#But I've tried to hunt down some form of source on him and all I could find was an old '09 novel

[d1xonss]

Could you do a Daryl x reader where at first he doesn’t like her, and she tries to get to know why hes so mean to her? Maybe he yells at her and then some comfort after?

Pretty When I Cry

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Reader

✧ Era : Season 1

✧ Pronouns : she/her

✧ Genre : Angst/Fluff

✧ Word Count : 4k

AN ~ This is a very cute idea. I've been wanting to write something for season 1 Daryl because he's just such a cutie pie, but I didn't really have any good ideas. Though I think if he were to ever snap and "be mean" it would surely be in the beginning; his sassy era lol. But thank you for the request, hope you enjoy!

In an instant it seemed like, all of humanity was completely flipped upside down. You were on your way to work when the chaos all erupted, dead people coming back to life and the military taking matters into their own hands. Bombing places left and right even if that meant killing the ones who weren’t infected. The entire thing shook you more than you were ever willing to admit, after all, you were more fragile, soft and clearly not built for whatever the world was suddenly turning into.

But to your surprise, you made it out alive. Traumatized, sure, but alive.

You seemed to count your blessings every single day since then, thankful for every little thing that had happened to you since. Luck seemed to shine down upon you as you weren’t alone for long, finding a small group camped out in the high mountains merely days after everything went down. They all welcomed you with open arms, clearly taking a liking to your kindness and wanting as many people to come together as they could get. After all, it’s all that was left of the world. People you could rely on.

You grew to love the tight knit group, forming friendships with people you never would’ve guessed you’d meet in a million years. You also tried to keep yourself busy, wanting to be as useful as possible and provide what you could for the others. Not because you felt obligated to, but because you simply wanted to. Things like cooking, collecting berries and mushrooms, doing laundry, anything you could find to help contribute. 

Something you seemed to be ashamed of however, was that you couldn’t really do any of the “heavy lifting.” You had never fired a gun in your life, that alone narrowed down the list. Not being able to stay on watch, not being able to hunt, and…not being able to take care of the dead things that sometimes wandered all the way up here. At first, the thought of you being weaker than the others never even crossed your mind. It was only brought to your attention when a certain man began to poke fun at you because of how small he saw you.

Merle Dixon was a grade A asshole to put it bluntly. Ever since he and his brother showed up to be a part of the group later on, he had made it his mission to annoy and harass you whenever he saw the opportunity. You couldn’t figure out why you were his main target, his main source of entertainment, but you could only guess it was because he always got under your skin in a way he was able to see. That, and he tended to make you cry. He even gave you a nickname because of it after a while, one that you absolutely hated. And he knew it too.

Although Merle was someone you couldn’t stand, his brother Daryl however was…different. He could still be snappy and hot headed just like the other one you supposed, but he had never acted that way towards you surprisingly. His main target was Shane, and honestly, who could blame him? There were many times where the man would take things too far and Daryl would put him in his place, unaware of the watchful wide eyes that watched the interaction. He never seemed to care, wanting to tell everyone how it was without a single ounce of regret. You sort of envied him for that small little thing.

You had never stood up to anyone in your life, always too scared of the outcome and you hated being yelled at more than anything in the world. So it was safe to say you avoided confrontation at all costs. Clearly, as you hadn’t found the strength to stand up to Merle since he got here. But though neither of the brothers particularly cared for you, you were still kind to them just like you were to everyone else. You didn’t miss how the others in the group would almost look down on them in a way you couldn’t understand, so you wanted to be the one who provided just that little bit of kindness. It really went a long way, or at least that’s what you believed.

Though you had to admit, it was a little difficult sometimes. There were moments where you just wanted to yell in frustration, curse at Merle for how he always treated you and how Daryl typically sat there and did nothing. But you always managed to cool off, reminding yourself that they most likely acted like this because of something from their past. Something they couldn’t control. Who were you to treat them differently because of that? It was hard to stay strong at times, but in the end, you always seemed to send them a small smile.

You currently busied yourself on just the outskirts of the camp past the trees, finding and picking a few berries to bring back seeing as the group was running a bit low. And every bit of food counted these days. Your gaze stayed down as you chose the ripest ones, placing them in the little woven basket you brought to gather as many as you could for the time being. Though upon your hunt for different kinds of plant based things you could eat, your eyes happened to catch a mere glimpse of something colorful a few feet away.

To your surprise, it was a small patch of wildflowers growing together, each a different beautiful color and only a reminder to you that the world wasn’t completely dead. There were still many beautiful aspects along the way, even though a bit of hope may be lost, it was little things like this that brought a smile to your face. So you decided to wrap it up, bring back the things you’d collected along with picking one of the small flowers, putting it behind your ear for now to take back and put in your tent with the rest of your things. You had the idea of pressing it into one of the pages of a journal you kept.

You then found yourself slowly trailing back towards the site, almost dreadfully as you could predict what was coming next. You could practically hear it in the back of your mind like it was burned into your memory. Merle’s phantom voice echoed in your mind, knowing he would most likely call out to you the moment he noticed your presence reenter the space. But again, you reminded yourself to just try and be kind. It was the one thing you were best at.

Slowly but surely you made it past the treeline, and only about eight seconds passed before you heard a loud wolf whistle from your left along with the same booming laugh. Like he amused himself or something.

“There she is!” he called from the space in his and Daryl’s separate camp away from the others, “It’s weeping willow.” he smiled widely in hopes to get a reaction out of you.

You sighed as you sent him a small smile, “Still not my name Merle.” you reminded as you just tried to walk past him.

But it wasn’t that easy. It was never that easy. He easily stepped in front of you to block your path, the smirk still plastered on his face. “Close enough.” he waved off, “Besides, I wanna see what you so kindly brought back for me.” he said before quickly snatching your basket out of your hands.

Your eyes slightly widened as you tried to grab it back, but he pulled it away faster. “Merle.” you huffed as you attempted to reach for it again, but he only moved it away quicker. Every move you made, he would make as well, purposefully keeping it from you as he started to walk backwards for you to follow.

Like dangling a damn carrot in front of your face.

Your frustration grew as you continued to follow and reach for it as he laughed, watching your attempts and fails. You could feel your cheeks beginning to heat up in embarrassment now, sensing Daryl’s eyes watching the interaction as he made a few bolts by the small fire they had set up. He sat there still, doing nothing as per usual as he watched the interaction unfold right in front of him.

“Merle, please. It’s for the group.” you tried as you reached for it again.

But he pulled it out of your reach as you stood face to face, “Well, I’m a part of that group ain’t I? I think I deserve this just as much as the next bastard. Unless of course you have a different opinion bout that…” he trailed off as his smirk grew.

You sighed, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. It’s for everyone.” you clarified kindly.

The man only laughed at you, and you quickly began to feel the familiar lump forming in your throat, trying desperately to swallow it down and not let your emotions escape. It was obvious you were sensitive, but also having to fight the same fight over and over again, it got old quicker than you would admit. You could hardly stand these interactions anymore without at least tearing up a little at his teasing and taunting.

Finally after having enough, you reached out quickly and managed to snatch the basket back from him in one quick motion, placing it on your arm as your brows furrowed a little in frustration. Merle’s eyes widened a bit at the fast unexpected action, before he started smirking all over again once he caught the expression on your face.

“Oooh look at that. I almost got ya to snap.” he poked as he swayed a little clumsily on his feet, most likely a little drunk or high would be your best guess.

Sighing to yourself again to calm down, you shook your head as you knew of his only goal, “I’m not snapping.” you stated calmly.

Though he clearly didn’t believe you, wanting to push you even more. His eyes traveled away from your eyes as he grinned wickedly, pointing to your ear. “What’s this lil thing?” he asked. Your eyes widened a little, but before you could even react, he quickly snatched it away all while pulling your hair a little in the process. 

Your hand reached again, “Merle, come on, please.” you spoke desperately as you moved to keep up with him, before your frame accidentally stepped a little too far to the left.

In a fit of embarrassment and clumsiness, your foot accidentally knocked over a bucket that was sitting a little too close to the fire. The only problem was, Daryl’s freshly made bolts were sitting in there, now being engulfed in the flames. Your eyes widened in horror as you quickly scrambled back, watching Daryl instantly stand to his feet in an attempt to save what wasn’t ruined. But it was too late.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed loudly as he bent down to pick up the bucket.

One of your hands came up to your mouth as you couldn’t believe what you had just done, freezing in place as you now didn’t know what to do. You knew you were in deep shit already, but when Merle suddenly paused just as you did, you knew you were royally fucked as the two of you just watched Daryl stare down at the fire motionlessly.

Eventually you found your voice, stepping forward a little to reach out to him, “Oh my God, Daryl I’m so sorry-”

But your words clearly didn’t mean a thing. He slapped your hand harshly away from him as his head snapped up to look at you, a fire of his own growing in his eyes. “What the hell is wrong with ya?!” he screamed.

You instantly flinched back at his sharp tone, the lump once again forming in your throat as you desperately tried to keep yourself together, “It was an accident-”

“Do ya even know how long it took me ta make those?” he asked angrily, not even bothering to wait for an answer. “Nah…course ya don’t. Cause you don’t do anything around here! Always just sittin in yer own little fairytale, smilin without a goddamn care in the world, when in reality you just fuckin ruin everything!”

His words cut through you like a knife. But not one that was sharp. One that was dull, just sawing back and forth relentlessly and hurting you even more than you could’ve ever imagined. Your eyes quickly filled with tears, not even knowing what to say as he was clearly about to blow up even more with how angry he grew. 

He scoffed once he saw how speechless you became, “Just get the hell outta here.” he spat harshly as he got up closer to your face, aggressively pointing off into the trees.

Tears began to pour down your cheeks at the last of his words, not even wasting another second as you dropped the basket from your arms before taking off in the other direction in a flash. Your chest heaved as you moved quickly through the trees, not being able to get alone fast enough so you could finally let everything out. You almost couldn’t believe the things that just happened, how everything got so messed up after you swore you were making progress with the two of them. But you weren’t. And perhaps you never would, that being something you would just have to accept.

Though finally after feeling like you walked quickly for miles, you came to the clearing of the large quarry, slumping down near the water before you began to sob all by yourself. You let everything out, every built up emotion poured out of you like a rush of water. You could’ve sworn you cried so much that you could fill a quarry of your own, knowing that those emotions were really the only thing you were good at. Crying could be an olympic sport, and you would win first everytime given the chance. 

But that thought only got you thinking more, making you stew over Daryl’s words. Maybe he was right. Anyone could say that it was the heat of the moment, his anger, insults just spilling out of his mouth that were simply not true. But in a way, you knew how true they were. You had to admit that you did feel useless as you hugged your knees to your chest, covering your face as you sobbed even more. You didn’t have useful skills like some of the others, not being able to prove yourself as you truly were weak when it came to a world like this. All you ever wanted to do was be kind, provide for the people you cared about most. But your outlook got ruined in an instant, quickly replaced with a new one that you would surely think about forever.

It was funny, you thought. You once heard Merle’s faint voice playing in your mind repeatedly, but now…you only heard Daryl’s. His insults, his harshness, it was something you never would’ve guessed or expected from him. But now you knew that you had just ruined everything, when all you wanted was to help.

You didn’t know how much time you spent alone, crying off and on to yourself the more you allowed your mind to run, but you could only assume it was a fairly long time. The sun was beginning to set in the sky, the little bit of light that was left shone over the water in front of you, making it sparkle as your tears continued to blur the scenery. You sniffled as you wiped your cheeks over and over again, wanting to pull yourself together enough to be able to show your face again back at camp. But the embarrassment was still weighing heavily, almost a crushing pressure.

But then all your attention was pulled to a shuffling noise coming from behind you, causing you to whip your head around in a panic to see where it came from. Though the sight was more surprising than you could’ve ever prepared yourself for. Daryl slowly emerged from the trees with a hesitant look on his face, and your eyes widened as you quickly turned your head back in the opposite direction. You didn’t want to look at him. You couldn’t even bring yourself to understand why he had come out here. He had already done enough, he made his point crystal clear. You were just silently hoping he didn’t come out here to yell at you again.

Daryl on the other hand felt an immense amount of guilt. His chest tightened a little as he caught barely a glimpse of your red, puffy eyes and your tear stained cheeks, knowing he was the cause of it. He couldn’t describe how it made him feel, but all he knew was he was wishing he could take it all back if it meant not having to see you cry. His brother already caused you to break down enough, he didn’t want to be the cause of that too. And yet, he was.

The man slowly walked up to where you sat near the blue water, the rocks crunching beneath his boots louder and louder as he approached. Your heart was hammering in your chest as you just prayed he would go away, not wanting to interact with him after everything. But Daryl was stubborn, and he didn’t want you out here all night just because you were nervous to come back.

“Dinner’s almost ready.” he said a bit awkwardly, stopping just a few feet away from you. You heard him loud and clear, but you said nothing, not really in the mood to eat. Facing the group after they surely heard the scene that went down, it all sounded like a nightmare.

Daryl sighed heavily as you didn’t respond, you didn’t even look in his direction. Acting as if he wasn’t here at all. “Hey.” he called.

“...Why do you hate me?” you whispered, still not facing him as you spoke.

He almost questioned what you had said, but then it seemed to hit him all at once just how badly he had fucked up with all this. The one girl that showed him a kindness he had never seen, now thought he wanted nothing to do with her from the projected words he spat at her.

He let out a soft breath as he closed his eyes momentarily, stepping up a little closer, “I- I don’t…I don’t hate you.” he said quietly.

You didn’t react, so he managed to push himself a little further than what he was comfortable with. He moved to slowly sit down beside you, keeping some distance, yet he wanted you to know he was there. That he meant it. “I don’t hate you.” he said again.

“You act like it.” you were quick to say as you turned your head to look him in the eye, “I…I don’t even know what I did…” you said, your voice quiet and broken.

The man stared at you for a long moment, before slowly shaking his head, “Ya didn’t do nothin…it’s…it’s hard to explain. But I guess I never really understood…why yer so nice. Thought maybe ya just wanted somethin from me…I dunno.”

You shook your head a little in disbelief, “I’m nice because I care…that’s it.” you assured as you didn’t want him to think otherwise. But you supposed hearing his reasoning out loud made a little more sense, seeing as how you truly were the only one nice enough to show your kindness to the brothers. He was skeptical because no one had done that for them before, the thought nearly broke your heart.

A long moment of silence passed between the two of you, before you were the one to break it, “Listen…I’m so sorry about what happened. I didn’t mean to ruin what you worked so hard on, it was an accident.”

Though Daryl quickly shook his head, “Nah, don’t be. If anythin, I should be apologizin for what I said. I…I didn’t mean none of it…”

You stared at him with a soft expression, “But you were right…everything you said-”

“Everything I said was bullshit.” he said bluntly, looking at you with a seriousness in his eyes, “I say a lotta stupid shit I don’t mean when m’ angry, and this ain’t no different, ya hear me?”

“But it’s true.” you argued gently before looking back out into the water, “I don’t know how to help out…how to survive in a world like this. I always try to do what I can, but it’s never enough.”

Daryl paused as he saw the sadness behind your eyes, a sudden feeling overtaking him as he wanted to say or do something that would get you to smile again. “Hey, that ain’t true. Ya go out and scavenge, ya help cook the food that’s brought back…ya even helped stitch Glenn up when the dumbass hurt himself.”

His words caused a small laugh to escape your lips as you looked back over to him, “Well I knew he would somehow mess it up even more if he did it himself…I didn’t have a choice with that one.”

“Nah…ya did.” he said seriously, “Ya always have a choice, and I see ya puttin others before yerself all the time. That’s somethin ya should give yerself credit for.”

Your eyes softened the longer you looked at him, a small smile forming on your face just seeing how much he cared. Even if he wasn’t willing to admit it out loud just yet. “Thank you.” you said quietly.

Daryl felt his face grow a little hot as he ducked his head, clearing his throat a little awkwardly, “Yeah, no problem…” he muttered before it looked like he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, and uh…I brought ya this.” he said before revealing the hand that sat behind his back.

You looked down to see it was the same small flower that Merle took from you, sitting in the palm of his hand as he held it out to you. Your eyes widened a little as your small fingers delicately took it from his grasp. “You got it back?” 

“Uh, no that one was all smushed by the end of…everythin. So I went and got ya a new one…hope that’s okay.” he explained a bit quietly.

Your smile grew as your eyes lit up at the simple kind gesture, one you would have never expected from him. “It’s perfectly okay…thank you.” you said sincerely, raising it up to place it behind your ear.

He nodded a bit awkwardly as he watched you for a moment, chewing the inside of his lip. “Alright, well come on.” he muttered as he stood back up to his feet, “Best be gettin back.” he spoke, hesitantly extending a hand out to help you up.

His actions surprised you a bit, but that didn’t stop you from taking his hand, letting him help you stand before the two of you slowly headed back through the woods. You half expected complete silence as you walked side by side with him, but he managed to keep a conversation with you as if he suddenly enjoyed your company. Though maybe he always did, he was just cautious as he didn’t always trust people as easily as you did. But you were growing more hopeful as he slowly came around, finding you had to be patient to see how much of a gentle person he really was.

From that day on, you and Daryl had slowly gotten more comfortable with each other. You wouldn’t really call it a friendship per se, but it was something the two of you very clearly cherished. But that wasn’t the only thing that seemed to change.

Merle’s attitude toward you seemed to have completely flipped from what you had grown accustomed to. He rarely ever spoke to you again after that day, and if he did it was always something short and simple, not an insult in sight. Though you were a little surprised, a part of you had a feeling who changed his mind about you.

~ Thanks for reading!

[leighsartworks216]

I Come With Knives Pt6

Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader

(The other parts of this story are under the First BG3 Masterlist, or you can use the AO3 link to read it there)

This one is my problem child. I have no idea how to write for the other companions but I needed to have this as context for the companions learning about Tav's bg and yeah whatever I've got better stuff coming up. I am very very excited for future chapters >:)

Warnings: self-destructive coping mechanisms (scratching oneself), mentions of slavery, hints of a panic attack, mentions of emotional abuse, mentions of biting, possibly OOC companions

Word Count: 1,334

Main Masterlist

First Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist - Second Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist

I Come With Knives Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form

Everyone eyed you warily. You didn’t blame them. After you scrubbed your hands raw of the blood staining them, you provided no explanation. You’d basically sped in, Astarion trailing behind, and ran for a bucket of water. And stayed there. For hours. After the fact, you changed out the water, of course, but they weren’t concerned as much with the pink-tinted water as they were with the frantic nature you scraped the natural dye from your hands.

Astarion didn’t say anything either. A few of them had tried asking, but he smiled tersely and made an excuse that changed each time. “I was too distracted fighting a beast.” “You know how some people get with germs.” “They really hate the color red.” (This one was not said to Karlach, nor in her earshot.) 

It all came to a head at dinner, when you’d still provided no explanation. Gale handed out servings silently, staring at you as though studying a new specimen. Lae’zel watched you like a predator trying to defend her territory, prepared for the moment the intruder stepped over the line. Shadowheart barely repressed her scowl.

Wyll set down his bowl pointedly. “Haven’t you kept your secrets hidden long enough?” You raise your eyes from your barely-touched stew. You didn’t quite see him. Your mind lingered on the image of the Gur. “Do you expect us to continue following blindly while we pour our souls out for you?”

You bristled. The image disappeared, tucked away to haunt you later. “No. No, I’m sorry.” You sighed and set your bowl aside. Everyone watched you expectantly, more interested in what you could say than filling their bellies. “It’s just… difficult to talk about.”

“Speak,” Lae’zel encourages roughly. “We will listen.”

Astarion frowns at you. He’s taken to sitting beside you for ‘dinner’. They knew by now he wasn’t suited to eating normal food, but he didn’t quite trust them not to stake him through the heart or cut his head off. It was safest to linger by your side. The irony of your trust in him was not lost on him: You understood him best and you feared him the most. That fear may have dampened over time, but you still flinched at the gleam of his fangs, watched him as he left camp to hunt at night. Yet you’d bared your soul to him and him alone. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

You inhale, slow and shaky. Your hands fiddle in your lap, providing you some sort of distraction. It would not be enough to ground you to reality should the thoughts become too potent.

“I was… am,” you corrected unsurely, “a vampire’s thrall. She… uses me as a blood source. Has used me, for years. I’ve been stuck under her thumb since I was a teenager. It’s… easier to have one consistent source of food than to go out looking for it every night.

“When we were out in the woods,” you nod your head slightly toward Astarion, “there was a Gur. A monster hunter. A-And he said he was looking for a runaway.” Your breaths sharpen into quick, frightened little things. You nearly choke on them. You stare into the fire. Your nails start scratching at your hands. You don’t even realize you’re doing it. “He had nothing to go on, just a name, but I panicked and I- I killed him. I shouldn’t have. I know I shouldn’t have. I could have explained everything. I could have paid him off. I could have-”

“Steady on, soldier,” Karlach interrupts. You can’t look at her, can’t draw your eyes away from the flickering flames, but you know she looks worried. It always amazed you how openly she wore her emotions, despite it all. “Take a breath, okay?”

Your nails stop scratching in favor of digging into your skin. You take a breath, slowly let it out, and your nails ease off. You run your fingertips mindlessly over the indents left behind.

You whisper, unable to raise your voice any further. “He said my master is in Berdusk.”

Quiet. Gale spoke up, voicing the awful realization everyone had. “That’s only a few miles from Baldur’s Gate.”

You nod.

“You’re marchin’ right back to her.” Karlach sighs, heavy and empathetic.

You finally lift your eyes from the fire. Everyone’s attention is on you, pitying and remorseful. “I have no choice. I can’t abandon you all just to run away. Especially with these tadpoles. I have no doubts she’ll find me quickly once we reach the city.”

“We could confront her,” Wyll suggests. “Go to Berdusk, face her head on, free you!”

“It’s not some goblin camp we can just walk into and clear out,” you protest. The idea thrills you to no end, but you cannot allow yourself that hope. Not when there is none. You will be found. Tonight, the next, a week from now. You’ll be locked back into your servitude. There is no chance you have to be free. “Killing a vampire lord isn’t- It’s not just-”

Astarion speaks up. You don’t expect it; he’d been so quiet this whole time. “If we can kill Cazador, we can kill Kir Parthene.” Your stomach rolls around at the sound of her name. “What makes facing my master any different from yours?”

You know the answer. Even if you don’t realize it yet, you know.

You have no qualms threatening Cazador. You’ve even told Astarion that you plan to help him kill his master, once and for all. Free him and his ‘siblings’, and rid Baldur’s Gate of the nighttime threat to its people. No longer would they have to go out, lure victims in as food for the vampire lord. It was so easy to promise. If you could help everyone else, why should you leave Astarion to the same fate you faced after this quest? He should be as free as possible from the chains binding him.

So why couldn’t you let them swear the same for you? What made Kir Parthene so different from Cazador? She was not stationed in as large a city, she did not steal souls off the street every night just for a quick meal, she did not personally carve poetry into the flesh of those beneath her. She had power, but no more than Cazador held. So why were you so reluctant to even dream of your freedom?

You were afraid.

Astarion can see the very second you know the answer to his question. Your eyes open a fraction wider, filling with a bottomless dread. Your heart stutters and your breath catches. He’s sure you’re on the verge of tears as you inhale a trembling breath, trying to keep yourself from hyperventilating, even as your fear squeezes your lungs.

“You won’t have to face her alone.” You turn to look at Shadowheart. “You’ve given us the strength to face our demons. We can help you face yours.”

You want to believe her. Believe all of them as they nod in agreement. Believe they could give you the strength you lacked, support you when you come face-to-face with her once more.

But then you see the deep crimson of her eyes and lips. You feel her nails digging into your skin. The cooing affections that come just after the harsh vitriol. Her teeth digging deep into your neck. How can you have any hope of facing her?

You shake your head and push yourself to your feet so fast Astarion is startled. “I’m sorry. I can’t think about this right now.” You abandon your dinner. It sits, lonely and growing cold, as you step away from the warm glow of the fire and the safety of your companions into the edge of trees surrounding your camp. You don’t go far, just far enough you can’t hear them speaking and they can’t see you collapse against a tree, clutching and clawing at your hands to remove the memories from your mind.

At least they know now.

---

Tag List:

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[illarian-rambling]

I heard ghost ship in space and came running :)

So I’m not 100% certain how your cast fits into the ghost ship unless I’m vastly misunderstanding what you mean by ghost ship but I’m here to ask questions all the same because I love characters. Here goes:

I’m going to assume at least some of the characters are either from or end up forming a spaceship crew (feel free to ignore this if not) so I’m curious what roles they end up playing (like who’s the captain, the mechanic, the helm officer, etc)? What ways do they suit those roles and what ways do they really not suit those roles?

What’s their goal? Do they all agree on it? I feel like going out into the death void that is Illarian space isn’t something you do unless you have a plan of what you want

How do they react to the unique challenges of space? Like I love space, but the tiny living quarters, lack of natural light or nature of any kind, spending time in a small environment with the same five people, rationing, knowledge that any minor damage to your ship could kill you… it’s not for the faint of heart. Are they used to it? How do they cope (or not)?

I hope some of these help the brainstorming :)

This helps so much, thank you!

So, by ghost ship, I mean the characters for this are gonna be ghosts. Essentially, the vague idea is that some mages on Illaros found out that there's this 'mysterious wall' at the edge of their solar system, and they want to launch a ship into space to check it out while also investigating some of the other planets along the way because yay first space travel! However, technology hasn't progressed to space suit level. The ship is actually just a wooden ship with a runic engine that they're teleporting into space via a teleportation rune etched on basically a manhole cover they managed to launch up there by putting it on top of a well with a bomb at the bottom. They know they don't have the means for survival up there, so what do they do? They go to a Chosen priest and ask them to summon up some ghosts.

At this point, the gods have a vested interest in this mission. A few ghosts might be small enough to slip past End unnoticed and find out if there's anything else in the universe. But they don't want to give up their best and brightest on what's likely a suicide mission, so they pick some screw-ups with a few skills to send instead, promising them a better place in the afterlife should they succeed. Some divine magic allows the ghosts to be bound to the ship and off the mission goes!

The thing about all these fuckers being dead though, is that they don't need a lot of traditional ship stuff. Especially since it's a magic ship that mostly flies by itself. I've got five crew members planned out, each with a role.

Faalgun Falani is the captain. He was a renowned Flying City pilot until his gambling addiction got him fired and eventually beaten to death. He's an uptight sort who tries to adhere to a code of honor, even though he often slips up. Out of all of the crew, he knows the most about space and the other planets, as the Flying City travels between planets frequently. I think he really wants to get into his religion's heaven to prove that he's not a total failure. Maybe he's got family or a lover there too? Who knows!

Nyda Burningrock is an astronomer who died about 400 years before the story takes place. She's Nabafyrian and has a bit of a complex about not being an adept fighter in such a martial culture, despite her rough and tumble nature. She was actually the first to theorize that the 'stars' move under their own power more than what's accounted for by gravity and the rotation of the planet, and she found a way to predict those movements, but unfortunately, she didn't write anything down or cite any sources. Her end came when she decided to travel to the realm of the Fair Folk to observe the sky there. She lasted about 15 minutes before getting hunted for sport by a fae lord.

Kaulakri Placeholdersurname is gonna be a sort of foil for Nyda, I think. She's a halawemavish selkie and the ship's cartographer, as well as a natural historian. She has beef with Nyda because mapmakers have been trying to replicate Nyda's method of predicting the unpredictable movements of Illari stars for centuries, but again, Nyda wrote literally nothing down. Kaulakri, on the other hand, writes everything down. She's neat and orderly and unfortunately wasn't able to get her comprehensive map of the world's ocean currents organized in time before she died of a random stomach bug.

Pashananath (Pash for short) is the ship's negotiator, for if they encounter any life beyond the wall of End. He's one of the Fair Folk and grew up in the Hive (a vast compound city ruled by a powerful fae demigod). His Contribution (an important concept for fae) was music. He was quite the musician, but due to his faculty for languages, he also worked as a honeytongue - essentially a smooth-talker/jester for hire in Fair Folk society. He died very young for one of the Fair Folk when another fae decided to kill him for playing a pitchy song. Pash isn't too mad about this (fae morals are weird), even if the rest of the crew things he should be.

And finally, there's Anarac. The scientists didn't ask for him, but the gods sent him anyways. No one knows what his specialty is because he never talks. He's the longest dead out of all of them and is one of the extinct Araunian people.

With such a cast, I'm hoping there'll be a good deal of tension. I don't think they actually know much about End (besides Anarac), except that the Chosen who summoned them said it's dangerous, so they arent worried about it nearly as much as they should be. I'm hoping that Nyda and Kaulakri can have a fun rivalry, while Pash might be the son figure Anarac needs, and leading these people to success will help Faalgun stop thinking he's a failure.

I'll probably structure it more episodically, with fun stuff happening at each planet they stop to explore. I have no idea what's gonna happen when they reach End's blockade, but I guess I can figure that out later. I think the main environmental problem for a ship full of dead people would be that if they get too far from the ship, they start to lose their ability to stay corporeal, then they just fade away.

Lmk if you have any more questions or suggestions! I think this really helped me with getting things straight in my mind, so thanks a ton <3

[hijinks-n-lowjinks]

tell me abt the gasoline jjk wip 🙏

GLADLY.

It all started by listening to Halsey's Badlands album for the umpteenth time and there was just something about Gasoline that suddenly hit different. It gave such distinct apocalyptic vibes that I was instantly inspired and tried to write down as much exposition and plot outlining as I could before I forgot.

And thus the jjk/itafushi vamp au was born!!!

The general premise is that vampires are the ruling class in the modern world. They take blood tithe offerings in order for humans to keep their lives. It's not exactly uncommon for vamps to kill recklessly, but this provides them with some incentive not to kill their main source of food with each feeding.

Megumi's role in this au is... complicated. He works as a poacher, a term used by humans and vampires alike to describe humans that hunt down other humans to feed to vampires. He's enlisted by different vampires and covens to find and capture humans that fit the specific desires of the vamp in question: blood type, gender, age, etc. Think of it as a fucked up comparison to how people have specific foods they prefer.

Now, Megumi isn't playing to role of the good guy in this fic, but he also doesn't want to be doing what he's doing. The only reason he does this is to keep his comatose sister alive and safe, as he's made a deal with coven leader Mahito to keep their hands off of the Fushiguro siblings if he hunts people down when they ask.

The essential plot is that one day Mahito has a specific request for Megumi: capture one boy and Megumi will no longer have to work as a traitor to humanity while still remaining safe from vampires. This boy, Itadori Yuuji, has stolen something from Mahito and he needs it back, but he also needs Yuuji alive so Megumi can't just kill him.

Megumi sees this as his one opportunity to get out of this shithole of a situation and hesitantly accepts the offer. He sets out to find this thief and ends up forming a friendship with him, first to try and gain Yuuji's trust so he can manipulate Yuuji into doing what he wants, but obviously things don't turn out the way he plans.

Yuuji is very much a mystery throughout the story, his background and motives hidden until much later in the story when shit goes down. He and Megumi have a sort of instant chemistry/connection in this fic that throws both of them off, as neither have much experience with forging human relationships. Their dynamic is something I'm so excited to explore!

And that's the basic plot! There's a lot more shit involved that I have and have not written out yet, but I am SO excited to finally get to this one aibtntfi is finished! I've been talking about this fic with @kattythingz forever and she knows how long this shit has been in works lol. The title of this fic has been at war in my head as I can't choose between a simple title like "Gasoline" or if I should go with the good old lyric title "my heart is gold, but my hands are cold", but honestly I'm sort of leaning towards the former? Feels more distinct that way and it's a bit different from my usual fic titles.

[tales-of-sweets]

Zagi's Tragic Need For Validation

I don't think that Zagi became obsessed with Yuri the moment he met him or that an interesting fight alone was what motivated him to chase Yuri the ends of the earth. I believe he was out for Yuri's blood, yes, but not for blood's sake but instead because of what it symbolized... This is a headcanon/interpretation that I've probably talked about a million times before, but I'm thinking about it again! Since it chronologically references the events of the game and includes sources/examples it's pretty lengthy so I'll put it under the cut!

The first time he meets Yuri he's on a job and, while it seems to be the first worthwhile fight he's had in a long while, he leaves willingly when he's called to retreat (well, willing in the sense that this is the only time we ever see him retreat mid-battle while he's still in perfect fighting condition).

The next time we see him he's on yet another job, eager to kill "something", his choice of words even with Yuri right in front of him and they seem to recognize each other.

Zagi doesn't actually seem to acquire any fixation on Yuri at all until after the second battle, specifically after he's defeated... and Yuri compliments him. Even after what we can clearly see Zagi believes is a failure on his part (worth noting that in the official translation he says "...I-I retreated..." instead of "...I-I'm finished..." even though they both convey a similar feeling.)

From this point forward, we never see him taking another job or working with Leviathan's Claw. Hunting down Yuri appears to have become his full time fixation. Zagi to me seems like an incredibly lonely man. He is isolated by his own abilities and his inability to relate to others in a meaningful way. He has reached a level of skill that few can comprehend, let alone match (things that are corroborated by this skit here:

He takes pleasure in killing and victory but has not known the rush nor the bond of a fair fight in so long. For all of his hooting and hollering about wanting to kill Yuri, I don't think that's exactly what he was truly getting out of this whole thing. I don't think that's actually what he was chasing. That was the first time he'd found someone on his level and that was the only time Yuri ever complimented him so to me it seems like what he's really chasing is that same high of validation. A connection. He wanted Yuri to come at him with full force, to find joy in their fights as he did, to connect with him... but he only got that the one time. All future instances involved Yuri dismaying at his presence, swatting him off like a pest, fighting him only to remove him as an obstacle. So many of his lines feel like validation seeking, not only in the form of wanting friendship, but more in the way of just wanting to be recognized period. For example:

He tried to make himself stronger, augmented himself, taunted him, but there was always some bigger issue that held Yuri's attention, something greater than him. To me, that played a huge role in why, in the end, he had to make himself Yuri's priority even if it meant destroying himself in the process. While the whole "you can't break the seal without my arm" bit is a little contentious (poor wording? an outright lie? mistranslation?), the truth of the matter is that, in a last ditch effort, he made himself Yuri's number 1 priority. He was now an important part of his quest, not just an annoyance to be brushed aside. Yuri had to take him seriously now.

And when, at last, he was defeated, he thought maybe then Yuri had seen his value and worth, that at last their fight had resonated with him.

Of course we all know how that ended. While I have many issues with the way this ending was handled, I think we get some interesting insight from it that I believe lends some credence to this interpretation:

I think it's worth nothing that almost everyone expresses some sort of sympathy and understanding towards Zagi in the end, except for Yuri. While it is a very valid and plausible interpretation to think that Yuri still doesn't care even after his death, I personally choose to consider the fact that Yuri, as we have seen time and time again, is not very upfront with his emotions and is not always the quickest to admit when he's wrong. I think he could see the tragedy of the situation, I think he could recognize that he really hadn't understood Zagi's intentions, and it's my personal theory that that's precisely why he took a more forgiving approach when confronting Duke in the end. I cannot, in any way, fault Yuri for not stopping to befriend the guy who, for all intents and purposes, seemed intent on killing him. But I also can't help but see the tragedy of the situation from Zagi's perspective. Raven states that something changed after Zagi met them. While it's hard to imagine him as an upstanding citizen or pleasant person to begin with, he probably wasn't always like this.

Raven lends a little more insight too, one of the skits following his demise:

Yuri, Duke, the Don (not shown in the screenshot, though Raven does reference him and Belius), they were held together by the bonds they shared with people who understood them. I think there could have been a chance for Zagi to have turned things around, not let his obsession with Yuri consume him to this degree. Hell, I don't even think it's improbable that he could have become an ally, put his energy into something more productive (as Yuri put it several times over). I don't think Zagi was always doomed to this fate, I think he just met the wrong person at the wrong time.

[midnightshard06]

Flufftober Day 24

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50489362/chapters/129097132

Summary: Sonic comes to visit Tails on a particularly hot day. The two have a nice chat.

Pairing: None

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~1000 words

AN: Based in the same au as these doodles from this post- https://www.tumblr.com/midnightshard06/730864248738217984/so-my-brain-decided-to-oh-so-helpfully-have-me?source=share

I am getting so close to just officially making this au a thing I swear

@flufftober

"Why must it be so hot?" Sonic sighed as he put his head down on the table. It was summer at the moment, and honestly it was probably his least favorite season. Even when not in werehog form he’d always had thicker fur than the average hedgehog. It did a great job at keeping him warm in the colder months, and a great job at overheating him in the warmer ones.

Tails walked over and pat his back before putting a glass of water in front of him. He happily took it and drained the glass. "Well, you've always done better in the cold. Thicker fur and all."

"Like you?" Sonic grinned.

"Let's just say you're not the only one who doesn't like this heat." Tails sat down across from him after grabbing Sonic another glass.

"So besides suffering in the heat how have you been buddy?" Sonic took a sip of the second glass of water. 

"I've been pretty good. Thanks to you mostly." Tails took a sip of his own water with a smile.

"Hey I wasn't about to stand by when the fox that saved my life was getting picked on." Sonic reached over the table to ruffle the top of Tails' head. “Plus that happened like forever ago dude.”

Tails playfully batted his hand away. "Still." He fixed his misplaced fur. "I would have been a lot worse off if you hadn't stepped in and gotten people to see the worth in my inventions… and me."

"Well it helped that I had the chance to save your town from those bandits. Gave me a lot of sway with the people." Sonic took another sip. "I would have tried anyway though."

"And that's why you're my best friend." Tails' smile widened.

Sonic sighed as he put his head against the slightly cooler table again. "You're my best friend too bud."

"Maybe I should try and make something to help with the heat." Tails hummed. "How long are you going to be in town for?"

Sonic hummed. "Not sure. A couple weeks maybe? Depends on how careful I am."

"You don't know how to avoid everyone here at night by now? You've been visiting me for over a year." Tails chuckled.

“Look, you have some pretty persistent hunters in this town.” Sonic moved his head so he could look at Tails. “Even though I’m not here all the time, some of those guys are crazy about trying to find me and ‘finish the job’.” He gave an exaggerated shiver. “Have you ever talked to one of those guys?”

“Who? That guy who calls himself Infinite and those other jackals? Can’t say I really care to have any sort of conversation with them.” Tails shrugged. “Have you?”

“Unfortunately. Good to know your enemy and all that. They’re very… passionate about tracking me down. Even tried to convince me to join them on a hunt once since I was acting like I didn’t believe them.” Sonic reluctantly peeled his face off the table. Honestly it was already too warm.

“Imagine the shock on their faces if they realized it was you.” Tails chuckled. “How’d you get out of it anyway? I suspect the only reason they haven’t tried to get me to go on one with them is because I actively avoid them.”

“Well you know me, I’m good at slipping away.” Sonic cleared his throat as Tails gestured for him to elaborate. “I may have gotten their leader to go off on some passionate rant so I could run off.” He shrugged. “It worked at least but now I have to make sure they don’t spot me at night or during the day.”

“I know you’ll manage.” Tails glanced out the window. “Looks like the sun is going to be setting soon. What’s the plan for tonight?”

Sonic frowned and pinned his ears down. “Can’t say I really like the idea of going out for a run in this heat.” He sighed through his nose. “How bout I stick around tonight and help you out. I know you’re not going to bed any time soon. Even if you should.” Sonic gave him a knowing smile.

Tails rubbed the back of his head and looked away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Suuuuure you don’t.” Sonic sped over to him and once again ruffled the fur on his head. “Hope your workshop is still werehog proof.” He smirked.

“I always make sure it is. Never know when you’ll be dropping by.” Tails chuckled. “Maybe I could experiment with helping you get rid of that extra energy again. I really think we were getting somewhere last time you were here.”

“So long as those experiments don’t literally blow up in my face as they tend to do I’m all for it.” Sonic paused outside the door to Tails’s workshop. “I’ll pop in once I’ve transformed. You go ahead and get whatever you need ready.”

“Got it!” Tails hesitated at the door before wrapping Sonic in a hug. “It really is good to see you.”

Despite the uncomfortable amount of warmth an extra body gave Sonic wrapped his arms around Tails. It was also in that moment that he felt the jolt through his body that signaled the start of his transformation. Well it looked like Tails was getting an extra warm hug then. It didn’t take long for Sonic to change and for Tails to feel smaller than before. The fox playfully struggled in his grip for a moment before Sonic let him go. “Heh, I’ll try and come around more often to see ya bud. Now let’s get to work.” Tails beamed at him and nodded. They were in for a long night, one filled with the same oppressive heat of the day, but Sonic wouldn’t wanna spend it with anyone else.

[offbrandspacecolumbo]

Curse of Strahd Kitbashing pt3

So, previously, I was bouncing what to do with some of the Fey elements I want to bring in to augment the story. I had not one but two Archfey to pick from - Kannoth, a vampiric fey who survived the collapse of his city (with necromancy) and now serves as the court mage of the Unseelie from his city of the dead; and Neifion, a general of the Queen of Air and Darkness who resides on both the Feywild and the Shadowfell, and whose body is a mix of both man and bat, but has been imprisoned within his castle by a permanent artificial sun. I don't think I can do both. Originally, I was planning on Kannoth; after booting the Dark Powers, I'd have no need for the Amber Temple, and I could plop his city in its place. Or at least, a gateway to reach the city, if nothing else. I planned to force a connection between him and the Dusk Elves to perhaps justify the curse he placed on Strahd, and overall I was just interested in this necromancer vampire-fey. However, I've gained a bit of appreciation for the Dark Powers and the Shadowfell. While I'd still like to implement the Feywild, I also want to rock the Domains of Dread and the Dark Powers. And for that, Neifion, the imprisoned bat who's got influence in both, would serve me better. In addition, as he's imprisoned, this both informs his relationship with the rest of the realm (he, *too*, is a prisoner of this massive jail cell), and also conveniently keeps him out of the picture for much of the game so I can focus on Strahd (bonus: one of my players **already has a pact to help bust Neifion out,** so he was always going to play a minor role but now this just fits so well) One of the main reasons I wanted to include the Fey in the first place was because I wanted to play up Strahd's punishment; it already felt like the kind of karmic prank-punishment an insulted Fey might give someone who's slighted or wronged them. But an angle I never considered was that, for all his faults and his evils, Strahd legitimately protects his lands. Or, protected his lands, in older editions - from the Dark Lords of other Domains of Dread, and the Dark Powers. An angle that's been apparently dropped for the 5e version adds a lot more depth to Strahd's character - he's not just the BBEG, he's a lot more complicated than that. Strahd 100% deserves a stake to the heart no matter what. But even as he makes his world miserable, he also actively protects it from guys who'd make it even *worse,* and it'd be a shame to forget that. An interesting point of conflict for the party, or at the very least a neat detail. With Kannoth completely gone, with nothing left representing him on the board, that's just Neifion, the Dark Powers, and... do I need anything else? I'll have to answer the question of how this Neifion and this Strahd got imprisoned, but I'll have to do so later. For now, it's 2:15, and I need sleep. But I think I need to fill a Jailor role. I also think I'd like a copy of an older-edition Ravenloft book, so I could learn more about what I heard.

[ballorawan740]

SCP Scenarios: SCP 1678 (Unlondon) x Reader (REQUESTED)

Source: Photo

SCP Scenarios Masterlist | My Works Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Rules | My Original Post | Request | Socials

Requested by: @lilithisfurry

Ok, so I've done it!!! 😃

Before any of you say a thing, I know that there are 2 humanoid 1678s which are 1678-A (Bobbies/Policeman) and 1678-C (Wretch) and an avian type one (1678-B)

The one I'll be using is 1678-A (Policeman) because it takes too much time to write 3 versions of this SCP (But I might consider writing the other 2, but it's highly unlikely)

First Encounter

When you first met this humanoid, you were sent into SCP 1678 for some test

The police humanoid emitted a loud whistle as the speakers screamed ‘‘Police! Halt, criminal!’’

A couple of others who were with you attempted to shoot them with their guns but were quickly shown to be resistant

Luckily for them, they managed to plant some explosives which caused damage

The other 1678-As went in and attacked them which wasn't unusual because of their hostile nature

However, for you, one of them managed to capture you and ran

For some reason, it showed some interest towards you and warded off the other SCP 1678-As off from you

They seemed to understand that you were "marked" and left you alone

That particular 1678-A managed to get you out from harm and back to your foundation

The foundation staff did wonder what had happened and you told them everything with proof since you were wearing a bodycam

They've soon noticed that this particular policeman was softer towards you as you bandaged up its broken arm

Your feelings for him

After the incident, you were sent back down into 1678 for further research and you bumped back into the sane 1678-A

You only remembered that it was him because of its gesture and its unusual markings which distinguished him from the others

Somehow, you both were able to communicate with each other

The researchers realised that they seemed to understand human speech, mainly English, however, they seemed to understand other forms of European languages as well

Moreover, this particular Bobby also understood sign language and used it to his advantage to communicate with you, displaying some fondness for you

The researchers were reluctant to let you carry on with this test as they've noticed that you've reciprocated the same gesture

Let's just say that the researchers and the other Bobbies agreed to the fact that it was strange for you and that special policeman to be dating

His Confession

Over time, as you both became closer, he worked up the courage to sign to you that he cares a lot about you

And you've found that rather cute and returned the gesture

Which then made you both a rather unique type of couple

The other 1678-As were concerned and curious about this new relationship and so was the Foundation

The researchers had decided to borrow your newfound partner and took him to his new room (No, you've basically kidnapped him)

Needless to say, the other Bobbies were somewhat furious while others were glad that he's gone since he betrayed them for not killing you

Your new partner was somewhat homesick, so you've decided to paint some victorian style art for his cell

Date

From time to time, you both were shoved back into 1678 which just so happens to be the main place for you both to date

Some of his friends were relieved to see him and some would even offer you a hug

You obviously returned the gesture for being so flattering and because your man could finally get laid (NGL yall still be touch starved to the point you'd even date strange beings and objects)

Dates with this Bobby would be rather interesting

Like, he'd hold hands, but probably wouldn't start it during the beginning of the relationship because he's just shy (Just like everybody else here)

Since his face is all bandaged up, you wouldn't really be having many kisses

But he'll make it up with hugs instead

His fellow friends would probably enjoy bothering the both of you while you're there and would pull pranks on you both

If you both were in the foundation, you'd be chilling in his cell and talking bout your experiences in life (Not like you'd have much to say, get back to studying/work)

The researchers may poke fun of you both but would generally leave you both alone

When he gets jealous

Now, depending on who he's jealous of, he would react differently

If it was another fellow 1678-A, he would be slightly hostile and assert his dominance over the others

However, if it was a member of the foundation or anyone else that's not 1678-A for that matter, he'd be even more aggressive and would probably try and kill them

Unless you manage to stop him then it's fine

This Bobby would be slightly possessive because you're the only other person who genuinely cares about him other than his 1678 friends/family

If he sees you having a friendly chat with another person/SCP, he would wrap an arm around you just so the other person knows you're taken

I think over time he learns some boundaries so even if he is aggressive, he wouldn't just automatically send the dude you're with to hell

Unless that person is a crappy person then good for them

Yandere!1678-A

This yandere right here would literally kidnap you and take you back into 1678

He'd make sure that you would never find a way back into the foundation which does concern the researchers, so they send a group of D-classes and MTFs to find you

If he was feeling nice, he would let you wander around 1678 but he would most likely be next to or near you at all times

If he was having a bad day, he would tie you up in a random building and made sure that nobody can get in or out

Would most likely be even more hostile to everybody else around you

If you haven't behaved, he'd probs use something sharp to inflict pain on you

If you managed to behave, then he loosens the ropes around your arms, legs and neck

Probs would feed you tiny doses of 1678-D but only a bit because he's aware of how that affects the bodies of ordinary humans

Their younger sister

You and the other 1678-As would literally be families at this point or friends with the ones who are lurking away from the main area of 1678

And since you were rather new, you were treated as the younger one (That's also because you're the youngest one)

Would probably protect you from everything

You would be spoilt to death and wouldn't have to hurt a fly

One of the policemen would get you a 1678-B as your personal pet

And it's rather fond of you so it basically follows you around

Would most likely intimidate your dates if you have one

Even more so if they're a human/SCP from the Foundation

If it was another member of 1678 then they're more chill

However, if you were dating 1678-C, they'd be quite reluctant for you to be in a relationship with her but would let you anyways

When their kids say their name for the first time

Would 100% be crying internally and shocked

Like, it happened out of the blue since you both were just relaxing

Word would spread across the whole of 1678 because of this

And not because you both were a unique pairing in the first place

1678-A would try to teach your child some sign language in contrast to you who would teach them to communicate verbally

Most likely try and teach the kid to defend themselves and probably attack others

But you wouldn't let him because they were too young (Just like you lot!!! Shouldn't y'all be studying in primary or high/secondary schools?)

The other 1678s would literally yeet their way to meet the kid just so they can teach your child to say more words

And to swear of course

When his S/O is angry

Oh dear

If the foundation doesn't know any better, they'd just assume that all the Bobbies were the aggressive ones

And oh boy were they wrong

You were the one who needs a chill pill

Basically, some guy tried to hit on you and wouldn't stop

So you just casually gave him a taste in his own medicine

Which were a punch in the face and a kick in the nuts (Kids, don't do this to a guy unless he really deserves it)

He somehow got back up and carried on harassing you

Your man was just strolling around the park until he saw the commotion

He had to literally hold you back and made the guy run for his life

Which was a shocker since it's usually the other way around

And of course, everybody inside 1678 heard about the news and cheered on for you while others just ran since they didn't wanna have the first-hand experience with your anger issue

When someone tries to steal you away

Oh this man right here would gather all his police friends as well as the birds to hunt down whoever stole you away

He would be furious to the core and rightfully so

The foundation was informed of this and they didn't blame this SCP

And that's because the person who stole you was from the Chaos Insurgency

Both GOIs hated each other's guts so the foundation just kinda let 1678-A hunt down the guy

And he did along with the MTFs

But was met with you standing over the guy's dead body

Then everybody realised that your man taught you how to protect yourself

And you did it so perfectly that even 1678 was intimidated af

Nobody wanted to mess with you and your partner was relieved that he taught you self defence

When his pregnant!S/O gets hurt by accident

This particular 1678-A that just so happens to be your partner, is rather shy and introverted

Nad although he does his 'job' well, he would rather just stay away from any contact

Until he met you and you became pregnant

This 1678-A would be slightly more protective but would let you have some space

And because of this, you managed to give yourself a papercut

Which was met with a furious policeman

But was cooled down when you explained your injury to him

He was giving you a huge lecture about your safety and how not to get hurt because you're carrying his baby

Wouldn't leave you alone ever again

Even if that means he would have to sit by the corner at all times

Would send his mates to come over to check on you if he wasn't there

Meeting a dragon hybrid child fem!reader

Definitely would be curious about you since they mostly interact with Foundation staffs

Probably would try to attack you but instead got burnt

1678-A would definitely notice your strange appearance and that you cry lava

Would feel bad so he'd try and comfort you

This then leads to you both being rather attached to each other

This particular 1678-A would have to bribe the others to keep you

The foundation realising this would happen

Probably would let you stay there for research purposes

They would most likely help level up your telekineses

Treats you like their own child and would be extremely protective

Most likely would have a heart attack every time you show kindness towards foundation members instead of attacking them

Every time you're in danger, the ones attacking you would soon realise that they've screwed up

Because the SCPs can hear you cry which would summon a whole bunch of them

When he accidentally kills you

He was basically chilling with you until some MTF members arrived to take some samples for testing

They were attacked by the other 1678-As and retaliated

This chill guy would lead you to safety before attacking the remaining MTFs

You realising what has happened decided to try and help out

You noticed that one of the MTF members were about to shoot your guy and managed to throw the gun out of his hand

1678-A notices and tries to attack the member but instead killed you

The remaining MTF members flee as he mourns your death

He would be even more vengeful and aggressive to the foundation members

Which does scare off the other Bobbies

Stayed in one of the abandoned houses to cry alone

Yandere!1678 - A x Evil!Reader

I'd say aside from his yandere self and the fact that he's only more aggressive to everyone else aside from you and giving you some scars, he's pretty dense and thicc in the brain

Probably wouldn't notice that you were working on them for a project in the GOC

You were able to get away with a lot of things because of your small stature and innocent appearance

Definitely managed to fool this yandere!1678-A because of your appearance

You could be just as vicious when you want to be

Yandere!1678-A soon realises that you were just using him for some experiment and were angered to the point of no return

Would most likely try and hunt you down

But since you've already got enough information about this SCP, you were able to devise a plan to leave

Manages to catch up to you but you were fortunate enough to know enough self-defence tactics to ward him off

You never came back to him and he was depressed for all of eternity

Trying McDonald's Sprite

You were requested to bring some ordinary food to 1678 as a test

And you've decided that you wanted to bring some Sprite with some Apple pie, mozzarella dippers and pancakes (They're my soul food from Mackies ok? Don't judge)

When you arrived in 1678, that one particular policeman who is attached to you for some odd reason was curious about the food

Of course, he would need to take off the bandage on his head to taste the food but not before some bribery from you

He reminisced about the food since he loved eating them before he turned into 1678-A

Sprite, however, was slightly different

He never tried them and was surprised with how good they tasted

Most likely would ask you to get more for him though

Foundation staff would be rather conflicted but allowed you to reward him with Sprite and some food

Only whenever he behaved well though

When his kid swears at him

You should've seen the look on his face (oh the irony)

You both taught your kid verbal and non-verbal communications with some common sentences people would say

But never have either of you taught your kid how to swear

Kinda just happened and 1678-A was about to go into cardiac arrest (Pun intended)

Would hunt down whoever taught them that depending on the severity

Like if the kid was using a ton of swearing in a sentence and was directing it to either of you, 1678-A would kill the guy

You were more of a chill type of parent

But would recommend the kid to stop swearing sine it's rude

Most likely wound ground the kind for a week tbh

When the reader scares him (Child!Reader)

Well, let's just say you managed to make the policeman play hide and seek with you

And you were the one hiding since you secretly knew that you were a professional at it

So you made 1678-A to find you

And although he's pretty good at catching his victims, he couldn't find you (Cuz y'all be so short)

Like he was literally in front of you and he still couldn't see you and you even giggled

So you've decided to jump on him

And oh boy was he about to scream out for help

But luckily he didn't cuz the others would whoop yo ass

Probably wouldn't give you a lecture but would need a while for his precious heart to not go yeetus the fetus

He would probably yeet you though tbf

When the reader pole dances/aerial silk dance

1678-A probably would have some ideas on what pole dancing is

Maybe not as much with the term aerial silk dancing but would soon understand when he sees you dancing

Probably thinks that you're trying to fondue with him if you're pole dancing

Definitely would be in awe when he sees you dance with the aerial silks

Would have a difficult time mimicking you if he ever wants you to teach him

Has definitely fallen 1000 times while pole dancing and broke his arms while dancing 10 ft off the ground

If the others inside 1678 see you dancing, he'd be in a blushing mess, especially if you were dancing to certain kinds of songs

Would most likely tell you to dance for him privately so there's no peeking

Having a Pregnant!S/O

Would most definitely be on the guard more since you're carrying his child

1678-A would most likely follow you around like a well trained and clingy German Shepard

You'd most likely have to tell him to tone it down because you're pregnant, not some delicate flower

Would most likely do whatever you tell him to do, even if it means hurting himself as long as you're safe and sound

Definitely would make sure that another 1678 would be around you at all times when he's away from you

1678-A would occasionally rub your stomach and sing victorian era songs

Sometimes he would bring you some of your favourite foods

When you try to commit suicide

When he hears the news he was devastated

He literally ran 69 miles just to see you

Would give you a big boi lecture about doing that

Nearly had his heart jump out of his body

Would constantly follow you everywhere after this

He's basically your bodyguard at this point

Would bandage up your wounds

Makes sure that you're fed well and all and would give you random gifts out of the blue

Would most likely ask the other Bobbies to care for you if he's not there and would even give you 1678-B

Asks the Wretches to keep a lookout to make sure nobody hurts you

Having a hopelessly romantic/easily flustered GN!Reader

This particular Bobby would most likely be just as easily flustered and hopelessly romantic as you

I'd imagine him trying to make the first move and you both being in a blushing mess

You both would exchange little gifts every now and again

Everyone else just teases and ships you both

You both loving each other unconditionally and constantly worrying about each other when you're both away from each other

This Bobby would definitely protect you from the MTFs and/or D-classes from attacking you

You would make a deal with the foundation to keep your guy safe and sound

The foundation witnessing how lovey-dovey you both are and just dies of cringe and sweetness overload (but not as sweet as out 999)

[wh6res]

dreams come true | yuta

"soulmate or not. i don't shoot blanks." — ny

[ part of the my bloody valentine collection ]

tw. gore, blood, murder, death, killings, mentions of illegal organ trafficking, violence, mentions of stalking, minor character deaths, weapons (a knife and a gun), almost (??) suggestive content but nothing happened

disc. this is rlly fucked up and yuta is unredeemable. i dont condone such acts. this is all a work of fiction and meant to entertain.

wc. 5k

every time you sleep, the void is sickening. it was all you could see, lightyears and lightyears away of pitch black that made your head dizzy and your stomach dry heave. you've always wondered when you'll start dreaming about your soulmate's memories. they were like little secrets, another way for two people to be intimate without even being together. their days were flashing before their soulmate's eyes in the form of a dream. it's as if you spent the day with them!

you loved it, the whole concept of it. it sounded so wholesome and sweet and jesus fucking christ, you've always been such a hopeless romantic.

it was sweet until it turned sour. you loved it until you hated it. it was romantic until it turned downright terrifying.

you wake up covered in cold sweat, panting and gasping as if you've run a whole marathon.

moonlight seeps through your glass window, slightly left ajar for the midnight breeze to pass through – you walk up to it, pull it shut, and draw your thick curtains together. you exhaled, breath shaking as you tried to anchor yourself back to the ground.

with the only source of your light disappearing, darkness envelops you whole. for once, you craved the void. you want that void back if it meant never seeing something like that again – something straight out of your worst nightmare.

"119, what's your emergency?"

"uhm, i think… i think i just witnessed a massacre."

you reiterate everything you saw in the dream – the mahogany door, paint chipping off the drywalls. the doorknob was rusty, so were the hinges, and it made an ominous creak when pushed open. the light switches on, the first you see was a bunch of dirty ice coolers in what should've been the living room, it wasn't even the slightest bit organized. they were everywhere, and the floor looked grimy and disgusting, like there's a stain they can't seem to scrub off. only when your soulmate has stalked closer did you see the labels haphazardly taped on top of the ice coolers.

kidneys. livers. lungs. pancreas. intestines – you nearly vomited on the floor, trying to relay everything you saw to the operator on the other end of the call.

then came the gruesome parts.

their deaths.

they were five people in total. men clad in cheap t-shirts and pants, wearing all these similar leather jackets. some were well-built, ripped in the arms and thighs, but some were skinny, the jackets hanging on their small frames.

they never stood a chance against him.

your soulmate is agile, quick on his feet with outstanding eye-hand coordination. only equipped with a butcher's knife, but it was all he needed to take them down and send them knocking on inferno's gates. he was skilled, knowing when to pounce and where to slash his knife to maim but never to kill. by the time your soulmate was through with them, everything is bloody red. all the victims' eyes widened as they sputtered and choked on their blood – not dead, but dying...

because your soulmate wasn't done yet.

a killer should have a modus operandi, should they not? so he took out a desert eagle, stood before the bleeding bodies, and shot two bullets straight into their eyes. the finishing touch? carving a frown on their faces with his butcher's knife.

the operator only told you one thing after she's made you describe the place for them to track the crime scene down.

"double-check all your windows and doors."

because you couldn't be too sure, not when you have been granted a front seat to the sad face slayer's most recent endeavors.

the detective eyes you with a certain pity. maybe that's why you don't bother meeting his eyes. you sit still on a chair, camera blinking red behind him, the interrogation room is freezing even with the thick jacket you're wearing.

seven billion people in the world and you're soulmate's a ruthless serial killer who took it upon himself to purge the world of evildoers – he was playing god, no wonder the detective is looking at you like that.

"uhh…" he's awkward, fidgeting in his seat. "and you saw this all in a dream?"

"yes."

you've known him only minutes ago. mark lee was his name and he seems to be a subordinate of a higher, more experienced detective named kim doyoung. you don't know whether to feel offended or not for having a doe-eyed newbie taking care of the case, but you pushed it at the back of your mind, knowing his superior is watching on the other side of the two-way mirror.

"did you have, like, other past instances where you dreamt of him? of what he…" mark looked like he was going to throw up. "what he does to his other victims?"

you shook your head. no. "i've mostly just heard of him on the news. i don't think i have the stomach to find out in-depth what the killer does."

mark takes out a folder, features walking the fine white line between looking apologetic or wanting to say me too. "i'm, uhh, really sorry to hear that."

there's a sudden pregnant silence encapsulating the interrogation room. it felt like you were mourning for something, the chains of dread dragging your heart to the ground as it pounded against your ribcage. mark looked like he wanted to say something, but you swore his eyes darted towards the camera in the corner and decided otherwise.

"anyway…" he trails. flipping the folder open in one swift motion. "past sightings have given us the sad face slayer's name."

he slaps down a picture of a man, his hair raven and a permanent scowl etched on his face. the quality was shitty. it looked like it was a screenshot taken from zoomed-in cctv footage.

"nakamoto yuta, twenty-five, japanese, and has slipped one too many times past authorities that at this point, it's practically a talent."

and just like that, it made sense why you're here.

your lips pursed in contemplation, palms quaking as your fingers reach forward to inspect your soulmate's picture. "and… you want to use my soulmate connection –" you glowered. never had a sentence sounded so fucking cursed and utterly wrong. "– to catch him?"

mark can't look you in the eye. "yes. he's very elusive. his killings have been happening cross-country and, as you can see, have garnered national media attention. the police are hanging by a thread here. a month in his case and all we got is his MO, name, and that he has this weird god complex on him. if we can't catch him by the end of next month…" he shrugs. "the feds are going to interfere, sooner or later."

"so…" you trail, urging him to continue.

"so, we need as much information about him as we can get and your dreams about him will be able to provide that."

fucking great.

the much newer revelations of precisely who it was on the other end of the soulmate connection put a significant damper on your mood. you'd like to think your new little cop buddy who follows you around gives you the least bit sense of security, but alas, it doesn't. not when you've seen first hand how yuta took down five men all at once without breaking a fucking sweat – you absolutely refuse to call him your soulmate, you'd never accept a person with his nature as a soulmate.

you try to hide the bracelet mark handed you last two weeks ago, during your time spent in the precinct's interrogation room.

"please have this on you at all times until we catch him, okay? this is for extra measures, just in case something happens to the cop assigned to guard you. just press the little button here and we'll be there before you can even finish shouting 'help!' – hey, i was just kidding! what's with the face?"

considering you're now probably being hunted alive for snitching on a serial killer? mark lee, that was not funny at all.

"do you have to get inside the lecture with me?" you whine, shielding your face with your hair when you notice people shooting glances at the rather handsome cop they assigned to you. "it's not like he'll attack in broad daylight! and in a fucking classroom, for that matter."

jaehyun looks just about ready to hurl you out the window. "lower down your voice," he scolds. "serial killers don't pick a time and place, sweetheart. he kills when necessary and if it's fucking necessary to murder everyone in that classroom to get to you? he'll do it in a fucking heartbeat."

you sigh when the chair next to you screeches against the floor, the aforementioned male taking his seat right next to you. jaehyun felt more like a babysitter than a cop, who seems to have a habit of constantly inputting his not-even-needed opinions on the most superficial things.

are witness protection protocols like this?

it was a good thing that overgrown bat doesn't come hanging around in your apartment, but he does have the police car parked right across the building's entrance. judging by how meticulous and thorough he seems to be, he won't miss any face that comes in and out of the building.

you didn't forget exactly why you're under witness protection. for the cops to waste one good officer to follow you around, you needed to be valuable and being valuable meant sleeping through nightmare-induced dreams of what your soulmate does for a living. the scenes are so gruesome, so graphic and utterly gory, that you dart towards the bathroom first thing after waking up in cold sweat, draining all of dinner down the toilet bowl.

after dreaming of him in action a few times, you've now completely understood what detective lee had said regarding yuta's god complex. it was unsightly, yet there was a twisted sense of heroism to it. if there's one thing, he only gutted the bad guys – but that didn't make nakamoto yuta any less of a bad guy, himself.

i need to ask you a favor [sent 2:05am]

JJH: what? [received 2:10am]

often the nightmares were too much. too much that you thought of escaping its horrors by never getting a wink of sleep ever again – until you realized you're a witness and is probably the only chance for the seoul police department to catch that bastard.

buy me sleeping pills? [read 2:08am]

when you peep out of the window, you find an empty spot across the road where jaehyun usually parks the police car. twenty minutes later, you answer the knocking on your door. he used that little "code" he did for you to know it was him. jaehyun was glowering and muttering about how he wasn't some errand boy when he shoved the plastic bottle in your hand yet, you still thanked him nonetheless.

the pills worked like a charm. you managed to stay asleep throughout the whole night, ceasing those episodes of yours where you jolt awake in the middle of dreaming about the sad face slayer's memories.

life continued for you. it became a little bearable, but that didn't mean the horrific murders you see in your dreams are something you can get used to – you don't think you'll ever get used to the sight of him slashing his victims, the blood trickling like a goddamned waterfall.

today the dreams were different. anticlimactic, per se, if you compare it to the violence so utterly present in his memories.

the first you see were black gates, then it shifted to him ordering coffee in a café (amazing what a simple black mask can hide). it switched to him walking on a sidewalk, then he arrives at his destination, an apartment building – it wasn't too rundown, nor was it extravagant.

the serial killer takes the elevator and walks up to a mahogany door –

your room number is a blaring sight.

you couldn't be wrong, not when the 506 with the missing zero in the middle was a sight you saw every day, going and coming home from university.

that was your front door.

he was at your front door.

you jolt awake, ignoring the icky feel of sweat making your clothes cling onto your skin. ice creeps up your spine and freezes you over when you notice with a sinking realization.

those black gates are from the university you attended. that café is your favorite study nook. and that sidewalk is a route you take every day.

you clamp your hands on your mouth as tears roll down your cheeks in rivulets. you pull the comforters up above your head, fear gripping onto you with a vice-like grip as you sob.

it was in the dead of night, moonlight grazing the confines of your room and hours away from dusk. you finally utter those three words in a frightened whisper.

"he's stalking me."

as if having the overgrown bat jaehyun following and annoying you around wasn't enough, you now have another person keeping watch over you. mark lee, unlike jaehyun, may not be as ripped with muscle, but you heard from your cop buddy that the young detective has a few black belts under him. people at the precinct said that if they have to choose one person who can ever come close to the sad face slayer's agility, mark lee's your guy.

"you gotta be shitting me," you mutter, leaning close to jaehyun to whisper like high school girls talking about gossip. "he doesn't look the type!"

jaehyun, in turn, plays along and copies you. "yeah, true. he gets that a lot, i think,"

"guys, i'm literally in the back seat. i can hear everything."

the change hadn't been too drastic. at least mark was there when jaehyun proved to be difficult, pulling him towards the other way when the older male tried waltzing into your class again. "you don't need to sit next to her in her class! are you serious? there's one exit and entrance and we're on the fifth floor. breaking into that classroom will be the end of nakamoto's serial killer career!"

you shoot mark an appreciative smile, one he quickly returned before hauling jaehyun around the hallway. "we'll just be at the canteen, okay? press the 'lil button on your bracelet and we'll be right there!"

shaking your head with a slight smile on your face, you entered the classroom, sat in your usual spot, and did some of your readings from our other class to kill time. you hardly hear the screech of the chair next to you as it was pulled back. not like you cared much for whoever sat down next to you, but you can't deny there's that feeling of missing jaehyun when he used to force his way into the lecture.

"settle down! settle down, people!"

the professor enters and the class begins.

you were meticulous with your note-taking system. it's thorough, leaving no room for information to slip you. having already printed hard copies of the powerpoint presentation and simply jotting down some extra key points mentioned by your professor.

you were just about to raise your hand for a question when you feel something warm graze past your arm. you absentmindedly look down.

the breath is sucked right out of your lungs.

hi, soulmate

there, scribbled with an ominous red crayon on a small piece of paper. it was almost laughable how innocent it looked but when you follow the ring-clad hand, up the black hoodie he's wearing, and finally to his face—

"hi! i'm yuta."

his cheshire smile spikes up your heartbeat. it makes you want to throw up, makes you want to slam your head against the desk. the fight or flight hormone you have is making you restless, eyes pinned on the serial killer sitting next to you, scared that if you avert your gaze, he's going to take out that desert eagle and shoot you until your skull caves in and the bullets in his magazine empties.

"but judging by your reaction, i don't think introductions are needed, hm?" his tone is easy, conversational even and it shoots a freezing jolt of fear right up your spine. it makes you sweat profusely because you don't fucking know what to do, your thoughts in complete and utter disarray.

"just press the little button here and we'll be there before you can even finish shouting 'help!' – hey, i was just kidding! what's with the face?" you swallow, sneakily pressing the button without breaking eye contact with the serial killer sitting in front of you.

"look upfront. now." yuta orders and you nearly snap your neck as you turn your head with lightning speed.

"i thought i was above the soulmate rules, but here we are. my soul is either too tainted or too great to be tied to such trivial things, but oh well, we learn to work with what we have. surprisingly, i learned to like dreaming about how your day went."

you feel something sharp poking at your thigh and when you look down, he has a silver butterfly knife pointed against you. the precision of the angle he held it with doesn't slip your notice. one slice of that knife, no matter how small, and he'll be spilling your guts in this classroom.

a fat tear rolls down your face.

"can you imagine how much my heart broke when i learned you were spying on me? leaking information to that snobby detective? to those incompetent cops? bad baby, that was very bad of you."

"yuta—"

"you think the cops can save you from me?"

his other hand comes in contact with the nape of your neck, holding your head in place as he leaned down to invade your space. he scoffs, and you can picture that terrifying cheshire grin you've seen one too many times in your dreams.

the knife digs through your coat, the tip hardly poking your skin only because he doesn't want to drive it into you yet. how did he even manage to get inside the university? not to mention the weapons he possessed? shouldn't anyone be suspicious when they see a man dressed in all black, clad in jeans and a hoodie, into a university—

he even dressed the part. with that hood drawn up and carrying that one notebook, he looked fairly normal. someone who can easily blend in with the crowd.

you eye your professor, willing him to look at you but your soulmate is having none of that. you squirm when he drives the knife further, at the base of your stomach. with his other hand, he twirls a lock of hair around his finger. "now, now, soulmate. you don't want half the people here to get hurt, do you? unless... that can easily be arranged—"

"no!" you whisper, head jerking to the side to look at him humming in satisfaction. damn. out of all the faces he's seen contorted with fear, yours is his absolute favorite. with those pleading, glassy eyes and parted lips, yuta is tenting in his sweats.

"thought so," he chuckles. "let's get up. we're leaving. that old crook doesn't care if students just up and went in the middle of his lecture."

you don't want to think about how he even knew that because it implied attending the lectures a good amount of times. it's with sinking realization that jaehyun was right. if it weren't for him insisting to sit next to you, nakamoto yuta would've long gotten you in his claws.

you tried gathering your things until he purred into your ear.

"ah, ah, ah. you wouldn't be needing those with where we're going."

the hallways were empty, not that you had much time to scream for help when he had a knife pointed up your back, shoving you into the fire escape stairs. within the tranquil confines of the staircases, the sad face slayer couldn't fucking care less for your personal space.

he disgusts you greatly, he needn't do anything but stand there in front of you but you can already smell the long blood trail from his path. it reeks of rotting flesh and that infuriating god complex he had left a sour aftertaste.

"you know, i genuinely wanted to get to know you," yuta pouts, shaking the hoodie off his head. his hair raven, it's ends kissing the nape of his neck. he looked like he came right out of a shounen manga but the bloodlust in his eyes is something that can never be masked. "i detested the soulmate connection at first, i thought i should just kill you off because you could be my loose end."

his humorless smile is enough to give you nightmares.

"but seeing how sweetly normal and untainted you are made me hold back," the butterfly knife appears before your line of sight, yuta teasingly dragging the tip right down your cheek to trace your tears. "so, why did you snitch, baby?"

you shiver when he noses the side of your neck, inhaling your scent as his other hand hooks underneath your top, freezing fingers making you jolt. when you don't reply, his patience starts to dwindle. then again, he was never a patient man.

"answer me, you bitch. why did you rat me out?" gone is the playful lilt in his voice. the vibrations surge through you as his deep, demanding voice scares you shitless.

you feel, hear, and smell him everywhere. this wasn't like any nightmare. this is real, and you won't magically wake up on your bed, sighing in relief, knowing he isn't there, that it was all just in your head. no, this was very much real and there's absolutely no escape.

"i didn't," your voice cracks. "i didn't mean to—"

"bullshit!" he yells. you wail in pain when he slams you against the wall, head aching as it came in contact with concrete. "because of you betraying me, i nearly fucking got caught, and i never get caught!"

you were full out sobbing at this point, noisy and unsightly as the snot mixes with your tears. your only hope now is he gives you a quick, painless death and that he doesn't carve and mutilate your face like what he always does to his other poor victims. "i'm sorry! please... i'm so sorry. i was scared—"

he coos mockingly, tilting his head to the side as he inched his face closer. "aw, scared? my sweet little soulmate was scared?" he places the blade flat against your neck. as humiliating and degrading as it was, you almost peed on your clothes. "how about now? i'm sure as hell that you're fucking terrified for your useless life right now."

you cringe when his hand abandons the expanse of your stomach, no longer inching higher, finding its purchase on the hair sitting at the crown of your head. he holds you in place like that, forcing your head parallel against the wall, with his whole body pressing up to you that it's nearly suffocating.

"just one quick little slice," he taunts. you hiccuped when you feel the feathery light scrape of the blade moving against your skin. "you won't even have time to scream… but i'm sure we don't want that, do we?"

you forgot how to speak. forgot how to breathe. whenever your mind wanders, you've always thought about how you'll give this killer a piece of your mind, with the amount of fear and sorrow he inflicts upon other people. but you guess realities were a lot more different than expectations. the yuta you dreamed of meeting is in handcuffs, but fate is a fickle little thing.

"do we?" he repeats, slicing ever so slightly at your skin. enough to draw blood in droplets, never a waterfall.

"n – no."

he smiles. "you can make it up to me. do you want to make it up to me?"

the butterfly knife digs even further. a warning. and if you value your useless life, you should be smart enough to know what to answer. drawing a shaky breath, you tried forcing the ends of your lips up to a smile. "of course, yuta."

your voice breaks as your sobbing grips your body whole. the fear consuming your entire being like a parasite consuming the host. you would've shut down altogether if it weren't for the calloused hands gently gripping your face. "i know, i know. i see how regretful you are, baby. don't worry, i won't hurt you. you'll make it up to me."

anyone would be fucking stupid if you believe those words coming from a serial killer.

in your wrecked state, you barely register that he's pushing you down to your knees. skin coming in contact with the freezing linoleum floor as you refuse to look at what his hands are doing. yuta has pocketed his knife. the sound of a belt unbuckling in itself added insult to injury.

you stare blankly at his shoes as he shoves his bottoms down enough for his cock to show. if you squint hard enough, you'll see tiny splatters of blood in the shoelaces. whether or not he feels you're unresponsive, he doesn't show. maybe he doesn't care entirely. he takes one of your hands and used it to wrap around himself. he gasps, sharp, followed by a hiss.

you feel it throbbing and it strengthens the disgust you feel. no way you're going to give him the satisfaction of eye contact when you're already forced to blow this psycho.

"eyes up."

you sniffled, vulnerability present in the tone you speak. "i don't want to. please, don't make me."

if words alone aren't enough for you to follow orders, maybe you'll feel more motivated if held at gunpoint. it's unmistakable, the infamous desert eagle you've only seen in your nightmares. the last thing you ever expected is to be on the side where the bullet comes out.

the barrel is freezing as he digs it into the crown of your head. "soulmate or not. i don't shoot blanks."

your eyes looked up then. glaring as the tears rolled down your face. "you're a monster," you mutter under your breath. where you got the confidence to fight back is unknown.

"i've heard that before, be more creative next time," he holds your hair tight in one grip, shoving you forward, eye-level to his throbbing dick. "now… suck, baby."

"freeze!"

you knew that voice, you've been hearing it for the last two weeks. "jaehyun–!"

yuta cuts you off, shoving the gun into your mouth. the safety clicking off resonating in the tranquil room. it's deafening, and it makes you immobile.

"hands up. step away from the civilian." whether or not mark is nervous as he points the gun at the serial killer, he's doing a damn good job of hiding it.

yuta sighs, exasperated as he throws his head back. his raised arms came down to tuck himself back in his jeans, and the action made jaehyun's calm exterior crack. "i said, hands up, asshole!"

"chill out, motherfucker. i'm just trying to wear my pants." the serial killer hisses, glaring at jaehyun over his shoulder.

"mark, call back up already. what are you doing?" jaehyun mutters, side-eyeing the young detective whose gun shakes as he holds it up. the taller cop takes a step forward, eyes never leaving the notorious killer as he addresses you curtly. "(name), come here."

just as you plant your palms to the ground to push yourself up, one of yuta's hands shoves you down quick as lightning. "no. she stays here, with me."

jaehyun scowls, takes another step forward. "and what makes you think i'm going to let that happen?"

"i don't think. i know."

there's a constant ring in your ear as the gunshot temporarily renders you deaf. you've shut your eyes in utter fright, hands shooting up to cover your ears but it was too late. you refuse to open your eyes, you didn't want to see a dead body lying before you, even if it belonged to a heartless serial killer.

but when your eyes fluttered open, it's not yuta bleeding out on the ground.

"no, this can't be – jaehyun!"

it was a bullet straight to the head, no one could've survived a shot like that. his eyes are empty as he stares at you, unblinking, stoic. the color is yet to drown away from his milky complexion. but you can't even manipulate yourself into thinking that jaehyun's still alive. not when his eyes are empty, not when he just looks so lifeless.

it couldn't have been yuta who pulled the trigger.

his weapons were on the ground and the shot rang too fast. the sad face slayer couldn't have crouched down for his gun to shoot the cop, it would've taken too much time. and among the three men, there's only another person holding a weapon, and that was –

"great shot, mark."

the detective smiles, but with the blood splattered on his face, it looked cold. "told ya i've been practicing."

yuta hauls you up by the arms, addicted to how frail your body feels as it collapses against him. he's finally got his little soulmate in his arms. and he will never, ever let you go.

the cops lost – you've lost.

yuta, with a sense of victory coursing through his veins, took the liberty of trailing little pecks down your neck as he mutters, "mine, mine, mine!" but you couldn't care less about his display of mocked affection. not when the other person meant to protect you, turned out to be everything you think he wasn't.

mark must've felt the gravity of your stare as he crouches before jaehyun's bleeding body. grabbing the fallen cop's gun, he took it upon himself to empty the magazine. the lopsided grin he sends you broke your resolve more than yuta ever could.

"i'm sorry. it's nothing personal."

jenoluck (c) all rights reserved

[thatreallyminecraftsmygender]

Sometimes violence is the answer when the question is how do we eradicate hierarchies /rp

Techno’s representation of anarchy in the second attack on l’manburg

Edit: I've moved blogs to @considermygenderminecrafted if u want more dsmp things

I'm going to try to explain why saying techno misrepresents anarchism because he uses violence isn't necessarily enough in and of itself.

In the original post I give a brief run down of the ways in which techno does use anarchist principals. In this post I'm gonna explain why the attack on l'manburg isn't 'not anarchist'.

A few disclaimers. Firstly, I'm not a trained political theorist, this could all be wrong, im going to link to the main source of the points in this post in the reblog. Secondly, I'M NOT ADOVOCATING ANYTHING I'M ANALYSING MINECRAFT ROLEPLAY THROUGH A PARTICULAR POLITICAL LENS.

Pre-ramble context.

Techno tried to establish an anarchist commune peacefully outside of the country and government. He attempted to retire (tho he didn't tell people) away from the originally violence and move on when the government was re-established when the initial attack was unsuccessful. When he was eventually hunted down and publicly executed without trial whilst his friend was placed under house arrest and had his house raided, he formulated a plan to destroy the l'manburg government.

Before the attack, the citizens were given a chance to either leave and establish their own place, to prepare if they wanted to or for the government officials to give up their power voluntarily. No one needed to die in that attack, the purpose was specifically to cause property damage (as indicated by the fact only jack lost canon lives when he fought techno directly).

Violence was not the c!technos first act as an actual anarchist, nor was it specifically done out of a need to hurt people, it was a politically motivated attack.

So what was the political motivations behind it? Why can this be considered in-line with certain interpretations of anarchist principals?

Violence

ONCE AGAIN I WOULD LIKE TO RE-ITERATE I’M NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING I AM ANALYSING MINECRAFT ROLEPLAY THROUGH A POLITICAL LENS.

Anarchy is a leftist* political system which advocates for the annihilation of (unjust) hierarchies. I can't get into the full details of anarchism because i will be here forever but in this instance we need to look at an anarchist understanding of violence and hierarchies.

You're probably familiar with certain leftist slogans (?) such as 'Eat the rich' or 'ready the guillotine'. These phrases reference violent overthrow-al of the system (Eat the rich means kill them and redistribute their resources to those without food. When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich). Not every anarchist advocates for the violent overthrow-al of the government but some of them do.

Anarchism doesn’t disagree with violence as a means.

In an anarchist** understanding of politics, arguing for non-violence is impossible, because politics is the distribution of the power to commit violence against people. Violence in this case can take the form of police, boarder enforcement (exile), legal enforcement (house arrest), deprivation of food or health care or even the death penalty (the execution). Politics is deciding who gets to exert control over whom. Direct action in anarchism can include violence, because it acknowledges all politics is violence.

This is not to say all violence committed is equal, nor is it say that all violence is allowed in anarchism, it is to say, however, that anarchists are not opposed to violence.

In c!techno's understanding, to say that 'violence is never the answer' is useless because violence is constantly being committed due to the fact there is a government, and a hierarchy. The times he's tried to not use violence has lead to him having violence committed against him and the people he cares for with no way for him to be safe. The only way for him to remain safe, and to prevent more violence from being committed, in his mine, was to entirely annihilate l’manburg’s property and land.

Techno also uses the friend enemy distinction as an anarchist** would.

As discussed before, politics is deciding who gets to have power to commit violence against who. In anarchism, the political enemy (the person who violence can be committed against) is anyone who upholds and reinforces hierarchies. Because the political enemy is based off of how people act, and not who they are, people can denounce their previous beliefs and stop acting in the ways they were, and anarchist will leave them alone. They will no longer be the political enemy.

When techno tells Ranboo to leave because Ranboo isn’t fighting for l’manburg, he is using this specific friend enemy distinction. When they warn l’manburg of the act they give people to opportunity to denounce and leave. By doing this they demonstrate that violence committed against people follows the leftist model of the political friend/enemy distinction.

In conclusion, Techno’s violence*** doesn’t misrepresent anarchism.

Anarchism can be non-violent, and in itself, it could be considered the least violent system because it seeks to eradicate power distribution over others altogother, but it isn’t inherently non-violent, nor does it disagree with property damage*** as a means of dismantling harmful systems.

*usually, in a vacuum some people consider anarchism to be neutral, and anarcho-capitalism exists but that not usually considered anarchist, and we don’t exist in a vacuum. It’s kinda too complicated to get into here but in this post it is considered a leftist political theory.

**there are so many versions of anarchism. As with everything leftist no one agrees with anyone ever, but this one anarchist way of interpreting things.

***At least second time round after the pogtopia arc

sources will be added later so tumblr doesn’t eat this because it hates links

Here's another about techno and anarchy! More Specifically why he's not a hypocrite

https://thatreallyminecraftsmygender.tumblr.com/post/643408535471947776/seriously-tho-what-is-anarchy-and-why-is-techno

[cuddlecave]

Heyo, it's cryptid, it's 4 am and i can't go to fuckin sleep

Had an idea. I know both Thingrey and your baseline Benr both had to consume human DNA to take a proper human form, but I've got a little scenario on this fine morning.

We could play as the whole 'Gord was part of the Xn scouting mission and got left behind,' for it to make more sense. Ben has no human form, but he wants to communicate with this tiny new alien running around on his turf. He sneaks up on Gord and attempts sweetvoice communication, but the little one does not catch on at all. Gordn just freezes, knowing he has no way to outrun this massive alien that seems to have been hunting him.

Ben is disappointed, and mildly frustrated that the attempt failed, and now the tiny thing looks scared of him. Maybe he should show it there's no reason to fear. So he simply scoops the human up and tucks him away inside.

Gordn assumes that this means death, he fights and struggles but gets nowhere fast. He's deposited into the tum, and the alien immediately begins squeezing at him. Gordn squirms as much as he can, but he's overpowered, and the fleshy walls fold against him and just hold him in place.

Little does he know, the pouch he's in is 'scanning' him, for lack of a better term. Benr has some extra alien senses that allow him to examine Gordn thoroughly while he's being held, getting some understanding of how his body works. The glowing light that pulses around him does distract him from his morbid thoughts, and he stops squirming to watch in something like awe.

Once he has some idea for how that shape works, Ben makes a rough approximation of a human form. He's still gigantic, and many details are off, but he figures its enough to start making friends with this lost little off-worlder.

Ben forgets (or doesn't know in the first place) that verbal communication is going to be an issue. He coughs Gordn up and makes his first friendliness attempt. It goes rather poorly, Gordn just stays as still as possible, staring at the giant mimicry of a human in front of him, not having a single clue as to whats going on other than he's not food apparently?

After trying and failing to express his intent to the scared-stiff human, Ben accepts that he's missing something vital here. So he swallows the human right back down, with more yelling and alarm from the small figure (though not as much terror as last time)

Adding in the concept of "the pouch can sustain a psychic connection so they can speak mind to mind" and now Gordn has a mental link to an alien that's trying to learn his language.

With Gord tucked into the pouch once again, Ben focuses on the mental link he can form this way. It starts off with SV and emotions, and while he's a little sad to feel the fear and uncertainty rolling off his new friend, he's quick to project reassurance. No hurts here, only soft and warm pouch. Gordn is half-convinced he's losing his mind, but as Ben builds up to expressing thoughts and concepts, and soon full words and sentences, he can no longer write it off as hallucinations.

Gordn is still wary, as when he realized the alien was sapient, he tried project his desire to leave the pouch, but Ben just responding with the vague feeling of "silly little thing, it's not safe out there. just stay put. it's good for you to be in there, I can protect you."

Once Ben has a decent grasp on human vocal abilities, and the english language in particular, he tries for speaking out loud. It's pretty distorted, but it's definitely words, and Gord is not at all prepared for that voice echoing all around him instead of just in his mind. His surrounding vibrate with the noise, and he just curls up in alarm. He's also confused by Bens speaking patterns. Ben insists that he's being efficient with his words. Human talking is hard.

Ben prefers talking out loud to mind speech. He likes the way Gordns voice sounds, but with how the source of that voice is settled so deep inside, he can't hear him properly. Now that they've finally come to an understanding, Ben tries again. He brings Gordn up, letting him out and cradling him in massive clawed hands. This time the human is not cowering in fear, he's more alert, looking around, all curious about the environment and also Ben. The giant alien finds it so endearing. Gordn settles down in Ben's hold, and the two of them are just

"... Uhh, hi?"

"yo"

Its an awkward first start, but they're trying. (The whole thing takes place in the space of a day or two. It probably turns into a mobile home Ben situation, and having "scanned" Gordns body gives Ben an edge in knowing what he needs to survive)

(It took my an hour to write this, F. So many typos)

bro I am L O O K I N G

[imagine-loki]

Yes Mistress

TITLE: Yes Mistress CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 29 AUTHOR: angryolwet ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine after a heated argument with Thor, Loki turns himself into a woman out of spite.  RATING: Mature/Explicit NOTES/WARNINGS: NSFW, This is a F/F BDSM relationship. If that’s not your cup of tea, don’t drink it. The events in this fic take place before the first Thor movie.

I AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOO SO LONG TO UPDATE!!! I meant to post at my usual time but I got very sick at the end of last month and ended up with vertigo for a few weeks as well. If any of you have ever had it, you know reading a computer screen is the last thing you want to do. Not unless you’ve got a bucket handy.

*****Trigger Warnings!!! This chapter deals with descriptions of child abuse and shitty parenting, (not Odin’s for once) and those parts are contained within the asterisks below.*****

You don’t super need to read that part for the chapter to make sense if it’s a sensitive subject for you, but it will give you an insight into Sanna’s family dynamics and those will play into the overall arc of this fic. Yes, there is an arc. And a plot. Despite my best efforts.

Kanelbullar - twisted cinnamon buns

Also on AO3

Slowly, Sanna came back. She felt the softness of the blanket and the sensation of someone stroking her face before her eyes opened.

“Can you hear me Pet?” Loki asked softly.

“Yes Mistress,” Sanna answered dreamily, smiling up at her.

“My good girl. Our meal has arrived. Do you think you can sit up for me?”

Sanna eased herself up and shivered as the blanket slipped down. She pulled it back up and looked at her Mistress.

“It’s alright Pet. You can bring the blanket with you. It’s time to eat.”

Loki got off the bed and stood up, holding out a hand. Sanna took it, wobbling a little when she stood. Loki held her until she was steady, rubbing her back in small circles as they left the bedchamber.

“Thank you Mistress,” Sanna said as she wrapped the blanket more tightly around herself.

“You’ll be warm soon Pet,” Loki tucked a loose tendril of hair behind Sanna’s ear. “You used up a good deal of energy during your edging. Eating will help.”

“Um, Mistress? Before we eat I need to–” Sanna broke off, poking a hand out from the blanket and pointing across the sitting room.

“Of course, Pet.”

Sanna headed towards the bathing room to use it’s facilities while Loki sat on the divan to inspect the contents of the covered dishes on the table. She had just started cutting slices off a rolled joint of spit roasted mutton when Sanna came back out, wrapping the blanket snugly around herself again.

“That was quick,” Loki remarked when she sat down next to her.

“I was inspired, Mistress. The bathing room is rather cool, even with the shielding up.” She rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them.

Loki reached out and took her Pet’s hands in hers.

“You are chilled,” she began to rub Sanna’s hands between her own. “Shall I light the fire? I never notice the cold myself, though I’ve heard Thor whine about it enough. You’d think we were on campaign in Jotunheim instead of camping in the forests on a hunt.”

The image of Prince Thor covered in snow and icicles made Sanna giggle.

“I’m alright Mistress. Truly.” Sanna took back her now warm hands and started making up her Mistress’s plate, cutting slices of bread for both of them. “I believe you are right and I just need to eat something. And it has been raining on and off since midday,” she looked out at the damp night and shivered a little under the blanket. “The weather can’t seem to decide if we’re in spring or summer.” The gentle afternoon showers of Garth’s prediction had given way to a cold, soaking rain once the sun had set.

Loki made a face. “All too soon it will be summer and nothing but heat, heat, and more heat.” She loathed the thought of summer, but it did give her an idea. “One day, we should go riding to one of the shaded pools that hide deep in the royal forest. Mmm… Stripping down and diving into fresh, cool water. Tell me Pet, can you ride? Or swim?”

Sanna paused from buttering the bread she’d just cut and turned to her Mistress.

“Hmm. Do you know, I don’t think I've ever been on a horse in my life. Although I do have a vague memory of trying to ride a goat once when I was very small. I remember being frustrated because it wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to get on…” Sanna paused, fiddling with the butter knife. “No. I’m sure I haven’t. We didn’t use them on the farm and none of the neighbors were horse breeders. We did have a rather old and rather surly grey pony that Old Frederick would use to pull the cart when he went up to the manor house for supplies. He was the only person in this realm that animal tolerated, it would bite everyone else that came near.” She resumed her task.

“And I could swim as a child, Dagna saw to that. I haven’t had much chance to since I left our house to serve Lady Audney. There was a wide, slow moving river not far from our farm. I used to go and sit in the shelter of a large tree on it’s banks whenever–” Sanna broke off.

“Whenever what Pet?” Loki paused and looked over. She could see her Pet was upset by the memory.

Sanna chose her next words carefully and blew out a breath.

“Whenever I’d run out of the house. It seemed like everyday I’d be scolded by our mother for one thing or another. Mostly for not getting my chores done properly. She would never let anyone be idle,” she paused and swallowed. Composing herself.

*****

Her mind was flooded with the memories of repeating tasks over and over again until they were done to her mother’s satisfaction. One particular memory –one she’d tried very hard to forget– came suddenly to mind. A memory of scrubbing the stone floor of their house one winter for almost the entire day. It was just before Yule. Her mother had been perpetually unsatisfied with her efforts, even ‘accidentally’ spilling things on the floor for her to clean up. Sanna’s back had ached. Her knees were bruised and her knuckles had cracked and bled. Her hands were numb from the water that had gone cold and she kept dropping the big scrubbing brush, making it clatter on the stones and drawing her mother’s attention to her.

When Dagna had come in from tending the animals outside and saw what had been going on, she’d been furious. Sanna would never forget the sound of her sister slapping their mother’s face and the horrible words they screamed at each other. Sanna had never heard her sister raise her voice in anger to anyone before. She had hidden under the table, curled on her side to make herself as small as possible until the row was over. The bucket she’d been using to scrub the floor had been knocked over near her at one point, but she’d been too afraid to move. She’d stayed still as the freezing water soaked her dress and hair. Wet, cold, and filthy. Hands pressed to her ears, sobbing, trying to drown out the noise. She still hated the sound of angry shouts and raised voices to this day.

Eventually their mother had left the house to go tell their father about what her sister had done and said. While she was gone, Dagna had coaxed Sanna into coming out from under the table. She’d filled the big bathing tub by the fire with warm water and and had helped her get into it, washing her gently and rubbing her sore back. Then her sister had helped to get her into a clean night dress and wrapped her in a blanket. Dagna applied a salve to the cracks on Sanna’s hands before feeding her and putting her to bed.

The whole time Sanna had been terrified and started at every sound, thinking it was their mother returning. She knew her sister must have been punished terribly for striking their mother– it was all Sanna’s fault– but she couldn’t remember how or what had happened for nearly the rest of that winter. At the end of the following spring Sanna had left the house to work for Lady Audney.

But her Mistress didn’t need to know any of that. Or that her mother’s 'scolding’ was usually accompanied by a blow of some kind. Sanna’s pride and her fear would never let her tell her sister, let alone her Mistress. She’d promised herself all those years ago that she would stay silent and do better, no matter what. Never to complain and create more trouble. She wasn’t about to break that promise now. And besides, it was over and done with and would probably just upset her Mistress.

*****

“When it became too much, too heavy to bear, I would run out of the house. No matter what direction I ran in, I always seemed to end up by the big tree near the river. Eventually Dagna would come and find me. Once my tears were dry, she’d take me back. Sometimes we’d go swimming in the river first if it was warm enough. She wanted me to know what to do in case I got too close to the bank and fell in.”

Loki’s face was unreadable as she said solemnly, “I would so very much like to meet your sister one day. It seems she was the only source of happiness or tenderness in your childhood.”

“Oh no Mistress! Not the only source. Our father was quite kind, when he could spare time for us. The farm keeps him very busy, though I now suspect some of that work is to keep him out of the house and away from mother. In the summer he would take us fishing at the river– I mean Dagna and me, Mother hated the river– and we’d laugh and scream and splash each other once the three of us were done hauling in the nets.” Sanna smiled at the memory. “We’d walk home smiling and laughing, soaking wet with that day’s catch.”

She was eager to tell happier memories, she’d had no one to tell them to since she’d left Lady Audney. Marit was sweet, but she had no interest in any form of rural life and had quickly changed the subject whenever Sanna had mentioned her time in the country side.

“I remember one time, Father took me with him on a trip to a neighboring farm. The man kept bees and we went to collect a big crock of honey in exchange for some of our hay. I must have been very young. Probably around the same time I tried to ride the goat. Father lifted me up into his lap and kept me from falling off as he drove us over there and back. He even let me have a spoonful of honey on the way home and made me promise not to tell Mother.”

Sanna looked at her Mistress from under her lashes. “That’s where my taste for it comes from. It’s always been a sweet, secret treat.”

“Mmm… Perhaps I should keep a small jar of it here and let you lick it off me as a reward for your obedience?” Loki purred.

Her Pet blushed a bright red and squirmed on the divan while whispering, “I wouldn’t object if you offered it in any form, Mistress.”

Loki had finished cutting up the meat and divided it between their plates.

“Good to know. Open.” Loki popped a piece of the mutton into Sanna’s mouth.

“Mmm… This is almost as good as Dagna’s. She uses garlic in the dredge.”

“Alright. Now I must meet your sister.”

They both burst into laughter. Once the plates were ready, Loki pulled Sanna over to straddle her lap and tucked the blanket around her. Holding up a bite of meat to her Pet’s lips, Loki asked absently, “Perhaps I shall have Brynhild create a robe for you? Would you like one Pet? In gold and sapphire blue silk, I think? Jewel tones seem to suit you.”

Chewing and swallowing the meat gave Sanna time to think. She offered her Mistress one of the roasted vegetables pieces from her plate and said, “I will wear anything you wish me to, Mistress. I’ve never had one before.”

“I suspect there are a lot of things you’ve never had before, and I mean to give them to you.” Loki promised solemnly, making her Pet blush and duck her head.

“Now Pet, tell me.” Loki held up more food to Sanna’s mouth. “How was your day?”

They fed each other. Sanna spoke of meeting Garth and being reminded of how much she loved planting things and watching them grow. How far she had gotten through the play her Mistress had recommended and what she thought of it thus far. Her initial nerves at being summoned to tea with the Allmother and her relief and joy at finding her Mistress’s mother to be kind and attentive. Loki listen to it all with rapt attention, asking questions and laughing where it was appropriate until the meal was finished.

_________________________________________________________

“So you got on well with my mother then, Pet? Not frightened of her anymore?” Loki teased popping the last bite of her kanelbullar into her mouth and licking her sticky fingers before wiping them on a damp cloth.

Sanna, slightly indignant, finished her own and sucked at her fingers as she replied, “Well, she is the queen after all. And I wouldn’t say I was afraid of her so much as afraid of disappointing her.”

She wiped them off and stood up, gathering up the used plates and cutlery before refilling her Mistress’s goblet and her own with wine and getting comfortable again. She leaned against her Mistress and tucked her feet up under the blanket on the divan. Sanna wasn’t chilled any longer, but the material was soft and felt wonderful against her skin. Loki wrapped her arm around her Pet, pulling the girl close and put her own feet up on the table, long pale legs exposed. She used her seidr to send the uneaten food and dirty plates back to the kitchen. They sat in a comfortable silence, sipping wine.

After a moment or two, Sanna spoke. “The Allmother is so kind. I confess, I do want her to like me. Oh did I tell you, I mentioned to her that I had a wish to improve my stitching and she’s promised to have one of her handmaidens teach me. And I’m to come to tea with her again in a three days, if you can spare me that is.” Sanna looked at her Mistress with pleading eyes.

Loki sighed and toyed with a tendril of her Pet’s hair that had escaped it’s plait, wrapping it around her fingers. “Oh, I suppose I can get by without you for one afternoon.”

Sanna leaned up and kissed Loki’s cheek and settled back down against her. “Thank you, Mistress.”

The comfortable silence resumed.

After a few more minutes had passe, in which Sanna had nearly been lulled into sleep by the good food, strong wine, and the calming presence of her Mistress, she glanced up and saw her Mistress with her head tilted back and her eyes shut.

“Are you tired?” she inquired.

Loki opened her eyes and looked at her. “Hmm? No Pet, not really. But my head does ache slightly. I think I read for too long and sat too still in the Archive today. My body is no longer used hours of inactivity. As a child I could sit and read for hours without noticing the time pass. Now, what was once a joy has become a chore and I’m already starting to resent it.”

“Perhaps you’re striving to achieve too much too fast Mistress? You have years before you are expected to take on your new role. There’s no need to push yourself so hard.” Sanna chided gently.

“Oh, that’s not what I was doing Pet. After I spoke with the Allmother, a new idea came into my head and I put away all of my work to start a new project. It concerns a school of seidr I’ve woefully never bothered to learn. Tell me Pet, did Lady Audney ever speak to you of her role at court?”

“Lady Audney?” Sanna started at the sudden change of topics. “Well, no. Not really. She taught me courtesy and what would be expected of me as a handmaiden to a Lady of the court. She rarely talked of her life before. I think it reminded her of her son, the one she’d lost, and that always gave her pain. She couldn’t bear to hear his name said aloud and never used it herself. She’d just say 'my son’, and even then it was usually in reference to something he’d done as a child, never as a man grown. I can’t recall her ever speaking of Lord Morten. We got supplies once a fortnight from the manor and I know they were from him.”

“Do you know what happened to him Pet? The son that died, I mean.” Loki asked.

“I know he was killed in a terrible accident. That’s all anyone would say. But what does Lady Audney have to do with divination?”

“Quite a lot according to my mother. She wasn’t a seeress herself, but she could inspire and strengthen visions in others who were. Do you recall yesterday, when we went into my storage area downstairs and you found my old cradle? Do you remember what were you thinking of when you touched it?”

Sanna reached out and set her now empty goblet on the table and sat up, turning to face her Mistress. Loki did the same, stretching her arm across the back of the divan.

“Well I– I don’t know. I was thinking of a lot of things then. Mostly what you must have looked like as a baby–” Sanna broke off and flushed a dull pink.

“What else Pet? I know you’re holding something back. I can tell by the blush on your face,” Loki prodded her.

Sanna tugged the blanket back around her shoulders, as if trying to armor herself against her embarrassment. “I… I was thinking,” her blush got deeper and stretched from her hairline down to her chest. “I was thinking about… what it would be like… to… to have a baby. Your baby Mistress.” She ducked her head and bit her lip at her guilty admission.

Loki removed her hand from the back of the divan and lifted Sanna’s chin to look at her. She took both of her Pet’s hands in her own.

“What exactly Pet? Being pregnant or nursing or rocking it in the cradle? What image formed in your mind?” Loki pushed again. “It’s important.”

Sanna heaved a sigh. “I think it was mostly just what our baby would look like and rocking it to sleep.”

“No image of nursing it at your breast?”

“No. Why? What is so important about this?” She was embarrassed and uncomfortable at the unending questions.

“I had a vision while we were down there. When I turned and saw you touching the cradle I staggered for a moment, do you remember?” At Sanna’s nod she continued, “I didn’t say anything then, because I wasn’t sure what had happened. I’ve never had visions before, or any aptitude for divination so I’ve never studied it, but I know now that I had a vision of you.”

“Me?” Sanna squeaked. She was dumbfounded, her eyes were large as she stared at her Mistress.

“Yes Pet. You were in your little room and sitting in the chair I sent up here. I saw you from the doorway. The cradle was at your feet but it had been freshly polished. The room had been painted and was filled with the things needed to care for an infant. You were nursing a black haired babe at your breast. You looked older than you do now. I heard you humming a soft melody and saw you smile at the child. It was the same smile you had on your face while touching the cradle. That’s why I asked what you were thinking of.”

Sanna was speechless and kept staring. The blush had left her face and she had gone very pale.

“I’ve only just started to research the subject and I still have much to learn, but I believe you may have the same ability as Lady Audney. You might be the reason for the vision, not just the subject of it.”

“Me? What? No! I don’t– How? How can I–” Sanna sputtered. She was dumbfounded. Had all the reading today somehow damaged her Mistress’s mind?

Loki continued on as if her Pet hadn’t spoken.

“I used my seidr on you, the first night you slept beside me. Do you remember a dream of us sitting under a tree beside a river? My telling you to raise your skirts? You woke in the middle of the night and I found you freezing yourself in the bathing pool. I used a spell to enter your dreams.”

Sanna’s blush came rushing back at the memory of the dream and what had followed it. Of her Mistress pleasuring her in the safe place of her childhood. She wasn’t sure whether to be angry or ask her to do it again… But her Mistress was still talking.

“…and that’s why I had to know what you were thinking of. If the same images were in your mind and mine, it might have been a hold over from that spell, or some accident of my seidr and not truly a vision at all–”

“Wait! Just, just wait a moment! Please?” Sanna pulled her hands from Loki’s grasp and put them to her own head. “Does this mean I am going to have your child at some point in the future?”

“I– Honestly? I don’t know. I think what I saw was a vision of a possible future, not necessarily the future we will have. Probably. Like I said, I haven’t ever properly studied the subject. And it’s not something I can walk up to the Allmother, or any other seer, and just ask. Not even as a hypothetical question.”

Sanna slumped back against the divan, her mind whirling. Abilities she might have and hadn’t known existed. A possible baby in her future– well she wanted that… didn’t she? It was too much to take in. Her head throbbed.

“Mistress, can we please talk about something else? Anything else?” Sanna pleaded and rubbed at her temples. Loki’s hands replaced her and she sent a tiny burst of seidr through her Pet’s head, soothing it as Frigga had done for her earlier in the Archive.

“Of course Pet. Would you like me to distract you from your thoughts?” Loki had moved the book of plays her Pet had been reading off the table when the servant had brought in their meal. It was sitting next to her, half tucked under one of the cushions on the divan. She pulled it out and held it up. “Shall I read to you?”

“I thought you’d had enough of that for today?” Sanna was beginning to feel like herself again, and her instinct of caring for her Mistress was making her feel less stupefied.

“Well, there is one other thing I can think of.” Loki shot a lecherous smile at her Pet and offered a hand to her. Sanna didn’t hesitate to take it.

[missmentelle]

About that last ask; /184371235079 - I grew up completely sheltered in an abusive household where this interaction was the norm. I've done that to several people I've dated - I didn't know it was manipulation, because I have abandonment issues and little understanding of verbal or written language. I'm in therapy for my illness. I have bad communication skills because I'm on the spectrum. What are some healthy ways to describe when I'm struggling with feeling abandoned and I need reassurance?

(This is in reference to a recent ask where the poster’s boyfriend had accused her of not loving him, tried to dump her and then nearly proposed marriage in the same conversation)

 I’m really sorry to hear that you had that kind of upbringing. It can be extremely difficult to recognize that certain behaviours are not okay if they were consistently presented to you as “normal” when you were growing up - and that’s definitely compounded when you have other issues with your communication and social skills. The good news is, these behaviours can be recognized and they can be changed, in ways that allow you to happier, healthier relationships. So if you consistently struggle with insecurity and you don’t want to be manipulative or abusive to your partner, remember:

Separate jealous and insecure actions from feelings. It is okay to feel jealous or to feel insecure. We’re all human, we all have those kinds of feelings, and we’re entitled to our emotions. What we’re not entitled to is to take those emotions out on our partners. It’s fine to sometimes worry about whether your partner is attracted to you; it’s not okay to accuse your partner of wanting to leave you. Not all feelings need to be acted upon - sometimes, it’s important to recognize “hey, I’m feeling this way, but it really wouldn’t be fair of me to take this out on my partner. I need to find a way to deal with this on my own”. 

Take responsibility for your own insecurity. There is a huge, huge difference between saying “I am feeling insecure and I need extra reassurance right now” and telling your partner “you don’t actually love me”. In the first example, you are taking responsibility for your own feelings and communicating that you are the one experiencing a problem; in the second example, you are dumping all of your issues on your partner and treating them as if they’ve done something wrong. That’s not fair to them. It’s important to both recognize and communicate that you are the source of these feelings - because of your past experiences, traumas, mental illnesses, or all of the above - and that your partner isn’t the cause of the problem. 

Communicate your needs ahead of time. If you know that you tend to struggle with insecurity in relationships, don’t hide the problem until it boils over into a big fight. Talk to your partner about the issue ahead of time, so that the two of you can find ways to make the relationship more comfortable for you. Think carefully about what you need in a relationship to make you feel loved. What would help you feel secure and cared for? Frequent text messages? Daily reminders of your partner’s feelings? Minimizing cell phone use when you’re together? Small public displays of affection? Your partner may not be able to accommodate all of your requests, but together, the two of you should be able to work out some reasonably strategies to keep feelings of abandonment and insecurity to a minimum.

Don’t feed your jealousy or insecurity. Jealousy and insecurity really are monsters; the more you feed them, the bigger they grow. Don’t go hunting for reasons to feel insecure. Stay out of your partner’s phone. Don’t comb through their social media pages multiple times per day. Don’t compare yourself to their exes. Doing these kinds of things only makes insecurities worse, and it starts a vicious cycle - you go on your partner’s phone, you see a friendly text from a friend that makes you feel a little threatened, so you dig further into their privacy, and you uncover more innocent things that set off your suspicions, so you monitor them more closely, and so on… until you eventually reach a point where you basically need to be constantly tracking your partner and getting constant reassurances in order to feel comfortable. That’s not a healthy situation for anyone. And ironically, this kind of behaviour can alienate your partner, which makes you want to track them even more, which pushes them further away, etc. Feeding your insecurities never makes them go away - if only makes them worse. 

Remember that love is not control. Your partner is allowed to have friends - including friends of their preferred gender. They are allowed to spend time with those friends. They are allowed to not share their passwords or phone passcodes with you. When you are negotiating with your partner to try to minimize your abandonment issues, it’s always important to remember that there’s a difference between “reasonable” requests and “controlling” requests. It is fair and reasonable for you to make requests of your partner that concern the relationship and their behaviour toward you - it’s fine to ask for more physical affection, or for brief daily phone calls, or for the two of you to take more selfies together. It’s not okay for you to make requests that limit your partner’s freedoms or privacy - it’s not okay to forbid your partner from seeing certain people, set them a curfew, or demand that they allow you to GPS track their phone. Love is not control. 

Be specific when you raise issues. Telling someone “you don’t love me anymore” or “I bet you’re going to leave me” is not productive - it expresses that you’re not happy, but it doesn’t tell your partner what the problem actually is, or what you need in order to feel more secure in the relationship. Before you have a discussion with your significant other, reflect on your own feelings and try to figure out what is actually bothering you about the relationship. Are you feeling that there is a lack of affection? Are you upset because you haven’t seen as much of your significant other as you would like? Do you feel that they don’t respond to messages as reliably as you would like? Have a conversation about what is specifically causing these feelings, and be prepared for the possibility that you might not get everything you want - relationships are all about compromise. 

Have a signal in place. If you can feel that your insecurities and abandonment issues are going to be particularly bad today, have some sort of way that you can signal that to your partner without lashing out at them. It could be a code word, or a simple statement like “today is a bad day for me”. This lets your partner know that you may need extra affection that day, and that they shouldn’t take any outbursts personally. If there are particular things that help you get through a bad day - favourite music, calling your therapist, going for a walk, etc - plan to also lean on those supports. 

Don’t give ultimatums or threaten the relationship. In the heat of the moment, it can be really, really temping to say something along the lines of “maybe we should just break up”, or “I can’t be in the relationship anymore unless you do X”. It’s basically an emotional trump card - it’s a way to “force” the other person to do what you want them to do, or risk losing the relationship entirely. You might be bluffing, you might not be; either way, ultimatums and threats thrown out in the heat of the moment can seem like an easy way to give yourself an “edge” in the argument, and make the other person cater to your needs. These kinds of tactics, however, are incredibly toxic - you are essentially hijacking the discussion, and emotionally blackmailing your partner into doing what you want. It’s incredibly unfair to your partner, and it makes reasonable conversation impossible. Your partner needs to be able to voice their own concerns and make their perspective heard, and that’s not possible if you go out of your way to make them feel like they’re in danger of getting dumped every time they make you unhappy. Threatening a breakup turns minor discussions into emotional minefields, and it intentionally makes your partner feel like the relationship is built on shifting sand. Don’t do this. If you are going to break up with somebody, think it over carefully, and don’t break up the topic unless you truly mean it. 

Don’t rush into commitment. If you struggle with insecurity, it can be really tempting to try to “lock down” your partner by rushing them into more serious forms of commitment as quickly as you can. Moving in together. Adopting a dog. Getting engaged. Getting pregnant. Consciously or subconsciously, you might feel like you need to entwine your lives early on, to make it as difficult as possible for your partner to possibly leave you. Rushing someone into commitment, though, is almost always a mistake. Many of the big “relationship milestones” are huge responsibilities, and it’s enormously stressful to try to manage joint finances and responsibilities with someone you barely know. There’s a reason why most couples wait for an extended period of time before taking these steps together - it can take a while for two people to get comfortable with each other and figure out if they are truly compatible. And trying to rush someone into commitment before they are ready is emotionally manipulative as well; it can be very easy to start blackmailing someone by implying that they don’t really love you or they aren’t really an adult if they aren’t willing to move in together three months into the relationship.

Don’t look for malicious intent or feed negative thought spirals. There are multiple ways to interpret a person’s words or behaviors. Being in a healthy relationship often requires that you give your partner the benefit of the doubt, and choose not to interpret their actions in a malicious way. If your partner doesn’t text you back quickly, you have to choose to believe that they are just busy - and you have to choose not to tell yourself that they are intentionally ignoring you because they hate you, or that they are flirting with someone else. If your partner hangs out with their attractive friend, you have to believe that they are just friends, instead of letting yourself get suspicious of their relationship. Giving in to negative thoughts and suspicions can cause downward thought spirals, where “they haven’t texted me in an hour” can quickly turn into “they never loved me and they have been faking our whole relationship”. Don’t let your brain go there. Give them the benefit of the doubt, even when it’s hard. 

Have coping mechanisms outside of your partner. It can be really easy to decide that because your insecurities are about your partner, that it is your partner’s job to comfort you. But that’s just not true. Constantly turning to your partner for reassurances can start to get exhausting for them, and it leaves you at risk of panicking if you can’t get ahold of them for some reason. Have other coping mechanisms. This is absolutely vital for the health of any relationship - have hobbies, friends, and activities outside of your partner that you can turn to when you are stressed and upset, even if the relationship is what you’re upset about. When you have healthy coping mechanisms in place, you can deal with the worst of your emotional upset in a constructive way, and get to a place where you can have a calm, reasoned discussion with your partner. 

It’s important to remember that healthy relationships take work - everyone slips up from time to time, and that’s okay. It’s important to own your mistakes, apologize for any harm caused, and keep on working to better yourself. It’s also important to remember that relationships are a two-way street; if you’re making an effort to have a healthy relationship but the other person is not, you might be better off cutting your losses and seeking out a new partner who is more willing to try to live by these ideas. 

Best of luck to you!

[nadziejastar]

I'm thoroughly enjoying the LeaIsa discourse, especially Isa possibly having been subject X in perhaps another canon. Isa's symbolism's also seem intentionally feminine in nature. I've head-cannoned that the current subject X in game could have somehow had her heart spirited away into Isa's (mirroring Sora and Kairi's situation, except the heart being far more buried in the depth's of Isa's). An unlikely scenario is that Isa was AFAB as a child and even Lea doesn't know about it or remember.

Lea: The Wounded Healer

Thank you! Yeah, everything about Isa’s symbolism is feminine in nature. And very intentionally so, LOL. He’s the Yin to Lea’s Yang; the Moon to his Sun. I love the whole concept, and I wish it wasn’t so taboo to step outside of gender boxes. The mythology is that Twin Flames separate and go through many lifetimes apart, never meeting in person. Over the reincarnation cycle, the two lovers balance their masculine and feminine sides so that they are both perfectly balanced. And I do think Lea is a very balanced character in that regard. I’m sure Isa was, too. During their final lifetime in the reincarnation cycle, Twin Flames finally reunite and change the world with their divine spiritual love. 

I cannot imagine there’s any other explanation than Isa originally being Subject X. It simply makes way too much sense, and all the pieces fit perfectly. Your head canon is interesting. I prefer that over canon where Isa and Lea are apprentices and had NO connection to the experiments on the darkness of the heart. That just makes no sense at all. They could have had another girl involved without taking away from Lea and Isa’s tragic backstory. Another reason I like Isa being Subject X is that he would need healing, and Lea would need to give him a “birth by sleep”. KH3 kinda forgot about that whole concept. But there’s a lot of evidence that it was supposed to be a HUGE aspect of Lea’s character arc. Would have been a lot more rewarding to see than what he did in canon.

Stuff like this is exactly why Lea and Isa are my favorite characters. I can tell the writers had a hard on for them, too. Nomura really loved Axel, after all. Axel has a weapon called Prometheus which incorporates the Sagittarius symbol, and so do the vast majority of Saïx’s weapons. Moreover, the arrow is mainly prominent in Saïx’s Berserk form, which is where I think his captured heart resides. Now, why is this symbol so important? Because Sagittarius is Chiron, the Wounded Healer! He gave up his immortality for Prometheus, and was rewarded with immortality in the stars!

More About Sagittarius

Yen Sid: “I must warn you again–the road will not be easy.”

Lea: “Fine. Let’s jump right in.”

Ruled by Jupiter, the planet of growth and opportunity, the sign of the Archer is an eternal student, looking for enlightenment through new ideas, people, and places. Sagittarius is on the hunt for the biggest, best experiences life has to offer. They have a positive and outgoing personality that makes them the life of any party. With a love of adventure and all things exotic, the worldly Archer just wants to soak it all in. Sagittarius is driven by a constant need to explore and expand its mind, heart, and awareness to the fullest extent. Fiery and free, Sagittarius knows that the only limits are the ones we create ourselves.

Chiron: The Wounded Healer

Naminé: “And if the hurt is too great for you to bear it alone–well, then you turn to a friend close to your heart.”

Wounded healer is a term created by psychologist Carl Jung. The idea states that an analyst is compelled to treat patients because the analyst himself is “wounded”. For Jung, “it is his own hurt that gives a measure of his power to heal. This, and nothing else, is the meaning of the Greek myth of the wounded physician.”

Chiron was in outstanding pain and anguish; there was no medication that would ease the infliction. The fact was, even the gifted physician Chiron couldn’t heal himself. The next problem was that Chiron was in torment but, immortal. Chiron was not able to obtain freedom from the pain with the onset of death. In such a scenario, Chiron volunteered himself as a replacement for Prometheus, who had been penalized by the gods for giving fire to humankind; His punishment was to be enchained to a giant stone. Day-after-day an aquila descended and polished off his liver, which grew once more as it got dark …only to be consumed by the eagle once again.

So in essence, Chiron forfeited his eternal life so man could have use of fire. Hercules had been appealing to Zeus (Jupiter) for help, and Hercules agreed to supply an appropriate replacement for Prometheus, thereby setting him free. Thus, Chiron replaced Prometheus, gave up eternity, and went to Tartarus (the Underworld) in Prometheus’ stead. Zeus witnessed everything that happened and he knew how deplorable his son Hercules felt. Zeus afforded the dear Centaur a resting place in the heavens, as the constellation Sagittarius the Archer, in recognition of his benevolence and perpetuity.

Chiron and Artemis

Axel: “Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?”

Saïx has a weapon called Artemis, after the moon goddess. Artemis has a relationship to Chiron. Centaurs were notorious for being wild, lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, violent when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, because he was not related directly to the other centaurs due to his parentage. Soon after giving birth to Chiron, his mother abandoned him out of shame and disgust. Chiron, effectively orphaned, was later found by the god Apollo, who decided to take him in as his son.

Apollo taught to him the art of music, lyre, archery, medicine and prophecy. Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis taught him more about archery and hunting. Chiron’s uniquely peaceful character, kindness and intelligence is attributed to Apollo and Artemis. Artemis only loved one man, Orion. She killed him by accident after being tricked into thinking the he was a villain who had attacked one of her priestesses. Orion, whilst swimming to escape a giant scorpion, is killed by Artemis’ arrows after the goddess could only see his distant bobbing head and failed to recognize the hunter. Artemis tried to bring Orion back to life, but was unable. It was Artemis’ regret at the loss of her hunting companion which allowed him to become a constellation and gain immortality amongst the stars.

Sagittarius Mythology also figures in the tale of Orion. One Greek mythology tale tells of how Sagittarius the Archer was directed to shoot down Scorpio the Scorpion, which had been sent off to murder Orion. This story gives the reason why the Archer’s arrow is aimed toward the ‘heart of the scorpion’.

Friendship

Ven: “Already?”

Lea: “I’ll see ya when I see ya. After all, we’re friends now. Get it memorized.”

Ven: “Okay, Lea.”

Sagittarius make excellent friends because of their encouraging, positive nature and their kind heart that will do anything to make sure the friend is happy. They do not expect favors in return; their kindness is selfless. They do not interfere with other people’s plans and they are never possessive or jealous. They treat others the way they want to be treated and live life based on a ‘live and let live’ policy, making them very agreeable. They are excellent conversationalists with a good sense of humor. Sometimes their humor is the raw truth, but these people speak their mind and don’t hold anything back. What they say is what they mean. They do not like mind games; they like straightforwardness and expect it in return.

Axel: “C'mon, let’s get some ice cream.”

Roxas: “Why?”

Axel: “Whaddaya mean, why? Because we’re friends.”

Roxas: “So…friends are people who have ice cream together?”

Axel: “Sort of… That, or laugh at stupid stuff that doesn’t make any sense. Like those kids we just saw–they were friends. C'mon, I’ll show you how it works.”

Sagittarius are known for saying the ‘painful truth’. On the other hand, people know that they can trust what they say because they always say what is real. They never hide anything and are very likable people. The only people that might not get along with them are people that live by a daily agenda with a highly structured, organized life. They are likely to always be running late and miss a date, but this is only because they are so forward thinking that they forget about the present. Tolerance is required. They do not do these things on purpose; this is just who they are. If you understand this and accept this, having a Sagittarius in your life will make the sun shine a lot brighter.

Axel: “Best friends are willing to deal with complications.”

Wise and understanding Sagittarius is connected to the Temperance Tarot card. The gentle process of tempering is about finding a perfect middle state, and combining the best of all things to forge something that is stronger than the sum of its parts. By bringing the power of the philosophical world into their physical world, Sagittarius makes itself a source of ultimate truth and awareness.

Both Sagittarius and the Temperance card are constantly striving for a more enlightened state of being. The angel in the Tarot card here demonstrates this by slowly pouring the liquid from one golden cup into another – a process called “tempering” (a slow process of integration that leads to the perfect middle state). Similarly, Sagittarius accomplishes this by exploring the far reaches of both the physical and philosophical world to expand on or “temper” what is already known. The symbols of Temperance mean the following:

Angel: Interacting with the material world while maintaining a sense of spirituality and higher purpose.

Triangle: Interplay of masculine and feminine or spirituality and materiality.

Cups: The fountain of energy between your opposite tendencies, which is flowing and spontaneous yet also balanced and coherent.

Path: Taking your time through life’s twists and turns; being content in the moment or throughout unexpected obstacles.

Water: Groundedness and refreshment through spiritual thinking.

Mountains: The distant journeys awaiting you that will bring you to spiritual fulfillment.

Sun: The sun, also appearing as the angel’s third eye, represents the merging of personal aims with the universe’s plans for you.

Fire Wings: Muscles and strength necessary to maintain composure and reach a higher being state.

The Angel

Axel: “As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?”

The Angel’s beautiful, red wings represent blood or life, while the triangle on her dress means spirit – also the elemental symbol for fire. And, similar to adventurous Sagittarius, the angel’s feet are also symbolic of the eternal pilgrimage or spiritual journey. By showing one foot in the water and the other on the shore we are reminded that our greatest wisdom lies in the art of balancing. And lastly, the iris flowers are indicative of the Goddess Iris who provides the link between God and humanity. Like Sagittarius, she travels from one end of the world to another – building upon something that is bigger and brighter than herself.

In a general context, the Temperance Tarot card represents coolness in the face of shifting emotional tides. Temperance is the ability to control one’s temper or temperament. In Thailand there is a concept called “cool heart.” In this phrase, cool does not mean cruel and unemotional. Rather, to act with a “cool heart” means that one is not easily stirred or provoked to go off the handle; one does not quickly come to a raging boil but maintains a steady temperature despite shifting external circumstances. Similarly, Temperance stands with one foot in a cool stream and pours water from one cup into another. Temperance knows how to direct the water in a way that maintains homeostasis.

The 7 of Swords

Lea: “And if the darkness gets ya, I promise I’ll bail you out. “Dark Rescue” is my middle name.”

Axel’s weapon “Prometheus” is Lift Gear. This is the same gear that the Temperance Arcana in Luxord’s deck is listed under. Coincidence? I think not. Luxord’s card has the shape of the Minor Arcana, The 7 of Swords. In general, this card is said to be about betrayal and deception. It is sometimes called the ‘Thief’ card. In a general context, it represents deception, lies, trickery, cheating and lack of conscience. This card also signifies mental manipulation, tactics, scheming, cunning, enemies who masquerade as friends and spies in your camp. It represents escaping detection and getting away with something.

On a more positive note, the 7 of Swords points out that you need to be strategic in what you do. It can also represent flexibility, adaptability, sharp wit, and resourcefulness. You know you cannot do everything at once – nor should you. Instead, you must prioritize what’s important to you and direct your focus and attention on the few tasks that will move you closer to your goals. When this card is seen in a reading, the deception is usually short lived. Nobody is able to carry away 7 swords and get away with it. So although the party may feel smug about it at the time, it’s about to blow up in their face.

Sagittarius’ Ruling Planet: Jupiter

Lea: “I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people’s memories, I can live forever.”

Isa: “I know I won’t forget you. Believe me, I try all the time.”

Lea: “See, I’m immortal!”

Larger-than-life Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the planet of luck and expansion. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods, the biggest and the best. In Astrology Jupiter is known as the “benefic” planet, meaning it is the luckiest, most opportunistic planet of all. This positive energy influences Sagittarius’ optimistic, enlightening, and outgoing nature that shines and spreads through anyone they come into contact with. As the largest planet in our cosmos, Jupiter’s vastness encourages Sagittarius to stretch its mind and heart as far as it can.

Sagittarius’ Symbol: The Archer

Xigbar: “You’re not supposed to be here!”

Lea: “Promises to keep. I’ll always be there to get my friends back. What, bad timing? You had your perfect little script, but you kinda forgot to write the sequel. Now, let’s find out what happens!”

The zodiac sign Sagittarius is associated with the Archer, and its glyph represents an arrow. Always eager to explore new horizons, the Archer sets its sights on a faraway target, then shoots toward it with precision. This focus on learning more, doing more, and seeing more is what Sagittarius is all about.

Ruled by expansive Jupiter, Sagittarius is big-hearted, open, and always looking beyond a checklist. A Sagittarius rarely has a “type.” They are always intrigued by the individual, and don’t make any assumptions about people until they’ve truly met and spoken with them. Sagittarius loves witty back and forth banter. A Sagittarius in love is a sight to behold. Aggressively fun, this sign usually moves full speed ahead once they have their love target ‘locked’.

Selene

Ventus: “I remember dreaming a lot. Of you and Terra. Of Sora and his friends too, I think. And there were some more people I didn’t recognize. Oh, and I saw these weird animal creatures! It’s like…I’ve been part of some big adventure.”

Saïx has a weapon named Selene, after the chaste Greek Moon goddess. It’s shaped like a torch. Selene’s torch has an interesting role in art and history. Selene was taken with Endymion, a beautiful youth who tended his flocks on Mount Latmos. She accompanied Cupid and used the light of the torch to gaze upon the mortal she fell in love with while he slept.  

Girodet’s “The Sleep of Endymion” shows the moment that Cupid parts the trees so the Moon may shine her light down upon her sleeping lover’s face. Only at night when he is asleep does she quietly creep down to him, accompanied by Cupid, whose torch symbolizes burning love.

In a Roman floor mosaic from the third century CE, the scene focuses on the moment when Selene falls in love with the young mortal shepherd. Cupid, in the upper right corner, points down at Endymion as if guiding Selene’s gaze towards him. Selene steps out of her bull-drawn biga that she uses to pull the moon across the sky each night, and raises a lit torch that illuminates Endymion’s face in the darkness. She peers down at him longingly. Endymion is fast asleep and unaware of her presence. She was so in love that she asked Zeus to give Endymion immortal life.

Sagittarius’ Ruling House: 9th House of Expansion

Roxas: “I found out about love on today’s mission–that it’s something powerful.”

Axel: “That’s true. It is. But I’ll never get to experience it.”

As the 9th sign in the zodiac, Sagittarius rules over the 9th House of Expansion. This house reveals how open our minds are, and how much we expand ourselves through education, exploration, and life lessons. From philosophical conversations to book research to world travel, the 9th house encourages you to go further than you’ve ever gone before. Sagittarius’ drive for adventure, growth, and awareness is strongly represented here.

When Venus is in Sagittarius

Axel: “Love is what happens if there’s something really special between two people.”

Saïx’s weapon Horoscope incorporates the Venus and Sagittarius symbols while in its Berserk form. So, the astrological correspondence is Venus in Sagittarius. Venus is the planet of love, self-worth, and all things beautiful. Her style is sweet, cooperative, and peaceful. But when this graceful planet’s energy mixes with the free-spirited sign of Sagittarius, her joyful side comes out to play. Hearts come out of hiding while Venus moves through Sagittarius. The happy and free energy of Sagittarius turns Venus up a few notches, encouraging us to live life to the fullest. This is a time to socialize, to try new things, and to look for love in different places.

Sagittarius is the sign of the adventurer, so when Venus is traveling through this sign, we find ourselves drawn to exotic people, places, and experiences. Old routines and worn-out relationships are at risk of being traded in for something bigger, brighter, and better while Venus is in Sagittarius. We want to expand beyond our usual boundaries, and may give up some of our comfortable patterns of the past to try out new experiences. Love needs to grow during this transit – it will not stand still.

Sagittarius’ Element: Fire

No. VIII AXEL—An assassin who puts his own agenda first, and everything else on the back burner. Wields fire.

The zodiac sign Sagittarius is a Fire sign that lights up our lives with profound questions and exciting ideas. Just like an uncontrollable wildfire, this sign will happily go where the wind takes them to seek new experiences. Sagittarius uses its Fire energy on its lifelong journey of exploration, always ready to jump at the next adventure. The element of Fire continues to fuel Sagittarius’ never ending supply of optimism and inspiration.

The Goddess Hestia: The Keeper of the Flame

Axel: “Well, I think you can be inseparable, even if you’re apart. It’s like, if you feel really close to each other. Like best friends.”

Saïx’s weapons Moonrise and Moonset are shaped like ⚶ the astrological symbol for the asteroid Vesta, also known as Hestia in Greek mythology. Her name means “the essence”, the true nature of things. Hestia was the Greek Goddess of the sacred fire. She was the most influential and widely revered of the goddesses. She was was one of the three ‘virgin’ goddesses, next to Athena and Artemis. Hestia was depicted as a beautiful and bashful woman, usually seated. The living flame of Hestia was tended constantly and never allowed to die out, for it represented the energy of all life.

Hestia was a kind goddess and had a discrete character. She never left her residence, the sacred mountain of Olympus. She never involved herself in the fights and machinations of the other gods and goddesses, somehow managing to stay above the fray. Non-judgmental and forgiving, her unconditional love and calm acceptance inspired the love and trust of others in return. Dependable and caring, she was always there for them and helped them to manage their lives, which were certainly more exciting than her own. These virtues define the goddess Hestia: mild, gentle, forgiving, peaceful, serene, dignified, calm, secure, stable, welcoming, and, above all else, well-centered.

Sagittarius’ Color: Purple

Axel: “You know, I’ve been thinking about something Naminé said. Roxas…are you really sure that you don’t have a heart? Is it possible that we all have one? You, me, her… Or is that just wishful thinking?”

Rich and luscious purple is the color of Sagittarius. Purple is a color of abundance, which encourages Sagittarius’ natural luck and its drive to expand its mind and world. The color purple is also associated with spirituality and enlightenment, empowering Sagittarius’ philosophical explorations and lifelong quest for knowledge.

The Sun

Axel: “Hey, Roxas. Bet you don’t know why the sun sets red. You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.”

Roxas: “Like I asked! Know-it-all.”

Saïx’s weapons Orbit and Lunar Phase incorporate the Sagittarius symbol with the combined stars of Ishtar and Shamash. There’s also a Recusant’s sigil visible over the Sun symbol. The Sun, the giver of life, represents our conscious mind in astrology. It represents our will to live and our creative life force. Just as the planets revolve around the Sun in our solar system, we derive our life purpose from the Sun in our natal charts. The Sun is our ego. It is the part of us that reasons things out, and makes final decisions. The Sun is our basic identity, and represents self-realization. The Sun also represents our overall vitality. The happiest people on this earth are those who identify with the Sun’s expression.

Sagittarius’ Quality: Mutable

Axel: “Let’s meet again in the next life.”

Roxas: “Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”

As the last sign of autumn, Sagittarius helps us celebrate one last hoorah as fall comes to a close and the season of hibernation begins. Sagittarius, with a love for variety and change, uses its Mutable energy to shake the fiery radiance off the leaves and allow them to fall. As winter approaches, this Fire sign keeps us going by fueling our desire for adventure and fun, and helps us remain optimistic that light and warmth will return again.

[bakusquadup]

Ohhhhmigosh you're taking requests aaahhh you are my favorite author on here!!! If possible an imagine or group of hc about how Tamaki Amajiki and Nejire Hadou would (separate) treat their super tired s/o? As in a tragedy has happened and s/o is having to take care of mourning or injured friend/family on top of dealing with their own hurt. It's super specific so if you don't wanna do it that's fine. I've had it in my head for awhile but I dont think I could ever write it that well

Hey friend! Thank you for saying I’myour favorite author, that’s amazing!! I don’t think I’ve ever been anyone’sfavorite anything lol. I actually have some relevant experience with prettymuch this exact situation going on right now, so I am happy to write this foryou. These are kinda for specific situations though, because I wasn’t sure howyou make a scenario like this generalized. Hope that’s okay.

Also, you should do your own versionof this, too. I’m sure that the idea is much more fully-formed in your head andonly you would be able to really convey it properly. I would love to read it ifyou do. Anyway, enjoy!

-Shelley

P.S. You used “they,” so I tried toavoid gender in these.

Possibletriggers below: mention of parent’s death, mention of friend’s death.

Amajiki Tamaki

Youcurled up in a ball in your bed, fingers threaded through your hair and thenclosed into a fist, so the strands pulled away from you head. After the day you’dhad, all you wanted was just to stay there for hours and cry. You had spent thebetter part of the day at your friend’s house with a few other friends, actingas the main source of comfort for them. After your close friend’s passing, theentire friend group was at a loss for how to be okay again. You were prettymuch left as the only one that was capable of comforting anybody, even thoughyou had your own heavy weight of grief pressing down on your chest,constricting your breathing.

Outin the kitchen, you could here the opening and closing of cupboard doors alongwith the soft mutters of Tamaki rambling to himself, but after a moment, itdied out.

Acrossthe room, the door clicked open.

“[Y/N]-san?”your boyfriend said, shuffling over the carpet to the bed. The box-spring creakedunder Tamaki’s added weight as he sat down on the edge of the mattress, justbelow your fetal-positioned feet.

Notbothering to move, you merely groaned in response. You shifted to the otherside of the bed. Reading your message clearly, he slipped off his jacket andtie and pulled the covers back to join you. He didn’t say anything else – didn’thave to – only shifted next to you and wrapped his arms around your balled-upform.

Youflipped over to face him and wedged your head under his chin. Feeling his bodywarmth, the dam just broke and you were sobbing into his chest, unlacing yourhands from your hair to grip at his shirt pathetically.

Youstayed like that for at least an hour, probably more. The whole time, Tamakijust laid there with you while you cried and cried, until after so long youcould just feel that you didn’t even have any liquid left to cry and you simplyfell asleep.

Hadou Nejire

“Nejire,I’m home,” you called out, throwing your bag on the kitchen counter and pryingoff your shoes, tossing them aside haphazardly. Meandering over to thecabinets, you grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the sink. Down thehall, you could hear the various crashing sounds as the whirlwind that isNejire made her way out to meet you.

“Heybabe,” she yelled out from the hallway just before she rounded the corner. “Howwas work today? Did you catch that guy you said your office has been huntingdown for a while? Oh, right!” She paused – a rare occurrence for her. “Did yougo speak to your mother again? I know she’s been calling you nonstop. She evencalled me once today, hoping I was with you.”

Yousighed deeply, putting your hands to your eyes and rubbing at them at littleharder than you should.

“Yeah,I talked to her.”

“And?”Nejire prompted, raising her brows. It was only in times like this that shekept her ongoing internal monologue to herself. You looked up, meeting herbright eyes and trying to find a way to describe the disaster that was yourafternoon. After a moment, you sighed again and simply shook your head. “And?”she said again. For some reason, when you heard her said the word a secondtime, something in you snapped.

“Andshe made me leave work early so I could go be with her! And I had to sit withher for three hours while she cried! And she yelled at me because she thinksI’m not upset enough about Dad dying! And I just wanted to scream, but youcan’t do that when your grieving mother just needs your help because she’smourning and just lost her husband!” You paused to catch your breath. “And I’mjust so goddamn tired.” You slunk over to the couch, dropping down onto thetime-worn cushions and letting your head fall into your hands. “I’m so tired,Nejire.”

Youheard the soft tapping of sock-covered feet walking over hardwood floors and amoment later Nejire dropped down onto the couch beside you, her warmth radiatingout from her thigh to yours. She put her hand down on your leg – palm up, incase you wanted to hold it. Pulling your hands from your face, you looked downat it, then back up at her, not accepting the touch just yet.

“You’reallowed to be,” was all she said. You searched her eyes for any form of pity,but came up short. She had nothing but compassion and empathy for yoursituation, knowing that it was one of the hardest things to go through. “Do youwant to talk about it?” You shook your head.

“No.If I talk about it, I’m sure I’ll end up crying out of frustration.”

“There’snothing wrong with crying.” She tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and scootedan inch closer to you, so there was a pressure against your side that wassomehow comforting. You took her hand that still rested on your thigh.

“Iknow. I just think I’ve had enough of crying for a couple days. It’s exhaustingto be at such a high emotional state all the time.” Rubbing at the back of herhand, you kept your eyes glued on your interlocked fingers, mesmerized.

“Whatwould you prefer then?”

“Idon’t know. Maybe just a cheesy movie and some cuddling?” Looking up from yourhands, you watched as a small smile grew over her face. It was gentle, a warmexpression that just came from wanting you to be happy.

“Yourword is my command. One cheesy Hallmark movie and a night of cuddles comingright up.”

[kingofthewilderwest]

Hey there, Haddock! I hope you're doing well! Here's a Madoka Magica AU question I've had in my head for a long time (if u can't answer that's totally ok) : if the Dragon Riders were to form contracts with Kyubey and henceforth become magical girls and magical boys, what do you think their wishes would be? Also, what kind of thing would make them despair enough to turn into witches? Like, how would their wishes backfire? Thank u so much and have a great day!

Oh my goodness yuuuuuus this is great.

I think one of the challenging things is that lots of these dragon riding individuals aren’t at a stage in their life where they might do something so brash as make a contract with Kyubey. While some of the characters enter a contract with little deliberation, it is to note that others at least think their choice is very important, or they recognize that becoming a magical girl is an enormous step. So along with the idea of what their wishes would be, I feel like I also have to analyze what motivations they would have to form a contract with Kyubey. And though we’re going to ignore gender, I’m also going to try to keep the youths in their younger teenaged years - no twenty-year-old Hiccup making a wish about his father, since he would be a bit too old to be under Kyubey’s attention at this point.

Hiccup: Become a Respected Dragon Fighter

Hiccup as he appears in the first HTTYD film is undergoing the unpleasant challenge of feeling excluded and unwanted in his society. This sort of feeling that he doesn’t belong is what prompts Hiccup to do some pretty dangerous choices in the movie. He’s willing to go so far as to create his own inventions and try to hunt down dragons - despite the dangers - in hopes he can bring one of the beasts down and prove his worth. If Hiccup is so desperate that he is going to charge into the middle of a dragon attack, then he might be so desperate that he could make a contract with Kyubey.

While Hiccup’s lost mother is a source of sadness for him, I feel as what would be most pressing on his mind is the fact that he is socially outcast on Berk. That’s what gets him motivated to charge as he does in the canon film, after all. Kyubey offering Hiccup a contract for him to be a powerful magical boy could thus have some appeal for him at this stage of life. In fact, it could even be a double whammy of “success” for Hiccup. He could make a wish in which he could become a powerful dragonslayer and his fellow Hooligans could admire him. Then, additionally, Hiccup could gain great power by fighting witches. Not only can he take down dragons, but he has the unique capabilities of taking out enemies no one else can. Hiccup can best foes that even his father can’t!

While I wish I could say that Hiccup would be smart enough to be suspicious of Kyubey’s offer, I do want to point out several things. First, Kyubey is masterfully manipulative. Kyubey does an amazing job of selling his side of the story, manipulating girls into fighting witches for his ends. If Kyubey can manipulate some hesitant and thoughtful girls into fighting witches, then what’s to say he can’t convince Hiccup? Hiccup is smart… but so is Kyubey. Second, Hiccup is very smart, but he’s also a bit impulsive. The fact that Hiccup does make impulsive decisions means that he could charge into this danger without fully evaluating what Kyubey might be up to. Hiccup could see this as an opportunity to finally get his life together and become respected… and I could see this as motivation enough for him to take the offer, make the contract, and become a magical boy.

Now, exactly how Hiccup’s wish plays out, we don’t know. There are multiple ways I could see it going. But I imagine it likely will center around Hiccup being shown to be a great dragon fighter to the rest of his people.

Further down Hiccup’s life, we could explore how his relationship with Toothless could influence his wish to Kyubey, but I think that here, when we first meet the kid in HTTYD, is where he’s at his most vulnerable and most likely to accept an offer from Kyubey.

Snotlout: Wealthiest Individual in the Archipelago

After Hiccup, I have a harder time evaluating what the wishes will be. There are a number of factors to consider. For Snotlout, I imagine that he does have enough struggles in his life to make a wish about personal challenges. His conflict with his father, for instance, is no easy experience. However, here’s the thing: Snotlout has some problems, especially young in life, realizing how much of a problem his father’s authority is to him. Snotlout in episodes like “Race to Fireworm Island” will show some respect for what his father says, even if what his father says is not conducive to a good familial relationship. So while Snotlout could have the potential for a number of heartfelt wishes to Kyubey, there’s the fact that he might not recognize he should even be asking those things.

For this reason, I almost wonder if Snotlout’s wish ends up being something “shallow.” I’m inclined to say that Snotlout asks for great riches. We see that Snotlout is a greedy character - he finds great interest in riches, will get distracted by them, and will be more inclined to stay in danger if the result is saving those riches. Snotlout even tries to sell things he shouldn’t to gain wealth. Since Snotlout does demonstrate that constant interest in wealth, and it is something that would pop into his head as something he could receive from a contract, I could imagine that Snotlout asks for all the trinkets and gold and monetary gain he could get from Kyubey. Snotlout might just ask to be the richest person in the archipelago. Good enough for him.

Oh, and being able to fight witches? Sounds like a good thing for him to brag about. The ladies are going to fawn over him with all the great stories he can tell of being a legendary warrior, right?  

Fishlegs: Saving Someone’s (or Some Dragon’s) Life

I’ll be honest - it would take a lot for Fishlegs to become a magical boy. A LOT. Fishlegs doesn’t prefer adventure - he often complains when entering danger, and only chooses to enter danger when he sees it is what must be done. Fishlegs would hear about fighting witches as a magical boy… and he wouldn’t just be disinterested in the role. He would find the job outright unappealing. This would be the last sort of thing he would want to voluntarily do!

It means that I suspect the only guaranteed way for Fishlegs to choose to be a magical boy is if he gets into a horrific scrape in life and uses his wish to get out of that scrape. Fishlegs would potentially not use the wish on himself, but he would use it on the people he cares most about. If Meatlug is dying, or his mother, or something grim like that, then Fishlegs might in this moment choose to sacrifice his normal life to keep the other alive. Anything short of that, though, and I think Fishlegs could not be reliably convinced to take the job. As much as he loves knowledge and books and hot tubs and the finer things of life… he’d easily know that a bargain like the one with Kyubey wouldn’t be worth it.

So Kyubey would have a lot of work cut out for him. Maaaaaaaaybe Kyubey could convince Fishlegs that the fight for witches is dire enough that Fishlegs has to join the fight. But I still think there would be hesitance, “no way not me,” and the like. Fishlegs isn’t selfish and he does fight when it’s necessary, but I think he’d be smart enough to figure out he isn’t the ideal warrior, and thus waffle about this for a long time, if he ever chose to take the contract. Personal tragedy would be the sure way to force him into the role.

Astrid: Something about Restoring Family Honor

Astrid is a tricky one, but one area of insecurity we do see for her is that she is uncomfortable with her family’s tarnished heritage. After Fearless Finn Hofferson froze at the sight of the Flightmare, the Hoffersons received a bad reputation. This in turn might have fueled Astrid’s motivation (at least in part) to excel so much in Dragon Training in the first HTTYD. Astrid’s love for her family is also exhibited in the RTTE episode Astrid’s Team, in which her family being in danger is so critically important to her that she chooses to leave behind her dragon riding companions to protect the island. Family is important to her.

I will suggest - though I’m not 100% convinced - that something along the means of restoring her family honor could be where she plants her wish with Kyubey. I think this could play out several ways: 1. All of her family members are made more honorable as per her wish, 2. She simply chooses to fight as a magical girl, and that fight alone is what she believes shall restore honor, or 3. Her being recognized as a powerful warrior in Berk is the wish and that helps restore honor because - now that she’s a big deal on Berk - the Hooligans aren’t going to pay attention to the old stories of Finn. So there are variations of a theme.

Regardless of how exactly the wish plays out (screw it, it could even just be a wish that her other family members stay safe), I do think that Astrid’s motivation for becoming a magical girl is easier to identify. Astrid is someone who believes in fighting the fight. In the first HTTYD, she berates Hiccup for not having his head in the game - their parents’ fight is about to become theirs, and that is important to her. There is no time to fool around. If Astrid hears that something as dangerous as witches are perusing the area, and that by making a contract she can enter that fight to save people… then that’s motivation enough for her to become a magical girl. I don’t think Astrid would care as much about the wish as the fact that she would become a magical girl.

So while her wish might be something about helping her family, I think that for Astrid, the best deal of the contract isn’t the wish. It’s the fact that she has learned there is a fierce battle between magical girls and witches. She can become a magical girl. She can enter that critical battle and win. She’ll want to do that. Astrid the warrior cares about fighting the good fight… and so she’ll enter the contract with Kyubey.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut: Tuffnut Gets a Butt Beard

The twins’ wishes are going to go one of three ways.

1. They waste their wishes on something useless, ridiculous, or frivolous. A pet Whispering Death. An oversized mace. A bowl of ice cream (yes, I know that’s an anachronism, but they do mention ice cream in RTTE, and let’s be real, something odd like this could happen with them). The wish might even be a prank targeted at one another. “I wish that Ruffnut has a rainbow nose” or “I wish that Tuffnut would grow a beard on his BUTT.” There’s no telling exactly what will come out of their mouths… but the wishes could be ridiculous.

2. Their wishes are somehow the most useful of everyone’s on the team. They ask to be the wisest people in the archipelago. For them to have all knowledge. For them to be physically indestructible (so that they could have more fun on their daredevil adventures… WE CAN RUN STRAIGHT THROUGH FIRE NOW! sort of thing). The twins might or might not realize how powerful their wishes are, but as soon as they say them, the rest of the dragon riders gape and realize that holy crap the twins just made the best wishes of the entire group.

3. The twins just wish for a show of fire and destruction, something to get their pyromaniac heads excited.

Now, the reason why the twins become a magical girl and boy is also a little tricky. One of the primary “motivations” I can imagine them having… is literally just them misunderstanding the parameters of Kyubey’s contract.

I could imagine them making the wish without fully realizing that it’s a contract with Kyubey. “Oh. Wait? What? We’re supposed to do something now that we’ve made a wish? It wasn’t just a freebie?” I can easily imagine the twins not paying attention to Kyubey’s full shpeel. They find it boring, uninteresting, and tune Kyubey out. As a result, they only pick up that they have the chance to ask any wish and it’ll be granted to them. They don’t realize that it means something else will happen beyond that. This could potentially play into the twins making ridiculous wishes, “wasting” them, since they think this is just a random freebie and they want to see something hilarious in the moment. It could even play into them making serious wishes. They joke around, “Well, if I have the chance to wish for anything, sis, I should ask for like, all knowledge and power, right?” And boom it happens.

The other potential “motivation” is that they hear they get to fight witches, which allows them to tap into their daredevil personalities. It gives them an outlet for destruction. It sounds fun. So they take the offer.

Heather: Save Her Family

Heather’s probably the easiest. If she’s going to wish for anything, it’s going to be about her unpleasant family life. She lost her biological parents and later her foster parents. In this state of sadness and loneliness, Heather would be willing to take a contract with Kyubey so that these people she loves could live, be safe, be sound. Heather wouldn’t mind that it means that she has to go into the line of fire because of the wish - at least her family would be guaranteed safe now.

Eret: Probably Getting Away from Drago

We don’t know as much about Eret as the other individuals, and we don’t know what he’s like as a teenager. We meet him when he’s an adult. Supposing that Eret has a long-ish history with Drago, then maybe it could be the case that getting out of Drago’s hands is why Eret makes the contract. He figures that he’s a strong and athletic individual - fighting witches won’t be a horrible hassle, he can handle it - and in the process, he can escape that which he fears most.