#I just think the little guy should be allowed to be a bit evil and manipulative and angry

[pumpkinmetaphor]

im pretty sure its a running joke in the kyokao fandom that they actively make each other worse which i think is absolutely hilarious (because like, yeah annoying capitalist x annoying capitalist) but what are some of the ways you think they improve each other? :D /gen

Great question!

I think Kyoya makes Kaoru more ambitious. Kaoru is smart enough to skirt by most of the time without much effort or forethought. I would not hesistate to believe that he and Hikaru are only doing like half their subjects and then taking tests for each other. I also think Kaoru is immature and nebulous about the future and what he wants from it.

Someone like Kyoya, who is very goal oriented and future focused would be somewhat of a motivating factor. Hikaru and Kaoru's decision to go to Tokyo University is more triggered by Haruhi and Nanako than Kyoya's still pending decision to stay in Boston, but I think Kyoya seeing what he wants and going for it is impressive. I think Kaoru would take his work more seriously, maybe take more of an interest in the business side of things if Kyoya made it more fun.

Meanwhile, I think Kaoru would motivate Kyoya to reevaluate what he thinks freedom means. Freedom is Kaoru's family motto and something Kyoya strives for and thinks he has- but has he? I think in the same way Tamaki makes him reevaluate the box his father has put him in, Kaoru would help recontextualise that a bit more. Yes, you don't have to be trapped in the expectations of your birthright, but maybe you don't need to be beholden to anyone's expectations of you- Kyoya himself said it doesn't matter as long as the people he cares about knows who he is, so maybe he should live by that instead.

The host club in general convinces Kyoya to have a bit more fun, but I think even Kaoru's specific situation- overshadowed by his elder brother, possibly disinherited due to reasons unrelated to merit- and the fact that Kaoru would be entirely unbothered by it would allow Kyoya to maybe reevaluate his options and pick ones that allow him that freedom. After all, those who live freely are the winners, right? And Kyoya wants to win.

I think this "Kaoru makes Kyoya a freer spirit" stops slightly short of Kaoru getting him on a motorbike at any point.

Basically, I think they mellow each other out. Kaoru works harder, Kyoya becomes less of a workaholic. Kaoru becomes a little more self-possessed, Kyoya becomes a little bit freer.

I also think, as me and @pilindiel were only discussing earlier, they mesh pretty well with each other's anxieties. They're two people who believe that they can only be love for the mask they put on, and two people who quite easily see through each other's masks. As long as the people you care about know who you are, nothing else matters- is as much about Kaoru as it is about Kyoya. It's an inadvertant, egotistical admission by Kyoya that he does know who Kaoru is and Kaoru does care about him, and vice a versa. Platonically, and bewildering to Kaoru at this point, but important nonetheless. Kyoya proves his point by even saying it and articulating it as a viewpoint that Kaoru would share- because he does know who Kaoru is, and nothing else about it matters.

But yeah, Kyoya believes that it is more important for the people he cares about to know him than it is for them to love him. And Kaoru is kind of into the whole evil scheming ambition thing so that negates that concern. And Kaoru meanwhile is terrified of being made obsolete and being left behind. Which is negated somewhat by Kyoya being the kind of guy with the dedication to stick to his convictions, one of which he has decided is the perpetuity of the host club. And one would be Kaoru too, of course.

Also just tacking on at the end because I'm rambling too much. I think Kyoya would make Kaoru more independent-- something Kaoru already strives for a bit more of, but there's nothing like giving someone a reason not to share a bedroom with their sibling anymore as that final push. And I think Kaoru would encourage Kyoya to be less self-isolating, less of a lone wolf. Mainly because he likes getting into other people's business. Kaoru loves teamwork <- freak.

[understandableparadox]

a comprehensive list of everything wrong with hazbin hotel.

quick note before i lose myself in madness, my standards for helluvaboss are non existent because its a free show on youtube. also i kinda like helluvaboss and i will indulge in any bias i damn well please.

oh and spoilers. i guess.

the greater narrative of the entire season is "White lady civilize inner city hoodlum". ex: The blind side. rich girl, affluent family yadda yadda.

the story is set up to be like amphibia, owl house, svtfoe, steven universe, that being starting as something episodic then transforming into story driven narrative. why? because we know the benefits and drawbacks, episodic starts allows us to wander the world, it allows us to understand the dynamics, we are not forced to reckon with anything because there is no deadline. characters are allowed to bloom and shine and the audience can actually get attached.

the source material is Vary Clearly formed from remnants of something out of a middle school edgelord narrative. the usage of transformation, the big spooky grins, the "and then i smile as my eyes glow and-"-isms which in most cases i don't mind because in some instances but in a vary Particular case its astoundingly annoying and that annoyance is like a mold, shit spreads quick.

the color Red. as a lover of homestuck cherubs and karkat and aradia, as someone who fucking loves the color red, it is so painful to say but holy shit tone it the fuck down, i know its hell but their are so many other colors that you can use, its everywhere, the streets, the air, the windows, the screens, the characters, i know the pride ring is represented with red but change up the palates every so often for backgrounds

the rush, this ties into the second point made but i think the story itself is rushed. we know everything way to early. i know way to much and it makes it hard to care about anything because im still trying to digest the last chunk of info. "oh ok, so they clear out hell once a year. oh hell has a heaven embassy? ok. oh that adam the angel, i though he wou- oh its every 6 months now. wait the exterminators die a lot? then why is everyone sca- people in hell already have weapons that can kill angels? w- oh we are in heaven now, ok ma- no one in heaven except for the elites know the exterminations occur? how do-" and its that, just this incessant rush to explain everything to you. notably that's just the god damn spark notes, we need to know everything about the characters now, every single bit of their story, their insecurities, what charlie needs to fix, how she can fix them, the major bad guys, everything. you are never allowed to dwell on a character because we need to rush towards something else. it almost feels like this should have been like... season three, it would have been a fantastic season three if you dropped the introductions honestly.

the concept of redemption. for a story of redemption to work you need to look at three things. What is there crime, Do they want to change, What is preventing them from changeing? there is only one single character that has a notable path of redemption, angel dust, but if you look through their story it feels off. What Exactly is he guilty of? he has sex, does drugs and drinks. his apparent nymphomania is tied to his sad backstory as someone forced into the sex industry so how is that their fault? then if you think about it you start to spiral and notice "hey why are most of these people in hell?" like sure some of them may deserve punishment but then you see the fucking dichotomy and its like "I was a inventor in england and died of the fucking plague, i may have made evil little contraption hoohoohoo" vs "I was a cannibal, a full on cannibal, i fucking killed people and ate them and then someone shot me". ONE OF THESE THINGS ARE A LITTLE MORE FUCKING EXTREME. i'm going to go fucking nuts, the thing they went to heaven with when presenting a case to angels on the idea that redemption and becoming a better person is actually real was angel dust not drinking at a party and not having sex with consenting adults and i want to go fucking insane. WHAT IS THE CRIME, WHO IS THROWING THE BOOK, WHAT DOES THE BOOK INTEL, ARE WE ON GOOD PLACE RULES?! half the cast dont Need redemption they need fucking help, and the other half of the cast do need redemption but they do not seek it making the point moot. sir pentious acts like he has the brain of a hyper intelligent toddler tossing about toys, its almost like he did his one bad thing of spying and then got caught, sank his little diddy about forgiveness and second chances and become a null point through out the rest of the series, sure their was Some weight to him sacrificing himself, he was a decently funny character and he had good moments but him popping up in heaven felt like a fore gone conclusion, he didn't deserve to be in hell so why do i care that he is suddenly in heaven? because its working on the concept the good place already made. no one actually deserves eternal punishment they just need help processing what makes them a dick, but instead of looking at all the parts of the afterlife that make it bad, inefficient and then creating and trying ideas to see if it work instead over a few seasons, we crash dick first into all the major plot points in regards to that and say "tada, we fixed it.".

having a sub-plot about sexual assault and its victims then having multiple sexual assault related gag ruins your point.

don't make a bunch of stereotypically jewish characters into cannibals, that was a big thing, really shouldn't have to say it.

if you are going to make a character black, make them black, you can say alastor was black but sweet seren-fucking-dippity that's not a black man.

pot meet kettle but yeah the cursing could be a little less liberal. maybe just blue hair or the pronouns, not both.

there is a very distinctive art deco/jazz aesthetic which normally i love but i feel as though it is not used to its full extent and in some cases really hurts the character design in and of itself.

this is a vary obvious bit but the story is a million times more interested in gay men then it is of lesbians, which culminates in this insane thing where the writers clearly have more talent or perhaps it would be more abt to say practice writing male gay pining then they are with lesbian pining. which i personally think is hilarious because i did not know you could min max fujoshi-ism that hard.

this next section is more to do with each character on a fundamental level, for the sake of brevity whatever there is left, i'm just doing ones with speaking roles.

13. Charlie:

(see what i mean about that red thing?)

as originally stated charlie fits rather comfortably into every white saviour narrative, though that seems to be part of her joke. though i'm not entirely sure how much of a joke it can be when its rewarded and expected to advance the plot.

her character design says nothing, it has the motif of old puppets or dolls, she wears something vaguely similar to service suits, her demonic form is just some extra horns.not to say every character needs to have their life on a clothes rack but some more snake and goat imagery would be nice

its not the chol design of charlie with snake hair, not an actual problem but its a problem to me, damn you @cholvoq for ruining my ability to look at any of the characters without wishing i was seeing your designs instead.

character wise aside from the white savoir bit, i'm having a bit of trouble understanding what the arc of the character is. she is shown to be naive, someone who doesn't understand how the world works but everytime she says something its something astoundingly clear like "people can actually get better". and its treated like someone demanded faygo in every water fountain. is the joke that the world around her to cynical or is so to naive? please pick one or the other.

now if you know me, you know i fucking hate overpowered characters with a blinding passion, one that would set alit the god damn abyss but in this one special instance, i feel like its warranted, she's the direct descendant of fucking God, she can swing her weight around a little, i mean god damn. she in so many instances looks like shes cowering so often, why would the daughter of lucifer get backed down by some rando pimp? why wasn't she the one to fight adam? sure you can say she is young but how young? her parents were there since pre-abrahamic times, most of the characters showed up in hell in the 1900s, some of them showed up in the 1600s, how old is charlie??? how long does it take for her to learn how to be strong? The story does not suffer if charlie is strong and knows she is strong. it can easily be a case of "i don't believe in violence to a weird degree". fit it into her apparent naivety about the world to believe that violence is never the answer even when dealing with a being that is unilaterally horrible and abusive and monstrous.

she ga- no im kidding, i do think her romance was waysided a bit, it would have been fine to have more scenes of them togather and in love you know?

14. Vaggie

why did you name the lesbian vaggie...? Don't do that maybe?

I like how her design is almost moth like but again i feel as though you could have amped that up.

she feels as though someone tried to combine undyne and pearl from steven universe, same story beats and design elements. it makes it hard to really distinguish her as a character.

i honestly dont have much to say about her. she is fine.

christ kill me, lets just get the big one out of the way

15. Alastor.

God Damn

where to start.

"alastor is mixed race" mixed with fucking what? concrete? there is not a single black feature on that creature, now im not saying you have to make him a png of louie armstrong but it wouldn't hurt to add a curl to the hair maybe? make it a tiny bit more wavy? Something? a crumb i beg of thee?

his symbolism is all over the god damn place, native american monsters (you know the one), voodoo, radio, puppets, stitches, circuses??? and Tentacles i guess. two of those are from closed religions so if you dumped those you would actually get a more concise character focused on the concept of vox populi as a means of societal control and influence as we see in his first song. but again that gets drowned out repeatedly by all the other random toy box bits shoved into him.

tumblr sexy man bait

he serves no purpose in the story. he does spooky stuff, pretends to do things and then goes back to sitting around looking spooky. i understand that his motif is supposed to be aloof mastermind but maybe have him do more mastermindy things? if you remove most of alastors scenes, bar the songs, it doesn't change all to much. husk and nifity can still be at the hotel, they could be looking for outs in their contracts the same as angel dust. hell it even helps with the one scene where he dose some spooky shit, asking charlie for a favor in exchange for his help in the fight with the angels instead of asking him about angel weapons which should have remained a strictly vaggie scene.

his presence in a way delegitimize the story, as I noted in in the section regarding redemption, the three parts are "what is the crime, do they want to change, what is stopping them?" and alastor kinda just spits in the face of that. he is a serial killer cannibal that has no qualms about how evil he is and apparently must continue being evil due to being under the control under someone legitimately called the Root Of All Evil. show him take a slight interest in the idea that maybe shit for him could be better, make him Want Change at the bare fucking minimum or dont have him at the hotel.

his stupid little fucking horns, big shot the troll liker wants characters to have big fucking horns, make them noticeable or dont have them.

he looks more like a dog boy, which could have been an interesting thing with the collar motif but fuck me i guess.

personal pet peeve but i fucking hate characters that have a million plus powers, stick to a set number, be creative.

im getting more petty as i go on so last point: he could have been in less episodes, he didn't need to be in dad beat dad, that should have been just a lucifer and charlie episode. inverse the red and black and i think he would be fucking great color wise, his body type is the same as ten different characters, he isnt radio enough, aside from the voice and and staff if you told me he was the fucking Cat Demon i would have been just as convinced.

16. Angel Dust

what the fuck, gay spider? its hard to actully articulate all the thoughts i have on angel dust, not in the sense that he is a deeply thought provoking character but in the fact that there is not much meat on the bones.

all around i think angel dust is kinda middling. he has a decent enough romance with husk, he has a decent enough story line that revolves around battling addiction and removing yourself from an abuser (which the story tries to brand as "Redemption???")

I dont like that most of his jokes would qualify as sexual harassment, i don't mind him being sexual as a character but continuing on when clearly someone doesn't like the jokes hurts the character.

not a critique but he is pink, which honestly ill fucking take at point, as long as its not more fucking red.

i think his design is an improvement over some of the old vivzie designs but it feels like it could have done with going a few more rounds of design changes.

same thing with alastor, charlie and vaggie, there is not enough of the animal that they are supposed to be. You could have told me angel dust was a fucking bee or something and i would have had to believe you. nothing about angel dust initially says spider, hell he dosent even have enough limps to be a fucking spider.

17. Carmilla carmine

are... are you supposed to be a rabbit...?

Big Yoai Hands

ballet fighting style, could have been cool, wish she fought more like sanji or chun li.

A single mom that works to hard, who loves her kids and never stops-

her song was decent, not great, decent. it feels as though the actress has experience singing but not in the way they tried to make her sing during her two songs. they have a obvious mexican influence, honestly just let her sing in spanish in the english dub. go listen to the spanish dub, "out for love" sounds great in spanish.

i wish i had more thoughts on them, fucking rip.

18. cherri bomb

that's not a punk aesthetic that's 2010s alt

decent character, they showed up once or twice i guess, no real thoughts.

19. egg boiz

absolutely perfect, i have not notes on them, these are perfect creatures.

20. Emily

im so fucking happy to see a singular blue character

does the naive dreamer bit better then charlie

We really shouldnt have seen her until the end of season two or middle of three.

good contrast with the other angels on screen.

Wait she is supposed to be black??? Where???

21. Husk

keith david you absolute delight, Why on gods green earth did they only give you one singing part?

one of the few charecters where its clear husk is a cat, i do like the kinda... marquee design, he is a magic cat, thats neat. i still think you can toss the wings and eyebrows and still have just as good of a charecter.

has a deeply intresting story of someone who died as a nobody, became the fat cat of hell and then was forced back to the bottom by their own vices, not used at fucking all.

huge potential, little pay off.

22. lillith

I know nothing about her except she ditched her kid and husband to vacation in heaven and i think thats kinda funny.

alot of werid things floating around her, again she shouldnt have been shown in the show at all until next season.

23. lucifer morningstar

no notes, funniest charecter, did a song based on friend like me.

few notes: i do like the idea that the immortal symbol of pride is a constant emotional wreckage constantly seeking approval through grand showmanship and manic energy that threatens to take over anything they touch.

would have liked more snake stuff on him, maybe some more goat things like horns.

that is such a stupid fucking staff lmao.

24. Adam.

alex brightman you absolute fucking delight, you should have had more songs.

I wish his design was more focused on the idea of him being a glam rock wash up

I fucking hate his mask

We shouldn't have met him until the end of the season.

25. Niffty

again she is supposed to be a bug or cockroach but nothing about her points to that.

token straight

keeps rocketing back and fourth between sexulization and infantilization

you had kimiko glenn but didnt give her a single fucking song?

26. Sir Pentious

the secret season one redeemed.

the pilot version of him felt more like someone that could do a season one redemption arc, a megalomaniac constantly attempting territory grabs, there is something you can work with, actual character flaws to work through.

essentially a child after the first episode.

actually a snake which i appreciate.

no where near steampunky enough.

27. the villians of the show dont make much sense, each one feels like they should be season long deals on their own instead of a bunch of team rocket esque idiots that show up on occasion, do a bad thing and then leave.

28. Valentino

gOD THERE IS SO MUCH RED

only a moth some of the time.

sucks as a villain, maybe they need more screen time to show why they suck in a more substantial way aside from being told that he sucks.

it is interesting that angel dust is only under his magical control when in the studio, it shows that angel dust has to make a conscious choice to return, which in turn can be made to show how abusers can draw back their victims. I do not think it was done well in this circumstance as it shows him to be cartoonishly evil, constantly flying back and fourth between sweet and utter psycho, there is no actual reason for angel dust to ever actually go back to the studio, he just does so every so often.

29. Vox

legit who cares? the only thing about him that is in any way substantial is all the dope ass fan art we get.

propaganda machine angle that is not explored at all, just hinted at. no actual barring on the story whatsoever.

why didn't he try to do the same shit as alastor by the way? he knows its bad if alastor gets in good with charlie so shouldn't it be a ass kissing race?

same body shape as literally every other male character.

tumblr sexy man version of pyrocynicals fursona.

30. Valvette

the actual poster child of the shows huge problem of "Show me, don't tell me".

apparently the glue that holds the villains together. never shown.

apparently the one that makes the love potions that valentino is famous for. had to learn about that in the fuckin wiki trivias

we know so much about her from things outside of the show.

was there to call carmilla a coward, that's her plot contribution. she shows up every now and again but its never anything substantial and serves to more around take up run time for people We Don't Need To Know Yet.

im not trying to be mean, animation is animation, we need smaller studios to have success in the industry so that other indie studios can have that success, felling a tree makes it easier for others to follow. showing that its possible to number brain rot exacs helps all animators.

but this show has so much bullshit attached to it, it has so much fucking potential that it fries my brain with unyielding frustration.

this took a bit to write, im tired, thanks for reading.

[exist101]

Okay I decided to put my fan villains Music Mayhem and Phantom in the gcmv and they look so good in these pics

[bunnys-kisses]

hii! brownies with a side of martini with lando for me please 🤭

bakery menu

want to suggest your own order? look at the menu! i'm constantly writing up orders! i even accept for fandoms outside of formula one!! as for this suggestion, i am really liking that people really want mafia au lando, it's very nice and allows me to think a little more outside the box with the au! i just don't want them all read the same, right? this won't be the last time you'll see lando in a mafia au!! i hope you enjoy this!! <3

brownies ("you're so much more agreeable when you have something to occupy that mouth of yours.") + martini (mafia au) served by lando norris (formula one)!

cw: smut/pwp, mafia au, enforcer!lando, baker!reader, kitchen sex, oral sex (reader receiving), affectionate!lando, mentions of au typical violence

"these are amazing, honey." lando groaned as he took a bite of the warm brownies you just made. it was comfort food in a way. you always know how to make them perfectly.

you leaned against the counter of the kitchen, you watched your boyfriend devour a piece of the treat with excitement, you sighed, "i don't know. i think it's a little too sweet."

"no way, impossible." he said, "these are going to sell like crazy at the shop. can i have another one?"

you chuckled, and leaned towards him. you wiped a bit of stray chocolate off the corner of his mouth, "you're so much more agreeable when you have something to occupy that mouth of yours."

he beamed at you, "well of course." he then snaked an arm around your waist and kissed you on the cheek, "anything of yours that goes into my mouth would shut me up.

this would look like a true domestic scene. a young couple in love, sharing a late night treat on a thursday. but if someone looked closely at the tattoos on your lover's arms. they would know that he wasn't the prince charming on a full rise scholarship to a university. he was an enforcer for the mclaren family.

lando could fight. that was his whole job, he told you about growing up and the brawls he'd get into. he always told you how many he won and told you not to worry at the number his loss.

when he walked down the street and people saw the tattoos along his arms and the cigarette tucked behind his head. they thought he was big trouble, when you two walked together you often got double-takes from people. why was someone like you, with someone like him.

and while you'd go into detail about how much of a caring lover he was. how much he adored you, all the times he brought you home flowers and kept a polaroid photo on you in the back of his jean pocket. there was something undeniable about lando that made you blush.

he was really good in the bedroom.

not that it was the only good thing about him! he went above and beyond anything any other boyfriend had done for you. he was your ray of sunshine. he made sure his woman was taken care of.

you got up onto the counter after you got your sweatpants and panties off. you knew you should be heading to bed soon for another long day at work. but lando was insistent that he made sure that the love of his life got a proper thank you for making him such a nice treat when he came home.

"double chocolate is great and all." he as he got closer to you. bent over to get between those thighs of yours. he held your legs open and licked his lips, "but, it's nothing like your pussy." he chuckled before he pressed a kiss at your slit.

you held onto the edge of the counter while he started to lick at your sex. his tongue between your pussy lips. he groaned against you as he held onto your hips.

lando was a dangerous man, you had heard whispers through the area you lived in about how evil he was. there was a story about him taking out a guy's teeth tooth by tooth and then smashing his jaw.

he could be intimidating, those eyes could go from friend to sharp in mere seconds. his hands were lined with scarring from other the years and many of his tattoos covered up the other scars.

he'd walk around the main street in nothing but a tank top, loose jeans and a gold chain, his face card never failed and his wit was unmatched. but when he stumbled up the bakery you worked at one day, it was like his entire life changed.

now he was between your legs with his tongue up against your pussy. his nose rubbed against your clit which made you clench up. you held onto the back of his head and guided him up against your pussy. the pleasure was a steady throb that made you flushed.

he was in love with you, if he had to describe the feeling. it was like his heart was whole. that the pieces of him were glued back together by your love. and he in turn wanted to give all his love to you.

"please, lando." you said softly as you ran your fingers through his hair, "you know exactly how to do it." you shuddered at the pleasure in your body.

"only the best for you." he said softly, "only the best." before he gave your thigh a little love tap before he continued to lap at your pussy. you held onto him tighter and his cock twitched in his sweats.

you held onto his curly hair tightly and whined a little. you tensed up as you came, finishing on his tongue. the noises you made had lando feeling good all over. he worked quickly to send you right over the edge. when you nails grazed along his scalp his brain turned off for a moment.

"shit." he grumbled against your slit.

you relaxed after a few moments and panted heavily. you rested up against the cabinets behind you and clung to your boyfriend for a moment longer.

he lazily licked at your sweet slit as he nosed at your clit. he was insatiable when it came to you. you then stroked the back of his head lovingly. he groaned a little at the soft touch.

lando was a mafia enforcer, he hurt people for a living. but his true weakness was his baker girlfriend and her lovely desserts. <3

[kujousgf]

STREAM IN PROGRESS. mdni. 18+.

pairings: streamer ! wanda maximoff + f ! reader

summary: surely working your girlfriend up while she's on stream won't be too bad, will it?

warnings: dom!top!wanda, sub!bottom!reader, reader has long hair for the plot, hair pulling, mommy kink, this is pretty soft tbh, slight dacryphilia, exhibitionism

wc: 1.7k~

"You guys want my girlfriend on stream?" Wanda laughs as she reads comments, the sound soft and melodic. "Are you getting tired of me already?" Her tone is teasing, and it's part of the reason she's gained such a following. Her change in demeanor over the years has allowed her to gain a bit of a loyal following, going from stoic and cursing under her breath while playing games such as Valorant and Apex Legends to joking around and being more carefree while playing, sometimes those same games, but also some not so competitive titles like Resident Evil and Outlast.

(Occasionally Fall Guys, but she thinks that might ruin her image).

She turns her head to look at you, raising a perfectly manicured hand and motioning for you to come closer. "Well, let's give the audience what they want. Though, we don't have another chair, so you're going to have to settle for my lap. What a pity." She tilts her head slightly and a small smirk graces her lips.

Another thing that's helped her gain popularity is just how bold she's willing to be. Well, that and her audience seems to love her girlfriend and how cute the two of you are together.

"We really should get another one, considering how often I have to 'settle for your lap',” you hum, settling down sideways in your girlfriend's lap, legs thrown across her thighs and arm around her shoulder so as to not completely block her from the camera.

"Well, let's not be too hasty,” Wanda murmurs as she leans up to capture your lips in a soft kiss, smiling against them. You're interrupted by the sound of Wanda’s character dying and she pulls away with a groan, "look what you did, you little brat," she teases, "distracting me like that..." She clicks her tongue in faux annoyance, “you guys ask for her to come on stream and the first thing that happens is me dying. Do you all like to see me suffer?”

The stream continues on like this, with Wanda’s teasing and banter between her and the audience as well as between you and her, until Wanda is bidding goodbye to the audience and turning off her camera in favor of focusing on you. Unbeknownst to the audience, you had been teasing your girlfriend almost since the moment you appeared on camera, the webcam doesn’t show anything below your girlfriend’s chest, so what’s the harm in having a little fun? Sure, you’d probably get punished for it later, but that was something you could worry about when the time came.

-

It had taken every ounce of patience and self control that Wanda had not to just end the stream early when your fingers somehow found their way under her shirt, nails raking across her skin, and then beneath the waistband of her sweats, playing with the band of her panties and slipping even lower, lower, until she grabbed your wrist and dug her nails into your soft skin. A warning to behave yourself, and so you did, for a few minutes anyway, and then you were back to the teasing touches. It wasn’t your fault she wouldn’t scold you on camera, and if you got her worked up enough maybe she’d skip the punishment altogether.

And you were right, because right now all she could really focus on was your weight in her lap and the fire that your fingertips left behind, the teasing touches getting bolder now that the camera was off. And then she feels your hand slip beneath the waistband of her sweats and she sees that look in your eyes, the one that tells her you think you’ve gotten away with something you wouldn’t usually. Your eyes are almost shining, it's actually quite cute, she thinks. Perhaps she should punish you right now, she’d given you a clear warning to behave yourself, it’s not her fault you just can’t listen to her.

Wanda catches your wrist once more, “Do you never learn?” Her tone is calm as she takes your arm and twists it behind your back, using it as a means to turn you around and push you over, barely giving you enough time to react and catch yourself against her desk with your free arm.

Luckily you do, bracing yourself against the hard surface with your forearm, a bloody nose for that reason would be quite embarrassing. “Do you take pleasure in disobeying me like that? In disobeying Mommy, hm?” You bite your lip as she stands from her chair, watching her movements through her reflection in the now blank computer monitor as you shake your head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No? So if I checked right now you wouldn’t be making a mess of yourself? Of course not, you’d never lie to me,” she answers her own question and laughs as if she’s waving the idea off, of course you wouldn’t, and then her fingers are tangled in your hair, harshly tugging you upward and leaning down just the slightest bit, “Would you, baby?”

You let out a whine in response, her other hand is still holding your arm behind your back, keeping you pressed down and making your back arch. The strain on your hair wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t unwelcome either. “Stop it, that hurts,” you huff, avoiding the question, but it just makes Wanda tug harder, clicking her tongue, “that’s not what I asked you.”

Wanda revels in the whimper you give her in response, looking down at you in the reflection of the monitor like you were prey she was waiting to swallow whole. She wishes she had the resolve to properly punish you, to keep you tied up and unable to touch her as she busied herself with household chores, perhaps even running out to get groceries while she has you begging for her not to leave you alone. She almost frowns at that last part, when did she become so terrible that she’d do anything to see your pretty eyes filled with tears?

Instead she takes pity on you, the way your eyes are beginning to gloss over, tears stinging at the edges and threatening to fall from the harsh grip she kept on your hair has her starting to feel dizzy. She just can’t help it, you looked so pretty like this. She lets go of her grip on your arm and you immediately move it to aid your other arm in bracing yourself against the desk, easing the strain on your hair just the slightest bit. She slips a hand beneath your panties and palms your ass.

One of her favorite things was that you never felt obligated to wear pants when it was just the two of you alone, simply opting for a long sweater or shirt with your panties.

Her hand wanders down, pinching the fat of your thigh and laughing when it results in a yelp. “Wanda, just touch me already!” You whine, trying to push back against her. “Patience.” she hums, letting go of your hair and you let your head drop, hair falling down and framing your face. Though she does drag her fingertips over your clothed cunt, cooing when she feels the wet spot on your panties. “Is this why you’re being a brat, hm? Need Mommy to ease the ache between your thighs?” Her tone is teasing, but her fingers rub soft circles against your clit, just enough pressure to pull a soft moan from between your lips.

“So sensitive…” Wanda muses to herself, using her free hand to pull your panties to the side. She'll skip the teasing for now, wants to work you up first, have you drooling all over her fingers before she pulls everything away. She runs her fingers through your folds, gathering some of your slick and dipping a finger inside of your drooling hole. “Please.” your tone is pleading, wanting nothing more than for her to sink her lithe fingers into your cunt.

It feels like Wanda had been teasing you for hours even though she had only just started touching you, and wasn’t teasing at all. Perhaps thinking about your girlfriend fucking you throughout the entire stream was not your brightest idea, your attempt to tease her had accidentally gotten you all worked up.

You push back against her, trying to get her to sink her finger deeper. “So impatient.” she chuckles, pulling her finger out altogether, resulting in a whine of protest from you, before suddenly sinking her middle and index fingers into your tight heat.

You gasp in response, biting down on your bottom lip to stifle your moans, hands curling into fists as you support yourself on your forearms, having nothing to grab onto. “You really are sensitive, did all that teasing today get you worked up, baby? Did that silly little brain of yours start thinking a little too hard?” If you were in any other position you’re sure you’d bite back with a snarky comment, but you just can’t, not with the way Wanda’s fingers are thrusting into you, curling to hit just the right spot and make you see stars.

Wanda almost rolls her eyes, bringing her free hand up to fist your hair once more, gripping it at the end and looping it around her wrist, tugging harshly near your scalp and bringing you flush against her front, ”I believe I asked you a question, sweetheart.”

You whimper in response, the strain on your hair making tears prick at your eyes, threatening to fall. When your girlfriend prompts your response once more with a slight tug, the tears spill over no matter how hard you try to stop them. “T–Technically, you asked two,” you bite back weakly.

“Brat.” Wanda rolls her eyes, pushing you down and letting her tight grip on your hair fall looser. She feels you clench around her fingers at the harsh treatment and she grins, predator-like, before pulling her fingers out and swiftly landing a slap to your sensitive clit. “Mommy!” you choke on a moan, jolting forward, torn between begging her to hit you again or for her fingers. Your fingernails dig into your palms as your fists tighten around nothing.

“Do you think you can be a good girl for me?” Wanda asks, starting to grope you and leaning down to press a tender kiss to your cheek before using the hand in your hair to properly gather it into her fist, holding it in a makeshift ponytail and finally relieving the strain you were feeling. “Because if you’re not,” she tugs harshly once more, causing you to whimper, “I have no problem giving you a proper punishment.”

[gremlingottoosilly]

hi!!! Hope today is treating u good

I was thinking about your ask about the monster141 and readers hobbies, and how gaz tries to be your favorite

In that group dynamic, what would happen if reader started having a favorite? Whether by accident or she just happens to get along with one of them more than the others, how does the 141 pack deal with that?

And even more evil...what if reader was doing it on purpose? Even if she's not being honest about her "favorite" she likes to make them mad/jealous to get what she wants ?

Anyway just wanted to present the thought, please don't stress about answering ❤️

Take care!

Smart reader!! Hehehe!!! Ouf of everyone, Gaz and Soap are the ones with a RAGING praise kink. they might be cocky as hell and receive a lot of praise from the higher-ups, but they still want to get it from you too, their pretty little petmate. They love getting together with you, and they would definitely fight for your attention - especially since, being from a grounded and elevated species, they can give you things that no other duo could. Gaz drags you on the most beautiful flights, while Soap is the softest guy for nesting - they know that you will pick up one eventually, and, despite them being very smart in their military fields, they end up falling for your game...Kyle could be more cunning than anyone else in the pack, but he would still give you the moon and the stars if you would as much as to just give him a bit more attention...and Soap would allow you to go out if you just scratch him behind his ear and call him a good boy. If you ended up liking Gaz more, Soap is the one who is dragging you out, allowing you to walk without a leash and enjoy (somewhat) freedom. If you like Soap more, then Gaz will bring you whole pounds of golden jewelry, of shiny gifts - from candies to little rings. You can play with them for so long, preferring one over the other when it's convenient, but... Oh, neither Price or Ghost are having it. if they can see that you're just a smart little thing who is manipulating them, you'd get a spanking of your life. Price forces you out of every gift you have, making you sleep in a tiny and uncomfortable bed along with other communal pets in the compound - if you want to be a dumb girlie who can't understand what privileges she has as their wife, you might as well see how others are doing. You wouldn't survive a week without fancy fabrics and pretty gifts - and without your favorite snacks, of course. If you're ready to apologize and stop playing favorites, Ghost could sneak up at night and...cool you down before you're finally caving in and begging Price to let you return. As a punishment, you'd lose all of your free roaming privileges - a pretty dumb pet should know her place, and so you are nothing but a little breeding mare for a few weeks - your pussy being pounded by all four of them until the seed takes and you're fucked out dumb, so you'll never pull a scheme like this again.

[sadistic-kiss]

Masked Menace (GhostFace!Sukuna x Reader)

PICTURE IS NOT MINE! IT BELONGS TO THIS BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING GO FOLLOW THEM~

@AnotherDeadBody on Pinterest and @john_vmpre on Instagram.

Summary:

You get a call from a random stranger that leads to your demise…

Or~

For your anniversary you and Sukuna play out the popular scream scene and live out you wildest slasher fantasy. (In a safe space)

GhostFace!Sukuna x Reader

Anime: JJK Universe: AU Pairing: Ghostface!SukunaxReader

Rating: Explicit

Genre: Smuttt 

Kink: CNC, Knifeplay, slight blood play (licking a wound), Mask kink, Strength kink, Choking, Dacryphilia, Degradation

*ingredients given by( AKA Commision by): Starlightaqua ~

Chef Note: It's a bit rough mentally but milk + cookies and a warm blanket is given at the end. (Angsty but not gege <3)

***********************************************************

You lay on your king-size bed, lazily kicking your feet back and forth while watching TV. Ouija origins of evil, playing right before your very eyes.

 “Oh-“ You gasp at the jump scare, nearly flinching out of your skin. You weren’t afraid but it did give you chills watching it alone in your big house at night- where was your silly husband? He should have already been home. You pause the movie bouncing off your bed while you snatch your cell phone. Sticking your feet into your fuzzy pink bunny slippers you padded out of the room and downstairs, texting on your phone.

~❤️Beloved❤️~

Me: Hey where are you? 

❤️Beloved❤️: I’m wrapping things up

Your lips twist as you pout. Maybe you can send him a little motivation. You pose for your picture taking a quick snap of your frilly pink nightgown

Me: *IMAGE SENT*

Me: Get here soon ~

❤️Beloved❤️: MOMMY?! SORRY! MOMMY?!!!? SORRY! 

You let out a boisterous laugh as you set your phone on the counter. Humming to yourself you open your cabinets, bouncing your hip as you look for a snack. “…Tell me what you want what you really really want~ imma tell ya want I want what I-“

*RING RING*

Your eyes drift to your phone as it plays your ringtone. Reaching for your device you looked at the screen, eyebrows furrowed.

Unknown

“Who… the fuck…” You toss your hair answering the phone. “Hello?” 

-“Hello?” A deep velvety voice speaks into your ear.

Your eyes widen at the sexy tone- catching you off guard but for a split second, quickly you screw your head back. You are married! 

“Hi, who is this?”

-“Who is this?” 

You release a snort, “You called me.”

-“Wait…” The deep voice pauses, “…What number is this?” 

You shake your head with a playful tone, “Dude are you high?”

-“I don’t know…” The man chuckles, “…Maybe.”

“Well~.” You say with a little sass. “I think you have the wrong number sir.”

-“Mm, do I?”

“Don’t worry, it happens. Take care.” You pull the phone away from your ear and hang up. ‘His voice was so hot.’ You let out a little laugh as you put your phone down and return to your earlier adventures. As soon as you took one step your phone rang again. You sigh as you see…

Unknown 

Picking up the phone you answer it with a drawled out, “Hellllo?”

-“I’m sorry sweetheart, I guess I dialed the wrong number…”

You roll your eyes putting your hand on your hip. “Sooo~ why did you dial it again?”

-“I just… wanted to apologize.”

“Okay, well I forgive you bye now-“

-“Wait wait-“ The man spoke almost urgently making you pause your thumb on the end call. “-Don’t hang up…”

You try not to smile too much, this guy just had this tone that had your heart stutter. You should hang up. You have a husband after all, but you were curious why he was trying to talk to you. So you humor yourself a little, and ask…

“Why?”

-“I want to talk to you for a second… you gotta cute voice.” Just by the play of his tone, you could tell he was smirking. 

You bite your lip but shake your head, looking at the Diamond ring that caught the light. “They have numbers for that, sorry I have to go now.” You quickly hang up not allowing him to sway you with his tempting voice. You let out a deep sigh, staring at your phone. You expected it to ring again but it didn’t. 

“Well, that’s that.” You whisper to yourself. 

You decide to have popcorn for your movie snack. Getting the box out you grab a pack and toss the empty container in the trash. Opening the microwave you stick the snack inside and shut it, hitting the popcorn button it buzzed to life. 

Dancing your nails on the counter you wait, looking at nothing in particular as you space out. 

*RING RING* 

You flinch from the unexpected noise breaking your peaceful silence. “Gaaaaah.” You stomp to your phone, and what do you know? It’s unknown again! You skip hello and go straight to. “What?”

The man hisses like he has been hurt, or he was smoking something. 

-“Why don’t you want to talk to me, sweetheart?” He exhales letting you know it was the latter. 

You cross your arms leaning against your counter. “Who is this?” 

-“You tell me your name… and I’ll tell you mine.”

You let out a sharp laugh, “Ha! Not gonna happen.”

There’s a little pause as the man smokes whatever it is he’s puffing on. Within that time your microwave beeps and you pop it open grabbing the buttery bag. Ugh, it’s not even fully done. You frown shaking the bag as you toss it back in and slam the door. Pushing the popcorn button two times for option two.

-“Whacha makin'?”

“Popcorn.” You say pushing start. 

-“Popcorn?” He almost sounded surprised. 

“Yah.”

-“I only eat popcorn at the movies.”

“Well… I’m watching a movie now.”

-“Really? Whatcha watching Barbie?”

“Haha because I’m a girl?” 

He snickers as you follow suit with a little bite of your lip walking around your kitchen. Why you were even entertaining this, you don’t even know but for some reason, you may not mind talking to this man. It’s not like you would do anything with him. He’s some random guy probably from a whole different state. Besides, you’re just talking, there’s no harm in that.

-“So? What are you watching?”

 “Ouija the origin of evil, with the little girls.”

-“Huh, a scary movie?”

“Yup, I like scary movies.” You lean on your counter eyeing the expensive knives your husband loves to buy. 

-“They don’t scare you?”

“Nu-uh.”

-“Ooo… a big girl. What’s your favorite scary movie?”

“Favorite? Hmm…” You hum playing with the biggest knife. “I liked… Split, i know it's not technically a scary movie but it was a cool thriller. James McAvoy killed that role."

-“Ah the guy with the multiple personalities?”

“Yeah, that one…what’s yours?”

-“Mm~ Guess.”

“Uuuum~.” You lick your lips, squinting your eyes as you try to imagine what a guy like this would like. You pop up excitedly shoving the knife back in place, “Strangers!” 

-“Ah~ I see what you did there.”

You chuckle a bit hearing his pleased tone at your little joke. “Hey that movie was kind of freaky, especially that part where it’s like ‘why are you doing this to us ’ and they say-“

-“Because you were home.”

“YES! Aaah! That’s sooo creepy!”

-“Haha yeah I like that movie it was scary…”

“Yeah, the first one but the rest weren’t as great.” You move around your house swaying as you walk, a playful bounce in your step. Gosh, it was like you were back in high school talking to your crush on the phone. There’s something about his voice that keeps you hooked. 

-"My favorite scary movie is Jeepers Creepers."

"Nooo~" You laugh playfully. "I love that movie too!"

-"Yeah? Sing the tune for me."

"Jeepers~ Creepers~"

-"Where'd ya get those sneakers~"

The two of you duet together as you do a little sway, and once it ends you giggle. "Ah~ I love a good horror movie with spooky tunes."

-"Yeeeah me too. Love that burnt fucker with the knives tune too."

You bite your nail playfulling, dragging it over your lip as you think about what you are doing. The girlie butterflies and everything were fine but... you should end this call, your husband will be home any second now. You opened your lips to say your goodbyes but then he asked-

-“Soooo does an Angel like you got a boyfriend?”

You pause mouth falling open, Angel!? Like you? This man was giving you butterflies without even trying! You let out a girlish giggle, “Whyy~ do you want to ask me out on a date or somethin’?” You pick up some mail busying yourself while talking on the phone. 

-“What if I do…?”

You separate what’s yours, fanning yourself with the magazines. “What if I do?”

-“Do you?”

“No.” 

Technically- you weren’t lying. You had a husband. 

-“Good…good…hey, you never did tell me your name…I would really like to know it.”

You toss the mail into their respectable baskets, as you flirt with Mr. Unknown. “Why do you want to know my name?”

-“Because I want to know who I’m checking out.”

Your eyes blink quickly, and your stomach drops. Did he just- “Wh-what did you say?” Your head swivels around quickly. 

-“I… want to know whose sweet voice this is.”

You feel a cold chill run up your spine as you start walking around locking your doors and windows. “Stop it! Th-that’s not what you said!”

-“What do you think I said?”

You gulp hard peeking out of your window, searching for anyone that shouldn’t be there. All you see are dark woods and grassy land that stretches for miles. 

-“Angel?…Hello?”

You pull your curtains closed shaking your head, you don’t like this anymore. This just turned extra creepy. “I-I gotta go.”

-“What? I thought we were going to go out?”

“No, thank you.”

-“Wait-! don’t you dare hang up on me-“

You were already in motion hanging up the phone as you walked swiftly down your hall checking every corner with panicky orbs. 

*RING RING RING*

The sudden noise makes your chest tight, and seeing UNKNOWN on your screen constricts it even more. Someone has to be playing a joke on you! That’s the only logical thing here, right?

You answer the phone, “Who is this!”

-“I told you not to hang up on me.” The man sounded almost irritated with you but you didn’t care.

“This isn’t funny anymore! I don’t know who is pranking me but I’m over this!”

-“What? No no~ this isn’t a prank sweetheart, I just want to talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you!” You quickly

hang up marching to the kitchen. 

*Ring Ring*

You grit your teeth picking up the phone, “LISTEN ASSHOLE-“

-“NO YOU LISTEN YOU LITTLE BITCH, YOU HANG UP ON ME AGAIN AND I’LL GUT YOU LIKE A FISH AND EAT YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

You had frozen in fear listening to his sadistic words. Chest rising and falling quickly as you began to freak out. 

-“DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”

He shouted at you again making you flinch. Quickly you uttered a “Yes-“ your voice cracking at the end of it.

- “Yeah…much better.” The unknown man chuckled.

You had to fight back tears as you spoke, “Is…Is this some kind of sick joke…”

-“No… think of it more like a game. Can you handle playing a game with me…pinky?”

You gasped running out into your hall as you duck down low, the only safe place where there was no way anyone could see you. Crawling to your window you peeked out with searching eyes. 

-“Can you see me?”

You swallow harshly, trying to catch your frantic breathing, “You better leave me alone or I’m calling the police!”

-He clicks his tongue, “See you live in the middle of bum fuck nowhere ill be done with you waaaay before they could get here.”

You slide down the side of your wall, holding a shakey hand to your lips, “Wh-what do you want!”

-“To fuck your stupid little brains out.” 

You gasped at the vulgarity pulling the phone away from you as you hung up, tears streaming down your cheeks as you held your knees to your chest trying your best not to panic. 

*DING DONG DING DONG!*

You scream throwing yourself away from the door, crawling down your hall as you quickly get up and clutch your phone to your chest. “Who’s there!” Your voice quivers in terror, but no one answers. “WHO’S THERE!” You shake your head looking at your phone. “I’M CALLING THE POLICE!” 

*RING RING * 

“AH!” You scream fumbling your phone as you quickly answer it. “WHAT!”

-“You should never say ‘whose there’ don’t you watch scary movies- it’s a damn death wish. Your dumbass might as well come out and investigate a straaange noise or something.”

You suck in a heavy breath slowly backing away from your front door. “Look… you had your f-fun now!"

-"Are you crying? You trying to flirt with me or something? That shit turns me on."

" Y-you better leave me alone right now or else!" Your voice was trembling as much as your body was. 

-“Ooor else what?” He taunts. 

“O-or else my husband will be-be here any minute now and he will be pissed!”

-“Aw~ I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend?”  

“I have a husband, not a boyfriend! -hiccup- he will be here so you-you BETTER leave!”

-“Suure~ sure…”

You shook your head not liking his condescending tone, “I-I swear! You-hiccup- better be gone! My husband is a fighter and-hiccup- he’s the fucking strongest!”

-“The strongest? Would he beat me in a match~?”

“YES! HE WOULD WIN! HE’D BEAT YOUR ASS!”

-“Oooh~ I’m really shaking in my boots now…” 

You hold your chest with a flat hand, the pain becoming too unbearable. Your words were causing no fear to this cocky bastard, but still you double down. “HE WOULD WIN HE WOULD WIN- SO… s-so-hiccup- you better just leave…!”

-“His name wouldn’t happen to be…Gojo Satoru…would it?”

You inhaled sharply, “H-how do you…how do you know his name…?”

-“Turn on the patio lights…”

You didn’t know what you expected to see and you hoped to the high heavens it wasn’t your husband. And if it was, you hoped that he and his friends would be out there and yell surprise- telling you it was all a prank. Gojo loved pranks. This one was a terrible- terrible- one but you’d forgive him because you’d be so happy that this wasn’t real. You would be relieved. So so-relieved. 

Your shakey hand raises as you walk toward the back sliding doors. Flicking the light on. As soon as you did it illuminated Gojo tied to a chair with blood on his head and tape on his mouth. His blue eyes widen in fear when they meet your own. 

“HM!” His screams were muffled as he tried to wiggle out of the restraints. 

“SATORU!” You cried as you quickly opened the door, but a masked figure came out of nowhere and slammed it shut. 

You seized in shock- face to face with a morphed ghost mask. The man wore an all-black outfit. Tight black t-shirt, black combat pants, black combat boots, and black tactical gloves to finish the look. His muscles were huge- bulging out of his shirt with black tattoos on his arms. Just the sight of him both frightened and compelled you at the same time.

The tip of a very sharp knife tapped the glass shaking you out of whatever spell you were locked in. 

"Hey! Pay attention, sweetheart, I almost lost you there."

"What do you want!" You scream at him.

He shook his head in disbelief. 

"I just told you, what are you deaf? We're going to have a little fun alright? Now turn off the lights and get back on the phone."

Your eyes dart behind him to your beaten-up husband, "Don't hurt hi-"

"TURN OFF THE LIGHTS"

You let out a soft whine as you slide toward the light, fingers shaking as you flick it off. You could no longer see Gojo and the man disappeared into the darkness. Shakily raising the phone to your ear you stare into the abyss of darkness. 

-"Now...as I was saying. Let's make things... interesting. I want to play a game. Some scary movie trivia. If you guess right your husband lives, guess wrong, and... well he dies. Simple right? The first question... I just quoted a movie, what movie is it from?"

You were so zapped, the mental exhaustion taking a toll on you. You heard the man speak but his words lagged in your mind, having a hard time processing everything. Yet you knew he was toying with you, putting Gojo's life in your hands. You sniffled with a painful expression. "I-I don't w-want t-to please-"

-"Aww~ Come on sweetheart you can do it~. I just gave you an easy one. 'I want to play a game'... what movie is that from."

You rub at your eyes, they itched from all your crying, "Uh...It's...it's saw..."

-"Ding ding~ You got it! See that wasn't so hard..."

You felt slight relief but then he said-

-"Last question."

"Noooo!" You groaned in despair, the game was still not over and you didn't think this sick bastard was going to play fair.

-"Alright, who's the killer in Split?"

You jolted up, "Kevin Wendell Crumb! His name is Kevin Wendell Crumb!" 

-"EEEEEH- Wrong!"

"Wait what! Yes! That was his actual name! It's Kevin I've seen the movie a thousand times!"

-"Then you should know the true killer is the beast one of the many split personalities inside Kevin! Say goodbye to your husband!"

He fucking tricked you! 

"NO!" You slapped the light on but you were too late. Gojo had a knife sticking in his stomach as he steadily choked on blood gasping for air. "NOOOOO!" You screamed hitting the glass in frustration.

-"Alright next question."

"I'M NOT PLAYING YOUR STUPID GAMES!"

-"Tch- suit yourself-"

*CRASH*

You screamed as the man crashed into the window like a freight train. Within a flash, you were running, gunning it up your steps. You bust into your room with a gasp throwing yourself on the floor as you slide under your bed. You slapped a hand over your mouth as you heard the heavy boots drum up your steps and plant in your hallway.

 "Oh~" The man drawls, "If you wanted to play hide and seek why didn't you say so? I like this game too..."

 You quickly hang up your phone realizing you are still on the line with the stranger. With your hand suffocating your mouth- trying to trap any sounds from escaping, you shakily unlock your phone.

The man's boots thudded into the room, your eyes widened as you watched them prowl across the floor like a hunting lion. He stopped abruptly, a pair of your pink panties on the floor. "You really like pink doll face." He bent down to pick them up, knees bent as he crouched. You scooted a bit over just in case he looked this way. You heard him inhale deeply- was he smelling your underwear? He let out a pleased sigh, standing up to his full length. "One... two i'm coming for- you!" He kicked in your closet door open the wood cracking loudly with a loud bang.

You quickly began to scroll for your friend's number, she was the closest to you and she and her husband were hunters. Your fingers could barely function as you began to text her. Your nails get in the way or make a loud tapping noise when it thuds on the screen. You grit your teeth wanting to rip them off.

 "Three four you better lock the- door!"

You jolted as he kicked open your bathroom door. Splinters hitting the floor.

*Best Bitch Ever*

Me: Helo helo

Me:Help help

Me:someine is trying to kill me

She had your location, she knew where you were.

"Five six grab your crucifix!"

He was in your bathroom now tearing down your shower curtain. Slowly you started inching toward the door. You froze when he came back into the room singing.

"Seven eight you better stay awake!" he threw off your many pillows, stuffed toys, and blankets. The bed squeaked due to his weight.

You paused in fear, there was only one more spot for him to check. You were practically on the other side of the bed opposite of him. You were getting ready to roll out and run like hell

"Nine ten never sleep...-"

*Ding* Best Bitch Ever Notification!

You froze in horror not realizing your phone was not in silent mode. Everything went still. You didn't dare breathe.

Within the next second, his Ghostface popped down next to you, "There you are ya little bitch!"

A terrifying scream scratched your throat as you crawled to the other side. A gloved hand gripped your ankle as he dragged you out from underneath the bed.

"Never hide under the bad! Another horror 101!" He growled as you screamed kicking your feet wild as your bunny flippers fly off. "Fuck-" He tripped over the pillows, his grip letting up just enough for you to wiggle free and jump up. 

You ran out of the room nearly hitting the wall. Tumbling forward you made a sharp turn to jog down the stairs but in your haste, you tripped on your feet and tumbled the rest of the way. One moment you were fine and the next moment flashed before your eyes and then you were groaning laid out on your back at the bottom of the steps. Your vision was hazy as you rolled your head to look at the dark figure standing at the top of the steps.

His head slowly clocked to the side as he clicked his tongue while tapping his knife against his pants. "Tsk Tsk tsk- carelessly falling down the steps too? My sweet angel, now you're just begging for it." The man began to descend. The sound of his boots dropping heavy with each step had your heart picking up.

A low groan left your lips, your mind trying to come back together as your blurry vision adjusted. Your body aching but begging you to get up. Your double vision adjusted and you were able to slowly get up on your elbows and start to crawl back. "N-no... please-" You beg as he got closer. Your adrenaline rose as you started moving a bit quicker, but not fast enough.

 He was upon you, feet planted on both sides of your frame as you whimpered looking up at this monster of a man. Trembling as you shed more tears begging him over and over again, "Please please please..."

"Aw~" He coos. "Now I know you are flirting with me." He adjusts his hard-on as he lets out a twisted moan. "What would your husband think? Oh wait-"

"Noooohooo ah-!" You cry using your last bit of strength to quickly scurry backward but the man is upon you, dropping his weight on you so he can pin you down.

You scream and thrash and kick and slap and punch and do all you can but the man is an absolute unit. Your fighting doing absolutely nothing to him, but tiring yourself out. 

The man stabs the wood floor right next to your face making you scream in terror. He grabbed your flailing arms and pinned you down by your wrist making you twist and turn, trying to wiggle out. He sat on your hips, your legs kicking wildly behind him. The knife taunting you, right by your very face. You could see your reflection in it as you cried in defeat, settling down. The man was much too strong for you to even do anything. He was sitting on you without breaking a sweat. Watching you with sick fascination. You couldn't see his eyes, but you could feel it.

"Ya done?" The man chuckled above you.

You say nothing as you pant heavily, staring at the very weapon that just may end your life.

"I asked you a question. Don't you know it's rude to ignore people?"

You gulp down the need to point out the pure hypocrisy of his words. Slowly you nod your head.

"Good." He gives you a light squeeze to your wrist as a warning to his next words, "Now stay still..." He drifts off yanking the knife out of the floor.

You shook your head resuming your fighting, "No no please don't kill me!"

He grabs you by the neck and presses the flat end of the knife against your collarbone. Your head hikes up, afraid to be cut. The message was loud and clear, but he repeated it for you just for clarification.

 "Stay. Still."

You blink up at the black sockets of his mask, hoping he could see your pleading gaze. Hoping it would pull on his heartstrings and he'd show you mercy, but deep down you felt it only truly turned him on more.

He leaned his head as he followed his blade. Guiding it smoothly over your skin. He teased you like a lover would, slipping the tip underneath the thin straps of your skimpy pink gown. 

He jerked his hand-

The sudden movement made you flinch. Your chest quivers as he moves to the other strap to repeat the same movement, but this time you hissed as your flesh stings. A red beading line appears right above your tit.

"Oops..." He breathes, not a hint of remorse in his voice. He leans down, pulling his mask up a bit as he licks at your breast.

"Nh-" You watched his tongue collect the blood greedily. You could see hints of tattoos on his face but then he pulled back adjusting his mask back in place. 

He shifts lifting up as he drags the knife up your thigh. You whimper when you feel it pass by your panties and up further underneath your dress. You suck in your stomach squeezing your eyes shut in fear. The knife glides up in between your breasts, and then he flips it, yanking back as he cuts off your bra and dress. 

You let out a cry as you become exposed. You quickly cover yourself, as the man slides the knife into your panties. He cuts your thigh in the process making you whine.

"Sorry~ Looks like I did it again. Your blood is...soo~ beautiful." He groans swiping his knife through your panties like butter.

You received another cut on your other thigh. "AH-" That one stung. 

You heard a deep growl, as he watched the blood spill a bit. Quickly he pulls back and tosses up your legs by your thighs. With the knife tight in his grip he bends down to again lick at your leg like a dog. He moaned as he switched to your other thigh sucking on the flesh.

You had to hold in a moan, he was so close to your most intimate spot. You could see a bit more of his masculine chin, and something compelled you to reach down and snatch his mask off. You pulled back with a gasp as he looked up at you with red lustful eyes, licking his bloody lips. You couldn't believe how unbelievably handsome he was. Tattoos lined his jawline and even peaked out from his neck. He also had a weird tattoo on his forehead. Pinkish black hair spiked up with an undershave. The devil shouldn't be this beautiful.

 He flashes you a devilish smirk. "Now who told you to do that?" He questions slipping his mask away from you with delicate aggression. "Imma have to punish you for that..." He lifts his knife and licks it. He sounds animalistic- lost in the bloodlust. Excitement sparkles in his eyes as he presses the knife on your stomach, ready to cut.

"Y-You know it's- it's-it's my birthday..." You sniffle weakly.

His head leaned with a questioning cock to it, eyebrows raising. "Is it now?"

You nod slowly, "Mhm..."

"Well? Why didn't you say so sweetheart?" He chuckled sliding the knife in its placeholder around his thigh.

Hope struck you to the core, "A-are you going to let me go?"

He threw his head back in a mocking chuckle, biting the ends of the mask with his teeth as he pulled it back over his head and with one hand. Then he nodded his head. "Sure~... after I fuck your brains out."

You are fueled with frustration and terror as you begin to fight again. He laughs at your futile attempts. You kick off him, flipping over as you quickly try to get up on your feet but he climbs on your back, pushing you down on the ground. You whine and squirm, as he fishes out his cock. You felt him press into your surprisingly wet cunt. Your screams morph into a low moan as he has no trouble bullying his way into you.

"Fuck- are you always this wet angel?" He moans deeply into your ear as he rolls his hips. "Or is it just for me?" 

"Ah-~st-stop!" 

"Stop?" He questions as he does nothing of the sort. "Why would I stop when your pussy is begging for it? don't you hear it?"

You could hear exactly what he was referring to. You were so wet his dick was squelching inside of you, making lewd noises as he thrust in and out.

But you shook your head, "No no! I-It hurts! It hurts!" You were babbling about nonsense too dizzy on his cock to say anything else. 

He already proved his point but he wanted to nail this shit into the coffin. He grabbed your neck from behind, choking you as he pulled you up on your hands. He moved his phone in front of your face, the video recording your very wanton face.

"Look at yourself angel." He chuckled as he bounced you back and forth on his cock. Face maske pressed to your side with his gloved hand around your neck like a choker. "Now you tell me- if this looks like a bitch in pain?"

You looked at yourself with teary eyes, watching this masked man fuck you from behind. Tits swaying as your back arches for more. "N-ah~" You couldn't even speak your words of denial, your mind becoming hazy with it all. Your legs tremble as you feel your body flutter in euphoric flurries.

"Su-" Your vision spots for a split second. Your moans being choked out of you.

"Oh fuck-" The man growled letting you go. You gasped for air as he sat his phone against the wall so you could still watch yourself. Watch as he grabs your hips and abuses your pussy. 

"Fuck-fuck-" He curses as you wail in pleasure, orgasming overcoming you. "That's right bitch-cum on my cock-" 

Your eyes rolled as you came with a shout. The man went into a sort of frenzy. Bucking wildly as he chased his high. 

"Please ah-no! Don't cum in me! Take it out!" You scream in horror.

He let out a loud moan, flinching as he did exactly what you said not to do.

"Nooooh~" You whine feeling his cock twitch inside of you, filling you up with his seed. You drop your sweaty forehead to the ground, panting.

The man went soft inside you, yet he didn't pull out. Keeping you plugged up with his cum. You felt him shift forward, his knife coming around to sit on your neck as you gasped pitifully. "Why-why me?"

He chuckled in your ear, "Because... you were home..."

You whined, squeezing your eyes shut as you slowly raised your hands into a triangle shape. "Domain expansion: Safespace~"

Right after you said that both of you laughed.

"Did you like that?" Sukuna pulled off his mask as you looked back at him with loving eyes. 

"I~ Set it up for you, what else were you going to say?"

"Don't be sassy with me."

You giggle as he pulled back, sharing a sweet kiss followed by multiple pecks. Then he was pulling out of you, tucking himself away. Helping you up. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." You smile as he bends down to scoop you up in one arm.

"I didn't cut you too bad? You used our soft safeword." He questions you earnestly, walking you into the kitchen as he sets you down on the marble counter.

Yes- It's my birthday- was your 'soft' safeword. It was used in a way to not completely take you guys out of role play but to shift whatever was going on. At that moment you were nervous about getting cut more. "I know~ How much you want to carve your name into me Sukuna." You look at him with a playful glint in your eye.

He chuckles, "If you aren't ready for it it's fine baby, I just want to make sure you are okay. I don't want to push you to something you aren't ready for. I mean, I got three cuts off before you called it." He speaks while grabbing the first aid kit and tending to your wounds. 

You twist your lips feeling as though you failed him by using your soft safeword. Guilt tickles your stomach.

"Aye." Sukun taps your chin with two fingers, "What's with the face? That's one more cut from last time?"

You shrug. "I guess... i just feel like i ruined it... ya know?"

He grabs your face between his hands, so you can't look away, "I can do without the cutting, it doesn't matter. I enjoyed this entire night baby. Did you?"

You give him a little laugh, "I mean could you not tell by how wet I was?"

He nodded his head with a sly lick of his lips, "Yeah, you were hella wet. I heard you almost said my name."

"I know! You should've given me your name so I could have said it! Ugh!"

Sukuna gives you an evil laugh knowing just how much you love to say his name during sex. "Thought it be fun if I were nameless." He gives you a quick peck going back to your cuts.

You roll your eyes with a huff, "So mean to me~Also! For the record that fall downstairs was not planned!"

"I know I was waiting for you to say the safeword so I went a bit slower."

"I know~ Thank you~." You throw your arms around his neck as he slots between your legs. "I love you so much~"

"I love you too... happy anniversary."

He circles his arms around you as he leans in to kiss you deeply. 

There was a loud bang separating the two of you.

Soon Shoko ran in holding a shotgun toward the two of you, "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU SICK-"

"Domain expansion safe space."

"Oh." Shoko stands up straight laying her gun on her shoulder. 

The three of you chuckle as Shoko looks around the house, "Damn Sukuna you fucked this place up."

"He busted through the window!" 

Sukuna nods his head, "I always wanted to do that- but I'll fix everything-"

Getou came running in on the other side of the kitchen, "GET AWAY FROM HER-"

"Domain expansion safe space!"

"Oh- you couldn't have texted us before we got here?"

"We like just finished!" Sukuna took off his shirt so you could pull it over your nude body.

Getou sighs dejectedly, "Man I really wanted to shoot you this time."

Sukuna rolls his eyes, "Maybe next time."

The couple wished you guys a happy anniversary one last time before they said their goodbyes, and departed.

Crawling into bed together, you snuggled up next to Sukuna with a satisfied hum, "Just for the record I did know that the beast was the killer in the movie." You pop your lips making your husband chuckle. 

"Sure you did~"

"You know that's my favorite movie-"

"HELLO~ what's the safeword again?! my arms are killing me and I have to piss!"

Both of you pause as you hear a voice from outside.

"Did we leave Gojo tied up?"

"Eh~ Let's leave him out there till the morning."

You heard a sound click as the sprinklers turned on followed by a pitiful scream.

"PINEAPPLE! JUSTIN BEIBER- AH JENNIFER LAWRENCE?! WHAT'S THE DAMN SAFEWORD!?

You sigh as you pick up your phone, "I'll call Shoko."

~~~~~~

[david-talks-sw]

hey david! Do you have any George quotes regarding the final Vader vs Obi wan fight? Like did obi wan deliberately throw that fight and let vader kill him or did vader win the duel and obi wan did the Force ghost thing as a last resort?

Here's the quotes I could find that are relevant to the subject:

"A particular case is the confrontation between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. You know there's something, some relationship they have to each other, 'cause they talk about meeting again ‘and now I'm going to get you’ and all this kind of stuff."

"So there's some kind of old battle going on that we don't know anything about that works amazingly well considering that all it is, is ultimately this one scene between him and Tarkin where he says, “He's here. He's come for me. And it's our destinies to meet up again. And I'm gonna handle this myself. I have to."

"This confrontation with Obi-Wan and Vader— it works just as a confrontation between the good guy and the bad guy. I mean, he’s— Obi-Wan's, at this point, the strongest good guy. He’s the one that has the most knowledge— the father figure that has taken on Luke. Then you have the bad father figure who is the evil father."

"And the subtext of this, which is that this is the culmination of a larger issue… has never really played, I think, for people. It's really just the confrontation between bad and good. Then the surprise at the end of this, is that: Vader doesn't kill him… but that he's able to join the Force, and by being one with the Force, influence things in a more powerful way than he can just being a Jedi." - A New Hope, Commentary Track, Special Edition DVD, 2004

"When he loses Ben, [Luke] freaks out. He’s depressed and all the things that you would be. But Ben has put that idea in him that things happen naturally and there’s also this other thing that’s never explained, which is that he allowed himself to be killed. He didn’t really die. He disappeared. There’s more to this than just a death. Later on in the movie, Luke hears Ben say, “Use the Force!” It mitigates that loss a little bit, because he knows Ben’s somewhere and that something’s going on." - The Star Wars Archives: 1977-1983, 2018

So there you have it.

In a destined confrontation between good and evil, good triumphs not by defeating evil but by ascending and growing beyond it.

So it feels to me that it's a "when in Rome" kind of decision on Obi-Wan's part, wherein he realizes he won't win this fight, and so he decides to make his end meaningful, so that he can show Luke that death is not the end of the journey... he's joining the Force.

Now, if we're talking power-scaling...

... you could argue that Ben might have put up more of a fight, had it been necessary.

George acknowledges that Ben's an old man when explaining the more dynamic fights in the Prequels... but back in the early days, he ranked him as more powerful than Vader/equal to the Emperor.

"Maybe we should set up some kind of levels of achievement. Ben can say that Luke is now a level 2 and Vader is a 4; ‘‘I was a 6 and the Emperor is a 6, and he’s on his way to becoming a 10, which will be a force so powerful in the universe that nothing can stop him. You must stop the Emperor before he achieves the level 10.’’" - Story converence, 1977, as transcribed in The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, 2010

"[Vader] ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than the Emperor. So that isn’t what the Emperor had in mind." - Vanity Fair, 2005

Now, the first one is an old quote from the development of Empire Strikes Back, when the story was very different; it's take it or leave it, if you ask me. Power-scaling is invented to justify storytelling, so if the story changes, it's not guaranteed the power-scale remains.

But if you're going by "everything Lucas said is canon!" rules then you could make the argument that, in terms of power...

If Ben = Emperor and Emperor > Vader then Ben > Vader.

And thus can argue that Ben might've beaten Vader if this confrontation was/turned into more of a Force-based contest than a physical one.

[toskarin]

A question of curiosity - assuming you play them due to your involvement with a bunch of them, what are your favourite kinds of characters (be it mechanically or narratively) to play in TTRPGS? And do you have any associated anecdotes to go with them?

courtesy readmore

mechanically kinda depends on what's on the menu, but if it's combat-focused, I personally really enjoy characters who "deny" things

not really the kind of character who I'd ever expect a GM to put in their element on purpose (I usually make a conscious effort to remind the GM of things I'm capable of so that I don't trample on any fun setpieces) but definitely the kind of character who modifies objectives just by being in play. I also like magic-users in concept, but that's more of a flavour thing

I think that's reflected a good bit in the kind of narrative play I enjoy, too. when I make a character, I prefer to do it with the rest of the party in mind, less to make the character "compatible" and more to make them sharply contrast in ways that encourage the other characters to have moments where they can reaffirm who they are (both in narrative and out of narrative)

there's a fine balance to strike here. on one end of things, you risk yes-manning so hard that the party quickly becomes a problem solving engine with a single striking surface. on the other end of the things, you risk being The Chaotic Neutral Guy

the space in the middle there represents the characters that people often want to regularly interact with, but rarely want to play. the sort of character who isn't actively disruptive, but raises a lot of red flags when they suddenly show enthusiastic agreement for what you're doing. the kind of character you almost need a diminished sense of discomfort to play without getting in your own feelings about

I adore playing characters who are catered to find plot hooks in other players' characters and tug them just enough to pull them to the surface

most parties have characters who disagree on things that aren't easily resolved. that's always fun, but (because people courteously tend to avoid conflict) it's very rare for those conflicts to come up without GM prompting, and "create productive conflict between two characters without leaving out the rest of the characters or starting a fight between players" is often an equally uncomfortable situation for a GM

lots of fun directions to take it!

have an arc that would benefit from a character taking charge but their player doesn't feel comfortable just Doing That? it helps to have someone else try to take charge who obviously should not be allowed, just to get everyone behind the alternative

have someone with a pure heart who doesn't really get to show that in a party of players who don't want to be mean? maybe someone who's a little more morally-compromised could give them a window for explaining what they actually believe

have a character who's part of some mysterious cult that nobody else is going to find the time to look into? the party could benefit from having a nosy character to justify cracking open that backstory

GM needs to fuck something up to remind the party of how dangerous things are? why not add to the mood by showing what your often-cold character looks like when something manages to actually upset them

[WARNING: DOING ANY OF THIS WALKS THE PRECARIOUSLY THIN LINE BETWEEN BEING COMPELLING AND BEING ANNOYING]

observant readers (well, those who have followed for a while) might have noticed I periodically go on rants about the much-maligned "evil character in a good party" and how both sides of the argument represent a communication and courtesy breakdown. that also very much ties into this sort of thing. I won't go over Tolerable Villainy 101 again, but you get the idea

distilled, I like playing the sort of thoroughly worldly bastards who often end up important in their own right, but mostly on accident, by virtue of being important to what makes other characters compelling

[madschiavelique]

Hello!

Sorry if you don't write for halsin, I didn't see bg3 characters on your list of who you write for on the pinned post. I was wondering if you could write a Halsin x fem reader where she is the leader of the tieflings at the Grove. They could be competitive or just learning how to work together for their people's interest. I think that could be a really interesting dynamic to explore. SFW or NSFW both sound good, so whatever inspires you.

Thank you so much!!

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ pairing : halsin x tiefling fem!reader

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ content warning : a bit of angst but mostly fluff (with some hurt/comfort), kagha being an absolute bitch, mentions of blood and wounds (healer gets hurt but don't worry halsin heals her), other than that lots of fluff, fem!reader, tiefling reader, no use of y/n

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ words : 8,8k

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ author's note : okay so just to say i did not intend this to be as long and if it wasn't for me having life happening i would have made it longer by writing a smut, but hey if u guys want smut from this one i'd GLADLY write it. it took me time to write it also because i had another idea originally but it would have been way too long and have much less tension and would develop the reader too much rather than her connection to halsin SO YEA enjoy hihi

( proofread by the lovely @gracethyomen ☆)

Your people were watching you with concern as you walked down the slope towards the druids' quarters. The little ones had come to you in a panic while you were talking to Zevlor.

All you'd managed to decipher was ‘Arabella, druid, snake’, and you were on your way to sort things out.

You and your group of tieflings had been living in the grove for barely a week. At first the druids welcomed you with open arms, Nettie even allowed you access to the basements and other caverns of the place.

It was an ideal place for tieflings. Although the majority of the grove was outside where you could spend time close to nature, much of the area was sheltered by the shade of the rocks. Your race had become accustomed to living in underground spaces, so what better place to stay than here.

What's more, there were enough cellars and basements to house everyone. Plus, you didn't just stand there and do nothing, you took part in the life of the grove. Whether it was Mattis and his rings to sell or Dammon and his weapons, you were helping out with the trade, and you'd ordered that you and your people should take part in the life of the grove so that everyone didn't look like a green plant in the background.

However, the druids had become bitter of late, and the hospitality you so cherished seemed to be fading as tensions rose. On the one hand, the druids were casting evil glances at the tieflings, claiming that the latter were destroying the larders by their mere presence and that they were an evil people ready to destroy the peace of nature for whatever reason linked to their nature.

On the other hand, the tieflings were defending themselves as best they could by providing manpower for the security of the grove, not lowering the prices of their trade under any circumstances, and getting angry at the treatment they were receiving.

And out of those sides, in the centre, only two people managed to calm the situation: you and Halsin.

You didn't see much of him, as he seemed more preoccupied these days with the problems affecting the area around the little haven of peace, so he was frequently absent. But it had already been more than two days since Halsin had disappeared, and the conflicts in the grove were escalating.

Locke and Komira came towards you as you approached, the tiefling woman suffocating between tears and panic:

“It's Arabella, they took her and they won't let me see her,” she managed to say.

You put your hand on her shoulder to reassure her, ‘I know, I'll take care of it, okay?’

You walked down the few steps towards the fountain where a meditation session was taking place around an idol. Suspicions of a ritual aimed at closing the grove to the world ran from one mouth to the next, a further sign of the descent into ostracism of the latter. Angry druids acted as smugglers, dictating who or what could pass through.

“Stop right here, step back and join the other tieflings”, Jeorna said mechanically, arms folded defensively.

“Let me through, you and I both know I can solve this without any blood baths.” You weren't necessarily strong, nor did you have an innate talent for fighting, but if there was one thing you knew how to do it was to be eloquent, enough you hoped to allow all these worries to be sorted out.

Jeorna pouted, chewing the inside of her cheek as she gave you a simple nod towards the druids' stone door.

“Thank you,” you thanked hastily as you hurried towards it. 

You felt the heavy gaze of all the druids on your back, the weight of your responsibility and your difference in this environment becoming almost suffocating.

You walked past the wall, down the small staircase to the druidic quarters. Kagha was there, next to Arabella, who looked simply terrified. Your eyes fell on the rock beside the girl, the glint of the druidess's vicious pet snake ready to attack at any moment.

“What's going on?” you asked as you approached. 

All eyes turned to you, Arabella's filled with hope while Kagha's face contorted as if a pestilential smell had suddenly taken over the place.

“What are you doing here?” she stormed.

“And what are you doing here ?” you asked back, maintaining a firm tone.

“One of your kind has tried stealing the idol of Silvanus, a punishment is required for such an act.”

“So you'd be ready to threaten a child's life for a... piece of rock?” you asked, confused.

Kagha parted her lips, preparing to reply something, but the very simplicity of your sentence seemed to bring her back down to earth. This little affront, though, which in her eyes seemed designed to belittle Kagha's credulity in the eyes of the druids, made her boil internally.

“I maintain, a punishment will result for her.” she grimaced, her face bitter and twisted with anger.

“If anyone is going to be punished, it certainly won't be a child.” Your eyes lowered to Arabella, her eyes full of tears, “Let me receive what she must receive.”

The other druids took offence in murmurs, a cloud of low whispers encircling you all as you kept your eyes on Kagha.

“Nonsense,” she laughed, a touch of panic and surprise taking over her tone, “she's the criminal in this instance.”

“Since when do we judge children as criminals in this way?” You raised an eyebrow, shrugging your shoulders in incomprehension. “Kagha, this goes against every principle of your order.”

“Don't talk to me about principles, you vermin.’

Any diplomacy you might have shown was slowly fading as Kagha showed her true colours.

“Kagha,” Rath said as if he'd just been punched in the stomach by hearing her speak like that, “stop this nonsense.”

You took a step towards her, then a second, approaching her slowly and never taking your eyes off her. Some people see the underworld in the horns and tails of the tiefling, but your gaze burned with the fires of the Nine Hells.

“And what are you going to do, hm?” you asked as your face came so close to her you could feel her quick breath against your cheeks, “trap me in vines ? get your little pet to bite me wherever you please ?”

“Don't give me ideas,” she added in an evil, mocking tone, “my judgement will be-”

“What is going on?”

All eyes turned towards the entrance to the room, except yours, which remained riveted on Kagha. You hadn't seen much of him, but you knew his voice well enough to recognise him: Halsin.

Kagha took a step away, quickly whispering to her snake to come back to her before saluting, full of surprise: 

“Halsin, you're back.”

Arabella ran towards you, gripping your thigh tightly with her little arms as you felt the fabric of your trousers dampen with her tears.

You tilted your head to the side, still watching Kagha. You had this deep longing, this need for her to remember your gaze, to remember for all the days to come of her eternal life that she would know the anger you bore for all your kind nestled just in your eyes.

Halsin came down the steps, his two arms tensed by the two huge baskets he was carrying. He came towards you, his eyebrows furrowing as he watched Arabella's back twitch. You put your hand on her hair, stroking it gently as she turned her head and her teary eyes met Halsin's. 

He turned to Kagha, who still looked as surprised as ever.

“What is the meaning of this ?” he asked, confused.

Kagha fixed her gaze on yours, expecting you to reveal everything in your embittered state. You stared at her for a long time, then turned to Arabella, exhaling in relief.

“Nothing,” you managed to say calmly, “Arabella just got lost and was scared by the wolves.”

The druids' animals were a perfect excuse for the moment, and Kagha was looking at you with huge eyes. You weren't trying to fuel the fire of hatred, you were trying to calm it down and eventually extinguish it so that you could live together in peace. Throwing her to Halsin’s wrath wouldn’t help either of your peoples. 

Halsin smiled, his eternal gentleness spreading across his face as he knelt beside Arabella. She sniffed, clutching tightly at the fabric of your trousers.

“I can see how they might frighten you, but they've got a good heart,” he said.

He lowered his hand to one of the baskets, taking a handful of wild strawberries that he'd gone to pick along with some other medicinal herbs. He took a small brown cloth bag and poured the red fruits into it. 

“Here,” he said, handing the small bag to Arabella.

She took it in her hand, smiling at him as she sniffed from the tears.

“She should thank you,” said Kagha.

Her venom clearly knew no bounds, and the acrimony you felt towards her was not about to subside.

“She's had a great scare, I'm not going to ask her to be polite,” asserted Halsin.

“Come on sweetheart,” you said, taking Arabella's free hand, “let's get you back to your parents, okay?”

She nodded, squeezing your hand as you headed for the exit. You gave Kagha one last dark look, her eyebrows furrowing as she bit the inside of her mouth.

You took the little girl back to her parents, who took her in their arms. They dried her tears and asked if she was all right, if anyone had hurt her.

“This needs to stop,” said one of the tiefling, “we can't live in fear of what they'll do to us all the time.”

And he was right, you had to find a way to keep your people safe. When evening came, you went up to the telescope that Nadira was occupying, assuring her that she could go to sleep.

You needed a break from all the pressure. You were trying to prevent a conflict breaking out between two completely different peoples who had to live together. The prejudices of your race didn't leave you with an easy task, and this supposed ritual that the druids had started...

You watched the stars, hoping they would give you advice and answers to your questions.

“Beautiful, isn't it ?”

You almost jumped as you turned your head towards Halsin, who came to sit across from you on the cut log.

“Nature has always brought beauty everywhere, in the skies, on the grounds, even in people,” he smiled, resting his forearms on his knees.

You sighed, watching the skies. “If only all people had the beauty you speak of within them.”

"It's a part of nature to be as deadly as it is beautiful.” he said, shrugging as his eyes drifted to the sky in turn. “Plants will make their poisons, predators will make their prey, roses will make their thorns. It's a part of it, just like within each and everyone of us lives a part of light and a part of darkness. We're made in nature's image, after all.”

You leaned back on the rock against which you were sitting, looking at him. He was so serene, so gentle. It seemed impossible at the time to consider that he had any darkness in him.

“What can a rose do against a sheep and its hunger?” you asked, curious.

He laughed softly, his eyes landing on yours as he faced you. “I guess she can't do much, she can try her best with her claws but... nature is as beautiful as it is cruel.”

There was a melancholy in his sentence, hidden behind the softness of his smile.

“Has nature disappeared in the Shadowlands?”

His smile slowly faded, his honey-coloured eyes illuminated by the moon watching you.

“It has not disappeared,” he said, “it has... shifted, been turned into something dark, something undead that defies the laws of nature itself.”

You nodded, your tail coming to rest on your lap.

“Maybe the shadowlands is the only place where the rose can sting the sheep,” you said, gently brushing away the dust that had settled on your skin.

You could feel him looking at you, and you didn't know whether you wanted him to go on forever, or for your eyes to meet his and for him to look away.

“Is that why you're so absent from the grove?” you asked as you finally found the strength to look up and meet his eyes again. “To search for a way to cleanse the land?”

He nodded, smiling gently. “Indeed. The shadows of the past haunt me, they have been doing so for the last hundred years.”

You sometimes forgot how wise he was, how many lives he'd lived, how many lovers he must've had… You find yourself thinking about the question for a moment. His kindness was unparalleled, his generosity and selflessness boundless, and to top it all off: By the Nine Hells, he was handsome.

You wondered if he had a partner, if he had vowed never to love again after his one and only love, or if he wasn't interested.

You straightened up, kneeling before him as he looked at you with surprised eyes.

“Halsin,” you began as you looked into his eyes. “I know that you try to do good in every place that has suffered, it is a noble goal I can't deny it.” You sighed, the despair of the last few days weighing on your shoulders as you loosened them. “But you have to understand that I am starting to be the only one trying to keep the grove at peace.”

His lips parted. You stood up, wiping the dirt from your knees.

“And the grove is not part of the past,” you said to him as he stood, “it's now or never.”

You waved goodbye for the night, leaving to find your sleeping bag in the subterranean caverns while you hoped that your words would have brought him some clarity.

The next morning, ready to take part in the day's gatherings and help in the grove, you learned that Halsin had left earlier that morning, and that once again there had been no news from him.

Your hopes were gradually crumbling.

The rumour that a druidic ritual to close the grove off from the rest of the world had been set in motion under Kagha's orders was well-founded. You sighed, hoping that Halsin would return during the day and not be absent any longer.

Another member of the grove seemed to be missing. Old Auntie Ethel was nowhere to be seen near her stall of potions and other health elixirs. So it fell to you to supervise it during the day.

Night came, and just as you were about to go to bed, Arabella and the other children came running to you, screaming.

“Do you want to wake the whole place up?” you shouted in a whisper.

“You've got to come and see, quick!” urged Arabella as she pulled you along.

The children crept towards the fountain, and you followed them, wondering what they had been up to. You passed the stone wall, descending the steps to the druids' quarters.

“Are you insane? Do you want to get yourself killed coming here?” you scolded them in silence.

“We've found something you really must see!”

They took you to the centre of the room and made you wait there, passing behind some vines to open what you recognised as a chest in the half-light.

They came back to you with a letter in their hands, holding it out to you insistently. You took the letter in your hands, and what you read in it made your blood run cold.

Shadow druids. Kagha had allied herself with them.

“What are you doing here?!” 

Kagha's furious voice echoed around the room, the little ones next to you flinching.

"Go back to bed,” you said firmly to the children as your eyes locked on Kagha's. 

“But-”

“No buts, you're going back. Now.”

The kids didn't wait a second longer, running for the stairs.

“You're not going anywhere,” Kagha shouted as she came towards them, but you blocked her path.

“So you’ve chosen the Shadow Druids,” you said bitterly, pointing to the letter.

Kagha's face broke, realisation washing over her face with a meagre transition to raw anger.

“You'll never understand anything,” she spat.

You frowned, a flash of destructive malice shining in her eyes.

“Always getting in the way where nobody wants you,” she said, looking at you with disgust and contempt, starting to circle you like a wolf around its next meal, like a predator around its prey, like a sheep around its rose. “You think you have every right here. You and your kind think that you can steal anything you can get your hands on, destroy the order of the grove, intrude on the tranquillity it offers, and you think you'll never have to pay anything in return.”

She chuckled, watching your gaze darken. “You'll never be welcomed, and I'll see to it personally.”

Kagha drew her scimitars, and you braced yourself for whatever injury it might cause.

It was an unfair fight, you had no weapon, no spell, nothing to protect yourself with. All you could hope to do was dodge. She sliced an arc through the air towards you, and you stepped back. She made another strike that split the air, but still couldn't reach you. You were agile, and that worked in your favour.

You ran the length of the room, jumping and trotting to avoid her attacks, but you didn't have time to read the labels on all the potions on display, or the contents of the parchments lying here and there, which could have been of great help to you.

Kagha got fed up with chasing you soon enough, and her voice boomed through the room when she said: “Flagellum!”

A bramble whip wrapped itself around one of your ankles, knocking you off your feet and taking your breath away as you hit the ground. The thorns of the whip dug deep into your leg, and you could already feel the blood spreading under the fabric of your trousers.

You tried to get to your feet but Kagha punched you in the face and cut your lip, rolling you onto your back as she knelt on your arms to stop you doing anything.

“Did you honestly think everything was going to work out?” she said through clenched teeth as she pressed the tip of her scimitar into your arm, “That everything would work out perfectly and we'd find a balance?”

The blade of her sword dug in past the fabric of your shirt, the pain slow and making you grunt. “Never, never would both sides have emerged victorious,” she growled as she withdrew the blade from the flesh of your arm, coming to place it under your throat.

You held your breath, were you going to die like this?

“The shadows were always the answer.”

And as you tried as best you could to shake off the thorns tugging at your leg or to lift your arm out of her grip, you felt the metal covered in your own blood pressing against your neck.

“Kagha!”

Halsin's voice echoed around the room, Kagha turning and letting her attention wander enough to loosen her hold on you. You kicked at the ground to push yourself away from her, the brambles wrapped around your leg making you grunt as you managed to put some distance between you and her.

She sat up, panicking. Halsin was with Rath, the children must have alerted him and found Halsin on the path.

“Halsin, I can explain-” Kagha stammered.

“Your fate will be decided tomorrow. You let yourself be devoured by power, and for that you will be judged,” Halsin said, trying to restrain his anger. “Rath, take her to one of the cells.”

His eyes fell on you on the floor, bloodied, his fist clenching until his knuckles were white.

“I'll look after her,” he said, walking slowly towards you.

You tried to calm your breathing, to take your mind off the fact that you'd just had a brush with death and it had left its scarlet signature on your throat.

He knelt down beside you, examining your leg, surrounded by brambles. He brushed away the thorns and the vine, letting his hand fly over it, but leaving open wounds all the same.

You watched him as he examined you, and noticed that he too was injured. Blood was beading from his forehead and his salient arms were covered in scratches. 

His eyes came back to you, and he brought his hand to your chin. Your body instinctively recoiled, and his eyes softened. Tenderly, he ran his fingers over the drying blood on your throat, his eyes drifting to the arm you were holding, which was staining your hand red.

He sighed, and the muscle in his jaw tensed, your cheeks warming at the sight. He turned towards you again, wrapping one arm under your knees while the other encircled your back.

“Hold on to me,” he indicated as your able-bodied arm came around his neck.

He lifted you as if you weighed absolutely nothing, pressing your body against his and making sure he didn't hurt you.

He began to walk, taking you towards what appeared to be his own quarters.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

You pressed your head against his chest, sighing as you gradually came down from all that emotion.

“The children brought me back here to read a letter. Kagha has joined forces with the Shadow Druids, and she intends to perform The Rite of Thorns and cut the grove off from the rest of the world.”

“The Rite of Thorns?” repeated Halsin, not quite believing it.

“Mhm,” you hummed, sighing, a nervous chuckle running up your throat, “she doesn't fancy us.”

He walked through the doorway into his room, which was deeply filled with plants, bags of herbs and a bookcase full of nature reading. He set you down on his bed, which was absolutely huge. It was strange that an elf should grow so tall, and the bed reminded you of that. You looked round the four corners of his room, filled with plants climbing the walls and unvarnished wood.

Halsin didn't ask you any questions at the time, suspecting that your mind was wandering between what had just happened and the present moment. However, as he closed the door to his room to avoid any further worries, he couldn't help asking you a question: “You seem surprised,” he asked as he turned to his shelves to prepare his remedies. “Why?”

His question snapped you out of your reverie, and you turned to face him. His back was facing you, and your thoughts took a different turn for a moment. Enough, however, for your cheeks to heat up.

“It's just... I thought you were so connected to nature that you would just sleep outside on the grass.”

He chuckled softly, turning to the table that was to serve as his desk as well as his workbench.

“Most of the time that's the case, but you have to admit that the comfort of a bed is sometimes more pleasant than the rock, or a rod that ploughs your back.”

“Don't you sleep in bear form, though ?” you asked, trying to adjust your posture so as not to let drops of blood fall onto his sheets.

“I do, but I can't stay in its shape forever.” he stated, pressing herbs, fats and other ingredients into a mortar. “Going back to instincts at all times can do no good to us all.”

You hummed, nodding in agreement.

Your eyes fell on your ripped sleeve, the light glinting off your open wound as it drifted down your leg. The fabric of your trousers was speckled with black spots, the blood taking precedence over its original colour.

You wanted to apologise, for the blood, for your presence here, for the trouble your people had caused. But could you blame your people for simply living? Sure, children pilfered, and the history attributed to your race didn't help prejudice, but to the point of closing down an entire place simply by your presence? No, you couldn't apologise.

Not when you were helping them, not when you were doing your best to contribute to the serenity of the grove.

Not when that crazy Kagha had almost taken your life on the sole pretext of your appearance.

“Why did you leave ?” The question escaped your lips, a little more shakily than you had hoped from the tightness in your throat.

Halsin turned to you, frowning. 

“Last night, were my words flat of meaning?” you could feel an intense knot in your throat.

He came towards you slowly, bowl and leaves placed on the ground as he knelt in front of you. Even so, he reached your sitting height. His lips were parted, his gaze soft and attentive.

Your heart broke, and your voice cracked as the beast of sadness clawed at your eyes and throat.

“You left me, after I told you I needed help,” you cried, hot tears of anger and exhaustion running down your cheeks.

“I-” began Halsin.

“You left me.” you repeated, your lips and chin quivering as you saw the reflection of your demonic eyes in Halsin's. You lowered your head, closing your eyes as you brought the back of your good hand to cover them.

All of a sudden, everything fell apart. The quarrels you had to watch over every day, the hard work you put in to make yourself look right, your escape from death tonight and the constant insults and hatred took their toll on your strength and made you break down.

Your face twisted with fatigue, tears trickling down your nose to your chin. You twitched, you were so tired.

Then, like someone covering you with a warm blanket, Halsin came and took you in his arms. He wasn't afraid of your dark eyes, or of being pierced by your horns in his arms, or of your claws that could be used as a weapon. His arms wrapped around you, and you felt so small and safe in them.

“I'm sorry,” he said softly as one of his hands caressed your back.

You began to sob again, your hands coming to rest on his broad back and holding him close to you as if this candour were going to vanish at any moment. You didn't know that you needed this embrace. To be held, to be comforted, to be safe in his arms. He didn't say anything, just stroked your back and hair gently, letting your tears and emotions flow into the silence.

When it seemed that you had no more tears to shed, and that you had calmed down, you remained like that against him.

“I'm sorry,” you mumbled against his shoulder. “for the blood, and for screaming at you and... for the trouble of my people.”

Halsin pulled away from you, and you regretted his action. Part of you wished you'd stayed there, in his arms, talking softly with an open heart.

The thought that your reaction would have been different if it hadn't been him who had embraced you came to mind, and your still swollen eyes met his, full of tenderness and understanding. He took your face in his hands, and your head seemed very small at that moment.

“This is far from being your fault, little bird,” he assured you, his thumb brushing away the remnants of tears on your cheeks. “I left you alone in the face of the fiercest of enemies: ignorance.”

“Yes, but I could have probably done better, at keeping the peace of the Grove in one piece.”

“Look where this led you,” he said softly as he eyed your leg, your arm, and your cut lip for longer than the previous two before coming back to your eyes. “You'll never stop compromising your own well being to help others, will you ?”

“I guess that makes something we have in common.” You smiled, and it was contagious enough for Halsin to mirror you.

“I cannot deny it, but I cannot deny the fact that you having been hurt because of my mistakes and blindness fills me with intense dread and guilt.” One of his hands ran along your shoulder until it came to the cut of your arm, his fingers pinching the fabric as his second hand came to hold your arm. ”May I ?”

You nodded, and Halsin waited no longer before tearing off your sleeve with total ease and setting the fabric aside. He stepped back slightly, placing both hands just above your knee, his gaze on you as he waited for you to confirm. You nodded once more, and the fabric, stronger than your shirt, tore like the transparent film covering the egg yolks. 

Your leg and arm were burning, tolerable of course, but that didn't stop it from being extremely unpleasant. He took a basin, placing both your feet in it, and conjured up water which ran down your legs and cleaned your wounds.

Halsin watched the wounds, muttering under his breath words that you didn't fully understand. The only thing you could translate from him at the moment was his frustration.

“It's going to be a bit cold,” he warned, almost in a whisper.

He took the green goo he'd concocted, spreading it with his fingers over your wounds as you shuddered and breathed in through your teeth.

“Why not simply use a healing spell?” you asked as he placed a leaf on the poultice.

“Kagha fights with poison, her scimitars can be coated with it by occasions, and I don't doubt that her link to the Shadow Druids might have altered her magic to the point where these thorns could be poisoned as well.” He turned to the next wound on your leg, “And I prefer to use real remedies if that's the case.”

You watched him at work, carefully applying the mixture and then pressing a leaf onto it.

“Are your wounds related to the reason you left today?” you asked.

His eyes drifted to the scratches on his arms, as if he'd forgotten about them.

“Yes, it so happens that one of the druids came to warn me in the morning of a problem not far from the forest. I suppose you see who Madame Ethel is?”

“I replaced her today at her stall,” you replied.

“We went to her house, it seemst that the Sunlit Wetlands have been profoundly changed by an evil that Ethel spread. She was a hag.”

You frowned. “Was?” the past tense made you doubt things had gone as planned.

“I went there on my own and as I entered the swamps I realised that something was wrong. It was when I got to Ethel's cottage that I realised her true identity, leading me to tracking her down deep underground to get to the bottom of it. She poisoned this land, I couldn't let her get away with destroying nature forever. I ended her henchmen and took care of her right after. A hag knows how to defend herself, she left me with a few meagre memories that will be gone soon enough but she was a tough opponent.”

Halsin had been out all day, investigating and risking his life to flush out a Hag who was deceiving the people in the grove into thinking she could help them. Who knows the next person she would have picked out and brought back to her cursed shack?

You also knew that Halsin preferred to avoid bloodshed as much as possible, and that he had spent a whole day killing creatures in the marshes. The guilt was creeping up your cheeks and up the back of your neck.

“And I screamed at you for doing something right, by the hells I'm so stupid,” you sighed as you brought your hand to your forehead.

Halsin smiled, regaining your eyes as he finished with your leg. “You had your reasons to be angry. I don't blame you, I don't know how I would have reacted either if I were in your situation.” He straightened up, dipping his fingers into the cup again before gently spreading the contents over your wound. “I never thought you had so much to endure by yourself. Between us both, I am the one that should be sorry.”

You said nothing, simply watching him at work. Once the last leaf was in place, he looked at your split lip, and your cheeks heated up like the inferno.

Halsin hooked your chin, his thumb pressing just below your lip as he watched the cut with a look you couldn't quite make out. Your cheek had swollen slightly, Kagha hadn't gone easy on you.

“Punch?” he asked simply, without taking his eyes off your lips.

“Mhm,” you simply hummed, hoping with all your heart that Halsin wouldn't feel your frantic heartbeat on your lip.

His thumb flew over the skin of your lip without ever touching it, murmuring: “Te curo.”

Your lip sealed, painlessly, with the electric sensation of magic emanating from his fingers.

He moved away, preparing to clean his utensils, but you stopped him. “May I?” you asked, pointing to his wounds. You wanted to help him in return, to do something, anything.

“It's just a few scratches,” he reassured you, “I can take care of those myself.”

“You took care of me,” you said as you tenderly took the bowl from between his hands, “Let me look after you.” He sighed, knowing you wouldn't flinch. He sat down properly in front of you, almost between your legs, placing his hands on the sheets not far from your hips, ready.

Just as he had done before, you said the incantation: “Aqua Pura.”

The water ran down his arms, cleaning his wounds until it ran up his temple to clear the cracked blood on his forehead.

“I didn't know you practised spells,” he said, surprised, “How did you learn?”

You dipped your fingers into the generous remains of the mixture, straightening up to gently apply it to his wounds.

“We were travelling during a summer so hot it felt like the underworld had swallowed us up again,” you began. “Hunger was an agony and madness we could endure, but the lack of water was starting to genuinely affect us. Luckily, some druids took us in for a few days in their temple. While some druids-to-be were training to learn spells, I was allowed to learn some of them alongside them. Nothing really extraordinary, just some healing spells, but above all a spell that would prove indispensable if the thirst returned: the creation of water.” You placed a few leaves delicately on his wounds, feeling his attentive gaze on your face.

“I told myself that, by coming here, I would find the precious help that had been given to me and my people,” you moved on to his second arm, “but I don't know if I was right.”

You felt an electrifying warmth settle on your thigh, Halsin's hand having rested tenderly in compassion on it.

“I'm terribly sorry that my absence and ignorance led you to doubt the help you were entitled to receive. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to put an end to this nonsense.”

You gave him a tender smile. You trusted him, after all he had just saved your life. You tilted your head to one side, your fingers tucking behind his pointed ear a stray lock of hair that must have fallen out of his bun during a day full of fighting. You applied the last of the poultice to his wound.

“I'm grateful that you came tonight,” you said. You cupped his face, looking into his eyes before placing a kiss on his forehead. “Thank you.”

Halsin seemed surprised by the touch, but smiled softly, straightening up and turning to face a wooden chest of drawers. He pulled out a shirt and trousers which, from what you could imagine just by looking at them in the half-light, would be far too big for you.

“You can take my quarters for the night-” He paused for a moment, watching your arm, and clutched the clothes in his hand. “Would you... need help putting these on ?”

Despite Halsin's care and attention to help with your injuries, your arm and leg were still hurting intensely. You couldn't find words that wouldn't make you sound desperate, so you simply nodded, your heart racing again.

He came to kneel beside you once more.

“Can you stand up for me?”

You tried to stand up, pushing on your good leg to keep yourself upright. You almost lost your balance, but Halsin took hold of your waist to keep you in place. Keeping his eyes on you, he took one of your hands and placed it on his shoulder.

“Hold on to me,” he offered.

He brought his two giant hands to your belt buckle, loosening it and unbuttoning your trousers, sliding them gently down your legs, taking care not to move the poultices. His fingers brushed against your skin, under which little fireworks sparkled.

Once the trousers were off, he took the ones he'd pulled out for you in his hands, a sort of sirwal pants that was loose-fitting and wouldn't touch your wounds too closely. 

The fabric was thin, and his warm hands running up your legs sent shivers down your spine. You hoped he wouldn't notice them, that the half-light and the cold on your bare skin would be enough of an alibi. You wrapped your tail around your leg so that it didn't stick out too far from your pants.

He tied the lace of the latter around your waist, not tightening it too much. Then he raised his eyes to yours, his hands still on your hips, gently pulling you back onto the bed to sit up.

“May I?” he asked again.

And again you nodded.

His hands moved up from your hips to your waist, gripping the sides of your shirt and helping to pull you out of the fabric. The cool night air spread over your back, but its freshness couldn't quell the fire in the back of your neck as Halsin's eyes bore down on you.

There was a moment of hesitation, of expectation almost. Waiting for a gesture, a sound, a look that would mean yes.

But Halsin inhaled deeply, taking the shirt between his fingers, rolling up the sleeves so that you could slip it on without worry. The shirt seemed as long as a dress, reaching halfway up your thighs.

He pulled the covers over his bed, opening them so that you could slide under them.

“Get some sleep, if you have a problem, I won't be far,” he said as he tucked you in properly.

“Okay,” you assured him.

He looked at you for a moment, his hand coming to brush a strand from your face.

“Sleep well,” he said before standing up.

“Thank you,” you murmured.

And he left.

Your lungs let out a breath they'd been unconsciously holding. You took the duvet and covered your head as if it could hide you and mute your heart.

Your duties as leader had, for most of your life by now, forced you to put aside advances or the idea of romance to keep your head on straight. But Halsin was getting in the way, shattering the wall of protection you'd built for yourself.

You could feel the fabric of his shirt on your body, a caramelised smell of wood, tall grass and warm stone permeating the fabric. His smell.

You surrendered yourself to its comfort.

It didn't take you long to fall asleep. The long day's work and your near-death experience had made you very tired.

It was the sun streaming through the windows that woke you up, its warm caress on your arm and face providing a pleasant morning kiss. You had no idea what time it was, you didn't know how long you'd been asleep, but it had been more than restorative.

Swapping the sensation of rocks and gravel scraping your back every night for sleeping on a straw mattress with a real bed worked wonders. What's more, your arm and leg weren't hurting so much any more. Halsin's poultices had sucked out all the poison they could, and the wounds had largely healed.

You tried to sit up, then to stand up. You took off the trousers, turning them the other way round and putting them on again to let your tail slip under the lace so that you didn't have to keep it wrapped around your leg.

There was still a little weakness and numbness in your leg, but fortunately it wasn't unpleasant enough to stop you from walking.

You rolled the fabric around your ankles to avoid tripping over the length of the pant legs, and walked out of the room. The place seemed deserted, so you set off back outside the Druid quarters to find your people. They must have been worried, and you feared that the absence of their leaders had led to a catastrophe while you were resting.

The druids' cave was empty too, which was most unusual.

You reached the stone door, passed through it and fell silent.

Around the fountain of Silvanus, the druids had gathered. The rite had stopped, much to your relief, but there was a real sense of tension.

Kagha was on trial before her entire circle.

You didn't move any further, not daring to violate this sacred and serious moment.

“Kagha,” Halsin spoke as he stood in the centre of the fountain, high up where the idol of Silvanus once stood. “During my absence, two papers representing evidence of your connection with the Shadow Druids were found. The first,” he pointed to the letter you had read the day before, “was found in your chest here in the Grove. And the second,” he held up a second letter for all to see, passing these two to the other Druids so they could all read them, “in the swamps.”

You crossed your arms, attentive.

“Yesterday, following rumours that proved to be true, I began a cleansing of the sickness that had taken over these lands. During this operation, however, on my way to one of our ancient sacred trees, I found this paper in a hole in a false bark.”

The druids' eyebrows furrowed one by one as they read and heard Halsin's arguments.

“The hatred and contempt of others for Kagha led her to join the Shadow Druids.”

There were shocked murmurs and surprised looks were directed at Kagha, who seemed to be dying of shame and guilt.

“These ideas and behaviours led her to want to perform The Rite of Thorns,” he turned to you, his gaze resting on yours, “and to come to violence.”

He called your name, and in an instant all eyes were on you. 

He came down the steps of the fountain, coming to you so that you could lean on him and walk to your people.

“Kagha even went so far as to attack the leader of the tieflings and deliberately wound her in an attempt to kill her.”

Shock was rising among the druids, and your people all came to you as soon as Halsin had brought you close enough to them, who were waiting on the steps leading to the fountain.

Halsin turned back to the druids.

“Many stories were relayed to me during the night by the Tiefling, accounts unworthy of the status of druid and protector of nature. Kagha was prepared to kill a simple, frightened child in need of help.”

Kagha looked down at her feet, her face contorted with guilt. 

“Every druids in our circle will exchange as to your fate, Kagha, for we cannot remain indifferent to your actions.”

Two druids came and grabbed Kagha's arms, leading her towards the stone door. The rest gathered round, chatting frantically amongst themselves.

The children hugged you, tears in their eyes as they asked you what had happened. The parents and the others were furious that this pest had had the audacity to touch you. Zevlor pushed them aside, insisting that you were hurt and needed some air after all that had happened.

“You scared the hells out of us, are you alright ?” he asked.

“Everything's fine, more fear than harm,” you reassured him. “I've spoken to Halsin, things are going to be alright.”

Halsin walked towards you, and Zevlor took the opportunity to move all the tiefling away so that he and you could have a private conversation.

“Slept well I presume?” he asked, a charming smile gracing his lips.

“Best sleep I've had in ages,” you confirmed, leaning against a wall to keep yourself upright and not put too much weight on your leg.

“How are you feeling?” he questioned, placing his palm on your forehead to see if you had a fever, then taking your arm in hand to roll up the sleeve and see the state of your wounds.

“Better than I expected. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't shown up.”

“I'd rather not imagine,” he assured. “I spoke to Zevlor and the others last night to explain the situation, and their explanations were very surprising. I honestly had no idea what was going on here.”

“I think we came very close to a catastrophe,” you confirmed, your eyes riveted on his.

“Why did you lie,” he began, “when I came back and Arabella was crying?”

“I thought... blaming each other wasn't going to solve anything. I just hoped that Kagha would understand that she had made a mistake.” you say, your eyes drifting over the fountain which, until recently, was an object of constant torment. “Besides, I was alone in a whole room of druids who were supposed to obey her, I didn't know how things could develop with so much tension.”

“I understand why you did what you did, but I beg you: if ever in the future any incident of this kind should happen again, I ask you to come and see me and tell me about it. What do you say, little bird?”

The nickname for the second time made your heart leap into your chest.

“All right,” you assured him.

“Good,” he turned to the group of druids still chatting. “I must get back, but be assured we will have a long discussion necessary for the balance of the grove after this.”

“I'll wait patiently,” you smiled at him as he turned to leave.

The verdict came, and Kagha was exiled. Halsin came to find you, and a long conversation about recent events ensued.

At the end of it, he came to the conclusion that he had to ensure that his presence was  in the daily life of the grove until you could all leave peacefully.

You and Halsin looked after the harmony of the Grove between the druids and the tiefling, while you helped him with the purification of the land.

There were many things you and Halsin didn't say, glances that lingered, closeness that went beyond the merely professional, and a tension in the air that needed to be broken.

The goblin camp that had so far caused problems was deserted thanks to some travellers, and soon a party was organised for the tieflings' departure.

The evening before departure came, and the Bosquet fountain was decorated as if in a real fairytale. Garlands of magical fireflies hung in the air, butterflies fluttered everywhere, and the dishes scented the night air.

Alfira played her lute with other druids for music, Vollo told the children fantastic stories, and everyone danced and enjoyed themselves.

You were wearing a dress sewn by the druids in gratitude for peace, with a relaxed, elegant cut, made from their own fabrics and detailed with lace made from spider's webs. Your horns were adorned with jewels, your eyes highlighted with make-up and perfumed with delicate flower essences.

It was Halsin's turn to arrive at the fountain, wearing a superb suit in shades of brown and green that blended perfectly to underline his elegance.

He greeted a few people, his gaze roaming over the crowds before finally settling on you, his eyes roving up and down your silhouette in what seemed like a trance. You smiled, bringing the cup of your drink to your lips.

He moved towards you after greeting most of the people.

“I almost didn't recognise you,” he admitted, “I'm glad I haven't been drinking yet, if I had I would have choked uponseeing you, and I wouldn't have had all my wits about me to properly appreciate this rare opportunity to see you like this.”

Heat rose to your cheeks.

“I hope my glass will let me hear and understand all the lovely things you have to say to me.”

“Then I can start with the most serious part,” he smiled, facing you, “I wish to travel with you.”

It was you who nearly choked at the announcement, turning to him, confused.

“Travel with us?”

“Only if you agree to receive me,” he continued, not wishing to impose this idea in any way. “The Shadow Lands still haunt me and I know that you must inevitably pass through them to get to Baldur's Gate. I simply ask to travel with you, to give you my help if need be, and…” his hand along his thigh came gently to take yours, “to spend more time with you.”

Your heart was racing in your chest, and you grinned until your cheeks ached and you started to laugh.

Halsin looked deeply confused, had you had more than one drink already, or had he simply said something ridiculous ?

“What is it?” he asked, smiling.

“Nothing, it's just," you composed yourself, pressing his hand in yours, "I was wondering when you were going to ask me all that.”

His face relaxed, relief lowering his shoulders.

In the distance, Alfira and the orchestra were now playing softer music. 

He raised your clasped hands.

“Could I have the undying honour of dancing with you?” he asked.

“It would be my greatest pleasure,” you confirmed as you joined the group of dancers. You put your free hand on his shoulder, and his came to rest in the hollow of your waist.

“How long have you been thinking about asking me this, to travel with us ?” you questioned.

“Since the trial of Kagha, when things started to get better at the Grove,” he said, waltzing gently with you.

“And,” your smile widened, tilting your head back slightly, ’how long have you been thinking about wanting to spend more time with me?’

He couldn't help but smile back. ‘Since our discussion under the stars.

“About the sheep and the rose ?”

“Precisely the sheep and the rose,” he agreed. He moistened his lips, his eyes falling on yours. “And then the next night, after Kagha had wounded you.”

You remembered that night as if it had been etched in your memory forever. As well as the fear, the pain and the fatigue, you could never forget the feel of Halsin's hands on your body, or his smell, or his eyes on you.

“I have to admit I could barely refrain myself from keeping my touches polite,” he admitted, lowering his lips to your ear. "My hands were aching to linger on you."

“I wish you had never left them from me.” you confirmed in a whisper, his voice and breath on your neck making you shiver.

Halsin hummed, his chest vibrating against you. You were aware of how close you were, how the air you shared had thinned.

“Fortunately,” he murmured, his hand roaming over your back and bringing you a little closer to him, ”this is something I can remedy for both of us.”

Your breaths spread across your cheeks, your noses brushing.

“I want to have you by my side, in every land we roam, in every place we stay, under any sky that covers us.” he whispered as you felt the warm, tender skin of his lips graze yours. “I want you.”

Neither of you waited any longer to kiss, abandoning yourselves, to the feelings, to the envy, to the sweetness of the night.

Cheers of joy echoed around you, applause resounding throughout the grove. Halsin smiled against your lips, his hand cupping your face as he continued to kiss you.

Everyone celebrated your love, which had no intention of waning.

[moontyun]

TXT: the type of...

Masterlist

𐀔 ...partner 𐀔 requested: no 𐀔 warnings: possibly toxic jealousy(?), silent treatment briefly mentioned 𐀔 genre: fluff, a smidge of angst, comfort

៚ Yeonjun

Jealous whenever someone is closer to you than he is.

That friend you've known for +10 years? Why do they need to know how you like your coffee in the morning?

You had warned him about a month ago about today. You told him you were going to be getting lunch at least one time with a friend of yours who was coming from out of town to see you. You hadn't seen them in a few months and you missed them. You, of course, had invited him to come with you. He, like he does, went along. The whole time he had to be touching you. Your friend was not allowed to touch you at all. They had gone to fix your hair for you and got the evil eye the rest of the time. When you had gotten home, you immediately called your friend and apologized for the way Yeonjun had acted. They accepted and you hung up, "You could have been nicer to them." He shrugged, "They shouldn't have touched you." You rolled your eyes, "You're going to call and apologize. Not a half-assed one. A genuine apology!" It was his turn to roll his eyes, but he did as you asked. After a couple minutes of him being on the phone, he started to bond with your friend and now it was your turn to be a little jealous.

៚ Soobin

Gets sulky when you go any night without him on facetime.

He likes it when you guys fall asleep together, he thinks it's the cutest thing.

Now, the way this ritual had started was completely accidental. He had fallen asleep while talking on the phone with you one night. You thought it would be cute to leave it on while going to sleep. It had felt like he was closer to you. But now, whenever he was away for work, he had to be on facetime with you in order to get to sleep.

"I like seeing your face in the morning!"

"You're on the other side of the world! We don't get up and go to bed at the same time!"

"I don't care! I want to see your cute face in the morning!"

៚ Beomgyu

Will do anything to get your attention on him

Meaning he will get on your very last nerve in order to get the attention he so deserves desires.

He was definitely on something today because he was tailing you around the house, he was yapping your ear off about anything and everything for hours now! Usually, him yapping this much wasn't an issue but today, he was annoying you more than normal. He kept poking and prodding at you. "Can you behave please?" He put up a thoughtful look on his face before shaking his head no. You should have known that was going to be the answer. "I can't, I love you too much to."

៚ Taehyun

Likes to match in subtle ways

Same color socks, matching nail polish, little key chains little things like that.

It's his way of feeling close to you.

You don't match one day and he will not speak to you and you won't get any attention from him until you do.

This morning was a little bit chaotic for you. In running late, you had completely forgotten your pale pink bracelet on the kitchen table. When you had gotten home that night Taehyun looked at you with the side eye of the century. Immediately, you knew what he was upset about. You sighed heavily, taking the bracelet and putting it on before waddling over and throwing yourself on him. "I'm sorry I forgot the bracelet. I was running late this morning and was in a rush." He hummed in response before allowing himself to let you cuddle him, "Don't forget again."

៚ Kai

Abhors it when you are upset in any sort of way.

If you do not tell him why you are upset, he will start to think he's done something to upset you.

He will try to make your terrible day into a better one as best as he possibly can.

Today was a particularly rough day for you. Things were just not going your way. All you had wanted was Kai right now. If he wasn't home you were sure you were going to have a full on break down. You needed that comfort from him right now. As soon as you walked in the door and saw his beamingly beautiful face you rushed over to him, hugging him as tightly as you could. He had known you so long that he knew something was up, "What's wrong?" When you had dumped everything on him, he just listened, no interruptions, no advice, nothing. He just listened. After you had finished, he suggested a cute little night in. He told you, you were to get the princess/prince treatment tonight. You wouldn't have to move a single muscle.

[blushhingblue]

Four Words

Yandere!Amberfreeman x Fem!Reader

murder, stabbing

“No, the pink ones look way better,” You said.

Liv was asking how she should get her nails done. She’s scrolled through countless reference pictures asking for your opinion on each one. Despite it taking an eternity, you guys have narrowed it down to two options.

“Are you sure? I think I like the yellow ones more.” Liv protested like she had been for the past hour.

You two were sat closely on a bench in the courtyard. Outer thighs pressed against each others and Liv’s head rested on your shoulder. There was a calm breeze in the air adding to the peaceful atmosphere.

Liv had used to be your best friend. She helped you through everything; she helped you through the ghostface killings and with your breakup with Amber. Once you had left Amber for good, it helped you realize how good of a person Liv is. Therefore, you guys began to date.

Everyone in the group was okay with it, except for Amber. She would often say snarky remarks or insulting digs at either Liv or your relationship. Every time it would garner a groan from you. No one else seemed to care, even Liv brushing it off as jealously, but no one else knew Amber like you.

She was jealous, and possessive, and downright evil. She controlled every little aspect of you when you were in a relationship. What you wore, how you acted, who you spoke to. It gives you chills to just think about it. Not to mention, how people mysteriously disappeared once Amber had expressed jealousy or anger toward them. You had no evidence of her killing, but you’ve been keeping an extra eye on Liv.

“Baby, whatever color you pick right now is the color I get. Swear.” Liv smiles and sticks out her pinky.

You smile cheekily and interlock your pinky with hers. Though once you guys had nodded and agreed, neither one of you let go. You guys sat there, in close proximity, with interlocked pinkies while allowing the cool breeze to pass. Your chest was at ease and Liv’s eyes were closed in contentment.

That was until you saw five people headed in your direction. It was the rest of your friend group: Chad, Mindy, Wes, Tara, and Amber. You gave Liv a slight nudge and she opened her eyes confusedly. Then, she looked to her right and saw them.

“What’s wrong? You don’t want them over here?” Liv asked confusedly.

“Not them. Just Amber. I can’t stand her.” you expressed with a frown.

Liv opened her mouth to speak, but you shook your head. They were now only a few steps away. Amber had an adoring smile on her face, but it only filled you with contempt. They had finally reached you two. Some of them found their way to other benches, tables, or just stood. Instead, Amber sat down right next to you. You looked at her in bewilderment, but all that clouded Amber’s gaze was pure anger.

“Why are you guys holding pinkies? You look like idiots,” Amber laughed.

Everyone else laughed a little too, excluding you and Liv. Instead, Liv buried her face in your neck in embarrassment and you groaned because of Amber’s remark. But, you were being the bigger person, and bit your tongue. Amber’s eyebrows furrowed when you didn’t say something back.

“All cuddled up in public. Get a room!” She joked, once again earning laughs from everyone around.

The others were under the impression that it was just playful bantering, but you knew better. The way Amber’s breath got a little heavier and she played with her fingers. She was anxious, but more so furious. You knew not to poke the bear.

“Y/N, I have to use the bathroom,” Liv whispered in your ear.

“Do you want me to come?”

She shook her head and stood up. You two exchanged a kiss before Liv walked off. Amber’s eyes burned in jealously. You scooted over to the other side of the bench, leaving a large gap between you two.

“Can you stop!” Amber whisper-yelled.

She scooted back to you. Your thighs were now pushed up against one another’s and she rested her head on your shoulder. You realized she was copying exactly what Liv was doing. There was a sudden shudder in fear from you, which made Amber smirk.

“I should’ve fucking killed you the second you broke up with me. Stabbed you right in your pretty stomach,” Amber said through gritted teeth.

I looked over to see if anyone else heard anything, but they were all too busy with their own conversation. Amber began to caress your arm, even after you tried shrugging her off. It was a lost cause and you were doomed to lose to her persistence every time.

“Or maybe I should kill Liv,”

Your ears perked up at this and you shoved her off your shoulder. Amber’s eyebrows raised, seeing this as a challenge. You scanned Amber’s face to see if she was bluffing, but you saw no signs.

“If you touch her, I’ll…”

Your sentence wavered and you began to cower under Amber’s intense gaze. She smirked, knowing you weren’t capable of hurting a fly, much less killing someone.

“You’ll what, Y/N?”

She glanced at your lap and saw how your thumbs subconsciously began to twiddle. You felt more powerless now than you ever had before. That was when you realized instead of you protecting Liv from Amber, it was the opposite. All along, Liv was protecting you. Your heart swelled with love for Liv and you decided that you would protect her, too.

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, Y/N?”

Amber scooted closer again, clearing not knowing when to stop. She placed her hand on top of yours, but you knew better than to pull away.

“I just want you to leave me alone… for good.” You mumbled, still looking down at my lap.

“You know I can’t do that.” Amber said.

She stood up, getting ready to leave.

“Give me a kiss. Like you did for the other girl,” Amber almost whined.

Amber’s mind was so clouded with jealously and anger. She couldn’t even bear to say Liv’s names in relation to you. You refused to look up, let alone kiss her. Amber’s foot began to tap as she was becoming more impatient. She was feeling embarrassed, standing in front of you. She was practically begging for something you willing give to another girl.

“Fuck you, Y/N. You’re dead to me!”

Amber stomped off towards the women’s restroom. She started wiping tears off of her face that was stained pink from humiliation. Amber decided right then and there, she would never feel so vulnerable ever again. Once she reached the bathroom, she began to sob. Liv emerged from her stall in worry.

“Hey, Amber… You okay?” Liv asked wearily.

Amber shook her head in response.

“No, Y/N is so mean to me…” Amber spoke.

Liv’s eyebrows furrowed. She had never seen Amber like this before. Her sobs were violent and hurtful. They seemed like they were suppressed for a very long time.

“I’m sure whatever Y/N said, she didn’t mean. She’d be happy to apologize.” Liv suggested.

Liv started rubbing Amber’s back soothingly, while Amber resisted the urge to shrug her off.

“No she hates me…” Amber paused her sentence to look up at Liv.

Liv pressed her lips together to show her sympathy.

“And it’s all your fucking fault!” Amber yelled, immediately stopping her tears.

Liv’s eyes widened in surprise and as she was about to argue back, she felt something puncture her stomach. It was a sharp blade deep in her stomach. Amber ripped the knife out of Liv, and she immediately fell down to the floor. The wound began to burn and gush out blood, which was unsuccessfully stopped by Liv’s hands.

“She’s mine! We belong to each other. I can’t have you getting in the way of us. I’m sorry it had to be this way, but Y/N and I are soulmates,” Amber expressed while tidying herself up in the mirror.

“If you two were soulmates, you’d be together,” Liv spoke through gasps and short breaths.

Suddenly, Amber got a glint in her eyes. One that was unmistakable. She turned around and pounced on top of Liv, stabbing her multiple times all over her body.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! You fucking slut!” Amber yelled, completely overruled by her own anger.

Amber watched as the life drained out of Liv’s eyes, wishing Y/N was there to see it too. She wanted Y/N to know that she belonged to her.

Amber flushed the knife down the toilet, washed her hands, and left. Liv’s body was discarded, lying on the cold bathroom tile surrounded in a puddle of her own blood. Amber walked past Y/N and spoke four words that would change the trajectory of her life for good.

“It’s taken care of,”

[theroundbartable]

(sending hugs)

what are your thoughts about aithusa? personally i love her way to much, but she rarely comes up in fandom discourse

HEY :D Thoughts about AIthusa, huh? I have many of those. Thoughts, I mean. In my brain. They like to swim around and create a whole mess of things sometimes.

I think the reason why Aithusa doesn't come up in fandom discourse often is because there isn't very much to say. Aithusa was born, then color coded as a sign for the golden future of Camelot and was then abandoned by Merlin. Tortured by a crazy guy. Then raised by Morgana and used to create the sword that later killed Arthur. Whenever they come up in fandom discouse, it's mostly about Merlin doing his job as Dragon Lord right or wrong. But you wanted my thoughts, so I'm gonna allow my head to spin weird shit around the ungendered Dragon. (That is why I will use they/them pronouns for Aithusa.) When it comes to Aithusa's name, not the canon translation, I mean what it literally means, it's hard to find, since they used old English for the language of magic, and I think Greek for the language of the Dragon Lords (which doesn't necessarily have to apply to the Dragon names) and I haven't seen anyone make a post about it. All I get from Google translate is "Hey you" in Gaelic and that's a bit useless. Or well, this:

The automatic language recognition in Google would let me interpret Aithusa as a gift to the world. Or Arthur, depending on your shipping interests. Or, you know, if I could make up the Old English maybe pseudo-parts of the word (the writers were very lazy in BBC Merlin, they are literally quoting Beowulf when Merlin magics the blue ball in the poisoned chalice.). Something fitting I found in my old English dictionary is agan, meaning to possess, and to own, and thus (spelled with a thorn which my keyboard doesn't have) meaning as follows. So, in my absolutely amateurish and interpretational, and way too far reaching ways, I would say Aithusa could mean: A(gan) thus (a): To own the future.

(Again, you asked for my thoughts, this is not canon and probably pointless, I just needed to go down this route first.)

In the fandom wiki, we find THESE informations on Aithusa.

So, things we do know are very few

Aithusa is a baby

Aithusa was tortured and is therefore crippled

Aithusa cannot talk

Aithusa probably has Stockholm Syndrom because of Morgana

But you know, I think it's very interesting to know that Aithusa is the Light of the Sun, the literal sign for a Golden Future and that very sign can be hurt by a mere human. Not only does this mean that humans can kill Dragons (the Dragon lore doesn't make any sense, I swear to god) but it's also meant to be symbolism. Merlin, just like Arthur, is shown to be his own doom through Aithusa. They are hidden, tortured, kept from living their truth, abandoned by everyone who should be leading and protecting them.

With Aithusa being born it means that at that point, Merlin had already fulfilled his destiny. At this point in time, the golden age is already there and it should have been a sign for Merlin to speak up about his magic. He never did, that's why Aithusa remains mute. And just like magic itself, when harmed or in danger, Aithusa can easily be used for evil.

Apart from the symbolism and their part in Arthur's death, Aithusa doesn't contribute much to the story, I think. Yes, they console Morgana and they are like the continuation of the Dragon lineage, but that's ultimately pointless. Aithusa will be, inevitably, be the last Dragon. Which is honestly really cruel, but again, parallel to Merlin himself. That's where Aithusa's arc ends, unfortuntaley. Personally, knowing all that, I find Aithusa hard to use as the character they are in canon. With what little defines their character, you have to ultimately change everything about them to use them in fun fics and comics and stuff. That's why they end up as a little dog creature so often.

Don't get me wrong, I love Aithusa. But I love FANON Aithusa, just like I prefer fanon Sir Leon over canon Sir Leon. Because fanon Aithusa is like a domesticated chicken that Merlin keeps in his rooms or fights custody over with Morgana while Arthur is either oblivious, supportive, or being gaslit. But maybe I am overlooking a lot of things. So, if any of you like to disagree or add anything to my points, feel free to engage ^^

[666writingcafe]

An Unintentional Trap

Thirteen

I'm tired of listening to Solomon's whining. I want him out of my cave once and for all, and hopefully fetching MC and taking them to him will be enough for him to leave.

If that was the only reason for my trip, I would have just teleported to and from the castle. It's a lot quicker than walking. But I want some time alone with the human disguised as a demon.

During my little venture through MC's soul, I saw a rather alarming amount of demonic energy, more than any type of facade should have. Usually, humans with that much energy either end up evil or dead. Either way, their souls end up really dark. No sparkle at all.

And yet MC's soul remains blindingly white. Some of that could be explained by the angelic influence over it, but in my experience, the two cancel each other out, resulting in a dull, clear-looking soul.

I just want to know what makes the human tick. Perhaps that can explain why their soul is so...odd.

~~~

"I'm still a bit upset at Solomon," MC tells me. "Obviously, not enough to decline your invitation, but I'm probably not going to be rushing into his arms or anything like that."

"Understandable," I respond, making them sigh.

"Am I being unreasonable, Thirteen?"

"No, not at all. He did something incredibly stupid, and you're allowed to be frustrated by his lack of judgement." A slight test. Will they take the bait and trash-talk Solomon?

"I know. It's just..." They trail off.

"Just what?" Another sigh from MC.

"He was worried about me. I mean, I launched myself at a demon twice my size and sent the two of us sliding across the colosseum floor. The fact that I only walked away with a couple of scratches and bruises is a fucking miracle."

Huh. A human that's humble enough to acknowledge another person's emotions? And admit when they act too rashly for their own good?

"Why did you do it, then?"

"It was the only way I could knock Beel out. You saw the pictures, right?" I nod. He caused a lot of damage near the Demon Lord's castle. "He was starting to attack his brothers, Diavolo, and Barbatos when we got there. I had to stop him before he hurt any of them, because with the way he was going at them, their injuries would have been a lot worse than mine."

"So, you sacrificed your safety in order to protect theirs." MC softly smiles.

"That's not the first time that's happened. In fact, I've done it enough to get told off for it."

"I can imagine. Doing that sort of thing tends to shorten one's lifespan, making them die sooner than originally intended." I pause. "Those type of people tend to annoy me." MC's smile grows a bit wider, as if they know something I don't.

Wait.

Have I chewed them out for it in their timeline?

I can't think about that right now. We've arrived at my cave, and the energy feels off. Looking over at MC tells me that I'm not the only one feeling uneasy.

I pull out my dagger.

"Stay behind me," I whisper to MC, who quietly nods. We carefully make our way to the Fountain of Knowledge with no incidents.

Solomon is right where I left him, sitting on the edge of the fountain. And yet his presence does nothing to calm me down.

In fact, seeing him makes me that much more anxious.

Which is strange. I've felt a lot of things when it comes to the sorcerer, but never afraid.

"It's not him," MC murmurs. Solomon and I make eye contact, and I immediately get nauseous.

They're right. This isn't Solomon.

"Where is he?" I ask. The shapeshifter smiles eerily.

"Some place out of the way," it answers. "I wanted to talk to MC in private."

"Yeah, not happening, buddy. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you." An unknown entity that knows MC's actual name can't possibly be up to any good.

"Putting words in other people's mouths isn't polite."

"I never claimed to be polite." This guy is pissing me off.

"Aren't you tired of being told what to think?" He's directed the question at MC. "I don't wish to hurt you. I want you to be happy."

"I've already told you, I'm not interested," they tell the shapeshifter, causing him to chuckle.

"It's cute that you think you still have a choice. You're already on my path. The more you resist, the rougher your journey will be. I'm just offering to make things easy for you."

I may not know the context of his words, but I can tell that they're upsetting MC.

"Alright, that's enough," I interject. "Get out of my cave." The shapeshifter remains still. "Now."

He sighs.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it appears I don't have a choice." He waves a hand, and suddenly MC collapses onto the ground.

"What have you done?!" He shrugs.

"I thought reapers were supposed to remain neutral."

"Answer the fucking question!"

"I simply put them in a deep sleep. When they come to their senses, they'll wake up."

Solomon is going to kill me.

Taglist: @lost-in-time-wanderer, @fuzztacular, @dianedancer18, @sweetbrier2908, @flare-love, @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf, @thunderlightning351, @l3v1chan, @anxious-chick, @5mary5, @expressionless-fr, @tenkobitch

[coryothesub]

What if Coryo accidentally hits himself in the balls or the reader hits him and he cries?

This sounds a bit less in character for Coryo so I turned it into a little crack fic blurb, which is meant to be kinda funny but probably isn't

nsfw / mdni / sub!coryo / dom!reader

You were never a fan of Coryo's brand new gym obsession, because you loved his body just the way it was. And also he tended to get a little clumsy. 

Your worries came true when you opened your door and found him standing there looking merely terrified. He was wearing those gray sweatpants that made his dick look so good and he still had his gym bag with him.

“Are you okay, Coryo?”

“N-no,” he stuttered, looking awfully embarrassed. “I think I hurt myself accidentally.”

You knew it. This guy could probably be trusted with some evil plan of taking over the world, but not with the gym equipment.

“Hurt yourself where?���

Coryo looked at you and then down at his crotch.

“I think I hurt my balls.”

“Ouch! Don't you think you need a doctor?”

“No! I don't know…” Coryo shrugged. You noticed a single tear running down his cheek. He wiped it off quite quickly, but you were already turned on, which made you feel pretty bad about yourself.

“Alright, come in, I’ll take a look.”

You pulled down his sweatpants and underwear as soon as you had closed the doors behind him, feeling saliva pooling up in your mouth from the sight alone. You just loved seeing his long, handsome cock.

At least from the outside it didn't seem like there would be something wrong with his balls. You had a sneaky suspicion he’d made this whole story up to get some extra fondling down there. But you had no proof (and you were kinda horny) so you decided to just go with it.

“Ooow!” he whined as you touched his balls. Maybe the story was genuine. But that wouldn't explain his hardening dick though.

You kept inspecting him carefully, your fingers softly massaging the sensitive skin.

You heard a stifled moan above you and shot a quick glance up at Coryo who looked way more satisfied than the situation suggested.

“Way more happy I see…”

“Mommy's touch makes it better, but it still hurts a bit.”

“Let's kiss it better then.” 

You looked up flirtatiously and then started planting soft little kisses all over his balls. His cock was fully hard now and twitched against your cheek as you ran your tongue along the delicate skin. 

“So excited for me already,” you whispered between the kisses. “Let's see if you can cum without touching.”

Coryo pouted aching for you to touch his cock, but you didn't pay much attention to it and kept “healing” his balls, taking them into your mouth and gently sucking on the pink soft skin.

“Oh…. So good, so much better,” Coryo moaned as you were catching some air between your activities. 

His neglected cock was leaking with precum just a few millimeters from your face but you touched it only as much as it was needed to get it out of the way, slowly turning Coryo into a desperate mess.

“Please…” he begged.

“Use your words, Coriolanus!”

“Please, touch my dick! I need to…”

“You wanna come babyboy?” continuing to massage his balls you wrapped your hand around his impressive length. “Alright…”

“But where should I…?” His question was cut off by thick ropes of cum spurting out his throbbing cock. The boy was so long overdue he didn't last even a minute under your touch not even managing to ask where you preferred him to cum.

But you had decided already, holding his cock steady directed at your face and enjoying the thick pearly liquid coating your cheeks and your lips.

“Tastes good,” you licked your lips, looking up at the blonde boy whose eyes were glued to your face that was fully covered in his sperm.

You bit your lip and gave him a cocky grin.

“Seems like this will heal before your wedding. But you are not allowed to go to that freakin gym any more.”

[phoenixyfriend]

AU where it's Padme that goes all evil and not Anakin?

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

Had some trouble figuring out how to make Anakin not be loyal to Padme here, but hey:

Padme does not think she's evil. This is a Padme who was radicalized by the invasion of Naboo, a Padme who grew up and joined the Senate with poison in her heart, which only got stronger as she saw how little she was able to do. This is a Padme who agrees with Anakin: the galaxy would be much better if one good person was in charge. That good person should be Her.

She doesn't tell him that she agrees with him, because she's still under the radar, but she doesn't... really try to dissuade him. Just talks about how difficult it is to find someone that's really, truly good. Why, even Chancellor Palpatine has made all these questionable policy decisions...

Padme is much faster and more successful about securing Anakin's loyalty as compared to Palpatine. She's also been kind of conditioning Anakin to think about how she'd be a MUCH better dictator than anyone else, and how he should run any kind of political ideas past her first. She conditions him to run everything past her. She's got this perfect in with the Chancellor and the Jedi that isn't just Her, The Senator, but she needs that in to be loyal to only her, and more importantly, dependent on her. She does really, truly love her Ani, but he's much more useful when he asks her to do his thinking for him. What this really means is that when Anakin has dreams about her death, and goes to Palpatine, and gets fed some lines about how only Palpatine can save her if Anakin just swears loyalty to him, Anakin actually asks Padme about what to do before he does it. He goes to Padme before he goes to the Jedi. Padme tells Anakin that Palpatine needs to be removed. If he's a Sith, then who's to say that he isn't the threat to Padme's life? Who's to say he isn't the one feeding Anakin these dreams? Palpatine is evil, Anakin, and he's made it impossible to remove him from power legally.

Padme tells Anakin to kill Palpatine. And he does. And Padme's years and years of manipulating the Senate in shady corners and through applying her wiles and through applying her Jedi and his mind tricks to her coworkers, through collecting blackmail and applying pressure, it all comes together, and Padme becomes the Empress.

Anakin is happy to follow her, until he realizes that she's so focused on her new power that she's neglecting the twins. He tries to dismiss it; after all, he's got much more free time than she does, now, so he can watch them. He's mostly the guy she uses to try to placate the Jedi, which he's not great at, and mostly the Jedi try to convince him that Padme's lost her shit and needs to be quietly removed. Not killed! Just... retire to her fancy lake house and stop ruling the Empire with an iron fist in a fancy silk glove.

Padme doesn't... not love her children. But between the years of selling out her lesser morals in favor of pursuing complete control of the galaxy for the sake of her biggest moral core, which is No Military Actions, and the Sithly Environs of the Chancellery Apartments that she's moved into, which Anakin doesn't know how to purge and the Jedi aren't allowed in to exorcise, she's kind of losing the plot and getting more and more evil. It's mostly her own foibles that are making her go evil, but it's the General Sithly Vibe are pushing her that last little bit to just... ignore her kids. She's got more important things to do, right?

Padme uses the clone army to enact her will on less cooperative planets. She uses the brain chips, when Anakin isn't looking. She's sure that he wouldn't turn his back on her, after all she's done to secure his loyalty, but it's best to not risk it.

Some Jedi try to take her out. She has them killed, by Anakin and the clones alike. She praises Anakin for it, as she tightens restrictions on the Temple. He has a bit more 'what have I done' but not. Quite. Yet. (After all, Padme's not risking death to the Jedi Younglings yet. Not yet. Not yet.)

Ahsoka shows up, with Rex in tow, and tries to convince Anakin to help them peacefully remove Padme from power. He's one of the core reasons that Padme has managed to maintain her power. He can change this. Padme hears about this. He tells Anakin that Ahsoka's a threat. She's going to try to remove Padme, like Anakin removed Palpatine. She tells Anakin that Ahsoka needs to die.

Anakin would rather arrest his wife than kill his sister.