#red thread quest

[yaoigremlin]

Red Thread Quest | 홍실퀘스트

[beargyufairy]

Invisible String Theory - NaLu

“All along there was some invisible string tying you to me” - Invisible String (Taylor Swift)

“One single thread of gold tied me to you” - Invisible String (Taylor Swift)

Part 2: Natsu’s Beloved Scarf

Every Fairy Tail knows how much Natsu cherishes the scarf given to him by Igneel. It is his last physical connection to his beloved father. He is rarely seen without it. He was very upset when Zeref’s attacked caused the scarf to become black after protecting him. He loves the scarf beyond measure.

The scarf is made from Igneel’s fallen dragon scales (turning from red to white). While Natsu never gave much thought to how the scarf was made, it is obvious that Igneel can’t make a scarf for a human (being a huge dragon and all). Anna Heartfilia - celestial mage, teacher to the dragon slayers, and ancestor of Lucy - knit the scarf for Natsu.

The invisible string connects Natsu and Lucy beyond their own interactions. A part of Natsu past is connected to Lucy’s family 400 years ago. The scarf remains with him through thick and thin.

Additionally, Lucy knows how important it is to Natsu. She is often seen keeping the scarf safe and is the only one who Natus allows to use to the scarf (especially in the 100 year quest). Essentially, this demonstrates how a simple scarf connects Natsu and Lucy.

[zoya-nazyalenskys]

one thing i haven't seen talked about concerning veilguard is the absence of red lyrium? it was one of the biggest issues in thedas during inquisition but in veilguard it was barely mentioned

[mamorigami]

i think its so inevitable for the team to take up a 100 yr quest at SOME point in time so i might keep the idea that they're doing it, but i won't involve the story & plotlines in the current series. do u get me.

[buddhabodhi]

Red String of Fate Meaning and Legend

Deep in ancient East Asian folklore lies the Red String of Fate – an invisible cord that mysteriously binds destined lovers and soulmates. As one legend explains, the gods tie a crimson thread around the ankles (or fingers) of those destined to meet and help each other. Over lifetimes the cord may stretch or tangle, but it never breaks – drawing two hearts inexorably together at just the right time. According to Chinese myth, the lunar matchmaker deity Yuè Xià Lǎo oversees this bond. In Japan, a similar red thread is said to connect a man’s thumb to a woman’s little finger (giving rise to the old pinky-swear custom). The red color itself symbolizes joy and good fortune in Chinese culture, making the legend both emotional and mystical.

A well-known tale illustrates the legend: once a young man Wei Gu encounters an old matchmaker under the moonlight. The old man, reading a “marriage book” and carrying red cords, points out a little girl destined to be Wei Gu’s wife. Skeptical and playful, the boy orders the girl to be hurt so he will never marry her – throwing a rock at her and running away. Years later, Wei Gu marries a beautiful young woman who bears a scar exactly where the rock struck – realizing in astonishment that she is the very same girl shown to him years before. Their meeting, long foretold by the red string, confirms that fate cannot be denied.

💌 Do you believe in the red thread of fate?

Tell us about your "destined fate", we want to hear your story. 👇

[buckyseternaldoll]

Disclaimer: Many of my posts are rated 18+ and contain explicit sexual content, so minors, please do not interact. Be sure to read the story disclaimers before proceeding. If you find any content uncomfortable, please feel free to scroll past or stop reading. 💜

🔞 — smut | 🌸 — fluff | 🥀 — angst -`♡´- — reader's fav

SERIES

🔞 He Feels Everything -`♡´- 🔞 Mirror Me

🔞 Tied in Trust -`♡´- 🔞 Held, Not Bound

🔞 Woven in the Dark 🔞 Where The Threads Meet 🔞 Stitched Into Forever

🥀 Five Seconds, Five Years (Part I) 🥀 Five Seconds, Five Years (Part II) 🥀 Five Seconds, Five Years (Part III)

ONE SHOT

🔞 Pulled Tight Around Him -`♡´- 🌸 More Than Enough 🥀 Autopilot 🔞 He Still Smelled Like Home -`♡´- 🔞 Filed Under: Inappropriate -`♡´- 🔞 Code Red -`♡´- 🌸 Second Place 🔞 Every Time We Almost 🥀 Night of Fireworks 🥀 Fade Into Me, Not Away 🔞 Crimson and Craving 🔞 Vaulted -`♡´- 🥀 The Long Conversation 🔞 Every Inch, Every Corner -`♡´- 🔞 eighteen hours. -`♡´- 🔞 knife's edge. -`♡´- 🌸 can't help. 🌸 like saying yes to home 🥀 A Beautiful Way to D*e 🔞 suffocate me sweetly -`♡´- 🔞 on command. -`♡´- 🔞 until we remember 🥀 Love Me or Leave Me 🥀 What We Never Said 🥀 man in the woods 🔞 bad desire -`♡´- 🔞 wrapped in love ᢉ𐭩 🔞 all mine, baby -`♡´- 🌸 Snowy Alps: Alpine. 🔞 sergeant's magic mouth -`♡´- 🌸 Blooming From Within -`♡´- 🔞 use me. you're all mine. -`♡´- 🔞 you, unblurred. -`♡´- 🌸 Fireworks and Cuddles 🔞 kinky side quest

DRABBLE

❓Questionable Workout Machine 🌸 A Very Bucky's Father Day

MISC

John Walker — 🔞 Dead-End Heat

[utilitycaster]

Sorry if you've answered this kind of question before, but yesterday's ask about the villains made me think about the opposite: what kind of story do you think Bells Hells could have worked well in, the way they are? With their complete disinterest about the world I struggle to imagine them working in anything but a monster of the week kind of format where things are just kind of thrown at you...

Hey anon,

This is a fantastic question because it gets to the crux of something I don't know if I've properly articulated and honestly might not have the right words for so if any of my mutuals who have a greater degree of expertise in narratology/storycraft than I do want to mark this up with red pen, go nuts.

The way I approach characters in stories is not just who they are initially; but who they become through the process of the narrative in which they find themselves. I'm not immune to a first impression! I repeatedly find myself initially drawn to more driven, serious, emotionally closed off, genuinely good but kind of a bitch about it characters; and dismissing the ones I see as chaos gremlins, and then having to recant myself if/when the chaos gremlins show more depth through their actions. I rarely find myself drawn to a character like Nott or Fiedra (to use a couple recent examples) from the start; both won me over utterly. This isn't always the case! Sometimes they don't win me over! But my point is that I think most people have archetypes they immediately latch onto and are comfortable with and even might ultimately prefer through the course of the story (and I am no exception), but character and story are inherently intertwined with each other. It's essentially nature vs. nurture but for narrative.

So: a big part of the problem is that Bells Hells were given a story that failed to challenge them in such a way that they would grow into it. They were told what to do and infodumped at and their own motivations often wrapped up remarkably early in the narrative with little effort on their part so that we could get to the Moon Plot, and then suddenly the bottom dropped out and they were suddenly supposed to do a bunch of vitally important quests with relatively little guidance or oversight, and like many a sheltered teen going 1000 miles away for college, they did not respond well. Unfortunately, instead of taking the "well fuck it I'm going to do jaegerbombs and see what happens" route they went the "I'm going to beg whoever I see as an authority for answers while also resenting them for not giving me the answers I wanted or worse, suggesting I try to come up with my own" route.

I think had Bells Hells had an introduction rather more like the Mighty Nein's or what we know of Vox Machina's, they'd have become people who could make those decisions! Because the thing is, both those parties kind of did have a Monster of the Week format early on because that's a really normal way to start a campaign! If they'd spent their lower levels having to reluctantly work together without any benefactors and take watch in a hostile environment and take on weird jobs for money, I can't guarantee that they would have become decisive and self-motivated and interested in the world around them, but I think it would have been much, much more likely! No one was particularly intelligent, but to give an example, Imogen did have a lot of interest in finding out about her powers! A narrative in which that was not a "we have to give her the answer in the first 50 episodes so we can get to the moon plot" but rather a slow burn that required seeking out knowledge and following threads throughout the campaign would have meant regular trips to libraries or archaeological dig sites or academic institution, and that could have served as an ongoing motivator and as a means for other characters to learn more about the world while Imogen was reading about her magic. But because those avenues were largely closed off after the beginning of the campaign and the answer given at like, the 40% mark, there was no opportunity for her to grow or change or develop other interests.

There's a reason why the classic D&D setup is "you meet in a tavern, you take weird jobs on the job board, and you eventually fight god" and not "you meet in a tavern, you have a series of benefactors, you resolve 90% of your backstories in the first 40 episodes, and then the BBEG happens" and it's because taking weird jobs on the job board is what turns you from "only fit for Monster of the Week plot" to "a group of people who can make complicated decisions and who have a deep interest in the world." The only reliable way I've seen to get around this is by explicitly telling your players "This is the basic premise of the story I want to tell, so I need you to play curious and decisive people from the jump." Disliking the odd jobs route of an early campaign but wanting a complex ending is like wanting to run a marathon but refusing to train for it.

I've been trying to focus my critique of Campaign 3 on the campaign itself and not its fans at this point but I think this is relevant: I find a lot of fans are not really that happy with much of what happened, but are big fans of Bells Hells as people (to the point of treating them with more personhood than their detractors). This has led to some statements I can only describe as wildly stupid and in bad faith in which they seem oddly incapable of processing the idea that one's opinion on a character can - and should! - change over the course of the story based on that character's actions; whenever I and others were like "hmm, I don't like the turn Ashton is taking" it was interpreted as some kind of Rapid Onset Bigotry That Exclusively Applies to Ashton And Not FCG (or Dairon, or Yudala, or FRIDA, or like, any other nb characters) or (hilariously given what I just said) inconsistency and not "if you used to like someone and then they said something really shitty, you might not like them any more". And the thing is, that is the problem of Campaign 3 in a nutshell, even without the fandom - Bells Hells seemed to be simultaneously terrified of seeming like bad people and also all too willing to be self-absorbed and inconsiderate, and most crucially never seemed to realize that stasis and indecision are themselves horrible qualities that many people dislike. Bells Hells as the characters who showed up in Campaign 3 episode 1 were not doomed to be the people they became; the narrative (and obviously the player choices) led them into that. I do not, after 121 episodes, give points for lost potential; but a different campaign from the start might have actually brought out that potential and made them into characters who could be the focus of a good story.

[rafessweetgirl]

cheesesteak ⋆. 𐙚 ̊

a/n: a lil drabble since i just got home from philly and had my second ever cheesesteak. i liked it but it didn’t exceed expectations so i hope this makes sense. this might be a lil corny so bare w me 😭

⋆. 𐙚 ̊

"so?" clark looks at you expectantly. "what do you think?"

you take another bite of the cheesesteak sandwich. "mm..it's....not mind blowing-"

he shoots up from his chair. "you don't like it?!" clark had went a long way from smallville to philadelphia just to get to you that sandwich. he’ll be damned if it wasn't the greatest thing you'd ever tasted.

"no! i mean yes, i do, but it's like mcdonald's to me, just like regular food."

"i dont understand..."

"i'd probably get this everyday, nothing super special. im sure the philadelphians are used to it anyways."

"wow," he nods his head. "i see how it is."

"clark what are you talking about?"

he stands up, grabbing his red flannel, threading his arms through the sleeves. "i just need to get you another one. maybe a different flavor.”

“baby where are you-“ and he’s off, speeding back to pennsylvania, on a quest for another cheesesteak and your approval. “going..”

[yaoigremlin]

Red Thread Quest | 홍실퀘스트

[animeyanderelover]

Tw: Yandere themes, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional behavior, stalking, clinginess, manipulation, overprotectice behavior, isolation, abduction

Tags: @simplydlightfuldestiny @flaming-vulpix

S/o is like Giyu from Demon Slayer

Joseph Joestar

🦾​Lots of teasing is to be expected as Joseph is known for constantly pulling all sorts of tricks and playing games with his words all the time. Your quiet ad reserved nature just happens to be the perfect victim for the constant teasing, especially since there are times where he has the impression that you look down on him for his somewhat more childish and joking personality. You really are no fun to hang around as you are constantly elsewhere with your thoughts and it isn't uncommon for you to reprimand Joseph for his antics during the chase after the Red Stone of Aja which he always answers like the mature adult he is by giving you a ridiculous grimace. Once his obsession joins the action though, he has another hidden motive behind the constant jokes and the somewhat mean teasing he does. Simply speaking, he is miffed that you never respond to his flirty lines or any attempts to get to know you better. By mocking and teasing you as much as he does, he hopes that he might be able to get you to open up to him in one way. At times he takes it too far though, especially when he is feeling frustrated due to your stoic expression and Caesar has to literally punch him so that he behaves.

🦾​The awkwardness that fills the atmosphere as soon as he finds out about your past and your survivor guilt is almost overwhelming and Joseph, unable to come up with a fitting response, replies in the only way he knows how to by telling another joke. The hot shame is gnawing away within him though and it shows in the way he behaves much more awkwardly around you the following days, more hesitant with every sentence he chooses to speak. He's not exactly good in being overly emotional and comforting someone but give him some credits for trying to cheer you up by attempting to make you laugh only to realise that you are not the type to do so. He seems to become overly aware of your self-loathing afterwards though, notices how you are very willing to sacrifice yourself in favor of others all because you don't think that you deserve to be still alive. That triggers something within Joseph as he quickly confronts you and calls you out for your hypocrisy of criticising him for his unfitting behavior on the battlefield all whilst you seem to view everything as your personal suicide mission. The amount of times he bickers with you is astonishing and especially frustrating as you stay silent.

🦾​Joseph still stays very insensitive, especially when he is feeling petty and your behavior gives him lots of reasons to be petty. After all you ignore him often, avoid him or treat him as if he doesn't exist. At the same time Joseph is just yearning to see you expressing some sort of emotions besides that stoic expression that you give him so many times. He deserves an award for being as persistent as he is, constantly lurking around every corner in an attempt to scare you or to surprise you. That somewhat overbearing clinginess shows results though as you start to get exhausted from his antics, your own thread of patience slowly unraveling. To him it is almost some kind of victory the moment he manages to make you snap, his index finger pointing at you as he proclaims that you are human after all and not just an empty vessel with no feelings. Caesar he can't keep away but if any other man were to attempt to approach you, Joseph would probably tell them that they would merely waste their time as you are as cold as ice and your heart as unmovable as a statue, gossiping about you behind your back to drive all possible competition away from you.

Caesar A. Zeppeli

🫧​As a lady you automatically receive more affection from Caesar as soon as you join the team in their quest to defeat the Pillar Men. Your introverted and silent personality doesn't mash well with Joseph's outspoken and blunt attitude and whenever the Joestar pokes fun at you for being the way you are, telling you that you'll die all alone if you keep that icy expression, Caesar gets quickly in a heated argument to force his teammate to apologise to you. In public he can't help but glance at you every once in a while to ensure that you are feeling alright as it is obvious that you aren't overly comfortable in busy streets though your hardened expression may not give that away. There is one curiosity that he shares with Joseph though and that is the question of what exactly happened in your past to shape you into the person that you are today, though Caesar would never admit that. After all it's almost like he sees a little bit of himself in you before he found out about the true intentions of his father and before he was taken in by Lisa Lisa. He knows what it's like to harden your skin to not reveal your pain and to not get hurt again yet you refuse to reveal any information, slowly driving Caesar mad as his attraction grows.

🫧​It's his mentor who eventually reveals the crucial information about you that Caesar has been hoping to find out, all after he slowly approached her about the topic. It's your tragic backstory that most likely solidifies his transition from romantic feelings to a romantic obsession. Truly, it feels like he understands you too well for he too knows the feeling of indescribable loss and the terrible thought that it should have been you instead. With that guilt of still being alive comes the loss of value for one's own life, he has experienced this himself. This influences his behavior in every battle that follows from that point on. So far Caesar has always been somewhat protective but he always knew that you were much more rational and capable then Joseph who fools his way through every battle. That changes from that point on and you notice. He tries his best to not get separated from you during a fight, his green eyes constantly glancing over to you to make sure that you aren't in any serious troubles. Whenever you attempt to sacrifice yourself to beat an opponent, he instantly interferes and lectures you later on for it, half-angry and half-desperate as he fears that you will try it again in the next battle.

🫧​Because there are similarities that both of you share in regards to your past, Caesar is quick to slip into more delusional thoughts. After all only someone who truly understands your pain and your feelings could ever make for a worthy and good partner for you and that instantly excludes every other man around you within his mind. After all they could never understand your struggles and insecurities. He, on the other hand, can. That makes him the best, the most capable of loving you. He's quick to humiliate and put everyone down who attempts to flirt with you or who makes fun of you for your cold expression, his protective side acting up. Those protective antics of his aren't made better by the fact that you so rarely speak up for yourself. That means that Joseph receives a lot of scoldings from Caesar as he is without the doubt the no. 1 culprit when it comes to teasing you and though he means rarely any offense with his jokes, of course Caesar is unable to just let him joke about you like this. That isn't to say that your inability to open up and express your thoughts and feelings isn't tormenting Caesar, he just attempts to hide it better though it'll eventually get to him.

Wammu

🌪️​There is no hesitation within your eyes the moment Wammu awakes from his long sleep as you attack the as soon as the Pillar Man breaks free from the stones. It's quite a rejoicing gift upon his awakening though as Wammu is a warrior, made for the battles and the fights. Though he has been asleep for so long, neither his refelxes nor his skills have dulled with time which is why he is able to effortlessly block all of your attacks. Throughout the entire exchange as he awakens his two masters and Joseph and Caesar also join the battle, he can't help but be most intrigued by you. Your mindset and your way of battling remind him the most of what he would define as a warrior. You show little to no fear on your face, always remain composed and analyse him and his own fighting style throughout every clash, searching for open spots or weaknessess. You are the most relentless, constantly targeting him and though you suffer a great amount of injuries yourself, eventually you manage to make him bleed. Instead of feeling ashamed for having been wounded, Wammu finds himself impressed. He almost doesn't wish to kill you so Joseph's last minute plan is a bait he gladly takes.

🌪️​You vow to fight until your heart stops beating and he intends to see it through that you keep that promise as he uses a ring filled with poison, implanting it on your heart muscle as he gives you a date of when the two of you will meet again. As weeks pass and the promised day gets closer, Wammu finds himself training though Esidesi and Kars do not see the need in it as they are confident that he will be able to beat you. His motive is a different one though. He wishes to fight you with his fullest capabilities as he believes that you deserve that much respect from him as a fellow warrior. You haven't left his mind once even if he has only met you once yet through the fight Wammu has gotten to know you far more than some people can during an actual conversation with a stranger. He didn't sense any hint of hesitation from you even once as you attacked him over and over again when it became apparent that he was far stronger than you. He admires that mindset of not faltering even when your opponent is far above you. You are no coward who runs away but gives it her all and just as you will throw your everything at him, he intends to do the same.

🌪️​It's you instead of Caesar who approaches him in the castle as you quietly left without letting Lisa Lisa, Caesar or Joseph notice. You do not wish to get them involved as they mean a lot to you, another respectable trait that Wammu can't help but praise. Just as he has promised himself he goes all out against you and just as he has been hoping, you don't hold back against him either. You've greatly improved since the last time he has fought you and it fills him with a great sense of joy to know that you have trained earnestly for this day. Unfortunately you are still not strong enough to beat him as you grow weaker the longer this fight goes on. However, Wammu has decided to not kill you. During this one fight he has all but fallen for you. You are a worthy woman he is sure his master will approve of. He stops you as you go for another attack despite your heavy wounds, tells you that you can rest now as you have done more than enough to earn his respect and forever affection. He shall give you the ring with the antidote without any more bloodshed but you may not leave again. After all you stand on the side which intends to bring Kars down and he cannot accept this.

Esidesi

🧠​What intrigues him in particular about you is that you use your Hamon to manipulate water a lot during your fight against Wammu, a technique which serves as the opposite to his own ability to heat his blood up and to use his melt afterwards to melt everything it touches. Though he doesn't believe that you would go far if he were to fight against you as you still lack experience and skills. Esidesi's confidence lies in Wammu as he believes the warrior to be capable of holding you and your teammates back so it is a surprise for him and Kars when you manage to get past Wammu, your eyes on the two big fish. Obviously Kars and him are able to dodge you and your attacks effortlessly yet it is the fact that you managed to outsmart Wammu which has fully earned you Esidesi's fascination. He decides to not use his Flame Mode on you though as he realises that you are far too weak to take him on at his full strength, Instead he dodges your attacks, watching your every movement intrigued. As Wammu decides to spare Joseph and instead give him an ultimatum by imbedding a poisoned ring within his heart, Esidesi gets inspiration and decides to do the same with you.

🧠As you stay on his mind persistently, Esidesi decides to indulge himself a little bit. Sure, he respects you somewhat but he doesn't hold you in such a high regard as someone like Wammu which is why he has no qualms unveiling your past to satiate his own curiosity. Perhaps he has underestimated just how tragic the life of a human can be though as he discovers your past riddled with hardship and guilt. Going through it all and then thinking back, suddenly he realises why you had no hesitation attacking him and why you kept such an aloof attitude even as it became obvious that you weren't able to beat him as you currently were. You do not hold yourself highly, think of yourself as unworthy and that someone else should be alive and in your place instead of you. Frankly speaking, Esidesi thinks of it as a petty. After all you are such a pretty thing. Throwing your life away like this would be such a waste. That thought crosses his mind a lot as he awaits the day where you are meant to see him again and on a whim he decides to search for you earlier than he intended to do, all because he wants to see you through new lenses now that he is aware of your past.

🧠​He successfully manages to avoid being noticed by Lisa Lisa and her two guards, allowing him to observe you as you immerse yourself in your training. Whilst Caesar and Joseph train together you distance yourself as you prefer solitude and it is without their company and antics that Esidesi senses that air of grief and guilt that surrounds you. It is quite tragic even to him. After all he is no monster and still possesses a heart. He has never planned on how long he intends to stay but in hindsight he probably wouldn't have estimated to remain for days on end on the island, observing you and watching you as you train. When the day arrives where one of Lisa's guards is meant to test you, he kills the man and decides to test you himself instead. He goes all out for the first time on that day, revealing the full extent of his abilities to you and you fight bravely. It's during that battle that he decides to not only spare your life but also that he will take you. You've successfully managed to intrigue him and now he intends to keep you. After all he has only gotten to know one side of yours and yet he already feels this way. So he is truly excited to see how much his feelings can grow once he pulls you out of your shell.

Kujo Jotaro

🚬​In many ways Jotaro and you seem to be peas of the same pot. Both of you aren't overly thrilled to be amongst other people, both of you have troubles to express your feelings to others and both of you rarely let feelings get in the way during a battle. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why both of you get along rather well as both of you manage not to annoy each other. You are one the few women in Jotaro's life that hasn't fangirled over him and gotten on his nerves and he secretly appreciates that as it allows both of you to work together better as you chase down DIO to save his mother. You are a very reliable ally during the entire journey as you always remain composed and analyse every situation and every fight you get yourself involved in. There are multiple times where Jotaro catches you sitting somewhere alone as you need to recharge your social batteries in order to function properly but instead of scolding you, he joins you as he too needs to recover from everything. Neither one of the both of you speak much during such moments as you just stare silently ahead of you whilst he smokes a cigarette. Weirdly enough such wordless moments bring the both of you a lot closer.

🚬​Throughout the journey Jotaro grows a lot more protective of you as the enemies just keep on coming though he is not overbearing with it all. You are able to hold out on your own and he is somewhat glad as he wouldn't want to babysit you too closely as there are other things to focus on during the search for DIO. During the final battle between him and DIO Jotaro receives the first major shaking that leads to his obsession as DIO kills his grandfather right in front of him and nearly kills you all to push the Joestar into despair. Seeing your half-dead body on the ground, helpless against the stopping of time, awakes something within Jotaro which he was previously not truly aware of. He cannot put his fingers around it but it is that feeling which aids him during his fight against DIO and eventually leads to the brutal defeat he puts the vampire through. Initially he believes that this unfamiliar and intrusive emotion will go away as soon as you have recovered but he is mistaken. Whilst it weakens after you have made a full recovery, it doesn't disappear. Instead it always stirs awake when you are around and this troubles Jotaro to the point where he actually tries to avoid you.

🚬​There's a lot of reflection that he goes through as he slowly realises just what he is feeling and to what extent he is feeling. There are a lot of moments that suddenly replay within his head where you were about to sacrifice your life to take an enemy down. During the journey he didn't think of it too much as everyone on the team was prepared to risk their lives, especially once they stood face to face against DIO. It didn't bother him too much back then but now, after everything is down, he finds himself suddenly slightly aggravated about it though he knows that he should have no right to complain as he himself has done similar stunts throughout their travels. As soon as he has noticed his obsession, everything is suddenly burning very intensely within him and his possessive traits and his overprotective traits are the two things that burn the brightest amongst everything he is feeling. By now Jotaro has arrived at the point where he is aware of his feelings but has decided that he won't care for any morals. Instead he just returns to your life after your absence and makes it silently very clear that he intends to ensure that you become his from now on.

[xoxochb]

more percy x reader fluffy fluff 🙏🙏🙏🔥🔥

— sunburnt

warnings: none, just fluff! pairings: percy jackson x fem! reader

at camp half-blood things were anything but calm. there was always camper duties, a monster to kill, a quest, new campers, them getting claimed, training, et cetera. but on those rare occasions when you had time to yourself, disregarding your surroundings, you enjoyed a visit to the beach with your son of poseidon boyfriend. you stayed back on the sand as percy went back out into the water to collect seashells for your necklaces and bracelets you craft just for him. he comes back moments later with arms filled to the brim, dropping them into your tote bag you had brought along for this specific reason

“holy shit how’d you find all those?” you sit up and take your sunglasses off and onto your head

“must be a son of poseidon thing. there was a ton of them”

“sick!”

you sit criss-crossed and peak into the bag filled with shells of all assortments of colors. a beaming smile takes over your lips. you wave your hands, beckoning to percy who still stands before you. “come here, my love”

and he gladly does so, taking it upon himself to copy your position in front of you, eliciting a light escaping your mouth. you cup his face in between your hands and rub your thumbs over his red cheeks

“you’re sunburnt, silly boy” you whisper, before you place a kiss to each cheek “I told you to put sunscreen on”

“okay, mom, I’ll remember next time”

you give him a look of disapproval and shake your head, patting your lap. he almost instantly understands your indication and moves himself to rest his head to where you had asked. you thread a hand through his wet hair as he places pecks over your thighs. you take a string from your bag and a collection of seashells and begin the bracelet-making process. this may just be the most at peace you’ll be all week. this may be one of the only times besides the night you’ll get to be alone with percy. that escalated very quickly, you curse your brain and adhd for the suddenly depressing thoughts. you put the string and shells back in your bag and lift percy from your lap, cradling his face again and placing a kiss to his lips. when he pulls back you chase his warmth but he stops you, making you frown in response

“not that I don’t love this, because I do— but what is this for?”

“just thinking” you lean in, but again you’re stopped, replacing your frown with a pout

“about what?”

fuck the pout, you switch that for a mischievous grin. “you”

“sounds about right”

percy laughs and connects your lips again, in complete and utter euphoria you can’t help the moan that comes along with this action. and maybe just for now you can discard all of your worrisome thoughts as you tangle yourself with your boyfriend

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Elements of a Mystery Story

Mystery stories revolve around a main character on a quest to solve a crime.

Also known as a whodunit or detective story, a mystery creates intrigue by revealing the identity of the antagonist only at the climax of the story.

Mystery writers drop clues throughout the plot to invite readers to join in the investigation.

A murder mystery novel can be categorized as a subgenre of crime fiction or detective novels.

The mystery genre has been entertaining readers for hundreds of years. Edgar Allan Poe was a master of mystery writing, with works such as his short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” from 1841. A good mystery has certain literary elements to intensify the suspense and build up to a big finale. These elements include:

A strong hook: A great mystery should invite the reader to try to solve the crime, and a great opening is critical to piquing their interest. A mystery should start with just enough information about the crime to build intrigue from the first line. This is the defining moment when a reader chooses whether or not they want to continue. If the dramatic element is missing from the beginning, the reader expects the rest of the book to be the same. The first chapter should initiate the mystery, aligning the reader with the central character on the crime-solving adventure.

An atmospheric setting: Stories in this genre should create an ominous, uneasy mood through setting to support the anxiety of an unknown antagonist lurking in the shadows. Think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes slinking through the London fog in search of a killer. Settings in mysteries also offer opportunities to plant clues and red herrings.

A crime: A crime is the event that fuels the plot in a mystery novel. Revealed in the first chapter, a crime creates the central conflict that launches the investigation, sending the main character on their quest and spurring the narrative arc.

A sleuth: At the heart of every mystery is a main character determined to solve the crime. Mystery writer Raymond Chandler created private detective Philip Marlowe to be a crime solver in his novels. A writer can raise the stakes by making the detective personally invested in solving the crime. Mysteries can center around an amateur investigator—an average citizen who solves the case. The character development of the sleuth is important; they need a backstory that connects them to the crime or the killer, and a motive that explains why solving this crime is important to them.

A villain: A mystery is often called a whodunit because the culprit is unknown until they’re caught at the end. The story follows their movements, which propel the story forward. The main character and the reader discover the criminal’s identity as the plot reaches its climax.

Narrative momentum: A mystery plot is in constant motion thanks to a cat-and-mouse narrative thread. The pacing will quicken the closer the plot moves towards the climax and the closer the main character gets to solving the crime.

A trail of clues: Clues are the literary element that allows mystery stories to engage readers on a deeper level than other types of fiction. The reader becomes an amateur sleuth, following the trail of clues to try to discover the identity of the culprit. When writing mysteries, an author needs to have an organized writing process in order to keep track of what clues they’re creating, when they appear, and who knows what in order to make sure the plot lines make sense.

Foreshadowing: Mysteries often drop hints of things that will happen in the future. This is known as foreshadowing. A writer can hint at a future event with a small clue or through character dialogue. Writers can be more or less direct with foreshadowing, either subtly hinting at future events or explicitly stating what will happen.

Red herrings: A good mystery throws the reader off track. Red herrings are an essential element in mysteries. These false clues build tension by creating other suspects and distracting the detective—and the reader—and leading them away from the real culprit. A writer creates red herrings by placing extra emphasis on an object, event, or character that catches a reader’s attention, making that element seem more significant than it really is to the storyline. In Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, there are 10 characters who are all potential suspects. Christie creates red herrings by killing off each character one by one, creating plot twists that send the reader into new directions in search of the killer.

A satisfying ending: At the end of great mystery novels there is the big reveal—the sleuth discovers the identity of the culprit. An ending should also provide an alibi for any other suspects to strengthen the identity of the real killer and eliminate doubt, tying up loose ends.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs A "Convincing" Mystery ⚜ Detective Story ⚜ Mystery Novel ⚜ Word List: Mystery

[saetoru]

✩ ‧₊˚ ✩ APATHY OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE — NEUVILLETTE.

contents. archon quest spoilers, liddol weepy dragon neuvillette :(, established relationships, reverse comfort, lots of kissies 4 him, it’s a bit self indulgent my bad but he’s just a sensitive lil friendly guy who tries his best he makes me sad :(, maybe ooc idrk how to write him yet

it starts raining out of nowhere on a sunny day, hard. you frown—you know exactly what this means, walking up to neuvillette’s office in concern.

“good afternoon, sedene,” you smile, patting the melusine on the head. she leans into your touch happily, content with the small show of affection.

“good afternoon. if you’re here to visit the chief justice, i have to warn you. today, he seems…” sedene trails off, unsure how to finish, and you hum knowingly as you nod.

“i see,” you murmur, “i’ll see if i can help.” you turn and knock on the office door—it’s silent for a moment before you call, “it’s me.”

you hear some shuffling before neuvillette finally answers. it’s a quiet, “come in,” and nothing more. you sigh before entering—that can’t be a good sign.

neuvillette looks…well, devastated. with red rimmed eyes and a slightly pink nose, his cheeks trailed with delicate tears that break your heart. you walk over, cupping his cheek and brushing away a stray tear with your thumb as he closes his eyes.

“what’s got you so upset,” you murmur, “the weather has taken a rather drastic turn, wouldn’t you say?”

he sniffles, the poor thing—it’s as precious as it is heartbreaking. “i believe…i believe i may have made a mistake,” he mumbles, “a terrible one, in fact.”

“oh?” you raise a brow, leaning down and brushing your lips against his forehead soothingly, “i’m sure you’ve done your best, neuvillette.”

“no,” his voice breaks, a fresh round of tears falling past his lash line and staining his skin. you furrow your brows, cupping both sides of his face as your forehead presses to his, “no, i didn’t…i didn’t do what i should have. in fact, i did nothing at all.”

“i’m sure that’s not true,” you reason, “you always do what you can.”

“i could’ve stopped the duel,” he shakes his head, and instantly you know what must be on his mind. “i thought…i thought i understood but i didn’t. i still don’t.”

neuvillette doesn’t understand humans as well as he hopes—it’s changed a bit since you’ve shown up, but their emotions are far too complicated for him sometimes. you help him, sometimes—you try to show him they’re not much different from him, but he’s learning slowly on his own.

you nod slowly at his words, as if you understand, before pressing soft kisses along his face. you scatter them along his cheeks, over the tip of his nose, just at the corners of his mouth and right on the center of his forehead.

he sniffles again, miserably.

“oh, love,” you murmur gently—callas has always been a complicated topic, one you’ve carefully treaded since it’s happened. his lips wobble, and you pull him into you, letting his head rest against your chest as you sit on the armrest of his chair. “callas wasn’t your fault,” you whisper, “none of us could’ve known.”

“i believed he was guilty,” he confesses, “otherwise, why duel? i…i didn’t think he would do it for…”

“and you weren’t alone in your assumptions,” you reason. that doesn’t seem to make him feel any better—in fact, you feel your shirt dampen, and the rain hits the glass of his window harder.

“but i am the chief justice,” he insists, “how i can be so if i let innocent men throw away their lives?”

you’re silent for a bit—it’s difficult to give him an answer. it’s difficult to offer him any solace over something like this. but you do know it’s not his fault—and soon enough, you hope he’ll accept that too.

but until then, you thread your fingers into his hair as you press a chaste kiss to the crown of his head.

“being the chief justice doesn’t mean you have all the answers,” you say quietly, catching a tear as it slips down his cheek with your thumb, “you won’t have all the answers. but you’ll do your best to find them. i think that’s enough.”

“lady navia yelled at me,” he tells you. you want to chuckle a little at the way he says it, like child who’s been scolded—but now is not the time, not when he’s so upset. “a few days ago. because i did not stop it. she…she was right—”

“lady navia is grief stricken,” you interrupt, “you have to understand. she didn’t mean—”

“but i could’ve stopped it—”

“anyone could’ve, neuvillette,” you insist, “lady furina, or even clorinde. but no one knew, and that’s okay. it’s how callas wanted it, i’m afraid.”

he’s silent for a bit, weighs your words as he presses against your chest further, let’s your fingers trail through his hair and stroke along his cheek for a bit.

it rains in fontaine—whenever there is something to mourn, it rains. perhaps the people can know this way that they are not alone in their grief, that there is always something, someone to share the burden of pain with them.

“i’ll visit,” he mumbles after some time, “to pay my respects to mister callas.”

“i think that’s a lovely idea,” you smile, poking the tip of his nose and pulling the tiniest of smiles from him, “would you like me to come?”

“no, i think i should do it alone,” he says thoughtfully, “but thank you.”

you feel his hand grab yours, his fingers lacing with yours as he gives it a small squeeze—perhaps he still has a long way to go to understand humans and their complex emotion. but this one, he thinks he understands well enough.

he loves you, just as much as you love him—it’s simple enough to understand.

my lil cinnamon roll :( my emotional liddol weepy dragon :(

[padmestrilogy]

it’s always been fascinating to me how uninterested the prequel trilogy is in the prophecy of anakin’s birth, how he is supposedly destined for greatness. sure it moves the plot forward, and there’s some deleted stuff going into palpatine’s machinations, but the overall effect is a de-prioritization. anakin’s mindset and his choices are what the movies care about.

This is a pretty interesting analysis. I've seen plenty of media about Chosen Ones,and Anakin never struck me as anything other than an extraordinarily intelligent,talented boy/young man. Namely,a prodigy - and we see plenty of them even in real life. He doesn't seem to be particularly kindhearted(other than in TPM) nor uniquely resilient from a moral standpoint.

Those are my two cents. I just found it interesting that Anakin was a promising,selfless young child and became Vader,then he was the main enforcer for an evil overlord and decided to stop the horrors.

yea i’ve faced some pushback for not really caring about “inherent good”/“inherent evil” in star wars, and i won’t say the moral stakes of the saga aren’t often done in black and white, or that star wars doesn’t pull heavily from mythology. but i think a relinquishing of supposed all powerful destiny & fate is built into luke’s arc as well. and that is enhanced by the pt!

from birth the jedi are counting on luke to kill vader. he has a lifelong obsession with his father. vader tells him his destiny is the dark side; yoda tells him there’s no room for error, if he starts down the dark path, he’ll always be that way. and there is a lot of conflict in luke’s psyche: the dagobah forest vision gets this across very strongly lol. & the culmination of his arc shows luke going against both what the jedi & the sith believe he was prophesied to do. and luke’s plan changes all the time, and he nearly does fall to the dark side. he does start down that path. and what saves him is who he wants to be, the choices he makes.

& with anakin, i mean i would say he shows kindness in aotc and rots lol, but i get what you mean about it not seeming like an “inherent” trait, because anakin is an even more conflicted young man, and whereas luke wants to be good, anakin wants to be a good jedi. and it’s again, illustrated very bluntly, that he thinks being a good jedi is antithetical to being in touch with his emotions . (people can debate whether that is the #real jedi training or not all day. it remains central to anakin’s emotional spiral that he feels he must split himself in two!) so he gets so wound up in duty and possessiveness, he ends up more impersonal and clouded.

no one seems to care about this parallel besides me and a few fellow insane people in my mentions, but palpatine and obi-wan serve a similar narrative role in their respective trilogies as mentors who move the red thread of fate along, with anakin’s fall being that he commits to his mentor’s quest for bloodshed, and luke’s triumph being that he rejects obi-wan’s call for more of the same. and either way it’s not about who deserves to suffer or to be redeemed, but that stopping suffering is good and damning people forever is bad. so much is internal!

[outofconcheol]

bloodline (JWW x F!Reader) - Teaser

pairing: vampire professor!wonwoo x TA!reader

genres/aus/rating: romance, angst, smut, fantasy au, 18+

summary: Cursed to a solitary existence, Wonwoo seeks a cure for his condition - enlisting the help of his diligent teacher's assistant. However, you refuse to let Professor Jeon go through with the cure without first teaching him the wonders of having something worth living for. When your tired souls find solace in your shared loneliness, friendship (and something more) blooms. But what happens when that isn’t enough? When the secrets that both you and Wonwoo have been harboring finally catch up to you? Will you and Wonwoo make the most of every moment, or will the aftermath of his quest leave you both even lonelier than before?

warnings (to be updated with final fic): tw: this fic deals with Wonwoo being tired of his vampirism and essentially wanting to end his life as a vampire (whatever that may entail - stay tuned), mentions blood, Wonwoo has dark and depressing thoughts, that's all for now but just know we are in for a ride :)

word count: 619 for the teaser, TBD for final fic

a/n: I've been thinking about this for a long time, and with me wanting to write more for SVT, I decided it was finally time to take the plunge! Please note that this is going to be an angsty journey, with lots of inspiration from pieces such as Thirst (2009), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and the Vampire Tapestry by Suzie McKee Charnas. As always, if these themes are not for you, please take care of yourself (your wellbeing comes first always). Also, thank you to the lovely sèvn (@aaagustd/@xscoupsx) for the banner. I hope you enjoy!

The bust sits in the corner of the office, nestled away in an alcove by the window. On sunnier days, when the light would hit it, the marble would reflect brilliantly, its ivory tones taking the appearance of an angel, a silent guardian watching over Wonwoo while he worked. Most of the time, it loomed in the shadows, its unsettling presence doing nothing more than to serve as a reminder that despite his physical appearance, Wonwoo was closer to the cold, unfeeling marble than he was to any of the human peers he’d encountered through the centuries.

Wonwoo can’t recall when in his travels he’d come across the statue, eight hundred years blurring together into a muddle, countless memories fading into oblivion, delicate threads disappearing in the intricate fabric of his mind. Maybe at one point it’d been a gift from a dear friend, or maybe even a lover, but Wonwoo simply couldn’t remember any of it at all. A lifetime of indulgence and hedonism meant that seeking pleasure had long lost its charm.

What more was there to study when Wonwoo had studied it all? From stepping into battle during the middle ages, joining the height of enlightenment during the Renaissance, and witnessing the advent of modern technology in the past century or so, Wonwoo had lingered in the background, slipping easily into the folds of human society. And it all lead him here, to this room that felt more like a box than an office, sifting through countless essays from a batch of college students who were as disinterested in learning about anthropology as Wonwoo had become with his own life.

Even now, he casts his gaze over to his faint reflection in the window, glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose, lean and lonely-looking. To the untrained eye, professor Jeon Wonwoo was the picture of innocence, milking the image of a solitary bachelor devoted to pursuing a lifetime of knowledge, much to the chagrin of many of his pupils. But Wonwoo saw what no one else did - the faint tinge of red in his eyes, a sign that he’d gone hungry for too long, the needle-like barb under his tongue that had known the taste of blood too many times. All signs of the monster that layed within. 

The efforts of concealing his true nature had finally caught up to him - the mask that he’d put on, feigning interest in human art, science, and culture finally slipping from his face. Simply put, Wonwoo was tired - restless from years of fighting the hunger, pretending that he cared for this life he’d crafted for himself. In reality, it was all a farce. Wonwoo had given up human blood long ago, but feasting on animals wasn’t enough to quell the burning inside him. 

In the end, he craved. Wonwoo was a thief, because he craved the one thing that was a lifesource for humans - their anima, their joie de vivre. He craved it because he didn’t have one of his own, nothing that drove him, that fueled him to keep going. Humans felt things - they felt happiness, sadness, anger and love. Emotions were so intertwined into the mesh of their lives that they craved any experiences that would give them more - from weddings and parties for families and friends, to random hook-ups, to even the thrill of dangerous situations. 

He’d read the essays his students had written - some of them talking about how humanity loved the society they’d crafted so much, that science was constantly coming up with new ways to prolong life, to keep on living. And yet, it didn’t move him. Wonwoo was tired of living just to live. Which is why he’d chosen to die.

a/n pt. 2: if you'd like to be tagged, please let me know! I work a pretty busy job, so I'm not sure when the anticipated release date, will be, but I'm going to try to work on this as much as I can. As always, any comments or feedback are much appreciated, but I appreciate you all anyway. Lots of love, Isi <3

[breadbrobin]

friendship bracelets

leo valdez x reader — heroes of olympus

[gn!child of demeter reader]

summary: friendship bracelets are a love language in themselves. it’s a shame leo can’t wear the ones you make him.

warnings: little bit of swearing, possibly ooc leo, fluff, food and eating, leo forgets to eat sometimes.

word count: 1.2k

(so i wrote a leo fic too uhhhh. anyway. i love him and i have always loved him and i will always love him, so here’s a lil gift from me to you and uhhh yeah enjoy!)

——————————————

you’d given leo two bracelets. one was at the wilderness school. it was flimsy and made of red and yellow beads, held together by an elastic tie you’d smuggled into the school. the second was after your first quest. you’d managed to get some leather straps and made a braided leather bracelet for him.

he thought you’d made them for your other friends too, but he soon found out that he was the only one to get a matching leather bracelet with you.

“i don’t have enough for everyone,” was your excuse as you hid your rolls of leather threads and straps under your pillow. “i wish i could.”

that was good enough for him.

he soon realised, though, that he couldn’t wear them.

the risk of them burning was far too high, and after he nearly melted the beaded one when he got too excited one day, he decided to stop wearing them.

they held pride of place on his bedside table though. they were right beside his three-day-old water glass and the shrivelled pot plant you’d given him that you swore he’d be able to keep alive.

“it’s a cactus, leo! you can’t kill a cactus.”

he killed the cactus. or, at least, he mostly killed the cactus. you’d even named it jeremiah in the hopes that it would make him remember to water it, but he’d known a jeremiah once and hated his guts, so it hadn’t really helped much.

so leo valdez was a plant-killing, bracelet ignoring bastard. what was new?

oh, nothing. just the fact that he was madly in love with you.

maybe it was the bracelets, or your insistence that he would be able to keep a little cactus alive, or your uncontrollable laughter as he showed you the wilted plant, or maybe even the way you used your influence over plants to heal the little cactus and bring it back to life.

whatever it was, he was totally screwed. so screwed, in fact, that he took to staring at the two bracelets on his table every night before going to sleep, wishing he could wear them to see the look on your face.

leo worked hard. he always did. once he got into something, he didn’t stop until it was finished. sometimes, that meant ignoring his body’s need for food and water.

you marched into bunker 9 with a bag in hand. “leo valdez!”

he looked up from his workbench. “what did i do? whatever it was, it wasn’t me. i swear.”

“yeah, you didn’t do anything. like eat! i didn’t see you at breakfast or lunch!” you sat on his workbench beside him and placed the bag down in front of his busy hands. “it’s three o’clock now, so i bought you food.”

“i really have to—“

“eat? yes, you do.”

“no, but—“

“and drink water? that too. there’s a water bottle in there.”

“y/n—“

“leo, if you don’t eat your food i’ll break your hands so you can’t work anymore and then i’ll spoon feed you chicken soup every day until your hands are better.”

he looked up at you, offended. “i hate chicken soup.”

you smiled and leaned forward. “i know. so eat your fucking food.”

he raised his hands in defeat. “okay, fine.” he set his tools down and opened the bag with a teasing roll of his eyes. “if it pleases you so.”

“it does, indeed.”

as he ate, you walked around the bunker as you did every time, your hands behind your back like you were at an art gallery. to you, it was a gallery. bunker 9 was like the inside of leo’s mind: chaotic, messy, always moving and changing, and covered in memories of you. there were polaroid pictures that you’d given him pinned to a cork board. the whiteboard beside it read: ‘meet y/n for campfire’. there was even a note you’d scrawled to him in Ancient Greek a few weeks ago: ‘don’t forget to eat, dumbass.’ Apparently, he hadn’t listened to that one.

you walked back over just as he finished his food. he made to hand the back bag to you, but you stopped him. “you didn’t get everything.”

he frowned and opened the bag again, looking inside. “what are you— oh!”

he reached in and pulled out a leather bracelet. it was similar to the one you’d made him before, but tidier. you’d clearly gotten better at making them. “it’s beautiful, but, y/n, you know i can’t—“

“you can’t wear them because you’ll burn them. i know. put it on.” you smiled knowingly.

he put it on warily. it was nice, and his heart fluttered a little at the gesture, but he still couldn’t wear it out of fear.

“now burn it.”

his eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. “what?”

“burn it.”

“i’m not gonna—“

“do you trust me?”

“sometimes, like when you tell me to burn your hard work, i don’t, no.”

you stepped forward and tightened the bracelet on his wrist. “leo. burn it. or i will.”

he frowned up at you. “you’re very scary today.”

“thank you,” you smiled, stepping back. “just trust me.”

he sighed and shook his head, but lit his hand and lower arm on fire, watching forlornly as the bracelet melted to nothing—hold on. he extinguished the fire. the bracelet was still there. “how did you—?”

“talked to lou ellen. there’s a spell on that one. i had to get her to do it as i made it, but it won’t burn. it’s magic.” you smiled proudly, rocking back and forth on your heels.

he looked at you in shock and stood up. “you made a fire resistant bracelet for me?”

you shrugged. “of course, i did. and look!” you extended your wrist to him, showing a matching one. “i made a better one for me too!”

he looked from your wrist to your face with his signature impish grin. “thought you didn’t have enough to make anymore.”

you shrugged. “maybe i underestimated myself.”

“maybe you did.”

for a moment, you just smiled at each other, and he thought he could have kissed you right there and maybe (just maybe) from the look on your face you wouldn’t push him away, but then you slipped your hand into his and pulled him to another work bench. his hand was still warm, as always. “now, tell me what this is, because i have no idea.”

so, as he explained how one of his many projects worked and you hung onto his every word and held his hand tightly, he couldn’t help but feel a little warmer than usual.

and maybe, when you left that afternoon, leaving him to continue his work, pressing a kiss to his cheek like you always did, he could summon the courage to pull you back in for a kiss on your lips, like he’d always wanted. and maybe your friendship bracelets would turn into something more.

but, even if they didn’t, he knew he’d fall asleep that night without staring at his bedside table. he’d stare at his wrist instead. and he’d never take that bracelet off. ever. not even if the gods themselves required him to.