#anyways. there is no solution i suppose. just one of those things.

[lesbiradshaw]

the cycle of madness that’s born from the reader’s preference to not start fics that aren’t marked finished and the author’s urge to delete the entire work if it doesn’t get any attention as it’s being uploaded.

[naeviskz]

genre. idol!hyunjin x model!f!reader | established relationship

words. 1.5k+ tags/warnings. angst, fluff (towards the end), smut, accusations of cheating, hj is lowkey toxic (but we love it hehe), cunnilingus, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, some mentions of crying, not proofread

this has been in my drafts for years and i finally finished it bc i was tired of seeing it LMAO. btw the position i’m referring to is this (nsfw link), i usually hate vids but this was rlly good imo.

“i think we should take a break...” you admit, voice growing shakier as you spoke. this was never something you wish to say in a million years, you wanted this relationship to work more than anything. but you were at your wits end with everything, talking to hyunjin was like conversing with the wall, never truly grasping any of your concerns.

you noticed the cracks beginning to seep in the midst of six months of being with him. he would often be dishonest of his whereabouts, saying he was out late due to “work” but was actually out drinking at some bar with chan or something. it made no sense for him to lie about such trivial things but he does it without even thinking. this was supposed to be a lovely vacation in paris together but lately you’ve grown tired of feeling like you’re unappreciated. a break from each other might be the best solution in getting his act together once and for all.

hyunjin felt his whole body turn limp as you uttered those words. not only was he blindsided by your decision, but you never indicated before to him that you were ready to propose such a drastic idea. “but why though? don’t you think this is a bit random? i mean this came out of nowhere ___, i thought everything was good between us, why are you suddenly saying this now?” his thick, bushy brows furrowed in confusion, he wasn’t letting you off this easy and you know it.

“i just think it’s for the better right now hyune, we’re both so busy. we have a lot on our plate, especially you… and this relationship is just— it’s only putting more strain on everythi-”

“are you serious ___? do you hear yourself? i knew what i was getting myself into the day i asked you to be my girlfriend. i’m well aware that i can’t be with you 24/7, and neither can you—however, i don’t expect that anyway. all i ever wanted was to have you by my side, i want to work through the hardships with you but if you’re so willing to give up like this then… i don’t know. i don’t even know what to say to this honestly..” hyunjin couldn’t help but cut you off, once his emotions take over, all sense of logic and reasoning is thrown out the window.

he was never one to question his worth in the eyes of his partner, but you were his longest relationship, he saw you as his first and only true love. it never occurred to him that he could lose you, the possibility of this break lasting long enough to make your love fade away was a scary revelation. there had to be a way he could fix this, he couldn’t bear to be without you.

“are you seeing someone else? maybe that’s why you’ve been so distant towards me lately…” he wanted to scream for saying that out loud but at least he got it off his chest. he knows how petty it sounds but he didn’t care, he wanted you to give him answers.

“no! i’m not seeing other people, i don’t have an interest in anyone but you hyunjin. i want to do this for the sake of us, we’re clearly not where we need to be and this break could help with getting us back on track and spending time apart could be beneficial.” you try your best to articulate your words properly but he remained unconvinced, he wasn’t on board with any bit of this.

how could you even be okay with something like this? spending time away from you drove him absolutely insane, he couldn’t fathom taking a break—not from someone as important as you in his life. he just needed to remind you that the love was still there, though it may be but a dull flame, he could ignite the spark again, with the little bit of hope he had left.

the foundation of your relationship was built from shared interests, since you both are part of professions that rely heavily on looks, you refused to see each other based solely off those superficial aspects. instead you got to know each other’s minds, your core values and beliefs, what mattered to you the most. you cherished every one of those deep conversations you shared together, it was a beautiful experience, an indescribable memory that shaped your bond forever.

so why is it now that you feel this way? was he really that oblivious to everything? he should’ve done more to prevent this but now he fears it’s too late. he’s faced with the conundrum of losing you and there wasn’t much time for him to stall or ask for a chance of redemption, he couldn’t waste another second.

“fuck that,” hyunjin angrily spat, his face contorting into a look of pure disgust. “you’re not going anywhere.” he reaches out to grab your waist before you could walk away, aggressively pulling you into his chest.

no matter how much you attempt to escape his hold, he’s not letting you go in the slightest. he’s much stronger than you, could easily lift you up without breaking a sweat. there was no use in fighting, you had no choice but to give in and let this conversation go. once his lips crashed into yours, everything faded to black. as if a simple kiss was the cure-all of mending this decrepit relationship.

hyunjin’s forehead pressed against yours as he pulled away, “shhh, lye down baby,” he hushes your quiet mewls, instructing you to do as he says. “gonna make you feel so good,” his hands slid under your skirt, gently rubbing over your clothed slit “you’ll forget everything.”

* :.･ﾟﾟ･ ✿

“oh my- fuckk, hyunjin!” you cry out, almost on the verge of tears just from how skilled he is, rutting your hips upwards into his mouth as he devours you whole.

the pace of his tongue is relentless, roughly lapping up all your juices like he’s the most starved man alive. you’ve lost count at the amount of times he’s already made you come undone just from his mouth alone. your body’s buzzing with titillation, all you can do is scream and clench your pussy around nothing while he fiercely sucks on your clit.

you couldn’t stop twitching, feeling yet another orgasm approaching. your legs anchored over his shoulders, unable to think or speak coherent sentences as his face was fully buried into your dewy cunt. he relaxes his jaw a bit more, going all the way from the bottom inching further up as he comes back in contact with your puffy clit. at any given moment it feels as if your heart’s about to stop.

“hyunjin-” your heads thrown back into the pillow, digging your nails into his shoulder blades from how overly sensitive you are. “n-need to cum.. can feel it. m’so close.” it surprises you when you’re able to even express such words.

a low grunt can be heard underneath, hyunjin loves hearing you— it’s arguably the best part about going down on you. the hand that wasn’t occupied went straight to gripping a fistful of his ebony hair, continuously moaning his name so loud that you genuinely feel bad for whomever the unlucky people that got to hear this.

just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore intense, he slips 2 of his slender fingers inside, making you gasp from the overwhelming sensation. flashes of white invade your vision, violently shaking as your lips form an “o” in the throes of ecstasy. hyunjin knows your body so well that this is nothing for him, he’s got it all down to a simple science. no one knows your body like he does, and especially no one can make you cum as hard as he can.

“go ahead, make a mess for me baby,” he strongly encourages, picking up his pace as his digits fuck into you faster. “just gonna clean it up with my tongue all over again.”

your eyes roll back to the depths of oblivion, feeling an out of body experience when reaching your climax. a slew of curses leave your shaky breath, limbs trembling and faint tears stain your flushed cheeks. hyunjin slows his movements, rubbing his thumb over your clit gently to make you even more sensitive. you love the way he calls you “good girl” and how proud the look on his face becomes while you ride out your orgasm on his fingers. he doesn’t stop showering you with compliments, only ramping up his affection as he plants fleeting kisses to your thighs, hips, and tummy.

once he’s finally come back up for air you grab his face to pull him into your lips again. moaning in his mouth while getting a taste of yourself was probably the hottest thing hyunjin’s ever witnessed.

“can’t believe you’re all mine.” hyunjin whispers against you, gently massaging your aching thighs. “i love you so much baby.”

“love you too hyune.” you instantly say back, feeling more at ease now that things are somewhat back to normal.

maybe a break isn’t necessary after all, how else would you be able to have such earth shattering orgasms?

- 完 ♡︎

[winterarmyy]

Must Be Fate

Prequel to And You're Mine. This is the story of how Y/N first met her cute, chubby alpha!bucky.

Summary: Y/N has been crossing paths with this particularly sweet alpha all day long; this must be fate right?

Note: There was a mention of this event in 《 And You're Mine 》 so, it's only canon for me to write it.

Pairing: chubby alpha!bucky x omega!female!reader

Words: 4.2k++

Warnings: a/b/o dynamics. fluffy stuff. sort of fated mate themed because... love at first scent(?). instant love. the reader was just smitten without even knowing bucky's name, alpine making her appearance, 99.9% reader's pov because she's the one who fell in love and remembers him. Dialogue? almost little to none (I AM SO SORRY FOR THAT). And I little shout out to one of my favourite book.

P/S: Been busy these few days, i just graduated my bachelor's degree, then went through the whole job hunting process and somehow managed to land an offer (in another state btw), then went on a stressful house hunting journey and managed to get decent place. Yknow, all those "adulting" stuff (that i am not ready to face). But yeah, here's a little something from my wip that I managed to finish. Happy reading! 🤍

Read my other works here: Masterlist

Y/N herself might not notice it, but she had been stealing glances through the pretense of the book she was supposed to be reading for quite some time now. Not that she wanted to be distracted anyway; she was rather enjoying her current read, especially the banter between main characters, Liesel and Rudy.

Yet for some reason, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the particular alpha sitting on the park bench, right across from her.

It seemed that the man was also distracted with his own personal dilemma as his thoughts were lost within the arrangement of peonies in his hand. There was this deep frown decorating his features yet his eyes translates a different type of emotion. More gloomy, more somber. And Y/N knew exactly why.

She never meant to follow Bucky around, in fact, she didn’t. It just happened that his paths were fated to intertwined with hers; and it all started that afternoon.

The bus was packed full, albeit it was Saturday, but thankfully she managed to find herself a seat.

Since Y/N was getting closer to her heat, in about a week or so, and her scent blockers were nearly out. She just got back from a nearby clinic to restock and now she had a full day for herself.

The thing about her pre-heat condition is that she was fortunate to not experience the normally unpleasant symptoms like any omega would; she doesn't get irritated easily and she didn't have to go through those random aches and fever.

However, she had a particular symptom that differs from the other omega; which involve the irregular increase of her scent.

During pre-heat and all throughout the actual heat, Y/N’s scent tripled the amount of a normal omega in heat. And since, she refused to take suppressants, the doctor prescribed her with a high dosage of scent blockers instead; to mask her scent completely during pre-heat.

Besides her own scent thickens and heighten, her sense of smell was also affected. It will become so senstive that she can smell everything and everyone, all at the same time.

Unfortunately for her, there weren’t any medication to combat that issue and the only solution she could do was wearing a mask to lessen affect of other people’s scents. But of course, the mask can only do so much especially when she was in a tight confinement of a bus with – what feels like – 2000 people crammed into it.

Too many potent scents coming from every direction, that her head spun into nausea.

Sure, she might be a little bit exaggerating about the amount of people in the bus, but it felt awfully like it when the bus stopped in every bus stop in its route; she can physically feel the inertia of the force pushing her to lean forward.

Thank god, she was sitting down; she managed to hold on the seat in front of her for support. Often times she would whisper her apologies to the man sitting in front for the sudden push of her hand, And most times he only nodded without looking back.

But at one of those stops, unfortunately, the teenager standing next to her bumped his head right onto the metal pole. Poor thing quickly scurried out of the bus in pain and embarrassment.

The density of people became lesser at that stop, but not enough to empty any seat in the bus. Though it worked well for her that most of the strong scents were fading into a much more bearable capacity for her to endure.

While streams of people exited the bus, only one came aboard; a sweet old lady. The moment Y/N saw her, she was already thinking of giving up her seat, but the man sitting in front of her beat her to it as he swiftly stood on his feet and help the old lady to his seat.

The old lady gushed and thanked the man, dearly patted his cheeks like any grandmother would do to their grandchildren.

And in that brief moment of time, when he moved, Y/N picked up a particularly sweet scent trailing behind him and when he came back, it hits her like a train. At first, she can sense some sort of floral; roses and jasmine but with time the smoky sandalwood and spicy cinnamon seeped through. The combination of sweet and woody notes made such a warm and captivating scent.

She never knew an alpha can smell this good.

Her eyes fluttered close as the alluring scent flooded her brain, letting his scent creates the dreamy images of his fingers lacing between hers as they walk in the rain, or him cuddling her in the heat of the fireplace during the winter, or his body trapping her by the back as she takes his huge delicious kno—whoa.

That was way too vivid and a tad too far.

She was so enthralled by his scent that she forgot to even look at the man’s face. And a mistake it was for her to take a peek because he is absolutely gorgeous. The brown locks on his head was neat and clean that she just wanted to make a mess out of it. His eyes were pretty in steel-blue and his plush lips was simply a sin to look at.

Though some would argue about the lack of shape in his jawline, the same one that was hidden between his chin; she didn’t care at all, rather she was particularly fond of the softness on his chubby cheeks. Shaved so clean and smooth that she couldn't find a single razor cut on his skin.

They look so cute and kissable. She want to kiss his cheeks, his lips, and every part of his ridiculously handsome face. She wanted kiss him so badly.

And those intrusive thoughts made her almost missed her stop.

Y/N panicked when she scurried out of the bus that she didn't even thought to ask him for his name or number; anything.

But then again, she wasn't the type to be so bold in the first place; she knew wouldn't have the courage to even speak a word to him. His scent alone almost pushed her into a frenzy, so imagine if he would look at her with those beautiful eyes of his, smile at her, talk to her?

She'd simply die. She was sure of it.

So, with regrets Y/N walked towards the familiar road right into the local bookstore that she often visits. Thinking that this encounter would probably be forgotten by the end of the day.

Then she spent hours in that shop trying to find the perfect book to put her out of the miserable reading slump she was currently in. While her eyes skim over the covers of the book in display, in the back of her head, Y/N was almost certain of how unlikely it was for her to see the alpha ever again.

Couple of turns later, her footsteps trailed back to the space in between the bookshelves next to the huge glass window of the store. Still glancing absentmindedly at the book covers particular on the historical fiction isle. She halted when she saw it, the book that people had been recommending to her, 'The Book Thief'.

After reading the summary behind the book, she felt drawn to it almost instantly. Thinking that maybe this would be the book that will replenish her interest of reading back to its utmost glory.

But when she lifted her head up, she froze yet again. This time, not because the sight of a book. But it was the silhouette of the alpha she saw in the bus. Instinctively, her feet step closer to the glass window, to have a better look at the man across the road.

The alpha had just exited the flower shop opposite from where she was standing, with a gorgeous bouquet of peonies in his hands. Now that she looked closely, his hands were covered with black leather gloves; it intrigued her and she wondered about the story behind it.

Y/N wasn't that dense; she could see it right away from the way he dressed, to the choice of gift he went for. She knew instantly that the alpha was probably going out on a date.

And that stung her a little bit. How nice it must be to be his date, his girl, his omega.

Funny of her to think so when she never really talked to the guy. Let alone know him well enough to decided whether he's a good alpha or not. But something about him felt right to her.

But, sometimes it'll be like that. Falling in love so strongly, so instantly. And there's nothing wrong with it, as long as you know how to protect yourself; your body, your heart.

When her gaze moved upwards to his face; and her heart almost escaped her body. It was so quick, so faint. But, she saw his smile. It wasn't for her but it was so pretty. Y/N felt like a bow just struck her chest and the cupid was trying to pull it back out.

She knew full well how she probably need to move on from this delusional crush of hers yet her eyes still longingly lingered at his moving figure, walking farther away from her sight.

When she thought that would be the last time she saw him, she was utterly wrong. Now, it felt like devilish cupid was toying with her heart as their path crossed yet again, this time at a nearby cafe.

She didn't notice him at first, at least until she placed her orders and saw him sitting alone at the far corner of the cafe. He seemed to be waiting for his date; the flowers laid perfectly on the seat next to him.

In contrast of the few looks of his that she had witness before, the alpha's demeanour indicates anxiousness.

His heel keeps tapping the floor, causing his knees to jump up and down, as he fiddled with his phone. Occasionally, he would look at the time and put it down. Just to do the same thing over again only seconds later.

And that made her wondered if this was his first date with whomever the person he was supposed to be seeing. She knew those feelings all too well. It was only canon that he felt the jitters on his first date, she'd been there too.

When her drink was served, Y/N decided to stay awhile longer. She didn't know what she was expecting from this but she wanted to make sure he was okay. Or maybe she just wanted to see who was the lucky girl. So she found herself a seat, a little bit discrete yet enough to see him from where she sat.

Pulling out her new purchase, she decided to pass the time with some light reading, maybe getting herself comfortable with the world building in the book and get to know the main characters in the process. In between those moments, Y/N would peek above the book, particularly at the sight of that beautiful stranger from across the room.

Pages upon pages she drowned herself to the words of the author that she didn't notice how time flies passing the half an hour mark; and the cafe started to get more crowded and rowdier. Certainly, the amount of potent scents had were floating around her were slowly getting to her.

Y/N knew if she stayed a longer, she'd surely throw up whatever drink she just had. So, she decided to leave. But not before glancing at the alpha – who was still waiting for his date – for one last time, then she pulled the door open and walked away.

Certainly, that was supposed to be the last time she see him right? Nope. The universe proved her wrong when the man found a seat on the bench opposite her. With the same bouquet of flowers in his hands.

And at this point, she thought that this must be fate. There's no other explanation than this.

When she lowered her book again, she saw a white feline rubbing its head on Bucky's legs. It was too far to hear its voice but considering the amount of time its mouth open, Y/N figured it was meowing at him.

Probably to get his attention, or just wanted to comfort the alpha because just from the look of it, she knew he was stood up by his date. And Y/N was unexpectedly mad about it; maybe it was from personal experience or maybe it was just because she couldn't accept the fact that this fine, gorgeous, sweet alpha was being stood up.

Y/N watched how Bucky put away the flowers and scooped the cat onto his lap. He squinted his eyes at the ball of fur and spoke something. She hadn't had a clue what he said but it was probably along the lines, "Are you lost, little one?" He scratched its chin and neck while trying to see if it has a collar.

After so long of seeing that deep grumpy-looking frown on his face, Bucky finally graced her with another smile when the cat tried to rub its nose on his cheeks. Its whiskers tickled his nose and had trigger a laugh out of him.

God, Y/N had never been so desperate to be a cat in her life. She wanted to be that cat; sitting on his lap like she owns that place, making him smile and laugh like that. She wanted nothing more that to do so; to please him in a way that would make her own heart full.

Her daydream was cut short though, when a heavy scent of cigarettes and rum invaded her space. In fact it was so thick and potent, but considering the lanky alpha was sitting right next to her it was inevitable.

Y/N didn't want to be rude; because if she just walk away to find a different spot to sit at, then it would seem rude to the man. Her heighten sense of smell was to be blamed, not the man who was simply sitting next to her, enjoying the park as much as everybody else does.

So, she stayed.

But in those few minutes that she stayed, she might have re-adjust her mask a few times, as if it would help to lessen the scent. But, she did it anyway. And that was all she did. Yet somehow, it managed to rub the alpha in a wrong way.

"Ya got a problem with my scent, beta?" He snarled, clearly he was drunk. And a drunk alpha in the middle of the day was never a good sign.

Though she was relieved to know that the scent blockers worked just fine. Otherwise, she might push the alpha into a rut if he got even a single whiff of her scent.

The alpha growled as she put some space between them instead of answering his question. "Are you even listening to me?! Answer me, you dumb bitch!" His aggressiveness went from zero to hundred real quick when he yanked her by the hand, pulling her closer towards him.

Y/N's book fell from the force of his strength and she yelped in pain and fear. Though she usually know how to put up a brave face and fight back, but the sudden change of his action and emotion didn't gave her time to prepare her; mentally, physically.

With her omega tendencies on default, her body coward to his force and her voice tremble, "L-let me go!" She tried to twist her hand to escape but his grasp only grew stronger.

He pulled her to stand up, "You think a beta like you can look down on me? You and that omega are the same! Bunch of good for thing bitches. Gonna teach you a good lesson for disrespecting an alpha like me!" He roared with words of his drunken concerns, truth of his wounded ego.

Her blood pumped faster through her veins and her breaths increases behind her mask. When she saw his hand rose, Y/N shut her eyes, whimpering in fear as she turned her head away, waiting for the pain strike her but it never happened.

It between those short heavy breaths, she caught a whiff of Bucky's scent. And surely, it gave her the comfort she needed to calm down, guiding her to open her eyes and witness her saviour stopping the unhinged alpha's strike.

Then what happend next was so fast; the way Bucky forced him to release her, and the way the left of his gloved hand wrapped around the alpha's neck, choking the air out of his wind pipe.

Bucky growled something in the alpha's ear, but Y/N couldn't hear it over her own beating heart. She didn't need to, not when the pale look of the man's face says it all. As soon as Bucky loosen his grip, the other alpha stumbled backwards and made a run for his life.

That does tend to happened when Bucky was literally threatened to tear his limbs apart if he touch the woman ever again.

When the panic didn't die like Y/N hoped for, Bucky quickly came to her side; respectfully close while avoiding any sort of skinship. He whispered words of comfort and sweet nothings, "It's okay, you're okay. You're safe now."

His voice was like magic, especially when it managed to calm her so easily. Y/N can feel herself melting, like a marshmallow hovering over the flames; like an ice cream under the summer sun. She took a deep breath of his sweet scent and exhaled a long sigh, "Thank you. Thank you for that." she said.

Bucky bent down to pick up her book and patted the dust off, "It's no big deal, here." He handed the book. She gladly took it from his hand, gripping it tight to her chest.

Her head was still fuzzy from the rush of adrenaline, she couldn't think of a single coherent thought other than gratitude towards her saviour, "Yeah, thank you." She probably didn't even notice that she was talking to the alpha she was crushing on the whole day.

Looking at her shaken state, Bucky was worried of her, "Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

Y/N's mind didn't process his question fast enough to for a confident reply to form, "Huh? Yeah, of course. I'll be fine. Couple of deep breaths should do the trick."

"Are you sure?" Bucky was sceptical but she quickly assured him, "Absolutely!"

He nodded slowly as if she failed to convince him, yet he didn't want to push her too much, "If you say so..."

She let out a another long sigh and said, "Thank you again, really. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Bucky simply chuckled at her words, "You know, you've said 'thank you' way too many times now, doll. Plus, it is an utmost honor of an alpha to save a damsel in distress." He jest.

Which was quickly agreed by a mewl coming from his chest, "Meow!" Y/N didn't even notice the white cat nestling comfortably in his leather jacket, albeit it was zipped up until only its' head peeking out of the dark fabric.

"See? She agrees." Bucky shrugged as if the cat's opinion was the only valid opinion in this situation.

"I did say it a lot, did I?" Y/N cooed as she pet the cat on its' head, smiling at the softness of its' fur against her skin before looking back at the blue eyes of his, "Sorry." She instinctively apologized. 

Bucky shook his head and reminded her, "Don't be."

That was when Bucky's phone rang, a call from Steve, "Hey, you're here? Where are you? Oh there. Yeah, I can see you, punk. You don't need wave at me like that. Yeah, I'll be right there. Please don't let Sam join you. God stop that is fucking embarrassing." He muttered as he looked over how his friends were literally halfway out of the car window, waving at him like a bunch of kids.

Bucky snuck his phone back into his pocket and said, "I'd offer you a ride but the car's full with dumbasses and I wouldn't recommend a sweet thing like you to associate with them in any way."

He managed to pull a short laugh out of her, "Oh, no need to do so. I live close by. Don't need to worry about me just..." her trails stopped mid way.

Only for Bucky to continue with a question, "...Just??"

"Do you mind giving those to me?" Y/N pointed at the flowers in his hand. She knew he was contemplating to throw it away because he had been glancing at the trash way too many times at the first couple of minutes when he sat on that bench across from her.

Y/N noticed how his expression changed, he looked confused but didn't frown upon the idea. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she waited patiently for his respond. But he just continued to stare at her, almost blankly but not quite lost. It was as if he was mesmerized by something.

The silence was getting louder than the crowds surrounding them so she decided to explain, "You see, I've never received flowers from anybody before. So, I'm curious how it feels like to receive one." She tried to come up with excuses, though she was still telling the truth. No one she dated had ever gave her flower before, probably deeming it as old-fashioned.

But, she loves those old fashioned gesture the most.

Y/N saw how he hesitated when he stared at the bouquet, his face getting tense by the seconds. She recognize that expression, she knew right away he was holding back his feelings.

But it quickly shifted into a gentle smile, "Pretty flowers for the pretty lady." He whispered under his breath. Bucky didn't waste his time hesitating this time and handed the bouquet to her.

Though she was asking for it but she didn't expect him to really give it to her. This was the first time she ever got flowers from a man. An alpha that she was pretty much head over heels for nonetheless.

Letting her emotions unfiltered, "Thank you!" she squealed as she reach out her hand. As she brought the bouquet closer to her face, she pulled down her mask, inhaling the sweet fragrant of the soft pastel peonies.

Even if her lower face hidden behind the flowers, Bucky swore he saw a burst of sparkles beamed from her upon receiving those flowers. It fascinated him because he never knew that someone could be this happy just from getting such small gift, from a complete stranger he might add.

For a second there, he thought that he would've give her a whole garden of flowers just to see her shine like that again. It felt so good and somehow fulfilling to see her happy like this.

Y/N unknowingly smiled as she let herself lost in the intoxicating scent. And when her eyes fluttered open, a deep chuckle distracted her from the trance. Looking up, as he eyes peeking through the blooming flowers, she finally saw that endearing smile that she wanted to see.

But that wonderful fleeting moment didn't last long as she was hoping for when she heard a group of man shouting for the alpha, "Hey, loverboy! We have a birthday party to get to. Natasha would be pissed if we're late. Again!"

As Bucky shouted back his own sassy counter, Y/N's head was filled with thoughts of kissing him. She didn't particularly know why but she had the need to do it.

Why would she ever do this to a man – who probably currently thinking that she was a creep – that she barely knew?

Even with those unconscious questions, she found her body moved on its own.

When he turned around, Y/N was already on her tip toe, her face was so close to his, while her hand softly cupped his chubby cheeks. She pressed a tender kiss on one of the side soft sides and prayed to God that he couldn't hear how her heart was desprete to escape the confinement of her ribcage.

Y/N placed her mask back before pulling away, only to preen at how she managed to stun him into a red mess of shock, "Thank you for saving me, alpha." Her eyes curved as a sign of a smile before she turn around, almost running away.

She certainly didn't give him a chance to at least know her name, let alone get to know her.

Midway through her path, Y/N abruptly stopped and turned around, her eyes met his curious ones and her heart fluttered, "Thank you for the flowers! I love them!" she shouted with a wide smile on her lips and brightest expression of her face, even if it was blocked by the mask.

Though Bucky could probably translate her eagerness and sincerity from how animatedly joyful she was waving at him. He smiled as he watched the girl ran away with her small steps, almost resembling a hopping bunny.

As Y/N skipped her way home, her lips aches for more of the alpha's softness, her heart yearned for his comforting presense and her glands certainly burned for his mark. And even though she went home not knowing his name, or his contact number. She believed that if he was truly her fated mate, then they will surely meet again someday.

End.

Read my other works here: Masterlist

A/N: Thank you for loving this couple as much as I do, guys. I noticed a lot of you have been requesting chubby alpha!bucky ever since I first published the first one. So I hope you enjoyed this one. More to come from them. But meanwhile, drop your thoughts?

[yuri-is-online]

Soap Operatic Symphony (A Fyuuture Kid AU ft. Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia)

While camping in the mountains during Camp Vargas, you encounter a monster exactly like the one you fought off with Ace and Deuce at the beginning of the year. While trying to fight it off again, a strange portal opens up in the mine and a person jumps out of it to your rescue. He says he doesn't remember much, but it's clear when you bring him to Crowley that this boy is also from your world, despite being a mage, and until the headmage can think of a better solution, he assigns "Yutu" to your dorm.

Something a certain someone has an opinion about.

notes: yeah I have nothing to say for myself, I have other stuff I am supposed to be writing but this wrote itself ok? ok. Anyway this is a future kid au where your son has come back in time to try and prevent the end of the world but mostly to make sure you don't die. You can see this ask for a detailed explanation of what's up with Yuu and my masterlist for other fic. Oh and the other dorms can be found here.

Scarabia

In general, Jamil is going to be torn between being deeply suspicious of the entire situation and feeling like it's none of his business while Kalim is excited to meet a potential new friend.  How they act on those feelings changes depending on who Yutu is trying to interact with.

Kalim- anyone trying to get close to Kalim has to be watched obsessively by Jamil, and Yutu is no exception.  If anything the surveillance is worse due to the strange way he showed up, and Kalim doesn't like it but he understands.  For Yutu's part he seems really receptive to Kalim's efforts to befriend him, which is the furthest Kalim is going to think about it for a while, but he also notices the strange nostalgia and grief Yutu seems to feel when interacting with you and he really wants to help.  He's sure if Yutu would just talk about it, he could give him some good advice.  They get along really well!  But Yutu seems really reluctant to give out personal information… which Jamil really doesn't like. Kalim's sure he doesn't mean anything by it because of how apologetic he is! But he does sort of wonder if he's done something to make Yutu not feel safe around him... it makes him sort of sad.

Jamil- Once he got a look at that portal, Jamil realized that he didn't actually know what it looked like when you arrived at NRC.  He certainly remembers the mess Grim made, but not much about you beyond how confused you looked.  He'll have to ask about it sometime but for now, he's got questions.  Number one: who the fuck is this guy really?  His name isn't Yutu, he sure as shit isn't from your world, otherwise he couldn't be a mage, and his attitude towards you is just suspicious.  He has got to want something, and Jamil is torn between protectiveness of you and his adamant refusal to give himself anymore work.  It doesn't help that Yutu seems very apologetic to him specifically, he swears the kid seems to be apologizing for his entire existence.  It's weird, and he tells him to knock it off because it's not like he's his dad.  For some reason that just makes it worse.

Pomefiore

Vil- Epel is the one to tell him about the monster attack, the portal, and the strange protectiveness Yutu has towards Yuu.  That last thing doesn't bother him as much as you might expect, as soon as he learns that you're from the same world he thinks it's perfectly natural.  Admirable even.  The fake name and desire for privacy doesn't bother him either, as an actor both things seem normal to him.  What worries him is the idea that something very wrong is happening in the background that he doesn't know about, which he makes very clear to Yutu after sending Rook to distract you.  Yutu seems hesitant to trust him, and only offers vague warnings about making sure Yuu stays safe and keeping an eye on Grim.  Well now, they can both agree on that, and wouldn't it be easier if Yutu cooperated with him?  He's not going to take no for an answer.

Rook- Oh?  Ramshackle Dorm has a new member?  What a charming surprise!  He's sure this will lead to many new beautiful experiences.  And he's right!  Yutu is very beautiful, but there's something oddly familiar and yet… wrong about him.  Like he doesn't quite belong here, and not in the same way that you don't belong here.  He looks haunted, his interactions with you scream that he possesses (or to be more accurate used to possess) a relationship that can only have been built over several years.  But you clearly don't remember him, and there's a painful aura of grief in his interactions with you.  He also notices, with a great deal of joy, that the same grief is present when the little one speaks to him.  Just what could that mean? The hunter is in no rush, he'll find out what that means in time, for now he'll keep dropping in unannounced to test Yutu's reflexes. 

Side note: I don't speak French so I don't know if this would be the correct way to say it, but I like the idea of Rook's nickname for Yutu being Monsieur Caneton (Monsieur Duckling), because of how he follows Yuu around. Floyd's nickname I reserve the right to change depending on who Yutu's father is.

Epel- He starts off a hater, I am not going to lie.  Protecting you is something Epel takes a great deal of pride in; he wants to be seen as manly, as the protector, as someone who you think of as cool and trusts to provide for you.  So for a giant portal to open in the sky and drop a new guy determined to protect you from the monsters?  He hates it, he really does, and that's BEFORE Yutu starts living in Ramshackle Dorm.  He's determined to ignore him and not let him into the friend group, which proves impossible because of how Yutu follows you around so fine.  He can sit with you but ONLY IF he accepts that Epel was there first.  Something he's really surprised to see him do?  He should be more suspicious of why Yutu is constantly asking him for advice or acting like he's cool for being so possessive over you but well.  It's Epel he really wants to be seen as cool so he's just not going to think about it.

Ignihyde

Ortho- Ortho wasn't there to see the portal so he can't analyze it, but he can analyze Yutu!  And he immediately finds the Shroud family curse.  How curious, is this something he should tell his brother immediately?  Or should he skip the line and talk to their parents… decisions decisions but he doesn't have to wait for too long for an explanation.  Yutu explains himself pretty quickly when called out and Ortho is beyond excited to learn he's an uncle.  Less excited to learn about the impending apocalypse but he's sure they can fix it if they work together.  Now to double his efforts to get you and Idia together…

Idia- a second person has been isekaid to the NRC oh no.  Whatever will he do?  Well he intended to do nothing but Ortho isn't letting him.  For some reason he seems really determined to get him to hang out with you, almost like he knows about his crush he's been so good at hiding.  He can't complain too much, talking with you is weirdly soothing and much easier than he'd anticipated.  And Yutu's there too he guesses.  Sometimes they parallel play while Idia hangs out with you and that's nice.  It's sort of weird how in tune Yutu is with him though, sometimes he swears they could be related. A thought that Ortho is weirdly determined to encourage, and refuses to explain why... maybe he should be more worried about what anime little bro has been watching recently.

Diasomnia

Right so dragon biology is weird and our knowledge of half fae is very limited.  From how Sebek looks and how Malleus’s birth is discussed, I assume the eggs produced by love is exclusive to dragon fae and other species just get babies in the normal way.  All of that to say:

Malleus- Yutu is an oddity from the jump.  He looks very young, but insists he's around the same age as Yuu, and Malleus swears he feels his own magic is a part of him.  It's like a precious stone has grown some legs and started walking around and talking back to him.  He's a little bit in love, not the same way he's in love with Yuu, but much like a parent would think of a child… perhaps if they get closer he can offer him the night's blessing.  He does seem to be lacking it and that just won't do, something inside him says that needs to be fixed immediately.  Lilia questions him on whether or not he's jealous of how close the little one is to Yuu, which surprises him greatly.  Why would he be- well.  He does wish he could spend more time with Yuu but that sort of envy applies to everyone, not just Yutu.  And none of those guys are so unafraid of him to have made him a friendship bracelet so there. 

Lilia- a mage?  From Yuu's world?  How exciting!  He's very pleased to see how well he gets along with his boys and takes Sebek’s shouting in stride.  It's inspirational how quick he picks up on how gullible Sebek is and immediately starts telling-  well Lilia supposes he doesn't know they're outright lies but the scolding he gets from Yuu certainly suggests they are.  It's all very cute, and something he really wishes he could be a part of, but he knows his time is limited.  He'll just have to treasure these experiences while he's allowed them, something Yutu is very willing to help him do!  What a good kid, he'll have to tell him how proud his parents must be of him.

Silver- A portal, a monster, and a new mysterious person… it's concerning.  Something dangerous has got to be happening with how worried over you this new person is, his name is Yutu?  Weird but then his name is Silver so who is he to judge.  Anyway he introduces himself to Yutu and he asks why he came through the portal and… isn't really satisfied with his answers.  He doesn't think Yutu is a threat, not to Malleus anyway, but there's just something off about this whole thing and it's his task as a knight to make sure the people he loves are safe.  What's that?  Well of course you are one of those people.  You're very important and- why is Yutu looking at him like that.  He's telling the truth, what does he mean that makes it worse? Is it his face?

Sebek- Oh look another perfectly average human who is ok.  He guesses.  Not that he's thought extensively about you personally, only as a precaution to make sure you aren't disrespecting Lord Malleus, you get that right?  Him cornering Yutu with a strained look on his face and shouting at him about how to properly respect Lord Malleus is something he would do to anybody.  It has nothing to do with him assuming that if this person respects Lord Malleus they will be safe for "that human" to be around.  Unfortunately, Yutu is not just anybody and immediately starts yelling back accusing him of disrespecting you.  It's like there's two of them now, just with different biases, rip everyone's eardrums.

[balioc]

Oh, boy! It's Education Theory o'Clock again!

...I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. At some point, when I'm less busy and tired, I should probably try to write them up. Natively, I'm one of the school-is-a-nightmare-prison people, like so many others in this little discourse-sphere -- but I'm married to a middle school teacher, so I regularly encounter both the good arguments from the other side and the facts on the ground, and those things have altered my perspective somewhat.

But I am, in fact, busy and tired. So for now I'll just content myself with saying:

School is an institution that serves many, many, many purposes at the same time. A lot of those purposes are load-bearingly important. (A couple of years ago, I wrote this about college, and...it's double-plus true for primary and secondary schools.) If you don't try to account for all of that stuff in your theory of What School Is and How School Works, you will generate incoherent garbage thoughts. If you have a New Concept for school entailing top-down design that is optimized for a single function (like "increasing test scores" or "causing kids to love learning" or whatever), you'd better have a plan for how you're going to do all the other important things that schools do. And even if you think that some of those things aren't actually important or necessary, you'd better have a plan for dealing with all the people who disagree. Because...

-----

...school, as it exists today, is an inherently political institution. Both in the "soft" sense that everyone has strong opinions about what it's supposed to do and how it's supposed to work, and in the "hard" sense that it is actually controlled by democratically-accountable governments. (This is double-plus true in the US, where it is controlled by local governments, and therefore doesn't even have the protective insulation of a massive bureaucracy.) Everything about the way schools work is a compromise brokered amongst ideologues and self-dealers. Everything about the way schools work involves a lot of decision-makers trying not to get yelled at by the yelliest people around. If you're looking for elegant purpose-driven top-down design, you won't find it. You could probably make a case that any elegant purpose-driven top-down design would be better than the thing we actually have, but getting there would require finding a way to remove the political element.

-----

Most importantly: public schools are (1) compulsory, (2) universal, and (3) for children. [People who are legally children, anyway, whether or not they are actual children in whatever sense matters to you.]

This means that they cannot let students leave, and they have to keep control of all the students that they aren't allowing to leave.

In the most literal not-a-judgment-but-a-fact sense, they are indeed prisons. They are coercively keeping people inside. They have to do that thing, as per their most fundamental mandate within the current system. The alternatives involve letting kids run around unsupervised, and/or failing to give some kids even the most cursory kind of education, and those things are absolute non-starters under present conditions.

All the normal institutions-for-adults operate on the principle of -- If you really don't want to be here, you can leave, and deal with whatever consequences there may be for leaving. This is not an option for schools, and that fact accounts for...everything.

Classroom structure is built around the necessity of keeping the most-hostile, least-engaged student in the class present and supervised, and then trying to prevent him from disrupting things for everyone else. Because the obvious solution that any other institution would use -- "just cut him loose, he doesn't want to be here and we don't want him here" -- isn't available.

(I once talked to my wife about the rationed bathroom access thing, which is one of the most flagrant nightmare-prison aspects of the school experience. Her response was, "If you let kids use the bathroom whenever they want, as much as they want, then you don't have mandatory universal education anymore. Some of them will never return to the classroom, because they don't want to be there." Which is...obviously true.)

So you have something that replicates many of the features of prison, because it has to accomplish the same basic tasks that prison accomplishes. Yay, Foucault.

[sagencelestient]

Love in the Storm

⋆☆.⭒.~~Genre: Smut!

afab!virgin!reader x dom!Scaramouche (Not wanderer, but they're basically the same person)

⋆☆.⭒.~~Warnings: Fingering(?), Giving head, Intercourse, and some degradation

-⋆☆.⭒.~⋆☆.⭒.~⋆☆.⭒.~⋆☆.⭒.~⋆☆.⭒.~⋆☆.⭒.~-

You definitely didn’t think this was how you were going to spend the night. You listened to howling winds and the absolute pouring rain that was outside the small cave you and Scaramouche found. The storm didn’t show any signs of stopping, so you and him were definitely going to be stuck in here for some time.

The fact that you thought that everything was going to be fine too! You and Scaramouche were paired up for a mission before all this happened… Well, the only thing you can do is to wait it out.

You were very ill-prepared for this, as your bag had a limited amount of food, and the clothes you were currently wearing weren’t the best choice for the rapidly dropping temperatures of the cave. And with no means to light a fire, your only choice was to pace in circles to try and conserve as much heat as you can.

“My god, COULD YOU STOP WALKING AROUND?!” Scaramouche chided, “Your footsteps are getting annoying. Just sit still. Are you really that pathetic as to not even be able to stay still for a few minutes?”

“I’m just trying to keep warm, okay!?” You shot back at him. The cold was getting on your nerves, and he would soon be too.

You continued to walk around, ignoring what he said earlier.

“When’s this rain going to be over anyway? This is wasting my time. And you’re making the time pass by slower!” 

“So then? Help me find a way to warm up without moving! We can’t make a fire or anything, and I don’t have any spare blankets! So what do you expect me to do? Cuddle with you or something?!” You retorted.

“I wouldn’t touch you with a metre-long stick, you know,” Scaramouche spat out.

Suddenly, an idea popped into your head on how to warm up. Maybe you should try to get him to cuddle with you. You begin to walk toward him, before throwing yourself at him, wrapping your arms around his neck, and sitting on his lap.

“Hey- What are you-” Scaramouche spluttered, turning a bit red, “Get off of me!”

“Nah. Since you didn’t give me any more ideas, this is my solution.” You said while smirking. 

Though you did notice that he wasn’t any warmer than the cave you were in, but you weren’t gonna give him the satisfaction of getting off of him, so you stayed put.

Surprisingly, he didn’t make any attempts to shove you off of him, so that was a good sign. You two stayed like that for a few moments— you hugging him, and him being frozen in place, before you noticed something poking at you.

So you unwrapped your arms around his neck to look down and confirm your suspicions.

“You- you’re kidding me right?” You said in disbelief, “How can you have a- a that right now?!”

“...I told you to get off of me.”

An unbearable silence stretches out for a couple of moments. What could you even say in this situation? Well… you could hel- no. Who knows how Scaramouche will react to that? He may be disgusted and never interact with you again! You don’t want that!

But maybe it’s worth a shot..? Maybe? Might as well ask, right?

“So, um, do you… need help with that?” You asked, stumbling over your words a bit.

“What did you just say?” Scaramouche asked, sounding amused. While he was saying that, you noticed a smirk appearing on his face.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Was he mad? Was he into this? 

“Hm? What’s that look on your face for?” he whispered into your ear, “You were the one that asked that, you know?”  

You feel his breath against you and you start feeling warm. Very warm. You suppose your “method” of warming up worked after all.

“Hmm? Cat got your tongue?” He teased.

After a couple of seconds, you respond.

“W- would you like help or not?” You manage to get out. You could feel your face flushing up with embarrassment as you mutter out those words.

“Well,” he responded, “since it is your fault-”

“I guess I should then,” You interrupt, hopping off of his lap, and onto the ground.

“Desperate, aren’t you? Worried I’d change my mind?” 

You ignore his mockery as you move in front of him, staring at the bulge he had.

It was right there… right there…

You look up at him, waiting for him to give you any sign of permission.

“Go ahead, I’m waiting,” he responded, looking down at you.

You sheepishly begin to move your hand to the waistband of his pants, pulling it down, and freeing his dick from its confines.

You experimentally put your hand on it, and stroked. Scaramouche tensed slightly as you did that, and you scootched a bit closer to him to be able to do what you were about to do. 

You held it close to your mouth, giving it a kitten lick.

“Hurry up! We don’t have all day!”

You scoffed at that, “We most certainly do, considering outside has gone to shit right now,” 

You still decided to indulge him though, putting the tip in your mouth, and sucking. He inhaled sharply at that, thrusting his hips a bit. You’re only able to get in a few more inches before you start to gag a bit. Scaramouche didn’t disappoint in that aspect. You wrap your hands around the parts that weren’t encased in your mouth, and you start to slowly bob your head up and down on it.

He groaned at the sensation of you sucking him off, gripping your hair ever so slightly. You continued on, doing the best you can. Suddenly, he thrusted hard, his dick hitting the back of your throat, causing you to gag.

He continued to basically throat-fuck you, while you were trying your best to multi-task trying to breathe, and trying to suck Scaramouche off, and make him feel good.

“Breathe through your nose, dear,” he said.

You glared at him as if trying to say: “Thanks a lot, genius, didn’t know that.”

Scaramouche kept on thrusting in your mouth, and at some point, his thrusts got sloppier.

Oh shit, he was about to cum, wasn’t he?

And with a final snap of his hips, he did, filling your mouth with the warm sticky liquid. You removed your mouth from his dick, wiping the sticky fluid off of your lips with your tongue and swallowing it down.

“Satisfied now?” You asked.

“Well yes, but there is one more thing you could do…” Scaramouche said, his eyes glinting slyly, but you hear a tinge of hopefulness in his voice.

“Oh? Like what?”

He glanced down at his dick, before looking at your… area.

You burned at the realization of what he meant.

“I- W-What?!” You stammered, “You can’t be serious, right?”

He shrugged, “Well if you don’t wanna, we won’t.”

“Well, I do.”

A look of surprise materialized on Scaramouche’s face.

“What?” You said, “ I sucked you off a few minutes ago, why not go all the way?”

He smiled mischievously at you, “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to accept so fast. Were you waiting all this time for this opportunity, just to have sex with me?”

“Wh- what?! No!” you say, caught off-guard by the question, though you could already feel a wet patch forming.

“Really?” he hummed, reaching towards the hem of your pants. 

You put your hand on his, and pull it down, revealing your panties. He smiles, and notices the wet patch forming down there.

“Wet already? Are you sure you weren’t waiting for the opportunity?” he teased with a smirk, before sitting you on his lap and moving his hand closer to your pussy.

You felt him touch it, and it sent shivers down your spine. 

“Is it your first time?” He questioned.

“W- well…” you trail off, “it is. I- I haven’t really lost my virginity yet…”

Right as you said that, your breath hitched. You felt him slide his fingers onto your panties, massaging your pussy from the outside. It was slow at first, but he began gradually speeding up. He then moved up to your clit, and your breath hitched again. Was it… supposed to feel this good…? Not only that, but his other hand was busy fondling your breast. His touch was so light and soft, yet rough at the same time. It felt like heaven. His pace quickened on your pussy, as he sensed that you were about to release.

“S- Scara! I- I’m going to-” you start, but you quickly feel the sensation that you were just feeling leaving, as quick as it came.

You look down, and you notice that he had removed his hand from the surface of your panties. His fingers were covered in your slick, even though he hadn’t touched under. You look at him in a mix of disappointment and longing. 

“Why? Why’d you stop?” you ask, desperate for him to continue.

He smiles.

“If you want me to continue, dear, you better beg for it,” Scaramouche answered, whispering in your ear.

“B- beg?” you asked.

“Get on your knees, take off your panties, open your legs, and tell me how much you want me,” Scaramouche directed, “and tell me how long you’ve been waiting for this moment. And don’t lie. I know you’ve been waiting for a while, darling!”

“Wh- I- I can’t-” you stammered, noticing a bulge appearing in his pants once again.

“Your choice.”

You are unsure what to do. It’s so embarrassing, doing something like that. But at the same time, you could feel the heat building up down here. It was throbbing. You need some relief right now, and the answer to your troubles was right there, in front of you. 

You gulped, swallowing your pride, as you obeyed. Your panties drop to the floor, and you lay down, opening up your legs so Scaramouche could see how wet you were for him. 

“P- please… Scaramouche, I need you…” you beg, “I- I was waiting for this moment for so- so long, I’ve always wanted you, so- so please, put it in me…”

You were obviously desperate, and so he pulled down his pants and boxers, revealing his hard dick once again. You wondered if all of it would even be able to fit. It’s big, to say the least. He comes closer to you, placing his tip right at your entrance.

“What a whore!” he laughed, “But so cute too… since you’re being good, I’ll give you a gift.”

It hurt at first. Only at first. Your eyes widened as his length slowly penetrated your pussy, taking your virginity in the process. You needed a moment to catch your breath, trying to get used to the feeling of his cock inside you. After you adjusted to the feeling, slowly, you motioned to him to start moving. 

He started off slow, of course, allowing you to enjoy the feeling of his cock slipping in and out of you. He then leaned over, entangling his hand in your hair, and started kissing you. His lips were so soft, yet he was violent with it. Your tongues intertwined as your saliva mixed, and strung out when you pulled apart. As he thrusted into you, a hand of his was playing with one of your soft boobs and his mouth was sucking all over your neck, sure to leave marks the next day.

“You look so hot right now…” Scaramouche muttered under his breath, “I love you so much, y/n.”

You moaned as Scaramouche quickened his pace. You felt as if you were going to cum. Desperate to reach your high, you grinded onto him as well, getting a little bit of extra stimulation to send gooey white liquid out of you.

“C- cum inside…” you say, right as Scaramouche follows, releasing his warm seed into you. You could feel it filling you up, as your eyes roll back in pleasure. You were barely able to think, yet you were still longing for more.

“A- ah… It’s all inside,” you say, weakly, “I- I think you can… do it… harder this time, since I kinda k- know what to expect now,” you mouth, barely making a noise.

But Scaramouche heard you, and he was glad to give you what you wanted. After all, you were such a good girl today, just for him.

⋆☆.⭒.~La Fin!~⋆☆.⭒.

[sanshofox]

At this point I am really wondering how the entertainment industry, especially gaming industry, is going to uphold/maintain themselves.

One layoff after another. How are people from that industry supposed to find a new job there when layoffs are happening everywhere? Do studios really think there’s longevity when they aren’t even willing to hire newcomers/juniors so there‘s adequate supply in the work force? Because look at how it’s currently going: investors want more and more money, the workload increases, but people are getting fired, leaving a smaller team to do said work, even distributing them for 2 or 3 projects at the same time, only to crash in a burnout or in later years go into retirement. Then who’s left? AI? Are you kidding me? As if games aren’t becoming more and more repetitive anyway, because of some „safe recipe for good numbers“ strategy. Creativity and the people behind it are suffering.

It’s been almost 2 years since I saw a junior 3D character artist offer. Ever since then it’s been a desert. And it’s not looking all too bright in other departments either. It’s now even a thing in job descriptions where they want you to have „AI abilities“. So as a junior or regular they want you to feed their machine, so in a few years they can fire you. The audacity.

Another audacity are those layoffs just to rehire people for a smaller price (can’t tell me otherwise. For me this is a tactic to put pressure on the work force to say yes to less money otherwise they will stay jobless). People that made projects what they are today, who are seniors and leads for a reason, out of a job just like that. Make it make sense (it doesn’t).

Studios like ubisoft now openly saying that they want to focus on AI, like assets completely made by AI to „save time and money“ and expand AI onto more fields. Shame on them.

The way creative industries like gaming finance themselves is also their biggest poison. And I only see a solution in that by regulating investors demands and upper positions sheaningans. They can’t have „absolute power“ anymore. It’s destructive and greedy and not realistic. Games can not be linearly successful. For the game design „recipe“ to improve it needs iteration just like when you work in a project for example and work on a design that needs to be iterated until it‘s improved or solid even. We see time and time again that „business/numbers people“ and creatives do not go hand in hand. We see an extreme imbalance.

I would predict that with less creative new input and letting mainly AI do the work consumers will be less and less entertained because everything seems to be and look the same. It will stagnate. And then crumble. And the industry needs to start like it did before. And that’s what I guess for the big companies.

With the layoffs happening and not enough job offers in return I could see that big talents get together to build their own studios now and we may get an era of new successful and growing studios happening that may even replace the current triple A studios one day in the future. They may even change the financing game. We saw successful games happening through platforms like kickstarter more often. So it might lead back to a „power to the people“ thing. Having an idea for a project and seeing if enough people agree and invest to see it happening. There’s room for improvement in that system. That’s all what it leads back to; in the end the consumers need to be satisfied to make it a creative and monetary success. BG3 and larian studios was a good example for that. It’s what made coral island grow and grow too. So there‘s potential.

Feel free to comment your theories. I really would like to see what others think about the current state of gaming studios and how it will or could develop.

[musclesandhammering]

And another thing-

All of the little details about OB just break my fucking heart, like

-him being so excited to see Mobius again even though the only interaction he ever had with him was Mobius accidentally showing up in his workshop once and then immediately leaving

-it being 400 years since his last visitor

-when Loki asked past!Ouroboros if he could call him OB and he says “OB? I like that :)” because he was happy that someone would want to give him a nickname

-him explaining what the TVA guidebook was after realising that no one in the group had ever read it and then quietly saying “I wrote it myself.”

-him saying “it’s great being part of a team :)” after explaining that he takes care of all the engineering stuff for everybody and no one ever interacts with him, and then hopefully asking “how’s the team doing up there?” like he’s sort of desperately trying to reassure himself that he is, in fact, important and a part of the team

-in one of the tube things in his workshop (I think this is in the credits sequence) there’s just a moldy banana and the work slip says it’s from a hunter, which maybe sort of implies that the hunters play mean jokes on him :(

-there’s also a prop poster on his floor that says sending inappropriate notes, live animals, and some other stuff down in the tubes is prohibited, which implies he’s had that happen enough times to make a poster about it. Which also implies the other workers just like to mess with him

-the fact that he seems to be the only TVA worker that didn’t have his memories wiped- which could mean he’s some all powerful being or something- but I’m pretty sure it just means that even Kang didn’t find him significant enough to brainwash, and he probably knew OB stayed alone in the basement all the time anyway so there was no chance of him blowing the ruse

-the way that all the other people at the TVA (even B-15 and Mobius) had to be convinced that pruning people was bad, but when OB mentioned deleting a bunch of timelines and B-15 said “that would kill all those people, we can’t do that.” he immediately just agreed and said he’d find another solution

-Mobius asking how tf he’s supposed to hoof it in that suit and OB saying “You have to!!” Like he has no reason to care about Mobius dying but he does

-there are “Danger!!! Maximum radiation!!!!” signs all over the walls of the loom room or whtvr but OB’s office is just like… feet from it. And he stays in there all the time. And no one seems to care ?

-how he was just so solemn and frantic and emotional throughout the whole astronaut Mobius scene, when again, none of that should even matter to him. The only thing he needs to do is close the loom door- all this fixing Loki business is extraneous.

I just love him. He has so much heart, he has such a big personality. And we’ve only known him for like 50 minutes so far 😭. I require this show to end with a found family, and I require Ouroboros to be part of it. He deserves friends, damn it!!

[kangaracha]

QUEENMAKER | CHAPTER 11

---

pairing chan x reader

genre ninth member au, enemies to lovers, angst, fluff, coming of age, social media, cancel culture, anxiety, depression, forbidden love,

summary To JYPE, the solution is simple; take the sole trainee that will not debut with your brand new girl group, and use her to replace the missing vocalist in your male group that insisted on starting as nine.

Unfortunately, to the fans and the members themselves, it isn't that simple.

status ongoing

taglist OPEN

a/n getting kicked out my house this week, got a new job, blah de blah. here's a chapter. oh, and a shameless self promotion, go read my skzflix fic leave? pretty please? it aint my finest work but i promise it's good?

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The door is already open when you arrive, inviting you inside. Like someone had known exactly when you'd gotten in the elevator, or sensed the moment you stepped foot in their hallway. Or this was just how they lived, the door open to invite each other in and out, though that didn't seem likely. You shut it behind you when you enter anyway, the creak and slam of the heavy door loud enough to alert the occupants of the apartment to your presence.

The sound of Changbin shouting over someone follows, drowning out the noise of the door. Everything is normal, then. 

The short hall by the front door is empty except for a pile of scattered shoes - you add yours to the line as you pass through, glimpsing a group of the boys sitting on a couch at the other end. It feels weird to stand there and see them at the other end, the way they've been for years before you came; your empty hands feel awkward, and your feet are too soft against their floorboards, and the closer you get, the more rowdy they become, their eyes so fixed to some game they're playing on the TV that they don't even notice you slipping into the room. You pause for a moment, listening to them howl as their game characters slip off the screen, and then continue on your way to the kitchen, your fingers twisting together restlessly before you.

Chan and Minho are there, sequestered away from the chaos erupting in the other room while they move between the benchtop and the stove, avoiding each other in a way that seems practised. The air is filled with the smell of food cooking, the steam rising from the bubbling pot on the stove warming the air in the small kitchen. Chan turns as he sees you out of the corner of his eye, smiles, and then points back towards the other boys.

"Out," he says, in a voice that brooks no argument; and you'd almost think that you'd broken some rule, except for the grin that eats at his face, amused at himself without even trying.

You stop in the doorway, hovering between the two groups. "I was just going to see if you needed any help," you say.

"Nope," he answers. "You're not allowed in here. Go and sit down."

You pull a face, one that must be funny if Minho glances away, a smile struggling to break through the blank face he's trying to pull. "I already physically kicked Felix out of here," Chan adds, a wooden spoon brandished in the air in warning. "I'll do it to you too."

Your hands come up, your feet backing out of the doorway, and yet, you can't help but laugh. You're feeling...relaxed, here, in a way you haven't since leaving Midnight those two months ago. Maybe it's because you'd spent those months grinding away at what seemed like an insurmountable hill of work, maybe because in the last week, the days that had passed since you'd walked home with Han and Chan, things had suddenly become easier within this group. The reason doesn't matter, you suppose, only that you know now that he's joking, and that it's something you can laugh at. That he's included you in the same joke he's used on Felix.

"Hey, hey, hey," a voice says behind you. "Watch where you're going. You have enough trouble walking forwards."

You turn on your heel, already rolling your eyes at the shit-eating grin on Seungmin's face. Funny, how easy it  to fall into cameraderie with him once you've broken the ice between you; only a day ago, it'd still felt like you weren't much more than acquaintances, until you'd made the decision to fall over on the way to their shared vocal lesson, the only thing Seungmin had ever reached out to offer to you.

Well, made the decision is a stretch. Falling over is too. You'd only stumbled over the sidewalk, and you certainly hadn't planned to make a fool of yourself. Maybe the story that Seungmin was selling was so convincing it was starting to affect your memory. He wasn't mean about it at least, for all that he was known to pretend to be mean when the opportunity arose; if anything, the last few hours of him spreading increasingly wild tales and the others relaying them back to you had been fun. Something different than the usual grind of your days, a joke that might stick around longer than the few minutes in which it's being laughed at.

In this moment, you stand up a little bit straighter and hope that your cheeks don't turn red. "I'm great at walking," you posture, and then struggle not to laugh at how preposturous you sound, your lips fighting against you as they curve into a smile. Something to work on, maybe, if you wanted to compete with his and Minho's deadpan humour. 

"Except for the part where you hit the concrete," Seungmin says, unaffected by the way your eyes crease and your mouth splits in two. "Then you're really bad at walking."

"I tripped," you insist, and you move forward as if to slide past him to get to the couch that the others sit on. He falls in beside you without hesitation rather than letting you pass by, a ghost at your side. "I wasn't even close to falling."

"Everyone says that you fell though," Seungmin insists. "You think everyone would lie?"

"I think you would lie when you told everyone else the story."

Grinning, Seungmin strides out in front of you, leading the way around the couch so that he can stand right in front of the TV. "Move up," he tells Felix, who sits at the end of the couch, neck craned to watch the game the others are playing around Seungmin. 

His eyes slide from Seungmin to you, trying your best to stay out of the way despite having been dragged into mischief. "Y/N," he says, shifting over and patting the seat next to him. "You wanna sit here?"

A smile spreads out across your face. "I do," you reply, and slide past Seungmin to fit yourself in the small space he manages to make beside him. "Thanks."

"You said you would save my seat," Seungmin says, pointing a finger at Felix, who waves him out of the way. He sits on the arm of the chair instead, balancing precariously as he pulls out his phone.

"They kicked you out of the kitchen as well?" Felix asks sympathetically, one eye on the TV and the other on you.

You nod. "I was just going to see if they needed help."

"Yeah," Felix sighs. "I'm not even bad at cooking."

"I'm banned from the knives," Seungmin puts in without looking up.

You glance at him, staring intently at his phone. "Why isn't that surprising?" you question.

"Because he's Seungmin," Felix puts in. "Same way I know he's lying about seeing you fall over."

Seungmin sighs. "I didn't fall," you say, before he can decide which lie to seed this time. "I tripped. I didn't fall."

"It's no fun if none of you believe me," Seungmin grouses.

The game on the TV finishes with a fanfare that fills the whole room, drowned out only by the racous cries of cheating from the boys playing it. The sound makes you wince, leaning away from them; Felix's hands come up to cover his ears, his cry for help also disappearing under the noise they make. You wouldn't be surprised if the neighbours were doing the same thing, or marching towards their door with pitchforks in hand. How do they even have neighbours, when they're capable of noise like that?

"They're going to get complaints again," Seungmin says, like he'd been reading your mind. 

"Hey, hey! Hey!" a voice calls over the noise, and you turn in unison to see Chan's head poking out of the door, the wooden spoon waving in his hand once again. "No yelling!"

"I'd say he looks like he's our dad, but he just kind of looks unhinged," Felix comments, only his eyes and the blonde hair that tufts up on top of his head peeking up over the back of the couch. The rest of him has slid down out of Chan's sight, like if he hides, he won't get caught up in whatever trouble the others are causing.

"He looks like my grandfather," Seungmin adds as the older boy disappears, making no effort to hide at all. "He was crazy too."

Felix grins, wild and wolfish. "He just keeps getting older."

"It's so sad he's going to die so soon," Seungmin agrees.

The noise dies down, the game switched back to a more neutral home screen as boys wander off this way and that. Felix shifts over, enough that you can give Seungmin a space on the couch - you think, for a moment, about making him go around to the other side, but Changbin is still sitting there, looking peacefully unbothered by whatever chaos Seungmin is surely capable of unleashing and it's much easier to just shift over and let him slump down in the corner than to set him off. It disturbs Changbin anyway, somehow; as Seungmin sits down, he sits up straight, leaning around Felix to look at you.

"Hey, Y/N," he says, drawing your attention over to him. "Where were you this morning? I didn't see you in the practise rooms."

"She left the room?" Felix questions, turning to stare at you like such a thing is unheard of.

"I was there for three hours," Changbin confirms, "and I didn't see her at all."

"I was tired," you say, trying to ignore the feeling of your cheeks turning red, "so I slept in. And I left the room twice today, actually. I went to a vocal lesson with him."

Seungmin nods as your thumb jabs towards him. "She won't be dancing tomorrow either. She fell over on the concrete."

You don't even think twice about reaching over to push him off the couch. It catches him so off-guard that he actually does fall, sliding right onto the carpet and staring up at you in disbelief. The other boys howl with laughter, loud enough that you glance back at the kitchen door to check if Chan is coming back.

"I'm glad you took the morning off," Felix says warmly, ignoring whatever Seungmin mutters under his breath as he drags himself up off the floor. "We've all been worried about you."

"So I've been told," you say. "I promise, I know what I'm doing."

"I trust you," Felix says, and there's a glint in his eye that says he's telling the truth. It warms you to your core, just as sitting here surrounded by these boys does, and the sound of Minho's voice calling for Seungmin from the kitchen. It's nice, to come into the middle of their group away from the stage or the dance floor and feel like you're just in the midst of friends, somewhere where you belong. It's nice to see how they live. You hadn't let yourself see this before, too tied down to practise and the dream they've achieved that you're still chasing.

"Seungmin-ah! Come and help!" Minho calls again, and then he can be seen at the door, waiting with an unnerving kind of patience. You're not sure if the smile on his face is supposed to be encouraging or threatening, and you don't really want to find out; mostly, you're just kind of glad that he's not calling for you.

Seungmin isn't bothered by it, dragging himself off the couch with a sigh that reverberates through the room. "Coming, old man," he calls across the room, and ignores the double take that Felix does beside you, his eyes growing wide. 

"Ai-e," Changbin says, the sound whistling through his teeth. "Is he crazy?"

"You want to go in the oven?" Minho questions as Seungmin crosses the room.

"You'd have to get me in it first," Seungmin says, and then yelps as Minho's arm wraps around his neck, dragging him into the kitchen in a headlock. 

"He's going to die," Felix says gleefully. 

"Winning the bet was not worth it," you agree, your eyes still on the empty doorway to the kitchen. No one emerges except Chan, holding a pot of whatever they've cooked for dinner and looking disturbingly peaceful despite the chaos he has just left behind.

TAGLIST

@kokinu09 @rainfallingfromthesky @lixie-phoria @mysweethannie @chlodavids @hanniemylovelyquokka @tfshouldidohere @lauraliisa @puppysmileseungmin @kalopsian-thoughts @puppy-minnie @readerofallthingss @dvbkie099 @kthstrawberryshortcake-main @acker-night @d-chagi @lynlyndoll @borahae-reads @ihrtlix @yienmarkk @minhwa @i2innie @jinnie-ret @conwunder @amesification @starssongs98 @weirdhumanbeinglol @morinuu @the-weird-mold-in-the-sink @bokkiesplace @amyyscorner @jiisungllvr @skzstaykatsy @blackhairandbangs @jungkookies1002 @hyuuukais @imsiriuslyreal @thatonedemigodfromseoul @gini143 @mercurywritesstuff @splat00z @filmbypsh @palindrome969 @crabrangoongirl25 @enzos-shit @jabmastersupriseee @kayleefriedchicken @slutfortits @duhgurl @cheshireshiya @worcesheshestershiresauce @defnotfertilizedtoesw @rensahazard @greyyeti

[genericpuff]

Lore Olympus Episode 265 Betrays the Series' Own Messages of Consent

I've been keeping it on the down low lately with new episodes of LO, both for the sake of my mental health and because LO itself has just become so... pointless and boring. There's only so much to say when nothing is happening, and in that regard, I will preface this with a "congratulations" towards Rachel, because she's finally found a way to best the "haters" - make the comic so boring that there's nothing worth talking about to begin with.

At first glance I thought this was going to be another one of those episodes. Good job, Rachel, you managed to pad out another episode with pointless fluff to get you closer to that looming end date. Just keep dragging, just keep dragging, just keep dragging-

But the longer I sat on it, and read the comments and posts about it in discussion circles, the more I've realized that this episode in particular has a load of issues that I don't feel good just sitting on and not talking about. Primarily because, over the course of about 90% of this episode's length, we see Lore Olympus - and Rachel - slyly undo everything that ever mattered in its subtext about consent, healthy relationships, and strong communication.

Granted, Lore Olympus has never exactly been the poster child for those things, but it's trying to be, so we're going to dissect it with an equal amount of scrutiny. It wants to be taken seriously, so I'm going to take it seriously and criticize it seriously.

CONTENT WARNING: EPISODE 265 SPOILERS AHEAD, AS WELL AS DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, MENTAL HEALTH, GROOMING, AND SYMPTOMS OF MANIA, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Episode 265 opens with an attempt at plot progression, returning to Morpheus who, last we checked, had been targeted by Kronos as the cliffhanger for Episode 259 before being shoved aside entirely for multiple episodes worth of Demophoon, pool-fucking, and a vision from Hera.

Honestly, I won't waste my 30 image limit on the episode's opening sequence because it accomplishes absolutely nothing. And by the time it starts to try and state what that goal is, it transitions away, because Rachel has the attention span of a squirrel on meth and having Morpheus state what her plan is would just be too much dedicated writing for her at this point, she needs another week at least to figure it out.

So instead we get exactly what was promised in the FastPass previews - the entire episode is spent, yet again, on Hades and Persephone, with the exact same topics, conclusions, and terrible sex as the pool scene.

Seriously, this might be a nitpick, but I'm so tired of Persephone not being allowed to swear. We've seen other characters swear. We've even had Kronos call her a "dumb fucking bitch". But this "girlboss" character who we're supposed to believe has "agency" can't be allowed to swear even when they're in an ACTUALLY STRESSFUL SITUATION? You know purity culture isn't exclusive to sex, right, Rachel? If you're gonna deconstruct it, maybe don't have the poster child of that deconstruction be relegated to a church girl? She's literally the Queen of the Underworld - adjacent to the ruler of Hell - let her fucking swear LMAO

Anyways, we see very quickly that Persephone is still feeling the ill effects of her anxiety that she was feeling in the last episode. Anxiety that, by the way, caused her to pass out. Please keep that in mind, don't let it escape.

And what is she stressing over? The genocide? The fact that they still don't have an actual solution to the ongoing "plague"?

Nah. The sleep dive. She's stressing over her husband doing the sleep dive again and - like last time - turning into a dad-possessed monster.

As always, the fear and anxiety is in no way linked to the actual devastation happening outside - it's just concern for the main male lead, because that's all Persephone's character and thoughts and opinions and "agency" can revolve around.

But uh. Remember that scene where Hades got possessed by Kronos and literally strangled her? Remember that scene I just asked you to keep in your brain about her panic attacks getting so bad she's been passing out?

Hello? No? Okay. Next.

I hate, I loathe, I detest this dialogue. Not because it's cliche as fuck - it is - but because the whole "I trust you, it's just xyz I don't trust" shit has been overplayed and debunked as a plausible response in relationship communication for years now.

We talked about this back during our discussion of Leuce - how it shouldn't matter if Persephone doesn't trust Leuce because ultimately Leuce can't do anything to her or Hades' relationship if it's built on as much "trust" as she claims it is, trusting Hades is all that should matter full stop - and it repeats itself here, albeit with Hades' dad instead of his canon first wife. This is a copout. Relationships actually built on trust can definitely still be worried about the issues posed by other people, but if you trust your partner, if you truly trust your partner, that's it. That's where the sentence ends. No shit you don't trust Kronos, we've been over this song and dance multiple times before and while he's definitely a bigger real threat than Leuce, your distrust for Kronos has nothing to do with how you're communicating with your partner who knows there's likely no other way and a solution has to be found. Nothing's being accomplished at this point from Persephone moping around and having sex with her husband, and he's showing 10x more initiative in actually finding a solution - even if it means putting his own safety at risk - than Persephone.

I didn't edit any of that, those are the legit real panels. Literally what the fuck is this dialogue, my tinfoil hat theory about LO being written by ChatGPT is becoming more and more plausible and I hate that, my crackpot theories shouldn't actually become reality.

Is there an owl in here?

LO is just spinning its wheels over the exact same conversation and points that have already been made. Nothing is being accomplished here, it's just more moping and going over the same problems - the centre of which being "what about H x P's relationship?? :(((("

All of that repetitive meandering and moping for "okay fine but if anything feels weird, get out" "okay". It, again, accomplishes nothing that couldn't have been accomplished during the pool scene.

And now we get this line. "I experienced greed in that way, and you do not possess it." Don't be alarmed if you were confused, I was confused too, as were many people in the discussion circles. Thanks to the ULO Discord, I realized she was talking about Apollo. She's literally comparing him to Apollo.

"After all this time, I can't comprehend you causing me harm. I've been at the receiving end of harm so I would know" is literally all she's trying to say. And even with it translated... I don't really like the implications of it at all. This has been a problem since S1, but there's always been this subtext in LO that because Hades didn't rape her, that somehow makes him less abusive or a better partner for Persephone than Apollo, that's all the SA has really been trying to achieve.

But Hades is abusive. He's intentionally pursued women who are in a crisis. He's trapped women in financial dependency. He's sabotaged women from having power and status on the same level as him.

And now, we're about to see actual abuse from Hades - the subtle kind that demands co-dependency, but is still abuse, full stop - but it's being framed as "romantic".

"Being an Originals creator was my big chance to prove myself, and I flopped"- wait sorry I misread. We're talking about Persephone failing at being Queen. Yeah, she definitely flopped. And it goes to show her true intentions in wanting to be Queen, now that she's hit rock bottom and isn't putting on a brave PR face - she wanted to become Queen not to make the Underworld a better place, not to be an example of being a better ruler among a gallery of scumbags, but to "prove" that she could belong and be one of the big guys, that she could be more than just a cereal box mascot.

Don't get me wrong, I can absolutely get wanting to rise above the odds and "prove" to everyone that you can be more than people's perceptions of you, but becoming the literal ruler of a realm that you then go on to destroy due to your own hubris, just to whine and cry about it and have your husband and your colleagues and your friends carry the burden of that destruction on your behalf... therapy would have been a better first step to overcoming those insecurities, not taking control over the lives of innocent people.

Especially when Persephone DID have status and power before becoming Queen, it just wasn't the specific kind of status and power she wanted. She was only a trust fund child with a huge net worth, a full-ride scholarship, and everything she could ever need provided to her with little struggle to get it - but she didn't have control over other people so it just wasn't good enough.

This is the perspective and attitude of a 19 year old who never matured. Who never could mature because she transitioned from her mother's control into Hades'. There were far better ways to prove herself, ways that we had seen her try to do, only to drop so she could pursue her co-dependent relationship with Hades - she gave up her schooling, gave up her apartment (which we only see her use maybe 2-3 times), gave up so many of her connections and support so she could be with Hades.

This is the result of 5 years of real-time grooming that we're seeing play out.

No, you are just saying them because she's your wife. You'd be saying it to Minthe, or Leuce, or Hera, or any other woman in Persephone's position because it's not about taking accountability, it's about keeping these women in a position of submissiveness and co-dependency, by giving them reassurance that nothing they ever do is wrong and that he's the only one that can give them that freedom from consequences.

And then we get the reinforcement.

I'm gonna spare you all the cringe of the actual sex scene (and yes, they do straight up go into having onscreen sex and it's... not hot at all), but here's some of the dialogue spoken by Hades during the entire sequence:

Again, let's remember the actual situation that led up to this and the position Persephone is currently in. For the third time Persephone has "accidentally" killed thousands of people. Over the past few episodes we've seen her try to realize how so many of these problems have been her fault and she clearly doesn't know how to make things right (and Rachel has made it obvious how much she doesn't want you to agree with this kind of self-awareness because much of it is being said through the mouthpiece of a rapist). And now we have Hades, reinforcing the thought patterns that would prevent her from growing and learning and changing. In this, a comic that's supposed to be "feminist", a comic that's trying to preach the importance of consent, a comic that's trying to make us believe this is a healthy, consenting relationship with strong communication skills.

These are literally grooming tactics. Hades is reinforcing the same thought patterns that will prevent Persephone from acknowledging her errors and mistakes. People are dying and Hades is telling her that if anyone has anything to say about it, they deserve to die anyways. The same man who literally rewarded her with sex for vandalizing a nymph's home is now telling her that she's not cruel, but kind:

Hades might not be Apollo, but he literally choked her out less than a week ago while possessed by his dad, and for the last SEVERAL episodes he's had the starry skin making him resemble who? Oh yeah, his dad.

Hades is literally holding Persephone in the same position Kronos did, while she's experiencing a literal meltdown that she's trying to stuff deep down - in fact, exhibiting a LOT of symptoms of mania - and initiating sex.

Doesn't this feel a little familiar?

Oh right, but he asks her if she's "still okay" mid sex only AFTER initiating chokehold sex with her without her consent and love-bombing her, so it's fine, clearly.

I remember being 17 years old and reading Fifty Shades of Grey for the first time, and even then understanding fully how toxic their relationship was. I can only hope the teenagers in Rachel's comment section can realize that as well, but judging by the comment section, I'm not holding out hope. This is literally "fifty shades of fucked up" material, and what's worse is that I can't tell if Rachel genuinely thinks this is healthy, or just doesn't realize how unhealthy it's coming across as. Even beyond how "cringe" this sequence is, it enters into the realm of being deeply uncomfortable and unsettling, and it needs to be talked about, Rachel can't be let off the hook for this especially when this is supposed to be, again, a comic that's intending to "deconstruct purity culture" and teach young girls about consent and boundaries.

And that's it, that's the end of the episode. It reads like the manifesto of a villain in the making at the hands of a predator, like Anakin being manipulated by Palpatine - "so long as you're with me, you'll have all the power, all the glory, and everyone else will be crushed underneath your heel."

Is that really the message we really want to come away from LO from? That it's fine for husbands to initiate sex with their wives through trauma-bonding and reinforcement of toxic thought patterns rooted in grooming because... they're married? That being a "girlboss" means sabotaging and abusing anyone who you perceive as a threat?

Is Hades really that much different from Apollo? Because so far, the line between his actions and Apollo's are seriously starting to blur. The parallels between Persephone and his past partners - Minthe and Hera - have always been clear, but they've never been quite so loud as last night's episode.

This is Hades' play, the play of a groomer and an abuser who depends on making their victims dependent on them - taking advantage of women while they're in a crisis.

For Minthe, it was financial - she had lost her job, blamed it on him, and he found a way to "solve her problem" that strategically put her into a position where she had to continue to financially depend on him for what's assumed to at least be a year or longer, through her apartment, her bills, and her job.

For Hera, it was emotional - she had chosen Zeus over him, and instead of addressing her marital concerns within the marriage, she participated in an affair with Hades in an attempt to have what she could have had if she had chosen Hades instead, a man who resembles her own abuser. Not only did this put her into a much more vulnerable position than him - if the affair was found out, Hera would have suffered the consequences far more than Hades - but it's also manifested itself into Persephone, who Hera has been using as a stand-in for herself, even going so far as to manipulate Persephone's image and how she goes about her decision-making, from intentionally pulling the strings to get Persephone a job with Hades so she could get closer to him as a "test" for Hades, to forcing Persephone to wear a wedding dress she wanted her to wear over the one Persephone had actually picked out herself.

And now there's Persephone, the newest addition to the cycle of abuse and untreated trauma, the true culmination of Hades' years trapping and manipulating women - financially dependent on him, emotionally dependent on him, and only where she is because she's made her entire identity revolve around him.

I'm not going to psychoanalyze Rachel in any way, I don't want anyone to think that this is permission to do so because Rachel's personal life is her own and I want to examine the material rather than the person. But so much of LO gives me such a gross impression that Rachel herself never matured past middle school, that she never grew beyond the mindset of being a 13 year old girl who felt like the entire world was against her and that no one could understand her, that she never gained the perspective most adults do by the time they're 25 at minimum after they've entered the "real world" and had the lived experiences that make you realize "wow, that girl I hated in high school for stealing my crush from me probably wasn't as bad as I thought she was and we were all just teenagers trying to navigate the hellscape that is adolescence."

And instead of actually analyzing those thought patterns and mindsets, Rachel is instead reinforcing it in her own audience of 13 year old girls and teenagers who will only hopefully maybe outgrow it and not just repeat the cycle themselves.

And this isn't entirely on Rachel's shoulders. It's on the shoulders of E.L. James, of Stephanie Meyer, of Colleen Hoover, of every "young adult" romance author who's peddled this strictly heteronormative "submission culture but not like the 1950's kind I swear" crap, that women should only aspire to find the richest man they can bag in their pursuit for power and after that everything in the world is owed to them and any problem they have can be solved by riding dick. Trauma? Solved. Genocide? Solved. The very real consequences of your own actions that affect others to such a degree that it will be felt for decades? Solved. Just ride that dick and get that money, girlboss.

Just like 50 Shades of Grey, if Lore Olympus was any other story, it would be a tragedy. It would be a masterclass in understanding and showcasing the signs of emotional abuse, financial abuse, grooming, trauma-bonding, love-bombing, and enforcing co-dependent habits for the sake of trapping people. It would be a precautionary tale to young girls to stay alert and be wary of older men, that men like Hades are depending on girls to fall for their tricks, their praise, their affirmations that they're so mature for their age, that they're not like other girls, that they would just be so set for life if they spent all their time and attention with them, so that they can "have it all".

I can only hope that even a third of the young girls who read LO naturally grow up, gain perspective, and learn that LO isn't the pillar of healthy relationships and consent that it tries to be. It's certainly a common thing to see these days, for people to join the UnpopularLoreOlympus / #antiloreolympus community with sentiments that they started reading it at age 14 and then (thankfully) learned that what LO was preaching wasn't healthy.

But for every other girl who doesn't realize this, it's reinforcement of the same cycles - the cycle of women being only objects for sex, pitting themselves against one another, confusing gender empowerment with abuse towards others, and making their entire identity revolve around a man and justifying it as healthy so long as it makes them rich and powerful.

Even if Rachel some day gets her own head out of her ass and realizes what damage she's causing in her audience, like Persephone committing genocide, no amount of self-awareness will undo the consequences. She'll still have the awards, the money, the accolades, everything she's gained off the backs of Greek myth, feminism, and good faith from an immature audience who doesn't know any better and isn't being given the tools to understand.

Even if she realizes that, that's something she's going to have to live with for the rest of her career.

And it's a fucking tragedy.

[sluttywoozi]

Out Of The Woods Part 3/3

Part 1 | Part 2

Rating: M (18+) | WC: ~4.3k

Warnings: mouth covering, breast play, fingering, big dick yunho, condomless sex, creampie, brief discussion of prophylactics and sti testing

Reader Notes: has breasts and a vagina, baby used as petname

Yunho groans as you roll over again, bumping against him and stealing the last third of the blankets as you go. Pressing heated palms to his eyes, he tries to resist the urge to put a hand on your sternum and hold you down.

You’ve been restless for the past… he checks his watch and swears, two hours. Two hours of you wriggling around in bed, finding a comfortable position, and then jumping at something and moving again. It’s driving Yunho crazy in a way that feels quite different from the normal brand of insanity he feels around you, and he’s just about to lose the last of his patience.

“What’s wrong?” Yunho demands in the dark before trying to shift his tone into something kind and continuing, “Why can’t you sleep?”

“My knee keeps bumping into things and it hurts,” You whisper apologetically, evening out the comforter so he’s covered again.

“Can you put a pillow under your leg so it’s elevated?”

Something soft and cushy nudges him as he speaks, and he recognizes the feeling as one of the spare pillows.

“I tried that, it just moves with me.”

“Okay, well…,” He huffs, trying to think of a solution. There’s nowhere else to sleep and you’ll both be cranky tomorrow if you don’t get at least a few hours, so he’s got to figure something out. There has to be something that can anchor you to the bed, but the heaviest thing on this mattress is him.

Fuck.

“I don’t move while I sleep, I could-,” A breath deep enough to raise his shoulders cuts off his words, something about his impending offer making alarm bells go off inside his head. Yunho ignores them, pushing onward to say, “I could hold you, so you can’t bump into anything.”

Your eyes light up, probably at the thought of snuggling, but they dim a bit as you shuffle over, the awkwardness hanging over the bed heavy and inescapable.

“How do you want me?”

However he can have you, his brain responds instantly. He pushes the thought away and finds actual words.

“Just back up a bit more and I can put my arm under your neck,” He moves while he speaks, keeping his hips as far from yours as he can, “And this leg can go over mine so it stays in place.”

You don’t speak until he finishes resituating you, your body much closer to his than is safe or wise.

“Thank you,” you breathe, your eyes locked on the ceiling and your chest rising and falling under his arm, “For earlier, too.”

“Of course, I owed you,” he responds lowly, the depth of his voice making his chest vibrate against your shoulder. It’s also just what friends are supposed to do, but he supposes he hasn’t been the best of those to you lately anyway.

You hum, bringing a hand up to squeeze his forearm and leaving it there. His skin tingles at the connection, his fingertips digging into your shoulder in a reflexive answer. The room goes silent except for your breaths, which have started to sync up. He drifts, unsure of who adjusted to whom, his body relaxing muscle by muscle as he feels you melt into him. Sleep has just begun to cloud his mind when you speak, your soft voice barely disturbing the peace Yunho had finally found.

“Why have you been so weird lately?”

Your hushed words make his blood run cold, make every muscle fiber in his body freeze, make him wriggle beneath you and try to pull away. You don’t allow it, twisting and turning under his arm to face him, your injured knee brushing against the bed as you straddle his waist. You wince at the pressure, sliding over so you can straighten your leg out and keeping your other thigh draped across his body. He screams internally, wondering what he’d done in his past lives to deserve this as his cock stirs in his pajama pants.

You must be able to feel it because you freeze too, your breaths coming quick and sharp in the quiet darkness. He grimaces, his eyes clenching shut and his tongue poking at his cheek, “That’s why.”

You breathe out a quiet, little, “Oh,” your voice sounding oddly weak and your fingernails scratching at the fabric of his t-shirt as you shift in his hold, the heat and friction of your thigh on his dick making his head spin.

“Please, don’t move. I’m hanging on by a thread here,” he admits, pretending he’s not about to lose himself at the feeling of your heat pressed up against his hip. It’s all he can do to keep still, keep his arm wrapped around you and his leg between yours when what he wants to do is roll you under him and-

“Yunho, I want you too.”

…

“You what?!” He shouts in a whisper, his heart pounding out of his chest and his breaths coming quick. He sits up on an elbow, jostling you where you lay and bringing your faces closer together than he expected. You’re only inches apart now and he’s doing his absolute best to keep his eyes on yours instead of on your lips, but it’s a war he’s quickly losing.

“I want you too!” You scream-whisper back, “I have for months, haven’t you noticed?”

Hasn’t he noticed? There’s a lot that he’s been noticing about you lately. Now that you mention it, he can’t help but think of all the times he’s caught you looking at him and just smiled in response, and how your grin always falters when he says he has a date, and the way you’d gasped and averted your eyes when he took his shirt off earlier. He supposes you weren’t being as secretive as you could have been, and now he wonders if all of the guys’ antics lately have been just because of him. Maybe they’ve been teasing you too, trying to push you together instead of trying to push Yunho over the edge, like he thought.

He’d worried how they would feel about him asking to be your boyfriend, but it seems they’ve given him the stamp of approval. There’s nothing else holding Yunho back, and it hits him just as you shift on top of him. His groan is loud and unmistakable, and he can only hope everyone else is deeply asleep as he feels his cock harden further under your thigh.

“Can I kiss you?” You murmur, your eyes stuck on his lips. He doesn’t answer, just leans down and presses his mouth to yours, trying not to moan when he feels your tongue glide over his bottom lip. Kissing has never felt like this before; it’s always been something he enjoyed, but it’s never made his dick twitch or his heart pound, and he fears what will happen to him when you progress past kissing.

He’s already dizzy, already pulsing in his boxers and hot under the collar of his sleep shirt. He pulls away to yank it off, grinning at your frustrated whine and placing his hands on your hips to roll you under his body just like he’d wanted to before. You blink at him, your lips parted and your eyes drinking up all of his exposed skin before he leans back down and connects his mouth with yours again.

He kisses you for minutes, hours, days. Until both of you sport swollen lips and heaving chests, until you’re squirming under him and he’s vibrating above you, until your hearts and your breaths and your spirits sync up. He’d kiss you until the sun rises too, but you break away, your lips separating with a wet sound as you spread your legs and wrap them around his waist.

His hips come into contact with your heat, sending shivers down his spine when he feels just how wet you’ve become. Your little pajama shorts are soaked, practically plastered to your pussy, and when he grinds into you and feels you jump, he knows you can feel his dick pressed against you like there’s nothing keeping you from him. You push back and he swears under his breath as his eyelids flutter, his hips bucking into you and his lips finding yours again.

“Can I fuck you? Please? Wanted you so bad, want you so bad,” he mumbles into your mouth, his hands roving over every bit of you they can reach.

You’re nodding before he finishes, whispering back, “Please, please, please,” and he feels his cock throb, imagining what it would be like to really hear you beg. That’s for later though, he reminds himself as he lifts your shirt, letting you take it off the rest of the way. You’re bare beneath it, and all of the air exits his chest in a whoosh when he sets eyes on you.

You are… magnificent. Your tits are flawless, perfect, immaculate, and he buries his face in them before the fabric can hit the floor. Yunho’s normally a thigh guy, and he can’t wait to spend days between yours, but he’s mesmerized by the softness, the shape, the weight of your breasts in his hands. Your nipple pebbles under his tongue and he purses his lips to suck it into his mouth, making your back arch and drawing a gasp. He stays there, alternating licks and sucks and nibbles until your tits are shiny with spit and rising and falling with your labored breaths.

They’re mesmerizing, and Yunho has to force himself to move lower, trailing kisses along your rib cage and lower stomach before stopping at the waistband of your pajamas. He looks up at you, locking eyes as he sinks his teeth into the flesh on your hip, grinning to himself when you whine out his name and buck your hips.

“Take them off, take it all off,” you demand, lifting your hips insistently. He can do nothing but obey, pulling the fabric down and your panties along with it.

Yunho whimpers when he sees you. You’re so fucking wet, he can see your cunt glisten with it. He can smell it on the air, taste it on his tongue, practically feel it on his fingers already. “Can I touch you?”

“Yes, Yunho, yes,” you breathe, staring down at him with your legs spread and stars in your eyes.

He smooths his hands up your thighs, luxuriating in the plushness and promising himself he’ll fuck them as soon as you allow it. For now, he’ll nip his way up the soft insides and hide his smile in the crease between your thigh and hip when he feels a shiver travel through you.

He loves that you’re so sensitive to his touch, so receptive. He’s sure he’ll be the same way when you touch him, knows he probably shouldn’t let you tonight or he’ll cum too fast, but fuck, would he love to feel your hands on him. Maybe next time, when he’s less pent up and more in control of himself.

As it is, he’s struggling to keep from folding you in half and shoving his face between your legs. He drags his fingers through your folds instead, groaning deep in his chest when he feels for the first time how soft and wet you are.

You’re scorching hot, so slippery his fingers nearly glide right inside, but he doesn’t let them, no, he brings them up to your clit and rubs one, two, three circles into the swollen bundle of nerves. You gasp above him, and he tears his eyes from your cunt to watch your face as he swirls his fingers over your clit.

Your lip is bitten between your teeth, your eyebrows scrunched together and your forehead dewy with sweat. Your half-lidded eyes are dark with desire, and the look in them is one he doesn’t recognize.

As one of your best friends, he’s seen you in lots of ways but never this one, and he knows instantly that it’s his new favorite. He’ll keep you in this state as long as he can, make you feel good whenever you want, just so he can see you like this. But he wants you wetter, messier, needs to spread you open and stretch you out if he wants you to be able to take his cock.

“Want my fingers?” He asks, just barely tracing your entrance as he waits.

You nod quickly and buck your hips, sending two of his fingers inside you to the first knuckle and making him muffle a groan in your thigh. He wants to laugh at your desperation but he’s as eager as you are, his breath hitching as he slides his digits in until his knuckles meet your folds. Your walls are molten velvet around his fingers, and when you clench down around them he feels his cock throb in response. He’s never felt anything like you, and before he’s even gotten his dick inside of you, he knows no one else will ever compare (which is perfectly fine because he doesn’t plan on being with anyone else for the foreseeable future (maybe forever)).

Thrusting slowly, Yunho starts to scissor his fingers inside of you to prepare you for a third. Your wetness drips down his knuckles, squelching noises accompanying every curl as you writhe above him.

“Is it good?” He almost jumps at the depth of his own voice, the gravel in it unexpected but not unwelcome apparently, as you squeeze down as soon as he speaks.

“So good, Yunho, s’perfect,” you gasp, “Give me another finger?”

He obliges immediately, pulling back and sinking three fingers into you before hooking them all into your g-spot, grinning with satisfaction as your hips buck and your face crumples. He spreads them, pushing against the tightness of your walls to stretch you out. He’s big, probably bigger than the other guys you’ve been with if he’s remembering your complaints correctly, and he wants to be able to slide right in.

First, he wants to make you cum, wants to watch you break apart on his hand, and as soon as your inner muscles start to flutter, he presses his thumb down on your clit. You cry out, his free hand flying up to cover your mouth so you don’t wake the others before he whispers, “Can I leave this here?”

You hum into his palm and nod, your cunt squeezing his fingers and your eyes begging him to keep going. He knows you’re close, can feel it in your muffled whimpers and clenching walls, and all it takes to push you over the edge is a firm rub of his thumb on your clit and a muttered, “Cum, baby.”

You listen, cumming around his fingers with an arched back and tears in your eyes, and Yunho ignores the rush of power that flows through him when he realizes you literally came on his command. He’s more focused on watching you, deciding that seeing your face is more important than muffling your noises and uncovering your mouth to instead brace himself over you. He takes in your shiny teartracks and your lush open lips with intent, heady eyes. Curling his fingers inside you one last time, he swears quietly when he feels you tighten and get even wetter.

“Fuck me?” You pant weakly, raising a hand to his face and pulling him down into a kiss. He nods once, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth and carefully withdrawing his fingers. Breaking away, he sucks them into his mouth and lets his eyes flutter shut as your taste hits his tongue.

His dick twitches. It twitches. Just from a taste of you, and not even a real one.

He’d love to eat you out right now, but he honestly doesn’t think he’d make it through without cumming in his boxers. And you asked him to fuck you, so he will. Yunho will fuck you like he means it, as long as you want, as long as he can, and as long as the squeaky bed springs behave.

“Condom?” You murmur, your hands smoothing down his chest to trace along his boxers. He fights back a shiver and pulls away, “I have one in my wallet, I think.”

Stumbling over to his overnight bag, he prays the condom is still in there and that it’s not-

“Fuck, it’s expired,” he tosses it into the trashcan under the nightstand and runs a hand through his hair. “We’ll just have to wait till we get back, it’s okay.”

Yunho watches you mull something over, your mouth scrunched to one side and your fingers tapping on the sheets.

“I mean… we all got tested together, and I’m on the pill, so maybe just this once? Only if you’re comfortable with that, of course,” you rush to assure him.

“I’m more than comfortable with that,” he promises you, returning to the bed and letting himself take in the image of you before pushing down his boxers. He’s still so hard, and even just the silhouette of your naked body beneath the sheets has him swallowing down a groan.

You lift the edge of the sheet and he climbs in, bracing himself above you with your legs wrapped around his waist and his hands beside your head. He’s so close to you like this, his dick inches from your heat and his face hovering just over yours. You’re his best friend, someone he can’t live without, and somehow, you’re becoming even more. Suddenly, this feels special, monumental, like something that will change his life.

He’s sure the awe is evident on his face, but he doesn’t care, only cares about getting his lips on yours and telling you without words how much you mean to him. He kisses you urgently, passionately, like the only air he needs is in your lungs, and when you whimper into his mouth, his hips respond on their own.

You jump, making him pull away to check on you, and he can just barely see the shock on your face in the moonlight coming through the curtains. “You’re fucking huge,” you sigh dreamily, tensing your legs to bring him in closer and grind him against you. His head drops to your shoulder, the feeling of his length slipping through your folds making him dizzy.

“Can you take it?” He asks with legitimate concern, gasping when he feels one of your hands grip his cock and align it with your entrance. “If I can’t, it won’t be because I didn’t try.”

Sinking in slowly, Yunho keeps his mouth pressed against your shoulder to muffle the noises he can’t stop from escaping. You’re searing hot and soaking wet, your walls sucking him in deeper and deeper even as he struggles to split you open. Your breath catches halfway in and he tries to stop, tries to let you adjust, but you pull him in with surprisingly strong legs and he has no choice but to keep going.

“Fuck, baby, fit me so well,” Yunho exhales as he bottoms out inside of you, his hips meeting yours with a muted smack. He waits for you to loosen your hold on him, drawing back when you send him a nod and a shaky smile. The rhythm he builds is slow, gentle, soft, both so you can get used to his size and because that’s how he wants to fuck you tonight. He wants to show you how much he cares after his behavior these past few weeks, show you how much he loves you, as a best friend and as more. He pushes in deep, going lightheaded at the feeling of your walls massaging his cock as he buries himself inside you.

You’re so responsive to it, to him, and it’s driving him insane. You meet his every thrust, clench when he fits his whole cock in, whimper when he angles his hips to hit your g-spot. And you just keep getting wetter and wetter, enough that he can feel it dripping down to his balls, that he slides in and out just like he wanted, that when he works a hand between your thighs to rub your clit, his fingers glide.

It’s intoxicating, the way you fuck him back, and he never wants it to end, never wants to not be inside of you. It only gets better when you whimper, “Yunho, I’m gonna-,” and your walls start spasming around his dick, making him twitch inside of you and root himself deep, his thumb swirling circles on your clit as you tremble through your release. The feeling of you unraveling around him pushes him right up to the edge, sparks a delicious ache he’s never felt, and he knows he’s only centimeters from breaking.

“You sure you want me to cum inside?” He gasps, holding off just long enough for you to nod weakly and dig your heels into his ass before he lets himself fall. He cums for what feels like a millennium, his blood rushing in his veins and a roaring filling his ears as his cock jumps and paints the inside of your perfect little cunt white.

He lets his face fall into your chest as he tries to catch his breath, his head still spinning with the strongest orgasm he’s ever had. He can’t believe you let him cum inside you, let him stretch you out and fill you up like that, and he knows it’ll be something he thinks about much too often.

Your fingers come up to tangle in his hair, making him let out a sigh that sets off goosebumps on your skin, and though he knows he should move, he just can’t. His dick is softening inside of you and he’s sure his body is heavy on top of yours, but he’s never felt more warm or content or loved, and he’s loath to leave the comforting bubble he’s created with you.

But he needs to clean you up, and also get some sleep, so he reluctantly withdraws, planting a kiss on your lips as he goes. You both wince as he starts to pull out, the cool night air hitting his wet, sensitive dick and sending a shiver down his spine. His eyes lock on the cum trickling out of your stretched entrance, and before it can drip down to the bed, he pushes it back inside with two gentle fingers.

You clench around them and his gaze flits up to your face, his lips curving into a smile when he sees the devilish little smirk you’re sending him. “Brat,” Yunho mutters affectionately, sliding his fingers out and peeling himself away from you limb by limb before helping you out of bed and to the bathroom.

He remakes the bed while you clean yourself up, replacing the soiled sheets with a clean set he finds in the hall linen closet. He heard snoring while he was outside the bedroom, so if the two of you are lucky, you didn’t wake anyone up. If you did, he’s sure you’ll hear about it in the morning.

You’re waiting for him when he returns, sitting on the edge of the mattress in new teeny pajama shorts and a t-shirt he recognizes as his. It’s a sight he could easily get used to, one he’d love to see every single day if possible, though he figures tonight is a good start. He joins you in bed, heading straight for the middle and wrapping you up in his arms as soon as you shuffle closer. Your thigh drapes over his hips, your injured knee suspended and protected as you nuzzle the side of your face into his chest.

“Goodnight, Yunho,” you whisper into the quiet darkness, your fingers scrunched up in his shirt and your body warm against his.

“Goodnight, baby,” he whispers back, pressing a kiss to your hair and letting his eyes fall closed.

Yeah, Yunho could definitely get used to this.

Yunho eats next to you at the table, his left hand on your thigh and his right holding a fork as the conversation flows easily within the group of nine. You’re laughing at one of Yeosang’s quiet little jokes and he’s listening to Wooyoung tell him about the dream he’d had last night, and everyone else is wrapped up in their own discussions. There’s talk of who’s riding home with whom, who’s doing the cleaning and who’s doing the packing, and most importantly, who’s driving.

Yunho tries to be as nonchalant as he can as he suggests keeping the same configuration for cars and drivers, but he watches the others exchange thoughtful/suspicious glances and knows he’s given it away.

There’s a cacophony of reactions immediately, shouts of bets to be settled and screeches of happiness, tears of joy and threats of bodily injury should one of you break the other’s heart, and Yunho has never loved his friends more.

He looks over to you with a squeeze of your thigh and a shy grin stretching his lips and finds you already looking at him, your smile only growing when he locks eyes with you. Your hand covers his on your thigh, and he ignores the chorus of aw’s and gagging noises that follow when he leans over and kisses you on the cheek.

If there was a best case scenario to hope for, it’s this one. The lingering tightness in his chest is finally gone, his best friends are over the moon, and you’re right here beside him. Yunho can’t ask for anything more, except maybe if he can be your boyfriend (he’ll save that for the trip home, though).

AN: yay it's over!! this was such a fun lil multipart fic and though i could have dragged it out more, i decided not to because i didn't feel like it <3

pls rb if you enjoyed!! again, im tinkerbell i need attention to survive (and keep writing)

BONUS PART

my masterlist

[riize119]

Soulmate! Anton⋆｡𖦹°‧⊹₊ ⋆

Soulmates work in the oddest way

• There isn't a set way to how you're supposed to find them or just know who is for you

• As far as you know, anyway

• Everyone else in your family either has the distinguishable mark on their body in the same place as their soulmate, or were given a time and place to be that suddenly appeared whenever the universe decided that they were ready

• You, on the other hand, had not even a single clue

• But you didn't mind

•You thought that it was kinda boring to just know who it is anyway

• Where was the adventure? The thrill of piecing it all together for yourself?

• Of course, there's always the problem that you get it wrong and have to try again but

• Whatever!!

• Right?

• As for Anton, he's been in shock ever since he was ten years old

• A rare soulmate story for some couples ends up being that one has known forever while the other had no idea

• In this case, it’s you having no idea.

•Anton, knowing, and being terrified to tell you for almost a decade

• It probably wouldn't have been such an issue if you two weren't best friends throughout your entire childhood

• He often doubted that you were his soulmate, only because you just seemed to show zero interest in him in t h a t way

• But you only did that to not be selfish

• You liked Anton. Actually, you loved him

• He was your closest friend and no matter what the situation was, your spirits were always bright and happy whenever you were with him

• You always heard that those kind of feelings were perpetual whenever you were with your soulmate, so you found yourself wondering if Anton could be yours

• But years have passed with no hint towards it being true, so you pushed the intruding thoughts away every time you saw him

• You were content with just being friends though

• And oddly content with not finding your soulmate if you were happy enough with the friendship and life you already had

• Which made Anton worry

• The simple solution would be to just tell you the truth

• Pros: you two are soulmates and live happily ever after

• Cons: the universe messed up and that turns out to be a big joke and it's his fault for messing things up

• Now, he knows that's elaborate, but still can't help but question why you've never asked him yet

• So here comes the help of Sohee, the "golden boy" of your trio, as you both like to say

• He always has the best advice and outlook for everyone around him, so what better thing to do than ask him about this?

• The only thing is is that he already can see that you two are meant for each other

• Neither of you had said a single thing about it, though. Not until Anton’s last thread of hope started to fray

• "So.. you've known for several years...”

• "Yes"

• “And you haven't said a single thing to them?"

• “Right"

• "Well why not?"

• "Because I don't know if they're my soulmate"

• “…”

• And Sohee just stares at him for a while before nodding his head and continued eating

• Because “how else am I supposed to help Anton if Anton won't believe first?”

• So, Sohee apologizes to the universe for interfering with the work of fate first before talking to you

• He hates seeing his friends in this position, especially if it's an issue regarding their entire life

•And he texts you randomly

• “You never talk about it, but I wanna know. Who do you have a crush on?"

• Getting the notification scares you because???

• Why would he suddenly ask you this?

• But you still reply,

• "We can't have crushes, remember?"

• In which he comes back with

• "We're only human. We have crushes, so who's yours?"

• Some time passes before you say anything, quickly becoming anxious

• You've never felt scared to talk about Anton before, so why now?

• "You can't tell Anton...”

• And you explain every bit and ounce of your feelings for him to Sohee, who is smiling so wide on the other end (as he screenshots every message and sends them to Anton in real time

• Who then proceeds to panic

• Even though it's confirmed that you definitely are his soulmate, he's scared that you'll be mad for not telling him sooner

• And also mad at the fact that Sohee told him after you asked him not to

• So the next time you see Anton, he looks almost queasy from how much he's holding in It worries you, so you just ask

• "Are you gonna be okay? You don't look well...”

• He stares back for a while, not really processing your question and almost tuning out the entire world to focus on what he had to tell you before it really made him sick

• He couldn't even hear himself when he told you, his mouth going on autopilot until he saw your reaction

• Not the reaction he was expecting though

• Seeing you smile so big and bright and then laughing at his change in expression from scared to confused still worried him, but in a different sense

• "God…..I've been waiting for you to tell me for so long!" You said, immediately going to hold both of his hands in yours

• And the shock that immediately ran through his body caused him to freeze before he could say anything to you

• The shock being that your reaction was positive after he already rehearsed your rejection

• "But…how did you already know?" he asks

• You laugh a little at how oblivious hes been all this time

• "I've always felt it. I just wanted to spare myself of embarrassment if it wasn't you and just boldly stated that it is. I should've known though...but you, on the other hand, have know this forever and still never said? Why?"

• He gets nervous again, thinking about how silly his reasoning was

• *I just didn't want it to make things awkward for us, you know?"

• You nod while smiling at him again

• "But fate makes it so that everything works in our favor. It was gonna happen sooner or later, and I guess later is now"

• Finally getting a smile out of Anton, he holds your hands tighter, swinging them a little, side to side, before asking his final question

• “I really do love you. Even before I knew we were soulmates, I liked you so much it was almost embarrassing..do you think that if fate didn't exist, we'd end up together still?"

• "I was already daydreaming about us being together before all of this happened, so of course” you tell him, making his expression brighter by the second

• "So now that it's official, we've gotta go tell Sohee thank you" he said, standing up and holding just one of you hands now to lead the way

• "..he sent you my confessions, didn't he?"

• "Let's not worry about that until another time"

[brain-n-body-in-disarray]

What the h*ll is "basic hygiene" anyway?

If you're like me, you've been struggling with hygiene for a long time. I'm neurodivergent, I have chronic fatigue and chronic pain, so yeah, it's been hard, my whole life.

Here's a few tips that helped me or some of my friends.

1. Redefine "basic hygiene"

No, really. Redefine it. Neurotypical and able-bodied people will tell you all can of things about what is "basic" hygiene.

The rule is: do what you can. That's it. The rest of the post will be tips to increase what you can do. But in the meantime, just do your best. You're fantastic the way you are.

2. Time

There's two thing here.

The first is: find the right time for you. It's not always easy, because we often have obligations, and we're supposed to be clean at those right moments. It's not easy. Sometimes it "helps" because it gives us that "boost" we needed to start getting clean, but most of the time it's just stressful. So instead find the moment that works best for you. I know there's moments in the day when it'll be easier for me to start tasks that I would struggle with at an other time, but I prioritise other things instead for a reason or another. Try washing yourself then, even if people will tell you it's strange to have a shower at three pm. Who cares.

The second is: divide to conquer. You don't have to wash ALL the parts of your body at once. You don't necessarily have the energy for it and it's okay. Also it can feel daunting to face that long list of steps. A body has a LOT of parts to wash and clean. Really, that's scary and exhausting. So the solution might be to do smaller things here and there. Do what you can when you can, that's okay. At least you've done something, that's great!

You are also allowed to take breaks in the middle. It can help if you are tired, or if it makes you anxious.

3. Wipes.

I personally hate washing with soap and water, whether it's a bath, shower or just at the sink. It takes time, it's a lot of steps, and it feels horrible. I do it when I can, but I don't enjoy it. The partial solution is wipes.

Baby wipes are great, they're soft, some smell good but faint, some has no odor. You can clean yourself quickly without rinsing. And they don't let that terrible feeling on your skin.

There's wipes made for your private parts. Which is an important part to clean. Also wet toilet paper is good. (For private parts wipes, buy the organic ones, you don't want anything too harsh there)

Make-up removal wipes are not just to remove make-up. They do clean you face.

Don't use antibacterial wipes though. At least not regularly. They are too harsh for your skin, you'll just damage it. Also too much antibacterial stuffs just make bacterias more resistant.

Bonus point: wipes can easily be carried in a bag. Handy.

4. Charts and lists and apps.

Whether you forget to do it or it you have done it already, or you can't get motivated, or you can't manage to start washing, or there's so many steps you get overwhelmed, or you start but can't remember what to do next, etc., those tips might help.

There's apps like Habitica (it's the most well known but there's others) that help you building habits and remembering to do stuffs and making it fun (help with rewards). It's about general tasks but can be applied to washing. A friend also told me there's a pokemon app to brush your teeth but I haven't tried it.

If you get overwhelmed by the steps and get lost in the middle, making a list of those steps, laminating and putting it in the bathroom near the sink or in the shower can help you keeping tracks. You can even put a dry erase marker near the list to check what have already be done.

5. The "bath buddy"

If you live with someone, you can ask their help.

I'm not saying they have to wash you. Or maybe I am? A friend takes his showers with his boyfriend to help getting motivated.

It can just be your platonic roommate behind the door talking to you, telling you funny stories.

Having company can help start the task and make it more enjoyable which help in itself but also make it less daunting the next times. Having a bath buddy also helps if you get lost in the middle of a task, they can tell you what the next step is. They can also keep you on tracks and in the present (I know I tend to dissociate a lot in the bathroom). And they keep your mind off the bad stuffs (body dysphoria for example, or sensory discomfort)

6. You're never too old for "kids' stuffs"

Because you're never to old for fun stuffs.

No, really, there's no reason why you should deprive yourself of something that would make washing more fun.

Wash your teeth with bubblegum flavored toothpaste.

Play with bathtoys. Buy those little plastic boats and those little squirting animals. (Seriously, the fact that the only fun thing for bath for adult is bubbles is a crime)

The word here is "fun". Make the bathroom fun. Buy a shower curtain with cute elephants playing with water. Put adhesive ducks on the tiles. Make that darn room a place you want to be in, not just to distract you from the bad stuff but to enjoy your life.

7. Teeth. Oh no, the teeth.

First thing: as I said, you don't have to use that "adult toothpaste". The menthol contained in it can be sensory hell. You can use kid toothpaste, it cleans just as well. If you can't use any toothpaste try brushing without it with just water. You can also try toothpaste tablets (you chew on them and then brush). You can try mouthwash. You can try oil-pulling. The point here is to remove some bacteria from your mouth.

About brushing. There's different hardness in toothbrushes. If you're using hard, try medium. If you're using medium, try soft. If you're using soft, try baby toothbrush. If no toothbrush works for you, try a wet cloth, or your finger. Try using toothpicks to remove the remains of food and then use mouthwash.

If the storebought mouthwash doesn't do with you, make it yourself. There's recipes online with essential oils (optional, but maybe there's one you might like), baking soda and water. (I don't recommend using lemon juice, it might damage your enamel.)

My friend just told me I should mention dental floss. I personally hate it, but it might be useful to some of you. It's probably more effective than toothpicks. They also comes mounted on these little plastic sticks if you struggle with the thread alone.

8. Chair

No, really, you have the right to sit down during washing. Buy a shower chair. Put a bench on your bathtub instead of struggling to stand up. Put a chair in front of the sink to sit when you brush your teeth.

You don't have to be physically disabled to use a chair to wash. And if you're disabled there's still no shame. Standing up can be boring, it can be painful, it can be tiring. So sit. You are allowed.

And if you prefer standing, do. You can pace. You can dance. You can do gymnastics. (Just be careful if you're brushing your teeth, okay. Or if you're in the shower. Don't hurt yourself.)

9. Music

If you don't have a buddy to talk to you, music or even podcasts, anything to listen to, can be a nice way to help. They makes the experience more enjoyable. They keeps your head away from the bad sensory experience or the awareness of your own body.

I also find using the same playlist useful to keep track of the time I've been spending in the shower. I even time the steps on the tracklist, I know I washed that part of my body for long enough if that song is over, I need to do the next step.

Also, for me me music is part of the ritual. It helps me to get in the right mind, it motivates me, it makes the routine.

10. Multi-purpose products.

I've seen all those beauty posts about "layering". It's nice if you have the energy and the time, but no, it's not for me.

I hate moisturising creams. I really do. They smells funny, they feels gross and sticky, and it takes forever to apply. It's an unnecessary step for me. But I have dry skin (at least on my body). The easy solution is to use surgras soap or surgras shower gel. (Not just the "moisturising" soap, that won't hydrate as well.)

I don't just remove the unpleasant experience of moisturiser, I remove a step. I save energy.

Also, multi-purpose products help with organisation, there's less things to think about. There's less risk of taking the wrong bottle because you're too headfogged. Less chance of chaos in the bathroom.

I personally can't do that for everything. I'd like to have one soap for everything, but my body skin and my face skin and my private parts and my hair all need different stuffs. But I do try to keep things to a minimum, because the number of products can be quickly overwhelming. So try to balance your sensory needs with your organisation problem.

(Also, if like me you hate the feeling of moisturiser, aloe vera gel is great. It is a bit sticky, but in a different way than cream. I personally prefer that one. There's also the option of oil, there's different kinds for different skin types, even for oily skin.)

11. Japaneses know best: the bidet.

This one might sounds strange for some folx. Where I live, bidets used to be extremely common but they are disappearing. We used to have a bidet next to the toilets in our homes. Japanese toilets have a built-in bidet but they are expensive. There is a cheaper (but still not cheap) alternative. You can buy a bidet toilet seat attachment to put on your own toilets.

Why am I telling you about bidet? Because when you struggle to wash regularly, bidets are incredibly useful.

Toilet paper is highly unhygienic. Wet toilet paper is a bit better. Bidets, that spray a jet of water on your privates, clean so much better.

And they are easy and quick to use. You just press a button and you are clean.

If you have a vagina, it's even more important, because it lowers significantly the risks of getting UTI and the likes.

If you can afford it, I recommend it.

12. The hat, or "well, f*ck it"

You can fail to wash in time for whatever obligation you have. That's okay.

Just use the card "camouflage".

Greasy hair? If they are long, brush them and tie them tightly, and put on a fashionable hat. Or you favorite, silly, hat. Or just a random hat that your aunt gave you (you know the one, you wondered for three weeks if you smiled enough when you received the gift because you didn't want to offend her). Scarfs are nice too.

Other idea to hide greasy hair? A wig. They are higher maintenance, but they are good to have for occasions where you have to look a bit better or if you can't wear a hat for whatever reason.

About odors... Well you know the trick of deodorants and perfume. Not what I recommend, at least not alone. For once not everyone can stand their smell. Also, they aren't that great to succeed at masking odors. If you can, use wipes to clean your armpits (also the underbreasts if you have them) and the neck and chest area. It might not remove all the odors but it'll help and with some deodorant if you can stand it, you should be good.

About deodorant: you can use a dollop of moisturiser (yes, I know I said I hate them, but listen), it will help to stop the formation of odors but the fragrance is usually mild or absent. It's also less harsh than the usual deodorant. You only need a small amount for it to work. You just need to clean before (wipes should be enough)

13. Don't stew in your dirty clothes.

Try to change your clothes often even if you don't wash. Especially your underwears.

I know it might sound counterintuitive to wear clean clothes when your skin is dirty, but staying in old clothes is like wearing a petri dish. By keeping the same clothes on you, you also keep the bacterias that live on it and your body.

It's especially bad in some areas, like your private parts, your feet and your armpits.

If you live alone, or if you live with someone who don't care, don't put clothes on at all. You'll just stew in your bacterial crock pot otherwise.

Staying naked also has the upside of reducing the amount of laundry you have to do.

14. Use your strengths.

Sometimes it's as simple as using your other hand because your dominant one is achy.

Sometimes it's listening to a podcast about your special interest.

You're an artist? Put a whiteboard in the shower. Or, I don't know, draw your body, laminate the drawing, and color the parts you have already washed with a dry erase marker.

Your thing is to make lists of animals of Paraguay? Recite them alphabetically and make a song with them while you brush your teeth and wash your face and clip you nails.

Dancers here? Each movement you make is part of a choreography.

15. Aftercare.

Hygiene is immensely stressful and energy consuming. You don't just deserve a reward, you need aftercare.

It's okay to take a nap. It's okay to need to engage with your special interest. It's okay to need a hug. It's okay to want to be alone. It's okay to feel bad too. Have a cry. Be moody. Don't be ashamed of what you feel. Of course it's better if you manage to avoid these emotions. But it's okay if you have them.

And give yourself a little treat. Have a cup of your favorite tea. Put a shiny sticker in your "things I've done good today" diary. Cuddle with your pet. Read the Swedish dictionary.

Drink a glass of water and eat something.

Also, if you have chronic pain, like I do, take your meds. (My joints are always a bit achy after standing too long, or my shoulder are stiff after washing my hair)

Write an essay about why keeping up with your hygiene is a pain.

Do what you want and do what you need.

16. Shame has no place in the bathroom.

If you've read my previous post, you know what I mean.

I've said it in this post, it's okay to struggle, to not be perfect, or as perfect as neurotypicals and able-bodied people say we should be. Their criterias are bullcrap.

Shame won't help you to keep up to these unachievable standards. They'll just undermine you.

Also, it's okay if some of what I've said here seems unachievable also. I shared what helps me and some of my friends, but your needs might be different and that's totally okay. Maybe someone will make a post with tips that'll help more? I hope so.

Anyway, you do what you can and you congratulate yourself for it. Every step is an achievement worth of praise.

[honeydippedwaffles]

Request: Our Intertwined Fates

Request Information: A set of possibly two or three parts surrounding one my mutual's favourite, non-companion characters in the game: Rolan. This in a look at how Rolan and Tav's relationship builds over the course of the story from a friendship to something more.

Tav is not referred to by name.

Content Warnings: She/Her Tav

Word Count: 2.1k words

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

The scent of rust mingled awfully with the flowering bushes surrounding the grove. Something felt wrong about strolling into such a place with goblin blood still drying on her armour and the cling of an abduction over her shoulders.

She did so regardless, muscles strung tight from a battle nearly lost and an argument she could scarcely defuse. Who knew helping somebody out would cause such trouble.

“We’re off to a great start,” she said to nobody in particular. “Barely free of some wretched pod and already we’re wrapped up in another conflict.”

Her companions and her had crashed into this isolated area of coastline just the very morning they stumbled into this grove. How they’d managed to get themselves involved in whatever impossible argument was occurring between tieflings and druids escaped her understanding.

“This really isn’t our business,” she admitted to them when they looked at her. “But I suppose if we’re going there anyway, the least we can do is talk to the head druid? It won’t do any harm.”

She lied to herself like that sometimes.

If somebody asked her for help, she’d never been able to turn them down. Offering her assistance felt negligible in the grand scheme of things and this conflict really seemed to have a solution she could find. It would help also, to have the grove’s knowledge on her side.

Those excuses really didn’t feel genuine when the threat of a tadpole behind her eyes lingered.

Yet despite having it in mind, when she overheard an argument, she couldn’t help herself but stop to listen. The trio of tieflings sounded so irritated with one another as they fought about whether they should remain with the group or forge their own path to the city. A fight they’d clearly gone over before if the exasperation said anything.

“Don’t be ridiculous, we don’t even know these people. I’m not sticking my neck out for every person we come across. With my magic, we have nothing to fear about the path to Baldur’s Gate as long as we leave now.”

“Just because we don’t know them doesn’t mean we should abandon them here. What use are all our spells and blades if we don’t even use them to help people.”

She listened curiously, not planning on interjecting but also wondering about the goal of Baldur’s Gate. Some things unfortunately rarely changed and she couldn’t help but worry for this group. “Does Baldur’s Gate welcome tieflings at all?”

Her question directed itself at nobody in particular and yet, she must have spoken loud enough for them to hear as the three all turned to her with various expressions of disinterest or appreciation. She shifted uncomfortably beneath their gazes and smiled to show she hadn’t meant to get involved.

“More so than other cities,” one of the tieflings answered. “Perhaps they’ll stare but nobody will pull a blade out. It doesn’t really matter either way because I’ll be welcomed. You’re speaking to the recently accepted apprentice of the great wizard Lorroakan.”

Tall, haughty, and certainly pretty enough to be a wizard rather than a fighter, she could tell he had a great deal of trust in what he said.

Maybe even too much.

Lorroakan sounded familiar but she couldn’t place why it felt wrong. A wizard certainly but not one whose name carried very good rumours alongside it. She could share what she knew but to do so felt wrong and so she smiled.

“Congratulations,” she urged. “You must certainly be very talented to earn yourself such a grand apprenticeship.”

“I assure you, I am.”

“Then it sounds as though your help could be invaluable to these people who are blessed with neither magic nor fighting skill.” Her gaze drifted to where children and others attempted to spar with sloppily created training dummies. “Honestly, I believe they’ll need all the help they can get.”

He frowned; caught in the small trap she’d created through his own confidence. She felt a little bad for taking advantage of his arrogance but she hadn’t been lying when she commented on the tieflings.

They probably wouldn’t survive a day against the goblins.

“That’s what I’ve been saying. We have to stay and help.”

The wizard looked between her and the others before he threw his hands up in agitation. “Fine but if we end up rotting on a road because of this, it’ll all be your fault.”

He stormed off and she glanced awkwardly at the others. Perhaps she had overestimated their skills but she doubted their chances even more if they split from the group and tried to do it alone.

But if they died, the weight would never lift from her shoulders.

“Thank you for intervening. Rolan can get obnoxiously stubborn at times but he’s a good person. He’d have regretted choosing to leave later.”

She laughed awkwardly, unsure how to respond beyond offering her name as a means of introduction before hurrying off. They had so many problems to face, far more dangerous than even taking on a slew of unending goblins. Such a thing could wait until after the worm got removed.

One poisoning later and another child rescued and they took on the very task she’d tried to avoid, regardless of Astarion’s unimpressed complaints about it.

They ended up fighting through a, quite frankly, impossible number of goblins after rescuing a massive druid from the dungeons. Followed it with a battle against shadow druids who were disguising themselves as rats. And then still ended up standing exhausted at a party with the blood not fully washed from her hair.

As tired as she was, she couldn’t skulk away into her tent so early into the night. Everybody wanted to speak to her and she was now avoiding Lae’zel as best she could after the gith caught her off-guard with the strangest proposition she’d ever heard. Flattered, but uninterested, she looked around for help and eventually caught Lia’s eyes.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Rolan’s going to put on a show for us,” Lia told her, excited and a little teasing. She, like many of the others, appeared a little tipsy as she gestured to her brother. “Watch.”

“Patience,” Rolan chided. “You have no respect for showmanship.”

“Performance issues,” Cal whispered to her and she laughed behind a palm despite the wizard’s glare.

After all the near misses with fireballs through the day though… well, she really hoped whatever magic he wanted to use involved snow or water. Anything she didn’t have to dodge.

He surprised her pleasantly with neither and the small cascade of dancing lights lit up the sky in pretty shades of blue. She’d seen children do similar magic when first learning of their abilities and it never failed to make her smile.

“He can also make them purple,” Cal told her proudly.

She politely clapped and tried to keep her expression supportive of the tiefling trio. Rolan had skill enough to make something of himself in Baldur’s Gate… if his tutor held up to his expectations.

And, of course, the group had to get there first but she had faith. Zevlor, if nobody else, looked well equipped to shield his group from danger.

“You’ll do brilliantly with the proper training,” she complimented when she noticed Rolan’s gaze hover over her for a second longer. “You can ask Gale about some spare scrolls we found while exploring. They may come in use during your travels.”

Rolan straightened his spine beneath the praise, pleased with his successful show. “I have no need for scrolls but I thank you for the offer.”

She laughed and raised her glass to him. “If you say so. The offer still stands.”

She bid the three siblings good luck with their further travel and stepped away to clear her head, finally seeing an opportunity to seek peace and quiet. The shadows provided some solace as she made her way into the forest.

When she came across a small clearing, she settled on a log. It had been a long day filled with unending waves of enemies and her eyes felt heavier than ever.

She’d almost drifted off when she heard footsteps behind her. Footsteps, clumsy and unused to stalking through the dark. At least she knew it not to be an assassin, she imagined.

Although she’d expected Karlach or Gale rather than the tiefling she saw.

“Rolan?” she asked, confused as to why the wizard had followed her and now hovered uncomfortably at the edge of the clearing.

“Lia made a very good point,” he said, straightening imaginary creases from his robes as he spoke. “Scrolls could be useful if we get into a situation where my magic is lacking.”

She frowned for a second before she remembered her offer and waved back at the party with a smile. “Oh, right. Those are with Gale or one of the others. I don’t know what spells they have but any magic is useful, right?”

“Obviously but they’re mainly for Lia’s peace of mind. I don’t think we’ll have any problems when I have my thunderwave to handle threats.”

She smiled. “I’m sure. Make certain to aim for the nearest cliff.”

A wince followed as she remembered shoving a goblin from one of the rafters earlier in the day. She hadn’t appreciated the crunch of bones or the smear of blood… she hadn’t cleared out a goblin camp before the day and it really didn’t suit her.

“With any hope, you’ll have no need of spells at all,” she said. “I think the path to Baldur’s Gate should be open.”

“If it wasn’t, I don’t think they’d be singing your praises so highly,” he scoffed.

He took a few seconds to place the strange jealousy in his voice as not related to handling the goblin camp but rather the heroism of it. Strange, she’d never thought of a battle as something to be envious of. She certainly left with a great deal of pain in her ribs to show for it and little else.

“Something wrong?” she asked, fixing him with a soft gaze.

Rolan shrugged but she noticed the way his tail flicked, irritated, back and forth. He watched everything besides herself, not truly meeting her eyes as he gazed around the clearing.

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m just hoping you haven’t given my siblings any ridiculous notions about going off and being a hero. They’re not the type to walk through a goblin camp with no problem.”

She smiled, understanding his concerns. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. It’s not about being a hero, it’s about giving help where it’s needed and… I suppose it was selfish too. I needed a healer and Halsin was my only option.”

“A healer?” he repeated, gaze lingering over her bruises. “Did he manage to fix whatever’s wrong with you?”

Her heart thudded a little and her stomach sank. He hadn’t been able to do anything for her. Halsin pointed her in a direction and promised to help but he couldn’t remove the tadpole from her head. Every day, she ended up closer than ever to becoming a creature from her worst nightmares and she could do nothing.

Honestly, it may have contributed more to her mood surrounding the party than the actual exhaustion had.

“No, then?” Rolan asked.

She shook her head and tried to shake free of the worries. “Unfortunately, my condition goes a bit beyond his talents but he did give me a way forward. We’re heading toward Moonrise Towers to look for answers.”

‘You don’t sound confident.”

“It’s hard to be sometimes,” she admitted. “But I don’t really have much of a choice in what I do next.”

He coughed, a little awkward as he shifted his weight from side to side. “Well, I mean you’re clearly more than capable of handling things. I’m sure getting to wherever will be easy enough for your little group of heroes.”

She laughed at the unexpected and strange praise. “Thank you, Rolan.”

He nodded and seemed about to turn around and leave so she stood and the movement momentarily froze him. She leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to cheek in thanks.

“You’re going to do great with your studies,” she said. “I’ll be sure to brag to everyone I know once your name becomes renowned.”

Somebody once told her tieflings couldn’t blush but she swore she saw colour darken the tops of his cheeks even in the dim light of the forest.

Taglist: @miwn8

[archie-sunshine]

So, What Now?(Rehabili/Cohabi-tation)

Chapter 8: An Interlude

FIC TAGS: Eventual Whirl/Cyclonus/Tailgate, Cyclonus/Tailgate, polyamory, slowburn romance, mutual pining, slice of life, fluff, comedy, eventual smut(planned for later chapters), sappy mushy lovey stuff, polycue, May eventually have illustrations

The Lost Light has a brand new universe to explore! But everyone's still tired from the old one! In the interim between wacky hijinks, a solution is offered to those bored to death by peacetime- Why form a club about it or renovate your hab suite of course!

Whirl doesn't know how he feels about all the pep. And even worse, he doesn't know how to feel about Cyclonus and Tailgate wanting him to join in on their clean slate. 

Other Chapters Here! Read on AO3 Here!

_________________________

Author's Notes: ITS BEEN A THOUSAND BILLION YEARS. anyways heres chapter 8 ahahahaaahahahah sorryyyy

CHAPTER TAGS: domesticity, self care, pov swapping, whirl receives impromptu therapy, whirl experiences regret.

Their unit was quiet save for the noise of the rotary filer in Tailgate’s servos. The quiet grind of metal against the sanding head was a comfortable white noise that did little to ease the tension of the room. 

Tailgate pulled the filer back for a second, examining his work on Cyclonus’s claws and brushing the metal shavings away. He grumbled something unintelligible and went back to filing, smoothing down a little chip their previous altercation had left. 

“Darling-” Cyclonus began, breaking the silence.

“AND- AND TO THINK!!-” Cyclonus let out a sigh as Tailgate burst back into chatter. “After!! After everything- he still- He-! UGH!” He jabbed the filer against Cyclonus’s digit, drawing a hiss of pain from the larger mech. Tailgate quickly tugged the filer back. “-Sorry- I just! I thought we were making progress- Do you think he really thinks we’re just- just doing this for our own benefit!?”

“I struggle to imagine Whirl being a benefit to most things.” Cyclonus joked. Tailgate frowned at him. “... I’m kidding… sorry.” 

“... do you think he hates us?” Tailgate mumbled, dipping Cyclonus’s servos into the bowl of solvent on the living room table. 

“No. I don’t think he hates us, love.” Cyclonus said patiently, lifting his free servo up to examine his claws. “Excellent work, by the way.”

“Thank you.” Tailgate said proudly. 

“I think he’s… struggling with a lot right now.” Cyclonus sighed, gazing wistfully out of the window to the stars. “... I think he’s worried about showing that.”

“But- he doesn’t have to be!” Tailgate muttered, setting the rotary filer down and picking up a delicate rasp. “Doesn’t he know he’s safe with us?”

“I don’t think he’s felt safe with anyone for a while, Tailgate.” 

“... Then what do we do?” 

There was another long moment of quiet as Tailgate carefully filed down the point of Cyclonus’ claws. He dunked his sparkmate’s servos back in the bowl of solvent, dipping a rag in polish and beginning to buff his digits. 

“... I think all we can do is wait. If we push too hard he might pull back even more…” Cyclonus said quietly. 

“But if he doesn’t know what all of this is about he’ll just assume the worst of us again!” Tailgate protested. 

The other mech thought for a long moment. “... I suppose you have a point.”

“I usually do!” Tailgate chirped. Cyclonus smiled fondly, pulling his servos from Tailgate’s and picking up the rotary filer. He attached the buffing head to it. 

“Alright, your turn.” He said, pushing Tailgate onto his back gently. The minibot made himself comfortable, tossing his legs over Cyclonus’s lap and folding his servos behind his helm. He let out a pleased sigh as his sparkmate began to buff out the paint transfers and smudges on his plating. 

“I dunno, Cy, I just think it might be easier if we just go up to him and tell him how we feel! That's what you did, and look how happy we are!” Tailgate offered. 

Cyclonus cringed. “And how long did that take to happen, dear?” 

Tailgate thought for a moment. “Hm… good point. But that could be averted if you said it sooner!” He raised a brow ridge at the larger mech, optics growing more devious as he noted the uncomfortable flush that overtook Cyclonus’s faceplate. “Oh primus, you’re that nervous about it!!?” He giggled.

“Tailgate, I vowed to kill him when he least expects it, and even if we let that go he might never trust me because of that.” Cyclonus groaned, turning his helm away to focus on a blotch of grime on his shin plating. 

“But you’re making up for it!” Tailgate added. 

“... I am trying to…” Cyclonus grumbled. “But what if he thinks I’m lulling him into a false sense of safety so I can strike him at his weakest?” 

“That sounds like something the old Cyclonus would do, he knows you're different now!” Tailgate objected, bumping his fist against Cyclonus’s shoulder. 

“... Am I?” Cyclonus murmured absently, gently rubbing his thumb over a dent in Tailgate’s thigh. 

Tailgate reached forwards and put his servo over Cyclonus’. “Yeah. In only good ways.” He whispered, leaning up to bump his mouth guard against Cyclonus’s cheek.

Cyclonus smiled softly, turning his faceplate to kiss him. “... I’ll… try my best to talk to him… It’s kind of… A big ask, don’t you think?” 

“Well sure, but so was asking him to live with us! I thought he was already on board when he agreed to stay-” Tailgate admitted shyly. 

Cyclonus chuckled. “I assumed you’d thought that.”

“I’m optimistic, I mean, it's kind of a whole thing, asking someone to move in!” 

“Not really, on a ship like this, it makes sense he didn’t take it as ‘come date us’” 

“Ugh… This is annoying.” Tailgate muttered, wriggling indignantly and folding his arms over his chassis.

“Stop moving-” Cyclonus scolded.

“I mean sue me for thinking anyone on this ship would take anything at face value! Nothing is as it seems, everyones being deceived all the time.” Tailgate ranted. 

“I mean- we were-” Cyclonus began.

“I don’t wanna get into it, Cyclonus.” Tailgate cut him off with a flat look, earning an affectionate chuckle. 

“I know, I know.” Cyclonus sighed, reaching to the table and picking a sponge out of the solvent bowl. Tailgate shivered a bit at the cool fluid hitting his abdomen. “Anyhow, we should give Whirl a little more time before we try to continue with everything. It’s a bit gauche to come back at him with a question like that after an argument.” 

Tailgate groaned impatiently. “Well then what do we do in the meantime! It’ll take fore- hey- Careful-!” He stuttered a bit as cyclonus carefully drew the sponge along the seam between his chassis and midsection. “I’m sensitive there-”

“I know you are.” Cyclonus purred, laughing as he earned a playful punch on the arm. “Well, I suppose… we just let him come back to us.”

“How do we know he will?” Tailgate asked nervously. The couple locked optics for a long moment, bright blue on sharp red. 

“... We trust him to come home.” Cyclonus said quietly, averting his gaze. Tailgate wrapped his digits gently around Cyclonus’s servo. 

“... Okay.” Tailgate whispered. “We can do that.” 

*

“This is a little unexpected, Whirl! I thought we’d be fighting you back down onto the slab, honestly.” First Aid said, attempting light conversation over the fizzle of the welder he was using on Whirl’s arm. “I’m surprised you were interested in fixing cosmetic details.” 

“Yeah, I got a whole new lease on life now. I’m a huge recovery and recuperation enthusiast.” Whirl said flatly.

First Aid chuckled quietly. “Well, I’m glad to hear it, it makes my job a lot easier. You know, a lot of mechs don’t like to be awake for reassembly like this.” 

“Eh. I like to see what you freaky little medics are doing with my bits and parts.” Whirl shrugged the shoulder that wasn’t actively being operated on. 

There was a long moment of quiet in the medbay, at least the relative quiet of a beeping, fizzling workroom. It was a bit uncomfortable, but that seemed par for the course for chatting with your surgeon during surgery. Whirl stubbornly refused to let his mind wander, picking at the slab with his claws, feeling the divots and gouges absently. 

“... Did uh…. Did you need to do any reconstruction on the others on the mission?” Whirl asked. “Anyone else do something stupid enough to get blown up?”

First Aid shook his helm. “Oh no, nothing as bad as yours.” He adjusted his position, flipping Whirl’s arm over to work on a seam at his elbow joint. “Ultra Magnus had to get some of his armour fixed, but Perceptor and Brainstorm are handling that, or at least Brainstorm will be once he’s off bedrest.” He explained, gesturing with his helm to a newly configured quarantine room with a very unhappy Brainstorm inside. 

“Oh yeah, what did he get into?” Whirl probed. 

“Caught a pretty mild infection from a wound sustained during the whole junktacons thing.” First Aid whispered. “I just want to make sure it doesn’t spread to anyone, but he should be fine in a few more cycles.”

“I can HEAR you, you know!” Brainstorm called grumpily. 

Whirl chuckled a bit. “Wait– how long was I out?” 

“Oh, just a couple cycles.” First Aid answered.

“How many is a couple?” 

“Three.” First Aid supplied, wincing a bit with a shrug. 

Whirl groaned. 

“But, on the bright side, you’ve got some visitors waiting for you after you’re all patched up.” First Aid offered a comforting pat on Whirl’s leg. 

*

“Heeeeyyyyyy buddyyy!” 

The awkwardness in Rodimus’s tone was incredibly apparent. He was the first to enter, but was followed by several others, Swerve, Rewind, Chromedome, Ultra Magnus, and Rung. Each of them-that could- was holding a little get well soon vial, which they added to the meager collection by Whirl’s bedside.

“How’s it hangin fellas, feel good to not have to replace your legs today?” Whirl laughed.

Rodimus chuckled awkwardly as he sat down in the stool by the side of the slab. “Yeah- Uh, sorry for that, Whirl.”

“In the future we will do better at scanning planets for possible threats before rashly entering possibly dangerous areas.” Ultra Magnus vowed, placing an implicatory servo on Rodimus’s shoulder.

“Ehhh, wouldn’t have been nearly as fun, love the surprise, huge fan of surprises, me.” Whirl waved a servo at them, attempting to look comfortable despite the clear patches from his injuries. “When’s our next stop, cap?” 

Rodimus shrugged. “Well, we didn’t get a ton from that mission, but then again, we did do a big restock before leaving our dimension, so we aren’t hurting for supplies. Unless something interesting comes up on our scanners, we’re gonna keep it easy.”

Whirl groaned. “DAMMIT.” He kicked his newly configured legs a bit in anguish before going dejectedly limp. 

“You got your legs blown off, Whirl! I know you’re- well- you, but frag, man, take it easy for a second!” Swerve piped up. 

“There’s plenty of interesting stuff to do on the ship, Whirl, I doubt you’ll be hurting for mental stimulation.” Rung offered, giving the bot a comforting pat on the knee joint. 

“Hrrnngg…. You’d better be right or I’m gonna start breaking scrap.” Whirl threatened. 

“Don’t… Don’t do that.” Chromedome said, glancing around.

“I’ll do it too, none of you are safe! If I get even a little bit more bored than I already am right now this whole ship is gonna hurt for it!” babbled Whirl, “I swear, I’m about to be even more of a fragging problem!!” 

“Woah, woah, hey, Whirl, buddy, you’re gonna be just fine! First Aid said you’re free to go tomorrow, and then you’ll be able to do whatever you want-” Rodimus soothed.

“Whatever you want within reason.” Ultra Magnus added. 

“Aaaand, to pass the time,” Rewind interjected, holding up a data slug. “Swerve and I compiled some fun bits of media for you to check out while you recuperate.” Whirl flicked his optic to Swerve, who grinned back at him with a dorky thumbs up. 

“It’s all more human junk isn't it.” Whirl grumbled.

Rewind nodded. “Yeah, its a lot of human junk, BUT, it comes along with a fun new genre that I’ve recently been getting into.”

“Just take the gift, I promise you won’t be disappointed.” Swerve assured. Whirl reached out, delicately pinching the data slug in his claws and tucking it into his subspace. 

“... Thanks fellas, ya really know how to cheer a bot up.” Whirl said, letting his helm drop back against the slab. 

*

Truthfully, Whirl was thankful for the data slug. Even though it was more trashy human flicks and songs, it made decent enough entertainment while his frame refused to enter recharge. It was a good distraction, easier to watch human period pieces than think about how royally he’d fucked up. If there was one thing Whirl was good at aside from fighting, it was wallowing. 

Apparently, another talent Whirl was honing was burning bridges. 

He let out a long, quiet sigh. The holovid playing in his processor was painfully slow, painfully boring. It was all longing glances and sweeping shots of those weird organic manors with all the trees and open fields of green. Whirl scoffed at another painfully sweet moment, a glance between the starring mech and femme as their digits just barely touched, the camera lingering on their almost contact.

Whirl wondered if thats how it looked when… 

If that was how it looked when he and Tailgate and Cyclonus…

Whirl let out a guttural groan of frustration. He snagged the dataslug out of his helm port and went to toss it across the room. This was untenable, he couldn’t focus, he could hardly do a thing without his stupid processor looping back to those two annoying little fraggers who were ruining any semblance of normalcy in his life. He hated those clubs, he hated the quiet, he hated the canoodling and the caring and the calm. 

Whirl hesitantly shoved the data slug back into his subspace and flopped back down onto the slab with an embarrassing whimper.

“Trouble recharging?”

Whirl shrieked, whipping his servos around and immediately managing to knock Rung off his pedes. “PRIMUS- FRAGGING- RUNG!!” Whirl shouted. “Fragging- Warn me when you’re gonna sneak up like that!! I could’ve-”

“No, no, It’s alright, I’m quite used to it!” Rung chuckled goodnaturedly, dusting himself off as he gathered himself up off the floor of the medbay. 

“I swear it’s like you’re trying to get choked out with how you’re sneakin’ up on people...” Whirl clacked his claws together menacingly. Rung didn’t seem to give that much of a reaction as he adjusted his spectacles and sat down on the chair by Whirl’s slab. 

“Well, choking aside, how are you feeling, Whirl?” Rung asked, tugging a datapad out of his subspace.

“What-? Is this a house call, doc? Who sent you?” Whirl narrowed his optic.

“Who- Me! I did, I was worried for you.” Rung frowned, looking a little hurt. 

“Don’t you have more important patients to worry about?” Whirl huffed, rolling his optic and slumping back on the slab. 

The psychiatrist gave him a puzzled look. “... It’s the middle of the night, my friend.” 

“Ah.” 

Rung cleared his vocalizer. “So…. how you’re feeling?” He prompted.

Whirl thought for a moment. “... I’m glad my legs are reattached.” He decided. 

Rung nodded sagely, waiting for more. Whirl grunted, caught off guard by the impromptu session. 

“... I think I really messed up, doc.” He mumbled, turning his helm away to anything else. He noted the curtain, drawn back to show the rest of the medbay, the dull yellow glow of Brainstorm’s quarantine room. 

“In what way?” Rung asked. 

“... I moved in with um… with Cyclonus and Tailgate…” Whirl started, vocalizer feeling choked. 

“Oh, congratulations! I noticed the three of you had been quite close lately-” Rung interjected. “Sorry, continue-”

“Yeah… Yeah, we um. I guess we had been… I was on the mission, you know that, and uh. There was this big… thing.” He made a weak motion with his arms. “And I saw my shot, and I took it, and I almost got scrapped in the process.” He took a long sigh. “Y’know, like EVERY OTHER MISSION! It wasn’t even a big deal, they fixed me up fine but for some reason these two got up my aft about it…” 

Rung nodded quietly, glancing up from the datapad. “So… they took offense to you… hurting yourself.”

“Yes!! I hurt myself all the time, I’m a fragging attack helicopter.” Whirl rolled his optic. “I’m built to take a hit!” 

“Mm… Now, Whirl… If I may…” Rung began. “... What was it about the situation that made you believe it was necessary to.. Attack in such a reckless manner?” 

Whirl thought for a long moment. He knew the answer, he understood all too clearly, he’d nearly shouted it in Cyclonus’s face. 

“... I don’t know.” He breathed.

“Well, were there any outside factors that could have urged you into such an act?” Rung probed.

Yes, it was the moment where he saw the shadow of it’s hand over them. 

Yes, it was the look in Tailgate’s optics as he noticed it coming down.

Yes it was the way Cyclonus was prepared to shove Tailgate away without escaping himself. 

“There was… precious cargo in danger.” He lied. 

Rung frowned a bit. “Mm, and so…?”

“So I crashed into it’s arm before it could destroy it. It was stupid, yeah, I get that it was stupid. Whatever.” Whirl rambled. “If that energon exploded from the thing, could you imagine? I’d still be washing Cyclonus’ energon outta my seams. Or if by some miracle the thing missed the palette and crushed those two- well- It- It’d be a a lot of work for the medics piecing those two back together! Hell, they could even get their kibble crossed, and- and think of how silly that’d look!” 

Rung was quiet for a long beat after Whirl finished rambling. “So you saw this as a tactical decision?”

“Well sure! You know me, always tactics first, Tactics Whirl they used to call me.” 

“... Mhm… and it was a purely tactical decision, there was… nothing else that went into that?” Rung asked. 

Whirl’s optic twitched. He was staring at the ceiling now. 

“... It coulda squashed them.” Whirl breathed. 

Rung nodded again. “... Do you think that was what it was then?” 

“... What does it mean if it was?” Whirl asked, narrowing his optic slowly as he turned to face Rung. 

“So you’ve been spending much more time with them, do you feel that has had any effect on your disposition?” Rung deflected. 

“I dunno! I’m just bored more, with them dragging me to those stupid clubs-” Whirl muttered. 

“Did you think my club was stupid?” Rung cocked his helm.

“Ugh- NO, I don’t… I guess the clubs arent terrible or anything, but- ARGH- I don’t know, doc, It feels WEIRD to be around them!” Whirl snapped. “I- I can’t do anything without thinkin about them, its- It doesn’t feel right, it- It’s different, it’s not the same as it used to be- I’m all thrown off and I hate it.” 

“Could you go into more detail on that?”

“NO, I- I don’t know how to say it!! It’s- Its a warm feeling, it doesn’t feel bad necessarily, it- It feels complicated, it makes it hard to be smart, or clever or whatever-” Whirl pinched at his elongated optic casing with his claws, dragging them down and over his optic. “It feels like fighting with Cyclonus- but. After I knew him. But- not as hot as that.” 

Rung nodded slowly, an eyebrow cocked as he absently tried to make sense of his patient’s words. “Contentment?” He offered. 

Whirl made a wretching noise. “Ugh- I hope not- that has such a sappy spin to it-” 

“I mean, it’s not a bad thing if you feel content, Whirl.” 

“It feels bad. It feels wrong.” Whirl urged. 

“... I would suggest you resist the urge to fight against it, my friend.” Rung said quietly, offering a comforting pat on the arm. 

“... I shouted at them… for worrying about me.” Whirl finally admitted. “Said stuff I didn’t mean. I dunno if they’ll forgive me for that.” 

“I’d say many others have forgiven you for much worse…” Rung said, scratching implicatively at his neck strut with a coy smile. 

Whirl chuckled a bit. “... I hope they’re as forgiving as you are, Doc.”

[linkemon]

Fatui headcanons 1

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here.

Warning!

Some Fatui have yet to appear in the game, so the characters may deviate from their later canon versions.

La Signora

✧ It's not like she was your mother. The best part of her character died with her lover. But it was hard not to feel anything for the woman who had been your mentor for several years. She personally chose you as her protégé. She gave advice and trained. Always saying that she doesn't know what it's all for because she can never be stopped so that someone like you could take her place.

✧ I let you go with me only because Tsaritsa told us to train recruits. She repeated these words and the like very often. But when anyone dared to question you, she always stood up to them. If any of Fatui's lower ranks dared to talk back to those above them, she would eliminate them without batting an eyelid. But she let you talk back, telling you to know your worth. Her student can't let herself be pushed around. That would be bad for her.

✧ When you heard he was dead, you didn't want to believe it. Perhaps many would have rejoiced at your position but you just felt empty. You knew you could do everything you were supposed to do and you would be honored to serve her majesty but joy was somewhere on the side. The first thing you wanted to know was how and where she died. You promised yourself that one day you would slay Raiden Shogun. It was your duty to avenge La Signora.

Pantalone

✧ You met him before he climbed to the top. He was a poor man with no vision. Over time, he developed an unhealthy obsession with the gods. Why did so many people have visions and the two of you didn't It was unfair.

✧ Together you tried to survive on the street. It was a strange time. Sometimes you starved to death. However, your relationship was not based on trust. Some shared food when it was scarce. You shared the spoils according to the amount of work you put in, with no reduced tariffs. Sometimes you went so far as to steal from each other, bringing less than you needed.

✧ Pantalone was usually better at planning jumps and actions. He taught you some nice tricks, including how to manipulate people. He usually chose easier targets. You were a proponent of force solutions.

✧ When given a chance to climb to the top, he abandoned you without hesitation. You always knew he was capable of this. But it wasn't until it really happened that you realized how hurt you were anyway. So when the Fatui asked you to join their ranks a year later, you agreed. Also to face Pantalone one day when you've achieved a lot.

✧ You first saw him again at your mentor's funeral. He was rarely in your area, so you only heard about him. Everything you wanted to tell him slipped out of your head. You only responded to his polite smile and handshake, then walked away.

Tartaglia

✧ As the youngest member of the crew, he often talked to you. He was very popular with recruits. There have been many occasions when Fatui's seniors have charged him with taking care of you during your training. You were always ranked number one, so naturally he wanted to challenge you. It was an honor, so you didn't even think of refusing.

✧ Over time, private training in the form of sparring entered your blood. When you came under La Signora's wing, you stopped. You already had a new teacher and Tartaglia didn't like your mentor very much. Still, he used to pick on you when he came back to Snezhnaya. He loved teasing you. Especially if you've been sitting on paperwork.

✧ At La Signora's funeral, he sided with you and Arlecchino. He himself knew what it was like to be away from his homeland and the vision of death outside of it was terrible. When he supported you, he looked at you the whole time. After the ceremony, he came over to ask how you feel in your new role and if you want to face him. You knew he wouldn't ask about your mentor but you knew his approach to family. It was kind of his attempt to comfort you, so you went to the training ground.

Il Dottore

✧ You never expected that one of your first assignments would involve working with this man. But Tsaritsa's will is sacred and you were the new Harbinger. You had to adapt. You didn't miss him. It would even be safe to say that he scared you. All the rumors you heard about him were nasty. And, as it turned out later, true.

✧ You were tasked with overseeing the security of his lab in Liyue. He produced machines there but not only. He was fascinated by Abyss. What's worse, he's taken it upon himself to keep you informed of all his steps. For some reason, the Dottore thought he'd do what he could to interest you in the subject. Like it or not, you had to listen. Over time, you noticed that you saw meaning in his words and it scared you.

✧ One unlucky day you had to leave the factory with the entire crew. There wasn't much time. You saved his life when several Ruin Guards rioted at once against him. He just laughed the whole way, running away. He said it would be too weak of an end for a genius like him. You've said a few things that would make more than one of the higher-ups try to kill you. But he just laughed again. You're stuck with him now.