#it is so soul crushing bc what the fuck can i do to help him ??

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

finally marked all the 8th grade maths tests and like. i've only just met them this august but 1 of them has 0 correct answers. 0 points out of like 50. i have no fucking clue what is happening in there. i have no clue how he's gotten to the second to last year of compulsory education and he doesn't have a standing appointment with a special teacher

[kentopedia]

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ SAFEGUARD — dazai, chuuya, akutagawa

summary . . . they save you after you've been injured and captured by an enemy.

contents . . . sfw, f!reader (chuuya & dazai) and gn!reader (akutagawa), violence / blood, threats, injuries, hurt/comfort, angst, established relationship, and it's pmboss!dazai bc i can't help myself — 3.5k total

notes . . . i got this request so long ago lol. not my best work, but i have been in the worst writing slump ever and just wanted to finish something. i've also never written for akutagawa before so pls be nice <3

𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐔𝐘𝐀 . . .

there are very few times that chuuya feels he’s been outsmarted. he knows he’s not the mastermind of the port mafia, but he certainly isn’t a fool. when it comes to you and your well-being, though, his mind short-circuits, half of his intelligence draining away while his emotions take hold. 

your relationship isn’t a secret to anyone in the port mafia, which means that it isn’t a secret to your enemies either. and while most people know it’s hard to land a finger on chuuya directly, his pretty little girlfriend doesn’t have the power of a god nestled inside of her.

the rage sparks through him, growing fiercely into the blaze of a forest fire, until all he can think of is getting you home safely. he thinks of your sweet smile as he rips the door of the enemies’ base off the hinges, crushing it into a million pieces with the force of gravity. 

the men are quick to react, but chuuya hurtles the crushed door towards them, knocking three of them to their feet. another group charges at him, but their guns do little against his skill. after years of fighting some of the strongest ability users, simple criminal organizations are as easy to step over like ants. 

chuuya kills them all — except for one.

the man’s knees are wobbling, hand shaking around the gun as he realizes that these will be his final moments. there is fear in his eyes, brown ones that rest wide open, and chuuya almost hesitates. his remorse doesn’t last long, though, before he’s wrapping a hand around the man’s throat, thrusting him backwards. 

“where is she?” chuuya asks, voice sharp and commanding. 

he can feel the man swallowing. 

chuuya knows that backup is probably on the way, but it won’t matter whether they show up or not. he’ll crush the rest of his enemies just as he’s crushed the last twenty men. the poor soul in his leather hold seems to know that as well. 

“i-i’ll take you to her,” he rasps, dropping his gun to claw at chuuya’s hand. 

he drops him, lets him take a few heaving breaths and coughs, before he’s kicking at him, forcing him back to his feet.

the young man takes him up the elevator, weaves him through a hallway as chuuya leaves a scattering of bodies in his wake, not hesitating to kill a single man that gets in his way. there is nothing that can keep him from you. 

how fiercely and loyally he loves you — it drives him to near insanity. 

finally, with blood coating his face and his clothes, the young man enters a room, locked with a code, revealing you. 

chuuya’s rage is almost as blinding as his corruption, as he gazes at the sight of you. bloodied and bruised, tied up in a chair, so visibly harmed. his hands clench into fists. “get the fuck away from her,” he says to the man who seems to be monitoring you.

“what are you doing in here?” the men left in the room panic, but they don’t have time to react before chuuya throws them back at the wall, so quickly, with so much force, that their spines snap. they hit it with a sharp crack, skulls shattering against the plaster, the wall crushing beneath the weight of them. 

limply, they fall to the floor. 

chuuya rushes over to you. 

the young man that led him here disappears, but chuuya isn’t worried about him. he’s a coward; he’ll likely flee from the country and never look back. the men that truly hurt you are already dead, and he’ll burn this building to the ground once he’s gotten you away from it. 

“hey,” chuuya says, cradling your cheeks gently, trying to coax you back awake. he’s not sure if it’s exhaustion, blood loss, or the obvious head trauma that caused you to pass out in the first place. but you’re still breathing, so he counts that as a blessing. 

“hey,” he whispers again, kissing your forehead, like it will heal all your ailments. “wake up, baby. we gotta get you out of here, okay?” 

it takes you a few seconds to come to, eyes glazed over and shell-shocked as you blink at him. “chuuya?” you say; your voice is so hoarse it makes chuuya want to keel over and vomit. “is it really you?” 

guilt gnaws at him, almost crushing, at the fact that thirty-six hours passed, and you’re delirious enough not to recognize him. you probably haven’t eaten, either. 

he should’ve been there. no one should’ve ever had the chance to hurt you, yet…

“it’s me, i’m here,” he says, kissing your lips, your temple, brushing your hair away from your face. the strands are sticky with blood. “shit,” chuuya nearly shouts, pulling a knife from his pocket, sawing through the thick ropes around you as quickly as he can. “i’m so sorry, i’m so sorry.” 

he can’t get you free fast enough, and you smile at him, drowsy, your eyes fluttering shut once more. “it’s okay, chuuya,” you say, leaning your head on his shoulder. “you’re here now.” 

“you have to stay awake,” he says desperately, realizing your head is still bleeding. he doesn’t know how hurt you are. chuuya’s no expert when it comes to medicine, but he’s smart enough to know that internal injuries could be even worse than the external ones. 

“stay awake for me, okay, honey? i’ll get you back to the boss and we’ll find you a doctor. you’ll be just fine.” 

“okay, chuuya,” you hum, weakly gripping his back. seconds of silence pass before you mutter, “i just want to go home.” 

"i know." his heart pulls, and he almost lets out a cracked sob. but he refrains, knowing that there is plenty of time to drown in his sorrows later. 

finally, he gets the ropes under, lifting you from the chair. you’re so much lighter, weaker, and it makes him sick as he carries you. “let’s get you home.” 

𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐖𝐀. . .

the call comes just as akutagawa is getting ready to head home for the evening, his tasks completed, eyes heavy with exhaustion. 

normally, he doesn’t stick around to say any goodbyes, sneaking off into the darkness of the night like a shadow, blending right in. but, something about the evening, so gloomy and drizzly with spring rain, feels off. 

with a heavy knot in his chest, so much different than an incoming fit of coughs, akutagawa heads back up to mori’s office, if perhaps to only ensure that everyone else’s jobs had been completed. he’s a lot of things, but he’s never been a slacker; and he’ll do what it takes to ensure that his position in the mafia is eternally secure.

though, he doesn’t have the opportunity to get all the way upstairs before he run into the boss, who is calm, but with an air of irritation clouding him. 

he explains the current situation to akutagawa in a clipped tone, bored — an enemy group has kidnapped you, holding you hostage. 

“how rude is it to bother a man, just as he is getting ready to go to sleep?” mori says, sighing histrionically.

but what is a minor inconvenience to mori sends an entire wave of dread through akutagawa, his entire body feeling as if it’s been dipped in ice. he can’t explain the horror that washes over him, not really, because he shouldn’t feel so panicked. it is rare for him to get worked up about the danger his subordinates find themselves in, save for his sister, of course. 

but you… you’re different. 

“can i trust you to diffuse the situation?” mori asks, impatiently glancing at his watch as if that will change anything. “i can call someone else, but they will not be so quick.” 

akutagawa doesn’t even think before he accepts the job, hating the way he sounds pathetically desperate for more details. his hands flatten the edge of his cloak, as if his ability is going to take on a mind of its own. 

he calls for a driver, calm but breathing so heavily that an aching cough rises up in him. his throat feels as if it may begin to bleed, but he swallows, glances away from the driver and gets himself under control.

there’s a ransom — bring them the money and they’ll return you, mori had told him. you’re only a lower ranking member of the mafia, and someone that makes for a pretty poor bargaining chip, so the motive is questionable. 

mori probably would’ve let you die, akutagawa knows, his teeth gritting together, so much so that a splintering sound comes from it. but the boss, in his infinite, concerning wisdom, seems to also know that his loyal dog has an soft spot for you. 

as regrettable as that may be.

akutagawa has no doubt that whoever the enemy is, they are no match for him. still, a twinge of anxiety settles in his stomach, fingers jittery as the driver, despite the decreased traffic of the hour, seems to drive impossibly slow. 

“are we not in a rush?” akutagawa snaps, leaning forward.

“apologies,” the driver, says, not daring to even look at akutagawa from the mirror. but the car speeds up, enough for akutagawa to be able to notice, at least. it cools the simmer that has already begun deep in his chest.  

even so, the car seems to go at a snails pace, minute upon minute flying by, with you in the clutches of an enemy. 

akutagawa doesn’t care who they are. he doesn’t care why, or how they captured you. he wants them dead. he’ll rip them apart, easily, and he’ll make them suffer — they’ll be alive for all of it, for every second that he peels the skin from their bones, ripping the smaller ones out of their sockets. 

what he feels for you… well, it’s too hard for him to admit to himself. he has no experience with what it means to care for another person, doesn’t even know if that’s his goal. he just knows he wants to protect you.

and he can’t do that if you’re dead.

finally, the car pulls up to an old warehouse, one at the very outskirts of the port, beyond the docks and the shipping carts. it’s tucked far back, an obvious lair for some villainous organization that doesn’t want to be found. 

akutagawa gets there, but there is nothing. he hears nothing, feels no signs of life as he trudges through the puddles left behind from the earlier rain. 

a small string of panic begins again, as he wondered if maybe the call that mori had told him was only a ruse. maybe this entire time had been a distraction, a way to lure him away. there are other skill-users in the mafia, but none quite as dangerous as him. 

though, he hears it, then. a small little sound, muffled and hoarse, full of pain. 

he ducks into another corner of a warehouse, and you’re there — bound with chains and a gag across your mouth, one of your eyes blackened with bruises, your nose bleeding. 

his heart aches. never in his life has he so quickly made his way over, used the sharp edges of his ability to shear through the chains, falling to his knees as he unbinds the cloth from your lips. 

“where are they?” he rasps, mouth opening and closing, hating the sound of his own voice. he recognizes his desperation, his anger, but the affectionate sound that clips at the end is unfamiliar, as he shakily pulls himself closer to you. 

you glance up at him, eyes glossy and wide, and though you are scared, hurt, he’s so thankful you are alive. his heart flips once, as you grasp at his cloak, the material that has the blood of so many staining the threads. 

“gone,” you say, throat chalky, words nothing more than a note against the wind. “they fled when they heard it was you coming.” 

“and left you?” he asks, jaw clenching, as he hopes that the emotions aren’t as visible on his features as he thinks they are. “were you not a ransom?” 

“no,” you swallow, hard, as if in pain. he notices bruises around your neck, the shape of fingerprints indented there. “i was bait.”

anger rises up in him like a wave, engulfing him, wholly and relentlessly. he is no stranger to that, like he is the kindness you show him, the way you look at him as if he is your protector, rather than a bringer of destruction. “i’ll go after them. where are they headed? they’ll pay, i’ll slaughter—”

“ryunosuke,” you say, reaching for him as he stands, expression pleading as he backs away. “stay.” 

he has half a mind to ignore you — the enemy escaped, after all. but your voice. your eyes… you look so small sitting there, bloodied and bruised and broken. 

“please,” you try again, near tears, and though he has never been good with obvious displays of emotion, something within him snaps at the desperation in the word. 

he nods, slowing his pace as he returns to you, lets you wrap yourself in him, cling to him. his hands fall, naturally, to your waist, somehow knowing where they belong, even if akutagawa never has a clue what he’s doing with you. 

“i’ll call hirotsu,” he says simply, before pulling out his phone, not bothering to untangle himself from you. 

𝐃𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐈 . . .

dazai is not a forgiving man, and will never learn to be. forgiveness is not a luxury he is often able to indulge in in his line of work, and his heart has hardened enough that until the end of time, those that are branded his enemies will remain his enemies. 

though, in his blackened heart, one soured over the course of time, you have carved out your own little space, lit it up with golden rays of light that are fiery enough to melt the stone casing of his chest. 

his only love — his only weakness. but it is a weakness that his enemies know about as well. 

dazai tries his best to keep you safe. he always has, and he knows that, sometimes, his grasp on you can be a little too tight. that the way he tries to keep you under his watchful eye can sometimes be stifling, frustrating. 

but he can’t always be there to protect you. and it is in times like these, that he regrets letting you go without a bodyguard. he regrets that he listened to your insistence that you could keep yourself safe. 

he should’ve at least told you to take a friend. 

“boss,” his subordinate says, bowing his head, his voice pleading, desperate. “i’m so sorry. your wife—”

“if anything… anything happens to her, you will be the one responsible, do you understand?” dazai says, his eyes cold as he glowers down at the man, only a few inches shorter than him, but feeling so much smaller. “i will personally see that this act does not go unpunished.” 

“of course, sir,” the man says, and he, at the very least, has the decency to sound resigned. to accept his fate and suffer the consequences, for allowing the boss’s wife to get herself into such a situation. 

and dazai means it, every last word; if he finds you in a state closer to death, anyone who put you in harm’s way will be torn apart from the inside out. he isn’t able to think of anything but bringing you home safely, his hands shaking with rage as he sends more than enough people out on a search to find you. 

with all the strings he’s able to pull as the mafia boss, it doesn’t take long to find you, for those that have bravely — or stupidly — used his wife as bait to come forward, and offer an attempt at some sort of negotiation. 

there’s little of the conversation that dazai remembers on the phone, even less that he remembers after that. the anger bubbles up in him and grabs hold of his conscience, the emotion directing his movements with a mind of its own. 

he’s already sent out every last one of his people into the field, ensuring that the organization that had the gall to threaten you is wiped off the face of the earth. deleted from every corner of the world, buildings flattened to the ground. by tomorrow, they won’t have ever existed. 

today, he doesn’t care what happens as long as he finds you alive. 

you’re held hostage by two men — so completely beaten that they’ve given up on any restraints. whatever they wanted from you, you seemed to refused to have given up, lip bleeding, eyes swelling so badly that you can’t even open them. 

dazai doesn’t hesitate before pulling the trigger on the first man, then turning to the other, shooting the hand that holds the pistol. the man recoils, shouts, and drops the weapon completely, as dazai lands another bullet to his knee, causing him to fall. 

slowly, dazai walks up, firing again to his other arm, a loud snap echoing throughout the room. the man winces, trying to crawl to the gun, one last desperate attempt to stay alive. 

he kicks the gun away, watching, as, pathetically, the expression in the enemy’s face changes — any of his remaining hope vanishes. 

“you told me she was unharmed,” dazai says, bending down, his coat flaring out behind him as he squats. 

the man coughs, gasping for air as the blood seeps out of him. “we lied.” he smiles cruelly, and though he shares the same sort of darkness as those in the port mafia, there is something even more twisted in his smile. 

dazai hums. “you the leader?” 

the man doesn’t give an answer, but the slight twitch of surprise on his face is all dazai needs. he’s no one — just a grunt whose life was put on the line to guard you. 

“didn’t think so.” dazai shoots him once, straight through the forehead, instantly killing him. but he is vindictive, angry, and the man he truly wants to destroy, the one who took you, is nowhere to be found. another bullet lands, tearing apart the flesh of his temple, then another, and one more, his skull beginning to cave in from the force of it all. 

dazai heaves, letting the gun clatter to the ground as it runs out of bullets, and then he realizes, all this time, you’ve just been watching him. the ugliest side of him — the worst side of him. 

you’re no stranger to it, of course. how can you be, when you’ve shared a life with him for years? but that doesn’t mean he wants you to see it, see how bloodthirsty he can become. 

he stumbles over to you, where you’re still sitting on the ground, your wrist in your lap, bent at an angle that he knows isn’t right. bruises are littered across your skin, and your hair is matted from the blood that pools at your temple. 

it takes every ounce of restraint he has to stay calm, a million feelings swirling under his skin. ones that he was never familiar with until he met you. 

“i’m sorry,” he says, taking your face in his hands so, so softly, worried that he’ll hurt you even more. “i’m sorry, darling. i should’ve — i should’ve been there.” dazai notices his hands are shaking and he balls them up into fists, leaning back. “fuck. fuck — i’ll kill them all, just tell me who it was. anyone who laid a finger on you. i’ll cut them down one by one.” 

“osamu,” you say, and your voice is raspy, cracking, as your unbroken arm reaches for him, squeezing his shaking hand. “i—”

you open your mouth to continue, but only tears come streaming down your cheeks, over your bloodied lips, saltiness soaking your jawline. no words don’t leave you, but a soft sob chokes itself up your throat.

“hey, hey, hey.” dazai’s voice softens, every muscle in his body relaxing as he draws you nearer to him, into his chest with a touch that’s barely there. “you’re safe. i’m here, okay? they’re not going to hurt you again, sweetheart.” 

you sniffle, barely making a sound, but he can feel the tears drop onto his clothes, soaking the material.

“can you walk? are you hurt anywhere else?” 

you hesitate for a moment before answering; he’s not sure if there’s a reason you only answer the first question. “i can walk.” 

dazai nods, and though the rage is still bubbling there, underneath the surface, there is a coolant streaming through him at the vision of you alive. the men who did this will pay the price, but he still has you — and that’s all that matters.

thank you for reading !!! ❤︎

[thebearer]

just thinking about carmy x shy reader who used to have the biggest crush on him when they went to school!! and carmy thought she liked mikey !

oh my god i can totally see him and now i can only think of two ghosts by harry styles ahhhh. little fluff blurb ahead for the soul <3

they go to prom together, their senior year just as friends. carmy bc donna is making him, and you... bc carmy asked you out lol. mikey set the whole thing up, he knew how much you likes carm. you were always coming over and following carmen around like a lost puppy. mikey felt bad for you, sorta, felt bad that you were so hopelessly in love with his oblivious younger brother.

carmen moved to new york and you stayed in chicago, only to reconnect years later at none other than mikey's funeral. carmen looked bad, sad and distant, but there was a glimmer of his old self when he talked to you. familiar. good.

it was a challenge, pushing yourself into the life of carmen berzatto again. two old friends catching up over coffee, first. then going to a ghost tour, because mikey used to swear it was the most entertaining shit (swore he'd see uncle jimmy on there eventually too lol). you'd help him at the beef when he'd call, helplessly needing assistance fixing some odd appliance. he'd make you greasy italian sandwiches and you'd spilt them sitting at the sticky booths, reminiscing.

it wasn't until weeks later, when things started to take a turn for the best. when carmen realized that "oh shit she's like into me into me???" he'd kissed you that night, in your apartment living room. it was rushed and a little sloppy. he'd blushed so hard after that, stammering and nervous in the low light of the room. you'd only grinned, pulling him back in.

"i- fuck- i didn't want to-to come across like that. i just... i'm sorry. i don't know why i... it felt- i don't know, i'm sorry." carmen is a stuttering mess, feeling his heart rate rise and like he might throw up at any given second.

"why are you sorry? i liked it, carmy, c'mon." you just give him a sideways, lopsided grin.

"what? are you- are you fuckin' with me right now? don't... you liked it?"

"of course i liked it. sophomore me is shitting herself right now."

"in a good way?"

you laugh, nodding. "in a very good way. c'mon, bear, don't fuck with me right now." you glare at him playfully. "you don't have to act like you didn't know i was in love with you."

"what?" carmen's eyes bulging tells you otherwise. "you-you... no, you didn't like me. you liked mikey."

"mikey?" you repeat. "carmen... i liked mikey because, i mean he was mikey, everyone liked mikey. but i had a crush on you."

carmen wasn't sure what to say, heart pounding hard in his throat, strangling the words. "really?"

you nodded, grinning gently. "i mean, you were too obsessed with claire bear to notice-"

"-oh, c'mon. don't do that." carmen cringed shaking his head.

"you did!" you laughed, jabbing his chest lightly. "you'd always talk to her in math and sketch all those pictures." you tried not to sound as hurt as your fifteen year old self had been. how you'd cried into your pillow when you found them. how you tried to make yourself look just like claire, act like her too so maybe carmen might notice you.

carmen blushed, looking down at his shoes. "well, i, uh... if it makes you feel any better. i-i was drawin' you too, ya know." he couldn't look at you, blushing positively boyishly at the admission.

it was silly. so silly and so sweet and it shouldn't have made you feel the way you did, but it did. you kissed him, two hands on the side of his cheeks, tumbling back on the sofa with him. a long, overdue kiss.

the next day, carmen asked you to come by the beef, telling you there was something that got dropped off for you while trying to figure out bills.

you opened the envelope to find a faded, crumpled piece of notebook paper, the light etchings of you on it with the algebra homework from mr. weir's junior year class.

[ersatz-anomaly]

Shuro can go eat glass. What a prick. Acting like his crush on Falin trumps all decisions and bonds and acting like Laios doesn’t care about SAVING HIS FUCKING SISTER. I thought I might like him but turns out him and his crew suck ass.

“I could use a heal-“

“NO! DONT USE YOUR FILTHY MAGIC ON ANYONE! JUST SHUT UP WHILE I TURN YOU OVER TO GET EXECUTED BY THE WESTERN ELVES!”

We get it bro. You wanted to fuck Falin so bad you pretended to give a shit about her brother who GENUINELY WAS CURIOUS ABOUT YOUR HOMELAND. WHO JUST WANTED TO BE YOUR FRIEND. WHO FELT BAD FOR YOU EVEN AFTER YOU PUT YOUR SWORD TO HIS NECK.

Being shocked by the use of black magic to resurrect a girl reduced to literal charred bones is one thing (not like anything else was going to help tho…) but rejecting a magic user with reliable healing magic who is offering regular healing magic is just ludicrous on a deep dungeon floor surrounded by powerful monsters and a roaming Mad Mage.

Do you want to get murdered and eaten? Bc that’s how you get murdered and eaten and your soul bound forever to a monster dungeon. Fucking idiot. At least they got the Red Dragon in time to do SOMETHING for Falin beyond pray to whatever gods are ignoring the dungeon. You wouldn’t have even arrived in time to save her bones.

[londonfog-chan]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: Rite Here, Rite Now Part 2

I listened to Square Hammer at least 57 times this week trying to figure out how to describe it in like two sentences pls send help.

Part 1 , Part 2 (You are here)

***

If someone told you that you’d be sitting in a stranger’s garage, white knuckling your linen skirt while your crush was playing - on his own actual guitar - a stupid song you wrote for him, you’d have called that person a liar and bitten them for playing with your emotions.

You were in hell. This garage was hell. Not Eddie though. He was pure heaven, like having the real honest to god Eddie Van Halen rocking out next to you (a crush you’d harbored since 1981 when he married your favorite daytime television actress. Eddie Munson resembled Van Halen perfectly in your mind and you tried your damnedest to look cute enough to be his Bertinelli). Despite the fact that Corroded Coffin was positively butchering your melody and holding you hostage to replay the same bars over and over again, you tried to remain positive and focus on the fact that you had made Eddie smile with something you’d made for him.

It seemed that he was obsessed with your piss poor excuse of a song. He was enthusiastically playing along to it within minutes of hearing the first few notes. You got to see him shred on his guitar, and Eddie had even proudly told you what kind of guitar it was when you asked: a 1984 BC Rich Warlock, his “black beauty”, and you still had no idea what BC Rich meant but the full name had the word “warlock” in it and that sounded so fucking wicked. You liked warlocks. And you liked that Eddie had a warlock.

There wasn’t anything he could do wrong. Ever since you came to Hawkins, Eddie had been your dream boy. He treated you like a person, someone worthy of kindness despite the fact you wore baggy clothes and a sullen expression all the time. Everyone else said hateful, ignorant shit about you. It wasn’t easy being the new kid in town, and you did this same song and dance often moving from place to place. Never quite fitting in. Skirting on the outside of groups, always the lone wolf, until the day your world changed when you came to school with your Sony Walkman headphones blasting Anthrax and a very handsome stranger stopped you in the hall by your locker to talk thrash metal.

Said handsome stranger was still torturing you with the wrong kind of sound you’d had in mind for “Square Hammer”. Admittedly you weren’t a thrash metal aficionado. Your tastes were more fantastical, glam and glitz and big theatrics were what you liked best about music, especially when it came to metal. The more flashy aspects fascinated you because they were everything you didn’t have it in you to be. You were the antithesis of flashy. Square Hammer was your poor attempt at breaking into Eddie’s world, try as you might to listen to bands like Megadeth and Sepultura, you couldn’t help but to imagine more grandiose sounds for the vision you had for his song. Metal to you was like reading Poe or Stoker. Dark and mysterious, alien to you, that you couldn’t help but envision something similar for Corroded Coffin.

“Is something the matter sweetheart?”

You felt warmth on your hand. A veiny hand with a mood ring enveloped yours, and you looked up to see concern written all over Eddie’s face as his big sad eyes stared down into your soul.

“Huh!?” You exclaimed. “Oh yeah… I’m fine…”

You tried to put a false smile on your face to hide the fact that you were being eaten up with the ick at the unpolished sound. But Eddie saw right through you.

“Not with your hands looking like you’re ready to rip your skirt up.” he said, standing close to you, “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… I don’t want to sound like a cunt…” you mumbled.

“Hey… you won’t sound like a cunt.” Eddie said, “We’re musicians. If something is going wrong with the vision you have to tell us so we can make it better. We're a team, that includes you. Your input is valuable, and we want to hear it.”

You grimaced. His gentle words weren’t very reassuring. Especially not when you were hiding your mean perfectionist thoughts and trying but failing to be this image of a cute, cuddly creature that Eddie would fawn over. But you knew: he wouldn’t relent and let you stay quiet. He’d get the truth out one way or another, or you would just blurt it out in a shitty way.

“Okay… Well, it’s just that every time we start I know the intent is to let the Casio speak up for itself, and then everyone else just jumps in…” you began.

Eddie nodded, encouraging you to continue as the guys came over. They crowded you and they keyboard, staring at you as they listened intently.

“... I hate it. It’s making the song way too jarring. For the vision I had for this, you’d want to warm everyone up a bit, not scare the shit out of them with every guitar and percussion line dog piling on at once. Dougie’s bass line is also way off, too choppy and it doesn’t get to exist and unfurl. And the worst part is that the Casio is way too weak in the intro. If you want it to have a voice it’s going to need back up really badly during that first fifteen seconds to allow the listener to really lean into the first verse. I get that you want to pack a punch and beat the shit out of some eardrums, but do it gradually, otherwise it just sounds like a bunch of sloppy noise.”

You were just blabbering at that point, trying to convey poorly what you had envisioned and how you imagined the whole ensemble would sound in your head. Not once did you dare to look up and see what expressions the boys were making as you continued to dress down their rendition. Eventually, you got so tired of hearing your own voice you began to quiet down. That was it, you thought you fucked everything up, and that they would all tell you to get the hell out of Gareth’s garage and never come back.

But to your surprise, the boys were actually all deep in thought. Listening intently to your criticism, and from the looks of things plotting. Hands on chins. Strategizing as if they were looking at an invisible chessboard. It was similar to how the group operated during a particularly intense one-shot, evaluating the miniatures as they were laid out on the map, quietly strategizing each player’s next move and brains working overtime to visualize every possible outcome.

“What if we add a bit of a light duet to the beginning with the Casio?” Eddie asked you suddenly, “Like if I follow along with you just low enough to give you that extra oomph, but really allow you to let the keys shine.”

“Um… I think maybe it could work.” You began.

“Y’know Ed, I think even a slide at the beginning could work with both the Warlock and the keys.” Interjected Dougie, then to you he said, “I kind of get what you mean, by itself the keyboard sounds too fucking lighthearted, you want to really let the intro get a chance to warm everyone up before diving right the hell into it.”

“Honestly yeah, as it stands, ‘Square Hammer’ is almost psychedelic kitsch.” Gareth said, his leg nervously striking the bass pedal and making it boom along time to his leg shaking, “Not what comes to mind when we consider the direction we want to go. But I feel like working more metal riffs, maybe let that bass purr a little and the Warlock work her magic, we could salvage it from being total shit.”

“It’s not that bad to be considered kitsch.” Jeff interjected. “I think it has potential to be at least our one hard rock track if we can come together to add that metal magic-…”

You were shocked. Completely flabbergasted as the boys continued to talk amongst themselves. They weren’t acting like giant man babies about your criticism, and instead were meeting it back with critique of their own. As if they wanted to engage with what you created, regardless of if they all liked it or not. While the consensus seemed that you were outmatched four to one as to how you wanted to proceed with ‘Square Hammer’, it didn’t bother you that they were obstinate in keeping their vision. In fact, you began to get excited, looking at your Casio keys with newfound vigor and passion that you had not felt in many years.

It was exciting to collaborate with Eddie’s passion project. The prospect of helping him to create something wonderful was filling you with an excitement that made your heart soar. You felt part of the collective. Welcomed. Accepted even as Eddie then turned and smiled at you.

“Alright folks, let’s try one more time and see if we can’t bring this together. And you sweetheart, I can’t stress this enough- let’s keep those ideas coming. Don’t be afraid to share with the rest of the class!”

“I’m afraid if you give me enough leeway, the cunty thoughts will really start coming out…” you grimaced.

Eddie laughed, loudly and obnoxiously, as though you were the funniest person on earth.

“Sweetheart, this is the most we’ve ever come together to sound unified. At this point we’re counting on your cunty ideas to make something presentable.”

You gave a laugh, a determined nod, and then you all began the arduous process again. To anyone else it would have seemed to simple to voice your opinions, but for you, often afraid to let your passions for perfection show, it was a big step and you were proud of yourself for speaking up. Once the awkwardness of letting out your thoughts went away, you started to become intensely interested in getting this song to the next level. You brought up percussions on your Casio to show Gareth what you had in mind for drum support during the intro. Eddie worked out the right slide technique with Dougie for a sultry purr of the bass at the beginning that had chills running down your spine when you heard it for the first time. He let one note hang on until the full ensemble of the band built up to the crescendo, and that simple act of gradual additions helped elevate the sound of the music to an entirely new plane of existence.

The new sound for your song was snappy, unified, and it paved the way for Eddie and Jeff to make magic with their dual combination of rhythm and riff. The difference was incomparable to the humble beginnings of your song. By the time everyone was comfortable with the work they had done, Gareth’s mother was already descending the stairs to the garage from the house to tell you all to go home, as practice was cutting it close to the prompt time that the neighbors could legally report you all for noise ordinance violations.

It was amazing. You were almost disappointed when you packed up your Casio with Eddie’s help. Dougie, Jeff and Gareth approached you one by one to thank you for your contributions, for taking time to come, and for writing them such a wonderful song. They didn’t linger to shower you in praise, but they each seemed to have a glint in their eyes as Eddie stayed by your car with you.

“Sweetheart, you were incredible today!” Eddie praised, “The guys are over the moon with you, thank you so much for your help and for your song.”

“… I didn’t think you guys would like it when I first came up with it…” you said, “I know the sound isn’t exactly traditional heavy metal… But it felt like the song was missing something every time I tried to keep it confined to one style. I wanted more avant-garde, and I immediately hated it. I wanted to make something that you would like.”

“Give yourself some credit. You are one hell of a musician.” Eddie said, leaning into your space as you looked away nervously. “You have your own visions, willingness to experiment, and one hell of an ear for notes. That’s not something just anybody can do. I loved what you did with “Square Hammer”, it’s fresh and edgy and the guys absolutely loved working through the kinks.”

You couldn’t help but smile, rubbing your shoe into the gravel of Gareth’s driveway.

“Can I tell you something?” you asked, then continued anyway, “I almost pussied out. I didn’t want to show up today with garbage so I considered staying home. But when I thought of you, how disappointed you’d be if I didn’t show, I realized I’d be betraying you. I didn’t want to do that. So I had to nut up and show anyway.”

You looked from the corner of your eye: Eddie was positively beaming. The glow of the streetlight illuminated his dark brown eyes into a soft cognac color, his hair surrounded by a golden halo glow. He looked like an angel when he smiled at you like that.

“I’m glad you didn’t puss out.” He said softly. “You brought a bitchin’ performance, and I know I speak for all of Corroded Coffin when I say we were honored to have you here with us. That melody you made? Damned fine divine intervention sweetheart. And that’s coming from the number one metalhead in Hawkins.”

His face was inches from yours, and you couldn’t look away nervously. You didn’t want to. Something about the way he looked at you, so pure and sweet, it had you drawn in. So close that your noses were touching and you found you didn’t mind it one bit. Your heart didn’t race, in fact it felt so warm your eyes became half lidded in anticipation of closing your lids and meeting lips.

“Eddie… Thank you…” you whispered. “That means a lot to me… Thank you for everything… Thank you for inviting me over and for asking me for help, for inviting me into your world. This means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

“You’re always welcome here…” Eddie whispered back, lips just centimeters from yours as he moved closer, encircling his arms around your waist as you welcomed his touch. “You’ve got a fire in you that’s unlike anyone else I’ve ever met before… And I’m so damned grateful I have the privilege of knowing you.”

Both of you stayed that way for a long, hungry time, until you met together in a soft kiss. His lips were a little chapped, but you didn’t care. He was so warm, encircling you protectively and pouring everything he had into the kiss, it was better than you could have ever conceived of. Being there with him in the silence of the coming night, you felt so safe. Protected. As though there was no where else on earth you would rather be.

You carried that high with you, all the way home to your bedroom where you crawled into bed with your trapper keeper and a pen, intending to write Eddie yet another song. Only this one would be different. It would speak from the heart, tell him how you really felt, and hopefully expand your bright future as a couple when the morning came.

[kimbapisnotsushi]

miscellaneous haikyuu hcs that are scattered to the four winds bc i need to de-stress and i haven't done them in a while

tendou uses hair gel but tells goshiki that every morning he sticks a fork in an electrical outlet and that's how he gets his hair to stand up

goshiki, bless his soul, believes him

tsukishima freaks the fuck out when he learns that tenma asked out akiteru not because he's an overprotective brother or has misplaced resentment for the former little giant but because he's the biggest fucking fanboy of tenma's works

"what do you MEAN udai tenma asked you out what do you MEAN you've never read any of his works have you been living under a ROCK - "

this goes on for a whole hour and akiteru basically gets a free lecture of how amazing his little bro thinks his boyfriend is

when kageyama is really missing his grandfather he goes to the park where they used to play volleyball together and that's where he asks kunimi and kindaichi to meet him so they can finally have the proper conversation they needed in middle school

(i think about this hypothetical scene SO MUCH)

shibayama's parents own a cafe/bakery and the team converges there sometimes to hang out and will occasionally lend a hand

they help decorate it for the holidays!!

atsumu: "hey kita-san, i'm really sorry but i think i've caught updog" kita: "are you okay? do you need soup? tea? medicine? you should go home and take a break, i'll have gin send the notes to you, i'll let coach know - " atsumu, crying to the other second years later: "i can't fuckibg do this to him i feel like a momster"

kita DOES know the joke btw akagi did it to him back when they first met

inarizaki vbc is at war with inarizaki student council btw. inarizaki student council has been trying to steal kita for AGES ever since kita saved their asses in his first year from looking like total fools

kawanishi doesn't look like it but he is absolutely willing to fight for shirabu's right to be a snarky piece of shit

semi, exhausted, after stopping the third person that day from curbstomping shirabu: "kawanishi, why" kawanishi: "i like him like that"

sakunami is the most well-adjusted out of all the first years

at least every single one of them has broken some minor trespassing or breaking and entering law to play pokemon go

terushima is the type to try and show off in front of his crush and whenever this happens every single member of johzenji is determined to make him look like as much of a fool as possible

one day he's talking to komaki yuzuru and humble bragging about how oh so brave he was for his piercings and didn't even feel any pain or whatever and all his friends are walking by like

"hey yuuji thanks for singlehandedly lifting my parents' car out of that ditch they crashed into!!" "hey yuuji i heard you rescued twelve orphans from a burning house the other day!!" "wow yuuji i can't believe you steered an airplane after the pilot lost control and saved thousands of people!!" "hey yuuji remember that time you took on a whole gang of robbers and knocked out all of them??"

they are so fucking stupid i love them so much

reon is one of those early risers and tendou WILL throw a pillow at him if he doesn't shut off his alarm within five seconds of it going off

if it's winter and tendou has kicked all his blankets off then reon will carefully tuck him back in before leaving the room, flareon plushy included

reon has the BEST sweatshirt collection btw. they're comfy and have neat designs and everyone ends up wearing one at some point or another.

i love reon guys he deserves so much more love

kogane is a hopeless romantic and has a list titled "dream date spots" in his phone's notes app. there is an addendum at the end of the list in parantheses that says "must actually ask out sakunami first in order to go to dream date spots". kogane hopes to erase that addendum soon.

[loststarphounix]

im sorry im on a roll today with these aus but-

ai kazuichi au 👀 (i mentioned this au before in my soudam week entries)

ai kazuichi exists inside of the digital world as an observer, like chiaki, and is programmed to look after his classmates and to act like the real life ultimate mechanic in the real world

once Gundham and the other students are inside of the Neo World Program, gundham's starting to crush on the mechanic as days on the island pass by :0

tbh whether or not this takes place during the killing game (angst potential!) or island mode (fluff potential! + everything goes somewhat smoothly for them!) is up to you bc i love your creativity! :D

Look.

LOOK

This can go many ways, but I’m gonna go angst and make the world burn by having the reason there’s both AI’s is because both Chiaki and Kazuichi died and that actually sends the class to Despair. Or at least….they thought both died.

He was actually just on the cusp of death when Izuru went to their “game of death” and Izuru felt a deep, instinctive desire to help. Maybe Hajime wasn’t completely lost from the Hope Project, but the young mechanic has been in a coma off and on for two years. He’s horribly disfigured and his body aches so bad he can’t work on large machines ever again and he has about 2/3 of his remaining lung capacity so he’s winded a bit more easily. Not to mention his left arm…or lack of. But he gets a cool replacement like Nagito so it’s all good!

AI Kazuichi and AI Chiaki was crafted partially by Kazuichi it was mainly created by Izuru because I like to think the smidge of Hajime within Izuru at the time made the AI so he could fulfill his dream of being a classmate with his best friend slash femme crush. Kazuichi sadly can’t do much and the Future Foundation keep him close because him being on the island is dangerous in his condition. He made the AI version of himself to be less of a hot mess and to be more open to Gundham who he has realized he wanted to be really be good friends with.

Meanwhile in the NWP, Gundham finds AI Kazuichi more warm and receptive to him and the two get closer. Like they actually get along and interact more, which subconsciously makes the breeder happy because somewhere in his mind he remembers they were “rivals” for Sonia. And now they’re almost besties with Sonia and are actually enjoying their time together.

And maybe real Kaz is living vicariously through the AI as the two grow closer and they start to dance around the idea of being in love. It effects him a lot, because he wonders what could have been if he didn’t let his insecurities get in the way and if Junko hadn’t fucked them all over.

When the killing game starts, Kazuichi demands to be there in person in case something happens when he reality he wants to try to prevent Junko’s plan while also being their personally to mourn Gundham in case they fail. He realizes too late he was in love with the breeder all along and now it feels like it’s too late to do more than mourn for his conscience and soul.

When the game ends, he has to explain to Hajime, Akan’s, Fuyuhiko and Sonia what actually happened to him and Chiaki and how he wished it was Chiaki who lived instead of him. The five work hard to get the others free, with Kazuichi forcefully taken somewhere else to rest and not risk his health but it makes him spiral into depression. When Gundham wakes up, I like to think he seeks him out and what happens happens.

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

|•♡•♡{Welcome pick your man!}♡•♡•|

|•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡.{Number 2}.♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•|

Shit he'd say

{♡} reblog

- You though I was feelin you?! Your not even a fart!!

Mexican Candy

{♡} personal

- Feed him the candy. He craves it

Racer

{♡} personal

- What if and hear me out he was a racer?

Tummy ache

{♡} personal hc

- give him ginger ale it's the only cure

Spice Lover

{♡} personal

- you want some? K, WAIT THATS SPICY OH NO-

Mexican Seth HC

{♡} personal hc

- No Sabo kid ass

Iykyk

{♡} personal

- save a horse ride a cowboy

Abuse cycle

{♡} personal

- breaking the cycle is hard if you doubt yourself.

Artist Casper

{♡} requested

- Charlie with a artist? The glazing goes wild

Teeth

{♡} personal hc

- cute smile with that chip tooth

Thighs

{♡} personal

- CRUSH ME CRUSH ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Grocery shopping

{♡} personal hc

- Rat goes grocery shopping?!

Yan! Casper

{♡} personal

- Yo my lover kinda crazy

Baking

{♡} personal

- We can't bake send help-

Beast boy

{♡} personal hc

- I wanna be called mama by him-

Incorrect Quotes:

FNAF

Big shirts

Crush me

Gossip boy

Hey Mama~

Camera's

{♡} ask

- Auron gets freaky w the camera's?

Porn pt3

{♡} ask

- hhmmm smut idea for him

Domestic Bliss

{♡} personal

- oh shit we domesticated him

Ethnicity

{♡} personal

- Got curious what he'd be

Grocery shopping

{♡} personal hc

- fancy man goes to food for less?!

Incorrect Quotes:

Tempted to kill

Old phone

{♡} personal hc

- jail breaking ur old phone's hard

Electronics

{♡} personal hc

- lol he forgor he had that

Food HC

{♡} personal hc

- FUCK CALIFLOWER

Otome rizz

{♡} personal hc

- Mr bitchless? Naw Mr. Catches bitches left n right

Incorrect Quotes:

Personality

Confession

Confession Pt2

Not going anywhere

NEVER BACK DOWN!

Sunflower has a stutter

{♡} requested

- Finn has a lover with a stutter!

Oh yeah pretty boy? (SMUT)

{♡} personal work

- He dresses up for you!

Horror Lover

{♡} personal hc

- What if he was a lover of horror movies?

Flower

{♡} personal hc

- you remind him so much of one...

Eye contact

{♡} personal hc

- OH! I'm into that-

Sayings

{♡} personal hc

- please just curse

Sneaky insults

{♡} personal hc

- Southern Finn came out

Incorrect Quotes:

Go ape shit

Losing my shit

Some HC

{♡} requested hc's

- hc's bc my eyes were opened

Girl Dinner

{♡} personal

- wdym a single grape and some chips is dinner-

Shadows

{♡} personal hc

- Lucien is my shadow he follows me where ever I go

Not so scary

{♡} personal

- ur literally a Teddy bear, but still a bear

Incorrect Quotes:

DO NOT

THEIR SOUL

Banned baked goods

Lil evil

Done nothing

Say My Name

Bro is struggling

Fucking tree

Lore Dropping

Lore Dropping pt2

Trans Listener

{♡} requested

- trans reader with Charlie, Finn and Faust

Yan! Listener HC

{♡} requested

- Sugarboo, Casper, Star, Rook and Angel (Sunflower has their own post)

Listener family

{♡} ask

- What if they were related?

Mexican Listeners

{♡} ask

- What if they were related and MEXICAN?

Voguing match who'd win?

{♡} poll

- Faust won again, king shit

Pirate au

{♡} personal

- idea bc I wanna kiss Pirate Auron-

Song 3

{♡} personal

- Bittersweet duo song that fits them too good FUCK

Rook and Faust bbfs

{♡} personal

- teehee haha idea bc I wanna torture Auron

Jewlery thoughts

{♡} personal hc

- All boys and ideas of what they'd have.

Ethnicity

{♡} personal

- ask to everyone bc I wanted to see it all

Dangaronpa AU

{♡} personal

- The boys being accused? Can their listeners defend them?

Rap Battles

{♡} personal

- Epic rap battles of Academy! /ref

Tokyo drift au

{♡} personal

- idea that I didn't expand on </3

Porn

{♡} personal

- when you get here-

Porn pt2

{♡} personal

- oh there's Charlie-

Total drama slaughter island

{♡} personal

- kinda like dangeronpa au? But on a island.

Your so pretty

{♡} personal

- calling then pretty <33

Boudior photos

{♡} personal

- sexy pics for them, but perfessional!

7ft Listener

{♡} personal

- tall ass mf

Nails

{♡} personal

- nails!

RAGE ROOM

{♡} personal

- I MISS THE RAGE!!

•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•

.•♡•♡Please consider following♡•♡•.

[utilitycaster]

I'm Reading the Drizzt Novels and You Can't Stop Me: Exile

I DID knock a second book out, which means at this rate I will start reading books I haven't already read by May if we go by "two in a month" but by late March if we go by "one a week" I should probably speed this up.

Exile is much simpler plot wise and also, despite being the middle child of the Dark Elf trilogy, is the best, because it's Drizzt Depression Hours and also is our last long look at Menzoberranzan drama for a while.

So Drizzt and his lavender orbs ran away from Menzoberranzan at the end of Homeland, and Exile covers this period. Basically, being alone in the Underdark is soul-crushing, and he develops a dissociative identity he calls The Hunter who is focused on survival, but is at the risk of losing his personhood but for Guenhwyvar, who, as an astral plane summoned spirit of a panther, can only be around half a day every two days. He is fucking losing it and himself and is constantly having internal battles because he's so desperately lonely he risks being found by potentially hostile creatures but also The Hunter is like STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING and generally he is utterly miserable. I enjoy this kind of shit in fiction, so this is great.

Back in Menzoberranzan, House Do'Urden, with help from Bregan D'aerthe (more on this in a second), wrecks but doesn't fully annihilate House Hun'ett but Head Matron Baenre is like "you shall absorb House Hun'ett and take your place on the ruling council of the eight top matrons" to Malice because Lolth wills it. Why does Lolth will it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway SiNaFay Hun'ett does NOT like this but goes along with it, pretending to be the eldest Do'Urden daughter. Briza Do'Urden, meanwhile, hates this.

Let's talk about Bregan Da'erthe because it's led by the greatest fucking guy ever: Jarlaxle. Jarlaxle is, undeniably, the most gay-coded character that has ever fucking existed. He is a bald drow man (in a matriarchal society) and exists outside the house structure, running a band of (male) rogues and mercenaries and assassins for hire and is basically making the most of his low status by being 100% only out for himself at all times. His outfit is rainbow colored in both the heat spectrum (this is how drow darkvision is explained, that they simply have infrared) AND the regular light spectrum. He owns what I think I described as boots of cuntiness which permit him to be soundless OR make sound, and canonically in a later book deliberately makes heel click sounds on a soft carpet in order to be Like That. He is generally at all times introduced as being one of a kind and out of the bounds of typical drow society and I love him.

The core of the plot actually kicks off when Malice sends Dinin and Briza (Drizzt's older brother and sister) to find him in the tunnels and kill him. They do find him, but fail to kill him, and Drizzt realizes "oh huh the highlight of my entire fucking year was my horrible siblings trying to murder me bc I'm so touch-starved that the lash of Briza's whip feels good, I should...do something about this." (He is also tormented bc he nearly breaks his vow to never kill another drow; as a paladin fan I love someone tormented by a nearly broken vow but like, babygirl they tried to kill you, you're being silly). What he does, because there's no therapy in the Underdark, is start stalking the svirfnebli, and eventually he sneaks into Blingdenstone, where they live. He turns himself in and basically gives himself over to their mercy on the grounds that he'd rather die among a relatively decent-seeming society than become more and more murderous in the tunnels. This will be echoed in a very unsubtle way by another character later.

Malice, realizing that Lolth is getting really mad that they can't seem to kill Drizzt, asks for a major boon which is inexplicably called Zin-carla, which basically lets her semi-puppet/semi-observe through the eyes of a reanimated Zaknafein, on the grounds that he is the only person who can probably kill Drizzt and also, well, it's real malicious. To do this, she sacrifices SiNaFay, which she and Briza think is just grand. Drizzt is at this time getting interrogated by gnomes who have silly names and talk a bit like Yoda, but eventually he asks about the gnome whom he spared during a patrol years ago. This gnome, named Belwar Dissengulp (this is not remotely the stupidest name in this series) vouches for him and also has sweet stone-working hands. He takes in the deeply traumatized Drizzt, who, after a brief but mercifully non-lethal Hunter outburst while hanging out with some gnome youths, starts to reacclimate to society and be like "wow so you're NOT all scheming against each other constantly? I must be in paradise." The gnomes begin to accept him as well and return his surrendered scimitars and panther, and all is very heartwarming until one day the Zakafein attacks.

This comes to the attention of the council of Blingdenstone because one of them, named Firble (also not the stupidest name in this series) is paying Jarlaxle for intel. This all travels up the line to King Schnicktick (still not the stupidest name in this series but we're getting up there) who's like Drizzt you gotta leave, and he does, but Belwar goes with him, so it's way less sad!

The rest of the book is their adventures running from Zaknafein and Drizzt being like "but my father is dead! but how" and I went long on the summary of the earlier stuff so the important things are:

They come across a pech (intelligent little rock creature) who has been polymorphed into a hook horror by an evil wizard and is losing himself and becoming the monster, in, yes, a very unsubtle and literal parallel to Drizzt. They call him Clacker and travel with him.

They run into the evil and deeply unhinged wizard who has a (written) accent I can best describe to TAZ fans as "Magic Brian" and best describe to D20 fans as "Romance Partner Baron from the Baronies." I am not an audiobook woman but I'm tempted to see how this is done in audio format.* Anyway Clacker loses himself to a rage and murders the wizard (Brister Fendlestick, not the stupidest name etc) and Drizzt is currently a fighter and Belwar has very limited abilities re: magic as well so they can't do anything about this. Also it's 2e right now so idk if you can just dispell or if you do need the original wizard.

The crew gets trapped by illithids who do their creepy-ass mind-control but as Zak is undead, he comes through like a sword tornado and unintentionally frees Drizzt, Belwar, and Clacker from their mind-slavery. Combat between our heroes, Zak, AND the illithids ensues and as Drizzt considers returning to Menzoberranzan to kidnap a wizard to help Clacker, Zak kills Clacker.

All of the above is interspersed with multiple cuts to Malice losing her shit as she focuses on controlling Zak from afar. Jarlaxle and Matron Baenre occasionally muse on the fate of House Do'Urden, which is truly up in the air as all this happens. House Baenre lends soldiers to help House Do'Urden defend itself while Malice is occupied; Dinin notices Bregan D'aerthe among them.

Drizzt and Zak have a final showdown in a cavern with ledges and also a giant pool of acid. Malice briefly loses control of Zak, who wrests control of his spirit and explains the situation to Drizzt and then jumps into the acid, ending his undeath. This is VERY bad for Malice, who is already as discussed falling apart (mostly figuratively but she has been rapidly aging as well).

Briza immediately stabs her mother to become the new Matron (Briza SUCKS but also this does make sense in that it's clear Malice has failed Lolth so it is the best chance for the house). However, House Baenre then launches its attack. Briza and Maya (who really has a very minor role in all this, Drizzt's unseen sister; fanfic writers this is some fertile ground for toxic yuri) are killed but Vierna is taken as essentially a spoil of war/powerful asset to be folded into the strength of Baenre. Dinin meanwhile is recruited by Jarlaxle, and seeing no other choice, takes it. (Fanfic writers this is some fertile ground for toxic yaoi).

Drizzt returns briefly to Blingdenstone with Belwar but is asked to leave as he did pose a threat by being there and, frankly, agrees. He decides to go to the surface with Guenhwyvar and see what happens next.

Anyway iirc book 3's most memorable things are 1. some sort of tragic event involving children who call Drizzt a "Drizzit" 2. Mooshie, who is not canonically Quebecois but is in vibes, taking Drizzt in. After that we jump to the wildly tonally different Crystal Shard (and Icewind Dale Trilogy) which I will attempt to summarize more briefly and with minimum grumbling about how much Wulfgar is a timesuck.

*apparently the guy who reads the Drizzt novels on audiobook is Victor Bevine, who is also CEO of some sort of Parkour-related foundation. However, Jason Charles Miller played Drizzt in a video game in 2013 which is very cool.

[pocketgalaxies]

i feel like we're gonna need a whole long individual post from you where you sum up your thoughts and feelings of c3ep51...it's a doozy and i'm interested to hear what you have to say!!😵‍💫

okay. okayyy. i just finished the ep so i haven't had a lot of time to think about it yet but. initial reaction is that i'm feeling a little hm. bad! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

obviously i haven't been on tungle so idk if a lot of other ppl feel this way or if i'm in the minority but. a lot of the latter parts felt bad. like in my soul, i mean. i was simply not having as good of a time as i wanted to be having.

cue complaining! apologies in advance:

it was like. liliana being obstinate, even with appreciably high rolls from imogen. ludinus giving this stupid-ass speech that went on for ages about how his life is sooo so so so hard. sky ship was a complete and utter bust. beau and caleb were a complete and utter bust. keyleth was obviously a complete and utter bust and then some. fcg was just stuck in a goddamn automaton for half the thing. destroying power cores maybe caused the key to malfunction, we'll find out, but they certainly didn't feel particularly influential in the final climax. nobody in the party even had an opportunity to do anything during initiative with the backpack having an AC of fucking 25 (when bh is only level 8!!!). laudna and ashton weren't even there, which obviously couldn't have been predicted or controlled, but it didn't feel good

i can appreciate and understand the idea of having it be very clear that this effort was actually futile from the beginning, because ludinus is unbelievably powerful and otohan beat their asses already and this was a plan centuries in the making and the manpower was there and the group is low-level etc etc. maybe this was always meant to happen, maybe the rest of the campaign as matt planned hinges on the majority of ludinus' plan succeeding, which is FINE. but i don't think i was alone in thinking that there was a non-negligible amount of hope going into this ep that something amazing might happen, esp with beau caleb and keyleth all explicitly involved. and it was all, very very unceremoniously, crushed piece by piece and all ludinus had to do was raise a fuckin pinky. you know what i mean? it just felt too easy for him. after watching bells hells painstakingly plan and desperately recruit help for two straight eps, i just sat here and watched ludinus shit and spit on all of that within seconds? felt bad. i think if there was more of an encounter, more of a fighting chance, then it wouldn't have made me as a viewer feel stupid for thinking something might actually fuckin work

i think it could be argued that the otohan fight in bassuras was similar in its feeling of futility, but like. it wasn't??? bc they were fighting her, they were doing damage, they were using up her spells and her legendary actions/resistances, and there was decision-making involved esp on laura's part. there was good rp and there was tension and risky choices, and the players were driving the ship. here it was like every single thing they threw at it didn't even make it in the door. the whole thing was over in one round

speaking of one round, i really actually quite unironically hated the 5 full minutes during which matt rolled 200 damage or whatever against keyleth. obviously because i love her, but also because it was the quintessential moment in the ep of making me sit here and go "what is the fucking point." one of the most powerful people on the entire planet, down before she can even think to do anything about it. and then vax shows up in this triumphant moment of divine victory just to get totally fucked. BY IMOGEN'S MOM, NO LESS. and NEITHER of them got a turn in initiative. bc ludinus is sooo smart and sooo powerful and sooo wise and sooo evil. vom

so anyway. i don't think i'm nearly as mad as this post makes me sound, but i am definitely having trouble finding parts about the latter half of this ep that i particularly enjoyed, at least in hindsight. like in the moment vax's appearance was Amazing. Legendary. but the fact that all it did was play into ludinus' hand made it feel lowkey like shit. so idk!

sorry this post turned into me saying mean things. i was trying to keep an open mind during my liveblog but i was quite frustrated at certain points lmao idk i'll keep thinking on it and you'll prob see posts from me if i change my mind about things

[fawnofanxiety]

Cursed fic idea

Okay look, Ezio Auditore is literally everything. There are times I've asked myself #whatwouldeziodo and then do the exact opposite because it'd probably involve murder.

James fucking Buchanan Barnes and The Winter Soldier have taken up residence in my brain and heart and are 100% there to stay.

Please tell me you see where this is going and have begun crying like I have been for the past 2 god damned months.

My brain decided that my favorite murder baby needed competent help in the form of the best assassin to ever exist. #fightme

SO! So *cries* I started sketching out a fic where Ezio gets yeeted into the MCU a la Isu Bullshit at some point during WW2. There's developing friend/mentorship when my favorite murder birb stumbles on Azzano bc you best believe he'd help the Italian Resistance and dismantle any and every scrap of Nazi supply line he can get his hands on. Like I can see Ezio rolling his eyes at Steve because ho boy does this blonde-haired blue-eyed innocent and idealistic child remind him of himself before- well before he became an assassin. Bucky? Well, Bucky is the man he became after taking his first leap of faith in Venice and his skills as a sniper are breathtaking. Can't really find fault in passing on intelligence to the SSR when he learns of Hydra and pointing the Howlies at this repulsive entity(they are absolutely adorable but he doesn't have the time to focus on giving them more than the bare minimum of time to pass on some of his skills and good lord do the ridiculous duo pick up skills fast. Though Steve frowns on the sneaky sneaky, whatever, they've saved his life more than once). Now, Ezio is the one to give them the info on the train and the soul-crushing guilt he feels when his favorite doesn't come back? When they don't even send a single person to try and recover his body?! That's not gonna fly. Unfortunately, he learns of this too late and well. We all know what happened to Bucky.

I can see Ezio getting to know Howard, understanding but ultimately disapproving of his obsession with finding Steve. After all, Ezio knows just how isolating that obsession can be. But, a sort of friendship? develops? Because Ezio is 100% a hypocrite. He spends every second of his free time trying to track down Bucky. There was no body but he found where he should have been.

Ezio being Ezio cultivates a... hm comfortable amount of wealth over the years and valiantly ducks questions about why tf he isn't aging. Isu Bullshit is my favorite excuse in the AC 'verse. I can see him talking about this to Howard and Peggy when he trusts them enough. Maybe. Maybe, he talks Howard down from building weapons, just a little, but can't completely stop his fall into alcoholism and being a shit father. Maybe, he falls completely under Tiny Tony's spell and becomes Uncle Ezio. Who 100% teaches Tony how to fight back and escape after his first kidnapping. Swapping out with Peggy when he's off searching for Bucky (who he's figured out is the WS but can't fucking track him down) but always always shows up for holidays, birthdays, graduations, science fairs, and silent support at the stuffy galas. Listens to this little boy, who reminds him of Petriccio, trip over himself talking about what he's learned and learning, his never-ending ideas and frustrations. (Jarvis fucking loves this wonderful Italian who also occasionally scares the shit out of him but ignorance is bliss and it's no skin off his back to wash the occasional blood stain out of Ezio's clothing and administer first aid.)

Maybe, he stops the WS from assassinating the Starks. Maybe, he helps Bucky find himself even if he can't do anything about the trigger words. Maybe he becomes a little more blood-thirsty, a little more ruthless when going after any and every Hydra outpost he can. Maybe he sits there and holds Bucky as he cries when Ezio finds the book. Stands behind him, in pride and grief with a hand on his shoulder as Bucky and Tony burn the damn thing. Maybe he whole-heartedly approves of Rhodes, even as Bucky gives the poor child the stink-eye. Is the one to give Tony the shovel talk when he notices the beginnings of attraction between these two idiots. The fact that Bucky proceeded to leave a whole host of bruises when he found out just makes Ezio laugh with pride.

Maybe, just maybe, Ezio finds himself sitting on the balcony of his villa on the outskirts of Florence watching the sunset over his sprawling vineyard with a glass of wine in his hand, his heartache over the family he left behind so very long ago on that bench in the middle of the summer market no longer suffocating. The faint sounds of his bright-eyed and brilliant nephew bickering with the haunted but hopeful man he proudly considers to be his son bring him a sense of peace he never thought he would have again.

[infinitethree]

Okay, you know what?

The bastard is almost, on an aesthetic level, not terrible to look at while he’s like this.

Asleep, he can’t be a fucking sociopath or an asshole. Those too-clever eyes of his aren’t judging and dissecting, they’re closed.

The absence of that bright blue gaze makes him seem surprisingly vulnerable.

So does the way Daz has, in the short while he’s been asleep, already snuggled up to him and is being clingy.

After the last few hours of running around looking for him, it’s a relief to know that he’s been mostly fine all along.

Naturally, when Daz didn’t come home, Raine got worried. The Council, aside from Lee who had been kept out of it, have been searching his known hidey-holes for hours now.

Obviously the HQ was one of the first places they checked, but the wall that leads into the hidden room was sealed off. They assumed that meant he wasn’t there, so they ignored it.

It wasn’t until Aster, in a last-ditch attempt, decided to open it up and check that the bastard was found.

He’d been fine, thankfully. Just having hyper fixated on the code and shut out everything else.

Aster carefully takes his com out and taps out a message to the others.

ShiningAster: bastard located. fine but asleep. focused on coding body for Innit, forgot he has a human body.

RaineStorm: seriously?? uhg, at least it’s normal shit this time

RaineStorm: as opposed to soul crushing despair and existential terror

Khons: need help moving him? ShiningAster: staying here. fell asleep on me, he has nightmares. also touched starved. might be less bastard if he gets good sleep

It’s only a little bit of a lie. Technically, none of that was wrong, but the implication was that Daz wasn’t strongarmed into accepting.

RaineStorm: yeah his nightmares are BAD and music only kinda helps.

ShiningAster: I think I can fix it. saying more will make him pissy

Khons: well if he’s not in trouble and staying there we’re going to bed

ShiningAster: night

RaineStorm: gn

RaineStorm: it’s gonna be really funny seeing him fall for you ngl

ShiningAster: its gonna be weird as fuck for me

After a moment, he switches to DMs.

ShiningAster: at some point we have a kid. Not adopted I think. looks just like him. her name is Azira. means rising star.

RaineStorm: WHAT THE FUCK??????

ShiningAster: also he made a deal to help with Innits body for seeing the same shit I do. but for me obviously

RaineStorm: oh my god that stupid asshole

RaineStorm: maybe he’ll learn his lesson. bc you’re def good to him, I know you.

ShiningAster: hes capable of being good to me back. too busy being petty for now though

RaineStorm: yeahhhhhh. he’s def an acquired taste. but he really is a great guy when you get past his him-ness

ShiningAster: lol

RaineStorm: he figured out I’d want a heated tub, art studio, and a porch. it’s freaky tbh but it’s nice.

ShiningAster: sounds fake but ok

RaineStorm: you’ve never seen him be like that so it’s hard to picture but it’s true!

That’s not quite right; Aster has seen Daz be kind and generous to others…he’s just never been the target.

No, maybe that’s not fair. He’s dragged Aster to a place of being better in a way he never would have done on his own. Despite his attitude, it did still benefit Aster.

Granted, he’s also been an asshole on purpose for literal years, so. That kind of events out.

ShiningAster: honestly just want to eat his damn food without being drugged

RaineStorm: something something the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

ShiningAster: it sucks so bad to play chicken on if Ill suffer when I touch his cooking

ShiningAster: usually its worth it. at least until whatever he put in it hits

RaineStorm: and now we know why

ShiningAster: maybe therapy will fix him

RaineStorm: ngl I think not thinking he’ll kill anyone he loves will do wonders on its own

RaineStorm: but therapy will help too probably

ShiningAster: cant say much for obvious reasons but hes fundamentally broken. has been for most of his life.

ShiningAster: but Id never have a kid if he didnt seem in a good place. so whatever he does works

RaineStorm: have you considered it might be the power of love

ShiningAster: fuck you

RaineStorm: I’m serious!! think about it, he’s spent like 4 years thinking being loved will get that person killed

RaineStorm: he might have divine confirmation but he’s stubborn. might not feel real

RaineStorm: soooo someone who loves him despite his bullshit might be the thing that makes him be less…yknow

Ah, another reminder of how deeply fucked up Daz actually is.

ShiningAster: could be having someone who knows his secrets or even just Innit being out

RaineStorm: remind it that it needs a new name btw. too close to existing ones

RaineStorm: but yeah that probably helps too

RaineStorm: I feel awful I never noticed he was so…unwell

ShiningAster: hes good at hiding what he wants to hide. cant blame yourself when hes a master manipulator.

Said master manipulator mumbles into Aster’s chest, voice small, “I missed you.”

And, fuck, something in his chest feels like it cracks when Aster realizes what and who Daz must be dreaming about.

There’s nobody it could be but his former mentor. The person who gave him everything he ever wanted…and then committed an unspeakable sin against him.

Clearly, Daz still misses him. Despite what Dream had done to him, a part of him still misses the person who crushed him infinitely worse than anyone before him.

Despite only getting brief glimpses of that time, Aster gets the impression that Dream had been someone whose preciousness went beyond words.

Yet Daz couldn’t stomach letting him have his way after what he did. He rejected a place as a near-god beside someone who, despite the sickness in his soul, was devoted to him to a disturbing degree.

That…takes a strength of will that Aster isn’t completely sure he could match.

Fuck, nor does the decision to use the lethally broken enchantment as a backup plan.

If the rest of the server had failed to kill him, Daz would have chosen a death so agonizing that it chills Aster to his core.

It’s not hard to see why Daz is so…himself, honestly. Aster might not be able to think like him, nor agree with his actions, but in a fucked up way he can follow most of the logic now that he has the pieces.

He swallows as Daz’s voice wavers and cracks. “You said you’d protect me, so why…”

Aster adjusts his arms to a more comfortable positon, and messes with his hair more. “I’m not him, Daz. You’re not Tommy any more. Dream was sick– you know that.”

Horrifyingly, Daz starts shaking as he cries.

He rushes to add, “But– but you can have something new. Fuck, if you can be even halfway decent, I’d fall for you pretty damn quick. You can be charming, you know? And– and pretty romantic. It was– maybe it wouldn’t be awful. If you just stopped being such a bastard–”

At a loss for what else to do, he cuts himself off and starts humming.

Eventually, Daz slips back into deeper sleep.

But the memory of this unsettlingly fragile side of him will remain in the back of Aster’s head. Even when Daz is being the biggest bastard he can be…Aster knows he’ll remember this.

[opal-owl-flight]

alright i know it a bit off topic to what you are doing right now. but is angst really necessary for a character. all it does it make me feel so horrible for them. just saying

This is tumblr, the rule for this is to block me/the angst arc tags and move on. If you are who I think you are, Im going to take the step myself for both our sakes.

This is my story. Youre not obligated to read it, youre not obligated to keep up. If the content upsets you, you dont force the writer to change the story they want to write. You leave for the sake of your emotional state. I wont take offense to that as we all have our tolerance for upsetting topics/stories. (God knows I have my own.)

As for angst being necessary?

Have you seen the shit these characters go through in canon?

You can make the argument for everything being cartoon violence but DO REMEMBER that Hal Labs themself has made final bosses scream in pain while youre in the process of giving them a soul-smashing beatdown. And in the case of True Arena for Mags -- you can hear him begging for help in the bg as you fight. (Epilogue also has a lot of angst. Fucks sake one of Mags' "taunt" animations has him crying.)

Im not exactly adding angst where there isnt. It is simply an extension of canon.

Or do you speak of my more painful arcs, like False Paradise or Back to Zero?

Again, they are simply extensions (in my interp) of whats given in canon. I take the canon stuff seriously in my writing, thats just how I do. Those events have lasting effects on the characters. You cant say someone gets possessed and theyre all hunky dory the next time you see em. Wasnt Dedede implied -- no. Straight up SAID by Hal --- to have had trauma from Fecto Forgo? So for my way of writing things, Whos to say the others didnt as well?

In terms of the relationships for those two arcs. (+Nova Incident too what the hell.) Magolor wasnt the best person. He still isnt, sometimes. Healing from what hes done while he was lashing out, for all parties involved, is not going to be smooth sailing. Sometimes things start to look up but and then go nasty in the middle. Thats just the way things are.

BtZ's basis is touching on how puppy love/crushes tend to die the longer you know a person. You find things you dont like about the fellow you admired. And that breaks them apart. Its very fortunate in rhe end of this arc though that both parties see their mistakes/flaws and learn to accept and grow with them, and thats why they got back together.

Angst makes good payoff.

And about excessive angst? Thats subjective. And I always resolve them in the end. (Hell, even Legacy has a good ending now...mostly bc I nuked it after the rewrites). Im not really good with ending things badly, so my stuff always wraps up on a happy note. (I should probably post more of the fluff stuff tbh, but its impact is heavily reduced without the angstier context.)

Tldr, in my interp/writing style, angst is indeed necessary for the character. One, a lot of it is already canon anyway. Two, this is my way of exploring/extending the character and their themes (Mags leans heavy on trust and forgiveness). Three, all of this makes for more satisfying closure/payoff.

[fapper]

okay story time.

i have like an unbelievably stupid soul crushing crush on this one guy who is a TA. like today i waited all day for his office hours like giggidy like oh hehe i cant wait for the clock to hit 5pm so i can go to office hrs bc im gonna see him yay!!! ^_^. UNTIL. his WHOLE VIBE WAS OFF. his body language to the way he was speaking to me etc. like boy seriously didnt care like. omg. he acted like he was the most important and hot person in the room NO YOU ARENT. YOU ARE AN ASIAN NERD WHO LISTENS TO ANIME OSTS EXCLUSIVELY. I ASKED HIM A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT CLASSES HES TAKING NEXT SEM and he had the nerveee to act like he didnt care. like he seriously had enough of me IM DEADDD LMFAOOOOO IM TRULY DEAD i looove how i can drain a man its so awesome. 

shitty things he said/did all within 30 minutes:

1. scoffed when i mentioned this other TA who is super helpful so i asked him whats so funny why would u laugh and he had the nerve to monotonely reply “i was laughing in a sarcastic manner”. HELP ME LORD IDONT CARE IF IT WAS SARCASTIC WHY WOULD U LAUGH BC I LIKEHIM AND ARE U MAKING FUN OF HIM?? KYS

2. he was explaining shit sooo bad like he was so unhelpful ummm. now im insecure bc what if all the TA’s talk with each other about me. like shit talk abt me. he was acting sooo bored and out of it like wow i dont care that youre tired fucking hELP ME AND DO YOUR JOB KYSSSS

3. immediately left my side to help another guy who just entered the room skull emoji. my vibes were simply too clean for him

4. was very surprised that i was mongolian? he thought i was chinese skull emoji like he almost laughed when i told him that. 

5. he was showing me his homework and when i grabbed my phone he said “dont you dare take a picture” and i said no im checking my notifications thank you????? HELP ME>????????????/

6. obviously did not care when i was talking abt classes that i was planning on taking next sem (he was completely out of it he did not gaf LMFAO)

yeah after that… AFTER ALL THIS SHIT…… I LEFT THAT BITCH! i left the fucking room unable to bear the fucking rancid atmosphere that this guy had created. i bounced lmfao and i didnt even say goodbye and when i stood up to leave the room got quiet and he said bye but i didnt say shit like FAWKKKKK YEWWWW LIKE YOU CANA CTUALLY GO DIE IN A DITCH LIKE HELLO>>>>. KILL YOURSELF WOW WHAT A FUCKING ASSHOLE.

TLDR: got surprised when the shitty guy was shitty towards me

[deadrlngers]

Vesper + 🦾🔮🩺 pls!! I'm intrigued 👀

vesper + johnny. the cringe fail duo my beloved. they hate each other sooooo much at first, johnny might be an asshole but vesper can be worse if you push her to that point. her first interactions with johnny are basically a 'oh he thinks he's an asshole? i'm going to show him who's a son of a bitch then.' they basically antagonize each other sooo much until they kinda...like to antagonize each other, you feel me? might be a fucked up way to bond but i mean, what's not fucked up about what happened to them. they become the type of besties that shit on everyone else, vesper ESPECIALLY likes when johnny shits on fenix bc the fact that fenix can't hear him but KNOWS when johnny is talking about him (bc vesper can't stop her snarky laugh) pisses him off soooooooooo much. they have their moments tho, sometimes vesper just wants to make johnny shut the fuck up but after getting rid of him,,yea she kinda misses him, won't say it out loud but it's clear when sometimes she turns to speak with him only to find silence ://

vesper + misty. ah..this is the kind of 'that's the gf of my best friend so i have to act polite and friendly at all costs' case. or at least at the start of their relationship. they would chat a few times, vesper would ask her how she's doing out of politeness and that would be it. it's not that she thinks anything bad of misty but they're kinda too different, misty is a 'head in the clouds' type of person for vesper, while she has her feet firmly planted on planet earth, let's say that. still tho, she always thought highly of misty, she has a good heart and made jackie very happy so vesper had no problem with her at all. it's tragedy that brings them together, as tragedy usually does. vesper was truly touched by misty's care and attention after everything that happened with the heist and the fact they both lost someone so dear to them truly brought them together. i think vesper would take a bullet for misty, she would do ANYTHING for her if she asked

vesper + viktor. let's..let's start with a reveal here..vesper had one big crush on viktor. veeeery big. vesper would always ask jackie if he was going to visit viktor and if she could tag along jdkfhk, viktor is the kindest of the souls in that damn city and vesper was starving for some kindness when they met. i think viktor knew, maybe, and maybe was flattered by the attentions but that's it. he was a boxer, she was a boxer, they clicked very easily over that. her, viktor and jackie would meet to watch matches together, and vesper has playfully challenged him to a little friendly boxing match too a few times. i think they both care for each other a lot and are very good friends!! vesper needs to hide her embarassment at times bc she's plagued by memories of every stupid thing she did to spend time with him kfjdfhjds

+ answering this one here!!

tancred + saul. rubbing my evil little hands together. still unsure if they meet up in canon or not tbh but i'll pretend that they do rn. first reaction: tancred thinks saul is hot. he'd probably want to fuck him once, or twice, some fun among the desert u know. aside from that, he would be wary as tancred usually is, other nomads clans can mean trouble for HIS nomad family so he's always like..attentive, ready to put a knife behind's someone back or a bullet. they would be civil to one another, maybe even have some kind of "alliance"? helping each other etc but i think saul would think tancred a bit too crazy to actually engage with him for more than a few chats or a few funny silly nights. insane in the head as insane in the pussy as they say JKDFHNDSKJF

[charms-of-earth]

My d&d game is such a sexually charged game bc we’re all so horny and comfortable with each other so its become a bit of a dating sim. My character, Seta, is a changeling ranger who replaced a prince when he wandered into the woods as a very young child. A hag (a green hag I think) was behind it all and who knows what plans she had for Seta and the real prince of Vinia, Julian. 

So, Seta saved his childhood crush a few sessions back (Jasper) and there’s been sexual tension between the two of them since then, and then we went into the Fey Wilds to rescue Julian and since then there’s been sexual tension between him and Seta as well bc its like, would you fuck yourself if you got the chance? Also, Julian argued that Seta could have looked like anyone for all these years and chose to look like Julian because he wants him, but in reality he wants to BE him. He’s never felt like he belonged anywhere because of his nature as a fey creature and his wanderlust. 

So recently, we rescued a guy who has been stuck in a wax golem suit for months (years?) and his soul was all that remained. We were given a gem from a dragon’s hoard for something else that we didn’t end up needing it for that could give someone a body made of whatever it touched after doing a little ritual. So, Seta touched the gem after placing it in the suit, which meant that the guy (Slaine) was now a changeling because it didn’t just matter what substance touched the gem (flesh) but who exactly touched it. 

So now, we have this guy following us around the city who’s going to help us fight this giant monster who claims to be a hero of the city from before the big disaster that hit the city that wiped out most of the population. And that’s not even the best part. He starts flirting with Seta for some reason despite there being two other guys who are vying for Seta’s attention. 

Seta is not good with relationships, he tries to avoid them if possible, but he can get a little blinded if someone is paying him a lot of attention and compliments so it’s only a matter of time before Jasper and Julian notice what Slaine is doing and there’s going to be drama. 

I really like shipping Slaine and Seta though bc they’re both changelings so they can both look like anyone they’ve seen and be whatever sex they wanted. I think that holds a lot of potential for really steamy roleplays and really good smut that I could write. It’s great for other reasons too of course, but like I said, my d&d group is really horny and also really gay. 

I haven’t revealed this to the other players yet, but Seta is going to have a moment where he realizes that he doesn’t have to look like Julian anymore, the hag is dead and the kingdom is in ruins and he no obligations to anyone. He’ll find the right person and get their permission to look like them (preferably someone who he knows only in passing) and be someone else! So, he’s kinda trans because he’s not going to choose someone male. Yay for d&d characters transitioning! If only it was that easy in real life. That would 100% be my super power. The ability to shapeshift into whoever I wanted.