#or important in some way...... he himself is included in that. bc of remind

[atopvisenyashill]

king bran

so i’ve lined up my theory on how bran will be king in harrenhal but i was a little lax on details about king bran foreshadowing. there’s the “bran in harrenhal” stuff i’ve outlined which includes-

bran’s connection to the weirwoods & the magical connection the isle of faces has

the whent connection

bran being a metaphorical heir to robb by ruling over the lands robb was born, fought, and died in

the importance of harrenhal as a symbol of both the wasteful excess and hope for the future

but why king bran specifically? well…

ATTEMPTED SLAYING BY THE KINGSLAYER

for one thing, bran is our introduction to the entire series (barring the prologue, rip to 3 icons). he introduces us to the brutality of this world, to the themes of justice, kingship, leadership, to the Others, and to magic. that very important lesson about how the person to pass judgement must swing the sword, and must be sure that the life they're taking is one that deserves to be taken? That comes to us not through Jon, or even Arya, but Bran:

Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

That last sentence in particular is a belief that really sticks in all the kids heads as they go about their journeys, and it is through Bran that we learn it.

But in his second chapter, Bran also introduces us to jaime, cersei, and the main plot twist of the first book which kick starts the war of five kings. before he's pushed from the tower, this is all we know about Jaime-

He’s blonde, he’s named Jaime, and he killed the king.

Then the first thing he does is attempt to slay Bran.

AEGON VI AND THE PISSWATER PRINCE

What’s most interesting to me regarding King Bran foreshadowing is that the story of how Bran survives the sack of Winterfell is very similar to Varys & Illyrio’s story of the pisswater prince. Here is Tyrion’s summary of it-

"And when the pisswater prince was safely dead, the eunuch smuggled you across the narrow sea to his fat friend the cheesemonger, who hid you on a poleboat and found an exile lord willing to call himself your father. It does make for a splendid story, and the singers will make much of your escape once you take the Iron Throne…

and some reminders about Bran, helpfully color coded-

It was not Bran we killed. It was not Rickon. They were only miller's sons, from the mill by the Acorn Water. "I had to have two heads, else they would have mocked me… laughed at me..."

Three times he had sworn to keep the secret; once to Bran himself, once to that strange boy Jojen Reed, and last of all to Coldhands. "The world believes the boy is dead," his rescuer had said as they parted. "Let his bones lie undisturbed. We want no seekers coming after us. Swear it, Samwell of the Night's Watch. Swear it for the life you owe me."

“Hodor must stay with Bran, to be his legs," the wildling woman said briskly. "I will take Rickon with me." “We'll go with Bran," said Jojen Reed. "Aye, I thought you might," said Osha.

Another interesting thing about Bran, the Reeds, and Aegon VI here-

“He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire."

I swear it by earth and water," said the boy in green. "I swear it by bronze and iron," his sister said. "We swear it by ice and fire," they finished together.

BRAN, THE REEDS, AND THE FISHER KING

Now first of all, quick rundown with more color coding. The Fisher King is a character in Arthurian legend, involved in a story with Perceval and the Holy Grail (so you know we’re already cooking here bc Holy Grail stories are baller). The Fisher King is the last in a long line of kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. He is injured at some point, usually in the groin, and is rendered barren by the wound, and his land is a barren wasteland where nothing will grow because he is connected to the land. Only when a prophesied hero comes seeking him will the Fisher King be healed. Perceval, of course, comes seeking him, heals him, and gets the Holy Grail.

Now some of the beats of that story should sound familiar-

Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.

He was going to be a knight," Arya was saying now. "A knight of the Kingsguard. Can he still be a knight?" "No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I'm not dead either.

What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins. He had thought the three-eyed crow would be a sorcerer, a wise old wizard who could fix his legs, but that was some stupid child's dream, he realized now. 

No," said the pale lord. "That is beyond my powers." Bran's eyes filled with tears. We came such a long way. The chamber echoed to the sound of the black river. "You will never walk again, Bran," the pale lips promised, "but you will fly."

Now what’s interesting is in twoiaf we learn about some ancient rulers called the Fisher Queens-

From such we know of the Fisher Queens, who ruled the lands adjoining the Silver Sea—the great inland sea at the heart of the grasslands—from a floating palace that made its way endlessly around its shores.

The Fisher Queens were wise and benevolent and favored of the gods, we are told, and kings and lords and wise men sought the floating palace for their counsel.

And what do you know look at who Bran is traveling with-

“My father taught me. We have no knights at Greywater. No master-at-arms, and no maester.” “Who keeps your ravens?” She smiled. “Ravens can’t find Greywater Watch, no more than our enemies can.” “Why not?” “Because it moves,” she told him.

Jojen Reed was thirteen, only four years older than Bran. Jojen wasn't much bigger either, no more than two inches or maybe three, but he had a solemn way of talking that made him seem older and wiser than he really was. At Winterfell, Old Nan had dubbed him "little grandfather."

When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world. Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods. The singers believe they are the old gods. When singers die they become part of that godhood.

I like to say this about Theon, when he sees Bran's face in the weirwood and thinks, "The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name." that this is partially true - Theon is beloved by the gods but what he doesn't realize is that the old god he is beloved by is in fact Bran Stark. When the old gods weep for Theon and Jeyne, it is Bran weeping for them! So similarly, the way the Fisher Queens in their moving castle were thought to be beloved by the gods the Reeds in their floating castle are beloved by the gods because they are beloved by Bran. This reinforces Bran's connection to the Fisher King imo - just as the old greenseers and singers/cotf are quite literally connected to the land because they have become part of the the weirwood hivemind, Bran has this same connection to the land.

AND what’s more is that the Fisher King story is likely to trace itself back to a Welsh story, of a magical King who gives his sister's hand away, only to learn that she is being mistreated, and musters a host to go save her. During a battle, the King is mortally wounded by an injury in his foot, and as he dies he tells his men to cut off his head and take it to London so he can protect their people from invasion, and for several years after he "dies" his head continues speaking. If that also sounds familair, do you want to know what that man’s name was?

Bran the Blessed.

MELISANDRE'S VISION

Now staying in the realm of magic, we also have this very interesting passage from Melisandre, emphasis mine-

Show me Stannis, Lord, she prayed. Show me your king, your instrument. Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive. She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood. Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky. A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf's face threw back his head and howled.

THE REGENCY OF AEGON III

So warning this is part parallelism and part prediction

The Dance of the Dragons was done, and the melancholy reign of King Aegon III Targaryen had begun.

As he was still but ten years of age, the new king’s first act was to name the men who would protect and defend him, and rule for him until he came of age.

This was a council of which Septon Eustace heartily approved, “six strong men and one wise woman, seven to rule us here on earth as the Seven Above rule all men from their heaven.” Mushroom was less impressed. “Seven regents were six too many,” he said. “Pity our poor king.” Despite the fool’s misgivings, most observers seemed to feel that the reign of King Aegon III had begun on a hopeful note.

So many lords, both great and small, had perished during the Dance of the Dragons that the Citadel rightly names this time the Winter of the Widows. Never before or since in the history of the Seven Kingdoms have so many women wielded so much power, ruling in the place of their slain husbands, brothers, and fathers, for sons in swaddling clothes or still on the teat.

The smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms speak of King Aegon III Targaryen as Aegon the Unlucky, Aegon the Unhappy, and (most often) the Dragonbane, when they remember him at all. All these names are apt. Grand Maester Munkun, who served him for a good part of his reign, calls him the Broken King, which fits him even better. Of all the men ever to sit the Iron Throne, he remains perhaps the most enigmatic: a shadowy monarch who said little and did less, and lived a life steeped in grief and melancholy.

There is also a big focus on the “tax policies” aspect of the story through these two child rulers. Much of Aegon’s regency centers around him butting heads with his guardians while Bran’s ACOK arc sees him as the ruling Stark in Winterfell and learning how to lead with mentors in Maester Luwin & Ser Rodrik Cassell. EYE also think it’s interesting how both Aegon & Bran get some focus on having a lil gaggle of companions around. Aegon has Gaemon, Jaehaera, Viserys, Daenaera, and Larra Rogare, while Bran has the Big Walder, Little Walder, Rickon, Jojen, and Meera. They both feel like very similar groups of kids that are thrown together & running amok with adult supervision that is more lax/not coming from their parents.

There's also just like, a lot of parallels between Baela, Rhaena, Jacaerys, and Aegon with Arya, Sansa, Jon Snow, and Bran. There are several good breakdowns of the Sansa/Arya parallels as well as the Jace/Jon Snow ones, so I won't dig into that here, but I think when you put all this together what you have between Bran and Aegon III is-

Two boy kings who will have a long regency

Both orphaned due to a brutal succession war

Both referred to as "broken" - aegon by munkin, and bran referring to himself

Younger - but not the youngest - brother coming into his seat after his older brother is killed

Both have names that are important in their families & frequently re-used - and in fact both share a name with their uncle

A very rare "winter of widows" where most of the houses are ruled by women due to all the men being dead and their heirs being babies is coming up in the main series

This anti parallel of Aegon being a very melancholy person & Bran being known to be “quick to laugh and easy to love.”

As for his relationships, we have-

His bastard born brother With Some Secret Paternity Going On, who is likely not going to be in the running for King at the end of the war (hopefully um, Jon Snow actually lives unlike poor Jacaerys)

His oldest brother dying at 16 during the war

One sister who is more adventurous and "tomboy"ish, who is associated with ships and travel

Another sister who is more ladylike, who has a largely political arc in the Vale

Both sisters are likely to take leading roles as political players in the aftermath of the war - I do suspect we will get some sort of “Hour of the Wolf” parallels here, just before or after Bran is crowned

SOME CHOICE QUOTES TO LEAVE OFF ON

Bran could perch for hours among the shapeless, rain-worn gargoyles that brooded over the First Keep, watching it all: the men drilling with wood and steel in the yard, the cooks tending their vegetables in the glass garden, restless dogs running back and forth in the kennels, the silence of the godswood, the girls gossiping beside the washing well. It made him feel like he was lord of the castle, in a way even Robb would never know. - Bran II, AGOT

Ahead he glimpsed a pale white trunk that could only be a weirwood, crowned with a head of dark red leaves. - Jon VII, ADWD

[nocturnal-phantoms-fandoms]

Polish Marauders - Where would they be from?

A breakdown of each Marauders Era Character possible place of residence/origin, had they all been Polish, that nobody asked for.

(partially inspired by @lilacella world wide moodboards, that reminded me that 2 years ago my mutuals played this little game “what if the marauders where from X country”. I think I have finally matured enough to actually make such a post)

Starting with the easiest one:

Sirius

Sloth’s Polrius™ is from Warsaw and obviously I agree with this assessment. He needs to be from The Big Important City.

However I do like the idea that he moves (at least temporarily) to Poznań, which has been dubbed Poland’s “queer capital” by some people.

He moves out the moment he gets the chance - to get away from his family, to meet new people, and to finally get to know himself (this is a pun. the name of the city might be coming from the verb “poznać” which means “to get to know” - someone or something knew, oneself, etc - or "to recognize")

Things Poznań is known for include: St. Martin's croissants, City Hall and its Goats (all pictured below), Pyrkon (fan convention; its name draws from the poznanian word for potato: pyra), funny dialect (see: pyra)

James

(this one is based on my assumption that James’s parents lived in Godrics Hollow as well, before James and Lily got married)

Godrics Hollow could be Gryfice or Gryfino (both small towns) near Szczecin. They take their names from the Griffin dynasty also known as House of Griffin that was founded in the 12th century. Both towns, most counties and the whole province have red griffins in their coats of arms.

You know. Like Godric Gryffindor?

Anyways.

Gryfino is right next to the Enchanted Crooked Forest and I mean. Just look at that. It does look like a Harry Potter location.

(I like the name of Gryfice better but Gryfino is located closer to the Crooked Forest, so Im sticking with that one)

Now things are getting a bit less straightforward.

Lily and Severus

For them I have 2 suggestions.:

Łódź - used to be the industrial centre with many textile factories. Since the name of Spinner’s End hints at the involvement in textile production - either cotton or wool spinning - this impression of Cokeworth being involved with textile industry stuck with me (tho I dont think we are ever told what was Cokeworth actually producing). However, Łódź is the 4th biggest city, not a small town like Cokeworth, and isnt as much of the textile industry anymore.

(Upper) Silesia - the other highly industrialised region, focused on mining (mostly coal), metalurgy etc. It has its own regional language called Silesian (I am not a linguist so idk whats the status of Silesian - some say its a dialect, some say its a separate regional language and are currently trying to get it recognised as such. idk its complicated (like everything about Silesia tbh). you can read some articles on wikipedia in silesian tho.). It fits the Cokeworth vibe a bit better, but it could also be compared to Wales (region focused on mining ✅ has a distinct dialect/language ✅ complicated history/relationship regarding the country/state its a part of ✅)

(with this one I ran out of creative juices and couldnt find any nice photos on unsplash or wikipedia so I used the posters by Ryszard Kaja. side note: Katowice is the capital city of the Silesian Province but its not the only province that can be referred to when talking about Silesia. like I said its complicated)

Remus

While trying to decide where he could be from, my first thought was: he has to be from the south of Poland - in that case, Sirius and James can make fun of the way he speaks (it doesnt matter how strong or noticeable one’s dialect is, I feel like southerners will always be made fun of). If Remus is from a town/village in the south he can hate on Warsaw people bc thats the preferable pastime of people not from Warsaw apparently (this also applies to Lily and Severus ofc)

So.

If we assume that Wales = Silesia (only for the purposes of this tumblr post!), then he can be from Silesia (as I mentioned: mining ✅ distinct dialect/language ✅ kind of a separate-ish region ✅)

But. If we want to lean into the sheep aspect of Wales (rather than the coal mining aspect) I would suggest Podhale - one of the mountain regions in the south. It is big on sheep ✅ has a rather noticeable dialect ✅ and having lots of sheep means: lots of woollen sweaters ✅ (crucial for Remus characterisation in any and all AUs)

other points for your consideration:

there is a breed of shepherd dogs originating from this region (Tatra Shepherd Dog, in polish: Owczarek Podhalański) (its quite large but sadly white not black like Padfoot. i still think it counts for Wolfstar points)

there is a fanart of Remus (and Lily) inspired by folk attire from Podhale region

pictured: Morskie Oko (in English: Eye of the Sea) also included in @polaroidcats Remus moodboard for my Erasmus AU; oscypek - regional smoked cheese from sheep milk; folk attire from Podhale region from this postcard, Tatra Shepherd Dog and Zakopane Style architecture (Zakopane is one of the main towns of the Podhale region)

Peter

I genuinely have no idea. We have no canon info that I could base any headcanons on. lets not talk about how I initially forgot about him all together. There are a few towns that used to be made fun of for no reason, so maybe he could be from one of them for the meme sake? I dont know

Hogwarts

How do they all meet? In Poland people would rather go to local high schools (as in: within their province). But if we want to gather people from all over the country our best shot is a university - and the oldest one is the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Cracow) founded in 1364.

ending notes

Im not worrying about the details or technicalities now, like how do they meet if they pick different majors at the uni (because then their classes won’t even share buildings). This is just a silly headcanon post that took me way too long to put together than it should

Im sorry if I disappointed anyone by not including more characters. I said "Marauders Era Character" instead of just "Marauders" bc I wanted to include Lily and Severus too. I dont know where I would place any other characters bc in most cases I dont have enough info (like with Peter...)

I hope Im not spreading any misinformation with this post. I wish I could say more on the topic of dialects and regional langauges and explain how it all works in Poland but im not a linguist and dont feel qualified enough lol

Poland is divided into Województwa which is anglicised as Voivodeships. However I decided to refer to them as “provinces”, even if thats not the correct term, for simplicity/brevity sake

all photos (unless stated otherwise) are from either unsplash.com or wikipedia. and yes i made all the moodboards

[aoipierce]

repost from an old discord rant that i think is relevant

this post was for a different fandom but i think this applies to every fandom including ssmy/kghr. i may be misinterpreting but it reminds me of the people saying kghr makes them uncomfortable and think they're toxic/abusive just cause the characters experience negative emotions openly. and thinking ssmy is the morally superior couple bc they are more wholesome or whatever.

the last part especially "repressing negative emotions is not a sign of moral virtue" for the peeps that love to say "sasaki would never do that!" sasaki is going to go off one day and its gonna explode in everyones faces and its going to be glorious. not to say he hasn't externalized his negative emotions before but. i feel like that man is repressed as hell and REALLY tries to hold back for miyano. that does not make him morally superior to kagi, who lets his feelings known right away even if it puts hirano on the spot.

or who knows maybe miyano will be the one to snap. he is already keeping stuff from sasaki that he doesnt know how to word yet. i just need ssmy to really reach a point where they express uncomfortable feelings and maybe have a fight about it. it feels out of character to even say it cause they almost never have moments like that compared to kghr who fight like an old married couple. like it's uncomfortable and awkward but at least they have those important conversations.

(or idk maybe i need to reread ssmy and refresh my memory)

actually it's soo interesting cause that probably likely stems from sasaki's fear of hurting miyano the way he hurt his sister. he has no control of his strength and is afraid to lose his temper or get carried away by his own emotions which makes sense based on his past experiences, but it doesn't mean his relationships are healthier for it.

in short ssmy having no conflict is def not a positive thing as some ssmy fans make it out to be. the thing they praise sasaki for when they compare him to kagi (he will repress himself for miyano, he's scared of hurting him) like it's a virtue.. is not.

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

A Long Rant About The Koffin Trio

Note: So, this is my first (really) long post about this fangame, and to be honest, I was debating whether or not to even publish it. I still decided to do it since not a lot of folks talk about ts!underswap, and I wanted to give my two cents regarding my three favorite characters.

More important note: If you think it's gonna trigger you to read about Harry/Larry and Harry/Larry/KK as a found family, better click off this post. Maybe it's my inner aroace speaking, but I personally don't see the romantic appeal at all. Good for you if you do! I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's opinion; diversity is great after all :)

For those of you who are still here, I will start off by saying this:

Harry and Larry depend on Count Koffin-K for so much. I'm tempted to say EVERYTHING.

He genuinely feels like their father figure. I mean, this sentient fedora gave them a job while they were both living lives that were... bad.

He isn't cruel when they do something stupid and instead just looks deadpan. Sure, Koffin-K's not a perfect boss; he yells at the two of them and insults them (dude really needs to work on his temper), but I found it sweet how both Harry and Larry felt safe enough to tell him the truth here, which to me counts for something (pun intended) ↓

He even pranks them sometimes ↓

Koffin may not be perfect (he's gotta keep up the "evil" persona) but at least he 1) tries to give Harry and Larry a hint that he cares for them (has them both secretly do his laundry without them telling each other) 2) actually admits that he cares for them both equally (in his own way) 3) attempts to solve their disagreement despite him not gaining anything out of it

How they met is also interesting to me.

Based on their backstory, Harry and Larry were clearly hesitant to work for Koffin, but when they actually started the job the next day, I imagine that their conversation went something like this (either during the first day or at some point early on in their career):

H: "Larry, he could be like the dad we never had and provide for us and we could have all da money that we never did, see?"

L: "Huhuhu, yeah! Don't forgets da food!"

...and that's how the parade float came to be. I think Koffin secretly appreciates they made it, even though he says how he wanted the thing "as far away as possible" right after saying this line ↓

He also makes this face later on at the festival when he sees the float again cause it reminds him that the three of them are a family despite Harry and Larry getting on his nerves half the time but I can't include the screenshot bc of the picture limit

Heck, the two even built their house outside the keep, which to me suggests that they don’t ever plan on leaving Koffin.

Harry does mention his mother, and we learn that he's into embroidery (both making me think he's a a 'mama's boy'; maybe she taught him how to embroider)...

...but even on the ts!us wiki, the only relationship dynamic the two have is with Koffin-K himself.

Weirdly enough, we only know that Harry has a mom, but not a dad

Even though he was definitely unaware of this, Koffin liked Harry and Larry FOR BEING THEMSELVES. This is really important to me.

He saw something in them that others did not, even if it was initally just "your names rhyme and you give me the 'goofy henchmen' vibe." He sees them both as useful for what he needs them for. It may not be much, but it's exactly what Koffin's looking for.

In other words:

THE WAY HARRY AND LARRY ARE IS ENOUGH FOR COUNT KOFFIN-K. I mean, why look at resumes of competent potential employees when you can hire two idiots who are just as goofy as you

Exactly why Harry and Larry are so loyal to Koffin-K is unknown, but based on my interpretation, it has to do with 1) them desperately needing a father figure/someone to rely on 2) Koffin giving Harry and Larry a home, food, money, and a job that also allows them to slack off and finally enjoy life, and 3) him making them feel needed. Maybe not appreciated, even though he subtly tried to, but definitely needed. Serving under him became their purpose.

In other words, I think they're so loyal because Koffin "chose" them, even if he did that subconsciously.

Harry got the chance to be more than just a janitor. Imo, he was hesitant to work for Koffin at first because he was afraid that he would lose the only sense of security he had. I think he lived with his mom at the time, considering his low-wage job This explains why he wants to be rich (to make up for all the things he couldn't afford).

It also explains why Larry loves food so much (he literally slept under a dumpster bag and if he was both homeless AND unemployed, it would mean that he had to either be a beggar or eat from the trash. Either way, eating good food was out of the question.

It's also possible that Larry had a janitor job just like Harry (but unlike him, nowhere to live). I say that he might have been a janitor, since Koffin mentions how they could both do better than mopping floors forever, but maybe it was just an assumption on Koffin's side.

Whatever the case, their lives sucked.

There was also this one moment I wanna talk about, where Larry called Koffin-K stupid, and Harry pretty much agreed. So I asked myself why they reacted this way.

Maybe because it was easier to convince themselves that they didn't care about their boss than deal with the fact that he (maybe) always saw them as nothing but 'lowly servants'.

Seriously, Harry said out loud what they both wanted most of all. And that something was for Koffin-K to value them. This was more important to them than money and food COMBINED, considering their entire arc was about learning that Koffin needed them both equally

Maybe they were worried about getting fired, but I honestly don't think Koffin ever wanted to do that to them, no matter how many times they messed up.

Maybe they didn't want to be honest and admit to Koffin that he's a total dumbass so they wouldn't get in trouble with him. I mean, they did want to gain his validation/appreciation/approval/love, so it makes sense that they would do anything to get and remain in his good books.

I think the third scenario is the most likely one, tbh.

Might be a nitpick, but notice how Harry and Larry are walking next to each other here, but Koffin-K's at the back, just sorta... isolated, like he's not their equal? This is why I'd rather see him as their father figure than an older brother. The way I look at it, the oldest sibling is usually in charge, yeah, but there's still a level of closeness and familiarity between the siblings, whereas Harry and Larry hardly know anything about Koffin-K, ESPECIALLY how lonely he really is. Koffin's the one who gave them a purpose, became their boss, and as a result, they began looking up to him. In contrast, the two spend 24/7 together, bicker, and are practically inseparable, like brothers

Larry also explains how Koffin-K doesn't like leaving his study, but clearly neither Harry nor Larry reflected on why that is and just assumed it's because Koffin's 'stupid.' This reaction kinda rubbed me the wrong way at first, but then I remembered both of these dudes are street rats who don't know any better.

Look, I know the Boogiemen were supposed to fit this common "goofy villain's sidekicks" trope, but both of them clearly grew up in poor conditions, have daddy issues (imo), and feel worthless/useless.

That's why they want Koffin-K's attention so badly.

They need a father figure to reassure them that they're useful, important, and loved.

All this makes them three-dimensional and relatable, just like most UT/DR/UTY characters. It feels like everyone in these games goes through some kind of deep arc, and I feel like this is supposed to be the Boogiemen's

Sure, Harry and Larry are funny at first glance, and they're great at being comic reliefs, but at their core, they are misguided guys who come from poverty/homelessness. I kinda wish the feisty four from uty had more going for them just so I could psychoanalyze them all

Even though it's probably been a few years since they joined Koffin, at least some part of Harry and Larry doesn't seem to believe that they can finally enjoy themselves, even if it means doing hooligan stuff and boring chores. That's why they're 'superficial' and goof off and will grab any opportunity to act childish and materialistic.

A typical case of age regression

What lies beyond the surface is incredibly sad to me.

Now, this is sort of like a bonus section bc I want to explain WHY exactly I see Harry & Larry as brothers, and WHY I think they see Koffin as a dad again, maybe it's bc I'm aroace and I see family relationships everywhere, but the stuff below REALLY REALLY reminds me of these types of dynamics:

They threw insults at each other and had a literal fistfight over which one of them Koffin appreciated/liked more

They cried HARD (of joy) when Koffin told them they're both equally useful and useless, so they no longer had to be at each other's throats. He also said how he recognized that they're passionate about being his lackeys, even if their teamwork needed, well, work

I think it's sweet how they built the float 'within their first days of henchmenry,' according to KK. They could have easily NOT included him, but had apparently warmed up to him pretty soon

Harry wanted to call Koffin to save them + I love how he's CERTAIN he'll do it

Both yelled for Koffin (reminds me of Axis calling out for Chujin for some reason)

Larry called Koffin Keep their home (could have easily said that they left it at the keep...reminds me of the times Starlo called The Wild East Clover's home I really need to stop with the uty parallels)

They cheered for him (and got hit in the face with books)

They get in trouble with him

They apparently copied two of his attacks these 3 are so similar except that Koffin is a more 'head in the clouds' kind of goofy while Harry & Larry are more grounded... but still goofy

And this line... "And quit arguing, you two!" sounded so parental, istg

I forgot to mention some stuff:

After Koffin tells everyone to go to the festival, Harry and Larry quickly look left and right, like they're wondering where he is and/or what to do now that he isn't there. Poor guys really are dependent on him and like to be in his presence

They talked about Koffin a LOT throughout this game. Their conversations are either about 1) Koffin and what they're gonna do to please him, 2) Them bickering, or 3) Some shenanigans they get themselves into. Larry even remembers how Koffin-K always says: "If you're slacking, put some hustle into it"

Koffin doesn't treat any other lackey the way he does Harry and Larry, and none of the other lackeys seek his admiration like the two do

Harry and Larry were both jealous af of Chara for getting all the attention (right after they got into Koffin's study Harry said "Now whaddya need us in here for, see?" and I immediately thought that he wanted to add "you have a new favorite child lacky now so why don't assign more chores TO THEM")

Like I'm not sure if they were meant to come across to us players as a family but for some reason that's how they came across to me since day 1

The actual reason why I see them in this light is not just bc I love found family (even tho I do. a lot), but bc I feel like it would give Harry & Larry more depth than a romance between any of them

[bibibbon]

On the bluesky saw a post talking about the flying nomu.

And...it hits me how Shig saw a nomu going especially after Izu and ....did nothing. He didn't find that odd.

Did Izu recognized the flying nomu as the lackey?

Once again, the Nomus are wasted in this damn story.

So my ask here is

1) how possum/shig controls the Nomus? Bc if we go with "they have animal mentality" well, you can dominate a lion but you need to put work and shig didn't show us that

2) what happened after? Like the flying nomu was killed by Stain(if I remember right) and then...no one makes any investigation or smth??.bc I have two theories here either people did some research and find out who the kid was and opt to be silent or no one knew not even Izu and the bk's lackeys died completely unknown and uncared. Not even his grandpa gave a fuck.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

Agreed the nomu's do have a lot of wasted potential within the series and its a shame horikoshi didn't expand on them more whether be the horror, social and societal aspects surrounding the nomu's.

To answer your questions izuku didn't recognise that the nomu that attacked him was one of bkaugo's childhood friends. This seemed to be just a tiny easter egg for the readers and its a shame that it's never brought up again because

1)it would of played well into izuku's characterisation since he is really observant

2) would of added the horror into mha early on. You could have izuku doubting himself and saying oh this nomu kind of reminds me of tsuaba but then trying to brush that concern of until its brought back up

3) it would of connected early links to Dr garaki and important and underutilised plot point in the series

(Its weird hori did say that he would delve deeper into the nomu's but never truly did)

I don't think shigaraki sought to particulaty control the nomu's in the hosu arc he wanted them to cause chaos and bring awareness to his ideals and himself which is something that both the nomu's and stain helped achieve for him.

Now in terms of controlling nomu we know when they are given a lot of quirks they practically become braindead and their intelligence is significantly reduced. Some including I speculate that a brainwashing type of quirk or Dr garaki wires their brains to take instructions (however none is confirmed).

Yet this process is interesting because it suggests that a nomu can break out of that thought process like kurogiri and then what?

We know within the series that research was done on who the nomu's are and detective naomasa reports to all might about the nomu's identities. Iam assuming that this should be done for all of the nomu's discovered but this information was kept secret and never leaked to the public and therefore never leaked to izuku.

When the information was leaked after the war arc it was labeled to be so big to be the final nail in the coffin of hero society in general and ended up taking away any trust people had in heroes and hero society.

Nomu's could of been explored in multiple ways like:

Blurring the line between people and easily discardable puppets. It would make society question what it means to be a person since it can't be established by looks and it could tie in heteramorphis discrimation

Can heroes kill nomu's would society allow that? (Ending does talk a bit about this)

How are nomu's created?

Imagine one of your loved ones is a nomu and the way it would damage people like the situation to do with tsuaba and kurogiri

Puppets that can kill maybe the hpsc would want them if they can train them?

How are they created? What does Dr garaki do and how does he use them? Maybe they can be an ultimate super weapon of his that he uses to do his work

[via-l0ve]

Thank you so much for doing my request. I loved it. Could please write abt the Spn boy when they like the reader but reader is dating someone else who they are very happy with. I'm in the mood for angst.

I Love You, So (Please, let me go) {SPN pref!} ❤️‍🩹

a/n: i love angst. unrequited love is so great but i hate it but i love it lolol. hope you enjoy babes!! (title is a song lyric from ‘I Love You So’ by The Walters!) (also i didn’t include crowley bc all i could think about was him killing the s/o LMFAOOO so i decided to not)

warnings: angst, overall sadness lol, drinking/alcohol

Dean:

i think it would be hard for him to accept and grasp

he’d try and distract himself with one night stands with other women, knowing he’d leave them in the morning or in the dead of night

every time he’d see your s/o and you he’d die a little inside

he really thinks he could treat you so much better

he’d flirt with you but you’d shrug it off as just playful interaction and it would be really sad for him to see

but he dosent want to ruin your relationship

if anyone knows how hard the hunter life can be - it’s dean

he’d give anything to have a ‘normal’ life

it just sucks that he can’t have it with you </3

Sam:

sam tries to be unbothered

he gets jealous though

he sees your partner touch you so innocently and his blood boils

but he tries to keep his cool

for your sake

if your partner ever made you upset he would get so protective

always taking your side fr

even if it’s over something dumb or even if you’re CLEARLY in the wrong

sammy will side with you

it really does break his heart though

i think deep down he’d think it’s a good thing bc he’s definitely got some deep rooted trauma from all of his past lovers dying so gruesome

so even though he’s literally heartbroken he’ll deal with it bc he sees that you’re happy

but he daydreams about you and what it would be like to grow old together </3

Castiel:

i don’t think cas would totally get it

but i think he’d understand that he couldn’t make any moves on you

he’d be frustrated

it’s not only bad that he’s feeling this way for a human, let alone a human who can’t even feel the same way about him :(

he wishes he could’ve met you before your partner

you’ll catch him staring at you

he talks about you

too much for it to be normal

just simple things

“did you know how much y/n likes *insert thing*?”

“i watched this television clip and it reminded me of y/n.”

everything reminds him of you

he just wants to be close to you and as important to you as you are to him :(

[bonnielunkas]

Ooooo!!!! For the ask thing, how about 18, 25 and 34 for the AAF gang? 👀👀 (Not including the chapter 2 characters!!)

18 - andy's most important belonging is his bandana!! it was a christmas gift from a VERY certain someone, hence their attachment to it 👀 / margret has a tea set that's been in her family for YEARS that she keeps in pristine condition, she's absolutely in love with the look and it reminds her of her parents :] / claus' bowtie is definitely up there for him, though he also loves his little personal library ( nerd /aff ) / melody's lyre is obviously important to her!! though she also has this moon-shaped necklace and matching bracelet she ADORES that were a gift from baylee ^^ / felix loves his fishing rod like it's his baby alright. got that thing when he first moved into the farm, hasn't traded it out since. / peter has some bracelets andy made for him ALWAYS stored in the pocket of his overalls. they mean a lot to him

25 - aside from the events of the game itself?? probably the christmas special for andy. unlike the barn thing, andy was actually FULLY present and aware during the christmas special and my GOD. either that, or the time he got locked in the barn as a kid ( but that's a different hc for a different time :3 ) / anything that has to do with andy's siblings for margret, she cannot STAND them. ( with the exception of like, two ) a lot of said sibling memories involve andy crying which margret HATES seeing / for claus it's probably the night he ran from home. sure it wasn't HORRIBLE in the end but... he's still feeling the sting from it. claus is also the only one i'll be saying the proper events of aaf for as well given how BADLY he took all of that. / melody doesn't really have any memories she'd consider the worst, surprisingly!! ( aside from the game events ofc bc you know. time loop. ) / one time felix was just chilling at home and he saw a HUGE spider and he bugged out SO BAD that he accidentally broke a window. getting scolded from that is 100% worst memory of his / for peter?? anything regarding his time spent possessed by entity.

34 - andy finds himself boring as sin n dumb :[ but uhh at least he's nice, right?? / margret is confident in herself and had INSANE levels of self-esteem ( like damn i'm jealous /silly ) / claus is in the same boat as andy, though instead he KNOWS he's smart, at least / melody just thinks of herself as simple, but not in a bad way!! :3 / felix thinks he's the coolest motherfucker around ( He Is Not. ) / peter is... he'd rather not think about himself.

[tanasha-not-yet]

Whats your favourite fish. Or your top 3 favs

im really not a fish pro as i claim to be but i certainly have favs. may be a bit corny, but they deserve attention and they will get it

1. OARFISH or king of the herrings (or queen♥️)

• big girl

• looks scary As Fuck (panik)

• but shes actually harmless and can't even move fast (kalm)

• but if you see a big one near the shoreline it means that the sea is getting hella stormy bc nothing aside from poseidon himself can bring This up (panik)

• the way she swims is kinda goofy, shes so long that sometimes she just waves w her dosal fin and thinks that's enough. girl is doing The Bare Minimum and honestly? productivity is overrated.

nothing can beat oarfish for me, though marine life is fascinating and here are other fishies that deserve attention

top 3 lil aquarium bois:

1. glofish. i remember seeing a giant vertical aquarium with these in the zoo when i was little and it probably changed me forever. they somehow managed to put the thing that makes jellyfish glow in their regular fish - im telling you, GLOfish is not just a name.

2. gourami. when we had axolotls we also had these baddies in the aquarium with them. they may seem pretty regular when you google them, but they are literally aliens. their ventral fins are long and thin and honestly pretty useless for swimming ig.... they use their fins... to touch things. have you ever seen a fish with arms. it was magic for little me.

3. ghost glass catfish. wish i saw them irl, unfortunately i only came across it when i googled the references for subnautica spices. they're described as energetic social guys, and damn i Wish there was a way to light an aquarium to make them shoot rainbows from time to time. sometimes the variety of catfish forms fascinates me, like they all have whiskers but they're soo different! we had little spotted catfish that liked hanging on the walls and an adhd shark catfish who was constantly swimming from side to side (ig they need it to make their gills move, same as sharks) but there are so much more including giant ones even.

top 3 deepsea esoteric bimbos:

1. barreleyes. idk which particular spices is the one from the pic, they all are quite similar for me bc i haven't spent much time researching. they all are equally gorgeous cousins for me. no comments. you knew i would put it here; i knew i would put it here; she deserves to be displayed and cherished. they say she can move her pretty eyes but i haven't found any good footage. the concept kinda reminds me of that squid w one big eye for looking down and one little eye for looking up. they are very.. direction oriented girls, tho there is a spices that looks forward w her barrel eyes.

2. goblin shark. they're just a lil person. a lil sib. not very photogenic, their photos are quite creepy but the video of their attack may actually be the best illustration to the word 'ñom' ive ever seen. they goofy. look at them. just caught a fishy and pretend it's not them. they make me feel Emotions

3. snailfish. ive watched a bunnch of whalefall vids but i don't remember the decomposers being fish? like usually they're some mollusks like octopi, or mb crabs or worms. but apparently i missed these guys, they looked pretty fishy, i checked them and boom. snailfish. these bros do the important job of cleaning the bottom. pretty boys, it's a pity that i haven't discovered them earlier. i usually don't like the boney deepsea gulper eels or anglerfish so it's nice to see such pretty creatures down there. also poor crabs lol, these fish lay eggs in them :(

top 3 beautiful 'regular' fishies

1. gobys!!! damn himbos, they cant find a way without a map and they have no pens to draw maps so they are disoriented ! found one in a dolphin's skull, he was legitimately like 'where exit :('

2. ruffs!!! i didn't even dare touch the adult versions, even lils are so sharp 😭 i get you bbg i get you. they have sharp spines and they are Mad at you all the time. i connect with them on a deeper level.

3. me. im a nice fish.

[james-is-here]

Kai Finds Something Down Under

This is my first actually detailed smut, be kind 😅

Topics: Blowjob (K and BC receive), I don’t know what else to put, pls let me know if there’s something specific I missed pls.

Kai woke up feeling great, ready to learn from others' lead.

He promptly gets out of bed as soon as his alarm goes off, quickly making his bed. He can't help but smile slightly as he places his WolfChan plush and Dweakki on his pillow before checking his phone.

He's already receiving messages from a few others and his new manager, who informed him that a car would be arriving outside his dorm to pick him up.

Locking his phone, he grins to himself, still not believing the fact he’s in a group, a big group nonetheless so he’s also a little bit nervous.

As he enters his bedroom, he puts his phone down on the soft bedspread and walks towards the closet. He wants to dress to impress, but comfort is just as important to him. After giving it some thought, he decides to go for a trendy yet effortless look. He picks a pair of stylish bleach-spotted ripped jeans and pairs them with his favorite blue tie-dye shirt. To stay warm in the chilly weather, he adds a cozy baby blue hoodie and layers it with a sleek leather jacket. He takes a final glance in the mirror and feels confident that he looks great in his well-coordinated outfit.

He finishes off his outfit with a pair of blue high-top sneakers adorned with red flower embroidery, adding a pop of color to his look. After hopping off his bed, he reaches for his trusty cross-body bag, which is adorned with a WolfChan keychain. He carefully places his phone, charging pack, chapstick, and other essentials inside, including a small pill container for emergencies and a couple of fidget rings. He also takes great care to include his lucky (G)-idle Soyeon photocard, which he never leaves behind.

As his mind drifts away, a familiar tune emanates from his phone, indicating an incoming message. He glances at the screen and notices that it's from his manager, who kindly reminds him that he's patiently waiting in the car parked downstairs.

As he emerged from his room, he couldn't help but question himself, "Did it really take me a whole hour to get ready?" He quickly brushed off his self-doubt, waved goodbye to his fellow trainee in the dorm, and made his way downstairs towards the van that would take him to his destination.

"Hello, sir," Kai greeted the older gentleman. "Hey Kai, how do you feel? You got out here awfully quick," the gentleman replied. "Uh, a bit jittery and excited. To be honest, I'm scared as well," Kai confessed. "You'll be great. You look good too. This outfit style fits you well," the gentleman complimented. Kai blushed slightly and scratched his cheek. "Thank you, sir," he replied.

As Kai sat next to the manager, he couldn't help but feel nervous. The manager noticed Kai's trembling hands and decided to strike up a conversation to ease his nerves. He made small talk about the weather, the office, and other trivial topics while maintaining eye contact with Kai. Despite his anxiety, Kai appreciated the manager's effort and began to relax as they chatted.

Upon arriving at the building, the manager places a reassuring hand on Kai's shoulder and guides him inside with a smile.

They took an elevator to a couple of floors up, and then stopped in front of a door. "We will be meeting together in the dorm. The four guys who live here should be back soon from the company. I'm going to get the other four boys, and then you can finally meet them. Are you okay with that?" He asked as he unlocked the door. Kai let out a shuddery breath.

"Um, yeah, meeting my idols and inspirations makes me a bit nervous, but I think I'll be okay," stuttered Kai. The manager smiled and patted his head reassuringly. "Don't worry, you'll be just fine. From what I've learned, you're just like them," he said with a nod before walking away.

Kai stepped hesitantly into the unlocked dorm and found it a bit messy, but not an eyesore.

He was instructed to wait, but being alone, he didn't know what to do with himself.

He sits awkwardly on the couch, panicking and holding his stomach, the nervous bubbles brewing inside making him sick, but he knows it's just anxiety and nervousness.

As he hears a thumping sound on the nearby wall, he jumps and turns towards it to ensure that he is just imagining things and there is no one present. He doesn't feel mentally and physically prepared to face any of them without the presence of the manager.

As he heard the sound again, he stood up slowly and cautiously walked to the end of the hall. He listened closely, wondering if the dorm wasn't empty and someone was present. His gut told him to ignore it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that one of the boys who lived there might need help. However, he didn't want to just barge into their room, and knocking felt awkward.

He reaches the center of the hallway and pauses, listening to a sound emanating from his left. He notices that one of the doors is ajar.

He knows he shouldn’t, but he can’t resist his curiosity, so he peeks through the slightly open door. The door opens to the right, revealing a wall and part of a closet.

Kai could hear two voices coming from inside the room, but he couldn't recognize who they were. He decided to ignore them and stay hidden. Suddenly, two figures appeared near the slightly open door, directly in front of Kai's sight. If they looked over, they would easily spot Kai.

He covered his mouth with his hand as his eyes widened and he trembled.

He now saw clearly that Bang Chan had pinned Lee Felix to the wall. Felix’s eyes were closed and his mouth opened wide as Chan was buried in the other's neck.

Kai observed the older male biting his neck and realized they weren't just kissing.

Kai was watching them fuck on the wall.

Kai blushed brightly and averted his gaze, moving away from the open door to stand against the wall. He kept his hand over his mouth, out of sight.

What the fuck just happened? Are they doing what he thinks he saw?

Felix was in the middle of a moan when he choked on a gasp as Chan bit him hard and stuttered, "Ah! H-Hyung, M-Manager-nim said he's bringing the..." Before he could finish, he was interrupted by a gasp. "T-The new guy here soon," he continued. Chan, who was listening patiently, replied, "Yes, that's exactly what he said. He mentioned that the new member would arrive shortly. So, let me finish what I started." it sounded like he was still kissing the younger's neck.

He stood still, gazing down at the floor in front of him, trembling but not taking a step.

Why are you not moving? You are not supposed to be here! You should not be listening to this!

Kai remained frozen as his eyes fixated on the keychain attached to his bag, the realization hitting him as hard as a bus.

Chan is fucking Felix…

Holy Shit, Chan is fucking Felix?!?!

His face turns red and he steps back in fear when the floor creaks beneath his feet.

“What was that?” He heard Felix whine, assuming Chan stopped moving.

“I don't know," he hears him mumble. Then he calls out, "Is someone there?

Kai's eyes were fixated on the rug lying in front of him. He felt a surge of panic rising within him and struggled to control his heavy breathing. His hand was still clasped over his mouth as if trying to hold back from making any noise. Despite his best efforts to calm down, his heart was pounding loudly in his chest, making it hard for him to think straight.

As he utters a shaky "Hello?", his body tenses up and his eyes dart around the room frantically. Gradually, he regains his composure and straightens up, taking a deep breath. A wave of relief washes over him as he realizes that Chan didn't peek out into the hallway to see him. His chest loosens up and he feels a sense of calm settling in.

He hears Felix release a muffled gasp. The dancer looking at Chan with wide eyes when he didn’t recognize the voice. “Who are you? When did you get here?”

To say the situation didn’t spur Chan on would be a lie as he moved slightly and Felix smacked him. “Uh… I-I’m MinLee Kai…Y-Your group's new member. U-Uh, Y-Your manager j-just dropped m-me off.”

A strangled moan melting into a gasp had Kai’s eyes widen. Are they still going? While I’m talking to them??

Chan smiled and dropped his head to Felix’s shoulder who wrapped his arms around the older male's neck tightly as spurts of cum get on both their abdomens and drip down his length.

Kai's voice trembled as he spoke, "A-Are you guys Okay?" His eyes darted around the room, searching for any signs of movement. He realized he had made a mistake by using the phrase "you guys" when Chan was the only one who had spoken so far. He felt his heart race as he asked, "How do you know if there's someone else here?" Panic set in, and Kai's mind raced as he contemplated his next move. He knew he was in trouble and he had no idea what to do next.

“Come here.” “W-What?” “You saw, didn’t you?” “S-Saw what? I-I just got here.”

In the middle of their conversation, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the front door creaking open. Startled, he immediately turned around to investigate and noticed that the door to the room the two were in had been shut. The suddenness of the interruption left Kai feeling awkward. Did Chan seriously ask him to join?

“Kai? Oh, there you are. What are you doing down there?” The manager asks as Kai watches the other guys walk in. “U-Um, s-sorry, I was curious of what the rest of-of the place looked. I-I’m sorry if I over stepped.” Kai stuttered heavily and he saw what looked like a look of sympathy from Jisung.

“It’s okay. Come, let’s sit on the couch, I couldn’t find Chan and Felix though, you boys know where they are?” They shake their heads as Kai sits on the other long portion of the couch with the manager.

Suddenly both of them walk out from down the hall and Kai looks up from his hands, making eye contact with Chan before lookin at his hands.

He could see his eyes were still glossed over with a strong emotion as he sat closest to Kai, they sat in age order and Kai’s nervousness grew tenfold. He’s sitting with his inspiration but he also just saw Chan and Felix.

His mouth suddenly became dry and his breathing picked up. He was overwhelmed, thinking of everything and nothing, he was scared.

Even though eye contact with him was weird, he looked at Chan who wore an expression of concern. “Are you okay?” he saw his lips move and looked around to see the others expressions.

“W-Where’s the bathroom?” The manager placed a hand on his shoulder and pointed across from them. Kai got up and ran to the bathroom, shutting the door closed and leaning against it before sinking to sit on his heels.

He’s panicking, freaking out, nothing is processing, he’s overwhelmed.

A knock cuts through his thoughts and he hears Jisung. “Kai?” He inhales shakily and chokes out a reply. “I think I know what you’re going through and I’m sorry.” “W-Why are you a-apologizing?” “I-I just feel bad that you got to this point. I don’t know exactly what got you this way but it’s okay. I heard you know us so you should know we won’t hurt you, you know that right?”

Yeah, they were his comfort, the people he watched when he had a bad day, a bad practice, they cheered him up.

He stood up and opened the door, wiping his eyes and being greeted by a smiling Jisung who slowly opens his arms.

Kai shyly walks into them and hugs him back. His thoughts slow down and he relaxes into Jisung’s shoulder where his head sat. “I never thought I’d get a hug from any of you in my life.” He chuckles softly as he pulls back.

He walks back to sit next to the manager again, he looks at Chan, freezing slightly before apologizing. A barely noticeable wink from Chan before he said it was okay had Kai internally jump in his skin. He knows Kai thought as they carried on with getting to know Kai more.

—-

After introductions and Kai learning more about the boys, learning more than Stays have ever known, they realize they talked well into the night.

Although they have drivers, they didn’t want Kai to go alone, already grown to liking the male. They’ve learned he’s older than Changbin but younger than Minho.

He goes to go to the front door with the manager when he’s stopped. “Do you want to stay in one of our dorms? You’re fun to be around and I wanna know more about you.” Jisung asked as he held his arm.

“It’s okay, Kai. Do you want me to get clothes from your roommate or?” “No, I’m fine with my hoodie and jeans.” “Nonsense, I have extra sweats.” “Oh, I-I don’t…” He went to turn to Chan but he was already back to his room.

“Have a good night. Good night boys.” Variations of ‘good night sir’ came from the others when Chan came back.

“I-I appreciate the sweats but…” “What’s wrong?” “I-It’s embarrassing…” “Embarrassing?” “I-I’m… commando…under these…th-that’s w-why I denied the clothes, I thought it was inappropriate so I was just gonna deal with the jeans since w-we just met a-and I just feel awkward…uh, not wearing anything…with your clothes…”

After Kai’s embarrassing rant, all Chan does is smile before lowering the waist band of his own pants. “Just so you know cause you’ll learn at some point, most of us are commando when we’re dressed for sleep.” “I-I…th-that’s crazy to know now but I just feel wrong.”

Kai goes to push the sweats back to Chan but he insists. “It’s okay, I promise.” He says again and the blonde watches Chan give him a stern look but shocks Chan when the older sees that it didn’t work. Is Kai like him?

“Fine…Only cause my zipper is sharp...” he mutters and takes the clothing to the bathroom.

He does his business and puts the sweat pants on, a little bit jittery that he’s wearing his biases clothing. Inside his fanboying so hard and he’s honestly so happy to be given this opportunity.

He leaves the bathroom, asking where he can put his jeans before Chan once again offers and takes them to the laundry room then comes back out with a pillow a blanket.

“If it’s okay, you can sleep on the couch. Thought it might be awkward to suggest rooming with one of us.” Kai smiles and takes both objects and sets them next to him. “Thank you.”

Chan sat on his other side and stayed there. Even as the other members left for their rooms or the Maknae’s and Minho went to their dorm to go to bed.

Kai had laid down at some point with the pillow he was given and dozed off to a video on his phone.

He could still hear the tv and other noises as he imagined things in the void behind his eyelids.

His small dreams were interrupted when he heard whispering. “H-Hyung- Chan, No, he’s right there.” When did Felix come back? What were they doing?

“I swear he was there earlier with us, the only difference is that he’s next to us.” Chan said as he continued to kiss Felix’s neck and bring him closer. “That’s the problem. He shouldn’t know about us.” Us? Is it just them or all of them?

“He’ll find out eventually. Some of us can’t go five hours without needing some stimulation.” Chan mutters into the dancers neck. “Wanna know something?” “What now?” “Kai told me that he was commando under his jeans.” “Okay, and?” “He’s currently only wearing my sweats.” Chan smirks as he finally gets Felix in his lap and kisses his cheek.

“Really?” He asked curiously. “Yeah, why don’t you see for yourself.” “What?!” He whispered, staring at Chan in shock that he’d even suggest it. “Chan, you crazy?! He just got here.” Kai moves to lay on his back. He’s yelling at himself for even thinking about moving but honestly the thought has crossed his mind, I mean, come on…

Stray Kids is fucking attractive.

“Aw, look. He’s presenting himself.” “Cunt, he’s moving to get more comfortable. He’s asleep, idiot.” “Come on, Lix.” Chan kissed his cheek, his hands rubbing up his sides softly when footsteps were heard and Jisung appears, a little groggy. “If you do anything, be as quiet as possible.” “Of course, Sungie.” Chan says with a smile and the rapper nods, not completely coherent as he goes back to his room.

Jisung knows what’s going on?

He suddenly has the urge to jerk when he feels a hand at the hem of his hoodie and it gets raised up. Light fingers graze his toned stomach before going to his waistband. “That’s it, Lix.”

Felix huffs and gets off his lap, shoving him away as he giggles and watches the boy settle at a better angle to sit on his heels and hesitantly pull down the waist band and expose Kai who resisted the urge to react and continue to act asleep.

“H-He’s already half hard…” Felix mutters and reaches his finger up to drag it from the tip to the base, his dick twitching slightly.

“Go on, Felix. Have fun with the newbie.” Chan said in a smooth casual tone as he leaned back and watched him wrap a hand around Kai from over Felix’s shoulder and the younger took the head into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tip before going over the slit and back to licking.

“That’s it, good Lixie.” Chan praised and got up behind Felix. Felix pulled off the tip and looked at his hand. “Shit, he’s big.” “How big?” “M-More than…all of us…Fuck.” “Really?” Chan asked shocked as he combed his hand through Felix’s hair.

Kai’s breath hitched when Felix went back on and further then his tip, trying to fit as much as he could. “Aw, look.” Felix didn’t pull off but looked up to see Kai’s chest rising and falling rapidly. Felix exhaled slowly through his nose before slowly sinking further down, a triumphant whine mixed with a moan escaping him when he managed to take all of Kai in and his nose reached his pelvis.

“Good Job, Lixie. Who would’ve thought you could still take a new cock.” He hums and rubs against the couch below him.

Felix adjusted a bit before finally moving his head up and down. Kai tried to be faking sleep a little longer before he let out a breathy grunt and opened his eyes, looking down at Felix before looking at Chan who smirked. “Look who’s awake.” “F-Fuck.” He sighs and puts his head back on the pillow. His hands twitching next to him before his right hand was grabbed by Chan and placed on Felix’s head.

“It’s okay.” Chan reassured and Kai pants slightly, staring at Chan for a moment before grunting, slowly moving to lean back on his left elbow and grip the dancers hair after combing his fingers though it to grab the long stands a pull him closer.

“Fuck…ing hell…I-I don’t know w-what’s ha-happening but a-as a fan, I-I’m freaking out, ah shit!” Felix has his eyes closed, enjoying the cock resting heavily on his tongue as he licks a vein before moving to the slit. “Why’s that?” Chan smirks as he moves Felix to his knees and removes his shorts before removing his own sweats.

“M-My b-bias wrecker is…” He’s cut off with a whine before he grips Felix’s hair tighter, pulling him impossibly closer. “Fuuck~ swallowing my dick, how else am I-I supposed to react?” He pants and almost falls backwards off his arm when Felix digs his nails into Kai’s legs, constricting his throat which squeezes around his tip.

“Who’s your bias?” Kai smirks, he voice suddenly a stark smoothness as he holds Felix’s head down and his eyes stare directly into Chan’s eyes. “Looks like he’s about to fuck the wrecker.”

Chan laughs and enters Felix, leaning over him and pushing his back down. “Usually your place is taken by one of the others but look at his throat.” Chan wraps a hand around Felix’s neck and can feel it bulging, his comment going unheard by Kai as he exhales sharply and throws his head back. “I can feel you through it.” He squeezes his neck slightly and Chan groans, feeling Kai’s dick a little more from the outside and the male can feel the squeeze on his end too.

“I-Is he the only one?” Kai asked and Felix was feeling dizzy. “Shit.” Felix whines and tightened his throat. “Does he always act like this when he’s ignored?” “Yeah, but someday you should feel how he reacts from this end. Maybe even tonight.” Kai moans quietly and throws his head back again. “And no, if you like his, just wait for Hyunjin’s.”

“Oh fuck.” Kai whimpers loudly over Chan speaking and holds Felix’s head from bobbing and shoots down his throat. “Take it, Lix. Don’t stop.” Chan said as he himself went faster, hitting all the right spots in Felix as he pulled off of Kai and rested his cheek on his thigh. “Ah~ Ah~ H-Hyung, G-Gonna- ngh~ Please, I wanna c-cum please.” Kai thought he was just asking in general before Chan gripped his hair and made Felix look at Kai.

His eyes were filled with tears and his face flushed red, Kai always thought his freckles were cute but add the lewd look on his face, his tongue hanging out and saliva all over his mouth almost had Kai wanting to cum again. “I don’t know, Kai. Should he cum?” Kai looked back up to the older male with a shocked expression. “You go dom, right?” He grinned and stopped thrusting into Felix who whines. “P-Please~ K-Kai…” Felix begs breathlessly and Kai can’t take it.

“Fuck…No, I kinda wanna see how long he can go.” Chan smiles and pulls out of Felix who whines, it almost sounding like he’d start crying. “No…” He weakly protests, in this state, Kai finds his accent even more attractive.

“Wanna know more about Lixie?” Kai thoughtlessly nods and Chan reached forward, a hand going to the front of his neck as he pulls him up to sit back on Chan lap. Kai has to be dreaming, there’s no way in hell that his favorite members of his favorite group are currently in front of him, Chan holding Felix up by his neck, both half naked, with Chan’s free hand resting on Felix’s hip and Felix’s hands were clinging to Chan’s wrists.

“Hell, never thought I’d be in this position.” Felix stayed staring at the ceiling while catching his breath, leaning his head back against the closest part of Chan near him which was his shoulder. “Like it?” “U-Uh, Y-yeah…Yeah, I actually do…” Kai panted and laid back down for a moment as his chest slowed down to a less rapid speed.

“Kai.” Chan muttered and the blonde looked up, moving back to one of his elbows as he pushes a hand through his hair. “Huh?” “Lix, why don’t you be a good kitty and ride Kai?” Chan whispered loud enough and Kai watched Felix shudder with a breathless moan.

Chan takes Kai’s hand a places it where his hand was, leaving Kai in charge of Felix now. Kai turns his wrist, making Felix follow as he sat up and had Felix sit with his back facing him. “Wow, you seem like a natural.” “A-Actually, I-I’m new to being a dom…none of my o-old partners were into it, although it was just two.”

“Well, you’re good. Got him in that position faster than i’ve ever seen.” “H-Hyungs~” Felix whines and Chan smirks. “Go ahead, Kai.” He said giddily as he stood up and moved in front of Felix. Kai rubbed the smaller males hips before guiding his tip to Felix’s hole before pulling him down slowly. “Put it all in, he can take it.” Chan said before noticing his hesitance and pushing on Felix’s shoulders to make him sink all the way down in one move. “Shit, Kai is so big~ Ah~”

Felix leaned back against Kai with a content sigh and laced his hands with Kai’s to bring his arms to wrap around him. “Lix, I know you are trying to get comfortable but I want your mouth, lean forward again.” He huffs and throws his head back against Kai’s shoulder before letting go of his arms slight before leaning forward and looking up at Chan. “Cun- mm!” Felix was about to cuss at him when suddenly Chan shut him up with his cock. “You and that word, I swear.” Chan said through gritted teeth and clenched his fist in Felix’s hair when he playful bit him slightly. “D-Did he just-“ “Bite me? Yeah, he’s a twerp.” Chan replied and started using his throat.

Felix moved his hands to rest on Kai’s thighs that are between his own spread legs and gripped them, he was told to ride, so he will.

At first he rocked back and forth, feeling as yet another dick shaped him and stuffed him full. Chan was about to remind Felix when Kai beat him to the reins. “I thought Chan-Hyung said to ride me?” He said as he grabbed Felix’s hips and started thrusting right into the sensitive numb inside him that made him see stars.

His moans where interrupted with every thrust from both ends. Kai grabs his arms to pull them behind him as leverage for each thrust he’d pull Felix closer, going impossibly deeper. Suddenly he’s being pushed further down onto Kai and the cock in his throat goes deeper as Chan leaned over him, surprising Kai when he looks up from watching Felix bounce and his dick disapearing each time to suddenly be kissing Chan.

They don’t fight one another, their power equal as they make out and the both of them swallow each others noises when Kai yelps in shock and pulls away to look down when Felix stopped bouncing and Kai’s cock was all the way inside him, Felix clenched at being ignored and treated like nothing but a fuck thing apparently as he too came and tried his hardest to keep moving for Chan to finally release down his throat.

Felix pulls off of Chan and also most falls forward before Kai noticed, letting go of his arms to wrap an arm around his chest and around his stomach to pull him back and onto his chest.

“Felix?” Kai looked over him, his eyes were fluttering and soft moans escaped him as his hips rocked back and forth. “Ah, don’t- Hey…” Kai stutters, suddenly sensitive as he watched Chan lean closer to Felix.

“Lixie, bubby, come back.” Chan gently moves Felix to close his legs, Kai spreading his so Felix’s legs could sit comfortably between them as they pulled Felix back to reality.

Kai rubbed gentle circles onto the males abs and stomach under Felix’s soiled shirt, his thumb of his other hand moved back and forth softly over his collarbone. “Lixie, you there? You know where you are?” He closes his eyes and inhales deeply before practically melting back into Kai and releases a moan before panting.

“F-Felix?” Kai asks and he hums, turning his head into Kai’s neck. “Where are you?” “H-Home…” “You know who your with?” “Chan and Kai-Hyung…” He says breathlessly as he whines and tried to cuddle closer to Kai before he whines when he moves wrong, Kai still nestled inside him.

“Can I touch you, Kai? To help?” Chan asked and Kai deadpans. “Are you really asking that?” “Touché.” He said as Kai helped lift Felix and Chan slowly helped Kai out of Felix.

“Hold on.” Chan said suddenly when just his tip remains and he grabs his underwear and runs to his room, returning immediately after with a plug and removing Kai completely only to replace him with the plug as Felix whines and finally was able to freely move to curl into Kai’s chest while he looks at Chan with a questioning look he didn’t know he was giving. “He likes to be full.” He said casually.

“I know you were told that you could take the couch but you can go to Felix’s room if you’d like. Seems like he’s gonna cling to you tonight.” Chan smiles and helps to gently put Felix’s underwear back on and replace his messy shirt with his hoodie.

Kai tried to stand Felix up to dress himself as well but his legs were weak as he immediately fell into Chan’s arms who smiled and kissed the top of his head while Kai got his sweats back on.

Kai took the younger from Chan and picked him up, situating his legs around him and he was about to leave when Chan put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around to kiss him again deeply, playfully biting his lip before laughing and smiling at Kai as he walks next door to the other dorm, Felix burrowing further into Kai’s neck at the cold hallway and tightening his arms around his neck and whining out incoherent words.

Surprisingly, the other dorm is unlocked and his concern was answered when he saw Minho on the couch. “Finally, I can go to sleep without leaving the door unlocked.” He mutter but smiles at Felix in Kai’s arms. “He okay?” “Yeah. Exhausted but he’s okay.” “Why was the door open and your out here?” “I knew Felix hadn’t come back yet and whenever he’s over there, one of them bring him back. Didn’t know it was gonna be you though.” He’s making it sound like Felix just fell asleep at the other dorm. Is it just Felix and Chan? Do the others not know?

“I’m gonna go put him in his room. Goodnight, Minho.” “Goodnight, Kai.”

He follows Minho to the bedrooms and turns into the room Minho pointed to and he heart flutters when he sees Felix’s room is almost exactly how he pictured it to be. He walks over to the bed and moved the blanket to put Felix under them but he holds onto the other. “Stay…” He mumbles softly. “I am a stay.” Kai chuckles but moves to lay with him nonetheless as Felix whines and pulls him closer, grumbling at the cheesy joke before clinging to Kai.

He has no idea what just happened and how he got to this point but he’s surprisingly not surprised. He’s a bit prideful that he’s the only Stay the got to seem them like that.

—-

—-

—-

Holy Shit, He fucked Felix and Kissed Chan…and saw them naked…Damn…

Yay, First One with the members done. Honestly really proud, i’ve never written such detailed smut before. I hope you like it.

[altschmerzes]

you've mentioned having other POVs coming up for wriggle up on dry land- would love to see any dani or sam pov snippets, if you've got em :eyes:

YES, i have some of a scene with sam i was working on earlier that i really love. i'll put most of it under a cut bc it's pretty long but i had a great time writing this and wanted to include like. the whole Section it was from.

Sam never used to be a morning person. It was always difficult to get himself out of bed, especially when he was small. His father had made up a song about it that he would sing when rousing Sam for the day. Ola would walk into his son’s room already singing it, quiet at first and then louder and louder the longer Sam insisted on burying his face in his pillow and refusing to acknowledge being awake. He’d always gotten up at the end, usually with a groaned insistence that his father stop embarrassing him because he’s up, he’s up, and there had been less complaining involved the older he got. It was easier to go along with once Sam understood the necessity of making use of what time the day afforded to him, especially with football and school and other things leaving him increasingly feeling like every moment of the day must be preciously guarded and budgeted appropriately.

Lately, though, his perspective on the earliest hours of the day has shifted significantly. Now, mornings are the one part of the day that belong only to Sam. He doesn’t struggle to greet them now, no matter how startling it is for his alarm to go off and how heavy his body feels as he lays in bed in the moments before rising. The resentment he had once felt with the relentlessness of the arrival of the new day and the necessity of getting up to participate in it is replaced with gratitude. When he first wakes, there are a few moments of listening to his alarm go off where Sam can almost hear the sound of Ola’s voice, singing the song he’d made up so many years ago. Mornings make him miss home, and his father in particular, with a fierceness that makes his chest ache, but he appreciates them for that. The homesickness hurts, the longing for the life he had loved so much and left behind to be here throbbing like his lungs are bruised, but the pain is a reminder of what is important to him and why. Not a day goes by that Sam doesn’t think of the things that are the most important to him, and he wouldn’t want to forget even if he could. The schedule of a Premier League footballer also makes praying on time complicated and difficult at points. This is especially the case when travelling for away matches against clubs whose facilities do not have a dedicated prayer room. Mornings though, the earliest parts of the morning before the sunrise, are Sam’s no matter what, and he holds them precious, going through the well-worn steps of Fajr alone in his house or a hotel room, always on time. He has developed an ever-growing fondness for the cold blue of the watery light that seeps across the horizon just before the sun rises, and for the way his mother always sends him a text when she had finished with her own prayers, every day without fail. There is no time difference between Lagos and London half of the year, and only one hour between them the other half. Although the exact time of the sun’s rising isn’t the same, it’s been a comfort to Sam never the less to think of his family and friends at home going about their lives in tandem with his, despite the difference separating them. When he kneels and presses his forehead to the fabric of the prayer mat the imam of his childhood mosque had presented him before he left, a gift from the community and a token of their pride in him, he imagines his mother and father alongside him doing the same. For those moments, it’s possible to believe that he never left.

[atopvisenyashill]

How do you interpret the unkiss? Some say Sansa is in love with Sandor, others say she’s just coping with trauma, I think is a little bit of both tbh

It’s definitely several things. I think she longs for a romantic and emotional connection, and the Hound is a nice one on paper, in that he’s strong and can protect her and doesn’t care for the King. she compares herself to naerys and joffrey to aegon the unworthy, and wanted someone, anyone, to be her aemon the dragon knight. so the same way she overlooks dontos’ many flaws and warnings signs because she wants so badly to believe she’s going to get out of this mess and he will be her florian and she his jonquil, i think she does hope that sandor will be some sort of aemon and protect her from joffrey (even though, funny enough, aemon did fairly little to protect naerys from aegon so Sandor isn’t that far off, lmao!). not only that, but sandor all but says that to her.

I doubt he made the Aemon/Naerys/Aegon connection but he has made some sort of “princess needs a warrior to protect her from the king” sort of connection. Maybe he makes a Toyne-Bethany Bracken connection though, which is much closer to their actual dynamic (and I have kinda suspected the Bethany-Brothers Toyne thing is there at least in part to give us another Soiled Knight/Damsel story to echo here), which is why he tries (and fails) to escape KL with her. He can’t keep her safe in the capital but if they run away, he’s the baddest guy around and he can be her savior.

i don’t think sandor is doing this to purposefully manipulate her. i think his thoughts and feelings are sincere bc sansa reminds sandor of himself and his sister, and joffrey as akin to gregor. i think that’s why sandor is a little less loyal as the books go on - it’s easy to rationalize away joffrey’s behavior when he doesn’t care about the victims but all of a sudden when joffrey’s hair trigger temper is being taken out on two girls who remind him of himself and his sister, then, it’s too much to take, too much to think about his own role in enabling joffrey when sandor rages so much against those that enabled gregor.

but also - she’s a 12 year old hostage and this dude twice her age is heavy projecting onto her, and he’s the only person here who has ever even given a milqtoast defense of her, and he’s mean and scary looking and violent, and she doesn’t have much recourse if he decides to hurt her. she has very little power here, and sandor is incredibly erratic and not capable of taking care of her because he’s got a lot of demons to work through, up to and including his own sexualization of a barely pubescent little girl. This is simultaneously the only interpersonal relationship either has had in a long time that isn’t transactional and allows them to cope with trauma, a person who has seen and understands the worst days of their lives - and yet they know nothing about each other at all really! I think it’s a fascinating and moving take on courtly love and chivalric romance, but because it’s meant to analyze a lot of the social aspects of both their positions, it is in my opinion important to not lose sight of the fact that both of them are doing some heavy projecting here & are not in a frame of mind to actually heal or protect each other at all.

[bhaalsdeepbat]

I've been thinking about Spawn Astarion vs Ascended Astarion power dynamic differences with the Durges I paired each ending with.

Mercy (Durge) and Spawn Astarion see each other as a whole. They recognize the darkness in each other, but don't let it cloud the vision of who they see. They're able to be their authentic self while also being vulnerable.

They can appreciate one another's edges, while also providing gentle comfort and support. Mercy can be a little feral and Astarion a little murder happy, but they accentuate their admiration of one another's prowess (and the love for each other totally, including the darkness in one another) and ferocity with equal amounts of gentle love and comfort.

For example:

Mercy holding someone for Astarion to drink fresh before they're killed. Mercy's claws against the bandit's throat, the tips pressing in, drawing beads of blood. Astarion sees them licking their lips, the corners twisting into a feral grin, all sharp teeth and monstrous. They're indulging some thoughts, because they don't have Urges, but they still have daydreams and anxieties. Their disinheritance and the revoking of their blood took away the leash of compulsion, but left intrusive thoughts in their wake. Most of the time fleeting, but still lingering there.

The ease with which Mercy holds back their own bloodlust, the way Mercy kinda looks like a predator, and the power just wafting off them. Astarion is super into it.

Mercy saw Astarion stalking in the shadows with ease, the stupid bandit had no idea what was coming. They stayed behind to wait for Astarion to sneak into position, and the Sorcerer is just IMPRESSED. Astarion is stalking and shoots an arrow off into his prey to subdue them, and Mercy is just reminded how strong he is with his bow. Like he is just a fucking creature of the night and they're super into it. They get a front row seat of Astarion getting to feed and Mercy's heart thrumbs in their ears with excitement when he makes a show of it for them. Mercy has never seen someone be so beautiful while murdering and they're just like yes please more.

Like so much of their intimacy involves moments of vulnerability and being able to feel safe when their defenses are down. Astarion doesn't have to try and peacock when he feels his weakness showing. He can just let himself feel whatever it is he feels - ashamed, pathetic, ravenous - in the moment and know he'll be just seen as himself.

But then after that they clean up and find their way back to their room before sunrise. Astarion hides under the covers nestled on top of Mercy's chest and they spend most nights with the softest of cuddles, gentle touches, never once going long without contact. Lots of chatting and teasing and just joyous interactions. They have nightmares and they coax one another into talking about said nightmares. It's just very trusting and loving. It would also be an equally giving relationship.

With Ascended Astarion, Ashe (also a Durge) and Astarion, they never had the vulnerable moments that built a strong foundation. It's actually quite easy to romance Astarion and miss some pivotal emotional moments where you peek behind the mask. They're two mean girls who were able to be honest, but not vulnerable, and neither challenged one another about their twisted view of the world.

The ability to be vulnerable with Astarion hinges on Durge willing to be open and vulnerable first. Ashe is duplicitous and would never make the first step, nor would she be willing to admit how afraid she truly is. She didn't get the act two scene because she killed Isobel, and she did it after Astarion confessed to her spontaneously after taking down a certain Orthon. It was the ONLY moment of true vulnerability their entire relationship bc again. She didn't get he "Kill Your Lover" night bc she didn't trust herself to not kill someone important to her.

All of this is to say: Ashe got a peek at the vulnerability once, then was back to manipulative Astarion. So, she helps him Ascend, and part of it is the Urges are strong, the bloodlust and threat of death driving her fucking feral, and she's afraid of what she might do to Astarion if he doesn't go after power at all cost.

Again, they didn't have any vulnerable outside the one confession. Ashe did NOT push back and instead enabled Astarion every step of their journey. She met his siblings and helped him deceive them (Mercy did NOT enable him and got a better peek at the version of himself Astarion desperately tries to hide).

So, she helps him Ascend. She doesn't even consider he may try to make her a spawn. Their entire journey has been about them both trying to slip the leash their masters have on them, but he knows what to say. They both were open enough for him to work Ashe like a fiddle and get her to cave to giving him her leash.

He is high off the power of the ascension and Ashe continues to do nothing to challenge him in any meaningful way. She hisses and pushes back on her own objectifation (and fails), but still sees her station as above everyone else.

Ashe and Ascended!Astarion are two monsters who see the world as being made for them to consume. They saw no kindness, no light, only a clear view of the taint in this world, illumated by the wash of Sun painting their days.

This would result in an enternal power struggle between the two. Astarion wants to be the most powerful being in the world and he is not going to share that with anyone. He's acutely aware of the cycle of undeath and eventually Vengeance they've entered, even if Ashe isn't.

He immediately hops onto being a manipulative shit. Traps Ashe, takes the leash, and turns her into his most prized pet and weapon. He wanted her, not out of love, but out of fear she might betray him one day.

Ashe saw a peek into the way their dynamic would play out the night he turned her. She wanted to see how much he changed and taunted him to be rough. When he shoved her down, there was no love, no kindness, just burning desire and a need to claim the conquest being laid before him.

Everything becomes about power and conquests at that point. Like he cannot help but be intoxicated by it all. The one person strong enough to help him destroy his abuser is now in his complete control. He starts laying out rules he plans to reinforce once the tadpoles are dealt with, but he dangles them like a treat, like they're something special, like his consort.

He spends this time trying to make Ashe feel like she's special, while also going on about his plans for a world that Ashe wouldn't even be able to enjoy. The human cattle enslaved, the sun gone, nothing but eternal night.

It would be all love bombing until the tadpoles are gone, then slowly taking more and more control while making Ashe think she wanted that. Her role as his consort is to be his protector and his blade, his most trusted weapon, his beloved slayer.

Ashe is a tiefling, so I think Ascended Astarion would also make awful comments on how demonic/monstrous she looks and comment on how she must be a pet if she wags that tail so stupidly anytime she thinks she might get a treat. He'd be verbally cruel, physically rough, but try to throw in some honeyed words of love and affection to keep Ashe pliable. He may have her under his thumb, but it IS easier to placate the pet.

And Astarion would drive a wedge between Ashe and the other spawn. I think he would bank on Ashe's loneliness to push her further toward him, so he is all she has. I think he would need to be her entire world tbh

Astarion sometimes disappears for days at a time, sucked into whatever conquest he's been working on, then come back and be intimate like there was no actual widening chasm between them. He gives Ashe EVERYTHING. Nice clothes, rare jewelry, expensive instruments. He does spoil his pet rotten, but all of that is undercut by his pointed cruelty when he wants to kinda enforce that he has all this power and there's nothing Ashe can do.

[magicshopaholic]

hey!!! just wanted to say how much i love your new update!

tbh, i understand that what taehyung did was wrong. even if he didnt mean to hurt her, he did very deeply by keeping it from her, bc as she said they revealed so much to each other even on the first day they met. that feeling is devastating.

however, my feelings are really conflicted on if the way shes handling it is right either. im never one to condone cheating, but even she admits that shes keenly aware of how genuinely sorry he is—and that she knows he would never do that again. her pain is valid asf, bc he shouldve known better to try to harbor that secret, alongside his friends. that was beyond foul and I can imagine how lonely, confused and absolutely devastated she was during that period. but it also doesnt mean she gets a free pass to inflict pain on him for the sake of punishment or revenge. and at this point in the story, it been going on for a while now.

i think she needs to really self-reflect on if she can get pass this and build up a trust in him again—cause thats a main determining factor of the possibility of them reuniting. otherwise, its a moot point bc it’ll always be the unspoken elephant in the room. its confusing to constantly point the finger at someone for rupturing a relationship, demand they give you space and then get pissed that theyre giving you space. she pushes him away, gets upset that hes respecting her boundaries and then yanks him closer.

he needs to really unpack why he allowed himself to do what he did and why his fear of losing her(even when he already had her) drove him to that point. you cant betray and ignore someone and then say you did it bc you were scared of losing them.

i know theyre just flawed humans, & theres so many layers of complexity w/ these two—especially in regard to taehyung showing his feelings. but i truly think he’s reached a breaking point. it scared her so much that hes starting to become distant, because she already expected him to fight tooth and nail for who knows how long.

they both really need therapy to work through it together(and individually bc they both have issues that may rock their relationship again if it goes unaddressed), or to let each other go completely and move on. bc at this point, theyre both hurting just each other.

I didn't respond to this immediately because I wanted to sit and take my time without any distractions. Firstly - thank you! Always nice to know that a fic has been enjoyed :)

Secondly, I think you make some very good points, including an important one that Dilara isn't perfect either. Not everything she's doing is right - or, at the very least, is the best way to go about it. Wanting to torture him is natural and that's probably why everyone's giving her a pass, but there's definitely a line and that line can be different for everyone.

You actually aren't the only one to catch this: Jimin has been dropping hints about how Taehyung is getting worse, Jungkook reminds her of something she almost did once upon a time, and even Chris, despite being angry on her behalf, acknowledges just how helpless Taehyung must be feeling.

Trusting him again really is the crux of the issue. The time for grovelling seems to have passed, like you said, and that's even scarier because now she has to get beyond the anger and look forward. That's really the only decision she needs to make: whether she trusts him or not. It can be a polarizing decision, but that's the point of writing real, human, flawed characters.

You could be right in that he's reached a breaking point - and she can tell. This thing you said:

it scared her so much that hes starting to become distant, because she already expected him to fight tooth and nail for who knows how long.

This is literally it. This is the whole fic (minus Jungkook) because as long as he was fighting, she didn't have to. Now that he's stopped, it's suddenly down to her and that's too difficult to face. But she needs to at some point or things will just end up going downhill from here.

I don't know about therapy - not because I don't think they need it, but because they don't think they need it. I think in general, both of them have a tendency to romanticise their relationship (Tae a little more, as we've seen) and each other, so the thought of involving a third person would seem a little pointless to them, sort of in a they would never understand kind of way.

Thank you sooo much for this review; it's so nice whenever readers put forward their own interpretations of my fics. I love writing human characters and that will mean that they will do things not everyone will agree with and seeing how that plays out with readers is such a pleasure.

[i-eat-vinilinum]

Abt my first DMing experience (and seeing my own campaign played out)

I was IMMEDIATELY thrown into role-playing NPCs and I kind of suck at it (to be clear, I WROTE IT ALL so. my own mistake)?? So that was a big 'Ooighhh whats goin on'. The city's name got a good laugh

Accidentally put too much pressure on 'be discreet!' so they didn't ask ANYTHING from the NPCs, though I corrected myself after a moment. Note for the future, hint that NPCs know things when you want players to talk to them?? 🤦🏼 Read more here

The first combat was fun + reminded me of the importance of preparing before the session, I was a bit out of it </3 Then there was forest exploration (with hexes and all 😍) and I was EXTREMELY HONORED to see that the players WANTED to explore the forest and strayed away from a straight line just for shits and giggles (context: the first campaign we played had a FUCKING ATROCIOUS forest. We were sick and tired of it)

They fought my homebrewed swarm of baby mimics, let's fuckin' GOOOO. We all had funnn, and I was proud cuz it came out rather balanced! Our cleric started smoking them like wasps with incense and trapped some in a donation can. Great stuff

They arrived to the village, looked at a body, I had to imply they should investigate it and at that point was a bit 😨 at their lack of, like, interaction? But oh well

They got to cave #1, fought blood bloaters and OHH.MY GOD... It was taking so long... I think they were a bit unbalanced - curse you, the guy who adapted them from 3.5 into 5e! But yeah, it was taking so long that at the end I was laughing a bit at how they could deal with this in a much less convoluted way. THEY REALLY COULD HAVE... At that point we were all tired, so end of session one

Day 2: We get to cave #2, the combat went rather smoothly, mainly bc they realized very soon that those fuck ass mushrooms can only move 1,5 meters per turn. They just fought a bit and outran them, which was lovely

Cave #3 aka. the boss encounter, aka. THE NIKIFOR ENCOUNTER, which my friend was STOKED FOR because we're OBSESSED WITH HIM. I was genuinely a bit overcome with stress at the beginning, I realized VERY SOON that I didn't prepare for this AT ALL, I kind of didn't have a plan and tried to freestyle it. SOMEHOW I DIDN'T THINK THAT 4 PEOPLE CAN JUST SWARM A GUY. AND THEY DID. So there was almost no epic fight, it was ALL 'let's kill that annoying bitch' (he is an annoying bitch, so). I was prepared for that too and I even preferred that outcome, but still. I had to tell them like three separate times that this IS the final (boss) fight, because Su (previously unmentioned player) kept telling the rest that this isn't the boss fight 'yet'. Just call me a slur, oh shit 😭 Anyway he (I) kept being an annoying bitch, proceeded to break down insanely upon getting DESTROYED by the group, got defeated rather easily, PISSED HIMSELF after getting kicked. I described a bit of an epilogue, story ends

A zgrzyt: IMMEDIATELY after finishing Su told me what was done wrong, that I should've talked more about the plot (done exposition?? if I understand the term correctly). And okay, at the end Nikifor refused to talk to them and kept trying to kill them. But that was like, his thing?? I assumed that they'd piece together what was going on* FROM MAYBE SEEING A BOOK IN HIS ROOM WHICH HAD SOMETHING ABOUT 'SUMMONING RITUALS' IN THE 'TIAMAT' (EVIL GODDESS) SECTION... AND HIM DOING SOMETHING VERY RITUAL-LIKE... THAT INCLUDED TIAMAT'S SYMBOL... While I absolutely see Su's points, they showed a big ass amount of not remembering SHIT about the (already thin) plot. I don't mind players crocheting and stuff but girl that's probably the reason you didn't know some things <3

*Besides him being a half-dragon out of nowhere, and then turning back into himself. I admit I should've hinted at the reason for that, once again my mistake really (though them not immediately knowing it's him WAS intended)

A nice thing: Overall I was told I'm great at DMing, that I'm rules-savvy and the game went very smoothly (partially because of that) and that I seem like I have experience (probably cuz I was a player with three diff DMs, all at the table then LOL). VERY LOVELY!! <3

[cadavirs]

some of my fav little notes + important pieces of info before i run off again (under the cut bc i love yapping abt him too much)

micah is a Collector of Things, specifically things that remind him of people he's at least semi-close to (which is sometimes one-sided on his part) + things they've said they like; they're smaller things, like little trinkets and knick-knacks (figurines, pens, books, etc). he also keeps Everything that's made for him (like letters, bracelets, the like), even if it's from someone he doesn't know / isn't close to at all.

despite being an incredibly skilled fighter (autism moment fixation on assortment of fighting styles since he was a kid, thanks to his big brother, who would have become a great professional boxer had he lived), he prefers to dodge and weave or talk it out, if he can. this isn't to say he's a stone pacifist -- self defense is self defense, and if it's in the name of protecting someone else, he has no qualms about beating someone's ass (and if that doesn't ruin their pride, the utter disappointment in his eyes might).

speaking of his brother, it's thanks to him that he wasn't bullied, growing up. christian im was popular and athletic, a rising star in their little nowhere town, who loved his little siblings more than life. literally, as he would take a knife that was meant for micah. he never got to graduate high school. though most didn't say it to his face, a lot of people blamed micah, just as they would blame him for his mother's car accident (she was going to pick him up). / mother was a mortician, and micah grew up fascinated by her work, which quickly turned into awe-filled respect. he knew immediately what he wanted to be when he grew up.

his little sister, shaye, is a detective living on jeju island (she decided to live there because she needed to get away from that town, from the death her brother works with -- and jeju island is where their mother grew up). she lives with her detective boyfriend (julien) and her pet jumping spider (elizabeth). her love for all things bugs / insects / etc comes from micah constantly infodumping to her when they were kids (and when she was a baby, little 4 year old micah would bring her bugs he caught, dirt in his fingernails and sparkles in his eyes).

micah's big four: bugs, birds, fighting styles, and the dead.

queer and the way he sees gender is difficult to explain. he is respectful of all identities and, as long as it's not hurtful, respectful of other people's ways of seeing gender and sexuality. he aligns with "gay man," but it's more complicated than that. not really complicated to him, but complicated to explain to others. and i will not be explaining bc girl me too

he is never tired of being nice. you can call him names and even try to kill him, and he'll still give you a little smile and a chance at redemption. he even uses his little mortician business + his groundskeeper office to temporarily home criminals (and spn creatures, verse dependent), offering them discreet help. this depends on the person, of course, as some acts are unredeemable.

he's studied not only the dead, but the living -- he's very analytical, calculating, using what he observes to better interact with the people around him. however, he does it in a way where he doesn't have to mask himself. the only times he lies is if he's hiding someone and the authorities or someone else comes looking for them -- otherwise, he's always honest, and never hides anything, himself. for example, if you piss him off, he'll tell you (because he's so honest and you won't see it on his face, which is always set to either blank mode or smiley mode).

reactionless, when it comes to facial expressions or fidgeting / any body movement (not including dodging or fighting, if it comes to that). dude doesn't even flinch at anything, whether or not he's feeling anxious internally. he'll just stare at you or continue whatever he's doing if you try to get a reaction out of him, maybe give you a little smile.

middle aged virgin and unashamed / doesn't care. as he should. + does NOT get flirting. flirting with him goes one of three ways: it goes right over his head and he thinks you're being serious / just nice; he understands what you're doing and tactfully shuts it down OR politely turns you down; he understands what you're doing and he lowkey has a crush on you and it makes him blush, one of few times you can actually read his face (and he doesn't really flirt back, just very bluntly tells you he likes you, too).

[leconcombrerit]

Help why did you have to remind me of my DFF brain rot i JUST got out of it

if you were to write a special film-length episode to DFF like the rumoured existence of one, what would that have been like?

i personally would have gone for some low stakes plot with a bunch of BFU/Watcher-like youtuber friends visiting the site years later and talking about rumors and police findings and theories and confirming a couple of plotlines (miss me with vague shit, i need everyone to be confirmed dead), and they are played by the previous cast in different roles bc that's the kind of meta stuff i like lol

(i am keeping my tabarcode/pheenon tho, i need another show with them, i cannot believe i am being tortured like this, you cannot give me a taste of their chemistry then just never do it again!!!)

I can't help it, sometimes Non pops up in my head like Masky from the woods and I have to yell about it to the world

............ Okay so that might be the question no one should ask without being fully ready for me to pull out my whole google doc folder full of notes, scenes breakdowns, actual written scenes, meta about some of the scenes, character development interpretation and-

Seriously though I was so mad and frustrated that I came up with a whole fix-it sequel, including a sequel to my sequel after that to make it less depressing, and then just. Lost the will to write I guess.

You can ignore the novel below, but I am VERY EMOTIONAL AND NOW YOU'VE THROWN ME BACK INTO THIS THING

Beware that I'm a firm believer of the "they're all stuck in a infinite loop" and "Non partially haunted them" theories, so that's what I go by. If I keep it simple, it would go like

(It might not always make sense but it does in my head I swear)

I have it start right after the ending of the series, except when Phee and Jin walk into the house, Phee gets weird flashbacks of what happened before (except some stuff doesn't quite match, it's important, and Jin doesn't get flashbacks, also important), then it cuts back to the beginning, with the boys at the back of the truck. We go over Phee's many failed attempts at saving everyone in little glimpses. Things tend to happen quite the same way in every loop, Phee always gets brought back.

After a while though he starts remembering a little and gets seriously confused. After a number of loops though, Phee tries really hard to remember to save Por before he steps into the house (and straight into another loop). Cause Por never, ever survives long enough for shit. And when he finds himself at the back of the truck again, he does remember he has to 'save Por', although he's not sure why or from what. Phee also does weird things, like calling Tan New.

Then. Then a lot of things happen, I can't put everything in a short summary dear lord why does brevity always elude my best efforts. Anyway. Let's say Phee remembers more and more of the previous loops they've been stuck in, and believes that if he manages to save everyone, then they'll be able to break out of this. Except he does (after a lot of efforts sweat blood and tears cause New has a literal plot armor where everything that can go his way will, it's Non's scenario after all, New's his only trustworthy director) and... Well they don't get out at all. Their ears ring and they just fall. Bamboozled again, love.

I'll also point out that it solves the "Phee has information he's got no way to have" plot hole in the series. What we've seen in the series isn't the first iteration of it, so he just remembers glimpses without even realizing it. Same for Tee, who goes batshit crazy from the get go and jumps on the ghost bandwagon. He survived sometimes, so he's got a feeling for things. Doesn't fully remember, but just enough to have intuitions and not question them. So this time, since everyone survived, they all have those intuitions of sorts (except Jin it really is important for his plot line), which will make it so much harder for New to lead them on.

Anyway back to the thing. When Phee wakes up he's in the house, but just with Non this time. He doesn't realize shit at first, and they just watch a movie and talk about stuff. Namely how Non thinks sequels usually suck, and Phee doesn't agree. Then Non asks him if he thinks he can write his own, it gets creepy, and cut, back to the truck. Phee

After that we're halway through, it's goodbye to Phee's POV for a while. There's a bit of everyone, starting with New. It also gets fairly heartbreaking from there sometimes, but it's already a super long answer, so, uh. Well.

And damn I wanna write it again now. It's been stuck in limbo for months but I mean I have each chapters breakdown scene by scene and-