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"I thought you were good at this, cutie. Better catch the right fish this time"

Puffayel

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banned 🐚

in which rafayel regained his memories as the sea god after the events at the tome (ref. branch story — land of secret flames) and now freaks out at the sight of you handling sharp objects (iykyk)

tags: rafayel x reader, hint of angst, fluff, crack

wc: 0.4k

ri’s note: yes take this as my coping mechanism from that devastating myth (as a god of tides and fragrant dream truther i was ruined)

You knew your boyfriend Rafayel had a natural inclination to the dramatics, but it wasn’t this bad before.

Well, at least not until you two returned from the Tome of the Sea God. 

After his awakening, Rafayel would first be turned into a ferocious feline before he’d allow you to use — let alone touch — any sharp objects. 

It was so bad it even influenced how you do your missions with him now.

It started with him accompanying you one time on a trial. Now, it was no secret to your beloved that you are adept at wielding different types of weapons — guns, swords, polearms, claymores, or possibly even more. However…

“Cutie, please, have mercy on your poor boyfriend. I feel like I chugged down twenty cups of pure black coffee with ten shots of espresso each every time I see you holding that… that abomination!”

“Raf, it’s just a sword.”

“Exactly! It’s a sword!”

“It’s a weapon. Used for slaying wanderers. I’m a hunter.”

‘Yeah, guess who else it could slay.’ He frowns at his own thoughts.

“Darling, you can use other weapons, right?”

“Should I use a claymore then?”

He winces. “No, not that either!”

“Rafayel, really, what is happening?” 

“My dearest miss bodyguard, for the love of lemuria, for the love of the sea god, I beg you — please just use your guns during your mission instead of those crude, edged weapons.” He pleads. Despite the apparent whine, you could sense that his request is not a mere jest.

Why he is doing this, you do not know. But for the sake of his sanity and yours (he’s a handful when insisting on something), you comply.

Only when he’s with you on missions though. When he’s not… well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

—

“Cutie, why are you holding that?!”

He immediately sprints toward you from the doorway of his kitchen. He slightly slumps over the kitchen counter, beside you, as he gently pries the kitchen knife away from your hands.

“There. Perfect,” He says as he subtly squishes himself parallel to the cutting board, causing you to move to the side involuntarily. Chopping sounds then fill the kitchen.

You dramatically whoop your head to glare at him, who is now looking very pleased with what he has done.

“Rafayel, I’m cooking!”

“No sweetheart, I’m cooking.”

Yes.

Your lover also took over the kitchen upon returning from the tome.

Oh, you want to cook for him? Okay then, but let him do the cutting and chopping.

However, if you really do insist, he’s supervising you closely.

“Why are you acting like that? I won’t stab myself.” You quipped.

“Yeah, that’s what she said.” He grunts.

“What?”

“Hmm? I didn’t say anything. Must’ve been the wind.”

And so, with him around, you and sharp objects are practically a no-no combo. Especially with his own daggers. He’s really protective of them (you, actually). God forbid you wield his dagger again.  He might die if that happens again.

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I LOVE DIASOMNIA!!!! I yell as they haul me off to a padded cell.

I love them so much, I'm such a damn sucker for the found family dynamics. My favorite design is Sebek. I love this reptiley boi with all of my heart. But his hair is so hard to draw.

I wanted to get more practice drawing them and fleshing out some headcannons I have for them.

Some Fun notes:

Malleus- I tried to push how much smug cat I can fit into this lizard as much as possible. His hair is supposed to invoke thorns and the spines of a bearded dragon lizard.

Sebek- The markings on his cheeks are kinda supposed to be texture from half formed scales. I imagine that the skin there is a bit tougher than expected. This makes his cheeks a little hard to pinch. He's also supposed to look a little more like a gargoyle.

Silver- I wanted to push a little more pink and blue saturation to give him a more dreamlike feeling. Not much to say here, I tried to keep his design more simple. His bangs swoop to the left when Malleus' swoops to the right.

Lilia- I kinda wanted to add more earings but I really struggled to render them out.

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“WAIT IS THIS PLAY ABOUT US” AHH SCULPTURE 😭😭

sculpted his lover's face just to be able to touch it again :(

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i’ve got a little cosplay look for Chaghan (not sure how good it is, but hey, if I like it, why not?).

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Preach

Nezha and Rin are water and fire, elements that naturally oppose and cancel each other out. Water extinguishes fire, and fire boils water until it evaporates. Their relationship is marked by conflict, incompatibility, and mutual destruction. Neither can contain or balance the other without one being consumed.

In contrast, Chaghan and Altan are ice and fire, creating a different dynamic. Though still opposites, ice does not immediately extinguish fire; instead, it tempers and controls it. Likewise, fire does not destroy ice at once but melts it slowly, revealing what lies beneath. Altan is fire impulsive and destructive while Chaghan is ice calculating and restrained. Yet rather than canceling each other out, they balance one another: Chaghan is the only one who can withstand Altan’s fury without being consumed, and Altan is the only one who can break through Chaghan’s cold exterior and make him feel something.

So, while Nezha and Rin are doomed to destroy each other, Chaghan and Altan manage to coexist, albeit in a tragic and obsessive way.

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Nezha and Rin are water and fire, elements that naturally oppose and cancel each other out. Water extinguishes fire, and fire boils water until it evaporates. Their relationship is marked by conflict, incompatibility, and mutual destruction. Neither can contain or balance the other without one being consumed.

In contrast, Chaghan and Altan are ice and fire, creating a different dynamic. Though still opposites, ice does not immediately extinguish fire; instead, it tempers and controls it. Likewise, fire does not destroy ice at once but melts it slowly, revealing what lies beneath. Altan is fire impulsive and destructive while Chaghan is ice calculating and restrained. Yet rather than canceling each other out, they balance one another: Chaghan is the only one who can withstand Altan’s fury without being consumed, and Altan is the only one who can break through Chaghan’s cold exterior and make him feel something.

So, while Nezha and Rin are doomed to destroy each other, Chaghan and Altan manage to coexist, albeit in a tragic and obsessive way.

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WHAT IF TPW WAS WOKE ?

fang YURIn

yin NEOPRONOUNzha

chen kiGAY

sring venka

jiang ZE/ZIM

altan TRANSin

QUEERa suren

chaghan suren

(this is a JOKE btw !! terfs/transphobes/homophobes dni <3)

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Why do homosexuals have the need to be happy together for a while, then they hate each other and in the end one dies?

WHY

THIS IS NO FUNNY ANYMORE

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Artwork done for Subterranean Press's limited edition of The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. I really enjoyed working on this one, too. I love the ocean and bodies of water and stuff like that :)

Sketches and other bonus content are available on my Patreon.

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their book 1 dynamic is so precious to me

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Gideon's nickname at the DAA is Shiteon.

He gets genuinely annoyed when people call him that, but it only eggs them on further.

Caleb doesn't call him Shiteon. He tries to tell him to loosen up because it's just a joke. But only after VERY VISIBLY holding back laughter.

Poor Gideon

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A matching set.

I saw someone on Twitter design matching lingerie set for each of the floral outfits and it inspired this doodle.

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Cyber bullying at its finest

The Poppy War - Altan x Chaghan thingy

My contribution the poppy wars’s tiny ahh fandom 💔💔

tiktok: @/zaynes_toilet_paper

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okay so i'm rereading the poppy war for the sole purpose of trying to squeeze all the chaltan content i can get out of it and my god is it delivering already

this first one is something that i completely breezed past in my first reading cause i didn't even know who tf chaghan was yet but on a reread????? GAY (pg. 226):

you're telling me that chaghan and altan just happened to be together when chaghan felt tyr's death? in the middle of the night??? mmhmm yup for sure

now as willing as i am to fully chalk this up to a late night chaltan tryst, i will be fair and admit that i'm not super clear on how exactly chaghan got the tyr info here. it kinda seems like he's doing his monthly meeting with the hexagram goddess (in the dialogue he literally says "there has been a hexagram" and then he interprets 3 things from it), but first off, it seems too coincidental for him to just happen to be doing that at the very moment that tyr dies, and also why tf is he doing it in the middle of the night?? is he just being extra dramatic and making up some "we have to do it at midnight" bullshit to see what he can get away with (a la the infamous kitay horse piss incident) or is there an in universe explanation for that that i've completely forgotten?

OR is it a secret, gayer third option: altan and chaghan were already together when he felt tyr's death, which then prompted him to convene with the goddess and get the hexagram. and we just don't see the full process or really get much of a proper explanation cause we're in altan's pov and it's all mysterious and shit at this point in the book. that's the one i'm going with and i cannot believe that this is their first scene together. the intimacy is already so palpable and we don't even know chaghan's name at this point in the book.

and then of course there's THIS (pg. 227):

absolutely fucking bonkers i'm spinning on my head

is anyone else this gentle with altan ever????? i'm genuinely asking. who else in the cike would even THINK about pulling a move like this? also the added layer of chaghan originally being next in line for commander before altan took him out to the fucking valley for THREE WHOLE DAYS and then THIS is his reaction to altan officially inheriting said title??? we know from a later conversation that chaghan has with rin (pg. 337) that he's very aware of how unprepared altan was to assume leadership over the cike, which just makes this gesture from him even more meaningful and tender. "we are yours to command. i am yours."

this next one just made me giggle and idk if it's just my brain being broken from scouring source material for gay crumbs or if it's actually intentional but (pg. 285):

i mean. i mean. if anyone knows the extent of chaltan, it's most definitely qara, and a lot of these crumbs involve her so i'm taking it as more evidence and no one can stop me

speaking of qara being an icon (pg. 317):

i actually forgot how much she's in this book i am so sorry queen

so unegen also has a strong reaction to ramsa's dialogue, but if i may be incredibly nitpicky about it, i'd argue that qara snorting implies a sense of "yeah right now that's funny", while unegen spitting out his wine implies more pure shock than anything else. i'm sure the cike have some idea about chaghan and altan's relationship going deeper than meets the eye (if it's this obvious from the crumbs we get over the span of a handful of scenes i can only imagine how sick and tired they must be after an entire year of it), but once again, qara is likely the only one who really KNOWS. for obvious reasons.

then we have the iconic dramatic entrance where chaghan is officially introduced, and even before zooming into a specific piece of it to prove my chaltan agenda, just the very existence of this scene is so fucking insane to me. rebecca could've chosen any way to properly introduce us to chaghan, and this is what she decided on. you could argue that it sets up chaghan's dramatic and obnoxiously proud personality, and that him being hurt is so we can see how it affects qara (and also just to up the tension and stakes) BUT how coincidental that on top of achieving all that character and narrative stuff, it also succeeds in showing us a completely different side to altan. one that is specifically brought about by chaghan.

would altan rush out into a sea of federation soldiers to help any other member of the cike? yes. but rebecca chose to show him helping THIS member of the cike. in THIS dramatic of a fashion (and it's literally on a horse like that is so fractured fairytale romance of her actually). and it's also the aftermath that really clues us into something deeper between him and chaghan in particular (pg. 373):

along with qara, who is SOUL BONDED TO CHAGHAN BY THE WAY, altan is screaming at him for being reckless and how he could've gotten himself killed. intentionally or not, rebecca is clearly aligning altan and qara here, and i LOVE how it's shown in the way their dialogue is formatted. you don't even know who is saying which fragment. they are one in the same when it comes to the level in which they care about chaghan's wellbeing. and also when it comes to yelling at him for being an idiot! and if that's not love then idk what is

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I made an alignment chart 🤠