment, you can’t tell if he’s chuckling at you or not. But his face softens just seconds after as he unnoticeably steps closer to you to the point where your shoulders begin to lightly brush up against one another, and feel yourself begin to relax once more. 
However his closeness seems to send a jolt through your heart. 
A few moments of silence pass as you continue to walk together, a certain tension growing in the air that makes you feel oddly tense. You steal a sideways glance at Wonwoo, observing his seemingly contemplative expression and how he appears lost in his own thoughts as well. He’s always been a naturally quiet person, but this time, there was perhaps a miniscule shift in the silence surrounding you two. 
Then, abruptly, he comes to a stop, causing you to come to a halt as well. The two of you cower under a flickering streetlight, its intermittent glow casting dancing shadows on the pavement below your feet.
“Y/N,” he says your name with utmost seriousness, and as you meet his gaze, there’s a newfound intensity in his dark eyes. “You trust me, right?”
In that moment, the weight of Wonwoo's question hangs in the air, and you feel your heartbeat start to quicken. The intensity in his eyes sends a shiver down your spine as a mix of curiosity and anticipation grows within you. 
A flicker of uncertainty passes through your mind, yet you know your friendship with Wonwoo has always been built on trust. The two of you have always been open with each other, so you can trust him, right?
“Of course I trust you. Why wouldn’t I?” For some reason there’s still that quiver of doubt in your response. 
You watch Wonwoo take a noticeable exhale. 
He opens his mouth again but closes it quickly, leaving you hanging once more. The silence stretching between the two of you feels like an eternity, your heart pounding anxiously in your chest, as you watch the play of emotions on his face. For the first time in a long time, he looks just as vulnerable as you feel around him at times. 
“If I said I wanted to kiss you right now, would you let me?”
You could only stare at him, merely speechless as his question floats in the air around. Time seems to stand still as you attempt to process whatever the heck he just asked you. Your mind races with frustration, trying to comprehend the depth of his feelings along with your own as the line between friendship and something more starts to blur with each passing second.
Wonwoo bites his bottom lip nervously, feeling the slap of regret hit him in an instant.
“I shouldn’t have asked𑁋”
“No, wait,” You interject, effectively silencing him. Getting the courage to look up at him, you release the tension in your shoulders. You can’t believe you’re about say this. “I want you to kiss me.” 
Wonwoo’s eyes widen with surprise, momentarily taken aback by your bold statement. You watch as a mix of emotions flicker across his face𑁋doubt, hesitation, and a glimmer of hope. You’ve never seen so many emotions cross his face; you’ve never seen him so speechless before.
Then he starts to reach out excruciatingly slowly, hesitating for a split second, before letting his hand gently cup your face, as if trying to get used to the feeling. Your breaths simulatenously hitch together, and within just seconds, he allows his lips to brush against yours tenderly and carefully. 
You feel the inexperience coming to you, so you let your instinct take over and allow your hands to drift down to his waist, kneading the fabric of his white shirt loosely and pulling him just a bit closer.
Wonwoo's hand on your face moves, his fingers lightly tracing the contour of your cheek. The kiss deepens ever so slightly as you sense the feelings beginning to overwhelm you. It's a dance of emotions, a silent confession that speaks volumes.
As you pull apart from each other, breathless and wide-eyed, you feel reality sink in. You let your gaze drift back to his eyes, trying to search for the right words to say. His hand still lingers on your face, a gentle reassurance that whatever just happened was real. 
And you swear you see a subtle shift in the way he’s looking at you now. 
“I...” is all that comes out of your lips, feeling the heat sprouting in your cheeks. “Sorry, wow, um... It feels like the world just stopped for a second.”
Wonwoo smiles softly, his thumb gently stroking your cheek as he takes in your overwhelmed expression, eyes filled with a mixture of tenderness and something else you can't quite decipher.
“Is that a good thing?” he asks, his low tone sending chills down your spine.
If you look at him any longer, you feel like you’ll combust. It’s not an exaggeration (well, maybe it is); it’s a fact. So you tear your gaze away from him, glancing down at the pavement as if it holds all the answers. 
“It is,” You finally reply, voice barely above a whisper. “It’s a very good thing.”
Wonwoo takes his hand off your face. “Good, because,” He reaches down to grab your hand into his, lacing your fingers together. “We can do this now. The kiss under the moonlight is checked off, so the nervous hand-holding...”
“But you don’t look nervous,” You tell him teasingly.
Wonwoo just raises an eyebrow at you, taking your free hand by your side and placing it on his chest so that you were able to feel the fast racing of his heart.
“Does this prove your point?” he questions smugly, as if trying to test you. 
The feeling of his rapid heartbeat beneath your hand melts away whatever doubts or insecurities lingering around you. How long have you had this effect on him? 
“All those cliché moments that you want,” Wonwoo continues, voice laced with nothing but confidence. “I’m willing to give it to you.”
You feel the smirk crossing your lips. "And how can you prove that?”
Wonwoo tilts his head to the side as if in thought. “Can I... prove my willingness with another kiss?”
A giddy feeling explodes in your stomach as his words wash over you, and you can't help but let out a quiet giggle.
“You certainly can.” You say softly, before meeting your lips with his once again, the flickering streetlight above suddenly stopping to allow its bright light to cascade steadily around the two of you.
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celestialking · 2 years
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Backseat of a Tesla
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NSFW 18+ only - Minors/Ageless DNI
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Pairing: CC!Sapnap, Afab!Reader, CC!George
Warnings: choking, degrading, car sex, video taping, afab, squirting, implied dacryphilia, public, mentions of cockwarming, spit/saliva described, orgasm denial(sapnap receiving), mostly clothed, skirt mention,”daddy”,  threat of spanking, 
A/n: i might be up for a part 2.... also i might write moreeee about the Tesla 
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Today was the day. George was finally finally arriving from the UK. You and Sapnap watched Dream rush around the house frantically. He almost tripped over Patches water fountain twice, made sure he had his little basket ready, and whatever else he was checking off of his mental checklist. 
"Alright dude, uhh we're leaving now," Sapnap said awkwardly, pushing you out the door. "He'll be fine," he was slightly guessing as you opened the gate. 
"Okay," you hummed a bit uncertainly. 
You threw yourself into the passenger seat of his Tesla listening to Sapnap ramble as he began to drive. You were a little less impressed that you would be giving up the passenger seat but for vlog purposes it made sense. The drive to the airport felt like it was forever although it really wasn't. What was atrocious though was the number of people there. 
"Is it usually this busy?" 
Sapnap frowned. "I don't remember," 
Finally finding a parking spot Sapnap relaxed back in his seat. "Now we wait here until George's message," He put his hands behind his head. 
"Perfect, so then we probably have plenty of time," you smiled. 
"Plenty of time for wha-" Sapnap jolted as your hands landed on his thigh. 
"A little fun," you replied slowly moving towards the waistband of his shorts. 
It was a surprise he was even letting you do this. Sapnap didn't even dare to give a second thought before pushing his cock between your lips. Head? In the Tesla? Fuck yes. More things to brag about to Dream. Not even a singular thought as he continued to let you suck him off in the parking lot. He even encouraged it. 
"Nngh," Sapnap whined trying to push your head down more. "Please, oh fuck baby, feels so good," your tongue pressed against the underside as if to assist you taking him deeper into your throat. He choked on a noise grasping the wheel harshly. He twitched against your tongue, hand shooting to your hair. "Please please please," he begged, crying. 
If you could speak at that moment you'd tease about how he was practically in tears just from your mouth. 
You hummed before lifted off. He sobbed as you did, watching with teary darkened eyes as you slowly let a little glob of spit fall on his dick. Your hand replaced your mouth bringing him closer and closer to his undoing. 
Right as his hips bucked into your fist you opened your hand making him cry out. He cockwarmed you and didn't let you cum. Consider this "Payback, for earlier," you murmured. 
It took him a few minutes to calm down before giving you a hooded glare. Still hard he tucked himself into his shorts with an incoherent mumble. "Just wait til we get home, we'll see if you get what you wanted then," he said, leaving the car to go get George. 
And wait you did. The entire car ride home you squirmed in the back seat whenever the camera wasn't on you. George seemed to notice something was up but said nothing. Sapnap was digging his fingers into the steering wheel when the vlog was off. It was when the familiar green house came into view that you were suddenly rethinking your choices for a moment. Maybe today wasn't the best of days to piss him off. 
Sapnap pulled into the driveway partially, putting the car into park. George's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Why are we stopping? Have you lost your way home Sapnap?" He teased. 
"Yeah, fucking right. That's home right there. We're going to sit here for a moment because a certain whore needs to get put into their place," 
You gulped slightly. Yeah, maybe you had gone a bit too far. Sapnap threw open his door and got out. In the millisecond it took for him to get out and open the back door you pouted to George. "Help," 
He looked at you amused. "I don't know love, it seems you've gotten into this mess yourself," 
Sapnap ripped open your door and leaned down to grab your legs. You shrieked, grasping the edge of your skirt to pull it down over your front. Sapnap pulled you by your legs so you were at the opening of the car door. As a result of him dragging you; your shirt had lifted slightly, your back sticking to the tesla seats. It seemed Sapnap was going to just stand outside the car door and fuck you that way. 
"You're not gonna climb in?" You asked, worried that you would somehow be seen. 
"You forget how alone we are baby, I'm pretty sure I could go fuck you in the grass out there and no one will see you crying on my cock in the front yard," Sapnap laughed. He hummed thoughtfully to himself as he lifted your skirt to your stomach. "Look at that," he whistled. "No panties," 
"Maybe if you fucked me sooner I would have had some on," you huffed. 
He frowned now hand gripping your thigh harshly. "Watch your words baby, or it'll be your pretty cunt getting smacked," watching you shiver at his words he knew he'd have to do that another time. 
He tugged out his dick stroking it a few times with a spit-covered hand. "Dreams waiting for us baby gotta be quick," 
George rolled his eyes but said nothing. It could have waited a little but he understood the need to put a brat in their place. In his position, he would have done the same. Although. He wouldn't let Sapnap watch. 
"Open that right there, there's lube," Sapnap pointed. George grasped the lube and handed it back. He took it, pouring just enough on his fingers. 
"I bet you're still stretched out from earlier this morning," 
George's nose crinkled slightly. "How often do you fuck? Cum too quickly?" He poked fun at the younger. 
"No just to be clear," Sapnap pressed in two fingers then a third, glad that he didn't have to prep too much. "They sat on my dick while I ate breakfast. Kept me nice and warm," 
George flushed slightly, clearly not expecting that answer.
He twisted and scissored his fingers a few times before pulling out and slicking his cock. He pushed in quickly, grasping your hips tightly. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" you whined as he pistoned into you. Sapnap was not one to take it slow and it showed. You wanted that bruising grip on your hips somewhere else though. Wordlessly you tapped his hand then your throat making him chuckle lowly. 
"You want me to choke you hm? Have my cock and still not satisfied?" 
"Damn right," you laughed breathily. 
You faintly heard a noise from George who had turned around in his seat fully to watch everything unfold. "Do you always let them speak to you like this?" He wondered thoughtfully. 
"No," Sapnap snapped at him. He gave you what you wanted anyways. His fingers curling around your throat. You practically moaned at the feeling of the cold rings on your skin alone. He hooked under one of your knees with his free hand lifting your leg slightly. "Satisfied now slut?" 
The use of that name seemed to be unsurprising to George as he had no reaction but to you? You felt your body heat. "Like I said, should have fucked me sooner, when I asked," 
That did it. If he wasn't moving fast enough for your liking then he certainly was now. 
"Excuse me? We had shit to do princess," He growled, the name tacked on as a mocking statement. "And you fucking knew it too, but no," Sapnap tightened his hand around your throat. "You just couldn't wait could you?" Through your teary eyes you made eye contact with George. Each thrust of his hips made your body slide in the backseat. "Had to be a fucking tease," 
Your face burned at more of the hissed words hoping George wouldn't judge to harshly. 
The brunette himself was watching closely, studying every part of your face. As his friend quite literally rearranged your guts with his dick. "I don't know Sapnap, I quite enjoy the welcome home gift," 
"You're lucky you even get to watch," Sapnap said with a warning. "You won't even get to touch. They're mine, isn't that right baby? Who's are you?" 
He should have known by the spiteful grin on your lips what you'd moan. 
"George," 
"You're fucking pushing it-" Sapnap growled. 
One of your hands grasped his wrist to hold him against your throat. He pushed your leg up a bit higher fucking you at just the right angle. With every thrust of his hips a jolt of pleasure zapped all your senses. Leaving you begging almost screaming for more. "Sorry Daddy, you. Yours! Yours Daddy!" He didn't respond but you took the low moan as a sign that your forgiveness was accepted. 
"Loud aren't they?" George laughed trying to ignore his own painfully hard problem. 
"Yeah," Sapnap grunted, focusing on pounding into you. "We gotta fix that before Dream comes out here," He removed his hand from your throat much to your dismay and moved to cover your mouth. 
"I was enjoying those," George complained. 
Your whimpers and cries for them now muffled beneath his hand. "Fuck pretty thing, squeezing me to death," Sapnap tilted his head back slightly. "Gonna cum on my cock, go on then. Why don't you show Georgie how good you look," his words poked and prodded at the knot ready to undo. 
George leaned forward a bit. "Show me, cum for us," 
You moaned loudly, cumming on his cock. Sapnaps hips stuttered slightly, he too was close. He thrust a few more times before filling you up with his own release. Slowly he pulled out, his thumb catching some cum and pushing it back in. Then Sapnap tilted your hips up. 
"Don't get cum on my seats baby, I don't think your pretty ass could handle the punishment if you did," 
He didn't really have the resources right now to clean you off. Eyes landing on the British guy in the front seat he bit his lip slightly. Would he be okay with that? This was one of your best friends, he trusted George very much. After considering it for a moment he finally decided to go back on one of his previous statements. "George, you come clean them up," 
"With?" He asked confused slowly opening his door. 
"You have a tongue don't you?" Sapnap quirked an eyebrow. You squirmed in Sapnap's grasp the idea of George being between your legs was an idea you'll admit you've considered a lot. With a slap to your thigh, he grumbled "hold still slut," 
George had come around the side of the car. "After you've creamed her?" 
Sapnap chuckled, moving out of the way for your friend. "You look like you'd like it gogy," 
Nothing more was said, but Sapnap took victory in the fact that George kneeled down. 
"Hold this," he gave the camera to Sapnap who gripped it tightly. 
A new pair of hands opened your legs gently. Keeping eye contact George slowly dipped his tongue into your hole. Whining softly you attempted to pull back. 
Sapnap frowned, pushing on your hips lightly. "Let him get a taste baby," 
George stopped holding your thighs, arms moving to wrap around part of your hips. Your thighs closed around his head. "G-gogy," you cried, hand shooting down to grasp his hair.
"Don't pull sweetheart," Sapnap warned. 
The brunette between your thighs was no longer focused on cleaning you up, instead now just getting addicted to the way you tasted. He sucked on your clit making you thrash in the back seat, too sensitive from your previous orgasm still. His name was like a prayer. Sapnap watched in awe as you sobbed and twisted your body to try and squirm away from George's brutal assault on your clit and sensitive hole. Was it wrong to think the tears beginning to stream down your cheeks were hot? 
Finally you trembled, cumming on his tongue again before going limp, thighs loosening around him. George let your legs down, pulling back from you. 
Sapnap inhaled sharply. You hadn't just cum you hadn't squirted on George's face. 
You panted harshly attempting to come back down after cumming so hard. Careful fingers gripped your chin gently studying your face. You parted your lips feeling fingers press against them. They slid inside playing with your tongue and testing how fair they could thrust. 
Sapnap almost creamed his pants looking at you. Legs quivering in the backseat of his tesla, cheeks tearstained, and two of George's fingers down your throat. It was clear to see with the look you were giving him that there was no thoughts behind your eyes. George removed his fingers watching a string of saliva connect him to your mouth still. 
"We might want to extensively edit that," George smiled standing up. Sapnap had completely forgotten he was holding the camera. 
"Send me everything," Sapnap demanded. 
George just grinned slyly. "Of course, now, how do we get them inside?" 
Sapnaps face suddenly flushed a dark red. "Um," he reached up to scratch his beard slightly. "I'll- I'll get Dream to carry them in. He's used to it," 
George raised an eyebrow. "Fuck in your car often sucknap?" 
"Too often," 
George just hummed thinking back. "You know, you shouldn't give in so easily, they'll think they can get away with whatever, it's bad behavior," 
Sapnap rolled his eyes. "Right and you could brat tamer or tame or whatever better?" 
George looked at him. "Certainly, would you like to see?" 
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Comfort [Mer!Warriors + Reader]
All it takes is a single moment for everything you think you know to flip on its head.
I originally had different plans for this AU continuation, but I came across a post of someone asking for a comfort fic and thought I'd try.
Masterlist
Part: 1 / 2
TW: Maybe? Hard to tell sometimes.
Disclaimer: Don't own The Legend of Zelda franchise. Linked Universe is the fan creation of jojo56830.
---
It had been a long day. Between back breaking work and the weariness of too long spent fighting to maintain your composure, the weight of all your hardships seemed to have finally caught up to you. You were just so tired, but even the promise of escape sleep offered seemed impossible to achieve.
Not with this overly spoiled creature screeching (elegantly, somehow. God damned elegantly. like a fully accompanied angel's choir) for your attention. As though this was something you two routinely did (for the record, it wasn't. you didn't know what his damned problem was). And ignoring him wasn't working, as it was going on the second hour now and he had somehow only gotten louder.
You honestly just wanted to cry. You just wanted to sleep.
You just wanted a break that didn't make you feel guilty. Guilty for not wanting to live up to everyone's expectations for once. For just wanting to sit down, eat something horrendously unhealthy, and then maybe nap for a few hours before dinner. And then go right back to sleep without everyone expecting you to fix every damned problem that blew their way.
The perfect day (but it wouldn't be. not really. because you couldn't even imagine closing your eyes when there was still so much to do). And it was being thoroughly destroyed (it was never something that existed anyway) by the unceasing, unholy (ethereal) screeching of the Center's resident golden boy.
How the mer knew just when to start acting up when no one but you was around, you'd probably never know. But it was damned concerning, and annoying. Especially when he decided to be difficult. Like now (oh God. why'd it have to be now when you were at your lowest).
You'd give in eventually, you knew. It was inevitable, and both him and you knew this. You couldn't afford to leave him to his own devices for too long, especially when he had a habit of taking out his frustration on your co-workers when ignored (and not even in an obvious way either. but underhandedly. like 'accidently' splashing water on their phones and equipment during his more enthusiastic performances).
You heard his screech again, but this time you could hear the low edge that entered his cry. Like the threat of a blade gliding delicately under a silk cloth, smooth and lilting and deadly in its sharpness. A dark, foreboding promise all wrapped up in a beautiful symphony of sweet nothings.
"I'm coming! Just give me a moment!" You finally called out, wincing at the way your voice nearly wobbled. Frustration and exhaustion mixing together into a singular moment of weakness.
It was silent then, and a form of primeval dread filled your stomach at the sudden stillness in the air. Because there was no way he hadn't heard the shake of your voice, nor the emotions that caused it. There was absolutely no way he didn't realize how vulnerable you were at the moment.
Numb. Suddenly, you were numb all over. From your ears to your toes, you could feel the cold pinprick of tingling nothingness itching just below your skin. But through it all, even as your feet took you to the bottom of War's tank ladder, you felt oddly detached from your body.
Ah. You were afraid. As tired and as emotionally drained as you were, you still somehow managed to drudge up enough self-preservation to be afraid of Wars. And you weren't sure how to feel about that. You hadn't really thought about it in a long time. Just how much power he now had over you, after that fateful day you'd come to his tank and cut him a deal.
You still didn't want to think about it. You just wanted to get this over with and go to sleep. You didn't even care that you'd regret this later, when you could finally think past the numbness that had settled over your limbs.
And there he was, from one step on the ladder to the next. Quiet, still as death and submerged up to his eeriely shining, dilated eyes in the dark water of his sleeping tank. The inky blackness of the night around him fading the long, billowing ends of his fins into a smoky wisp of shimmering starlight.
You'd forgotten how beautiful he was at night, when the faint luminescence of his fins and scales ran golden fireflies across the darkened navy of his elegant blue fins. How his enchanting, predatory eyes caught even the faintest hints of starlight and built entire galaxies along the darks of them. How he smiled so prettily when he rose from the water, even if you knew it was a lie (fake. dangerous).
The smile was different this time though. There was something sharper about it, so similar yet so different from the charming upturn of plush lips he so often used to entice the unwary into his clutches.
It was enough to unnerve you, this unknown expression that had settled so distinctly upon his pretty face. Enough even to pull you from your exhausted haze and into something almost approaching alertness. Your nerves firing with renewed unease, even several meters above the water and (allegedly, though you didn't believe that for a second) out of War's reach.
And then he lifted a single, elegant hand. Raised a single, elegant finger. And beckoned you to him in a gesture so human it nearly drew a blush to your cheeks (much to your shame).
If you ever discovered who taught him that gesture, you'd skin them yourself. You swore it. But that was for later, because right then you were frozen in shock. Not even because of the connotations behind such a gesture while an attractive male such as him was behind it.
No. It was the meaning behind the gesture.
"No." You said, so pumped full of adrenaline you didn't even feel the exhaustion that'd been weighing down your bones just moments before. "I'm not that far gone, Wars. No matter what you think you heard."
His eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, condescending and frustrated both. Flickering. Dilating. Contracting.
It would be almost funny, to see a mer as smug and put together as Wars showing anything other than slight annoyance (and honestly, it usually is). But right now, with the darkness closing in from all sides and the weight of everything haunting your every step, it was a reminder. A reminder that for all you had managed to keep your composure around this predator, you were still afraid.
You were afraid. And you always had been. From the moment you set eyes on him and knew (just knew, when no one else could see it) that this creature was hunting you and everyone else around him. Even bloodied and mangled and trapped as he was, he had never stopped hunting. That he watching you, just as you were watching him. Always.
He gestured again, tilting his head slightly. Another gesture that sent warning signals straight into your brain, causing your breathing to pick up and a light sheen of cold sweat to start forming on your shoulders, back and forehead. His eyes had fully dilated by now as well, adding an even more alien quality to his unnaturally beautiful features.
You swallowed, trapped between your self-preservation instincts screaming at you to turn tail and run, and the logic of your mind quietly reminding you that this predator would have killed you already had he wanted (that he could kill someone else too, if he felt the need to call your bluff). Because he would. You knew that. Accidents happened all the time. What was one more? (He'd probably fake tears too. the bastard.)
You glanced off to the side, the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end under his unnatural stare. "Wars I- You know that's not how this works."
You were met with silence. You were too shaken (too compromised) to even think of meeting his gaze. The sharp, unfaltering, stunningly inhuman gaze.
The faint rippling of water. A slight swoosh. And then.
A great, echoing splash. The catwalk under you shaking and nearly tilting as a great weight was suddenly upon it. The flash of shimmering gold across a sea of dark blue. And suddenly he was in your face, so close you could see the ring of blue, blue, blue encircling the dark pools of his eyes.
You couldn't move. You couldn't scream. You couldn't even breathe. Not when he leaned further into your space (so close now you could see the glitter of scales under his eyes. like gold dust). Not when a clawed, webbed hand came up to your fear stricken face. Not when your skin touched for the first time (warm. soft. supple. nothing like your mind had always imagined it).
Not when his powerful (deadly. predator's. killer's) arms gently (so gently. almost tenderly. but that can't be it because he's him and you're you) pulled you into his chest. Not when he pulled you both down until he was laying along the catwalk with you laying flush on top of him. And not when he buried his face (his mouth. his lips. his teeth. teeth. teeth.) into your hair and just...breathed.
In. Out. In. Out. Steady. Even. Inevitable. His large, warm hands on your back, claws delicately kneading into your clothes. His chest rumbling, so faint you'd have missed it entirely had you not been tucked up under his chin (had he not been pressing you into the place in his chest the vibrations were strongest).
Slowly, your breath returned to you. You began to calm. Your mind begun to clear. And you realized, with sudden clarity, what it was that was happening. What this behavior was.
The gentle nipping at your hair. The tender kneading of his (sharp) claws into the thick ruffles of your clothes. The way he had cradled your significantly smaller body into his larger form and curled his silky (thick, powerful) tail fins around you as best he could with so little space.
The way his whole chest seemed to vibrate. The sound so low it was nearly nonexistent. An action you hadn't known Wars was even capable of, let alone willing to utilize. For a human of all things.
You swallowed, not daring to take your eyes off the gleam of his collarbone (shimmering, even in the dark). "Are you trying to comfort me?"
He pushed you harder into his chest, under his chin. His face nuzzling deeper into your hair, until his mouth was pressed softly against the shell of your ear. His hot breath fanning against your sensitive skin.
"Mine." He cooed (disjointed and raw, unnatural but hauntingly beautiful), one hand having found its way up into the fine hairs at your nape. Just holding them between gentle fingers, thumb caressing your exposed neck. "Strong. Brave." He hummed.
He nosed at the delicate lining of your ear. Nuzzling you. "Beautiful." He purred, pulling away just enough to force you to meet his eyes. His gaze so black you saw yourself reflected in them. "Always mine. Give me. Everything bad."
Looking into his liquid night, blue-mooned eyes. Feeling his hands cradling you protectively, possessively, trying to separate you from the world beyond. You finally understood. Everything.
Wars was territorial after all. Of his space. Of his food. Of his resources. Of anything, everything that was his. That he'd claimed.
Knowing that, how could you have forgotten the most important resource a mer can ever possess? When it had been staring you in the face this whole time?
Warmth began to build behind your eyes, and try as you might, you felt the gates you had held so tightly closed for so long beginning to slip from your grasp. And you just couldn't believe it. That this was really about to happen.
In front of Wars of all creatures. The one predator that had everyone fooled.
But that was the thing, wasn't it. From the very beginning, for all his smiles and sweet nothings, never had he truly tried to hide his fangs from you. Never you. Even as he kept the rest of the world at an arms length away.
He had let you in (had reeled you in). He had let you see (had forced you to see) the dark shaded colors of his heart. His truest self.
Honesty, completely and utterly, from a creature that thrives off deception. How could you have been so blinded by your fear you'd not noticed.
The first few tears finally escaped down the curve of your cheek, and when a gentle, tender, loving thumb came to wipe them away. You broke, and it all came pouring out. In the arms of the predator you still feared so much, but knew, without question, would never allow harm to befall you.
Because he is a territorial mer. And there is nothing a mer covets more than their pod. Their family. Their reason for everything else that follows after.
And Wars, the mer who never wanted to leave. Who, after all was said and done, was still a mer like any other. Had no one but you. Only you. By choice. By fate.
By design.
You'd been hunted. And you'd been caught. And now he would never let you go. And he would protect you from everything.
For as long as he lived.
---
Back to the shadows.
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hastyprovocateur · 3 months
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I have seen many calling Akemi an annoying brat for running away from her father's guardianship. And I laud their critical thinking abilities on this because really, why would a girl whose father is forcing her to marry a stranger openly known for being a sadist and killing his first wife over an unhappy marriage want to do anything but jump gleefully into the union, right? Especially when all Akemi's father has to say for her life-or-death situation is "Hey learn these sex positions and keep him happy like your dead mother kept me happy lol."
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Akemi loved Taigen for a set of reasons. First and foremost, he was the path she chose and finally got her father to agree with in part for his honorable stature, aware that Taigen, though imperfect, isn't as cruel or selfish as men in said period typically were. You have to understand that women were rarely afforded the choice to love without having underlying motivations. They have to choose the lesser of evils. Which in this case, is Taigen. Akemi has far greater chances of survival with him than any other man she knew. Marriage wasn't a tic-tac-toe game for her, she was ensuring her survival. To ensure she wouldn't get violated or killed or tortured or forcefully impregnated for not falling into the narrow set of rules aristocratic women especially had to follow.
Come to Taigen and Mizu's duel following which he loses his honour and possibly his engagement. Akemi stayed undeterred because regardless of what Taigen felt about his honour, Akemi didn't have a backup option that she knew would ensure her security as much as being with Taigen would. She tells him that his chonmage being cut is no obstacle as he can style it to suit other noble men, that she will convince her father to maintain their engagement and that his honour was intact as Mizu hadn't officially challenged him. Her sexual advances are a calculated move, she narrates to him a version of events where he defeats Mizu to massage his bruised ego. And while Taigen is her singular route out of her imminent marriage to a stranger, Taigen, ignorant of the same, claims he'd rather commit seppuku and sets out to trail Mizu.
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With Taigen gone, she is in deep water, and naturally, her father quickly sets her up with a fresh suitor from a family he chose for the sake of furtherance of his political expansion over any concern for his daughter's life. When she tries to escape, Seki sees it as another funny haha situation, making it a teachable moment where he profoundly tells Akemi, already fearful of her bodily autonomy and life: that a woman has 2 paths "to be an improper whore or a proper wife." To which Akemi very wisely responds that they are one and the same thing, only one is shrouded with aristocratic niceties and huge houses that women are an extension of. Regardless of her (father's) wealth, status, and relative comfort in life, no woman deserves to be put in a position of ownership under a man, vulnerable to assault, coercion, intimidation just because "at least she'll be assaulted on a nice bed."
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Akemi wasn't enjoying her round trip searching for Taigen, selling herself out to flesh traders and getting betrayed by Seki, her confidante, for funsies. Seki had seen her plight and only given her the singular choice to be a proper wife to a stranger after Taigen had already left her to her own fate. She was still determined to do right by him because she wanted to live. Her seeking out Mizu was key to saving her marriage. Thereby trying to drug and bring Mizu to Taigen so she could restore his honor and go back on their engagement and live somewhat peacefully. Which we now know wasn't going to ever be because Daichi Tokunobu had already schemed to compromise the Shogunate by wagering his daughter as an alliance.
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I am convinced that most people can't understand complex female characters outside of "ruthless. fighter" or "perfect victim." Akemi's fault, it seems, that through her process of running from a dangerous marriage, a callous father, getting brokered by Goro, joining Kaji's brothel, seducing her first client, trying to subdue Mizu is that she didn't get brutally violated in any of scenarios. Because I'm sure if she had, not half of y'all would be crying about her being annoying and bratty or "having it too easy." As for her trying to attack Mizu, what else was she supposed to do? Be told that this stranger robbed her fiance's honor, ruined their engagement, and killed him, and what? Pat him on the back? Or was she supposed to have a prophetic vision that Mizu is going to save them from Hamata's men?
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And no she did not resort to name calling, abusing, threatening after she was tied down, she was far more benign in assessing Mizu's disposition as opposed to Mikio or Taigen who straight up called Mizu monster, dog, beggar, scavenger and what not. Mikio sold Mizu's favourite horse to get back at her, abandoned her for the bounty hunters to get her, killed her mama. Taigen was a bully who accused her of digging through his trash and near damn killed her with a rock with his friends. Yeah, him being a kid makes no difference to the one who was traumatised because that'll last Mizu a lifetime. In both cases Mizu posed no threat to them as opposed to Akemi who truly believed that Mizu had killed her fiancé.
Taigen continued to be a bully in the present time (growth in latter eps aside), calling Mizu a dog, monster boy, whore mother, scavenger of Kohama's gutters, reminding her of her house burning down. He stalked her, threatened her to duel, gave her consistent trauma reminders. Oh btw- Akemi called Mizu "nothing special" and "angry" and yall decide she has mentally abused this woman after knowing her for a good 3 hours. Yall fr just hate women.
She didn't know about Kinuyo either, or anything about Mizu's past. Despite only knowing her in the worst way, she largely softens towards Mizu knowing she's helping save Kaji's workers. She could've easily stayed tight and comfy in the cellar. She doesn't know a thing about fighting yet stands by Ringo and later saves him. Not for her sake because she says "Now they have to get through the both of us." She didn't fear death either, only being helpless. "I'm not brave" she said "I've been a captive my whole life. If I die today, I die free."
She didn't stop there "Mizu can't possibly hold them all off" and then goes up to save Mizu when the assassins attested that "The samurai has been cornered." And yes Mizu was unconscious from being choked until Akemi intervened. She just had to stay low like the others and not give a FUCK, especially not Mizu, someone who shittalked her as far as she knew, but she did because she saw the honour in Mizu's actions.
Unfortunately, Akemi didn't magically mind read Mizu's ptsd and all the flashbacks she's been getting about her past betrayals, what happened with Kinuyo and made the mistake of trusting Mizu, WHO SHE THINKS IS A MAN, to fight for her when the guards come. All but 3 men. This isn't about numbers because Mizu totaled an army and has the plot armour of Jesus, it's not about being innocent, because Mizu killed that clawed dude she spared initially, not to mention Kinuyo who was just a means to get to Fowker. And some people talked about Mizu not wanting Daichi's men coming after her... um... are you sure you're watching the same show because as far as I know Mizu doesn't give a flying FUCK about being careful or who comes after her because she's recklessly creating collateral all down her path of revenge. That's the wholeass point.
Akemi wasn't ordering Mizu around, cuz she asked "I'm not going anywhere, right Mizu?" She wanted her approval, her support in that moment. To fight for her because she doesn't have the agency to fight for herself. What did Mizu do in this crucial moment? She doomed Akemi to an arranged marriage and made her choice FOR her. Especially being someone who's always been shown to do exactly what she wants and then fight whatever consequences come her way.
Mizu "thought" Akemi's better off with being married to a stranger because "atleast the abuser is rich, not everyone gets a rich abuser." And yes she assumed hella things because Akemi's reasons for chasing Taigen are literally so she can live by an iota of her choice and not because she's "begging to eat trash." And Mizu didn't consider the reputation of the Shogun's son, regardless of if he's a horrible person, how is being forced to marry a stranger justified?? Another day, another man Akemi trusted, dooming her to a path with no cognizance of how much apprehension of death or joyless life she actually faces in that position.
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Mizu was no different from Daichi, Seki, Taigen in that moment. Akemi had no one. Despite doing all in her power to turn her fate, she was unsuccessful because she wasn't able to physically fight for herself and no one chose to step up for her. She was about to solve her own problems by throwing herself off the balcony, evident in how much she didn't desire the marriage. Takayoshi not being an outright brute chauvinistic killer is no justification for "hey didn't turn out to be so bad, huh." Would you rather she have gotten brutalised? Been treated like absolute shit? Would you then believe how scary the marriage could have been for her? Kaji herself told Mizu that "if you killed every man I've seen who couldn't come till someone bled... you'd wear your blade to a stump."
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Ringo was justified in criticising Mizu. While Mizu doesn't care about anyone in her path of revenge, Eiji, her own father figure struggles to teach her that she NEEDS people to fight. To strengthen her blade and resolve. Mizu did return to save Akemi as her conscience would have it, Seki also came around and Taigen was finally ready to pursue a life with her over his honor and greatness but it was too late. I don't blame Akemi for asserting twice to Mizu that "We're not friends which Mizu showed too in her actions prior. I don't see it as Akemi being ungrateful but asserting the truth before Mizu slams it in her face. Mizu doesn't want friends so she doesn't get any.
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I also don't blame her for rejecting Taigen, I too wouldn't ever wish to be blindsided like that again. It's better to choose your own reality than rely on love or friendship only to get betrayed. As for Akemi's new venture, I laud her for taking Kaji's word and to fight with the agencies she has even though I feel that Kaji shared Mizu's tone deafness in terms of seeing Akemi's (father's and now husband's) wealth as a neutralizer to the abuse she could face which could've been much worse than it was shown to be.
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I do agree that having free choice, even after Seki tells her to pursue her own path, is a tad too idealistic for the place and time. She basically just complied to the choices Seki, Taigen, Mizu's made for her. So I loved seeing Akemi make the best of the cards she was dealt, choosing to use her body and mind to seduce, manipulate and progress. To make her choices whether she is loved in the process or not. . To exploit her meek husband's position, to subdue her scheming (now hopefully crispy) father and be great.
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tyrantisterror · 9 months
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Alright, some more Godzilla monster sketches. First, a batch of polished designs for Anguirus, Hedorah, and Gorosaurus. If you're thinking, "Wait, did I miss Gorosaurus sketches?", the answer is you did not...
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...because I figured him out pretty quickly. Retrosaurs come easy to me by this point. Varan's going to need some more work, though.
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I think I got my approach for Titanosaurus pretty quickly, but had to spend a while refining the details. The original Titanosaurus's head has all these details fighting for prominence - the big fin, the fin ears, the horns, AND some catfish barbells, all clustered around the eyes. It's a lot! Figuring out how to work them all in elegantly was difficult, and I ended up shifting things around. Even then, I think I'm probably going to cut the barbells in the finished design.
You might notice that both Titanosaurus and Gorosaurus (and Varan's unfinished sketches) have some details in common with my Godzilla. I'm kinda taking a page from Singular Point and making them part of the same clade of fictitious prehistoric reptiles - Goro's species lost the gills as it took on a fully terretrial existence, while Titano's gills are more prominent to enable her almost entirely aquatic lifestyle.
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Baragon gets to join the Godzilla relative train too, mainly for meta reasons. He's somewhere between Godzilla's branch of the family tree and Gorosaurus's - because his role in Frankenstein Conquers the Role was at one point pitched to be Godzilla's, and his role in DAM was ultimately taken by Gorosaurus, you see. I didn't change his design very much beyond skewing some proportions to make him seem more mole-y - I mean, I tried to, but Baragon's hard to improve upon, he's already weird as fuck as is. Baragon's... kinda perfect?
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Stepping away from prehistoric monsters, I had fun with Orga, mainly by playing with elements of his Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash incarnation. He's gonna getcha with his big ol' grabby hands, you see. God I wish I could find that tumblr post. EDIT: There it is!
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Finally (for now), I'm... still figuring out Gigan, honestly. Not really sure what angle I'm going to end up with, he's proving hard to pin down. Will require more sketching.
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twstfanblog · 3 months
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!*~Valentine's Times~*! pt 2
A/N: Here's the first half of the dorms! I decided to add in my own world-building into this fic because that's my favorite part of writing honestly! Hope you enjoy it! Word Count: 5.5K Warnings: She/They Pronouns OC, Gets mildly spicy, swearing Pairings: Established poly (Yuu/Azul/Jamil/Malleus), Alluded to Riddle/Floyd, Alluded to Jade/Trey, Alluded Ruggie/Leona L (NRC Staff ft OCs). O (Here). V (Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, Diasomnia). E (Crack)
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O is for the only one I see...
~HEARTSLABYUL~ 
Valentine's Day was one of the most important days in Heartslabyul. Not just because it was the holiday covered in the Queen of Hearts motif, but because it was the literal marriage anniversary of the Queen and her first King. The man who arguably kept his fiery wife in good spirits and happiness, saving nearly hundreds from beheadings throughout his life. Even when the queen remarried, every February 14th she would all but explode from the love she still held for her former king.
As the centuries passed, the Queen's Anniversary was brought to other parts of Twisted Wonderland, morphing into Valentine's Day from multiple cultural adaptations. While still considered a minor holiday, it was widely celebrated. So, Heartslabyul as the Queen's dorm, took Valentine's Day very very seriously.
Yuu looked at the students of the Queen's dorm, watching the Heartslabyul crew rushing around in a pure panic trying to decorate. Riddle clearly wanted to make the school-wide holiday tea party perfect, more than likely nearly sending his own teen heart into mini cardiac arrests the second a single rose was found off by a petal or color. The dorm was in such hyper-focus, Yuu was able to walk around as though invisible, letting out a low whistle as the collared students running past them started reaching the double digits. They stop in front of a display of roses, each bloom so perfect and similar it kind of freaked them out…
“Maybe the chocolate will help him calm down…”
“HEY!” Yuu startled and turned, seeing Deuce with another student. Each with an armful of creepily perfect flowers in one arm and Deuce pointing directly at them. “NO LAZYING-...Oh. Yuu, what are you doing here?” Deuce shoved his share of flowers into the other first year's arms, ignoring their groans as he walked toward them, “The Valentine’s Day party isn't for hours. Did you come to help decorate?”
“Ha. No. I came to spread cheer-”
Deuce quickly placed his hands on Yuu's shoulders, staring into their eyes as though he were begging them for mercy, “Yuu, whatever shenanigans you have planned. Not here…Not today.”
“Oh my God. Calm down.” Yuu brushes off Deuce’s hands, smiling as they instead teasingly fix his dorm jacket, “I'm actually here to deliver cheer. In fact, can you do me a favor and get everyone in one place? I don't wanna run around trying to find everyone.”
He gives them a distrusting look but still sighs in acceptance. Looking away, he brings a hand to his mouth as he thinks, “I think everyone is mostly in the garden…Clover-Senpai is in the kitchen. So…” he smiles, pointing behind him with his thumb, “I'll grab Clover-Senpai and we'll meet you in the garden!”
Yuu beams, clapping their hands, “Perfect! See you in the garden, Deuce!” 
The two of them split, each running in opposite directions. Soon Yuu found themselves rushing into the maze, following the sounds of Riddle's yelling. They slow their jog, looking at the half decorated courtyard in mild amazement before Riddle's voice cuts through their thoughts.
“Trappola! I will ask you again…What is wrong with this picture!?” Riddle gestures toward a singular bush of bright red roses.
Ace seemed just as fed up, making loud humming sounds as he nearly shoved his face into the bush to look at the roses, “Besides the fact there's nothing wrong with the damn bush? No! I haven't the faintest idea, Housewarden!”
Yuu watches as Riddle physically turns away from Ace, hands covering his face with his head tilted toward the sky. He turns back, face growing its impressive shade of red as he points to one of the roses, “I SAID ‘ROSE RED’, TRAPPOLA. THESE ROSES ARE PINK.”
“WHERE!?” Ace’s face was quick to press against Riddle's hand, annoyingly trying to figure out what Riddle was seeing. When he could only see the roses as the red he asked for, he turned to Riddle, glaring, “WHERE!?”
“By the Seven! I'd dare to call them FUSCHIA!”
Somehow over the screaming match, Yuu heard a groan to the side of them. Cater sat at a table, card stock scattered around him with his ‘Cute’ handwriting spelling out people's names. Yuu smiles as they pick up their own card, raising an eyebrow at Cater’s mumbles.
“I can't. I'm not strong enough. I have to kill Idia by giving him his chocolates in public. There's no way #terrorone and #terrorjr are gonna be done fighting over this before lunch. Trey’s locked in the kitchen and I have to keep them from killing each other…”
They were barely able to keep their laughter in check, placing their name tag back down and yelling out loud enough to be heard over Riddle and Ace screaming at each other, “Hi~!”
Cater snaps up, eyes wild in fear as he looks at them, “Yuu, sweetie-”
Riddle snaps his head in their direction and points to the entryway of the maze's courtyard, nearly foaming at the mouth as he glared toward them, “GET THE FUCK OUT!”
“Aha!? Riddle, my hair is already half up. We can fight, right the fuck now.”
Silence passes through the courtyard. Riddle takes deep breaths, face held in his hands as he walks aimlessly to burn off his steadily growing aggression.
Ace watched Riddle with a wary eye before turning to Yuu, “Look, prefect. Unless you're here to help, I don't think you should stay long…” the unspoken ‘Riddle is going insane’ ringing clear.
Yuu smiles, shaking their head and patting their bag, “Not staying or helping. But…I come bearing gifts-”
How Riddle walked that fast in heels, on grass, with his short legs and not falling, Yuu didn't know. But the second-year stomps up to them, grips them tight by their overall straps and yanks them close. For a brief moment, Yuu felt fear, looking into Riddle's bloodshot gray eyes.
“Yuu. You are like a sister to me. I care about you deeply and I feel genuinely grateful that we were able to become friends. But whatever…nonsense you have cooked up. Don't. Literally. Don't. I think I would actually hurt you-oh…”
During Riddle's increasingly manic speech, Yuu had reached into their tote and presented him with his bag of chocolate. Tied closed with a bright red ribbon, fashioned to look like a flower bloom. Inside were rose-shaped milk chocolates filled with strawberry jam, crown-shaped sugar-coated strawberry gummy candies and gold-colored chocolate pearls. They smile lightly as Riddle slowly takes the bag from their grasp.
“You…you actually brought a gift for me…”
“Yeah. That was kind of my plan for today. I knew everyone was gonna be busy putting together this big ass party for today. So instead of doing the easy thing and waiting for the chocolate exchange later tonight, I decided to visit you guys all early and gift you your chocolates as a pick me up.” Yuu leans forward, smiling as they flick Riddle on the forehead to snap him out of his trance, “Because I'm so nice.”
Riddle sighs, holding the chocolate with both his hands, “I'm…I'm going to take a break. I think we all need it. Ace, we'll fix the roses later.”
Ace sputters, flailing his arms and just barely stopping from flinging his jacket off as he wretched a paint sample from his pocket to shove in Riddle's face,”I LITERALLY COLOR MATCHED THEM TO THE DAMN SAMPLE YOU PASSED OUT!?”
Riddle looks at the swatch, plucking it from Ace’s hands to bring it closer to his face, “Oh dear…this is last year's swatch. It's faded…”
“...” Ace breathed in deep, head tilting back as he let out an anguished-sounding yell before dropping to his knees and curling up in what Yuu could only call defeat.
They reach into their tote, pulling out another bag tied with red and black ribbons. Inside were milk chocolate-covered pitted cherries along with plain and red luster-dusted white chocolate heart shapes. Yuu drops the bag beside Ace’s head, chuckling as the first-year grabs it with a huff and opens it to eat one of the chocolates.
“We're here!” Deuce walks into the courtyard, one hand raised in greeting and the other dragging a bleary eyed Trey behind him.
Trey sighed, taking his hand from Deuces hold to pull his glasses off, “I've got 20 minutes until my cakes need to be out of the oven.” After cleaning the smears from his glasses, he places them back on his face only to have his eyes creasing at the scene before him, “What happened…?”
“Nothing of real importance-CATCH.” Yuu chucks a bag tied with dark green and yellow ribbons at Trey, barely giving the third-year a chance to realize something was being flung directly at his face.
Luckily Trey was able to catch the bag, looking into it with curiosity before he smiled. Dark and milk chocolates shaped like clovers with green chocolate pearls filled the bag. He opened it to examine the sweets, feeling proud at how well the chocolates looked compared to Yuu’s first attempts, “You did really well. I’m glad you took my advice, the chocolates seemed to have firmed up properly.” He pops the sweet into his mouth and chews, eyes widening at feeling the shell break “Oh! They’re filled…hm…The lavender paste isn’t as sweet as I’d normally make it, but it's really smooth and I like how it blends with the chocolate-”
Yuu pats the third-year’s shoulder, interrupting his critique, “Trey, thank you…but dude this is not a peer review thing, just eat the chocolate.”
He chuckles, reaching into the bag again to grab a different chocolate, only to snort at finding a green toothbrush in the bag as well, “I just want you to know I’m proud of how well you did.” 
Deuce looks on in question, humming under his breath before quietly asking Yuu, “Did you bring me chocolate too?”
“Are you one of my most special boys?”
“...” Deuce grew flustered, looking to the side as a small blush colors his cheeks, “Y-ya?”
“Then you get chocolate!” Yuu pulled out another bag, tied closed with blue and black ribbons. Inside were milk and blue luster-dusted white chocolates in the shape of spades, but the bigger shapes were cut-out marshmallows of yellow chicks.
Gasping, Deuce takes the bag gently in his hands as he looks at the marshmallows in poorly contained adoration, “I…Yuu, I can't eat them. They're so small. Yuu, I can't eat a baby chicken!”
Riddle grunts from the table beside Cater, chewing thoughtfully on one of the gummy crowns, “Don't waste food.”
Cater hums, raising an eyebrow as Yuu smiles at him, “Sweetie…you know I don't like sweets…” the thought Yuu went out of their way to make him a bag still made him feel appreciated though.
“I'm aware. So here.” They pull out a bag tied off with orange and red ribbons. Inside were dark chocolate circles that looked to have piped on emoji faces. Brightly multi-colored diamond-shaped gummies filling up the bag.
“Oh. My. SEVEN! Yuu, this is totally cam-able!” Cater grabbed the bag, eyes glittering just how adorable and on brand the bag felt for his account. Even if he couldn't eat the treats it felt nice that Yuu made sure the bag was cute for his Magicam.
“I also made sure to use the most bitter chocolate and Jamil, unknowingly, helped me make the Sriracha paste. Plus the gummies are sour coated.”
“...” Cater stood up and wrapped Yuu into a hug, swinging them around before he placed them down with a wide smile, “I'm going to take a hundred photos and then eat it all at once!” The third-year then zipped off to a different corner of the courtyard, bag and phone in hand as he started to hunt for the perfect lighting.
Yuu smiles, clapping their hands before walking toward the entryway, “Welp. My work here is done. I'll see you boys later tonight for the party. Try not to, like, kill each other before then.”
“No promises.” Riddle and Ace speak in unison, the two redheads glaring at each other once they realize the other had spoken.
Riddle then perks up, quickly standing and following after Yuu to speak to them in private, “Actually. You're going to Octavinelle, correct?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“Would you take my and Trey’s chocolates to the twins?”
“HA! No.” Yuu turns, a smile on their face as they move to walk out of the maze.
“I-! Why not!?”
“You have legs?”
Riddle huffed, stomping his foot before crossing his arms, “You know very well that if I hand Floyd his chocolates, he won't unhand me.”
“Fucking suffer. That's your boyfriend.” Yuu waved over their shoulder, smiling wide as they sang out, “Bye~!”
Riddle huffs, watching Yuu rush out of the maze and leaving them to their work. He turns back to the courtyard at the sound of a muted crunch and Ace yelling.
“Motherfucker! Yuu, one of these still had the pit in it!”
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~SAVANACLAW~
Savanaclaw was somehow on par with Heartslabyul in terms of people rushing around. Though it seemed less of an organized panic and more so people were sprinting for the fun of it.
Yuu steps farther into the dorm, raising an eyebrow watching a group of students zoom past them. They raise an eyebrow as they touch one of the rock formations and turn heel, sprinting back into the opposite direction.
Ruggie appears, softly glaring at them as he gently elbowed them back toward the mirror, “Ay! No. Noooo. Leona's asleep, you can't be here.” 
“Did all of Savanaclaw join the track team?”
“Don't try to change the subject. I don't know what you did, but Leona's banned you from the dorm whenever he's asleep until further notice. He's paying me a good chunk of change to enforce it. So…” Ruggie bends down, arms locking behind Yuu's knees and lifting them over his shoulder to deposit outside of the dorm.
“How about I bribe you though?”
Ruggie stops, quietly pondering before he asks, “What kind of bribe?”
Yuu holds a bag to the side of his face, the plastic bag tied shut with brown and yellow ribbons. Three chocolate-dipped donuts surrounded by multi-colored mini donut-shaped white chocolates.
The hyena was quick to place them down, snatching the bag from their hand before he spread his arms wide, “My good pal, Yuu! Welcome to our humble dorm!”
“Fucking shameless. Anyway, the sprinting? What the fuck is that about?”
Ruggie hums, opening his bag to pull out one of the donuts, “Oh. It's a bit of a tradition in the Afterglow Savanna. Since it's so hot, chocolate doesn't really last long there. So it’s kinda custom to sprint your chocolate to the object of your affections. But it's also a claiming thing.” He points to the three students sprinting against each other, “Those three found out they're trying to give chocolate to the same person.”
Yuu laughs a bit, raising an eyebrow in question, “What's stopping them from throwing their chocolate at the person so it reaches them first?”
“Don't joke about that. It's stupid but one of them might actually do it. Trust me, I know. Valentine's Day makes everyone kinda stupid.”
“Oh, you're above that Ruginald? Don't feel the need to sprint your chocolate to the love of your life?”
Ruggie smiles, shrugging as he reached for one of the mini donut shapes, “Why would I? No one's dumb enough to try to give Leona chocolate and Leona isn't running anywhere.”
“I see. So you know your prey is cornered.”
“Why are you in the dorm?”
How neither noticed Jack standing a few feet away from them, blotting out the sun, they didn't know. But they simply waved at his stern expression.
“Hi Jack!”
“Hi, Yuu. You're banned from the dorm until further notice.”
Yuu waved him off, opening their tote to grab his bag of chocolate, “Oh it's fine. I bribed Rugward already.”
Jack turned to Ruggie, eyes narrowed as though to say ‘really?’ as he watched the second year pull out another donut, “What?”
Ruggie doesn't wait to have his mouth empty, speaking around the donut, “No idea what they're talking about.”
Yuu laughs at Jack's soured expression, “Don't worry, I have a bribe for you too.”
His expression didn't change, but his perked ears and quick swish of his tail showed how eager he was, “I don't want your bribe…”
They pull out a bag tied close with white and orange ribbons. White chocolate bones filled with pear jam, five mid-sized spheres of milk chocolate and scattered orange chocolate pearls.
Jack's face fully changed, showing his surprise as he held his hand out, “Oh…this is actually pretty nice…”
“What? Did you think I was going around giving people bags of live scorpions?”
Ruggie snorted, “That does sound like something you would do…”
“Rugamillion, where would I find that many scorpions in this weather?”
Jack had already pulled a chocolate bone from the bag, chewing it quietly as his tail wagged from the taste of pear, “That's the only issue you'd have?” He eyed the chocolate spheres with a more critical glance, shaking one lightly, “What's in these?”
“Probably scorpions.”
“Hahaha, fuck you. Those are hot chocolate bombs, but instead of cocoa mix I used that protein powder you keep at Ramshackle.” They smile, shrugging as they slowly elbow past Jack's body, “You can have a warm mug of protein-packed chocolate milk before bed. Get those gains in your sleep.”
Jack knew they were on their way to Leona's room. Sighing as he relented, they'd cause more of a fuss if he and Ruggie tried to remove them, “That's not how that works and you know it.”
“Can't hear you over the sound of me walking up the stairs.”
Ruggie’s snicker was barely audible from the second floor of the dorm. Yuu tipped-toed into Leona's room, quietly closing the door behind them. They walk closer to the bed, trying to not laugh as Leona's tail started to increasingly slap against the bed in an attempt to make them leave. Just as Yuu stood beside the bed, Leona's eyes blinked open drowsily.
It took a few seconds before Leona groans, rolling over and pulling his pillow over his head, “What the fuck do I even pay Ruggie for…?”
“You want like…a list or…?”
Leona groaned loudly, pointing back toward the door, “Get out. You know what you fucking did, get away from me.”
Yuu laughs, sitting on the bed and swatting away the tail hitting against their side angrily, “Aw~. Come on, it wasn't even that bad. Vil helped you get the green food coloring out so all's good right?”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“I brought a gift~!” Yuu pulls out a bag tied by yellow and orange ribbons. The bag was filled with various kinds of chocolates in the shapes of crowns and lion heads, golden pearls scattered inside. They shove the bag against Leona's face cooing as the beastman glares at them, “Happy Valentine's Day you fucking depressed mess.”
Leona glares quietly. But soon he rolls his eyes, snatching the bag away from Yuu's hands, “I should have killed you when I had the chance…”
Yuu grinned, knocking their head against his shoulder, “But ya didn't!”
“Seven, I hope this chocolate kills me…”
“Oh, I'm not that nice to you…but I do have a second gift!” They reach back into their tote, pulling out a purple velvet bag pulled closed by golden drawstrings. They placed it on Leona's lap, smile turning mischievous as he warily eyed it.
Leona picks up the bag, opening it slowly, tail flicking in curiosity. He looked into the bag, only to narrow his eyes at seeing nothing inside. There was clearly a weight, so it wasn't empty. Normally he'd just tilt the bag over to dump out whatever was inside, but this was his bed and Ruggie just washed the sheets. Instead, he reached inside, grunting as all he felt was powder.
He barely noticed Yuu had left the bed, quickly opening the door as he pulled his hand out of the bag. Leona squints his eyes at the gold dust on his fingers, “What the…” He wipes his hands on his pants, only to widen his eyes at the fine streak of gold glitter left behind, “YUU!”
Yuu giggled from her place at the open door, “Enjoy your bag of gold, your majesty!” Their giggle turning into a cackle as they close the door just in time to avoid Leona launching one of his boots at them.
“RUGGIE, WHAT DO I PAY YOU FOR!?”
Ruggie huffs from the lounge, raising an eyebrow at Jack, neither of them moving as Yuu sprinted to the mirror, “What, he needs a list or something?”
Jack looked at Ruggie in silence before he pulled another chocolate from his bag, “If he asks, I'm telling him you got bribed.”
“Damn, the betrayal of it all…”
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~OCTAVINELLE ~
The lounge was in a quiet period, both Azul and Jade in the back office looking over their weekly reports. While it would be briefly closed for the school-wide Valentine’s party they were going to open their doors again in the later hours. A romantic dinner under the sea was simply too good for any couple to pass up. And while it would cut into their own romantic endeavors, Azul was more than willing to make the sacrifice for the increase in sales.
Azul hums, looking through his papers with a furrowed brow, “Jade, do you have the drink sales? I can't find them.”
“Hm…No. I already reviewed them and sent them off to Sam via Floyd.”
A moment of silence passes in the room before Azul puts his papers down, eyes widening once he realizes the time, “Jade, it's been nearly an hour. He should have been back by now.”
“...” Jade looked up, closing his eyes as he sighed. They were so busy today, he had hoped his brother wouldn't cause trouble due to boredom or frustration that he couldn't see his ‘Goldfish’ until later that night. But it seemed, once again, his wishes had gone unanswered, “Would you like me to find him?”
Sighing, Azul shuffled his papers again. That was a disaster waiting to happen. While FLoyd was more prone to chasing his object of affection around, Jade was no better. As Yuu put it ‘Every brain cell starts to function only to get Trey’s attention’, “No. If he's not back in the next hour though, I'll have to deal with the price of losing your assistance-”
Suddenly the door bursts open, Floyd's wide grin the first thing they see, “I brought Shrimpy~!”
The red and white figure clutching to Floyd's back waves, “He brought me~!”
Jade smiles, moving to one side and giving Floyd a space to drop Yuu unceremoniously onto the couch, “Yuu, what a surprise. I assumed you would use the class-free day to sleep well until the PM.”
Yuu rolls their eyes, opening their tote and looking through it, “Oh trust me. I would be. Instead I'm being nice and running around the dorms to deliver cheer to you over-worked losers.”
Azul tilts his head into his palm, raising an eyebrow, “My pearl. I adore you, truly. But if this is one of your ‘pranks’-”
“Oh, my Seven. I do one thing and now I'm labeled as being a danger the second I wanna do anything!”
Floyd hummed, flopping into the opposite couch as he put his feet onto the coffee table, “I mean you did poison like…two dorms in one day.”
“I didn't directly poison anyone, so it wasn't my fault. Now shut up and take your treats.” Yuu grabbed out three bags, throwing them each at their respective owners, “Repayment isn't necessary, but you boys know I take cash, credit, or life debts.”
Floyd looks down at his bag, teal and light purple ribbons tying it closed. It was just…a big ball. It looked like a basketball, which was kind of cool, but looking at Azul and Jade's bags he couldn't help but pout.
Azul looked flustered at the bag. Tied closed with light purple and white ribbons filled with chocolate truffles shaped at Octopi, white chocolate pearlescent shell shapes and purple pearls scattered throughout.
Jade’s bag had the same ribbons as his, the bag filled with the same white chocolate pearly shells and a mix of milk and Dark chocolate mushroom shapes.
Floyd scowls, glaring at Yuu, “Shrimpy this is sucky. Why did you make my chocolate so lame!?”
Yuu only smiled, holding up their hand and making a squeezing motion that only served to make him angrier. Did they wanna be squeezed? Cause he'll do it. Instead, he looked at the chocolate in his hand, growling as he gripped it tighter. Eyes widening at how easily the chocolate gave under his fingers.
He instead started to giggle, eyes sparkling at seeing the basketball was just a shell and inside were the same pearly chocolate shells and even teal luster-dusted fish.
“Aw~! Shrimpy! This is so cool, how'd you make a chocolate shell like this?”
“You gotta make two halves, then melt them enough that the edges stick together. The hardest part is smoothing it out…”
Floyd hums, opening his bag and looking at the broken shell pieces, “Seems easy. I wanna try it.” He stood, ignoring Azul's stern calls about how he was supposed to be helping with the reports.
Azul scoffs, watching Floyd openly ignore him as he leaves the room, “Great, now he's going to play in the kitchen.” He turns to Yuu, shaking his head and sighing, “I really must find a way to weaponize you. I would send you into rival restaurants and it’d be burned to the ground in a matter of minutes.”
“What if it’s underwater?”
“We both know you’d find a way.”
Yuu laughs, patting their bag, “Keep talking about me like I’m a threat and I won’t give you your second present.”
“Oh?” Azul perks up, folding his hands under his chin and smirking, “First the chocolate and now a second present? If you didn’t owe me money, I’d think you were trying to butter me up for a favor.”
Yuu opens their mouth to reply, only to stop hearing a sniffle beside them. Azul and Yuu turn to the sound, Jade’s face schooled into a frown as he pitifully sniffles and wipes at none existent tears.
“...Jade?”
“Oh. Don’t mind me, the least favorite. You two continue to playfully flirt.”
Azul glares to the side, mumbling under his breath with a blush, “We aren’t flirting.”
Yuu smiled and shook their head, “I knew you’d do some shit like this…”
Jade sniffs again, deepening his frown as he tilts his head back, “So sorry, my tears must be bothering you both. I will try to cry more discreetly. Boo, boohoo.”
While Azul sighed at Jade’s theatrics and Jade increased his theatrics, Yuu reached into their tote and slowly pulled out a large toadstool mushroom. They made Jade hold his hand out palm up before gently placing the mushroom into Jade’s hand.
The Eelmer sniffs again, but brings the mushroom closer to his face to examine, “Hm…A lovely Toadstool sample…I suppose this will-” Jade jumps briefly, feeling the mushroom move of its own accord. He watches transfixed as the mushroom’s stem splits to reveal a small body, the top of the toadstool taking the place of a hat as tiny eyes blink up at him, “Oh!”
Yuu gestures to the fairy now sitting contently in Jade’s hand, “This is Franklin. Answer his three riddles and he will lead you deep into the woods to a mushroom patch you have never seen before.”
Jade smiles, his ‘sadness’ quickly forgotten as he and the fairy stare into each other's eyes, “Amazing. To think I would hold one of you elusive creatures in my hands after years of your tauntings!”
Franklin looks into the Eelmer's eyes mildly fearful, only to relax and perk up when Jade hands him a single mushroom-shaped chocolate. Nibbling it thoughtfully as Jade stands from the couch.
“I shall leave the two of you to your devices. Azul, I believe we were due for a break anyway. So if you'll excuse me, I have terrariums to share and riddles to solve.” Jade left just as quickly as Floyd did. A pep in his step and polite enough to close the door behind him.
Yuu stands, walking to Azul's desk and leaning their hip against it as they tauntingly poked his cheek, “And then there was one.”
Azul huffs, but still reaches his hand to hold Yuu's, his thumb lightly stroking the back of it, “Honestly. You joke they're my bodyguards, but they'd leave me to such a predator as you without a second thought.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“Of course not. You have something of mine don't you?”
“Just because it’s a gift for you doesn’t mean it’s yours the second you know it exists.” But Yuu still hands over a large purple and teal-colored binder. Leaning farther on the desk until they were simply lying on the dark wood, kicking their feet as Azul looked through the binder.
“...” Azul was confused. He had expected something cute and disgustingly sentimental, photos of them or sweet messages of devotion. Instead, the binder started with a stylized page with what he recognized as Yuu’s measurements. Looking through the pages, he only saw photos of clothing, shoes, and accessories of his date-mate's preferred styles. Each photo came with a small tag showing the price and retailer. Flipping through more pages, Azul looks at Yuu over his glasses, “So…How is giving me your wishlist a present to me?”
Yuu smiles, taking a pen from his desk and marking a few hearts on certain photos as he turned the pages, “Well, this is an order guide for you. You buy me things from this handy little book and I’ll wear them for you.”
“Hmm. While I’m content to have an easy guide for the next few gifts I could acquire for you. Again, I ask, how is me buying you clothing a gift to me?”
“Well, I would hope you’d buy me a full outfit, but…” They shrug their shoulders, smiling coyly
Azul raised an eyebrow in question, only to have his expression grow flustered seeing what was on the next page. Lingerie, stockings, all manner of frilly scantily clad things. He brought the binder closer to his face, blue taking over his cheeks the more he turned the pages. 
The binder was slammed closed once he reached the more…risque centered lingerie, eyes staring wide at the siren draping themselves across his desk, “...Oh…” He looks at the closed binder on his desk then back to Yuu. Soon he matches their teasing expression, leaning forward to brush their lips against each other, “I'll think about it~.”
The kiss they shared was quick, if only because Azul pulled away to push his chair back from the desk. He pats his thighs, eyes commanding Yuu to sit in his lap. And they do so easily, cuddling into his hold as they straddle him.
“Happy Valentine's Day, Azul~.”
“Happy Valentine's Day, my pearl. I will admit, this is a splendid way to spend my break.” He nuzzles into Yuu's shoulder, kissing along their neck softly as his hands start to wander. Letting out a whine when Yuu stops his hands and pulls away.
Yuu smiles at Azul's disgruntled expression, “Well?”
“...Well, what?”
“I gave you two presents. You gotta give me something if you wanna make out.”
Azul growls, pulling Yuu closer to bring them in for another kiss, growing more frustrated when the magicless mage leans away from his lips. Realizing with their current position he wasn't getting any more kisses unless Yuu leaned back toward him. 
He sighs, reaching to open one of his desk drawers, “I'm not giving you my present until the exchange. You can live with being patient. But, my mother sent you a Valentine’s gift so I will give that instead.”
Yuu knew it was the right call to send chocolate to “Mama Grotto”. They just hoped that it'd survive and taste just as good in the sea.
Azul pulls out a flatl wrapped box, offering it to Yuu, “She kept insisting that I tell you I purchased it for you. I couldn't fathom why; you and my mother are on frighteningly good terms…”
Yuu opens the box, gazing curiously as they pull out a simple oyster. With the help of a letter opener and Azul's practiced hands, the oyster was opened to reveal a perfectly rounded teal pearl. Yuu gasps, eyes glittering at the small gem, “OH~! It's so pretty! I love it!”
Smiling, Azul rests a hand against his cheek, the other securely gripping Yuu's hip, “I'm glad. If you may, leave it here. I'll get it fashioned into a necklace for you.” He pushed up his glasses, mumbling under his breath as Yuu poked at the pearl, “Why would my mother insist this was a present from me…?” “Oh! Azul.” Yuu smiled, just on the edge of hysteria as they struggled to speak through their laughter. They had pulled the pearl out of its fleshy cushion, revealing the fact the pearl was already fashioned to be a very obvious engagement ring.
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p8rasite · 11 months
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FINE.  ›  SUNG HANBIN ݃ 0612
synopsis.. where hanbin says it too often, he starts to believe he is.. until he isn’t.
muses.. roommate! hanbin x gn! reader
pantone.. angst & comfort ft. and they were roommates
cw + tap the mic.. self-doubt, reader kinda dislikes hanbin & mention of drinks + first zb1 writing let’s gaur! this was a mix of request & word vomit so i hope this is good enough 🥺 also new layout : @/stealanity & @/chiyuv
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“no one’s here, come again in four to seven business weeks.”
you bite the inside of your cheek. as clear as it is that hanbin doesn’t want to entertain anyone at the moment, you refuse to let him be. not when he’s isolating himself within those four walls. not when you can just tug that handle and let yourself in.
so you do.
the abrupt bang of the door against the wall was slightly.. over the top, but at least it got his attention. well, more like his frown, but you can be bothered about the details some other time.
“what are you doing in here?” he mumbles, voice lacking its usual coat of vibrancy. this time, it’s soft and fragile, just like its owner.
you shrug your shoulders. “the kitchen told me you haven’t visited it in a few days so i’m checking in on you on their behalf.”
he chuckles, but even that sounds so hollow. another sign that he isn’t your roommate, but a shell of him. and as much as you hate to admit it, you’re even more a tad bit worried.
“may i?” you gesture to the space next to him, shortly receiving a nod. sitting on the floor—legs stretched out and back slouched against the wall—isn’t ideal, especially not when there’s a queen sized bed just a few steps away. although, given why you’re here in the first place, you suppose you could refrain from complaining this time.
(singular—you’re already stressing that before your friends can make assumptions.)
the two of you let silence wrap around you like a blanket, one neither of you seem eager to remove. you excuse your awkwardness by claiming you want to take in your new surroundings before moving further. to which, in fairness, makes sense because this is your first time in his room.
weird, isn’t it? living in a place where you’re familiar with everything but your roommate and his space. there were times where he left his door ajar enough for you to catch glimpses inside, but nothing could have prepared you to see it in its entirety.
so tidy, so cozy, so.. hanbin.
the young man in question fidgets with his sweater’s sleeve, a loose thread in particular. a translucent pane of absentmindedness hovers over his cocoa-tinted irises as he twists the material between his lithe fingers.
“i don’t know what’s missing,” hanbin gauges your reaction (seemingly blank, actually surprised) before continuing. “i gave everything i had to them, constantly tried to do and be my best self to make up for the things i lack, yet they still left.”
you nervously rub your palms upon your thighs, unsure where to pick up after such a heavy confession. there’s also that guilt that chews on your soul as you come to realize that this little mister perfect persona of his isn’t just for attracting people.
it’s supposed to convince those he loves to stay.
with this newfound understanding, you finally speak up, “them leaving isn’t on you.”
his brows furrow, lips slightly parting to reject your words but you lift your hand to cover his mouth. probably not the best idea, ‘specially not when he can just make muffled sounds through the makeshift gag, but it’ll have to do. all you need is for him to listen to you, no interruptions allowed.
“you gave almost all of yourself to them, which isn’t wrong—almost every person who’s been in love has done that. but that isn’t enough to make the relationship work because there’s two of you. now, either it’s a responsibility that they can’t or don’t want to face, which is why they broke up with you.
whichever it is, the fault still lies with them. and that, binnie, is why you shouldn’t be beating yourself up on this. yes, it’s okay to grieve what has been lost. but at the end of the day, you should acknowledge and accept that it isn’t your fault.”
you’re completely winded by the end of your speech, you don’t realize your hand had pulled away halfway through it. but then you notice the upward curve of his lips, and your eyes instinctively narrow at the suspicious sight.
“did i say something funny?”
he shakes his head and points out, “you called me binnie.”
..damn. you were so caught up in your rant that you hadn’t noticed your mistake. with a light hit at his shoulder, you grumble, “don’t read too deep into it, i just heard one of your friends constantly call you that so it slipped.”
“are you sure~?”
“yes.”
“very sure~?”
“..‘right, that’s the end of our therapy session. i expect you to pay me with a cup of karak tea later.” a groan emerges from the deepest part of your tired soul as you get back on your feet, backside sore from maintaining the same position for at least 10 minutes.
right as you’re on your way out, hanbin calls your name. intrigued confused as to what else he’d need, you take the chance and turn around. those busy fingers you noticed earlier? now they’re put together to make a unique heart gesture.
“thank you for keeping me company and opening my eyes to the bigger picture.” the warmth and cheeriness hasn’t been fully restored yet, but you can hear a sliver. and regardless of whether you admit it or not, you feel proud of yourself for assisting in bringing it back.
“no need to thank me, matters like this are why roommates were made.”
(uh huh, sure..)
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❀ ... ⃕ not sure if i’ll make a taglist but feel free to donate to my kofi ! now, would you like to return to the masterlist? yes / no.
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mechanical-aristocrat · 5 months
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[OOC:]
Okay I think I'm ready to talk about that leaked light cone now:
I can criticize the potential continuity error it creates all I want, but god fucking damn it this image is too compelling for me to be even a little bit angry.
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THIS is how you do a fucking light cone, THIS is how you take advantage of the inherently interesting concept behind them to deliver a deeper level of characterization. Very few other light cones in the game do that anywhere near as well as this one does, and I'm going to try my best to explain why. (although forgive me if I'm still a bit scatterbrained, this image makes me so goddamn emotional that it's genuinely difficult to think clearly)
It seems very safe to assume this is depicting Screwllum soon after he became sentient, experiencing the beauty of life and existence for the first time. The thing is, it isn't an entirely positive experience; he's noticeably damaged with moss, plants, and fungi growing all over him, which can't be comfortable (just imagining what that must feel like makes my skin crawl). He was probably left in this forest by some one (or some thing) that didn't give a singular fuck about him, that wanted him to deteriorate and be forgotten about.
And yet, his body language and the overall tone of the piece suggests that he doesn't mind. He's incredibly calm (the butterflies wouldn't be there if he wasn't, he's made himself a safe place for them to rest), looking at the viewer as if the "camera" has placed us in the POV of a small woodland creature, the way his head is tilted to the side implying a sense of curiosity and/or fascination.
The tone of this image and of the character as a whole is one of awe and wonder that doesn't shy away from the negatives. It's what makes Screwllum the perfect foil to Emperor Rupert I, because while they both began their sentience in a similar manner, abandoned by a cold and uncaring universe and left to rot, Rupert was consumed by its hatred and motivated by revenge, whereas Screwllum was able to see life for what it was, imperfect but worth cherishing.
The most impressive part about it, however, is that all of this can be inferred without even having access to the light cone's name or lore description (at least as far as I'm aware). The light cones I would have considered my favorites previously, "Something Irreplaceable" and "Shared Feeling", partially rely on the descriptions to be compelling, especially with the former example because the description is honestly my favorite part. The visual storytelling in this leak is on fucking point, and I can't wait to read the description because it'll probably make me love it even more than I already do.
Screwllum nation is winning with this.
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