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linka-from-captain-planet · 2 months

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Florrickology, Part 1: The Thong That Launched 1000 Headcanons

My favorite thing to do as a background character fan is to co-opt things that were definitely not meant to be characterization by making them characterization.

Thus, I have looked way deeper than intended into every possible pixel, moment, and mention of my beloved Counsellor Florrick and developed the exciting new field of Florrickology to report my findings.

Obviously the first place I'm going is this fucking dress and how I use it to infer upon her the two sexiest characteristics a woman can have:

Unflinching vanity and a deep-seated, yet subtle, insanity.

This dress is more than a bit of an enigma because... why?

It really stands out because, while Larian gives players plenty of opportunities to sexualize their avatar and their companions, they don't really sexualize NPCs. Most women, like men, are dressed very modestly. Outfits that female NPCs wear are even often much more unisex than the equivalent outfits available to player characters (e.g. tunics that male PCs can wear may turn into tits-out dirndls on female PCs for no apparent reason, but female NPCs wearing the same outfit get a tunic). The only characters who are sexualized are presented as Sexy Characters, like Abdirak or Sorn Orlith or Orin or even Mystra and Mamzell Amira, who also wear this dress.

Mostly.

Florrick, despite being beautiful, a two-time damsel in distress, and a certified MILF, is not presented as a Sexy Character. She's presented as a no-nonsense, somewhat domineering, loyal-and-virtuous-to-a-fault fed. This is the only description of her in the game files (see img description), highlighting these bare-bones characteristics:

So... why? For this character whose appearance truly doesn't matter beyond being eye-catching enough to communicate her importance to the story, who has no even vaguely flirtatious dialogue and no implied sexuality or romance (even with the man she spends the entire game chasing!), and not even a weird torture porn moment which she has ample opportunities... why dress her like this? Why emphasize her body over any other similarly-prominent NPC like, say, Alfira?

My assumption would be that they did it to soften her to the average Redditmod McGamerbro because the story really is better if incels don't kill her for being "bossy"... if they didn't also code her as a middle-aged black woman and give her a custom face sculpt with a prominent nose, large jaw, and non-Western features, all famously accepted with no problematic reaction from this demographic whom Larian doesn't not cater to. In fact, as the #1 Florrickposter in the universe, I often see people say in tags and comments that they didn't even notice how revealing her dress is while playing the game. While racism is definitely at play (plus misogyny, rendering this middle-aged black-coded woman invisible, whereas a younger and white man in the same role would be ALL OVER THIS DAMN PLACE), it also speaks to just how discordant her outfit and explicit characterization are.

Now, this outfit does make a little sense on a glance and I think that's a big part of why it flies under the radar as well: she's important and presumably wealthy, so of course she wears this very posh and expensive-looking dress. She's a wizard (a fact everyone manages to glean on a glance, despite it never being stated and basically never being relevant), so of course she's wearing something obnoxious and purple. From the waist up, it actually looks like a pretty reasonable outfit for a person of her DnD class, social class, and occupation.

It's from the waist down where it gets out of hand.

But first, this isn't even Florrick's original outfit or face (which I'll talk about in another post), or the first iteration of her current outfit. Originally, she wore the ostentatious yet modest feathered peacock dress that eventually ended up on Lucretious (and took the thicc waist with it RIP). According to my research, there was a reason for this: it was too baller for Waukeen's Rest and kept causing crashes, so they had to put her in a less graphically-demanding outfit.

The original peacock dress sent the necessary "I am an important quest giver, engage with me" message, so why not just remove the cowl that was causing the issues? But instead, they changed her outfit entirely, keeping it eye-catching and posh (suitable for a big-city government official), but randomly making it super revealing (strange, for a big-city government official). Further, Florrick got a major va-va-voom upgrade between Sexy Dress v1 and final release, with a new dress model that makes it clearer that the front and back panels are sheer, subtly showing even more skin, and which unsubtly emphasizes her hips and breasts.

Based on extensive academic research using mods, I determined that the dress is what conveys the extra curviness (see img description in the left-most pic) vs her having a custom body sculpt (weak). Further, when viewed from behind, the dress pads out her ass, also making it look bigger and rounder than the standard body type 1 (see img description in the right-most pic).

What's more, if you look closely at the waist seam of the final version of her sexy dress, it looks like they went so far as to skew it to make her hips stand out even more when she takes the cocked-hip stance (which she seems to only stand in) and perhaps draw even more attention to her thong sticking out. Notice how the waist seam is even and straight across in Sexy Dress V1 above, but Final Florrick has it like 2 inches higher on her right, without fabric bunching to explain the different seam lengths. You can also see how the dress subtly pops out farther than her actual hips (and from the side view, over her lower stomach), giving her the impression of curves the standard body type doesn't have. They were very intentional with it.

Shockingly, I don't actually have much to say about her exposed thong in and of itself (it is what it is) except that I think it actually makes the outfit look substantially skimpier because it draws attention to just how high those hip slits are, compared to leaving the area blank so eyes gloss over it (even if that would imply she runs around commando all game). It's a small detail that drives home the overall design.

All this is to say, since this dress is only worn by 4 people* with Florrick being the first you see and by far has the most screen time, and it isn't lootable, it seems this outfit was developed intentionally and specifically to emphasize her body to make her look sexier.

*Florrick, Mamzell Amira (slightly different lower half), a random patriar at Gortash's inauguration named Lady Alia Durinbold, and Mystra

So, this takes us back to the question of 'why'. Why spend all this time and these resources fine-tuning this dress to make it as sexy and flattering as possible? Why put it on a character who has literally no reason to wear such a thing? Why put this dress which is nothing but nonsense on a character who's pretty much only characterized as being no-nonsense??

And this is also where the real tinfoil hattery comes in, as I doubt Larian really meant anything by it aside from creating a hot NPC for players with good taste to enjoy across all 3 acts.

But that's not what this nuclear caliber simp post is about; it's about overthinking shit because I love her and she is a main character to ME.

So, whatever Larian's intention, there's only 1 in-universe reason why Florrick wears this outfit:

She woke up that day in Waukeen's Rest, in the middle of nowhere a full tenday from the city, on her way back from literal hell to deal with yet another crisis, and decided to put it on. And continued to do so every day thereafter.

It's logical that she can't change right after being rescued since the inn is burning down presumably with her luggage in it, but why did she choose that outfit in the first place, considering she was travelling? She's been travelling for months; it can't have been her only clothing. Did she not have a Fist uniform? A pair of leggings? She runs right off after she's done talking; does she hike all the way in and out of the shadow-cursed lands in a thong and flat macrame boots? It doesn't even have any indication of cinches or buttons despite having all the logical seams and it's clearly tailored to fit her bananas hourglass figure, like there's no way she can just pull it on or step into it, so does she have to expend her valuable magic to wear it? Does she take the time to sew herself into it every day instead of sucking it up and wearing *barf* pants??? There are plenty of people around in Act 2 that could and would give her something more practical to wear, even if she did have a good reason to wear her original dress that day in Waukeen's Rest. Yet, she continues to wake up every day and put that outfit on. Even after returning home.

(In my head, the video game convention of every character only having 1 outfit is shorthand for what their "typical" outfit is, and they "really" have a wardrobe of similar clothing. So when I say she wears that outfit every day, I mean she has a couple of similarly-bonkers dresses in her bag and chooses to wear one every day vs something more practical).

So the simp's question isn't what Larian is saying about her by dressing like this, but what she's saying about herself by choosing to dress like this.

Clothing is self-expression. Look at the many analyses of the main characters' outfits. Larian may or may not have really meant anything by giving Florrick this outfit, but just as Astarion's careful mending of his shirt necessarily says something about him and his personality in the universe he lives in, so does Florrick's decision to wear flashy, revealing clothing.

It almost makes no sense... until you think about one of Florrick's explicitly-demonstrated characteristics:

Confidence. Over confidence. Hubris, even.

I'll have more to say about Desiré "Fuck It, We Ball" Florrick and her personality in another florrickology post, but the long and short of it is that this woman is not afraid of shit and sashays into every situation fully confident in her ability to charm or steamroll it to her liking. "She is used to getting her way", indeed. Her epilogue letter betrays a bit of self-doubt, but it seems to have been brought on by her perceived failures in relation to the player character's successes, so likely not her ordinary attitude. Whereas this seems to be her ordinary clothing, since she took it with her to Elturel and back for no apparent reason and chooses to wear it for no apparent reason.

She has nothing to gain from it, no one important to impress at least until returning to the city in Act 3. Otherwise, she's in bumfuck nowhere with her boss-friend and lackeys, or cursed!bumfuck nowhere with her lackeys and a bunch of vigilantes planning a war. While I wouldn't doubt that she has or might be willing to use her beauty and sex appeal to meet her goals (TadpUlder does, curiously, call her a "black widow"; is his tadpole capitalizing on stereotypes--could it be slut shaming her??, or is it referencing things that the shreds of Ulder's mind know she's done?), ultimately, there can't be a tactical explanation because there's nobody more powerful than her around 90% of the time.

She also doesn't flirt with anyone and nobody flirts with her (philistines). She has no mentioned spouse or lovers, nor any implied sexuality at all. The closest we get is Mizora saying "she misses the Duke" after Florrick's ambush in Act 3, the only time anyone implies she's on a crusade to find him because of romantic feelings and not duty, loyalty, and friendship... which means Mizora is probably just talking out her ass and belittling people, as she does.

So, combine self-confidence with the decision to constantly wear a sexy dress that shows off her body for no practical reason, and what do you get?

Balls-to-the-wall, unapologetic vanity.

(If it wasn't clear, when I call women "vain" I think they are objectively correct and this is a compliment of the highest order.)

Sure, maybe wearing this kind of outfit boosts her confidence and that helps deal with this unprecedented crisis and possibly the first self-doubt she's ever experienced, but this is evidently her usual clothing and she isn't usually dealing with those things.

So, she wears this intricate and revealing dress mostly she likes it and how she looks in it. This means she likes that it's revealing. She likes showing skin to literally no end except her own enjoyment.

Notice she doesn't really do her hair (it's shiny and neat, but not really styled) or bother with makeup (she lost the EA smoky eye in favor of a quick swipe of eyeliner). One may think that perhaps she isn't as confident in her facial beauty since she does have unique features, so she calls attention to her body instead, but she's so devoid of modesty that I can't help but assume she simply looks in the mirror in the morning, thinks "no notes" (correct) and moves on to pouring herself into her favorite skimpy dress. She's proud of her natural beauty, and she's not about to cover it all up with goop or fabric!! She never mentions it and nobody who knows her does; she's not trying to stunt on anyone or even attract other hot people.

She's in it purely for the love of the sport and, sexiest of all, herself. This woman doesn't think she's the sexiest creature in any given room, she knows it.

And she knows that being hot doesn't affect her ability to do her job and protect the city she loves. She doesn't have to cover herself up, doll up her hair and makeup, slap on like 400 pettiskirts, etc, to be taken seriously. It's possibly even giving 'malicious compliance'. She commands so much respect that even horny gamers don't notice her entire ass is one breeze away from being out.

The deep-seated, yet subtle insanity part has pretty much already been covered; maybe in her day-to-day life of attending meetings and walking all over everyone in Wyrm's Rock, it's not so impractical, but it's a completely insane thing to wear in any sort of crisis or outdoor adventure. That this woman is willing to risk chafing or being cold (womankind's public enemy #1 and #2) simply for the drip is delightfully nutty. There is not a single moment she appears in this game where this outfit would be reasonable.

She presents herself as a stalwart, serious, determined woman, but then squeezes into a dress so tight and precarious that it knocks off her Fleet of Foot speed boost, for literally no reason aside from being vain and lowkey kind of crazy.

Good for her!

#warning this is like 2500 words #florrickology #insane simp post #next post will prob be about her face and most just simping #bg3 #counsellor florrick #bg3 spoilers

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offtorivendell · 3 months

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The Asteri, the Daglan, and Prythian's Court System

Disclaimer: this is a stupidly massive crack theory that could end up being disastrously wrong. Oh well.

Spoilers: the ACOTAR and CC series to date (I'm halfway through HOFAS right now, slowly plodding along, so nothing beyond that).

Image from ACOSF, Kindle edition.

Buckle up for some more of my nonsense! I think I could have discovered why Prythian's land has the Court and High Lord Systems. This theory still has a couple of wrinkles to iron out, but it's plausible, so I figured I'd share what I've got.

A massive thank you goes to @ladynightcourt3 and @psychologynerd for our chat yesterday morning, which led to this post. I love you guys! 💜

Full warning that this will A) be absolutely cracked, and B) contains Maasverse spoilers, including from HOFAS (up to around 40% I think), but I was mulling over what I'd read so far and this popped into my mind.

Part 1 - The Court System

Bryce made, I think, one hell of an assumption when she said the following in HOFAS:

Vesperus, the only Asteri left on this world, lay dead. - CC HOFAS, chapter 26

@wingedblooms and I have previously theorised that some of the barren regions in Prythian may be so because the death gods were trapped there, drinking the magic of the land, rendering it spent - lifeless - and possibly unable to power up a gateway to an interstellar rift. We both also think it's very interesting that one Elain Archeron was referred to as “a rose bloom in a mud field,” but I digress.

However, in HOFAS, we learnt that there was a Daglan/Asteri, called Vesperus (who considered herself the Evening Star and their god), trapped in a crystal coffin far below the Prison, which was once a land of Dusk.

The female’s long nails scraped along the lid of the coffin. She didn’t look at them as she tested the lid for weaknesses. “I am your god. I am your master. Do you not know me?” - CC HOFAS, chapter 24

It's interesting, no, that the region was named after the Daglan who ruled it? Was this common practice? Because we just so happened to learn, in Feysand’s ACOSF bonus chapter, that there was once an ancient Night Court goddess named Nyx.

You know, their son's namesake? Yikes. 🫣

“You may call me Vesperus.” The creature’s eyes glowed with irritation. “Are you related to Hesperus?” Bryce arched a brow at the name, so similar to one of Midgard’s Asteri. “The Evening Star?” “I am the Evening Star,” Vesperus seethed. - CC HOFAS, chapter 25

Silene, Theia's second daughter, who “escaped into the night,” gave us further information that appeared - to me, at least - to be incomplete. Or perhaps inaccurate? She had been taught by her mother, so she could have been fed certain things as facts. For example, was the land of Prythian really divvied up into seasons and times of day before the Daglan came to town?

The land strengthened. It returned to what it had been before the Daglan’s arrival millennia before. We returned to what we’d been before that time, too, creatures whose very magic was tied to this land. Thus the land’s powers became my mother’s. Dusk, twilight—that’s what the island was in its long-buried heart, what her power bloomed into, the lands rising with it. It was, as she said, as if the island had a soul that now blossomed under her care, nurtured by the court she built here. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction. And the horrors it produced … those, too, my parents would turn to their advantage. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

My sister and I grew older. My mother educated us herself, always reminding us that though the Daglan had been vanquished, evil lived on. Evil lurked beneath our very feet, always waiting to devour us. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

Reading between the lines, I think it's just possible to link the powers of each land with the Daglan who once ruled over them. Perhaps each region - each “precursor” to a modern day Court - had a Daglan/Asteri buried underneath a barren peak, or in a body of water? Is this why the lands have frozen seasons, pools of starlight*, or powers based upon the light of the time of day? Because of a monster buried far, far below the surface?!

*Is there a Daglan entombed in a crystal coffin far below the surface, or is it a cache of firstlight, one that may be refuelled each Calanmai? Or, as @psychologynerd has suggested, is there a Made object of power that will draw Elain to the Spring Court?

Our home had been left empty since we’d vanished. As if the other Fae thought it cursed. So I made it truly cursed. Damned it all. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

Despite my efforts to hide what this place had once been, a terrible, ancient power hung in the air. It was as my mother had warned us when we were children: evil always lingered, just below us, waiting to snatch us into its jaws. So I went to find another monster to conceal it. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

I left, wandering the lands for a time, seeing how they had moved on without Theia’s rule. They’d splintered into several territories, and though they were not at war, they were no longer the unified kingdom I had known. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

As a quick aside, I still suspect that Fionn may have been a Daglan - or similar, perhaps an Under King - who tricked Theia into thinking him a normal faerie and used her to overthrow his peers in order to gain more land for himself. It seems exactly like something a rogue Asteri would do.

Like I suggested earlier, could each region be named for its ruler? Because the names of at least one of the Midgard Asteri was, shall we say, coincidentally similar to the Daglan of Prythian, and others appear to match at least the solar courts.

Solar:

Dawn - Eosphoros

Day - Rigelus

Dusk - Hesperus

Night - Sirius

Seasonal (incomplete/unsure/probably incorrect):

Spring - Austrus?

Summer - Octartis?

Autumn - ?

Winter - Polaris?

As I said, the Midgardian Asteri don't perfectly match up to the seasonal Prythian courts, but it's too close to not consider as a possibility, imo.

Perhaps the lands of Midgard were broken up into solar regions and something else that wasn't seasonal? But given the Vesperus/Hesperus competition... maybe whatever species Asteri and/or Daglan are are strongest when travelling with a full complement of powers? And each "clan" (for lack of a better word) that travelled together had dawn, day, dusk, and night “lights,” as well as spring, summer, autumn and winter lights? Could it weaken them to be without a full cohort of powers? As @ladynightcourt3 said, it would explain why they were so upset about Sirius. Could Rigelus be hoping for a replacement to find them and return them to full strength, and that's why he keeps an empty throne?

Part 2 - The High Lords

No one knew that the infant who sometimes glowed with starlight had inherited it from me. That it was the light of the evening star. The dusk star. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

An Asteri being buried under each Court could explain the high lord magic as well.The HLs are “a different breed,” per Lucien. Did the Asteri/Daglan need a Starborn Fae who is predisposed to holding, or withstanding, their magic? If this is the case, it would explain why the next in line to inherit the power - or who the magic chooses - isn't always a direct descendant of the previous high lord. Does it pass to the Fae with the strongest Starborn blood? And why the mountain shook when Mor got her first period. There has to be a Daglan/Asteri buried under the Hewn City.

That being said, why is it only men who can inherit the magic, and not women, especially when we now know that high ladies used to exist? Did Theia's betrayal made them distrust females in general, or was it something Seline did? Or is it because the women have the most/purest/strongest, starborn power, so did the men keep them down to use them as “breeding stock” in order to legitimise their rule, similar to what Pelias did with Helena?

Part 3 - Further Thoughts

I still wonder how Hybern and Hel could come into play here, because I think those lands are linked. A Valg/Hel Prince population on a different island?

@psychologynerd noted that we’ve previously connected the solar and seasonal courts, such Dawn = Spring, Day = Summer etc., and that it would track for Autumn and Dusk - an appropriately matched pair - to migrate together to Midgard. As an aside, this could tie in with the parallels shared by Azriel and Lucien, who may be/are linked to Dusk and Autumn. What if their power was connected via their “stars”?

@ladynightcourt3 wondered if Hesperus may have changed her name, hence Vesperus’ anger.

I can understand how a Daglan's presence may impart their magic into the land, especially if they're left buried - steeping? - in the soil for millennia, but how would that magic shape the faeries living there? Is it like I suggested in this post, that prolonged exposure to a powerful object allows a tie to be forged?

A bonus crack theory for fun - what if Merrill is a trapped Asteri? Either Nyx or Sirius, whom Apollion ate, and perhaps she escaped the pit of Hel through the base of the House of Wind library; nobody knows where she came from, she's descended from Rabbath of the Western Wind… her room is described as a cell and she called Nesta “girl” like Amren - an ancient - did. I dunno, but there's something about Merrill.

As always, thank you for reading! 💜

#hosab spoilers #hofas spoilers #acotar cc tog crossover theory #acotar theory #the dusk court #dusk court #the night court #night court #prythian #acotar #sjm books #maasverse #feysand #feyre archeron #rhys acotar #crack theory

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kaeyahiya · 1 year

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"Unrequited Enemies" (NSFW)

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Pairing: Ayato x Female Reader

Warnings: NSFW/Explicit content, use of y/n if that bothers you,use of feminine parts, enemies to lovers (kinda), swearing, and mentions of marking, a little bit of angst, a little bit of smut

Disclaimer: This is intended for adult viewing only, I have plenty of SFW content on my master list so please check that out instead. I am strongly discouraging and actively not condoning the consummation of this content for anyone who is a minor.

Word count: 5687 OH MY GOD???

Authors note: This is LONG the longest thing I think I've written to date. This counts as like a full fic, should be like a multi chapter type beat. It's a long read but dare I say this might be my best work yet. Anway, I haven't written anything for Ayato bc he was a faceless ncp before I went on my hiatus.... I am also in love with man and couldn't stand the thought of this. Hence I'm writing a self serving fic bc I'm incredibly selfish rn and need some of this man in my life. Also I enjoy a good enemies to lovers troupe sue me!! ALSO ALSO THIS IS GENDERED HAHAHAHA finally if you see my master list it's all been GN so ha I did it. Anyway enjoy me being selfish 🧍🏻‍♂️(edit) Future self here... This took me almost a month to write, this turned into a novel and I apologize....

This will also be crossposted on my A03 probably bc of the girth of this beast. You can read it: Here if you prefer that interface better

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Working under the Kamisato's was a blessing. Truly it was. You considered yourself exceptional in hospitality and an ace seamstress. That's how the Kamisato clan sought you out.

Lady Ayaka was kind, the easy one to put it bluntly. Her tasks were normal simply as asking you to clean her linens or making small repairs on her formal wears. (Which Thoma would normally jump in to help, cleaning and sewing was also his forte). Genuinely, she was the nicest noble person you've ever seen, still managing to keep an air of excellence and gracefulness to her despite her overly kind nature.

Working there is what kept you and your family fed and you were able to have a safe haven during the Vision Hunt Degree when being a vision holder yourself was hard to avoid.

However, working under the Kamisato's wasn't easy work by any means.

The head of the household was where the issue lied when it came to your work. Kamisato Ayato, you swear had it out for you since you arrived to work for them. One day he'd have you doing mundane tasks like taking inventory of the spices in the kitchen, and the next it would be making him tea over and over until it was the exact temperature he liked.

Not to mention all the constant repairs on his clothes you'd have to do, whether it be taking care of personal matters or training with his sister he'd always come back with piles of clothes in need of huge repairs.

You probably would have punched the pretty smirk off of "Lord Ayato's" face if it wasn't for poor Thoma keeping you afloat. You feel bad but while he cooks, you normally lament your frustrations to him. He'll occasionally offer his support or advice, since after all he's your senior and also a fellow outsider of Inazuma.

"Miss, your presence is requested in Lord Ayato's office." the guard locks eyes with you. You want to groan in agony, you were hungry and tired but still you mustered a smile. " I'll head over right now, thank you." You say with a small bow. Once the guard exits you you finally let out a long groan looking to Thoma for support. "Can't you go instead, at least you can put up with his nonsense." You sigh exasperated.

After one particularly frustrating day of repairing both Lord Ayato's and Lady Ayaka's training wear entirely and aiding another with mending their Shinai Practice Swords (The bamboo ones, commonly used in kendo??), which were almost beyond repair. You find yourself once again in the kitchen with Thoma going on and on about the day before a dreaded guards men enter.

Thoma chuckles. "I believe a 'Miss' was summoned, I'd be scolded if I showed up, besides I'm cooking. Unless you wanna deliver food to the entire staff and the Lord and Lady." You wrap him lightly on the back of his shoulder. " Fine, but if I wind up dead it's your fault." You joke. You excuse yourself and exit the kitchen; then head for your doom, Lord Kamisato's office.

You stand outside his office, the dimly lit Shoji (those paper sliding door things?) showing the silhouette of menace himself just waiting for you. "(Y/N) here My Lord." You grit your teeth. "You may enter." You can almost hear the sadistic smile in his voice. Sliding open the door you're immediately confused on why you are here.

Ayato looked right as rain, clean and on top of that his office looked organized and practically sparkling (you'll have to thank Thoma for that later), boba tea full, and a small before dinner snack fully eaten. What more could he need at this hour. "Ah yes, Miss (Y/N)" his eyes lock with yours. "I've seemed to have spilled ink on my clothes. I need them cleaned immediately before dinner is finished." Though the room was dimly lit, you could clearly see there was no ink anywhere on Ayato's clothing.

"My lord I don't-" before you can even finish getting the word's out, Ayato takes the ink on his desk and proceeds to dump its contents all over his clothing. All the while that signature sadistic smile plastered on his face. You face contorts, you try to conceal the seething hot rage from pouring out of your mouth. (Un)Luckily Ayato speaks first. "I'm sorry you were going to say something? Go ahead, I apologize for my clumsiness."

Your mouth opens but you quickly close it. You're dumbfounded. His informal attire is mostly white, similar to his training attire, getting ink of that amount out in such a short amount of time would be nearly impossible. As you continue to stand there in silence you can see Ayato absolutely blossom with happiness.

A few more seconds pass until you collect yourself enough to speak calmly. "I'll fetch you some other clothing to change into while I tend to your..." Your eyes narrow at him. " Accident. " Words laced with venom at the end. He nods, smiling. " Go ahead, I'll be right here. Do be quick though, I hear ink is a pain to get out the longer you leave it. " He smirks.

You bow rigidly before bolting out the door to his quarters to grab him some fresh clothing. Returning to the lion's den, you announce yourself once more. "You may enter," Ayato calls out again. Sliding open the door he promptly stands up this time.

You don't say a word but hold out the clean clothes to him. "My my, that was fast." He smiles. You don't answer but begin to turn to exit so he can change in private. "No need to be so shy. You're practically one of my retainers at this point. "

You quickly turn around deciding to face the door instead of him, face red with embarrassment this time. You hear the rustling of the rest of his clothes. After a few awkward quiet moments with your thoughts filled with annoyance and somehow Lord Ayato's bare chest and perfect stupid abs, he finally speaks again. "I'm dressed." You pivot to see him again, back in pristine condition, however not bothering to pick up the ink stained clothes off the ground.

Retainer??? Since when? Where's your pay raise? That's all that runs through your mind as you stare at him dumbfounded. You don't realize until you snap out of your train of thought Ayato has already started stripping, his bare chest on full display. "Miss (Y/N) I don't mind if you watch, but watching me so intensely is unnecessary." You didn't think that smirk could get any bigger but it does.

You let out a sigh you didn't know you were holding in and kneel to grab the stained clothes scattered around his feet. You go to grab a sleeve and the bastard has his foot still on the article of clothing. Giving it a little tug as a hint to move, Ayato simply looks down at you with a smile. "Oh my apologies, didn't realize I was standing on it and hindering your precious time to get those pesky stains out." He steps out of your way and plants himself back to his desk. Asshole is all that runs through your mind as you gather the clothes.

Once again you quickly excuse yourself and rush to the medical bay to grab some balls of cotton and rubbing alcohol. Storming back into the kitchen you decide you need to get this frustration out and combat this stain at the same time.

You definitely startle Thoma as you slide open the Shoji with little to no care of its fragility. "Listen I'm sorry, Lord Ayato is fucking awful." You say holding up the stained clothing to accentuate your point.

You recount your encounter with the Lord of the house to Thoma all the while desperately scrubbing the ink out with the rubbing alcohol. "He's a sadist Thoma, he hates me I'm sure of it. Why on earth would he do this." Thoma turns to the area of the table you're vigorously scrubbing at ,now almost finished with dinner at this point, offers you a pot of cold water and soap to help you finish cleaning the stain. "That's just Lord Ayato, and hey maybe it was a genuine mistake." He shrugs. "Thoma, I saw him pick it up and dump it on himself."

You move over a bit to let Thoma work his laundry magic. Taking the garment from you, which was now almost its original color, he washes it in the aforementioned cold soapy water. After some more scrubbing he pulls it out. Looking as radiant as it did on Ayato before he went and soiled it. "Thoma I'm sorry for roping you into this... I appreciate you." He smiles nudging you softly. " Stop that, you'd do the same for me if I needed that level of help. " You're glad Thoma is always here to save your ass.

"I may have done the best I can but it won't dry before dinner, since I'm almost done with it." You grab your Anemo Vision and wave it in front of him and he lets out a 'Oh yeah...' before he smiles radiantly. "You got this then, dry it quick and as soon as you're done I'll serve dinner. Hopefully that'll buy you a bit of time. " You bow to Thoma, thanking him profusely. You exit the kitchen before running to the courtyard to swiftly dry the Lord's clothes with a little help from your Vision.

After making quick work of drying the clothes. (Thank you Anemo Archon). You inspect the clothes one last time and decide they are pristine enough for him. Carefully folding them, you proceed to slide down the hall to Ayato's office once more.

For the final time of the night you announce yourself. "Miss (Y/n) back so soon?" he says as you enter. His eyes narrow in on the clothes in your hands. "I'm more than pleased with your speediness. However, folding them will definitely crease them." You wordlessly unfold the clothes, gesturing to the creaseless stainless garments. "I see... Very well then, I will change after dinner."

His eyes light up again and you regret opening your stupid mouth. "Ah yes, Thoma should be along with my dinner soon. My arms are awfully tired from writing documents all evening..." There it is again that fucking sadistic grin. "Stay here and feed me will you?" You can't stop the words from spilling out of your mouth. "What? Why?" Clapping a hand over your mouth. He didn't like that, you can tell as you watch sadism on his face fade to confusion. "Because you serve under me and I'm telling you to do so."

Taking the clothes from your hands, Ayato purses his lips briefly as your fingers touch during the exchange. You grimace at him, typical of him to be disgusted by touching you even for a millisecond. You quickly rearrange your face before asking the dreaded question. "Can I help you with anything else my Lord?"

Right. You forgot. You're supposed to be like Thoma, a loyal dog who does what it's told. Maybe that's what you're supposed to do but this was an outlandish request. However, knowing the wrath of Kamisato Ayato, you flop yourself in the corner in defeat, not bothering to put up a fight. You press your knees up to your chest, glancing at Ayato's, once again, happy smirk. He too proceeds to sit back down, at his desk.

A heavy silence fills the room as Ayato resumes his work. You want to yell at him, kick and scream, but overall you just wanted to cry. You're so embarrassed for what's to come and your mind is reeling. The tears brimming your eyes burn as you try to continue putting on a strong front. You refuse to let this asshole see you cry.

Thoma must be taking his time because amongst the scribbling mixed in with silence you have a lot of time to think. You evaluate your position. You signed up for this, but did you really? A maid sure, but dealing with a sadistic brat? No, that wasn't in the job description. Or maybe that was the plan all along, maybe it just happened along the way? You weren't sure at this point and you felt bitter and defeated.

"Lord Ayato?" Your voice comes out horse. "Hmm?" He questions. "Why do you trouble me with the most torturous and utterly embarrassing tasks?" You stare him down. He looks shocked you dare question his authority. He opens his mouth to answer? maybe yell at you? But as if the Archons themselves are taunting you, Thoma announces himself. "My Lord you dinner is ready, may I enter?" Ayato fixes his gaze on you for a second longer than needed before responding to Thoma. "Thoma. Yes, you may enter." He answers

Thoma comes in hands full of all of the dishes Ayato requested tonight. He almost doesn't see you in the corner for a second but being the loyal retainer he is, the actual retainer of Ayato, he says nothing but shoots you a sympathetic glance. "Thoma, please let Miss (Y/n) help you with the rest of your food deliveries. I wish not to be disturbed the rest of the night." Ayato says using a voice he normally only uses when talking with other officials. It's cold, a lot colder than usual. The blood drains from your face and a knot forms in your stomach, you fucked up big time.

Three days. It was three days of terrifying tranquility, free of summoning from Lord Ayato.

Lady Ayaka assured you, as well as your job, were fine. The looming anxiety however had you on edge, you couldn't sleep fearing you'd be assassinated in the middle of the night. After all Kamisato Ayato hated being questioned, the only thing you were sure he hated more was you. Death would be the only solution right?

You were in the courtyard, it was evening and everyone was eating dinner. Thoma approached you gently tapping your shoulder. "Dinner is ready for you in the maid's quarters... But uh, Lord Ayato wishes to see you in his quarters before dinner." He says sheepishly. You groan looking to Thoma “If you don't see me tomorrow, assume the worst." You joke but deep down felt your stomach drop. It had been three days of not seeing him, who knows what kind of punishment you'd receive.

Thoma gave you a reassuring smile as you bid him farewell and headed from the courtyard to the personal quarters of Kamisato Ayato. It's not like you haven't been there before, but something still felt off about addressing your punishment not in his office but your room.

So there you were, standing in front of the looming door to the man who was about to decide your fate. You swallow hard before addressing your arrival. "My Lord, (Y/n) here. Thoma said you requested my presence..." Your voice came out a lot shakier than you'd like to admit. Frankly you were terrified. There was, what felt like, an eternity of silence before he finally responded. "Come in."

Your hands waver as you pull the Shoji door open. It was almost pitch black inside Ayato's room. He was sitting under a Kotatsu with his dinner finished. His eyes immediately fixed on you as you entered. "Miss (Y/n) please sit. There's something I'd like to discuss with you." Fuck. Your family will be so upset if you lose this job, what will you do for work, where will you live? Sure you hate Ayato but you for the most part enjoy your job and- No no no you can't spiral right now.

You suck in a composed breath and take a seat opposite him under the Kotatsu. "What is it, my Lord?" You ask meekly. He closes his eyes, sighing. "I.. You see.." He's uncharacteristically fidgety. "My sister has brought it to my attention that I've been causing you much strife lately." You want to laugh, lately he says, it's been since day one but okay sure. You grit your teeth. "As you said before, I serve under you. It's my duty, I suppose." You respond promptly. As much as it hurts your pride to admit you needed this job. You belong here and you won't go down without a fight. "I see." He says, sighing again.

" (Y/n)... You loathe me do you not?" He locks eyes with you, as if boring directly into your soul. " My Lord, of course not. I'm grateful to serve the Kamisatos." He shakes his head. " Miss (Y/n), from the moment you arrived here you've seemed to take a disliking to me. I'm just trying to understand what started it. Please be cooperative."

Huh? You? You're the problem in this situation? You know what fuck your job. "Kamisato Ayato, I do believe from the moment I arrived here you've made me do the most outlandish things and have, frankly, acted like a brat. If anyone hated anyone first it'd be you." You bang your fist on the table of the Kotatsu. "I'm a mere maid trying to make a living, not a babysitter or a toy for a spoiled noble's amusement."

He has the audacity to laugh. "I'm sorry I seem to be missing the joke here my Lord. Please share so I too can laugh at the very serious call concerns I just raised." You glare at him. He smiles trying to suppress his laughter. "(Y/n) no one has ever talked to me like that before..." You pause. You've never seen Ayato look so pleased in your presence before.

"Shamefully I'll admit, I enjoyed hearing your true feelings about me." He fidgets under the Kotatsu again. "For the record, I never hated you. I enjoy teasing you, and I'll admit I take things to an extreme. For that I apologize for the suffering I put you through." You're stunned at his apology. The head of the Kamisato clan apologized to you? " My Lord I..." Your words catch in your throat and all the anxiety built over the past three days spills out of your eyes. The one thing you swore you'd never do happens, you're crying in front of Ayato.

Instinctively Ayato rushes to your side of the Kotatsu kneeling next to you handing you his handkerchief. You take it and turn away from him as you try to repress your sobs. "(Y/n) I'm so sorry, I didn't realize... I..." He turns you to face him. His face is almost unrecognizable, maybe from the blurry vision of your tears, but his face laced with pure concern and gentleness. "I apologize for being so bold to ask but my I... Hug... You?" H u h? Your world feels like it's been turned upside-down. Ayato is being nice to you, and the craziest part is you kind of enjoy how it makes you feel. A half hour ago you would've never dreamed you'd be in this situation.

You cautiously nod and Ayato gently pulls your much smaller form into his chest. You sniff, still calming down from your episode. Ayato gently strokes your back. It sends shivers down your spine but you don't... hate it?? You're conflicted at this moment. A man who was once so cruel to you is now being the perfect gentleman.

While battling your thoughts Ayato fills the silence. "When my sister and I were young, she would often hurt herself by accident. While she cried, I'd hold her like this until she would calm down." You hum softly. You're unsure what to say. This whole situation feels like a twisted dream. You feel like any moment you'd wake up in your bed and the sinister Ayato you'd known up until now would return.

You glance up at him, his eyes are closed as he still is gently stroking your back. He looks peaceful, a small gentle smile on his face. You dare even concur he looks rather handsome like this. Your face turns red as you now realize the situation you're in. Kamisato Ayato is holding you. Even worse, you're enjoying it.

One of his eyes opens and peers down at you. His smile gets wider but remains gentle still. "Feeling better?" He asks. "I think so. I apologize for my outburst My Lor-" "Ayato..." "Huh?" "You can apologize but please use my name, not my title." You snort with a smile, there's the Ayato you know. "I apologize for my actions Ayato. For the record as well, I don't hate you either."

You pause for a brief second confused by your own confession, then words continue to spill out of your mouth. "I think I hated the way you treated me and just assumed you hated me. Besides you'd make me do silly things and would cause problems just for me to fix, making my life harder, it was frustrating but..." Ayato tips your chin up from his chest. You both stare at each other in silence.

Whatever rambles you had in your mind vanished and all you can think about now is how pretty his eyes are and how you never noticed until right now. Ayato leans down, your lips inches apart from his, you can feel the heat of his lips radiating on to yours. "May I be bold once more Miss (Y/n)?" You say nothing, you're absolutely frozen so he continues. "I think I did all of that because I'm positively enamored by you." Then closes the gap between the two of you, kissing you.

His lips are soft and as his hand moves from your back to your waist you find yourself kissing him back. It's gentle but tender, all that pent up rage for the man you once loathed melts and in this moment it feels like you two are the only ones in the world. He pulls away first. You stare at him, he looks positively breathtaking now. His other hand runs a finger over your bottom lip then joins his other hand on your waist. "If you hate it please tell me to stop, and I will." You shake your head. "Please... Continue."

His lips meet yours again this time with more passion. You wrap your arms around his neck and gently part your lips. Ayato takes this opportunity to deepen the kiss further, sliding his tongue gently into your mouth. His hands wonder about your body while he kisses you. You can't deny the sparks that follow in the wake of his touch.

You part briefly to catch your breath and Ayato uses this as an opportunity to explore your neck. You tilt your head to the side giving him more access. He chuckles softly at your action. "So responsive." He teases against your neck. "Please keep your thoughts to yourself and keep kissin-" He bites down on your neck leaving whatever grip you had planned to die in throat and gets replaced with a soft moan. He lavishes the bite with his tongue and you're positive that's gonna be a mark you'll have to cover tomorrow morning. He tugs at the corner of your kimono staring into your eyes asking for silent permission to continue.

Taking the hint you boldly slide down the shoulder of your kimono to let him continue. He smirks as continues his conquest from your neck to your newly exposed collarbones. Placing soft kisses on them while making quick work of sliding the top half of your kimono off, leaving the excess fabric to hang around your waist. The cold night air hits your skin leaving your exposed top half covered in goosebumps. Ayato reaches around to your back feeling for the clasp of your bra. "May I?" His voice comes out soft, filled with lust against the shell of your ear. "Please." You whimper. He skillfully unclasped the bra freeing your breasts from the confines. Instinctively you cover your, your face bright red with embarrassment with another realization Kamisato Ayato, your boss, is about to see your naked body.

Ayato wraps a warm hand around your wrist, planting a kiss on the inside of it. "If you're nervous we can stop here. If not..." His eyes wander to his bed, which is partially skewed from your vision due to the folding screen for Ayato's privacy sake. "No I want to continue... I just..." You laugh. "I don't want this to affect my job you know?" Ayato chuckles back. "I promise you it won't." You blush slowly unfolding your arms. "In that case..." He smiles, that's all the permission he needs and in one swift motion stands up and hoists your half clothes body over his shoulder, like you weighed nothing.

He takes a few steps and throws you on to his bed, one you've made many times before and one you'll probably have to make again after this. He takes advantage of you getting comfortable to take off his top. You're once again faced with Ayato's bare torso, this time you are able to ogle at it as much as you'd like. "You're staring again." He says with a smug expression, climbing on the bed now towering over you. "Am I not allowed to My Lord?" You quip back.

He raises an eyebrow and then you see that expression on him that you used to loathe, that sadistic smile. "I suppose I'll allow it tonight. I'll even do you one better." He once again grabs your wrists, this time places your hands on his bare chest, abs, shoulders. But Ayato being Ayato was in control of your movements Giving you the satisfaction of feeling his smooth skin but not giving you control to do so as you please. "Ayato..." You whine. He just laughs before releasing your hands and leans back down to kiss you again.

While kissing you his hands wander to your breasts giving them a little squeeze. You can feel him smile in the kiss when you let out a small moan. "Sensitive?" He asks. You nod in response, worried your words will betray you. His kiss trails back down your neck to your breasts this time. Taking a nipple in his mouth and biting and suckling on it you can help but cover your mouth and whine in pleasure. He takes his other hand and messages the other breast pinching your other nipple occasionally.

Your core was practically aching for friction at this point you wiggle your hips. Ayato's attention shifts again. "How cute.. Someone's needy." He says after releasing your breast from his mouth. He shifts his attention to untie your obi to get the rest of your pesky kimono out of the way. When he does you catch a glimpse of the sizable bulge in his pants. "I could say the same for you." You tease. "Can you blame me?" He responds as you lift your hips so you can let him discard your kimono on the floor. "Besides, your one to comment when your panties have a wet spot." He states bluntly as he slides off the bed dragging you by the hips to set you at the side of the bed.

Ayato plays with the waistband of your panties eyes once again meeting your asking for silent permission to go on. As if you would stop him now. He must take your silence for reassurance because he drags your panties down your hips and discards them somewhere with your kimono. He parts your legs and spreads your pussy open. "You're soaked..." He sounds breathless as he stares at your glistening hole. "Don't stare!" You protest as you attempt to close your legs, admittedly flustered. Ayato, of course, overpowers you by keeping you legs spread and plants a firm's kiss on your clit.

He takes his time eating you out. Making sure to tease all the spots he gets a good reaction out of you. Your grip on the beds' silken sheets will tear somehow. Ayato looks up at you making eye contact with you before sucking on you clit particularly hard. You almost cum right there. After a one more delicate kiss on your core he brings his fingers up to your mouth. "Suck on these for me please." He says. Instinctively you take his fingers in your mouth. The flush across his face as you tease the tips of his fingers is something you'll definitely be thinking about later.

Once Ayato decides you've soaked his fingers enough he gently pulls them from your mouth. You let out a whine and Ayato takes the opportunity to spread your legs a bit wider. "Oral fixation... Good to know." He teases. Taking his now wet fingers he gently prods at your damp fold locking eyes with you as he slowly inserts a finger into you. You bring a hand out to cover the guttural moan that spills from your mouth.

Ayato looks up at you, eyes boring into yours. "You better keep your voice down, we don't want the entire estate to know I'm giving my 'disobedient maid' a punishment. " He winks, and you click your tongue at him. Ayato quickly slides another finger into your hole before you can come up with something to throw back at him.

Ayato scissors his fingers, opening you up for him. You feel close, that all too familiar high. "C.. close" is the only thing you can muster without being too loud, you were just so sensitive. He smiles sinisterly at you, rudely ripping his finger from your aching core. "Not yet, I want you to cum with me inside you." He bashfully explains. To think Kamisato Ayato is blushing, you still honestly can't tell if this is a fever dream or not.

While in your own thoughts Ayato shed the rest of clothing and you finally get to see his cock. It's definitely not going to fit... He's going to split you in half. You move to get off the bed to 'return the favor' but Ayato stops you. "Next time... I need you right now." Pushing you back down on the bed he grabs some oil stashed under his bed and lubes up his dick. Pumping it a few times for good measure. The anticipation is gnawing at you, as he runs his length in-between your folds.

You open your mouth to tell him to hurry up, but his lips catch yours and he inserts himself into you. Ayato takes, what would have been an earth shattering groan, from your lips as he lets you adjust to his size. Pinning your arms above your head he peppers your face with kisses as your pain slowly morphs into pleasure. Eventually the pain stops and you relish in the feeling of being full, the glee of that gets old pretty fast and now all you want is Ayato to rail you into high heaven.

You wiggle your hips as a gesture to show him you're ready and he smiles down at you. "Use your words... Ask me what you want." He's a fucking sadistic asshole. "Please?" You whine. "Please what? (Y/N), you always have something to say, why are you so shy now?" You hate him, tears of desperation fill your eyes. " Ayato please fuck me, I need you to fuck me. I can't-" You choke back a moan as Ayato slides all the way out of you and rams his dick back into you. He buries his face into your neck. "Good girl." He praises before leaving yet another hickey you'll have to cover later.

He sets a steady pace snapping his hips into yours. You can only imagine how fucked out you look right now. Ayato looks like an Archon himself above you, his furrowed brow and the sweat glistening on his forehead. To think you hated this man a few hours ago... Now look at you, completely at his mercy. The soft grunts he lets out next to your ear you wish to engrave in your memories forever.

Ayato hits that spot inside you that makes your vision blur and you can't suppress the whine that spills out this time. "Ther..Fuck...There!" Ayato hones into that spot, causing you to fall over the edge. He gently thrusts in and out of you helping you ride out your orgasm. With the combination of your soft whines and how tight your climax made you, he pulls out and comes all over your stomach.

With no strength left Ayato collapses, gently, onto you. "Noooo" you whine weakling. " My stomach is a mess now you're messy too." "I'll call for a maid to bring me a towel." You smack him and he laughs, rolling off you. He pushes himself up off the bed and grabs a small towel from a drawer. Gently tending to your cum covered stomach before attending to himself. You curl up on his bed, as you watch him as he grabs your clothes along with his. "So next time huh?" You smirk. "Pardon?" He freezes for a moment. "I owe you one, so you know... This doesn't have to be a one time thing." He clears his throat. "I wouldn't be opposed to that, I suppose."

You push yourself up to grab your clothes from him but immediately regret it as every muscle in your body refuses to cooperate with you. You fall back on the bed Ayato chuckles softly. "Rest for a bit before leaving... Leaving too hastily will definitely cause more suspicion than leaving now anyway... " He lays back down on the bed pulling your body into his. "I didn't take you for a cuddler My Lord." You joke, followed by a yawn. He laughs, stroking your back just as softly as he did when you were crying. "Rest for a bit. I promise I'll wake you up in a bit." You nod sleepily into his chest. "Just for a bit is fine." You mumble before drifting off to sleep in Ayato's arms.

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OH MY GOD I FINISHED IT HAHAHAHA GET ABSOLUTELY FUCKED PAST ME. If you read all of this I both sincerely apologize and thank you for reading my self serving fic. I hope you enjoyed it even a tiny bit.

#kamisato ayato #ayato kamisato #ayato x reader #ayato smut #ayato x fem!reader #ayato x y/n #kamisato ayato x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imapct #this is so long bro #my writing #kamisato ayato x you #kamisato ayato smut

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hatt0riart · 10 months

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I WANTED TO MAKE MORE THAN JUST THIS but it took like. a week to get done and im sick these days

anyways in light of mk1's nonsense i revisited some koncepts i had for a roleswap au. i took hanzo's inspiration from a mix of mkx and mk11 outfits and kuai i kind of just winged it based off my own preferences in past appearances!!

more rambling is under the cut about the actual AU :-]

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY ART ON ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA OR CROP THEM FOR ICONS. THANK YOU!

SO I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY DEVELOPED THIS BEYOND SOME OLD SKETCHES I HAD OF KUAI'S DESIGN but i had some general ideas of how this was supposed to work???

the shirai ryu is still alive and well! he's still a family man and very clan oriented. satoshi is still born and grows into his clan's responsibilities, however harumi dies in child birth.

the lin kuei on the other hand is Not Doing Well. they end up getting wiped out during a raid from the shirai ryu and most of kuai's immediate family (whether by choice or blood) ends up going down with them.

prior to this kuai ends up passing after a failed mission to retrieve the map of elements from the shaolin temple in an attempt to prove himself to his clan. (instead of bi-han being the one set on that path, kuai ends up taking the initiative instead WAY before he's ready without anyone's knowledge and ends up dying when met with scorpion.)

most of it is similar how it is in actual canon for how scorpion's story goes. he gets resurrected he pledges loyalty to quan chi in order to get revenge, blah blah blah. mortal kombat happens. the two meet again at some point.

kuai's still on that "you killed my family" juice but its...more so about familial ties (like bi-han and smoke) rather than it being the love(s) of his life (like hanzo's wife and son) , seeing as he died young from his own overzealous nature.

very much has anger issues. he's impatient and has alot shorter of a temper by comparison to scorpion in the original canon. hardly ever humbled until that point lol

hanzo on the other hand is surprisingly more lax. meditates often, drinks alot of tea and while he *IS* stressed he handles it alot better than kuai does. maybe has a problem of ignoring his problems though for the sake of the task at hand.

kuai ends up harassing hanzo alot in this AU even outside of the tournament. he's kind of a bitchy ghost there to remind hanzo of what happened to him and lowkey hanzo guilts over it.

kuai has alot of grim reaper motifs in his design. he carries a scythe made of ice primarily and fights at a more long distance range.

hanzo on the other hand is alot more of an up close brawler. he keeps alot of design traits from mkx with a bit of mk11 sprinkled in for inspiration of his "classic" design.

STILL A PYROMANCER!! i just havent thought out how. he's just regarded with a bit more respect for having those unnatural abilities lol

but yeah this is just me spitballing in bullet points. i'm hoping to make more stuff later that is a bit more...thought out properly but it follows more of like

mk mythologies --> mk9 -> mkx

type of timeline i guess? except hanzo is in bi-han's position and kuai ends up being put in scorpion's. bi-han doesn't really have a place in the AU outside of being a background character and driving motive for kuai's vengeance later on. (though we're not gonna talk about how bi-han's mentality eventually fed into kuai's at a young age and made him come to the conclusions he did before he died.... maybe.)

smoke exists for the sake of painful flashbacks lol

satoshi's also a bg character but he does end up growing up with the shirai ryu and takes on his own share of clan responsibilities. idk whether or not he takes after hanzo's pyromancy or not in this AU but either way he grows up to be a well respected figure in the clan!

alot of stuff outside of this remains the same though, just the lin kuei and shirai ryu's dynamics get swapped.

ANYWAYS YEAH IF YOU READ THRU ALL THIS THANKS FOR READING BYEEEE (i'll be adding to this au more later on when i finish my other sketches lol)

#mortal kombat #au #mortal kombat au #mk #mk1 #mkx #mk11 #mk9 #sub zero #scorpion #kuai liang #hanzo hasashi #roleswap au #subscorp #subscorp roleswap au

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billyhargrovesupsidedownshadow · 1 year

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A little nonsensical Single father!Billy Harringrove piece, 968 words, no warnings, G

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Billy rubs a hand over his face. Fuck, he's tired.

"Why are you bringing someone over? You're a father!" Jen's voice is so insanely annoying, Billy can just barely hold himself from wincing. Exactly how drunk was he six years ago to deal with it, was beyond him.

He glances, frowning with worry, in the direction of his living room. It is suspiciously quiet. Sarah isn't running back, shrieking from seeing an unfamiliar man in her home, and Steve isn't trying to politely leave forever because oh, maybe Billy forgot to mention that he has a kid.

A kid who chose the first fucking mommy-weekend in five years when Billy had someone over to throw a tantrum about how she wants to be back at daddy's.

Like hell he will listen to all of his friends telling him he needs to meet people ever again. Fuck all of them. This is what meeting people leads to: children or childhood trauma.

"Jen, you fuck around all the fucking time, one night I invite someone over, and that's it, I'm a terrible father?"

"Don't swear in front of my child!" She whisper-yells at him.

He can't believe he's being slut-shamed in his own house, when he hasn't even done anything. Because as soon as they got to the fun part, Jen was banging on his door. Not the kind of banging Billy hoped for today, but definitely the only kind he's getting.

He squeezed his eyes shut. That's what he gets for taking a risk. A mess.

"Okay, alright, I'm not, bye, Jen, you brought Sarah over as she asked, now you can go."

"You can't have some man over with my child in the house!"

"Right, I'm not, bye, Jen," he ends up closing the door in her face, hoping that this will be the end of it for now. He knows he's going to hear all about it next weekend anyway.

He waits a couple of minutes to check that she isn't trying to break his door down again. Definitely not stalling before he has to go into the living room.

And Steve is actually so hot and nice and generally good. And loaded. Like who the fuck else brings his car over to a mechanic just to check over clearly nothing four times in a month. Their receptionist, Argyle, said that Steve came over only when Billy was in. Billy looked at the little bi flag on the BMW's dash for a long time before actually deciding to try his luck and asking Steve out.

And now Billy has to awkwardly explain how he managed to fail to mention that he has a kid over five dates and wave Steve goodbye forever. And he was starting to actually like the guy. Thinking that maybe life was looking up. That maybe he will have someone to come home to when Sarah is at her mom's.

But of course not. Not in his life.

He breathes out and walks into the room, the only light coming from the street lamps outside and the floor lamp leaning over the couch he was just making out with Steve on fifteen minutes ago.

"And you know all the breeds?" Steve asks in a very serious tone, looking at the book about horses that Sarah has on her lap sitting on the couch next to him.

"Yes! Daddy reads me all about them! And we go watch them at the stadium when there are competitions!" She answers, excitedly.

Billy leans against the doorframe, a bit dumbfounded.

Steve looks up at him and smiles, then turns back to Sarah.

"You can tell me all more about them next time, okay? I have to go now," he stands up.

"To feed your doggies?" Sarah asks, all understanding, brows furrowed.

"I hope my friend fed them, but I should go check in case she forgot. It was very nice meeting you, Sarah," he offers her his hand for a formal handshake and she giggles.

"Bye, Steve!" She yells as Steve walks by Billy to the hall.

They stand there, awkwardly, for a moment.

"You have dogs? I haven't seen any hair or damage in the car," Billy blurts out, like this is the most important thing right now.

"Yes, I have six. They aren't allowed into the Beemer, I have a minivan for them. Yes, I have two cars all for myself," he says before Billy has a chance to ask, while putting his shoes and a jacket on.

Then he looks at Billy again.

Billy just stares back, not knowing what to say. Steve looks pretty chill after the whole encounter, but Billy isn't about to allow himself to hope that they were still on for later.

Steve leans in a presses a small kiss to Billy's lips.

"Call me," he says, serious, making sure Billy's looking into his pretties fucking brown eyes ever. "Bye, Sarah!" He yells again, getting another "Bye!" in response. "Bye, Billy, see you next time," he says and finally smiles, opening the door.

"Yeah, next time," Billy manages to croak out eventually, his voice unexpectedly coarse. "I'll call you!" He adds as an afterthought when Steve is already walking to the elevator of Billy's building.

Steve waves at him.

Billy closes the door and leans against it.

Fuck.

"Daddy, is Steve your new friend?" Asks Sarah, coming to him and looking up at him with his own blue eyes.

"Yeah," he says.

She nods.

"That's good, you need more friends, and Steve's nice, he listened all about the horses! Can you make me a sandwich? I'm hungry!" She says all in one breath and skips to the kitchen.

Billy breathes out and follows her, fighting back a smile.

They are still on. Maybe he actually did luck out this time.

#stranger things #harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #stranger things #that's definitely a post #that's kind of a fic

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vargskelegore · 1 year

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heyoo!! could we get a fic where transfer student!shuri realizes u mostly eat struggle meals like ramen n the occasional hamburger helper n since you feel bad abt her taking you out to eat a decent meal everyday she learns how to cook w you 💪🏾

author's note: NO BECAUSE THIS IDEA IS SOOOO CUTE. i'm always eating a damn struggle meal so this is relatable af. ramen gang for the win tho.

cake boss, who? - hbcu!shuri x black!reader

requests: open to headcanons & imagines!

on campus, for lunch, you usually ate ramen. no, not maruchan-- that shit was below your standards. nongshim. the more superior budget ramen. although, even that shit wasn’t really healthy for you.

it was a common experience-- being a college student and being broke since you were either unemployed, or your job paid so bad you might as well be unemployed.

you were lucky that sometimes your rich roommate would pay for you to eat because she wanted to- but since she was always gone, going on dates with random dudes on campus, it wasn’t often you ate something she got you.

honestly, shuri took you out to eat more times than you could count (AS FRIENDS.... i guess?), but you felt really bad about taking her money and food all the time. it wasn’t like they were michelin star restaurants, just stuff like ihop, waffle house, panera bread.. they were luxury to you, though.

on one of the days you were cooking shin ramyun, there was a familiar knock on your door. shuri. shuri developed this knock based off of drum beats they would do back in her home country, and it was something she did on your door to remind herself of home, and also let you know her arrival.

“the door is open!” you called out, attempting to keep the amount of smoke down because if you even had it float a little too high, that alarm was gonna get you, and your cooking in the dorm days would be over.

as soon as shuri walked in, she could smell you cooking the same thing, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

“every time i walk in here, not only are you cooking, it’s always that high sodium trash.” shuri looked around the room as she walked inside.

“yeah well, it’s at the local neighborhood walmart, and it’s like six bucks for a pack of them.” you shrugged as you pushed the noodles around with your chopsticks.

“..is the meals i get you not enough?” there was a hint of panic in shuri’s voice -- one thing about her was that she always tried hard, but for you, she went beyond that. she wasn’t exactly sure why she was like that.

noticing what shuri said, you cut her off so quick. “no! i love the places you take me, but.. i don’t want you to spend money on me like that..” your voice got quiet at the end, and that’s when shuri walked over to you, staring down at you.

“nonsense, it’s barely anything.. i’m willing to spend enough to keep you well fed. i think it’s stupid how american university tuition just uses up so much money that you have to live off of cheaply made factory food.” shuri could go on a rant about this, and you could tell she had been bottling that opinion up for a while.

“i don’t disagree, but this is my life, shuri.” you sighed in defeat as you turned around to drain the water.

shuri got directly behind you, hands in her pockets. when you turned back around, you were met with her being right in front of you.

“then let me try something different. let’s cook together.” there was hope in her voice as she stared down at you. your hand, which was being occupied by your ramen pot, slightly began shaking.

“i, uh..”

“please? i think you can make a good meal without using so much money, if that’s what you’re worried about.” her voice was gentle, and god, how could you say no to that voice? hell, it was practically begging.

after a moment of silence, you nodded.

shuri’s face lit up as she took the pot from your hand, pouring the sauceless noodles into the trash. you were a bit shocked that she did that so quickly.

“shuri, that was my lunch--!”

“hush, we’re gonna make a better lunch together.”

ever since that moment, you two started making food together. learning how to cook cheap and tasty food was a bit of a challenge, but you both managed to deal with it.

you two made everything together. pasta, soup, fancy ass sandwiches, and so much more. for you, seeing shuri in an apron when you guys were baking was the cutest thing ever.

powder all over her face, squealing when a certain ingredient got all over her. it was adorable and it melted your heart.

there was nothing more you enjoyed than the company of shuri.

on one of the days you two were baking, you both decided to bake a cake this time. nobody told y'all it would take a while, but honestly, that was probably because you two were goofing off instead of baking which made it take longer.

as you were mixing the buttercream frosting mixture together, shuri sighed in annoyance.

"crap, i forgot my phone.. i'm gonna go get it, i'll be right back. don't eat the frosting. i'm serious."

you held your hands up in surrender before nodding. mentally you were smirking, because you were gonna eat it anyway.

as soon as she left, you waited about 20 seconds before sticking your finger into the bowl and taking a taste.

a few tastes turned into more tastes. and more. but it wasn't enough to make it look like it wasn't enough for icing.

as soon as you could hear shuri coming back, you immediately went back to mixing, whistling a bit as you didn't acknowledge her presence out of guilt of eating it.

"..y/n? i'm back." shuri raised an eyebrow at you as she walked back over to where she originally was.

you hummed before muttering out a quick "hi." and went back to doing what you were doing.

shuri, being the suspicious person she was, crossed her arms and just stared at you. you could feel her stare but you tried so hard to make it seem like you didn't care.

"y/n. turn around for me, real quick?"

"but i'm mixing.. i can't get distracted." you lied, realizing your once rhythm on mixing suddenly became very irregular.

shuri didn't say a word before pulling you from the mixing station and over to where she was standing. you tried covering your face, but she was quick to make you uncover.

that's when she saw it.

she brought a thumb to your face, wiping off something on the corner of your mouth, and licking it off her own thumb.

"that tastes really good, but damn, y/n, you could've lied a little better, no?" it was icing. she had a teasing grin on her face as she watched you become visibly embarrassed. all she could do was laugh as she went to grab the frosting and begin icing the cake.

you were stunned, to say the least. what were you gonna do with this girl?

#sam is obsessed with shuri #sam answers asks #hbcu!shuri #shuri udaku x reader #shuri x reader #black reader #imagine

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thegreymoon · 2 months

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The Story of Minglan

I am at the midpoint of this drama! Yay! 🤗

And Tingye is still fucking off to who knows where and not getting on with making Minglan his wife 🤬🤬 My guy, please hurry! There are at least two spineless invertebrates still milling around, trying to make a mess of her life, and if you don't come back soon, I'm sure even more pests will crawl out of the woodwork. Ew.

***

An understatement 🤣🤣

***

Aww, baby no 😢

This is what happens when you have immature parents who have shit for brains. Shen Hong's playing favourites and neglecting all his children except Molan left them feeling so unworthy and unloved. And Wang Ruofu, bless her, does love Rulan to the best of her ability, but she is so superficial, materialistic and simply not smart, so Rulan grew up feeling that her love was conditional.

But this sisterly bonding is nice. They could be such good friends and allies!

***

LMAO, I, for one, am looking forward to seeing her head explode 🤯🤯

***

Girl. There is no man alive worth jumping into the abyss for.

***

THE AUDACITY OF THESE PEOPLE, I CANNOT.

This is such nonsensical, shameless, manipulative bullshit.

YOU TAKE IN COUSIN CAO.

YOU FEED HER.

YOU CLOTHE HER.

FUCK THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU.

***

OH HELL NO.

She just wants to get Minglan away from Granny because she thinks a sixteen-year-old will be easier to manipulate when she's alone!

I hate these people with a burning passion 🤬🤬

***

BITCH. DIE.

I thought I couldn't hate anyone more than Princess Pingning and then these wretches came along to prove me wrong 🤬🤬

***

FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF

TO QUOTE MY FAVOURITE QUOTE:

Fuck off. Then keep fucking off. Keep fucking off until you get to a gate with a sign saying "you can’t fuck off past here" climb over the gate, dream the impossible dream, and keep fucking off forever.

***

LMAO, it took her a whole five minutes to drop the mask 😂

RUN, MINGLAN, RUN!!

Granny Sheng made the wrong judgment call, these are not good people and you will not be happy here.

***

OK, I have to give credit where credit is due.

He seems like a good guy. A little bit spineless, but he's working hard to grow one.

***

I am beyond fed up with these people.

THEN HURRY UP AND DIE.

***

MTE, Granny 😠

She has been disrespected enough.

***

Yeah, she just ruined your marriage prospects.

Enjoy!

***

I see Molan is reaping the benefits of her splendid marriage.

***

The fucking nerve of these Cao people.

Not only is Cousin Cao a convicted criminal, she was also married already to whomever and is now infertile because the main wife poisoned her. And this is who they ruined He Hongwen's engagement to the most perfect woman for? THE NERVE!!

In any case, good for Big Madam. I am on the side of every main wife who poisons her husband's mistress whom she is forced to take into her own damn house for whatever reason.

Also, I laughed when he said she tried to kill herself but of course they "saved her" 🤣🤣 OF COURSE THEY DID!!

Fuck manipulators.

#the story of minglan #tsoml spoilers #tsoml ep37

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felixferitas · 2 months

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@ourpretender: ‘people have an idea of pain. they think they know what it is, how it feels, but that’s just an idea. it’s a very different thing when it becomes concrete.’ ( priv. / nate j. & martin l. ) that biting plot we discussed perhaps . . .

it's not a surprise that nate jacobs scores high on the psychopathy checklist, but even he had trouble reigning in how freaked out he was when the unassuming, offputting new kid at school finally got fed up with nate's verbal humiliation and bit him on the forearm hard enough to draw blood. it's a stinging and piercing pain, so sharp that he almost immediately reels back from it to apply pressure to the wound with his hand, messily staining his fingertips and when he raises his head nate sees his blood in martin's mouth. he yelps, letting out an incredulous noise as he tries to calibrate just how badly he wants to escalate this situation. "what the fuck is wrong with you?! i'm a quarterback, you dipshit!" martin's new here, so he doesn't know the pecking order yet. nate is so shocked that he's just yelling the first things that come to mind without a filter, however regardless of how nonsensical his justifications for understanding pain beyond a conceptual level may seem. his simmering rage boils over when he retaliates by grabbing a fistful of martin's t-shirt to slam him against a locker. he's still bleeding, steadily dripping against the white cotton from where his arm is positioned against martin's solar plexus. "what's your excuse for being a freak, then? you're gonna end up in a fucking detention center at this rate. so what, your daddy died? some of us wish that shoe were on the other foot."

#ourpretender #─── ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ * ⠀ 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞.／ ⠀ replies.#nate x martin #/ idk .... fearful this will become a jacob elordi multiversemultimusemultiwhatever #/ i am here to write dudes w varying types of personality disorders #blood cw

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jitterbugjive · 1 month

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I hate that people can easily find the stupid and shitty things I said and did over 5 years ago and jump to the conclusion that that's who I am, and there's no easy way for anyone to see all the efforts I've been making since then to NOT be that person. It's hard to find all my apologies and explanations because I didn't tag them all properly. I've tried time and time again to explain that I was mimicking the behavior bad adults gave me when I was growing up and that no one really called me out on that behavior until it was too late. I've tried to explain that since then I've been going through extensive therapy to separate bad learned behavior from who I want to actually be. There's so much more to this whole story than what one small chunk of the internet is making it out to be. People who actually know me know that this has been eating me up constantly and that I am always living in fear of losing everything to this drama.

especially since some of that info takes quotes out of context, jumps to conclusions that aren't true, or flat out lies about what certain artworks are depicting or meaning to convey (Like claiming a grown ass adult is a child even tho I have proof the character looks totally different as an adult than as a child, or claiming that a shock piece meant to make people reel back in horror was a fetish when it was not at all that)

It takes clips of things without the full picture and puts words in my mouth.

Here's a little something about how I used to talk about sore subjects: I would make a controversial sounding statement, but then I would explain myself in a way that would show the statement wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be. A lot of the time they just take that bad statement and paste it for the world to see, without giving any of that context of me explaining why I said that and why it's not what it sounds like.

I wish people were smart enough to spot cherry picking when they see it, but they just aren't. They'll see one sentence, and someone saying "look they're supporting this bad thing" and that's all they need to think that's what it is. People aren't smart enough to really ask questions and try to understand a situation, all they want is face value to tell them how to think and feel.

People aren't going to bother to listen to me because I'm "the bad guy" and I'll "say anything to cover my ass".

Listen, if I was really that horrible of a person, don't you think there would be more evidence out there that is very clear and blunt and not just making assumptions on what a thing means?

I'm never gonna sit here and say what I said and did wasn't wrong, it was, but it was not done because I was trying to be a terrible person or prey on anyone. It was because I was insanely misguided by someone who groomed me for 5 years since childhood and then abused me for another 3 in a really toxic relationship. And then I never got HELP for it, I never got therapy to cope with it, I never even realized until way later that 'holy shit this person was 7 years older than me and was taking advantage of me the whole time'. Like I knew they were abusive but adults being friends with children was so normalized in my head, and throughout my life many adults or older kids exposed me to things I shouldn't have been and it skewed in my head what was appropriate behavior or not. Or what was okay to draw or not. And a lot of my opinions were formed around this adult who convinced me things like loli/shota were fine as long as they were strictly made up, and he fed me a lot of nonsense about what does and doesn't make a predator to cover his own ass. I was seriously fucked up almost beyond repair for a long time.

I have a warning on my blog now that minors shouldn't be following me, I make it a point to not ever work with minors on projects or talk to a minor in any capacity beyond a fan to artist relationship. I understand now that it is my responsibility as a NSFW artist that I simply cannot have minors as friends. And being much older now I don't even want minors as friends anyway. When I was in my early 20s the age gap didn't feel as bad but I'm definitely feeling it now and I just don't want to deal with minors any more.

I'm not a danger to anyone, I'm not spewing apologetics for horrible people, I've been doing my best to be a much better and more informed person

And I have no easy way to prove any of it in a way that will matter

I'm only talking about this now because once again I was kicked out of something because someone found that old info and that was all it took. No one cares about my side of things.

And I don't know if this will ever go away

I don't know if I'll ever find any amount of comfortable success because I can't get rid of this shit and on the internet it doesn't matter how long ago you did something or how much you've changed, you did it and therefor you're bad forever.

I hate this shit so much.

#vent #drama #sorry #apology

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handbarfs · 7 months

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OKAY JRWI RIPTIDE THEORY TIME

i wanted to talk about the prophecy a little more, try to analyse it a bit and some of my dumb theories! spoilers for episode 110 ahead!

"An entity threatens world stability Caged in the deepest layers of infinity" The egg from the one shot that Drey took most probably released this entity and caused the hole in the sea.

"The seal remains locked by a key of divinity." If the Ferin bloodline possesses divine or special blood, it would explain how Drey, by holding it, could open this egg. Perhaps this egg was sealed away millennia ago by the two main goddesses, with the warriors who served them. The conflict may have started between two factions: those in favour of this entity and those opposed to it, maybe? The tree mentioned four bloodlines in the world, and it's possible that one of them had a disagreement with the other three, which eventually escalated into this war. This particular bloodline might have used this entity as a weapon in the great war, but perhaps things spiralled out of control?

this is what the tree said- "a war won by these combined efforts sealed an entity away and together created not only its prison but a key and a warning. this warning is the original prophecy meant to be passed down until the inevitable- time." and visions of tritons riding leviathans, red haired olympian looking elves flying with own wings, gargatuan dragons, casters controlling the elements like they were born to do so.

"Its release in time, an inevitability." The chains that imprisoned the entity might have a time limit I guess OR like most ancient prophecies, this one recognizes the inevitable hunger for power among most living beings. It foresees that people will attempt to find this entity to gain control over it and hopefully use it to become more powerful in Mana. Maybe the navy's secret project or Nikalus's personal plans are related to this entity?

"A sea god's last egg, the chosen is born underneath an eclipse, in the midst of a storm " The prophecy didn't come into action with Gillion's first birth but, in a way, with his second birth in the episode "Moonlight, Storm, and Sea" when he emerged from the Luxbris Pearl. I'm not entirely sure if it was an eclipse during that moment though; I just remember it being pure darkness, without a moon.

"foreboded calamity, the chosen is warned the shape of all life shall take a new form" If people have desires with with selfish motives, there will be repercussions. It's the same deal with Nikalus; he grants people's wishes, but they need to be pure-hearted. If someone asks for something with greed and self-serving intentions, it messes them up, with the tar corrupting and eventually killing them.

"the shape of all life shall take a new form" so this corrupted tar affects all creatures, all life forms- turning them into tar monsters, with their greatest fears and needs plaguing them as they become undead- a new form.

"A choice to be made, with no time to mourn." This part gets pretty confusing because the story hasn't really touched on the idea of making choices (except for that culty nonsense the elders fed Gillion). Maybe there's a choice between fulfilling personal desires or attaining true freedom from the desires that lock us into labels and hinder personal growth. Like Chip's burning desire to find Arlin, which keeps him stuck in his painful past and memories, preventing him from moving forward and growing. Or Jay's dilemma, torn between her Navy Ferin family and the loss of her sister, versus taking control of her life and focusing on herself. And Gillion, caught between the undersea rules and manipulation that's easier to accept, versus facing the pain and fear of confronting the lies and manipulation the guardians have fed him, discovering a much larger and complex world beyond the undersea. Their freedom from these desires would leave no room for mourning because they'd be too busy enjoying their liberation from such constraints.

A couple more things- Niklaus's powers bear a striking resemblance to the entity that corrupts the Black Sea. Maybe his freedom is tied to freeing this entity, giving him full access to his abilities? Another character with powers similar to this entity is Kuba Kenta, involving black tar oozing from wounds inflicted by him and and nightmares of people's worst fears. Kenta's powers have been described as otherworldly (the probability of different planes, existence of creatures worse than demons and fiends that come from the darkest depths "crawled from the darkest depths of creation itself"). All of these powers—Black Sea corruption, Niklaus's, and Kenta's—basically lead to a slow killing for their victims, exploiting their fears and greed while breaking their sense of self before ultimately killing them. My theory is that one of the bloodlines involved in the great war against the others dabbled in forbidden dark magic, and invited this entity into Mana. Things likely spiraled out of control, and the other bloodlines had to quell it through the great war and cage it within the egg, and then shunning out this particular bloodline for its actions. Now, it seems this bloodline is trying to regain its place in society by tampering with this entity once more, and I THINK it has something to do with the Hendrix bloodline and Nikalus's desire of freedom.

And I also think the Navy is aware of this entity and its history (maybe Ferin family secrets) and is trying to create a machine to help control this entity and ally with fiendish creatures like Kenta under their ranks. They plan to USE the entity to stay in power socially and militarily in Mana.

#just roll with it riptide #jrwi riptide 110 spoilers #riptide 110 spoiler #just roll with it riptide 110 spoilers #jrwi riptide #jrwi gillion #gillion tidestrider #chip jrwi #jrwi spoilers #jrwi jay #jrwi jay ferin #jay ferin

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canmom · 1 year

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the big thing in large language models at the moment seems to be a technique called "chain of thought prompting". this is where you ask the AI to solve a problem and tell it to "think step by step" or something like that.

(as an aside, it is so fucking weird to me that we can suddenly give computers instructions in natural language. not even a constrained subset of natural language like Inform 7, you just write instructions like you would to a human. that's fucked up.)

with this method, the models are able to solve problems that they couldn't otherwise (instead of just cheerfully bullshitting an answer). of course "solve problems" should be clarified, they can produce a sequence of words that a human can recognise as a solution to a problem. this chain of words really is a chain in that if the AI makes a mistake early on, it propagates forwards, and if the mistake is fixed and the chain regenerated, it corrects the 'reasoning'.

what really gets me about this is... that's also how I think. when I try to explain a problem, or write down my process, that helps me get to answers that i couldn't, and think about things more clearly than if I just let it sit in my head. all the long-ass essays I write on this website - this one included - are essentially a means of doing that.

language is a technology. not just for communication, though it is that, but for thinking as well. having something formulated in words (or equations on a page) is a scaffolding to store more information than short term memory can hold, and reformulate it in different ways. writing a draft and editing it. this is why students are prompted to 'show their working' in subjects like maths, it's trying to introduce them to a technique which can be extended.

is something analogous happening for AI language models? a common objection to the idea that AI can 'reason' is that it's just generating the most likely next word according to its corpus. having been fed various examples where humans reason step by step, it generates something that looks similar. the objection to this objection would be to claim, in the process of boiling down the corpus into neural network weights, it has managed to capture something analogous to the structure of 'reasoning' performed by humans. is this actually true?

'generating the most likely next word' could be rephrased as 'generating a "good" sequence of words', based on the training examples. older predictive text models were trained to try to guess what the human would type next, and repeatedly taking the prediction would rapidly become nonsense bc it only keeps track of the last few words. but now they're trying to train much more complex AIs to generate original strings of words that interpolate/extrapolate the patterns in the corpus.

the thing I'm stuck on now is how alike/unalike is that to how humans think?

introspectively, thoughts appear in my head as a sequence of words, the so called 'stream of consciousness'. when i was a kid i would apparently move my mouth while reading as if mouthing the words, but i stopped doing this when someone pointed it out; nevertheless I tend to think 'verbally'. I don't know if everyone does this. but my brain generates sentences, somehow, which come to my conscious mind a word at a time.

so just like 'AI learns just like human artists', you could make the argument that I trained my inner neural network on a corpus - words spoken around me, books (lots of them), etc etc., to learn to generate strings of words that follow the patterns in that corpus, generating attempts at it, and being told whether they were good or bad. there is at least a superficial structural similarity in how that process played out.

i have no memories of how I learned language as a kid (beyond that i was good at spelling lmao), but to try to learn a second language today, two of the most effective tools are spaced repetition systems and immersion. the former involves exposing my brain to repeated queries that test if it's internalised some item or pattern, and then telling it 'right' or 'wrong'. the latter involves piling on as much stimuli as possible until it can start to discern patterns. (of course this isn't the whole story, reading verbal explanations of grammar points or creating mnemonics can help shortcut the process considerably by laying the necessary structure.)

eventually, I might reach a level of fluency where I could 'think in Japanese' - have an inner monologue entirely in Japanese instead of coming up with concepts in English and then mapping them to a Japanese equivalent. the first inklings of that are coming in set phrases like ただいま or (yes, sigh) 仕方がない which come unbidden into my head, acting as loanwords. (i expect the process would come a lot faster if I was in a context where people mostly spoke Japanese.)

that side of learning at least seems pretty similar to the training process used a large language model, right? you display a prompt, generate an answer, and then the brain 'updates' based on whether you're right or wrong.

on the other hand, one of the most effective ways that I have for learning something is to pursue a project that demands that I learn something new. the last few months, I've taught myself C#, Unity's DOTS, shaders etc. to a pretty decent level. this couldn't have happened if I wasn't trying to make a game that led me to constantly have to ask 'how can I do..., what is the best way to...' and experiment. though that gets into the murky question of motivation, desire etc, which isn't a factor at all in these non-agentic AI systems.

but to do this sort of thing I've got certain meta techniques. breaking down a problem into smaller chunks, creating smaller test cases, writing out what I'm trying to do and what the possible approaches are. you can see it in action in all those devlog posts for THRUST//DOLL, which are in effect a slightly cleaned up record of how I go about solving each problem that comes up while programming a game.

this is a sort of 'agentic' form of learning. I have a goal and I look up information (e.g. documentation, blog posts) that will help me achieve it. being able to do this is absolutely vital for humans now - the so-called 'extended cognition'. being good at looking things up might be better that just knowing a lot.

if you ask a GPTx AI to generate a plan, it isn't actually going to attempt to carry it out. but people have already started wiring together components so that the AI generates a string that says 'I will do this' and then another program generates an API call to match and feeds it back into the AI, e.g. looking up a piece of information it needs. I've also seen talk of using AI as a kind of 'glue' that creates effectively a universal natural language API between programs.

right now the AI's 'goal' is just to generate a good response to whatever the prompt is, according to the rewards applied during training (rewards in the sense of, increasing/ decreasing weights to encourage/discourage certain patterns).

but if it can generate a string of text that accurately encodes a chain of reasoning (as discernible by a human) and reliably figures out a way to an appropriate answer to a query posed... that seems to suggest that something closely analogous to 'reasoning' is happening in the computation that it's performing right? (unless it's regurgitating a specific chain of thought to a matching prompt that happened to be in the corpus... but a lot of these seem to be 'few-shot' or 'no-shot' tunings.)

what's wild is that this behaviour can be prompted just by writing 'think step by step'. like it's almost more a feature of human languages that the AI has gained access to. a behaviour that was latent in the trained model but had to be activated with the right prompt.

if programming felt like magic before... then giving commands to a black box AI where it's all based on trial and error discovery of what sentence evokes what behaviour seems even more so.

anyway idk. i have generally been pretty sceptical about AI claims but these last few months have really challenged that feeling, which puts me at variance to my friends whose general attitude is like lol techbros. I don't actually think The Singularity(TM) is upon us, but it is true that AI programs have suddenly blown past a lot of what had been hard limits, and making proclamations about what AI can't do seems like a great way to be laughably wrong. (they just solved hands!). a lot of things that were very difficult, like passing law exams, can suddenly be automated (allegedly). we've already seen Clarkesworld have to shut their doors to the flood of crappy AI generated submissions. I'm sure people will be eagerly trying to find ways to get AIs to act in an 'agentic' way, and close the feedback loop. what seems likely is a flood of janky AIs running wild on the internet at some point pretty soon. they don't have to be good, just cheaper than the human equivalent and sort of functional. whether the tendency to hallucinate will make it so the AIs just kind of implode before long if running in this mode... I guess we'll see. the 'danger' right now generally seems to be less a single AI doing a 'hard takeoff' and more that just about anyone can spin up an AI, and that means all sorts of assumptions of scarcity and bandwidth built into all our infrastructure will get invalidated. more effective spam, less novelty when there's 100 things generated with the same AI for every one from a uniquely 'trained' human.

idk, maybe I'm just buying the hype in a hypeful moment. there's plenty of reasons to be sceptical, 'AI will take over' has been a fantastic grift that's been shilled for decades, the people who are going most wild about this are often the same cunts who bought into obvious-scam NFTs last year, and it's obviously very easy to vaguely say 'this changes everything' and concoct some wild scifi scenario. alongside the genuine advances there will be a whole lot of bullshit, and it's very much in AI companies' interest to make out that their product is scarily powerful and maybe on the verge of becoming God, or at least as socially impactful as the internet.

but this feels like the low end of a logistic curve of capability, and while I'm sure it will taper off sooner or later, I have no idea what the other end looks like, how many 'low hanging fruit' have just come into reach of our ladder, and what the practical use for this tech will be once the hype bubble pops.

personally... i still haven't used an AI chatbot and AI image generators feel distasteful. I just write these long posts, which I'm sure Roko's Basilisk will read back mockingly to my simulated clone while saying 'how could you be such a dweeb' as it dissolves my toes in virtual acid.

#artificial intelligence

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