#note since this is a generic ask game: I will send asks only to those with gw2 OCs. AND I will stop after a while!

[mistfallengw2]

Non-wholesome Romantic Asks 🖤

1. Do they actually love love each other? Has it changed over time?

2. Is their relationship toxic or unhealthy in any way?

3. In what ways are they good and bad for each other?

4. Is there someone else who would be a better partner for either of them?

5. Is the relationship living up to their initial expectations?

6. What made them become a couple? What keeps them together?

7. Is there anything that could have kept them from ending up together?

8. What would it take for them to break up?

9. How do they feel about each other's exes and people who flirt with them? Is jealousy an issue in general?

10. Have they ever cheated on each other or considered doing so? If not, would they ever?

11. Have they ever hurt each other, be it physically or emotionally, intentionally or accidentally?

12. Do they argue often? About what?

13. Are there any regrets or unresolved issues between them?

14. What's an opinion they'll never agree on? How do they deal with that?

15. Do they have doubts about each other? Are those doubts well-founded or exaggerated?

16. How much do they actually trust each other? Was their trust ever broken? Can it be mended?

17. Is there a secret that they don't dare tell the other? Why? Will they ever say it?

18. What was the lowest point for them as a couple?

19. What's something they can't stand about each other?

20. What's something they'd change about their partner?

[flowersforthemachines]

Some facts about Neve (and Tevinter) gathered from the banters

I went through all companion banters on DanaDuchy's channel after playing the game to write down all facts about companions/the world that I haven't seen brought up anywhere in the game as a writing reference (and for funsies).

Note: This list may not be exhaustive. I might have missed some something or didn't write it down because I considered it common knowledge. If you have anything to add, please DM me or send an ask! (do specify what banter the information is coming from, though)

Note 2: Posts from this series (mostly) don't include information from banters specific to quests or between companions and faction members. I plan to do another playthrough to capture more of those and will add any relevant info to the character posts.

Other characters' posts: Bellara, Davrin, Harding, Lucanis, Emmrich, Taash. I'm also planning a post about just the Lighthouse some time later

About Neve:

General:

Neve isn’t rich, and her best coat is a gift from a grateful tailor after she saved his warehouse from an arsonist

Neve’s coat is woven with enchantments to resist fire and lighting 

Neve has never done blood magic. She is against it on principle and judges those who use it 

Neve doesn’t seem to like entertaining extreme hypotheticals since she reacts to Harding’s questions like “What would you take with you to a deserted island?” with asking why she would end up in such situations in the first place 

Neve wouldn’t want gems on her leg, because she thinks they would get stolen within a day of working in Minrathous, and she generally prefers to keep a low profile while on the job

However, she still considers saving up for a new, fancier leg to have more fashion choices. She likes Taash’s idea of getting a ruby inlay for it

Neve never visited Rivain before joining the Veilguard, though she now finds its beaches charming

Ever since she was a baby, Neve was stubborn and asked too many questions (and hated unanswered questions as well)

Neve likes Qunari food but thinks it’s very spicy

Neve likes seafood 

Neve doesn't drink tea

Neve isn’t really close with her family

Neve once tried to use a wisp-repelling artefact the Veil Jumpers found to get rid of the wisps in her room, but it only attracted wisps from the entire Lighthouse

Neve isn’t interested in exploring the mysteries of the Lighthouse because she has enough mysteries on this side of the Veil

(If Rook chooses to save Minrathous) Neve sends civil engineers to assist in Treviso 

On work: 

Neve didn’t want to be a detective when she was a child (not as if in she didn’t like the idea, she just didn’t consider it), though she didn’t have any dream career either 

Neve got into detective work by picking up odd jobs and building a reputation of being good at finding things. Eventually, she was hired to find someone’s brother, a case nobody else wanted to pick up, and her career took off 

Neve agrees that she is cynical and married to her job, but doesn’t consider herself ‘serious’  

Neve allegedly has a system for sorting her papers (Emmrich and Rana are sceptical about its existence) 

(If Neve becomes Dock Town's protector) Elek is implied to visit the Lighthouse again multiple times. Taash mentions seeing him poking around the library. Neve explained that he thought he could grab some fade-touched items to sell, and told him to run the plan by the Caretaker (one would think they did not approve)

On life in Minrathous: 

Neve was born and raised in Minrathous

Neve has never been inside the Archon’s Palace

(If Neve chooses to become Dock Town’s inspiration) Neve doesn’t regret letting Aelia live because she got information on Venatori out of her, and her death wouldn’t change the past

(If Neve chooses to become Dock Town’s inspiration) Neve gets to take a break for once in her life because Rana keeping an eye on the Dock Town actually helps

(If Neve chooses to become Dock Town’s inspiration) People gossip about Neve and Rana after they start their agency :)

Neve describes the rain of Minrathous as "cold fingers down your neck", but she misses it now that she's away from the city. The sound helps her fall asleep 

Neve’s entire apartment could fit inside villa Dellamorte’s dining room 

One of Tevinter papers referred to Neve as "Dock Town dirt-chaser," and to Emmrich as "sinister foreign necromancer”

A Tevinter paper called The Minrathous Herald once wrote that Neve should be exiled. The same paper called Shadow Dragons “traitors to the Empire” 

Neve never runs out of ink because she's on good terms with Minrathous ink sellers 

There is however one banter where she runs out of ink (I think it was with Davrin). Make of that what you will. 

On the Shadow Dragons: 

Neve didn't know Dorian personally until she joined the Shadow Dragons

Neve figured out the Viper's identity even before joining the Dragons. Her not revealing it to the public is one of the reasons he recruited her

Tarquin calls Neve a pain in the ass 

Relationships with companions: 

Neve calls Manfred ‘Fred’ (he seems to like that)

Manfred learns to say Neve's name (likely only happens if you revive him at the Necropolis, though I am not sure)

Neve introduces Lucanis to a spice shop in Dock Town

Harding describes Neve’s tastes in coffee as “made of gutter water filtered through an old sock”

Lucanis once showed Neve’s coffee to Viago. He found it “unsettling” 

Davrin thinks drinking Neve's coffee is worse than the Joining

Neve spoils Assan (but denies that accusation)

Neve is rather quick to consider questioning corpses with Emmrich’s help for her cases 

Neve is very apprehensive about lichdom and the perspective of Emmrich eventually turning evil (just like Emmrich isn't thrilled about her taking over the Threads for similar reasons)

Lucanis is concerned about Neve taking over the Threads. Mainly, about how much they are paying her

Neve has multiple banters with Taash discussing her relationship with Lucanis. Taash initially thinks of it as some sort of predator-prey dynamic, but Neve says she is not into that and explains that they are taking it slow and cautious. They both went through a lot of pain in their lines, which they tend not to show for different reasons

Neve's relationship with Lucanis is also more than she usually looks for with people

Neve takes Taash to Hal’s fish fry stand. Taash loved it :)

Taash offers Neve help on ladders in case she may need it/it gets stuck on steps due to being hook-shaped, mentioning they knew a Lord of Fortune who lost a hand and whose shoulders hurt while climbing because of it. Neve seems to appreciate the gesture, even though she can handle herself

Neve thinks Taash is nice to work with, offering help without being overbearing like some people are

Neve asks Taash to teach her Gold Thief (a Lord of Fortune dice game), so she can play it with the Shadow Dragons, and then subsequently gets beaten by the Viper

On Tevinter: 

Fashion is important in Tevinter because a good outfit lets people know you are under the protection of someone powerful

There aren’t many mages in Docktown, which is one of the reasons the government doesn’t care about it 

The big red cat near Halos’s stand is named Ferdinand

Stains on clothes can be cleaned with magic

You can get pineapples anywhere in Minrathous 

Neve calls the magic used for the lights in Minrathous a party trick, but Emmrich considers it a high-level enchantment because of its quality and duration

Tevinter doesn’t regulate the charms sold in the market (which is why there are a lot of scammers who sell fakes) 

[eyeritestuff]

Billy Kid x Reader Headcanons ☆

—X—

A/N: super into ZZZ right now (and billy.)

CW: nothing, maybe a few suggestive jokes but everything is generally SFW :3 i’m super sleepy and writing this at 1am so bare with me when it comes to spelling and grammar :’)

Reader: Gender Neutral [they/them]

—X—

Billy takes a lot of selfies, especially when on missions, and sends them to you. You don’t know what made him start doing this, but you save each and every one of them and you make sure to drop whatever you’re doing to ask him about it.

Billy is on the spectrum. Don’t ask me the logistics of it, yes he’s sophisticated AI, but hear me out! Though you like to indulge in some childhood nostalgia, you aren’t particularly fixated on watching just one media from your childhood. However, one of the medias you watched back in the day is called Starlight Knight. As soon as you told him you enjoyed that show, he would come to you to talk about it. It wasn’t all the time, of course, but whenever conservation went dry (in person or via DMs), he’d make it a thing to talk to you about it for hours. It didn’t annoy you, not in the slightest. It made you happy to see him so happy about the children’s show, and so you entertained it as much as you could.

When Billy texts, he uses old fashioned emoticons as punctuation. Think ‘ :3 , ^_^ , o_O ’ and then replace it everywhere a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark would be. So many emoticons…

Billy loves to play video games, especially at the arcade. He invites you, and usually you tag along. When you can’t, he sends a selfie of him making a sad face. He’d probably captions it something like ‘Missing my pookie.. 💔💔’

On that same note, Billy will pick up on vocabulary you use and steal it. So if you have a habit of saying ‘pookie’ ? That’s his now. He’s using it all the time.

Billy panics easy when it comes to you. not only when it comes to safety, but also when it comes to romantic scenarios. During times you hang out with Anby and Nicole, they spill all the details of how Billy went on a rampage to find the perfect flowers, or how Billy sat in a corner all morning whining about how he didn’t find the right color outfit for you. Things along those lines!

Sortve related, but Billy gets flustered easily. Especially when you make dirty jokes, most of which aren’t really directed at him. He doesn’t get the jokes at first, but when he does understand them, he reacts in such an over the top and dramatic manner. Flailing around, gasping really loud, whining, yknow the works! One time you made a joke about ‘whimpering audios’ and he didn’t understand it. For a while too! Once he asked enough people (Anby explained it to him), he went silent and locked himself in his room for a considerable amount of time. He wasn’t sad or anything, just… shocked.

Billy isn’t human, so he doesn’t necessarily get injured in the traditional sense. One time he came back from a commission with his arm all battered up. You never seen him so down in spirits! You were able to help him, luckily, because it was only one part on his arm that was damaged that really messed up the rest of it. You kissed his hand, and immediately after inspecting your handiwork, he stuck his hand out again. “I dunno.. my arm still feels wonky. How about another kiss for good measure?”

When you’re bored, you love to dress up as Billy. Well, you’re not really dressing like him, you’re just wearing his jacket. You also like to wear the jacket with certain outfits you think it would look best with. Since your boyfriend is so tall and broad in the arms, you mostly wore it as a shoulder drape in an odd anime fashion statement. Regardless, Billy loved to see you wear it.

Earlier I mentioned Billy loves to take selfies, but I forgot to mention how most of them include you, and despite having all of those selfies of himself, half of his camera roll is you. He likes to sneak pictures of you sometimes! It’s one of his more odder behaviors, but he takes such cinematic pictures of you, even when you’re wearing the worst outfits. You didn’t know how he did it, but it’s one of the things that made the random picture taking somewhat okay.

Billy loves hugs. Don’t ask me how it works in terms of comfort. I would assume it’s the equivalent of sleeping in a car. However, Billy does have plenty of plushies thanks to you, and you use those to your advantage… so it’s not all bad :)

You asked Billy to teach you how to sling guns, and the entire tutorial sesh was just him feeling every inch of your body, memorizing and admiring how you looked. He loved you. All of you! He thought he was being sneaky, but you knew (and secretly loved it too).

Billy loves to carry you on his back and walk around. All I’m saying is, he’s got handlebars on that jacket for a reason… this has to be one of them……

Billy loves stickers. Self Explanatory!

Billy loves giving you gifts. He puts your needs over his more than he should, but luckily you’re not in this relationship to take advantage of his immaturity and inexperience. You give back as much as you can.

Billy is clingy. Needed to type it out despite it being loud as hell in this list.

Billy cant cook. Not like he needs to anyways, but he wants to learn for you! So when you’re cooking, he watches close behind you and asks you every question he can think of.

Billy likes to ask why… a lot. It gets frustrating sometimes, but he genuinely wants to learn.

—X—

A/N: thx for reading! idk might make a part 2 i’m gonna go fall asleep now :3

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Quiet Ones 10

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as dubcon/noncon, and other possible triggers. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You live a quiet life, but your peace is fractured by a chaotic man.

Characters: Lloyd Hansen, short!shy!reader

Note: in the land of delulu.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me <3

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Asking for more or putting ‘part 2?’ is not feedback.

Love you all. You are appreciated and your are worthy. Treat yourself with care. 💖

You excuse yourself for a hot bath. You didn't have the luxury in your apartment. You may as well enjoy what you can as the seconds tick down until your eternal purgatory. 

You breathe in the steam and let it soothe you. As much as it can. You don't think you've truly relaxed since the smoke filled your apartment. Oh, yeah, that's right, this man pulled out army tactics just to get you here. Just when you convince yourself he's not that loony, you remember another twisted facet of this whole ordeal. 

No matter how many times you retrace your steps, how many memories you unravel and search, you can't figure out where he came from, or how you managed to catch his attention. You are unremarkable but he talks like you're some sort of goddess. Not too mention, he seems to believe he knows you somehow. That you are soulmates in some ridiculously serendipitous way. There's nothing meant to be about this. You never meant to be with anyone. 

The water turns lukewarm and you stir. You might as well get out. You're not going to get much out of it aside from the pruned skin. You dry off and wrap yourself in one of the fluffy robes hung in wait. You stop to stare at yourself in the mirror. 

What else can you do to change his mind? You ate like an animal, you vomited like an overfed cat, and you've done everything to make yourself unapproachable to the general public, not just him. It's like this is a game to him but you're not having fun. 

You come out into the hotel room. The smell of lavender and aloe gives you pause. The lights are dimmed. Oh jeez. You cross your arms as the soft Hawaiian sunset glows through the large glass doors. Flickering candlelight pulses all around you and rose petals decorate the floor and bed. 

"Please, I just want to sleep--" 

"Jellybean, good boy Lloyd is gonna help you do just that," he purrs as he appears. "I'm gonna give you a nice massage. I know you don't like strangers touching you and all that so I'm going to do it all on my own--" 

"What? No. No. I'm going to sleep..." you trail off as you see what he's wearing. Next to nothing. Just a tight red thong that barely contains his very obvious excitement. 

"Take off your robe, bean, and let the magic hands do their work," he reaches for you and you dodge him. 

"Lloyd, it's... we're not even married. Shouldn't you wait until tomorrow night-" 

"Tomorrow? The wedding night? Beanie boo, I don't think you realise everything I'm saving for that. The way I'm gonna pamper you," he spreads his hands flat in the air and nuzzles the air lewdly then flicks his tongue slowly up and down. 

"God," you whisper and clutch tight the front of your robe. "I said... you said we'd wait--" 

"It's all above board. I can have a feel of the goods but I'm not gonna untie the ribbon. Promise," he puts his hand to his chest. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I can take these off-" 

He hooks his thumbs in the sides of the thong and you shake your head furiously, "no, no, don't-- don't do that." 

"I'm not shy, baby." He winks. 

"Lloyd, please. I'm tired. I... I've never flown before--" 

"Will you keep saying my name, bean? You make it sound so nice." 

You blink and hold back your revolt. You keep telling yourself you just need to get through this one thing but why? You're not getting out of this. He's taken you out of your apartment, out of the city, out of state. You're pretty sure there's nowhere left to run and he's shown you what happens if you try to hide. 

"Come on, I'll be gentle. I just want you to feel good. Get nice and loose for the wedding," he steps closer and grabs the belt of your robe. "My little jelly bean--" He pauses and blinks down at you. "Am I talking to much again? Let my hands do the talking, huh?" 

He winks and licks his lips. You want to melt and not in a good way. He tugs loose your belt and you barely keep the robe from falling open completely. He purrs and grabs your hands. You wrestle with him, defeated as he wrenches apart the fabric. 

"Damn, bean, I mean... it just gets sweeter every time I see it," he wiggles excitedly. 

You put your hands on his but he’s much too strong to deter. His eyes flick up from your body and he grins. He licks his lips. 

“I already know you’re just as delicious as you look,” he snarls. “Come on, bean.” He walks you backwards until you’re by the bed. “You get yourself nice and naked and spread eagle.” 

He pushes you, just hard enough that you fall onto the mattress. Your chest jiggles as you land and he purrs again. You plant the heels of your hands on the bed and drag yourself up. He goes to the night stand and grabs the shiny bottle of massage oil. 

You don’t have much of a choice but the easiest one is to go along with this. He says it’s just a massage. You know better than to trust the man who stalked you, who terrified you, then stole you away, but you don’t have much defense against him. Nothing but your submission. 

You slip free of the robe then turn onto your stomach. He tugs away the cotton and lets it heap on the floor. He climbs up on the bed, jostling you as he crosses the mattress on his knees. He oils up his palms and you quickly turn you face down into the pillows. 

He straddles your ass and you tense. He grabs your shoulders and rolls the muscles between his thumb and fingers. He tuts, “baby, you need to chill out. Let your good boy help you out.” 

He pushes his thumbs into your flesh and angles his hands to drag his knuckles down your back. The ridges of his hands drag along either side of your spine and he traces with his thumbs pressed firmly into the muscle. You can’t resist the moan that rises between your lips and catches in the pillow case. 

He pushes back up and once more kneads your shoulders. You quiver and squeeze your eyes shut. It’s overwhelming to be touched. At all. More unnerving that you don’t hate it. 

You avoid people, just as much, you avoid any contact. You like your space, your quiet, and this man has violated both. He runs his touch down your sides and the warmth of him seeps into you. He takes your left arm and begins tedious and tender work of the entire length. Your fingers curl and your hand twitches. 

You groan and he wiggles against you. His crotch is pressed into you without shame. You hardly notice as you fight the rising tide of delight flowing through you. No, why does it feel good? 

He gets to your other arm as the tension slowly uncoils. You never realised how much there was and he’s finding every nook and cranny. He works his way over your back once more. You quiver and moan long and loud. 

“That’s it, jelly bean,” he growls and once more grinds against your ass. “Like putty in my hands. 

He moves down your legs and pushes a knee between them. He parts your thighs and knees on the bed. He brushes his thumbs along the curve of your ass and hums. He bends and you clench your cheeks. He clucks, “now, now, be a good girl. I said I’d behave, bean.” 

He rubs your ass in his large hands. He leans in and kisses each cheek. You squirm but he doesn’t let up. He flutters his fingers along the insides of your thighs. You shiver and he puts more pressure into it. He teases and tends to you. 

You bring your arm up to grip the billow and arch your back. He flicks his finger along your cunt and you pop your head up. He snickers. 

“I said relax. I can’t have my wife tied in knots... I’m supposed to tie her in knots,” he taunts. 

He brings himself to straddle you again. He shifts over you and pushes your thighs closed with his. He grips your hips and massages them tightly. He pulls a hand back as he moves behind you. 

He rests his dick between your cheeks as he pins you down by your waist. You spasm but can’t push yourself up. He has you trapped as he slowly thrusts up and down, gliding along your flesh. 

“Lloyd, you said--” 

“Don’t worry. I won’t go inside,” he grits as he keeps his careful tempo. “Mmm, baby, how can you expect me to resist this ass. Urgh, it’s so nice.” 

He brings his hand down to push your cheeks together as he fucks between them. Mortified, you squeak and hide your face. You reach back with one hand and push on his forearm. There’s no stopping him and this is just a preview of the next night. 

Your hand falls away at the thought. You can’t stop him. You won’t. No matter how you fight. You tried that and he won. The moment he got you out of your apartment, it was over. 

The bed rocks with him. He builds his speed, little by little. His deep voice fills the hotel room as he kneads your ass. He pumps between them and snarls. He squeezes until your eyes water. 

You twist your neck and swat at him, “Lloyd, you’re hurting---” 

He lets go of once side of your rear and shoves your head down. He ruts wildly as he crushes your skull into the pillow and bounces you on the mattress. A sudden warmth spills into the small of your back and spurts further up your spine. He hisses and quakes, losing his rhythm as he leans his weight onto you. 

You grasp his wrist and whine, “ow, Lloyd--” 

He retracts from you and flips to fall beside you. You keep your face down, your eyes stinging with tears. You’re scared. You can’t remember the last time you weren’t, but that’s all the proof you need. Lloyd can say all these sweet things, make all his promises, but you know in the end, you can’t control him. He can barely control himself. 

“Jellybean,” he tickles your hip as his cum cools on your skin. “You’re so amazing--” 

You shimmy away from him without looking back. You can’t lay there any longer. You nearly fall off the bed. You stagger away from the bed. You need to get away from him and more, you need to get that stuff off of you. 

You burst into the bathroom and crank on the sink. You grab a washcloth and wet it. You wipe away the stickiness along your hips but you can’t reach higher.  

Lloyd’s shadow appears in the door frame. You ignore him as you rinse the cloth and try again. He comes to you and takes a clean one. “Let me help--” 

“No, I’m fine,” you snip. 

“Jellybean, I know it’s been a long day--” 

“You know? You don’t know,” you sneer and tear away from him. 

“Baby--” 

“I bathed and you—you--” 

“I made a mess,” he giggles. 

You face him and shake your head. What is wrong with him? This isn’t funny. 

“I couldn’t help myself,” he runs his hand down his naked torso. “It’s just what you do to me. I’m...” he stops and looks down as his dick twitches. “I’m getting hard again just think of it. Au naturel, baby. No enhancers needed.” He growls and drags the washcloth around his shaft. “Little blue pill got nothing on you.” 

He wipes himself then wads up the wet cloth and hurls it in the sink. “Alright, then. Longing makes the heart, and the balls, grow fonder, huh?” He offers his hand and smirks, “let’s go to bed.” 

You stare at him. Unmoving. He shows his palms. 

“Sleeping only. Well, maybe a few snuggles,” he says. “But I promise, I’ll abstain. Just for a little longer.” 

[ladybyakuya]

 ❝ ATLEAST WE SEE THE SAME MOON ❞ + ( sakusa kiyoomi, hinata shoyo, atsumu miya, bokuto koutaro,meian shūgo ) 

cw. | headcanon/scenarios about how they act while being away from you vs how they act when they actually get to see you; gn-reader, boyfriend headcanons, first-time long-distance relationships, fluff, brief mentions of smut, established relationship. || redirect to blog navigation.

notes. | recently rewatched hq so here's something to get rid of my nostalgic brain rot.

☆ SAKUSA KIYOOMI

Sakusa Kiyoomi is a man of less talk and more work most of the time. He is the kind to miss you day and night without diluting his efficiency in the game. Even texting seems hard for him a phone call seems a little too demanding. He will call you when he is at the far end of a high cliff yet not tell you how much he misses you, your voice, your touch around the house. . . everything in general. But after calling for onetime it starts to become frequent and his talk is full of: "Did you miss me?", " Do you even miss me?", " you rarely call me"; even though he is the one who has told you not to call when you feel like it yet he is the one to call you to say that he misses you a lot and most of the time it is out of context. Maybe you are talking about your day, or some local news but when you finish he just spurts "I miss you". There are two seconds of silence then he says again, "I miss you a lot." But when he is finally home, with you on the same bed and inside you, he would still say, "Did you miss me?" and then places open mouth kisses all over your body saying, " because I sure missed you a lot."

★HINATA SHOYO 

 Hinata is used to being away from his favorite people but he is not used to being away from you. His texts are frequent and regularly calls you to check on you but when he misses you he never tells instead he visits famous tourist spots and video calls you, shows you those famous tourist spots through video call and says, "i wish we could see this together," and then goes on autopilot mode of talking. You ask him to repeat what he just said and he does repeat except what you want to hear. It is a pulling-pushing game and the end results are embarrassment, laughter, and confession. He never gives a room to complain but time and place keep you apart from him. He often sends you parcels containing matching pieces of jewellery and outfits. And after such deliveries, he visits you and brings souvenier for everyone, even for you but says, "Don't worry this is not the only thing i came for to give you." So, when everyone is sleeping in the house and you two are awake and barely clad. He says, "I've more souvenirs for you," as he admires the bite marks over your body while hooking his arms around your thighs, getting ready for the next step.

 ✮ ATSUMU MIYA

Atsumu's way of telling you that he misses you is not very stealthy but if you tease too much, his verbal expression comes to a halt since he will build a cocoon around him. Sure, he wears his heart of his sleeve, sometimes on his face but he is never the one to be good with teasing especially coming from his beloved. So, he regularly sends you gifts with an endearing note and when he finally comes home unannounced, he is found in the bedroom with a box full of all those notes he send you, crying. He is crying for two reasons. one: his surprise did not go as he planned. two: he is missing you right now more than ever. When you finally come home, both of you get surprised at first and then he goes back to his whining self about how he wanted to surprise you, talking about his matches and food. Talking about food is a must because he will never admit how good Ongiri MIya is and as he keeps talking he follows you everywhere you go, every corner of the house, and gives you the puppiest face he can manage if you do not let him inside the shower with you. But you actually do, because the owner did miss this puppy.

★ BOKUTO KOUTARO 

 Bokuto makes time for you every day. He is the kind who tells you each and every detail of his each day before going to bed when he misses you. He tells you that he is coming over next weekend to see you and gets pouty when you are not surprised. It is not a wonder to you that it totally slipped his mind that he actually did mention that he is coming to see you but when you mention that you have specifically taken a day off since he was coming he is instantly is in his high spirits. Because he gets to spend time with you, He gets to spend each and every moment with you,he gets to go out with you, he gets to binge-watch shows with you. There are so many things he get to do wuth you just because he told you that he is coming to see you beforehand. isn't that great? Well, of course it is. As much as he is excited to do all these things, he ends up doing nothing instead spending the whole day in bed with you: talking and listening, talking and touching, touching and kissing, kissing and fucking and then fucking and talking again. If you say that you have to cook he says, "can't we order a take out today?" just so he could cuddle you just fiften minutes more.

 ☆MEIAN SHŪGO

 Meian has a reserved time for you, during weekends unless a match comes up. Everyone knows that even team-mates, parents and coach. He asks you to keep the video call on and do whatever you are doing. It is a nice feeling, almost having him like he is with you, around you even if it is through those rectangular screens. But late at night, he gets a little too sneaky and demanding asking what you are wearing? or says that there's something on your shoulder even if there is not. He takes the longest detour to tell you that he misses you. But all of that just sublimes when you say that you are going to shower. He keeps quiet for a moment and ends uo saying the most common reaction,"without me?" There are times when the answer is yes with a huge nod from your end but there are also times, when you say, "No. You can watch." But Meian does not survive your whole shower time. He even ends the video call just before you are fully naked yet deep down in his heart he believes he can improve with time.

[thewritersofdeceased]

If you do the black phone still can I request Headcanons on their s/o (female) being unserious and laughs at almost everything and is very giggly?

This was fun to write!! I love writing tbp requests guys its sm fun to me! I’ll be so honest, i was watching aphmau(which i'll be taking requests for now!) while doing this, so i was having a whole load of fun :3!! 

|| THE BLACK PHONE BOYS WITH A REALLY GIGGLY S/O! ||

FINNEY BLAKE

Finney has a 50/50 reaction when it comes to his s/o being super giggly! It really depends on the situation

If it’s a situation where either of them gets hurt, for example, tripping or something, he’s a little bit confused as to why your laughing

Until he realizes it’s the “laugh first ask later” type of thing

But of course he makes sure you’re okay! He’d feel bad if you were really injured with it.

If you’re just super giggly, he doesn’t mind! Just unless it comes to school.

Definitely uses your giggly personality to his advantage and stuff, especially during pillow fights and tickle wars!

Yes. He gets dragged into the pillow fights mostly by Gwen.

ROBIN ARELLANO

Robin's a little bit confused about being supper giggly, but he's not mad about it at all!

He's just used to being super focused on his fights, so he enjoys the change of having a giggly partner! it's actually really refreshing to him

like Finney, he uses the giggly personality to his advantage, all the tickle fights and everything of the sort

Would beat the living fuck out of anyone who said it was childish to be super giggly or any insulting words (those are usually from Moose)

Again, laugh first ask later type of person unless it’s super SUPER serious injuries

He buys you silly bandaids just to hear your laugh!

BRUCE YAMADA

Has no issue with your giggly personality! In fact, he matches it! He has a younger sister, so he’s used to outgoing and giggly kinds of situations!

Your laughter and just smile in general is his motivation to win any of his baseball games, he just loves your smile and giggles so much!

He has no issue trying to make you laugh, but of course he makes sure you're okay! He couldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt then laughing it off. well- he can, but of course he's worried about it!

He's definitely the type of person who'll like- copy? If that makes sense! So if he hangs around someone for too long he'll do the same?

For example because I'm bad at explaining, if your super giggly and Bruce hangs around you for a while, he'll eventually start to be a bit more giggly and outgoing!

VANCE HOPPER

Vance is on the "what the fuck is going on" side between the super giggly personality, as he's more used to super serious situations (for example, him always getting in trouble with the cops and everything, getting into fights)

He likes hearing your laugh, dont' get him wrong! he's just not the type of person to get all giggly or laugh much himself. after all, not a lot of people trust him since he's always getting into fights and such.

He enjoys the difference between you two! He enjoys the opposites sort of vibe you two have.

He would willingly beat the shit out of anyone who tries to make fun of your giggly personality. Like Moose for example :]

He's not one to join any pillow fights or anything, he prefers to be much more on the "just relax and let me hear your stupid jokes" side of the relationship

In general, a 7/10 when it comes to his s/o being super giggly!

BILLY SHOWALTER

Billy's similair to Finney for this one, super confused!

But he enjoys the giggles once he finds out it's just your personality!

He loves hearing your laugh when you're playing with Harper, since Harper's usually a super energetic dog!

Definitely takes you to carnivals and loves hearing your laughs at those glass house mirrors (like the silly and funky ones!)

Hearing you laugh while he's making silly faces in photos or anything is like his #1 goal in life

Billy loves you so much that he would definitely send you silly notes during class(he only hopes it doesn't get you two in trouble)

He'd also start laughing if you two ever get a stern lecture, just because of how unserious you are

GRIFFIN STAGG

Griffin's not used to unserious or giggly people, as he's usually self-reserved and quiet with his nose in a book

If you asked him a character that reminded him of you, he'd say Pinkie Pie automatically

He enjoys the silly and outgoing personality you seem to have, he has no issue with it!

He thinks his mother would've loved you, as your the reason he's getting out of the house!

Griffin has NO problem having Vance beat the hell out of someone for making fun of you

[deymo0s]

Good article hunting (Oscar Piastri x Male Reader)

Hello guys! :) so this is my first fanfic in a looong time + english is not my first language so please bear with me. But since I had this idea lingering in my mind all day long I decided: why not? 

word count: 2119

warnings: +18 content! minors please dni!

You glaze to the ever growing crowd that entered the hall, if there was a place you never imagined being in, it was here, what would a rookie reporter like you be doing on a big formula one event like this? You look at your open notes app as a way to pass the time, and try not to freak out as more and more celebrities pass by. For the tenth time you repeat yourself what you came here to do

“just interview the Mclaren drivers, ask them about the last race and the problems with the car and go home, easy breezy”

A silent nod marks that you understood your game plan, a nervous laughter escapes your mouth when you remember what happened in said last race. It was all over social media, impossible to forget, the moment where Oscar Piastri bumped into you while you were announcing to the broadcast about the car problems that lead to them finishing P11 and P12. His eyes, fueled with anger, locked with yours and like a wave that breaks into the shore, they seemed to lose strength and soften. That moment that was only a couple seconds long seemed to last for eternity, then his eyes followed your body and you could see yourself starting to stutter, you didn’t know if you started an interview or if you ended your announcement, after all it was your first time as a reporter. Oscar snapped back and stormed off, leaving you and the general public with more questions than answers, the car problems took a second place in everyone’s mind.

“Who is this guy?”

“Lol I didn’t know Oscar was bissexual, good for him!!”

“I think yall are exaggerating really, not everything needs to be romance, and osc has a gf after all…”

Those were some of the comments that flooded social media after that day, and all you could do was read them and pray that they didn’t find your profiles and started calling you a man-whore. I mean, your opinion on Oscar was of anyone with a sane mind, he was a good driver, great even, not much more than that…right? 

“He is average looking”

That’s what you thought, even though you couldn’t shake off this funny emotion that you felt every time you remembered that ruinous moment. His eyes…his unreal gorgeous brown eyes left a mark on you that you really couldn’t ignore. But everything seemed ok, after the race you followed with your normal life as a reporter until one day, a couple of weeks ago, while scrolling through instagram you received that risky message. You stood up, couldn’t believe for a second what your eyes were telling you, was it really THE Oscar Piastri sending you a message? Yes, the screen wasn’t lying, the formula one driver really was trying to slide into your dms.

You shake your head trying to reenter reality. After that day you both stayed up long nights texting each other, it truly was something that seemed like a made up fantasy. Why would he be interested in your uninteresting reporter life? But he seemed…really interested, especially in the ‘you’ part. He complimented you a lot, on your beautiful hair, your beautiful eyes, your beautiful smile, you got flustered even remembering those charming but more than everything seductive messages.

“He probably doesn’t even mean it that way. After all, he is a straight guy, probably just trying to get a good article on him, typical self-centered celebrity behavior” 

You muttered to yourself as you saw the Mclaren drivers enter the hall. Making your way through the legion of reporters and magazine writers trying to get a piece of the drivers, you could only think that your wish was to get this over with, and finally stumbled into the view of both Oscar and Lando. After fixing your tiny microphone you elevated your gaze only to meet those same brow eyes that were taunting you weeks prior. The questions started flowing normally, but all you could think about was his eyes, and his lovely eyes and his cute bunny-like smile. He moved the weight of his body and you could feel his hand lightly brush yours, a side look and your eyes locked again. At that moment you could feel you breathing become shorter, raspier. He moved again, at that moment staring at Lando, who you didn’t even remember was answering one of your questions. What was that? You could feel your heart pounding like an earthquake as with your peripheral vision you could see Oscar’s side smirk. He knows, he knows the power that he has over people, he knows that he made you lose sleep when you had to work the next day, and he liked to know it.

“Alright, thank you for your answers”

You enunciate to the drivers, after deciding that their answers would give your enough material on your next article, in that second, you thank god for the invention of microphones and recorders, because you couldn’t remember a single word that Lando had said. Your telephone buzzes, and after making your way back to your starter point you pick it up just to see his name again, Oscar

“Can you meet me by the second floor stairs in 2 hours?”

This can’t be real, you exhale and laugh while holding your phone. You turn towards the other side of the hall. First of all, how did he have time to text you mid interviews? But nevertheless, you answer, without thinking much about it.

“Ok”

Two long hours pass by. Since it was a charity event, after all the interviews were conducted in the entering hall all the drivers and the press were guided to their respective seats. The event begins, and the host conducted a long speech about the importance of their cause, except all you could think about was the driver seating five tables across from yours. His black tuxedo had a mate shine that exuded elegance and his beautiful hair was cut a little longer than normal, falling softly towards the end of his neck. Some words are exchanged with colleagues, they don’t even suspect that there is anything out of the ordinary, you excuse yourself and pretend to go to the bathroom, actually going towards the stairs and going up to the second floor. 

The second floor was empty, words could be faintly heard coming from the main hall, the moon shining from in between the big silk curtains that draped over the windows. You let out a big sigh, your hands tapping your suit in search of your pack of cigarettes. Since the windows were open, no one would really mind if you smoked here, right? As you light up a cigarette you feel two hands grasping your waist, a body approaching firmly yet somehow softly and a head resting lightly on your shoulder.

“You look even more handsome up close”

Oscar’s voice was indistinguishable, you turn around to face him, face to face, his perfume was strong and inebriated your senses. You stroke his arm, his actions spoke all the unspoken words. You could feel his tensed muscles, he knew how dangerous this was but all he wanted at that moment was at a palm’s reach, he wanted you. Since your eyes locked at that first day that’s all he wanted, you, and only you.

“What do you want…osc?” you ask, teasingly.

“All these messages, these past few weeks just trying to catch my attention, for what?”

You brush his lip lightly with your thumb, he was breathy and his eyes focused on your hand, your body, and then your eyes.

“You, I want you” he responds, eyes deep into your soul.

He presses you against the window, and kisses you lustfully, his tongue moving rapid in your mouth like his life depended on it. With one hand, Oscar pulls you closer, pressing his body against yours, a faint moan escapes your lips when you feel his boner pressing against your hips. Your mind rushed, what if someone saw you two? Both of your careers would be done, completely. You feel Oscar unbuttoning your shirt, his eyes sinfully focused on your exposed skin. He wraps his teeth on your skin leaving marks that would be terrible to explain. You pull him closer, hands running through his hair, his beautiful beautiful brown hair, you pull it, obliging Oscar to separate himself from you neck and look in your eyes. 

“This is insane”

You whisper with an expression that said “we should stop” but secretly begged for more. He pulls you deeper into the second floor, where light almost couldn’t reach. All you could discern were the shape of both of your bodies, merging against each other. You start to make out again, this time more aggressively than before. The kissing now was only interrupted by a few breaks to gasp for air. You could feel a single drop of sweat roll on your back from the heat between you two. All you could say is how much you wanted to feel him inside you. You push Oscar against the wall, changing positions, he lets out a shocked smirk and brushes his hand through your hair while you get down on your knees.

“Oh, so that’s what you like?”

He asks you while you take out his belt. All the time, your eyes are chained to each other, the same spark you felt when you first met seemed to engulf you two completely. He tilts his head back as you start to blow him, going up and down sloppily, while your hands hold his waist.

“fuck..” he murmurs “and you seemed so shy” he laughs with his mouth semi-open while you go deeper, feeling his cock against the back of your throat, he tilts his head again and bites his lips, failing to contain a moan. You could feel his core clenched, his waist moving against his will, his body begging for everything you could give him. He couldn’t contain his whimpers even if he tried, his breath cut short by soft moans that intercalated. He pulls your hair, making you hold direct eye contact with him, making you feel something that you never ever felt before, you beg him to fuck you, feeling ashamed by how much you needed him to fill you up.

Oscar puts you up against the wall, your back turned to him. He takes off his jacket and tosses it to the side, you could feel his warm breath against the back of your neck. He pushes your pants and your boxers down just enough to give him space to push inside you, you feel the warm spit lubricate you and his hands squeezed your waist hard as he pushed his cock deep into you

“you are so fucking tight” he says breathly while you grind against him, feeling him hit every spot inside you. His hand cover your mouth while he pushes faster and faster inside, and you feel jolts of pleasure go through your body while he bites your neck, marking you as his, and his only. His body finally collapses against yours while you feel his semen fill you up, both your weakened bodies trying to catch what is little left of strength just to go back to the main event you were ditching. He softens his grip while he gets off of you, and starts to softly kiss your neck, his hands going up your back, then down, stopping at your waist. After starting to dress up again, you turn around to face him, a little embarrassed thinking about what just had happened. 

He laughs, noticing your shy stare, then holds your face with both of his hands, kissing you lovingly for what seemed like one last time.

“Message me, ok?”

He said, staring deeply into your eyes, and you could feel that it was sincere. Maybe you were wrong about him, maybe he was entranced by your stare the same way you were by his, maybe the wish to see you up close wasn’t some try-to-get-a-good-article tactic, maybe he really wanted to see you.

“Ok” you agree, looking up towards him

He caresses your check, kissing it right after. When up close you could feel him trying to catch his breath, his perfume now mixed with yours. And then he left, as quickly as he appeared, and all you could do was smoke another cigarette.

[redroomreflections]

Not Easily Broken Chapter 1

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Summary: Natasha and Reader go through a tragic divorce

Masterlist | General Masterlist

1/10

Note: Yes, it's getting finished besties.

W/c: 2.2k

“Emma has ballet classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights,” Natasha breathes nursing her mug steaming with whatever tea flavor she’s decided to drink this month. She avoids your gaze letting her eyes focus on the steam rising steadily from the cup. She sips waiting for you to answer.

“Okay,” You sigh rubbing your sweaty palms against the leg of your jeans. “I can take Wednesdays with Ryan if you can do Thursday nights with Emma and then we trade Tuesdays?” You suggest looking over to the woman on the other side of the counter.

“No, I have training with Steve on Thursday nights,” She declines.

“Since when?” You ask your eyebrow raised.

“Since forever.” She answers simply. “Besides you are much better at interacting with the other dance moms. Emma will want you there too.” She reminds you.

“Okay,” You say again. “What about carpool? How is that going to work if we’re in separate places? Do we keep them every other night? Switch off on weekends?”

“No, Emma’s finally gotten through her sleep regression we can’t change that now.” Natasha shakes her head. She decides she doesn’t want the tea anymore turning her back to empty it into the sink. She leans against it heavily with her arms folded gazing out of the casement window.

“Nat, we’ve been at this for an hour already,”

She turns to glare at you and if looks could kill you’d be dead.

It’s dark here in the kitchen beside the light illuminating from the stove. You’re both tired and utterly destroyed but you need to do this. You don’t want to put your children in court. Custody battles could get ugly and you want this to go right. Looking at Natasha and the frustrated expression she sports you can tell she’s tired of this too. You glance over to your bags packed and waiting for you to take them. For you to leave. You both agreed you wouldn’t stay during the night anymore only keeping up appearances for the children until you’re ready to tell them. Until Natasha is ready. She notices your looks clenching the edge of the counter.

“Have somewhere to be?”She raises a brow.

“What? No.” You roll your eyes. “I’m just wondering if we’re getting anywhere with this. If we’re doing the right thing.”

“If we’re doing the right thing?” She asks incredulously. “Only one of us has made this decision. Only one of us is working to break up this family.”

“Nat,” You warn. You really didn’t want to go there with her tonight. You can feel the splitting headache at the base of your neck. There’s tension there and you reach up with your right hand to massage the spot. You can practically feel the knots under your fingers.

“Don’t call me that,” She practically spits.

“Fine, fine.” You sigh again. “I’ll take whatever day you want. Just send me their schedules and I’ll try to keep up with it.”

“There’s no try, y/n.” Natasha scoffs. “Either you’re there or you’re not. It’s not so easy to just hop in and out of your children’s lives when you want.” She returns to a defensive stance looking at you challengingly. “Then again I forgot who raised you.”

How dare she? Your jaw clenches slightly as you try to rein in your emotions. Your father was a deadbeat dad who only spent time taking advantage of your love for too long. He would come and go as he pleased only bothering to spend time with you when he wanted to look like the father of the year. You were nothing like him. Nothing like him! As you look into those forest green eyes you can see the dare there. She wants you to say something back.

“I’m not playing into your games,” You shake your head. “There’s never a moment where I haven’t loved our children less than the day they were born. I would never.”

“And yet you’re spending more and more time at the office,” She tilts her head. “Your paperwork sees more of you than they do.”

“Natasha, that’s unfair.” You ball your fists on your side. “You know things at work have been hectic. They know that. I-I try to be there as much as I can. Besides, I distinctly remember you being gone for months at a time for missions when they were young. I don’t see you getting any awards either.”

“Hmm,” She hums. “Seems we both have something in common then.”

“What is this really about, Natasha?” You ask. “Because there’s not much left for us to say or for us to do.” You stand walking over to your bags. You slip your cell phone inside of the carry-on and turn back to her.

“Right, run away like the coward you are.” She mutters.

“What?” You’re taking steps closer to her this time. You don’t realize how close you are until she’s pressed against the counter. Your breaths are practically intermingled and this is the closest you’ve been in months you realize. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Natasha says nonchalantly. “It’s just you have a tendency to run away from your problems. You run when times get hard.”

“And you don’t?”

“Like I said we have a lot in common,” She stands a bit taller. “You don’t have to do this. Any of this I mean. If it gets hard for you. I can take Ryan and Emma and I’ll figure something out with their schedules. I’ll tell them something about you having to work or I don’t know. Just don’t play with their hearts.”

“Dammit, Natasha,” Your hand raises and you don’t miss the way she flinches. You’re not going to hit her. You would never. At that moment you feel like an idiot as you back away from her. “Jesus.” You breathe. “Nat, we can’t keep doing this. Pretending that we love each other. I mean in the beginning, things were so loving and so passionate. I’ve loved every minute of our life together but it’s just…. I…” you stumble to find your words.

“Who says I’m pretending?” She frowns.

“It’s not enough anymore for us to be holding on by a thread,” You drop your hands back to your sides. “It’s not enough for us to be two people in love anymore. That’s not how a marriage works.”

“Is that it? Or I am not enough?” She’s vulnerable at this moment looking at you. Her voice cracks just slightly and you feel your heartbreaking. You’re not heartless and you’re not a monster. You never wanted to make her feel this way. “Did you find someone else?” She asks suddenly.

“I’m not a cheater.” You reply. How could she possibly think she wasn’t enough? Natasha was everything. She’s always been everything. Your everything. Sometimes things don’t work out the way they’re supposed to. That’s why you’re here and after 9 years of marriage and two children, you aren’t taking this lightly. You’ve sat on this for the better part of a year and you decided a divorce was better. You fought more in the past year. Spent more time apart. Kept yourself out of the house more and more. Anything to put some space between the two of you.

“You know that’s really hard to believe when you haven’t been present for a very long time,” Natasha says.

“What? Just because I’ve been away more doesn’t mean I would cheat?”Where would she ever get this idea?

“We haven’t had sex in almost two years,” Natasha points out. Damn! Has it really been that long? Surely you’ve been intimate more recently than that. There was that time a few months ago when you had her against the sink in one of the bathrooms at Tony and Pepper’s anniversary party. No. You’d gotten interrupted and forgotten all about it. “So if you’re not getting it from me you’re getting it from someone else. Just tell me instead of giving me the bullshit excuses you have been. Is it Cara from accounting? She’s sweet. Nice body. Lisa from HR? I bet she eats pussy well enough. ”

“Natasha, I am not a cheater.” Your voice raises and she immediately shushes you. If you wake the children this is going to turn into an even tougher conversation. In a hushed tone, “I can promise you, Natasha I have never cheated on you.”

“So tell me what it is,” Her tone is almost petulant and childlike. She’s frustrated and hurt. The next thing is for her to lash out and you’d much rather leave before she gets to that.

“Nat, I can’t because there’s not just one simple reason,” You try to force your mind to focus on the conversation in front of you. “We aren’t who we used to be. We fight more than we love. That’s not how a marriage should be. It’s not good for the kids and it’s not good for us.”

“And you made this decision all on your own,” Natasha’s voice wavers. Before you can speak again there’s a small voice coming from behind her.

“Mama?”

You both turn to see sleepy green eyes looking up at you.

Four-year-old Emma (four and a half according to her) looks between the both of you as she tries to figure out the situation in this room. She’s holding her favorite blue blanket, the one she’s had since she was a newborn, to her chest. She looks so small in her nightgown with her red hair messy as she trails over to Natasha. Her blanket drags against the ground as she walks. She raises her arms to be picked up and Natasha obliges her.

“What are you doing up, printsessa?” Natasha raises the girl onto her hip caressing her back and head as she rocks her gently.

“I heard yelling,” She pouts looking over to you through her thick lashes. She looks exactly like Natasha despite you having carried her. It’s something you both joked about after choosing her donor. Ryan looks more like you. He’s seven and apparently a much deeper sleeper. “Mommy, are you going somewhere?” Emma asks pointing her chubby fingers over to your door.

“Yeah,” You answer her.

“For how long this time?” She shoots another question.

You look to Natasha for help on how to answer but she simply looks away burying her face in Emma’s hair.

“For a little bit, Babygirl.” You try.

“But I don’t want you to go.” Emma’s pout deepens. “You have to stay and eat breakfast with me, and Mama, and Ryan.”

“Not this time, I can’t.” You say.

“Oh,” She looks down before looking up at you. “Well, when you get back can we have a sleepover in your and Mama’s bed? We haven’t done one of those in a long, long time?” Her voice is hopeful and you can tell she’s fighting her sleep again.

“I’m sorry,” You whisper. You can’t bring yourself to lie to her. You don’t want to be like him. Giving her false hope.

“Tell you what, Printsessa, you and Ryan can sleep with me tomorrow night.” Natasha bounces her on her hip. Emma’s eyes light up at the promise. You’re so grateful she’s taken the lead. She’s had to frequently these days. “Now you can sleep with me tonight too. Go upstairs and get warm and I’ll come and tuck you in.” She releases Emma from her hold and the girl slides down from her body. She begins to run to the stairs before stopping in her tracks. She turns to run and you kneel to catch her in your arms. She wraps her arms around your neck landing a wet kiss on your cheek.

“I love you, Mommy. Come back soon,” It’s a thing you and Natasha used to say whenever she was away on missions. Hearing your daughter utter those words brings tears to your eyes. In your peripheral, you can see Natasha is just as emotional as she wipes the tears away quickly before Emma can see.

“I will,” You manage to get out as you hold her in your arms for a few seconds. Finally, you let go and she takes off running presumably for your bedroom. You stay kneeling before rising to your full height. You reach out to Natasha to comfort her, you’re not really sure why, but you’re expecting her to pull away. She doesn’t. She allows you to pull her into your arms and she buries her face into your neck. You hold her as a sob rack her body. You dare a kiss to the side of her head and she pulls away from you as if she’s been burned.

She wraps her arms around herself defensively. She looks so small at this moment. With her black leggings and her oversized sweater.

“I’m broken, and I’m tired and it’s your fault so please leave.” She doesn’t wait for you to say anything else as she turns to follow the same path your daughter has taken. She trusts you enough to lock the door. As you look around the home you’ve built you can’t help but feel guilty. Everything you’ve built was crumbling and you can’t help but feel it’s all your fault.

----> next part

[numberonetacostan]

I remember reading a headcanon once where the contestants can only be programed to know the emotions that Mephone knows (not he unable to feel them, just knowing what they are when they do feel them) and romantic love was brought up (as well as the other not platonic kind but we don't need to get into that) but basically they'd be on their own to figure out what it was (with the theme of this blog it's kind of inevitable this gets related to tacopad/Tacomic, although more tacomic here tbh because Mepad could probably just pull up the dictionary definition or something, if that would even help I'm not exactly sure)

Hello!!!^^ Welcome, and thank you for sending in an ask!!! :] I am unfortunately having a bit of trouble reading the first part, so I apologize if I get anything mixed up.

The contestants learning about romantic love on their own is a super sweet idea actually?? We see in canon that payjay are already figuring it out, and it's interesting to note that our first canon couple consists of a season 1 exclusive character and a season 1 + 4th s3 boot who didn't stay on indefinite island. It's almost as if the game gets in the way of the contestants forming healthy, loving relationships. Weird.

But yes, the contestants would be on their own for learning about and navigating romantic love!! There will be a lot of self-discovery going on post-canon, and this would fit right in!! I'll write a bit about Tacomic and Tacopad since you mentioned them, but I actually don't mind talking about other characters or ships at all!!!^^ I love every ii character, other than maybe Salt, but then I feel bad about leaving her out so. Taco just happens to be my favorite :).

SO Tacomic would uh stumble and fumble around a lot I think. They're still working on their friendship at first, Taco has a lot to learn, and she's currently grieving Mepad. Mic still has growing to do too, even if she's gotten better and grown since s2 episode 14, yeah? I think it gets easier as things go on for them. Taco always has her little crush on Mic, but it's Taco she is shoving those feelings as far down as she can, because she doesn't want to lose Mic again. It would be when Mic's falling for Taco that things would really be getting started, because I think Mic seeing Taco changing and working so hard to be better because Mic is so important to her might make Mic's heart explode one day and she realizes oh she wants Taco. She probably had some feelings during their partnership, but that dynamic wasn't as healthy or strong in it's emotional connection, so Mic ends up falling again later on.

TACOPAD!!! Uh neither of them are too incredible with their own emotions. I mean, Taco is just bad with feelings in general, but Mepad is a pretty great therapist, yeah? But it's important to keep in mind how his emotional range and intensity has changed since the beginning of season 2. He's been watching the contestants all along, learning about feelings from Toilet, but his own are an entire other ballpark!! And we see how intense these feelings are, he loves all the contestants so much that he died for them. And intense feelings can be a lot for a guy who used to feeling very little at all!!! I am a Tacopad learning about feelings together truther actually. Mepad helps Taco to manage hers and express them in a healthy way and Taco makes Mepad feel a whole hell of a lot and helps him learn to communicate his at all!! I have so much to say about Tacopad. I can't believe we only got four months of it instead of four years as god intended based on the old season 2 upload schedule. I have so many feelings about them!!!!!

[dragonagegayz]

The Trial of Bas De Riva

Rating: Mature

Game: Dragon Age The Veilguard

Pairing: Lucanis x Rook

Word Count: 18,418

Summary: Bas De Riva gets captured and pays for his sins

Tags: Torutre, achilles tendon sliced, pulling mouth apart from being sewn, rape mentioned

Heavily inspired by the seaons 2 end of Interview with The Vampire

The warm air from the Fade was thick in the air as it danced against Bas De Riva’s skin, swirling around his fingers as he tugged back at the Fade with his magic. He sat at the piano in the music room, wanting to press the keys but finding himself too scared to press down on them. His fingers itched to touch, to hear the notes ring out into the fade, wondering if it would sound different in the depths of the magic that was all around. The qunari had reached up several times since sitting down an hour ago, each time stopping himself from touching for whatever reason. Maybe it was the hesitation of what the sound might be, maybe it was because it was Solas’ instrument, maybe it was just general hesitation with playing music again; he wasn’t sure, but all he knew was he couldn’t get himself to play. It was frustrating, having this invisible force stopping him from doing anything, this mark of hesitation that had been plaguing him for months.

Since finding his child alive, since meeting Hissera, or Melody, again, only to learn she was someone different, she was someone alive.

She was someone who wanted nothing to do with Bas beyond giving updates about the South as was her duty as Inquisitor and even those were obviously done reluctantly.

It had burned a hole in his heart, having her arm ripped away with a glare thrown his way and a “I am not your child.” hissed angrily towards him. Grief, it felt like losing his child once again, this time not being able to hold her in his arms to say goodbye.

But that didn’t actually happen; the body he had held 30 years ago, thinking it was his child, wasn’t theirs, and that meant everything from that life, the end of Saare was a complete lie. But he wondered how.

He could still see the corpse of his child in his arm, cradling her close as he returned to their home that one day, seeing his child and wife dead on he ground with nothing but a paper that said “The Crows send thier regards.” stained with blood. If they weren’t dead, if the two most important people in his life had not actually been the dead bodies he had held close that night, then who were they? More importantly, could his wife also be alive?

Hissera, now known as Melody, or the Inquistor, had refused to answer the question, pain in her eyes whenever the older man asked about it, blatantly ignoring the question when Bas would send a letter, asking, begging to know. Always reminding him to keep track of what they need to be discussing and that she would not be answering unimportant questions. But he wondered, sitting in the Fade at a piano he was too scared to play, didn’t he at least deserve to know that?

If Elise were alive… If she was out there somewhere…

The slide of stone snapped the qunari from his thoughts as he looked over his shoulder to see a shy-looking Lucanis, holding two cups of steaming coffee carefully as he slowly walked into the room. The thick roast filled the air along with the sting of magic, something the mage always felt playing on his tongue whenever at the Lighthouse. He turned towards the other Crow more, trying his best to summon a smile, but even he knew it must have been a grimace from the way the other man frowned.

“Are you alright?” The other asked as he paused his approach, hesitation in his eyes as he gazed at the qunari. Bas sighed and gestured the other forward, muttering a thanks when he took the cup offered to him, cupping it gently in his hands. “I would not say that, no,” He answered in a quiet tone, eyes going to the dark blend in the cup as he swirled it. “I am battling with some ghosts of the past.” He heard the other Crow hum and looked up to see him taking a sip of his own cup. “That I understand,” Lucanis mumbled, staring into his own cup momentarily before looking to the older man, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from his shoulder with what could only be described as reverence. Bas managed to muster a smile at him, one that the other assassin matched, coming to sit down next to the taller man. “Do you wish to talk about it?” The younger man asked quietly, practically mumbling into his cup as he spoke, maybe afraid to be heard, maybe afraid to hear the answer. Bas sighed, taking a drink of the dark roast the other had been so kind to prepare for him, as it warmed his chest, easing some of the ache he could feel there.

“I simply wish to have some answers. To know certain things that others feel I should not know.” His voice was sad even in his own ears. “Your wife?” Lucanis asked, his hand coming up to place itself on the mage’s thigh, but the man hesitated before it fell away, much to the quanri’s dismay. He looked over the room, eyes falling onto the Dread Wold’s things as he spoke. “I just wish to know if she is alive, for if she is… That changes things.” He saw from the corner of his eye the other man tense for a moment, one barely washed away as he took a drink from his cup. Bas was quick to look at him, to place his cup on the piano carefully as he set his full attention on Lucanis. “Those things have nothing to do with us, that I can promise you. I just…” His words trailed away as he felt his throat go dry, tighten with fear as he tried to get himself to tell the other Crow what he meant, what was going on. Brown eyes stayed on him, big and worried as they looked up at him. Bas wondered how he was ever supposed to gather his words with those eyes looking up at him, how he was supposed to tell him about that when Lucanis was looking at him with such worry. With such concern no one had really ever shown him before, like he knew what the truth was and just needed the qunari to confess it so they could finally talk about it.

But that wasn’t possible; only one person in the world knew that truth, and that was Viago De Riva.

With a contract, signed with blood, kept close to his heart, always.

So instead, all the older man could do was look back into those eyes, try to convey the words he could not find with his tongue. All he could hope was that maybe Lucanis could figure them out, could understand just what it was he was too much of a coward to say. They continued to look at each other, blue eyes meeting brown ones, and right when the other Crow went to speak, they heard the slide of the stone coming. Bas bit down on his tongue and turned to see just who was coming to them, not necessarily shocked to see Harding marching in with purpose, but cursing her timing in his mind. “Lace, you seem in a hurry.” The qunari said, adjusting himself so one leg was thrown over the bench so he could see her better. There wasn’t any panic in her eyes, so he knew it was not an emergency, but there was something a little off. “You got a missive from Viago, the carrier said it needed to be delivered asap,” She paused for a moment, eyes going from the large man to the shorter one, who was innocently sipping on his coffee. “I hope I’m not interrupting…” She trailed off a little awkwardly, looking away to clear her throat even as Bas shook his head. “It is fine, Lace, I promise. May I have the letter?” She was quick to step close and hand over the envelope, one sealed with the De Riva ensignia in purple wax.

That in itself made Bas frown.

Lucanis was quick to catch it.

“What is it?” He asked with concern laced in his voice.

“Viago never sends me official letters, knowing him, it is so they are not tracked. So why send one now?” With careful movements, he undid the seal and slipped the letter from the envelope, frown only deepening as he read the short message.

Bas,

We need to meet at Cafe Petra late tonight for an information swap. Come alone; there have been too many eyes on you as it is, and company would only be worse. Meet at the table in the corner.

Viago

As he read, he could feel the eyes of the other two on them before setting the letter on the piano next to his cup. “It is definitely a trap. Calling me Bas? No companions? Late at night? Hidden in a corner? There is no way it isn’t one.” Lucanis took the letter, reading over it with his own eyes and a frown of his own coming to his lips as Harding’s eyes darted between the two Crows. “No doubt about a trap, but who would send one using Viago’s name?” Bas hummed. “Someone who knows me well enough to know if Viago summons, I answer.” Another frown played on his lips as he tried to figure out who would use such information against him. “That could be anyone in the Crows to be honest, perhaps someone working with the Venatori?” Harding made an interesting noise. “We’ve seen them working together in the past and with Illario working for them, it could be connected.” The qunari gave a nod as he lifted from the piano’s seat, grabbing his cup on the way up. “Most likely. Though I cannot deny a bit of curiosity sits in me about the meeting.” He started to head towards the door, with Harding and Lucanis scrambling after him, a noise of discontent coming from the other Crow. “Don’t tell us you’re planning on going?!” The dwarf said with a bit of disbelief in her voice. Rook turned to the two with a smile on his face, quirked to the side. “But of course, the person who really wrote this is not a fool. Whenever Viago summons, I answer, and I believe whoever this is must wish to see me very badly. Who am I to deny them this meeting?” Lucanis shook his head, coming to stand in front of the other with his own cup of coffee abandoned at the piano. “Rook, it would be foolish to go. You said it yourself, it is an obvious trap.” There was determination in the younger man’s eyes, something that said this would be a fight he would not easily let go. Lace could definitely feel it from the way she froze up, taken aback by the usually calm man’s sudden outburst. Bas turned to her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Do you mind gathering the team? I would like as many eyes on this as possible.” She stuttered for a few moments, eyes darting back and forth between the two before giving and nod and hurrying out of the space of the two Crows, the stone sliding open and then shut behind her.

The two men were left alone again.

“I cannot allow you to walk yourself into a trap, Bas,” Lucanis’ voice was quiet in the Fade air, eyes looking away in a sort of shame. “I will not risk your life.” The way he spoke hurt something in the older man’s chest, his breath having to hitch at the suddenness of it all. He did his best to muster a smile as he cupped the other man’s face, making him look up into his eyes. Brown, coffee eyes stared up at him, worry flooding them as the two looked at each other. “I will be fine. I will have you all there watching, and if something happens and it is safe to do so, you will be there to make sure I am protected.” A shake of the other’s head came, loosening Bas’ hands from his cheeks. “Even if it is not safe, I will do whatever I must to protect you.” He stated, firmness in his voice, which the other man had to chuckle at, shaking his own head. “I cannot ask this of you, you know this.” Rook reasoned in a quiet yet firm voice. The other opened his mouth to speak, probably ready to argue but Bas was quick to shush him before bringing Lucanis into a hug, bending down so he could speak in his ear as he held him close. “Do you trust me?” He asked, low into the other man’s ears. He felt arms come around him as the younger man pulled them even closer.

“With my life.” Lucanis answered.

“Then trust in me for this. I will return to your arms, await each moment I must be away from you. I need you to say that if it is not safe, you will protect yourself and not save me,” A lump was in Bas’ throat, one he barely managed to swallow down. “Please, Lucanis.”

There was a long pause and for a moment, the qunari thought there would still be fight left in the other, but instead, the assassin gave a sigh, hands going tighter around the other. “I will do as you ask. But if I think there is a chance to save you…” Rook huffed a laugh, placing a gentle kiss to the ear of his lover before pulling away, hands giving a gentle squeeze to the shorter man’s shoulders. “Perhaps we won’t even require a rescue. Perhaps Viago was just feeling more proper than usual. We will have our meeting, and then everything will be fine.” A grimace came to the other man’s face.

“Right, as if we have that kind of luck.”

The entire city seemed… empty.

It was late into the night, but even under the Antaam’s occupation, the city life in Treviso never really stopped. With no sun, some went to bed, but for others it was the time to rise, the time to start work, usually those others were Crows. But there was at least some sort of bustle of a crowd, a street performer or two, markets running under the lantern lights.

But there was nothing, no people bantering, no cats meowing, no life at all. It was as if the entire city was frozen in a moment of complete silence.

It put Bas on the edge, though he knew he was hiding it well with confident steps and a head still held high. If Lucanis or any of the rest of the team had seen his hesitation from the rooftops where they were following, they probably would have called the whole thing off. But Bas found he couldn’t stray; he needed to follow through with this strange lead and see where it went. An official letter from Viago, who himself was nowhere to be found at the Diamond, with a summons for a late-night meeting with no other ears? Completely out of character, and Bas had gotten pretty good at knowing the man’s character after 20-something years of knowing the man. There was also the fact that it wasn’t his writing, Bas had picked up on that immediately but chose to keep it to himself, lest he worry all of the others. He was somewhat surprised Lucanis didn’t notice it, probably too worried about the already obvious trap to notice.

But it did look like writing Bas knew, he just simply couldn’t remember where he knew it from.

He entered into the courtyard area that led to Cafe Petra, taking one last glance up at his companions on the roof before making his way through. Here, the silence was deafening, almost causing the man’s ears to ring from just how quiet it had become. He bit down on his tongue, muttered a Qunlat prayer from his youth as he continued, not wanting any bit of hesitation to concern his companions. He got to the door of the Cafe but was surprised to find a bouncer there waiting, arms crossed and face covered with a mask, mean eyes sitting behind it. “Name?” He gruffed out, his sneer palpable even through the cloth covering his face. “Bas De Riva.” The qunari answered easily, trying to contain his nervous energy through a shift in his weight from one foot to the next.

As if he had said the magic words, the bouncer was quick to usher him in, the door opening and then very quickly closing after, its heavy slam echoing through the Cafe. The very empty Cafe, Bas realized as he took a few glances around while making his way to the table that sat in the far corner. The hair on the back of his neck stood on edge, his stomach squeezed uncomfortably as he took his seat, eyes darting around the empty restaurant.

Just as he went to galnce up, to check and see if the other’s were still the the rooftops, a hand curle it’s way around his neck and he found himself going face first into the table with such force he felt his nose crush under the pressure, blood immediately flowing from his nostrails into his mouth.

He was quick to regain his strength, though, turning to grab at the hand at the base of his skull, twisting it to make his attacker fall to the ground under the force of his strength. His eyes blurred as more blood ran out of his nose, head spinning slightly as the sudden and heavy flow of it all. He couldn’t get a good view of who had attacked him; all he knew was they were all in black with a hood covering their face. A cry came from their lips as Bas slammed them against the ground, hearing and feeling the bone in his arm snap under the pressure, though as he did, he felt another hand come flying towards him, quick to dig into his long hair and yank him back. The qunari stumbled, the seat under him being thrown to the side as his legs clattered against it. His hair was being pulled harshly, snapping his head to look up, causing the blood in his mouth to flow back, choking him as it slid thickly down his throat.

He tried to reach back for this attacker but found they were smart enough to learn from the first one he had brought down, just barely out of reach of his long arms. Another attacker came to the front, a punch landing on the qunari’s jaw before he could really react, feeling the bone shift under the weight of the punch thrown at him. A tooth popped from its place, the older man quick to spit it out, lest he accidentally swallow it. The one in front of him was ruthless, throwing more punches with too quick of movements for the disoriented Crow to track, to try to fight back. One in the gut, one in the side, another in the shoulder. He felt like he was being battered with hundreds of fists. More blood trickled down his nose, thick and sticky against his lips; it felt like it was burning. Just as the man managed to grab hold of one of the wrists, stopping the assault for just a moment, the hand tangled in his hair yanked and the qunari found himself on his back, horns hitting hard against the concrete floor, reverberating through his skull, making his ears ring.

Hands wrapped around his wrists and try as he might, he couldn’t loosen them; they kept him firmly on the ground. He started to thrash his legs, trying his best to kick at his ambushers, but found hands were quick to wrap around his ankles too. They were big hands, ones far too large to be human, they would only be one race of beings who were attacking him. He tried to thrash again. Bas tried to speak, to call out to his fellow qunari in their native tongue to reason with them, but he found his mouth was too full of blood to speak properly. All that came out were garbled, choked sounds. Again, he tried to thrash around, tried to get any sort of footing but found his body was beginning to grow weak, like the life was being sapped from his bones.

Like magic.

His vision started to dim, going darker and darker the longer this unknown magic took his energy away. His limbs grew cold, his struggling grew weak. He knew this magic; something about it was oddly familiar. The chill, the blackening of his sight, the weakness of his limbs… It was something he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time, but something he knew all too well.

His eyes went wide, he tried to panic, tried to get his hands and feet to listen to him, to move, but they refused, only growing colder with each second. Bas felt his heart reach a steady pace, going slower with slower as his vision completely went out.

He felt a face get close to his, felt their words against his cheek as they spoke down to him, voice gruff.

“Punishment comes for those who deserve it, Saarebas.”

With that, his vision went out completely, and his head went blank, nothing as he let the darkness consume him.

All he could hope was that Lucanis kept his promise.

Lights were bright against his eyes as the qunari started to open them, pain seared through his entire body as life slowly returned to his body. He could feel his hands were bound, there was an aching pain at the back of his heels, and his head throbbed. He tried to garble out a sound, but nothing came; his throat was too dry. He tried to look around, to get an idea of where he was at but his head was in too much pain to properly see. Bas could hear voices all around him, could feel the sense of frantic energy happening around, but still his head hurt too much to hear properly, to get an idea of just what was going on or where he was. A pair of feet came to view, and an angry voice from it calling out orders, demands. A voice he knew.

Illario Dellamorte.

With as much energy as he could muster, the man looked up, forcing his head up with shaky movements. He failed a few times, the pain was just too much. When he finally managed to look up, tears clouded his vision, but he could see that it was, in fact, Illario standing above him, hands on his hips with a frown to his lips. Bas tried to say something, but he felt like his mouth had been forced shut; it hurt to try and open his mouth, another all too familiar pain. He watched as the head of the man turned down, looking him straight in the eye.

Then he watched a smile overcame his lips, one that was truly wicked, truly evil.

“Someone come knock him out again, we don’t have time for this,” Muffled off to the side voices came through, one’s with panic in their voice but all the man did was laugh and shake his head, leaning down to get right into the qunari’s face, his breath sour from whiskey as he spoke. “After all, the show must go on.” He sneered the words, hissed them like a snake before leaning back up and stepping to the side, getting out of the way of more of those masked attackers to come, magic sparking at the edges of their fingertips. Bas tried to pull away, but his body refused to respond and all he felt was that cold darkness coming again, even the aches of his body washing away under its chill.

Something told him this was going to be much worse than he was prepared for.

He could feel his body being dragged; he could feel the hot spot lights on his skin as he was positioned to be on his knees. The pain in his ankles had somehow worsened, and he could now feel how his tendon there had been sliced, hot blood rolling down to his feet, onto the floor. He tried to focus his eyes, he tried to get them to open on his command, but it was like some force was keeping them shut, preventing him from seeing all those around him. His ears, though, were finally working the way they should. He could hear Illario speaking, his voice getting closer and closer as he was dragged.

“And tonight, we will see one of those rots of the Crows tried and punished accordingly, for we let one sin go, we might as well let them all go.” There was murmuring from a crowd, it sounded large, as if the man managed to get every Crow in Treviso under one roof. A roof, he still wasn’t sure where it was. Before he could try to muster the strength, Bas found himself being thrown onto a hard wooden floor, lights even brighter than before blasting down on him along with hundreds of eyes, faces he couldn’t see through the flood of bright lights. A hush fell over the crowd as when he finally fully managed to open his eyes, the qunari realized he was on a stage, under a spotlight. There was also a covering over his eyes, one with just a few wholes, blocking his sight. A mask he never imagined he would wear ever again. He turned his head slightly, the pain in his spine preventing him from moving too much, but he saw Illario there, a smirk on his face as he looked down at the kneeling older man.

Bas swallowed.

“As a witness to all that is good, as to all of you generous souls here tonight, we start our first trial with our first sinner,”

He turned to face the crowd with a flourish of his hands.

“The trial of Bas De Riva.”

Lights snapped on him, even brighter than the spot like that had already been on him; he felt like he was standing under the grace of a fire, burning at the edges of his eyes, more tears starting to fall. He tried to open his mouth to scream, to beg for help, but he found his mouth would not open.

It had been sewn shut.

He could feel that familiar tug of the string threaded through the flesh of his mouth, the sting of too much pulling aching at his lips. With wide eyes, he stared over at the Crow, begging for a glance to maybe see in his eyes why he had done such a thing, why he had used this knowledge against him. Knowledge shared under the moonlight, on the edge of the river, drinks passed between them as Bas told his story to the younger man, fighting back his tears as he remembered. How could he be so cruel to a former lover? How could he use such terrible things against the qunari like that?

And for what?

Bas turned back towards the crowd, their faces still obscured by the bright lights in his eyes.

“Bas De Riva is a man of many names, and each is guilty of sin, a crime riddled past where he had received no punishment for!” There was a swell of murmuring, heads coming close together to speak and whisper. Bas tried to open his mouth, tried to call out, but he found the moment he raised to speak, a forceful wave of magic came over him, dropping him back onto the hunches of his legs, the pain from his cut tendon making him nearly fall forward from just how bad it was. All he could muster was a pathetic whimper, but the sound was far too quiet to be heard above the uttered.

The smack of a gavel silenced the room.

“Those in the gallery will refrain from unnecessary speaking,” Illario’s voice rang out through the hall, its sharp sounds knocking deep in the qunari’s brain, flinching with each one. Bas bit down on his tongue, trying what he could to get his ears to stop ringing. “Now, the man before you might seem strange, unknown. This was Bas De Riva’s first true identity, Saarebas.” A gasp over came the audience as the qunari felt, against his own command, his body lift up, his feet forcing themselves to stand despite his cut on his achilles tendon, the pain crippling his remaining muscles to support his weight as the lifting stop and he found himself standing on his own. The hurt was immeasurable, tears flooded down his face into the open wounds on his mouth, the salt only adding to the burn already there.

“The translation of Saarebas into our words is ‘A Dangerous Thing’ and that, this qunari was,” Illario’s voice rang out again, an almost smug tone to him as if he was talking about a creature, not a man. “As you can see, his mouth has been sewn, just as it was those years before, as punishment for actions against the Qun.” Bas felt himself twitch. ‘No,’ He thought to himself. ‘That wasn’t what happened. I was being punished for something I did not do.’ He wanted to speak the words, he wanted to get them out, but the mouth, no matter how hard he trie,d would not open, could not open. His eyes hurt from trying to look out of the small holes of the Saarebas mask he had been fitted with, the break of it in the same place as the break of his old one. He still couldn’t figure out how Illario knew exactly what it had looked like, it had smelled like. “He was known as a flight risk, one who would attempt to escape the Qun and go against all the teachings he had ever grown up with. Why, one may ask? Well…” A hand came to his stomach, resting right where he had once been pregnant. “Because he was carrying a child, one he hid from the Qun.” The qunari tried to shake his head, especially as another swell of murmurs came across the audience watching. ‘No,’ Bas thought again. ‘I wished to protect my child, I wanted was for her to be safe. To go somewhere to be loved.’

The hand on his stomach moved away as Illario walked around the older man, a grin still in his voice as he spoke. It made Bas sick. “He murdered 12 men in his pursuit for freedom, 12 men who were just doing as they were told and trying to return this danger to the Qun, so it could be properly and safely taken care of.” The qunari could still remember that, the delrium of giving birth had still been in his veins, the blood loss, the fact his child had been real, the aderline of running from his Arvaarad, his abuser, his rapist. Anger had directed his magic, the first time in his life he had ever freely used it, and it was to kill 12 men, those hunting him and his child, to return them to Par Vollen, a life under the Qun where they would be separated for the rest of their lives. Hissera, his little hope, the first touch he had ever experienced that hadn’t hurt, hadn’t burned. If exhaustion hadn’t collapsed him to the ground, he would have kept fighting. “Then they returned him to Par Vollen, only for his real scheme to come together.” Why was Illario doing this? What was the point of telling the past of Saarebas? “Where he was suppose to be burned alive for his insubordination, instead the other Saarebas refused to hurt him, obviously they feared him far too much to hurt him,” A growl, a grunt managed to come from the older man’s chest, he tried to give shake of his head but his body refused, the pain searing through him far too great to even force himself to try.

It wasn’t true, it wasn’t what happened.

He could remember standing in the middle of the Saarebas, his body heaved by the Arvaarads into the middle of a circle of mages, he felt their eyes all over him with what had to be disgust for his escape, and yet, when commanded to burn him alive, they refused. No one had moved, except to step back, to step away from the Saarebas who had just murdered 12 men, trying to protect his child. There were even apologies mumbled, ‘I am sorry, Arvaarad’, they only had mumbled as they took their step back, refusing to hurt him in any way. The first real support Bas had ever felt in his life, the first real community the man had experienced. “Those who had refused to hurt him, those who were too afraid of what could happen if they tried to kill this Saarebas, were punished accordingly. All because of him,” The words were like an accusatory finger, pointing straight at Bas for a crime committed 30 years ago. Illario had only been a child at that point; most of the people in the room were children at that point. He wondered if Viago was in the crowd, watching this whole spectacle. He wondered if he believed it. “Then amidst the chaos, he escaped again with the child. Stealing her from a life she would never know for his own selfish reasons.”

‘I wanted to protect her from the Qun.’ Bas wanted to say, wanted to scream.

“During the escape, an elven woman helped him, and for his crimes against the Qun, they hanged her. Another life stolen for the Saarebas before you.” Bas remembered her, Melody she had called herself, ushering him through a store back, giving instructions he could barely understand through the madness of everything, through the beating of his heart at the fact he had barely escaped death by the flames of his fellow Saarebas for a reason he still didn’t understand. Why had that woman helped him? Only for it to end her life so prematurely. Bas remembered hearing the news after getting to Rivain, could still remember collapsing to the ground in a mess of apologies to a dead woman. “He took a boat with this child of his and went to Rivain, selfishness driving him to steal her away from a life that could have protected her from what would happen next in her life,” Bas could hear the teeth in his voice as Illario bit out the words. “Selfish, selfish Saarebas.” The words hit his gut with every emphasis from the other Crow, the words spoken with too much truth, too much of what the qunari had felt during those times. He remembers when they spoke about it all those years ago, sitting by the water. Bas truly hadn’t thought Illario had been paying attention; it was one of the reasons he had been so willing to talk about his past.

‘Selfish, selfish Saarebas.’ He, himself, had said.

“A wonder if this man can defend himself, if he can tell these words are lies, for I can guarantee he will. But let us give him a chance to defend himself, as is proper in court,” Illario turned to him, their eyes met, and even through the mask, Bas felt himself give a shiver at the downright evil he saw in the man’s eyes. “Go ahead, Saarebas, you know what to do.” The older man turned back to the crowd, their faces obscured under the bright lights ,but he could feel all their eyes staring down at him, waiting for something. Stupidly, the man tried to open his mouth to speak and but the resistance of the string prevented his words. He looked over to Illario again, eyes hopefully, pleading, but the man did not falter, only stared hard, unyielding. “You know what to do.” He repeated, quietly this time, so only the man on stage could hear his command. Bas did know what he had to do, did understand the task being given to him, for it was something he had done before, he had to do, or else he would have died.

Something told him, this time was no different.

Shakey, weak movements came from the qunari as he lifted his hands up, the pain immeasurable through the pull of his muscles. His head throbbed, his eyes watered and his stomach clenched as he reached for his mouth, fingers coming to thread through the strings so he could get good grip. The holes where the string had been pulled through were still raw with irritation, dried blood sitting in the crack that had only been slicked with his tears that had fallen. He squeezed his eyes shut, breathing in through his nose, and pulled.

He could hear the crowd’s reaction of surprise as he pulled, could feel the hot blood start to flow again as he ripped down the seam of his lips. The tear of flesh was loud in his ears despite everything. He could feel his flesh give way to the string as he pulled, ripping down into his lips, giving way under the tension. It was jagged and uneven, a clean pull impossible from the way they were tightly woven into his skin, unprofessionally done, far too tight, just like all those years ago, when he was punished by his Araavrad for his weight gain. Blood flooded into his mouth, hot, sticky, and metallic in flavor as he continued to pull. He could see the man to his side give a wince, like he hadn’t expected the process to be so painfully slow, so obviously hurtful. Bas had to pause for a moment, the excruciating feeling too much for his already aching body, swaying a little under the force of his own fingers. He felt magic come and stand him back up, the pull of his weight at his ankles again, at the slices cut there. He could feel more blood begin to bubble out of them. This time when he pulled, he tried to yank his lips apart, tried to get the string to slice wholly through to end his misery, but he found himself giving a sound as they caught, just barely any flesh left to pull through, but still enough to cling on. Frenzied panic went through his veins as he tried to pull again, only going a centimeter as his arms wished to give out, to fall to his side and leave him to his suffering. Bas refused their pleas as he tightened his fingers and pulled once more.

Finally, flesh gave way and the string was spat out of his mouth, falling to his knees as he did so, unable to bear his weight any longer. His head nearly collided with the ground as he fell, the slices in his feet only opening more as his whole weight fell onto them as he dropped to the ground. He could hear his own ragged breathing, his whimpers of pain as he desperately tried to control his breathing, to get some sort of air into his lungs, which felt like they were filling with blood as it poured down his throat from his mouth. He licked at his lips, feeling their sereadted and separated edges against his tongue, a shivering going through his spine as the terrible burning pain of it all. Before he could think, a hand weaved its way into the hair at his scalp and pulled his head back, a gasp leaving his lips before a bottle was shoved into his mouth as a healing position flooded down his throat. The qunari choked and spurted around the feeling, gagging at its bitter taste as he felt his flesh start to knit together, the magic of the potion bringing his skin together once more. It was some of the worst pain, the rapid healing as it worked through his system, a hot, burning sensation. It was nauseating as he swallowed, thick in his stomach as he felt his body start to heal. The slices in his ankles started coming together too, but before they could fully heal, he felt a knife carve into them again, his back arching at the sensation of a blade once again slicing through his achilles tendon, ruthless, unwavering.

Then all at once, the sensation was over and the man collapsed to his knees, panting through the metal taste in his mouth. He could feel the eyes on him. He wondered if they looked at him with concern or hate, worry or disgust? Air stung in his lungs as he breathed, feeling the hand in his hair let go as his head slumped down, unable to bear the weight of holding himself up. “The defendant will speak now,” Illario barked into his ear, causing Bas’ eyes to shut under the press of the words in his brain. ‘Speak.’ He thought as he forcefully raised his head up to look, the tears in his eyes blurring too many of the people around him to see anything. He spoke into the light shining above him instead.

“The Qun punished me for the magic in my veins, for something I could not help, something I did nothing to cause,” Bas swallowed. “I was raped. Became pregnant through the Araavrad, meant to protect and help me, who punished me by sewing my mouth shut over something I did not do. I was not a deviant, I was not against the Qun. I was too afraid to stand up, I wish for nothing but death every day of those years, until I learned I was with child.” He licked at his lips, feeling the serrated edges of his new scars there. “I wanted to escape so as not to subject my child to the abuse that is the Qun. In the process of doing so, I killed men to protect my child, the first touch I had ever felt that was kind. I was crazed from birth, I didn’t know what I was doing, but all I knew was I needed to protect my child,” He squeezed his eyes shut, tears beading down his cheeks. “I do not know why the other Saarebas saved me that day, I do not know why they chose to protect me at the cost of their own lives but all I know is I am grateful they did, for I was able to escape with my child and got to have the life of a free man,” Bas choked for a moment. “Perhaps I am selfish to be grateful, perhaps I am cruel for having no regrets about the death of the quanri who hunted me, but I was doing as a parent feels they must. I was protecting my child.” His eyes fluttered.

“I only wanted to give her a better life.”

A hush came over the room.

Illario’s sharp bark of a laugh came soon after, echoing throughout the room.

The mask was ripped from his face, thrown to the side as he gained his full vision but the lights in his eyes still blinded him.

“Or so he wishes you to believe, but we will soon learn that was not the case.”

Bas forced himself to look at the other Crow, a frown on his lips as he tried to shake his head, tried to get the man to look at him, to plead with him to stop this, whatever this was. The man ignored him as he walked around the stage, his head giving a shake. “You arrived at Rivain, child in hand, and met a woman, do you remember her name?”

Bas felt his body freeze, his heart jumped into his throat as he choked on the mixture of blood and spit in his mouth. His eyes went wide, his stomach felt sick as he thought back to the first person he ever met after leaving the Qun, his beautiful freckled body, his bouncing red curls, dark eyes staring up at him with a smirk on her lips.

“You look lost salior.” She had said, hands on her hips as her pointed ears wiggled at her own joke.

“Elise.” He whispered, the name of his dead wife was sour on his tongue, a name he never spoke, rarely said. It felt wrong on his tongue, mixed with the blood, just like the times he would beg her to stop when she would throw a hit into his face. Or when he would whisper it with reverence between their sheets, as if she were a god and he was a worshipper. Or when he would beg her to stop as he would scream at her in front of Hissera. It always felt wrong on his tongue, sharp and angry against he roof of his mouth. Just as it did now, speaking the name of the dead.

“Elise Nikolauo, the woman who helped fninshed your “rescue” from the Qun only for you to fool her into marriage and have what could only be described as a tumultuous relationship,” It angered Bas, hearing Illario talk so much ill about his wife, when he could still remember cradling her dead body close against him, her blood had stained his hands for days after, it’s sharp tang stuck in his nose for years after. How did he know anything about her? They never talked about it, Bas never talked about that portion of his life with anyone but Viago and while they may have struggled, the Talon would have never shared that information with anyone, not even Teia. So who could have ever explained that stuff to him? “She was murdered, was she not? At the hands of the Crows too,” Another flurry of murmurs came from the crowd, shock whispered spoken to each other as the gavel echoed through the room again. Bas looked over to Illario, whose frown was small, obviously basking in the attention all on him.“But who am I to speak of these things? I was not there,” As if he was reading the qunari’s mind, Illario spoke freely with a tint of curiosity in his throat, making Bas’ hair stand on end all over his body. “Perhaps, we need a witness. Someone who was actually there?”

Another light came onto the stage, right next to where Illario was waiting with a hand out on display. Bas could hear footsteps, tight and easy ones as who they were walked towards the stage, the anticipation thick in the room as everyone waited for this stranger to come on stage.

As soon as they did, Bas felt his entire body go rigid, go cold at the sight of who was standing in the spotlight with head held high and a smirk on their lips.

Elise Nikolauo, his ex-wife, his dead ex-wife, stood there, alive with disgust in her eyes as she looked down at the qunari. Bas felt himself pull towards her, his eyes glistened with tears as he looked up at the elf, his entire body shaking as he felt his throat close at the sight of her.

This was impossible. He held her dead body, he cradled her in his arms a she screamed and cried into their home, her blood on his hands as he watched the cut along her throat bleed more.

No matter what he had thought, even with his child alive, there was still no way Elise was alive, not in his mind.

But he had held his child in his arms that night and she was still alive, was she not?

This shouldn’t be impossible, but Bas kept blinking, kept trying to clear his eyes of the ghost of the elf, but she did not falter. She stayed there, still staring down at him like he was nothing. Like he was crazy, like he was the one in the wrong here, despite her, in spite of everything was standing before him, breathing.

There was grey in his hair, just spots of it, bags along her eyes that hadn’t been there last he had seen her, she was aged, she had been alive this entire time, and Bas had no idea. It shouldn’t be, she shouldn’t be, she was supposed to be dead, buried behind the home the two shared in the Anderfels all those years ago. “Introduce yourself, madam.” Illario’s voice was like a hammer against Bas’ head, making him fall to the ground on his hands as he continued to stare up at the elf.

“I am Elise Nikoloau, I am the ex-wife of who was known as Saare Nikoloau, now Bas De Riva, and I am still alive.”

She said that directly to Bas, as she stared down at him with eyes full of hate, full of disgust for the man. He tried to crawl forward, to test to see if she was real, were he to place his hand on her. There had been times throughout his life he had seen her before, heard her voice, but every time they had been delusions, figures of his imagination of her with her throat cut and blood running down her body. The magic from before returned, stilling him in his place, forcing him back onto his knees to face the crowd, though he could at least turn his head to look at her. She was shining in the spotlight, an image of strength, power, like the gods themselves were shining the glow onto her.

She was still absolutely stunning to Bas.

Elise turned towards Illario, a grin on her face as she looked up at the Crow. “And if it were not for Illario here, my story would have never been told,” She turned back towards the crowd, taking steps to the edge of the stage as she spoke. “I know many of you know the story of me, of how I was a horrible wife and an abuser, but have you ever thought what it is I went through?” Bas moved a little, shaking his head and letting out a croak of a ‘No’. She paused and turned to him, scoffing down at him. “You told no one about us? Nothing at all?” The qunari shook his head, scooting that little bit the spell would allow him to move. “Just one man, and he would never tell anyone. My past was my past, no one knew Elise,” Her name hurt in his mouth, dusty and unused for so long. “You are alive, Elise. How are you alive?” His voice was broken, probably not able for the audience to hear, but he only wanted her to hear, only wanted to speak to just her. A laugh came from her lips, the same condescending one she would use on the qunari all the time back when they were married. It hurt his heart the same way as it had all those years ago. “We will get to that, but first we shall discuss the past, seeing as you claim no one knows of it.” He begged through a shake of his head, through the tears in his eyes, but she ignored him as she walked back over to Illario, a brow raised at him, which he could only shrug at before turning to the audience.

“Shortly after arriving in Rivain, the two fell into a romance, marrying less than a year after meeting before moving to the Anderels, on Saare’s request,” He gestured to Bas, implying the life change and name change in this portion of his story. The name sounded wrong to hear, as if they were speaking of a dead man. “When they got there, Saare abandoned all his duties as husband and father to play folk hero and singer, all the while his wife took care of their infant child on her own, a baby that was not even hers.” Again, Bas tried to shake his head but the spell around him binded his movements down. ‘That wasn’t what happened. I was still a father, I was still a husband, I still cared for my family.’ He wanted to scream, the first real anger he had felt since this had started coming to his chest, but he found he had no energy to do so. All he could do was stare at Elise, blinking a few times to see if she would disappear as she did all the other times he had seen her. She remained, though. “He decide that playing villager and performer was more fulfilling than his familial duties at home,” Elise spoke with venom his her voice, this sort of anger that Bas could remember vividly being at the end of many arguments with that same anger. It was genuinely some of the most terrifying behavior the qunari had ever seen from a person in all of his years, through all of his lives. It made him wish to cower away.

But he felt his own anger grow as he fought against the spell to lift up onto his knees fully, forcing his voice to speak. “That is not the truth,” He barely managed, feeling the spell around him grow more powerful with each movement he tried to make. He started to choke on his words as he spoke. “I still care for you two with my life, I did what I could to provide a good life for my family.” He found the sudden sharp bang of the gavel made him collapse back onto his feet, feeling the slices in his ankles scream again at the sudden weight pressed onto them as he slumped down, unable to move. “The defendant will refrain from speaking until he is asked his defense.” Illario hissed with each bang of the gavel, almost like it was the one controlling the qunari, lessening his power. Elise began to speak again.

“Would you call going to the bar every night to entertain lowly farmers taking care of your family? You chose them over us, over and over again!” Her anger rang out, nearly screaming with a raw voice as she marched over to Bas, threading her fingers in his hair and forcing him to look up at her, fury in her eyes. “I will not allow you to spread lies, to pretend to be the good man you fake being.” She stared into him as she spoke, the elf’s eyes glaring down with what could only be described as hate, distaste. If there was one thing Elise hated, it was a liar and she was quick to accuse the qunari of being one, at any point, any time. A wad of spit come from her mouth, right onto the older man’s cheek as she released her hair, turning back to walk over to Illario with angry stomps, heavy footsteps. Bas collapsed back onto the ground, trying to heave air into his lungs.

She smelled the same way she had 30 years ago, citrus fruits and roses, a soft comforting stench that always managed to cling to the inside of the man’s nose, even years later. Whenever he caught a scent of the two, he would pause, body freezing up as he thought for just a moment it was her.

Now he realizes it could have been any of those moments in this life; it could have been her.

“Saare was a neglectful parent, gone for stretches at a time, leaving his child only with me, I became her only parent, a child not born of my own womb and yet I treated her better than her own father,” Tears stung in the corners of the qunari’s eyes. He knew Elise had felt neglected, it was something they had argued about constantly, but he never knew she felt like the single parent to their child, and even if he disagreed, he didn’t know she felt such a way. Had he, he would have changed his ways, done something better. “For ten years I suffered with him, being the forgotten wife at home while he went out, singing and dancing with strangers all the while his child and wife waited for him at home,” Her voice had this strange tint of sadness in it, but it wasn’t real, it was preformative, something Elise used to do in front of their neighbors when they would argue, making Bas to seem out to be the worst of the two. He knew now they were both terrible, both unsupportive of each other in a way a married couple should never be. But he didn’t know at the time, he didn’t get it, having never grown up with parents on his own, he believed what they had was how relationships were supposed to be. You were suppose to butt heads with your partner, you were suppose to be in tears at the end of an argument, you were suppose to hit and spit, especially if they started with it. He never knew, not until the Crows, not until seeing what real relationships were supposed to be.

It was a disservice to Elise, that was something he knew now.

But he would never say he was neglectful.

“Until one day, I had enough.”

Bas looked up at the elf, seeing her face turned towards the audience, brows down with determination in her eyes.

“I decided I was not going to let my child and I live like that any longer, and when I tried to leave, Saare refused to let me leave,” Again, the qunari surged to stand, a shout coming from him. “You wanted to take my child with you!” He practically howled out in a raspy voice, trying his best to fight against the magic pulling him back. “You tried to steal her way from me, my child, my flesh and blood.” A violent tug came and the older man found himself painfully slammed on his knees again, a groan escaping his lips as he did so. “You didn’t take care of her! It was me! I was there for everything, I was the one she came to for everything, I was the one she told she was transgender, I was the one she told she wanted a new name, me!” The screeching from Elise echoed throughout the hall, rattling around in the qunari’s head as he shook it. “No, she would have told me, she knew I would not judge, she knew.” Bas had never known of Hissrea wanting to transition; that was how she died, his son and he never had an inkling that something was different. It wasn’t till the meet-up for the first time, in that Dock Town restaurant, where he had been stunned into silence at the sight of her. He had known that was his kid, and he didn’t care she was no longer Hissrea, all he ever wanted was for her to be happy. Who was he to judge anyway? His own transition had been the only thing in the Qun that hadn’t been horrible. He wanted his child to know she was loved, and she was safe with him, but Elise took that away.

“You pretend not to be hateful, Saare, but there is nothing more in this world you hate than change,” Elise was hissing towards him, feet right in front of his face as he leaned down to spit the words at him. “You would have never accepted her, she didn’t feel safe around you for a reason.” He tried to shake his head, tried to fight against the words with quiet ‘No’s under his breath, but the magic was pulsing even stronger now, his body contracting under the pressure of it. “You weren’t home, you didn’t see her struggling, you didn’t know!” A slap came to his face, one that toppled him to the ground as the sound of palm against cheek echoed through the hall, a great hush overcame the hall at the sound, just the same as it did when the gavel hit its base. Tears were flowing down the qunari’s face, his stomach hurt and his eyes stung as the makeup smuged across his eyes started to go into them. He didn’t know, that was the worst part. He never knew the struggle his child was going through, never knew the pain she was carrying on her back, and had he, he could have done anything to protect to, to help her. Had he truly been so absorbed in his own life that he hadn’t noticed? Was his selfishness so grand that he didn’t know what was going on in the four walls of his own home? It squeezed around his heart to think about, to realize just how much he hadn’t understood when he was Saare.

Life had been so suddenly different for him in those years, where Saarebas was not free, Saare was, and he wanted to experience all life could provide him. Music became the best thing to have ever happened to him; that was true freedom to express his anger, his anguish, his trauma through song, and he thought Hissera knew this. He would bring her with him to those bars, to sit in the crowd and watch her father; he always thought she had a great time. The smiles on her face, the sparkle in her eyes, he truly thought she was learning about him through those moments, through the song as speaking the words was too painful for him even as the years passed, he couldn’t express himself the same way as the other parents did to their children. There was no storytelling for his childhood, of who he was when he was younger; instead, he would sing it all out. He thought Hissera understood; he had hoped she had.

Now, though, now he sees; how was she supposed to understand?

She was just a child.

“Eventually, I decided we had had enough and confronted Saare, told him we would be leaving,” A sigh came from Elise’s lips, one that was dramatic, overplayed for the audience. “He became violent, smash things in our home, nearly threw me across the damn place before he left us, to go to that damn bar again,” He squeezed his eyes shut at the memory, tried to shake his head but found he was too weak. “I knew we were never going to get away with a simple conversation, so I took things into my own hands,” Bas’ eyes popped open at that as he forced himself to look over at the elf, a plea on his lips to stop her, to beg her to please stop this. For he worried what the confession would be. “Antivan Crows were a legend in the Anderfels, one most men would cower in fear at, and fear was exactly what I needed. I came into contact with them and set up a plan.”

“The death of his family would make him see just how terribly he messed up.”

The qunari managed to shift enough to sit himself back up, to stare at the woman before him and with his eyes begged her to stop. ‘Anything but this, please don’t confess this, you don’t know what this will mean.’ He screamed in his head, more tears coming down his face. “A contract was set up, one that would end with Hissera and my deaths, you wouldn’t believe how easy it was to bribe the Crow who came with a bit of gold and teary eyes. ‘Get us away from my husband.’ I pleaded. They were kind enough to listen,” He could see Illario and Elise glancing down at him, almost like they were expecting another out burst but Bas found he could say nothing, all he could do was stare at her with his pleas in his eyes to get her to stop, to stop this confession but it was already too late, she said exactly what he didn’t want to hear. “We escaped, but what I hadn’t expected was the damage to follow after, the anger it would cause Saare, and what followed next…” She took a step back, the spotlight falling onto Illario. “22 Crows were murdered in the following damage by Saare, by Bas in this intense hatred of revenge for his wife and child, one of which was my own cousin!”

A gasp overcame the audience as the qunari looked away in shame, he could still remember those two. A wife and husband, unlucky enough to stumble into the man’s way as he was set on milling whatever Crows he could find, until he found the ones that murdered his family. Or so he thought. Knowing now that their deaths were pointless, unnecessary, it soured his stomach, it made him gag. Another wave of the magic overcame him, throwing him down to his hands once again. His ankles throbbed, his muscles ached and his head was screaming, but he let it, he believed the punishment was apt for this, for his sins. “22 Crows dead at the hands of this man and yet, he was still allowed to join the Crows. He has worked with you, he has been around you and he knew what he had done yet, no punishment, no death awaited him for the lives he took. Nothing but open arms from he one who found him.” Illario didn’t need to say Viago’s name; the implication of who it was was obvious; who else would it be? Everyone knew Bas was from House De Riva, but none of them knew the true story, not Illario, not Elise, none of them knew.

“The defendant may now make his defense.”

The magic on his body released, and Bas slumped to the ground for a moment as he was given control over himself again, his mind spinning for a moment at the suddenness of it all.

He pushed up from where he was lying, shakily moving his legs so he could stand, even despite the severe ache in his ankles, begging him not to. With a weak intake of air, he pushed up fully, bearing his own weight again. He turned to Elise. “I… I did not know the pain I was causing you. I did not know what we lived in was so miserable. I believed that was what love was, something that hurt you, scratched and clawed. I believed in what I now know was a fantasy of happiness, a fantasy of love. I only knew pain and so I caused it onto you and His… Melody,” He licked at his lips, grimacing at the dried blood he tasted. “I was selfish. I was terrified and I was terrible to you both. A regret I have come to live with, something I now understand was not what a man should do for his family. And while it is far too late and while you may not believe me, know this Elise,” More tears dropped from his eyes as he stared into the elf’s, her stance not wavering though there was something wide in her eyes, as if he hadn’t expected him to actually speak to her directly. “I am so sorry, Elise, for the pain I caused, for the abuse I put you through. I am sorry.” He choked on his words for a moment, them getting stuck in the blood coated throat of his but he still managed to speak, still managed to convey in words. She stared at him for a moment, before a scoff same and she turned her head, shaking it as she did so. It hurt to see her reaction, to see her uncaring, but at least he managed the words, at least he got them out into the world to the real her, for once.

He turned to Illario.

“And for the pain I caused you and your family, Illario, for being one of the reasons it is as small as it is, for destroying what little you had. I am sorry. What I did, even in my anger was… terrible. No words I will ever say can make it right,” A glare came from the other Crow, and a shake of his own head as he turned towards the audience. “And for those of you I hurt out there, for those of you who I stole fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, parents and children. I am sorry. Nothing I will ever do can make up for that pain, for I know how it eats at you, how it never goes away, how it stays a gaping hole in your heart. I do not ask for your forgiveness, I do not deserve your forgiveness, all I have is my life to give to the Crows. A pitiful attempt to make up for my sins. Know that I think of those people every day of my life, that their deaths weigh on my heart itself, but it does not matter. What matters is that pain I have caused unto you and that I will never be able to make up for it.”

With that, the man returned to his knees, head bowed in shame as he felt the eyes of hundreds of Crows watching him, knowing they now knew just who he once was, who came before Bas De Riva. Perhaps it was a good thing, perhaps it was a blessing to be exposed. Whatever it was, for once in his life, his shoulders didn’t feel so damn heavy.

“Yes, well, you are right. You will never be able to make up for the suffering you have caused.” Elise cruelly mocked from the side. He didn’t bother to look at her again. The gavel pounded again and Bas found his body once again wrapped in magic. He let it take over, seeing he had no energy to fight it off. What did he care anyway? His worsts sins had just been exposed to the entirety of the Crows, some of whom had been directly hurt by him. At least he got to apologize to Elise, which in itself was a small comfort to him, even if she had laughed at him. Though she also admitted to something he hadn’t wanted to hear, that she was the one who started to contract on her and Melody’s lives, that she was the one who signed her name, their lives away.

That did not bode well.

“Now we move onto Bas De Riva, the Crow who single-handedly ruined a major operation for his own selfish wants, and his punishment, instead of death, was to go off and play hero. Who are we not to be angered by this? Who are we to allow such a major screw up to lead these things?” Illario sounded so high and mighty, like the pain he was causing now was nothing, as if he was completely innocent in all of this. Like what he was doing was deserved, despite the torture of it all. And maybe it was, maybe Bas did deserve this all, to be exposed to the people he called friends, but there was an implication in his voice that the qunari hated. The implication that Viago was guilty in all of this as well, like he should have been punished, even though in all technicalities, this was not his fault. It had been his father who had demanded the qunari join the Crows, seeing some sort of potential in the Crow killer, to use that power for the Crows, as Viago was sentenced to practical banishment when he was forced to be Talon. Bas just happened to be there, to be the first charge the man had to take over. There was nothing the man did to deserve this sly treatment. Illario didn’t have to say his name, the implications were easy to read through his gritted teeth. He wondered what he was thinking through all this; was he angry? Was he disgusted? Was he disappointed?

That would be the worst of them all.

“A fool who is supposed to lead the charge against the Gods but what have we seen him actually achieve? They still managed to attack Treviso, Weisshaupt was destroyed, Grey Wardens in ruins. What has he truly done to help the world?” Bas’ heart jumped in his chest, words he thought to himself every day, every moment, spoken aloud so easily. As if the man had a view into his head, to see his deepest, darkest moments and just blatantly sharing them with the whole world, as if the qunari was nothing. Damn if he didn’t feel like nothing, he felt like less than nothing, a failure one who was suppose to be the Crow to stop the gods, a Crow never abandons a contract but prehapes the man’s own incompetence would. Perhaps the kindness of the cold hand of death would take him, if he were so lucky.

A loud slam of doors came, startling the older man from his thoughts and obviously catching Illario and Elise off guard as they looked over to the front of the Opera hall, brows furrowed down and frowns on their faces.

“And who are you to judge this man, Illario?”

Lucanis.

Bas perked up, forcing his head to move up as he tried to focus his eyes through the shine of the spotlight on him. He could see the outline of his lover, the outline of the rest of the Veilguard behind him, all with their weapons readied and snarls on their faces. Bas turned to look at Illario, watching a grimace come to the man’s face as he set the gavel down and stepped to the front of the stage. “If it isn’t the Demon of Vyrantium, man possessed coming to save your criminal?” He was taunting with his words, as if he were untouchable, unfaultable. The qunari looked out, trying to catch the eye of his lover, but the light shined far too bright in his eyes, all he could see were their outlines. “Let him go, Illario,” It was growled out, a simmering of the Fade along with it as the man stepped forward, daggers out to maim. The older cousin laughed, high and mighty as he shook his head, walking around to the qunari, threading his fingers in his hair and jerking his head up. “This man is a murderer, has committed sins against the Crows, his family, against us. Why protect him so? Is there something you wish to tell us, cousin?” Bas swallowed against the pull of his throat, eyes shutting as he whispered a quiet plea, hoping the Illatio would hear him, would leave the other assassin out of this punishment of his.

Lucanis didn’t deserve to suffer for his sins.

“And you are completely innocent? What about your work with the Venatori?” A murmur came over the crowd, eyes darting from the qunari to the human who Bas could see was sneering. “The Venatori will help the Crows into a new era. I will be the First Talon who will save the Crows.” Illario bit out, his hand going tighter in the hair of the older man, who gave a hitch of his breath as the pain went through his skull from just how tightly the man was holding him. He looked over to Elise, her arms were crossed as she glared at Illario, like she hadn’t been expecting this interruption, like she was annoyed the man was going off script. “What does your bid for First Talon have to do with Rook? Let him go, fight me for your own sins you have committed.” A roar of excitement went through the crowd, for if there was one thing Anitvans loved, it was a good dramatic fight. As this was all going on, the older man realized his strength was slowly returning, warmth flooding through his hands and feet, more blood may have been pooling out of his ankles but he could feel there was power returning to his muscles. He blinked over at Elise again. Her face was growing red, as it often did when she became engaged, her eyes building from his skull as she stared at Illario. “Illario,” She hissed to him in a voice only he and Bas could hear. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The man turned his head towards her, shushing her before turning to look back at Lucanis. Whatever words he was saying failed to register in the qunari’s head as he watched the elf march up to the other, grabbing a hold of his wrist and forcing him to look at her. They started to argue in hushed tones, things that couldn’t full be heard by anyone else, not even Bas, even though he sat on his knees in front of them. More strength was returning, and he realized the grip on his hair had been loosened, just barely there.

He swallowed against the dryness of his throat.

Without much more thought, he summoned a sphere of magic in his hands, and while there was a shout of warning off stage for the other two, it wasn’t enough as the qunari managed to throw it to the ground, throwing the other two off of him as he lunged to throw himself on the stage. He hit the ground against his shoulder, feeling it give a heady crack as he hit the ground. The pain shot through his body, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the screaming, searing feeling in his ankles as he pulled himself to stand, faltering a little as his head rushed from the pain. He felt a hand come to his wrist, then another and another till there were 7 hands all pressed against him, warm against his body.

“Rook!”

It was Lucanis and when Bas opened his eyes, he nearly choked at the coffee brown eyes staring up at him, and the tears glistening there. He reached down with his other hand, wrapping it around the smaller man’s as he tried to speak, but he found his mouth started to fill with blood as his nose began to freeflow with it, the copper taste bitter in his mouth. Panic came over the assassin’s eyes as he reached for something in his pocket, a bottle in hand and he urged the taller man to bend down. “Open.” He commanded kindly and Bas followed it, the bitter taste of elfroot filling his gums as the potion was pushed into him. Bas squeezed his eyes as the pain of his injuries knitting together once more, that hot burning sensation nearly crippling him to the ground if it weren’t for all the hands on him, holding him up. The bottle was thrown to the side, the man coughing as he tried to fight his gag reflex’s desire to vomit it back up. A quick swallow, a bite of his tongue and he managed to fight through the wave of nausea, looking back down at Lucanis with big eyes. Before he could speak, a dark cloud formed above the two and reflexively, Bas pushed the man out of the way as Illario appeared between them, Venatori daggers in hand with a snarl on his face. “Weapons.” Bas rasped and found one of the other companions threw his staff into his arms as they scattered, all ready in fighting stances with anger in every single one of their eyes. Elise appeared next to the Crow, shield in hand, with fire blazing in her eyes.

“I am going to slaughter you.” She growled out, hand going tighter around her shield.

“I don’t want to fight you two.” Bas rasped out through his grip on his staff grew tighter.

His response he got was a scream and a sword coming for him that he just barely managed to dodge, the potion still doing its work to knit his flesh back together. He could feel the hot blood sticking to his bare feet against the ground. “Please, Elise, please do not make me do this.” He begged softly, avioding more swings towards his body. “I will string your corpse from the rafters, I will carve your guts from your body! You will be nothing but a mess of meat when I am finished with you!” Her yells hurt his ear, rattled his brain in his skull as he tried to miss each one of her sword swings. His feet slipped out from underneath him from the warm blood on them, slamming down onto the ground on his back with a grunt. He watched as the elf stood above him, a wild look in her eyes. Her sword came down, and he blocked it with his staff, the blade just barely kissing his cheek as it came down. His arms ached against the force of the woman; he tried to reason with her more, but found nothing he could say was going through to her; there was nothing but hate in her eyes. “Please, Elise, please.” He begged, but he knew it was pointless. He could feel his arms start to give out, the blade coming closer and closer before a large burst of purple came, and Bas found himself free of the sword baring down on him as Spite stood over him, daggers in hand.

“You. Hurt. Rook. You. Will. PAY!”

With a bit of a struggle, Bas raised from he ground, taking a hold of the demon’s shoulder with a shake hand. “Focus on Illario Spite, I will take care of her.” He gasped out, tightening his hold when the demon gave an unpleasant sound. “She. Hurt. Rook. Must make her SUFFER!” There was so much anger in the demon’s voice, so much hate and what could only be described as vengeance. Bas did his best to soothe him with a gentle hand down his arm. “Illario Spite, that is who and Lucanis must focus on. Please, leave her to me.” There was a moment where he thought the demon was going to disobey him, as he looked to snarl at Elise, who had her eyes narrowed down at the two of them, watching them with a disgusted look. Finally, Spite wailed with a growl and turned back towards Illario, lunging towards the other Crow with a cry, a deep guttural sound. The mage turned back to Elise, staff in hand, blood dripping down his ankles as they finally knitted completely close, the pain still burning hot, but at least he could bear his weight now. “A demon fucker huh? Why am I not surprised?” She hissed, taking a step forward to attack but the mage took his magic and weaved it around her ankles, pulling her to the ground as he stood over her. “I am giving you one last chance Elise, let us do this with dignity.” He pleaded.

Spit came to his face, a wade of bloodied saliva trailing down his face.

“Dignity? You have no dignity, Saare.”

Bas closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head slowly before he readied his stane.

“Then we fight. I am sorry Elise, I tried.” He whispered, opening her eyes to see red fury staring up at him.

“Your apologies are useless; they mean nothing to me. Fight me to the death, for that is what I will be doing.” Elise growled out, finding her footing and taking a lunge at the qunari who just barely managed to get out of the way. He could hear the fighting around them, see the flashes of his companions darting by as they took to Illario, shouting orders and warnings to each other. For a moment, it was beautiful, seeing Elise in the lighting of the Opera hall, it reminded him of their first meeting all those years ago, her standing under the Rivaini lights, smile on her lips with a red curl in her face. This time, though, there was no smile and yet…

She was still beautiful.

Bas dodged away and took in a breath, preparing himself for the fight ahead.

With a thud, Illario hit the ground, a grunt coming from his lips as Rook and Lucanis stood over him. Bas was out of breath, leaning on his staff to try to keep himself upright, waving off the other Crow when he gave a concerned look. He could hear the words coming from the other’s mouth, but found it hard to get his mind to focus on them, to truly hear their exchange. His head was spinning, his body was aching and blood stained the roof of his mouth. Breathing through his nose, he shifted a little with a quiet grunt, especially to get out of the way of Caterina, who had stepped out from the shadows to stand in between her two grandsons. He was glad to see her in an unharmed state, if anything, she just seemed tired, angry. A look he had seen from her before, directed at him many years ago when he had openly questioned her judgment at a Crows meeting. There was a side eye his way that he chose to ignore, far too tired to fight. He saw from the corner of his eye Lucanis look up at him with a question in them. Bas turned to look at him, tilting his head to show he was listening.

“What am I to do with this idiot?” He asked, a bit of a growl in his tone.

Rook turned to look at Illario, who gave him a wide eye glance, somehow a smirk still on his lips despite everything. It was the same look he used to give Bas when they were together, much like a cat who got the cream even in the worst of circumstances. Always scheming a way out, always looking for a way around the consequences. With a small sigh, the qunari shifted to stand on his feet, the dried blood on them starting to itch where it stained his skin. “Are we the sum of our worst moments? Can we only be judged by the terrible things we have done in life? Have you not said he was your brother, your only friend?” The mage looked over to the other, Lucanis’ eyes wide as he nodded. “My only friend… before you…” His tone was soft, eyes darting away for a second under the weight of Caterina’s stare. He looked down at Illario, sighing as he shook his head and turned to Viago. “Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble, I trust you can do this?” The Talon snorted as he reached down to pick up Illario from the ground, shaking his head a little. “I am not miracle worked, but I will see it done too,” There was a pause in his movements as something caught his eye. Bas watched his throat bob up and down as he swallowed. “Rook,” Was all he said as he nodded his head towards the center of the Opera floor. Bas turned with a bit of effort and saw Elise lying on the floor, doing her best to crawl towards the door despite the broken leg she had sustained in the fight, blood pooling around her body as she tried to drag it.

The qunari watched her for a moment, his heart thumping in his chest, before he took a step towards her when a hand stopped him, holding on tightly to his wrist. Bas looked down to see Lucanis holding onto him, worry etching into his handsome face. Rook laced his other hand over his, giving it a squeeze, a wireless communication of ‘Let me do this’. There was doubt in the other man’s eyes, a set of worry that made the older man’s heart give a squeeze. Never had anyone ever looked at him so, looked at him like he was something precious to protect. “I will be fine, Kadan.” He whispered out, the nickname slipping from his lips before he could really stop it. Caterina seemed to bristle like a bird next to them at their exchange but Lucanis paid it no mind, only taking a moment to look into Rook’s eyes and whatever he saw, he seemed to trust as his hand fell away and he took a step back.

Bas turned back to Elise, taking the steps down towards her, using his staff to help guide him. When he finally made it to her, she barely had moved two inches, the blood trailing behind her starting to pool. When the elf looked up, a bitter laugh came to her lips as she stared up. “Come to end me? Come to finish the job?” She asked bitterly, coughing on her words with a rasp. The qunari set his staff down and lowered to his aching knees, hands hesitating for a moment before they cupped her face, thumb coming to rub against her cheek. “Elise,” He whispered so only she could hear, as if the moment in time was only for the two of them, as if there were no one else in the room. He swallowed against the bile in his throat as she looked up at him, eyes wide with fear for the first time. “Did you sign the contract for you and Melody?” He asked questioningly, staring into her eyes in a way that he knew would force her to tell the truth. Her eyes fluttered as she gave a dry laugh, a shaking of her head to attempt to dislodge his fingers, but he stayed holding on. “Isn’t it obvious? Who else would it have been?” Elise asked, as if it was evident as if the truth of it had been clear the entire time, Bas was just too much of a fool to see it. He stroked down her face again. “Say it.” He commanded softly. The elf’s eyes looked into his, darting from one eye to the other for a moment before her mouth opened.

“I was the one who signed the contract.”

A sob came from the older man’s lips, one he couldn’t hope to contain as he looked down at his wife, looked down at her injured body. Her blood was thick in the air, in the back of his throat, just as it had been those 30 years ago. This time, though, she was still alive; she was still breathing in his arms. Even despite it all, he found himself hesitating.

But he knew what he had to do.

One of his hands reached back into his belt loop, pulling out a vial of grey serum from its loop before uncorking it with his thumb. He looked down at her, and she looked up at him. Real panic finally filled her eyes. “Why does Illario deserve forgiveness but I don’t?” She asked in a shaky voice, genuine fear rising his her eyes, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “When I joined the Corws, I did so on one condition that if I were to find my family’s killer, I would have a contract set out on them. I murdered the Crow I believed did the act, all I had left was the name on the contract,” He could feel his throat starting to tighten, his eyes started to burn. “Your name, Elise.” A tug of her face tried to pull away from his hands, but he kept his hold tight. “N-no, Saare, please d-don’t. I don’t want to die!” She cried out, shaking her head to do what she could to loosen his hold, but his strength was just far greater than hers, even in his weakened state. “I am sorry Elise,” He managed through the closing of his throat.

“A Crow never abandons a contract.”

As he spoke, he kept a tight grip on the elf’s chin before taking the deathroot poison and pouring it into her mouth. She tried to fight against it, her hands thrashing, her legs doing the same or as much as they could given the condition they were in, but it was futile. All he needed was a drop to go into her mouth, and once he managed that, he threw the vial to the side, taking ahold of her face with both hands again. He pulled her in close, resting her head against his chest even as tears began to flow from her eyes. “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,” She repeated, head shaking, body shivering. Bas hummed quietly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I have seen Melody,” He whispered, voice shaking as he fought his own tears. The words from the elf stopped for a moment. He could see her eyes were wide, her body still shaking. “She is beautiful.” He continued, closing his eyes to picture their daughter in his mind. “Is she?” Elise eventually whispered, a soft question and soft moment. Bas could feel tears start to roll down his cheeks. “She is, I believe she is the most beautiful person in the world.” He answered, using one of his hands to trace lines down the spine fo the woman. He heard her take a shaky intake in. “Was… Was she happy?” Her voice was starting to falter, starting to break. “I believe she was, I have heard she is to be wed soon. She has found someone for herself.” They spoke in hushed tones, the world fading away so it was only their two souls, together for one last moment. “She is the inquisitor, I heard. She is doing great things.” Her breath was starting to go short, wheezing sounds from the poison slowly starting to take its effect. “That she is. I am so proud of her.” Tears were flowing freely down his face now; there was nothing he could do to stop them. “Then maybe…” Elise gave a gasp. “Maybe we didn’t fuck her all the way up?” Bas had to laugh, burying his head into the shoulder of the elf, taking in her rich smell, mingled with the tang of blood. “Perhaps we did not.” He mused.

A memory came to him. One fo the two of them on the beach, sitting in the same position, looking out is the ocean with Melody asleep in a bassinet to the side of him. He could still remember the feeling of the sun on his skin as they watched it set, the thick sea air in his lungs and the smell of roses and citrus, lulling him to sleep.

“I don’t want to die.” Elise whispered again, this time choking on her words, though Rook was unsure if it was from the poison or her tears.

Whatever it was, he knew he did not have a lot of time.

“I did not know it was a gift,” He muttered into her hair. “Freedom, I mean. I did not understand when I got off that boat, and to you, that I was being given a gift far greater than anything I have ever received in my life. You taught me the way to be free. I have never thanked you for this, but I can. At least now, I can,” He took her head and angled it up, having their eyes meet. “Thank you for this gift, my heart. It is the most precious thing I have ever been given. I am so sorry I did not know before. I know now, and I will carry it with me. I will carry you with me always.” He brought his lips to her forehead, feeling his tear drop to her face. A whimper, a quiet, toned one came from he elf. “Saare,” She whispered back, hand reaching out for his and he threaded them together. “Why is it so dark? They always said there would be a light.” Elise hated the dark, always insisting candles be burning in their home when the sun would set, refusing to sail out during the night and also asking the qunari to set a spell up so a light would shine always.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned a light to them, taking the woman’s hand a placing it on his, letting its warmth go through her. “Here is your light, Elise, I will not let you go in darkness.” His tears were salty against his tongue as he spoke, voice thick with sadness. He watched her eyes start to dim, the poison finally starting to take it’s full affect as life slowly drained from her body, slowly growing colder and colder. She looked to Bas one last time. “Tell Melody… Tell her… I, I am sorry…” The qunari gave a slow nod of his head, bring his lips to her forehead one last time. “Anything, my love, anything.”

He watched as the finally color drained from her dark eyes, before the hand he had been holding onto the light fell limp in his grip, her head tipping back as her body finally gave out to the poison.

Bas watched for a few moments, expecting her to rise again, expecting some sort of flutter of her eyes, a beat of her heart and yet nothing. She stayed still, her eyes stayed colorless and her chest did not rise again. Rook reached up, trying to control his tears as he slowly closed her eyes. He held her close for a few seconds, bringing her to his chest again as he squeezed her tight, muttered a Qunlat prayer under his breath, one he remembered was for the dead. He thanked her again under his breath, thanked her for the gift he had taken for granted, but finally understood just how much of a blessing it truly was.

He heard footsteps come up to him and when he looked up, there was Viago, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Take her to Rivain, make sure she is given a proper burial.” Bas whispered, watching the other man give a slow nod before summoning two Crows from the stand to come do as Bas asked. He hesitated to give her body over, taking the time to look at her face, memorize her features. The greys in her hair, the wrinkles on her face, the freckles that adorned her body. Even in death, she was stunning; she truly just looked to be sleeping in a peaceful rest that she deserved. Maybe it can bring her some peace. With a final glance, he relinquished the body to the waiting Crows, who were kind enough to take her slowly, carefully from his arms, taking her across the hall and out the doors. When they slammed shut behind them, Bas couldn’t stop the sob that left his chest as he fell to the ground, fingers digging into the fine wood as he finally let his tears fall freely.

It was over.

It was finally all over.

A hand was placed on his shoulder and the qunari looked up at Viago, his face an equal calm yet sadness, there was a glisten of tears in his own eyes. “We must congratulate the new First Talon.” He mumbled, holding out his other hand for the older man to take. And take did the qunari as he raised to his feet, wiping his tears, probably smudging his paint slide across his eyes even more as he nodded, taking in a. deep breath. “That we do.” He answered, turning back towards the crowd, seeing Lucanis standing there with worry etched on his face.

“That we do.” Bas repeated.

The hall had started to clear out, Crows returning to the Diamond in celebration of the new First Talon, Lucanis was busy talking with the other Talons, getting together a plan to deal with the remaining Venatroi still in Treviso. Bas excused himself from the discussion, the soreness in his body startling to settle in his aching bones and his head pounding from the amount of abuse he had been put through. His mind felt numb, unable to retain most information. His feet guided him across the hall to where Elise had died, the stain of her blood still on the floor as he stood over the spot. He watched it, as if somehow she would magically appear there, alive, smirking up at him as she so often did during their marriage, with her right side dimple indented into her cheek and eyes sparkling with some sort of mischief. It wouldn’t happen, he understood that Elise was dead, finally, after all this time, she was truly, really dead. There were no more second chances; there would be no more surprise appearances. Elise Nikoloau was dead.

And he was grateful, but hurt.

He had already mourned her, for years he had mourned her and been haunted by her. But then he recovered, never quite healing, but at least the wound was bandaged, a scar there, but something he could live with. Now he wondered if he would grieve all over again? Would this reopen the wound and let it fester on his conscience? Something told him it wouldn’t. Perhaps it was the fact he had already processed it all, perhaps it was the way he was older now, wiser, more understanding of death, but he felt as if this time around, it was a kindness upon Elise, this ending. No more lying, no more hiding, no more harm could be done onto the world by her hands. Still, it hurt to lose her once again.

Then there was the truth being out for all the Crows.

Viago had always told him that his past was his own, that he didn’t need to share it with anyone. Bas disagreed, and nearly found everyone who was related to the Crows he had killed had let them know what he had done. Some were angry, some were forgiving, some didn’t care and some didn’t seem to believe him. The only people never talked to were the Dellamortes. Even after his stint of a relationship with Illario, he had never found the right time to talk to him about it, especially seeing as Lucanis went missing right around the time Bas had finally developed the nerve to say something. And for some strange reason, he never found the courage to tell the assassin, genuine fear of losing the man for his past actions haunted him every time he thought to say something. Now though, to have his secrets revealed in the way they were, he had wished he hadn’t been such a damn coward.

What must Lucanis think of him now?

“Bas…?”

For a moment, the qunari thought the man’s voice was just. figment of his imagination, the he had been thinking so hard of the Crow that his voice came to try to sooth, to comfort his worried thoughts but then he turn his head to see the other man, standing by his side a few feet away, big brown eyes looking up at him with a nervous energy to them as he took a few steps closer. The hand coming up to cup the mage’s face was s surprise, but he couldn’t deny its warmth as he buried his face into it, using his own hand to hold the wrist there so as not to lose the other man.

“Lucanis,” He whispered into the palm. “I am so sorry.”

The other man made a sound, a confused thing as he stepped to be even closer. “What could you possibly be sorry for? I am the one who should be apologizing.” Bas made a confused hum as he looked down at the First Talon, shaking his head as he took in the man’s scent, thick coffee grounds and the sweet tang of blood stained underneath it. “You have nothing to apologize for. You should be mad at me, you should even hate me.” The mage answered quiet, slow and while he knew he should let go of the other man, he found he simply couldn’t not when he warmth felt so good on his cooled cheeks, not when the only touches he had experienced were so cruel and this was a reminder that not every touch was like that, even if the kindness ones were so far and few between. “I could never hate you.” Lucanis whispered, bringing their heads together so their foreheads rested on each other. Bas grunted, a dry laugh coming from his throat. “I murdered your cousin and her husband, Lucanis. I am one of the reasons your family is smaller than it should be, as to why you only have Illario left. You should hate me.” He repeated, trying his best to fight against the tears that wanted to well up in the corners of his eyes. There were a few moments of pause, right when Bas thought the other was going to pull away in disgust, in the hate he should feel, he spoke instead.

“Are we the sum of our worst moments?”

At that, the qunari’s eyes opened fully, widely as he looked down at the assassin who stared up at him with a tilt to his head. “I cannot hate you, Bas De Riva. If I can forgive Illario, why can I not forgive you?” Try as he might, the tears began to flow down the older Crow’s face, leaning down again to meet their foreheads as he shook with barely contained sobs. How had he become lucky enough in this life to have Lucanis? Who looked down upon him and decided that he deserved such a wonderment in his life? Whoever they were, maybe the Maker, maybe some unknown god, maybe it was nothing but the universe, they seemed to have decided that Rook had suffered enough in life and gave him this gift. “You are too great for me, Kadan.” He rumbled out from his chest, trying to pull his emotions to pour into the other, to let him know through his tone, through his words, just how much the man meant to him. The assassin’s hair tickled at his forehead as he sighed, with a slight shake to his head. “I should have done more to save you.” Lucanis’ own throat sounded tight, the words gritted out through clenched teeth and barely contained tears. Bas smiled. “And yet, you kept your promise. You did as I asked. For that, I am grateful, I am happy because you were not harmed.” The hand on his face went tighter, almost as if to check if the mage was real. “But you were.” Lucanis choked out. Bas licked his lips from the dryness of them. “Is that not the nature of our lives?” He asked in a hushed tone. The other man said nothing, just tightened his grip as the two men stayed in each other’s space, just being with each other.

A clearing of a throat caught their attention as they pulled away from each other and looked to the side to see Viago waiting there, a bit of a frown playing on his lips. “Viago.” Bas said with a bow of his head, a show of respect. “Bas.” The man answered back, eyes flitting between him and the First Talon before settling on the qunari. “We need to speak.” He said, a bit of an edge to his tone. “About the contract?” The mage asked. A nod, a glance to Lucanis, then back to Bas. The older man felt the eyes of both men staring him down, one with confusion and one with concern. “In vague terms?” He asked, watching the frown on the other De Riva’s face go lower, another look at the First Talon before a sigh came from his lips. “It is unfillable as of right now. You kept up your side, but I cannot keep up mine, not with the gods running around still.” Rook gave a sigh, eyes glancing down to the stained blood on the floor before returning his gaze to Viago. “I… I understand. It is a contract on the gods, one I cannot abandon in favor of the other.” The other man nodded. The mage could feel the eyes of Lucanis on him, could feel he confusion in his eyes staring up at him as the other two talked in these unofficial words.

Bas had never told Lucanis about the. contract, the one he knew was safely tucked in the breast pocket of Viago, where it was always safely compacted for the last 20 years. “Yes, the gods must be taken care of first before I will finish this one.” There was something in the Talon’s voice, something faltering, wavering that Bas had only ever heard a handful of times in all the time he had spent with Viago. The mage looked down at Lucanis before looking to Viago. “I understand, I will finish what is required.” He said, bowing his head down in understanding before turning to Lucanis. There was curiosity in his eye, a desire to know, but the qunari faltered, unable to explain what they were speaking about, especially with how big those brown eyes were staring up at him. Rook smiled down at him. “We should return home. I do not believe there is anything left for us here.” He watched the other’s mouth open for a moment before whatever he was going to say disappeared as he shut his mouth and nodded, reaching to lace their fingers together as the two turned to the doors,re ady to make their exit.

Right before they could walk through the doors, however, Viago spoke again.

“The terms of your contract are negotiable, Rook.”

The mage passed in his steps as he looked over his shoulder at the other man. He smiled but did not move.

“I understand Viago. I will keep that in mind.” And with that, he lead the First Talon through the doors, feeling the heavy weight of his gaze on him, most likely wanting to know of this contract, what it was they were discussing.

And Bas decided he would tell him, when the time is right, just what was on that contract.

But for now, all he wanted was to go home.

this is so long and I wrote it in three days in a pure frenzy

[mistfallengw2]

Asks for OC-lovers 👤❤️

1. How many OCs do you have?

2. What's your usual way to create an OC?

3. What's your favorite part of making OCs?

4. What's the weirdest thing that led you to making an OC?

5. Has a song ever heavily inspired an OC of yours?

6. What's the OC you didn't expect to give so much attention to?

7. Do you have an OC that started out as a background character?

8. Was there an OC you made specifically to hate, but then ended up growing too fond of? (or the opposite)

9. Which OC changed the most from their first concept?

10. What's the funniest way an OC changed from their first concept?

11. What's the worst/best "what if" that ended up becoming canon for your OCs?

12. Have you ever done the "what if I shipped them as a joke" mistake with OCs?

13. Who's your favorite OC to write/draw?

14. What's the first OC you made for your latest fandom?

15. What's the latest OC you made?

[miya-twins]

atsukita!!

thanks for the ask <3

Send me a ship, and I will tell you:

1. My take on their canon relationship: it's so underrated I love what they have. they're opposites in so many ways, and even with atsumu often being disliked and being quick to judge others, these two only have respect for each other. I love that kita is so proud of atsumu post-ts, and that atsumu is still in awe of what kita can do, even if that's growing rice now. they balance each other out and bring out the best in each other, all while having a good time together.

2. Do I ship them: all the way to the moon and back. they're meant to be.

3. Reasons why I do/don’t ship them: their canon relationship is already great, and we know they care about each other. atsumu literally cried over the care package kita put together for him. they're opposites attracting, but in the most important ways they're the same, both always working hard and doing their best to improve themselves. there's so much potential for comedy with their clashing personalities. so much potential for angst and pining since they both view the other as out of their reach somehow. so much potential for fluff since they both deeply care about those closest to them, esp family. and, this is really just the personal icing on the cake, I like senpai/kouhai ships where the kouhai is significantly taller hehe

4. Headcanon, if any: kita often sends atsumu packages whiloe he's working on his farm and atsumu lives in osaka - usually they contain some rice kita grew, as well as pickled vegetables and other things he made, but also general little gifts like face masks in winter or a small umbrella after atsumu mentions losing his old one. with each package comes a note. they're not anything special, just reminders to take care of himself and share with osamu if he visits, but atsumu keeps every single one of them, he has a folder with protective foil to tuck these notes into, and if he feels down after a lost game, he always looks at them.

5. How much do I ship (%): 1000

[natolesims]

MY HEART IS YOURS | A Sims 4 Legacy Challenge

Written by @natolesims AKA @dustbon

I did a thing! This challenge is based on the mexican telenovela "Mi Corazón es Tuyo" (My Heart is Yours) where the main character, an exotic dancer, ends up working as a nanny for a millionaire by accident. I used to watch it every single afternoon with my abuelita and since I was feeling nostalgic, this challenge came to life. Hehe.

This is a 10 gen, story-driven challenge with detailed objectives and dynamics for each generation. I hope you like it! I'd love to see if you play it, so feel free to tag me or use #myheartisyourslegacy

Rules under the cut! Or if you prefer it, here's the Google Doc~

NOTES AND GENERAL RULES

Adult themes are included in some generations. You’ve been warned.

There might be some aspects of the gameplay that might not be included in the game by default (for example, earning money as a nanny or a dancer). If you play with mods, feel free to use how many you’d like to enhance the experience! 

Alternatively, you can always make your own twist and interpretation of the challenge, its features and rules. It’s your gameplay, so have fun and do your thing!

Since the story revolves around wealthy families, I’d suggest to create / download  some rich sims or households if you’d like to have more options.

You can skip, add new or change the order of the generations.

No cheats allowed besides freerealestate or funds modification (according to some situations)

I created this challenge considering multiple aspects of the game and its DLCs. If you’d like to change or substitute something, go ahead!

Each generation is a bit specific, so I’d suggest to play on normal / long lifespan or pause aging whenever you consider necessary.

Again, have fun!!

GEN 1 - THE NANNY

You are an orphan who learned to survive on your own at a very young age. After years of working as an exotic dancer you finally managed to buy your own little house, but you lost everything unexpectedly. In an act of desperation, you asked for a large loan from your horrible boss who has you trapped in their grasp and  the money they gave you is still not enough to get by... so you signed up into an employment agency to get the expense off the ground. As if it weren’t enough, they mixed up your papers and now you've been hired as a… babysitter? Are you kidding? Welp, thank goodness you love children.

Traits: Good, Family-Oriented, Loyal

Aspiration: Super Parent / Big Happy Family

Skills: Max dancing,  charisma and parenting 

Job: Make-believe nanny and part-time exotic dancer. 

Rules:

Move to an empty house and set your funds to 0.

Alternatively: Move to a furnished home and destroy everything through an "incident" (you can cheat for this) and break all the plumbing. You can’t fix those items, only replace them after you get your loan money.

Have a night job as an exotic dancer in a local club. None of your day job clients should recognize you while you’re working at the club, and vice-versa.

If you have mods that fit this situation, feel free to use them! Save the tips you earn :) 

If you play this vanilla, disguise your sim and send them dancing to a club each night. You'll earn $200 per day if performance.

Ask the nightclub owner (your boss) for a loan of $8,000 simoleons. You’ll have to keep dancing there until:

A) You earn the money and pay your debt, or

B) You’ve been working in the club for 1 in-game year, but then you can’t keep the money you’ve earned from dancing.

Optional: Consider paying $1,000 for a renovation permit and another $1,000 for plumbing and electrical installation per story.

Start a day job as a nanny. You’ll earn $300 per family.

To do so: Meet sims with children and visit them often to take care of the kids. You can only help one family per day.

Alternatively: You can choose a particular household to be working for. The wealthier and more kids, the better.

Give your sim the always welcome trait so you won’t have issues with cooking and stuff. 

For super wealthy families: You can build a room for yourself in their homes or use the visit room if they have one, but you can’t move your sim into their households at all. You’ll still have to work at the club at night and work on rebuilding your little home. 

Befriend all the kids of the families you’ve worked for.

Fall in love with the head of family of the wealthiest household that hired you. To marry your potential spouse, you must:

End paying the nightclub debt

Finish rebuilding your house again :)

Become friends with the live-in services, if they have (butler, chef, maid, gardener, etc.)

Max your friendly relationship with each kid the love interest has. Only then you can start building a romantic relationship with them.

If they already have a spouse, make them your enemy and have the love interest divorce them. 

Have as many own kids as you can. 

GEN 2 - A GROOVY GRANDPA

You come from a rich family that cares for its wealth with fervor. You did everything your parents and your parents' parents taught you: work hard, make money, have an heir and make even more money. You always felt that working was the only purpose of your life… but now that you are older, you realized how wrong you were. Now that you're old, loades, and your family can fend for themselves, you have the opportunity to do everything you couldn't in your youth.

Traits: Materialistic, ambitious, loner.

Aspiration: 1) Mansion Baron and 2) Inner Peace

Skills: All the skills needed for the career of your choice, mixology, dancing, wellness and a hobby of your choice (as an elder).

Job: Business (Investor Branch) or Salaryperson (Expert Branch)

Rules:

Go to university and get a degree that’ll help you get a jump start on the career of your choice (options above).

University can be tedious and long to play, so I’d suggest using a mod that makes the terms shorter :)

Reach the top of your career as a young adult. 

Marry a wealthy sim out of tradition and have only one child. That’s our heir.

Have a so-so relationship with your kid and your spouse.

Your spouse should die as an adult (you can cheat for this).

Focus on making all the money you can while being an adult. If you can get fame points while you’re at it, perfect.

Once you reach elderhood, have a life crisis and embrace a new “you”.

Change your traits to: Romantic, adventurous and goofball.

Change your aspiration to: Inner Peace.

I’d strongly suggest to turn aging off so you won’t die of old age.

Enjoy life! Be self-indulgent, go partying, pick up new hobbies, make new friends, visit new places. 

Try getting the emotional mindful moodlet often.

Find true love with a humble sim significantly younger than you. 

The next heir must disapprove your new relationship.

Have a child through pregnancy or adoption with your new partner. Move out of the family home and go live with your new little family.

Focus on being an excellent parent and spoil the little one rotten until the last of your days. 

GEN 3 - THE WORKAHOLIC

Your father lost it and messed up his life's direction... and stained the family’s values. You carry your last name with pride and you’re determined to put it back to its former glory by doing what you do best: working. You will rescue the company that your father nearly ruined, return wealth and good fortune to your family and lead an exemplary life, whatever it’s the cost. Your children constantly complain about how absent and cold you are, but they are too young to understand the importance of your priorities. They will thank you one day.

Traits: Proper, Ambitious, Perfectionist.

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Skills: All the skills needed for your career only. You’re not interested in anything else.

Job: Business (Management Branch)

Rules:

Always excel as a student.

Don't have a social life.

All sims you meet (except the future spouse) must stay as acquaintances.

Always turn down any kind of social invite.

Never throw a party of any sort.

Never celebrate a birthday, not even your own. 

Go to university and study communications at U-Brite. At uni you must:

Enter the secret society.

Enter the debate guild.

Graduate with honors.

Meet the love of your life during your time as a student. Your spouse must:

Have good traits only.

Belong to a wealthy family.

You can only marry if you have a full romance bar.

Also: no woohoo before marriage!

You two must live in the family home / manor. Refurnish it with  expensive items, fine art and decorations if it isn’t.

Have a butler. If you play with mods, also have all sorts of live-in services. If not, hire a scheduled gardening, maid and nanny service via the phone.

Don’t have any kind of pets. Not even fish.

Fill up your sim's fun need by doing "boring activities". For example:

Only listen to the talk radio and classical music stations.

Only watch the news and the weather channel.

Don't tell jokes.

The only game your sim can play is chess.

Only read non-fiction or skill books.

You get the idea by now :)

Dedicate your entire existence to your career, completing your aspiration and your loving partner.

Earn fame points through situations or interactions related to your career only.

Get the workaholic lifestyle and live accordingly.

Have as many children as you can with your spouse. After the last family slot is taken, your spouse has to die unexpectedly (you can cheat for this)

After your spouse's demise, change two of your traits to: Hot headed and gloomy.

Have a rocky relationship with all of your children:

Try to limit your interactions with your children. Have the helping sims (butler and nanny) take care of them.

Develop the strict family dynamic with every single child.

All of your kids must be top students and gain the good manners character value trait.

Your kids must have a tight schedule: School, after-school activities, homework time, limited playtime, music lessons (for girls), sport lessons (for boys) and early bedtime. If they develop a dislike for an activity, accept it but they’ll have to do it anyway.

Marry a co-worker as an adult, but do not love them. On the contrary to your loving spouse, they must only have negative traits. Bonus points if they have the hates children trait.

Start a recurrent affair with one of your service sims.

The next generation starts when the heir is a teen. 

GEN 4 - THE INDECISIVE ROMANTIC

You grew up in a large family that seemed more like a military company. Being the smartest of all your siblings, your father always sought to train you in such a way that you would take his place when time comes, but you don't want to be remotely like him. You are still young and you have enough time to change the course of things. You want adventure, you want love, you want happiness and wealth… but the pursuit of hedonism may not help you make the smartest decisions.

Traits: Genius, bookworm, snob

Aspiration: 1) Nerd brain 2) Serial Romantic

Skills: Logic, writing, research and debate, fitness

Job: Law career (Private Attorney Branch)

Rules:

Be the typical nerdy teen. Embrace the stereotype at its fullest.

Always excel in school 

Complete the nerd brain aspiration as a teenager.

Frequent intellectual lots like libraries and museums.

If you can, become a valedictorian and/or achieve early graduation.

Start a romantic, toxic relationship with the first sim who is constantly rude to you.

Your sim has to still be a teen.

Break-up and get together again frequently.

Enter the U-Brite Communications program as your parent did, but drop out shortly after. You want something else in life. 

Improve your physical appearance and start working out. After your makeover, change your bookworm trait for the self-absorbed trait. 

Move out on your own, live the party life and date around! But keep coming back to your toxic ex.

Don’t have any source of income after moving out.

Have an accidental pregnancy with your ex, but don’t take responsibility for the baby. 

Have another accidental pregnancy with one of your affairs, and also don’t take responsibility. 

This other sim must have the good or cheerful trait.

After spending all your simoleons on parties and vice and, go back to the family home and enter the Law career to become a private attorney. 

After getting your life in order again, look for your previous partners and decide to take care after the kids they had with you. 

Don’t have any more kids after that.

Start building up both romantic relationships again, but keep them in the shadows from one another. Never make a final decision.

Write books as a hobby, but only publish: non-fiction, poetry and biography books.

The least disciplined child will be the heir.

GEN 5 - THE ADVENTURER

You grew up in a millionaire family that has everything you could imagine, but somehow you always felt like you didn't belong to it. There is a certain indomitable spirit of adventure within yourself and when you came of age, you decided to fully embrace it. Your parent disapproves and would rather have you not prefer an unstable life of artistic adventure to the safety of a well-established profession... but he has no place to tell a you a thing, knowing the kind of life he led in his young years. Leaving all the responsibility of the house and the family business to your half-brother, you packed your bags and took the first plane to the jungle.

Traits: Active, creative, loves outdoors.

Aspiration: 1) Jungle Explorer 2) Mt. Komorebi Sightseer, 3) Beach Life and 4) Archaeology Scholar.

Skill: Selvadorian Culture, Archaeology, Fishing, Fitness, Singing and Guitar.

Job: Freelance photographer.

Rules:

Always be a laid back, cool type of person. 

Frequent museums and parks as a kid and teenager.

Once you graduate high-school, travel the world to become a nature photographer! Think of a globetrotter-ish kind of generation:

1: Selvadorada. 

Build a luxurious villa as your jungle home (you’re still a millionaire, so no problem with this). You’ll frequent it a lot during the generation.

Complete the Jungle Explorer Aspiration.

Once you reach level 2 of the photography skill, you can travel to the next destination:

2: Mt. Komorebi

Complete the Mt. Komorebi Sightseer Aspiration.

Visit each festival.

Once you reach level 3 of the photography skill, you can travel to the next destination:

3: Sulani

Complete the Beach Life Aspiration

Max the fishing skill.

Max the photography skill.

Be a flirt and have multiple lovers across the worlds, but find true love with one in particular.

Optional 1: have this sim travel with you as a companion.

Optional 2: have your half-brother fall in love with them as well.

Complete 3 collections of your choice.

Become famous by publishing your photographs.

After ending your stay in Sulani, your half brother must die (you can cheat for this). You’ll have to go back to the family home and take care of the generational fortune.

Keep traveling often to Selvadorada, the world you like the most. Work on completing the Archaeology Scholar Aspiration during your short visits. 

Decide to settle down with the sim you fell in love with and form a family of your own. 

Have lots of children.                                     

GEN 6 - THE STAR

You don't understand the tendency of past family heads to get rid of a life full of all sorts of comfort. Dirt? Ew. Luxury and fame are everything to you, but since you were young you had a problem with your appearance and awkward personality. But you know what? That is going to change. You are not interested in a boring company or looking for love: you just want to shine as bright as the sun.

Traits: Self-absorbed, materialistic, high-maintenance.

Aspiration: World-Famous celebrity.

Skills: Charisma, mischief, acting.

Job: Social Media (Internet Personality), Actor (optional)

Rules:

Be the “ugly duckling” of the family while growing up. 

Have the socially awkward trait as a teen.

Have your first puppy love as a pre-teen / teenager, but be heartbroken. Never believe in true love after that. 

Have a bad relationship with every single family member. 

Move out on your own to a luxurious home as soon as you become a young adult and cut ties with the rest of the family, previous friends and acquaintances. You’re on your own now. 

Have a radical image change after becoming independent.

Enter and reach the top of the Social Media career as an Internet Personality. Only then you can enter the Actor career if you wish. 

You can only actively work as a Young Adult.

Start building your own fortune through fame and gold-digging. 

Have an accidental pregnancy and use it to your convenience. Keep the baby. 

Never develop the parenting skill

Have a bad relationship with your kid

Mold your child to your image. They must be conventionally beautiful.

Your child must be well educated and skilled, but have terrible character value traits.

If you marry, become a widow everyone shows their sympathy to. Keep being a gold digger after that and never remarry.

Quit your job(s) right after entering the adult lifestage and spend your fortune as if there were no tomorrow. 

The next gen starts when the heir becomes a young adult. By then, you must be broke and have lost all your fame.

GEN 7 - THE HOMEWRECKER

You always meant an instrument for your parent, even before you were born. Thanks to them, you are an expert in the art of manipulation, seduction and performance. You are beautiful, intelligent, cold and calculating. Such confidence and mettle has carried you far from childhood, but now that you're an adult, it's time to think big and not make the same mistakes as your stupid parent... even if it means carrying them around for the rest of your life. Now, time to choose a victim to pay the family debts and live a perfect life.

Traits: Evil, hates children, hot-headed.

Aspiration: 1) Drama llama, 2) Mansion Baron

Skills: Charisma, logic, writing, acting, research and debate.

Job: Salaryperson (Supervisor Branch)

Rules:

Be the perfect, spoiled brat your mother made you since childhood. 

Always have a pristine image, even if you’re broke as hell. People doesn’t need to know your family is in bankruptcy

Become the unreachable, popular meanie in highschool and embrace those vibes throughout teenagedom, but never start a serious relationship. 

Complete the Drama Llama teen aspiration.

Move out on your own as a young adult, but have the previous heir move in with you shortly after to live at your expense. Your parent:

Cannot get a job or have any source of income of any sort.

Has to have the slob trait (you can cheat this),

Has to follow every whim related to their personality, and

Has to spend $5,000 simoleons by the end of each week. If you don’t have the money, add it to a “debt” list you must pay. 

Enter the salaryperson career (Supervisor Branch)  and reach the top of it quickly as a young adult. As soon as you reach it, get relaxed and don’t pay much attention to your career anymore.

Optional: get an university degree that’ll help you get a jumpstart. If you chose to do this, you’ll have to study at home, ask for all the scholarships you can and graduate with honors (of course).

If you get the workaholic lifestyle, go to coaching to get rid of it. 

You must choose only one ultimate spouse candidate.

They must be attractive (to your sim), successful and ridiculously wealthy.

They must be already in a serious romantic relationship of any sort with another sim.

Bonus points if they have at least one child. 

Once you decide on a love interest, develop one-sided feelings for them and do everything in your reach to gain their favor, but they should never love you.

Get to marry your love interest one way or another. Move your sim and the previous heir into their home and enjoy your new fortune :))

Once you marry, adopt your spouse’s last name.

Have only one own child: the result of a one-time affair with another sim.

Use mean interactions only with every child you meet (even your own), any “low-class” sim you meet and service sims. 

Gain the Twisted Heart reward trait.

GEN 8 - THE BEAUTY 

You've lived in a bubble all your life. Despite having a lousy relationship with your parent, they have given you everything you wanted and more: a good education, luxury, travels and gifts. You have always tried to fulfill their expectations and desires... until you met the love of your life in someone you would never have expected. After a terrible argument with your family, you decided to run away with your love and start a new life from scratch. The plan sounded good in your mind, but then you realized that you don't know how to do anything other than being cute.

Traits: Good, Clumsy, Romantic

Aspiration: 1) Admired icon 2) Soulmate 

Skills: None in particular

Job: None in particular

Rules:

Be the stereotypical perfect, beautiful and shallow rich kid. 

Have a bad relationship with your parent, but respect their authority.

Try not to do activities that make you gain "useful" skills (or any skill). Focus only on having fun and enjoying life.

Complete the Admired Icon aspiration in your teenage years.

Have your parent arrange your future marriage with a wealthy sim and start a forced relationship with them, but reject their romantic advances often. 

Enter university in a conventionally well-respected degree program. Become engaged with your current partner at the same time.

Find true love with a service sim.

They can be either one of your household's employees or a NPC like the mailman, a street vendor, a mixologist, a firefighter, etc.

They must be poor.

They must have the creative trait.

They must be a single parent. 

Keep your affair with the service sim in secret until a family member, a close friend or your partner discovers you. Only then you can break your current engagement and escape to live with the love of your life.

Move your sim with their new partner and their child, but bring no simoleons or material goods whatsoever in your inventory.

You can only move to a Needs TLC starter apartment or a starter home with the Gremlins and Grody lot traits. 

The lot or apartment cannot be pretty when you first move to it.

You cannot move out of it on this gen.

Drop out of university but don't get a job. Your spouse must work as a starving artist (Painter career level 1) and don't let them get promoted. 

If you play with mods, keep them in the service career they were when you met them.

Spend all the household's funds on useless things.

Optional: Everytime your sim breaks anything (even the plates while washing them), cheat -$100 simoleons of the household funds.

Get a job only when all your services are cut down after not paying your bills.

You should go through all the basegame careers before deciding on a permanent one. You may start with part-time jobs, then full time careers. 

After you decide on a career to stay, focus on developing the necessary skills for it. When you reach level 3, your spouse can finally work on their artistic career.

If the spouse sells their art, they can't gain fame out of it.

Have only one own child after your household has a stable income. 

GEN 9 - THE NONCOMMITTAL ENTREPRENEUR 

In your family there was never a lack of love, but money definitely was a problem. Your parents made an effort to give you everything that was within their reach, but the truth is that you could never shake off the itch of having something more… something “big”. The thing is that working seriously is not your thing. Never has been, in fact. However, you have brilliant ideas that you just have to materialize with the right investment. But first, let’s go to the party everyone’s talking about.

Traits: Lazy, party animal, noncommittal

Aspiration: 1) Live Fast 2) Party Animal

Skills: Juice fizzing, dancing, entrepreneur skill.

Job: Odd jobs

Rules:

Be a terrible student and surround yourself with lots of friends.

Complete the Live Fast teen aspiration. Then, drop out of high-school but keep living with your parents.

Gain the Irresponsible character value trait.

Earn money only through odd jobs or in-game activities that doesn’t require "intellectual" skills (like writing, programming, painting, etc.), but have Juice fizzing as your main interest.

Frequent party lots every single night like bars, clubs and lounges and spend at least $500 simoleons each night on bar drinks.

Accept every party invite you get, no matter who they are or what your sim is currently doing. 

Meet a love interest in one party night and start a relationship right away, but don't commit to it:

Never take the initiative to go on dates with them, only accept their invitations and make them pay for everything.

Be unfaithful.

Ask them for loans and crash their place frequently to take care of your needs (eating from their fridge, using their shower, etc).

Only visit them to woohoo if your fun levels are low.

Have unprotected woohoo often (try for baby instead of regular woohoo or use mods for this)

Have an accidental pregnancy with your partner and get excited by it. 

Once the baby's born, you'll have to take care of them and your partner will have to dump you and lose all contact. You can then move out of your parents' house.

Now that you're a parent, take your side hustles more seriously and even get a part time job if you decide to, but keep partying at nights and spending most of your earned money on vice.

Don't have any more kids and try to nurture your child as much as you can.

Have an unexpected death while the heir is a child.

GEN 10 - THE (UN)LUCKY MIXOLOGIST

When you were little, you listened with amazement to all kinds of stories that your father told you about the adventures and misadventures of your ancestors. That’s why you have always been a dreamer who wants to achieve success and, above all, to know true love, but that is something that only happens on TV. It seems life had other plans for youm and the only thing left is to work hard and try to move on with a smile.

Traits: Good, foodie, music lover.

Aspiration: 1) Master Mixologist 2) Soulmate

Skills: Mixology, DJ mixing, cooking and baking.

Job: Culinary career (Mixologist Branch)

Rules:

Since you'reunderage, move into a shelter or an orphanage.

Once you become a teen, dropout of high school and earn money through odd jobs and buy a dj mixing station. Only then you can start working in secret as a freelance dj in local clubs and bars:

To do so, create an alternative persona or character your sim must disguise as whenever they're on a show. 

Save all the money you earn through tips.

Don't gain fame.

Once your sim becomes a young adult, join the culinary career and help out at the shelter/orphanage until you have enough money to move out on your own, but keep presenting as a dj each night.

Buy and move to the starter home the founder fixed.

Present yourself regularly at the bar your founder worked at as a dancer, and also work as a hired mixologist some nights. You'll earn $300 per night.

If you have mods that adjust to this, feel free to use them!

Have 10 failed relationships throughout your Young Adult lifestage. Give up on finding love after your last relationship.

The relationships will only count if you get to become boyfriends or more and get to break up, divorce, cancel engagements or separate through other circumstances. 

Once you become an Adult, fall madly in love with a sim you meet in one of your work nights. This sim:

Must be an elder.

Must be visiting the lot you're at for the first time.

Must be super rich. 

Start a sugar-ish relationship with your love interest. Have them gift your sim money ($1,000 simoleons) everytime they see each other. You decide if they keep, donate or sell the gifts.

Break up with the love interest, but get back shortly after and get into a serious relationship.

Only then, start working on the soulmate aspiration with this sim.

Move in with the elder sim only when you have a full romance bar.

If the elder sim has family, make them disapprove of your relationship together.

Wait a minute… isn't the story kind of repeating itself?

You decide what happens next ;)

[minzart]

Hi minzi I'm here for BCBC but your recent post with your OC art with them spilling the tea... I need to know more about these two lads, I am Intrigued

First things, I'm really happy your are enjoying the fic, second:

YOU ARE ASKING ABOUT MY OCS?!

[The artist has recieved the green card to bonb oc lore, be ready for a long read bellow]

ANYWAYS THOSE TWO MY BELOVEDSSSS, easily the favorite children

Left: Mia, 24, she/her, changeling

Right: Prince(oficial name to be decided yet), 23, he/him(for now), "demon"/kobolt(gotta see if the race is trademarked but if not then its the official name)

They are a duo from the adult arc of a comic I'm writting :D, got the first 5 volumes(bela lua chronicles), the child arc, in a nice time-line, and am currently working on the script of volume 1, got to chapter 3

These two, in that form, are only going to apear after volume 5, so in the adult arc

However, Mia(Miranda) will appear as one of the main characters in kid form:

^ this is her with her brother( jointed households tipe of thing) Cadu, the main main boy, she is 13 he is 12 there

Prince will be at maybe hinted at in volume 3 or 5, since one of his uncles is one of the main treats of this story

IN SHORT CONTEXT: since 13, after the events of the main story, Mia is kept under constant surveillance and experiments of an organization dedicated to hunt down ocultist and demons, for now they are called EXECUTORS

Meanwhile, in the main story, we follow Cadus perspective in the adult arc as he joins the EXECUTORS, like his father before him, and his curent antagonist is King(place holder name bc Princes father isn't named yet), and his many attempts of settling and conquering human cities

Cadu up to that point in theory won't have a narrative foil, he is the next generation, and his mentor is to have direct paralels and attitudes with King, hence Prince enters the game

His first introduction is to be his charade, he is cunning, he is flamboyant, he is always demanding attention and is the second head of the kingdom, his father is very busy with conquering so he is left with having to deal with the political swing and senators bullshit, as well as paperwork

That, his upbeat and arrogant attitude, is not his personality, it's his mask, he, like his father, is born with a condition, no matter how many human souls he consumes(the magic sistem: demon eats human soul? Gains magic powers, human eats demon soul? Gains magic powers), he will never be able to use magic, so he has to play and bluff his way to keep power and his fathers favoritism(the concept of heir is different for them)

That makes him weak, that makes him a target, he has to dela with ridicule constantly and fight with words only to maintain the minimal respect he has gained, he is, at the end of the day stressed as fuck, and since he can only work, and deal with the hierach stupidity, he has few loyal allies(read friends)

And that's where Mia comes in

One day his father gets a plan, he needs the EXECUTORS distracted from his affairs, so, what better distraction than a prison break out of the most dangerous ocultist?

Sending his son(who he knows is damn good at infiltration and a sneaky little shit) to make the break out while he leads a raid in a human city, that's when Prince meets Mia

At the deeps of the EXECUTORS prison cells, lies a woman, a beast in human form, the sole survivor of the cult The Esculptors, the first of her kind, a true first born, the only one who survived her own sacrifice, The first Daughter

The only one who didn't get out of her cell when the door opened, and that intrigues the Prince, since she was one of the five in solitary, in theory one of th deadliest, why isn't she going out?

"There is no place for me to go" she says

"... I could give you one" he answers

And that's how Prince has now an "attack dog", and soon, a very loyal friend, loyalty that he,against all he has done up until that point to himself and others, reciprocate in the same note:

Him and Mia are gonna be the "vilain main duo" to Cadu and Emily(his best friend and... ex-complicated aituationship with Mia), the next generation that will pick and change the world, that kinda stuff

In Cadu and Emily, we explore the EXECUTORS side, the things going on behind the scenes where we learn that "demons" and humans are the damn same, exploring the magic system. While in Prince and Mias's side, we explore the cultural difference, the political intrigue, the why's of the two worlds being apart and the revelation that actualy love these two world are unnaturally apart they should be one and the same so let's merge them again

Princes arc is gonna be to create a stable support sistem for him to be himself, those clotes in the art are in his mid term, still eye-catching but not as much as they were, bc he prefers more dark and neutral colors

A fun thing I want to make them is that... well, it is me we are talking about I love gender non conforming pairs, they are my jam, and I decided to explore that in the cultural diference, as clotes

Mia, to human standards is very much a bunch/masc inclined, baggy clotes, monochrome colors, generic sports gear, but to "demons", that I have as base the fact that male cobras are vibrant and female cobras are more muted colors, is text book example of femininity, and that's important bc in the child arc, and why in canon Emily and Mia would never work, is that femininity in masculinity is Mia whole thing

In the child arc, Emily ^, has a big crush on Mia, the way she shows this is by trying to share extreme feminine things with her, she wants Mia to wear feminine clothes bc she thinks she would look cuter in them, very innocent stuff, but the problem is... she is pushy and that drives Mia away, she likes being sporty, she likes being neutral, she likes baggy clothes, selfsteam is not an inssue the inssue is people being pushy with their wants over hers

And that continues in the adult arc, when Emily discovers Mia is alive and looking like this:

The little crush resurges and now that she is older she knows what it is officially, while Cadu is in denial that's his sister, Emily is in denial Mia is by her own choice with the "demons" and wants her back so badly, but Mia... never considered Emily important, that was Cadu and he... is not well, not in great terms right now, so any talk she has with the woman is only testing her patience, and when she explodes is the epitome of Emily finaly moving on and changing and Mia opening up to Prince

Then we got Prince, wearing vibrant colors, very much eye-catching mannerisms and "personality", that is him playing the part as very masculine and "dangerous", in reality he is very quiet and prefers monochrome tones, and only after solidifying this loyalty that is happening between him and Mia is when he will start to open up and be more authentic, bc now if someone insults him, and he can't lay a finger in them bc politic stuff and allies, Mia will, she has cultivated the attack dog persona for a reason

Do yeah, that's Mia and Prince sumirazed lore, leaving her child arc story, his problem with his dad and mom, the political rivalry, just the important beats that these two will play on and with each other

She is the Dragon to his Villain, the comander to his army, he is the second chance of humanity, the fellow ankward social bean

They are romantic/queerplatonic(depending in my mood) but will never even kiss or say ilu in canon story♡

My gender nonconforming traumatized children♡

For any other demon Mia is apathetic and a danger, for Prince she is just an introverted

For any other demon Prince is an annoying attention seeking whore, for Mia he is just an introverted forced to be an ambverted

She has to drag him to bed bc his workaholic ass has to double shift since his dearest dad has not yet answered three piles of paper work since last week, he has to remind her and force her to eat since, you know, losing all that was dear to her(saw her mom die, and explosion to her face making ehr lose half of it and a limb, as well as thinking Cadu was dead) at age 12 has fucked up her brain so hard she sometimes gets back to the bad cycle that was prison of selfstarvation

They will make each other better much to the despair of everyone else(the demon concil, the Executors, Princes rivals, Mias depresion demons etc)

[nekomata-yarn-collector]

Yeah whooo yippeee lore questions!!!! Now according to the number generator i have open im going to hand you questions: 33, 28, and 43 [ from Fenneckitsune]

thank you for the ask! <3

33. the traditions taught to youngsters in your clan

An important one that comes to mind right off the bat is how the clan deals with their deceased. Aera is the clan's undertaker, and leads said ceremony. Being sad by the loss is understandable and there's no shame in it, Aera will say; but they also remind that the deceased are now in good hands.

The god Avior will lead them to a peaceful rest, while Cygol will walk them back to a new life if they decide they'd like to start again.

The ceremony is often quiet, with the dead buried at the edge of the clan's territory. They're buried with something that was important to them - part of their collection, something they wore that was given by a loved one, something sentimental, etc. Warriors who weren't close with the deceased will stand watch alongside the enchanters, to protect the ceremony from dangerous energies that the Forest may try to send.

Unfortunately, because the Forest constantly shifts, the grave isn't likely to remain where it was placed - so rather than a traditional marker, Malcolm will plant a tree that they feel can be associated with the deceased.

Hatchlings are taught from a young age the importance of this ceremony, and they take part in it by creating small trinkets that can be hung from the sapling that Malcolm planted as a parting gift to the dead. The clan believes that these gifts tell Avior that the dead was a good soul and well-loved.

Trees with small trinkets prevent disruption to the already volatile Forest - while still allowing for some sort of marker.

(*note: my lore ignores site lore, so there's no risk of Emperors)

28. an artifact or magical item

If you take a look at almost every one of the dragons in my Collectors (main lair) tab, you might notice an apparel piece that just about everyone has in common...

The birdskull necklaces most of my clan wears are enchanted by Embra to keep the wearer safe from a lot of the Forest's malevolent energies. It's not fool-proof, of course, but the enchantment is enough to at least stop the most common/basic energies from being able to steal the wearer's soul.

The only exceptions are ancients/hatchlings for obvious reasons (they do wear them in-lore even if they can't in-game), Suni (has a more decorative necklace that's been enchanted instead since he's the clan's ambassador and wanted to look the part), and the triad that consists of Tages, Lyndel, and Gharil (altered souls, so the necklaces they wear instead allows them to maintain their draconic forms instead of the forms of the animals their souls were combined with.)

The reason for using bird skulls, specifically, is how easy it is for the clan to amass large quantiles of them.

43. who leads your clan

Darklight and Valor lead the clan as a pair. They weren't the original leaders, but took on that job when the founders both disappeared.

They share leadership duties fairly equally - albeit Valor is the sole one to vet new members to the clan due to 1) that she has the ability to sense when someone is lying, and 2) Darklight, being half-claimed (half of his soul was taken by the Forest, which often affects physical appearance like in his case) can be terrifying to those who haven't met him before. Valor is a much more inviting face.

[general-kalani]

$15/400 for the new monitor I have in mind! I have no commission work at the moment, feel free to send something my way <3 two for one is still active, if that incentivises anyone!

Here's a list of commissions I've completed for those of you wanting to commission but are on the edge about it as well <3

If you don't want me to publicly post that you've commissioned, let me know and I won't do so but will still note down that [anonymous] has paid for something.

With the new Predator and Alien movies out and such, they're also major options!!

Prices are in AUD and options under the cut for those who don't want to go to the Ko-Fi

Dislaimer: I do not offer refunds, I prefer to keep constant communication with the buyer and I tend to stream on discord to the buyer to see in real time what they want and what they don't want.

Ko-Fi listings: Whenever you're too lazy to add a new muse to your list and write up a bio for it, you have the Character biographies! Being $10 per character you can say good bye to worrying about. (On google docs only, I can enable editing however if you feel I did smth wrong, you want to add something in, etcetc).

Anime content is for those who just want gifs or icons based on their favourite character from an anime like Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Macross. This is $5 per three gifs, $1 per 100 pictures(unedited) OR 1 icon.

Greg Bryk content is the same, but just for one specific actor: Greg Bryk! $5 per three gifs, $1 per 100 pictures(unedited) OR 1 icon, you can also specify what show, movie, game, and whatever else he might've been in for these gifs and pictures/icons.

Voice acting is something I'm tentative on but willing to offer, doing $1 per line you just let me know what you're using it for and I'd love to see how it goes when used!

The Walking Dead content is the same as anime and Greg Bryk content, but can be split between the show and comics! The show however will be the only one to get gifs as the comics do not move since they're pictures. $5 per three gifs, $1 per 100 pictures(unedited) OR 1 icon.

Gifs (non-specific) are for things that don't exactly fall under anything else I have in my listings. Can be done for miscellaneous movies, games or tv shows (Spirit, Atlantis, Stargate, Babylon 5, etc) $5 per two gifs.

Dinosaur gifs are one of the cheapest options for gifs on the listings at $1 per 1 gif, it's super cheap as I love dinosaurs and I will absolutely grab more content when necessary regarding it.

Character pictures & icons are for things not already listed on the listings such as games, episodes of shows, movies, etc. Done at $10 per 200 pictures and $1 per icon.

Writing is something I'm very familiar with and as such, it's $1 per 5 words. If I go over the limit I will not ask for repayment, as it means whatever you prompted me with I had fun with it! I do not accept however NSFW in the form of smut.