#and like at first i was like ooh yeah this is vibe oh yeah

[5-htreuptakeinhibitor]

funnie storie in tags

[giamee]

🌐 ᯓ★୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐊 '𝐍 𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘!

hsr men x f!reader .... SMUT!! 🚨🚨🚨

request ؛ ଓ @coreakin-sakarat What will the honkai star rail men play when yr having sex and who bottom or both and do they go rithm oh oh and do they use toys on u and what are their favorite parts of ur body to fuck

gia's notes ؛ ଓ i did this as more of me just... talkin abt what i think the hsr men are like in bed in order from least to most freaky in my humble opinion. i hope that you like it even though i didn't exactly hit every point u brought up :(

DAN HENG .ᐟ୨୧ starting it off sweet with him, i see dan heng as more of a bottom than anything... he's not super experienced, quite a tender lover, and i see him as remaining quite serious and stoic within the bedroom too. definitely more of a slow and sensual pace, just wants to feel it all with you <3 he's quite hesitant to try things out imo, but i reckon that you could convince him to try out using toys with some convincing! 1000% a thigh guy, really likes pulling out and painting your thighs with his cum as he watches them shake. presses kisses to your forehead as you come down from both of your highs. lowkey i get the vibe that the aftercare and the cuddling and falling asleep together is more satisfying to him than having sex. THIS MAN CRAVES SKIN TO SKIN!!!! he will interlace your fingers while fucking and kiss all over your face!!! a very sweet lover <3

GEPARD .ᐟ୨୧ this man SCREAMS pleasure service top to me. he could cum in his pants just by watching you i swear. he just wants to satisfy you as best as he can :((( your wish is his command frfr. he'll put you in whatever positions you want fully customisable experience just say the word. will sometimes pause midway through sex just to ask you if he's doing a good job and if it feels good with his big puppy dog eyes AWEE. i think he would probably be a little hesitant to try out toys, especially at first? his logic reverts to him assuming that he wasn't good enough at pleasuring you and so you have to revert to a piece of plastic... but be a bit dominant and show, don't tell, him just how good a vibrator can feel and he'll be a lot more on board with the idea <3 his whole mentality is just.. do anything to give you pleasure so if you're on the freakier side, this man is game! (PEG HIM) the little sadistic side of you gets a kick seeing tears well up in his eyes if you edge him just to hear his whines and moans... he might be a top but this man is a sub thru and thru. a bad bitch (you) tells him what to do and he listens!! anyways back to when you and him are fucking... this man is just utterly in love with your pussy, they way it gushes and clenches around him, and his absolute favourite position is any where he gets to just bury his face in ur tits while he's buried inside of you because everything is just so comforting and all of him is now surrounded by something so warm and soft... he's in heaven <3 so yeah he's a tits guy who would have thought!! no matter the shape or size HE'S PUTTING THEM IN HIS MOUTH <3 his thrusts get real sloppy at the end when he's about to cum too, starts babbling in your ear about how good it feels and how much he loves u. what a cutie pie

ARGENTI .ᐟ୨୧ to be honest? i had to think a bit about this one. to me, argenti doesn't really seem like the type to bring up using toys... but that doesn't mean that he isn't game if you mention it. he seems ... not passive exactly? but he just seems like the type to go with the flow with sex. whatever you're into he'll just be like shit i'm down let's go. not kinky per se, but he's definitely a passionate lover. very much wants to explore sensuality. ooh maybe he would be into some sort of wax play or blindfold type behaviour i take it back. would probably chuckle if you decide to get on top and place his hands on your hips to help you adjust to his size and set your own pace <3 very loving, wants to celebrate the beauty of your naked body and worship it in the name of adrila. so yeah if you've got a praise kink, HE'S YOUR MAN!!! you feel like the subject of a poem as he sings your praises, telling you how pretty you look and sound when you cum. like shiiiii that would be enough to make me blush <33 in terms of pace and stuff, i feel like he would be pretty standard? maybe on the slower side because of... you know... passion. it's nothing crazy but still a good time. he seems like he prefers to be looking up at you so RIDE THAT MAN!! maintain eye contact as you sink down on it. raise your hips back up ever so slowly and watch the slightest twitch of his brow as you swivel your hips, sinking back down on it ever so slowly. you might just see him blush. and just as the name suggests, the knight of beauty is a SIGHT to behold when he cums (probably inside).

WELT .ᐟ୨୧ yeah peepaw has got some EXPERIENCE to him lmaoo. he's got a sort of... cheekier? side to him. as an older man, though, he doesn't exactly have the same stamina as he did in his youth :( but that doesn't mean that he can't still get down and dirty with you!! quite the opposite actually. so his solution? he uses toys on you <3 he's more of a bottom but he is DEFINITELY in charge. his dirty talk OMFGG im giggling just thinking about it he would praise you and whisper such sweet words to you as he slowly splits you open on his fat cock, telling you how you're such a good girl for taking him so well, how you feel so good around him, all so he can feel you clench around him like a vice grip as he finally bottoms out <33 def would just have his hands around your waist as he moves you up and down his length when you're feeling weightless. but if he's in a more passive mood, he also LOVESSSS just sitting back and watching you struggle to ride him with a lazy adoring look in his eyes as he holds a vibrator to your clit <333 he'll coo at you as you start crying from the overstimulation, his hands wiping away your tears so tenderly and encouraging you to keep going just for him <3 a little bit of a sadistic side to him because he really does just love watching you squirm. another thigh and ass guy imo, really loves the way they jiggle as they slam down against his own thighs as you start to pick up the pace and ride him with increasing desperation. also loves watching them shake when you cum <3. so yeah as a no brainer i think one of his favourite positions would be reverse cowgirl. yum <3

BOOTHILL .ᐟ୨୧ now dont get me wrong this man FUCKS. since he's a cyborg does his dick count as a toy...? yeah fuck it let's go with it HIS BIOCOCK VIBRATES!! so the sensations on that will go CRAZYYYY. and then i'm thinking because of his synthesia beacon and stuff he doesn't exactly experience much sensation down there. so when you're having sex, what gets him off the most is just seeing your pleasure as you unravel. makes him feel good vicariously <3 so yeah definitely a missionary lover in my eyes so he can watch all your facial expressions and reactions as he hits all the right places, how your brows furrow and your eyes slide shut and eyes roll back in your head as he keeps up his unforgiving pace at juuuuust the right angle <33 but don't get me wrong he's no vanilla bitch either!! if he wants to be feeling more ... sensations he can and will make you just sit on his face for actual HOURS just eating you out to his heart's content. you'd think that his tongue is cybernetic too with the way it flicks across your clit at a borderline INHUMAN speed. but no he's just that good. some of ur most intense orgasms have been from him tonguefucking you like this, his head firmly sandwiched between your quivering thighs as you're basically humping his face as u ride out your high. and hey, he's not complaining <3 and then his smug shit-eating grin does NOT help at all when you're still trying to come back down to earth and he's sitting up wiping the slick off his face with that hungry look STILL in his eyes good lord i hope u can survive the night. this bastard has definitely ruined toys for you, they just don't feel the same any more <//3

BLADE .ᐟ୨୧ fucks hard. angry and/or jealous sex with him has just gotta be >>> 😮‍💨😮‍💨 he's on the rougher side and for MOST of the time will dom. and also tbh i don't really see him as being the type to use toys since he's more spontaneous in terms of having sex (public sex. he's got a high sex drive) but very very passionate for sure- lots of grunts and low moans right up in ur ear mhhhnrng. but also at the same time i feel like he would be quite emotionally detached from sex at first, seeing it as more like stress relief than an act of intimacy? and don't get me wrong, some of the best fucks of your life have come from him when he's just trying to release some pent up anger, but on the flip side there's a more vulnerable side to him, almost. one that's barely there any more from years of bitterness and resentment, but still manages to creep up on him on those late nights where he can't quite sleep. so if you're with him on those rare occasions, this is when you experience him not fucking you, but making LOVE. he won't talk, but he doesn't need to, not with the way he's holding you close to him and kissing you with something akin to desperation as he sinks into you and kind of just... stays there for a bit. it's oddly comforting to him, and if he's feeling especially weak he'll need some comfort- just to get him through the night. it's these nights where you take control more, setting a slow and sweet pace and kind of just... hushing him and whispering sweet words to him as you slowly let yourself grind over him, feeling the way he twitches inside of u <333 but yeah back to not vulnerable blade. a fan of quickies for sureeee (see: high sex drive) another tit guy because i am biased. the force of his thrusts in some dark alleyway or hidden corner will have them jiggling and threatening to fall out of whatever shirt you wear. and if he's got you lifted up in his arms, your legs wrapped around him as you're chest to chest with each other, he just can't tear his eyes away from your boobs. leaves bites on them, laves over them like a damn dog until they're coated in saliva and stiff and perked up because of how cold it feels when drying on your skin. if you're in doggystyle, you'll feel his hands clasp over them from behind, a few short and sweet squeezes to them before his blunt nails are flicking over your nipples just to hear you squeal <3

AVENTURINE .ᐟ୨୧ just like blade, he very much has two different modes. let's start with the freaky one bc that's fun. he's quite open to experiment with all aspects of sex- who's in charge, who's topping, toys, positions, you name it. he trusts you enough to do anything with or to you short of causing each other pain. so yeah he's a freak alright!! i feel like if you're in an established relationship, he'll feel guilty due to the amount if time that he spends away from you because of his job, and make it up to you by spoiling you with gifts... he loves to buy you new toys to try out as he sits back and just watches as you squirm and then writhe in pleasure as he slowly palms himself, eventually unzipping his trousers and jerking himself off until he cums all over u <33 definitely gets a kick out of seeing his cum painting your pretty face and how your tongue darts out to catch it before it drips onto the floor <333 or maybe he just strokes himself to stay hard, his eyes hungrily watching you as your own remain transfixed on his cock, the flushed tip disappearing with every stroke of his hand, the slick noises of his precum overpowering the buzzing hum of the dildo inside of you. and then when neither of you can handle the tension any more, dying to feel each other's touch, after you've cum a couple of times and are all nice and sensitive for him, then and ONLY then will he finally put it in, quickly setting a pace to fuck your brains out like a wild animal <3 lovessss doggystyle or the speedbump position because then he's all up in your guts and ur moans/screams of pleasure are just music to his ears. definitely the type to go a little feral bc... yeah. so yeah that's freaky mode! but like blade he has a softer side to him UNLIKE blade it is still definitely there and more accessible... but that doesn't mean he exposes it to you just like that either. but yeah if he's feeling more vulnerable emotionally, especially right after he wakes up from a nightmare while you're groggily waking up next to him, he just needs comfort. you holding him and stroking his hair, telling him how he's safe and how much you love him. if you've been together for a while and he really trusts you, he might even cry. almost begs you to call him kakavasha instead of aventurine, and you oblige. and then as soon as his name leaves your lips, he's kissing you hard, gradually letting them become tender as you undress each other with the utmost amount of care. it's love that motivates him, from what you can feel from his fingers tracing your skin and how soft his lips press against yours. he lets out a quiet moan as he sinks into you and basks in your warmth for a bit, letting his arms now wrap around your frame tightly, holding you to himself as if you would disappear any moment. and you hug him too, draw patterns on his back, stroke his hair and hum as you tell him how much you love him, listening to the sound of his shaky breaths as you slowly raise your hips, sinking back down inch by inch to hear him hiss. at first, he would still refuse to let you see his face when you have sex like this, not until you gently coax him to look at you, and you see the crystalline tears already escaping from his eyes. he's definitely the type to cry during sex like this- something so soft and tender that it's overwhelming to him for so many reasons- the vulnerability of it all, how much you love and care for him written all over your face, the way you squeeze against him so perfectly. and then he buries his face in your chest as you keep whispering words of affirmation to him and he cums so fast, deep inside of you and then he stays even when he feels himself go soft. just because it feels nice. and he falls asleep just like that, clinging to you, the person he loves.

JING YUAN .ᐟ୨୧ another member of team lazy but pussydrunk (him and welt have permanent memberships lmfao) whenever the two of you fuck it usually starts with him making you work for it. involving either you getting off by grinding on his thigh or riding him, desperately throwing your weight back onto him to even simulate the feeling of his powerful thrusts- all in vain as he merely sits there, looking up at you with a maddening smile and just WATCHING you... what a creep <3 but yeah he loves loves loves seeing how worked up and whiny you get for him to do something, anything, just for him to do the exact opposite, placing two firm hands on your hips to effectively get you to stop, and you whine again from the loss of friction. and he'll merely smile, telling you how you're such a good girl for him, getti my off from watching you get so so close, just to do it over and over again. orgasm denial and edging really are his two best friends fr. so he's not really a strict dom but more of a tease, you get me? i think that YES he will use toys. really gets a kick out of vibrating panties or a vibrator inside of you that he can remote control <33 just really enjoys when you're in public trying to remain composed (what a creep <3) keeps u constantly stimulated all day, finally making it up to you when you both get back home, fucking you properly as you're on the verge of tears and ready to cum any second. hmmm hear me out on this but i think his favourite place to cum would be your back.. like yeah finishing inside is cool and all but pulling out and cumming all over your back just drives him CRAZY and ready for another round... as soon as you recover <3

LUOCHA .ᐟ୨୧ LORDDDDDD he's like jing yuan but even WORSE. he's dangerous too because in his eyes, it isn't him or a toy but him AND a toy. this man will have u in his lap thighs spread legs hanging over his knees so he can keep them open as he has one hand gripping your chin forcing to look at yourself in a mirror, the other hand holding a vibe to yr clit <33 every time your eyes start to roll back he'll do a light slap to your face, forcing you to hold eye contact with him through the mirror, his feline eyes dancing with mirth at your already fucked-out expression. and then when he's sure that his gaze is holding your attention, he'll let go of your face, letting his hand snaie downwards until his hands are collecting your slick on his fingers before pushing into you, pressing a sweet kiss to your cheek that contradicts how hard he's fingering you <3 squirting is not an achievement but the new standard with him!! that man is NOT relenting until you coat his arm and the floor (even the mirror) he really likes making you kiss him just after you cum- when your brain is foggy from the intensity of your orgasm, you can barely hear, let alone process what he's saying, and when u finally manage to connect your lips to his the kiss is just so sweet n sloppy, showing how worked up he is already <33 he's a little mean with it but you wouldn't have it any other way!! because that man knows what you need and will DELIVER. and he loves alllll of you. especially your pussy. and ass lol

DR RATIO .ᐟ୨୧ ok stay with me now cos this one's more of a scenario but!!! imagine that you haven't seen veritas in a while because you've both been busy but he messages you, saying how he'll finally be back soon!!! and ur just so excited that you can't contain it, and all those lonely nights are starting to tally up... your hands just don't do the trick any more and you finally cave, getting out your old reliable dildo to try and satiate your lust. trying your hardest to focus on veritas while you fuck yourself so that you'll be able to cum... pretending that it's his cock instead of some silicone... moaning out his name into your room with your eyes screwed shut to try trick your brain into believing that it's really him!! and it seems to work because you can feel that coil in you begin to tighten, and just when ur about to cum you feel a hand on top of yours, startling you out of your impending orgasm. and you open your eyes to see none other than the man who you had been fantasising about just now <3 and he's got this smirk on his face and a certain look in his eyes, and when you glance down you can see that he isn't exactly... unaffected from watching you earlier <33 i feel like he would degrade you a little, calling you such a stupid girl for needing to think of him just to even get close to cumming <333 and you'll whine and get embarrassed, trying to hide yourself with the covers, but deep down you know he's right so you peek at him from behind your lashes, batting them and begging him to help you as sweetly as you can. and how can he deny you when you're just so sweet and submissive for him? he'll be quick to take out his cock, slipping the head through your folds, letting it catch as it skims past your needy hole, letting the tip slap against your sensitive clit just to watch your whole body twitch as he chuckles to himself before bullying his cock into you. even after fucking yourself it's still a stretch, especially cos he has you in a mating press, his strong hands keeping your thighs pinned as he puts hisbweight behind his thrusts, really slamming into you until you're bouncing back against the mattress <33 a good hard fuck that hits all the right spots he needs to in order for you to cum HARD. but if he's feeling mean, he won't even oblige your request, instead being all smug and settling back on his haunches, goading you to keep going and make yourself cum without him because you're just so close, you can do it. watches your pathetic attempts to do so as you huff and beg him because you just can't without him <//3 and maybe if you beg hard enough he'll consider helping you out... even though it's just so entertaining to watch you keep trying. ironically enough, it's the way he calls you his sweet girl as he finally pushes into you that sends you over the edge more than any of your own touches did. and once you ride out that high, body no longer convulsing on his dick, he'll pull out of you just to flip you onto your stomach, then pull your hips up to meet his before fucking into you to make you really cum because of him this time <33

SAMPO .ᐟ୨୧ this man is MOST DEFINITELY an experimentalist!!! 1000% down for literally anything. you use toys on each other el oh el. the epitome of a switch. he'll top or bottom too, it's always a good time with him. definitely a freak. tbh i headcanon him as having a crazy oral fixation... if he's not sucking on your tits already then put your fingers in his mouth!! he'll have hearts swimming in his eyes, especially if you let them slide to the back of his throat until he gags and his eyes get all teary!!! definitely a sight to behold if u start fingerfucking his throat. or maybe just gag him with your panties, letting urself hear his muffled whines and moans as you finally free his cock and deepthroat him <33 oh god his whines and moans... get this man on twitter NEEOOOWWW. as a top he's definitely more goofy about it, not super strict. sex is about making sure you both feel good and just having a good time im his eyes.

GALLAGHER .ᐟ୨୧ ... this man... a certified freak. me personally im not into it but IF U LIKE ANAL THIS IS UR GUY 1000%%%. he def loves ur ass more than anything. the type to stick a finger in as he makes out with you or just let his finger tease the ring of muscle, circling it ever so slowly to feel u squirm while sat naked in his lap. when he eats you out he'll let his tongue drop a little lower to tease both of your holes. if u let him he'll eat your ass with GUSTO. and YES he's using toys on you you're not safe... buttplugs with the cute jewel on them and when you're in public he'll give your ass a slap or squeeze just to see your face change as you feel it press a little deeper into you... he'll have a vibrator fucking into your pussy as he's all up in your guts, laughing at the way you can't even form words right now. yeahhh he's a FREAK. oh and did i mention that he's an ass guy??

SUNDAY .ᐟ୨୧ ohohoho. this man has actual YEARS of pent up sexual frustration under his belt. his wings. whatever. he's a man who thrives off of control, and this is no exception in the bedroom. massive dom. both soft and hard. but more hard <3. really gets off on u calling him sir LAWLLL. lowkey i see him being into some real freaky bdsm stuff... cos hes got the whole sexually repressed catholic thing going on n all yknow. likes seeing u kneeled w your hands tied behind your back. you stripped naked while hes fully clothed and smiling so sweetly as he watches you try and get yourself off by humping his shoe. anything for that power imbalance with him hrrrrng. and if youre feeling a bit more bratty, touch his wings. preen them, blow air on them, even grip onto them HARD with your fingers and it'll get him all riled up. and then that sweet smiling facade will drop and youll see his eyes change into something a touch more feral as he pins u down and fucks u hard and properly. just to remind u who's really in control <3. the aftercare goes crazy, naturally. but then i also saw this post talking abt how hes a PEOPLE PLEASER and i agree 10000% so when he's feeling more soft, your pleasure is his greatest reward. a headrush mix of sweet praise and filthy degradation. telling you how you're a nasty bitch who's just so good for him... how you take him so well like the filthy slut you are.... and he's just so so composed during it all like an ANGEL EHFHWJFJE it makes ur head spin istg. yeah he's a freak in the sheets LOLL

IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY ...... eat it 'til your teeth rot!

[ SMUT ] how the hsr men eat pussy!

alternatively, find my hsr masterlist here! ˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪ ౨ৎ˚₊

[felassan]

June 14th 2024 Developer Q&A (from the official BioWare Discord) - Complete transcript

Under a cut due to length.

Update: This post has now been updated into a word-for-word transcript.

[Link to video recording of Q&A] | [Link to equivalent post for second Q&A (August 30th)] | [Link to video recording for second Q&A]

Update: This post has now been updated into a word-for-word transcript.

If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here. This blog post is linked in the description under the video. ( ˶´ ᵕ `˶ )

Corinne Busche, John Epler, Matt Rhodes and Community Manager Katey were the devs that were there.

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Katey: Hello!

John: Hello.

Katey: Beautiful, your mic sounds beautiful. How's everybody doing?

John: Excellent. I, just as a headsup, I have some folks doing some service, in the next room so, if I, if you hear background noise, that's what that is.

Katey: No worries at all. Well I hope that everybody who's been waiting in here is really excited, because I'm super excited. I'm Katey. I'm the Community Manager. If you don't already know, you can usually see my name at the top of this Discord server. But I'm joined here with some awesome guests that I'll let introduce themselves. Let's start with Corinne.

Corinne: Can you hear me okay?

John: Yep.

Katey: Yep, we can hear you beautifully.

Corinne: Great, perfect. I'm Corinne Busche, Game Director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

John: Awesome. I'm John Epler, Creative Director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Corinne: John!

John: Hello.

Katey: And then we've also got Matt Rhodes, who may be struggling to find the unmute button which is at the bottom left.

Corinne: Our, our resident artist-poet, Matt Rhodes.

Katey: I could unmute him, actually, I don't know if I can unmute him, but if he needs help, he can message me on the side.

John: The joys of being a giant nerd is I spend a lot of time on Discord anyway, so.

Corinne: Well there you go, right?

Katey: Fair enough. Alright, well, we have a ton of questions to answer. We probably won't be able to get to all of them today. You all have sent in so many really really great answers, sorry, questions for us to answer. And if we don't get to them today, we're hoping to be able to do things like this in the future. So without further ado, I'll get started. First question's a bit of a soft ball, I feel. If you could belong to any of the main factions shown in the game, which would you choose?

Corinne: I mean, listen Katey, you say softball, but like, this is hard! I’m gonna cheat, and I’m gonna give you two. So for fashion, the Antivan Crows, all day long. Their threads, you’re gonna love it. For vibes, though, like the ones that capture my vibe, Mourn Watch. Gimme those necromancers.

John: Those are good answers. I have, I have one for fashion, and also for, just general faction I’d like to be a part of. Veil Jumpers. Who doesn’t like a nice walk in the forest, y’know? Even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies, but yeah.

Katey: I love that. I know that Matt has a few technical issues – oh, he’s unmuted. There we go. Or maybe not. That’s okay, I think we can move on.

John: The Fade has taken Matt.

Corinne: That’s right, that’s right.

Katey: Yes. One quick thing, if you check your settings, the cog-wheel in the bottom left, make sure that your voice, like, your audio is all good. If you’re still hearing the music, feel free to maybe, force-quit Discord and rejoin by just joining the stage directly. And mute the music before you come in. Okay. I can move on to the next question for now. I’ve seen, so this question was from Acra. I’ve seen a lot of talk about only having two companions in your party instead of three for this game. What is the reasoning behind this and will we still get the same companion conversations and banter as seen in the previous Dragon Age games?

Corinne: Ooh, this is such a good question. Thankyou, whoever submitted this one. Yeah, I’ll guess I’ll start and then I’ll turn it over to John Epler. So, first of all, as you saw in the gameplay reveal, this is a much more intimate experience. We’ve pulled the camera in. For those that aren’t aware, the reason why is we want you to feel like you actually are in this world, right? Like, you’re walking these city streets of Minrathous, you’re looking up, seeing the buildings all around you, you’re a part of this place. So it’s much more intimate, and we believe as the narrative unfolds this creates a lot more immersion. Now, how that relates to companions is in doing this, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found, with this perspective, having two companions, really allows them more visibility and presence. We’ve talked about the incredible depth and focus we’ve put on fleshing out these companions, they’re very fully-realized. So here, you really get to see them more clearly, you get to see them shine. When you see Lace Harding jump into the air and unleash a volley of arrows, you can only really get that because of that more intimate view. So I love the spotlight that’s been put on them. But, I think, in addition to the banter, one of the things that people are wondering about is, okay, but what about gameplay? So again, this has come about from our testing, working with the internal team, also our lovely Council of players. We just found that when you’re playing in the combat system, when you’re planning your strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage. So keep in mind, Rook has a lot of different types of actions, Abilities, individual attacks that are more fully fleshed-out than ever before. Timing and positioning matter a lot. So this really felt like the right balance to have. The number of inputs and actions we’re asking you as a player to take, including directing your companions, is higher than ever before. And I will also say, I engage with the companions, like I actively control what they’re doing more than I ever have before in any of the other three games. But John, I’ll toss it over to you for the banter. That’s kind of like the, we got a two-for-one there.

John: Yeah, yeah.

Corinne: I think that’s a, a great question.

John: So - it’s a great question, yeah. I mean honestly, I don’t think you could actually stop the writers from writing banter. I will say for myself, it’s, it’s one of the more light but fun things to do. You get to write little stories, little arcs between different characters. And I mean, The Veilguard is no different. Banter is still absolutely core part of it. You know, we’ve got global banter, you know, the general stuff that you get in all spaces, as well as mission-specific stuff. But, yeah, it’s definitely still a big thing. I think it’s, if anything it’s the most we’ve, we’ve ever done for pairings of companions. Beyond that we’ve also made sure, and I mean I’ve been on Dragon Age for a while, and I know there’s been issues, you know, things like, okay, well I don’t wanna miss this banter. So we’ve even added stuff like some interruptible and resumable banter as well, just to make sure that, because again, it’s a core part of the experience. Everyone loves hearing these companions talk to each other, everyone loves hearing these little stories and relationships develop over the course of the game and, as mentioned before, companions are the heart of this experience and banter is a big part of that, so, you still have it, it’s, if anything, like I said, you could not stop the writers from doing it even if we tried, so.

Corinne: That’s right, that’s right. Well, John, you know, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field do I get less interaction between, that, like do I get to see my companions interacting in a broader group more often.

John: Oh -

Corinne: And, the way you’ll gather them around the kitchen table, there’s just so many of those moments where they’re all interacting with each other.

John: Well, I think –

Corinne: Those are some of my favorite parts.

John: Yeah, and I think, yeah, and actually that’s a, a good call, because I think the other side of it is, we’re not talking too much about your home or anything, but, we also want to make sure that they feel like they have a relationships and a life outside of just, the times you take a certain pair of companions out on the field. So we made sure that, they have those interactions there as well.

Katey: Love that. Let’s see. Um, Matt, are we, are we all set, are we good? Yes? No? Okay. I can continue and we can come back to some of your questions. Alright. So that, I loved the answers to those. How customizable is the backstory of Rook? Will we get to determine their past in the Character Creator? And that was asked by Briar.

John: Yeah, so. Absolutely. So, one of, each, Rook has six different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in The Veilguard and each one sets out who Rook was before they recruited, were recruited by Varric, and. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you’re gonna have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define, not just what those events were, but what they meant to you, what was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook, because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience. And taking Rook, giving them, again, giving them background to ground them in the world but then letting you decide what that means and what that says about you is also a big part of it, so. And again, there are six different factions in this game, two which, anyone who’s played Dragon Age for a while will remember. You’ve got the Grey Wardens. You’ve got the Antivan Crows. We also have, in addition to that, we have four new ones, because we’re in northern Thedas. We have the Veil Jumpers. We have the Mourn Watch. We have the Shadow Dragons, and we have the Lords of Fortune, so. Again, a lot of different options, a lot of different background, and a lot of opportunities to really define what your, who your Rook was, and who they are now, so.

Katey: Amazing. Will crafting return? If yes, has it been improved over the system in Inquisition? Asked by Some Dude.

Matt: Testing.

Katey: Oh hey Matt!

Corinne: “Some Dude”, is that, I’m gonna assume “Some Dude” is a username. Great question.

Katey: Yes.

Corinne: Welcome Matt, the lovely Matt Rhodes.

Matt: Testing, testing.

Corinne: Welcome, welcome, hello. Alright, so, will crafting return? You can absolutely improve and customize your gear, yes, that is a big part of RPG progression, so yes you can improve and customize it. I will say, though, it’s different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory, so I, I’m gonna be a little bit cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that that’ll be an important part of the narrative.

Katey: So mysterious.

Corinne: Oooh!

Katey: Matt, I’m gonna actually go back to our first question so that you can answer, so everyone knows.

Matt: Thank you.

Katey: What faction, what faction you would choose if you could choose one for yourself?

Matt: Absolutely, oh, for me it’s definitely the Lords of Fortune. I’ve had a chance to try out a bunch of them, but I think I’ve finally settled on them. And it’s largely just because pirate-barbarian is just such a great combination of elements, so. Treasure-hunting plus beaches and palm trees and all that stuff, it’s a, it’s a really good mix, so that’s kinda my default.

Katey: I think I’m with you there, for sure. How about this one - this one was definitely asked probably amongst the most in Discord. Axolotl asks, can we kiss or romance Manfred the skeleton?

Matt: Uh, I, I would say, not that skeleton, but we’re not saying no skeletons.

Katey: I love that answer.

Corinne: This is my favorite answer so far.

Katey: Alright, so I’m gonna get back on track here. Alright. What, what were some of the development considerations that you had to take into account to ensure that this new game flows and functions with prior games, and Dragon Age Keep, if Keep is being utilized?

Corinne: Ooh, that’s a good one too. So, first of all, I would, I would point everyone to, we did an interview with IGN that goes into some of the details there, so, like, if you want a deeper dive on it, check out that article. But just to summarize, we have taken a different approach on how you import your decisions this time around. It’s now actually been fully-integrated into the Character Creator, and kinda serves a dual purpose, to be honest. I, I playfully, it’s not called this in-game, but I playfully think of it as ‘Last Time On Dragon Age’.

Katey: I love that.

Corinne: Right? Now, when I talk about its dual purpose, it’s been ten years since the last Dragon Age game released, so it serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing you to re-make those decisions that are critical to you. The thing I love about it is, it’s very highly visual, it uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic, so it’s actually really visual and playful experience as you go through it. It is very much important to us that it’s built into the client, though. You can play this game entirely offline. No connection. You don’t have to link to your EA accounts, like that’s been a really big request. So, the refresher plus make those decisions in-client, I think we’re all pretty happy about that. I don’t wanna spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, like, look, y’all don’t want the spoilers, but I will say, it’s been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure. You’re in northern Thedas, these locations that you’ve literally never been to before. So that affects some of what will matter and what we’re not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there’s some very, very clear connections to existing characters. It’s no secret that the Inquisitor, our dear Inky, is gonna show up, so, that’s, that’s a factor.

Katey: Peachy asks, will this next game be an open-world game, or is it just contained to Tevinter?

John: Yeah, that’s a great question. So, you are in northern Thedas, but the game only begins in Minrathous, it doesn’t stay there. I’m, I think one of the most exciting things for me, honestly, and again, to Corinne’s earlier point about spoilers, I don’t wanna get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to, and work with the art team, work with the narrative, work with the design team to build out these locations that we’ve talked about. Places that characters have referred to as where they’ve come from, places that characters, obviously, in previous games, have hailed from, has been absolutely exciting. So, it’s, you do start in Tevinter, you do start in Minrathous, but again, that’s not the entire game by any stretch. So yeah.

Corinne: Yeah, and the first half of it is, is it an open-world game? We’ve gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated –

John: Mhm.

Corinne: - intense narratives. So, this is a hand-crafted experience, it’s mission-based. Now, these locations can open up. You can go back, solve mysteries, do some really great side-content. Not fetch-quests, not grind-quests, some really great side content.

John: Mhm.

Corinne: But, I wanna be clear. It’s, it’s a really curated, hand-crafted experience.

John: And just to, just to bounce off of that very quickly. The most important thing for us, to what Corinne was saying about hand-crafted, obviously we’ve talked about how, you know, narrative, story, characters, are the most, are critical to us, and this has allowed us to build these experiences in a way that emphasize that, extremely long, while still, again, tying into the story threads and the story beats, so.

Katey: Awesome. TastefulToxel wants to know - will the companions have unique specializations like Dragon Age II, or will it be the same ones we will have access to as the player in like DA: Origins, or Inquisition?

Corinne: Oh, cool. Hey TastefulToxel. Yeah, so, cool question. I think the best way for me to describe this is that, yes, our companions will have Abilities that are truly unique to them. But also, the companions do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue, and warrior. Like, for instance, you might be surprised to hear, because she has a bow, but Bellara is, in fact, a mage, and I, I love that. So, some of the Abilities, the bulk of the Abilities of the companions are based on their own unique personality. Like, Neve is the only mage that is an Ice Mage, so you get distinct Abilities for her. But, because she’s a mage, she does have access to Abilities that all the mages share, like Time Slow. So we really like the balance there. It’s like a good mix of representing their archetype, their class, and also their distinct specialization or personality, whatever you wanna call it.

John: Yeah, actually, I would actually say the word ‘personality’ is a really great one because that’s, again, each of these characters exists, each of these characters have a history, have a story of how they became who they were, and part of that was finding that intersection between narrative and gameplay, and making sure that, again, we, we serve the needs of gameplay but also allow these characters to breathe and exist as their own people, not just in conversation, but out of conversations, as well.

Corinne: I would also say as part of that core mage kit, healing spells are there, so any of your mages, you wanna make ‘em a healer, do that.

Katey: Lunasoul Darkmoon asks, will The Veilguard have tactical combat still?

Corinne: Ooh, such a good one, such a good one. Okay. Yes! Combat gets quite tactical, like, obviously this is an evolution of the combat system, and I talked about immersion, wanting you, to put you in the world, like you’re actually living and existing in it, but it is very tactical. And, I will say, we have a robust difficulty system. The tactics are increasingly important the higher difficulty level you go. So like, look, if you’re showing up for a highly tactical experience, I would crank that difficulty level in particular. But I wanna make clear, I’m, super, I wanna make sure I’m super clear in my answer. You saw the gameplay reveal. Our pause-time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets, both in and out of combat, there’s a reason for that. As the game progresses, and you didn’t see this in that opening hour of the game, but it’ll display strategic information on the enemies, so like, what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses, their enhancements, what are they resistant to? So your type of Abilities, learning into elemental gameplay, matters a lot. I’d also say, this is a long answer, it’s such a good question – tactical decision-making also takes the form, I would say this is front and center, of coordinating your Ability usage between Rook and your companions to create synergies, or really devastating – we call them – detonation combos. So, let me give you a couple of examples, because it can be a little hard to visualize, so hopefully this helps. So one of the tactics that I personally enjoy in my own builds, I just recently played as a Veil Ranger, I love it, it’s one of my favorites. If I’m fighting Fade-touched enemies in Arlathan, I like to use Bellara’s Galvanized Tear to pull enemies together, it’s like a gravity well. You then Slow Time with Neve and, Slow Time affects the world around you, but it does not affect you, so you clump them up, you Slow Time, and then with Rook, I come in and do, like a devastating AOE or damage over time spell or Ability, and it’s even better if it’s a lightning-based Ability, because the Fade-touched in Arlathan are vulnerable to that. So there’s so many layers of coordination and strategy and tactics. Now we did talk about the devastating, like, detonation combos, honestly, that’s probably one of my favorite features, because that’s when you’re really leaning into explicit teamwork between your companions and Rook, or, the companions together. So when I, when I build out my team and I’m going into a mission, I try to ensure that I have at least a couple of possible synergies, detonation combo synergies within my team. Might be between Harding and Neve, or it might be between Neve and me, or it might be both. So here, I would go into battle, I’d pause time, open the Ability Wheel, get information on the enemy, and the Wheel will actually tell me that there is a synergy combo, you might have seen a screenshot that says “combo available”. It will remind you of those synergies between companions. You can queue both of those Abilities up at the same time, go, close out of the pause-time menu, they’ll both execute, both Abilities will happen, then the detonation AOE happens, applies debuffs to all the enemies in a radius of it, it’s so satisfying, it’s so satisfying, I can’t wait for y’all to see it. But the interesting thing is that too is a tactical choice. I’m choosing to use my companions to do that, and that means, in that moment, I’m not using them to heal me, or to give me that defense bonus, or to knock an enemy off a ledge, so it’s about the opportunity cost. I, I could spend the rest of the session talking about this, I, apologies for being long-winded, but this is just one of my favorite parts of, of the game.

Katey: That was a great answer. Can you choose Rook’s pronouns? If yes, being, is being non-binary an option? And also, how detailed is Character Creation?

Corinne: Hell yeah you can select your pronouns! Absolutely. You can actually select both your pronouns and your gender, because those are related concepts, but they’re not actually the exact same thing, so. It’s really cool. Yeah, you can be non-binary. We have they/them, she/her, he/him. Yes, emphatic yes. How detailed is the Character Creator? Oh my goodness, y’all. Like. Very! I don’t wanna give away too much just yet, but it’s very, very deep. It has been revealed, it’s out there in a couple of articles, about the focus on hair, the focus on skin-tones that are done respectfully, full-body customization, hell yeah, we love to see it. But we’re, we’re gonna, we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna show you a lot more on Character Creator, but we wanna make sure we have the time and space to, to do that.

Katey: Will there be a Photo Mode in-game?

Corinne: So that is something we’re actively looking into. We know there’s a tonne of interest, so stay tuned on that one. But we are very much looking into it.

Matt: I can add to that, is a feature that is, that, we like, we like the idea of, and, and, it’s not just player-facing but internally, it’s a really helpful thing for us as we’re, as we’re building things out to have that so it’s, it’s, we’ll let ya know.

Corinne: Yes, yeah, absolutely. We, we are as geeked on that possibility as you all are.

Katey: A lot of people were asking about Abilities. This one is from Clemmy. Abilities, I don’t think I saw this answered yet, but are we going to be limited in how many Abilities we can pick from the Wheel?

Corinne: Ah! Yes, yes, yes. So, Ability Wheel does have a capacity. You have to choose which three Abilities you wanna bring for Rook, which three for one of your companions, and which three for another companion. And what I, what I like about this is there is, kind of, an emergent gameplay depending on who you and your companions are coming into the mission with. Now the reason for that is, it actually creates really interesting balance of strategizing, having to do that strategy about your kit, your combat kit, before the mission. And then the tactical decisions once you’re in the field in combat, deciding what to do. But, I do wanna clear one thing up, because, while there are three Ability slots for Rook, there’s so much more than that. Other actions that you can perform directly from the Wheel include, you’ll have an Ultimate Ability, associated with your class or your specialization, so there’s variance there. There’s a type of items that you’ll get that function like Abilities, they’re typically like buffs and enhancements in form of Runes. So you’ll control that for Rook and/or the team from the Wheel. You may have also seen that you can direct which targets your companions will focus on, but what you might not know is that a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing your companions. When you issue those commands, that too will proc based on the gear they have equipped. Really interesting and strategic effects. They can be more Ability-like, more, like, procced effects, there’s just so much from the Wheel, that once you get in and see everything working together, becomes more and more apparent.

Katey: We have another question from TastefulToxel which is, will Fireball and Cone of Cold be back as skills, or as spells in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Corinne: Ohh, I love, all these combat questions, really good. So Fireball and Cone of Cold aren’t specifically back, however, their successors are. Frost Nova and Meteor. So these serve the exact same combat role and function as those other Abilities. I would also say, it gives ‘em quite the glow-up, so. Meteor in particular, like, so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well-placed Meteor, it’s really wonderful.

Katey: What accessibility features are available? I would love to know if there’s an arachnophobia mode. Will there be mod support?

Corinne: Oh my goodness, arachnophobia. I am wicked afraid of spiders too, my partner always laughs at me. I’m just terrified of them. That said, that’s one we’re going to save for a little bit closer to launch before we’ll go into full details about accessibility features. But I do wanna assure you, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this topic so you can play the game in a way that really works for you. I’m, I’m excited to share that with you when the time is right.

Katey: So this one is from a username named Cookie. How long is the time-skip from Inquisition to The Veilguard? I know we’ll probably get more info on this, but I’m so curious.

John: Yeah, so, anyone who’s paid attention to Dragon Age, and I can say as somebody who’s been on Dragon Age since Origins, timelines are always a little iffy. They change, and they morph over development as we see how long events taking. But, for The Veilguard, we were actually pretty consistent from the start. It’s been about ten years since the events of Trespasser. As you may or may not have noticed, Varric’s become a little bit of a silver fox. I know, I’ve heard, seen, I’ve seen a lot of comments on that on social media, but, yeah, ten years. Solas’ ritual is taken time to set up and you’re kinda coming in at the end of that hunt, so.

Katey: Siddy is asking the hardest-hitting question which is, is Solas still bald?

Matt: Yeah. I mean, if you’ve watched the gameplay thing, we can all confirm, yes, Solas is still bald, Solas is still Solas. We’ve, we’ve, I really, I really like how Solas has turned out this time around. I will say, here’s a comment on this specific question that’s gonna sound like a non-sequitur, but, once you get a chance to play it a little bit more, maybe you’ll see it. In Thedas, ancient elves, they go bald when they’re like millennia old, so. Solas wasn’t always bald. So if you were to end up, end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different. You’ll have –

John: - Now, now that said, I’m sure some of you are wondering what happened to Solas’ wig from Tevinter Nights. I’m sure he still has it somewhere, so.

Katey: He’s just taking care of it elsewhere.

John: He’s just taking care, it’s, it’s his most important possession.

Corinne: The Pride there, huh?

Katey: I have another one for Matt. This is, will we be able to, will we be able to change companions’ appearances and outfits, or are they fixed, similar to Dragon Age II?

Matt: Yeah we, Dragon Age II was, we loved how the followers turned out in that but it was, it was sad given, given our constraints that we had to keep them with just one, one basic outfit. So we really tried to make some space for them this time around. So they’re, they still have, kind’ve iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that you can, that you can find for them. Some, some are just cool, but then there are some that are tied directly to their, to their narrative and just kinda what’s happening in their life.

Katey: Another one for ya, which is, will we be seeing or visiting Kal-Sharok? It’s, and, Tyrant says that they’ve been obsessed with it forever.

Matt: Yeah, me too. I, I will say, what’s, what’s been really cool, so in previous games, we’ve kind’ve alluded to this before. It was a lot of fun to hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places that you weren’t gonna go, you weren’t going. And so you could just bring in some props or some characters, a piece of art, things like that, and you know, even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at and then we would just add drips and bits and pieces, so that stuff was really fun. In The Veilguard, we’re actually getting to visit, most, like a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you actually do run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we’ve revealed. But this also means, like, we’re not completely filling out the map, and so that there are actually new things that we can start hinting at, that we can start drip-feeding, and so, it’s, it’s kind’ve fun. I’d say, yeah, for what we can show of Kal-Sharok, and, and other locations, it’s just, there’s, there’s more to do.

Katey: Awesome. MrFightmonster118 asks, will the dialogue wheel slash options be similar to Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda in the sense that it’s more tone-based?

John: Yeah, so, we have a number of different types of wheels in our game. All the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle. Anyone who’s played a Dragon Age game remembers what they look like. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard we have tone wheels which are, you know, again, roleplaying your character, picking consistent tone. We also have emotion wheels where you can pick specific emotional reactions. And choice wheels which are, I don’t have a strong emotional or tone tie here but I do want to make a choice based on what I do. Investigates obviously return as well, but. We do want players to understand as much as possible what it is they’re going to be picking, and understand, and again, choice and consequence is fun, we wanna make sure the choice is clear, even if, again, one of the best parts about consequence is making sure that’s not entirely clear, so.

Katey: How extensive are Rook’s decision trees for dialogue going to be with the companions and also with NPCs throughout the game?

John: Huge. I mean, again, it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose both your roleplaying but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold, so, I mean, again, it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure that we also react to decisions you’ve made, so. For example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you’re gonna have a different perspective on events than someone who’s not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options, sometimes that’s going to mean entirely deep dialogue trees, as well as based off decisions you’ve made throughout the game so, again, making sure that the game feels like it’s noticing what you’re doing is a huge part of how we’ve written out the dialogue wheel, or dialogue trees, in this game.

Corinne: Blueberry has a question for Corinne. It was mentioned that there will be, that we will be able to romance who we like. Does that mean that all companions are romanceable by all player characters regardless of race or gender, as it has been in the past?

Corinne: Yeah, yeah. So, we have talked about this in some of the interviews, I’ve seen a few articles about it, so I’d recommend everyone check out those articles. But let me just give you a quick overview. Each of the seven companions have full romance arcs and they are romanceable by all genders, absolutely. But something that’s really important to, to us on the team, so I wanna make sure that we clarify and just double-down on, that doesn’t mean playersexual. And if anyone’s unaware of what we mean by that, it doesn’t mean that they can form or twist their identities to who you the player are, like they, they won’t suddenly have a preference for men or women based on what you’re playing, right? Instead, they have their own fully fleshed-out identities, they are true and authentic to that. So in this game, they are all pansexual, with their own histories of romance. Sometimes you’ll hear about preferences, or things of that nature. And what I really love is, if you don’t pursue a romance with them, they’ll actually build their own romances with each other. So, in one of the interviews I talked about Lace Harding and Taash getting together. I give that example because honestly, it’s one of my favorites. I’m gonna put a question back to the community, though. I’ve heard we’re going with “Laash” for that ship-name? You tell me, like, what is that ship-name?

Katey: That one just rolls off the tongue, I feel like that works. This next question is from FallenArtesia. What are the markings on the faces of the elven Warden and Veil hopper?

Matt: So there’s a, quite a few, probably, I think, easily more than we’ve done before, tattoos from various, various cultures. We’re bringing the vallaslin back, of course. But there’s, yeah, ton of different options, especially when we’re, again, going into all these new regions. Each, each area has its own kind’ve visual language for that. But yeah, we are bringing the vallaslin back and then a couple of the characters have them, but we’ve kind’ve customized them a little bit, they’re a bit more specific to their personality.

Katey: And this is a question for all of you. What are you, what are you as a developer most proud of about the game, and what are you most excited for players to experience when it’s out?

John: Ooh, that’s a good question.

Corinne: Isn’t it?

John: Corinne, you wanna go first?

Corinne: Yeah, sure. Gosh. So I suspect for most of us, myself included, it is really gonna be the depth and authenticity of the companions, journeying along with them on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side, that, that authenticity is just so good. They all feel like my dear friends. But, I have to say, the closest runner-up for me, has to be the Character Creator, has to be. That Character Creator, the makeup options, the range of sliders. I’m a qunari fan, so even just the, the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great-looking hair. Character Creator has to be my, my, like very close runner up.

Matt: Oh yeah. For me, I would say, as far as, what, what I can say I’m most proud of on this one, the, I can speak for the art team. We worked incredibly hard to make the story more visible than ever. Games are a visual medium, but, you know, it’s, sometimes it’s easier to do things in text format or written in a Codex somewhere or alluded to off-screen. But we really leaned in to trying to make sure that every design, prop, character, environment, the VFX we’re choosing, everything, all, all these choices, were putting the story on-screen so that you can really see it unfold. And I think, having worked on all of the Dragon Age games, I would say Veilguard represents one of the best attempts at that we’ve made yet.

John: I’m gonna cheat, because I’m going last and I get to do that when I go last, and kinda combine both Corinne’s and Matt’s answer. Honestly, the companions are, for me, the absolute highlight of, just, being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways. These are the deepest companion arcs we’ve ever done. Not just on Dragon Age, but at BioWare in general. Each, each companion has their own story arc, you can go through decisions you can make, they really do take center-stage, and I think, as you play through with them you see the care and love that the team has put into each and every one. I mean there’s, there’s moments in each arc that make you cry, make you angry, make you excited and, and the way that they integrate into the story as a whole is just, for me, something that’s been really fun. Finding ways to bring these characters together, finding ways to make this, this narrative, this story of, you know, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, it’s just been absolutely exciting and thrilling. And again, you see the team’s love in every single piece of it. As for what I’m most excited? For me, I’ve been, I mean Dragon Age has been part of my career, part of my life for literally the last decade and a half. I’ve worked on it since Origins and there’s something about The Veilguard that feels like a amazing mix of, novelty but also familiarity. It’s like coming home in a way that I think is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players, but there’s also so much here that’s just new and exciting for people, new players and old players alike. And going to parts of the word, seeing things we’ve never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world, this amazing series and expand on it and build on it in ways that have just been, honestly, an absolute thrill, the best part of my career. And I’ve been in games for seventeen years now, this has been the absolute highlight for me, so. That’s what I’m excited about.

Corinne: John, that was, that was such a good answer, and I just, I just wanna “yes, and -” that. It, I so completely agree with you. There’ve been times in the companion arcs where even, knowing exactly what’s going to happen, we work on the game, with some of these decisions, I, I’ve had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh and go “oh my god, what am I gonna do here?” Yeah, the depth of them is wonderful. And, I do wanna say, I, I’d be, I wanna put this out there, when we talked about as a developer, what are we most proud of, can we just give a big shout-out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their heart and soul into this.

John: Absolutely.

Corinne: Anyone from BioWare who’s listening in, thank you so much, y’all are just the best.

John: Hear, hear.

Katey: I absolutely love that. I knew that question was going to have some of my best, some of my favorite answers, and it delivered, so thank you three. This one’s a fun one. Why does Varric have dark hair now? I feel like John mentioned this a little bit earlier, but.

John: Just for [inaudible].

Matt: He’s been, he’s been adventuring for a while now. His hair is, is more gray, but he’s been in very dark scenes so far, so. We’ll see him in some more contexts.

Katey: In this question, we actually took from Tumblr, because there were a few really good ones in our ask box. Will the Inquisitor be appearing in the flesh, or are we just choosing their major Dragon Age: Inquisition decisions?

Corinne: Alright! Yeah, yes! They will. The Inky does appear. We know how attached y’all are to the Inquisitor, I’ve seen the love for your OC. Yes, the Inquisitor shows up. Now, we, we’d already confirmed that in a few places, so, let me just say, you can also customize them, includes some of our new customization options, yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.

John: And I think, I think beyond that, I mean, the story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor, obviously are tied, they’re tied together as much as any story, so. It would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They have, they’re gonna be a part of the story, so.

Katey: Will there be any planned DLC? Just curious, as I always love the DLCs. Oh, and transmog armor. This one came from Lavell.

Corinne: Oh, heck yeah, good question. So, right now, our focus is entirely on the quality of the game. Like, it’s so important at this stage for us to be all-in, all attention on, just, finishing this game and delivering on the quality, the promise of it. So honestly, like, that’s all I can really say about it. We’re 100% focused on this being the most complete game we can make it. I will say, kind’ve related to that though, and I just wanna underscore this, I wanna emphasize it. There’s not gonna be any microtransactions, there’s not gonna be any battle passes, you don’t have to connect online, our focus is making this the most complete singleplayer game we possibly can. Now, this was kind’ve a two-for question, I love when we do that. Will there be transmog? Hell yeah. I’m the kind’ve player that, that believes fashion is the real end-game. Yeah, there’s a transmog system, absolutely, it’s sick.

Katey: And then this next question is from Scott. I was asking if any of the characters will be explicitly asexual, or on the ace spectrum?

Corinne: So good. Such a good question. So, look, I’m just, I’m gonna be really forthcoming with y’all and a little bit vulnerable here. I’m ace, I’m a gray-ace, I don’t mind sharing that, I’m kind’ve public with it. I will say though, that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. When we look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess, like is, is this the right time? This time it wasn’t. But what I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum out there, I would love to represent an ace relationship sometime in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best. Oh, and I do see some questions, you know, some questions, what do we mean by ace? Asexuality. We often refer to it as the ace spectrum.

Katey: Can mage Rook do blood magic? Will blood magic be a skill tree separate from regular magic?

Corinne: Okay. Um, this gets a little spoilery, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna want to be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic. Gonna go off-script just a little bit, because –

John: Oh no.

Corinne: I’ve seen, like, can you tell us about the specializations for mage? I’m not gonna tell you the deets, but there is a necromancer one, there is an elemental one, and there is one that’s actually more of like a combat mage, it’s my favorite.

Katey: Can we name the griffon? We also have a griffon emoji now in this Discord server.

John: Excellent. So, someone on your, in your party, again, spoilers, may have already named the griffon, but, don’t worry, Assan is a very good boy, so.

Corinne: All these griffon emojis are, y’all are killing me.

Katey: Yeah, I love that, griffons in the chat. Let's see. Will we have a camp/home/headquarters that we’ll be able to customize?

Matt: Well this time around, in Inquisition you had Skyhold. In this case you have a headquarters called the Lighthouse. More to be seen on that. But, it’s, it, narratively it, it serves kind’ve a different purpose but also the same purpose. As far as customization goes, there are elements of it that change over time, and some things that you can adjust. I, I don’t know how much we’re really going into that at the moment.

Katey: This one is –

Matt: But yeah, I would say, it’s like, there’s some, it, one thing I like about it is it definitely does start to feel very much like a home over time.

Katey: Sorry for almost cutting you off there Matt. We have another very hard-hitting question, if I'm, if I do say so myself.

John: I love this one.

Katey: We need to - Same. We need to know, does pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? Thank you.

Matt: Well, and I’ll take it as a chance just to geek out about worldbuilding, because, again, we’re, The Veilguard for us is a really kinda dream opportunity to go to places that we’ve only ever heard reference to, or we’ve seen hints at. And so, in going through the worldbuilding process and trying to, trying to build these places out, not just as neat things from the IP but also as, you know, if you’ve, if you've read about this stuff, if you’ve been following along, you’ve got your own version of it in your head. You’ve imagined what it might be like, you’re, and probably hoping for something spectacular. And our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer, any artist, or anyone can really do justice to, so you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. You know, is, that can be everything as big as architecture and landscape and biomes and ecosystems, but it does get into things like art and culture, costume design, and also food, and this time around we did, you know, that was one of the many things that we, that we did, looking to, just to try to catch the character and the feel of a place to make it feel believable and lived in, so. That’s my really long answer for, yeah, I’m sure, I've, at least one place does have pasta.

Katey: I loved that. This next question is from Spectre Karro. Are we getting a mabari?

John: Ooh, that’s a good question. I will say, you’re spending most of the game in the north of Thedas. Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing up there, so. In this particular instance, no, you will not get a mabari, sadly.

Katey: Honestly, I should’ve pulled this one up to where we answered the first question about the griffon, but, can we pet the griffon?

Matt: You, I’m really sorry to have to be the one to tell you – nah, I’m kidding, yes you can. But it’s not even just petting the griffon. I’ve, this isn’t a spoiler, I think you can actually, I’ve actually hugged the griffon, so, that feels like, even there, a step up. Yeah.

John: There’s lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon.

Corinne: Can we see, can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in the Lighthouse hanging out?

Katey: Assan in chat everybody.

Corinne: Assan in chat, alright!

Katey: I love it.

Corinne: Okay, y’all this was so important to the team too. Like, this is the team’s like, just such huge support for this feature, so props to them.

Katey: This one is from Coriander. Will we get to see any of the Character Creator before the game releases?

Corinne: Yes, yes you will. We’ve got a, you’ve probably seen, we’re laying out a roadmap for, you know, what we’re gonna show and when we’re gonna talk about, so, yes you will see it as we get a little bit closer to launch.

Katey: And then we’ve got this question which is, will we be able to play as a qunari, dwarf, elf, or human?

Corinne: Hell yeah, hell yeah you will. All four, and all four have that full-body customization. I already talked a little bit about, I mean listen, I’ve always loved the qunari. I will say in Dragon Age: Inquisition it was hard to get a good-looking qunari hairstyle, so yes you can play as them, you can customize them, the horn options are rad, the hair options are rad. And also, I guess related to this, your lineage gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options, so that’s a really lovely aspect of choosing your lineage as well.

John: Yeah, I would, so to actually just to bounce off that, to an earlier question about backgrounds, each lineage, there, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose there are some specifics call-outs to, for example, if it’s the Mourn Watch, the Mourn Watch being a faction from Nevarra of mages, you play as a dwarf, obviously your experience in that faction is going to be different than, say, a human or an elf, so. There are also specific call-outs tailored to those combinations and, with again, giving, the intention of giving each lineage their own little flavor as to how they're, they fit into that faction as a whole.

Katey: Okay, John, I’ve got a question from someone named Joe for you. Where is Barkspawn and is he okay?

John: That’s a Great question. Barkspawn is safely gnawing on a bone next to a fireplace somewhere in Ferelden, don’t worry, he’s fine. You may question, ask yourself, but John, it’s been so long, in which I say, mabari live exactly as long as they need to.

Corinne: Getting into the deep-cut questions now.

John: Deep-cut questions, yeah.

Katey: Yeah. We are really speedin’ through these. Let’s see. Will Rook have a set of default name?

John: Yeah so, Rook’s last name is defined based on their faction, again, we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also, there’s a, that’s a name generator that can give you a selection of first names. Obviously if you want to make your own first name, that’s definitely something we support as well. If you’re somebody who maybe has a little bit more difficulty coming up with a name, so for example you name every single character “Bob” because that’s the only name you can think of, we also give that opportunity for that generation, so.

Katey: I definitely always have trouble coming up with what I wanna name my characters, so that’s great. This next question is, when will the voice acting cast be announced?

John: So, we worked with a lot of very talented actors on this one. I am super excited to talk about the voice acting cast. We’ll be talking a bit more over the summer, we’re not quite ready to announce names yet.

Katey: And I think we have a similar answer to this next question, which was, will there be a Collector’s Edition? When can I pre-order?

John: Yeah, same answer, we have, we’ll talk more about the different editions of the game soon.

Katey: Are there any special musical guests writing the sound-track? Will tavern songs return.

Corinne: Oh my goodness, yeah. There are tavern songs. And huge credit to the audio team and performance teams because they’re pretty great. There’s one in a little tavern in Minrathous called The Swan, and the song you hear there might just, it might be, it’s up there, it might just be my favorite of the tavern songs.

Katey: Let’s see, are there any – ope, I have just asked that one. What are the required PC specs?

John: Much like the other two, we will have more information on required PC specs soon.

Katey: Saph from the Discord server noticed that two, Dragon Age II’s main theme from the soundtrack brought back much of the iconic thematic material of Origins’ main theme, but I heard less of it in Inquisition’s. Can we expect The Veilguard’s main theme to recall more or less of that original thematic material than Inquisition?

John: So we’re not, we’re not quite ready to talk about music yet in specifics, but in broad strokes I can say the process for us is always the same. Working with the composer, working, figuring out themes, figuring out what kinds of elements we want to keep, tying specific elements to, maybe specific characters. It’s a really in-depth process and a really collaborative process. We have some fantastic audio people on our team that have done an amazing work, amazing job, working with composers, and, with the team as a whole to make sure that, again, we said earlier about cohesiveness. Making sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the experience.

Katey: And this one, I see is also for John, but I think anyone can answer this. When writing the overall story of this game, what themes did you want to have as the prominent focus?

John: I mean again, it’s interesting, so it’s interesting, because when we were writing these games, and this has been true on every Dragon Age I’ve been part of, what you start with and where you end up aren’t always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing out a theme, you realize actually it’s more interesting if we attack from this angle, or maybe if we twist it a little bit. I will say for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, from the beginning one of the biggest themes has been regret. How regret’s shaped peoples’ lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets and, each of the characters, you know, the stories as a whole, have elements of this tied throughout. We really wanted to have that thematic, that cohesiveness to the game’s story and the game’s writing so.

Katey: And I know that, you know, we’ve, we've kind’ve already answered this a few times, but can we play as dwarves and does the world react to your race and backstory? Probably be good to just directly answer that one.

John: Yes you can play as a dwarf. Yes the world does react to your race and backstory. And, again, you’ll have unique dialogues or unique conversation options based on that, on that backstory and as well as that race.

Corinne: I’ll give you a little nugget here, because I saw it scrolling through real quickly. Do you have beards, like. So when I think about can I play as dwarves I think about, do we have glorious fantastic beards? Hell yeah, we do.

John: Yeah, I can say, as somebody who plays a lot of games with character creator, the beards on, I don’t know what magic the character art team did for the beards, but they feel like a beard should feel like, it’s great. They look awesome.

Corinne: Just saw somebody say “it’s beard time”, I love it. It’s beard time!

Katey: Will our heroes and companions leave us if we go against their wishes?

Corinne: Oh my good – do y’all just love pain? Do you want us to make you cry? If you go against their wishes, if you make decisions they don’t like, I will tell you, you can piss them off, you can, they might not agree with you and they, they will take some time away. That said, this is the biggest threat to Thedas we’ve ever seen, so they’re, they are always gonna be willing to show up to defend Thedas but, yeah, you can piss them off and they’ll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah, they will, unless…

John: No spoilers Corinne!

Corinne: Aughhh, I’ll leave it there, I’ll leave it there.

John: No spoilers.

Corinne: Okay, alright, alright. But they want it!

John: Yep.

Matt: Don’t try to stop me, Smee!

Katey: This one’s a fun one about some inspirations for the game. Dracanmo would like to know if any songs, books, movies or anything have had inspired any of the writing for the characters?

John: I mean, honestly, the thing about art is, art is always a synthesis of your own experiences both in the real world but also the art you consume, the art you pay attention to. I don’t think that any characters have what I would describe as, this character was a direct reference or direct inspiration but, I mean, yeah, they’re all inspired by the things that we do, the things, both, again, in the real world, and also in the media we consume. And you’re gonna see elements of characters that, yeah, the things that we’ve enjoyed, the things that’ve shaped us, show up in these characters. I think, for me, it’s, it comes down to, and I, I, writing is a deeply, can be a deeply personal experience, so even if you don’t intend for it to be the case, things, parts of you are going to show up in your character, I think that’s true for all the characters in The Veilguard. And, you know, sometimes it’s, exploring, exploring the, y’know, things that, about yourself that you may like or may not like, and it’s also about exploring things about characters that you like or don’t like, so. That’s kinda my long-winded way of saying yes, it’s impossible to not have that happen when you’re creating art. But I wouldn’t say that there’s one where you can say, oh this is this character, this is this character.

Katey: What was the thinking process behind making Harding a companion this time around? Was she always going to be one or did it evolve into one because she was such a lovable character?

John: Ohh, yeah. So Harding, I mean. When we released Inquisition, it was impossible not to see the love that people had for our murderous girl next door dwarf. She’s always been a fan favorite obviously, but I think beyond that, it’s something that there, that Harding’s writer wanted to explore. There was more of a story to tell there, more perspective, and beyond that, Harding obviously has a strong connection to Solas, and to the, to Varric, and to the events of the past ten years, so. I wouldn’t say it’s always been, but I’d say Harding’s probably one of the first ones we settled on as like, yes, this is a character we want and the writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her, so, it just made sense.

Matt: You know, I think actually, to piggyback on that, that’s something I hadn’t really even thought about that much, but, and it’s not a huge part of her character, but, she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into he was.

John: Yeah, that’s exactly it, that’s exactly, and yeah, that’s a great way of looking at it too. It also provides you with a little bit of that, that perspective. For players who’ve been around, you know, who played with previous Dragon Age games, but also for new ones, who was Solas? What kind of character was, was he?

Matt: Yeah.

John: Yeah, it’s a great, it’s a great, using characters to provide windows onto the world is honestly one of my favorite things.

Matt: And, and when I say was, I just mean, in Inquisition.

John: Yes, that’s, that’s exactly it, yes. Thank you for correcting that.

Matt: Yeah.

Katey: And what approach are you taking to quest and world design in The Veilguard?

John: I think for us it just comes down to relevance and narrative heft. We want to make sure that each quest provides either a perspective on the world or perspective on the characters, or feels immediately and obviously relevant to what you’re, what you’re doing here. You’re here to save the world and, again, at the end of the day, one of the things that we heard, we heard loud and clear, was some feedback about how relevant, or in this, in our case, not relevant, previous quests have felt, so for Veilguard, we really wanted to make sure that these quests felt like something that you, somebody faced with the end of the world would believe was necessary and important. So, again, there’s quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that same feeling of, this is the kind of thing that The Veilguard would do. This is the kind’ve thing that my hero would do, especially faced with the end of the world.

Corinne: Yeah, that’s, that’s really good John. That’s so right. I would just, again, double-down on how hand-crafted all the quests are, and whether, whether you’re doing, like, the main story, or you’re journeying with your companions, or you’re out exploring and you encounter a mystery. Everything’s handcrafted, intentional. We spent a lot of time listening to what y’all said, and of course everyone has slightly different tastes, but, you know, you’re not gonna be gathering shards in the Hinterlands. Everything is built with intention, and, you know, a dev there lovingly handcrafting the experience.

Katey: Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices?

John: So I don’t wanna get too much into spoilers here because this does start getting into spoiler detail, but I will say that locations can fundamentally change based on decisions you make. Some of the parts of the world that you go to, you can have, the decision, the choices you make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop, so, yeah, and again, don’t wanna too many into, into story spoilers, but, your decisions do impact how the world shows up.

Katey: And will we be able to control our companions in combat through tactical mode, or if the PC, or player character, gets KO’d, like in previous games?

Corinne: Right, so. If Rook gets KO’d, your player character gets knocked out, this time around it is time to re-load your save, or better yet, the companions have really interesting progression, you can spec them out to be able to revive you, but that’s, that’s if you’ve invested in their own progression and what they can do. And that said, I, I mentioned this earlier but I, I personally spend more time in the nature of this combat system when everything comes together, interacting and directing the companions than I have in any of the other games, so, like, like that, that interactivity between them, once you play it you’ll see how, just engaged the team is.

Katey: A user named It’s Sarah said, my real most important Dragon Age question is, will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentameter?

John: You know, I was, I actually spent a little bit of time trying to figure out if I wanted to answer this question in iambic pentameter and then I very quickly gave up. Massive kudos to Patrick who, who always writes Solas so well. Again, Solas is a returning character, it’s the same Solas you know and love, or hate, depending on who you are. Same writer, so, I think, this has been, the answer is, well of, yeah, it’s Solas.

Katey: Will our decision of who in particular was left behind in the Fade be important?

John: So, while that decision does not show up, that – sorry, let me, restart. Not for The Veilguard. That decision doesn’t show up here. Now, that said, that doesn’t mean that’s that’s not a decision that will ever be important in the future, so. Again, not for this one, though.

Matt: I’m glad to hear you say that, John, because one of my favorite stories was Bob getting stuck in the web in reboot and it just feels like -

John: That’s a, that’s a deep cut!

Corinne: Very, that’s a deep cut.

John: Holy smokes.

Corinne: My goodness.

John: The sound of my childhood.

Katey: Will we have mounts again? If so, any hints to what types we’ll have?

Matt: So no, no, mounts, excuse me. Mounts were, they were, they addressed a need in Inquisition that we don’t have in Veilguard, and you’ll see why, when you get to play.

Katey: LightningStar asks, how is the side quest design? Will they be mostly story-based, or will there be a lot of radiant quests or resources or Power, like in Inquisition?

John: We talked about it a little bit earlier, but, no, they are all hand-crafted and story-focused. Again, narrative, the companions, not just the companions but the characters in the world as a whole are so much at the core of The Veilguard that, anything other than hand-crafted quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building.

Corinne: Yeah. And maybe, we can clarify as well, because, like Power was such a divisive mechanic in Inquisition. There’s no mechanic like that that blocks your progression until you fill a bar, right, like that’s just not a thing in this. You have the autonomy to engage in these, these quests as you like. There’s no, like, y'know, grind-out gates before you can progress.

John: That’s right, yeah. Again, we wanna make sure that, again, that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible.

Katey: So, it looks like we only have time for three more questions, so I’m going to get through those. With this next one, is from someone named Jason. Will there be a similar system to the War Table missions?

Corinne: Ooh, interesting. So, we haven’t talked much about the player’s base, the Lighthouse. And we’re gonna save that for a beat, but what I will say is that the Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, it has its own unique purposes and functions this time. So that’s an area that we’ll, we’ll leave for you when we talk more about the Lighthouse, and then when you have a chance to hop in, you’ll be able to see what those unique purposes and functions are.

Katey: If there is dual-wield for warriors, will it rely on dexterity or strength?

Corinne: Ah, okay, yeah, yeah. So we did wanna bring dual-wielding back. It is part of the rogue kit this time. So warriors are really focused on mighty two-handed weapons, can’t wait til you see, when you swing and connect with those weapons, there’s, there’s a real heft to it. And then of course sword and shield, so. We’re leaving the dual-wielding to the rogues, but you, you can see just, the amount of hits you can get in in rapid succession dual-wielding as a rogue is really satisfying.

Katey: And the last question that we’re able to get to today, is, what have been some of the challenges and advantages of working on a single, on a single game for so many years? How did you sustain the work in yourselves and the process?

John: That is a fantastic question. I will say for myself, I’ve often joked, and I don’t know how much of a joke it actually is, that when this game is out and I suddenly don’t have to keep all these pieces of game and lore and story and everything straight in my head, I’m suddenly gonna be able to speak Latin or something because there’s gonna be a ton of brainpower freed up. But for me it’s just, you know, it's, the thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing the game that we’re building is the right one. Knowing that the beats are coming together, and knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games, and how excited people are going to be when they get to see the fantastic work that the team has, has been doing. And that really is, I can say, I’ve been on this project since the start, and even today, I see things on a daily basis, I’m like holy – smokes, sorry, I almost swore, I can’t believe what the team is doing, I can’t believe the, how good this looks, I can’t believe. Because it’s a huge game. There’s pieces that I, I don’t see every piece of the game every day so, I get pleasantly surprised on a daily basis and that, I will say, you know, confession, sometimes if I’m having a particularly long day, I’ll spend about an hour late at night just watching cutscenes coming in, watching the work coming together and just, sitting back and being like, holy smokes, I cannot wait for someone who hasn’t seen this every day for so long as I have to experience this and just be blown away by the work, so.

Corinne: It's, it’s been very real, hasn’t it? And, and I will just say, speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone’s working so hard, they’re putting so much passion, so much of themselves into it. Like this is a franchise they truly love, and seeing your support, cheering us on, it’s just meant a lot to them, so, let me just say thank you to all of you.

Katey: And I wanna say thank you to you three for taking the time to do this. I know that it matters a lot to the community to be able to, you know, get some time with you guys and, you know, make sure that some of their dying questions are, are answered, so thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to do this. For anyone who’s still listening I promise that I’m that I’m working on a way for these questions to be immortalized somewhere. Stay tuned for that so that you don’t have to worry about this, just, you know, disappearing into the ether. So, stay tuned, thank you all for your time. Anything else we wanna say before we jump off?

Matt: Thanks everyone.

John: Thank you. Yeah, I’m super excited to show more of this and, yeah, this is gonna be, hopefully this is the first of many of these opportunities to talk to you all directly. Again, it’s been a while, and getting to talk about this game has been absolutely exciting. I know for myself, as well for the rest of the team, so thank you all.

Corinne: Just thank you, it’s, the Dragon Age community, how much it means to you, how much it means to us, it’s just wonderful to see you all so invested and excited to come here and talk to us. Thank you again, truly.

Katey: We'll hopefully do something like this again soon. Okay, cool, have a great day everybody! Talk soon!

John: Bye y’all!

Matt: Bye.

[source: The dev BioWare Discord Q&A on June 14th]

Update: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here.

[slamminslamminmcgill]

I need to be high off my ass while deadpool fucks me. That’s it. that’s the post. Wade wilson the man that you are. Hurfgghdhhhh. yeah. weed makes me horny so definitely that…… Deadpool….. save me………….. headlock….. his arms…. ehhshhhshhhhh

deadpool headlock on drugs inspired by my last dick appointment coming right up!!

warning: intox (weed), choking, oral, daddy kink, humiliation, transphobic slurs

anatomical terms: cunt/pussy

suggested listening: Gorillaz - Superfast Jellyfish (trying something new w/ poolposting!! i love the deadpool soundtrack and the vibes the music creates for each scene so im trying to emulate that. also discovered recently that this is a perfect song to smoke and get your pussy ate to 😌)

“What was that? Didn’t quite catch that, sugarcunt. Speak up for me, will ya?”

“F-Feels so… feels so fucking gooooood…”

“Mm, but does it? If you’re still speaking in complete sentences, then my work’s not done. Go ahead and take another hit. Or two. Y’know what? Just finish the bowl. I’ll pack you another if you’re still too smart for my liking.”

Wade punctuated his order with a sharp smack to your cunt, sloppy with his spit and your need. His mask was pulled up just over his mouth so he could service you.

This motherfucker was trying to kill you. Or at the very least, give you some form of brain damage. Every consecutive orgasm reduced your cognitive functioning. To his credit, though, it sounded like a generous offer when he first proposed it.

“You need to relax, honey-boo. How’s about you smoke up while I go down, if you catch my drift?"

He was lying on his stomach, his chin resting in his hands, his legs in the air kicking back and forth, watching as you took rapid fire bong hits. You tried your best to burn through the bowl as quickly as you could, and you got about three solid clouds out before you started coughing. Hard.

“That’s it. You got it,” Wade cooed, stroking your inner thigh, “Just cough out all those neurons for me, good boy. Daddypool’s stupid little boy, I’m so proud of you!” He used your coughing fit as an opportunity to sneak two fingers inside you, and gawked at how you hard you clenched them. “Ooh, yeah, you got some good grip strength in you, cupcake. Squeezing those fingers like a hug from a church-going grandma. 'Am I gonna see you next week at the bake sale, honey?' Oh, yes, you will, Miss Nancy!"

What? What in the actual fuck is he yapping about? Was that supposed to be a joke? You had no mental bandwidth left to even speak, let alone dissect Wade's meandering, confusing, drawn-out metaphors for your pussy. "Wh… Wha-a-a?"

"Oh, that’s sounding much dumber, baby! Good boy!" He said cheerily, sliding his fingers out and wiping them on his suit. "Seems like you’re just about ready for Daddy."

--

"Oh my god, look at you! You look so cute pinned down like this! Aw, you can’t move, can you, dummy? Nowhere for you to go, huh? Except back onto Daddy’s cock where you belong."

Wade had you on your back, your ankles on his shoulders, his hands gripping your thighs as he pounded into you, over and over, deeper and deeper. So deep, in fact, it was as if he was shoving your womb up into your throat. Choking on that and a mouthful of drool, you cried out for him, pawing at his arms just to feel him close to you.

“Daddy—Da-! Daddy, Daddyyy-y-y~!”

Wade could see the desperation on your face, that yearning for closeness, and dangled it over your head. “Aw, poor baby, you need a hug? But you’re already hugging me so tight, with that—f-fucking wet honey-pot cunt you’ve got there—ah! Fuck! Ah… shit, I got’cha, come here.”

Wade withdrew his hips, leaving you gaping and empty without his cock stretching you out. He leaned down to wrap his arms tightly around you, though before you could hug him back, he flipped you onto your stomach. He pressed a firm hand onto your back to keep you lying prone on the mattress. With you trapped beneath him once again, he pushed back in.

“Ooooh, that’s it, babyboy, that’s the ticket.”

You sobbed into the pillows, keeping your sounds timid and muffled, and your dignity somewhat intact. But Wade wouldn’t let you off that easy. He hooked his arms around your neck and yanked you up into him. The pressure on your windpipe turned your moans into weak gasps and sputters. The lack of oxygen set your nerves alight, burning with hypersensitivity. And to make matters worse, he wouldn’t stop growling filth right into your ear.

“God, I can feel my balls smacking your tiny little tranny dick like this… Can feel you twitching… So fuck—so fucking wet… Mmmm, I’m gonna shoot the biggest fuckin’ load into you... Not… not yet though… No, I’m not done with you, yet, slutter-butter. I can just… mmm, edge myself inside you… keep you nice and full… All. Fucking. Night.”

[mechaknight-98]

Empress (NSFW) Ft: Eunbi and Hyewon

You see the door slam open and close to the restroom where you were currently taking a Buble bath with Hyewon. when Eunbi announced to you and Hyewon (who were sharing a chaste moment) that she wanted to become a Villain. Hyewon and you look at each other and then at Eunbi

“I hesitate to ask but where is this coming from dear?” you ask

“The hero association wants to fine me for my costume. Something about being too sexually provocative.” Eunbi bemoaned and whined

you squinted at her knowing this was going to be a thing and then asked “Okay can I see your costume?” Eunbi still flustered and frustrated nodded. She does the famous Carter twirl and her costume magically appears, and shit Eunbi’s costume is too sexy. it's tight. her breasts are barely contained by the top section, they are exposed by your least favorite, but also favorite costume choice, the boob window. You and Hyewon look at each other hungry with lust then back at Eunbi who stands proud. Her thick thighs sparkle in the low light of the bathroom you three found yourselves in. Hyewon and you share mental images of what you’d do to her. Hyewon doesn’t let you see her plans for you though.

“Fuck Eunbi if that's what you wear to fights every day I would never fight you. I'd be too busy drooling trying to get your number. You look fucking hot. Like damn girl.” you blurt out admiring the killer way the costume fits her diminutive but voluptuous body. It's hard to resist the urge to fuck her then and there. She frowns and you remember why you were there.

“That being said, I also agree it's bullshit the heroes association I'd fine you for that especially since they had to okay it in the first place. you do give off dominatrix vibes with the tightness of it all, and dual chromatic color scheme,” you say. Eunbi and Hyewon laugh as Eunbi does another Carter twirl and joins the two of you in the tub.

“Ooh still hot,” Eunbi says with a content smile as she slides in.

“Yeah, our boyfriend’s power comes in handy with keeping things heated.” Hyewon coos. Eunbi nods in agreement and leans back in the tub content. You all sit around. You try to hide your furious erection as your body reacts violently to fuck both of your hot girlfriends till they can't walk.

“So what were you guys doing before I got home?” Eunbi asked

Hyewon smirked, “This.” she jumped from her side of the tub to you and began forcibly kissing you.

“Mistress wants to come out baby is that okay?”

You moan as she grinds on top of your manhood with her folds.

“Yes.” You moan to her. Hyewon smiles as she runs her hands through her long black hair and looks at Eunbi and you.

“You’ll be a good boy and do what I tell you right?” Hyewon asks with a voice made husky by her own just and arousal. You nod in submission to your girlfriend.

“Good boy.” she moans as she gets up from you. “Don’t touch yourself yet,” Hyewon says firmly as her body begins to morph. Her breast swell to be parallel with Eunbi, and a cock begins to grow between her legs. Hyewon smiles at you as she strokes her cock. Your erection can barely be contained in your pants as you watch Eunbi and Hyewon lock eyes with each other you watch as Hyewon oogles your shared girlfriend she bends down and smiles at you as she plunges into her unnie.

“Oh fuck.” Eunbi moans as the familiar sensation of being stretched out by Hyewon’s cock fills her. You watch in overwhelmed arousal and lust. You knew Hyewon could shapeshift but never knew the limits. Hyewon cooed as she bottomed out in Eunbi.

“I forgot how good your dick felt.” Eunbi mewled to Hyewon. Hyewon begins to thrust into her unnie in earnest. Her girth slides easily out of the almost perpetually sopping elder. Trying to keep your cool you ask if Hyewon needs anything figuring she may want some alone time with Eunbi.

“No stay there and watch like a good boy.” Hyewon demands. You watch as they continue to rut into each other the rhythmic bouncing of breasts and other buoyant flesh drives your desires wild, and uncomfortable. Overlord loomed in your mind hungry watching the show. He wanted no needed a taste of it, but you sat there being the good boy you were holding it all in. Hyewon knew this of course and wanted to test how far she could go. She loved all of you and didn’t like how you would parse yourself out to the world. Every part of you was worthy of love and affection. Even the parts you hid from others because of the fear of isolation. You spread your legs so your dick can fly free and proud watching his two favorite people go at it in a way unfamiliar to you. You watched as Eunbi was reduced to slutty mess.

“Will mommy be good to her mistress,” Hyewon asked as she continued fucking Eunbi.

“Yes, Mommy will be good to her mistress,” Eunbi said between pants.

“Will mommy be good and let me fuck her big tits?” Hyewon asked desperately. Eunbi nodded in between blissful moans. Hyewon smiled as she pulled out of the older woman. She sets her large cock on the woman’s chest and Eunbi started morning again. You watched in horny agony as Eunbi’s breast massaged Hyewon’s cock. It drives you wild you can’t even touch yourself for relief but just watch and dripping Precum as your body fights its urges. You stare at the lewd scene as Hyewon whispers more lewd statements into your mind.

“Isn’t mommy gorgeous with my cock between her tits begging to unload all of her face and breasts?” You hear telepathically. As she touches her mind you can feel her “touch” next to the overlord’s lock. You feel her brush against it and you jolt violently as your psyche rends itself trying to calm down. Hyewon stops chasing her pleasure hearing what essentially sounds like a psychic wail out from you. She looks at you with eyes full of concern.

“Babe what’s wrong,” Hyewon asks as your mind fractures and reassembles itself, and then it happens your mental lock breaks. the separation between Overlord and you. Your mind is overwhelmed as emotions thoughts and impulses flood, mix, and overflow, as they try to reassemble you as a whole. When the head rush subsidies you look at your two girlfriends with a wicked grin. Hyewon looks into your mind and sees the dam has broken between your psyche. She looks at you worried.

“What's wrong dear I thought this is wanted.” You say as your voice creates a more rounded yet somehow deeply sinister tone. Eunbi is still out of it as you stand before Hyewon. Hyewon looks at you in terror but there’s something else there… arousal. You can smell it as she stares into your eyes. In the reflection of her eyes, you see your sclera has turned fully black with a red ring. You blink and breathe in.

You crack your back and tilt your head to the left, “So are we going to fuck or are you just going to continue to tease me?” You ask with a labored voice. Hyewon is transfixed and stupefied by your both menacing and calming aura. You walk over to her and lift her face to yours before pulling her in for a kiss.

You grab Hyewon’s cock and begin to stroke it. As you kiss her you grope her breasts with one hand and stroke her off with another. She mewls as the pleasure gets to her leaving her overwhelmed. Her body leans into yours and she tenses in your touch. She’s close you can feel it in her twitches. “Babe stop I’m about to ahh.” She says as messy strings of semen and squirt leave her body. You continue your stimulating her through her orgasm hoping to make a mess of her. Eunbi watches in blissful oblivion. She begins to finger herself watching the two of you. You smile as Hyewon can’t stop cumming as you continued to stroke her. When her body comes down however you continue to stimulate her.

Her big brown eyes look at you in fatigued acquiescence, knowing you won’t stop until she is trapped in another orgasm. Sadly her legs give out on her. You catch her and you steady her before engaging in another torrid kiss. Hyewon greedily accepts your advances. Her hips mindlessly thrust to you as you continue stroking her. You advance your tongue into her wanton mouth. She tastes sweet like cinnamon. When you break the kiss you continue to stroke her and fondle her breast indulging in her body to your heart’s desire. Hyewon pants as her body further falls into submission to you.

“Babe please fuck me.” She begs between labored pants.

“No… well at least not yet.” You say as you continue stroking her as she lies in your arms. You kiss her passionately as Eunbi watches. Eventually, both Hyewon and Eunbi can't take it. you watch with slight amusement as Eunbi and Hyewon cum again together. Her cum flies throughout the room as her body rages out in pleasure. Hyewon groans overstimulated and raw as more cum keeps pouring out of her.

You coldly set her down in the tub, to let her relax with an equally fatigued Eunbi, and you leave to cook dinner. Hyewon begs for you to say and cum in her pussy, but you tell her. "You are not in the space to be making demands when you can't even stand for yourself." Hyewon moans and whines for you to come back, and you throw her a bone. "If you can get to me before I start dinner I will fuck you to your heart's content," you said. You watch as Hyewon tries to get up but her legs wobble and she falls again.

You finish cooking dinner in record time. when Eunbi (who is only in her bra and panties) and Hyewon (who is fully naked. She doesn't have her cock anymore.) both make it out of the tub. they are both disheveled and yet still gorgeous. you chuckle.

"Finally stable," you ask.

"Yeah. No thanks to you." Hyewon says. Eunbi smiles as she looks over at what you cooked. you hand her a bowl of chicken fried rice along with Hyewon. they sit at the table and eat ravenously.

"How did you become such a good cook?" Eunbi asks proudly her tone belies her admiration.

"Well, lots of trial and error." You respond. Eunbi smiles and takes another spoonful.

Hyewon was eerily silent as she ate, but you could tell something was on her mind. you reached out and grabbed her hand to put her at ease with affection and a smile. it was weird because while you felt the whole gambit of emotions. you still felt this odd detachment, from everything. Hyewon looked at you concerned before you felt her psychic presence reach out

“Are you okay?” She asked telepathically. You look at her and shrug

Eunbi sees the looks you and Hyewon give each other. She sees the concern in Hyewon’s face. In your face, she sees the uncertainty and confusion so she decides to speak up and in a reassuring tone says, "You know I like your eyes like that."

Hyewon and you turn to her and she says, "Yeah it suits you the black and red are both Villainous and menacing, but the brown makes them soft, which I feel is true to you. Sure you can be scary sometimes, but others you're our mild-mannered house husband." She said with a toothy grin as she took another bite. before either of you could react Eunbi said "Oh I found out my Villain's name"

"What is it Hyewon and you ask?"

"Empress" Eunbi says demonstratively.

[redstarwriting]

hobie brown with a pink gf

hobie brown x badass pink!fem!reader hcs

request?: yes

request: “HI RED!!!! idk if you’ve done this already but i really wanna see what hobie would be like with a badass pink!gf. like she wears pink demonias nd stuff but can like hold her own yk? i hope this makes sense LMAO”

requested by: anon

warnings:  language, mentions of stealing, alluding to s*xual harassment from men, cops

a/n: omggg the only person i could think of with this request is chrissy chlapecka wearing her all pink outfits and telling everyone to hit men with their cars LMAO thank you for the request, anon🖤

───────────────────────────────────

- givin me chrissy chlapecka vibes - he loves it - listen - if you have any type of distinct style or attitude going against what most people believe - or one that challenges any type of authority or societal beliefs - Hobie immediately respects you - doesn’t necessarily mean he will be best friends with you - but he respects people who he can see have that kind of rebellious “fuck the patriarchy” attitude - so when he saw you - all pink outfit - pink makeup - pink accessories - pink boots that look like they could kill a man - exactly what you intend with said boots btw - he respected it - especially since you seemed to be taking the stereotypical “girl color” (whatever the fuck that means) and putting a spin on it they wouldn’t like - and girl when he saw you kick some man’s ass - all pretty in pink? - he was like ooh yeah - oh she’s the one - he loves to steal anything and everything pink that he sees - all for you - and he does - this style you have is the definition of him saying “Wear whatever you want, I can fight.” - and in response - you just scoff - “I’ll wear whatever I want, I can fight.” - he loves it - he loves that you’re always ready to stomp someone’s face with your pretty little boots - the amount of time he’s actually had to hold you back is amazing - and he doesn’t hold you back because he thinks you won’t beat the person’s ass - or because he wants you to be the ”better person” or whatever the fuck that is - but because he doesn't want the piggies getting any ideas when it comes to you - he knows you can hold your own - but he can’t help but be a little protective of you - and he just doesn’t trust cops - they’d see you looking all pretty and try something - not on his watch - he’ll take over if there are cops around - but if it’s just a slimy man? - he’ll still be there, ready to step in and kill the guy at any time - but you can handle yourself - so he lets you handle yourself - he loves when you paint his nails for him - he has so many shades of pink nail polish now - and you’ll paint his nails all pink all the time - at first, he was kinda like hmmmmm am i gonna like this? - spoiler - he did - he still paints his nails black all the time but when you ask to put some pink in there he’s all for it - he doesn’t realize his flat is slowly becoming more and more pink as you start to move in - because he doesn’t necessarily care all that much - he really likes the color now - but when Gwen comments on it he’s like… oh yeah - “Hobie? Have you found a new love for the color pink?”   “What?”   “Your place. There’s so much pink in here.”   “Oh… (Y/n) and I are gettin’ serious. She’s been movin’ in. But yeah, I do fancy the color pink, now. What of it?” - he does have a favorite shade of pink that you wear - but he loves when you wear all pink - so he acts like he doesn’t have a favorite - but he’s bad at it - cause the minute you wear a bright obnoxious shade of pink? - he’s gone - he’s simpin - he’s in love - he will compliment you more than he already does - which is a lot - and have his hands all over you - needless to say you’ve incorporated that color into your wardrobe a lot more - he just loves your style - and your attitude - the two of you are the government’s worst enemy honestly - and even though you’re a badass - you don’t need a man or anyone for that matter - you have a soft spot for your anarchic asshole - and sometimes you just like to see him be the badass - cause he sure can be - you’re a “don’t fuck with us” couple - a “fuck around and find out” couple - and the two of you wouldn’t want it any other way <3

───────────────────────────────────

[loveharlow]

Heyy hope you are doing well! Can you pls do Rafe as a bully and then fem/rafe sleep together.

i know you probably wanted something a little more in depth but this was all i could do blurb wise😭 Rafe isn't really a bully but more of an asshole here but i still like how it came out tho

implied dub-con, swearing

The party was in full swing at this point. No one could hear one another over the bass of the music but they continued to talk like they could regardless, the endless chatter adding to the deafening noise inside of the Figure Eight mansion.

You'd never been to a Kook Party before now. Living on the Cut for most of your life meant keggers, kickbacks, and beach bashes. Not house parties and nightclubs. Kook life was new to you but you couldn't find it in yourself to complain, really.

You'd found a good group of friends, the same ones that had drug you out of your house in the first place. Right now, you were off your rocker, mindlessly playing beer pong with one of your friends that you'd been glued to all night.

You'd just beat her in your third round, hands drunkenly thrown up in the air, completely forgetting about the half-full cup that you had in your hand. "Boom, baby! Three in a motherfucking row-"

"Yo, what the fuck?!"

Your head whipped around to find a fuming Rafe Cameron standing behind you, beer dripping down the side of his face and length of his neck, dribbling into his half-buttoned polo shirt. Party-goers started to 'ooh' around the both of you.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry-"

"Are you fucking stupid?" Your face fell at his words, morphing from one of genuine concern to a nasty, offended snarl. "Shouldn't your ass be bussing tables down at The Wreck or some shit?" He spat, using a napkin handed to him by one of his yes-men to wipe his face.

A few people laughed, the mild embarrassment making your cheeks and ears grow hot. "It was an accident." You scoffed, eyes fleeting around you nervously before tilting your chin up. "You don't have to be a dick about it..."

"Yeah, you've seen plenty of those haven't you?" He chuckled meanly, looking around at his friends with a smirk before turning back to you. "Maybe I was wrong. The waitress vibe doesn't suit you but I could see you on your knees for a couple bucks. Girls gotta eat somehow, right?" He joked, the guys crowded behind him breaking out into laughter. He leaned down, face just inches from yours as he spoke to you lowly. "Why don't you go back to the slums where you fucking belong?"

You bit the inside of your lip, looking down at your feet for just a moment before something inside prompted you to reel your arm back, splashing what remained inside the plastic red cup into his face. The people standing around watching and egging you on with cheers and sounds of amusement.

You wasted no time in throwing the cup to the ground, looking the boy up and down, and stomping off into another part of the house, less crowded and hot. "Hey!" You heard a voice boom behind you, peering over your shoulder as you walked away to see Rafe hot on your tail, ducking through the cliques of people, basically shoving them to the side.

"Fuck off!" You shouted back, picking up speed and heading for the stairs inside of the house. Reaching them, you practically bolted upstairs, as fast as you could in the mini dress you had on.

Rounding the corner, you were about to enter an unoccupied bathroom before a rough hand grasped your shoulder and turned you around, pinning you against the wall.

"You throw a drink in my face and think I'd just let you walk away?" The Cameron boy spat in your face, staring down at you like an angry bull.

"I told you, it was just an accident. You were the one who had to go and call me broke slut in front of every body as if you're some kind of upstanding citizen yourself."

"Do you know who the fuck I am?"

"There isn't a single person on this island who doesn't." You told the boy. "But I'm not everyone else. I couldn't give two shits about who you are, Rafe." You spat.

He clearly wasn't fond of your answer, using his grip on your shoulder to roughly shove you into the nearest room, shoving the door shut with the bottom of his shoe and guiding you over to the bed until he was close enough to throw you on top of it.

Your body bounced as you hit the mattress, eyes finding Rafe standing to the side fiddling with his belt buckle. You couldn't help but chuckle in your semi-drunken state. "You're seriously going to try to fuck me after the shit you said to me?"

"Try?" Was all he laughed out in response, shoving his pants down his legs and throwing off his polo shirt, the action leaving his hair messier than before.

"And what makes you think I want to fuck you?" You spat, sitting up straighter on the bed, leaning on your elbows for support. He simply eyed you down and licked his lips.

"There isn't a single person on this island who doesn't."

©loveharlow.

heads up: i added emoji anons to my blog, so feel free to send an ask to take one if you frequently send in asks!

[aureatchi]

⋆·˚ ༘* A NIGHT @ A JAZZ BAR! ft. dazai, chuuya, & ranpo!

a/n. i've never been to a jazz clb myself (hopefully in the future <('o'<3) !) but i keep seeing videos of them on my tiktok fyp ‘n i could vividly visualize the snug, intimate atmosphere...i was immediately reminded of these bsd men,, imo the vibe fits them v well !!

info. fem!reader. fluff as chambré as the ambiance. mentions of lots of drinking ‘n reader gets tipsy. to have the full experience i recc. listenening to jazz music while reading! \(^_<)\ wc. 6k (total)

DAZAI :

You needed a break. You had been working yourself morning to evening this past week for extra money—you wanted to make sure you still had a decent amount of savings in your bank account after all the shopping you had done with your friends the previous weekend. Thankfully, your final shift had ended earlier today, so you went home, indulged a nice, hot shower, and decided you should treat yourself for getting through the long week.

You had never been to a jazz bar before, but you thought it would be a fun twist in comparison to a regular bar—which is what you needed anyway. You wanted something to wind yourself down, and some drinks along with incredible music would certainly satisfy the interest.

So here you were, sitting on one of the tall, cushioned barstools as a bartender prepared your first drink. The atmosphere in the bar was cushy and cozy, already relaxing your mind.

“I’ll take what the miss ordered over here,” you heard from the handsome man who sat on the stool next to you, brunette hair covering his eyes.

He noticed your gaze and then turned towards you. “I haven’t seen you before; this your first time?” he asked, a friendly smile on his face.

“Yeah,” you replied, a shy smile in return. “My first time at a jazz club in general.”

“Ooh, how exciting!” he responded in delight. “I hope you’ll like it here.”

The bartender handed your identical drinks.

“What’s your name?” the dark-haired asked. You responded with yours, asking for his in return.

“Osamu Dazai,” Dazai replied with a wink. “Nice to meet you, bella.”

You were initially confused because you had just told him your name, and it wasn’t Bella (unless it was, ignore this!)—maybe he misheard? But he gave you no time to correct him when he raised his glass towards you.

“What brings you here?” he asked. “To try this out for the first time?”

“To celebrate still being alive after working my ass off this entire week,” you replied with a half-hearted laugh.

Dazai chuckled with you. “I could say the same for myself,” he replied, a hint of thoughtfulness in his voice. “Well then! Let’s toast…to being alive!” He raised his glass higher, and you did as well, meeting his in the middle.

Clank!

“And to a new friendship! Or possibly even more…” his grin turned smug as your expression contorted in confusion, and you felt your cheeks warm up.

“…Hey Osamu, we just met,” you responded with your own smirk, playing it off after your initial reaction.

“Just a possibility,” he giggled. “Because your response helped me figure out you were single, anyway! If you weren’t, you would’ve been like, ‘Oh Osamu~ I regret to inform you that I have a boyfriend…'”

“How sly.” You shook your head in amusement.

He simply laughed as you both took a drink of your cocktails.

...

You were on your fourth drink now. You and Dazai had conversed a lot throughout the evening—you had learned his occupation was a detective agent of sorts, and on that topic, he babbled on about how one of his coworkers would always complain about him being lazy and obnoxious.

“Kunikida’s always pissed at me,” Dazai giggled. “But he plays right into my entertainment—I get on his nerves on purpose! Actually, I was supposed to be investigating something this evening…wait ‘till he finds out I was at a bar all night gossiping about him with a fanciable lady!”

You laughed in response, cheeks tinted, while your eyes admired how the ambiance of the balmy-toned light in the room complimented his features. His gaze was soft and his eyes rosed in honey. Meanwhile, brown bangs rested gracefully on his face, while a strand of hair was tucked behind his ear. To further add to the dreamy atmosphere that surrounded you two, the smoothness of the melody in the background—especially with the use of piano, could be compared to a romantic candlelit dinner in itself.

“You’ll be fine slacking off, though, right?” you asked. “Your job seems important, so I wouldn’t want you skipping someth-”

“Don’t worry, bella, I’m more capable than you think,” he replied. “Or at least, you can have my word that I won’t get fired.” He gave you a playful smile.

“You’re so cute, though! Caring for my well-being. Awh, and now you’re smiling. Wait—don’t turn away; you don’t need to be shy!”

You also observed this man was a huge tease, quite literally pointing out your reactions to his flatter out loud the entire night. It was all Dazai’s doing though—how could you not fluster whenever he called you adorable? Especially when he looked as pretty as he was—there was no doubt your new friend was very attractive.

Your face was still turned away from him when you noticed other people in the room start to get up from their seats and move towards an area not crowded with tables and chairs, in front of the band playing the music live.

A new song had begun, and people started to dance with each other.

You turned back to Dazai and were greeted with an outstretched hand toward you as he stood up.

“Mind if I do?” he asked. “You need to experience the dancing too.”

You took his hand with a smile, and then he led you across the floor. “I’ll need help, though, Osamu. I'm not familiar with dancing here.”

“Don’t worry bella! I got you.” He dragged you into the center of the crowd and started guiding your movements—the dance was a fashion of stepping back and forth to the rhythm. His hands clasped around both of yours.

“The most important part is footwork,” Dazai whispered. You turned your head to see other couples and their movements, and you did your best to replicate them. You then focused your gaze to admire the band—seeing instruments such as the saxophone, piano, drums, and clarinet being played. You looked back at Dazai, both of you happy you had gotten the hang of the swing.

He suddenly stepped back at the same time you did, stretching both pairs of arms. He pulled you back in, and with it he let go of one hand and spun you around.

“Here’s one move,” he chuckled as he spun you once more, in the opposite direction. "Let's see how long it takes for you to get dizzy!"

...

The rest of the night was lovely. You danced with Dazai until the songs ended, and then you two had a few more drinks until he realized you had drunk too much.

“Are you fine?” Dazai asked, noticing your flushed cheeks and unfocused gaze.

“Hm? Yes,” you replied, though it was evident you were very tipsy.

“I think that’s enough drinks, hm?”

“Aw,” you replied, swishing around an ice sphere in your glass. In this state of intoxication, you had taken to stop looking at Dazai while he looked at you, because whenever you made eye contact with him now, you couldn’t control hiding being smitten by his charm anymore.

You stole a glance at him this time though, seeing through your peripheral that he wasn’t looking.

“Oh!”

Dazai had noticed your little solitaire’s rules and decided to join in your game too. He immediately caught your look and stared back.

Unconsciously, your chairs had gotten closer throughout the night, and at this point they were touching. Your personal bubbles had eloped, and Dazai was now very close to your face.

Your lips slightly parted, your heart racing in anticipation of what would happen next, a stark contrast to the flow of the slow music. Dazai’s breath on your neck, his eyes on yours, and his attention completely focused on you. The tension was unmistakable, especially when his pupils darted to your mouth—it truly seemed like he was going to kiss you right then.

But then, he pulled back, calling the server, leaving you stupefied.

“I’m paying for Miss too,” Dazai said to the bartender, handing him his card before looking back at you. “You should go home before midnight at least,” he looked at his watch. He then noticed your dismayed expression, and simply laughed.

“I want to get to know you to where I’ll know for certain I can do something like that while you’re in this state first. And you’ll be fine with it when you’re sober again—you’ll even let me do it when you’re sober,” he joked whilst giving you a reassuring smile.

He was so considerate. You were glad and thankful that he was a polite man—you would’ve definitely freaked out once you were sober if you let someone you just met at a bar kiss you.

Because you would’ve definitely let him.

“Okay, Mr. Gentleman,” you replied lightheartedly, but you too smiled to show you were seriously grateful for his self-control when he had an advantage.

After paying, he stood you up and put his beige coat that he hadn’t been using around you. You both walked—or you rather stumbled out into the cool evening air, and you immediately sobered up at the breeze.

“Thank you for keeping me company. My first experience was amazing thanks to you,” you said, merry.

“I thank you as well,” Dazai smiled too. “It was a pleasant night.

“Keep the coat for now. It’s an excuse for us to meet again.” He winked, and you chuckled, nodding your head in agreement.

Dazai then signaled for a taxi to come over to take you home.

He outstretched his arms a bit, an invitation to hug.

“May I?”

Your lips curled upwards, and you wrapped your arms around him too as he embraced you warmly. He gently kissed your forehead.

“Have a lovely night, belladona,” Dazai said as you both pulled back, the taxi vehicle stopping close by you. You realized then that he wasn’t calling you by the name, Bella—just the abbreviation for the romantic endearment he had called you by the entire time.

“You too, goodnight Osamu!” you responded.

…

At home, you went through the pockets of Dazai’s coat to see if he had left anything by accident. You found a small piece of folded paper, and opening it, he had left his phone number for you.

“Give me a call, bella!~”

CHUUYA :

“Almost done, doll?” Chuuya asked as you looked at yourself in the full-body mirror, seeing what your outfit looked like from all angles. You were dressed up—classy black corset top with a frilly skirt, under a matching blazer that belonged to your lover. 

“Yeah,” you replied, smiling when you saw the ginger appear behind you through the reflection, who gently lifted your hair and clasped a ruby-jeweled necklace around you. 

“We look s’good,” he said, looking into the mirror as well after putting on your necklace, both of you posing in your attire. You couldn’t have agreed any more. Chuuya was equally dressed as flamboyantly as you—designer branded black suit and tie with a matching fedora to tie it all together. 

“We’re like fashion icons,” you added, earning a smirk from him. It was always like this whenever you two went out—you and Chuuya would always subliminally earn the title of best dressed in the room, no matter the occasion, no matter how casual or formal the event was. 

“You’re right,” he agreed, planting a kiss on your cheek.

“Well, shall w’go now, mon amour?” Chuuya stepped back, holding out his palm for yours to take. 

You giggled at the extra-ness of the ginger-haired. 

“Lead the way, Chuu. Or what was it…oh! Monsieur Chuuya.” You took his hand as he led you out of your elegant hotel suite. 

Chuuya Nakahara had brought you all the way to Paris. He had gotten a week off from his work—this was seldom; he barely got any breaks from the Port Mafia, so he knew he had to do something special with you while he had more time on his hands. And what better to do than take you to the City of Love? 

Tonight’s evening plans included dinner at an elaborate restaurant—very lavish (usually, a table would have to be reserved about a month in advance, but Chuuya used his PM connections and money to buy you two a spot—you didn’t know this of course). 

Your dinner was delectable. You knew you would be dreaming of the delicious flavors of all seven French courses for days after finishing eating. 

Though, you and Chuuya weren’t tired yet, and it was still pretty early in the night, so you two decided to go to one of the underground jazz bars in the city. The warm, sultry air immediately filled your senses as you ran your fingertips through the texture of the auburn brick walls; the atmosphere of the place complimenting you and Chuuya’s aura perfectly. 

Some people even turned to you both as you made your way across the room, admiring how attractive you two looked together—the way your outfits highlighted your best features and coupled each other’s from the head accessories to the shoes you wore. Chuuya guided you from behind with one of his hands on your waist and wore a smug smile on his face as he noticed the glances. 

“Baby, they’re looking at us,” Chuuya whispered close to your ear, chuckling. “I know they all think we’re hot.” 

“Shh, Chuuya!” you responded in embarrassment, playfully swatting him away, but you too observed the other people in the bar gazing at you. 

You two sat at down at a booth, crimson red velvet cushions decorating the wooden sofa. 

“I’ma get drinks, alright?” he asked and you nodded before Chuuya made his way towards the bar. Meanwhile, you sat and watched the band on stage play. 

You and Chuuya were no strangers to jazz bars. It was an activity that became a statement in your relationship—back in Yokohama, whenever any of you needed destressing or just wanted to go out an evening without any plan, he would take you to one. So it was nice you could finally visit one in Paris, too. This one in particular was less known than others—usually, only a local would be able to find this jewel of a place. All knowledge credited to the expert Chuuya!

You also thought he enamored the vibe so perfectly. The setting of the place radiated of the top mafia executive so well—alluring nature; soulful, captivating music; the sophisticated selection of home-specialty cocktails on the menu—or even better, just the wine. 

Which is of course what Chuuya came back with, in red.

“Now what is this?” you asked, amused. You knew the ginger’s upscale taste in wine—after all, you’ve walked through his entire cellar worth multiple banks at home. You were awestruck, to say the least. 

Chuuya set the bottle down on the table. 

“This is a Pinot Noir. Domaine Georges and Christophe Roumier Musigny Grand Cru 1990,” he pronounced while you stared at what you bet on the Eiffel Tower cost thousands in front of you. “I love this place. Didn’t think they’d have such a good bouquet here.”

“Chuuya! That’s such a long name?!” you responded, jaw-dropped. “Why the hell are these titles so long?”

He simply smirked. “Well, I think this is perfect for the occasion, doll. Do ya know why?”

“Hm…because we’re in France?” you guessed, knowing how most of Chuuya’s favorite wines were imported from the country. Since coming here, he’s tried a lot. 

“Not wrong, but there’s something else,” he continued. 

“You remember Musigny, right?” You nodded, recalling the previous three times Chuuya mentioned a wine from the Le Musigny vineyards while educating you about what he was drinking. 

“The story b’hind this wine involves a Musigny girl who marries a lad in 1924. As a dowry, he receives parts of the Chambolle Musigny vineyards. Then, Domaine Georges and Christophe Roumier were born, and this wine was produced. Kinda romantic, huh?” 

“Awh! Yes, it is,” you replied, smiling. You found it adorable that Chuuya had chosen a wine with some sort of lovey story behind it for this event. 

He smiled back and then opened the bottle, pouring you about a third of the glass of burgundy liquid. 

“Here, nana.”

He sat down beside you after pouring his own glass. You took yours and clanked his glass, seeing a smug smile on his face. 

You sniffed the wine first, a sous-bois—earthy aroma filling your senses, redberries and spices akin. Then you tasted it, intense, grapey flavor on your tongue. 

“Miam!”

…

You and Chuuya had finished the bottle and moved on to other cocktails. And though Chuuya did like liquor on special occasions, he also could not hold it very well. Tipsy yourself, you didn’t realize he too was intoxicated until he randomly jerked you up from the seat. 

“Let’s dance pretty girl,” he said, dragging you across the floor. 

“Wait, hang on Chuu!” you stumbled, trying to find your balance. 

You made it to the middle of the floor where many other people were and joined in with the vitalizing, fast-paced song. You and Chuuya swung around, dancing to your heart’s content. Though your mind was hazy, you made an effort to step in the right places, so you wouldn’t topple Chuuya and both go down. 

Except, it seemed that he was too drunk to focus as well. He had accidentally lingered his foot on the floor too long, causing you to slip when you accidentally moved yours to the same spot. You gasped and fell backward.

An arm swiftly wrapped around your back, though, saving you from hitting the ground. 

“Sorry baby!” Chuuya had snapped out of his fuzziness the moment you tripped, acting fast to stop your fall. Your eyes widened as you looked into his concerned face above.

You realized a few moments later that everyone in the crowd had parted, leaving you and Chuuya in the middle, still in the same position. Unintentionally, he had disguised your slip-up as a dip in dance, and everyone there was impressed! They started clapping as you both remained there, confused looks on your faces. 

But then, Chuuya smiled and pulled you back up into a kiss. He started chuckling as his lips lingered on yours, finding the entire ordeal funny that it had worked out so pleasantly. You smiled too, wrapping your hands around his neck while you heard shouts of “Ouah!” and “Comme c’est romantique!” from spectators. 

Chuuya wasn’t done yet, though. Even the band had stopped playing music to acknowledge this interlude, so Chuuya jumped up on stage headlong without hesitation and took the microphone. 

“This princess right here deserves everything,” Chuuya spoke, eyeing you with a grin, causing you to heat up in embarrassment. “I brought her to Paris ‘cause why shouldn’t someone as lovely as her experience the city of romance? I say I’m one damn lucky man to have her.” 

There was another applaud while you melted in your lover’s broad proclamation of endearment towards you. You almost couldn’t believe it—surely you were just drunk and imagining things; there was no way Chuuya had gotten on stage with the band and started speaking. But the reality of it proved when he jumped back off, and embraced you again. 

“Love you,” he whispered in your ear. 

“Or, the French say ‘Je t’aime.’”

“I love you too,” you giggled back, enjoying the warmth of his hug. 

… 

You were both exhausted by the end of the night, yet Chuuya still carried you bridal-style back to the hotel room. You scrambled to get ready for bed, showering and changing into your pajamas, and in no time, you were both tucked in under the covers. 

“That was fun,” you sleepily said as you wrapped an arm across him. 

“I’m glad it was,” he replied. “You deserve to enjoy every day.”

“I do enjoy everyday because I’m with you, Chuuya. What you said earlier…

“I’m one lucky girl to have you.”

RANPO :

“Ranpo-ohh, c’mon!” you exclaimed as you practically dragged your lover out of the kitchen. 

“Why do we gotta go!?” he whined back, trying to grab another cookie out of the glass jar on the counter. 

“It’s—literally a mission from the President?” you used all your force and pulled Ranpo away before he could latch his hands on the sweets. 

“Why does he gotta send us?” he continued to complain, but fortunately, no longer trying to escape from you. “He always gives me such boring missions…I should be getting much more important cases as the world’s best detective!” 

He ended his exclamation with a hmph! and crossed his arms. You sighed as you looked at his stubborn state, but couldn’t help but smile when you realized he looked kind of…adorable like this.

“Ranpo, your missions are probably so trivial because you’re just that smart! You can figure out the answers and solutions to people’s questions and problems right away, so of course, everything that isn’t some huge, world-threatening issue would be mundane to you!” 

“Yeah, ‘cause humans are stupid,” he responded, but it was evident in his eyes he appreciated your words. You’ve grown to learn this over time—Ranpo absolutely loved praise, tripling in significance when it came from you, but he was too prideful to admit it. You’ve seldom seen him thank other people when they complimented him, but he always made sure you saw it, even if it was in an indirect way…She’s brilliant anyway. She’ll know I cherish it. 

“But! Seriously? A jazz concert? Why couldn’t the President send someone more suitable for that setting? I have no interest in somewhere like that!” 

“Why not?” you asked. “It seems fun! There will be music and dancing and stuff.” 

“I’d rather stay here! There won’t be snacks—probably just drinks! And I don’t like drinking; nothing is sweet enough for me!” He pouted once again.

“Well, the point of the mission won’t be to entertain ourselves anyway. We’re going to find a suspected murderer and possibly stop another murder caused by this one from happening. Therefore, drinking isn’t even important—it should be out of the question. For tonight, anyway.” 

“Fine. Let’s go!” 

“Wait—just a minute! We need to be dressed for the occasion! So we blend in?” 

You found it ironic that the world’s best detective could easily solve any case with a snap of a finger, yet he couldn’t even use the train. His ignorance of things was quite amusing; something such as an event’s dress code had slipped his mind.

“Why, what’s wrong with my outfit?” Ranpo asked. 

“Or do you just want a reason to dress me up?” You could see a slight smirk forming on his lips. 

“Well, I wasn’t lying with what I just said, but yes, picking out an outfit for you would be quite fun…” 

…

You and Ranpo were dressed and ready to go to the event. You had styled him in a cocoa-brown button-up paired with some slacks and yourself in your favorite little black dress. 

“Earth tones fit you the best,” you commented as you admired him in the outfit you put him in. “They compliment your eyes really well.” 

“Really?” he asked as he strode over to a mirror and shoved his face directly in front of it. He opened his viridian eyes, wide, and tried to examine why you thought that by holding up a piece of the fabric to his face.

You giggled as he felt you wrap your hands around his waist, hugging him from behind. 

…

“The murderer is going to be in this large crowd,” you repeated facts that the both of you already knew. “They’ll be unsuspecting—they’ll blend in with everyone else like us.”

You walked through a slim door but were greeted by a vast, lively room of vibes and music. The concert hadn’t started yet, but there was already a sea of people inside conversing with each other and ordering drinks. 

“The murderer may not have bought a ticket,” you said just loud enough for Ranpo to hear after you showed your entry tickets. You scanned the guest list and saw that everyone currently in the room did buy one, casting aside the staff, so you ruled out that everyone there right now could be a suspect. “So that their name wouldn’t be documented here. We should keep watch to see who tries to sneak in.” 

Ranpo nodded. “There are definitely other entrance doors in here, though. There’s probably an emergency exit in another corner of the room, and there is the backstage door.” 

“So they can sneak in through here, bribe the doorman, or sneak in through the other door,” you clarified. “And if not…they would hide among the band performers and enter with them.” 

“Or! They could be one of the band players.” 

“Hm, really?” you asked. “I looked into this band when we first got assigned the mission. It doesn’t seem like any of the members have any dirt or sketchy controversy surrounding them.” 

“Just a possibility! But yeah, any of those three ways would be how the murderer will get in.”  

You nodded in agreement. “I’ll go around to find the other entrance then. We’ll text each other if we see anything; otherwise, we’ll meet back when the concert starts. 

“Okie dokie!” 

… 

Thirty minutes had passed. You had found the back entrance and idled by it to see if anyone would enter, but noone came. You waited for a text from Ranpo, but it didn’t seem like anything suspicious happened on his end either. 

You heard a smooth voice through a microphone that sounded the entire room as the lights dimmed. 

“Welcome. The concert will begin on stage shortly.” 

Taking one last look at the door, you left and made your way to the stage where many other people started to gather. You sifted through the congregation, trying to find the pretty brunette among them. 

“Boo!” 

“Hu-uh?!” You slightly jolted, immediately turning around. You were undoubtedly greeted with a brunette. But instead of Ranpo, you were met with… 

“Dazai?!” 

“Hey-y!”

“What are you doing here? And why are you dressed as a bartender?” 

“Oh!” he replied, taking your hand. “Well, Ranpo was trying to find you, so come with me first.” He led you through the group until you were at the bar area. 

“There you are!” Ranpo shouted, seeing you appear with Dazai. 

Dazai brought you to Ranpo and then went behind the counter. 

“Well, to answer your question, long story short, I got punished. For ‘being lazy’. Kunikida caught me trying to catch a nap on the couch and went and complained to the President. He came in, saw me still there, and decided to punish me by leaving Kunikida to punish me.” You lifted an eyebrow in amusement. 

“So, Kunikida said I’d have to work here for the night. To prove I’m worthwhile doing a job.

“But anyways, drinks?” He glanced at you and Ranpo. 

“No thank you,” you replied. “We’re on a mission right now. There’s a murderer we have to catch tonight.” 

“Oh yes, Ranpo already told me,” he replied, looking at Ranpo. 

“Dazai helped us a little,” Ranpo said. 

He explained that when Ranpo discovered he was here too, he helped by counting everyone in the room after one of the band members announced the concert was about to start. Then, all left was to ask the doorman a question that would tell them how many tickets were sold. If more people were in the room than tickets sold, they would’ve already entered. 

“And since you and I didn’t see them trying to enter through the two doors, that must mean that the murderer came in the third way,” you contemplated. “They would sneak in with the band.” 

“Or again! Be part of the band!” Ranpo exclaimed. 

You sighed while Dazai chuckled in amusement. 

“You don’t believe so?” Dazai asked. 

“I just don’t see how. I mean, there’s no way all the members would have such clean slates if one of them turned out to be the killer.” 

“Or you’re just biased,” Ranpo sparred. “I know you’re really fond of jazz. That’s why you were so excited to go on this mission. You probably don’t want to think one of the jazz musicians could turn out to be a criminal.” 

You frowned. “Ranpo, that’s not the only reason-” 

“Whatever! We need to see how many people bought tickets for here.” He cut you off.

“Alright, I’ll go,” you replied and walked over to the security man at the door you came in from. 

“Hi, I run a blog and I was interested in making an article about my experience here, would you mind if you could answer a question about something?” 

“Of course, I don’t mind,” he replied. 

“I was wondering how many people are here tonight,” you said. “This place seems popular. I was curious to see if the atmosphere makes it seem like there are more people than there are, haha.” 

“If everyone shows up, then there should be one hundred and seven people here,” he replied. 

“Cool, thank you!” 

You walked back over to Ranpo. 

“He said one-hundred-seven,” you told him. 

He and Dazai looked at each other. 

“I counted one-hundred-eight people here,” Dazai said. “Ranpo double-checked, by the way.” 

“Oh,” you said. “So, they did show up with the band.” 

“Let’s go check backstage,” Ranpo said.

…

You two snuck behind the stage with ease, no one paying attention to your trespassing when the band was already playing the third song. Dazai stayed behind; he had been greeted by a pretty woman who wanted a drink and seemed eager to serve her. 

“I don’t see anything odd here,” you said, scanning the room. Luckily it was empty, so you didn’t have to knock out anyone there. 

“Here’s the entrance,” Ranpo pointed to the door. 

“Yeah, so can’t you use ultra-deduction to figure it out now?” you asked, out of leads. There was an extra person in the concert, and they entered through the backstage, but you didn’t know anything else.  

“I told you! They are part of the band! Look, there’s a fingerprint scanner for security,” Ranpo said, pointing to a screen. “If you open the door, the scanner is on the outside. That means only they can enter.” 

“We can’t assume!” you argued back, running to a computer. “I don’t believe it! There’s no way one of them could be the murderer…I—I’ve been a fan of this band for years…” You turned on the computer to see the live recording of the security cameras in the room, one of the screens peering at your back. 

“Are you saying you’re doubting my ability!?” Ranpo clamored childishly.

You ignored him, rewinding the footage to earlier that evening when the jazz members arrived. And to your disappointment, no one else entered throughout the whole timeline until you and Ranpo. 

Is the murderer…really among them? 

“The final song will now begin.” The instruments had lowered in volume, and the same voice spoke in the microphone again, announcing the concert was almost over. 

“Found any other suspect, sweetheart?” Ranpo mocked immaturely. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” 

“What are you going to do? Jump up on stage and tell everyone one of them is a murderer?” 

“Mhm,” he replied, looking up at their backs. “They’ll all be interrogated, the murders will match up with one of them, and-” 

“There just has to be another explanation! I know we found one thing, but we should at least have more proof than just who entered this room to convict someone! I just think you usually have more reason for your conclusions, Ranpo!” 

He stared at you. It was obvious you and Ranpo were frustrated at each other, but you both fought to not cause a scene or verbally displease one another. 

“…I actually can’t figure it out. I tried but…it’s not giving me an answer. I don’t know why. It’s like, in reality, there’s no murderer here at all!” 

He looked disdained, and you immediately felt concerned. But before you could respond, Dazai walked in the room.

“What are you guys doing?” He pulled you with one arm and Ranpo on his other. “There hasn’t been a murder yet, so shouldn’t you be keeping an eye out for it in the crowd?” You three entered the show again, and you eyed the musicians on stage. 

Which one looks most like a murderer. And how will they murder? Will they bring someone on stage and do it there? Or after the concert ends? Or will they abduct the victim and then kill them?

And then the last song ended. The band thanked everyone for coming, and the audience started to either file out or go to the bar for some final drinks. 

It’s going to happen sometime now! 

You immediately tracked down the musicians, keeping them in your sight, even following them as they went backstage. You hid behind the doorframe so they wouldn’t see you watching them. 

But it seems that one of the members noticed. 

“Hey!” he spoke out, the one who played the saxophone. 

Shoot! Now I’m going to be their victim! 

He walked up towards you, and now you couldn’t escape. 

You didn’t even bother to tell Ranpo what you were doing before you ran off. 

“Hm, are you looking for a signature?” he asked, a friendly smile on his face. Fake friendly, possibly. Inviting and warm. So that you’d fall into his trap. It has to be him. 

“Y-yes!” you replied, trying to conceal your fear. “I’ve been a fan of your group’s music for a few years. I am glad I was able to hear it tonight.” 

“Wow, thank you!” he replied, humbly. “That really means a lot. Here, you can come in and I’ll sign wherever you want.” 

And this is where it happens, huh. You debated stepping inside when suddenly, Ranpo appeared in front of you. 

“Back away from my girlfriend!” 

Hu-uh? 

The musician immediately stepped back, seeing the livid face of your lover as he outstretched an arm in front of you for protection. 

“You’re not murdering [Y/N] next! I won’t let you touch her-” 

“Woah-woah!” A new face popped up in the room as the entire jazz band group looked terrified—“Dazai?”

Dazai ran in between Ranpo and the saxophone player, pulling Ranpo and you back. 

“I sincerely apologize for this matter,” Dazai groveled frantically, almost dramatic. “It seems our friend here has gotten very drunk and is acting impulsively! I’m responsible for both of them, so I’ll be taking them now…” 

…

Dazai dragged you and Ranpo out by the collars to the bar counter. 

“Now what was that about?!” you both asked simultaneously, dumbfounded that Dazai had stopped your confrontation with the murderer and even made up a whole excuse for the suspicion. 

“The fact is there is no murderer here,” Dazai calmly said. “The entire case was a setup.” 

“WHAT?!” 

“The President just wanted you two to relax a little because of how diligently you worked; you solved about two cases a day this week, after all. He thought maybe you’d catch on quickly how this was just a scheme, but-” 

“That’s why I couldn’t figure it out! Because you planned this, Dazai!” Ranpo was pouting with his eyes sealed shut and arms crossed, but you could tell he was also a bit relieved that it was only a silly prank by Dazai instead of it being a case he couldn’t find the true answer to. 

Dazai was one of Ranpo’s countable competitors, after all. His intelligence was almost if not as equal to your lover’s. 

“But the extra person in the room?” you asked. “That was still true unless you also hired the doorman to lie about the number.”

“Oh! Well—oddly, the security hasn’t noticed me yet. I’m not even a worker here. I snuck in!”

“So you’re telling me YOU were the extra person at this concert?!” you and Ranpo screamed. 

“Shh! So loud, you two! So now that this case is solved…drinks?” 

…

“I’m sorry for getting frustrated over you,” you apologized to Ranpo as you two sat on the bar stools. “You weren’t wrong; I was being biased whether this was a true mission or not. I really like this jazz band.” 

“Duh, I know,” Ranpo replied, having one of the sweeter cocktails. Of course he did—you had a massive poster of them on your wall.

“…We can come to their concert the next time they perform. Dazai was mean for watching us get worked up over nothing. The music was pretty cool anyway.” 

He gave you a wide grin. You smiled back, shoving a cookie in his mouth. 

“Saved it. Because I knew the best detective in the world would prevail in the end.” 

“Usually you say ‘solve the case in the end’.” 

“Okay well, technically, this wasn’t a case at all—y’know what, forget it.” 

“I’m just kidding. Thanks. For the cookie.” 

You smiled once more. You knew Ranpo meant more than just the sweets by how his cheeks blushed a soft pink. 

reblogs are cherished. <3

reverie is back and in her bsd era i fear...daz’s hair tucked behind his ear>>. ugh he was so polite here. chuuya ‘n his expensive tastes ‘n his expensive dates mwah! lit researched wine lists ‘n wine etiquette for this. v much got carried away on ranpo...it’s okay he’s the cutest and intelligence bows before him! thoo, he’s so so stubborn.

© AUREATCHI 2023 — no reposts or translations. do not steal.

[wreckedandpolemic]

thinking about white and gold and their first holiday together... they have at least a fortnight (knowing matty) all to themselves, freedom to do anything they want... what's the vibe

ooh yes this is good mads i love your mind !!! this happening relatively early into your relationship because we know how fast these two move lmfao maybe that couple of weeks after new year’s where it’s kind of just bitter and miserable outside. you’re in matty’s lap in the living room, sighing wistfully at the pool outside. what’s the matter, darling?

s’just a bit shit outside, you mutter. i miss the summer. matty’s typing away at his laptop out of your view, his free hand rubbing soothing circles into your thigh. you got anything important planned in the next few weeks? you shrug, don’t think so.

good, matty beams, turning his laptop screen to you happily, a confirmation email displayed on the screen. two weeks in the mediterranean enough to cheer you up? and of course, you roll on top of him, thanking and kissing him excitedly. pack light, okay? wanna spoil you while we’re there. immediately, you proceed to show him just how grateful you are (and maybe join the mile high club on the way there teehee)

the cottage matty’s booked for the two of you in rural southern italy is absolutely gorgeous, light and airy, all white stone walls and tiled floor. you change out of your airport clothes into something more fitting; a tiny, white sundress and nothing else but a pair of alexander mcqueen sunglasses. draping yourself in matty’s lap, you all but moan at the sight of him in just a pair of loose linen trousers.

mmm, what are you feeling like getting up to today? matty asks, cupping your jaw and kissing you softly. oh, a nice walk on the beach, a candlelit dinner, getting fucked dumb by my daddy, maybe a little swim? you tease, savouring matty’s sharp intake of breath. in no particular order.

needy girl, christ, matty mutters, shifting his hips under you. grabbing his hand, you slide his fingers up your thigh to your naked core. made it easy for you, daddy, you grin. he pulls the straps of your dress down, kisses, licks, sucks at your tits and slowly frees his cock, lets you bounce on it just how he likes. that’s it, sweet girl. make daddy feel good, yeah? your eyes are rolling back in your head in pleasure, matty’s fingers digging into your hips as he circles your clit. you come with a wail, matty following a second later.

sweaty and panting, you laugh into matty’s neck. think we need a shower, now. obviously, you fuck in the shower, then matty eats his cum out of you, then you suck him off as thanks. so, all in all, you only really have time for dinner before it gets too dark. it’s lovely, perfect really, matty gazing at you adoringly over the rim of his wine glass (despite your scolding him for ordering red wine and fish.) your italian is… passable, and you apologise profusely for his faux pas.

you go for a moonlit walk along the beach, his hand warm in yours and the sand soft under your feet. you stop for a little kiss by the water, trading murmured i love you’s before wandering back to your cottage… where matty eats you until you literally cannot take it any longer and absolutely soak his face.

the next day, you’re intending on getting an early-morning swim in before you start your day - there’s a practically private beach next to where you’re staying, so you might as well take advantage. matty foils your plans by being so fucking turned on at the sight of you in a red bikini that’s more string than anything that he begs for you. so you have a fun little morning with him at your mercy instead <3

then, you go for a wine tasting, heading home a little tipsy and laden with every bottle you’d even nodded at. you finally get to go for a swim, teasingly splashing matty when he joins you for a bit. not fair, you’re tanned already, you pout. you look so fucking sexy, you add, and he grins wickedly. that grin is fatal, and you end up blowing him in broad daylight on the beach teehee

so yeah it’s a lovely, slutty, sun-filled holiday that you wish would never end <3

[annymation]

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 16- This Wish

Chapter 15

We see the people of Rosas all gathered in front of the castle. They're looking up to the giant green bubble on top of the palace, trapping MANY wish bubbles.

Mumblings and questions such as "What's going on?" "Why was a gathering summoned this late?" "What's King Magnifico doing?" can be heard floating around.

We focus on a few adults talking among each other until suddenly... One of them points out that the other's chest is glowing green, and then their own chest starts glowing green too.

The same starts to happen with many younger and older adults, parents with their children, older brothers and grandparents all feel like something is being taken from them... And there is indeed.

Their wishes are being taken back. Every single citizens older than 18 watches in horror and confusion as their wish starts floating out of their chest.

The bubbles are a mixed in shades of blues and greens, but the majority of them are green. They begin to swiftly fly upwards, making twists and turns around the palace like a snake climbing a tree, going around and around until all of them reach the top.

And once reach their destination, we turn our focus to the king who's taking all of their wishes in the first place.

We hear his voice with the enthusiasm of a shows man, echoing through the whole kingdom as he uses his magic staff as a "microphone":

"GOOD EVENING ROSAS!!!"

As his voice echos, every glass window magically turns into a mirror, showcasing his face, surprising the already frightened citizens.

(Yeah in the movie Mag could only do that with the star's magic but uuuuh I thought it was cool and it fits my Mag’s vibes, so here that's something he simply can do normally, trust me, him with Aster's powers is even worse.)

Magnifico and Amable both stand side by side looking down on the people bellow, their smiles are vicious. But Magnifico speaks like this is all just any normal gathering with his usual charismatic energy "Sooo good to see you! So good to be seen! And OOH BOY do we have some exciting announcements for you all tonight! Hahhaha"

Asha and her friends are all gathered together around Simon's now catatonic self, trying their hardest to wake him up, but nothing works, he's unreachable.

Asha turns to look at the monarchs a few feet away from them... She has her pencil and a piece of paper she got from one of the king's books inside her sleeve, they're both on the edge of the tower, if she can just draw something that mayb-

"But first! Please, give it up for your "fearless rebellion"! -oh you all are gonna love this heheehe" The king says that last sentence like he's sharing with the audience a very hilarious joke, while he turns his staff around to get Asha and all her friends, plus Valentino. Holding each one in individual tendrils of greens magic, he pulls them quickly and makes so they're hanging just out of the edge of the tower... If he lets go, they all fall down.

Asha and the teens look down horrified. Their faces now are being showcased on the glass windows bellow. Some of the adults looking at them we can recognize as the seven teens parents, all of them absolutely distraught and terrified.

"Surprise surprise! It's our faaavorite little agitator, Asha! Accompanied by- *gaaasp* A bunch of juveniles??? And a goat??? Oh dear, someone call the cavalry! HA- HAH AHAH!" The king places a hand over his head dramatically while laughing.

He just continues to laugh like a madman, so the queen proceeds to speak instead, her voice also echoing through the kingdom thanks to his magic "Children nowadays, really, just can't take your eyes off them for a second, next thing you know they're falling down a cliff." She jokes with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Magnifico takes some deep breaths and goes back to his little show "Right you are, dear! And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is why we'll never be having any kids!" He jokes to the horrified and confused people bellow, he looks down on them with a smile, but then turns his attention to the star trapped above him "Heheh well, not like we'll ever need a heir anyway, thanks to our dear guest of honor-"

Aster has his hands touching the walls of the bubble while he looks down on what's happening, and immediately after the king finishes his sentence, Aster's wrists are enveloped in magic, he's trapped on the bubble. But that's just for a second, the king makes the bubble disappear, and as soon as it does Aster is pulled down to the floor and chained down (Exactly how everyone was trapped in the movie's climax btw) Aster looks up in anger trying to free himself to no avail.

"The wishing star that can't even grant a single wish! Come on Rosas! Show him your joy!" The mirrors bellow now show Aster's face. The king is getting no applause obviously, but it's not like he expects them to actually cheer or anything, he's just having fun at this point "With his magic in our hands, our reign will be ETERNAL! So rejoice people! You'll get to see these pretty faces for a looooong while! Hahahhaah!" The king speaks with a sadistic enthusiasm.

Asha looks over behind her shoulder,and sees Aster chained down to the floor, the star also looks at her. They're both worriedly gazing at each other, with the king and queen standing between them.

"But you see, everyone- tsk well umm how can I put this?- Before doing that I'll need some extra power, ya know? For safety reasons- My safety of course- And to get that power, I'll need a tiny itty bitty little favor from the lot of you." His voice is clearly mocking them, as he says like he's not asking for much "I'm sure you won't mind, right? I mean, it's only fair that after EVERYTHING we've done for you we get something in return-"

"YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING FOR US!" Asha shouts in anger "All you've ever done was TAKE! And now you want MORE power besides just Aster's?! You'll NEVER be satisfi- AAaAAAaaAGH!" She feels pain coursing through her body as the king uses his magic on her.

The teens look scared. The people of Rosas gasp in shock.

"STOP!" Aster yells angrily trying to pull himself away from the restraints.

The king and queen just look amusedly at the girl squirming in pain, but Magnifico does finally stop. He brings Asha closer to them and says "Still with this dreadful habit of raising your voice at us, huh Asha?"

Asha is breathing heavily, her head is low while she tries to recover from the pain.

"However, you have a point. We DO want more. SOOO much more than you can even imagine!" He turns to his wife hugging her close "After all, I did make a vow I would give you the world and more, did I not, my love?" He looks at her in the eyes lovingly, almost like the world around them doesn't matter anymore.

"Awwwn darling~" Amaya coos passionately while gazing upon his eyes, and goes in for a kiss on the lips.

(Guys, I hate them too, okay? But like, I can't have the villain couple be close to winning and NOT make them smooch, ya feel me? Would be a crime, and it's such a power move.)

Once they separate from the kiss, Magnifico lets out a dreamy sigh, before going back to his deranged self "As I was saying before being oh so rudely interrupted: The time has come for you all to show some gratitude to your king." He looks down on them like little ants ready to be crushed.

He raises his hand open.

While we see the people looking up scared, lost and angry. Among them we see Simon's dad, taking off his helmet and commanding his soldiers to head to the castle so they can put an end to whatever is going on... But it's too late.

The king smiles as he warns them cheerfully "Oh and just a heads up... This might sting a little."

Asha looks up in shock with tears in her eyes, for she recognizes that phrase. "No..."

He quickly closes his hand, tightly and-

C R A C K

Like fireworks, all the wishes above them start exploding and being reduced to green and blue dust.

And as they pop like balloons, the sound of screams comes from below. We see all the adults and elders of Rosas being hit by a sudden pain in their hearts, but as soon as they yell in agony they stop, and bow down on their knees, unwilling to do anything, for they have no more will.

All the citizens younger than 18 are not affected, children are mostly sleeping at this time of night, but a few teenagers are there, desperately trying to wake up their guardians, but there's nothing they can do but cower in fear.

Aster is staring up at all the wishes being destroyed with tears streaming down his face.

Asha hears her people screaming and she can feel her own heart breaking.

Meanwhile, the king only laughs maniacally, as he absorbs the green energy from the crushed wishes into his staff, and in turn he feels the magic coursing through his veins "OOOOOH NOW THAT'S WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT HAHAHA" he breathes in all that energy like he just had the most delicious meal. He turns to his queen with a big smile "Can't BELIEVE I limited myself to only breaking wishes from the riff-raff for SO LONG!" He notices his cape is glowing "Darling, am I glowing? I feel as if I am, yes?" He twirls to his wife gleefully.

(Yeah I'm keeping that scene, that was adorable and I loved Chris Pine's delivery. Also this man just made a whole population go catatonic, so many children and babies are now unattended... Then he just casually mentions he has been doing this to homeless people the whole time. Only to then spin all happy and goofy to show his wife how his cape is shinny, like, I can't with this dude.)

The queen giggles at her husband's delight "You are indeed, mi rey. But how about we get to our little star of the show, hmmm?" She asks anxiously, turning her attention to Aster chained up to the floor behind them.

"Oh but of course, my sweet! Let me just see our un-welcomed guests out first." Magnifico turns to Asha and her friends, still using his magic to keep them hanging over the edge of the tower.

Asha has her head lowered, but as he approaches she raises it to glare at him, her eyes are filled with tears but she refuses to sob in front of him.

He just smiles at her smugly "Wondering why you still have your wish in one piece?" he asks, and she actually didn't realize before but... Yeah, she did give him her wish before, he could take it back, so why didn't he? She get's her answer "Consider it as thanks for providing the star for us. You get to keep the wish you wanted sooo badly to work hard and achieve on your own… By the way, how has that been working out for you?" He laughs while making her spin around in the air, turning her to look at the people kneeled down hopeless, with a few children and preteens lost and scared bellow, he holds her chin so she doesn't look away from them and whispers "Can't say I didn't try warning you, Asha. This world can be so cruel to those who choose to work hard for their wishes... And fail." He quotes what he said during her wish ceremony, with his fake caring tone.

Asha doesn't respond, and he doesn't really care as he makes her float closer to her friends.

Aster notices what the king is doing and pleads "NO- NO NO NONONO! PLEASE! DON'T!" His animation is almost fully sketch lines while he panics.

Asha looks at Aster full of sorrow in her eyes... But with a hopeful smile... She really wishes she could reassure him right now, and let him know that...

She does have a plan.

The king ignores the star's begging as he continues, a sinister grin on his face "And you know what they say about working hard! The higher you climb- THE HARDER IS THE FALL!" And with one swift move of his staff...

He lets go of them.

All the 8 teens and Valentino fall down from the tower.

Most are flailing their arms and screaming in panic, except for Simon who's still practically unconscious...

And Asha who looks focused on her task at hand.

For as soon as her arms are free from the king's magic, she reaches inside her sleeve and takes her pencil and the piece of paper she took from Magnifico's book.

Once she has both in hand, the wind is pushing the paper upwards but she manages to hold it tightly, and she quickly draws the most simple thing that can save all of them...

Circles.

She draws 9 circles on the paper, and once she's done, the wind blowing on the paper makes the drawings magically fly out of it, and once they do, her drawn circles become bubbles.

Big bubbles, big enough for a person to fit inside.

And fit inside they do, as each bubble does as Asha commands in her mind, and saves each one of her friends, Valentino and herself.

Before they know it, they're all inside hand drawn bubbles, floating slowly to the ground.

Her friends firstly get surprised, but once they understand what's happening they all sigh in relief.

Asha looks just as surprised as the others "*breathes in* *breathes out* *breathes in* I can't believe that actually worked! *breathes out*" She sighs in relief.

They're relatively close to the ground now. A few teens and preteens who were previously trying to wake up their catatonic parents approach where the bubbles are about to land.

Asha is so relieved she managed to save them all, she just lays down on the bubble... But fails to notice she was holding her pencil when she does.

POP!

The point of her pencil bursts her bubble.

"Wh-AAAAAAAH!" She's once again falling.

"WE GOTCHU!" The teens who were bellow them caught her. She wasn't too far from the ground so no one get's hurt.

"*phew* That was close, thanks." She thanks the strangers. They put her downs they’re all nervous for the situation, but still relieved that she's alright.

Asha's friends all land safely in their bubbles, that pop once they hit the ground.

Asha looks up to the top of the tower, she can see a green glow... They're starting...

"Okay, now I gotta get up there befo-" she reaches for the piece of paper she had... It's gone.

It flew away when her bubble bursted.

All she has is her pencil.

"... Oh no- nonono!" She turns around to the teens behind her "D-do any of you have a piece of paper? Maybe a book?" She asks around desperately, but only get's them shaking their heads "no"

Asha feels her heart racing. She looks up with her eyes wide, her breath is uneven.

"I- I have to save him!" Asha exclaims with tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes

"The castle is locked down!" Gabo points out to the closed gates "There's no way you're getting to the top in time!”

"Asha, I'm sorry but... It's over." Dahlia's voice filled with sadness as she places a hand on Asha's shoulder "We gotta get out of here! Who knows what might happen when they have Aster's pow-"

"NO!" Asha yells, her eyes closed as she shakes her arm in frustration, tears now falling while she holds her pencil tightly "I'M NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND! NEVER! I AM NOT LETTING THEM TAKE AWAY ANOTHER PERSON I LOVE!" We see something that Asha isn't seeing since her eyes are closed...

She is drawing on air.

When she moves her pencil around, it creates floating glowing scribbling lines... Think of it like her pencil is now the glowing wand from the "Hi, I'm (insert Disney channel celebrity name here) and you're watching Disney Channel" adds.

Her friends look at this happening in shock, Dahlia points out what's happening.

"A- Asha LOOK!"

Asha slowly opens her tearful eyes, and she gasps upon seeing what she just did, the lines she accidentally drew are still floating in front of her.

"I... I didn't know I could do that..." she looks at her pencil and notices it's now glowing, almost like a magic wand... But how?... She thinks for a moment, and she recalls the time Aster explained how his magic works when they first met... "... "The stronger is the want in the wish maker's heart... The more I can do"...That's it!" She quotes what he told her back in chapter 7. She looks up to the top of the castle, drying her tears with her sleeve. Her eyes now have a burning a determination "I'm coming Aster, just hang in there."

Her pencil, now turned into a magic wand, can only draw glowing lines for now, but she tests something by drawing a line close to the ground, and she steps on it...

Yes, just like she thought, she can stand on the floating line.

She then draws another line above the one she's standing on, she jumps on it, and now she higher than before, then she draws and jumps on another line, then again and again, repeating the process, as if she's drawing the steps of her own stair case to the top of the palace.

She's practically running on air now, full speed ahead, wind blowing on her hair, her eyes fixated on her objective. The music rises along with her rising.

...

So we cut to Aster at the top of the tower, and what I will narrate now was happening at the same time as Asha and her friends were landing on the ground below.

We see Aster crying thick dark blue tears that resemble a night sky. He's sobbing while kneeling down with his head down. For all he knows, the love of his life and his friends are all dead, and he couldn't do anything but watch.

The star keeps sobbing until he hears someone softly shushing him, and feels a cold hand on his cheek. Aster opens his eyes to see Queen Amable right in front of him, with a smile that coming from anyone else would seem caring, but Aster knows it's just a mockery.

"Shhhh shhh hush now little starlight." She dries the tears from one of his eyes with her thumb, digging her sharp nail on the boy's cheek, making a cut that shows some star dust beneath his skin, but the cut instantly heals itself. Aster stares at her shaking in fear "There there, no more tears. You should be happy... Your power shall at last serve a purpose." She speaks serenely but with clear malice dripping from her words.

(Can I just mention this is the second time these two interacted in the whole story, and in the first time she tried to caress Aster’s face too but he dodged her hand like it was a bullet. So like, this is her way of saying that nope, he can’t run away, she’s in control, and that’s the creepiest thing for me, okay bye)

Those words hit deeper into Aster more that they'll ever admit, because it implies his magic served no purpose up to this point... And deep down they feel that's true, that he didn't make a difference... If anything maybe them coming down here just made things worse, he thinks.

We turn our focus on Magnifico looking down on his people.

And so...

We get a song.

This Wish (Reprise)

But not the "This Wish (Reprise)" You're expecting... At least not yet.

Oh no no no.

This is a "This Wish (Villain Reprise)"

For you see, initially I was gonna just narrate "And then they drained Aster's power and Asha got to the top of the tower" yada yada yada but that just felt WAY TOO LAME. Like, we've been building up to this for so long and all I give you guys is words? Nah man, we need a song.

Based on the AMAZING song by Lydia The Bard "Asha's Villain Song", I tweaked some of the lyrics to fit with the context of my rewrite. So of course, go give the original song a listen if you haven't yet!

And without further ado... Here's what happens next.

Isn't truth supposed to set you free? Why do you all seem so weighted down by it? So long having to play pretend Deceiving you had us entertained Yes, but now’s time for the main event

(Magnifico begins to sing, looking down on the people all knelling down, with no dreams, no hope, and no escape. He sarcastically asks them why are they so sad, if all he did was show them the truth. He smiles wickedly, admitting that the years of lying were fun, but now it's time for them to move on to a new chapter. As he sings the last line he turns around and starts walking towards Aster while swinging his staff around.)

See, when I speak they all bow down But what we want Is our ha-ppi-ly EVER after

(He now sings to Aster, who still has their face being held by the evil queen. To emphasize his point, when he sings "Bow down" he hits his staff on the floor, making Aster's restraints pull him even more to the ground, thus bowing down to him. The star looks up angrily. The king just smiles menacingly as he explains what he and his queen are after... To spend eternity together.)

You say they're made of stars But we know I’m so much more than that And we’re done shinning now, so our new vow, no matter how We're gonna burn

(He snaps his fingers and summons his magic book that has information about wishing stars, he sings as the pages flip, looking more and more deranged with every verse. Until he reaches the page he was looking for, his voice is more calm and his grin grows at the line "We're gonna burn". And we see in the book the illustration of a wizard stealing the power of a star, with symbols and words in a mysterious language written all over the pages.)

So the girl trusted a wish upon thee?  Hoping you could be her little guide? If this light you shine is what will free us finally Let us be the ones to cross that line

(Amaya now sings to Aster, walking around him, her voice is melodic, and she's drawing out the word "Guide" while pulling the star's flowing hair to make them look at her. Aster does so, with a face of both fear and anger mixed together, but mostly fear. She sings the third line looking at him with a vicious smile. And once she sings the last line, she let's go of Aster's hair, and walks to be next to her husband, who has been mumbling some words in latin while she was singing, preparing the spell to absorb the star's power. The words he mumbled while she sang were "Stella lux, stella clara. Ultima stella hac nocte video. Dolere te licet. Clama ut. Sed lux tua mea hac nocte est."... And the spell is ready, his staff glows brighter. The spell is ready.)

So I make this wish To have so much more for us than So I make this wish To have so much more for us Than this!

(Magnifico points his staff towards Aster, grinning ear to ear. But before he casts the spell he waits for his queen to also hold the staff with him, so they can share the star's power together. And so she does, also holding the king's hand, she sings the same lyrics he just sang, as if to follow his lead. Now they're both side by side pointing the magic staff to Aster. They sing the last line in unison.

It begins.)

(ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS MASTERPIECE made by @gracebethartacc of what’s happening in this scene! With the designs created by @uva124 ! Thank you so much for you both for helping bring these characters to life!)

So much more than this So much more than this So much more than this

(A hand made of green light, similar from the ones Ursula created in "Poor Unfortunate Souls" comes out of the green gem, and makes its way to Aster quickly as the music ascends. The hand hits its target, Aster's heart, or at least where it would be if he had one. The king and queen sing together, while Aster screams in pain, as he feels not only his magic but his very being being drained away. With each line Magnifico and Amable sing, we see that their transformation starting to take hold, as swirly glowing lines begin to form on their skin, like Aster's magic is coursing through their veins. The couple couldn't be smiling wider.)

My bloodline brought expectations Tried to follow all their rules, did what I had to do And now I feel that it's quite overdue For me to have this power to use and abuse

(Magnifico looks at his own hand that isn't holding the staff, seeing it change, his fingertips start to glow, and this glow slowly spreads to the rest of his hand. He recollects in the first 2 verses how in his younger days he tried so hard to conform to what was expected of him, to be part of this long lineage of Rosas kings, but nothing he did was good enough, he wasn't worthy... So he took matters into his own hands, "Doing what he had to do" to become the king he deserved to be. As he sings the third line, he uses his glowing hand to slick his hair back narcissistically, his eyes are closed while he does so, and once his hand lets go of his hair, we see that now his hair is also glowing yellow, and it begins to move, flowing like a flame, just like Aster's. Once the king sings the line "And Abuse" he opens his eyes smiling maniacally, and his eyes have no pupils, just two empty orbs shining brightly like two suns.)

Shouldn't have dared to fight royalty No point begging, no point wishing Now we’re the stars in the sky that you are pleading The very night sky sanctified, blazing inferno sat on high Two super novas here to burn and smite

(Amaya is singing with more intensity and sounding even more deranged than her husband, as this is the first time the witch has magic flowing into her system all at once, while Magnifico is fairly used to it. We see that her eyes are already glowing completely like Magnifico's, and her hair starts to glow, and as it does, her braid undoes itself, and the withered roses in her hair burn down into nothing (Amaya's hair has roses on it in this rewrite btw, check @uva124 design for Amaya here!). Once her loooooooong hair is loose, it starts flowing up and down, just like Eris from Sinbad (Dreamworks movie reference for once lmao) And the glow keeps spreading to her whole body, and to Magnifico's too. As she sings the third line, the couple look at each other and begin to dance their own waltz together, floating in the air just like how Asha and Aster did when they sang "At All Cost". Aster's powers are still being drained, and he looks weaker and weaker by the second, we focus on the star looking like he's about to pass out as his glow is fading more and more... Then we fade to black, and cut to someone else.)

So I made this wish… To have something more for us than this… So I made this wish

(We see Asha making her way to the top of the castle, her face is worried, she sees a light coming from the top of the tower. She sings, her heart filled with so many conflicting emotions: Fear but also determination, anger but also hope, Hate but also love. All she can do is run on the stairs she's drawing for herself, and sing her heart out, hoping that maybe Aster can hear her just as he did when she sang this song for the first time... And he does hear her."

This wish This wish THIS WISH

(We focus back on Aster, we hear both him and Asha singing together, but as the star opens his eyes, he knows Asha is alive, so there's still hope, as long as she lives she can make her wish come true, Aster has no doubt about that. The star raises his head to look at the royals laughing in front of him, and he uses his last remaining strength to sing, because he's not going out without a fight... Though Aster can't fight... But he can make them listen.)—--------------------------------------------------- So I make this wish! We make this wish! For you to face your destiny! So I make this wish! To have so much more than this!

Is this really what you believe? That my power will set you free? You wish to be powerful But what you want is not what you need You see, I've been weak before I won't be that anymore I'd give anything to stop History repeating —---------------------------------------------------

(Aster and the royal couple sing all at the same time. The couple still dances and sings on the air, with their bodies becoming more and more bright, ignoring what Aster is telling them. While Aster looks weak with strands of hair falling on his face, tears running down from his eyes, and most importantly... His body is vanishing, leaving behind just the outline of his 2D body, as if he's becoming transparent. But Aster doesn't care about what's happening with his body, all he wants is to reach out to their senses, asking them if they really think they'll be satisfied, the star tries desperately to make them see they're making a mistake. He tells them how he was once been as a weak star, the smallest one in the sky, but he "won't be that anymore". When he sings the line "everything to stop history repeating" we get a glimpse of Magnifico's book on the floor, we see a page showing a human with bright yellow skin, causing havoc in a village.)

---------------------------------------------------------------- ALL WE WANTED! ALL WE NEEDED! WAS FOR HER SIT AND PLAY NICE! YOU TO COMPLY! YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE! STARS SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THEIR OWN GALAXY! NOW SUFFER FOR YOUR CRIMES!

Magnus, understand You are just a man! Amaya, mortality Cannot be defied! Yes! My magic’s bright... But it'll be your demise... You'll suffer for your crimes... *GASP*

------------------------------------------------------------------

(Magnus and Amaya aren't singing anymore, just screaming at the star angrily. They're now completely made of light, except for their chests, that have dark circles that swirl like a whirlpools... Black holes.

They yell about how Asha should've just followed their rules, and how Aster should've just accepted his fate, but they didn't, and we focus on Magnifico's still visible scar and Amaya's also still visible white hair streak as they sing "YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE"

Aster calls them by their names, trying to reach out for some glimpse humanity still left inside, make them see that trying to defy fate will only destroy them. Yes, Aster hates them, and he's trying to make them see this much more because he worries for everyone else's safety, but even then, the star is also compassionate enough to want to save them from themselves. But trying to reach out to them proves to be like talking to a wall.

They're singing the last lines, Aster looks weaker than ever, now he's just a sketch with no color, transparent, with a faint light flickering on his chest, he feels they're about to absorb him completely, there'll be nothing of him left... He'll die. But he still keeps on singing, even though he lacks the strength hold his head high to look at them floating above, the star lowers their head and sees-)

Asha.

She reached the top.

She's pointing her wand at the couple floating above her, and when they're on the last note of the song-

She attacks.

With her wand, she quickly scribbled what looks like a fireball, and with her face burning with rage she launched it at them.

That caught them off guard, making Magnifico stop the spell.

However... it gave them no damage.

Aster gasps, both in surprise for seeing Asha and also in relief that the spell finally stopped draining him, one second before he was fully taken away...

"ASTER!" Asha screams while running to him, ignoring the two floating and glowing figures above her, she can deal with them later, all she needs is to know if Aster is alright. She kneels down and holds them, or at least what's left of them. The star is laying on the floor, he's no longer chained down, Magnifico knows there's no need for that anymore "I'M HERE! I made it! Come on, please! Can you hear me?!" She asks desperately with tears running down her face, worried beyond words.

She sees the fading light on his chest, like a flame about to burn out.

It's like they took 99% of Aster's magic, and now what Asha sees in front of her is just an 1% of himself, just fighting to keep his human shape.

And his shape is just a sketch that keeps appearing and disappearing, like an unfinished storyboard.

Like this, note how Mickey ears disappear and his face too, yeah, it’s like Aster’s details are fading in and out, disappearing and reappearing like he’s fighting to keep existing:

But even then, even with him feeling weaker than he could ever imagine... Aster smiles at her "I- I heard y-yo-o-u..." Aster stutters quietly as he keeps flickering away, the star can barely move, but he still manages to raise a hand to hold her face, she hold his hand back "Th-thank y-ou fo-or savi-ng m-e" He says weakly, his voice barely a whisper.

"OH-HohOHhoH I WoUlDN't CaLl tHaT "SaVInG", LiTtlE oNe! HahHAhahHaAAHA"

Magnifico's voice comes from behind Asha, it echoes through the air, sounding distorted and unhinged.

"HihIhAAHAhaAhAha! iN FaCt! iT SeEMs thAt THeRe'S NoTHiNg lEfT oF hiM FoR yOu tO SaVE aT aLL, mY DeAr! YoU'rE tOo LaTE!"

Now it's the queen's voice, sounding just as maniacal as her husband.

(Ya know, I was gonna use ThiS eFFeCT on their voices the whole time, buuuut I think I'll leave it just for these two first lines since they're getting used to the power of a star inside them. If I used it too much I might give myself and ya'll a migraine.

Also, best way I can describe their look right now is like that girl from Paranorman, but instead of lighting coming from them it’s star dust, plus Eris flowing hair in Amaya’s case, plus they have dark black holes on their chests, the black holes idea actually came to me recently thanks to a comment from @gracebeth3604 soo thanks moot ;))

Asha hasn't turned to look around, but she can see their light coming from behind her, she’s casting a huge shadow, They're so bright and so close to her it's almost like the night just turned into day.

She holds what remains of Aster close to her, she doesn't know what to do but no matter what she's not letting go of him. Aster is too weak to do anything.

The two royals just laugh at her. Magnifico floats to be in front and face to face with the girl, his cape floating in the air with star dust flowing out of it, exactly like Aster's cape did before.

"Sooooo glad you could join us though! After all, what better way to start using your precious wishing star's power than-"

He raises his hand to use his power on her. Knowing that unlike Aster, he can do a lot more damage than some tickles.

Asha just holds Aster closer and braces herself for it.

"Putting you out of your misery haHAAHahah"

He says sinisterly as he goes for the kill-

The queen holds his arm.

"Now now my sun, why on earth would you do that?"

Both Asha and Magnifico are surprised by Amaya's intervention. The king looks at his wife and just goes

"Huh?"

Amaya floats gracefully pulling her husband away, her cape and dress also have star dust flowing from under it, and her hair floats as if it's under water.

"You said it yourself silly! You wanted to give them a fate worse than death. Is there a fate worse than watching as your loved one slowly perish?"

She says referring to a line Magnifico said in chapter 12. Magnifico understands what his wife means now, and he couldn't agree more.

" Wise as always, my moonlight” He praises her passionately before turning back to the two teens “We'll leave you two love birds to it, got a whole kingdom to remodel and a few new powers to play with, ya know how it is. So ENJOY the show, Asha! None of it would be possible without you!"

They give Asha an almost cheshire cat like smile before leaving them to grieve.

Asha looks to them, with horror and sorrow in her eyes, she has no idea on what to do. The two royals fly away laughing, leaving the girl and the half dead star alone on the top of the tower, and begin to play around with their powers.

(I'mma describe how they're playing around in a sec but now I NEED to focus on Asha and Aster or I'll explode.)

Asha looks at the star in her arms, with every second it looks like he's about to disappear completely. Now that the two villains aren't there anymore... She stops holding it in, she begins to weep.

"*sob* I... I'm sorry Aster, I did everything I could but... We lost." Her tears fall and go right through Aster, now that he's transparent, but the star can feel himself go ever weaker as Asha starts losing hope "... No matter what I did, or how much I tried... I couldn't give Rosas more than... This." She looks behind her shoulder, seeing the two now power crazed monarchs using their magic to change their kingdom to their liking.

Aster holds her face and makes her look back to him "... don-don't sa-y tha-t... y-you're still here... as long a-as y-you're here then there's still a chance" Aster smiles at her with exhausted eyes, caressing her face "And I-I'll be with y-you... I promise."

"But what am I supposed to do? My magic is useless against them- Everyone in Rosas had their wishes broken I- THIS is impossible!" She shouts, now with more tears rolling down her face

Aster lets out a weak chuckle "heh ehhehe yeah... but you showed me it's kind of fun to do the impossible..."

(Aster, you're dying, this is no time to quote Walt Disney)

Asha is still crying but she can't help but smile a little at how the star still manages to be hopeful in this situation "You really think there's still something we can do?"

"not we... you" The star responds weakly, his light becoming even dimmer

"M-me?" Asha tries holding Aster's hand and notices it has completely disappeared... He's fading away. She looks desperate at him "No nononono please! There's gotta be a way I can save you!"

"I'm not going anywhere, not until your wish's granted" he explains "Like I said... I promise I'll be with you... Even if you can't see me..." Aster still smiles serenely at her while their hand drawn body is slowly fading away, leaving behind just a flickering light on his chest.

"I- I don't understand... How can I grant that wish now?" She asks her wishing star.

And the star answered:

"Inspire them."

Asha's eyes widen "What?... Aster, this isn't like before, and even if it was... They can't listen to me, they lost their wishes."

"Then give them a new one." The fading star puts it simply

Asha doesn't understand what Aster means, she just gets more and more distressed as he keeps fading away.

Aster realizes he doesn't have much time left, so he better be quick.

"I know this doesn't make much sense now... But you'll know what to do... *sigh* See ya after you win, okay?... I love you." Aster's face starts to fade away and-

Asha's heart sank like a stone falling on water.

Aster's body was gone... All that was left was a flickering light on her hands.

She looked at that light, more tears fell on her hands...

"... I love you too." She holds the light close to her heart, as more of her tears fall on the floor.

... And suddenly...

The light began to move on its own.

Flying away from Asha's hands, it begins to spin around her.

Asha is surprised by that, she get's up to see what the tiny star is doing.

Once she's standing up, the light flies from the bottom or her dress, to the top in circles, leaving a trail of star dust that transforms her dress.

(Cinderella transformation reference of course)

The music swel ls as Asha's dress magically morphs into a gorgeous princess gown:

(THANK YOU SO MUCH @salmonpiffy FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR GODLIKE ART PIECE IN THIS REWRITE! I had this plot point of Asha getting a princess dress planned for a WHILE, and this drawing it was simply exactly what I envisioned! If you haven't yet, go like and share the original post here!)

Asha is stunned by the transformation, she looks at the flickering star, about to ask it what this is all about, but before she can ask anything-

The small star flies into her heart, making a big glowing star show on her chest.

Asha closed her eyes... And once she opens them, we see her pupils are now swirling like a galaxy.

... Asha understands what Aster meant now.

"... I get it now, you're with me, even if I can't see you." She places a hand on her heart... She can feel that little bit of Aster is inside her... A few tears still roll from her eyes, she knows what to do, but there's no way of knowing if it'll actually work.

"... I'll try..." She tells that both to herself and for her star, as that's all she can do.

She get's her magic wand, and walks to the edge of the tower.

She looks to the kingdom bellow.

The king and queen are making giant thorny vines, grow all over the kingdom, terraforming it to their delight.

Buildings collapse, being crushed by the rose like vines. It's like they're destroying everything only for the fun of it, or so they turn it all into a blank slate only to start it over again.

But thankfully, they're flying far away from where everyone's gathered... So at least they won't see her like this just yet.

She jumps from the tower, even though her magic isn't a lot, she can still float down slowly.

And once she lands down, the first people she sees in the middle of the crowd are her 7 friends and Valentino. Simon kneeling down, not responding to the other six teens trying to wake him up, most of them crying, hopeless and defeated.

“Maaaa!” Valentino bleats out once he sees her.

They all stop what they were doing once they see Asha approach them, wearing a princess dress and shinning like a star. They stare at her in disbelief.

"Asha?" Dahlia says quietly

Asha looks to them, and all the other people down on their knees... She sees something else...

Now that she has a little bit of Aster's magic, she has his eyes, she has the power to see people's stars... Her friends and the other people younger than 18 still have their stars shinning, while all the people who had their wishes broken have their stars so dim that it's almost like they're not even there... But they are still there, weak, but she can still re-candle them

So... Asha follows what Aster suggested, and tries to inspire them.

She begins to sing.

And NOW we get the song This Wish (Reprise) you were expecting. Tho, in this rewrite we'll call it "This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)" for reasons you'll know in the final chapter... Which is the next one, not this one :)

So without further ado:

This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I’m begging you to see this as a sign ’Cause I know that if you choose to stand beside me

(Asha begins to sing to everyone around her, her voice shaking with sorrow and tears still falling from her eyes. She hears the sound of buildings nearby crumbling, it's the king and queen using their powers to destroy just for the fun of it. The sound makes her stop singing for a moment... But also makes her more determined to keep going. She dries her tears while singing the last line... She looks around, and the stars of the people around her still look weak... But Dahlia's star is as bright as ever when she sings)

We’ll be greater than all their magic combined So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Dahlia is looking up to the royals above them when she begins to sing, trusting her best friend wholeheartedly, she looks at her with a smile and makes a wish. Asha sees Dahlia's star shining brighter... And she also feels something changing, she feels herself growing stronger. A smile begins to form on the corner of Asha's lips. Then, Hal and Bazeema join in, they both stand up and sing along with Dahlia. Gabo and Safi join in, with Dario signing the lyrics with his hands. All six of them are singing together, Asha smiles brightly seeing them still hold on to hope with her, their stars all shinning brighter and brighter... But then, she realizes someone else's star is beginning to shine shining brighter... Simon was on his knees with his head down, and he began to sing the last line along with them, the others look back when they hear him, and once they get to sing "THIS" Simon raises his head, smiling at Asha with his hope fully restored, and Asha can see that in his star shinning brighter than ever. The music swells, and so does Asha's heart, she knows now that YES, they can save everyone else. Her friends hug Simon, happy to see he's back to normal, but just like Asha, they know what to do now, and they all waste no time.)

We’ve had generations of expectations Wondering why, wondering when We’re past dipping our toes in We know it’s do or die, it’s sink or swim

(We see the 7 teens walk around the people, encouraging the younger people who are still awake to sing along, combining their hopes in this wish. And as more people with broken wishes hear them, the more of them start to rise up, as if they had nothing to fight for before, but now they do, and with their heads raised up high, they look to the king and queen flying above them... And said king and queen finally notice the "noise" coming from bellow them. They weren't looking at the people until now, to them the people are nothing but little ants. They look down confused but also amused at how those insects still think they have a chance.)

We were all confusing your promises for protection But we know what we’ve gotta do Hope unchanging, with our wish held high The way you’ve always taught us to

(The people keep singing, more and more stars are lighting up on their hearts, just like Asha, the king and queen can also see the people's stars, for they too have Aster's eyes now. But the king has had enough of this little "final stand" of theirs, and he points his staff to them.

The people stop singing, their eyes widen in shock, for they see the king charging a huge blast of magic at them, ready to wipe them all out like they're nothing.

The blast shots out of his staff.

We hear it hit, and all of Rosas is engulfed in green smoke upon the impact. The king and queen just smirk at that, after all, who needs a kingdom when they can have the whole world?

...

But then the smoke begins to clear.

The villain's smiles fade into faces of shock.

“What…?” Magnifico mouths, not believing what he hears)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I know that just like them I shine

(The couple is baffled not only by what they hear, but mostly by what they see...

A shield.

A gigantic, circular, glowing, purple, hand drawn shield. It protects all the people bellow. The shield has the Rosas emblem drawn on it, that’s Asha’s way of showing that the symbol doesn’t represent the royals, it represents Rosas, and they’re taking their symbol and their kingdom back.)

What we do in this moment is defining And we can take it on if we ally

(We see Asha raising her wand to the sky, the shield she manifested begins to disappear, but she remains with a daring smile, for they don't need to defend anymore, she's ready to attack and finish this once and for all. She begins to soar, wind blowing on her hair as she flies towards Magnifico and Amaya. She feels even more of Aster's magic flow through her, and even though it's only a little bit of his magic, she feels she might be as powerful as an actual star, because, unlike the royals, she has ALL of Rosas believing in her, and that gives her more strength than they could even fathom.)

So I make this wish

(When she sings "Soooo" Asha begins to fly as fast as a shooting star, darting and spinning through the air, leaving trails of star dust around the two very angry and lost glowing figures. Once she sings the word "Wish" she stops, now flying upside down right in front of the royals, she looks in the king's angry eyes with a huge confident smile, much like Aster did with her on the night they met.)

To give us freedom, hope and bliss

(We get a shot of the people bellow, everyone is awake with their stars shinning brightly, they cheer for Asha, all of them placing their hopes on her, and in turn making her magic even stronger.)

So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Asha flies to be just above the two royals, Magnifico points his staff at her to attack, but it's no use, for Asha is already drawing something with her wand.

A sword.

She grabs it in the air, looking down at them fiercely as she raises her sword to give the final blow.

Amaya is hugging her husband tightly, she's horrified. Magnus can't get his magic to work... Because star's magic rely on people's hopes and belief, and right now, no one believes in them.

As Asha sings the last line with all her heart, hopes and magic flowing through her-

She STRIKES DOWN.

Hitting Magnifico's staff, the moment she sings "THIS".

"NO- NOOOOO!!!" Magnifico yells in despair.

The gem CRACKS.

And once it finally BREAKS, all the magic that Magnifico absorbed is freed, both from the wishes of Rosas... And from Aster.)

A HUGE explosion like a firework fills the night sky.

And slowly... All the wishes begin to rain down on the people of Rosas, each one floating to their individual owners.

None of the bubbles are green, they're all blue. With the source of Magnifico's magic destroyed, all the curses he created have been lifted.

We see the citizens of Rosas holding their wishes and admiring them before placing them inside their chests, joy and relief washing over them.

We see a few citizens say "My wish!" "I'm going to make it happen." "I just can't wait to get started!" As they hold their wishes, they're all excited to make their dreams come true.

But among the citizens we also see Asha's friends, all of them looking up, worried for Asha, that was a pretty big explosion after all.

"Look!" Hal points upward.

They see Asha floating around. Still wearing her princess gown and holding her wand.

As she flies down along with the wishes, she smiles and admires a few of them close to her, seeing how beautiful and alive they are. She giggles unable to contain how happy she feels.

And when she starts giggling, she hears a familiar laugh from behind her.

She turns around, and she sees specks of star dust that were floating in the air start to join together, forming a clump of star dust trying to take shape.

Asha smiles brightly, already knowing who that is.

The star dust begins to take the teenaged prince shape she knows so well. But there's still one piece missing for them to fully reform.

Asha knows that, and she gladly gives the final piece.

She places a hand on her chest and takes out the little spark of light that was left of Aster, the little spark that gave her all the magic she needed to win.

Once she takes out the spark, her magic dress and sparkles on her hair all go into it, her magic is now gone.

And so, Asha begins to fall.

She’s free falling for a moment, but she knows there's nothing to fear, after all-

Aster, now fully back to his original form and laughing gleefully, catches her.

"HAHA YOU DID IT!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD! HHAHAHA YEEAH" The star spins and flies around with her in his arms.

Asha laughs as well, holding the star tightly with tears in her eyes "WE did it! Hahaaha aah" Aster stops spinning and they look at each other while still floating down together "You really were with me the whole time." She says with her eyes gleaming.

Aster smiles warmly "Well yeah, wouldn't wanna break rule number 1 again heheh" He jokes referring to the rules Asha established when they went to the kingdom together for the first time "Stay close to her at all times". The two of them are floating down, looking into eachothers eyes as Aster says with certainty "But really... I barely did anything, that was all YOU." He says with admiration.

Asha smiles but corrects him with a cheekily tone "Heh heh I guess, but I only knew what to do because I had the guidance of an amazing wishing star" she boops his nose, and Aster's starry freckles sparkle and his smile widens "So I'd say WE did it hihihi" she giggles, knowing she won the "argument"

Aster sighs as they reach the ground "Yeah, I really did get a lot better at this whole guiding thing... Thanks to YOU." Aster winks playfully.

Asha just laughs at that and hugs him"... I thought I'd never see you again." She sighs in relief while feeling his warmth.

Aster's smile falters a little and his eyes show a hint of sadness, knowing that she indeed won't see him again.

"... About that... Asha, I need to tell y-"

"GROUP HUG!!!" Dahlia screams

Asha and Aster feel themselves being embraced by Asha's friends. All of them laughing in relief.

"That was AMAZING!" Hal exclaims jumping up and down while they hug.

"You really did it! They're gone for good!" Dahlia exclaims hugging her best friend.

They all celebrate and cheer while they hug, but they hear a strangers voice:

"Umm excuse me..." A random citizen of Rosas, a bit younger than Asha chimes in, they stop the hug to look at him and he proceeds "I wouldn't say that yet. You might wanna take a look at this, miss" He speaks directly to Asha while pointing to the other side of the plaza.

Asha's eyebrows raise in confusion.

We cut to the king and queen laying on the floor...

Magnus groans in pain.

(NOW I know ya'll just read that and thought:

“WHAT?! “Groans in pain”?!? He’s supposed to be dead!!!” And yes, I hear you, I agree, BUT HEAR ME OUT! LET ME COOK! YOU'VE WAITED 16 CHAPTERS YOU CAN WAIT A FEW MORE LINES!!! IM GETTING THERE!! IN A MINUTE!!... Anyway back to the story.)

The man places a hand on his forehead as he sits up and looks around in confusion... The confusion turns into shock once he realizes his skin no longer glows...

And there are MANY angry eyes staring down at him, from the crowd of Rosas citizens.

The night sky is turning orange as the sun rises.

Magnus breathes heavily while looking at the crowd, his eyes darting at every direction like he's processing what should be his next move.

But his thoughts all but vanish when he hears his wife yelp in pain a few steps away from him

"AMAYA!" He get's up and rushes to her aid.

She looks at him in despair, not understanding how could this happen, and as the king help her get up he has the same distress in his eyes.

They had won, they had everything they wanted, so how did they lose it all so quickly?... How did she do it?

They find there's no time to ponder on this, as some guards begin approaching from the crowd.

Magnifico almost instinctively spouts out the first lie that comes in his head to get them out of this "W- wait WAIT ha-hah my people, please thi-this is nothing but a terrible misunderstanding! Tha-that wasn't US! Y-you see, we we're- uuh- POSSESSED! Yes- by dark magic from my book of spells!" He clumsily comes up with the very obvious lie.

(hihihihehheehehahaheahhaeahHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH AAAH- we do have fun here, don't we?)

The people are all still staring angrily at them, the king knows he's not fooling anyone, but without magic, deception is his only way to protect the wife he's holding in his arms, so he continues "Bu-but it's all good now!- heh he- So no need to get-"

"No one believes your lies anymore." Asha's voice comes from behind them. The couple turns around and sees Asha and Aster are holding hands.

Aster glares at them angrily, as one would after being killed and then used to cause so much destruction to a whole kingdom.

Asha meanwhile doesn't looks angry, nor sad, nor happy, she's just calmly stating a fact as she proceeds "It's over, you hold no power over anyone here."

The villains scared faces slowly morph into rage when they see the two teens, Amaya let's go of her beloved's arms and asks with her voice almost a screech "HOW DID YOU DO IT?! HUH?! What kind of sorcery was that?! We had all of the star's power and you had nothing but a smidge!"

Asha almost ignores the woman, as she turns her attention to look around at all the people surrounding them, they all also seem kinda curious to know how she did it.

Asha begins smiling while looking at them, and she explains "True, I only had a little bit of magic, but it was more than enough, cause' I had the whoooole kingdom believing in me." Asha looks at Aster now with a warm smile, and the star looks back to her smiling too "And a wishing star's magic can only go as far as how much they're believed in."

Magnus rolls his eyes at that and groans in annoyance. He hates to admit it, but the girl is right, he shouldn't have left a single fraction of the boy left, that's what he get's for showing mercy... He lost.

But the man always believed the winner is the one who laughs last. He holds his forehead as he begins to chuckle "Hehehahahaah aaah I gotta hand it to you, Asha, you really never cease to surprise. So! What happens now, hm?" He asks with a sarcastic smile, trying to look like the one in control of the situation even though everyone is against him "Will it be the classic beheading ooooor burn us at the stake like witches? Please, do get creative, I wouldn't want my death to be something generic."

"OH I assure you it won't, your "highness"" Aster chimes in with a smile that looks like his usual innocent self but his tone shows he's actually planning something very much not innocent at all "Cause' you see, I just had the BEST idea of what to do with the two of you" The star tilts his head to the side... Magnus looks like he instantly regrets saying anything "Though, let me just sort it out with my wish maker first, excuse us for a sec." Asha is looking at Aster very confused as he starts whispering something in her ear.

Asha hears what he has to say curiously and she quickly gasps in surprise "Wait- You can do that??" She asks him shocked

... The evil couple doesn’t see that as a good sign...

"Hehehe usually? Nope!" He admits to Asha gleefully, then he turns to the villains in front of them "But right now, I can feel AAAAAALL the people of Rosas wishing for one thing... For you both to face consequences. With so many people wanting the same thing with all their hearts, hehehe well, let's just say my magic becomes strong enough for me to get pretty creative with what I can do." Aster crosses his arms and walks closer to the taller man, he could float to be taller than him but he sees no need "We wishing starts do believe anyone deserves to have their wish come true though, no matter who they are. So guess what Mag, I'm granting your wish too!" The star says with a smug.

That got a few questioning glances from the crowd

"... W-what?" That caught the man off guard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amaya asks worriedly, now walking closer to her husband again.

"Oh you'll see... That is, if you agree." Aster turns to Asha, after all, this is all her wish, so she should get to decide how it comes true.

Asha ponders for a moment with a hand on her chin, she looks around her people all waiting for her to make a choice... She smiles at Aster as she makes her decision "Yeah, I think that sounds fitting for them, do it."

"What sound fitting?! What are you two brats blabbering about???" Magnus just holds his wife closely to him like he wants to protect her from whatever these two are planning.

Aster turns to them with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, preparing to “grant their wish”. The star moves his arms in circles, creating a mass of magic glowing dust.

The two royals brace themselves for the worst, hugging each other tightly.

Aster throws the dust at them and...

Nothing happens.

The couple looks at one another to see if anything changed, then pass their hands over their own faces and bodies to see if anything's different... Nothing

Aster is still smiling at them confidently though, with his arms crossed.

Magnus just assumes whatever the star tried to do didn't work, he throws his head back as he laughs "HA! I don't know why I was worried! You can't even hurt anyone!" The king says with a grin, Aster just raises one eyebrow while smiling, he's looking down at the man's feet as he starts to walk towards the star "Just a pathetic little star who can't grant a single wi-"

He only took two steps, but he stops walking suddenly once he realizes... His feet are REALLY heavy right now.

Magnifico looks down and...

His shoes are now made of stone... And it's spreading to his legs.

"Sorry, sometimes magic just takes a bit of time to take effect, I can try to speed up the process if you'd like" Aster comments casually while holding hands with Asha again

"Wh-what is th-"

"My- My love" Amaya says from behind him, her voice shaking in fear.

He turns to her and sees that the skirt of Amaya's dress is now half made of stone, she cannot move.

The people of Rosas look surprised, but not sympathizing with the ex royals one bit, some smile, agreeing with what Asha said, this really is fitting.

"You two did always like statues made in your image, right? It's only fair you two get turned into one of them" Asha comments. Smiling like she's watching something very satisfying.

The magic keeps spreading up and the man looks not just terrified but mostly furious at the star "Th-THIS IS A TRICK! You CAN'T use your magic to take away humans lives!" He yells at Aster, knowing this from his book about wishing stars.

"And who said you two will die? You just won't be able to move anymore." Aster corrects him.

That made a chill run down their spines.

And the star continues:

"You two wished you could live together FOREVER, didn't you? Welp, there you have it!"

The queen looks in the verge of tears as she exclaims "T-this isn't what we wished for at all!"

"A taste of your own medicine, that’s how it feels like to have your wish twisted into a curse." Asha says, her eyes following the curse spread, as now their lower halves are completely frozen, Magnus is two feet away from Amaya, he's in front of her because he tried walking to talk to Aster, but the woman is holding his hand. Asha thinks to herself that's definitely a good pose for them, showing Magnifico turned away from his love just to show some sense of superiority. She keeps that to herself though, and just adds "This way, you'll be frozen but still able to see Rosas thrive, and the people prosper... Without you." Her voice is determined.

The villains eyes are wide. Amaya is holding onto her beloved's arm, but he's not facing her... If this really is how it ends she wants to at least be looking at him as they go, she urges him to turn to her, holding his arm tightly.

But Magnifico can't bring himself to notice... Taken by his own delusion, all he says is this:

"... HeheheHAHAHAHA! PROSPER??? Who? These people?!" He shouts pointing at the people around them "These WORTHLESS little peasants don't know how to LIVE without me!!" He's looking at the people around, the pupils in his eyes are small like he's consumed by rage "NONE OF YOU EVER ACHIEVED ANYTHING ON YOUR OWN! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE! YOU NEED ME!"

Those words echo for a moment... But someone from the crowd breaks the silence:

"But we can achieve a lot on our own, especially without you pushing us down." Says an elderly citizen with a serious face.

The man turns to him, ready to spout out something else but he's interrupted by another voice

"And you never gave us anything, you only took away from us years of memories we could've builded together." Said a woman holding a baby in her arms and a child is next to her, most likely a mother whose cursed wish made her spend more time away from her kids.

Magnifico looks less angry and more in despair as his lower torso is fully turned into stone.

"And you didn't make us who we are... You made us into what YOU wanted us to be." Who says that is a familiar face, Dahlia's mom, standing next to her daughter, Dahlia smiles at her proudly.

Amaya is still quietly urging him to look her way with tears running down her face. Her chest begins to be turned into stone. She's almost fully frozen Magnifico doesn't look back to her... She's sobbing and he doesn't listen.

(Man, if you think this hits hard now, just you wait till I share Amaya's backstory later, you're in for a ride.)

"And no one needs you. We never did." Asha states looking at the fallen king in the eyes. And the whole kingdom agrees with her.

Magnifico feels his chest turn into stone, and a sharp pain course through him, not from the star's magic... But a pain from his own past.

He still hides it well as he says "Th-that's where you're wrong, right, mi vida-" He finally does look back to his wife and-

She's fully turned into stone now.

Magnus feels his neck now turning into stone, and for the first time... He has nothing to say. He simply looks to his now petrified wife and accepts as his head is fully turned into stone.

... They're now nothing but statues...

(YIPPPIEEEEEEEE!!!! WE DID IT FELLAS!!! THEY'RE GONE!!! DANCE PARTY!!! 🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺)

The sun rises in Rosas as the people celebrate and cheer that their evil rulers are gone.

"ALRIGHT! Who's up for destroying them for good with a big hammer?!" Gabo screams at the cheering crowd with his hand raised.

Simon smiles as he raises his hand too, for the first time showing some support for his friend's rebellious ideas.

Asha feels her heart beating faster, she can't contain her happiness as she looks at Aster ready to give him a hug " Aster! I- I can't believe it! We did it! We're finally free-" She goes in to hug him but-

Her arms go right through him.

The people around them are still celebrating but Asha feels the world around them slow down and become blurry once she realizes...

Aster is disappearing again. His star dust begins floating to the sky.

But the star just keeps smiling, happy for her and for everyone else "Yeah, you did it. They're free, and they have hope, and bliss... Just like you wished for."

"A- Aster-Wha- What's happening to you?" She tries to hold his hand but it's like they're just a ghost.

"... I gotta go now."

Chapter 17

Final Thoughts

NEXT CHAPTER IS THE END!!! AAAAAAH-

Oh my gosh I'm still tearing up and I don't know if it's because of Asha and Aster, or Magnifico and Amaya, or because this journey that honestly changed me is coming to an end??? Or all of the above??? Maybe ya'll read all this and don't cry, but I'm literally losing it, I was building up to this moment for so long! And now it's here like... WOW!

THE ANSWER WAS "INSPIRE THEM"!!! The theme ties everything together is Sabino's wish! It's what Asha was doing the whole time! And Aster knew it, and guided her to do it! Proving he's a good wishing star! I'm so proud of them!!! My babies!!!

And it's so fitting to because this whole project is about how I was inspired by the concept arts, by Disney itself, to create this story, and it warms my heart everyday when people tell me they got inspired by this too. This is so special for me guys, I'm crying, damn.

Also I went back and forth on how I wanted Magnifico and Amaya's "Final pose" to be, first when I started developing the story I thought about having them argue and blame each other while their bodies are turned into stone, but like... That doesn't feel like them, then for the longest time I thought about having them both screaming at Asha, but I was like "... I can put them through more pain than that" so I thought about having Magnifico screaming at the crowd while he hugs Amaya crying... But that still wasn't quite right. So finally I settled for them not even hugging, and she's urging him to look at her, as a way to symbolize how their love was all that they needed, but they were so blinded by ambition that drove them apart, and in the end, they couldn't even say goodbye or comfort one another, because Magnifico was too busy trying to come out on top. To me, that's the most painful demise I could give them.

And I know what you're thinking "Damn Anny, but keeping them frozen and alive for eternity isn't a bit harsh? Like, too heavy for a kids movie?" I say NOPE! They deserve it, and besides, My Little Pony did this, they did this TO A CHILD CHARACTER even! If MLP can do it so can Disney, and from my memory we never had a villain turn into stone (There might be and I just don't remember, you tell me) so this would be a first, and I think that's more interesting than making their deaths a reference to the classic "Fall off a cliff" cliche.

Though heheehe Asha was totally considering pushing them off the tower, which would be hilarious cause Magnifico can fly with his staff, so he'd just come back like "Ummm rude! I was monologuing!"

So yeah... I think that's all I got to say... Oh and is two songs one after the other two much? Maybe it is, but eh, I had fun adapting "Asha's Villain Song". Do me a favor and look up "Jordan Fisher Hadestown If It's True" on youtube, that's how Aster sounds like in this song.

See you guys at THE END!

BUH-BYE!

Thank You For Reading!

[autumnmobile12]

Villain Deku AU

Most of the time when I see the Villain Deku AU, he's often crazy, and while I do love that concept, I really want to see more sarcastic, cinnamon roll 'Moxxie from Helluva Boss' vibes.

Shigaraki: And that's the plan, any questions?

Deku: Uh, yeah, what was that?

Shigaraki: That wasn't a question, Deku.

Deku: That wasn't a plan.

...

Remember my League of Morons vs A Summer Camp post?

Deku can fix that.

Shigaraki: All right, smart ass, you think you can do better?

Deku: I actually can. Your first mistake is attacking the second night of the camp. Let them all have their summer camp fun. By the end of a single week of non-stop, hardcore training, they'll be exhausted and less likely to fight off a surprise attack efficiently. Now, before the camp begins, we'll need Spinner to drive out there. You're the only one of us who hasn't committed any significant crimes yet.

Spinner: Why is that important?

Deku: *smiling cheerfully* Because you're a civilian. The Wild, Wild Pussycats aren't going to think it's weird if a civilian drives up to their base asking for directions through the mountains. Just make sure you have nice, dead battery for your cell phone. Ooh, or you could park on the road with a low tank of gas and walk up to their base! That'll sell it.

Spinner: Sell what?

Deku: You're getting the exact coordinates of the building for Kurogiri, of course. Once we have that information, he can open warp gates beneath our target while he's asleep and let gravity do the rest.

Kurogiri: You suggest we strike at night?

Deku: Right. You want to kidnap Kaachan, so we do it covertly while everyone's asleep. After that, if you really want to send a message to the heroes, we can always seal up the doors and windows, then Mustard can gas the building. Or Dabi can burn it to the ground. Your choice. Painless death in their sleep or painful death by fire?

Dabi: ...holy fuck, that's insane.

All-For-One: *through the computer monitor* Intriguing proposition, Deku. I suppose you have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong.

Deku: About that, it's entirely possible one of the Pussycats or UA teachers will be on look-out and if that's the case, Eraserhead will be the biggest obstacle. Most of you rely extremely heavily on your Quirks. We'll have to work on that, but in our current time frame, doing so before the summer camp is not feasible. So we'll need to remove the one player who can nullify Quirks. That'll be Mr. Compress's job.

Compress: And how exactly will I do that?

Deku: You'll hit him with a surprise attack. Kurogiri will open a warp gate for you, and the second he does, then you strike. Simple.

Muscular: Yeah, and what about the rest of us?

Deku: You'll be on standby in case Compress fails or draws too much attention to himself. Now about our hostage situation...do we really want Kaachan?

Kurogiri: What do you mean?

Deku: Well I know Kaachan. Despite his violent tendencies, he does have a strong sense of justice and he won't be easy to corrupt. Might I suggest taking the heteromorph students instead? Given society's discrimination problem against what they call the 'non-human' types, they've already got a reason for dissatisfaction with how they've been treated since they were born. Oh, and we should take Yaoyorozu Momo, too.

All: ....why?

Deku: She's rich. Her Quirk is infinitely useful, of course, but even if we can't convince her to join the League, her family will pay us a hefty ransom to get her back. For the record, so will Endeavor if we abduct his youngest son, too. Or we could just ransom the oldest one if all else fails.

Dabi: How the fuck did you know?!

Deku: ...Todoroki Touya allegedly burned up in a massive forest fire and the body was never found. You have a fire Quirk and horrific, full body burn scars and are the age he would have been today. It's not rocket science.

Shigaraki: ...this brat just hijacked my entire plan.

...

He'd quickly become the Bilbo Baggins of LoV, the one who's solving all the problems right up until they get to the fight with Gigantomachia, at which point he says, "No, I'm not helping you this time. He's gotta respect you, this is your quest. I'm not the fighting type, so I'll just sit back and watch." Proceeds to sit quietly and take notes while observing the fight.

Dabi also wasn't helping out with that fight, so every now and then he checks in on their progress. He just shows up, mildly entertained and mostly annoyed by the collective ineptitude (not that he's any better,) and he walks up to Deku.

Dabi: So how many ways have you thought of to defeat him?

Both: *duck as Spinner goes flying over them*

Deku: ...47. How's that recruitment process going? Because you're starting to look way more useful as a bargaining chip for ransom.

Dabi: Says the guy who's just sitting here.

[chillwildwave]

The Wishing Kingdom Song Rewrite: This Wish

So you guys are pretty curious as to why I’m rewriting some of the songs for my rewrite of Disney’s Wish, well, to put it simple, I personally didn’t mind some of the songs, I liked At All Costs and Knowing What I Know Now, but I eventually wanted to rewrite This Wish, simply because I noticed some problems with it in the first place.

I know the lyrics were a massive letdown due to awkward structures and the way they flowed, this is because it sounds more like a pop song rather than an “I Want” song, we’ve had many songs like these in the past that were able to establish characters but why couldn’t they just do something with Asha? I mean the concept was there but it was the execution that had the final nail in the coffin.

The way I visualise my rewrite of “This Wish” is that it has more of a “God Help The Outcasts” vibe with a some hints of “How Far I’ll Go” and “Reflection” except in this situation as it plays out in the rewrite, Asha is begging to call the power on the stars just because she wants to please everyone and her people just because she gives up easily at magic, so to put it simply, she wants to do better so she can feel like she’s loved by many, including her adapted parents, King Magnifico and Queen Amaya so that she can become the next wish granter before she turns 18, you would see this throughout the rewrite though, I mean, this is where her wish changes as the rewrite progresses cuz character development!

Anyways, let’s get into the song!

Should’ve known that I was capable,

Should’ve known that I was held on to it,

Couldn’t figure out if my hands fumbled,

Or was it all just a mistake,

Can I try again, just one take?

When I try, I think I’m not enough,

If that’s the case then why does it look complicated,

All I did was play my part,

They don’t see it in my heart,

But I don’t know where my story will start…

So I look up at the stars to guide me,

And leave all the dangers in the dust,

Even if they can’t hear me or they find me,

They are the only beings I can trust,

Now I make this wish,

I want something magical than this,

Now I make this wish,

I want something magical than this!

Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Hey yeah, yeah, yeah, ah-ah,

Magical, ooh-ah-ah-ah.

For years, I knew how to work things out,

All the time, I was a thinker without any doubt,

Now I feel like I am trapped inside a cage,

What is wrong with myself?

Is there a way I can escape?

With all these reservations and hesitations on where to go and where to begin,

I’m past dipping my toes in, but Im not, no I’m not past diving in,

If only that my daddy would be right here beside me, he always knew what I should do,

Keep your head high and just believe, the way he always taught me to!

So I look up at the stars to guide me,

And leave all the threats and dangers behind,

I know there will be challenges that find me,

But I can take them on one at a time!

Now I make this wish,

I want something magical than this,

Now I make this wish,

I want something magical than this!

Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, ah-ah,

Magical, ooh, ah-ah-ah.

Now I make this wish,

I want something magical…

Than this!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

@annymation @uva124 @kstarsarts @oh-shtars @tumblingdownthefoxden @thisnameisnotspokenfor @frogcoven88 @signed-sapphire @wings-of-sapphire @rylxdreams @hopeyarts @dangerousflowerpanda @your-ne1ghbor @rascalentertainments @spectator-zee @mythartist21 @gracebethartacc @gracebeth3604 @lunellasflo @mafik-sun @emillyverse @synergysilhouette

[suna1suna1]

The Open Backpack | MD Oneshot

Mild finale spoilers!

640 words

N/Uzi (Established)

N/Uzi/V (Kinda, not quite established yet lol)

Putting this here bc it's silly and I'm playing with turning it into a comic at some point but I don't want to make a whole new thing for it on ao3 so hi!

Uzi kept a lot of things in her backpack. Many of these things would have had V teasing her in a heartbeat if she were ever to find out, and N just wouldn't get it unless she showed them to him. Which she was not doing. Nope, not even a little. 

But most of all, she couldn't let them know she was into magical girl anime. If anyone found out about it, her reputation as the emo girl would be ruined, she was sure of it. 

Though in hindsight, maybe she shouldn't have left the bag open in the middle of class. 

Lizzy found it first, reaching over to the open backpack and pulling out a very battered--very pink--volume of Mariner Satellite. "What's this?" she asked, her voice thick with disgust. 

"Mine!" Uzi screeched as she snatched it from Lizzy's hands. "Stay out of my frickin' stuff!" 

The teacher cleared his throat, leveling both of them with a very tired, very I'm so done look. Uzi shoved the manga back in her bag and huffed as she looked pointedly away from Lizzy, pulling her bag under her desk.  

Someone tapped her shoulder, and Uzi's heart skipped a beat when she saw N looking at her curiously from where he sat behind her. "What's that?" he asked quietly. 

A warning popped up on Uzi's interface that she was blushing, and she looked away quickly. "Nothing. Just a super cool ninja manga! Yeah!" 

"Ooh, neat!" N replied, and Uzi's stomach dropped as she realized her mistake. "Could you show me after class?" 

Uzi panicked and nodded. 

Uh oh... 

Maybe he'll forget about it, Uzi told herself as the clock ticked closer and closer to the end of class. Or I can escape before he realizes I'm gone! 

But he didn't, and she couldn't. There was a bottleneck as the last class of the day ended and all the other students clamored to leave. N was next to her immediately, ready to take her hand (gross, PDA...) and leave the room with her. "So what's that manga? Ninjas sound cool!" 

Uzi laughed nervously. "Uh... Yeah! They are!" 

"It's not about ninjas," said Lizzy with a smirk. "It's all about the sparkle." 

"Ooh!" N exclaimed. "Like the stuff V's been drawing?" 

Uzi gave him a bewildered look. "Drawing?" she asked. 

"Yeah! We've been using that manga drawing book. V's getting really good! She likes the magical girls and stuff, especially if they look like spies." 

"Huh... I never took V for a magical girl fan." 

"Uh huh, because you're oblivious." 

V stood in the doorway, an eyebrow arched at Uzi. "I don't talk about Mariner Satellite with you around because I know you'll be weird about it, but I know you've snuck into my locker." 

Uzi blushed guiltily. "I wasn't looking at the posters. I just wanted one of the arms you keep in there." 

N narrowed his eyes at V. "V, I thought we agreed no more killing--"

"I'm not, dummy," V interrupted. "I broke into Doll's stash. She had a crap-ton of drones stockpiled." 

"Oh! Right." 

"Anyway," Uzi said. "...I guess if V's already into it... You guys... maybe wanna watch the anime with me...? Sometime...?" 

N grinned. "Anime date!" 

"It's not a date!" Uzi and V looked at each other, startled that they'd both said it in sync. Uzi didn't miss the blush lines on V's visor before she turned away. "Whatever," V continued. "Remake or original?" 

"Original," Uzi replied. "The remake follows the manga better, but the vibes just aren't the same." 

V shrugged and walked back out through the door, looking over her shoulder. "Are you guys coming or what?" 

N grabbed Uzi's hand in his, offering her a smile while she tried to ignore the swarm of butterflies in her stomach as she left the classroom with him. 

[slut-taylorsversionnn]

hey! Thank you so much for the last fic! I loved it so much!!! I’m sorry to ask for another one so soon, but today is my birthday, and I was wondering if I could get one of Tom celebrating readers birthday? If not that’s totally cool. Thank you so much!!!

happy birthday! i have been so busy so i haven’t written anything in a little while but here you go, hope you enjoy!

summary: y/n’s birthday and tom planned a surprise…

i woke up feeling so excited, it was my birthday and tom had been acting a little suspicious lately. i was hoping he planned an elaborate surprise but whatever the day held i knew it would be great because i would be spending it with my boyfriend tom freaking blyth!

i got out of bed once i noticed tom must’ve already woken up. i walked into the kitchen and tom was on the phone with someone.

“hold on i gotta go.” tom said quickly.

weird i thought. “who was that?”

“oh it was just a work call but i said i had to go because it’s my favorite person’s birthday!” he said as he walked towards me. he snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me into a kiss.

“so i was thinking we could go to that cafe you love for breakfast and then do some shopping and you could pick something out to wear because i have a little something planned for tonight.” tom explained.

“first of all, love the cafe idea and would love to go shopping with you. but how am i supposed to pick something out to wear for your little surprise if i have no idea what’s going on??” i replied.

“well darling that’s why i’m going along to make sure you pick the perfect thing. trust me i’ve got you.” he smiled and winked.

“ok then, i’m gonna start getting ready.”

“ohh i just thought of something…” tom said.

“what..?” i was so confused.

“we should do an instagram live and get ready together! it’ll be so fun for your birthday.” tom suggested.

“ooh wait yeah that sounds fun. and the fans will eat that up.” i laughed.

“so it’s y/n’s birthday and we’re getting ready to get brunch and shop for a dress for her to wear to my special surprise tonight.” tom was telling everyone on live.

“woah there’s already 80k watching you just started that live.” i said walking into frame. i had just gotten dressed and put on a little lilac sun dress that i absolutely adored and was saving for today.

“you look so stunning right now love.” tom commented and seemingly forgot we were even on live as he pulled me in by the waist and kissed me. he pulled away when he remembered we had an audience. i blushed and then looked at all the comments rolling in.

user: tom and y/n are so couple goals

user: tom forgot about the whole rest of world when y/n walked in

rachelzegler: happy birthday to my fav!!!!

hunterschafer: happy birthday bestie!!!!

“aww thanks rachel and hunter” i loved my friends so much.

i finished getting ready and then me and tom started walking to my favorite little cafe. i ordered my usual coffee order and tom got his oat milk latte as always. then we walked to the first of many shops.

“so what am i even looking for?” i asked

tom started picking out fancy dresses that he wanted me to try on, “something like this.”

“so it’s a fancy surprise you have planned then mr blyth..” i said wiggling my eyebrows.

“i could tell you but then i’d have to kill you.” he smirked.

so once tom had picked about 200 dresses for me to try on we headed to the dressing room.

i came out wearing a pink dress with lots of ruffles, “i feel like im wearing what would happen if a cupcake and a ballerina had a baby.”

tom started cackling, “yeah that’s not the look i was going for.”

next dress was definitely giving tigris vibes but definitely not something i could pull off, “umm am i about to attend a panem fashion show?”

“i think effie would be proud,” tom replied still grinning.

30 dresses later i slipped on the most beautiful magenta silk dress that fell to the floor with a slit coming about thigh length. it was soo gorgeous. i stepped out of the fitting room and let me tell you tom’s jaw DROPPED.

“y/n…wow just wow.” he was stunned.

i felt the blush creeping onto my face. “all these years of dating you blyth and i can still make you speechless.”

“well when you look like that, it’s not hard to make me speechless. i can’t believe it you’re so beautiful. we definitely have a winner.” he gushed.

“i think we definitely have a winner too.”

so after shopping we stopped to grab some pizza for lunch and then we headed back home to get ready for tom’s big surprise. i hadn’t really heard from rachel or hunter today and they’re never quiet so i was definitely feeling suspicious. i did my makeup, curled my hair, put on my dress and gold sparkly heels. i was looking at myself in the mirror and saw tom coming up to give me a hug from behind. he was in a suit with a matching magenta tie.

“what’s going on in that head of yours love?” tom asked.

“just thinking that dang you are so hot,” i laughed and leaned to kiss him. “i love you so much tom.”

“i love you so much y/n. let’s go get you to your special night.”

tom insisted i rode to our destination with a blindfold on so it wouldn’t ruin the surprise. i felt the car start to park and tom came around to my side of the car and opened my door. he took my hand and led me towards wherever we were going. i felt us walk into a building and then tom led me into an elevator.

“are you sure you’re not kidnapping me right now?” i asked.

“no promises,” tom laughed and then i felt a little bit of a breeze stepping out of the elevator. tom untied my blindfold and-

“SURPRISE!” i opened my eyes and i was standing on a rooftop overlooking the rest of new york and standing in front of me was all of my friends. it was so beautiful.

“oh my gosh!” i said covering my mouth, “i can’t believe it this is so wonderful you all!”

rachel and hunter ran up to me, “y/n you look drop dead gorgeous right now.” hunter exclaimed.

“that dress was made for you!” rachel commented.

“aww guys i can’t believe you all pulled this off! i was getting a little suspicious but i didn’t dream of this,” i said looking around. the rooftop was decorated in tons of flowers and with the sun setting it was so perfect.

“i can’t believe tom was able to keep a secret from you, i thought for sure he would tell.” hunter said.

“wow i love the faith you all have in me. but yes it was hard to keep this a secret but im glad it paid off.” tom said giving me a side hug.

the night was filled with dancing and love and music. rachel even convinced everyone to do karaoke and tom sang one of my favorite one direction songs “steal my girl” for me and i dedicated “london boy” to him. we even sang “you and i” by one direction as a duet which is another one of my favorites. by far the best birthday ever!

author’s note: hope you all enjoyed, i really liked writing this one! i’m going to keep responding to requests so don’t worry, im just not the fastest writer. but also stay on the lookout for the tom blyth series im about to start.

[morningstarbee]

damn i kinda...

don't remember him.

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND. HE'S THE FIRST GUY. The first job they did, where they brought them all together. The Nigerian Job. Holy shit.

Eliot: Go go go go! Hardsion: Where's Parker?! Parker, on the fucking roof of the van: you heard the man. Go!

Quinn: Can I hit him? Eliot: ...Which one? Quinn: Either one.

Eliot: How long before video nails us? Hardison: Facial recognition software takes about seven minutes to tag us, give or take. *alarm immediately goes off* Eliot: Seven min- Dammit, Hardison! Hardison: What part of "give or take" do you clearly not understand?!

is quinn and chaos a ship?

Hardison: Wow. This must be how Eliot feels. I just realized, this is how he feels all the time. I just wanna hit something.

No baby, Eliot is in love with you. He's just pretends to be annoyed.

Eliot: You know a lot of things, Nate. You don't know how this is gonna change you. Nate: You handled it. Eliot: Well you have no idea who I was before all this...started. That guy - kid - he had God in his heart and a flag on his shoulder. Clean hands. And I ain't seen him in the mirror in over 10 years. And believe me...I get up every morning looking for him. So you can trust me when I tell you pull that trigger and two men die: the guy you kill, and the guy you used to be.

Sophie: What are you doing? What are you doing?. Eliot: I'm thinking about saving my friend some trouble.

oh, they're bffs now

YESS MAGGIE

Hardison: Did you doubt me, baby? Did you doubt me?

did he call Eliot baby? 🤔

eliot and quinn being friends, while hardison and chaos fucking hate each other is so funny

also archie approving of hardison and parker being happy about that

them all trying to talk nate down from murking victor

lmao the superhero pose

lmao nate and sophie making out while the ot3 argue in the background is soooo

they're arguing about if they can fit a car in the "batcave" lmao i love them

Hardison: Don't be so hasty! Hear me out, two words: Eliot Signal. Eliot: Hey, Hardison, man, what are you talking about? Like a light you would shine up in the air? Huh? How would that work? Hardison: *chuckles* Eliot: How would you see it during the day, first of all? And what would you put on it? Like a wolf? Parker: Ooh, yeah! Eliot: Or a knife? Or a wolf. A wolf is cooler, see I'm into that...

I love them!! I love how much of a nerd Eliot is even though he pretends not to be and how Hardison knows exactly how to get him to agree to his stupid ideas. And Parker just enjoying the vibes.

[theamityelf]

ignore this if you’ve already said something like this, but do you have any headcannons on Danganronpa characters with Percy Jackson godly parents.

Oooh, so like the inverse of my PJO Danganronpa AU! I haven't done that yet. I'm torn between just giving a straightforward, in-a-vacuum answer for this, and fully migrating the characters into the Percy Jackson universe and letting that inform my answer. I'm doing the latter now, but you can send another ask if you want "in a vacuum". Also, I might have a different answer if I think about it longer.

THH

Makoto- I think I want him to be a mortal, for this. I think I want it to be a Rachel situation, where he accidentally ends up involved in a quest with some of the demigods, and then he gains godly powers of some kind as a reward or consequence of helping them. I see him interning for a god, after everything is over. Maybe he's an operator for Iris. Very humble beginnings, is what I'm saying. It's wild that he keeps having a pivotal role in saving the world, and showing up in prophecies, and being approached by the gods themselves. He's not innately powerful; they just think he's neat. If I had to give him a godly parent, though, it'd probably be Hestia. Even as a mortal, I might say he has the blessing of Hestia...which is a thing I just made up, btw. If Hestia has any equivalent for Artemis's Hunters, he's one. Just a person who hangs out with Hestia and doing hero stuff with the blessings of Hestia. Instead of Artemis's values of wilderness, archery, etc., he champions Hestia's values of home, hearth, family, and safety. I feel like he's been offered immortality but turned it down. (Side option: he's a satyr. Not what I'm going with, but it's an option.)

Sayaka- My first thought is Apollo, for the arts and music, but I'm also feeling her as an Aphrodite kid who can charmspeak. Yeah, I think Aphrodite for her. Her skills as a singer and dancer are her own.

Leon- Oh gosh. Gotta be Apollo, I guess. Baseball = archery. He does both. And he thinks he can tap into his dad's musical gifts without any respect for them, which is why he fails.

Mukuro- Ares. And she has the same mortal mother as Junko. (An argument could be made for Athena, but I'm going with Ares.)

Junko- I like Dionysus's association with madness and frivolity, for her, and I do want to go with a god or goddess who very much isn't about what Junko is about, just to keep from letting her unique vibe be lost to some hand-wave about godly inheritance. I don't want to go with one of the scary-sounding ones. (Plus, if this were taking place in Camp Half-Blood, which I doubt it actually is, being the daughter of the camp director would allow her to avoid scrutiny in a lot of ways.) That's my in-a-vacuum answer. But...I think the not-in-a-vacuum answer has to be Apollo. First of all, he's Apollo in both Greek and Roman form; she has access to both "camps" in a way many don't. Second of all, I like the idea that she has a twisted version of Apollo's gifts. The gift of prophecy is the tedium of foresight. The gift of sunrise is the curse of waking– the inevitable end of comfort. The gift of art is a deadly creativity. No one thinks to pay that much attention to another Apollo kid; Apollo has lots of kids! But she's secretly very dangerous.

Chihiro- Ooh! Ooh! Hecate. Besides being the goddess of magic, she's also the goddess of crossroads, which fits Chihiro's personality and talent. (Like, imagine a computer program as a set of crossroads. Each branch of an if statement, etc.) Also, it would be cool if Chihiro can do magic.

Mondo- That has to be Hermes, right? He looks like an Ares kid, but travel and outcasts are way more in Hermes' domain. Mondo would love to have winged shoes.

Taka- For some reason I'm really getting Demeter vibes. If pressed to defend it, I can imagine someone wondering how someone so "uptight" could have a nature goddess as a mom, since nature is so chaotic, and Taka responding that animals are chaotic, but argiculture and crops are very orderly and precise. There is a right and wrong time to sow anything, a right and wrong time to reap anything. Oh, I think I'm getting Demeter from his "staple food source" line. That's it.

Hifumi- Another Apollo.

Celeste- So many ways to go about this. First of all, do I want one she would be proud of and lean into, or one she would be embarrassed by and overcompensate for? Right away, I'm feeling Dionysus for her. I even said in one of my "Kamukura Wrangler AU" posts that her eyes are wine-colored, and her self-indulgence just seems so great for Dionysus. But Nike would also be a cool one, both for her Ultimate and for how much she would hate being associated with the sports shoe brand. I can imagine a gag where Celeste proudly says "I am a daughter of Nike," and Aoi cheerfully replies, "Oooh, I love Nike's!" Celeste would be so annoyed. I genuinely can't choose; they're both so great.

Sakura- I'm not feeling Ares at all. I can see Athena, but...Sakura's strength isn't really for war. She works hard and strives for excellence, but she's a practitioner of martial arts for their own sake, not to exert them over people outside the constraints of sanctioned contest. I'm not feeling a war god for her. If I were going to put her anywhere, she'd be partway between the strategy/wisdom aspect of Athena (so, more Minerva) and the arts aspect of Apollo. I think what I'll say is that she's a daughter of Deimos, god of fear and dread, which manifests in the way others react to her. The effect wears off if someone takes the time to try to feel anything for her but fear, but a lot of people don't. She herself is very peaceable and kind, and she values her friendship with anyone who doesn't fear her.

Aoi- I think Nike makes maybe the most sense, but I'm going to give her Poseidon because I want to. Despite being able to breathe underwater, she usually holds her breath while swimming, because she likes to. She finds the challenge thrilling. If she's breathing underwater, it's usually for social reasons like talking to fish or sea nymphs. And having her intelligence underestimated is very Percy Jackson of her.

Byakuya- Oh, I'm torn. My first thought was Hades, specifically because he would be insufferable if he was a child of the Big Three (though Pluto would be more apt, because riches), but in keeping with his mortal family's whole deal, and my aim for the THH group to all be in the Greek pantheon, I think Athena is the fit for him. His father is still a Togami; Byakuya was given to his father by Athena, born from her head. That's part of his justification for his inflated sense of his own competency. Not only is he the Togami heir; he's also a son of Athena. Imagine canon Byakuya if his mother was also a goddess. He's going to be insufferable, and I'm fine with that.

Kyoko- She...So the thing is, she...She said she can hear the footsteps of the god of death, and...Once again, I'm tempted to say Hades, or perhaps Thanatos. I'll go a different way with it, though; I feel like making her dad a god feels too close to outsourcing her feelings of abandonment from Jin onto the inherent premise of the Percy Jackson universe, and I don't want to do that. Jin has to just be a mortal absentee father. (Although daughter-of-the-god-of-death Kyoko would be so, so cool in a vacuum. And her gloves could be partially because her touch can kill. AHHH!) I'm going to say Nyx. Goddess of night. Helpful for a detective (like, she can probably see in the dark and stuff), but not fully making her detective skills a direct byproduct of her godly parentage. Plus, Nyx is the mother of Thanatos, meaning her hearing the footsteps of the god of death can still be relevant. The real question is how Jin had a kid with night itself.

Toko- It's either gonna be Apollo or Aphrodite, and I'm going with Aphrodite. Toko would have a field day with "What? You've never seen such an ugly daughter of Aphrodite?!" But also exposure therapy for her deep resentment of attractive people. They're her siblings, and they care about her and defend her, even if she's kind of sour.

Hiro- Gotta be Apollo. He's great at random day-to-day prophecy.

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Hajime- I'm thinking he's also a mortal who something supernatural happened to. Maybe he was chosen as the Oracle of Delphi, or maybe he was abducted and given trace amounts of ambrosia until something weird happened to him (to create Izuru). Maybe both. Whatever the case, the answer is none, lol. I'm feeling "bored Oracle" for him.

Imposter- Um, Janus. God of beginnings, gates/doorways/transitions, time, duality, and endings. Initially, I said this because Janus is depicted with two faces and that seemed fitting for an imposter, but I think the focus on choices and transitions also suits someone whose sense of self is so fluid.

Teruteru- I think it's gotta be Bacchus for him.

Mahiru- I wish I could give her Iris, but I want this cast (except Hajime) to be Roman! So I'll say Minerva.

Peko- Bellona. Same/similar backstory with Fuyuhiko, though; she's just a demigod who got abandoned and left with a well-known family of demigods.

Hiyoko- I'm giving her Apollo for now, but I'm open to changing that.

Ibuki- Discordia, goddess of discord and troublemaking. (As you can see, I like giving the most dangerous people benign ones and vice versa.) Ibuki likes noise, she values her own uniqueness, and just generally I think this one works for her.

Mikan- Gotta be Apollo, for the healing. This means she and Hiyoko would be half-siblings, which certainly paints their relationship in an interesting way.

Nekomaru- You know what? I'll give him Jupiter. His eyebrows are lightning, and I never give him attention in my other AUs, so he can have Jupiter.

Gundham- I am feeling Diana for him. Yes, I know, but still. It's cool. The wilderness, the moon, it all just suits his vibe so well. The impact this would have on his backstory is manageable. Everything said to be the case about his mother can just be about a human step-mother.

Nagito- I kind of want to make him the Octavian equivalent. Like, a legacy of Apollo who serves as the Roman augur. Parallels with Hajime being the Oracle on the Greek side. He has a unique relationship with Fortuna that parallels Makoto's unique relationship with Hestia.

Chiaki- Going with Somnus, god of sleep. She has the ability to make others tired, but she chooses not to use it like that. Mostly, she exercises her power over herself so that she can power nap frequently and stay up all night playing video games.

Akane- I feel complicated feelings about saying this, but I really think Venus for her. The reason I feel complicated about it is that it feels too close to giving the people who mistreated her in her life a magical excuse, but I feel like even ignoring that whole aspect of her backstory, she doesn't read to me as a daughter of a war god or goddess; she reads as a passionately emotional person who is inured to hardship/loss and values strength as a result of the environment in which she was brought up.

Fuyuhiko- I'm going to say he's a distant legacy of Pluto and a direct son of Minerva. This would make him half-siblings with Mahiru.

Sonia- Daughter of Pluto. It would be cool if she could summon gems and precious metals. And she would also enjoy speaking with the dead.

Kazuichi- Gotta be Vulcan.

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Kaede- I almost didn't go with Apollo just because I said it so many times, but then I remembered that moment in Chapter 6 where the in-universe lore suddenly decided that Kaede had a twin, just to service a bait-and-switch about her being another Junko, and with that in mind, her also being a daughter of Apollo is just more of a connection to Junko.

Shuichi- I am feeling Nemesis for Shuichi. Goddess of retribution, evening the scales. It fits his kind of...simple? Way of viewing the world, where punitive justice isn't something that he enjoys, but rather something that he finds inevitable.

Rantaro- Hermes, certainly. The travel aspect, the social aspect.

Ryoma- He's a Nike, I think. He is burdened by victory and excellence.

Kirumi- If anyone gets Hera or Juno, it would be her. I think I will say Vesta, though. The Roman form of Hestia. She is less blessed by Vesta than burdened with the compulsion to satisfy everyone.

Angie- Ooooh, despite the obvious connections between Apollo and art, I'm feeling Morpheus for her: she knows everyone's dreams. Her art skills are just a separate thing where she practiced and got good at a genuine hobby of hers. Her demigod abilities are her insights into the minds, wants, and fears of others. Also, I'm going to say she has frequent waking dreams and waking nightmares, because it feels right for her whole vibe.

Tenko- I wanted to go Athena or Bellona, but I think I'm actually feeling Mars for her. She probably becomes a Huntress of Artemis, or works under Circe.

Korekiyo- I checked to make sure the Muses count as goddesses, and it seems they do. Therefore, I'm going with Clio, Muse of history.

Miu- Gotta go Hephaestus.

Gonta- I feel like it's got to be either Apollo or Athena for him. I'll say Athena, since his devotion to a particular study reads as an Athena kid trait to me.

Kokichi- There is a part of me that really wants to say Hermes. But I think I'll say Dionysus. Dionysus is the god of wine, parties, madness, chaos, and the theater. I think a lot of that energy is what Kokichi both thrives on and languishes in– especially theater.

Kaito- Is Astraios too obvious? He's getting Astraios. He feels drawn to the stars, and I don't think he loses anything if that feeling becomes supernatural.

Maki- Okay, she'll be a daughter of Thanatos. But she lies about it at first. And she can kill someone with a touch, but only if she chooses to, so touching her is an act of trust. (Cue sentimental moment where one of her friends, probably Kaito, touches her arm or something and she's surprised.)

Himiko- I kind of want to be subversive and not say Hecate, but I will actually give her Hecate. She would be really proud of it.

Kiibo- Well, he's a robot. Maybe an automaton made by a child of Hephaestus or Vulcan.

Tsumugi- She gets Janus, too.