#i highly doubt that they're gonna find anyone who will want to start during the Month Of Christmas AKA Insane People Time

[binch-i-might-be]

just learned that one of the full-time register helps is leaving at the end of the month

GOD I wish that were me

[winter-sol]

Levi's characterization at the Valentine's Event and why I live for it (Spoilers)

Am I here to overthink about Levi's writing again? Hell yes I am. I guess I'm analyzing this event and his role in particular because not only I enjoyed it, but also it had so many interesting aspects to notice I needed to point them out. Now that the event is almost over, I hope I'm not spoiling anyone!

I was a little bit taken aback when I played the event and noticed how Levi centric it was. I still have no idea why they made the decision of basically make him the protagonist but you won't ever find me complaining, I love that demon.

(is this the character oriented event for him? Like we had with Satan and Barbatos? It wasn't stated as such, so I'm curious)

So, recapping a bit, a curse triggered by Beel made all the chocolates of the Devildom disappear, threatening Valentine's day. The brothers need to fix it since they're all simps and want to give us chocolate. In fact, Levi is highly motivated to fix it since he wants a special Ruri-chan chocolate (and we later find out there's more to it).

So, Levi's role starts with the Abstinence Brigade (lmao it sounds so funny), where he makes sure everyone is following the plan of not doing the things they love the most.

I won't lie, I was laughing the entire time because he was just SO ridiculous. Exactly as I love him to be. He was loud and annoying, but above that, I was actually nodding at the screen with how consistent he was.

See, if anyone ever had any doubt this guy is a military genius since his role during events is mostly having weird ideas and fanboying over any otaku stuff (*ahem*... Comic relief), I assure you it's not that much of a strange concept.

It's a simple role he had in here, but that didn't make him any less bossy and strict. For someone who's quite sensitive and self deprecating, Levi certainly has a way with how he can give himself the right to command his own brothers, and I assure you this is not the first event I remember him doing it (it's kinda old at this point, but for example the Manga event was all him ordering his brothers around to make a good manga and scolding them for doing it wrong).

He can be really insecure, but when he knows he's right he's very stubborn and you won't convince him otherwise unless you can prove there's a better way or someone more competent to do it.

Now, moving on.

We find ourselves with the two routes. The normal one has this interesting dialogue, with Barbatos pointing out Leviathan had this piece of knowledge that could work out. I shit you not, I laughed at how Levi was once again relevant because there were at least 6 other characters that could've taken that role.

When did he even mention that? Lmao. Who cares, the guy has already been carrying the entire event on his back.

So ok, we all got to see he was particularly invested in fixing this situation, looking for solutions and having an active role. But that doesn't stop here.

The neutral route is saved thanks to Diavolo, Barbatos and Simeon and, yay!, everyone gets their little chocolate gifting scene if that's what you chose.

But still, the goddamn route still has an ending scene with him particularly. WHY. That was a surprise, but not as much as...

The unlockable route 🔑

So the story has moved and nothing worked from the original plan. Mc and Beel head to the cafeteria at night after hearing a rumor about an evil spirit appearing there at 3am. Turns out it was... Levi. Levi trying to cook chocolate because he needs to fix everything and restore chocolate in the Devildom.

I'm not gonna delve into Levi's growing as a character, romantically speaking, because I believe it's pretty noticable to anyone. He's not as much as a hater as he was before, and since he's in love, he actually appreciates Valentine's day now. That was really cute and made my heart go doki doki, of course. But c'mon, let me talk about his bossy attitude and sassy remarks cuz I live for them.

His way of speaking is always direct and blunt, even sounding mean. But what I love about it is the fact he never intends it as a passive-aggresive personal attack. It's more like an objective take of the truth and him feeling entitled to it (man that's some extraverted thinking if you're into MBTI). It might not be to everyone's taste, but it certainly is mine lol

Moving on, not only he feels responsible, but since the plan with all the brothers failed he's actually trying to solve it himself. Since MC and Beel are helping, now he's leading and guiding what to do next.

So it kinda fails as well and Beel gets horny weird all of the sudden. So here I absolutely adored this dialogue.

Hell no, he's not going to get moody and self deprecating, he's kinda confident now you two are a thing now.

Also, Beel can kick his ass and he'll still stand strong. Man, I love a "loser" (cuz we all know he isn't) who's willing to fight for me.

But the last thing I wanna remark from this scene is how, when he needs you to prepare the antidote while he distracts Beel, if you pick the choice where you're insecure about it, he does it himself. Like, I thought he was gonna be like "you can do it!" But no, he takes the time to prepare the stuff himself. And without any bickering, he thinks fast and does it quickly.

Man, how can I not be a simp when this guy's character is so multidimensional and consistent? Yes, he's weird, loud, has crazy ideas all the time, and is always described as annoying and disgusting for being a hardcore otaku.

But damn, he's also dependable, strong and intelligent. As much as he's in his own head and his own world all the time, he's quite practical, detail oriented and good at problem solving. And as I mentioned before, this is not the first time we see him like this.

(also, have you all seen the lyrics from the song "Trigger"? The guy does a 34 seconds rap on how he's smarter than others might think, he actually sees everything, but somehow he's still insecure. fuck, his character is so coherent it's even flexing at this point)

A long time ago I made a post about my own expectations regarding Grand Admiral Leviathan, and this event is feeding me even more to believe there's so much interesting material to work with Leviathan's character. It's so funny how it starts all comic relief, but turned out to be so good he's third at the popularity contest. OM Nightbringer, I surely hope you can deliver and do justice to all this potential.

Did I write too much? Yeah, but I needed to make this analysis and appreciation post.

As always, I'm open for discussing it further or fangirling together.

Oh, and I hope you all enjoyed the valentine's event (and the real life valentine's day) 💖✌️

[go-go-devil]

⭐✨🌟!!

You want me to comment on a selection from one of fics, eh?

I thought I could easily find a paragraph or scene to talk about, but it seems my mind's been overthinking it when it comes to picking out just one scene. So instead I'm gonna give some commentary on a work that I have not discussed in any detail with anyone yet...

My Ghost fanfic, For A Divine Cause!

Although I had written fanfiction before when I was younger, it was mostly just very short stories or headcanons that I wrote in my school notebooks during study hall. This story here was not only the first "proper" fanfic I wrote, but also the first one I ever publicly published online.

At the time I was hyperfixating on Ghost and started getting back into reading fanfiction, but the problem for me was that most Ghost fics were either smut stories or had graphic sex scenes in them. As a sex-repulsed person this was disappointing but not unexpected, considering the band was known for their celebration of the act of sex and that, unfortunately, a large amount of fanfiction in general is highly sexual in nature. It was and still is a major reason why I don't read very much of it tbh.

That being said, I looked at the lack of Gen fics on Ghost's AO3 page and decided to take matters into my own hands. If there weren't any fics exploring Papa Emeritus I showing vulnerability and being supported by his little brother Terzo, then I was gonna write one myself! After four goddamn months of writing the thing while also completing my final semester for my Bachelor's degree AND during the initial wave of COVID-19, I finally uploaded the fic, got some initial praise from fans that boosted my confidence, and then moved on to writing Hylics fanfics and have not read it since.

The reason it took me so long to answer your ask was because I actually went back and re-read it, and looking back on it now...

I still like it quite a bit! However, my writing style has become so different from how I wrote it that reading it again made me realize that, at that point, I seemed to be more focused on writing in a style that I thought "fit the fanfiction writing scheme" more so than how I actually wrote, even at the time (or at least what I thought the fanfic writing scheme was supposed to look like).

Take this scene for example:

[Upon reaching the fountain, he wasted no time sitting down on one of the grey stone benches nearby, letting the cooled air envelope him as he took off his jacket. From a short distance he could see two Brothers of Sin walking along the cloister, both staring directly at him. When he met eye contact with them, they instantly turned their heads away and quickened their pace. Secondo chuckled.

“You know, I wasn’t going to say anything about the outfit-“

“Oh Belial Below, please don’t.”

“But you can actually pull it off decently, especially for someone of your age. You’d look good in some finer leather.”

Primo groaned, “I doubt I would feel any good wearing it.”

“You could have it tailored if you’re worried about tightness. I know someone who could help you with that.”]

Notice how the dialogue here is largely just their own sentences, with no descriptions on how the characters have spoken or what actions/expressions they're making. While I would write dialogue like this for a long conversation (after establishing which character is speaking the initial lines and which one's responding), I would never write conversations like this again as it comes across as too sparse in detail for me to get fully immersed.

I believe the reason I made this decision was because I saw a lot of other writers in this fandom and others write dialogue this loosely. Please don't take this to say their writing is inherently worse than mine because they choose this specific style! I'm just making a point that I was so nervous about writing public stories at the time that I focused more on what I believed other people wanted from my writing as opposed to how I wanted to write my stories.

Besides that, the one other thing I would change was how I handled Cardinal Copia's very brief cameo in this story. In the initial draft of FADC I was originally going to have Copia play the role of a minor antagonist for Primo by having him stand alongside Nihil and Sister Imperator as they criticized his poor performance in the practice concert, with Imperator not-so-subtly suggesting that perhaps the Cardinal would be a better frontman for the Ghost Project. The reason I left this out was simply because I was having trouble writing him into the scene and, just wanting to get the chapter done after a long period of writer's block, scrapped all of his scenes outside of him sitting in the front row. What can I say? Sometimes even fun fanfic writing needs to get trimmed down for the sake of the story (or in that case for my sanity lol).

The one other thing I'd like to say about this work is that I really need to add a "Autistic Papa I" tag to it. I very blatantly wrote Primo as autistic in this fic as it's one of my headcanons for him, but at the time had no idea how to properly tag a fanfiction and didn't realize that perhaps it would be a good idea to advertise my autistic character hcs so that other neurodivergent fans can enjoy!

And that's all I have to say about that one! I hope my commentary was at least a little bit interesting for you :)

[one-boring-person]

Only Traitors Consort With The Damned. (Part 13)

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: injury, blood

Context: The boys, (Y/n) and Nico formulate a plan to get out of the cave safely.

A/N: I have a new editor! It is my good friend @jawline-of-steel and she will hopefully be helping me with editing on all of my work!😊💛💛💛

Edited By: @jawline-of-steel

Masterlist

“What do we do? There’s no way out of here except through there! We’re trapped!” I say quickly, keeping my voice down as much as i can so as not to alert anyone outside of the fact that we are very close by, “Is there anywhere we can hide?”

“In here? Yeah, there is, but I’m not sure how good the hiding places are, especially not for someone as big as him.” Dwayne muses, gesturing to Nico as he turns to David with a questioning look on his face.

“All of the hallways are blocked off by debris, and any of the crawlspaces barely fit us, so it’s doubtful that he will be able to get through.” The platinum blonde responds dismissively, though his tone betrays his nerves, the idea of a team of highly trained Hunters waiting just outside the cave worrying and unnerving to him.

“How is she supposed to walk anywhere? She’s got a busted leg, remember?” Paul interjects, pointing at me.

“One of us could carry her?” Marko suggests, which draws a low growl from Nico, his protective side showing through as he tightens his grip around me, holding me tighter to his chest.

I think for a minute, during which time the other five tense up, clearly having heard something I can't, Marko and Paul starting to look even more worried. Frowning, i look around at them all, as if asking them to clarify, though none of them care to explain; instead, David jerks his head to the side, signalling for the rest of us to follow him as he leads us through a nearby tunnel, which takes us to what i assume is their sleeping quarters, Nico having to duck down the entire time as he struggles to fit his bulk in the space. As we emerge into the area, David quickly starts talking.

“The sun is gonna come up soon, so we don’t really have too much time, but I think we can help you. If one of us carries (Y/n), then she can leave through the way we get in and out of here, which isn’t accessible by foot, so it's the safest way out. As for Nico, there’s a chance we can lure the Hunters around the caves enough for him to have a clear chance at getting out of here, but it will only work if you're fast, because they'll most likely be expecting something like this to happen. There’s a safehouse a little way away, where you can stay until you can find transport, and where one of us can stay whilst the sun is out.” The vampire swiftly explains, the rest of us nodding as we take in the plan, glad that one of us is thinking rationally. 

“Hold on, why do you have a safehouse?” Nico asks, frowning in the dim light.

“Our sire made it in case anyone ever came after us.” Dwayne fills him in, before moving on again just as quickly, “Which one of us is going to carry her?”

“Paul will, he's the fastest out of the four of us, which will mean he can get to the safehouse much quicker.” David says decisively, looking to his friend for confirmation.

“I’ll do it.” The tall vampire nods, reaching out to take me from Nico, who reluctantly hands me over, giving me one last squeeze for reassurance as he passes me to the blonde.

“Hang on a sec, what about Nico? How is he supposed to know where the safehouse is?” I chip in, looking at the towering werewolf as he straightens again.

The vampires are silent for a moment, thinking the question through, clearly as stuck as I am. Eventually, Dwayne pipes up again, having thought of something.

“I guess one of us will have to go with him.” The brunette says, looking around at the others.

“Yeah, I guess that would help.” I agree, adjusting myself in Paul’s arms.

“I can do it, I'm fast enough to get out of here and into cover before the sun comes up.” Dwayne offers, looking over at Nico as the werewolf, nods appreciatively, still uneasy around the vampires, but not as much as before. 

“Ok, Dwayne will go with the werewolf. We’ll stay here and out of sight as much as we can.” David says with finality, watching us all agree before speaking again, “Alright then, let's get going, I can already hear them on the steps.”

“Alright. Thank you for doing this, you really didn't have to.” I say to them all, smiling thankfully.

“No problem, Dwayne is right. We owe you this, you’ve saved our lives too many times to count.” The platinum blonde waves me off, moving to start off into a nearby hallway. 

I go to say something, only for Nico to cut me off, gesturing for Paul and Dwayne to move off immediately, not allowing me to argue with him, as is often the case. Paul starts moving off, carrying me as he turns down a different way to the others, where there is already a cooler breeze blowing in from the sea just outside. I lean back against the vampire’s chest, tensing in his arms in trepidation as i think through the plan in my head, still nervous about what will happen to my friends whilst im gone, particularly David and Marko, who will be stuck in the cave with a bunch of Hunters ready to kill them at a moment’s notice, should they get themselves caught. Part of me is confident that they won’t, but the more rational part of my mind knows that there is a very high probability of things going badly, which will end even worse for the rest of us. 

I am snapped from my thoughts by the sound of the roaring ocean, the cave now widening out into a cavern that is filled with crashing waves, the far end ïleading to the sea itself, the horizon still cloaked in darkness despite the proximity of dawn that is fast approaching.

“You're gonna want to hold on tight.” Paul warns me, waiting for me to grip him with more force before he kicks off the ground, the disorientation that comes with his floating slightly off-putting as I become stiff in his arms.

“Hey, relax. I'm not going to drop you.” The vampire promises, before he starts to move off towards the front of the cave and out into the open. 

*

My back aches as I slouch in the chair I'm sat in, my fingers knotted together as I watch the doorway, my lip already in shreds from how much I've been biting it, every muscle in my body tense with nerves. Across from me, Paul eyes me in concern, knowing that every movement I'm making is upsetting the injury on my knee, which is throbbing painfully now, though I am ignoring it in favour of staring at the space where Nico and Dwayne should appear. 

"They'll make it, (Y/n), don't worry." The vampire tries to reassure me, though he isn't too convinced, looking just as worried and uneasy as i feel.

"I hope so." I manage back, my jaw clenched and tight, though I am doing my best to relax it.

We wait in silence again for a few moments, neither of us daring to say a word in case we miss the tell tale sounds of someone entering the safe house through the hatch in the abandoned gas station above, the actual door itself squeaky and stiff from disuse. It takes a little while, but eventually we hear it, at which point Paul moves to stand by the doorway, ready to intercept if it should be someone unsavoury, rather than the supernatural beings we are expecting. I sit up straighter, my eyes trained on the doorway, anxiously awaiting whoever it is, the heavy footsteps becoming more and more audible as they approach.

Suddenly, the familiar, lithe silhouette of Dwayne enters the candlelight, the brunette limping a little, his bare chest stained red with blood, Nico just behind him, the werewolf completely bare, his skin covered in sweat, blood and dirt. A few cuts litter his chest, though there is a wound on his shoulder where the shaft of a crossbow bolt is just visible. The German instantly comes over to me as he sees me, ignoring any pain as he chooses instead to pull me into an awkward embrace, glad to see I'm alright.

"Thank God you're ok!" He hums into my hair, pulling back to look me in the eye.

"I'm fine, Nico, though I can't say the same about you. What happened?" I respond, looking between him and Dwayne, who has sat down beside me on a different chair. 

"There were some waiting for us outside the cave. We fought them off, but we both got hurt in the process. Nico took a crossbow bolt for me." The vampire informs me, nodding thankfully at the werewolf.

"And you took a bullet for me. We are even." He responds, smiling at the vampire in his usual crooked way, moving away from me when he finally notices that he is still naked, "Are there any clothes in here that I could wear?"

"Err, yeah man, they're over there. What happened to your first ones?" Paul asks, looking a little confused.

Nico sends him an odd look, obviously wondering if the vampire is joking.

"My clothes were destroyed when I transformed."

"You transformed?!" Paul exclaims, going wide-eyed as he looks over the huge werewolf.

"It was the only way either of us would be fast enough." Dwayne cuts in, groaning as he pulls a bullet out of his shoulder with his fingers.

"Oh, right." His friend nods, going to the brunette's side to offer his aid.

Across from us, Nico roughly yanks out the crossbow bolt, growling as he does so, pulling on a shirt that is much too small for him after, knowing that the wounds will heal themselves in a little while. Once done, he moves to sit on a sofa nearby, only to come and help me up when I gesture to him that I'd like to join him. Carrying me over to the sofa, the werewolf sits down with me, placing me beside him as he leans back, clearly tired.

Tired now, I watch as Paul helps Dwayne with his injuries, the two vampires talking quietly amongst each other, clearly worried about David and Marko, who are most likely still running from the Hunters back at the cave, the two of them in great danger. Unconsciously, I let my head drop onto Nico's shoulder, my eyelids starting to droop as I start to give in to the sleep I've been fighting off all night, the perpetual warmth from his body soothing and calming to me, his arm coming up to support me as he carefully manoeuvres us so that he's lying back against the arm of the sofa, my body resting on his. In this new position I quickly feel myself start to lose consciousness, my muscles finally relaxing as I let myself fall asleep.

Part Fourteen