#technically they're canon characters in that they exist and were mentioned to be close to the exarch

[crystal-verse]

Day 11 - Surrogate

[brief and vague mentions of pregnancy and childbirth. featuring lyna's parents, and queerplatonic relationships between the two of them and the exarch]

It escapes them, some days, just how lucky they are to have Dulna and Vaimet by their side. Then, of course, he is reminded, by a stray word or some thing he'd forgotten that one of the two had dealt with in his stead; by a stray pat on his shoulder, or the way one of the two would so casually yet carefully press a shoulder against one of his.

He is very close with the two, the Exarch -- Raha, though the name is feeling less and less his each day -- knows. The two had been the first to meet the Exarch, really, back when they were just Raha, an unnamed Mystel of some amount of power. They are perhaps the only ones to know his face, here in Norvrandt; all those who had met him in those initial years, so confusing and chaotic with the Flood having been so soon, are either dead or no longer remember them, and the Exarch cannot help but be grateful for it. They are more and more strange, living without aging, ageless and timeless just like the crystal that crawls further and further up their arm and shoulder, and while the Exarch knows that 'tis to prevent any recognition on the part of either Warrior of Light when they are eventually summoned. . . it is also a small source of comfort, keeping their face hidden, being an anonymous face to match their simple role. (Or -- 'twas supposed to be a simple role, at least.)

Dulna and Vaimet have never betrayed that trust, either -- they are always naught but professional when in public, the commander of the guard and his second-in-command who are ever loyal and respectful of the Crystal Exarch's time and duty. But behind the closed doors of the Tower, the two shed those roles like masks, the same way that the Exarch lowers his hood and is simply Raha again, for however long it lasts. There is comfort, between the three of them. Raha does not know quite what he would call it, but they are -- close, certainly. Not lovers, no -- they are well aware of what romance feels like, what infatuation swelling in their heart feels like (for they still love Sae'pheli'ehva, all these many, many years later) -- but neither is it quite friendship. There is friendship there but it is. . . it is different, somehow. (Raha hesitates to say closer, as if this relationship -- whatever it is -- is inherently better than friendship, as if romance is inherently better, but Raha does not know how to phrase it.)

It is not romantic love, at the least. Raha is certain of that. The Exarch, themself, had been the one to officiate Dulna and Vaimet's wedding, at their own shared request, and they know that just as they do not view the two in that light, neither do either of them view Raha like that. Still -- still, there is closeness. A deep bond, enough that Raha trusts them with his face, with his name, even. (He has not spoken of his past, but. . . they do not pry. When the memories grow too heavy, enough to choke, Vaimet will sit with him, oftentimes humming something beneath his breath, and will sometimes shift Raha to sit with his head pressed against Vaimet's chest, to hear the heartbeat. When Raha cannot carry the weight of all the grief he is forced to bear, Dulna will talk of whatever comes to her mind, until Raha is tethered in the current time and can breathe a bit easier.)

(It is not romantic love. It does not have to be. Raha loves them regardless, whatever this relationship might be.)

Perhaps they should be less surprised, then, at the request that is made of him.

"We want a baby." Dulna had said, one morning, with little preamble.

Raha raised merely blinked in response. ". . .alright. Were you wanting to adopt one of the orphans from the Sin Eater attacks. . .?"

Dulna looks at him as if he is stupid. Perhaps he is. "No," she says, enunciating carefully, "we want a baby."

"I'm. . . afraid I don't grasp your meaning?" Much more of this and Raha will be truly well and baffled.

Vaimet huffs, quietly, his shaking shoulders the only sign that he is repressing further laughter. "We want a child of our own blood." He explains, leaning his weight on one leg. "And I cannot sire a child, on account of lacking the necessary parts. So we need a surrogate."

"Ah. Well, I can. . . see about who would be willing to. . .?" Raha trails off, shrinking in on themself slightly as Dulna's expression only gets stonier.

She sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. "Raha." (He does not startle at the name, but there is a fluttering in his chest regardless.) "You beautiful, beautiful fool of a man."

"I'm. . . sorry?" Well. Now Raha is baffled.

Vaimet, then, seems unable to restrain himself any longer, finally laughing loud enough that he is breathless for several moments. "We want a baby." He repeats. "And we want you to be the surrogate."

They -- "ah." Raha says, simply. They then proceed to scream into their hands.

After Raha has finished making a fool of himself, and Vaimet has finished laughing, and Dulna has sighed the last of her exasperated-if-fond sighs, the three properly sit down and plan how they are going to go about this. (Raha is awkward enough about it to make Vaimet laugh, and Dulna snicker at them, so even if Raha is horribly embarrassed the entire time, 'tis at least worth the smiles. And -- 'tis not as if the three of them have not seen each other naked, various times, between the damage from fights and needing to patch one another up or simply wishing to forgo the heavy layers of clothing amidst summer heat, so it's really the point of the whole thing that has Raha so embarrassed to begin with.)

It's Dulna that shall bear the child, they decide -- well. Vaimet and Dulna decide. Raha is mostly happy to be included, after he has eventually gotten over the awkwardness (as much as he ever will, at least). Vaimet is captain of the guard and presumed to be the same as any ordinary man by those who do not know him well enough, and Dulna is willing enough to take some time off from the regular guard rotation, once the pregnancy gets into its later months.

(Raha is still embarassed the entire time, but -- they do feel so very honored, that Dulna and Vaimet would trust them with something like this. And happy, of course, always happy to spend time with the both of them, individually or together.)

Time passes. The general public assumes that Dulna's child is Vaimet's -- and why should they not? 'Tis not as if there is anything to say otherwise. (And 'tis not like there is any stigma or judgement against those like Vaimet -- but Vaimet is older than a fair few of the Crystarium's citizens, by now, and values his privacy just as much as the Exarch does.) For the ease of avoiding any rumors, the Exarch does hope that the child will resemble Dulna more. (Raha hopes that his own Viera blood, however much of it there is, will shine through and hide any traits that would suggest a Mystel parent. Better for all their privacy if the child looks naught but Viis.)

Dulna and Vaimet toss about possible names for the child, through the months, but Vaimet is insistent that Raha should get a say, as well. Dulna reminds them that Raha will be involved in the child's upbringing regardless -- as if Raha would forget that. In the end, 'tis Vaimet's idea for the child to take the latter half of Dulna's name, for Raha's idea to name them Lyna. Dulna, smirking victoriously, declares that she does not care for whatever the gossipmongers may think, so long as their child (their child, claiming Raha as Lyna's parent just as much as Vaimet and Dulna are, and it makes a fragile little warmth bloom in Raha's chest) grows up happy, and loved, and cared for.

"We can claim you're their grandfather." Vaimet jokes, one stormy day when all are in their dwellings -- a rare day, where the Light is not quite so blinding.

"And what would that accomplish?" Raha raised an eyebrow, curious. "I assume that Lyna will discover the truth eventually, if they are not raised knowing it." They wrinkle their nose at a sudden thought. "I certainly would not like it assumed that I am a parent to either of you."

Vaimet only shrugs. "Well, we don't want them calling you father in public." And that is the issue, isn't it. The masks, and the roles. As far as anyone knows -- as far as anyone can confirm, at any rate, which has to be good enough -- they are simply Vaimet and Dulna, happily wed couple expecting their first child, employed as heads of the Crystarium guard, and the Crystal Exarch, kind but distant from all, a mysterious mage who's face and name is unknown to all. "Besides, you have taken time to interact with the other orphans and various children -- you've enough grandfatherly airs about you, when you want."

Before Raha can respond to that, Dulna cuts in. "We will figure it out when we get there." She declares. "For now, let us just enjoy the rest, hm?"

And so the time continues to pass. (Vaimet, Dulna, and Raha work on that idea, some -- the Exarch most certainly can put a grandfatherly aura about him, when he wants. Vaimet near laughs himself sick at it, and Raha can't help but join in. The many orphans, certainly, are grateful for the attention from their so very respected Exarch, and the orphanage caretakers, and the Settlement Council, are glad for their own brief respite from work as the Exarch takes time to care for the children for some hours out of a week, every now and then.)

(Raha worries, as the months go by, about what Lyna would inherent from them. If they would inherit anything at all. Would they get the curve of his nose? The pale shade of his skin, so unlike Dulna's deep reddish brown? Would Lyna get the red of Raha's hair, or the upward slant of their eyes? Would they get Raha's own full lips, or would they take after Dulna with thinner ones? Would there be any Allagan blood made present, in Lyna? Would their eyes be the one thing to mark them as being Raha's?)

It is another stormy day, when the child is finally born. Vaimet paces circles in the small washroom they had absconded to, the three of them, muttering under his breath, while Raha's hand is held in Dulna's white-knuckled grip. It is over rather more quickly than any of the three of them had expected, but it leaves them all exhausted -- nonetheless, there is nothing more memorable than the cries of a newborn infant.

Lyna's ears are clearly Viis, as is their short stub of a tail. Their skin is paler than Dulna's, but still a rich brown, and the downy fur on their ears and head is an off-white color, a pale echo of Dulna's near-black shade of purple. They sneeze, and open their eyes, and Raha can feel the breath leave his lungs. Lyna's eyes are a purple the color of Lakeland -- this, too, they did not inherit from him. Allag has no claim on them, despite his contribution to their parentage. There shall be no other sanguine-eyed individuals in Norvrandt, or on the entire First. Raha weeps, and they do not know if it is in loss or in relief.

[leidensygdom]

The ways in which being asexual feels isolating

I've been pondering whether to post this or not, but I figured out I wanted to explain a bit of this experience.

So, I could go on a very long tangent on how being asexual is usually a lonely experience, and how much I've been otherized here and there- Specially in real life. How the same people that claimed to be queer (or allies) had been much weirder about my asexuality than they were about me being bi/pan or whatever.

But I think I wanna talk about how something like that bleeds in every aspect of socializing, even down to something like fandom. I stay away from fandom usually- I like to look at cool fanart and that's about it. I hate discourse, I hate drama, I hate reading people getting worked up because they're treating fanon as canon. But there's one thing I've noticed, over and over, that just sends me off my rails.

And it's how fandom tends to treat asexuality (or aromanticism). So, you get a character in some piece of media that explicitly, unequivocally, states they're either ace, aro, or both. "I do not have interest in a partner", "I don't desire to have sex nor do I enjoy the topic", whatever. And as an ace person, I do appreciate being able to see myself in media- There isn't many chases where something is established that bluntly.

Now, you decide you want to check some fanart for that. Fandoms have this tendency to make absolutely everything about shipping, even when the media they're basing it in does not revolve about that (and it's annoying, because a lot of times people aren't interested in the actual themes- It's all reduced to shipping). Suddenly, you notice people treating the aforementioned character as anything but aro or ace. It's all about shipping. "This person interacted with this other person in a way two friends would, but we gotta make this their entire personality now". Some people may instead go for "well, maybe the character is not having sex, but they're probably an absolute freak about it, studies it extensively, has encyclopedic knowledge about it-"

Now, there's of course sex-favourable aces, and that's completely valid, but it's already straying from what, canonically, the character had mentioned. Asexual or aromantic characters aren't really allowed to exist as themselves. People often see them as a blank slate to fill, to change, to fix. I could talk forever about how people react to real life aces like that. I've had people asking me incredibly invasive questions because they saw my lack of sexual attraction as something broken, something they could fix.

And I hate that! I think I'm allowed to say that I hate that! It's hard and unusual for media to cement an aro/ace character, because they're defined by the lack of interest for something, which is often hard to show. But when it does- No one seems to care. It's all shipping, it's all "well, he's gay in denial", "well, she's probably super repressed". If you took a canonically gay character and made them straight on a fanfic, you'd get angry people. Which is bound to happen when you erase representation that people identify with. But aro/ace characters are NOT even seen as queer, they're not even seen as "representation" by most people. You can erase that bit of it, put some god awful shipping on top, and people will applaud you. And it sucks!

I wish people would see being aro or ace as an identity worth respecting, not an identity that needs overwriting. It feels a bit too close to how people often treat aro/aces irl, and it sucks. It reeks of this sort of exclusionism, where "aro/aces are technically queer but it's queer lite at best, it's less interesting than being gay, and we kinda don't want them near us anyhow". Again, I've had far worse experiences about being ace than I have about not being straight.

Sorry if the post got long, but I hope this experience may at least resonate with other people who have been struggling with this, too. It has always felt just kind of lonely to be ace, and see how little people do even consider it an identity, even when it comes down to something like fandom.

[offtopic-enjoyers]

i need murder duo pls (Ted and Schlatt)

It's a need. Romantic or platonic. I don't care.

guys,, Quesabo spent the last two days obsessively writing this on call and I really hope you enjoy it!! minors DNI!! this is an 18+ post

(EDIT I FORGOT THE CUT!! ITS THERE NOW)

Ps: Bo is praying that god doesn't exist because they're going to hell after writing this

alcohol changes people - a murder duo fic

Here are the Bo-mandated tags-> (its a lot) (bird note here - hopefully the formatting isn't too bad because Bo decided not to add them!! I did it for y'all though.)

Schlatt/Ted, Don't Like Don't Read -), Naked Cuddles, Transmasc character, Trans, Ischlatt, Ted Nivison, Trans Schlatt, boypussy goes crazy hard ngl, interrupted sex, schlatt keeps getting nervous and has to calm down, there is angst, quite a lot actually, the fluff covers it up tho, this is technically smut but I had to get some angst I can't live w out it, trans angst to be specific, they are pretty drunk, dubious consent, consent is cool kids do it, Ted is kinda mean but like in a hot way right? Right, Schlatt is insecure, author is projecting cause it's their coping mechanism, me/your mom, friends to lovers, cause I said so, fuck you, no beta we die like drakes career, I wrote this listening to Kendrick Lamar, I wrote his ALSO listening to Chappell Roan, Schlatt is a canon Charli XCX enjoyer, Tucker Keane mention!!! Lowkey amped up the smut then blueballed not just y'all but myself too wtf is going on, planned rough sex, now it's just actually loving soft sex, its giving mille and moxie, author abuses the shit out of ellipses, fuck show don't tell, using bro/dude/man lovingly, virgin ahh schlatt, cock slut ted canon, they stammer. A LOT

-

Neon lights graced Ted's shin as he moved around the dance floor, occasionally bumping hips with his friend who he dragged here against his will. Schlatt, however, wouldn't budge, despite his intoxication. He swayed slightly, only tapping his foot when Charli XCX came on, and those moments were few and far between. "Cmonnn, dance! It's what we're here for," Ted pleaded. "You wouldn't catch me dead doing that," Schlatt retorted, arms crossing. The music was blaring, so it was hard to even make out what was being said, relying mainly on lip movements to understand, Still, Ted persisted. "Dude.." He began, slinging his arm around the shorter's shoulders, "Not even for me? You're best friend?" Ted gave a short laugh. Online, people thought they were best friends. They, though having known each other for years, weren't actually all that close, but Ted was actively trying to fix that. 

He had admired Schlatt for quite some time, specifically his work ethic. His drive to create, the passion he put into his work, all of it Ted adored. He gave a teasing pout to his friend, his breath thick with alcohol, "You're no fun," he groaned, maybe a bit too loudly, as Schlatt's eyes widened. "Get off me, dude. Just lemme drink and you can dance. I can watch from here," he shook his head, his mess of brown curls cascading over his forehead, beaded with sweat. "Oh, so you've been watching me?" Ted was slightly intrigued by this news. Was Schlatt watching him? Well, he did notice how his gaze always fell to his screen instead of Tucker's when he rambled on about some useless story he had gathered from a road trip. Schlatt's cheeks flushed, barely noticeable under the blue, pink, and purple lights. "N-not like that!" He stammered. Normally, his sharp tongue would have spat back some insult, but he strangely wasn't in the mood to do such a thing. 

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was just the way Ted was looking at him. It was different from normal, his eyes trailing up and down his figure. It was ...Strange, but... Not unwelcome. Ted bit his lip. Has Schlatt always been this good looking? He noted how Schlatt's arms pushed up his chest, how his glasses framed his face just so. The two looked at each other's bodies, but not their eyes, still mulling over thoughts. Thoughts of each other. Newer thoughts, ones that were too embarrassing to say out loud. "I see how you're looking at me, Schlatt..." Ted murmured into his ear, breath hot against his skin. Schlatt's gaze darted to the concrete floor his foot was so nervously tapping against. 

"I'm not looking at you in any of the ways you're thinking, Ted..." Schlatt grumbled, his voice low, maybe with shame, maybe with something else. "Well, what are you thinking, hm? Care to share?" Ted asked with a smirk as his hand moved down Schlatt's back to his hip, pulling him in closer. Schlatt thought for a moment Would he be willing to tell him? Willing to risk their friendship? They were both drunk; maybe it wouldn't matter in the morning. Though, his mother's voice rang in his head. He knew this was a bad idea, but he couldn't shake the thoughts forming in his mind. Of him. Of Ted. Of them. 

"Ted.." Schlatt murmured. "Yes?" Ted's head tilted slightly. Schlatt paused, breath hitching on his next few words. "Can we take this back to the car?" He asked quietly, voice shaking: Ted smiled, glad to hear that Schlatt was thinking the same as him. "Of course, babe," he purred, holding Schlatt's hand as he led him out of the bar and to the curb, calling an Uber. Ted still held onto his hand, squeezing lightly. "I can't believe you're already so flustered...* Ted mumbled. "Okay, fuck you..." Schlatt groaned, head tilting back with his hand on his forehead "We'll see..." Ted stifled a chuckle as the Uber pulled up. He opened the door for Schlatt. "Ladies first!" He teased. 

Schlatt froze up, standing there for a moment before getting into the car, not even looking at Ted. He knew he didn't mean it, hell, he didn't even know, but it still stung. His fingers moved over his knuckles rhythmically, trying to stay calm. His mind raced, filled with thoughts of how Ted would feel. Would he be mad? Turned off? Disgusted? His leg bounced anxiously. Ted hadn't noticed how distraught Schlatt was, only moving his hand to Schlatt's thigh, pressing lightly to stop the movement. "It's okay if this is your first time... It is, right?" Ted tried to recall Schlatt vaguely telling him that he had saved himself all throughout high school and college, but all he thought about was how his hand traced up to Schlatt's crotch, hand stopping when he couldn't feel what should be there. Ted's hand moved back a bit. Schlatt looked at him in horror before burying his head into his hands. Ted bit back a gasp. Luckily, they were at his house now. They stepped out without saying anything, not even to the driver, not until they got inside, that is. 

"Are you.." Ted began. "Trans? Uhm.. Yeah," Schlatt finished, voice wavering. His thighs pressed together; eyes glued to the floor. "I'm gonna... uh... Go...Now. I'm sorry.” Schlatt stammered out, turning to leave before Ted stopped him "Wait, don't-" Ted's hand loosely grabbed Schlatt's eyes locking. "I..You're still. " Schlatt couldn't even form words; he was so emotional. This wasn't how he expected the night to go. His intoxication only added to his emotions. "Dude, we've been friends for years, why didn't you say anything?" Ted's eyes searched Schlatt's, looking for any explanation. "I thought you'd be freaked out! I'm sorry!" Schlatt repeated the last bit a few times, tears running down the sides of his cheeks. His hand pulled away from Ted's to wipe his stream of tears. "I'm not 'freaked out I'm fucking bi, dude. You know I wouldn't be weird about it" Led reassured, moving closer to him. Ted's hands met Schlatt's, pulling them away from his eyes and to his hips. Ted slowly cupped his face, Schlatt's gaze softening. 

"So, are we... Uh...Cool?" Schlatt choked out, face red. "Of course," Ted sighed, smiling. "Can I kiss you?" His gaze shifted between Schlatt's lips and his eyes. *Yes..Yes please. " Schlatt nodded before the two locked lips. The kiss was unsteady at first, but grew more confident as Ted pulled him in, fingers running through Schlatt's soft brown hair. Schlatt's own hands moved to Ted's hips, pulling his body against his own. Schlatt opened his mouth slightly, Ted accepting his silent suggestion, tongues wrapping together. Ted tasted like tequila, Schlatt like Benedictines. After a few moments of this gentle exploration, the kiss broke, a small string of saliva connecting their lips. "You taste good-" they said in unison before breaking out into gentle laughter. "At least you like Benedictines.." Schlatt grinned, chest pressed against Ted's. "That I do," Ted's voice was low and gravelly, sending a chill up Schlatt's spine. "Can we go to your room now...?" He asked, a bit antsy now. He felt the familiar heat between his thighs. "Hell yeah," Ted gestured for him to follow. His room wasn't anything special, just his bed, nightstand, a shelf, and a couple boxes still scattered from his move-in Schlatt pulled off his shirt, revealing his scars. They Formed an aesthetically pleasing "w" shape, and Ted pushed Schlatt down onto the bed, lips meeting the marks. "A-a bit direct, don't you think?" Schlatt giggled.

"Yeah, but you probably are enjoying this, aren't you, you little whore?" Ted scoffed as he continued to kiss. "Fuck you, dude! You're the one who started lookin' at me like that... And besides, I saved myself, you slept around, you cock slut," Schlatt snapped before Ted nipped at him. "You gonna be a little bitch the whole time or are you gonna let me blow your back out?" Ted stood up, arms crossed "The second option.." Schlatt rolled his eyes as he sat up to slip off his pants and soaked boxers. "Jesus... We were only kissing, and that was like for a few seconds.. You got that wet?" Ted looked genuinely surprise, then pleased with himself, a shit-eating grin forming. "I didn't know I had that kind of effect over you. I'll keep that in mind for Chuckle Week..." Ted drawled. 

"I swear to god, if you even try to bang me on set, I will fucking kill you-" Schlatt began but was stopped by Ted pushing him back down onto the mattress below. "Keep talking and I'll have you choking on my cock instead of your own words, got it?" Ted was more dominant than he realized. Schlatt understood that Ted wasn't even joking, and he was kinda into that. He bit his lip, nodding shakily. "Good boy. Eyes on me," Ted commanded, slowly slipping off his clothes. The entire time, Schlatt didn't dare take his gaze off of him He was enamored by Ted's slow and graceful movements as his articles fell to the floor. "What, like what you see?" Ted grinned. "Hell yeah. Jesus, I uh.." Schlatt was at a loss for words as his eyes trailed around Ted's body, his muscles, the other bit... "It's really cute seeing you like this... All flustered; god, you're getting me so hard..." Ted mused, face flushed. "Didn't expect this, huh?" Schlatt joked "Not entirely, but I can't say I'm particularly disappointed." 

Ted made his way over to the bed, going down on Schlatt. His lips moved over his neck, kissing deeply with a deep growl. His hands rans up and down Schlatt's sides, nails grazing lightly. They lefts small, gentle scratch marks, hands deft and precise with their movements. Schlatt was quite small under Ted's frame, their biological differences more obvious now that they were stripped down to nothing. Ted had more body hair than Schlatt, and the hair Schlatt did have was that strange silky kind that never fills in quite right. He was slightly envious of Ted's benefits, especially with how he was teasing him right now, his boner pressed on the outside of his cunt. 

"You're such a bastard, y’know that, Ted?" He spat rather bitterly. He knew it was out of Ted's control whether he was born a girl or a boy, but it still felt unfair that Ted was so lucky to have been born the way he had been. Ted, hearing this, was slightly taken aback. "W-what? What do you mean?" Ted used his arms to push himself up, now locking eyes with Schlatt's still red, glassy gaze. Schlatt moved further up on the bed, now resting on the headboard. Ted moved with him, leaning up next to his friend. "I..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I know I keep returnin' to this, but..." He sniffed, still buzzed. "Uhm... Fuck, how do I word this... Well you were born in the right body, y'know, and I.. Well, I wasn't. I know this isn't even your problem, its mine, but it feels so unfair to see you actually happy in your body. And seeing you having..Uh..Fun... Is even worse." Schlatt's hand moved across his knuckles again, one of his many coping mechanisms that wouldn't destroy his body. His voice wavered with each new sentence he formed, eyes not daring to look at Ted's. He was mad at himself for even telling this to him. It wasn't his fault, why should he care? 

Schlatt brought his knees to his chest, leaning his forehead against it. Gazing down, he could barely make out what he hated most about his body. Every day, when he showered, he'd put a towel over the mirror and close his eyes and hum to distract himself while he bathed his more intimate parts. He hated looking, but at the moment, he just wanted to escape Ted's prying eyes. He felt Ted's arm wrap around his shoulder, and a small lass on the top of his head. It made Schlatt want to cry. He hated being treated like he was lesser than what he really was. He let out a shaky sob. Ted pulled him close, hand rubbing slow, soft circles on his back He could hear Ted quietly shushing him, laying the occasional kiss on his forehead in between his soft breaths. "Oh babe..." Ted took his time finding his next words, choosing them carefully. "I can't uh, say that I know what you're going through, but I know it hurts." He paused, running over his next sentence internally before he spoke. "I don't know if this really counts, but I like your body..." Ted murmured, a bit embarrassed. 

He usually wasn't this genuinely sappy with people. Schlatt just sniffed, trying to stop himself from crying, though he still felt hot tears running down his unshaven cheeks. "Can I pick you up?" Ted asked. Schlatt mustered a nod, too tired to argue. Ted's arms hooked Schlatt's legs, and soon, all of Schlatt's weight pressed against Ted's thighs. He pulled him close, Schlatt able to hear Ted's heartbeat. It was slow, and listening to it, Schlatt tried to synch his own breathing with his. At first, it was difficult His breath kept hitching, and his sobs interrupted his efforts, however, Ted's fingers moved rhythmically through his hair, his lips kissing his cheeks slowly and soft. Ted so desperately wanted to say something along the lines of "I'm sorry," or "I didn't know," but he knew his friend. He knew at times like this, when he got too tired to film, or when he couldn't keep up the persona, the best thing to do was to just stay calm, and let Schlatt rest, which is what was happening right now. 

Schlatt finally got his breath to a reasonable pace, his head now sinking into the crux of Ted's neck. His lips kissed along his collar bone, though the angle was awkward. Ted only giggled at this attempt. "Are you okay now?" Ted murmured, still unsure it he wanted to continue with what they were doing before. "Mhm.. Uh, thanks for that, by the way. I really appreciated it, well, more specifically you..." Schlatt adjusted his body so that now he was facing Ted, legs spread over his. Ted picked up on the subtle mood change, hands running up the sides of Schlatt's thighs and to his ass, squeezing gently. "I'm glad to hear that I helped. Speaking of helping, you mind doin' me a favor, babe?" 

Ted let Schlatt's gaze shift down to his cock, Ted letting out some half-laugh as Schlatt immediately became enamored. "Yeah, I can do that..." Schlatt, still coated in his slick, lifted his body up, and then slowly down on Ted's dick, letting out a low and soft groan as he did. Ted felt Schlatt weakly tighten around him. "Fuck, you really did save yourself... You're really tight, shit..." Ted's breath left him with a shudder. Only a moan leftSchlatt's lips in response, shifting his hips around. Ted let out another deep groan as he pulled Schlatt's lips to his as Schlatt's hands ran through Ted's dark brown hair. They sat like that for a few minutes, just letting Schlatt adjust to being penetrated, something he seldomly did. "Are you ready?" Ted murmured into his ear. "Mhm. Can I lay down?" He asked quietly, as if he was nervous to upset Ted, still on edge, just barely. "Yeah, dude, of course!" He stopped, laughing at himself. "What's so funny?" Schlatt asked. The the fact that I called you dude when I'm about to fucking rail you-" Ted managed to get out between giggles, Schlatt joining in. "W-well-Fuck I can't speal wait-" He struggled to form a coherent sentence between chuckles. "I swear I don't mind, fuck" He only laughed harder, leaning back onto the mattress. "So, bro, you gonna fuck me or nah?" Schlatt teased. 

"Oh okay, fuck you-" Ted rolled his eyes as he adjusted his hips and Schlatt's legs, letting his weight fall on Schlatt's stomach. *This okay. babe?" He asked, prepping himself. "Oh, fuck yeah-" Schlatt was cut off by Ted immediately thrusting into him, rather roughly. "O-oh fuck!" Schlatt moaned, throwing his head back. "God, you are so fuckin' tight, mphf-" Ted stifled a whine as he tightened around his dick. His hands moved to Schlatt's chest, thumbs running over his nipples, giving the occasional pinch. "A-ah! Ngh!" He yelped, ass pressing into the blankets below. "T-that's what I love to hear," Ted half chuckled half moaned, his cute little noises sending butterflies into his stomach. He wasn't about to admit how turned on Schlatt's moans made him. Even on the podcast, whenever Schlatt groaned at some dumb comment, in the back of his mind, Ted was always wishing it was him that could make Schlatt groan like that, to scream even. Thankfully, that day was here. 

His cock moved in and out swiftly, Schlatt's drenched cunt weakly squeezing as he did so. His breath was heavy, barely containing the moans forming automatically with Ted filling his body so well. It drove him mad how good this felt. How long had he been waiting for this? 25 fucking years, and god, had it paid off. His mind was hazy as he was pumped through, unable to form any responses when Ted asked him simple questions like, "are you enjoying yourself, princess?" or "you wanna get louder?" His brain did focus on the "princess" bit though, a groan escaping him. "Y-you like that, princess?" Ted seemed just slightly hesitant to genuinely call him that, especially since it teetered on the line of a joke and misgendering Schlatt, though, he weirdly seemed into it, particularly because of how ashamed he was, but lust and alcohol changes people. "Mpf…F-fuck. Yes-yes!" Schlatt whined hand moving to his clit, rubbing rather sloppily. "God, you're so cute like this..." Ted praised, continuing, "So fuckin' adorable, sp-spread out like this for me... It's a shame I g-gotta wreck this c-cute bod-body of yours.." Ted stammered, feeling a familiar high wash over him, precum leaking out of his cock. 

"S-Schlatt, I'm close..." Ted groaned, Schlatt moaning in response. "Hah-please...." Schlatt moaned "Oh god. pleasepleasepleaseplease..." Schlatt whimpered, voice quavering as he applied more pressure to his clit, back arching into the mattress. "Oh god, Ted, I'm g gonna cum! Please! Oh fuck!" He practically screamed, thighs trembling. M-me too, go on and cum, pretty b-boy!" Ted moaned into Schlatt ear. He obeyed willingly, gasping for air as he did so, chest pressing into Ted's. Tears rolled down his cheeks, some shaky sobs of overstimulation leaving him Ted slowed down, letting him catch his breath before he continued. "Y-you okay..? Did I go too hard?" Ted's hand grazed his cheek, thumb wiping away his tears. He only mustered a small headshake, signaling that Ted was in the clear. 

Once he was sure that Schlatt could handle Ted finishing, he started again, Schlatt crying under him. It was a bit sadistic but hearing Schlatt cry because of him only edged him closer to climaxing, his thighs pushing into Schlatt's. "Oh-oh god I'm gonna cum! Oh god..." Ted's eyes screwed shut listening to Schlatt whine as he filled his cunt. His thrusts finally slowed to a halt, and Schlatt was a mess. His skin was flushed red, breathing rapidly and shallow. "Did I go too hard babe?" Ted let out a shaky breath as he pulled out, grimacing just slightly as cum poured out ofSchlatt and onto his bed. Fuck...." he grumbled, turning to Schlatt. "N..Maybe..." He whimpered, knees pressing together weakly. 

Ted stood up, knees wobbly as he slid his arms under Schlatt's body, lifting him up with surprising ease. He carried him to the bathroom, setting him up on the sink, the rest of Ted's cum leaking into the sink Schlatt gasped at the cold of the fake marble countertop, but got over it quickly when he saw Ted turn on the warm shower water. He lifted himself off the counter, barely making his way to Ted, who helped him into the shower. They both cleaned themselves off the best they could, still inebriated. They shared a few sloppy kisses in the shower, and a few outside as Ted lent him a rather oversized sweatshirt, Schlatt drowsily digging through his bag to find himself a pair of dry boxers. He collapsed on the now clean bed, Ted changing out the blanket.  

Ted slid under the covers next to Schlatt who gave him a sleepy smile. "Hey bud, you okay?" He asked, fingers grazing over his mutton chops. "Yeah...God that was so fuckin' good..." He giggles to himself, letting his lips meet Ted's, this time going for a gentle, slow, sweet kiss rather than the more passionate kind the two shared earlier on in the night. "I wasn't lyin' earlier, either... I love you-" Ted caught himself, covering up with another, less vulnerable truth, "your body. I don't mind, I might even prefer it," Ted pulled him closer, wrapping his body around Schlatt's, legs tangling together. "Okay. Well.." Schlatt blushed, burying his face into Ted's shoulder, now covered with a loose t-shirt. He smelled nice, Schlatt noted, basking in the lavender scent that laced Ted's figure. It was very lulling, already tired from his back getting blown out. Ted managed to keep himself from laughing as he heard quiet snores beneath him, as he whispered, though drunk, still honest, "I love you." Schlatt quietly smiled, humming just a bit, falling back to sleep almost instantly.

-

[xo-tilweoverdose]

big time ramble up ahead be prepared (mostly about Izanami and the actual Mythology in Shinto religion and Persona 4's character designs regarding my poll I posted)

(this is like my third time writing this btw so please I hope yall enjoy it)

so I did a poll regarding ship kids yesterday and I got a good amount of votes that I liked!! Nothing crazy and it was meant to be a critique view in my eyes, I like criticism when I ask for it and I wanted to see how others felt :]

and in the comments @/thiscityneedslessfog mentioned Izanami is technically already a parent and it made me wanna do a mini deep dive on the Shinto Mythology and seeing which gods/goddesses I wanna maybe make into p4 ocs!! Just smth to tie into Izanami + I think it can warrant fun doodles. Anyways let's get into it

SO.

We all already know at least one of Izanami's kids, Kagutsuchi (photo below), who burned her at birth and was the reason she was sent to Yomi in the first place and turned into goddess of death (yall know the legend yall are smart)

HOWEVER before Kagutsuchi, specifically a little after Izanami and Izanagi's first ritual that they accidentally messed up, Izanami had Hiruko and Awashima, both who weren't considered deities due to the deformities they faced due to the messed up ritual. Both were put on boats and sent away by the currents where Izanami and Izanagi restarted the ritual and got it right this time (leading to a fuck ton of islands to be created and aforementioned Kagutsuchi)

now Xo note, while Hiruko actually did wound up becoming a god, specifically one of the seven gods of fortune, god of fishermen and luck, Ebisu, (statue below), I could not find any information on Awashima, not even what their gender was supposed to be. My only source (linked below) on Awashima for like. all their stuff. says that they're a female/woman orientated god, such as female disorders, pregnancy, etc, but in my readings Awashima did exist, just not alot of them is written?? no idea

So technically speaking, not counting the islands, Hiruko, Awashima, and Kagutsuchi are Izanami's kids canon wise in p4

In the story, after Izanagi saw Izanami's decaying corpse, he cleansed himself and created three new gods

Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, birthed from Izanagi's left eye

Tsukuyomi, God of the moon, birthed from Izanagi's right eye

and Susanoo, god of the storms, birthed from Izanagi's nose

Technically speaking, these three are Izanagi's kids ONLY. Izanami had no part in this...

However.

In a seperate telling from the Nihonshoki version of Izanami and Izanagi's tale, Izanami and Izanagai together created Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo, just after Hiruko, Awashima, and Kagutsuchi and after izanamis turn to goddess of death

so. depending on which one p4 is based on (which I do not know), Izanami rather has just three kids or six kids (not counting islands once again)

however considering I'm the one wanting to go through with making designs for these guys in p4's style, it is genuinely just up to me, and if I wanna design 6 characters

WHICH I WOULDNT MIND AT ALL!! I LOVE CHARACTER DESIGN TRUST!!

BUT.

I'm not used to persona 4s way of character design. All the characters are simple but recognizable. It doesn't use crazy out there hair or outfits for you to recognize who is who and that's super neat!!God,

Even if you look at the lineup of sprites of characters (below) they're all like people you can see in daily life (maybe except teddy and fox) ofc more exaggerated for some since that's the style in p4 for characters who are NPCs, but either way they're people you could see in daily life. Even Izanami herself when she reveals herself is pretty normal. just the robe and loose hair fits perfectly to that simplicity

Even the investigation team (below) def has a unique set of designs even if they're really simple. Their silhouettes are almost close but not close enough. You can still easily identify them by the simplicity of different hair styles and different outfits which IS COOL!!!

But my art style is def more y2k/2000s art style. Think My Life As A Teenage Robot, Invader Zim, Samurai Jack, etc, (which are a few of my inspirations for my style alongside a few other artists I see on insta). So I'd instantly want to exaggerate and what not. And I feel I CANT DO THAT THIS TIME RAAHHH!!!

point is. I'd love to design these gods/goddesses as ocs for silly scenarios for Izanami and even my Adanami slop. I just feel I gotta keep in mind p4 itself and not just go crazy about designs (which I tend to do for any fan ocs I've noticed-)

idk SOMEONE YELL AT ME on if I'm crazy or not. I really just wanted to ramble on the kiddos of Izanami and Izanagi and kinda discuss p4's designs and how I am gonna STRUGGLE but I'll still try 🥺

anyways thank you for reading. OrcaOttoXo out

[soccerpunching]

ermm:33 general opinion on YuuYuu (Yuuka/Yuuichi) plez \(^0^)/,,,

HELLO YUUYUU ARTIST!!!!! <3

Back when i first watched inago (i was maybe 15/16???) I have both a plush and crush on Yuuka and Yuuichi. Idk theyre just so pretty and i love their vibe, I WAS IN AWE

And theyre both so cool to me and they have a lot of similarities... so right off the bat, i'm telling you that i love them sm, i loved them for years, and that i would die for yuuyuu

To take this more seriously, I feel so much for their characters and where they stand in the narrative.

Everybody knows this but i will mention it... they were both made to be the motivation for two similar deuteroganists. They are the motivation, the anchor, and a literary device that reflects the foundation of those main characters. To exist as them automatically means that they are and will always be attached to another character in content importance and would rarely have the screentime alone if at all (yuuka is even abysmal in this respect).

In personality, i think these two are the same way as their purpose in the series.

Yuuka introduces herself as Yuuka in inago. Without the surname. I understand the intent for that scene of course, she was actively avoiding calling herself a Gouenji since her brother's poorly kept secret will be known. But I imagine this is just how she introduces herself even before fifth sector.

She's not doing this because she's timid or anything related to teenage rebellion, Gouenji just have A LOT of weird fans that she would rather not call their attention. There are also some who just wanted to be close to her to get a chance to see Gouenji. She genuinely thinks her brother is cool and supports him and loves him so much but his fans are just... so weird that it's sometimes hard to show her support of him in public. But she sometimes think her brother is living a bigger life purpose than her (she would not help him in inago otherwise and she may also be there to make sure he's taking care of himself).

Anyway, Shuuya is important to Yuuka because in her eyes, he (and Fuku) raised her. I think by the time her middle school graduation came by, she already realized this and asked Shuuya to be there for her instead (tired of hearing that their father is too busy for them) and Shuuya would have been emotional about this for days. That's how I think Yuuka herself put more importance in Shuuya for better or for worse.

In Yuuichi's case, I think he always talks about Kyousuke. Whether you initiated the talk about Kyousuke or not, he will be mentioned. Yuuichi talks a lot about the shared dream he and his brother have and how amazing kyousuke is. Even without his alternate version in CS confirming this, I think Yuuichi believe that Kyousuke plays a greater role in the world than him.

There is something a bit inferior with how both Yuuka and Yuuichi see themselves compared with their brothers but because of the love and support that they get, I think they're dealing with this really well and are going to be fine.

But just with that, i can already say that these two have an incredible potential to have the deepest understanding of each other. They would know each other in a level that no other person could. If there was at least one canon content of them i would have been obsessed with this ship.

Yuuyuu is a crackship that has too many connections to be considered as one

Technically yuuyuu is a crackship because they dont have a single interaction and have not been in the same frame before. But is it really??

Funny thing about yuuyuu is that their roads are meant to cross even if you follow canon. Just the relevance of being both needing a physical therapist for years as a minor (yuuka would need go visit the PT even after she fully recovers at least annually for a few years for check ups and drills) in the same hospital alone is enough to make these two at least have a facial familiarity with each other. Yuuka also would have visited katsuya at least once for something or waited for him around the hospital. And these are around outside canon alone.

They could even meet in the duration of the last parts of inago too when yuuka often called kyousuke over. Or even during or in between cs and galaxy. My point is that these two live in a really small world that it's impossible for them to not meet. Even all the canon information they both have would agree that they know each other even if it's just from their faces.

They have the same hobbies and interests and they both love Gouenji Shuuya

Yuuka would appreciate to meet a non-weird gouenji fan once or someone who genuinely wants to be friends with her that's not because of her brother (she does have friends like these tho, but she appreciates having more). I know yuuichi would be the first fan who doesnt talk about gouenji like he's some badass lord of fire.

Aside this fact (this is hc territory), I'm a strong believer that both yuuka and yuuichi are really interested in humanities, social affairs, and politics. You can't be disabled and not be humanitarian. It comes with how shitty the state and some people treats you, i think their interests align just so sooo well. (Adding also my hyperverbal autistic yuuka headcanon here too)

[ciaossu-imagines]

I’m not sure whether I’ve told you enough about him so if you want more info for this, you can ask but how do you think my OC Haruki would get along with everyone as just another HOMRA member (so his dad and him don’t know that technically they’re related)? Like I had this thought that he’s sent back in time and loses his memories of his family and comes across the bar and shrugs and is like “Could do with a drink before I try to figure stuff out.” and then he comes across everyone and they ask whether he wants to join and when they explain to him what HOMRA is, he’s like “Sure, sounds like fun.” What do you think his life would be like with them and all of that?

C

Okay, this was a really interesting take, an interesting AU, and I can't wait to see if you do anything with the thought! These were my thoughts on it and I hope, if nothing else, they'll either amuse you or give you different ways to view this. I know Haruki in particular is incredibly precious to you and I don't think I've done him well in these, mostly down to differences in how we view the canon characters, but I hope I didn't do it offensively badly and you know none of anything that might be really off was done out of malice.

Okay, so even if Haruki existed within the same time period as the HOMRA original generation, or as you say, even if he was sent back in time, with his memories lost, and he stumbles across the bar, I do think it's highly unlikely he'd meet everyone right off. While the bar is definitely a central meeting ground for the members, they don't live there and even in MOR, it was shown that Shouhei just kind of didn't show up for a month or more because he was out visiting his family, so all the guys aren't there all the time.

Even if he decides he really likes the atmosphere of the bar and keeps returning enough to have really met all the members, I don't feel like he'd get real close with any of them, not right off the bat. While some of the guys are real friendly types, like Shouhei and Kamamoto, HOMRA as a gang still tends to be kind of insular in my opinion. The guys aren't opening up about their lives and sharing all kinds of things with Haruki right away. Some of the friendlier members might be chatty enough with him, small talk and joking, because he is a regular at the bar and they like him well enough, but I don't see him forming any real and solid bonds with the guys until he becomes a HOMRA member himself.

In terms of becoming a HOMRA member, I don't think the guys really talk about the gang in front of regular customers and they're not out and outright bragging about their gang activities or chattering real loud about them in front of people who aren't HOMRA members themselves. So I don't see Haruki learning about HOMRA from the members themselves or even just sitting around the bar. HOMRA is, in canon, not only very much an actual gang, but a well-known and somewhat feared gang in Shizume City. So I see it being much more likely that he hears about it out in the city proper, from other people he meets because obviously, he's not spending every moment in the bar. He's been dropped in Shizume City and he'll need to find a job so he can afford a place to stay, afford food, and things like that because HOMRA definitely isn't just taking in random people. As kind as some of their members are, the only one who just takes in strays is Fujishima, and he only takes in stray people if they're really badly hurt, like Eric was. Even then, Eric was only allowed to stay at Bar HOMRA for a short period of time, he doesn't properly live there. So I could see Haruki, at his part time job, mentioning something about how much he likes the bar and one of his coworkers really filling him in on how that's reportedly the headquarters of this really terrifying and brutal HOMRA gang and how Haruki needs to be more careful.

Haruki though? He's not really one whose all that opposed to violence or gang activities and he's actually going to be kind of interested in what he's been told. On his next trip into the bar, I could see him just kind of casually bringing it up, mentioning that he's heard HOMRA's a gang and hey, what does a guy need to do to join? It's then that he's kind of filled in on the initiation process and after being accepted as even a potential worthy candidate of initiation, he passes the test of taking Mikoto's hand and becomes a member. It's after that happens that I see Haruki actually getting to seriously know and form relationships with each of the different members.

Now, even though Haruki is a member, he's a newbie member and I see a lot of fights at first. And these particular fights I'm seeing really are ones that continue until Izumo really cracks some skulls together and reprimands both people involved. He gets Totsuka to talk to Haruki and really set out some rules. The thing is, even as a brand new member to this really big-deal, frightening gang, Haruki can get rather lippy and he really hates Chitose. He's always calling Chitose out on one thing or another in Chitose's behaviour, showing him absolutely no respect and the two will get in more than one fist-fight and, despite what you might think, Haruki doesn't always walk away the victor because there is a reason Chitose is in HOMRA and while he's the one most likely to leave situations before fighting, he is more than capable of beating the shit out of someone and when he is angry, Chitose gets brutal. Like I said, Izumo steps in to handle things when it gets really bad and Totsuka makes very sure that Haruki is clear on one thing - HOMRA, while not real sticklers on hierarchy, is a gang and you respect your superiors in the gang. On top of that, HOMRA is a family and even if you don't agree with one of the other members on everything, you still need to try to find the good in them and you need to be willing to have their backs. Blood in, blood out type of shit and if Haruki can't and won't respect that fact, blood out it will be. I think after that, while there's definitely still a dislike between the two men, there's a kind of truce established and the two mostly just avoid spending a lot of time together or really talking to each other.

Like almost all the other HOMRA members, I don't see Haruki getting really close to Mikoto because Mikoto doesn't easily form real close bonds with other people. It's not something he easily does and he holds himself really apart from most of the HOMRA members in some way. However, Mikoto doesn't mind Haruki, sees him as one of his own in the same way he sees all the others as part of his own, and Haruki has a respect and, at points, a kind of awe for Mikoto, much the same as the other HOMRA members.

Izumo doesn't have any real big issues with Haruki outside of the fights he occasionally gets into with the others, and Izumo has that issue with almost all the members to some extent. He's pretty chill with Haruki, since Haruki pays his tab on time, frequented the bar even before becoming a member, doesn't really do any property damage to bar HOMRA, and doesn't seem to bear any ill will towards HOMRA in general. Overall, Izumo's kind of easy-going that way, and he looks out for Haruki the same way he kind of looks out for all of HOMRA's members and interacts with him much the same as he would any other HOMRA member.

There's a lot of teasing and remarks when Haruki first comes around, and even after he officially joins, about how much Haruki looks like Shouhei and is Shouhei sure he doesn't have siblings out there. Was Shouhei's dad stepping out or did his mom sleep with the milkman or something and all that kind of good-natured ribbing. Maybe it is because they do look alike and even act alike in some ways, maybe it's because Shouhei's just a really friendly guy. Either way, I see Shouhei really taking Haruki under his wing, taking the guy out and introducing him to people, bringing him to Shouhei's favourite clubs or cool parties Shouhei thinks he'll like. The two of them build a solid friendship. Totsuka and Kamamoto, the other really friendly and gregarious members of HOMRA, also kind of take it upon themselves to get Haruki out and to show him around Shizume City, get him out and socializing and meeting people, giving him opportunities he might not get on his own and it's because of all three of them that Haruki really does settle into his life in Shizume City.

Haruki doesn't mind kids and, if his mood is right, he kind of relishes the chances to be a surrogate big brother, so I do see him getting along well with Anna, especially once he gets used to her. She is, admittedly, a little off-putting at first and he found a kid hanging around a bar like she was a little weird and creepy, but once the two of them warmed up to each other, I see him developing a real soft spot for her and he sometimes takes her out to do things together.

As far as fighting goes, I do see Yata and Haruki fighting and bickering with each other a lot. It's real bad near the beginning, especially since, even if he's not Yata's favourite person, Chitose is part of HOMRA and has been longer than Haruki and Yata took a lot of offense to everything that went down there. I think in some ways, he'll always kind of hold that grudge against Haruki for that behaviour and disrespect. While the two of them can be cool with each other, overall they do bicker quite a bit. Yata's hot temper and Haruki's penchant for teasing and kind of goading that hot temper just because he does sometimes find Yata's reactions kind of amusing doesn't help. However, at the same time, Haruki does have a lot more respect for Yata than you would guess, and Haruki is careful to toe the line when it comes to how much he'll say to Yata and, while Yata has threatened to get physical, I think the fights between these two are largely verbal sparring. I also see Haruki and Eric having the same sort of relationship, where they will verbally spar and bicker and be rude to each other, but at the same time, they're actually pretty chill with each other and do have some level of respect for the other.

Bandou and Haruki can get along, but overall, Haruki's personality is much too opposite Bandou's own for the two of them to really get close. While Haruki does mirror Shouhei in some respects, so you would think Bandou would be able to form that same sort of friendship with Haruki, there's not as much history with Bandou as Shouhei has and that really affects things. Bandou would willing throw down on Haruki's behalf, like he would for every other member, but Bandou never gets real close to him. However, Haruki doesn't insult Bandou or make rude comments about him, so I think Bandou's a little more prone to liking Haruki than being true neutral on him.

Speaking of true neutral, I kind of see that being the type of relationships Dewa and Fujishima have with Haruki. There's mutual respect and they're all part of the same gang. They get along well enough and they can talk easily enough when they spend time together, but neither Dewa or Fujishima are going out of their way to spend time with Haruki outside of HOMRA. Again, it's largely just a personalities not really aligning and clicking whole-heartedly there and not out of any real dislike.

[wazzuppy]

wanted to elaborate a little more and add on to this post, so, yahoo! no clue if this will make any sense because (as usual) i'm tired and in physical pain, but hopefully at least someone will understand what i'm trying to say.

i forgot misako, mostly because she only serves as a love interest for about two seasons and then it's never mentioned again. but she still falls into the same category of "only here to fill a role and rarely gets the opportunity to define herself outside of that"

again: i LIKE all of these characters. i enjoy all of them and i'm only so frustrated because i want better for them. they all genuinely have a lot of potential.

not all of these characters are equal in how well written they are. vania, akita, and pixal are all solid, for the the most part. but regardless, they're all severely underutilized and underdeveloped (which is especially infuriating in pixal's case because she's the only other woman who could be considered part of the main cast).

no, vania and cole are not canon. however, with the framing and the animation of their initial interaction, i find it hard to believe that were absolutely no romantic undertones intended. mostly because ninjago has done that exact scene of "pretty woman exists and makes the man smile" with ALL of its canon pairings. not to mention both jay and lloyd make comments about them potentially being into each other. i dont personally interpret the two of them as anything more than friends, nor do some of the writers accoring to doc wyatt, but if they were trying to make it strictly platonic then they really fumbled it.

and now the big one i wanted to talk about: geo. he's the most subject to change out of everyone listed, because dragons rising is still ongoing and it still hasn't been technically confirmed that he's intended to be a love interest for cole (why does cole keep having all the most complicated to discuss ships?). but the romantic coding, just like with vania and cole, is still there. even if it never goes anywhere, i can't just ignore it. so that's why i decided to include him. now, do i think geo will get more screentime? yes. do i think it'll be anything substantial? maybe. he already has the potential for a character arc outside of cole-- that being his (possible) geckle/munce heritage-- and if they decide to do anything with that than he'll already be leagues above most of the girls. but if is the key word there. and personally? i don't know if i can fully trust dragons rising to pay off that potential. not because i don't think it's capable, but because i don't know if it'll care to. love interests are so rarely allowed to exist without their partner, especially in a series aimed at young boys like ninjago is, and considering the series' track record i'm hesitant to say anything for certain. there is also the uncomfortable intersectionality of this being the first secondary love interest character who may be allowed to have a character away from their partner, and it's a man. that wouldn't be so bad if there were any well done female love interests, but there really aren't. not in the supporting cast, anyways (akita gets close, but her romance with lloyd is so out of nowhere that i don't feel good calling its inclusion well done). but at the same time however, having a queer love interest with that kind of story arc would be huge. it's arguably in an even shakier state than good het fem love interests, with the only show i can think of off the top of my head that does this being the owl house with amity. that's where things get more complicated, because while new types of representation is great, it's hard for me to find it completely sincere if your still struggling so much with another, much more common type of rep.

so, the conclusion? i don't know. like i said, dragons rising is still ongoing and it all depends on where the writers take things from here. over the years and especially with dr coming out, ninjago's writing with its female characters has gotten much better. and it still is much better than a lot of other shows when it comes to this type of stuff. so, i'm more optimistic that good things will be coming than i would be for other shows, and even more than i'd be for ninjago just a couple of seasons ago. seabound and dragons rising have proven that theyre able to handle this well, but they still need to keep it up.

anyways im tired goodnight forever

i don't often like to criticize or complain about ninjago (just bc doing that with my special interests makes me sad), but jesus christ, i am so so tired of the continuous pattern of ninjago introducing a new character just so they can be a love interest. at the very least, nya allowed to be something outside of her romance with the jay, but that's still only 1/7. meanwhile pixal only gets to exist without zane sometimes; akita and harumi (in crystalized) have their romances tacked on for little to no reason; and skylor, vania, and geo don't have enough screen time or strong writing for me to consider them actual people.

and that sucks because i LIKE all those characters and i like some of the ships their involved in, but it's also just,,, SO fucking frustrating as an aromantic person to see characters only be created so they can date another one and do nothing else. especially since most of them are one-off female characters and there's a good chance of never seeing again ever, meaning not only do i, as a woman, lose part of my representation, but that i STILL can't fully relate to them because all of them are/were intended to pair up with other characters.

anyways. sorry for the rant. ninjago is definitely not the worst offender when it comes to this trend, but its still something i think about a lot because the series is so special to me. i guess i just felt like getting it out of my system

[danlous]

I think some people are being very stubborn about their hc and have a kneejerk reaction every time someone mentions race in period dramas. There are a lot of regions where the population in Europe is white. Just white. Do they even know where Auvergne is on the map of France? It's in the center of the country, slightly toward the south. It's landlocked. It's an agricultural region. And today in the 21st century, it's overwhelmingly white. I know, because I live there. I live in one of those little villages in the country, like Lestat's. I know because I have been stared at and ridiculed as a child enough times for being a dark skinned Muslim in a population that is completely white. I was and still am the only drop of melanin among their pasty faces on a range of 30km. And that's today, in the 21st century. And people are trying to tell me that yeah Nicky could have been plausibly black at the time? In this region, in the backwaters of France? And belong to a prosperous local family? That's bullshit. Of course there were poc in Europe in the past! It's obvious. But the proportion was so much smaller than it is today, and even today, France is majorly a white, catholic country. Had Lestat been from a village close to Marseille or Bordeaux or any other big port with economical ties all over the world, I would have jumped at the idea of having a non-white Nicky! In fact it would have been the perfect opportunity to explore the diversity that was found in those cities in the French Kingdom, the economical connection with the Maghreb and the transatlantic slave trade. If Nicky & Lestat were from Paris or Ile de France, again, a very cosmopolitan place, it would have been something I'd like to see. But they're from backwater France. I won't be gaslighted this part of the country isn't and hasn't been white, not with all the shit I had to endure over the years from their small minded everyone-must-be-french brains.

Nicky and Lestat's story is a perfect vehicle to explore class disparities at the end of the French Monarchy and the tensions that brought the French Revolution in the first place.

Thank you for sharing your experience, this is really important and interesting! I also come from a region in countryside with practically exclusively white people, which was very alienating as a child so i feel you

I think in iwtv's case there are several sides to the Nicki's casting that are all different questions, a) what is technically possible b) what is realistic/likely c) what people would like d) what is the best choice narratively and e) what are the writers actually going to do. I think the show is most likely going to keep Nicki as white (assuming they don't change his story so that he came from more metropolitan area different than Lestat). As you say, the population in that region was/is almost entirely white, but in history there are examples where even overwhelmingly homogenously white places has had some people of color, even if it's extremely rare. It's technically possible that Nicki would've been that one very rare person of the color in that region. I could imagine for example a backstory where his (white) father was born there, traveled to a bigger city, became an international merchant, had a child with some woman from a french colony, and chose to return home. It would maybe be very unlikely but technically possible. Some people may feel it would be unrealistic, but then again we can ask does 'realism' need to matter in a fantasy horror show, why would people of color existing in very white places somehow be more unbelievable than the existence vampires and witches and demons?

Then many people are understandably just headcanoning their favorite characters' races and there's nothing wrong with that, like i've myself headcanoning that Armand is a romani until proven otherwise lol, i know that probably won't be canon but it would make me so happy. Then the question 'should nicki's character stay white, what is the best and most compelling choice narratively speaking' i think is very complicated and doesn't have one right answer. Yesterday and today i've seen quite literally every possible opinion about this subject! When i made that poorly phrased mildly controversial post i thought it would make more sense not to change Nicki's race, but after reading people's comments who disagreed with me i get it isn't that simple and Nicki being a poc could actually be an interesting narrative choice if well-written. Like you I'm still leaning towards Nicki being white, but i can see how it would be cool if he wasn't

[anaer]

Linda Park please.

Yesss, Linda.

First impression:

To tell you the truth, I do not remember. I read so many Flash comics in the span of, like, a month that it all just kind of blends together but I always have and always will love Linda Park.

Impression now:

Linda is my FAVOURITE superhero spouse. I love everything about her, everything about her personality, everything about her role in the story, everything about how she helps Wally grow, everything about how she grows as a person, too. I love how she's always known Wally's the Flash. I love that there were no secrets between them, none of the lying (stares in Barry Allen). I love that she never once put up with his shit. I love that they hated each other at the start! She was valid for that. I love that they're FINALLY BACK TOGETHER, and I love how the current writer writes her.

I love that it's Linda's love for Wally that anchors him, that she's the main thing that keeps him together. That their love literally transcends time and space, that their love is so powerful. I love that Linda had a whole secret ex-husband that she NEVER told anyone about. Linda is so good at rolling with the punches, and I think she's written SO well for a superhero's partner. Like, Waid making her the POV character for the climax of Terminal Velocity did so much for me, too, because that issue is so fucking emotional. She's a character I really, really vibe with.

Also, she's fun. She doesn't get jealous; she's very understanding even when Wally is being ridiculous, but only up to a poin And while artists seem to keep forgetting this, I also really, really appreciate that they're an interracial relationship.

Favorite moment:

Terminal Velocity. When Wally died and Linda lost her whole goddamn mind and went after Kobra all on her lonesome.

(A close runner up would be when Linda stopped their wedding mid-ceremony to call Wally out for being a dumbass)

(Second runner up would be when Kobra interrupted their honeymoon to come after Linda becuase he felt disrespected that a woman was the reason he lost and she was very over his shit)

Also pretty much EVERY SINGLE TIME THEIR LOVE TRANSCENDED TIME AND SPACE.

Also that time Wally and Linda started arguing on live TV.

Also when Wally joined that cult and Linda spent the whole time like HOW ARE YOU THIS GULLIBLE?!?!

Also:

Idea for a story:

Linda's in a good chunk of my fics I have, haha. How about: Wally simping for evil!Linda, evil!Linda ruling the world via Wally, whose just head over heels, she deserves it.

Unpopular opinion:

I feel like just remembering Linda exists is an unpopular opinion, hahahaaha.

Linda and Wally are bi4bi.

Favorite relationship:

Linda+Piper!!! (I mean, no, it's Wally/Linda, but. Barring the obvious, and considering I talked about them already on the Wally post. And on this post.)

Linda and Hartley are SO good together, and I love their relationship separate from Wally. I love that Piper will 100% go along with Linda's bad ideas to help her do stuff while griping about it. I love that they make fun of Wally together because he deserves to be bullied sometimes.

Favorite headcanon:

I have so many I can't decide, hahaha.

This isn't so much a headcanon, as its technically canon, but its canon that NO writer seems to ever remember so:

Linda is at least 7-8 years older than Wally. He's 20 when they meet, and she at that point already has a successful TV journalism career. She was very clearly always intended to be older, but I don't think by that much, except that later on, it gets retconned in that she was two semesters short of an MD, so. She would've finished undergrad, gone to med school, dropped out, and then embarked on?? A career in journalism?? That was successful, all before she met Wally. I'm going to give Linda the benefit of the doubt that she had journalism credentials from undergrad before med-school.

So, yeah. Linda being a good amount older than Wally is something I LOVE that I feel like is never, ever, ever mentioned by anyone, ever.

[maxdurden]

3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 17, 25, 26, 28, 30!!!!!!!!!! or as many as you want i just realized this is a lot of numbers!!!!!!!

3 Biggest self-insert OC?

definitely wes, it's not even a competition. sometimes self insert next gen au ocs for your favorite media can be something soo important to a teenager coping with untreated mental illness. but i also think i project at least a little onto every oc i make. i just think embuing the little guys that live in my head with a bit of my soul makes them more fun, sue me

5 What are some of your OCs biggest fears?

this is a hard question!! i think my ocs are consistently coping with the fear of being unlovable and alone. but also my ocs are very often super afraid of heights, which is definitely projection. wes is afraid of sharks and the ocean in general! that kid grew up near gotham harbor and you wouldn't trust large bodies of water if you'd grown up near that shit either!

6 Do you have any OCs without stories? Will you ever create one for them?

yeah! i have shelves full of ocs that i made in a blind haze and now they sit and collect dust in the broom closet of my mind. and honestly? who knows, but probably not. a bitch can barely write fanfic, not to mention a competent original story

7 What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

my favorite relationships are always familial!!! i fucking,,,, LOVE exploring family dynamics in fiction i'm so normal about it. it's why peisistratus has basically the same amount of interaction with his brothers as he does with telemachus in bbyhr (and i think i should get to count AT LEAST echephron as an oc because i showed that man more love that homer ever dreamed of). but!! i had a superhero oc named jaime and their relationship with their dad (xander) was really fun to mess around with! the aforementioned wes has relationships with a lot of canon characters and their relationship with dick is sooo fun to think about (good relationship dynamic to squirm to, even).

i also really like really close friendships! like the kind where two characters just exist as their entire messy selves around each other because they're so close that it doesn't matter. wes was good friends with the xander i mentioned earlier and their dynamic was Ride Or Die, but then when they fought they were absolutely brutal to each other. very sibling-like ig lol

13 Which story has the most lore?

LISTEN i also don't do lore because i'm not a nerd. but if i did lore, it'd be the story that wes comes from. it was technically a dc related universe? i think it could generously be called an au, but it got so out of hand we ended up calling it the councilverse. it had enough of its own lore to justify being a whole ass other world. there were gods and sirens that had insane and deep lore completely unrelated to dc comics. not to mention!!! all the backstory for all the characters (i could not come close to giving an exhaustive list of all the characters. by the end of it there were roughly three or four generations, and three alternate universes within this one overarching concept of the councilverse. she was,,,, messy)

17 What are some tropes and character dynamics found in your wips?

most common character dynamic has to be Messy Family Dynamics. from parental issues to weird estranged siblings vibes, i simply cannot be stopped. swallows in the windless field is playing up the menoetius and patroclus drama, and braved by your hearts resolve is just a love letter to daddy issues lmao. i think i'm a big fan of slowburn tropes like yearning and obliviousness. and the power of friendship? is a trope you'll have to pry from my cold dead hands

25 What’s your favourite genre to write? Is it also your favourite genre to read?

lately i've been REALLY into writing historical fiction. i've enjoyed all the research i've gotten to do for bbyhr. but i also enjoy writing fantasy stuff maybe more! fantasy is by far my favorite thing to read, but i can be picky about historical fiction stuff. i also really like reading superhero stuff, but writing it makes me nervous (i do it for myself but idk that i'd ever publish it for fear of it not being that good and also for fear of dc comics fans [source: i am one and they are scary])

26 What are your favourite books?

i mean,,, i OBVIOUSLY have an unhealthy fixation on the odyssey and the iliad. so, ya know. we are the ants is a book that had a huge impact on me when it came out, it's kinda sci-fi ish but very fun! and i do, i think technically, have to give credit to the song of achilles and circe for being as formative as they were.

i've also been reading A LOT of comics lately because i realized you can get that shit for free on the internet (pls pls pls don't ask why it took 20+ years for me to figure this out i'm just an incredibly lil guy with not a very big brain). so i've recently revisited the red hood and arsenal run that rewrote my brain chemistry as a teenager. but also favorite comics could be a whole other conversation so maybe i should stop there lmao

28 Favourite songs at the moment?

ahh!! i have so many. i've been listening to a LOT of phoebe bridgers and boygenius. so smoke signals and icu are probably two songs that i spend the most time listening to rn.

but also! against the kitchen floor by will wood (i can finally listen to songs OTHER than this one now, though, which is great)

nightstand by dev lemons!! is really good

body to flame by lucy dacus

and!! the kingdom is within you by gang of youths (fun fact: listening to the gang of youths album angel in realtime. and day dreaming about fridging batman for the sake of drama between the robins is a very good pastime)

30 How are you doing? <3

i'm doing good! my birthday was yesterday :3 so that's neat. i am in desperate need of motivation to write (and a cure for the temptation to write jayroy fanfic)

[snowfianna]

Fable IV rant:

I'm so pumped up for the 23rd because everything has led me to believe that Fable 4 will be announced this year and the game's existence has been confirmed for a while anyway it's just a matter of time of when will Fable 4 show itself. It's a badly kept secret tbh.

So to those who don't mind a big rant or wish to add on to my rant- here we go!

Can you imagine how good the graphics would be for this game, we've all seen modern games, surely, and they're all bloody fantastic looking. Fable Legends is technically the most recent Fable game despite it being a free to play online game

and that it's cancelled

but it also had a gorgeous look to it all! And the character models did great justice to the concept art and honestly that has my hopes real high because I love the concept art of Fable, specifically from Mike McCarthy, so exaggerated and recognisable- yet in all the games I can confidently say they did not do justice to his character design, specifically for Reaver. Sure, he looks stunning in the third game, but not quite what he looks like in his concept art sadly.

But also, since Fable was made in Unreal Engine (I'm pretty sure at least) we've seen examples of what can be done in Unreal Engine now and it's absolutely breath taking!

If you haven't seen here are some examples and they're so life-like.

Moving on from graphics!

Since Playground Games is behind the development of Fable 4, they would be spectacular at an open spaced world, judging from the Forza games.

I always loved the open world feature added to Fable, it made things more adventurous and you could do so many things that weren't at all related to the main quest to progress the story and it was just thrilling to see there were other things going on! I'd love to just have my dog companion running through fields, fighting enemies left and right and finding buried treasure or forgotten chests.

Run into strangers who request aid in something silly or rather serious and it would be up to you with how you go about the quest or if you even accept it to get renown or gold. Cause a massacre in towns and villages, running off with low morality and plentiful loot- oh one could fantasise of this all day.

Story, characters, writing and voices.

Fable has always had a fun environment of fantasy and a rather good story (despite the curse of mundane or pathetic boss fights in which I hope Fable 4 breaks this cycle) but the one thing that's always kept me on my feet in the games is the writing and the characters. It always just tried not to take itself too seriously, throwing in absurd quests that probably requires cheese or a really weird-looking outfit. It always kept my attention rather than just pure edge and seriousness of life or death.

The characters are a given, the writing done for them all is perfect in my eyes, I love hearing the variations of how characters of NPCs interacted (enough so that I even bought two of the Fable books written by Peter David). Despite Fable 3 not being the greatest at it's time, I found myself absolutely enjoy the characters for how they were- I even cried over Walter's death because it genuinely felt like I lost somebody pretty close (RIP Walter🙏). The writing and the chosen voice actors were superb and I'd love more of it.

I hope this time we can receive a full story instead of how Fable 2 and 3 were where plenty of plot points and such were cut out due to time constraints- thanks Microsoft, very cool. I'm still in anguish when listening to the Developer's Diary 3 of Fable 3 hearing lines that were just never said in the final product and it was definitely not just additional lines that weren't required as it seemed to mention entirely different things that weren't in the game; i.e. Reaver talks about his pirates in Bloodstone and how he misses them- in the final product he never mentions it and it's even shown that he's tried to completely bury his pirate past for whatever reason.

The pacing in Fable 3 was rather strange too, it felt like the revolution should've lasted longer.

Another hope of mine is to have choices that aren't so painfully black-and-white because it's very obvious which is the good or bad option to a scenario- personally for me I'd like to be morally grey rather than pure good or pure evil.

They better have kept the mechanic of your actions affecting your appearance too to the point where you grow horns and get cracked magma-like skin or this slight glow and aura around you and this flawless skin. It kind of died down in Fable 3, only looking more tired or have completely black eyes and the good- eh yeah not much I can say for when you're good. Purity and corruption seemed to also vanish in Fable 3 (at least I think) since you couldn't really change prices of the homes you were renting out, unless I've been a big goof who didn't arrange the rent prices in the game because I didn't know how.

Combat

Combat in all the games was rather straight forward, especially in Fable 2 and 3 where everything was just easy to beat or you could get overpowered around the start of the game. I'd hope the combat improves greatly this time and even bring back real consequences to dying instead of immediate revival with some lost experience and a scar. We need more serious consequences to your actions (this can be applied to all decisions rather than just if you die in a battle) even if it's just having to reload the last checkpoint. Makes things more challenging this way.

Another thing is to make boss fights less repetitive and simple- sure I can forgive it if the boss is from around the start but if they had phases you had to keep ontop of and didn't rely on summoning a bajillion other enemies to strike you, I'd be ever so grateful.

And if there's other characters fighting along side you, I'd hope they'd genuinely be helpful and keep up to speed with the player. I'm sure the AI in the past was the problem for this as AI wasn't at its best during that time so characters fighting by you didn't do too much or just did whatever that wasn't helpful. Now though, AI has improved immensely (I mean look at The Last Of Us 2, the AI is👌) and due to this, I'm sure characters would make battles more fun and the characters be more involved with the fight and even story.

Mana should be brought back as well, in Fable 2 and 3 mana just ceased to exist so you could just endlessly and repeatedly use the same spells and it just gave you too much power and the enemies barely stood a chance.

We need challenges people- CHALLENGES!

Medieval times? Yes.

I love Medieval fantasy and as much as I like the Victorian era too, I didn't think it quite suited Fable, as fascinating as it was to see fantasy turn industrial, it kind of took away from the Fable feel that I so crave. If they have indeed brought the game back to medieval times it means more creatures and enemies are back rather than driven away or limited to the same handful of enemies.

We can all also agree the guns were overpowered, though I did like receiving the Red Dragon late in Fable 2 to absolutely mow down enemies, it was satisfying to say the least. However, guns were far too powerful for the game, so I demand the bows and crossbows back thank you very much- or even throwing knives- I'll take what I'm given.

I'd love to see more of the natural landscape rather than towns or buildings that took over once entirely natural areas (Millfields/Bowerlake). However, I won't object to ruins of old buildings taken over by nature.

Skeptical with Playground Games? Don't be.

Are you worried that Playground Games wouldn't do justice to Fable since it's not Lionhead Studios? Don't be, it's been noted that Playground Games has hired several ex-lionhead workers and plenty other skillful workers to ensure we get the best product. I have high hopes and expectations for Fable 4 even if it's developed under a different studio, I've seen great things from them and I will believe they'll deliver us only the best.

Side note to all this

I will crash and burn if I don't see a crumb of Reaver or Jack of Blades in Fable 4- I don't know how true any rumours are of Fable 4 with time travelling and Jack returning, but we'll just have to see. Reaver still remains as my absolute favourite character of all time and I'd love to see more of him, even see him before he was 'Reaver'.

Jack too, more of his lore is stated elsewhere rather than in the game itself and I'd love to see it all be brought into light and really expand on his lore and make it known- rather than have ever-loving Fable fans like me dig around for these rather delicious bits of canon information.

That's my big rant, feel free to share your thoughts and what you'd look forward to!

Have some accidental art leaks from a Playground Game concept artist- believed to be for Fable 4👀