#idk how well I did but I like how the bat wings turned out so Ill take that as a win

[chisatowo]

A very quick random card au Rokka concept drawing since they've been living in my head rent free

[shakespeareallanpoe]

Talks With Father

Word count: Idk

Warnings: none, unless you're terrified of Bruce being a good dad 😕

Dedication: @purp1e-ph0enix & @bradshawsbaddie

_____________________

"You mention her often."

Damian turned to look at the vigilante beside him, his finely tuned senses and years of knowing his father filling in everything Batman didn't say. There was no prompt, no segway into this conversation. They were sitting in the Batmobile while the computer program inside was rebooting and nothing but comfortable silence between them only a few seconds previously. It was offered as conversation starter and Damian knew Batman wouldn't push. In his own bat-way he was telling his son he was aware- the greatest detective in Gotham City was always aware.

Damian didn't put much stock into his father's experience with relationships, and they both knew Batman wasn't offering advice. Damian could leave it there. Batman wouldn't tell anyone and his son knew he would likely never mention it again. Damian almost took it, and if it was a couple years ago he would've. But since he had joined and left the Titans, Damian had seen the effects of allowing relationships to deepen beyond the surface level his league training always taught him to maintain. Being back with the league as their leader, he saw just how inhuman they had expected him to be. Damian rarely got the genuine moments his younger self always scoffed at, and he knew his mental and emotional health wasn't benefitting from it.

It's how he found himself occasionally visiting Gotham. At it's worst it was a filthy city that reeked of crime, and never failed to have some crisis or another. Damian was a hero here. He knew he was violent and brash but that's what the city needed when the police failed. Gotham always needed him for who he was, and Damian remembered telling his father these things go both ways. He needed Gotham as well. To take a break from the league, when that world got so toxic it became hard for him to breathe. Hard to see the man in his mirror.

Only Alfred and his father knew. Of course they knew. But Batman put a great deal of effort for the sake of his son, and allowed Damian to come and go as he pleased. It was hard for the man with trust issues and severe paranoia, but a week before he passed Dick had spoken to Batman about letting Damian go. That he would fly true if he was given the chance to spread his wings. And everyone knew the bat was trying to live by his first son's final wishes.

It didn't weigh on Damian's mind for long. His relationship with his father had greatly improved, to the point that they now worked together during Damian's visits. His father already knew. And self growth could only make a person stronger for it, so why not?

"I want to know how she is. She has yet to leave my... heart."

Batman exhaled, a sign that he'd heard his son's even response. Damian never reached out to his old teammates, but he did occasionally inquire as to how they were after the spilt. Batman kept tabs on them for these moments, and while he knew little about Raven, what he did know he always shared. Despite it hardly ever being good news.

"Raven is strong. She is with Kent at the moment and doing all she can." Batman's dark voice offered.

Damian didn't hesitate. "Just because the burden is carried well does not mean it is deserved. She is innocent, suffering, and still trying to save those who are the same. Magic is the only difference between the people and their hero."

Batman knew he and his son's tendencies towards philosophical pessimism would only darken their conversation. This world was a mess and those who fought for justice rarely got justice of their own. His first son was dead. His biological son existed because someone he cared for took advantage of him without remorse. But Batman, in his heart, desperately wanted the best for the youth of his city. All the children who could have lives he never could if only he sacrificed himself in every way for his city.

Looking across the Batmobile which had 4.33 seconds left in it's update, seeing the face that looked so much like his own at the age when he was lost in his determination to become the hero his life never had, Batman smiled softly at his son. "That doesn't mean she isn't cared for."

Damian, halfway lost in his own mind, truly a mirror of his father, had no response. Raven deserved so much more. She worked so hard and never gave a sign of the pain and pressure she had to endure. This world was a mess and those who fought for justice rarely got justice of their own. Damian's oldest brother was dead. His father hated him in the beginning because he was the physical reminder of how cruel the world could be. But Damian, in his heart, desperately wanted the best for Raven. He wished he could rewrite her fate, which seemed to be carved with blood in the stars, and give her the peace she sacrificed herself for in every way for her world.

Damian eventually found his own voice breaking himself from his musings, spilling from his mouth as if it took no thought. "Please help them. Save her."

Batman nodded, his finely tuned observation filling in everything Damian didn't say. The older man silently handed his son the keys to the Batmobile and moved to get out of the driver's seat. "Damian. The things that mean the most to us are the things we sacrifice everything for. You both care for the world and one day, you have to believe that the world will give it back to you."

"Tt. That sounds like a Hallmark marathon in the Wayne Manor was finished recently." Damian shot back lightly, grabbing the keys with a grin.

"It might have been." Batman replied evenly, holding the driver's door open while his young superhero climbed in. "I expect the car in perfect shape when it inevitably returns past your curfew."

"High expectations. We'll see what the criminal underbelly of Gotham has to say about that. Could be a rough night."

Batman stood back from his car in anticipation for his youngest's depart. "Shouldn't be a problem then. But if you want your first date to be a seaside picnic on the Wayne Beach with Alfred's cookies, I look forward to seeing the Batmobile in good shape tomorrow morning."

Damian blushed- only faintly- as only a teenager talking to his father about his crush would. "Perhaps your Hallmark movies do provide a potential benefit, however miniscule and insignificant."

Batman smiled almost teasingly. "There's no need to suffer through the cinema you don't enjoy. I've already collected quite the list of romantic outing ideas I think the two of you would like."

"Father! Do not meddle with my life!" Came Damian's indignant and completely flustered response from the interior of the giant black vehicle. He didn't want to know how long his father had been collecting romantic ideas for a potential future he may have with his Raven.

Batman snorted. "Alfred's idea. Told me to put my time in the theater room to good use. Kate is the one who went out of her way to buy Raven a series of date night dresses. I believe she called them 'adorable' in her description to me. Do you think Raven would look suitable in them?"

Damian in that moment was busy thanking every god he didn't believe in that the blackout window was up to hide his scarlet face as he violently shifted the car into gear and raced out of the batcave.

Do NOT think about Raven in an adorable purple dress

Do NOT think about Raven in an adorable purple dress

[sam-loves-seb]

weely tag wednesday

thanks for the tags @energievie @metalheadmickey @deedala !

which character from any media would you like to have as a father? jed bartlet (the west wing)

if money, laws, time, and effort were no object, what animal would you want to have? probably just a cat tbh i'm not a big animal person (i think they're neat, i just don't really have the desire to own any of them)

what is your Chinese takeout order? pork fried rice and chicken fingers

what's your favourite emoji? this one: ✨

would you rather have a library, greenhouse, or home theater in your house? a home theater. a library would be sick but i read mostly ebooks so i think a theater would get more use out of me.

what childhood tv show do you think of the most fondly? Spongebob Squarepants. me and my sister used to watch this every single night with our dad when we were little, but if we wanted to stay up and watch it we had to be all ready for bed by the time it came on

what was your tumblr like when you first joined? it was a lot of reblogs of aesthetic photographs because it was 2012 and i was 14. not long after that tho it turned into a sebastian stan fan blog which is how i got my url, and over time that slowly morphed into the multi fandom madness you see today

what clothing style do you love but don't feel compelled to replicate yourself? god i don't know, my closet is a little bit of everything because i always wanna try a new style when i see it. i honestly don't think i have an answer for this one, i really do love fashion and my style is constantly changing

if you were plopped into a fictional world, which one would you know the layout of the best? i have no idea. acotar maybe? solely because i've read those books so many times? yeah i guess i'll go with that

what is your favourite piece of art? café terrace at night

do you have a water bottle? what does it look like? i have a light blue wide mouth nalgene water bottle that is covered in stickers and has two friendship bracelets dangling from the cap strap. it's giving major camp counselor vibes.

what fanfic trope is a quiet fave? look, if i go on a quiet hunt for fics tagged aftercare every now and then, that is between me and god so shut the fuck up about it

do you carry a daily bag? what does it look like? what's the weirdest thing in it? nope. i don't have an office bag bc i wfh and on the weekends i absolutely despise carrying a purse. i have one of those phone cases with card slots on the back and it holds everything i could possibly need.

if you had to ship Mickey with another Gallagher, who would it be? sexually i think it'd have to be lip, but if i could platonically ship him with someone i think i'd pick fiona. idk i just think they'd get along better than anyone would think.

what is a fanfic trope you didn't expect to like and then very much did? friends to lovers kinda snuck up on me in my adulthood. i used to be very against it as a teen, but now that i'm grown and have actually seen the trope done well in fics and in media, it's one of my favorite tropes of all time.

Do you think s11 Mickey can still carry s11 Ian? yes 100% absolutely and anyone who says otherwise is lying. (did we all see noel's s11 body? we saw the abs right? mans was ripped in the last season even tho the writers like, never showed it, and it is my personal mission to avenge this wrongdoing) i'm kidding about the lying part but yeah, he absolutely can still carry s11 ian, being able to lift his husband is the only reason he still goes to the gym

who got custody of the killing bat when they sold the house? debbie. i think carl wanted it, but he already has a gun so he gave it to debbie instead.

tagging: @suchagallabitch @gallawitchxx @callivich @michellemisfit @iansw0rld and anyone else who wants to play !

[golby-moon]

oh no I accidentally started making fakemon for the first time since my fake Fidough and Lechonk evolutions. these were designed for a few people from their discord usernames and from their own vague description of things they might wanna see

-

first up is @whitster-lizzy

I think by the end of a somewhat confusing back and forth that I was supposed to make a combo of Bulbasaur, Medusa, and poison ivy. I took inspiration from the last two, but just could not get Bulbasaur's plump little front half to look good morphed into a tail. instead, I went for more of a 'protector of the forest' thing and added a maternal vibe that Whitney kinda gives off and ended up with this. I wanted to put an emphasis on three for the three leaves of poison ivy, so even its tears (which may or may not be from sad edits and the inability to hug anything without poisoning them :(() carry that, as do the scales sporadically thrown around there. the arms became vines when I was too tired and frustrated to keep trying to redraw actual arms to get them to look right (oops) and the hair is just a mess as I'd expect vine-hair to be

-

next is @rauko-is-a-free-elf, who started this whole thing with a comment about someone mispronouncing their name as 'Rocco'

for whatever reason, I came up with an ice bird instead of something that screams 'rock type' idk why either. took inspiration from blue jays (one of their favorite birds) as well as peacocks with the tail and tried to go for sort of a crystal structure on there (along with dots that were supposed to be snow but failed to look like it) while still including the distinctive dark swoops blue jays have on their tails. the wings were supposed to be icicles and that was actually the first thing I designed rather than the head or the body. it really does make use of diamond shapes so I did try to add some rock type elements to it mostly in color scheme though maybe it would've been better without. I'm not really sure why it has a mask other than I wanted to give its face some dark lines like blue jays have but my brush was too thick to add too many little details. so mask👌

-

now we have @bleuzombie

I didn't have any sort of a prompt or direction for this one and based it entirely off of their username. I originally took inspiration from Machop in the way of body shape and went from there, developing a vaguely reptilian form somehow that looked a lot more lizard-y before the dark typing came out in the form of skeleton-bits not unlike the Cubone line. the spiky bat there is a reference to The Walking Dead ofc, which led me to develop more of a baseball vibe with the dark line under its eyes representative of the grease baseball played use to reduce glare and with the sorta long sock-like design for the feet, along with the baseball stitching pattern that doubles as what's supposed to represent the stripes like all baseball uniforms have. its hands have always looked boxing glove-y from the very first beginnings of the sketch so I just colored them to match the rest of the color scheme and oh no now it's a fighting type oops

-

now @nickelkeep

this one is also inspired by their username, which at first had me thinking about how dragons hoard coins but then somehow got turned into c a t and I don't really know why. either way I tried to keep a coin theme going (especially with its eyes, which are supposed to look like coins) while also making it a dark/fairy as sorta requested and it became a representation of the duality of cat: both angel and devil (also a twist of money being the root of evil and all that). so it got fluffy and spiky at once and now has pitchfork-themed whiskers and a few occult symbols to offset its scarf and heart motifs. I think this one was actually the first design I worked on and to the relief of everyone, I actually used a reference of a cat to get the pose right 🎉

(idk why there's a bad drawing of a nickel I think I was originally gonna make that into a background but I did decide against it in favor of making these look more like official pokemon character reference sheet things. enjoy the bad nickel anyway)

-

next one up is @anyreiart

idk what happened with this one. I don't know much about anyrei and their username doesn't inspire much in the way of fakemon (beyond a few seconds where I thought of making a sun-inspired something with the 'rei' becoming 'ray'), so I went with a theme based on what I do know, which is that they paint, along with two pictures that they sent, one of which was Gothorita (the other was for a hairstyle I think but I did steal the funky red and black checkered tie from that because reasons). going off of that, this one is supposed to look like a paintbrush with its body and its edgy anime hair, and its belt continues carrying the paintbrush motif. since I was provided with the request to make it goth, I added thick eyeshadow-esque lines under its eyes and kinda used the hairstyle from the picture while also turning it into a paintbrush that utilizes their favorite color as the paint color. carrying the gothic art idea, I tried to make its lower half (originally meant to be a blobby sort of easel shape before I changed it) into something resembling stained glass windows that was famous at the time (I got confused multiple times while making the stained glass design so it's not all that consistent uh). it was supposed to be dark type, but ended up giving off more of a ghost/fairy vibe after I realized I accidentally made it a ballerina paintbrush (oops)

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moving on to @as-lost-as-sams-shoe

this one is heavily inspired by their username, starting with the scallion, which is a kind of oniony thing. they themself actually added the 'wrapped' part to push the pun a little further, which made me think of Swadloon and its cozy little leaf blanket, which naturally led to the scallion with its massive head and slimmer body (to match the shape of an onion more than a scallion admittedly) to be all wrapped up. scallions have leaves that look like they were cut straight across, which lead to the development of its 'bangs' (which was also inspired by the fact that scallions themselves grow underground and only the leafy parts are seen, adding a 'shy' element) as well as the tassels along the bottom of its leaf-wrap. the lines along its body are made to represent both the rings inside of an onion as well as the word 'rapscallion,' which is a term that can be used to mean villain or bad guy, earning it prison-esque stripes. its eyes are massive as a play on onions making people cry, and the smaller parts of its eyes that I can't remember the names of are based off of onion rings. the skull and crossbones shape is just to make it pirate-y, which is what I can't not picture when I read the word 'rapscallion' for one reason or another

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and finally @zybynarx, who gets a finished one as well as a sketch I scrapped and started anew

I actually had a lot to work with for this one, as they specifically asked for a fire type puppy pokemon. first instinct is ofc to go for a dalmatian, which is the firehouse dog or whatever, and I wanted to make the lower half black as a reference to that scene from 101 Dalmatians where they coat themselves in ashes to appear completely black. I made some firefighter-y stripes and tried to make its back legs look almost like boots which looks, in a couple of word, super weird. I then added tinder fluff on head and a kindling sort of thing on the neck, but when I tried to develop the back half's design, my brain sorta died and I couldn't decide what to do, so I went back to the drawing board fully intent on making like a complete copy of what I'd already tried

instead I ended up with this personification of tinder that's just all fluffy all the way down instead of the almost lion mane of tinder design I was originally picturing. I carried over the themes of adding firefighter stripes to allude to a firefighter's jacket as well as the kindling collar thing the other one had. I kept the bottom half black but made it more like wispy smoke than ash that trails behind it when it moves (which is a lot because puppy). the eyes are two pieces of coal and the nose is supposed to look like a match but doesn't. it looks very fluffy but is probably too squirmy to make a good lapdog. it just has that squirmy ball of energy vibe to it

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whether people really like these or not, it was definitely a learning experience, and I did pick up on a lot of things to keep in mind for future fakemon designs (particularly not to overcomplicate things and go more for consistency, which I did not originally do as I wasn't planning on make them into character sheets at all and didn't plan beyond the main drawings of the fakemon)

this craziness is a result of the @deancasanimebang (which is still accepting artists until October 1st :0)

(08/28/23)

[reborrowing]

this silly vampire idea kept rolling around my head so that's how I chose to spend my free time tonight. it's not really edited or polished, to the point where idk that I'd even call it finished, but here it is anyway. will I develop it more or will this get it out of my system? who knows.

I was very fuzzy, very suddenly.

No, not me. Or, I was, but...that was normal, I think, it was... My thoughts. My thoughts were fuzzy. Indistinct. I couldn't think straight, I wasn't—where was I?

I'd been flying. I didn't want to spend any more time on the ground in this wretched city than They required of me, I remembered that well enough.

They?

I was they, wasn't I? A swarm of me, of bats, or...

What city?

It was dark, even darker than I liked, and a frigid mist hung overhead. I went to push to my feet but not of my limbs would cooperate. My chest burned.

Why did it hurt? Had I been attacked? Were there hunters in this mystery city? Was I dying?

My heart raced, whatever the cause. But before I could solve any of my worries, the light disappeared and something went to smother me.

~

I really would do anything to put off writing that report.

Not that I was doing this to procrastinate, of course, I was being a good person. I'd been out for a late-night walk (not procrastinating—I needed that candy as a focus incentive) and found a bat crawling across the cold pavement about a block from my apartment. Even without getting too close, I could tell it was pretty badly injured. Its left wing was crumpled and out of sync with the rest of its movements.

What kind of asshole would I be if I left it there like that?

A dozen warnings about rabies echoed in my head, but none quite loud enough to give me more than a moment's pause. I used my hoodie to catch it. It didn't seem to struggle much and once I got it wrapped up, it gave up completely. I wanted to think that it knew I was trying to help it. Mostly I hoped it hadn’t died in my hands before I even had a chance to call the wildlife center.

I dumped a scattering of clutter out of a closet shoebox, swearing to myself that I’d deal with the mess later, and gently placed the bundled-up bat inside. I tentatively pulled back one edge of my sweatshirt to steal a look at the little guy. It was breathing, at least, if not conscious.

The wildlife center told me I’d (more or less) done the right thing so far, and told me to drive it down there as soon as I had the chance. I turned off the car radio for quiet as suggested, but couldn’t help whispering reassurances to the little guy as I drove. I guess it wouldn’t understand me, even if it were awake to hear me, but the silence in the car unnerved me otherwise, especially as I left the bright lights of the city for the preserve on the outskirts.

Inside, a friendly-looking man took the box off my hands. He didn’t tell me to stick around, but he didn’t tell me to leave either, so I stayed. I had other things I didn't want to do, after all, and it would be nice to know what was going to happen to the bat.

I wasn’t expecting to get my box back, but the man stepped back into the lobby with it tucked beneath an arm. His smile looked forced now, as he thrust the shoebox back to me.

“Ma’am, we’re very busy here. I don’t know what you were thinking, but please, don’t waste our time,” he said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I opened the box and fell silent. The bat was gone. It had been replaced with a small, pale doll. 

“Is this some kind of joke?” I asked.

“Like I said, we’re very busy. If there’s nothing I can actually do for you…?”

I put up a hand and apologized for…I didn’t entirely know what I’d done here, but there was clearly no injured bat for him to help me with. I closed the box and awkwardly shuffled back out to my car to try and figure out what had just happened.

~

When I next woke, my head was clearer.

I was sure that I’d been captured by some manner of capture because God almighty, that light was blinding. No reasonable vampire would ruin a room with such a miserable lamp, save those few with a soft spot for their thralls’ visual needs. 

I was still blinking back tears to try and adjust to the artificial blaze when someone scoffed and the light disappeared altogether. An unknown force threw me to the ground. I tried to collect myself several times before I realized the room itself was shaking, at which point I simply settled into the fleece around me as comfortably as I could and waited for the chance to face my attacker.

There was an especially rough quake that shoved me up against the wall, and then the earth was still at last. I flinched as a sliver of light appeared overhead only to be mercifully bathed in moonlight. 

I didn’t recognize where I was, not even what sort of building this might be. The ceiling was distant and carpeted. There were windows all around, as if we were in a poorly shaped dome. Even the box I’d been transported in was strange. The wood was unnaturally smooth and I saw no hinges for the top side that had been pulled away.

As I was considering the low wall before me, a cloud passed over the moon and cast me in shadow. At least, I assumed that was the source until she gasped. I twisted to face the noise and gasped back. A massive woman, larger than some buildings, gawked down at me and at once, the pieces fell together. I had been not only captured, but cursed. I doubted I would be more than a half foot tall, were I to measure.

Her scent engulfed me as she leaned even closer, intoxicatingly sweet. The steady rhythm of her heart was near enough it almost enthralled me. I wanted her. And I would have her. But first, my dignity.

I opened my mouth to demand she turn me back and release me, or, if she couldn’t, return me to the one who could. I intended to order her to serve me as I deserved. The words died in my throat. 

My charm, my magic didn’t even make it that far. I needed to see my victims’ eyes if I wanted to bewitch them and I couldn’t bear to meet hers. I faltered after less than a half a second. but her whiskey stare combined with the sheer size of the behemoth looming over me was too much, too intense. My knees buckled; I was as helpless in her gaze as she ought to be in mine. 

“What are you?” she whispered.

[murderchonk]

Ahh so idk if yk but there’s a very cool DnD-esque Spooky Month Fantasy AU on the go by @666melvin666 ! You should check it out! :D

Here is a little short I wrote about their Dragon!Frank meeting lil Elf!Flutter

⚠️ Warning for ONE suggestive bit?

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨🐉🧝‍♀️✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Frank had sought out a healer in a quiet land away from the last town he’d decimated. He couldn’t believe his luck coming upon one in such a secluded place. A little elf with healing magic and soft eyes.

Frank has a problem. During his vengeful rampage he’d lost a scale in a rather important place that had left him quite vulnerable. No, heh, not there. It was under his left arm. If an arrow were to pierce him there it could reach his heart and it would be the end of him. Dragons were long lived beings and their scales grew slowly, and given the mob of angry townsfolk currently crawling out of the newly formed smoking crater he’d made and howling for vengeance upon him, he simply did not have time to wait.

The little thing wasn’t even 5 feet, less than a mouthful in his true form. As it was, his human form loomed over her when he had approached. His shadow falling across her books and causing her to look up at him with wide eyes the green of the forest. She didn’t scream, surprisingly, but uttered a soft gasp as if she’d pricked her finger on a thorn. How apt, for something wicked had indeed come her way.

The elven woman sat very still in the grass in a bundle of green skirts, the way her ears twitched reminded him of a rabbit and low chuckle rumbled out of him, causing a visible stir within her. She hadn’t run away though, that was a start. If he focused he could hear her little heartbeat pounding in her chest. But he could not smell any fear on her.. something else maybe? Lavender..peaches..old books..and..? He cleared his throat, his wings popping up. Well he hasn’t expected that.. just what had she been reading anyway?

While he’d been studying her, she had been doing the same to him. He was probably the biggest dragon Flutter had ever seen. If he wanted to eat her, he surely would have done so by now? Not that there was much she could do about it if he decided to. She’d been so engrossed in her reading she hadn’t heard the leathery flap of his wings until he touched down a few feet in front of her. His presence and sheer size were unexpected, but what she found most startling about him were his features. Not the horns or the tail, not the wings that any bat might die of envy upon encountering. No, it was his face. His strong, angular jaw, the heavy brow shadowing the drowning darkness of his eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. The set of his mouth, how soft his lips seemed where they met his teeth.

But perhaps what was most striking about him was his sadness. The pain that was etched into his expression, how he moved like he’d been wounded by something she could not yet see. It made her chest ache and as a reflex, she had reached out her hand to him. And it was his turn to softly gasp.

Her hand was small and delicate, like a doll’s in his. Gentle fingers that took hold of him. He could feel her magic when she brushed his palm, it tingled pleasantly as he helped her to her feet. Still so small. He crouched down, hoping she would not take it as an insult, it seemed more rude to simply pluck her from where she stood and hold her up to his level, so he attempted to come closer to hers. She did not retreat as he grew nearer, though perhaps she got pinker? She could feel the heat of dragon fire emanating from him, when he spoke she smelled the smoke on his breath. One deep inhale and he could toast her like a marshmallow where she stood. But she bet her life he wouldn’t. At least, not just now.

He had explained his predicament and she had gladly agreed to help him. Fixing his armour had gone well. He had transformed at her request and she had gingerly climbed up him to reach the part of him that he had lost. Flutter could not help but marvel at his scales. Iridescent and harder than diamonds, when the light struck them they held infinite shades of blue that took her to the ocean she had only seen in her dreams. The 30 foot dragon had shivered at the little elf’s touch against his vulnerable skin. Her hands were soft and she had used them with tenderness and care. It was an honour to be trusted like this, few people ever saw a dragon under their armour, let alone got to touch. The both of them had tingled where their edges met that day. Him as the soft light of her magic flowed and ebbed through his skin. Skin that was incredibly sensitive as it seemed, for dragon’s hides were so rarely exposed this side of death. And her at being allowed to touch something so special, so fragile and dear. If he had been able to see her eyes, they were wet with tears as she worked, so moved was she. “Silly, soft little crybaby elf”. She internally chided herself. But her heart felt full and it enhanced her magic. Once the task was completed and she could see the new scale starting to form, as delicate and beautiful as a newly hatched butterfly’s wing, she had sealed the spell with a tender little kiss. The sound that it drew from Frank had surprised them both. Flutter had not known dragons could make such a noise.

Flutter fixed him potions to aid in the speed of calcification, so that his armour might be complete sooner. He was huge. He was powerful. He was hurting and had a target on him and she wanted to keep him safe.

She had confounded him somewhat by not wanting any gold though. For a dragon this simply did not compute, Frank was not sure he has heard her right. Jewels then? Perhaps an emerald to match her eyes? He had several in his horde the size of her head. Oh how she had blushed! And how pleased he was to see it. It had sounded corny in his head, but her reaction gave him confidence. Maddeningly though, she had not wanted jewels either. He had thrown his hands up in frustration, snorting smoke and sending little sparks dancing through the air. Flutter had giggled then, for she would not be cowed by what was- in her eyes- such an endearing display.

“What, then? What would you have as payment from me?” Frank was vexed, exasperated. He could not for the life of him understand her reluctance to accept wealth. But neither could he stand to leave a debt unpaid.

“Promise you’ll come back, so I can see how you’re healing?”

Flutter answered his question with a question.

Frank exhaled a plume of bluish smoke in mild frustration. As far as he was concerned the scale had been replaced, it would harden and then he’d be back to being damn near invincible.

But it wasn’t just the scale she was talking about. Flutter had felt his pain when she’d touched him. She could still feel it, quietly searing her under her fingernails. It burned so cold and she knew if she let it, this pain might freeze his heart. Ice has no place in a dragon’s heart.

“Please?” She implored, taking one of his large, clawed hands in both of hers tentatively.

Frank felt something catch, his breath? Something in his throat? It hitched as he was caught off guard like this. A low, sulky rumble emanated from the dragon as he pouted, although it was hard to tell with those fangs unless you were really paying attention.

Flutter was and she suppressed a giggle.

“Very well..” Frank regarded her with mild irritation, but mostly curiosity. Strange little thing she was. His brow arched as he noted she still held his hand in hers. It was so warm.. a different heat altogether from the inferno of dragon’s fire. More like sunshine? He puzzled, swallowed, suddenly feeling a little restless.

“I will return so you may check up on your patient.”

Yet her hand lingered!

“No more than a moon’s time, please?” Flutter’s gaze was clear and startlingly intense, her concern was obvious, but he fancied there was a flicker of something else in there too? Something that made the dragon’s tail twitch involuntarily and drove up his core temperature.

“Yes!” He huffed, trying to roll his eyes and shrug off the feeling.

“Promise?” Her expression had softened as her grip loosened. He found he missed that touch already.

Frank relaxed his shoulders and gave her a very toothsome, but tired smile. It might have been terrifying under different circumstances, but it got her smiling back at him and he noticed she had dimples.

“Promise.” Said the dragon, closing his large hand around hers now and squeezing very carefully so he did not break her bones.

The action got her to drop her gaze for a beat with a shy smile that gave him a huge rush of satisfaction. Smug dragon is smug. He had to stop his tail from wagging and betraying his sense of triumph.

When he flew off that day, they may have separated physically, but neither of them left the other’s thoughts. Nor would they, for many a year.

[purfectprincessgirl]

Looks like the Runway dolls are finally on their way! Lets talk about 'em~

*spoilers below for the leaked images*

-So, right off the back I'd say I'm glad we're finally getting these runway looks for the OG Series 1 girls, 'cause I've always been curious of how their outfits would've translated into doll form~ :3 So here's my initial thoughts thus far:

Right off the bat, I'm in love with how Jade looks so far, with her makeup, hair presentation, the boots & inner dress... just *chef kiss*~ 💚💚The plastic-looking lightning bolts are proooobably gonna take a bit for me to get used to (idk if they may be detachable or not, though I heard someone mention they might be LED-lit? :o), but otherwise I'm SO down to buy her to fit with my Jade collection~ 💚Rating: 9.5/10 (bias-wise, 10/10 lol)

Runway Skyler looks really lovely with the return of her Winter Break curls, and the silhouette of her denim gown is so stylish~ 💙 A lil more "toned-down" compared to the other Runway looks, but otherwise I think she's pretty solid :> Rating: 9/10

Wasn't really sure how the combo of a veiled-beanie with the waist sweater-skirt would translate, but dang Ruby actually pulls it off pretty well here~ :o Her makeup's probably my fave so far of all the Ruby dolls, she really rocks that red lip super well ^^ Rating: 8/10

Oooooh Sunny, her Runway look really grew on me overtime and I'm SO glad it did 'cause... wooooow~ 🤩 The pigtails, the makeup, the lil accessories matching with the raindrops on her skirt, the way the dress itself has that "raincoat" fabric that still looks super stylish put together... I'll def have to grab her next after Jade!~ Rating: 10/10

Poppy... hm, I do like what they're trying to go for here, with the ruffled monarch butterfly-wing dress... buuuut I feel like the black & white parts of the wings are kinda overlapping too much? .3. Idk I know Poppy's known for her butterfly theme but I think if they accentuated the orange bits a lil more (like they did for her Winter Break look) it'd flow a lil better... though I do like her butterfly hair clips & makeup from what I can see of it! ^^ Rating: 7/10

Violet I always felt had the most... "eh" Runway design within the show (Idk if its the dress length or something that didn't wow me much?), though here I like what they did in terms of her makeup & hairstyle! ^^ Plus the pearly-sheen on her dress fabric looks pretty, so I'm curious to see how her stock/in-person photos look! Rating: 7.5/10

And finally we have Runway Amaya, who turned out quite pretty here as well!~ :> The silhouette of her dress & the white portion look amazing (along with her makeup)... though I kiiiiinda feel like the actual "rainbow" portion of the dress looks a lil... like, plain? .w.; Idk maybe its the way the fabric's laying in the photo, but I feel like they could've added a lil more ruffle there or however to pull in the look together, but otherwise I'd saaaay she's like a 3rd/4th fave of the line, so far? :o Rating: 8.5/10

-----

-Aaaand that about covers it for my initial thoughts! Can't wait to see more photos of these dolls when the time comes!~ ^w^

(Overall ranking of the dolls thus far, subject to change later):

-Runway Jade

-Runway Sunny

-Runway Skyler

-Runway Amaya

-Runway Violet

-Runway Poppy

[void-writing]

Halfa!Jazz AU

So, the headcanon list that I dumped on @cyber-phobia‘s post has been living rent free in my head for most of the past few months and I was struck with the absolute crack idea of Jazz being force adopted by Ember and Kitty.

Like, full on “the introvert has been adopted by the extroverts” relationship and I’ve been cracking myself up thinking about it ever since because I’ve had this image of Ember and Kitty busting out of nowhere to “kidnap” Jazz for a Girls’ Night in the Ghost Zone. I imagine that Jazz made it onto Ember and Kitty’s “living people that are alright actually” list on account of her unorthodox approach to dealing with their shenanigans.

Jazz actually doesn’t deal with Kitty directly but she does do surprise couples therapy with Johnny when he tried to turn her into a vessel for Kitty in the events of “13″. Kitty really appreciated it because Jazz’s advice actually did help her relationship with Johnny, but sometimes she wants to hang out with someone who isn’t a “fly by the seat of their pants” sort of personality. (of course that isn’t to say that Kitty isn’t that, she’s just not like that all the time). I like to think that Kitty enjoys reading and develops an appreciation for more classical literature that she didn’t have when alive due to the way they were taught in school.

I like to think that with Jazz being a halfa alongside Danny that the events of “Fanning the Flames” would go a bit differently. Not quite sure how yet, but I like to think that the final confrontation would be Jazz primarily dealing with Ember with Danny being out of commission thanks to Ember’s power, and Jazz points out that what Ember might really be looking for isn’t a mindless mob of fans chanting her name, but a genuine connection with someone. There’s probably a bit of fighting while that talk is happening, but when Ember is inevitably defeated, she does take Jazz’s words into consideration before deciding to make Jazz her “genuine connection”. Also Ember’s nickname for Jazz would be “shrinky-dink”.

Idk, I just like the idea of Jazz having ghost friends who are about her age in terms of mentality who would help her to slowly breakdown some of the defenses that she built up over the years from living in the Fenton household into something a bit more...healthy. Mostly because I think the idea of Loose Canons Ember and Kitty looking at Jazz, who’s wound up tighter than a spring, and going “yikes. we should fix that.” So impromptu girls’ night. (Of course there’s a bit of a misunderstanding the first time because Ember and Kitty have a net 0 impulse control and neglected to communicate their intensions before straight up kidnapping Jazz, but it gets cleared up).

Their girls’ nights start out as Ember and Kitty wanting a third person for their shenanigans (and since Spectra is a halfa in this AU and also super...unnerving to be around in general, she’s out) and picking Jazz since she was 1) a girl around their age (sort of on account of ghost weirdness), and 2) she’s the only person they both know and like moderately well enough to want to hang out with. Eventually it morphs into trying to egg Jazz out of her “mature older sister/faux adult” persona (mostly to get a rise out of her) before Kitty and Ember trip into “oops, now we genuinely care about you” territory.

Something else I’ve been chewing on is the idea that Ember and Kitty try to gently nudge Jazz’s budding obsession away from “appearing normal” because they eventually really come to care about her and even they can see that an obsession like that is only going to rip Jazz apart from the inside.

Girls’ Night shenanigans include:

make overs!

piercings! (I like to think that Jazz never got so much as her ears pierced and Ember and Kitty would not let that stand so they drag Jazz to what basically is the Ghost Zone equivalent of Claire’s. Her earrings would either be little bat wings or blood blossoms, I haven’t decided)

vandalism! (frequent victims being Walker and Skulker)

exploration of the ghost zone

Kitty teaching Ember and Jazz to drive a motorcycle (they steal Johnny’s for this)

Kitty and Jazz bullying Ember into an impromptu bookclub (featuring Ghost Writer), Ember actually likes it.

getting milkshakes and talking about things (Jazz does definitely field some questions as to what constitutes as normal for ghost abilities since she and Danny have very little field of reference. Though mostly it’s venting)

At some point I like to think that Sidney gets roped in as an honorary girl specifically for book club and make over nights just because. Sam might get included now and then but since she’s Younger, it’s a bit more tenuous but Kitty and Ember both like her vibes. Later on, Dora might get included in the Girls’ Night Crew but she does have a kingdom to run, so it’s not terribly often (though she does let the Girls’ Night Crew hang out in her kingdom, provided they keep the property destruction to a minimum).

While Ember, Kitty, and Jazz are out and about on Girls’ Night activities, I think Johnny and Ember’s bandmates would instigate Boys’ Night with Danny just to feel included (and maybe have claimed Danny as their emotional support halfa). Collectively, the Boys’ Night crew as a net zero braincell count so things get out of hand pretty fast.

[rivisions]

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

a bruce wayne x reader fanfiction .

16+ , contains smut and other sexual themes. lowercase fic, not sure if i need to say that but i’m an ao3 writer normally so idk lmao

teasing, embarrassment, being caught masturbating, size kink, mirror sex, praise & degradation, pet names, reader is written in a feminine way, reader is a bit of a pillow princess… fluff if you squint

for my bsf🖤

it’s not that you were desperate, but.. you kind of were.

bruce had always left to take care of his vigilante matters after making sure you were taken care of.

he really was a sweetheart, but only to you. everyone else perceives him as some dickhead who just fights to fight. but he had a soft spot for you really.

he cared about you like no other, he always made sure you were okay, no matter the conditions.

and to be quite honest, he really did have a hell of a libido and so did you. so that helped.

except for this night.

it had been weeks since you and bruce had done really anything intimate. he gave you tons of forehead kisses (since he was much taller than you) but the past weeks have lacked sexually. and you knew bruce was also getting quite sexually frustrated as well after being gone for forever on some nights.

you had made your way to the bedroom you shared with him and creeped up onto the bed.

he had left about an hour ago, and you felt as if it had been forever.

you threw your head back against the slightly wretched headboard and sighed. you looked over to bruce’s silk pillow which was worn into as if his presence was there.

then you had a thought.

oh.

you really shouldn’t do it. but he’s been gone for awhile now and you’re starting to feel a second heartbeat at the thought of him.

you sat up and turned yourself so you were facing the headboard on your knees. you grabbed his pillow and slowly straddled yourself over it.

you really shouldn’t be doing this.

but the smell of bergamot and sweat filled the sheets. it smelled of sex still, with a pinch of cedar wood and mahogany from his cologne.

you started thinking about him as seconds passed, and the more you did, the more horny and desperate you gradually got.

if you had him here, you would let him absolutely ruin you. but he wasn’t. but you had a pillow that smelled just like him.

you took off the sweatshirt you had been wearing that bruce gave to you, and threw it to the side. it left you only in the black laced bralette that bruce picked out for you months back. he liked the way it looked, he thought it looked like little bat wings.

you situated yourself over the pillow to where the side creases of the pillow rested below your clothed clit. you had on fairly thin pajama shorts, so they slid to the side as you situated yourself.

you placed your hands on the top of the headboard and let your head fall between your arms. and you started creating friction between you and his pillow.

it felt slightly wrong but it felt so good.

you kept moving your body in a way that made you let out the most pathetic whimpers and moans.

you whined in desperation, you needed more, but he wasn’t here.

“fu-uck bruce” , you trailed off as your mind got fuzzy. and you weren’t the quietest.

that’s what bruce loved about you, is that you were extremely vocal. you let him know how good he felt, it made him feel good.

“fuck fuck fuu-cking christ” your mind went blank except for the thought of him.

what would he do if he saw you like this? saw you pathetically horny and wet all for him. he got you so worked up just by thinking of what’d he do. and the way he’d please you in ways no one else could.

and although you hadn’t known (because you were turned around and completely out of it), time had passed to 3 hours since bruce left.

and he was back now.

“y/n, i’m back, are you okay?”

he didn’t get a response at first, which worried him as he took off his worn down suit.

he walked pasted the bedroom you were in, as you slowed down your pace to please yourself.

“bruce please- fuuuck”

he heard you.

and he liked it.

he slowly opened the door to were you couldn’t hear him over your built up foggy mind.

he leaned in the doorway and smirked as he admiringly watched your body go up, and down, and up, and down. all while whining for him. all for him.

“is this all for me?” he asked with a slight rasp in his tone.

you jumped and quickly turned over to cover yourself.

“how.. how long have you.. been there?”

“long enough to know i have some work to get to”.

he made his way over to you and stood beside the bed as he looked down at you, and you looked up at him.

he placed his slightly callused hands on your chin firmly and turned your head towards him.

“i’ve missed you. and clearly you’ve missed me, huh darling?”

you blushed furiously, feeling the heat between your thighs grow.

he picked you up and sat down on the bed where you were, then put you back down so you were in his lap, facing the mirror that was across your room.

his hands glided over your body, from your thighs, to your hips, then your breasts. they made their way to your neck as he formed his right hand around it and leaned down to kiss your neck.

“mmm, you know i’ve missed this” he spoke as he looked up at you both in the mirror as you tilted your head to the side and closed your eyes for a minute as you whimpered.

his hands then fell to your hips, and he kissed just behind your ear.

“look at you, you’re like this all for me. you’re adorable, and such a whore”.

his right hand fell to your right inner thigh, and you gasped at the sudden movement.

“isn’t this what you wanted?”

you nodded through moans as his index and middle fingers began to tease at your clothed clit.

“bruce- i can’t- i can’t take it anymore”.

“so needy aren’t you baby? you love me that much?”

“well you’ve been gone for forever”.

“fair”.

his fingers pulled your under garment to the side, as he teased your opening.

“mm i love you like this darling, makes me know that you’re mine and only mine”.

your back arched into him as you rubbed up against his growing erection that was painfully obvious in his suit.

his fingers slid inside your opening as you let out a small gasp.

“bruce bruce please please do more”.

he exhaled, “darling you don’t have to ask me that”.

his fingers began to slowly pump in and out of you as you grasped the sides of the sheets beside his thighs and you let out the most pornographic moans.

“that’s it baby, just like that, god you are so good for me”.

he sped his pace up as his other hand made its way to your chin from under your arm.

he turned your head to the mirror to watch him finger you as you became a slutty little mess.

“look at you, you’re so gorgeous. you look so pathetic whimpering like this for me”.

his hand moved to your bralette as he kissed your shoulder. (it really was his favorite on you)

“fuck bruce i can’t last that much lo-onger”

his fingers sped up as they went deeper into you, gliding against a spot that made you loose it every time.

“i’m- fuck- i- oh my god”.

“that’s it baby, go on”.

you let out the sluttiest moan and grabbed onto his thigh, bucking your hips up into his fingers as you came down from your high after release.

“that’s my good girl. thaat’s it”.

he had a groan in his voice, and he took his fingers our your hole and commanded “open” to you.

you opened your mouth as he placed his two fingers in your mouth as they played with your tongue.

you both softly laughed after letting out a sigh.

he took his fingers out and you smiled back at him.

you both looked at the mirror at each other as he played with your hair and you leaned back against him.

“i’ll get us cleaned up later, i’m exhausted”. he sighed and pushed his hair back.

“don’t worry, i’ve still gotta help you huh?”

he smiled down at you and pressed a kiss on your lips as he cupped your face.

and that’s how you knew he was yours and you were his.

[halcyon-writings]

- holding out your palm under their chin (hcs)

note(s)/warning(s): the title sounds kinda wild but it’s fluff i promise, no spoilers, my thoughts are too much, reader is gn + not rosa/the mc (bc she’s here and that’s weird dating urself we aren’t 3h /j) surprisingly enough my first entry for this series is not angsty who would’ve thunk

nav.

feat. marius, luke, vyn, artem, and rosa

marius von hagen

the one who’s teasing you about it, maybe a slight laugh too. looking from your open palm to your eyes with a the corners of his crinkling in amusement. He even raises his eyebrows a few times to add to the humor of it all. But he’s going to indulge you all the same, after poking some more fun of course.

“I didn’t think you could be so cute!” He exclaims, and of course you want to either smack him or kiss him (or both). You pull your hand away which makes him fluster instead, He still wanted to do the thing where he rests his chin in your palm. After much convincing (which meant to stop his whining that got several looks from other people) he finally gets his way.

He bats his eyelashes and pouts when you laugh at him. But doesn’t quite move just yet. And seeing how you move to cup his face with both hands, suddenly the so confident pax group leader flushes. he protests loudly as you laugh while letting go. (He likes it more than he wants to admit). And you suddenly have a thing for him whining. Huh, who knew.

luke pearce

Luke, you beautiful soul you, would look at you a bit confused when you hold your hand out out of the blue. Confusion spreads across his features because he can’t remember you handing him anything. Perhaps followed by a small panic because what if you did and he forgot and then lost it. He’s patting his many pockets on the familiar jacket before you grab his attention again.

Your hand is held out again, and this time Luke tilts his head, akin to a confused puppy. And you probably have to reach up, palm placed underneath his chin. He processes it for a moment, before his entire face heats up, and he sputters out a question about your antics. But he doesn’t move his head away either so really, who’s winning here.

Once he recovers, and you’re certain he won’t spontaneously combust, he sends a wide grin your way. And like previously looking like an excited puppy, all he was missing was the ears and the wagging tail. This man loves physical affection, and literally would love this so much. Don’t @ me I’m right.

vyn richter

Ah Vyn. Now unlike the previous two, it would take a bit more to surprise him, or even fluster him. He sees you raise your hand up to his chin, just enough that he’d have to lean down slightly. Raising a delicate brow with a small amused quirk of his lips, “Oh?” And despite you literally having him in the palm of your hand, it feels like you’re the one that’s been trapped instead.

Not one to state his want outright, rather nudging slowly, Vyn relishes the contact just as much. I imagine that he’s also another that’s a bit touched starved (ig they all are huh). Looking up at you through his eyelashes. There’s soft adoration in his eyes, it’s no surprise if you suddenly combust at the way he looks at you. Vyn is just that charming and he knows it, using this skill for evil /j. “Is this what you wanted?” He asks.

But unlike the previous two, he ends up flustering you. Leaning just a bit more forward, tilting his head, when you feel him kiss your palm. Also peering up at you slightly just to get a glimpse of your reaction. It seems that he got the last laugh instead, well played doc, well played. 

artem wing

This poor man. You’re gonna end up confusing the hell out of him and that is a fact. If the man had to consult a book on how to ask someone out, he probably wouldn’t even know what you want him to do unless you say so outright. But it’s okay, his confusion is cute so it’s whatever. Probably makes a note of this to google it or smth, just in case,,, can’t stand him /j. But just because he’s a little confused, does not mean that he won’t do it.  

Literally all you would have to do is ask nicely and man will go to the ends of the Earth for you. His happiness is quiet, but still he’s enamored all the same. If he could bring both of your hands to cup his face, he would but the thought of that probably gets him all flustered. (He once turned so red when his hand brushed against yours once, even Celestine had decided to have some pity for the poor thing and didn’t tease him that time). 

He’s literally boyfriend material, wtf. Probably the second that flusters you albeit unintentionally because once he gets it, it’s as though a lightbulb pops up above his head. Artem is just so earnest in his affection (I’m gonna go kiss him rn smh), like idk if it’s y bias towards him but please imagine him doing this it’s so cute

rosa

MISS ROSA!!!! My beloved,,, I know we can technically give her any name we want but I like this name for her. Another sweetheart who get’s flushed when you hold your hand out in front of her/beneath her chin. She’s aware of the cute trends, and in no doubt thanks to Kiki as well, but still, she thinks it may be cheesy to ask for such couple-y things to do. But she still loves them. 

As her s/o, you can get away with teasing her (Marius is punching the air rn). Just please have mercy on her, you’ll make the poor woman combust or smth. But once she gets over the slight embarrassment, she loves it. Also probably does it to you from time to time so she can see you get all flustered. It’s a hollow victory bc Rosa is also red in the face but it is a victory all the same.

If you also work at Themis, just know that Kiki may or may not squeal at the two of you and now you have everybody’s attention, good luck! (It’s okay get her back with smth about idol merch and she gets sworn to secrecy, easy peasy).

[alltheworldsinmyhead]

ON FEYSAND’S PLOTLINE IN ACOSF

              !!!!MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE ACOSF!!!!

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Let’s be honest for a while, okay?

ACOCF had potential to be SJM’s best book, if not for any other reason then because of the sheer idea of it. Coming-of-age, healing story of the most complex and polarizing character she has ever created set in the time of peace, away from the familiar setting (according to the later changed concept which still remains in the snippet at the end of ACOFAS), development of her arguably most feisty and angsty love story... It could be her absolute trumph. Even with the change to stick to Velaris instead of exploring the Illyrian culture of the Mountains and with the added conflict of the Mortal Queens and Koshei, it still could work quite well. 

It didn’t. For many, many reasons, but the most important one, in my opinion, being the feysand pregnancy plot. 

Nothing about this plotline made sense. Not a single thing. From start to finish, it was an absolute disaster from the character-writing POV, from the narration POV, from every single context of it. It broke the rules of real-life logic, it broke the rules of this fantasy world setting and it completely exposed that Rhysand, while not a bad guy, is a pretty terrible partner, even worse ruler and an absolutely terrible contender for the High King title. 

Let’s break this whole mess down (and expect this post to be mammoth-sized. it’s not my fault, though, write to SJM if you have any complains):

1) Feyre, 21, decides to get pregnant, even though less than a year earlier, she expresses the delight with not being forced to bear children to her new mate and told him herself she wants to wait a while and enjoy her life with him. Feyre decides she wants a baby though and Rhysand goes along with it, even though he is aware how young Feyre is and how hard her life has been up until this point. He wants a baby too much to have an honest discussion with Feyre about it, to stop and wonder what is the reason for her sudden change of heart, to reassure her that they have a lot of time ahead of them and don’t need to rush. No. She mades a sudden decision to have a baby after A YEAR OF MARRIAGE and not much more of being turned fae, JUST AFTER having her whole world put upside down, having received a completely new title and responsibilities, surviving the wat and being mated. Great. 

2) Feyre decides to get pregnant and Rhys goes along with it less than a year after the end of the bloody war. It is politically a delicate time, everyone is still not sure how the balance will shift, some countries don;t want to sign the peace treaty, etc. There are a lot of enemies and a lot of turmoil remaining. But sure. Let’s have a baby. Perfect time to add yet another target, another weakness that can be use by the Mortal Queens, Beron or whatever else with malicious intent towards the Night Court. 

2) Feyre gets pregnant after approximately a year of trying. I know healthy people of reproductive age for whom it takes ages more than this. Fae’s pregnancies are rare af and precious and happen once in a blue moon, but ofc SJM broke the world’s rules for her darling Feyre. And again, for Kallas and Vivianne who are also expecting the baby, even though it has been a maximum of 3 years since they’ve mated. 3 years is also not a particularly long time to try to have a baby for those who have issues with their reproductive systems like Fae women. Thank you, next. 

3) Rhys has unprotected sex with Feyre in her Illyrian form when she conceives, even though he knows full well having a winged baby would kill her. He does it anyway, for shits and giggles apparently. They probably have sex in the sky above Velaris, for all we know. 

4) The baby has wings. Now, the whole explanation with Illyrian wings being bony (bc they resemble bat wings) and Seraphin ones being more flexible (bc they resemble bird ones) is so insanely stupid that it takes around 3 seconds to wikipedia this shit and find out it’s exactly the opposite. But okay, the baby has wings and Feyre will die while giving birth, along with the baby. Madja forbids Feyre from turning into an Illyrian to carry the pregnancy because it MIGHT hurt the baby. Now, remember, Feyre conceived while in Illyrian form and then turned into High Fae. The baby survived it just fine. The baby MIGHT be hurt by Feyre turning .... but it will FOR SURE die if she stays High Fae and Feyre will too. Idk about you, but I would take the risk of MIGHT instead of FOR SURE. Especially when she is already in labour and dying. Cauldron or Nesta or idk who alters Feyre’s pelvis after the baby is cut out of her for no apparent reason but to allow feysand to make exactly the same mistakes later on. How convinient. And Nesta also alters her own pelvis bc god forbid she won’t be able give Cassian babies like the little useful mate she is now. She should’ve probably done it with Elain too, just in case she decides to fuck Az in the future, because fuck consequences and fuck the stakes in the story that make the readers actually CARE about characters bc they know the author may actually kill them and not save their life every fucking time.  

5) I don’t even want to comment on the fact Rhys hid the true danger of this pregnancy for Feyre and their family went along with it. It is absolutely disgusting. And Nesta telling her and that being condemned as the act of the ultimate cruelty which is a final straw to break her self-loathing back.... is abhorrent. It made my sick, actually, phisically sick. There is no justification for it. No at all. And the fact that they did not even consider abortion sends a message that I really don’t want to think too much about it. Feyre was 2 months along when they learned the baby is winged. 2 months. 8 weeks. It wasn’t a baby yet, let’s be honest. They could’ve at least discussed it. She - oh my god, I cannot believe SJM wrote it this way, I’m gonna be sick. 

6) For the entirety of Feyre’s pregnancy, they have no plan to really help her. Labour plan? Haven’t heard if it.  They have money and power and access to the healers of the whole land. And did not figure out how to stop her from bleeding out after a fucking C-section. THIS WORLD HAS MAGIC AND THEY COULDN’T STOP HER FROM BLEEDING OUT AFTER A FUCKING C-SECTION. Didn’t even ask Thesan, the High Lord of Healing, to be present. Cassian had guts hanging out of his stomach and survived. Az was fucking slashed apart in Hybern and survived. But yeah, Feyre was on a brink of death after a C-section. Great, Sarah. Keep it up. Let’s force the thought into young girls’ heads that labour is the most lethal thing ever, why not. 

7) Also, for the entirety of Feyre’s pregnancy, Rhys keeps quiet about this idiotic bargain. He, as far as we know, doesn’t make any plans for the moment when him and Feyre and possibly their baby are dead. If they died and baby survived.. who would take care of it? Does Rhys have a conversation with his family about it? NAH. Doesn’t write any sort of plan how to keep the Court going, doesn’t inform even the closest of his co-workers how they should proceed to act after he’s gone and his and Feyre’s power go to god-knows-who. Their deaths would mean a sure chaos for the weakend and fragile Prythian and the Night Court especially and yet nor Rhys nor Feyre make any sort of preparations for it. Rhys doesn’t tell his brothers or Mor or HIS SECOND IN COMMAND they will all soon have to somehow manage without him. He was about to just leave them to their own devices and told them in the last. possible. moment. 

And this man - this man is, according to Amren, the best candidate to handle the whole country? To unite it? This fool who makes idiotic bargains, who thinks first about his cock and his own selfish desires and considers his subjects and his responsibilities as a High Lord last and least important of all? Who has so much trust in his wife, in his High Lady, the mother of his son that he doesn’t tell her she will almost surely die on a birthing bed because it MAY UPSET HER? 

This plotline was the straw that broke my back. ACOTAR, at it’s heart has always been a ya fantasy with added ‘spice’ and I was willing to bend my critical-thinking skills in many cases and forget and forgive many smaller idiotic issues in this series. But this? It is not idiotic. It is massive and stupid to the point when it becomes insulting to the reader. It was a plot straight out of a bad fanfic, not something that should be in a published book written by someone who writes for a living. You could even argue that Twilight has handled this toxic trope better.  I have wasted my money on this book and thinking about it will always be painful for me. So yeah.

ACOSF could be great. Ended up quite pathetic. 

[unpretty]

~astielle askdump with spoilers up to chapter 24 starts here~

anonymous asked:

"then once you get to the faewild you have to not piss off the fairy king, and instead convince him to give you a shot. sometimes there are intermediate steps here where you have to prove you got gud, because he doesn’t bother booting up the goddess gacha for scrublords."... so Vaelon skipped like an entire chapter/quest with a single charisma check?

it turns out in this universe if you put everything you have into charisma at the expense of all else you become comically overpowered and only clinical depression can nerf you

@driftward asked:

I think I see the spirits of the originals in their descendents; Karzarul, of course, who has not changed as much as they would like to think they have, and perhaps with enough denial they can be loved after all. Lynette in Leonas, the part where if he cannot have it on his own terms he does not want it at all. And Vaelon in Minnow, who shows her love for all things through collections and wanderings, but does not want the responsibility that often comes with attachments

anonymous asked:

"Stay with me? No war, no fighting. Let the world think you’re asleep a little longer. Until I pick one of every flower and eat every edible thing, take a feather from every kind of bird, map the whole world and catch a thousand fallen stars." You make me think that maybe I could love the world, reading stories until I hold the heart of every little thing in my memories

@eriquin asked:

Lynette: No matter how hot I find the monster I will not fuck the monster because he is a monster. .... hmmmm wonder how that's related to Ari's kinks. Nope, can't mean anything.

every single trio encountering each other for more than five minutes: i hope this doesn't awaken anything in me

@ivylaughed asked:

After reading the most recent Astielle chapters and then doing yet another reread, I'm thinking Leonas's threatening speech about Toast in Chapter 8 was reassuring to Karzarul, whether consciously or subconsciously. "Oh good, this one knows how to deal with loss. She knows how to live and keep on living."

@ivylaughed asked:

Sorry not sorry for two Astielle asks in one day, this story has eaten my brain and I think I've reread it three times in the past week. BUT. Leonas coughing up flowers and dandelion fluff is totally deliberately isn't it? He's got it bad.

he's got a terminal case of shoujo aesthetics for sure

just look at how often minnow notes the length of his fingers

anonymous asked:

......that shit hurted and now I'm all in my Karzarul feels again. how could you do this to me

anonymous asked:

Karzarul can eat my problems if you know what I mean (sorry)

if we've learned anything it's that you could probably just ask apropos of nothing and that would work out

anonymous asked:

Ohhhh. I've been wondering where the terms and conditions were.

only one man can be trusted to keep them safe and he probably drinks tadpoles through a boba straw

anonymous asked:

Well that answers Leonas' question about how he got so good at dreams.

karzarul making a dream flower: what, like it's hard?

karzarul trying to make a new form: WHERE DID THESE ARMS COME FROM

@onwardmotley asked:

I know Ari is probably right about Malgath and Kelruil but I actually have been in fandoms where fully-consensual vivisection is on the table as a fun romantic thing between two mad scientists, including holding someone's heart in your hands, so like. Maybe Karzarul just shouldn't kinkshame people idk.

canonically it is open to interpretation but in my head while they had a very unhealthy relationship karzarul really did just kinkshame that man to death

@onwardmotley asked:

Also a very heartfelt RIP to all the heroes and heirs who came all prepped to avenge their fallen partners and spouses and got thirsty Karzarul. "I'm not so terrible as my reputation would have you believe" "You never take me dancing anymore" good lord.

the fact that karzarul doesn't understand why violet is Like That gets funnier all the time

@windmillcrusader asked:

delighted to learn that karzarul has a multi phase boss fight. it’s what he deserves

@phasestab asked:

There is something intensely erotic about a man who knows how to structure himself a good boss fight.

despite what SOME COMICS would have you believe he is NOT easy!! he doesn't show off his final form in the first fight!!! he's gonna make sure you can last until PHASE FOUR!!! ... unless you use the glitch where if you use the kiss emoji he goes into final form immediately. but that's cheating.

(i like to imagine that if the starlight heroes games were real they would be old-school nintendo hard and the majority of the fandom would tell you that you don't need to beat the final boss battle to be a true fan because almost no one gets past phase two, at least not in the ORIGINALS, these new games are TOO EASY and also they didn't remember the sprites having so much hip action)

@asimovsideburns asked:

god I’m also just. SO head in hands about the fact that there’s a whole legend about how the three are fated to kill each other by the will of the gods and it’s just. WRONG. just completely wrong!! and like I’m going to have to reread but I remember Minnow early on being like “I won’t kill you” and Ari being like “we have to kill each other” and Minnow being like “well then I’ll kill you later, and the gods won’t take vengeance on us for not fighting because we’re just putting it off for a bit” and I’m like. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

"the reason we're always killing each other is because it's fate and can't be helped because the goddesses hate me and don't want me to be happy and thinking i could be happy actually just makes it worse so it's better to just really lean into it" - a reliable source

@flyingseacow asked:

Don't mind me, just rereading the whole story after chapter 23/24 giving so much new context:- Chapter 3 = “He is not your prince,” Ari said. “Astielle is not your kingdom. The Hero need be loyal to no one.” - AHHHH- "it felt offensive to treat a Tauril as a collection of other animal parts, rather than a whole monster with all his own parts - HAH! - “She should be mine, if she’s anyone’s.”“You’re not the first Heir to think so,” - Uuugh, and this was just chapter 3, rereading this might hurt

minnow's trying not to commit a microaggression while karzarul's out here hot-gluing regular sized bat wings onto a bear

anonymous asked:

Oh no. He's why she can't sing in front of others, why she panics when asked to sing. And poor Leonas, no wonder his memories are all of blood and death, when Flynn was the longest they'd ever spoken (lol) after he killed Lynette. "In the earliest reincarnation cycles, I. Made a lot of mistakes." Karzarul, King of All Monsters and also King of Understatements.

has finally met his match in "he has a lot of problems" minnow

@ultragenta asked:

HEY KITTY?? UH, HEY, HEY KITTY???? DOES MINNOW FEELING WEIRD ABT SINGING IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH, SAY, THE FIVE OR SIX TIMES HER SOUL '''REMEMBERS''' A GIANT TERRIFYING STRANGER HOLDING A BLADE TO HER THROAT AND DEMANDING SHE SING OR DIE???? KITTY????? DID YOU HVE TO HURT ME THAT WAY SPECIFICALLY KITTY?????????

maybe she just has regular stage fright! we'll never know!! and neither will karzarul!!!

[irradiatedsnakes]

[ID: 7 drawings of monster!mechanisms designs. they are as follows: 1. a colored drawing of ivy alexandria that has been partially passed through the deep dream generator neural network, giving parts of the image a swirling, surreal appearance, often resembling eyes. 2. a digtal sketch of nastya as a ghost. her eyes are obscured by her glasses shine and she is covered in blue wisps, and dripping blue from her mouth and hands.  3. a digital sketch of drumbot brian as a centaur sitting down. his horse half is also mechanical and resembles a clydesdale. he also has horse-ish ears. 4. a sketchy bust of vampire marius. he looks smug, and looks to the side with a fanged smile. 5. digital sketch of partially-transformed werewolf gunpowder tim with doglike ears, claws, and a tail. he says "ok why did getting turned into that somehow give you a pitchfork." with a quizzical expression. 6. digital sketch of jonny d'ville as a devil or demon, with horns, pointy ears, cartoony wings, and a thin tail with a heart-shaped tip. he's holding a hellish pitchfork, looking confused and says "what? i already owned this.” 7. a traditional sketch of harpy/siren raphaella. she holds here feathery winged arms out, while her mechanical bat wings are unfurled behind her. her lower half is that of a bird. end ID]

ok ill post a couuuple. self indulgence machine go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ok so u know like back in the gravity falls fandom there was that really popular au called monster falls where everybody got turned into some sort of monster/mythological creature? i fucking love that scenario and have been making my own little “everybody gets cursed by a witch or something so now i get to draw these fun designs” aus for like everything i like (never did it w tma oddly enough? good inspo just never struck.) so here.......is..........this. not everybodys pictured here but go under the cut for a list of what everybody is plus some extra notes and stuff

lets just goooooo alphabetical order

ashes - OKAY HONESTLY STILL NOT 100% ON ASHES im THINKING half-dragon. yes i know i already went dragon for them in the furry au its just a good fit and also looks Cool, but also waiting out to see if i can think of anything better

brian - CENTAURRRR also again. yes. i know i went 4 horse for him in the furry au. its just good and has fun brian vibes. wanting to draw centaur brian was the thing that led to this au happening

ivy - ELDRITCH SOMETHIN OR OTHER...idk what youd call that exactly. but you get the gist. cosmic horror, eyes, unfathomable patterns and things. doing the deep dream stuff for her in that picture was very fun and im very happy w how it came out...definitely something to revisit in the future. not sure how i wanna draw her when...not doing a whole colored digital thing, but well cross that bridge when i can draw again

jonny - he’s. he’s a devil? a little demon guy? like. yeah. of course. this guy was fucking meant to have little wings horns and a cute little demon heart tail. he has somehow become MORE bastardly

marius - VAMPIRE MARIUS ONCE AGAIN HES JUST FUN. hes just fun and the aesthetic suits him. i cant wait to draw him in a fun little cape with one of those big dramatic collars you know the ones. vampire marius is of course @ alientoastt’s idea!!

nastya - BANSHEE...or ghost in general but there some banshee stuff i feel could be fun to integrate. apparently in some tellings banshees can turn into crows? i love that very much. but anyways hmm..some notes abt the design in thsi post shes not quite where i want her to be. this was done on that collab canvas the other day and like...was mostly noodling things out having fun, those flamey looking bits are a very nice motion very fun to do but NOT wwhat i want for ghostya. i want her to be more. drippy. very drowned person vibes. fire and upward-floating motif not what i want. but it was fun to draw. also i think theres some potential comedy in there with “person who predicts deaths” among crew who habitually murder each other

raphaella - SOMEWHERE BTWN HARPY & SIREN (the bird kind not the mermaid kind) very excited abt her. lots of fun potential poses here. doing her design was a bit tricky- sirens tend to be just like- big birds with human heads? but i didt wanna do just that that takes away too much of her design recognizbility yknow to Just have her head. so she has a people torso, bird from the waist down, plus her arms are wings. which means she has Two pairs of wings. which i for one think is incredibly fun like you remember in httyd2 valka’s dragon w the four wings? yeah. also avent figured what bird in particular shell be based on- for the ufrry au i went w african grey parrot but dont feel like that here. ill think on it

tim - WEREWOLF TIM DUH. DUH. also i think werewolves are especially funny in scenarios like thse cus like- okay everybody suddenly ahhh cursed ahh monster whatever. but then tims just there like. i mean i feel fine lol and u get to have the fun surprise of Oh Suddenly Werewolf. also the question of how exactly werewolves who change based on the moon function in a. spaceship. i like to think its entirely fucking random i think thats funny

TS - ANIMATED SUIT OF ARMOR!! I DONT HAVE MUCH MORE TO SAY ON THSI BUT I LOVE . THIS IDEA. and i will never draw it. because fuck drawing and designing armor oh my god

anyways i think thats??? all i have to say on this??? agdvjdkb. if you wanna talk about this at all (or if u wanna see more doodles...) im totally open to that. ill be real i get weirdly embarrassed about specifically this kind of au (like. monster stuff in general especially werewolf/vampire stuff i could not fucking tell you why. gotten better abt it over time though hey im actually postin this shit!) so im just happy i posted it afhcgvjdkvdg .

as for story type things like how. this happens. frankly i dont know thats not my forte. but the little bit of whatever ive got going on my head has the Terrific Trio of ivy marius & raphaella doing Research Science Whatever down on a planet somewhere get into contact with a Cursed Artifact or whatever the fuck and eventually get back to the aurora like. oh. uh. it happened to you guys too, huh. but thats like whatever honestly im not in it for the writing im here to draw fun centaur man etc.

if you made it to the bottom of this winding fucking ramble know that i love you. mwah. that was fun to write out i like thought barfing about stuff like maybe 3 people will care about

[bookofmirth]

ok so this might come off as a bit rambly so please bear with me lol

i've noticed that the acotar fandom has this incessant need to be right when it comes to canon and it really sucks out the funness of fandom. shipping is supposed to be fun but when it comes to this fandom, it's almost like a competition to see who will be more right when the books come out. engaging with theories/predictions about characters and the plot is supposed to be exciting but when it comes to this fandom, some of the theories/predictions are problematic at worst and nonsensical at best. like how can you say with your full chest that you're so confident about where the series is heading in the future because of this or that theory when you're stuck in the past and refuse to see what all of the text is telling you in the present. it doesn't make sense. the selective reading is so strong that it has me looking sideways sometimes lol

i guess my question is why do you think the fandom is so divided when it comes to ships right now? i've seen people say this wasn't the case for feysand and nessian, so what's the difference here?

Oh boy Brielle, I have some thoughts on this. It's complex.

To be clear, I am not saying that this applies to literally every single person who ships a certain way. This is a commentary on the fandom as a whole, and there are always exceptions.

This got really, really long, so I'm putting it under the cut.

I think that one of the main draws of this series, and of sjm's writing in general, is her ships. I think that people get very, very attached to their ships.

I also think that sjm does NOT fully think through some of the choices that she makes when writing. See: the way that she takes from all these different cultures and mashes them together, which could be seen as disrespectful of their origin. She has retconned things, like Mor being queer and Lucien being Helion's son. I think that she thoroughly thinks about some of the aspects of her books, like Rhys's reaction to sleeping with Feyre for the first time, but then really half-asses other aspects of her books, like Mor coming out.

Then, we have your good old misogyny and homophobia - people in the fandom don't like Mor because she hurt the poor bat boy's feelings when she didn't sleep with him, and they don't have a mating bond, but she's never really told Azriel "no", and so every single moment of pain that Azriel has felt in 500 years is Morrigan's fault. And Mor's experience as a closeted queer woman who feels unsafe around the people she should trust the most is completely disregarded by the fandom.

Finally, I think that a combination of these factors has created the monster we know as e*riel, and that the fandom is perpetuating its own mythology.

What all of this comes down to, and the real reason I think that the fandom is behaving this way right now, is that e*riel is dead. It's never happened, it's not going to happen, but because we don't have the clear closure we got with moriel (where people would be accused of homophobia for continuing to ship it), people are still trying to figure out any possible way for e*riel to become canon, though every single sign points to it being a non-issue.

This weird thing where people have to be "right" all the time, and the way that "right" = "canon" is a relatively new development. It's as if everyone in this fandom forgot that they are in fact in a fandom, which inherently diverges from canon.

However, I think that the need to cling to canon is because the alternative would be to admit defeat and say "well, even if it doesn't happen I will still ship e*riel, it's fine, I will live with that." But they don't want to do that. In response, they look at canon so hard that they are reading the white space between the letters to create their theories, which as you noted as largely nonsensical and often fail to take into account who the characters are as individuals, how they are connected to other characters, and why it would or wouldn't be appropriate for them to be involved in various plots.

People could say, as eluciens having been saying since day one, "I really ship this thing but I can see that it might not become canon". But they don't say that. They literally refuse to see any other possibility than e*riel becoming canon.

You pointed out that people are stuck in the past - absolutely. The number of reimaginings I have seen of scenes where either Azriel or Elain has literally zero to do with the scene, but people try to shove one or both of them in there. And this from books ago. People are stuck on the Truthteller scene, and refuse to acknowledge that neither of them have acted on their feelings, whatever those might be, for years. And they ignore the fact that once Elain and Az do act, it goes horribly wrong.

Here are the facts as of right now:

ACOSF is the most recent book. In that book, sans extra chapter, those two had no interaction other than looking at one another.

If we include his POV, then he said it was wrong, we got confirmation that nothing has ever happened between them, she returned his necklace. Elain was aroused, but that does not mean she was ready to even have sex. "Yes" to a kiss is not "yes" to every single sexual act Az can think of. They parted on awkward, bad terms after a scene in which it seemed like they were about to start something. Yikes. Unlike Wings and Embers, they did not end that chapter still thinking of one another. After they part ways, the omniscient narrator does not mention Elain, or Az thinking about Elain, again.

His POV occurs months before the end of the book. They do not interact after that.

Elain has a mate she has not rejected, nor accepted.

So anyway, your question was why are people like this. lol. I think the fandom created a monster, and that monster is clinging to life. It can't accept the idea of morphing into a non-canon ship, though it never was canon in the first place. It had just convinced itself that it was.

There are other aspects to this, that have to do with gwynriel and elucien.

Gwynriel is a new ship, it's almost guaranteed to happen, people are super excited to ship it and give Gwyn all their love. I'm sure they would rather create content for that ship than argue about whether or not it's going to be canon, but they are in constant defense mode. Some people honestly didn't like e*riel before because they don't like Elain, or because they don't like Azriel, and those are valid reasons for not liking it. Why people ship gwynriel doesn't matter. The tone of the discussion is, unfortunately, being shaped elsewhere, which I will mention below.

Elucien is an old ship, older than e*riel. I can speak from this perspective - personally, I have been holding my tongue for 4.5 years. I have been letting people live, and just talking about the things I like. Then when acosf came out, it was like I could finally say all the things I had been thinking about Azriel, because I now had proof that the things I thought about his character (and because of that, about e*riel) now had solid canon foundation. This is 4.5 years of me holding in a lot of shit and finally being able to say it. Sometimes yes, I might take joy in having been right.

I think that a few people are clinging to canon, and that sets the tone for the discourse in the fandom. Someone says "according to page whatever, blah blah blah" and people feel the need to respond, and then it turns into and "I'm right" contest instead of... a fandom... A lot of us like debating. To me, it's fun. But when Person A starts a conversation that's about canon and it actually ignores canon, it's hard to let that conversation go by and just keep creating whatever we want to create. Instead, we respond, and so the tone of the conversation is shaped by what Person A decided to say.

I also think that there is a lack of distinction between theories (what will happen in the future) and meta (analysis of what we have now).

There is also a lack of "I" statements. Opinions are being stated as fact.

idk if there is a way to make it better, other than to just go back to ignoring one another. This whole situation makes me want to throw out every single canon ship I like and create exclusively non-canon content, just for spite. Except I really like doing meta, and so I don't want to. I guess for my point, I'll just keep doing meta, keep creating different content, and keep reminding people that they aren't here to continue perpetuating canon, but to play with it.

[vanserraseris]

END - There’s the apology azris oneshot. It doesn’t really have a title, Flames and Shadows is basic but it’s all I’ve got. I think Eris and Az would be great enemies to reluctant friends to lovers idk. Also, Eris at this point has sort of just been dragged into the ic friend group but still remains an asshole. It is what it is. Hope you enjoy it!!!

YOU HAVE NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE but this was INCREDIBLE. 

Also i LOVE the idea of eris reluctantly being dragged into the ic

Anyway. Here it is in full:

Azriel had been working with Eris for months, he’d trusted the spoiled prince to get them safely out of harm’s way, to take them to a secure location. He’d been expecting Eris to winnow them to his personal home, but as they materialized in the unfamiliar space, Azriel realized it was the first time he was seeing the other male’s room. With a small growl, Eris let go of Azriel leathers, shoving past him but not touching his wings.

Eris barely lifted a finger, the stunning, stone fireplace to his right roaring to life along with the bronze sconces that lined the walls. All of Eris’s cottage was elegant, the furniture in it made of expensive carved mahogany that matched the gleaming hardwood floors and sideboards, everything organized, orderly, and tasteful. Eris’s bedroom was much the same.

Two comfortable-looking cushioned chairs were placed near the fireplace, a low table between them was covered in multiple neat piles of thick books. His bed was huge, pushed up against the opposite wall, big enough for multiple people to lie in it. The carved pattern on the dresser, mirror, and nightstands was intricate - beautiful. Not knowing what to do with himself, Azriel merely stood where Eris had left him - right in the middle of the bedroom.

Azriel took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair, livid that they’d been caught by surprise but the anger not showing on his face. Some of Azriel’s shadows skittered around him, the rest trailed after Eris as he stumbled to the dresser, knocking into it with his knees so that it hit the wall with an ugly thud. Azriel watched as Eris leaned toward the mirror, wincing as Eris wiped at his mouth with the dark brown sleeve of his well-tailored jacket.

“What the fuck?” Blood nearly the same colour of Eris’s hair dripped from his nose, leaking down his face, staining the collar of the offwhite shirt that peaked out of Eris’s jacket. Eris tugged open the dresser’s top drawer, all his shirts neatly folded inside, taking one out and holding it up against his face. He turned to face Azriel, his newly cut hair in disarray as he gestured wildly in Azriel’s direction, “Some fucking spymaster.”

His voice was muffled by the shirt, but it did nothing to hide his angry tone, “I thought those shadows were useful.” 

Azriel clenched his jaw. For the most part, Eris had been treating Azriel’s shadows like he treated his hounds: with an unexpected softness. The shadows liked brushing up against Eris’s hands as he wrote, or curling up over his shoulders as he read. Azriel had apologized the first few times it had happened, but Eris had assured him that he didn’t mind.

He didn’t like the way Eris was talking about them now, though. “They are useful.” 

“They are not.” 

“They were distracted,” Azriel snapped, defending them. 

Eris moved the shirt away from his face, the bleeding seemed to have slowed. He snorted, the sound watery, “By what?” He turned back to the mirror.

Azriel was moments away from retorting “by you,” but he stopped himself. There must have been a reason his shadows monitored the Autumn Court Heir’s every move. Azriel assumed it was because they didn’t trust Eris Vanserra, and he didn’t want to offend one of the Night Court’s most important allies by telling him as much. 

“Give me that pitcher,” Eris demanded.

Azriel would have ignored him had he not felt slightly responsible for Eris’s current state. It wasn’t that Eris hadn’t been a decent enough fighter, but they both hadn’t been expecting an ambush, and as the more experienced one, Azriel should have kept an eye on him. Azriel handed Eris the pitcher that had been sitting on the nightstand, watching as water sloshed over the edges and onto the dresser as Eris shoved a clean part of the shirt into it before he brought the wet fabric to his face.

Eris leaned closer to the mirror, nearly knocking over the pitcher, and made a funny noise deep in his throat before he spoke. “Cauldron fucking boil me,” he bemoaned, one of his fingers gingerly touching the tip of his nose. “I think it’s crooked.” 

Azriel rolled his eyes. His nose looked fine, perfect, even. “It is not.” 

Azriel was debating whether or not to sit in one of the chairs when Eris turned an accusatory gaze in his direction, “I blame you for this complete and utter disaster.”

Azriel blamed himself too. That night was supposed to be nothing more than a routine lookout. If he’d known that Koschei was going to send others after them, he wouldn’t have taken Eris with him in the first place. Azriel would have thought about what it might have meant that he’d wanted to take Eris with him, but Azriel was too focused on the way his shadows seemed to be trying to warn Eris that he’d probably end up making his injuries a lot worse if he didn’t calm down.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Azriel suggested, his voice smooth. 

Eris paid him no mind, scrubbing a little too aggressively at the blood on his face. Most of it had come off, and his nose had finally stopped bleeding. “Don’t tell me what to do,” Eris muttered, wiping at some of the blood on his neck.

Azriel regretted that Eris had gotten hit in the face with the pommel of a sword, not really knowing why.

He’d spent years fantasizing about doing the very same thing, but spending so much time with Eris had Azriel - and he could barely believe it - liking him. “Vanserra, get on the bed,” Eris straightened, raising his brows, “Let me have a look.” 

“First Cassian, now you. I don’t like being ordered around by overgrown bats.” Despite the statement, Eris made his way to the bed, leaning up against the headboard, boot clad feet on the dark red covers.

Eris was still scowling as Azriel tipped his head back just a bit, cradling Eris’s jaw in one hand, taking in every feature of his face. He was beautiful in an undeniable sort of way, and now that he’d cut his hair, Azriel thought he looked even better. Eris’s strange friendship with Nesta had led to the change; he'd let her, Feyre, and Elain cut it for no apparent reason and still managed to look ridiculously stunning.

Azriel gently wiped at any remaining blood that stained the other male’s skin. Through the thin fabric of the shirt, Azriel could feel the sharp planes of Eris’s face and was reminded of the first time he’d ever seen the Autumn Court prince. He’d thought Eris was classically beautiful in a way that reminded Azriel of broken shards of stained glass. Lovely, yet dangerous.

Azriel put the ruined shirt on the bed, using the hand that wasn’t holding Eris’s chin to move some of the hair that had fallen over Eris’s brow. His nose wasn’t bleeding anymore, a small cut underneath his eye was already starting to heal, and the bruise on his jaw seemed to be fading. His nose definitely wasn’t crooked, but Azriel ran the tip of his scarred finger along the sloped bridge of it just to make sure.

Azriel hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to Eris. “I don’t think it’s broken,” he murmured. 

Azriel watched as Eris’s eyes fluttered. “I heard the crunch,” he breathed. 

Azriel didn’t know what came over him, in the moment he thought it might have been madness. Eris was one of his oldest enemies, he was cruel, and ruthless, and he deserved only the worst. That was what he’d believed for centuries.

He didn’t know what might have possessed him to press his lips to the mean line of Eris’s mouth, but he knew that it felt… right. Eris parted his lips in a shocked gasp, golden flames bright in his wide eyes. Azriel was completely out of his mind. He’d never, not once in his entire life, done something without thinking it through. The panic seized him quite suddenly, his wings flaring just a bit as he made to move back, to move away.

Azriel was more than just a little surprised when Eris lifted his hand, threading his slender fingers into the dark hair at the base of Azriel’s scalp, pulling him closer in another kiss. Azriel kissed Eris harder this time, grabbing the other male’s face in both hands, thumbs sliding against sharp cheekbones, lips moving with the force of weeks’ worth of wanting. Eris’s bottom lip was caught between Azriel’s teeth, his other hand coming up to fist in Azriel’s leathers.

Weeks upon weeks of working with Eris, talking to him, trusting him. A helpless sound escaped Eris’s lips when Azriel slowly moved his hands so that his thumbs traced the shape of the smooth, pale, column of Eris’s throat. Azriel had more than a million things to do, but as Azriel opened his mouth, Eris’s tongue pushing against his in a savage claiming, Azriel leaned into him, all those things forgotten.

Azriel wanted to move so that he was right between Eris’s thighs, to press the other male into the bed, to watch a prince of Autumn come undone. Their kisses were messy, urgent, desperate. Eris pulled him closer, and Azriel thought he could drown in the feel of him, the taste of him. The taste of crackling embers, of rich cognac, of Autumn mornings.

Azriel’s hands slid down to Eris’s chest, undoing the golden buttons of his jacket, pulling it wide. Eris tugged on the roots of Azriel’s hair in a way that nearly had him forgetting his own name. Azriel couldn’t deny that he was drawn to Eris like a moth was drawn to a flame, he just hoped he didn’t get burned. The tips of Azriel’s fingers found the laces of Eris’s bloodied, ruined shirt. He wanted the shirt to come off, he’d never wanted anything more.

Never in his wildest dreams did Azriel think he’d want - need - Eris Vanserra. A prince born into the most savage of courts, born of blood, and ash, and fire.

Azriel was playing with fire. 

Azriel didn’t like fire. 

With only half a thought, Azriel roughly shoved Eris away from him.

Eris had red embers dancing in the deep amber of his eyes, his cheeks were flushed and his lips slightly swollen. They were staring at each other, no one speaking for what felt like an eternity, the only sounds in the room their ragged breaths and the crackling of the fire in the hearth. 

Eris ran a hand through his hair, flashing Azriel the pale skin of his wrist as the sleeve lifted. “Well,” Eris started, “That was unexpected.” He huffed a breathless, awkward laugh.

Azriel guessed that it might have also been unwelcome. 

“That was…” Azriel paused. He didn’t know what to say. That was nice? That was entirely unplanned? That was something they should do again? He couldn’t read the expression on Eris’s face and his shadows weren’t being very helpful. “That was a mistake.”

Azriel knew he’d chipped away at Eris all these weeks. They’d gotten past Azriel’s one-word answers and Eris’s cruel remarks. They’d researched, and spied, and fought together. They talked to one another, trusted one another, but as soon as Azriel finished his sentence, he thought that perhaps he’d taken any progress they’d made and thrown it into roaring flames.

Watching Eris flip from open and vulnerable to cold and aloof, was like watching the last rays of sun disappear over the horizon - blink and you’d miss it. Eris nodded once, his eyes cold, lifting his chin just a bit. Eris’s voice as he spoke was smooth, arrogant, not a hint of the warmth Azriel had gotten used to. “Usually, males and females alike wait until the morning after to say something along those lines.”

Azriel stiffened, well aware that he’d managed to hurt Eris. He didn’t know what to say to make this whole thing better, but was saved from having to speak when the door to Eris’s bedroom slammed against the wall as it flew open. 

“I think I’ve found those—” Eris’s younger brother faltered, stopping suddenly, almost as if he’d hit some sort of ward.

Azriel nearly tripped over himself as he abruptly stood, him and Eris weren’t even that close to each other anymore but he felt like he desperately needed the space. Shadows frantically swirled around his feet, some skittering towards the Vanserra by the door. They hadn’t warned him for the second time that night of someone else’s presence, and Azriel was starting to think they were playing some sort of cruel joke on him.

Azriel had spoken to Rufus many times in their combined efforts to stop Koschei, and the young male almost always had something to say. Rendering him speechless wasn’t something that Azriel would have thought possible, but there he was, multiple ancient looking scrolls in his arms, his jaw slack as his russett eyes looked between the Autumn Court’s Heir and the Night Court’s Spymaster.

Azriel was certain that alarm was evident all over the features of his usually blank face, his shadows dancing around him as he waited for someone else to speak. - Rufus angled his head, amusement glittering in his all-too clever eyes. He looked very much like Lucien as he drawled, “Am I interrupting something?”

Eris’s sharp response nearly had Azriel flinching. “No.” 

Rufus smiled, elegant auburn brows raised as he adjusted the scrolls in his arms, “I have many questions.”

Eris’s smile in return was more of a bare of teeth, “And you will ask none of them.” 

“I’ll ask them later,” Rufus didn’t even look in Azriel’s direction as he threw himself onto one of the cushioned chairs by the fire. “I got those maps you asked for.” 

Azriel had forgotten that they’d asked Rufus to look for some older maps of the continent. Eris had been sure that they would be able to find some in the library of the Forest House, and Rufus had been the one who offered to look for them.

“Are you going to look over these with us, Shadowsinger, or are you going to stay by the foot of Eris’s bed the whole night?” 

Rufus spoke to Azriel, but Eris answered for him. “Azriel was just leaving.” 

Azriel turned his head sharply to face Eris. He was still leaning against the headboard of his bed, his hair messier than Azriel had ever seen it, his mouth set in a way that suggested he wasn’t very pleased.  

“Eris…” Azriel made to take a step towards him.

The Autumn prince just waved a hand dismissively, “Have a goodnight.” 

Azriel barely heard him, the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. He couldn’t help but feel as though leaving Eris’s cottage might be an even bigger mistake than the kiss. Azriel nodded once at Eris, deciding he’d winnow straight to the House of Wind as shadows swarmed him; he wasn’t in the mood to speak to anyone right now. Eris’s flame bright eyes was the last thing Azriel saw as he was engulfed in darkness.

[spellwing777]

Iene, Iene, Caloiene, Mă-ta te cătà, Prin pădurea rară, Cu inima amară, Prin pădurea deasă Cu inima arsă, Și mi te plânge, Cu lacrimi de sânge, Iene, Iene, Caloiene.

-Except from 'An Illustrated Guide to Vampires.' by Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde.

So. This is why I've been quiet for a while.

I am...honestly super fucking proud of myself. And in love with pastels a bit. Now for detail shots!

This is an example of a traditional headdress worn during ceremonies of this kind. This particular one features the head of a pale widow (see pg 123 re: vampires and insectoids) and the sensory petals of an arachas.

The elder bleeds herself as a form of sacrifice, giving her life-sustaining blood to fuel the ritual. To do this she pierces herself with arachnomorph fangs in the ears, and endraga warrior spines in her nose and nipples, leaving them in to keep the wounds open. Later the blood will be gathered in a jade spoon to be burned in order to transfer the offering to the metaphysical world.

'Elders eyes' are often strung around places of religious importance to keep malicious auras away, and are seen as a way for the elder to 'watch' a space when they aren't physically present.

Here we see a triad of excarnated ancestors, brought from their usual resting spots in richly decorated niches in the cave walls to act as both symbolic witnesses and displayed in a totemic context as participants. Around them are various ritual objects; the red and white braided cord and jade medallion are symbols of prosperity and health, and the clay effigy at the center has been decorated with the petals of a sacred flower and the red moss of this world. After the ceremony it is destined to be buried as part of a separate ritual.

I did my best to fuze the traditions of Romania-the origin of so much of vampiric myth used in the witcher-with the symbology of Mesoamerica, the home range of the very real vampire bat, and a little of the flora from what we see of the potential vampiric homeworld. Idk about you, but a terrain that's very difficult to navigate if you don't have wings or the ability to make huge leaps from one spot to another like garkains exhibit, is overcast in perpetual dusk no matter how long you meditate and has little fluttering flocks of bat-like things just roaming around? Yeah, strong contender there. Probably just me though.

I have probably over-analyzed this piece but considering it turned out so goddamn well, I really cannot complain. Thanks for looking!