#like. deeply uninteresting! could have been fun could have been something

[fooltofancy]

book 3 feels veeeeery much like someone tellin a story with beats they know they wanna hit but they're not QUITE sure how they wanna get there? so everything between the two or three mildly interesting bits of story is just filler.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

To Reject a Vampire

Male Vampire Yandere x Gender Neutral Reader (CW: Non-con, vampire, biting, blood drinking, depressed reader, mind control, smut, blowjob, forced imprisonment, dead dove: do not eat, general yandere behavior) Word Count: 3.4k  (Vampire comm that took me way too long.) 

You were walking back home late one night with your friend, Jaime. You had known each other since childhood and remained inseparable. In fact, the two of you even lived right next door to one another. He had left for college for some years, but had returned as soon as he had become a registered nurse. The two of you often hung out when you were both off work and that sometimes led to walking to the gas station a couple blocks down the road to grab some snacks. You were both laughing from recounting a particularly funny memory you both shared when the sounds of laughter and chatter between the two of you suddenly died down into silence before he spoke. "Hey… there's something I wanted to ask you…" Oh no. Not again… "Have you maybe reconsidered us dating? I know you said no before but-" This was an ongoing problem with Jaime, the only thing really marring an otherwise near perfect friendship. He kept persistently asking you out. This had been going on for years now and your frustration finally got the better of you, making you snap. "NO!" You yelled interrupting him, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!!! It isn't happening! I am totally and completely uninterested in having any type of non-platonic relationship with ANYONE! Stop. Asking. It is NEVER going to happen. Not in this world or the next. Not in any way, shape, form, nor fashion! Get. It. Through. Your. Thick. Skull." You were panting after your outburst. A few seconds passed and you realized how harsh you had been as his face went from stunned silence to utter broken despair. You could practically hear his heart shatter. He often got a bit dejected when you had rejected him in the past, but this time you were much more harsh. With a sniff he started sobbing and running off towards home, leaving you to walk home alone in the quiet night. Sighing you slowly trudged home, sure that Jaime just needed to sulk for a few days before your friendship resumed with the both of you pretending like this awkward episode never happened. And, more than likely, that is just exactly what would have happened. Had a chance encounter on his way home not irreversibly changed Jaime forever. And not for the better. As Jaime was running home his tear filled eyes blinded him to the danger that was stalking him from the shadows. A sneaky predator who loved the taste tormenting his prey imparted, and how much sweeter when his meal was already flavored with the sweet marinade of sorrow and heartbreak? Suddenly Jaime was tackled into a dark alley that he was passing, the vampire easily dragging him back into the void where no eyes could pierce, firmly clasping his hand over Jaime's mouth to keep him quiet. The unknown assailant put his nose into the crook of Jaime's neck and inhaled deeply, savoring the mouthwatering scents of all the negative emotions Jaime had been experiencing that night. The current one being abject terror as the figure behind him didn't even acknowledge his vain attempts at struggling. "I'd tell you not to struggle, but it is really much more fun when you do," mused a deep man's voice. Jaime, whose first thought was that he was getting mugged, now thought that he was going to be raped as his attacker licked and kissed his neck in the same manner one's lover would. And he flailed all the more vigorously. Unperturbed, the man now violated Jaime in an altogether different and unexpected manner. Sinking long fangs easily into the soft flesh of his neck before sucking him nearly dry. It was amazing how thoroughly a vampire could drain a victim. Jaime died, but his murderer was not quite done with him. He loved sowing discord and chaos in any way that he could manage it, and having seen the spectacle early of you rejecting his victim he knew there was ruination and mayhem to be had by creating a fresh, unguided, love-sick vampire. So he bit open his wrist a bit and let the blood flow into the parted lips of our dear departed Jaime. Within an hour he would no longer be so dear nor so departed. And the unknown vampire stepped into the shadows and was never seen there again, happy with his meal and the knowledge that he had certainly derailed more than one life that night. When Jaime woke up hours later, just as the sun was rising, he had a major migraine, a sharp pain in his neck, was chilled to the bone, and felt like he was starving. His memory was spotty, he thought maybe he had been mugged, but he still had his phone and wallet on him. Maybe just assaulted by some crazy person. Whatever had happened he was alive and okay, so he shakily got to his feet, dusted himself off, and made his way home. By the time he had reanimated you had been in bed for hours. Though you hadn't really slept well. You felt so guilty for exploding on him like that. Sure, he kept asking you out, but it wasn't too often and you could have gone about rejecting him just a bit more gently. He had been really hurt, what if he didn't blow it off and resume your friendship like he usually did? After a few days had passed with no contact from him you began to get a bit more anxious, though it was still technically within the normal timeframe of when he usually started talking to you again after you turned down his advances. Still, given the way you had lashed out at him you figured that you should maybe be the one to check up on him instead. Jaime had a reason for not talking to you, what with his transition into a blood feeding immortal taking up most of his time. At first he had no idea at all what was happening to him. He felt cold and feverish and was beyond fatigued. He called off work from the first day, thinking he had a minor flu of some sort. All his senses were disorienting him. His body was adjusting to more sensitive vision, sense of smell, and even touch. The second day he felt better, but had an insatiable hunger, no matter what he ate nothing seemed to satisfy him. He ate a huge breakfast before work and at lunch he ate a lot as well. Some of his coworkers at the hospital even joked about how he was inhaling food that day. Jaime had no clue why he felt like he was starving no matter how much he ate. As someone in the medical field any number of possible causes went through his mind. Nothing really fit. A more concerning symptom was that whenever he was around a wounded patient, whenever he had to do a blood transfusion, or even just whenever he got the faintest whiff of blood his hunger flared up. His senses flared in sensitivity. He could almost have sworn he could hear the heartbeats of those near him. He realized he was craving the blood. It scared him, the thought made him nauseous. Admirably he managed to push away his quite literal blood lust for a couple days, but eventually he could fight his need for blood no longer. It was late at night at the end of his shift and he was beyond certain the coast was clear so he snuck into the storage room where the blood packs are kept and sunk his teeth into one, unknowingly growing fangs as he pierced it and sucked it dry. If the obvious signs hadn't been enough to clue him in on what he now was then innate instinctual knowledge that filled him with his first ingestion of vital human essence did. He was a vampire. A million thoughts raced through his mind, but his first priority was sating his hunger. He quickly grabbed some bags of blood and stuffed them into his coat for later before leaving for home. He was oddly excited, eager to test out what new abilities he had. A day later, when both of you were off work, you finally got a text from him asking to hang out with no mention of what had occurred between the two of you the other night. You breathed a sigh of relief, now things could go back to normal. The two of you had arranged for you to come by his house in a couple hours so the two of you could hang out, order pizza, and play video games. Just like the good old days. Things went entirely normal with no odd deviation or indication that Jaime was now a creature of the night. And it set the pace for your friendship to resume as if nothing had ever happened. Or so you thought, in the weeks since the two of you first started hanging out again Jaime had steadily been experimenting and training with his new found abilities. He had learned that he had an absurd tolerance to pain, extremely quick reflexes, and unholy strength. But, most importantly, he learned that he could compel anyone to do his bidding. He had plans to use this technique on you, but it wasn't quite perfected yet. Though every time he used it he got more and more effective. All he needed was practice and time. So while you went about life and continued your longest running friendship in blissful ignorance of what was to come he was readying himself for the day he could make you love him. When that day arrived it started like any other, you two hanging out at his place on a day when you were both off. But it definitely didn't stay that way. Jaime was at the point with his skill where he no longer even needed to issue commands verbally, he just needed good eye contact to assert his will over another being. "Hey is something wrong? Why are you staring at me so intensel-" You instantly went still and quiet. It was like you were trapped in your own body unable to do anything. When Jaime asked you if you would go out with him you wanted to say no but your lips were not your own and you said yes in a monotone voice. Jaime wore a shit-eating grin as he scooted closer to you and kissed you deeply. You were repulsed and afraid, why weren't you pushing him away, why weren't you slapping him, why were you returning the kiss? You wanted to scream and run away but you could do nothing to control your own body. Instead you wrapped your arms around him and made out with him. Jaime was thrilled, he bit your neck carefully and fed from you as you clung to him. You felt a sharp pain in your neck but could do nothing against it as he tasted your blood. For you it was hell, like a much worse and very real version of sleep paralysis. For Jaime it was heaven, he had never felt closer to you than in that moment. His beloved was finally in his arms and could do nothing to leave them. But he most certainly was not satisfied with that alone for long. Jaime carried you bridal style up to his bed. He very carefully undressed you, as if you were the most delicate doll to ever exist, and stood for a moment admiring every inch of your exposed body. You wanted to shout for help. To cover up. To run. To fight. ANYTHING but lay there under his unwavering gaze. But no matter how hard you tried to fight it you simply couldn't, you were a hostage in your mind, able to see and feel everything but do nothing. The first thing he did, after disrobing, was to attend to your sex. He touched your crouch carefully, as if afraid to hurt you. Like you might shatter at the slightest rough touch. He ran his eager hands, shaking with excitement, over every inch of you. He stroked your cheek tenderly and played with your hair, felt over your chest and thighs and hips. When he had thoroughly explored you and there were no more areas for his hands to discover he decided he needed to go deeper. The vampire took two lubed fingers and slowly worked them into you, gently prying your entrance open and stretching you to be ready for him. He savored every sensation and fold inside you, hard as a rock as he imagined his cock where his fingers were. You couldn't even cry as he violated you, you were denied even that emotional release. And this remained the case even as he slathered his cock with lube and aligned it with your entrance and made his way inside you with his slightly above average dick. Jaime was torturously slow as he "made love" with his dear partner. You just wanted this nightmare to be over, you wanted to believe that at any moment you would wake up sweating in bed like you would from any bad dream. You had to stare wide-eyed, made to take it all in, as he looked at you lovingly. He kissed you deeply, and once more you were made to comply, parting your lips so that he could move his tongue inside. Jaime happily rubbed his tongue against yours as he worked towards filling you with his hot seed. As he approached his climax he gripped your hip painfully and picked up the pace, really drilling you as deeply and as forcefully as he could, his balls slapping into you with each painful thrust. Right before he came he slowed down as much as possibly, wanting to draw out the sensation for as long as he could. Slowwwwwwly pulling out before sliding just as slowly back in, repeating this a few times before thrusting forward and emptying his balls into you as he bit the side of your neck that he left untouched earlier. You came too just as he did, your body now betraying you even further than it had already and in the most humiliating way. He drank a bit before sliding his dick out of you and kissing your cheek. "That was amazing babe! I love you so much!" And as a puppet pulled by its strings you replied, once more in monotone, "I love you too." And the illusion was shattered. It wasn't real. He may have had you, he may have even had your vocal chords, but he didn't have your emotions. And he soon learned that no matter what he tried, even though he could get you to do almost any action, he couldn't force you to love him. Jaime tried for weeks to force love for him into you, keeping you locked away in his house whenever he left for work. You tried to leave, of course, but simple orders lingered in you even when he was no longer present. You couldn't leave or get help in any way. All of your existence now amounted to was enduring his increasing frustration with being unable to make you love him interspersed with periods of anxiety while waiting for him to get home from work and torture you all over again. You were no longer aware of exactly how long you had been trapped, the days all kind of blended together. Most days he had work at the hospital and those days were all largely the same with little to no variation. Jaime would get up and make you breakfast in bed, insisting that he was trying to spoil you. You, in a mix of depression and defiance would not take a single bite and just stare at the plate that he brought to you on a tray with your favorite morning drink. Inevitably he would get frustrated, snap at you, force you to eat against your will, and slam the door as he went off to work. Then you were left alone, it was probably the only almost decent part of your day, but everything just seemed so hopeless. Inevitably the blood sucking parasite would be back and you couldn’t leave no matter how hard you tried to. At each attempt it was like someone seized your body and squeezed you into immobility until you submitted. When your “lover” got home he would fawn over you, often giving you a little gift. A small gesture you supposed was meant to somehow make you forget everything and fall helplessly in love with him. A small sweet treat, a flower, a tiny teddy bear. Anytime he tried this tactic you always ignored it or threw it across the room. Either way the result was the same. Jaime would snap, he would not even bother forcing you mentally as he grabbed your weak arms and bit painfully into your neck. “No please! I’m s-sorry!” You would cry, always regretting your action but never being able to stop yourself from denying his gifts when he offered them. And for the next part he would use his ability of compulsion to make you stop fighting. In his fury he wanted to hurt you a bit, but not TOO badly, and he enjoyed, for a moment, the fantasy that you were a willing participant. Most of the time he would then have you remove your clothing before sliding himself inside you, biting and kissing and sucking your neck as he did so, whispering how you were all his and about how much he loved you softly into your ear. Sometimes he would instead utilize your soft lips, jamming his hard cock down your throat, making you service him. The heat of your wet mouth combined with the sight of you looking up at him with his cock in your mouth was almost enough to make him blow his load immediately. You were just so beautiful. No matter the method that he chose it always ended the same. After his finished unloading into you his mind would clear and then be filled with rage as you were unable to reciprocate his love and enjoyment of the forced intimacy between the two of you. Jaime would angrily shove you aside, leaving you to clean yourself up, while he slammed the door to the bedroom and went to go make dinner. When it was ready of course he always found you laying where he left you, sobbing. Then he would, roughly, force you to your feet and drag you into the bathroom where he would run you a bath. This is where he would feel really guilty and suddenly turn soft. Every time. Gently shampooing your hair and cleaning your body, tenderly attending to the bites on your neck, happily babbling about how much he loves you and he knows you’ll love him eventually, you just need more time to adjust was all. Jaime would then clothe you himself and carry you down to dinner. You wouldn’t eat willingly, too catatonic by this point in the evening to do much of anything, but that was okay. Jaime was still in his sweet phase, all the anger having left earlier. He would feed you himself but compel you to swallow with his vampiric power, he always made your favorites. He had diligently learned to cook them perfectly for you over the years even though he otherwise did not enjoy cooking. After dinner he would always make an effort to spend some time with you, not getting angry when you were still, and when it was time for bed he would carry you up in his strong arms and lay you down as if you were made of the thinnest glass, a complete 180 to how he treated you when he first got off work. He would snuggle up to you from behind and hold you close, ending each night by telling you how much he loved you and saying he knew deep down you loved him back and one day you would be so happy with him. You hoped he was right, you hoped you could just be happy waking up in his arms, because if not this cycle of abuse juxtaposed to tenderness would never end.

[astroyongie]

Mingyu angst please :")

-> warnings: Mingyu x Reader, angst, harsh words, established relationship, mentions of smut but no smut.

You could feel it in your guts, in your heart, in your soul, that something was wrong with Mingyu. A burning sensation at the base of your throat as you had tried to ask him about details that he always brushed off by saying that you were being delusional. But as days grew, the more you felt like your boyfriend was slipping through your fingers and you didn't know the cause of it.

No matter your efforts, it seemed like he was simply... detached.

It all started 3 weeks ago. You started to notice how Mingyu would arrive home late. Usually, he was always home for dinner, a home routine you two had established. But now, he would only arrive past midnight. When you asked him about it, he simply explain he had loads of work that he couldn't ignore. 

You found it strange, but didn't pushed it. After all, he was a busy man.

But then, you also noticed how he spent more time on his phone. Constantly, even during dates with you, or when you were both chilling. That device was glued to his hands and he would spend most of his time looking at the screen. It’s like you weren’t even there anymore. You had tried to peak over it, but Mingyu was way too tall to allow you that favor.

However what really set you off was during the intimate nights with him. Mingyu would fuck you mechanically. His moans are turned into soft breaths, his groans and praises in simple grunts of pleasure. He wouldn't look at your face, but at your body. Even stopped fucking you missionary so he could do it through doggy style only. Mingyu stopped holding your hand when you were cumming or even caring at all if you had finished. Usually after a session, he would cuddle up to your side, whispering sweet nothings. Now? he would roll over and grab his phone before going to shower. 

“He is cheating”

One of your friends had told you but you couldn't believe it. Not when you had confronted him about it twice, and both times he had dismissed your fears by seeing you were just insecure and paranoid. The way his anger would raise and you argued, made you believe that he was genuinely upset for you to believe he would be capable of such thing.

One night you are both sitting down on the couch, cuddling. The day had been rough and you wanted nothing more but to spend some quality time with your boyfriend. As you are looking at the movie in front of you, you notice that Mingyu had his full attention on his phone. 

"Are you having fun?" you would ask bitterly.

“Yeah” He said without removing his eyes from the phone, not even taking in your words. You stood up to a sitting position, glaring at him. 

“What are you doing on your phone that is so damn important that you can't even chill out with me?”

Mingyu doesn't answer and instead you watch as he rolls his eyes. He put his phone in his pocket, sighing deeply. 

“You are overreacting”

“I am not!” you said upset. “You have been spending your whole time on your phone even when we are together. You don't pay any attention to me” He looked at you uninterested which only fueled your anxiety. "It's like you don't even care about us anymore"

“Y/n, I swear you freaking overreacting for nothing”

“Am I?” you asked, biting the inside of your cheek. “Are you cheating on me Mingyu? Is this what this is about?”

Mingyu looked at you with a dumbfounded expression, as if you had committed the most stupid crime. He barks a mockery laughter at you, as he stands up from the couch. 

“You crazy”

“Mingyu'' you called, standing up as you felt your body boil. He always tried to run away instead of talking things out. You hated his lack of communication.

“I am not going to stand there and listen to you accusing me of something I didn't do” he said, annoyance shining in his eyes.

“Show me your phone”

At your demand, Mingyu looked at you with a disbelief look as if he was even more disappointed. He seemed to be conflicted, as his own anger started to flick underneath his skin. He rubbed his temples in annoyance

"Do you really think I'm the enemy here?" he asked not masking his anger. "if I wanted to fuck someone else, I would have already"

At these words, you felt your heart clench in your chest. But it was how his eyes avoided you, how he was looking for the nearest door to leave. How he scoffed, calling you out for being, completely paranoid. But you knew. You knew from the moment he turned away back to the room, a small smirk on his lips that he had indeed been with someone else. 

[mamamittens]

Oh, Sweet Child of Mine (Pt. 1)

Reader-insert & Whitebeard Pirates

Master Post for series.

Warning: (Platonic) yandere behavior, physical injury, blood, and kidnapping. If any of these make you uncomfortable (especially yandere content), you should not read this or any following parts.

Please block the tag "oh sweet child of mine" if you are uninterested in this story and "one piece yandere" if stories like this make you uncomfortable. For everyone else, please do remember that as sweet/touching as this behavior is or can be, it is deeply toxic and troubling in real life. Anyone that treats you with such disregard in terms of your boundaries or respecting your decisions should not be tolerated.

Please stay safe and have fun.

Word Count: 2,880

Devil fruits in the marines has always been handled a bit oddly. On paper, no low rank has a devil fruit. Because having a devil fruit tends to make even weak humans stronger, even if under highly specific circumstances. But you can’t just promote people because they ate something weird. They have to earn their position. This problem is handily solved by… ignoring the issue entirely.

Strong marines will, eventually, be promoted. So it stood to reason that strong marines with powerful abilities will be promoted even faster.

You were, however, of the opinion that there should be some sort of allowance made for marines that just can’t handle power without it going to their head.

Those people should scrub toilets until they learn at least a bare minimum amount of humility.

Why would you, of all people, have that opinion?

Because you got to watch, in real time, how quickly people given power without earning it lose their damn minds. It was, in fact, your own devil fruit’s power to ‘dial up’ other devil fruits. Just being near you had this effect. No, no one had any idea what your devil fruit was supposed to be called. Apparently, it was one of the few not in any encyclopedia on the subject, so you didn’t even know your own limits by proxy.

If you had the choice to go back in time you would never have eaten that weirdly flat yellow fruit. But you were stupid and hungry and here you were. Babysitting yet another ensign who simply could not handle having stronger powers with any grace.

Ensign Williams had a candle-candle fruit. Basically, a very weak version of the logia fruit flame-flame. His fire would always be weaker, smaller, and easier put out. Until you showed up, wherein he was capable of fairly impressive feats. In fact, it had been a full week and Williams went from being in awe of what he could now accomplish with you by his side to fully up his own ass with his ‘rightful power’. Unfortunately, he was your partner for the time being, so you just had to try and reign in his ass-ness before he burned the town to the ground by accident.

Mostly this involved walking away when he started being a prick to the local townsfolk to remind him that this ‘grand power’ he held was, in fact, only possible with your presence. Trying to physically stop him just got you a bloody nose. So, wounding his ego was the best you could do for everyone involved. Usually, you excused this by a sudden, burning need to pet a dog or cat or sufficiently friendly bird. They, at least, appreciated your presence and efforts.

“I’m going places, you know!” Williams declared in a huff, running up to you as you scratched a dog’s ears. Really ruffling the floppy appendages around as the dog panted and drooled in happiness. “The marines will see that I deserve a promotion soon enough with all the good work I’ve been doing!” You gave him a dry look.

“You depend on your devil fruit too much. What are you going to do when that’s not enough? I won’t always be around, you know.” You reminded him gently, feeding the mutt a milk bone from your pocket as you stood up. “This is the Grand Line. Eventually you’re going to run into a Yonko or something. What then? You think Red-Hair or Big Mom will care about a little fire?”

Williams paled at the suggestion, reality peaking in through his delusion before, with herculean effort, it was pushed back once again.

“And what about you, huh? Your devil fruit is useless for yourself! You’re a weak, useless thing on your own!” Williams sneered. You stared at him, unimpressed.

“That’s what training is for. Which is what I would be doing if I didn’t have to run around with you all the time.” You sighed. The big folks up top wanted to see just how much power you could give a weak devil fruit, likely in preparation to assign you to someone with a devil fruit user actually noteworthy. If there were side effects, they didn’t want an admiral to be the first to face it, after all. Personally, you were hoping for someone like Smoker. Reasonable, experienced, and well known for his skill outside his devil fruit.

Although, you were starting to think this delusional mindset was the side effect. Natural or induced, the people you gave boosts to often had a period of euphoria and increased aggression, narcissism, and short-sightedness. Hard to say since, so far, everyone you’ve been assigned to has been an asshole.

Possibly a marine-specific issue.

“Bring-ring. Ring-ring. Ring-rin—clack!” You answered the bored snail in your pocket.

“Ensign—”

“Fire Fist Ace has been spotted in your area! You and Ensign Williams are to attempt apprehension. No other Whitebeard Pirates have been spotted but be advised there are likely more—possibly another commander. If you see them, flee on sight.” They hung up immediately before you could even respond. Sighing, you looked up at Williams.

He looked strangely pale before gathering himself, a smug smirk quickly taking over his features.

“Hah! See that? They already know I’m going to accomplish great things. This will be only the beginning of my legacy as a marine!” Williams grabbed you arm and started running down the street, looking around like a madman for ‘Fire Fist’, jostling your glasses hard. They nearly flew off when he spotted a column of fire across town and yanked you with him. “Watch as a real marine works, useless!”

Fire Fist was crouched in the middle of the street, pointing at a stand that had fallen over, his back to the both of you. Whitebeard’s Jolly Roger stark against his tan skin.

“—highway robbery prices, you’re out of your mind if you think I’d pay for something broken!” Fire Fist huffed. While it was true you couldn’t see another pirate with him, it was common knowledge that Whitebeard Pirates rarely travelled alone. Especially a commander.

“You sure you wanna do this—”

“Halt, filthy pirate! Your days of piracy are over!” Williams declared boldly. Briefly, you wondered if maybe your superiors had heard about Williams’ behavior and figured sending him after Fire Fist would be the best reprimand he could get.

Even with your help, Williams was a candle-light at the end of the day. And Fire Fist? Fire Fist was a raging wildfire. You could almost feel the heat of his devil fruit in the back of your head. A faint indication that told you just how strong the devil fruits around you are and helped inform you how much power you were giving just by being around them.

Fire Fist looked back at the two of you with a dry, grumpy expression. Curiosity flickering over his features as he took in how amped up Williams was—and how utterly done you were. Fire flickered over his shoulders as he grinned.

“And what is a couple of ensigns going to do about it?” Fire Fist crowed with a mischievous grin, tipping his gaudy, orange cowboy hat back. Williams’ fire flickered over his body, sparks flying harmlessly over you—a welcome side effect of your devil fruit boosting another thankfully—before charging forward.

Three things happened at once.

Williams charged forward to fight Fire Fist. Letting go of your wrist.

His fire flickered slightly from the loss of direct contact with you.

Fire Fist’s own fire flared up at the sudden, unavoidable boost in power.

Confusion washed over Fire Fist as he instinctively noticed the strange change before he dismissed it, charging towards Williams anyway.

You rolled your eyes, pretty sure Williams would get knocked out quickly and leave you with yet another mess to clean up.

A low wine reached your ears, drawing you gaze away from what was mostly an impressive lightshow as Williams kept throwing fire at a man made of fire.

A fat, white dog panted in the shade. Scraggly white fur otherwise clean despite laying in the dirt. A strange, immaculate crescent shaped moustache curved under his nose.

Obviously, between your partner facing a Yonko Commander and a sad dog, your choice of who deserved your attention was clear.

You kneeled down with a smile, pulling out a dog treat from your pocket.

“Hey, cutie, what are you doing? Trying to cool off a little?” You spoke softly, presenting the treat to the very interested dog. You pulled out a bottle from your other pocket and a bowl—specifically for this actually—as you poured some out for the dog. The dog rolled onto his paws and eagerly drank the water, accepting your gentle affection. “You’re definitely not a stray, but you don’t have a collar either. Where are you from, baby?”

Fire and explosions rocked the area behind you. Not that you cared since the civilians ran the minute Williams and Fire Fist lit up. You scratched the surprisingly soft fur and ran your hand down the dog’s back. They were definitely well cared for, whoever they belonged to. Once they were done drinking water they eagerly wriggled into your lap for affection, licking and nipping at your chin.

“Oof! My, what a cutie you are!” You cheered, playfully ruffling the dog’s ears and booping his wet nose as you avoided the eager kisses.

Williams definitely screamed behind you in panic.

“Help me, you useless—SHIT!”

Without looking you yelled back.

“I thought you were supposed to be a ‘real marine’?” You lowered your voice when the dog whined and kissed his nose as an apology. “Sorry, baby. He’s just been an ass all week and I think he could really learn something today. What could a ‘useless marine’ do anyway, hm? I told him he needs to watch it.” You grumbled softly. The pull of a third devil fruit registering to your senses suddenly.

Having been around Williams all week as he showed off was exhausting. Now actively pulling on your power along with Fire Fist and this new person actively made you want to take a nap.

You had yet to figure out how to lessen your own power or at least focus on only one person, so you simply had to deal with it when actively boosting someone from a distance. Part of you worried that boosting stronger devil fruits was going to be even more exhausting than the weak ones you’ve encountered so far. And you might actually be right about that.

“There you are, Stefan. Oyaji was looking for you.” Someone spoke up above you. You startled, looking up at the stranger.

Open-toed sandals and capris with an open purple shirt exposing defined abs and a purple Whitebeard Jolly Roger. The man looked down at you with amused blue eyes narrowed, blond hair poking out from the top of an extreme undercut.

Marco ‘The Phoenix’.

Welp, that’s definitely your sign to run. Casually. So, he doesn’t suspect anything.

Something told you that your bosses would be pissed if the Whitebeard Pirates got a free power boost by ransoming you. If they gave up the obvious benefits of such a prisoner to begin with.

“Oop. Time to go, baby.” You kissed Stefan’s head and darted away, running directly towards the very explosive fight between Fire Fist and Williams. Snagging the back of his collar as you kept going.

“HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU USELESS—”

“The Phoenix and Fire Fist are here—we definitely can’t take them both in. Time to go!” You explained as you ran.

“No! I can do it! What do you know, you useless bitch?!” Williams flailed, breaking your grip on his shirt before slamming his fist into your face. Heat and a crunch of bones sent shockwaves of red and blood across your vision, sending you to the ground with a yelp. Your glasses bouncing off from impact and cracking.

“Fuck!” You hissed, clutching your nose as you blindly looked around, tears falling down your cheeks. You could make out an impressive explosion of fire somewhere ahead of you through your tears and poor vision. A wobbly white blob trotting up to your side with a low wine and bark. What was probably Stefan licking your arm and pawing at your side in worry.

Steady footsteps clacked along the paved street, a dark shadow falling before you as fire exploded behind the figure.

“That was quite a hit. You alright?” The Phoenix asked as he lowered down suddenly. Glass scrapped against the ground. Your glasses were gently lowered onto your face, bringing him into focus with a hairline fracture and tears obscuring your vision somewhat.

“’M fine—not the first time he’s done that--!” You gasped as his fingertips brushed over your knuckled grasp on your bloody nose. Blue fire exploded around you as the various aches and pains were swept away in an instant. Dizziness rushed to your head at the sudden relief.

You almost broke contact as The Phoenix cursed his sudden, uncontrollable fire, falling back to the ground. But his hands were faster and firmly grasped your shoulders.

After several, bizarrely euphoric moments of bathing in the healing flame, The Phoenix wrangled his powers back under control with a grimace. Blood still covered your hands and face but the injury, as well as any other injury, was gone. He looked at you in surprise and you could only gape up at him.

Having established physical contact, any boost others experienced was gone in an instant. Your ‘pseudo-immunity’ to devil fruits meant that your body essentially acted like it was your power as well. And that meant you got to enjoy a small taste in what it was like to have a devil fruit like The Phoenix’s for as long as he maintained that contact. It was weirdly heady. Sort of freeing to feel your weakness being eaten away under the healing influence of his devil fruit.

Almost to the point of forgetting that this, quite critically, meant that your under-powered partner was royally fucked.

Williams barely stood a chance if you had held his hand through the fight. Without any assistance against Fire Fist Ace, it wasn’t even a question. As much of an ass as he was, he didn’t deserve to be killed.

Worried, you tried to look around The Phoenix to see what was happening. He clicked his tongue, pulling your chin back to look at him. His eyes were narrowed and suspicious, a strange light in his eyes as he gave you a small, chilling smile.

“Now, who are you and what was that?” The Phoenix demanded. You shuddered, noticing how oddly quiet it was behind the pirate.

“M-My devil fruit! It—uhm—affects other devil fruits?” You lamely explained as Stefan tried to nose his way onto your lap. You would have preferred to look at the cute, needy dog, but The Phoenix looked like he was about to eat you. “Makes… makes them stronger around me. O-Or just… touching.”

A cold chill went up your spine as he grinned.

“And you’re not assigned to at least an admiral at all times? What a waste… I guess the marines don’t want to keep you that badly, do they?” He clicked his tongue again. “Well, you’re in good hands now, yoi. Let’s get you cleaned up. Stefan! Down!” He ordered, lifting you over his shoulder as you yelped, scrambling to hold onto your glasses. The town was wrecked behind The Phoenix, Fire Fist cheerily skipping up with Williams over his own shoulder.

“Hey, Marco! Did you see how weird that was!? What do you think his devil fruit is?” Fire Fist asked. The Phoenix turned around with a huff.

“Put the marine down. Got the source right here.” He responded.

“Oh! I take it we’re keeping them? Think Oyaji will mind?”

The Phoenix snorted.

“Oyaji will be ecstatic. Marines don’t know how to take care of people right, anyway.” You were jostled lightly as he started walking, Stefan trotting behind while panting happily up at you. You were horrified and nervous, but the addition of Stefan was helping ease your nerves. “They can boost devil fruits but wasn’t assigned to an admiral, can you believe that? Just a weakling. Imagine if it was someone else that found them, yoi?” You struggled to push yourself up, but was aware that you weren’t getting down unless The Phoenix let you.

Unlike Williams, you knew your limits.

“Hah! Wow. At least Gramps could have trained them up safely. Marines are stupid though, so I can’t say I’m too surprised.” Fire fist declared. Boots stomped on the ground as Fire Fist rounded The Phoenix, poking his head to look at you with a charming grin. “Don’t worry, you’re going to love it here! Ah… and no one will do this again.” Fire Fist grabbed your hands, inspecting the blood and what was still smeared around your nose. His eyes dark with promise as you stared in horror.

Were you being kidnapped for your power or… something else? Because to be honest, it sure didn’t sound like they were too interested in your own devil fruit ability.

[highladyluck]

For the fan theories ask, can you go down the list of Nakomi theories on the wiki? (Or, if that’s too much, just Nakomi is the Creator (or an agent of the Creator))

Ok, before we get into detail on this, if any of you tell me who Brandon Sanderson says Nakomi is, I will be genuinely annoyed. I don't want to know and I hope to go to my grave blissfully unaware of the actual truth. I engage in this for the pure love of unhinged speculation and bitchy judgement. I'm including the 7 theories that @anyboli tells me are on the wiki, and then 3 bonus ones.

1) Aes Sedai From Age of Legends - this is just silly, and frankly after [specific chapter in AMOL when a long-debated fandom question was finally answered] the fandom as a whole should have stopped making theories like this. THERE IS NO PURPLE AJAH!!! I debated shoving it further into 'worst idea' territory but unfortunately it is an undeniably fun premise, and we do canonically have Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends hanging about (they're just evil) which is why everyone keeps trying to make it happen. The placement just into worst idea territory is a compromise.

2) Agent of the Creator/Pattern - this is deeply unlikely- the Pattern doesn't care and the Creator's only agent is Rand- but I like it a little better than the previous option. I also think this is the Bela option, which also nudges it slightly more into 'extremely compelling'.

3) Bubble of Good - I don't think this is the author intent, but on the other hand, it's a random positive encounter that moves the action along, and a Bubble of Evil is a random negative encounter that moves the action along. Functionally, Nakomi ACTS like a Bubble of Good, so I think this sits squarely on the border between likely author intent and definitely not author intent. I enjoy the lampshading of Nakomi as Plot Device so this is somewhat compelling to me.

4) A Hero of the Horn, or Amaresu - Ok, this actually strikes me as somewhat likely and I think if it were an RJ thing this is almost the likeliest option. As a Sanderson thing it seems a little less likely but still pretty plausible. I enjoy the specificity of it and the Heroes do seem to break their own rules about meddling a lot. Maybe Amaresu is vibing with Aviendha because Avi's going to give birth to her reincarnation or something; that's not particularly plausible but I like the emotional implications.

5) A Jenn Aiel - This seems like the most likely of the wiki options. I think the Jenn Aiel still exist, canonically, and probably they'd be in the area and have opinions. It's not the most interesting theory to me because I don't get the mystery aspect at all in this case. I'd rather just know up front that Nakomi was Jenn, then I could get a reaction from Aviendha, which would have been super interesting. It's still pretty neat but the execution could have been improved if this is really the answer. (I actually think this would be AWESOME as part of #10, but without either the use of a specific known character or a reason for the obfuscation, this is not peak cool to me.)

6) Verin - No. I don't even get why people are saying this and I don't care to be informed, either. Verin's great but we don't have to make everything about her.

7) A Wise One - Sure, maybe? But this premise is so deeply uninteresting without specifics. This is the Wheel of Time. I need any random character that shows up once and has a speaking part to have a backstory three pages deep. It doesn't all have to be on the page, but you better convince me that it exists.

8) any Cosmere character - This is my worst fear because it seems so horribly plausible. I know it has been officially denied, but like Taimaindred, it makes too much sense and you can't convince me this wasn't the original intent.

9) Lanfear - This is my personal theory and it sparks joy. Nakomi is a moon-related name like Lanfear's "Selene" moniker, Lanfear constantly goes around in disguise helping protagonists even though it makes no fucking sense, AND Lanfear is apparently still at large even after she appeared to have died? At this point, Lanfear could be doing anything for any reason, we just can't know. The only way we can truly know Lanfear is her vibes--that's why her punishment from the Dark One was to be put into a body that was perfectly good but not her aesthetic--and this whole business has Lanfear Vibes so strong they can be seen from the Age of Legends moonbase.

10) Tigraine - This is @asha-mage's theory and it's the best one I've ever heard. The only reason it's not higher on author intent is because I'm going by Sanderson intent and I don't think this was on his radar, but it absolutely seems like something RJ would have done, so I split the difference. It fits the hints I vaguely remember- someone we haven't met directly in the books but not a totally unknown character either- and it's just so cool, the idea of Tigraine surviving after all, maybe throwing in with the Jenn, and giving advice to her son's lover/a future leader of her adopted people. I want to write a series of 3 vignettes about Tigraine and the concept of legacy: Tigraine at the Tower, dealing with being the legacy kid with no magical skills. Tigraine abandoning Galad and contributing to his complex about his family legacy. Tigraine (as Nakomi) after talking to Aviendha about the legacy of the Aiel as complicated by her son. It would be so satisfying!!! This should be the answer!!!

Again, DO NOT SPOIL THIS FOR ME. I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE CANONICAL ANSWER.

[zahri-melitor]

Having read Zdarsky’s Batman after a time away from comics, I think it’s enjoyable fine.

I enjoyed the concepts of Failsafe and Zur. I liked their personalities and designs, especially when Zur was drawn in the Golden Age style.

I liked Z’ use of the Joker initially, though by J:Y1 I was uninterested and solely reading out of fear I would miss necessary information. It just was not fun. I’m interested in what Z has set up with Savage and Riddler. Really don’t want to be disappointed by this story, I’d love to see them engage in a battle of wits.

Gotham War was certainly something, but like a ‘slightly entertaining car crash’. I shamelessly enjoyed the Bruce/Dick fight, but was like “What’s happening?” For a while. Maybe it would be less confusing had a read the lead up in Catwoman.

And of course, we’ve been spoiled by some good Tim writing; our boy really won the prize in this run. In contrast, I think many complaints were of WHO Zdarsky gave primary/secondary/tertiary character status to, but I don’t think many, if any, writers treat all characters equally. I also characterisation was correct across board, with some gripes about dialogue.

Now onto Gotham Nocturne

I enjoyed hearing your opinion!

I do agree that Joker could have been used less in the run, but that's because he tends to be a very strong flavour and divisive when he appears.

I personally enjoyed the heck out of Gotham War and I think it's a situation where if you just go with it, rather than overthink it, you'll be a lot more entertained.

And in terms of Tim, yes I agree with you that a lot of the complaints were fundamentally over 'my favourite was not as prioritised as Tim was'. I don't think I've ever seen a writer who is able to juggle a huge cast in a manner that allows them all to shine equally (Paul Dini's better at it than a lot of people but even he can't do it smoothly without dropping a few balls), and when a character appears as a tertiary character, yeah you are likely to get them written in their base characterisation that doesn't delve too deeply into motivations. It'll be how others perceive them more than how that character perceives themself.

Have fun with Gotham Nocturne, I am also looking forward to getting to it!

[yellowocaballero]

You played the golden deer route!! (I think?) What's been your thoughts so far just like in general but also in comparison to blue lions? Claude and the golden deer are just so fun!!

I have not finished yet! Yes I am like 5/6ths done with the Golden Deer fic. I did something that I really shouldn't do, which is like consume 1/4th of the media and go "okay I could make a fanfic out of this" and then write a long-ass fic just based off initial impressions (this is how Theater of the Absurd happened - if you're wondering why everybody was so drastically out of character, that's why). I'm still only mostly done with the Academy phase, so no spoilers!

Thoughts so far? Claude is so funny. I am genuinely so, so fascinated by him. He's one of those characters who clearly has an entire existence and situation and insanity and you're just barely privy to the surface of it. Our C support is me walking into his room (why did I do that?) as he concocts poisons. He's a mad scientist. He wants to dissect his friends like they're insects. He's incredibly self-absorbed. He's convinced he's the smartest person in the room. He's on his gap year and he's taking a vacation with the white people and the country he leads is not his biggest priority. He wakes up in the morning, looks at himself in the mirror, and says "I'm a SCHEMER I'm a TRICKSTER I'm IMPENETRABLE I'm NOT LONELY". He has a biracial narrative and it's left him with a superiority complex because the alternative is to always be inferior. He'd be a better leader if he cared more.

I love Hilda also. She's so cunning but so kind, and her competence is underlined by her severe self-esteem issues. I haven't really connected with most of the Golden Deer - their ensemble narrative is not NEARLY as strong as the Blue Lions or Ashen Wolves. They aren't all part of the same story, I feel like. I'm still working on their supports (which are mostly C and some B right now...I kinda substituted most of them on the battlefield for the AW...sorry I have faves). Most of them are either a little annoying or uninteresting...Lysithea baby girl...Lorenz is actually deeply Felix coded in that he's kinda the sanest. He cares about all of the actually important things that nobody else cares about when they really should, and a lot of unimportant things,

I didn't expect this to happen, but Claude as your BFF actually deeply underscores how 1) Dimitri is insanely in love with you, and 2) Dimitri's bugfuck. Claude's so normal about everything. Makes me go "Wow Dimitri was normal about fucking nothing".

I'm looking forward to the War Phase and seeing how things change. These kids are fucking disasters in their lives and to each other, which mirrors their disaster country. Right now Claude's the most fascinating aspect to me. I'm not plugged into the fandom, but from what I can see his complexity and depth is kind of slept on - he has a comic relief role in dynamics, but I can already tell it's pretty constructed. Writing him as a jokester is like writing Dimitri as a preppy, perfect, adorably awkward nerd. Yes, that is a major part of how they present themselves to the public. I can't entirely call it a lie. But if you think that those performances are genuine, then you're buying what they're selling. Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard are liars, and if you stay surface level in your depiction you're scrubbing out what makes them good characters. Also, especially in Dima's case, The Point

[moistvonlipwig]

3, 12, 18, and 19 for teen wolf (no worries if you want to pass on any of them)?

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

oh see now this question is impossible because teen wolf fandom is capable of producing bad takes that other fandoms can only dream of. "scott helping align a dog's broken leg in his capacity as an assistant vet tech is animal abuse." "stalia is problematic because malia is 45 in coyote years." "scott violated/raped derek" (re: a scene in which scott is forced under duress to make derek bite gerard, which derek only objected to because he did not know about scott's secret plan). "stiles is the only one who ever respected derek." "scott has been narrating the entire show to make himself look better." "deaton is shady and evil." "scott abused jackson" (a real thing someone sent to my inbox). even jeff davis got in on it with "kira's story didn't have anything left to explore." however despite stiff competition i do think we have to give this award to "scott is a werewolf colonizer" because there is something so special about accusing a mexican boy of colonizing the culture of white people who are living in california. and also because it is so so funny to say.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

hm. i don't know if i like any characters who are unpopular within the fandom circles i travel in. like certainly scott is unpopular with the fandom at large, we know this, but i don't travel in those circles so. idk. i guess i think victoria argent is interesting? imo after allison she's the most compelling argent. i think killing yourself rather than becoming a werewolf shows a kind of commitment to one's ideology that automatically makes a character interesting. i don't know what the popular opinion on victoria argent is but that's my take.

18. it’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

see again i could point to fandom at large for this but frankly fandom at large sleeps on anything that isn't sterek or steter so i could say anything and it would be true. so my actual answer is that i think more people should ship theo/mason. i get why sceo is popular but i don't know why thiam is so big when...thason? meo? (personally i am voting for meo as a ship name because it looks like meow. however i am willing to be overruled.)...is right there. one of my actual most unpopular opinions is idgaf about morey because i couldn't care less about corey. i don't even know that boy's last name. he's nothing to me. but theo/mason??? both of them experimented on by the dread doctors, one of them 'evil' and the other 'good' (too 'good' to be traumatized, if you ask jeff davis, which is why you should never ask jeff davis), one of them so compassionate and caring, the other callous and lacking empathy, on opposite sides of the fight, yet both bound by the same trauma, and both deep inside wanting to help? look i'm not a big m/m shipper so i'm not gonna write the fic but SOMEONE should write the fic. is what i'm saying.

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

disclaimer i am not ashamed of liking anything because, to paraphrase the great cordelia chase, shame is not something to be proud of. however i am a little mad that stiles and derek genuinely have such a fun relationship. i do actually wish they had more scenes together and i would happily watch an entire episode that was just the two of them on a buddy cop roadtrip and if people wrote more platonic fic of them with their canon personalities being forced into Situations together then i Would read it. i don't ship them because it's not my cup of tea shipping-wise and i think fanon sterek is nothing like canon sterek and is deeply uninteresting but in the year 2024 i must confess that canon stiles & derek did make some points.

[yanderefan-kimi]

Kurobe Makoto and the path of cruelty

Heeey yall this isn't something I normally do but I thought I'd finally live up to my username and start talking about some yandere characters! I was recently rereading this series in anticipation for it resuming soon when this panel (the second image) caught my eyes again, so I decided to rant a bit about this, so here goes *cracks knuckles*

Just a small disclaimer: I'm not an art history major or anything like that, I literally just googled this painting and read the wikipedia article because it fascinated me

Okay so let's start with a VERY brief description of this series, since I don't believe it has been officially translated yet so I don't know how many people have heard of it:

This is デスゲーム漫画の黒幕殺人鬼の妹に転生して失敗した (which basically translates to "I Reincarnated As The Mastermind's Little Sister from a Death Game Manga and Failed") which was originally a web novel by Inaida Sou and was adapted to manga form by Pepu.

I won't go too deeply into the details because I think it's the sort of story that's more fun to read yourself, but the basic premise is that Kurobe Mai, the protagonist, has reincarnated into one of her favorite manga series... which was unfortunate, since it happens to be a Death Game series and she happens to be the first victim. Her older step-brother, Makoto, is a psychopath and the mastermind behind said Death Game in the manga. With a year until the start of the manga, Mai's determined to stop her brother, but her actions cause him to develop an abnormal obsession with her...

In chapter 13, the two stop by an art museum that was showing a medical science exhibit (split into three sections: Exploring the Body, Disease and Death, & Love and Life.) They're both looking around until Makoto comes to a stop at this painting in the 2nd section of the exhibit and stares at it silently for a while. That is, William Hogarth's: The Reward of Cruelty - which is his final work in his Four Stages of Cruelty series (warning if you want to look this up, the paintings are a bit gruesome and unpleasant, on purpose.)

The Four Stages depicts the story of the fictional character Nero as he walks down the path of cruelty. In the First Stage, he's torturing a dog as a child. In the Second Stage, he goes on to beat his horse as an adult. In Cruelty in Perfection, he moves on to theft and murder. Finally, in The Reward of Cruelty, Nero has been hung for his crimes and his corpse publicly mutilated by surgeons.

These paintings were much different from Hogarth's other works because he wanted to shock and deter his audience. He was dismayed over the casual acts of cruelty he witnessed and wanted to warn others that the inevitable end of the path of cruelty was death as retribution.

I thought it was interesting how Makoto chose this specific painting to stare at. Sure, he was fascinated by the macabre, but I think it was likely because he realized that he was walking that path of cruelty himself.

Ever since he was young, he found everyone and everything to be dull and uninteresting. He never struggled at anything, could easily read others, and couldn't empathize with anyone. The only thing that excited him was death. So he started torturing and killing insects, but like all addictions, it was never enough. Soon enough he started desiring for bigger, harder targets. Like a cat, or a dog... or a human.

Makoto realizes that his desire for death and pain was far from normal, but he also felt no desire to change himself. I wonder if he was staring at that painting like he was looking at his inevitable end. Throughout the series, he's been devising various schemes to get Mai's attention (as well as juggling between wanting to kiss her and kill her), but she always strives to surprise him, so what if he fails? What if he succeeds? Was there nothing awaiting the end of his journey other than his early death?

After he's been staring at the painting for a while, Mai comes up behind Makoto and asks if he's finding the exhibit interesting and if he's feeling better. He hugs her, saying that he's fine, and the two go home without ever stepping into the third section (Love and Life.) Now, he's been getting more and more touchy-feely towards Mai with each chapter, but I felt like this hug was a bit... softer. Like he wanted some reassurance that he wasn't at that final stage of cruelty, that he hasn't gotten his "reward" yet.

Anyways, I'm just really fascinated by this scene since it was pretty much glossed over in the web novel, so it was something that Pepu-sensei decided to add in for a reason. Now we're at the gushing part of the post cuz I really think Pepu-sensei is incredibly skilled at panel/scene composition in manga and it's fun to analyze specific scenes and guess the reasoning behind them. (I am vaguely referencing the center spread from the first chapter, which I might talk about later but it's really great, trust me)

Basically, I really love this series (PLUS Inaida-sensei is one of my fav authors and I love Pepu-sensei's art sm) and I really can't wait to see where it goes. It has a good following so we're actually gonna get a whole extra volume and I'm so excited to see what new arc they're gonna throw at us!! And and I'm super excited to see how some scenes in the finale are gonna play out and I should probably stop gushing or I will never finish this post lol.

(if you like yandere, I highly suggest this series!! Plus this is the only series with Kurobe Mai so... 👀)

[separatist-apologist]

We Never Go Out Of Style

Could end in burning flames or paradise

Summary: When Gwyn breaks up with her boyfriend on the eve of Nesta's destination wedding, Nesta Archeron has only one objective: set Gwyn up with her high school crush.

Note: Based on this tweet from @heathermcwrites: "One of my bridesmaids just broke up with her bf who was supposed to come to my wedding & I was sad for her for about 3 seconds until I remembered that her crush will also be at the wedding (single) and I'm now more committed to this 2nd chance romance than to my own marriage."

"I should also note that this is a destination wedding so there are EVEN MORE opportunities for uh…shenanigans"

Read More: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | AO3

Only insane people wanted to be up before dawn in paradise. Nesta, who was still working out, was among them. 

And Azriel, who seemed to have an insatiable libido. He kept her up all night with his hands and tongue and cock and then, when Gwyn was wrung out and exhausted, he woke her again before dawn like she was a substitute for his morning run. It had been fun at first, but when Gwyn felt him shift beside her in the bed, her body coiled like a spring. 

Some small part of her felt a little raw from his attention. If Jonathon was obsessed with cutting her down with his endless opinions, then Azriel was uninterested in what she said at all. His attention was always laser-focused on her body, on drawing pleasure and in return, receiving it.

And for Gwyn, who was grumpy at five forty-two in the morning, she wanted to know what else he liked about her. Azriel slid down her body, settling between her legs. Gwyn recoiled her foot, catching him against his cheek.

“Fuck,” he whispered in the dark.

“Go masturbate,” Gwyn ordered, twisting on her side. There was a beat of silence, and then the sound of the sheets rustling as he joined her back in the bed.

“Did I do something—” “I don’t want to hear another word before ten am, Az,” she told him, relaxing as he wrapped strong arms around her body. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply.

“I wake up early,” he told her just as she’d begun to fall back asleep. 

“Not on vacation,” she mumbled.

“Especially then,” he replied, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck. Gwyn squirmed away before he could tempt her. 

“Well, go for a run, then. Nesta does yoga on the beach—you should join her.”

Azriel grumbled something undecipherable, but a moment later he was pulling away and padding for the bathroom, just as she’d suggested he do. She heard the water from the shower hit the tile and Azriel pulling open the glass door. She snuggled back into the bed, curling around his pillow to drink in his scent. She’d always been a night owl and never, in her life, had she ever been a morning person. 

Gwyn didn’t hear Azriel leave, already fast asleep. When she woke to bright sunlight filtering through the dark curtains pulled over the sliding glass door, she found Azriel wandering back in the room with a tall cup of what she hoped was coffee in his hand.

“It’s eleven thirty,” he told her, hazel eyes watching her warily.

“Good,” she replied, sitting up to take the offering from him. “Did you go to the beach with Nesta?”

He nodded, running a hand through his salt-sprayed hair. His brown skin seemed to glow and his nose was slightly pink from the sun. Gwyn took a sip of coffee, wincing from the bitter, stale taste. Still—it was better than nothing and she needed it if she was ever going to get out of bed.

“What's on the itinerary for today?”

“Nothing today,” he said, perching on the edge of the bed. His face betrayed his obvious relief. “But Nesta is talking about taking a hike.”

Gwyn groaned. “What is the point of a resort with a swim-up bar if we’re always leaving it?”

“I was asking myself that very thing this morning when you kicked me out of bed.”

“I’m not trying to fuck you in the pool,” she grumbled, unable to meet his eye. Azriel only grinned, running a hand through his dark hair.

“I wish you would.” She let him see her very theatrical eye roll before reaching for her phone. There were, blessedly, no texts from Jonathon that morning. Only the one from the day before when she’d posted that dim photo of her and Azriel at the club, specifically to rile him up.

Call me. Now.

Which of course she hadn’t. Gwyn wondered if finally, Jonathan had taken the hint. They were done and she was moving on. Had moved on, even. She could still feel Azriel’s cock from the night before when she stood. She didn’t want to hash anything out with Jonathon when there was the promise of more blazing in Azriel’s hazel eyes. 

He plopped in a chair, long legs stretched in front of him while she busied herself with getting ready. She was only a little disappointed when he didn’t follow her into the shower. She supposed it was only fair, given he’d likely stood under the punishing spray that very morning and fucked his own hand while she’d slept peacefully. Gwyn skipped pleasuring herself in favor of getting in and out so she had enough time to dry her hair without being rushed.

She was plaiting it when she stepped back into their shared bedroom. Azriel was scowling at the phone half hidden in his large hand. He hadn’t noticed she was parading about utterly naked and that irked her, too.

“Something bothering you?”

He glanced up at her, eyes sliding back to his phone before her presence fully registered. Azriel’s head snapped back up, eyes wide as he drank her in.

“Yes,” he said immediately, so predictable she could have set her watch to him. “Jesus, Gwyn, get in the bed.”

“I want to eat before Nesta drags us on a humid, ten-mile hike—”

“Did it sound like a request?” he growled, rising to his feet. Her stomach clenched at his tone, at the dark heat radiating from his gaze. 

“Az,” she murmured.

“I’ll make sure you get breakfast,” he promised, though Gwyn couldn’t be sure if he meant actual food or his cock. She didn’t move as he paced towards her, calloused hands banding about her waist.

“I want waffles,” she warned him, arms wrapped around his neck.

“All the damn waffles you want,” he agreed, angling his head for a kiss. And oh, had she really kicked him out of bed that morning? Caffeinated and showered, Gwyn couldn’t for the life of her remember why. That was his magic, she supposed. Azriel was more than a distraction, was far more fascinating than what was hanging between his legs, and yet sometimes Gwyn felt so dizzy from wanting him that all she thought about was his body pressed against her own.

There would be no bed. Gwyn knew that with utter certainty the minute he pressed her roughly into the wall. Good. This was how Gwyn liked it—if they’d gotten in the bed he’d have been far too tempted to take his time, to drag things out for as long as humanly possible and Gwyn was far too enamored with him to ask him to stop. She liked to give just as good as she got, besides. 

He hoisted her up, one large hand spanning the cheek of her bare ass while she raked her fingers through his thick hair. His mouth was sweet and tasted distinctly of champagne—Gwyn would have bet anything Nesta’s early morning yoga involved mimosas. 

With his tongue in her mouth, licking and stroking as he ground his lower body against her own. Gwyn gave in to the pleasure he was offering. They’d be back home before she knew it where jobs and other responsibilities would keep them from each other. Fully awake, and practically burning with arousal, Gwyn wanted to keep him just like this. Selfishly, she liked the secret of him, that what they had was only between them. 

She reached for his cock, already hard in his shorts, and rubbed with the heel of her hand. 

The front door clicked open with a whirring beep. Azriel dropped her to the ground, eyes wild.

“Hello?” he called, quickly adjusting himself in his shorts. Flip flops clacked over the tile.

“Hey Az,” called Cassian. Gwyn was naked. She and Azriel exchanged a glance before he pressed his hand over her mouth and leaned out of the door frame that extended from their bedroom into the living room.

“How did you get in here?” Azriel asked, his voice appropriately calm. Gwyn closed her eyes, trying to get a grip on her pounding heart.

“I have a key,” was Cassian’s response. “Now a bad time? Nes wants to take a hike and I’m trying to pregame a little before we get out there but I can’t find Rhys.”

Azriel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Not really.”

“C’mon. Do a shot with me.”

“You want to hike after doing shots?”

Gwyn pressed a kiss to Azriel’s palm. Tell him no, she hoped it said. Think with your dick, not your liver. It was an unfair choice, given what she knew about the man before her. Azriel loved to fuck almost as much as he loved to drink. Gwyn could see the war in his eyes before he shook his head no. Azriel’s cock won out, which meant she won out. She kissed him again. 

“I’m not getting drunk–and you shouldn’t either. No one will be able to carry your dehydrated ass back down the mountain.”

Cassian chuckled. “We’ll see. If you see Rhys, tell him I’m looking for him.”

It seemed too good to believe that Cassian would leave. Gwyn didn’t move until she heard the door to their room swing shut. Azriel swore softly. “Why the fuck does he have a key?” Azriel dropped his hand to walk to the door. While he pulled the latch, Gwyn arranged herself on the bed, drawing up one knee while parting the other so when he walked back in, he’d have an unparalleled view of her body.

“We need to get new keys,” Az said from the other room, his shoes slapping loudly against the tile. “If we leave—holy fucking Christ, Gwyneth.”

She blinked up at him innocently. “Leave?”

Azriel’s mouth had fallen open, his eyes so dark they might have been wholly black. The knot in his throat bobbed and then Azriel was pacing towards her. She squealed when his fingers dug rough against her skin, dragging her to the end of the bed. 

“Is this what you want?” he asked, thudding loudly to his knees. Gwyn pressed her toes to his throat, holding him back.

“I like you like this,” she admitted, drinking in the sight of him. Az’s skin gleamed in a shaft of golden light, casting his dark hair in hues of midnight blue. Some nights, after Az had thoroughly wrung her out, she’d trace the tattoos over his skin and ask him why he’d gotten each one. A few had interesting stories, though too often he chuckled and said, “Because I liked it.”

She was learning he made a lot of his decisions like that. On a whim, seemingly—based on a gut feeling and little more. Gwyn considered herself cautious. She was a planner, someone who thought her decisions through. In fact, the most spontaneous thing she’d ever done was kneeling between her legs, waiting for her to let him eat her out. 

“Pretty, pretty Gwyn,” Azriel's whispered, bringing her back. He kissed her inner thigh, gently removing her hold on his throat to spread her out beneath his large, rough hands. “This is why I can’t get anything done. In my head, I’m right back here.”

“Why are you still talking?”

A sultry smile spread over his face. “I fucking love when you’re mean.”

Gwyn lifted her hips in offer. “I love when you’re silent.”

Azriel grinned, so heartbreakingly lovely that Gwyn almost forgot what they were doing. Almost. Because when he lowered his head and finally put his mouth on her, Gwyn couldn’t remember anything but the decadent slide of his tongue and the push of one of his long fingers into her body. 

It didn’t take much convincing for Azriel to replace his mouth with the twitching cock between his legs. Gwyn, writhing against him, had begun tugging at his hair while whimpering, Az, please–and he knew exactly what that meant.

What she wanted.

“Is this what you need, baby?” he moaned, slotting himself against her soaking pussy. “Do you want me to fuck you?”

“Yes,” Gwyn pleaded, digging her nails into his shoulder. 

“Are you going to ask me nicely?” he replied, his voice far too breathless to be believable. Gwyn was all too happy to play along when the muscles in his back flexed beneath her open palm and his lips teased against her own.

“Please fuck me,” she whispered. 

Azriel thrust himself into her in one long, if not brutal stroke. Gwyn exhaled, stretched and full just as she liked to be. 

“This is what you want, isn’t it?” he whispered hotly against her neck.

“Yes,” she whined, rolling her hips to match his pace. 

“My good girl needs to be fucked hard, doesn’t she?”

Gwyn tightened around him. “Yes.”

And he was fucking her hard. Gwyn knew she’d feel every stroke the entire way up whatever mountain Nesta intended for them to hike up. It would be well worth it, she decided as she drew up her legs, wrapping them tight around Azriel’s rib cage. 

“Your pussy is so fucking tight,” he breathed, slipping a hand between them to rub at her clit. “Are you always so wet for me, baby?” Gwyn couldn’t respond, given she was currently screaming her orgasm into his shoulder. Azriel shuddered, his body jerking and his breath ragged. He was never going to be loud like she was, which somehow made it hotter. There were no theatrics, no pretending. Azriel did exactly what he wanted in order to get both her and himself off.

“How badly do you want waffles?” 

Gwyn smiled, holding him tight even as his hips began to settle. “Not that badly.”

Azriel exhaled. “Good. I’m not done with you yet.”

AZRIEL:

You don’t know her like I do.

Of everything Jonathon had texted to Azriel, that sentence was the one that stood out. Azriel kept coming back to those words, replaying them over and over in his mind until they’d become a mantra. 

You don’t know her like I do. 

Azriel hadn’t responded. Tagged in one dimly lit photo with Gwyn perched in his lap had been enough to bring Jonathon straight to his DMs. What kind of confidence did a man like that need to DM Azriel? His profile was nothing but shirtless thirst traps and expensive cars. They couldn’t have been more different. Azriel couldn’t write, wasn’t academic and had a sense of style, and on the flip side, Jonathan had the kind of hands that looked as if they’d never seen a hard day's work in his life. 

And stil fucking Jonathon, with his ugly haircut and his even uglier ties, had a point. He didn’t know Gwyn half as well as Jonathon, though he desperately wanted to. Every time he slowed himself down enough to have a conversation with her, he found himself between her legs.

“Something on your mind?” Rhys panted, catching up with Azriel trailing at the very back of the hiking group. Despite all the shots, Cassian was dominating the trail with Lucien Vanserra. The pair had set a brutal pace that competitive Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie were trying desperately to match. Middling between them were Elain and Eris Vanserra, coated in a thick layer of sunscreen and debating the merits of some celebrity scandal Azriel had never heard of. Feyre and Mor were gossiping loudly about some bitch at work, leaving both Rhys and Az, lost in their own thoughts, to bring up the rear.

Azriel looked over at his best friend. If he was going to confide in anyone, it was always more likely to be Cassian…unless he was doing something he knew he shouldn’t. Rhys knew it, too. Azriel nodded his head towards Gwyn’s vanishing head of red hair.

“I had sex with Gwyn.”

“I knew it,” Rhys replied, earning an elbow to his gut.

“You didn’t know shit,” Azriel retorted hotly. 

Rhys wheezed, holding his side as he coughed. No one paid him any attention, which was lucky for him. The last thing he needed was word to spread. 

“Don’t tell Feyre.”

“I won’t,” Rhys managed, straightening himself out. “What’s the problem, then?”

“The problem is her bullshit ex,” Az grumbled, fishing his phone out of his pocket and pulling open the DM. He and Rhys stopped dead on the dirt path taking them up a brutally steep hill so

Rhys could read it and Azriel could wipe the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his shirt. 

By the time he was done, Rhys’s thumbs were flying over the keyboard. “Don’t–”

“Too late,” Rhys said smugly, handing back his phone. “What a fucking loser. You don’t know her like I do–who talks like that?”

“You when you’re drunk,” Azriel grumbled, shielding his screen to read Rhys’s response.

Sounds like you don’t know her either if she dumped you. Get fucked. 

Azriel couldn’t help his snort of laughter. Rhys sure did have a way about him. Middle finger in the air, always doing whatever he wanted regardless of who he pissed off. Azriel had always admired that quality. 

“Do you like her?” Rhys asked, cutting through the bullshit as they resumed walking. Azriel ran a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah,” he admitted. “A lot.”

“Then who gives a fuck what that guy thinks. Or Nesa,” he added wryly, as if Rhys wasn’t also angling for Nesta’s approval when it came to Feyre.”

“I’m trying not to overshadow her wedding you fuck,” Azriel retorted, calves aching from all the exertion of the day. He’d spend the morning fucking Gwyn within an inch of her life, utterly obsessed with the breathy little moans coming from her lips. Azriel wished he could bottle that sound and listen to them when she was too tired for his attention, if only to recapture a little of her magic. 

“Fair,” Rhys agreed with a casual shrug that told Azriel he absolutely would have wrecked Nesta’s wedding if it meant a chance at Feyre. A good friend would have asked Rhys how that was going but Azriel was a best friend, and Feyre was the kind of forever girl Rhys was willing to hinge his whole life on. If he wanted to talk about it, he would. Rhys had never been shy. 

The two lapsed into an easy silence, catching up with Feyre and Mor by virtue of their long legs. Rhys slung a sweaty arm around Feyre’s neck, taunting her with thinly veiled innuendo while Azriel and Mor exchanged awkward small talk, the pair chaperoning the increasing barbs traded between Rhys and Feyre with nervous glances. 

Rhys fell back when they reached the overlook, letting Feyre stalk forward with Mor. “This will be next year,” Rhys said with far too much-undeserved confidence. Azriel would have laughed had Rhys not seemed so determined. “We won’t be fucking hiking–”

“Watch your mouth,” Nesta snapped from a wooden railing, a smile plastered on her face as she took a selfie with Cassian. Azriel plodded forward to look at the sweeping view. He could begrudgingly admit it was a nice panoramic look of the island they were staying on. He didn’t think it was worth a day of hiking, and when Rhys offered to pay for a private boat, everyone moved a lot quicker back down the trail.

Azriel was grateful for Rhys and his ridiculous money. The boat was more like a yacht, and by the time they made their way, dripping with sweat, to the docks, it was waiting with cold water and even colder beer. Azriel chugged a bottle of water before he took the shot of tequila from Cassian’s hand.

“You regret doing that sober now, don’t you?” Cassian joked, walking to the side of the ship as they cruised out into the open, cerulean water.  

“A little,” Azriel agreed, bracing his forearms against the rail.

“You gonna tell me what you were doing?” Cassian questioned, back facing the water and beer in hand. “Or who you were doing?”

Azriel rolled his eyes. “Don’t do this.”

“Can’t believe you’d tell Rhys before me.”

“He has a big fucking mouth.”

“He’s just excited to see you moving on. Who was the last one–”

“Don’t say her name,” Azriel ordered, swiping Cassian’s beer to chug it. He didn’t want to think about his exes. 

“Fine. Gwyn is cool as fuck, Az. I’m not surprised you like her. I’m surprised she likes you—okay alright Jesus Christ I’m getting married in a week.”Azriel lowered his fist, pointing instead at his friend. Cassian didn’t have the decency to look ashamed or apologetic. “If you fuck up our wedding photos, Nesta will murder you.”

“Just…don’t tell Nesta, alright. Let Gwyn do it.”

“Oh Nesta knows,” Cassian scoffed, gesturing for another drink from Rhys. “You didn’t think it was weird you two got put together? Your room has been sitting empty all week. Nesta is using it as a bridal suite.”

Azriel blinked. “Your wife set me up?”

“Soon-to-be-wife,” Cassian clarified as Rhys brought them both new drinks. “And yeah. You and Gwyn are her little science experiment. I won’t tell her what’s going on but she’s gonna figure it out.”

“Great,” Azriel grumbled. “That’s not fucking obnoxious at all.”

Though, if he was honest, Nesta had done him a favor in a way. What if he’d gotten the room he was supposed to? Halfway across the resort from Gwyn, who was on her own? If they’d parted ways after the airplane, catching each other on occasion. Time would have made it awkward and Azriel would have filed her away with every other one night stand he never wanted to think about again.

“She means well,” Cassian was saying, but the conversation was morphing as Rhys began discussing the bachelor party and how they’d fuck Cassian up one last time before he became Mr. Nesta Archeron. 

But Azriel’s eyes had wandered to Gwyn in a bright blue two-piece hugging every inch of her skin obscenely. Her hair was unbound and hanging in thick waves down her back. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she threw her head back to laugh at something Emerie had said. She was beautiful. 

The light bounced off her cheekbones, casting Gwyn in a golden glow that made her seem like a goddess. Azriel gripped the bottle of his drink, unable to drag his eyes off her. She didn’t notice him at all, staring like she was the sun, the moon, the very heavens the stars hung from. 

You don’t know her like I do.

Azriel swallowed.

Maybe he knew her as she was. Without the careful veneer she’d painted over herself so Jonathon would find her palatable, and without whatever mask she wore in her day to day life. Azriel knew Gwyn. 

Just Gwyn.

And he was starting to suspect he loved her. 

His Gwyn.

[emphasisonthehomo]

Hey, I know you asked for asks about trans Danny (and I love your universe so much, don't get me wrong), but I was wondering have you ever considered trans Steve? He'd have had the rare opportunity to 'start over' when he's send away from HI, maybe he took the chance to transition? On the other hand, trans folks were banned from the military back then and we all know how the Navy made Steve the man he is. What path d'you think he could have taken if he was trans? Or would/could he have cheated his way into the Navy anyway? I'm curious but I know this is not your playground so feel free to ignore. Thx.

Oh darling, anything to do with transing a character’s gender is my playground, thank you so much for this question.

TW: for general discussion of dysphoria, this gets pretty heavy emotionally. And also personal, lmao.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about trans!Steve, and what I think a transgender narrative for him would look like. And this is any flavor of trans tbh, be that telling the story of Stephanie McGarrett, Steven McGarrett, Stef McGarrett, etc.  

For all intents and purposes, Steve was raised by the navy. It’s a very intrinsic part of his character. For me it’s up there w/ Danny being from New Jersey. You can’t not make Danny a Jersey boy, just like you can’t not make Steve a SEAL. I’ve spoken a little bit about this being why I find it difficult to put Steve into different careers here, and I think it applies to this as well.

And you’re right re: being trans in the US military. There’s a long and complicated history of it either being banned or restricted, and it technically only became ‘legal’ in 2021. Even if I wrote a trans!Steve as a modern au like trans!Danno is, he would be unable to be out of the closet and be in the Navy. I don't think he'd be able to cheat his way in either, that's a pretty big To Do.

I do think he’d still have joined the navy, even if he was trans. I think he’d just have been in the closet about it. And it’s for this reason that imho trans!Steve would be one of those people who doesn’t come out and transition until they’re in their 40s or something. It would be the story of DEADNAME McGarrett going to Annapolis, becoming a SEAL, being the Navy’s Finest, Creating Five-0 and then much later, deciding to come out. Like post season 10 timeline coming out, I think.

Because Steve keeps a lot of his feelings crammed up inside his head and heart, and he stews over stuff, and he’s not emotionally open. He just isn’t. The Military Fucked Steve Up. John McGarrett, whether he meant to or not, Fucked Steve Up. All of the other shit's that's happened, has Fucked Steve Up. Steve opens up more over the progression of the show, especially w/ Danny, but he’s still an emotionally constipated nutcase in many ways.

Is this a story I’d ever write? No. There are a few reasons for that, and the main ones stem from my own Gender Experience™ and shit. It’s the same reason why Trans!Danno takes place when Danny’s in his 30s and has pretty much already transitioned socially/medically/etc. The story of Danny’s coming out and transition is glossed over, because if I delve into the depression and dysphoria aspect too deeply, I’m gonna start drinking too much again. Being closeted sucks, dysphoria sucks, the internalized self-loathing and shame sucks, and it is euheuheuheuheuheuh DEEPLY triggering for me.

Trans!Danno takes place after most, if not all of that, for Danny. Danny’s got the surgeries he wanted, he’s on T, he looks in the mirror and likes what he sees, he’s doing GREAT. Does he still have issues and insecurities? Well yes, because he’s human. But I am uninterested in writing about the emotionally darker and more upsetting aspects of trying to come out and transition, because I do this for fun and I don’t wanna bum myself out.

The story of Steve/Stephanie/Stef McGarrett, coming out and transitioning at the age of like 45/50 would be deeply sad in many ways. It’d be steeped in internalized transphobia, self-loathing, dysphoria, etc. Especially when you take into consideration Steve’s character and how he Deals with things emotionally. It’d also be a story of joy, of self-actualization, and all those other good things.

Are those stories meaningful and important? Absolutely. Would I personally write it? No. Because the journey to get to that joy would trigger the shit out of me. Is that everyone’s gender experience? Also no, but it’s mine and that’s the lens I’m approaching stuff from.

Excellent question! Thank you so much.

[thexgrayxlady]

9, 12, 18, and 23 for the choose violence questions

9) worst part of canon

The hill that I am wiling to die on due to swinging bats at hornets nests is that Dragon Age Inquisition is the worst Dragon Age game. The gameplay is boring. The characters are deeply uninteresting. the story is dumb, uncomfortably catholic, and gates the ending behind Paid DLC. It sanitized the world of Thedas to the point where it feels like a different universe from earlier entries in the series.

You can also remove all of Mass Effect 2 from the series and lose nothing significant.

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

There's an extent to which I'm kind of avoiding the current XS fandom, so I'm not sure if she's unpopular, but Katnappe is a damn delight and should have had more screentime. Like, there's something delightful to me about a villain that probably could take over the world if she wanted to but is more interested in petty theft and bioengineering.

18) it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Honestly? Mass Effect Andromeda was not a bad game. Like, my perception of it is absolutely colored by getting it used for ten dollars, but I didn't encounter significant bugs and TBCH the graphics didn't bother me. The story was interesting enough and the gameplay was both fun and challenging and there was a lot of freedom in where I could build my character. I absolutely had to place it, it's probably my second or third favorite in the series. I could absolutely understand anybody who got it for full price being disappointed, but I had a fun time and I think that it deserves a second chance.

23) ship you've unwillingly come around to

I don't think that I unwillingingly came around on Raijack because I think that my prior opinion of it was at worst indifferent, but I can't think of anything.

[fawnydoe]

episode three

velvette's my favorite. entertaining, fun, fantastic performance. whenever she's onscreen, i'm genuinely entertained. i hope lilli cooper knows she's carrying this entire character with her performance alone.

why is there a scene dinosaur.

for a show about charlie it really isn't interested in charlie at all. i've heard things about the way the women in the show were written and i'm starting to piece it together myself. like.....i feel a general disinterest in charlie and her gf (im not typing her fucking name).

this disinterest is reflected in the show! i barely understood why charlie and her gf had a fight! the show is so disinterested in them because it has to get to the tumblr sexyman hell lords.

the musical number between horn lady and charlie's gf is a miss for me. poor mash up of characters, isn't telling me anything and isn't pushing the plot forward. time could have been utilized for something else.

the show is also deeply uninterested in any long running mysteries. we've found out who killed the exterminator by episode and it had zero fucking impact on our main cast. the mystery should have impacted them BEFORE you revealed who did it!

the turf war plot was stupid. you don't even see them learn to get closer during it, they just bond offscreen?? so the pay off of them all getting along falls flat. it hasn't been earned!

[booksandwords]

Red Hot by Emma Alcott

Series: Tough Love Auto Body, #0.5   Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5

The quote: I’m not gay. I’m not. I swear to god. But the way Red looks at me, and the way he makes me feel… I can’t escape it. I couldn’t back then, and I sure as shit can’t now. Not even after everything. I’m his. And somehow, against all odds, he’s mine. — Diesel Cosgrove

As of the time I post this review Red Hot is unavailable for download (as far as I can see). It does have a wider role I do think it will become available again at some point.

It's been a long time since I had so much fun with a novella. This was free on Prolific Works (unfortunately no longer available) and the prequel or book #0.5 for an upcoming series, Tough Love Auto Body. I really recommend reading it if you can get your hands on it. Given the position of it is Emma Alcott's broader worlds I suspect she will make it available a some point. Either as is or slightly extended (as happened with another released in the same PW promotion). This feels like a second-chance romance with a twist. The twist is in the sexual identities. The angst/ hurdle, such as it is, for protagonists Diesel Cosgrove and Red* is that Diesel isn't gay but he wants nothing more than Red. Has never wanted anyone or anything as much as he wants Red. Something that hasn't changed since they were teens.

Diesel made me laugh. So many of the moments he found himself in, the phrases used were seemingly included just to bring a smile to the face of the reader. The language used for him is right on my wavelength but it could potentially be grating for some. Honestly, Diesel comes across as almost Australian in his mindset and language (suburban not the stereotype), that could be why I vibed with him. I liked Red. He is confident in who and what he is. He knows what he wants but knows what he isn't willing to sacrifice to have it. As much as he loves Diesel he will not be a secret or a shame.

I will say the sex is rough in a way that both parties are consenting to. I needed that consent for me to accept it. However, there is a brilliant disconnect between how they are kissing and interacting and how their bodies and hands are exploring. For this sort of story where they pick up right where they left off and Diesel is essentially uninterested in men other than one it just feels so right. And Red, Red is just desperate and knows exactly what he is doing when he plays with that fire.

Some quotes I liked.

Mom smiles when she sees me. She’s dressed casual today, which for her means plain black leggings and a leopard-print cami largely concealed by her uniform— a Tough Stuff t-shirt she modified to be sleeveless, cut deeply down the sides. Gone are her usual spiked belts and bracelets, but her makeup is as flawless as ever. A bold red lip with a dark and smoky wing. A makeup artist’s dream. — Mom is a badass. I guess she has to be in a world of men, she owns the body shop. She is definitely no push over but knows how to put her best foot forward. She has a soft spot too. She has glorious relationships with her sons, specifically Diesel. She leads the family in their teasing.

Teenage me found him highly fuckable, but the Red I knew from back then doesn’t hold a candle to the man he’s grown into. The one sitting across the room, eating me up with his eyes like he’s thinking the exact same thing about me. — This is great. I like the thought patterns here, they are just an insight into the truth that Diesel is struggling to admit to himself.

I get the distinct impression there isn’t a single part of him that doesn’t look like it’s been lifted from the pages of one of Jagger’s hornier art magazines. The man’s like a living sculpture. A Renaissance artist’s wet dream. — I'm sorry... I can't not include this. I'm weak for descriptions like this. Encouraging the reader to dwell to note that the attraction in almost short circuiting the protagonists mind. The line breaks, breaking up thoughts is fairly common and it suits Diesel. He's enjoying the ride and having Red back in his life.

I'm glad Emma Alcott kept it at the novella length to make it longer probably would have meant adding unnecessary drama or flashbacks. This was just a simple second chance, as the basic plot. There are times when families move and communication breaks down through no fault of either teen. The internet can help with communication but life still happens. and Maine and Illinois are likely in different time zones (if only by an hour). When a family owns their own body shop or any business? Diesel probably started working there early. It is a sweet way to introduce the brothers, presumably the protagonists of the Tough Love Auto Body series, Brick, Jagger and Spike. Diesel the second son has his story here and Onyx, known as Nyx, the youngest son has his story in Sweet Thing (Book 3 of the Masters of Romance series). While the other brothers all work in the family auto shop Nyx is a romance writer, with an endearing amount of social blindness. Reading this and hearing about Nyx made me really want to read his story.

*Red’s name isn’t revealed until the end. I will not include it here because spoilers. Let’s just say it’s fun.

[mekatrio]

super long post of me complaining abt totk irt to my totk playthru bc I <3 Complaining ❤️❤️

maybe its cuz i played like a fuckton during the first week (tho i only have 65 hours total so idk how that compares to the average playerbase) or maybe its cuz ive been playing in an unconventional way, but totk is starting to feel boring to me... (or maybe the game design just sucks..?)

i play unconventionally in that i have disregarded the plot.. bc in botw it was so boring to me. and i watched all the totk cutscenes online anyways and it was as i suspected, i wouldve been disappointed and annoyed if i wasted time collecting all those memories just to get some half-baked story.

im on the fence for doing dungeons tho.. i see my sister doing one, and it does actually look kinda fun, but i worry how satisfying it will actually be, and if i finish the dungeon's boss, will this game's final boss(es) be too easy? (thats what happened in botw.. but maybe ill just do the dungeon and skip the boss? if i can do that?)

i did do the beginning of the gerudo main questline, and it was rly.. boring.... fighting the gibdos was rly boring.. i guess figuring out that mirror puzzle with little help was fun. but it was overall pretty (._.) have yet to enter the dungeon. again idk if i want to

but also another thing is that like its rly rly Really hard for me to gaf abt any npcs in this game LOL.. they just like. say a whole bunch of nothings..... bc like in older games, dialogue helps w worldbuilding since theyre so technologically limited. but in a game like this, you see the world that you get. theres not much that their dialogue adds on, and its only sometimes funny anyways. and i always find myself mashing thru it anyways, bc i just.. dont care.. and also, even if they are saying something supplemental to the world, a useful tip or whatever, its 1.) a teeny tiny tip that i probably could or wouldve learned online or 2.) a mini questline with the most eh reward ever.

i guess cuz in older games you Had to talk to people to figure out what to do next. theres no 'what to do next' in this game so i just.. yeah. im just often unmotivated to know what theyve got to say. of course theyve helped me here and there but its like.. in most games i play, i try to talk to as many npcs i can. but i never feel the need to do this in totk, from either how uninteresting they are, or bc the info they tell me tends to be something i already know.

and my apathy of npcs unfortunately extend to the main quest as well (gorons rito etc), and although i say i wish this game gave me more reasons to talk to npcs, i still end up disliking how totk/botw goes around w it in their main quests; cuz now theres like, a break in the gameplay, where i Must speak to NPCs to advance the 'plot'. my gameplay of exploration, engaging in combat whenever i please, and so on, has to be paused to do this quest. and arguably these quests do provide me the opportunity to explore and whatnot, but its no longer done by Myyyy pace. i have to follow whatever pace and order the game has set for me to do. which Sucks. it really sucks to have a game which im enjoying bc of the freedom, to restrict my freedom like that.

(and this is also why i disliked shrines in the first game.... my regular gameplay gets broken up in order for me to enter shrines (which all look the absolute same as every other one btw, so theres no motivator of 'ohhh i wonder what this shrine looks like?'). and i have to solve the shrine in whatever way its making me to. and obvs some shrines have multiple solutions but more often than not it tends to be limiting.... anyways this is why i deeply prefer shrine quests in the overworld over basic shrines. i much prefer solving puzzles as im exploring as opposed to having to essentially pause my gameplay just to earn hearts and stamina.

in terms of exploration + combat (bc the two go hand in hand).. after getting all the towers, i feel that theres little left for me to do. now that i have a decent amount of hearts and stamina (8 hearts + 1.75 stamina wheels), theres nothing tht really motivates me to do more shrines. the shrines in this game are a lot better than botw's (most of the time), but once ive lost the desire to do shrines as well its a bit.. (._.)

and ive explored most of the west side of the depths, i think roughly 30% overall, but that has gotten a bit boring as well. which is a shame, bc i think its a lot of fun to explore in pitch-black terrain. but as ive said before, it visually stays the same throughout the entire terrain which ends up making it feel very monotonous. same ol grey and purples forever and ever... i wish there was a variety of biomes and landscapes or something (itd be nice if the east looks drastically different but i sincerely doubt it). so far its just grey stretches of land and monster mine camps and maybe the occasional flux construct boss like :/

and combat... ergh... EH.... well just like botw its a blast in the beginning when everything is still hard. but like... all my weapons are pushing 40 atk power now. im like. Ripped. the monsters.. do not reflect this. like firstly u still get those annoying one hit monsters like chuchus, keese, and bokoblins. which is whatever i guess.. annoying but theyre there to spice it up. so whateves. but its when the monster camps still have red monsters like.. what?! even having blue monsters is pushing it honestly. the red ones dies in one hit, and the blues dies in 2-3 hits. black ones are starting to catch up in this regard, but are still a challenge. but there just isnt enough silver ones which ideally should be spawning at this point...

its come to a point where i just end up ignoring most monster camps, bc the reward drops just aren't very good either. like i do not explore in a conventional order, so im already stacked with royal gear. i do not need traveller sword #5. and the game has not adapted with that. i wish it did, bc man the game is getting boring 😮‍💨

there is more to say. maybe ill be more coherent after i get off my bed LOL. but yeah totk still has the same issues as totk which is... erm. not great

[hitnran]

OBSESSIVE EX (gender neutral! reader)

how they deal with you having an obsessive ex

includes: ran, rindou

CW: obsessive behavior, cursing, stalking (ran), phone harassment (rindou), the haitani brothers lowkey kinda scary here (not to the reader) 💀 but i’m just trying to make it fit within their character

— RAN HAITANI

Getting into a relationship with someone like Ran, half of the charismatic brother duo that ruled Roppongi, almost means guaranteed safety wherever you go. His title itself is one that is feared when murmured. Whenever you two leave, he always has an eye and a hand on you. Ran knows well that even if he is feared, he can also be challenged and the last thing he wants is for you to get involved — you would make an easy target for his enemies.

You two were out together on a stroll around the city. Although there was nothing neither of you needed, Ran’s favorite thing is showing you off. Sometimes you start to feel similar to his younger brother, thinking that you’re just a shadow and only known as ‘Ran’s partner.’ But Ran’s intentions were opposite. He wanted everyone to know that it was him that belonged to you and it is him that people would have to deal with if you were ever tested.

As you two are walking, Ran noticed your eyes consistently checking itself to the side. He took note of that and eventually brushed it off since you stopped. But then he noticed that you were being especially keen and scanning the whole area.

“Are you okay, love?” Ran slightly hunches down, getting your attention as your face turns his way. He lightly smiles at you. “Did you see something you liked?”

You swallowed down hard. You could’ve sworn you saw a familiar face, but after trying to scan the area numerous times for the past few minutes, you thought it was just you being paranoid. The last thing you wanted was to worry Ran and cause a scene.

“I’m okay,” You shook your head, returning a light smile. You grabbed on his arm, this time a little tighter. “Let’s turn into this corner.”

Ran knows when you’re lying. He knew something made you uncomfortable, but he wasn’t going to force you to tell him. Instead, he’ll make it his own problem too and deal with it himself.

This area was his territory and everyone knew it. It was almost as if Roppongi, a city known for liveliness, calmed down ever so slightly if one or both of the brothers were out. Everyone’s gaze wound be kept low and their conversations would go mute as they walk by.

At that moment, Ran could feel a pair of eyes staring your way. He won’t make it obvious though.

“Love,” Ran called out to you. You looked up his direction and he placed a hand against your lower back. “Rindou’s gonna throw a fit if I don’t bring back food for him. How about you go into the restaurant and order first while I call him and ask what he wants?”

You felt at ease hearing that you two were finally going to be in somewhere indoors, but it made you nervous that he would be separated from you for just a little while.

“Don’t wanna bring something back he won’t like and have him complain,” Ran lightly laughed, trying to ease your clear discomfort. He placed a hand over your head. Taking out his phone to add to his act. “I’ll be quick.”

After some hesitation, you gave in. It was a public space after all, so it shouldn’t have been anything to worry too much about. He watched as you entered the place before turning around, sending chills to the person who had been following you two around this whole time.

“Would be a shame if I left them alone for too long, wouldn’t it?” Ran gave off a sinister grin, slowly walking towards the person. “Wouldn’t want anyone to take them away…especially someone like you.”

Ran knew who this person was. He was an obsessive ex of yours that just would not leave you alone and accept the separation despite it being years passed. He gulped hard, nervously stepping back, not thinking that he would get caught.

“You were so bold to even follow us in the first place, why so shy now?” Ran smirked, hiking up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “This is the first time you’ve heard of me or something? I should introduce myself to you well and hard then.”

Almost ten minutes had passed since you’ve been waiting for Ran. You sat patiently and waited. Your best guess as to what’s taking him so long revolves around Rindou. Maybe he was complaining about how he wanted food from a different place or being picky about menu opinions. Just as you were about to raise yourself from your seat to check up on Ran, you saw him enter.

“Did I make you wait too long?” Ran appeared, seating himself in front of you. The worse case scenario you had in mind was that he got into a fight, but in front of you, he looked just as how you last saw him. “You know how Rindou is.”

Your chest became relaxed and you gave a small smile, shaking your head, “What did he want from here?”

“I didn’t even listen to what he said,” Ran teased, opening up his menu and leaning back against the chair. You felt his legs sandwich your calves from beneath the table. “He can order it himself. All my money is going to you today.”

And that was how Ran liked it. Although Ran wanted everyone to know that he belonged to you, he knew how important it was for others to know that you belonged to him too. The image of the face of your ex is burned so clearly into his brain — face all bloodied up, mauled almost, as he failed to even whisper for forgiveness.

“I think there’s only one way I’m gonna let you outta here alive,” Ran kicked his body down with force, hearing something shift in his jaw. He couldn’t give half a damn about it. “Do you know what that is?”

Your ex was visibly beaten and weak now, barely able to even blink or properly form a sentence. Though, with his adam’s apple slightly moving from fear, Ran took it as a response.

Grabbing him by his hair upward, Ran bent down, looking straight at him, “You’re gonna leave them alone and never show your goddamn face again. If it wasn’t fucked already before, it sure is now. I promise you I’ll know if you’re even barely visible or a mile away, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

Ran thought it was so disgusting how someone like you could ever have your time wasted on someone low like this ex of yours. Even if Ran saw him and his brother above everyone else, he always put you above him.

“Maybe even after this, I’ll send one of my men to go and beat the shit out of you every day so you could suffer for as long as you’ve tried to bother Y/N.”

— RINDOU HAITANI

Rindou can’t even remember what it took for you two to even reach this state of your guys relationship. He convinced himself that it was Ran, his older brother who wouldn’t shut up about how he was going to take you if Rindou didn’t make a move.

It genuinely surprises himself even whenever he looks your way, observing every detail and soaking in the idea that you are someone he can call his.

You two were watching a movie, or rather, supposed to. Rindou was too focused on side-eyeing you every now and then. You caught him a few times, but he would brush it off with comments like “this movie is boring” or “I’m just checking to see if you fell asleep.”

He would snap himself out of a trance after hearing your phone ring beside you. You eyed it once, looking at the caller ID and ignoring it. It wasn’t enough to cause Rindou to worry - it’s not his problem if you just didn’t wanna answer a call, it was your guys’ time anyway.

But then it rang once more again. Your ringtone dragged itself out halfway through before Rindou slightly raised his hand from your hip, pointing to the phone on the side of the couch.

“You not gonna answer that?” He asked.

You shook your head, eyes focused on the TV, “It’s fine. It’s an unknown caller ID.”

Rindou shrugged, ignoring it once again, but after a few more calls and your phone receiving back to back text messages, it was starting to irk him. He was close to just grabbing your phone and answering the call himself, but you were quick to act before him, just shutting it off.

“It must be spam or something,” You sighed, sitting back down.

“Yeah, well whatever it is, good thing you shut that damn thing off. That shit was annoying,” Rindou sighed, curling his arms around you again. “Let’s change the movie too or something. This one is boring.”

One thing about dating Rindou is that he seems uninterested in absolutely everything he does. Although you avoid thinking like that when it comes to your relationship with him, you always remind yourself that Rindou is someone who deeply cares for you. He shows it very differently compared to others, but you know.

He can recall a memory from a few weeks ago where you kept getting calls in the middle of your guys’ date. It annoyed him, but not as much as it annoyed you. You’ve pressed the red decline button at least five times now, stressing over it and spilling out everything about your previous ex.

At the end of your rant, Rindou grabbed your phone, picking up the call and saying words as simple as “leave them alone.” It was so simple, but for the next few weeks, it was silent. You finally thought you were free of harassment thanks to your boyfriend, but recently, they’ve been coming back as unknown caller IDs and more frequent than before.

Halfway through the movie, Rindou felt your body become more loose and relaxed beneath him. Your breath became slower and more steady. You had fallen asleep. He thought it was ironic to have someone as angelic as you in the arms of someone like him - a gang member always involving himself in trouble, even just for fun.

He stared at your phone just a reach away and then back at you. The last thing Rindou wanted was for you to be uncomfortable, or really, anything that isn’t where you aren’t happy.

When you woke up, the TV was shut off and you felt a blanket drape over your body. You realized you had fallen asleep from earlier, but you were expecting to find your boyfriend with you as well. That was when the door swung open and you were greeted with Rindou.

“Rindou?” You slowly let out, still adjusting from waking up. “I didn’t know you left.”

He raised a bag up midway in the air, it’s a bag from a bakery you often bought from, “You kept murmuring about it in your sleep. Didn’t want you to wake up all grumpy.”

“I don’t wake up grumpy!” You protested, watching as he took his seat next to you and unpacking all of your favorites.

“Yeah, okay,” Rindou joked. He listened to you puffing out before wrapping yourself around his arm.

“Thank you though,” You murmured out of embarrassment - maybe he was half right.

“It’s nothing,” He replied, softening his face into a grin. “Must’ve been hungry though if it got you talking in your sleep and drooling on my arm.”

You didn’t even know about half of the things he does for you, but he didn’t mind it, because if you were happy, then that was all that mattered.

It made Rindou feel guilty to turn on your phone and look through it. It wasn’t something that he ever felt the need to do - he trusted you and it felt wrong if you weren’t aware that he was using it. Though, at this time, he felt like it was for the better.

While you were silently sleeping, he browsed through your texts. It’s that same person - your ex back again to bother you. Rindou scoffed, making sure it wasn’t loud enough to wake you up, but he was angry. He clicked his tongue whilst composing a message.

Rindou knew you would never be so stupid as to meet up with someone like this, especially not after already experiencing it once. It was a good thing that it was just Rindou posing as you though. How delighted your ex felt to have finally received a response to you - ‘Let’s meet up here.’

Rindou thought it was so pathetic. This guy had no idea what he looked like, let alone that you even had a boyfriend. So when Rindou’s immediate reaction upon seeing him was to throw a punch, he was shocked.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Your ex cried out, trying his best to dodge his attacks but failing in between his words and attempts.

“Me?!” Rindou snapped, pushing him to the ground and twisting his arms. “Speak for yourself.”

The man beneath him screamed in pain, “I-I’ll call the cops on you and have you arrested!”

“Yeah? You think they’ll give me less time if I tell them I was just trying to teach a creep a lesson?” Rindou pulled back on his arms a little harder, tendons and muscles stretching themselves out of place.

“T-The hell are you talking about?!” He stuttered out.

“Don’t bitch around. Might end yourself up in there if you keep this act of yours up - I’ve been once before,” Rindou smirked, pulling back more and more on his arms. “It was fine for me. My big bro and I even got some respect while in there, so what’s gonna happen when they hear about your name from me? You’re fresh meat to them.”

“W-Who even are you?!”

Rindou scoffed, “The same guy who warned you once to leave Y/N alone. I should’ve honestly went to find you myself personally and beat the shit out of you, but I hate wasting my time.”

Your boyfriend let the man go. If his arms weren’t all bent out of place and dislocated, he’d be crawling away by now. It was a sight that Rindou would laugh at. Upon seeing that his phone had fallen out of his pocket, the same phone used to consistently harass you, Rindou stomped down hard, breaking it into bits and pieces.

“Don’t waste my time again. Next time you do, call the cops, I promise you I won’t care if they catch me killing you,” Rindou turned his back around.