#would have become my favorite party member immediately

[catscraftsandcommentary]

So I had some time to think tonight at work (in between operating heavy machinery, swearing at the materials, and trying to keep the line running, fun times!) And I asked myself, "self, hypothetically, what might @inexplicifics Accidental Warlord AU look like in another generation or two - once people really get used to witchers being The Good Guys (TM) and helping out?"

And I was like "well, they'd probably get invited to social events - ooh! Who'd like which events best?!? What would that look like?"

Geralt, as we all know, detests anything too formal or Warlord-focused. He enjoys weddings and receptions, but his TRUE favorite is baby christenings. Seriously. Put him in a room with a tiny baby and he's happy as a clam. He'll happily growl away (or weaponize his puppy-dog eyes against) grannies, aunties, and other family members to hold the baby for as long as possible. He's also 90% of the reason that witchers are now rumored to be able to bless babies.

When Mouse and Treyse bring this new rumor to the council, everyone has to just sit. And process for a minute. Because what the ever-loving fuck?!? (Jaskier immediately writes the sweetest lullaby ever, "A Witcher's Blessing", and it is the ONLY song that Geralt ever sings in public, and only ever to babies and small children. Multiple women blame this for their immediate conceptions.)

Jaskier adores weddings and festivals of all types, and if a happy couple includes details of how they met and/or fell in love with their wedding invitation, there's at least a 50% chance that he'll show up to the wedding with a personalized love song, holy shit.

Ciri loves tourneys. Loves watching them, loves displaying in them, loves sneaking into competing in them (omg, heir, NO), loves WINNING them. She's a menace. She has various stealth coats of arms that she rotates between when she's not supposed to be competing, but her favorite is the battle goose. Obviously.

Eskel doesn't like crowds or being the center of attention, which are almost inevitable with public invitations, but he does enjoy being the +1 for his family. Several of his and their interests overlap, and even where they don't, he likes to see them enjoying themselves.

Yennifer becomes well-known as an extremely efficient - albeit terrifying - treaty negotiator. She'll talk to both sides, get a list of their must haves, deal-breakers, would-likes, and don't-wants (as well as - perhaps more importantly - the reason why each of those are on that particular list). Then she draws up a draft and viciously negotiates a compromise. She is genuinely surprised the first time that both sides thank her for her help.

Vesemir, with all his long years of teaching, loves visiting schools and seeing any sort of student performance or sporting event. Kindergarten to university, drama to music to dance recitals to track and field meets to football games to student symposiums to science contests to... He buys out bake sales and funds club field trips and donates several fortunes worth of antique knick knacks to various schools. He's invited as a guest lecturer, a commencement speaker, a competition judge, a referee.

Lambert and Aiden, at some point, discover bachelor's parties, call dibs, and never look back. People learn very quickly not to invite witchers to their stag nights unless they want the entire party to get horrifyingly drunk - but at least Lam and Aiden will make sure that everyone makes it home (or to the wedding) safely. Perhaps not soberly, or sans hangover, but definitely without major injury. (And if the bride asks nicely and the groom and friends weren't total jerks, Lambert can usually be counted on to make a hangover cure. He really is a softie at heart.)

Dragonfly and Serrit get tapped for the odd bachelorette party or ladies' birthday parties. Anything that falls under "I want to be able to drink and party with my friends without worrying about some strange guy hurting one of us." They are extremely protective and have both been drunkenly proposed to several times. (Livi finds this terribly amusing. Gweld just wants to know if he can watch.) Milena and Zofia sometimes go with them.

Milena loves going to wedding showers and baby showers, but outside Kaer Morhen, she has to stay in sight of Lambert or one of his brothers. Lambert's rule. (She got KIDNAPPED, okay? He's allowed to worry!) Usually she'll take Geralt (there might be babies! He's excellent protection!) or Eskel (he's very quiet and has excellent manners, and his signs are impossible to fight) for the more, ah, female-heavy events. If anyone asks, they're her brother-in-law and genuinely like spending time around kids. And very, very married.

#the witcher #accidental warlord au #inexplicifics

[mrsriddlenott]

Rivalry: Chapter One

[masterlist][Ch2]

Regulus Black x Fem!reader

Mutual Pining and Academic Rivals are like my favorites so I’m throwing them together for Reggie🤭

I wanna try a slowburn, so this series will have some short parts that i can update easily between parts of Caught because I hate just not uploading for so long at a time. Fair warning I am going to include a bit of a love triangle later on(there will be NO cheating).

Warnings:Arguing,Language,Angst, Pining, Rivals, “Enemies” to lovers.

You and Regulus never liked each other. Actually, a good way to put it would be to say you hated eachother. But for some reason you were always clouding the brunette’s mind, even when you were yelling back and forth in an empty corridor he absolutely loved it. And despised that he loved it.

Despite the years he spent wanting nothing more than to one up you in any situation, suddenly every time your eyebrows furrowed at him as you began an argument, he’d imagine those eyebrows furrowing below him behind the curtains of his four poster bed. He thought at first it was simply because of your beauty that he was lusting after you, but after months of patrolling the corridors together as Prefects, he came to realize he genuinely liked your presence. Whether you were silent or bickering or yelling, he didn’t mind.

He denied those feelings for as long as possible, deciding instead to observe you from afar, acting as though he hated you while at the same time ensuring you were stuck with him as a partner in every class and during all Prefect duties. He didn’t understand why he shooed away every thought of you or hid his true feelings up until the last possible second, but he was a fool and a coward, he already knew that. As your seventh and final year at Hogwarts began, it dawned on Regulus that he’d likely never see you again once the year ended, making the dreadfully long school year suddenly seem far too short.

He could no longer deny he felt something real for you as he stood in the corner of the Slytherin common room, seething while he watched you dance against Barty Crouch Jr. The welcome back party was in full swing as you enjoyed yourself before you inevitably needed to become an image of responsibility.

You could feel his eyes on you, you could always feel his eyes on you. Almost immediately after you and Regulus became Prefects in your fifth year, it became increasingly difficult to avoid spending time with him. Though secretly you weren’t complaining, you’d always imagine what it would be like if he wasn’t so closed off. He was down right mean to you at times, and yet he clouded your thoughts all the same.

You always found yourself locking eyes with him in class, cursing yourself as you rolled your eyes away from his. You hated that you felt the way you did, but honestly you hated that he didn’t feel the same much more. This time, as your eyes locked, there was something new behind his irises. Something you never would have expected only two years earlier, jealousy.

You knew it couldn’t be a good idea, but after plying yourself with copious amounts of liquor you didn’t mind making a few bad decisions. You winked at Regulus’, biting your lip and making him go rigged in the corner before you turned yourself in Barty’s arms and captured his lips in yours.

Regulus wasn’t a jealous person, he’d accepted long ago that any girl wanting a member of the Noble House of Black would simply run to his brother, but you never did. You never even seemed the tiniest bit interested in Sirius, or anyone else for that matter. Maybe thats why it was so easy to stay calm all these years, his girl never seemed to have eyes for anyone. Until now. He never would have imagined the pure rage he felt as he stormed through the party, yanking you off Barty as you smiled drunkenly up at him with swollen lips.

“Come on, we have a project in Potions tomorrow and you can’t be hungover, I won’t be failing,” Before you could register what was happening he was pulling you down the stairs as you stumbled after him to the girls dormitory. To your surprise he immediately distinguished your dorm from the others and pulled you inside.

He dropped your wrist as he grumbled to himself, walking to your dresser and pulling out one of your oversized t-shirts and a pair of leggings, “Take these, get out of that dress, and go to bed.” He demanded in a stern voice.

“But I wanna go back to the partyyy” You practically whined in a beg, too drunk to care about the boy standing in your room with a glare.

“You can barely stand y/l/n, I am not letting you back into that party like this.” He grumbled as he shoved the clothes into your hands, turning away as you eyed the back of his head.

“Come on Reggie, let lose, you don’t always have to be the golden boy,” You teased as you began to remove the straps of your dress and shimmy it down your body.

“What did you just call me?” He snapped, turning around without thinking, his cheeks growing a bright red upon seeing your slightly exposed bra as you struggled to remove your dress in your drunken state. He quickly swiveled back around as you huffed and puffed with slurred statements of “stupid thing” and “tight ass dress” making him chuckle.

“Help me out here Reggie,” You sighed, dropping your hands to your sides with a slap as he arched his eyebrows at the wall in front if him, turning to see your dress halfway down your body as you stared up at him with hooded eyes.

“Um okay,” He mumbled as he moved to stand behind you, keeping his eyes upward as he gently pulled the zipper down with a soft chuckle, “It would be a lot easier if you unzipped it,”

“Yeah yeah,” You grumbled as you pushed the dress off of you without a warning, showing him your underwear that didn’t match your bra. He felt like all the oxygen was escaping his body as he watched you struggle to put on the shirt he picked out, your head popping out of the neckline with messy hair before you were hopping onto your bed, disregarding the leggings on the floor.

You yawned once, and then fell into a deep sleep as Regulus stood, shell shocked in front of your bed. For some reason he felt rather creepy being alone in your room hovering over your bed despite his very wholesome intentions. He neatly closed the curtains around your four poster and left a full glass of water on your bedside table before blowing out your candles and slipping out the door.

The next morning when you woke, you had absolutely no clue how you got to your room, or out of your clothes and into knew ones. The last thing you could remember clearly was getting your sixth, or maybe seventh?, cup of punch before dancing with Barty.

“Uh Black, can we talk?” You asked in a shaky voice as his friends eyed you up suspiciously, “It’s really important,” As Regulus took in your disheveled appearance and worried face he mumbled a later to his friends and directed you to a rather quiet section of the corridor before turning back to you.

“Did we….y’know….do anything last night?” You rushed out without meeting his eyes as you stood in front of him, bouncing nervously. “I just….I barely remember anything and….and Barty said….” You stopped, not wanting to believe nor accuse him of what Barty had suspected.

“You think I did something to you while you were drunk?” He asked in a soft voice as he watched your watery eyes meet his. He was hurt, for the first time in a long time he was hurt. “I didn’t. I helped you to bed, got you some water, and left. That’s it.”

You let out an audible sigh as tears slipped past your lashes, “Thank you, I-i was so messed up last night, I don’t wanna think about what could have happened if…” Regulus watched you with a mix of relief and annoyance, you had just almost accused him of the same thing you were now thanking him for preventing?

“You’re lucky y/l/n. Because guess what, Barty was the one all over you last night when you could barely walk properly, I’m sure he jumped to tell you how I pulled you away from him. You could have just come to me, y’know.” He scoffed as he walked past you and into Potions class taking the seat next to yours as you followed suit.

“I didn’t believe him Black, but I had to ask okay?” You whisper shouted as everyone began taking their seats around you.

“If you had to ask than part of you thought I was capable of that.” He said, eyes focused upfront as you watched the side of his face. His jaw clenched so tight you could see the muscle protruding on the side of his cheeks.

“I’m sorry Regulus, you may be a git sometimes but I don’t think you’re a monster.” You whispered as you pushed your chair closer to his.

“I don’t care what you think of me and I dont need your apology” He snapped, making you flinch and jump back as he turned to look at you. His eyes softened as regret began seeping into his stomach at the sight of you scared in front of him.

You looked away from him as soon as you felt your eyes begin to water, focusing solely on Professor Slughorn as Regulus tried to apologize beside you, something that shocked you greatly but didn’t make you waver.

“Just look at me,” He whispered, ignoring his notes entirely and looking only at you. “Come on, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare y-“

“Oh my gods just shut the fuck up!” You shouted, silencing Slughorn and drawing the attention of every student around you as you went red from embarrassment.

“Care to fill us in on your conversation Miss. y/l/n? Mr. Black?” Slughorn’s voice was calm bit stern as you both shook your heads and mumbled “no”.

“Well, you can pick it up in detention tonight then” He said with a tight lipped smile as he turned back to his notes on the blackboard. You dropped your forehead onto the table with a sigh as Regulus watched you with narrowed eyes.

After dinner you slipped out of the Great Hall undetected, fully intending to run to the library and “study” through your detention. Being a teacher’s pet came with some perks after all.

“I knew you’d be here,” Regulus chuckled as you approached the door he was now leant against. “Come on, we have detention little miss perfect….or did you intentionally plan to avoid me?” His smirk was so annoying you would risk another detention just to smack it off if it weren’t for your lack of any movable muscle as his eyes bore into yours.

“Slughorn wants us to clean Professor Binns’ class since he never does.” You eyed him suspiciously as he waited for you to walk in front of him, “Well go on then you little liar, can’t trust ya now can I?” He chuckled triumphantly at your eyes rolling as you walked past him towards the History of Magic classroom.

Regulus shamelessly watched you as you walked in front of him, deciding you were his whether you realized it yet or not. He’s never had a reason to defy anyone before, but as he watched your hair bouncing behind you and your cloak moving in the breeze giving him glimpses of your legs below. He knew you were the girl he’d marry, whether his Mother was okay with it or not, he’d either die alone or marry the beautiful girl in front of him.

~~~~

#harry potter #smut #hp #regulus black #enemies to lovers #slow burn #fluff #harry potter fandom #regulus black x reader #marauders era #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter x y/n #james potter #regulus x reader #the marauders #harry potter fluff #hp fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #regulus x y/n #regulus black x you #regulus black smut #timothée chalamet #aaron taylor johnson #andrew garfield #remus lupin smut #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x y/n #remus lupin x yn x regulus black #love triangle

[papaver-decervicatus]

Cat/Mouse/Den: Pt. 5, Royally Caught

While tied down in a cartel interrogation room, König is forced to his mental breaking point when a certain sniper makes an appearance. Is she a rat, or here to chew him free...?

CW: Obsession, stalking, canon typical violence, intrusive thoughts, unsanitary wound care, graphic mentions of sex trafficking victims, abusive language, mentions of sexual violence.

Author's note: Please notice that warning have indeed changed for this chapter! Nothing happens in the story, but many hard themes come up as intrusive thoughts. Please be weary of these and feel no obligation in reading if doing so would make you uncomfortable!

Ahhh, well well well... it's finally here. Originally the concept of this chapter came from this YouTube Video as inspiration, specifically Labyrinth by OOMPH! And it sort of... wrote itself? The title is supposed to be a play on the phrase "Royally Fucked" because I did not feel like using a swear as a title. Anyways, you'll notice from my headcanons on König that I believe working as an insertions specialist for human trafficking seriously fucked him up. I also believe that he typically does not act out violently against women. So... what happens when he thinks Mouse is doing the very thing he hates so much? Well, you will have to see!

This chapter requires some suspension of disbelief, but the inspo was taken from the El Sin Nombre mission in MWii. Mouse is in the cartel house, undercover at a party and in an attempt to take out her target she saw an interesting video feed....

I must admit, this chapter has my favorite single or one off lines. I am really proud of it, please enjoy! But be warned, this is unabashedly horny/desperate/angsty/and the pining goes fucking nuclear. Have fun!

Also, if youre into the fake interrogation thing, then next chapter stays good for you, especially if you want mouse in the hot seat...

❣️Cura ut Veleas ~ Caedis 🥀 PREV | Pt. 5, Royally Caught | 4.2k words | Mouse POV | NEXT (coming soon!)

König did not expect his Friday night to end up with him locked in a storage container turned jail cell in Mexico. 

Yet here he is. 

At some point while raiding the Cartel Mansion in Las Almas, or more appropriately, trying to open an exterior wall so that KorTac could raid it, he had been shot with a tranquilizer gun. The shot didn’t knock him out entirely, the dosage was probably not completely calibrated to his weight, but it was enough to slow his escape down. He got about two miles out before men in an armored Jeep jumped him. 

And he woke up, here, about three hours ago. 

Two hours ago he broke his thumbs in an effort to get out of his cuffs, but someone must’ve caught his plan because immediately afterward two masked cartel members came into his cell and stuck a syringe into his arm. When he awoke for the second time, there was a durable cord keeping his wrists together instead. Feeling around he could tell that the rope had been burned into itself, creating a lack of weak spots for him to abuse in escape efforts. 

His legs were in a similar position, chorded down thick and heavy to the legs of the rusty metal chair he was in. He was still in most of his combat outfit, save his vest, weapons, and any tools he had on him when he was captured. 

They’d kept the hood on his face and they hadn’t removed his helmet. This, to König, showed an extraordinarily eerie amount of understanding for his position within KorTac. None of his comrades would recognize him by his face, and judging by the multitude of cameras in the room, he was intended to be… recognizable. 

At first, anyways. 

This cell was, unfortunately, familiar to him. The layout of the cot, the chair, the metal table, the haphazardly soldered-in door and door frame, the holes drilled into the sides of the metal container, and even the rudimentary sink and toilet combo was something he’d become viscerally acquainted with. 

This was a typical Al Qatala human trafficking cell, specifically designed so that multiple humans could be chained up in one space without sacrificing the capacity for good camera angles. Typically, these were set up in storage containers twice the size of this one, but he doesn’t really have any room to be complaining about getting put into a non-standard torture chamber. 

His specialty was cracking these when he was with the Austrian Special Forces. His real calling in life, his one true hatred. 

Fall on the sword you forge, he thinks. The understanding of what will become of him in short order is horrifying. He’s one of the few people on the face of the planet who’s seen this exact routine played out for other prisoners of war, usually at the behest of desperate governments seeking his expertise in getting their soldiers out of such dire confines. He wrote the book on what happens in these situations, when it happens, and where the person ends up. 

They never end up alive. Prisoners of war are different from sex trafficking victims. In some terrible way, it’s almost better to be the prior because at least then you don’t have to live the rest of your life after what’s happened to you. Death is a shitty kind of freedom, but it’s freedom nonetheless. 

Of his 86 consults, only seven were successfully rescued. 

Two of those died in trauma surgery. 

The last five had been in custody for less than 24 hours, he had personally rescued that group. To his knowledge, they’d all recovered decently well. Their mental health, however, could be a different story. Not like he was allowed to ask.

He’s going over every possible route of escape when he’s shocked out of his plans. 

The door directly in front of him opens, and his dark cell erupts with sickeningly bright, white light. His eyes strain trying to adjust to the intrusion as he takes in the form. 

A silhouette stands in front of him, all soft edges of black, arms braced on either side of the door frame. The backlighting gives the figure an almost angelic quality, a soft and fuzzy etherealness blends outlines and light. It’s the telltale curves of a woman, of soft thighs, of ample hips, of a woman’s bust. Little strands of fluorescence peek through a crown of hair on her head. 

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, meine majestät.” The cruel Angel hums, voice like forbidden fruit any man could be forgiven for falling for. 

“Maus?” He calls out, desperate and confused and ready to shatter. 

“Quiet as a.” She calls back, composed as if entrenched in amber and equally as unmoved by his predicament. 

He’s always wanted to get his teeth around her pretty neck. He’s always desired to have his hands around her waist. He’s always hoped to be able to pound down into her quaking form. He’s been desperate to have her underneath him since their very first chance encounter. These feelings have been constant since he heard her beautiful voice, but suddenly they’re not the same. 

Now he wants all those things, but instead of their motivation being love, it is bloodlust. 

And intense bloodlust at that. 

He’s never wanted to kill a woman, he finds it despicable that women more or less get turned into cattle during war. He’s sure that Freud would have something to say about his neurotic insistence on not harming the fairer sex even with his typical caliber of violence, but he’s never once cared to self-examine that. His entire military career, in fact, was dedicated to saving women and children from the horrors of a very male, very sexual world. Insertions specialist, yes, but specifically for human trafficking situations. 

Looking into his wartime paramour's eyes, the intensity of hellfire overcomes him. His entire world crashes around him. He’s breathing in debris and dust as comes to the terrible conclusion that this entire time, it’s been her that has been perpetuating the injustice he so hates. That it’s been the thing he’s romanticized that’s been the fall of Rome. That it’s his savior that’s really been the perpetrator all along. 

Perhaps the devil was once an angel, but to see his Angel for the demon she is? It breaks his heart into gory chunks of splintered bitterness and hacked arteries where once love pumped. 

Never in his life has he ever wanted to kill a woman, never in his life he had loved a woman so completely either. 

Those two ‘never’s die loudly and crudely in his chest as he recounts how to kill her most painfully in his own mind. 

For her now obvious position perpetuating his most loathed evil? For tricking him into loving her? For both and neither? He doesn’t know. He’s about two seconds away from frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal that’ll break its bones escaping a trap. He’s got nothing in his brain, just white-hot anger from the tips of his combat boots to the tips of his ears. 

Not even the outfit, or more appropriately the lack thereof, that she’s wearing can dissuade his anger. In any other circumstance, to see her in a black draped silk dress with hip-high slits on both sides and a full set of harness garters holding up sheer pantyhose would make him go feral. It would make him kneel, it would give him all the power to break out of these bindings on his own with no help and slam her down into the metal floor and have her right here. He has the desire to do all these things right now, but for all the wrong reasons. 

She’s taking something out from beneath her left breast as he recounts every thought he’s ever had about her and how foolish they’ve all been. He thinks that the only consolation he may ever receive for this betrayal is if he can crush her windpipe in between his teeth. 

“If you can get your teeth around it, it’s yours.” He remembers her saying to him in one of her flirtations during their secret radio romances. 

The phrase echoes rough and screeching in his head as he thrashes against the metal chair and restraints. He doesn’t formulate any words, he can’t, she doesn’t even deserve them, as she takes the lighter and cigarette she’s produced from her brassiere to her mouth. Her expression is unconcerned when she takes the flip-top lighter (that has a fucking crown carved into it, the audacity, his teeth clench and voice roars at the implication she’s been planning this for a long time) and its little flicker of brimstone to the end of the cancer stick. 

She takes a short drag and holds it between two perfectly manicured fingers. She’s gotten a little lipstick on the filter. 

“You don’t smoke.” That is all he manages to spit out. The only thought he can think of. Nothing makes sense and he’s liable to maul her to death over it. Her tongue darts quickly and sinfully across the filter, her eyes never leaving his. She tosses her stare towards him playfully, her hips swing wide as she waltzes closer to him. 

“No,” she says, as she takes another step towards him. Even in those ridiculously tall, faux leather heels meeting the tips of his combat boots, she doesn’t particularly dwarf his size. She's got the tips of her shoes to the tips of his, her stance is wide to accommodate the positioning. The edges of the stockings on her legs disrupt in wave-like patterns where they collide with the rough edges of his tac pants. He looks and thinks about how if his clothes were a little thinner he may be able to feel her warmth. He wonders just how long it would take her corpse to go ice cold, because she clearly does not deserve to be alive. He forces himself to look up at her and he thinks about clawing out her eyes. 

“But you do.” 

She reaches her hand towards his hood and strokes his cheek through the fabric. He snarls and snaps his head away from her, reeling from the touch he’s so deplorably yearned for. Her placid expression drops entirely as she sees his reaction. 

If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that his perfect little Mouse looked heartbroken over his refusal of her blandishments. 

He wants to rip her still-beating heart out of her chest for the sheer nerve to display that sort of emotiveness to him. That she acted like there was something there when there very clearly wasn’t. That she lied so thoroughly to him. 

That she made him love her when now he can see she never loved him back. 

She takes a shuddering breath in and makes a concerted effort to put her expression back into place, to impose some sort of divine rule back over her features. It’s strange to see her trying so hard when she’s obviously been such a good actor for so very long. 

“I just need some information, darling. No need to be so skittish, I brought you creature comforts for your cooperation.” She purrs, flicking some ash from the cigarette. “I know you could use a smoke right now, handsome.” 

The bile in his stomach flips at the pet names he would usually kill for. Pet names he’s never had until this moment. His two addictions lay in front of him, together, wrapped up in black silk, and the only thing he can think about is how much he wants to tear it all to shreds. 

Her hand follows his cheek to where it’s escaped her grasp. He is powerless to stop her as she rolls up his mask. 

To his surprise, she stops rolling it up just high enough to expose his mouth and leaves the bunched cloth on the bridge of his nose. He wants to scream at the tenderness of the action, she’s giving him as much of his well-loved privacy and solitude as she can while bringing him, an active prisoner of war, a fucking cigarette while wearing the sexiest thing he’s ever seen. 

The cruelty of it all had found the border of divinity and reality and ripped it open like C4 explodes plywood doors. There must be a God, and he must be in hell. 

She gets dangerously close, close enough for him to bite, and her hand with the cigarette makes contact with his jaw. Her sharp, black, fake nails trail from close to his ear, down to his mouth at a tantalizingly languid pace. She bends down and puts her lips a hair's breadth away from his ear and he is about to actually bite her neck to kill-

“I’m trying to get you out. Play along.” She whispers and flips the cigarette into his mouth. 

He takes a long drag. 

He feels the relief of nicotine in his lungs. 

He closes his eyes. 

He thinks about what she said. 

He doesn’t quite believe her as she takes the cigarette out of his mouth before he has to fumble to exhale around it. Her thumb traces the outline of his thin, scarred lips. Her eyes bore into his from above. 

She puts it back into his mouth. 

He takes a long drag. 

She takes it out of his mouth and puts it into hers. She takes a shorter drag. He doesn’t miss the way that she keeps all the smoke in her cheeks, not actually smoking it at all. A little taste of non flavored-wax sticks to his mouth from the lipstick and he wonders if she can taste his mouth too…

The takes the lipstick-stained tube out of her lips, taps it clean, and puts it back into his. 

He takes a long drag. 

She takes it back out of his mouth and wipes at his lips with the pad of her thumb. His brain is too busy switching between wanting to bite her thumb off and wanting to suck on it like a dog for him to decide what to do before the obtrusive digit has been taken away. 

“Sorry, big guy. Got some lipstick on you.” 

She retreats from his form and goes to sit on the metal table slightly adjacent to the chair he’s strapped to. She puts the still-lit cigarette to rest in an ashtray next to her hip. She also puts the flip-top lighter down. On the bottom of the lighter, he sees some engraving, but he can’t make it out from how far away it is. 

She crosses her legs on the edge of the table and the black silk she’s wearing all but flees off of the expanse of her now exposed thigh. She taps her fingers slowly on the metal, the pitter patter of plastic-press-on-nails on metal goes in time with his heartbeat. 

“Who are you with?” She asks, and he laughs. She knows. 

“Nein.” He responds. Is he refusing her, or this little game? He doesn’t know. She seems to understand, though, when she leans into his personal space and he has to fight the urge to look down her lack of dress and perfect tits-

“That’s no way to act after I got you a present, now is it?” She hums at the pulse point between utter cruelty and complete levity. He tests the restraints keeping his hands tied and sighs at the realization that they are still tighter than he can manage to worm out of effectively.

“I will not repeat what you already know.” He bites out. 

“Clever boy,” she smiles and he can’t help but think and hope that maybe this cruel Angel is being genuine, maybe she really does want to get him out of here. He murders the hope in his brain the second he recognizes what it is. “So tell me, what were you doing here?”

“You know.” 

“I’m afraid I do.” Her lips tense into a thin line and she looks down at her watch. She begins to swing the foot of her raised leg idly and-

She puts her foot onto the back of his chair right on his shoulder and oh my god her cunt is right next to my mou-

“Audio just cut out. I’m undercover here. Site goes dark for 2 minutes or less in 30 seconds. I’m going to pretend to interrogate you for a little while after we come back online to sell it. And then I’m out.” She warns, voice low and quick. 

Once again, he has to fight every electric cell in his body to not lunge at her and rip her clothes to tatters (and maybe her, the jury’s still out on her trustworthiness) as he breathes in the smell of fresh nylons and her cunt like a fucking dog. Not making eye contact with her panties is also a losing game, and it’s one he seriously wishes he had decided against playing because it’s a sheer black lacy pair, because of course it is, and he can very nearly make out the curves of her sex through it. 

“How do I know how to trust you?” He spits and blood flows out of his brain when he sees a tiny, minuscule amount of his saliva landing on her clothed cunt. He snaps his gaze back to her face. She looks rather smug and pleased with herself, he scolds his inner monologue when he dares to notice just how hungry her beautiful eyes look... He wants to wipe the smile off her face, through a kiss or through slicing it off with a knife, he’s not sure yet. 

“You don’t.” She shrugs and somehow scoots even the littlest bit closer to him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, if I was I’d have brought a little more stopping power.” Stopping power? What is she talking about? Her beautiful features soothe themselves into a giggle and Gott, she’s very pretty with eyeliner and lipstick on, the little vixen. I want to ruin it. 

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed it. Put your cheek against my thigh.” She laughs. 

Even if it’s a trick, König decides that if he’s going to die anywhere, it might as well be in between Mouse’s thighs in mere milliseconds. The throbbing in his pants also suggests that he’s probably forgiven her by now as well. He leans his cheek and feels cool metal hit it. He whips his head to look and tucked into her garter is a sizable knife. 

When he looks back to her eyes he notices dumbly that she must be able to tell how desperately he’s in love with her because she’s smiling something wicked down at him. Angels aren’t supposed to be cruel, but he’s forgiven anything and everything she’d ever done wrong in exchange for the expanse of her thigh and the promise of a knife. 

“If you can get your teeth around it, it’s yours.” She says with a smile like absolution. His mind alights with a terrible test of faith for her, with a truly awful proving method to try her loyalty to his rescue. He turns his mouth to the knife, and instead of taking it in his teeth, he takes her flesh in his teeth. 

She whimpers as he teeth attempt to gain purchase through the nylon of her stockings. He gnaws at them until he makes a little opening, and through it, he punches down his teeth until he’s sure he will leave a mark, but not draw blood. 

“Does that include you, mein Mäuschen?” He purrs into her now-exposed flesh. He peers up at her and he revels in the shock on her face. She shudders at his words and attention and something worse than pride finds a home in his hollow but newly hopeful chest. 

She doesn’t move her leg away and he hums in satisfaction at the gesture. Instead, she looks worryingly down at her watch. 

“You have 1 minute. Take the knife, keep it in your mouth under your hood, and give me 30 minutes to get out of here before you escape.” She says instead of responding. 

While realistically he knows that she doesn’t really have an option in leaving him, that it would be too dangerous to leave together, that they are still technically enemies even on neutral ground- he can’t help but be disappointed that his Angel intends on leaving without him. Even more so that she doesn’t seem to want to answer him when she made the rules in the first place. 

“Why are you helping me?” He asks, hoping for some clarity, for some tell-tale sign that this isn’t some weird horny fever dream he’s made up in his own little hell, worried that she will drag him back down from heaven and reveal that this, too, was part of the ploy to destroy whatever of him remained. 

“Because I know you’d do the same for me.” 

She says it without question but instead questions the motive. She says it like someone prays, like believing in the possibility of salvation but not quite sure how to get there. She says it like a guardian angel takes missions, unsure of her exact purpose but faithful in her understanding that there is one. 

The deep cavern of his obsession temporarily closed and covered by the implication of her treachery, widens and deepens impossibly as he smiles into the knife on her thigh. It’s just a knife, but she believes in him enough to offer her only protection to him, and she believes that it is all he will need to make it back to her on the field. 

He plucks the knife from her garter with his teeth. He tries to memorize her smell, her taste, the feel of her soft and plush skin on his cheek. It’s an intoxicating experience he isn’t quick to squander, but the implied hope that when not if he can get out of this she will be there waiting for him? That makes ending this warm-up worth it if it means he can get to the game and maybe, finally, win the prize. 

She retracts her foot from his shoulder and lets down his hood from his face. She leans in terribly close and whispers, “After 20 yards, take your first left outside the second retaining wall. There’s only two guards there, it’s your best shot.” He hums in affirmation and adoration and she sits back into her position on the table. She looks at her watch and gives a curt nod: the game is back on. 

She takes the cigarette back and draws the smoke into her cheeks and lets it flow out like a deadman’s soul floats to heaven, somehow rushed and languid all at once.

“We’ve been having quite the time trying to figure out your-“ he completely zones out whatever she’s saying in favor of watching the mark his mouth gifted her turn darker as the seconds draw on. It’s not like he could respond even if he wanted to, that would risk the knife she’s so lovingly gifted him into his lap and ruining the whole escape (and worse, endangering her.)

So, instead, he stares at her like the goddess she is. He burns the curve of her stomach between her hips behind his eyelids, he imagines resting his head there and kissing the smooth skin. He savors the way her ass flattens ever-so-slightly where it meets the metal table she’s sitting on, he thinks about holding her up by her ass alone and the plush yet firm give of her flesh. He drinks in the sight of her cleavage heaving when she emotes after a particularly loud question, he hopes what little he can’t see is the same type of perfect as the rest of it. Every once in a while he lets out a quiet huff around the blade in his mouth, in a vague response to something she’s said. Mouse gets “angry” in response, she even slaps him once or twice. 

He doesn’t mind. It’s all a waiting game, after all. 

König is many things, and a competitor is first and foremost. 

If Mouse knows where he’s staring for the duration of their play date of an interrogation, she doesn’t mention anything. With one last stinging (and dizzying…) strike to the cheek, she all but yells “Fine! Let’s see if you’re so tough after 8 hours alone in this hell hole.”

When she turns to walk out of the door she came in, König feels a part of his heart leave with her. He breathes harshly over the outline of the metal in his teeth as he admires the confident sway of her hips. He bites harder on the metal when she tosses a sympathetic look back to him and blows a fucking kiss. 

Sitting, alone in the dark of the converted storage container, he spends the most excruciating thirty minutes of his life occupied only with her phantom touch and his depraved fantasies. 

“Because I know you’d do the same for me.” Echoes in his head in time with his heartbeat, in time with his imaginary minstrations on her form, in time with what he is sure will be the death of him. 

That and so much more, he thinks when he finally, finally, manages to rid himself of his binds with the knife his Engel so graciously snuck him, 27 minutes after she leaves when some cartel member comes to check up on him.

König loses himself in the beautiful catharsis of stabbing the man who comes to fetch him so violently, that the blade to the knife literally snaps off somewhere in his bowels. He loots the cadaver for his gun and ammunition as well as another knife. He feels awful to leave one of her gifts discarded in the abdomen of some filthy cretin of a man, but he recognizes he really does not have much of a say in the matter when he hears the footfalls of his fellow cartel members rushing towards his location.

With one last sigh and a wayward glance to assure himself that he really did get his mouth around her and this wasn’t some dream, he prays in the form of bullets as he guns down anyone stupid enough to get in his way to escape. 

Be safe, my darling Maus. I will be back for you. 

I promise.

taglist! @kneelingshadowsalomegshadowsalome @sprout-ficsout-fics @bucca2cca2 @dead-cipher @gallowsjoker @lostagoodcigar @berryjuicyyy @haisebo @crowbird

#Navigation -> Cat/Mouse/Den #König #König x reader #König x OC #König MWii #König COD #Char: Mouse #CW: human trafficking

[herebutnothere]

As I was taking a casual tumble deep into a TWD/TOWL recap and review rabbit hole, this poster for TWD S5 jumped out to me:

(Live view of me👇🏾 because whoa. It's almost like they planned this with TOWL in mind or at least had S5 in mind when they planned the spinoff 🤭)

In S5 we have our favorite survivors making their way to Alexandria, a picturesque community that's removed from everything going on outside of its walls. The skepticism between the survivors and the community is mutual—although Deanna, leader of the community, is excited to bring Rick et al.'s strength and experiences into what they've built, some residents are unsure of what to make of the group. And for their part, each member of the group views Alexandria from varying perspectives up and down the "What the ever loving fuck is this????" spectrum, including, but not limited to:

Glenn and Maggie who are ready to integrate into the community

Michonne who's cautiously hopeful for what Alexandria could become for them

Carol who begins some calculated maneuvering to get a lay of the land

Sasha who's grieving the back-to-back losses of her boyfriend and her brother. (The S5 E13 scene where we see snippets of dinner party conversation intersecting with the group's losses and dinner at the church from her POV was excellent.)

And then there's Rick.

Ol' boy was going through it.

Each moment was a battle between the hypervigilant leader who knew danger was around every corner and the hints of the family man he was Before (his throwaway comment about houses in Alexandria being similar to ones he and Lori used drive by and dream about was a nice touch).

Even physically—he went from his most feral as displayed by his level of facial hair (🥵) to his most buttoned up as displayed by his immediate shave and haircut. As Deanna said when she saw the makeover, he was almost unrecognizable ("Wow. I didn't know what was under there."). Alexandria literally tried to tame him and Survival Rick and Neighborhood Rick were almost two different people...

Almost.

Because we soon have one of my favorite scenes of the season, the moment he walks up to the wall and presses his hand against it, reaching out to the walker on the other side. Beard or no beard, manicured lawn and all, Rick Grimes is a man who's deeply molded by—and entrenched in—the survival instincts he's had to harness after 479+ days of fighting to keep himself and others alive and losing something or someone nearly every step of the way. It would take a lot more than putting on a uniform and stepping back into the visual elements of who he was Before to undo all of who he's become now.

Nothing proves this more than Pete, the coveted doctor who just happens to beat his wife. (Btw, given everything else about Deanna, her stance on Pete's abuse and Jessie's role as the town's sacrificial lamb—more on this in a bit—was so disappointing.)

(Sidenote: I won't go into too deep of a recap, but through Pete and the naivety of Alexandra, the Shane in Rick comes out.

That scene in "Try" (S5 E15) where he calls out the blinders that the community has by ranting and pointing a gun at the residents? Very Shane-coded from his declarations on the farm in "Pretty Much Dead Already" (S2 E7). Both men were trying to help the people around them understand what was truly at stake, albeit in ways that could easily be written off as unhinged and dangerous.)

So back to the promo for S5—

It features the map Abraham gave Rick when the group split up due to Eugene's promises lies about a cure and on it he'd highlighted their intended route with a simple note:

The new world's gonna need Rick Grimes.

By the end of TWD S5 into S6, Rick proved how true that was and he proved it again in TOWL because the communities of Alexandria and the Civic Republic are two sides of the same coin.

Alexandrians, with the luxuries of their walls, sheer luck, and timing, were able to live a life of the past where their biggest worries were cooking something a neighbor disliked and finding a pasta maker. For them, the outbreak was something that happened to be happening, but it wasn't something that was happening to them. They were safe and secure and completely fine ignoring what they were safe and secure from. As we see with Pete's abuse of Jessie, their leader (and maybe even some of them) was willing to sacrifice one of their own as long as it meant that they could keep living in this fairy tale. If one person has to suffer, that's okay because it means that the rest of us don't. Rick with his ranting and his beard and his looking around all the time disrupted that.

In TOWL we learn (more?) about the Civic Republic which, like Alexandria, is pretty removed from what's happening outside of its walls. Similar to the group's arrival in Alexandria, some folks don't know what to make of Rick. While he clearly wants to leave, everyone else is thrilled to be there because in the CR, residents are living a life of the future—one that's similar to what they had Before, but adjusted to the realities of the outbreak. Air conditioning! Farmers' markets! Jobs like artists and journalists! For them, the outbreak was something that happened, but most did their part (six years as a consignee) and no longer have to feel the effects of it. In exchange for this safety and security, they sacrifice any desire or need to know how that safety and security is achieved. And this is where Beale, with the luxuries of power, information, and secrecy, is able to lead his special army into more power by sacrificing hundreds of thousands, soon to be millions. If some people have to suffer, that's okay because it means that the rest of us don't. But again, Rick disrupts this, this time with his love and his longing and his sense of right and wrong.

That's why both of these communities—both of these new worlds—needed Rick Grimes: he was able to show them the realities they were willingly and/or unknowingly ignoring.

With Alexandria, it was the realities of walkers and human nature.

With the Civic Republic, it was the realities of power and secrecy.

Both needed Rick for his leadership and humanity because without it, they would have fallen to the very things they ignored—

Alexandria would have fallen to walkers (remember that big ass herd in the valley?) or other humans who would cause harm.

The Civic Republic would have fallen to the powers and secrets they allowed to fester (remember how Beale wanted to bomb Portland and implement martial law???).

Now, quiet as kept, none of this would have been possible without his shotgun rider because Rick Grimes needs Michonne, but that's another post for another day.

#twd rewatch #the walking dead #twd the ones who live #rick grimes #shane walsh #twd alexandria #there's something to be said that humans are always gonna human in the best and worst ways even in the face of zombies #twd crm #the ones who live crm

[shuttershocky]

hey shutters, sorry for the random question, do you have a recommendation for games you can play with your non gamer relatives/friends that is not party games or similar? I wanna invite them but I'm not sure if games that has abilities, stats, equipment, etc would be good for someone who only understands button mashing in fighting games

Hmmm i will admit, not including party games makes the recommendations a bit more challenging. Additionally, couch co-op has become something of a dying breed in modern gaming which really limits what you can actually play with a friend who's visiting. Let's see.

1) Super Smash Bros — You may consider Smash to be a party game and thus disqualified, but in case you don't it would be a crime not to put it here. The series' reputation both as the ultimate party game and as a sweaty competitive game is a testament to the incredible gap between its skill floor and skill ceiling, where almost anyone able to press buttons can pick it up and have fun, but with enough depth to make it something one can really sink their teeth into if they want. Whenever I had friends and family over, this is what I would put on. The later games even support 8 player modes in case you've got a lot of friends (or in my case, cousins) over.

2) Divekick — A fighting game where everyone is KO'd in a single hit and your only buttons are dive (a jump) and kick. If all they know how to do in a fighting game is button mash, this forces everyone to play fighting games at their most basic fundamentals without needing to memorize any complex inputs, since all you can do is dive, kick, and special (dive+kick at the same time). It seems ridiculously gimmicky, but it's actually a lot of fun, and anyone of any skill level can play immediately.

3) Lethal League — A bit more complex than Divekick, but with the same basic idea of a "fighting game" that you wouldn't need to know any complex inputs for. The premise is that both of you have a bat, and there's a baseball that you can hit with the bat to KO the other player. However, you can also defend yourself from the ball by hitting it back at the enemy, making the ball go faster, until someone inevitably gets hit. This is one of my favorite indie games and a fantastic casual experience with friends.

4) Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime — a co-op space shooter for 2-4 players, LIADS sees you and your friends managing different stations of your space ship. Your job is to run from station to station, managing engines, weapons, navigation, etc in order to fly through the level and rescue your targets. It's got a little bit of a learning curve if your family members normally don't play any video games, but being a co-op instead of PVP will let you carry them along.

[hiddendruid]

Willow Month - Day 2: Favorite Relationship

This one is so hard for me. There’s so many wonderful relationships, so I'm gonna talk about multiple. So here are my favorite relationships in Willow (in no particular order):

1. Kit and Jade

I’ve seen my share of sapphic relationships, but not that many in fantasy. And none that immediately drew me in as strongly as these two. Not just their chemistry, but also just how much they bounce off each other as characters, if that makes sense. Like Jade being a courtly knight wanting to protect Kit, but also wanting to make sure Kit gets her training and not wanting to “save” her. And Kit being super selfish and taking her friendship with Jade for granted until she realizes how much she loves her???? Incredible 10/10.

2. Kit and Boorman

I feel like the way these two interact with each other is not only hilarious, but extremely relatable. As someone with an older brother, I FELT the sibling vibes between these two right away. Also the fact that they are both so intrinsically tied to Madmartigan and his legacy, it’s so good! I also love how Boorman passes off the cuirass and its power to Kit, knowing that its her story and her bravery that’s going to save the day. Poetry!!

3. Graydon and Elora

Listen. . .I could write ESSAYS about these two. They are THE relationship. From the moment Graydon told Elora she was extraordinary, I was in for the ride. There’s so many facets of their relationship that I could peel back and examine from their shared growth in doing magic to the ability for both characters to be able to share their trauma and crap with each other. Also SO MUCH ROMANCE I COULD EAT THIS SHIT UP. Like???? Graydon helping Elora with her magical pronunciation then saying “Perfect” while looking at her with his puppy dog eyes? Elora helping Graydon tie his shirt and looking deeply into his eyes?!?!?!?!?!?! 

“WHEN WE REACH THE IMMEMORIAL CITY, I KNOW YOU’LL SAVE AIRK AND YOU TWO WILL RUN OFF TOGETHER BECAUSE YOU LOVE HIM. AND WHILE I DON’T LOVE HIM I DO LOVE YOU. IT’S OKAY I’M NOT ASKING YOU TO LOVE ME BACK. I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU I NEVER WOULD HAVE BECOME THE MAN I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE?!?!?!??!”

Deceased. Dead. Dead Deceased. Not to mention there’s still a whole other side of their relationship we haven’t been able to explore yet because Elora hasn’t fully grappled with her feelings for Graydon yet. (pst, this is one of the reasons we need a Season 2)

4. Kit and Elora

These two made me cry so much while watching this show. I’m a sucker for sister relationships. I love that Elora is such a big sister for Kit - giving her advice and helping her self-actualize - and then Kit is such a snotty little sister pushing Elora over the edge (literally) and getting her to be brave. Also the growth of their relationship over the course of the show is so fantastic. And it feels real. It doesn’t feel like forced drama. I just adore how Kit has to grapple not only with the fact that this kitchen maid is the most powerful sorcerer in the world, but also the fact that her life has been prioritized over hers. Their scene in “Beyond the Shattered Sea” at the waterfall was so powerful. 

5. Willow and Graydon

Honestly, I could make an argument for every relationship between Willow and another member of the party. But there’s something so special about Graydon and Willow’s relationship. The little back and forth between them in episode 3 was so silly “Which one of us is the High Aldwyn? Oh yeah, it’s me.” and “Don’t say groin in mixed company.” Are some highlights for me. But then episode 5 really cemented it for me. The two of them talking about Elora felt very much like a dad talking to his daughter’s boyfriend. But then, by the end, the fact that Willow (truthfully I might add) told Graydon that he’s a good person. And then from then on, we got to see Willow become a sort of mentor and guide for Graydon. Like??? I got so teary-eyed in the finale when Willow told Graydon he was “on his way to becoming a great sorcerer, and an even greater man” then screamed “NO” when Graydon got shunted into the Wyrm realm. Like?!?! It’s so perfect.

6. Graydon and Boorman

OK, last but certainly not least, I adore these two. I feel like Willow really nails non-toxic masculine friendships so well. Boorman initially being the target for Graydon’s dad, but then becoming a sort of older brother figure for Graydon is such a perfect little arc. Also, Boorman does a great job of bringing Graydon out of his shell. He’s so supportive, but also is such a wonderful comedic contrast to Graydon’s ‘straight man.’ Boorman saves Graydon’s flute from the Immemorial City. That’s so fantastic, and such a great little nod to how much Boorman cared about Graydon.

Again, there’s too many to choose, so I settled for 6. There’s so many amazing relationship dynamics in this show and all of them are so fantastic I could go on and on and on. 

#willow 2022 #willow series #willowmonth2023 #kit tanthalos #graydon hastur #elora danan #tanthamore #graylora #thraxus boorman #willow ufgood

[darkvioletcloud]

Sorry for gushing about Louisa or fucking up her lore as I found out more about her. I hope you continue to do stuff with her.

Just a thought I had regarding her guilt and feeling tainted. Have you ever thought of a possibility of an event where she turns on a player/party members? Not in a conventional sense. 🤔 ik she isn't a fan of violence so perhaps the events of the festival get to her. Like on the possibility that her mind is at 0, a hug is done too many times or there's a coin flip in that instance and it it's missed then she could go crazy herself or an involuntarily suicide is done.

If that question is a dud, how do you think she'd fare in the prehevil bop club? 😮 or that event where Henryk poisons everyone.

I was thinking that over time as she grows and connects with other members of the party, she gets more confident in herself and becomes more of a protective member. She would end up joking about being depressed and suicidal in a concerning way and would make everyone else uncomfortable, but I’m not sure about her turning on other party members. That would be interesting, though! She’d probably turn on those who she doesn’t like as much, as she’d definitely pick favorites.

!!! You just gave me an idea for Henryk poisoning everyone. Louisa’s whole thing with the Enduring Soul is that she’s constantly suffering. She has to endure hardship and tries her best to see it as Alll-mer testing her faith. I think she’d survive the poisoning but she’s in agony. She’s sort of the reverse of Tanaka, who has like 6 different unique deaths, while Louisa just can’t die. She’s forced to continue on. Someone with more confidence would spin it into a form of empowerment, but Louisa is a very meek person and doesn’t have any faith in herself. It becomes a form of overwhelming and pathetic self-pity. It’d be a trait that could be a bit annoying to others.

Her passive and self-pitying nature isn’t supposed to be cute. It can be sad, sure, but her wallowing could be too much. Louisa needs to find strength and confidence in herself, and at this point in her life, she can’t find it by herself. Friendship and love are what’s helping her, like my idea with Abella saying that it’s not too late for Louisa to pursue her dreams. Louisa thinks she’s past her prime.

I also had an idea that in PRHVL Bop, maybe there’d be a conversation with Daan as the bartender where he automatically assumes she’d want milk or something nonalcoholic. He doesn’t see her as the drinking type. She asks for his strongest liquor and says she likes it.

There are two possible endings: Her drinking with Tanaka and not being impacted by the alcohol at all while he’s wasted, or Louisa getting drunk and trying to challenge Marcoh or August to a friendly brawl and then immediately passing out. I wanna draw this as a dumb little comic.

Also thank you for talking to me about Louisa!! :D

#oc: louisa #asks

[wardenparker]

From Dorne, with Love - part 4

Oberyn Martell x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

Your little sister is marrying her fairy tale princess on the exotic desert island nation of Dorne. Your soon-to-be sister-in-law’s playboy uncle is the other member of the wedding party along with you, but will your opposite approaches to life drive you apart before the ceremony even begins? Or is it possibly the beginning of a future you never thought possible?

Rating: E is for Explicit, my lovelies! Word Count: 9.9k Warnings:  *Some instances of reader being pig-headedly stubborn and some ‘ugly American’ moments, but we learn and grow in this house. Another one of our patented shitty families.* Size kink (Oberyn is stacked and I will not be taking criticism), public sex, vaginal sex, unprotected sex, exhibitionism, cockwarming, technically frottage I guess?, cum play. Prudishness, prejudice, a bit of slut shaming, seeming homophobia, family drama, discussions of cheating.  Summary: It’s time for a royal wedding! A little scandalous fun at the wedding reception is followed by an unexpected heart-to-heart. Notes: Sorry about missing last week’s update slot, everyone, my health is wreaking havoc on my productivity again. But we’re back in business!

Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Epilogue

The reason Dornish weddings take place at sunset becomes abundantly clear when you see just how many candles are lit during the ceremony. Each little flame helps carry the feeling of starlight and beauty throughout, and the pictures that the photographer takes of Lily and Aja at their altar after the ceremony are sure to be absolutely stunning. One of those is going to be your cell phone's lock screen for a very long time. That, or the candid that the photographer's assistant snuck a few moments later of Oberyn pulling you in for a kiss with the night sky as your backdrop. 

Now the new couple is politely accepting handshakes and hugs from everyone in their very long receiving line while you take the opportunity to check in with the band. Singing in public is something you normally reserve for karaoke night at your favorite bar in Koreatown, but the band leader has promised to keep it slow and simple and follow your lead. As long as Lily and Aja enjoy it, that's all that matters. You'll just focus entirely on them and not the three hundred other people in the palace gardens.

“Are you nervous?” Oberyn asks, coming up beside you as you make your way over to where the band is setting up. “Lily says you have an amazing voice.”

"My sister is my biggest fan. Always has been." Honestly, you're not sure if having him there to hear you makes it more or less terrifying, but his hand on your back in your elaborate gold bridesmaid dress is definitely calming right now. "I'm terrified, to be honest. Normally I'm three drinks down by the time I get up to sing in front of people. I want this to be perfect for them."

“It will be.” He promises immediately. “Because someone they love is singing it to them.”

"And then afterward I can hear a review from my mother," you laugh half-heartedly, pressing a kiss to his cheek when he looks annoyed at the implication. "It's okay. Honestly. Nothing they say can get to me tonight. Lily's happy and all is right with the world."

“We could always send them to the other side of the gardens.” Oberyn jokes. 

“Oo, banishment? That sounds exceptionally sexy.” Waggling your eyebrows at him earns you a laugh and it settles in your chest like a warm hug. “It’s fine. I’ll just tell my mom she looks beautiful and explain all the fancy food to my dad in layman’s terms and they’ll be good to go.”

He rolls his eyes, wondering how your parents would not be happy to have you or your sister as their daughters. “Do not spend much time concerning yourself with their comfort or enjoyment.” He leans in and gives you a conspiratorial look. “We might have mentioned that the downstairs salon has every football and American football and baseball channel on it.”

“I hope you know my dad is never leaving that room.” You giggle, grinning at the idea of something so simple and American being available in such an elegant place as the Old Palace. “I mean ever. He might even skip the flight home if that tv gets more channels than he does.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “Then we will have to make sure that the box is ‘broken’ in a few days.” He jokes. There are far more people that he dislikes more than your parents, even if he wishes to smack them on the head at what comes out of their mouths.

“Probably smart.” Once the receiving line has ended it will be time for the first dance, so you check your microphone quickly and step away from the stage with Oberyn to go in search of a little liquid courage. Not that it takes much work - there are waiters with drink trays positively everywhere.

He hands you a drink with a smile. “Don’t get too sauced where you forget the words.” He teases, giving you an encouraging wink as he picks up his own glass of alcohol. “To Lily and Aja.” He offers in toast.

“Lily and Aja.” The clink of crystal is musical, almost magical sounding amongst the laughter and chatter of guests around the two of you as you sip your drinks. “The ceremony was gorgeous.”

“Yes, it was.” He takes a sip of his drink. “Dorne has spectacular weddings. It’s honestly magical.”

For someone who has given up thinking of their own special day many years ago, it hasn’t made you as melancholy as you expected - probably because of the fact that it’s Lily’s perfect happily ever after moment. Princess Lily. A smile plays on your lips, knowing how she used to play princess when you were little. Princess Lily the Miracle Lady, aka the princess whose Lego castle was 90% science lab. “I was going to propose to Whitney.” You murmur, not sure why it’s really relevant except that it’s in your mind. “The only good thing from that whole situation is that she left me before I bought a ring.”

“Which makes her betrayal even more biting.” Oberyn observes. “Honestly, I never really thought much of weddings. I didn’t need to marry.” He explains. “There is no divorce in the royal family.”

“Maybe it’s just how our parents raised us.” You shrug slightly and sip your drink. “I mean…you’ve met my parents. They’re big fans of tradition. I just…I always thought I would get married and have kids right up until the day it was yanked out from under me. But…” Tilting your head at him slightly, you have to admit that you’re curious. “You never considered it? Not even with any of your daughters’ mothers?” 

“I considered it with Ellaria briefly, but she was not the type of woman who wanted to be tied down either.” He hums, remembering the conversation they had while she was expecting their third daughter.

“Well,” you offer him a smile, resting your hand on his arm briefly. “If that’s what you decide you want, I hope you find someone worthy of you.”

“You are still able to have your dream, Iris.” He reminds you. “Just with someone who will treat you better than your last love. Fuck, find love, have babies.”

“Maybe.” Regardless of how much better you feel, the level of trust in yourself and others you have to rebuild before you can even be able to contemplate a relationship again is…daunting. To put it mildly. “At least we know I haven’t forgotten the fucking part, right?”

“Definitely not.” That he can agree on, remembering the way your cunt squeezed his cock and your breathless praises feeding his own passions. “You excelled at remembering how to ride that particular bike.”

“Glad to hear it.” Given his wide berth of experience, you dreaded the idea of disappointing him. “Very, very glad.”

He takes your empty glass, tipped back during the conversation without you realizing you finished it, and hands you another. “If we were not required to partake in the celebration right now, I would be trying my hardest to convince you to let me get under that dress.”

“That won’t take a whole lot of work.” You accept the second glass with a mischievous grin. “We could always disappear for a little after the first dance? No one would notice.”

“What fun would that be?” He purrs. “I’d much rather make you cum with hundreds of people around, all clueless to the pleasure you are receiving.”

“Oh…” The breath just about knocks out of you, eyes widening and thighs clenching at the suggestion. “That…um…h-how exactly would that work?” 

Smirking at your obvious interest, he leans in, letting his nose graze yours. “We could be sitting down, and you have to keep those pretty little sounds to yourself. Or it can be on the dance floor, and you can make a mess of my thigh.”

“Interesting…” Any part of Oberyn between your legs would be a welcome feeling, but the idea of him getting you off while calmly chatting at the table is about to turn you into a needy little puddle. “I can be quiet,” you promise, almost instantly.

Triumph lights up his dark eyes, turning the smirk positively wicked. “Fingers, or does my Iris want to sit on my cock while we chat with people.”

“Why do I feel like you’ve done this several times before?” And why does that certainty make you completely weak in the knees? You lean into his side with a soft hum, loving the way he lights up at such a filthy game. “There’s no way you could get a hand under this dress without everyone knowing. It would be far more discreet to have me in your lap. Just…simple logistics.”

“I like the way you think.” Oberyn smirks and he nips your bottom lip playfully. “Discreetly hidden beneath my jacket is the hard cock I’ve been sporting since you appeared at the end of the aisle.”

“How you manage to be discreet about it is a mystery to me.” His playful mood rubs off on you easily, and you burrow into his side again without thinking. Everything about Oberyn is warm and inviting with an air of mischievousness and you hope the entire week is lived under this shroud of his encouraging and devious smile. You will not, however, let yourself indulge ever again in the image of walking down the aisle toward him. It’s a stretch even Gumby couldn’t make and will ruin the playfulness inherent in everything.

“Very good tailor.” He jokes, arm coming around you and sliding over the expanse of skin available to him.

Whatever reply you were expecting, it definitely wasn’t that, and it’s enough to send you into a fit of giggles that has you nearly clinging to him so you don’t double over and spill out of your dress. “The best,” you agree between laughs. “Best tailor in the world.”

“Much like the tailor who fitted this to you.” He doesn’t care if anyone is watching, squeezing your ass and smirking at your happy, bubbly face. “Now get up there and sing your song so you can sit on my cock.”

It might be the single most enticing and terrifying thing anyone has ever said to you and for some reason that makes it so much more fun as Aja’s father takes twenty-five or so more words than necessary to announce that the sister of the bride will be singing their first dance. It’s the song they danced to in Aja’s dorm room the first time they said out loud that they loved each other, and it’s the song Aja had playing when she proposed, and it’s the song you’ll sing for them now - along with a hundred thousand more times they’ll hear it in their hopefully long and happy life together. The nerves are there, of course, and they’re fierce - but watching so attentively from the edge of the dance floor is Oberyn, and it’s impossible not to think about singing straight to him.

There is something magical about you singing this song. Staring at him and crooning the words like you are devoting it to him. He swears he has stars in his own eyes as he watches you stun the entire audience, although Aja and Lily are center stage. At that moment, a little bit of his heart becomes yours.

It’s almost a pity that you can’t get away from the microphone fast enough after the song is over, though you’re swept onto the dance floor by your sister and her brand-new wife for endless hugs before the band strikes up and both fathers come forward to share a dance with their girls. In this moment the only place you want to be is basking in the easy glow of Oberyn’s affection - while simultaneously ignoring the adrenaline spike in your blood that has you thinking very un-fling-ish thoughts. Weddings make people think romantic thoughts, you remind yourself. You’re not actually feeling anything like that. It’s just the glow of Dornish wedding candles making you think that word. 

“You a woman of many talents.” Oberyn declares, hauling you close and pressing an eager, almost desperate kiss to your lips. Blocking out everyone around you for the taste of champagne on your tongue and the exhaled gasp you push into his mouth. He hears some murmured talking but ignores it, used to people talking about him.

The enveloping warmth of him is at an extreme - almost a scorching grasp to get as deeply close to you as he can, and it makes you melt into him. “If that’s that reaction it gets from you, I might have to sing a few more times before I leave.”

“We can make that happen.” He murmurs against your lips before he pulls away. “Shall we go sit down? Or would you like to dance first?”

“Let’s sit?” Nudging his nose with yours is an intimate gesture but it fits the mood of the moment nicely, making both of you smile into one more light kiss. “We have all night to dance.”

"Eager, are we?" He can't even deny that he is too. Ready to be inside you for hours now, and enjoying the idea that you are just as eager.

“I don’t know what you mean.” You throw him a teasing wink when he takes your hand to lead you to the table you’ve been assigned to sit at together. “I’m just talking about sitting on your lap and having a nice chat.” But the twisted smirk on your lips is barely containing your giggle and he knows it. “If you just happen to be inside me while I’m sitting there…I mean that would be absolutely salacious.”

There is a change in your demeanor that Oberyn is slightly surprised at witnessing. So different than the woman he had teased and flustered so easily. Confidence makes you even more sexy and his cock twitches in anticipation as he sits down and pats his lap.

The dress that Lily and Aja picked out for you is billowing. Yards and yards of some kind of fancy silk over built in petticoats - you didn’t even know people still wore petticoats - and it absolutely hides your intentions from sight as you set yourself down in Oberyn’s lap in the (thankfully) sturdy chair. Anyone who knows him won’t be surprised to see a woman in his lap, and almost no one here knows you at all, so they don’t know how impossibly unusual it is for you to be doing something like this. Only your family would have something to say, but Lily and your dad are still dancing, and your mom is off attempting to schmooze someone who easily looks related to Oberyn. The Dornish royal family isn’t overly large, but every single one of them is here today.

There is enough material that no one notices Oberyn's hands, covered by your skirts as he unzips his suit trousers and pulls himself free of the confines. No underwear makes this quick work. It was more a rule for his life to try to wear restricting garments as little as possible and he applauded himself for his forward thinking, even if he hadn't thought he would convince you to do this. He hums in your ear when you start grazing the head as you 'get comfortable'. The lace of your panties providing wonderful friction but he's eager to get to the warm wetness underneath. 

Even this much is without a doubt the most exhibitionist and possibly the dirtiest thing you’ve ever done in your life - definitely outstripping anytime you had a quickie with a coworker in the bathroom of a restaurant in between shifts or that nightclub in Palermo that was right on the coast, and you’d eaten that girl out on the cliffside because neither of you could wait to get back to her place. His fingers deftly work your thin panties aside, and you swallow a soft moan when he lines the thick head of his cock up at your entrance and slowly presses himself inside your body. The stretch and pinch of taking him are absolutely perfect, but you’re definitely clenching your fist under the table to keep from showing any other reaction.

You take him well. He feels you clench and flutter around him, loving the way you wiggle your ass in his lap to work him deeper. “Drink, Iris?” He asks, motioning one of the servers for the reception over.

“We are celebrating, after all.” He really is just going to be calm and collected about having you sit on his cock in the middle of the party. That realization makes you clench down on him that much harder, and you swear you see the moment his pupils dilate when you twist slightly in his lap to accept the glass.

He loves the way you feel around him. The nonchalance on your face and the small mischievous glint to your eyes. His cock twitches, deep inside you in response to your walls bearing down on him.

The small rhythm of minute movements is still just as breathtaking as when he was pounding you into the mattress at sunrise, just in very different ways now. Threat of discovery isn’t a high you’ve felt in years but in has lit up your entire body, making everything so much more sensitive and so much more pleasurable. A lady and gentleman come up to pay their respects to the prince and Oberyn might have been lazing in a window with nothing more scandalous in his lap than a book for how blasé he’s being - it makes you wonder what else you could get away with if he really wanted to. 

Perhaps, though, that was a be careful what you wish for moment, because as soon as the thought of more mischief floats through your mind, you catch sight of your mother making her way across the Gardens towards your precarious position. “Shit.” You mumble, squeezing his free hand at your hip. “Red alert. We’ve been seen...”

He chuckles in your ear, dark and sinful as his arm winds around your waist to keep you anchored against him. Possessive in appearance. "How interesting." He coos. "Your mother will no doubt say something to irritate you, I wonder if it will sting as harshly as when I am not buried in your delicious little cunt."

It’s too ironic and too entertaining to pass up, but even if you had been feeling modest or overwhelmed, your mother’s alarmingly fast footsteps have her pattering up to your table lightning fast. “Did you enjoy the ceremony, Mom?” The smile on your face is bright and cheery, completely belying the way you are subtly grinding down on Oberyn’s thick length.

Your mother arches her eyebrow at the vision of you sitting in Oberyn's lap, pursing her lips slightly. If it wasn't for the fact that the man had been so rude to her, she would have been thrilled. However, he was royalty, so she nods. "It was...interesting." She sighs slightly. "Although I wish some of our traditions had been observed."

“Neither Lily or Aja is Christian,” you remind her gently, deciding that whenever she says something rude or annoying, you’re going to bear down a little on the man below you. “You knew it was going to be a traditional Dornish ceremony.”

“Still.” She sniffs slightly and looks around, slightly flustered by seeing you on a man’s lap that you barely know. “At least they are married. Finally. I never thought I would get to see it.”

“They were together the exact same amount of time before they got married as you and dad. The only difference is that they met in college instead of high school.” Maybe it’s the idea of literally having nothing to lose while the lover you took thirteen hours ago grinds into you, but you’re feeling far less like a doormat than usual. “They took their time, and they made the decision when they were ready. Now they have a whole new life ahead of them.” You offer your mom a little solace though, and smile. “Your little girl is a princess now.”

"She is." That makes her soften for a brief moment and Oberyn uses it to his advantage, shifting his hips up slightly and flexing his cock inside you. Feeling the instant reaction of your walls tightening around him. He wishes he could see your face, wanting to see what expressions are riding across it.

You have to clench your fist and practically bite your lip to keep from moaning, the smile that you have directed at your mother wavering only for a blink of a second as you shift in Oberyn’s lap again and feel him throb inside you. If she knew, she’d probably accuse him of putting a spell on you, and that thought makes you want to laugh uncontrollably. Maybe he has? Who can really tell? But you feel more like your old self after a day and a half with Oberyn Martell than you had ever thought possible again. “Mom,” you throw a smirk over your shoulder at the man holding onto you. If he wants play dirty, you can definitely do that. “You’ll save a dance for Oberyn later, won’t you? He was saying earlier that he’s been looking for new things to read and I thought maybe you would have a recommendation from your book club.”

“Absolutely.” Oberyn immediately pipes up. “I have just finished Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. And One Hundred Years of Solitude.” He supplies easily. “Need some else to capture my attention.”

“Oh, we just read that Anderson Cooper’s new book!” Your mother launches into a verbose description of the American journalist’s exploration of his family history with delight, and Oberyn’s grip on your waist softens a little into something tender despite the fact that you’re teasing him with keeping her at the table longer while you warm his cock.

“…but of course, that’s not our New York,” she goes on, making you twist in Oberyn’s lap to grin at him. 

You can tell from the way he twitches inside you and his hand discreetly grips your hip that that swivel was a particularly good one for him. “Be careful, or she’ll be asking you to visit the real New York and put in an appearance with her book club ladies.” 

“Hmmm.” Oberyn is throbbing inside you and wants to feel you cum around him, but not while your mother is standing there. “Unfortunately, it will be some time before I will be back to the States.” He preemptively strikes that down. “Although I could send her book club copies of a famous Dornish author to discuss and even have them visit.”

“Martha Cauldwell would never believe it.” She practically crows it, and you know instantly that Oberyn has just won himself a decided victory with your mother. Martha Cauldwell is her age-old rival in all things and beating in anything her would make your mother’s entire year. Possibly even more than Lily’s wedding, though she would never admit it. 

You’re about to suggest she send her friends a text to see if they would be interested just to get her away from the table when Lily appears beside her to suggest she dance with your father. Lily may not say a single word to you or to Oberyn, but there is suspicion and amusement in her eyes, and you know you’ve been caught. But that she would never ruin your fun.

“Thank the gods.” Oberyn huffs, rolling his eyes slightly. “I thought she would never leave.”

“You’re welcome.” Lily throws both of you a wink before scampering away to find her bride again.

“You are lucky I didn’t bend you over this table and make you scream my name again.” The table in question, along with your dress, hides the way his hand dives beneath it to grip your panties and start grinding the material against your clit. “I would have, you know. Fucked you in front of everyone and been proud to do it.”

“I—“ You nearly squeak trying to swallow a moan, feeling glassy-eyed at the sudden assault of pleasure brought on by the texture of lace tight against your swollen nib. “I believe you would.” He doesn’t seem like he would be shy about pleasure no matter who he is with, and you honestly respect that about him.

“Smart girl.” He coos, grinning against your ear. “Want this little pussy to cum on my cock now. Can you do that for me? Squeeze me tight and make me fill you up?”

Nodding to keep from making any obvious noises, you’re suddenly grateful for every second of random pelvic floor exercises you ever did alongside your friends as they became mothers one after the other. Giving your cunt a workout had never paid off more than it did today, while he rocks up into you as subtly as he can to tip you over the edge.

You are close, he can feel the way your cunt is fluttering, the hand on your stomach feeling the muscles bunch beneath your skin as your core tightens in anticipation. He grunts, looking around and smirking when everyone is dancing and chatting, no clue what he is doing beyond Lily’s theory. “Cum, Iris.” He pulls a little more harshly on your panties to press your clit harder.

It’s like your body was waiting for the command, waiting on the precipice for when it would please him most, because a bare moment later you’re grasping his hand with your own - digging your nails into his skin with the effort not to sob his name while you cum in a torrent of pleasure.

The music playing provides the perfect cover for him rocking you on his lap. To anyone looking over it would seem like the two of you are wiggling to the beat. Instead of him working you through your orgasm in the middle of a wedding reception.

“Come on, lover.” You’ve never used the word in your own personal life before today, but that’s precisely what he is to you, and he did call you that this morning as well, if memory serves. With your lips as close to his ear as you can manage, your voice is no more than a strained whisper. “Fill me up.”

“Fuck.” Something about you wanting it, begging for it makes him nearly animalistic. Growling slightly, his entire body tightens, cock pulsing wildly while he coats your walls with hot ropes of his seed.

“So good.” The words are nearly a sigh of relief as the two of you relax, but a disbelieving bubble of happy giggles threaten to burst through the surface immediately afterward. “Holy shit I can’t believe we just did that…”

He smirks, kissing your ear. “You can add that to your list of ‘things I never thought I would do’.” He teases. “You just became an exhibitionist.”

“While talking to my fucking mother.” You nearly choke on your laughter, sinking into him as you relax.

He snorts quietly. “She might have demanded proof you were.” He hums, feeling himself start to soften inside you. “Now, I want you to be a good girl and slide your panties back into place, to keep that inside you.” Cum play has always been a favorite of his and he is curious to find out if it’s yours as well.

The slight whimper that escapes your lips surprises you, but you can’t deny that the idea has a fairly naughty appeal. “So early in the night and we’re already misbehaving.”

He huffs, smirking and slides his hand between you to tuck himself away. "Iris, we can get in so much trouble together if you let us." He informs you with a chuckle.

“You’re going to be a bad influence on me. I can tell.” As if he hasn’t been already. As if you’re not already craving more. Oberyn is addictive in a way that you could never have conceived of another person being. It’s no wonder he constantly has lovers of every kind jumping at his beck and call, and it must take as many lovers as possible to satisfy him.

"The worst." He is careful with your dress, shifting it so that you are not revealed in the slightest when you move off his lap. While he might have an exhibitionist streak a mile wide, he also believes that it should be equally shared. You bare your body because you wish to, not because of his carelessness.

“What do you say to a dance before dinner is served?” Standing next to him, completely modest again with not a stitch of clothing out of place, you can’t think of anything better than a moment of sweetness after the playful heat you just shared.

Hopping up, he offers you his hand in a dramatically overdone fashion. "My Iris, if you would honor me with this next dance?" He asks, bowing slightly and smirking up at you with a wink.

“I just asked you,” you’re laughing though, shaking your head as he scoops you up in his arms and twirls you off to the dance floor, still managing to tease him on the way. “I promise I’ll wear something much skimpier when we got clubbing.”

"I have just the thing." He grins as he turns you around and pulls you into his arms. "A dress made out of thousands of tiny chains. It would look exquisite on you."

“That sounds a lot more intense than my little black dress.” The music is soft and sweet, and he sways gently with his arm around you like you’re a natural extension of his own body.

"It would be intense." He agrees with you, swinging you out of his arms to pull you back to the tempo. "However, I would never force you to wear something you would not wish too. Perhaps a private show of that dress."

"A private show can definitely be arranged." You giggle freely when he dips you and pulls you back up to his chest, happily leaning in to steal a kiss before he spins you gently one more time.

The servers start to bring the meals into the gardens, making Oberyn kiss your hand as the song ends. “Have you worked up a proper appetite?” He asks, guiding you back over to the table.

“I think we had plenty enough of a workout.” The table you’ve been assigned to, as the sole members of the wedding party, is for family and distinguished guests. Your parents, Oberyn’s brother Doran, and his wife round out the seating, making you dread what kind of a meal this would be if you didn’t enjoy Oberyn’s company so much.

"It will be fine." Oberyn squeezes your hand gently. "It will not be bad. If she opens her mouth too much, I will shove a croissant in it."

“Do that and I’ll wear your chain dress anywhere you want,” you murmur in his ear with a smirk.

He is laughing as he holds out your chair for you and pushes it under you. Your parents are already sitting at the table along with Doran and Mellario. He smirks, wondering if they had been sitting before the other are at the table to prevent the constant standing and bowing that would inevitably get. "Brother, Mel." He nods towards both of them with a bow of his head.

“Oberyn.” Mellario is in good spirits, enjoying the evening as an occasion for relaxation. Her own son is younger still than some of Oberyn’s daughters and she will not have to worry about truly sponsoring an event like this for several more years at the earliest. “Such a lovely night, and a beautiful wedding.”

“It was.” Oberyn agrees, looking around proudly as if he were Aja’s father instead of Raeghar, who is still on the dance floor. He was sitting elsewhere, much to Oberyn’s relief. His causal neglect of his only daughter made the prince’s teeth grind together. “The fireworks will be the talk of the year.” He predicts with a grin.

“I have no doubt.” She seems pleased with that assessment and raises the glass of champagne in her hand in your direction. “And you, my dear. Such a lovely singing voice. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.” 

“Oh…” you barely exclaim, clearing the surprise from your throat, and feel your whole face warm with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. “Th-thank you…it’s not something I do often anymore. But my sister asked, and I really would do just about anything for her.”

“As would anyone who loves their sibling.” Mellario’s eyes flicker over to Oberyn for a moment, her eyes expressive. “They would do anything.” 

The way she says anything makes you wonder what exactly Oberyn might have done for - or with - her, but you push the slight needle of jealousy away. Not only do you have no claim to him whatsoever making jealousy completely inappropriate, but the woman is now married to his brother - making jealousy completely inappropriate.

“Yes, they would, Mel.” He murmurs, looking over at his brother who lifts his wife’s hand and kisses the back of it. The brothers have a moment where they stare at each other, silently communicating but Oberyn’s isn’t quite ready to let Doran know all his secrets, so he turns back to you. “I will have to convince you to sing for us again before you leave. A private palace concert.”

“A-a concert?” Your eyebrows shoot up to your hairline at the overwhelming suggestion. “I don’t know, I mean…I’m not a professional or anything…if you’d said you wanted me to cook dinner for everybody then I mean maybe—”

“Perfect.” Oberyn grins, latching onto the idea. “We will have a family dinner, cooked by you and then you can sing us whatever you want.” He’s teasing you but he doesn’t want you to know that yet. Yes, singing does happen routinely at family dinners, but everyone sings.

The look you shoot him says he is going to pay for picking up on your rambling, but it’s already out of your mouth and it was said to a table full of royalty as well as your extremely expectant parents, so you make yourself nod. “Whenever you wish.” The agreement is directed at his brother, and you swear you can feel yourself sweat realizing what you’ve just said yes to.

Doran chuckles and shakes his head. “My brother is teasing you. He is talking about the very informal family nights where we all cook, get drunk and sing horrible karaoke in the main salon like we are not royals.”

“That sounds like the perfect night.” Drinking and cooking and spending time with people you love? That is your version of happiness. It was what you did with Lily and Aja when they came over on your nights off, but the flicker of sadness that you won’t be able to share that with them after they move here is something you’re not ready to face yet. You look over at Oberyn with an exaggerated smirk and roll your eyes at him. “Yes, Oberyn likes to tease.”

He pouts. “Damnit Doran, I was going to get her to do it.” He huffs, knowing it would be unseemly to throw his napkin ring at his older brother.

“I’ll still cook.” In a much less formal setting, you don’t mind it at all. You vastly prefer family style cooking and that sounds like exactly what their family dinners would be. “But I will be very happy to not be the only one who sings.”

“I’ll make sure you hear Oberyn screech.” The king grins, winking at his brother as the younger man glowers at him.

“Is there actually something that you’re not amazing at?” It’s your turn to tease Oberyn, and the grin spreads across your face like wildfire. “A hole in the armour of seeming perfection?”

“I don’t screech.” He grumbles, lips pursed and a decided pout on his face.

“You can’t be worse than Lily.” You promise him, slipping your hand around his and gently squeezing his fingers in reassurance. If he’s actually insecure about it, you wouldn’t tease him even a second more.

“We’ll see.” Oberyn grins at the idea that you are sweet enough to try to make him feel better.

“I’m sure of it.” The first course laid in front of you is an exquisite trio of raw oysters with mignonette sauce alongside a warm octopus salad and you practically hum with joy at the fresh seafood - choosing to disregard the way your father looks at the offering like he’s just been served snot. Some people would call it a lack of culture, but he’s just a picky eater. Knowing this, you catch his eye and direct him to the octopus salad which you know he’ll love because he likes to eat calamari on the rare occasion they make it to the city and come to your restaurant.

Food is always a favorite of Oberyn’s, humming in approval as the happy couple make their way over to the table. “Ladies.” He pushes his chair back and sits both Lily and Aja before he sits again. “Working up an appetite on the dance floor, I see.” He smirks at them before he picks up the small oyster fork.

“Absolutely.” Lily hasn’t stopped smiling all day, and she is positively beaming now. “We’re going to utterly exhaust ourselves so when we get on the plane to Fiji in the morning, we can just sleep the entire flight.”

“It doesn’t hurt that the plane has a bedroom.” Oberyn smirks at the two of them, knowing that they will definitely have sex before passing out. 

“No.” Aja smirks at her uncle and shakes her head before placing a kiss on her wife’s burning cheek. “It doesn’t hurt at all. And I’m sure you’ve stocked that room with some kind of fun surprise for us.”

“Well since I didn’t think you would appreciate the prostitute I considered sending with you, lubes and toys had to suffice.” He jokes.

Your parents simultaneously choke on the sips of their drinks they had just taken, and both you and Lily are trying so hard not to laugh that you feel like you might burst. “What?” Aja feigns complete ignorance. “We’re married. Surely it is no longer taboo to acknowledge that married couples have sex.”

“You’re her uncle!” The look your mother sends Oberyn is positively scandalized and he almost laughs. Instead, he nods and gives a very serious nibble on the bottom of his lip. 

“Yes, and it is my duty to make sure my niece is safe.” He quips.

“You should have fun.” You insist, squeezing your sister’s hand as she sits on your other side. “It’s your honeymoon. Go wild.”

“Oh, we will.” Lily giggles happily. “We aren’t wearing more than our birthday suits for days.”

The scandalized gasp that rips through your mother has nearly everyone else at the table holding back laughter, but you manage to swallow your amusement first to change the subject so that she doesn't end up upset instead of just aghast. The meal progresses gently instead, with polite conversation instead of raunchy, and soon enough Doran and Oberyn are stepping onto the dance floor with the brides as the party truly gets started.

The silence at the table isn't deafening, but would be if there wasn't the scraping of forks on plates as your father finishes up the last of his meal. The queen is watching Doran on the dancefloor, a whimsical smile on her face, remembering her own dance with the previous king, Doran's father, on her own wedding day.

It’s not long before the queen is whisked away to the dance floor as well, and the tense silence at the table seems to crescendo. Your mother is all but staring at you, and your father seems uncharacteristically unable to meet your eyes at all. “Alright,” you huff, knowing that the stewing in it will only be worse. “Say whatever it is you’re going to say.” Just get it over with, please.

"I find it funny that you have been in Dorne for two days and now you are acting like...like a harlot." Your mother hisses. "Sitting on his lap in front of everyone! I raised you better than that."

“A harlot?” You raise one eyebrow at her word choice, having a feeling that Oberyn would appreciate its dramatic flair. “I made a friend, and I like spending time with him. Aren’t you the one who was bemoaning the fact that I don’t spend time with men yesterday?” And to Oberyn, no less. Which only made it funnier. “I’m just trying to follow your wishes, mom.”

"But he's – he's—" She can't come right out and say it like she wants to. "I read he has eight bastard daughters!" She makes sure to lower her voice and glance furtively around as she says it, not wishing someone to overhear. "He has a reputation."

“Yes, he does.” And that reputation is well deserved, but he isn’t the devilish rascal she imagined him to be. Not really. “He has eight girls that he loves and cares for, and he’s proud of each and every one of them.” It bristles that she would choose to pick on his girls, who have done absolutely nothing wrong, but your mother has always thought of herself as a saint in so many incorrect ways that it shouldn’t surprise you. “What are you worried about? That your book club will find out I kissed an unmarried man with children, and they’ll suddenly decide I’m not good enough for their already married sons?”

"No." Your mother looks over at the dance floor, frowning slightly and then looks back at you. "Your last relationship," she sniffs delicately, "did not end well and you spent the past seven years licking your wounds." She tells you. "I would hate to know that some little fling with this lothario would put you right back in that same place. No matter how often you...perform for him in public, it won't lead to anything permanent." 

“Six years.” You correct her with a frown. “And there is absolutely nothing permanent about me spending time with Oberyn, I totally agree. We’re friends, we enjoy spending time together, and at the end of the week I’ll go back to New York and probably never see him again.” That is the reality of the thing that you agreed upon, no matter how much you’re already starting to regret it. But fuck if you’re going to let your mother know she’s right. “I have no illusions and neither does he. So if that is really what you’re worried about, then please try to relax.”

"And when it gets out that you have been with him, you will find men don't want you." Her words are sharp and scolding. "A man like that. Promiscuous, so...free." She shakes her head in disapproval. "I even heard he sleeps with men."

“Mom…” Instantly, your forehead crashes into your palm with a smack. “Lily just married another woman. I’m not straight either. How are two men together the thing that you can’t wrap your head around?”

"It's...it's..." She is struggling to find the words to try to articulate why it's wrong. "They are men! It's just not right." She decides, not admitting to the past that might cloud her judgment of this entire thing. It was a secret she had kept from her girls for a long time. Kept from everyone in the small town she grew up in. Everyone except her husband.

“So you’re selectively homophobic?” There’s nothing you can do to disguise the disappointment on your face, and you’re not sure you would even if it were possible. For all the things they had pushed back against, your parents had always supported you and Lily in your sexually identities. They had learned the terminology and done their best to get it right, looked your girlfriends in the eyes while shaking their hands and never balked when a teenage Lily wanted rainbow everything in high school after coming out. They had been allies, but apparently this was where the line was drawn. “That’s fantastic.” The sarcasm in your voice is biting as you stand from the table. “I’m going to go ask Oberyn’s male lover to dance,” You announce, having spotted Selvin amongst the guests earlier. “You two have fun stewing in your discomfort.”

"Dear." Your father finds his voice, disapproving and harsh towards his wife before he reaches out and captures your hand before you can leave. "She doesn't mean it like that. Just…sit and talk."

There are a lot of things you will do tonight - not the least of them definitely being having sex with Oberyn again - but you won’t cause a scene. The fact that your generally timid father is willing to speak up makes you nod and sit back down. “How did you mean it, then?” You ask, eyes trained on your mother.

"It's not...honey, I just worry." She starts, biting her lip and there is a sheen of tears in her eyes. "I don't mind gay men." She admits. "It's just— I – I – what if you start a relationship and you come home one day thinking that everything is fine and yet you find out that you can't give him what he needs because you aren't a man? Or worse, walk in on the boy you think you will love for the rest of your life to find him in bed with your bro— friend. Your friend."

“Mom…” The tears in her eyes are definitely something you’ve never seen before - not like this - and you carefully slide over in the vacant chair beside her. “Did…did something happen? Do you want to talk about it? Maybe?” The small slip of tongue that sounded like brother makes you wonder if there’s a story here. A story of maybe why you never see your own uncle except at family funerals. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen.”

Your father sighs, reaching for the beer that he had insisted was better than the champagne. "It's time, dear." He murmurs to his wife softly. "Tell the girl."

While he reaches for a drink - an impulse you totally understand - you reach for your mother’s hand. She’s not perfect, sure, and sometimes you piss each other off to an extreme degree, but she’s still your mother and you do love her. “Did something happen with Uncle Rick?” You ask her quietly, not wanting to spook her by guessing but wondering if you had inferred correctly.

"I— your father was my best friend." You had known that growing up. It was a cornerstone of the fairy tale version of her life that she had spun for you girls. "But he wasn't my first love." She confesses softly, shaking her head and huffing at herself for her own blind stupidity. "Your 'uncle' Rob was." Her brother and the man he had lived with your entire life had never formally gotten married, even when it was legalized, but when you had seen the other man, he had insisted you call him Uncle Rob.

“Oh…” Your eyes widen with understanding, and the animosity towards your uncle and his partner suddenly makes a hell of a lot more sense. “You never forgave Uncle Rick for stealing your boyfriend.” It’s not accusatory, or judgmental. Just a statement of fact as you nod your head slowly. “That’s why Lils and I didn’t even know Uncle Rick was gay until after we came out.” It hadn’t even been a conversation at home, but one between you and your sister as you put the pieces together. The standard ’this is your uncle’s best friend’ lie had sufficed for years before that. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m really sorry. Believe me, I know what it feels like to be betrayed. But that just means Uncle Rick and his partner did a shitty thing to you, not that all gay men are untrustworthy.”

"Except he wasn't gay." She huffs. "He claimed he liked girls and boys, but that he was with me. Such a lie." She scoffs. "Sleeping with both of us." She shudders in disgust at that fact. "I just – I know your last girlfriend married a man after she left you." She reveals quietly, giving you an imperious look when you gasp in shock. "I'm your mother, I knew something was wrong and so I looked her up. I don't want to see you hurt like that again."

“Mom, I like men and women equally.” She knows that, you’ve been plain with her, but it sounds like she hasn’t had an easy time processing it. Although it’s kind of a relief that you don’t have to explain what happened with your last relationship. “Whitney could easily have left me for another woman. Two people cheating who happen to be bisexual doesn’t mean that all bisexuals will cheat. That’s not how it works.” It does, though, show you where you get your powerful ability to hold a grudge from. Your mother has been holding on to this for thirty-five years. “I’m so sorry you got hurt, I really am. But it was individual people that hurt us, not the world.”

It was individual people that hurt us, not the world. Your own words echo in your ears far longer than they do in the air and you almost shake your head at yourself. For six years you’ve been holding yourself away from the world, when you should have just been steering clear of the one person who hurt you. And it took finding out about your mother’s grudge to realize it. Like mother, like daughter…

She stares at you for a moment before she sighs, nodding as her posture slumps down in shame as she realizes exactly how bitter she has been towards the entire situation. "I just want you to be happy, have babies, create the family you used to dream of when you were a little girl."

“And I might.” Instinctively, you move forward to hug her, closing your eyes against the huge gap of misunderstanding that has almost made you walk away from the table. “Or I might adopt. Get IVF and be a single mom. Or I might find a partner and decide not to have kids at all. But no matter what happens, I just want my mom to be behind me, okay?” You hug her a little tighter when you hear her sniffle in your ear. “And Lils deserves that, too. For you and dad to love her and be proud of her no matter what decisions she and Aja make about having kids. We’re just…” The truth. Tell her the truth. What she just admitted is huge and she deserves trust in return. “We don’t want you to be disappointed in us, so sometimes it’s hard to tell you things that we’re not sure you’ll like. And…” Truth, your mind says again. “Please don’t take it out on Oberyn? If anything, he wants the same thing you do. For me to be happy again. His way of helping is just a little bit different.”

"Like having sex with my daughter in the middle of a wedding reception?" She asks soft enough that your father doesn't hear, head turned away and studiously trying to ignore the conversation going on beside him as he watches the people mingle and dance.

“Unconventional solutions for unconventional problems.” And as soon as you are done with this conversation you’re going to melt into the floor with embarrassment. You cover your face with both hands and exhale slowly. “You and I will never speak of it again.”

"As long as you enjoyed it." Your mother gives a small smile as she looks over at the dance floor. "We won't speak of it again."

“From now on I’m not bothering with any partners that I don’t enjoy.” When you sit back in your seat, your eyes glide out over the dancers as well. They find him almost immediately in the crowd, as he charms and laughs with a woman you don’t recognize while the song draws to a close. It’s not exactly jealousy that you’re feeling, but definitely something mixed in with affection. You want it to be you out there with him. But it will be soon enough. “Thank you for being honest with me,” you can’t really look your mother in the eyes at the moment, but she knows you’re talking to her still. “I’ll do my best to be more honest with you, too.”

"I should have told you years ago." She admits, squeezing your hand gently. "Go, have fun." She encourages you with a smile.

“I love you.” It’s a small sentence, but it needs to happen right now possibly more than it has in a long time as you squeeze your mother’s hand tightly and get up from your seat to hug your father. “You too, dad.” And to him you add a whispered: “Thank you,” before walking out to the dance floor. 

Oberyn’s eyes light up when he spots you walking towards him. Finishing up the dance with the woman who had asked him, he kisses her hand and turns towards you. “Iris.” He searches your face with a small smile. “You survived the inquisition.”

“It got…interesting.” You step into his arms easily, appreciating that it is a slower song so you can talk a little. “It started with an inquisition and ended with me wanting to evaporate into the floorboards because my mother knew exactly what we were doing earlier.”

“Really?” Oberyn looks around you to glance at your mother. “Maybe the stick isn’t as far up her ass as I thought.”

“We are never speaking of it in front of her.” Your voice is firm despite the fact that you’re shaking your head on a laugh. “Turns out my superpower of holding a grudge way too long is hereditary.” His arms around you are secure and soft all at once and you don’t hesitate to sink against him. “And I may have logic-ed myself out of my own stubbornness while trying to get her to give up on her own.”

"Then the conversation was an overwhelming success." He decides, pulling you into his embrace and kisses you softly.

You would agree with him. You really would. If you weren’t so absorbed in the soft comfort of his lips pressing against yours. Instead, all thoughts fly out of your head except for him, and you sweep your tongue along the seam of his lips, begging entrance right there on the dance floor.

He hums, opening up for you and completely approving of the way that you are taking control of the kiss. He’s easy to get lost in - another thing that makes him so addictive - and you have to reel yourself back down to reality hard in order not to get carried away. “What do you think about us disappearing after cake and fireworks at midnight?” When you open your eyes again you’re nearly breathless, fully ready to admit that he affects you in a way that you can’t quite explain past wanting.

He sends you a pout. "You ruined my plans." He jokes, leaning in and kissing the tip of your nose. "I was going to suggest that."

“Then the only thing I ruined was the surprise suggestion.” Nudging his nose with yours makes both of you smile. “We can come back, I just…I think my sex drive is trying to make up for the last six years.”

Oberyn chuckles, sliding his hand down and squeezing your ass. "Do I need to make sure I have back up if I am unable to keep up with your appetite?"

You raise your eyebrows at him, surprised he would sell himself short like that, but shake your head. “I might be hornier than usual, but that doesn’t mean the trust issues evaporated.” You tell him honestly.

"It was a joke, Iris." He huffs softly. "I don't think I would let another touch you right now." He leans in and nudges his nose against yours. "Every orgasm until you leave is mine. If not on my cock, then I think I have proven my fingers and tongue to be a satisfactory substitute." 

“There is no substitute for any part of you, and you know it.” The urge to suggest again that he come visit you in New York is going to be one you have to stifle for the rest of the week, you can tell that already. It’s just a fling. You remind yourself as he tugs you closer in his arms. Nothing more. And that’s okay.

"As long as my flower is satisfied." He winks at you and starts swaying with you to the music. "Perhaps you can sit on my lap again and I'll finger your cunt until you cum."

“I don’t think I’ll be up for anymore lap sitting at the reception.” The look on your face is borderline mortified. “Not now that we’ve been caught twice.”

"Twice?" He frowns at you in confusion.

“Lily definitely knew.” And she’ll be ragging on you about it forever, if you know her at all.

"Yes, I saw her smirks she was tossing you." He hums, grinning himself. "And the other was your mother. Naughty, naughty."

“We would have given my father a heart attack.” That nearly makes you snort, and you bury your face the crook of his neck. “Thank god not everyone in my family knows what we’ve been up to.”

"I wouldn't mind if they did." He knows you might, but he was very proud that you had allowed him between your thighs.

“I know, lover.” The little term of endearment grows on you every time you use it, and it’s always fond. “But you heard them at dinner. They can’t even wrap their heads around talking about a married couple fucking.”

He snorts and shakes his head in amusement. "They are very conservative when it comes to fucking." He rolls his eyes. "I would die of boredom."

“Then it’s a good thing we’ll all be gone and out of your hair, soon.” It’s meant as a joke, but it does sting a little. Though you’re too stubborn to let that show. “All except Lily. But she’s the most fun of us.”

"I have to disagree." Oberyn hums, leaning in and biting your bottom lip. "I have had nothing but fun with you." 

“Flatterer.” You can’t help but giggle a little, and the words are out of your mouth before you can stop them. “Maybe someday I’ll make it back to visit.”

"Dorne would always welcome you." He promises, feeling a pang of remorse that you would ever leave. However, you had told him you just wanted a week with him.

“Maybe someday, then.” And from now until that mystic day, there is a good chance you’ll think of him every day. But there’s nothing you can do about that except make wonderful memories to think back on fondly.

"Let's not look to the future." Oberyn doesn't want to think about that right now. "We are here now, in this moment."

______

Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356​ @ajathegreats-blog​

FDwL: @emofairyprincessofarkansas @littlemisspascal @doommommy @lepard60 @writeforfandoms @sweet-heartbadmouth @scorpio-marionette @storiesofthefandomlovers @fan-of-encouragement @sainteredhood @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @shadowolf993 @apocalypticwafflekitten @coldlonelydays @166869 @genevievedarcygranger @missredherring  @ellenmunn @teenagezombiekryptonite @star017

My Masterlist!

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal character fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Oberyn Martell #Oberyn Martell x reader #Oberyn Martell x you #Oberyn Martell x female reader #modern!Oberyn #Game of Thrones fanfic #GoT fic #modern au #slight twist on the wedding date trope #i love one (1) bisexual chaos prince

[smartycvnt]

Light My Fire

Pairing; Alba Fyre x Reader

Prompt; 49. "You look so good on your knees like that."

Warnings: smut, dom Alba, sub reader, oral (f receiving)

NR

WC: 1014

Alba kept a firm grip on your arm as she led you to her hotel room. Traveling shows were some of your favorites for NXT for a lot of reasons, but this was a big one. You had been placed in a room with Indi, but you doubted that you would see the inside of your own room before you left in the morning. Alba had taken you pretty much immediately after the show ended. Other members of the roster had decided to go out and party a little like Alba's own roommate for the night, but Alba didn't have time for that. She wanted you. Obviously, whatever you had done during your match against Isla had impressed Alba, despite the fact that she had nearly attacked you when it was over. Isla had brutalized you a little afterwards, but Alba didn't lay a finger on you.

"How did it feel?" Alba asked as she locked the door behind her. The look you gave Alba was full of confusion. She had never been one to show great care towards you, even before she had joined up with Isla. Alba had seen you as beneath her in the food chain, especially since you had never even been a major contender for a title. You were a loser, someone who went into matches with the sole purpose of making the other person look better. That had been your place, and you didn't want things to be that way anymore. "It sucks, doesn't it? Losing again and again while everybody else gets their shot in the spotlight. That can change for you Y/n. I know you don't trust her right now, but you can trust me baby."

"Trust you?" you laughed. Alba's face hardened as she pulled your hair roughly. You dropped down to one knee in front of her, a position that you had been in many times before. The heat in Alba's eyes shifted from anger to arousal in an instant when she took a moment to really look at you. "Why would I trust you?"

"Because I can take care of you. You've never been a winner because they threw you to the wolves. You were homegrown to be their jobber, but with some help, I'll make you a winner. All you have to do is listen to me," Alba offered. There was something about this that felt wrong. You wanted to become a champion because of your hard work, not a proverbial deal with the devil. Alba and Isla were on some dark shit, things that you didn't even want to begin to understand. They could get you where you wanted to be though, if not with whatever forces Isla pulled from than with the ruthlessness that Alba had shown before she was signed to the WWE. They had stomped that down, forced it to stay hidden unless there was a special occasion.

"I want to be a winner," you told her. Alba let go of your hair and trailed her hand along your cheek. She stopped to brush her thumb across your bottom lip. You were looking directly into her eyes, but you couldn't figure out what she was thinking about as she stared down at you. Alba didn't usually let things linger like this whenever she wanted to fuck.

"I'll make you a winner. I'll make you everything that you can be," Alba promised you. She kept you on your knees as she pulled you over towards the bed. Alba let her pants and underwear drop onto the ground before stepping out of them. Your eyes followed the trail of exposed skin up until you were looking back up at her eyes again. Alba sat down on the bed with her legs crossed. She was teasing you, letting the idea of what was to come sit and fester in your brain. Alba was making you want her even more than she already knew you did.

"Alba, please." You weren't above some light begging, which Alba already knew. She had heard you begging Isla to stop beating you back in the ring earlier. You were certain that was part of why your clothes were still on as you kneeled in front of Alba now. She didn't like seeing the bruises and scrapes that came from wrestling on your body. Alba liked seeing the hickeys and occasional handprint from herself on your body, but nothing from anybody else.

"You look so good on your knees like that. I just love watching you begging for a taste. You may have lost your match, but that changes tonight. I'll make sure you hold the gold in your hands. Tonight, you enjoy yourself, but tomorrow I'll start showing you how to do what needs to be done," Alba said. You began to nod, but Alba cut you off by pulling your face in between her thighs. Slowly, you began to lap at Alba's cunt. "Oh I'm gonna need more from you than that. Come on now."

Alba pulled your face deeper into her as she verbally urged you to give her more. You did what you could without getting too sloppy. There was a fear in the back of your head about not being good enough. Alba began demanding more and more from you until something inside of you snapped and you finally let go. You stopped caring about whether or not Alba was impressed with your technique. That wasn't what you were there for, you were there because Alba wanted you to make her cum. You went on your body's instinct rather than what your brain told you should be happening. All of the demands for more from you ceased and were replaced with a chorus of curse words and exclamations of pleasure that were either being half-screamed or jumbled out in between moans. It was freeing, and you realized that you'd never get anywhere at all if you didn't let you and listen to your instincts rather than what you had been told had to happen in order for you to make it.

#alba fyre x reader #alba fyre #wwe x reader #wwe #my writing

[octotriosimp]

You know the drill is time for me to talk about my favorite characters

This time I'm going with riddle

Fun fact me and riddle share a birthday

Loved him before that but now it's more intense

So starting off I feel like you two would just naturally need because Ace and Deuce

Definitely would be very strict with the fact that you're just constantly hanging around the dorm and not a member of it

I feel like you two would become like somewhat good friends before the overblot

I feel like the overblot would be normal like it is in the story except you just stay afterwards to make sure he's okay

This man is the stubborn person in the universe he will not admit his feelings you will have to get it out of him

Maybe join the equestrian club to get closer to him he can and will just pretend like there aren't other horses so you can ride with him

This man is down bad for you it's not even funny

Probably accidentally ends up confessing his feelings during Leona's overblot when helping you get to the nurse's office

He is a gentleman he continues getting you there but runs immediately after

He is really embarrassed you will have to coax him out of his room maybe get Trey to bake him something

Maybe just break down his door that'll work too

He may be shy but you will be having a 5-hour discussion about this

He has never been in a relationship before please take pity on him

You think you're scared about meeting his mother he is terrified

You go to meet his mother during winter break

Now there's no escape routes

Surprisingly his mother is 100% okay with this

Probably ask when you're going to get married and does show you his baby pictures

If you thought he got red when he was angry you will be surprised at how red he gets when his mom with no shame asks how many kids you want

This man is beyond grateful when winter break is over

He is mortified

He will be even more mortified if you actually answered his mom

Surprisingly a good cuddler

Believe it or not he is protective the second you two are romantically involved he will set you right by him at unbirthday parties

He wants to make sure no one is confusing your relationship

Final score 11 out of 10 love this man

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst wonderland #twst x reader #twst riddle #riddle rosehearts x reader #riddle x reader #riddle rosehearts

[digital-survivor]

What do you think of Ryo character and his relationship with Kunamon? Personally I find heartbreaking the way he dies in my first route, we see him break little to little, when in chapter two (when we save Saki and Shuinji) he seemed be more ready to help, and then in chapter 3, his grief ate him so much that he couldn't be (didn't want to be) rational again =( I'm happy to be able to save him in my New Game +

Honestly I wasn't expecting Ryou to become one of my favorites along with Shuuji, but he ended up as 2nd favorite after my NG+ (If you can't tell already, Shuuji is my most fav kahsjkdsh). I really enjoy seeing his relationship with Kunemon develop too in NG+, because unlike most of the other pairs, he didn't immediately hit it off with Kunemon (albeit not as bad as Shuuji and Lopmon) and on top of that, Kunemon wasn't able to communicate properly with the humans like other partner monsters, so I was very Intrigued to see where the story would bring them. I'll elaborate everything under the cut because I feel like this is going to be long LOL.

I actually found Ryou's cowardliness at the beginning very endearing in a weird way rather than annoying, so I couldn't understand where all the hate was coming from? But yeah, I admitted it was pretty fun seeing Ryou getting teased a lot before we learned more about his whole ordeal, which made me feel really bad.

I really feel for him, and even though his experience didn't hit as close to home as Shuuji's was for me, everyone could tell how it obviously wasn't easy to deal with the stress of getting trapped in an unknown parallel world especially when you were still struggling with grief and loss of a beloved family member. Especially after learning that he actually joined the camp to fulfill his mother's wish. It just makes it all the more heartbreaking to know. I wasn't actually expecting him to go full mental breakdown as fast as in chapter 3, but piecing together all the things we know about him it makes sense. Still, I was taken off guard by how fast it all happened, and his death actually made me take some time off from the game to calm down for a bit kahdjskdh.

His whole feigning tough guy act to hide a cowardly and lonely heart isn't something original in media, and I could actually tell from the beginning (I don't think the game is trying to hide that either), but I really like how Survive made him more perceptive than he may look on the outside. It fits well with Ryou's other traits and information that we know about him. And it's nice how he plays a very pivotal role in saving Shuuji, because you need someone who both can relate with Shuuji's issues and has the gut to smack some sense (almost literally) into Shuuji's head to give him the much-needed wake-up call. Everything just fits together really nicely in the story.

With regards to his relationship with Kunemon, I can understand why he didn't immediately click with him like the rest of the party, given how scared shitless he was at the beginning. I did notice that as we progressed in the story, he was starting to respond to Kunemon more, though at that time it was hard to tell if he actually understood Kunemon or he was just being delusional. From NG+ we learned that the first one was the case, and... okay I might be reading too much into this, but I love how this whole "Kunemon can't communicate with humans and the only human who understands him is Ryou" fits not only Ryou having communication problems that hinder him, but is also pretty symbolic of Ryou being more perceptive than he looks. Him being able to understand Kunemon despite Kunemon's struggle in communicating with humans represents that.

Aside from the whole symbolism, I like that a lot of Ryou and Kunemon's moments (like in evolution scenes) centers around them being best bros that won't abandon each other no matter what. One thing though, I wish that Flymon's evolution scene didn't just happen randomly without Ryou and Kunemon themselves being involved in the buildup to the scene. Although at least I like the fact that it was Ryou who gave Kunemon the pep talk instead of the other way around, obviously because we wouldn't understand Kunemon lol. His pep talk was great too, my favorite along with Shuuji's heartfelt confession to Lopmon.

Other misc things: I did feel like his character development felt too sudden in NG+, and the way he got involved in the scenes before ch8 also felt very forced/shoehorned (I had these problems with Shuuji in NG+ too anyway), but I guess smoothing it out by making his character development happen more "gradually" would frustrate other people who got annoyed at him in the first playthrough, so I'm happy enough with what we get (he's still a really great character). Other than with Kunemon, I like his dynamic with Minoru and Shuuji (specific in NG+) (these three happen to be my most fav in Survive anyway). Him being a thug who's still very afraid of ghosts even after his character development is very cute. Him being able to cook is also a cute hidden depth and it makes sense, considering his circumstances.

#digimon survive #digimon survive spoilers #tominaga ryou #kunemon

[pinacoladamatata]

just rambling about my favorite tav below

She has a bad habit of casting feather fall and jumping off things especially during combat but they forget it only lasts for a minute and Astarion keeps having to catch (revive) her when they plummet to the ground bc he's the rogue and they only one w enough movement speed to get to her

Tavirr (not her real name) is the youngest daughter of Quenthel, 6th child out of 7, with one younger brother who is like 12, and she loves him very much. And she didn't want to flee her home but she did immediately after hesitating during her trial bc she knew Lolth would send someone after her. And she's convinced the tadpole is what's blocking lolth's assassins ability to know her location. So early on she is the only other person, aside from Astarion, who doesn't want to immediately be rid of it once they realize they aren't turning.

To top it off, right before the mindflayer abduction she saw a *presence* of eilistraee for the first time and she's slowly been struggling with her faith. What if Lolth isn't worth it? What if she moved on? And it's only getting reinforced bc Shadowheart and Lae'zel going through what they do.

When i created her backstory (back in like patch 3) i had no idea it was going to be such a good narrative foil to Astarion. He's quick to anger and she's fucking impassive as hell. he's known nothing but trauma for 200 years while she's been pampered royalty. he's stunned by receiving a hug, she's going crazy missing intimacy after killing her spouse for her 5th trial. he's secretly insecure, she secretly thinks she could be a better god than lolth. He's an "oldest sibling" she's the baby of the baenre girls. Astarion's considering doing cazador's ritual to become *the* most powerful vampire in the realms, she's contemplating using the netherese crown to become a god so she can kill lolth out of revenge.

She was also trying to manipulate Astarion into an alliance i.e. sex for protection. But feelings become a problem. And she's actually invested in killing cazador now but she's fairly certain Astarion won't help her kill Lolth and fully expects him to go his own way once all is done.

this also literally decided she was going to romance him in early access when i fought the goblins and dror ragzlin sparta kicked her into the spider pit. (the nerve? the audacity? she's a fucking baenre?) but anyway it triggered the spider dialogue, she convinced the spiders she was lolth, but then acid damage knocked her out and Astarion was the only party member who could reach her via a combo of the mobile feat, bonus action dash and boots of speed. and bc of this silly game mechanic i decided it was very romantic

And the ascendant ritual! Oof. She was kind of hoping he would just do it.

BUT he didn't go through with the ritual?! so i imagine tav was like "Tell all the spawns to go to Menzoberranzan and ask for Myrinel, tell them Ryna sent you" which probably prompts Gale to be like "um excuse me? Myrinel Baenre?" bc gale reads books so he's probably heard of her, and Tav's like "yes she's my oldest sister." and that's how the rest of the gang finds out she's basically the fucking princess of Menzoberranzan

she's totally not feeling guilty or in any way responsible for all these spawn and not wondering if astarion *should* have done the ritual bc she thinks this vampire ascendant thing sounds like it could have helped her kill lolth and take her place with the help of the crown.

And she's still grieving like her spouse died (was killed by her, on lolth's orders) less than a month ago by the time she wakes up on the beach. She thinks she failed her 5th trial bc she hesitated on killing them, but she didn't actually fail it and her crisis of faith is entirely her own making, and she actually has lolth's favor, meaning there never were assassins after her. And she's gonna have to either take the crown and go apeshit or, or, she could move on... But that's terrifying

#I'm in love with herrrrrrrrr

[amorhedera6]

the superparty

or if the party was a team of superpowers, who i think they’d be

el: obviously her current powers. telekenesis, and seeing other people from far distances (whatever her void things called) would definitely be helpful in fighting supervillains. i think her superhero name would just be eleven. this is assuming in aspects other than being a superhero, they have normal lives and her name is jane.

will: similar to el, but a bit more scarlet witch. he has psionic abilities like she does and he can fly, but he doesn’t have the mind control ability she does. i like to think his superhero name is cleric, but i’m open to suggestions, i don’t like that one super much.

mike: i don’t want to say “super soldier” bc im not a big mcu person and i already used the scarlet witch comparison for will but yeah, basically, he’s a super soldier. he’s super strong, fast, has better endurance, reflexes, all that jazz. enhanced senses too, smell, sight, hearing, etc. and a higher pain tolerance! he joins the team immediately because he goes straight to will and is like i just got siperpowers out of nowhere what the fuck do i do and will is like come join the team and that’s that. his superhero name is battlestrike, chosen by lucas because all mike could come up with was fighter man.

lucas: for lucas i’m thinking a beast boy power, he can change into any animal at will. can talk to all animals, befriends all animals really easy. he’s got like a herd of stray animals following him at all times and it pisses erica off which is basically why he does it. he’s called beastmaster, which for those of you who don’t know is something a ranger can become in dnd, and i love him.

max: super speed!!!!!!! she is a speedster and i know it in my heart of hearts. her superhero name is zoomer and she’s the reason i started this. love this so much. i need to see speedster max and animal powers lucas so bad like actually. i would pay for someone to draw me zoomer max.

dustin: dustin’s got invisibility! he can turn it off and on like a light switch bc he’s super cool. he goes by ghost and he’s one of the few that actually picked his own name instead of being assigned one by the public, because he was a spider-man type vigilante before he joined the team, and people asked his name. he likes to help people, feels like it helps him achieve his true purpose. not like in a religious way, but he feels like he (and all the others) were given these powers for a reason and that’s to help people.

steve: steve is an empath. the closer a relationship he has with a person, the better he can tell. he can sense what a stranger is feeling from a little bit away with clarity, but from the other side of the world he can tell dustin’s emotions as if they were his own. and he also has the ability to differentiate, he can tell whose emotions belong to who as he feels them. so even if he’s feeling themself, he can tell that the emotions are someone else’s. he is one of the team’s best fighters, and also the team member who keeps the healing station in business. they were still brainstorming on his name when he first went into a fight and was named redwood, after a strong and sturdy tree. he’s one of the public favorites.

robin: super knowledge!!! she can absorb knowledge super quickly and knows a whole lot more than the average person. helpful more in the planning stage, mostly does research on people, helps in the pre-stage. works mostly with jonathon, but has some basic training in fighting and helps out on some missions occasionally. when she does she uses a bow and arrow, because she did archery as a kid and can do that well. has the name cerulian bow, because the public only knows about the fighting figure of her and not her behind the scene work.

erica: erica has telepathy. for a while she didn’t tell anyone and just used it to freak people out, but then she asked lucas what someone with telepathy would do on his loser team and he’s both like how did you know i was on a team and also what the fuck. so she joins the team and basically uses it to figure out the villains plans. she’s not in the public eye at all because she’s the youngest of the team and no one wants the slack bc she’s a teenager (she’s like 16 in this au), they just bring her to fights to get information and get her out before anything happens. she then comes back to base and works the comms with robin and jon.

nancy: nancy’s got mind control!! and she struggles with it sometimes, with making people do things against their will, but she’s so good with her power. she can put her power into her words, and anyone she directs it to will do as she asks. think allison from umbrella academy, or piper from heroes of olympus. she can have short term control over a person to do what she wants them to, and it’s an incredibly good skill. she doesn’t use her power unless it’s against provably awful people, never on henchmen or the like. i’m the meanwhile, it’s good she’s handy with the gun. because she uses her gun and mental manipulation, her superhero name is neurobullet. mike calls her nutribullet

jonathon: i think jon’s our hacker, oracle style. he found out that will was doing this and insisted on helping him, and this is how he chose to do it. taught himself how to hack, how to do all sorts of techy things to help out, and as they both were recruited for the team, how to help everyone else too. he makes a lot of the plans, checks the security cameras, all that. he’s not in public eye, but he’s been discussed by the public before, because it’s known they have a computers person of some kind. he’s referred to as cyberear, since the public’s only experience with him is the voice in the team’s earpieces.

argyle: i think argyle’s out transportation guy. he’s a teleporter. he can take up to five people with him depending on the distance, but can go pretty much anywhere in the world. i like to think he’s not on the team, just besties with jonathon, so hen they need a quick lift somewhere, jon calls him up and asks him to help. he’s been invited on the team multiple teams, but doesn’t want to officially join. he likes to spend his time seeing the world and just like doing his thing. he’s not in public eye at all, and it’s widely believed that the team simply has teleportation devices.

eddie: shadow manipulation!!!!! think of nico from the percy jackson verse? that. he can shadow-travel, but only by himself and not super far without basically passing out (they typically rely on argyle for that). he can manipulate shadows, night vision, general umbrakenesis, etc. he’s obsessed with his darkness aesthetic and tries to pull off like a whole dramatic kjng of darkness vibe but he’s a nerd and a goof and he’s trying his best for the aesthetic and tbh we respect it. he’s called the dark shadow

hopper: hopper’s definitely the big-n-strong one. he’s the thing, the hulk, the guy who turns big and strong at the drop of the hat. i think he turns from a person to like a massive muscle man that’s like the color of like veins. i’m not attempt to Science it, but like his skin stretched out to become the big guy so he’s the color of his veins. like blueish purplish greenish mixture color. he’s called smasher and yes, mike mocks it for eternity.

joyce: i think joyce would be our healer. she can take away someone’s pain or solve their injuries by touching them. she used to just volunteer at a hospital that had a lot of “miracles” but when she found out what will and jonathon were doing she joined their team and helps them instead. she still fights like a badass when it comes down to it, but she tends to do the post-fight work. and she also still volunteers at the hospital when she has the chance. she’s not in public eye nearly as much as the others, but she’s called divinity.

murray: murray has the power of power control. he can give people powers and take them away at will. he chose the party to give powers, and either watched how they reacted to the power gain and made his choice, or recruited them immediately to his team. he’s basically the leader, the handler, whatever. he does the behind the scenes work that allows them to be a superhero team without governmental fire coming down and then and leaves them to do the work. he reveals to all of them that he gave them their powers, and they all ask how he got his, and he does not answer. he doesn’t travel a code name either, though they’re all becoming increasingly convinced that murray is a fake name.

#open to suggestions for their superhero team name #this took me way longer than it should have #and im in love with it #stranger things #save #ollie rambles #eleven hopper #will byers #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #dustin henderson #steve harrington #robin buckley #erica sinclair #nancy wheeler #jonathon byers #argyle stranger things #eddie munson #jim hopper #joyce byers #murray bauman #superhero au

[realhousewives-fan]

The Memorable Memories of Season 5

RHOM truly is the gift that keeps on giving! They’ve delivered another amazing season while other shows are struggling with giving interesting storylines.

I’ve also made an appreciation post about Lisa Hochstein because what would this season have been like if she was deflecting from her failing marriage?

I can name so many housewives who would’ve kept this part of their lives a secret – and that’s the problem with the franchise right now.

So, while the other shows get a demand to do better, RHOM gets another appreciation! 

Let’s remind ourselves of the unforgettable moments from season 5.

1) It’s not about the mortgages!

Things were off with Lisa immediately this season. She shaded Larsa Pippen’s new apartment building, and Larsa retaliated by accusing Lisa of renting out her house to pay her mortgages. 

It was a petty clapback, but Lisa lost it! She was stuck in a hamster wheel and raging at Larsa. It wasn’t about the mortgages.

2) Date night from hell

It was shocking how much Lenny Hochstein was willing to film this season! 

And he is just the worst. Lisa had planned a romantic date for them, and he complained about it ruining his diet and he was on his phone the whole time! 

And then their nanny had an accident, which showed some uncomfortable dynamic between Lisa and Lenny. He talked to her like she was a child.

3) Lisa shocks the women about her marriage

The more episodes we got this season, the stranger Lisa’s behaviour got. After she had been extremely late to their flight for a girls trip, it seemed like she was at a breaking point. 

She finally told the women about how fucked up her marriage has gotten, and their reactions were everything! 

This was one of the most memorable and iconic moments of 2022 and RHOM!

4) Alexia’s ego was inflated!

While this was a difficult season for Lisa, Alexia Nepola was showing sides of herself that wasn’t so pretty. 

And it was really unfortunate that this was the direction this trip took.

Alexia had been so furious on behalf of Lisa, she was screaming and cursing in Spanish. But it seemed like her ego was inflated this season.

She acted as if she was untouchable. She called Julia Lemigova a prostitute, because she’s Russian… She called herself the star, and accused them all of making up shit to take her down.

Her energy was truly bizarre this season.

5) Kiki’s cheeseburger moment

I just love Kiki Barth! She’s always a good time and she’s actually delivers a lot of great scenes on the show. 

She had a lot of hilarious confessionals this season and I hope they’ll try her out as a fulltime cast member. 

When she brought out her cold Burger King burger during an argument at Adriana de Moura’s music video shoot, it threw me for a loop. 

Kiki is the moment in Miami!

6) Nicole’s shady disinvitation of Larsa!

After Larsa had accused Nicole Martin of sleeping with all the doctors at the hospital, Nicole naturally disinvited her to her engagement party. 

And she did it in the most perfect housewife manner! She sent Larsa a mirror that was engraved with the disinvitation. 

“See yourself uninvited to the party”?! That’s Housewives gold! And by doing that Nicole inserted herself as one of my favorite housewives!

7) Nicole’s epic engagement party!

Nicole was MIA in the beginning of the season, but she rose to become the MVP of the show. 

Her engagement party looked truly epic, and like such a fun party. But the women had to give her shit, even at her party.

Alexia and Marysol Patton were basically defending Larsa, and when Adriana and her date confronted Alexia for accusing her of dating a married man, things didn’t get any better.

8) Embarrassing meeting with the lawyers

Alexia had arranged a meeting with some lawyers to give Lisa legal advice, and it turned into a circus unlike anything we’ve seen on the show so far. 

It was utter chaos!

Adriana wanted an apology from Alexia after accusing her of dating a married man, and Nicole wanted justice after Larsa had accused her of sleeping with every doctor at the hospital. 

Those poor lawyers at that meeting…

9) Lenny blatant hatred for Lisa

If there were any doubt about how Lenny was manipulating and mistreating Lisa, he told on himself this season. 

The way he talked to her and treated her was insane. 

When I first heard that Lenny had filed for a divorce, I had no idea that it would all play out on the show. As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, the women tend to keep that a secret while filming.

10) The OGs are fighting!

While Alexia’s energy was bizarre this season, it was nothing compared to Adriana. She must truly have gone through something this season, as her friends claimed, because she made no sense. 

On their trip to the Bahamas Kiki fell on Adriana’s foot and she claimed that it was broken. 

She wanted the other women to not have fun, feel sorry for her and cuddle her, and when they didn’t, she compared her “injury” to Alexia’s son’s horrific accident. 

While Adriana has tried to apologize to Alexia, Alexia wants nothing to do with her anymore.

#Real Housewives of Miami #RHOM #Lisa Hochstein #Larsa Pippen #Lenny Hochstein #Alexia Nepola #Julia Lemigova #Kiki Barth #Adriana de Moura #Nicole Martin #Marysol Patton

[lesbienbys]

After watching a playthrough of p5r and finally playing through the game myself a year later (I've reached the last palace in royal ;-;) I think I have my final thoughts about each of the characters established at this point and I thought I'd share them here instead of twitter because of the character limit. Obvious spoilers for royal and I also mention a p3 and p4 character personality trait but that's about it! TLDR at the bottom

Morgana: akira loves him so I love him :)

Ann: ann is my favorite female pt member and I've only grown to love her more after playing the game myself and seeing how powerful she is, allowing me to keep her in my party the whole game. The writing does her so dirty as a character and her confidant isn't my favorite. Although I did like her rank 9 with shiho, I thought that was v cute (if we skip the fact that you can say you like her while she's emotionally vulnerable). But yeah ann is so great and she really feels like the glue of the group to me!

Ryuji: best boy. Heart of gold, dumb of ass. I really don't mind the whole liking girls thing because he's a teenager, but the writing takes it too far sometimes which I don't contribute to his character at all. But I think I realized how much I loved him as a character when all the pt members are stuck in the velvet room jails and he starts his monologue by talking about his memories of the first palace, and I started tearing up? His was the only one to make me do that because that's when I realized he's been with me since the beginning 🥺

Yusuke: due to atlus' writing once again, I didn't really like yusuke at all in the beginning. I grew to like him more after the palace was over because I really did like his whole story arc. However, the incident that made me really love him though was when I was watching a playthrough and the streamer hadn't romanced anyone yet so they automatically got the beach trip with the bros. This scene is of course a slog to go through because I guess we're supposed to think harassing women is funny idk??? But then fucking yusuke shows up with his stupid lobsters and made me laugh SO hard during a scene where I wasn't having fun. And that's when I was like, okay I love him and his weirdness. His confidant was also excellent and I love him and akira together platonically/romantically.

Makoto: this is where my opinion on a character seems to be... unpopular. When I first got to know makoto I wasn't really feeling her as a character and hoped she would grab me after she awakened. And when she did I was SO excited because her outfit and her persona (johanna my beloved) were so cool and badass. But then after her palace finished I just. Never thought about her again. And I think most of this does attribute to the writing, because her palace and confidant are so Bad, I just couldn't connect with her at all through them. Also her becoming a cop was also one of the worst decisions I've ever seen and makes absolutely no sense. So she's definitely my least favorite member sadly.

Futaba: SHE!!! Oh my god I love her to bits, her palace and confidant are some of the best ones in the game. I'm also such a sucker for found family tropes and so of course I immediately adopted her as ren's sister (shipping her with the protag makes me very uncomfortable fyi). There's not much to say other than she's the best gremlin and I relate to her a lot with her nerd energy. Her palace is up there as the more interesting one in the game.

Haru: I know haru's character can be pretty hit or miss because of how late she comes into the game. I will say that I was pretty neutral on haru's character because of this, until I experienced strikers and went back to royal. I loved her a lot more a second time around, her sweet personality contrasted with her heavy weapon and twisted thoughts when talking about killing shadows makes her such an interesting character for me. I think her weakest point would be the writing surrounding her father's death, I really wished we had seen more of her emotions surrounding it (I also wanted there to be more conflict between her and akechi because that would have made some great group conflict, definitely better than when morgana leaves). But other than that, I think she's excellent and wonderful.

Sumire: My first experience with the game, I felt neutral with her in vanilla because she was just There. Then royal came along and seeing her arc mixed with maruki's really made me love her character a lot more. And while I really loved how she went from depending on akira's opinion for her own self-worth to trying to grow on her own, I don't think it's executed well in the game. I see her saying she wants to be more independent, but then you can also romance her which actually makes it worse for her imo (her constantly looking for the protag's approval after having us learn about her extreme self hatred is not cute to me). I do think her issues make her a more compelling character, the romance thing just bugs me personally (I could have written a much better romance for them tbh but anyways). Her persona is *chefs kiss* and her outfit is one of my favorites. She's also very fun to play as.

Akechi: saved this one for last because I could write a whole essay on this character, but I will try to refrain lmao. I immediately liked his character because you can just Tell he's being two-faced. And you start to see a glimpse of that when he tells akira that he hates him. I knew he was the traitor of the group obviously, but the game surprised me by having him go as far as to shoot the protagonist. I will never forget experiencing that moment for the first time, because that's when I was like oh he's really fucked up. Which of course made me much more interested in his character. I was devastated after the engine room and then elated at the start of royal when I thought he was "alive." Speaking of, akechi's character was already my favorite in vanilla but royal pushed his character to be one of my favorites ever in fiction. 2/2 was one of the most emotionally devastating things I've ever experienced, and it just made his character even more interesting which I thought wasn't possible. I can never stop thinking about how he tells akira to go back to their own reality and how much of an affect akechi's life has on akira's decision. He has so much conviction in his beliefs that he would rather choose to go back to a reality where he is dead than live in a false reality where he is being controlled by someone again. I just want to study him in a lab. I do have a hang-up on his character though. I really dislike that atlus doesn't give him a proper ending to his arc and toys the audience on whether or not he's alive because something something fanservice. The writer in me really wishes they would have left him off as being dead because it would have made his story hit a lot more. Finally, I personally feel like shuake are soulmates on both a platonic and romantic sense, but I think my unpopular opinion is that I don't wish they had a romance route in the game. Tbh I'd rather they confirm he was gay rather than have a romance arc because I'm afraid atlus would obliterate his character knowing their track record on romances and lgbt topic in general. But that'll never happen so!

TLDR tier list:

Akechi

Akira (yes he's his own character)

Yusuke

Ann

Futaba

Ryuji

Haru

Sumire

Morgana

Makoto

#persona 5 #character thoughts #long post #I have gripes about the game but it is dear to me

[jessjustplay]

Chrono Trigger Review

February 4, 2023

According to many gamer tweets, Instagram posts, and blog posts that I've seen online, Chrono Trigger is considered one of the best JRPGs ever made.

As someone who loves the Final Fantasy series, but never played Chrono Trigger, I was intrigued. The title seemed like a classic JRPG that all gamers *needed* to play at least once in their life.

So finally, in 2022, I bought the Windows PC version of the game on Steam. I was immediately impressed!

Story

Chrono Trigger begins with our main character, Crono, a kind-hearted, quiet boy, attending a festival in town. He meets Marle, an energetic and friendly girl, who accompanies him as he explores the festival.

They decide to watch Lucca (Crono's very smart and scrappy childhood friend) present her latest invention. Marle participates in Lucca's showcase, but something goes wrong with the invention and Marle is unexpectedly teleported away.

Crono and Lucca follow along and find themselves teleported to the past. As they explore this new world, they meet new people, hear stories, and uncover the dangers that the future will face.

With time-traveling capabilities, Crono, Marle, Lucca, and their new friends embark on a mission to save the world from the destructive monster, Lavos. And so begins a great quest through past, present, and future!

Gameplay

I played the definitive version of Chrono Trigger on PC and had an enjoyable experience. There weren't any excessively long wait times, everything ran smoothly and fast.

The battle system is an active turn-based system with 3 party members. There are moments in the game where you must include specific characters in your party, but besides these mandatory moments, you are able to freely swap characters in and out.

There aren't any random encounters in the traditional sense of the word. The enemies in Chrono Trigger are fixed to specific locations that you can on-screen. (Sometimes they are hidden and jump out at you, though.) If you exit a room and enter it again, the same enemies will respawn there. It's a great way to level up if you find enemies that give a lot of post-battle points.

Speaking of points, your characters earn EXP points to level up and Tech Points that go towards learning new Technique abilities. I loved that ALL of my characters, active and non-active, earned EXP and TP from battles. It was nice to switch between party members and not worry about one of them being under-leveled.

Multiple Endings

Something to quickly touch on, this game has 13 different endings. (This scared me at first, because I didn't want to get a bad ending.) The ending you get depends on when & how you choose to fight the final boss, who you have in your party, and what parts of the story you were able to experience.

Having multiple endings is a very unique set-up and makes for great replayability. However, I finished this game once and I got the "Beyond Time" ending (which I'm assuming is the standard ending?) and I would replay this game even if I got the same ending again! All that to say, with or without multiple endings, this game is very much replayable!

Music

Composers: Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu

The music in Chrono Trigger is amazing! The battle theme is one of the best battle songs I have ever heard. You will get in a lot of battles and NOT ONCE did the battle theme become annoying. Some of my other favorites include Memories of Green, Wind Scene, and Frog's Theme. All of the music gives each location a unique vibe. There were also sound effects throughout that enhanced the gaming experience. For example, the sound of buttons on machines being pressed, seals breaking, and even the sound of wind were all nice touches.

Graphics

Chrono Trigger is a pixel art video game which is an art style I love. While playing the definitive version on PC, I enabled the high resolution graphics. They offer a softening effect, smoothing the sharp corners of pixels without actually losing the pixelated art.

Character emotions and movements are cleverly expressed. When Marle shouts, when Frog jumps with shock, or when Lucca celebrates a win are all examples of this game delivering emotion through pixelated art.

Chrono Trigger also includes anime cutscenes that further enhance the story, giving the characters MORE facial expressions and movement possibilities. Both art forms worked well together!

Overall

I am so glad I was able to experience this perfect masterpiece. Calling a game "perfect" is extreme, but in this case, I think Chrono Trigger is fully capable of carrying this accolade.

The story is easy to follow and the time-traveling theme is executed well, with easy-to-understand rules. Game objectives are straightforward, making Chrono Trigger fun to play and easy to pick up.

Although the story's ultimate perils are dark and sinister, the game was able to incorporate comedy throughout the story (thanks to their amazing cast of characters!) to lighten the mood. I'm very impressed with everything I saw in Chrono Trigger and I highly recommend everyone play this classic JRPG!

@jessjustplay

#chrono trigger #game review