#seduce a man in order to murder him!

[rose-morose]

ok we need to have a chat about Kit from Jentry Chau vs the Underworld

(as per usual long spoilers under the cut)

he is a great character, but you all are misunderstanding the point behind his reveal to Jentry as a painted skin

the show finally gives us the dignity to be accepting of a person for being different right out of the gate, like Jentry was surprised by Kit's true appearance, but not unaccepting

whereas other shows often like to give us the whole *you wouldn't like me because I'm different no I would I swear never mind you were right I don't like you anymore* Jentry Chau vs the Underworld gives Jentry a good reason for why she doesn't accept Kit

Jentry later explains herself very clearly to Kit and why she doesn't trust him, it's because he manipulated her, seduced her, tried to kill her, and did the one thing that everyone else does to her, the thing she hates most, he tried to use her to get what he wants

she can't trust that his feelings for her are real, and it's not just because he is a demon and his book entry says "can't feel emotion" or whatever, she has been given good reason to believe that the book is right and she shouldn't trust him, not because he was lying about being a demon, but because he tried to kill her at the orders of the man that she believed had murdered her parents, because he had planted a pearl on her that manipulated her desire to see her parents to lead her into a trap, because he had spied on her and pretended to also be into the things she likes just to get close enough to kill her, and his reasons for doing all of that were entirely selfish, he planned on trading her soul for a soul of his very own

Jentry eventually forgives Kit, but not because she has reconciled that he is a demon, she realizes that Kit is just like her, his manipulation wasn't his own plan, he is a pawn in someone else's game, like her he is being used by another party to get what they want, and like her he wants out

this prompts her to come up with a plan to get them both out of the game, if Jentry can transfer the powers that Flora and Cheng are fighting over from her to something else, then theoretically Flora would no longer need Jentry, and Cheng would no longer need Kit in order to get close to Jentry

she enlists Kit's help to achieve this objective, and it works (temporarily), freeing Jentry and Kit from the rivalry that they both wanted no part of

Kit then takes this opportunity to try and form a romantic relationship with Jentry, but she declines citing a need for "normalcy"

again, not because she doesn't accept him as a person, Jentry is doing everything she can to put her supernatural past behind her whether it's Cheng, the mogui, her gugu, her parents, her powers, Diyu, or ghosts, but she is content keeping friends around like Ed and Kit

and it's worth mentioning that Jentry noticed Kit's desire to be with her was entirely selfish and self serving, he wanted his own happiness no matter the cost, even if it meant stealing from Jentry, and his behavior around her was hardly rational, stalking her, smashing lockers, scaring her, he wasn't exactly trying to formulate a healthy relationship

she is later upset with Kit for breaking her trust once again, and stealing from her to achieve the same selfish goal as before

but Kit finds redemption in the end, not redemption for being a demon, redemption for being selfish, and he does this by sacrificing himself to save Jentry's life, something from which he had nothing to gain, and even admits what Jentry suspected, that his wanting to be with her was selfish, but he proved that he could be selfless and put others first

people are saying he got done dirty, but it was that sacrifice that made him not only a good person, but a good character that was capable of growing and evolving, and his absence from the rest of the show, suggesting that his death may have been permanent, made his sacrifice all the more meaningful

Jentry is hardly perfect, but she isn't the monster some have accused her of being

why wouldn't Jentry be accepting of a demon? Ed was a jiangshi, an undead demonic creature from Diyu that consumes qi much in the same way that the painted skin demon would, and he was one of her best friends

she saw the nü gui as a non-malicious friend to Ed, considered her gugu's ghosts to be helpful and nice, helped a dangerous little girl to return to the afterlife, didn't run off when she learned about Michael's powers, regarded niu tou and ma mian as non-evil forces just doing their job, considered Kit a friend after forgiving him, and helped Zhong Kui capture law breaking ghosts

she was constantly accepting of any super natural entity that wasn't a total dick, why would this be any different?

now I love Kit, and if there is a season 2, and I hope to god there is, I would love to see him return as well, but you gotta stop ragging on Jentry for just being rational, there are much better reasons why someone would be upset with her, but I just can't see the unaccepting angle

[woantohae]

Bang, Bang (My baby shot me down) Part I || (Rocco x reader)

Summary: Leftie hires Y/N and her brother Lonnie to help him avenge the death of his son, who was murdered by Rocco. To do so, Y/N must infiltrate the family and get close to Rocco so he can carry out his plan during the holidays.

Could it be possible without certain feelings getting in the way?

Part 2 soon!

Author's note: I haven't seen Lewis's (Riff Raff) film, but I saw some scenes in the trailer and this idea came to mind. Clearly, it won't be faithful to what happens in the story, but something similar and related to the plot.

《tags: smut, curse words, fuck, make out, rocco being a simp and whipped for reader, mentions of tits, dick and sex, explicit scenes, +18, somehow fluff, angst》

"So.... let me get this straight?" She says trying to sort and process the information. "This Rocco guy murdered your son, and you're looking for revenge. So to do that, you want me to seduce the boy to make him confess, even though you know the truth, so you can then attack them when they're all gathered for the holidays and make each of them pay. Is that right?"

Leftie nods while drinking his beer. The girl had no plans or issues to attend to, so it wasn't difficult for her to come up with an answer. Besides, she was bored with nothing interesting happening these days; maybe she could entertain herself for a while by doing the dirty work. Literally.

Y/N pouts and nods. "Deal."

Lonnie gives her a surprised look. His sister could be very impulsive if she didn't reason things through and consider the consequences. They had started doing odd jobs a long time ago so they could live in peace and with enough money to have a place to call home. Although Lonnie didn't like his younger sister doing a job—considered dirty and criminal—he knew how stubborn she was, and a simple order from him wouldn't be enough. She would do it anyway.

But this was crossing the line. As soon as he heard Leftie say that Y/N would practically have to sleep with Vincent and Ruth's son to gain his trust and get him to confess, his stomach churned at the thought of what her little sister would be going through. Getting into a guy's pants just to make the old man in front of him feel better and deal with his loss and get his revenge.

Maybe he had been a jerk to her and not been an honorable brother who guided her down the right path, but now was the time to act like an older brother.

"Wow, wow, wow" Lonnie says raising his hands to interrupt the conversation.

The gray-haired man and the girl look at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You want her to sleep with the guy so he can gain his trust, just like that." Leftie nods, indifferent.

"Wasn't I clear about the plan?" he asks, and Y/N shrugs at her brother's attitude.

Lonnie laughs sarcastically.

"No, I understood you, old man. But I can't allow you to throw my sister like a bitch into the arms of a man who we don't know if he'll put a bullet in our heads if he ever finds out."

The man lets out a laugh as if he just said the funniest thing in the world. Lonnie looks at him, exasperated, and Y/N frowns at her brother.

"Lonnie, I thought we talked about this since we started working on this," she says, putting her drink aside.

"Yes, but it only means we'd shoot if necessary and if the pay was good. Not that you'd sleep with just anyone to satisfy this old man's vengeful desires."

Leftie wipes a fake tear from his eye and sighs, then explains the situation in more detail.

"Believe me, it'll be a piece of cake with this family— Vincent is divorced from Ruth, who is an idiot woman when it comes to intelligence and coherent thinking, considering all the hairspray she uses for her hair I really wonder how she survives at this point. The man says he's put his criminal past behind him and is trying to move on to start a new family with another woman. Meanwhile, our main target is a nobody who follows orders and is too cowardly to confront problems like a real man. He's easy to seduce if you're an attractive woman who knows how to manipulate a man." The man explains, clasping his hands together.

"I think if I wasn't sure what we were dealing with, I wouldn't put you two up for this. I couldn't count on two pathetic babies as siblings to carry out the plan."

Y/N glares at him, and Lonnie curses under his breath. He knew they were the most suitable people to carry out the plan, but even though it was hard to admit, he didn't want his sister to suffer the consequences of all this. After all, he made the mistake of saying yes to her working in this criminal environment.

"So, are you in or not?" Leftie asks, bluntly and already fed up with having to explain the plan.

Y/N looks at her brother, who looks back at her.

"You know I'll be fine, idiot," she assures him.

Lonnie clenches his jaw for a few seconds and then looks back at the old man in front of them, who's waiting for an answer. The good thing about all this is that Lonnie will be able to keep an eye on her and make sure everything is okay, if she needs his help.

Besides, they need the money.

So it doesn't take that long for the man to make the decision.

"When do we start, fucking old man?"

Y/N was sitting at the bar waiting.

She was adjusting her earpiece to hear Leftie and Lonnie's instructions, while they could also hear everything she said to the target. The girl wasn't nervous, but she was a little curious about what the guy looked like. Y/N just hoped he didn't turn out to be a total jerk, although from what Leftie had told her about him, she wasn't that anxious about that.

"Okay, the guy is already entering the bar. He has a black leather jacket and long brown hair," Leftie says into her earpiece.

She looks up and cranes her neck to see a man enter, scanning the surroundings with some caution, as if testing the waters for danger. She smiles to herself when she sees that he's handsome and has a face that would beg her forgiveness on his knees if he made a mistake with her. A man who could be considered pathetic, and simp for a woman. Just Y/N's kind of man.

Although Y/N ​​immediately seems to frown when the man arrives next to a woman with bangs and a bump. She was pregnant.

"We have a problem, gentlemen," she murmurs.

"Damn it, it's Mariana. Rocco's ex," Leftie says in an angry tone. "They were supposed to have broken up because she cheated on him with another man and got pregnant. Now she wants to get back with Rocco because the other bastard dumped her."

Y/N licks her lips without looking away from the ex couple.

"What do we do now?" she asks.

"I'll take care of it," Lonnie says. "You walk over to Rocco's table, and when I say 'now,' pretend to fall into his arms, understood?" Y/N sighs and nods.

She gets up from her seat, straightening her short evening dress and fixing her hair. Then, Y/N starts walking over to where Rocco and the woman are, just to notices how Lonnie enters the bar and goes straight to their table.

"Excuse me, do you happen to own that red Nissan in the parking lot?" her brother asks the woman, who answers yes. "You should go check it. It was just towed for illegal parking."

"What! Those fuckers!"

The woman suddenly shoots up from her seat and leaves Rocco frowning, not hearing him call her name to wait for him. Lonnie glances at his sister leaving the guy alone and she walks around Rocco's side of the table, and when her brother tells her the code word, she trips and falls into the brunette's lap, who is surprised to see her. But he inmediatly moves his hands to the girl's waist.

Rocco stares at her, and she begins to play her role.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't hurt you," she says in a sweet tone, feigning concern.

He shakes his head with a light laugh, still holding his hands on the girl's waist. Rocco can't help but think how beautiful she is, especially given how close her body is. Suddenly, his ex seems to be forgotten by the girl in the red dress on his lap.

"Not at all. I'm fine. Are you okay?" he asks her.

She nods, a smile plastered on her face. "I am now."

"Part two of the plan, in action," Leftie says in her ear.

Y/N settles into the guy's lap and frowns slightly.

"Actually, no." The guy in front of her frowns and looks at her closely. "There's this old guy at the bar who kept bothering me. And it's already really late, and my friends have left, and I'm scared to take an Uber at this hour. So I don't know what to do."

She sighs feigning sadness and pouting.

Rocco misses the feeling of her on his lap when the girl gets up and adjusts her dress to start leaving. It's not every day that a pretty girl falls into his lap as if she were sent from heaven, just like an angel. That's what he'd believed with Mariana, until she decided to cheat on him with that idiot Tim.

"Well, I'm sorry I fell all over you. I should go." She turns around, but when she hears Rocco stop her, Y/N smiles amused and triumphant, seeing that he caught the bait.

"I could take you home," he offers, and she turns to look at him with a twinkle in her eye.

"Really?" Rocco nods and puts on his best flirtatious smile.

He approaches the girl and playfully takes her hand.

"I promise I'm a gentleman," he says in a low, sincere tone, as far as the girl can tell.

She seems to think about it for a few seconds, biting her lip. An action that doesn't go unnoticed by the man.

"Okay. But I'd like to know your name first," she tells him.

He laughs and offers his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Rocco. A pleasure."

"Y/N" she says shaking her hand with his "The pleasure is mine"

"Oh God. I'm gonna be sick," Leftie groans, overhearing the conversation.

Y/N clears her throat as if warning him and walks with Rocco, who places his hand on the girl's back to guide her to his car. Like a true gentleman, Rocco opens his car door and lets the girl in, and when he closes it he has to calm down when he feels Rocco Junior harden from being to close to her, intoxicating himself with her sweet perfume.

As he's walking to the driver's seat, Y/N speaks into the microphone hidden in the collar she's wearing.

"Should I tell him we're going to his place, or what do you want me to do now?" she asks, looking at the boy circling the car.

"Try to get him to take you to his place so you can get used to it and know the surroundings," the gray-haired man orders.

"Be careful, Y/N," Lonnie warns. She rolls her eyes and sighs.

As soon as Rocco gets in the car, she smiles sweetly at him. He mimics her gesture and starts the car.

"So, where should I take you?" he asks.

"Mhm..." She sighs, as if she's complaining. "I'm not really sleepy. And I'm sure my friends brought some guys over, so I don't want to bother them."

The man beside her listens and thinks for a few seconds. He had to be careful with his actions; after the accident with the son of a mobster and everything that happened, he had to watch his back. He had already talked it over with his father, Vincent, and he had told him not to trust anyone but him and his mother. But when he looked into the girl's eyes, he knew nothing bad would happen with her.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" he offers the girl. "You tell me where, and I'll take you anywhere."

Y/N is surprised by how quickly the boy grasps the situation. It seems like he really wants something more to happen, but he stops himself so as not to pressure her into anything she doesn't want. The girl makes a sound with her mouth and subtly rests her hand on the man's thigh.

"Maybe, if you don't mind, we could go to your place. We could chat some more and get to know each other better," she says, while stroking the man's thigh with her thumb, who holds his breath for a moment.

Rocco nods repeatedly. "Yeah, yeah. No problem."

Rocco pins the girl against the wall, his lips moving frantically to devour her.

Y/N moans in response and pulls off the boy's jacket, feeling him grab her ass in a desperate attempt to move her against his hard member. She runs her hands over his neck and hair, tugging lightly.

Rocco is immersed in the passionate moment, not noticing his mother, Ruth, entering the room in a pajama robe.

"Rocco!" she exclaims.

They both separate, and the boy looks at her in frustration for interrupting them.

"Mom! What the fuck are you doing here!" he exclaims, pulling away from the girl, while Y/N licks her lips and stares at the scene in front of her.

The woman who claims to be his mother is perplexed. "You know exactly why I'm here," she raises an eyebrow and then sees the girl with messy hair and a raised dress. "Nice to meet you, honey. I'm Ruth."

"Hi" Y/N smiles and waves her hand.

"There's Vincent's damn wife," Leftie says in her ear.

Y/N remembers that her brother and Leftie can hear everything, so she blushes at the thought of what they just heard.

Rocco snorts and takes the girl's hand to start leading her to her room.

"Just don't interrupt us like that, Mom," Rocco says, walking up the stairs to his room.

The boy lets her in, and Y/N carefully examines the man's room. It's simple, with a few pieces of furniture, a double bed, and some photo frames, including one of him and his ex. She hears him close the door and curses under her breath for what happened.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know she was going to be here tonight," he explains in a desperate and frustrated tone. "We're going through a complicated family situation."

"Complicated, my ass" says Leftie through her earpiece.

Y/N pays attention to what the guy is saying as she walks over to the photo frame and looks at it.

"What do you mean, complicated?" Rocco sighs and puts his arms around his waist, moving closer to her.

"Business," he replies, then notices the photo in her hands. "Oh, that's ah.... it's- It's my ex, and I forgot she was there..." Y/N smiles at him and leaves the frame upside down on the dresser, listening as he tries to explain himself. "I swear we're done. She's in the past, and we don't...."

She decides to place her hands on his chest and push him onto the bed, which silences the man.

"Y/N please let us know when you're done with him so we can listen again. We're going to mute you now, for the sake of my ears," Lonnie announces, and she hears the beeping of the device in her ear go off.

She smiles at the boy and sits on his lap, her thighs on each side of him. Rocco feels as if he's hypnotized by the girl, especially when she begins to pull down the straps of her dress in front of him.

"Like you said: she's in the past, right?" Y/N says, and watches as he nods desperately, watching his eyes linger for a long moment on her now-exposed breasts "Now I just want us to focus on getting to know each other better. Do you like that idea?"

Rocco moans and nods.

"I'd really like that." Y/N smiles and connects her lips with his in a kiss.

Then, she feels Rocco move his hands to her breasts and begin to mold them to his liking, playing with her nipples. She pulls away and leans her head back to let him enjoy it, as she does so at the same time.

"Is it okay if I do this?" the man asks.

"As long as you don't cum and do it inside me afterward, it's all good, baby," she says.

Rocco grunts and takes one of her breasts, sucking on it like his life depends of it.

Something tells him they'll get to know each other very well that night.

It had been a couple of months since Rocco and Y/N met. The passion that had consumed them the night of the plan had led them to grow much closer and to learn aspects of each other that neither had told anyone else.

Y/N had already met his mother, Ruth, and was able to understand a little more about Rocco's family. A bit crazy, to be honest. The boy's father, although present, was now focused on his new wife and family, so Rocco sometimes took a backseat—although, the boy understood and preferred it that way.

In the hundreds of conversations the two had after making love and spending the night together, Rocco had confessed his criminal side to her. He had admitted that he had hung out with untrustworthy guys and that they had led him to do things he regretted to this day. But he was trying to change it and make good decisions. The girl seemed to have the information she needed until the moment Rocco dropped the bombshell news Leftie needed.

"Oh fuck! Fuck!" Rocco moans, feeling how tight Y/N feels with each of his thrusts.

Y/N's ass is up in the air, clutching the messy sheets of the boy's bed. Rocco grips the girl's hips to continue touching her deepest point and reach the climax they both desire.

"You feel so-so good, baby," she says to keep motivating him.

Rocco can't help but continue moving his hips against hers with more desire.

"Fuck, you're taking me so well" he grunts kneading one of the girl's ass cheeks.

Y/N feels like she's going to cum if he keeps pounding her. She can only tighten her pussy against the boy's penis, letting him know she's about to do it, to which Rocco speeds up his movements. The room is filled with the moans and obscene sounds of their bodies colliding against each other.

"Rocco, I'm going to cum," she gasps, feeling the pleasure about to consume her completely.

Rocco continues moving, stimulating her so they do it at the same time. He smirks at the girl reaction feeling proud of him being the reason to it.

"Yeah, darling? You wanna cum on my cock?" he talks dirty to her "Let's cum together, uh?"

She makes a sound with her mouth and rests her forehead on the pillow, unable to stand it any longer.

"Okay, babygirl. Cum for me," he commands, and she lets out everything she'd been pent up, followed by him releasing all his cum into her pussy.

They both exclaim, possessed by the satisfaction of their release, catching their breath. Rocco moves a little deeper inside the girl, feeling their mixed juices from the mess they've both made. Then he pulls out his penis and affectionately caresses the girl's ass. Y/N lies down on the bed and tries to fix her hair, while Rocco falls beside her, breathing heavily. He looks at her profile and holds her against his body with his arm, while the girl lets herself be enveloped by him.

Y/N would be lying if she said she wasn't feeling anything for the boy, but she still has a feeling that she must fulfill the mission Leftie gave her.

"You're incredible, Y/N," he murmurs in her ear.

She smiles at him and clasps their hands together, before Rocco brings them to his lips and kisses her knuckles.

"What I'm about to tell you is ridiculous, and you might think I'm a fool for admitting it out loud." Y/N strokes his hair and smiles softly.

"Not at all, Rocco. You can trust me." she lies, feeling awful for that "Tell me".

Rocco caresses the soft, bare skin of her back and sighs heavy.

"You make me want to be a better man," he admits, and she listens intently. There seems to be a conflict in his blue eyes. "Like I told you, I've done things I regret, because of my criminal past and being part of the mafia on my family's side. But there's something I can't forget so easily."

Rocco looks down for a moment, and Y/N swallows to wait for him to continue, but she has an idea of ​​what it might be.

"There was one time I had to take care of a guy who owed us money and... well," he says in a rueful tone "Things didn't happen the way they were supposed to. I was just getting started to accept this kind of business, and I wasn't able to..." Y/N strokes his cheek, frowning slightly at his internal struggle. "My partners saw me struggling and refusing to kill the kid, so one of them took the gun and murdered him in cold blood."

Y/N freezes when she finally hears the truth about the whole mess with Leftie's son.

"Obviously, I got mad at him and told him he was insane and that he'd messed up. And well, you know how the mafia gangs works, so..." he mumbles and then clears his throat "But he was just a kid, and he already had enough problems, so them going after him because of that was to much. So I decided to take the blame for his actions and never see him again."

Rocco sighs and closes his eyes for a moment, as Y/N continues to caress his cheek, trying to let him know she's there with him.

"I don't think I fully understand how a mafia works or your criminal past," she says, lying because she knows it perfectly well. "But what you did in the past doesn't have to condemn your future if you decide to take the right and most logical path."

Rocco looks at her and nods, listening.

"Maybe it's not the right thing to do, but you made a decision you thought was best for a child you thought was best left out of all that mess," she continues, feeling the guilt slowly consume her. "That small gesture was already making you a better man, especially when you accepted that what you were doing was wrong. It will haunt you for life, yes. But only you have the power to change your future."

Rocco smiles, and Y/N kisses her lips as she feels him hug her. When they separate, he brushes the strand of hair that falls across the girl's forehead, admiring her closely.

"I haven't felt this way since, you know..." They laugh, and Y/N nods, understanding who he's referring to. "But I can't deny what I'm starting to feel for you."

Y/N swallows, feeling a tingle in her stomach at the sight of his vulnerable and honest side, even though she'll have to betray him after all. However, the girl has felt it too, and she'll have to face it no matter how hard it is.

"I love you, Y/N."

Oh shit, she thinks.

She really needs to talk to Leftie.

[glaciergore]

so I've been considering two things: crozier's contempt for hickey as a reflection of his own shame, and a privilege of rank being your distance from the violence you enact.

hickey is an unrepentant shamelessness to crozier's guilt. he's the overt brutality of british imperialism to crozier's acceptable, 'civilised' face.

crozier looks upon him with disgust for that, yet is complicit in the same system, enacting similar violence but with the luxury of having people to do it for him.

silna's kidnapping exemplifies this. bringing her aboard was also crozier's (and fitzy's) idea, and it still would've been kidnapping in all but name. sending a party of armed military officers to bring in a lone, local woman (or anyone, for that matter) is itself a dynamic of violence and coercion, regardless of actual inflicted physical violence.

hickey organising his small, unauthorised party, of which he is a member, reflects an inequality in power manifesting as proximity to violence (i.e., boots-on-the-ground vs. command from high). in other words, hickey's comparative lack of power means he must bloody his own hands, unlike crozier.

thus, the difference between the violence crozier and hickey each enact (or plan to) is in presentation, not effect.

crozier neither flogs hickey himself nor ties the noose around his neck. there's a whole system at his command, as captain, to enact hierarchically-sanctioned violence on his behalf, often in very public ways.

meanwhile, hickey accompanies the kidnapping party in-person and kills irving with his own hands, out of sight (not by gunshot, but stabbing and suffocation — especially brutal and hands-on).

although this precipitates the murder of the netsilik family, even that is proxied through hodgson, so I'd argue the only real crozier-like power hickey ever gets is post-mutiny. in particular, when the mutineers kidnap crozier on his authority, without his presence. then, he reverts back to hands-on violence when attacking sol, whom he knows is planning on turning back (a symbol of his newfound authority slipping).

this reinforces a relationship between power/authority and the distance (by extension, comfort) you receive from your violence.

that's reflected in other scenes, such as crozier massaging fitzy's throat to euthanise him while hickey must take a knife to gibson: one of these acts is more overtly violent than the other, but they serve the same fundamental purpose.

the way crozier and hickey are framed, largely as foils, repeatedly draws attention to a disparity between their acts of violence. but, ultimately, both men are using tools at their disposal for survival and personal gain — except their rank and class differential provides them access to different tools.

hickey is the natural end result of the system crozier's complicit in (more than complicit; he commands it, on a small-scale system like an expedition).

therefore, when crozier looks at hickey, he is confronted with the overt and undeniable colonial violence underlying his own orders or mere presence in the arctic. 'you hold yourself to a standard of man you are not nor should ever have tried to be...' it's important that they're both on the floor in that scene — that hickey invites crozier to sit. you're as good as your 'worst' man, and they're talking on the same level.

and that's just it: 'I forgive all of them but you,' crozier says, placing total blame on hickey as again a 'devious seducer' of his men. that neglects how any power hickey scrapes derives from his ability to organise existing sentiments amongst them. they hardly murder the netsilik family on his whim; he ignites their existing hostility, prejudice, and need to project blame for their circumstances.

crozier is still deluded that his men are somehow fundamentally good ('you're clean, goodsir, even as your hand is forced by swine'). accepting otherwise would require him to recognise that any colonialist presence is itself an inherent act of violence against the native populations of a given place.

only towards the end of the narrative (and his personal arc) does crozier finally commit hands-on colonial violence: he kills tuunbaq. even if tuunbaq was already choking, the reason why was a colonial presence. he at last takes accountability for that, renounces his life, rank, identity almost as punishment, or guilty self-exile.

crozier is dead and gone.

summarised: crozier and hickey both engage in colonialist violence, but crozier's rank affords him distance from it. hickey's existence forces him to confront the violence he embodies by just being present as part of a colonising force, and that contributes to his severe punishment of and contempt for hickey.

aka... self-recognition through the other (derogatory)?

[demonofheat]

"Only" one night

Choi Seungcheol x reader

pov: When your life doesn't like you and you're getting fucked in every possible situation. After a stormy breakup with a long-time boyfriend, you go to drink away your sorrows, so after much persuasion you went to a club with your friends for fun

words : 2k

warnings : subSeungchol x domReader, sex , oral, smut, for adults

English is not my native language/this is my first publication

There's nothing like a great birthday, discovering your long-time boyfriend cheating on you and now calming your tears with alcohol, isn't that a wonderful feeling. It was even better when I saw my boyfriend fucking his ex. His explanations were even more wonderful than the surprise he gave me "I'm sorry it was a moment of weakness" "it was a mistake she seduced me" "it's because you didn't have time for me". While I was working my ass off to pay the rent for our apartment this freeloader did nothing, lay around or played on the computer while I haven't slept well in a long time. So now I'm sitting in heels, a leather skirt and my beloved leather jacket.

"how long are you going to sip that drink" my dear friend asked me looking with a smirk "You kicked the ass out on the street in just your boxers and with a few suitcases, no other chick will give him the life you do"

"Let him go to hell, I earn more than all his friends, I have contracts with big brands, and I'm still wrong" I laughed

"You're a foreigner that's why" he laughed "You've been sitting here for 5 years but you don't have Asian facial features unlike us" he put his hand around my arm and started stroking it lightly

"Hiro please don't finish you off" I finished the contents of the glass

"Look my dear friend, a woman is broken for the first time let's be happy" he turned to Eric our friend who looked like he was sitting with us as a punishment

"She should hang out in clubs with her female friends, not us" Eric looked at them like they were idiots

"You know very well that I don't have too many female friends, I've got you, my sister is busy with work and you're always on hand" I smiled "Can I have another one" I turned to the bartender asking for another drink.

"We didn't come here to cheer you up, so find some guy and go away" Eric sighed

"I don't see anyone worth your attention" I grumbled boredly observing the entire club

"I guess being around pretty creatures has disturbed your sense of aesthetics, huh?" Hiro laughed "Let's go to the dance floor Eric"

"Hey, don't leave your friend with a broken heart alone" I tried to grab the hand of one of them to stop them Hiro just waved. At this point I was left alone at the bar, sitting lonely, my friends were having a great time on the dance floor, every now and then I sent them a murderous look "Fucking traitors" I thought. Moments passed and the ice in the glass began to turn into water. 

"I love my fucking life" I said bitterly

"Hey, what are you doing here all alone?" I heard broken English behind me, I looked over my shoulder, there stood a rather tall handsome man, black hair and dark eyes were very hypnotizing, a pretty boy. Dressed in black material pants and a matching shirt in the same color, his silver watch sparkled in the light of the club lights.

"You don't have to bother, I know Korean very well and that's how you can say I'm alone" I smiled, the guy sat down next to me, ordered himself a drink and the conversation began. The topics were very different from favorite colors, the music we listen to, to my stay in Korea, how long I've been here, etc. He was very surprised by my Korean, especially when he heard that I knew other ones.

"Do you work for a Korean company?" he asked

"I work like that day and night, sometimes I forget what it's like to sleep normally at night, and you?" I laughed

"You could say I feel the same way, my schedule is really tight, and this is one of the first times in months that I have free time" he smiled at me, god he seems like a muscular man but his smile is like a little child's "I guess I didn't introduce myself Seungcheol nice to meet you"

"Y/N nice to meet you too"

The conversation was great. Seungcheol sometimes caressed her neck explaining that he was fixing her hair, so we ordered a few more drinks. After a while, the alcohol started to work and gave me confidence.

"Your earrings and tattoos are nice, you can see them a little from under the jacket, are they butterflies?" he asked

"Yes" I slid the material of the jacket off one shoulder to show more "I have butterflies, moons, stars everything I like" I smiled. His hand approached my skin slowly stroking my exposed arm, his gaze studying the mascara stuck in my skin with great attention. I felt hot for a moment.

“Nice,” he whispered, "I couldn't wait any longer. I approached his face, put my hand on his thigh.

“Are we going to mine or your house ?” I asked quietly.

“To mine”

I slammed the door shut before he could say anything. He leaned against it, as if trying to catch his breath — and that was what I loved the most. That moment when he realized he had lost control. That there was no turning back. With a quick step, I directed us to the bed, pushed his body onto the soft surface.

“Sit,” I said quietly but firmly. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I saw a shadow of uncertainty in his eyes, maybe even surprise. But he did it. He sat obediently like a well-trained puppy.

I approached slowly, each of my steps was deliberate. I moved my fingers along his jaw and lifted his chin, forcing him to look me in the eye.

"You look so pretty when you know who you belong to," I whispered, brushing my lips against his cheek. "But you haven't earned it yet."

He sucked in a breath. He was tense, as if his whole body was begging for touch. He almost spoke, but I silenced him with one finger on his lips.

"Silence. Today you only speak when I let you."

I turned around, slowly sliding off my leather jacket. I could feel his gaze on me, hot, insatiable. I smiled under my breath.

"Hands behind your back. Look, but don't move."

When I looked back at him, I saw he was trembling. So strong, and yet completely defenseless against me. And that was it.

"You lie there, all tense, with your pride and a look that was supposed to break me. Did you think you were the one playing the game? That all those looks, touches, subtle provocations would disarm me?"

I stood over him and straddled his thighs, looking him straight in the eye. I cupped his face in my hands and leaned in so that our lips were millimeters apart.

"No. I let you believe you had power. But now... I'm taking it away from you. All of it."

I kissed him hard, deeply. I didn't ask. I took it.

He trembled under my hands, and a soft moan escaped his throat. I loved the sound of it - like a sigh of surrender.

"Today you are mine, Seungcheol. All of it. Without any discussion. Do you understand?"

"Yes..." he croaked. "Yes, Y/N."

I smiled with satisfaction. "Good boy."

I began to undress him slowly, with reverence. Every button, every layer – as if I was unwrapping a gift that had waited too long for me. Every touch of mine was a promise. Every look – an order.

He was mine that night. And I knew I would never let it be otherwise.

I slid his shirt off, my fingers brushing his tense muscles. He trembled under my touch, as if every movement of my hand burned him from the inside. I liked this feeling – knowing that one gesture of mine could turn his composure into a burning desire.

“Don’t move,” I said quietly, bringing my lips to his collarbone. I placed a languid kiss on it, then another, lower, slower… and another, until finally his body lifted slightly, as if begging for more.

I pinned his hips down with my thighs. “I said, don’t move.”

He closed his eyes, sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, but complied. I watched with pride as he fought with himself. His body screamed for attention, and I gave it only when I felt like it.

"You're so good," I whispered, my fingernails tracing his torso. "And so fucking mine."

I slid lower, slowly, deliberately, my gaze roaming his body. When I touched him through the material of his pants, he shivered. I smiled with satisfaction.

"Tell me what you want," I said quietly, not taking my eyes off him.

"You..." he whispered. "All of you. Now."

I shook my head, slowly unbuttoning his pants. "Not now. Now I decide how much you get. Or if at all."

His moan was quiet, pleading. I loved the tension—the way his strength yielded to my will. The way this confident man lay before me, disarmed, surrendered. I pulled the material down, slowly, leaving him naked, his body perfectly muscled and hard, his cock bigger than it was, and he was completely exposed to my gaze and my commands. I leaned down, brushing my lips against his—and then his body twitched as if from a jolt of electricity.

I looked him straight in the eye.

"Now you can move your hands," I finally said. "But only if you ask."

He was silent for a moment. Pride warred with lust.

“Please… Y/N… I beg you,” his voice was hoarse, true, broken.

This was the moment I had been waiting for. The moment of complete surrender.

“Good boy,” I whispered, moving his hands to where they were supposed to be. “Now you can truly feel what it means to be mine.”

And that was when I stopped being gentle.

He parted his lips as if to say something, but I didn’t let him get a word in. I pressed a finger against his lips, then simply took what I wanted. I slid lower, slowly, savoring his reactions—every breath, every twitching muscle.He was tense to the limit. I loved it.I loved having him like this—shaky, heated, completely mine.

The kisses turned into marks, the marks into teeth, and his hands—so reserved at first—balled into fists on the sheets as I ran my tongue along his inner thigh, giving him nothing but promise.

"Tell me you want more," I whispered, inches from his weakness.

"I want more."

I hummed in approval, moving my lips to where he most desired my presence.

"Tell me you need me."

"I need you. I need you now, Y/N."

I smiled. "And only me?"

"Only you," he rasped. "Always."

The "always" sounded like a promise. Or an oath. I'm not sure if it hit me at the time. But something inside me stirred. I slowly took hispenis to my mouth and I slowly started licking that red head, my movements were slow. I was enjoying the view. His eyes were begging for me as I took his entire length into my mouth, he threw his head back and tried to silence his moans but he failed the faster I moved my head the louder he moaned. When I felt that I had led him to the edge and I pulled back just before he crossed it. He looked down, his eyes wide, confused, staring at me like a revelation. I slowly stood up leaving him on the mattress, I started to pull my top up, revealing a lilac bra with lace butterflies. I looked into his eyes as I pulled down my skirt revealing a matching bottom. His gaze looked like he saw an angel.

I climbed on him, slowly, fully aware of my advantage. I ran my hands over his chest, his neck until finally I grabbed his chin, forcing him to look into my eyes.

"Look at me as I enter your world. " And then I pulled the material away from my pussy, started stroking my swollen lips, slowly I pushed two fingers inside myself to stretch, adjusting to the size of his penis. I moaned in front of him, the man looked at me with puppy eyes, between moans I kissed those thirsty lips, I pushed my tongue into his mouth and caressed myself as well as ruffled his dark soft hair. When I knew that I was properly prepared, I put on the condom that I had prepared for him earlier, after putting on protection I pushed his penis into my pussy, he was wonderful. He filled me up so beautifully that I couldn't help but praise Seungcheol. I slowly put him on the mattress, at that moment it was like I was sitting on him and I had this damn control. He was quiet - only a moan, a sigh, my name like a prayer. I was the one leading, I was bouncing on his thighs giving rhythm, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, to tease him. I saw in his eyes that this was exactly what he needed. He needed someone to take him off his pedestal, strip him of his pride, and leave only what was real.

And I was the one who did it with pleasure. Until finally his hand tightened on my hip with a force that said he was close. I increased the pace hearing his loud moans, I knew he was terribly close. I started to moan, I also felt that I was about to come, the pace was even. The boy's legs started to shake slightly and a warm sweat filled me, I felt it despite the layer of latex, I moved a few more times and I had an orgasm myself. When I collapsed on his torso, we were both breathing heavily, sweaty, broken, but damn full.

His arms closed around me with a force I had never known from him before.

"You're..." he began, but I cut him off with a kiss. "We're going to bed." I stroked his hair. 

"You were a very good boy today."

When I was already falling asleep I felt Seungcheol's slight movement and the sound of him writing something down. I didn't pay much attention to it, I slowly fell into the arms of sleep, I only felt a hand wrapping around my waist and stroking my back

[tinfoil-jones]

How does Weirdmageddon happen in the Jerk Ford au?. Does it even happen at all considering.. Ford literally seducing Bill?.

Jerk Ford may have tricked Bill Cipher by rizzing him up charming him back in the 80's, but baby girl Bill was not about it afterwards. The rage and hatred Bill has for Jerk Ford can only be described as 'all consuming and bloodthirsty but also reeking of desperation'.

Weirdmageddon still happens, with the circumstances being different. For one thing, it was triggered by Dipper breaking the snowglobe with the rift in it because Jerk Ford did not tell either of the children what it was, and Dipper wanted to break something Jerk Ford liked because he saw he was getting closer to Mabel, and Dipper was NOT standing for it.

Another thing, on the Nightmare Realm side, there were no major Henchmaniacs who survived to the end. The heaviest hitters on the side of Gravity Falls made sure of that. The heaviest hitters being Old Man McGucket, Stan, and Shifty (Fire Chief Doppelgänger). Below is the how and why:

McGucket didn't need to be driven insane by the memory gun in order to be unhinged. His love and aptitude for death machines is still a major factor even if he did have to keep that side of him more hidden from his wife and children. As soon as Weirdmageddon comes? Oh, he's having the time of his life and getting pot-shots with his death ray in-between shifts working on The Shackatron. McGucket takes out a mix of henchmaniacs because he uses weapons and doesn't parry at all.

Stan is more hardcore than his canon counterpart because he's the one who inherited the murder gene instead of his twin. He really embraces the mindset of "Peace is an option, but never your only option", plus he's so normal and unassuming that combined with his duplicitous nature he is never perceived as a real threat because 'he's just a boring teacher'... Until it's too late. Stan takes out the smaller Henchmaniacs (and then the escaped prisoners) compared to McGucket and Shifty because he's only fighting with brass knuckles, a baseball bat, and whatever other blunt object happens to be in his vicinity.

Shifty is an alien shapeshifter. They technically do not belong to this world, but it's the only world that they know. It's their home. And damnit, they are not letting their home, with their friends and family, be overtaken by some extradimensional interlopers. There's only room for one otherworldly being in this town. The choose to drop all pretenses and fight in their true form, later having 'help' from Steve the Tree Monster.

Old Man McGucket's Casualties

Kryptos

Keyhole

Lava Lamp

Teeth

Stanley's Casualties

Bill Cipher (w/ the help of Jerk Ford)

Discount Auto Mart Warriors (Didn't kill them, just beat them up really bad until they surrendered)

8-Ball

Hectorgon

Amorphous Shape

Shifty's (w/ The Tree Monster) Casualties

Pyronica

Zanthar + Island Head Beast

Paci-Fire

Creature with 88 different faces

The Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity

Although Stan killed only three Henchmaniacs on his own, he was more brutal than Shifty and Fiddleford; he was sticking the bodies on pikes right outside the cabin as a warning to Bills remaining forces.

[thatonepersononline]

a dangerous hookup

idk how i felt abt that ending, i rushed it 😔😔 but im slowly easing into writing smut, i read a lot of it but i don’t write it well. so bare with me 🩷😛

paring: spencer x y/n.

summary: Spencer has been tracking a killer for months, little did he know his newist hookup, has a dangerous secret.

warnings: talks about sex, doesn’t get to detailed.

word count: 4136

The BAU has been tracking an unsub for the last 2 months. The unsub, who is known as “The Widow”, is known to seduce rich and powerful men and murder them. Each kill is a different style, with over 15 kills and barely any evidence, the BAU is stumped. Especially Spencer, he has tried every deductive reasoning practice in the book, studied her M.O. looked over all the evidence, which there’s not much of only a blonde hair, from a wig, and a partial print that doesn’t match anyone in the system. To put it easily Spencer Reid is stumped, and everyone on the team can see it.

“Reid, you need to take a break,” Derek says to Spencer as he pours over the reports for the 100th time that day. “I might be onto something, I’m going to stay a little longer,” He doesn’t even look up from the report as he says that. Derek sighs and pulls Spencer up by the arms.

The two men drive to a regular cop bar, they entered and immediately walk up to the bar table and order two beers. A couple drinks later Derek finds himself two ladies who he walks off with. As Spencer stands alone, his first beer still untouched, he hears a voice behind him.

“What is a handsome man like you doing here alone?” You ask as you walk towards him. Spencer stares at you, like he can’t understand why a gorgeous girl like you would talk to him. You smile as you sit next to him, “What, is there something in my teeth?” Spencer looks down at the ground before meeting your eyes, “No, no nothing there, I was just surprised,” he chuckles. You laugh along with him softly, “How were you surprised,” you place your hand on his arm, that’s resting on the bar table, gently. “I- Well, I don’t get hit on very much,” he confesses shyly. “Well let me change that, what’s your name,” You smile at him.

Spencer smiles. “My name is Spencer… Spencer Reid.”

You smirk, “Well Spencer, I think me and you will have a nice time tonight. How about a drink to start off?” You order a glass a champagne for you and Spencer. While the bartender gets our drink we start talking. “So Spencer, what is a hot guy like you doing here by your self,” You ask as the bartender brings the drinks over. He takes a sip of the champagne before answering, “Me and my friend, Derek, came here to help destress from our job. But Derek left with some girls,” He chuckled. “What do you do for work?” You ask, tilting your head slightly. “Oh, I work for the FBI, we were trying to blow off some steam about a case we can’t close,” He sighs. You smirk, “How about you take me back to your place and i’ll help you blow off a lot of steam.”

We enter his apartment and as he shuts the front door, he puts his hands on my hips and kisses me nervously at first. You kiss him back deeply, not as nervous then him. You and him slowly start stumbling into his apartment, kissing as you guys try and walk towards him room. There’s a trail of discarded clothes that’s follows you two through the apartment. You reach his bed, you’ve only in your undergarments now. You look down at a mostly naked Spencer who is on his knees, in front of you. “let me worship you..” he mumbled as he starts kissing up your thighs towards your clothed clit.

timeskip 2 weeks later

Almost everyday for the past 2 weeks you and Spencer have hooked up. Each time more wild and fun than the last. With the unsolved case still underway, Spencer uses you to deal with these pent up feelings.

“Kid we got a new break through,” Derek said as he waked past Spencer’s desk towards a large tv in the middle of the room. Spencer turned in his chair toward the tv, he got up and walked closer. “Last night, Harry Coleman who was a local politician, was murder in his home. It was the Widows M.O. so we have reason to believe it was her. But Coleman had secret cameras in his home, and it captured a partial image of the Widow.” Garcia says as she shows the images of Coleman murder. Finally she shows the picture that the camera took. It shows for a bit but the face was blurry, as it zoomed in and cleared the image. Spencer sat forward as he proceeded the image. She looked familiar somehow. Spencer stood up as it hit him, it was you…

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Could you do the OM bros seeing a friendly, opmistic, kind , funny Mc who's actually a cunning and a manipulative seducer/seductress. Always keeping a poker face in order to get what they want which is power and gets away with it but the brothers realize it too late( I know Lucy, Satan and Belphie are smart enough but It is possible for them to get "tricked" by Mc since they love them.)

Two-Faced Reader | Yandere Obey Me!

Power is what you’re after and you’re used to doing whatever you feel like to get it. Including acting like the innocent lamb that gets all of them wrapped around your fingers. Now whether you intended for their infatuation with you or not it's bound to further your agenda or more likely their own:

Leviathan 

“Whooooa talk about mad twists!”

Thinks it's hot when you switch from the sweet ingenue to domineering master 

Kind of likes the way switch 

And the curiousness if its some condition and you only do it with him

Oh how he hopes

At your command, he summons Lotan on the daily 

Sometimes completing sidequests without you telling him

Like offing those conspiratory NPCs

Satan

“I see what game your playing and I’m intrigued.”

He knows your games

And man does he love playing them

Your ambition rivals his own and he can’t help but want to encourage you

He’s not going to say he’s whipped but he’s certainly willing to cause all kinds of mayhem in your name

A shame that he’s not roped in by your fake personality

Asmodeus

“Oya~my baby wants them gone? Promise to give me kisses?”

He falls head first for you’re precious persona

So innocent, so cute

It makes pining for you all the more fun

And killing for you even more satisfying

He’s someone who’s not going to flip when you’re personality shines through

Your still his sexy lamb 

And he so badly wants to keep you

Even if it means using his beauty to deceive those who get in your way

And the ones he just doesn’t like

Beelzebub

“Don’t accuse them of such things, they hardly know how devildom works.”

Falls hook line and sinker for your persona 

No doubt easily deceived by your little acts

And in your defense, he’ll eat just about anyone 

Even when it’s revealed, the truth of your true colors he can’t help but still believe

That you’d been deceived 

That underneath the cunning persona is still the poor human that needs protection

And is number one in your crew for most likely to usurp 

You don’t know what you’re doing so maybe he and Belphie should bother with the bad guys out there

Belphegor

“...Right. But they still want that one out of the way and we promised to do that right?”

Sees right through you 

And originally isn’t all that fond of Beel’s perception of you

He thinks you tricked his sweet brother 

But in a way, he finds that he agrees

You're a stupid, in over your head human

And who better to intervene in your shenanigans than the two of them 

Plus he enjoys your bloodthirsty behavior

Though it's nothing compared to his murderous drive you’re still cute

If anyone is more likely to initiate the usurpation its him

Lucifer

“You think you’re so slick, I can’t help but be enamored.”

He doesn’t immediately see it

Playing into your hands for a short while 

Before catching on and switching from compliance and not

He thinks both sides of you are cute

But you're just so naive to think enabling their murderous tendencies will end with only who you’ve designated a threat

He and his brothers can easily see more than you 

So trust in that

[yanderes-galore]

Aemond vs Lucerys hcs? Romantic (assuming this is enough info-)

Oh dear... sorry if things seem OOC, here you go! I'm still new to writing ASOIAF. Please take note of trigger warnings, this is ASOIAF after all.

I'm an Aemond fan and prefer him but I put this man through hell in this.

Yandere! Aemond Targaryen vs Lucerys Velaryon

Pairing: Romantic - Rivalry

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Canon divergent time-line where Lucerys isn't dead (Dance is either postponed or doesn't happen), Obsession, Violence, Manipulation, Threats, Betrothal, Age Gap Aemond (I think he'd be like 25/26 in this if you and Lucerys are about 18/19), Medieval relationship dynamic (Although you aren't implied to be Targaryen), Swearing, Possessive behavior, Forced affection (From Aemond), Mature themes, Attempted murder/Dueling, Kidnapping mention, Dark themes and unhealthy dynamics, Dubious relationships.

A rivalry such as this is definitely volatile.

The two have an evident history with each other ever since they were young.

After all, Lucerys took Aemond's eye.

Ever since then the two haven't gotten along.

They most likely never will due to their different sides and past.

You throw in betrothal? You're asking for fights.

Imagine if Lucerys and you are betrothed as ordered by Rhaenyra.

Despite this, Aemond still finds himself fond of you.

Probably has for years.

You've always been adorable to him, yet it angers him that you've been betrothed to the bastard or took his eye.

Lucerys just seems to take everything from him.

It doesn't help that you may also be fond of Lucerys, you aren't marrying him just for duty, but also because of your own feelings.

Aemond has admittedly thought of ways to cancel your betrothal.

He has often asked his mother Alicent to convince Rhaenyra of changing things.

Yet nothing comes of it as both you and Lucerys seem happy.

Which causes Aemond to seethe.

Lucerys is no doubt aware of Aemond's fondness towards you.

It's hard to ignore when the Targaryen's peering eye lingers on you.

Lucerys no doubt dislikes the thought of Aemond trying to separate you both.

Lucerys does not wish to fight his uncle, especially over you.

To Lucerys, the betrothal is final.

You want this, he wants this, that's how it should be.

Yet Lucerys still has to deal with Aemond courting you right up until wedding day.

He's laying the charm on thick, trying his best to make you rethink your agreement with Lucerys.

Lucerys doesn't let Aemond's words sway you.

Your fiancé always manages to catch Aemond trying to court you, pinning you to a wall to try and seduce you.

This always ends in a fight, Lucerys telling off Aemond to stop his advances.

But both of their obsessions only seem to grow.

There's a good chance even after the wedding is official Aemond may just crash it.

That or try to force a conflict between Lucerys, perhaps even suggesting a duel for your hand.

Both men are quite possessive of you and the idea of marrying you.

Even to the point of threats and violence.

Want to make this even worse?

Bring the dragons into it.

Vhagar can sense Aemond's distress towards being unable to have you.

His draconic mount often ends up hearing his complaints when she rests.

Arrax notices the irritation of his own rider towards Aemond's courting.

The dragon often tries to encourage his rider to keep fighting for you.

But it appears their feud just keep sparking up flames.

There's many ways this could end.

One of them kills the other... Aemond kidnaps you... etc...

The two dragons think their riders will resolve this on their own.

But it seems their rivalry will only end in fire and blood.

By the end of it only time will tell who actually gets your hand in marriage.

[crazybiscuit]

Siren Song

Pairing: PM!Osamu Dazai x PM!Reader Summary: Dazai was used to seducing women and throwing them away when he no longer needed him. He never expected he'd be the one on the receiving end... Warnings: MDNI, smut, angst, unrequited love, toxic relationship, reader has siren abilities, mentions of murder and mafia business Word Count:  2442 Credits: @saradika-graphics thank you for the divider! A/N: Sorry guys, I was too drunk to finish writing this last night since I played a drinking game with my friends while watching Twilight. I am not a lightweight and we drank champagne, so I hope this gives an idea of how bad the movie was (it's still a guilty pleasure though). Also, I’m AroAce so my intention isn't to depict aromatic people as manipulative pricks. This is just depicting a toxic relationship between two people, in which one of the members happens to be in the community. Anyways, enjoy!

Relationships between coworkers were never a good idea. Especially when the parties involved members of the Port Mafia, which wasn't renowned for its HR department. However, Dazai supposed this didn’t really classify as a proper relationship anyways. It was purely physical, but that was still enough to cause trouble.

And he had to remind himself of that fact every time he would find himself pinning you down in your bed, trying his best to ignore the emotions building up in his chest with each sweet gasp of his name falling from your lips.

Dazai wasn’t a stranger to casual sex, if anything, he considered himself an expert at using people’s feelings for him to have a fun night. What he wasn’t used to was someone flipping the script on him and that was exactly the situation he found himself in when he first met you.

At first, he’d simply pursued you to piss off Chuuya (who like most other members developed a small crush on you due to your ability) and as a challenge for himself to see if he could seduce a siren. He should’ve quit the game he started the moment he managed to steal a kiss from you. No… Actually, he shouldn’t have even started because the moment he got a taste of you, he couldn’t stop.

Your ability didn’t work on him, so he had no clue what made him eagerly push you against his desk as he tugged your hair or pressed you in the small corner of the supply closet, hands wrapped around your throat to keep you quiet. Maybe it had something to do with your face or body. He’d often seen your true face each time he touched you, nullifying the illusion spell that you’d cast, and he wouldn’t deny you were pretty. But he found many women easy on the eyes and never felt the urge to pathetically whimper out their names as he clung onto them desperately for release.

Dazai had finally come to the conclusion that his love for you likely was a cruel joke from the universe. Anything he would never want to lose was always lost. It was something he had learned early on in life and as he grew older, it began to hold more truth than he’d like. His feelings were stubborn, however, and he couldn’t help but find himself alone with you too often.

Tonight, you had finished a mission on Mori’s personal orders and you got home in the early hours of the morning, long before the sunrise. You weren’t disturbed or surprised when you noticed your door open ajar. You didn’t even reach for your pistol as you entered, instead, kicking your heels off and addressing the man you knew was here, “Back again?”

Dazai’s dark eyes remained on the revealing dress adorning your figure, mildly irritated with himself for feeling jealous of the man you murdered last night. He knew Mori had only assigned you to this case to spite the executive and he hated to admit the punishment was working, “How was the mission?”

“Fine,” you stated dryly as you removed the gun tied around your thigh, along with the empty vial of poison, not caring of the man’s stare, “A little too easy if you ask me.”

Dazai looked away for a split second, staring into his glass of whiskey before finishing it swiftly, “Hurry up and shower. I’ll be waiting in bed.”

You rolled your eyes but made no attempt to disobey him as you walked to your bathroom. You didn’t bother to shut the door, fully aware of the wandering eyes on you as you slowly undressed and turned on the hot water.

By the time you entered your bedroom in your bathrobe, you found the brunette sitting on your bed, flipping through one of your catalogs, “You should consider buying me a new nightgown or lingerie one of these days.”

Your comment was obviously meant to be playful but even with the laugh falling from his lips, you can tell it doesn’t reach his eyes, “I don’t really like the idea of clothes I bought ending up on the floor of a stranger.”

You paused as you dried your hair, lowering the towel slightly. You weren’t stupid, you had obviously noticed the subtle differences in his behavior since your first meeting. You had noticed his strange insistence on assigning you to missions that had nothing to do with him when he first realized his feelings. This flipped when he couldn’t help himself by visiting your apartment at least once a week and he began recruiting you for his own missions, which caught the attention of quite a few members.

Not only that, but his behavior and expressions had also shifted enough for you to notice he had developed feelings inappropriate for your arrangement, “If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you were jealous, Dazai.”

“Trust me, I’m not,” you both knew the truth but pretended to be oblivious. It was easier that way…

You dropped the towel on your chair and made your way towards your bed and you felt the urge to remind him of your relationship, “That’s good… I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

The comment stung a little but the man effortlessly shrugged it off as he grabbed your wrist and pulled you down next to him. You could already tell what he wanted and you closed your eyes before he even pulled you close enough to kiss. This caused him to groan in mild frustration, seeing how unaffected you were with these encounters but he quickly pushed the feeling away as he began to push the emerald-colored silk off your shoulders.

“You shouldn’t be taking direct orders from Mori, you’re my subordinate.”

You stared at him stunned for a second and bursted out into laughter, “Do you realize how crazy you sound? You aren't the boss… At least not yet.”

“I don’t care,” he mumbled against your collarbone as your nightgown finally fell down to your waist, exposing your bare body. 

You dismissed the comment, tilting your head back slightly for the brunette. His hands were wrapped around your waist and your own ran through his dark curls, “What do you want tonight?”

“Shouldn’t you know that already, mind reader.”

You let out an annoyed sigh as he ruined the mood. You weren’t even going to indulge him with an answer since you both knew your mind manipulation ability didn’t work on him, “Quit being snarky and let’s get to the point.”

His jaw clenched, a small frown making its way to his face but he stayed put, his hair tickling your neck as he began trailing kisses up your throat. Your fingers found their way to the ends of his eye bandage and you carefully untied it as he began marking your skin. Another sign that he was more comfortable with you than he’d like to admit. The gauze fell down when he pulled away for a few seconds.

“How was the mission? You didn’t give much details,” you sighed, his lips on your pulse. You could tell this conversation wasn’t sparked out of mere curiosity.

“The usual. I was sent to clean up after…,” you hesitated slightly. You assumed Mori hadn’t given him details of your assignment and you weren’t about to throw Akutagawa under the bus, “A member failed to kill a witness during a raid: a politician. Luckily, they’re always easy to manipulate.”

“I bet they are,” you gasped as he suddenly pressed you into the mattress, clearly not wanting to hear anymore. He expertly unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it on your floor, leaning down to taste your lips. You were quick to reciprocate the gesture as your fingers loosened his tie, pulling him deeper into the kiss.

He eventually pulled away, both of you breathing heavily, and the rest of his clothes soon found themselves on the hardwood floor, alongside your nightgown. His bandages also found their way off his body, a rare occurrence even when it came to sex (or any interaction for that matter).

You sat up, pushing him back a little as you reached into your drawer. He knew the protocol, despite being on birth control, you asked him to wear a condom for safety. He didn’t mind obviously, he was used to this. What really stung was seeing the various different brands and sizes, reminding him that he was just like all of your other playthings. He wasn’t special and he interpreted it as a lack of trust on your part. Obviously, he was known for sleeping around but if you cared enough, you would’ve known that he stopped that a few months into knowing you.

He didn’t vocalize his complaints, laying back down on the bed as you got on your knees in front of him. He could hear the sound of the package opening and shivered as you rolled the cold rubber onto his cock. You didn’t waste your time, your hands slowly stroking his cock as your lips gently pressed kisses against his thigh, causing him to let out a sigh, eyes closed as he relaxed further into the mattress. 

His hand found its way into your hair as you finally wrapped your lips around his tip and he groaned softly, grabbing onto your roots. He stayed fairly quiet as you bobbed your head up and down at a leisurely pace. The man could tell you were teasing him and frowned in annoyance, thrusting his hip. You let out a small gagging sound as he pressed your head further down onto him but adjusted to his length quickly, being accustomed to his impatient behavior.

He took control, fucking your mouth like a toy as you sucked his dick, face scrunched up as he focused on the sensation of your warm mouth wrapped around him. It didn’t take long for him to feel himself approaching his release and you moaned onto his member, knowing he would cum soon as his thighs trembled faintly. He hissed, pushing your head as far down as he could, hitting the back of your throat as came.

You pulled away, licking the flavored lube off your fingers as you stood up to grab a towel. The lanky man stayed on his back for a while, ignoring the dreadful sensation in his gut, ashamed of how quickly he’d give into pleasure just to be near you. He sighed, removing the condom and tossing it in the bin as he waited for you, finally sitting up and leaning against the bedframe. 

Once you were back, you cleaned him off and opened your bedside drawer once more but you hesitated for a few seconds as you stare at the boxes. Dazai frowned slightly, wondering what was wrong but before he could ask, you straddled his lap much to his shock, “Wha–”

You kissed him, tongue pushing past his lips, smiling in satisfaction. It wasn’t often someone could surprise the Demon Prodigy. You briefly pulled away, looking at his stunned expression, “I figured there’s no point wasting another one.”

“You taste like bubblegum,” he remarked, unable to think of anything else to say in the moment as you aligned his tip with your cunt. If he was stupid enough, he’d assume this meant more than it actually did. You let out a small snort at his comment as you slowly sank onto him with a gasp.

 “Yeah, it’s a new brand. Like it?” you mumbled, holding back a moan at the sensation of him stretching you out.

“Don’t use them with anyone else,” he ordered without thinking, head resting against the wooden frame as you took him inside of you bare. He knew this was most likely going to be a one time thing, so he was hoping the condoms would solidify his need to prove his importance to you even if he knew it wasn’t true.

You ignored him, eyes closing as you took him balls deep, a soft moan escaping your lips at the sensation. His hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest, causing you to grind against him, “Fuck…”

He took a deep breath, trying to control his heart. You’d always been more vocal than him in bed but he had a feeling you mostly did it for your partners. It was the same thing he did when he hooked up with someone for information, acting in the specific way he knew they’d like.  He couldn’t deny that he found it attractive but it was yet another reminder.

His nails dug into your waist as he tried pushing aside his feelings and he began helping your set a pace to ride him. You wrapped your arms around him, head tipped back as you whimper out his name. He grasped this opportunity and kissed the top of your chest before biting into it, hoping to mark you even more. He’d always noticed the sweet taste of your skin and the pleasant smell. If it weren’t for his ability, he would’ve assumed it had something to do with your siren spell.

Your moans and whines only grew louder as Dazai picked up his pace, relishing the sensation of fucking you without protection. Honestly, his delusions were telling him that if he filled you deep enough, you would get pregnant and you’d finally be his. He clung to the stupid thought, thrusting up into your cunt, small groans muffled against your skin as he screwed his eyes shut in concentration.

You reached down for your clit as you watched him through half-lidded, sensing that your night would end soon. The brunette’s eyes snapped open in annoyance as he slapped your hand away, “The hell do you think you’re doing?”

You shivered at the cold tone of his voice, clenching around him from the sterness and you gasped out in shock as his finger tip replaced yours. It took only a few more seconds for you to slump against him, body shaking as you cried out his name. He bit his lip hard in response, feeling the tight grip of your cunt on his cock, causing him to draw blood as he pushed himself as deep as he could before cumming, filling you with his warm seed.

You both stayed entangled for a minute, catching your breath as you recovered. Unsurprisingly, you were the first to pull away, standing up and grabbing the emerald robe on the ground to cover yourself.

“Feel free to shower before you leave, Dazai,” your voice was nonchalant as you stepped out of the room to fix yourself dinner, “I’ll take mine later.”

[justwanderingtheblog]

The Full Timeline of Xena: Warrior Princess(‘s Backstory)

I recently made a video where I attempted to put every single event ever mentioned as part of Xena's backstory into chronological order.

That is, obviously, both impossible and highly subjective, because the timeline of Xena's past demonstrates little to no consistency. Still, the attempt was cheerfully made.

This post is a replication of those conclusions in written format.

25 to 30 Years Before Series Start

Amphipolis (S01E01) - Xena is born in Amphipolis to an innkeeper named Cyrene and (allegedly) a warrior named Atrius. Her grandparents are farmers (Old Ares Had A Farm, S06E10). She has a younger brother named Lyceus (Remember Nothing, S02E02) and an older brother named Toris (Death Mask, S01E23).

She grows up a wild child, learning swordplay and fishing (Fins Femmes and Gems, S03E17) with her brothers, befriending a young girl named Flora (The Black Wolf, S01E11), presumably fending off the flirtations of Maphias (Remember Nothing, S02E02), etc.

Atrius comes home from war unexpectedly, has a Fury-induced mental breakdown and tries to murder Xena. Cyrene kills him (The Furies, S03E01).

More Than Ten Years Before S01E12

Sparta (Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, S01E12) - Xena befriends Helen "in Sparta, before the [Trojan] war." The war then lasts for ten years.

In Hercules Trading Card #6 ('Xena'), the unfilmed Xena pilot script, and a Xena comic book entitled 'Plowshares Into Swords,' it is suggested that Xena's father was a Spartan or Mycenean warrior, or perhaps a king. Similarly, a dropped plotline from the first season supposedly involved Xena's search for her father. These factors could account for Xena's presence in the area.

Precisely Eleven Years Before S02E02

Cortese Attacks Amphipolis (Death Mask, S01E23) - A warlord named Cortese threatens to attack Amphipolis. Xena and Lyceus rally the young men of their generation to fight back rather than surrender.

This may be when Xena has her first kill, a man named Termin (Dreamworker, S01E03).

This is also when Lyceus and many of those young men die, leading Cyrene and the villagers to blame Xena for their deaths. Xena leaves Amphipolis under duress, presumably with a small fighting force (Sins of the Past, S01E01).

As Months Pass

Raiding Around Amphipolis (Death Mask, S01E23) - Having lost her brother and her home, emotionally deadened and later saying she "didn't have time to feel anything," Xena starts attacking villages around her hometown in order to create a "buffer zone," protecting Amphipolis against future attack.

She also attacks Stagira (Destiny, S02E12), her hometown's "ancient enemy."

Engagement in Thrace (A Fistful of Dinars, S01E14) - Xena is engaged to a man named Petracles, who later "wins" the seduction game and leaves her. This is the first time that she is betrayed by someone she is romantically entangled with.

She also knows men named Lycus, Klonig, and Thersites. They are looking for the Lost Treasure of Sumeria, which secretly includes the Titan's Key to the Hall of Ambrosia near the fictional Mt Poulis.

Mt Poulis is potentially mentioned as being near Troy (BoGBG, S01E12), in Anatolia, but it is not implied that Xena traveled there at this time.

"Ten Winters" Before S02E12

Neapolitis a.k.a. Kavala (Destiny, S02E12) - Xena's army has taken to the sea. They raid a coastal town and she warns the townspeople that while they're "free to go," she will attack any enemy of Amphipolis.

Xena takes a prisoner named Julius Caesar. She believes that she has successfully seduced him, and that he sees her the way that she sees herself; as an equal. They part ways when his ransom is paid, promising to meet again.

She also has a stowaway named M'Lila, who teaches her the famous "pinch" and also a bit of humility.

Xena never purposely kills non-combatant women or children, but she actively seems to enjoy fighting and looting, and her actions are moving farther and farther from their original stated purpose.

As Months Pass

***Goliath?

*** The Ark-Bearers?

Betrayal on a Beach (Destiny, S02E12) - Caesar returns. As it turns out, he does not see Xena as his equal, but rather as one of "Rome's conquered." He betrays her, kills all of her men and presumably with them her last physical ties to Amphipolis, crucifies her, breaks her legs, and leaves her to die humiliated on the beach. Xena is left realizing for the first time that she's a very small fish in a very big pond.

Doctor Niklio on Mt Nestos (Destiny, S02E12) - M'Lila, who is under zero obligation to be loyal or compassionate to Xena, rescues her from the beach and brings her to a doctor on the fictional Mt Nestos, "north of the Strymon River," likely near the Nestos River.

Caesar's men track them down before Xena's legs can be fully healed. M'Lila, the last person alive from Xena's crew and the last person to show her any kindness, is murdered in front of her.

"A new Xena is born" who has had a very bad day and just wants to kill people.

***Ares?

Traveling East (The Debt, S03E06) - Her entire army dead, Xena, with "shattered legs and crippled soul," leaves Greece for the first time and goes east to "lose myself in vengeance - not against Caesar, but the entire human race."

She falls in with Borias and presumably his army, steals him away from his wife and child (The Last of the Centaurs, S06E17) which he is also obviously to blame for, and they spend a while encouraging each other's worst impulses and being mutually toxic.

Actor Marton Csokas is of Hungarian descent and production confirmed that Borias was of Hunnish origin, but there is no in-universe evidence that Xena met Borias north of Greece in the Hunnic Empire as opposed to east of Greece on the path to China.

Precisely Ten Years Before S02E03

***Goliath in The Levant (The Giant Killer, S02E03) - Xena fights with a friendly giant named Goliath against an evil giant named Gareth. When Xena is injured Goliath saves her, and his family is murdered. They "vowed ten years ago to meet in this place. "This place" is where a young King David and the Israelites are later battling the Philistines, which places it generally in the Levant.

Assuming that "Ten Winters Ago" (Destiny, S02E12) takes place prior to the "ten years ago" mentioned in this episode, this event would have to occur after the raid on Neapolitis.

Also, assuming that Xena and Goliath met near Jerusalem, this encounter would have to take place on the path eastward toward China. This possibly implies that Xena left Greece by ship and landed in the Middle East.

However, this event occurring after Neapolitis does not necessarily mean it also occurs after Caesar's betrayal, as there is a small implied time gap. Similarly, the quote, "We vowed ten years ago to meet in this place," does not mean that Xena and Goliath were in "this place" at the time of the vow. The battle against Gareth could therefore have also happened in Greece, when Xena was still of a disposition to be making friends with strangers and had two uninjured legs to rely on while fighting an evil giant.

***The Ark-Bearers in The Levant 2.0 (A Royal Couple of Thieves, S01E17) - When Xena is "young," she is wounded in battle. She is then fed, healed, and protected by a group of people carrying the Ark of the Covenant.

If both this encounter and Xena's encounter with Goliath took place near Jerusalem, these events could even refer to injuries from the same battle.

Unfortunately, placing both battles post-Caesar but pre-China would beg the question of where Borias was at this time. Perhaps they were briefly separated.

On the flip side, disconnecting the Ark-Bearers from the giants would mean Xena could have met them literally anywhere in Greece at any time when she was "young."

As Months Pass

***Ares?

Chin a.k.a. China (The Debt, S03E06) - The battles get larger, the stakes get higher, they get farther from home, and Xena's ambitions get bigger. She's at her most feral and most wild here, probably has the least self-respect she's ever had, and given that her legs never healed properly, she's also at her least physically powerful.

Xena puts a lot of heads on spikes and starts plotting with Borias against the Ming and the Lao. She kidnaps Ming Tien, the Ming leader's son, without Borias's knowledge or consent.

Borias hands Xena over to the enemy for execution. He is the second and final man romantically involved with Xena to ever betray her.

Lao Ma rescues and heals Xena, nearly pulling her back from the edge. But power, as always, is too tempting. Xena goes back to Borias, to her army, and to her old ways.

Siberia (Adventures in the Sin Trade, S04E01) - Xena and Borias move north to Siberia. Xena discovers that she is pregnant with Solan.

The shamaness Alti is a corrupting influence, telling Xena she could be the "Destroyer of Nations" and encouraging her darkest impulses.

Xena keeps gaining new powers (e.g. from the Northern Amazons) and keeps killing (e.g. the Northern Amazons). At Alti's urging, Cyane, the Amazon queen, is the first person Xena actively betrays and murders on-screen.

Alti also tells Xena about the powerful Ixion Stone, prompting her to go back to Greece.

***Byblosa a.k.a. Byblos (Blind Faith, S02E18) - Xena invades Byblosa and sets "the oil reserves on fire."

It makes sense if this happens as Xena returns to Greece from the east, but the event being referenced as "a few years ago" also suggests it could be more recent.

Byblos was a city in Lebanon known for its production of olive oil.

***Glaphyra in Anatolia (The Dirty Half Dozen, S03E03) - Returning to Greece, Xena meets a young woman named Glaphyra, who is young and eager to see the world. She later ends up a slaver.

"Glaphyra" is the name of a historical Cappodocian princess, but this also could have happened literally anywhere at any time.

***Ares (The Reckoning, S01E06) - At some point Ares starts whispering in Xena's ear. This most likely, but not provably, takes place both after Caesar and within the borders of Greece.

"Nine Years" Before S02E01

Battle of Corinth (Orphan of War, S02E01) - At war with the centaurs, Xena and Borias lay siege to Corinth, which is in the northeast Peloponnese, toward the south of Greece. Xena wants the power of the Ixion Stone to secure her destiny as Destroyer of Nations. She's a little less wild than she was in China and Siberia, but just as bloodthirsty.

Borias is increasingly worried, but the balance of power has shifted now; the army is generally following Xena's orders, and she's not listening to him anymore either. Borias splits from her for the last time in order to save the centaurs, but Xena is still badly shocked by his death, which was orchestrated without her knowledge by Satrina (Past Imperfect, S04E09).

Xena gives birth to Solan without her son's father. He is the first truly pure thing she's created in a very long time, and in a moment of clarity, Xena knows the best thing she can do for Solan is get him away from her. Xena gives her son to a centaur, who later tells her, "You aren't the woman I faced ten years ago." The same centaur says that, "For nine years Solan has been my son."

???

Now Xena is post-partum, without her son, partner dead, army depleted, battle lost, and the Ixion Stone beyond her grasp.

Thalassa's Village (Locked Up and Tied Down, S04E07) - Thalassa gets eaten by crabs, despite Xena not intending to kill her. Oops!

This could have happened anywhere at any time, but for fun we can place Shark Island at Makronisos Island, the site of an infamous political prison in the 20th century, which lies east of Corinth across the Saronic Gulf. If Thalassa's village was near or in view of Shark Island, this would in turn place it around the archaeological site at Cape Sounion.

In the flashback scenes to this event, Xena has no Chakram. She appears rougher around the edges than during her introduction in Hercules, but arguably seems less wild than during her time in China. She is not wearing the outfit she bore in China, Siberia, or Corinth. Instead, she is wearing the same outfit that she later sports during the Hercules crossover time-travel episode set in Cirra (Armageddon Now: Part 2, HERC S04E14).

Approximately Eight Years Before Season Two

Failed Homecoming in Amphipolis (Sins of the Past, S01E01) - In the pilot, Xena mentions, "I wanted to come home. I thought maybe this time I could get it right."

My unconventional hypothesis here is that Xena, post-partum and struggling with loss, army diminished and at loose ends, possibly even feeling guilt for Thalassa's death, tried to come home to Cyrene and it did not go well.

This is never directly evidenced on-screen, but it works handily as an excuse for Xena to return to Thrace and participate in events there that do not 'fit' her pre-Caesar era.

Specifically, it supports the idea that she rides away from Amphipolis in a particularly careless state of mind due to her fury and emotional turmoil, and her next village raid goes very, very wrong.

***Ares Gives Xena the Chakram?

Cirra a.k.a. Serres (Callisto, S01E22) - Xena raids the village of Cirra. A fire breaks out and destroys everything, killing many women and children, which again was not Xena's intent.

Cirra is located very close to Amphipolis, and this event needs to take place far enough in the past that Callisto has time to grow up.

In the Hercules crossover episode (Armageddon Now: Part 2, HERC S04E14), which may or may not count as canonical, Xena is wearing the same outfit she wore in Thalassa's village. She has already given birth to Solan. Her characterization, while less feral than China-era Xena, is more in line with her Corinth era than it is with her Valkyrie era or Hercules era.

She also has a lieutenant named Darphus, whose only other appearance is in her Hercules introduction episodes, but this scene cannot take place in that era because Callisto needs more time to grow up. We have to assume that Darphus briefly fell in with Xena's army, parted ways with her quickly after Cirra, and they only reunited again many years later. Alternatively, we can hand-wave his inclusion as a mistake.

The attacks on Thalassa's village and on Cirra both feature a loss of control, care, or forethought that lead to unintended casualties, suggesting they may have happened in a transitional period or a time of turmoil in Xena's life. This could even be motivation for Xena, after several years of enthusiastic slaughter and mayhem, to double down on her original promise to never kill civilian women or children.

This could also be, though of course doesn't have to be, her impetus to leave Greece again.

Unfortunately, the Hercules crossover episode also shows Xena in possession of the Chakram in Cirra, even though she did not have it in China, Siberia, Corinth, or Thalassa's village. This means that either Ares gifted the Chakram to her immediately before Cirra, perhaps because he sensed her conviction wavering and wanted to tempt her back into evil with a shiny new toy, or that the Chakram's inclusion needs to be completely hand-waved away as a mistake.

Xena Blinds A Cyclops (Sins of the Past, S01E01) - The blind cyclops introduced in the pilot episode is located somewhere between Potidaea in southern Thrace and Amphipolis in northeastern Thrace.

Assuming that he stayed in the same location since being blinded, and taking into account that blinding a cyclops would be difficult for a young Xena with a fledgling army immediately post-Cortese, this works with the theory that Xena rode north to Thrace again at some point.

It would also be significantly easier to blind a cyclops using a Chakram than it would with a regular weapon.

Approximately Seven Years Before Season Two

The Western Mountains (The Price, S02E20) - Leaving Greece again, Xena encounters the Horde in the "mountains" the "first time my army went west." Half of her army is demolished and she seems genuinely disturbed, perhaps even frightened, to remember this encounter.

Worth noting that the Horde as a design concept is incredibly problematic and has not aged well.

For the sake of having a definitive place to put this on a map, we could use the Dinaric Alps, a chain of mountains that connects Albania to Italy to the northwest of Greece.

Following this rout by the Horde, we are left with a Xena who is traveling west of Greece for the first time in her life, has been robbed of half her army, and is a bit freaked out by the savagery she just witnessed. Alongside Solan's birth, Borias's death, and Cirra, this could easily indicate an ongoing turning point in her life as a warlord.

***Ares?

***Kal's Temple Near Mt Amaro, Italy (Chakram, S05E02) - Ares steals the Dark Chakram from Kal's temple near Mt. Amaro in Italy.

We do not know if Xena was present in the temple, or even in the country, for this event. We also don't know whether she was actively involved in the theft.

However, it makes sense that Xena started using the Chakram as she shifted into a more solo style of travel.

Approximately Six Years Before Season Two

The Norselands (The Rheingold, S06E07) - The next time we see Xena she is traveling solo in northwestern Europe, possesses the Chakram for the first time on-screen (not counting the Hercules depiction of Cirra), and is less feral but just as power-hungry as she was in China.

To save Xena from having to travel too far into Scandanavia, we could perhaps place this in modern-day Denmark.

Apparently Xena came to the Norselands from a land in the east and "she called it Chin," but it is literally impossible that this took place directly after China. She has no Borias, no baby bump, no army, and she has the Chakram. We can assume, therefore, that Xena just happened to mention China after her arrival in the Norselands.

During the Rheingold saga Xena is playing smart, playing nice, and taking the lessons of seduction and betrayal that were taught to her at a younger age and turning them to her advantage. With Odin and the Valkyrie and the Rhein Maidens, she pretends to be their friend or their lover in order to get what she wants.

Gaul (The Deliverer, S03E04) - Traveling south from the Norselands and still in western Europe, Xena encounters Boudica in Gaul and pretends to be her friend in order to take her army.

For funsies we could place this in Alesia, in modern-day France, the site of the most famous battle between the Gallic tribes and the Roman Empire.

***Torrence?

Approximately Five Years Before Season Two

Returning to Eastern Europe (The Dirty Half Dozen, S03E03) - Traveling eastward back toward Greece, Xena trains a man named Walsim, who she would eventually introduce to Thersites, to be an assassin. This is the first time we see her acting as a sort of mentor-type figure.

Massalia was an ancient Greek colony in southern France, so we can place this there.

"Walsin" is the name of a French historical figure who was in service to a Hungarian royal family, so we can label Walsim the assassin as being of ambiguously European, non-Greek origin.

***Torrence?

Marcus in Italy 2.0 (The Path Not Taken, S01E05) - Xena meets a mercenary named Marcus, who has a Roman name and is terefore potentially also from the Italian Peninsula.

While Marcus later asks after Xena's mother and assumes she won't kill innocent people, suggesting they may have first been acquainted very early on in her warlord journey and much closer to Amphipolis, he fits better into the timeline and the geography here. Perhaps during this time period Xena has mellowed slightly.

Marcus may be the first pre-series lover of Xena's who she is genuinely still fond of.

Darnelle in Italy (The Dirty Half Dozen, S03E03) - Still traveling east, Xena hits the Italian peninsula. She meets Darnelle in a "small village" and trains him to be a gladiator.

Sicily (The Path Not Taken, S01E05) - Xena steals weapons from someone named Aescalus.

This scheme is mentioned later by the warlord Mezentius, whom Marcus is then working for, making it plausible that Marcus witnessed it first-hand and was the one to tell Mezentius the story.

Historically, Aeschylus was a Greek poet and Persian War veteran.

For fun, we can place this in Sicily where the historical Aeschylus passed away, and assume it was Xena's last stop before continuing east to Greece.

We can also assume that she brings Walsim, Darnelle, Marcus, and several others back to Greece with her. She may also still be leading Boudica's old army.

Increasingly, Xena is doing less straight-up rampaging and more trickery or manipulation.

Approximately Four Years Before Season Two

Return to Greece (The Path Not Taken, S01E05) - Xena returns to central Greece and starts the last "arc" of her pre-Hercules backstory. She has been gone from the area for several years and has evolved notably since then.

***The Battle of Torrence (Judgment Day, HERC S03E15) - Ares considers the Battle of Torrence one of his "greatest triumphs." Apparently "ten thousand corpses littered the battlefield" after Xena "led her army through the opponent's infantry like flies. Limbs were scattered everywhere. It was beautiful."

There is no ancient Greek city called Torrence.

The name 'Torrence' is of Scottish origin. Xena has never been to Scotland, though admittedly she has been to Gaul, and it's possible that in Xena-verse there was a Scottish settlement called Torrence in Gaul, but just trying to parse that possibility is making my brain crazy.

The name may also be referring to Turin in Italy or Tiryns in the Peloponnesian Peninsula in southern Greece, or may be made up wholesale.

It's hard to imagine that Xena could participate in a Greek battle with ten thousand casualties and still being a no-name to Hercules when he first meets her.

However, a battle of this size would provide us with a convenient opportunity to start paring down the size of Xena's army.

Riding with Zagreas (A Day In The Life, S02E15) - Xena "used to ride with Zagreas. He has nerves of mush and wouldn't trust his own grandmother."

Gregan tells Draco, who Xena has been flirting with under Cupid's influence (A Comedy of Eros, S02E22), that Xena "played the same sort of mind games with Zagreas. She tricked him into losing his whole army." This could be a reference to the recent events with Zagreas and Gareth, but those mind games involved zero flirting, so I choose to interpret this as a separate incident.

If Xena lost a lot of men on a battlefield in Torrence, and/or on a battlefield fighting Bacchus, she would need to get a new army from somewhere.

The Bacchae (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, S02E04) - Xena fights against Bacchus and tries to save Eurydice, who is trapped between their armies and had previously tried to befriend Xena. Eurydice dies and Orpheus blames Xena for her death.

This accidental death of another innocent woman, during a fight against a monstrous deity, may lead Xena to again re-affirm the principles she espouses during her Hercules trilogy; they do not kill non-combatant women or children.

She's still not a good person. As is the ongoing issue with Xena, she genuinely enjoys the thrill of a fight and she genuinely wants power. She's had a dozen chances to change her ways, but there has always been an army for her to go back to, more power to grasp for, and more reason to keep digging herself downward.

This battle may or may not take place in the same Bacchae Forest that appears during the second season. Bacchus was from Thebes, which is where Hercules' mother may have lived, meaning this could lead us into the events of those episodes.

On the flip side, the myth states that Eurydice died in the valley of the River Pineios in Thessaly, central Greece, so we could place this event there as well.

It also gives us another reason for Xena to have lost a lot of men, bringing us closer to the minor numbers that we see when she first meets Hercules.

Parting Ways (The Path Not Taken, S01E05) - Marcus loses track of Xena "after the raid on Symbius," which may also be spelled "Sympius" or "Semples" or "Semplese" or "Simpius" or refer to aquatic animals attached to the mouthparts of cold-water lobsters.

They may have parted ways sooner after reaching Greece, but it's fun to suppose that when Marcus discussed Xena not wanting innocent people to die, he was partially referring to Eurydice.

Approximately Three Years Before Season Two

Continued Warlording (Sins of the Past, S01E01) - Xena meets up with a warlord named Draco who wants to be with her "in love or in battle," but she won't give him "the satisfaction of either." He picks "the wrong woman to get rough with" and she gives him a scar on his cheek.

They may or may not have been romantically linked during this time period. Notably, while Xena is happy to get down with the bad boys and use sex to get what she wants, she hasn't been romantically under anyone's thumb in a very long time.

During this period Xena likely re-establishes her connections in Greece and becomes more friendly with the hometown warlord crowd. She still wants to rule Greece, still is happy to slaughter her way across the countryside, but for whatever reason news of her major exploits in Corinth and 'Torrence' have still not reached Hercules. None of her original army or Borias's army and little of Boudica's army remain.

It's unlikely that Xena was warlording with Draco and Marcus simultaneously.

Fighting in Nespa (Death in Chains, S01E09) - A man named Toxeus saw Xena "fight in Nespa a while back."

There is no ancient Greek city called Nespa.

Nespa was also the location of a Hercules episode featuring a centaur named Nemis. Nemis is a mythological figure whose brother Nessus was the ferryman for the River Evinos, and the River Evinos is right at the entryway between central Greece and the Peloponnesian Peninsula to the south. We can place this event there and use it as a marker for Xena heading south into the peninsula.

Shelter for Wounded Men (Altared States, S01E19) - Xena uses some caves as shelter for her wounded men.

This could be literally anywhere at any time, but for funsies I've put it in the Kastria Cave Lakes in the northern Peloponnese.

Warrior Princess of the Kalmai a.k.a. Kalamata (The Price, S02E20) - An Athenian soldier calls Xena the "warrior princess of the Kalmai" and then that word is never mentioned ever again.

Kalamai is an older name for the city of Kalamata, which is on the southwestern coast of the Peloponnese.

Apparently something happens here that one Athenian will remember years down the line but that Hercules will not have heard of any time before then. Idk.

***Torrence?

Approximately Two Years Before Season Two

Arcadia in the Peloponnese (The Warrior Princess, HERC S01E09) - Xena is hell-bent on "conquering Arcadia" in the central Peloponnese.

Hercules now has a pretty firmly established foothold as a powerful protector of people in Greece, and Xena decides it's time to go after him in order to clear that particular blockade from the playing field. She may even believe what she says later in the episode - that Hercules is not a real hero, but just another selfish warlord out for his own interests.

Xena picks up Hercules' best friend Iolaus (possibly near Hercules' mother's residence around Thebes) and goes the seduction/betrayal route with the pair of them, rather than the blunt force route. It almost works, but she ends up fleeing.

Again, notably, Hercules doesn't know who Xena is at the beginning of these events. Realistically this is an inconsistency, but for the purposes of this exercise it forces us to acknowledge either that Xena was not well-known in Greece or that Hercules doesn't know shit about fuck.

Tripolis a.k.a. Tripoli (One Against An Army, S03E13) - Xena stockpiles a bunch of weapons in Tripolis, which would be in the general area of Tripoli in ancient Arcadia within the Peloponnese.

It makes sense that she would do this either after fleeing Hercules or later after losing her army one final time.

Parthus and the Parthian Province a.k.a. Patras (The Gauntlet, HERC S01E12) - Xena has reunited with Darphus and is warlording around "the peninsula" again.

Notably, she tells Darphus that they are "warriors, not barbarians." It's possible that she is slowly starting to remember the reason she got into the warlord business in the first place, though she's clearly not ready for a thorough self-examination.

"Parthus" is in Albania and "the Parthian Province" is in Iran, so this possibly means Patras in the northern Peloponnese.

When Darphus destroys that one town, slaughtering everyone and burning the whole thing to the ground, it's a type of destruction that Xena has only ever wrought by accident. And when Darphus essentially puts a sword to the neck of that baby, he's crossing one of the only lines she's constantly refused to cross. Arguably, Xena's defense of an innocent isn't just about that baby. It's about Solan and it's about Lyceus and Cirra and Eurydice and Thalassa and it's about, possibly, the last inch of integrity she has.

It's probably been a while since Xena has run into someone a lot worse than she is, morally speaking. The Horde is another example of this, marking another turning point in her life of sorts, and she doesn't seem to like what that mirror shows.

It's also been a long time since Xena was successfully betrayed by someone, but this time her and Darphus aren't romantically linked and she doesn't exactly trust him; she just doesn't think he has the brains or the guts to do anything rash.

The gauntlet is like the bookend to Caesar crucifying her on that beach; a betrayal resulting in the loss of her army and a horrifying physical injury, but this time she walks away. She does it with her dignity intact and even with the respect of the army she's just lost, because they all refuse to kill her after she survives the beating.

Xena then loses a fair fight - to Hercules, if fighting anyone after running a gauntlet could be called fair - for the first time in a good while, just like she once did to M'Lila and to Lao Ma and to Cyane, so that also probably gets the cogs turning.

And now, just like a decade prior surrounded by dead men in Niklios's cabin, Xena has to make a choice about who she wants to be.

Importantly, she also has no army to go back to. She has a moment for murder sobriety to catch.

It also probably helps that Ares, like a scorned ex, clearly senses her change in intent because he drops her like a hot potato and immediately starts supporting a resurrected Darphus.

So Xena has Hercules as a pseudo sponsor, after he shows her a kindness he is under no obligation to and spares her life. He is there to demonstrate a better path forward for her.

But it's not just about Hercules. It's Lao Ma and it's M'Lila and it's Boudica and it's Eurydice and it's Cyane and it's Marcus and it's Goliath and it's Borias and it's that one family with the Ark of the Covenant or whatever and it's everyone who ever showed Xena kindness when she didn't deserve it and told her she could be something better.

And it's finally, finally, enough.

Approximately One Year Before Season Two

Elysia a.k.a. Elis (Unchained Heart, HERC S01E13) - After an unknown amount of time traveling together, Xena goes with Hercules, Iolaus, and Salmoneus to stop Darphus and Ares in Elysia.

This could refer to Elis, also known as Illia, in the Peloponnese.

Home (Sins of the Past, S01E01) - Xena puts on new armor, acquires Argo, and goes north to reunite with her mother in Amphipolis.

Corkboards of Locations

Chalkboard of Timelines

[mumms-the-word]

A Crow's Work is Never Done

Characters: Lucanis Dellamorte x Rook (Phyrra Mercar) Summary: Post-DATV, Lucanis and Rook attend a masked ball together. But Lucanis has some business he needs to take care of first before he can have any fun. Spite thinks he should just dance with Rook instead. A/N: This is kind of a spiritual successor/sequel to @cheerysmores' fic Unfinished Business (with a hint of vibes pulled from her excellent smut Yours. Mine. Ours. too!) so definitely check those out!! Friend, I hope I have done your Rook and Lucanis (and Spite!!) justice! Happy birthday!!

It had been some time since Lucanis attended a masked ball. He didn’t frequent Orlais much and Antiva had its own brand of extravagance that rarely required—or even desired— the anonymity of masks. The goal of a typical Antivan gala was to be seen and recognized. Be seen talking with the right (or sometimes wrong) people, be seen flaunting the latest fashions, be seen holding the finest glass of wine, be seen disappearing for a tryst that could entail anything from romance to business to murder. You had to be seen before you could be missed.

But Antiva had their masked events, too. A sense of carnivale was always the order of the day, a time of festive chaos where identities could be hidden for a few hours simply for the sake of shaking things up and keeping things interesting. While the Orlesians loved their masks, Antivans loved their theatre. The irony of the long-nosed trickster Zanni linking arms with the straight-laced Capitano braggart was part of the fun. If one didn’t see a gold-tressed Andraste (her hair always a wig) slipping away with an elegant Shartan (his elven ears sometimes fake) then it was a waste of a good masque. For a few short hours, you could become someone else for a change, acting the role of your new persona with all the zealous enthusiasm Antiva was known for.

Events like these were where the Crows thrived. Any given crowd of bird-masked figures could be hiding a genuine Crow in their midst. That, too, was part of the excitement. The man on your arm could be a wealthy merchant in a black-feathered mask, or he could be a sinister assassin, there to kill you. Do you risk the dance, the drink, the tryst? Are you any safer in the arms of a person dressed intentionally like a Crow? The only way to know was to take the chance.

Antivans did love a gamble.

It was no different tonight at this gala. Lucanis watched guests mingle, dance, and drink from his spot on a balcony overseeing the main ballroom. Though he had entered this villa as a guest, he was more comfortable watching from a distance, preferably somewhere up high and out of sight. Not so tonight. Tonight he needed to be seen…at least for a moment.

He adjusted the mask on his face, a black half-mask with a sharp beak curving down over his nose, a crown of eight blue-black feathers lining the edge. The Mask of the First House. It gave away his identity immediately—only one Crow family was ever allowed to wear this mask—but only to those in the know. Unfortunately for him, “those in the know” probably made up half of this crowd.

Treviso had too many Crows.

And this party had too many guests. Lucanis tapped his fingers idly on the railing of the balcony, conscious of every eye that swept up and over to look at him. It went against all his training to stand there out in the open, rather than slinking through the shadows. This was Illario’s realm, the kind of atmosphere his cousin had always thrived in, flirting and sweet-talking his way through crowds of men and women alike. In fact it wasn’t all that long ago that Lucanis watched from the roof as Illario navigated a Tevinter party to seduce some keys off a guard captain. That was before Zara, though. Before Spite.

Before Phyrra.

Where is she? Spite hissed in his ear. Lucanis cast a side-eyed look at the purple figure that materialized next to him. Spite walked restlessly along the edge of the balcony, keeping behind the banister as if it were a cage. He leaned over to look down at the ballroom below, as if Phyrra might be tucked directly underneath them, and then straightened again. Where?

“I left her with Teia and Viago,” Lucanis said. “They’ll keep her busy in another room while we work.” Or so they promised. Phyrra might have other ideas.

Work. Disdain and disgust dripped from the word when Spite said it. You said we could dance with Rook!

“And we will,” he said. “After the work is done.”

He looked across at another balcony directly opposite his, where a familiar dark-clad figure stood, half-obscured by a curtain. Their gazes locked across the space, an understanding born of years of work and training together crossing the distance easily and silently. Lucanis gave a single nod and the figure disappeared.

Him again, Spite spat. I want—

“No.”

Spite growled and paced again, but to Lucanis’ surprise, didn’t argue. The two of them could be of one mind about Phyrra, but Illario would always have them at odds. Lucanis was trying to keep forgiveness and redemption as an open option, no matter how much anger simmered beneath the surface whenever he thought of Illario’s betrayals. His opinion of Illario shifted by the moment, tangled up with years of memories and fresh hurts. Spite was much simpler. He saw Illario, and simply wanted blood.

Lucanis couldn’t blame him. Some days he was even jealous that Spite could be so direct with his feelings.

It wasn’t as though he wanted to work with his cousin. But ever since Illario had delivered that rogue Crow to his cellar and presented him with that serrated blade, the same one that had marred Phyrra’s back in an attack that never should have happened, Lucanis had agreed begrudgingly to let him assist in tracing the contract back from one piss-poor assassin to whatever mastermind was behind the contract. A single Crow could be dealt with easily, but a contract was forever, until the mark was dead.

Or until the contract itself was destroyed.

Next to him, Spite stiffened and then leaned over the banister again, craning his neck out toward the ballroom floor like a bloodhound on alert.

Rook!

Lucanis couldn’t help himself. He followed Spite’s gaze down among the crowd of masked guests, a churning sea of color and movement. His eyes fell on her immediately.

She looked stunning, her dark dress hugging every curve of her body, every line of her form sensual and lush. He’d loved that dress the moment she had put it on, back at the Dellamorte estate, loved the feel of it beneath his palm as he escorted her out of the carriage and into the ball with his hand at her waist, loved the thought of pulling it slowly and patiently from her body when they returned back to their room tonight. The fabric of the dress was a black, slightly iridescent material, the light of the candles and magelights reflecting subtle shades of blue, green, and pink like oil on dark water. The darker tones brought out the porcelain softness of her pale skin, while the occasional flash of rainbow made her magenta hair seem as natural as her perfect, ready smile.

She was, in a word, breathtaking.

She had always looked good in night tones—darkened sapphire and velvet black, midnight blue and rich indigo. Lucanis had once joked that she was made for a Crow’s color palette, that perhaps she ought to think about a change in factions, and she had laughed and said her hair would always give her away.

None of you are quite so colorful as me, she’d said, fluffing her pink curls.

It had made Lucanis smile. She always made him smile. And that is why I love you.

She wore a feathered mask of her own tonight. A gift from House Dellamorte, from Catarina herself, a more delicate replica of the Mask of the First House to match his. Every Crow here would recognize what it meant, and the power it gave her. Even if any of them dared to strike, they wouldn’t be able to plead ignorance.

She was a Dellamorte in all but name and she had entered on the arm of the First Talon. Anyone foolish enough to strike against her would find their names on a contract within moments, with all the might of House Dellamorte and its allies bearing down upon them. It should have guaranteed her safety, but instead…

Lucanis glanced back at the balcony where Illario had given him the signal. Clearly, despite all the ample warning his and Phyrra’s attire and appearance had given their audience, some fool was bold enough to make a move anyway. And now said fool was caught in a trap.

It would be rude to keep them waiting much longer.

Spite interrupted his thoughts with a strange sound, something between an irritated growl and a forlorn whine. She. Is. Looking!

Lucanis glanced down, heart in his throat, but Phyrra hadn’t seen him yet. She was enjoying a glass of wine with Teia and Viago, standing in one corner near the refreshment tables, but her eyes were not idle. She scanned the crowd, curious, but with a hint of disappointment. Looking for him, without a doubt.

He had disappeared from her side a few moments earlier with an excuse, one that only gave him twenty minutes of leeway at best. But Phyrra was sharp and at times wonderfully unpredictable. Those traits had served her well during their fight against the ancient elven gods. It could spell disaster tonight.

When her gaze swept up to the balconies, he stepped back, into the shadows. Spite, unseen by anyone but him, stayed by the railing, curling his fingers into the polished wood.

Us! She wants us!

“I’m aware. Come,” Lucanis said, needlessly because Spite couldn’t exactly get left behind. “The sooner we find out who this mastermind of ours is, the sooner we can return to Rook.”

The thought seemed to invigorate Spite. His sudden shift in excitement crashed through Lucanis’s mind like a gangly young pup. Yes! They hurt Rook!

Lucanis clenched his jaw, the image of that blade, stained with cheap poison, coming once again to his mind. If that poison had been successful (a pitifully low chance, but still a chance), it would have meant a slow death for Phyrra. A clumsy death. Dishonorable, agonizing, unskilled, and offensive to the very name of the Crows.

But the Crow who had attacked her was dead already. Whoever had sent him was not.

As if reading his mind, Spite was at his side in an instant, grinning wide. I want them dead!

Lucanis nodded. “As do I. Let’s go.”

—————

Lucanis returned over an hour later, weaving through the swaying crowds with ease and fixing the buttons on his sleeve as he went. That had taken longer than he liked. Illario was supposed to have everything contained to one room so that Lucanis could slip inside, carve a few answers out of the bastard, and then finish him off with speed.

Instead, the bastard had put up a fight.

It hadn’t been pretty and Illario had complained bitterly afterward about the bloodstains on his coat, but at least they had left with a few more names. They were getting closer to finding out whoever was behind the contract on Phyrra’s life. That had to count for something.

If his time as part of the Veilguard had taught Lucanis anything, it was that every victory mattered, no matter how small. Names were good. Progress was good. And, most importantly, no one would be ruining the rest of his night with Phyrra.

That was the biggest victory of them all.

Spite flickered in and out of view, appearing in gaps between people and looking high and low for Phyrra as Lucanis moved through the ballroom. At one point, Lucanis even caught him standing on a chandelier, holding onto the chain for purchase like a sailor in the rigging of a ship. Lucanis shot him an exasperated look, though it wasn’t as though anyone else could see Spite or that the chandelier was in danger from his being there. He hoped.

There! Rook! Spite pointed to the second level balcony, not far from where Lucanis had waited for his signal from Illario. Lucanis adjusted his gloves and made for the stairs, Spite disappearing from view but practically buzzing with excitement within his mind.

They found her leaning back against the balustrade, a half-empty glass of wine cradled in her hand. Teia and Viago stood nearby, chatting with her, but she seemed to only half listen to them, her face turned to keep most of the ballroom in sight in the corner of her eye. She looked up the moment that Lucanis drew near, as if sensing his approach.

“Lucanis,” she said, straightening and smiling at him. Even with the mask on her face, her smile brightened her whole expression, radiating out as if with tangible light. “Where have you been?

“Yes, my friend,” Viago drawled, looking, as usual, slightly annoyed and unimpressed. “Tell us what you’ve been up to that has been taking so long.”

Teia elbowed him hard in the side and then took his arm. “Ignore him, Lucanis. He’s just upset he missed all the action.” Viago made a noncommittal hmph but didn’t deny her accusation.

Phyrra cast a glance at Lucanis that was at first curious, then suspicious. “Action?”

Lucanis cleared his throat delicately. “Something came up.”

Lies, Spite hissed in his ear. Tell the truth! Tell her who we KILLED! Tell her how we did it! I want her to know!

“What happened?” Phyrra asked, instantly on alert. She set aside her wine glass and stepped closer, scanning his face and body for clues. “Did someone attack you? Do we have enemies here?”

Viago laughed. “You have enemies everywhere, Rook, least of all here. You should know better than to lead with such a question.”

“Stop teasing her, Vi,” Teia chided, pinching his arm now. She turned to Lucanis with a smile. “We’d better get back to the party. We have business of our own to attend to. Don’t we, Viago?” She gave him another nudge.

“Mm, yes, something to that effect,” he said, sharing a smile with her. It was the kind of smile he tended to save only for Teia, one that meant their business could just as easily be one of romantic passion as it could the business of the Crows. Lucanis didn’t dare ask which it would be tonight. He truly didn’t want to know.

Viago gave him a nod and then escorted Teia away. “Don’t wait up for us, First Talon. Enjoy your night.”

Phyrra watched them walk away, waiting until they had drawn far enough out of earshot before stepping close and lowering her voice to a whisper. “Business, Lucanis? I thought we were here for some fun. Wine, games, silly masks, that sort of thing. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“It was—it is,” he said, quickly correcting himself, while Spite looked smug just out of his periphery. Spite always looked smug when Phyrra was on his side, whether she knew she was or not. “But—”

“But what? But you had a contract?”

He shifted, uncomfortable, while Spite looked at him for his answer, his expression not unlike a clever cat eyeing a cornered mouse. “Think of this one more as a precaution.”

That didn’t convince her. “Lucanis.”

“It doesn’t matter now. It has been dealt with.”

“By yourself?” Phyrra took his arm, squeezing gently. “I could have helped you.”

Yes! Spite grabbed his other arm, his fingers digging in with pressure only Lucanis could feel. Next time, bring Rook. Not him. Rook is better.

Lucanis ignored him. “It wasn’t a simple contract, Phyrra. I needed…specific answers. If you were there…”

Spite sneered. Excuses. Tell her.

“What are you so worried about?” Phyrra asked. “That they would have hurt me? Or that I’d somehow look differently at you, seeing you get your answers?” She let go of him, frowning. “I’m no stranger to interrogation, Lucanis. You don’t have to coddle me.”

Lucanis groaned. “No, it’s not that, it’s—look.” He took her by the arms, facing her directly. “I thought it would take only a moment to deal with, and I thought if you were in the room the target wouldn’t talk. If they attacked on sight and we killed them in defense, we’d get no more clues for a while. It was all meant to take only ten, maybe twenty minutes.”

Phyrra pouted, doubt written plainly on her face, even with the mask. Then a dry smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “But it went sideways, didn’t it?”

Lucanis smiled too. “It usually does.” He sighed and pulled her into a hug, resting his chin briefly on her shoulder. “Forgive me, mi amor. I should have told you before we left, but I didn’t want to alert the target that something was amiss. I needed them to think you could be caught unaware.”

“Oh, so I am bait now?”

He winced, starting to draw back. “No, that’s not what I—”

She locked her arms around him, giving him no chance to escape. “I know,” she said lightly with a little sigh. “You’re forgiven. For now. But next time…”

“Next time I will certainly have you with me.”

He sensed her smile, even as she turned her head to rest it on his shoulder, careful not to poke him with the little beak of her mask. “You’d better.”

“You have my word,” he murmured. She relaxed at last, all tension and irritation forgotten.

He closed his eyes, letting himself linger in her embrace. He cherished the warmth of her against him, the press of her supple form against his carefully honed muscle. He wanted nothing more than to whisk her away, back to the Dellamorte estate, and lock the two of them in a room until dawn. These days, his time with her was so precious. He couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.

He wanted to kill that arrogant Crow all over again, just for taking too much of his time.

But you couldn’t kill people twice (usually) and he had promised Phyrra a fun night at a party, so they ought to stay for a little while longer. Besides, people had already seen them in attendance. Even now, he knew their place on this balcony didn’t totally hide them from the eyes that may be watching. There would be plenty of talk about seeing the First Talon in a cozy embrace with Rook, the savior of the world. Talk was inevitable.

Talk was also dangerous. In Antiva, among the Crows especially, his name carried as much weight as the king’s, more so in some people’s view, but the name wouldn’t always protect him. It was the same for Phyrra. The name Rook was on everybody’s lips, but for every person wanting to reward or praise her there was another who wanted to exploit or kill her. There would be no escaping the gossip or plots against them unless they somehow retreated again to the Lighthouse, that dizzying, fragmented space where they had first kindled this romance.

He didn’t want to retreat. Despite it all, he would rather be here, where the sky made sense and the ground was solid and the air was filled with the familiar scents of home—spices and dried herbs, leather and salt, rich dark coffee and refined tobacco smoke. He wanted Treviso to be her home too. That’s what all of this was for. Eliminating the dangers so that one day, perhaps soon, she could settle here.

But was that what she wanted? A life with him would never be quiet or calm. Not in Antiva, not anywhere else. And Minrathous still needed to be rebuilt. As long as any rubble or ruin remained there, it would always call to her like a song, plucking her heartstrings, each note a sigh of guilt and grief. She loved him, he knew that, but she would always have one foot in Minrathous until that guilt was assuaged.

Perhaps he was merely standing in the way of that.

“Phyrra,” he said quietly. “Do you regret this road you have taken with me?”

She shook her head slightly, tightening her hold on him. “Of course not.”

“Even though it means a target on your back?” He pulled away to look at her again, his fingers lightly brushing her cheek. “Whether here or in Minrathous, you know that being with me will only…”

Stop! Spite snapped. He could sense the train of Lucanis’ thoughts, the destination that he was too hesitant to speak aloud. No! Rook is ours!

“I’ve got a target on my back no matter where I am or who I’m with,” she reminded him. She pressed a hand to his chest, right over his heart, searching for his heartbeat beneath the fabric. “Just because we have a new Archon doesn’t mean I’m safe in Minrathous either. But I…we can handle it. And it won’t be for forever.”

Right?

She didn’t say the word, but Lucanis could sense it hovering in the air between them. A silent plea for reassurance, her pride just enough that she would never say it, but her eyes searching his for an answer regardless.

At their side, Spite was staring at him too, an uncharacteristic look of worry on his face. He voiced the question she seemed unwilling to say.

Not forever. Right?

Lucanis released a slow breath. “Of course not.”

The tension in her shoulders relaxed. Carefully, slowly, he untied the strings of her mask, pulling it away from her face and leaving her gazing up steadily at him, her bare expression open and waiting. He leaned in, careful of the edges and points of his mask, and slipped his hand into her rich curls, guiding her into a slow, luxurious kiss. Patient, steadfast, reassuring. A kiss that whispered I’m here. A kiss that promised I’ll stay.

At the back of his mind, Spite settled into something like a low purr, all restlessness forgotten.

“Not forever,” Lucanis breathed against her lips. He drew back to meet her gaze again, cradling her face in his palms. “Nothing in Thedas can keep us apart forever. Neither gods nor tyrants nor the seas between us can do that.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

“I swear it.”

He kissed her again, letting her taste the oath on his tongue.

He knew she would go back to Minrathous soon. She had unfinished business there, just as he had unfinished business with whomever among the Crows wanted to kill her. But for now, for tonight, they were together. And one day they would be together for good.

“Lucanis,” she whispered in between kisses.

“Mm?”

“Dance with me.”

He drew back, a little surprised at first, but Spite’s voice filled his head before he could answer.

YES! Spite appeared behind her, spirit-fire eyes blazing with glee. Dance with Rook! Dance with Rook! He practically bounced on the balls of his feet.

Lucanis allowed himself a dry smile. “Would you like Spite’s answer, or mine?”

Phyrra hummed thoughtfully, playfully. “Both.”

Lucanis chuckled and shifted his hold on her until they were in a proper dance position, his hand on her waist. “Very well. We accept.”

[enbyleighlines]

Does anyone know of any good feminist analysis/reading of Epic the Musical?

I was listening to it (again) the other day, and I realized that Odysseus’s dynamic with Calypso (and to a lesser extent, his dynamic with Circe) is very much a flip in gender roles. Although Jorge confirms that there wasn’t any SA between Calypso and Odysseus in his version, the undertones are still there.

Heck, even without the SA, the fact that Ody is put in this position of having to repeatedly turn down unwanted romantic advances is an inverse of the dynamic you would usually see in media.

(Not that men are never victims of SA or unwanted romantic advances in real life, because they definitely are. I am talking about how gender roles are traditionally depicted in works of fiction.)

Usually the power dynamics at play in fiction has the man in the position of power over the woman, whereas here Odysseus is very much the one at a disadvantage, being “just a man” with a flurry of gods, goddesses, and monsters constantly getting in his way.

And of course, the entire Circe Saga is, I feel, a very thoughtful reimagining of Circe as a protector of the nymphs, who attempts to take back control over her fight against Odysseus by seducing him.

In Jorge’s version, it seems to be made fairly clear that Circe’s seduction is not actually about desire on Circe’s part (in that she genuinely wants to sleep with Odysseus), but rather a ruse to get him to let his guard down so she can stab him in the back.

She expects him to behave a certain way, and is shocked when he refuses. And it’s Ody’s faithfulness to his wife that earns her sympathy.

(It could be argued that Circe was using magic to seduce Odysseus, as the moly’s power should have started wearing off after Ody defeated Circe in their pokemon-esque style battle, and that Ody actually loved Penelope so much that he was able to break free of the spell.)

(I also find it interesting that Jorge somehow understood that his audience could forgive Odysseus for murdering a literal baby, but would not forgive him if he cheated on his wife.)

Odysseus even calls Penelope “all his power”, so even if she isn’t really a character until Act 2, it helps to really emphasize the relationship he has with her, and how he sees her as an equal.

Ultimate Wife Guy Ody ftw

Not to mention how Odysseus talks (or, well, sings) to Penelope when they finally reunite. He does not assume that she will still love him. In fact, he fears that he has lost her love forever.

But still he confesses everything he’s done, and he gives her the choice.

To paraphrase a youtube comment I saw once: “I am not your kind and gentle husband,” said Odysseus, kindly and gently.

(Side tangent: My fav part of that song is how Ody sings, “I know you’ve been waiting for love”, whereas Penelope sings, “I have been waiting for you”, which is an important distinction. It’s not love in the most general sense that Penelope wants. She wants Odysseus, all of him. His love, yes, but also everything else.)

All of this is to say that I think there’s a lot that could be said about Epic the Musical in terms of a feminist reading. Because obviously, in many ways, the story fits into the trope of “family man does horrific things in order to reunite with his wife and/or children” that we see in a lot of action movies.

But in other ways, it plays with gender roles in a way that is really interesting to think about!

[got-that-d-in-my-name]

Why I Ship Dofcora: an essay

I've been wanting to write this for a while since dofcora is an understandably controversial ship, and it's one of the ships I'm most interested in currently, and I want something I can point people to in order to explain why I ship them and why I don't think it's morally wrong to do so.

The thing that got me started shipping dofcora was my obsession with Doflamingo. He's a stinky little bastard man, but I am deeply fascinated with him, and I love putting him in Situations. From my point of view, if Doflamingo had any romantic or sexual interest in his brother he absolutely would do his best to seduce/coerce Rosi into a relationship.

Oda has written the Celestial Dragons in a way that strongly alludes to historical European monarchs - Charlos even looks like a Habsburg, to me. The glorification of their pure blood adds to my belief that incest would at the very least be much less taboo in Celestial Dragon culture. I don't know that it would be more than marrying one's cousins, but I believe an element of inbreeding would make perfect sense given how they are written. Doflamingo's relationship to his prior status and belief in his own perfection would make him particularly susceptible to the idea that only someone else of his blood was worthy of his love.

Doflamingo gets what he wants, no matter the cost. Even when Caesar Clown is getting his ass beat during Punk Hazard, Doffy isn't worried, because it's unthinkable that someone could pluck one of his prizes out of his web. He's always in control, he's always achieving what he wants. He truly does gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss his way into anything his twisted heart desires.

Speaking of desires, do you really think Doffy wouldn't want Rosi? Now, sometimes I like to imagine that Doflamingo is an entirely straight man. I think it's unlikely (because I need him to be at least gay enough to consider liking me), but it's a slightly different read of his character that I find fun to mentally parse through. Still, though. Even if Doffy was completely heterosexual, do you think he could resist those warm eyes peeking up through a mop of fluffy blond hair? I think not! Donquixote Rosinante is one of the most beautiful men to ever exist, and I find it very easy to imagine that Doflamingo would want him - and as we've already established, from Doffy’s perspective there's no valid reason for him to ignore that impulse, and what Joker wants, Joker gets.

I know this has been very Doflamingo-centric, and I'm afraid it's going to stay that way, but my approach to dofcora tends to be centered on Doflamingo wanting Cora, and varying levels of interest coming from Cora depending on how dark I want it to be (I like a bit of dead dove with my toxic yaoi sometimes, sue me - or read my fucked up forcefem dofcora fic, maybe??).

Doflamingo is a bad person. He's a criminal, he's a murderer, he's a rapist (there is debate about this, but in what world was him having sex with Viola genuinely consensual?), he has committed so many crimes.

I love watching Doffy be a silly little guy. I find him fascinating, and I spend a great deal of time just rotating him in my brain.

I will never say he is a good person. I will never excuse what he's done or say that it was justified.

Incest isn't all that different from everything else he's done. If it's morally wrong to ship dofcora (which I don't think it is, but we're getting to that in a bit) then it's morally wrong to like Doflamingo at all. He's a bad guy, and frankly I don't think fucking his brother could make him worse. You don't have to ship dofcora or like Doflamingo, but if you're judging dofcora more or differently from Doflamingo's other various crimes, that's a deeply flawed approach. Either morality in fiction matters or it doesn't.

Morality in fiction doesn't matter as much as we think it does.

I will not deny that there are times engaging in certain types of art can have a negative effect on your life. I believe there's a necessary level of self-awareness to safely engage with dark media. If a piece of fiction is negatively impacting your real life, you're either interacting with it in a way that doesn't work for you, or it's simply not something you should be interacting with at all.

Fictional characters cannot be harmed. They inherently don't exist, so they cannot be damaged (note: I'm talking about the characters in the media, not any fictionkins or fictives etc, that's a whole different scenario and I'd argue that's more a matter of what the fictive/fictionkin themselves is comfortable with interacting with, and I'd say it's their job to navigate fandom spaces accordingly - but I'm not very educated on that topic so actually don't listen to me).

If my forcefem dofcora fic made me go around manipulating people into nonconsensually transitioning, that would be inherently bad. If my forcefem dofcora fic made me get in an obsessive cycle of wanting to manipulate people into a nonconsensual transition, that would also be bad, even if I didn't act on those urges, because it would damage my mental stability.

My forcefem dofcora fic has done none of those things to me, and I warned and tagged it as best I could to avoid other people being harmed by it. No Doflamingo or Rosinante was harmed in the making of that fic because they are not real and physically cannot be harmed by a work of fiction.

No one has to like any ship. Hell, you don't even have to ship Morticia and Gomez Addams. No ship is required, but I think fandom needs a good strong dose of "Don't Like, Don't Read." Don't harm yourself or others when possible but acknowledge that you have no real way to tell if someone else is getting harmed, and yelling at them about a ship they like will never help regardless.

A last caveat for this section:

Real life incest is almost always bad because it is almost always abuse. That is simply the fact of it. Real life incest is bad because it's abuse (there are some grey areas, but those are really rare).

Alright, so those are my reasons for why I think shipping dofcora is morally permissible and relatively canon-compliant, but why do I ship them?

It's just plain fun. They're two tall hot men with a complicated bond, and the dynamic possibilities are endless, which is unfortunately not the case for every ship - as a zosan fan I think I can say that zosan can often fall into the same dynamic across most fics (including my own, I know I do this, too) and it's hard to feel like there's a truly unique and not watered-down vibe between them because there's so much content and so much of it is similar. Obviously there are stellar zosan fics that capture a canonical dynamic that's still unique, but those can be hard to find.

Dofcora doesn't have that problem. There's not nearly as much content, and there are so many different ways their relationship can be approached. From my own fics alone I have a few examples of "they really are just brothers but there's something a bit weird and obsessive about how they treat each other," as well as a "Doflamingo only realizes he loved Cora after Minion Island and is a wreck about it," and my forcefem "Doflamingo decides the only way to have an heir with blood as pure as his own is to manipulate and abuse his younger brother into carrying it." Like I said earlier, sometimes I enjoy a bit of dead dove.

I've read dofcora fics that are so soft and sweet and loving that they make me feel warm and fuzzy (despite my severe case of aromanticism) while still keeping them in character. I've read some hot smut where they're the only ones truly made to fit each other. I've read as many stories as I can find where Rosi falls so in love he gives up on his mission just to stay by Doffy's side. They can be cute, they can be toxic, they're devoted because only they understand what their shared childhood was like, they're deeply similar and diametrically opposed... even while staying within canon personalities the dynamics are so, so flexible.

Someday I'll move on to a different ship (maybe even a different fandom) and I'll leave this era behind me. I don't think I'll regret it, though, because my shenanigans in the dofcora fandom have been some of the most silly and joyful and fun interactions I've had in a fandom space.

Like I said, you don't have to ship it. You don't need to. But so long as you're being smart and reasonable about your own limits, you are allowed to ship them, and you don't have to be ashamed about it.

As a final note, if you're going to disagree with me please be as fair and logical as I've tried to be in this essay, I don't come to tumblr to shout at people and I will block people who don't debate reasonably and respectfully <3

[crownmemes]

Pretentious & Poetic Sentences, Vol. 6

(Pretentious sentences from various sources for muses that like to speak in grandiose sentences. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Fear stops when you kill the thing you're afraid of... Or it kills you."

"You know what's worse than a sanctimonious speech? A sanctimonious speech that's dead wrong."

"You only have to knock over one domino but, if it's the right domino, the rest will fall."

"Murder does more damage to the living than it does the dead."

"Are you going to bark all day, or are you going to bite?"

"Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth."

"What's the kingmaker to do when the king no longer follower orders?"

"There's no such thing as a saint without a past."

"Truth begins in lies."

"God's mistakes are well documented."

"There are times when a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a king."

"Since you comprehend what you call goodness, doesn't that make you good?"

"Murder is, or should be, an art."

"The danger with facing your demons is that sometimes your demons win."

"Nobody's tomorrows are guaranteed."

"You can fish all you want. Smart fish don't bite."

"If you kick a dog long enough, he's going to bite."

"Good and evil, right and wrong, were invented for the ordinary, average man."

"Fortune has smiled upon you and you spit in its face."

"It's up to you to make your own history."

"Your fall from grace has been the fall of a century."

"A shark can smell blood a mile off when he's hungry."

"When two hunters go after the same prey, they usually end up shooting each other in the back."

"Those that are good must suffer the same as those that are bad."

"They say that dogs can smell fear. Did you know that some humans can as well?"

"The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create."

"Miracles, by their definition, are meaningless."

"Once you make a deal with the Devil, you belong to him."

"God kills indiscriminately, and so shall we."

"Mistakes are the building blocks of wisdom."

"We're all puppets. I'm just the puppet who can see the strings."

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

The Honey Trap part 1

Note: the idea of sexpionage is wonderful to use in fics, but I want to make it clear that sexpionage is a daunting and grim reality too, and I am very aware of that and do not mean to ignore that. It is a trope I am using, lighthearted, but I do not want to pretend that the actual act of sexpionage is not horrific to many involved. That being said, I will not describe the horrors of it. This is a work of fiction, but created with some knowledge about the real thing.

Warnings: mention of drugs and murder, lightly suggestive.

Pairing: Modern Spy!Sihtric x Spy!Reader (f)

Summary: You are a seductive spy with a mission to obtain important information, and your target turned out to be a very handsome man.

Word count: 1,4k 

Masterlist

Introduction chapter: The Target.

Infiltrating criminal organisations wasn't new to you. You had caused the downfall of several notorious criminals and their entire empires over the past few years, as you were highly skilled and professional. You loved your job and the power it gave you, so when you got the opportunity to infiltrate the current biggest drug organisation in the country, you didn't say no.

You were a spy, one of the best in the business, but you weren't a regular spy. Your expertise was sexpionage. Your goal was to seduce your target and gain intel, which you would then secretly hand to your superiors and eventually lead to the downfall of your target and whoever they worked with.

Your new mission was all about taking down a drug empire that was run by a lady named Skade. Skade was smart, cunning and pretty, using that all to her advantage by brainwashing men into doing her dirty business, so her hands stayed clean. It was well known she was responsible for everything that happened, but she had to be caught in an act in order to prove it, and taking her down would mean the end of her nasty business. The only problem was that she was just impossible to find. 

You had been infiltrating connected circles to her business for a while already, becoming close with a man named Cnut, who made all the big drug deals for his "queen", Skade. You had managed to get him arrested during a big drug deal, without Skade ever finding out what happened as Cnut had just disappeared for all she knew, and now your next move was to become part of Skade's inner circle. 

Your new target was a man named Sihtric, who quickly became Skade's most loyal man after Cnut had seemingly disappeared. What you didn't know was that Sihtric was a so-called Raven; a male sexpionage. Your superiors felt it was better for you to not know the truth about your target, because to them Sihtric was no longer under their employment, for they had all reasons to believe he had gone rogue while infiltrating and was now actually working for Skade and he needed to be eliminated. But before you were to take his life, it was your mission to get close to Sihtric and gain intel on Skade's whereabouts.

Everyone who worked for Skade always had a few drinks every night at the same pub in town, The Seven Kings. The Seven Kings was basically owned by Skade and it was a pub hidden away in a narrow street, in the heart of the city centre. Because it wasn't easy to find, you would never spot a tourist there. And the tourists who did find it often turned around after taking a look inside, as Skade's crew, who were the regular guests there, did look all but inviting. She had only men working for her, as they were easy to control, and they all looked rugged. They were all either heavily tattooed or incredibly muscular, but none of them ever intimidated you for you knew exactly how to seduce them and, if you had to, easily kill them. 

You made every man turn their head once you set foot inside The Seven Kings one evening. And men were so easy. They'd usually frown upon a stranger entering the place, but if the stranger was a pretty lady who was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a black top that showed some cleavage, they were more than welcoming. And so you were very welcome to join them for a drink. The stools at the bar were all taken, but multiple men jumped up and offered you their seat before you had even said a word. This was your job, your expertise; seducing men and making them play to your tune. The bartender placed several drinks in front of you after you had sat down, all drinks that some of the men had already bought you without even knowing your name. You never thanked anyone for their gestures, and as you finished your first drink you nonchalantly began to scan the place until your eyes locked with your target.

There he was, Sihtric Kjartansson, Skade's right-hand man, sitting almost across from you at the other side of the bar. He was prettier than in the photos you had been shown. He had looked quite young in those, while now a handsome man sat opposite of you. A well built one too, his biceps looking fine in that army green shirt he was wearing. His dark hair was short and shaved at the sides, a tattoo ran from the side of his head down onto his neck and his facial hair was well kept. He was handsome, you couldn't deny that, which made your job all the more fun. You have seduced the most hideous men in your career as a spy, so to have a very good looking target was a nice change. 

On the bar, next to his drink, you spotted a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, the latter which he fidgeted with while he listened to some other man who clearly worked for Skade too. Sihtric hadn't been blind to your entrance and overall captivating appearance but, like you, his sexpionage training had taught him to never make the first move. However, when he noticed you turned down one man after the other over the next hour, Sihtric decided there was probably no harm in chatting up a pretty lady and wouldn't mind getting laid either if he was lucky. And so he went for it. 

He came over to you, and the man who was seated next to you knew to take his leave once Sihtric approached. The handsome man sat down next to you but you feigned ignorance, until he spoke first.

'Have we met before?'

His voice was low and smooth, honeyed and warm and it shot an unexpected warmness through your body.

'I don't think we have,' you said, using your seductress voice.

You both weren't aware that you were using the same vocal technique to seduce one another. Another thing you had both been taught as a spy. Sihtric introduced himself, and you smiled sweetly yet alluringly as you told him your name. His handshake was firm and his mismatched eyes were fully fixated on you, the same your eyes never left him.

You had some small talk, and you told Sihtric the lies that had been created to make you look completely harmless. As you engaged in conversation you gave him flirty looks and whenever he made you laugh you touched his arm lightly, a gesture he clearly did not seem to mind as he continued to lean in closer as the night progressed. You complimented each other subtly and only had eyes for each other, which made the other men in the pub sick with jealousy, but Sihtric didn't care, because he already had his mind set on you.

And your first mission ended successfully, as it had earned you your target's phone number. Sihtric offered to walk you back to your hotel, because he claimed a pretty lady such as yourself should be careful at night. You laughed on the inside, as you were very capable of murdering someone with just your high heels, but you accepted his offer just to play along. 

And you couldn't deny you enjoyed his touch as he accompanied you, with his hand placed lightly on the small of your back. Sihtric was clearly a flirt, which worked well for you as it was your job to be flirty without raising suspicion. But it all went so very natural with him, it almost made you suspicious as it seemed he just knew exactly what to do and say.

But then you remembered he was a man, and most men didn't think at all when they saw a pretty lady. And Sihtric was, indeed, oblivious to the fact he had just walked straight into what was only the start of a sticky honey trap. He had already broken the first rules in sexpionage; be wary of pretty people who could be out of your league, and definitely never make the first move. And as he had ignored both those warnings, you claimed victory.

But what you didn't know was that Sihtric was not only interested in your looks. He had a secret mission of his own; seducing you to find out where Cnut went, as he thought it was peculiar that a lady like you showed up out of nowhere, only weeks after Cnut's disappearance...

taglist: @foxyanon @alexagirlie @sihtricsafin @neonhairspray @gemini-mama

@lexwolfhale @sigtryggrswifey @skyofficialxx @djarinsgirl27 @m-a-s-h-k-a

@verenahx @mrsarnasdelicious @diiickbrainn @little-diable @maii777

@urmomsgirlfriend1 @dixie-elocin @elle4404 @bubblyabs @ylvie50

@hb8301 @willowbrookesblog @apolloanddaphnis @jennifer0305

@carnationworld @justanother-sihtricgirlie @stark-head @reidsbookstore @thenameswinter99

@deathbluestar113 @ladyinred2248 @zaldritzosrose @maryelle-cats @penumbrie

@solinarimoon @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @yungpoetfics @legitalicat @stupiddarkkside

if you want to be added to/deleted from the taglist, message me 🖤

[yanderes-galore]

Can I ask for Ace from Dead By Daylight concept?

Honestly... Ace seems like he thinks he's a keeper and hot stuff... In reality you may find him pathetic- He has some serious wet cat energy, ngl-

Yandere! Ace Visconti Concept

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Clingy behavior, Stalking, Possessive behavior, Violence, Delusional behavior, Dubious relationship.

Ace is known to exude confidence.

He runs on believing in himself, seducing and conning his way through the social ladder.

He thinks he has luck... which, yes, he might...

But there's times he either comes off as arrogant or pathetic I think.

His heart is always in the cards, making gambles as he lives his life.

Even more so when he's thrust into The Fog one way or another.

I can just tell Ace would stroll up to you, all confident as he flirts with you.

He seems like he'd be a charismatic flirt, a cocky grin on his face as he chats you up with a silver tongue.

He grips his gator tooth, his lucky charm, and hopes you'll fall for him and his sweet words.

Only for you to turn him down.

You turning him down may just make him more desperate to convince you he's a catch.

It's like another bet to him, except it's with himself.

After all... His luck can't fail him!

You just need more convincing.

He gets so focused on convincing you that he seems so... desperate and pathetic as time goes on.

He isn't a very intimidating man.

He's just overly arrogant.

We actually see in his Tome he gets himself beat in a bet.

He won the bet, sure, but not by knocking out his opponent.

So is he killing someone?

Not an issue.

Instead he's just... persistent?

Ace never seems to leave you alone.

He's always trying and thinking of some new tactic to make you fall for him.

In The Fog, out of The Fog, doesn't matter.

Ace is trying his hardest to win you over.

Dude does everything from getting himself to bleed in fights in order to impress you... to learning new pick up lines.

He doesn't believe his luck has run out when it comes to you.

You just want him to leave you alone.

He definitely comes off more pathetic than charming.

He starts confident... but as his ego takes a beating, he begins to just be desperate.

You're just so attractive in every category to him.

To the point he's no longer trying to impress anyone anymore.

He just wants you to give him a chance.

He follows you around, invites you on outings, keeps track of everyone you talk to...

Yes, he gets obsessive and worried you'll pick someone else....

It's funny that neglecting his affections breaks his confident front in a way.

I feel Ace's obsession and confidence would last a year? Year and a half?

By the end of it he's definitely pleading...

Like... "Please, Please, Please, Please...!" pleading.

He tried everything.

He's tired and you're all he can think about.

He's so clingy, even possessive as he feels he's seen you first.

You shouldn't date anyone but him.

I feel Ace would eventually win you over.

Yet it's only because he's annoyed you so much that you gave up and decided to date him.

That's his big evil plan.

Annoy you until you accept him.

You could probably even call the cops on him and his luck would somehow get him out of it.

Much to your dismay.

His luck may also help him remove rivals.

No, he isn't someone who kidnaps or murders...

But if he tries to threaten them, somehow he'd surpass such a challenge in the end.

You can't deny he has some sort of luck.

Speaking of which, if he gets you in the end, he blames his luck and immediately feels confident again.

He'd try to be so confident during flirting, calling you all sorts of nicknames while he tries to be charming.

He's clingy, overly affectionate and flirtatious...

He's so happy you're all his...

Like a child on the holidays, really.

Even if you agreed just to get him to stop his nonsense, he's still super stoked.

Unfortunately, even this won't keep him away from you.

He's still annoying and still around all the time.

He looks like he's sleazy... yet most likely isn't.

He's really trying his best even if he's arrogant.

He's a pathetic yandere... yet somehow also wins in the end...?

He's got luck on his side... and while it may not seem believable at first...

He'll somehow make you his in the end before you even know it.