#Dragon Con is THIS WEEK and I cannot wait!

[sheliesshattered]

Quick preview of the cosplays I've been working on for Dragon Con 2023: Rhaenyra Targaryen's dress from HotD s01e07 and s01e08, a punk version of Rhaenyra, and my Harley Quinn-Taylor Swift mashup.

This is only half of the costumes I'm taking to Dragon Con this year -- full lineup coming soon!

[yandere-daydreams]

Idk how into neuvillette you are but I literally cannot stop thinking abt him. Maybe I have a thing for dragons but like… damn. Imagine committing some minor crime and being forced into serving him during his heat… (the crime was actually something really petty and he just wants you to be his fucktoy but doesn’t wanna say it)

It hasn’t even been a week since the story quest came out LOL

implied non/con, mentions of pregnancy.

but he's such a rational man, so pure-hearted in his pursuit of absolute justice,,, it's impossible not for me to think it'd be more likely that the archon he oh-so-regularly humiliates in front of her subjects got tired of having such an up-tight chief justice and charging the mortal he's always seemed to take such a special interest in with conspiracy to commit treason or some other manufactured crime. but, before you can go to trial properly, furina gives you an option; either try your luck in the courts she commands, or prove your loyalty to your nation another way. knowing how trials tend to be drawn out and milked for all they're worth, you pick the later, figuring you'll just be waiting on her for a day or so before falling back into your normal, unremarkable life - mildly inconvenienced but ultimately unharmed.

so, imagine your surprise when you're dressed up in pure-white lingerie, bound and gagged, and escorted to a badly mangled bedroom that reeks of sweat, sex, and metal. despite his flushed face and bleary eyes, he does make a half-hearted effort to protest, but there's only so much he can do to hold himself back when you're laid out in front of him, vulnerable skin exposed and practically begging to be marked. you might be scared now, but that's alright - he'll sure you'll find the warmth of his spawn more agreeable than the frigid cold of some damp jail cell.

after all - in the absence of justice, it's the least he could do to dull out a fair punishment, right?

[jalicefanficblog]

Birds and Café con leche

After Breakfast Andrés normally drinks his second cup of Coffee, but this time he is informed by his Toddler, that Coffee is very important for Birds, so they could turn into powerful Dragons.

"Martin? Have you seen my second cup of Coffee? I was sure, that i placed it a few seconds ago on the Kitchen Table?"

Andrés de Fonollosa looked confused from the empty Kitchen Table towards his Partner in Crime and in Love, who was putting the Dishes from Breakfast into the Dishwasher. 

"Than it should be on the Kitchen Table - have you looked there already?", replied Martin while he was focused on continue doing the Task.

"Would i come to you, when i didn´t checked that place already?", Andrés said and finally got the full attention from his Partner, who closed the Dishwasher a few Moments later.

"Well let me think....", Martin wanted start counting all the Times, when Andrés came to him for a second cup of Coffee, for someone who puts Suncream on his neck, when he is busy with his work and needs an Volunteers that get Hestia´s Diaper changed or play with the Toddler - or when Andrés want´s to curse about how much he deep inside his wicked heart miss the Gang with the weird city Names. Martin could go on forever with that list, but he knew that his Partner his kind of focused on his second cup of Coffee after Breakfast. Why should he put it away than?

"To be honest i could give you a whole list of Times, when you come to me for something - but I´am really sorry about the Coffee - it´s not here", Martin explained with an amused grin on his face.

"You´re not funny", Andrés said not amused about the fact, that his Coffee has d isappeared on a mysterious way.

While the two Adults still talked about this mysterious Situation, their little Daugther Hestia came into the Kitchen . The two year old little girl had great news for her parents, but their were talking about boring Adult Stuff like Coffee and Household chores. 

"Daddy y Papá? Hestia found Dragon - Mira - Look", the little girl said playfully and got the attention from her Fathers. She was really busy with preparing some special Water for Dragons, so that they can find their way to her home and don´t need to be longer thirsty flying in the clouds. 

"Please tell me you didn´t want to share some Choclate cake with the Goats, like a few weeks ago  - i nearly got a heart attack", Martin asked and he wasn´t sure if the Toddler tried that again. 

"Goats no Dragons Daddy", Hestia explained friendly and reached out for Martin and Andrés hands, to show them where the Dragons can be find from now on.

"Wait a minute - have you took my cup of Coffee Corazón?", Andrés asked her and by the way Hestia shyly let go of his hand and hide behind Martin leg, Andrés knew that he found the mysterious, why his coffee was gone.

"Hestia sorry Papá - but the Dragons", the 2 year old explained and was picked up by Martin, so that she cannot longer hide behind his legs.

"As much as i like the Dragon Idea Baby, it is not a good Idea to steal your Papás second cup of coffee", Martin said honest and looked from him over to her Papá.

"Hestia no steal Coffee", the little girl replied confused.

"So where is my Coffee than? I don´t think you drink it - did you?", Andrés asked in kind of an strict voice.

"Coffee yucky Papá - now look Dragons?", the Toddler replied - how could Adults ever drink Coffee, it was so disgusting.

"Fine - show us your Dragons Baby - but after that i need someone who makes me a second cup of Coffee", Andrés after his Partner put Hestia down again, so that the little Girl can show her fathers, what exactly happend to his original second cup of Coffee and why his Toddler feed it to the ´Dragons´

Five Minutes later Berlin and Palermo were on the  -Child-proofed  - Balcony that belong to their Quarters and watched how little Hestia showed them one of the small Bird Fountain, in wich Berlin had put in some Water a few days ago for the Birds, that came here for a stop and a sip of refreshment.

But instead of the Water there was now some Coffee for the Birds to drink and next to the Bird Fountain stood the empty Coffee cup. 

"So there did my Café con leche went - and what has this do to with Dragons Hestia?", Andrés wanted to know, while he picked up the empty cup.

"Birds need Coffee Papá", Hestia said und pointed with one finger towards the top of the Bird Fountain, where now a little Bird was sitting and looking confused towards the Coffee mixture.

"Why do Birds need Coffee? I´am pretty sure they need Water Hestia - don´t you think?", Martin said and as well as his Partner, he really wanted to know how their Toddler came up with this Idea.

"Birds drink Coffee....and than grow big Dragons Daddy", Hestia explained, as if it was the most normal thing in the World. If Birds drink Coffee, they turn into strong and powerful Dragons - makes total sense for an Toddler, but for two Adults in their late 40´s it was more confusing than helpful.

"How long does it take - I mean a Dragon would be cool", Palermo said amused and got an ´Don´t put any more Ideas in our Daugthers Head´ glaze from Berlin.

"What your Daddy wants to ask you Hestia is, who told you that´s the way how a Birds could grow into a Dragon?", Berlin added and looked for a moment to the little bird, who already flew away - it was understandable that he wouldn´t like this Coffee a lot. 

"Auntie Raquel - it´s true Papá", Hestia said and while she was staying with The Professor and his now Girlfriend - wich also was the former Inspectora, Paulas Mother told her and Paula a lot of Storys - and she also said, that a Bird drinks some Coffee, he would turn into a powerful Dragon. 

"Than do me Favor and try it out next Time, we visit your Uncle okay? So will anyone please bring me my second cup of Coffee?", Berlin said and Palermo picked the Toddler up as she lifted her Arms up in his direction.

"Me! Helping Daddy yes?", Hestia said and she loved it when she can help her Parents in the Kitchen or when she just was allowed to push the Start Button on the Coffee Machine.

"How nice from you to offer your Help - i guess you like to have an  Café con leche?", Palermo asked Berlin and after he gave his Partner a kiss on the cheek, Palermo went with the Toddler and the empy cup in his free hand, back to the Kitchen, to bring his Boyfriend the Coffee he so desperately needs.

In the Meantime Andrés called Raquel to ask her about this Fairytale with Dragon - but he only got an amused laugh from the former Inspectora.

"Coffee turn Birds into Dragons. I´am very sorry but i think Hestia missunderstood something. I told her once, that Sergio could turn into a Dragon, if he dosen´t have his third Coffee in the Morning"

THE END 

[accio-victuuri]

There are some things you don’t think about till someone else points it out. This is an example of that. So we can predict now that when it comes to XZ and his team, the usual pattern is post photo sets and then a behind the scenes of that will be shared by the studio’s Douyin later on. I think it’s the same ( probably ) for other celebrities but you know what I mean — even yibo official are known for it. Now there are specific events when this did not happen. Those “events” also have something common. It’s times we CPN that Web is there. Either at the same event or close by ( meaning he is waiting for GG at the hotel where he is staying ).

Let me show you the details.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

✅ - event follows the usual content release

❌ - no behind the scenes video

I will start with 2020, specifically after 227. Around that time we already speculate that there are times when they visit each other at work. For example, ZZ at SDC3 recordings.

❌ - 102520: GG performs in CCTV 3 Brightest star in the night sky. Tho this one is not exactly a live show, XZS still shared a photo set from the event. No behind the scenes. This was a pretty shut-in recording and no one said anything till it was aired. We CPN that WYB was there in some capacity because the TTXS bros mentioned this song. More about that here.

❌ - 120520: GG performs live on the show “Actors please..” & sings ‘Running To You With All I Have’. Photo set only. Again, this was a closed set. He was announced only hours before the guesting and very few fansites were able to get in. There was a Douyin video released days later + XZS shared a behind the scenes of how the DY was made. Another angle of it. They cannot release the actualy bts of the photoshoot because wherever that backstage was, WYB was allegedly there. You may see a pattern that Web tends to be present when it is a closed set.

XZS also released a video with him playing for a hotpot with the same clothes. This video shows more the potential that WYB is there.

❌ - 122020 : Tencent Starlight. Do I even need to explain this? Same stage. They were missing from the audience. They were allegedly hanging out together in one room backstage. No photoshoot BTS. Only a douyin post shared by GG. Which we think was shot by WYB.

✅ - 123120 NYE stage ; they were at different station celebrations.

✅ - 011521 IQIYI scream night

❌ - 011921 Douyin night. Another same event attended. XZS released a photoset only.

✅ - 020521 DC press con. A solo and work related event so XZS gave is everything. Obvs, WYB has no business being there.

✅ - 021221 BTV and Dragon TV Spring Festival. There is no photoshoot bts but both stations released behind the scenes content which makes up for it. They might have wanted it that way so the stations will have bonus content to share.

❌ - 022821 -Weibo Night. You guessed it. No photoshoot BTS because they were in the same place and event.

053121 BTV & JD 6/18 night. This is my outlier because there were no same city CPN. No BTS but there was a Douyin post. What stands out to me with this day is his hair that was dyed dark blue. He was also using the custom red mic.

✅ - 060721 Tencent Video 10th anniversary event

✅ - 091021 2022 Asian Games Hangzhou Countdown

✅ - 101621 Jackie Chan International Action Film Week

✅ - 020222 China Internet AudioVisual Annual Ceremony

✅ - 113022 Weibo TV & Internet Video Summit

I didn’t link everything because I truly just want to make a list. I won’t elaborate on the CPNs for those marked X as i’m thinking those who will read this will have an idea. Same thing as the DY/Photosets shared by XZS.

They have the footage, of course they do. We’ve seen how it works. Someone takes the photos and then one of his staff takes the video. It’s easy. Then someone else edits it — it’s all part of the job. There might be other reasons why the behind the scenes is missing in the events mentioned but it’s some kind of next level coincidence that what they have in common is yibo’s alleged presence. I’m thinking WYB is there, hanging out and they can’t have him show up in videos. Or when they are together, WYB will take douyin videos of him and that’s what XZ decided to share instead. 🤍

This is all speculation. Take it or leave it. ☺️

source: mentioned by this bxg, then i decided to go through all of gg’s events.

[megan-is-mia]

Omggg I love your blog!! I'm new here and I'm already so hooked! 😊💖

Could I please request #14 of the monster yandere prompt with Malleus?? With spiciness of NSFW if possible please

XOXO

 (I hope you stay hooked cause you’ll be in for a crazy ride, and hell yeah you can get your NSFW. You are lucky cause this fic is loooong) 14. “You know you can’t run from me forever, one day I’ll catch you” (Yandere! Malleus Draconia x Fem! S/o) (WARNING NSFW AND NON-CON AHEAD) ((MILD CHILD GROOMING)) “Malleus do wipe that bitter expression off your face” Lilia said in a scolding tone as he poked the young king whose mouth was fixed in a deep grimace. “I don’t want to, if I must go to this christening then I will but I refuse to pretend that I’m happy about it” Malleus replied folding his arms and looking out the window of the carriage. “You were so excited about going before, why the sudden change?” Lilia said giving the draconic-fae’s face another sharp poke. 

“That was before you told me it was in the Enchanted Dominion” Malleus said, the corner of his mouth twitching with the force of his frown. “You know I cannot stand that bratty little prince Dimitri, and now there’s going to be two of them” he added with a shake of his head. The Enchanted Dominion was the kingdom closest to the Valley of Thorns, and because of that considerable effect was put in by both countries to keep their diplomatic relations at least peaceful if not outright friendly. “Actually it seems that King Klaude and Queen Eden were blessed with a little princess this time. I believe they’ve named her (Y/n), for the Queen’s late mother” Lilia said, his lips quirked up into a half-grin as he noticed that Malleus’s posture had relaxed with this additional information. They rode the rest of the way to their destination without any further chatter. The two fae were escorted into the banquet hall where a great celebration was already in process as various dignitaries approached to pay their respects to the baby.

Malleus let out a sigh as he walked up to the cradle where the infant princess lay half-asleep. As he stared down at the baby, he found himself begrudgingly thinking that she was rather cute. Not as cute as Silver had been as a babe, but definitely deserving of the cooing and coddling that had been given to her by all the visitors. Absentmindedly he reached down to stroke the child’s cheek and her little eyes popped open to look up at him. (Y/n) gurgled and tried to grab the fae’s finger in her tiny fist. It was like a switch was flipped inside the draconic-fae at this action by the newborn and he scooped the child up despite the cries of protest from the seated king and queen. (Y/n) continued to gurgle and stared up at Malleus sending him into a trance of sorts as his heart raced with infatuation for the sweet infant. It took Lilia tapping his shoulder for the young fae to finally return to reality and set the babe back in her cradle even as she tried to cling to Malleus’s fingers and began to cry as he walked away. Even as he put distance between himself and the child, the draconic-fae’s mind was filled with thoughts of the infant princess. He remembered nothing of the festivities that followed after everyone had paid their respects to the baby and he thought of nothing but her until the next day. Well, that wasn’t entirely true… even though he forced himself to focus on his responsibilities Malleus still found his mind wandering to the condition of Princess (Y/n) to the point that even Lilia noticed he was out of sorts. It wasn’t until the young king finally sent a messenger, in secret, to the Enchanted Dominion to inquire about the state of the baby princess that he was finally able to get some peace and complete his work for the day. At first, receiving an update once a day about the state of little (Y/n) was enough to satisfy Malleus’s curiosity. However, as the months passed the daily message he received just wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to see the young princess, see how much she’d already grown in the last four months. Malleus had to fight the urge to simply teleport to King Klaude and Queen Eden’s castle to satisfy his need to see the child. He forced himself to be patient and wrote a formal letter requesting permission to visit the castle under the guise of a diplomatic visit. His request was eventually approved and the day after he was able to finally see little (Y/n) again. She was crawling now and was just as cute as he remembered her being if not more so. It was clear, even now, that the baby princess would be a great beauty when she grew up. Regretfully the dragon-fae wasn’t able to spend as much time as he would have liked with the little princess before he was dragged off on a tour of the castle by the king and queen. However, this brief second encounter with the adorable child confirmed one thing in his mind: Malleus could not wait for another four months to pass by before the next time he saw young (Y/n). He resolved to begin visiting the child in secret so he could watch over her like a benevolent ghost or a faithful shadow. Five years passed by, and Malleus dutifully watched over (Y/n) as she grew from a crawling baby to a waddling toddler and into an energetic little girl. He came to realize that his infatuation with her was not only growing but slowly turning into something not as innocent as it had been originally. The draconic fae knew it’d be only a matter of a few more years before the princess would be old enough to start entertaining potential suitors, and that was assuming that she didn't end up betrothed before that! The very thought of such a thing happening irked him beyond belief. In Malleus’s opinion, no mortal man would ever be worthy of his darling (Y/n). However, there wasn’t much he could do to stop such an event from happening. Unless… he asked for the princess’s hand before anyone else had the chance and secured his claim on his future queen now. That thought should have disgusted him, wanting to take a child as his bride to be. Yet instead it filled him with immense satisfaction when he really took the time to think about it. Really he was the best choice for the princess. Their kingdoms were right next to each other so their union would allow their countries to merge and prosper under their joint rule. Malleus knew that some of the lower-fae might object to having a human queen at first but he was sure they’d come to adore (Y/n) with time. Even though she was still very young, the dragon-fae could tell she would only grow in grace, intelligence, beauty, and maturity as the years went by. He’d already seen it during the times he’d already spent by her side.

When the time came for them to finally wed there would be no way anyone could object to their marriage. Yet before any of that could happen, he had to ask for King Klaude and Queen Eden’s permission to become Princess (Y/n)’s betrothed. When Malleus went to ask for that honor he did not go empty-handed. Oh no, he wanted to make it quite plain to his beloved’s parents that he’d make for a suitable husband with extravagant courting gifts as he made his request. However, the king and queen did not respond the way he’d hoped they would. Instead of being impressed by the gifts and his heartfelt request they were disgusted by his intentions towards their second-child. Malleus’s eyes narrowed as these pathetic mortals tried to lecture him about how reprehensible they found his offer to be. They threatened death upon him as well as war on his people if they ever caught wind of him getting anywhere close to the young princess again. Malleus found himself consumed by rage and teleported back to the Valley of Thorns unaware that his wrath had taken corporeal form as green flames that sprouted where he’d been standing last before spreading like an actual wildfire through the castle ravaging objects and killing people in its wake. When news of the terrible disaster came to the young king the next day he found himself desperately hoping that (Y/n) had somehow survived the terrible blaze.

Sadly this was not to be. While King Klaude, Queen Eden, and Prince Dimitri had managed to get out alive, the little princess had been consumed in the inferno before it had been successfully extinguished and the Enchanted Dominion held a funeral for their dearly departed princess a week later. Even Malleus attended the event albeit in disguise. He was far from ready to face the reality that (Y/n) was truly dead nor was he ready to handle the accusations from the king and queen for his crime. 

Malleus spent the next decade and a quarter in a deep depression. What was the point of living when you had nothing to live for? He ate little, slept little, and tried to keep his mind busy with work improving the Valley of Thorns. Alas, there were still times when his mind was filled with thoughts of (Y/n) especially when the anniversaries of her death and christening passed by each year. This year would have marked the princess’s eighteenth birthday, the year she’d finally have been old enough to wed. Overcome with sorrow the young king disappeared in the forest that covered the border between the Enchanted Dominion and the Valley of Thorns to wander aimlessly until his mind would finally allow him some peace. When suddenly a beautiful voice caught Malleus’s ear and made him stand straight at attention. The voice was clear as the call of a songbird and soft like the jingle of sleigh bells. The draconic-fae found himself drawn to the voice, determined to find out what its source was. Malleus followed the voice all the way to a glen with a cottage situated at the center but it wasn’t the cottage that truly interested the dragon-fae at this moment. No, his interest was for the figure who had been singing all this time. For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him; there was no way the scene unfolding before him was really happening. There in the glen, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world… was Princess (Y/n). Not as he remembered her, but how he’d imagined she’d one day be. Beautiful and graceful as can be, (Y/n) sang for all the world to hear as she walked away from the cottage and toward where Malleus was standing in the shadows of the trees. As she drew closer the young fae was able to see the burned flesh of her left cheek and right arm clear as day. Malleus felt rage begin to bubble in his stomach, he’d been lied to all this time. The princess hadn’t died in the fire he’d created! They’d hidden her away in the forest probably in an effort to make him stop pursuing her. “So this is where they’ve been keeping you all these years… clever” Malleus said, stepping out from where he’d been standing in concealment and making the young woman shriek with surprise. “Hello (Y/n), you’re looking quite lively for someone who supposedly died in a fire thirteen years ago” he added with a smirk as the girl stared at him with bug-eyed disbelief. “Come on, I know you can speak. I just heard you singing quite beautifully before you knew I was here” he finished before going silent to await her response. “King Draconia! How’d you find me?!” (Y/n) said with undisguised horror. She’d spent most of her childhood and teenage years in fear that the dragon fae would locate her. The great fire he’d caused was one of her only vivid memories of her youth and had been the basis of many nightmares when she’d first been brought out into the forest. Her parents had been planning to marry her to a foreign prince this year and she would never have to worry about being in the crosshairs of a fae again. “Fate my dear child of man, we are meant to be together and so fate made it so” Malleus said coolly as he advanced on (Y/n) and grabbed her wrist as the girl’s eyes darted from side to side as she tried to formulate an escape plan. “ (Y/n), I would advise against trying to flee from me for you’d only be postponing the inevitable. You know you can’t run from me forever. One day I’ll catch you, and the longer it takes for that day to come the more pain you’ll cause both yourself and your family” he warned softly. “What do you want from me?” (Y/n) asked quietly even though she already knew the answer to that question. “The same thing I’ve always wanted from you. I want you to be my wife. I need a queen to rule by my side and I want that queen to be you” Malleus said calmly as he pulled the young woman against his chest and wrapped his other arm around her waist to keep her there. “And what if I don't want to be your wife or your queen?” (Y/n) said hesitantly and received a patronizing laugh from the dragon-fae in answer to her question. “I’ll raze the Enchanted Dominion to the ground and still take you as my bride. I’m giving you a choice to either accept your destiny with dignity or to cause massive suffering for your kingdom through a refusal of your destiny” Malleus said gently but firmly making it clear that there was no choice, not really. “I’ll marry you… and I promise not to fight” (Y/n) said quietly, letting her head flop forward to rest against the fae king’s chest. She was dimly aware of him pressing his lips against her forehead before everything went dark. Malleus cast a minor sleeping spell upon (Y/n) with a kiss to her forehead. He knew that she was probably trying to process everything that had just happened and wanted to ease the process by letting her rest for the time being. He teleported the two of them back to his castle and into his chambers where he gently tucked the young woman under the covers with another kiss to her forehead before leaving the room. As much as Malleus wanted to stay by (Y/n)’s side and bask in her beauty, his kingly duties called.

First thing, first he needed to tell Lilia the joyous news and start the preparations for the wedding. He found the older fae hanging around one of the attics in the castle and gleefully told him of his discovery in the woods. Lilia was overjoyed to see his ward smiling again after so many years of sorrow and he eagerly agreed to oversee the arrangements for Malleus and (Y/n)’s wedding. He shooed the young fae away telling him to not worry about it and that he’d handle the specifics of the matter. Next thing to do was sending a wedding invitation to King Klaude and Queen Eden. He kept it simple and didn’t reveal the identity of his bride until the final sentence of the invitation. Malleus handed the letter off to a messenger and sent them off to the Enchanted Dominion to deliver it to his future in-laws. The draconic-fae spent the rest of the day buzzing through his paperwork with a vigor he hadn’t shown in years. By the time the sun had set, Malleus was finished with his work and retired eagerly to his chambers where (Y/n) awaited him.

As he locked the door behind him, the dragon-fae smiled to himself. The princess was still deeply asleep from his spell and there was a little smile on her face. Malleus sat on the bed and ran his fingers through (Y/n)’s hair and found himself memorized by her beauty. The burn-marks on her face and arm did not detract from her good locks, if anything they made her even more beautiful in his eyes. He still wished that things had turned out differently and that he had been granted her hand when he’d asked all those years ago. However, Malleus couldn't say he was totally unhappy with how things had turned out. Sure, (Y/n) was afraid of him for now, but with time she’d come to see how much he loved her and fall just as madly in love with him as he was madly in love with her. The young king was certain of it, he would make the princess a happy bride, happy wife, and happy queen in time. The young fae was pulled from his thoughts by the young woman moving in her sleep and letting out a soft whimper It was clear that (Y/n)’s sweet dreams had now turned into a nightmare and Malleus dispelled the enchantment he’d placed upon the young woman allowing her to wake up from her terrible dream. The young woman blinked slowly and looked around her with an expression of confusion on her features. The draconic-fae did not speak, allowing his darling human to take in the features of the room as he continued to stroke her hair soothingly as she did so. “How do you feel child of man? I’m sorry for the abrupt waking but you were having a nightmare” Malleus asked and felt the princess suddenly stiffen as if she only just remembered who she was in bed with. The young fae let out a sigh as he pulled down the covers and pulled (Y/n) out and up into his lap. “Relax my dear (Y/n), everything is alright, your bad dreams cannot hurt you anymore” he said softly pressing his nose against the nape of the young woman’s neck.

“King Draconia… Did you… did we? While I was…” (Y/n) trailed off her face turning bright red with embarrassment as she tried to articulate her question. Malleus found it adorable how easily flushed the matter made her. He knew humans took such interpersonal relationships more seriously than the fae did and he couldn't resist teasing his sweet human a little over it. “Did I deflower you while you were asleep?” he asked bluntly, making the girl blush even more as she nodded her head.

“What do you think? Do you think I took your innocence already?” the fae crooned, enjoying the way the young woman squirmed at his words and her skin began to heat up from how flustered she was. “Be at ease, I was only teasing you a bit. Your virtue is still very much intact my dear child of man” Malleus said with a chuckle. “And that is how it will remain until our wedding night my love so worry not. I promise to not lay a finger on you until then” he finished pressing a kiss to (Y/n)’s chin. “King Draconia—” a finger was placed over (Y/n)’s lips. “— (Y/n), I’d prefer it if you called me by my first name. We’re going to be married after all so you might as well start getting used to it” Malleus interrupted gently. “Malleus” the young woman said, not quite sure she liked the way the word sounded in her mouth. “Malleus... how long until we are to be wed?” she said even though she didn’t really want an answer to her inquiry. Maybe if the date was far enough in the future, she’d have a chance to escape and warn her family. “We will be wed by the end of the week my dear” Malleus replied, his words chilling (Y/n) to the core. “E-eh-end of the week?! That’s way too soon! We hardly know each other, we can't get married yet! I already agreed to marry you, can’t we take it slowly?” the princess said frantically with obvious dismay in her voice. “I have already been forced to wait thirteen years for you to reach maturity my dear child of man. So on the contrary, I think the end of the week is not soon enough” the fae replied with a small frown. “But, but… I’m not ready to be queen” (Y/n) said desperately. “I can’t be queen! Look at me!” the princess added frantically gesturing at her burnt face and then looking back at Malleus with a pleading look. “I am looking at you (Y/n), and what I see is the soon-to-be Queen of Thorns” the fae said resting his chin on the girl’s shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about, I will be by your side every step of the way through this experience you have my word” he finished as he pressed kisses to her collarbone. (Y/n)’s mouth opened again, but no words came out. What else could she say? The fae’s mind had been made up and there was nothing she could say to change it. Sure she could try running away, but doing such a reckless thing was sure to backfire on her. Even if she got away, Malleus would undoubtedly go after her family and take out his rage on them. The princess felt tears welling up in her eyes and soon her cheeks were damp as the tears began streaming down like little rivers on her face. Malleus forced her to turn around in his lap so he could wipe the tears away and spoke what he must have thought were words of comfort but only brought despair to (Y/n) who sobbed until she was out of energy and passed out in the fae’s lap. The next few days were a blur to the princess, between the lectures on fae etiquette in the morning and being forced to accompany Malleus when he held court each afternoon there was hardly a moment of peace for the young woman. 

The only relatively quiet moments (Y/n) got were the three hours in the evening during the dress-fittings for her wedding gown. The seamstress had the tact not to ask about the burns that covered the princess’s left cheek, upper back, right arm, lower abdomen, and left leg. The young woman knew the fae wanted to ask questions but appreciated that she did not voice them. Instead putting her energy into making sure the dress would fit (Y/n)’s conservative tastes and cover her marred skin. The day of the wedding finally arrived with the finishing touches being put on the dress even as (Y/n)’s face was caked in make-up and her hair was pulled back into an elegant updo. Since her father King Klaude would probably not be in attendance, the ancient fae Lilia Vanrouge had volunteered to be the one to walk the young woman down the aisle and was permitted to help with getting her into the freshly completed gown. Once everything was laced up the girl was permitted to see herself in a mirror. “Well I’ll be, you look exquisite” Lilia commented as he watched the girl stare at her reflection with wide eyes. (Y/n) found herself overwhelmed with sorrow. The woman in the glass looked like a regal queen, not the terrified teenager she knew she was under the makeup and dress she wore. For a moment despite how ridiculous it was, she considered trying to run for it now. However, Lilia’s hand clamping down on her arm and gently guiding out of the room put an end to that notion. (Y/n) let herself be led down the aisle to where Malleus stood with an eager grin at the altar. Distantly she was aware of the sounds of screaming. The princess turned her head and locked eyes with her mother Queen Eden. She wanted to run to her mother and hide her face in the familiar warmth and aroma of cinnamon that clung to the queen’s clothes. However, she couldn’t move a muscle, whether it was because she was frozen with fear or it was because Malleus had bewitched her… she’d never know. When the time came to recite her vows there was no passion behind the young woman’s words, which were in vast contrast to the dragon-fae’s impassioned oaths that had been spoken only moments before hers. They exchanged rings and kissed before (Y/n) was swept off her feet by Malleus and carried up to his chambers before being dropped on his bed. She watched as the fae fumbled to undo the tie on his dress shirt before giving up and just ripping it off before sitting on the bed and kissing her again. This kiss was worlds different from the one they’d just shared at the altar and all the ones he’d given her over the past six days. This kiss was hungry, and it would not be easily satisfied. (Y/n) tried to pull away from the liplock but Malleus’s arm wrapped around her waist keeping her close as he forced his tongue into her mouth and ran it over the roof of her mouth, inside of her cheeks before darting under her tongue in what he probably thought was a playful move. (Y/n)’s vision was starting to go dark from lack of air when Malleus finally pulled back before flipping her over to start unlacing her dress before running out of patience and just tearing the back open so he could feel her skin under his hands. He had planned on taking his time originally, it was going to be his darling’s first time with a man and he did not want to hurt her unnecessarily. However, she looked so intoxicating it was hard to hold himself back and not just rip everything off so he could bend her over and fuck her. He had to force himself to take a few deep calming breaths as (Y/n) quivered beneath him. With his head a bit clearer now, Malleus slowly pulled the top half of the dress down to the young woman’s hips as he peppered kisses down her spine. He sat back on his heels and began unbuttoning his shirt and jacket so he could shrug them off onto the floor beside the bed. The dragon-fae gently rolled (Y/n) onto her back once more before bringing her hands up to his lips so he could kiss them. “I love you” he said in a low purr as he continued to press kisses to the girl’s fingers and gazed down at her with his cheeks now a faint shade of pink. “I love you so much” Malleus added, adjusting his grip so he could pull (Y/n) up into a seated position and kiss her again. He let go of her hands but kept kissing her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and began laying back so she’d fall on top of him. One of the fae’s hands crept down to cup at the curve of the young woman’s ass before lightly squeezing it.

(Y/n) threw her head back and let out a soft squeak at the sudden grope to her rear before hiding her face against Malleus’s neck. The young king smirked to himself as he squeezed again this time with a bit more force, and received a second adorable sound from the girl as her cheeks turned red with embarrassment. Not wanting to waste any more time undressing her, Malleus snapped his fingers making (Y/n)’s dress vanish into thin air and leaving her with nothing but her undergarments to preserve her modesty. The young woman tried to squeeze herself flat against the fae, shivering from how drafty the room was as well as the fear she felt coursing through her veins. Malleus allowed her to lay like that for a few moments before he coaxed her head up for more kisses. He slipped a hand under the cup of her bra so he could grope her chest experimentally. (Y/n) wasn’t the most well-endowed but the bounty she did have was more than enough in his eyes. He playfully pinched her nipple enjoying the way she twitched in response to his touch. The dragon-fae’s other hand retook its place on the young woman’s rump, squeezing roughly before slipping in between her thighs to press his nails against the fabric of her panties and tease her clit underneath. (Y/n)’s body twitched again, this time more violently and the fabric of her panties became damp from the stimulation she was receiving. Malleus pulled back from the kiss to chuckle at this cute response and continued his teasing until the young woman was shaking like a leaf with her eyes rolled back from his ministrations. (Y/n) wasn’t completely oblivious to the carnal pleasures of the body. She’d experimented quite a bit when she was first going through puberty. Yet all of that had been on her own, it was something else entirely to have her body manhandled by someone who knew what they were doing and wasn’t afraid to get a bit rough with her. Thankfully Malleus’s fingers went still and fell from between her legs to rest on the bed as his face contorted into an expression of thoughtfulness before he brought that hand up to her chest With a hand already under her shirt, it was easy for the young fae to pull the princess’s brassiere up and off her body before tossing it aside onto his shirt and jacket on the floor. Malleus pressed his face between (Y/n)’s breasts inhaling her unique aroma of raspberry and blackberry. His tongue flicked out from his mouth as he licked up the valley betwixt her boobs lapping at her delightfully, soft skin before reluctantly pulling back so he could reposition the girl into facing away from him with her legs straddling his chest. The young woman was perplexed momentarily by this sudden shift in position before her eyes focused in on the bulge in the fae-king’s pants and felt his hand on her back forcing her to bend forward. (Y/n) braced an arm on the bed next to Malleus’s thigh and with the other, she shyly ran her fingers over his clothed erection. Her move was rewarded with a soft growl and she repeated it a few times before a squeeze to her leg told her that more effort was necessary. 

Timidly she undid the buttons to the draconic-fae’s pants and let out a yelp at his boner, no boners sprung free. (Y/n) stared bug-eyed at the twin dongs with a bewildered expression before jolting as her panties were ripped off and something wet touched her clit. Malleus’s free hand pat her butt to remind her of what she was supposed to be doing before it trailed down to the nape of her neck and gently pushed down on it so her face was now brushing against the dragon’s double cocks.  Taking the hint she stuck her tongue out to give one of dicks a cautionary lick. The other she ran her fingers over tentatively. Malleus let out a purr and thrust his tongue into her cunt in answer to her inexperienced touches. (Y/n) was starting to understand what was being asked of her and responded accordingly, shyly taking the head of one member into her mouth and the other into her fist before slowly taking more of the fae’s cock until it was all the way in and someway down her throat. She went still for a moment, letting her oral chamber get used to the feeling before she pulled back a little and repeated the process with her hand moving in time to her mouth. While she jerked and blew the dragon-fae, he, in turn, fingered and tongue-fucked. Malleus knew if he wasn’t careful and didn’t probably stretch (Y/n) out beforehand he’d only hurt her instead of pleasing her. His free hand trailed down from her neck to tease her chest again causing the girl to choke a little on his rod. Slowly (Y/n) managed to find a rhythm to her movements and was able to disassociate somewhat from what was happening to her. Of course, it wasn’t possible to completely dissociate with Malleus’s mouth and fingers in her pussy but she was going to take what she could get. Her brain was going a bit hazy now, the combination of being eaten out and having a cock down her throat making her vision go blurry before she felt something burst inside her and she came all over the young fae’s face. A moment later she felt his cocks twitching in her mouth and hand, this was the only warning she got before she found herself coated in cum both inside and out. She had no choice but to swallow the dragon’s load as he lazily licked up her fallen juices and gave her cunt a quick swipe with his tongue to make sure he got everything. (Y/n) pulled off Malleus’s cock and tried to wipe off the cum on her face and hand on the mattress with little success before she was abruptly forced onto her back again. The fae-king stared down at his wife’s flushed face and felt both his heart and cocks twitch at the adorable sight before him. Malleus positioned himself between (Y/n) legs and lightly pressed the heads of his cocks against her now well-prepped pussy. He smiled at her as he began to slowly sink into her inviting depths. The young woman let out a whine, even though she’d already stretched out by the fae’s fingers and tongue it still wasn’t enough to make this part completely painless. Thankfully Malleus took his time sheathing himself, running his hands over (Y/n)‘s skin and pressing kisses to help her relax and take him without injury. The princess’s legs were wrapped loosely around the young king’s hips and her hands had balled into fists that caused her nails to dig into her palms so they were bleeding a little. The fae went still when he noticed this and clicked his tongue scoldingly before he reached down to force her fingers to uncurl from clenched fists “If you need something to grip onto, may I offer these instead?” he crooned bringing her hands up to his horns and gently encouraging her to grab tight to them before resuming the task of slowly burying himself inside the girl’s cunt. (Y/n)’s hands tensed up on Malleus’s horns and she began babbling nonsensically for him to stop. The fae-king ignored these ramblings as his mouth latched onto one of the young woman’s boobs and began to suck lightly as he finally bottomed out inside her. Malleus did not move until (Y/n)’s breathing had stabilized again and her body had finally relaxed again. He pulled back a little, and thrust forward striking her sweet spot directly and making her body arched up into his. The fae repeated this motion again and again with varying speed and intensity. Sometimes it was slow and gentle, sometimes it was fast and rough, and sometimes it was somewhere in between. Regardless it didn't take long until the young woman was babbling for a very different reason. To the fae-king’s delight, his darling human’s hips pushed back against his needily which only egged him on into being wilder and wilder with her. His teeth dug into her neck, her chest, any flesh he could get his mouth on was soon covered in marks. It made for a fitting contrast the burn-marks of passionate rage and the bite-marks of raging passion to cover his beloved one. Even better when (Y/n)’s fingers fell from Malleus’s horns they found a new perch in his shoulders and he let out a lusty growl as she bit down on his shoulder. The two drove each other closer and closer to that coveted high of orgasm before finally going over the edge in a fit of moans and groans that shook the very walls. Neither party spoke for a long while, too busy trying to catch their breaths as the horny haze over them began to clear. Malleus finally gathered the strength to gently pull out, his cocks flopping limply against the mattress as their exit was followed by a gush of cum flowing out of (Y/n)’s ruined cunt. The fae gently scooped the escaping jizz back into his darling’s pussy making her whimper weakly at this attentional stimulation to her already oversensitive body. Malleus chuckled softly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead and grabbed a plug from the nightstand beside the bed. Carefully pressing it against (Y/n)’s gaping cunt until it slipped it and prevented any more cum from dripping out and ruining the sheets. He had a second reason for doing such a thing of course. He knew that the sooner they had a child the better. A babe of their two people was sure to put an end to any objections that the princess’s parents might attempt to raise against him for taking what was his. Malleus knew that the human king and queen wouldn’t dare try to start war if there was an unborn grandchild they might put at risk. Plus… he wanted to be a father, a real father. As he pulled (Y/n) under the covers with him, his mind was full of thoughts of their future together as the King and Queen of Thorns… THE END

[honey-dewey]

Groceries

Pairing: Frankie ‘Catfish’ Morales/Reader

Word Count: 1,712

Warnings: mentions of PTSD, one mention of Tom, but this is mostly fluff. 

Permanent Taglist: @phoenixhalliwell

Reader takes the boys grocery shopping. I’m sure that can’t go badly, right?

You grabbed your keys, swinging them around your finger and heading into the living room, where the boys were settled. “I’m headed out.” 

Frankie looked up, putting his drink down. “Where to?” 

“The grocery store,” you said. “If we’re hosting the game tomorrow, I’m gonna need more food.” 

“I wanna go!” Ever the golden retriever, Benny hopped up, eagerly bounding to the door and practically vibrating by your side. Frankie, just as much a puppy as his best friend, followed suit, giving you his biggest pleading eyes, knowing full well those damn things were your kryptonite. 

“Fine!” You said, opening the door. “Get in the car before I change my mind. Pope, Ironhead, you in?” 

Both of your other boys were slower, getting into the car with more difficulty. Frankie, by your side in the passenger seat, smiled as you started the car. Santiago and Will, both in the middle, cracked their windows, allowing Benny, in the way back, to be hit with the fresh air and curb his motion sickness. 

“I cannot believe you are all coming,” you grumbled, backing out of the driveway. 

The drive was short, and before you knew it, Frankie and Benny were out of the car and fighting over who got to sit in the cart. 

“My significant other is driving!” Frankie pointed out, gesturing to you, waiting with the cart. 

“Okay?” Benny countered. “You sat in the cart last time!” 

“Boys!” Both heads turned to you. “We need two carts anyway.” 

Almost instantly, Frankie was getting into your cart, grinning. “I love you.” 

“Yeah yeah.” You gave the rim of his hat a small push, so it dipped below his eyes. “I swear I’m engaged to a toddler.” 

“Engaged?” Santiago said, stopping in his tracks. “Fish, you proposed?” 

You held out your hand, showing off your engagement ring. “Yeah. Last week. Sorry we didn’t tell you. There was the game to plan for, and then my parents got super emotional about it, and then his family insisted on having a party, and it all slipped our minds.” 

Benny smirked. “I knew.” 

Will gasped. “You traitor! Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because I was coaching dear Fish through it!” Benny said. “He was a ball of nerves.” 

“He dropped the ring,” you said, navigating the cart down the produce aisle and grabbing a thing of raspberries, tossing it to Frankie and moving to examine the pomegranates. “Twice.” 

While the boys teased Frankie, you and Santiago browsed the produce, grabbing a few veggies and fruits. You tossed a bag of broccoli onto Frankie’s stomach, snapping him out of his conversation. “Hey, dorks. I haven’t got all night.” 

Will gave Frankie’s shoulder a shove and pushed Benny’s cart down the next aisle. He helped Santiago pick beer, Benny shouting suggestions while you took Frankie to the bakery. 

“I love you,” Frankie said happily as you put a pack of his favorite lofthouse cookies in the cart. 

“Love you more,” you said, absently pushing the cart through the bakery and grabbing bagels. “Wanna look at those ridiculous cakes that are like, 90% frosting and food coloring?” 

Frankie lit up. “I am marrying you for all the right reasons.” 

You laughed, steering the cart towards the cakes. Frankie eagerly pointed to one that was, as you’d said, mostly brightly colored frosting. The baker, a younger girl with pink and blue hair, waved to you. “Getting ready for the game?” 

“Yep!” You said. “I’ve got all the boys here with me. And speak of the devils,” you added, hearing the rest of your group join you. 

The baker greeted the group. “Oh! Frankie, how’d the proposal go?” 

Frankie grinned. “Well, I got a yes.” 

“Congrats!” 

“Okay how the hell did your grocery store baker know but not us?” Santiago demanded. 

“She helped me make the perfect cupcake!” Frankie said. 

You snorted. “The cupcake you dropped down my shirt?” 

Yet again, the boys teased Frankie for his proposal mishaps while you rolled your eyes and looked over the premade pie crusts. 

“Frankie! Boys! C’mon!” You shouted eventually. “I can’t be here until midnight.” 

The boys followed you down a few more aisles, Santiago, somehow, proving to be the responsible one as he helped you fill out your grocery list. He put two boxes of crackers in Benny’s cart, looking at you. “Dairy next?” 

“Snacks, then drinks, then cereal, then frozens, then meat, and then dairy,” you said, running over the list. “That’s just how the store is arranged.” 

Santiago shrugged. “Works for me. To the snacks!” 

The snack aisles were a very dangerous place. You were suddenly the only voice of reason as the boys eyed the chips. 

“One bag of Doritos, and one bag of pretzels,” you bargained with Will. “Get the stupid honey ones Frankie’s addicted to.” 

“Excuse you!” Frankie said, grabbing a box of granola bars and settling back down in the cart. “Those things are amazing.” 

“I’m not saying they aren’t,” you agreed, reaching over Benny to grab dried fruit. “But you might be addicted to those damn things.” 

Will put both bags in the cart. “Anything else?” 

“Microwave popcorn,” you read off the list, nodding to Santiago as he walked off to grab it. “Two bags of M&Ms, one bag of black licorice twizzlers, one bag of jelly beans, and five Hershey’s bars.” 

“The chocolate comes in packs of six,” Will said, beginning to grab the candy. “It’ll work, right?” 

“Yep!” You said, using the back of Frankie’s head to cross things off your list. “Next aisle, before I get conned into buying anything stupid.” 

“Can we get sour gummy worms?” Benny’s hesitant voice said from behind you. 

You turned. “Why?” 

Benny fiddled with the bag, an almost guilty look on his face. “They were Tom’s favorite.” 

You sighed, melting a bit. “Of course Benny.” 

Benny smiled, fidgeting with the bag as you ushered everyone into the drinks aisle. 

“Frankie, hon, how are we on coffee?” You asked, examining the coffee and finding your brand. 

“We need more!” 

You stood, holding the coffee and putting it in the cart. “Can I trust you to grab me a box of ginger ale?” 

Frankie nodded, climbing out of the cart. “You want the name brand, and not the, and I quote, shitty stuff, yeah?” 

“You know me so well,” you said happily. “I’ll get your tea.” You grabbed two boxes of chamomile tea, which was the only stuff that helped Frankie sleep through the night. Tossing the boxes into Benny’s cart, you examined the aisle, trying to remember what else you needed. “Okay, I think we’re done here. If I forgot something, it’s on you to grab it,” you said to Will, who smiled and nodded. 

The next aisle was simple. You left Benny, Will, and Santiago at the aisle’s entrance while you took Frankie down to grab his cereal. He reached up, not even bothering to get out of the cart as he grabbed a box of cereal. 

“Frozens!” You announced, turning down the frozen food aisle. “Will, can you grab two frozen pizzas and a bag of meatballs? Pope, you’re on game snacks. Mozzarella sticks, pizza rolls, and taquitos. Benny! Stay there and look cute! Frankie, you’re on veggie duty.” 

Your boys assembled, dutifully carrying out the tasks you’d set. Meanwhile, you tucked a few pints of ice cream in the cart, winking to Benny as he pointed to his favorite flavor. 

When he returned, Frankie climbed back into the cart, setting the bags of frozen veggies beside him. “I got green beans, corn, and peas,” he said. “Did we need anything else?” 

“Nope,” you said, resting your elbows on his shoulders. “What’s left on the list?” 

Frankie scanned the paper. “Bread, bagels, meat, milk, yogurt, cheese, and butter.” 

When you had all your boys back at your side, you kept moving, examining the meat selection the grocery store had. “Babe, how many pounds of ground beef do we have?” 

“Uhh.” Frankie began counting off on his fingers while you smiled and grabbed a pack of bacon. “Four?” 

“So not enough,” you decided, grabbing two more. You sent Santiago to grab chicken breasts, keeping Will and Benny with you as you looked over the sandwich meat. Eventually putting sliced turkey in the cart, you nodded to Santiago as he handed you the chicken. 

“One more aisle, I promise,” you said, heading towards the dairy section. “Then we can go back home.” 

You grabbed a carton of regular milk and a carton of lactose free milk, handing them both to Benny. Then came the cream cheese tub, the butter, the yogurt, the sliced cheese to go with the crackers, and you were finally swinging back through the bakery to grab bread and bagels before heading to the checkout. 

After checking out, you herded the boys back to the car, loading everything into the trunk and making sure everyone was buckled in before slowly turning out of the parking lot. 

“Did we have fun?” You asked the car, turning the radio down a notch so you could hear them. 

“Yes,” all four of your passengers responded, each with varying levels of awareness. 

It was a struggle to get the groceries in the house and put away. Benny was shot, passing out on the couch almost immediately upon re-entering the house. Everyone else did their best, but Will tapped out after hauling everything in, and Frankie and Santiago barely made it through the process of putting everything away.

“You got ice cream?” Frankie asked, holding one pint and staring at it. “God I fucking love you!” 

You laughed, putting the cereal in its proper cupboard. “I love you too.” 

Eventually, you were on the couch, Frankie by your side and the rest of your boys in various other places. You scratched absently through Frankie’s hair, flicking through movies until finally settling on a calming kids movie about dragons. Since his return from his final mission, Frankie hadn’t been too keen on action movies. Something about the explosions set him off. 

“Babe?” 

“Yes Frankie?” 

Frankie looked up at you, eyes partially closed. “Thank you for taking us to the store. I don’t think Benny’s been grocery shopping since we got back.” 

You smiled, kissing Frankie’s nose. “Anything for my boys.”

[cosplayinamerica]

Medieval Sub-Zero :  west_coast_ccprops93

The character I cosplay is an original concept Sub Zero from the video   game series Mortal Kombat. I reimagined him as a medieval character   complete with armor head to toe, sword, shield and of course a knight’s helmet that resembled the menpo mask depicted in the video games.

There  are elements of samurai, Roman, Viking and medieval European influences.  The character I created spawns from a love of all my favorite fandoms  such as Lord of the rings, Fantasy RPGs like Skyrim and the Witcher  series. Mortal Kombat on the other hand has a deeper place in my heart  since it was major part of my childhood and a video game that my brother  and I bonded over. We both equally know all the lore to each character  and together have played and beaten almost every game in series over the  years.

Sub Zero was always a character I gravitated towards growing up. His   combos in the game were brutal and worth taking the time to learn, and   of course his ice powers (who wouldn’t love that?). His story line is   incredibly interesting being the grandmaster of a mystical Ninja clan   called the lin Kuei.

Sub Zero to me is a stoic, formidable character and  his presence always reminded me of someone of nobility such as a  knight. Of course that is not the main reason why I chose to go  medieval. all my cosplays including work I’ve done for others to an extent have been original designs. This has allow me to be more creative  and free with my builds instead of stressing to replicate for accuracy.

I had my first fan reaction from a couple of people that recognized me  from the previous year.  As soon as I took off my helmet they shouted  “omg it’s the Kenobi guy from last year!, we can’t believe you out did  yourself this year”. This was at a small event located in Temple, Texas  that I attended with a local comic con.  Other than that to my surprise  I’ve received lots of love and admiration from the online cosplay  community and my peers.  

Normally it’s tricky to change up a character  online then to receive negative reactions from people. Luckily the  people I communicate and engage with are for the most part other  cosplayers and makers who accept originality.  I absolutely cannot wait  to attend a convention this year and get dehydrated while looking  awesome!

THE OUTFIT

The entire costume revolves around a basic male armor template Purchased from Evilted.com and a basic knight helmet template from my friend   Ashen Warrior props. The rest is completely free hand using Eva Foam.  

Over the course of 2020 I started off first by building the chest armor.  I loved the aesthetic of Sub zero’s shoulder armor from Mortal Kombat  11.  By complete accident from a incorrectly measure forearm piece fit   perfectly atop the shoulders. Continued from there and added the   noticeable arch that swoops up towards the neck. I didn’t know at the   time but eventually it would cause issues for mobility when wearing my   helmet. I loved the look and  continued to keep the shoulders the same   despite movement complications.

 From there I Made my own MK dragon  symbol stencil, slapped that on the chest using Eva foam and called it  good.  The lower torso was missing something so I added interlocking  armor that also covered my waist. I did this after browsing concept art  and paying homage to the classic ninja Tabards depicted in the video  games.  I continued to add layer after layer through the year.

As I  stated before there was no clear vision for what this costume would look  like in the end.  Eventually I would complete the armor just by doing  free hand foamsmithing.

Late 2020 and the beginning of this year I  decided to retire my original sub zero costume and recycle the  materials. That was my first costume but it felt right to use the  materials for this evolutionary step in my cosplay journey. The original  costume was made using parts from a cheap sub zero costume from Spirit  Halloween, cotton fabric, a leather bomber jacket from a yard sale and  whatever I could find.

These were the missing pieces to Medieval sub  zero and added layers of details that sold the character and satisfied  my creative hunger.  The shield and weapons were also done free hand and  referencing random pictures from google. I learned a lot from doing  costume and prop weapons commissions through the year.

Keeping the costume comfortable, form fitting but also provide full   range of motion for posing and traversing crowds.  This forced me to   slow down and think before I made, making sure that each  piece   interlocks correctly. I don’t use any software on computers at the   moment (it’s something I should definitely be doing and would save me a lot of time). Now it’s my most detailed and comfortable costume to date.  

My wife and I recently did a photoshoot at a local state park. We hiked  a mile or two up and down hills and across creeks. Other than being hot  under the armor which is expected I was absolutely comfortable. The  hardest part was really taking the time to build something durable that  should last many conventions and hikes through the woods.

DISCOVERING COSPLAY

My awareness of “cosplay” and prop making didn’t start until late 2019.  Before then for years my brother and i would dress up together for  Halloween. We both have always customized our costumes since we were  young. We were very close growing up and what kept us tougher through  our parents divorce and other hardships in our childhood was video games. We grew up very poor but our imagination was rich. We spent our  childhood acting out our favorite characters. Then using sticks as lightsabers so on and so forth.

Flash forward 20 years. What motivated me was a Sub Zero mask my brother mailed to me as gift. I had just moved to Texas from Oregon  with my  wife and daughter. During that time, i slowly sunk into a deep  depression and a bad place mentally. I felt isolated, alone and lost. I  was away from my childhood town, friends, family and all that i knew.  I  contemplated suicide which was something I struggled with for years.  This was something I’ve dealt with all my life. I have PTSD and  depression from events in my childhood and teenage years. Each day is different, I’m either really happy or fearful , anxious and angry. I am  always in fight or flight mode.    

Well, my little brother sent in the mail a cheap Sub Zero  costume and a really expensive mask out of nowhere as a gift.  The  costume was too small and there were aspects of it that I did not like.  

Sure I was appreciative that he gave me a costume but I knew I could  remake it. So with no costume making, sewing or cosplay knowledge at  all. I set out to make a Sub Zero costume and was determined to make my  brother proud. I borrowed my wife’s grandmothers sewing machine and went  for it.

Taking apart the original armor pieces, a leather bomber  jacket and whatever I could find I made something out of shear will.   After that I felt confident enough to make my brother a costume as well  but this time using Eva Foam.  I spent weeks researching and overspending  on materials from Amazon.

Eventually we both had our dream costumes and I  was so proud ( mind you they were terrible) but we thought we looked so  badass and worth taking out.  That same year he flew out to Texas and  we attended our first convention together and first time  portraying our  favorite characters. It was a dream come true. Having people  complimenting and taking pictures with us was mind blowing, we felt like celebrities for a day. Two bothers from a small town now in a large convention amongst thousands of people, a community that embraces dressing up and expressing your fandom.

Prop making has changed my life in ways I never  thought it would. Personally it unlocked this creative and artistic  passion I never knew I had. I’ve always been creative but not focused.   It’s a hobby that keeps me sane and happy. It’s a beautiful and  wonderful way to express one’s self.  Keep making, painting, sewing or  doing what you love.  Hardships in life are unavoidable but your own  personal happiness is always in your control. I still struggle to this  day but now have an outlet creatively and a community of  friends /colleagues.

https://linktr.ee/West_Coast_CCPROPS

[shijiujun]

pls give us chuyao and "kissing as a distraction to steal their wallet"

An au in which Lu Yao spent some time on the streets when he was younger after getting kidnapped by really Bad People, and had to become a thief on the streets to survive. His dad and siblings find him a year later, but some habits are hard to shake off once you’ve got them (an adrenaline junkie of sorts?), cue occasional minor thief Lu Yao who has three degrees from a major Western university XD

--

Lu Yao's fingers itch, his skin tingling in excitement.

He honestly doesn’t need the money, but he likes it. It isn’t something he does often, but occasionally, he’s struck with the urge to just steal some cash with a sleight of hand, giving in to the thrill of a successful wallet snatched without the owner of said wallet even realizing what he did.

It is a very, very bad habit, he knows that. And it isn’t like he doesn’t return the wallets! He doesn’t even take the money most of the time. Simply put, Lu Yao pickpockets and steals just to prove that he can, and if he gives in to the temptation to sneak some coins away while he’s at it, well, no one is any the wiser.

It is also often that the owners would voluntarily gift him with a small reward for ‘returning’ their wallets. Lu Yao would refuse of course, because he is a well-bred, proper gentleman who will not take advantage of others (coughs), and only at their repeated insistence does he shyly accept the money.

This keeps him out of trouble - Lu Yao is well aware that he cannot run very fast despite his long legs, so if he is caught, it would be a challenge to get himself out of hot water. Instead, he’s content with pickpocketing for fun, and if some assholes who cross Lu Yao’s path find some money missing long after Lu Yao has made his escape, well, they deserve it.

Recently, however, Lu Yao has his eye on this gorgeous man at the city’s hottest nightclub, Bai Le Men.

Qiao Chusheng comes from money, and the wallet he so callously dumps on the bar counter top every time Lu Yao sees him is stuffed full of cash, screaming at Lu Yao to just grab it. The gloss on the dark brown leather wallet is oh so shiny, and anyone with a pair of functional eyes would know just how expensive the wallet itself is.

Of course, Lu Yao doesn’t, because this is Qiao Chusheng, de-facto leader of the Green Dragon Gang, and he would like all his fingers wherever they currently are, thank you very much.

This requires some deft handling, he thinks, and so instead of outright creating an opportunity for a quick steal, Lu Yao befriends Chusheng.

Pretends to be drunk as he knocks into Chusheng on their first meeting, spilling his glass of whiskey all over Chusheng’s expensive woollen jacket. Thanking him a few days later when they meet for sending Lu Yao back home that night after dirtying his suit. And then for the weeks after, whenever Chusheng visits the bar, Lu Yao is usually seen seated right next to him, both men in deep conversations and the occasional laughs.

Once he’s sure that Chusheng is less likely to beat him up for stealing his wallet, Lu Yao tries.

He stresses once again that he doesn’t need the money. Ever since meeting Chusheng, the man pays for everything - drinks, dinners, a handful of meetings outside the nightclub in the day - without a single word, but Lu Yao just wants to steal it.

It doesn’t help that he’s had a few too many drinks for real today, which only amplifies the urge to swipe Chusheng’s wallet from his back pocket right now. He’s so sleepy too, his blurring vision full of Chusheng’s unfairly handsome face, his eyes which are all full of Lu Yao right now, and that smile... that smile, when Chusheng talks to him.

Lu Yao leans forward, reaching for Chusheng’s lips, and kisses him.

His kiss is entirely unplanned, and the moment their lips meet, Lu Yao sobers immediately, like a pail of iced water to his face. Even then, habit and rote memory has his fingers snagging the wallet and hiding it away in the span of those few seconds.

Chusheng is staring at him with wide eyes as Lu Yao straightens back, looking as shocked as he is.

What did he just...

Qiao Chusheng is going to... is going to murder him.

Blood draining out of his face, Lu Yao scrambles unsteadily to his feet, prepared to make his escape, “I’m just going... to-”

A hand encircles his elbow just as he’s about to turn and go, and Lu Yao yelps unglamorously as he’s tugged backwards, hard.

And then Chusheng is kissing him again.

This time, it’s no simple, chaste peck on the lips. Slanting his mouth over Lu Yao’s, Chusheng positively devours him. The breaths between them hot and moist against their skin as their lips and tongues collide time after time, until Lu Yao just collapses into Chusheng’s embrace, unable to feel his legs.

His face is still red a few minutes later when he lands on a soft bed to one of the private rooms sequestered away on the last floor of Bai Le Men’s building, but as articles of clothing between him and Chusheng fall to the floor one after the other, Lu Yao finds that he doesn’t have the mind to be embarrassed anymore.

That night, Chusheng takes him apart again and again, his kisses and touch leaving heat trailing across his entire body, so much so that it is branded into Lu Yao’s memory. His own hands feel their way over Chusheng’s back and his sculpted abs, his legs locking behind Chusheng’s waist to feel each thrust impossibly closer, every part of him sensitive and tender.

The crests of pleasure assaults his senses repeatedly, until all he can think of is Chusheng.

===

Lu Yao stirs at the sensation of lips pressing against his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, and wakes up fully just as he’s kissed on the mouth.

It’s warm in Chusheng’s hold, pressed skin to skin with him, and Lu Yao never wants to leave. He refuses to open his eyes though, because the memories of yesterday night are terribly clear in his head, and he remembers the way he begged for Chusheng, the way he clung to him and the embarrassing things that came out of his mouth.

As if knowing exactly what he’s thinking, Chusheng laughs, the sound rumbling through his chest into Lu Yao’s ear.

“Why’re you shy about this?” Chusheng asks, teasing.

“... you’re a monster,” Lu Yao mumbles, curling further into Chusheng’s side to hide his face. “How many times did you- Even after I told you I was tired! I can’t feel the lower half of my body anymore.”

“Oh?” Chusheng raises an eyebrow. “We can’t have that, shall I make sure the important parts are working now-”

At that, Lu Yao quickly interjects, “I’m hungry, Lao Qiao.”

“Mnn. Get me my wallet from your jacket, won’t you?”

In his haze of drowsiness and the ache that is running through his body, Lu Yao doesn’t register what Chusheng has said until he’s fished the wallet out of his own jacket, which fortunately fell right next to the bed on the floor, on Lu Yao’s side.

His eyes go impossibly wide, wallet in hand.

“... Lao Qiao,” Lu Yao swallows, trying to quickly come up with a lie, “I can explain-”

“You’re really good at it,” Chusheng cuts in with a smile, sitting up and taking the wallet from him. “You don’t repeat locations too often, but I happen to own Bai Le Men, Jin Guang Tai and Man Fu Du Cheng, and i’ve seen you around quite a lot. Don’t worry, it was only because I was looking out for you that I even noticed you were pickpocketing.”

Chusheng slips out of bed, and asks, “Do you want dumplings or jianbing? I recall you liking the jianbing from the kitchens... and some tea.”

Sitting up in bed gingerly and pulling up the blankets around him to cover his state of undress, Lu Yao gapes at Chusheng, “You knew?!”

“San Tu, you’re not very subtle,” Chusheng almost rolls his eyes. He bends down to pick up a shirt, only to see the condition of Lu Yao’s clothes on the floor. “... I ripped your shirt apart yesterday night. Sit tight, I’ll get Salim to send a new set over for you.”

“Wait, wait,” Lu Yao stops him. “What do you mean you knew? You knew that I was after your wallet and you just let me hang out around you?”

At that, Chusheng sits on the bed again, amused, “How did you think i got you to come to me? Although no one would dare to steal my wallet, I don’t really make it a habit to just toss my wallet on the tables, out in the open, you know.”

The realization that he was the one conned, in a sense, hits Lu Yao like a brick to the face.

“Alright,” Chusheng continues, sensing his anxiety. Pressing Lu Yao back down to lie down under the covers, he says, “Next time, you can take my wallet whenever you want to. Although if you’d like to take the initiative and jump into my embrace like last night, feel free to do so whenever.”

“Qiao Chusheng!”

The man avoids the pillow and swiftly bends down to sneak another kiss from Lu Yao, before heading out to find some breakfast for Lu Yao.

A few minutes later, Lu Yao sighs.

For the sake of love (and great times in bed), Lu Yao supposes he can limit himself to stealing only Chusheng’s wallet from now on.

---

~ from this list of prompts! ~

[shera-dnd]

Love for a Dark Heart

Adding now to the list of things I can’t fucking believe I got paid to write: My FFXIV character falling in love with herself.

Honestly I could have kept writing this for another 5k words more, but I set the rules so I’m gonna stick to them

As usual you can follow this link right here to read it on AO3 if you’d prefer that. If you’d like to have a fic written by me you should feel free to donate to my ko-fi (rules for donations over here) and let’s get going with the fic

You are a rational woman.

You try to deal with the facts and not let emotion rule over your decisions. That doesn’t mean you’re cold hearted or any such thing, but when it comes to wielding aether you really cannot let your emotions get in the way, lest your magic escape your control entirely.

It’s why you joined the Arcanists Guild so long ago, their approach to spell craft was exactly what you needed, and after many long months of training you had even mastered the lost art of summoning. It had been your calculated and well crafted spells that had felled the Primals and even bested Gaius and his Ultima Weapon.

But what did that amount to?

You’ve been betrayed, the Sultana is dead, your friends are lost, and the nations you fought to defend probably have a price on your head by now. All your possessions now fit neatly into the tiny backpack you brought along in your journey to Ishgard, and the only people left to console you are Alphinaud and Tataru, but in all honesty you’re usually the one consoling them now.

But Ishgard still welcomes you and still needs you. House Fortemps has embraced you and the least you can do is fight to protect them as well. Just keep fighting and saving people until everything gets solved, it definitely worked just fine the first time you tried that, so why not try it again?

You don’t want to be bitter, you don’t want to be angry, you genuinely feel sorry whenever you snap at Alphinaud or Haurchefant, you know they’re having a hard time too. Still it is so hard not to just let that frustration fester in your heart.

One day you’re walking the streets of Ishgard, trying to work the anger out of your system, when you hear a man muttering something. It was a story about a man who fought like a beast, who wielded the Darkness like other men would wield a blade. Something about this story sparks your curiosity and next thing you know you’re pressing the man for details.

It seemed your mystery man had died in battle with the holy knights of Ishgard and his corpse had been dumped in the Brume. It was unfortunate, but mayhaps you could still find his corpse, maybe even his soulstone.

You weren’t thinking of wielding the darkness, were you? No, it was simply academic curiosity. You just couldn’t leave such a thing unstudied, right? Of course. Now to make your way to the Brume.

No pulse, no breathing, skin as cold as the snow around you, that man was a corpse. At least he was a corpse with a soulstone, maybe you could study that. You just have to take it and-

A voice calls for you in the dark.

You wake up confused, but still intact. Better yet, the man you thought dead was now alive and well in front of you. His name is Fray and he was a Dark Knight. Apparently so were you now.

Perhaps embracing the dark should have been difficult, it should have been the kind of decision you pondered over and considered all the pros and cons. It wasn’t supposed to be something you did on a whim, but in reality it was the easiest thing you’ve ever done.

You were stronger now. How else could you wield a weapon so massive? How else could those knights strike you with their blades and barely make you flinch? How else could you take all that anger, and frustration that you had repressed for so long, and give it such a beautiful shape as it cut down those hallowed bastards? 

It felt good.

It felt too good.

Perhaps the life of a Dark Knight was exactly what you needed.

In the weeks that passed no one questioned why you disappeared every night or where you went. You had gone through a lot, and they just wanted to give you space to heal. Besides, who would question what the Warrior of Light did with her spare time? It almost made you feel bad for what you were doing.

Almost.

It was hard feeling bad now that you have started studying the Darkness. No, studying would imply a lot more research and controlled tests. What you were doing was more like exercising it, working out a muscle you didn’t know you had until now. If that meant killing your fair share of monsters then so be it.

Especially when working that metaphorical muscle also seemed to improve your physical ones. Even your eye sight seemed to have improved somehow. With time your tunic had been replaced by plate armor, your glasses by a full helmet, your book of spells by the biggest sword you could carry.

There were still hiccups when adapting to this new life as a Dark Knight. No matter how many times you attuned yourself to the Darkness you could only ever hear whispers of that voice in the dark that had once called your name. It worried you, and frustrated Fray to no end.

Frustration seemed to be Fray’s default state. Always furious at the people around you who insist on asking you to fix all their problems, ready to throw threats and insults any time someone so much as  thought of interrupting you. You try to be nice, you try to de-escalate, to help those people anyway, but you know deep down that you agree with her.

Her? Wasn’t Fray a man?

Doesn’t matter, Fray can use whatever pronouns she wants. You just can’t remember her ever telling you she changed those. 

Wait did she just mention fighting Leviathan? Had she been there with you on that ship? Surely you’d remember that.

Why hadn’t she mentioned that before?

Maybe if you still saw the world through your old scholarly lens, maybe if you still distanced yourself, studied the situation, maybe then you would have realized what was happening. You really can’t help but feel a little stupid when the truth finally reveals itself.

When Fray takes off her helmet it is your face that you see, your eyes that stare into yours, your voice that challenges you. She was your Darkness, your repressed rage against those who used you again, and again to suit their needs; your frustrations with this world that would exhaust you to the bone before finding any solution that didn’t involve you, your need for someone to just step up and care for you even once.

If only she hadn’t hurt those people, if only her first answer wasn’t to just draw her sword on those she saw as a threat to you, maybe then you’d let her go.

Your swords clash and ultimately she’s the one to fall. Your Darkness, your heart, your…

...Esteem, lies defeated before you and you don’t know how to feel. She was a monster formed from the deepest abyss, yet when you hear her declare that she will always be there for you, if only you were to call her, you can’t help but feel hope.

It was only after you exposed yourself to just about every guard, and soldier at Dragon Head that you decided that it’s about time you came clean to your friends.

Alphinaud and Haurchefant didn’t understand why you had made the decisions you had, but they couldn’t think of anyone better to wield such a power. Tataru trusted you with her life and just a bit of Darkness wouldn’t get in the way of that. Estinien claimed that he understood, that he too struggled against the evil that granted him his powers. In the end it all felt too easy, too unearned.

Still, there was a nation to save and a war to stop. Your little existential crisis would have to wait. You could almost hear Esteem screaming at you for ever forming that thought. 

Soon it wouldn’t be just almost.

Weeks passed as you traversed Dravania, searching for a way to stop this war. For a moment you had hoped that by exposing the lies of Ishgardian nobility you would finally put an end to this, but of course that just led the holy men of Halone to do what they thought was right, which just happened to be capturing and torturing an innocent man.

You went in to try to save a man, to make those self appointed saints pay. You didn’t go there to lose a friend, yet that’s what you did.

You kept your composure long enough to reach your private chambers in the Fortemps manor, but as soon as the door closed behind you, you collapsed. You could have saved him, you could have prevented this, you could have jumped out of the way, or pushed him away, or just done anything.

But you didn’t, and now he paid the price for it.

What a pathetic excuse for a Warrior of Light you are.

“You’re no such thing!” A familiar voice calls. You don’t know when or how you summoned her back, but there she was.

Esteem lifted you from the ground and laid you in your bed. You noticed now that instead of the black armor she had favored in your fight, now she wore one of your old robes and your old glasses. It was almost funny thinking of a being of pure aether deigning to wear glasses for some reason.

With a gentleness you didn’t know either of you had, she caressed and soothed you as she repeated those same words over and over again, “it wasn’t your fault.”

It felt pathetic to only have a shadow of yourself to care for you, but for now it didn’t matter. All you could do in that moment was cling, cling to the kind words and the soft touch of the only person who cared enough to offer, and try as hard as you can to believe in what she’s saying.

“Rest now, you fool,” she asked, her voice just as gentle as before.

“Please stay,” you pleaded, unsure if she would disappear the moment you closed your eyes.

It was a selfish thing to ask, to force her to stay in the material world simply for your own comfort, but Esteem wanted nothing more than for you to be selfish, so there was never any doubt that she would oblige.

The next morning she was still there, asleep somehow, still holding you in her arms. It shamed you to admit that this was the closest you’ve ever been to another person. No one had held you this close, no one had ever let you fall asleep in their arms - or fallen asleep in yours for what that matters - had she been more than just a piece of your own heart, perhaps you would have found reason for embarrassment.

There was certainly some strangeness to it, of course. Waking up in your own arms and seeing your own face in the morning was as surreal an experience as you could imagine right now. Though it did allow you some interesting introspection. You shifted in bed a little, trying to get a good look at your own face, wondering if you had ever looked this peaceful before.

“If you even consider rising from this bed I promise you the Archbishop will be the least of your worries,” she grumbles without even opening her eyes.

“I did not know you could sleep,” you comment.

“Neither did I,” she replies. She pushes herself into a sitting position, having completely given up on the idea of returning to your shared slumber, “if I must be honest, I don’t even know how I was granted physical form once more.”

“Yet your first response to sudden corporealization was not to question it, but to attend to the sobbing mess on the floor,” you are by no means attempting to mock her, it simply sounds odd to you.

“What am I to say?” She jested, “I’m quite fond of that sobbing mess.”

At that you averted your gaze. It felt embarrassing somehow, to have someone declare their fondness so bluntly, even if that someone wasn’t an actual person.

“Have we truly grown so alienated from affection?” She sighs, her voice a mix of worry and disappointment.

You motion to protest, but a knock on the door interrupts you both. With a gesture, she requests you stay in bed while she handles this. That may be the worst idea you have ever heard, but you’re far too tired to protest.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake and well,” Alphinaud greets her cheerfully, “If you’re disposed, I’d like to ask-”

“I’m not,” She interrupts, “now, you may be on your way.”

The poor boy is too stunned to reply, and does nothing to stop her from slamming the door on his face. A smug smirk forms on her face as she strides back to you.

“Must you be so rude to all my friends?” You say as you glare at her.

“Must you put the needs of every last soul above your own well being?” She shot back, matching your stare.

You’re the one to break the stare first, “I’ll try not to.”

She nods and gives you a satisfied smile as she sits next to you, “now do try to rest. Wouldn’t want me to be rude to poor Alphinaud for naught.”

In the weeks that followed she had been ever by your side. Like your old summons she could effortlessly appear and disappear from thin air, combined with her nature as a being of pure aether it made you suspect you had somehow called upon an egi of Esteem’s former self. This was promptly disproven by the fact that her response to any direct commands was a simple and direct, “sod off!”

By all accounts she should simply be darkness aspected aether, given shape and purpose by your needs and desires, as unreal as Ysayle’s false Shiva. Yet here she was, talking when she wanted to, sleeping when she wanted to, eating when she wanted to--seven hells she even has different tastes than you. There was no other way around it, Esteem had become her own person somehow.

Part of you worried that you had somehow created a Primal of your own heart. That had now been buried under the far more substantial worry that you have been utterly mistreating an actual person with thoughts and feelings, who had done nothing but help you and care for you for weeks. This in turn had been buried under the mess of feelings that struck your heart at the fact that this woman had held you in your sleep for weeks now. Mayhaps you should just focus on hitting things with big swords for now.

On that angle things have been a lot simpler. Your preparations for the journey to Azys Lla were now almost concluded, and as you waited for Master Cid to finish his work you took your time to aid a fellow Dark Knight by the name of Sidurgu.

That man quite proudly embodied the mass of hate and anger you expected from a Dark Knight, a trait that seemed to invoke Esteem’s disdain and earn him quite a share of her unkindly remarks. Neither his emotional state nor her opinion of him were ever aided by the fact that you surpassed him with ease.

You may have stumbled onto this power like a blind fool, but it had somehow suited you with a natural ease that eluded your companion. It was in the pursuit of more power - under the guise of aiding a young girl that Sidurgu had taken under his wing - that you found yourself once more doing menial tasks for moogles. At least today you’d have the catharsis of beating them within an ilm of their lives for it.

What you did not expect was for them to burst into song and dance afterwards.

“‘Tis love! ‘Tis love!” They profess with their tiny voices, “all-powerful, shining love!”

Suffice to say that the both of you were completely befuddled by the performance - Esteem loudly laughing in the corner she carved for herself in your mind - had Rielle, your shared charge, not appeared in that moment you were sure you’d both sit like that for an hour.

It was only as you made your way back to Ishgard that Sidurgu took you aside to talk about what had unfolded. He mocked the idea that love could be the true power of Darkness, but you could see that sharp edge on his voice begin to dull ever so slightly.

A year ago you would have been just as dismissive of such an idea, to properly channel aether you require coldly calculated theorems, not something as nebulous as love. 

Yet here you are. You’ve wielded anger and frustration like weapons for months now, why can’t you wear love like an armor?

You loved your friends and that gave you strength.

You loved Eorzea and that gave you strength.

You loved yourself and that…

...Well, did you really love yourself that much? Not as much as you should if Esteem were to be believed, but she does. She loves you, and that gives you strength.

It’s with this context that you begin to notice the little things she does, even when she’s not around. The gentle touches, the kind words, the worry in her eyes after a rough fight. It had been her love that helped you strike down with your blade, it had been her love that held you up when an enemy would fell you. It made you oh so keenly aware of her heartbeat - surprisingly human and comforting - next to yours as she held you both together.

Had you loved her too this whole time?

Perhaps you should have questioned this before the worries of facing Garleans, Ascians, and the Archbishop, loomed this close in the horizon. Perhaps you should have questioned that Esteem’s love didn’t come just from some magically ordained purpose. Perhaps you should have questioned what it meant about you that you so willingly accepted and reciprocated that love.

By the time you arrive at the Fortemps manor that night, you have already made your decision and you find her in your room, reading a spicy romance novel from Emmanellain’s secret stash. Steeling yourself in a way you hadn’t done since facing Ultima, you approach her and bring your lips to hers. It was a fleeting touch, but it had the whole of you buzzing with nervous energy.

With the most detestably smug smile, she brings you close again so she may kiss you back and, as if she hadn’t just shaken your very soul with that act, returned to her reading.

You stare at her, utterly confounded by her lack of any real reaction. It takes her a moment to realize you are still staring and the words that escaped her mouth would infuriate and haunt you for the rest of your existence.

“Was I wrong to assume we’d been lovers for at least a month now?”

Perhaps you really should have just stuck to hitting people with big swords.

[hellyeahtrickster]

It occurs to me that I have friends here that I don't have contact with in other spheres, so ... life update: my mother passed away unexpectedly last Friday. I'm doing as well as one would expect. Been going through her things as both a walk down memory lane and a goodbye. I keep coming across things she never got around to using, and it hits hard that now, she'll never have the chance. And I can't stop thinking of the stories we watched together that now she won't know the ending to, or shows I wanted to try with her. And then there's all the things we used to do together on the regular -- all the places I can never go with her to again. And all the places we wanted to go to "someday", but now she never will.

We were two weeks out from our second COVID shots, and 4 weeks from being totally vaccinated. We were finally going to get back to EPCOT, to see the Flower and Garden show. Finally going to get back to the Florida Mall. Going out to lunch. That I won't be doing this things with her anymore ... it's unfathomable. I can't wrap my head around it.

Thanks, anti-mask / anti-vaccine Covidiots, for prolonging the presence of this pandemic -- basically stealing the last year of my mother's life. She was anxious to see her elderly mother again, because we don't know how long *she* has left ... and now she never go to see her mother again. I knew losing my mom would happen someday, but my mother was relatively young yet, so I thought it would be a while ....

It doesn't help that she died after the second night on a new bed. See, she slept on her side all the time, what with the couch being narrow, but with a twin mattress, the bed was much wider. She snored a lot -- I highly suspect she had sleep apnea. When I found her the next morning, she was on her BACK. The doctor agreed that her cardiac arrest could have been caused by sleep apnea. In trying to make my mom more comfortable .... Yeah, I know, it's not my fault, but I cannot shake that thought away, that she's not here anymore because we tried to do something nice for her. How cruel the humour of the universe can be.

(I'd put the rest of this behind a cut, but I don't see that option anymore? Sorry!!)

And it REALLY doesn't help that, not only have I lost the person I was closest to, but now I am stuck alone with the person I least want to be with: my dad. I'm pretty liberal, and he's pretty conservative. We fight a LOT. We haven't really since mom died (things got a little tense here and there, but not like we usually are) ... but I know it won't last. It can't -- not when he believes BLM are terrorists, or that gays have an agenda. And now he keeps wanting to do things with me, like watch my shows, and a petulant part of me is like, no, this is mom's territory -- stay out. I don't want to do anything with him. (Especially since I know he'll start ranting once the shows start talking about racism and homophobia.)

My parents always had a volatile relationship. Mom didn't know you could get pregnant the first time, and when she found out she was pregnant, her Catholic family bullied her into marrying him.* And he cheated on her at LEAST once (with a girl who was only a few years older than me at the time -- I was 15, she was 19, he was 33). My mother was far from perfect, so I don't blame all the marital problems on him. But my point is they were married "in name only" for about the last 25 years, so it's ... offensive to me now that he would dare to act bereaved.

I know he can be hella manipulative, make himself seem generous so as to be loved, and then turn on you like a viper, getting irrationally angry. I can't drive, we live in a very rural area with no public trans, there are no friends or fam less than an hour away, I've had next to no job for the last 17 years, I barely feel like a functional human being (am coming to seriously suspect I have ADHD and Dyscalculia; I have diabetes and suspect have PCOS and a thyroid problem; all these things having strong interconnections; and I have no insurance, nor do I qualify for aid, thanks to living in Florida), and I feel utterly trapped. There's a reason Rapunzel is my fave princess. I've had bad experiences with cabs, so using Uber / Lyft kind of terrifies me. Plus, he'd want to know where I'm going, and likely either insist on coming too, or insist I can't go, because his house, his money, his rules. The ONLY time each year I get away is when I go to Dragon Con (and I'm worried he might forbid that in the future -- he has once before).

And then there's the problem of ... he has no one. As much as I can't stand him, he lost his job because of COVID, he's lost his wife, he has no real friends (total homebody), and like it or not, he has supported me financially for so long. Even if someone else were to take me in, or I can get a job and save to leave ... how can I leave him (a person with severe rheumatoid arthritis / in not-great health)? I owe him too damn much, and I feel like it would be entirely callous of me. Yes, I realise that that's the abuse talking, but ... it's also true?

Anyway, I feel like I'm on Sliders, and keep stepping into progressively worse timelines.

* Let me mention that I have long suspected my mother is -- was -- on the autism spectrum, but when I mentioned it to one of her sisters, the sister seemed skeptical, saying that if anything, mom had a penchant for reading out loud, so they thought maybe she had a reading disability, and took her to a specialist, but "that's it". (Mom was in "remedial" classes through high school, so it doesn't sound like they did enough -- and maybe couldn't because the science just wasn't there.) I explained that mom frequently seemed to have trouble grasping concepts, especially humour. Like when a radio ad featured someone reciting a love-letter to a tomato, she was all, "That's stupid -- tomatoes can't read!" Try as I might, I could not get her to understand that the love letter was a playful way to tell US about what makes the tomato so good.)

Anyway, when I talked to my grandmother recently, she said that my mom "always had a special way of looking at things," and that she guessed mom was "what do they call it -- neuro-something? 'Aspie'? High-functioning, but still." And I told my cousin about it, and he said, "Wait, I thought it was common knowledge in our family that your mom was autistic?" (Note: we have other, officially diagnosed family members who are on different areas of the spectrum.) People always commented when I was growing up that it was like my mom's role and mine was reversed -- like I was the parent, and she was the child.

But to think my family had *recognised* that something was up, and left me, a child, to deal with it on my own?? To think they *pressured* someone who was "special" into having a child?

I know my mom loved me, but my whole life, she said she wished I'd never been born, and so she'd never have married my dad -- I know both can be true, that she loved me but wished she'd never had me (she'd have never known what she was missing). She only survived her marriage because I was there; I've always felt she'd have had a better life if she hadn't married him. When she tried to leave him, her mother would not take her in, because divorce was against her mother's Catholic beliefs (never mind that my uncle divorced twice)

I loved my mother, but were fought a lot, and she frequently exasperated me as we struggled to communicate. She frequently left words out, but did not believe that she did; when we met her last PCP the first time, he looked at me and said, "Is she always like this, or is she having a stroke?" And she would always angrily proclaim that I wasn't listening, when most of the time, it's that I couldn't get her to understand that she was working from a misconception or misunderstanding in the first place, because she would focus on ONE THING, to the exclusion of all else.

An example of an exchange (copied from a letter I wrote to a friend): We got into a weird argument yesterday. She had asked me for pain reliever, a glass of tap water (you're supposed to drink a full glass of water with the pills), and a "cold water" from the fridge (it's too cold to drink it all at once, but we both prefer ice water in general). Later, I was picking stuff up from her table-tray, including a bottle of pain reliever, and put a bunch of stuff away. When I passed by again, she asked for more cold water. I happened to look as see that she had the tap water glass still full, even though she had asked tor it half an hour before. I asked if I needed to bring the pain pill bottle back, because she hadn't drunk the tap water yet -- had I taken the pill bottle too soon, or had she forgotten to drink the water? She was all, "no, I said I need COLD water!" I said I knew that, and I would bring it; I was just asking of she had taken her pills already, or if I needed to bring the pill bottle back too. Her (again): "I said I need COLD WATER!" Me: "I know, and I will bring that -- I just want to know why you haven't drunk the tap water yet? Did you take your pills?" Her: "No, I'll take them at bed!" Me: "So I should bring back the pill bottle? Did I put it away too early?" Her: "YOU DON'T LISTEN! I SAID I NEED COLD WATER!" Me: "And I said I will bring that -- I'm just asking if you also need your pain pills?" Her: "You already took the bottle!! Did you forget that already?"

And then I finally spotted the white pain pills on the napkin under the tap-water glass, so I knew that no, I didn't need to bring it. But it's a frequent struggle to figure out how to phrase questions so I get the answer I need -- nearly every time, I get her screaming at me that I don't listen.

She loved me, but she was never mothering. She hated to be touched, so never hugged me; I was pretty touch-starved. I learned to read because she was a very slow reader when reading me stories; I got impatient and learned to do it for myself. She couldn't help me with my homework. She resented having to take me to school recitals and science fairs. She wasn't someone I could get advice from. I admit I was often envious of characters who had physically-loving, compassionate, wise mother-figures (who weren't so binary about morality -- and so weren't always screaming that this or that character should die, no matter how small the transgression).

But I wish she were still here to frustrate me -- that's so much better than not having her at all. And I wish I had been better at keeping my temper.

She was an atheist, and firm in that belief. Maybe she's right, or maybe her firm belief is affecting me, because I would dream frequently about others I have loved and lost, and swear I feel them, but with her ... nothing. Just a gaping hole in the fabric of my waking life, threatening to suck all the light and hope into it.

[therealkrynnsub]

The Last Trial Retrospective

Song: Tango with Death

To talk about the beginning of this song, now referred to by Krynnsub as "Mother's Legend Reprise," we have to talk about lyrics that existed in earlier versions of the song---before the mother's phantom became a character.

#1 When we originally adapted this song, it began with Takhisis impersonating Raistlin's mother like this:

"I've waited so long here/

Alone and in fear/

But now, my dear son,/

You have finally come

My son, won't you rest?/

Cling to your mother's breast/

There's nothing for us/

But the peaceful Abyss

Just the peaceful Abyss

Only this...."

We had to abandon this original introduction, however, because it was incompatible with the new lines from Raistlin's mother.

2. Mother's ghost (Raw translation):

"You will manage to remember the legend/

I sang to you and your brother every so often./

Open your heart once again."

To the forgotten hope.

It was difficult to fit in all of those ideas.

In some drafts, we ended up ditching the mention of his brother. It was too hard to fit that into the first two lines. It was so key though that we spilled over into the third line. We have her mention those simpler times that Caramon fondly remembers, and framed it as a lullaby. She is not only telling Raistlin that he used to have hope, but also that he remember it:

(Final Draft)

"Just think of the Legend/

The one that I sang long ago/

When you and your brother/

Still dreamed of adventure and hope"

#3 Even though these "new" lyrics seemingly matched up with "Tika's Legend," which we had already adapted, there were just enough differences between them to give us trouble.

Tika (Final Draft):

"There once was a wizard, a servant of night/

He dreamt of a maiden, dressed purely in white,/

So fearful and helpless, her arms weakly reaching/

She begged the young wizard, "Don't leave me to die.

Entrapped by Takhisis she suffered alone,/

But he shared the torment--/

Her anguish his own/

He opened the gates to the Kingdom of Darkness/

To rescue his love from the demons below!"

In "Tango with Death," however, Raistlin's mother sums the story up much quicker:

(Raw translation)

"There once was a young wizard who served the Moon/

He saw a beautiful maiden in his sleep./

Takhisis tormented her in the kingdom of shadows/

And he descended into the Abyss/

to rescue his love!"

To crunch all that information together, we wrote (Final Draft):

Mother's Ghost:

"There once was a wizard, a sevant of night" (Note: Same as in "Tika's Legend")

"He dreamt of a maiden who told him her plight" (Note: We skipped over her appearance and cut to the chase. You know her plight from "Legend of the Abyss": she was trapped in the Abyss and tortured.)

"Takhisis was waiting but, still, he would go"

(Note: This is key here: We are spinning the story in a positive direction. This corresponds with "Denial"/ "Renunciation," where Raistlin will say: "Forgetting what dangers were lying in wait/He chased after passion and unlocked the Gates." In this version the hero bravely goes in spite of the danger, whereas in Raistlin's version he is foolishly unaware of the trap.)

"To rescue his love from the demons below."

Thus we sum the legend up equally as fast as in Russian: The hero is on a rescue mission, the maiden is declared his love, it is revealed that there are demons to face and that he is heading down there to save her regardless.

4.

Takhisis (Raw translation):

"Who in here is singing about love?/

The sinful mother who left her son"

Takhisis (Final Draft):

"Who's going on about Love?/

The very same witch who abandoned her children!"

We had to expand "son" to "children" for the sake of the syllable count but, I mean, come on---she had two sons and she "abandoned" both!

5.

We thought this song was finished but then we started working on the lyric video (yes, we haven't forgotten that) and realized a few things were in need of improving.

Here, for instance, the stress at the end was not quite right:

"You've tantalized him enough/

The choice you're regretting cannot be undone!"

(As early as last week, the line read "The choice you're regretting can't be unchosen.)

The other part we recently modified came at the end of "Mother's Legend Reprise":

Takhisis (Final Draft):

"Be silent, phantom of darkness! /

Your place is in the void."

Raistlin:

"A phantom..."

Takhisis:

"One word and it vanished."

(Thank you, Krynnsubber Olga Leon for this brilliant rewrite!)

The changes here had to do with meaning. Our previous version read very differently from the raw translation:

Takhisis (Rough Draft):

"Be silent you're just a phantom /

Phantom begone with thee."

6. Now we are getting closer to the core of "Tango with Death"...

Takhisis (Final Draft):

"My dear boy, there's no BREAKing/

Bindings woven by FATE/

With the last RAY of LIGHT/

Hopes of being SAVED will DIE/

All that I am pointing out here is that it is very satisfying the way these rhymes line up!

7. At one point late in the rewrite process, we considered using female pronouns for Death, as was done in Russian by nature of "смерть" being a feminine noun. The reasoning was that we thought there was something lost by simply saying "it." Saying "she" would personify Death, and create a real "dance partner" for Raistlin.

There was a lot wrong with this idea, however.

- First of all, we were surprised that in Russian "Death" wasn't really intended to be personified in that way.

-Next, there was the issue of the ideas of Love and Death being contrasted in the song. That meant if we personified Death as a female we would have to do the same for Love ("She's waiting--Go find her within the Dark!") and that didn't work because it would be easy to confuse "Love" for Crysania--especially in an audio version.

Thirdly, we have seen the character of Death presented in different ways on stage. In an earlier version, it is the five headed dragon of Takhisis. Later, a creeping spectre. Calling "it" a "she" would add limitations to directorial vision.

So, even though the majority of our group considered the change favorably, the cons outweighed the pros and we stuck with "it."

8. Takhisis (Rough draft):

"It traps your soul with those serpent eyes/

You're dizzy and paralyzed!/

It feels as light as your final breath"

....

"It mesmerizes you like a snake/

It takes your last breath away!"

A drop of poison is just as sweet

There were a couple problems with this rough draft: #1 A lack of consistency and #2 we needed a different word to rhyme with "away" than a "snake," because here "serpent" correlates to "dragon!"

We solved these issues in the Final Draft:

"Entranced, you’re caught by its serpent gaze/

A poison burns through your veins!/

It floats as light as your final breath"

...

"Entraced, you're caught by its serpent gaze/

It takes your last breath away!/

A drop of poison is just as sweet/"

9. Fun fact: I got stuck in an elevator while working on these lines:

"Trapped alone you will be/

Endlessly here with me/

All too late, recognizing/

Love as Death in disguise!"

Call it "method acting."

[jobean12-blog]

OMG A PUPPY!

Pairings: Bucky x reader

Word count: 902

Summary: It’s Holiday time and you and Bucky try to decide if you want to adopt a new member of the family.

Author’s note: based off this perfect prompt picture sent in by the wonderful @book-dragon-13 for drunk drabbles

Warnings: FLOOOOOOOOFY fluff!

It was your favorite time of year, the smell of Christmas tree and spices filled your shared house with Bucky. You were up early and already running around trying to conquer your long list of things to do before the Holidays arrived. Bucky was still in bed, you peeked into the room and smiled as you watched him in peaceful slumber. You left a quick note on the kitchen table explaining your errands for the day and that you would be gone for most of it. You left out one very important one though...the stop you were going to make at Best Friends Animal Rescue.

You and Bucky had walked past it many times during your adventures in town and you always stopped to squeal over the dogs and cats, Bucky included! He kept saying he wanted to get a dog, that it would be good practice for your future kids and it would complete your family for the time being. You were hesitant. You had dogs all your life and the last best friend you lost had left you so heartbroken you didn’t know if you could do it again.

But that fateful day a week ago had you changing your mind quickly. You and Bucky had brunch at one of your favorite spots. On the way home you took your usual route and passed the Rescue, peering in to see all the adorable dogs and cats. Amy, the manager spots you and frantically waves for you to come in, you can’t resist.

She tells you about all the new puppies that just arrived from a pet store that was shut down because of poor care. As she’s telling you more about the store you suddenly feel a nudge at your foot and look down. You let out a loud gasp and bend down to scoop up the cutest puppy you have ever seen! Big brown eyes, black nose that is perfect, soft floppy ears and a wiggly butt that won’t stop! Bucky immediately melts, “doll, we have to take her!!! She picked you! It’s meant to be!” You look at Bucky and then the puppy, wanting more than anything to make him happy and save the dog, but the heartbreak from your past comes flooding back and your eyes well with tears as you pass the puppy back to Amy and turn to leave. Bucky knows what happened as he throws an arm around you and pulls you close, “it’s ok doll, I know, let’s give it more time.” You gave him a weak smile and you know he is disappointed but you just aren’t ready.

The rest of the week goes by uneventful but you cannot stop thinking about that puppy and how happy it made Bucky! You go over the pros and cons of getting the dog, realizing the only real problem is your own fear holding you back. The dog needs a good home, you and Bucky would give her that and more, what are you waiting for! You call Amy at the Rescue and tell her the news, luckily she informs you the pup is still available and to come get her next day.

Well, here you are, signing some papers with a huge smile on your face as Amy gets the pup ready for you to take home. You have butterflies in your stomach, hoping Bucky will be as happy as you want him to be. You carry her in your jacket the whole way home because she’s just too cute to put down! You knew Bucky was at training all day and you hoped he wasn’t back yet so you could get settled and figure out a cute way to surprise him! You quietly open the door while you shush your puppy and creep into the kitchen, you listen and hear the shower. Perfect! You put her down on the floor and go to hang up your jacket and bag only to turn back toward the kitchen and find no puppy in sight!

“OMG A PUPPY!” You squeal and run to the bathroom to find Bucky standing in the shower soaking wet and holding your pup (also soaking wet), tail going a mile a minute and both with the same look of absolute joy! You burst into giggles as Bucky keeps kissing the puppy and yelling “you adopted her, you adopted her!!” He looks at you laughing and asks, “what are we going to name her?” You stand silent for a moment staring at the two of them soaking wet in the shower and covered in bubbles. “BUBBLES!” you scream out and Bucky gives you a huge grin, “perfect” he says!

The rest of the week you spend preparing for the Holidays, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, decorating and all the while, enjoying life with your new addition. The first snow falls that weekend and the three of you venture out to play, Bubbles absolutely loving every minute of it! The day winds down and you and Bucky find yourself curled up on the couch under a blanket with two cups of hot chocolate and Bubbles on your lap snoring loudly. It’s in this moment you realize how much you had wanted this with Bucky, a home, a family. You grab his hand and squeeze tight not needing to express your feelings in words because he knew, he felt the exact same way.

@the-ss-horniest-book-club @annavega333 @beckzorz @buckmesideways22 @buckingmadness @abovethesmokestacks @cametobuyplums @chuuulip @cchellacat @eurynome827 @jewelofwinter @lancetuckersmustache @littledarlinhavefaithinme @loricameback @collinsstanharbour @marvelgirl7 @marvelous-meggi @marvelandotherfandomimagines @randomfandompenguin @sallycanwait68 @spacemansam @stuck-y-together @tranquil--heart @southernbell91 @nobernieyouareunderreacting

[thecreaturecodex]

Etsai

Dragon 4 © Mauricio Herrera, accessed at his deviantArt page here

[Commissioned by @wannabedemonlord, from @bugcthulhu‘s Iberian creatures list. Etsai is another name for the Aatxe, the Red Bull who is a sinister spirit in Basque mythology. It is said that Etsai taught the warring sibling gods Atarrabi and Mikelats, but one of them had to stay behind to serve him (shades of the Scholomance. The only references to Etsai/Aatxe being draconic I could find are from @bugcthulhu‘s list and the War of The Fallen card game, but devil dragons with wizard powers are cool by me, regardless of folkloric bona fides.]

Etsai CR 16 LE Dragon This hulking biped looks something between a dragon and a fiend, with curved horns and a maw full of jagged teeth. Each of its red and black scales is engraved with strange, arcane runes.. Its back and wings are ablaze with fire.

The etsai, or devil dragon, is created when a young dragon sells its soul to Hell as a shortcut to power and strength, rather than waiting for age and time to empower it. All etsai are infused with fire, regardless of the type of dragon it once was, and all etsai are gifted in arcane power. They must study for this power, rather than gaining it through their blood, and an etsai carves magical glyphs into its scales, becoming a living spellbook. Some etsai teach mortals the art of wizardry using their scales, but the price for this tutelage is very steep indeed.

Even an etsai from the dimmest draconic stock is of genius intellect by humanoid standards. Thus, they are rarely unprepared for combat, having contingency plans for many occasions and having gathered intelligence on their enemies through scrying. The breath of an etsai burns with hellfire, and those burned by this breath are terribly cursed, their strengths turning into their weaknesses.

An etsai lairs in high mountains and deep caves. These lairs are typically guarded by deadly traps, bound guardians and, in some cases, the dragon’s apprentices and slaves. They commune regularly with their diabolic masters, learning ever more secrets of the unseen world and furthering the plots of Hell. Etsai are prone to ordinary draconic greed, but their skin can be a great treasure in and of itself to a wizard—many etsai have rare and unusual magic collected from a lifetime of study carved into their hide, and a number of etsai are the authors of original spells.

An etsai stands thirty feet tall, with a wingspan of fifty feet or so. They are immortal unless slain. They may go abroad in disguise as a man or a bull, but always have some red component of their bodies, such as hair, skin, eyes or nails. Many etsai continue in their arcane studies, gaining levels in wizard or appropriate prestige classes such as diabolist.

Etsai      CR 16 XP 76,200 LE Huge dragon (fire, shapechanger) Init +7; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., Perception +24 Aura frightful presence (120 ft., DC 22) Defense AC 31, touch 11, flat-footed 28 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +20 natural) hp 232 (16d12+128) Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +15 DR 15/good or silver; Immune fire, sleep and paralysis effects; SR 27 Defensive Qualities fire shield, freedom of movement; Weakness vulnerable to cold Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 120 ft. (average) Melee bite +25 (2d6+11), 2 claws +25 (1d8+11), tail slap +20 (2d8+16), 2 wings +20 (1d8+5) Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (120 ft. line, 8d8 fire and 8d8 typeless, Ref DC 26 half, 1d4 rounds), powerful blows (tail) Spells CL 14th, concentration +22 (+26 casting defensively) 7th—banishment (DC 25), greater arcane sight, waves of exhaustion 6th—flesh to stone (DC 24), greater heroism, mass suggestion (DC 24), true seeing 5th—cone of cold (DC 23), feeblemind (DC 23), hold monster (DC 23). quickened shield, teleport 4th—confusion (DC 22), dimensional anchor, enervation (x2), greater invisibility(x2) 3rd—dispel magic (x2), displacement, haste, vampiric touch (x2) 2nd—bull’s strength, fox’s cunning, resist energy (x2), scorching ray (x2) 1st—alarm, mage armor, magic missile (x2), ray of enfeeblement (DC 19), true strike 0th—detect magic, message, read magic, resistance Spell-like Abilities CL 16th, concentration +22 (+26 casting defensively) Constant—fire shield (warm shield), freedom of movement (self only) 3/day—greater dispel magic, magic circle vs. good (DC 19) 1/day—geas/quest, greater scrying (DC 23), planar binding (DC 22) 1/week—commune Statistics Str 32, Dex 17, Con 27, Int 27, Wis 20, Cha 22 Base Atk +16; CMB +29; CMD 42 Feats Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Hover, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll (B), Spell Penetration (B), Vital Strike Skills Appraise +27, Bluff +25, Diplomacy +25, Fly +20, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (history) +27, Knowledge (planes) +27, Linguistics +27, Perception +24, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +31, Stealth +14, Use Magic Device +29; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge (arcana), +4 Spellcraft, +4 Use Magic Device Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal, Undercommon, 16 others SQ change shape (aurochs or humanoid, polymorph), self-scribing Ecology Environment any mountains and underground Organization solitary Treasure triple standard Special Abilities Breath Weapon (Su) A creature that takes damage from an etsai’s breath weapon must succeed a DC 22 Will save or take a -12 penalty to its highest ability score. This cannot reduce a creature’s ability score below 1. This is a curse effect, and the duration is permanent until removed. A creature that fails its save a second time against this effect has its next-highest ability score reduced in this fashion, and so on. A creature can be affected by this curse a maximum of six times, once per ability score. The save DC for the breath weapon is Constitution based, and the curse effect is Charisma based. Self-Scribing (Ex) An etsai treats its own body as a spellbook, and can carve spells into its skin. It treats itself as if it were made of 500 pages of spellbooks, but must expend material components to scribe spells into itself as normal. Spells An etsai casts spells as a 14th level wizard without spell school specializations. It does not gain any other class abilities of a wizard.

[wellyoucantliveinfear]

There’s Something Rotten in Las Vegas (It’s Clexacon)

Hey y’all, I’m back again with my feelings about Clexacon. This is my 3rd year going to the convention, and sadly it’ll likely be my last. This will be a longgggggg post, so I’ll be putting it under a cut. So if you want to hear about my experience at Clexacon 2019, here you go:

Show! Me! The! Money! (No Seriously, Where’s it Going???)

One of my biggest concerns (among the many that I have) is how this convention is now an opportunity to grab as much money as it can from its LGBTQ audience. I’ll start with the con itself, and then work all the way through to its “affiliates”.

If you wanted to do anything at Clexacon that was not the actual convention itself, you were required to pay an additional fee. I personally went to the Academic Lab, which was an additional $75 on top of the regular $160 3-Day Pass ticket price. The Creator Lab was also the same day and was also an extra $75. Ascension, the Saturday night party, was $50. There was also a comedy show, and unfortunately I don’t have the info on how much that was. And sure, you might say, “Well Morgan, those are all extra events that are optional, so maybe paying for ��opting in’ makes sense!”. Okay, sure, but there are also plenty of conventions that have additional, “opt in” events that are free for attendees.

Let’s use Dragon Con for example, as I live in Atlanta and am the most familiar with that one currently. Dragon Con has a TON of extra events, including a wrestling show, a burlesque revue, and dance parties. Most of these events are completely free as long as you have your convention badge. The events that aren’t free? An awards banquet and a HUGE ball with celebrity guests. There’s even an academic track for panels, which is also free. And okay, yes, Dragon Con is gigantic and is already established in the convention circuit. There are even smaller conventions that are doing free events too. I lived in Cincinnati for years and went to the Cincinnati Comic Expo, which is much smaller but still runs free events for attendees. So it is doable.

There also needs to be attention drawn to the fact that every organization attached to the “Clexacon” name is ran/owned by the same handful of people (NOTE: The two people in question will not be named here as I do not want to open myself to them potentially taking legal action. However everything stated here is either my experience, the noted experience of others, or easily accessed through organization websites, particularly the website for The Visibility Fund). Those people own and operate Clexacon, DASH Productions, and DASH Photos. They are also on the board for The Visibility Fund, a non-profit organization that gained funds from the Cocktails for Change event hosted at Clexacon this year. Prior to the removal of the Clexacon staff page online (which was removed promptly after the convention ended), the names of people from Tellofilms were also included as staff for the convention. It is deeply concerning that all of the money is being funneled in/through a small number of organizations ran by a small number of people. When I teach Media & Culture I always warn my students of the dangers of a small handful of people owning the means of creation. Often when that occurs, the limits on what the audience is able to see get smaller and smaller, focused on the wants of the corporations and businesses. It seems that Clexacon is moving in that direction.

Who’s Running the Show?

The organization of this year’s Clexacon was a complete and utter mess. I’ll start with the mismanagement of the Vendor Hall. While there was more space in the Vendor Hall this year, this did not lead to better promotion by the Clexacon staff. With the Photo Ops being moved upstairs, the hall was not as cramped, but it did remove a large source of foot traffic for the vendors. A logical next step would have been for Clexacon to tweet something about the Vendor’s Hall to push that foot traffic back into the space, but that did not happen. Instead, the traffic continued to flow upstairs and into the large panel room, with people only coming into the Vendor Hall through word of mouth or to get autographs. As someone who was in the Vendor Hall this year and last year, I noted a significant decrease in foot traffic, and other vendors I talked to noticed it too. This doesn’t even take into account the issues concerning the inconsistent pricing of vendor tables. I cannot speak further about this as I wasn’t involved, but there are multiple tweets in the #clexapocalypse hashtag with more info.

There were also issues with volunteers checking badges and other forms of “security” during the weekend. There were multiple instances where I walked into the Vendor Hall and no one checked my badge. There were instances where I walked into the Vendor Hall without a badge on, and no one questioned me. Bags were rarely being checked. I’m not advocating for more security at Clexacon. I’m against having heavier security or “police” in a queer space, especially a space where queer folks of color are present. However, there at the very least should be volunteers present to make sure that people without badges can’t walk in. Why on earth would I buy a $160 badge if anyone can just walk into the space?

Photo Ops were also a disaster. My friend and I bought a Photo Op for Chantal Thuy and Nafessa Williams. Not only was the picture very washed out, but when we asked about getting an extra print for one of us, we were told by volunteers that extra prints wouldn’t be available, and if we wanted them we’d have to “wait for the digital print and get it printed at a Fed Ex or something”. Y’all, I’ve been to multiple conventions and not once have I not been able to get another print at the con. They also said that it would take nearly two weeks for us to get the digital print, as “it’s just one person processing all of the images”. WHAT. That’s completely unacceptable. Other folks I spoke to at the convention cited similar issues, including being charged for Photo Ops that they didn’t get and poorly shot photos.  

Finally, there’s the issue of leadership for this convention. In the previous section I outlined an issue with the heads of Clexacon running multiple organizations connected to Clexacon, which appears to be fairly well known on the internet. What might be less well known is that after last year’s Clexacon, those people pushed out one of the original organizers for the convention. This person questioned the concerning direction the convention was taking and not only were their concerns invalidated, they were given no choice but to walk away from staff and were asked to not return to the convention this year. (Note: slight edit made to previous sentence based on new information) After the removal of that person, the convention morphed into what was presented this year. As you might have noticed on Twitter, many of the Clexacon staff resigned from their positions through each of them sending a public statement tweet. Of my knowledge of the situation, this was due to the management issues concerning the heads of Clexacon, as well as problems with how their labor was used (or misused) by those heads. When multiple people exit their jobs within an organization, that signals an issue with how that organization is run. I hope people will look deeper into this issue than what I’ve outlined here.  

I’m going to move on now to more “identity based” issues. I wanted to get all the money bullshit out of the way first because I have a lot of fucking Feelings about how people were continually marginalized at this convention and I didn’t want to run out of anger steam before talking about the money.

Concerns About Accessibility (I Have Them)

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, DO I HAVE CONCERNS. First, let’s review what occurred before Clexacon happened. Multiple people contacted Clexacon with issues attached to their unclear accessibility policy, with many getting poor responses or no responses at all from the staff. Eventually the outcry on Twitter prompted the staff to issue a new statement about accessibility, which was initially done so through an image on Twitter…which was not accessible to those with screen readers. They later reissued the statement through multiple tweets, but this would be foreshadowing of things to come. They stated they were talking to people well versed with ADA compliance knowledge, but it’s clear that either they didn’t do that at all, or they did and then chose to not follow them. This showed at the actual convention itself.

First was the issues with obtaining the program itself. They didn’t have any paper programs available this year, instead telling everyone to use the app. Well, that app was only accessible half the time because getting wifi was impossible, and cell service was horrible in the con space. Also, having the programs through the app only meant that they were assuming everyone had a cell phone and were able to use it throughout the entire con. I’ve been to conferences/conventions where they’ve had digital programs, but there’s always the option of getting a paper program if that works better for you. Not having those options got in the way of people being able to plan what events they were going to. 

From just my experience at Clexacon, there was not enough accommodation made for attendees who were deaf or hard of hearing. There were multiple panels, including panels in the large room, that did not have an interpreter present. There were also clearly not enough interpreters available for the number of attendees who needed them. Moog ( @wayhaughtt ) talks more about this in their vlog, which I’ll link here. It is completely and totally unacceptable (not to mention illegal) for Clexacon to not have enough people available to assist attendees.

Along with not having enough interpreters, the space is just totally not accessible for anyone who has mobility issues. Small panel rooms are all the way at the back of the con space, making it hard for people who cannot walk long distances. Aisles were not wide enough for people with mobility devices to use. While there were some things in place to assist with having to stand in line, it was still difficult for many people who couldn’t stand for long periods of time. The elevator on the bottom floor near the Vendor Hall was out of the way enough that I didn’t notice it until Sunday. The Quiet Room shouldn’t have even been called that, as it was sandwiched between the Photo Ops and the Film Festival, making it impossible for people to achieve the quiet they were going there to find. And sure, you might say, “Well that’s not their fault, it’s the fault of the Tropicana”. But at the end of the day if you are really committed to making your event accessible to everyone, to create this “safe space” that you continually advertise, then you will make the effort to not only actually provide people with adequate accommodations at the very least, but also find a venue that will be accessible for your attendees.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being (At Clexacon)

Okay, so, I’m really annoyed that I basically have to write the same thing I did last year. I was really, really hoping that white people wouldn’t fuck it up again and would show up, but apparently the small amount of faith I had in my fellow white fandom people was too much. It was very clear AGAIN this year that white fandom will only show up for shows with white characters. I did notice an increase in the amount of people who attended the One Day at a Time Panel, and that’s great! But there were so many other panels with queer folks of color that were either a quarter or half full. I was hoping more people would attend the Black Lightning panel now that they were an established show finished with their second season, but nope, it was maybe half full. The Vida panel had a good number for attendance, but it was in a smaller panel room, so I can’t really gauge it with the other large room panels, but that room was not full. The Queer People of Color Representation panel, a really great panel with an important discussion, was about a quarter full. WHITE FANDOM NEEDS TO BE HEARING THESE CONVERSATIONS. Us not showing up and not putting in literally the minimum amount of work is fucking ridiculous, and shows everyone else where we stand.

There also, again, was a noticeable difference in the length of autograph lines for white actresses verses actors and actresses of color. Jes Macallan’s line was wrapped around the autograph area. Even though this is their third Clexacon, Dominique Provost-Chalkley and Kat Barrell’s lines were long as well. Caity Lotz’s line was also pretty long. On the other hand, Nafessa Williams was sitting at her table with no line for a significant chunk of her autograph time, as was Chantal Thuy and Lesley-Ann Brandt. Just that visual alone makes it abundantly clear who white fandom is willing to give their time and money to. So many of us complain that there’s not enough LGBTQ representation, but then refuse to put in the work when the characters are people of color. Saltygaysianpowerhour on instagram has a great post about this, which I’ll link here. White fandom, if we’re not putting in the work, we cannot complain when we feel there’s not enough LGBTQ representation. We’re part of the problem.

Lastly, I noticed that the Clexacon space was extremely white. When this happened, we as white fandom should have been aware of that and been better allies for attendees of color. That did not happen. I’ve heard so many stories of attendees of color who felt othered or additionally marginalized by both attendees and con staff in a space that should have been just as much theirs as everyone else’s. This convention is not a “safe space” for queer people of color, and some very, very significant changes will have to be made for it to get even close to that.

I Can’t Fucking Believe I Have to Write About TERFs

Just like the fucking subtitle says, I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT TERFS. The complete and utter failure to make this con a positive and safe space for trans folks is honestly stunning. Literally so many people I know got repeatedly misgendered at Clexacon, and so many people didn’t even care to find out what people’s pronouns were. Volunteers misgendered multiple people, which is a problem staff should have addressed at the very beginning. I heard many people say they encountered TERFs at the con and I don’t think I need to mention this, but like, if TERFs think your con is a safe space then that’s a huge problem. I honestly think there were more cishet men on main stage panels this year than trans folks. That’s a problem. This con should have had some way to signify your pronouns on your badge, whether that be a ribbon, button, or even a fucking sticker for people to fill in. I feel like if you’re running a convention that claims to include all LGBTQ people, then you need to do basic things like that. Otherwise change how you market the convention.

What Is it Good For? (Actually, a Few Things)

Okay, now that I’ve aired all my grievances (or at least the ones I can think of), I do want to talk about the good things this con can bring. This con does offer a space for people to create community. Sure, we can do this online with Tumblr or Twitter, but it’s not the same as seeing a living person in front of you. It’s not the same as talking to someone face to face and being excited about whatever media you love. It’s not the same as getting to hug your favorite people. And with all its faults, Clexacon does create a space for this to happen in real time. I know people who have met some of their closest friends at Clexacon. Hell, I met my current girlfriend at the first Clexacon. But that doesn’t erase that this community is currently toxic, and if we want to keep going we’re going to have to deal with those toxic parts or it’s all going to rot. Unfortunately I’m not going to be attending Clexacon in the future unless the current management is removed and significant changes are made. I’m lucky enough to have other places that create positive LGBTQ community like @tgifemslash. I’m not going to shame anyone for going to Clexacon next year, especially if that’s the only community you have. I just hope that in reading this very long post (and thanks if you’re still with me!) you reflect on what Clexacon is and how it can be better. We’re already marginalized by broader society, we don’t deserve further marginalization from our own “community”.

[lichlairs]

Checkout our new post over at https://lichlair.com/daily-monster-56-demogorgon

Daily Monster #56: Demogorgon

Today we’re talking about one of the most iconic monsters in Dungeons and Dragons. Not only that, but with the recent interest in this particular creature after Stranger things, I think it’s safe to say that at least a few newbies have found the hobby through it. Without further ado, let us discuss…

The Demogorgon

The basics

Alright, here we go, this one might just take a little longer than usual so let’s just get right into it.

Like our Tiamat article from a couple of months back, Demogorgon is definitely not the kind of monster you want to just throw at your party willy-nilly. Even just looking at the numbers for the stat block triggers my fight or flight instinct. We’re looking a solid +2 DEX for this monster’s lowest stat, granted, considering Demogorgon is a size Huge I would still think this is pretty great. Demogorgon’s WIS and INT are both more than acceptable at +3 and +5 respectively, but chances are that if you end up fighting this thing, you’ll want to watch out for its +7 CHA, +8, and +9 STR. That’s right, this thing has a 29 in strength.

Not only is this thing incredibly tough with an AC of 22 and a giant hit point pool of 28d12+224, but it also has some crazy saves and resistances! I’m talking about +10 DEX, +11 WIS, +15 CHA, and +16 CON to saving throws. Actual bananas… but even if you do manage to hit this thing, you still have to worry about overcoming Demogorgon’s resistance to Cold, Fire, and Lightning as well as its immunity to Poison and non-magical weapon attacks. And of you’re hopping to put this bad boy under some negative condition like charmed or frightened, you might want to think again because this chaotic demon has a handful of condition immunities as well. At this point sneaking your wait out might sound like the best choice but even that is unlikely considering Demogorgon’s Perception of +19, Truesight of up to 120ft range, and passive perception of 29.

Although communicating with this demon should be an easy task thanks to its telepathy of up to 120ft rage and its ability to speak all (and I do mean all) languages, I don’t recommend lying to the Prince of Demons; +11 to Insight might not sound like much after some of the other numbers we’ve discussed, but it’s still plenty.

Demogorgon gets an Innate Spellcasting ability that uses his CHA and has a crazy save DC 23. Using this feature he gains access to the following spells:

At will: detect magic, major image. 3/day each: dispel magic, fear, telekinesis. 1/day each: feeblemind, project image.

If you thought we were done listing all the ways in which today’s monster is a tough one to chew then you’re wrong; not only does he have a Magic Resistance that gives him advantage on saves, but thanks to its Two Heads, he also just gains advantage to save from pretty much every other condition that wasn’t in his list of resistances already.

Now that we’re done listing its features and attributes, it’s finally time to discuss some of the weapons at Demogorgon’s disposal. As a creature of legendary proportions Demogorgon has a multiattack and both Legendary resistances (3/day) and Legendary actions to compliment its array of attacks.

While under normal circumstances a Tentacle attack might not sound all that scary, getting hit by Demogorgon’s tentacles means having to make a save against hit point reductions. This basically means that it won’t matter how many clerics you have in your party because no healing can recover damage taken from these attacks.

Next we have Demogorgon’s infamous Gaze attack; any creature can choose to succeed on the save imposed at the cost of not being able to look at our demon until its next turn. Those who choose to hold his gaze must make a DC 23 CON save or suffer one of the following three effects:

Beguiling Gaze: on a failed save the target is stunned until the start of Demogorgon’s next turn or until the demon breaks eye contact.

Hypnotic Gaze: on a failed save the target is charmed until Demogorgon’s next turn, making it so that our demon can dictate their very action and move. Note that this cannot be use in conjunction with the Maddening Gaze legendary action.

Insanity Gaze: on a failed save the target suffers the effects of the Confusion spell, minus getting to make a saving throw, of course.

Today’s monster can take two legendary actions each round of combat. The first of our two options is a pretty simple Tail attack that does some pretty good damage but nothing else to boot. The second one, however, allows us to use Demogorgon’s Gaze an extra time per round as long as we only choose between Beguiling and Insanity.

All in all, this huge fiend definitely packs a punch. It’ no wonder he’s nicknamed the Prince of Demons. For those of you following along, today’s monster is considered a CR 26 creature of chaotic evil alignment.

The lore

Historically speaking, although there is some debate about it, the word “Demogorgon” is mostly accepted to have been the product of miscopying ancient documents. While this initial misunderstanding of Greek equaled our Demon Lord to a primal god, Christian writers slowly turned the word to represent a demon in hell.

In terms of our favorite pastime, Demogorgon first appeared in the world of Dungeons and Dragons back in 1976 when it was introduced along with Orcus as part of the Eldritch Wizardry supplement. This is one of those monsters that have been a staple of the game for as long as there has been a game.

Today’s monster goes by many nicknames: Prince of Demons, Sibilant Beast, Master of the Spiraling Depths. Demogorgon reigns over the Gawping Maw deep within the Abyss (88th layer to be specific) where it has built itself a massive castle, Abysm, with two spiraling towers shaped like snakes, one for each head.

Speaking of heads, one of the most important features about the Demogorgon’s appearance is its two very large simian like heads, each of which has a name and a distinct personality. The first head, Aameul, is the more charismatic and deceptive of them, always making plans and trying to find ways to separate itself from its tin head, Hethradiah, who represents primal savagery and destruction rather than cunning. The rest of Demogorgon’s body can be described as a combination of scales and fur, with broad shoulders and two tentacles instead of hands.

Even though the word “scientist” might not be the first thing you think about when you see depictions of this creature, Demogorgon does in fact have a bit of a hobby in creating twisted creatures. As if being an 18ft tall mutated simian with two heads wasn’t enough, he can count on the creatures he has created such as retrievers, ettins, and death knights= as well as a steady supply of hezrou and other nefarious beings that he keeps under his command.

Although his cult isn’t as numerous or common as that of other demons and evil entities, the Sibilant Beast can count on the support beings like the kuo-toa, troglodytes, and even human beings. In fact, it’s not entirely uncommon for warlocks to seek pacts with Demogorgon.

There is a lot more I could cover for today’s monster, but for the sake of not having article end up being longer than the Wikipedia page, I believe I’ll leave it at that.

The execution

Oh boy, this is a big one. I definitely wouldn’t recommend throwing this at your players until they’re near max level or have some sort of godly support to back them up. This is the sort of BBEG you leave for the end of the campaign, that’s for sure.

So, okay, let’s get a couple of things situated before we being. The first of these is the fact that, unlike other evil entities, Demogorgon is unable to planeshift, which means that, if you really really want your party of adventurers to fight him you’ll have to make them go to him and, as fun as raiding Abysm sounds, I think I’d pass, personally.

The second thing we need to know is that while he cannot be summoned into the material plane, extremely powerful individuals who worship him might have the ability to summon an aspect of him, which is actually where we get our statblock from.

The way I see it those are our two real options on how to push for an encounter with this monster. I think a way to even the battle field a bit more and give your party a little more of a chance to survive this encounter would be to have Demogorgon be focused on a different goal while the party assaults him. Perhaps now that an aspect of him has been released into the Material Plane he’s on his way to destroy Waterdeep or something. This would leave your party with a couple of rounds to unleash their worst on our Demon Lord before it finally turns to deal with the annoying flies buzzing around it.

An interesting idea for this combat would be to have the first half of it focus on minimizing Demogorgon’s damage, and surviving the effects of his presence in the Material Plane before decides that getting rid of our pesky adventurers is the best call. On top of having stuff like flying giant boulders that are being tossed about by our Demon and the expected chaos of it barging into a city, you could also decide to spice things up by having a few of its faithful servants show up.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about combat both as a player and as a DM is to have choices. Would the players decide to deal with the chaos around the city and save innocent lives? Or would they focus on trying to dispatch our Demon Lord back into the Abyss?

Aaaand that’s it for today. If you enjoyed this article and want to see other similar content, don’t forget to visit our social media so we can let you know when we post new articles. We put up new content every day of the week!