#and when i was playing and trying to a-rank a level i kept getting closer and closer to doing it

[dravidious]

I rest my case.

-

Fuckin BULLSHIT the one on the right is way better you only need 1 stroke to draw it!

Speaking of some things being objectively better than others for very important reasons, I booted up my brother’s old copy of Hyrule Warriors yesterday and tried to get A-ranks in the adventure mode, only to gradually realize just how important the level-up system is, meaning that no matter how good you are, the only way to have a chance of getting A-ranks on the later stages is to grind until the enemies don’t take 5 whole minutes each to kill.

Then I ranted to myself in my room about how Ultrakill’s P-ranks are way better

[mydearestbeloved]

#?.1 [Chapter Concept]

Sung Jinwoo/Trial Player!Reader

CW: Implied Yandere

Inspired by @circeyoru ‘s “Future Power Couple”

[Masterlist🦋✨️]

You stood in the crowd, just outside the Korean Hunter’s Association building, watching as the result of the rank re-evaluation was officially announced. The news that South Korea now had its 10th S-Rank hunter had swept through the media like wildfire. Cameras flashed, reporters clamored, and the air buzzed with excitement.

A soft sigh escaped your lips as you subtly edged away from the throng of people, slipping behind a pillar of a nearby building for cover.

“(Name).”

You flinched slightly at the sound of his voice, turning to see Jinwoo approaching, slipping away from the crowd with ease.

You glanced around nervously. Thankfully, most of the crowd’s focus was still on the association’s announcement—aside from the sharp glare directed at you two from a certain S-Rank Guild Master.

“Let’s go.” You whispered under your breath softly, just enough for Jinwoo to hear as he felt your hands on his arm, tugging him away from the commotion.

Once you were far enough, you let go of Jinwoo and let a out a breath of relieve. “You don’t need to go back there, right?

He shrugged, an easy smile playing on his lips. “Not really my thing.”

“Right,” You cleared your throat and turn around, walking in the direction of your house in this world.

“I really don’t understand why did you drag me along. It’s not like there’s a dungeon nearby.”

He chuckled softly while following you, “You make it sound like I always forced you to join me.”

You gave him a pointed look. “Don’t you?”

Jinwoo tilted his head slightly, feigning innocence. “Maybe.”

You sighed, “You’re enjoying this too much.”

Jinwoo didn’t respond right away, but the corner of his lips quirked up in that faint, teasing smile of his. He took a step closer, close enough that your back could feel the heat radiating from him.

“You don’t like it?”

You blinked, surprised by the question—and by the sudden closeness.

The back of your neck felt warm.

Before you could think of a reply, the system chimed in.

Only for you to shot an exasperated look at the invisible interface.

[Dear, Trial Player (Name)_

How adorable you are!]

You really just want to go home right now.

___

Ever since arriving in the world of Solo Leveling and realizing your knack for healing—and occasionally harming—through magic, you’d made it a point to stay discreet.

As far as you knew, there were only three mentioned S-rank healers in the manhwa.

Two of them ended up dead.

You wanted to stay low-key. A C-rank hunter with a mild skillset was much easier to hide in the crowd.

That had always been your plan.

But ever since someone—no names necessary, but you could definitely point fingers—had dragged you into his life, that had become increasingly difficult. Especially now, when Jinwoo had just been reevaluated as Korea’s 10th S-rank hunter.

It had been a few days since then.

Everywhere he went, eyes were glued to him. The media swarmed him. Admirers, reporters, other hunters, and even government officials were desperate to get a piece of the newly minted S-rank, and—unfortunately for you—his close proximity to you meant that more often than not, those eyes fell on you as well.

“Isn’t that Hunter Sung’s teammate?” you heard someone whisper as you passed a group of reporters.

“I’ve seen her with him a lot lately,” another murmured.

You kept your head low, hoping no one would bother you. But it wasn’t long before a couple of curious fans caught sight of you, phones in hand.

“Excuse me, miss? Are you part of Hunter Sung Jinwoo’s guild?” one of them asked, eyes wide with excitement.

You froze for a second, trying to maintain your composure. “Uh, no, not really,” you mumbled, inching backward. “Just... around, I guess.”

Before the fans could press further, a voice interrupted, smooth and calm.

“Is everything all right here?” Jinwoo appeared at your side as if materializing from the shadows, his presence instantly commanding attention. He glanced at the fans, who quickly became flustered and scurried away with murmured apologies.

You let out a relieved sigh, but when you turned to Jinwoo, you could see it—the subtle amusement in his eyes. His lips twitched ever so slightly, as if he was trying not to smile.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” you accused, narrowing your eyes at him.

“Enjoying what?” Jinwoo asked innocently, though his tone betrayed him.

“This. Me getting dragged into the spotlight because of you. You know I hate it, and yet—!.” You crossed your arms, giving him a look that you hoped conveyed just how done you were with the whole situation.

Jinwoo shrugged, though there was a gleam in his grey eyes. “You’re not exactly making it easy for yourself by sticking around me all the time.”

“You’re the one who keeps dragging me into things!” you huffed, exasperated. “I didn’t ask for any of this attention.”

Jinwoo’s lips curved into a barely concealed smile. “Is that so?”

You glared at him, feeling that familiar sense of déjà vu.

He’d always had this way of nudging you into situations where you’d have to stay close to him. Whether it was battles, raids, or even mundane activities like going grocery shopping, he always seemed to find an excuse to keep you around.

Lately, though, it had become... more frequent.

You were already part of his every raid, now he was insisting you to join him on seemingly random outings, or just appearing at your side when you least expected it.

___

You had never been one for the spotlight.

Hate, you think, was too strong of a word to be used to describe your overall view of fame.

Most of the time, you just felt uneasy.

Sure, there were upsides to it—more money, more respect—but the downsides?

Fans had already started whispering about you, speculating who you were, while the more cynical ones cast suspicious looks your way. Some of them even accused you of riding Jinwoo’s coattails.

The attention, the scrutiny, the whispers of speculation about who you were and what your relationship with Jinwoo might be. It sent a cold shiver down your spine just thinking about the implications.

It was bad enough being noticed by the public, but what really made your skin crawl was the idea of anyone digging deeper. If anyone ever found out the truth—that you were far stronger than your rank suggested, a False Ranker—the mere thought of it happening kept you up at night.

Your uncanny power. Your real identity.

These secrets became your very own Pandora’s box.

A nightmare waiting to happen.

So now, as you stood a few steps behind Jinwoo who calmly answered questions from yet another reporter, you found yourself fidgeting with the hem of your sleeves, trying your best to disappear into the background.

Which was hard, considering how often people kept glancing your way.

You couldn’t help but recoil slightly, shifting closer to Jinwoo’s shadow. The glare of the cameras, the whispers from the mass, other hunters, and staffs in the building, it all made you incredibly uncomfortable. And Jinwoo… Jinwoo seemed to notice.

He didn’t show it outright, but there was something in the subtle way he would angle his body, positioning himself just enough to block you from view, that made it clear he was aware of your discomfort.

Still, you noticed this strange glint in his eyes every time. Something almost too pleased about the way you shied away from limelight.

“Why do you look so smug?” you muttered under your breath, shooting him a side-eye as he wrapped up his interview.

He glanced at you, his expression neutral, but you saw the hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. “Smug? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You huffed, crossing your arms. “You’re hiding something.”

“Hmm?” Jinwoo’s voice was smooth, almost teasing. “I’m just answering questions.”

“Yeah, right.” You rubbed your temples, already feeling an incoming migraine. “We’ve had this conversation before. Why did you drag me along for something like this?”

 “You’re important to me.”

You blinked. For a moment, the two of you stood in silence, the noise of the surrounding world fading into the background.

Jinwoo’s expression shifted. There was something about the way he said it, the intensity in his gaze—

“And besides,” He raised an eyebrow, “I like seeing you squirm.”

The teasing edge returning to his tone, coupled by his bluntness, almost gave you a whiplash.

You groaned, swatting his arm lightly, earning a chuckle from him. “You’re impossible.”

“Hey,” Jinwoo said suddenly, his voice pulling you from your thoughts. The interview was over, and the reporters was walking away. Jinwoo turned his full attention to you, his gaze softening slightly. “Don’t worry about the attention. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

You blinked, caught off guard for the second time today by the sudden shift in his tone. “Really?”

“Really.” He gave you a small, reassuring smile.

And your heart did a funny little flip.

___

You walked side by side with Jinwoo, the quiet streets of Seoul providing a temporary escape from the usual chaos of your day-to-day life. The air was cool, the sun beginning to set, casting long shadows across the pavement. The peacefulness of it all paved way for your mind to drift, away from the hum of conversation in between.

There was something that had been nagging at the back of your mind for days now.

Lately, Jinwoo had been hovering, becoming something more constant than before. It wasn’t overbearing per se, but it was hard to ignore.

A particular memory resurfaced.

Before you were thrown into this world, before you had become the "Trial Player" for the system, you had been an avid reader of romance and the darker side of its narratives. You’d devoured stories of possessive heroes, morally gray characters who fiercely guarded their love interests, even to the point of obsession. It was intriguing, to see from their perspective, to see how different minds could spiral down into the far-end of an emotion most known for its warmth, for its nurturing side, for its healing.

Truly, the depths of love unknown and the lines that separate it blurred.

A passing thought, wild and ridiculous, almost made you laugh at yourself, if not for how persistent it became the more you tried to dismiss it.

As your eyes shifted to Jinwoo—

You imagined a dragon, fierce and terrifying, guarding his treasure—a princess locked away in his tower, away from prying eyes—

Only he could admire her beauty, only he could treasure her.

A pirate, feared on the high seas, taking his pearl—a siren hidden away inside a tank, on his ship that would soon set sail—

Her enchanting voice would never be heard by another soul. Only he could hear her song.

A king, mighty and fair, ruling over his subjects—his beloved queen confined in his castle, a gilded cage by his own making—

To adore her. To worship her as she deserved in his mind.

She was his and no one else’s.

You blinked, quickly shaking your head internally to rid yourself of the absurd thoughts.

No way, you told yourself. Jinwoo isn’t like that.

He respected your boundaries… most of the time. He was already protective because you were in dangerous situations together all the time. Technically speaking, you had saved his life and he saved yours. For Jinwoo, the Solo Player Sung Jinwoo, to harbor some possessive, obsessive feelings toward you? You were yet to be delusional enough to believe that.

Sure, he’d been a little overprotectiveas of late—clinging to you in his own subtle way. Now that you thought it over, was that too strange?

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jinwoo’s voice pulled you from your spiraling train of thought. He glanced at you from the corner of his eye, his usual calm expression betraying nothing of what was going on in his mind. But there was a hint of curiosity in his voice.

For now, you didn’t think so.

Yet, the way he shifted slightly, stepping a little closer to you, was not helping your case at all.

You forced a smile, hoping your stray thoughts didn’t show on your face. “Just… thinking about your rank re-evaluation,” you lied. “It’s a lot of attention.” —for the both of us.

Jinwoo nodded, though the small, knowing smile on his lips made you wonder if he could see right through you. “You’ve always hated the spotlight.”

“Yeah,” you mumbled, feeling a little awkward under his gaze. “I just… I don’t want all the attention.”

He hummed softly, as if he were amused by your answer. “It’s safer this way.”

You glanced at him; eyebrow raised. “Safer?”

“For you,” he said, his voice low. His eyes flickered with something you couldn’t quite place. “Staying out of the spotlight means staying out of trouble. It’s better if people don’t know how powerful you are.”

There was something about the way he said that—better if people don’t know. It made your stomach flip for reasons you didn’t fully understand. The words should have been reassuring, but instead, they made you feel… trapped, somehow. Like Jinwoo was quietly acknowledging that he was the only one who knew your true strength, and that was how he preferred it.

You swallowed, trying to shake the feeling off. “You really think so?”

He glanced at you again, and for a moment, you could’ve sworn his eyes darkened slightly. “I know so.”

Silence stretched between you, and you could feel your heart start to race in a way that had nothing to do with physical danger. Something about this conversation felt… different. Jinwoo wasn’t being threatening, but there was an underlying tension in his words, like he was saying more than what his calm tone implied.

Your mind flashed back to those stories.

Fiction as they were—dramatic, exaggerated—you were living in one right now.

No way, you told yourself again, more firmly this time. Jinwoo isn’t like that.

But the way he stayed so close, the way he seemed to grow tense whenever others got too near to you, the way he seemed delighted every time you recoiled from being noticed— as if you’d done his job for him, it was hard to ignore.

Was it really so far-fetched?

You took a deep breath, deciding to push the thought aside for now. The tension of the recent events was getting to you. You need to think this through once again with a clearer mind.

You peered at him one last time—the intensity in his eyes made your breath catch for just a second—before turning your head forward, continuing your walk, with him following right behind you.

No, Jinwoo wasn’t like that.

But the possibility sent a shiver down your spine nonetheless.

End Note:

This is all over the place, and I think I went too heavy with the foreshadowing, oh well.

[ch3rriiii-bunn]

Generous offer

Word count: 5.5♡

Part 2/4. Enjoy 😍🙏🏾

Warnings: fem!reader, demon reader, sub reader, pleasure dom Douma, pleasures dom Karaku, double penetration (2 pp's inside pussy),dirty talk, oral (reader receiving), nipple play, reader is mentioned to have sensitive nipples, Dacryphilia, squirting

There is only one demon that has ever entered Douma's temple, and it is his lord, Muzan. Not only is this temple very well hidden from demon slayers, especially at a hashira level but it is also filled with humans, also known to known to be Douma's "Disciples," or as others would refer to them as cult members.

Muzan only came to Douma's temple once to turn him into a demon and invite him to report back to him about his search for the spider lily and the ubuyashki family. Douma practically gave up trying to invite the other upper ranks to his temple, but faith brought you to keep this demon company.

Douma became obsessed with you. A demon weaker than himself willingly to care for him and teaching him new things, especially how to love? He definitely kept you as his woman. He practically begged muzan to let you stay at an upper moon meeting. Although douma is disliked by muzan, he still wanted special treatments like Akaza and Kokushibo. Even if it meant you were just sitting there. Douma just wanted you to be everywhere with him.

Once the meeting was done perusal, you watched as muzan disappeared. You are sitting next to douma and looking over to see him try and make small talk to Akaza again. You hold back a laugh to see him quickly get rejected, but before you could comfort your boyfriend, you felt a pair of eyes watching you. Your eyes change direction to see the same, emerald eyed demon in font of you in the distance get a look at you.

It didn't make you uncomfortable. However, it did disappoint you how he'd turn his head away and act like nothing just happened. Is it because you're with douma?. You turn to your boyfriend and touch his hand "Douma I've been meaning to ask you something." You leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

"Mm?" Douma smiled, leaning closer to you, and chuckles softly when he felt your breath touch his ear lobe. "There's an upper rank who stares at me a lot. I'm not mad, but what's his name?" You ask and tilted your head to the side and made eye movements to indicate who you're talking about without making it obvious.

Douma's eyes followed but only saw the 4 clone brothers standing together. "Try to be more specific. y/n there's 4 of them," douma asked, making you groan in response. "The one with green eyes." You grabbed doumas cheeks and turned his head in Karaku's direction.

"Ah, that one. I believe his name is... Karaku, " douma said. You turned his face back to you to meet your gaze again. "He's quite handsome, isn't he?" You continue to whisper. "More handsome than me?" Douma fake pouted and held your hands. "Of course not. However, you did tell me to pick out a handsome or beautiful demon to do that with, right?"

Douma's pout slowly turned into a smirk. "Still thinking about the 3some i mentioned?" His hands go from regularly holding your hands to slowly Intertwining his fingers with yours. "When I first suggested a 3some, I didn't think you'd pick a male demon. You must like it rough, don't you y/n?" Douma let's out a light chuckles at how easily you fluster at his question. "I approve." Douma, let's go of your hands and picked himself up from the floor.

"Douma-" you sighed and kept yourself remained on the floor since it was only you two plus the 4 clone brothers in the infinity castle. You didn't hate Douma's boldness to approach Karaku, and it's not like you disliked the idea of a threesome. You just felt a little shy to be exposed in front of two male demons.

Even though this is something new to you, the excitement couldn't stop growing inside you. Two big, handsome musclar demon men handling you however they wanted? The idea couldn't stop making you rub your legs together as you watched douma approach the clone brothers. Hantengu's clones weren't known to be very tall, so when douma approached them, he easily towered over them and looked down with a big smile, and had his eyes closed.

"Karaku is your name, right?" Douma asked, having the four clones' brothers speechless to have upper 2 approach them. The three turned their heads in Karaku's direction and made him realize douma is speaking to only him. "That's correct. I didn't think you'd remember my name, Lord Douma." Karaku had his usual smile and spoke in a formal tone to the demon ranked way above him.

"I'd like to invite you to my temple!" Douma cheerfully asked and grabbed both his hands before Karaku could realize and even startling him a little bit. You got up and walked over and tapped douma lightly on his back. "Calmer approach, darling." You lightly smirk at Douma's approach.

You felt a little more confident now being this close to Karaku and even giving him a flirtatious smile. "Sorry. It's not every day I get to see my beloved comrades," douma laughed a let go of Karaku's hands. "There's something I want to do and requires a handsome demon for this task. Can you come to my temple?"

Karaku felt his cheeks heat up from just the compliment and lightly laughed, almost letting himself get flustered. It didn't help that you also gave him that flirty smile and made him smile ear to ear "yeah I'll come. Sounds exciting," he said and then got pinched on the arm, hard by Sekido, making Karaku cleared his throat.

"I accept your invite, Lord douma," Karaku said. In a second, Karaku's feet were lifted from tue ground, and his eyes widened, realizing he was just easily picked up by Douma. "Great! Ah, I'm so excited! Isn't this wonderful y/n? Isn't it!?" Douma asked, still holding Karaku in his arms and his brothers, watching what's going on before them and them feeling fear for the first time.

"This is exciting, but please, put him down." You reached to touch doumas biceps and gave the clones a reassuring smile to try and erase their fear. Karaku was put down, and you took a step in front of him. "I will be at the temple as well, so I look forward to your arrival. My name is y/n," you bowed. "I'll definitely be there. My name is Karaku." He smirks and bowed as well.

"We must get going now since my disciples will arrive at the temple shortly. When you come tomorrow, there will be demons and some humans escorting you on your way there. I'll see you tomorrow night!" Douma took your hand and waves. "Bye-bye. See you tomorrow, " he said, and you waved as well and began to leave with Douma. "Tomorrow night! See you Karaku!" Douma said, far away and kept repeating his words until he wasn't heard anymore.

"Alright, let's go home. The meeting is done so." Karaku put his hands on his hips and stretched with a wider smile than usual. "You're a fool." Sekido snarls. "Can common sense go into that brain of yours and take this seriously? You didn't even ask what he needs you for," Sekido said and poking at Karakus head until it hurt. Karaku just playfully slapped his hand away and laughs. "You're the one taking this too seriously, Sekido. It sounds fun, and i forgot to ask. I'll just figure it out when i get there," Karaku said.

"You're right, but aren't you a little worried? Well, if anything happens, it's not like you'd die, but still.. how sad," Aizetsu said. Urogi groans, "You guys are such buzz kills," he said and put his arm around Karaku. "I'd kill just to be in that temple. Do you know how many pretty human women there are in his temple? It's just rumors, but it's gotta be true," Urogi said, putting his arm around Karaku. "It sounds so much fun and exciting. I'm jealous of you. Don't listen to the, it'll be fu, n" Urogi sai, and Karaku put his arm around Urogi aa well "damn right it will be!"

"Fucking idiot's..." Sekido snarled.

Sundown came to an end the next day. Karaku said his goodbyes to his brothers, and they stayed outside until they could no longer see Karaku once he walked into the pitch black forest. The temple would've been impossible for Karaku to find on his own if it wasn't for regular demons dressed in clut like clothing and their faces covered to lead the way.

For once, Karaku wasn't talkative on his journey there. Most likely, since this is the first time, he's going somewhere without his brothers, especially Sekido. Karaku wasn't necessarily worried, he is very calm about the situation but still thought back on what Sekido said. Maybe it was better for him to ask what he's needed beforehand. However, it's too late now, and he will have to find out for himself.

"We have arrived," the demon guide said. Karaku snaps out of thought, and his eyes squinted to adjust to the lighting after coming out of the pitch black forest. Karaku raised his eyebrow in confusion to just see a bald man along with two women behind him. "You must be karaku. Lord Douma has told us about your arrival," the bald man said and bowed along with the two ladies.

Karaku held back his demon urges to not hurt or eat the humans in front of him since Douma's cult followers were important to him, and he wouldn't want to upset Douma when he just arrived. Karaku didn't bow back to a human and just grinned "well I hope I'm the only demon named Karaku," he said and placed his hand on his hip, then took a look around the outside building.

Karaku turned back to the demon who led him here. "Hey you. Your guiding skills suck. This is just a bathhouse," he laughed. The bald man in front of Karaku pulled out a letter from behind him and handed it to Karaku. The letter is from douma. He didn't need to see a name to know it was from douma. The symbol of a fan was enough.

The note said, "Oh! Forgot to mention something! Anyone who comes to my temple is required to take a bath. Not because you stink or anything but because I just think everyone feels nice after a bath! Enjoy, Karaku."

"...I can't tell if he's being genuine or if he thinks I stink." Karaku said to himself and crumpled up the letter and put it in his pocket. "Follow me this way, sir," the bald man said and started to walk inside the bathhouse. Karaku followed behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Do I stink??" He asked the man. "It's only normal for a demon to smell like the outside. It's okay," he answered honestly and left Karaku shocked.

Karaku was happy the bathhouse was empty. He scrubs his skin with a cloth and the soap he picked out in frustration. "Demon's do that baths. We just can't get a moments peace because of demon slayers," he said to himself and picked up a bucket of water to dump on himself to wash the soapy bubbles off his skin.

He then goes into the huge tub and has half of his body submerged in the water up to his nose, where he starts to create bubbles in the water and continues to sulk. Once he came out to dry his skin off, the same man was waiting for Karaku in men's changing room and handed him a new kimono.

".... Where's my hakama pants? And my Yuigesa harness," Karaku asked. "That has been put in the wash. These are clothes, Lord douma picked out for you and insisted you wear them," the man said, making Karaku look at him in disguste. "Is there a problem?" The man asked and felt concerned. "Yeah, I'm being forced to look like my older brother by covering myself up!" Karaku raised his voice.

Eventually, Karaku put on the kimono that covered him more than he liked, and it took a lot of convincing from the man to make him put it on. Other than being fully clothed, Karaku was amazed at how big the temple is and how many human women there were.

They were frightened to see a demon here, especially seeing Karaku's large horns, cracks in his face, and his dark green eyes. Karaku knew the human woman and men were doumas cult members and he could see them trying to be respectful since Douma was the one who invited him but he could see the fear in their eyes which only made Karaku lick his lips and trying to hold himself from having a food feast. He's here on an important task, not for food even though that was killing him inside.

"Lord Douma is in his bedroom along with Ms. Y/n. I will take my leave now." The man pointed down the hall with a red carpet and then bowed. As the man left, Karaku held out his hand and was about to ask something but sighed once he left.

Karaku started to walk to Douma's room. The walk down the hallway was normal, but the vibe quickly changed until Karaku heard muffled moans. He stopped close to the door, too close for comfort, but he only took a small step back and listened some more. Those were definitely your moans. A smirk curls on his face and his hand, making its way down to his crotch, almost like he's controlling himself. "Maybe this is a bad time to come here," he whispers to himself and palms his dick softly through his kimono.

Karaku lets out a deep yet quiet sigh before taking another step back away from the door. "Oh, is that you, Karaku?" Douma's voice called out from the room. Karaku's eyes widen, and your moans stop, which makes him holt his hand from palming himself. "I almost couldn't sense you," Douma sarcastically said. "Come in, come in," Douma said in a welcoming and non threating tone. Karaku hesitant for a moment and having his leaf behind his back.

He placed his hand on the door knob and gripped it , turned it slowly, and opened the door. Karaku's mouth hung open in a small 'o' shape at what he just opened the door too. He sees your naked more, shiny, and moisturized over Douma's lap. Douma had his kimono down to his hips and his chest, looking the same as you and clearly showing your body covered with body oil.

You softly moan, slipping your hips side to side on Douma's lap. Karaku wonders what you're getting off to until he heard a buzzing sound and then looked to see a small remote in Douma's hand. "I didn't know you were into stuff like that y/n. What a nice side to see of you," Karaku said, making you whimper softly in response.

"I didn't know if I should've come in since I heard moans. Or do you guys get off to someone hearing you guys go at it?" Karaku chuckles and makes Douma laugh in response. "I did plan for you to hear that, but i don't think it's a kink. Now close the door," Douma said and spanks your ass making you yelp. "Let's have a talk." He said.

Karaku's smirk grows wider seeing how you reacted to that spank and shuts the doot behind him. Douma caresses where he spanked and grabbed your ass, smirking at how smooth and slippery your skin is with the oil on your body and how your hips move side to side in his grip "D-douma please~ I'm gonna cum again-" you whine but then cut off by a hush from douma.

Douma places his finger over his lips to hush you again. "Not yet, y/n. Hold it in until Karaku and I are finished talking, okay?" He teases and watches your head fall into the pillow, too quiet yourself. Karaku clenches his teeth together as he watches as your hips move in circles from the vibrator and your feet pushing back and forth in the air. "Would you like to have a 3some with us?" Douma asked and started to take you off his lap.

Karaku was taken back by the question but answered honestly. "Yes, but... why me? Wouldn't you rather Lord Akaza or Lord Kokushibo for this?" Karaku asked and looked up at douma once he was close enough to speak one on one. "I have, but they always turned down the idea." Douma's head tilts down a little in fake sadness, "y/n also had no interest in them. Just you. She loves the way you look at her and suggests you should join us in a 3some," he said.

Karaku's eyes softened, knowing you enjoyed when he looked at you and even gave him an ego boost. He looks over in your direction and sees your head peeping up from the pillow and then quickly hiding your face again once he notices you. "Can't be all shy now. I'm into you too, princess, " Karaku smirks. "Y/n maybe shy at first, but once you touch her, she's not as shy as she may seem," douma said, making Karaku more excited.

Douma stepped to the side to make Karaku more visible to you. "y/n, look here for me," Douma said, and you turned your head to look at the demon men by the door. Douma's hand grips on Karaku's jaw, hard enough to make him open up his mouth. He stuck two fingers in Karaku's mouth and clipped his two fingers down on Karaku's tongue to pull it out slowly. Karaku almost gagged at the sudden touch and sticks his tongue out to make it easier.

"Look y/n it says "pleasure" on his tongue," Douma said and ran his nail down Karaku's tounge tattoo. You watched and saw the drool beginning to fall from his tongue to moisturize it. "I was right to pick you." You licked your lips and got up from the bed and made a finger motion for Karaku to come closer.

Douma gave Karaku a little push, and he walked closer towards you. Karaku makes the frist move and grabs at your hips and his hands slowly going up to cup your boobs "you're body is so beautiful" he said and rubs his thumbs over your nipples and watches you jump from his touch. "You were right to pick me. I'll make sure to have you cumming all night" Karaku said and sticks out his tounge

"I can't wait~"

Karaku cups your cheek with his hand. He looks into your eyes and watches you try to keep them open once he puts his knee between your legs while having a hand on your back to support you. "This vibrator is such a tease, isn't it?" He asked and rubbed his thumb on your bottom lip. You nod and your brows knit together, desperate to cum.

"It was just new something to try out," Douma said innocently, but you knew this was planned to tease you. "Let's keep it in there," Karaku said and pulled you in for a deep, passionate kiss. Douma goes back to sit on the bed with your back facing him. Douma's nails touch your back and slowly go down, making you shiver from his touch and then feel his soft kisses on your back, leading up to your shoulders.

You moan in Karaku's mouth from the feeling of Douma's nails, which gave Karaku the opportunity to slip his tongue inside your mouth, tasting your tongue and feeling your heavy breath with his. Your legs tensed when Karaku's fingers pressed on your clit tightly and your hands grip onto his kimono.

Karaku started to rub your clit in small circles but from being edged on before Karaku came in the room, you couldn't hold yourself back from releasing an early orgasm. Karaku swallows your moans in the kiss for the moment and then chuckled as he pulled his lips away from yours. "That was quick. Did it feel good? Of course it did," he said and made his fingers slip past your folds to grab the vibrator, slowly pulling it out.

"You're so wet the vibrator was already falling out of you but you're already too fucked out to realize that huh?" Karaku laughed and began to take his kimono off. "Don't like the clothes?" Douma asked. "I prefer to have no shirt." Karaku said but stripped down to nothing. "Have you ever tried this oil? It's good for the mood," you breathlessly asked and walked to the small desk next to the bed with slight wobbly legs after your second orgasm.

You purposely bent down in front of them to pick it up, then held it in your hand and turned around to show Karaku. "Heh. Can't say I have tried that. Why don't you come here and put it on me?" Karaku said and held out his hand for you. "I'm coming. I'm coming," you joked and took his hand and gasped when he pulled you into his arms. You couldn't help but smile and admit that it was very smooth yet romantic.

"Tell me how his body feels y/n," Douma said and watched you squeeze the oil body to let it fall in your hands. You rub your hands together and start by touching his biceps and then the rest of his arms. "His skin is so warm for a demon. His pretty tanned skin also looks beautiful... especially being oiled up like this." You giggled softly and continued to rub his arms and then move your hands to Karaku's chest.

"I love his chest..." You whispered to yourself and rub the oil on his pecs. Karaku flexed his pecs making you both chuckle and you shake your head "and his abs look perfect" you said sliding your hands down his pecs, down to his sides and giving his waist a little grab and then feeling his abs. "You're forgetting to compliment something eles" Karaku takes your hand and makes it go lower fo touch his hard cock.

"Right, I can't forget this," you said and touched it lightly. "Is it bigger than mine?" Douma teased "n-no... but you two do look the same size. It's big, " you confessed, making both of the demon men chuckle at your cuteness. "Come here, darling." Douma pulls off the rest of his clothing into the floor and lies down and patting next to him on the bed.

Karaku hopped onto the bed and laid down on the other side and made just enough room for you to lay in the middle. As you put your knee up on the bed and jump up, douma gives your ass another spank. Once you've gotten in the middle, Douma makes the first move by cupping your tit.

"Let's see of we can make you cum by just sucking on these nipples" Douma said and plays with your harden nipple between his fingers. "Just look at her shaking already," Karaku said and scooted himself down for his mouth to be at your nipple and give it a light lick. Your eyes closed, and your mouth opens slightly to let out a soft moan. "Keep going..." You begged.

Karaku hummed as he grabbed your tit in his hand and behind to lick your nipple. He starts off with light, wet licks and watches as your nipples harden and smirks in satisfaction before being in to kiss and suck on your nipple. Douma continued to tease your nipple with his fingers and even use his nail to poke at the center of your nipples and smirks at you, arching your back already.

Douma begins to grope your tit and then gives you a kiss before getting to Karaku's level to lick your other nipple. Your legs rub together, and your bottom lip folds in your mouth, biting it with soft whimpers escaping you. Douma lied though, he did want to make you cum from just playing with your nipples but he couldn't help his hand from making its way down to your pussy.

Karaku follows, and they both shrink their nails on their middle and ring finger so they don't hurt your pretty pussy with their sharp nails. Douma slips two fingers inside easily from your wetness and begins to finger fuck you while Karaku places his fingers back on your clit, this time making faster circular motions on your clit.

"O-oh fuck!~" Your mouth hangs open, and your heavy breaths mixed with moans leave your throat with your head pushed back into the pillow harder. "That it. Cum for us" Karaku said, giving your nipple a soft bite and flicking his tounge on your nipple while rubbing your clit faster with more pressure on it. "Let go darling~ cum on my fingers" Douma curls his fingers thrusts them inside you faster until it made soft clapping sounds.

Your body joints and your thighs flex as you cream on Doumas fingers. "Fuck~, let me taste her," Karaku sits up, making his way between your legs. "W-wait, I just came," you moaned when douma pulled his fingers out of you and watched as Karaku lays on his stomach and 6 his head between your legs.

Karaku makes a 'V' shape with his fingers to spread you open. He smirks at your pussy throbbing and sticks his long tounge and making its way inside your pussy. "Karaku!" Your thighs quickly close in on his head and your hands grabbed onto his hair. You felt his tounge lick around your inside and tasting you just like he said he would.

"Open these legs darling" Douma said but before you could comprehend his words he places his hands on your knees to force your legs open himself "I know you can cum for us again. I wanna see it." He said. Karaku sneaks his hands under your ass to lift your lower half up and sits himself on his knees so that douma can help him hold your lower half up and turn his head to the side to lick at your clit.

Your body is folded in half at this point. Your hands gripping onto the sheets smd your teeth clnechrd together akth your euss shut with loud moans. "C-cumming! Cumming~" you groan slightly with a loud moan as your stomach tightens, your clit thobbing and your insides squeezing Karaku's tounge in until you cum.

Your eyes were still shut once your lower half was back onto the bed but then quickly opened when you felt a hand tapping on your cheek. "Don't pass out on us yet, darling," douma said while caressing your cheek. "You haven't even been stuffed yet. Where's the fun in that" Karaku said and you watched him stroke his cock in front of you.

"I have an idea. Let's stuff her pussy with both our cock at the same time" Douma suggested with a big smile on his face. You were dumbfounded at the idea. How is that even possible? Their big cock fucking your pussy at the same time? You thought this was a joke until you heard Karaku's dark chuckle. "Sounds like a great idea" he laid down and taps his thigh "come here princess and get on my cock" he said.

"I-i don't know if this will work.." You nervously said as you claimed on top of Karaku. His hands caress your hips softly. "It will. You've been prepared enough to handle two cocks don't be so worried princess. Now come here" Karaku said and watched you lean forward.

The oil is still on your bodies, so when your tits met Karaku's chest, it was slippery, but your tits still rested on his chest just fine. Karaku reached his hand down to grab his cock and slides it through your folds and watches you moan softly "your voice is so sexy. Let me hear you moan like a slut on my cock y/n" Karaku grunts as his tip pushes inside you and thrusts the rest of his length inside you.

You let out broken moans at how easily his cock pushed its way inside you. "Karaku, Karaku~" You look down at him with glossy eyes and bit your bottom lip softly when you felt Karaku's hands on your ass. "Crying already? I haven't even moved yet" he chuckled and grabs you ass cheeks to spread you open until you heard your pussy make a small wet sound as Karaku opened up more.

You look over your shoulder with knit eye brows to see douma behind you. "Look at that~" Douma moaned as his tip rubs your hole with Karaku's cock inside you. "Be a good girl and let me in darling" Douma sticks out his tounge to let his saliva fall off it and onto your pussy. Douma then slowly pushed his tip in, making you jump at the feeling and then letting out hitched breaths as Douma pushes his length inside your pussy.

"Almost in~ haa you're so tight." Douma moaned while grabbing both your ass cheeks. "Dose it hurt?" Karaku asked and kissed your chin while his fingers rub your clit softly. "N-no. It's just so big~" You moaned and then looked up to see Doumas sadistic smile. Douma makes a final thrust with a satisfied moan as he gets his cock inside you.

"C-come on." You wiggle your hips and place each of your hands at the sides of Karaku's head. "How needy," Douma comments while thrusting his hips slow and gives your ass a spank. "Fuck~, she's clenching down on me harder when you spanked her." Karaku lets out a dry laugh, followed by a moan and thrust his hips upwards."You like that, dont you?" Karaku asked and spanks your thighs

"I-i d-aaah~ I doo~. Haa m-ore faster!" You slur your words, mixed with whines as you felt their thick cocks already hitting your spot. Douma bends down and gives your ear a light kiss. "Like this?" Douma whispered in your ear with soft grunts as his thrusting started to get faster. "Just like~" you let out a long whine and look at Karaku "you too, fuck me faster~ please" you begged.

"Already on it," Karaku grabs your hips, and his upwards thrusts sped increases. "Heh, I don't have to worry about my c-cock slipping out. Huh~" Karaku moaned while watching your tits bounce in his face "your pussy is clinging into us I don't think we can pull." He said lifts his head up slightly to catch your nipple in his mouth and sucking on it.

Your back arches and your legs begin to shake with your sensitive nipples being played with again to push you to another orgasm. "How dose it feel to be stuffed with two cock in your pretty pussy darling. Oh, I know you love it~ love it so much you want us both to fill you up, mm?" Douma's thrusts became harder, making your body jerk forward but he bends down to have his fingers rub at your clit.

"T-too much!~" You let out a loud gasp with tears rolling down your cheek as you began to let out high-pitched moans. "Too much? Aah~ but it feels so good, doesn't it darling? Think you'll squirt for us?" Douma whimpers softly in your ear, getting close but continues to fuck your pussy hard while over stimulating your clit.

"Fuck yeah you are" Karaku clenches his teeth as he watched his cock thrust inside your sloppy pussy. Your pussy felt so good, he wanted to cum so badly but his realse would only feel better once he sees you squirt. "You're gonna squirt on our cocks like the slut we are training you to be." Karaku said, digging his nails into your thighs and his brutal thrusts fucking you harder and harder.

They seemed to get off from your tears, your high-pitched moans, and how your body shakes when they over stimulate you. It became so much you couldn't even announce that you're cummimg. You could only hang open your mouth scream in pleasure as you released the clear white liquid Douma and Karaku have been demanding you to let out.

It didn't stop there. As you're squirting they continue to fuck you through your orgasm "what a mess your making on my stomach, and you're still going." Karaku moaned watching your liquid drip on his stomach. "A-and on my thighs, fuck~ y/n, y-y/n~" Douma moaned your name repeatedly until he, and Karaku cum inside of you.

It finally came to an end.

The two demon men ride out their orgasms until they stop for a moment. "Felt good?" Douma asked, and you nodded your head. You opened your eyes and calmed your heavy breathing down but then noticed that they're still inside you. "Guys?" You questioned only for Douma and Karaku to let out a dark chuckle.

"I'll feel sadness for the first time if it's over already," Karaku said as he caressed your cheek and then slipped his thumb in your mouth to play with your tongue. "We've only made you squirt once. We have to keep going until you can take it anymore, " Douma said and kissed your neck. "Let us fuck you to sleep since the sun will rise in an hour. Won't you let us?" Douma asked and bites your neck.

It wasn't over, but it wasn't a bad idea. You weakly grin, still wanting to be fucked dumb by these two until you sleep.

[cerastes]

By the way, have you seen/reacted to the news, re, Gundam Evolution shutting down? It's not the most surprising thing in the world, but it's still kind of a shame. (At least we're getting the Zeta gundam in august)

Yeah, I saw.

I hate to say this about a game I enjoy but the signs were there and I was very much expecting the End of Service news for a few weeks before it happened. The player pool was so small that I kept getting the same people over and over on Quick Match practically every time I played. I did not manage to get into a single Ranked Match, ever.

The thing with Gundam Evolution is that it does not give you almost any incentive to play other than liking the game a lot, but even then I don't think the game lends itself to be something a lot of people will want to earnestly play just for fun. I need to elaborate on this, because as you well know, I'm a huge advocate for playing games because they are fun and that a game's main focus should be to be entertaining first and everything else second. Why would I think, then, that this was a negative when it comes to GunEvo?

Well, GunEvo took the Overwatch format of Hero Shooter With Unlockables... But it failed to implement any of the overarching things that made Overwatch stick with you until you really got into the guts of it and played it for fun: GunEvo fails to make a sticking impression.

Loathe it or like it, the lootbox system of Overwatch had a practical effect on the user experience besides trying to drive up sales: Every time you level up, you get something, and in between games where you don't level up, you get to be one step closer to another reward, potentially a big one. The fact that these are ever-present gives an incentive to the average player that they'll be able to get something new, so even if they are still not fully sold on the game's mechanics or are still struggling to get to the point where it seems natural to them and they want to just play the game because it's a good game, the allure of more rewards is always there. Ranked also allowed you to play with people that were trying to play at a higher level, around your own level of play, so that was always a fun option as well, with its own special rewards.

This doesn't cover all there is to it, but as a baseline, it lets us understand something GunEvo lacks: Any sort of rewards that aren't drip-fed, really. Once you complete the beginners' trials and get their rewards, your ONLY way to get rewards is that every couple of levels (not every level, every couple), you'll get a single pull for cosmetics (not even playable Mobile Suits (characters)), and there's also the battle pass, which as usual, comes in free and premium flavors, which, if you're not premium, only has rewards every 3 or 4 tiers. And there's no real extra incentive to play Ranked, like unique rewards or anything, so a lot of people just... Don't. It's a desert in there.

There's very little incentive to play other than liking the game, and that in itself wouldn't be bad, if the game wasn't so insistent on shoving on your face all the stuff you're missing. THIS is where it goes from "well, obviously, I'm going to play a game because I like it" to "oh, yeah, alright". Bandai Namco is one of the greediest companies, and they know that Gundam fans are quick to open their purses, so every damn time they make a Gundam game of any sort, you know it's going to have some sort of twisted monetization strategy, and GunEvo is no different: Every match, every menu, every log in, every time you go equip something new, every time you even want to collect what few rewards they give out, every single time, they take the chance to rub on your face all that you don't have and won't have unless you grind for years unless you're willing to spend.

Are they the first to do so? No. And that's a factor, in my opinion: People have just gotten more and more tired and less forgiving of this, especially when the game doesn't even have the decency of rewarding you every couple of matches with some sort of new minor trinket or color, when practically all other games of the genre do. And, man, in the West, the Gundam IP is NOT strong enough to drive such slavedriver design philosophy, the kind that expects you to, at face value, tolerate having all sorts of premium goods rubbed on your face that you and they know people will defend in the vein of "oh, but you don't NEED to pay, you can just get that all for free, provided you play daily for years".

Without knowing the devs themselves, I think GunEvo's demise is fully the fault of Bandai Namco and not the development team of the game: They made a good, fun game. But they unfortunately work for Bandai Namco, well known for making greedy games that are honestly fun but ultimately crash because they are so immensely aggressive in their monetization and how much you're not ever going to get in a reasonable amount of time if you don't pay. I don't think the game was shallow in the slightest, but neither was it truly deep, and with the constant look at all the stuff you'd never feasibly get, yeah, I can see people just not wanting to deal with it unless they really vibed with the gameplay, with a Gundam game, or a mix of both. And we have to talk about the fact that it was and still is region locked for a lot of places, lol.

So in the end, we have 400 concurrent players and we know each other by face and name. Some will tell you this is "comfy", I will tell you it's telltale that a developer somewhere in Japan is soon to be called into an office and be told that they have to shut down all operation of the game before the year ends.

[bite-the-bloody-hand]

Alone, Secret, and Betrayal for the ask meme >:3 (dramatic eyebrows on the emoticon for Zell)

For the OC Asks - Not-So-Nice Edition

Darling you spoil me as much as I must spoiler tag these answers! You know I’m feral and this is all gonna be about the ship; surely this was unplanned on your part. But here's a fucking NOVEL I guess you DEVIL(love you)

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

Zell is practiced at being alone if not completely isolated, but that doesn't mean he enjoys it. If he's forced to be alone and can find something to keep his hands occupied, he's generally okay, but without something to do he can get into pacing/stress workout mode pretty quickly. Gotta do push-ups to keep evil (self-destructive) boredom at bay or else he starts trying to chew his own limbs off. He's not necessarily claustrophobic, but he doesn't like being caged.

If he's alone on his own terms and relaxing, IE winding down in his room or somesuch, that's generally when he'll be playing a little music or spinning up yarn with a drop spindle; usually muttering to himself about whatever crosses his mind. If it's a high pain day (and he has the luxury), he'll be isolated because it makes him real twitchy and reactive. The last thing he wants to do is bite someone because of a migraine.

Loneliness is another beast, however. He can handle Being Alone, to an extent, but he isn't great at it. In being lonely he is an *expert.* He's used to being isolated while surrounded by people; his youth in Ustalav was being one of a small handful of teenagers among hundreds of severe adults with no patience for his whimsy. Meanwhile the ones his age were distant and wary of their Dhampir cohort, as all Ustlavians rightly are. The overall vibe of Mendev’s military is quite similar, which is something that truly bothers him about being Commander, and the mythical status he’s gained. The charisma he cultivated to bright people closer as a regular person has become far too isolating for someone at his… level.

During the first few days in Kenabras, before the attack on Gray Garrison, he really enjoyed the bizarre camaraderie that had begun to form among what would become his, well, followers. Or his *subordinate* for fuck's sake, for a job he never wanted and didn't ask for! However, as soon as he realized there was no escaping the job, the necessity of formality started to slip into everything, depressing the hell out of him. He tries not to be too dismissive of what his rank means to people, but it really is god-damned lonely at the top. Being unwanted but kept anyway isn't the act of love some people think it is.*

It's hard to make friends when every interaction has the background radiation of being the last hope of mortalkind as well as a terrifying and alluring monster. Rare are those who don't elevate or mythologize his existence; in fact he can count those people on one hand.

When no one's around the mask finally slips away and the worry shows through. He drops the cool half-smile and all the stress lines start showing; he talks himself through his own stress and tries to strategize around the insanity of his life, to the point where it can be something of a one-man show. His monologues would be excellent theater if he was of a mind to put that much raw emotion on a page, but that's never really been his thing. This is when he engages with his most difficult and secret of tasks: Research.

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

Zell is something of a collector of secrets, so exploring what he keeps close to the vest is fun.

It seems so minor in the grand scheme of things, but hiding the fact that he's dyslexic and has a migraine disorder has been one of his Major Efforts since being conscripted. He plays it off by saying he refuses to read or learn anything that is uninteresting to him; in reality it's just hard for him to read at all. It makes him feel deeply self conscious and fuels a lot of the imposter syndrome. Unfortunately he just can't do it without giving himself a terrible migraine. He gets around this by encouraging other people to read aloud; or when handed an important document that's for his eyes only, he gives it a brief context scan, says 'everything is clear to me,' then takes the doc to read it later very slowly with a cutout bookmark and frequent breaks. Later, Aivu reads for him.

It does make certain things especially difficult, such as the aforementioned private research he does while alone in the dead of night. The war is a big distraction to be sure, but this man operates on a level of ADHD unfathomable to most mortals and he is also a NOSY bitch.

For example, the secrets surrounding the Arendae family and Mendev's noble legacy are far too enticing for him to ignore, so he opts to pull a few strings of his own and see if he can spot anything that escaped Liotr's notice. Eventually, Zell's secret folio becomes less about his own curiosity and more about securing The Hawkblade's attention somewhere other than assuring Galfrey's heir is conveniently put away and insensate. It's no longer just about helping Liotr destroy The Other - it's about making sure Daeran is safe after.

Of course, he keeps The Other's existence a secret. Of course it terrifies him that anyone else would discover and reveal it. But none of these are his secret.

Zell asks, after their first night together, if Daeran wants to keep what happens between them just between them. Not that he's ashamed, or worried about either of their reputations, but because it can be theirs. They're both public figures, both beholden to sharing if not a genuine facet of themselves at least a carefully curated face to the public at all times. Daeran's willingness to be vulnerable with him in those private moments feels precious; he doesn't want to turn that into being some kind of... propagandistic power couple for Crusaders and Socialites to speculate.

Certainly there will be rumors; they have a habit of outrageous flirting when they aren't throwing barbs at each other.

But the true secret isn't the relationship. It’s that he realizes he’s rapidly falling for Daeran. Completely unspoken but secretly shared in a dozen small, silent ways, in a coded language of glances; hidden under layers of quips and gab.

Zell wants to keep their relationship a secret, so they can both pretend it’s just a casual tryst, because he fears no one – even Daeran, at first - would understand where the love comes from, if it were ever to be known. He's an outsider, a usurper, a monster. He betrayed Daeran’s trust by leveraging their friendship to access his secrets; he has to make up for the fact that it's him.

-

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

In the abstract, he can certainly remember the sensation of being betrayed, but cannot remember the details clearly. He knows that he's had vulnerabilities exploited; knows it Feels Bad in such a way that thinking about deliberately making someone trust him for the explicit purpose of betraying them makes him feel ill. He also knows how easy it would be to do, for him especially. With that being said...

Zell is, at heart, a man of the theater. A man of comedy. He is primed to always Commit To The Bit. He is extraordinarily good at not breaking character. However. Something about casually asking Daeran if he could tour Heaven’s Edge felt… wrong. He already liked Daeran. They were already rather friendly with each other, in their own way. Therefore the invite was surprisingly easy to win, which made him feel even more guilty.

He had been teasing at the party, when he'd said it was destiny that brought them together. He wasn't expecting Daeran to bring it up later, with the unspoken assurance that he hadn't really dismissed the thought before. Or for Daeran to agree to that it should remain just their secret - for now. The trust and friendship between them would always be marred by that first lie by omission.

(To say he did not secretly hope that Daeran would pick up on the meaning of him always wearing the key would also be a lie.)

When Daeran reveals his fears during their time in the abyss, Zell’s love turns to absolute devotion. Even so, he knows that as soon as they escape; Liotr will be waiting, and his very first task will be to betray Daeran’s trust again to save his life.

What’s worse is the method of that betrayal. Yes he’s doing it to help and of course he doesn’t mean a single cruel word. But succeeding, admitting he’s known the whole time, that he leveraged their friendship to gain access to something so volatile… even the best outcome seems to reinforce the idea that his nature is to hurt the ones he loves, even if he’s trying to be kind.****

*The first few months as Commander were really hard, and put a big strain on those blossoming friendships. He really gets in his own head about this shit, but he does eventually figure it out.

**Previous incarnations he's been a bard when he wasn't a druid; but I just wasn't thrilled by the available builds so I went bloodrager. Imagine my delight when the Azata allows him to have a little bit of both anyway!

***funny story, the head generation mechanic for the severed heads showing up during rests is broken for me, so the heads only show up from Kenabras to Leper's Smile and then don't show up again until act 4. Zell wakes up after the first sleep in the abyss to find a severed demon head The Other left like some sort of horrible cat leaving him food in the night. He thought the first heads back at camp were someone hazing him for being a Dhampir and straight up did not put two and two together until Daeran's birthday, but at that point they'd stopped showing up so he didn't snitch about it to Liotr. When they started showing up in the Abyss it was like 'is... is it trying to feed me? Are these gifts? A warning? b...both????' This game is so much funnier when you're half vampire I am just saying.

****Daeran: ‘“I’m soooo sorry I stumbled upon your deepest secret because your Cousin had the Inquisition on your ass and I wanted to help. PLEASE forgive me for saving your life and having the sheer charisma to convince them not to throw you away forever.” That’s you. That’s what you sound like. IDIOT.’

Folks, they love each other.

[yjhariani]

Strict Rules

Simon 'Ghost' Riley X F!Reader

Word count: 2300± Warning: Profanity. Summary: Soldiers are not allowed to engage in a relationship, especially if they are assigned the same mission and having different ranks. However, this is about the journey of getting to that point.

A/N: This is an alternative, simplified, one shot version of this thing I'm working on of Ghost and a BSAA sergeant.

The first time you worked together would be on a BOW outbreak in Manchester. It was one of the worst outbreaks in your experience, it was another time you returned without any of your squad members alive. That included a squad of local military led by Lieutenant Simon 'Ghost' Riley, who was also the only one alive in his squad.

You fought your ass off trying to stick to the mission of eliminating as many infected as possible. At the time, Ghost was all survival mode. There was a lot of arguing in between the two of you. You had just been ranked up to sergeant and, of course, he played ranks. Too bad you kept insisting that you did not answer to him. Yet he never left you alone.

You fought well together. It was as if the two of you had been fighting on the field together for years. You backed each other up well enough. Too well.

By the end of it, you had a newly found a whole other level of respect for him and the other way around. Too bad, you could not stop thinking about him after that. The way he pulled you back from an upcoming danger, the way he shoved you behind his back, the way he said thank you when you shared your canteen with him, the way you fought together like you were the same person.

The second time you met him was at a friendly event between the British military forces and the BSAA. There were a lot of friendly competitions going on and it just so happened that he was there and, though he was not participating in any of the activities, he was watching. Watching you, to be exact. Watching the way people were looking at you, the way your comrades treated you.

Once, he caught someone talking of you in such an unbecoming manner, he kicked them in the back of their knee and made sure that they were reminded that the BSAA was their guests whom they should treat with respect. Oblivious of this incident, you were out and about being friendly, hoping to find him at some point because you had not and it had been a day.

You ended up finding him at the end of one of the activities. He was taking his leave from the field and you simply cocked your chin at him from across the field, which he responded with a light nod. Without realising what you two were doing, the two of you were walking away from the field, but somewhat getting closer to one another. Eventually, you were walking side by side.

"You're not having fun," you pointed out.

"Says who?" Ghost replied.

"You're not participating," you said.

"Too many people," Ghost stated.

"You're here anyway," you shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm haunting in the audience," Ghost casually said.

"Brother, tug of war is next, if you're there, the British Army is definitely going to beat the shit out of the Royal Air Force," you said.

"I don't give two shits about this fucking event," Ghost sighed.

"You're here anyway," you opened your hands.

"I'm here to see you, little twat, face plant in the muck," Ghost said. "So far, you're disappointing."

"Because I do really fucking well?" you questioned.

"Too well for my liking," Ghost nodded. "Mess up next time, it will entertain me."

"Oh, come on, Ghost, I know you're better than some guy who just see me as a piece of entertainment," you replied.

"When you're knocked out and ripped apart, maybe you'll be two pieces of entertainment," Ghost said.

"You're funnier in full uniform," you stated.

"So are you," Ghost said.

You laughed at that anyway.

After that interaction, Ghost was not seen for the rest of the event. He was gone. At least to your knowledge.

The next time you saw each other was in a way, way casual way to put it simply. It was a few days after that friendly event between British military forces and the BSAA. It was late. You were on your way back from picking up a cake for someone's birthday in the BSAA headquarters in England. It was after sundown, quite late, and you were by yourself.

You almost arrived at your car when you were stopped by a group of people who came out as quite hostile. Four of them, one of them seemed to be drunk. Another one of them was flashing you that they had a knife. You were not really in the mood to deal with this right now, especially while protecting a carefully decorated cake.

After insulting you and delivering a bunch of demeaning words, one of the people in that group started approaching you. You stood still until he was close enough and was reaching his hand towards your face. Reacting to that, with your free hand, you smacked his hand away, elbowing him on the chin, and kicking him back until he fell on his ass.

Surprised, the remaining three started taking position, translating the situation as an invitation for a fist fight.

"You better run, mate," an uncanny voice said from behind you. "Because it looks like she's going real bloody easy on your friend there."

It was quite embarrassing how you recognised who the voice belonged to so quickly. Maybe it was how you keep replaying whatever conversation you had with him.

"She'll cut through all of you as easily as she's going to cut through that cake," the voice continued.

"Or else what?" the one with the knife asked.

"Or else I'll stand beside her and increase your chances of getting into the hospital," the person behind you said.

With a lot of shame in their faces, the group moved on. The man behind you now stood next to you.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

You were starting to turn to face him when you noticed that he was not wearing his mask. That itself startled you and you ended up stepping away from him.

"You don't have your mask on, Ghost," you pointed out.

"You mistook me for someone, lass?" he replied.

Scrunching your eyebrows in confusion, you dared looking at the man. He was looking at you, calm and cautious. You were almost convinced that he was not who you think he was, but you recognised those eyes anywhere. Then, you were stuck looking at all that was around his eyes.

It was hard not to look at his face. Handsome, a little bit of concern was painted on his eyebrows. Stoic. Lazy eyes. The kind of face that made you blush just by looking at it.

"Now, you've made me look at your face," you disappointedly said.

"I don't think—"

"Simon," you sighed.

He did not respond to that.

"Don't tell me you're not yourself," you said.

"Fine," he replied.

"Thank you. For that and for telling those guys off," you said. "And why are you not wearing your mask?"

"I'm on vacation," Simon said.

"I thought you'd still be wearing it anyway," you said.

"Attracts too much attention," he replied.

"And that is not attracting too much attention?" you gestured at his face.

"Something on my face?" Simon asked.

You were actively looking for something on his face. Then, he raised an eyebrow at you.

"Just… a lot of charm," you answered finally.

Exhaling, the man looked around the area. He ended up looking back at you.

"Well, go on, then," he said.

"Do you want a ride?" you offered.

"No," Simon said.

"Seriously, it's alright," you continued.

"I'm good," Simon insisted. "Though, it's a surprise to see you here."

"Same," you nodded.

A moment passed when you were only looking at him and he was looking back at you.

"How long you'll be staying here?" Simon asked.

"Just until the weekend," you answered.

"Until the weekend," Simon repeated.

There was a pause.

"You're free tomorrow?" Simon asked.

"Yeah," you answered. "Why?"

"What say you we meet here again? Same time?" Simon suggested.

"You're taking me somewhere?" you asked.

"Maybe," Simon answered.

"Alright," you agreed.

"Get a cab tomorrow. I'm driving," Simon added. "Don't eat beforehand."

"Alright," you said, lightly chuckling.

With that, you walked on to your car. Simon was still close. He opened the door for you, making sure that you were wearing your seat belt before sending you off.

So, the following night, you did as requested. Quite excited for it, actually. Dressed up for it even. Nothing much, just something casual.

When you arrived at the agreed spot, Simon was leaning on a parked motorbike, a cigarette in between his lips. When he saw you, he moved the cigarette from between his lips to between his fingers. A cloud of smoke bubbled out of his mouth. Without saying anything, he tossed you a helmet.

Neither of you were communicating with each other verbally for the first half an hour or so. After disposing of his cigarette, Simon gestured at you to get onto the bike. You waited until he was on it properly with helmet on before getting on it behind him and putting the helmet on.

Soon enough, Simon started driving. He was driving very carefully. You ended up in a twenty four hour restaurant. Once inside, Simon sat you down.

You had dinner. You spent quite a few hours there. Sometimes you did not talk for a few moments at once. When you did, mostly you ended the brief conversation laughing together. Well, you were laughing, he was not showing more than just an amused smile every now and again. There was not a change in his eyes, though.

Was that how he always was behind the mask? If so, it was nice to see him without it. How many people had seen that face? Few. Even fewer who had seen the polite, shy smile.

It was clear that by the end of the night, you were enjoying each other's company so much that you did not return to the barracks. Instead, you went with him to his place. A humble flat that was meant to be resided by one person.

Who knew someone of such stature could be so light handed if needed? Also for someone with a certain horrifying reputation, he was gentle and careful. He was making sure that you were comfortable and comforted on your stay.

The next morning, before leaving his flat to deliver you back to the HQ, Simon handed you his phone with numberpads displayed on his screen. Without saying anything, you did the same to him before inputting your number into his phone. Since then, you were staying in contact. To put it lightly.

Mostly, every now and again, Simon would text you a city and a country. London, UK. Manchester, UK. Verdansk, Kastovia. You would reply similarly and would text him the same thing should you get moved from one place to another for BSAA business. Lanshiang, China. Bali, Indonesia. Louisiana, USA. Eastern Slav Republic. Et cetera, et cetera.

If it so happened that you were within driving distance, you would meet in the middle and spend the night together. It was hard to say that it was fortunate that you had not been sharing objectives. At this rate, you were not sure if you were to be put in the same mission that the two of you could be acting professionally.

Then, today, you received a message from him.

Al Mazrah, Adal.

Instead of excitement, you texted him back the exact same thing with a heavy heart.

Before there was any further discussion between the two of you, you were presented a case by your supervisor. It was of a terrorist organisation leader who happened to be responsible for the latest outbreaks happening all over the US. There was also a brief file about a task force called 141. That would be where you see his name.

That was what you needed to conclude the thing you worried about. Before you could proceed, you heard someone addressed you by Sergeant L/N.

Again, you recognised the voice in a snap of a finger. So, turning to him, you gave him a flat smile. He was in full uniform, a brand new skull mask.

"Are you the officer in this mission?" you asked.

"Excuse me?" Simon replied.

"I saw two sergeants, a lieutenant, and a captain here. Seeing that the captain isn't the one addressing me right now, I'm guessing you're in charge?" you explained.

He took a moment before answering, "Tonight, yes."

"Then, I should not be in this case," you said.

"Why?" Simon asked.

"Because this," you gestured at the two of you, but realising immediately that the two of you never really discussed anything about your relationship.

Embarrassed, you looked down, stepping back from him. You really should not have said that last thing.

"You're saying we're against the rule, love?" Simon concluded.

He had only addressed you as such a handful of times and it was unfair the way he made you feel. It might be the voice and the accent, but also the tone and how he said it.

"Yeah," you said, looking back at him.

For a moment, he was only looking at you.

"Right," Simon said.

That was surprising.

"Yeah," now you said that disappointedly. "I mean, I could—I could argue that we're in different forces and that won't be a problem, but I have to answer to you in this mission and that's against the rule."

"So, what, you want to get transferred?" Simon proceeded. "I'll be this honest, Y/N, you're one of the best SOU in the BSAA and we could use your talent. Would be a shame to lose a soldier as good as you over several stupid strict rules. This is a matter of international security after all."

"You're the superior officer, what do you say?" you asked,

"You stay. We keep things professional. Make sure that no one knows that you're my girlfriend," Simon answered.

Your smile just bloomed out of nowhere.

"I'm your girlfriend?" you asked.

"You are. If I'm out of the uniform," Simon nodded.

"Fair," you nodded.

"We have a deal, then," Simon concluded, stretching out a hand.

"Yes, sir," you confirmed, shaking his hand.

"Alright. Let's do it over," Simon sighed before announcing, "Welcome to the task force, Sergeant L/N!"

"Thank you, sir. The helo stopped whirring some time ago, you don't need to yell," you replied.

[drama--universe]

Late Night Confession

Requested by anonymous: Hi! I just watched FIYS and can you do an imagine about K? Uhmm, maybe an AU where Tong Yao* has a sister who also games with the alias “Heartbreaker” and K unknowingly plays with her while Tong Yao smiles to herself when she saw K lost against her sister and made her sister visit at the dorm during University breaks and both K and Tong Yao’s sister slowly start to fall for each other?

Pairing: K x fem!reader

Word Count: 3496 words

A/N Sorry for the long wait on this one, I was a bit busy... Hope you enjoy this one, it is a bit longer than normal.

Btw, after this I'm taking a break again, because I got exams coming up. after that I'm back for requests :)

The game was boring, something that was clear to most fans as they watched K's live. He was sighing loudly, his fingers lazily tapping the keyboard as he moved his mouse while also rolling his eyes every five seconds. The people he played with and against were no good, their messy playstyle just gave K a headache and it was clear that even his fans were annoyed. So he left the game halfway, searching for any other game room that were still open. When he finally found one, most of the players being high-level like him, he clicked on the icon before waiting as it started. When the count down started, he quickly went over the other team's players and one player immediatley caught his eye.

First it was their name, the name 'Heartbreaker' didn't seem like a normal name in between the other names, but then he noticed the level they were on. He had yet to see someone on the normal server with a rank higher than his, except for other professional gamers of course, but apparently 'Heartbreaker' had.

Mumbling something to himself, he was unaware as Tong Yao rolled into the camera's view and watched the screen before snorting and rolling away again. K looked to her, frowning before rolling his eyes and continuing to stare at his screen. He kept playing, his teammates long forgotten as he killed his opponents. It wasn't long until he saw the name 'Heartbreaker' flash across the screen.

Before he could even move his fingers to attack, he watched as the 'You Died' screen took over instead and he let his hand drop on the keyboard with slightly wide eyes. Not saying anything, he waited until he respawned again before searching for 'Heartbreaker' again and trying again, only to die again seconds later. Clenching his teeth, he waited again before retrying once more. He smashed the keys and mouse, hoping to himself that he'd beat them. One hit, then a second and then he died again. Not getting a third respawn, his screen just showed his team playing and losing as he sighed loudly.

It was clear to anyone how annoyed he was, his fans were quick to point it out in the comments and trying to reassure the gamer that 'Heartbreaker' must be using some kind of hack. He knew this to not be true, the game had been programmed to ban everyone once a kind of program was spotted on the computer, even when it wasn't in use. Unfair, but it worked.

"Got beat?" Tong Yao asked as she rolled closer again, appearing in the camera's view with a broad smile and K turned his head to look at her, clearly getting more annoyed at the girl's teasing.

"Stop acting like you'd know I'd lose." "I did, though." Tong Yao teased, pushing her chair back so she'd get out of view, eyes returning to her phone as it dinged. She started to type to reply to the message., unaware of the lingering stare. When she finally noticed that K was still staring at her, she paused and pointed at his screen.

"I know Heartbreaker, she's a natural talent when it comes to games." She pointed out and K sighed, rolling his eyes before turning to his computer again. He quickly ended his livestream, sure that he'd get scolded by Xiao Rui afterwards because of the short and blunt goodbye, and searched out 'Heartbreaker' in the ID search bar. When he found her, he clicked the 'send friend request' and waited for a conformation. Not even seconds later, he got a request back which he accepted quickly before he watched as a message popped onto his screen.

'Sorry for beating you!'

He sighed and he could hear Tong Yao snort again, giving her another glare before staring at the screen. He then typed in his own message, replying with a 'You play really good' before sending it, receiving a reply seconds later.

'Wish I could say the same :)'

He couldn't help but chuckle at the reply before he send another. The messages kept going for a few minutes before 'Heartbreaker' logged off.

You logged off because of school, a bit sad when you couldn't talk to your new friend anymore. It was quite fun to hear how he reacted to your messages from Tong Yao, you couldn't help but smile as she sent you pictures of a flustered K. You quickly texted Tong Yao to just give your number to K before you put your phone away and getting ready for school.

So Tong Yao did, pulling K's phone from his desk and adding your number under the name 'Heartbreaker' before handing it back to K with a smile. He glanced at the phone in confusion before clicking on your icon, texting you before pocketing his phone and getting up to go out.

You had already left your house, ready to go to school and dressed into the warmest clothes you had with a large shawl thrown around your neck that hid most of your face. You didn't feel like getting cold.

After a couple of minutes, you entered your classroom and sat near your friends before getting your phone again. You quickly checked K's text before sending him a quick selfie, half of your face still covered by your scarf before putting your phone down and focusing on your lesson.

K checked immediatley once he got the notification and smiled as he saw you, smiling as he finally somewhat saw what you looked like. He just sent a text saying 'You're pretty' before going back to shopping and waiting for your response, a bit disappointed when it had been an hour already and you hadn't even seen it.

Something which was obvious to Tong Yao when she saw the man enter the dorms, face glum as he put his stuff away before he sat behind his computer. When she saw this, she also was quick to send you a picture. When you saw it, you couldn't help but smile before you quickly changed to text K and your face flushed as you saw his text. Not wanting to seem flustered, you decided on a 'You're quite good looking yourself' before you put your phone away again.

An hour later, you received a text from Tong Yao, asking you to come by next week and you agreed while also still gaming. Somehow, K had seen you were online again and immediately send you a game request, but this time to play with you and not against. He stayed near you must of the game, watching you while also killing anyone who came near you while you tried to destroy the base.

While all this happens, he was also listening to your ranting through your call. He hummed in agreement every now and then, just to let you know that he was still listening to your story. It took about an hour of you to finish your rant and once you noticed that, you started apologizing immediatley, feeling guilty that you kept him for so long. He just shrugged it off, telling you that he didn't mind listening to you and you felt your face heat up slowly.

"Shut up... Anyway, how was the rest of your day?" "Not much happened, I just went to the grocery store to get some stuff. Beside that, not much..." He answered before logging out of the game and you could hear him talking to someone else.

"I'll talk to you some other time, bye." He didn't even let you reply as he hung up and you pouted to yourself before shrugging and closing the game as well.

A week later, you still hadn't heard from K again and he also hadn't been online for awhile. You didn't mind too much, after all you were visiting today and he was probably also a busy person. Nonetheless, today was the day you'd visit, so you dressed warm before you exited your house. You wished was it was bit warmer, but winter was never that kind and thus you were bundled up in 3 layers of clothes and a thick scarf to make sure that your face remained warm as well. You made your way through the streets until you finally reached your destination, Tong Yao already waiting at the gate in her own winter coat. When she spotted you, she only smiled brightly before sprinting at you, engulfing you into a tight hug.

"I missed you!" She whined loudly as she pulled back, inspecting you from head to toe.

"You got thin." "That's what college does, young sister." You commented at your small sister, who only gave you a pout before pulling you inside of her dorms. Even though you were only a year older than her, she acted more like your older sister.

Inside, everyone was sat at their computers and you could Lu Yue shouting loudly at his older brother about something. You hung up your coat and scarf before following your sister inside, immediatley drawing everyone's attention as the room grew silent.

"Ignore them." Tong Yao said as she continued to guide you to the kitchen area, forcing you to sit down before getting some food and dropping it in front of you. You rolled your eyes, but ate the food anyway. No way you'd deny free food.

As you ate, you turned around to watch what the others were doing only to be greeted with the stares of everyone. You gave a wave, swallowing your food before speaking up.

"I'm Tong Yao's sister, pleasure to meet you all." You commented and they all nodded before returning to their games. All except for K, who just looked at you in confusion. You just gave him a wink before turning around when Tong Yao called your name.

"I haven't told him yet." "I figured..." You said with a smile, taking a sip of the drink that you had received before turning around again. You took your phone out of your pocket and started a call to K, waiting for him to pick up. You saw his eyes flash to his phone before he quickly picked up, turning in his chair as he got up. He seemed confused when you didn't say anything and asked if you were alright.

"Left." You answered and he frowned, turning left before he noticed you again. You waved your phone with a smile, showing his name ID on your phone. He lowered his phone slowly, staring at you before checking his phone again. You couldn't help but snort, getting up from your chair and turning your head to Tong Yao for a second.

"I'll be back in a second." You said before walking past K, grabbing his collar as you passed him and dragged him outside. Once you stood outside, you quickly closed the door behind you before turning to face him.

"Didn't expect that, did ya?" You asked and he raised an eyebrow at you before sighing.

"So, you're Heartbreaker..." You nodded. "And you're also Tong Yao's sister?" You nodded again before sitting down on one of the chairs and looking at him again.

"You not going to say anything?" "You're prettier in person." He answered and your eyes widened at the sudden compliment, chuckling softly.

"Thanks... Likewise." You commented and he frowned at your comment, so you quickly explained that Tong Yao was kind enough to sent you pictures of him while he texted you.

"She what?" He asked and you laughed again before pulling up to pictures that she had sent you, showing them to K with a smile and enjoying the

"Just a second." He said before storming inside and you flinched when you suddenly heard a loud scream from inside that sounded like your sister before K walked back outside with a calm look.

"Did you just kill my sister?" "She's fine." He answered and you frowned, looking inside to see Tong Yao on the ground in shock. She looked fine...ish?

"The pictures weren't that bad." You commented and he rolled his eyes.

"If you wanted pictures so bad, you could've asked." He commented as he sat down and you gave him a smile.

"I'll remember that then." You said before getting up.

"How about getting some drinks?" You then asked and he agreed quickly, following you out. All the way to the café and back, both of you just talked about your interests and you only discovered more similar interests.

Once you arrived back in the dorms, you gave everyone their drinks while still talking to K. He didn't move back to his computer and instead sat on the couch with you, sipping on his own drink as he continued to listen to your ranting. You didn't even notice that you were ranting, but once you started going about something you were passionate about there was no stopping you. Yet he just listened to you, eyes full of adoration. This was something that was quickly noticed by Tong Yao as she watched the two of you with a broad grin, seeing the adoration in his eyes for you.

So of course, she had to embarrass him.

"Hey K?!" She exclaimed and he turned his head, clearly giving her a dead stare as your ranting stopped. Tong Yao only beckoned him over and he got up, even more annoyed now as he stood next to her. She beckoned him to lean down to her height and he leaned forward until she could whisper in his ear.

"Stop looking at my sister like she's the love of your life." She whispered before watching K turn red from embarrassment while also keeping an eye on you. You hadn't heard anything, just waiting patiently on the couch as you typed on your phone.

"Instead of acting like she's the love of your live, make her the love of your life." She then said before pushing him away and he could only walk back to the confusion, sitting back down next to you.

"What she say?" You asked and he shrugged before asking you to continue your story. You smiled slightly before going back into your rant and K went back to listening while staring at you again. This time, however, it didn't go unnoticed to you. You noticed the stare and couldn't help but feel your face heat up as you kept talking, trying to finish the story without stuttering. Once finished, you looked at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to keep staring at me?" You then asked and he scoffed, his face heating up once more as he turned away from you.

"We should go get some food." Tong Yao then commented and everyone quickly agreed, all of them quickly getting ready to go out while you and K stayed downstairs.

"So why were you staring? Am I that beautiful?" You teased, faking your confidence a bit as you made the comment, and he just gave you an annoyed look.

"Am I?" You teased again and he sighed. "Yes." He then answered and you were a bit taken aback by his sudden answer. He just rolled his eyes at you and got up from the couch as everyone gathered at the front door. You all went to a restaurant with classical Chinese food, on request of Lao Mao and Lu Yue, and of course, you were sat next to K again. Tong Yao had somehow gotten the others to join in her teasing, all of them making comments about how you looked together. Every time someone did, both you and K looked at them with a deadly glare and it only made everyone laugh again at how synced you two were.

You could only groan in response.

The rest of the dinner was quiet, but you only felt anxious with all eyes on you. So you were glad when it was over, walking at the back of the pack as you searched for an hour that your bus would come. K was next to you, watching over your shoulder before pointing at your bus icon.

"Tomorrow at 6... Nice." You mumbled before quickly walking to Tong Yao and asking if you could stay the night, to which she responded with a sure.

It was 4 or 5 in the morning when you woke up, your head aching and you suddenly remembered that drinking alcohol always gave you huge headaches, and you had drank 3 or 4 glasses last night. Rolling out of the bed, you unwrapped Tong Yao from your waist before slowly waddling downstairs. You entered the kitchen and stopped when you saw someone else, not being able to tell who it was. You just trudged to the freezer and pulled open the door, grabbing a bottle of water before glancing at the person again.

It was K, now visible because of the fridge lightning, and he also held a water bottle in his hand while trying to keep the light out of his eyes. You closed the door again before hopping on the counter.

"Why you up?" You asked and he sighed, nodding before sipping from his drink.

"You?" "Headache... I apparently drank a bit too much." You commented and he snorted, trying to hide the fact that he was laughing at you. You just rolled your eyes at him, drinking from your own bottle before looking back to him.

"I didn't get to say this earlier, but sorry for Tong Yao earlier." You said and he looked up before shrugging at the comment. You fidgeted with your fingers, sighing softly before looking at him again as he spoke up.

"I don't mind it that much. They tease me about that a lot." He said and you frowned at that, leaning forward as you put the bottle of water down.

"They tease you a lot about... liking me?" You asked cautiously and you could see the wheels in his head turning before he realized that he basically exposed himself. Even though you didn't see much, you could see his face turning red as he looked annoyed at himself.

"So I'm right? You like me?" You asked as you leaned back again, leaning against the side of the fridge as you waited for an answer. He only rolled his eyes, walking to the fridge and pulling it open to put his bottle of water back. Once he closed it and attempted to walk off, you only pulled the back of his shirt until he stood in front of you. He gave you a look of annoyance, which quickly melted away as you kissed his cheek softly.

"This is going to be really awkward if I read that wrong..." You mumbled as you pulled back, but he didn't let you continue as he kissed you again. He moved to stand in between your legs as his hand moved to your neck while pulling you closer, his other hand resting beside your leg. Once he pulled back, you felt like you had lost your breath and he only smirked at you.

"Shut up, I didn't expect it. That's all." You said and he leaned forward again, only for you to lean back.

"What are you doing...?" You asked as your head bummed against the cabinet, his nose still touching yours and he only gave you a smile.

"Can I not kiss you again?" He asked and you pushed him away, pouting at him.

"So... What are we then?" "I'll be your boyfriend, no?" He asked and you smiled, nodding happily before freezing when the lights went on. On the stairs stood Tong Yao and Lu Yue, both lights sleepers and probably woke up from the loud chattering between you and K. The looks on their faces were quite funny to see, but seeing how you were sitting with K standing in between your legs must have looked weird to them.

However, K did not move away and instead just leaned his head on on your shoulder with a frustrated groan. You just chuckled, weaving your fingers through his hair before turning to the two on the stairs.

"Morning..." You said and Lu Yue was the first to rush off, probably off to get his phone while Tong Yao just stared at you before just shaking her head and walking back to her room.

"I think we just ruined her morning..." "I don't care." He replied, head still placed on your shoulder before slowly raising it to look at you.

"Shouldn't you get ready?" He asked and you turned your head to look at the clock that hung off the wall, seeing that you had 30 minutes before your bus would arrive. You hopped off the counter, kissing him once more before walking upstairs to get dressed. You passed Lu Yue, who seemed a bit disappointed as he saw you next to him instead of downstairs.

Once you were dressed, you went downstairs again, seeing that everyone else had miraculously woken up and sitting downstairs. You greeted K once more with a kiss on the cheek before saying goodbye to everyone, then rushing off to catch your bus. Tong Yao turned in her chair, kicking K's chair to catch his attention.

"Do not ever do that again in the dorms."

[kthynes]

Can you do something with a possessive/ jealous chris and smut plss?!?

minutia

warnings: Mob!Steve x CEO!reader. SMUT! Filth. 18+ only - minors do not interact.

word count: 1.4k (my attempt at a drabble)

authors note: This might prelude to something more. There are indefinite plot bunnies hopping around.

SIN & SORROW ANTHOLOGY MASTERLIST

This has not been beta’d (nor is it my best work) so any mistakes are my own

Musical muse:

There was a time and place for everything. A niceness and neediness. A reverend taunt and a certifiable claim.

Somewhere around the corner of Bathurst and Saint Peters Creek, you were straddling Steve Rogers in the back seat of his newly armored Escalade, grappling in a moment that was hot and heavy, oblivious to the surrounding city dwellers. Your mouths were fiercely moving in tandem with the other, teeth slightly clashing upon contact. A routine kiss turned into a sloppy, breath baiting ordeal.

You wanted him close. He wanted you closer.

There’s grousing desperation as his hand roughly yanks and cards through your hair, undoing a tightly wound updo from its hold. You moan at the surface level friction that tenderly gyrates your clothed cunt against his tented crotch. Steve, while continuing to kiss you, slides his large calloused hands and grips your hips in place. Depravity and unhappiness shrouds the solitary confines.

“Does he know that you’re mine?” He finally postulates with a low growl, his tongue expertly flits into your mouth and swallows your misguided protests that never falls short.

“Steve.” You groan. There’s no way you could coddle the deadliest mob banger of Brooklyn.

He’s pissed. Annoyed. Ravenous of the fact that you wore an ass tight pencil skirt as opposed to your ugly gray ‘Erma suit’ that you carefully repurposed every day since ranking a powerful venture capitalist. You had no exact reason to dress pretty on a work day.

So why did you?

To test him, that’s why. Unknowingly, you showed up to a morning business meeting and culled a carny look from thee Tony Stark, a rivaling mob man who prowled the isles of New York City. He quietly greeted you with a groping gaze, only nodding when spoken to and then murmuring his final fallacy: I’d love to hear more about this over dinner. Just you and I, Milena.

Where his hand fell, grazing the underside of your thighs, there was an ineffectual blow and with close ties, word got out. Steve was belligerent. He coasted through the financial district on a Herculean conquest. He was ready to kill, Nico and Zavion reluctantly in tow. This isn’t the first time you’ve been subjected to his impulsive scrutiny and the laving fuck fest that ensued. Your hands try to distract him, rubbing up and down the front of his pristine white dress shirt that ripples when his chest muscles twitch.

“Does he or does he not?” Steve doesn’t let you gallon an ounce of pride, grabbing your jaw and forcing you to look at him.

“No.” You croon, kiss swollen lips agape and struggling to form a full sentence. He furrows his brows, slightly trailing a hand down your neck and then flexing a firm grasp on your windpipe. You sheepishly grin, ladling his torment and frustration with a farsighted look that tempers every shallow breath you took. “But I’m fair game, remember?”

In the upheaval of Steve’s underworld, you were a well kept secret for many inferable reasons. One being your pride, the other being his entitlement.

Yet to this day, no one in the seeded Harlem's and upper echelon knew about the tumultuous, lust warring relationship between you and Steve. How could they?

Your ode to his business was strictly merlot and sexual pleasure. For anyone else it was a cold shouldering afterthought. Except if you were Tony, you’d break even.

“I don’t play games, sweetness.” Steve ferociously grits in your face, swirling with unchecked anger. “No one gets to have you.”

“You don’t own me.”

“We’ll see about that.” He testifies, a free hand brazenly tears apart your sheer nylons and flimsy skirt in one go. You squeal at the searing sensation in proximity to his touch that ghosts over your glistening pussy.

“Fuck.” You sputter as the sound of his zipper-fly whirs through the disobedience. The feeling is resolute and all while stroking his leaky cock, Steve nudges his nose against yours, actively seeking your glossy eyes that now take in the heat of his actions, mildly aroused.

“See how hard you make me?” He grunts, greedily twisting his fist around his erection.

You bite back an obscene moan, shifting uncomfortably in your own wetness that smears his undercarriage, gaining very little traction in return.

“All because you’re mine,” Steve stills your movement and his, emboldening you with a crass look that runs a dangerous mile. His large paws force hold your thighs wide open, thumbs gently stroking the thin straining apex. “And only mine. You got that?”

You gnaw on your bottom lip, nodding. “Yes.”

“Good girl.” He makes quick work, leaving hot, open mouth kisses along the side of your neck, cupping his hands over to conspicuously knead your bare ass and lift you up against him. “Now how ‘bout you ride this cock like you’ve been meaning to.”

Your weeping hole gets breached by the tip, fed an incremental inch before he’s fully sheathed. Steve releases a stiff breath, looking down at the slobbery opening where your bodies met. He grimaces slightly, twitching to rut his hips like a depraved lover but stagnant on doing so.

“Here, let me.” You peck him on the lips and take charge, rowing a sensual grind that drives you both over the edge. "Is this OK?"

“Fuck, baby.” Steve mewls, meeting your paced thrusts with some self effacing control. His men stood low guard, unassuming of the sundry chase. “That’s it. Just like that.” He coaxes right in your ear and brings you close to the gates of heaven.

“Take what you need.” Your lower half grinds into him as you let out a loud, almost there moan.

“Steve.” Your face puckers, there’s a struggle and before you know it, you’re effortlessly flipped on your back and over the middle console. Steve pummels it home, intermittently snapping his hips into you, one foot propped and bent at the knee, crouching into your form that rudders a different kind of intimacy.

"I got you." He foretells, exuberating every facial expression you were keen on making. "I'm right here."

Your pert breasts bounce behind a structured button up and he’s careful enough to free them for his mouth to suckle on, licking and nibbling on each stiff peak as you start to come undone.

“Oh!” You vocalize, arching into his languid thrusts.

“You think he’d fuck you like this?” Steve antagonizes. Each shove demanded more than the last, proving a guttural point that you were, ultimately, his possession. “Hm?”

“I—” you puff, furling a stubborn orgasm that builds at the right stroke. “Right there, oh.”

“Feels good doesn’t it?” He comes in with the assist, a thumb draws tight circles around your clit. Steve immediately feels you clenching around him, a vice grip that impales his senses. “Jesus.”

“I’m gonna cum.” You quiver, trussing a leg over his shoulder and allowing him to penetrate you at a better soul tingling angle.

"Oh yeah?" He teases, grazing his teeth along the side of your leg.

"Yes, you fucker!" There you are, choking back on more than you could've possibly chewed. An absolute beseeched Aphrodite in will and way.

“Tell me who you belong to first.” Steve urges, pressing his balmy forehead against yours, forcing you to look at him.

“Steve-ah.” You growl.

“C’mon sweetness. I need to hear it.” He tuts, timing his pace and driving you buck crazy. “I need to know.”

“I…" You lose your train of thought, turning away slightly. "...belong to you.”

“Again.” He insolently cajoles, stamping kisses along your jaw and holding you to him.

“I belong to you.”

"You belong to me." He echoes.

"I'm yours."

"You're mine." His final submission has your soft channel violently convulsing, taking him there as well.

"Cum in me." You surrender and without missing a beat, he robustly stills, ass clenching while hot, thick coats of his cum chiaroscuro your womb, art in motion as you'd falcate. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow." He kisses your temple, inhaling you in as his.

A cacophony of breathing punctuates the air and fogs up the windows. Steve comes down, doting you with a kiss that is slow and tender. Your tired tongues overlap the other as soft sighs cascade from a rendering high. He’s laid on top of you, hands cradling your face while his flaccid cock is still buried in, possibly rosy for round two.

“Did that make you feel better?” You shimmy in a splay of half naked limbs, unable to escape the unescapable.

“Much.” Steve whispers, half lidded as his fingers carefully button up your blouse. “Just remember, this isn’t a final warning. It’s my way.”

Gun shots. A rally of them shatter from a far and shield you into darkness. Now, there's no way.

[yandere-sins]

One More

Genshin makes my imagination vibrate pleasantly. I just want to give Kaeya a reason to make me go “Oh?” cause he’s not even my one of my favs. But the sheer sex appeal coming from that man is dangerous.

Characters: Kaeya Alberich (Genshin Impact) x Reader Warnings: Yandere, Groping, Innuendos, Alcohol, Aphrodisiacs, Insults

»»———————— ♡ ————————««        

“Hey there, Sweetheart. What’s bringing you to the tavern so late at night?”

You had barely entered Angel’s Share and sat down at the bar before hearing the ever-so chipper voice of the cavalry captain drawing closer. There was nothing strange about meeting Kaeya here after a long day of work, but you and Charles exchanged a glance, the bartender sighing deeply. “I’ve only served him two drinks so far,” he explained, and you couldn’t help but think that was already one too many. 

But who were you to say no to the Kaeya?

Perhaps better than anyone, Kaeya knew about the little game you two were playing. The always so icy shoulder you gave him as he continued to pressure you with his flirts was only making him want you so much more. You couldn’t count the number of times he had stopped you in the headquarters, pinned you between him and the wall - in broad daylight nonetheless - asking how you’re doing and if you need help with anything. You. Were. Sick of it! If he wanted a child to play father for, he could ask Klee to hang out with him! You, on the other hand, were a remarkable knight, trusted enough with complicated orders that - luckily! - kept you out of the city for a prolonged time so you could avoid him. 

It only was hard when you weren’t on duty. Or in the city. Or close to him. 

That’s when he became frisky, rather needy too.

Kaeya brushed his face from the left side of your head to the right, taking a deep breath. If it wasn’t known that you two reached back all the way to your training days, anyone would have raised an eyebrow. But most of the other guards were able to brush off his weirdness for affectionate friendship. It was almost like only you could see behind the farce, and perhaps his estranged brother. Not like Diluc had been any help to you, though, aside from breaking Kaeya off you once or twice when he was around and noticing your discomfort.

Taking up the stool beside you, there was no prior question if the seat was taken. A rather empty keg arrived with Kaeya at the bar, and he briefly tapped the rim until Charles fished for another bottle of alcohol to fill it up with. One could say Kaeya and a drink were a good mix, but to you, they were a terrible combination. Drinking made him bold. Unrestrained even. 

Even though he offered his keg to you, you merely looked away, sipping at your own glass, one you much rather preferred to the brew he drank his night away with. Grinning, he instead took a hearty sip, leaning against the counter leisurely as he watched the bards perform near the entrance, but you didn’t miss even a single glance he sent your way every few seconds. 

It was very unfortunate that you liked Angel’s Share for its drinks best; otherwise, you’d have had a good reason to avoid the establishment. But at the same time, you couldn’t let Kaeya direct all of your life. It was no state that you shouldn’t do what you enjoyed just because he could be there, and yet, you considered it. 

“So, how was your mission? I’ve been missing your skills at training.”

“It was fine,” you answered curtly, uninterested in the conversation he initiated. There weren’t many people you talked to when you came back to Mondstadt. Somehow… it had always been hard for you to make friends with the other knights. Part of you suspected Kaeya being a reason why no one seemed to want to hang around, forcing you to spend most of your training with him since no one was willing to spar with you. Then again, you never had any evidence to confirm your suspicion, just like with many other phenomena you experienced over the years.

More than once had there been instances where your orders had been withdrawn just when you came close to solving the problems, often with the excuses that you were still too inexperienced or needed somewhere else. It had been so hard to raise in the ranks while Kaeya seemed to make leaps forward without a worry, but at least, you managed to secure your place now--one far away from the cavalry captain.

Sighing, Kaeya turned around to face the counter again, plopping his arm around your shoulders. Uncomfortably, you rolled your joints, but he instead pulled you closer to him, the smell of alcohol drafting off his lips as he spoke. “No need to play coy. You know you can tell me the truth. Didn’t you miss being home? I’m sure cleaning up those camps must have been exhausting!”

Missed being with me? seemed to be the words he wanted to say, but he packaged them in a way he knew they’d actually affect you. Kaeya had always been clever enough to poke the places that hurt. Of course, you missed home. You’d miss it more if not for him, but you had your family here, your siblings and parents that you’d like to see more often. But there was no chance with how much Kaeya liked to interfere in it. As if he was already part of your family, inviting himself and always showing up unannounced to hang out.

“‘Twas okay,” you replied after a moment of thought. 

“Well, I missed you,” he chuckled before taking another sip of his keg. “I missed you sooo much!”

That was enough for you, brushing his arm off roughly before turning on your stool to leave. You knew even finding another space to sit wouldn’t spare you from him, and if you ended up in a less crowded area, you didn’t want to imagine what he’d do. “Aw, come on,” you heard behind you as he gripped your arm, making you stop. “I get it, I get it, you’re tired. But you can’t be tired enough not to drink one more with your old pal, right?”

With his voice rising in volume, you two finally gained some attention, and you instantly felt a rush of embarrassment as you stared into quite a few pairs of perplex eyes. Kaeya might have been eccentric, but he was well-liked nonetheless. Causing a scene had never worked well for you, and since you were already deemed an outsider, you’d only catapult yourself more into the shadows if any rumors spread after you left. 

Clicking your tongue, you tore yourself out of his grip before sitting back on your chair again, holding up your finger. “One more. Only one more.”

“Of course,” Kaeya grinned, getting his will once again. “Only one.”

»»————— ♡

Hot lips brushing against each other, you had no better way to describe your state of being other than burning. For someone so cool and with an icy skill, Kaeya was not even close to being cold and reserved when it came to touching you. With a smile displayed on his mouth whenever he wasn’t using it to tease you, you could barely remember how you two ended up making out in one of the backstreets of Mondstadt. His hands were seemingly everywhere, and at the same time, lingered at the spots that created an audible cue from you when he squeezed them. 

“You’re so sensitive,” he noted as you hung in his arms, hands currently squeezing your ass from your thighs upwards. “That’s good, I like that.”

“Fucker,” you merely cursed back. “You only said one more drink! I feel like shit! What the hell was that?”

“On the contrary, you feel amazing,” he ignored your questions, pushing his leg between yours as he pressed you closer to the cold stone wall behind you. A welcome sensation, giving you back some of your senses as the chill helped to calm your heated body. “I fucking hate you, Kaeya,” you confessed drunkenly, but the time was as good as any to say it.

“Ouch,” he brushed it off with a chuckle. “Are you sure? Your body grinding against mine is giving me very different vibes, Darling.”

Next thing, he was back in your mouth, his tongue roaming and keeping yours busy as you slung your arms around him. “You’re so stupid and mean, always testing everyone. You’re probably the reason everyone is avoiding me too, and you don’t let off no matter how much I tell you to leave me alone!”

“Mhm,” he hummed as his lips wandered down your neck, making you stretch it out for him so he could reach better. “And now... I don’t even know! You drugged me?!” 

A soft laugh escaped him before you felt a suck at your collarbone, followed by the wet sensation of a tongue tasting your skin. “Bingo, Baby. Lisa really wanted to know what would happen if someone drank this potion and you were all too eager to get it down your throat-”

“To get away from you!” you interrupted him.

“Whatever.”

Finally, Kaeya came up on eye level again, the two of you staring at each other for a moment in silence. 

“Whatever?” you questioned, confused by his reaction. 

“Yeah, whatever. I think kissing you made me swallow at least, hm... half of it too. Even if we wanted to, we wouldn’t be able to stop now, don’t you think?” 

One of the most disgusting grins you had ever seen on the face of a person played around his lips as he pressed up to you, uniting you two in another kiss. Of course, you could stop it! You could, and you would right now. After all, you had allowed it to go on for far too long now! Pressing your hands into his shoulders, Kaeya let out a soft sigh against your lips, his uncovered eye closed as he enjoyed the affection. “One more,” he mumbled as he kissed you again and again, feverishly and impatiently. “I’ve been waiting forever to do this.”

With the excitement of a teenage boy, his hands roamed your body, pulling out the shirt from your trousers to lodge themselves beneath it. Skillful fingertips drew patterns over your skin, up your spine, and down your sides until you were gasping and shivering in his grasp. “Good,” he sighed against your lips, unbothered by you still trying to push him away, only ever flinching as he groped you. “Don’t you already know it? How much you drive me crazy? It’s only fair I drive you crazy too.”

“What the fuck are you even talking about--” you tried to contradict him. But Kaeya was quick to muffle your voice with another deep kiss. Intentionally or not, he met one of your sensitive spots as he explored you, causing a hitched moan to escape you, followed by a satisfied grunt from him. “I’ve been waiting for so long, I can’t have you take it from me now,” he breathed out huskily. 

“I’ll scream!” you threatened him. “Let me go now, Kaeya!”

“Ah-ah,” he rebuked you, one of his hands being freed of groping-duty to cover your mouth. “No one’s going to take you away from me now either. Come one, be good, okay?”

Waiting for the right moment, Kaeya couldn’t endure your angry stare for very long before falling into soft laughter. “All right, all right,” he chuckled before leaning forward brushing his lips against his hand. “One more kiss, okay? I will leave you alone after that.”

Furrowing your brows even more, he interpreted you shaking your head as a ‘no’, letting out a long, “Aww…” 

“Only one more, pretty please?” 

You had to give it to him: persistency was something he didn’t lack. It felt like shooting into your own foot, but part of you just wanted it to be over. You two had kissed so much up till now; how much worse would one more be? And if he let you go afterwards, you could definitely endure it. Lifting up your hand to yank his from your mouth, Kaeya didn’t expect you to take the initiative, looking at you perplexed as you leaned forward to kiss him. No one ever taught you how to kiss, and without his directions, you weren’t actually sure on how any of it worked, but he didn’t seem to mind, humming a pleased tune before returning your awkward smooches.

When was a kiss one kiss? When the lips parted? After the first initial touch? Kaeya’s definition was two minutes of continuous connection between you two, only briefly drawing back for air but never without upholding the contact by biting and pulling on your lip or having your tongue following his out of your mouth into the cold night. He gripped your head tightly in his palms, not allowing you to get away. Only when he let go did you fall back hard against the wall as you two finally broke apart, and you hadn’t noticed how much he had held you up. 

The rich flavor of alcohol on your tongue and his scent in your nose didn’t help with getting a clear mind, but nothing about you made sense anymore. Now that he had let you fall back and away from him, you felt even hotter than before, your body clearly bothered by the lack of stimulation. What part of ‘I wanted none of this’ did you not understand yourself? At least by the throbbing in your abdomen, you could tell that whatever kind of potion he had given to you definitely wasn’t a fun experience, but all the more potent. 

“Hurts, huh?” he laughed across from you. “Oh, fuck off,” you mustered to say, but the pain was obvious by your expression. You were barely able to keep yourself up properly.

“I’d offer my help, but you made it clear you didn’t want it.” The situation must have been really funny to him, only agitating you more. If it at least hadn’t been Kaeya, you might have accepted help, but you knew you’d have to get yourself home now all by yourself in a state of constant heat with no way to resolve it. 

“You caused all of this! You should at least take responsibility without taking advantage of the situation!”

Pushing yourself away from the wall, you decided it was time to step away. There was no use in talking with Kaeya, but the moment your support dwindled, you noticed how wobbly your legs felt, barely capable of holding you up. What had you trained all these years for if a mere potion could make you so incredibly weak? Before you could get back to the wall, one knee gave away, making you sink to the ground where you could barely catch yourself with your hands. 

“It’s really working you hard, isn’t it?” you heard him speak down from above. Squatting to your level, you felt his hand slide through your hair before gripping and lifting your head to face him. “Tell you what: If you ask nicely, I’ll help you. Can’t promise you’ll wake up in your bed tomorrow morning, but a bed nonetheless, wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Fuck you,” you hissed back, and he shook his head, disappointed. 

“Try again.”

What choices did you have? Risk the little bit of reputation you still had by being found in the morning, disheveled and drunk from the night before? The knights absolutely hated anything that would ruin their pristine prestige, so much even you knew. You had worked so hard to get where you were, could you really risk all of it? “... please,” escaped you before you could think it through further. 

“What was that?” he teased you, and you wondered why he could still be so clear even after drinking much more than you did and having had a taste of the potion from your lips. “Please help me get home.”

This time, he laughed out loud, obviously amused by how pitiful you had to behave to please him. “One more time. Say it one more time, and say it nice.”

Frustrated, you wished you could have punched him in the face, but you only bit your lip, taking a deep breath before complying. “Please, Kaeya. I need your help to get home. Please help me home!”

Embarrassment was all you could think about as he conditioned you to do as he wanted, but finally, after you did what Kaeya demanded, he petted your head, leaning forward to kiss your forehead before reaching under your arms to pull you up. “Look at you, all cute and begging me for help.”

Quickly being lifted from the ground, you found your new halt by gripping into his shoulders tightly and wrapping your legs around his waist as he held you in front of him. “You’re so adorable!” he chuckled as you clung to him much more in fear of him letting you fall than because you wanted it. He seemed to have similar thoughts, giving you a bit of a scare as he let go of you, having you hang from him by only your own strength, which you didn’t trust anymore. But just as quickly, your horrified expression made him laugh, and he gave your rear a teasing slap. Lucky for you, Kaeya didn’t make you fear any longer, embracing you back and allowing you to sink against him more as he started to make his way through the streets of Mondstadt. From an onlooker’s point of view, it might have seemed like you jumped him out of joy, but really, you clung on as if your life depended on it while Kaeya seemingly enjoyed the hug.

“Just get me home, you Asshole,” you grumbled, but your insults didn’t do any damage to his good mood. “Sure, I’ll get you home,” he replied chipper, but you already had bad thoughts as you heard that.

“At least, the place I call ‘home’,” he confirmed your suspicion, and inwardly, you already admitted defeat even as you punched your fist into his shoulder. 

“You know how it is,” he brushed it off lightly, patting your backside while he climbed the stairs towards the headquarters with seemingly no effort. 

“I can never refuse you or leave you be. I adore you way too much.”

[vickyvicarious]

I was thinking about the whole "how do people not know that Eliot Spencer worked with Damien Moreau" thing again today, and... I think that actually, it makes perfect sense that they don't.

It all comes down to the type of person Damien Moreau is, and the type of organization he runs.

(under a cut for length. the very last paragraph has mild Redemption spoilers but nowhere else does.)

Think about it. What do we know about Moreau?

He runs a very tight ship. He has very clear procedures in place to leave no evidence or witnesses behind. He is always the one in control and it's an absolute dictatorship where he is always the most important person in the room. Everyone else is either an asset or a liability; they are literally defined by how they relate to Moreau.

If you are an enemy of Moreau and he sends people to kill you, those people aren't getting individual backstories. It doesn't matter who they are, all that matters is that they work for Moreau. They are representatives of him and you know they will do whatever he says. There's no individual appeal to be made here. As far as you're concerned you're dealing with Moreau.

Letting Eliot Spencer's name spread around isn't actually that helpful to Moreau, because it diverts the attention from him. Even in the sense of "holy shit, he's got the Eliot Spencer obeying his every order" it still diverts attention. It's impressive yeah, but it's not a unified front. He wants it to be a homogenous mass where anyone or anything could turn against you. If you displease Moreau, you don't know who is coming after you, but you know someone is, and you know you can't get away.

And all that is assuming you know Moreau's name in the first place. He's so particular about his layers of privacy and deniability. He is so careful who he works with. He deals with only the more important people, but he does that himself. So either you don't know who Moreau is at all, or you know he's the only one from his organization who really matters.

(Also, think about Eliot leaving. If he's widely known, this is a clue to other people that Eliot Spencer working on his own means something has changed. Moreau let someone go? Is there a weakness to exploit there? People would wonder. However, if he's not widely known there is no danger as long as Eliot doesn't reveal his past relationship with Moreau. It makes complete sense with his "I never told anyone about you" line, because people wouldn't know unless Eliot told them. It would have to be a deliberate act of betrayal, versus him staying quiet and respecting Moreau's generosity in letting him leave by keeping that unusual behavior a secret.)

I'm not saying there's no one who recognizes Eliot. But his name is not really widely known the way we see in canon. At best he might be known as the one guy who hunts down the hardest prey, the reason you really can never get away. But there's also evidence to be had that Eliot served a role like Chapman (I mean, he's basically labelled Eliot's replacement). Chapman doesn't seem to be someone the rest of the team knew. He's not identified as a threat or a possible in or anything; the only person they ever talk about is Moreau himself, and maybe a few major subordinates of his who run entire sub-organizations. Chapman, from the outside, is just yet another killer working for Moreau, alongside a whole bunch of others.

Now. Internally, it's a different matter.

Inside the organization, there are obviously grudges. There's a clear hierarchy and Eliot's name very clearly holds weight. I think this fits perfectly with how tight a ship Moreau runs and how careful he is about who he works with. From the outside, all people see is Moreau and his vast army or whatever, but on the inside there are absolutely rising stars, commanders, people who are closer to Moreau and thus more respected, etc.

Chapman seems to serve as a combo of commander to all the rest of the goons, Moreau's personal head of security/assassination, but also someone who still goes and gets his hands dirty for the important jobs. He spends a good bit of time around Moreau, but to an outsider who sees him standing there during a meeting he's just another suit who could kill them. Security. Internally, he's clearly someone who fought his way up to this position; probably wanted it for a long time but couldn't get it because that was Eliot's spot.

Inside the organization, Eliot Spencer's name is an Moreau-access pass, even years after he's successfully left. Highest clearance, he's a big deal. They don't know his face but they all know his name. I think this fits perfectly with the kind of pitting people against one another games Moreau plays. There are intense rivalries and those who get close to the boss are respected and feared. There's the 'Moreau's dog' angle absolutely there, but it's just kept to an internal level. It's much more useful for keeping other subordinates in line to know that Eliot Spencer will come after you if you displease Moreau, because by virtue of working for him the usual approach of a vast invisible army already wouldn't work. They know who works for Moreau, it's not going to be a surprise. It's much better for them to have a living boogeyman, someone they all know is much better than they are, to fear.

And again, in the higher levels, other people like Chapman get to focus all their irritation on Eliot rather than on Moreau himself. He's trusted more, he gets all the best jobs, I could do it if he weren't in the way... Moreau's like an abusive parent pitting his children against one another so they can't see their real enemy is the father. He probably encouraged a certain amount of infighting, and doled out his favor juuuust enough to everyone to keep them wanting his approval enough to work together, even as they hated one another. In that sense, even letting Eliot leave unmolested is a bonus for Moreau; all the people left behind can still see him as this unattainable goal of being close to Moreau, this gold standard of someone trusted enough to get unusual leeway. And look at what he did, he threw that trust away and now Moreau doesn't trust us as much anymore - the blame still gets thrown on Eliot even after he's gone.

.

So really, I think Eliot Spencer is known in the criminal world first and foremost as a retrieval specialist. He made his name after leaving Moreau.

He was well known in certain circles before then, of course, but those were generally military or spies. Government. They still did awful stuff but it was on the legal side of things, or at least supposed to be. The vast majority of criminals aren't going to know individual soldiers by name no matter how good they are, unless they hold a more public authority/rank.

And when he was with Moreau, he was just another faceless thug. More deadly than the rest, sure, but they were all still deadly enough to get the job done, so if you're dead either way the word about this one guy isn't gonna spread. Internally, his notoriety was tremendous, but Moreau would not want that to get out, so it wouldn't.

Eliot Spencer first starts to become really famous as a lone wolf retrieval expert. He is known by that, first and foremost. Maybe everyone knows basic facts, like that he was in the military or he worked as an assassin before moving into retrieval, but no real details. Certain groups know him as a highly-trained soldier (but if they can still get him to work for them on occasion, as we know they do, publicizing how large of a role he held/holds there is a link they don't want. plausible deniability is key) or as Moreau's dog (but advertising that outside the closest circles of the organization is actively discouraged) but the word doesn't really spread about those.

Then Eliot is linked to Leverage. And maybe after they take Moreau down and his empire collapses, more rumors spread that he used to work for Moreau, he turned against him and actually took him down. And when Eliot finally cuts ties with the military and no longer accepts odd jobs from them, maybe it's a little easier for those rumors to spread too, although I imagine they still wouldn't want details getting out so it'd be less likely.

.

By the time we get to Redemption, Eliot's reputation is almost entirely linked to his work with Leverage. Once he reaches this level of fame, then of course more people are going to dig into his background before this. But at this point he's become much more of a ghost; you can't find information on him anywhere online, but he regularly shows up and is a threat to a lot of people especially in security. It makes sense that they pay more attention to him now. There's no one in the government trying to protect him enough to keep him operational anymore, since he doesn't work with them, so all levels of law enforcement can freely go after him. He's not just doing jobs for whoever hires him, he's going off on his own and attacking criminals left and right, so the underworld is less likely to ignore him. And he specifically is an ongoing threat/embarrassment to a lot of security teams, so the business/security world wants to know him too. RIZ knows that given the kind of people they protect, there's a good chance this monster is gonna show up and kick their ass, so they make it a point to try and know who he is.

[theamberwizard]

i’ve been thinking about black widow and the red room recently, as one does, and i’ve got a lot of thoughts about the effects of the red room on widows who’ve escaped. couple things, just before i begin: i would recommend having watched black widow before this because there are implied (?) spoilers, i use way too fancy language while i write and i don’t have an editor cause this is mainly to catch her off guard, so, uh, whoops sorry

trigger warnings: TW: child abuse TW: restricted eating/starving yourself TW: dehumanization TW: death of a child

so yeah, enjoy my list of 10 personal headcanons about how the red room fucks you up on all the levels.

1) black widows cannot sleep in. like, they wake up at 5:00 am every day. it’s not a physical thing, at least not as far as they know, because they can negate that by just going to bed two hours or less before 5:00 am just from their lack of sleep. if, however, they go to sleep at a fairly normal hour they will, like clockwork, wake up at 5:00. this stems from them doing it every single day of their life since they got indoctrinated in the red room. if they didn’t wake up at 5:00 am ready for more training or missions, for any reason, they would be tortured. sometimes physically, sometimes mentally. eventually, all the widows would get that message. they still can’t shake it. because of that, natasha will often refuse to go to sleep at a normal hour, trying to force her body into submission, trying to rid herself of the painful memories that accompanied sleep and waking up afterwards. only clint knows why, because each day in that vent, natasha would snap up at 4:00 am. she had to explain to him that she just wasn’t accustomed to budapest time, and that actually, it was 5:00 am in russia.

2) for months after escaping the red room, widows practically cannot eat. in the red room, they were fed mushy messes of meals, filled with only the necessary nutrients that they absolutely had to have to survive. most widows can only get down one meal, maybe even a snack if they push it, until they throw it all up. they have to slowly eat slightly more each day for weeks until they can get down a normal intake of food. even then, it’s hard to push that, and every widow relapses into throwing up in those early stages. however, this isn’t normally a problem for most widows until a couple weeks into their life with freedom. that’s about the time that they make an acquaintance, who will eventually pluck up the courage to ask them why every time said friend will eat near the widow, the widow will lean over and whisper: “careful, that’s your whole ration today and i don’t want to do extra training.”

3) each “class” of widows had an extra mentor teacher in their early red room years. this was an older widow, someone who’d been falling behind in her recent missions, and with a look that the red room deemed “motherly”. their sole purpose was to be the person each widow got attached too, the parental figure. they were nice, they were helpful, they taught many different basic techniques. then, one day, the red room would have another older widow, (one already introduced to the children as the metaphorical “bad cop” of this scenario) come in and inform the mentor that she had failed her latest mission and proceed to, in front of thirty eleven year-olds, shoot the mentor. the mentor widow would not die that day- the red room refused to waste such a weapon- but the class of up incoming widows would be informed that she had. the official purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate to both the trainees and the trainer the consequences of failing a mission. the unofficial purpose? that would be the last psychological effects the mentor’s “death” would have upon the class, making them learn what happened to attachments in the red room. the day natasha’s class experienced this was the day she cut off all contact with her sister. the day yelena experiences this is the day she first another widow- because yelena killed that mentor with her own bare hands before the informant ever finished the announcement.

4) towards the start of the red room’s history, there were several attacks on the red room. the first ever attack was from a local police station who had been getting complaints of loud wailing, and, upon further investigation, realized what they were dealing with. they brought several other police and militia groups from nearby towns. the immediate action that was taken was to throw the littlest girls they had at the attackers. it stopped the police in their tracks, obviously, because you really don’t expect to come across thirty little girls while searching through a building of highly trained assassins. the red room then sent their fully trained widows and killed everyone. including the girls. the red room then found that footage from their cameras (because of fucking course they have cameras) and then showed it to the next batch of widows, just to show them how disposable they were.

5) yelena and natasha almost caused a whole fucking mutiny within the red room just because of their names. in the red room, you see, widows do not get names. they instead are bestowed with numbers, and even those are a twisted class ranking. they all wore little name tags with the numbers on them until came natasha and yelena came in. yelena, having just seen her mother get shot, complied almost immediately and was addressed as number 42. on the other side of that coin you have natasha, who had already been in the red room and remembered every gruesome detail, and went “fuck you my name is natalia.” upon hearing of this (word gets around fast in the red room. every girl must know they are being listened to at all times, and no secrets can be kept from the red room,) yelena too announced her name to the class.

6) this was met with blanching from every child in that class, because how on earth can you be called by a word? no, they thought, we are numbers, we are weapons, we are not people and we cannot have our own words, for we are not worthy. but secretly, internally, they wished for a name. slowly, they began piecing syllables together until they formed a coherent name, and for the first time in the red room’s long history, they didn’t have weapons. not anymore. they have two full classes of human little girls. the red room officials heard of this, obviously, and took to the only method they had now. violence. the classes were rid of the named girls, yet natasha and yelena were kept alive. they were kept alive to be ostracized, to be the girl the others pointed at and said “she’s the reason all my friends died.” they were kept alive so they could watch the carnage they had unwittingly caused just by saying their own names. and the worst part? well, the worst part was when the teachers accounted for those kills, and made them top of the class. yelena will never forget the day the teachers stood her and her sister up in front of all the widows-in-traning and told them what a good job they had done, how those tactics were sure to help them graduate. i mean, you’re practically a shoo-in if they rest of your class was killed by your school.

7) the red room could never fully stop the names, and so they decided to make a system, and the names would be the highest reward. they told the young, impressionable girls that while maybe outsiders such as natasha and yelena got names at birth, you had to earn them here. if you are to become a spy, you will take on the name of you very first official alias. if, instead, you become an assassin, you will take on the name of your very first official kill. of course, in reality, the widows couldn’t actually address each other with their new earned names, and instead used “team leader” or other such titles. but it became a small comfort for them, thinking of themselves in third person, with their very own names. in some small part they weren’t fully weapons anymore, no, they were people again. natasha took on the name natalia, because in her mind that life in ohio had been her first mission, even if she hadn’t known it. yelena took on yelena as well, but in her mind that little girl in ohio who was sitting in the backseat, caring only about which song they played, that girl had to have been yelena’s first true kill.

8) the names system worked well in the red room, but when you escaped it caused some serious problems. most would have to announce themselves to the russian government, saying they had been flying under the radar their whole life and never became registered. then, they’d give a non-russian name, and their whole ruse would fall apart. unfortunately, this was the least of their problems, because many a widow would someday meet a relative of their very first kill, and when they introduced themselves as the person they had killed all those years ago, the families and friends would often figure them out.

9) one of the biggest parts of the red room’s brainwashing was their little catchphrases they used. ironically, a lot of them were eerily close to boy scout mottos- “be prepared,” an iconic scout motto, versus “there is no safety, only preparedness,” the most frequently used phrase within the red room. when widows then escaped, the most small phrase could set them off. some unknowing widows even adopted little boys in their new lives, who often became boy scouts. the ensuing misery is something you can imagine yourself.

10) after clint helped natasha to escape, she immediately died her hair blond.  clint asked why, of course, and she didn’t tell him. (what, you thought i’d have another cute clintasha moment? never.) this was partly because she hadn’t admitted it to herself, though, because natasha couldn’t remember her sister without remembering all the suffering that came with her.

11) when the widows were smaller, more susceptible to the conditioning, the red room would stage infiltrations. older widows, ones who were closer to retirement, would come in in different uniforms, sometimes the uniforms of UN officers or local police, sometimes different organizations, all different types. the most recent uniforms made yelena sick looking at them, because each time the older widows would pretend to be the avengers there would also be one pretending to be her sister. each time she saw the fake natasha she wanted to break that widow’s neck because that’s not how my sister tilts her head, you’re doing it all wrong. you should be doing it like this, you shouldn’t be doing it at all, i should be doing this, i know my sister. each time those exact thoughts went into her head, and each time all she really wanted was for her sister to be there, for natasha to do her little head tilt upon seeing yelena and take her hand and say “you’re safe now, i promise,” and for natasha to be telling the truth. the only problem was that deep down inside herself yelena knew that this could never actually happen while yelena was still in the red room, because while yelena was still in the red room she knew that she would look at natasha telling her she was safe and tell her in return that there was no safety, only preparedness, and then murder her sister in cold blood.

[misschifuyu]

Hi! Could i request a shion (Tokyo revengers) jealous hc?

- indeed you can nonnie ! this will join up with another request I received that asked for some shion jealous fluff hcs. i do hope you like it ! ♡

Shion jealous headcanons

genre: fluff

warnings: swearing

many people knew shion for his audacious attitude, not giving much of a care whenever someone would approach him with the intention of a fight

having been the 9th captain of the black dragons, not many would actually do so, though. like most delinquents, he's merciless, but the smile plastered on his face whenever he beat someone up to a pulp was an image that most would tend to avoid getting to witness

this signature, carefree demeanour will take a sharp turn, however, if a punk decided to come up to you rather than him, catching him off guard as this was a fairly rare occurrence

instead of threatening you, it seemed that the inferior-ranked gang member was interested in simply talking to you. sensing no malicious intents, you had decided to simply keep up with the small talk. surely you weren't hurting anyone by doing so, right?

wrong.

you see, shion isn't the kind of person to share at the best of times. when one has grown up in an environment where you only get what you steal, it's no surprise to keep a sharp eye on whatever they held closest and dearest to them

and you were by far the most valuable person in his life right now. he was not about to get played up by some guy who decided he could simply come over and talk his partner into becoming closer acquaintances

ignoring the words of another member - who had been talking to him about god only knew what - , shion could feel his jaw clench at the sight that was going on just a few metres away from him

the bastard was about to learn of his presence if he kept up the friendly act

not bothering to dismiss himself from the conversation he had been previously holding, he turned his heels towards where you were currently standing, smiling up at the guy in front

his blood was practically boiling as he neared the two of you, swearing on all his might that he would beat the guy up if he even tried to excuse his behaviour

never had shion actually felt this way, he thought to himself as his steps led him in your direction. he wasn't sure what it was, but, by god, was it irritating the hell out of him

and so he reached the two of you, automatically stepping in between so he could get a proper look at the home wrecker. or maybe he was just trying to be friends?

never mind that; his eyes were now level with the other's, staring daggers into them as he eventually spoke up amidst the awkward seconds of silence that had filled the air

"what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

a cocky expression slowly growing on the other delinquent's face, shion could feel his fist start to ball up. he wasn't about to take some smack talk from a guy he had never even seen in his life before

"chill...im just talking to her, buddy. no need to get all defensive and shit right in my face"

buddy?

you could immediately tell that your boyfriend was tensing up at a pace you had never seen before. he was angry, but you couldn't help but find his reaction to you talking to another person rather unexpected and amusing

"i want you ten feet away from her in the next five seconds unless you want to know what kind of buddy you're dealing with here, you hear me?"

as he leaned even further towards the other male, you grabbed hold of the side of his arm in an attempt to perhaps stop him from literally pouncing forwards

the guy knew who he was, and it was clear by the way his hands came up in defence, lifting his eyebrows in a mocking manner as he nodded his head towards you, before taking his leave

noticing shion's riled up state, you turned him round towards you and brought your own hand up to his locks

"was someone a little jealous just now?"

at your voice, he whipped his head down to look at you, averting his eyes from the leaving delinquent. his eyebrows furrowed as a response

"no, why the hell would I be jealous?"

squinting your eyes at him, you gave him a knowing smile

"surely a heavenly king himself isn't getting jealous over some outsider, hm?"

now you were just playing with him, and the slight drawback of his face along with a very faint reddening of his cheeks told you that he was calming down. it was so fun to see him this way, you thought perhaps you should talk more to other gang members

[gins-potter]

Casting Thoughts

Yes, I did a long post when the rumours first dropped but hey now it’s confirmed plus we have characters descriptions, and I’m bored so let’s do this all over again people.  Under the cut because it got long

Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway

I said this in my other post but I’m pretty happy with Sisi as Rose.

Visually I think she’s a great fit, I love that they casted a WoC in the main role, and I think if she can bring Rose’s humour and sarcasm to the role, she’s going to do great.

The character description mentions Rose being “fiery and outspoken”, happy to jump into the action, and the strongest fighter in her class but struggling to toe the line, which is all very Rose-esque, especially in the first book.  It sounds to me like they have a good grasp on her character.

I’m a little disappointed we didn’t hear more about Rose as a character since she is the lead - it felt like the descriptions for Lissa and Dimitri both gave us a little more to go on - but it is only a very preliminary description so I’m happy to wait for more.

Daniela Nieves as Lissa Dragomir

Daniele is another one who I was happy with straight away.

She’s probably not what I imagined for Lissa visually but that’s not a bad thing either; I will be interested to see if they dye her hair a lighter colour (like a caramel-blonde) but personally that’s not something I need to see for her to be a great fit for Lissa.

I think she has a very sweet face which works well for a character like Lissa but I think she’s also going to be able to stand up in Lissa’s more fiercer moments which is nice to see as well.

The character descriptions mentions her as being “carefree and kind-hearted” who “coasts” through life until a death in the family thrusts her into a new role.  That sounds a lot like pre-series Lissa so I wonder if we’re going to see a bit of that in the show before Andre (and her parents??) die and see that change.  

It’s curious though that she’s described as the younger sister of the heir apparent - which would be Andre - so it sounds like they’ve changed it so Andre was supposed to be King.  Obviously a deviation from the books but I don’t hate it?  I don’t think it would change Lissa’s arc all that much because obviously she was always going to grow up to be an influential royal figure, this just slightly changes the dynamics of it.

The description also specifically mentions that she’s uninterested in “political machinations” and the “hypocrisy of the moroi royal society” which sounds very accurate to book!lissa as well.

All in all I’m very happy with what they’re doing with Lissa.

Keiron Moore as Dimitri Belikov

This is one who’s really grown on me since the rumoured cast list started circulating.  At first I was kind of eh about him but I can really see him as Dimitri now.

I will be curious to see if he grows out his hair or not though.

As far as I know Keiron is not Russian, there’s not a lot about him online, but there’s some instagram activity on his account linking him to UK based companies so that would be my guess as to where he’s from.  They’ve kept Dimitri’s incredibly Russian name so I guess we’re to assume Keiron might be doing an accent and they’re keeping Dimitri’s backstory relatively the same?  I’m not gonna be super mad if they change it just because I think it’s doable for him not to be Russian (I know, I know a whole book is set in Russia but lbr here they could make him from anywhere and just send Rose there in that book).

The biggest thing for me will be his chemistry with Sisi, Danila and Zoey had great chemistry (imo anyway) which saved the move a little for me, so it’ll be important that Sisi and Keiron do as well.  They’ve interacted a few times online which is cute so I’m hoping they were able to do some chemistry reads and that will translate on screen.

The character description mentions Dimitri as being “lethal, disciplined, discreet, and totally committed” as well as living by “a deep moral code” but with more going on “beneath his stoic, watchful surface” which sounds exactly like book!Dimitri to me.

They don’t really specify what his role at St Vlad’s is going to be but they do mention that he is a guardian so I’m assuming they’re keeping some sort of age gap between him and Rose.  They also don’t mention anything about their relationship in the description, be it student/teacher, platonic, romantic, whatever, but they do say he has “an expansive spirit that could threaten to expose the underlying tension between his sense of what’s right and his formal duty to the Moroi.” which seems like a nod to their relationship.

Andre Dae-Kim as Christian Ozera

This was one of my favourite casting choices from the original rumoured cast list and I still love it.

The idea of a non-white Christian makes a lot of sense to me and I think Andre could do a great job of Christian’s aloofness (in the first book) as well as his sarcasm and growing confidence across the other books.

His character description confuses me a bit though: “Intelligent and thoughtful, Christian is the pariah of the school and royal court, due to his parents’ unforgivable societal sins.” sounds accurate enough to the book (although idk if thoughtful is quite the word I’d use for Christian - maybe they mean it in the sense that he’s quiet and keeps to himself?).

Even “Well-read and hungry for knowledge” doesn’t sound that far off, idk if he was *that* particularly studious in the books, but it doesn’t necessarily not make sense either you know?

But “he searches for faith-based answers and discovers a kindred spirit who is also looking for the truth” ??? My cynical, irreverent asshole Christian is now a man of faith? I’m assuming Lissa is the “kindred spirit” (again weird word choice but maybe they mean she’s feeling lost because of the death of her family?) but I just cannot see Christian as being particularly religious.

I’m trying to keep an open mind about these changes because you never know they might play out totally different on screen, but I really hope they didn’t make these changes, particularly that Christian is studious and religious, just because they cast an Asian actor as him (because they feel a little like Asian stereotypes).

J August Richards as Victor Dashkov

This is one that didn’t appear on the original rumoured cast list (as far as I saw) and it’s so different to his description in the books that I kind of don’t have an opinion about it as a casting choice.

I’ve never seen him in anything before so purely on a visual level I think he could be a great fit for Victor, I just think it’ll really come down to how he plays it.

As for this character description: “Victor is a Moroi noble vampire with a heart of gold who’s highly regarded for his role as advisor and political strategist to Moroi dignitaries.” as well as mentioning that he has intelligence and influence, sounds pretty accurate to the book.  Obviously if Andre was the heir to the throne, Victor had to be shifted out of that role, but I think his book 1 arc could still work if they wanted it to.

The “heart of gold” bit obviously made me chuckle and I really hope they threw it in there as a kind of decoy to throw non-book-readers off the fact that he’s actually the villain in book 1/s1.

As for giving him a husband and two daughters, my thoughts are: why the fuck not? He didn’t have a love interest in the original books and I’m always down for more lgbtq+ rep.  My only concern is it maybe playing into the trope of evil/villain characters being queer-coded.  And as for having two daughters, well as long as one of them is Natalie I don’t mind.

Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Tatiana Vogel

Okay this is the most bizarre one imo, not because of the casting, but just the character description.

I mean “Tatiana is a Moroi vampire and political underdog who slowly takes the royal court by storm. Motivated by love and a sense of justice, Tatiana has a unique skill of making herself seem of no consequence until we realize much too late that she was always the one to watch.” sounds extremely Tasha Ozera to me, so like why not just make this character Tasha?  Nothing about this sounds like Tatiana, and Tatiana wasn’t even a Vogel anyway (well Vogel wasn’t even one of the 12 royal families), she was an Ivashkov.

In terms of Anita-Joy herself, well I mean we don’t really have a character to compare her to, is she supposed to be more like Tasha or Tatiana?  She looks fairly young, so my guess is actually on Tasha, but we’ll have to wait to see I guess.

Mia McKenna-Bruce as Mia Karp

This is another one that I was instantly a fan of.

I was so not a fan of Mia’s casting in the movie (I can’t even remember who played her tbh but I really didn’t like it) so this Mia is a lot closer to how I imagine her.

I think she’ll be able to carry Mia’s transformation from bratty social-climber to badass fighter really well.

The character description is interesting though.  “Witty, cutting, and just the right kind of ruthless when necessary, non-Royal Mia has a long-term plan to social climb her way into the ranks of royalty, with all the privilege and freedom that entails.” sound pretty bang on to Mia in the first book.

“A plan complicated by her instant chemistry with Meredith, a Guardian-in-training, as Mia struggles to reconcile her attraction to Meredith with her lowly status.” is an obvious deviation though, and one I kind of love???  Give me all the queer rep, and if we get to see Mia confront the issue of comp-het I’m so here for it.  

It’s kind of funny though because I’ve seen theories that Meredith is a replacement for Eddie and Mia/Eddie has always been my sort of rarepair ship.

The last name Karp is weird af though.  Is she supposed to be Sonya’s daughter?  And if that’s the case I wonder if we’re going to actually see Sonya turn Strigoi in the show’s first season or something and that triggers the change in Mia?  Interesting concept but I’m not sure how the timeline will work.

Rhian Blundell as Meredith

So this is another new one, and tbh I hadn’t given Meredith *that* much though in the past but she’s probably close to how I would have pictured her which is cool.

The elephant in the room with this casting is that Meredith’s role in the books was relatively minor - she was just kind of that character that got brought up whenever R.M needed a dhampir who wasn’t Rose/Dimitri/Mason/Eddie.  So clearly she’s going to have a bigger role in the tv show which I don’t mind but I do wonder if we’re going to lose a character - probably Eddie lbr - in order to have her.  They haven’t casted an Eddie yet as far as we know, but I have seen it pointed out that Eddie’s role in book 1 was pretty small so maybe they just aren’t announcing it.  But there’s also the possibility that maybe Meredith will sort of replace Eddie and be the third part of Rose and Mason’s friendship.

I’m very interested by this part of her character description though, “She has little patience for Rose’s volatility or Mia’s elitism, and regularly calls both of them out.”

Jonetta Kaiser as Sonya Karp

I don’t necessarily dislike Jonetta as Sonya but I am confused by this choice.  She looks fairly young, which tbf Sonya was young-ish I guess, but if Mia is supposed to be her daughter she doesn’t look old enough to have a teenaged daughter.  So maybe Sonya and Mia are sisters? Cousins? Just have each other’s last names for no reason? I really don’t know.  They also look nothing alike.

Other than that, I don’t really have an opinion about Jonetta as Sonya.  Obviously looks nothing like how Sonya was described but that’s not new nor a massive concern for me.  

I can’t really tell just from looking at her, and I haven’t seen her in anything, if she would play a good Sonya.  I think with a lot of the characters it’s going to come down to the personality they bring to the part and the writing.

I looooooove her character description though:  “Quiet, careful and decidedly odd, Sonya is not of royal bloodline and sits out on the fringe of Moroi society, preferring to spend her time in the library or her gardens. Not a person who likes a scene, nonetheless she has a quiet but profound power of her own. She is taken by surprise when a Dhampir Guardian named Mikhail shows interest in her, a relationship that will expose both the brightest and darkest parts of her heart.”  It’s everything I would probably want from a description of Sonya and I’m more and more convinced that we’re going to see Sonya’s descent into madness and transformation into a Strigoi play out in maybe the first season which I am so curious how they’re going to work into the timeline.

Andrew Liner as Mason Ashford

Our last one and another one who doesn’t look remotely like his description but again? Not a surprise and not a problem for me.  He looks like he could play Mason’s goofiness really well as well as be a solid contender for a love interest for Rose.

“Charming, loyal and popular, Mason is Rose’s main competition in the quest to become the No. 1 Guardian-in-training. Though their relationship is casual on her side, he is hopeful she will finally look at him and see him as something more.” His character description makes a lot of sense, maybe him being Rose’s main competition is a bit of a deviation? But I think that’s more an indication that he’s supposed to be a strong fighter which isn’t inaccurate to the books.  The rest sounds great.

Other Thoughts

Descriptions of the show specifically mention friendship and classism as major themes which I am very happy to hear about because those are the two parts of VA that I love the most.

Am a little more worried about it being described as “sexy” though, if they shove a whole bunch of meaningless sex scenes in it just because it’s a YA show I’m not gonna be happy.

Seen the show compared to “Game of Thrones” and “Bridgerton” which at first had me like oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck not good not good not good.  But thinking about it more and trying to understand where Plec’s coming from with that description I wonder if means similar to GoT as in the cut-throat nature of the Moroi/Dhampir society cause I can kind of see that.  And as for Bridgerton I wonder if she’s referring to the kind of social-climbing aspects of it, because again that makes sense and it seems like a theme she really wants to concentrate on.  I hope that’s what she means by those comparisons, or that she just wants to compare it to popular shows to get people to watch it.  The worst would be if she tries to throw in a lot of unnecessary sex scenes to make it like those shows, because I hate when they do that, especially when the characters are teenagers.

Interesting to hear that Plec has known about the series since before Twilight or TVD - not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Seems like it’s actually mostly (or all??) written by Marguerite MacIntyre which is interesting because I know people were worried about Julie Plec - I’ve never watched anything by either of them so I’m neutral at this point.

[scintillasofbeomgyu]

winter in itaewon || Choi Beomgyu

Pairing: Choi Beomgyu x gamer!fem!reader

Genre/s: Fluff; Angst; Humor (if you squint)

Word count: 5,0k

Warning/s: it is implied that reader was subject to violence (once); although it says the reader is a gamer, there are not that many references towards to actual gaming lmao; this was proofread like once (😭)

Hyunjin and Jeongin take Beomgyu out to the PC Room in Itaewon for his birthday; a year after their last visit. As he reminisces the events of the year before, every corner of his mind is revisited by her — as if he were capable of forgetting her anyway.

a/n: happy beomgyu day!!💞 the inspiration to write this hit me in the middle of the night, coming from these kickass headcannons by sumi, and it's completely different to the initial idea i shared with amie sksjsjs alsothislowkeysucks. nevertheless, i hope you all enjoy!!

12 March 2021, 23:30

Despite being embraced by his thick padded coat, the freezing air still managed to disrupt the warmth in annoying, sharp gusts every time the wind blew. Itaewon was always more alive while the rest of Seoul slept soundly, and tonight was no exception. The streets were aglow with the lambent signage of the many stalls and establishments which lined it’s pavements, and were filled with clusters of people who either visited the stores, window-shopped or were simply enjoying the night-life.

Beomgyu wasn’t very enthusiastic about joining Hyunjin and Jeongin when they had initially posed the idea. He’d been spending much of his time in the studio and practice room, so the plan was to get some sleep when he had some free time. His conscience eventually got the better of him, though – he hadn’t been able to meet up with his friends in months due to work and the pandemic, and his scheduled birthday live thwarted the possibility of holding it off until the following day.

“Are you good?” Jeongin asked, pulling Beomgyu out of his thoughts, arching a brow at his dazed friend. He noticed that he had been lagging behind the two of them, and that their features were now etched with concern. Beomgyu pushed the bangs out of his face before waving them off, mumbling that he’s okay.

There was a look in their eyes that Beomgyu couldn’t quite decipher, but pushed it off as nothing when Jeongin draped an arm over his shoulder and lead him further down the street. His feet stopped squarely when they made it to the PC Room, cementing themselves before the front door. Jeongin looked at Beomgyu and smiled.

“Are you coming in?”

It wasn’t that Beomgyu didn’t want to respond, he simply couldn’t. Sure, it may have seemed like a trivial thing to answer, the words just wouldn’t formulate coherent sentences – his mind didn’t have the capacity to make them. Her. That was the only thing it could manifest. Her. 

The pressure of a years-worth of his bottled emotions had finally blew it’s top – thoughts, images and memories which had been ingrained into his subconscious coming forth to hit him like a train.

“We’ll wait for you inside, then.”

31 December 2019, 22:00

Laughter ringing through the air, Hyunjin, Jeongin and Beomgyu pushed open the door to the PC Room. Beomgyu stopped at the door while the other two signed in, arms rubbing away the remnants of snow on the arms of his black coat. Removing his mask, he smiled into the warmth of the heated building. Their schedules after debut had left no space for any recreation, so it was liberating to spend New Years Eve with his friends, doing what he does best.

“Ready to have your butts kicked?” Beomgyu cackled, with his whole chest, as they took their seats next to one another in the isle, earning him much-deserved glares. As soon as he’s logged on and the headset is donned however, his usually playful demeanour is replaced by one of a much calmer nature – studying the map, observing enemy tactics and carefully directing his support as his fingers glide skilfully across the keyboard.

Hyunjin groaned after the umpteenth attempt to beat him, dropping the headset onto the desk as Jeongin whined into his hands. A smirk rolled onto Beomgyu’s lips as he leaned back into the swivel chair, flashing his brows at them. “I refuse to believe this is possible, it’s got to be rigged!”

“Ah, after all this time I’ve still got it,” Beomgyu retorted, chuffed with himself for doing as well as he knew he would. Hyunjin rolled his eyes. “I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ranked first with the amount of times I kicked ass on this server.”

Jeongin, who had taken it upon himself to do the fact-checking, smirked at the screen before calling the two of them over. “Actually–”

Beomgyu screamed in frustration, tossing the headset onto the desk before pushing against it, sending him flying across the floor in the chair. No matter how hard he tried, no matter the strategy he just couldn’t beat the player in first place. The commotion startled the other two, who had fallen asleep waiting for Beomgyu to finish up, the satisfaction of witnessing his losses long past.

“Just one more game, I swear!” he whined as they dragged him away from the PC screen.

Hyunjin seethed, “that’s what you said three hours ago! No, we’re leaving. Jeongin’s parents have been waiting up for us.”

Beomgyu huffed at the front counter. While the older took care of the bill, he found that the room was completely empty – almost. The light emanating from a desk directly across from where he stood, lit up the face of a young-looking girl. She seemed to be in high school (that’s what the uniform she wore indicated atleast) and the big, round, metal-framed glasses settled on the bridge of her nose, mirrored the computer screen. The sight pacified Beomgyu, for a reason he couldn’t quite explain, a smile stretching across his face.

He sauntered closer, eyes searching around for nothing in particular, trying not to look like a creep as he approached you. His smile only grew when he found her eyebrows knitted together, teeth biting down on her bottom lip in concentration. And then he saw it. The graphics reflecting from her glasses seeming all to familiar to him, he rushed around the desk, eyes darting to the top corner of the screen.

ID: winter996

12 January 2020, 22:30

Beomgyu’s foot tapped impatiently as he waited at the desk closest to the entrance, checking his watch every few minutes, before running a frustrated hand through his soft silvery locks. He had finally gotten the chance to visit the PC room again, most of his time having gone into practice and rehearsals for award show season, and he wasn’t leaving until he saw you again.

He ran out of the practice room as soon as he heard that they would have the following day off; he was exhausted and had been waiting for almost two hours – but he refused to leave until he saw you again.

The owner noticed the boy sitting at the desk he usually reserved for you, lips curling at the sight of the fidgety youth. He had visited on three prior occasions; once with his friends, and the remaining times himself, sitting in exactly the same spot he was now sitting. Instead of chasing him away as he did everyone else, he simply waited to see how this turn of events would unfold.

You pushed open the glass doors with a huff, adjusting the strap of your backpack on your shoulder before blowing the stray hairs from your face. Keeping your eyes fixed on the ground beneath you, you nod to the owner and he returns the gesture with a smile, although he knows you won’t see it.

Beomgyu, who had almost surrendered himself to the fatigue, sat up straight when you pulled back the chair next to him. He watched as you scrunched up your nose in attempt to push your glasses up the bridge of your nose before putting the headset on, and chuckled softly.

He watched in awe as you cleared level after level, climbing the ranks as you went along, with seemingly no effort whatsoever. You kept the mic off and communicated with your group though the chat, which was probably why he never realised you were a girl. Your strategy seemed way too complex for him to understand, and his amazement never faltered for even a second, as you dominated each and every position you played.

It was a little over an hour before you decided to take a break, wondering where the owner was since he usually brought your snacks around that time. Pushing the headset around your neck, you stretched upward to see where he was, only to find yourself roughly pushed back down and turned toward a strange boy whom you’ve never seen before.

His eyes, sparkling with absolute wonder, coaxed your surprise and made your heart race with a feeling as unfamiliar as he was.

“You have to tell me how you do that! Teach me, please, Winter996!”

25 January 2020, 22:30

“Aren’t you supposed to be at practice?” you voice rang from the speaker of Beomgyu’s phone. He never questioned your reasons for not turning your mic on during the game, but insisted that you speak directly to him instead. “On your left, be careful.”

“I know, I see them. And yes, but I have some time before the next session starts.” After much pestering, about something having to do with ‘senseis’ and ‘disciples’, you agreed to let Beomgyu play with you. He was rather beside himself when you told him you never really used any strategy, though; you ‘just did what felt right’.

An adorable smile had tugged at your lips during his three hundred-and-fifty paged slideshow about the importance of strategy and observation, one he would not soon forget.

“You could just wait until Itaewon.”

“Is it my fault you only go when your rank drops?”

Soobin’s dark head of hair popped into the studio, and he glared upon finding Beomgyu tapping away at his laptop on the sofa. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! The break as been over ages ago–”

“(Y/n), (Y/n), go, go! I’ll cover you!”

“Beomgyu, I think–”

“You’re playing again?! With a girl?!”

5 February 2020, 22:00

You’re quieter than usual and Beomgyu noticed right away. Over the phone, you never had any qualms in conversating with him– when you were playing the game, atleast. The thought that it was because of him does cross his mind, but he catches the frown you’re desperately trying to hide, by biting the inside of your cheek.

A thick scarf is wrapped around your neck, your chin buried into the red woolly folds, and your hair frames your face,  but he sees the light swelling on the side of your face and around your eyes that you’re trying to hide. The feeling in the pit of his stomach makes his nails press crescents into the palms of his hands, but he fights the urge to ask.

“Beomgyu! What are you doing! They’re coming!” you yell, pulling him back to reality, hearing the sound of your voice at long last calming him a tad.

“Right, sorry.”

You played together straight through into the early hours of the morning, sharing victory after victory, with him right by your side. You froze up when he instinctively pulled you into a hug upon your last win, gulping as he slowly removed his arms, laughing it off as his adrenaline high peaked higher.

The van’s horn blared outside, catching you both off guard. Beomgyu quickly grabbed his coat before making his way back up the way he came, but paused before he opened the door. Craning his head back to look at you once more, he smiled.

“I’ll text you later.”

12 February 2020, 23:30

Beomgyu’s hands move quickly across the controls, your voice shouting orders to him through the headset as the current game hit it’s climax. Playing with Beomgyu all the time had made you a lot more comfortable with engaging with the other members of your group, so although you were still pretty anxious at first, you made the decision to turn on your mic.

“We did it!” Beomgyu cheered as your team cleared yet another level.

Gaming was something mundane to you and winning was easy; but sneaking out to the PC Room from time to time helped alleviate the pressures of your personal life. The life which you would rather die than share with Beomgyu. But after being swayed by his nonsensical attempts at convincing you, logging onto the server had become your favorite thing to do.

Every victory felt extraordinary when shared with him, and you could have sworn that at that very moment, you could see the way the ends of his eyes creased as the edges of his lips pushed up his cheeks. The way his arms would be stretched up in happiness, as his intoxicating laugher filled the air.

On the other end, Beomgyu leaned back into his desk chair, smiling into the darkness, envisioning the way you’d be pretending it was no big deal whilst your eyes sparkled with happiness and a smile dug into your rosey cheeks.

“Hey, (Y/n)?”

You hummed into the mic, your head rested on the desk and your eyes closed, just listening to his voice, savoring every second of it.

“Do you...have a Valentine or something?”

14 February 2020, 18:00

From the moment the car pulled up down the street, Beomgyu was unable to take his eyes off from you. His eyes travelled up from the scuffed white sneakers which tapped against the pavement nervously, to the washed out jeans, to the oversized cardigan, which bunched up around the wrists of your hands, which shifted between nervously tucking your hair behind your ears, to pushing your glasses up the bridge of your nose, to straightening out your outfit.

You were going to be the death of him.

He hurried toward you as soon as he saw you shiver. The sound of his soles against the wet concrete caught your attention and you turned in his direction, the look in your eyes nearly resulting in a fatal blow – the way they bewitched nearly had him hitting his head against the sidewalk.

Your hands tightened around the strap of the bag slung around your shoulder as you watched the dark-haired boy make his way down the street to you, a stupidly giddy-looking expression plastered across his face. You couldn’t stop yourself from feeling the way you did about Beomgyu – even though you knew you shouldn’t.

You were never really interested in fan culture, but some of the girls in your cram school were very invested. When you heard them gushing about a group called ‘Tomorrow X Together’ and it’s members the previous afternoon, a knot formed in your stomach. The first thing you did when you got home, was do research. You decided to listen to all of their albums and watch all of their music videos, interviews and content videos. Unsure what to do with all the new-found information and conflicting emotions, you pulled the covers over your head and tried to sleep instead. But you couldn’t.

Beomgyu flicked the side of your head, bringing you back to the present, and your cheeks flushed upon realization of his proximity. He smirked, wrapping his brown scarf around your neck. “It’s still winter you know, Winter. You should dress warmly.”

You clicked your tongue and pouted at his teasing use of your in-game alias, and marched off without him. He trailed behind you, laughing and relieved that you were no longer frowning as you were before. You froze when he caught up with you, feeling the warmth of his hand as it slipped into yours, tucking it into his coat pocket. Burying your face into his scarf, which smelled just like him, you smiled giddily, letting him pull you along with him.

He took you to dinner and the amusement park after that. He was thrilled to know you liked rollercoasters as much as he did and embarrassed to know he couldn’t even beat you at the kid’s games. He ended up going home with a truckload of new plushies, and you, with ever-increasing feelings that you had no idea what to do with.

28 February 2020, 23:42

Beomgyu burst through the doors of the PC Room no longer than 10 minutes after receiving a call from the owner. He still wore his sleepwear, over which his coat was thrown, his hair was disheveled and his bare left foot was stuffed halfway into a sneaker, while his sock-wearing right foot was slipped into a black slipper.

The owner, with worry painted across his features, cocked his head to the desk where the two of you usually sat. His heart ached at the sight of your curled up figure beneath it. Your bloodshot eyes widened when you realized his presence, the surprise enabling him a few seconds to examine you up and down before you turned away from him. Your bottom lip was cut and bruised, your cheek was swollen and bruises were littered across your face and the length of your arms and neck, your hair as messy as his was.

You insisted that you’re okay, even though he took you into his arms without asking anything at all. You insisted that you’re okay, but as his warmth enveloped you, tears began streaming down your face. He felt the way your body trembled in his arms, so he begins rocking you back and forth slowly, pressing soft kisses into your hair, whispering a single phrase over and over again.

“I’m here.”

4 March 2020, 19:00

Due to the pandemic, one of the award show ceremonies the boys were supposed to attend had been cancelled and moved to a later date. Worried that they’d feel disheartened about their performance, you decided to host a little award ceremony of your own. His friends were as welcoming as he was, so you quickly got along- even more so since Beomgyu stuck even closer to you since that day.

“The first award of the evening,” you announced, clearing your throat in the middle of the living room. The boys, who were cheering your on from their seats on the dorm sofa, quieted down as Yeonjun hushed them, gesturing for you to continue, “goes to a very versatile young man. The winner of the ‘Fourth Generation It Boy – In Everything Except Braincells’ Daesang, goes too, you guessed it, Choi Yeonjun!”

The rest erupted in laughter as an exasperated Yeonjun made his way to where you stood, empty wrappers crackling under his feet. He threw a glare at the boys before he bowed before you in the most formal way possible, and you handed him the pretty mediocre, handmade certificate, before enamored laughter spilled from his lips.

Soobin received an award for being the ‘Best Leader of the Greatest Global Shookies’, to which he sighed. Taehyun received the Grand Award ‘The Best Son, Our King, Vocalist Kang’, which the rest labelled unfair and favoritism. Kai received the ‘Gotta Hit That High Note Like-’ award, which he proudly accepted with absolutely no complaints, beaming at the poorly made certificate.

“And last, but not least,” you started, peaking at Beomgyu from the corner of you eyes, determination almost faltering at the sight of his anticipating countenance. Peering down at the clipboard in your hands, you frowned, “well, I guess that’s all we have for tonight, folks-”

The sound of their hearty laughter filled the dorm once again, Yeonjun nearly toppling over the armrest of the sofa. Beomgyu nodded, tongue in cheek, clearly bothered by the whole ordeal. You joined in on the laughter, before glancing back to the clipboard, your heart rate picking up a little.

“Oh, what’s this?” you feigned surprise, “We have two more awards left! To Choi Beomgyu,” you said, pausing to steady your breath, refusing to make eye contact with him, “goes the award for ‘The Most Annoying Amateur Gamer-” laughter once more, Beomgyu joining in this time, “Best Friend and Utterly Talented All-rounder’. And lastly, to Tomorrow X Together for ‘Best Group of All Time’!” you cheered, relieved that they all got up and cheered as well, without teasing you.

Beomgyu took your hand and slipped the certificate from the board. You may have been embarrassed at the self-proclaimed ‘lousy’ attempt at decorating his certificate, but within seconds, that sheet of colored board became the most important thing to him in the world - his most prized possession. He pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, and the rest all joined in without a second to spare, endlessly praising you and expressing their affection as you giggled in response.

Later on that evening, after you left and the others were fast asleep, he laid on his bed, limbs splayed across the comforter. He sighed dreamily up at the ceiling, bringing his hands up to cover the bashful grin playing on his lips. He turned his head ever-so slightly, and peeked through the spaces between his fingers at the certificate perched on his night-stand and sighed again.

What was he going to do with you.

13 March 2020, 20:00

You pushed aside everything that had been happening in your life to be happy on your best friend’s birthday. You were convinced it was the least you could do in return for everything he did for you. Deciding to host something small at the PC Room, the owner was pretty enthusiastic to make a contribution to the happiness of his ‘favourite patrons’, you invited his members and some of his closest friends.

Although Beomgyu would have loved to spend the day with just you, he was extremely grateful to know efforts you had made to make him enjoy his day. You had been chattering away with the owner at the front desk, but somewhere amidst conversation with Taehyun, he had lost sight of you. He frowned, apologizing to Taehyun before excusing himself.

Ready to grab his coat and leave, he stopped in his tracks when the lights were shut off. Slowly, the room was illuminated once more, by the flickering flames atop birthday candles, and the enormous smile across your face as you sang, “happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,...”

The cake, in the shape of a bear and embellished with chocolate decorations of every variety, was placed on the table in front of where the rest had seated him. Eyes not once leaving you, absolutely entranced by your beauty, Beomgyu gulps, his heart racing a million miles an hour.

“Make a wish, before the wax gets onto the cake, Dummy.”

He pulls his lip between his teeth and flicks the top of your head gently, chuckling softly, before clasping his hands together and closing his eyes. For a reason unknown to him, Beomgyu couldn’t think of something to wish for. No, rather, he knew exactly why he had no idea what to wish for. He opened his eyes once more, and grinned at your anticipating face, the pining in his chest only running deeper and deeper.

He blew out the candles.

“What did you wish for-”

Beomgyu grabbed your hand and pulled you with him as he ran out onto the wet Itaewon streets. You didn’t run too far, before he pulled you into one of the alleyways. Completely lost for words and a little out of breath, you stood there, staring at him. The same puzzled look you had given him when you first met is etched into your face and his lips curl upward. Your breathing hitches as he takes a step closer to you and he pushes the rain-soaked hair from your face, eyes flitting to your lips before meeting your eyes again.

He pulled your chest flush against his and it was quiet for a moment. Quiet, save for the sound of the rain pitter-pattering across the rooftops and the alley floor; quiet, save for the sound of your thumping hearts.

“I love you.”

He feels you tense up, so he tightens his embrace. There is a silence again, and it is a lot less pleasant than the first. The sound of your sniffling alarms him, so he brings your face to meet his, his heart aching at the tears dripping down your face. You start making attempts to break free of his hold, shaking your head and him, whimpers escaping your lips every time you tried to speak.

Tears now streamed down his face too, a piece of him torn away each time you pushed him away. Beomgyu fought desperately to keep you in his arms, but before he knew it, you had slipped right through his fingers.

“I’m sorry.” was the last thing he heard you say through persisting sobs, before you disappeared down the street, without a trace.

30 June 2020

Beomgyu smiled before the cameras and press, laughing along with interviewers and staff members like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

You had been missing for over three months. You blocked his number. You didn’t log onto the game, someone else had long taken your position on the leader board. After composing himself that day, he had bolted after you, but it was as if you had vanished off the face of the earth. Beomgyu stopped by the PC Room as much as he could in the following days, his condition only worsening each time he did, but due to the growing numbers of positive cases and the increasing amount of work scheduled for him, the time he spent there was limited.

When he did go, he sat in your chair, staring at the front door until he had to leave. The owner, who had been watching him in sympathy, called him up to the desk one day before he left – the last day the owner saw him. He looked sleep-deprived and downcast, the same pained expression drawn into his features every time he left.

“She... came here a lot. I think her first visit was around the time she was in middle school. She never spoke much, and never seemed to have any friends,” The owner told him, looking out to the isles of computers in front of him, before turning back to Beomgyu. “The first time I saw her talk- no, the first time I saw her smile, was with you. She liked you...alot.”

Beomgyu sighed, with a short, hollow chuckle.

“I know.”

12 March 2021, 23:55

The room was empty and dark when Beomgyu finally walked in, eyebrows knitted together as he tried to see through the darkness. He tried calling out for Hyunjin and Jeongin, but the only replies he received was the wind rattling the window-blinds.  

The flickering of candles illuminate the room, just like they did many months ago, and Beomgyu’s heart stopped. He tried to not look disappointed when it turned out to be his members with Hyunjin and Jeongin carrying the cake, singing happy birthday to him with the most excited expressions on their faces, but his throbbing chest betrayed him.

They brought the cake up until where he stood and Yeonjun arched a brow, a knowing smirk rolling onto his lips. “You really do have a wild imagination, don’t you? Ow!” he cried, when Beomgyu hit his arm. “Ugh, just make a wish already.”

Beomgyu clasped his hands tightly before him and squeezed his eyes shut, just as he did before. Only this time, he knew exactly what he wanted. The subject of his pining, worry, and love. Her. He would give anything to see her, just one last time.

And when he opened his eyes, that was exactly what he found in front of him.

“Happy Birthday, Choi Beomgyu.”

The lights went back on, and Beomgyu blinked repeatedly, making sure that it wasn’t just his mind playing tricks on him. But there you were, with tears brimming your eyes, in all your glory, the love of his life. 

He takes in all the little changes, like your trimmed hair, and that fact that you seemed to have lost weight – which made him frown. And then there was that smile, that dazzling smile, which only seemed to shine brighter now than it did before.

Your hands tremor a bit, the way he just stares at you making your heart leap. “I-I’m sor-”

The cake hit the floor with a plop, eliciting laughter from the others as he wraps his arms around your figure and he reels you into his arms in one swift movement. You feel his tears soak into your blouse, and you hold onto him tighter, your eyes already wet from your own tears. You were finally with him – you were finally home.

The owner gathered everyone together for a photo towards the end of the celebration, Beomgyu following suit wherever you went, refusing to let go of your hand for even a second. You offered him a loving smile when Hyunjin teased him for it, and placed a soft kiss to the back of his hand.

Beomgyu lead you up to the rooftop to see the sunrise, momentarily letting go of your hand to flush your back against his chest, before grabbing hold of it, and the other hand, again. The bright orange and yellow rays peeked from behind the mountain in the distance, and you had never felt more at peace.

You recalled the way your chest tightened and the way tears burned at the corners of your eyes upon receiving his confession a year ago. You had been so happy. So, so happy. But you knew you could not accept him. At the time, you knew that you were in no place to be with someone like him. He was, and is, too wonderful for someone as messed up as you are. You didn’t want burden him with your issues, not when his career had just taken off.

“Beomgyu?” he hummed from where his head against yours, “I love you.”

You stepped away from his embrace, giggling when you noticed the way he pouted. Your turned to face him properly, before attaching your arms around his waist. “Back then... I was in a really bad space. It’s not excuse, and I certainly shouldn’t have run away from you. I...have gotten help ever since, and I want to tell you my story. Would you like to hear it?”

He leaned back and thought for a moment. He then cupped the side of your face with his hand and ran his thumb across your cheek, before pulling you in to press a gentle, lingering kiss to your forehead.

“Whatever you’re willing to share, I will listen to and accept with open arms. I love you for who you are; and that includes everything that has shaped, and will shape you into the amazing person I already know you are.”

“That includes the way you absolutely kick my ass at gaming.”

[retvenkos]

sprinting through cobblestone streets |

The Dragon Prince - Callum, Rayla, and Ezra, x Platonic!Reader, slight fluff requested by @biqherosix​​

tw: a mob, feelings of inadequacy

word count: 2.3k

prompt: “have you always been this idiotic?”

A/N: alright, so i know the request just said callum,,,, and i was going for that originally,,,, but then this happened. i hope you don’t mind? i was going to rewrite it but then it was 2k words and i couldn’t part with it.

Summary: Being half-elf, half-human, there was nowhere that (Y/n) truly belonged. But perhaps their luck would change, when they run into a group of idiotic travelers about to be run down by an angry mob...

Being half-elf in the Human Kingdoms was risky living. (Y/n) had been born on the human side of the Breach, and yet, every day was a danger - a possibility that fear would threaten their very existence. (Y/n) had known very early on how to live as an outsider; they knew how to hide their more telling attributes and how to stay away from towns. They lived in secret, away from everyone else and only stopping into town when necessity called for it, but there was always a low level of risk, to their existence. Not a day passed where (Y/n) wasn't constantly looking over their shoulder; there were always on edge, even in the comfort of their own home.

(Y/n) had been to Xadia once, when their elven parent begged their Queen to take mercy on (Y/n), for they were just a child and a victim to their parent's whims. It wasn't their choice to be half anything - all they had ever wanted was a place to be whole. The Lux Aureans turned them away, and before (Y/n) could return home, they tried to run away.

They had foolishly thought that other elves would take them in - that perhaps Xadia was a more just place than their family had feared.

They had made it far, but not far enough. 

(Y/n) was brought back to the Human Kingdoms with their hood pulled over their head to hide their pointed ears. In Lux Aurea, it had been a horror that they did not have any horns. Here, in this place they would learn to call home, it was a blessing that there was less of them to hide.

(Y/n) had learned long ago to make no friends, to keep their head down and work hard, praying that perhaps, one day, they would be allowed into Lux Aurea as something other than the child of a traitor.

One day, (Y/n)'s parents had woken them in the middle of the night, pressing coin into their hand and telling them that it happened - they had been found, and they had to split up. They had kissed (Y/n) on their forehead, and it was the last they had seen of a friendly face for a year.

(Y/n) had run, only settling down to create roots when they had made it to Katolis - far from where each parent would be. They were careful, in this strange, new kingdom, settling in the thick of a wood where men rarely traveled, preferring to stick to the wider roads. For months, they lived without incident, only visiting villages for supplies twice - walking for days at a time so they weren't seen in the same place twice, and not coming from the same direction.

When supplies were running low once more, (Y/n) took the last of their coin and headed toward a new village - one further away, where no one would know their face. It had been a week's walk, but the burn in their thighs would be worth the protection. They slipped in amongst the crowd easily enough - the day was cold, the seasons changing to something with more of a bite and everyone had a thick cloak on, most of them with a hood pulled up, barely above the eyes. (Y/n) had found a villager to barter with easily enough, and it was when they had almost secured a reasonable deal that they heard the shouts that plagued their worst nightmares.

"You're an elf!"

Their blood ran cold.

(Y/n) had spun on their heel faster than lightning, their hand flying to the dagger they kept strapped to their side. Their heart was pounding with enough force to knock out any attacker they came up against, and despite the fear that struck their heart, (Y/n) kept a cool head. In a crowded marketplace like this, it wouldn't be long until innocent farmers became an angry mob, their ranks full of pitchforks and butcher knives. They expected to worst to greet them, but when (Y/n) turned, the horde of villagers wasn't looking at them at all, but three other travelers, one of which was unmistakably an elf.

"An elf? No way!" One of the travelers - a young boy with messy brown hair, chuckled nervously, projecting his voice in an almost comedic way, trying to wave off the villagers as the group slowly backed up, edging themselves towards the mouth of the street, where they might find a chance of escaping. "We're all very much human, here..."

(Y/n) slipped their bag of coin into their pocket, ducking and weaving through the crowd to edge their way closer to the ostracised group. If (Y/n) could find an outlet, maybe they could sneak off and save their own skin. But if they could create a distraction of some sort and pull the elf and her friends to safety, maybe they could be given some type of reward...

A reward that might earn them a place in Xadia.

 "My human friend is wearing an elven costume! Y'know, for... a play?"

(Y/n) sighed at the lame excuse before pushing over a street cart.

The villagers were startled, caught off guard by the loud crash and apparent destruction, and it was just enough time for (Y/n) to rush forward, seizing the elf's arm and dragging her forward out of the crowd. The boys followed in suit, and together they got a head start, sprinting through the cobblestone streets.

"Hey!"

The villagers got their bearings quick enough and were only more enraged by the idea of a chase. (Y/n) took a sharp turn down the narrow street that they had originally entered into town from, ushering the group forth. A hay cart stood in the middle of the street, and (Y/n) picked up the young boy that held a glow toad by the back of his jacket to help him vault over the obstacle. The other boy from earlier - the one with the terrible excuse, jumped over with a fair amount of success -  the adrenaline mixed with some quick thinking leading him to step on boxes nearby like makeshift steps, making the jump easier to handle. The elf jumped over with remarkable agility and (Y/n) followed in suit, the sudden movement pushing their cloak back, revealing their best-kept secret - their elven shaped ears. 

(Y/n) cursed but didn't have time to scramble for the hood, instead choosing to press forth, leading their new allies into the woods, where they had just enough time to find a hiding place from the mob, the hay cart having been the perfect barrier.

Only half of the villagers passed by their hideout, judging by the cacophony of footfalls and heavy breathing, accompanied by the gruff voice of one villager, who decided to round everyone up and wait by the main road - they would have to get out, somehow.

The group had managed to stay exceptionally still, while their pursuers cleared out of the wood, but (Y/n) could feel three pairs of eyes watching them, their level of scrutiny unsettling.

When all was quiet, (Y/n) dared to venture forth, and they found the woods uninhabited. The three that (Y/n) had saved were slower to exit their hiding spot, and when they did, they turned on (Y/n) quickly - the elf already whipping out her swords.

"Who are you?"

"You mean other than your savior?" (Y/n) said, putting their hand on the hilt of their dagger - just in case.

"What are you, then?" The elf took a step forward, her accent punctuating her every word. "You're not human, but you're not elf either."

"I'm both."

And the revelation was just enough to stun the elf, allowing the idiotic boy from earlier to step up. "Well, thank you for your help back there. Right, Rayla?" —he shot a glance at the elf and she pushed her lips together, clearly still on edge— "I'm Callum and this is Ezran with Bait. And you are...?"

"(Y/n)." They crossed their arms against their chest, narrowing their eyes.

"(Y/n)," Callum repeated, nodding his head slowly as he shot wayward glances back at his friends, who were still assessing the situation. Ezran peered up at (Y/n) with a trepidatious kind of respect while Rayla still held her swords out, her brow furrowed, mirroring (Y/n). 

"What were you doing in a human village, (Y/n)?" Rayla all but spat, tightening her grip.

"Apparently being smarter than you - have you always been this idiotic?" (Y/n) turned to look at Callum and he reeled backward, offended. "Going into a village market with an elf is a death sentence! You could have been caught."

"You went in there!"

"Because I had to! You are a human traveling with an elf - you could have easily gone without her."

Callum blinked, tilting his head to the side. Little Ezran walked up, tugging on his brother's sleeve. "(Y/n) has a point, y'know."

"Yeah, well, we just didn't think of it," Callum mumbled, earning a scoff from (Y/n), which elicited a glare from Rayla. "But in our defense, things were going smoothly until I tripped and pushed Rayla's hood back."

(Y/n) chuckled darkly, rolling their eyes, and Rayla took the opportunity to press forth. "What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be in Xadia?"

(Y/n) took a step closer, as though daring Rayla to make a move. "Shouldn't you?"

"Whoa!" Callum stepped between the two, gingerly pushing them apart. "Shouldn't we all be?"

(Y/n) shot him a suspicious look - one that they had been saddled with their whole life. It felt odd, almost, giving it to someone else. "Why would you be heading to Xadia? Why are you traveling with an elf, anyway?"

Callum chuckled nervously again, grabbing the back of his neck with one hand and pointing at (Y/n) with the other. "I mean, no better place than Xadia - right? The magic, the elves, the dragons..."

"Callum doesn't know what he's talking about," Rayla recovered, but there was a slight shake to her voice - a tell. "He's taking me to the Moonshadow Path - we're friends. He's not coming with me. Humans don't belong in Xadia."

But Callum winced at that, and Ezran looked down, his feelings hurt. If Rayla noticed, she found no point in disputing her statement, choosing instead to press forth.

"Do you?"

And (Y/n) thought of why they had saved this group of idiots in the first place... in the hopes that they would get the recognition needed to belong in Xadia. For a couple of humans, a glow toad, and a Moonshadow elf, they seemed pretty intent on making it to the magical world beyond the Breach. Whatever their reason, it must have been good, seeing as they banded together, despite the hatred that ran between their races. (Y/n)'s immediate reaction was to leave and never look back - face the consequences of saving these odd travelers and find a new village to buy grain from, continuing to live the way they always had - but they couldn't. For a reason that was beyond what (Y/n) had always thought to be true, a feeling that went beyond their mantra to make no friends and keep their head down, they felt the urge to stay.

Ignoring the voice in their head that screamed at them to not make such a stupid mistake, (Y/n) lifted their hand and pushed away Rayla's sword with the tip of their gloved finger.

"I don't belong anywhere. But I hoped that by saving you, maybe I could." 

Ezran took a sympathetic step forward, coming out from behind his friends, and looking (Y/n) deep in the eye. There was something in his gaze that made (Y/n) feel like he understood them, despite their lives being so different. Callum put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder and (Y/n) noticed it was in his eyes, too. They turned to Rayla, and she looked away, but there was a fury in her eyes - a familiar wave of anger that had to be righteously earned from being cast out, from being an outsider in a place that should have been home. 

Suddenly, it dawned on (Y/n) that this ragtag group of wanderers didn't belong anywhere, at least, not anymore, and were walking to Xadia with a hope that (Y/n) had lost long ago.

"You can belong with us if you want," Ezran spoke up, and his words seemed to have the conviction of one twice his age, as though he had been born to royalty. (Y/n) entertained the idea as they considered his words. He certainly held the air of a royal, and he had nice enough clothes to be in the nobility.

"Ezran." Rayla fixed him with a look, one that implied they had secrets to keep.

"They saved our lives, Rayla, we can't just leave them."

The elf hesitated, but Callum stepped forward, a bit of suspicion still swimming in his eyes, but something more hidden beneath. "What Ez means to say is that you can journey with us if you want."

(Y/n) raised an eyebrow. "And you're sure Rayla isn't going to kill me when my back is turned?"

"Not if you don't give me a reason to," Rayla said, and Callum turned to her with a poignant stare.

"We need all the help we can get, Rayla. We need to be safe if we're going to make it back to Xadia"

"Do you trust them with our cargo?"

(Y/n) cocked their head, and Rayla looked at them with a harsh glance. Callum sighed. "I don't think we have much of a choice."

"Alright, then," Rayla sighed, taking a step forward and extending her hand. (Y/n) hesitated for a moment before pulling off their glove, exposing their lack of a fifth finger, and clasping it with hers.

"You'll take me to Xadia?"

And Callum was the one to answer, shaking (Y/n)'s other hand with his own. "You can walk with us as long as you'd like."

-- taglist: message me if you want to be added to a taglist!

[therealvinelle]

Vinelle (and muffin since I know they'll see this too~!), I don't know if you guys have made a post ranking the Twilight books and why (including Bree and L&D if applicable) but I'd love to hear your opinions! (also if you could rank the Twi movies from least worst to most worst and why that'd be awesome too! 030 hi key love your rants on the movies and would love to hear y'alls thoughts more on them)-Sw

You’ve caught us out, anon.

And thanks to you, we spent last night watching Breaking Dawn Part 2 so we could rank it. @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin hadn’t seen it at all, while I half-remembered it from years ago. A terrible time was had because that movie was unwatchably bad.

Since this ask was sent jointly, our answer was co-written.

So, without further ado, movies first:

1. Twilight

This is a bad movie, but it’s recognizably a movie. The scenes are connected, there are things it did well, and we could tell you what the plot is. The awkwardness, for instance, is very well done. The weaknesses are glaring, the main one being that the film never sells us on the characters of Bella and Edward, nor on their relationship, relying instead on the audience knowing they’re in love because- well, they’re in love.

Diving deeper into Edward and Bella, there’s an understandable explanation for this. Edward of the books is terrifying, and I don’t think there’s a translation to screen that could have kept the romantic atmosphere surrounding him that we see from Bella’s point of view.

Bella can listen to Edward eating Biology and how he explains that it means how much he loves her and not blink. An actual audience hearing that dialogue will have second thoughts.

Right out of the gate, Twilight has a very difficult task: Salvage Edward Cullen while still producing a somewhat recognizable character who will take the same actions (or near the same actions) that Edward Cullen did in the book.

In the effort to make Edward palatable but save some of his original character he loses his more terrifying lines (as well as his hilarious ego) but becomes weird, awkward, and vaguely creepy. Edward Cullen of the films is that weird, friendless guy in your high school who you feel kind of bad for but don’t want to eat lunch with.

Bella faces a similar transformation. Bella’s insecurity is completely removed (or else the screenwriters somehow failed to notice it). As a result, we get this strange antisocial girl who is too cool for school because she’s a stuck up bitch.

Between Edward, this creepy guy who sits next to her in Biology, and Bella, this girl who enters school too good for everyone else, we see no reason why they would ever be interested in one another.

In an attempt to make these characters likeable they made them both unlikeable and boring. The film series as a whole never recovers from this (indeed, the quest to make Edward look good keeps leading to stranger and stranger places). 

It also forgets to explain why the Cullens live among humans, they’re attending high school… because. It’s a movie that explained to us all those terrible 2010 era memes and “still a better love story than Twilight”. And frankly, those memes were great, better than the movie. Case in point.

Everything is weirdly blue, which is atmospheric but also makes everything and everyone washed out. Everyone is super pale, so you have Mike looking just as vampire-y as Edward. However, it’s recognizably a movie. It introduces the characters, recognizes that the audience needs to be informed of things that are important to the plot, and most scenes are in some way connected to the plot. This is more than can be said for the other films, which is why it lands the top slot.

2. Eclipse

Eclipse earns its second place by process of elimination. The remaining three were worse. Eclipse also features Edward being cuckolded mercilessly, which is hilarious. Oh, and Victoria playing Riley, that was another beautiful scene.

Apart from that it’s just a deeply boring, borderline unwatchable movie.

Special shoutouts go to:

The opening scene of Riley getting turned, a ridiculous and poorly executed scene that served no purpose for the movie whatsoever.

Rosalie dropping her backstory without any context, Bella walks up to her and Rosalie launches into this horrific story for no particular reason. Both her and Jasper’s backstories could have been cut, as they served no purpose to the story and felt really thrown in there.

The many, many redundant scenes. The Victoria chase that ends with the Cullens and Quileutes squabbling could have been cut entirely. So too could the Seattle subplot with the newborns and Bree.

It’s a movie that isn’t about anything in particular, so it throws subplot spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. It dutifully regurgitates the Jacob/Bella/Edward love triangle while also trying to convey that Bella’s about to lose her mortality, while also trying to introduce suspense and excitement with the newborns. It fails to execute either of these, and it also fails to tie them together.

3. New Moon

The movie that wanted to skip itself.

This movie had two jobs, show that Bella is depressed when Edward leaves and convince the audience of Bella and Jacob’s strong friendship. And apart the rotating shots and the occasional Stewart voiceover, the former becomes one of those “just stay with us on this one, guys” failures, and the second is failed on every level. Jake and Bella are much closer at the beginning of this movie than they were in canon, and a montage of Bella hanging out with her buddy is just that, it’s a montage of Bella hanging out with her buddy. It speaks volumes that Stewart’s voiceover has to remind us she’s depressed and Jacob is helping her heal, because there’s no indicator on screen that this is happening.

This, in turn, makes Bella/Jake as weak and unconvincing as Bella/Edward was in the previous movie. We just have to take on faith that these people are important to each other because that’s what we’re told.

There’s also the wolves, who are completely butchered. In the books, there’s this great mystery with bears in the woods, there’s Bella wondering why Laurent ran off, there’s build-up, then when we find out what’s actually been happening it’s a satisfying explanation, all the pieces come together really nicely. This is not the case in the movie. Meeting the pack is just weird in this context, because we never wondered who they were. Bella is randomly invited to breakfast, we meet Emily with the scarred face who won’t ever have a line again, and that’s it, these characters don’t become important to the movie in any way. It’s a pointless scene that could have been cut, much like so many other scenes in these movies.

Apart from that, the Volturi scene from the books is butchered so I hardly recognize it, and Alice, Carlisle, and Edward’s characters are assassinated to an impressive degree considering they were barely in the movie.

It was hard to watch.

It lands third place because somehow, Breaking Dawn was worse.

4. Breaking Dawn Part Two

I’ll just list the positives: the intro was very pretty and promised a better movie. It was also long, which we appreciated because it took away from the movie’s runtime. (This is not at all an exaggeration, a lot of the time watching all five movies was spent looking at the remaining runtime and groaning.) The Tommy Wiseau sex scene in the sex cabin was uncomfortable, but the fact that it would have fit perfectly in The Room made it funny. The Romanians were genuinely, unironically, great, because of all of Carlisle’s trashy friends, these were the only ones the movie didn’t try to convince us weren’t trashy.

This movie ranks above Breaking Dawn Part One because of the things listed above.

Apart from that, something all of these movies, but especially the last four, suffer from is that they don’t have plots so much as they have a check list of things to put in the movie before they can call it a wrap. This movie is the worst offender of that, and it’s made worse by the film’s expectation that the people are fans who already know what’s happening, and therefore don’t need anything explained. I’ll explain what we mean by that.

We get Bella waking up a vampire, and absolutely nothing is explained. If you don’t know what happened in the last movie then fuck you. Bella then goes hunting, we get the hiker, we get the mountain lion, she goes back to meet Renesmée, finds out Jake imprinted on her daughter, we get the sex cabin, the handwrestling with Emmett. The Charlie problem is introduced (poorly), only to be solved a scene later with emotional payoff that had absolutely no buildup. All of these things, and the rest of the movie as well for that matter, feels like we’re just crossing items off a list.

Since the audience is expected to already know the story, the story only bothers to explain about half of what’s happening, if half. Who’s the lady living with Charlie? If you don’t know, don’t worry because it’s not important anyway. When did Kate and Garrett fall in love? If you don’t care, that's understandable, because they’ve barely interacted in the movie. Who are the Amazonian women? Do they have names? Don’t worry about it. Did Alistair actually leave, if so did that have an impact? Well, Bella stared at a window for a few seconds.

Every so often the characters will start quoting the books, and it’ll be completely out of place because these movies veered off course long ago. Carlisle references his great friendship with Aro, a friendship that was only briefly mentioned at the beginning of the second movie. Aro randomly starts talking about how scary human technology is.

All of these scenes feel like Marcus is telling the story, he’s just listing events waiting for the story to be over, and forgets a lot of pertinent details because he doesn’t care enough to remember them. There’s no effort to tie these scenes together, no effort to build up to anything.

There’s also one significant failure, and this is a failure shared by all five films, but it affects the plot (I use the term “plot” loosely) of this movie which is why it gets a special shoutout here. Vampires in these movies look human. The fact that Bella has to ask Edward is Gianna the secretary is human says it all, because in the books you know instantly, there’s not even a question. This makes the Charlie subplot ridiculous, because Bella looks and acts the same as ever. She had a trashy makeover, maybe, but she’s still Bella. Watching her get human acting classes after we watched her act perfectly human is just silly. Now, we’re all for suspension of belief, but this movie just pencil drew a moustache on her and the audience is supposed to go “My god, Bella, I didn’t recognize you!”

We then get to the atrocious fight scene, which was somehow worse than I remembered. It was also oddly long for a giant fake out. This scene took significant run time and it turns out to have 0 effect on the plot. And when we get back to the real world, the tonal shift is extreme. You can’t go from Jane being choked, dragged across the snow and face eaten by a wolf to her standing around chilling. We could have skipped it entirely, just had Alice touch Aro’s hand, and he goes “Ah, I see, cheerio.”

The end credits were pretty funny, “here are these random characters with bit parts in previous movies, isn’t this nostalgic?”. Nice try, movie. The fact this came after an extended clip show of the great romance of Edward and Bella, through blurry montage images that failed to be convincing in their original films let alone this one, just made it even more hilarious. Hope you didn’t completely ruin the director’s career, though honestly you should a bit.

5. Breaking Dawn Part One

As you can probably tell by the above entries, the fact that this is the worst one is really saying something. All the movies were hard to watch, but this one required pure strength of will to power through.

The big issue is that Breaking Dawn shouldn’t have been split in the first place. However, it was, and that meant that we got a movie that was almost entirely filler. (Followed, somehow, by a movie that was also largely filler.)

We get everybody preparing for the wedding. What do Mike and Jessica think of Bella and Edward getting married? What’s that, you don’t care? Well, now you know anyway. We get the full wedding, as in the whole fucking thing, including the afterparty. We get Bella and Edward traveling to their island, and there’s filler in the filler where they go clubbing in Rio. We then get every minute detail of the wedding night followed by every minute detail of the honeymoon.

There’s fanservice, and then there’s this. This was live action fanfiction.

NOTHING that in any way is relevant to the story happens, the closest we get is Irina looking stoned. Too bad the Denali’ refusal to help out in Eclipse was cut from the last movie, in fact I’m not sure they were mentioned at all previously in these movies (I think maybe Edward had a one-line reference in Twilight?) so this means nothing to people who haven’t read the books.

We then get to the pregnancy arc, which could have been Rosemary’s Baby but is instead as outrageously boring as the first half of the movie was. The director must have realized as much, because he gives us Jacob’s alpha plot that should have been cut from the movie (yes, I know it was in the books, but the thing about adaptations is that things have to go. For the record, I think Meyer should have cut it too). That subplot was straight out of an anime, by the way. Jacob claiming his ancestral rights as alpha while listing off his titles and the soaring music, was… every shounen anime, ever. Complete with the shitty voice acting.

It was a soul-crushingly boring movie.

-

Something that screws over the last four movies is that they were made to feed the fangirls, and generate revenue because the producers knew the fans were coming to watch the books they liked come to life, so they just had to throw scenes from the books and into the movies and let the magic happen. This is a terrible way to adapt something.

Special shoutout too to having to watch Taylor Lautner run around shirtless in four out of five movies. That was very uncomfortable and none of us needed that in our lives, Lautner included.

Super special shoutout to the fact that we disagree with nearly all the casting.

And this isn’t the post for that, but all of the characters were butchered. Some more than others, and some more insidiously than others. It’s the big things, like Carlisle’s character being turned on its head since he thinks all vampires are damned, exactly the opposite of what he thinks in the books, and the little things, like Jasper and Bella being buddies who bicker fondly in New Moon. 

Then the books:

1. Midnight Sun

HANDS DOWN. This is easily our favorite thing to come out of the entire Twilight franchise.

Edward is every kind of crazy at the same time, all the time, and it makes every single sentence packed with delirious entertainment. Reading this book is having a stroke, a psychotic episode, and watching five different true crime shows all at once. We adore every letter of it. (That’s no exaggeration, we even laughed about Edward capitalizing “Son” when Carlisle refers to him as “son” in conversation.)

The book was more than we’d dared to hope for, one of those rare books that makes you go “This was written just for me.”

2. Twilight

The one that started it all.

Vampires are wonderfully creepy. Things like Bella staring at Carlisle acting like the mundane town doctor shortly after learning just how old he is, Alice explaining how vampires kill all, and the uncanny valley perfection of the Cullens all add to the otherness of these vampires, and the general atmosphere of the book.

The love story is convincing. Edward seen through the eyes of Bella is wonderful, the red flags are there but if it weren’t for the books that followed we wouldn’t have decried the ship the way we do.

3. Eclipse

Breaking Dawn is the more interesting book, but Eclipse has less things we outright don’t like. We get to know all the characters better, Edward and Bella are their usual beautiful selves, and it’s overall peak Twilight.

4. Breaking Dawn

Would have ranked much higher, we like what it did. Without it we wouldn’t be in this fandom now, as it brought so much amazing content. The baby plot is fine by us, Carlisle’s friends are great, the Volturi confrontation is a beautiful, if bleak culmination of preventable events. There’s a lot of great stuff in this book.

Unfortunately, and there’s just no diplomatic way to put this, so I’ll just come out with it: there’s too much Jacob.

He no longer had a reason to be in the story, given the way Eclipse ended he had every reason not to be in it. In spite of that we get an entire third of the book from his point of view, and then damned if he’s not shoehorned into the last third as well. He added absolutely nothing to the story, he was just there taking up space and being possessive of a toddler. His POV section was tough to get through, and his presence in book three was just painful. He should have been cut.

5. New Moon

This was the book we had to power through. There are some very good things in it, most notably the Volturi scene, but the Muffin and I enjoy Twilight for the vampires, and that makes Laurent and Hallucination!Edward the highlights of the part of the book where Edward is gone.

There’s also the fact that Jacob isn’t a very compelling character. He has to carry the book now that the Cullens aren’t doing it, and he simply isn’t up for it.

-

Yes, we’re aware that these books are ranked according to how much Jacob is in them. We don’t even hate him, not at all, it’s just that he’s boring.

(That being said, the books at their worst are better than the movies at their best. Jacob narrating his perfect playdate with Renesmée would still be preferable to… I’m trying to think of a good scene from the movies. Hm, nevermind.)

As for The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and Life and Death, only I have read Bree Tanner and I don’t remember it well enough to give a proper assessment. I was bored with the OCs, though, bored to tears, throughout that book I was itching for Victoria and the Cullens. We have not read Life and Death, but we’re offended by its existence so it ranks bottom.