#and its still not quite right. augh.

[maraschinotopped]

when i first saw all of sbmr2 i thought it was kind of a shame that there wasnt a new 'evil bomberman team' or any new bombermen in general... but then i realized that meant i could make new bombermen. because im an artist and can do that. so heres calamity seed as a bomberman <3

poor girl got overgrown :(

alt design below cut

thought it would be fun to also design a more 'dastardly bomber' inspired bomberman design too lol

some annoying bastard vs the reanimated horrors. who will win.

[hollypies]

Redrawing/remaking my HLVRAI flowercrown au!! Benrey and Gordon are up first!! (If anyone's curious you can go looking for my old flowercrown au stuff, just be noted its was made four years ago LOL and all the old info is completely irrelevant) click for better quality, tumblr killed it 💀

Up next, Tommy and Gman Coolatta!

In the old version of the plot for this au, it had a lot to do with it being a game and such. However over the years it's changed! No longer a game, instead the Rescas explosion seemed to have had a .. strange affect on Gordon, due to him being right next to it. At least, that's what they all believe at first.

[mirrortouchedsea]

getting motivated to work on that kaokana fic finally and i have added like 1k this week.... so much progress for me i'm so happy

[cozygold]

Mystery of Lilia's ring

Pt.I Pt.II

Lilia x reader

Warnings: angst/fluff, fem reader, general Lilia, possible spoilers for book 7, young Lilia and Sebek clutching their pearls because woman

Intro: Lilia wears a wedding ring under his gloves. However when asked he doges the question or makes up some silly excuse

Malleus is aware that he had wife. Lilia confirmed it a while ago but did not elborate further

It was only during the Malleus overblot incident that Diasnomia family found out about her and who she was

Tags: @koneko-dreams

"Hey! Rehabilitanion is necessery if you want to be able to move that leg not just drag it around"

(it takes place after Malleus have put everyone to sleep Silver/Sebek/Yuu watch Lilia dream play in front of them like movie)

"AUGH! HUMAN! I'm starting to doubt your validity as medic and suspecting you to be a professional torturer!"

Its been 2 months since Lilia was saved by a strange human. After agreeing to cooprate more his condition was quickly improving.

Most of the injuries healed however more serious ones still needed to be checked once a few days

(y/n) worked hard to help him recover feeling the pressure of time on her shoulders. It was only a matter of time as his soldiers come looking for him

Being gone for so long and finding him with a human will only cause trouble. They both knew that

"We have to get that leg moving"

"Aren't you doing that already?"

"Well, kind of. Its more of a warm up for you to stand on your own"

(y/n) backed away from the bed, examing him for a minute. She reached out her hands towards him

"Take my hand, try to stand up"

His eyes drifted between her and her palm, scowl making its way on his face. He ignored her hand, pushing himself of the bed with his own strenght

"I don't need your assistance with something as trivial as-"

His sentance was cut short when his legs gave up under his weight

"Lilia!"

(y/n) jumped forward, catching him in her arms

"I thought we went over this already! Quit-. Wait you're actually pretty light. That's great news! That armour of your made you waaay heavier!"

She rambled on as if unaware of the situation. Lilia was the opposite. His face was red, his pride hurt and head snuggled against human's chest

He sat there frozen. This warmth was comforting. He could stay here a bit-... No. What the hell is thinking! As if burned he tried to wiggle away from her grasp

"Unhand me, human temptress! What are trying to do?"

"Temptress? Well i'm flattered but you're the one who's fallen into my arms because of your arrogance. If you listined for once we wouldnt be in this situation in the first place"

Suddenly (y/n) felt a light bub light up over her head

"Lilia! If we're already in this position lets take advantage of it!"

She grabbed his hands placing them on her waist. The bat fae gave her look of utter shock and mild disgust

"I knew it! Shameless woman! Let go!"

"You're the one making this weird. I was just about to suggest a dance"

"A dance? Why-"

"Oh just let me finish. It clear that you're unable to stand alone. During the dance you can hold onto me while i guide you through the steps.

I will need you try to keep up with the rythm the best you can. This way i can monitor how well you're able to move"

Lilia hesitated. Dancing is something intimate to bat fae but she probably didn't mean anything by it. His recovery was going smoothly thanks to her care. There should be no harm to just go play along with it, right?

"...Fine"

"Great! Hold on me tight and follow my steps"

He gripped her waist tighter while she held his shoulders. She started softly singing to give him some music to dance to

There's a fire in my brain, and I'm burning up

Oh my, oh my

Keep running for the sink, but the well is dry

Oh my, oh my

Meanwhile Sebek, Silver and Yuu observing the dream

"I know this song! I think i caught father singing it a few times but he stopped as soon as he saw me"

"I heard Lilia singing it too while he walked around Ramshackle. It was a first time i saw him so...sad"

Silver and Yuu train of thoughts was broken by Sebek

"Master Lilia was right! What this woman is doing is completly inappropriate! Does she even know what action mean to bat fae?"

"She mentioned it was her first time treating a fae so she's probably not very in touch with their culture"

"Huh? What are you guys talking about"

Right. Yuu's a human too. They probably don't know the implications either

"For bat fae dancing and singing is a courting ritual. Father accpeting the dance offer pretty much agreed to be courted"

Yuu stared a them with wide eyes

"Hah! This human should feel honored"

Back to the dream

Its month of (y/n)s and Lilias daily dance sessions. The fae was now able to walk properly and felt as good as new. (Y/n) was amazed at his quick recovery, finally deciding to "discharge" him

And today was the day he finally left the cottage. He watched as (y/n) ran around the house like a chicken with its head cut off, gathering all the things she was going to give him on his trip back to the castle

"Here's your medicine! Remember to take it 2 times a day! Before breakfest and after dinner! If you fell like your leg is acting there's some pain meds in this pouch"

"(y/n)..."

"There's some food i prepared for journey. I made sure that it won't spoil for a long while. However just in case-"

"Oi, (y/n)!"

"Your clothes, spare bandages are in the green bag! You should be able to attach this water bottle to your belt but if you lose it there-"

Lilia grabbed her shoulder cutting her off and making her look at him in suprise. It was a first time he initiated any touch

"Did you just call me by my actual name?"

Lilia sighed ignoring her question

"I will be okay. Don't worry i will make sure your afforts won't be wasted"

(y/n) took a deep breath calming her rapid heartbeat

"Okay. Just remember. If you ever need a check up, you can count one me. I will try to fix this cottage up so you'll know where to find me"

She smiled walking him to the front door. It was dark outside. Lilia insisted that on going out late at night to decrease the risk of running into humans

"Human"

He turned his head towards you

"Despite my mistrust, i am indebted to you. If you need any favors just ask"

(y/n) huffed

"I already explained that i'm just doing my duty. I don't have anything to ask of you"

"I insist"

"But-"

"I insist"

"Ugh-fine then!"

Her cheeks flushed red while she thought about the right words to use for the request

"C-can we spend some time together sometimes? Not like patient and a doctor anymore but like....friends?"

Lilia looked at her with wide eyes. This was the last thing he was expecting. Human asking a fae war general to be their friend? To think he live enough to hear such a thing

He burst out laughing

Its been years since he laughted so genuinely. This preposterous request and this whole situation now looked like big joke

"REALLY?! When i tell you what i want you just laugh at me?! You know what forg-"

"Fine"

"Huh"

"I will see you again, human. You're amusing and proven to pose no threat"

Lilia leaned closer to her face, smirking

"Make sure to keep yourself alive untill i come back"

Another month gone by

(y/n) spent it travelling around possible battle scenes, looking for any victims that might need assistance.

She tried to fix up the cottage as well as she could with her limited recources. It still looked ran down but at least it wasn't leaking anymore. And it actually sheilded her from wind. Mostly

It was a peacefull spring evening. Its a busy season for her. Many herbs bloom and grow only during that time

She spent her whole day roaming around the forest gathering them. The sun slowly dissapearing behind horizon, its rays coating the forest in warm glow

As beautiful as it was she knew that she has to hurry home. During the night time fae were the most active

She heard rustling of bushes behind her. A shiver went up her spine. She slowly turned around

There was nothing there

She let out a nervous giggle

"Haha, i'm must be getting paranoid"

"Good evening, human"

A voice spoke next to her. She let out a yelp and jumped back. Just about when she was about to throw a rock at the offender she reconized the pair of familiar red eyes

Now hanging upside down from the tree

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?! I WAS ABOUT TO BASH YOUR BRAINS IN WITH THAT ROCK?!"

"That pebble and your twig arms would have done nothing to me"

"Why you-"

She was about to berate him futher before she noticed. His legs were hooked around the branch

"For you to hang like this... It means your leg is doing great"

"Of course it is. I'm not as weak as your mortal brethren"

"Same as always, i see. I'm glad to have you kept your word. Come on, come on! I will brew us something delicous and nutritious"

As soon as they reached the house (y/n) got to work. Lilia shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know the exact reason but he felt nervous. Its been a while since he just hanged out with someone outside his work

"I-its umm. Looks like you did some renovations. I don't feel as much wind on my back as i used when i first stayed here"

"I'm glad you noticed! I was tired of being woken up by droplets of water dripping on my forhead. But its still not completly cold or wind proofed. I'm lucky its spring otherwise i would be freezing to death here"

She giggled making a joke of situation. Do all humans treat their fragility with such humor. For some reason he didnt find it as funny as she did.

"We talked enough about me when we met. What about you Lilia? How have you been doing?"

"The queen seemed to buy my lie about escaping after being caught by a opposing army. There should not be any more issues"

"That's great! What about the Maleanora? You seemed worried about her"

Lilia crossed his arms leaning against the chair

"I was. She is reckless and has quite the temper. I know she can handle herself very well but at the time you found me, she was carring her egg"

"Egg?"

The bat groaned, annoyed at her ignorance

"How you can stay so deep in Briar Valley's territory, yet know nothing about the royal family?"

She shrugged

"I try to keep a low profile. Information about Draconias is of no use for me"

"Let me help you be a little less ignorant then. The draconias are dragon faes meaning they hatch from eggs. The Princess recently had hers"

"Oh that wonderful news for the faes right? Their royal family is going to have heir"

"It may be but that's also more work for me. The Princess is easier to anger than ever"

She giggled, stirring the stew boiling in the pot

"Are you prehaps not good with dealing with woman? This way you're going stay unwed forever"

"I was not planing on having a family anyways. I'm way to busy and find children crying unbearable"

"Haha, i'm not the least suprised you feel that way"

"What about you? Are you not afraid that you're going to rot into forest moss before you find someone you can marry? You seem to hardly ever leave this forest"

"Hey! I found you so theres still hope right?"

Lilia felt his cheeks burn, he quickly avoided her gaze

"Me? As if! Fae and human marriage will never be officiated"

"I just meant that if i found you in this forest, it means there's a chance i can find another. You're interpreting my words wrong~"

She took up the opportunity to tease him. Enjoying the sight of scary general stumbling on his words

"You're the one making everything suggestive! I swear you play innocent but its all on purpose!"

"Oh the food is done"

Her attention shifted the stew. She took a big spoon, pouring them both a portion.

"Eat up~"

" ... thank you"

Lilia mubled and took a sip of stew. Taste of fresh mushrooms, potatoes and meat floading his mouth. Human cooking was diffrent from faes.

But it wasn't bad. Comforting. Not just the food but her presence. As much as he hated to admit it, she completly made him lower his guard

He felt like shedding his armor to bask in her presence like a cat in the sun. He knew its all temporary. The longer he will stay the more anguish it will bring him in the future

He knows it

He should turn back while he still can. Run away before the flame envelops him completly

But he didnt

[queer-overwatch]

Hi!! Could I request maybe a Venture x Reader (Any pronouns will do) on like a museum date? I want Venture to yap.Please and Thank you. ( Also bless the both of you I needed more Venture content I was tweaking without them)

Venture at a Museum!

Aaa ty sm for the request!!! I love that idea so much- they are such a yapper I love them <3 also your welcome hehe, had to take thing into our own hands >:3 (also bc u didn't request a specific format (like hcs or oneshot) i just did a short lil oneshot, hope thats okay!) -Frisk

══════ஜ▲ஜ══════

"Look, look- they have a whole section on rocks! Kinda basic selection but it's still rocks!"

You never thought you'd be able to learn so much about rocks in one day, but it seemed like Venture had made it their personal mission to force as much information into your brain as possible. You didn't mind, really! It was always nice listening to them rant about all the cool stuff they found while walking around the museum you'd planned to bring them to, but it was a lot to take in at once.

"Augh, I love sedimentary rocks- they're my favorite! 'cuz sometimes they have like, little fossils in them and I'm like, "Woah! A cool thing in another cool thing!" and it's awesome! One time I found a trilobite fossil in a rock, it was so cool! I wonder if they have any here- that'd be so amazing! I wonder what they taste like-"

After spilling every single fact they could think of about the rocks on display, Venture drags you to a section of the museum dedicated to Egyptian history, though they mostly just seemed interested in the architecture of the pyramids. You really did try to listen, but you mostly just caught the gist of their long, long, long explanations- something about a Mastaba being like a sort of prototype to pyramids? You were just happy to see them so excited, even if you didn't quite understand what they were so hyped about.

"Oh, if only that British lady could go back to ancient Egypt and get the architects of their time to answer my questions! I'd give anything to be able to do that!" Sensing the slight disappointment creeping up on them, you decide to try and bring Venture elsewhere, not wanting them to spend any energy on being upset by what they can't do.

"Why don't we go look at the dinosaur fossils? I'm sure there's some mistakes in the descriptions that you can correct!" You take their hand, gently pulling them away from the long essay-like description of images of the pyramids that they were reading. Incising them with promises of being able to show off their intensive knowledge of dinosaur fossils, or fossils in general.

Venture perked up almost immediately, following behind you as they ready themselves to go on and on about their favorite dinosaur ever, the Deinocheirus! You tried to ask why it was their favorite ones, and all they said was something about it being "them fr fr" and having rocks in its stomach. You weren't too keen on questioning that one.

They take a large step so they're walking next to you, swinging your arms as you walk, "It's always been one of my biggest goals to find a dinosaur fossil! I really hope I do one day, if I did I could die happy!"

"Please don't die- I would be so sad if you died." You squeeze their hand, voice light as you joke with them.

"Aw but I wanna! I wanna be a fossil for future people like me to discover! When I do die I wanna be buried with a bunch of cool stuff! Maybe mess around with my bones a little, just to throw 'em off!" As you finally reach the fossil exhibits, they abandon you to run off and check over every. single. fossil. which while endearing, gave you a lot of running to do in an attempt to catch up.

"Finally! For once a museum that gets everything right! Well, everything as far as we know-" They stand next to one of the larger fossils, not anything you recognized as you take your place next to them, catching your breath.

"Wow, how impressive-" you wheeze, standing up straight and stretching out your legs as you link arms with Venture, trying to stop them from running off on you again.

They laugh, grabbing you by the shoulder and dragging you in the tightest hug you've ever received.

"Thank you, so, so, so much for planning this. And for listening to me talk about rocks so much, and for caring about me- and a million other things! I can't even remember everything you've done for me, but I know its a lot!" They let you go, still holding you by the shoulders, the biggest smile you've ever seen on a person splayed across their face.

"Of course-! I love spending time with you, you're well aware of that, silly." You laugh, grabbing their wrists and taking their hands off your shoulders, holding their hands as you admire the glow of excitement on their face.

"Welllll since you clearly don't mind, can we go to this other museum I found online next week?! I heard they have an area where you get to watch an hour long video on the story of Julius Caesar!"

[chrisevansispapi]

: ̗̀➛Not Known✧˚ · .

(lloyd x fem!reader)

! SMUT ! BREEDING KINK! PRAISE KINK! BRUISING KINK!

My heels clicked at the very shiny hardwood floor of Lloyd's manor. "Lloyd! I'm here" I say exaggerating the 'e' He walked down the stairs with a smug smile on his face, "Such a good girl, finding the drive fo' me" Lloyd walked up to me with his black pants and patterned shirt.

"I like the look today" I say fixing the buttons of the shirt, "where's my drive, sunshine? Dont keep me waitin'' Lloyd said in a more dominating voice.

I took it out of my pockets and showed him. Swinging it infront of his face, "there you are, daddy" "Now can i get my reward?" I asked pouting at him, he lifted my chin with his thumb, connecting his lips with mine and pulling at my chin to let him in my mouth, his and I's tongue clashing together, tasting each other.

He pulled away, "You'll get the rest, if you figure out how to work this damn drive" Lloyd said, "But, you promised me-" he cut me off with his hand on my waist, "Either figure it out or you do not get anything"

I frown at him, "Why can't Carl do it? He's the tech boy!" I complained, "then go get Carl" Lloyd spoke.

"I will and I will have that reward right after" I walked past Lloyd, he glanced over his shoulder looking at my every step, I walked in the quarters, "Carl!" I yelled, "Y-yes ma'am" Carl started stuttering, "Get this to work" I dropped the drive in his hand.

"Ma'am, this just needs to be plugged in a phone or a pc to work" the short skinny boy told me, "Thanks" I turned on my heels and made a beeline to Lloyd, "You just have to plug it in a phone or a pc, dumbass" I pushed it in his chest, "Now, shall I have you?" I looked him head to foot, he smirked.

"You shall have every part, thank you,my love" Lloyd kissed my hand.

____

We got into his amazing bedroom, he quickly locked the doors and took off my dress, revealing the white lingerie pieces, "So beautiful" Lloyd turned me around, my back facing him, his hands groped my tits tightly, playing with them, "stop teasing, mhmgh" I moaned, Lloyd kissed my shoulder.

I pull him lower, kissing him deeply.

I pulled away turning to face him, Lloyd's hands were quick to unclasp my bra, he sat me down on his bed.

Lloyd knelt down taking my stockings off and along with it my thong,he slipped his hands to my heat feeling my wetness,he stood up and took his clothes off revealing himself.

"Lay down, cheri" I place myself on his king sized bed,Lloyd casually licks his lips and got closer to me, caressing my face with his calloused hand, pulling my face up to meet his lips.

“Beautiful,mon cheri” Lloyd kept kissing my lips till it was bruising, “You’re teasing me,Lloyd—you want your best girl to stop workin’ for you?”I spoke up,His finger met my lips, “We wouldn’t want that,do we? Because if you quit on me,I don’t earn a cent and if I don’t earn,you don’t get precious gifts” Lloyd laid me down,cracking my legs open,teasing my clit with his thumb,earning unholy sounds from my mouth.

“Lloyd—daddy please” I whined,He connected his lips with my heat,and his fingers slowly entering my hole, “augh,Daddy…” his tongue worked its magic as my hands ran through his hair and pulled him closer.

“Oh my god!” He kept hitting the right spots with his finger, making me closer to my high, “Daddy,right there”I yelled.

“I’m fucking close” I moaned as my hand gripped tighter on his hair, “I- mhmm” I came onto him, he rose his face from heat,collecting my juices from the corners of his lips and licked it, “so sweet” his fat cock was getting hard as rock and precum almost leaking out, “fuck me daddy” I said,he towered over me and started to make out with me, his tongue still tasting like me, “God,you’re so hot” He caressed my face.

He thrusted himself into me without a warning,earning a helpless whimper from me, “augh!” I moaned as he moved,and thrusted in and out of me, “my beautiful wife” Another grunt from him, “such an honor” I snicker as he kept moving in and out of me, grunt after grunt and moan after moan.

He ran his hand through my waist, switching our position with me on top of him,riding him.

Lloyd grunted as he kept hitting my cervix with his tip, my g spot was abused by his large cock, “just like that,cheri” he held a bruising grip on my hips.

My head leant back as I rode him, “gonna fill you up with my babies” Lloyd kissed my tits,sucking on it,leaving blue and violet lovemarks

“Daddy— please breed me,mmhmm” I held onto his shoulders as I rode him in a faster pace, “Cum in me!” I kissed him, tongue in his throat.

“I’m close,baby” Lloyd said, sucking on my neck leaving hickeys as big as alaska, “y-yeah me too,daddy” my pace was getting sloppy as I let myself melt onto Lloyd’s chest still riding him.

“Cum now,cheri” I clenched on his cock before letting go and cumming on him, I pressed a bruising kiss to Lloyd’s plump lips,he came in me just like he promised.

I was panting and hugging the sweaty Lloyd, “does anybody know?” I asked Lloyd, “probably, we’ve been wearing our rings around they should just assume it” he kissed my head.

“Lloyd,did you mean it?”I asked him, “what do you mean,cherie?” He asked back, “you know, what you said in your vow,yesterday?” I asked.

“Shall my bones be broken but I will always walk home to you, shall my ego be high but I will always promise to never hurt you physically or mentally with it, shall my attitude be cold but to you I would always find light to melt the ice in my veins, Ink or not,Dirt or Rust.I love you”

“I meant every word” He kissed me,I touch the bruise I left on his chest yesterday. “Ink or not,I love you so much” I caress his wounded cheek, “I love you more” Lloyd smiled.

[ficbrish]

The Truth of It

Rating: Explicit 18+ only!

[AO3 Link]

[Kinktober 2023 prompt thanks to @absurdthirst! October 20th - Thighfucking]

[[TW/CW: Cptsd, blood, suicide (mentions, ideation, past attempts—girliepop goes through it), death mentions, self-hate]]

Summary: Vistri opens up about her suicide ideation.

Act I - Mountains camp - After the failed zaith'isk/Githyanki cure

[Click here for my other Kinktober one-shots]

“Vistri?” Shadowheart called out her name a second time; right next to her, on the same bit of seating, and she still didn’t answer. Not even her favorite people could shake Vistri from the mood she’d fallen into, bog-like and hollow.

The back of her neck stung hot with Astarion’s consistent frown. His eyes, sharp with professed concern, had stalked her ever since she’d messed with the Githyanki’s purification device. It wasn’t the first time she almost died in front of him. With that face, if she were gone, he could easily find another bedroll to slake his lusts. Vistri didn’t know why he was pretending to be so bothered about it! Her disappearance should be a non-issue.

A general or an artist would be able to point it out, someone who could look at the lay of the land and positions of its people, and read stories. While everyone else was gathered in a group circle, passing around open hearts, laughing smiles, and shared bottles, Astarion stood in front of his tent, glaring at his lover who could hear nothing but the displeasure in his eyes.

As Shadowheart called her name for a third time, Vistri stormed off with a growl.

She’d been a puzzle to Astarion for most of the day, but this really took the cake. It was alarming to see her blink Shadowheart out of existence like that. Sure, they’d all known each other for only a few tendays, give or take, but from the outside, those two could have grown up together. If Shadowheart couldn’t take control of her storm, Astarion had no idea how his ship would fare it. All raging waters, she stomped in his direction like a 50ft wave.

Before he could get a word out to question why she marched over in such a fitful state, she huffed, “Stop it.”

Something in her tone and approach immediately ruffled his feathers. The sheer unpredictability of her made his anxiety appear before she spoke, and whatever it was that got under his skin, spiked it. He didn’t expect these kinds of feelings to ever be molded by her hands. It was always quite the opposite.

Betrayed, he swallowed, then bit back, “Excuse me?! Stop what?”

“Augh!”

Astarion clicked his tongue and lightened his tone, “Oh, dear. Did you misplace your charm? Because I do miss it ever so much.”

Thankfully, none of the others were nearby to witness Vistri’s moment of disgrace. They were all sitting around the old cistern, laughing and having a pleasant evening. Even Lae’zel, who popped a vessel every time they stopped to rest and whose “cure” turned out to be a lie of her people, was unusually animated. She kept egging on Karlach to ask Gale more questions about his grandad. Vistri was more likely to elbow a dear friend out of the way for a better view than sit there unresponsive. Her favorite thing to do was fuck around, and she hated being serious.

So, again, what was she doing bothering him for? What-the-fuck did he do?! He was used to getting in trouble, made a habit of it actually; all he wanted was to know was why.

Astarion raised his brow, pointing to the merriment she’d left behind to come fuss at him. Then it knitted with the other one, “Are you sure everything’s all right—”

“No! That! Stop that!” One more version of, Are you okay? from his so obviously deceptive lips and Vistri swore she’d jump into the campfire.

“I’m sorry?”

“Augh!”

“Do you…? Do you need to sit down? Or?”

“I do not need anything. I’m fine! Please, spare me your false concerns.”

“False con—! Oh, I’m sorry! Did I dare to give a shit for once? Fuck me, I’m never doing that again.”

Frustrated tears began to well up in Vistri’s eyes. A crater opened up in her stomach, “No!”

“No?”

Because the thing was that nobody cared. No one who fucked her ever asked if she was okay, because Vistri was always fantastic, and even if one doubted that for even a second, all they needed to seek relief was just to sit back and enjoy her show. The audience may gasp at a particularly nasty fall, but she always shot up afterwards with a grand smile and confetti rained down on her head. Astarion asked without really being the first person to ask. He said the words, his brow screwed up, but there was no way in any of the hells that he meant it. And if she could just say, You scare the shit out of me because none of it can be real, then maybe he’d be able to clear things up for her.

But all she could articulate was, “Augh!”

Astarion sighed to calm his excited rage, “I’m lost. Am I speaking to Vistri? Or is this some sort of residual, pissed-off-tadpole effect?”

She bit her tongue to stop herself from spitting back with something truly nasty she didn’t really mean and would forever regret. Astarion looked like he was doing the same. His eyes were as sharp as his smirk, and there was something dangerous in his air. Like he was ready to fight to the death, and by the gods, so was she.

Vistri balled her hands into fists, so wanting to break whatever laid at the root of his giving a shit. To snap it like a twig, and watch it die in his eyes.

It was the only thing she deserved.

The tender glint in his eyes sliced through her, sharp like papercuts. She would lose his frowning lips, and the memory of her would disappear as others sucked them. Vistri wanted to kiss them before it was too late. Tangle herself in his tongue and his arms and his chest, until she was nothing but raw heat, just something for him to take. So the rage had nowhere to go.

She blinked back her revulsion, and the overflow spilled down her face. Embarrassed, her voice cracked, “My head…”

Astarion’s defenses shut down. His heart seemed to obey her voice; whereas before it raised his shackles and grit his teeth, it now stilled his rage and broke it down into tenderness. He stepped closer with the care he’d just promised never to show again. Instinctively, he caressed the sides of her head, as if touch could cure it. The gentleness of his gesture, its complete lack of hesitation, tore Vistri’s heart in two, with one side empty as the void and the other full to bursting.

“Did that wretched Githyanki device hurt you, love?”

She nodded. That wasn’t it, but it was an easier story. Besides, if everyone believed in it enough, maybe it would become true.

Astarion sighed, “I think you deserve a good lie down. Why don’t we head inside my tent?”

She shook her head, “I don’t want to be inside.”

He lifted her chin up with his finger to peer inquisitively into her face. Astarion’s eyes met hers with kindness, forgiveness, “What about a walk to clear your mind?”

She nodded her head gratefully.

“Then we’ll take a quaint little stroll around the cliff,” his voice was soft and a little cheeky, “Would that be nice?”

It was embarrassing for Astarion to act with the patience of a paladin, and even more so for Vistri to act in a way that required it. They wore those roles like ill-fitting clothes. With that awkwardness lingering around them, making the air sharp, they took a step forward. He led her to another part of camp, away from all the others and their merriment. To get uphill, they had to first walk a decline. He carefully guided her passed rocks that stuck out and ground that slid, like she was someone frail. A ghost had more presence than she did at the moment.

Discordant bits of laughter from the group carried over on the wind and hit their backs like mocking jeers, even though it had nothing to do with either of them. The only rooms they’d ever known filled one’s absence with group whispers. Astarion swallowed such blaring thoughts. Willing them away, he turned to the task at hand and gently brought her to the spot they claimed for themselves the other night.

“Care for a roll in the hay?”

She’d clicked her fingers, and about three bales of it exploded into existence around their feet that night. The proud cockiness in her smirk was too delicious not to lick up, and he’d devoured her with a similar pride. Guilty lusts settled in now with those memories. Astarion shook his head to clear it.

“Come sit,” he insisted, his tone harsher than he meant, “We wouldn’t want you falling over, and you seem rather dizzy.”

“Better?” he asked as she did.

Vistri nodded, but he saw it for the lie it was. Astarion knew more than most that sometimes there was no better. He sucked his teeth and sat down next to her.

“Does it hurt?”

“Hmm?”

“Your head, darling. Does it—?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m fine.”

The way she blew off his rare kindness brought him right back to his previous rage, like he’d never left it. His mood visibly soured.

“You’re doing it again,” she muttered.

Astarion scoffed, “Pray tell, what am I apparently doing again?”

She shook her head, “It’s so silly.”

“I could use a laugh.”

Vistri sighed, admitting bashfully, “You’re… You keep frowning at me. Like you care what happens to me—Or something! I don’t know what you’re playing at, but we both know what’s what here and I’d rather that than be played a fool.”

Her words struck his heart, and reminded Astarion of who he really was.

“Well… That wasn’t very funny. Try again.”

Vistri laughed, “You prick!”

For that second, he wasn’t a leech, and she wasn’t an empty glass. They stepped out of their roles to be Astarion and Vistri sharing a joke together. Then reality set in.

“I don’t like to see you hurt,” he said out loud, trying it on for size. It wasn’t wrong either. He felt like rats had been chewing through his veins as he watched her twist and shriek in the grasp of that alien machine.

“Afraid of the goods getting damaged?”

He smirked, “Obviously.”

Vistri pulled apart a bit of hay, watching it break between her fingers without seeing it, “I don’t know how to take… I mean…”

Astarion waited for her to continue, but more words never came. His hand reached for hers, “Vistri, I—I don’t want bad things to happen to you.”

That desperate look in her eyes pleaded for truth, but Astarion was lost as to what that was. A chill ran through him. She deserved so much more, and all he had to offer was himself, a falsehood.

He watched her try her best to believe in his words, and squeezed her hand, “Do you think it brings me pleasure to see you in pain?”

Vistri raised an amused brow.

Astarion chuckled, “Yes, of course that, but it’s not the same, is it?”

She smirked and scratched the back of her neck, “No.”

“Even with that, it’s not so much seeing you in pain, as it is seeing you let me do it.”

“Seeing me let you do what?”

His smile was devilish, “Anything I want.”

A bit of shyness colored her agitation. The more he watched her expression, the more it seemed to change to sadness. There was so much beauty to take in from the distance, but Vistri was staring out at nothing.

“Yeah,” she said.

Astarion brought her knuckles up to brush them with his lips. And kissed them bump by bump.

“My pretty pet… What is it that bothers you so?”

Vistri sighed, “You’re being nice outside of the bedroom and it’s weird.”

He scoffed and dropped her hand, “I’m nice!”

She leaned in and raised her brow.

“Don’t look at me like that. You make me nice.”

“Why?”

“Why? I don’t know why. It… Ugh! Maybe it rubs off!”

Uncomfortable with the heaviness, Vistri joked, “Gods know we do a lot of rubbing.”

He chuckled, looping his fingers through hers.

She looked out into the distance again. So did he.

As they sat there, Astarion played back every word and interaction he’d had with her that day, the day before, and basically any time they’d ever spent together. He was trying to figure her out on his own, and the more he contemplated, the more vileness crawled up his throat like bile. Every detail he went through made her more vulnerable, which made him more of a monster.

“What is it about this time?”

He was surprised she spoke. It had been a while since either of them said anything, “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes. I’m asking because I really want to know.”

“Now, now, darling. We don’t bite without asking.”

Vistri smirked her apology.

“I didn’t know I was being any different. Except… Why did you jump into that thing? That device? Wait—Don’t answer that, just listen. Because then I thought… That’s not the first time I’ve seen you jump in like that. Countless times… And then there’s me. And that’s the thing that explains it all, isn’t it?”

“What are you on about?”

“I think you’re hoping something’s going to come along and finally kill you. Like you died ages ago, and the moment to pass on keeps running by and you’re just… Well, maybe you’re just trying to catch up to it,” Astarion spoke plainly, without any weight, just a statement. He cleared his throat upon finishing his last word.

Vistri dropped his hand and laughed, “Silly boy!”

They’d held on for so long, letting go felt like losing a limb. Their empty, damp palms were chilled by the air as it breezed by.

“Right. Silly me,” he said with the absence of amusement.

“What do you want here?”

“What do I want? I don’t want anything,” he made a grand gesture with his hands, “I’m simply revealing my revelations.”

She scoffed, “What? That I’m just waiting for death? Aren’t we all?”

He sighed, “Forget I said anything.”

Vistri felt her lips tremble. She felt so stupid, “That’s it?”

“I was concerned. I said my bit. We can move on if you don’t want to discuss it further.”

She sat there and raged. Who the fuck was he to pretend to know her?

“You don’t care.”

“I never said I didn’t,” he didn’t know if that was true.

Biting her lip, Vistri tried to pull herself together. She needed to breathe, but a big wave of something ugly threatened to slip out with every bit of exhale. Her past was like an octopus, and the constant vibratory tension from his worry ripped a hole through the steel walls neatly containing it in a forgotten corner of her mind. Like a clean, empty facility, it was abandoned, yet well-tended to. His queries poked through the hole and reached around inside, and if even one tentacle got wind of the crack, all eight arms could slip out, and its head would follow like liquid. 

Astarion could see she was on the verge of telling him something but needed a bit more encouragement. He grabbed her hand, “I think I do care. At least enough to wonder what that’s all about.”

Again, he didn’t know if it was true, but it felt… not like a lie.

“Promise me you’ll laugh?” she asked.

Astarion sighed, “If that’s what you want, I’ll do my best to oblige.”

“All right, then,” her smile was unnerving. It wasn’t just out of place in the moment, it was equal parts ‘grimace as a silent shriek’ and ‘grin of a delighted fey’, “I could tell you the story of what I was doing before the Nautiloid snatched me up. Does that sound good to you?”

“I guess…”

She still wore that same horrific expression, “I was on a cliff just like this one, trying my best to jump right in, as you put it before.”

As shocking as that was, it really wasn’t. He might’ve placed his bets on someone else if he’d have guessed, but he also wasn’t that surprised. Of course he was drawn to another soul as wretched as his. In the best of cosmic jokes, Astarion picked a mirror to play Cazador to. 

He answered slowly, carefully as if navigating a minefield, “Yeah?”

Vistri pouted, “You promised to laugh!”

Astarion gave a weak, “Ahahahaha…”

She rolled her eyes, scoffing, “It’s funny!”

“Sure it is.”

“Whatever.”

“While the thought of you going splat is endlessly amusing, your delivery was all wrong, love.”

“What a critic!”

“Try again.”

Vistri cleared her throat, ready to be dazzling, "Okay, Hold on... It was a day just like any other day—”

“Gods! Not like that!” he teased, “We’ll be sitting here until the sun rises again.”

She glared at him, “I see you expect perfection.”

“I accept,” he spread his fingers and collected them back with a sweeping wave, “No less.”

She smirked at him slyly “There once was a Drow named Vistri, who some say was quite the mys-try!”

Astarion nodded his approval.

She proudly continued her improvised little song, “She went to jump over a cliff, but it was a miss. She took a step forward, oh my she was tortured! Then down from the sky came a very bad guy, and a tentacle scooped her up northward!”

Astarion couldn’t help but actually laugh with her this time, “It’s not funny! But—While you were stepping over the edge?”

“Yes! One foot hovering over the abyss,” she giggled, “Then poof!”

“If that would happen to anyone, it would happen to you. Or me, come to think of it.”

Vistri wiped the tears from her eyes, “It’s ridiculous!”

“It’s truly amazing, is what it is.”

“It never works for me, you know,” she said, “Any time I try to… Well. You know. It’s something in my magic, I was born with the powers of an old dragon I didn’t do anything to earn. My magic is always there—I didn’t ask for it, and more than just a survival instinct, it’s like a vengeance of life.”

“A vengeance of life? I can identify with that. I think I survived those two hundred years just out of pure spite. A stake through the heart felt like letting him win.”

“No matter what I try, it’s always okay in the end,” she continued, “I can’t even take myself seriously after a while. More than half the times I’ve… I’d be going over plans in my head of what to do later that evening. And after all those times, I’m still here.”

“I don’t hate that you’re still here.”

Vistri scoffed, “Yeah?”

“No, I mean it. I’m glad,” he took her hand back, “I benefit, at least.”

She smirked, but her eyes were dead. They filled and ran without noticing, just sitting there in her skull, barely looking out.

One “Ha” of a laugh escaped him that was more like a huff, “And immediately after, you had to fight for your life.”

“What?”

Astarion pointed to his head, “Tadpole. Big ship? Took us up? Remember?”

She chuckled, but it was so empty, “Shut up.”

“Do you really want me to? Or can I ask you another question?”

“Go on,” she said weakly.

“It’s rather broad, are you all right with that?”

She shot him a suspicious glance, but the accusation quickly melted into something else, “All right.”

Astarion sighed, and then simply asked, “Why?”

Like a child, she brought her knees up to her chest, and rested her chin in the crook of them. Her expression was thoughtful, not refusing. She looked like she was going to answer, and was just deciding how.

And then she didn’t. She just sat there and stared ahead.

The broken way he eventually said, ��Oh, my darling…” pulled at her thread that was holding everything together.

“Don’t!”

Vistri was stiff as the rock around them. So unmoving, she was shaking.

“I’m sorry,” he said very calmly, “Is there anything I can do?”

She shut her eyes tight, and began rocking, “No. Stay there. Shush.”

He nodded and waited for her signal to do anything other than watch and freeze. The timelessness of the hells fell over their heads. Gravity felt steeper. Now was forever.

“Okay,” her voice broke the spell, and she looked up at him, nodding, to repeat, “Okay.”

Astarion flew around her, and for the first time outside of a whoopsie in battle or moment of fun, held her tightly, so tight, for the sake of his own aching heart. He kissed the top of her head reflexively. Warming her back with one hand, he cradled her face against his neck with the other. He genuinely wanted to do it, felt no ulterior motivation, but at the same time, a part of his mind marked his victory. Catching her up at a vulnerable moment, and being the shoulder she leaned on, would bind her to him like a warding enchantment.

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered senselessly, “I’m so sorry.” He had no idea whether he was apologizing for whatever she couldn’t say, or himself. Perhaps both. Perhaps a bit more for his own wrongdoing.

Only it didn’t feel wrong. And that scared him. Frightened him.

Vistri knew she was crying but couldn’t feel herself doing so. She knew she was being held by him, but rather looked out and saw it from above and off to the side. She thought she looked terrible, and he looked so fine. Dashingly picturesque and tragic.

Nobody ever held her the way he did now. She never felt such warmth, and they were both such cold people. How was it possible? Was it some dream?

She started speaking, “We’re more similar than you know.”

Right then, Astarion predicted the gist of what she was about to say. He could tell by the look on her face and the way her tone itched at his brain, she had her own Cazador. She also walked around weighted by invisible chains held by a very nasty man. Same prison, different jailor; he was understood. He found a home there in that knowing. Still, he’d give her his own rusted shackles just to lighten his burden, even if it meant crushing her under them. Anything to soothe the wound.

He’d warned her so many times; he was a thing that ate. He had real no say in the matter, the curse that fueled his undead life was a restless jaw. If Vistri was looking for a guide to a kinder world, she wouldn’t find it in his arms. They belonged to another very nasty man. Even though it was different this time, he’d take her with him to Cazador’s lair and someone would die. If only one of them were to make it out of this mess alive, well, he was a scrappy survivor, and she was the type to ball up and welcome oblivion. Anything to be free.

“Yeah,” was all he said, and it was so warm. Like an embrace, it held her softly, making her feel like something meant to be protected. She nodded tearfully into him. Leaning on him like this was an indulgence, but he tolerated it at least enough to let it happen. Vistri knew she had to pull herself together. The home she found was rented, and she could only borrow so much. Astarion had more to give, but it wasn’t for her. There was no way she’d be one of the lucky ones.

He kissed her head again, and caught himself, “Sorry. Is it okay to touch you?”

She nodded harder than the last time.

His chuckle was relief. To her, it was a song. He held her tighter. She dissolved. He’d taken off her mask, stripped her of her costume, and naked, she cried into his chest, “I just want to die. I want to be dead. And I can’t. I keep trying, and I can’t!”

Holding her at a moment like this was a key part of his plan. Step one, open her legs. Step two, her heart. It was a system as efficient as it was ugly and cheap. And it made him ugly and cheap, but it also made him safe. He closed his eyes, Vistri’s tears soaking through his shirt felt like fire and it burned into his cursed, cold skin like a holy symbol; a brand. It was like her body knew what lurked inside his, called him out for the parasite he was even as she was oblivious to it, and fought back to defend against him when she couldn’t.

Vistri sunk into him, tucked into his warmth. She found her breath again in his arms, and in the moment she came back to herself, started to laugh.

He peeked down, “What are you chuckling about in there?”

Her eyes still freely flowed, silent and thick, but she was more present than before, “In where?”

“My shirt,” he said, “My damp shirt, mind you.”

“How is that my fault?”

He glared at her, “What do you mean, how?”

“I told you not to ask questions.”

“Well excuse me for wondering about your tendency to… To—”

“Try to kill myself?” she finished, her tone too light.

Astarion sighed. She threw her head back and laughed. He didn’t join in.

“You promised!”

“Let me let you in on a little secret about me and promises,” he said dangerously sardonic, eyes lowered, “Besides, I already pretended to laugh earlier.”

“Faking it doesn’t count!”

“Maybe I’d find it funnier if…”

“If what?”

If what?

If the others wouldn’t kill him before her corpse was cold? If they didn’t rely on each other every battle? If the very thought of her…

“Oh, I don’t know! I don’t want you dead! Is that so horrible to believe?”

His grumpiness was sweet. They were always pretending, with each other, with everyone else. Vistri knew it the moment she first laid eyes on him. That’s why every word he uttered that she ever wanted to hear made her ache all over with a dull sorrow, and why the words he pushed her away with were such tender caresses.

“Of course it’s horrible,” she joked, smiling, “I can’t give you what you want and kill myself! However will my two worst impulses co-exist?”

Astarion smirked, “Shithead.”

She smiled, and that sign of life from her made his blood rush.

He kissed her cheek to whisper in her ear, “If you ever feel such a desire coming upon you in the future, come to me, darling. I won’t provide you a real death, but I have plenty of little ones to give.”

His advances flooded Vistri with relief, she knew who she was within desire. Who to be and how to be had familiar answers, and reuniting with any sense of self was such a comfort, she had her first real sense of stillness since breakfast that morning.

He was so close, she prayed he didn’t hear the way her breath gave out.

“I heard that,” he muttered against her cheekbone.

“No, you didn’t,” she giggled heatedly.

“Yes, I did. Now, I know you want it, but I can’t give you that yet. There’s something you must do first.”

“Gods!” she groaned, “Please tell me you’re not about to request I promise not to throw myself right off this cliff!”

He chuckled, “I wasn’t born yesterday! That’s not a promise you’d keep in the long term. Then I’d have to call off whatever this is between us because you’d be lying just to get in my pants, and that would be awkward because your lie would have been exposed just after you tried to off yourself.”

She laughed loudly, “I wouldn’t lie! I would just refuse, and eventually you’d fuck me anyway.”

He grabbed hold of her wrists and leered at her seriously with a piercing expression. Time seemed to stop.

Astarion observed her reaction to pick apart her every emotion, willing his own to remain carefully neutral. Her confidence was so hollow. Her eyes gleamed with the delight of having him wrapped around her little finger, and yes, gods yes, he’d suck it and moan and beg for more, but he was the one really in control. He had all the power because he was clearly giving her something she never had.

The first cut and all that.

Her fingers played with his chest through his open shirt. His heart skipped on its own at the brush of their tips.

“And what about you?”

His mind had wandered, and while he was away, one of her arms broke free to reach for him, “What?”

“How tempting is this cliff?”

“Me? Oh! Right. That, uh,” he paused with a scoffing chuckle, “No, my dear. Sadly, it was my wish to live that landed me in this spot in the first place.”

“And since?”

Releasing her other wrist from his grip, he answered dryly, “Everything’s been fairies and rainbows, and all my days have had happy endings.”

Vistri smirked, raising her brow, “Well, they do now, at least.”

He flashed a heated smile and lowered his eyes, “Why do you care to ask?”

She squinted at his question, like it had the sting of an insult, “I don’t know! Why do you care to ask me?”

“You’re right. That was horrible! Let’s never care again!”

He expected her to laugh but she looked rather serious. “I didn’t mean for you to worry,” her tone was small, and younger than he’d ever heard.

His smirk was friendly and understanding, “If it helps, I was more curious than anything else.”

“Curious?!”

There was a contentedness in his playful tone, “They call her Vistri, ‘cus she’s a mys-try!”

“Oh, stick to readership, darling.”

He growled and tackled her to the ground. She was breathless underneath him, laughing like every spot on her body tickled at once. Some might call it happiness, and maybe it was; Astarion felt it as acceptance. Overwhelming acceptance. So adored, he was given anything he wanted, completely spoiled. And if he was invited to take, why shouldn’t he?

“Remember that favor, my dear?” he asked, pinning her forearms above her head. Before she could answer, he leaned in for a kiss, one that was gentle and hungry.

Her sighs were moans, “Maybe I’ll wait it out.”

He kissed her neck and whispered, “Could you?”

The way she shivered was her answer. Astarion grinned and stroked her throat with the tip of his nose. From the base of it to her chin, and sealed his gesture with another longing kiss.

She was his.

Even if it meant degrading herself. Being his little slut, bent over and drooling. He moaned on the next stroke of her tongue, overcome by the whim to fuck her senseless. His mind reeled with possibility. Just how far would she go for him, out in the open air, with the others just off into the distance? How could he give her a taste of a life that was worth living?

“Get yourself off for me, dear.”

“Here?” Vistri asked, grinning. Her heart pounded faster than it already was.

They weren’t exactly discreet, but only ever touched each other tucked away in the woods or his tent. Here, out on the cliff where anyone might see… It was like he was claiming her. Like maybe some small part of his mind, or some feeling deep down, knew how important she was going to be to him once he realized his truth. That if he asked her to cum in the open air under the evening glow, she was worth something.

“The sun is disappearing, and I’ll cover you.”

Her grin grew wider, even reaching her eyes. She tried to tug one of her arms free from his grip.

“Ah, ah! No hands."

She looked at him curiously. Maybe he’d changed his mind about her. Maybe he had a delightfully naughty idea. Maybe this was the start of his attempt to toss her off the cliff.

He unwrapped one of her legs from around his, and slid his thigh between hers, “Use me.”

“Okay.”

Showing her how to proceed, Astarion rubbed himself against her middle. She bit her lip and began to roll her hips. Her obedience was like a drug, and they passed it with their tongues where it melted into them and infected their minds worse than those tadpoles ever could.

“Good,” he praised, just above a whisper. He fondled her neck, and the hand he let go of shot to his curls. His fangs throbbed, so ready to take her that he gasped as if biting into something hot whenever they touched her skin.

She made a sound he had to shush, it was too personal and way too explicit.

“I can block you from view, but I cannot stop your sound.”

She nodded, sighing and rocking against his thigh.

“All the pieces come together,” he said as she pleasured herself on him, “You’ve always given yourself to me so willingly. Let me bite you. Now I know why.”

Vistri tossed her head back, craning her neck, and sighed, “There are worse things than dying in the arms of someone pretty.”

“And if I had killed you that night?”

“I hope you would have drunk me up.”

A full, wanting, warm acceptance of himself—Not just his charm, but the monster, the ugliness in him. She wanted all of it, treasured all of him. He’d never been good enough for anyone before, just a disappointment under an illusion. But she made him feel like a god.

He groaned, composure slipping, “Ohfuckme…”

“Okay.”

“Not yet,” his grip on her arm loosened enough for him to travel up her wrists and interlace their fingers, “You haven’t earned it.”

She shouldn’t surrender. It would just be another attempt at non-existence. Why couldn’t she have answered with something along the lines of coming back to life just to drive a stake through his heart? Astarion wished it had been anything other than wanting him to have his fill, even if it meant her destruction. It was her will to be his sacrifice, to be truly devoured. He shouldn’t yearn for her so completely; cherish the way, I hope you would have drunk me up, fell out of her so blissfully, like belonging to him was a good thing.

Vistri playing with the point of his ear made him twitch and toss his head. The moan that betrayed him sounded so pathetic.

“I could wait you out.”

He chuckled, “No, you couldn’t. As much as I want you, I’m stubborn. Thrill me all you want, love, I’m determined for you to be absolutely dripping before I give you that.”

She arched her back, “I’m close.”

She wasn’t.

“Already?”

Not nearly, but worried she couldn’t give him his fantasy, she played the part.

The muscles on her face squeezed up real tight, and as her breath grew more shallow, she exhaled with high-pitched, little cries. Her tension peaked and melted away, “Already.”

It didn’t fool him one bit. In fact, he was sure that wasn’t even her finest performance. Like she’d started to pretend and went somewhere else, forgetting she was still on stage. Or a whore with ‘first day’ nerves. He was frowning when she opened her eyes.

“What?”

“Did you just fake it?!”

Vistri’s eyes grew real wide, and having been called out, laughed breathlessly, “Gods!”

“I was right! You faked it!”

She got caught up in another wave of laughter, “I’m sorry!”

Astarion smirked and tickled her sides, “Faking it doesn’t count!”

Squealing and wriggling to dodge his hands, she protested, “It wasn’t a lie! It was an attempt!”

“An attempt?! What is that supposed to mean? An attempt!”

Vistri couldn’t get a word in. She couldn’t breathe, “Please!”

He stopped tickling her so she could answer. Her breasts bounced with her heaving chest. His palms roamed over to cup them, “Did you not like it?” He’d thought of it just for her, and played with her nipples to distract himself from sudden choking disappointment. Buried in arousal, the sting ebbed away.

“No, I love it! Your thigh is heavenly, but you have other, better parts for pleasing—”

“How much better?” he interrupted in a heated tone.

Laughing, she answered, “Better than anything in the world! And not just this,” she brought her hand between his legs and gave that beloved, rock-hard part of him a squeeze, “Although it is wonderful, you have so many other parts for pleasing.”

“Just not my thigh.”

“It pleases, just not enough to bring a bout of ecstasy.”

“Do you want to stop?” He would at her command, but wasn’t ready to lose her.

She ran her hand along it, “No.”

A bright feeling ran through his spine, “You’d like to continue?”

“I do,” her hips resumed their flowing movement.

Her validation killed his fears, and so grateful for the throne to her world, a soft smile nestled in his expression, tugging at the corners of his mouth, “Give yourself time to get there, darling. It’s the journey, not the destination. I can watch you burst any time I want, but for now I want to observe as you slowly unravel.”

“Okay,” she moaned.

“And no performances this time. I will be very displeased. Do you want me displeased?”

She shook her head, “No.”

Anything but that. She’d be good for him so he wouldn’t throw her out.

“Good. Now slow down. You’re not just any rutting pup. You’re my little dragon and these sensations are your treasure. Lurk among your treasures, dear. Survey them, indulge.”

Her thrusts followed the command of his voice. She let them linger, like a slow drip.

“That’s it,” he praised, squeezing her breasts until she gasped.

Astarion looked around, and no one was in sight. The others would stay on the other side of camp for most of the evening and had no reason to pass by other than Lae’zel and Shadowheart, but it was still unlikely either of them would see.

He tugged her shirt lower, stretching it until her breasts spilled out through the top. Gravity squished them into perfect spheres under her neck, and her nipples just peaked out.

His tongue felt so warm on them. The impact of bumping into his thigh and the tight grinding against his femur were her favorite treasures, and then his roaming mouth was added to her pile. She could feel her pants bunching up as they soaked with her, and the damp cloth pinched at her skin as she humped him. The sting of it was a rainfall of coin over her glittering pile of sapphires and amethysts.

Kissing her deeply, Astarion took her hand and moved it back to his bursting laces. Their fingers tangled, undoing them together. When they were loose enough, he pulled her hand through the opening and wrapped it around his cock.

“Gods!” he groaned as she stroked him skin to skin.

Throbbing under her fingers, pulsing, hard; the perversity of her hand dipping into his trousers, riding his leg, nearing completion; his taste, his smell, his focus trained on only her: These were diamonds, so sharp they cut her. But they were so beautiful! And clear, and shone so bright!

“If I outlast you,” she sighed, “Then I win.”

She might win. Astarion did his best to hold back, but he was leaking in her hands.

“What would you win?”

“The mess of you all over my skin.”

He tried to think of something else, anything else, other than the image that conjured. It brought him too close. Teetering on the edge and planting his feet there, he moaned and it sounded like something dying.

Vistri gasped as it met her ears, bringing her closer.

His hands wandered down to her bum, and squeezed it in both hands, adding more pressure to her thrusts, bringing her closer to him. Closer and closer. Her bones started to hurt, ground away by his, but that ache was a handful of rubies, red and lush.

“Harder,” she said.

Astarion tightened his grip, leaned into her movements. He held her so near she could nuzzle her face into his shoulder. His skin was a pearl against her cheek.

“Kiss me,” Vistri pleaded, and when he did, she lost.

“I’m—” a little possession, a bit of a wail, and she could no longer speak.

In her rapture, she ceased her stroking, gripped him like a pulsing cunt, then left her palm hanging limply under his laces. His eyes were fighting to roll back when she let go, and even as he was grateful for it, just the brush of her unmoving hand was enough to be dangerous.

He pinned it above her head to take it away, “And now you’re mine to take.”

Her face was flushed, her breath still gone. “Yours to take,” she repeated as consent.

Pulling down her trousers, he found a river of her. He pushed her thighs up into her chest and took a look between them. Her pants were soaking, their slit a dark spot.

“All mine?” he asked.

She nodded, giving herself to him entirely. The fact that he wanted it made her blissful, like she belonged.

“Well, well, well,” he brought his face lower and spoke between her legs, “Might I have a taste? You smell de-licious!”

“Yes,” she whimpered, trembling. He gave a long, lingering lick along that dark spot, and she arched her back, groaning.

Astarion lifted his head to take another look around. The position they were in now was a bit more conspicuous. A dark part of him wished the others were around to watch him feed.

He kissed the back of her thighs, and she didn’t let even one of them slip by without a reaction. His tongue wrapped around the soaking strip of her pants, and he peeled them up to the crook of her knees with his teeth. A hungry whine left him, being so close to her skin flushed with pumping supper.

His nose nuzzled the back of her knee, tangling in her underwear, “Turns out a taste was just not enough. Mind if I take a bite?”

“Please!”

Her back writhed pleasantly against his cock as he sunk aching fangs into her flesh. He hadn’t anticipated the force of her leg pushing against his face. Her arms were so much weaker, and her neck never offered any resistance. Oh, but he liked it! Astarion felt vicious, attacking and taking something that fought back.

Having taken enough, he forced himself to stop. He pressed his tongue against the wound until it closed and gave it a kiss. Then he licked up every drop of crimson dripping down her lavender thigh. His tongue strayed its course, finding her middle. Vistri grabbed his head as he indulged in another kind of meal.

It was one of his parts she said was good for pleasing. She’d already earned him with one little death, but he gave her another, and another.

After the fourth, she summoned her very best begging voice, “Please, fuck me!”

His face was covered and shining with her wet. It even dripped down his throat, mixing with smears of her blood, “I thought I was.”

“Bury yourself in me.”

He made a quick vow to himself that it wouldn’t be over the moment he did. Then dove in with an uncomposed groan, “Fuck’ssake!”

The genuine sounds of what she tried to fake earlier were in his ears, right under them.

“Already?” he asked.

“Already!”

His face screwed up tight with hers, and as she pulsed around him, he yelped with the effort to hold back.

At the end of his cock, her chest pried open as if split down the middle, exposing her insides like two heavy doors creaking their welcome. Astarion felt himself crawl up her gut and slip into her heart, where sitting inside it, he could reach up with clawed, wretched fingers and tear at her throat. Then he’d kiss it better, the only one able to do so, and she’d never leave his side.

He felt her fingers on his chest, and found himself facing a pair of attentive eyes.

“Come back to me,” she asked like it was a favor, with a touch of light affection, an air of breathlessness, and enough simplicity that it was safe to come back.

“Hello there,” he smiled.

Vistri pulled him close for a kiss so full of gentle, living heat it was a hearth.

“It’s okay,” she said, forehead pressed to his, “You can let go.”

Starved of something in her tone, his body released into hers.

“Vistri!” he called out her name like it was the only thing that could save him. Then caught himself, realizing he’d been loud enough to carry across camp, “Shit!—Huh!”

Her arms flew upwards, wrapping around his head as if to help him keep his soul from seeping out. She couldn’t help the way her body responded to his echoes of pleasure by leaping into another wave of ecstasy. Just to be with him. A reflex of hers that must’ve been borne from her haunting impulse to follow him anywhere.

Unable to leave her, he let himself slide a little in and out; slow, slight strokes. Then finally stilled. They stared at each other a long while before moving apart.

“We should get cleaned up.”

“Right,” he muttered, “Right.”

She kissed the tip of his nose and giggled, “You have to get off me.”

He pecked her ear, “But I don’t want to.”

She laughed heartily and tossed him aside, “Get off me!”

“I was comfortable there!” he whined.

“Tough shit,” she grinned.

Astarion smiled back with empty eyes, sure that her grin was meant for someone else; the person he pretended to be.

“Are you all right?”

Apparently, he was unable to hide. When a lie didn’t work, there were always deflections.

“I’m more than all right! How’s your head? Didn’t steal too much of you, did I?”

“Astarion.”

When deflections failed to take, the only thing left was trading one truth for another. What could he sacrifice to keep the main thing hidden? It had to fit the same feelings as those he already wore.

“I just keep thinking… And excuse me, it’s quite selfish,” he moved some hair out of her face, “If you’d gotten what you wanted, you and I would never have met.”

Her round eyes were so fragile as they looked into his. All of her walls were knocked over, and the part of her that sat there was all raw existence.

She grabbed his hand, kissing his fingers. “All right then,” she rolled those round, breakable eyes, admitting, “I’m glad we did.”

Vistri was his. He squeezed her hand as if to tell her, never let go.

Rooted to the spot, they sat together and looked out at the view, actually seeing it this time. They deserved to have a nice sunset. One nice sunset.

“You’re unusually quiet.”

“I’m just taking everything in. Look at it! Aren’t you glad we aren’t just stuffed in your tent?”

Astarion raised his brow, “Insulting my castle is no way to get invited back, you know.”

She giggled and nudged his shoulder with hers, ���It wasn’t meant as an insult.”

“You sure?”

She laughed, “Are you scolding me, Astarion?”

“No!”

“You are! Like you’re my mother or something! Well… Not my mother. She wouldn’t give a shit if I hurt myself. She scolded me plenty, but only over being an embarrassment or an inconvenience. Sometimes both.”

Vistri never talked about her past with any of them. Not even himself, who couldn’t stop telling her about Cazador once he started. It made Astarion hold his breath, afraid to chase away her confessions with the slightest disturbance.

“Gods! How in the hells did I end up talking about my mother? What a silly thing…”

Astarion leaned back, “I don’t know. Probably for the same reason I mention Cazador from time to time. If she’s as bad as she sounds.”

Vistri chuckled, “Her and Cazador would probably be friends.”

“He did often call me an embarrassment and an inconvenience.”

Vistri looked down shyly, “You’re not either of those things to me.”

Astarion took her hand, “Thank you. And neither are you. You know that, right?”

“You flatterer,” she teased.

His smile was a heapful of sorrow. All his lies were true, and his truth was a lie. His pretty songs echoed his real heartbeats. His determination to trap her was a sham, for he’d got caught up in it himself. She was right, Astarion was a flatterer, but he also wasn’t.

Neither confirming nor denying his accusation, Vistri settled for the worst case answer. He was probably looking for an excuse to leave. They always met up for this so much later in the night, and the sun hadn’t fully set yet.

Not wanting him to go, she turned her attention back to the view around them, “You know this big crater around us was probably an ocean before?”

“Actually?” he asked, grateful for a change of subject.

“It’s what must have made this shape. Well, that or a god’s great big fist,” Vistri rambled, “But I bet we’d find a lot of old bones in this stone if we looked for them. That’s what would tell us for sure.”

Astarion brushed his fingers lightly over her fist. She opened it so his fingers fell gently into her palm. He stroked along its curves until she closed her fingers around them.

“Would they be fish bones?”

“Ancient fish bones! And they probably wouldn’t even look like any fish we know. They might even look like monsters!”

“You like those,” he smirked, “Don’t you?”

“I don’t think of you as a monster. I think of you as a vampire.”

Like he was part of a species and not just a classification of Undead. Natural, and not a twisted version of life. Heart aching with the idea, Astarion’s eyes softened, showing Vistri an emotion she wasn’t sure he was capable of. Something she’d given up on ever earning from anyone. 

“A rather refreshing perspective. Just look at that waterfall! Isn’t it darling? And that little river that runs with it.”

Vistri nodded her head against his breast and stated theatrically, “All that remains of a mighty, prehistoric sea.”

The colors in the sky were candy-bright before they grew dark. They were still holding onto each other’s hands when the stars came out, even though they’d shifted positions as often as conversation topics.

It was only allowed because they pretended not to notice.

Lying down was better for looking out at the stars, but Vistri was so exhausted, it was hard not to slip into trance whenever she blinked her eyes. Astarion watched it take over, her face tucked in the nook of his shoulder.

Poor thing. She didn’t deserve to be cast under his spell, another of his cursed conquests. Even though Baldur’s Gate was still far away, and the tadpole took away the power of compulsion, every time his heart skipped for her, it sang, Caz-a-dor, Caz-a-dor, take her to Caz-a-dor! Any time he felt a part of himself wishing they’d met much sooner, Astarion was reminded she would have just been discarded like all the rest.

Sighing, he tried to slip into his trance. He closed his eyes. Opened them. They were on a cliff, how stupid would they be to remain unconscious here. Careful not to rouse her, Astarion untangled himself from her grasp to get up and carry her.

With his cursed heart pumping her dragon blood through his muscles, she was so easy to whisk away. He had to look where he was stepping, but her face proved such a distraction. The moonlight bounced off her silver scales and set her periwinkle skin aglow.

He smiled, stopping for a moment to appreciate—”Mother of fuck!”

Lolth didn’t guide her Drow towards pretty memories, she filled their heads with living nightmares. Whatever Vistri saw in her trance, it wasn’t bunnies. Still deeply within it, she’d reached out and punched Astarion vaguely in the nose with a whimper. He almost dropped her.

“Hells, girl!” he muttered, readjusting her in his arms.

At least some part of her fought back. The pulsing pain in his face was a reminder of what he deserved. As he walked passed the dying campfire, he leaned over and blew angrily into it, hoping that was enough to revive it but not really giving a shit either way. Then he tucked them through his tent flaps, and set her down with care.

She was simply the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Just one part of her face; whether the metallic scales across her brow with her eyes closed under them, the shape of her nose and a peek of cheekbone at the side, or her pouting lips that rested over her chin; was equivalent to an entire sunset watched from a cliffside, on a mountain, towering above lively rivers and waterfalls. Such beauty required a tenderness he was too base to give. Pride in ownership soiled the sweet whispers of his heart. Greed reverberated through him, and loathing for himself echoed out of every pore. 

Astarion frowned as he surveyed Vistri on the floor of his tent. She couldn’t be too comfortable. Torn between the idea of fixing it and accidentally waking her, he started to pace around for a solution.

Like a sickly, potent stomach acid, he’d consume her slowly; digested through the mouth, by his tongue. His doing. He had a rot he needed someone else to hold.

With no good way to toss her into a bedroll, he made a nest of some blankets, and rolled her on top. Treating her like a baby bird, he adjusted her neck to rest on a cushion. He moved hair away from her face, caressed her cheek, and stopped himself from planting a peck on her brow.

He changed his mind as he settled in next to her. His racing thoughts made trance unreachable, but when his lips met her cool forehead, a peace came over him. Astarion took a deep breath through his nose before pulling away, and his eyes thickened with a bit of moisture.

“Rest up,” he whispered. And when he next closed his eyes, trance came to him. Unlike hers, it was his only refuge from nightmares.

[Click here for my other Kinktober one-shots]

[golden-wires]

!!!SPOILERS FOR METALOCAYLSPE ARMY OF THE DOOMSTAR!!!!! i'm going to be talking about a scene and my thoughts when first watching so please if you haven't seen scrollllll!! this is just me over analyzing a scene in my metalocalypse brain rot

this right here of Nathan SHOVING murderface back under the water really spiked the anxiousness I felt in this scene but in a invested way, they're not just half assing this like they might've done before, they are like "Get BACK under the water" if done wrong they could have killed him, there's a lot going on here omg they have to be roigh with their friend knowing that he's under someones control. so there's them being strategic with it but also a panic to get it over with, because when have they ever had to drown someone? let alone someone they are close with

then the look they all share once murderface had gone still- this short scene had no reason to be ripping my heart out /lh they could've written them all to be smiles and be like "job well done" and leave murderface in the water alone as a joke, but no we get them as the most quiet they've ever been, and saying so MUCH without even speaking, because once he goes limp there is no sigh of relief, they're tired from whats been going on so they take a moment to catch their breaths Nathan- looks the most panicked here, he doesn't know if he and the others went too far, he doesn't know if he went too far, he is already feeling the weight of it all for having messed up the song and put them all in this situation. So the idea they could have just killed one of their bandmates just like that, and so quickly while once again from him trying to do the right thing must be the most scared he's ever been, or at least ever let himself feel, and its bubbling VERY close to the surface here. Toki- he also shares a similar scared expression and looks to his more level headed bandmate (as much as skwizgaar could be) for some kind of reassurance or look that lets him know its fine and they did something right. or that murderface is okay Skwisgaar- his facial expression lets nothing out, no fear but also no answer, he also is just quietly waiting for the other shoe to drop I don't quite have the words to explain how pickles might be feeling in this moment but the overall feeling from them all is a quiet silence as they wait on baited breath to know whether in these past 30 seconds if they just saved their friend or did they all fail

the cpr scene: This is where again are SILENT but are letting a lot be said but are not saying anything out loud its so AUGH

^ and there it is, in this brief moment seeing his bandleader hunched over desperately trying to revive their bass player, not saying anything and no guitar to pick at to relieve stress- skwizgaar is scared. maybe you could say he looked to Nathan and pickles for his own reassurance but at this moment no one here has a rock to lean on and they're scared. They're never ones to say how they care or show it a lot but it's evident the way how scared they are in the fact murderface might be actually dead

Pickles solem attempt to get nathan to stop cpr, thinking that's it, that nothing more could be done this time Nathan's frustrations and fear the most prominent because he CAN'T lose again, everything coming to an ugly head here with just the four of them to witness it

their rock crumbling in front of them skwizgaar laying a comforting hand on pickles, he normally doesn't appreciate his bandmates being touchy but at this moment its an act for someone else okay rambling session over, i loved this movie

[undyingghoul]

Mayhaps I request a Sodo x reader fanfic where Sodo is having a bad day but the reader tries to make him feel better and all it does is make him realize how much he really really loves them like maybe they tell him if he goes to band practice or does what he has to do he’ll get a kiss or something

ANON I AM SO SO SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS TOOK ME TO ANSWER... I hope the ending made up for the wait!!

-------- Pairing: Dewdrop x GN!Reader Warnings: None Title: Little Sunshine Summary: Everything seemed to go wrong for Dewdrop today and quite frankly, he had had enough of this cursed day. For the rest of the day, he decided he'd hide away in his room and not come out until tomorrow. You weren't going to let that happen though.

“Augh! Fuck this!” Dewdrop shouted as yet another thing went wrong today. Today had not been kind to the fire Ghoul and he was at his limit. When he went outside early in the morning it had started to rain on him within five minutes of him being out there. Then when he came in he had walked right into a column and knocked over a prized possession of Papa’s, causing it to shatter into millions of pieces. That lead him to get a punishment and his back still hurt from it. After that, he went to get himself something to eat and of course, he had to trip over a rat and spill his food on the ground. “I guess you are having a fucking feast tonight, beast,” He had spat at the rat after he had spilled his food. And now he accidentally just broke his guitar pick trying to practice on his own before he had a group practice with the other Ghouls.

Throwing the broken pick across the room he moved his guitar to its stand and stormed off to his room, opening and slamming his door shut behind him and chucking his mask aside. He threw himself down onto his bed and screamed bloody murder into his pillow. “Fuck everything!” He cursed at the top of his lungs into his pillow as he banged his fist against his bed before stilling and growling lowly at the sound of a knock on his door. “Whoever is there can fuck off!” He shouted as he lifted his head when there was another knock. “Even for me?” Dewdrop turned his head and saw you enter his room. The fire Ghoul didn’t say anything for a few moments before letting his head fall onto the pillow. “You’re an exception. You know that,” He muttered as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

You shut the door behind you and joined your boyfriend on his bed, taking his hand into yours and giving it a gentle squeeze. “What’s wrong, my flame?” You asked gently, and that’s when Dewdrop lost it. You’d never seen Dewdrop cry in your entire time being here and it broke your heart to hear him cry this hard as he explained to you how awful his day had been. You wrapped your arms around him and pulled him to you, letting him sob into the crook of your neck as you rubbed his back. You didn’t say anything, you knew what you were doing would be enough for Dewdrop right now.

After a few minutes, his crying stopped and he sniffled a few times before pulling his head away and wiping his eyes with his sleeve, his glazed eyes meeting your gentle gaze. You watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek and you let go of his hand to wipe away the tear with your thumb. Dewdrop’s hand cupped your’s and he leaned into your touch as gentle purrs escaped him.

As much as you wanted to stay in this moment you knew he had one thing left for today. “Darling, you have practice in just under ten minutes and it takes you seven to get to the practice room, you have to get going,” You gently reminded Dewdrop. The fire Ghoul shook his head and brought your hand to his mouth as he placed gentle kisses on your knuckles, fingertips, and the back of your hand. “Dewdrop, you have to,” You said and Dewdrop only shook his head again. He didn’t want to spend a single minute away from you right now, all he wanted was you. Plus, the practice could run for hours at a time and he would not tolerate being away from you for hours.

You sighed and thought for a few moments before an idea popped into your head. “Dewdrop, if you go to practice and stay the whole time I’ll take you to the animal shelter that’s a few blocks away to play with the kittens. I’ll also give you a kiss,” You proposed. Dewdrop looked into your eyes with disbelief. A kiss he could understand for going to practice, but an entire trip to the animal shelter to play with kittens? You didn’t have to tell him twice to skedaddle and get his ass to practice. You watched as he stole a kiss from you before chittering excitedly and bouncing off to practice and once he was gone you burst into laughter.

After two hours had passed Dewdrop slammed the door to his room open and announced his arrival and your previous proposition. “I went to practice! Time for the shelter and my hard-earned kiss!” These were the exact words you heard when you poked your head out from the bathroom in his room you were currently cleaning. You smiled and nodded, coming out and grabbing Dewdrop’s hand as you pressed a gentle, soft, loving kiss to his lips. “I’m so proud of you, my flame,” You praised.

Needless to say, Dewdrop discovered something that day. He knew he loved you, but he never knew just how deep his love went for you. From how you treated and cared for him to how you laughed and squealed as a stampede of kittens rushed to you at the shelter, he always felt his heart swell and a comfortable warmth burn within him. You were his little sunshine, and you would always be his little sunshine as long as you existed on this planet and beyond.

[greatpawtender]

same anon lol. follow up from my previous ask (I started thinking about oz and the original team more):

augh. Thinking about laurent genuinely trying to connect with makoto and failing. Thinking about him watching abbie and cynthia connect with makoto effortlessly, and feeling left out. Thinking about him talking to oz about it, and realising that oz knows nothing about makoto at all. laurent getting angry, because even he knows makoto better, and suddenly feels responsible for him. imagining laurent blaming oz, blaming shi-won because they "made" him this way, even though by now he's responsible for his own actions. I'm imagining shi-won specifically calling him out on this, because she's been there the longest. how even though he suffered, at some point he has to accept that his decisions were his own. and that arguably, makoto was put through far, far worse things than he was.

laurent empathising with makoto more and more and starting to feel kind of angry on his behalf, but realising that by now there's very little he can do... he can resent the remaining members of the original team confidence all he wants, but they've been so good to him. they're old friends but they're also walking wounds. he can blame shi-won for teaching dorothy, for bringing him to dorothy. he can blame oz for giving him makoto to work with. he can blame them, but it's not going to change anything. shi-won at least stuck by his side, so she's easier to forgive. oz is harder to forgive, even if he gave up everything for dorothy, for laurent. laurent is splitting hairs here, because he still blames them less than he blames himself.

I think once laurent has this realisation, he doesn't really know what to do with himself. he still does cons and stuff because he probably feels like anything else would be boring, but I think he now kind of wants to shoot oz (not shi-won, because like I said, her sticking directly by his side all those years makes it easier for him to "forgive" her). he gives himself reasons to hurt oz in these cons because he doesn't know when to quit a bad habit when he's spiralling. oz notices, but he doesn’t say anything. he does whatever laurent asks of him, because he's right. I don't think oz feels bad for laurent, however (I think he just feels bad for makoto at this point, because he's already processed most of his grief and self-loathing regarding miki).

I think oz is the type of person to mask his loneliness. he probably cares about laurent the same way two people in a jail cell care about each other. he does whatever laurent asks of him almost like a peace offering, because he's used to just playing whatever role people ask of him without question. he probably doesn't know who he is anymore, and he probably doesn't care. he'll just follow whatever laurent says because the memories he made with team confidence stick to him like old wallpaper, and he can't bring himself to peel them off. he traded one life for another, and he lost both of them.

unlike them, I imagine shi-won already made peace with her demons long ago. there's a reason she told kudo to just let his daughter go. there's a reason why she didn't get an arc to herself. I don't think she feels bad that they're going through this, but she probably tries to distract them once in a while because the one-sided tension between them is annoying to deal with.

sorry I'm a little skdjsjajfj about them

as it is, it feels to me that oz just goes along with what others want most of the time. he isn't too different from makoto in that regard orz

op how does it feel like to be the sexiest person on earth

god god god I LOVEE your thoughts about laurent theyre so incredibly great I've never seen more correct hcs than yours

laurent and oz bonding over fucking up makotos life augohfj its sad but. But. sigh

laurent empathizing with makoto and somehow relating to him now bc he realizes he kinda been through the same shit as him. but like. makoto dealt with way worse so he cant really say anything so he lashes out at the og team instead orz 😭

oz doing everything laurent asks kf him the same way makoto does too now . im going insanw now.

thanks op sorry i dont have anything to say bht please know that i fucking love all ur thoughts about this thank you so much you have opened my eyes

[inmarbleimmobility]

1.1.3 Good Bishop - Difficult Diocese

augh two posts in one day because I was too busy doing my Actual Job last night to do my Fun Homework :(

I love this chapter!!! Jesus!Myriel is best Myriel. imagining all 5'5" or whatever of "his highness" rolling up on a donkey kills me every time.

in the continuing trend of "Alex wants more bishop fic," I really want Myriel And His Gals Go On A Road Trip now.

this entire chapter feels like Hugo whacking me upside the head with a hardcover brick and going "see!!! this is what Jesus meant!!!! Myriel is the only one who Gets It!!!!" and you know what? he's right. I'll let it pass.

"he preached less than he talked" because Myriel Getting It means he understands you don't change minds by literally preaching to them, you change minds by meeting people where they're at and talking to them person to person - in their dialect, using examples they understand, suggesting changes that are both actionable and beneficial for all. (as a side note, the only priest in my young Catholic life that did this was also the one that nearly convinced angsty teen Alex that maybe #NotAllCatholics, so. rip Monseigneur Bienvenu you would've loved Fr Alvaro.) not sure if I can think of another example off the top of my head of Hugo emphasizing this approach again - les amis are somewhat implied to have done this, but we don't see much of it on page; Enjolras in particular is... not exactly going to succeed at the Just Some Guy method, and Combeferre almost scares Marius away forever with his sick burn, so. I'll keep an eye out for it though!

again in his parables advice Myriel is emphasizing those Big Three - helping ensure men benefit from their own labor, providing for women, and free universal education. (and, as others have pointed out, education simply to combat ignorance, not to further an agenda!)

there's also been some discussion today about Myriel describing Queyras as "a little republic" and I've been thinking about it for hours. What Does It Mean, Hugo!!!

also Thinking about how someone mentioned how the "law" in Queyras is One Good Mayor and how that foreshadows Madeleine, as if Myriel somehow silently passed that specific example on to Valjean. Interesting too that he specifically cites the lack of judge or constable - Hugo has Lots still to say about how the Law and its arbiters and enforcers help maintain the systems that oppress people like Valjean, and here he's suggesting for the first time that good people being in power (or people in power being good, which I don't think is quite the same?) does more good than the law. Is Queyras like a little prototype Montreuil-sur-Mer? Is M-sur-M a little republic? Is this what you meant all along, Hugo?!

and then, just in case you didn't get it before, Hugo makes sure to tell you Myriel has "the very eloquence of Christ". the way he's going on I'm a little surprised he doesn't have anyone wash Myriel's feet.

[twentydaysofdrabbles]

The Concierge Plays Fetch - Sans (Part 10)

“So you are the reason for my sudden shortage of mustard.”

Sans raises his head from the pile of empty shot glasses and mustard bottles as you approach. “sweetheart,” he purrs in welcome, leering at you, bracing an elbow on the bar to turn to face you. “you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

Hmm, there seems to be a difference in his inflection as he speaks to you. Just like with Papyrus just a few minutes ago. How intriguing. 

The bar is empty, the Bartender having fled with a look of relief when he laid eyes on you. Reflexively, you go to stand behind the counter, taking Sans’ dirty glasses to begin rinsing them and putting them into the dishwasher. 

“Is there a particular brand of mustard that you prefer, Mister Sans?” You ask conversationally. Like Papyrus’ overloaded squat bar, you’re impressed at the variety of mustard and the sheer quantity of it messily arranged next to him. “Allow me to clear the empty bottles.”

You had barely waved your hand in the direction of the empty jars and bottles before it is seized in a gentle grip by ivory phalanges. The high quality cloth of your glove dulls the sensation of bone on skin. Teases at it. You find yourself wanting to...to...

“mustard-ing at the best kind,” Sans rumbles invitingly at you, his permanent grin taking on a...you think it’s a sultry look but you’re not sure. 

Your mind then processes his words. Was that a pun? You think it’s a pun. The d when he said mustard was fairly quiet...

Blinking slowly, you let a small smile crack your neutral expression slightly. “How charming, Mister Sans.” 

“why thank you.” He rubs the knuckles of his free hand on his chest, the red, high collared shirt showing signs of his afternoon binge. His black tailored jacket, luckily, hangs on the back of his bar stool. 

All this while, he still has your hand in his. Technically, it’s loose enough that you can easily pull away, but you find yourself just...waiting. For what, you’re not quite sure, but at the same time you’re not inclined to break contact just yet. How intriguing.

Sans doesn’t make you wait long, luckily. Firm teeth press to the back of your gloved hand in a courtly gesture right over your scar, though Sans ruins it by winking up at you. “come on, have a drink with me.” He gestures with his head to the shelves of drinks behind you. 

Your answer is on the tip of your tongue. “The Manager has moved the meeting forward, Mister Sans. King Asgore, Captain Undyne, and Mx Frisk are waiting in the Lounge for you and Mister Papyrus.”

“augh, the meeting,” he groans, letting go of your hand to reach for a shot glass that he fills with yellow mustard. As if he wasn’t the one who made the meeting happen in the first place. “well, if they’ve been waiting, ain’t gonna hurt to make ‘em wait a little more.”

The smile on your face spreads a little more. Gutsy for a guy who seems to answer to the King. “One would think making royalty wait would be inadvisable,” you say evenly as you reach for a glass bottle of soda, pouring it into a glass filled with ice. You don’t mention that it’s equally as inadvisable to keep the Manager waiting. “Mister Papyrus has gone to refresh himself.” 

“i bath he’ll be a while,” Sans sneers into his mustard, throwing it back like a shot. Red pilot lights of eyes drift to the glass of soda, placed on the counter in front of you. “not a drinker?”

“No,” is your only answer as you lift it to your lips to drink. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Sans’ eyes remain on the glass, on your lips. No, you don’t miss it, but neither do you acknowledge it. 

“former drinker?” Sans pries with a sly look.

You try not to sigh, but admittedly you do catch an exhale on its way out. To refrain from making any further comment, you keep your hands busy by clearing some of the empty bottles next to Sans’s elbow. They go right into the bin; you refuse to deal with the smell of mustard for the rest of the night. Particularly if they get on your gloves.

That, however, seems to be enough for Sans. He nods understandingly, “sodas why.” 

You despise the fact that he seems to be reading your reactions. He’s far too perceptive for your liking, truly.

“ain’t throwing stones here, sweetheart.” His red tongue slips from between his serrated teeth, glowing and ghostly and cleaning the shot glass. 

As much as you try not to stare, it’s a little hard not to. A quick glance is all. But it’s enough for Sans. 

“‘s a little tongue in cheek, but i can give you a private demonstration if you want.” Sans wriggles his tongue at you, undulating between his two fingers that he brings up to his eternal grin. “maybe later tonight?”

Flirt.

Your expression doesn’t change. It’s difficult, but it doesn’t change. And yet you don’t discourage him. 

“If you would finish your drink, Mister Sans, I shall show you to the lounge.” Your glass did not contain much to begin with, but you finish it in a slow sip, eyes locked on his.

Despite the deflection, Sans only seems to be tickled by your lack of rejection. He laughs in a rolling rumble, snatching the sole glass of whiskey beside him to finish it in one gulp. “’s not a no,” he sings through his exhale, licking his teeth. 

Again, you do not react. There is no break in your movements as you rinse the glass you used, as you gather the glasses he used, as you put them all into the dishwasher. “Are you ready, Mister Sans?” 

The skeleton pauses then, just for a moment. Seemingly rolling your choice of words in his head. When you look at him expectantly, he lets a rumbling purr vibrate from his chest, hopping off from the stool and throwing his jacket over his shoulders. 

Like the Cheshire cat eyeing a choice bit of cake, he purrs, “Lead the way.”

[cherrythepuppet]

🧡Alice/017 X Imagnairy Reader🖤

You Worked at the Cabin Fever Labs before it all went to hell, You and your wife, Alice also known as 017 along with your child BeauBut when the Cabin Fever Labs did go down You were ripped apart by the Anti-drone sentinels causing Alice to go slightly crazy but now...after a few years She likes to pretend you are still there with her...

She walked into one of the operation rooms where she saw 'You' sitting on one of the hospital beds reading a book "Heya Dollface!" Alice exclaimed 

"Alice!" You exclaimed putting your book away "Darling How was you're day?" You asked

"Grrreat Dear!" Alice replied "I killed some drones that came through the vents and cut 'em up! Even got some parts to make myself bigger!" Alice explained excitedly

"Now, come here Dear, I got some big ol' kisses for you" Alice said walking over to the bed before grabbing you and pinning you down and kissing you aggressively "I've missed you my dollface!

"You kissed back and smiled "I Missed you as well dear" you replied with a small blush on you're screen

Alice's kisses got longer and more passionate "So, what were ya reading about?" Alice asked "Some kinda depressing book?" Alice added "I hate depressing stuff...except when its me causing the depressing effects!" Alice joked

You chuckled "It is quite depressing! I believe its an Edgar Allen Poe book too?" You said glancing at the book "But seriously What's up with the guy and dead chicks?" You aughed

"Not a clue Love! But hey, at least its entertaining!" Alice said "I mean, its better than a lot of the lame sappy love books out there these days..." Alice said glancing at her wedding ring

You nodded but didn't reply for a moment "Alice...do you sometimes feel as if...you aren't real?" You asked randomly

"Huh? What are ya on about love? I'm as real as you are?" Alice said with a confused sigh "Sometimes you act...odd, love...." Alice said "I hope you're okay?" Alice said with worry and confusion on her face

"I just feel...well it's odd but I feel as if I'm not real?" You sighed "Odd isn't it?" You chuckled

Alice tilted her head "Well...I can assure you, you are very real" Alice said before thinking for a moment "Now, I got a question for ya, why do you think that?" Alice said before she started scratching and repairing one of her legs

"I-i don't know..." You mumbled "It's like-...it's like I'm not real and well...imaginary?" You said

Alice sat there trying to process what you said "...well, that's....kinda crazy talk, Sweetie!" Alice said while still sounding confused and concerned "Do you have any idea why you're even thinking like that Love?""No..." You replied "But It sometimes feels that way...Like i-" You paused "Like I'm dead" You muttered 

Alice stared at you before putting her hand on your cheek "Darling....I'm not sure what could be the cause of these crazy thoughts of yours" Alice said lovingly "...I can assure you, you are far from dead, you're alive and I'm proud to call ya my wife" Alice said kissing your cheek

You leaned into her touch "Your right darling...I don't know what I was thinking" You smiledAlice kept kissing your cheek and smiling

"Hey, you can tell me anything ok love? I'm here for ya" Alice said "Now...why dont we watch one of those silly sappy romance movies? The worst ones we can find and just turn our brains off and watch some bad acting?" Alice said with a giggle "What do ya say?"

You laughed "Yeah" You replied "That sounds nice" You added 

Alice smiled before standing up and offering her hand "Alright, well come on, Let's go pick something super sappy and cheesy to watch" Alice said "We'll just be lazy and cuddle in bed all night".....

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Uzi unleashes her AbsoluteSolver to destroy the door buttons, thus opening the doors and giving the Sentinels more free roaming in the area

The Sentinels make their way to Alice's room However Alice slowly closes the door before the Sentinels show up "BEAU! HELP ME WITH-" Alice cried but It's too late As The Sentinels are here now

Alice is flashed and paralyzed as the Sentinels enter the room, crushing Alice under their feet, thus getting rid of her for good.....

[whumpfish]

Do you have a favorite/much loved whump movie/tv show/book/etc?

Aaaaaaaaa

Okay, I am rewatching Invisible now (basically the Japanese version of The Blacklist) and it has some of my favorite kinds of whump in it:

The Feral Wolf With A Heart Of Gold: that one character who will go to absolutely any lengths for their friends and their values, who will (and does) endure any type or level of whump. The character who, if they think the situation warrants it, will (and does), inflict... not any type of whump, but a significant level of whump nonetheless... on anyone who poses a threat to those friends and values, or stands in the way of their efforts to save those things if they are in jeopardy.

A very specific team whump trope that I die for every time, any time: when a whumper has a weapon trained on team member A and one on a hostage/innocent, and demands that B (or the rest of the team as a unit) choose which one to save, because the other will be killed once the choice is made. And B/the team is horrified and anguished and wavering and can't decide or think of a way to save them both--and then A makes the decision for them. That unspoken communication, that look of an entire life's worth of caring like they're paying up their balance before they leave and that small, serene smile of permission, just... 💯💯💯

So much electric shock whump that even the characters comment on its frequency. And accurate portrayals of getting up after taking a significant charge, where they stumble and trip and fall several times because the nerves are still scrambled and their limbs don't work quite right at first. A lot of times, it's just bzz-plop-boingg!! and they're off. It's so rare to see the floundering, and it's such good whump.

Poison whump, complete with being strapped into a chair while it's administered, fraught moments when ally/ies demand antidotes with panic in their voices

Nail guns! I can't believe I had to add this in an edit. This show was my introduction to nail gun whump, and I can say with confidence that I am hooked for life

Multiple kidnap/forced to watch/forced to choose moments, including one whumper who puts people in a poor man's Saw traps

Escapes both successful and failed, abandonment, grief/emotional whump, human shield whump, PTSD, raging vendettas.... Even on this, my 3rd watch, I'm in awe of how much top shelf whump they crammed into just 10 episodes!

My favorite movie for whump is Dario Argento's Opera. By far and away the best forced to watch I've ever seen (needles taped to the face to hold her eyes open and make sure she can't squeeze them shut to block out the horror the whumper wants her to witness,) just... augh I love it so much!

I feel like The X-Files has a lot of good whump, too. Lots of good restraints of various types and degrees, The X-Files was awesome at restraints. (Whumpee bound to a makeshift table with chicken wire? Yes, please!)

Books, I like Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series and the prequel Saga of Larten Crepsley. Vampires, freak shows, hedge witches, eldritch beings with apocalypse fetishes, and all the physical and emotional whump that implies (do not get attached to innocent bystanders.) Also the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Sailing ship whump, abduction, fever and adjacent illnesses, it's 20.5 novels long, just about anything you want within the late 1700/early 1800s, it's there.

I do have another favorite whump series but the Scorpion quartet is 18+ so I'll make a post on @femalewhumper701 later for those old enough who are interested. (It's actually where the blog name comes from >.>)

Thank you for the ask!!

@stalecabbage

[entei]

diary august 2023

im in a pretty good place right now, havent felt the need to update. really happy with my art lately. even if it still frustrates me from time to time. getting around to finishing some outstanding projects i was putting off during my last burnout. going out a lot more too.

im still really struggling with focus and work balance. a few months ago i had set up my first appointment regarding an adhd diagnosis, when they called me to reschedule i didnt end up calling back... ive been heavily dependent on weed to have any sort of attention span and i didnt feel like quitting for the piss test. ive been off it for a couple weeks now in hopes of setting up a new appointment. feels pretty bad, but hopefully can fill that void with prescribed stimulants soon. thats the main goal right now.

the end of the year + beginning of next is looking pretty busy. i think im ready for it, really hoping ill have enough personal time to avoid another burnout. its hard to know when im overextending myself until its too late. gonna get my wisdom teeth out, drivers ed, GED, travel for a few things... and hopefully keep up work between it all. augh.

hoping things keep improving.

[doctornerdington]

Day followed night as it always does. Above the gently lapping waves of the high seas, curtains of the darkest midnight blue shifted almost imperceptibly to velvety purple, then brightened to a glorious pink betokening, ostensibly, impending delight. Slowly at first, then all at once, the sun rose above the horizon.

“Augh!” Edward Teach lifted his head from where it lay pillowed, quite comfortably, on Stede Bonnet’s perfect thighs. “Fuck off, sun!” he bellowed.

An offending ray of light had pierced the porthole of the cabin, stabbing its unwelcome way into the cloistered bedstead of the captain of the Revenge, where two pirates – one a gentleman, one a rogue –  slept entwined.

Stede stirred. Without opening his eyes, he lifted a hand to pet soothingly at Ed’s hair.

“Hush,” he said. “It’s early. We’ve at least an hour, still. Draw the bedcurtains and come back to me.”

Ed grumbled, but he was helpless to deny Stede’s smallest request, so he rose and secured the curtain across the porthole, then pulled the bedcurtains snugly around the bed, careful to leave no chinks to let in the offending light.

“There,” Stede said, drawing Ed under the covers, tight against his side. “We’ll pretend it’s still nighttime. Nighttime’s my favourite.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“You know why.” Stede’s eyes were still closed, but he flushed up prettily.

“Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t, though. Maybe you should show me.”

“Mmmm. Maybe I should.”

There was silence in the cabin for several long moments. Silence broken only by the sound of lips on skin, stuttering breaths, small gasps.

“No good,” Ed said, pulling away suddenly. “It’s no good. Not enough time. There’s never enough nighttime for all the things I want to do with you.”

“Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us?”

Ed had learned that Stede often conversed through the medium of recited verse, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t heard this one before.

“Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late school boys and sour prentices, Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices, Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.”

Ed looked at him, unimpressed. “What’s that when it’s at home?”

Stede pondered. “Fuck off, sun.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Darling. So you are. And considerably more concisely, too, well done.”  He kissed him.

“Whatsit called then?”

“’The Sun Rising,’ I think. We’re not the first lovers to protest it.”

Ed’s eyes turned impossibly soft at the word “lovers.” Stede couldn’t bear it. He kissed him again.

As was so often their way, they lost themselves to each others’ lips, soft and wet and increasingly desperate. Hands wandered, tracing paths of love that quenched arid skin.

“I’ll show you something rising,” Ed murmured into Stede’s mouth. “Got it right here for you, mate.”

Stede shivered. There was no more talking after that.