#both of them came from different backgrounds with their own struggles

[averwonders]

I have thoughts about that one particular scene from Ae Watan, Mere Watan (2024) towards the end of the movie when Usha and Fahad have to decide on who will make the ultimate sacrifice of running the radio for the final time.

[sweet-as-an-angel]

Giant! König Headcanons

Warnings: 18+, Creep! König, Perverted! König, König Owns a Cum Jar, Size Difference, Giant! König, Size Kink, Sadistic! König, Abuse of Power, Dub-Con, Cum Soaking, Attempts at Forced Impregnation, Implied Pregnancy, Voyeurism, Hostage Situation, Human Pet! Reader, Physical Violence, Human! Reader, Fem! Reader.

Giant! König captures you after he catches you sneaking around his castle, trying to loot something of value to take back to your impoverished village.

Giant! König immediately jumps at the opportunity to take you as his human pet, throwing you into a nearby jar and closing the lid, observing you like a spider beneath a glass.

Giant! König who, after deciding he wants to keep you long-term instead of turning your body into the sprinkles atop his ice cream, creates a more sustainable living space for you after discovering you’re not as durable as he thought (almost suffocating, dehydrating, and starving to death whilst being held in that damn jar).

Giant! König surprises you with a dollhouse of his own design: a door that locks from the outside, windows too small for you to crawl through, and walls made of a material too strong for your tiny utensils to burrow through.

Giant! König doesn’t take long to start using you for his own pleasure – almost like he has no other outlet; like he was just waiting for this opportunity to come.

Giant! König who, whenever he feels like punishing you, puts you in The Jar and stares you down whilst stroking his cock, gigantic even in comparison to other giants’. He grunts, berating you, telling you how he’d “Fill you with my cock if you weren’t so small – bet I could crush you with it if I wanted to.”

When he’s ready, he cums into the jar – all over you – thick and heavy, almost drowning you with just one spurt of his load.

He loves watching you struggle to keep your head above the viscous pool he’s trapped you in as you literally swim in his semen, looking up at him with pleading eyes, begging him to “Get me out, please!”.

He’ll often leave you in there without clothes to try and teach you a lesson. Until it turns into another reason – to breed you – which you accidentally sparked in him when you told him to be careful! You’ll end up getting me pregnant!

Giant! König can’t get your words out of his head, the primal urges he’s suppressed for so long unearthed by your pleas for him to spare you, if only once.

Giant! König knows he’s way too big to fit inside you, so this –  cumming profusely into a jar he’s encased you in whilst giving you no means of refusing his attempts – is the next best thing.

Giant! König gets off on the sheer size difference between the two of you  – the fact that you’re entirely dependent on him for your survival. Makes him feel like the kind of giant he’s supposed to be; strong and well-seeded.

Giant! König lays awake at night and fantasises about having a family, a far-off dream until you came along. It’s all he can think about as the image of you, his tiny wife, swollen to an almost painful degree as you bear his children, floods his mind, makes his cock twitch – harden. He resists the urge to relieve himself of this burden, preferring to save every ounce of his seed for you rather than wasting even a drop of it.

Giant! König who, despite his…questionable treatment of you, does try to treat you well. He lets you eat as much as you want, both because he knows you come from a poor background and because he has to keep you healthy to bear his offspring — especially since he knows they’ll be quite big compared to you.

Giant! König enjoys questioning you about your life before him, how humans work, what they do all day, whether the stereotypes of them all being lustful, pride-driven,  creatures are true.

If you validate any part of this stereotype, he’ll use that as an excuse to sink you in even more of his cum, to subject you to the task of sitting on his cock (horizontally, might I add) while he commands you to get yourself off by humping the shaft.

Man’s had no outlet for basicall all his life – he’s feral.

Giant! König loves to watch you while you’re tucked up in your dollhouse, observing everything you do. Humans are a rarity in the Giant Lands, so to have one in his home is a mythic occurrence.

Giant! König loves showing you off; he thrives on the reaction he gets when his friends see you. You’re, as stated before, a rarity in their parts, often used as a delicacy rather than a pet since humans aren’t particularly sturdy compared to giants, so managing to keep one alive is something of a status symbol in itself; the mark of a truly capable mate (hence captive humans are often given as courting gifts between giants).

However, König is also highly protective of you – especially after he caught Horangi (another giant he’d been showing you off to) goading you – harassing you – stroking his cock, telling you to “Lick the tip. Never felt a human tongue before.”

Needless to say, König never invited him around again after that.

Giant! König is, obviously, good with his hands and technical know-how. Thus, if his method of soaking you in his semen doesn’t work when trying to knock you up, he’ll create some unlawful contraption to make it inevitable.

Despite his size, König has managed to make a tiny glass syringe that he’s packed with his cum, holding you down easily with one hand as he presses the tip to your entrance, pumping you full of his seed.

He struggles to contain how the scene – the feeling – of you trying desperately to fight him off, to stop him from filling you, makes him feel. You have to watch the bulge between his legs grow as the feeling of being filled past full overcome you.

Giant! König does this as many times as he likes until he knows his seed’s taken, when you start showing. Which, considering how big his offspring will be, is pretty early on.

He definitely makes maternity clothes for you – comfortable garments that show the swell of your stomach as the weeks crawl by into months.

Giant! König loves bathing you, too. Especially after he’s covered you in his cum.

There’s something so intimate and gentle about it – a scarcity in the Giant Lands. Having something so small and fragile in his hands, knowing that he can crush you in his grip at any moment, makes him feel…responsible. Trustworthy.

Giant! König will never let you go, btw. You can try to run as much as you want, but he’ll always catch up to you, his human pet.

Reblog for more content like this! It helps creators like myself tremendously and it is greatly appreciated :-)

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[luvinescent]

Entangled Fates

Pairing: Robb Stark x fem!Targaryen!Reader

Summary: The Targaryen name has brought nothing but misery to Y/N— her half-blood placing a curse upon her. She's observed the toll her presence takes on the people she loves; no longer wanting to form a close tie with anyone. Nevertheless, her heart steered its own course. And it steered towards a certain man.

Warnings: angst. allusion to r*pe and death, nothing descriptive. a steamy make-out scene but nothing crazy. not really book or show accurate but f it we ball. also fluff. also reader has dark hair so just pretend u do if u don't xoxo.

Word count: 10.1K (beginning just has lots of background lore pls bear w/ me)

In life, there are those destined for lavish living and those made to struggle to see their next day. From a young age, Dorea knew she fell into the second category. She grew up orphaned; never knowing the love of a mother or a father. Despite the fact, Dorea was strong willed; she found her own kind of love. Love for herself, love for her friends, and love for her life. She knows that she did not have the best life; her dresses had holes in them, she had to work from dawn to dusk, and she often would need to go days without eating. That ultimately changed the day a close friend of hers had come to her with a new line of work.

“One of the castles maids was executed, so her position is open to take”.

Looking back, she should’ve said no from the way a chill went up her spine. She had heard the rumors of the king having gone mad; but at the time, that was not her problem. Being a castle maid sounded a lot better than being a candle maker. All she had to do was clean the chambers and mind her business and pay would be given to her. The task sounded easy— it should’ve been easy. Dorea had ways of not drawing attention to herself. That is how she has made it this far in her life; from hiding. The peace of obscurity brought her comfort; being anonymous was a safe refuge that protected her from prying eyes and the entanglements of wicked connections. The girl was pure and innocent.

Yet, fate, with its twisted sense of irony, had other plans.

She truly had done all she could to stay out of the eyes of the royal family. She should’ve been more careful, more attentive, more aware of the eyes that followed her unknowingly when she walked the halls. Her foolishness had caught up to her one day when a guard had dragged her to the throne room; thrown to the ground to kneel in front of the king, Aerys II Targaryen. Dorea was ready to open her mouth and beg for forgiveness on whatever crimes she had committed but was silenced in fear. “You will meet me in my chambers tonight”, he said. Dorea could do nothing but nod as she could not go against the kings’ words. The only thing she could do was look to the Hand of the King for some form of help, but they stood muted. Moments later, she was whisked away by some female servants— some of them her own friends— and was prepared for the event. She was washed and dressed properly; never have been so physically clean yet so dirty internally.

Later that night, her virtue and gaiety of life was destroyed when the king came and took her. She had prayed to the Gods that it was only a one-time thing. But the Gods seemed to find her plea a joke. The king would request her presence many more times and many more nights afterwards. Her position as a maid in the castle vanished overnight. Now, she stood as something different; still, she did not know exactly what. All Dorea knew was she felt shame as those working in the castle started to treat her different, with more respect and caution. She dreamt every night for this nightmare to end, but it only continued.

“The girl is pregnant, your grace”. The maestar told the king. Both fear and relief spread through her body. Fear in the sense that the king would have her eliminated to hide such sin, and relief that he might just send her away forever. It had to be one or the other; from what she has seen, the queen is currently pregnant as well and due in a few moons. Furthermore, he already had two children born, why would he need her? Her thoughts were interrupted by the third alternative she had feared the most, “You will continue to stay here. You will have the child”. Later that night, Dorea prayed once more for all this suffering to end. Finally, her prayer had been answered in the worst way possible.

She had heard the talks of the rebellion, but she never thought it would come to where she resigned. The king’s heir was now dead, along with his wife and children. The queen was now dead; dying from childbirth. The middle child and newest member of the royal family had been sent to exile. And the Mad King was now dead as well; stabbed by a member of his own Kingsguard.

Death and misery surrounded Dorea everywhere.

For her own safety, and her chance once again at freedom, she did what she knew she had to do. She ran away.

Dorea took refuge in a small village that resided in the Reach. Selling all the gifts and jewelry the king had bestowed upon her; she and her unborn child were set for life. A few moons later, Dorea gave birth during a warm summer night. As she held the newborn in her arms, she thought the Gods had finally decided to take pity on her and grant her some kindness. For starters, she had given birth to a girl. Dorea was thankful in the sense that the child would not be seen as a threat to the line of succession of the Iron throne. Additionally, the babe had no features of a Targaryen. Caressing the small amount of hair on her daughter’s hair, she was given hair as dark as night instead of the silvery-gold feature of her biological father. Dorea let out a sigh of relief once the girl opened her eyes— no violet eyes either. Pulling the babe closer to her chest, she gave a quick prayer and smiled down at the sleeping babe.

Dorea named her Y/N.

As time passed, Y/N quickly grew before her mothers’ eyes. Both her and her mother were beloved by the village folks— Dorea giving money to those who were in need, and her daughter who was tenderhearted and befriended all. No one in the village had known about Doreas’ past or Y/N true linage. And Dorea wanted to keep it that way. She, however, knew that one day it would all come back to bite her. Despite having run away, she knew that there were some people who knew of their existence. It did not help her case more when Y/N had begun to show a great fascination with fire; something the mothers of the village made jokes about, but Dorea knew the truth.

“You have dragon blood within you”, Dorea had whispered to her daughter one quiet night. “You are part Targaryen, but you must keep this a secret. I am only telling you this for your own safety. There are people in this world who will want to hurt you, to take you away from me. Do you understand darling?”. At just the age of eight, Y/N was smarter and brighter than her peers. Hearing such solemness in her mothers’ voice, she nodded, “Yes mother”.

Such a topic was dropped and never brought up again— that was until Y/N turned ten. Since Dorea had the funds, she had hired a tutor for the young girl. Y/N’s instructor was a retired tutor who had taught many kids from noble homes before moving to their village. The old man was just supposed to teach her simple things like language, arts, music, and maths.  Without her mothers’ knowledge, Y/N brought up the topic of history to her teacher, particularly the history of the Targaryen household. And that’s where everything started.

It was one calm afternoon in their shared bedroom when Y/N had asked the question. “Mother, am I cursed?”. Dorea, puzzled, stopped brushing her daughter’s hair and turned towards her, “What kind of question is that?”. Y/N looked sheepishly to the side and confessed everything, “I have been learning history with my tutor. Targaryen history”. Before Dorea could respond, the young girl continued, “You say I am half Targaryen, and based upon their history, I must be cursed”. Dorea questioned what she meant and then let out a loud laugh at her daughters’ answer: “I have black hair mother”.

Dorea caressed her daughters face, smiling and shaking her head, “Darling, your hair color does not mean anyth- “.

“But its true mother!” Y/N exclaimed, “It is shown all over their history. Rhaenyra Targaryen’s eldest sons were born with dark hair, and they all died before they could reach adulthood. Rhaenys Targaryen was known as the “Queen Who Never Was” and saw the death of her two children in her lifetime. Rhaegar Targaryen’s daughter was killed in the sack of Kings Landing. Valarr Targaryen was- “.

“What does any of that have to do with you?!”, Dorea shouted out, startling Y/N. The young girl felt tears come to her eyes as she hid herself in her mothers’ embrace, muffling her words, “They were not pure Targaryen. I am not a pure Targaryen, mother. I do not wish to fall to such misfortunes”. Dorea felt her heart break at the sound and thoughts of her daughters’ troubles. Shaking her head, Dorea raised Y/Ns’ head and looked straight into her eyes, “You are not cursed. Their misfortunes are not yours. Do you hear me girl? This is your life, and you control it”. Y/N could do nothing but continue to cry. "It's okay, sweetheart," her mother whispered, her voice a tender melody that carried reassurance. Dorea cradled the young girl, whose sobs softened but still lingered, the remnants of a storm that had raged within her fragile heart. “I will protect you no matter what”, she declared.

Y/N would forever remember that loving moment, amongst the many others she shared with her mother. While Dorea had said she would do anything to protect her, Y/N should’ve said the same thing back. Yet, fate, with its twisted sense of irony, had other plans for the daughter. Not even a month later, Y/Ns’ mother died, succumbing to a mysterious illness that took her in a matter of days. It felt as though the moment she acknowledged the said “curse”, her world only came to be filled with hurt.

Being only ten years old and now orphaned, the people in the village were kind enough to take the girl in. Specifically, it was a family of three that consisted of a father and mother and a son her age who took her into their home. The boy, named Tomas, had always been a close friend of Y/N. The two would spend many days together, playing and running around in the meadows. He would pick flowers for her and in return she would do the same. There was even one early morning when the two stood by their village’s lake and shared a kiss with each other. Despite still being a child, Y/N felt as though she was feeling the love that was described in the fairytale stories her mother used to read to her.

Sadly, that love was taken from her as well. At the young age of one and three, Tomas had somehow fallen and drowned in that same lake. Y/N had never heard such a devasting scream as Edith, Tomas’s mother, held her dead son in her arms. The village was both in mourning and in query; Tomas had been taught to swim at the age of four, how could this have happened? No explanations were thought of, but Y/N had her own belief.

I’m cursed, she would toss in turn in her bed at night, I am cursed.

Two more years would pass by, and no other unfortunate incidents would have occurred. But there is always calm before the storm. One day, something within Y/N had made her go explore the small forest that was near her village. It was nothing out of the ordinary; she had done it many times before. Yet, she stayed exploring for hours before that same voice within her told her to return. Upon seeing her village within the distance, Y/N should’ve never listened to that voice. She wishes she could’ve stayed back and continue being ignorant of everything. Her village— the homes, the crops, the trees, everything, was up in flames. Running down the dirt paths, Y/N did not have time (nor did she want to) to acknowledge all slaughtered men, women, and children that laid on the grounds. A small amount of hope had sparked within her when she saw that her home was not ablaze. That hope died upon entering the residence— Y/N crying out in distress at the sight of Edith, the women she had come to see as her second mother, dead on the ground. Her sadness was turned to fear when she spotted a large man in the corner, angry and hungry for blood. Before the crazed man could run at her, he was tackled to the ground by Lance— Edith’s husband and her adopted father. He was clearly injured; covered in blood from head to toe but still had the strength in him to scream at Y/N, desperation laced in his voice, “Run girl! Run and do not look back!”. Y/N, not wanting to witness his clear end, quickly listened to his order and ran out the door, trying her best to stay out of sight of all the other savage men as she made her way out the village.

She must’ve ran for hours before she knew she was no longer in danger. A day or two of traveling passed by before she took residence in a small city. That same night, under a dirty bridge, she finally acknowledged all hell that had occurred to her within the past forty-eight hours. The dams broke as she cried and screamed out in sorrow and pain. She cried, and cried, and cried until she had no more tears to let out; now consumed by numbness. Her mother, her first love, her caretakers, her childhood friends, her home; had all been taken from her. What had she done to deserve this? With her heart broken into millions of pieces, Y/N decided that she wouldn’t live like this. Never would she fall in love and never would she form a deep connection with anyone again. She wasn’t going to let herself be tied to the Targaryen name, to its blood, nor its curse. She wasn’t going to let this curse win and see her suffer again.

And so, she did; well, she tried her best at least. With the little money she had on her, Y/N jumped from village to village, city to city, and made sure not to socialize with anyone. There were some instances of people trying to get to know her, boys trying to court her, but she wouldn’t stay very long and would be gone the next day. It was a lonely life, a life she despised but knew she had to endure. That changed a bit when she came face to face with a woman with a fair complexion and silver hair.

Daenerys Targaryen. The “Mother of Dragons”. Her older half-sister.

Daenerys had always known about her half-sister’s existence; her older brother one day rambling that the throne belongs to a true Targaryen and not the current usurper, nor the “Targaryen-bastard filth” their father left behind. At first, Y/N was wary of the girl but soon found herself becoming fond of her presence. Daenerys felt the same way; with no family left on either girl’s end, they quickly found solace in each other— treating one another as the sisters they are. It was strange at first for Y/N; getting used to now having family once again and the companionship of dragons that came with it. Initially, she was terrified at the sight of the foreign creatures but quickly came to love them and their beautiful nature. She became quite close with the one called Rhaegal, favoring the dragon over the overs. Rhaegal doted and protected the girl the same; but still recognized Daenerys as its’ rightful mother. Y/N could say she just held the title of “favorite aunt” now amongst the creatures.

The thought of the curse still weighed heavy in the back of her mind, but Y/N hypothesized that whatever superstition was out to get her would not harm her sister; a true (and last) Targaryen. Y/N immediately recognized Daenerys as her queen and vowed to help her reclaim her throne. For some time, Y/N felt happiness once again entering her life as she spent more time with her sister and her allies. That bliss, however, turned out to be false hope.

“When the time comes and I reclaim my throne, I will legitimize you as a Targaryen”, Daenerys spoke to her one night. Y/N wanted to decline right away; she was content with not having a household name and did not want to be associated with the Targaryen name. Before Y/N could speak, Daenerys looked shamefully down while holding her sister’s hand, “There is a reason why I came looking for...”. Y/N felt a chill run up her spine and quickly encouraged the Mother of Dragons to continue. “I am unable to have my own children. When the time is right, I will need you to find a man, any man of your choosing..”, Daenerys sternly said as she looked into Y/N eyes, “I will need an heir to inherit the throne and continue my family name. Do you understand sister?”. Daenerys felt guilt creep up inside her as she finally confessed her true intentions from the start of meeting Y/N. She was asking too much of Y/N but, she, however, was on a mission to reclaim her birthright no matter what. Y/N stared agape at her, no words coming from her mouth. She wanted to decline even more— but, looking into Daenerys eyes, she saw the graveness within them and the true tone behind her words. She was not asking this of her as her sister. She was commanding this of her as her queen. And Y/N would do anything for her rightful queen.

“Yes, sister. I understand”. Y/N now found herself tied to the Targaryen name. Something she vowed never to be but couldn’t escape.

As time passed by, Y/N kept her promise and stood by Daenerys side as she continued her conquest; now finding herself at Dragonstone, her sister’s ancestral home. The preparations and campaign for Daenerys claim to the Iron Throne was in full effect but was interrupted momentarily.

“The King in the North?”, Daenerys questioned one of her advisors who came bearing news. “Yes my Queen. He sent a raven— detailing that he wishes to speak with you”. Y/N, standing off to the side, expressed her thoughts and question, “I had heard that the King in the North was dead”.

“As did I”, Daenerys said sharply. The man before them nodded his head, “Yes. There was an incident that had occurred that made everyone believe he was dead. But he is very much alive”. Daenerys raised her eyebrows up, skeptical about this so called “King in the North”— “And he trusts me with the information of his false death?”

“Well, according to his letter, yes.”

Y/N and Daenerys turned, staring into each other’s eyes, speaking with them. Not much emotion was shown behind Y/N eyes, but she was able to express with them, “What harm is there in seeing what he wants”. Sighing, Daenerys nodded her head and agreed with her sister.

“Send a message back. Invite him here and let him know I agree to speak with him”.

A few days later, Y/N stood on the shores, waiting to welcome her guests on the request of Daenerys. Once she saw the boats pull up on the beach, she made her way but stopped in amazement. Out from one of the boats came a large, thick furred animal— a dire wolf. She had only ever heard about the mythical creatures and now she was in close distance with one. Dragons and now dire wolves; she held a small smile on her face at the uniqueness that was the world. Clearing their throats, the two guards behind her had snapped her out of her daydream, reminding her of the task. Standing tall, Y/N put on her best welcoming smile and stood in front of the party, “Welcome to Dragonstone. I have been sent by our rightful Queen to give our greetings”.

Y/N voice had started loud and clear, but slightly quieted down towards the end as she made eye contact with a man. A very handsome man to be exact, she thought to herself. He stood tall and strong, a lean build with dark curls and blue eyes as blue as the water behind them. He smiled at her and before he could open his mouth, the older man next to him spoke up. “I present Robb Stark. Heir to the Stark household and King of the North”. Y/N raised her eyebrows at the discovery of the handsome stranger being the King in the North. Turning to him, she held a sort of mischief but harsh attitude in her voice, “Is the King in the North unable to speak for himself?”

The men in front of her were clearly taken back. Except for Robb Stark who let out a small laugh. “Forgive me, my lady, I am very capable of speaking. I am Robb Stark”. He held out his hand and was charmed when she firmly grasped it and shook it; opting out of giving her his hand to kiss.  

“I am not a lady. Please, call me Y/N”. Robb was preparing himself to compliment her name but was cut off by the same man next to him. “She’s the Targaryen bastard, your grace”. Though it was meant to be a whisper for only Robb to hear, Y/N was in close enough proximity to have heard it as well. Robb swiftly turned to his advisor next to him, giving him a crude look before turning back to the girl, “Forgive the rudeness of- “

“No, it is quite alright” she waved her hand, “It is all true anyway. I am THAT Targaryen bastard”. Robb nodded, gulping as he tried to ease the tension, “I have heard a lot about you...and your sister too, of course”. Y/N wanted to let out a chuckle at the sight before her; a gorgeous man trying his best not to insult her. “And I have heard very little about you,” Y/N voiced, “Other than the fact that you were supposedly dead, which I can see you are very much alive”, looking him up and down with her eyes. Robb smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, “It is a long story”. Y/N let out a “hmm” sound, looking off towards the side to the dire wolf. “Is he yours?”

“Yes. His name is Grey Wind. I’ve had him since he was a pup”. Y/N nodded once more, noticing just how well behaved the wolf was, “He’s very beautiful”. Robb thanked her for the compliment, grinning widely, “I can see you are fond of animals. Do you have any of your own?”

Y/N laughed softly, shaking her head, “No. I have children.”

Robb was clearly taken back by her words, a stuttering mess as he questioned her statement. “O-oh? You have children?”. Y/N could sense some disappointment in his voice towards the end as it cracked. Smiling, she shook her head. “No. But I do consider them children. Just not mine. I am just an aunt”. All the guests in front of her were puzzled by her words but ducked down in fear at the sound of a roar from above. Looking up, she smiled at the sight of Rhaegal and Drogon patrolling the skies.

“Seven hells!” she heard one of Robbs’ men yell out. Turning back, she playfully spoke “My children. Beautiful, aren’t they?”. None of Robbs’ men were able to agree or speak; still in shock. Robb, still looking up to the sky, laughed earnestly, “Well, they sure are an eccentric sight to see”. Y/N smiled more at his honesty, clapping her hands together, turning and speaking to the entire party, “Well. I believe that is a sufficient way to welcome you all here. Now, I must welcome you into the castle. Please come, the Queen is curious to known what it is you wish to speak about”.

Upon greeting the Queen, Robb Starks’ words and terms were clear to her. He wishes to ally with her in her conquest to take the throne and create a fairer and just realm. “We both have a clear enemy,” he spoke, “I want the Lannisters dead for what they have done to my family, and you want them off the throne entirely”. Every so often, Robb would cast his eyes off to the side to look at Y/N; something she tried her best to hide her reddening face from. “My men, though small numbers, will be yours to use. We ask that in return, once you take your rule, you allow the North to maintain a degree of self-rule. We will recognize you as the rightful Queen, but we wish to keep the North the way it is”. Daenerys nodded her head, asking her advisors for their views on the matter, and taking Y/N by surprise when she asked her as well. “As I perceive it, the North is biggest land piece in Westeros. It would be better to keep them as allies instead of fighting them off. They recognize you as Queen, and the Stark household keeps the North in check for you, sister”. Daenerys responded with another nod, showing to be clear in thought at all the opinions given to her. The Queen stood up, still not fully convinced, but could not deny all the positives of the compromise, “Very well. I will continue to think about the matter. I will let you know that my thoughts are leaning more toward yes than it is no. For now, your men must be tired. Allow my people to escort them to rest”.

Later that night, Y/N made her way down the dark halls to the one place in the castle that brought her peace. She almost let out a small scream at the tall shadow that appeared around the corner, “My lady?”. Placing her hand to her chest to control her tachycardic heart, she saw that the dark shadow was Robb Stark. “Your grace. You almost scared me to death”, Y/N laughed, “And please, I am not a lady of noble birth. Call me by my first name”. Robb returned her laugh with his own, apologizing for scaring her. “Forgive me, my lad- Y/N. I was just curious as to why you are out so late”. She nodded her head in the direction she was originally heading in, “I can not sleep so I was heading to the library to bore myself with some reading” she joked, “Is it not late for you to be awake as well?”. Robb gave a similar answer; unable to sleep and practically full of energy. Y/N looked down at the ground for a mere second before glancing into his eyes, “Would you like to join me?”. He agreed to her invite, thankful for the darkness of the night hiding his blushed face.

Dimly lit by flickering candlelight, the shelves towered, laid with books that held centuries of knowledge and wisdom. Robb made himself comfortable at one of the chairs available while Y/N opted for the window nook. “Do you come in here often?” Robb asked. Y/n offered a silent yes, trailing her fingers against the rim of the book she had chosen, “I have not been here that long, but yes. I come here every night; I tend to have trouble sleeping”.

“Why is that?” Robb questioned.

“Nightmares”, Y/N replied. Her dreams were always filled with visions of her dead loved ones.

After a pause, Robb gave a “hmm”; silently admiring the girl for not being afraid to show vulnerability. “That’s something we both have in common” he gave a warm smile. Another quiet pause passed by until Y/N looked up at him, “You say that you being alive is a long story— can I listen to it?”. Robb gave a slight nod, standing up to sit next to her in a close but comfortable proximity.

“I was to marry the daughter of someone who I thought was my ally. I agreed initially but something within me told me not to carry out my word”. He slowly reached over for the book that was in her hands, both hands brushing slightly as he took it out of her grasp, now distracting himself with it. “The wedding still went on; I supplied another man in my place. But, there was bloodshed, and I was betrayed. I barely made it out alive, along with a few other men of mine”. Inhaling sharply, he continued with his outpour, “And I’m thankful I did. I have sources that tell me that even if I went along with the wedding, I was to be killed no matter what. The Lannisters long ago forming allies with the people I thought I could trust”. Coming close to a finish, he looked into Y/N eyes, softly smiling, “I guess it was fate that saved me somehow”.

Breaking eye contact, Y/N scoffed at his words. “Fate” she said with repugnance. Her reply caught him off guard, raising his eyebrows in surprise, “You do not believe in fate?”.

Y/N took in a long sigh, shaking her head, “No I believe in it”, she gently whispered the last part, “We just never have seen eye to eye. My fate only brings me bad luck”. Robb took in her words, trying to calculate what he should say next. “I believe fate can bring both good and bad luck”, he began with, “One can say it was my fathers’ fate to have been killed, or my sisters’ fates to be held captive”, Robb swallowed thickly before continuing, “But, it is my fate to avenge and save them. It is fate that has brought me this far; that has brought me here and to you”, he slowly spoke while staring deep into Y/N eyes. She quickly looked away, hoping her face wasn’t red and was successful in controlling her facial expression. Clearing her throat, she spoke firmly, “You must be confused; I believe you are trying to woo the wrong sister, Stark. Is it not my sister who you need as your ally?”.

Robb let out a low laugh, grinning widely, “That may be true, but”, he slowly scanned the room in a playful manner, “I believe that I don’t see your sister in here at all. So, no, I am not confused. I am speaking to the right sister”. A third pause passed by as the two continued staring, wating for one of them to speak or do something. Y/N was the first— standing abruptly, she moved her hair behind her ear and let out an awkward ahem. “I believe I must retire for the night. It was nice speaking to you Stark”. Before she could make her way out the door, he called out to her.

“It’s Robb”. Turning, she questioned what he meant. Smiling, he spoke, “You can call me Robb. You say you come here every night?”. Y/N nodded her head. “Would you allow me to see you here again tomorrow? Or even spend some time with you come morning?”.

Y/N wanted to say no. She needed to stop whatever friendship (or relationship) was forming between the two before she got too close. Before her curse got to him. He had already suffered enough. Despite the fact, deep down, her own selfish desires won over. She hadn’t felt like this in forever— she wanted this feeling to last forever.

“Yes. Of course, Robb”.

Come morning, they spent the entire day together, including the night. The next day was the same. Daenerys had granted Robb and his men a longer stay as there was much to discuss. It was late in the morning that he and Y/N were walking along the shores, discussing the most random of topics. Both were making a great effort to make the other one laugh: sprouting different jokes and funny stories. They both loved hearing the sound of laughter coming out of each another’s mouths. A gentle breeze roamed the air, blowing through Y/Ns’ dark hair. Robb stood silently still, stuck in a daze and awestruck by her appearance. Swiftly, he removed his fur cloak and placed it upon her exposed shoulders. Robb gestured to the area around them as Y/N looked at him in confusion, “I thought you might be cold”. She let out a small chuckle, shaking her head but not returning his cloak back. It provided her with a sense of ease. “No,” she confessed, “I don’t run cold that easily”. Resuming their walk, Robb gave her a look of admiration, “You would do great in the North then. Have you ever been there?”.

She answered with a clear no, stopping in her path to match Robb’s sudden cease of movement. Slowly, he placed his hands upon the cloak, further wrapping it securely around her. “I believe you would love it there. Maybe one day, you can come with me to Winterfell. I would love to give you a tour and introduce you to my mother, and hopefully my sisters too. I’m sure they would love you”. No further sounds were made; the distant sound of crashing waves serving as the only soundtrack to their wordless communion. Y/N leaned slightly into him — his closeness felt like a forbidden sanctuary, a place where she found solace and belonging but knew she shouldn’t enter. Y/N only response was a gentle nod and smile.

Many heart-fluttering moments continued to happen between the two. Stolen glances from across the table, hands brushing as they took their walks, laughter and smiles shared in the dark of night. There was an occurrence in the library when Robb had urged the girl to go to bed; taking notice of her eyebags forming from their long night of talking. “I can’t go to sleep that easily. And even if I can, I just have bad dreams I can’t wake up from”, she disclosed. They sat intimately close, sharing an intense gaze, both their features illuminated by the light of the candles in the room. Y/N could see every detail, every pore, every small scar that graced his beautiful face. She was caught by surprise, her breath hitching when he gently grabbed her hand, drawing small patterns into it.

“You can sleep here if you wish. I will watch over you and wake you at any sign of discomfort”. She wanted to decline, but there was something in his eyes that was persuading her. Y/N then found herself in his warm embrace, laying her head gently on his chest. She could hear every breath he took, every beat his heart made. Sealing her eyelids, he was the sole occupant of her dreams. She had never slept better.

Daenerys was no fool to what was happening before her very eyes. Sharing a private dinner with her sister, she brought up the topic.

“So, you and the Northern have been spending some time together”. Y/N nodded; not being able to lie since there was clear evidence in front of Daenerys. “He is a good man,” she smiled, “Very kind to his men, to his wolf”, she smiled even further at the memory of Robb introducing her properly to Grey Wind. She could still hear his laughter and the concern that replaced it when Grey Wind had tackled her to the ground with wet kisses. “We don’t want to get that pretty face all slobbered up now, do we?” fondness had colored his expression as he helped her back up. The smile upon her face slipped away, a frown and more serious look taking over.

“He’s very kind to me…I don’t think I will be spending much time with him anymore though”, she held her fork tightly in her hand. Daenerys questioned what she meant by her words. “Personal reasons”, Y/N said in a somber tone, “He will be leaving soon, and I plan to stay by your side”. Daenerys nodded her head, a part of her knowing that Y/Ns’ excuse was not the full truth. It’s not an exaggeration— Daenerys wasn’t a fool. She was well aware of Y/N’s standoffish attitude; practically a hermit as she kept to herself, or Daenerys. She saw the reasoning behind it— having an understanding of her past hardships. Additionally, Daenerys once tried to comfort Y/N during a nightmare of hers, hearing the word “curse” coming out of her mouth every few seconds. She badly wanted to comfort her sister, let her know that she was not cursed— life was just not fair to everyone. Daenerys, however, said nothing. Y/N was the only family she had left, and she did not want to lose her so soon, especially to some man. Forcing a smile upon her face, Daenerys tried to hide the distaste she felt towards her own selfishness. “That is good. Family must stick together”.

As the hours slipped away, Y/N and Robb were spending their last night together in the library. Robb and his men were set to leave tomorrow— all discussions and plans made with Daenerys were finalized. Robb, sitting across the room, was enamored as Y/N read to him out loud. It was a couple nights ago that they created this little routine; Y/N would read to him, and he would give his input at certain scenes. Right now, however, he was not paying attention to what was happening in the story. He was trying to memorize her gentle sweet voice, the way her lips moved with each syllable she said. Finishing a passage, Y/N put the book down to ask Robb his view.

“I can not lie to you. I was not paying attention”. Mouth agape, she pretended to be upset, throwing the small pillow she had next to her. Robb caught the cushion, letting out a hearty laugh that rumbled deep within his chest. Standing up, he walked across the room to her, placing the pillow behind her back. He knew she liked to read in comfort. Y/Ns’ smile was warm, spreading even more across her face at the words Robb spoke next, “You have a pretty voice”. Shyly looking down, she quietly thanked him. Robb’s compliments towards her only continued, “And a beautiful face”.

Biting her lip, she was readying herself to change the topic, but he only continued more. “I remember when I saw you for the first time”, he sat down beside her, sharing body warmth now, “I truly thought I had never seen a more beautiful woman before in my life”. Y/N chuckled, rolling her eyes softly and replying in a joking matter “And then you saw my sister and I was the second most beautiful woman you had seen in your life”. Her heart quickened up when she looked up at him, no humor present on his face, only showing seriousness. “No”, he whispered, “you were still the most captivating and breathtaking beauty I’d seen”. Silence filled the room. Without a word, he reached out, his fingers interlacing with hers. “I leave tomorrow”, he spoke of the one thing they both had refused to acknowledge. “That you are”, Y/N said, her main focus placed upon their hands. Drawing small comforting circles into her skin, he asked her what she had planned for her future.

“My future is a mystery”, Y/N sighed heavily, “Regardless, I will continue to stand by Daenerys and be with her when she retakes the throne. She told me that she was going to bestow the Targaryen name upon me, but I’m not sure that is what I want”. Confusion etched Robbs’ features, questioning her meaning. Her face gave away a gloomy look, “I have never really been fond of my Targaryen blood. Daenerys is the only good thing that has come out of it”, she said truthfully, “I’ve gone long enough without a household name, so I don’t see the point in having one”. A smile graced her lips as she looked at him, “I won’t lie, it is a small yearn of mine. To belong somewhere and become a part of something special”.

A pregnant pause filled the room. The only sound being heard was the burning of the fireplace. Y/Ns’ laughter echoed through the room; Robbs’ next statement finding humor within her.

“You can become a Stark”.

Shaking her head, almost wanting to wipe the imaginary tears in her eyes, she continued her fits of giggles. “And how can I do that- “

Robbs’ next sentence caused all laughter within her to cease, her breath getting stuck in her chest. “By marrying me”, he said.

Another pregnant pause. Y/N stared at him in shock, becoming a stuttering mess, “R-Robb, I…”. Before she could finish, he cut her off, taking both her hands into his now, “I plead that you allow me to speak first”, he smiled but looked ready to cry, “I have never felt the way I have when I am with you. You truly have stolen my heart, and I don’t plan on asking for it back. Come with me to Winterfell— become my wife, my queen”. With affection, he raised her hand and placed a gentle, lingering kiss on it, “Grant me the wish to spend the rest of my life with you”. Robb had poured his emotions out into his speech, mistakenly only imagining what he wanted her reply to be. He was not prepared for what Y/N said next.

“No.”

Furrowing his eyes, he dropped one of her hands but still held the other. Shaking his head, he began to apologize profoundly, “I-I’m sorry. I thought maybe there was something between us. Did I ask too soon?”, he looked desperate in front of her, “I can take back the proposal. I can court you properly if that is what you wish – “

“No. No, Robb”, Y/N let her hand drop from his, both now becoming colder by the second, “I can’t marry you”.

The tension crackled in the air as Y/N words hung between them, heavy and unresolved. The room felt suffocating, each second stretching into an eternity. Robb’s jaw clenched, his gaze fixed on the ground, struggling to contain his emotions and appear unaffected, “Can I ask why?”. Y/N bit her lip, her own emotions consuming her, never wanting more than to cry. “Robb,” she sobbed, “marrying me— being with me would only bring you hell”. Shaking his head, Robb grabbed ahold of her face, staring into her eyes, “What nonsense do you speak of? That can be far from the truth”. Y/N wanted to push his hands off her but was brought warmth by his touch, “But it’s the truth. My presence alone carries a curse. All those I have cherished have been harmed and taken from me”, he delicately removed the tears that were dropping from her eyes, “I’m not supposed to fall in love with you”.

Robb didn’t know what to say, how exactly to comfort her. His only reply being, “there is no such thing as a curse”, which angered her to some extent. Standing abruptly, she screamed out in sorrow, “Yes there is! My mother, my first love, my home— everyone suffered because of me!”, she started hyperventilating, burying her face in her hands, sobs echoing through the room, “You have suffered enough Robb. I do not wish to cause you more misery”. Robb sprang up quickly and encircled her with an arm, drawing her in for a reassuring embrace. As she cried, he felt her body quiver against his chest. He rubbed her back in gentle circles, giving her a feeling of comfort and safety. “Shhh…”, he tried soothing her, “Even if there is a curse, I won’t let it get to me, or you. I will protect you with entire life; you will never be subjected to such pain”, he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her head, “I can’t let you go— living out the rest of my life thinking “what if?”.

Shaking her head, she gently pushed him away, “No, Robb”. Y/N stared at him, her eyes reflecting her inner sadness, “This is for my protection and yours. I would not have the strength in me to live if something happened to you”. Walking swiftly towards the door, she ceased her movements when Robb called out to her.

“Y/N. You deserve better”, he spoke truthfully and with sorrow, “You can’t live like this. Someone as extraordinary as you deserves to be happy. To be loved”.

She gripped the door handle, almost hurting her own hand from the pressure. Turning her head, she offered him a pained smile, “Maybe you’re right”, she opened the door, “But such fine things were not made for me in this lifetime”. And she was gone.

Y/N was unable to sleep the rest of the night, tossing and turning in her bed. Come morning, she mentally prepared herself for a conversation she knew she had to make. Standing in front of the chamber rooms Robb occupied, she knocked. A few seconds later, he opened the door, clear surprise on his face at her presence.

“Hi”, she spoke softly. Robb did not verbally reply to her greeting; opting to nod to her instead. “May I come in?”, she asked, and Robb moved to the side to allow her to enter. Looking at him, his tunic was unlaced— a clear indication she had interrupted him in the middle of dressing up. Y/N was informed that Robb and his men were to leave early morning; all they had to do was suit up and prepare their ships, and then he would be gone.

Facing him entirely, she gestured to his packed supplies in the corner, “I came to wish you a safe journey. I enjoyed our time together”. Robb registered her words, taking a deep breath, “Thank you, my lady”. She didn’t have the strength to correct him. All the while, Robb was struggling to tie up the last laces of his tunic. His hands were shaking. Walking slowly to him, she reached for his hands, moving them away to replace them with hers, “Allow me”.  Robb felt a fire ignite inside him as her gentle touch sent a chill down his spine. Focused on her work, Y/N laced up the complex pattern, her breath quickening as her fingertips touched his bare chest. Finishing up the last lace, she patted his chest and smiled up at him, “There. All done”. She only took one step back before Robb wrapped his arm around her waist, pushing her back to him. Y/N gaze softened, a silent acknowledgement passing between them. Slowly and hesitantly, she placed her hand upon his cheek, caressing him. Stretching her neck, she placed a small kiss on his lips, pulling away in mere seconds before either of them could comprehend it. Robb did the same; the two now sharing their second kiss.

For a while, they stood in each other’s embrace in silence. Robb took the next step, closing the small distance and cupping her face in his hands. With a mixture of yearning and desire, she leaned into his touch, gazing up at him as her heart ached. Reaching down, he kissed her with longing and tenderness. Y/N reciprocated right away, moving her mouth with his to match his rhythm. This kiss was longer, both wanting to savor the moment a bit more. The kiss had started off slowly but quickly came alive as they both deepened it. Robb fingers wove into her hair, pulling her closer to him; despite being as physically close as possible. Y/Ns’ body felt on fire; Robb’s touch both gentle yet firm as he traced her body with his other hand. Gasping into his mouth, she was taken by surprise (but did not fight off) at Robb picking her up by the thighs— walking to the small table in his room and dropping her on it. Opening her legs widely, he stood between them, both breathing heavily as they’re lips continued pressing together. Y/N did not know what to do with her hands, moving them all across his body and landing upon his hair, tugging slightly at his roots. Robb was the same; still opting to trace his hands across her thighs and up her breasts— igniting a moan out of her moth that he swallowed with his. Both their lips parted slightly, allowing them to slip their tongues into each other’s.

The room was heating up by the second. The only sounds that could be heard were their muffled groans and heavy breathing. Parting away, Y/N went to work to unlace his tunic— undoing her work. There was some urgency in the way her hands moved, Robb staring at her, intoxicated by her face contoured in rapture. He went straight for her dress, moving the fabric down to expose her shoulders, planting kisses on her. Y/N let out a loud whimper; the feeling of Robb biting into her neck sending a jolt of pleasure and goosebumps over her body. Grabbing his jaw, she returned her attack on his lips; their kiss now getting sloppier by the second, teeth almost clashing against. Y/N was readying herself to further pull her dress down but was interfered by Robb pulling away. Almost desperate like, she chased his lips but was denied.

“No,” Robb spoke, almost sounding to be in pain. His breath was ragged, chest moving up and down and fist clenched to his side, “Not like this”. Y/Ns’ common sense returned, slightly embarrassed that her hunger for him had taken over her completely. She was thankful that Robb had the strength and respect to keep her virtue safe. A few moments passed and their breathing became stable once again. Y/N watched as Robb gazed down at her, his lips red and bruised. Taking a hold of her face in his hand, Robb placed his forehead against her, “I love you”. Y/N could do nothing but nod, wrapping her arms around his torso, “I know”.

He smiled sheepishly at her, caressing her cheek, “Write to me at least. Please. Write to me about anything…even if you have nothing to talk about. I will always send a reply back. I promise”.  She gave him a tight-lipped smile, kissing his hand lightly, “I’ll try”. Robb knew she was lying. As they held each other’s gaze, time appeared to stop and the outside world became less significant. With one last kiss to her temple, Robb picked up his belongings and went out the door.

Y/N waited a decent number of minutes to pass before she exited the room— making sure there were no prying eyes around. She was hurrying towards her own chambers; wanting to be alone and allowed let all her tears fall free. She didn’t make it far, stopping in her movements at the sound of someone calling her name.

“Y/N”, Daenerys called out at the end of the hallway. Approaching her, she offered her sister a happy smile, “I was looking all over for you. I came to see if you wanted to bid the North men a goodbye- “, Daenerys stopped talking momentarily. Her eyes taking in Y/N disheveled appearance, and the obvious love mark on her neck. “But I can see you must’ve already given your farewell to the King in the North”, she teased.

Y/N nodding, staring down at the ground with her hands picking at the skin around her nails, “Yes, I have. So, I have no need to bid them a further goodbye. If you excuse me, I will retire for the day”. She was barley able to turn her body around before Daenerys grabbed hold of her forearm. “Hold on”, Daenerys said letting out a low chuckle, “It is still early morning. Why would you retire so soon- “. Her amusement dwindled into silence, fully grasping the emotions displayed on her little sisters’ face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”, she inquired anxiously and hastily, “Did that Stark boy do something to you?”, now anger appearing in her voice. Y/N was quick to deny her accusations, “No. He did nothing. It’s what I’ve done to him”. The queen placed a comforting embrace around her sisters’ figure, soothing her hair. “He offered me a marriage proposal, Dany” she sobbed into her shoulders, “And I told him no. I broke his heart”. Daenerys said nothing to the information given to her.  A short interval of silence ensured; disrupted by Daenerys taking in a deep breath.

“Do you love him?”.

She hadn’t expected such a direct question from Daenerys, especially about something she had been trying to conceal. Y/N hesitated for a moment— deciding there was no use in denying it, “I do”.

The older sister pulled away, smiling down lovingly at her, “Then why not go be with him?”. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows, stumbling over her words, “Because I promised to stick by your side. To help you,” she defended. Staring back at the floor, Y/N inhaled deeply, “Because I am cursed- “

“That is a load of shit”, Daenerys cut in. Y/N gaped at her older sister in disbelief for her vulgar language directed at her. Daenerys persisted with her speech, “You are not cursed, Y/N. Our history might show that our ancestors without the inherited Targaryen traits suffered greatly, but that does not mean all of them will”. Putting both hands on her shoulder, she reassured Y/N, “I know that in their lives they were still able to experience contentment and love. And you should too”.

Whispering softly, Daenerys hold on her sister tightened, “You've gone through a lot, and life has made it difficult to look past your own suffering, I won't deny that. But you need not forget the positive impact that you have on others around you. You undoubtedly brought happiness and love into the lives of your mother as well as those from your pas, and me toot. I'm even more positive that you introduced that into Robb Starks' life as well”.

Daenerys took a moment to recover after her extended address; watching Y/N register every world she spoke. Placing a gentle hand on her face, Daenerys gave her final say, “So, why not go be with him?”.

Y/N expression mirrored her surprise at what she heard. Shaking her head, she repudiated, “B-But what about you? My promise to you- “. She was cut off once again. “I’ve been thinking it over”, Daenerys began, “And I’ve asked too much from you. You are my only family and I wish to keep you by me, but your life is not mine. You control it”. Y/N held her breath, a small tear forming in her eyes. A sense of déjà vu had come to her— those were similar words her own mother had told her. Daenerys smiled widely at her, taking both her hands into her own, “If I am to be a good queen and rule with fairness”, she gave her hand a gentle squeeze, “I should let you live your life. As your queen, I give you the order to go live a life of happiness with the man you love”. She sustained the cheerful curve of her lips, “Go to him— go be with him in the North. A change of scenery can be good, don’t you think?”.

Y/N didn’t answer her question; instead, she sprang and encircled her sister in a warm hug. “Thank you, Dany,”, she expressed her heartfelt thanks. Daenerys words had opened her eyes; Y/N was not brought into this world to fear it— she was brought in it to appreciate its gifts. The gifts being family, happiness, and love. Daenerys suppressed a laugh that wanted to escape her lips. Pushing the girl slightly, she encouraged her further, “Now go and tell him. Rhaegal will be sad but he’ll live”. Y/N was quick to turn and follow after Robb, but stopped abruptly at Daenerys calling out to her.

“Don’t marry him too soon”. Panic coiled in the pit of her stomach at the thought that Daenerys was taking back what she said. The older sister waved her hand, shooing the girl away, “I just meant that I wish to be present at the wedding. Now, go”.

Robb stood beside a couple of his men and advisor at Dragonstone’s port. He watched his men load up the ships, trying to listen to what his advisor was saying but his mind was elsewhere. He came here to acquire the Dragon Queen as his ally— and now he leaves with that success and a broken heart. He traced back the memory of their times together, the warmth of her hands completely enclosing his, the way her eyes sparkled with every grin. A longing buried deep in his chest arose with every thought of Y/N. It was a bittersweet anguish. His advisor next to him cleared his throat, grabbing his attention when he nudged Robbs’ side, “Your grace”. Following the direction of his advisor’s eyesight, his own landed on Y/N— clearly out of breath and showing urgency.

“Y/N”, he called out. Robb was quick to grab ahold of her forearms, inspecting her body for any signs of injury, “Are you okay? Is there something wrong?” he asked, concern shown deep in his eyes. Y/N nodded her head, calming down her breathing as she watched his men leave to give them privacy. Staring up at him, she confessed, “I will not write to you”. Robbs’ brows drew together in a frown, feeling as though she was taking a jab at his sorrows. A normal reaction would be to spit fire back, but he was too in love with her.

Swallowing thickly, he responded, “I figured that already- “

“No, let me finish” she interrupted him, “I will not write to you…because I am coming with you”. His eyes widened in disbelief at the statement— not given time to properly respond once again. Swallowing the lump in her throat, her palms grw clammy, “Robb…I love you”. At last, he managed to respond, "You do?" with a tone that hinted at both surprise and joy. Y/N nodded, vulnerability showing in the blush of her cheeks and grabbing a hold of his hand, “Yes. I should’ve told you from the start and I should’ve said yes to your proposal- “, she sucked in a trembling breath, “I care about you deeply and I’ve never felt this much love for anyone”. Y/Ns’ heart raced as her words lingered in the crisp morning air. With a subtle shake of her head, she redirected the conversation. “Though I’ve come to see the foolishness in it; I still don’t know if my curse is real or not. All I know is that I wish to spend every minute— every second of my life with you”. Biting her lip gently, she broke eye contact with him, “It is a big risk, I kno- “.

“A risk I am willing to take”, Robb finally cut her off, “I would do anything for you.” In their moment of confession, they wrapped each other in a tight embrace. With their foreheads resting against each other's, a warm yet hesitant smile spread across Y/N face. “So,” she spoke shyly, “is that tour of Winterfell still up for grabs?”

Robb reciprocated her smile with his own, gently lifting his hands to touch her bottom lip. “Yes. It still is” he breathed out, “And my proposal too”. With a gentle tilt of her head, Y/N moved in closer, “Then I say you take me to Winterfell and make me your wife”. Their lips meet in a tender and heartfelt kiss— all their troubles now resolved. A quiet vow of eternity was spoken as their lips moved in rhythm. A familiar roar was heard; Y/N breaking the kiss and laughing as she took notice of Rhaegal in the sky. Robb found himself smiling even more at the sight of her joy; pulling her closer to him.

A cheeky grin formed across her face, “I think Lady of Winterfell has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”

Robb chuckled, caressing her face, “I think Queen of Winterfell sounds nicer. I also think the title of “Robb Starks’ Wife” suits you even more”. Y/N jokingly jabbed her elbow into his side, slightly squeaking as Robb reclaimed her lips in his. They both were filled with excitement and anticipation for what their future together awaited.

[breathlesswinds]

(Devlog) What We Learned Making A Trans Dating Game

Hello, Amelia here, the writer for Breathless Winds. It's been 250,000+ words, countless revisions, and three years since this game entered development, and I wanted to talk about what I've learned leading up to release.

The concept for Breathless Winds was actually sort of a joke between friends. I was talking with Doris about how there should be a dating game where you play as a trans woman and your dating options revolve around certain ‘tropes’ we’d both seen in trans fiction-- the totally accepting cishet guy who falls in love with the trans heroine before she even knows she’s a woman, the cool trans woman who the heroine doesn’t know if she wants to date or wants to be, and so on.

Doris wound up suggesting we make this game ourselves. We both like visual novels and want to tell LGBT stories. Still half-jokingly and half-seriously, we started fleshing out what the romance options would be and coming up with a setting-- and soon, we were fully committed to making this game real.

I was a fan of visual novels but had only ever written prose. I knew which visual novels I liked and which scenes stood out, but I didn’t know why they did or how to make my own. 

I read some great advice from visual novel developers, but a good amount of my knowledge came from just working on Breathless Winds. As our first project, this game has grown a lot with us and we’ve learned a lot while making it.

Learning How to Write Visual Novels

A bad habit I had to break out of was only using the ‘novel’ part of the game and not the ‘visual’ part. I would sometimes write “He smiled” or lines like that, and Doris informed me that we can convey this much more simply with a sprite change.

It sounds obvious in retrospect, but lines like that are often pretty invisible when you’re reading a non-visual novel. These lines change the sprite of the character inside your head (if that makes sense, haha). I realized that I’m so used to them being ‘invisible’ that I didn’t notice their absence in visual novels I liked, so I would accidentally include them while writing. 

I was also writing these routes in a word processor, so I didn’t have the visual portion to reference, myself. I wound up making a lot of ‘tone’ notes like, “Lantana should be smug here” so that the meaning would carry when revising and implementing these into Ren’py. 

So, while visual novels share a lot with prose, they’re an entirely different medium. On the subject of representing things visually, I’ve struggled trying to figure out how much can be visually represented and how much should be written. 

Every asset in the game has to be drawn by Doris, so if I want the characters to go to a new location for a scene, I have to keep in mind that’s another background that Doris has to draw. If I want a new character to show up, that’s another sprite she has to draw. I don’t want to overload her, but if I’m trying to avoid this entirely, characters sometimes wind up standing in one room talking for ages without anything significant changing on-screen.

I’ve learned that it’s recommended for something to almost always be changing on-screen, though, so sometimes I just have to ask Doris to make a new asset for a certain scene. I still try to stick to locations/characters that already exist more often than not.

Every single thing in a visual novel is deliberate. Another thing I’ve had to learn that I never even considered before is how to write each line so it fits in the text box. It sounds obvious, but when I’m playing a visual novel, I don’t usually think about how each line has to be carefully constructed so it doesn’t need to be split up into two or more text boxes. In my mind, if a visual novel is well-created, there’s not much that breaks a reader’s immersion.

Planning & Outlining

The previous section might sound really weird to some people, so let me elaborate.  I’m a lifelong ‘write by the seat of your pants’-er, so the biggest trial-and-error of creating Breathless Winds for me was planning out the game.

Initially, I created outlines for each of the four routes, and we agreed ahead of time on which CGs each route would have. That way, Doris could draw the necessary backgrounds and CGs while I was in the long process of drafting this game.  My original outlines weren’t great. I know a lot of people have different experiences with writing, but for me personally, a story is always shaping itself in my mind. When I started making the outlines for Breathless Winds, I knew the concepts we wanted to convey, but I didn’t know what each route (and the game as a whole) was really about yet. This might sound weird and unprofessional, but sometimes, I don’t know what a story is about until I finish the first draft.

So while I was writing, I would look at my outlines and I would think, “this doesn’t actually make sense, he wouldn’t say that” or “this plot point would work better if moved to this other section” or “there’s a plot hole here I didn’t notice”. The story wound up changing a lot in this way as I learned what it’s really ‘about’. 

And even after I finished the first draft, I’d get feedback from Doris and/or my editor and they would suggest fixes to problems that even I hadn’t noticed, and then I would revise the route some more, and later on I’d come back and need to redo part of the route to comply with something I wrote in a later route-- I haven’t really felt ‘finished’ with Breathless Winds at any point, and I think I’ll still feel this way after the game is released.

This means that sometimes, a background was created but would go unused because there was no space for the scene that would use it, or we’d need a new CG last-minute, or so on. 

When I’m figuring things out as I go while writing a non-VN, the only person that I can adversely affect is my own self… so I’m eternally grateful for all of Doris’s patience with me on this matter. I think Breathless Winds has come out a much better game for all the re-plotting and revision. 

I redid the outlines several times as I went. I think I’ve understood how to create outlines that personally work for me-- ‘living’ outlines that hit all the main points, but leave wiggle room for moments when a character does something unexpected, work the best for me.

Scope Creep

So, originally, each route was meant to be 40,000 words. “With four routes, that’s only 160,000 words!” I thought. “And some of my favorite visual novels are about that long, so I can write that much, too!” ← clueless

This is the most infamous mistake that new creators make, and I walked right into it. I should have known better since I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with past non-VN writing projects before, but I was starry-eyed and didn’t realize how much work it is to make a VN. Some of those favorite visual novels I referenced were made by much larger teams, writers whose full-time job was writing (I wrote all of these routes on the side while working at a day job). 

If I could have done it again, I would have asked Doris to start out with a really short VN. But, I don’t regret making Breathless Winds at all. It’s brought Doris and I a lot closer, for one. Every time I thought I wanted to give up on this, Doris would motivate me to continue. Without the two of us both and our strong friendship, Breathless Winds wouldn’t exist, and I think that’s beautiful. 

No matter what, we’re going to see it through to the end. (I hope people like it, though…)

Anyway, here I am talking about how much 40,000 words is. Each route now is about 60k to 70k words. The problem with having evolving outlines is that they can often evolve into double their original size.

We came up with the idea of the poachers really early in development, and then not addressing the poachers felt like a failing, but by that point it was too late to remove the poachers entirely… and so the game wound up a lot longer dealing with the poachers. 

I think that if we had an editor sooner on in the game’s development, then we might have had someone to tell us, “do you really need all of this in the game? Does this plot point really need to be there? Will you be able to write all of this in a reasonable amount of time?”, haha. But Doris and I were really excited about the possibilities of this game when we started creating it, and without anyone to reel us back in, we wound up coming up with more and more things we wanted to put in the game.

Did you know there was going to be an island full of talking rats who say things like “the big cheese” and stuff all the time in Breathless Winds? Yeah. 

The Core Design Philosophy of Breathless Winds

So, for anyone who’s read this far but doesn’t know yet-- the premise of Breathless Winds is that you play as a trans woman who doesn’t know she’s trans yet, and she finds love with one of four love interests as she discovers her gender identity. 

In real life, it can be a lot messier for a person to date when discovering their gender identity. To put it briefly and mildly, a trans person’s life and sense of personal identity can rapidly change during a gender crisis and the early stages of transition. 

However, we wanted to make this game a ‘wish-fulfillment’ type story-- a trans fantasy about acceptance, community, and love. During a gender crisis, it can be easy to feel as if one has lost touch with themselves and become isolated from others. A sincere wish shared by many trans people is to be accepted, loved, and even celebrated as their true gender, not just tolerated. 

Since many trans people don’t get love and acceptance in real life, especially with the ongoing transphobic moral panic, we wanted to create a game that would bring this feeling of trans joy and celebration to trans audiences. 

We also hope that cis players will still enjoy the story and characters, and maybe come away from the game with a new understanding about being transgender and other aspects of LGBT identity (although we never intended this game to be ‘educational’).

Making Characters that Celebrate Trans Identity

Although we went through several revisions, the core identities of each character stayed the same since the game was first ‘jokingly’ pitched. In another post, I discussed how each character is themed around a change in seasons. (I also wound up theming them around the four humors when I was initially concepting them-- I really wanted to avoid too much ‘overlap’ in the LI’s personalities, haha). 

Ultimately, characters are created to serve a role. The LIs in Breathless Winds were designed to be love interests, of course-- characters who would appeal to the hypothetical trans femme audience. As mentioned earlier, we modeled them after other trans fiction tropes because these types of characters have a certain tried-and-true appeal, but this left plenty of flexibility to put our own spin on it. 

A trans woman being loved as a woman by a cishet guy can feel like a high form of ‘passing’, ‘fitting in’ to the female gender role, and being validated by his orientation. He only likes women, and he likes you, so you’re undoubtedly a woman. As a cishet guy, he represents a sort of acceptance into a societal norm that trans women can desire to live to. (Lantana, as a cis lesbian, represents the sapphic counterpoint to this-- although there is of course a big gap between the ‘normalcy’ of a cishet man and a cis lesbian woman, and I don’t mean to say those two are equivalent.) 

But not all trans women want to live to that (cis) societal norm. Rue and Valerian, as a trans woman and a trans man respectively, are the t4t options. 

Rue’s route represents that trans/sapphic ‘envy’ (“do I want her or do I want to be her?”) as well as finding power in community aside from what society considers ‘normal’. We’ve always been pretty clear about what we wanted to do with Rue’s route.

We went back and forth a lot more on Valerian’s route. Initially, we were unsure if he should be trans. He and Rue are the two less-friendly love interests (at least initially), so I was afraid it would come across that t4t is a more hostile option, which is not true at all. But it also felt like a mistake to not have a trans man in the game-- but making Gallardia trans would have required a big overhaul of what we had in mind for him and his route. (Although, childhood friends t4t is a really good idea...)

Beyond that, Valerian takes a villainous role in any route that isn't his own. We were worried that it would be wrong to have a trans antagonist who represents unjust power. However, Breathless Winds is a queer game with other positive trans characters, and we've always approached Valerian as a hot anti-villain man that you can't help but like.

In the end, Valerian’s route is about breaking generational cycles and what it is that makes you a man, and I also managed to sneak in a scene where they dance at a ball in the royal palace, so in the end I think it all worked out great.

Wish Fulfillment and Catharsis

Doris and I both agreed that we wouldn’t depict on-screen transphobia in Breathless Winds. Poppy worries about not being accepted, but fear of acceptance can come with any change in identity. Rue was rejected by her family for being trans, but this doesn’t take place ‘on screen’ in the game. There exist certain metaphorical parallels for transness and transphobia, but every route has a happy ending. 

Following up on this-- it can be difficult to write about discovery of gender identity without writing about transphobia, considering how many trans people suffer from internalized transphobia during their period of repression.

Sometimes, repressed/closeted transgender people ‘hyper-perform’ their assigned gender as a form of denial. A trans woman might grow out a beard and join a gym, while a trans man might become very interested in makeup and feminine clothing. 

In Breathless Winds, Poppy often struggles with ‘strength’ and what it means to be a man. In several routes, she tries to prove her strength under the assumption that being stronger would make her happy. Afraid the world would reject her if she became who she really is, she preemptively rejects herself.

Not every trans person suffers from prolonged denial, internalized transphobia, or even gender dysphoria. I don’t think it’s impossible to tell a purely-positive story about trans joy. 

While Poppy never gets rejected for being trans, faces transphobia, gets called a slur, etc, she faces both internal and external (metaphorical) obstacles to realizing and accepting her identity. 

Gallardia represents a societal norm that Poppy can’t live up to herself as a man.

Lantana suffers from certain aspects of her identity as a woman, which makes Poppy feel guilt for wanting to be a girl.

Rue is isolated from town at the start of her route, a ‘punishment’ for breaking this societal norm.

Valerian has to hyper-conform to his masculine gender role at first in toxic ways before finding acceptance from within and from his loved ones.

These struggles are real to a lot of people, but instead of pretending they don’t exist, I hoped to tell a story about catharsis. Poppy is able to live up to her truth as a woman and finds love with Gallardia, Poppy and Lantana redefine what being a woman should and does mean to them, Rue and Poppy find community in others who don’t fit the norm, Poppy and Valerian stop seeking gender validation from a society that was never made to serve them. 

Although these powerful forces of oppression exist, loving yourself as a trans person- and loving those around you, protecting the natural world, and standing up for what you believe in- can save the day. That’s the kind of story we wanted to tell.

Wrap-up

There’s a lot more I could write, but this has already gotten really long (sorry!) so I’ll wrap it up here. 

Learning how to write a visual novel in terms of technical skill (how to depict events on-screen, how long each line should be) as well as in terms of writing skill (how to outline the game, how to plan visual assets) has been a massive undertaking for me. 

Writing Breathless Winds has been a big challenge but also deeply rewarding, and all of your support has made the experience even more wonderful. Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting the game!

[looking-for-wisdom]

the “ex-something” character in disco elysium is so interesting to me because what we finally learn about the true Dora from harry’s dream sequence & conversations with the 41st precinct initially undercuts the first impression you get as a player. We learn things that makes it seem like Harry should be over her leaving. Specifically, the fact that she and Harry were never actually married and that it has been six years since she left.

Everything we’re told about Dora needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since it primarily comes from Harry. He’s an unreliable narrator and, if we had her perspective on things, there would surely be more to the story. But even with that said, I feel reasonably confident that the player’s first impression — that whoever this ex is did some damage even beyond typical breakup heartbreak — isn’t completely wrong.

We know a few things for certain. Harry was a gym teacher before they met, and Dora was the reason he joined the RCM. We can also do the math to figure out that they were together for around 12 years. Married or not, that’s a serious relationship. There are implications that Dora might have been pregnant at some point.

Dora’s family was wealthier than Harry’s, but they struggled financially when they were together. They had to rely on her parents for support.

Harry is a grown ass man who is responsible for his own choices. None of this changes that. But the way he is starts to make more sense when you consider that it wasn’t just their breakup that was traumatic. Their relationship itself seems unhealthy.

Harry clearly likes working with kids. Kim actually points out how he is easily able to connect with Cuno and the other teens in Martinase. With that in mind, I imagine he probably liked being a gym teacher. But we learn that Dora encourages him to join the RCM to do more for the greater good. Again, Harry had to agree to this — she didn’t force him to quit at gunpoint. But it rubs me the wrong way that, shortly after they start dating, she implies that his work isn’t fulfilling or important (probably patently untrue in an area where kids won’t necessarily have stable home lives). And, more than that, she suggests that joining the police is the solution.

Granted, we’re told there’s a lot of crime in Jamrock. Maybe it is as simple as her thinking law enforcement helps prevent that. But given the political tones of the game, which intentionally critique cops and the moralist forces they represent? I think it’s notable.

Speaking of which. The class difference between Dora and Harry has to be thematic. So much of the game discusses the struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie. There’s an inherent power dynamic there. It’s her parents who are consistently paying their bills and keeping them afloat. She has an out that Harry doesn’t. Money won’t be an issue for her when they split, but Harry will be left without any support. Regardless of whether she intentionally held this over his head, this game shows that even without meaning to, the capitalist system harms the poor. That strain must be felt in their relationship, and could cause a lot of damage over 12 years.

All this to say: their relationship clearly wasn’t some fling. And, if Harry is to be believed, the blame for things falling apart was largely placed on him: working to much, not bringing home enough money, not being enough. But even if Dora wasn’t actively manipulating him and he came up with all of this on his own, I think the facts still point to a dynamic where he was made to be small in the face of a woman who came from more. Their backgrounds create an imbalance where Harry was always going to feel the flaws in their relationship more acutely. He starts with little, and gives up much of what he does have to pursue something better for the both of them. But when that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, he’s the only one left with nothing. She can leave the country and start over.

It makes sense, to me, that he might not have recovered from that in six years. Especially when that rock bottom feeling seems so permanent that he isn’t trying to get better so much as numb himself enough to exist another day.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t responsible or that he’s exempt from having to get his shit together. The game very clearly illustrates that everyone will turn away from him if he doesn’t. But it does complicate his character a bit more than “got left by extremely bangable woman, proceeds to make the lives of everyone around him worse.”

[fuckyeahisawthat]

thank you so much for that excellent chani post. i've seen some annoying takes on twitter about how not making her totally devoted and subservient to paul makes her 'unlikeable' and i'm like. buddy. i think that speaks more to how you see women. than anything about her. this chani is very dynamic and interesting to me.

i'll be honest and say i've not read the books. this is me speaking from what i've seen of summaries, but i think giving her a real cause to fight for yet also genuinely loving paul gives her an interesting struggle, and also plays into how the portrayal of the fremen (seems to me to be) more diverse and nuanced. as in, the fremen themselves seem to have more of a push-and-pull to them. the clarification of how different fremen believe differently (the south being more fundamentalist) is a very important thing to include in a movie where you can run into the danger of saying that all adherents to a foreign, islam-adjacent (in coding) religion are all fundamentalists. that can (in less nuanced hands) be a pretty irresponsible thing. so showing that there's also more secular/pragmatic/less dogmatic sectors of the culture seems a pretty good counterweight.

so yeah. this is how i processed it as a movie-goer. and having chani represent that aspect (believing in people over prophecy, action over religion) and having stilgar as the humanized face of the southern peoples (showing that yknow, regardless of being fundamenist beliefs, theyre still PEOPLE with the capacity for love, friendship, honor) makes total logical sense. you're not just "telling" us that there's different aspects to fremen culture, you're SHOWING us by showing different characters who represent those aspects, without demonizing either or turning either into a one-note stereotype.

Thank you! I'm not someone who was a long-term fan of the books before the movie came out (I tried reading Dune as a teenager when I was reading a lot of classic sci-fi but found it too boring) but I did read Dune and Dune Messiah after the first movie came out, both because I wanted to know what happened next and because I wanted to have an opinion on how the movies worked as adaptations.

(book and movie spoilers below and also I basically ended up writing a whole essay in response to this)

My single biggest frustration with the book is that after they arrive at Sietch Tabr and Jessica drinks the Water of Life and becomes Reverend Mother...the book up and skips two years of the story and when we next see Paul he's already got Fremen followers who are ready to die for him and he's in an established relationship with Chani. Oh I was SO MAD when I got to this part. I was like FRANK. FRANK!!!! Did you seriously just skip two years of the most interesting part of your own story???

The thing is, even though I know that Frank Herbert's intention was to write a critique of the idea that oppressed people need an enlightened external (white) savior to liberate them...if you don't provide an alternate explanation for what's happening then you end up falling into some Orientalist tropes anyway. And because, in the book, we don't see the process of how your average background fedaykin comes to trust Paul as a military and political leader, there is nothing in the text to counter the idea that the Fremen are a bunch of unquestioning religious fanatics easily swayed to do violence by belief in a prophecy.

My second biggest frustration with the book is that we're given no reason at all why Chani would fall in love with Paul. While she has some memorable scenes, she doesn't have a lot to do as a character in the book, and she's missing from a whole chunk of the end...because she's in the south...because she and Paul have a baby, Leto II, who's then killed off-page when the sardaukar attack the south. (I'm honestly really glad they cut this from the film, because it never seemed to be given the narrative weight it deserved in the book.)

So you can imagine how happy I was when the Villeneuve movies figured out how to address both these frustrations by tying them together. The fedaykin don't just blindly accept Paul because of some prophecy. They come to trust him because he proves himself as a fighter, and because he starts out from a place of genuine solidarity and humility--which it is possible for him to do because he has no structural power over them at that point. And Chani falls in love with him for the same reason, in that heady environment of fighting side by side for a political cause, and maybe for the first time in a while starting to believe that you can win.

I think the Villeneuve movies improve a lot on what's in the book in terms of how the Fremen are portrayed...when we're with the fedaykin and/or Chani and Stilgar. There we see political debates and discussion and the fact that not all the Fremen think the same way. And we also see little humanizing moments of folks just hanging out, celebrating after a victory in battle and just shooting the shit and being friends.

I do wish the movie had extended this to more parts of Fremen society. If there's one thing I could have added, it would be seeing more of daily life in Sietch Tabr. It makes sense that when we're seeing things from Jessica's POV, she is more distant from and suspicious of the Fremen, seeing them as a force to be manipulated, but I wish we had even one or two scenes of people just being people in the sietch. It felt kind of weirdly empty and not particularly lived-in as a place, and I think they could've easily countered this, with scenes from Chani, Stilgar or Paul's POV, and that would have made it hit even harder when the sietch is attacked.

If there were two things I could have added, I wanted more exploration of the people of the south. Why are they more fundamentalist than the Fremen who live in the north? (We get one line about how "nothing can survive [in the south] without faith" but I wanted more than that.) While I think the movie did a fantastic job of humanizing and differentiating the Fremen we see around Paul, when we get to the south it does backslide a little into "undifferentiated mass of fanatics." Surely the people of the south also have some diversity of political views.

I think there are some interesting threads they could have pulled on in terms of how proximity to direct colonial violence shapes people's ideology. Sietch Tabr is one of the closest Fremen communities to Arrakeen, the seat of colonial control. They have probably had to mount some kind of armed resistance for generations just to keep from being wiped out. I can see that producing skepticism of the prophecy ("well I can't sit around waiting for a messiah but I do have this rocket launcher") as well as resentment at the idea of someone swooping in and taking credit for a struggle that you've put your life on the line for, and probably a lot of people you know have died for. There seem to be some generational differences, too, where young people of Chani's generation put less stock in the prophecy, while the true believers are mostly older. I can see faith in the prophecy coming out of despair--when you've been fighting for decades with no change, maybe you draw the conclusion that only an outside power coming to your aid will make a difference. While the people of the south are still under colonial rule, maybe being generally outside the reach of direct Harkonnen violence (the Harkonnens don't even know they're there) makes the concepts of both oppression and liberation feel more abstract and more receptive to being filled in with Bene Gesserit mysticism. It seems absurd to want more from a movie that's nearly three hours long already...but I wanted more of this.

Still, I do think they managed to improve on a lot of things that frustrated me or are simply dated about the book, while keeping the political thriller/war drama/epic tragedy elements that I think are the heart of the story, and in some cases drawing them out more clearly and effectively than the book did. The best kind of book-to-film adaptation imo is one that has a strong point of view in terms of what the story is About, on a large-scale thematic level, and is not afraid to change individual elements of canon in service of telling that story the most effective way possible in a cinematic medium. While there are always things I want more of, I feel like Denis Villeneuve really, really understood the assignment in terms of the overarching themes of the the story and he delivered so fucking well.

[awkward-walking-potato]

Ahhh hello! I saw you mention Kurt and immediately came to the ask box LMAO I love him so much😭

Anywasy, imagine if he met a reader who also has a physical mutation (I always imagine her having like a chameleon mutation so she has the hands of a chameleon etc.) and they both bond and get super close because they both know what it’s like to be judged for their physical mutations 😭

Anyways I just love the thought of them feeling less alone cus they have each other

Have a good day❤️

Shades of Us

The sun had just dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the grounds of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Inside, the common room was buzzing with the usual evening activities. Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, was sitting quietly in one corner, his tail wrapped around his legs as he read a book. His golden eyes flicked up periodically, watching the students and teachers move about with an ease he admired but sometimes felt distant from.

In the midst of this bustling environment, a new student had recently arrived—someone with a chameleon-like mutation. Your arrival had been met with a mix of curiosity and hesitation from the other students. Your hands, covered in delicate, scale-like patterns, were an unusual sight, and your ability to blend seamlessly with your surroundings made you both fascinating and enigmatic. Despite your unique traits, you kept to yourself, finding solace in the quieter parts of the mansion.

Kurt had noticed you from the start. Your subtle movements, the way you shifted colors to blend into the background, and your quiet demeanor piqued his interest. He had seen how the other students occasionally looked at you, some with curiosity, others with barely concealed judgment. It was a look he knew all too well.

One evening, as he was making his way through the mansion’s halls, he saw you sitting alone in a sunlit alcove, sketching in a notebook. Your fingers, with their chameleon-like grip, moved delicately across the page. The sight tugged at something in Kurt’s heart, and he decided to approach you.

“Guten Abend,” Kurt said softly as he approached, his tail swaying slightly. He didn’t want to startle you. “May I join you?”

You looked up from your sketchbook, eyes wide with a mix of surprise and curiosity. You nodded, motioning to the empty space next to you. “Of course.”

Kurt took a seat beside you, his tail wrapping around his legs as he settled in. He glanced at the sketches on your notebook, admiring the intricate details and vibrant colors. “These are beautiful,” he remarked sincerely. “You have a real talent for capturing the world.”

You smiled shyly, a soft blush coloring your cheeks. “Thank you. I just like to draw the things I see around me. It helps me feel less… invisible.”

Kurt nodded, understanding more than you might have realized. “I know that feeling well,” he admitted quietly. “Sometimes, it feels like people only see the surface, not what’s underneath. It’s like being judged for something you can’t change.”

Your gaze met his, and for a moment, you saw a reflection of your own struggles in his eyes. “Exactly. It’s comforting to meet someone who understands.”

Kurt’s golden eyes softened, and he reached out, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder. “I understand more than you know. We’re both used to being seen as different. But here, we don’t have to hide who we are.”

The sincerity in his voice was comforting, and it made you feel a bit braver. “It’s nice to be around someone who doesn’t judge,” you said softly. “Someone who sees the real me.”

Kurt’s smile grew, and he leaned in slightly. “And I see someone who is incredibly special. Your abilities, your art—they’re all part of what makes you unique and wonderful.”

The warmth of his words, coupled with the kindness in his eyes, made you feel a sense of belonging you hadn’t felt before. “Thank you, Kurt,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper.

As the evening wore on, you and Kurt began to share more about yourselves—your past experiences, your dreams, and the small things that made you who you were. The conversation flowed easily, a natural connection forming between you as you both found solace in each other’s company.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to your powers. Kurt was fascinated by the way you could blend into your surroundings, your skin changing colors seamlessly. “It’s like you’re a part of the environment,” he said, his voice filled with admiration. “It’s something I can’t do, but I find it amazing.”

You laughed softly, a genuine, relaxed sound. “It’s not always as great as it seems. It’s easy to disappear, but sometimes I just want to be seen for who I am, not just what I can do.”

Kurt nodded in understanding. “I feel the same way. My appearance can be… jarring to some. But here, with you, I don’t have to worry about that. We can just be ourselves.”

The night grew darker, and the two of you eventually decided to take a walk outside. As you strolled through the garden, Kurt’s tail gently wrapped around your waist, his touch light but reassuring. It was a gesture of affection and solidarity, a way of saying, “You’re not alone.”

You looked up at him, surprised by the tenderness of his touch. “Kurt, you don’t have to…”

He smiled down at you, his eyes filled with warmth. “I want to. It feels right. And besides, it’s nice to have someone to share this with.”

As you walked together, the world seemed a little less daunting. The shadows of the evening wrapped around you like a comforting blanket, and for the first time in a long while, you felt truly seen and appreciated.

The connection between you and Kurt grew stronger with each passing moment. In each other, you found not only understanding and acceptance but a deep and genuine bond. You both knew that the world could be harsh, but in each other’s company, you found a sanctuary—a place where you could be your true selves, without fear or judgment.

And as the night deepened, you both embraced the comfort of the other, knowing that, together, you were no longer alone in a world that often felt indifferent.

[mythicalmyles]

double pen + breeding + somno + dubcon + size difference literally doesnt matter who just no minors 🥺 pretty please with a cherry kn top

Masky x Hitchhiker!Reader x Hoodie

amab male reader

(Noncon/dubcon, double pen, breeding, size difference, overstimulation, drugging, pet play, video taping, use of the word pussy)

You blew air through your nose as the fourth car passed you, you flopped your arm down to your side and kicked a rock. If you’re idiot friends hadn’t spent all day arguing you wouldn’t have had to walk off on your own. You crossed your arms angrily glowering at the road, cursing everyone you had ever known as you leaned against the gas stations fence..

You looked upto see a truck making its way down the road. Anxiety fluttered through your stomach but your desperation outweighed your brains and you stuck your arm out. You doubted you would turn out like the others. It slowed down next to you and you fought off your anxiety.

A rather large man came hopping out of the side, his dark brown hair flopping down over his face. He had a angry scar streaked across his eye, his eyes were cold and held something dark and twisted inside of them. He had tanned skin and a scruffy beard hiding his jaw, he was almost twice your size and you couldn't help but shrink under his direct stare. "Hop in." Was all he said as he walked past you, you thought a smirk tugged at his lips but you shook it off as your tired eyes playing tricks.

"Tha-.." You drawled off but he was already pushing open the door to the bathroom. You swallowed down your nerves and made your way to the door, another man with his hands on the wheel. "Uhm, Hi." You choked out as you pulled yourself up, struggling with the height of their truck. You suddenly felt a hand twist into your jumper and you were yanked up, falling into his shoulder.

You jumped back and began frantically apologising to him, embarrassment taking hold of you. "You're fine." His voice wasn't as rough as the others and despite the fact you would be stuck in a truck with two men who were twice your size, one you knew could pick you up without breaking their stoic face.

You both sat in silence for a few moments as you looked at your lap. "Brian." You visibly jolted when his voice broke through the silence, eyes snapping to him. You stared at him for a moment before quickly choking out your name. Brian's lip tugged up, you seemed like you would be a good boy for them. After all, they had went out of their way to pick you up.

The other guy suddenly appeared, throwing himself onto the seat and slamming the door behind him. You tried to steady your breathing as you were pressed up against both of them, anxiety clawed at your mind as any chance of escape was cut off. You quietly gulped down some air as Brian began driving. "Names Tim, what's yours?" You snapped your gaze upto him. "Oh, uhm yeah sorry my names (Name)."

You felt scared looking into his eyes so you stared out the window, looking out into the night sky. "Want a drink?" Tim held a bottle out to you, you could feel the back of your throat cracking so you gladly accepted the bottle. You handed it back to him and he just threw it to the bottom of the car.

Brain eventually turned the radio on, playing softly in the background. The heat of the truck combined with being sandwiched between two large men had your eyes beginning to flutter closed. You must've outdone yourself today, you figured that was the reason for the sudden inability to keep your eyes open.

You relaxed back against the seat, barley registering the hand that landed on your thigh. Masky smirked over to Hoodie, happy the sedative he had put into the bottle before stopping made quick work of you. "I think this time is different." Masky grinned, Hoodie nodded as he continued to drive.

Masky easily opened your legs, a small chuckling exhale being drawn from him when you let out a snore. He turned so he could pull down your jeans, easily manhandling you to get them off. You flopped back against the seat when he was done removing your close, still sound asleep despite Masky hitting your head off of the roof a couple of times.

Masky hit the storage compartment and it flung open, he threw out all the papers inside and grabbed out a bottle of lube. "At least that sleaze was handy for something. He died too quick for my liking." He pulled one of your legs between his, making sure you couldn't pry yourself away. He lubed up three of his fingers and without warning pushed two into you.

You shot up with a moan, shocked drowsy eyes staring at Masky in surprise. He wrapped his arm around your neck, cutting off your breathing. Since the truck was automatic Hoody pulled one of his hands from the steering wheel, hooking it under the thigh closest to him and helping Masy keep them pried open.

You whimpered in Masky's hold, choking out moans through sealed lips as his fingers rammed into your prostate and stretched you open. You squealed and twisted in their hold when Masky pressed a third finger into you, tears dripping down your cheeks and they tore you apart. Neither of them seemed to care about your fingernails that had embedded into their flesh, your sobbing moans only seemed to make them act up more.

Masky didn't waste much time in stretching you open, pulling his digits out with globs of lube chasing them. You whined as you felt the goo drip down your ass. "Ple-please stop it." You choked out when Masky's hand moved from your throat, he pulled you into his lap completely ignoring your words. "Whatcha say Hoodie? We fuck this cute little puppy nice and full of cum? He's so tiny, so easy to move" Masky's voice was cruel and you hated the way your cock twitched with reaction.

"Don-don't you dare." You cried out, trying to get off of Masky's lap and only resulting in having your head slammed into the dashboard. His rough calloused hands grabbed your ass cheeks and pried them apart, you buried your head into your crossed arms as you lay across the dashboard.

"Ah-Shit. N-no!" You cried out when his tongue suddenly licked a stripe across your hole. His hands dug into you, rugged nails scraping your flesh as he suddenly pushed his tongue into you and began fucking you with it. "Oh, no, fuck!" You choked out, sobbing into your arms. You barley even registered yourself beginning to grind back onto his tongue, whimpering as your body shook with pleasure.

"What a good boy, just lie there and take it." Hoodie's voice made you whine and your body twitch, you turned to see him watching you from his peripheral. You had almost forgotten about it existence and hot shame flooded you, you didn't have much time to dwell before you were yanked back against Masky's chest. You tried to fight him but he pulled his cock out of his jeans, watching it hit up against yours.

You let out a loud panicked yelp as you began fighting him harder, you could feel his cock sliding between your thighs and against your own cock. He felt really heavy, and he was really big. You didn't think they could get that back, it would've impressed you if you knew it wasn't about to split you open.

"Please dont." You begged shaking your head. "It wont fit." You whimpered out, Masky pulled your legs upto your chest. He made sure you could see his thick cock catch against your hole, you sucked in a breath of air when he wrapped his hand around his cock and began pressing into you.

"N-No! Am-A-" You cut yourself off with a strangled moan as he buried his cock into you, you freely sobbed in his lap as you tried to cope with the overwhelming feeling of being stretched beyond belief. He began grinding up into you, his cock rubbing against your prostate and making you curl your toes.

You looked down at your stomach, eyes doubling when you noticed the bulge in your stomach. Your mouth dropped open as your hoarse voice cracked out, in strangled gasps. You didn't notice the truck veering off to the side and stopping. Hoodie pulled his camera out of the side department, quickly turning it on and turning it onto you. "C'mon Masky, I want a better shot." His voice caught your attention and you felt your heart skip a few beats when you came eye to eye with a camera.

You began shaking your head but Masky's hand slapped over your mouth, turning sideways and leaning against the door so Hoodie could get a good view. You didn't bother begging them to stop, not when you could barley even string a sentence together instead your words were drowned by moans. Masky easily bounced you on his lap, groaning as you tightened around his cock.

"Such a good puppy for me, so good. You gonna take all the cum i give you and be my good little cum dump." You whimpered as his words shot through your stomach, leaving a fire burning in its wake.

It took Masky a couple more thrusts before you were wailing as you clenched hard around his cock, whining as he continued fucking your sensitive hole at the same pace. "N-No mor-e!" You cried, body beginning to drip with sweat.

"Room for one more? I wanna breed this cute little pussy too." You couldn't even feel it in you to whine with your shame, letting out small moans as Masky readjusted you both and Hoodie came between your spread legs. You looked up at him with fear in your eyes, he grinned down at you as his hands wrapped around your knees. He yanked them up, ignoring your wailing as Masky's cock moved inside of you. "No, I-can't." Your voice was high, body twitching with overstimulation.

You broke down into full blown sobs when Hoodie's cock began sliding into you alongside Masky's, once Hoodie had fully sheathed his cock inside of you, you lost your voice. Cracks instead leaving your throat as they both fucked into you, never leaving you empty.

You leaned back against Masky's shoulder, staring into Hoodie's camera. Pleasure tore you apart, their cocks stretching you further then you could ever think you would. "Think we keep this little puppy we found? Think our slutty little puppy can go back to normal cock after this?" Hoodie chuckled, deep ragged breathing as you swallowed up his cock, lube squelching inside of you.

Snot and tears dripped down your face, your hands too tied into their clothing to bother wiping any of it away. Neither Hoodie or Masky cared, they liked you better like this. Whining like a good bitch, stretched around their cocks. "Do-don't worry though, we'll take go-good care of you." Hoodie growled out, burying his head into your neck and biting down on your shoulder.

You had no doubt he was going to leave teeth marks embedded into your flesh with how hard he bit down, you felt your eyes twitch close against despite being ready to cum again. You bounced between conscious and unconscious as they had their ways with you. It was downright filthy, getting picked up and railed by two truckers. Yet it unlocked something deep inside of you, loving the way their cocks stretched you beyond your limit. The way their rough, scarred hands ran over your body, tweaking your nipples and grabbing at your flesh.

It all felt like too much, you tightened around the both of them, letting out one last scream as you came hard. You painted both you and Hoodie but he didn't care, his thrusts picking up as he began to lose it.

You felt lost as they emptied their loads into you, thick cum filling up your insides and slipping out between their cocks. Hoodie continued to thrust gently into you, enjoying the pained look that flashed across your face.

He chuckled as he pulled back, pulling up his jeans but not bothering to fasten them. You felt confused when Masky didn't pull you off his cock, seeming content to sit with his arms wrapped around your waist. "If we wanna breed you properly, we can't waste any." He smirked as his hands began running over your stomach.

All you could do was whine with every bump on the road.

[thewritetofreespeech]

1000 Nights: Night 1 - Wedding Night

WORDS: 1.5K

RATING: T

PAIRING: Gale x Tav (post game pairing)

SUMMARY: A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. And Gale & Tav's first night of 1000 begins after their wedding. [aka: starting my 1000 Nights series]

Ao3

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It was very late into the evening by the time the wedding was over. More drawing into the early morning, if he was being honest.

Gale had forgotten, away from his family for so long as Mystra’s Chosen and then his own personal confinement, how lively his family could be. And how large. He had warned Tav but honestly hadn’t realized himself. It took nearly half the night to just greet everyone, much less have conversations.

Tav took to it like a fish to water, however. Her bright smile and friendly disposition winning everyone over simply with the gift of her presence. His mother doesn’t even have to introduce her to everyone, but he’s glad she did.

When he returned to Waterdeep, restraining himself from running into his mother’s arms like child, Gale introduced her & Tav and told her of their plans to be married. Morena had not been as…. delighted as he had hoped initially. She wasn’t disappointed, or even chastised him for rushing into things. All she simply asked was, “is this really what you want?” Which Gale had to admit was a perfectly reasonable question.

They hadn’t known each other long. Their plight had made it feel like they had known each other for decades. In reality, their romance was quite a whirlwind. They had lived in different cities, come from different backgrounds. Gale had never met her family or friends they had before all this.  Hells he didn’t even know what her favorite taste in music was. Art. Literature. Values.

But all he could think of when his mother asked him, glancing over to the other side of the room at Tav chatting with Tara, like it was a completely normal thing to be talking to a Tressym, was “more than anything.”

The wedding planning had taken up most of their time after that, and a lot of those trivial things came to light by sheer luck. Gale found out she preferred lilies to roses, unless they were blue hydrangeas. She liked classical music, which was a blessing. And although she liked the sound of Lliirian Suites on a self-playing piano, she liked them better on the strings. Gale made a note to buy a harp as soon as they were settled.

Coming home after the wedding, the tower felt completely different. Nothing had changed really. Their books were still there; on the shelves and on the floor as they tried to make room for both their collections. The furniture was all in its intended place. All four walls were intact. Yet…. everything was different now.

This was their home now. Not just his that he was sharing with Tav. It was theirs. Together. And she was his now, completely. Just as he was hers. Gale would never want for anything else in his whole, hopefully long, life now as long as that stayed a constant.

He watched as Tav breezed past him into the bedroom, which was set up very nicely for them. Candles and wine. Flowers on the bed. The window open to let in the night breeze and sea air. Moonlit ocean. A scent he hadn’t realized was real yet brought a flood of nostalgia to him. The perfect newlywed suite. He almost doesn’t want to touch anything.

“Gale, can you do something about this please?”

His attention was brought back into focus from examining the details of the room, onto its prime intended. Gale snickered, despite himself, as he watched Tav struggle to get the pins out of her hair to take her headdress off. The veil itself wasn’t too elaborate, but the pins….his cousins must have had a field day with all of them.

“Come here. Let me help you.”

He led his wife over to the bed, and realized he would never grow tired of that phrase. His wife. His wife. Gale sat her down and then took a seat next to her as he worked to get the pins out. He may not have the dexterity to pick locks, but his fingers were nimble enough for this. Each pin that comes free lets loose a new curl. A new ringlet to tumble down and rest at her shoulder. By the time Gale had gotten all of them free the candles were noticeably shorter, and his desire for her burning just as hot as the flames.

His fingers tucked under her chin and gently pulled her towards him for a soft kiss. Gale realized that he hadn’t kissed her in hours with all the excitement. Able to count on his hands the number of times he had kissed her that day. A terrible mistake. One he wouldn’t make again.

They kiss slowly and gently for a while. Neither in any rush it seemed. Exploring this kiss like it’s their first. When they eventually pulled away, Gale rested his head against hers. Foreheads touching. Breathing in the same air. The same essence. He tilted his head down to kiss her again and was caught by surprise when Tav suddenly yawned. “Oh no! I’m so sorry!”

Gale pulled back just as her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Embarrassed, clearly. Mortified honestly. He didn’t want to laugh, but she was just so adorable. He only did it once. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not you. It’s not! It’s just….been a really long day. Getting ready. Meeting everyone. And I barely got any sleep last night I was so nervous. I’m sorry….”

Gale reached out and took her hand in his to stop her from babbling. It was odd. Gale couldn’t imagine a world where Tav, their leader, their defender, Hero of Baldur’s Gate and vanquisher of the Elder Brain, could be nervous. Yet here she was. It was almost a comfort to know that they were both a little lost in this. Nervous, cautious, and he hoped still a little excited. At least he was.

“It’s really alright Tav. You don’t have to apologize.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. A cool brush of metal & precious gemstones against them from the wedding ring on her finger. Handcrafted. Understated yet beautiful, just like Tav. The Dekarios Clan signet on either side of the stone. He’d spent the better part of a day working with the jeweler to make sure everything was just right. All worth it to finally see his ring on her hand. “We have the rest of our lives together. One night won’t make much more of a difference.”

Tav’s eyes cast down. Clearly disappointed in herself and about to protest something like ‘but it’s our wedding night’, but Gale cut her off at the pass. “This night is already perfect, because I have you. Come on. Let’s get to bed.”

“We’re already in bed.” Tav quipped, and Gale scoffed out a chuckle at his clever bride.

Rising, they undress in silence. Gale helps Tav out of her dress. The thin, wafty material falling away from her body instantly once its few buttons & ties were undone. Gale’s outfit was significantly more complicated. Snaps, ties, latches, lapels. When he put his wedding garment on this morning, he hadn’t realized how intricate it was. Although, he may have been distracted thinking about the wedding and the woman who was moments from being his wife.

Gale watched as she helped him out of his robes. Eyes focusing on her task but drifting up to him every now & then before they fall back down. He hoped she saw the adoration in his eyes when she looked up. The desire he had for her. The love.

He caught one hand in his and turned it up to kiss the inner side of her palm and wrist. Exhilarated at the sound of a soft gasp from Tav. He wanted her, desperately. But, she was right. It had been a very long day. Gale never thought there would be a time he would be too tired to make love to her, but it seemed a day full of his family, friends, wine, and just general revelry was enough to get him close.

Naked now, with nothing but the moonlight and sea air between them, Gale pulled Tav into his arms and kissed her. Another slow, soft, passionate kiss. One where Gale poured all of his heart into it in hopes that it would reach her own. Judging by the way she kissed him back and her soft little moans, he succeeded.

They pulled apart, and Gale walked them back to the bed. Tucking them in under the covers. Wrapping his arms around Tav in a way they had well practiced by now, but still felt entirely new. Tav was nearly asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. Softly snoring in even breaths against him while Gale stayed awake a little longer to watch her. Smiling to himself as it finally sunk in now. This was his life. This was going to be his life now. Not just for tonight, or the first thousand nights, but every night for the rest of his nights moving forward.

A year ago, he used to hate going to sleep. Afraid that when he closed his eyes that that would be the last. Now his life was filled with firsts.

Gale couldn’t wait to see what firsts the future held, with his wife. His wife. His wife. Gods, he would never get tired of saving that. 

[gweathney-propaganda]

The Aquatics AU lore dump

hhhhhh gang its finally here!!!!!! fsh au time!!!!!!! (warning: i wrote a lot lol)

Lore background:

This au takes place in the modern day, rather than in the show's time, 2007. In this au, ‘mermaids’ are real. Well, kind of. There is a variant of humans called Aquatics. They were created after a group of prehistoric humans went and became very avid water hunters. Thus, evolution kicked in and through natural selection, came the variant that we know today. Aquatics often will exhibit physical features and behaviors from certain species of water known hunters, such as fish, mammals, amphibians, etc. Before the Industrial Revolution, starting just after the rise of complex civilizations (during B.C.E.), humans and Aquatics often got along with one another, as there are many pieces of evidence pointing to humans and Aquatics having a friendly relationship. But after the rise of urbanization, the relationship quickly fell apart as humans no longer needed Aquatics to traverse and hunt in the ocean. Many Aquatics were killed, but the Aquatic Safety Pact of 1996 stopped the killing of Aquatics for good. At least to the public’s view.

Territories:

There are 7 main Territories that Aquatics inhabit in the ocean. The Deep, Arctic, Antarctic, the Norse Orentiem, the Norse Occidens, the Meridiem Orentiem, and the Meridiem Occidens.

Lore between the territories:

The Deep and other territories do not share a good relationship. They have often had fights and wars between them, due to the superstitious belief that Aquatics from The Deep are dangerous and rabid, and not to be trusted. Many Aquatics who often travel through The Deep and/or are seen interacting positively with Aquatics from The Deep are often looked down on. Hence Aquatics from there don’t tend to travel to other territories, and could be seen as following a pact of isolationism. Other relationships with the other territories are often mutual, except for the territories who share borders, who often have very close bonds with one another. 

Aquatic Dialect:

Aquatic dialects are very different from human dialects. Rather than using sounds and syllables to speak, Aquatics use chirps, hums, and clicks to communicate between one another. But there are slight differences between dialects in certain territories. The Norse Orentiem territory’s dialects are more guttural, using the bottom of the larynx to speak and communicate, creating more bellows and roars. The eastern side of the Norse Occidens uses more high pitched sounds, creating a whistling kind of dialect. The Deep is the most varied though, the dialects often being much different, even within different families and clans. But Aquatics are able to speak human dialect, their body having two different sets of lungs to speak and breathe both above and underwater. All Aquatics do learn some form of human language, depending on which countries they live closest to, in case of need. 

General Aquatic behavior:

Aquatics are scavengers in nature, often taking from the remnants of human society, such as shipwrecks, lost materials, etc. While certain aspects of Aquatic society are not as developed as normal human society, they do excel at being adaptive in their environments, some being able to live in the most dangerous of places without much effort. Aquatics are also curious by nature, wanting to understand and analyze the environments they inhabit. It’s common to see Aquatics have piles and piles of trinkets they like, either in neat and organized spaces or just thrown about. They are also skilled hunters, the most ancient of Aquatic societies being able to excel at most things that humans still struggle with. They can use their claws or teeth, but they have also been seen carving their own weapons to hunt more easily.

Leviathans:

Leviathans are special, in the sense that it can be caused by a hidden recessive gene in every Aquatics body. If an Aquatic is born with the Leviathan gene as the dominant gene, they will start to show odd signs during preteen age. In a way most compared to Lycanthropy in humans, they will show signs of accelerated growth and an increase in bioluminescence, even if their species does not have bioluminescence. This happens during random times of each month, ranging from only a couple hours to a few days. As the Aquatic grows and matures, the Leviathan form only develops more and more, forming into a much larger version of themself, with vibrant bioluminescence scattered all over their body. Fully grown Leviathans can be up to 225 feet long, dwarfing any normal Aquatic in size. Leviathans are not aggressive in nature, but are more so dormant and quiet, often hiding in large underwater caves for the duration of their transformation. There is a history of a stigma against Aquatics who are Leviathans, some have been reported to be chained up and abused in specific cases. Those cases are rare though, and do not happen to most Leviathans. 

Depth Sickness:

Depth Sickness is caused when an Aquatic, who’s body is not adapted for sudden change in water depth and pressure, goes higher or deeper than its limits. Depth Sickness can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, brain fog, dizziness, and blurry vision. It is only temporary though, as the body takes time to adapt to the new pressure. Not all Aquatics can suffer Depth Sickness, as either they’re bodies are naturally immune to the effects, or have a lack of sensory in their nerves. It is very rare for the latter to happen though.

Aquatics relationship with humans:

The relationship between Aquatics and humans has changed tremendously throughout history. During the early 14th century, Aquatics and humans shared a more mutual relationship, helping one another out with tasks and giving each other materials to survive. But after The Aquatic Massacre of 1387, there was a sudden rise in Aquatic killings and hunts, many Aquatic corpses were hung in small towns as a sign of power and respect. Aquatics were more so seen as trophies and animals to be hunted, causing a loss of mutual respect for both Aquatics and humans. This stayed like this for multiple centuries until the Aquatic Safety pact of 1996 made the hunting and killing of Aquatics illegal and punishable by death in most countries. There is an underbelly of groups who illegally hunt and kill Aquatics, either for sport or consumption. But the relationship between Aquatics and humans are slowly healing as they begin to rebuild their relationship once again.

Anyways onto DA LIST

List of known Aquatics:

Gwen - Dragonfish

Heather - Koi

Duncan - Anglerfish

Courtney - Porcupine Fish

Bridgette - Parrotfish

Geoff - Seahorse

Alejandro - Gulper Eel

Ezekiel - Isopod

Owen - Manatee

Eva - Blue Lobster

Noah - Pistol Shrimp

Cody - Dumbo Octopus

Katie - Convict Cichlid

Sadie - Black and White Snapper

Tyler - Red Snapper

Beth - Hedgehog Seahorse

Lindsay - Mantis Shrimp

Leshawna - Sperm Whale

Sierra - Man of War

DJ - Humpback Whale

Harold - Swordfish

Izzy - Barracuda

Justin - Silver Angelfish

Trent - Reef Manta Ray

andddd thats it!!! feel free to ask anything about this au, ive been wanting to talk about it for YEARS now lol

also uh pls pls pls reblog it it would mean so much to me if you did; and if you read all the way here, reblog with a fish emoji :)

[a-roguish-gambit]

Behold, the Brotherhood of Mutants for my turn of the century au!

You can tell I had the most fun with pietro and wanda’s designs. They are based more on upperclass wear of the time. Sadly, there was no punk going on, but you can see that in rebellion Wanda has bobbed her hair, which was incredibly controversial before the year 1920.

I based the outfits of the brotherhood boys on some different working class designs. Lance has some factory gear to help protect him from his own power. You have probably noticed that they don’t really have super suits or armor at this point in time that’s because a lot of it has not been invented yet or is almost exclusively used by military. Spandex will not be a thing for a couple more decades, and most non natural fibers right now are dangerously flammable, so they are mostly wearing clothing that suits them rather than super suits. also, you will notice that yes some of the characters have visible injuries, especially todd. They grew up in the 1900s which was an especially difficult time to be an orphaned child. This is part why they all end up being willing to stay with mystique and Irene, who have set up a “shelter for wayward boys” which in actuality is a way for them to train children for magneto (will design him later having trouble figuring out how to incorporate his helmet lol). It’s free room and board with food so they don’t have to worry about any exploitative jobs at this point in time. And all they have to do is go on missions for her which is somehow significantly safer than an up to code factory floor. being former Street kids, or in Fred’s case, a former sideshow act, they have already been a bit embittered to the world, especially to the X-Men kids who they see as highly privileged, even though several of them came from similar backgrounds of poverty, struggle, and familial loss, someone was just willing to reach out a hand to them before mystique.

Both Irene and mystique are faking being widows, living together in part of a way to claim the estate as their own, but also as an excuse to hide their relationship. The brotherhood kids could honestly care less about this thankfully because they’re loyal if you feed them, and they’ll never leave because well they need the food…mystique is not sure if that last part is good or not but its comforting to know their secret is safe with these kids. Shes still not a great caretaker for them but at least they have a roof over their head, fresh clothing, and 3 square meals a day, which is more than what they had.

[dontexpectmuch]

another request if u don't mind ! going to a kpop concert w jude and forcing him to get a lighstick/merch/learn the fanchants, etc etc 😚🫶🏽

he was gazing at the back of your head for quite some time now, though he couldn’t resist it. he tried looking away a few times, but whenever his eyes wandered around your colorful room, they somehow ended up looking at you once more. sometimes at your head, and some other times at your beautiful butt which he just couldn’t get enough of. the thing he loved the most however was your gorgeous face, the one that a look if concentration on it right now.

music was softly playing in the background, though jude knew that you weren’t this calm internally. ever since he got you concert tickets for your favorite k-pop group, you have become a ball of energy, counting down the days til d-day.

jude was laying on top of your bedsheets, arms crossed behind his back as he sighed out loud for the third time in the past five minutes. yes, he loved you for being so passionate about something, but the thought of you dolling up for some other guys just didn’t sit right with him.

“babe.“ your sweet voice pulled him out of his inner monologue, now facing him as you moved closer to his body. “how does it look?”

jude didn’t know what to focus on exactly, your face? your pretty eyes that had some sparkly things around them? maybe your soft lips, which just screamed at him to come closer and cover them with his own?

so, he just told you what he always does, what he always thinks, “you look stunnin’, baby.”

smiling, you lean down to kiss his forehead before moving back to the mirror to fix some last things around your make up.

“we should leave in ten minutes, yeah? heard the traffic is crazy.”

nodding, jude got out of your hed and moved behind you, hands resting on your hips as he continued to look at your face through the mirror.

“we should stay-“

“no. we talked about this, babe. you even know their songs now, don let that go to waste.” you turn around in his hold, your own hands gliding up and down his torso. you plant a soft kiss against his neck, hearing him sigh made you smirk.

ha, got him.

everything after that went quite smoothly. the car ride was actually really fun, with you blaring song after song from your favorite group, loudly singing and screaming along the lyrics. your excitement even got jude excited, and he caught himself silently mouthing some of the lyrics with you. all because of your smile and general influence on him.

you guys arrived just on time for the last fee free parking spaces near the arena. and since he -obviously- got you VIP tickets, you guys could enter the arena without any issues, even having enough time to buy some merch.

your indecisiveness got jude feeling a bit impatient, he admits. he doesn’t even know why, but seeing you struggling to pick one of the members special item brew jealousy in him in ways he hasn’t felt before.

as if sensing his impatience, you quickly choose everything as fast as you could, paying for your own stuff even jude wanted to oppose. you even got him a light stick, making him smile from one ear to the other.

“babe,” he began, you however interrupted him with a quick kiss in the kips before telling him to move to your seats.

and after that everything just felt like a fever dream. the members of your group came on stage, making you scream out your lungs.

every song got you dancing and jumping on the spot, dragging jude up from his seat to join you.

every sad song made tears string from your eyes, causing jude to wipe them away with an enamored smile painting his lips.

whenever a love song came on, your eyes couldn’t help bit focus on jude, who was just as lovingly looking at you as you were at him. and in that exact moment both of found immense comfort laying between the both of you.

every single thing throughout the entire concert felt so different to you guys, and when it ended it felt like it never happened to begin with.

with adrenaline and giddiness pumping through your veins, you and jude made your way back to your car, but not before taking pictures together in front the arena and a few fans of his.

“i jus’ know that people will be talking about this.” he spike up on the way back home.

this time you were the one driving, not trusting your boyfriends tired eyes to focus on the road entirely.

“about what, bub?”

leaning against the window, judes eyes focused on your side profile, your eyes still had a sparkle in them, your face was flushed and your hair messy. but you looked so fucking beautiful to him in that moment that his hand made its way to your neck, thumb brushing against the side of it.

“don’t know,” he shrugged, “that i was here, i guess.”

“here, means being a good boyfriend that makes his partner happy?” you ask him, already understanding what he was saying.

thinking about your words, jude released a relieved sigh, “yeah, you’re right. did you have a great time, love?”

“it was probably the second best day in my life, babe. thank you so much for being a part of this amazing experience.”

“the second only?”

laughing, you nodded, “the best day of my life was meeting you in that cute yellow jersey, you looked so lost and tired. it made me fall for you immediately.”

“i was a cute yute back then, i know.” he smirks, grabbing your hand to bring it up to his lips. after planting a kiss on your knuckles, he continues to play with your fingers on his lap, “it was a great concert, though.”

“i knew you’d like it!”

———————————————

[johnconstantinesdick]

So a Girl Genius Scholomance AU is interesting to me because on a character level Agatha is El and Gil is Orion—Agatha very much eschews the path set forward for her as a great evil and instead strives to do the best for her and Her People (notably, she and El share the same “these people are mine, actually, and I will protect them” view of the world that slowly grows to encompass more and more people as time goes on), while Gil struggles to connect with others and is deeply unhappy when doing what is expected of him while eventually going ahead with it anyway. He also has the whole monster hunter vibe going for him. Admittedly, Gil doesn’t struggle in the same way with empathy and connection as Orion does. His is more based on second-guessing others motivations with him, and he does happily and easily make friends—it’s romantic connection that eludes him for the most part.

The fun part is, when you consider their backgrounds the connections to El and Orion completely flip.

Like, Gil and El both have a side of the family that they’re completely alienated from due to bad omens surrounding them, and they were raised in a non-traditional setting by a single parent who strives to do the Right Thing (Klaus and Gwen differ in how good they are at raising kids though lmfao). You can even draw connections back to alienation from their culture—El at least knows where her father came from and speaks the language, but Gil is completely divorced from his mother and doesn’t even know who she is. They’re both barred from participating in their culture for the same reasons they’re alienated from half their family.

Agatha and Orion, meanwhile, were both Created With A Purpose by mothers who range from morally gray to totally corrupt. They both struggled to behave like normal children, with Orion not understanding or valuing human social norms and Agatha’s spark constantly straining to break through. This caused frustration and concern from the adults and mentors around them, and they were both somewhat alienated from their peers. Ophelia and Lucretia both share a certain big picture way of thinking, though admittedly Lucretia’s motives are almost entirely selfish in nature (an interesting contrast with Agatha’s own selfish way of thinking!) and Ophelia’s are pretty damn selfless, though in a very fun way. Selflessness due to ruthlessness is a good way of putting it, and Ophelia very much plays the numbers game in almost the same way the Scholomance itself does.

I’m going to have to play around with this more, because I think the way things line up is fascinating.

(Tarvek is a version of Liesel that successfully pulls off her powerhouse polycule plan.)

[bekkandaa]

What's your opinion on his Pureblood views / views on muggles?

Oh boy, here we go. This is what I would like to think as a controversial thing, especially considering Riddle as many have different opinions about his views on pure-blood supremacy. However, the way I am analysing Riddle is more looking at his psychological background and so that's how I'll answer this. ( I was quite literally clawing at the bars of my enclosure to not go into a spiel about the politics of it and stay purely psychological.)

Tom Riddle, as a student at Hogwarts, exhibited an attractive persona—talented, polite, charming, and intellectual. Despite his outward charisma and the group of 'friends' he had gathered, it is clear that Riddle harboured no genuine affection for them. Instead, he exploited these individuals, which no doubt shows his want for domination and control of others. This charismatic behaviour is simply a façade, a social mask he uses.

Riddle's public persona can be understood through the lens of pathological narcissism. All humans naturally present a public mask, but for a pathological narcissist, the discrepancy between this mask and the concealed self is honestly stark. Riddle's charming demeanour was used as a strategy to attracted admirers who no doubt fed his own narcissistic needs. This mask is also used to protect his false self from exposure, maintaining his grandiose self-image.

The narcissist's primary goal is to protect and sustain this concocted self-image. This can be visualised as a wheel, where the grandiose false-self is the hub, to which are affixed spokes. These have a specific purpose to protect and sustain the hub of false-self.

Freud's theory on the oral phase highlights the crucial role of the mother in a child's early development, fostering a sense of comfort and dependency to the mother. According to Minderop, parental influence can change the development of the human personality. Looking at these theories, who both stress the importance of parental involvement early in development and how detrimental the lack of it could be, we can attribute Riddle's lack of parental affection and the resulting emotional deprivation significantly contributing to his behaviour and attitudes. These theories support the idea of how Riddle had never seen anyone as an equal, clearly taking advantages of his followers and viewing them as below him.

Riddle's identity and beliefs were deeply intertwined with his blood status. Discovering his ancestry linked to Salazar Slytherin, which would boost his ego and sense of self incredibly, fuelling his delusions on his "idealised parent image." Then came along the revelation of his Muggle father, which shattered his preconceived notions of heritage. This discovery would obviously induce an identity crisis in the boy, igniting a war within him between the person he wants to be and the reality of who he really is. This internal conflict most likely manifested in his actions, such as punishing his father and changing his name. (Riddle's mental breakdown and identity-crisis explained more here.)

Freud states that human behaviour is more influenced by the unconscious mind than the conscious one. The unconscious mind is filled by the human’s painful memories and then tries to protect the conscious mind by hiding them. This can influence someone’s attitude, behaviour and character. For Riddle, the painful memories of his heritage continually resurfaced, despite his unconscious minds attempt to hide them. This is something that is extremely relevant to his views on pure-blood supremacy. He attempts to eradicate his past, such as changing his name to Lord Voldemort and creating Horcruxes show his struggle with his own identity clearly.

(I’m sure we all know what Voldemort actually means. Ironically enough, Riddle was so grandiose ( what a romantic, no really, he was.) as to aim to transcend humanity, (changing his name, horcruxes etc.) that by refusing to accept the inevitably of death, he also practically announces his own humanity to the world.)

Riddle's descent into blood supremacy was fuelled by a combination of person and political factors. There is the abuse he suffered from Muggles, the war he had experienced, the prejudices he encountered in Slytherin, the group of followers he gathers, and his psychopathic tendencies that all contribute to his ideology. ( Riddle cravings of power and the feeling of being in control added onto everything else, honestly makes me think of only one thing; revolution. )

Riddle's appeal to pure-blood ideologies served his ambitions, allowing him to manipulate and control those who would've previously have looked down on him. This pursuit of power mirrors the actions of many world leaders and revolutionaries who sought to reshape the world according to their ideal image. The ideal image is fuelled by internal conflict between his own past and his preconceived ideas.

(This was most likely the intended purpose for his character, as he himself is a malignant narcissist, and many psychiatrists have identified a direct connection between malignant narcissists and evil. Many well-known malignant narcissists are also serial killers and mass murderers.)

Little note I also wanted to add on even if it delves more into Voldemort territory than Riddle; Voldemort seems to punish the Pure-bloods. What I mean by this is, is that Riddle seems to be taking out the fact these pure-bloods are not the ones to usually do this kind of 'dirty work' . He seems to enjoy making them do things that they would normally view as beneath them, it's a power trip. This seems to be more retribution on his end, considering the fact despite how hard he tries he will never be a pure-blood and will never be able to leave his past behind him. (what a petty man ) TLDR : Looking into Riddle's views on Pureblood supremacy reveals a complex interplay of narcissism, early developmental influences, and political motivations.

[scared-of-girls]

Scott Pilgrim characters that are ‘one in the same’ to me.

Julie and Kim:

Despite Kim canonically not really liking Julie, I think they share the same bitterness yet display it in different ways. Stephen was very self centered in his relationship with Julie and Scott was the same way with Kim. Them being discarded left them to feel as if they were uninteresting, bland background characters even when they had their own stories. Even though some of their comments seemed petulant and rude if you think about it both of their bitterness was pretty justifiable a lot of the time.

Matthew and Roxie:

They both come off as fairly dramatic and almost a little annoying but it came with reason: they both just wanted to be seen. Being used for the sake of someone else’s character development and experimentation was an unfair defeat. I truly believe that they were never really fighting for Ramona but rather fighting for themselves, as a way to get some kind of validation for themselves. Winning would make them finally be seen.

Ramona and Envy:

Out of all of these I know that this one was canonically intended because Envy even mentions it. It wasn’t just the men they dated; they both used dramatic change in order to outrun the universe and themselves. They hid themselves by making a new, improved version that displayed someone they wanted to be in the moment, which let them run from their reality. Yet at the same time they still both seemed to be a little reliant on their romantic partner as a sense of self worth, it just never looked like it because they also come off as a bit aloof. Behind all of that they kind of secretly wish that they could show someone that real version of themselves that they hide, even though they don’t want to have to experience the vulnerability that comes with showing it.

Scott and Gideon:

Even if Scott is technically the (flawed) hero, they both share that same obsessive nature and because they have such strong feelings they genuinely see themselves as a good guy and think their actions are justified, even if it’s hurting others in some way. In their eyes, they were both fighting for the thing that they loved without realizing that they were causing her turmoil in the process. They weren’t trying to win the girl for the sake of winning the trophy but rather for winning their own self respect. They didn’t understand what they were doing wrong and assumed that there was just never a good reason for her to leave because in both of their heads they struggle to comprehend a world outside of themselves.

Lucas and Todd:

Lucas and Todd both used fame and a self obsessed persona as a way to prove themselves and gain a sense of self worth, allowing them to recover from the degradation that came with being dumped. In their heads it makes them feel like maybe the girl would see what she’s missing.

AO3

Scott Pilgrim Server

[sirwow]

Iv got a ton of headcannon RD thoughts in my head right now so under a cut (since I can be long winded lol) here I’m gonna talk a lot about them. Mostly pertaining to all of the characters

So to start off

Intern (and my own thoughts on them):

My own version of the intern would probably be pretty static- very simple humanoid looking robot, uses wheels to be pushed or roll around so going up elevators is how they get up and down. Still controlled by a remote intern and due to being pretty prototyped they can’t do much other then what the robot it’s built for (pushing buttons!) They do have a simple display that shows a heart rate on their arm and a face display for basic emotions.

Samurai and Insomniac

These guys are weird so their backgrounds get to be just as weird. Samurai and Insomniac both came to Middlesea from Japan (Samurai) and Korea (Insomniac) to compete in a worldwide tournament of katana sparring. Insomniac ended up losing to Samurai after getting no sleep the night before and admittedly got a bit peeved about it. They had a run in when Samurai was celebrating at a nightclub and had a rematch on the dance floor. One drunken fight later they ended up at the hospital and have to be there awhile to sort out the paperwork. They’re on much better terms now and respect each other’s skills.

Bonus stuff: Samurai is bad at speaking English but is very good at writing it, Insomniac is vice versa this. Samurai due to the struggle to show emotions through words usually emotes things physically and doesn’t mind stuff happening as long as he gets to be included. Insomniac has insomnia because of the time difference and not being able to adjust

Logan and Hailey

I feel they’re probably about 15? Old enough to be highschoolers but still pretty childish at times. They’re also both in dance! (I mean com’on two kids being able to just break into slow dance together is pretty impressive) Hailey loves to talk about said fact but Logan is pretty self conscious about being one of the few boys in it. Big baseball fans but didn’t ever play it before lucky as they were a bit scared of being demolished. Met through the before mentioned dance class and hit it off very quickly. Other then that, they’re pretty typical, optimistic and overly energetic teens.

Cole

He’s not originally from Middlesea but instead a few towns over. Got kicked from home as a final choice by his parents when he kept avoiding to get a job and hyper focused on music making. They gave him 1500$ on the way out and still wanted the best for him but in his emotions, cut them off before jumping all the way to Middlesea by train. Shortly after arriving, Cole had his first very bad SVT attack from stress and trying to chug energy shots to stay awake after a very long train ride and got taken to the hospital. Now can’t decide if he wants to get out of the hospital already for music inspiration and to be free or try to stay longer for the sake of having a place to stay and see the new friends he’s made.

Nicole

Gave up on music only a year after highschool when her less well off family couldn’t support her musical ambitions and chose to leave it behind for the sake of a career. Despite not having the title, basically acts as the cafe manager after most her team got laid off. It’s how she can get away with locking up early sometimes or just chilling in the cafe after hours. Dyes her nearly black hair green constantly and learned how to do it herself.

Mr and Mrs Stevenson

Mrs Stevenson is the owner of a bird sanctuary while Mr Stevenson has been retired for awhile due to previous injuries. He always called Mrs in the mornings as she had to always leave early in the morning to take care of her birds. The ones with bow ties are all rescues who were taken in since they were babies and lived at their house. Taught them all how to sing with her and Mr.

Miner

Small town mfer, always took care of his injuries at home and hasn’t really ever been to a hospital till now. Around 35 yrs old and works as a sulfur miner for a team of geologists. Has been mining since 20~ but that time has seriously been taking affect on his body now. Likely won’t be returning to his work after the hospital when he finds out the ramifications of his work. Everyone’s friend, even friendly and kind to Edega.

.. and that’s kinda all Iv got at the moment other then Lucky being thrown off from a real friend group after being in a fake one for so long. I don’t have a lot HCs for the doctors yet other then Ian sorre….

If you made it this far have some cocole doodles for your sake