#cause I think everything comes from the mind first. especially dark stuff

[corvidcrossbow]

~•♡•~ Daddy's Little Dhampir

➳ Summary: All you'd wanted in life was to meet a real life vampire, and by some twist of fate, you got so much more than that (Dad!Vamp!Daryl x Fem!Reader)

➳ Setting: Alexandria, picking up at 6 years post outbreak – references to your childhood

➳ Word count: 2.9k

➳ C/W: Mentions of blood and vampire stuff, allusions to typical TWD gore

➳ A/N: I had to dump this rq while we're still on the vamp train, and thank y'all for all the love n 140+ followers I appreciate y'all 🫶

If you could go back and tell your little nine year old self that vampires were real, she'd lose. her. mind.

The nine year old who checked out every book from the library on them and other folklore creatures, and would sit immersed for hours, taking notes and educating herself before falling asleep in front of it all: but picking it all back up the next day.

The nine year old who urged her friends to come exploring with her in the forest after dark, and proudly said ‘Fine. I'll just do it by myself’ when they all declined. Who trekked over dead leaves with a dim flashlight, who's pulse spiked and excitement grew as noises rustled around her and her gaze shot up to the sky to see a bat fly overhead. Who had the widest smile in existence… just to turn and have a blinding light shone in her face and police officers announce ‘We found her!’ – and who pouted when her parents scolded her for sneaking out before wrapping her in tight hugs and saying they were just glad she was safe, and she snapped back with: ‘I don’ wanna be safe! I wanna find the vampires and I was about to and you guys ruined it!’

The nine year old who eventually fell out of her obsessive phase, but always maintained belief. Who retained every bit of knowledge, and would still step outside sometimes in the night, or veer off her path and wander in the woods while walking somewhere. Who traveled to major cities solely to explore nightclubs and hot spots. Who truly believed deep down in her heart and soul that vampires were real.

If you told her, 25 years from then, she'd not only know a vampire, but be married to him, and sit against the headboard in their bed at home with him beside her, head resting on her shoulder as they both stared down at the newborn infant in her arms… you think she'd pass out. Especially if you added the whole part about an unknown virus sparking a massive outbreak that caused people to rise from the dead and turn into rotting, flesh eating monsters, and in return cause the entirety of society across the globe to collapse, leaving only a fraction of the population alive, and that's how she'd even meet said vampire in the first place – and that it's already been 6 years since then.

But while she may pass out, you didn't. It was ironic, how everything you'd ever dreamt about came true in the one way you'd never imagined it. Despite all the negatives, everything you lost; you gained so many positives: the vampiric love of your life, and the daughter you shared.

The smile on your face was wider than the one in the forest that night so long ago, eyes glued to the baby in front of you that slept so peacefully despite the chaos that surrounded her existence. Simply conceiving her was a challenge atop everything else, given the crossing of your species. You tilted your head to the side, resting against the mans, and murmured an ‘I love you’.

To which he shifted his and brought lips to your jawline, returning the admission as a second nature, it having grown so much easier to express such since he met you. And how could he not pour his heart out and remind you every second how madly, crazily, desperately, needily and obsessively in love with you he was – the same way you were in love with even just the concept of his existence – now that you'd carried, birthed, and held his perfect baby girl in your arms.

The newborn wriggled in adjustment, subconsciously cuddling closer to the warmth of your body, fully reliant on you for survival.

“She's gonna be yer little dhampir, Daryl… Daddy's little dhampir,” You spoke softly, admiring the blessing of her life.

“Yea, she is…” He replied, reaching a hand to stroke the side of her face with a gentle finger, which lulled her back into rest. He lived for you, and now he lived for her.

❥-》》—————➣

You loved your daughter to bits, but those books didn't quite warn you how difficult raising a dhampir would be sometimes.

“God, Daryl- What do I do? How the hell do I feed her?!” You asked frantically as the baby screamed and cried so hard in your hold it was concerning. Breastfeeding didn't quench this thirst, yet she had no teeth to bite into you.

“Fuck, jus’-” Daryl sputtered, grabbing a bottle and a knife, and slicing open his palm, flexing muscles to drain it faster into the container before screwing on the lid and shoving it to you to feed her as he spat into his hand to heal over the wound. Crisis averted.

Luckily, she didn't seem to require blood often, and you two created a better system after that: Daryl building an enclosure in the yard and storing live animals he'd find there so you could drain them when needed.

When her teeth did eventually come in, she had the cutest smile ever – small yet pin-sharp fangs poking through the pinkish gums of her mouth.

“Yea? Yer’ah damn lil’ biter, huh?” Daryl chaffed, playfully flicking splashes at her during bath time as you both sat at the edge of the tub.

She giggled, edges of her mouth curling up as she slapped the surface of the water to try and get him back for it – and he'd always dramatically act like he was hit by a tsunami when in reality it was just a few small drops on his arms. Just to hear her laugh.

The moment she was walking, she was outside, stumbling around and soon running, that instinct to be out in nature clearly taken from her father.

“Poppa,” She whined as you set her down at the bottom of the steps outside the house, her turning back and reaching a grasping hand towards Daryl, the other holding yours, as he took a seat on the steps, sun on the other side of the home and shadow protecting him from the daylight, but not the yard.

“Daddy can only watch right now. Remember the sunlight isn't good for him, okay sweetheart?” You cautiously reminded her as her head looked back to you, too young to wrap her mind around the concept.

He'd watch and talk as you two'd sit in the grass and play, sometimes covering best he could and making the sacrifice anyway just to make his daughter happy. And you'd always go out and play at nighttime anyway.

Growing into a toddler and young child, she was an absolute menace, Daryl just fueling her every troublemaking behavior.

“What in the world are you two doing?!” You called from the stairs, wiping sleep from your eyes and catching Daryl and your daughter immediately freeze, having been loudly chasing each other around downstairs with their enhanced agility in the middle of the night – busted.

The child gave an innocent toothy smile, and Daryl a sheepish grin as she pointed at him. “‘Ts daddy's fault!” She always blamed him when it was 100% her doing.

You rolled your eyes and groaned, pinching your brow. “Dixon, get yer damn daughter to bed and your ass into ours.” It was nowhere near the first time they'd woken you up with such.

“Yes ma'am.” And he took the moment of distraction to grab the child as she kicked and squealed in the interlocking cell his arms created.

Then as she aged, she completely mirrored every aspect of his personality, practically a carbon copy of him.

“Shuddup! Yall'ere ah buncha assholes!”

“Ay! Ya better watch yer mouth girl! Ain't nobody tell ya you could be talkin’ like tha’!” Daryl called across the way, catching hints of her civil argument with some other kids – as civil as a Dixon could be.

“That one really is your fault,” You teased him with a smirk, gently elbowing his side as he rolled his eyes and groaned.

“They called me Lucille cause ‘ima bloodthirsty bat’!” She nor Daryl even possessed the ability to transform. That was more fantasy.

He vanished to deal with it before you could finish your blink, leaving just the energy of his protectiveness in his wake.

—

“Hey ma, I gotcha somethin’!” She practically slid across the edge of the kitchen counter, clasped hand held out to you.

“If this is another big ass bug-”

“It's not! It's not!” She opened to a large stone of jasper. “Found it while wanderin’ – inside the walls –, thought ya might want it cause dad always gets ya ‘em, ‘nd yer ring.” She motioned to the band on your finger, adorned with a jasper center. Daryl started collecting them for you after you'd liked the one he found back near the prison.

—

“Nah, ts'only 4.9. Mine's bigger.” Daryl beamed triumphantly as they each weighed cottontail rabbits they'd caught on a hunt. They always had competitions on who could catch more, or the larger game.

“Tha's not fair! Only weighs less now cause it lost more blood on tha way back than yers did!”

“Still counts. Gotta get'ah cleaner shot, babyfangs. Then ya won’ waste so much.”

So many moments were leagues better than what your imagination curated in your youth, full of that real laughter and care and love that you could only placebo before.

But… some moments of it were the hardest, scariest moments of your life.

“Do you have any traces of her at all? Can you smell her??” You asked worriedly through labored breaths as you ran faster than you had from any person or walker or thing before. Fear pumped through your veins, somehow pushing you to keep up with Daryl's vampiric pace as you sped through the forest, bow on your back and crossbow on his, searching for your daughter.

“Yea, she ain't far. Ts’jus’ hard tah pick ‘er out with tha walkers cloudin’ it,” He grunted back, straining his senses to try and focus in on where she'd be. Sunlight seared his skin, having left the house so quickly he had no time to dress in proper attire. He didn't care, he didn't even feel it over everything he felt for his perfect girl.

“Daddy?” That soft, familiar voice ripped you both from your rush, stopping so fast you nearly toppled over and mutually whipped to take hurdles towards your daughter and wrap her in your arms. Now you truly understood your parents – so, so many years ago; that burning, aching dread to do anything and everything for your baby, to exhaust yourself to find them when they were lost, how it felt to have them in your arms again after thinking the worst thoughts one could illustrate. But there were some situations your parents never had to worry about.

“What? What is it?” You asked in alarm, pulling back to look at your daughter's face as tears started to stream down her cheeks and her gaze flicked away, the teenager so reluctant to be honest. “Please baby, what is it!?”

To your every worst fear, she reached up and pulled the neckline of her shirt aside, revealing the distinctive imprint of a walker's bite carved into the flesh on the nape of her neck.

“M'sorry, m'so sorry- I dun’ kno’ what happened I jus’-” She stammered, unable to find the words or will to begin to explain herself. Your stomach dropped so far you wouldn't be surprised if it was down in the molten core of the Earth.

The neck. It had to be neck. If it was the arm, you could amputate it, maybe she'd even have the chance of regrowing the limb, and same with the leg. If Daryl had converted you to a vampire like you'd talked about once many years ago, she never would've been a dhampir, and would never need to care about the risk walkers posed to her – whole vampiric nature making it impossible for the virus to infect them, able to survive bites and just let them heal over. If you'd payed some more fucking attention to what she was doing and where she was going, she wouldn't even be out here. If this, if that. If-

“Am I gonna die?” She sobbed, looking between you two with the most terrified expression you'd ever seen. You couldn't even register her question before her dad answered. He was always better at those split second response times where every extra beat changed the confidence of a statement.

“Nah. Yer not dyin’. Drink.” Daryl tore away his shirt, craning his neck to expose a spot by his left clavicle, close to his heart so it'd pump the most blood the quickest, and he knelt to her level. She was hesitant. “C'mon. Now!”

You watched as she stepped forward and sunk teeth into him, drawing long siphons of his blood. You prayed the purity of it compared to hers would aid her system in warding off the infection, should a dhamir still be susceptible to it. You didn't know. You didn't know if this would even work. Your heart raced so fast you couldn't even feel it anymore, like your body was already trying to shield you from how it may feel if it breaks.

“Daryl, that's enoug-” You started after a long moment, worried he'd just end up killing himself too. You couldn't lose either of them, but especially not both.

“Nah. Drink till ya can't no more – don’ give'ah damn ‘bout how much ya take,” He barked at you, then lightened his tone for her. He was beginning to feel woozy, pressure building in his head as his body's efforts to replenish struggled to keep up with her anxious draws. But again, he didn't care. He would do anything for her. He would bleed himself dry should it mean even the chance of keeping her alive.

But eventually she retracted her fangs, guilt overpowering the rest of her emotions. How could she live with herself if she was responsible for her own father's death? “Daddy, m'sorry, I-”

“Ya needah… drink, moonshine…” He wavered, and you grabbed him steady before he collapsed, resting him back against a tree trunk as you and your daughter sat on either side.

“Shit, Daryl.. c'mon, drink somma mine,” You urged, tugging your own top out of the way and offering to him.

“Nah, m'not-”

“I told ya to fuckin’ drink it!” In the rare times you raised your voice at him, he'd immediately listen: now driving his canines into your body, but taking far less of your crimson than he needed. He was too selfless for his own good.

You brushed the matted hair from his charring forehead, looking back at your daughter who tried to quiet her cries as she couldn't bring herself to look at him, curling into a ball of her own pity and shame.

“Honey, look at me,” You reached out, sliding your hand to cup her cheek and bring it up, her glassy eyes meeting yours. “I need you to help me get him home, okay? Ts’not safe out here.”

She just sat there for a moment, silently looking at you. She didn't want to accept that any of this was actually happening.

“We're all gonna be okay, so long as we get home. I love you.” That motherly tone melted her, and she nodded a little, unwinding and helping you to hoist the archer up and carry him back to Alexandria.

You kept them both in bed with you, nursing Daryl's drained status back to the typical, and keeping close watch on your daughter for any symptoms of the infection. You stayed there hour after hour, only leaving for brief moments to harvest another rabbit or squirrel for your husband, and fluids for yourself to regenerate as you'd been having him feed from you in intervals.

Your daughter spent most of it distant on the other side of the bed, back to you both, but not asleep. And you frowned.

“Babygirl, come here.” She didn't move, prefering to still act like she had nothing to do with any of this. “Sweetheart…” You reached down and forcibly dragged her up to cuddle between you and her father, soothingly stroking her head as she broke into tears again and he wrapped her in a half-dazed embrace.

Daryl was fine, just a little droopy at this point, and you mutually watched and held your girl. You prayed and pleaded and begged more than you had as a child, for a completely different reason. And to your every actually important hope and dream, a fever never spiked. Her skin never grew sweaty and clammy, eyebags never sagged, never grew weak.

Whether being a dhampir alone saved her, or Daryl's healing components pulled the rest of the weight, it didn't really matter. She was alive, and she'd live, and neither of you would ever allow this to repeat.

That customarily fatal bite turned to a scar, then smoothed back out to the unscathed plane it was before. Daryl spooned her as they both drifted into a slumber, a faint smile cresting your lips as you gazed from the opposite side. It wasn't as big as that night as a kid, or when your daughter was born, but it held as much meaning. You were all okay.

You got your vampire, and he got you – and you both got your little girl.

©corvidcrossbow 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified or adapted to other platforms. My work may be translated only if asked and with proof of given consent.

[fayesia]

Okay DONT JUGDE ME PLEASE but I have an idea for mike schmidt. Okay so basically she(y/n) gets these new meds for the two of them it was basically like had idk what it's called but sm that makes them horny af and yk what happens next and also they r just friends when this happens. U can fill in the details with whatever.

a/n: Ahh no trust me i’m not one to judge people ever about what they’re into and stuff like that, obviously it’s different when i’m asked to write about smtg i’m uncomfortable with or if it’s illegal, but nonetheless here it is, i apologise in advanced as i did rush to get it posted but ye enjoy!! 😭

warning: most of my replies to requests i get don’t include warnings but please keep in mind before reading that this will contain ⚠️drugs, taking of drugs, irresponsible drug use!!⚠️ other than that it’s just the usual smut stuff :)

“come on you’re not gonna pussy out on me now are you?” you jab at Mike knowing he was the one boasting about the drug being a placebo that wouldn’t work.

“of course i won’t since i know it doesn’t even work. whoever sold it to you just got a free 30 dollars.” he looks down at you kneeling in front of the living room table slicing the pill in two. You were told by the seller that it was a hormone enhancing pill that was basically just stronger weed, so you were being cautious about how much you both took.

“ok fine hurry up give it here” sitting down next to you, Mike grabs one half swallowing it down in one go, you do the same. After 15 minutes neither of you feel anything.

“see i told you, it’s a fucking scam”

“no no we must’ve not taken it right, come on one more chance pleaseeee” you whine looking at him with your hands clasped together.

“fine. only cause your my best friend” “mike..i’m your only friend but ok”

Taking out two more pills you grab a cup using the base to crush them into a fine powder, with your credit card you finely crush it and seperate the pile of white powder into two even lines. Meanwhile Mike neatly rolls up a dollar bill leaning forward to snort up one line, handing the note over, you sniff up the powder feeling a sharp sting in your nose leaning back against the couch to relax and let everything settle.

First there was nothing and suddenly so much was happening all at once. In two minutes you and Mike had gone from sitting beside each other dazed as ever to feeling heat all over your body. The sensation causing you both to remove layers of clothing to avoid any effects of what felt like heatstroke. “god what the fuck is happening y/n?” you hear Mike say as he removes his clothing leaving him in a pair of black boxers, “idk mikey everything’s so hot and suffocating” you respond back stripping down to just your bra and denim shorts.

You feel the heat rising especially at your core, the denim shorts getting increasingly more uncomfortable once you’ve soaked through your underwear. Raising your head you notice Mike sitting with a pillow on his lap, “Mike…is that what i think it is?” Before he can reply you’ve already removed the pillow, the sudden movement of his body attempting to hide his raging hard on shocks you as you fall on top of him. His arms support you pulling you on top of his lap as you straddle his thighs. Not even caring at this moment, you grind your pussy against his thigh the rough denim rubbing against your clit as more liquid gushes from your pussy. A dark spot forms on your shorts as Mikes hands grab your hips to push you down harder. He abruptly stops,unbuttoning your shorts and pulling them down, he flips you over on the couch so your legs hang off the edge while your back lays on the seats. Kneeling down between your legs he spreads your thighs apart, fingers digging into the soft squishy flesh.

“fucking soaked aren’t you”

“please do something please”

“say it i wanna hear you”

“please touch my pussy”

His nose brushes across your clit through the thin material of your thong as his fingers rub you you’re getting increasingly wet. He quickly rips at the flimsy strings leaving you bare to him, your folds glisten with your wetness as you feel it dripping down. His fingers enter your mouth as you suck on them like you would a lollipop, tracing down past your hardened nipples and to your clit. The first few seconds after contact has you writhing around on the couch, things only getting more intense once you feel Mikes mouth on you. His tongue explores every crevice, caressing your delicate folds and spreading your juices all over. He spits on your clit watching it drip down before collecting it with his index and middle fingers, entering your tight hole and watching it stretch. you moan at the intrusion finally being filled by something, his two fingers feeling like three of your own. You’re so close to coming, his fingertips rubs harder and harder against the soft sensitive spot inside of you, until he removes them. your eyes shoot open widening even more once Mike flips you over onto your front holding both your hands above your head, you’re barely able to turn your head due to the position of your shoulders. The tip of his cock is pulsing and red as it rubs between your folds, poking at your sensitive clit.

The gentle movements lulling you into a further daze, however that’s quick to end once his dick starts easing into your pussy. It’s a tight fit and you weren’t sure about how much would fit but Mike just said “gonna stretch you til’ we fucking make it fit”, his words have you moaning into the couch, spit dribbling from the side of your mouth the more that he enters. His cock is about three quarters in and you’re sure you can’t take any more, that is until he starts pulling out and pushing back in.

Finally he’s all the way in and you’re pulsing around him, your channel trying to fit around the girth of him.

“ok i think it’s fine, you can move”

his thrust start picking up speed, the sound of his hips smacking against your ass bounce off the walls of the room, his heavy balls slap against your clit adding to the pleasure.

“fuck mikey harder please, i’m so close omg”

He picks up the pace going faster and deeper into you, his cock pushes hard against your g-spot spurring you closer to the edge.

“baby i’m gonna cum, fill you up nice and full, fuck you everyday you want that?”

“yesyes please i need you, cum for me baby”

He continues ploughing into you, hips stuttering as he tilts his head back releasing a low guttural groan, you can feel drops of liquid releasing every time he pulls outwards. Finally a stream of Mikes cum pools inside of you, his groans grow softer the more that spurts out, your pussy clamps down on him and more of your come is leaking down his length the droplets staining the couch. Mike rolls over off of you to lay on the couch beside your panting body. The two of you are covered in a sheen of sweat, out of breathe and still coming down from the effects of the drugs you both took. After a few minutes you’re both still in your underwear, Mikes head resting on your lap while you stroke his hair, the two of you thinking about having a discussion on what this would change about your friendship but with the state of high you were both in that topic was for another time.

“well now that we’ve proven it works what do we do now?” Mike asks looking back up at you.

Reaching over to grab something off the table you simply smirk and wave a small clear packet containing two pills, identical to the ones just taken around and hour and a half ago.

~unedited~

[moth--blood]

Obey Me × MC with chronic migraines

[ ft. the 7 brothers (seperate), Diavolo, Barbatos ]

cws: fluff mostly, brief nsfw ref with Asmo

Lucifer

the most consistent of the brothers with getting your meds and not panicking, more importantly

he tends to get small headaches from overworking, so he offers his meatheads to make you feel better if you don't have any practical ones ("no, im not letting you chug a gallon of chocolate milk thats not going to help. ..what do you MEAN thats worked before???")

insists on you laying down and resting in his room until you feel better. doesn't matter how often it is, he always makes you stop whatever you're doing to go rest

will play his softer records while you sleep in hopes it'll help the migraine go away faster

Mammon

panics, first and foremost.

are you broken? dying? humans are fragile MC don't laugh at him he's WORRIED

especially worried if you describe the pain as stabbing. for a second he genuinely thinks you're being stabbed by some Witch's voodoo doll of you. that concern never fully leaves

his worry turns to pampering when he's realized you're not, in fact, being stabbed through a doll, and now he's full of questions

will suggest anything and everything he can think of to help you, from the lights to kisses. doesn't matter he WILL try it

Levi

in awe you came to him about being in pain before anything else

awkwardly offers to let you sleep in his tub, and to get you meds or something else you might ask for

if the lights in Henry's tank bother you he'll put blankets over the tub so you don't have to look at them so directly

if physical contact helps and you ask him to lay with you he will lose his fucking mind. he'll do it but he'll be stiff as shit for several minutes before finally relaxing

offers to read his/your favorite manga to you if the noise wont be a bother

surprisingly really fucking clingy when you're so reliant on him. it makes him feel special

will play the lofi or quiet anime music that helps him sleep if the noise won't bother you. he figures if it helps him sleep it might help you not be in pain :)

Satan

also in awe you chose to come to him with this, especially if it's NB!Satan. he takes less time to process than Levi though

makes a big show of tucking you into his bed to rest, offers to get you tea and to read to you if the noise isn't an issue

if lights are a trigger dont even worry about it his room is dark as fuck!

he pampers you a bit less than Mammon does, but he still insists on getting you things and doing stuff for you.

takes very quick notice of your triggers, and does his best to help you avoid them!

zero hesitation will yell at the others for possibly accidentally causing another attack he gets protective quick.

Asmo

immediate pampering he doesn't need to be told twice

"oh, you don't feel good? here let me take care of EVERYTHING today don't even worry about it"

if scents are a trigger and his soaps or perfumes/colognes get a migraine going he will not stop apologizing. he feels AWFUL

dims all his lights and does his best to neutralize all the smells in his room, insisting you stay and let him take care of you

will also try everything he can think of, or at least suggest it

he's not the biggest fan of the idea of doing stuff to you while you're in pain but if that helps you he'll try it. but you gotta tell him the second it starts getting worse because the pampering will continue exactly where it left off

Beel

he's so worried :(

also lowkey thinks you're dying so he's extra careful with you.

will do anything you ask bro is at your beck and call when you don't feel good

akin to everyone else he'll bring up anything he can think of that might help

more than willing to cuddle you into feeling better if you ask.

gets Lucifer to bring you meds because he doesn't wanna leave you alone, and if you're not the biggest fan of taking them he'll stare at you with the biggest puppy eyes until you do

Belphie

pulls you upstairs to the attic and insists on you sleeping it off, even if that doesn't always work

a big cuddler so he doesn't mind holding you if physical contact helps

goes and gets you medicine and a drink without even being asked, and if you question or tease him about it he'll just mutter something about wanting to sleep in peace without you complaining about your head

he's just worried don't let him fool you again

very observant with your triggers and when you're around bright lights or loud noises, for example, too long he'll pull you aside and quietly ask if you're still feeling okay. if it's a yes he'll pretend he never asked and if it's a no, he'll pull you back to the attic pft

Diavolo

also thinks you're dying at first. i mean, for all he knew you were! Solomon hardly counts as human so imagine his absolute panic when his first actual human starts complaining of excessive brain pain. several times.

after you've been around a while though, he's super calm about it

words cannot express how quickly he goes "oh okay! here, drugs"

does keep your medicine on him basically constantly, just in case!

takes you to his room or to an unused room in RAD so you can rest for a little bit, and if it's bad enough at RAD he'll just fucking leave to take you home lmao

doesn't fully understand still, but he's doing his best! it's the thought that counts even if he's unknowingly making it just a little worse </3

Barbatos

also keeps your medicine on his person after a while.

memorizes your list of triggers and things that help as soon as he realizes you get migraines at all. he uses his power to find when you mention said lists and if you ask, he'll just smile and tell you not to worry about it

also tends to pull you aside when you're around your triggers for a while to make sure you're alright. regardless of answer he reminds you he has your meds if you need them

if warm drinks or comfort foods help, he figures out how to make them and when pretty fast. he likes being efficient at getting your pain to go away as soon as possible

[wassertoffatom]

Request Thingie~ 19 with Paladin Danse?

Our Own Problems (Paladin Danse x F!Reader)

Main Master List || Prompt Master List

Author's Note: Thank you for the request! This is my first time writing for Danse! Also thank you @sparklingthedas for beta reading this!!! I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: language, spoilers for Blind Betrayal, whomp whomp Danse is sad, reader is sad, everyone is sad

Word Count: 505

The sun barely peeks over the horizon, casting a gradual decline of midnight blue into burnt orange, signaling the beginning of a new day. A lone figure sits at the edge of the river, mindlessly tossing pebbles of various sizes into the water, observing the way the water ripples, mirroring his own life. What was once a still stream has now turned into a violent river.

“Thought I’d find you here,” a voice comments, groggy with sleep as the person stifles a yawn, standing above the man. “How are you doing?”

“How do you think I’m doing?” Danse questions bitterly, internally chastising himself. He doesn’t mean to come off as angry, especially not to you, but sometimes his words are quicker than his thoughts. “I’m not doing well.” It’s not an apology, but he’s hoping that you’d understand. You sit next to him, bringing your knees up to your chest and wrapping your arms around your legs, resting your head on top. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” The sun continues to creep up along the horizon, beginning to cast light on some of the vegetation around you, but you and him are still clad in shadows.

“What could you possibly do that would help me? Everything I have ever known has been ripped right away from me.”

-POV Switch-

You pause for a minute, staring out into the fading blackness, trying to formulate your opinions. Would this be a good time to admit your feelings? Or at least on the path to them? “You can help us continue to build. Take your mind off of things. It helps me get my mind off of Shaun,” you admit but he doesn’t stir, causing you to curse his stoicalness. Just once you would like to see him show emotions. Here goes nothing. “You can stay here, with me.”

He shakes his head, causing your heart to slowly chip. “That doesn’t really help me.”

Sighing in remorse, you look away from him as tears well up in your eyes. You understand that he’s hurting. You understand that the very morals that he preached about are now in deep, murky, water. But still, he’s not the only person going through stuff. “You make me feel like I’m not good enough.”

“What was that, soldier?” His voice is terse as he looks at you. Even in the dark you can see the raging rapids behind his eyes.

“All I try to do is help you. All I have ever done is try to help you and you’re not grateful. I understand that you’re going through a hard time, but Danse, I am too. My literal son is the head of the fucking Institute, and yet, I still try to put on a smile to help you.” You abruptly stand up, dusting your pants with a huff as his eyes focus on your frame, silent guilt creeping in on him. “Enjoy your thoughts,” with a scoff, you walk away from the former paladin, leaving him all alone again.

Author's Note: So sorry it's super short but I hope you enjoyed it!! Thank you again for the request!

[linguisticparadox]

Dr. Kemp's introduction is really fascinating to me, because it sets up not only his personality but also his function in the novel.

A couple of weeks ago, we had his thoughts at seeing Marvel running through the village: '“Another of those fools,” said Dr. Kemp. “Like that ass who ran into me this morning round a corner, with the ‘’Visible Man a-coming, sir!’ I can’t imagine what possesses people. One might think we were in the thirteenth century.”' These are his first words in the book, and they serve as an excellent sum-up of who he is and how he sees the world.

And so far, we might almost agree with him: although we know the Invisible Man is real, the whole story so far has read like a madcap slapstick comedy. Even Marvel, the Invisible Man's special victim, has been portrayed as a silly and rather stupid man in a silly and rather stupid situation, the stuff of modern-day sitcoms.

But then we get a sudden glimpse of the horror of Marvel's situation, and simultaneously we see that Kemp is judging at a distance, and so misjudging: "But those who saw the fugitive nearer, and perceived the abject terror on his perspiring face, being themselves in the open roadway, did not share in the doctor’s contempt." The more perceptive among us might cringe to think of our own reactions to everything that has happened to Marvel so far (and not to spoil anything, but later we will come to feel similarly about the Invisible Man, who so far has mostly just come off as kind of an asshole).

The narrative continues to paint Kemp as a rational man of science, who considers himself superior to the common rabble, with little tidbits thrown in here and there.

This week, he hears shots go off, and seems (or at least pretends) to dismiss them as nonsense, saying, “Who’s letting off revolvers in Burdock? What are the asses at now?” After that, he looks out the window and sees a crowd, which he watches for a few minutes, "during which his mind had travelled into a remote speculation of social conditions of the future." Based on his characterization up to now, we can assume he views this future with rather haughty scorn--"this country is going down the toilet, look at all these idiots," and so on.

Of course, he's more rattled than he seems, especially after the doorbell rings for seemingly no reason. But he manages to lose himself in his work again until the small hours of the morning.

Now, it only comes through in some parts, but the whole narrative is subtly framed as being told by a limited pov third person, who has evidently gathered together news articles and interviews with the various witnesses. We get only a peek at it here, with the line: "Dr. Kemp’s scientific pursuits have made him a very observant man, and as he recrossed the hall, he noticed a dark spot on the linoleum near the mat at the foot of the stairs." The tense at the start of the sentence suggests the image of Dr. Kemp sitting and telling his story, throwing in a moment of preening over his education and scientific prowess. These traits continue to receive attention with lines like "Dr. Kemp was no believer in voices"; and when we are told, "All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings," we can easily imagine Dr. Kemp rushing to defend his seemingly irrational thoughts to his interviewer.

In short, H.G. Wells tells us, plainly and repeatedly (though with a deft subtlety beneath his compact and engaging prose which characterizes his writing generally), that Dr. Kemp is highly educated, rational and scientific, and that he feels these characteristics place him above the common people.

And this, I think, is a gorgeous setup of Kemp's role in the narrative: to establish that education and rationality do not shield one from falling in with mob mentality and being complicit in the persecution of The Other.* Up to this point, we have had only comic scenes of the Invisible Man causing mayhem and blunt confusion among the simple-minded, straightforward but unimaginative denizens of small towns, the sort of people who needle a man for explanations, not to satisfy any real curiosity, but to gather fodder for gossip and win esteem in their social circles, and who consider it a grave insult when that man, a newcomer wrapped in bandages who just wants to be left alone, denies it to them.

But now, as if to head off any potential feelings of class-based superiority in the (necessarily literate, if not highly educated) audience, we have a well-educated, rational man, who considers himself Above All of That, and who views the situation exactly as we have been led to view it ourselves.

And this man, a stand-in for the rational, high-class, superior-feeling people in the audience, is immediately proven to be wrong. He misjudged the situation because he has only seen it from a distance: and the parallel with the readers, who are learning the story from a fairly removed narrative distance, ought to give us all pause.

*For the record, I think Marvel fits the bill as The Other, or ought to, as he is a homeless drifter. Certainly the Invisible Man expects to have sympathy from him on this basis! Unfortunately for him, Marvel in fact turns out to be much more comfortable among the "locals" than one might assume; and yet, in demanding his aid, the Invisible Man actually isolates and others him from his fellows, so that it becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. But that's a topic for another paper essay rant entirely.

[crkstuffidk]

Before I start this I wanted to mention how it seems, atleast with the lore we get with Mystic Flours update that cookies used the beasts and their abilities, and eventually the beasts snapped and murdered many of them. A bit dramatic but I kinda see where they come from, I mean maybe they stopped doing the things cookies asked first but then the cookies started 'rebelling' idk anything better to call it, and then the beasts started murdering them. Anyways that's all I have for that topic now onto something quite different.

Warning for all you White Lily lovers and defenders, I am going to be complaining about pretty much everything about her, so please if you don't want to see this, scroll past, if your fine with it, do whatever, but this is my opinion so please don't comment stuff like how I'm wrong. Also I wanted to add this isn't ment to be targeting any of you White Lily defenders and supporters, I just wanted to express what I think of her, and its that i really dont like her. So with all that said, I'm going to go ahead and essentially hate on White Lily.

1st of all, Toxic Purelily shippers, I know not all of you are bad, and I haven't ran into any of you, but I've seen some comments on anything that ships one of these two with someone else, and it's kinda annoying, they say stuff like 'this is cute, but I ship Purelily' or 'purelily canon' seriously there's no need to bring that up, if you don't like it scroll past, if you do like it don't mention how you like Purelily better because whoever created the posts probably don't ship them if they are shipping either of them with another cookie, and they honestly didn't ask your opinion on it. Also back when the costumes first came out, a lot of purelily shippers used those as their defense that it's canon, but they just ignored that in Pure Vanillas costume description it literally says he was put under a love potion, that would make Purelily canon or not, a bit toxic, especially if White Lily knew he was under a potion control, cause that's just being a shitty friend either way. If she didn't know, I guess it's better, but still it makes Purelily somewhat toxic because now we don't really know if PV had any romantic feelings for her before the potion.

2ndly Her being Dark Enchantress, because I remember back before golden cheeses update or before it was confirmed she was DE many people wanted her to be DE, but now after GCs update, and that she's actually at fault for something(actually lots of things, bc she also caused the beasts to be free) everyone's saying she's not Dark Enchantress, and in a way their right, her body didn't become Dark Enchantress, but I'm pretty sure her conscience was still in DE, therefore she was atleast somewhat aware of her actions, and if you guys say she isn't aware because she was corrupted, you better act the same way with the beasts, cause generally, it's the same thing for WL and the beasts. Generally rn in my mind WL is to blame for quite a lot of stuff in game lore.

3rd, she got off the hook too quickly, literally everyone(not GC) forgave her for pretty much ruining their lives, She destroyed PVs Kingdom and is the reason he didn't remember like anything when we first met him. I can't say much with HB, but I'm guessing something happened that she's at fault for, Dark Cacao's son literally tried to kill him, because of her(yes it was the sword, but it doesn't take a fool to guess that the sword was made by her power) and Golden Cheese literally lost everything because of her. Then Elder Faerie died because she became DE and that caused the beasts to be freed, and then Dark Cacao's Kingdom is dying of a plague caused by Mystic Flour because the beasts were freed.

4th, She was let off the hook in general, this one is with the Witches though. Let's go back to what the beasts did before imprisonment, like I said earlier they were probably being used and got fed up with it, so they killed the cookies, still a bit dramatic but whatever, they didn't seem to be trying to fight the Witches they were just killing cookies, and they were imprisoned for eons because of it, But WL aka DE literally wanted to steal the others soul jams and actually (this is from what I recall) wanted to fight the Witches, or something like that, but the Witches don't do anything? That's just annoyingly unfair, DE wanted to actually fight the Witches but she got away scotch free, but the Beasts killed cookies(still a bit overly dramatic) and they get imprisoned for who knows how long, that's just kinda stupid.

5th, the power imbalance. The Ancients have half of what the beasts powers were, and at the beginning of the games cut scene we see that PV is pretty damn strong because if I recall correctly she stopped using her magic and actually brought her arm up to shield herself, therefore the black void or whatever was probably mostly caused by PVs magic. And thats half of Shadowmilks magic, Shadowmilk may have still been regaining his strength, but he still most likely should've atleast came closer to winning, rather than whatever happened in game(I'll admit though it was cool to see SM get this shadowy jester mask in the cutscene) and also the whole reason he lost was probably just to promote her costume, which is in general annoying.

6th, Shadowmilk was right, she's half a cookie, and could still become DE again, and I'm pretty sure she probably will, but she was given this power, which by is pretty stupid, because Elder Faerie I'm pretty sure used that same magic on SM earlier and he still died, so how was White Lily, half a cookie, probably still has a bit of corruption in her able to defeat SM with it.

7th, The Mystic costumes, they suck, they look like piss, and honestly weren't even needed. A Frost Queen Mystic costume would've made probably lots of players actually excited.

8th, the fact that all of the horrible events in the game were caused by her curiosity, I get that curiosity isn't always a bad thing, but the saying 'curiosity killed the cat' exists for a reason. She was way to curious about things she shouldn't have been curious about, and instead of listening to the cookies that told her to maybe stop before it's too late, she still went searching for answers, on that topic, why was finding out how they were created so important to her in the first place, literally why PV backed out before he went too far, she should've too. What happened to her was her own fault. She didn't need these answers they weren't going to be revolutionary for cookie kind, and when she got the horrid answer she became DE(which wasn't necessarily her fault because she fell into that jam or whatever) but she most likely still had some of her conscience while she was DE and instead of talking to her friends, who after being proven that DE was infact WL and were told the truth about their creation, they would've most likely sided with her. But she didn't do that, she decided to try and steal their souljams.

Okay I'm done now, I'm going to be honest I generally hate her with my whole heart, her designs cute, and her voice is amazing, but I really don't like her. I literally got her on one of my first pulls in her gacha and I have her turned off on the dashboard, I'm serious when I say I hate her. I'll say it again please don't come at me for this, it's my opinion, I'm in no way saying it's correct or anything like that, but it's my opinion I'm entitled to it, just as you all are entitled to yours, so I'm not saying you can't have your own opinion on her, I'm just saying what mine is.

[deathnotewiki]

Does L know he is going to die in episode 25?

Some people think he knows but in my personal opinion? No. There are a two main things we need to factor into L's death and why it happens.

Misa's guilt: Shortly after Misa is released, she retrieves the Death Note and with it, her memories. Light then tells her to resume the duties of the true Kira which had stopped after the Yotsuba Kira came into power: kill criminals. So Misa's free, and suddenly the Kira murders resume. So what is L going to think? The obvious: Misa is a (not necessarily the, as L is definitely still going with Light for that one) Kira. She's causing these deaths.

Rem's love: L is an absolute genius who's going to pick up on a lot, but there are things that are simply beyond him because they're so absolutely unfathomable; Death Notes and Shinigami being the first things that come to mind. But then there's another thing that absolutely no one would have guessed aside from Light, who had gotten to know Rem well enough and see her interactions with Misa: she loves/is in love with Misa. This is a Shininigami, a god of death, her whole existence revolving around death and darkness. Who in their right mind would see a Shinigami and think they're capable of love? Especially when we take into account Rem giving zero shits when Higuchi dies and being pretty cooperative with L and the task force.

Misa's a murderer. Even if not having the death count of the initial Kira, she's still got a lot of blood on her hands and is going to have to face justice. That might mean a life in prison or even the death penalty. Now we have L here having pretty solid proof that he can use to back that up. Been a while, but he might even have noted aloud that the Kira murders started up again shortly after Misa was released. Rem knows he's onto Misa. Rem knows he's going to arrest Misa and ruin or end her life, but Rem loves Misa and would never allow that to happen.

The entire thing revolves around Misa's guilt and her relationship with Rem. It is Rem's love and willingness to protect Misa that is what ultimately kills L, and there is simply no possible way that L could have been aware of that love. He has zero clue of Misa knowing Rem, and he has zero clue that a Shinigami would even be capable of loving. A monster, the embodiment of death itself, experiencing love. Completely unfathomable.

Now, I'm assuming in those few moments when Watari deleted everything that he knew Watari died. I imagine the erasing of the data was part of the plan if Watari were to die. No one knows Watari's name, he's a major part of this (and I think they may have noticed Rem was missing at that point, but don't quote me on that), and suddenly he's dead. Sure, L's still giving out orders and stuff at the end, but it's still very possible that he knew he was going to die.

But in the last episode overall? In that foreboding scene in the rain where he hears the bells? I think it was clearly meant to be foreshadowing, but no, I do not think that L had any idea that he was going to die that day.

[starbornsoulrider]

some more new story quest ramblings + ideas for how Halo's character is gonna progress from here

so. Halo gets transported to Cape Sorrow, collapses into the sand and immediately has a panic attack about Darko returning, about Elissa, about Maya, everything. they relive the visions they've been having about the soul riders failing to stop Garnok and losing all their friends, and slowly but surely Buddy pulls them out of it.

then they kinda... pace around cape sorrow aimlessly for a bit. Buddy and Timber just watch them as they mutter to themself, unsure of what to do or how to comfort them. eventually, Halo comes to a stop and just stands at the shore. Buddy awkwardly comes up, and tries to offer reassurance. Halo just kinda halfheartedly accepts it, but their mind is on other things right now. that's when this moment happens:

they consider everything's that happened so far. Fripp and the druids are gone, leaving Valedale unattended. Maya is injured, Erissa and Darko are back, the soul riders are on their own aside from a few straggling druids who stayed behind like Rhiannon probably. Dark Core is on the brink of executing their plan, and their chances? not looking good.

Halo keeps thinking back to the vision they had. of their friends meeting the same fate as Elizabeth. of getting sealed away in endless darkness by Garnok before he breaks free and tears Jorvik apart.

they think of Darko. the one they keep seeing in those visions, the one who causes the demise of their friends. and they realize- they don't have time to go warn the others. friendship, unity, and teamwork isn't going to save Jorvik now. in the visions they get, it's the soul riders working together that gets all of them killed. it's Halo choosing to keep fighting beside them that gets them all killed.

i've thought about a Halo officially breaking off from the druids/soul riders scenario before, and this seems like a perfect opportunity for that. i jokingly call it "Halo's revenge arc" but its more than that. it's abandoning everything and going to extreme lengths in order to prevent this tragedy. in order to keep their friends safe. they don't care if they have to kill Darko or Mr. Sands with their bare hands. heck, I headcanon that this is the point in the story where they've formed a mutual respect with the Dark Riders, (Katja, Jay, and especially Sabine at least), but even they aren't exempt from Halo's wrath if they choose to get in the way. at this point, Halo's lost hope that they'd be able to defeat Garnok, that they'll get the Light Ceremony book in time or whatever, right now all they can think to do is to stop Dark Core first.

and they have to do it alone.

morning comes, and the Hightowers see them stranded on Cape Sorrow, cold and starving. they help get Halo to shore, give them a warm meal, and try to ask them what happened. (reminder that Halo worked at the rescue ranch for a time, so the Hightowers are like family to them! they know a tiny amount about Halo's soul rider life, but not all the details.) Halo just says some druid stuff happened, and that they need to get back to their friends. Erik and Holly use their phone to call the Soul Riders, and say they've found Halo and that they'll be back in Valedale soon.

back in Valedale, Alex and the others are trying to heal Maya with what little they have. they were pretty stressed about Halo's whereabouts after they chased Erissa, so they're at least relieved to hear they're alright. and hey, maybe with Halo's powers combining with Lisa's, they'll be able to heal Maya!

so they wait, and they wait. and wait. but Halo and Buddy never arrive.

a day passes. they think something must've happened to Halo, and they're still resting up back over at South Hoof. they call the Hightowers again, but they assure Halo left soon after they'd called last time. the realization starts to sink in that fuck, they don't know where Halo is. they start calling around, Moorland, Silverglade, fuck even places like Epona, the Harvest Counties, and Mistfall- but nothing comes up. no one's seen them. they're just... gone.

hours turn into days. days turn into weeks. Halo and Buddy don't come back. because they're doing exactly what they'd promised they would do. they're going to stop Mr. Sands.

[alexanderlightweight]

Okay so I don't know if I'm doing this at the wrong day/time and I totally don't mind if you don't want this, but!! I've read a ton of like, oops we're married type stuff, or married cause we have to. But what about a slightly dark Magnus who deliberately sets out to marry the Lightwood heir to like, take advantage of spousal laws that would give him power in nephilim culture or something like that. Maybe he even plans to get him drunk and marry him, have Alec wake up married to a stranger only, he doesn't expect to fall head over fucking heels for this sweetly gorgeous boy.

I love your words, any words you write, and I look forward to everything you put out! Thank you so much. Your updates brighten my days :)

okay so i loved this prompt especially because i don't know if anyone knows about basically the trope of spouse-napping especially the ones where basically there are marriage ropes that you can bind an opponent with and by tradition, you're married/engaged whatever and it can be used by enemies.

so i hope you enjoy!

lumine

-

“Isn’t this a little crass, even for you?” Ragnor asks with a weary sigh even as he helps Magnus wrap up the last potion and secure it away.

Magnus merely hums and raises an amused brow, because Ragnor was the first to offer to help him and it’s the only time he’s spoken up against Magnus’ plan in any way. Which means that he’s not so much opposed, as he is exhausted and worried about the outcome.

“No.” Magnus says, honestly, because there is very little he wouldn’t do if he found the prize worth it. “And at the very least, we’ll make the clave look like a mockery. And well, I suppose Robert and Maryse’s disgust will be more than enough of a bonus.”

Magnus could go for the girl, she’s well known enough in downworlder circles, but it’s the heir that Magnus wants and it’s the heir he intends to have.

There is little known about Alexander Lightwood, but Magnus knows how important heirs are to nephilim and this one in particular is already rising high in the ranks, quickly and efficiently which is exactly what Magnus needs.

That’s the plan at least, until Magnus gathers up his potions and the gold ribbons Ragnor brought him specifically for this purpose.

Magnus gets to the best vantage point of the battle, a place he warded and scoped out before damaging the small rift enough that larger demons could come through. Now, Magnus watches his quarry enter with two teams of shadowhunters.

Magnus isn’t sure which one is the one he wants, so he waits, and he thinks that perhaps Alexander Lightwood didn’t come, until he realizes how many demons are dropping without contact and he follows the course to a tall roof. There are two shadowhunters there, one is keeping a perimeter and giving orders through her comms though Magnus can only see her lips move and not make it out. Alexander Lightwood is brutal even from a distance and his arrows never once miss. It’s a tantalizing display of skill and then Magnus sucks in a breath of delight as his shadowhunter dives off the roof, tackling a demon that was coming for him, and stabbing it as they fall.

It disintegrates into ichor and ash and Magnus’ shadowhunter lands in a crouch to distribute the shock and then he’s up and moving.  He’s in the middle of the melee now and while Magnus can’t hear him, it’s clear the rest of the hunters do. They ebb and flow around and to him, working like an extension of his commands rather than individuals. It’s as if they suddenly have a hive mind, focused on their leader and only their leader.

Magnus watches, charmed as Alexander gets his hunters into a strange array and then they all break apart into groups of two.

Alexander remains alone, his partner still giving them information from the roof, and he settles into the back, protecting his people and ensuring that he can get the demons no one else’s notices.

He’s in the perfect place to take and yet, Magnus finds his fingers petting the golden ribbons and he finds them suddenly coarse and garish.

If Magnus is going to wrap Alexander in ceremonial gold and claim him as a companion stolen in battle, the traditional battle marriages of shadowhunters, then Magnus is going to do it his way.

Alexander is clearly worth that much and while Magnus knows a bit of what he looks like, he’s suddenly aching to see him closer and touch his face and finally know what color his eyes are.

Magnus waits until the battle ends, relieved that while a few shadowhunters are injured, none are his boy.

It means that Magnus portals away easily and without any worry as he takes a deep breath and unlocks a room he hasn’t used in ages.

Thread craft is rare and while Magnus is talented at it, it’s a unique magic that is better left unmentioned. A secret because even if his magic is ever locked away, Magnus’ very clothes and the threads he wears will rise up to protect him.

It also gives him a very unique advantage and while clothing made by others won’t work as well, he has the time to create what he needs.

The silk ropes he weaves are made from the cocoons of abyssal moths that he and Ragnor spent a century slowly collecting.

Instead of using dyes, Magnus lets his magic create the color and he’s delighted by the rich golds and the vibrant shade of warlock blue that’s twined about the gold.

Magnus is going to catch his boy in nephilim tradition and colors, with warlock significance to let everyone know just who Alexander is going to belong to now.

For the first time, Magnus is suddenly amused and delighted by the fact that nephilim have such a militaristic society that they think nothing of blood and violence when it comes to intimacy.  Most of the greatest nephilim pairings come from one being caught by the other, Magnus sees no reason to change a tradition that works.

Especially when no nephilim has ever considered a downworlder might want to capture one of them or that they'd succeed.

So, despite the clave’s prejudice and bigotry, there is nothing preventing Magnus from slipping through this gaping loophole and claiming himself a nephilim mate. Especially when Magnus is aware that the only way to refuse the bonding once Magnus starts the ritual, is to kill each other or oneself.

Which is fine, Magnus isn’t going to let Alexander harm himself, or Magnus.

[rinadragomir]

Hi, I know you're taking a break from the fandom rn, but feel free to answer this ask whenever it suits you (no negativity I promise!)

I finished COT, and I felt like it gave off different vibes from other books (not just COG or COI - CC's books in general). I feel like it was darker in the beginning, what with James being sullen and Matthew being withdrawn and Cordelia being exhausted. And the part with London being all dark and silent and lonely and the Watchers going around - that kind of aura, I don't think anything like that was prevalent in other books.

I was just wondering what you thought about that? Did it feel kinda different from the usual too? The tone of the book, especially in the beginning, seemed to give off despair and used hope, though that could be due to James' gloom and all the miscommunication and cracked relationships-

What are your thoughts on the vibe of COT, especially compared with the other books in the series and in general?

HIYA! Oh it's alright ~ for you I'm always available🤗

Yeah the first half was really dark. Golden trio was in their Twilight New Moon Era

You're absolutely right about James's perspective but I'd also add Cordelia's. Everything seemed really dark through their eyes till chapter 23, I haven't felt this level of depression and hopelessness for a long time.

Oh oh I should mention that I absolutely loved the "Dark London" part with everyone losing their minds. Downworlders clapping for so long their hands start bleeding, mothers singing lullabies to empty prams😳

Yes, I certainly feel the same about the different vibe. Some of the chot scenes seemed more.... mature? comparing to her other books. The way the whole Matthew's alcoholism situation was handled, Grace's regrets, Cordelia's depression, Thomas trying to find the healthiest ways to build his relationship with Alastair, Charles's fears and lack of confidence in himself and everything around, James and Matthew's moments in Edom. The way it was written feels different, but I like this particular change.

And for some reason this book feels shorter than the first 2. Maybe it's because my personal favs had less pages than something else, but it's just me. (Arianna deserved as many pages as Thomastair, MAYBE EVEN MORE I SAID WHAT I SAID). And maybe since I'm reading pretty fast, especially when it comes to Cassie's books, I can finish this whole book in a day. I'll be completely satisfied the day Cassie's books have around 1200 pages ☝🏻or more😡

So, about the "mature" part. Years pass, Cassie's audience grows and I'm really happy that her books sorta "grow" with us? Dude idk why thinking in English is so hard😞 if it was a Russian platform, I'd slay😤So! Cassie added mature topics before, some of the TMI moments were really dark, but the way these topics are written/handled is just getting better. My personal opinion is that TLH characters just feel more real than others and this is the result of Cassie developing her writing. I feel like she's still in the process of trying new things/ways to describe and create sth. And this is why the books have a different vibe.

It can be confusing sometimes, but I'm actually glad these changes happen. I understand that writing one series for decades can be exhausting and I know Cassie has big plans for the additional TLH content, TWP and stuff, but I was so afraid one day she can just give up on it (+ all the hate she received after chot release 😒). So knowing that she's still trying new things gives me hope cause it means she's still invested in this series. So I'm really looking forward to her future TSC project👀+ I'm continuing sending her nice asks

I'd write more, but I wanna eat and I'm lazy☺️

[supernovaa-remnant]

'The characters didn't do what I wanted' so true.

It makes me scratch my head that r!wil starts sort of worshipping r!dream without being aware of the fact that he is indeed, a deity.

How does it feel for dream? He can hear/feel prayers, we know that, but is it any different? Will he ever reveal his true self? Or more like, reveal who he is, I don't think it would be great for dream to show up one day in blinding light with thousand eyes.

Does their relationship affect anything or anyone else? For example, the world sensing one of its biggest lords is down, in the mortal part or maybe loyal worshippers / priests feeling different

aksljdgsjhkdlksjahghdjjslkdjhsks karo I am so glad you've asked about this au (this au is actually taking over my mind send help lmao)

also yeah I went into this thinking "yippee!! healthy dreambur dynamic!!" and then the dreambur in question cornered me in a dark alley and forced me to write unhealthy devotion and themes of obsession and possession.

r!wilbur worshipping r!dream without even knowing that they're residing in a temple dedicated to dream is soooo arkrjsghdkjshgdjhshdshdgs

it feels a bit, odd, for dream. in some ways, it feels like a rush of power. it's so much more intimate in a way that dream wasn't aware was possible. because, sure, he can hear prayers from just about anyone, but most of the big temples have smaller prayer areas in which the prayers go to some spirits/angels under dream's domain (they're blobs, btw, very important you should know this).

uhm, some background for the god system in this au. there's major gods and minor gods and spirits/angels. both major gods and minor gods have their own little spirits, but major gods can also have minor gods who are essentially in charge of a subsect of their domain (ex: foolish in this au is a minor god under dream's domain of creation).

so, the reason dream heard wilbur's initial prayer loud and clear is because he didn't have any spirits stationed to essentially intercept calls at the temple because it was long since abandoned.

anyway, when wilbur begins praying directly to dream rather than a nameless god, the prayers wash over dream in waves. it's almost overwhelming, the power it holds. it's so much more intimate when wilbur is praying to dream directly, and in some ways it feels as though their souls are actually brushing against each other. wilbur doesn't realize it, but dream can very very clearly feel the difference. eventually dream does reveal that he's a god, but I haven't thought super hard about it yet.

important thing to know about dream in this au: he was not born a god. he became a god by killing the previous god of creation. this greatly upset the balance of the world as it was the first time a major god had been killed, and it essentially set the world into a sort of "dark age." this happened ~ a millennia before dream meets wilbur.

so, dream is more accustomed to the mortal realm than some other gods may be (though it does greatly depend on the god). a god existing in the mortal realm doesn't really cause anything big, but the other gods do notice, especially when it's a major god. dream does disappear sometimes to take care of the bigger prayers or to deal with godly stuff, but he keeps coming back for wilbur, something almost baffling (and, depending on the individual, concerning) to the other gods.

as for the other worshipers, they feel a bit different, but they don't think it's out of the ordinary. the gods in general go through phases of being more or less attentive to their followers. it's pretty normal, but, of course, the worshipers are doing everything in their power to appease dream so that he becomes more attentive again lol. mortals are needy like that.

as for the other gods, they notice. kristin & philza keep an eye on it (they were there when dream killed the previous god of creation.. it was something that really shook the entire divine community). techno is concerned for dream, because techno was there for a lot of the aftermath of dream's past and is worried about him falling back into destructive habits.

so, yeah, I hope that answers your question <3

[lebienquifaitmai]

thoughts about The Emperor

I want to just put all my thoughts about The Emperor while my memory is still fresh after beating the game. Obviously spoilers ahead, obviously personal thoughts and perception, and doing it mostly for myself from the future, but feel free to reply if you have something in mind.

I keep seeing takes about how the Emperor is using Tav for his own goals, but his main goal is, basically, destroying the Absolute. Which is not a bad goal, if I must say it's a heroic goal. But he's not able to do so alone, he needs allies for this, however who would want to go through countless challenges one after another, challenge chosens of the Dark Gods, and face the Elder Brain on top of that? Only someone whomst life would depend on this, someone who not only would die if they fail, but their soul and their very being would be destroyed after turning into mind flayer.

So the Emperor and his crew (not sure if they are also rebels, or Emperor is fooling them around) is gathering anyone they can catch through the worlds, Emperor is putting magically altered tadpoles in their brains, then the nautiloid crash happens. Again, it's unknown if Emperor knew, expected, maybe even planned it from the start, or he wanted to do it the other way.

But it is what it is. He can't stop just yet, when stakes is this high. He starts to manipulate the party into thinking that they are protected by some mysterious dream visitor, I assume that he searched trough the minds and made the most personally appealing appearance for each, just to make it easier. He's successfully pushing the party forward their goal. Trying to put in their minds an idea that they shouldn't get rid of their tadpoles, but they should embrace it's potential instead.

And then there is Act 3. His true identity is getting revealed, a lot of stuff is going on.

About Ansur: Emperor tried to turn him down, to make him leave and go live his on life. The letter we can find on Ansur's dead body is very sweet and very sad. I don't think that it could be staged, since Ansur is laying down below the castle, it's very hidden, to access it you have to pass trials, and Emperor is trying his best to make Tav go back, instead of looking for the dragon, and it's not like there is something that could truly expose him, nothing here hints us that he was doing it not out of pure self-defense.

About Duke Stellmane: We know that he was visitting her every tendays, and that's it. There is a thought that he could be the cause of her condition, but it could also be something else. Emperor himself is not saying anything about it if Tav trusts him, but if Tav is being hostile towards him, he'll show Tav how he'll say "the truth" but. He'll show it even if Tav doesn't want to look, and Emperor will make sure to make the vision the most unsettling thing he can come up with, and on top of that he'll completely clash in tone after that. I think the reason behind of this is that Emperor is getting scared about the possiblity that Tav can do something unpredictable and fail everything when they are so close to the destruction of the Absolute. If Tav doesn't want to cooperate willingly and on a good terms, then Emperor is trying to make them act out of fear. If it's easier for them to put everything in black-white terms then Emperor is gonna play the role of an "evil mind flayer who is here only to bring disaster" I don't think we can wholeheartedly believe what we saw there, especially since he keeps her portrait among his old stuff under the Elfsong tavern.

And my final thoughts: the Emperor wants to survive, this is his first priority, his second priority is keeping his city safe. It's good and very understandable desires. He wants to kill the Absolute, and you can only try to persuade him to do otherwise; also he's not even in a cutscene if Tav is becoming an Absolute themselves. Emperor is getting sad if Tav is turning him down on romance, and I think it means he's not living rent free in Tav's head just to lie or/and manipulate them in all ways possible, because then he'd know about Tav possibly not having a romantic interest in him, so he wouldn't even try to engage. And in the end of the game Emperor is still here to say his farewells, and he feels genuinely sad that his journey with Tav is over, and he's being nice even if Tav is acting cold and rude. There is no point of manipulating in the end, and if all of it wouldn't matter for him, he could just simply leave without saying a word.

I personally think that Emperor is not just "another evil mind flayer" and also I think that he has some real feelings for Tav.

[imjulia-andilikecats]

Hii Julia

Don't ypu think wild uncharted waters from the Little Mermaid is such a Cal's song?

Okay! First of all, apologies for the LATE response.

Christmas and New Year were tough on me, and I've been zoning out....a lot and sleeping.

Be HERE. WE. GO!

Dude, I don't want to lie to you BUT when I first listen to the song. I was not vibing it. The rythme and...singing.

HOWEVER, when I focus on the lyrics. DUDE! It's promising and I was like. I will not listen to this song but I will read it like a poem!

I did and it's SO beautiful!!!

YES! Wild Uncharted Waters is VERY Cal coded.

To wild uncharted waters

Miles beyond the sea

I was darkness-bound, I had almost drowned

'Til you came around, and you found me

Now I am on the shoreline

But I'm still lost at sea

In these wild uncharted waters

Come find me again

Cal is lost and is dealing with a lit of voices telling him WHAT TO DO or WHO HE SHOULD BE.

Those voices got stronger in King's Cage where he is fibally presented the opportunity to reclaim his birthright. However, Mare does not what another Monarchy, another Silver King, cause that still means that Reds are less than Silvers. Even though they found each other again. Cal still made the decision to reclaim it (again his birthright and preventing a power stuggle with the segmented Silver Houses.)

No matter how reasonable his decision was. How much he tried to keep everything in check. Everyone pushed him from one direction to the other. Anabel, Uncle Julian, Mare, the Scarlet Guard and Monfort. All telling him what to do.

As the pressure of his endless duties, the heartbreak of his and Mare's separation, Maven's forces seemingly growing and needing to make decisions that could turn the tides of the war. Start to build and slowly suffocate him. Cal fought Iris in Harbor Bay, lost and almost drown from the strong waves and his heavy armor. Metaphorically and literally drowning from EVERYTHING.

All I do is wonder

Who you are and where you'll be

In my mind, your melody goes on

Stronger than the undertow

The night you rescued me

Silhouetted by the rising dawn

Dude, just this segnent, it's giving Marecal vibes.

As Cal has described Mare as the anchor ⚓️AND the storm.⛈️ He missed her voice, her SHARPNESS!🥺 How she is constantly a changing puzzle, couldn't see the girl under her many mask.

Alone, just you and me

And I hope you're there in the open air

There's no map or compass to guide me, no

Time may change the shoreline

But time will not change me

If it takes my life

I will finally find you again

In uncharted waters

Come find me again

This bit just reminds me of Mare and Cal after War Storm. They went through a lot and need to heal. Especially Cal, since not only did he lost his title again, but his little brother.

He almost called himself "nothing" infront of Mare.

But they still hoped to see each other again. Mare is not sure when, but if she takes too long, he can move on without her (which....ain't happening). We all know Cal's feelings will never change, no matter how long he had to wait for her.

And they parted again, hoping to find each other again. 💔💔💔💔😭

Note: Sorry I read into the lyrics too HARD. I'm a bit stuck with Cal going through a lot of stuff and just being called "whiny" for being confused and upset. Like, yeah, he is a tough character and he cal handle a lot of stress but he still needed someone to care for him, even just a little bit.

[kabannoneko]

Game Thoughts - Little Inferno by Tomorrow Corporation

To be honest, I only wanted to play this game cause it looked silly. But as I soon found out, it was silly, yes, but it wasn't completely so! (Or rather, that's not all it is.) And I like it! - Gure

What's It About?

So, you play as a guy who's gotten himself a brand new "Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace", which is basically a fireplace that can burn a lot of different things, even a bomb… and even a mini sun. Woooooow…

But why, you ask?

Well… For self-entertainment! And also cause it's very cold outside, for some reason, as you're supposed to find out in the story. To be fair, you'll find out pretty early anyway, so it's not too much of a spoiler.

Writing

I didn't think it would have that much of a story, not gonna lie, but yeah, there's a story, apparently! And they did a good job telling that story through dialogue from the characters other than yourself.

lol and there's also the item descriptions! That dark humor really is something… I'm gonna have to tell you all that they're not shy about showing and describing certain objects that might trigger/disturb people.

I do like how they tell you bits and pieces of the story through letters from the other characters, and I really find it amazing that it all comes together in the end. Like, questions that you may have as a player get answered, but it's not like they tell it to you in one go… you go out and talk to the characters involved.

Probably won't say any more, but remember that even though you're "by yourself" in the game, you're certainly not alone.

Art

First thing that comes to mind is that everything looks pretty whimsical, even though some of those things aren't really what you would wanna see, like syringes… bombs… meds… It kind of reminds me of something like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. I like it.

Music

The music fits the game pretty well, and there are a lot of little noises that the items make that I really like. Really keeps the game from being too tedious when it comes to waiting for items to get delivered.

The volume starts pretty loud, however, and there's no way to reduce it in-game. And that pretty much means that you have to use your computer system's volume mixer so you can set it right. Also, for some reason, it gets a copyright notice when we upload it. Thankfully, it's not a strike or anything like that.

Gameplay

The game pretty much has two parts to it, basically. The first part has you buying stuff through catalogs provided to you, waiting to get them, and then burning them in the fireplace to get money as well as get combos. Some item combinations are obvious, but some really take some thinking and some knowledge of things (to be honest, I had to look at a guide for a few of them.) This was the part that got me to play it, but apparently, it's more than that.

The second part has you walk around and talk to people and stuff. Not gonna lie, just saying that doesn't really do it justice lol. Basically, what happens is that some of the loose ends get tied… I can't really talk about it so much, cause I think it's better just to experience the whole thing.

Either way… There's not much I can consider bad, except maybe for the parts where I have to wait a lot during the first part (especially since I didn't know the items Sugar Plumps sends you aren't too important at all lol). Like, if you were playing by myself, maybe you wouldn't mind it as much, but if there's people watching you play, I would suggest that you have something to talk about.

Overall

This is a pretty nice, surprisingly deep(?) game that provides you the fun of burning things down (which you shouldn't really do that freely IRL lol) and gently and lovingly reminds you that there's a whole wide world out there. It can be a little on the short side, considering you can actually finish it in a single sitting, but I think the story's worth it.

You can get it on Steam. (There's a Christmas-themed (or is it Santa-themed) DLC too, by the way.)

[bigshepherdrascalmug]

Rereading Sleepy Princess and seeing some LeoSuya interactions... It looks like whenever Leo asks Suya why she is so interested in coming after him...she actually takes a moment to think as if she is thinking about it or hiding something... As if she had something stuck in her throat that she wants to say and is somewhat afraid you know

Like in chapter 79... And 143... She goes quiet... And if you guys have seen Suya she is always very loud and bocal about the things she wants, she might not talk at times, but she is VERY loud... But when she is with Leo she is somewhat quieter, tries to be more feminine, nicer, more thoughtful, and has quite the struggle to be herself honestly, it feels as if sometimes she is really struggling with herself... And honestly it's such a relatable feeling... I feel as if liking Leo is kind of a good but scary and horrible feeling for Suya to have, because she never understood what love was since her parents were always emotionally distant from her, and seem to have problems themselves in their marriage in a way, alongside with her fiance not being that great either...

It was probably the first time where she had to humiliate herself in a way or had to reevaluate herself, or even was insecure, because no matter how hard she tried she couldn't beat up his expectations... That's quite the case when you consider that Suya's feelings are always the complete opposite of Leo's narration and at times she seems as if she was quite struggle to put her feelings into words... Look at chapter 143... This panel is something truly interesting to me...

Like notice how she seems to have gone quite dark for a while... As if she wasn't being that honest to begin with.

And this...

In the whole chapter it looks as if she doesn't know how to approach the situation or is thinking about how to bring it up... It's the first time that she probably has to think very carefully about her decisions... Also notice how she equates death with seeing Leonard... Which also might be one of the reasons if not the main one of why she dies so much ...

Honestly I think that way due to some things Suya says around some chapters... Mainly one that caught my attention is 298 where she is truly happy to know that Leonard cares about her...

Which brings to the question... How does she actually views their relationship??? I don't think Suya is that dumb even because she could in fact tell that Odile liked Cursy in the chapter he was introduced, and now even quite understands and makes sex jokes herself... She is not stupid.

I feel as if she is just afraid of trying anything because she is cared of being rejected... She tested the waters in 310... And it didn't work out. As I stated before Leonard is under a lot of pressure to be perfect due to his position while people also don't get how Suya feels about him lol, many in the manga even... Also the taboo of human x demon being a thing, etc, alongside with all the problem Suya causes to him that ultimately kind of traumatized him... Let's be honest... He still has the idea that she is gonna be as crude and mean to him as she is to others due to all the things she did... But that's never the case...

I wonder if the way she feels is like some sort of Love Like You sort of feeling... Where she thinks he is this amazing person that can do almost no wrong, while she is not that great at all... Which is also something she brings up 281...

She views herself in a way as someone that has to be perfect, loved, and stuff to achieve her goals. Suya is the princess and this is ALL she always was and EVERYTHING she will always be in her mind. So she has to be perfect... You guys could say that's the case due to the fact he won the poll but like? Suya's actions are as if, if she isn't the best in everything she does, she is an absolute failure in a way... Lol.

So yep. I wish I could talk more about them... Rereading the manga honestly I feel that I can't get mad at any of them, especially Leonard considering everything Suya does, and the pressure he is put under... But still it is so sad how they seem to like each other but are so afraid of rejection that don't actually initiate shit...

Though I gotta say if a confirmation of them dating does happen this year it will probably be around Leonard's birthday... Like idk... I just feel like it is.

[rfkannen-rpg]

I am starting work on a megadungeon, I have decided to keep a record of the process. To start, I will be doing a stream of consciousness to get my ideas flowing:

Goals

My goal is to run a very rp heavy game. The vibe I want to go for is a bunch of scummy idiots entering a strange environment, trying to figure it out, and avoiding death while stealing everything nobody nailed down.

One of my main goals for this is to be very RP-heavy, as my players like that style. My idea right now is that you COULD reach the absolute bottom without a single combat with some lucky reaction rolls, BUT, if you did that, you wouldn't get much treasure (though you would get some).

As a part of that, I want the dungeon to be VERY faction heavy. Different groups run different parts of the dungeon and usually do NOT like each other. Helping one will often piss off others. Playing factions against each other should always be an option.

I want an overarching story to the dungeon that the players can figure out. I want the players to start confused and slowly figure out how it happened. I think I want that story to be very character-focused. The players can learn about past dead characters, or they may get to meet them deep in the dungeon.

Inspiration:

Binding of Isaac

Gideon the ninth

Bioshock

Hollow knight

Spelunky 2

Shattered pixel dungeon.

Rogue Legacy

The bit of fear and hunger I have played (I have only gotten the easy-to-get ending where you choose to leave when you can)

Satania

fallout new vegas

Beautiful darkness.

Portal

The sunken city of relay

That one best horror short story with all those ghouls that live under new jersey

Early Zelda

I have never played it, but that one game theory about pizza tower.

Thinking about those, I want gods to be involved. I especially love the Spelunky and pixel dungeons systems where you can sacrifice enemies to gain a god's favor. Gods will be involved.

The first thought that comes to my mind is that the dungeon was meant initially as a holly pilgrimage, and people who finished it became gods. However, it turns out that becoming a god is terrible, robs you of your humanity, and turns you into an eldritch abomination that messes up everything for everyone else. Each god will rule one section of the dungeon. And the players would have to do everything they can to steal stuff from their domain without getting noticed (or possibly allying with them and getting power at a cost)

Ideas for gods:

1

I see similarities in the characters of the Pale King from Hollow Knight, House from new vegas, God from Gideon the Ninth, and Andrew Ryan from Bioshock. A mortal man gained the power to make a society he deemed perfect. He decided that wasn't enough, so he entered the dungeon to become a god. Doing this caused his city to get dragged down into the earth. It would make sense if he has completely lost control over most of it and is hiding at the bottom of the dungeon. Factions here could include various groups of survivors, his former henchmen trying to rebuild his society, horrible experimentations they made, his personal puppet people, etc.

2

Fight God: I have thought of Fight God for ages, so I might as well throw him in here. An extremely mighty warrior frozen in ice; He won't get out unless the players free him, and if they do, he will go around murdering everything they love. Based on Miyamoto Mushasi in Baki.

3

I love the body horror in The Binding of Isaac, so I want a space for that. Maybe part of the dungeon is crawling through the body of a god. One of the entrances into the dungeon is sliding into his mouth, where you can enter his head and fight the eye people, then go down into his stomach where the anthropomorphic intestinal worms live, etc. Maybe he was a god who wanted so much to be strong that he wound up so big he couldn't move. He was a good man and thought he could help people, but his fear somehow caused him to become this.

Here's an idea: maybe he was the leader of a group of knights. And the knights think he is still in the dungeon and want to get him out. But they don't realize the very dungeon they are crawling through IS the person they are looking for. Factions for this one are evident; you could have all sorts of internal parasites and body part people fighting each other.

4

I like how, in, Satania, they wind up in literal hell, and I like the religious imagery in the binding of Isaac. So something like that would be fun. My first thought is that there was someone so scared of the world that he dug underground to avoid his problems. But then the earth was filled with magic, so his troubles came to life, and then he dug even further, and then further, and further, until he wound up in the afterlife, still alive. His nightmares become solid in his realm and become monsters. People also can't die and are thrust into a living hell, tortured by his imagination. Maybe he is the originator of this dungeon, and reaching him makes people a god. Factions could include people trying to survive this nightmare, people who worship his delusions as gods, and people who have gotten wrapped up in illusions.

I'll add minor gods as I flesh out the dungeon, but that's a good starting place. I will need to fix it; I don't want all 3 gods to be male, for example, but this is a place to start!

Layout

So with this, I have a dungeon divided into three paths: a body horror black comedy delve through the body of a giant. Exploring the tragic remains of a super capitalist factory town city run by someone with a god complex., and then the original dungeon, a hand-dug pit filled with living nightmares and hallucinations. Sort of a mind-body-spirit thing.

The three dungeons would intersect and cross over with each other. I was looking for something like this. https://imgur.com/a/Qo9EbJm

I am picturing ten floors since that's an entire career for a character. I've heard that for megadungeon; each floor should have 50 rooms (enough to have the treasure to level up but not explore the whole thing), so about 15 spaces for each god's section. For a total of 450 rooms! I prefer slightly less, but that seems necessary to give pcs options.

And that's part one of brainstorming! If you have any thoughts on it, I would love to hear them!