#i have zero interest in him and his actives nor what he listens to .

[yeonjuins]

im saying this right here but i manifesting that hee covers forever by dvwn 

[soulatus]

Bros the type of guy...

Malleus Draconia

bros the type of guy to visit you at midnight to see if you're awake and if you were, he'd asked you if you'd like take a walk with him and you feel safe knowing he's there with you when you both take a midnight stroll while holding hands (and because no one is dumb enough to attack him)

bros the type of guy who would try to help you study and is very patient about it and understanding. he's never irritated if you're slow at learning or struggling to memorise, he'll take his time with you (as it is also an opportunity for him to spend quality time with you) and try to explain and teach you things

bros the type of guy to trust you with his tamagotchi, gao gao-kun when he's really busy and is unable to tend to his virtual pet. if you also have one, he'd do the same for you if you're unable to care for yours either

bros the type of guy to use "love", "my love", "dearest" as petnames

bros the type of guy to brush a strand of hair out of your face in the morning when you're still asleep, leaning down to kiss your forehead and stroke your cheek

bros the type of guy to bring you up in conversations with zero awareness of him doing so such as "ah yes, i remember the prefect talking about this. perhaps I'll get it as a gift." "the prefect enjoys this activity as well, it's quite endearing seeing how cheerful they get when it comes to it." prefect this, prefect that

bros the type of guy to send you letters when you're both far apart from each other since he has no knowledge on how technology works. his letters are always so sweet and heartwarming. he'll mention things that remind him of you, and how he wishes to bring you with him next time

bros the type of guy to randomly kiss you when you rant about something you're interested in and as he listens, his eyes trail down to your lips and without a second thought, he bends down to peck them. it catches you off guard, with you going "huh?? what was that about???" he simply smiles and says, "forgive me, i couldn't resist myself. please continue with what you were saying, my love."

bros the type to be a little jealous. not in a way that it's unhealthy, he would trust you and fully believes you love him just as he loves you and he would never stop you from having friends and spending time with them. i feel like the most he'd do is get a little pouty and try to spend more time with you, you were his first friend and first love, he just loves you a lot. he wouldn't get jealous much if people hit on you because he knows you wouldn't indulge them nor cheat but will intervene if they start going too far and making you uncomfortable but that's assuming there's actually people bold enough to even try to flirt with you if they know Malleus is your boyfriend otherwise if not, they'll find out once they see him approaching when they do too much

bros the type of guy who'd love being both being big spoon and little spoon

bros the type of guy to hold your hand while sitting next to you and say, "I'm here, love" when you're upset and/or crying. you can lean against him or even embrace him and he'll do the same thing back because he loves you. he's a great listener and will do whatever you ask him to do try and help you through whatever you're going through and may even ask Lilia for some advice unless you didn't want him to tell Lilia about it or something that could hint to you being upset

bros the type of guy who'll get anything that interests you and would also gift you some of the rarest rocks, stones or crystals on the damn planet

bros the type of guy to keep everything you give him, whether it may be considered junk or not. he'll keep it like it's treasure and will get upset if any of it goes missing. even if you tell him it's fine, he'll feel bad it's missing because anything you give him, he cherishes

bros also the type of guy to literally wear a friendship/love bracelet or necklace everyday if you ever decide to match with him and he would never take it off and would refuse to do so. only exceptions is necessary like cooking or showering/bathing or in a situation it could get ruined

bros the type of guy to listen to everything you tell him, even if it's just about drama, something random, or your interests. even if he doesn't understand nor isn't interested in the topic it itself, he would always listen because he loves to listen to you talk and knowing what makes you happy just as you do the same for him

bros the type of guy who doesn't really dwell on the fact that you are human and therefore have a shorter life span than he does. he's probably has moments when he thinks about how short your life span is and the fact that one day he'll lose you and he's afraid of it happening. otherwise at the same time, it's more of a reason to really cherish every moment. rather than focusing on his worries and fears of losing you, he spends every moment he can with you, spending quality time together and makes sure you know he absolutely loves you and how much you mean to him

bro highly appreciates you as a person, his friend/lover. you make him feel like he's not alone, and you are his whole world. bro would defend you with his life if anyone had something against you, would always support you, always there for you, listen, spend times with and would love you endlessly

I'm hopeless man

[callmearcturus]

I find the idea of Benji having like 20 exgirlfriends, boyfriends, and personfriends; while Ethan has dated like 3 people in his entire life, to be hilarious, and now I'm going to integrate it into my headcanons for both of them.

I MEAN I tend to think that before the Prague Job, Ethan was an ethical slut, and it's implied he's having a threesome with Jack and Sarah. (I mean, I literally do not know how else to interpret that line, I have put on my Straight Person Goggles and that line does not make sense unless they are all three dating.) He's flirty and openly teases people.

Then the Prague Job goes fuckways, and Ethan's entire demeanor feels like a very sharp object that neither he nor anyone else knows how to handle. He def fucked Max in the back of that car (I feel like this is even implied by her later dialogue). But its not friendly and fun anymore, it's sharp and dangerous and almost his barricade Ethan is using for his own protection.

AND THEN THERE IS CLAIRE. Claire is trying her best to manipulate the shit out of Ethan, to keep his attention on her and her 'mourning' of Jim rather than the fact Jim is alive and both of them are toying with Ethan.

That extended sequence where Ethan and Jim are talking about "what happened in Prague" intercut with Ethan figuring out what actually happened in Prague-- there's a moment when Ethan pegs Claire as having killed some of the team, but he changes his mind and casts Jim in the role instead because... he doesn't want Claire to be part of this.

TAKE ALL THAT and marry it to the fact that Claire keeps initiating touch with Ethan, tries to get him to comfort her-- that scene with her sleeping on the floor and taking his hand to kiss it is tremendously fucked up.

(I once listened to a podcast that mentioned claire was kind of ethan's love interest and like WOW no. nope. that's not what's happening even a little.)

oh my god i'm rambling but WHAT I AM SAYING is that Ethan has immense trauma that is fueled by sexual manipulation and it honestly feels like it. Twink Ethan as an ethical slut had fun and didn't have to worry about this shit and was all about fair play. Then he has a brief stint as a bad boy that goes badly because robert towne can't write a movie. Then the next we see him he's GETTING MARRIED and leaving the game.

This post is already too long so lets continue. MI3 is fascinating because it's the one I hate the most but Julia and Ethan are tremendous, and the work put into humanizing him is amazing. He's enjoying playing as a doting husband (and 'playing' is inaccurate, he's not lying) and it actively trying to carve himself out of the IMF while multiple people (INCLUDING HIS BEST FRIEND LUTHER) undermine him.

But he still tries, and he leaves, and he's out.

And it all goes to shit. Which is this tremendous tragedy of Ethan Hunt frankly. He put in the work and-- you know the phrase "he's got skin in the game"? Well Ethan had a lot of skin in the game and he let it flay him on his way out just for a chance to actually be out.

GP Ethan is a wildly changed man, but in a way that honestly makes perfect sense to me. The trajectory of his character by design or by accident is an easily tracked arc. (I think McQuarrie gets me on this, or I get him, either or.)

After GP, there is simultaneously an emotional honesty to Ethan... but there's a physical distance. He's older, he's wiser, he's tired, and he's not dragging Benji or Ilsa into a pharmacy closet to have sex. That's not him anymore. But also, there is more raw emotion to everything he does. He feels like he's always on the back foot.

(He comes across as incredibly asexual to me honestly.)

Compared Twink Ethan flirting his way through MI1 to Fallout Ethan getting kissed by the White Widow and having ZERO reaction.

/clutches Ethan to my chest. i love this tired old man.

MEANWHILE: Benji is hot and has a hot bossy streak and has amazing fashion sense. He can get it, he just can't keep it because when Ethan has a job, so does Benji, sooooo yep. lmao.

[thatgirl4815]

A few thoughts re. your post about Top/cheating double standards - I feel so bemused bout ppl who say they felt conflicted bout the Sand/Ray love scene cos it was cheating (if nothing else, just listen to the scoring! If you were meant to feel icky about it the music would tell you so! The way it was scored and filmed is 100% meant to convey a sense of romance and love and *fucking finally* - nothing about it indicates shenanigans are afoot!), because at this point literally EVERYONE knows Mew is faking his relationship with Ray - Mew knows it, Ray knows it, the audience has always known it. Just because they haven't explicitly verbalised it doesn't mean they don't know it. The last time they saw each other Ray accused him of still loving Top and Mew didn't deny it, nor did he try to stop Ray from leaving (some ppl might even consider that as good as a break-up...). Now compare that to Top: at the time of the Car Incident, both him and Mew have genuine feelings for each other and are genuinely having a go at making something of it; they are on good terms - they part on good terms. Like you said, yes Boston messes with his head, but that's literally all it takes to get him to cheat. Okay, ppl will bring their personal povs/experiences re. cheating to the table, as is their right, and I get that it's an emotive subject (and one for which I too have basically zero tolerance), but I'm not sure how anyone can say with a straight face that those two scenarios are comparable let alone that what Ray did was worse. I keep seeing ppl watch the Ray/Mew end scene and come away from it happily acknowledging that Mew consciously using Ray explains his indifference to Ray/Sand, whilst simultaneously still condemning Ray because they don't seem able to extend that reasoning to Ray's own behaviour - Mew's not the only one clued in! IMO there's no way Ray would be out there having ridiculously hot make-out sessions with Sand if he believed for one second that Mew was genuinely falling in love with him (or even genuinely trying to). Even when he's high as a kite in ep 8, it's obvious he knows what's up - when your so-called boyfriend (who up until a hot second ago repeatedly and flatly denied having any romantic interest in you whatsoever) recoils from you in private but plants one on you in front of his ex in public...like Ray said, you get the hint! You can argue semantics about cheating and sure, in an ideal world they'd have had that open and honest convo then and there because yes, it's always better to communicate your feelings instead of running away to interrupt a perfectly lovely platonic bestie sleepover, but have they MET these characters??? They're walking disasters! It just fascinates me that you have Mew, the so-called victim of Ray's nefarious betrayal, not only shrugging it off but actively giving Ray his blessing to have as much sweet sweet sex with Sand as he wants, and yet parts of the audience are still like 'I dunno, still feels wrong...'

As far as Top is concerned - like you, my issue with his character isn't so much the cheating, it's how two-faced he is: he's a completely different person in his interactions with anyone who isn't Mew/someone Mew is on good terms with. And to be honest, I like him the best in those scenes! I do believe he's trying to be a better person for Mew, or at least he thinks he is, but as other ppl have pointed out, at the moment it's only performative precisely because he doesn't bother when Mew's not around to see it/won't hear about it. Sand is the obvious example - even when Top's ostensibly offering him an olive branch, his words may be conciliatory but his tone of voice/facial expressions are anything but - they ooze scorn and smarm! And you could argue that he's making progress (not telling Mew about Ray/Sand, or bout him saving Ray from arrest), but to be honest I enjoy the Top that turns on a dime the second Boston or Sand show up (I love his chemistry with both of them - that little Top/Boston scene at the party in ep 8 cracked me up) because that keeps him interesting - you're always waiting for the facade to drop!

Excellent points all around! Your bit about the use of music and tone to highlight the purity and positivity surrounding the SandRay scene in Ep9 is really telling. Like you, I see a lot of people resisting the narratives’ attempts to guide us towards a positive/negative outlook on the plot—not to say people should not push back against these details when the characters’ actions are deserving of scorn, but these details give us a good sense of the characters’ head spaces. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t meant to inform our impression of these situations.

The entire RayMew talk is so necessary to the conversation of whether SandRay is considered cheating. I won’t fault the pushback to a certain extent, because I can’t say that anything in this show is the most straightforward. But like you said, these characters are messy. In a perfect world, yeah, they’d lay everything out on the table and have the “what are we?” discussion before going forward with other people in any way. But especially for someone like Ray who is so conflicted in his feelings (and so clearly struggling to accept that Mew has never, and will never, love him romantically), that just isn’t plausible. The most important point to me is that MEW DOESN’T CARE. He might as well have said it before with how blatantly obvious it was. Like, what is Ray supposed to think about the status of your relationship (which was never explicitly defined) when you refuse to kiss him in private but make out in front of your ex-boyfriend?

Gonna list a few of your claims here that I connect with a lot because you really said it best:

“…when your so-called boyfriend (who up until a hot second ago repeatedly and flatly denied having any romantic interest in you whatsoever) recoils from you in private but plants one on you in front of his ex in public...like Ray said, you get the hint!”

“IMO there's no way Ray would be out there having ridiculously hot make-out sessions with Sand if he believed for one second that Mew was genuinely falling in love with him (or even genuinely trying to).”

I don’t think anyone is arguing that what Ray has done is the best way to handle the situation objectively (at least, no one that I’ve seen), but just that the circumstances and evidence we’ve been presented with are not 100% aligned for Top and Ray and should thus not be treated as equally wrong. When the characters themselves are not only demonstrating these lack of feelings but calling them out verbally, there’s substantially less room for the “Ray is just as bad as Top” thing. And I do expect to get flack for this but honestly, in my viewing experience, viewing the situations as objectively as I can, what Top did is worse for the reasons you outline. And this is not me saying that Ray can do no wrong. It’s in consideration of what was expressly defined by each couple.

Regarding Top’s character in general; Top is two-faced, and I also enjoy that aspect of his character because it’s the only thing that really gives him any dimension. I wish Mew could see him when he interacts one-on-one with Sand and Boston because I have a feeling that would enlighten him to aspects of Top’s character that he’s hidden away. The funny thing is that Mew seems to have suspected this right from the start, yet he hasn’t ever seen this part of Top.

[gvftea]

"To the girl who said she sabotaged her 7 year relationship because she thought she could pull Josh, girl me too except we were together for a year not 7 years."

Oh my god, reading that was a trip. And because you shared your story, I'll share mine. We're in this together bestie I'm not letting you be cringe by yourself.

So ex-bf and I had been drifting apart for years at that point, homeboy was way more interested in his little online games, had zero ambitions, and no desire to get a job or take the next logical step when you've been dating someone for years and you're in your mid-twenties... Which is... Getting out of your mama's house and supporting yourself? Granted I knew he was like this since the beginning but I stupidly thought he was going to mature and change 🤡 So eventually I was like "Fuck this guy, I'm going to quit my current job, get a better one, save some money and then I'm fucking off" but because I didn't wanna deal with the drama of a break-up, and because I knew that the grief that comes with the end of a relationship would stop me from achieving what I wanted to achieve, I never actually broke up with the guy, I just sort of began ignoring him? lmao. And around the time I was sending applications for jobs and doing trials and all that, I discovered TBAGG (this whole situation happened when the album had just dropped, so 2021). I agree with you when you say that this is a form of escapism because it totally is. Whenever I'd be too overwhelmed with job-hunting-related stuff, my go-to "unwinding" activities were listening to their music, reading fanfiction, watching interviews, that sort of crap. And eventually, my ex was like "Sorry to break your heart but this ain't working for me anymore, bye" not knowing I had checked out of the relationship like a year before lmaoo and I was so invested in the parasocial crap I had created in my head that I didn't even care. I was like "Be my guest bro, Josh and I are really vibing in here".

Now I have the best job I've ever had, and I'm single, I have a whole group of new friends, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Even if you take the parasocial crush out of the equation, the relationship was not salvageable either way so I'm glad things happened the way they happened. And curiously enough, the whole parasocial thing stopped the moment my life started getting better-- I'm pretty sure it was a coping mechanism to stop me from getting depressed when I really needed to push through. I didn't manifest Josh, nor did I try to get in touch with him or anything, but the music really helped me. Lots of people say this but, their music really saved me from a miserable future and it helped me create a better life for myself.

(My ex is still jobless, still living with his mom, he's like 29. He's now "online dating" a girl he met through fornite. Admitting I stayed for so long with such a worthless imbecile is actually more embarrassing than saying that I read fanfics in between interviews)

[januaryembrs]

AD ASTRA - CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHPT XI. THE REVENGE

Description: With your team turning their backs on you, you and Mando have only twenty minutes before your clan of three are doomed.

Length: 5k

main masterlist

AD ASTRA MASTERLIST

Din Djarin x Jedi!reader series. Friends to lovers, (Somewhat) slowburn, female!reader, JEDI!READER, possible smut, jealous!mando, reader has problematic childhood, fluff, saviour complex!mando, canon star wars characters mentioned, Obi wan x padawan!reader, dad!obi wan, general star wars bloodshed etc\

Chapter Triggers - harassment, death, blood, make do surgery, aggression, foul language, fighting.

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

“To the stars through hardships”

"Was that thing blinking before?" Mayfeld asked, the room silent as the crew realised what Xi'an's impatience had done, "Was it?"

"No, it wasn't. He must have activated it when he dropped," You hissed at Xi'an, who simply laughed darkly with not a trace of remorse at her actions.

"Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld." The droid's robotic voice sounded through the comlink on the bald man's arm, though you already had an idea of what he was going to say next."I detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately 20 minutes."

Twenty minutes. That was all; before a band of X-Wings came to blast any sign of intruding life with no questions asked.

The kid. The Crest. Your heart sunk into your stomach, and you felt the Mandalorian tense up too as the dread filled him. There was no way the ship would escape the attack, nor would the kid be safe to float around hyperspace alone were you and Mando to die in this hellhole.

One wrong move and your little trio was truly fucked.

Xi'an shrugged, much too calm for the shit-storm of a situation that she had just caused and trotted towards the exit of the control room, "We only need five."

You let out a bitter sigh as Mayfeld hurried you along to follow the Twi woman, the urgency in his tone unmissable.  It seems you weren’t the only one attuned to how dumb the woman’s actions had been. "Let's go, let's go, move, move, move, move!"

The team - well their team, you and Mando - ran down the corridors following Mayfeld, who listened to Zero's instructions with crucial interest. You all stopped in your tracks seeing two large units of security droids, readying themselves to start shooting at them only for Burg to become useful for the first time all day. The Devaronian man picked up one of the droids in his hulking red hands, throwing it at the other one; the force and weight of the units alone was enough to crush them into a pile of sparks and scrap metal.

You stayed silent, continuing on their mission to find whoever was in the prison cell Mayfeld had located, coming to a halt in front of cell two-two-one, "Zee, open it up."

"You have 15 minutes remaining." The droid responded unhelpfully, making you roll your eyes and shift on your feet nervously.

"Open it up!" Mayfeld practically yelled, the pressure also eating away at him.

The door slid open to reveal yet another violet Twi'lek, only this one was much taller and buffer than Xi'an, clearly a male. Mando straightened up at the sight of the prisoner, and the tension that had been thick in the air only increased by tenfold.

"Qin..." Mando said, not liking where this interaction was leading. It was much too convenient that the job he had happened to accept was the same one which led to the release of the guy he was responsible for putting behind bars in the first place. He didn't like the feeling of deceit burning in his stomach and his mind reeled over the possibilities of what the group was about to do to him and you.

This was not good. They were not good.

"Funny. The man who left me behind is now my saviour." Qin said coldly, strolling out of his cell with his eyes trained on the beskar covered man, "Mando."

Before Din could react, a heavy punch was sent to his stomach, so hard it sent him flying back into the cell Qin had just been in, his breath escaping him with a low woosh.

"No!" You yelled as the door shut on him, feeling your blasters get snatched out of your utility belt and cuffs getting locked around your hands. Xi'an smiled at you smugly, kicking you to the floor beside the cell.

"Best say your goodbyes now, princess. You and lover boy haven't got much time left," The Twi'lek woman cackled, strutting away knowing you wouldn't follow as you weren’t stupid enough to think you could take on all four of them when they had blasters and you were now somewhat immobilised. "You deserve this!" was all Xi'an yelled as you watched the group run back towards the crest, making you scramble to your feet.

"Mando!" You yelled, watching the man get to his feet shakily no doubt in shock at the turn of events, "Are you okay?"

"You need to get out of here," Din said, walking up to the door where your scared expression waited for him, "Get back to the ship, or get your blasters back so you can overpower them-"

"I'm not leaving you here,"You said incredulously at what you were hearing, "We're in this together now, di'kut, [idiot] I'm not going anywhere without you. I need you as much as the kid does."

Mando was silent staring at your shaken face, the precious seconds before your imminent doom ticking by. Din opened his mouth to say something, hating the way your eyes glared up at him sadly for insinuating you leave him to die, only to hear a remaining security droid stomping down the hallway towards them. You looked at him, orbs wide with a plan springing to mind.You tucked yourself behind the pillar closest to Mando's cell, waiting for the droid to inch closer.

The second it came into view, you attacked.

You grabbed its blaster loaded arm, yanking it towards you whilst dodging the charges sent from it in your direction. You slammed the droid's head into the cell door, Mando seeming to catch on to your plan as he grabbed the droid's arm through the open space in the wall, tugging on it hard. You held the struggling machine still while the Mandalorian ripped its arm out of its socket, taking the data probe extension with it. You dodged the oil that spilled out of the droid's broken circuit, as well as a few one-armed punches the machine haphazardly tried to send your way, watching the Mandalorian shoot it dead using its own gun. He stuck the probe into the waiting hole on his side of the wall, opening the cell door.

The two nodded at each other breathlessly before Mando headed towards the control panel with you following behind.

"We'll cut them off before they can get to the crest, make a direct passage to it that we can take and disable them so they can't come after us."

You nodded as you reached the control room, both of you trying not to stare dejectedly at Davan's dead body.

"Give me your commlink, I'll retune it so we can only hear each other," You said, grabbing his metal vambraced arm and fiddling with the wiring inside his panel. He let you do so with no protest to the closeness it brought, both of you not having the time to be in your head about the fact this level of intimacy, even so innocent, was still new to both of you. Mando shut off the lights in the corridors, hearing Xi'an's annoyed yelps as the doors began boxing them in like a rat run.

"Burg's heading this way, Xi'an a little behind him. You take her out, take her back to the cell and we'll keep them in there," Mando explained, pulling out the probe extension he'd ripped from the droid, "Qin and Mayfeld are further ahead, we still need Qin if we're going to get the money and keep Ran off us. We can deal with them together,"

You nodded, finishing up on the circuitry in his suit with a satisfying click shut, though it was somewhat fiddly seeing as the cuffs were still locked tight around your wrists.

You looked up at him somberly, knowing you’d have to part ways briefly to get back to the ship and a short panic set over you; the same panic as when you'd watched the laser brain get thrown into the cell not ten minutes earlier. "I'll see you at the ship," You said, almost forcing the promise onto him that he would be there before the New Republic came for you.

He nodded, understanding what you meant, and you set off with the plan. You ran down the nearest corridor, ducking into one of the side halls as the Devaronian man stalked past you angrily. You waited, knowing another set of lighter footsteps would soon follow along with the headache that Xi'an had given you all day.

Sure enough, as you heard the Twi'lek woman giggled with delight, you watched her pick up her pace when she saw Mando and Burg struggling for dominance in the control room. Before she could join in, however, you tackled her to the ground, wrestling one of the duel knives out of her hand as you managed to get on top of her stomach. The Twi woman, though caught off guard, didn't settle lightly and scratched viciously at your restrained arms enough to be able to gain some freedom to move her upper body.

That is; her arms and the singular lethal weapon in them.

You barely missed the blade that surely would have sliced your eye clean open, not having time to avoid the next attack that was rammed into your shoulder blade deeply. You half grunted-half screamed at the shock of the injury, feeling the blood already begin to seep out of the wound and into the fabric of your top. It was times like these you wished you had your own suit of beskar.

You had to collect your thoughts quickly, the situation not allowing for the virtue of mulling over the pain, and pinned your assailant's two purple arms to the floor as best you could, considering you still had the cuffs on your wrists. There was some fight for strength between you two: Xi'an fighting to wriggle her blade-wielding hand free once more for another blow and you trying to get the remaining knife out of her grasp.

It wasn't until you decided to change your tactic that you even moved from the position you two were in. Taking a chanced breath through the pain in your shoulder, you let go of her wrists. As you hoped, Xi'an immediately stuck her hand out violently, aiming for your exposed throat. You were quick to catch her upper arm, however, using your thighs to roll the Twi onto her front, her outstretched arm pinned down using your boot. The chain of the cuffs was wrapped around Xi'an's throat with just enough pressure to cut off the oxygen, remembering Mando's plan to keep them alive. You felt Xi'an struggle under you for a while, hands clasped firmly around her blade as she had been all day, but to no avail as your leg stayed firmly in place. Finally, she fell limp under you, leaving you to retrieve your blaster from the thieving creature's pocket, and sling her over your shoulder like dead weight.

You half jogged down the hallway to the empty cell, only to see Mando leading Burg in there at blaster point. You nodded at one another, Xi'an being thrown unceremoniously into the cell next to the angry Devaronian who seemed resigned to losing the fight. Sure enough, as soon as the door shut, a Mandalorian and an ex-padawan were running to confront the remaining two of your crew.

"You go get the bounty, you know what he's capable of better than I do. I'll sort Mayfeld out and be back on the ship before the X-Wings get here," You explained making him nod, though a frown remained on your face, "If I'm not back by the time it reaches three minutes, leave and get the kid to safety,"

Mando's head snapped towards you at that part, the pair of you reaching a crossroads in the hallway and realising you’d have to split up here.

"What happened to 'we're in this together'?" He asked gruffly through his helmet, feeling the time creeping up on you.

"Give me the probe, and you can scold me later when we're on the ship, safely," You said, the silent promise of a reunion between you in your voice.

You pessimistically knew it was entirely possible that you would be out of time. But as long as they were safe, as long as he was safe, you didn’t care.

He did as you said, knowing you didn't have time to discuss details properly and ran in the opposite direction, praying to the maker he'd see those worried eyes again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Incidentally, Mayfeld was much easier to catch now you had your blaster back, and you were helped greatly by the strobing red lights illuminating the halls making it easy to sneak up on the guy. You’d quickly disarmed him and had him walking to the cell like a punished child at blaster point, locking him in the compartment with the rest of the crew you’d met not a few hours prior.

You ran full speed back to the ship, knowing there was only a few minutes left before the heavy shooting would start. You sighed with relief when you saw the ladder rings in between the flashes of darkness, taking them two at a time in the haste you were in. You were so deep in your thoughts, hoping you'd made it with enough time for Mando to take off that you gasped when you felt a hand grab your own. You looked up, seeing the familiar helmet staring back at you and took the other outstretched gloved fingers, letting Mando practically pull you up the rest of the way.

"Thanks," You breathed, noting the Twi man you'd encountered earlier stood cuffed to one of the seats in the hull with an angry look on his face, no doubt about being separated from his sister, "Now let's get out of here"

You followed Mando up to the cockpit, smiling when you heard the little happy coo you were now accustomed to. The child sat in the co-pilot's chair, the one you usually sat in and glanced up at you with open arms and a glint in his big midnight eyes.

"Not right now squirt, we've got to make a move," You explained, watching Mando rapidly punch in the coordinates for Ran's warehouse and quickly jump into hyper-space following it. The pair of you were silent for a moment, slouching in relief that you’d escaped the inevitable fury of the New Republic's blasters. You allowed yourself just a minute with your thoughts to contradict the fast-paced past twenty minutes both of you had endured. You'd quite literally escaped with minutes  to spare.

Just as you were ready to make a joke about Mando patching you up again, your shoulder aching heavily from where Xi'an had stabbed you, your mouth dropped lightyears when you saw the man pull out the tracking beacon he must have stolen from Davan's hands when he had been fighting Burg.

"Are you kriffing stupid-"

"I thought I'd give Ran a taste of his own medicine for deceiving us," Mando explained, watching the woman's face smooth out, though there was worry in your eyes as you stared at the beeping device incredulously.

"I thought I was petty," You joked, wincing when the Crest dropped out of hyperspace and your shoulder was thrown against the seat. Mando watched you closely, figuring you must have been caught at some point during the day but your dark shirt hadn't allowed for any visible injuries. He cursed himself, just as he had done not a week ago when he realised he still hadn't gotten any bacta as he had been planning on using the rewards from this trip to buy some and figured he'd have to play nurse droid once more. Not that he was complaining exactly.

"Stay here, I'll fix you up when I get back. Find the nearest planet that sells supplies while you're at it," Mando instructed, initiating the auto-landing sequence and heading back down to the hull to retrieve his pay and to give Ran his little gift. The thought alone of the smarmy old man getting what was coming to him made you smile. That and the fact Mando immediately had offered to mend you instead of leaving you to fend for yourself like you expected him to. It's not that you thought he didn't care, you knew for a fact he did, but the way you had gotten into a routine, slotted into place with one another where it was his job to patch you up after a job as it was yours to him gave you a warm, homely feeling in your stomach.

You really were the closest thing to home you could be.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

You barely missed the sight of the X-Wings arriving, though you heard the satisfying explosion behind you, as Mando had set the ship on course for the planet you had located for him, the two of you chuckling cynically at the sound of revenge reverberating through the atmosphere.

You went silent for a moment, the child squirming in Mando's lap to play with the teeny metal ball on the end of one of the controls protruding from the dashboard, making you laugh once more.

"We can get this one some decent food from a cantina here, better than that swill you make him," Mando teased, as you stood to retrieve the first aid kit that sat above the passenger chairs. You scoffed, offended at his words though you knew from his tone he was lying.

That he was too. He could tell you weren't the most natural of cooks, but whatever Peli had taught you on Tatooine clearly had stuck as the meals you made were just as good as his.

You swivelled to look at him, giving his helmet a quick rap with your knuckles in scolding for his mean words, only making him snort. "Cheeky bastard,"

You finally reached up to retrieve the kit, using your good side of course. You could feel the dribble of hot blood running down your arm at this point, but you hadn't had the time to care only to swear under your breath at the heavy stinging sensation you felt. Part of you, no matter how many wounds you both gave and received, was scared to look at where Xi'an had caught you knowing it would look like something from a horror holo-film, judging by how much blood you could feel pooling out of it.

"How bad is it?" Mando asked, watching you wince as you attempted to push down your shirt to give him access to the wound, onto to realise it was too tight around your neck and gave no freedom to do so.

"Xi'an caught me with that knife of hers," You explained, looking up at the dark T-Visor that stared at you, watching your actions with acute concern, "I'm going to need to take this off,"

Din went deadly silent at that, his face lighting up with a hot blush at the thought of seeing you in just your bra. He had been with women in that way, he'd had flings that he'd done some things with like with Xi'an, but it felt strangely intimate the thought of seeing his friend, dare he say best friend, in nothing more than your underwear while he tended to you.

He nodded robotically, and you yourself felt a little embarrassed that Mando would get a close-up view of your lingerie, even if it was politely. He could stare at the two mounds on your chest all he liked and you wouldn't know any different, what with him hiding behind that helmet of his. You stood, yanking your shirt up over your head only to feel a wet streak left on your cheek in its wake. Mando inhaled deeply, and you were about to tease him about his reaction were it not for the fact you realised it was because of the gaping hold near you collar bone.

"Stars, Ash" He said, looking at the oozing, nasty wound that had somewhat begun to stop bleeding thankfully, though it still left a patch of fresh red liquid around your chest. You sat down on the co-pilot chair, the child on the floor staring up at you quietly, as Mando unwrapped some surgical suture, and fiddled with a fresh needle. He handed you an antiseptic wipe to clean up the area and told you to compress the wound while he attempted to thread the needle.

"This isn't going to tickle is it?" You asked, dread gathering in your stomach at the thought of what was about to happen and to such a tender spot too. The Mandalorian shook his head, concentrating on the tiny eye that the thread seemed adamant to miss every time, and the thick leather gloves did him no help either. Din sighed, resting the needle down on his knee and yanking his gloves off, knowing they were only slowing him down and your wound needed treating now.

You took in a deep breath at the sight of his hands; huge, olive-skinned, and veins prominent over each digit. You hadn't been expecting to see any part of him ever, truth be known, but you knew from Shenzi that anything besides a Mandalorian's face was acceptable to reveal. Still a feeling close to butterflies lit your body on fire as he brought one of his large palms to hold your shoulder still. Your heart was beating rapidly, you could feel that much, and you just hoped that the Mandalorian didn't see the way your arms erupted in goosebumps despite the fact his hand was so warm as it engulfed your collar bone with the gentility of a child.

Your breath was in your throat as he moved closer, bringing his other uncovered hand holding the threaded needle up to your wound. Din felt his stomach twist excitedly when your cool breath fanned over his exposed hand gently, reminding him how close the two were in this situation.

"This is going to hurt," Din warned, watching you wince as he began to stitch up your deep injury. He tried to be tender, he really did, but there was only one way he could fix your up without bacta and this was it. He had quickly noted the multiple tattoos you had on your body and decided to try and take your mind off the obvious pain you were feeling. "What do your tattoos mean?"

You were caught off guard a little, trying so hard yourself to ignore the shooting pain from his movements, and took a deep breath to prepare yourself to speak through the discomfort.

"The names on my ribs, that’s my father and my brother," you explained, your eyes trailing over the Aurebesh symbols spelling out 'Obi-Wan' and 'Anakin'.

"I thought you said you only had a mentor at that place you grew up," Mando questioned, trying to keep you talking as the next few stitches would have to be deep.

"I did-" You stopped to grunt at the pain for a second, "He was my mentor but he was like a father to me. Same for Ani, he wasn't my real brother, but he was as good as. Obi-Wan raised him before he raised me. It was in our rules that you could only have one mentor to youngling at a time. When Ani became of age, he moved on to raise his own youngling and Obi-Wan began raising me."

"Was it like some sort of orphanage this place you lived in?" You laughed, knowing the details you had given didn't really make sense, and why would they? They were only half true.

"Kind of," You smiled at him sweetly, feeling his warm hand move slightly from your shoulder to pull the skin on your collar taught, and again you felt the flurry of warmth in your contact of human skin. The only time you had felt such a thing for the past twenty years was either the meaningless one night stands you would have with the barmen on Sorgan or the hard clash of a punch you found in an enemy. Nothing quite so tender as this, as him. "The Mythosaur skull was Shenzi. I wanted one as soon as I turned twenty. She’d been teaching me for a couple of years at that point and was adamant I should be one of you," You gasped as one particular stitch went a bit too close to a nerve making Mando slow down a little with his movements, "She used to call me her foundling,"

"What happened to her?" Din asked, taking his time with the remaining few stitches. He knew it was selfish as you were probably in a lot of pain but he loved hearing you speak so fondly about your past, you rarely opened up to each other this way. He too was enjoying the feeling of closeness today had brought, feeling his own heart pounding away at the feeling of your cool breath to his skin.

"Nothing, I just outgrew her. She was a cold woman. Though she cared for me, she didn't love me." You said, thinking about the raven black-haired woman who you hadn't seen in a few years, "Is that normal for Mandalorian's or was that just her?"

Din thought about it for a moment and, while they had certainly been more of the tough love kind of protectors, he definitely felt his own vod's [brothers/sisters] and cabur's [guardians] had loved him the way a family should have. Though he never saw their faces, they were his family, his aliit. "Aliit ori'shya tal'din", he remembered his cabur saying to him often.

Family is more than blood.

"No, they made sure I always knew that we were family, that we were a clan. Every foundling is sacred to them. They're the secret to our survival, and they are treated as such." You nodded, hearing the underlying passion in his words that he always got when he spoke of his people, you noted. You wondered if that's how you sounded when you spoke about the Jedi.

The pair of you were silent for a moment, Din finishing the remaining stitches and cutting the thread with his vibroblade effortlessly. He pulled out a bandage to wrap around your arm as it healed, the baby getting restless at the fact his protectors hadn't paid attention to him for the past fifteen minutes and begging to be picked up into your lap.

"What you had with Xi'an, was it-" You stopped yourself, thinking over your words carefully. You was treading on dangerous ground here, it was none of your business what the horrible Twi'lek woman had with the Mandalorian so you were careful not to let it slip just how much it bothered you at the idea of them together, "Is this a regular thing? You picking up women and traversing the galaxy?"

Mando stopped his movements of gently wrapping the fabric around your shoulder, meeting your curious eyes as best as he could through the darkened visor. Din swore, looking into your eyes which stared right back at him, that he could visit every planet in the galaxy and never find a hue quite like yours. You really were a beautiful woman, and he had no idea how he'd spent so long travelling the universe without finding someone or even something that compared to how you looked right now.

"Xi'an was just a workmate that kept the boredom at bay. Travelling with Ran was tedious at times and she happened to be there," Mando explained and your could do nothing but nod dumbly, your eyes trained on the child that seemed to sense the weird mix of jealousy and sadness you felt, "There was nothing about her that I wanted other than her company on a cold night,"

Din didn't understand why he felt he had to reassure you that he and the Twi woman were nothing more than an occasional body to find intimacy in. Even that was a push, they were both bored and using each other to keep the loneliness away. And you didn't know why you wanted him to either. You had only seen Mando as a friend the past few months you had known each other, but since Xi'an had mentioned their past it knocked your confidence at how different he saw you to other women, and made you feel inadequate. Like the pedestal you had put him on since that night you stayed in the barn on Sorgen with him was not returned. You could be a passing face, completely ordinary and temporary for all you knew.

He noticed your expression was still somewhat forlorn like your question hadn't properly been answered and so he continued.

"You think I just pick up every strange drunkard I meet in a bar and call them a friend, Ash?" Your head shot up at the soft way he said your fraud name like he was approaching a wild creature, before he delivered the killing blow.

"She wasn't special to me, not like you are. None of them mean to me what you do."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

AD ASTRA

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Pedro Pascal

@evyiione

So 👉🏻👈🏻 what do you think?

[bestworstcase]

I find your thoughts on how the Captain raised Cassandra interesting. I don’t think he’s a bad parent, but he did pass on some traits to Cassandra that are unhealthy. One particular trait being her low opinion on criminals “It’s hard to make decisions when your only friends are convicts and losers.” This black and white mindset is definitely from Cap. Yet Rapunzel isn’t guiltless. She lacks the mindset to truly understand criminals. As shown by her failures to empathize with Varian and Eugene.

oh tbh i don't agree that cass has any particular aversion to crime or people who commit crimes, as a matter of principle, like, the only instances we get of her being disparaging about crime are:

1) dunking on eugene at the beginning of fitzherbert pi, wherein she does call him a "two-bit hood" but taken in context what she's implying is—well the whole exchange goes like this:

CASS: Listen, Raps, if you're trying to find your defining activity, don't listen to this dud, whose whole work history is being a two-bit hood— EUGENE: Oho! 'Two-bit hood?!' Hold the pastry—I'll have you know, Cassandra, Flynn Rider was a legend. CASS: Heh. Key word being 'was.' And... what is it you do now?

the actual sting here is "and what is it you do now?"—i.e. this is cassandra mocking eugene for being lazy, and in constructing THAT insult she actually compares eugene unfavorably to his flynn rider persona. cass obv isn't impressed by the flynn rider legacy, but she's even less impressed by eugene's current laziness and lack of direction. that's what really makes him a "dud" in her eyes.

[see also: cassandra vs eugene, wherein even when cass is fuming at him she rants about his present behavior—his selfishness, arrogance, inconsiderate nature, and laziness—and doesn't so much as mention his criminal past.]

2) suspecting that lance has ulterior motives in return of strongbow, but... lance is:

a) an unrepentant, boastful thief, who b) just got out of prison and c) blatantly tries to pocket valuables right in front of cass, after d) showing up out of the blue to "reconnect" with his old partner-in-crime.

so yeah, cass doesn't trust lance as far as she can throw him, under those circumstances. neither does eugene. &—similar to how cass focuses on eugene's present attitude rather than his past reputation—her suspicion of lance is grounded in her observations of how lance is acting right now.

but once lance decides to turn over a new leaf and stick around? there's zero tension between him and cass. she doesn't continue holding onto these suspicions after lance changes how he acts.

and

3) the "It's hard making decisions when the only friends and advisors you have left are ex-convicts and losers" line which... i think does need to be taken into context as something cass says in the same episode where she kidnaps varian and calls him a loser because he failed to murder her two years prior? cassandra in CR is deeply entrenched in a mindset that rapunzel and corona both suck and varian is a pathetic coward for reconciling with her and anyone willing to align themselves with coronan law is her enemy—so her sneering about ex-convicts mere hours before she starts attacking and kidnapping and drugging and attempting to murder people really seems like it's the EX part that she's disgusted by, in her current frame of mind.

& on the flip side, well, consider the following:

1. cassandra herself is a criminal. like, she commits treason. in before ever after. sneaking rapunzel outside the city in the middle of the night and almost getting the princess killed, when the king gave specific orders that rapunzel was to stay within the walls? treason. that's why cass is so terrified of the secret getting out!!

2. cass never once expresses reservations about the pub thugs, who according to the film are specifically violent criminals. nor does she have any issue consorting with the, at the very least morally somewhat grimy types the challenge of the brave attracts.

3. speaking of the pub thugs, cass takes it for granted that attila is guilty of the crimes he's been accused of but readily supports rapunzel's quest to clear his name regardless. also just... look at how gleeful she is about the damage done to monty's shop:

"yeah! our friend sure did wreck this place! :D" jkghsdkf

3. the one time we see her do investigative work on her own, she does head for the snuggly duckling to ask questions—which is logical, bc the pub thugs are literal bandits with whom she has some personal rapport, and in a weird missing people situation with zero real leads, talking to friendly acquaintances who are basically decent but have spotty legal histories and bad reputations is a good first step; criminals gossip too, and one of them might well have heard rumors about kidnappings—but the instant she hears that one of their own is also missing she immediately includes the missing bandit as one of the victims she's trying to find.

what she doesn't do is shrug of ulf's disappearance as unimportant (bc he's just some criminal who cares) or probably irrelevant (bc banditry gets people killed all the time) or anything similarly dismissive the way someone who had a genuine bias in this regard might. like, just compare the way cass interacts with the pub thugs in PB to the way cap interacts with them in ruthless ruth, how at ease she is around them vs how uncomfortable and disparaging he is.

4. she's horrified when she learns that her dad has been acting as frederic's secret police, demands that he answer rapunzel's questions, and later tells him that he disappointed her—which is absolutely not indicative of the kind of law-above-all mindset you need to believe that criminals are intrinsically bad people or worth less than law-abiding folk.

5. in goodbye and goodwill, cass incites a street brawl for fun and then boasts to the sheriff that she injured twenty-three people. her idea of a good time includes things like a piranha dunk tank and a human piñata!

gkjhsl all of which is to say that—despite cassandra's aspirations of joining the guard—she's not particularly lawful, nor does she seem to harbor any serious prejudices against people who break the law; she herself enjoys violence, revels in destruction, and glibly flouts direct orders from the king when she thinks she can get away with it; and that's all BEFORE her villain arc. and, sure, she nominally cares about upholding the law—while people are watching, when her dad in particular is watching, or when she's actively performing duties for the royal guard—but... that's not the same as being prejudiced against people with criminal pasts or even just people she perceives as criminals. and like it bears repeating that cassandra's establishing character moment involves her committing treason, lmao.

[rapunzel is interesting in this regard bc she is far more trusting than cassandra—in that she uncritically trusts anyone who seems vaguely nice—but i think she also has a far more black and white perspective on morality than cassandra does. she's invested in Redeeming Criminals because they're Doing Wrong and Helping Them Is The Right Thing To Do but then we also see with like, lady caine and the separatists and even the baron that she isn't particularly interested in really engaging with the factors that cause people to break the law and her approach to redemption amounts mostly to 'offer second chance, then lock them up if they seem unrepentant or unwilling to immediately and completely reform'; even with her much more determined effort to get through to cass the most rapunzel ever did was say 'stop doing these bad things' until it finally worked.]

[machinesandman]

Sigma was practically giddy with the excitement that burned inside his circuits. Every data code of his internal virus singing in a growing crescendo. a brand new discovery, rebuilt into a new Maverick. Some old machinery could still have some uses. And this certainly had been simple enough. The odd control matrix and abilities had been too good to pass up. And Sigma needed a new front liner to keep others busy, draw attention, and thus off his back while he worked. Something no ione would expect.

“All systems activate. Activate; Morality Scramble. Initiating compatibility.” Sounds of beeping machinery surrounded him, as read outs and data spilled forth on screens hanging above. Maverick scientists ran around as fast as they could, listening to every order they were given and plugging the inputs in.

“Awaken, Desert Priest!”

Sparks flung from the body on the table, designed in black and gold armor with plated hanging kevlar. Looking something like armored robes. He was tall, and large. Yet narrow. Perhaps a head shorter than Sigma, much more slim. But still durable. The head had no helmet, just bald much like the one who built him, but dark skinned, with dark black lines across it. Eyes opened, as red flickered too life, booted online. Pupils sharpened pinpricks. The new Maverick slowly sat up, blinking around their surroundings in judgement.

It was perfect. Every system was reading green, all those brand new abilities installed were online and active. Sigma released a loud, echoing, laughter that reverberated off the walls. Knowing full well that X nor Zero wouldn’t be able to copy these abilities! Not even his other Mavericks could! This was old technology that could prove problematic for the others, and that was what he wanted. “Yes! GOOD! Welcome, Priest, too your new world.” He boomed and stepped closer.

That new built slowly stood up from the table, pulling wires out of himself without a care, red eyes landing on Sigma. “... Registering as Commander.” His voice was thick and rough, accented, and dry. As if the voice box has gone through hell but still functioned. A recycle. He clicked his tongue. “No.” He refused this, and actively removed Sigma from his command prompts.... And this seemed to please the Maverick leader even more, shouting his joy. Until he came back down. “Good, good.... Nothing will mean anything... However, I believe our goals may align.”

One brow furrowed lower. “How?” Priest asked, still re-engaging some of his other systems. Whatever he was buuilt with, was... Strange. Some of his other coding, his weaponry, wanted to do something else. Unity Through Force, Prosperity Through Unity. What does this mean? But the deeper sub messages... Those felt different. He had targets, specific types. Find those that met his criteria and bring them together one way or another... Ah. Now he understood this, militaristic parts, scientific demands-

Before he could figure anything else out, Sigma was speaking again. “We both want to unite this world under one banner. By any means neccessary. The humans have proven problematic, and many of our own kind, us being Reploids, have turned their backs. There is only one way for a better future for us.” Sigma wanted him as a distraction, to cause mayhem... And he certainly would. Expendable.

That was what he was. A Reploid. He was new in this world, with odd data and parts from far flung elsewhere. Interesting... Silence reigned... And then, slowly, the desert themed looking priest Maverick held out his hand. “Then we have a truce.”

It wasn’t long until Desert Priest was then in Abel City proper. To gather information, learn, and begin.

A new Maverick on the loose.

[illogicallyinclined]

Oh my gosh that’s a great thought,, Like how Logan comes in with the I’m not here to make friends mentality and everyone’s like fine we won’t be friends I guess (platonic slowburn) but Remy’s immediately like “Yall DONT GET IT. If you manage to drive Crofty out of the team I’m killing everyone in this room and then myself!” (Also Remy, crying at Joan once Logan comes in: Thank you so much you’re the best person ever)

i know this ask is from a while back (sorry for the delay in answering, my life is a perpetual loop of me screaming atm), but Absolutely Yes, You are 100% Correct

tws: vague allusions to abuse, cursing

when Logan first joins the Florida Aces, he has exactly one (1) objective, and that objective is to Play Hockey. he didn’t have any friends growing up, he didn’t have any friends at his first university, and he has No Interest in making any friends at this new university either. he wants his teammates to respect him — because he’s good at what he does, he knows that, and it’s incredibly difficult to build a solid team without a healthy amount of respect amongst teammates — but more than that, he just wants them to listen to him. he wants them to heed his input so that they can win, then leave him alone to do his job in peace. 

and a part of the reason that Logan adopts this mindset early on is because he is naturally a bit abrasive and blunt. he values efficiency over sentiment — was raised in an environment where tangible accomplishments were valued over intangible relationships — and as a result, he genuinely doesn’t see the merit in building comradery with his teammates off of the ice. but, at the same time — (and Logan would never admit it, could never admit it, not to his teammates or Coach Thomas or even himself) — a part of it is also... self preservation, in a sense.

because here’s the thing: Logan wasn’t the starting goaltender at Brown. as a matter of fact, he never even earned the right to play in net. and his dad... well. (he wasn’t exactly happy about that, is all Logan’s willing to say.) so now that Logan is the starting goaltender of the Florida Aces, he can’t fuck it up. he can’t. and the Florida Aces aren’t “bad,” per se — they’ve actually been rising steadily through the ranks over the last decade of play — but they also called Logan in for a reason, and that reason was because they needed a solid, consistent netminder to secure them more wins. so Logan doesn’t have the luxury of getting sidetracked by meaningless things like “team bonding,” nor does he have the willpower to grow attached to his teammates when the only reason he’s even been brought onto the Florida Aces is to solve their goaltending dilemma.

and at first, the Aces make it easy for Logan to stay distant. Roman takes an immediate disliking to him, and Logan instinctively bristles at the challenge, leading to weeks of conflict that leave a majority of the team wary of their newest addition. Remus actively hounds Logan while he’s in net, and although Virgil and D aren’t unkind to him (or,,, at least aren’t any more unkind to him than they are to the rest of the team), neither of them take the initiative to get to know him outside of the rink either. Patton and Emile, as friendly as they are, have a habit of completely (albeit unintentionally) dismissing Logan’s ideas, and even Coach Thomas shuts Logan down with an abruptness that almost hurts, (which. it’s ridiculous, because Logan doesn’t need Coach Thomas to like him, he doesn’t, he just needs to win, that’s all he’s here to do.) in any case, Logan joins the Florida Aces with the goal of making Zero Friends, and for the most part, the team seems to be more than willing to accommodate. 

but then, there’s Remy Belmonte.

Remy Belmonte, ex-starter for the Aces, two years Logan’s senior. Logan, freshly 17, swept into Florida one day, and just... stole his job from him. and Logan honestly expected him to be angry about it, you know? he expected Remy to be bitter or jealous — expected Remy to resent him on principle; (the starter from Brown certainly had, and Logan wasn’t even a threat to him). except, the first time that Logan steps foot in the Aces locker room, Remy greets him with a bright grin and a hug that takes him so off guard that he squeaks. when Coach Thomas introduces Logan to the team, Remy is the one to kick off the Team Cheer, and at the end of practice, Remy’s the one that claps a hand on Logan’s shoulder and says “Welcome to the Florida Aces. It's Hell. You're gonna love it.”

and, despite Logan’s best efforts, Logan finds that he wants to be Remy’s friend, too.

and Logan keeps waiting for the grace period of amiability to wear off. he keeps waiting for Remy to grow sick of playing backup — to grow jaded and dissatisfied and spiteful as the team continues winning and he keeps getting relegated to the bench. but the weeks pass, and Remy still brings Logan coffee, even when Logan refuses the initial offer. he still calls Logan “girl’ and “babe” in the same sentence, still ruffles Logan’s hair after a good save at practice. he still takes Logan’s side in his arguments against Roman, still snaps at Coach Thomas whenever he dismisses Logan too harshly, still patiently explains slang terms to Logan whenever a new one pops up in the team groupchat. months pass, and Remy still wants to be Logan’s friend.

---

(tldr; Logan really, really doesn’t want to make friends with the Florida Aces. but Remy says “fuck that, you’re my child now, you have no choice,” and... well.)

(nobody — not even Logan Crofter — can win an argument against Remy Belmonte) 

[linkspooky]

Do you have any thoughts on how Maki will develop technique and character wise later on in the series do you think she’ll see Toji and take it has inspiration and free herself from the Zen’in or will she start to lean on others and deviate from her I’ll be strong on my own mentality

Toji is set up as a bar Maki is meant to surpass in both aspects. Toji forced himself to choose between family and his pride and regretted his choice. However, in a sense he also really didn’t choose either. He kept wavering between them. He wanted to become the strongest and cut his ties to everybody, but he still loved his son Megumi. He loved Megumi, but was unwilling to let go of his pride so he chose to neglect his responsibility as a father and push Megumi as far away from himself. Rather than choosing wrong, Toji chose indecisively, he was out of balance - he couldn’t choose one until the literal end of the line. 

Which is why, Maki’s character isn’t about choosing one over the other, but finding a balance between the two. I’ll explain more under the cut. 

1. Maki and Nobara are Blind

Every character in Jujutsu Kaisen has a flawed viewpoint, but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Rather, I prefer to think of them as “out of balance.’ Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t about black and white ideas of right or wrong but rather a multitude of different perspectives. Selfishness isn’t bad, selflessness isn’t always good. Good intentions don’t lead to good results, sometimes bad intentions can help people. 

Rather than completely changing or flipping their views, because often the views that characters are hold isn’t necessarily wrong it’s much more likely they’ll be pushed to reconcile their views with the views of the other people around them. For a quick example, at the beginning of the manga, Yuji wants to save everyone, Megumi wants to seflishly choose who to save, rather than saying one or the other is wrong when Yuji hears Megumi explain himself he says that Megumi clearly put a lot of thought behind his beliefs. Rather than one of them winning over the other they come to an understanding. 

So, I think with that logic as the reason Maki will actually choose both, to free herself from the Zen’in, and also to lean on others more. 

Maki’s primary character flaw comes not from really being wrong, but a lack of understnading. She doesn’t really want to integrate the viewpoints of other people into her own views. 

Which makes absolute sense if you think about it, Maki is the scapegoat child of the Zen’in. She went through the same abuse Toji did, which was having everyone constantly look down at her. She was treated as a servant and an inferior to her own twin sister. It’s likely she responded the exact same way Toji did, by shutting everyone else, all their hurtful words out. Toji dealt with it by rejecting everything, both himself, and others. 

That’s why in comparison to Maki who is still struggling against the Zen’in family, and still has her life very much defined by her want to be better than them, and prove them wrong, Toji is aclled “the one who is free.” 

Toji’s way of coping is what Maki wants to do, which is to shut everything out and pretend she doesn’t care about anything. Only focusing on getting stronger. Maki has intenalized an unhealthy idea of what getting stronger is: not showing any weakness. Of course she has, that’s what the Zen’in household has forced into her head her entire life. Even if she escapes from the house she’s still affected by it. So then, here’s where the foiling with Nobara comes in, they both have the same tendency to shut others out, and they both tend to be blind. Nobara loses an eye, Maki is always wearing glasses.

There’s a reason the fight in the Kyoto tournament ended up being Maki and Nobara vs. Mai and Momo. 

Mai is the opposite of Maki, that Maki does not want to confront. Someone who cares about family more than being a strong willed individual. Someone who admits that she wants to cling to otherse.

Momo is the opposite of Nobara that Nobara does not want to confront. Someone who is much more open about how she cares about her friends. Nobara rejects the ideas of her friends, Momo indulges them to the point where she sort of enables their bad behavior and lashing out (but that’s a different meta). 

Momo is much more open about how much she cares about her classmates, (Nobara cares she’s just guarded about it) and the Kyoto group is as a whole much closer together even though they’re labeled as “weak” by mechamaru. 

Maki sees this dependance on others as a weakness. She still does. My best guess is her development since volume zero is that she’s come around to Gojo’s line of thinking that she wants strong comrades to fight alongside her, but she still doesn’t want to expose her weakness in front of somebody else. I don’t think Maki could ever openly cry in front of others the way Miwa can for example. 

Mai and Maki are two opposite extremes that need to be reconciled, Maki is independent, and Mai too codependent on her sister. We see the effects of Mai’s lashing out, but also I think it’s just important to understand the reasoning for Mai’s lashing out, Maki doesn’t really understand her own sister, what she’s going through, or how she feels.

It’s even in the flashback. We see Maki bravely walking past the curse, and Mai timid and afraid of it. However, the difference is Mai can see the scary curse in front of her, and Maki can’t. So of course it’s easier for Maki to charge fully ahead. 

Maki wears glasses all the time. Her vision in impaired. She can’t see cursed spirits without them. Symbolically, Maki is blind the same way Nobara is. There’s even more parallels in their backstories, they both come from environments where they had to shut everyone else out because they never really wanted to be at home. For some reason or another, they never feel home at the place that was supposed to be their home. 

They both live in complete rejection of the place they come from, while at the same time sort of being defined by it. Maki is still very much tied to the Zen’in clan, and Nobara is closeminded in her own way like the rest of the closeminded villagers she hated. Your environment effects who you are whether you want it to or not. They also think having left their own homes, they can’t really find any home anywhere else, except for within themselves. Which is why they don’t let people in. 

Which is also why we see the same consequences for Nobara and Maki they are, they keep getting blindsided. Nobara’s consequences come from not listening to people who have her best interest at heart: Nanami telling her to stay behind. As a result of not listening to him, she loses her eye in the fight against Mahito (symbolism). 

Maki tries to do what she always does which is prove that she’s stronger than the anyone else in the Zen’in household, only for this to fail. Maki not only doesn’t contribute much to the fight, she actively gets in the way, and has to be saved by Naobito, somebody she hates. 

Every strategy that Maki has used before, her determination, her stubbornness, her refusal to backdown, starts to fail in the fight against Dagon, and then Toji shows up and makes things worse (the thing he’s best at). 

Not only does Maki lose to Naobito, the head of the Zen’in family, she also loses to Toji, the reject of the Zen’in family. Playful cloud, the cursed tool that Geto used to beat Maki up all the way back in volume zero something she hasn’t recovered from yet, not only kind of rejected her, but is used way better than Toji. Pure and solid power, for this reason it’s strength, depends on the wielder’s strength. 

Maki is basically getting called weak by everyone around her, Naobito, Toji, even Playful Cloud which she couldn’t use to the best of her ability. But that’s not a bad thing. Realizing your weakness is a much better way to get stronger than just ignoring your weakness. Look at the symbolism as well, when she’s humiliated by Nabito her eye narrows, when she sees Toji her eye widens.

So, in effect this arc has presented Maki with the two options she has to go forward. 

Return to the Zen’in Family as she originally planned. Abandon everything for the sake of strength and her personal pride. 

Only to show her that she’s too weak currently to accomplish either. She can’t be Toji, and she can’t be Naobito. However, Maki has an option that neither Naobito nor Toji has. She has her sister. She has Nobara. She has the rest of the students at Jujutsu Academy. If Maki lets these people in, they can open her eyes, and show her that both are a possibility to her. She can be both strong as an individual, and still have a family to lean on, and lean on others. 

Her sister is someone she needs to reconcile with not win against. She’s not going to be Naobito or Toji, she’s going to be better than them both. 

[oftenderweapons]

The Studio — Hoseok

Pairing: Hoseok x reader (nicknamed Giggles)

Wordcount: 9.6k words

Genre: (lots of) smut, angst, final fluff

Rating: 18+

Hello cuties! Welcome back! I had assumed I would be done with Hobi’s piece in the studio quite soon, however it took me some extra hours. Writing it was extremely difficult! Let me remind you that this is NSFW, so minors, please do not read or interact.

PSA — If you’re interested, I was thinking of making a taglist, so you’ll receive a note on your activity feed whenever I publish a new piece (since I know sometimes app notifications do not work). Also, in the next two or three weeks I’ll be busy with university, so I don’t think I’ll be able to write full one-shots. This means I’ll be posting small drabbles that will help me lay the groundwork for all the filth I’ve been storing away from you (and that I’ve hinted in the masterlist). The polls will stay open and you’ll be able to vote for next prompt, however it will take me a while before I start writing again according to your requests.

This piece is a one shot and it takes place in some indefinite future in the official timeline, shortly after him and Giggles have moved in together (quick reminder, Giggles is the nickname he has given the reader, however if you want to know how I imagined her, you can find her headcanons here). 

Synopsis: Giggles has been a little uncomfortable after she has moved into his apartment, mostly because his job has kept him from going back home. After a week of struggle, she heads to Hoseok’s studio to grab her man with the help of special weapons.

DESCRIPTION AND TRIGGER WARNINGS: angst at the beginning, reader is upset and cries. Other than that, this is filthy. NSFW, contains several BDSM themes, such as domination (Dom!reader, Switch!Hoseok and a fluffy dose of vanilla sex because I needed to cleanse my soul), rope bondage (wrists), blindfold, sensation play and mild impact play (flogger, hinted riding crop and tickler), pretty intense edging, teasing, oral sex and masturbation (both male and female receiving), squirting, MULTIPLE ROUNDS (it’s Hoseok, come on!). Emotionally challenging: Hoseok feels guilty as hell, reader is quite angry, but they’re both lovesick puppies by the end of it. Special warning: one bratty Jimin appears at the end of the piece.

Word count: 9.6k

Here is my masterlist! Enjoy!!!

——————————————————

A lowfi mix came from behind Hoseok’s door. He was probably just chilling as he worked on something else. It wasn’t uncommon for him to listen to random stuff as he looked for inspiration, especially since he was currently trying to work with a more old school R’n’B vibe. He had a new artist he wanted to collaborate with and this new genre was becoming increasingly challenging, especially since he wanted it to have that early Two-thousand flow, reminding him of that time he had started venturing into Western hip hop, thinking about dates and girls and teenage crushes.

The bag felt a bit heavier on your shoulder now that the music showed you his mindset. This could turn into a very one-of-a-kind type of night.

You knocked at the door. The music turned down a notch, as if he wasn’t quite sure he had heard right.

Hesitantly, shutting your eyes tight, you knocked harder before pressing your hand to your chest, curling around it in fear. Hoseok could be harsh when interrupted: though he usually realised and apologised, seeing him mildly disappointed always gave you a chill down your spine, and not the good one.

His shadow appeared from behind the opaque glass door.

The door unlocked and opened. “Hey, hello there.” His expression was blank for a second before he realised you were quite neutral, as if trying to square yourself before seeing him.

Something caved in your chest. He had deep, dark circles under his eyes. “Hi.”

“Are you coming in?” He asked.

“I only wanted to ask when you’re coming back home.” You said, your lip slightly trembling.

He blinked.

“I’ve texted you and called you, but you didn’t reply.”

He blinked twice. “What time is it?”

You exhaled and made to turn around and walk away.

“Giggles.” He called, chasing after you and catching you in his arms, backhugging you. “Baby.”

“No. I’m done with baby and all of that. I’m fucking done.” Tears started falling. Your plan had gone to hell. All your mental briefings and getting yourself in the right mindset were useless by now. The bag made you feel twice as frustrated. “I am tired, Hoseok.”

That made him feel like a scolded puppy. You had never uses that tone with him, never used his full name while scolding him.

“I am tired.” Now that your first tear was spilled, all the others came out without any control. “I am exhausted.”

He pressed you harder into him. “I promise it will end soon.” He smiled as he saw you turn and hide into him.

“I am tired of your promises. You made me move in and then disappeared for a week straight. I don’t know where I can put my stuff, I had to handle transport, to talk with my landlord, to do everything by myself. And I’ve been doing double shifts all week. I am raw with exhaustion and I’ve had absolutely zero support.” You sobbed, pressing your pointer finger into his chest, before laying your punch against his breastbone, angry and tired and accusing. “You were supposed to be my certainty but you gave me fucking nothing.” He flinched when he heard you swore. You never swear at him. The fact that you’ve done it twice in the same argument spoke volumes about how angry you were. “You were supposed to give me certainties. But you don’t even answer to my texts.” You punched him weakly. “I hate you so much.”

Now he was worried. Heavily worried. Anxious. “Let’s get in the studio, ____. Come on, love.”

“I don’t want to come in.”

He shook his head, tipping your chin back. “I said, come in.”

“You don’t get to order me around, Hoseok. Not like this. I’ve been doing everything you’ve asked me. I’ve been saying ‘yes, sir’ to every single one of your requests and look where that brought me.” You shoved your face away, out of his grasp.

He cupped your face with both hands. “Look at me.” He ordered. He tried again, softening his voice, panicking as you strongly opposed. “Look at me, little bird.”

You obeyed. It was the fucking nickname’s fault.

“Come in with me. I want to talk about this, make up for my mistakes.” He dried your tears with his thumbs. “I want you to tell me how to fix this. What you want me to do.” He combed your hair back with gentle fingers. “You say I keep ordering you around, and that has made you unhappy. I want to turn the tables. Let you order me what to do.” He started taking tiny steps backwards, toward his door, waddling with you in your arms. “This is the last time I beg you to do what I’ve asked you, for tonight. After this you’re absolutely free, Giggles. It’s all up to you, but please, let’s talk it out in my studio.”

You sniffled. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” He smiled weakly.

You followed him.

The studio was clad in soft lights, the bass of the song making the air in the room feel like a warm, inviting, sultry cocoon. He moved to the desk, making the music nothing but a quiet whisper. “Let’s sit on the sofa over there, yeah?” He sat down and patted the cushion beside him.

Reluctantly, you sat down, removing your jacket and placing the bag beside you, on the floor.

“I made a mistake. I didn’t support you. I am sorry. I’ve been busy with my job but that is not an excuse, nor a good reason to disappear while you’re struggling.” He admitted.

“I’ve been sleeping in that bed alone for a week. It was heartbreaking.” You said with a furrowed brow and a pout. “It hurt so much that sadness became anger.”

He combed his hair with his hands. “I fucked up.”

“You did.” You confirmed. “I can handle a bit of loneliness. I’ve been alone for a long time. But that hurts inside your house.”

“It’s our house now.” He argued, deeply unhappy.

“Is it now?” You accused.

You saw his expression turn hurtful. “Are you going to leave?” He said, afraid that that would be his punishment. He knew there would be a price to pay, he just hoped it wouldn’t cost him his whole happiness with you.

“I can’t handle it now. Plus I don’t have much choice. It’s either there or my parents but I can’t move out of the city and do double shifts at work.” You said. “I’m stuck here because I trusted you. Because I gave up all my alternatives for you. You told me to trust you, that I could count on you. What am I going to do now?”

You looked so broken. He felt his eyes well with tears. His voice came out shaky. “Tell me what to do. Anything.”

“You’re gonna do what you want anyways.” You said, a bit hostile.

“No. Please, can you tell me what to do?” He tried to hold your hand. You let him.

“I want you home tonight.” You said, naming your price.

“Okay.” He felt ready to do anything. If you asked him to fly all the way to Paris and bring a box of macarons, champagne and fresh red roses, he would simply whip his phone out and look for the next flight. Fuck, he would teach himself how to fly a plane if need be.

“I want you home every night for the next week. I want dinner together.” You said, punching your index finger into your thigh. “You can use your home studio after dinner, I don’t care, you can stay up all night, but I swear if I have to fall asleep one more night alone in that damn bed, I’m going to gut you.”

“Okay.” He hadn’t come back home because he knew that having you around would mean getting no work done, as he much preferred giving you attention and laying down with you, watching a movie or putting to good use that big bed of his.

“And I want cuddles.”

“Yes, love.”

“Daily cuddles.”

He smiled as you contested like a child. “Yes, little bird.”

“And I want sex at least once a week for the next month.” You said, knowing that you could have much better than that, but you were aiming at the bare minimum.

“Once a week?” He asked, a bit dumbfounded.

“At least.”

That had him nodding. “Can do.”

“Pinkie promise.”

He smiled wider, hooking his pinkie with yours. “Pinkie promise.” As you pressed your thumbs together, sealing the deal, he brought your hand to his lips, kissing your knuckles. “What now? Can I hug you?”

“No. Go lock the door.” He looked at you dubious.

“Lock it.” You repeated.

He stood up and obeyed. “Now what?”

The negotiation had set you back into your original path. You had come for revenge and you were ready to execute it. “On your chair.” He was going to see how it feels to be powerless. Lost. Alone.

His heartbeat started increasing. He wanted to see where your plan was going to take him. He sat on his chair. “Here.”

“Close your eyes.” Your voice shook a little. You cleared it and said again: “Close your eyes, now.”

He bit his lip. He was getting turned on. A part of himself asked him how sick he must be for this, but he followed your lead, closing his eyes and laying his hands on the armrests. “Are you going to punish me?”

You shook your head before realising that he couldn’t see your movements. “I am going to do as I please.”

He snickered.

“Quiet.” You warned quietly.

He licked his lips and regained his composure. “Sorry.”

You bent and opened the bag. You found your first bundle and started unraveling it, walking back and forth in front of the sofa, stopping with your back to him.

“Take off your clothes.”

“Really?” He asked, incredulous.

“Do I look like I am joking?” You replied from over your shoulder.

“Okay.” He undressed quickly, letting his clothes fall to the floor. “Do you want me to...”

“Quiet.” You repeated. 

He closed his eyes and bent his head down. He was naked on the chair, unsurprised by his own erection.

You took a few steps towards him. As soon as you reached him, you gave him further instructions. “Do not open your eyes. I am going to touch you but if you open your eyes, you won’t like the consequences.”

“Wait.” Hoseok murmured. “How are you feeling now?”

You stopped. “What do you mean?”

“Are you angry at me?” Hoseok asked, his voice meek, hesitant, unhappy. “I’ve never seen you like this. I’m worried.”

You couldn’t do this to him. You couldn’t tie him up and torture him to tears, break him like that. Even though you really wanted to.

“I’m angry a bit, yes.” You replied. You exhaled, waiting in silence.

“I don’t think we should be doing this, then.” He suggested quietly. “I’ll be honest. You’re scaring me a little.”

You placed the rope on top of the desk, out of his angle of vision. “Open your eyes”, you said, placing your hands on his cheeks. His stare met yours. “What if I tell you my plans and you tell me if you’re okay with it?”

He pressed his face against your belly, kissing it. “I’m so sorry.” He nuzzled into your shirt. “I feel so bad.”

You moved your hands from his cheeks to his hair. “This is how I’m helping you with your guilt.” You massaged his shoulders. “I want to take care of you. You must have been so stressed here.”

“I’m the one at fault. I should be the one taking care of you.” He said with big puppy eyes. He looked up at you with his chin propped against your stomach.

“You can take care of me by letting me take the lead. Right now I need to feel like I can control something.” You traced his lips with your thumb, your index finger tracing the ridge of his nose with its lovely curve.

“Then control me.” He said, puckering his lips around your thumb.

“Are you still scared of me?” You asked.

“I’m scared of you going too far or pushing myself too far to please you.” He confessed. “But it’s something unconscious. I know I can trust you.”

“Still, I could tell you my plans.” You suggested sweetly.

“I trust you.”

“You don’t have to do stuff you don’t feel like doing just to please me.” You reminded him politely.

“That’s why we have safewords. When I don’t feel good I’ll use them.” He said, matter-of-factly. “They’re not there only for you.” He smiled.

You were quite curious about how his nakedness seemed to unfaze him. But then again, after more than a year together, at this point nakedness in front of each other felt natural.

“Don’t push yourself just to please me.” You scolded him.

“I won’t. If I don’t feel good, we stop and I’ll make love to you.” He stated plainly.

You thought about it. After all this time you knew Hoseok’s limits and insecurities. “Okay.”

“Okay.” He settled back into his chair, his hands gripping the armrests. He closed his eyes. “I’m ready.”

His chest was so skinny. It felt like staring at a hummingbird. “Are you keeping your eyes closed or would you like a blindfold?”

He smiled. “Kinky.” He breathed out. He paused. “Blindfold.”

You smirked and grabbed it from your backpocket. You already knew he would have chosen to wear it. “I will touch you now Hoseok. Let’s see if you can recognise it.” You stretched towards the rope on his table, keeping it rolled up and brushing it gently against his face.

“Oh.” He rubbed his cheek against it, pressing his lips and then parting them to use his tongue. “I’m getting tied up, aren’t I?” He asked.

“Would you like to?” You asked. Blindfolded and tied up was always a daring combination. You had first done it for his birthday, but back then you hadn’t intended to overstimulate him to tears. That time you had simply used your advantage to give him the ride of his life, physically restraining him from taking control and straining himself to please you. The bondage technique had helped you keep him still long enough to relax. After almost literally sucking him dry, you had managed to ride him, watch him come apart for the fourth time and see him fall asleep like a kid at your side, not a care in the world. It had been a wildly satisfying experience.

“Are you going to use me like last time?” He asked, eyes still closed but his hands reaching out for you.

“Not really.” You commented. “I was thinking of something… softer? So to say.” You bit your lip. He couldn’t see your devious smile anyway.

“I’m interested.” He said, blindly running his hands down your thighs. “Tell me what to do.”

Clutching the rope between your thighs, you used one hand to comb his hair and trace the lovely lines of his face. “I’ll put the blindfold on you now, Hoseok. Is that okay, handsome?”

“Yes.” He said, his cheeks twitching with a small smile.

Putting a blindfold on someone else is a lot more difficult than it seems, however you managed to press the wide silken mask against his eyes, hooking the elastic band with your fingers and slipping it behind his head. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, Giggles.” He replied, turning his head in an attempt to kiss your wrist. You noticed the gesture and offered him your hand, brushing the back of it against his cheek. He managed to press his lips to your knuckles. “I love you.”

You bent down and let your lips hover over his. “Can you feel me?”

“So close.” He whispered. Sometimes he had this sixth sense, like his body — so used to perceive himself in time and space while dancing — had this special sensibility to closeness. Depriving him of sight made it look even more supernatural. It made you feel like he could perceive you spiritually. It felt religious. Metaphysical. You had missed this connection and you had been craving it for a while.

“Can you kiss me, Hoseok?”

He licked your lips in reply, his mouth hanging open, his lower lip brushing against yours so sensually that you envelopped it in yours, sucking.

He moaned, your eyes closing as you felt your body reach another level of arousal. It felt extraordinary. It felt like you were making love to your own body through his nakedness and arousal. Feeling this wanted, exploiting this bond between the two of you, the way your body mirrored his sensations, it was stronger than anything you had ever experienced.

You let go of his lip. “I’m gonna start tying you up now. This is the right moment to stop me, bub.”

“Keep going.” He said, his voice slightly gravelly.

“Okay.” You moved around the chair, studying how to use your prop smartly.

You noticed two thin metal tubes connecting the headrest to the back of the chair. Interesting. You unravelled your bundle of rope and found the middle quickly thanks to the mark placed there.

You remembered Hoseok coming back home with a big box, placing it on top of the coffee table as you were chilling on the sofa. “I want it cut, marked and hemmed by nine o’ clock.” He had said, voice dark, as he offered you a sewing kit and a fabric meter. “You’ll find instructions in the box.” He kissed your head as you sat on the floor and opened the box, dumbfounded. “I can’t use it tonight, but I’ll reward you if you do a good job.” Inside there was one entire spool of rope: the tag read “a hundred meters - pure cotton”. You spent the rest of the evening attending to your chore. Once you were done, you went knocking at Hoseok’s door. He spent the rest of the night repaying you for your fine accomplishment.

“Can you place your hands on your nape” You asked, noticing that he did so immediately.

“Thank you.” You chirped as you started tying him up, placing two fingers between his skin and the rope to make sure you didn't tighten too much. The position was delicate since his blood circulation could be affected by his forearms being upside down, tying the knot too tight would inevitably mean worsening the situation.

Once his wrists were safely secured to the small steel tube, you checked on him. “Is it good, bubs? Too tight?”

“I'm good, thank you, Giggles.” He replied.

“I’m going to grab my bag quickly. I’ll be a few steps away for a couple seconds, bubs.” You said, making sure that he didn’t panic as you stepped away.

A sultry, suggestive song came on, a slow Nineties hip hop track. It was inspirational, especially as you picked up your bag and placed it on top of his desk, near you and his chair, making sure that you wouldn’t need to leave him alone for longer than a couple seconds. Any person with a sliver of common sense would understand it is an awfully bad idea to leave someone bound, blindfolded and unguarded.

You stood in front of him with your hands behind your back and bent to his ear. “I’m here.” You murmured before standing up and dragging your nails down his neck and chest, stopping right at his stomach without neglecting his nipples, circling around them a couple times. He looked delicious, his cock hard and leaking on his lower abs. You observed the twitching of his slim shaft, the lovely curve of it, the taunting pink of his tip glimmering with wetness.

Teasingly, biting your lip, you gathered some of his precum on your fingertip, his lips parting with a purring sound.

“Giggles, please.” He whined.

You smiled as he exhaled, his mouth hanging open, and you deviously slipped your fingertip past his lips.

“Can you taste how turned on you are, Hobi?” You murmured, pressing your digit against his tongue.

He bit down playfully before twirling the tip of his tongue around your finger.

Giggling, you removed it.

“Does it tickle?” He asked.

You licked your lip. “Maybe.”

He shook his head just as you punished his disrespect with a gentle slap on his cheek. “You’re in no position to play games, Hoseok.”

He regained his composure. “Sorry.”

You shook your head yourself, standing up and moving behind him. His sides were vulnerable with his hands tied up and behind his head. You started thinking how you could use this against him. For now you simply decided that his inner forearms were normally sensitive enough to be a good starting point. He always started from your inner forearms. Drawing lines and twirls with your nails, you saw him shiver, his mouth gaping.

“You’ve moved.” He murmured, his fingers wiggling as he searched for contact, giving up once he noticed there was no chance. Daring and playful, you tickled his palms, moving so quickly that he didn’t manage to grab you.

His inner upper arm was even more sensitive, however touching it would mean that he would probably be able to touch you back. You could use something to reach out. You stood back, circling around the chair. It was a lot more complicated now. You had thought that seeing him like this would immediately tell you what you wanted to do to him. You had packed a variety of supplies in case sudden inspiration struck you, but now your lack of planning and your excess of toys confused you even more.

You had him naked and tied up to a quite limiting armchair. You knew your goal was to stimulate him as much as possible, listen to his pretty whines and watch him grow more and more desperate. Get him turned on out of his mind. Surprise him.

Kneeling, you patted his knees with your palms. “Open up.”

He inched his hips forward, his torso slouching against the back of the chair, his thighs parting further. “More?” He asked.

“Perfect.” You said, kissing his knees.

“Oh, you’re gonna do it like the other time?” He asked, bucking his hips up and slouching further. “You wanna blow me?”

You smiled, sending a cold breath running up his inner thigh.

His moan followed like a tide, like sunlight chasing the horizon at sunset.

You mirrored the gesture on the other leg, satisfied with the effect you had just elicited. “Do you want me to?” You asked, referring to his proposition.

“Your choice, Giggles.” He murmured, his reply melting into a ‘fuck, yeah’ as you licked up his thigh.

He could imagine your bubblegum pink tongue against the pale skin of his inner leg, your eyelids fluttering closed as you brought your tongue closer to his cock.

He had the softest baby hair on his inner leg. You wondered how it could be so thin and soft. Once you reached his crotch, you parted your mouth from his skin, your hot breath fanning on the sensitive head of his cock. Making sure that your hair was out of the way, you kissed the skin of his abdomen following the shadow that his sex projected on his belly. The point was that of being that close but not touching him.

It turned a bit more difficult when his hips jerked in an attempt to connect his cock with your lips while you sucked a love bite right on top of where his tip was laying. You moved back. “Stay still, Hoseok. Don’t make me tie up your legs too.” You warned. He huffed out a strained breath and shivered as you continued your trip down the other side with small kisses, finally licking down the other thigh, sitting back on your heels and placing a sweet peck on his knee. Now that his whole crotch area, thighs and abs were wet, blowing cold air all over him was even more fun, your lips directing your breath on different parts, making him try to escape your evil attentions.

“Giggles, you’re so bad.” He mewled, a tiny, desperate laugh underlining his sentence.

Your hands reached the base of his feet, your nails dragging against the natural crease at the center of his foot.

“It tickles.” He said, his legs jumping up as he tried to escape that sensorial torture.

“No touching you there?” You asked, eyebrows curving upwards in wonder. “Okay.”

He planted his feet firmly on the base of his office chair. “Please.” He said.

“It’s okay, Hobi.” You replied sweetly. His dancer feet were too sensitive for that and you’d rather avoid him moving too much and possibly falling from the chair. “How are you feeling?” You asked, standing up. You were at a crossroad. From his answer depended the rest of the evening.

“I’m doing great. This feels incredible, Giggles.” He smiled, complimenting you.

“Are you down for a level up?” You asked.

He nodded. “I’m curious.”

“Choose a number from one to three.” You asked him, your voice bubbly.

“What is it?” He asked. He was afraid of the consequences. Was it going to be the number of times he was allowed to cum? Or maybe something else?

“Just a game, Hobi. Choose a number.” You repeated.

A bit hesitant he said: “Two.” He said. Like us, he thought. He kept the idea to himself, thinking it cheesy. Plus two was halfway. Nothing bad can happen if you stay halfway, right?

You raised your eyebrows and considered cheating. He would never know. You had really prepared three toys and numbered them, however, out of the three objects you had prepared, number two was the one that scared you the most, convincing yourself to pack it just in case he flipped and took the lead. Hoseok could be extremely powerful with that tool in hand and it was probably your favourite accessory for him to use on you.

Unfortunately — or maybe very fortunately — it was you who had to control it tonight.

With quite some courage, you pushed your hand into the bag, finding the handle and gripping it tight as you extracted the black leather device from the bag. The tails of the flogger met your skin gently, caressing it with their delicate, velvety touch. Each tail was made of suede, giving a special feel to the touch. He had never openly admitted how expensive it was, but you knew it was a lot.

As your dominant hand held the handle, the other toyed with the tails, gripping them and wrapping them around your fist; looking at Hoseok, you started thinking where to start.

Easy.

His inner arms were there, pale, slender and so sensitive. “Can you feel me?” You asked, bending down, your breath tickling the free skin of his wrists.

“Yes.” He commented. “Behind my back. You’re so close but I can’t reach you.” He whined, struggling a little against the rope.

“Are your hands okay? Is the knot too tight?” You checked.

He breathed out. “Yes, I’m okay. Thank you.” He stilled on the chair since he realised he couldn’t touch you.

“My pleasure, Hoseok.” You replied, spurring him on a little. “Would you like me to tell you what’s the number you chose?”

He thought about it, but he realised that most of the arousal he was experiencing was because of the complete unexpectedness of each sensation. “Surprise me.”

You smiled, running the butt of the handle against his upper arm, teasing the top of his armpit. He shivered adorably, the sensation making his arm tingle with goosebumps.

“How does it feel?” You asked, curious.

“Wicked. But also interesting.” He replied, shivering again as you repeated the gesture on the other side. “Very sensitive.”

“Can you guess what it is?” You asked, gripping the flogger from where the tails met the handle, leaving the underside of the shaft free to press against his lips. He sniffed it. “Leather.” He sniffed some more. “Your hand lotion. Is it the handle of something?” He asked, dragging his cheek against it.

In the meanwhile you made sure that the tails were wrapped tight around your fist so that they wouldn’t give you away. “Maybe.” You replied, removing the object from his face and unwrapping the suede straps from your other palm, keeping the toy away from him. You trapped all the tails back, leaving only one out. That’s how to start.

Hoseok, momentarily blinded, kept thinking of what the object could possibly be. “Is the number connected to what you’re using now?”

“Yes. Each number meant a toy. I’m using number two right now.” You said, letting that single string drag from the small hollow between his collarbones down to his belly button. Your small hand struggled around the instrument, however your nerves helped you keep a tight grip.

“You have more than one?” He asked, moaning as the tail tickled the base of his cock. “What the hell is it?” He said, thrusting his hips upward. “Fuck, please.” He murmured, as you teased his balls. You grinned. “It’s the riding crop, uh? You love that one.” He murmured, just as you moved your hand far from his body, letting the tails fall free before snapping your wrist, making the strings swish.

Hoseok listened to the noise attentively, however the background music kept him from properly identifying the sound. “Is it something we have used before?”

You hit your palm again, softly, knowing that the hip hop track was going to make the toy unrecognisable. As you stood in front of his face, you leaned down and snapped it once more, making sure that he would feel the air move as the tails slapped your hand. Doing it this delicately made it feel almost pleasurable against your skin.

“Yes, we’ve used it before.”

You stood up again, letting the tails hang low. Noticing his length dripping in wetness, you snapped the toy once more against your palm, still far from his skin, simply producing an air current.

“Dammit, please, I just wanna cum.” He cried out.

“Guess my toy and I’ll reward you.” You teased.

He whimpered. “Come on, we’ve tried at least twenty together.” He lamented. “And you’ve given me so little.”

“Then let me give you more.” You giggled, This time you took a deep breath. Courage. You wanted him to hear it for real, not the caressing sweeps, but the harsh, punishing ones he usually delivered. Maybe those would sound more familiar. Exhaling, you hit your clothed thigh. You moaned: it could feel so sweet in your own hand, when you could control it and with the barrier of your jeans.

“It’s leather, I’m sure.” He commented.

You snapped once more, your cunt clenching, wetness making you feel uncomfortable between your thighs as you noticed him flinch at the sound. “Are you sure it’s leather, Hoseok?”

When he heard the third smack, he went insane. It felt unreal to be there, to wait for a hit that wouldn’t come, or even worse to be deep in thought, so close to the answer, but to be brought back to reality with the swishing and clicking sound of whatever it was you were holding. “If you say it like that, I’m not sure.”

Grinning, you let the tails hover over his skin, tickling the air around them, charging his skin with goosebumps. He felt electric. “Is this helping you?” You asked, letting the suede skim his skin.

“Oh. So you’re using my weapons against me...” He wondered just as your free hand cupped his balls, squeezing them gently. He was being too cocky anyway. His following moan decisively toned down his arrogance.

“Sorry.” He whined. “Please.” He moaned while your hand pushed the flogger away, your torso bending forward as you stretched to lick the tip of his cock, collecting the hot droplet of cum he had just spilled. “____, I’m begging, please.”

“Please what?” You murmured against his abdomen.

As he began talking you sucked the smooth head of his dick into your mouth, listening to him stammering and moaning in an attempt to speak. With a sweet stutter he cried out. “Wanna cum. Please.”

You released his sex. “You know the rules. Guess the toy and I’ll let you cum. Don’t make me say it again.” You stood straight and moved the flogger back between his legs, the tails teasing his inner thighs. “How come you haven’t recognised it yet?” You teased.

“It’s a tickler.” He moaned. “The one with the feathers.” He huffed out, just as you caught once more the tails in your palm, wrapping them around your hand and moving your grip, freeing the butt of the handle.

“No, love. I’m sorry.” You said, feigning discontent, but secretly grinning.

He cried out. “Oh, come on, what is it!” He growled, his voice sliding into a whimper as you sucked one of his balls into your mouth.

“Fuck it, Giggles. Please.”

He had said ‘please’ at least four times tonight, that you remembered. Maybe even more. You sucked harder.

“Love your mouth, baby,” he rambled, his sanity long forgotten in the unpredictable events of the evening. He felt his guts tightening, his abs clenching. “So good. Shit.”

As you spotted the telltale pulsing in your mouth, you let go of him.

“No, please. Please.” He begged. It was your favourite word on your lips. When he begged. When he begged to lick you, to let him make you squirt, to slap your delicate breasts, to fuck your mouth, to change position ‘just one more time’, to let him ram into you for the third, fourth ride even if you were tired and overstimulated, your brains only capable of telling him yes because you were too fucked out, too greedy, too in love with him to ever deny him.

“You made a dumb guess, Hobi. How can a tickler make that sound? You heard the smack, before, didn’t you.” You pressed the butt of the toy against his shaft, delicately, dragging it up and down in a very upsetting imitation of a handjob.

He keened as several drops of cum bubbled up from his slit and dribbled down his cock.

“You’re so turned on, uh?” You snickered, teasing him ruthlessly. “You’re barely coherent.”

He couldn’t wrap his head around how his sweet, sparkly, submissive Giggles, the love of his life, the apple of his eye, his precious jewel could turn into such a sadistic, cruel creature.

He had probably ruined you.

He was almost glad. Proud of you.

“Giggles, love. Please, have mercy, baby. You can’t hurt me. You love me.” He murmured, trying to convince himself.

You let him breathe, moving the handle away from his sensitive sex.

“I love you. That’s why I need you to recognise the toy.” You cooed. “You’ve heard how it sounds, and felt how it feels. You can do it, bubs.” You bent to his mouth, letting your lips linger over his.

“It swishes and smashes, but it’s a dry, light smash. Not a paddle. Not a tickler, and not a riding crop either. It’s either a cat-o-nine-tales or a flogger.” He murmured.

“Good boy.” You praised him. “What is it, then Hoseok?”

He felt insane. The moment he realised it was one of the two, he started imagining you holding one, getting even more turned on at the thought. “Use it on me.” He asked. “Please.” He could almost see you, your small figure, your tiny hands wrapped around the thick leather base, the cute flinch on your face as you whipped the tails against your thigh. “Use it on me.” He wished he could see you for real. He just needed you to do it once, to be comfortable to eventually do it again, someday — possibly within the next month — to see you actually use the flogger on him. He felt like going insane.

You frowned. You weren’t skilled enough for using it like that.

Whipping yourself over your clothes was one thing, but hitting him? Naked? Tied up? No. You told him.

“I can’t, Hoseok.”

“Please.” He cried out. “I trust you.” He said, quietly reassuring you. “Place me so that the front of my thigh is free, and direct the blow across my thigh, towards the outer side.”

You breathed a couple times. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” He cried out in relief.

Following his directions, you placed him correctly on the chair, his thigh hanging midair. With your back to him, you murmured quietly “Ready?”

He simply breathed out a ‘yes’.

His cry was immediate. “Oh god, Giggles. Fuck.” You had been heavy handed, still he hadn’t perceived the bite of the small silver balls that his cat-o-nine-tales sported. “Flogger.” He moaned. “Wanna cum, please.”

You immediately dropped the flogger on top of his table. “That’s right, bubs. You’ve been a very good boy.”

He pushed his hips upward. “Your mouth, please.” He begged. “Inside.” He sobbed.

You undressed quickly, your shirt coming off in a second and your jeans following right after. With only your panties on, you kneeled on the floor, not quite making yourself noticed.

“Where are you?” He cried out. “Giggles?”

“Here.” You called. “Between your legs.” You kissed his knee. “You look beautiful, Hoseok. So damn beautiful.” Your mouth climbed up towards his lap, quick and practical, your tongue drawing a line of saliva up his thigh. “I’ll give you thirty seconds. If you don’t cum at that, I’ll stand up, take off your blindfold and touch myself while your hands are tied. Got it?”

He whimpered.

“Got it?” You asked again. 

“Yes, Giggles.” He replied, as composedly as possible.

“Good.” You said, before swallowing him.

He groaned, pushing his hips up towards your face. His chair rolled back a bit, but thankfully you grabbed the armrests and managed to secure it.

With wicked intentions you pulled him out, rolling the chair away so that the back sticked to the edge of his desk, keeping it from moving. “Count to thirty for me, Hoseok.”

You didn’t give him time to reply, sinking back onto him.

“One,” he whimpered as you used your hands to stroke the parts you couldn’t take into your mouth.

“Oh, two.” He groaned, pushing some more. You pinched his thigh, reprimanding him for his thrust.

He jumped at that before he cried out a three, panting heavily. “I’m gonna cum.”

Again you pinched.

“Three.” He said with a shrill.

By the count of nine, his hips got impatient, thrusting into you some more, but — lucky him — you felt merciful and disregarded his disobedience as you started to bob your head, before hearing him breathe louder and faster. “That’s it. Giggles, fuck. Love it. So good. Love you.” He managed to babble before he came apart.

You simply stayed there, eyes rimmed with tears, holding your breath as his cum kept spilling inside you. It took him five or six shots before he stilled, empty and spent. Oxygen felt like a blessing once you pulled him out, his tip resting on your tongue. Both your and his breathing were heavy and rushed as you removed your head from his lap and tested it against his thigh.

“Wanna see you, Giggles.” He murmured, his voice hoarse after all the moaning and growling and panting. “Take off the blindfold, baby.” He asked, ready to take control. You were the one who needed attention right now.

“Just a minute.” You murmured, nuzzling your cheek against his leg and closing your eyes.

“Now, Giggles.” He ordered with some urgency.

With a deep sigh, you stood on your knees, stretching towards his face to take off the silk band from his eyes. It took a couple attempts because you couldn't reach perfectly, however you finally managed to uncover him, his eyes immediately focusing on you.

“Hello, little bird.” He said, his tone already sporting that sardonic, telltale undertone. He was going for revenge.

A fearful wave rolled down your spine.

“Hi, Hoseok.” You replied, a bit hazed.

“Can you untie me, little bird? Please?” He asked, but his plea didn't hold the previous submission. This was simply a polite request. “I know you’re tired, pretty thing. Just untie me, I’ll take care of you, I promise, angel.” He said, spotting the way you looked at him like a scared wild animal. “I can’t even cuddle you right now.” He wiggled his wrists. “It hurts like hell to see you this vulnerable and not being allowed to cuddle you, little bird.” His voice expressed affection now, his mood completely changed after he had seen you: the discomfort of your treatment was still fresh but he couldn’t bring himself to torture you back after seeing you curled up between his legs.

You kissed his thigh a little helplessly before whining as you stood up.

“That’s my good girl.” He praised you with a quiet voice.

Undoing the knot was extremely easy. You liked using knots that were simple to undo once you released the safety hook — a reasonable amount of rope strategically tucked into the knot that once tugged simply makes the rope fall to the ground. Hoseok was usually reasonable enough not to untie himself, which meant you could still untie him easily even when your body was tired and your mind felt fuzzy.

When the rope fell to the ground, Hoseok stood still, holding position. Once he jammed a knot because he moved too early and you sulked at him for a week because he made you cut the rope into three unusable lengths. “May I?” He asked.

“Yes.” You confirmed.

He immediately turned the chair so that he was facing you. His arms wrapped around your middle, hugging you tight as you stood between his legs.

“You’ve been so good, Giggles. You’ve been perfect, little bird.” He pulled you into him, making you sit on his lap. “How are you feeling, dove?”

“A bit unsettled.” You admitted. “Strange.”

“What got into you?” He asked, smiling as he stroked your cheek. “You were devilish, pretty thing.”

“I don’t know. I think I was inspired.” You admitted, sinking into his neck, nuzzling into the curve below his ear.

“How did you feel with the flogger?” He asked, caressing your spine gently. He felt soft for you. To hell with revenge, he’d much rather make love to you. Show you all his appreciation for the scene you had staged, your spirit of initiative and the courage you had displayed in taking the lead with the flogger.

“I liked it. It felt new and strange.” You admitted, your arms connecting behind his neck, your hand combing the hair at his nape. “It felt different from when you do it.”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“It’s not just the role reversal. I felt more confident because I called the shots. I manoeuvred it, so it didn’t feel like I was waiting for it to hurt. The excitement was different.” You kissed his jaw.

Hoseok turned, using his bangs to tickle your cheek. You giggled meekly. “It’s all about having the power to do the unexpected. See how far the other person allows you to go.” He kissed your neck. “I like using it on you because you’re always so soft afterwards. You’re super needy and cuddly and I like assisting you like that.” His hand moved to your side, caressing you reassuringly before his hand ventured under the waistband of your panties, rubbing your ass. “And seeing how far you let me go with the scene makes me see how much you trust me and love me. It’s hot but also cute and affectionate.” He pulled his hand out, dragging it up, skimming your side and cupping your breast, his skilled fingers toying with your nipple. “Do you want me to take care of you?” He asked, his index finger hooking under your chin and pushing your face up, to look at him.

You looked up at him from under your lashes, pouting and giving him the best impression of puppy eyes.

He smiled at you. “What?” He said, with a small chuckle, booping your nose.

“I want your mouth.” You said, biting your lip.

“Where.” He asked, rubbing your tummy, his fingertips toying with the waistband of your panties.

You looked down at your crotch, licking your lip and rolling your eyes coquettishly. “Down there, sir?”

He laughed and bent to your ear, nibbling on your earlobe. “Want me to eat you out, little bird?” He snarled and bit your round, fluffy cheek. “Eat you alive?” He asked, holding you tight as he repeatedly sunk his teeth on the fat covering your cheekbone. “Such a naughty girl!” He said, tickling your sides.

Your laugh bubbled up your throat, exploding in a fit of giggles.

“That’s it. The most beautiful sound on the face of earth.” He calmed down once he noticed your short breath. “I love you, ____.” He reminded you.

You smiled so wide your eyes closed. “I love you too.” You stretched your neck to reach his mouth. His lips parted for you, the tip of his tongue drawing the seam of your lips as you disclosed them for him. The kiss was demanding, as usual. The hard, teasing strokes he delivered with the tip of his tongue gave way to a tango of thrusts and twirls, a mind blowing game of flight and chase, small clashing of teeth and sucking bruises onto each other’s lips. You didn’t even know how much time had passed before he gripped your waist, pushing you up. “Stand, little bird.” He murmured softly.

Carefully, you rose to your feet, making sure that your knees didn’t give out below you. His fingers hooked into the sides of your panties. He immediately spotted the wet patch on your grey cotton. “Cute penguin print.” He commented. “Very cute.” He said, his finger moving to toy with the drenched fabric, exposing you. He slid down the chair, kneeling. You took half a step back, only to meet the hard edge of his desk. He had cornered you. You only managed to press your palms into the desk, making sure not to knock anything over or accidentally ruin any equipment.

“Right leg on my shoulder, little dove.” He ordered, his eyes zeroing in on you with a predatory gleam.

You obeyed. Not that you had much choice.

“You’re so wet, Giggles. You enjoyed torturing me this much?” He asked, licking the gusset of your panties. “So nasty.”

“You sounded so good.” You commented, one hand combing his hair back and subtly pushing his mouth against you. “And you tasted even better.”

“These are too cute to rip.” He said, looking at your panties. “I need them off, dove.”

He helped your leg down, immediately dragging the garment down your legs. “Fuck, you’re so drenched.” He growled, noticing the tendrils of arousal sticking your labia together as he placed your leg back on his shoulder. His right arm, free to move, immediately bent so that his hand could spread your wetness all along your slit, before his index and middle finger sank into you, immediately meeting your sweet spot.

“Oh God! Hoseok, please!” One of your hands parted from the table, grabbing his hair.

“Does it feel good?” He asked, crooking his fingers in a come-hither motion. You knew what he wanted to do.

“I’m gonna make a mess, Hobi.” You warned him before a wanton mewl left your lips, betraying you.

“So, do you like it?” He asked again, rubbing his fingers and stretching you out.

“Yes, sir.” You moaned, trying to meet his mouth with your hips. Oh, how the tables have turned.

“You’re about to like it even more, little bird. Hold on tight.” He warned before latching his mouth onto your clit and beginning to torture it with the hard flicks of his tongue. His eyes met yours and you knew he was really going for it. He had that look that meant challenge. You abandoned yourself to your fate.

“Hoseok. Dammit.” You hoped your leg would hold you up because both your hands rushed to his head, pressing it against your cunt. The arm holding your leg moved upwards, sustaining your lower back.

The shift was immediate, the inner sense of burning and the distinct sensations of your inner walls clenching out of your control warning you of what was about to happen. “Hoseok.” You called simply as that overwhelming tide took you under. Your eyes clenched tight, your lower leg quivering dangerously as your orgasm invested him. You knew you had likely squirted over him, especially for the wetness running down your leg. You just hoped there wasn’t a small pool of liquid on his floor.

“That’s it, Giggles. Fucking phenomenal.” He praised you as you gently pulled his mouth away from your clit. He kissed your mound chastely before helping your leg down.

“Did I mess up?” You asked, immediately checking for damage.

“Nothing that a few tissues can’t fix.” He said, standing in front of you, stretching behind you to grab a roll of paper, tearing some and kneeling again, drying up the small puddle. Next he dried your inner thigh. “Are you freaking out?” He asked, knowing that squirting always unsettled you a little.

“The normal amount.” You replied, combing his hair as he looked up at you, collecting all the paper towels and throwing them in the bin.

As he stood again, you felt his hard on against your tummy. “Can you do it standing or do you wanna sit?” He asked, hugging you.

“Your choice. I can handle it.” You replied, still a bit hazy with your previous orgasm.

“Turn.” He murmured, spinning you around with his hands on your waist, your hand moving to press his palm against the small of your back, bending you forward a little. “Like this?” He asked.

“Yes, sir.” You replied.

He bent to your ear. “No need to call me ‘sir’, dove. I’m making love to you.” He said, gently dragging the head of his cock against your folds before slipping in. Once he was halfway in, your mouth open in a silent cry, he pulled out, only to move back in all the way with one smooth stroke.

“Hobi, sweet lord.” You purred, leaning on your elbows, as he started pounding into you. He simply grabbed you under your armpits, pressing his palms against your breasts and pushing you back up, making the angle so right and so intense you thought you would explode again there and then.

However, after a few minutes he simply growled and exited you, pushing you up and turning you around, again. Facing him, you could now see the dark lines forming on his thigh from the flogger, and right on top of that the slim indentation of his abdomen, adorned by his glistening, wet, hard cock.

He let you drink him in with your hungry eyes before tipping your chin up, to make your gazes connect. With his eyes on yours, scorching and demanding, he slipped back inside you, enjoying how your eyelids fluttered at the sense of fullness you were experimenting. The hammering restarted immediately, your hand gripping his shoulders, your nails sinking in. In reply, his strong, veiny palm curled around your outer thigh, pushing your leg up and around his waist.

“Touch yourself. I need you to cum.” He said, making small effort into ordering you, keeping his focus on his ramming.

And you made an even smaller effort into obeying, the hard, filling sensation of him inside you was so satisfying that a few circles on your clit was all it took for your head to crash into his shoulder, suppressing a loud moan by biting into his neck. Still, the bite, the vibrations of your whimpers against his throat, your nails sinking into him and your kegels squeezing him brought him to a mind-blowing orgasm. And he went on, even as you called his name like a litany, a sob interrupting you every now and then as you panted.

He took himself half a minute of stillness. “Can you do another?” He asked, both his hands gripping your ass as he picked you up. “Missionary on the sofa. Just one, I promise.” He said, already walking you to his black leather couch.

You nodded, wordless and brainless, simply hissing when the cold material met your back. “Sorry. I know, cold.” He said, caressing your face. “Ready?” He asked.

Again you nodded, looking at him with a pout. He bent down to kiss your lips. “I love you.” He said.

He said it so often. It was his favourite thing to say, mostly because you would offer him your sweetest smile and your eyes would sparkle with surprise and arousal, just like the first time he had confessed to you. Just like the first time he had bound your wrists on top of your head, kissing all the way down your body, showing you how much adoration his body and his mind could muster.

As he sank into you, you cried out his name tenderly.

“I’ve got you, little dove.” He said, cradling your head in the crook of his arm. “My pretty little bird.” He stroked your cheek with his thumb, drawing the shape of your lips. “I’ll be home, in our bed tonight.” He slipped his thumb into your mouth, wetting it. “I’ll make you so happy, Giggles.” He removed it, bringing it to your clit, delicately rubbing circles into your skin. “It’s all I wanna do.” He pressed his lips restlessly to your mouth and chest, your eyes following his movements in slow motion. You were so far gone you even doubted the sensation between your legs when you felt a new tightness ready to snap.

“Close.” You mouthed somewhere on his chest or neck or shoulder. It felt like slow dancing in a dark room. Except he was inside you and the rocking motion relaxed you so completely that you simply let go, not even listening to him saying to hold on, to make it last a second more, to focus on him.

You simply smiled as pleasure took over, Hoseok himself falling on top of you as his hips lost their pattern and let go of any semblance of control and tempo. His mouth pressed into your nipple as he moaned in release.

You both felt like dead bodies afterwards, laying there empty, spent, completely lost. You could have died without a bother. You could have kept existing without a bother, your bodies resting and waking in an endless cycle, the same way day and night follow each other. You were one thing, one entity, not even one body — any relation to material substance was momentarily suspended.

“Giggles.” He checked in on you. “Baby, we should go home, uh? I don’t have stuff to spoil you here, dove.” He said with a worried note.

Your eyelids fluttered open.

“There she is. Hello, sunshine.” He said, trying to fix your hair. “Let me fix the room before we go, yes?”

You smiled. “Let me help.” You said, only half convinced.

He tutted. “No, sweetie. You lay there and I fix this.” He slipped out of you, standing up slowly, a little clumsily. He immediately went to his desk grabbing his cup of water and sinking a corner of his t-shirt, dabbing at his face and chest, then down at his crotch. Next, he walked towards you, using another wet corner to clean you up. “There.” He said, kissing your knee once he was done. Next he dressed you, manoeuvring your body to slip your clothes on. With a bottle of generic cleanser randomly laying on his drawer, he made sure that no stain remained on the floor where he had eaten you out. Standing in his boxers, he rolled the rope back in a tight coil, placing it back into the bag, together with the flogger, making a mental note to clean it once he arrived home. He didn’t even check what you had packed. He was impatient to shower and cuddle with you at home. Your shared home.

Slipping on his sweater, he looked around, checking for potential hints of what had happened. He shrugged once he saw none. He shut down his computer, checking for the other devices to be off too. Finally, he spritzed some of his cologne on himself and the room. “Okay. We’re good, Giggles. Let’s go.”

You groaned before sitting up and waiting for him to offer you his hand to help you up. “That playlist was pretty bomb.” You said. “We should keep it for our wild nights.”

“I’m using it for my next collab.” He replied, closing down the studio and slipping his shoes on. You did the same at his side. “Maybe you will enjoy my song.” He said, winking at you.

“Oh, hi guys! What are you doing here?” Jimin chirped behind you.

Hoseok raised his eyebrows. “Hi. You’re here late.”

“Just passing by.” Jimin said. “Forgot my laptop.” He shook his head. “Hello, Giggles!” He said to you.

It felt ridiculous how all the boys used the nicknames for you and the other girlfriends. Still, it didn’t bother you, since it reminded you of your bond with Hoseok, but also of that familiarity within the group. “Hi Jimin!” You chirped, a little nervous at the possibility of him knowing what had happened in Hoseok’s studio.

“Well, goodnight!” Jimin said sweetly. “I assume you won’t be at the dorms tonight.”

Hoseok tutted. “I’ll be staying with Giggles. She moved in.” He said with a happy tone.

“I’m happy for you. However I hope you won’t be walking out with that tickler hanging out of the bag.” He winked with a teasing remark. “Enjoy it.” He trotted off.

Standing beside Hoseok, you blushed all the way to the tip of your ears.

Hoseok snickered. “Brat.”

Well, he was Princess’ problem now, anyway.

[morsking]

And so we have concluded Lostbelt 2! Now that I’ve experienced it for myself, I have a much clearer picture about how I feel about this chapter. As I progressed one thing became very clear to me, and that was that Hazuki Minase likely did NOT have any influence with this chapter, and its weakest points can be attributed to its main writer, Hikaru Sakurai, once we more closely scrutinize her work.

For starters, I would like to apologize to the people who kept trying to tell me Minase had nothing to do with the writing of Losbelt 2. You were correct, I simply acted stubbornly because I was terrified that one of the writers I loathe the most had returned to haunt and corrupt the franchise I hold very dear to me. I insisted on blaming him for any flaws because he was an easy scapegoat and a bogeyman, and while we all agree he is a pervert and a hack who should be fired, it is simply not fair to point fingers at imaginary criminals. A person should always be held accountable only for the misdeeds they have actually committed. Indeed, we may now explore Lostbelt 2 and the integrity of its writing with a more objective perspective, or rather as objective as I can manage to be.

The overall theme of the Lostbelt is “acknowledging one’s emotions as a vehicle for personal growth”. The issue persistent in the setting of Lostbelt Scandinavia was that it was a place where only young humans were allowed to survive. These humans would be oblivious to what real growth and prosperity were really like. They were innocent, and emotionally and intellectually stunted groups of people who only knew to live for the truth of their eventual demise. They lived short, rushed lives where they would stay ignorant of basic human experiences, such as love, grudges, aging, vice, hate, competition, and companionship because they devoted themselves to living how Scathach-Skadi ordered them to. They were unable to think or decide what to do for themselves, and were thus incapable of not just taking the reins to decide their own evolution as we do in Proper Human History, but also of fathoming doing such a thing in the first place.

This is a mirror to Ophelia Phamrsolone. Ophelia was conditioned to only listen to others for purpose and direction. Ophelia doesn’t actually know how to listen to her own feelings or even what those feelings even are because she was never allowed to connect not just with herself but with anyone. Ophelia, like Surtr points out, is still very much a little girl terrified by everything around her because she has no balance, no capacity for finding her center as a healthy and normal human being would. Unbeknownst to herself, all her interactions with others are a plea for help. Her very first interaction with Mash in 2017 was asking her if she’d like to have lunch with her and Pepe because Ophelia is terrified by male strangers and wishes to connect with other women as well. Ophelia’s conversations with Kirschtaria are also her not knowing how to proceed with challenges and therefore appealing to authority both for comfort and advice. Finally, her monologues with the Alien Priestess are Ophelia venting about how she feels, as if she were unaware of what to really think of herself as her helplessness and indecision drown her in a lake of self-loathing. 

These cries for help extend to the way she summons her Servants. Ophelia is noted to be incredibly proficient at evocation. Some might even call her a genius. In fact, she is such a genius she unknowingly managed to contract not just with one, nor two, but three different Servants all at once. The first Servant to answer her summon was Sigurd, the King of Warriors from Nordic mythology. The second Servant was Surtr the King of Giants and Scourge of Ragnarok (titled by yours truly), who hijacked the summoning and took over Sigurd. The third, and most pivotal, was Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor whose Spirit Origin was modified to embody the “ideal Good Fellow who could make dreams come true” rather than the actual historical Napoleon.

What these three Servants have in common is that Ophelia wished for all of them from the darkest depths of her heart. Ophelia desired capable Servants who could give her some form of direction and stability. 

Sigurd, for example, is a hero renown for rescuing Brynhild and giving brand new meaning to her life by showering her with love and devotion. Love and devotion are things that Ophelia not just desires to be shown but actively struggles to adequately express to others because she has never known what it’s like to experience those things. To Ophelia, Sigurd represents “being given that which you have never known and finding fulfillment”. 

Surtr, on the other hand, embodies a darker type of direction: the terror stagnation, conformity, monotony, inaction, and eternal suffering. Surtr exercises control over Ophelia by threatening to destroy the world if he is released, prompting Ophelia to flash to her childhood locked away by her abusive parents every dreaded Sunday. Surtr locks Ophelia into a state of helplessness and indecision where she has to carefully consider how she will proceed with dealing with Surtr. Ophelia has decided to lock herself in with him as a way to prevent him from breaking out of both Sigurd’s body and the physical prison inside the Lostbelt’s sun. This is a situation where Ophelia is in a constant state of stress and fear, since as a Crypter the last thing she could ever want to see is the destruction of yet another world by her hands. More personally, the death of the Lostbelt would also mean death for Ophelia, as she has failed her purpose once again and thus would have no worth as a person. However, what Ophelia cannot understand, because Surtr himself does not, is that Surtr’s destructive impulses are how he wants to show love and devotion towards her. Surtr has reasoned that since their worlds abandoned them after they failed to perform their ordained tasks, the only thing left is to annihilate them completely as retribution for their suffering. Surtr does not wish to hurt Ophelia, but because he is a being defined only by his overwhelming desire to burn everything, he cannot help her heal or grow in any way that matters. All he can offer is annihilation. To Ophelia, Surtr represents “self-destruction through a static state of being”.

Finally, there is Napoleon. Napoleon represents a pronounced antithesis to Ophelia’s entire personality. He is an upbeat, improvising, confident man who chooses to not stress over things because what he is seeing is only what lies ahead, not what lies in front of him.He also breaks her defenses by asking something so ridiculous and unexpected as her hand in marriage when they have only just met. Napoleon refuses to give in to any negative outcome regardless of how much the odds are stacked against him, as he demonstrated in Scathach-Skadi’s throne room where he refused to let Sigurd kill his Master despite being restrained by Skadi’s paralyzing rune. He demonstrates this once again when he blows his final shot at Surtr during the final battle, sacrificing his own life to give Chaldea the opportunity to regroup and bombard Surtr to bring him down. He is called the Man of Infinite Possibilities precisely because he faces the unknown head on and finds the best path to walk for his comrades to advance. He does not let fear take over his heart and judgement, he creates a rainbow as a bridge connecting the present to the bright, shining future. He is precisely the hero Ophelia needs, because he embodies “the bravery to grasp your own future and find your own direction”. 

But analyzing these characters further is a post for another time. What I want to get into are the gripes I have with this Lostbelt. 

Now, I could lead you on through a couple more paragraphs before I wham you with what this all means in a much higher metatextual level, but I don’t have the time nor the creativity to do that so I’m just gonna give it to you straight. This square between Ophelia, Sigurd, Surtr, and Napoleon is the storyline that matters most in Lostbelt 2. Scathach-Skadi matters little despite her own parallels with Ophelia and being the Lostbelt King, and the situation with the Lostbelt’s inhabitants matters even less. Why?

Because Lostbelt 2 is Sakurai coming full circle and writing an otome game like Fate/Prototype was meant to be before Fate/stay night became a thing. 

SHOCKER!! SOUND EFFECTS OF SURPRISE!! DRAMATIC KAZOOS GALORE!!

Now, that’s exaggerating a little. Or maybe not that much, actually.

What Sakurai was doing was applying conventional otome game tropes into the setting not just what she’s familiar writing for, but because Lostbelt 2 is inherently an incredibly self-indulgent project. 

There is a classic trademark otome fantasy at play here: the fantasy of multiple men being devoted to a female main character a player can relate to. There is no denying there is a certain appeal to the idea that there are several handsome men all willing to devore their entire lives to a person. Sigurd, Surtr, and Napoleon all embody certain otome game love interest archetypes. Sigurd is the cold, composed, intellectual man who is actually earnest, just, affectionate, and wise. Surtr is the dark-hearted troubled man with fiery disposition struggling with expressing love. Napoleon is the strong, confident, borderline pixie manic dream boy with almost zero brains but plenty of empathy and... *ahem*, physique to make up for his seeming lack of tact and intelligence (he’s a himbo is what I’m saying but that comes as no surprise). The problems arise with Napoleon himself, however. Napoleon hounds Ophelia with marriage proposals she refuses time and time and again. When he proposes to her in front of Chaldea for the first time, the narrative has Mash take Napoleon’s side and urges you to do the same because Sakurai believed the reader would’ve caught on to what’s actually going on between Ophelia and Napoleon. 

The issue here is that Sakurai’s clues up to that point had been far too hidden for the player to make a proper connection, and it’s not until AFTER the proposal that the player discovers Napoleon is predisposed to fall in love with whoever summons him because that’s what Ophelia wanted out of an ideal Servant. Because of the poor execution in presenting all these factors that completely recontextualize the relationship between Napoleon and Ophelia, when Sakurai has Napoleon say “You did not reject me therefore you DID agree,” we jump to the conclusion that Napoleon is engaging in extremely reprehensible behavior and ideology reminiscent of dangerous and abusive men IRL rather than take it as harmless flirtation from a well-meaning oaf of a man as he tries to break the shell of his beloved. Sakurai invokes a very dangerous trope that does more to excuse misogynistic behavior when done incorrectly rather than successfully appear as a romantic gesture of attempting to liberate a loved one from the clutches of isolation and victimhood.

On a larger scale, the application of these tropes is where Lostbelt 2 starts to suffer, and that’s where Sakurai’s writing further begins to resemble Minase’s. Sakurai spent so much time building these interpersonal dynamics that she spent the least amount of effort actually building upon the situation of the Lostbelt and Scathach-Skadi’s character and motivations for keeping the Scandinavia the way it is. 

Upon scrutiny, it’s not very difficult to pick apart the setting and make a mark out of the glaring logistical inconsistencies of maintaining a population of only 10,000 humans for a span of 3,000 years by having them reproduce at 15 years old at the latest to execute them at 25. Anyone with a passing understanding of biology would know that forcing children to carry babies to term can lead to terrible health and psychological complications that would certainly end up in a lot more miscarriages, stillbirths, and failed attempts at impregnation than actual successful births. The problem here then is rather evident. Sakurai wanted to use the fact that all these children are young, innocent, naive, gullible, and ignorant to draw a connection to Ophelia’s own psychological and emotional circumstance. However, she realized that because she was writing a setting that obligated her to work around a 3000-year gap between Ragnarok and the present day. She needed something that would compromise the need for a realistic system that would ensure the reproductive viability of a human population through such a long period of time and the thematic vehicle of childhood and repression of growth as a way to connect Ophelia to her environment. This compromise ended up working for the absolute worse because she chose the worst possible system she was aware was the worst possible system she could’ve come up with and therefore decided to forsake that part of the plot without going through the implications of it and leaving the specifics to the reader’s imagination so they could sort it out in her stead.

This unwillingness to properly explore the problematic implications of Scathach-Skadi’s system not only deprived the player of a possible engaging storyline where child endangerment, a common theme in the Nasuverse, is explored and criticized through a different angle, but also actively hurts Scathach-Skadi’s connection to the player because we never get the opportunity to debate with her about her ideology and the state of the Lostbelt. We never hold her accountable for enforcing such a brutally predatory and dehumanizing system that targets children, instead Sakurai opts to build her up as a flawed, self-absorbed mother figure desperately trying to combat the extinction of the remnant of her world who also never really learned how to deal with the revelation there is an entire life she did not get to have in this universe that we MUST sympathize because she occasionally sees through the characters and acts kind towards them until the time comes for us to fight her in earnest as a matter of principle completely divorced from the question of how she’s managed her Lostbelt. The fact Scathach-Skadi’s model of sustainability does not work is made obvious by the fact it takes place in a Lostbelt, what we are trying to get at here is that it does not work from a writing standpoint because of all the different holes you can poke on it before you’ve punched through the paper screen entirely and revealed the superfluousness of it all. 

There is nothing inherently bad about self-indulgent storylines. If I’m being honest, if Sakurai wanted to use Ophelia and Musashi as self-inserts to fantasize about romancing the different kinds of characters she finds attractive, more power to her. But the problem surrounding Lostbelt 2, which is the same problem that plagued Septem and Fate/Extella, is a veritable lack of restraint from her part as a professional writer in charge of a multi-billion dollar mobile game. What the writing room over at Type-Moon has to realize is that they are no longer a small doujin writing circle that can get away with whatever they want because they operate under obscurity. They are visible to the entire world and will be held accountable and criticized as professionals by consumers and their peers in the industry. A little bit of self-fulfillment in a published work never hurt anyone, you can cater to yourself most of all with your professional work (I mean, just look at She-Ra), but you must be sure that in your pursuit of indulgence your work does not suffer for it and ends up alienating and disappointing your fanbase and giving them the wrong impression of what you stand for. 

Anyway we’re popping the biggest bottles when GudaMoth becomes canon this December. 

[gunnerpalace]

It is Time to Kill The Common Understanding of the Dome of Las Noches Fight Once and for All

I’ve been thinking about @starrdustcrusader​‘s post making fun of BBS’s interpretation of Full Hollow Ichigo, and while it is very good and covers a lot, I felt that I had something further to add. Please go read that post first so you are on the same page.

I also invite you to go read chapter 350, The Lust 4, and the next few chapters as well.

Now, like I said, the post in question does a very good job of pointing out what’s happening here: Full Hollow Ichigo has less than zero concern for Uryuu or Orihime. He is not interested in protecting them whatsoever. Indeed, he directly attempts to kill Uryuu, with that attack being very likely to kill Orihime as well. It is only stopped by Ulquiorra’s intervention.

And why did Ichigo attack Uryuu? Because he was a threat.

When you are doing dispassionate threat analysis, whether that be tactical or strategic, when you are thinking with an essentially military mindset, motive stops really mattering, because it cannot be taken for granted. What matters is capability. What someone says their intentions are, or what their intentions seem to be, often matter less from this perspective than what they can do, or are doing.

What is Uryuu doing in this fight? He is interfering with Full Hollow Ichigo killing Ulquiorra. And that is Full Hollow Ichigo's only goal. Thus, Uryuu is an enemy and is also to be killed.

And so is Orihime (if “merely” as collateral damage).

It's that simple. This is again pointed out in the original post. In the same way that Ulquiorra earlier said to Ichigo that, "Killing you is synonymous with protecting Las Noches," killing Uryuu and Orihime at this point is synonymous with “protecting,” because they are in the way and are actively impeding the mission. (”Protecting” what? We’ll come back to that.)

I haven’t said anything new yet, now have I? So let’s get to that.

Here is Orihime demonstrating several flavors of hubris, and also completing failing to do anything to save Uryuu from his imminent demise. What do I mean? Well, let’s take apart her statements:

“Because I said that, Kurosaki-kun is trying to help me.” This is an assumption on her part, and it is wrong.

“I trained because I didn’t want to be a burden to him.” Mind you, she also says this in both the Xcution and TYBW arcs, and is a burden and fails in both as well (the infamous ”Why am I crying?” and “Her shield didn’t work” moments). This should have been a learning moment for her and it was not.

“I came here because I wanted to protect him.” There are other meta posts that detail the selfishness of Orihime’s actions in Hueco Mundo and in general. I would also like to point out that this was also her exact same logic in going to Soul Society. She didn’t learn anything from that experience either.

“So why? Why at the very end did I depend on him?” A great question. One that she never truthfully owns up to, given (2). But there was a reason Kisuke told her to stay out of the war. You may recall Rukia's statement to Orihime in chapter 228, Don't Look Back, that "In a battle, the ones who get in the way are not the ones that lack power, but the ones that lack resolve." She went on to say "Of all the battles in Soul Society, no one was a burden to anyone else. Not Ichigo, nor Sado, nor Ishida, and neither were you, Inoue. If any of you were less than who you are, I wouldn't be where I am today." This was very charitable of Rukia, because Orihime's contribution to her rescue was negligible and was, to reiterate, not why she was even there. Furthermore, Orihime didn't listen to her here either: she is once again demonstrating a lack of resolve, as she will continue to.

So Orihime doesn’t learn. Great. But maybe you’re thinking about (1). What do I mean she was wrong? I mean, doesn’t the manga confirm she’s right?

This is the crux of that argument. And this is also one of the cruxes of IchiHime as a whole. The thing is... it’s complete and utter bullshit.

This is the exact same scene in the original Japanese:

Now, I don’t speak or read Japanese very well at all. I’m still a novice at it. What I can do, however, is use optical character recognition and translation tools.

(よ)呼んでる - Yonderu - Calling

(よ)呼んでるんだ - Yonderunda - They’re calling

(き) 聞 こえる -  Kikoeru - I can hear

(た)立てよ - Tateyo - Stand up

(た)立 て - Tate - Stand

(おれ)俺が - Ore ga - I will

(おれ)俺が - Ore ga - I will

俺が護る - Ore ga mamoru - I will protect

(The parentheticals are furigana used as a pronunciation guide.)

Now do you see a single instance of “her” or “she” in this dialogue, particularly when it comes to the final line of “I will protect”? No, you don’t. Because it’s not there. It was never there until a biased translator inserted it into the dialogue. I’m not alone in this analysis, by the way.

Quite some time ago, @kodoku-no-maria​​ did a wonderful analysis about Ichigo’s instincts (”Mistranslations that Created the IH Fandom”) that also covered this (using anime quotes instead) and came to a similar conclusion. It’s a great post and you should read it. 

This isn’t the post she mentions in hers, but there is one done specifically of the manga by a deactivated account. You should read this post too. (This also notes other things, such as how Orihime says “Help, Kurosaki-kun!” and not “Help me, Kurosaki-kun!” so we can take it that the Mangastream / Mangareader English translation is just generally dodgy all around at this point. Which may well impact the points I made above about Orihime’s character; but I think given the events of the Xcution and TYBW arcs that it is evident she did not in fact learn anything, so I will stand by the basic thrust of them.)

Okay, so I’ve marshaled my evidence on the battle and provided corroborating analysis. (I have also reblogged all three of these posts because they’re good, although the links are to the original sources or as close to them as I could get.) 

Ichigo didn’t turn into Full Hollow Ichigo because of Orihime. She had nothing to really do with it. Great. So what?

Well, let’s now move on to my theory.

Now, you might be thinking that it is fairly obvious that all of those lines are Ichigo’s inner monologue. But I don’t think it’s so obvious. In fact, I would suggest to you that it is actually a dialogue.

On the second page, with the third panel, it suddenly zooms in to the wound in Ichigo’s torso. This notably later becomes Full Hollow Ichigo’s Hollow hole. You notice here the dialogue changes, from commands (e.g., “Stand”) to personal pronouns (e.g., “I”).

I would submit to you that the first three lines are Ichigo’s. But I don’t think the last five are. I think they belong to two other entities. Especially the last three. First, let me steal two of Maria’s highlighted panels to make a point:

So who is talking? It’s simple:

Do you really think it’s a coincidence that Zangetsu (Hollow Zangetsu) shows up wearing the exact same outfit as ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ after Tensa Zangetsu gives a speech about how:

I don’t think so. Ichigo "fell into despair and halted [his] progress" and Zangetsu, as 'Full Hollow Ichigo' is "the "source of [his] despair." (This is the same despair that Rukia noticed when Ichigo came down from the top of the dome to confront Yammy.) As has been previously pointed out in the linked posts, we see this despair on the dome after Ulquiorra’s defeat in Ichigo’s attitude. Starrdust covered these, but let’s go over them again:

He’s doesn’t seem all that shocked or concerned here, to be honest.

He’s a lot more shocked at what he did to Uryuu.

But the thing that really gets him is that he’s gone and killed Ulquiorra. That’s his despair.

This is the first time he’s out and out killed somebody. (And yeah, Ulquiorra is dead because he had his bits vaporized with a cero, not purified.)

He finally has to learn this isn’t all fun and games, that you can’t turn everyone to your side and redeem them and be friends with them afterward, as he did with Ikkaku, Renji, Kenpachi, Byakuya, and even to an extent Dordoni and Grimmjow. This is exactly what Dordoni was warning him about. This is the lesson he will be forced to learn again after weakening Aizen long enough for Kisuke’s kidou to work on him.

And it is why later, his determination to “save everyone” in the Xcution arc by cutting Ginjou down and killing him (even if he turns into a Plus as revealed in TYBW, undermining the whole symbolic importance of the act) is a big deal for his character development, and one of the few redeeming aspects of that arc: it shows that Ichigo learned a lesson from this fight: sometimes to protect you have to kill.

And who taught him that lesson? Zangetsu.

Who was speaking in the 4th and 5th lines in that transformation sequence? My bet is “Zangetsu” (Quincy Zangetsu) or Tensa Zangetsu. And who was speaking in the 6th, 7th, and 8th lines? Zangetsu.

What was Zangetsu protecting? Ichigo. That’s his instinct. That’s all he cares about protecting, just like Tensa Zangetsu. He sure the fuck wasn’t protecting Orihime or Uryuu. And the mask of ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ is there to protect those instincts. And the mindless rage of ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ is Zangetsu’s rage at Ulquiorra for trying to kill Ichigo.

We of course know from much later, in TYBW, that zanpakutou spirits aren’t some separate entity from the wielder, but are the wielder (hence why we go from “The Blade and Me” to “The Blade IS Me”) which Ichigo will affirm in the reforging of his into the “two Zangetsus.” So this can ultimately be read as self-preservation instinct. These are the aspects of Ichigo that were willing to do what he himself consciously wouldn’t in order to stay alive.

(Also, Uryuu was an idiot and wrong to stop Zangetsu as Ulquiorra still clearly constituted a threat, so he frankly got what he deserved, if a bit harshly.)

In summary, not only did the fight above the dome in Las Noches not have anything to do with protecting Orihime, but it was entirely about Ichigo’s character development and relations with the personifications of his powers, and everyone has been reading it completely fucking wrong for years and years.

If you don’t know, now you know.

[michellejgaskill]

10 Ways to Better Understand Your Husband

I’m sure you are aware of the ways you and your husband differ in your background and personalities. You may also have different ideas about how to spend your evenings, what kinds of movies you each prefer to watch, and what your ideas of an adventurous weekend would look like. But when you add to the mix their uniquely male qualities, it surely could be a case for your girlfriends that your husband is from a different world than you are.

1. Remember he's a man.

This should go without saying. Yet, I’m amazed at how many women expect their husbands to be just like their girlfriends and talk about everything, listen intently, and “go deep” with their feelings. Men are not wired for “chick chat” and the biggest mistake wives make is interpreting this to mean their husbands don’t care. Well, they don’t. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.

You can understand your man better when you realize he approaches life differently, tending to focus more on the detail of fact, while you tend to focus more on feelings. While you tend to ask for help, advice and directions, he often will not. When you offer sympathy, he offers advice and analysis, and while you desire to understand problems, he is driven to solve them. Instead of thinking If only he’d be more sensitive, or If only he’d be more interested in what I l like, try changing your perspective to I appreciate the way he brings balance to our marriage

2. Realize his need for respect.

Countless studies have affirmed that a man would rather feel respected than loved. While women long to be cherished, loved, and pursued, there’s a sense in which a man can live without love. It’s respect he can’t live without.

It’s interesting to note that in the Bible, husbands are commanded to love their wives. And wives are commanded to respect their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-33). Have you ever thought about why a woman isn’t commanded to love her husband in return? We are commanded throughout the Bible to love one another, and that includes our husbands. But when it comes to this passage, which speaks specifically about the marriage relationship, God apparently knew a woman desires more than anything else to be loved and a man desires more than anything else to be respected. God must have known that as we respect our husbands, we are demonstrating love to them in a way they can more easily see and appreciate.

3. Recognize his need to succeed.

Your husband is wired to be competitive, and therefore winning, succeeding and advancing are extremely important to him. If your husband feels he is in a no-win situation or is failing at something, it will show in his attitude of feeling stuck or wanting to give up. If your husband isn’t succeeding at something, he at least needs to feel like he’s winning. Let him know he is succeeding in the areas that are most important to him and to you. And if what is important to you isn’t necessarily important to him, let him know every now and then how well he is doing in that area, and it just may become an important area to him after all.

Many a man will give up altogether and go passive when it comes to parenting if you are insisting your parental skills are better. A man may stop communicating if his wife lets him know he is a failure at communication. To the contrary, if you are praising his efforts—even if at this point they are just efforts—he will likely want to continue to please you. Treat him like a winner at home, and he’ll want to be there more often. Praise him for his handiwork around the house, and you’ll find him offering to be your handyman. Encourage him and tell him how good he makes you feel in the bedroom, and he’ll be more likely to initiate intimacy. Encouragement goes a long way. And making your husband feel like a winner will make him want to be around you— especially if you’re his No. 1 fan.

4. Allow him time in his "blank

Sometimes it’s difficult for us to understand how our husbands can sit on the couch with the TV on, not particularly watching it, and not hear a word we say, nor be capable of responding. I call that my husband’s “veg box.” Some wives call it their husbands’ “blank box.” And when you ask him “What’s on your mind?” or “What are you thinking?” and he stares off into space and says “nothing”—it really is true; he’s in a “no words, no feelings” box.

Women, on the other hand, constantly have thoughts swirling around in their heads. We are continually connecting events of yesterday to situations today and drawing conclusions. Our husbands appear clueless at what we’re doing, because they are. They don’t understand how we think and we don’t understand how they can be thinking of nothing. Allow your husband to spend time in his blank box doing nothing and thinking about nothing. It’s his way of decompressing so he can come back and re-engage with his wife and family again.

5. Ask him about his dreams.

Proverbs 20:5 says “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.” You can better understand your husband when you can draw out of him his dreams and desires. When your husband has unmet dreams, it might affect how he is processing life or whether or not he is enjoying it. Whereas you and I might conclude he has a bad attitude, he may be dealing with feelings of missing out because he isn’t living from his heart.

Ask your husband what he’d love to do if time or money were no object. Give him permission to dream and don’t discount his ideas if they don’t sound practical or realistic. You can understand what makes him tick, what he secretly longs for, and even how you can share in making some of his dreams come true when you take the time to ask, learn and discover the dreams on your husband’s heart.

6. Treat him like a king, but not your God.+

There’s a difference between treating your husband with the respect and loyalty you would give a king, and depending on him like he’s your God. Many women marry with high expectations, only to be gravely disappointed shortly thereafter when they discover their husband can’t possibly meet all of their emotional needs.

Because your husband is a man, he will never be able to meet your needs for sensitivity and understanding like another woman. Because he’s not your dad, he can’t make up for what you might feel was lacking in a father-daughter relationship. And most important, because he’s not God, he can’t possibly fulfill you in every way. Instead of looking to your husband to be God in your life and fill your every need, look to God as your spiritual husband (Isaiah 54:5). There is nothing that will free up your husband to love you more than taking your emotional expectations off of him and leaving them with God. Your husband can then love you in the best way he is able, without feeling he has an impossible task in front of him. (For practical ways to live this out, see my book, Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs).

7. Acknowledge his singular focus.

Unlike women who appear to multi-task, men function better with a singular focus and they have a way of compartmentalizing their thoughts and actions. Like his ancient ancestors, your husband is, by nature, a hunter-gatherer, so it’s easy for him to zero in on—and stay focused on—a single topic (Picture a cat sitting by a window watching a bird – he doesn’t move, but is totally fixated).

As you are sensitive to this single-focus characteristic of his, it may help you understand his response—or lack of response—to you when you go from topic to topic in your conversation or are tending to “merge” the areas of your life when he prefers to keep them separate. For example, talking about finances just prior to intimacy will confuse him. If he’s in “finance mode,” he will not know how to transition well to “romance mode.” Likewise, if you are talking about the kids’ schooling problems or your aging parents’ needs while he’s trying to set up the tent on a camping trip, he will likely not respond to your words, let alone hear them.

8. Allow him sexual pleasure with his wife.

Men are designed, physically and physiologically, to enjoy sexual pleasure with their wives. Your husband wants to enjoy that activity and experience with YOU. And you are the only one he can enjoy that with and still be right and pure before his God. And he knows that, even more than you do.

In Ecclesiastes 9:9, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said this: “Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given to you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.”

King Solomon wrote a whole book on the meaninglessness of life. And among the few things he found meaningful for a man to enjoy were a good meal and pleasure with his wife. Now think about that! When you prepare a meal for your husband, isn’t it your desire that he enjoy it? Similarly, will you prepare yourself for him, physically, as his reward after dinner? God paid you quite a compliment when He gave you to your husband as your husband’s reward. God considered you a great prize to bring pleasure—in many ways—to your husband.   That should make you and I want to be our husband’s reward, not his consolation prize.

9. Accept his love for good food.

Do you ever find yourself wondering why your husband constantly thinks about food? Or how it is he can down a whole steak in minutes when all you feel like eating is a salad? Your husband, if he’s like most men, loves to eat. He’ll prefer a meaty meal to your low-calorie morsel every time! And get thisenjoying food is biblical! In Ecclesiastes 2:24, the wise King Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”

For a man to be able to sit down and enjoy dinner—or a hearty, messy barbecue lunch—is one of the ways God rewards him for his work here on earth. So let him eat. And don’t knock him when he does. It’s one of the simple pleasures in life he was designed to enjoy.

10. Be patient as his priorities shift with age.

Your husband typically values different things at different seasons of life. In his 20s and 30s, he may prioritize making money and advancing his career because he is in his prime “provider/achiever” mode. When he approaches his 40s and 50s, he may be more concerned about making his life count and not “wasting time” doing something that doesn’t matter in the long run. When he reaches his 60s, he may value slowing down to enjoy life or attempt ambitions or “bucket list” items now that he has more time.

Keep in mind, though, that even when his priorities shift with age, he’s still the same man you fell in love with and married. His priorities just change through the years, as do yours.

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[arolla-pine]

I, Marinette - p.2

(2) – Physics

I left the Dupain-Cheng bakery in a hurry. Of course, I had to hug Tom who gave me some pastries for brunch. I thought he’d crushed all my bones while he hugged me but surprisingly I was OK. I suspected I was protected by one of the rules of this unreal universe.

Traffic lights stopped me for good, so I had to run as fast as I could to get the school on time. Somehow, I managed to enter the François Dupont courtyard at the moment of the school bell ringing.

“Here you are!” I heard somewhere around.

Alya.

Of course.

How could it be otherwise?

“Hi…” I breathed.

“We’d better hurry up, because I’d prefer not to be examined in physics.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s better not to be noticed…” I nodded and reminded myself to sit quiet and not to put Marinette into trouble.

Alya ran towards the class, and I followed her astonished with her red hair which was quite impressive. If we were to stage “Harry Potter, she should get Hermione’s part. Wait a minute! Had I just thought “if we were…”? It looked like I got into character too seriously…

When we entered the classroom, the teacher wasn’t there yet. Lucky me! I forgot to feel relief, because I was too shocked. Sweet mother! The Mrs. Mendeleiev classroom! A real laboratory – if you could use the word “real” in relation to a cartoon… I could see students sitting at desks – all Miraculous characters with Chloe Bourgeois in a front row. She was watching me with a wry smile on her face. What a masterpiece of pride and disgust! I felt like writing a story with her as a main character! I checked the rest of students and when I noticed lack of Lila Rossi, I sighed with relief. She was the only one that I would be afraid of.

I saw Nino and Adrien smiling. Right…

“Marinette…” Alya whispered significantly.

Oh, God! I was standing in the centre of the classroom and staring at people! What a blunder! I felt that my cheeks became red, so I lowered my head and rushed to my place. I couldn’t miss Chloe’s snort:

“Clumsy-Cheng…”

I should definitely write a story about Chloe. And that would be my first angst ever! With the main character’s death. That perspective helped me right away.

“I thought you wouldn’t make it!” Nino started, because Mrs. Mendeleiev hadn’t come yet.

“I was waiting for Marinette…” Alya explained. “You have to leave home earlier, girl! You’re always late!”

“I couldn’t get rid of my parents…” I muttered. “Too much hugs…”

Alya looked at me astonished, Nino cleared his throat uncomfortable. I kicked myself virtually. Marinette was never mocking, especially when it came to her parents!

“I think your parents are the best!” Adrien said, glancing at me with a smile.

So, here he was! A golden boy with green sparkles in his eyes. And with a loving smile for his “just a friend”… Riiight…

At first, I was surprised that I didn’t faint or something like that. Oh, come on! I was looking at the love interest of half of school. Forget a school! Of half of the city! And I felt nothing. Zero. Then I remembered that I’m older than them. And my heart was already taken for good. So, there was nothing weird in me not falling for him. Yet, I realised that if I stayed here for long I could unintentionally ruin Adrienette ship. Actually, I could ruin the whole LoveSquare…

“They’re the best!” I replied to Adrien, hoping that my friends would forget my previous comment. I had to be more careful!

The teacher finally entered the classroom, so we had to end our conversation. I felt relief and stress at the same time. On one hand, I could relax because pretending Marinette in front of her best friends wasn’t easy at all. On the other hand, I became anxious about the classes because I was unprepared.

“Today we’re going to talk about the Solar System!” Mrs. Mendeleiev announced.

I couldn’t believe how lucky I was! I always loved tv programmes about the space, I had some books about it at home. When I had been at school I took part in some contests. So, even if I was questioned I should be able to answer correctly and Marinette wouldn’t get a bad grade. I could relax…

Too early… The teacher began her lecture in so boring way, that after five minutes half of students fell asleep. How could she kill such an interesting topic?! I’d bet I’d be better! But I stayed quiet, because I remembered to stay invisible. I needed to be extra patient because Mendeleiev’s lecture frustrated me more and more…

Finally, the teacher realised that her students didn’t listen to her at all, so she changed the tactics. She decided to start asking questions to activate the students.

“Who knows which planet of the Solar System has a rotation in the opposite direction to the rest of planets?” she asked with a smile like she found some extra news for us.

“Venus…” I mumbled, knowing the answer before she finished her question.

“Very well, Miss Dupain-Cheng!” the teacher was impressed.

I caught Alya’s surprised glance and heard some whispers behind my back. I remembered that Marinette wasn’t good in physics. My bad… I liked this subject.

“Venus is a very interesting planet because Venusian year is shorter than Venusian day.” Ms. Mendeleiev continued.

I focused on staying quiet and on keeping my knowledge for myself. I still forgot that I was older than the rest of students (and a nerd by the way)… Thankfully, I heard Chloe’s snort that reminded me that fact:

“Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! A year shorter than a day?!”

‘Poor girl…’ I sighed to myself. ‘Do you have any idea what means a year or a day?’

“Who knows what means a year and a day for a planet?” Mrs. Mendeleiev asked.

Geez! I wanted to start chewing my desk! Suddenly, I understood why Hermione Granger had to answer every teachers’ question. ‘Please, let someone say something…” I prayed. I was too old for school!

“A day is time needed to rotate about its axis, and a year is time needed to orbit the Sun.” Adrien answered and I could relax.

“Perfect, Mr. Agreste!” the teacher was satisfied. “So, Venus rotates about its axis longer than it orbits the Sun. As you can see, this planet is unusual among the Solar System planets. Do you know how many planets we have in the Solar System?”

I thought I couldn’t be more frustrated, but I was wrong. I started drawing the Solar System in my tablet just to stay quiet. This lesson was like a nightmare!

“Eight.”

Adrien. Again. Thank goodness, this boy had some extra classes after school. The teacher had a partner for a discussion. And I didn’t eat myself…

“For many years the scientists believed that there were nine planets in the Solar System.” Mrs. Mendeleiev continued. “However, after some research they decided to exclude one from this list. Does anyone know…?”

“Pluto…” came out from me, before I realised. ‘That’s what happens when I’m frustrated…’

“Perfect!” The teacher didn’t try to hide her surprise, and I could congratulate myself on being an idiot.

At that moment we heard a school bell. No one stood up nor collected their belongings. Apparently, Mrs. Mendeleiev – not a school bell – announced the end of classes.

“For the next time all of you will prepare a paper about one of the Solar System planets. Miss Dupain-Cheng and Mr. Agreste don’t have to write anything because they proved their knowledge during the lesson. The class is dismissed!”

After this announcement everyone began gathering their tablets. I followed the example. By the way, I heard Chloe complaining to Sabrina:

“It’s not fair that Dupain-Cheng doesn’t have to write the paper! She didn’t answer any question only mumbled something under her breath. Besides, how did she know that? I’m sure she was cheating! Or Adrien told her! Why didn’t you prompt me, Adrikins?” she asked the boy.

“I didn’t prompt Marinette.” Adrien replied and turned to me: “I didn’t know you like astronomy.”

Damn it. I was sure that Marinette knew as much about the Solar System as about Cat Noir’s identity! Why hadn’t I sat quiet?! Come on, Lena! Say something! You’re intelligent, I heard…

“I don’t know… Recently I’ve seen a programme about the space. So, probably I remembered something…”

“That’s what I call being lucky!” Nino commented when we left the classroom. “You don’t have to write anything… Alya? Do you know what planet you want to write about?”

“I suggest Venus and Mars for you two.” I said, before I bit my tongue.

“Why those?” Alya asked surprised.

“W-well… it’s been said that women are from Venus and men are from Mars…” I stuttered.

“Who’s said that?”

“I don’t know… Some people?”

“I’m taking Mars!” Nino yelled. “Which one is it?”

Geez! What did they teach those kids?! I focused on being silent, because Marinette couldn’t become an expert in physics overnight.

“Maybe you should check in books?” I suggested.

“Google is faster.” Alya ignored my stupid comment. “The question is if Professor Mendeleiev will accept a paper about Venus. You know, we talked a lot about it today, so… Yeah… I should take something else. What planets are there?”

“Earth…” I mumbled.

The three friends froze and stared at me in amazement. I felt uncomfortable. I looked around and noticed that luckily there was no one next to us.

“I… I mean… You know… Earth is one of the Solar System planets, isn’t it?” I explained uneasy.

“You’re so right, Marinette!” Adrien laughed and broke the spell. “How’s it possible I didn’t thing about the same?!”

“But you don’t have to write a paper…” I reminded.

“Nevertheless… I’ve started thinking about which planet I would choose. And I didn’t think about Earth at all! Brilliant, Marinette!”

“Thanks…” I mumbled and smiled embarrassed.

Adrien’s words only made me aware how far from my plan of being invisible I was. Instead of sitting quiet I turned Marinette into a physics genius! I could sum up the first lesson as Miss Dupain-Cheng with one word: a failure.

—

I, Marinette - p.1  <-  Previous part  |  Next part ->  I, Marinette - p.3

[bledmagic]

**the following is no way indicative of direct rp interactions & is solely referring to the personal canon to idrylla. if your muse wants to refer to the closeness of one of the companions listed here by all means, unless you are holding another rper muse in mind as that connection is different & not based upon these by the interactions idrylla & that muse has had. however if you would like to base interactions on these descriptions with your muse def lemme kno & we can plot on this further !

idrylla is not the only focus of the story, they are one of many that line the cast of our main tale & the interactions between idrylla & these characters drive the story forward or back. as the game still rests within the area of early access & there are hints from datamining of future companions this list is not complete nor is it going to contain anything proper beyond act 1 in terms of connections. with the previous statement said, here is each of our companions & the relationships held with idrylla as per the canon to their character & me. **i will note if i have romanced a npc like this, as the game is in early access n just like in who’s line is it anyway the choices n points dont matter there is no canon romance for idrylla at this moment in time. 

LAE’ZEL: idrylla has very few memories of the nautilus. their capture, their containment, & the escape itself is somewhat of a blurry mess. what they do remember is lae’zel. they remember her face, her struggling, her escaping that pod. they saw the moment the mind flayer infected lae’zel & the fear held within the githyanki’s features. all of this is unspoken between the two, but for idrylla it’s spurned a lot of emotions that have boiled down to pushing idrylla to get close to lae’zel & be quite defensive of her with strangers( shadowheart can make a few insults as a treat, lae’zel in return can make some serious threats in return as a treat ). it is with the first weeks of travel idrylla can be found hanging out along side lae’zel like a safety net, finding the familiarity of their escape as a bridge to base a friendship upon. despite that link that idrylla has tied between them they find lae’zel absolutely delightful in every way possible & considers lae’zel probably the closest friend idrylla has had in years, the honesty lae’zel shows in the most blunt way a refreshing change from the passive aggressiveness of the wizards guild peers. beyond all this, lae’zel is also the first githyanki has ever known & has prodded the poor warrior with a multitude of questions to absorb the info like a weird elf sponge, even going out of their way to learn on their own & ask lae’zel about later on. idrylla holds lae’zel’s opinon in high regard & often will ask her or look to her for her advice & even if not followed takes it in consideration. anyways they are best friends. ( lae’zel: we are not ‘friends’ / idrylla: you’re right. we are best friends, pal. / lae’zel: tch. ) **lae’zel has been romanced 

SHADOWHEART: while idrylla did try to save shadowheart from her pod, idrylla also has particularly failed at every turn to get shadowheart to even attempt to trust them. traditionally anyway. since the common ground of the parasite & needing to team up & trust each other has failed to get shadowheart to loosen up, idrylla has taken the approach to just be a utter nuisance to shadowheart. often chiding the other with jokes or teases, stirring up trouble between shadowheart & lae’zel, forcing shadowheart to go talk to people at parties( notable example is when idryl forced shadowheart to dance with them at the big fun tiefling celebration party in which shadowheart was so emabrassed she probs would have died on the spot if she wasnt actually having fun the whole time ), etc etc. shadowheart stresses idrylla out, so tightly wounded & clearly bothered by something that is clearly at times more dire than the worm in their brain. it activates idrylla’s older sibling mode near instantly as often the fussing of the other reminds idrylla very warmly of their younger siblings, one being very similar to the uptight cleric. when shadowheart does breakdown some of those walls & reveals her religious beliefs idrylla presents themselves as very accepting. while agnostic themselves, they do make a point to show they hold no ill will to shadowheart & support them, but more importantly wants shadowheart to learn to rely on them from then on to be more honest about anything. it’s after this shadowheart tends to be less antagonistic toward idrylla. but only a little less.

WYLL: idrylla noted early on that the “”””stone”””” that rests in his socket has a heartshaped looking pupil & annoyingly( to everyone except wyll himself ) calls him hearteye. as a baldurian they are very well versed in knowing the various tales & stories of the blade of frontiers. wyll is idrylla’s favorite drinking companion & the two get along like a pair of bros in a budding bromance that will make the fans go crazy. wyll holds a hard sense of justice that idrylla tends to think of a buzzkill at times, but does value the pull of morality his chiding holds considering her own moral standing at current is fuzzy at best. she does truly worry about how skiddish he tends to be about his guarded secrets & once learning upon the truth they promise to aid them in his quest to save his ‘totally not devil girlfriend’ & when wyll protests about such a title idryl simply responses ‘oh no i totally get it, hearteye.’ with a laugh & wink. idrylla also has wyll teach them the use of the blade, taking those teachings & applying them to their learnings of the staff as a weapon vs a channel for magic. often one can see them sparing in camp on down time. wyll is also the only one of the companions who gave idrylla a proper condolence when idrylla’s less than tragic backstory is revealed to the the companions, to which idrylla who was properly touched thanked him with a hand to their heart & a ‘aww, thanks man. you’re a real one.’

ASTARION: idrylla is far softer on astarion than they should be & they will deny it. usually such a judgement of letting astarion getting away with ( in most cases, literally ) murder is preceded by a loud groan or sigh. it’s not that idrylla wants to dull astarion’s sparkle, but more of a general worry. the more idrylla learns of him, the more & more they just feel bad( astarion: i rather be spared of pity, thanks / idryl: it’s not pity. i don’t pity you its just. well hearing that shit that happened to you ? makes me sick, man. horrible things to go through. makes me want to hit something. ). but the primary worry is what will happened to their newfound friend once the parasite is extracted, will astarion burn up in the sun ? prevented from hanging out with them at bars ? will they not be able to find something for him to eat on the journey they set on ? idrylla has no real way to comfort astarion in the face of his past & it makes them uncomfortable. all that can be offered is a arm about his shoulder & a ear to listen.  beyond all this, however, the two get along disturbingly well. idrylla’s current fuzzy moral standing & general pull to do really stupid things setting a stage for the two of them to act in their own chaotic fashion. the two make comments with each other that would make people wonder if they share a braincell. idrylla often pulls lae’zel into their shenanigans much to her dismay. the fact that astarion is a vampire spawn has absolutely zero negative effect or reaction from idrylla. **astarion has been romanced

GALE: i hate these two. considering gale being a wizard busybody i have to do the most divergent shit with this mf. love this catdad, anyways here go. gale & idrylla absolutely know of each other prior to the events of the game & have a loving rivalry friendship thing going on. they have met a few times due to the wizarding guild( take in mind, this wizard guild is something im developing for idrylla & is not canonical to the game ) of which gale would visit, but is not apart of, due to his associations. the two never had a proper moment of conversation prior but are as i said, very aware of each other at least in terms of their talents in magic. so whilst there is a pre-established link between them they are without a doubt strangers. their rivalry comes out at any time magic is spoken about or knowledge thereof. a interesting change in demeanor for idrylla who, for all intents & purposes before & during the events, tended to not have a proper ambitious or know-it-all bone in their body. the two will often agree about magic or purposely disagree. they speak of other wizards & generally are capable of working together to figure out spells or something magical in puzzles. when gale says that idrylla knows nothing about the weave, it took everything in idrylla to not set him on fire. when faced with the truth about gale’s utterly stupid need to consume magic & the reason behind it, idrylla simply just starts smacking him on the arm & calling him an idiot( considering idrylla’s recent expulsion from the wizarding guild spurred on by peers that are  power hungry & would do whatever they could to get ahead, the ordeal of gale sits very heavy on idrylla. while they does apologize later & explains the why. ). over time the two have gotten less antagonistic to each other & more or less bicker for the fun of it, showing that the two have found themselves more or less comfortable with each other & in their aventures found respect in each other’s talents. so far anyway. idrylla has threatened to steal gale’s cat( in jest to make gale wig out. )