#And I know that's what even spawned this nightmare lmao

[causticbicaudate]

I had a dream a few nights ago where I was investigating missing persons cases and uncovered a transhumanist cult headed by some douchecanoe I've unaffectionately named Elon Husk who wanted to evolve humankind past their lame meat mechs and transition them to synthetic bodies

Issue was, they found out that they couldn't transfer consciousnesses into AI. Next best thing was to use a brain. But in order for the mechs to work properly, they needed more than just the brain intact. The entire spinal cord needed to also be present

So they obviously needed a specialist to accomplish such a thing. Main issue there was that said specialist they hired originally as a consultant wasn't actually interested in going back to mutilate people so he had to be "convinced" to help them (which I’m assuming this was taking place post-PN2)

My main goal was to save a kid who was captured by this awful transhumanist group; I ended up failing my mission because Husk unveiled that the kid had been scraped and packed down into a robot body to a whole TV audience and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to find an exit, immediately found the operating suite, and then got caught by an extremely irate and aggressive Loboto who blindsided me and pinned me to his operating table with a threat to lobotomize me if I didn’t comply

Instead of sticking around to get my brain shoved into a metal body, I shook myself awake

But I was really struck by Loboto's extra terrifying appearance and his super messed up new chrome claw hand and it's been haunting me ever since tl;dr I had a spooky dream about a cult who thought human bodies were lame and also Loboto was there

[lynnlovesthestars]

Scars.

Pairing: Astarion x reader Genre and warnings: angst, lots of it, hurt barely any comfort, allusions to sexual assault, past trauma, graphic description of torture, kidnapping, blood, violence, set in act 3, mention of death. Notes: not proof read ngl, i wrote it after dreaming it, and i didnt even wanna read it again, i cried like a bitch cause it’s kinda like…. past experience projected? just yeah dont ask if im ok after writing this, the answer is no lmao... also just a side note since it’s the first time im posting on this profile, but english is not my first language so please be mindful about it. Edit 10/06/23: i finally went through it end edited it.. i hope i catched all the errors cause idk if i'll ever be strong enough to give it another read ahah

Getting so close to someone meant so much for Astarion, and the more he cared, the more new fears would swim through his brain. 

Since you arrived in the lower city, and his bed was no longer cold at night, a new nightmare snuck in.

The idea that Cazador would be able to get to you, and weaponize you against him, made his cold blood run even colder. Several nights you woke up to a trembling and sweating Astarion, as he was begging for mercy. He never explained too much about these nightmares to you, just letting you know it was about Cazador again and again, but he left out the haunting possibility of you getting hurt because of him. On the other hand you believed it was because you were getting so close to the Szarr palace, and Cazador knew about it just as much as Astarion did.

It was the middle of the night when the sound of a broken glass stirred you awake. You looked around you, Astarion still deep into his meditating state, while the others were asleep as well, none of them reacted to the sound like you did. Maybe you just had a light sleep, you thought, and someone in the tavern dropped a few glasses or something. It was when hands gripped your wrists that you jolted up, looking behind you. It was too dark to see, and all you could spot were the deep red eyes, like Astarion's, though they lacked the warmth of his.

A shiver ran through your spine as you realized what was happening, but when you tried to call for the others, you realized how deep in shit you actually were: no sound would leave your lips, like you were silenced.

"There's no need to be afraid, Tav." A deep cold voice whispered so close to your ear. "They can't hear you".

The voice chuckled at your failed attempts to call for Astarion, Karlach or anyone, as tears were starting to pool at the edge of your eyes.

Another pair of hands took hold of Astarion, magical shackles fastened around his hands and feet, just as they did to yours, and then they started dragging you both away.

The deep voice spent the whole travel taunting you with stories of Cazador, how cold blooded he was, and just how much he enjoyed torturing his victims. From one point of view you were already accustomed with such stories about him, but from the other, the idea of Cazador getting hold of Astarion again, made your blood freeze again. You were not going to let Cazador hurt him again. You were set on the idea.

When you reached the corridors of Cazador's palace, the silencing spell finally wore off, though Astarion was still not moving. Terror flashed through your eyes as you wondered if they had already…

"What did you do to him?!" You breathed out as you tried so hard to keep your calm in front of the spawns that were dragging and pushing you through the dark hallways.

The spawn scoffed as he pushed through and through.

"Don't worry, he's not dead" You could feel his eyes rolling at the question, like it was some dumb question you should have known the answer to. "..yet" he added at last.

You couldn't stop your mouth from twitching, between the state of rage that was slowly building up, or the terror of them hurting Astarion.

"What's going on? Can i know that at least?" You wanted so bad to cast a spell on him, charming him into freeing you, but without the use of your hands, you were useless.

"Cazador wants to give you a warm welcome into Baldur's gate" He giggled, as the smell of old blood mixed with the sour taste of the bile threatening to spill from your lips, and you couldn't hold it anymore, and your feelings started spilling out.

You couldn't help then to try and get Astarion free at least. You wanted to shake those hands off of you, to wiggle out of the shackles that bound your magic, but no matter how much you tried, you were like set in stone, unable to do anything but move forward, shed tears, and talk. Or more specifically, beg.

Beg them to hurt you, instead of Astarion. 

Beg them to keep you here, and let your star free.

Beg them to turn you if needed, but spare Astarion's life.

Anything, if it meant not hurting the man that stole your heart with a dagger to your throat.

Quickly you were tossed in a cage, adjacent to Astarion's, and locked in.

The shackles that bound your feet dissipated, as the cage started ascending upward.

It halted in front of an altar, you guessed, that directly faced into the chasm you ascended from. Other spawns, around twenty you were able to count, started taking seats around the edges, sitting all in religious silence on their knees.

Astarion was still passed out, cradled on the floor of the cage, both restraints still tightly bound to him.

"Please, please, please" You cried out as the last bit of your strength was going to be dedicated towards trying to get Astarion free, far away from this place. "Let Astarion go, i beg you" You repeated your plea again, as you saw all those spawns stir from their seats, they wanted to turn their heads, to face whoever was foolish enough to beg Cazador for mercy, to trade spots with Astarion.

Everyone in that room knew what was going to happen, he was going to show them what happens when you disobey, when you run away thinking you can escape him. Instead you were so foolish and blinded by love, that you wanted to take Astarion's place, unaware of the extent that Cazador would go to. Yet you didn't stop, you kept begging and begging until a voice, the voice, echoed through the altar's walls.

"Tsk you just gave me a wonderful idea" the man hummed as his scepter started glowing, and Astarion started stirring awake, he looked around him, his tired eyes quickly widening as the reality around him had set in his mind.

"Let her go, you son of a bitch" Astarion growled as he stood up so quick, and gripped at the iron bars separating him from Cazador. 

"Touch her and I swear I'll spill your guts right here" He spit out of the cage, a symbolic spit cause you were too far away to reach him.

"My, my, our dear Astarion has forgotten all the manners" He cooed as his lips smacked together, his voice so honeyed it was bringing you to the verge of vomit.

You wanted to reassure Astarion, let him know that you were going to do your best to free him, that you were both going to be out of there alive soon, but could you? Could you lie so much to the man you loved? Words were stuck on your tongue, making your throat drier and drier.

You guessed you zoned out for a few seconds as your head was flooded with thoughts, missing the hate Astarion was throwing at his master.

"Ah sweet Astarion, your dear Tav has given us a great idea though, it would be a shame to let it go to waste" He hummed, as the staff light up again, the lock on your cage fell down the chasm, as your trembling body was slowly being dragged out of the cage by magic.

"No, no, no, no" Astarion reprated as his eyes locked on you, falling on the long streaks of tears running down your cheeks as you tried to offer him a sad smile, your lips muttering an "it's going to be okay" while his body was about to give in to desperation, loud sobs echoed from him, as your heart broke at his sight: he was barely standing up now, his hand gripped tight as he screamed through the hall to let you go, to not hurt you, to stop. "This is just a nightmare" He fell on his knees as you were slowly dropped on the cold floor, barely keeping your head up as you realized you were still in his shirt, the one he loved on you.

"Oh dear Astarion" Cazador cooed again as he kneeled in front of you, his cold fingers getting ahold of your chin, to tilt your head towards his. "This is not a nightmare, this is real" His words were like cold daggers through your chests, you knew that whatever was going to happen, it was not going to be fun.

Before you could say anything, Cazador's hand slipped to your waist pulling on the shirt as you flinched away, disgusted by the touch of the vampire in front of you.

But he didn't care, he was swift in removing it, leaving you bare in front of dozens of eyes.

You could hear the rattling coming from Astarion's cage as he attempted to break free over and over again while his chest was about to explode.

He didn't have the right to undress you in front of everyone, he didn't have the right to touch you at all, not when he prayed every night to have the chance to see you bare, to hold you. His thoughts were swinging back and forth between desperation and deep seethed rage.

"My, my I can see why our Astarion has fallen for this little creature" Cazador's compliment almost made you retch as you stumbled back a little. "She even puts up a fight" He chuckled as he lunged forward just enough to grip at your wrist and whipping you on your feet.

Every inch of your skin was visible to everyone, from the battle scars you got through the years of adventuring, to the teeth marks on your neck, down to the stretchmarks that lived on your hips.

A shiver ran through your spine as Cazador’s fingers grazed over the two marks on your neck. “Mh, your blood seems to be sweet enough, right Astarion?” His cruel words hit Astarion through the chest. He was one word away from a breakdown as he couldn’t do anything but witness his nightmares coming alive, not his Tav, not when he would be so careful to cradle you and comfort you to his chest whenever he'd drink from you.

Whatever he was screaming was incomprehensible to you, as all you could feel was the way Cazador gripped and pushed you towards a plush chair, where he sat with legs wide open before dragging you on his lap. You felt so nauseous as he bent you towards the arm rest, making you face the cold grey floor.

You wanted to hear the taunting explanation of what he was going to do, but all the sounds were drowned by the thrumming of your chest and the desperation in your own thoughts, repeating over and over that you were going to find a way out, trying to convince your brain to shut off and dissociate as you were there, like you were just in a nightmare, and you’d be awake soon.

All you could gather was few words like “knife”, “mark”, reminder”, and then “Astarion”. He was torturing him through you, and you couldn’t do anything about it. The worst part in this, was that you were the one that gave him the idea, cause you wanted him to free Astarion, and instead he let it all out on you instead than on your Aster, as a punishment for you both. You cause you were so careless to offer yourself though you didn't know the risk, and Astarion for being reckless and disobedient. Right there, as the dagger pierced your spine, you regretted not whispering Astarion how much you loved him, while you were tight against his chest, when the world around you was asleep, and you had a corner of peace. You always knew what you felt for him, from that moment on the beach, at the shipwreck, and yet you just wanted to tell him in the right moment. But what was the right moment? You might never know, as a broken scream broke through your lips, salty tears flowing free, so much that you thought for a moment that you might have died of dehydration, if the knife wasn’t going to do it first.

He carved and carved over your back, intelligible lines and symbols as you finally understood what Astarion meant when he told you how he got his scars. How gut wrenching the pain was as he couldn’t move, and how Cazador didn't allow a break, and retraced the lines that were wobbly if he moved too much.

“You know?” Cazador asked, as everyone’s eyes were on what he thought was a work of art, your carved skin, while Astarion’s plea echoed over and over in the room. “Our sweet Astarion used to whine just like you” He hummed. “Just a pathetic little child” He spit out like venom as you could barely breathe out few words along the lines of “you disgusting monster”, though you were not sure you actually let them out until, Cazador’s laugh filled every corner of the disgraced altar. Your tadpole writhed as another line was cut at the height of your hips, before, Cazador started retracing the lines and pulling away the skin, exposing the deepest layers of your flesh, the pain was so deep your vision blurred, and you were so close to passing out right there.

You don’t know how long you sat there, you slipped between pain and numbness as Cazador slapped you back to consciousness whenever you'd slip away, you had to endure the agonizing scarring and remember every second of it. He decorated with bloody lines almost all over your body.

You didn’t know what was worse between laying on the raw scars of your back, seeing your own skin being peeled away or the cries and sobs coming from the man you loved. You had to find a way, you couldn’t give up, you couldn’t allow this monster to walk the earth again. You had to do it for Astarion.

You were not sure when he dropped you on the floor, your body barely able to hold itself together as finally you could look around you and towards Astarion. Every face around you was stoic, like they were used to witnessing such spectacle, and they knew what was going to happen next.

You wanted to reach for Astarion, to take him away from the revolting scene in front of his eyes, you wanted to take away his pain, give him the last bit of hope you had, but when you were about to link your tadpole to his to do it, you hesitated. Connecting your minds meant he would feel how dirty, wretched and lost you felt, along with the gut wrenching pain ebbing through your body.

You could barely make out the words Cazador said as his nails dig through your skin again, even when he pulled your eyes to his you could barely read his lips as he said words you just wanted to cancel from your brain. A broken sob regurgitated from your throat as he was going to take the last thing you had. You just had to let your brain go, right? To ignore the teeth dipping in your throat and the putrid hands slithering down your skin, taking away enough blood to barely keep you alive as he took you in front of everyone.  It was no longer just physical pain, it was the way you felt your own body being stolen away and used in way no one ever dared before.

Numbness was all that was left of you after a while, of your barely beating heart while more hands crawled their way through places were you never wanted anyone to touch, then, in that moment, you realized you were free of your shackles, because you were so drained and broken that you could barely do anything. You could barely by aware of your surroundings, of how many bodies were preying on you, as you could barely manage to move inches.

Your vision was all but clear, you could make out the outline of Cazador as he was buttoning up his blouse again. Then you could see Astarion, still caged, struggling to stay sane as he wanted just to take you away from the monsters abusing of you, abusing of the fact that you were powerless in front of them. His eyes were a bloodshot, he was so hurt that he resorted to supplicate for mercy, to let you go and just kill him, whatever that could stop the agonizing pain. You didn’t have much strength left, maybe if you put all of yourself, you could muster two spells before passing out again. 

It took all you had to even raise your hand towards the lock that sealed Astarion’s crate, you mustered all your willpower to cast that knock spell, just enough to let the damn lock fall down. Astarion instantly turned to you, to your teary form still being touched by unworthy creatures, noticing how your hand barely held up, as you tried to cast one more spell, just for him, before another broken scream echoed in the room, bouncing from wall to wall till it reached Astarion's core. The kind of scream that should never be drawn by someone, nevertheless by you.

The radiant dagger materialized in his hands, and for a moment he didn’t notice it as he was fixated on the broken look on your face, encouraging him to end his master, although you suffered right there, paces away. “I love you” You mutter barely, you wanted to let him know before you could draw your last breath, then everything blurred.

Everything was muffled, you couldn’t see what was going on around you, you just felt all the presences around you disappear, while Astarion’s voice was crystal clear through the excruciating pain.

"I'll kill you, then I'll bring you back, and kill you again.” He shoved Cazador on the floor, just like he did with you, to remind him how he hurt you, how he used you, how he touched the only person he should have never laid hands on. “I’ll do it over and over again until you have suffered a tenth of what you did to her. Then I'm going to gut you one more time, and paint this shithole with your putrid blood. The halls of this place will reek with your disgusting blood, to let the whole city be aware of your death and from which the hands it came from” His hands were shaky, but he had to do it. For him, but mainly for you. All that was left of him was you, and nothing could ever be enough to vindicate you.

The shiny dagger stabbed over and over again through Cazador’s chest, while Astarion cursed him, every thrust of the dagger through the heart earned a new mocking insult, a new reminder of what he did, while all of Astarion's anger was channeled into annihilating him.

You just laid there, all you could do was listen to the grunts and the hate slipping from your lover’s lips as he dipped that dagger in the gutted body. You didn’t even realized when he dropped the disemboweled body on the marble, you weren’t even sure you could breathe, at that point.

A pair of shaking arms wrapped around your drained body, Astarion’s shirt was used again to cover your skin, as he picked you up, trying to be as delicate as possible. His salty tears fell over your body as he carried away from the nauseating scene, you frail body barely shivering, and your chest barely moving. He was muttering something to you, but everything sounded foreign at your hear.

He had to move quickly, find Shadowheart or Halsin, or anyone to heal you, to keep you alive. It was in this moment that he wished he could beg a deity to keep you alive, but he didn’t trust anyone else to tend you. He needed to rush outside of this place and get you to safety. 

He didn’t expect to see everyone outside the locked ballroom door, as they fumbled to open the door. They were taken by surprise at the sight of Astarion cradling you to his chest, all covered in blood, while his eyes were a pit of pain and tears.

Shadowheart didn’t hesitate to heal you right there before they all guided you towards the tavern you've been resting. They all offered to carry you, to make Astarion breathe a bit while on your way back there, but he refused. “I can’t..” He mumbled. “I don’t want..” His voice was just a whisper, broken. “I need” He wanted to break down again with you in his arms, but he had to lay you down first, to let you rest in a warm bed, he had to bring you to safety again, away from anyone that could pose any harm to you. He needed to see that smile again, cause no power flowing through his veins could have replaced you. He failed you once, he was not going to do it again. You saved him, twice, he had to do it just once for you. He had to thank you, and he had to tell you how much he loved you.

[mithrilhearts]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Look at me getting to this 500 years later (I'm so sorry!!) Anyway.

Thank you both so much, @cilil & @laurfilijames for sending me this ask game thingy!! I figured I'd just do it in one post, so I hope that's okay, but here we go!

I think picking my "favorite fics" of mine is like, asking a parent to pick their favorite child - not easy, in most cases I guess lol...but I will do my best and explain why! These are all based off of fics I've COMPLETED, and by no means reflects on my love and affection for the other stories I've written. I love them all for their own reasons, otherwise I wouldn't have written them.

In no particular order...

May Your Forge Burn Bright - This is THE original longfic from me. I started this back when I was creeping my way out of RP and into fanfiction, and was nothing more than an independent baby writer. (Been writing a long time, just never like this), and the story means so much to me, as well as the commentary from readers along the way. It's still my longest fic to date, and I love a good "alternate first meeting" fic. It's the OG, and you can't replace that.

Dragonhearted - The Hobbit & Beauty and The Beast are my two FAVORITE stories, and mashing them together like this was perfect for me. Dragon!Thorin is such a fun concept for me, and badass Bilbo is another. This setting just WORKS. (Also, did you know @i-did-not-mean-to had a BLANKET made for this fic???)

Kurdu 'abadaz - That's right, I finished this one just recently, and it has easily stolen my heart to being a favorite. The Fix-it fic that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to write, that went under a LOT of rehashing and had a huge overhaul in the story early on when planning. It turned out so much better than anticipated, and the love for this fic from readers/friends has been overwhelming.

Fuck Thy Neighbor - A VERY FUN ROM-COM STYLE MODERN AU!!! This really had me cackling the entire way through, and like a few other fics of mine, it spawned from a writer's ask game/tag game thing that I can't quite remember. Accidental marriage & neighbors? I love it. It's so funny, and I enjoy rereading it frequently for the laughs.

When Darkness Shines Brightest - Did you know that anything can be made into a Bagginshield Fic? Did you know that this fic spawned from a joke/conversation between @starthecozy and I and then erupted into this really original Hades/Persephone, Nightmare Before Xmas, blended style fic?? Various worlds and environments, powers over elements, and saving homes from a dragon?? The Onion Fic sprouted, and blossomed into one of my favorite stories, and I got to collaborate with Star the entire way through it, and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! Go give it a read, it's really neat!!

Honorable Mentions:

(Take Me Back To) The Night We Met - My entry for THAUC22 (partnered with the amazing @consultingpacha), and one of my FAVORITE concepts. Yet again, another "alternate meeting" style fic, featuring small kids Fili and Kili, rather than adults. What it sets up to at the end of the fic blends into the OG Hobbit story, but with a few small changes that I kind of want to explore one day in a sequel. 👀

Between Vices and Virtues - My entry for TRSB22 (partnered with @mysandwichranaway!!) First of all, I love working with Sandy, it's truly one of my favorite things on this good planet, and I can't wait to do it again - hopefully soon. Secondly, this was my take at a modern royalty AU, and learning about how to connect with the people around you. I have two sequels planned for this universe (even if this fic kind of felt like a let-down in terms of reception? but idc about that lmao) it was so fun for me. A light dusting of magic superstition in a modern au setting? Sign me up!

[iamgodsoopsie]

Astarion Headcanons (that you probably WILL like) Pt. 1:

More Astarion headcanons that are mostly me projecting onto a fictional character to help me process my own trauma but this time they're HAPPIER!

BG3 does an excellent job at depicting SA trauma and the beginning of the healing process/journey. Many of the headcanons I've seen floating around (intentionally or unintentionally) gloss over the uglier side of healing from (prolonged) trauma. I'm not judging anyone for magically healing him, he's fictional after all, but I'd like to make some more ...realistic... headcanons.

Disclaimer: Everyone's healing process looks different, but they tend share commonalities. These headcanons are based on my own experiences. Not everyone who is healing from their trauma will experience what I have or have experienced it like I have.

[Please don't message me with explicit details about your trauma. I am at the point in my healing journey where I can share my experiences, and commiserate with other's similar experiences, but I am unable to support others in a more personal manner at this time. I wish you the best of luck in your healing process/ journey.]

Spoiler Warning!

Mental illness, SA, & DV Trigger Warnings

These headcanons are based on an Astarion who is still a spawn and romantically involved with a Tav who honestly loves him and isn't abusive or manipulative. Also Cazador is dead and Astarion got to stab him. They also assume that he himself does not turn into Cazador 2.0 or Wish.com Cazador.

He didn't realize how much tension he was carrying until he started healing his trauma.

-> He was inflicted with so much pain on the daily that the tension caused by chronic stress didn't register.

->-> One day he realizes that being tense is no longer his default. He is relaxed in a way he didn't know was possible.

->->-> He feels free. Well and truly free.

He still has panic attacks and flashbacks, but they're lessening in frequency and intensity.

-> Finally being in tune with his body, he is now able to feel when he is getting to a not so great headspace.

->-> He is able to stop the panic attacks/ episodes before they even begin.

->->-> He is very proud of this. As he should be!

↑ He feels actual self-pride and has good self-esteem. What was once a haughty façade is now a proud reality.

-> He's still an arrogant little shit, but now he is one (almost) purely for trolling lmao. He's a high elf after all, snobbery is in their nature.

Restful sleep/ trance!

-> The first time he sleeps/trances through the night day without nightmares or horrific memories plaguing him is a big day for him.

He likes being "alive". Even though he can't enjoy life in the sun (for now). Even with his ever present hunger. For the first time in a long time the good outweighs the bad.

He has hope again. And it almost feels better than freedom, almost.

[thelastspeecher]

eregyrn-falls replied to your post: “I've been watching a lot of tornado related...”

tornadoes are something that terrified me as a little kid, no doubt due to television. (i can remember a nightmare from early childhood about a tornado.) i grew up in eastern PA, where at the time we didn't have any. so it was the IDEA of them that terrified me. honestly, it still does. i would very very VERY much prefer never to live in a place that gets them with any regularity.

​i realize they're old hat for you, and that's true for anyone who lives with a natural phenomenon. you come to respect it, rather than be terrified of it. but for me, i can't get past the suddenness of them. the fact that they can strike in the middle of the night when you might have almost no warning at all. while they aren't completely unpredictable (obviously there are observable weather fronts and stuff), to me, they feel that way.

the natural disasters that i can deal with are hurricanes, and blizzards. both of those are things you see coming for DAYS. you can get out ahead of them. you can take steps to protect your house and your pets and yourself. (i mean, both of those in theory, assuming you have the means and the financial situation.) earthquakes and tornadoes are too sudden for me and that's why they scare me.

oh you're not the only one who's had a tornado nightmare! one of the worst nightmares I've had in my entire life was a tornado nightmare!

I think that what allows me to continue living in a tornado-prone area despite my general anxiety over like, idk, life, is two things: 1) tornado predictions give a crazy amount of warning nowadays, and 2) I live in a tornado-prone area, I've had a few close calls, but it's not like I live in Moore, Oklahoma lmao.

most tornado warnings aren't even that a tornado has been spotted by someone or confirmed by radar. most of them are "radar indicated rotation", meaning that a thunderstorm with a rotating cloud has been detected on radar. which doesn't mean tornado. it does mean a storm capable of a tornado and more likely to produce one, but it doesn't mean a tornado. or even a funnel cloud!

very VERY rarely are people caught off guard by a tornado anymore. FEMA says the average amount of time between a tornado warning being issued and the tornado or storm striking the area is 10 to 15 minutes. plenty of time to grab your emergency kit and go to your safe place. we have tornado watches if the weather is favorable and often know days in advance whether we'll be hit by weather conducive for tornadogenesis.

and even when we don't know in advance, like I said, we still have plenty of warning! about a week ago, I woke up to sirens, then ten minutes later, heard them again. which I knew likely meant a tornado warning had been issued (the first time, I checked my phone and saw it was severe thunderstorm and just rolled over to sleep some more lol). and before I could check, my phone went off, blaring the same alarm as an Amber Alert. which I knew 100% meant tornado warning. and it was. my roommate and I had time to use the bathroom, grab the dogs and emergency bag, and even take the dogs outside really quick to pee before the storm hit us! and we didn't have a tornado watch in effect. there weren't supposed to be conditions for tornadoes that morning.

and like I said, I don't live in Moore. if I did, I wouldn't even DREAM of living somewhere without a basement. as it is, I fucking hate that my best option is a hallway on the first floor. we've gotten tornadoes before. some have gotten close to me. one literally lifted over a building I was in. but thankfully, we're not as prone as other locations in my state; the storms tend to lose some steam by the time they reach here. and the tornadoes that do spawn tend to be lower level, again, because of the storms losing steam by the time they get here.

I know a lot about the science of tornadoes and grew up in Tornado Alley (or adjacent, depending on what graphic you use), so I know that our current methods are so flipping good at protecting us. we DO have warning. not as much as for a hurricane, but generally speaking, enough to, like I said, use the bathroom and grab the pets. earthquakes...yeah those don't typically give much warning, but that's something scientists are working on. buildings in earthquake-prone areas are built to withstand them (much like many buildings in tornado-prone areas are built to withstand severe storms), and people grow up learning what to do in an earthquake. (which is find a table to hide under, essentially, btw.)

no, what scares ME the most are wildfires.

you're flat-out fucked over by those.

[infinitethree]

OOC::

This is gonna be a bunch of links to the Sanctuary builds, which are also linked in the doc of docs & taglist/links page on the sidebar.

I'll be adding some images I want to say something about. Also, just know that I frequently have gone back and tweaked or even completely redid parts of it.

Builds; Old-> New, save for Updates which is new-> old to show any new stuff easier.

Overall has over a thousand pics spanning from January 11th 2022 to a week or so ago. I've been working on this 1.16.5 creative world for what my launcher tells me is over 14 days of time spent entirely in-game.

There are over 150 mods used, ranging from itty bity ones ("No Potion Shift" at 3KB & "Shut Up Experimental Settings" at 5KB) to almost comically large ones ("Caves & Cliffs Backport" at 50,313 KB & "Modern XL" at 37,090 KB).

I run it on a laptop, but I do have to turn pretty much everything else off. I usually switch to my phone for music/podcasts + Discord and have just the game running. Also, I got this model specifically to handle Minecraft and for having ample space for my music. I have all of it stored on my computer and played through MusicBee, because I don't want a million ads.

You might notice that it takes a looooong time for most of the buildings to get roofs. This is because I didn't understand how those blocks worked. And also I just don't like doing them much; they're boring compared to the character detail stuff.

-Overall

-Updates (New-> Old)

-Day + Theo + Lee & Temp Refugees

-Dee + Orph + Perce & Forge

-Atlas + Quizzy & Adamantium

-KinderSofter!Crew [Perce’s friends] -Poison Farm

-Aster

-Daz + Raine

-Aleph + Khons

-Council of the Star Headquarters It's not in the actual album (since the dates don't align, because it was just a screengrab to share with Noodley vs a proper screenshot), but these were the original blocks I planned on using for the three main Summer Hills houses:

The mod with the tiles and logs got removed early on, so I had to pick something else to use. I like the end result way better, though; each house has a more distinct flavor while still being fairly cohesive.

If I had to pick a specific detail as my favorite, it'd have to be the creeper plushies. At some point, Lee decides that creepers are protectors; thus, anyone he cares about needs to have a plush version. Sentiments on the look of them are...mixed.

Theo thinks they're creepy as hell but his baby brother gave those to him-- thus, they're above his gear as an 'intimidation tactic'; Day is, uh, not super keen on waking up from a nightmare to the sight of creepers, so he has them out of his line of sight; Perce's friends think it's almost tooth-rottingly sweet but in a /pos way, etc.

It all spawned off of seeing the creepers in the "Modern XL" mod, and realized those are EXACTLY the sort weird, kinda unnerving thing a kid would latch onto.

Day, Theo

Dee, Orph, Atlas

Perce, Lee (there are just barely 5 in the shot and that's not even all of them!)

Quizzy

Oisin, Agni [Perce's friends]

Damon, Oxylos [Perce's friends

Aster, Khons + Aleph

Daz, Raine

And here's a few pics of things specifically referenced in prose:

Sibling Acceptance Rituals, chapter 1 (where they're standing near Theo's room)

Sibling Acceptance Rituals, chapter 2 (very start of the chapter)

any scene in the den of the main house

Progress is Relative, chapter 3 (referenced; Dee's lamps that "look like honey but do NOT taste like it")

Polaris Shines Above; Aster's temporary room

Polaris Shines Above, chapter 9 ([redacted], obviously VERY in progress)

Uhhh and it looks like I ran out of space. Hmm. I...will shuffle the Piccrew/Art to its own post, lmao.

I'm absolutely willing to answer questions about things anyone is curious about!! I love explaining myself, and more importantly, explaining things about my silly little blorbos. Or even just what mods I used.

[wondrouswendy]

Top 10(ish) Friendship Moments with Zath

So today is the 10 year anniversary of me knowing @rangerzath (formally ijaat on Tumblr).

This is a compilation of my favorite moments/experiences shared with Zath over the years. Some of these moments are funny. Some involve mistakes on my behalf, but Zath had my back. What do all of these moments share? They're heart-warming reminders that sometimes you can meet people online and form a friendship with them that survives the test of space, distance, timezones, ups and downs, and grief.

It's hard to believe 10 years have passed since we've known each other, but here's to 10 more years of more laughs, more jokes, and more joy. Thanks for being a great friend!

1 - Zathran's People Needed Him (SWTOR)

This is one of those memories that we often refer to amongst ourselves. The comedic timing between our comments is great.

1.25 - Gaerwen Aurell and Zathran Ijaat (SWTOR)

This was the friendship dynamic duo that started it all. Countless AUs spawned from these two, countless stories, and eventually, we both took the dive and merged our SWTOR legacies/families together into one universe.

1.5 - Zath Finally Gets Nightmare Brontes Wings (SWTOR)

Zath was one of the last people in the guild to earn the NIM Brontes wings lmao -- but when they did, it was great!

1.75 - Barsen'thor Buddies (SWTOR)

Barsen'thor Buddies was created as a guild for Zath and I originally. We were just a two person team until we decided to recruit people raid and pvp with us. We recruited people from the server and from tumblr in the olden days. We used to raid regularly and achieved many raid oriented goals. Some highlights include discussing whether this scene from National Treasure could be considered iconic to talking about OCs to labeling bad pugs as the proverbial "Steve."

2 - Almost Instant Regret (Overwatch)

Throughout our Overwatch 1 career, Zath often played Zarya would use the Graviton Ultimate to set up team wipes for me while I was playing Hanzo. I got really cocky in this game, but Zath had my back when someone tried to spoil my play of the game...

3 - Zath Becomes Superman (Overwatch)

The Iron Giant has nothing on this.

4 - Zath Panics When I Scream (PUBG)

Notoriously, in my early days of playing battle royale games like PUBG and Apex, I would get jumpscared easily by enemy players. I tend to scream/panic first, shoot second, give Zath information third. Not really helpful for your teammates! But this has become kind of a meme between us even though I no longer get jumpscared (as often).

5 - Check Your Corn-- (PUBG)

Zath doesn't get jumpscared often, but when they do... Well, make sure you're prepared with backup clothes. Sound warning on this one.

6 - Hacksaw Ridge (Apex Legends)

In this epic, thrilling match from the early days of Apex, Zath played Lifeline and learned the hard way what it takes to be a field medic in a battle royale game. I love this memory because it features some of Zath's funniest one liners, Zath saving the day countless times over. It also features a good old instance of me getting jumpscared.

7 - That Was a Mozambiqueeeeeeee (Apex Legends)

It's not often that Zath breaks the sound barrier with their voice, but lo and behold... sound warning on this one :P

8 - Thaeus and Ziael (World of Warcraft)

I think of our WoW OCs, Thaeus and Ziael have had the most development and story-based growth. A druid and a deathknight, who would have thought that they could fall in love? They are one of my favorite pairings because of their personalities and their dynamics. Zath has created a death knight character who subverts many of the typical tropes we see with these kinds of characters. Thaeus is kind, warm (in spite of being a *frost* death knight), and loving towards Ziael and his family. He is Zath's favorite of their large swath of OCs and played characters. It goes without saying that Zath is an excellent death knight and it's been a pleasure to see how Thaeus has grown in both retail as Zath's perpetual tinkered character and now in Classic as one of the guild's highest parsers.

9 - Rated Battlegrounds with Zath Leading (World of Warcraft, Retail)

Zath always was a champ leading our RBG team. This is my favorite game recorded from that era. This game has a little bit of it all. People ribbing Zath playfully. Zath and I bantering over Frost Mage being good, for once! Ultimately, this game was a win where everyone had fun.

10 - Zath Podfics (Control 2019)

Zath has started reading some of my fics out loud. Honestly, this has been one of the greatest gifts they have ever given me. Hearing my stories outloud has helped me overcome some of my own imposter syndrome as a writer. When I hear Zath reading my stories, it shows me that I am a good writer. I hear the cadence, the intended tone of dialogue, the humor within humorous scenes. Normally I'm so detached from what I'm writing because I'm so immersed in it already. Having an outside perspective bringing the scenes to life has been a tremendous gift, one that I know has been produced with love, passion, and care.

[chronoxtreme]

The Cage: Chapter 20 Author's Notes

So you know how last time I said Astarion would really go through it? Lmao

One of the most fascinating parts of Astarion's character is that he has a... shocking lack of empathy sometimes. When I replayed the conversation you get in the Act 3 interlude before reaching the city, I was kinda stunned when Nanne went "You sound like you're jealous of Cazador" and he goes "Oh yes, absolutely! The only problem with what he did was that he did it to me!" Which is like... it would be hilarious if not for the fact that this is what his abuse has taught him. I won't really go into it now, because that'll be for the next chapter, but it was definitely a moment I wanted to capture, and I'm glad I replayed that convo instead of just winging it.

Astarion's nightmare in this chapter is the very first I ever wrote for him. Don't worry, if you're sick of his nightmares, he only gets one more, so you're almost done! But this one I really wanted to emphasize just how wonky dream logic can be. The instant teleportation to places, the weird sensory things you experience, how Nanne in real life wouldn't behave nearly as innocent and childlike as they do here. But this is how Astarion perceives them: as a wholly pure figure that needs to be shielded and protected from monsters. He puts them up on a pedestal.

The feelings are also complicated, because Astarion's role is complicated. He's clearly a victim of Cazador's machinations, but he's also the one who lures these people to their deaths. How do you resolve that cognitive dissonance in your head? The fact that technically, you don't have a choice in killing someone, but you get to pick who gets to live and who gets to die? The fact that you're being used by these people, consumed as an object, but at the same time leading them to be consumed by someone else and ultimately killed? No wonder this man actively avoids any attempt to empathize with anyone. It's easier that way.

Nanne's involvement only makes it worse. They are living proof that people like Sebastian had futures, and Astarion "sold them out" (read: was abused and forced into an insanely difficult position where he is both victim and perpetrator) for breadcrumbs. The fact that he's pressed and coerced into using himself for so little is mind shatteringly awful. His reward for using his body and leading someone to their death is a rat. That's it. That's all. A rat. That's all Nanne's life is worth to people like Cazador. That's all it was worth to him, and realizing just how far he's come horrifies him immensely. Is it another reason why he clings to the ritual as his chance to "make it all go away?" Absolutely.

And then Nanne eats the Astral Tadpole.

So, this was something else I decided on from the beginning. First, because it's a choice that I feel a lot of players make for the gameplay advantages and not for RP, and second because more drama and angst lmao. More seriously speaking, I find becoming half-illithid absolutely fascinating in the context of romancing Astarion and persuading him to remain a spawn because on the surface, it's VERY hypocritical (which is part of the reason why Astarion is so furious about it). No, Astarion, you're not allowed to make a deal with the devil, but I'm allowed to eat this weird worm the Emperor gave me that gives me super powers!

Nanne realizes this, and that's why they're so ashamed. They've done the very thing they don't want Astarion to do, and it wasn't even solely to save him, it was as an emergency stopgap solution to being wounded. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and while we know that eventually the Astral Tadpole will die and Nanne will go back to "normal", they don't. This could be a permanent physical change, but they're so desperate they don't care. That's the main difference between Astarion's mindset when it comes to the ritual and Nanne's mindset eating the tadpole: Astarion is so desperate to be powerful and untouchable that he completely ignores all of the bright neon warning signs telling him that this ritual is bad news. But Nanne is so desperate that they're willing to live with the consequences if it means they get a solution now.

And don't worry, there will be consequences.

However, with that grim note, don't worry - Astarion will not seethe about Nanne's choice for long, and the next chapter has some comedy moments because Astarion's fave sibling (/s) is about to show up.

[bsders]

DreamXD is a Dreamon

/dsmp /rp /c!

blahblah blah dreamons its old who cares blaj blahHHEAR ME OUT

dreamon ritual

the first time we see dreamXD is during the dreamon lore era

tubbo says dream was a transmuted dreamon which means he swaps between the two entities when triggered

dreamxd shows up after tubbo and fundy "free dream" from the dreamon and starts punching tubbo and seconds later both tubbo and fundy log off

2. times he shows up after this ritual

the next time we see dreamXD is when techno and phil find the stronghold and the end portal dreamXD logs on and destroys it and rebuilds it wrong

the third time is when he helps george and bad build a mcdonalds (💀) this is surprisingly where u see how twisted dreamXD is, when george and quackity get into an argument dreamXD claims that he is going to help george spawn trap quackity with obsidian and lava but ends up betraying george, upon seeing how upset george got abt it he immediately says that he did it to trick quackity and even tried to kill badboyhalo to comfort george (it works 😭??????)

we see how dreamXD has no issue in swapping sides just for his own entertainment and how death is his main entertainment

the forth time we see dreamXD is when bad is leading george and niki to the egg (also anyone else thinks the egg is a dreamon) and dreamXD logs on, after killing bad (poor bad lmao) he hangs out with george and he starts acting strange and revealing important things

his voice switches into a more demonic voice to an echo-y voice to finally a normal no sound effect voice

the change to the demonic voice seem to happen when he is upset example: when george asks him for stuff because he views it as george using him (tbf he is)

the change to the echo-y voice probably happens when he is upset? possessive? angry? example: george saying he would rather be with bad than with him, dreamXD starts chasing george claiming he is not going to hurt him

and then lastly the normal voice, its dream calling out to george "george its me dream!" but dreamXD brushes it off immediately saying "hm he is gone"

which is interesting cause later he says that he isnt dream but he is a part of him and he also says that he was hunted (tbf this line holds the whole theory together)

they try to prank bad and niki but it didnt go as george planned, even sending niki to hell and bringing her back

maybe its because dreamXD does not understand the concept of jokes so he shares his entertainment and what makes him laugh with george not realizing its not normal

3. the books arefor dreamXD´s entertainment

dreamXD is the creator of both the revival book and the death book

we know that if u revive someone thats not dead or if u kill someone that doesnt exist it summons dreamXD

the first time we see this happen is in the prison, when dream and techno try to revive someone thats not dead, he shows up and its the first time dream sees dreamXD

techno asks "how come god looks exactly like you?" (really nice quote)

dreamXD gives techno a bell and leaves.

the second time we see this is when sapnap kills someone who doesnt exist and he is summoned, dreamXD says its interesting and that he didnt expect sapnap to get the book

"listen up this is a ME thing not a YOU thing okay? IM in charge"

"you cant kill the owner of the revival book, you just cant!" "what is this like some game to you?" "actually it is a game! i watched death note i thought it was good and i thought yeah it will be fun!"

dreamXD wants dream alive, even as a ghost, maybe cause if one of them dies they both die ?

dreamXD would prefer if dream and sapnap were partners, he wants infinite deaths "you kill he revives you kill he revives YOU KILL HE REVIVES OOOOHHH ITS SO PERFECT!"

dreamXD is also connected to dreams (haha) he sees peoples dreams and gives people nightmares maybe fundys lore is also tied in here who knows

maybe thats why they are halled dreamons

dreamXD also rules the end so like maybe there is a connection there???

idk but i find it really interesting

[chandiegeist]

Here's the next installment of the pokemon transformation list for my Get Along AU:

As I said in that post, dividing and limiting the settlements really helps with getting my inspiration flowing and keeping things consistent. This post we'll go over Diamond Clan, Pearl Clan, Ancient Retreat basically anyone outside of Jubilife Village (including Volo gonna bring him up again cause he belongs here)

Most of the clan members are unremarkable NPCs so they can be whatever pokemon found in their region. Personally I don't remember any of their names or personalities so I'm not picking distinct ones like last list. The Wardens aren't included under these rules obviously. The only really important characters are the leaders. I decided as an added challenge that I really wanted to make the leaders Hisuian specific pokemon. It puts a spotlight on their duty to the region and plays into what they can learn as pokemon.

The Diamond Clan are turned into pokemon found in the Crimson Mirelands. Adaman is a (Hisuian) Goomy. Turning into a Goomy is a bit of a nightmare for Adaman. He's slow and a bit slimy and falls asleep if he dries out. He's used to being the strong, confident, and overly punctual leader of Diamond Clan. As a Goomy, he has to learn to rely on his partner pokemon and clan if he wants to get anywhere at a decent pace. He struggles with how the transformation has ruined his reverence of Almighty Dialga's time, but he'll learn to adapt a different way to honor it.

The Pearl Clan are turned into pokemon found in the Alabaster Icelands. Irida is a Hisuian Zorua. I'm debating if the clan runs her out thinking she's causing a mass hallucination, but I think Glaceon, Espeon, and Flareon will stand up for her and eventually the Wardens will visit and back up the story as well. (As I'm sure everyone knows,) Zorua were created by human cruelty, and came back to inflict their own cruelty on humans. It's a vicious cycle Irida will learn and eventually work toward mending. As a Zorua, Irida is welcomed into the Zoroark packs as they see a lone baby Zorua. Even after they learn about the transformation, they still watch her because they've developed such a strong pack dynamic to survive in the wild. She has to fight her own biases against the Zoroark and Zorua, and grow to recognize the Zoroark line are sentient creatures with feelings and not just monsters. She will grow to understand that by previously ordering the clan to hunt down Zoroark and fostering the cycle of violence that they are more alike than they think, and it's her duty as leader to bring peace between these pokemon and humans.

Ancient Retreat is a bit of an odd case because it doesn't really have any wild pokemon (I don't count Enamorus). But! I did decide on which pokemon the two (kinda fitting Volo in here though he doesn't exactly fit) and coincidentally they both can be found in the Cobalt Coastlands.

Cogita is a Glameow. Something about her tired eyes, fancy clothes, regal demeanor (okay that's probably just me but), and the giant white flowers on her hat remind me of Glameow. (Debated making her a Hisuian Qwilfish but it didn't vibe.) She doesn't have much of her own story besides Enamorus hanging out with her as a baby pokemon, but I really want Volo and her to reconcile. She's willing to forgive Volo once he has his whole character arc and comes back begging for forgiveness from the one (idk religious? cultural?) personal connection he has. She's pretty cold to him in-game but I think they matter more to each other than they show. Kind of like cats.

speaking of cats because volo is a pathetic wet cat lmao

Volo is a Togepi as I said in the last post. He's out in the wilderness after failing his master plan and running off in disgrace. (I like to think he's hiding away on one of the tiny islands where Togepi can spawn as a joke.) His big character arc is about - you guessed it - redemption. He isn't out for everyone's forgiveness or even the MC's (considering they're gone lol), but he is pulled into growing into a better person. I don't have all the plans laid out but I like the idea of Melli and Ingo finding Volo out in the wild while his team of pokemon take care of him. Personally a fan of Melli and Ingo friendship so I think they'd work well in befriending Volo against his will and helping him grow to care about the current world and work through his complicated feelings about god rejecting/ignoring him. I do think his team of friendship based evolution pokemon actually being able to talk to him helps a lot in this regard.

[anatthema-art]

well, okay, at least finding your channel meant I found some cool animations. still, I barely understood any of them.

i. HAHDJIAHSJS god i am. i did not expect a post of me talking about tumblr men taxonomy to inspire anyone to look at my youtube channel but i’m glad you enjoyed the incomprehensible monstrosity that it is regardless. genuinely thank you! it means a loy

for uhhh…??? context because APPARENTLY i have some sort of observer audience now, i will leave that under the cut for anyone curious about fandom history of a stupidly insular community

i was/am a fan of a niche webseries/podcast thing called discord murder party (DMP), which has now ended after 4 years. most of what’s on my channel spawns from the incomprehensibility of a single discord server size fandom making memes and in jokes which cannibalized itself, and as you can probably see if you look at my upload list, most of them revolve around dreamland, which is the animatic to the song by the swingrowers, i made last year around 3/4 of the length into DMP.

now, dreamland became a huge meme within this extremely niche webseries community to the point where the joke (mainly being based around my personal hell of the animatic being something i tried to make one years prior then failed and it continually coming back to haunt me) kept finding new ways to invent itself and multiple people in the community covered it and made meme versions of it

this culminated in that hour long cinematic shitpost with the salt and pepper diner playlist but with various versions of this song and it has far too many layers of what’s essentially a large friend group’s 3 year history of memes. catatonic is the same: it’s a meme animatic i made for the anniversary of dreamland which i didnt intend to put as much effort as i DID but it just kept going

now for the last small piece of context to tie this nightmare together you may have noticed if you go into my animations playlist the single video that’s not on my channel with a very long title. that’s the animatic i worked on OFFICIALLY for this show. i got brought on as essentially an ascended fan for the last 6 months of the show’s run as an artist and this spawned a whole OTHER wave of in jokes and memes which are borderline incomprehensible without me walking through every step of the way. also it… kinda ended up getting me into art school so thats neat??

ALL THIS IS TO SAY is that i don’t actually super recommend watching dmp to get these jokes. almost all of them are fandom memes that ARE connected if you have it EXPLAINED WHY but DMP is a very very long show that has a ROUGH first 2 seasons and if you know nothing about it you will probably not have a good time because the quality and style shifts rapidly in the second half

HOWEVER COMMA this is where i go to plug and say the director of DMP will eventually be working on a new show called chaos van, and a little behind the curtains peak is that the two main characters of that show are what INSPIRED me to write the tumblr men taxonomy post, because if charlie was a man i argued she would be a TSM with the disney channel eldritch horror body type and Oz would be a DCHE with the tumblr sexyman body type.

the show is only in early production but it’s planned to be a lot more accessible and easy to jump in on (you dont need to have watched dmp even though it’s technically a continuation) and is a real fun pitch: it’s a multiversal road trip where a god of stories and a god of chaos are on the run as they meet absurdist set pieces and characters while learning to fight gods!

so. yeah. lmao

[hoebii]

The one with the snake

Pairing : Snake Hybrid!Kim Taehyung x CEO!Min Yoongi (MXM)

Genre : Fluff

Warning : Shitty customers, use of curse words, these two get it on at the end lmao 

Wc : 1961

Rating : PG13

A/N : Thank you @taegularities​ for being my beta ily. Hope you guys like this fic, if you have any idea/promt/req send ‘em my way~<3

-------------

Taehyung woke up to an empty bed, no sight of his boyfriend, and what made it worse was the fact that he’d had a nightmare. With the day already feeling like it was ruined, Taehyung left the bed and went to get ready. It seemed that life hated him though, of all the days, today had to be the day that the geyser had to break. 

After the insanely cold shower, Taehyung’s mood had worsened even more. Frowning, Taehyung walked to the kitchen after changing - where he couldn’t find his favourite jacket, so he had to wear a completely different outfit than he had planned originally - to find the toaster broken too. 

Taehyung groaned, throwing his head back in frustration. He grumbled as he walked to the fridge and opened it, annoyance rising even more when he found it empty, save for some coffee that he didn’t even like. Slamming it shut, he walked out of the kitchen and went to grab his things to leave for the day. He could get some food on the way or have Jin hyung make him some.

-----

Standing in the parking lot, Taehyung stared at his car, or well, the spot where his car was supposed to be but wasn’t. Mouth agape in shock, Taehyung slowly raised his phone to his mouth, “Hey Siri, call Min Dickin on speaker.” 

“Calling Min Dickin iPhone on speaker.” 

Taehyung stood there waiting for Yoongi to pick up, trying to figure out where his damn car went. “Hello?” A voice rang out from his phone. “Hey uh, where the hell is my car?” Taehyung asked.

“What do you mean where’s your car? It’s in the parking lot.” Trying to keep the creeping headache at bay, Taehyung rubbed his face, stress levels increasing with each passing second, “It’s not there, smartass.”

“What do you mean it’s not there?”

“What the fuck do you think it means?”

There was a pause after that in which none of them said anything, though Taehyung could hear muffled sounds of Yoongi moving around and talking to someone else. 

“Oh! Babe don’t worry, Namjoon took it to the repair shop apparently,” Yoongi spoke up after a while. Taehyung closed his eyes and took in a deep breath at that before saying in the sweetest voice he could muster, “Well then, baby. How am I supposed to get to work today?”

“....Ta..ke the bike?”

“Jungkook and Jimin crashed it last week, remember?”

“...I could send a car to pick you up?”

“Yoongi, your office is an hour away from here and I need to be there in,” Taehyung pulled his phone back to check the time, “7 minutes ago, great.”

“Call Jin hyung and let him know you’re gonna be late, I’m sure he’ll understand.” 

Before Taehyung could reply, however, his phone beeped once and then shut off. Taehyung tried turning it on, but the screen only displayed an empty battery symbol. He swore to himself as he glared down at the dead phone, he wanted to chuck that thing into the ocean.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Taehyung walked out of the building to catch a bus and finally get to work. Jin was gonna have his head.

-------------

The first thing that Taehyung had heard when he stepped into the kitchen was Jin’s booming voice screaming at him. “Yah! You’re so lucky you have me as a boss! Not only am I the most handsome boss, I am also benevolent. This is the third time you came late for your shift, you’re lucky I don't just fire you sometime! I know not everyone can be perfect, but really.” 

See, if this had been any other day, Taehyung would’ve joked around and said something funny as a reply, but it wasn’t any other day. Taehyung wanted to cry from the headache and this did not help at all. Taehyung contemplated if he could run back home and burrow but decided against it. Life may be a bitch but it won’t make Taehyung it’s bitch today. 

Not saying anything besides whispering a soft sorry, Taehyung walked past Jin to the staff room to change into his uniform, leaving Jin shocked at the normally cheerful man’s somber mood. 

------------

The day felt as if it would never end. The headache that had never left Taehyung, rather it kept getting worse as time went by but he still pushed on. Jin had asked Taehyung what was wrong when he came out of the staff’s room, but Taehyung had brushed him off without a word earlier.

Now nearing the end of his shift, Taehyung was praying to any deity above to not make this day any worse. The day was already a bad one, from the way it started to how it kept progressing. Someone had spilled their food right in the middle of the restaurant and Taehyung had to clean it up - now that wouldn’t have been so bad if while doing so another colleague of his hadn’t bumped into him and spilled even more food on the floor for Taehyung to clean up. Taehyung could only give the other person a tight lipped smile. He was just one more incident away from screaming, life really was testing him today.

It was proved yet again that life hated him though, because just as he was about to leave to change, a lady had cornered him and demanded to speak to his manager. Taehyung had stared at her in bewilderment, not having noticed her approach him in the first place before he quickly put on his ‘I might seem like I’m extremely happy to serve you, but I’m dying inside’ smile, “Is there something wrong, ma’am?”

“I demand to talk to your manager!” the woman shouted, now starting to attract others’ attention. Tongue flicking out to lick his lips, Taehyung asked, “Ma’am, please calm down. I could try to assist you in any way I can?” 

It was clear this woman would not calm down from how she started shouting even louder. Taehyung scrambled to try calm her for the sake of other customers and his headache to no success. 

“What’s going on?” Jin strided out of the kitchen at the commotion. The woman whipped towards Jin before speed walking to him, making Jin step back slightly from how aggressively she approached him. “Are you the manager here?” she asked, well, more like demanded.

Jin raised one perfect eyebrow at her, “I’m the owner of this establishment, what’s the matter, ma’am?” 

“Your waiter here has been staring at me the wrong way for the last five minutes! Who even hires a snake? They’re evil!” 

Taehyung stared at the woman in incredulity. What was she on about? He hadn’t even seen her before she’d rudely approached him! He was literally staring off into space till the- oh. Did she think he was staring at her cause of that? Taehyung almost snorted at the thought of how conceited someone can be.

Jin stared at her with mild amusement, “He was what?”

“Staring at me the wrong way!” “So not only are you saying that one of my staff members is evil, but also that Kim Taehyung was staring at you the… wrong way?”

“Yes!”

Not being able to hold back anymore, Jin laughed out loud at the absurdity of the woman in front of him. This wasn’t anything new to Jin, these kinds of customers were more common than he would’ve liked to admit. But someone saying Taehyung, the guy who was so in love with his best friend that he wouldn’t spare anyone a glance was ‘staring the wrong way’ at someone, much less a lady, was simply too amusing.

Clearing his throat and composing himself, Jin spoke up, “Ma’am I can assure you our staff would never do that, much less him.”

“Yeah? Well he was! Fire him right this instant or I’m never coming back to this place!” the lady threatened.

Taehyung watched in fascination as Jin, unbothered as ever, pointed at the exit and asked her to ‘leave if you wish to’ without any hesitation, gaze hardening into a glare. The lady flushed in anger and roughly poked at Jin’s chest, exclaiming as she did so, “This isn’t over! I will sue you!” before turning and leaving the place.

The only running through Taehyung’s mind as he watched her leave was how much she reminded him of a chubby little elephant stomping away. He kinda felt bad comparing a magnificent creature like an elephant to whatever hell spawn she was though. “Sorry Hobi hyung, didn’t mean to compare her to you.” He had whispered to himself.

Taehyung waited for Jin to scold him or talk to him, but Jin had just winked at him before returning to the kitchen. He let out a breath of relief before he too left to go finally change out of his uniform and go home, low-key convinced someone had put a curse on him or something.

--------------

Yoongi left the office earlier than he usually would, one of the perks of being the CEO, after getting a call from Jin about Taehyung not feeling the best today. Yoongi had rushed out of his office as soon as it was 5pm to reach home and set about preparing Taehyung’s favourite food and taking out all of his favourite movies, so they could cuddle and watch them.

Yoongi was going to make this day better for Taehyung, no matter what!

-----------

It was 8pm, but there was still no sign of Taehyung; he should’ve been back by 7pm. Yoongi sat on the couch, trying to call Taehyung, but the call never went through.

Yoongi decided to wait five more minutes before he would go out to look for Taehyung. Meanwhile he would go reheat the food to make sure if Taehyung did return by then, he’d get warm food.

Yoongi was about to leave the house when a soaking wet Taehyung walked in. Yoongi gasped in shock and rushed to his side, “Oh my god what happened?! Why are you so wet? Are you okay?” 

Taehyung dropped his sopping jacket on the ground and pulled Yoongi in for a hug, hiding his face in Yoongi’s neck, grip tightening. Yoongi hugged Taehyung back, not caring about how he was getting wet, too concerned about the crying man in his arms. 

“Baby what happened?” Yoongi asked, running his hand through Taehyung’s hair to calm him down.

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” Taehyung's muffled reply came as he nuzzled closer to Yoongi, desperate for comfort.

Yoongi decided not to say anything, just let Taehyung get it all out. After a while Yoongi had finally decided to step away and send Taehyung away to go freshen up while he would get the food so they could eat it while watching movies. 

------------

Yoongi had just set down the food on the coffee table when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into a kiss. Yoongi stiffened at first but soon melted into it, hands raising to trace the scattered patches of scales on Taehyung’s body, making him shiver. 

Still kissing, Taehyung started backing Yoongi till they reached the couch. Yoongi fell on the couch as Taehyung moved to straddle him. He groaned as he felt Taehyung’s forked tongue lick at his lips, asking for entrance. Parting his lips, the two battled for dominance, Taehyung winning at the end. 

After a while, Yoongi moved back to break the kiss - Taehyung chasing after his lips, not wanting to stop - while panting slightly, “W-what about the food?”

Taehyung smirked, his pupils contracting into slits and his fangs showing, “I wanna have dessert first.”

Well then, Yoongi couldn’t say no to that.

[homeforchristmas-au]

Here’s a lil somethin for this au cos y’all haven’t been getting content lmao I really need to work on this au ;^^

Characters: Logan, Patton, Remus, Roman, Virgil, Janus

Pairing(s): married logicality, familial... everything else basically

Warnings: a bit of fluff, there’s hot chocolate, uh mentions of die hard, nightmare before Christmas, and bad santa, not sure what else to warn for but lemme know if I missed anything!

Word count:

~

Patton and Logan were wrapping presents in their room for their kids. Logan was precise and meticulous in his wrapping, making sure it was perfect. Patton on the other hand... did his best.

"Patton, what on Earth happened?" Logan asked amusedly as Patton added what had to have been a third layer of wrapping paper to one of Virgil's presents.

"I wish I knew, Lo-Lo," Patton replied with a giggle. "Virgil might need some help with opening this one."

"Every year it's like you've never wrapped a present before," Logan joked with a smile. "And birthdays, too. Hell, I've seen Remus wrap presents more efficiently."

Patton feigned offence at that, though couldn't stop from smiling. Logan returned the smile and softly chuckled.

"Remus wraps his presents with toilet paper!" Patton exclaimed.

"And he does a fairly good job of it!"

They both couldn't help but laugh, Logan covering his mouth to contain his merriment. It didn't help that the sound of Patton's laughter always filled his heart with glee and he never knew what to do with that.

"Alright, then," Patton began once his giggles subsided. "How do I master the art of gift wrapping, Mr Gift Wrapping Expert?"

"Well, first of all, it's Dr Gift Wrapping Expert," he joked with a wide smile. "And second of all, there's a certain... science to it."

"Oh, is there?" Patton asked with a grin. "Then educate me, Doctor."

Logan blushed as he continued to smile. He took one of Roman's unwrapped presents and went over to Patton's side of the bed so they stood next to each other.

"There are a couple methods to wrapping boxes like this one, but I personally favour the diagonal wrapping method."

"Ooh, what's that?" Patton asked, Logan smirking.

"I'm gonna show you."

He placed the box on the wrapping paper, cutting out a piece that seemed too small and explaining what he was doing as he went along. He then made sure the box was in the centre of the wrapping paper and the flat sides of the box were perpendicular to the edges of the paper.

"Once you've found a place on the wrapping paper where you can pull up each corner of the paper and cover up every corner of the box, that's your starting point," he explained, showing Patton what he meant.

"That's so clever!" Patton exclaimed with a smile. "How are you so smart?"

"You're smart too, Patton. Just in different ways. I learned gift wrapping from my mother, when I started getting gifts for my sisters. My dad... well, he was always pretty useless when it came to wrapping presents."

He chuckled halfheartedly as he remembered hearing strings of expletives from his parents' room as his father tried and failed to wrap everyone's gifts. It became somewhat of a running joke in the family; whenever Logan or one of his sisters saw something poorly wrapped they'd jokingly say it must've been wrapped by their dad, or if he was there they'd ask him if he wrapped it. It always got a laugh. Even from their dad.

Maybe he was laughing now, wherever he was, that Logan married someone who was just as bad at wrapping as him.

Logan continued showing Patton how to wrap different presents, who paid close attention. He was even able to successfully wrap a box on his own, which Logan was proud of him for.

Patton topped the box with a bow, and then took another bow and stuck it to Logan's head. Patton smiled, sticking his tongue out slightly, and Logan couldn't help but grin.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you're my present," Patton replied simply.

Logan's heart swelled with love as his smile grew tenfold. He brought Patton's lips to his, holding him close as they kissed.

"Eww, dad cooties!"

The unexpected sound of Remus's voice nearly caused Patton and Logan to jump out of their skin, pulling away and looking at the eight year old twins, who stood in the doorway.

"How'd you boys get in here?" Patton asked. "The door was locked!"

"It was, but I have a credit card!" Remus held up a distinctly green card, smiling mischievously.

"Where the hell did you get a credit card?" Logan asked, a bit flabbergasted.

"In the game of Life in the hall closet!"

"Remus is the one who roped me into this!" Roman rushed out, pointing an accusatory finger at his brother, who scoffed.

"Nuh-uh! This was your idea!" Remus returned the finger pointing.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"It doesn't matter who started it," Logan interrupted. "I'm finishing it." He held out his hand towards the two, palm up. "Hand it over."

Remus sighed heavily and gave Logan the fake credit card. He crossed his arms as Logan pocketed it.

"So what'd we get for Christmas?"

"You're too late for peeking," Patton replied. "There's only one present left, and it's Janus’s."

"What'd you get him?" he asked excitedly as he began looking for the present, Patton quickly grabbing him by the waist.

"Nope, not telling." He carried Remus to the door and set him down outside, gesturing for Roman to follow. "Now you boys stay out here and don't get into trouble! Why don't you go play with Virgil?"

"Virgil's no fun!" Remus whined. "He just cries a lot!"

"He likes colouring, why don't you go get a colouring book?"

"We've already coloured in all of them!" Roman replied.

"Then watch a Christmas movie! You can never run out of Christmas movies!"

"Can we watch Bad Santa?" Remus asked excitedly.

"No," Patton firmly denied. He softly sighed and turned back toward Logan with a sympathetic smile. "You can wrap the last present yourself, right? These two are clearly gonna be a handful."

"I got it," Logan replied with a grin. "No worries, go take care of our demon spawn."

"Hey!" Remus shouted. "I'll have you know, I am full-on devil spawn! No damn second-rate demon has anything to do with me!"

"Watch your language," Patton reprimanded as he ushered the twins out of the doorway, though he was still smiling as he closed the door.

"Janus is allowed to say that word!" Remus fired back.

"Mind you, Janus is also fifteen years old."

"That is age discrimination, and I'm not here for it."

Patton sat the boys down at the couch in the living room and got all of the Christmas movies they had on DVD. He had them look through the options, and there was a bit of bickering over what to watch, which Patton kind of anticipated. After a few minutes of debating between Jim Carrey's How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Disney's The Santa Clause, they managed to compromise on The Polar Express.

Patton went to get Virgil, who was playing with his Code-a-Pillar Twist toy, and asked if he wanted to watch the movie, to which he excitedly nodded his head. Patton carried him out of his room, going to Janus’s door and knocking. He opened the door and popped his head in when Janus replied with a quick "What?"

"We're gonna watch The Polar Express, you wanna join us?" he asked, Janus looking up from his phone. He thought for a brief second.

"Will there be hot chocolate?" he asked, Patton grinning.

"You better believe it!"

"Then who am I to decline?"

Janus grabbed his forearm crutches and followed Patton out to the living room, where Roman and Remus were in the process of building a castle out of the DVD cases. Janus sat in the armchair by the couch and leaned his crutches against the wall behind him as Patton set the four year old down by the twins.

"You boys want hot chocolate?" he asked, Roman and Remus gasping loudly and quickly yelling yes.

"Marshmallows, too?" Virgil asked quietly.

"So many marshmallows, kiddo." Patton smiled and kissed Virgil's head. "Marshmallows for everyone I'm guessing?"

Once it was confirmed that everyone was taking marshmallows, he went to the kitchen to prepare their drinks, including his own. As Patton began heating up the milk and water — as there was a variety of preferences — Logan walked out of the bedroom with a handful of wrapped presents to go under the tree.

"Oh, Lo-Lo!" Patton called. "You want hot chocolate?"

"I'm good, Patton, thank you."

"Okay, do you need help with presents?"

"Focus on the hot chocolate, Patton," Logan replied with a grin as he carried the presents to the living room where the tree was, the children getting rather excited.

"Are those mine?" Remus shouted.

"I bet they're mine, they're ginormous!" Roman exclaimed.

"Mine!" Virgil cheered, making grabby hands towards the presents as Logan set them down. He smirked at them as he stood upright and adjusted his glasses.

"They're Janus’s."

"Ha, suck it," Janus teased with a grin as he scrolled through his phone, Remus and Roman both making offended scoffs.

"I better have a million presents!" Remus declared, Janus rolling his eyes.

"You wish."

Once all the presents were under the tree and the hot chocolate was made, it was finally time to start the movie. The twins sat on the couch between Logan and Patton, Remus next to Logan and Roman next to Patton. Virgil sat in Janus’s lap, who was helping him not make a mess. Patton's heart swelled at the sight and he couldn't help but smile.

This was going to be Janus’s first Christmas with them since they began fostering him in June. He'd gone from foster home to foster home for quite some time now, and had mentioned it probably being due to his amputated leg. Patton didn't want to believe it was true, but didn't really know what to believe.

They were more than ready to properly adopt Janus and make him an official member of the Sanders family. It should happen soon, if all went according to plan.

Once The Polar Express was over, the kids demanded another Christmas movie. Even Janus seemed to like the idea of another movie. When Patton asked what everyone wanted to watch, Virgil quickly yelled "Jack and Sally!" which everyone knew exactly what he meant.

"Ugh, really?" Remus complained. "The Nightmare Before Christmas? Again?"

"It's an amazing movie, Remus!" Roman declared. "Don't you dare insult Disney!"

"We watch that movie all the time! Christmas, Halloween, Virgil's birthday, basically all year long! Let's mix it up with some Die Hard!"

"That's not even a Christmas movie!"

"Is too!"

"Boys!" Logan interrupted their bickering. "We are not watching Die Hard, and since you two picked out The Polar Express, I think Virgil and Janus should pick out what we watch next."

"Jack and Sally!" Virgil demanded, clapping his hands together.

"Uh... I'm good with The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sounds lit."

"You're only saying that 'cause Virgil's your favourite!" Remus accused, pointing a finger at Janus.

"Nuh-uh, I'm his favourite!" Roman argued.

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"You're both wrong," Janus interjected with a smirk. "Logan's my favourite."

"What? No fair!" Roman exclaimed. "I demand a recount!"

"That's— that does not mean what you think it means, Roman."

"I don't care! Recount!"

"I'm just gonna put the movie in now," Patton said with a small laugh, getting up to put the DVD in.

As the movie began, Virgil could barely sit still, clapping his little hands together with the biggest smile on his face. Then the iconic song began, and even Remus couldn't help but join in on the singing. Logan, however, remained silent, merely watching his family with a small smile on his face.

Seeing the way they all smiled so freely, especially Janus, who usually had his guard up, filled Logan's heart with pure, unadulterated joy. He wouldn't trade any of this for the world.

By the time the movie came to an end, everyone had fallen asleep except for Logan. Janus was curled up in the armchair with Virgil in his arms, Remus had his head resting on Logan's thigh, and an obnoxiously snoring Patton had Roman curled up in his lap, gripping his shirt ever so slightly.

Logan turned off the TV with the remote before carefully scooping Remus up in his arms and getting to his feet. He gently tapped Patton's shoulder.

"Patton, sweetheart," he murmured. Patton inhaled sharply as he lifted his head to look up at Logan with bleary eyes. "Patton, I love you, but you sound like a lawnmower."

Patton blinked a few times, yawning as he rubbed his eye.

"Huh?" he muttered, Logan quietly huffing in amusement.

"Never mind. We need to take the kids to bed."

Patton's half awake mind seemed to finally register the sleeping eight year old in his lap. He lifted Roman in his arms and he and Logan carried the twins to their room, laying them down in their respective beds and tucking them in with a kiss on the forehead.

"I'll get Janus and Virgil, you go to bed," Logan said softly, resting a hand on Patton's bicep.

"You sure?" Patton mumbled.

"Yeah, I got it. I'll join you in a minute."

"Mmkay." Patton pressed a quick kiss to Logan's lips. "Love you."

"Love you too."

As Patton went to bed, Logan went back to the living room, smiling slightly to himself as he gently took Virgil from Janus’s arms. Janus stirred slightly, stretching his arms and looking up at Logan.

"You should get to bed," Logan said softly.

"Nah," Janus replied, curling up a bit more and getting comfortable. "I'm good right here."

Logan scoffed amusedly and shook his head as he carried Virgil to his room, tucking him into bed and kissing his forehead.

He went back to the living room and grabbed Janus’s crutches before carefully lifting him from the chair. He flailed a bit in surprise before wrapping his arms around Logan's neck, his face turning beet red as Logan carried him to his bedroom.

"Whatever, way to flex your muscles on me, old man," Janus grumbled, Logan softly laughing.

He walked into Janus’s room and set him down on his bed, propping his crutches between the nightstand and the bed where they usually resided when not in use.

"You didn't have to carry me," Janus said as he crossed his arms.

"I didn't have to. But I did it anyway. Goodnight, Janus." Janus didn't respond as Logan turned off the light and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

He went to his and Patton's room, where Patton was already asleep. He took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand before removing his shirt and jeans, climbing into bed by Patton's side.

That night he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

~

Home For Christmas taglist: @mostpeopleannoyne @penguinkool @mavi-main @luckybanana948 @angels-and-dreams

[battlestar-royco]

Let’s settle this once and for all: are the Illyrians MOC?

So, in writing the answer to this ask, I FINALLY put two and two together on something: another reason why SJ/M’s constant use of “golden-brown” to describe the I/llyrians doesn’t sit right is because that’s literally the only indication that they are MOC. Looking at fan art, it’s clear that some artists are going for a non-white skin tone. If so, then why don’t they look like MOC? Why is there so much contention and confusion around whether or not these men are white? I have been subconsciously baffled by this phenomenon for years, since AC0MAF came out in 2016. I don’t know why this took me so long to conclude, because people have been essentially saying the same thing about POC in SJ/M’s books since AC0MAF dropped, but here is the reason: in both the books and the art, their complexion is the only thing that indicates they are MOC. There’s a lot, as they say, to unpack here. This is gonna get long (seriously, RIP to your thumbs. I promise it’s half photos). Snip.

The Golden-Brown Suitcase

So. We have descriptions such as these (all emphasis mine; special thanks to @longsightmyth​ for pulling many quotes and citations!)...

1. about C/assian and A/zriel: “Like their High Lord, the males---warriors---were dark-haired, tan-skinned. But unlike Rhys, their eyes were hazel...”  (AC0MAF, pg. 140 B&N ebook).

2. “Cassian surveyed Rhys from head to foot, his shoulder-length black hair shifting with the movement” (140).

3. about A/zriel: “But the second male, the more classically beautiful of the two... Even the light shied from the elegant planes of his face” (140).

4. “I could have sworn Rhys’s golden-brown skin paled” (AC0WAR, pg. 223 Kindle edition).

5. “Color bloomed high on Azriel’s golden-brown cheeks” (254).

6. “I tried to catch Cassian’s gaze, but he was monitoring them closely, his golden-brown skin unnaturally pale” (280).

7. “But Nesta’s pale fingers gently probed his golden-brown skin” (514).

... spawning fan art en masse like this:

art courtesy: x x x

What’s wrong with this (these) picture(s)? They are white men with the complexions of MOC. The fandom (and thus artists) have nothing but “golden-brown” (a term that is notably introduced in AC0WAR, one installment after the I/llyrians first appear) to go on, so they default to imagining the I/llyrians as tanned Henry Cavill, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Viggo Mortensen types. You could simply lighten the value of the above artworks (but please DO NOT do this) and have white men. THIS is why, despite the golden-brown descriptor and the Darker-Than-Fayre skin tones in the fandom art, there is so much debate and confusion around whether or not the I/llyrians are MOC. Golden-brown skin with straight black hair, straight noses, and round light eyes do not a man of color make. Why not? Because “golden-brown” is a very nebulous term that can apply to countless skin tones and ethnicities. Some examples (... your THUMBS I’m so sorry slafajklsk):

^ Indian,

^ Mexican,

^ Guatemalan,

^ Hawaiian,

^ Afro-Caribbean,

^ and Filipino. For starters.

Now, why is it that upon first glance, you can tell that all the men in these photos are not white? Because race is constructed such that we can immediately identify it, whether subconsciously or consciously. We’re socially conditioned to recognize this in other people and immediately ascribe our own perception of their race and ethnicity onto them. Not only can you tell they are not white, but you also have a ballpark idea of where in the world they are from. Note the wide variance in thickness and texture of hair (head, facial, and body); the cool and warm undertones that change by the person; the wide, ridged, and/or downturned noses; eye shape, body type etc. So why can’t we put a finger on what the I/llyrians are supposed to look like as MOC? Why do so many people perceive them as white? Because SJ/M has no target ethnicity for the I/llyrians, meaning that they have no clarifying features to imply one specific ethnic background in the text or fan art. All we know for sure about the I/llyrians is that they are dark-haired, darker complected than the A/rcheron sisters, and they pale and blush. Vagueness regarding race always causes fandom to default to white, thus the general “tan white dudes” interpretation of the I/llyrians.

The Illyrian Suitcase

We’ve now come across another suitcase within this entire I/llyrian Ethnicity Moving Truck of stuff we need to unpack: the smidge of evidence that the I/llyrians are inspired by somewhere in the MENA region. Given the harem pants and henna-reminiscent tattoos that appear in the Nite Court, plus the mosques and clothing that appear in fandom edits and art, general “MENA” may be the closest approximation to I/llyrian ethnicity. However, the problems snowball from here.

1. The MENA label is far too general to treat as one single race/ethnicity. General fandom perception/depiction of I/llyrians does not nearly encompass the multitude of appearances someone could have if they are from the MENA region. Harem pants and henna are used in multiple countries, so it is impossible to pin down a non-monolithic appearance with just the Nite Court attire and “golden-brown” description.

2. The Nite Court and the I/llyrians are two separate entities. Not all V/elaris residents are I/llyrian, not all Nite courtiers are I/llyrian, and not even all Inner Circle members are I/llyrian. Therefore, we cannot conflate the Nite clothing and tattoos with I/llyrian culture.

3. This leads me to my next point: we still have white and non-I/llyrian characters wearing harem pants and tattoos. Fayre, M0r, and A/mren’s attire is not culturally meaningful to the Nite Court. It also clashes with sweaters and leggings, dresses made of chiffon, bell sleeves, and Elie Saab-reminiscent designs (ie Starfall, Court of Nightmares). Thus, the attire loses all internal consistency and meaning beyond the mood SJ/M wishes to set for a given scene, making the implication that their outerwear is meant to be sexy or aesthetic rather than culturally significant.

4. The I/llyrians as a race of POC meaninglessly perpetuate stereotypes. Granted, sexism exists in high fae society (ie Fayre being paraded as “Rice’s whore” in the CoN, M/or being treated as a commodity and broodmare, the lack of High Ladies), so the misogyny and violence against women are not unique to I/llyrians. We also get more than one I/llyrian main character, so they are not a complete monolith. But there are still issues. One, the I/llyrians are oppressed by the high fae. It is well documented that the high fae are the dominant race and look down upon lesser fae. This dichotomy has yet to be unpacked by SJ/M. Two, I/llyrian women are oppressed by I/llyrian men (wing-cutting, commodification, gender roles, etc). There are absolutely zero fleshed out I/llyrian women, so the only information we have about their experience and existence is through Fayre’s eyes and Rice’s word. This framing is white feminist at best, white savior-y at worst. Three, we only know I/llyrians who have assimilated into high fae culture. Rice, the High Lord, is half high fae and half I/llyrian. Only he and his friends, I/llyrians who have been “elevated” from bastard/oppressed I/llyrian status, know better than the other more “savage” I/llyrians. Coincidence? I think not.

The Lucien Suitcase

All this gets even more confusing when you consider the fact that SJ/M uses “golden-brown” as a blanket non-white coding tool. In the T0G series, at LEAST the following characters are described as golden-brown: S/artaq (T0D, pg. 345 Kindle edition), Nesrin (K0A, 180), and Irene (403). In AC0WAR, at LEAST the following are described as golden-brown: the I/llyrians, Vassa (685), and L/ucien (183, 302, 456). Our best approximation is that S/artaq and Nesrin are South Asian given their southern continent origin, Irene is part-black given her E/yllwe father, Vassa is... golden brown, and L/ucien is part black and part white. The term is used so frequently that it is meaningless as an indicator for race. We’ve again found the golden-brown suitcase, which in SJ/M’s novels encases allll the aforementioned ethnicities and more. Again, this causes very anglicized and/or inconsistent looks to pop up in fan art:

x

x

x

Conclusion

it seems that the I/llyrians are MOC, based on the fact that they and other POC are frequently described as “golden-brown.” That said, the golden-brown descriptor is not enough. The I/llyrians do not serve their purpose as representative characters because they are not easily identifiable to their target demographic, nor are they a positive representation. In a social context where we are so trained to recognize these things, explicit media representation is much preferred, if not necessary. It is the reader’s prerogative---namely, non-white readers’ prerogative---to interpret these characters how they wish. We’d be unpacking a whole other house if we were to go into the meaning behind L/ucien as a black man, Irene as a black woman, Nesrin as South Asian, etc, and that is for another day. Thanks so much for reading all this way if you got this far. I know I’m extra, sorry. The creative writing/women’s and gender studies major jumped out lmao. My inbox is always open if you want to parse that out or if you have any further questions!

[shianhygge-imagines]

[DMC Reactions] S/O Sacrifice

AN: Ooooh Angst. So early in the morning :D I’m writing this in an internet cafe.

Also, I’m sorry, but the first thing that came to mind when I read the request was the scene above where Dante’s VA had the voice crack. lmao

Real talk though. Vergil and Dante’s part is longer because I feel like they would be the two that would slip up this badly where their lover would sacrifice themself. V and Nero are too responsible.

|Masterlist Link|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dante

Dante had gotten too cocky while fighting multiple opponents, again.

Not that it should surprise you too much, but he’d allowed too many of the demons to land hits on him, and his clothes were practically littered with holes from the weapons skewering him...

His s/o had been by his side since the beginning, so it was a given that they’d tagged along with Dante to a new gig

Dante didn’t see the scissors waiting to snip his pretty head off, but you did.

In the blink of an eye, you’d parried the blow aimed at you and had sprinted across the room to shove Dante out of the way.

Dante turned as he tumbled towards the ground, and his eyes widened helplessly as you smiled, the scissor edges closing in at the perfect height to your neck.

snip... thud

It was like a car accident happening in slow motion, and Dante wasn’t able to look away... wasn’t able to pull the miracle that he was known for.

The world stopped spinning as Dante stared, face ashen as his lover’s head rolled away, and their body fell on top of his. A bad dream, Dante thought absently as he gripped your still body. It’s just a bad dream.

“I’m going to wake up, and Y/N will be sleeping right next to me.”

Dante blinked once... twice... and pinched himself... nothing.

The Death Scissor cackled maniacally, reveling in its kill.

“Not real. It’s not real,” Dante muttered, “Y/N... wake me up.”

You didn’t move... and Dante didn’t wake... his face scrunched up as he stood, sobbing as he pulled Rebellion out, an inconsolable rage consuming him.

Maybe if he killed the Death Scissor, he’d wake up...

Neither of you woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vergil

Vergil had been too obsessed with some fascinating/challenging opponent that he forgot to watch your back.

In the brief lapse of his attention, you’d been swarmed by lesser demons

Although you were much stronger than the runts, you started to have trouble from the immense number of them

“Vergil!” You’d called, jumping away from one demon’s attack only to have to evade another. The screeches of dying demons rose above your cry for help and you cursed your luck as you rolled out of the way to jump over the seemingly endless horde of demons.

Ahead, Vergil was taking on a demon that resembled a Chimera, though far too ugly for you to admire. It seemed as if your lover was having a ton of fun, his smirk noticeable from even where you stood.

The Chimera howled in pain as Vergil assaulted its torso with swift cuts from the Yamato, and suddenly the lesser demons turned their attention away from you, scurrying to protect their master, hundreds of them sprinting after Vergil... wanting... needing to tear the older son of Sparda apart.

Even though Vergil hadn’t had your back, you had his.

It didn’t take much for you to beat the horde in the race to Vergil, most of the demons were considerably sluggish compared to your agility.

You were suddenly stood between the horde of demons and Vergil, blade and gun drawn, ready to take on the forces of the underworld to prevent them from interrupting Vergil’s fun.

Slowly but surely, however, you began to wear down, unable to keep up with the seemingly endless number of demons that spawned from nowhere. One misstep was all it took for the demons to overwhelm you, pouncing, and burying you underneath their blows.

“Vergil!” You tried to call for your lover, reaching a hand out to him from within the swarm. Vergil, too consumed with his challenge, didn’t turn around.

All around, you could only see black shadows and glowing red eyes. There was no blue to save you.

Vergil grinned as he cut down the Chimera, flicking the Yamato free of blood before turning to look for your proud and loving eyes.

What Vergil saw instead, was the swarm of demons seemingly piled on top of a limp figure. The grin disappeared from the older son of Sparda as dread and rage overflowed. There was a flash of blue as Vergil entered his Devil Trigger, mowing down the lesser demons as if they were merely ants.

Once the pests were cleared, Vergil was able to reach your body, kneeling in his beautiful demonic form to lift your body, holding it to his as he called to you, hopeful that you would open your eyes and continue to breath.

After a few seconds, it became glaringly obvious to Vergil that you would never smile at him again.

After so many years of hiding his emotions away, Vergil felt his eyes burn, and allowed the tears to fall, his whole body shaking as he sobbed. 

“I’m sorry.” Vergil apologized, clutching your body close and knowing that it was his fault for selfishly leaving your side.

“Don’t leave me alone, Y/N. Please.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nero

Nero had insisted that you stay out of the fight, quite sure that the giant demon before him was too much for you.

I mean, you resented that Nero seemed to think so little of your skills (you could probably take on a greater demon because of your demon lineage), but you weren’t a fool to see that Nero obviously cared.

He’d never want to see you hurt.

But that’s a sentiment you both shared.

And you knew that Nero had a tendency to run his mouth during fights, probably acting a little too much like Dante at times... so you had a right to worry...

Though admittedly, Nero didn’t have a habit of getting stabbed with his own sword like Dante did, he still got too cocky and reckless.

And while Nero fought the giant, you were forced to keep a good distance away... and by a good distance away, that meant you were with Nico in the van... pretty much across the map

The giant demon was similar to the Goliath that Nero killed, but its hide was too thick for his Red Queen to simply slice through and its tail was long with something akin to a stinger... All too quickly, he’d run out of Devil Breakers, and was forced on the defense, no doubt charging his Devil Trigger.

Nico was sleeping, as she usually did when waiting for Nero to finish his fights, but you kept a keen eye on your lover.

A flash of blue was all you needed to alert you that Nero had used his Devil Trigger, but as you watched him fight, you noticed that while Nero gave the demon a beating, he couldn’t get his attacks to pierce through the hide.

“Tch... should’ve brought a Helter Skelter.” You mused, getting up from your seat to get to the workshop in the back of the van.

You took a Helter Skelter and a Ragtime from the hooks, making a mental note to pay Nico back, before grabbing your guns and bursting out of the van.

Activating your own Devil Trigger, you practically flew across the map to stop the Giant from landing a solid hit on Nero.

“Y/N, what the hell? I told you to stay back!”

Holding the Giant’s fist in place with one hand, you threw the two Devil Breakers at Nero, “Here, you dingus! Gotta pierce its hide before you can kill the thing!”

“I don’t need your help! Now get back to the van!”

“Don’t need help, my ass! Weren’t you the one that made a big deal about being called a ‘dead weight’? How could you think I’d be fine just standing around and twiddling my-” 

You didn’t get a chance to finish your question. The giant pulled its fist back and rammed it towards your unsuspecting form, throwing you up into the air as its tail whipped forward, skewering you through the stomach.

“Y/N!”

You grit your teeth, knowing that you might survive if Nero finished the fight fast enough. “Damn it, Nero! Just kill the damn thing!”

Angry with the need to protect you, Nero was able to activate his Devil Trigger once more, fusing the Ragtime with his arm and slowing time. A blink, and suddenly you were no longer skewered, finding yourself in Nero’s arms as he walked away from the giant demon’s lifeless body.

“My hero” you teased, feeling the hole in your stomach already start to close.

“You’re an idiot.”

“But you love me for it!”

Nero placed a kiss to the crown of your head, an affectionate grin on his face. “I do.”

...

...

“But don’t you dare do that again!” :|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

V

Despite V’s hesitance, he’d let you fight by his side, knowing that you had his back (and he yours).

Unlike the other Sparda Boys, V all but abandons full-time demon hunting after he meets you. Yes, you can totally kick ass, but with his growing feelings towards you, V has been made to wonder if there is an end to the conflict that he has been a part of his entire life.

So, V settled down with you, giving up the demon hunting business with you so that you two could have a future that would last. After all, the world had Vergil, Dante, and Nero as full time demon hunters, they didn’t need V.

Still, there are times where it was inevitable that you and V would have to fight demons.

It is one of these times where you and V were forced to fight against the forces of the underworld, that you and V found yourselves outnumbered and swarmed.

You could probably go a lot longer than was needed, but V was tiring rather quickly having to dodge the enemy attacks so much. The enemy forces were nearly gone, but V had started to get clumsy, trying to conserve energy as much as he could.

Even though Shadow, Griffon, and Nightmare did their best to keep their eyes on V, you couldn’t help the way your eyes followed him as you fought. You just wanted to be sure that V was safe.

And then... V dodged left when he should have had Griffon carry him out of the mess surrounding him.

A demon managed to land a blunt attack on V, sending him stumbling forward into another blunt attack, but you were already there to parry the blow, signalling Griffon to carry your lover out of the sticky situation.

So intent on helping V, you didn’t see the blade aimed at you. A cry of pain... from your lips or V’s you didn’t know. And you were thrown into the awaiting blades of other lesser demons.

V could hear your screams from where Griffon had carried him. He was exhausted, but used what remained of his energy to summon Nightmare, his only thought and intent: to save you.

It didn’t take much for the combined efforts of Nightmare, Shadow, and Griffon to decimate the enemies attacking you, clearing a path so that V could reach your battered, but still breathing form.

“Why would you do that?” V demanded, using what little strength he had to prop you up in his arms, noting that your breathing was strained.

“Heh... I thought I could take them on... if it meant saving you.” You responded with a grimace.

“Next time, we fight together.” It was a firm statement, but it meant so much to you.

“Ha... sure...” you agreed without a fight... “Hey, V?”

“Hm?”

“When we go home... I want a bath.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-fi!

[adrrianraines]

so i just had this crazy and by crazy i mean extremely crazy theory about that nightmare MC had waaaaay back in chapter 4 of bloodbound 2. y’all can call me your village crazy lady but so far, pb has had their share of inconsistencies when it comes to plot. specially the stunt they pulled with Jax’s back story in bb and bb2. however, there’s this nightmare at the end of the chapter that was bugging me all this while. (i know i have no life and constantly think of my vamp friends lmao stake me)

so, in the nightmare, MC hears the full prophecy about the blessed chalice and the place she sees in the dream is the one particular setting wherein they confronted balthazar/xenocrates aka the order’s HQ aka rheya’s tomb. now things got interesting ... she sees Adrian (or any LIs depending on who we romance) with her in that place. she said, i believe that a particularly feeling of safety resounds within her when she saw Adrian/any LIs. and then bam!

...our LI chokes us. like daaaaaaamn boi

WHAT IF (inconsistency aside) this is also a foreshadow of dark!LI??? i mean come on... each of our LIs has a dark side. they’re vampires—we’ve witnessed the tip of that darkness multiple times. and there’s quite the possibility that the trigger to this darkness is hurting or being unable to help or save US? y’all saw the finale for bb2.

Adrian had to relive one of his most painful memories ALL OVER AGAIN by witnessing a sword stuck to our chest as he held us dying in his arms (a parallel to the death of his wife and child)

Kamilah being helpless in preventing his past lover hurting us, her current one

Jax failing to do one thing he promised, keeping US safe. and the worst of all it was his sword who impaled us

and Lily hopelessly begging for our life the way we did with her when she was on the verge of dying AND having to turn us to something she didn’t wish to become herself.

i can see these parallels as a trigger set up to that darkness. WHAT IF this darkness, alongside our turning will bear so much toll on their conscience that they ended up being so vulnerable to it? and rheya being the first vampire will use her real magic to dig deeper into this darkness and using it to CONTROL our LIs as her own spawn of war? GAIUS had to do it by being his charming, manipulative self and the previous clan leaders went under his bidding for centuries. he didn’t even use his magic on them. rheya on the other hand CAN. what if that nightmare is an important plot point in the next book that we will be facing one of our LIs and testing the strength of our love for each other? i mean by the end of the book WE ALREADY CHOSE who we are going to be bloodbounded with. i mean the series is called bloodbound – it might pertain to the strength of that blood that bounded us together. (ik tis very sappy and romantic theory lmao)

AND what if us being a bloodkeeper will be the one who can break this spell by using ultra cool psychic powers and sappily dig into their memories and use like some hallucinations to reach their inner mind to communicate and free them from the mind control bullshit?

OR this could also be potentially a threat to awaken this darkness in us that serafine mentioned by rheya poisoning our minds about our LIs? lmao. PERHAPS this darkness is something rheya needed from us??

OH MAN. i watch too many supernatural stuff but i’ve seen enough flicks and i tell y’all that a lot could happen. pb can take their time in developing bb3 because we all would like a bomb tranformation plot and a bomb confrontation to rheya. bitch rheya’s at BOSS level. we all can’t just confront her and throw a stone at her face then call it a day lmao