#Flag or Map? You Decide!

[bisexualamy]

.

[choism]

Jester's Game | b.tc

Captain Buggy x Pirate!afab!Reader

Genre: smut, angst, fluff (If you squint)

Summary: Trying to overtake Captain Buggy's ship leaves you asking questions, and surprisingly, getting answers

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: top!buggy, afab!reader, unprotected sex (pls dont), cunnilingus, fingering, creampie, squirting, rough sex, gentle sex (yeah wild), inappropriate use of detached limbs, spit as lube (also a no no), overstimulation, pet names (sweetheart, princess)

A/N: WOOHOO ITS MY FIRST NON KPOP FIC!! I knew I would write for other stuff eventually but I definitely did not expect it to be a recent hyperfixation. Buggy just has me bricked up okay! Anyway I hope y'all enjoy, don't forget to let me know what you thought of the fic in the tags !

It’s a rather unfortunate series of events, really. Sure, you could’ve told your navigator to sail away from the ship with the giant clown crossbones flag. Yeah, it might’ve helped if you had told your crew that they were about to fight some of the toughest pirates in the East Blue. But where’s the fun in that? As their captain, it’s your job to seek the adventure, and well, this was an adventure all right.

It started with you telling your men to approach, cannons firing, your crew hopping their ship, the infamous ship commandeered by none other Buggy The Clown. Yes, the ship your measly crew has decided to board. Listen, it was strategic! Buggy had somehow gotten the map to the grand line back, and your ship just so happened to be within the vicinity of his, so why not seek the opportunity to take it? Well that was your first mistake.

Now, you find yourself here, hands bound behind your back and kneeling with your crew in front of Buggy’s stupid, dumb throne in his stupid, dumb circus tent cabin.

“You all truly are fools for thinking you could take on my band of freaks,” Buggy lazily sprawls over his throne, seemingly unimpressed by your, in his words, ‘lackluster crew’.

“It’s funny actually, how pathetic it was, I mean even Mohji got in a few punches! Ha! Truly a fine show.” The man you assume being the Mohji that Buggy had just poked fun at, slumps his shoulders sadly at his jab. “Now, time to get to the good stuff…” Buggy trails off, standing up and taking a few strides in your direction, his dirty boots stopping directly in front of you. He detaches his hand and uses it to lift your head, pointing your chin up to look him in the eye.

Looking up, you spit and it lands on his cheek, he simply swipes it off with his attached, gloved hand. “So what if you defeated us, it doesn’t make you any better of a pirate, and doesn’t get you any closer to the One Piece.” You tilt your head and smirk. He may have overcome your crew, but he will never overcome your overwhelming ego and pride. It matches his just as equally.

“Ah, that's where you’re wrong, princess,” His grin is just as wide as yours, and briefly you’re confused, what could he mean? “Given your set of thieving skills, probably some of the best in the East Blue, I’ve heard, you’re gonna join my band of freaks, and I’m not giving you a choice sweetheart,” Buggy removes his hand from your chin, and it floats to his arm, re-attaching itself.

“Boys, throw their crew overboard, we have no use for them.” He rolls his eyes and sits back on his throne, “Oh! And go show them to their new quarters, make them feel at home.” Buggy laughs a deep boisterous laugh, one that genuinely sends shivers down your spine.

The pirates lead you into, what is actually, quite a nice room in the lower deck of the cabin, lit by a few candles, and a cot in the corner. Surprisingly, they cut you out of your ropes, and shut the door without locking it. What’s their deal? Don’t they know you can escape at any time if you wanted? Sneak out and steal one of their emergency boats, and sail to the nearest Island? Granted, you aren’t sure where the nearest Island is, you’re a thief, not a navigator.

Instead of worrying about escaping, you roam the small room, admiring your surroundings. The whole ship is clown themed, front he flags to the cabin to everything, but this room is different. Not a single sign of jester-like decorations anywhere. In fact, it’s as if this cabin was decorated specifically for you. Before you can think more of it, the door opens suddenly.

Buggy enters, and closes the door behind him. When he enters you’re sitting on the cot, legs crossed and unamused.

“Not thinking about escaping? Not that you could anyway, we are miles away from the nearest island, and realistically it would take you days to get there on one of our measly boats.” He rolls his eyes, as if annoyed by how small and fragile the boats are, before sitting backwards on the chair at the short desk next to the cot.

“So what do you even need a thief for? Why am I here?” You blurt, already growing impatient from the lack of information being given to you.

“I need you for many reasons, being a thief is only one of them, sweetheart.” Buggy grins and removes his hat, setting it on the desk. “You already have connections at the grand line, and while I know you need my map to get there, I know that you know the people I need to talk to, to gain safe entry without slaughtering half the fucking pirates there.” He leans back and relaxes a bit, observing your facial features.

“And why do you think any of the people I know would want to help you? You’re just some lowly pirate.” You spit at him, angered by his casualness. In what world would you even willingly help him? Who does he think he is?

“Ha…Me? A lowly pirate? This coming from the literal captain of a crew is hilarious! Tell me another joke, please.” He grins knowingly, he knows how to get a rise out of you for sure. You look over his facial expression, smugness overtakes his face and it makes your stomach twist, not with disgust though for some odd reason, with another feeling you don’t quite recognize. 

This whole situation has you feeling all kinds of anxious. How did you just happen to raid the ship of a pirate who just happened to need you for this specific thing, and why is his presence making you feel so…weird? Something isn’t right here, and it can’t be because of your connections to the grand line. No, he’s hiding something. 

“What are you hiding, clown? There’s something you aren’t telling me.”

His face drops, and he gets suddenly very serious, “Listen here, princess,” Buggy gets up from the chair and gets close to you, leaning down, your noses almost touching. “You’re gonna get me to the grand line, I don’t care if I have to torture it out of you, got it? No more questions tonight.” He gets up and suddenly grins very brightly, as if nothing ever happened. “Night night!” Buggy walks out and slams the door, then you hear a locking sound.

Fuck, he locked you in your room. You should’ve expected this, honestly. The way he reacted to your question was so strange. You knew there was something fishy, but you didn’t think whatever it was could’ve prompted that kind of reaction out of him. 

***

The next day you wake up to yelling outside of your cramped room. Yawning, you get up and put your ear to the door,

“I’m sorry Captain Buggy! I didn’t know that was their ship I swear I promise!”

You hear what sounds like a kick to the jaw and a yelp,

“Didn’t know? Didn’t know?! You couldn’t tell by the giant crossbones flag that very obviously bares their symbol? I’m tired of you, someone go throw him off the deck.”

You hear screams and pleads of “No please!” and “I didn’t know I’m sorry captain!” before hearing water splash, then silence, then- oh shit footsteps coming towards your room. You scramble back to your cot and lay down, pretending to sleep. You hear a couple of knocks before hearing a feint “What the fuck am I doing, I go where I want!” Before Buggy barges into the room after unlocking it.

“Get up, I know you heard everything.” He spits gruffly, sitting back in the chair again the same way as yesterday. You sit up abruptly. Last night you couldn’t shake this feeling, of what you felt when Buggy had gotten so serious, and it’s just gotten worse being in his presence. Your abdomen feels hot, your ears feel hot, everything feels hot. It’s like butterflies in your stomach if the butterflies were armed with knives.

“Yes, I did hear, what do you mean by my symbol? I thought bumping into you was a coincidence?” Buggy smiles faintly, and chuckles.

“Yes, it was, I wasn’t informed of what ship we attacked, just that my men captured you all, oh but when I saw you…I knew.” Buggy stands up and motions for you to do the same, getting so close to you, your chests almost touch. He brings his hand to your arm, caressing down the length before gripping your wrist harshly, causing you to wince. “Do you….” he trails off, “Do you really not remember me?” He brings his eyes from your arm to your face, making direct eye contact.

You struggle to find words, what does he mean, remember? Yeah, he gives you a strange feeling everytime you're near him, but you’ve never met this man in your entire life. You think. Honestly you can’t remember anything before the age of seventeen.

“I– no, no I don’t…”

His smile fades, and he lets go of you, “I thought you would remember once you saw me, we were on Gold Roger’s crew together years ago, but you went missing after a particularly tough battle.” He pauses, thinking carefully about what to say next, “You– We– We were close, and I was devastated, I thought you were dead.” He’s being surprisingly vulnerable right now, and it’s kind of scaring you.

“I don’t really remember anything before I turned seventeen, All I know is one day I woke up on an island, a group of pirates took me in, I left, and I’ve been on my own since. The only reason I am where I am today is because I wanted to find who I was, and I figured I could find that out at the grand line.” You feel overwhelmingly sad. Why are you sad? You don’t even know him.

There’s a long silence between the two of you, it’s uncomfortable, tight, and makes you want to leave, until he says, “Let me show you.” He says abruptly, and you think you see a blush across his face.

“Sorry, I mean, please,” Buggy steps into your space again, this time his eyes flit between your lips and your eyes, back to your lips. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find you, I’m sorry you had to go through that, I missed you so much y/n” That was the first time he’s said your name this entire time, but it’s not one you recognize.

“Is that my name?” Your lip quivers, he’s so close now, your lips are inches apart.

“Yes it is, y/n, sweetheart, princess, I’ll call you whatever you want, just let me show you.” The thick air has disappeared and is now replaced with tension. Something deeper, heavier, fills the room. But it’s not a bad thing.

“Let me show you who you were to me.”

You let his face drop to yours, and your lips finally connect.

The kiss is slow, languid. It’s like his lips were meant to connect with yours. Buggy wraps his arms around your waist. Pulling you in closer, and kissing you deeper. His tongue slips into your mouth, and you let him kiss you as deep as he wants. The pace quickens and he slots his leg in between yours, rubbing against your pants and providing much needed friction.

You moan into his touch and he walks the both of you backwards until the back of your knees reach the bed. He lowers you onto it and hovers above you, kissing you again before departing. “Is this okay?” Buggy asks, brushes his hands underneath the bottom of your shirt, slowly lifting it.

“Only if you return the favor.” He chuckles and lowers his head to your neck, sucking and biting gently while riding up your shirt until your chest is exposed. You sit up briefly to take off your shirt and as promised, he does the same. He isn’t overly ripped like most pirates are, but he’s still well toned. His muscles flex as he shifts lower, kissing down your chest, down your stomach and stopping just above the navel.

“When I saw you were the one my men captured, it took my breath away,” He lifts your hips so he can remove your pants and undergarments, “I was scared, anxious, I didn’t know what to do, so I pretended I knew you for your skills, not for your past.” After removing everything, he pushes back, kissing your thighs before sitting up, taking his gloves off with his teeth and throwing them to the side. Man that was hot.

Buggy detaches one of his hands and lets it roam up your torso, reaches your neck and gives it a gentle squeeze. Before leading his fingers over your mouth, asking for entry. You grant it and his index and middle finger slip into your mouth, swirling your saliva around and coating them generously. “When you suspected I knew more, I didn’t know what to do. When you boarded I just knew you by name, not face, there was no way I could’ve expected this.”

He removes his hand from your mouth and moves it down to your center, rubbing through your folds gently and inserting two fingers, scissoring you open and prepping you for what's to come. Buggy uses his still detached hand to remove his own trousers, his cock springing free from its confines. He strokes it slowly, clearly getting off to his detached hand fingering you open.

“Buggy…” You moan, you can’t even reply or form a sentence, the pleasure too good.

“Shhh just relax sweetheart, I’ll take care of you.” He brings his hand away from your now dripping cunt, reattaching it and leaning down. You feel his breathe over your core, he kisses your clit before taking it in his mouth, lapping up your taste and fucking you onto his tongue. You can feel your orgasm approaching quickly as he flits between sucking on your clit and tonguing inside of you, but he pulls away.

“Fuck! Why’d you–”

You’re interrupted by his cock entering you and your legs being lifted by his hands so he can enter as deep as possible. You don’t think you’ve ever felt so full before. His cock fits so nice and feels so good and he hasn’t even moved yet.

“Fuck you’re so tight and wet for me, so fucking good huh? Letting me fuck you like this.” His pupils are so blown out, he watches his own cock pull out and start to thrust into you, it just fuels your arousal further. Buggy starts out slow, just getting you used to his size before he picks up the pace, fucking into you even deeper and faster.

“Shit, gonna cum Buggy please.” He moves your legs to prop onto his shoulders and he grabs onto your waist, pushing down and holding you in place as he fucks into you roughly.

“Gonna cum for me? Go ahead sweetheart. Cum all over my cock.” He moves his hand over your abdomen and presses down, the pressure making you feel dizzy. You feel white hot, the band finally snapping as you come. “Fuck, gonna cum soon too, gonna fill you up so good.”

Buggy relentlessly fucks into your cunt, overstimulating you and causing a pressure to build that’s unfamiliar. “Wait Buggy I, fuck I feel weird it feels good.” Soon, with a loud cry you feel a wetness rush between your legs, causing you to let out a loud string of moans and curses.

“Squirting for me already? God you’re full of surprises. Shit, I’m coming.” A few more snaps of his hips and you feel his hot cum fill you up, as promised. It feels so good. He slows down and pulls out, his load leaking out of you and onto the sheets below. “So good for me.” He whispers, leaning down and kissing you gently. He cleans the both of you up quickly and gets dressed, ready to go back to his quarters for the night.

“Wait Buggy, before you go…” You trail off and he turns around, listening intently. “If you don’t mind, can you tell me more about my- about our, past? I need to know where I came from, what happened.” Buggy smiles gently, walking up and kissing you on the forehead.

“Of course princess, later”

© Choism 2023. do not repost or translate.

[petrichor-idyllic]

MINHO

MASTERLIST

CONTENT WARNINGS IN GREEN

○ FLUFF | □ SPICE | ● ANGST | ■ SMUT |• HEADCANONS

◇ FEM! READER | ☆ GN! READER | 《》 MASC! READER

□ LONGING FROM AFAR ◇

↳ Minho has always been cocky and self-assured. That is until a girl arrives in the Glade. A girl he's had some interesting dreams about.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

• SOME HEADCANONS ◇

↳ Just some headcanons about our favourite Runner.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

□ FIRECRACKER ◇

↳ Minho finally agrees to teach you how to fight after weeks of pestering him. Though, things take an unexpected turn.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

○ SAFE PLACE ◇

↳ After you narrowly escape the vicious actions of another Glader who couldn't take no for an answer, you find refuge in Minho's hut - and his arms.

Contains references to sexual assault but there's nothing explicit.

○ UNDER THE INFLUENCE ◇

↳ After the Greenie Day celebrations leave you a little bit intoxicated, Minho takes care of you and keeps you safe.

○ HIDE AND SEEK ◇

↳ You're training to be a Runner and, as the Keeper, Minho is made to look after you. Though, things take a dramatic turn as Minho is forced to save your life.

LET ME MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER ◇ ➤

□ PART 1 | ■ PART 2

↳ Somehow, you end up giving your best friend a massage. Things go about as well as expected.

Basically porn with plot. 18+

□ INAPPROPRIATE WORKPLACE BEHAVIOUR ◇

↳ You miss out on the Bonfire to stay to help Minho with the Maps. Unfortunately, he's a little distracted.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

□ AFTER THE CALM ◇

↳ Joining the group from the scorch, the Gladers take a blow after losing Newt to the Crank Palace. So, you help cheer Minho up.

Book-based fic. Contains suggestive content and spice.

■ REWARD AFTER A HARD DAY'S WORK ◇

↳ You try to spend as much time with your boyfriend as you can. So, when he finishes his long day of running the Maze, you decide to join him in the shower.

More porn with very little plot. 18+

□ BEYOND THE OTHER SIDE ◇

↳ Despite your feelings for one another, you and Minho have decided it's best to stay friends. But, after you nearly lose him to the clutches of the Maze, and he says some choice words to Gally - you decide enough is enough.

Book based fic. Some suggestive themes.

● ALL YOU HAVE ◇

↳ Minho has always had you by his side. He doesn't know how he'd cope without you. Well, now he might have to learn how.

Bro, you die. Rip.

WARMTH IN COLD PLACES ◇ ➤

○ PART 1 | □ PART 2

↳ You are an undercover agent for The Right Arm working behind enemy lines in WCKD's headquarters. Your simple intel gig ends up being the least of your problems as you're suddenly put on the front lines of a rescue mission. It doesn't help that the boy you're pretending to keep prisoner is pretty cute.

□ BEHAVE ◇

↳ You're obsessed with your boyfriend. It's just so hard to keep your hands off of him - even when he's working.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

□ MIRAGE OF THE PAST ◇

↳ Despite never seeing Minho before, you swear you recognise him. That's why you're always staring. Well, and the man is fine. Now in your place of refuge, the Safe Haven provides you with a home, and a new sense of freedom. A bit of flirting can't hurt, right?

Contains suggestive content and spice.

○ IT TAKES TIME  ◇

↳ You were immediately attracted to Minho when you met him in the Scorch. Now, after six months and many losses, you're reunited.

○ STAY CLOSE 《》

↳ Your dream of becoming a Runner is crushed time and time again. But that doesn't stop you from running out into the Maze to help Minho and Alby. Though, that doesn't mean you're the only one willing to risk your life to protect those you care about.

□ FRIENDLY COMPETITION ◇

↳ A friendly game of capture the flag turns heated thanks to yours and Minho's competitive spirit.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

○ SOFT AT HEART ◇

↳ Soft, sweet and caring; you're the mother of the Glade.

■ FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING ◇

↳ Your's and Minho's first time.

Some fluffy smut. 18+.

○ BLIND EYE ◇

↳ Minho has a crush on you. You're oblivious. He's losing his mind.

○ DECEPTION IN LIBERATION ◇

↳ You're from Group B. Meeting someone in the middle of a prison break is one hell of an introduction.

□ HIGH SCHOOL NOT-SO-SWEET-HEARTS ◇

↳ High school AU. Minho is popular and sporty. You're quiet and smart. It's a stereotypical high-school romance, except Minho is the one tripping over himself for you. And, well, you don't believe him.

Contains suggestive content and spice. Minho won't accept your rejection.

○ HOW TO WINGMAN (POORLY) ☆

↳ Everyone in the Glade is sick of watching you and Minho dance around your feelings for each other. So, they decide to do something about it. Well, they attempt to, at least.

○ DIE FOR YOU ☆

↳ Song fic based off of "Die for You" by The Weekend.

ON YOUR OWN ◇ ➤

○ PART 1 | ○ PART 2 | ○ PART 3

↳ You were put in a Maze all on your own, with nothing but your dog. The isolation is one thing, but what'll happen when you finally escape?

○ SOLIDARITY ◇

↳ Minho is used to being the tough guy; but he doesn't know how to react when he meets someone tougher than him.

○ LIFE BEFORE DROWNING ◇

↳ You're from one of the many alternative Mazes - and yours happened to be full of water. Though, you only realise how weird your Maze was when you reach the Safe Haven, and meet a certain Runner, who feels weirdly familiar.

○ SAVIOR COMPLEX ◇

↳ You're a new Runner, and a disobedient one. So, when you get stung, Minho is left to play saviour. And doctor. Though, as he looks after you, he starts to think you might not be so bad.

○ IN ADVANCE OF GREIF ◇

↳ Getting bitten by a crank is never fun. But, you're from a Maze, so, you'll be fine... right?

□ EXPOSURE ◇

↳ In an attempt to comfort Chuck, you confess an embarrassing secret about something you did back when you were crushing on Minho and before you started dating. Unfortunately, your boyfriend isn't as heavy of a sleeper as you originally thought.

Contains mild suggestive content and spice.

□ SPARKS ◇

↳ Now in the Safe Haven, the sexual tension between you and Minho has turned into a twisted game of restraint. Though, it's hard not to break when you finally catch a glimpse of Minho's lightning scars.

Contains suggestive themes and spice.

□ BEST FEATURE ☆

↳ You can't stop staring at Minho's arms.

Contains suggestive content and spice.

• INDOCTRINATION ☆

↳ The first time you ever met Minho in the WICKED facility, and the corrupt childhood you briefly spent together before things take a wrong turn.

[piss-pumpkin]

Bad dreams (Percy x reader)

Child of Hypnos reader, ~4.5k words, set ambiguously after pjo, the request was enemies to lovers so I sincerely apologize. Masterlist

Capture the flag. It was a game of epic highs and lows, winner and losers, all to decide who wore the crown. Until next week, that is. And nobody took it more seriously than Annabeth, determined to win and keep her indestructible reputation as the best strategist around. She was in the war room, taking this very seriously, and discussing with her right hand man before the team.

Percy groaned, dramatically dropping his head on the table, half pushing off the map. “Annabeth, why?” He complained, hand waving in the air to communicate the distain that she couldn’t see in his face. 

Annabeth sighed, taking her head in her hands. “I know you don’t like them,” she started calmly, crossing the floor to Percy to pat his back gently. “But the Hypnos cabin is an asset, between all of them, we can have half the enemy team asleep,” she said, ever pragmatic.

Percy was not a fan of her reasoning, as sound as it was. Unfortunately for him, the head counsellor of the Hypnos cabin was you. And You and Percy? He didn’t even want to think about. No idea why you decided not to like him upon meeting, even less of an idea how it’s escalated as far as it has. “Wise girl, have mercy,” he whined, standing up straight again. “Putting me in a room with them is a sure fire way to lose.”

Annabeth pursed her lips. “That might be true,” she started, circling the table, eyes the pieces she set dramatically to represent each of her forces. One or two Hypnos campers per squad to weaken the enemy. “But they’re essential to the plan, just… you’ll be in different areas, if all goes well.”

Percy grumbled. Things never went well. 

As the battle drew closer, the allied cabins assembled to hear the more polished version of Annebeths plan. And of course, that meant you at the table, front and centre, your forces being an essential part of the strategy. Great. You always listened to Annabeth, even though she was always sticking up for him. And she managed to get you on the same team, even when you knew that guy you hated would be there. 

You nodded along with the details, assigning siblings you thought best for each task. You seemed a lot nicer with them. 

You conferred with your cabin, and offered another plan to Annabeth. Percy wasn’t completing focused, because when you were done, he had no idea what you’d said. Annabeth seemed to be a fan though. She nodded along, and adjusted the prices on her map while you have people notes and alternate delegations.

An order to each cabin head. All except him. He glanced around at each counsellor telling their cabin mates what they should do, and he cringed. You’d instructed everyone else. “Uh,” he started looking to you because Annabeth was busy talking to the Apollo counsellor. “Does my job change at all?” 

You pursed your lips, smiling just slightly. “No, I guess I didn’t have anything for you,” you said slyly. “But isn’t jumping in without thinking kind of your whole thing? Just roll with that, yeah?” 

Percy’s face flattened as he sighed. He needed somebody else, “Annabeth?” He asked.

She turned to him, and thought for a moment. “They might have a point,” she said curiously, much to his detest. Percy grumbled as she continued. “Using you as a wild card might be beneficial, especially because you can take large groups of them at once.”

Great. No job, and more work, somehow. And you were smiling, a bit too satisfied with yourself and his annoyance. Why was it always like this? 

                                             …

There was one time when Percy was sparring with Clarisse, and they got a little too heated, and it ended up with Clarisse on Pegasus cleanup duty, and Percy teaching sword classes for a week. Definitely the lighter punishment, considering he liked the job. Chiron always went a little easy on him. But there were layers to this punishment. Primarily: you.

When Percy was approaching, he saw you, and sighed. You were there first, already talking to the younger campers, wide smile on your face and holding a weapon. Ugh. Of course he had the misfortune of fucking up the same time as you. Okay. This week was actually going to be terrible. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” he said, jogging up to you and the campers. You’d just finished some sort of introduction, it was the perfect time to slide in. The youngest kid looked maybe ten, and had a dagger in her hand. She was little small for the real swords. The kids were looking up at him, faces blank or curious, and you were side eyeing him, brow raised, completely unimpressed. Yeah, he should probably do something interesting.

“Yeah, you sure were,” you laughed sarcastically, sounding just nice enough for the kids not to pick up on your distain. 

Percy grimaced. Great start. With a deep breath, he did  his best to recover, running his hands through his hair nervously. “Well, I’m here now, so,” he said, looking at the younger campers. Grinning, and ignoring your cold stare, he uncapped Riptide, and a few kids gasped. “How about we get to the fun stuff?”

He spared you a glance, catching you roll your eyes at him. This was not going to be a good week. Quite possibly the worst punishment Chiron could’ve given him. 

It’s hard to teach as a team when you can’t get along  for a second. And all the kids noticed, and did their best to egg you on. Percy was fighting for his life harder than he had on several quests, until the very last minutes of the time slot. Thank the gods it was only like, an hour. Even if it was one of the longest hours of his life.

And he wasn’t even spared when it was over.

“Of course we fucked up on the same week” you sighed, picking up a carelessly discarded sword. “Let me guess, something boring…” you started, walking idly toward the weapons rack with a handful of blades. “Like what, blowing up the bathroom again? Or sneaking out of camp for a quest?”

Hmm. Low blow. Though not completely unwarranted. “No, much cooler than that,” Percy sighed, rolling his eyes as he kicked up some dust from the arena floor. “Beating up Clarisse.”

You scoffed, “somehow I doubt that.”

And you weren’t exactly wrong. It was more of a mutual beating up, in a sort of frenemy way, Percy was the first to admit. But not to you. “Hey, you should see her,” he chided. “There’s cold hard proof.”

You bumped his shoulder on the way out of the arena, sighing. “Maybe I will, I could get some tips on kicking your ass,” you said, raising your brow. 

By the time he thought of a good-ish response, you were too far away to hear, and he was kicking himself for letting you get the last word. He glanced around the empty arena dumbly. It looked like you finished the cleanup while he just stood there, another point you had on him now. The punishment may not have been a competition, but you seemed to be winning thus far. Shit. 

And it only gets worse from there. 

He managed to come early the second day, a full fifteen minutes to get warmed up, and think about what could be good to teach the newbies. And he had the arena all to himself to slash dummies in the exact way he’d instruct them to do later. 

“Clarisse told me Chiron intervening is all that saved you from getting sent to the infirmary,” you said.

Percy jumped, Riptide nearly falling out of his hand. When the fuck did you get here? He hadn’t heard you at all. Sneaky bitch. He turned to face you when he recovered from his shock, “yeah, well, she couldn’t admit she lost a fight if there was a gun to her head.”

You didn’t look sold. You raised your brow, “could you?”

He pursed his lips. He wanted to say something like, yes, duh! But quickly realized it might be a lie. To most people he could, but admitting defeat to you felt much worse. Like it would confirm all your doubts or apprehensions about him, or whatever your grudge was. He decided a little lie wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. “I could,” he said casually, slashing a combat dummies head. 

He didn’t see your face as you hummed lowly with disapproval. Probably for the better. 

Or so he thought, because as you were walking towards the dummy beside his, he started to feel drowsy. His slashes got slower as his arms felt heavier, like they were weighing him down. He looked at you, and immediately wanted to lie down and pass out. Ugh.  Your subtle smirk told him you knew exactly what you were doing. And it only escalated when the kids started to arrive. 

You started the lesson off assertively. While he was struggling to blink with his heavy eyelids. “If you have any cool demigod abilities, you should totally use them literally whenever you can,” you said, pointing your weapon enthusiastically at the campers. 

Percy couldn’t help but watch in slight awe as you engrossed them all. You narrowed in on a son of Apollo,  your blade staring him down as you told him he should get comfortable using healing abilities in a fight. You seemed to have a suggestion for everyone; the daughter of Hectate should use the mist, a Demeter kid should try and use vines, your Hypnos brother should use… sleep powers. Percy knew about those all too well. 

Percy had to admit he was jealous of the way they seemed excited about your ideas. Did they really like you more than him? It wasn’t that he felt bad not being liked, he was plenty used to that in all the schools he went to. It was more that it was you. The way you showed a nicer side to seemingly everyone but him. His body still felt like it was made of lead. 

You had some blind spots though. Not everyone had powers, Percy guessed, watching a couple Athena kids rolling their eyes or looking at the ground. “I hate to interject,” Percy started, stealing your and the kids attention again. “But this is weapons training, there are other classes for using abilities.” Plus, maybe you’d stop using yours if they got back on focus. 

”Hey, I’m teaching them how to fight better, isn’t that the goal?” You shot back. You seemed to catch the way his eyes were lingering on the kids without abilities. “Even if you don’t have any specific powers,” you said, turning back to the campers, “if we start using them, you’ll learn how to counter them, and kick our asses better.”

Percy sighed. You seemed pretty stuck on this. He tiredly uncapped Riptide, and pointed at it. “Weapons class, Y/n. Let’s focus on using weapons,” he said. 

You shifted your lips around, maybe chewing on them, and then seemed to have a thought. Unfortunately. You smiled at the kids, “yeah, well, Percy doesn’t always use his abilities to the fullest when he fights,” you said. “Maybe don’t take his lead too much.”

Ugh. “Well, it’s not always as easy as some people make it look,” he said, gesturing at you. “Not everyone has powers, and some people get drained easily by theirs. For me, I can’t always rely on there being water around me.”

You crossed your arms, raising your brow, and actually looked at him this time. “You know what people are made of, right?”

The kids were listening intently, some snickering and smirking to themselves. A couple seemed annoyed that the training was paused just so the teachers could bitch at each other. Percy sighed, “yeah, no, I don’t want to do that. I think that was an episode of Avatar: the last airbender.”

You rolled your eyes, scoffing. “Well you might win more fights if you did,” you said snidely. Your eyes lowered a moment as you lowered your voice with a bitter tone, “I hate the idea of you going easy on me.” 

Before Percy could respond with a retort of his own, you’d dropped the mean act and completely focused on the kids, upbeat and happy. You clapped your hands together, and shot them a wide smile, “how about a demonstration, guys?” 

Aw shit. The kids lit up, nodding along as you continued. “How about me and Percy have a little match, and we see who wins, yeah?” You said, grinning at him. Ugh. It wasn’t a secret that people said he was the best swordsman at camp, but you were a head counsellor too. And even if he could stab you, he probably shouldn’t in front of the kids anyway. 

He had started to tune you out, but got snapped back to reality when he heard his name. “Percy, are you down?” You asked with faux sweetness. Ugh. Percy sucked a breath in through his teeth, and sighed. “Uh-Sure,” he said cautiously. 

You grinned, and the kids stepped back and whispered to each other. Yeah, they definitely picked up on your rivalry. They waited restlessly, probably excited to see the climax of your mutual dislike. Like the fight was inevitable. He uncapped Riptide with a sigh, and raised the blade as you shooed the kids to step further back. He took a fighting stance, raising his blade at the ready. Just great. Your aura of tiredness or whatever was affecting him seemed to get worse. Yeah, he might be fucked without water. 

You smirked, twirling a weapon of your own between your fingers and glancing at your audience happily, chest puffed out in self satisfaction. “Do you want to count us down?” you asked the kids, grinning. 

They nodded along, three, and Percy sighed, eying the water bottle he had off to the side. If he could get it then maybe... whatever. Maybe if he beat you, you’d lay off. Two. Or, if you won, you could get ten times worse. One. There was no good outcome. And it’s not like either of you could maim each other with the kids watching. 

Ugh. Still weighed down by an impossible spell of drowsiness, Percy started to lunge forward, sword ready to slash in an arc above his head. But then he looked at you. And you looked at him. And you were shooting him a finger gun, and Percy was out cold, without enough time to grumble or complain about it. Well shit. 

Like most times he slept, he was dreaming. Nightmares, specifically. At least he felt no godly presence, or anything sinister. Today, it was Annabeth and Grover dead on the floor, with Kronos in Luke’s body glaring at him from the sidelines. And then it was just Luke, looking at him sadly, approaching him, and then asking why he let his sister die. Percy didn’t have an answer. 

Nightmare Luke wasn’t a fan of that. Suddenly he was turning back into Kronos and raising Backbiter, and Percy was completely unable to move, paralyzed by fear, sadness, and bitter anger. Great. Just great. 

But Luke didn’t swing. He stopped, eyes cloudy and blank, and the bodies faded away. Was his subconscious being nice today? Luke stepped back, and his sword has vanished, and the scene was fading fast. 

Percy was awake. He grumbled, not wanting to open his eyes. His head was in the dirt, body completely weighed down by his own exhaustion. The arena floor wasn’t the worst place he could’ve fallen, at least. He grumbled, sat up, and rubbed his eyes until they opened.

You were still there, Percy’s eyes flew open, shaking any lingering tiredness. He scooted back just slightly. You were sitting beside him, head rested in hands and lips pursed. “Uhh,” he stuttered, scooting back further. “You’re uh, still hanging out here?” A quick glance showed the kids were gone, and the lesson had been over for a while. 

”You have some of the worst nightmares I’ve seen, dude,” you said simply, shifting your head from hands to hand. “I’m… sorry, I didn’t- I didn’t mean to snoop.”

Percys brow furrowed. What? You looked apprehensive, but your words didn’t seem malicious in the slightest. He stopped scooting back, but he held his arm up defensively between you, unsure why. You didn’t have a weapon. “It’s… fine. Was it you that… ended it?” He asked tentatively.

You nodded. “It didn’t seem fun,” you said quietly. You looked away, hiding your face in a palm, “Sorry for putting you in there, I guess,” you said. “I’ll try to avoid sleeping you, if you want.”

Percy looked at you quizzically, jaw hung slightly open, more than confused. You were being nice. That’s crazy. He wasn’t sure how to act. Every word he said was laced with hesitation and the slightest bit of a stutter. “Thanks, I guess,” he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. “Appreciate it.”

You nodded, and a slightly sealed silence fell over the woods as you refused to look at him. But you didn’t stand up to leave yet either. 

“Hey, Y/n, can I ask,” he started, sitting up straighter and crossing his legs. “Usually you hate me…” he said, almost wincing. “Do you… not, today?”

That got your attention, and your eyes were burning through him. Your brow furrowed, and softened, your mouth opened and then closed, you looked away, then back at him, and then sighed. “I don’t hate you, Percy,” you admitted, sounding abjectly defeated. 

That got an involuntary “huh?” Out of him. You totally hated him. That was just a fact. 

You sighed, and shook your head, turning back away from him. You tone was far lighter this time, “no, I don’t hate you, I just- I don’t know,” you said.

”Then why-“ Percy started dumbly, but quickly trailed off, unsure how to make his question less rude. There didn’t seem to be an obvious answer. “Why are you like this,” he asked, cringing at his own callousness.

You snickered, looking at him with a slight and awkward smile. You shrugged, and looked back at the woods. Percy didn’t speak, he barely breathed, waiting for any sort of a signal from you. Somehow, it worked. You sighed , and stretched your legs in front of you and said, “I don’t know.” You paused, probably thinking. “It just comes naturally, I guess.”

Percy hummed. 

“That came out mean, didn’t it,” you laughed softly. 

“Like most things you say,” he laughed, but quickly trailed off. “Sorry.”

You smiled hesitantly, looking over at him with softer eyes than he usually sees on you. “No, that was deserved,” you said.

Percy smiled, and then raised his brow, surprising himself. That didn’t happen when he talked to you, this was fresh territory. Before he could respond, you were standing, and for the first time, offering him a hand up. And for the first time, he took it. 

You pulled him to his feet, but didn’t look at him, curtly turning your head away as he stood in front of you. Percy couldn’t help but snicker under his breath. You seemed intent on staring at a tree.

”Hey,” Percy started, brushing his hair out of his face. “Do you wanna go get on the same page about what we’re teaching them tomorrow so we don’t have a repeat of today?” He asked. He got a little scared when you finally looked at him, but you didn’t seem angry. And if anybody knew your angry face it was him. “We’ll probably be better teachers if we actually work together on it.”

You hesitated, raising your brow. “Uh, really?” You stuttered, crossing your arms and shrinking into yourself. 

Percy sighed. He was doing this, he’d committed now. For better or worse. “Yeah,” he nodded, with a friendly smile. “Why not? Let’s go get lunch or something.”

Percy wasn’t sure how well his olive branch was working. Your lips were pursed and arms still crossed, but.. the ever so familiar scowl you often showed him was absent from your lips. That could be good. You looked at the ground, then back to him, “yeah, okay.”

And here he was braced for rejection and an insult. Small victories. Percy grinned, nodding his head in the general direction of the dining pavilion, “then let’s go.” 

You nodded, and walked quietly beside him as he started for the path. Okay, a little awkward silence was nothing, that was still a win. Miles better than where he was this morning. Or even like, an hour ago. So Percy was inclined to try and bridge the gap. “The kids are gonna be really surprised when we actually work together, tomorrow,” he laughed. Careful words, when, not if.

He caught in his peripheral the tug of your lips upward into the slightest of smiles. “They’ll never see it coming,” you said. Maybe like a joke. Wow, was this actually working? You let out a small laugh, “neither did I.”

Percy but the inside of his cheek to suppress a smile. That made two of you, because this was the last thing Percy expected too. “Yeah,” he started. “Not bad though.”

For the first time in a good minute, you met his eyes, and his attention was drawn. You didn’t normally look at him like that. It was a… nice change pace. You sighed, “No, not the worst.” You swished your cheeks around a moment as you paused, but didn’t say more. And Percy would be lying to himself if he tried thinking he wasn’t a little disappointed. It almost looked like you were gonna say something nice. Well, maybe not the worst was nice enough. For you, at least.

”Percy, I’m really sorry about those nightmares,” you said finally, looking at the ground. 

Ah. That. Percy didn’t tell all that many people about his shit dreams. It was kind of a given that most people at camp got them, in some capacity at least. But he did his best to project a lighthearted image, especially when he was with the younger campers. “Oh,” he said dumbly. 

“If you want, I can help with those,” you offered quietly. 

Now that caught Percy’s attention. He raised his brow, “You can do that?” And he didn’t ask his other question: you would do that? Like, for him? 

You looked up at him, then back to the ground as the two of you approached the dining pavilion. “Yeah, Hypnos stuff,” you mumbled. “I do it for some other people too.”

Oh gods, you felt bad for him. That was a weird thought. “Oh- you don’t have to do that,” he started, suddenly far more embarrassed. So that’s why you were being nice. Suddenly it didn’t feel as good as before.

You looked up at him with wider eyes now, and bit the inside of your cheek. “Well, if you ever change your mind.”

Something about your pity didn’t sit right with him, even if was glad you didn’t look like you wanted to bite his head off. This look, the feeling sorry for him face, was somehow worse. “I won’t,” he snapped, sounding meaner than he meant. Or maybe he did mean it, in his bitterness he couldn’t tell. “You don’t need to pretend to like me now that you feel bad.”

You brow furrowed, and that pity look was gone in an instant. “Hey asshole, I was just offering to help,” you spat. Now this was more familiar. You crossed your arms at your chest as you walked. “Thought about being nice for once.”

”Yeah, for once,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Because now you feel bad.”

”Oh shut up,” you said, shaking your head with a glare. You stopped just short of the pavilion. “You aren’t special because you get nightmares, idiot, half the camp does,” you said, stepping closer to him. He was inclined to back away. “I’ve seen worse.”

Percy took another step back. There was a few stray campers sitting in the pavilion watching curiously, now. 

“But sure, go ahead,” you said, hands animating with your words. He flinched a moment as you halfway gripped the air. “Keep having your shit dreams, I don’t care.”

“Then why did you offer,” he spat back.

You looked at him like he was an idiot, shaking your head. “Because nightmares suck, nobody deserves that shit,” you said, like it was obvious. “Not even a stuck up asshole who thinks he’s better then everyone.”

What? Percy stood dumbly for a moment while your sharp glare subsided into a duller scowl. Did he really come off like that? “I’m not-“ he started, but quickly gave up. As much as he wanted to insult you back, half the things you said were genuinely pretty nice. You were right, nobody deserved that.

You scoffed, “sure you’re not,” you said bitterly. 

The two do you stood silently for a moment. And a few moments more. The couple of campers watching awkwardly tried to go back to eating. The lunch plans the two of you made seemed so far in the past now. Same with the idea of getting in the same page.

Percy spoke first. “I don’t- I don’t think like that,” he said lamely.

”No, you’re just the hero of Olympus, who goes on all the quests, who the gods tried to give immortality too,” you said. But the malice was gone. “You’re the reason I even have a cabin here,” you said quietly. 

Percy winced. How do you explain to somebody that going on all those quests… wasn’t always great. It stopped being amazing when more lives were at risk, the stakes got higher, people died. A lot of the time all the glory kind of sucked. “Well it’s… not all it’s cracked up to be,” Percy managed. “I mean, you saw the aftermath.”

”Yeah,” you said, looking at the ground. “That’s why I thought.. you might not be how I thought.” You looked up, expression made of stone. “But at least you’re… I don’t know,” you trailed off, “I think I’d still rather be somebody, even if it sucks.”

Percy half heartedly laughed through his nose, “Usually I feel the opposite, it would’ve been easier to be a kid of some minor god.”

”Grass is always greener, I guess,” you sighed. 

“You are somebody, though,” Percy said, realizing he should probably address that. The idea that you were insecure seemed so alien. The way you insulted him always seemed so confident. “You don’t need a ton of quests or fights to prove that.”

You rolled your eyes, a weak smile was forming on your lips, “well, that’s easy for you to say. I’m only here, and claimed, and in a cabin because you made the gods pay their child support.”

Percy smiled softly, gesturing his head to the tables at the pavilion. He started to walk as he spoke, “that’s the gods, that’s their problem,” he said, grabbing a plate to fill with the magic food with you behind him. “You’re more then the gods approval.”

He had to look back to see if you were still there, the way you went quiet. You grabbed a plate, and followed him to a table, all with that stone faced look. Not pity or malice, this time. When you sat down beside him, you finally cracked. “Thanks,” you managed, staring ruefully at your food. 

“It’s true,” Percy said. 

You looked up at him, a slight smile on your lips this time. “Thanks,” you said, more confidently. 

“Are you still up for helping me with the nightmares?”

This request haunted me for like over a month cuz I couldn’t get anything out of it for a while. I wasn’t gonna post here but I ended up happier with it then I thought tho. Can you tell I never write enemies to lovers? I usually hate that trope lmao. Anyway part 2 coming maybe.

[zedecksiew]

How To Play The Revolution

So: I do not like the idea of TTRPGs making formal mechanics designed to incentivise ethical play.

But, to be honest, I do not like the idea of any single game pushing any particular formal mechanics about ethical play at all.

So here I am, trying to think through the reasons why, and proposing a solution. (Sort of. A procedure, really.)

+

Assumptions:

1.

Some genres of game resist ethical play. A grand strategy game dehumanises people into census data. The fun of a shooter is violence. This is truest in videogames, but applies to tabletop games also.

Games can question their own ethics, to an extent. Terra Nil is an anti-city-builder. But it is a management game at heart, so may elide critiques of "efficiency = virtue".

Not all games should try to design for ethical play. I believe games that incentivise "bad" behaviour have a lot to teach us about those behaviours, if you approach them with eyes open.

2.

The systems that currently govern our real lives are terrible: oligarchy, profit motive; patriarchy, nation-states, ethno-centrisms. They fuel our problems: class and sectarian strife, destruction of climate and people, spiritual desertification.

They are so total that the aspiration to ethical behaviour is subsumed by their logics. See: social enterprise; corpos and occupying forces flying rainbow flags; etc.

Nowadays, when I hear "ethical", I don't hear "we remember to be decent". I hear "we must work to be better". Good ethics is radical transformation.

3.

If a videogame shooter crosses a line for you, your only real response is to stop playing. This is true for other mechanically-bounded games, like CCGs or boardgames.

In TTRPGs, players have the innate capability to act as their own referees. (even in GM-ed games adjudications are / should be by consensus.) If you don't like certain aspects of a game, you could avoid it---but also you could change it.

Only in TTRPGs can you ditch basic rules of the game and keep playing.

+

So:

D&D's rules are an engine for accumulation: more levels, more power, more stuff, more numbers going up.

If you build a subsystem in D&D for egalitarian action, but have to quantify it in ways legible to the game's other mechanical parts---what does that mean? Is your radical aspiration feeding into / providing cover for the game's underlying logics of accumulation?

At the very least it feels unsatisfactory---"non-representative of what critique / revolution entails as a rupture," to quote Marcia, in conversations we've been having around this subject, over on Discord.

How do we imagine and represent rupture, to the extent that the word "revolution" evokes?

My proposal: we rupture the game.

+++

How To Play The Revolution

Over the course of play, your player-characters have decided to begin a revolution:

An armed struggle against an invader; overturning a feudal hierarchy; a community-wide decision to abandon the silver standard.

So:

Toss out your rule book and sheets.

And then:

Keep playing.

You already know who your characters are: how they prefer to act; what they are capable of; how well they might do at certain tasks; what their context is. You and your group are quite capable of improv-ing what happens next.

Of course, this might be unsatisfactory; you are here to play a TTRPG, after all. Structures are fun. Therefore:

Decide what the rules of your game will be, going forward.

Which rules you want to keep. Which you want to discard. Jury-rig different bits from different games. Shoe-horn a tarot deck into a map-making game---play that. Be as comprehensive or as freeform as you like. Patchwork and house-rule the mechanics of your new reality.

The god designer will not lead you to the revolution. You broke the tyranny of their design. You will lead yourself. You, as a group, together. The revolution is DIY.

+++

Notes:

This is mostly a thought experiment into a personal obsession. I am genuinely tempted to write a ruleset just so I can stick the above bit into it as a codified procedure.

I am tickled to imagine how the way this works may mirror the ways revolutions have played out in history.

A group might already have alternative ruleset in mind, that they want to replace the old ruleset with wholesale. A vanguard for their preferred system.

Things could happen piecemeal, progressively. Abandon fiat currency and a game's equipment price list. Adopt pacifism and replace the combat system with an alternative resolution mechanic. As contradictions pile up, do you continue, or revert?

Discover that the shift is too uncomfortable, too unpredictable, and default back to more familiar rules. The old order reacting, reasserting itself.

+

I keep returning to this damn idea, of players crossing thresholds between rulesets through the course of play. The Revolution is a rupture of ethical reality like Faerie or the Zone is a rupture in geography.

But writing all this down is primarily spurred by this post from Sofinho talking about his game PARIAH and the idea that "switching games/systems mid-session" is an opportunity to explore different lives and ethics:

Granted this is not an original conceit (I'm not claiming to have done anything not already explored by Plato or Zhuangzi) but I think it's a fun possibility to present to your players: dropping into a parallel nightmare realm where their characters can lead different lives and chase different goals.

+

Jay Dragon tells me she is already exploring this idea in a new game, Seven Part Pact:

"the game mechanics are downright oppressive but also present the capacity to sunder them utterly, so the only way to behave ethically is to reject the rules of the game and build something new."

VINDICATION! If other designers are also thinking along these lines this means the idea isn't dumb and I'm not alone!

+++

( Images:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/victoria-3-dev-diary-23-fronts-and-generals.1497106/

https://www.thestranger.com/race/2017/04/05/25059127/if-you-give-a-cop-a-pepsi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames

https://nobonzo.com/

https://pangroksulap.com/about/ )

[crownlesswizard]

🚨ALERT GAMERS🚨

it's 🏳️‍🌈PRIDE101🏳️‍⚧️ time!!!!!!!!!

it's time for my favorite part of the year; drawing the gays for the greater good

as is tradition, i will be holding my fifth annual pride101 giveaway contest!!!! and its the eighth annual pride101!!!!! wtf that's so long!!!!!!!

the prizes:

each week, I'll be selecting someone from the wizard101/pirate101 community to receive a free pride themed drawing of one of their wizards/pirates for the month of june! it'll probably be head shots more than full body shots, but i might do one or two (ya boy is a full time scientist rn!!)

check out examples from last years pride101 contest and this years pride101 drawing of my own ocs!

anyways here are the rules:

reblog this post for a chance to enter. likes do not count this year

you do not need to be following me, but it is appreciated (especially after i accidentally nuked my account last year lol)

i will be selecting a winner once a week at the beginning of the week (sundays) using a random number generator, which means there will be a total of four winners

the winner will be messaged privately, so make sure your dms are open! if not and/or i get no reply after 48 hours, then ill select a new winner

if you've been selected but you've decided you no longer want the prize, please lmk so i can select a different winner

when i dm you, ill ask for a reference photo of your character and which pride flags you'd like featured. when sending pride flags, PLEASE send an actual image of the flag, as flags change over time with different meanings or if it's a more niche identity that i might have trouble identifying the correct one you want. there's no limit to how many flags you can have

all identities are welcome except those who inherently are harmful to others and/or nonconsensual (exa. MAPs). if you ask for that not only will you lose your prize but i will fucking block you!!!!!

remember to check out the previous years masterposts! and this years pride101 post of my characters :)

love u all, happy pride

[broken-spirit101]

Muzan Kibutsuji Yandere Headcanons

A/N: I'm in love with this guy, I swear I can fix him!!!

Warnings: Sadism, kidnapping, yandere themes

➼ You're in deep shit if he goes yandere for you.

➼ Of course, at first he's just fascinated by you. Your beauty is compelling to him, but even more compelling to him is the fact that someone as beautiful as you decided to become a demon slayer and annihilate demons. Slowly, his fascination with you becomes an obsession as he sends even more demons to find you after the last demons he sent failed to. 

➼ Once he finds you, his first plan is to cage you in the Infinity Castle. He's probably going to let you stay as a human for some time as he likes how powerful he is compared to you. Once he does find you, he's going to order Nakime to get more information from you (by stalking you) along with the location of the corps.

➼ He's felt immense potential in you since the first moment he saw you. You looked sort of familiar like he'd seen you before. It would be a mistake for him to let you let go from his claws.

➼ Surprisingly, he doesn't hate the fact that you're a demon slayer. It's actually amusing to him to see someone like you hunt down demons. But he does hate the fact that you show so much compassion for humans. In his eyes, they're pathetic beings who don't deserve you.

➼ He's a mix between a possessive and a sadistic yandere. Red flag? EVERYTHING. He's probably going to enjoy mentally torturing you by trapping you within the Infinity Castle. Whenever demons are in a fight with you, he carefully monitors them and might even give them instructions to hurt you as he's fascinated by you and is curious how you'd react. He loves observing you, that's for sure.

➼ Oh, he's never going to let you go once he's gotten a hold of you. He's going to study and solve you like a mathematics equation.     

Map

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[citruswriter]

Orange Fluff/Angst Ascended Astarion x Reader Imagine Drabble

Major, major, major TW on this one guys

He was... different after he ascended. Sure he was still the loving, adoring, and ever so doting Astarion. But you quickly realized that he became utterly obsessed with you. It was cute at first, but it quickly became suffocating. One evening, you broke the news to him. You two were through. Of course he did everything he could to change your mind, but you stood firm. Leaving him to scowl at you and turn cold. "Fine! But it's very much your loss". He spat out.

You left, found another man, fell in love, married. Life was a dream... until it wasn't. Now, years later, you run through the rainy night as you hear your husbands voice call after you. You ran to the only person you knew. Astarion.

He was quite surprised to hear banging on his door so late at night, imagine how much more surprised he was to find you. Out of breath, soaking wet, begging to be let in. "And why should I? You broke my heart and ran off". He'd argue. It wouldn't be until he heard your husband's voice call out your name, calling you every name in the book, as you stood in front of him trembling in utter fear would he finally let you in.

He'd be dramatic, of course. Telling you how lucky you were that he still had a soft spot for you after you utterly shattered his poor, poor heart. You'd let him have his moment, but you wouldn't look at him until he'd finally decide to ask you what you wanted. He'd stare at you in shock and horror as you'd shed your cloak, purple bruises littering your body. A blow on your cheek, hand shaped ones around your wrists, fist shaped ones on your arms and even your chest. "There's more... elsewhere". You'd mutter, face blank and eyes empty.

He'd step forward, rushing you to a bathroom to start a hot bath for you. He'd offer to do your hair as you'd hold the night robe close to your body. He'd gently prod until you'd spill everything. He'd ask you if he did more than beat you. You'd confess that you told your husband about some of the things Cazador did to him, causing him to wince. "I guess he felt inspired", you squeak out as you'd shove the robe off your body, scarred writing on your back in a similar fashion to his. He'd tremble and skim his fingers across the marks, flashbacks running through his mind.

"I was finally able to make a run for it. So I ran and I ran and I didn't stop." You'd mutter out. "But you left. You said I treated you horribly." He'd gently counter. "But he did all the things you'd never dare do". Slipping the robe back up, you'd turn to look at him, staring into those beautiful eyes of his. His dead heart would skip a beat and he'd hold his breath as he'd notice you reach your hand up to touch his face only to bite back a whine as you'd drop it back to your lap. He'd grab your face as you'd go to turn away from him and kiss you, so filled with emotion that he'd fear he might just burst. You'd burst into tears and kiss him back. You'd mutter some apology and he'd hush you and whisper comforting things back to you. You'd stay like this until before you knew it, you were in his bed again. You'd sink into his silk sheets as he'd make you sigh in pleasure, the map to your body still carved into his mind. He'd kiss every bruise and mutter how beautiful you are, how you're safe, how he won't let anybody hurt you again, how he's so happy that you're utterly his again. His. His forever. His always.

A small voice in the back of your head would warn you, maybe tryta scream at you that this was a red flag. But as you let him puncture your neck like you used to do and let his hands gently caress your battered body, you'd squash that little voice out. Shut up. You'd think. I'm his again. His forever. You'll never leave again. Because last time you did, it was very much your loss.

(Might make a oneshot or two part to this).

[rea-grimm]

Full moon - Werewolf Shanks

You sailed aboard the Red Force under the black flag of the red-haired pirates for a little over half a year.

During that time, you had a chance to notice Shanks regularly locking himself in his cabin once a month like clockwork. Or when you were on land, he would disappear and only come back in the morning.

You let it go. Everyone had the right to their privacy and most importantly it didn't affect your relationship in any particular way... Maybe just a little when he pushed you away with various excuses in those days.

You were sailing the sea and there was no land in sight. You saw the captain getting more and more nervous by the day. He tried to be his classic self, but you noticed the little details that gave him away.

You tried to distract him and cheer him up a bit, but it didn't help much. Of course, he appreciated your effort, and he smiled, but there was still that unusual nervousness.

However, it disappeared the same afternoon when a new island finally came into view. You saw on him how the stone fell from his heart.

You only reached the island in the evening, when it was slowly getting dark. Shanks decided to go look for supplies while the others stayed on the ship. The ban on leaving the ship applied mainly to you.

You protested that you wanted to go too, but Shanks stood by the fact that the island was too dangerous for you. Ultimately, you had to promise him that you would stay on the ship.

As a reward, he kissed you on the lips before leaving and promised to make it up to you the next day. And with that, he left the ship. Leaning on the railing, you watched him disappear into the forest.

After some time you just went for a walk around the deck when you noticed the others watching you warily. Some hid it well, but others completely turned around and were quite noticeable.

Something was wrong. But you didn't want to ask right away. Instead, you went to the study room to look at the maps. You pulled out a few books and the right maps and started searching.

After some time you finally found the proof you needed. This island was not dangerous at all. Exactly opposite. There was no danger at all.

There was no population and no dangerous predators. Now you were even more curious about why he lied to you.

You first decided to find out from the crew members who knew more than you. But no one was going to tell you anything.

Only Benn then told you that it was the captain's secret and it wasn't his place to tell you. That only made you more angry, but you knew it wasn't worth arguing about.

Defeated, you returned to your cabin. But that didn't mean you were giving up. You just needed to come up with a plan.

You finally managed to slip out the window in your cabin undetected. You made it to the island and made your way to the forest where you had seen the captain go before.

A lot of time had passed when Yasopp came to you saying that Lucky Roux had prepared dinner. However, when you didn't answer, he peeked into your cabin and noticed the open window and your absence.

He immediately went to inform Benn and Lucky, who were supposed to keep an eye on you during Shanks' absence. It wasn't difficult to connect one and one and they immediately set out to find you on the island before something happened to you and it was too late.

You wandered through the forest and the only light was the moon. There was a full moon and not a cloud in the sky. You could even see the stars through the treetops. You called out to Shanks, but the only answer was your echo. Even so, you kept going and kept calling out to him, hoping to find him.

You stopped in your tracks as a wolf howl echoed through the forest. It caught you by surprise because according to all the books, back wolves weren't supposed to be here. No wolves, bears, lynxes and generally no predators.

You realized too late that you didn't even bring any weapons with you. You relied on books that never betrayed you, that there was no danger to be found here.

However, you weren't going to just come back empty-handed, so you moved on. You reached the edge of the forest, from where you had a view of a vast meadow where a doe and several deer were grazing.

You watched them there for a while when you noticed a large wolf-like figure in the distance. The wolf was standing on its hind legs and was missing one of its front paws. 

You hid behind the nearest bush and watched from there as the wolf got close enough to go unnoticed behind the doe before running after them.

The herd immediately fled, but it was too late to save everyone. The wolf managed to pull the largest deer to the ground and bite through its throat. Once the deer was dead, he set about feasting.

The wolf was thus in the middle of the meadow. You decided not to disturb him in his dinner and instead wanted to go around the meadow and continue your search.

As you walked on, your eyes kept sliding to the wolf. But that was your biggest mistake because you didn't notice the protruding root and you tripped. You stumbled and fell on your chin into the bush in front of you.

The wolf also heard this noise and immediately looked up from his dinner. He breezed through the air and heard the twigs crack beneath you as you struggled to get out of the bush.

As soon as you scrambled to your feet, you ran away. You only had to see the wolf coming towards you out of the corner of your eye. If he jumps on you like that deer, it will be the end of you.

You meandered through the trees like a rabbit, slowly losing the lead you had. Moreover, the forest slowly ended in front of you and before you knew it, you found yourself in a small clearing. It was only a matter of time before he knocked you to the ground.

You screamed as the werewolf jumped on you and braced yourself for the worst. Now you regretted disobeying the captain's order.

When you fell, you rolled and now you were facing the wolf. No, you faced the werewolf. At the same time, he scratched your ribs during your fall and was now pressing you to the ground with one paw. He was leaning over you with bared teeth.

You had his muzzle so close that you could see his golden eyes and the three familiar scars above his left eye. However, you focused more on his teeth, as they were the closest to you and the biggest threat.

You finally closed your eyes and tilted your head to the side. You didn't need to see everything before your end. You felt his wet nose on your cheek. You didn't understand what was happening, but you still had your eyes closed.

The werewolf stopped growling and you felt him run his snout over your face, sniffing you. You opened your eyes when you felt his wet tongue on your cheek.

You didn't understand what was happening. He nuzzled your face and you saw him wagging his tail. You carefully pulled his muzzle aside with your hand and he started licking it.

Then he looked at you with his mouth hanging open and his tongue lolling out. He looked much happier. He had a sort of smile on his face. You caressed his cheek and now noticed the red fur that at first appeared to be dark brown.

You recognised your captain in him and slowly his behaviour began to make sense to you. Why was he always locking himself up or walking away.

“I'll get back to the ship,” you said resignedly after a moment of scratching his ear long enough. 

You were about to head back to the ship when Shanks grabbed the hem of your shirt with his teeth and refused to let go. He slowly started pulling you back towards the meadow.

"I'm not sure…" you already broke his order like this. Besides, now that you knew the truth, you weren't worried about him. Shanks only huffed at you and rolled his eyes as he dragged you on.

Finally, you followed him back to the meadow, to the deer carcass. Shanks pounced on the deer and you sat a little further away. You didn't need to see everything. Even though you noticed how he chewed, he kept looking at you.

When he finally finished he licked himself contentedly and laid down right next to you before resting his head in your lap. You scratched his head and slowly leaned against him. His fur was as soft as hair. As the night wore on, your eyelids drooped and before you knew it, you were asleep.

You woke up in your bed in the morning. You sleepily sat up and wondered if it was all just a dream. You uncovered yourself when you noticed you were covered by Shanks's coat.

You were about to stretch when pain shot through your ribs. You grabbed the sore spot and noticed that your ribs were bandaged. This was evidence that last night truly happened.

When you came on board, everything was as before. Everyone was having a good time and laughing. 

Later, the captain invited you to his cabin. Shanks wanted to make sure you were okay but then reprimanded you for disobeying his order. You defended yourself by saying that nothing happened to you.

However, he explained to you that that was not the point. It was dangerous. He was dangerous. He could have killed you. But even that didn't deter you. 

Nevertheless, he admitted to you that he tolerated this transformation much better. Mostly he had negative memories of it, but this time it wasn't so bad.

That was also the reason why he forgave you. He pulled you closer to him and leaned so close he almost kissed you. You were already expecting his lips on yours when he told you that you would be receiving a private punishment that evening.

Shanks Masterlist

[puddleorganism]

Pondering a new rancher au (yes the giant fucking bird is Jimmy) - rambling/explanation under the cut

[Image IDs:

ID 1: a digital drawing of Jimmy/SolidarityGaming and TangoTek, in which Jimmy is a massive approximately 20 foot/6 meter tall bird-like creature. He’s standing idly (to show off his design) with a nervous smile on his face. He has a long neck and long legs that make him look like a dinosaur, but he is covered in light golden-brown feathers and has wings. His wings are huge, the primaries/tips sticking out behind his back. They’re modeled after a turkey vulture’s wings. He’s got a grey hooked beak that is mostly covered in feathers. He’s also got long tail feathers that look just short of skimming the ground. His legs are dark grey with huge talons. All over his legs, wing tips, and tail feathers is a dark grey ash. Tango’s sitting cross-legged on his back/shoulders, hunched over and looking at one of those map books you usually have in your car. (Note: the next image is of Tango, so to avoid redundancy I’m going to describe his appearance better there.) /End ID 1

ID 2: a digital drawing of TangoTek, a humanoid with fire for hair and a long, thin tail tipped in fire; like how a lion’s is tipped with fur. He’s standing idly (again, to show off his design) with his hands in his pockets. He’s got light tan skin with freckles on his nose and wrist. He’s got what look to be black scales on his ears - which are long and pointed - cheeks and nose that have glowing orange cracks in them like burning wood. He’s wearing a red handkerchief over his nose and mouth and has red-tinted goggled pushed up on his forehead. He’s wearing an off-white sweater, a worn leather jacket with red accents, grey cargo pants and black boots. He also has a pale gold and brown messenger bag slung over his left (the viewer’s right) shoulder and back behind his arm. He’s also got two scuffed, worn pins on his jacket; a small, round yellow one and a tiny polyamory flag. He’s also covered in ash - even more so than Jimmy - to the point where his boots, sweater, and handkerchief are stained with it, and are almost more grey than their original colors.

ID 3: simple digital sketches of the above characters. From left to right they are: Jimmy laying down with his head bowed, and Tango standing on his tiptoes to lean against Jimmy’s head. Both their eyes are closed and their foreheads are pressed together. The next is of Tango with his goggles on and looking confused at the map book, which is folded in half in his hands. Jimmy is leaning over his shoulder to look at the map as well. Two question marks float by Tango’s head. The last is of Jimmy standing upright, one of his talons held up near his chest. In his talons he’s holding Tango who seems surprised and is kind of doing that thing that cats do when you pick them up under the arms. This sketch is captioned with the word “hold”. There’s also a small bit of wing from a drawing that’s been cropped out in the corner. /End ID 3

/End IDs]

Ok rambling time!

So it’s set in a that was similar to the modern day, but after in a post-apocalyptic world (recent enough that they both would’ve known the world before). Not a zombie apocalypse or anything, though. There may be Foes but probably not.

I’m not exactly sure what the apocalypse that happened actually is yet, but it’s left the world an ash-covered wasteland with few ruins and even fewer survivors (survivors being organisms in general, not just humans). I want the landscape to be kind of surreal and bizarre, but I haven’t decided if that’s because of the apocalypse or not. Maybe it was just Like That lol.

Anyway, one thing you may want to know more about, is why the hell is Jimmy a giant bird? And the answer is: I like giant birds. In all seriousness though, he’s cursed! Don’t know why. He was a normal ass dude. Now he’s a bird.

Tango might also be cursed? Depends on how edgy I end up wanting this to be lol. He might be an undead wraith or something who knows.

[p-taryn-dactyl]

I just found your page and love your writing! I was wondering if I could request a fic. The idea I had was a Thalia (PJO) x GN!reader fic where the reader has bad anxiety and has ignored it the whole day. At the end of the day they end up having a massive panic attack at the end of the day and Thalia walks in on it. If your not comfortable writing this I completely understand.

Never stop writing, your work is incredible!

a/n: hi, omg thank you so much!! i love this request so much and i am so excited to write for Thalia!! thank you for your kind words - they mean a lot to me!! i hope this is enjoyable! word count: 1k warning(s): mentions of anxiety, feeling of failure, panic attack, rushed?, dumb title and weird gif

shine bright

The tightness in your chest followed you around all day, never letting you go and hindering your breath. Everyone around you paraded their strength, their courage as they suited up for what was to be a practice battle the next day. Percy practiced his swordsmanship against Jason while Annabeth poured over maps of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, her brain analyzing every possible field of battle as one had not been chosen yet. After the two great wars, everyone decided they needed to be ready for if another great threat arose from the corners of myths yet to be told. However, you barely made it through the first two. Nights were torture then, your mind repeating the things you saw, telling you everything you did wrong, everything you could’ve done. The dreaded darkness of your mind had returned after the practice battle had been announced, taunting you that you would be the reason your team would fail. 

Some reasonable part of your brain spoke out, telling you that you had the literal saviors of Olympus at your side, doing most of the heavy work. Your place in the plan Annabeth had laid out for you was to cause confusion to the opposing team, as you had the ability of creating illusions. A simple part in a great plan, yet you couldn’t help but overthink every aspect of what could go wrong. What if you led them straight to Percy? What if your illusion gave out and doing so ruined the plan? What if you forgot who you were supposed to be confusing, as many of your friends were on the opposing team? Your mind spiraled as you walked through camp, your eyes hazy as you glanced over your friends. Annabeth was still looking at maps, leaning over a table with them sprawled out, her braids piled up on her head in a bun, keeping her hair from her neck due to the heat. Percy and Jason were taking a break, the son of Zeus grumbling as Percy doused himself with his water bottle, smirking at what his friend deemed as ‘cheating’. The Hunters of Artemis were also partaking in this dual camp competition, adding onto the layers of stress and anxiety already piling in your head. Thalia, Jason’s older sister who could send butterflies fluttering in your stomach with just a simple glance, couldn’t see you fail. Some part of you wished she could’ve chosen the team opposing yours but of course she had to jokingly carry on the Roman/Greek sibling rivalry. If she was competing against you, at least your failure would be her success. 

As you walked through the Camp, stumbling as you tried to get to Cabin 14 - your breath was coming in short and your eyesight blurring. You couldn’t have an attack in front of everyone, the voices in your head couldn’t be proven right. Thankfully, when you walked through the door, you noticed the absence of your siblings. You couldn’t even make it to your bed as you slid down the wall, tapping your fingers together in an attempt to calm yourself down. 

“Come on, Y/N, it’s a game of glorified capture the flag, you don’t need to get this worked up over it.” 

As you berated yourself under your breath, you didn’t hear the door open behind you.

—--

Thalia was worried. You had looked off all day, your normally sparkling personality dimmed as you practically acted like a zombie. She watched as you walked through camp, your eyes gliding over everyone. Eventually, she stood up in worry as your steps became uneven on your way to your cabin. She locked eyes with Annabeth, who left the table when she saw Thalia’s concerned look. The daughter of Athena followed Thalia’s gaze to watch as you went into the cabin. 

“Are they okay?” Annabeth asked, her brow furrowing, growing concern for her longtime friend. Thalia just shook her head in confusion, turning to walk in your direction. 

“I don’t know, to be honest. But they’ve been acting worryingly all day. I’m gonna go talk to them, tell Jason he can take my place training with Percy.” 

“Oh come on!” She heard Jason’s complaint at the idea of not taking a break and smirked as she walked. When she pushed open the door, she heard your whispered voice criticizing yourself quietly. Slowly, she came to kneel in front of you, taking in your slightly shaky form. 

“Y/N?” 

Your head shot up, eyes widening at the voice. Seeing Thalia kneeling in front of you with worry in her bright eyes was your breaking point. Tears welled up in your eyes, streaming down your face in an embarrassing amount. Thalia was quick to move next to you, arms wrapping around you hesitantly. You collapse into the comfort and let your tears be a vessel for your panic. After a few minutes of Thalia rubbing your back in circles, you leaned back a bit. 

“I’m sorry, I’m being stupid-” Before you could finish your sentence, Thalia interrupted you. 

“Nope, you’re not invalidating yourself right now, Y/N. I’ve been worried all day, what’s going on?” 

You blinked at her words, surprised someone noticed you. Thalia wanted to laugh at the look on your face but given the current situation she held back. You finally gathered your thoughts, forcing out your words. 

“It’s just- the upcoming battle, game, whatever. I don’t think I can do it.”

Thalia did a small double take, which you interpreted incorrectly. 

“Yeah, I told you it’s dumb.”

Thalia pursed her lips and pulled you closer to her, shaking her head. 

“That is not what I meant. If you don’t want to do the game, that is absolutely fine. No one is expecting you to force yourself into something uncomfortable. But before you make a final decision, will you tell me what’s going on?” 

You licked your dry lips and swallowed, steadying yourself. 

“It’s just, this is bringing back memories. Memories I would rather forget. Also, what if I mess up the plan? Annabeth is scary when she’s mad, Thalia, I can’t have her mad at me. I can’t have anyone mad, or disappointed, with me.”

Thalia just looked at you, her eyes softening. 

“Hey,” her voice soft as she got you to look at her, “That’s not dumb at all. Actually, I think you’re being so strong right now.” 

You scoffed, gesturing to yourself. 

“Yep, the epitome of strength right here. Cower in fear, world.” 

Thalia wasn’t amused by your sarcasm, continuing her speech. 

“You’re being strong because you’re feeling your emotions. I think we’re all having flashbacks and memories of the past but instead of allowing ourselves to process them, we’re ignoring it. You aren’t alone in this Y/N, don’t shut yourself away in your mind to fend off the voices alone, you have so many people who care about you. I care about you, let me help.”

Your eyes widened at her confession, leaving you speechless. You nodded in agreement, feeling a bit of the tension in your chest being relieved. Thalia stood up, holding a hand out for you. As you took it, she didn’t let go once you were standing. 

“Now, let’s go take a break from planning and training - then once your mind feels clearer, we’ll decide what will happen with the practice battle.”

Smiling, you walked out of the Cabin with Thalia, the world around you feeling less dim, the air around you shining once more.

a/n: im sorry if this wasn't great lol - i haven't written for Thalia yet and im rusty in my skills rn. but thank you for reading and i can't wait to write more for this fandom!!

[rebeccathenaturalist]

The above link includes articles on lost mushroom hunters in the Pacific Northwest over the past ten years. Many of these people were found deceased, and others were very lucky to have been found alive.

One of the things I really emphasize with foraging is safety, and not just the danger of picking something poisonous. While some people come into this practice with a realistic idea of the risks involved, others have....well, let's just call it a romanticized idea of foraging. They're not wrong in that it can be a fun, fulfilling activity that gets you all kinds of tasty things. But you have to be able to also navigate what can go wrong.

This is especially true for foragers who decide to go off-trail. I see this especially with people looking for mushrooms, because the lure of potential huge flushes of chanterelles, morels, and the like frequently leads people to head out onto public land in areas without marked trails. Sure, these locations are less heavily traveled and so it's more likely you'll stumble across a patch that no one else has gotten to yet. But--you're also more likely to get lost.

I personally tend to not go off-trail because I know for a fact that my sense of direction is abysmal (I've managed to convince myself I was lost on an out-and-back trail more than once.) But if I did, here's what I would do to mitigate the chances of getting lost:

--Take a GPS unit. These make finding your way back a lot easier, especially if you're able to drop pins as you go along or even digitally mark your trail.

--Take a map and compass and know how to use them: GPS isn't perfect, especially if signal is sketchy, and if your battery dies, well, there you go. So a topographic map and a compass make a good backup--if you know how to use them. Many urban areas in the U.S. have orienteering clubs, and failing that there's always YouTube.

--Take biodegradable flagging tape and tie bits of it to branches along the way. Then follow that path back when you're done, taking the tape with you as you go. If you miss one or two, they'll break down pretty quickly. DON'T leave the tape up on purpose to keep the trail to your patch of mushrooms or berries, though; not only are you adding plastic to the local environment, but you're leaving a trail for anyone who finds it.

--Take a friend! If something happens to one of you, the other can go for help. Or, if you're like me, only go off-trail with someone who's much better at orienteering than you are.

[infin1ty-garden]

GUARDIAN ANGEL

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ ✦ summary: hearing rumors of the fountain of youth and finally finding a heading, nikolai decides to follow the rumors ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ ✦ pairing: nikolai lanstov x gn! siren! reader ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ ✦ warnings: drowing, darkling, a bit of spice ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ ✦ word count: 2k ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ ✦ author note: inspired by this and sorry for not posting in a while I was on vacation

masterlist.

"Are we sure that compass even works?" Asked Tamar swaying from side to side due to the heavy rain and storm they were passing through. "It points to what the holder wants most. I think the instructions are pretty clear," Nikolai's attention only being on the compass. It's arrow spinning from one direction to another.

"You are going to crash the ship," yelled Mal as he fell down sliding to the other end of the ship. "Don't worry we're almost there," and then he let go of the wheel entirely. Tolya grabbed it but as if they'd entered another dimension. The storm was nowhere in site and not that far away, an island.

"See, I was right," as he said that the ship hit something causing him to fall overboard. He tried to swim up but the waves kept crashing in on him. He could hear people yelling for him and orders being thrown around. They turned incoherent as he sunk deeper.

He felt two hands taking hold of his arms as he was lifted out of the water in seconds. Once he managed to open his eyes, he was miles from the ship. He wanted to turn and see his saviour. "Don't strain your body too much, just relax your safe," he heard the most angelic voice say.

In a blink of an eye his feet met the sand. He coughed up what felt like half the ocean. When he turned to thank his saviour they were nowhere to be seen. Had he imagined it? Then he saw it, his ship being attacked by sire

But he could not help his crew. If he even attempted to swim to them, he would be instantly attacked. His gun was wet, so it was useless, and what could he do with a sword. All he could do was watch and hope they make it.

Most of the crew was alright. No deaths but they had to dry dock the ship, as going in the row boats would have been a death wish. Now, they had to find the chalices. "Captain," Tamar handed him a spyglass. Looking through it he saw Second Army flags. The Darkling was here or his grisha were.

"How did they get here before us?" Alina asked bewildered. "It doesn't matter we just need to get the chalices before them," he really should have better timing. "Hand over the map," the Darkling appeared, along with his forces. "There's no map," Nikolai replied, confidence radiating off of him in waves.

Then one by one his grisha disappeared until he was the only one left standing. "You and what army," Kirigan looks behind himself. Worry coating his face but then he smirked. "I don't need an army," as he raised his hands the sand beneath his feet disappeared. He dropped down into the newly formed puddle like it was a slide.

"Well, that happened," all anyone could do was nod along to Mal's statement. As they continued on following the compass, it seemed to lead them in circles. "I think your magic compass stopped working," Alina gave him a sympathetic look. "We have more company. Tamar reported seeing Fjerdan and Shu ships," great just what they needed.

"We still need the two chalices. Let me give that map a try," Mal took the map from Nikolai. The map was written in a language no one could understand. It wasn't in Fjerdan, Kerch, Ravkan, Shu, Zemeni, Suli, or even Old Ravkan. But now that they were actually on the island, they could at least recognise the landmarks drawn. Mal's tracking skill would finally come in handy.

After spending hours walking, they've decided to make camp and rest for a bit. They couldn't let the Fjerdans or the Shu be the first to discover the secret to the fountain. As Nikolai was starting to close his eyes, he heard a splash of water near him. He looked to where he assumed the sound came from and was met with the most beautiful pair of eyes.

Was this the person that saved him? He couldn't be sure. He slowly moved towards the person, worried that any sudden movement might scare them away. "I am not some kind of rabid animal," that voice, his guardian angel. "Your friends are on the west side," you could mean the Fjerdans or the Shu.

"They're not our friends," you sent him a sceptical look. He suddenly remembered why they were on this island in the first place. "You wouldn't know where someone could leave two chalices around here, would you?" At this point Nikolai was fully laying down in the mud that surrounded the pot of water.

His face inches away from it. "Hypothetically, I would know where something like that could be hidden." He smiled and then asked. "Hypothetically, could you show me?" You disappeared, only to emerge a few seconds later. Slowly moving closer to him as he had done only minutes ago.

What you did next was a surprise but not an unwelcome one. You kissed him. It was slow at first, as if giving him the chance to pull away if he so wishes. Instead he placed his palm on the back of your head. Pulling you as close as he can and uped the ferocity of the kiss. You placed your fingers at the bottom of his chin.

Putting slight pressure on it, due to this he opened his mouth. You quickly slipped your tongue in. He felt something foreign enter his system. You quickly pulled away and submerged yourself, only the top part of your face could be seen. Watched him swallow whatever you had just given him. I really hope I don't die from this.

You made a motion with your hand for him to enter the water. Waited for him, as he took off his jacket and shoes. His feet were searching for the bottom of the pond or whatever it was. He felt a hand grab his foot and pull him into the water. "You're taking too long," he realised he could breathe underwater. You gently grabbed his waist and he placed his arm around your neck.

He finally saw your tail. You were a siren. He was so gonna die but why had you saved him and why were you helping him now. He had too many questions. None of which he could ask. As soon as he had entered the water he was out of it. In Front of him was a ship, but none of the text in any language he knew. It did match the art on the map.

"Thank you," you nodded with a smile on your face. He walked closer to the ship. It was suspended in mid air. Wedged in between two huge pieces of stone. How could he get up there?

He finally entered the ship with your help and a lot of trial and error. Each step on the deck was taken with extreme consideration as one wrong move could send the ship falling. Even if the ship seemed to have been here for years with the plants that have taken over the deck. Nikolai didn't want to take any chances.

As he descended down to the lower levels of the ship, he was greeted with copious amount of dust and rot....and gold? But he had little care for it. Maybe after they find the fountain of youth, he could bring some of that gold back to Ravka. One room in the ship was clearly meant for dining. The table comfortably fit nine people.

The seats were filled with skeletons. The stench of the rotten food and empty glasses of wine could signify that these people were poisoned. The ship without a crew was probably left to roam the sea and had met its journey's end. Crashing into the rocks. Or maybe all of them have been stabbed, who knows.

The chalices were nowhere to be found. He went searching different rooms until he reached the captain's quarters. In the middle of the room the captain was sitting a skeleton like the rest of the crew but on the bed next to him a chest. Nikolai made his way to the bed as he did the ship swinged and then the voices came.

He wasn't alone anymore but he recognised one of them as Zoya. He needed to work faster. He got to the chest but it was locked. Nikolai could hear the voices getting closer. The key was laying on the chain around the captain's neck. Unlocking the chest and...nothing, just some documents. Where could the chalises be? He looked in the drawers, desk and finally under the bed.

There was another chest, this one without a lock in it, the chalices inside. Then the door burst open. "Hand them over," before he could think or even form a plan the ship was falling. When he awoke he was tied up, next to him, Zoya. The flags were the first thing he'd recognised, Shu. The second one, that they were tied to a tree. "Finally, the sleeping beauty's awake," one of the guards said.

Whatever they'd done to Zoya, she'd seen better days. Cuts were littering her face and bruises were starting to form. "The others," he'd simply asked. "Probably dead." The guards had left their posts to fetch their superior. In the corner of his eye, Nikolai could see something being thrown next to his feet. A knife, he quickly picked it up and placed it near his hands. Cutting himself and Zoya lose.

"We need to plan our next steps carefully since we don't have our weapons," just as he said that his and what he assumes is Zoya's sword were thrown out of the water. If she had found the ordeal weird, she didn't mention it, just grabbed her sword. "This way, I saw them place the rest of the weapons there."

They managed to escape the camp unseen. "I will let you go but the next time we meet, you won't be given the same courtesy," with that she disappeared in the forest.

The chalices weren't with the weapons. The Shu must have taken them. Then out of nowhere Tamar, Alina, Mal and Tolya come charging past Nikolai. Tamar carrying one chalice while Mal carries the other. "Sturmhond," Alina says just realising he was even there. "Run," yells Tamar as she grabs him.

Then he sees it, the Darkling and his volcra. His feet do the rest as he joins the group running. Hoping to lose him in the woods. "What happened?"

"What happened? Where were you? You left and didn't even tell anyone," Alina retorts.

"I got a lead to where the chalices might be."

"But WE found the chalices."

"And WE are going to lose them if you two don't shut it," Toyla interrupted, silencing them both as they hid. Once they saw the Darkling walk pass. They slowly walk in the other direction. "Where did you find them?"

"Near the entrance to some caves but that was nowhere close to where it had been marked on the map," Mal said in disbelief.

"Let me guess there was a river or some pond close by," Nikolai asked. Mal nodded. "But how could you know, it wasn't marked on the map." Nikolai shrugged. You must have taken them and brought them to his crew. "Now, we just need to find the entrance to the fountain," water splashed nearby. "Give me one moment," he said to the rest of them as he took the map and walked towards the water.

Tamar and Alina followed him. He kneeled down. "Yes," he asked, looking at the water. You slowly lifted your head and swam to where he was kneeling. He held up the map. Mal and Toyla joined the rest. Alina lifted her palms up as Toyla readied his weapon. "You are here and the entrance is here," now they could see the scales coating your arms, along with the tail.

All of them were thinking the same. You're a siren and you're helping them.

Thanks for reading! If you want a part 2 leave a like or comment

[under-lore]

...Is this kind of post even something you can do on Tumblr ?

Anyhow, you’re probably familiar with r/place.

Last year, i was co-leading the group that created a Chara on r/place (We even got a shoutout in a Jackspepticeye video :D)

This year, i have been forced to watch idly by as something pretty awful took place. I’ll try and make it short.

The “void”, a swarm of empty black space that spreads around everywhere consuming the canvas, is actually unable to fight any of the bigger structure that use bots and cheats to keep themselves up this year. Due to all these projects being ready sooner and with more preparation.

So instead, it just goes around left and right, destroying the “”easy targets”” of the tiny pixel art works of small communities who spent days trying to create them in their tiny corner of the map, and ignores all the poorly made botted artificial creations, the plain flags which do nothing but to waste the available space, and ruin the spirit of the event...

Basically, it only targets the kind of art that r/place was actually supposed to be about making, and which are now a tiny minority this year.

Yesterday, it decided for some reason to make another beeline of 200+ pixels forward just to go destroy 3 small independent artworks, including one of Undertale. It was just a small wholesome pixel art of Frisk and Chara based on this image. And which had only just been finished 15 minutes before after having been in the works for days.

The people behind it , quite determined, spent the entire night, without even sleeping, trying to fight that void off in order to save their artwork from being destroyed for nothing but funsies, only to be overrun just right now and that was just awful to watch unfold in real time. There is almost nothing left  of their art now aside from some people from the “void” making fun of them for trying to resist their swarm...

So well, if anyone reading this wants to go and try to help them save it or rebuild it, it was located at -90, -800. It isn’t difficult to do, just making one click once every few  minutes makes all the difference. Or you could also join their discord server at : https://discord.gg/Cex9DwdP if you’re interested.

I hope that whatever amount of clout i have can bring them a little support after this... Watching this happen from just makes me feel awful and i felt like i needed to do or say something about it.

[rpgchoices]

How to romance Marazhai (mainly dom!Rogue Trager focused)

First of all, I need to send a thousand thanks to @pjenn @chonker-chan @wretchedelights and @milleart because without their comments, suggestions, warnings and guides I would have not been able to successfuly romance Marazhai as dom!RT. Also a thousand thanks to reddit user u/TohnoRin who also helped me fix the romance.

for an in detail guide on the flags this romance has, and how to avoid bugs and get the ideal ending please check wretchedelights post at this link!

Jan/2024 his romance is currently slightly bugged if you play as a dom!RT. I will update this in the future.

CHAPTER 2 (meeting Marazhai)

While I do not know if other options would also end up in romacne/recruitment, I made sure to choose the answers that were not "I will kill you" (or maybe he would have loved that).

Options and dialogue from act 2 is fromt he Marazhai romance playthrough 1/? post to the 7/?, and you can find them at this tag: Marazhai romance chapter 2.

The quest to meet him the first time is called "Blades in the Void".

CHAPTER 3 (recruiting Marazhai)

In the playthrough tags it is from n 8/? to n 20/?, all tagged Marazhai romance chapter 3. Plus, I did not have some scenes in this chapter so I posted them separately: Argenta and Heinrix about Marazhai; Marazhai's killing blow quest.

Before starting the chapter

Effectively, the chapter is triggered by the point of no return in chapter 2, which is Yrliet asking you to look into a lost ship. The quest is named "Following Breadcrumbs" and at this point just know that whatever characters you bring they will be the only characters with you in chapter 3.

In particular, if you have two between: Ulfar, Heinrix and Argenta, you will unlock some extra dialogue with Marazhai and will have to defend your recruitment of him. Given Ulfar is recruited in chapter 3, you should bring at least one between Argenta and Heinrix. Also, Ulfar needs to be recruited before Marazhai in this case.

Chapter 3 starts with your kidnapping. You will have to find all your companions but one (in a separate map) before your first fight in the Arena. After your first fight in the Arena, you can access Tarvantias' Anatomical Opera where you can recruit Ulfar, find one of your missing companions (for me was Cassia) and talk to Marazhai. Marazhai is on an elevated platform, right from Tarvantias. Here you can ask him to join you.

Recruiting Marazhai

Next is the Arena fight where, if you were successful, Marazhai will join your side, and this is where you recruit him. Back at The Pit you can chat with him and your companions.

Make sure to choose "you intrigue me" when he asks you why you decided to recruit him.

Sub/dom choices unlocked

Chapter 3 is the one that has the messy dom/sub flags, at least until Jan 2024, hopefully it will be fixed later. This means that if you want to be a Dom!RogueTrader you need to choose to sub-adjacent options (in particular at the Pit allow him to grab your chin, and later allow him to use the agoniser on you). If you want to have your character be submissive, then choose the dominant options. In any case, you will be able to change these values with Toybox mod.

The Spire

Once you are out of the streets you can get to the Spire. In my list of playthrough I missed a scene (I did not look for it and did not get the Killing Blow quest), but it seems like it did not change my game or romance.

Here Marazhai will also asks you to stop by and grab something of his (the agoniser, which is on the last floor of the map, the same where his sister is located). I can't confirm but I also read online that picking this up seems to be fundamental to unlock the romance. After you kill his sister, this is the end of Chapter 3.

CHAPTER 4 (romance)

Here is the full playthrough of chapter 4.

Back to the Voidship! This is also where the romance starts. From this point on, the dom/sub flags are correct so you can choose the correct dialogue options.

If you activate on toybox the chance to see dialogues flags and consequences it will be pretty easy, as you can see the tag for "ascension". This is basically an approval meter, the higher it is the more likely to get his true romance ending.

The order of the romance is:

1) In voidship, dialogue with Marazhai, ask him why he needed the services of Tarvantias.

2) First voidship warp jump, you will get news that Marazhai is on a rampage. Go to him, try to break him free from the demonette (I used persuasion, Yrliet's help and coercion) and then warn him of her attack.

3) The post fight dialogue has the romance trigger. Choose between giving him free hunting range (Sub!RT) or giving him a limited area (no dom/sub points but the only option for Dom!RT).

4) Go talk to him back in the bridge of the ship and he will give you the quest "Shards of Tempest".

5) Two jumps or more from this point, there will be a cut scene with him asking you to kill together. The sub!RT option is asking him to guide you; the dom!RT option is to tell him to ask properly and in this case if you did things correctly he won't complain and won't be annoyed with you. With dom!RT, he will just kneel and ask you to join him.

6) Go along with his murderous desires. Just know that for now the aftermath bed scene is sub!RT coded even if you have the correct dom!RT flags, it's okay! Also try to kiss him, I have been told it leads to a later scene!

7) Now you can do his personal quests. While the quest is pretty vague and open, the real quest is three rumors: Suspicious Ships (in Langrenn's Belt), Xenos Skirmish (in Orsellio Prophecy, the planet is Arid World), Fall of Santiel's Pride (in Nolla Septum). You will get fights (ex. clear the Nolla Septum planet and the Drukhari ships) or dialogue options where you can send Marazhai. Do not worry if the rumors don't clear, for me only the Fall one cleared as completed.

8) Go back to the bridge of the ship and you should have a cut scene where Marazhai gives you a gift. Accept one of the three gift options, and then use it accordingly to the role chosen (don't mix it up!), I am playing dom!RT and I chose to use a torture device on him, he was very happy. There is no dialogue difference between the three gifts, only the description.

9) At this point you can proceed with the main quest.

10) If everything goes well, you will get some ascension points (this will give you true romance at the end) and dominant (or submission) points through the main quest (be cruel, eat the brain, re-establish your dominance or submission role when he tests you)

11) After the main quest (the siege) you will get the branding scene. Remember to follow your role! I am playing as dom!RT so I branded him and he was pretty happy.

12) Talk to him on the bridge for some extra dialogue (he flaunts the mark).

CHAPTER 5 (ending)

Chapter 5 videos of the playthrough are here. (to be posted soon)

Chapter 5 is very short so it is almost impossible to miss Marazhai's tempest quest. Visit the few planets around you and you will see some Drukhari ships. Marazhai's old kabal will want to meet him so invite them on the ship.

If you are playing as dom!RT you can get more ascension points (this is for the true romance) by re-establishing your role. Do not be afraid to humiliate Marazhai in front of his people, he wants that and will be disappointed if you do not remind him of his place.

Follow the quest and go to the trap and kill Marazhai's old kabal. This is the final quest for him. I know there are other endings, so I am sure there is a way to make Marazhai into an archon, but for me I had no chance to.

At this point you will get his ascension scene. You will get this scene if you accumulated enough ascension points by re-establishing your roles (these are more or less "approval" points). The scene will start with Marazhai asking you for a bigger feast (murderous killings!).

If you refuse you will lose precious ascension points. If you accept you might have to kill one of your advisors. There is an iconoclast option so I suppose there might be a dogmatic or heretic one, and if you choose that you can reign in Marazhai and make him kill only on a limited side of the ship (the iconoclast option tho is very dom!Marazhai at the moment).

After, you will get him declaring his loyalty and affection for you!!

If you tried to kiss him before, remember to pretend to want to break things off so he will desperately pleade and you can actually kiss him:

(remember that you can add ascension points with toybox if needed).

This is the end of his romance, if everything goes well by the epilogue you will have a slide where it is said that Marazhai is often by your side and you have an unbreakable bond!