#Operation NOBLE DEFENDER

[whoretongue]

Time for Inkarmat meta.

Inkarmat's cunning and manipulative nature is a product of the oppression she faced both as a woman and an ethnic minority. She developed these skills as a coping mechanism precisely because of her status in society.

Noda went to great lengths not to fall into the "noble savage" trope & made the Ainu characters in GK just as interesting as the Japanese ones. Also, given that Ainu independence is a big theme in GK, it makes sense that these concept would influence Inkarmat's development.

Inkarmat was a female orphan, traveling by herself since a young age, getting into dangerous situations and needing to learn fast alternative means to defend herself.

As an adult Inkarmat is depicted as sexy, flirtatious, and manipulative but as a child she has an innocence that is comparable to Asipra. This is an explicit parallel as we see Asirpa is reminded of her relationship with Sugimoto, when Inkarmat recalls her love for Wilk.

Also Yes, Asirpa's canon crush on Sugimoto is paralleled by Inkarmat's crush on Wilk when she was a child. Inkarmat's sadness that Wilk may have forgotten her represents an insecurity Asirpa carries with her for most of the plot.

Asirpa is afraid one day Sugimoto will leave her behind for another woman -the woman he loves as he said himself. Just as Wilk did to Inkarmat when he fell in love with Asirpa's mother, not even sharing stories of Inkarmat to his child whom he told so many other important things.

Carrying on. Noda empowers adult Inkarmat by having her taking advantage of Japanese people, the oppressors of the Ainu, and on that it is largely men she is taking advantage of. Yes, Inkarmat uses her wiles to manipulate men, and take advantage of them to secure her own safety.

But she is still very much vulnerable to the majority power. The narrative emphasizes this in the subtext. She is working under Tsurumi, the primary representative of imperialism by the plot, a man who does not rely on the subordination of the Ainu to accomplish his goals

And she is later imprisoned by him proving that Tsurumi had always been the one in power all along, she is sexualized and victimized by other random Japanese men, and she relies on Tanigaki (a Japanese man) for safety.

Need to add you can compare the way other female characters are depicted sexually based on their societal status. O-gin is very empowered and free even during sex. And Sofia has personal agency and is regarded as a leader of men so when her tits are out it's just for a good time.

Also kind of on a similar note. Inkarmat and Ienaga end up sharing a positive relationship which I find kind of cute but also when you think about it. Ienaga is also a suppressed minority as a transwoman, and similarly being held prisoner by Lt Tsurumi.

Anyway, Inkarmat operates with a certain inevitability in her mindset. She has accepted the state of things as an Ainu woman, and that is why she does not care about the gold, or her own fate as dictated by her divinations.

However much like the rest of the cast, she is influenced to have more hope by Asipra who by her very name represents a "new kind of Ainu woman".

And she learns to love and feel the security of family by the influence of Tanigaki and Cikapasi. Likely this is what encourages her to leave clues for Tanigaki so that he can find her after she is taken hostage by Tsurumi.

Inkarmat and Tanigaki get a happy end and I think it represents something very important and also compliments the theme of Ainu liberation pretty nicely imo She was always independent but now she also has security. Anyway, we stan Inkarmat, she is an amazing character...

[redtsundere-writes]

Chapter 18: Initiative

King!SukunaRyomen x Servant!FemReader

Summary: You used to be just another servant among the army of humans operating under the command of the terrible king, Sukuna Ryomen. An ordinary human who only knows how to wash, clean and cook. Until one day, he notices something in you that you hadn't seen before.

More Info.

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“His Majesty, King Toji Zen’in and Her Highness, Queen Nozomi Zen’in, are pleased to extend their most distinguished invitation to the Grand Royal Anniversary Ball in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Zen’in Kingdom.

On a splendors night beneath the stars, nobles, courtiers, and dignitaries from all lands are invited to join this majestic celebration taking place at the Zen’in Castle, where music, dance, and the brilliance of magic will illuminate the evening on the tenth day of the fifth month, year 700.

With the highest respect and gratitude,

King Toji Zen’in

Queen Nozomi Zen’in

May your path be guided by justice and honor.”

“A ball?!” You announced excitedly as you skipped in place.

It’s been years since you attended one. You missed the balls, but not for the dancing itself. You enjoyed listening to live musicians, especially pianists. The last time you went to one with your mother and sisters, it didn't go so well. Your mother scolded you on the way home for not dancing with anyone even though you had spent the last two weeks practicing choreography. You were never very good at talking to men like Yorozu was, but now you can enjoy one without the pressure of courting a rich man who will save you from misery.

"Every year it's the same," Uraume commented with annoyance, announcing her presence on the parade ground. "Welcome, Commander Mahito," they bowed respectfully to your savior.

"What's up?" He greeted them back with a red eye from tearing up so much.

"The king was invited to a ball! Sounds like fun!" You told Uraume showing him the invitation.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be so excited,” Uraume replied, taking the invitation to put it back in its respective envelope. “The king has rejected every invitation he has received from the Zen’in in the last 5 years.”

Sukuna Ryomen, being a king who believes himself superior to everyone, never bothered to attend the royal events he was invited to. He would hate to waste his time on unimportant events like everyone else. He would rather starve to death than attend a stupid ball. Uraume has seen the king destroy letters from the sorcerer kingdoms just by knowing their content for centuries. They knew the king better than anyone else.

“It’s probably because the king doesn’t know how much fun they are,” you argued.

“It seems like you’re the one who wants to go,” Uraume said.

“Obviously I want to go. Besides, getting out of the castle would be great,” you explained with obviousness. “Wearing a pretty dress, dancing all night, watching and listening to the orchestra…” You explained, delighted at the idea of ​​living the experience again.

“Good luck, the king would never agree,” Uraume declared confidently.

Over the years, as the king’s right hand, Uraume has been the one in charge of receiving the packages, especially when it comes from enemy kingdoms. They are the first in line to defend the honor of the great kingdom of Sukuna and it is always the same. A strong sorcerer arrives to kill as many curses as possible, he fights against them so they don’t enter the castle, they surrender so they don’t waste any more time on a one-man mission, and they leave the letter to complete the mission. Uraume has had to go through that tedious process hundreds of times only for the king to destroy letters almost immediately. 

“I would at least like to try to convince him,” you commented determinedly.

“Oh, someone is sure,” Mahito teased, wrapping his arm around your shoulders in a friendly way.

“You won't be able to do it. I've known the king for over 500 years, he'll never go to a ball or he'll allow you to,” Uraume explained calmly.

A light bulb went off above your head. You had an idea to distract yourself from your daily chores. Something you used to do with your sisters to resolve any conflict.

“What if we bet on it?” You proposed with a playful smile.

Uraume raised an eyebrow. Were you so sure you could convince them that you could bet it? It was a gigantic stupidity, they didn't have to lower himself to your silly games. Uraume was sure they would win anyway, but if he was so sure, why not bet it? It would be the easiest prize they have ever gotten in their life. 

“What do you want to bet?” Uraume asked you curiously.

“If the king agrees to go to the ball…” You thought for a second about what prize you wanted. You snapped your fingers when you got it. “I want Mrs. Inoue to become my lady-in-waiting.”

You really hated looking for Mrs. Inoue and interrupting her daily servant duties to talk to her for five minutes. If she became your lady-in-waiting, you could talk to her whenever you wanted and it would reduce her manual work considerably. Instead of washing dishes, sweeping for hours, and spending the whole morning among the crops, she could help you study, get ready for the day, and be at your training. It was the best reward you could ask for, and Uraume, being in charge of all the servants, could give it to you.

“Fine, but if I win, you will have to prepare dinner for the king for a month,” Uraume proposed their own reward.

Your smile immediately fell. Preparing dinner for the king meant having to maneuver humans as if they were fish. The mere thought of having to cut a human into different pieces and remove the bones from someone of your race made your stomach turn. This game was no longer as fun as you thought it would be.

“Scared?” Uraume asked you with a smile full of confidence.

“Uuuuh, they said your mom is fat,” Mahito whispered to you to tease you even more.

Were you really going to let them mess with you? Ever since you killed your sister, you have learned a valuable lesson. You weren't going to let anyone make fun of you, no matter how close or strange they were. You were a brand-new person and no one would mess with you anymore. Not Yorozu, not Naoya, not anyone else. You were going to win this bet. For you and for Mrs. Inoue.

“No,” you extended your hand. “Deal,” you smiled at them kindly.

Uraume relaxed his face, making it monotonous again. They shook hands. They were sure you were going to fail. There was no way the king would agree to something like that. You couldn’t get everything you wanted just because you were his favorite, but it would be fun to see you lose. They might not know you, but they did know the king.

“Follow me. The king is waiting for you,” Uraume showed them the way.

Back at the office, Sukuna and Kenjaku had seen the entire fight with Naoya. Sukuna knew Mahito was about to arrive, so he didn’t care much about leaving you alone for a moment with the stowaway, plus he wanted to see you in action in the middle of an invasion. It was a relief to see you keep your composure and act accordingly. He expected nothing less from you. On the other hand, Kenjaku was more interested in your skills with the bow. You were a good archer, but he didn't think you could hit a target moving so fast. You definitely had a technique, now it was time to find out what it was.

"My king, Commander Mahito has arrived," Uraume introduced the guest, letting him into the large office.

"Good day, my great king." Mahito bowed to him respectfully.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Sukuna," Kenjaku greeted him.

"Kenny!" Mahito ran to hug him. "Long time no see!"

"Likewise," Kenjaku hugged him back.

Sukuna watched you intently. You had long since gotten used to that suffocating feeling. He studied you from head to toe, memorizing your every move. From your posture to the gestures on your face, Sukuna learned more about you day by day. You just smiled at him to cut the tension between you.

“Did Naoya bring an invitation again?” Sukuna asked Uraume as soon as she handed him the envelope.

“That’s right.”

This was the perfect time to try to convince the king to go to the ball. You went over in your mind all the advice Kenjaku had given you about debate, that would be your greatest weapon in this intellectual battle. You had to do your best to beat him.

“Once you understand the other's point of view, it is easier to defend your own position more successfully, especially because you avoid misunderstandings and arguing about aspects that the other side has not really said,” you quoted your teacher in your mind.

First, you had to understand why Sukuna did not want to go to the ball. Most likely it was his racial hatred of humans. Balls are full of them, how could you convince him to go to a place full of the race he hates the most? Sukuna took the envelope, surely, to destroy it. You had to speak now to avoid it.

“It's an invitation to a ball,” you told him, approaching his desk to get his attention.

“I know, it’s been the same for 5 years now,” Sukuna replied.

“Dances are so much fun,” you came up with an empirical comment.

“They’re just a waste of time,” Sukuna replied. “You should turn the tables on him.”

“Not if he uses it to his advantage.” You threw the bait.

Everyone looked at you intrigued. Kenjaku quickly noticed what you were doing, he was about to watch your first live debate. He felt like a mother when watching her chick hatch. Sukuna relaxed in his seat, you behaved like in the chess game you had months ago. It didn’t take long for him to realize that you wanted to go to that ball. After all, you were a girl. Going to a royal ball promised to be a fairy tale night that every young girl your age dreams of. 

“What kind of benefit would I get from spending a night with stupid dancing rats?” Sukuna inquired, curious to know your next move. “He’s already down,” you thought confidently.

“Doesn’t he know that old saying? ‘Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,’” you explained. “If he goes to the Zen’in ball, it would be a chance to see the castle, its inhabitants, and its interior.” You made a good argument, but the king was still not convinced.

“What if it’s a trap?” Sukuna was about to eat one of your pieces.

“The same trap for five years in a row?” You moved your piece back just in time.

Kenjaku was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the conversation. This had been the actual fruit of his teachings. His first harvest had been a small, tasteless orange. If he kept putting in fertilizer, next year’s harvest would be bigger and juicier. There were many things you could improve on, but this was an incredible start. You were taking on the king on his own board, a difficult thing to do.

“Why not? Sometimes sorcerers are so stupid.” Sukuna sat back in his seat to become serious.

“If it really was a trap, why wait?” You asked. “I would take advantage of any important holiday to send him an invitation, if it was a trap.”

“Because the Zen'in Kingdom's anniversary ball is the only one where all the kings, the strongest sorcerers in the world, gather together,” Sukuna explained, eating one of your bishops. “Why would I go to the ball when I can attack some other kingdom?,” Uraume smiled slightly as they realized that Sukuna cornered you with that argument.

“Then why hasn't he done it?,” you asked, feigning innocence.

His red eyes widened as he realized. Sukuna had made a mistake in his argument and you noticing it only hurt his ego more. You sacrificed one of your bishops to eat his queen in one bite. The king had accepted that he knew that the ball wasn't a trap. If it were, he would have conquered some of the largest sorcerer kingdoms many years ago while their kings and troops were waiting for him in the wrong place.

“I really think it's a ball,” you continued. “A perfect opportunity to meet all your rivals in one visit.” Checkmate.

Sukuna looked at you, this time, admiring your bravery in facing him so directly. Even though it was your chance to be smiling from cheek to cheek for having won the argument, there didn't seem to be any malice behind your actions. You were just a girl who liked balls and you really wanted to go for fun. You hadn't done it to prove a point. Uraume looked at him in surprise, they couldn't believe his king was contemplating the idea of ​​going to a human event, leave that, a sorcerer's event.

"Fine, we'll go to the Zen'in ball." Sukuna gave you the win. Uraume's mouth dropped to the floor. This couldn't be happening.

"Thank you, my king!" You squealed in joy. You walked around his desk to throw yourself at him and hug him by the neck. "You'll see that you won't regret it!"

The colors rose to the king's face as soon as you kissed his cheek. Your warm embrace pressed him to your body as you invaded his face with loud kisses of gratitude. Each kiss tickled his body with emotion. You transmitted to him that warmth that characterized you. He stood frozen like a monument, his body short-circuited as he couldn't understand why you were acting so loving towards him. Receiving that kind of affection wasn't in his system. He never thought you would do something like that of your own free will.

"I'm leaving, I'll go pick out the dress I'll wear," you said. You walked away from him, leaving him wanting more, to leave the office and look for Mrs. Inoue.

Sukuna and Uraume still couldn't believe what had happened. "Is she really that happy to go to the ball?" he thought, caressing the cheek you just kissed him on. It was warm and a little wet. It was the first time he experienced something like that. "Did the king really let himself be convinced like that?!" Uraume was about to confront him, but the king spoke first.

“Uraume, take Commander Mahito to his room to rest from his journey,” Sukuna ordered, slowly coming out of his trance. He remembered that he was in front of very important people for his kingdom.

 “Yes, my king.” Uraume bowed to guide the guest to his new room. “It seems that I will have to face him later,” they thought.

“Thank you, my king. See you later,” Mahito said goodbye, following behind the servant.

Once the door closed, Sukuna dropped his face into his upper hands. His face was so hot that he could roast a piece of meat on his cheeks. His heart kept beating a mile a minute for every kiss you gave him. This was the reaction he hated you causing him. It confused him and distracted him from his plans.

“I have taught her well, haven’t I?” Kenjaku gloated over his star pupil.

“Too well.” Sukuna placed his face in one of his hands to look at him in annoyance, not because he had done what he asked, but because his ego had been crushed.

“Do you still think the dance is a trap?” Kenjaku asked him.

“Definitely,” Sukuna answered, trying to focus on the plans for the war he was planning to start. “But it’s not for a surprise attack. It would be too obvious if it was.”

“It’s complicated because I agree with you and the young lady.” Most likely they are looking for information. “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” Kenjaku commented.

“There is only one way to find out, but I am sure of one thing.” The king took the envelope with the invitation.

In addition to the wax seal with the Zen’in symbol, there was a stamp with a purple orchid. Orchids come in different colors and the meaning depends on this. Purple ones usually mean justice, prudence and wisdom. The Zen’in know perfectly well what they are doing.

“The Zen’in have already made their first move.”

You skipped through the halls happily and with a big smile on your face. You greeted all the servants, who saw you so happy in such a sad castle. You couldn’t believe that you had won a bet against Uraume and now he had saved Mrs. Inoue from her usual chores. You headed to the garden where you knew your best friend would be harvesting the crops. You found her crouching down picking carrots, pulling one by its leaves.

“Mrs. Inoue!” You greeted her as you ran over to her, being careful not to crush the other vegetables.

“What are you doing here? Did you hear the invasion alarm?” Mrs. Inoue asked you, surprised that you were with her and not sheltering somewhere safer.

“I heard it, Naoya Zen'in is a complete idiot,” you commented angrily, emphasizing that you stood up to him.

“You fought Naoya Zen'in?! That's dangerous!” The lady scolded you while spanking you as if you were a naughty child. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Is he as handsome as they say?” The lady bombarded you with questions, although she seemed more interested in the last one.

“Yes, no and yes,” you answered at the same speed. “But that's the least important,” you took the basket of carrots from her hands to hang it on your arm. “From now on you stop being a maid.”

“Excuse me?” She looked at you, puzzled.

“From today on, you will be my lady-in-waiting,” you told her, interlacing her arm as yours to return to the castle.

It was wonderful news. Unlike maids, ladies-in-waiting are not seen as domestic servants, so she would leave tedious tasks to spend the whole day with the young lady. Her new job would simply be to provide conversation and company, much less tiring than running around the castle.

“Does the king know about this?” The lady inquired, somewhat worried that this was too good to be true.

“It is not my duty to inform him. I won a bet against Uraume, let them tell him.”

Mrs. Inoue was flattered. She didn't know what you had done to achieve this, but she was sure that you had done it to protect her. You always cared about others, even if it ended up harming you. That meant that you considered her a close person and that you could trust her.

“You know? All my life I worked in the Sukuna mines, so I never got married or had children, much less grandchildren,” The misses commented as they walked through the hallways. “You are the closest thing to that,” she told you with a smile so as not to cry from the joy of having someone who cared about her.

“I will do anything for my family.” You responded with the same gesture, taking her hand to return to the castle.

Night fell on the kingdom of Sukuna, the best time to hunt humans. The curses prepared their fangs, claws, tentacles or any strange limb they had to stalk the human commune with caution. The small army of the commune deployed its night watch every evening. The men and the elders positioned themselves in their respective places with their sharp weapons to counterattack in the worst case that a curse decided to appear there. They could be weak, but never cowards.

The king walked from side to side in front of his fireplace, thinking about what war strategies he could implement for the Zen'in dance with their pros and cons. It was difficult to plan when he did not know with certainty what the Zen'in wanted from him, but he better be prepared for any possible scenario. His head was beginning to hurt from thinking so much about the uncertain future. He needed to relax.

He stumbled upon the erotic books that Kenjaku had let him read as homework a month ago. “It’s true, I never read them.” As soon as he opened the page he had stopped at, his mind traveled to that memory where he had you against the bed. Your innocent eyes looking at him with uncertainty, your hair spread across the sheets and your breasts exposed, wanting to be touched. He slammed the book shut as soon as his cheeks suddenly heated up.

“What the hell is wrong with me?!” Sukuna exclaimed, pulling his hair out of frustration.

Sukuna had accepted that he thought you were pretty, that you were a faithful servant and that you would be a capable queen, but this was already on another level. He thought he only felt a strong conditional respect for you like the one he had for Uraume, but now it was much more than that. Having accepted that he was in love with you was the worst decision he had ever made in his life. If he didn't find a way to control himself, everything would get out of hand. He fought with every cell in his body to stay out of it, to remain the terrible king he had always been.

He covered his face in an attempt to forget your naked body, but he couldn't. He didn't understand. He had seen many naked bodies to eat, none of them gave him pleasure to see. He preferred to see them suffer than on the cold kitchen table, being cleaned with a knife to be his food later. He considered humans to be filthy rats, why did he see you in a different light?

Sukuna looked at himself in one of the mirrors that hung near his closet, framed with beautiful gold leaf engravings. He couldn't believe that this face that commanded respect and spread terror through the villages was blushing at the thought of a human. A conspiracy impossible to believe. What did all this mean? This couldn't be happening, not to him.

“No! You can't let her take control of you. You should control her!” He scolded himself strongly in front of the mirror, pointing a finger at himself.

Sukuna tightly squeezed the book he had in his hand. He had to prove to himself that he could control himself, avoid thinking about you, seeing you like any other human. He lay down on his bed in annoyance. He looked for the page where he had stopped. He wrinkled his forehead, concentrating on his mission: to be able to read an erotic novel without having any kind of reaction.

The count opened the door with his heart in his hand. She must be the only person he expected to see under the beauty of midnight. It was her, his beautiful beloved wrapped in pink lace. His lips pounced on her with the force of a desperate hurricane. They couldn't waste a second of this spontaneous encounter away from everyone. He unwrapped her like a birthday present and laid her down on the bed. He was going to make love to her as if this were the last night he would be alive.

This was the fantasy world he lived in every time the planets aligned to give them the opportunity to be together. Every kiss, every caress, every touch felt like the last, taking advantage of every second in her presence. His lips were hungry to taste her sensitive skin, to discover what lay beyond her beauty. He tasted her erect breasts with a burning passion that only a man can feel for the love of his life, the one that drove his senses crazy.

“The love of his life, the one that drove his senses crazy,” Sukuna whispered the last sentence to himself as if it were an enigma.

He knew what love was, he didn’t live under a rock, but the love of his life seemed to him an even crazier concept than love itself. He knew that there were different categories of love: parental love, love of art, romantic love, etc. So, what the heck was the love of his life? A once-in-a-lifetime love? Wasn’t that the same as the love of a partner? “Ugh, humans and their nonsense,” he thought, growing more enraged with the situation.

She pressed the book against his bare chest, mulling over the idea in her mind. Maybe he didn't know if you were the love of his life, but you did drive each of his senses crazy. You altered his vision when he saw you in those expensive dresses he bought you. You altered his touch every time he had you close enough to feel your skin. You altered his hearing with every compliment you sang to him. You altered his sense of smell every time he managed to smell the trace of your perfume, even the slightest. You altered his taste with those lips that he just wanted to keep tasting. He was losing his focus. He took the book again to return to what he was doing.

She mounted him, taking possession of his body as if it belonged to her for life. She snaked her way to his lips, offering him the apple that would take them out of paradise forever. The Garden of Eden didn't matter if they could create their own just by being close. Their mouths fused in a kiss as he melted into her. A pleasurable moan escaped from their throats as they felt their flesh rubbing together. Finally, they were united after so long.

Their bodies moved in sync. Lust coursed through their veins, preventing them from thinking coherently. The only thing that mattered was that they felt fulfilled with each other. His beloved moved her hips to the beat of an invisible metronome. Their intimacy expanded with each sit, splashing her fluids over his legs. Her smooth breasts bounced in front of him like a distraction from what was happening below. His hands ran over her rear to guide her to the point that expanded her horizons. A forbidden dance that would cost them their lives.

“My king,” he heard your voice whispering in his mind.

You were on top of him, completely naked. You caressed his chest with the tips of your fingers, moving his tunic out of the way. His breathing hitched as he felt your hips moving sensually against his crotch. It was slow, too slow. Sukuna tried to back away but you moved closer to him, cornered against the headboard of the bed. You smiled innocently at him as if you weren’t playing with him until he burst from impatience. Sukuna’s heart was beating a thousand miles an hour. He was terrified, not because you were there, but because of what he was capable of feeling. He wanted to continue being the terrible king, but he couldn’t do that if you were here. He wanted to get rid of this feeling that tormented him. He wanted…

Your lips against yours silenced all the noise in his mind. He closed his eyes and let himself melt under your sweet touch. He threw the book aside to take possession of your hips. He had no idea what he was doing. He just let his primitive instinct take over. Everything was silent in the middle of the night. If you paid attention, you could hear his altered breathing in the company of the burning campfire. He caressed your hair while his other hands and the tongue on his stomach ran through your body, invoking his mouths to plant kisses on you along the way.

You caressed his strong arms, running over every inch with tenderness until you took his shoulders. Sukuna's face was inked with carmine, but that didn't matter to him now, he needed to satisfy that hunger that he couldn't calm with just anyone. You arched your back as Sukuna took you by the butt with his lower hands, while his upper hands held you to his now bare chest. Your tongue extended as far as possible to feel any corner of your body that it could reach.

He opened your ass to introduce one of his members. Both of you let out a moan in unison at the terrible pleasure you were feeling. Sukuna growled until he put it in as far as it would go. It was tight, warm and slimy, the best feeling he had ever experienced in his life. He guided your hips to move along the magnitude of his penis. Slow but hard, increasing the speed so that you would get used to his body. He kissed your neck, leaving it full of love marks.

He had you under control, right where he wanted you. He was the only one who could own your body. The only one who could see you in such a vulgar way. He flexed his legs to be in charge of the tempo. He slammed his big cock against your wet vagina, soaking his lap and his second cock with your fluids. He growled with each movement, a roar of satisfaction at reaching his maximum. Your hands ran down his neck until they reached the nape of his neck to pull his hair, the only support you had to withstand each blow to your cervix. His four arms trapped you so that you stayed still. You were cornered to his body with no escape.

The second cock was erect like a post, also wanting to participate in the action. It hit your ass like a door, asking for permission to enter. Sukuna, sensing that urgency, lifted you up to sit you on his lap again. He took hold of your arms, keeping them behind your back while he opened his ass to let his extra friend in. You moaned in pain but stayed still. He forced you to lower your hips so that he could enter completely.

“Show your king how much you love him,” Sukuna purred on the edge of maximum excitement.

Sukuna was a complete mess. His body hadn't sweated like this since his last battle with King Jogo, he felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest and he moved like a machine to reach the end of the race. Your bodies collided with each other, your ass clapping against his testicles to a rhythm that they had just invented. He grunted with each push you gave him to the beat of his strong hips. He took your breasts, covering them completely with the palms of his hands. A pair of tongues appeared on them to lick and nibble them gently, excited and curious to delight in that flesh that they would never dare to swallow. They were soft and playful, a perfect distraction from what was happening down there.

As soon as he least expected it, a white liquid shot out of their penises. Sukuna had recently learned that it was semen and it was normal. He let go against the bed as he breathed heavily. He relaxed his neck, letting his head fall back against the pillows. He closed his eyes as a smile crept onto his face. This had been the best night of his life.

He opened his eyes to take care of you but you were no longer there. You never were. He only found his hands holding his now limp members after having finished what he deserved. Reality hit him hard. He had imagined it all to masturbate. He let out a desperate cry before throwing Kenjaku’s book into the flames of the fireplace. He pulled at his hair as he wondered why all this was happening to him. “No, no, no!” he repeated in his mind. It was official. The king lost his mind.

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[tired-reader-writer]

Thinking about Wolfsong. I initially had Narsus only find out about the whole Gorgan fiasco after canon events start but recently, I've been kinda reconsidering it. Here is a dump of my thought process in no particular order:

So Narsus likely got the court position pretty soon after the whole Three Kingdoms Alliance thing

Shapur is likely involved in repelling said invasion because 1) Andragoras summoned pretty much almost anyone, and 2) it's coming from the east and his lands are in the northeast, Andragoras might want to mobilize the troops to... Peshawar, perhaps? Before the invading troops can penetrate too deep into the country. Many lords were called, yes, but someone like Shapur, whose domain borders Turk, could possibly be doubly expected to respond since this concerns his region. Just food for thought.

I'm not sure about Narsus' timeline in several parts. How long before the TKA was it that Teos died and Narsus became the new lord of Daylam? Was it then that he freed his slaves? Or was it after the TKA ordeal?

He pretty much self-exiled in Pars era 317, so at MOST he would've had two years. Did he live full-time in the capital? Did he ever return to Daylam, even if just briefly? The Daylami seemed pretty familiar with him.

Now that I think about it, Narsus and his mother (I need to name the lady) were kicked out by Teos' main wife and then were accepted back when the wife passed away some time before Teos' death, so maybe he got more time in Daylam than I thought. The problem is that I forgot when he and his mother were accepted back?

Anyways, this opportunity for an encounter between the two kinda offers me the opportunity to have them meet each other early. I am still contemplating what to do with it. Especially since a couple of the enslaved folk Narsus freed could end up in Gorgan's orbit.

There's no way the Gorgan folk could know about Narsus' abolitionist ideals until Narsus pulls that stunt of freeing all his slaves (I assume it happened in Daylam rather than the capital), I mean there's a small possibility that they might know vaguely but it's more likely that they straight up won't know until Narsus does the societal equivalent of kicking down the door and blasting a horn far and wide. There's also very little possibility of Narsus knowing unless Gorgan reaches out to him first— what with their operation being so hush-hush and crucially under wraps because of the Mardi's caution— and they wouldn't reach out before knowing that Narsus is trustworthy.

But after? Could Shapur possibly reach out? Maybe he would want his children to have an ally he knows can be trusted so they won't be so alone against the world. Would it even be Shapur who reaches out? Would it be Sadiq who advises Shapur to do so? Would it make sense for them to see a potential friend and ally and not take the opportunity, especially when Shapur has already cut ties with his relatives over the Isfan debacle and the region can't exactly trust other nobles willy-nilly. I don't know.

In the scenario that he does reach out and they do end up connecting with each other, what can I do with it? Narsus probably got the court position in 315, in my timeline I put down that Shapur becomes a marzban in 316 (age 32), after some ambiguous campaign that he was called to be part of, so he would have to go to the capital again. I did not find anything significant in the novel timeline in the year 316, so I wouldn't know what the occasion is. But in the hypothetical scenario that they're acquainted with each other by this point, what interesting thing can I do with how they view the capital? Does Narsus ever get to return to Daylam during his time as a court advisor of sorts? What could he do with this?

I have something vague pinned down for after when canon starts, where the Mardi folk (esp Khazān and Arslan? not sure yet) help Daylam defend against Lusitanians and encountering Irina and her crew + Kubard and Merlaine and things rolling from there— could that aid be rooted in a friendship established before that point?

Coordinating trade and stuff between the two regions could be pretty difficult if Narsus isn't there to manage the process, though. So I'm still not sure how it all works out.

In the scenario that there is a connection between Gorgan and Daylam, could Narsus possibly go back to Daylam after his exile instead of going to live on Mt. Bashur in isolation? Because even if somebody else warns him to be careful, I don't think it's possible for Narsus to stay quiet about the corruption and injustices in the capital and eventually he'd snap and get fed up and leave when his concerns go ignored.

I'm... still not sure what would happen after he goes back to Daylam (if he does) or why I'm contemplating this whole situation in the first place BUT here I am, pondering and contemplating anyways.

[diodellet]

Hmm,may i get pretty pls,prompt 10 with lumine ,prompt 15 with arlecchino and maybe prompt 7 with columbina?^^

If possible i would like the reader to be fem and aloof:")

💌Lumine + Prompt #10 (Talking with them for hours about anything and everything, not even feeling the time pass.) ++Female!Reader

“The rain doesn’t seem to be letting up. We will have to camp in this cave for the night,” Lumine says, wringing the fabric of her skirt.

“That’s alright with me.” Could you muster another day’s worth of payment? Your shivering doesn’t abate despite the mortified heat coursing through you.

“Hold on, I’ll get out a warming bottle.”

You sit by the fringes of its orange glow as she prepares dinner. Your adventurer’s cap and green overcoat are laid out on a nearby rock to dry, alongside her scarf and gloves. The meal is taken in silence, save for when you mutter a quiet “thanks” as you hand your bowl to her. 

While she takes first watch, you try settling in your sleeping bag.

To no avail. 

“Move a little closer, you’ll catch a cold.”

“I’m fine right here, thank you.”

She opens a second warming bottle, placing it closer to you. “Better?”

A bit. But the discomfort lingered—the question tumbles from you, “why did you take this commission?”

“To escort you to the outskirts of the Court of Fontaine?”

“...You could’ve done something more noble than babysitting.”

Despite her delicate features, there’s something jaded in her expression as she replies. “I’m not always looking to do something grand.”

“So you’re saying that your reputation—all of your achievements were accidents? Circumstance?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Things don’t always go according to plan, as you’ve seen.”

“...Right.”

Rain continues to fall.

“Getting you to your destination safely is enough payment,” Lumine says, as if signposting the end of that conversation.

Which, you can’t accept. That she’s seen through you like this, that you can barely get a read on her. You’ve listened to so many stories and rumors that you thought you could paint a detailed portrait of the illustrious Traveler. But here, Lumine’s only become more of an enigma.

And that innate adventurer’s curiosity tugs at you, compounds your insomnia.

“There has to be something that I—that will suffice. For your time and effort in accompanying me.” Some hidden treasure, a rare sight, something.

“Who knows what we’ll find?” Lumine appraises you with a faint smile. “I’m glad that you’re actually more talkative than you look.”

Warmth blazes through you. “I’m trying to be courteous—”

(This back and forth continues for several hours. You don’t even realize when you’ve drifted off.)

💌Arlecchino + Prompt #15 (Ranting about how insufferable they are, but your friend thinks knows otherwise. Bonus points if the subject of your conversation overhears Everything) ++Female!Reader (Reader is a Fatui Operative)

You’ve endured the bitter hoarfrost, honed yourself into a ruthlessly efficient blade for the Tsaritsa. Though, unlike some of your colleagues, you’re equally dedicated to your values of being upfront, to never rely on deceit and underhandedness.

“Diplomatic missions,” you feel you could do without.

You’d rather guard the doors to whatever meeting room Arlecchino and her colleagues occupied. Anything over standing at her side, engaging in superficial conversations that skirted around the heart of the issue.

So when she propositions you for a short duel, you should’ve realized that this was to make an example out of your brief moment of outward frustration.

She barely gives you a second to defend yourself. Her weapon is a blur of crimson, metal clanging against your sword, the sheer force of the attack making you skid backwards.

“By all means, please do not hold anything back,” she says.

You aren’t weak. You do your best to put up a good fight instead of relying on evasion. 

(Though it’s obvious to any onlooker that victory was already within her grasp.)

In the end, you’re trapped in between a rock and a hard place. A web of red, wispy spider strings and the business end of her scythe. Mere millimeters away from having your head lopped off. Bruised and winded from exhaustion. Meanwhile she remains pristinely untouched, cold and dignified.

“I…give.”

Those two words seem to have caught her offguard. Arlecchino cocks her head. “Hmm. Already?”

“Yes, Lord Harbinger.” The red strings disperse, but her weapon remains still. She’s waiting for you to continue. “...I deeply apologize for my insubordination.”

In that split-second, you catch the slightest shift in her stoicism. Activating your Delusion, you manage to twist out of her attack—narrowly avoiding being cleaved into two.

“Luckily for you, I can distinguish between needing an outlet and blatant insubordination. Guard.”

You’re barely able to raise your weapon in time, getting knocked onto your back, diaphragm spasming, pain radiating through you.

Those crimson webstrings appear once more, pulling you upright, making your nerves scream from overexertion. “There is a time for civil conversation and a time when one must raise their blade. You may disagree with my methods, but do remember this simple distinction. Especially while I am willing to indulge you.”

Against yourself, your lips pull into a sneer, vigor returning to your limbs anew.

💌Columbina + Prompt #7 (Opening their arms for a hug upon seeing how exhausted you are.) ++Female!Reader (Reader is a Mirror Maiden)

Is she omniscient?

While she carries an air of innocence, Columbina holds some qualities reminiscent of the Divine, so much so that it makes you wonder otherwise.

Especially during idyllic moments in Zapolyarny Palace, the rare times the winter wind recedes, letting her soft humming echo through its halls—your mind can’t stop itself from wandering back to that thought. Is she omniscient?

Say that she might be, that acknowledging the possibility means comparing her—being open to the idea—that she is on the same level as the Tsaritsa. Possibly even cut from the same cloth.

Your gaze tears away from your water mirror, hands coming up to rub at your aching temples. These new findings from the field archaeology division of Capitano’s group have you so busy, you’re only able to manage short naps in between your research.

You’d rather be out on the field, but with the injury, you’re confined to deskwork and research, to burning the midnight oil under the unnerving gaze of the Damselette.

“My, what a set of towers you’ve constructed.” You didn’t even notice her from all the books and reports stacked around the office.

You jolt out of your seat, hastily pulling yourself into a rushed yet deep bow. “Lady Columbina!” 

“You needn’t be so tense, my beloved scholar.” Her voice takes on a gentle, lilting tone. “At ease, please.”

You straighten up out of your bow, but keep your hands neatly folded in front of you. “Thank you, Lady Columbina.”

She gazes up at you, unreadable features morphing into a little frown. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Only a short meal. There is much to be done.” You can’t feel the onset of hunger when you’re so engrossed in unweaving the threads of history and mythology. But the fatigue, you wish you were impervious to it. Remaining still or moving around only seemed to leave you more vulnerable to it.

She hums to herself. The sound beckons you over.

You approach, lowering to her height and into her open arms. Your eyes flutter shut for the briefest second.

(At the very least, there’s something otherworldly about her. Heavenly, perhaps?)

When you come to, you find yourself at your desk, strangely reinvigorated. Columbina is seated on the opposite end of the room. Through the slits of her mask, her eyes are closed. But her gaze lays itself on you, soft and protective.

a/n: when i tell you i was hyped to write sapphic genshin reader inserts. i was so so SO hyped (and scared to write for characs ive never written for before). this was waaaay too overdue, im sorry for taking this long to write em out, but i promise that these prompts picked at my brain in a fun way. thank you for requesting!

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

I want to preface this random and possibly dumb opinion piece on TotK by mentioning that:

a) I don't know anything about politics, much less royal politics, and

b) I'm a staunch defender of the MST3K mantra, that it's just fantasy, don't think too much about it, I just thought it might be fun to hypothesize.

But I hope someone with actual knowledge can tell me what would Zelda's actual status be?

She is still referred to as Princess, not Queen, but the King is long dead.

The main base of operations is in front of the castle, but her home seems to be all the way over in Hateno, yet, it's implied she was traveling all over Hyrule prior to that. It seems awfully complicated to rule a kingdom while constantly on the move.

But the army still seems to answer to her.

However, she was out of commission for a full century, meaning pretty much all the people who originally pledged allegiance to her and her family are either decrepit or dead, so it means the current soldiers spent their life training to defend the people but under what institution? With what money?

Actually, how did the kingdom even run as a kingdom on its own? There is no visible figurehead, no nobility left, the closest thing would be Impa but she was more of a bodyguard/consultant. And Impa is retired, to boot.

If you think about it, LINK is probably the only Hylian noble alive in all of Hyrule. And he sure af wasn't interested in doing any ruling after also going missing for 100 years.

And do you really think that, after managing for 100 years with self-government, the towns and tribes would happily go back to paying tribute to a royal family that most of them are too young to have known?

It just seems awfully inefficient all around.

I get that Zelda is this borderline-Mary-Sue-ish beacon of light that everybody loves and that Hylians would surely like to have some structure, so they would happily support her efforts to rebuild the kingdom but, in practice, there are so many holes in that.

But it's not the focus of the game, we're here for the whimsy, the fun, and to watch a twink run around in cute clothes beating up monsters. The polical nuances can suck it lol.

[shattereality]

I made it through the warp (a job interview) and back!!! And now it’s time for power-armored thirst and righteous violence in the name of the Emperor!!! (and maybe... some spicy heresy). This is sort of like a Chapter explanation blorbo, I'm trying to get my friends into Warhammer <3

Here’s a breakdown of the most iconic Chapters, starting with the First Founding ones & including their spicy flavors, vibes and how down-bad I get writing them:

𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦

Primarch: Roboute Guilliman

Vibe: Noble, lawful, paragons of discipline, poster boys of the Imperium.

Flavor: The “perfect son,” clean armor, tight formations, follows the Codex Astartes to the letter.

Thirst Level: High if you like strict, responsible men with blue armor & battlefield etiquette.

𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗟𝗩𝗘𝗦

Primarch: Leman Russ

Vibe: Viking werewolf biker gang energy.

Flavor: Fur pelts, fangs, howls, ale chuggers. Barely follow rules, but damn loyal.

Thirst Level: VERY high if you like wild, rowdy, growly types who will protect you AND bite.

𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗟𝗦

Primarch: Sanguinius (angelic, tragic and dead)

Vibe: Vampire angel pretty boys with a dark thirst for blood.

Flavor: Golden hair, red armor, haunted by The Black Rage (trauma, visions, berserker madness).

Thirst Level: Insane. Gothic tragedy. Beautiful, tortured and dangerous. Love that angst.

𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗦

Primarch: Rogal Dorn

Vibe: Stone-faced, unbreakable defenders. Siege warfare specialists.

Flavor: Pain-loving stoics. Literally have a Pain Glove. Probably into denial and restraint.

Thirst Level: Very high if you like emotionally constipated men who build fortresses around their hearts.

𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗦

Primarch: Jaghatai Khan

Vibe: Speed demons. Hit-and-run masters.

Flavor: Ride bikes into battle, love the wind and freedom. Philosophical warriors.

Thirst Level: High if you love fast, free-spirited, quietly intense men with poetic souls.

𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡 𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗗

Primarch: Corvus Corax

Vibe: Stealthy, emo ninjas. Guerilla fighters.

Flavor: Operate in shadows, wear black armor, mournful and brooding.

Thirst Level: Goth boys who vanish into the dark after saving you? Yesss.

𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦

Primarch: Vulkan

Vibe: Fireproof gentle giants.

Flavor: Obsessed with protecting civilians, forging weapons and using flame weapons.

Thirst Level: Extremely high. Kind-hearted, huge, dad-energy space marines who bake and burn your enemies.

𝗜𝗥𝗢𝗡 𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦

Primarch: Ferrus Manus

Vibe: Machine-obsessed, emotion-repressing cyborgs.

Flavor: Replace flesh with metal. Cold logic. No-nonsense.

Thirst Level: High if you like mechanical enhancements and repressed emotion waiting to break free.

𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗟𝗦

Primarch: Lion El'Jonson

Vibe: Knightly, secretive, brooding.

Flavor: Love their mysteries and sins. Hunt the Fallen. Very “I cannot love... but I will protect you.”

Thirst Level: Through the roof. Secret knights with unresolved guilt? Delicious.

And then we’ve got Successor Chapters—smaller chapters created later from the gene-seed of the original legions. Some of them are absolutely feral, like:

Black Templars (from Imperial Fists): Zealot crusaders, NO psykers, all faith, all sword.

Crimson Fists: Offshoot of the Imperial Fists, underdogs with a badass name.

Flesh Tearers (from Blood Angels): Even more blood-hungry and unstable. Like sexy berserkers.

[skaldish]

...Can we talk more about how the US economy basically relies on the psychology of resource scarcity to function as an economic model?

"Resource scarcity" is a situation where we lack sufficient, reliable, and/or consistent access to one or multiple things critical for human development and livelihoods, whether it's food, housing, money, community love, sleep, comfort, bodily autonomy and freedom, the freedom of expression, the freedom to authentically engage with the world, or something else.

Chronic resource scarcity does something very fucky with our psychology. We stop operating from a place of curiosity and start operating from the desire to acquire, to pursue, and to win. Our focus narrows. We stop thinking of things in terms of interrelationships, and start thinking of things in terms of "how do I get from point A to point B?"

USAmerican culture tends to paint a "competitive nature" as a noble characteristic. But I'm starting to wonder if the kind of thrill-seeking behavior we see associated with competition is not just the behavior of a starving persistence hunter.

(Even the rich experience scarcity, in the form of the fact they constantly have to earn and maintain their worth in order to stay in their communities.)

When people have resource security, they are at ease. They are open, relaxed, inviting of silliness and playfulness, and their priorities turn to activities of personal development, innovation, and life-enrichment.

Operating from resource scarcity makes people less discerning, less considerate, more emotionally volatile, more one-track-minded, and far more spendthrifty. It's not a moral or intellectual failing on our part either. It's literally instincts kicking in because we're regularly lacking something we need to maintain our human condition.

I think the reason why many people defend keeping a competition-based society is because they want to secure their ability to gather resources, not realizing that social animals aren't interested in being competitive with members of their own species unless resource scarcity is involved.

I already figured "We can't afford to have universal basic income" didn't actually mean "Universal basic income costs too much."

But now I'm beginning to think it means "Universal basic income would change US consumer behavior patterns, which would change the mechanics we've developed around money-making, and this would render our current profit-making strategies obsolete."

And I think we should be talking about this psychological fuckery 24/7.

[wokealqaeda]

Albert Gonzalez (born 1981) is an American computer hacker, computer criminal and police informer, who is accused of masterminding the combined credit card theft and subsequent reselling of more than 170 million card and ATMnumbers from 2005 to 2007, the biggest such fraud in history. Gonzalez and his accomplices used SQL injection to deploy backdoors on several corporate systems in order to launch packet sniffing (specifically, ARP spoofing) attacks which allowed him to steal computer data from internal corporate networks.

Gonzalez bought his first computer when he was 12, and by the time he was 14 managed to hack into NASA. He attended South Miami High School in Miami, Florida, where he was described as the "troubled" pack leader of computer nerds. In 2000, he moved to New York City, where he lived for three months before moving to Kearny, New Jersey.

While in Kearny, he was accused of being the mastermind of a group of hackers called the ShadowCrew group, which trafficked in 1.5 million stolen credit and ATM card numbers. Although considered the mastermind of the scheme (operating on the site under the screen name of "CumbaJohnny"), he was not indicted. According to the indictment, there were 4,000 people who registered with the Shadowcrew.com website. Once registered, they could buy stolen account numbers or counterfeit documents at auction, or read "Tutorials and How-To's" describing the use of cryptography in magnetic strips on credit cards, debit cards and ATM cards so that the numbers could be used. Moderators of the website punished members who did not abide by the site's rules, including providing refunds to buyers if the stolen card numbers proved invalid.

In addition to the card numbers, numerous other objects of identity theft were sold at auction, including counterfeit passports, drivers' licenses, Social Security cards, credit cards, debit cards, birth certificates, college student identification cards, and health insurance cards. One member sold 18 million e-mail accounts with associated usernames, passwords, dates of birth, and other personally identifying information. Most of those indicted were members who actually sold illicit items. Members who maintained or moderated the website itself were also indicted, including one who attempted to register the .cc domain name Shadowcrew.cc.

The Secret Service dubbed their investigation "Operation Firewall" and believed that up to $4.3 million was stolen, as ShadowCrew shared its information with other groups called Carderplanet and Darkprofits. The investigation involved units from the United States, Bulgaria, Belarus, Canada, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Gonzalez was initially charged with possession of 15 fake credit and debit cards in Newark, New Jersey, though he avoided jail time by providing evidence to the United States Secret Service against his cohorts. 19 ShadowCrew members were indicted. Gonzalez then returned to Miami.

While cooperating with authorities, he was said to have masterminded the hacking of TJX Companies, in which 45.6 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen over an 18-month period ending in 2007, topping the 2005 breach of 40 million records at CardSystems Solutions. Gonzalez and 10 others sought targets while wardriving and seeking vulnerabilities in wireless networks along U.S. Route 1 in Miami. They compromised cards at BJ's Wholesale Club, DSW, Office Max, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and T.J. Maxx. The indictment referred to Gonzalez by the screen names "cumbajohny", "201679996", "soupnazi", "segvec", "kingchilli" and "stanozlolz." The hacking was an embarrassment to TJ Maxx, which discovered the breach in December 2006. The company initially believed the intrusion began in May 2006, but further investigation revealed breaches dating back to July 2005.

Gonzalez had multiple US co-defendants for the Dave & Buster's and TJX thefts. The main ones were charged and sentenced as follows:

Stephen Watt (Unix Terrorist, Jim Jones) was charged with providing a data theft tool in an identity theft case. He was sentenced to two years in prison and 3 years of supervised release. He was also ordered by the court to pay back $250,000 in restitution.

Damon Patrick Toey pleaded guilty to wire fraud, credit card fraud, and aggravated identity theft and received a five-year sentence.

Christopher Scott pleaded guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized access to computer systems, access device fraud and identity theft. He was sentenced to seven years.

Gonzalez was arrested on May 7, 2008, on charges stemming from hacking into the Dave & Buster's corporate network from a point of sale location at a restaurant in Islandia, New York. The incident occurred in September 2007. About 5,000 card numbers were stolen. Fraudulent transactions totaling $600,000 were reported on 675 of the cards.

Authorities became suspicious after the conspirators kept returning to the restaurant to reintroduce their hack, because it would not restart after the company computers shut down.

Gonzalez was arrested in room 1508 at the National Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. In various related raids, authorities seized $1.6 million in cash (including $1.1 million buried in plastic bags in a three-foot drum in his parents' backyard), his laptops and a compact Glock pistol. Officials said that, at the time of his arrest, Gonzalez lived in a nondescript house in Miami. He was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he was indicted in the Heartland attacks.

In August 2009, Gonzalez was indicted in Newark, New Jersey on charges dealing with hacking into the Heartland Payment Systems, Citibank-branded 7-Eleven ATM's and Hannaford Brothers computer systems. Heartland bore the brunt of the attack, in which 130 million card numbers were stolen. Hannaford had 4.6 million numbers stolen. Two other retailers were not disclosed in the indictment; however, Gonzalez's attorney told StorefrontBacktalk that two of the retailers were J.C. Penney and Target Corporation. Heartland reported that it had lost $12.6 million in the attack including legal fees. Gonzalez allegedly called the scheme "Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin."

According to the indictment, the attacks by Gonzalez and two unidentified hackers "in or near Russia" along with unindicted conspirator "P.T." from Miami, began on December 26, 2007, at Heartland Payment Systems, August 2007 against 7-Eleven, and in November 2007 against Hannaford Brothers and two other unidentified companies.

Gonzalez and his cohorts targeted large companies and studied their check out terminals and then attacked the companies from internet-connected computers in New Jersey, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

They covered their attacks over the Internet using more than one messaging screen name, storing data related to their attacks on multiple Hacking Platforms, disabling programs that logged inbound and outbound traffic over the Hacking Platforms, and disguising, through the use of proxies, the Internet Protocol addresses from which their attacks originated. The indictment said the hackers tested their program against 20 anti virus programs.

Rene Palomino Jr., attorney for Gonzalez, charged in a blog on The New York Times website that the indictment arose out of squabbling among U.S. Attorney offices in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Palomino said that Gonzalez was in negotiations with New York and Massachusetts for a plea deal in connection with the T.J. Maxx case when New Jersey made its indictment. Palomino identified the unindicted conspirator "P.T." as Damon Patrick Toey, who had pleaded guilty in the T.J. Maxx case. Palomino said Toey, rather than Gonzalez, was the ring leader of the Heartland case. Palomino further said, "Mr. Toey has been cooperating since Day One. He was staying at (Gonzalez's) apartment. This whole creation was Mr. Toey's idea... It was his baby. This was not Albert Gonzalez. I know for a fact that he wasn't involved in all of the chains that were hacked from New Jersey."

Palomino said one of the unnamed Russian hackers in the Heartland case was Maksym Yastremskiy, who was also indicted in the T.J. Maxx incident but is now serving 30 years in a Turkish prison on a charge of hacking Turkish banks in a separate matter. Investigators said Yastremskiy and Gonzalez exchanged 600 messages and that Gonzalez paid him $400,000 through e-gold.

Yastremskiy was arrested in July 2007 in Turkey on charges of hacking into 12 banks in Turkey. The Secret Service investigation into him was used to build the case against Gonzalez including a sneak and peek covert review of Yastremskiy's laptop in Dubai in 2006 and a review of the disk image of the Latvia computer leased from Cronos IT and alleged to have been used in the attacks.

After the indictment, Heartland issued a statement saying that it does not know how many card numbers were stolen from the company nor how the U.S. government reached the 130 million number.

Gonzalez (inmate number: 25702-050) served his 20-year sentence at the FMC Lexington, a medical facility. He was released on September 19, 2023.

[anna-the-undertaker]

The Price You Pay

Mammon x MC

MC gets hurt, and Mammon is pissed.

Warnings: mentions of blood and injury, insinuated torture, death

Everyone conveniently forgets that Mammon is the second most powerful of the avatars of sin. His nonchalant attitude, rebellious nature, and notorious failures overshadow his true capabilities. For the Avatar of Greed, this reputation had its pros and cons. On one hand, they believed him to be a fool; on the other, they never saw him coming.

One of his abilities was the power to always know the true worth of an object, deed, or debt. He could immediately determine whether artifacts, jewels, or gold were genuine, or if a service or action was worth the debt owed. Anything of value, he would know.

Mammon often did work for Diavolo on behalf of Lucifer, making deals to boost the future Demon Lord's reputation or acting as a debt collector. Despite his sticky fingers, he knew better than to try anything shady during official transactions for the crown. These weren't the same as stealing Lucifer's wallet or Levi's figures. If he did, the punishment would be far worse than being strung up by the Avatar of Pride.

Years after MC arrived in the Devildom and turned his and his brothers' world upside down, long after he and MC had started a romantic relationship, Mammon was tasked with collecting an artifact gifted to the future Demon Lord. It was an act of good faith and support for Diavolo’s ascension by one of the many noble houses.

This noble house, in particular, was known to oppose Diavolo's exchange program. While many shared their views, they had never acted against the Prince, fearing Barbatos and the Sins first born.

Upon being presented with the artifact, however, Mammon knew it was fake. The replica was detailed, but nothing could escape his gaze.

"What the fuck is this, huh? Ya think ya can just hand over this fake, and I wouldn't notice? You'll be hearing from Barbatos," Mammon barked as he stormed out.

Days passed, leaving the situation to the Demon Lord and Lucifer. Handling dissenting nobles required delicate care to avoid rebellion or war.

Mammon, meanwhile, was at one of his modeling gigs. He planned to surprise MC with a road trip in the human realm, having noticed their homesickness. He'd already gotten permission from Diavolo and Lucifer as a reward for his help, and because they couldn't say no when MC was involved.

In his changing room, the familiar he'd given to MC appeared, squawking frantically.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Chill out! What's wrong with ya?" Mammon yelled, confused. Then it dawned on him: this familiar wasn't supposed to leave MC's side unless it was an emergency. His heart raced.

His D.D.D rang, Lucifer’s name glowing on the screen. Mammon answered faster than ever, panic gripping him.

"What's goin' on? Did they rally the other noble houses? Did they attack? Is MC okay?"

Lucifer’s silence was heavy. "Stay calm and listen carefully. I need you to come to the hospital immediately."

Mammon's blood ran cold. Rage took root in his mind. If it were one of his brothers, he knew they could defend themselves. But this was MC.

His D.D.D shattered under his grip, the call severed. He bolted from the room, his speed amplified by his barely contained emotions. He was outside the hospital in an instant, where his brothers waited.

He tried to push past them. "Where is MC!? Take me to them now!"

"Mammon!" Lucifer's hands gripped his shoulders, holding him back. "They are being operated on. The damage is significant, but they will live. You need to calm down."

Mammon’s anger turned toward his brothers. "Why weren't any of you with them? We're supposed to protect them! Why didn't they summon one of us? Why didn't they summon me?"

Lucifer’s eyes tightened with emotion only Mammon could decipher—an expression of powerlessness.

Satan spoke up. "The attacker used a suppression spell, making MC unable to use their magic. It was premeditated. MC is important to us and the Demon Lord, making them the perfect target."

The silence that followed was heavy. Mammon felt more angry with himself than anyone else.

"Who found them?" he whispered.

"If you hadn't gifted MC a familiar, we might not have known what happened or where they were," Lucifer answered. "The familiar guided us to them before coming to you."

Hours passed, and little was said even after the angels, Solomon, Diavolo, and Barbatos arrived. It felt like an eternity before the doctors came to take them back.

Mammon was the first to enter MC's room. They were unconscious, looking worse for wear. Bruises littered their body, and bandages covered their torso, speckled with blood. He could smell it in the air. The beeping of the monitor and the sounds of the respirator created a haunting song ringing in his ears. He gently rested his hand on their cheek, his thumb moving in gentle strokes. He buried his nose in their hair, inhaling their scent, tears pricking his eyes.

"Wait for me, okay?" he whispered, unsure if they could hear him and pressed a searing kiss to their temple.

Then he stood, feeling as if his entire body was on fire. A dark aura overtook him, and no one tried to stop him as he made his way outside.

The Devildom's sky was dotted with stars, the moon casting its gaze like a massive eye, offering no comfort. An infernal incantation slipped from his mouth, summoning a murder of crows as his true form emerged.

"Find the bastard," he ordered. The crows scattered, and he took flight. It didn't take long before they found their target. Mammon crashed through the roof of their hideout, dust billowing around him.

The noble's guards lunged at Mammon, weapons drawn and faces twisted with determination. But with a snap of Mammon’s fingers, they all fell lifeless to the ground, their bodies collapsing like marionettes with severed strings. Mammon then raised his hand, and a dark, malevolent spell engulfed the room, sucking all light away and plunging it into a pitch-black void. The noble found himself trapped within this inescapable darkness, his breaths echoing in the suffocating silence.

Mammon’s voice cut through the void, dripping with disdain. "While you were trying to hide yourself and the artifact from the Demon Lord and his allies after you fucked up during our last meeting, you somehow believed you wouldn’t be found."

The noble’s voice trembled, yet he tried to maintain a facade of confidence. "I am in the business of souls. If we are on peaceful terms with the humans, my livelihood would be at stake. But if this is about the artifact, go on and take it then. There are other ways to get what I want."

Mammon’s eyes blazed with fury, his aura crackling with barely contained rage. "Oh, I'm not here for the artifact. You owe a blood debt and won't be leaving here until I have received every last drop."

The noble's bravado faltered, fear seeping into his voice. "Come now, your Highness, Prince of Greed. Surely you can just take the artifact, yes?"

"Not good enough!" Mammon’s voice boomed, growing deeper, more demonic. "Someone laid their filthy hands on MC... MY HUMAN! No amount of money or artifacts or jewels in the Devildom can pay for that transgression, my lord. No, for that... I want your flesh."

The noble’s face paled, his eyes wide with terror. "Flesh...?"

Mammon's grin was cruel and predatory. "It matters not to me where on your anatomy it is withdrawn from. If you don't have the stomach to take it for yourself, my familiars here..." He gestured, and millions of pairs of golden eyes, now stained red, appeared all around them, their hunger palpable. "...are very adept at tearing flesh from bone, and as you can see, they are quite ravenous at the moment. But! A grim short or a gram shy, and I will savor the fact that you won't leave here alive. Am I clear?"

The noble was silent, frantically searching for an escape, but there was none. The void was absolute.

"Good. I was hoping you'd resist," Mammon barked out a command to the crows in high infernal. They descended upon the noble, their claws and beaks ready to tear their organs from their body. Mammon turned and left, the noble's screams echoing behind him as he stepped into the night, his fury only partially sated by what he had wrought.

Days later, the noble's dilapidated corpse was found strewn through the trees, dangling in little pieces. The scene was macabre, the remains a grim reminder of the wrath that had been unleashed. Crows circled overhead, a harrowing warning.

The air was thick with the scent of decay, and the gruesome display left no doubt about the message: MC was not to be touched. The flapping of countless wings and the haunting cries of the crows drove the point home. This was the fate awaiting anyone who dared harm MC, so long as the Avatar of Greed breathed.

[usafphantom2]

Good Bones! Exercise during Operation Noble Defender - the joint defence of the North American continent including the US and Canada.

@Tempest _books via X

[danganronpa-shipping-galore]

✨ Danganronpa: As a Ship ✨

"Like a small dog, he desperately tries to overcompensate by commanding a presence that's infuriatingly impossible to ignore. But I suppose his bite proves more formidable than his bark..."

- Byakuya

"He's an unbearable, arrogant asshole, but I guess he's *my* unbearable arrogant asshole."

- Fuyuhiko

Canon-fueled facts:

While they don't interact directly in-canon, Byakuya does help Fuyuhiko and the rest of his classmates along with Makoto and Kyoko at the end of SDR2.

Bonus Content:

In UTDP, Fuyuhiko offers Byakuya a yakisoba as he's strolling by his food stand. Byakuya declines and they bicker about their differences involving their respective clans and Byakuya calling him an impudent punk, but Fuyuhiko eventually ends the interaction before things get too heated. During this interaction however, Fuyuhiko snarkily comments that Byakuya has guts to say what he does.

Beneficial similarities:

Similar struggles of upholding their famous families' names and have been exposed of the dark and violent side of humanity at a very young age.

Have a strong desire to prove their worth outside of their family's influence.

Incredibly loyal to their principles and people they care about.

Went through similar progressions where they embraced camaraderie and decided to use their power for more inspiring and supportive deeds, bringing the legacy of their families to even greater heights by forging their own paths.

Don't beat around the bush.

Complementary Strengths:

Byakuya's strategic poise balances Fuyuhiko's raw instincts.

Fuyuhiko's street savvy balances Byakuya's refined expertise.

Main Struggles:

Just like their interaction in UTDP shows, they are likely to be at each other's throats often with their overly confrontational and stubborn personalities.

Fuyuhiko would often find Byakuya to be too snobby, and Byakuya would often find Fuyuhiko to be a bit too ill-tempered and volatile.

Their families have differing expectations, methods, and views.

Friends, family, pets:

Ah, a Yakuza clan and a noble family full of privilege...that would cause an outright war and/or loss of body parts...

The relationship between Byakuya and Natsumi as in-laws would be pretty entertaining. Natsumi would hate Byakuya's guts and Byakuya would likely view her as someone with all talk but no bite. However, I honestly dig the idea of them having a familial-like love/hate relationship the more and more time goes by, and share a mutual respect for each other—ironically enough, much like Byakuya and Fuyuhiko. Natsumi could potentially be the closest person he's ever had to a genuine sibling. Speaking of siblings, Fuyuhiko would likely be baffled to discover that Byakuya doesn't have any sort of relationship with any of his own.

Their Love Language (unique to them as a ship):

Byakuya would express his love with actions and practical means. He would use his corporate connections and business sense to ensure Fuyuhiko and the Kuzuryus' needs are met, make time for him in his busy schedule, etc.

Fuyuhiko would also express his love with actions and practical means. He would use his Yakuza connections to gather Intel for Byakuya's business, fiercely defend and protect him, be a grounding presence during high-stress situations, etc.

Challenging each other with a "bring it on " kind of attitude would be their mutual love language.

Combined Lifestyles:

Despite the differences of what their families stand for and how they operate, Byakuya's high-class efficiency meeting Fuyuhiko's street-smart practicality would actually strengthen each other's domain if they choose to adapt.

When they are not being overly stubborn and arguing, their alone time together would be very quiet but meaningful (since they both prefer action over words), surrounded by high-quality decor (a combination of their own unique tastes), organized business necessities, high-end security systems, and so on.

[dangerousthingobservation]

Two B-1B Lancer bombers entered an Air Defense Identification Zone off the east coast of North America during air-defense Operation Noble Defender, June 26, 2023. Aircraft from the Canadian NORAD Region and Continental U.S. NORAD Region executed maneuvers designed to defend the eastern approach of North America from simulated cruise missile threats in this operation. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Bryan Hoover

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Countess Ledrick's (Re)Doubt

You were warned about bandits in your travels through the Kingsfault mountains, but you didn't expect them to be such gracious hosts. It's about after your third stein of ale at their leader's high table that you start to think they might want something from you more than coin.

Even monsters can change, or so thinks Ledrick as she wipes the blood of her latest kill from her blade. A little over a decade ago she was at the vanguard of a mercenary force pillaging through the land clearing the way for an invading army. After the fighting was done while most of her companions were either going home or turning bandit she decided to take over the keep of a minor noble she'd help to butcher.

It was mostly a joke, a commonborn killer like her declaring herself a countess and presiding over a court of outlaws as they drank a dead man's wine. Presiding turned into setting down rules for her gang, which turned into negotiating for food with nearby villages in exchange for protection from monsters and whoever didn't want to follow her rules. Fast forward eight years and Ledrick's being cheered by the people she once came to conquer as she stands between them and and ettin looking to break down their village gates.

Time has a way of changing everything... grudges are buried, children are born, and necromantic cults of dragon worshippers emerge from their tomb sleep... all part of the great cycle.

Adventure Hooks:

Tracking a bounty into the mountains leads the party to the countess's court, where their quarry has thrown himself on Ledrick's mercy as someone who fought alongside her in the early days of securing her lands. Lendrick will let the party plea their case, but conflicted between a soldier's honour and wanting to be a lawful lord will instead send them out searching for the local priestess of Tyr, god of hardwon peace, who has offered the countess wise council in the past and has been missing of late on pilgrimage to a shrine in the wilderness.

The party may also fall into Lendrick's company after their quest or patron sends them to defend against a threat lurking in the mountainous wilderness, where they'll use her fort as a forward operating base. Learning to live alongside the Countess and her retinue of semi-retired killers may take some getting used to, but if the party can win their trust they'll have no truer allies when the threat comes calling.

There have always been drakes roosting in the Kingsfault mountains, but in recent months the countess's domain has seen more attacks than it has in the past twenty years. Something is driving these beasts to attack, and the former merc has put out a call for aid to , knowing herself ill equipped to investigate the causes and that her people would be better served with her managing the monsters.

Background: It was a little over a year ago when one of Ledrick's old warbuddies came calling, a battlemage named Hess who in recent who's post-retirement delving into the more esoteric side of magic has led him down a dark road. Showing up all smiles and grand stories of their shared suffering, Hess convinced the countess to let him and his acolytes apprentices delve an old ruin in her territory, promising to share some the riches they unearthed as repayment.

Hess was good on his word, tribute to the countess's court arrived after just a few weeks of delving and maintained at a steady trickle ever since. Part of this tribute happened to be a cursed idol that unless properly contained attracts the violent attention of dragonkind. Hess neglected to include care instructions when he sent it along, hoping to use the countess's defence of her lands as a means of harvesting drakeflesh under the guise of helping to search for reasons behind the attacks.

Further Adventures:

Several of Ledrick's underlings are beginning to fall under Hess's sway; sure the drakes have killed a few dozen peasants but merchants are willing to pay for their horns and teeth hand over first, to say nothing of the drakescale armor some of the more gifted armorers have been knocking together after their hunts. Would they really let all this stop to all this just because some do-nothing farmers got hurt?

Behind his jockular attitude and harmlessly crass jokes, there's something deeply wrong with Hess. War left wounds in his psyche and now something festers beneith his scars eating away at who he is, driving him to delve deeper into the tomb and unlock its secrets. Pretending to help with the party's investigation, he'll send them on a wild goose chase into the mountains towards a dangerous ruin claiming it as the origin of whatever's causing the drakes to attack.

By the time they realize the deceptio Hess and his followers will have cleared out of the ancient tomb, leaving behind a series of spells that will lock the party inside and reactivate all the traps and guardians the cult spent months disarming. Perhaps most dangerous of all is a construct of Hess's own fevered design; built of drakebone and sinew grafted into armor, a half finished war machine that will stalk the party through the darkened halls.

Art 1 Art 2 Art 3

[goodqueenaly]

Honestly? I am just happy in not being the only person mad at the way Jaehaerys treated his daughters. I also have ISSUES with the whole Great Council thing. It was a good idea temporarily speaking, but to create a pattern where the lords have a voice on the sucession is not the best idea on long terms. Its great oportunity for them to promote their personal interests or simplely to turn this on a popularity race

Respectfully, I don’t agree.

After all, at the time Jaehaerys I called the Great Council, he was already facing the prospect of rather immediate, rather violent intervention by aristocratic factions with specific views on the succession. According to Gyldayn, while Jaehaerys conferred with Vaegon, “[r]eports had reached the court that Corlys Velaryon was massing ships and men on Driftmark to ‘defend the rights’ of his son, Laenor, whilst Daemon Targaryen … had gathered his own band of sworn swords in support of his brother, Viserys”. Small wonder, then, that Gyldayn concluded that “[a]violent struggle for succession was likely no matter who the Old King named to succeed him”, with such mutually opposed claimants backed by such major Westerosi powers, and perhaps no small wonder that Jaehaerys would have reached to a (relatively) nonviolent alternate solution. (Whether or not the king could or should have promoted the rights of Princess Rhaenys from the beginning, instead of nominating Baelon and then calling the Great Council, is of course a separate point.)

Nor do I think there are or have been many, if indeed any, instances in Westerosi politics in which every actor (or even most actors) has operated completely selflessly, without an eye to advancing his (or her) own or the family’s interest. Indeed, this was a point I brought up in pushing back a bit on the idea that Otto Hightower was the worst Hand ever: far from a political mortal sin in Westeros, ambition seems to be part and parcel of operation in a world where power is inherently personal, vested in the individual blue-blooded representatives of hereditary dynasties. While this sort of self-advancement in the interest of succession can certainly be devastatingly destructive when they erupt into civil wars, these actions can also “simply” represent the sort of dynastic maneuvering inherent to Westerosi politics (see, for example, the often jocular jockeying of Robb’s loyal but nevertheless self-interested new bannermen in AGOT).

Too, while the Great Council was somewhat of a new idea - though not entirely, given that Jaehaerys’ own father had “decided he would summon a great council to discuss how best to put down” the various rebels in his realm - the intervention of aristocratic powers in a question of succession was not new, even for the young Targaryen dynasty. After all, Maegor and Aegon the Uncrowned had not duked it out alone atop their dragons above the Gods Eye; both had armies of nobles supporting their respective claims and battling it out in those causes. Nor indeed had Jaehaerys come to the throne solely through his own power; rather, it had been the abandonment of Maegor by the usurper-king’s vassals, and the rallying of aristocratic powers to young Jaehaerys, that had turned the political tide in favor of the young would-be king.

In sum, I think the Great Council was less a foolish idea by Jaehaerys to hand over royal decisionmaking to a group of selfish elites and more a way of avoiding the bloodshed of his uncle Maegor’s rise and fall - bloodshed which, given the saber-rattling of the Velaryon and pro-Viserys factions, may have seemed all too imminent. I don’t believe any of the attendees saw the Great Council as some sort of transformation of the Iron Throne into an elective monarchy, along the lines of the ancient ironborn or the Greenblood kingdom; after all, we see no further attempt to call such a Great Council on the question of succession until the death of Aegon V, and the Royal Succession-esqe confusion over the next in line to the throne. Yet in a feudal monarchy as the Iron Throne was (and is), when the king must be acclaimed by his vassals, the question of succession will always to varying extents be linked to the sentiment and support of the aristocratic families sworn to the royal dynasty. If there was no way to separate the various personal-dynastic interests of the noble attendees from the question at hand, I think this was less the sole outcome of such a gathering and more a byproduct of any given Westerosi politicking, which nevertheless resulted in an answer to a legal question affecting the kingdom (again, whether or not you agree with the answer being a separate point).

[carat-chronicles]

Seventeen as Fantasy Archetypes ✨

1. S.Coups – The Noble Knight

A brave and valiant leader, sworn to protect his kingdom and his people. With unmatched strength and an unshakable sense of honor, S.Coups wields his sword with wisdom and courage, ready to defend his loved ones from any evil.

2. Jeonghan – The Enigmatic Sorcerer

Mysterious and powerful, Jeonghan is a master of arcane magic. He is often seen wandering the ancient libraries, seeking knowledge to perfect his craft. Though his heart is kind, his wisdom and power can make him seem distant or intimidating to those who don’t know him well.

3. Joshua – The Celestial Healer

A peaceful soul who has the gift of healing, Joshua’s magic flows from the stars themselves. He can mend wounds with a touch and bring light to the darkest of places, always offering comfort and guidance to those in need.

4. Jun – The Agile Assassin

Silent and swift, Jun is a shadow in the night. A master of stealth and agility, he works in the shadows, protecting the realm from unseen threats. With unmatched precision and quiet grace, he carries out his missions without leaving a trace.

5. Hoshi – The Fierce Warrior

Born to fight, Hoshi has a fiery spirit and a heart full of determination. With his weapon in hand, he charges into battle, leading his troops with unrelenting energy and enthusiasm. His passion is contagious, and his strength is unmatched.

6. Wonwoo – The Stoic Archer

Calm and precise, Wonwoo’s arrows never miss their mark. His sharp eyes and steady hand make him a master marksman, and he prefers to keep his emotions close to his chest, focusing instead on the mission ahead.

7. Woozi – The Genius Alchemist

With a brilliant mind, Woozi spends his days experimenting with potions, brews, and magical concoctions. His creations can heal, protect, or even enhance the abilities of those he cares for. He’s a quiet, focused presence, but his work speaks for itself.

8. DK – The Charming Bard

With his lively energy and beautiful voice, DK captivates all who hear him sing. He is a bard, traveling from village to village, spreading joy and inspiring courage through his songs and stories. His performances can lift the spirits of even the most downtrodden.

9. Mingyu – The Mighty Warrior

A towering figure on the battlefield, Mingyu’s strength and resilience make him an unstoppable force. Though his exterior is intimidating, his heart is pure, and he fights for justice and the protection of his people.

10. The8 – The Mystic Seer

The8 possesses the rare gift of foresight, able to glimpse the future through visions and dreams. While his knowledge of what’s to come is invaluable, it often isolates him from others, as they struggle to understand the weight of his prophetic abilities.

11. Seungkwan – The Loyal Guardian

Seungkwan is the protector of his comrades, always standing by their side with unwavering loyalty. His quick wit and sharp tongue may get him into trouble at times, but he’s always ready to defend his friends and the ones he loves from any threat.

12. Vernon – The Rogue Sorcerer

Vernon is a mischievous but powerful sorcerer with a talent for illusion magic. He prefers to operate on his own terms, often blurring the line between good and bad, but his heart is always in the right place—especially when his friends are in danger.

13. Dino – The Young, Bold Hero

Full of youthful energy and a natural sense of adventure, Dino is a hero in the making. He is still learning the ways of the world but is brave and eager to prove himself. With his unshakeable courage and determination, there’s no challenge too big for him to face.

Should I create quick short stories on each of these?