#I literally went down my memory lane

[braskide]

thinking about the intricacies of the bond between yuna and her aeons once again today. the inherent trust there is from her towards each and every one of them. the intenseness and the fatigue yuna has to go through to obtain the gift of calling upon them. loving them through & through even if they are to be her demise at the very end. the way they trust yuna enough to let her kill them ( no one has ever done that before ). the empathy the aeons feel for her companions as well [ valefor embracing tidus when he discovers the truth ( this actually feels even worse when you realize that valefor has the strongest connection to yuna ) ]. the fact that the final summoning's fayth has always been the high summoner's most trusted guardian because the entire ritual is inherently based on their bond ( yunalesca & her husband, seymour & his mother ( although not a final summon per se ), braska & jecht ).

[pearl-blue-musings]

Y’all I did a stupid….

[explicit-tae]

Love You (Just A Little Too Much)

You're brought down memory lane and come face to face with someone you've completely forgotten about. @bloodline1632 @seokjinkismet @babycandy111 @minshookie29 @whipwhoops

Warning: smut, light yandere, teasing, sex toy usage, sub/dom, edging/orgasm denial, overstimulation, crying, restraints/bound, mentions of assault, manipulation, sadistic/masochistic tendencies, crying/sobbing, begging, slapping,

Word Count: 6.076

Valentine's Day Masterlist

“What’s on your mind?”

Your eyes blink at Jay, your boyfriend, and you could only offer a faint smile. “I don’t want to ruin dinner with my thoughts.” you reply. You drop your fork and grasp your glass of wine. 

Jay scoffs. “I can tell your head isn’t here,” he says. “Come on, tell me.”

You swallow your wine and lick your lips. “It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Jay raises a brow and leans in closer. He smirks. “So?” he murmurs. “I’m your boyfriend, you know. You can tell me what’s on your mind.”

Jay was correct - he was your boyfriend and someone you’ve grown close to for the last year. You were able to speak with him freely as if he was your best friend and it came naturally even if he was the opposite sex.

You sigh and nod your head. “You’re right.” you say. “I…haven’t talked to any of my friends in months. It’s like we all slowly just…”

“Grew apart?” Jay offers and when you nod, so does he. “I understand. What do you think happened?”

You shrug your shoulders. You’re unsure yourself of the reason. There wasn’t any bad blood between the four of you - there was nothing that could be done to a group of friends that has been established since middle school. You all managed to make it through High School and college without breaking apart. 

Sure, there were a few petty arguments, but nothing that lasted months - hell, not even a full week.

Not speaking with them collectively had you nervous, but you were all adults. You four lived separate adult lives, Jang-Mi having moved hours away to start a new job. Minji had gotten married and divorce all under three years and had chosen to distract herself with work while Mi-sun focused on raising her daughter on her lonesome.

“And you haven’t spoken to either of them on the phone?” Jay questions.

“No.” you shake your head. “Only through text messages, but even those seem dry. Maybe I’m just overreacting.” you shake your head and release a humorless laugh. “Sorry. Today is supposed to be about us.”

Jay shakes his head. He offers you his hand and you take it. His hands are always soft, you notice, softer than yours. He presses a kiss onto your hand, soft lips tickling your skin. “It is about us.” Jay murmurs. “Today is our anniversary,” he continues. “but you’re still the woman I love and if somethings on your mind, I want you to talk about it.”

You love Jay - and this was one of the many reasons why. He was caring - genuinely caring. He always puts your wants and needs far beyond his own. A year isn’t a long time to be together for most people, but for you it was. You couldn’t see yourself being with another man, not when Jay was amazing as he was.

You met Jay a year prior while out, having bumped into one another. Literally. You recall the way your phone went flying and you nearly fell onto the ground when a pair of arms caught you - said arms had let you go immediately when you regained your balance. “I-I didn’t mean to grab you it’s-” the stranger began. “I’m so sorry I should’ve been looking where I was going.” you apologized profusely.

You learned that his name was Jay and as an apology, he asked you out for coffee. The two of you hit it off easily as he was a nice person to talk to. He was funny as he was kind and in the short time that you’ve known him, it was as if you and he knew one another for years. 

Maybe Jay’s physical appearance helped a little - he was tall and fit. He dressed appropriately each time you and him met and he even offered to help you dress so the two of you matched for the occasion. His skin was the clearest you’ve ever seen on a man and appeared utterly glass and he had such perfect teeth.

It was hard in the beginning to be seen with Jay simply because of how beautiful he was, but he always made it known just how beautiful he thought you were and how much he appreciated you for being by his side. 

“So,” Jay offers you a toothy grin. “talk to me like I’m your friend and not your boyfriend.”

You do, a part of you feels terrible about doing this while at dinner with him, but Jay was an understanding person. He could tell your head was elsewhere.

You tell Jay about everything - how you rarely saw your friends face to face and how you couldn’t even remember the last time you all spoke on the phone. You wanted to be understanding because the four of you were adults now and didn’t need to spend every waking moment together - but a call wasn’t asking for much.

At the end of it all, Jay is nodding his head in agreement. He hasn’t spoken much and instead decided to allow you to vent all your pent up frustrations. 

“Felt good?” Jay snickers and you nod with a low grin. “I’m glad. I can’t excuse your friends' behaviors but I can try to see things from their point of view.”

You listen as Jay speaks. 

“We’re all adults going through our adult lives. Jang-Mi had moved so far away it’s hard to go back into the routine you two had when she was closer. I’m sure she works long hours.”

You nod your head with a sigh, your heart sinking as you begin to feel bad for thinking that your friends were leaving you behind.

“Mi-sun is a mother and it’s tough raising a child on your own. She just doesn't live for herself anymore. Minji probably buries herself into work to get her mind off of the divorce. It wasn’t an…easy one.”

You recall the amount of times Minji had called you throughout the last year about how ultimately, she was going to be left with nothing after the divorce - Jay had been there the entire time listening as you tried to console your friend.

“You’re right.” you pick up your wine glass and take a sip. “We’ve all been through…so much.”

Jay raises a brow. “What do you mean?”

You eye him for a moment. 

“I think it’s karma.” you shrug your shoulders. “We were terrible people in our youth.” you try to joke but you swallow thickly. “What we’re going through now is just what we deserve.”

Jay chuckles. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” he takes a sip of his own wine. 

“Before I met you my life was going to shit. I couldn’t keep a job to save my life and…” there wasn’t a need to focus on what you were going through at that moment because Jay knew. “..you helped me. Sometimes I believe I don’t deserve you.”

“It’s Valentine’s Day, Y/N.” Jay sighs, but his lips stretch into a smile. “Don’t get too emotional on me.” he jokes. 

“I know…” you trail  off. “The divorce with Minji and how she had to work so hard  to get her life together. Jang-Mi left and got a new job hours away because of that scandal. Mi-sun had to raise a child all alone without any help that wasn’t us. I can’t sound crazy to believe our past actions had shaped our future.”

Jay is quiet as he hears you speak, so eerily silent that you glance away from him. “Or maybe I am crazy.” you murmur. “You aren’t.” Jay shakes his head. “Whatever…you  did in your past could have shaped the present. Truth is often stranger than fiction.” Jay grasps your hand into his own. “But you’re better now, Y/N. With me. You’ll never fall as long as I’m by your side.”

Jay gives you a smile that has your heart clenching.

The room is beautiful and you are positive that Jay put a lot of thought into decorating it for you. The amount of rose petals leading up to the bed was one gesture you loved, but also the candles that were lit. You pondered when he had time to do such a thing.

Jay wraps an arm around you and brings you closer to him. His lips are soft as they kiss along your neck.  “I love this color on you.” Jay compliments, his hand sliding your sides. “Black is lovely against your skin.”

Your body flushes at the compliment and you could only giggle, giddy at the way your heart jumps. Jay insisted on you wearing the lingerie - a black lace and mesh material that leaves little to the imagination. The stockings are high and stop mid thigh.

“I like this color on you.” you tell Jay. He’s dressed down from his suit from early. Now, he sports a silk, red robe that’s tightly loosely around him. His tan skin peaks from beneath it.

“Valentine’s Day is all about you. I want to make you feel good.” Jay kisses down your neck towards your collarbone, leaving slightly wet kisses. “I want to try something new.”

You weren’t sure what to expect when being told “something new”. You were laid onto the bed you share with Jay, his lips continuing to kiss down your body. His eyes flicker upwards at you and he offers a mischievous grin that has your legs quivering. 

“Something new” wasn't a robe tied tightly around your wrist and keeping you bound against your bed frame. You wouldn’t lie and say your body wasn’t filled with excitement - you and Jay never did this and sex was already enjoyable enough.

Jay licks his lips, his eyes meeting your curious ones. “You’re so beautiful. Always has been.” he murmurs, speaking aloud by himself. 

Jay forces your legs open, his hand wrapping more rope around your ankles that he then ties to the end of the bed frame. He proceeds to do the same thing to your free leg. 

“I can see how wet you are now.” Jay’s voice is deep and sultry, slowly consumed with his own lust. “You’ve always been the submissive type. The type to do whatever is asked of you.”

Jay’s hand trails teasingly up your leg, his fingertips feeling like feathers tickling your skin. 

Jay’s finger taps lightly at your clothed clit, smirking at you teasingly. His index forces itself through the mesh material and he slides it to the side. “So wet.” he murmurs. “Relax, baby. I have something you’d like.”

Your pussy clenches with anticipation and your eyes watch Jay get up from the bed. He goes to the side of the bed and appears to go through a bag. 

“I want you to feel good.” Jay says, turning towards you. Once more, your pussy clenches at the sight of the vibrator in the palm of his hand. “You’d let me, right?”

Hastily you nod your head, licking your lips with anticipation. 

Jay turns on the vibrator and it’s loud, the buzzing noise tingling through your ears. He places it on your thigh to tease you and it does so greatly. He slides it across your thigh closer and closer between your legs.

“Baby?” Jay hums, gently pressing the vibrator against your clit.  “There’s no lies between us, right?”

Your legs begin to shake at the vibrators pressure against your clit. “N-No.” you stutter out.

“Then you’d tell me what you and your friends did, right?” Jay questions, pressing the vibrator even harder against you.

You struggle against the rope restraints. “W-What are you talking about?” you sigh - more like a moan. Your stomach was bubbling and you couldn’t contain the rest of the moans releasing from your mouth. 

“Remember earlier…you said it must be karma why your lives have turned the way they did.” Jay begins to circle the vibrator against your clit. You’re so wet that it’s now fully coated in your sweet arousal. “Tell me what you’ve done that karma has come before you all?”

You aren’t sure what Jay is getting at and why he suddenly wanted to do this now. Your toes begin to curl.

Jay removes the vibrator from your swollen bud, his eyes dark with lust.  “Tell me.” he demands.

“I-I…nothing.” you shake your head, panting. Your lack of pleasure sends shock waves through your body. “Why are you-”

Your throat releases a shriek when the vibrator is brought back to your clit. Your eyes shut tightly as, once more, your thigh shakes. “Please-”

“You know,”Jay begins, circling the vibrator against you. “There’s four types of lies.”

“Jay…” the way you say his name causes his cock to jump in his pants. You’re full of lust and pleasure and he’s sure you’re not fully able to comprehend him.

“A white lie, a gray lie, a black lie and a red lie.” Jay continues. “A white lie is to first seek to help others. A gray lie is an in between; to partly help others and ourselves.”

Your toes begin to curl as Jay continues. 

“A black lie…” Jay trails off, his eyes boring into your face. Your eyes are clenched shut and you’re panting. “...is pure selfishness. Nothing is gained from others when a black lie is told and it is used to purely get the liar out of trouble.”

Jay removes the vibrator once more and this time you cry out in protest. Your eyes snap open, sadden as you peer at Jay.

“You’re such a whore, Y/N.” he chuckles cruely, his demeanor changed from the caring boyfriend of just an hour early. Your body yearns for him regardless of this act. “You’re about to cry.”

“I just wanna cum, Jay.” you murmur in defeat. 

“Yeah?” Jay comes closer to your face. “A red lie…” Jay places the vibrator against your clit, this time pressing the buttons on the side to increase the power. “...is done solely out of spite. Revenge. To harm others.”

Your eyes never leave his, even with the amount of blinking you’re doing to remain conscious. You’re groaning now, body shaking with pleasure. 

“Can you guess which one I am, baby?”

What?

“If you guess right, I’ll let you cum.”

Your breathing increases and the only thing you can think about is cumming. “W-White.”

“Wrong.” Jay turns off the vibrator, but keeps it against your clit. “Can you guess which type of liar you are?”

“Jay…” you shake  your head. This act was making you impatient. “Please-”

“Tell me, Y/N. If you’ve done nothing in your past, then why have you and your friends gone through such terrible karma?”

“This act you’re doing is too much, Jay.”

“What act?” Jay scoffs. “Since you don’t know, baby. You’re a black liar. You’re selfish and you’re deflecting from your own involvement in the past.”

Your eyebrows knit together. “Jay…that isn’t funny-”

The vibrator turns on once more, shocking you. 

“As for me, I’m a red liar. None of you recognized me.” Jay speaks in a tone - monotone like; narrative. “You didn’t recognize Jay. Minji didn’t recognize Jung-ho. Mi-sun didn’t recognize Jong-seok and Jang-Mi never recognized Ju-ho…”

Jung-ho.

Jong-seok.

Ju-ho.

Jay.

“Jay…?” your intentions aren’t to moan, but you cannot help it. Jay is pressing the vibrator with such pressure that even now in this unknown situation, you cannot help but want to cum hard. 

Just as you were about to cum, you cry out once more when the vibrator cuts off. You’re trembling, your wrist burning as the friction of the robe rubs against them.

“My name’s not Jay, Y/N. You know my name.”

Your eyes widen slowly. “Stop.” you plead with Jay. “It isn’t funny anymore…”

“I never told you a joke.” Jay scoffs. “Look at me and tell me you don’t remember who I am, Y/N.”

You swallow the lump in your throat as goosebumps begin to erupt onto your skin. Your heart is beating outside your chest and you wished Jay would flip the switch and return to the boyfriend you know and love.

“Look. At. Me.” Jay grits out each word with such venom, his cheerful personality long gone. “It’s been a decade since High School but have I truly changed that much, Y/N?”

You remain silent, your eyes remain on the man in front of you. 

“I had to change schools because of what your friends said I did.” Jay murmurs, and as the words hit your ears your eyes begin to widen. 

Mi-sun lifts her hand up and hums, tilting her head. “I think I want pink.” she says. “But a soft pink, not a hot one.”

Jang-Mi snorts.

Mi-sun raises a brow at Jang-Mi, but she doesn’t respond. 

“Like this one?” Minji asks after rummaging through her tote of beauty items. She holds up a bright pink color - taffy. 

Mi-sun nods with excitement. 

You sit and listen to the exchange, head in Jang-Mi’s lap.

You were all in Mi-sun’s room, a room that was overly pink, but neither of the girls in the friend group complained. Her walls were white, but her bed - a large queen size that sat in the middle of her room - had a bubblegum pink comforter set with matching pillows. While her floors were hardwood, the rugs inside of her room were round and flamingo colored. 

“So,” Jang-Mi starts. “What is this year's dare?”

You sighed deeply, ready to hear just what the hell your friends had planned for you this year.

Every year your group of friends would dare one another to do something - anything - at the start of the school year. It was a tradition, after all, spawning since primary school.

The year prior, Mi-sun had dared Minji to walk in the boys locker-room “accidentally” and shower just minutes before the boys were done with their practice. Minji was the daredevil of the group and accepted it without a problem - even if she did have a months worth of detention and had several boys profess their “undying love” for her.

While Minji’s dare were dare-devil like, Jang-Mi’s were spontaneous. Her dare the year prior was to smoke bomb the teacher lounge - that earned her two months of detention (thanks to her uncle being the principal).

“You,” Minji points to you. “And you,” she then points to Mi-sun. “Need to step it up. Jang-Mi and I always do the impulsive dares!”

You lick your lips. “My dare last year was pretty impulsive.”

It wasn’t. The dare you agreed upon was to egg the principal's car - you weren’t caught and maybe that’s what they were upset about. Your poor principal was going through it and his niece never appeared to care much.

Jang-Mi rolls her eyes and snickers. “Egging a car is pretty impulsive.” she says with a hint of sarcasm. 

“Okay, let’s start then.” Minji claps her hands together. “Jang-Mi, I dare you…” Minji hums, her mind wandering as to what she would possibly say. “It’s like we’ve done everything already.”

“We have.” Jang-mi looks down at you. “This year is about you and Mi-sun.”

Mi-sun finishes painting her right hand and she raises a brow. “No fair.”

“Too bad.” Jang-Mi smirks. 

“I agree.” Minji smiles wide. “We have to think of something good. So we’ll start tomorrow.”

Your stomach churns at the thought of them coming up with something impulsive - it was your last year of highschool after all.

Mi-sun rolls her eyes. “I’m not scared.” she snaps.

“I’m scared.” Mi-sun hisses, hands trembling with wide eyes.

“Pussy.” Jang-Mi giggles. 

There was a few minutes before class started and it was as if Jang-Mi and Minji were ready to start the day off with a bang. 

“It’s not like it’s that difficult.” Minji hisses. “Just go ahead and kiss him.”

“You dared her to kiss a professor.” you deadpan - but you’re glad this dare wasn’t yours. Minji and Jang-mi had claimed they hadn't come up with anything yet. 

The yet scares you.

Said professor walks by - Professor Song. He’s tall, dark brown hair with matching eyes. He’s young, only a few years older than those he is teaching and an obvious eye-candy for the female students. He nods his head and waves at a few students as he strolls pass and Jang-Mi proceeds to push Mi-sun forward.

You gulp. This dare was a risky one. It was just a kiss yes, but this was a kiss between someone that had authority. Professor Song could lose his job - and teaching career - if this went the wrong way. 

Professor Song hisses at the impact of Mi-sun knocking into him. His glasses are knocked off of his face and it drops onto the ground beside him. He lowers himself to grab it and Mi-sun bites her lip before doing the dare.

Mi-sun presses her lips against Professor Song’s. It was a quick peck, but it stuns the man nonetheless. He stumbles back a bit and before he could speak, Mi-sun is running down the hall to her classroom with Jang-Mi, Minji and you following close behind. Jang-Mi and Minji are laughing while you’re too bewildered to speak.

“That. Was. So. Humiliating!” Mi-sun hisses as she reaches the classroom. Class was about to start and her face was as red as a tomato. “I swear if I’m expelled-”

“Stop being so dramatic.” Minji shrugs it off. She reaches her desk - besides Mi-sun, and sits. 

“Uncle knows of our yearly dares.” Jang-mi assures. “He should be expecting this by now.”

You take your seat behind Jang-mi. 

“Now all that is left is our little Y/N.” Jang-Mi turns and offers a wide grin. “Aren’t you excited?”

No, but you wouldn’t cower before them. 

“Whatever.” you grunt.

Your teacher comes strutting in. He’s a short older man with a large gut - a beer gut you’re certain. His arms are as skinny as his legs and his face is similar to a skeleton. You never even see the man eat, but he always had a water bottle in his hands that smells of vodka when he opens it.

“Kim Mi-sun.” he calls as he slams down a black briefcase. “Office.” he says without looking at the body of students. He takes a seat at his desk and Mi-sun groans with annoyance.

“That was fast.” Minji giggles quietly. “It hasn’t even been ten minutes.”

“Fuck off.” Mi-sun hisses. She gathers her things and makes her way out of the classroom just as more students are scurrying inside. 

“Hey, Y/N.”

Your eyes lift to see the source of the greeting and you offer a small - very small and uninterested - smile to the boy seated a few desks in front of you. 

Jang-Mi watches the exchange and she turns her head to Minji. She wiggles her eyebrows and tilts her head to the boy. 

“Who’s that?” she mouths.

Jang-mi shrugs. “Not sure.” she mouths back. “Y’N’s dare.”

Minji furrows a brow, eyes shining with realization. She erupts in a fit of giggles that causes Jang-Mi to do the same. 

Your fingers twirl a piece of your hair as your eyes watch him a few seats away from you. Your ears catch the whispered conversation of your friends besides you. 

"When are you going to say something?" asks Mi-sun with a roll of her eyes. "The dare was a week ago."

Your gum pops dramatically after Mi-sun's question. You manage to roll your own eyes, but you don't take them off of him - Jung Hoseok. His cheeks are childishly chubby, he was tall, but thin - even for a senior in high school. He wore braces and you couldn't imagine him without them - they have been implanted in his teeth for years now. 

You were no fool to Jung Hoseok's crush on you. You noticed the side eyes he'd give you in class. When your eyes met his, his eyes would blink away, and his cheeks would turn to a deep crimson. It was cute, you thought, pathetically so. As did your friends. They would laugh each time they saw Hoseok looking at you, claiming that he was nothing but a lost, kicked puppy. You'd laugh along with them even if you did see the embarrassed look on his face. 

Your friends enjoyed teasing Hoseok so much that they thought it would be an amazing idea for you - his crush - to go along with the teasing. "Ask him out. Lead him on." suggested Mi-sun. "Then break his sad, pathetic heart." laughs Jang-Mi.

You thought about their request. You never spoke to Hoseok before and never had the reason or desire to. What you knew of Hoseok was that he was smart, not straight A smart like most, but he passed his classes. He wasn't popular when it came to friend groups and opted to stay to himself or a small set of friends. 

"Oh my..." Minji hums, she leans back into her chair and crosses her arms. She just cut her long, black locs to a sharp bob. The new appearance makes her much more intimidating. "...you like him." she declares.

"I do not." your eyes glance to Minji hurriedly. "I just...he's a loser."

Mi-sun giggles and agrees.

"I don't want to be associated with a loser." you reach into your uniform skirt pocket and remove a small tube of lipgloss. You proceed to coat your lips slowly with the glossy substance, eyes on Hoseok just in time for his eyes to meet yours. His eyes glance down to your lips - plump and coated - and his cheeks flush. 

Minji cackles, followed by Mi-sun and Jang-Mi. Hoseok's head snaps away and you know he's mentally cursing at himself.

"Look at him." Minji scoffs with a shake of her head, appearing to have pity for Hoseok. "He is a loser."

"Much the more reason to play with him." Jang-Mi singsongs. She was always the much more mischievous type in the friendship. She enjoyed playing tricks and pranks, no matter how cruel they were. Min-sun would be considered the "ditzy" one of the group, but she was just as mischievous as Jang-Mi, maybe even more.

You can feel their eyes on you now. Min-sun bats her eyelashes, cat-like eyes stabbing holes into you. Jang-Mi tilts her head impatiently awaiting your response while Minji does nothing but glare. 

"If you don't, I will." Jang-Mi smirks, and now you're shaking your head. Hoseok wasn't an asshole like the rest of the boys at this school. He didn't deserve whatever cruel prank Jang-Mi would surely throw his way. 

"I'll do it." you roll your eyes and laugh. You proceed to bite your lip. "I'm sure it'll be fun."

Fun it was. You started the following day, but you remained subtle. It would cause alarms to go off in Hoseok's mind if you casually strolled up to him and became flirtatious. You didn't want to scare him off - especially if Jang-Mi's words of Hoseok being a virgin rang true. You had a plan, instead. Hoseok and you shared multiple classes and in each one, you would offer him a small smile. Your smile soon became a short wave that he would return - after looking around to ensure you were indeed waving at him and not someone else. 

Minji had grown bored of the slow burn happening before her. When you had strolled into class and ready to sit at your desk, she had slammed her foot against your chair and shook her head. She jerks her head to the side, and you follow her gaze - a desk directly next to Hoseok remains empty. 

You took a deep breath and nodded. 

You drop your bag at your new desk, startling the box next to you. His eyes slowly reached to who was beside him. His eyes catch your legs, smooth and seemingly soft. He drags them forward slowly until they notice your eyes. He freezes, heart thumping outside his chest. 

"Is this seat taken?" you ask lowly, a smirk forming on your glossy lips. 

Hoseok shakes his head but remains quiet. His palms grow sweaty, and he's worried suddenly if he remembered to wear deodorant. 

You sit beside him, eyes glancing to Minji who raises a brow at you, nodding her head. You weren't going to be able to go back to your regular seat until you did something to get closer to Hoseok.

Class starts and you go without speaking with Hoseok, even if you do notice his eyes glancing your way every few minutes. However, you understood your part in this assignment. You'd accidentally - purposely - would brush your knee on his and apologize with a cute smile. You'd proceed to lean closer towards him so your side would briefly touch his.

Hoseok's mind was going crazy the following weeks. You continued to sit beside him day by day. Your touching now was much less subtle and he's unsure of what to take of it. You never appeared to be interested in him before. He was no idiot - he was certain you caught on to his crush on you. Maybe that's why - you pitied him and his pathetic crush.

"H-huh?" Hoseok blinks a few times and shakes his head. His cheeks are tinted red with further embarrassment.

"I said," you grasp your bag and lean forward. The bell rang and it was time for lunch, but Hoseok was far too in his thoughts to notice. "do you want to come home with me?"

Your breast peaked through the uniform top and Hoseok nearly fainted at your words. He's tongue tied and soon you're cackling. 

"To study for the test, silly." you're laughing a melodic laugh that calms Hoseok's nerves. "I've seen your grades on the quizzes we had. You're so smart, Hoseok."

You think he's smart, Hosoek gulps.

"I wish I could be as smart as you." you sigh almost dramatically. 

"Y-you are....smart." Hoseok mentally shoots himself at the lame compliment.

"Thank you." you tilt your head. "So, what do you say?" 

Hoseok nods his head hesitantly. He understands that he'd want nothing more than to have you close to him. But, he couldn't be as desperate - he didn't want to scare you off. "I can come study." he murmurs lowly. 

You clap your hands together gleefully. "Thank you!"

Hoseok allows his heart shaped lips to smile at you. You looked beautiful when you were cheerful.

"We can walk home after school, okay?' you're walking backwards waiting for his response.

"Okay." Hoseok nods, heart beating outside his chest and goosebumps erupting the skin of his arm.

That was only the beginning of what happened with Hoseok - not Jay.

“Hoseok…?” you murmur, your eyes scanning his face while your mind compares it to the younger version of the man. Shame and humiliation runs through you - how could you not remember the boy; now a man?

“Ah, that’s what it took for you to remember me?” Hoseok begins to laugh, his beautiful teeth shining in front of you. “Mi-sun didn’t remember me either but she loved Jong-seok as the father of her daughter.” Hoseok shakes his head with a chuckle. 

Your blood runs cold at Hoseok’s words.

“Years ago…I remember her stating that I would never be someone she’d ever love…fuck…yet that child is mine and I don’t feel any remorse for leaving her alone and struggling.” Hoseok chuckles once more. “Ju-ho was the reason Jang-Mi had to find a new job hours away. Especially when it was revealed she was stealing from the company…”

“Hoseok, please-”

“Of course it was just a rumor but something like that doesn’t go lightly, Y/N. Her career was over and the only job willing to hire her after that…” Hoseok shrugs. “...and, Jung-ho was the one who introduced Mini to her cheating husband. He never took her seriously like she never took anything in others' lives seriously. What goes around comes around, I suppose.”

Hoseok wasn’t Jay - Jay was an act. Hoseok was cold; calculated. He strived off of revenge and spite; and the red robe he wore told you just how calculated the man truly was. 

“Hoseok…”

You’re unsure what you want to tell him. You never thought you’d see Hoseok again - much less like this. 

Hoseok tilts his head. “I didn’t tell them who I was, you know”? he admits. “I just left when my time was done.”

“Hoseok.”

“You are different, Y/N. You always were.” Hoseok presses the vibrator button and allows the pleasure to come back. “You felt remorse for what you’ve done. You admitted that I never assaulted you like your friends had said…but by then it was too late.”

Hoseok presses the buttons on the vibrator three more times and your back arches at the newfound pressure. 

“I had to change schools and only because you spoke up I wasn’t put on any registry.” Hoseok explains, his eyes fixed on how your pussy begins to leak with arousal. “Back then you pretended to like me. You allowed me to take you on dates and admit things I would never had the courage to if you never made me comfortable.”

“Please…” you pleaded, unable to talk more than one word at a time. “It’s too…much.”

“You can take it.” Hoseok grumbles, voice raspy. “You allowed me to hold your hand. You kissed me back. You…you liked it, Y/N. Only when you were caught did you back down.”

Hoseok knows you’re cumming. Your eyes roll to the back of your head and your breath hitches - and he enjoys every moment of it.

“To cover up the fact that you liked it, you pushed me away, remember?” Hoseok slams a hand against your cheek to regain your attention.

 You yelp aloud, a wave of pleasure going through you. “Y-Yes!”

“You were so humiliated…frightened at what your friends would think.” Hoseok slaps you again, positive that you like what he’s doing to  you. “But I knew you adored being around me, Y/N.I was the only person you didn’t have to pretend with.”

Hoseok removes the vibrator just as you cum, you arousal coating the bed sheets. The vibrating sound echoes through the room, mixed with your low sobs. 

“I thought about what punishment you all deserved but I could never bring myself to punish you.” Hoseok speaks after a moment. He allows you to catch your breath. “Even when I met you a year ago, Y/N, it felt like it did when we were in High School.”

You flinch when Hoseok touches your face. 

“You’re flinching as if I’d ever hurt you.” Hoseok shakes his head. “I got you out of your own debt, remember? I helped uplift you while your friends were going through their own karma. I did.” Hoseok speaks, each word his voice raises higher and higher. “Right?”

“Hoseok please-”

“Right?!”

You flinch once more at the shout. “Yes.” you respond meekly. “I-I didn’t mean to go that far with you.”

“I know, baby.” Hoseok discards the vibrator and places both hands onto your face. “I know,” he repeats. “That’s why I chose to forgive you and give you another chance. Now you and I could truly be together.”

Hoseok frightened you - deep  down you tell yourself that Jay was in there somewhere. A year of loving one another, there was never any slip up. Jay cared for you. He loved you unconditionally and put you before anything.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes, Y/N.” Hoseok sighs. “You’re not scared of me. You’re scared of the situation. I would never hurt you or I would have already.”

That doesn’t make your heart beat slow.

“You and I could be together again truthfully. We can continue to love one another.” Hoseok kisses along your face, the same feathery kisses that Jay would give you. “No Mi-sun, no Jang-Mi, no Minji. Just you and I.” he speaks again, his lips pecking yours. “Right?”

Jay always loved you, but this was Hoseok and at the moment, Hoseok terrified you to the core. You were nothing without Jay and you allowed Jay to fully take care of you like he insisted.  

“Yes.” you nod, defeated and unsure of what to do. Your bound wrist hurt as did your ankles. 

“I love you, baby.” Hoseok pecks your lips once more, smiling into it.

You were sure Jay loved you, wherever inside Hoseok he was residing - and that fact was the only thing keeping you from crying further.

[jasmineoolongtea]

i wish i hated you - geto suguru

"wish there was worse to you, i wish that you were worse to me"

contents: geto suguru x gn!reader, lovers to exes, angst, hurt + comfort, hurt + no comfort, following the events of the hidden inventory arc, gojo and shoko appearance as well

summary: it's been a few weeks since your seemingly happy relationship with geto came to and end in the blink of an eye, leaving you reeling from the aftershock. now tasked with cleaning up your dorm for graduation, you're sent down an unfortunate trip down memory lane of your and suguru's relationship and end after his departure.

wc: 2.4k ish

a/n: inspired by i wish i hated you by ariana grande. even though i do like writing fluff, my true passion is actually angst, especially writing gut-wrenching angst to sad music. hope you guys enjoy this one and any likes, comments and reblogs are very much appreciated <33

A clean breakup. No tears, no snot, no painful begging to rethink the other's actions or to fight for whatever was left of the relationship. "It was better this way." He said, "We're not like those other couples, we're better than that." All you could do was nod as the knot at the bottom of your throat began to constrict itself into a weight that felt like it was going to drag you down with it.

What if you weren't better than them, you would think to yourself late at night. It wasn't like you were asking for a massive breakup fight like one straight from the movies, screaming and crying at each other through a thunderstorm, broken plates being tossed around haphazardly with you two spitting venomous insults at each other. You just wish that at least it ended like it was something, rather than nothing but even in your dreams, all you can find yourself doing is repeating the mistakes of your past as you stand there frozen in place, watching as his silhouette fades into the foggy recesses of your mind.

No matter where you went, it felt like you were constantly haunted by his presence, or whatever remained of it at this point. Hell, even your room didn't feel like it belonged to you anymore. You were a temporary guest that drifted through its old walls that echoed the haunted past of happier days, where you would lay with Suguru under the blankets, whispering sweet nothings, until both of you fell asleep. Every single thing in that room had been touched by him, in both a metaphorical and literal sense, to the point where if you closed your eyes hard enough, you swear you could feel him hovering in front of you. In times like those, you foolishly reach out to see if you steal back a few seconds of happiness, to see if you can experience his touch for only a fleeting second but are only met with nothing but the cold, empty silence around you.

If it was up to you, you would take nothing from your room when the time came. Ideally, it would become a time capsule, perfectly preserved to the point where you could still see the shadows of a not-so-distant past dance across the walls once the sun had set. Maybe once in a while, you would find yourself there again, making your way towards the bed that barely smells like him anymore and curl up to the memories of days when you and him would plan your futures together.

"Suguru," he hums in response, his back towards you as you card your fingers through his raven locks from the mattress behind him. "What are your thoughts on getting a pet together?"

"I could see us getting a cat together in the future." He replies, leaning his head against the mattress. "Actually, I could see us doing a lot of things in future."

At his words, your attention was immediately peaked as you let go of his hair and rearranged yourself on the cramped bed to lay on your stomach, arms wrapping around his neck as you silently implored him to continue on. He smiles softly at your antics.

"I could see us moving out of this dorm and into our own apartment where we could bribe Satoru and Shoko to become our very own moving company." You giggle to yourself at the thought. Good for you guys that your friends were so transparent with their wants. "Maybe in a few years down the line, we might decide to take the next step and at our high school reunion we would show off our matching rings." You murmur a few words of approval at his vision of the future. You could see it, stretching your left hand out in front of you as you envision a delicate ring resting upon your ring finger, a constant reminder of the love between you two. His gaze lands upon your outstretched hand and reaches up to intertwine his fingers with yours. Suguru starts rubbing circles around your ring finger as if testing how it would feel to be met with the coolness of a metal band around it instead of just the softness of your skin. Gently, he brings your hand up to his lips, placing a chaste kiss against your interlaced hands that elicits a shy giggle from you.

"A few years more, we might even have kids." He says suddenly, looking off into the distance through your dorm window.

You raise an eyebrow at him, curious about where he was planning to go with his vision. "Oh yeah? How many?" You question. It wasn't like you were necessarily thinking about having kids when you were barely on the border of adulthood. However, if you ever were going to raise children with anyone, you think you would want it to be with Suguru.

"I think 2 would be nice. Both girls." It sounds like he's thought a lot about this, considering how resolute his response is. You choose not to comment on though, despite feeling your cheeks grow with warmth at the thought of him taking so much care to plan his future out with you down to a detail like this. Sensing that you were starting to get lost in thought, he gave your hand a slight nudge. "What do you think?"

"I think it'd be nice." You respond back, leaning further forward to rest your head upon his shoulder. Seemingly satisfied with your answer, Suguru gives your cheek a soft kiss before standing up from his position on the floor. Your hands are still interlocked as he hovers above you, pointing towards you on your bed. He always does this. Ever since you guys started dating and even before this, he always asked for permission to enter your space. He does this with 3 knocks on your door when he wants to come into your room, a shy tap on your shoulder when he wants to pull you closer to him and a point towards your bed whenever he wants to clamber in with you. You've told him before that he doesn't need to do this. To you, your space is basically his space at this point and he's always a welcomed guest. He only brushes off your comment with a simple smile and a brief kiss against your lips and continues on with this habit. Even now, with everything that had transpired, you think you would still let him in no matter how long it was since he came knocking.

Using your grip on him, you pull him down onto the mattress with you, shuffling back to the point where your back is against the wall as he rests his head against the pillow. Suguru opens his arms, inviting you into his embrace which you gladly accept with your head now resting against his chest. His arms encircle your figure as you listen to the steady rhythm of his heart lull you into a sense of security. In this room, between these papered walls, is a sanctuary that the two of you had carved out for each other with your bare hands. Though you had only known Suguru for 3 years and were only dating for 2 of those years, you don't think you could ever fall asleep or feel even as safe without hearing, feeling and sensing the steady drum of his heart right next to you.

You knew first-hand how draining the world of jujutsu and curses was, even more so for those who were first-grade or special-grade sorcerers, and so it always warmed your heart knowing that Suguru was comfortable enough to relax around you. You could physically see how his shoulders would sag with relief every time he saw you safe and sound and you let yourself believe that with every brush of his hair and every soft touch, you were pulling away all the tension and stress away from him. It wasn't enough as you would soon come to find out and maybe, it would have never been enough.

The memory is only temporary. Like all memories are really. Just a recollection of the past and its ensuing ghosts. Holding out for a second longer in this state of limbo between reality and your mind won't make the memory last longer. You know this, but it doesn't stop you from trying to squeeze your eyes shut just a bit tighter hoping that you might be able to grasp onto its tendrils for just a bit longer. Eventually, you give up on trying and get up from your curled-up position on the bed. The sheets are crumpled but there's only the indentation of you on its surface, the usual presence of the second one now long gone.

As you begin to undertake the arduous task of cleaning out your closet, it dawns on you how much stuff that was left behind by Suguru. Prior to this, you thought that it would be you and him spending a lazy afternoon here cleaning it out before you moved into your shared apartment, reminiscing on the glory of your high school days together. Hell, you even entertained the idea that Suguru might have ransacked the room for his belongings when he decided to up and leave that night. It would have spared you all this pain of dredging up old memories. You never thought that it would be you who was cleaning it up alone.

If this was a normal breakup, you would pack his things up into a tidy little box and ship it off to wherever he was in the world with a note wishing him the best for his future endeavours. Out of sight and out of mind, you would think to yourself as you did it. Or maybe if you were more the vengeful type, you would throw a match onto it and watch with a cheap can of beer from the convenience store, the ones that you would always complain tasted like nothing but foam, in hand as the flames burned away remnants of the past. You could even picture Shoko taking a sip with you as you two both sat in silence. But you could never do that. No matter how badly you wanted to, even if it was a small mercy you could have afforded yourself.

A lot of this would be easier if you would dare to take that more permanent step of trying to erase him from your life. It would be a lot easier if you could understand why he chose to do this, breaking up with you days before he went to that village. You thought you two were happy, at least on your end you were. You think about what you've heard about how he ended things with Satoru. Why did he have to be so good with you until the end? When you broke down crying on that day, he turned around in his step and sat with you on a bench while you melted into a blubbering mess. He didn't need to do that. He wasn't your boyfriend anymore. He wasn't even your friend anymore with how he worded his goodbye. "It's better for us if we don't talk after this." was what he said. Yet, despite all of that, he still remained with you, rubbing soothing circles on your back whilst you sobbed against his chest. The next thing you remember from that day was waking up in your bed, eyes red and swollen, a dry throat and tucked into your bed with a glass of water on your nightstand.

It's not like you haven't tried to be angry at him. You think back to a few days ago when you tried to destroy some of the origami cranes that Suguru folded for you and left on your desk. According to Shoko, she said that stuff like that could be "cathartic for the soul." though you're pretty sure she stole that quote from a poster advertising a rage room. When you asked him why he did that late one night, he was as cryptic as ever, only sending you a soft smile as he started to fold another one right after finishing the first. You later found out from Satoru that he was planning to fold a thousand of them as he wanted to wish for your happiness and safety, he only got to about 20 before he left. It only took ripping up the first one for you to immediately regret your actions. Whatever anger there was in you dissipated the second you saw the shredded and butchered remains of the crane in your hands. Apparently, when Satoru and Shoko came to check in on you, it was already sunrise and you were still sitting there at your desk, trying to glue together whatever was left of the paper at that point.

All emotions felt manufactured to you when it came to Suguru. If you couldn't be angry at him, then you thought that you could be annoyed but that was a failure as well when you realised that it was a fault of your own that you didn't speak up when you had the chance to voice your thoughts to him. Regret wasn't an option as well because if anyone would ask if you regret meeting Suguru then your answer would be a resounding no. You wouldn't trade your time with him for anything. Trying to be happy could never work when you felt like there was a gaping, empty hole in your chest from where someone had ripped out the Suguru-shaped piece that managed to worm its way into there. Every time you put on a smile, it's like a failed imitation of what one pictures a smile to be, making you out to be a fraud amongst the sea of people who were still intact.

In all honesty, all your problems would be solved if you hated Suguru Geto. Then, just maybe, there was a sliver of a chance that you wouldn't feel burdened by all this pain and yearning for what once was and what could have been. It would be easier if he was worse, but that could never be that because that wasn't who he was. He was someone who cared for those around him with every beat of his bleeding heart, too much if you asked those close to him to the point where he would try to shoulder the weight of their world tenfold. Just like how there could not be worse things about him, you could never hate Geto Suguru despite everything.

[zombholic]

CONSUMED — abby anderson

summary — the fame really consumed her.

description — rockstar!abby, poc fem!reader, explicit content, sfw & nsfw, modern au, no post outbreak.

authors note — this is probably gonna be my favorite series.

It was cold outside, February was always so cold. You were walking around times square with your two close friends Ellie and Jesse, this was on your guys bucket list to go to New York for a week and what perfect time than now.

The bright colors of the billboards, the chatter in the crowds and for some reason you still have this part deep inside of you wishing you would see her.

“I’m fucking starving guys, can we get something to eat?” Jesse spoke up causing you to snap back into reality.

“Always fuckin’ hungry Jess.” Ellie was being sarcastic, rolling her eyes before looking over at you.

“You hungry too?” Her hands rubbed your shoulders noticing you were shivering from the cold.

Nodding your head you three agreed on going to Chick-Fil-A, even though you were in New York and there were so many options it always came down to your guys favorite homophobic chicken place.

“Jeez, slow down I promise no one’s gonna steal your sandwich.” Ellie side eyed Jesse inhaling his meal.

“You got ops on you or something?” You giggled munching on your chicken nuggets.

“Y’all shut the fuck up, I wasn’t lying when I said I was hungry.” Jesse rolled his eyes.

You guys were sat near the big windows of the restaurant, clear views of the big billboards, New York is beautiful but how the fuck do people live here?

Your eyes roamed around the bright screens until you felt your throat swell up, heart felt like it dropped into your stomach.

Abby Anderson World Tour 2024

Clenching your jaw you looked away hoping your friends didn’t see your sudden change in emotion, unfortunately they picked it up almost immediately. Turning their heads to look at where your eyes were you felt the air in the room change.

“Fuck her, I hope she—“ “Ellie shut up” Jesse cut her off.

All of a sudden you weren’t hungry anymore, the memories were so quick to flood your mind all over again, the tears slowly filling up your eyes. You felt so stupid crying over your ex-girlfriend even though it’s been a year but you fell hard for her.

“Felt like I wasted four years of my life on her.” You sniffled refusing to let the tears stream down.

“Hey, fuck her and her stupid fucking world tour, let’s go watch a movie or something.” Ellie had Jesse pack up the leftovers.

She held you by the arm dragging you out the doors with Jesse trailing behind. Ellie was Abby’s biggest hater, the worst part is you know Ellie was heartbroken as well. Abby and her were best friends for as long as you could remember but she dropped everyone who loved her for fame.

You guys had went back to your shared hotel room, changing into your pajamas you guys cuddled up in the bed, laptop on your lap as you played some stupid movie Jesse picked out. You couldn’t help but slowly zone out into memory lane, you shouldn’t but for some reason your heart still ached for her.

“Baby! Come here!” Abby pulled you onto her lap with the biggest smile plastered on her freckled face.

“I didn’t have a choice.” You giggled feeling her nuzzle her face into the crook of your neck.

She pulled her laptop closer on the coffee table, pressing play on the youtube video she posted of her and her band playing one of their songs that she worked so hard on perfecting.

“My song got a million fucking views!” Your eyes widened, turning around to face her on her lap.

“Oh my god? Baby I’m literally speechless!” You pulled her into a tight hug, she grabbed your face smashing her lips against yours.

“Don’t forget about me when you’re famous.” You joked but shit little did you know she actually would.

You remembered that day so fondly because later that day she was receiving emails and calls from all sorts of people.

“Y/n? Hellooo?” Ellie waved her hand in front of your face.

“How does she zone out for so long?” Jesse nibbled on his snacks.

You lifted your head looking over at Els with your brows arched up confused.

“What?” “Can you skip the damn ad?”

[lokisprettygirl]

My Love is mine, All mine (18+) (CEO! Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon Modern AU)

Series Masterlist

Chapter 1

Summary: You dive down the memory lane and think about how you first met the love of your life, your husband, Daemon.

Warning: 18+, smut, mention of rape, insecurities.

Note : This will probably be the most boring thing i have ever written..you are warned. Expect 3-5 parts (or I don't really know yet 😂)

“Ugggh i don't want to be here” Shelly mumbled next to you so you gave her a side eye, she never wanted to be there. There were a couple of guys demonstrating a product targeted towards women, a decorative ring designed for women that could potentially save their life while they were out clubbing or about doing anything literally,

At first look, the ring looked like any other ring, adorned with jewels and glimmering in the light. Although upon closer inspection you could see that it had a hidden compartment under the fake diamond stud.

Inside the compartment was a red button, a single press of which would send an emergency alert to the local authorities as well as several emergency contacts on your phone, not just that but it also shared the precise location on a live moving map.

There was a group of women watching the presentation take place so you took Shelly as you were really intrigued by the product and as well as the guy giving the demonstration.

His name was Daemon, Daemon Targaryen, he was the tallest guy you had ever laid your eyes on, 6’3 to be astute, he had bronde hair- a mix of brown and blonde, and the most intense eyes you had ever witnessed, he was charming and charismatic and it wasn't like you to get attracted so quickly so even you were surprised by your own behaviour that day.

“Sooooo ummm no offense but how does it work? Is it battery operated?” A girl asked him so he picked up the ring and walked towards her,

“Don't worry I won't pop the question to you” he joked and it made everyone laugh including you. He showed her the 2.0 mm charging point inside the ring so she nodded her head..

“But what if the creeps out there recognise the ring?” Another girl asked him so he went back to the table and picked up another ring from the box..

“They won't..every purchase comes with a fresh design.. see for yourself” he gave her the ring so she checked it out and gave it back to him with a nod of approval.

The longer he talked about it though the more people started to leave, people were not interested in buying the ring even though it seemed like something everyone should own, they kept leaving until it was just you and Shelly. That's when Shelly mumbled something in your ear and ran off as well.

You watched Daemon sighing, there was a defeated look on his face that you noticed immediately but since you were still there he didn't stop the pitch. As you raised your hand up he gave you a smile.

The kind of smile that you knew would only bring you trouble..

“How long it stays active after charging..what is the duration?’ you asked him so he looked at another guy with him that you came to know later was his cousin Aemond.

“We are working on it..it stays for 10 hours for now but we are definitely trying to make the duration longer without comprising the size of it”

“10 hours? That's good enough to find someone if they're in trouble or missing” He gave you a smirky smile as you said that. “So are you selling them?” You asked him and you could tell he was excited by the prospect of leaving this place with at least one sale.

“Of Course..it's 10 euros only” he told you so you pulled out your wallet from the purse.

“Cool I'll take three..one for me..for my friend and my mom”

“Great” he clapped his hand together in excitement before he spoke again “We've also developed an app that will allow you to sync the ring with your phone. Once the connection has been established, it will not be interrupted even if your phone gets misplaced or powered off.” he informed you so you nodded.

“All this for 10 euros though? That's..very affordable..do you even make any profit?” you asked him a genuine though a bit intrusive question so he smiled politely.

“That's not a priority at the moment..goal is to give every woman a chance to be safe” he said in big words that you could have interpreted as a marketing gimmick but when you had learned the reason behind why he had invented this thing, you had realized his words were not empty that day.

He made you walk with him towards the station and Aemond excused himself as he wanted to get a drink, it was a warm day in Birmingham that day.

Once he was done cutting the receipt , you grabbed the rings and wished him good luck with the startup but as you were about to walk past him you heard him calling your name again and your heart skipped a beat.

“Yes?” You turned around to look at him so he hesitated for a moment before he stepped towards you,

“Ummm apologies if this sounds inappropriate but how old are you?” you gave him a smile as he said that. You'd pass out if he was intending to ask you out on a date.

“Just short 21” his face fell down as you said that so you crossed your arms..

“Ohhh” he let out a sigh, there was a look of disappointment plastered all over his features.

“Why did you ask? ” You couldn't help but let out a nervous giggle so he gave you a tight lipped smile.

“I .. nevermind.. thanks for buying our product..call us if you face any difficulties..stay safe yeah??”

You felt disheartened as he said that as for once in your life you were really hoping a man would ask you out, for once you found yourself being more into a man then he was into you.

Later on you had learned that the only reason he didn't ask you out that day was because he thought you were too young for him, he was twenty eight at the time and he didn't want to come across as a predator and a creep by dating a young girl in college. That went against everything he stood for.

But perhaps it was meant to be with you two because..Eight years later you were sitting in a restaurant waiting for him to get there so you could celebrate your four year wedding anniversary and he was late, as he always was at times but you understood that, he was a busy man.

What started as a small, humble operation was now a multimillion-euro company, all thanks to the vision and determination he had shown to make the world a safer place for women.

“God I'm sorry sweetheart” his voice made you snap out of your thoughts so you got up and hugged him tightly, the expensive cologne on the side of his neck comforted you immediately,

“It's okay..I just got here” you mumbled softly so he puckered his lips and shook his head.

“Liar”

He kissed you and made you sit back down again, at times like this he felt like a complete arse, sure he was doing this for both of you but he often felt as if he was making you feel neglected on occasions when he should have been with you, especially after everything you had done for him.

You were there for him when he had nothing in his name, when he was that eccentric bloke that went to women's colleges, workplaces and schools to sell a ring that nobody believed in at first..he had seen the worst of the life with you and in those moments he had decided that he was going to give you the best this world could offer you, he doused you in lavish gifts and fancy lifestyle, foreign trips and what not but deep down he knew all you needed from him was him. Just him.

After dinner and a few drinks as you both reached home you already had your hands on each other, that was one thing that never changed in your relationship with him, he was as passionate with you as he was the first night he had taken you like that, with his success and fame came several temptations on his way and you were not the most secure person, the older you got the more insecure you became of your looks, especially because of how he was desired so greatly by women younger than you but he made you feel as if you'd always be the only woman he'd desire in this way.

“Gods i have missed you babylove” he whispered in your ear before he trailed his lips down to your neck, he was on a work trip for a week and had just returned yesterday so the feeling was definitely mutual.

You loosened his tie while he unzipped your dress and picked you up to sit you down on the dresser, your fingers quickly worked the buttons of his shirt while his lips latched onto your neck.

“You're lovely you know that right? I don't think I told you how stunning you looked today”

You smiled sheepishly as he cupped your cheeks and kissed you while he murmured sweet honey into your ears.

“You did…twice actually” he smiled before he slipped your underwear down your legs, at times like this he couldn't really contain himself. Especially when he was away from you for days, the urge to get back to you and fuck you senseless would always eat him up. He had met you for the first time when you were just twenty one, and he always remembered you because you believed in his invention, you bought that ring that day and that memory was seared in his heart.

But you were too young for him, too innocent, so he didn't make his move that day. However the fate wasn't allowing him to move on from that encounter so it kept bringing you back to him until he had given into this feeling.

Next morning you woke up feeling tired but relaxed at the same time as he had completely worn you out. Nights like this were really affirming for you for several different reasons. He had already left for work, you grabbed your phone and called him but it went straight to voicemail so you put the phone down and sighed. Since you had your day off and had nothing much to do today you decided to call Shelly and your other friends to go for a brunch date.

Daemon was tired too that day and all he wanted to do was get back home early for once and surprise you since it was your day off. However he stepped into a silent house and an empty bedroom so he sighed and laid down on the bed with his business suit still on his body. He had organized the annual office party tomorrow so he knew he wouldn't get any peace moving forward.

He pulled out his phone to see if there was a text from you but there was nothing and he didn't want to disturb you if you were out shopping so he put it down and closed his eyes, it didn't take him long to drift into sleep.

As you returned home, you found Daemon passed out on the bed. Despite his exhausted state, he still managed to look adorable with his mouth open, that was one of his endearing qualities. You removed your heels, climbed onto the bed, and gently tucked his hair behind his ears. The sudden touch caused him to shift and wake up

“Hey theree” you mumbled softly as you climbed on top of him so he rubbed his eyes and gave you a smile.

“One day I come home early and you're not here to kiss me first thing” he feigned a hurt look so you gave him a pout..

“Sorry i didn't tell you, I was out for a brunch with Shelly”

"That's okay darling, I was jesting" Daemon said as he caressed your cheek with his fingers "How was your brunch?”

"Good, it's been long since we met so we had a couple of drinks" you said as you slowly undid his tie, you didn't understand how he was able to sleep like this.

“Sounds fun..” his smile dropped so you caressed his cheek with your thumb to bring his eyes back to you.

“What Is it? Work stuff?” you asked him softly.

“Mmmm ..I just..it's not that, i came home today and you weren't here and I just..felt sooo lonely..I'm not whining I'm just..is that how you feel when I'm not here for you?” He asked you softly so you leaned down and kissed his forehead.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Start with the truth and then you can sweeten it up to preserve my fragile ego” you chuckled as he said that

“I miss you of course.. would i want you to come back home like a normal guy once the work hour ends? Of Course i would but you're not a normal guy, you were born to do something great with your life and I'm here to support you all the way to the end..”

His eyes teared up as you said that so he flipped you around and laid you underneath him, you took his jacket off as he kissed your neck,

“I couldn't have done any of this without you”

“That's not true..you were doing this even before you met me..you would have done this with or without me–” he placed his thumb on your lips before you could go down this road,

“No you don't understand..you don't quite understand what you mean to me..” he mumbled tenderly as he kissed you over and over again, his lips barely brushed over yours as he kept mumbling between each kiss.

“Mmmm I think you made it clear when you made me your missus”

Your arms wrapped around his neck as he quickly rode your dress up and entered you swiftly,

“I love you.. and I'm sorry for being so absent –”

“It's okay..as long as you come back home, as long as you're mine and mine alone..it's all okay”

The next day at the office party you got all dolled up and hung around his arm throughout the evening. The party was the same as every year, he went all out to show his appreciation for the people who worked for TargSecure. People loved him, there was no questioning that, especially the women, he was extra attentive to their needs, they got higher pay and better leave days, their safety was the first priority for the company as Daemon wouldn't have it otherwise.

You saw Aemond and his wife Emma there so you spent your time with her while Daemon was busy with the employees, everything was the same as the past years.

However, there was this one little problem, one so insignificant and probably a figment of your imagination. And that small problem was your husband's young hot new secretary Sheena Mulaney that you knew was upto no good.

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️👀👀

Taglist

@anukulee @erebus-et-eigengrau @daenny-t @123forgottherest @mcufan72

[danikamariewrites]

more dark batboys x dark reader pls i’d literally give you my first born for more, maybe they sit together and do a debrief of all mysteries in velaris. like the boys have been trying to solve this one criminal that kidnaps primarily men sith bad reputation and reader joyfully says oh that’s me!! :)) and their jaw drop nv they’ve been investigating for over 20 years and now they’re in awe and want to know exactly how her brilliant mind did it🧎‍♀️

Cold Cases

Poly!batboys x reader

A/n: I think this has been one of my favorite ‘series’ to write for besides the ddlg stuff

Warnings: mentions of injuries, murder, torture, and mentions of abuse

Azriel had laid out all his unsolved cases from the past decade. All missing males or murdered. He stood, his hands behind his back, as he waited for you, Cassian, and Rhysand to come in.

Rhys pushes the door open giving Azriel a questioning look. He just nods at the table and Rhys just lets out an ‘Ahh’ before taking his seat. You have your arm entwined with Cassian’s as he leads you to your seat.

You plop down kissing Cassian’s hand in thanks and turn your attention to Azriel. “What’s all this Az?” You gesture at the files across the table. Azriel sits, pulling the closest one to him flipping it open. “These are all unsolved cases. All males either missing or murdered, so I wanted to go through them with you to see if you knew anything.”

“Ooohhhh a stroll down memory lane. Ok read ‘em.” You say excitedly. A deranged twinkle in your eye as Azriel reads out some of your greatest crimes. The first three cases were duds. You were almost offended he thought you did it.

Once Azriel read out the fourth case that devilish smirk that told them you knew something they didn’t spread across your lips. You let Azriel finish before you said anything. “Yeah that was me. He’s dead, I buried him in the Dark Forest. The asshole was beating his wife, so I stopped it.”

Cassian gave your shoulder a supportive squeeze as Azriel moved the file to his ‘solved’ pile. The next few were also you. Majority dead, all in different and very creative ways, as Rhys put it. This went on for two hours and over seventy percent of Azriel’s unsolved cases were you.

The last case was an interesting one. The male was missing and still alive. You wouldn’t say what he did, it was far too vile to repeat. The female that was his victim didn’t live in the long run. “I-I wanted him to live with the pain he caused her.” You seemed to be struggling to get your words out.

The boys knew this was clearly personal. But they wouldn’t push. You’d tell them the story on your own time. “I psychologically tortured him for years. His friends and family thought he’d gone crazy, magic really helped there. Once I got my hands on him I kept him tied up for days. I broke his mind to the point where he didn’t even know who he was.” You let out a shaky breath, laying your sweaty palms on the cool wood table.

“A few days after that I dropped him in a random Winter Court village. Gave him a whole new identity and a face fucked up beyond recognition. He’s confused, alone, and scared. And he will be for the rest of his life.” Your eyes had gone distant, like you were in that Winter village watching the male. A grave look had taken over your usual chipper demeanor.

Shaking your head a little, you snap back into yourself. That smirk coming back along with the glint in your eyes. “That all of them Azzy?” “Yeah,” he nods. “I’m very impressed darling. And not a single person suspected you.”

You shrugged, standing from your seat. “What can I say? It’s a talent.” As you left the room the boys shared a look that said they were impressed yet terrified of where you draw the line.

[avelera]

Avelera's Dreamling Fic Status Update:

Keeping Sanctuary (subscribe for updates here) - Giving Sanctuary Sequel follows Dream and Hob from the events of the altered meeting in 1689 up to the modern era. (aka, What if they hooked up after the 1689 meeting?) Current word count: ~7,000 words across several chapters. Realistic progress update: 1/10 complete total, Ch. 1 is about 1/5 complete.

(The rest are below the cut!)

Come live with me and be my love - Dream and Hob fall in love during the Regency Era when Dream loses a bet to Desire. Shenanigans ensue. (aka, What if they hooked up after the 1789 meeting?) Ch. 16 is at 2,500 words, probably about 1/3 done. Current plan is to wrap up Part 1 in the next few chapters then create a part 2 which finishes out their "1 year of marriage" on a month by month basis instead of following them day to day like Part 1 done. Probably won't be a separate fic though, just a change of format.

This Rough Magic - My take on "Hob rescues Dream from Burgess" with a twist that Hob ends up on Burgess's radar himself when he picked up some occult magic skills in the hopes of contacting Dream after 1889 and apologizing. Now he has to pretend to be friends with Burgess in order to get them both out of there, because Burgess thinks Hob can help force Dream to give him immortality. (aka, What if they hooked up after the 1889 meeting?) Ch. 9 is about 800 words in. Story is still very much in progress I just have a lot of WIPs, as you can see.

Joke's On You (I'm Into That) - The 1589 meeting goes very different when Hob proposes to Dream, who is so offended that he just can't let the matter go. A very angry, very horny competition kicks off between them. (Aka, what if they hooked up in 1589 when they were both at their absolute worst as people?) I have literally 40,000 words written for the rest of this fic. The problem is, there's big gaps in that first draft I have to fill in and scenes that need to be added. This might be my favorite WIP but it's also the hardest to write with all the smut scenes so it'll arrive whenever I can manage, I'm afraid.

Banana Daiquiris Ch. 2 - Comic-canon compliant (mostly) - Dream fakes his death to go on a vacation with Hob and Destruction. They end up in Tahiti. Destruction plays matchmaker. Hob doesn't know whether to thank Destruction or strangle him. Current word count 6,000 words. I've been playing around with adding on to this fic for ages. One of these days, I'll pull it all together.

Great Triumphs and Tragedies - aka, "Dream Accidentally Cursed Hob with a Normal Life" Fic - Dream learns that from 1689 on, Hob's life has been safe. Too safe. Improbably safe. Nothing bad or extraordinary or even terribly special has happened to him since Dream began to consider Hob his friend. He knows this because during his imprisonment, Hob's life became exciting again and suddenly went back to normal the day Dream was freed. Hob is not convinced that Dream is the reason for this, Dream disagrees. They talk about it. And fight about it. And some things that they've probably needed to talk about for a long time finally get said. (aka, sometimes the author just needs to write their weird headcanon into a 20,000 word fic that's almost entirely dialogue). Current word count: 19,000 words and about 80-90% finished, 3 of 4 chapters written. I'm hoping that posting what I've got will help push me through the final stretch. Real life interrupted for a bit though.

And for fics that haven't been posted anywhere yet (you can subscribe on my Ao3 author page for alerts about them):

Hob Amesia Fic - Dream and Hob are dating officially now in the 21st century when Hob gets hit with what seems to be a memory loss curse, shaving off 100 years of his life each day until Dream finds a cure. This effectively grants Dream a walk down memory lane as he is reacquainted with the Hob of each era and, in the process, learns how much longer Hob cared for him than Dream ever realized. Current word count: 40,000 words. Currently writing 1489 (1889-1589 are done) and re-writing the opening. It genuinely kills me not to have this one posted lol.

"Fairy God Marlowe" - 1589 fixit fic where Hob and Kit Marlowe strike up a conversation while Dream and Shaxberd are talking. Hob and Marlowe talk about plays, and faith, and salvation, and queer love, and what it means to live forever. Hob gets a second chance at a first impression. Current word count: ~5,000 words. Sadly, it's all dialogue in script format. I'd need to convert it into prose to publish which would be a slog. So it's a bit shelved until I find the energy to do so. No, I will not post it in script format, I'm allergic to the thought.

I've got a few other concepts kicking around, but these are the ones that actually have (*does a quick calculation*) over 100,000 words written that I haven't had the chance to post yet?? And it's driving me insane????

Anyway, I should probably pin this post for those curious lol. Feel free to ask me any follow-up questions, I love talking about WIPs even as they ruin my life!

[lynnimini]

₊⊹ 𝘚𝘰 𝘓𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘎𝘰 𝘚𝘦𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴: 4 ₊⊹

Description: 12 parts ⋆ fluff ⋆ comedy ⋆ kinda cringy?

In which y/n and woonhak take a trip down memory lane… mainly acting it out but same thing.

Pairings: k. woonhak x afab!reader

Words: 2k

Warnings: Minor cussing

"look who's finally on time"

you teased as you walked out of your house to see a proud woonhak standing there first.

"i can't keep letting you beat me out here"

woonhak smiled and nudged your shoulder slightly as you two started on your walk to the subway station. you talked about how excited you were to be going out with everyone today.

"why are there so many people here today"

woonhak groaned at the big crowd of people waiting to board the subway. it was a mystery to you too. the subway's never this full in the morning.

"there's a lot of road construction going on, so no one can drive to work as usual"

a kind woman standing behind you in line whispered. you and woonhak both nodded and thanked her for telling you two. the doors to the subway opened shortly and allowed you and woonhak to get on.

"let's go over here"

woonhak guided you to an empty space to stand, your hand clutching onto his bag for dear life to not get separated.

"woonhak i can't fucking reach the handle"

you deadpanned as woonhak tried not to laugh at you and your short arms. woonhak knew you couldn't reach the handles above you, but he also didn't take that into consideration when choosing a spot WITHOUT a pole for you to hold on to.

"woonhak do you want to die"

you seethed and threatened the boy, not even trying to hide his laughter at this point. because seriously, how could you even think of killing him when you couldn't even reach the subway overhead handles?

"just hold on to my arm or bag or something y/n. you have a tall, handsome, living statue right in front of you"

woonhak smugly grinned at you while you just rolled your eyes at him.

"yeah okay beanpole"

you scoffed as he looked at you with clear offense in his eyes, yanking his arm away the moment you reached for it to hold on.

"WOONHAK"

you yelped as the subway suddenly started and you bonked your head into his chest, woonhak laughing hard at the way you looked up at him with clear annoyance in your eyes. your nose had turned slightly red at the impact, so he at least felt a little guilty about the little stunt he pulled.

"okay okay i'm sorry. just hold on, yeah?"

woonhak composed himself and patted your shoulder lightly, letting you rest against his arm while he scrolled through TikTok on his phone and let you watch. physical affection wasn't a normal thing for you and woonhak. that's why it managed to make your heart go a little crazy every time, although it rarely happened.

your little crush on woonhak never completely went away. for 7 years, it's been you pushing down all your feelings for woonhak until they inevitably came out someday.

the jar of your feelings was slowly overflowing and leaking out, making your feelings all the more obvious to both you, who was in denial, and woonhak, who was oblivious. thankfully for you, woonhak just chalked your slightly shaking nervousness up to close proximity or nerves. you were pretty good at containing your feelings, but not good enough. they always managed to show one way or another.

after what feels like an eternity stuck in heart fluttery hell, you and woonhak managed to make it to school on time, sitting in the right places on time.

"well this is a surprise"

yunjin leaned over and whispered while giggling to herself.

"i know right? woonhak and i always barely make it in time"

you sighed with relief that there was one peaceful day you didn't have to worry about being late.

that wasn't even what yunjin was referring to. yunjin could read you like a book. she knew you had a little crush on woonhak for a while now. he was literally your boy next door. obviously she could see you were giddier than usual. she just chose to keep quiet about it since you didn't even know. yunjin's like a mom, letting you go off on your own to play just to keep it peaceful for a bit before disturbing the peace and telling you to clean up the mess you made in the process.

another half day gone by slowly. too. fucking. slowly. before you could go over to talk to woonhak and ask very politely for a cream bread, woonhak was running out of the classroom with his entire friend group.

"leehan just gave me one kiss and ran right past me you guys. can you believe it?"

chaewon scoffed and shook her head with a smile.

"why'd he do that? he's usually so lovey towards you"

you asked, very worried for chaewon's relationship. leehan seemed to be going insane.

"he was dragged by woonhak and jaehyun to play basketball"

chaewon pointed out the window down to the yard where the boys were all running and yelling and shooting hoops together, ties all thrown to the side. it felt just like when they were little kids, carefree and having so much fun.

the 10 minute warning bell chimed so the boys put their ties back on and headed back inside. you and sakura just talked about adopting a puppy together, wishful thinking honestly but still fun to talk about, until the bell rang again, signaling the end of lunch.

"ow"

you hissed as you felt something smack you on the side of your head. you turned to the direction of the culprit: woonhak of course.

sungho and riwoo had their heads in their hands, trying not to look like they were involved. on the other hand, the rest of them were silently laughing their asses off.

you picked up the cream bread he threw at you and smiled to yourself at how he got it for you automatically. you turned to smile and stick your tongue at woonhak for his attack, happily unwrapping the bread and eating it throughout the entire period.

woonhak seeing your smile over something as small as cream bread made him want to keep buying you cream bread every single day just to see you happy. maybe that was his motivation for buying you bread all the time: to see your smile.

the end of the day was finally here, and it was time to go out with everyone like you'd been so excited for.

"leehan and riwoo are gonna go home to change, so sakura, eunchae and i are gonna go with. we'll meet you there!"

chaewon winked as they all jumped in riwoo's car to go. everyone knows sakura has a fat crush on riwoo, so you always tease her and drag her along to go with riwoo anywhere. eunchae just went because she hated subways.

“we’ll follow behind you guys”

sungho said as he shook his keys and ushered everyone in his car.

you, yunjin, kazuha, and woonhak went to the shopping center on the subway while sungho, taesan, and jaehyun got in sungho's car to go.

"i really really wanna check out the new boba spot they just put in"

yunjin squealed as you and kazuha laughed and agreed. woonhak hummed in response, not really knowing yunjin or kazuha all that well.

your phone buzzed in your pocket and you checked it to find a call from chaewon.

"hello?"

"hey y/n, i'm so sorry but we can't come anymore. the tires completely blew out because there was glass on the road, so we can't even do anything"

you gasped and gave a quick summary of everything to the rest.

"i'm so sorry chae, are you okay? do you need us to come get you?"

"no no, it's okay. we called and someone's already coming. you have fun though okay? we're safe, promise"

chaewon promised and abruptly hung up. everyone else looked stunned at the random incident.

"well, let's just make the most of it. we know they’re okay so we should have fun”

kazuha said nervously, laughing lightly to brighten the mood and we continued on our way.

"hm?"

you hummed as you felt woonhak tap your shoulder. he sheepishly gestured to his messy tie, a result from hastily throwing it on after playing basketball. you rolled your eyes and tied it correctly.

yunjin glanced over at you two and internally scolded you for how oblivious you guys were. kazuha had no idea of any of your guys' little crushes. she was just there for the boba.

"we're here"

yunjin breathed in the smell of the beach which was right next to the shopping center. 

"let's go to the boba place"

yunjin grabbed kazuha and ran at mach speed away from you and woonhak so you could have some alone time. you looked at woonhak who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"wanna go to the beach?"

he asked and you nodded excitedly. you haven't been to the beach with woonhak in such a long time.

"race you"

you grinned and ran off towards the beach, absolutely no competition for woonhak because of his long legs and speed.

"i won"

woonhak laughed.

"nuhuh, i totally won"

you joked from beside him, panting heavily. you took your shoes and socks off, wading in the water and splashing woonhak.

"y/n!"

he shouted and did the same, running into the water to splash you 10x more. you guys laughed, becoming cold and soaked within an hour of being at the beach.

it was like a kdrama scene. two childhood best friends messing around at the beach like old times.

"ready to go woonhak?"

you said as your teeth chattered from the cold water dripping from head to toe. woonhak nodded and grabbed both of your guys' shoes, walking towards the only place that made sense after the beach: granny's noodle shop.

"hi granny"

you and woonhak both said, smiling widely at the sweet old lady who still looked as shocked as ever to see you guys soaked to the bone as teenagers.

"i was wrong when i thought you guys would grow out of your silly water fights"

she chuckled, draping two towels over you guys as she had done for years. you and woonhak stood outside to dry off while the granny went to grab you guys your favorite noodles.

"you two are still like the first day you met. mischievous and playful"

she set the bowls down at the table and laughed. the nostalgia came flooding both of your guys' minds, making you feel immense happiness the entire time you ate your noodles.

"woonhak, we have to come to the beach more often"

you said as you finished off your bowl. woonhak nodded and patted his belly. the sizes upgraded the older you two got. the granny's noodle shop was definitely a crucial factor in your guys' growth and development.

"i got you"

woonhak lightly pushed you back into your chair when you got up to pay, handing the actual amount to the cashier. you giggled at the sight, remembering when you and woonhak had no idea how to calculate money and would give whatever you had in your pockets.

"what a gentleman"

you chuckled and woonhak rolled his eyes.

"bye granny!"

you two said and granny waved back, smiling so widely her eyes became lovely crescents.

"i still have a couple towels at home to return to granny"

woonhak said sheepishly on the way home.

"oh my gosh me too. we really do have to go more. i want to see her more often"

you said as woonhak nodded furiously. the two of you shared so much love for that noodle shop. it was a symbol of your childhood adventures and growth.

you guys reached home faster than you would've liked. time with woonhak always flew by so fast because it was so fun together.

"see you tomorrow woonhak?"

you turned to say as you two stood in front of your houses.

"see you tomorrow!"

← prev | next →

[astermath]

memory lane ु ₓ｡

summary: you and robin recall your first kiss together, and you want a rematch.

word count: 1.1K

tags: established relationship, like a tiny bit suggestive, normal font below!

notes: hey why is literally NO ONE writing for robin?? she’s so cute and so lovely and so ahdkdkd i’m in love w her

The sound of Blondie’s latest album fills the room, accompanied by the scent of incense and opened nail polish. The beige carpet and dark blue walls of your room had long become familiar to Robin, who’d honestly been spending more time at your house than hers recently.

The window was open to make the summer heat somewhat bearable. You both sat on the floor, your back to her chest as you painted her nails for her. Her chin was placed onto the crown of your head, fully relaxed into you as if she was your blanket. It could have been 50 degrees hotter outside, and your girlfriend would still find a way to cuddle up to you. She was always kind of clingy like that, not that you’d ever complain about it.

You hummed along with “Heart of Glass”, stroking the brush over her short nails to paint them a pretty red. “To match your cute uniform,” you’d told her, and it made her feel a little better about how silly the sailor outfit looked.

You always had a way of making things sound a lot better or approachable, which was helpful with a major over thinker like herself. Even before she’d start nervously rambling about whatever she was worried about, you’d sense it, and say something to calm her down. Which usually worked. Not always. Sometimes you’d just have to let her ramble.

“All done,” you gently took her hand in yours, careful not to smudge your hard work, and held it up for her to see.

“Wow, that’s way better than how I usually do them.” she chuckled, leaning in to kiss your cheek. “Thanks baby.”

You giggled at her affection, her loose strands of blonde hair tickling your face. You’d made a habit out of doing Robin’s nails, her hair, her makeup… You were really good at anything beauty related, something she’d always admired about you.

“Remember when I did your nails the first time?” You turned your head so you could look at her, only to see the memory had brought a giddy smile to her face.

“How could I possibly forget? Was the best day of my life.” She chuckled. “Do you?”

You remembered it perfectly. Well, it was only four months ago, it would be pretty embarrassing if you didn’t. Still, the even the tiniest details were still so crisp in your mind.

The smell of her perfume when she hugged you goodbye at your doorstep.

The feeling of her hand in yours when you held it, keeping her from walking back out. Soft, but clammy.

The crooked, awkward smile she gave you, before she nodded, agreeing to stay a little longer in your room.

The nerves you both felt when you’d realized you’d never outwardly said this was a date, not the movie you both went to see, and not the time you spent in your bedroom. The fear of thinking the other might just see you as a friend, and that this would all be one big gay misunderstanding.

You specifically remember trying to gauge the situation when you were painting her nails for her, and tried to ask her about her type.

You recall how long it took for you to realize she’d been describing you.

You remember her hopeful smile. She remembers your surprised face, and the anticipation for rejection.

Only for you to grab her face and kiss her right then and there, almost knocking her over onto the scruffy carpet.

“I kinda wish I didn’t do it like that.” you confessed, cheeks warm from having just described your first ever kiss with Robin. Or with any girl, for that matter.

“Whaaaat?” Robin sat across you now, elbow leaned on her knees as she sat with her legs crossed. She’d been looking at you with a dreamy smile this entire time, wondering how she got so lucky. “For the record, I thought it was perfect.” She put her hands behind her on the carpet and leaned back, tilting her head slightly. “What would you have done different?”

“Well,” you sat on your knees, hands placed on your lap, “for starters, I would have been way smoother, like—“ You reach for her hand, pretending you’re doing her nails again. You trail your fingers up her arm, moving closer, until your hands settle on her shoulders. You’re looming over her, and she’s holding back from holding your hips for the sake of the scenario.

You flash a teasing smile, and Robin recognises that mischievous glint in your eyes, the one that makes her thighs rub together and her body tingle.

You reach out a hand, gently touching her cheek with the back of your fingers. “I’d ask you if you were into the type of girls that take care of you. That hold you, brush your hair… Do your nails…” You lean in, and whisper breathily over her lips, her eyes watching yours in anticipation. “The ones that…Take charge.” You straddle her hips and seal your lips together, her hands settling onto your hips and squeezing your soft skin there. She lets out what you can only make out to be a whimper into the kiss, her abdomen working hard to sit upright in this position.

That’s why you gently nudge her down onto the floor, hand holding the back of her head so it doesn’t come down with too much of an impact. You pull away from her, and she almost whines at the sudden loss of your lips on hers. You grin, reaching out to gently brush a lock from her face. “That’s how I’d do it.”

She just stares at you for a moment, so completely lovestruck and captivated by your beauty. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was, finding the loveliest, prettiest girl ever in Hawkins of all places. She figured she was going to be alone forever, or at least until she moved to a bigger city. Now she dreams of sharing that future with you instead.

“You okay baby?” You chuckle, a little proud that you’d managed to reduce her to a puddle so easily. You were both each other’s first girlfriends, so every kiss, every hug and every ‘I love you’ felt just a little different. A little better.

“Yeah, just uhm…” She breathed out a laugh, closing her eyes for a moment. “Wow.” She grinned. Sometimes it took a moment to truly take in that it was all real, that it wasn’t like those nights she’d laid awake dreaming of a life like this, no— you were there.

“Yeah,” you smile, full of adoration for the blonde girl beneath you. “Wow indeed.”

[suffarustuffaru]

I think I read a while ago on reddit that you had a madoka magica au for re zero, do you still think about it? I can Imagine Subaru taking the place of Homura but the rest of the cast is harder to place. It's a fun thought exercise though.

WAIT wow your ask sent me down memory lane wkdndn i forgot i even had a madoka magica au in the works for a while. i made it in like late 2020 and last worked on it in early-mid 2021 hah mostly bc my skill with writing and art didnt match with how big of an idea a multichap plotty crossover/fusion au was and i was still just dipping my toes into more ambitious ideas!! but id love to revisit it again now that i got more practice 👍

i like read your ask then went WAIT A MINUTE I DO HAVE A MADOKA MAGICA AU and then i skimmed through my old google doc plot outline for it in a frenzy. but also i used to write in yellow comic sans at the time so i wont subject you to my old terrible (affectionate) writing habits too much. but i think its funny how i had some notes on vague (and Dead Serious) ideas for witch form symbolism and i just found this yellow comic sans monstrosity:

2020/21 me was on some drugs probably LMAO 😭😭 but given madoka magica’s canon content that is probably a good thing if youre writing serious madoka magica fic.

also i did have a tiny bit of finished writing for it. here is the old synopsis past me came up with:

Stumbling across magic and witches, fourteen-year-old Natsuki Subaru follows his new friends and a mischievous cat spirit into a world where a single contract could grant you your greatest wish.

And at the end of it all, he really should’ve known this from the start: wishes always come with a cost.

i think that currently id probably change up this synopsis a bit if i worked on it again but it aint bad i think 👍 and yes youre right subaru would def be in homuras role for this fic… 😔 anyone whos seen both madoka magica and rezero would immediately make that connection i think hah they have. Similarities, as we know 😔

and i deaged some of the rezero cast as you can see hah. not sure if id keep that but i think an important aspect of madoka magica is that the main characters are that young. it helps add to some of their decisions and adds to the tragedy and whatnot. that and like. targeting vulnerable young girls, Literal Children, knowing that most would make a wish and sell their souls in a heartbeat and then easily be crushed by trauma without being able to fight back much, you know? :,) and then theyd make Lots and Lots of despair to harvest… and madoka was meant as a magical girl deconstruction and magical girls iirc tend to be arounddd early teens/preteens!! ill talk a bit more later on how id try to do this au with deaged rz cast hah.

also i did have a small drabble written for this au!!

The boy, no older than fourteen, stands there with an eerie sense of calm.

His frame is seemingly scrawny and lean, dawning dark clothing reminiscent of a mixture between a tracksuit and a school uniform - even if it’s adorned with golden ribbons and stripes - with a whip attached to the belt at his waist. Draped over that is a cloak, the hood of it casting a shadow over messy black hair and a cold expression. His keen eyes, emphasized by the deep bags underneath, narrow at the sight of Puck, mean and brimming with distaste.

With a steady hand, he raises a pistol to Puck’s head.

The moonlight shines dimly through the broken windows and onto the shards littered all over the floor. A beam illuminates a metal contraption, its appearance similar to a shield, strapped to the boy’s forearm.

“You know, I don’t quite recall making a contract with you,” Puck muses cheerily, though an undercurrent of a threat weaves itself into his tone. He stares down the barrel without fear, his sharp teeth revealed in his smile. “Who are you, really? And why are you so upset that I’ve been getting close with Lia? Jealous much?”

“Don’t you dare call her that,” the boy replies instead, bitterly spitting out each and every word. “Don’t you dare pretend that you only have her best interests at heart, or that you really care for her like a father figure would. It makes me sick.” He sneers as he digs the cool metal of the gun harder into Puck’s fur. “Because if you make even just one mention of creating a contract with her, or if you even come near her… I’ll definitely make sure that you regret it.”

yeah so. past me made puck kyubey apparently 😔👍 and if i revisited this au im not sure if i would keep subarus character development to be Exactly the same (ie it was very greedbaru/pridebaru/homura inspired) but this drabble was a fun exercise at the time!!

but anyway i will ramble about some more ideas i had for this au under the cut!! turned out past me had A Lot of ideas.

yes so this au was like. a fusion of sorts so yes i was assigning rz characters certain roles, blending worldbuilding together, etc etc but the general plot sort of followed the general story of the main madoka magica plot from the main show to rebellion!! it was like vaguely modernish too, but you know, madoka likes to be Creative with its backgrounds (see: the infinite amount of crazy chairs everywhere, which im still very fond of to this day) and also rz vainglory/school if has its fantasy world cast mixed in with subarus parents still being there iirc and a whole bunch of other details too (like beatrice being subarus adopted sister iirc?). so i was going the vainglory-ish route here in terms of “how modern is this world?” 👍

the main cast i was focusing on was gonna be subaru (homura), emilia (madoka), rem (sayaka), ram, beatrice, felt, and reinhard. also puck as kyubey haah and satella as walprugisnacht aka the giant witch at the end of the main show. i havent seen madoka in a bit wkdn i gotta rewatch. but anyway!! felt and reinhard got a mix of mami and kyokos roles narrative wise yeah.

quick rundown on their characters is that i wanted to stick to the rz cast’s canon characterization as much as possible while leaving room for fun experimentation!! and if theyre still younger than normal canon here—subarus still got his Big Ego/Im The Main Character mindset but in that way thats specific to his little kid self bc he hasnt gotten Completely Depressed yet (think like. arc 7-8 type stuff), reinhards still stuck in the middle of watching his dad gradually deteriorate, felts even Younger and still trying to find her footing a bit, rem is Guiltily and enviously trying to live up to ram’s Golden Childness (this is pre-Incident That Kills Their Whole Family). and emilia has lived a lonely life in the forest somewhere with no one for company :,) i cant remember if i had some Magic Mindfuckery ideas for her backstory here but ive definitely had ideas for modernizing her backstory for other aus like this!! but either way emilias family is still dead ;-; and i do consider like. the idea that modern emilia would have albinism, especially when there is discrimination in place against people with albinism that is a little similar to emilias canon struggle with her appearance so a modern take of emilia being that she is someone with albinism would be Very Relevant!! but!! not sure if id go all the way with that bc its a sensitive topic that needs to be treated with care and i dont personally have albinism 👍 or i could go the magic route and go “emilia looks like a previous magical girl thats become the most powerful witch yet….” ie satella ofc. so emilia would still be a bit of a “red flag” to other magical people.

but yes emilia wished for. im not sure but probably smth like “i wish not to be lonely anymore”…………. and then she got her wish granted via having magical girl/boy friends and puck!!!!! thisll totally end happily.

and quick note on reinhard is i didnt have much plot ideas for him yet but i considered different ideas for his backstory!! maybe theres some magic fuckery and theresia was a magical girl once? no clue how that works but it was an Idea i had for sure. also various ideas to modernize the Astrea Family Drama (dont worry the accidental indirectly/directly causing your family member’s death thing would still be there wkdndh this is an important detail to me.) but regardless of whats going on with reinhards backstory his wish was a naive little kid wish!! he wanted to be a hero who helps people ;-; good going reinhard ;-;

the entire plot of this au in general was divided in half, first half would be the first timeline where things go wrong. subarus gonna be the pov and hes the audience surrogate bc hes new to the world of magical girls/boys and no one in the group 100% knows the ugly truth yet!! and like in canon emilia/madoka has already become a magical girl here. emilia is also already close with puck—and emilia is the one person puck has genuine fondness for ;-; and i had a Lot of ideas for what exactly went wrong here—i had elsa and meili planned as witches? and i think i considered disemboweling felt :<<<< this is very sad bc her family gave her away to save her bc they were in danger (yes just like in canon rz) but then later felt had her life threatened or smth? and like mami, felt wished to keep living. but the wording felt used was wanting to “live strong”…………….. well she sure got it by fighting elsa valiantly but still losing 😔

also ok the first person to become a witch is beatrice. i had like wild ideas with beatrice—the possibility that echidna still made beatrice and puck and that beatrice couldve been a failed—whats the word for the creatures in madoka that collect/cause magical girls??? incubators i think?? yeah that. because whatre the two things a little kids gonna probably trust?? a cute cat creature and a tiny little girl offering free wishes, probably. and of course beatrice got assigned by her biomom echidna to look after echidnas library maybe. bc echidnas funny like that and beatrice didnt work out as an incubator so now shes gonna generate soooo much despair when she realizes that there is no That Person + the truth of magical girls/boys and what beatrice was meant to be used for….

yes more various shit hits the fan bc rem and rams canon witch cult backstory… i had plans to adjust it for this au and make it happen In Real Time. and also rem’s wish was probably something along the lines of wanted to be needed. and Better. so not just Like Ram. but rem wanted to be More than ram. which rem is guilty about but thats still what she wants so she wishes for it away from rams eyes. ofc rams feelings on this is that she just wants her sister to treasure herself and be safe and whatnot but rem is kinda in her pre-witch cult trauma mode and Oops now their town is destroyed in flames and their family is dead ;-;;; not sure how else id modernize rem and rams backstory but yes this is. this is how their plot went in that first timeline wkdnd. and ram is injured in some way ;-;;;

yes and then rem you know pulls a sayaka and goes a little crazy about everything bc beatrices whole ordeal already revealed how fucked they all are and then rem and rams Trauma just happened so rem feels like shit!! and then she becomes a witch too oops ;-; and then reinhard decides to be the hero and sacrifices himself so emisuba can escape ;-;; or at least that was my plan at the time. but yeah rem became better (a magical girl. bc ram didnt feel like making a wish bc her only wish would be wanting rems happiness but she didnt want to Cheat That. she wanted rem to find it on her terms. except rem became “better” and bigger than ram by being a witch also oops. also i think i still had vague plans to include rem being Obsessed with subaru to contrast what will later be subarus emilia obsession haha) and then reinhard. is the hero. </3

satella comes in somewhere at the end. she used to be a magical girl but she became a witch and shes Crazy Powerful for reasons i have forgotten now 👍 but i definitely wanted to have more shenanigans going on with her backstory to keep that sort of emilia-satella-subaru mystery connection. and theyre still connected anyway bc emisuba inevitably lose to satella bc shes too powerful ;-; emilia is gonna die and puck realizes OH SHIT I SHOULDNT BE FEELING LOVE BUT I DO GENUINELY LOVE EMILIA I CANT DEAL WITH THIS. WITH HER DYING. ID RATHER DESTROY EVERYTHING THAN LET THAT HAPPEN. and ofc subarus also in agreement bc oh god oh god—and yeah. subaru hasnt made a wish until this point but he makes a contract with puck to promise to save Everyone. like subarus promise in canon right before he dies for the first time you know? bc then he dies.

and wooooo the time loop officially begins!!! i had more ideas but i have typed lots on this post already akfnd maybe ill save it for another time if people are interested.

but yes thats all thats the au!!!! i am not familiar with stuff like magia record yet sadly ;-;; but if i ever wanted to expand the au thats def One option 👍 bc WOW the rz cast would be such a goddamn gold mine for those fucking incubators. little kid felix argyle would be a Top Tier candidate for them. like can you imagine???? thatd be the biggest disaster of all time ;-;;; and also theres Lots of possibilities for various witches the cast can fight!! very fun stuff its why i chose elsa and meili and satella :o !! but yes id consider exploring other candidates for magical girls and boys as well bc WOW felix would go insane here.

[mumscarian]

Please tell us about your vampire dinner wip 👀👀👀

oh my god I forgot I was talking about this it was sooo funny omg. I thought of this in like 2021 bc there were so many vampire Mumbo fics in s8 lmao

okay so essentially the idea was a comedy of Grian desperately trying to get Mumbo’s attention via exposed neck, but horribly failing every time due to mumbo’s sheer obliviousness. Grian would orchestrate whole Situations and Mumbo would just. Cruise right on by bc it was s8 and he had taken how vow of pacifism but also he’s just stupid 💞 Essentially it went like this, constantly:

Grian, in a white blouse that’s falling off his shoulder, draped against a wall: Oh No! What Hath Befallen Me! I Am Trapped Here Vulnerable And Weak Before My Best Friend Who Is A Vampire! On The Full Moon! Alone! Just The Two Of Us! What Ever Shall I Do? Mumbo (fixing blouse so it sits correctly on grians shoulder): Aw don’t worry about it mate we’ll get you home ^-^

or it would go like:

Grian, stabbing himself with a fork in front of Mumbo: Alas! My Blunder Shall Be A Fatal Mistake! I Fear The Scent Of My Blood Is Too Tantalizing And Irresistible To The Likes Of A Vampire! I Suppose I Just Have To Let Him Drink My Blood Now, As I Am Too Injured To Fight Back! Mumbo, who literally watched as Grian stabbed himself: OH MY GOSH DRINK A POTION WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELF Grian, batting his eyelashes flirtatiously as he is actively bleeding out: urrghghg

Essentially the whole fic is unstoppable force (grians inability to to talk about things like a norma person combined with his persistence and commitment to the bit) vs immovable object (mumbo’s cartoonish obliviousness)

Eventually I’d assume they’d get their shit figured out but I never got that far LMAO. Narratively it would have to involve Grian putting on his big boy pants and talking to Mumbo about his feewwings instead of trying to manufacture a situation from a twilight fanfiction, yk? Bc Mumbo was never going to get any of the hints.

thanks for asking abt this, it was a fun trip down memory lane!!

[bettyfrommars]

Just some ramblings about I'm on Fire below the cut

Finishing up this series has me on a little journey down memory lane

Sometimes I think about the earlier chapters when I mentioned biker Eddie putting a second condom on, and a reader thought he was wearing them both at the same time, so they got unhinged in the comments telling me that's not how it's done 🥹

I also think it's funny that the only real "hate" I've ever received here in this fandom (not even hate really, more negative feedback) had to do with biker Eddie having sex with other women besides reader before they were together. Yet, my most popular fic to date was about Eddie being a literal escort/gigolo lmaoo.

Only that small handful of readers who found the first chapter the day I posted it back in early April will know that there was a very graphic, filthy sex scene between Eddie and someone other than reader, but I edited it out the next day. Even though I tagged properly for it, I wasn't really following the "rules" for reader insert fanfiction. When I tell you I had no idea what I was doing, I mean it 😅

A cutting room floor bit for this series is that, in my initial headcanon for biker Eddie, he had two fingers missing on his left hand (ring & pinky) from an accident where a car fell from the lift at the garage. He lived the authentic biker life with sex, drugs, rock n' roll on the regular. Not so much drugs, though, because he still had to run a business, but partying and debauchery went on around him constantly. He was also in a motorcycle accident that tore off part of his ear and left a scar on his cheek and his eye a bit droopy.

But, in the end, I didn't want to put him through all that. Plus, it's hard for me to write Eddie without making him the soft, yet complicated, sweetheart that he is. Also, I felt like the plans I had to show "real" biker life might've scared too many people off or made them uncomfortable.

Biker Steve was never meant to be more than a passing character, someone only briefly mentioned now and then. My god, could you imagine this story without biker Steve?? Sometimes I forget that he had sex with Katie 🫡 If I ever rewrite this, he will be a much bigger part from the beginning, as will his life with Robin and Oliver.

This is all so random, but I love you all for reading and caring and asking questions about the boys. Building this world with you has been such a blast.

[altraviolet]

Gothikana: editing advice

ok alright, first things first: this post isn't for fans of Gothikana, the author, or any of the author's associates. it might make you feel bad to read and that's not the point. the point is to give examples on how to improve writing

Gothikana is a dark romance book with a beautiful hardcover print edition published by an imprint of Macmillan. it became popular through tiktok. my friend DNF'd this book and gave it to me to try. having read the first 17 pages, I was struck by how amateurish the writing is. the only way I can get over the fact that this is published and makes money and presumably had editors look at it this is to show you what I mean and how I would've advised the author to edit the story

this is not an admonishment of dark romance or the genre overall. I've heard "it's problematic" but that's not what we're getting into. I don't care about that. I've only read 17 pages. I'm literally talking about the writing, here.

this isn't fanfic: this is a published novel that people have to pay for. this isn't fanfic: this is a published novel that should meet certain expectations for an adult audience regarding craft and logic. this isn't fanfic: it's a product to be sold and it's eligible for serious discussion and evaluation.

Broad strokes, here are the things I noticed on the first read through up to page 17:

too many adverbs

awkward info dumping

awkward sentence phrasing

poor descriptions

character stating her wants directly to the reader

Can some of the above be stylistic? Yes. Can some of the above be purposeful? Uh, sure, but why would you break the rules without understanding them?

1: TOO MANY ADVERBS

Larry continued his barrage of information, winding the small private black car up the slightly inclined road.

That "slightly" took me right out of reading. It felt incredibly out of place. Oddly and unnecessarily specific. Later in the prose, it is mentioned that the incline steepens. So I suppose that's why it's mentioned as being slight at this point. But it's so awkward. A better way to do it might be to drop the adverb and acknowledge that we're going up a mountain, because we are.

While we're here, let's tidy up that long sentence:

Larry continued his barrage of information, winding the private black car up the base of the mountain.

Spoilers for the next section, that barrage of information is an info dump!

Before Corvina could go down memory lane, they went around another bend, and suddenly, a looming silhouette of a huge iron gate broke through the fog.

There are many words that editors advise you remove from your prose. "Suddenly" is chief among them. The sentence survives just fine without its "suddenly." There are other issues, too. The sentence is quite long. The "could go down memory lane" sounds really childish. If that element were essential, I would recommend breaking this sentence into two. Since the character was reminiscing in the previous paragraph, the "memory lane" part is extraneous. "Looming" implies the iron gate is tall, so we can get rid of "huge." Here's the bare minimum effort one can do and still improve that sentence:

As they went around another bend, the looming silhouette of an iron gate broke through the fog.

2: AWKWARD INFO DUMPING

The main character, Corvina, is being driven up the mountain by the aforementioned Larry. They have a conversation. It goes like this:

"Not a lot of folks 'round here who go up to that castle 'nymore." [4 long sentences of info dumping comprised of one paragraph about the character's journey up to that point] "And why is that?" [9 long sentences of info dumping comprised of one paragraph about the main character observing her current surroundings and a second paragraph of her talking about her upbringing- we're on the next page now] "Dunno."

By the time we got to "Dunno." I had no idea what question it was referring back to. You can see the technique that was attempted here: the author (presumably) knows info dumping is bad, so they broke it up across a conversation. But the conversation was far too sparse and spaced out. The contents of the info dumping (journey, surroundings, upbringing) absolutely should've been doled out another way.

My suggestion to improve this portion would be to change it entirely. Present the info to the reader in another way. Tighten the conversation.

Boy, oh boy, though. This next example is much worse.

Corvina is our POV character. Corvina is looking at another character, Jade, looking at her. Got that? Corvina is looking at Jade looking at Corvina, and this happens:

She knew what the other girl was seeing. A short, slight girl of heritage unknown, with violet eyes that tilted upward at the corners, sun-kissed skin even though she rarely spent much time in the sun anymore, a nose ring, long black hair in a braid that reached her waist, dressed in loose black pants and a thin purple sweater.

This is obviously the "Main Character looked in the mirror so that they could describe themself to the reader" scene. And oh my godddddd it's so awkward and badly done. Maybe it looks fine in isolation, but embedded in the text as it is, it's just no good.

My suggestion to improve this section would be to dole this information out as needed. Fiddling with the nose ring earlier, or braiding her hair, or scratching at a stain in her clothing. Any little detail like that could be put somewhere else, and over the course of a few pages, sneakily build up the picture of the character. Those particular things (fiddling, braiding, scratching at stains) have an added bonus of showing you a little of what the character is like.

3: AWKWARD SENTENCE PHRASING

A group of boys sitting on the steps outside a tower to their left came into view, their conversation stopping as all eyes fell on their group.

Things that contribute to the awkwardness of this sentence:

it's very long

"a group of boys sitting on the steps outside a tower to their left" is like, the whole subject of the main verb. THAT'S SO MUCH SUBJECT

the word "group" is in there twice

the verbs are sitting, came, stopping, fell. -ing, past tense, -ing, past tense. that's a lot of verbs for one sentence

Here are some things I would suggest:

break this sentence into at least two sentences, with emphasis on clarifying that "so much subject" in 2 point above

use a stronger verb than "came into view." this feels like a turning point in the story: emphasize the striking visual

use words other than "conversation stopping" to indicate that the conversation has stopped. this will add interest and show, not tell

show the boys' reaction to the approaching characters (for example: X sneered while the others snapped their mouths shut). nothing too involved, but something that shows rather than tells

if the fact that the tower is on their left isn't specifically important, leave that detail out

4: POOR DESCRIPTIONS

Corvina rolled her window down slightly, looking out at the natural, incredible beauty of the mountain. The sight was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Where she came from, the woods had been more yellow and the air more humid.

Did you catch that? The descriptions are "natural, incredible beauty" and "unlike anything she had ever seen before." SO WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE?? We aren't directly told. We get a sense that the woods are less yellow and the air less humid than another place we don't have a description of, given the last sentence. But we still don't actually know what she's looking at.

Advice I've seen over and over and over again: never describe something as "beautiful." Describe what makes it beautiful.

There are an infinite number of ways this paragraph could be improved. I would advise giving specific details that come together to paint the exact, beautiful picture you are going for. And also get rid of that adverb. It doesn't matter. If the contrast to home is essential, you can preserve that, but I think it's better without it.

Corvina rolled her window down. Pine-scented air filled the car and she coughed. The breeze was far less humid than those back home. The trees blanketed the mountain in rich greens girded in white, like massive emeralds hammered into the snow by a giant.

I have no idea if the above is the kind of vibe the author would like, but it gives you a scent, a visual, and also presents Corvina as an imaginative character.

Corvina stared up at the towering wrought-iron gates as they passed, and officially entered the university premises. The flutter in her belly became a quake as she put her head out the window to peer up, and finally saw the castle perched on top of the mountain. The closer they got, the larger it became. Calling it a castle was an understatement. It was a monstrosity, a beautiful, stunningly constructed monstrosity.

Ah, there's that "beautiful" again. I expected the next paragraph to go into detail about what the castle looks like. Why it's beautiful and why it's a monstrosity. But the next paragraph is the car stopping and Corvina getting her luggage.

So, I have no idea what this castle looks like. Ironically, we get the verbs stared up, peer up, and saw in quick succession, but we don't know what the castle looks like. I consider this a poor description.

To improve this paragraph, I would again advise an actual description of what the character is seeing, rather than just calling it pretty and big. One assumes it's a gothic style castle, so there are conventional structures the author can pull from. It's very, very easy to link architecture to emotion. Using the right descriptors will give the reader a sense of unease and vastness. You can show the monstrosity by using unusual descriptions on conventional items. Again, there are an infinite number of ways to do this. To try to build a sense of dread, I'm going to describe the gates below.

The gates to the university premises swung aside. Corvina expected their massive hinges to creak, to shake the whole car, but they were absolutely silent. She gripped the door handle and contorted, sticking her head out the window. She got only a quick impression as they passed through. The wrought-iron bars were as thick as her waist. They joined together in a panicked tangle overhead, all choked, leafy scrollwork and glinting finials.

I'd describe the castle, too, but hey. I'm not gettin' paid to do this. You can (hopefully) feel something while reading this. The gate is given dimensions to express its size ("as big as her waist"). The decorative nature of the gate is described with frantic-feeling words: panicked, tangle, choked, glinting. Instead of just passively staring up at the gate, I had Corvina grip the door handle and contort herself to look out the window. In essence, she's still staring at the gate. But there's more of an active feel to her actions, now. Use strong verbs, people!

5: CHARACTER STATING HER WANTS DIRECTLY TO THE READER

Okay, here we get to something that's harder to explain.

The character should rarely-to-never flat out explain their wants directly to the reader. We should see them wanting craving yearning for something, not so much be told that they are.

This being a romance and Corvina having no childhood friends makes this difficult: we obviously need to establish that Corvina wants a Man because this is a Romance and That Is What Needs to Happen. However, she has no one she can confide in, except the reader, through the narrative. So we get this:

Corvina felt her face get warm at all the masculine gazes on her, a natural shyness overcoming her. She'd never really interacted with men [ . . . ] Books had become her refuge, especially books with men - humans, shapeshifters, or aliens - who fell in love hard and claimed their women, body and soul. Those were her favorite. Corvina wanted that. She wanted to belong, to be loved, to be absolutely adored, no matter what happened, despite her past. She craved it so badly in her bones, some days she thought she would die from the sheer hunger of it. There was a gnawing ache in her soul, and she desired so, so deeply.

I don't read romance books, but I can see this being the default sort of way to tell the reader "yes, she really wants a man!" It's foreshadowing, in a way. Obviously everything she says she wants here will come through. It's a romance.

Buuuuuuuut... could it have been done better? I think so.

One way an author could do this more artistically is through symbolism. Give Corvina a symbol for her desire, a physical object, that she can clench or squeeze or talk to or otherwise interact with. Usually a friend can fill this kind of role- the character has a conversation with a friend and through this the reader gets the sense that Corvina is lonely and desires a man. But since Corvina has had an isolating childhood, that easy shortcut is absent to us.

So what would I do? I'd have to think about it for a while. I think I'd show her watching couples and feeling jealous. I'd show her reading her books and underlining the sentences that speak to her. I'd show her making a Man out of twigs or something and talking to it. Or picking out pebbles while in the woods - "This one reminds me of the man in the bakery because it's brown, like his hat" - and making a necklace of them all. If she wears the pebble necklace, you know exactly what that means. She wishes she had one of those men.

This process of brainstorming ways to give the reader information creatively is part of the craft of writing. To improve your craft, you need to read and write. Observe those with experience, and practice to gain experience. I really, really think it's worth it to improve your craft above the level we're seeing here.

A FEW MORE QUICK NOTES I WANTED TO SHARE

QUICK: HOW TO SHOW, NOT TELL

A quick example of tightening and strengthening a sentence:

Larry had been surprised when she'd given him her destination on the mountain, to the point that he'd prayed before starting the car.

Here the author is telling the reader that Larry is surprised, then showing his fear by stating that he prayed. The praying part is really good. That's how you say things without directly saying them. Dropping the "surprised" will both strengthen and shorten this sentence:

When she'd given him her destination on the mountain, he'd prayed before starting the car.

Easy fix!

QUICK: DIALOG FLOW

"Hi, I'm Jade." Corvina liked her immediately. "Corvina," she introduced herself, her voice sounding raspy in contrast to Jade's feminine lilt. "Cool name. First year?" Jade asked, plopping down on her suitcase, her short, pale legs exposed in jean shorts. Corvina wondered if she felt cold at all. "Yes. You?" she asked.

We're going to skip over ALL the other things that could be improved here and concentrate on one thing. I highly suggest that Jade's paragraph be restructured.

Right now we have:

Jade statement. Jade question. Description of Jade. Corvina wonders. Corvina answer.

I suggest changing it to:

Jade statement. Description of Jade. Corvina wonders. Jade question. Corvina answer.

The reason is so that when the reader reads Corvina's answer, they doesn't have to remember back to what Jade's question was in the beginning of the paragraph.

This sounds like a really nitpicky thing to advise, but I write this way. I always make sure that dialog flows like this, and I've gotten a lot of comments from people saying, "I usually have a hard time reading, but I can read this. It flows and it makes sense. I usually get lost or lose interest or forget what's happening, but I can read your stuff."

Here's what my suggestion looks like:

"Hi, I'm Jade."

Corvina liked her immediately.

"Corvina," she introduced herself, her voice sounding raspy in contrast to Jade's feminine lilt.

"Cool name." Jade plopped down on her suitcase, her short, pale legs exposed in jean shorts. Corvina wondered if she felt cold at all. "First year?"

"Yes. You?" she asked.

Easy fix!!!

Alright so! Was that helpful? It was definitely cathartic for me. I'm going to try to read the rest of this novel, but I might not make it xD

I know how hard it is to write, to complete a novel, and to expose this bit of your heart to the world. Please note that this post is not bashing on the author or the readers. I don't want anyone to go out and do that. I want you to take this as a free lesson and improve your own writing. Think about what advice here works for you, and what doesn't. Because some of it might not work for you, and in that case, you get to figure out what does.

Happy writing!

[mamirhodessxox]

His Strange Addiction (Pt 8)

Cody Rhodes x Fem Wrestler!OC (Milena Reyz)

Desc: Milena goes down memory lane the night before the gender reveal of her & Cody’s baby, Cody injured himself working on the nursery a little bit & takes if like a champ, Milena discusses some insecurities she’s been experiencing with Cody the day of the gender reveal & he just wishes she could see herself the way he does.

Contents: Angst, Fluff, Arguing, Milena serving cunt, Cody being a whore for Milena, Mentions of insecurity, slightly toxic duo, Mentions of pregnancy, Cody getting an injury.

{~I'm very serious with you guys interacting with my writing!!!! it would make me so happy & excited, the more comments & reposts the more inspiration i have to write :) Votes and comments are strongly appreciated so please COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT COMMEENNTTT the more comments the more content <3!!!~}

13 years ago

Cody & Milena became acquainted with each other & that very night was the beginning of everything that went up to their marriage in 2023, Milena used to be into dance before she even got into wrestling in early 2010 meanwhile Cody was thriving in his newly started WWE career, both of them had a mutual best friend which was Seth Rollins. He knew Cody was actively looking for a girlfriend and he also knew Milena was looking for a relationship as well & automatically he knew if he introduced them they would have an interesting relationship dynamic, Cody was in the middle of his Dashing high ego cocky era & Milena was just a hot girl that everyone either wished they could be her or be with her.

January 27th 2010 was the night WWE was holding some random after party after an event in L.A and Seth decided to play wing man & bring Milena along with him to this party, She was already well known famously due to her history with modeling & being best Friends with the y2k it girls such as Paris Hilton, So it wasn’t a surprise to Seth when people tried talking to Mills literally because of her connections, Cody knew who she was, sort of, He would see Seth post random selfies with her over the internet or just come across her iconic selfies.

Milena walked into the random house party & looked around for Seth, in-fact, Seth was in the bathroom with Cody “Okay, Hear me out, I know a girl and I think you might like her.” Seth tried convincing him but Cody had his hands on his hips shaking his head “Seth you know for a fact I don’t like random girls that You even just met at parties” Seth shook his head “She’s one of my friends actually, pretty hot to be honest, Blonde..for now, only issue is that she had a very big and loud mouth, Just trust me.” Cody crossed his arms “show me what she look like.” Seth shook his head “Just trust me on this one bro.” Cody sighed and gave in nodding in agreement.

Meanwhile Milena was in a kitchen grabbing herself a drink and pushed some random guy away when he tried offering a ‘better time’ Seth was walking around the house pushing past people while Cody followed behind him, The house was practically blasting with music made by Usher, LMFAO!, Nicki Minaj, Kesha, every single popular artist during this time. Milena pulled out her flip phone just about to text Seth but he found her immediately “Mills! There you fuckin’ are thought you totally ditched me.” He laughed pulling her into a hug while she smiled “Seth you know I could never turn down a party c’mon now.” She saw Cody & immediately recognized him from WWE and also mainly Seth but didn’t really freak out, she held out her hand smiling “Sorry, must be pretty rude of me to not introduce myself, I’m Milena.” He nodded before giving her a charming and DASHING smile showing off his pearly whites while shaking her hand “No problem, I’m Cody, heard a lot of things about you from Seth.” She smiled tilting her head “As for you as-well.”

From that very moment Cody knew he only wanted her, he liked the way she held herself as a woman, spoke with such confidence as well as had confidence for herself, he liked how she could hander her liquor, sort of, but he also liked how she would run her mouth when needed, Seth may be a dumbass but goddamn does he know how to match make. For weeks Cody & Mills would go out to the Santa Monica pier, he discovered her favorite food was a California Burrito & even found out she was Latina, he was so enthralled with her that he started panicking to Seth before any wwe match. Milena & Cody were inseparable and definitely ‘active’ before even dating.

On multiple occasions Cody & Milena would wake up together either hung over or flat out naked in bed.

Things between them got serious in July 2010 that Milena even lived with him in Georgia, he even trained her on how to wrestle and that’s how she ended up in WWE, She was always by his side, always going to parties together, media events, you name it, they were absolutely in love with each other, on many occasions friends came over and he would show her off like an award & talk about how it’s a privilege to be with Mills. They loved spending every moment of their days with each other, On their first valentines day that’s when Cody realized he would handle the cooking, Milena tried making dinner & almost burnt the condo on fire and later cried in the kitchen in his arms over it “I can’t believe I ruined our first valentines day.” and he would just chuckle and press a kiss on her head.

December 2015 was the end of their relationship, Cody was out on the road for awhile while Milena was the same but the moment they first saw each other they had a deep discussion, Cody didn’t want to hold her back from any success in her life & he definitely didn’t want her to be alone waiting for him to come home some days, so, he put the relationship to an end, Milena put everything into her power to not show any emotion, in-fact she even acted like it was a good idea, But really whenever she was alone especially after moving out of the apartment she cried & sobbed while Cody was doing the same. Eventually Milena had resigned from WWE and went onto AEW so she wouldn’t have to see Cody anymore during her healing process.

At some point he had to distract his mind from her and that’s how his hookups with Bianca started. Seth was supportive of both Cody & Milena & deep down he knew something would bring them back together, if he sat 2024 Seth down with himself from 2010 and told his old self Cody & Milena were expected a baby he would immediately say “I fucking knew it.”

Present Time

July 6th 2024

Milena was 4 months pregnant & getting ready to have her gender reveal with Cody for tomorrow, She sat in their shared room staring at her old photos from years ago she & cody printed out and even looked at their wedding pictures & wiped away whatever tear fell from her face while her thumb stroked past her face in a picture before she set the photo album down and sighed staring at her baby bump smiling a bit but felt sudden fear when she heard a loud thud following with a very obnoxious “BAAABEE?” From the nursery Cody would work on. Milena furrowed her eyebrows and walked into the nursery with a hand planted against her stomach while Cody sat on the ground holding his elbow “I uhm..fell on my elbow. & I think we should probably go to the hospital.” She sighed and helped him get up but still with a smile on her face.

A few hours later they came back home with Cody wearing an arm sling & held her hand with his free one before stopping in front of the front door “I’m so lucky to have you baby.” She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair “I’m so lucky to be your wife.” He smiled and held the door open for her before going inside & calling it a night, By the next day Milena woke up & Rhea was already in the backyard with Seth & Jey setting up for the gender reveal party & She sat up and got out of bed to use the restroom only to see her husband with Brunette hair & let out a light gasp he turned around & smiled “Y’like it? Seth colored it for me earlier.” Milena smiled and ran her hands through his arm “You look amazing baby, how’s your arm?” He sighed and shrugged “Can’t be in the ring for 3 weeks but I should be fine afterwards.” She hummed before walking into the closet and getting changed into one of her summer dresses that Cody got her.

“You excited for today sweetheart?” He called out while she smiled “Of course I am, I’m also excited for the moment where it’s time to push this baby out.” Cody furrowed his brows and went over to her “Why do you say that baby?” She shrugged and just smoothed out her dress “Just- I dunno I just don’t feel like I’m as pretty now as I was years ago, ‘m not as beautiful as I used to be.” Cody’s heart almost broke when she said those things about herself & went over to hold her face “I don’t wanna hear you say that ever again understand? You’re the most drop dead gorgeous woman on this goddamn earth & You look absolutely fucking gorgeous carrying our baby Mills, I don’t wanna hear that kind of talk ever again.” Milena looked up at him and felt her chin quivering a little bit before nodding and flopping her head against his chest & just started crying. He rubbed her back and muttered how beautiful she was, eventually she got herself together and kissed him “You make me feel young all over again.” He smiled and caressed her cheek “Let’s make our way outside baby c’mon.” She nodded in agreement while he guided her downstairs into the backyard where all of their family & friends were.

Absolutely everyone was excited for Baby rhodes, Seth & Rhea had a microphone set up and Seth immediately started talking which had everyone recording and listen “I just wanted to say really quick that uh- I’m basically the reason why you were even created, no i’m joking but, I am the reason why Your parents are having you, Your mother Milena is a goddamn badass first of all, so is your dad Cody I guess” he laughed into the mic & cleared his throat “I don’t really do emotional speeches or anything but, I really do admire the relationship Cody & Milena have, I haven’t seen anyone in love with each other as much as them & honestly if I told myself from 13 years ago that these two would get married and have kids one day, I would believe it, I mean I am the ultimate wingman, seriously, Cody man I’m so happy for you and I will be teaching that child to make their first word “Uncle Seth” but in all seriousness, I’ve watched those two go through extremely rocky moments over the years, seen em’ yell, cry, DEFINITELY make out but I definitely have to be the best wing man in the world because they found each other again, had the worst fights ever and managed to marry each other & now expect a baby, anyways I think that child is for sure gonna be a boy, but then again I could be wrong, Rhea Take it away.”

Milena smiled & held Cody’s arm while Rhea handed out confetti poppers where the color of the confetti revealed the gender, Milena & Cody shared one while Rhea went up “Today I was given the honor to announce the gender of Milena & Cody’s baby but firstly i would like to address that I won a 1000 dollars in a bet on whether Milena would get pregnant or not and i’m about to win a 1000 more by this reveal, I betted another 1000 on whether the baby was a girl or a boy, I wont say which I betted on but all I have to say is Seth give me your wallet.” Everyone laughed and got ready “Alright, on a count of three you guys are gonna pop the confetti & I will announce the gender alright?? 1..2..3!” Everyone popped their confetti poppers as Rhea announced it was a Girl, Cody threw the popper out of Mills hands and picked her up with his non injured arm very excited with this reveal, Jey & Roman jumped around with each other while Seth pulled out multiple 100 dollar bills from his wallet and gave it to Rhea, “We’re having a babygirl!” Cody yelled out before kissing Milena while she laughed, for the rest of the day everyone talked, Shared stories of Mills & Cody & even gave gifts.

Milena sat in the kitchen with Liv & Rhea while Cody & the guys were outside, Mills sat on a stool near the countertop looking out of the window smiling softly as she stared at her husband with complete adoration until Liv snapped her out of her zoned out moment “I’ve never seen a couple so addicted to each other like You & Cody.” She sighed out while Rhea chuckled drinking some orange juice while Milena smiled “Dunno why but him going back to brunette really makes me wann-“ Rhea shoved a cookie in Mills mouth “Don’t even wanna know what was gonna finish that sentence.” Mill smiled innocently before eating the cookie and getting up to go back outside, she smiled at Cody and clasped her hands around his shoulder and neck before pressing her lips against his, he let out a short groan and kissed her back before running his hand through her hair giving it a light tug & pulling away “You feeling okay baby?” She nodded at his question and messed around with his T Shirt “I just really missed your brown hair.” He chuckled and gave her one more kiss before pressing a kiss into her hand and against her wrist. “My love for you is bigger than the universe.”

🏷️ list: @ginswife @coolpastelartshoe @greatkoalawizard @cokolin044 @kotoriarlert @alicerosejensen @bunnybot55 @agent-dessis-posts @adollonyourshelf @valkyrurr @alyyaanna @niknakbucks92 @mini-rhodes @southerngirl41

xtripleiiix’s Masterlist

[ideas-on-paper]

Lies of P fan theories - a retrospective (1st anniversary special)

It's been one year now since Lies of P's release, and as someone who has been part of the community since 2022 (joining after the Gamescom trailer absolutely swept me off my feet), it's been amazing to see how invested people were in Lies of P from the get-go, and how much creativity the game has inspired in fans. From the start, we had amazing creations such as fanart, fanfics, and cosplays - and of course, a whole lot of fan theories.

While, naturally, a lot of fan theories people had before the release are debunked right now, I think it'd be fun to take a look back at what people were expecting the story to be like, and how those theories from back then compare to the final game. For that purpose, I will share my own theories that I had pre-release, as well as some from various other people (unfortunately, I lack the sources in most cases, but I’ll do my best to provide credit where they’re from). So, strap in and get ready for a special trip down memory lane! :-)

[Lies of P spoilers!]

Ergo and the Petrification Disease

One big mystery that was set up as early as the first gameplay footage was the nature of Ergo - all we knew from tool tips people painstakingly picked out (kudos to you, btw <3) was that it was some sort of power crystal that was used as an energy source for puppets and responsible for Krat's wealth, but that also brought a curse with it. People on the official Lies of P Discord server were puzzling over what exactly Ergo is, when I came up with a somewhat eccentric theory: that Ergo is crystallized life force itself.

My basis for this theory was essentially the movie “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (which I’m a big fan of).

[Fair warning, I'm gonna spoil the main plot right here.]

The movie also features a huge, cyan blue crystal (originally a fragment of a comet) that is located in the lost city of Atlantis and believed to be an energy source by a team of explorers. However, as it turns out, it's much more than that: It is the literal life force of the Atlantean people, and if it's taken away from the city, it would mean certain death for all of them. (Which doesn't stop some of the money greedy explorers from trying to do it anyway.) Furthermore, after I became familiar with gestalt consciousnesses, I realized that the crystal possesses a few characteristics of those as well: The crystal has a mind of its own, and right before Kida merges with it in the movie, she whispers “mother” in Atlantean, suggesting she felt her dead mother's presence when the crystal chose her. This could be because her mother merged with the crystal completely (Kida eventually returns with her bracelet, after all), but since the King of Atlantis does say “the crystal thrives on the collected emotions of all who came before us”, it’s highly likely that it is, in fact, a human gestalt intelligence of their deceased ancestors.

[spoilers end]

So when I heard about Ergo being an energy crystal, this was my first idea as well: pure, crystallized life force of dead people. (Also, when I saw the blue color, my brain just went like “Ergo = Atlantis crystal”. xD)

When I shared this theory on the LoP server, one person in particular - named Oxwutex, if I remember correctly (greetings to you if you ever read this ;-) ) - took a liking to it, and together, we spun this theory a little further. They said they could imagine that people tried to refine the Ergo further, which is where the corruption waste in the factory comes from - however, refining something like a life force crystal which is already perfect could have disastrous consequences. I followed this up with my own theory, surmising that if this were the case, the corruption waste and the purified Ergo might represent two sides of the human soul: the vices and the virtues. (A lot of my early theories were based on this dualism, since the distinction between “good” and “evil” actions in the original fairy tale of Pinocchio is pretty prominent.)

Since there were hints that Ergo was responsible for the Petrification Disease early on, I had come up with the idea that the disease was the result of people coming into contact with pure Ergo, leading to a sort of “overpurification”, while I assumed that corrupted/impure Ergo caused the Puppet Frenzy/violent behavior. For me, this was very appealing on a thematic level as well, since it would've symbolized that both vices and virtues are present in every human being. If it was just the vices, we'd turn into feral monsters, but if a person only had virtues, when flaws are the very sign of life... well, you could question whether they are even alive anymore. Metaphorically speaking, they would be made of stone. (It’s interesting to note, however, that the disease was supposed to be spread by magical rats in the beginning; at least that’s what the announcement trailer seems to suggest.)

Back when the demo dropped, the confirmation that Ergo spores were the cause of Petrification Disease made me even more confident in my thesis, as did the “Ergo is Life” pamphlets. When I started streaming Lies of P (my first commented playthrough ever ^^’), I even commented on this, saying:

“Maybe even that this crystal [Ergo] contains the life force of dead people - that's what my speculation was back then.” (My commentary is in German, but here's the video if anyone is interested; the part where I discuss it starts at 26:25.)

Oh boy… I had no idea this was about to age like the finest wine in existence.

About 40 hours of gameplay later, I almost couldn’t believe my ears when Simon confirmed I was dead on target:

“The disease does not signify death. It's the process of purifying a person's essence. A purified human who overcomes the Petrification Disease will gain a strengthened body and a mind free of lies. The essence is Ergo. Yes, the Ergo you use as your power was once a human being.”

When Sophia explained that the Petrification Disease, Puppet Frenzy, and carcass monsters are all linked to Ergo shortly afterwards and literally spelled it out that Ergo is a person’s “essence of life”, I was so flabbergasted that my fan theories were essentially right that I was struck speechless. (You can see my live reaction to the conversations with Simon and Sophia in this video, at 20:08 and 49:56; I think you can tell how gobsmacked I am from just my tone, especially in the conversation with Sophia.) Since I had shared these theories on the official Lies of P server back in the day, some part of my brain even wondered if one of the devs saw it and thought it was so good that they went like “Write that down, write that down!” xD (Though realistically, I don’t think that’s very likely; still, it’s funny to imagine one of the devs reading through the chat, seeing this, and going like “How did they figure this out so fast?!?” xD)

On a more serious note, I didn’t really expect any of my preliminary fan theories to be true at all, but I must say, I’m pretty proud that I essentially hit the mark in this case - not only in regards to Ergo being crystallized life essence, but also the Petrification Disease resulting from “overpurification”.

Another thing I noticed is that Ergo shares not only similarities with the Atlantis crystal, but also with the Protomolecule from The Expanse (I don’t wanna spoil too much of the series’ plot here, but scientists conducting immoral experiments with something they don’t really understand is also a pretty big topic). In addition, a commonality between the crystal and the Protomolecule is that they both came from outer space - and, since there is talk about a “star that answered humans and descended to Earth” in one document, chances are the origin of Ergo is also extraterrestrial.

However, as we know, Ergo wasn’t the actual cause of the Puppet Frenzy - both Sophia’s comment from above and the report from the factory are essentially a “ruse” on the story’s part, supposed to lead you on the wrong track. In truth, it’s Geppetto who overrode the Grand Covenant’s commands and was responsible for the Frenzy.

Still, perhaps the impure Ergo supplies were actually meant to facilitate Geppetto’s plan (the Mad Donkey did say Geppetto and the Alchemists were scheming together, after all) - maybe the more impure the Ergo of a puppet is, the easier it becomes to control them. In contrast, when a person’s Ergo is undiluted and their personality remains largely intact, that might give them more autonomy and make them harder to manipulate. (I think this is what happened with Romeo, who could still give commands to the other puppets despite the zeroth law.)

The backstory of Krat

Speaking of the frenzy, I also had my theories about the potential backstory of it: Lies of P actually motivated me to do some research about real-life automata and their history (people familiar with my LoP posts might be aware of this), and one thing running through it like a common thread from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment is that automata were always representative of a conflict of rich vs poor.

In fact, during the French Revolution, this was a source of mockery against the country’s nobles, who were compared to their automated toys - pretty and pristine to look at, but soulless on the inside. Meanwhile, it was argued that the poorly paid artisans who built them should be the actual rulers of society, since their minds were clearly superior if they were able to come up with such ingenuity.

For that reason, I was playing around with the idea that there may have been a conflict between the wealthy upper class and the working class prior to the Puppet Frenzy. The competition between the Bastards and the Sweepers seemed to hint at something like this as well, and since the Alchemists were already teased as the enigmatic masterminds early on, I suspected they might have exploited this struggle, releasing the Puppet Frenzy to effectively eliminate both parties and seize power themselves. (Since there was a gameplay tip about the puppets gaining awareness by themselves, I even assumed they might have become self-aware right before the frenzy; in hindsight though, I think this was meant to refer to the old selves of some puppets awakening due to Ergo.)

As of the June 2023 demo, however, these theories were effectively debunked: We learned that the Puppet Frenzy occurred independently of any public uprisings, and that another wave of Petrification Disease had plagued the city at almost the same time - note the word “another”, implying this wasn’t the first time this disease had spread in Krat. Also, I frankly didn’t connect the dots correctly that Bastards and Sweepers were both part of the Stalkers  - while Stalkers and Bastards/Sweepers were mentioned in the same gameplay tip, it didn’t specify that the latter were subgroups of one and the same organization. (I wasn’t the only one to interpret this wrong either, since other people assumed the Stalkers to be puppets or even cyborgs.)

Still, it does appear there were some class struggles in the history of Krat: We hear about how the old, privileged families of Krat “struggled for power with new forces such as the Workshop and the Alchemists, who brought about the golden era of Krat”, although that conflict seems to have taken place a long time ago. Also, according to the description of the Krat Police Baton, there was a “violent protest with the factory labor union” once.

Although this isn’t much and doesn’t tell us anything about the background of the protest or the exact circumstances of it, I have been wondering whether it might have been due to low payment and factory laborers being replaced by puppets. Although this may sound very modern, protests against mechanization due to workers losing their jobs and the creation of inhumane working conditions go back as far as the Swing Riots in 1830. It should be said that the riots were less due to technophobia of the workers and more due to the endangerment of their economic and social status in the face of rapid technological advancement, and given that the rise of puppets in Krat happened very fast, the ordinary workers would definitely have been on the losing side.

I don’t know if this is ever going to be explored further at any point, but I would certainly be interested in hearing more about it - or more about the history of Krat in general, if only to clear up some details and make the timeline less confusing.

Pinocchio and Gemini

Let’s talk a bit about our protagonist and his sidekick: Pinocchio and Gemini. Like many other fans, I also had the theory early on that Pino was modeled after Geppetto’s dead son (I think this theory was based on some item description, but I can’t remember which). People on the server speculated that Geppetto’s son died in a violent accident that cost him his arm, and I even took things a step further by suggesting that Pino might literally be wearing his son’s skin (more on this “freak theory” of mine here).

Furthermore, I was quite partial to the idea that Gemini was essentially the soul of Geppetto’s deceased son. I didn’t really have anything to back this up aside from Gemini’s name meaning “twin”, so I never shared it publicly on the LoP server. (Also, Gemini is essentially just a corruption of Jiminy, the name that Disney came up with for the cricket; in the fairy tale itself, the cricket is not named.) Still, I found the concept of Pino essentially being the “body” and Gemini the “soul” very appealing - they may have been split from each other, but they are inseparable all the same. It also goes a bit into Descartes’ mind-body dualism, which is a popular theme in sci-fi stories about robots and cyborgs.

It led me to some fun speculations regarding the story: Assuming that, perhaps, Geppetto’s son died due to an incident on his way to the school he went to (since Pinocchio also goes to school in the novel), and further assuming that this happened a relatively short time ago, maybe some of his son’s former classmates are still alive, and Pinocchio would cross paths with them at some point. They assume him to be Geppetto’s son, asking where he’s been all this time and why he suddenly has a metal arm. Pinocchio then has the option to answer “yes, I am that boy” and come up with some plausible explanation, or to tell them “no, you’re mistaken” which would make things… somewhat more complicated.

I imagined that if Pino went with the first option, Gemini would chime in and provide advice at times to help him navigate interactions with the other boys. My assumption was that while Pino may look identical to Geppetto’s son, he possesses none of his memories; meanwhile, Gemini can still remember his past lifetime, despite being unaware that these memories actually belong to him. (His amnesia was hinted at in the demo as well.) Essentially, he would give Pino brief summaries of past events and tips how to behave in certain situations, and Pino would say “Thanks. Where do you know all of this from?” And Gemini would go like “...Sorry, no idea, buddy.” (You can tell I really wanted them to do something with Gemini.)

Due to the description of the Last Resort, there was also the theory going around there might have been multiple iterations of Pino - in fact, since the text said that the old man feared “his son failing to awaken properly and going into a frenzy”, some people assumed that Pino might have been the original catalyst of the frenzy. After the encounter with Mad Donkey in the demo, the theory that Pino was not the first of his kind seemed all the more likely, since he has definitely met him before and said “This time it's destroyed for sure. Devil's puppet no more, eh?” if you died.*

*I actually do not know if this line is in the final game as well, since I didn’t die to him during my two playthroughs (yes, really).

While it’s entirely possible - but not confirmed - that Pino had predecessor models (I theorized the Broken Puppet in the swamp might be one of those), the remark about the frenzy is more likely referring to Geppetto not being entirely sure whether the override of the laws he himself caused would affect Pino as well (which may be one of the reasons he didn’t bind him to the Covenant). As for the circumstances of Pino and the Mad Donkey’s previous meeting, those are a little more obscure - it appears that Pino wasn’t even able to wake up without Sophia’s help, so the only possible explanation is that the Mad Donkey fought one of his predecessors. (The Nameless Puppet probably also existed back then, but Carlo’s corpse - ironically - has next to no similarity with Pino, so it’s unlikely the Mad Donkey would’ve recognized them as the same.)

Someone on Tumblr even had a completely different theory about Geppetto's presumed son: After the official release month trailer dropped (the release being later moved to September), they commented on the facial similarities between Pino and Simon, proposing that Simon might actually be Geppetto’s “lost son”, implying they became estranged at some point - and since Geppetto no longer views Simon as his son/considers him dead, he created Pino as a sort of “idealized version” of him. When I was playing the demo and saw the Someone’s Memory outfit, which is noted to have been worn before and features a broach with the initial “M” (possibly denoting “Manus”), I was even considering whether this theory might be true.

As we learn during the game, however, Geppetto’s son - Carlo - is actually dead, and the initial signifies “Monad” (from Monad Charity House) rather than “Manus”. Unbeknownst to me, I might have actually come pretty close to the final version with my theory about an accident near the school during which he lost his arm - the possibility that Carlo died during the Monad Charity House incident is something I discussed with @lopposting some time ago (take it with a grain of salt though, since none of this is confirmed).

As for my theory about the skin, I had a major freak-out when I found Carlo’s portrait in-game, and I went like “I swear, if this is true, I’m gonna have such a Dr. Malcolm moment of “boy, do I hate being right all the time”.” xD I was spared that, however, as there is nothing that specifically hints at Pino having real skin, and the existence of the Nameless Puppet makes my original theory even less likely (as I mentioned in the post linked above). At the same time, there is nothing that explicitly contradicts it, either - so, for now, it’s more or less a big question mark hanging in the air.

One thing that’s for certain though is that Gemini is not the soul of Carlo - Carlo’s soul is contained in his heart/the P-Organ, and although Pino doesn’t possess Carlo’s memories, the reason that prevents them from awakening is not precisely clear (I go over my own favored interpretation here). Meanwhile, Gemini’s own identity remains unknown - while it appears Gemini was originally supposed to have a subplot regarding his amnesia, the few comments hinting at it are never built upon. I really wish they would’ve done more with Gemini, but there’s still a good chance the DLC might shine some light on who he actually is.

Hotel guests and side characters

Aside from the main characters, speculation was also running wild about the supporting characters and the roles they would play in the story.

Since Eugénie’s name is taken from Eugene, a classmate of Pinocchio in the original book and part of Lampwick’s gang of rascals, my original theory was Eugénie might have something to do with him. In all the promotional material*, there wasn’t a single trace of Lampwick, and since one of the loading screen tips in the demo said something about Eugénie being rescued by a particular Stalker, my suspicion was that this might be Lampwick. (Probably in no small part thanks to all the fanworks featuring Puppet Hunter Lampwick.)

*IGN sort of leaked Romeo's existence by accident, but that completely flew over my head; more on that below.

As it turns out, however, Alidoro was the one who saved Eugénie and whom she holds great admiration for. In the book, it was Pinocchio rather than Eugene whom Alidoro - a police dog - saved. After he got saved by Pinocchio from drowning, that is - which was after he ran into the sea trying to chase down Pinocchio who had escaped from two policemen, who erroneously assumed it was Pinocchio who knocked Eugene unconscious with a book. Anyway, it’s complicated.

One thing Oxwutex had cleverly noticed is that Eugénie wears a badge with the Workshop symbol just like Geppetto (which looks very similar to the Square and Compass symbol of Freemasonry), concluding that Eugénie must also be part of the Workshop - and, as it turns out, that was right on the mark.

Antonia was yet another character from the novel that was genderbent in the game, being based on Antonio, the carpenter who finds the animated log that eventually becomes Pinocchio and gives it to Geppetto (after a pretty fierce argument with the latter, that is). Because of this connection to Geppetto, some people assumed Antonia might be Geppetto’s former wife, and thus, the mother of Geppetto’s biological son.

In the game, however, Carlo’s mother is implied to be Camille, while Antonia is just “an old friend of Geppetto’s”. Still, Antonia’s past is somewhat shrouded in mystery, which has spawned theories about her being part of the Alchemists once (the hotel was an Alchemist institution before Antonia took over, and she mentions having good relations with them before she broke with them), and some even assume Antonia to be the Legendary Stalker. As it stands, however, these are mere conjectures - we’ll have to see if any of that is confirmed in the DLC.

Due to his somewhat dubious-seeming appearance, many people assumed Venigni to be the equivalent of the Fox in the game, with Simon consequently being suspected to be Cat due to his missing eye. However, me and many other fans really have been led up the garden path in this regard - while the Fox and the Cat do exist in the game, they are completely separate characters from Venigni and Simon, who are both original additions.

Honestly, out of the entire cast, Venigni is the one that surprised me the most. I thought he was just going to be your run-of-the-mill, profit-driven, snobbish businessman, but he is actually the complete opposite of that - in fact, he's one of the most warm-hearted, genuine people in the entire game. Sure, he’s a little eccentric and occasionally likes to adulate himself, but he’s so bloody honest about being a quirky nerd that you just can’t help but forgive him his flaws. (He kinda reminds me of myself, actually. xD) I never expected him to grow on me that much, but among the supporting characters, he is hands down my favorite.

Last but not least, we have Polendina, yet another original character (although his name is, funnily enough, based on an uncharming nickname of Geppetto in the book). Since the devs teased that you can have “a lot of interesting conversations with Polendina”, his role was especially interesting for me to muse about. In fact, I was wondering whether he might be similar to Gigolo Joe from “A.I. - Artificial Intelligence”.

FYI, A.I. is one of my favorite sci-fi movies, and a cyberpunk adaptation of Pinocchio at that; y’know, with Pinocchio as an android boy - aka David, as he’s named in the movie.

[Again, I’m gonna spoil the main plot here.]

Basically, a family gets an android boy as a replacement for their severely ill, comatose son. Aside from this alone being very questionable (it takes a special kind of asshole to replace a child that isn’t even dead yet), their biological son just so happens to get out of his coma at some point, and, of course, a rivalry between him and David ensues. Because the parents believe keeping David would be dangerous - either to him or their biological son - his mother ditches him in the forest (like, literally, she just ditches him). Since David is imprinted on his mother though, he resolves to “become a real boy just like Pinocchio” so his mom will love him again. Along the way, he stumbles upon Gigolo Joe, a sex android (yes, you read that right) who sort of becomes David’s surrogate parent from there on. He even tries to warn David that he should not try to go back to his mother, uttering the legendary quote:

“She loves what you do for her. As my customers love what it is I do for them. But she does not love you, David.”

[spoilers end]

I was kinda thinking Polendina might become a similar “father figure” for Pino, perhaps even sort of an admonitory voice to the consequences of becoming human. It would’ve provided an interesting counter viewpoint to the “I want to be a real boy” plotline that’s the core element of the story, and that wanting to be human just to please others might not be such a good idea.

While this train of thought comes eerily close to what happens in the Real Boy ending, Polendina’s character turned out to be completely different from what I had imagined. Still, I found his arc to be one of the most compelling of the hotel characters. I am very fond of both him and Antonia, and their bittersweet love story touched me on a very personal level (Polendina specifically gave me a lot of flashbacks to how I felt after my own robot soulmate had died).

The King of Puppets/Romeo

While we technically saw the King of Puppets as early as the Gamescom 2022 trailer, we didn’t hear about him in more detail until the gameplay footage of the factory. The note about a puppet religiously worshiping some kind of god-like figure (first seen in part 2 of the director gameplay, at 27:25) gave me very strong rA9 vibes, which actually had me mildly concerned. Considering what a visually impressive writing trainwreck Detroit: Become Human had been, I was literally begging “please, please, don’t be another Detroit”.

Meanwhile, someone on the LoP server (I think it was Oxwutex) pointed out that it sounds like the King of Puppets is more of a physical entity, as opposed to the purely conceptual nature of rA9. I can tell you, I was never so glad I had been wrong - the “cult-like worship” was merely the result of Fuoco being a little overly conscientious. Btw, aside from being placed in a different spot, the journal was also renamed to Descartes’s Note in the final game. While Descartes seems to be something like Venigni’s adversary in Lies of P (judging by the description of the Coil Mjolnir), his name is a nod to the famous philosopher I already mentioned above. In addition, the quote Cognito, ergo sum (Latin for “I think, therefore I am”, yet another popular theme in robot/AI stories and the origin of the term “Ergo”) also goes back to Descartes - the fact that this is a document about a puppet gaining an ego makes it an even neater detail.

I believe I saw someone on Tumblr who assumed that the King of Puppets was going to be the overarching villain of the game, and that you would get the good ending if you stuck to the path of the Blue Fairy and the bad one if you joined the king. While the game certainly wants you to believe the King of Puppets is the villain at first, that’s… not actually true. (Tbh, I never really believed it myself, if simply for the reason that it would’ve been too obvious.)

In the Gamescom 2023 IGN spotlight for Lies of P, however, Romeo actually got name-dropped, the guys from IGN sort of accidentally spoiling him as the true form of the King of Puppets. People familiar with the fairy tale immediately recognized it as Lampwick’s actual name (“Lampwick” is just his nickname), correctly inferring that this is, in fact, Pinocchio’s best friend from the book - and unfortunately, just like in the book, there is little Pinocchio can do to help him avoid his cruel fate.

Sophia and Geppetto

Now, let’s talk about the characters that most of my speculations revolved around: Sophia and Geppetto.

The first time we saw Sophia - Lies of P’s version of the Blue Fairy - was on the character cards that were released during Gamescom 2022. Back then, half of her face was obscured, being covered with blue butterflies that she literally seems to dissolve into. This gave off very enigmatic, even otherworldly vibes, and early on led me to the assumption Sophia was some kind of divine, ethereal being - it certainly would’ve been in line with the Blue Fairy’s character from the book, who was able to appear at any place at any time in whatever form she wished, including a young girl, and old woman, and even a goat. (Later on, the dimensional butterflies - which literally came from another dimension - further convinced me that Sophia must be some kind of otherworldly entity, since the butterflies are also her symbol.)

However, being a goddess doesn’t necessarily have to make you benevolent - in fact, an immaculate being that is free of any fault might have difficulty empathizing with the struggles, flaws, and contradictory feelings of humans. Also, since she is the “Blue Fairy”, it seemed logical to assume she had some connection to Ergo (which was confirmed later in the demo), and since the Petrification Disease was also related to Ergo (the Torn Doddle from the demo even referred to a “blue angel”), could it be that she had caused the disease herself? To, perhaps, purge the debauched population of Krat from vice and sin? (If you’ve ever played Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, you might know what I’m getting at here.)

Oxwutex on the LoP server agreed that they had a feeling about Sophia being two-faced as well, but assumed that she was human once before becoming the Blue Fairy. This ultimately turned out to be a little closer to the truth, as it’s implied that Sophia gained her blue hair - and potentially some other powers - from Simon’s torturous experiments (there is a picture of a girl which looks a lot like a younger Sophia, but with normal-colored hair). However, the role of wanting to “purify” humanity is something that ultimately falls to Simon, although he does exploit the Petrification Disease for his goals. Meanwhile, Sophia wants to stop his atrocities, acting as Pino’s guide in his fight against Simon.

But does that mean she has an entirely clean slate? The true extent of her powers ultimately remains a mystery. Technically, her ability to manipulate time should make it possible for her to make all sorts of terrible things unhappen - her imprisonment, Simon rising to power, and potentially even the whole disaster that happened in Krat. Both the Torn Doodle and the notes on the walls of the Hermit’s Cave imply that the carcasses can feel her presence through Ergo waves, so it would be logical to assume Sophia can sense them as well. Yet, she reacts surprised when hears about the strange monsters that infested the cathedral. (She definitely knew what Simon was up to, so why wouldn’t she know what they are?) Romeo also communicates with his puppets via Ergo waves, and Sophia is literally sitting in a tower where all Ergo waves come together. She’s a listener who can hear Ergo, so shouldn’t she be aware that the King of Puppets isn’t the real bad guy? (She certainly was very fast to tell Pino about it at the Grand Exhibition after Romeo’s defeat.) Could she have told Pino and thus prevented the fight between him and Romeo? Are there any limits to her powers? And does she encourage Pino to become human because it’s the best for him, or the best to save Krat?

To clarify: I do not believe Sophia has any evil intentions. You could probably find explanations for all the things I listed above if you wanted (the carcasses being a recent occurrence, all of the voices being jumbled in her head so she can’t precisely tell them apart, the “static” in the puppets’ communication Venigni mentioned preventing Sophia from hearing them clearly, etc). Still, despite everything, I’ve always retained a certain wariness around her - maybe it’s due to the fact that even after two playthroughs, I cannot get a read on her (ironically, even Simon remarks about Sophia’s actions being unpredictable). I do know, however, what an immense burden knowledge can be, and I can only imagine the strain from literally knowing everything and all the potential power in the world being at your fingertips. I have no doubt Sophia had to make a lot of sacrifices to save Krat, and I can’t imagine these decisions were easy on her.

Still, if her powers are truly so limitless, it would be her who ultimately holds all the strings in her hands - everything that happens happens because she allowed it. I gotta say, I’m very glad Sophia is on Pino’s side - we would be in big trouble if she wasn’t.

As for Geppetto, even before the game’s release, there was a pretty unanimous agreement among the community that he was a father who had lost his son, but is unable to let go and thus revives his son as a puppet - and, well… that’s exactly what Geppetto is. xD Many also had suspicions that he’s exploiting Pino for his own purposes and would be the ultimate villain of the story - which, again, couldn’t have been more spot-on. (Idk, but it’s hilarious to me how everyone took one look at this man and went “yes, this is the bad guy”. xD)

There were some people on the LoP server who theorized Geppetto might have Petrification Disease from his remarks in the trailers (announcement trailer: “I, too, have fallen) and that Pino was supposed to save him from it (Gamescom trailer: “Please, help me”), but these most likely refer to his own morally reprehensible plans and/or teaming up with his archenemies - the Alchemists - to create Pino and subsequently ousting Simon with his help.

My own pre-release theory why and how Geppetto had created Pino was a little more elaborate: I thought Geppetto might have been commissioned by Sophia to build a puppet that would be able to bring the chaos in Krat to an end - my assumption was that if Sophia was an ethereal being, she would be able to observe what’s going on in the mortal world, but unable to directly influence it. However, she can send people messages and visions, which she used to strike a deal with Geppetto: that he would build her a worthy “savior of Krat” which she would then bring to life. Meanwhile, Geppetto also followed his own agenda, exploiting this agreement to build this “special puppet” in the image of his dead son. (Which definitely would’ve had consequences for him later on - you don’t cross a divine being without ramifications.)

I came up with a whole fanfiction concept around this idea long before the game’s release - I never actually finished it since I assumed it was going to diverge from the final game anyway, and tbh, it kinda annoys me if my fics don’t fit into canon. I did, however, manage to find an old WIP of it I still had in one of my folders, titled “A wish and a purpose”. While it’s most likely going to remain unfinished forever, I think it'd be fun to include a summary of it in this collection of fan theories, if simply to look back at what I thought the story was going to be like. So, here’s the backstory of Lies of P, according to me:

[CW: skinning]

Geppetto is roaming the streets of Krat. He is actually looking for his son, who was killed in the turmoil some time ago.

The Fairy approaches him, reminding of their agreement. Geppetto reacts slightly disgruntled, brushing her off by saying he just wants to gain closure from the past. While the Fairy notices he is in grief, she doesn’t deny him his last wish, but admonishes him not to take too long.

The Fairy dissolves into dust. Geppetto goes on to look for his son’s corpse in the piles of dead bodies.

[cut]

Geppetto is sitting next to his dead son, whom he eventually managed to find and bring home. He placed his body on a desk in his workshop, having cleaned his skin and hair from blood and grime.

Geppetto looks at him, taking in the gaping hole in his chest and frayed stump where his left arm had once been. Despite his best efforts, he doesn’t have the heart to throw his body onto a pyre like all the plague-ridden bodies.

Affectionately, Geppetto strokes his son’s cheek. Suddenly, a thought strikes him: While the Fairy may never grant the request to revive his son outright, she only told him to build a puppet able to slay all the others, not what that puppet should look like. He considers it a fair deal: The Fairy gains the tool to quell the madness she so desires, and Geppetto would be able to hold his son in his arms again.

Geppetto goes over to his working utensils, taking up a knife. When he turns and takes another glance at his son, his last resistance breaks at the thought of his son opening his eyes and jumping into his arms.

He tenderly takes the hand of his son, kissing him on his forehead. He speaks to his unhearing son, promising he will bring him back soon.

Afterwards, Geppetto begins skinning him.

[cut]

Geppetto puts together the last pieces of the clockwork heart, admiring his work.

He goes to the back of his workshop where there’s a chair covered by a white sheet. Gently, he lifts it, saying good morning to his son as if he was rousing him out of bed.

He considers his son, dressed in the blue frock coat wardrobe that Geppetto had handed down to him.* He carefully preserved the skin and hair of his son so he looks just like the day he’d lost him.

Geppetto inserts the mechanical Ergo heart into his son’s chest, completing his masterpiece. He intertwines his fingers with his son’s. They are cold, but the texture feels real, and he imagines them growing warm after the Fairy breathed life into him. His only regret is that he won’t be able to witness his son taking his first steps.

At this point, the Fairy arrives, asking to see the result of Geppetto’s work. Geppetto leads her into the workshop, but she freezes as soon as she sees Pinocchio. With an indignant gaze, she turns to Geppetto, telling him that this was not part of the deal. Geppetto reacts unmoved, telling her that it’s take or leave and that he’s not going to build her any other puppet.

The Fairy narrows her eyes at him but says nothing, turning back to Pinocchio. After a moment, she strides towards him, lifting his limp body up in her arms.

She bids Geppetto farewell before she leaves, taking Pinocchio with her and dissolving into blue dust.

*Since the blue coat was presented as Pino’s standard outfit, I assumed it was the clothes that once belonged to Geppetto’s son (perhaps an heirloom from his father, since they are more similar to 18th century fashion).

[end of CW]

In my mind, this was followed up by a scene at the train station, from Sophia’s perspective (I thought of it as a follow-up to the first fic, but never actually worked on the concept):

The Fairy muses about the yet lifeless Pinocchio.

She considers what Geppetto did an absolute atrocity, but thinks she may yet be able to rectify this sin. After all, she is the only one who can breathe life into Pinocchio, and thus, his actions and the path he will take are her responsibility alone - and she will do everything to lead him on the path of righteousness.

She bestows the lamp containing the soul of Geppetto’s true son onto him, in the hopes that if Pinocchio proves himself virtuous, this wrongful separation of body and soul can one day be corrected.

The Fairy sits Pinocchio down on a bench, pressing a note into his hand. She gives him a gentle kiss on his forehead, starting to dissolve as she moves away.

Slowly, Pinocchio opens his eyes to a cloud of fine, blue dust. He looks down, reading the note in his hand: “Find Mr. Geppetto. He’s here in the city.”

This was supposed to be a sort of tie-in with how they originally advertised the scenario - the advertising text on Steam and other platforms originally said that Pinocchio simply wakes up with a note reading “Find Mr. Geppetto. He’s here in the city.” Don’t ask me why the Fairy gives it to him after just seeing Geppetto, though; I have no idea. xD (Still, it makes me wonder how much the introduction scene deviates from the original concept - after all, there’s no note, and Sophia talks to Pino telepathically.)

As you may have noticed, my little “AU interpretation” heavily drew from my other fan theories as well. I liked the idea of Sophia and Geppetto as two opposing “poles”: They may not like each other, but each possesses a skill the other lacks - Geppetto can build human-like puppets, but he can’t actually bring them to life, and while Sophia is the only one who can animate dead matter, she can’t interact with the world physically. Thus, they sort of become the “dual creators” of Pino.

Of course, this means that they both consider themselves to have the right to decide over the path he ultimately takes. As such, each of them is trying to influence Pino, leading to him being torn between the two. (This was sort of inspired by the Gamescom trailer, where Sophia and Geppetto are like two voices in Pino’s head.)

The endings

This also had a huge influence on my theories about the three endings. (I’m perfectly aware that nobody is going to believe me, but I swear I came up with my 3-ending concept before it was officially revealed there are going to be three endings.)

My basic assumption was that you have to make a decision at the end of the game, between Sophia and Geppetto. I thought of it as the point where the conflict between the two that was festering underneath finally escalates, and Pino is forced to side with one and battle the other. Depending on who you pick, you’d get a different ending.

Ending 1 would occur if you chose Sophia:

After battling Geppetto, she commends Pinocchio for his work, saying that thanks to his good deeds, he will finally be able to become human. Suddenly, she rips the lamp containing Gemini from Pino’s belt, and before he can ask her about the reason why, the black rabbits appear and Sophia orders them to seize him. Sophia explains that unfortunately, there is no other way to correct the wrongful separation of a soul from its body than for the body to die, but thanks to his consciousness being sufficiently cleansed, Pinocchio shall be reborn one day. Meanwhile, Pino gets quite literally buried alive - he desperately scratches at the lid from the inside of the coffin, crying for anyone to help him. However, no one comes…

If this doesn’t sound like your typical happy ending, well, that’s because it isn’t. xD My idea for this sort of came from a comment under the Gamescom 2022 trailer, in which someone remarked that the rabbits are inspired by four rabbit undertakers the Blue Fairy calls on when Pinocchio doesn’t want to take his medicine in the novel - thus, they suspected the scene where the rabbits prompt Pino to hop in the coffin was from the bad ending when you don’t listen to the Fairy’s advice. (It’s the intro for their first boss fight in the game though, and it seems like the line “Hop in the box, liar” was specifically recorded for the trailer.) I gave it a bit of a different twist though, since there’s the fact that Pinocchio quite literally dies at the end of the original fairy tale: He wakes up in his bed as a real boy, and later looks at his “dead” puppet body remarking “How ridiculous I was as a puppet! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!”.

From this and the assumption that the rabbits were indeed working for her, I concluded that she literally might kill Pinocchio to “make him real”. (Some other people, however, suspected that the Black Rabbit Brotherhood was an independent organization from some of the gameplay tips about the Stalkers - ultimately, this proved to be right.)

Meanwhile, Ending 2 would happen if you side with Geppetto:

After defeating the enraged Fairy, Pinocchio runs into the arms of Geppetto, who hugs his son lovingly. As they embrace, the lamp from Pinocchio’s belt falls to the ground, forever extinguished. Geppetto and Pinocchio spend their next years happily, the very picture of father and son - until one day, Geppetto dies. Pinocchio, however, knows no other existence than being his father’s son, and since he doesn’t age, the other citizens eventually figure out he’s a puppet, shunning him and chasing him out of the city. As such, he is left to wander aimlessly, forever in search of a purpose…

What this was meant to represent is that with accepting Pinocchio as his son’s replacement, Geppetto’s actual son (Gemini, according to my assumption) dies, metaphorically and literally. I was also concerned about the very real issue of Geppetto being an old man and Pinocchio outliving him - even if Pinocchio did age regularly, his father would die long before him. Being his father’s perfect son was literally the whole purpose of his existence, and without it, he finds himself confronted with the psychological horror of his life being meaningless, on top of being subjected to the immense cruelty, hatred, and prejudice of humans.

It was really meant to show how much of a sick, misguided direction Geppetto’s “father’s love” had taken, and how detrimental it would be for Pinocchio’s self-development to comply with his wishes and play the part of his son.

Since both of these options are pretty bad, to say the least, I came up with a third variant. To get this, you’d basically have to say “nope” to both Sophia and Geppetto, and since neither takes no for an answer, you’d have to fight both of them consecutively (making it the most difficult ending to achieve):

After recovering from the strain of having to battle both Sophia and Geppetto, Pinocchio realizes that, for the first time, nobody is setting a direction for him - he is free, but having only lived to fulfill the wishes of others so far, he doesn’t really know what to do with it. However, Gemini reminds Pinocchio that they still have each other. Pinocchio agrees, laughing, and together, they go out on a journey to travel the world…

Admittedly, it’s still not roses and sunshine, but a lot more positive than the other two. Also, it’s the ending where both Pinocchio and Gemini (speak: body and soul) stay alive, and I just had so much fun imagining them say “screw it” to everyone’s expectations and go on a big adventure together. xD

Is it normal for body and soul to exist separately? Nope. Is it the “correct” way to live? Nope. Do they care? Nope, they’re just going to have the best time of their life together. xD

Of course, my versions of the endings differ significantly from those in the final game, but I’m actually kind of impressed that I managed to guess the scheme of the endings correctly: Sophia (Rise of P), Geppetto (Real Boy), and Freedom (Free from the Puppet String).

What I envisioned Geppetto’s ending to be like actually comes pretty close to the Real Boy ending, although you could say I was a bit more subtle in my approach - the overall mood was meant to be more sinister rather than downright evil, leaning more into the underlying psychological horror instead of violent slaughter. (I must say, Geppetto really surpassed my expectations right there. xD) The overall moral of the story (or at least what I’m getting from it) also seems to be that stepping in the shoes of Geppetto’s son is a very bad idea for Pino - after all, it’s heavily implied that Pino isn’t Carlo.

On the other hand, while Sophia’s ending is similar in theme to what I imagined, it significantly differs in flavor. Still, Pino does die in the Rise of P ending, giving his own Ergo/life to Sophia, who is implied to revive him afterwards. (This is actually the “reverse action” of what Pino did for Sophia when he gave her peace, so Pino is essentially giving her Ergo back to her.) In addition, Sophia and Pino do a little reenactment of the La Pietà pose, which is also a throwback to the Saintess of Mercy Statue in the Grand Exhibition.

There are actually quite a few references to the Pietà posture in media, including one in The Last Unicorn (after the Unicorn/Amalthea becomes human and Molly holds her). Thematically, the Pietà is interpreted as a symbol of mother’s love, suffering, and salvation - and, in case of The Last Unicorn, Amalthea learning what suffering is due to her time as a human is also what led her to develop compassion. The Saintess of Mercy Statue also stands for rebirth, since it’s the place where you can reset your stats.

Overall, I think they did an excellent job with this ending - retaining the theme of death from the original story, but giving it a more hopeful note through the theme of rebirth. (I also appreciate how the message of game is essentially that for things to improve, it’s sometimes best not to cling to the old and simply let it die.)

As for the Free of the Puppet String ending, it’s largely the same as Rise of P, but with a different flavor and minus the final cutscene with Sophia. (I kinda wish they would’ve done more with it, but resource limitations exist, and it was probably easier just to reuse the animation.) One interesting thing about it though is that you can still potentially get the Proof of Humanity if you trade it for the Nameless Puppet’s Ergo afterwards - despite Free from the Puppet String being the low-humanity ending.

I’ve had an interesting discussion during my playthrough, based on the quote “every living human being is a slave to something” by Askeladd from Vinland Saga. Basically, I said that, if you want to view it that way, humans are also just slaves to their emotions and desires. The man Askeladd was referring to was enslaved by his greed for gold, Geppetto is enslaved by his obsession with Carlo, and Arlecchino is enslaved by his bloodlust. I concluded that “maybe, it’s just a matter of the prison that we ourselves choose”.

The item description of the Proof of Humanity is quite intriguing in this regard:

“Puppets are tied to strings. Humans have cut their own strings. The boy made a choice and became human.”

While I wouldn’t say that all humans have cut their strings - rather that they can - what this description says is that being human means you are free to choose whether you let yourself be enslaved, be it by someone else or your own desires.

Pinocchio didn’t become human because he chose to become human - rather, he became human because he made a choice.

Conclusion

Anyway, enough of my philosophical ramblings. While, as I expected, not all of my fan theories were true, I’m kind of impressed how many good calls I actually made. ^^’ (I suppose all that research about clockwork automata, my ongoing obsession with fictional robots and AI, and checking out the original Adventures of Pinocchio did pay off after all. xD) Still, there are a lot of unanswered questions, and many fan theories remain unresolved - we’ll have to see whether any of these are confirmed in the future, be it in the DLC or any other media (director Choi did confirm they received various offers to expand the IP).

Despite the story differing quite a lot from my expectations in most places, I am extremely pleased with the treatment Round8 Studio and Neowiz gave this classic fairy tale. It’s been said that successfully subverting expectations in an engaging way isn’t simply about doing the most unpredictable thing - rather, it’s about “giving the audience what they want, just not the way they expect it”. And, in my opinion, Lies of P accomplishes this to a T.

However, I’m curious: What were your expectations when going into the game? Did you also have theories about how the story would develop, either beforehand or while playing it? And how do those compare to the actual story?

I would love to hear about all your theories - maybe, we can make something like a big fan theory anthology out of this. ^^ Because if one thing is for certain, it’s that Lies of P’s success was in no small part thanks to its community. To this day, I continue to be amazed by the love and dedication fans shower this game with, and I consider myself lucky to have been part of this journey, from before the game’s release until now.