#that'd be wise wouldn't it

[dbphantom]

Do you think these 4 people know that at this point I've pack bonded with them and would kill and die for them if they asked

[bumblesimagines]

The Beasts of The North

Request: Yes or No

Summary: When Jace travels to the North to meet with the Lord of Winterfell, he expects to meet the well-known Wolf the North. What he didn't expect was a bear residing in Winterfell as well.

Pronouns: He/Him/His, M!Reader

CW/TW: Typical GoT/HOTD warnings, unknown age gap since (Y/N) is early to mid twenties and Cregan is mid twenties, technically not HOTD Cregan personality or appearance wise rip (inspired by Cordeliacordate on Ao3's interpretation of Cregan),

So sorry to Tom Taylor but he is not what I envision when I think of Cregan 😭 I always saw Cregan looking more like Roman Reigns or Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred

~~~

By the time the sun began to rise, Winterfell had already come alive with the hustle and bustle of servants, residents, and villagers coming and going as they began their routines. The mixture of chatter, laughter, occasional yipping of a dog, and the sound of birds singing and squawking floated through the cracked open window, reaching the ears of the two men lying beneath bundles of furs and blankets to keep them warm from the cold. 

"Cregan," (Y/N) sighed, sleep oozing out of him ever so slowly. The bed just felt oh so comfortable and heavenly, enticing him to sleep for a few more hours. There was much to be done, though, and he couldn't allow himself nor Cregan to forget lest they risked an earful from Sara. "The princeling will likely arrive today." 

"Aye," Came the gruff, sleepy response from the lord, his strong arms still coiled tightly around (Y/N) and showing no signs of releasing him so they could both begin their day. Instead of climbing out of bed and preparing himself for the day ahead, Cregan pulled (Y/N) closer to his chest and nuzzled his face against the back of his neck, the fuzz of his beard scratching and tickling him.

(Y/N) pushed his cheek into the soft silk of the pillow beneath his head, savoring the feeling for a moment before he forced himself to sit up and detach from Cregan. One of the furs slipped downward from his chest, exposing his skin to the coldness of the room, though (Y/N) had grown acclimated to the harsh temperature of the North. Cregan made a low rumbling noise of discontentment, his hands blindly searching for his lover but (Y/N) slipped out of bed before Cregan could wrangle him back into his embrace. 

"We wouldn't wish to leave a bad impression on the princeling, would we, Cregan?" (Y/N) spoke teasingly, echoing back the words Sara had told them when they received word of Prince Jacaerys intent to fly out to Winterfell on his dragon. Neither of them were fools, however, and they'd rapidly pieced together the reason why when they received word of the boy prince's uncle, Aegon Targaryen, being crowned in King's Landing over Rhaenyra Targaryen. War was brewing, and both sides needed an army before it could spill over. 

"Mm," Cregan responded, grunting softly as he pushed himself up against the headboard, the wood creaking beneath the weight of his sturdy back. His black hair had loosened free from the bun he'd wrapped it in before bed, resting and brushing over his shoulders in a mess of bedhair he'd have to brush before they broke their fast. His gray eyes watched him, lingering on (Y/N)'s nether regions with a curl of his lips until they were covered up by pants. "Starks never forget their oaths. We hardly need to be reminded of 'em."

"I detest the idea of a royal guest as much as you do, Cregan, especially one raised to believe in the Seven." (Y/N) reminded him, the warmth of the stone floor digging into the bottom of his feet as he crossed the room to close the window, finding himself thankful for whichever Stark had the idea of building the Great Keep over natural hot springs. Through the window frost, he could see those walking around below, preparing for the feast that'd be held in honor of their guest. "But supporting the boy and his mother would be better than supporting the Hightower lot." 

"The boy," Cregan echoed and chuckled breathily, his fingers scratching at his chin before he tugged the furs and blankets off himself and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He rose with a heavy, still exhausted sigh and approached him, an arm wrapping around his shoulder and lips pressing against his temple. "You're hardly much older than him, I hear. Besides, you were once new to Winterfell. Perhaps you can help him get accustomed to how things are around here." 

"What if he's a spoiled brat and I cannot stand to be around him?" (Y/N) groaned softly at the thought and rolled his head back to rest it on Cregan's shoulder. Cregan smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek next, his palm lightly squeezing his shoulder before his thumb rubbed into the exposed skin soothingly. (Y/N)'s eyes flickered away from the roof to study the side of his lover's face. "Or what if I like him enough to entice him into bed, hm? What will you do then?"

Cregan laughed heartily and spun him around to press their chests together, his hands dropping to grasp at (Y/N)'s hips and hold him still. He dipped his head and kissed him properly on the lips, swallowing the mischievous giggle that left (Y/N). He grew back with crinkled eyes and pressed his forehead against (Y/N)'s. "I doubt some little princeling will catch your eye, my darling. He'd likely be the one trying to entice you, even with that attitude of yours." 

"That attitude had you tripping over your own feet to sweep me off mine." (Y/N) lightly jabbed his finger into Cregan's chest, feeling the lord's body shake with another laugh. Cregan didn't bother to deny his words and instead pecked the bridge of his nose, rubbing his hands into (Y/N) hips before pulling away to finally get dressed. 

Following suit, (Y/N) collected the rest of his clothes off the floor and slipped out of Cregan's bedchambers into his own across the hall, discarding the old clothes on the bed and greeting the maids that fluttered in to help him get dressed. The wool fabric pressed and dragged against his skin, the layers of clothing warming his chilly skin in a matter of minutes. By the time he finished, Cregan had dressed too, and together they headed down the hall and down a set of stairs. 

"Good morrow, you two." Sara greeted them from her spot by the table and casted them a glance over her shoulder, little Rickon fastened to her hip with two fingers in his mouth. His big brown eyes turned toward them and brightened, a wide smile breaking out on his chubby face at the mere sight of his father. He looked so much like his mother, Lady Arra Norrey, in certain lights, especially in his gleeful moments.

"Hello, my little pup." Cregan greeted softly when he scooped his young son into his arms, nuzzling his nose into the boy's belly just to hear him crack up with laughter. He freely slumped against Cregan's chest and (Y/N) pressed a fleeting kiss to his small temple, a smile tugging at his lips when Rickon giggled in response. 

"Prince Jacaerys should be arriving soon." Sara reminded them like a mother would her children, turning away once she finished her conversation with two servants to face them. Despite her status as a bastard, Sara took care of things around Winterfell just as much as Cregan and (Y/N) did, perhaps more than them. Her pale blue eyes, nearly the same shade of gray as Cregan's, flickered between the two lovers. "His room will be beside (Y/N)'s. I do hope you'll behave yourselves." 

Their smirks only made her roll her eyes and heave a sigh, her hands smoothing out the bottom of her dress as she sat beside them at the table. (Y/N) dug into his breakfast with eagerness, the subtle ache in his stomach disappearing with each gulp of food and juice until his plate was clean. He dapped at his lips with his handkerchief before brushing the crumbs from Rickon's chin, his eyes softening and a gentle smile spreading across his face. Cregan swooped in to kiss the top of his head, an act those around them hardly batted an eye at. 

"My Lord, My Lady, Ser" Maester Orwen called out when he entered the room, dipping his head in respect and greeting. He shuffled closer to them, his hand brushing over Rickon's head affectionately. "There have been reports of a dragon not far from here, My Lord. It appears our guest will soon be arriving." 

"Thank you, Maester Orwen." Cregan sighed and stood from the table, handing Rickon off to his sister with a kiss to the boy's temple before he motioned with a nod for (Y/N) to come along to greet their new royal guest. (Y/N) grimly realized he never bothered asking for how long the prince would be staying with them and gave a heavy sigh.

Maester Orwen followed the two men out into the chilly morning air, the snow crunching beneath their boots and their heads angled toward the gates. (Y/N) knew very little of Prince Jacaerys apart from the rumors circulating his parentage and the fact he was to be his mother's heir as the eldest son, despite the possibility of being a bastard.

An unfamiliar shriek echoed through the air above them and he tilted his head upward to watch the shadow of a dragon pass overhead in awe. It dipped downward toward the ground beyond the walls around Winterfell, the alarmed shouts of villagers quieting with reassuring calls from the guards around. 

The gates soon parted, a lonesome figure stepping through and making his way toward them. (Y/N) had an image in his head of what the Prince would look like; silver-haired, purple eyes, boyish features, and a snobby attitude known to royals and most nobles. That image promptly shattered when Prince Jacaerys stopped before them. His hair, (Y/N) noted, was a chestnut brown color as were his eyes, two notable Targaryen and Velaryon traits he lacked. He was lanky and still appeared boyish due to his age but his features were hardened and eyes determined. No amount of determination, however, would cover up the trembling of his body. His clothes lacked a layer or two to keep him fully warm from the cold.

"Prince Jacaerys Velaryon," Maester Orwen greeted and bowed, offering him a friendly and welcoming smile despite the glances and disinterest of those around him. A small smile appeared on Prince Jacaerys face, giving a slight dip of his head in greeting before looking back at Cregan and then at (Y/N). He paled a little at the sight of them, despite his reddened face from the cold insistently nipping at it. "May I introduce the Wolf of the North, Lord Cregan Stark of Winterfell, and our trusted master-at-arms, Ser (Y/N) Mormont of Bear Island. I am Maester Orwen, here for whatever you may require."

"Welcome to Winterfell, Prince Jacaerys," Cregan spoke, voice devoid of most emotions and face largely stoic. (Y/N)'s lips curled at the way Prince Jacaerys adams apple bobbed nervously. His lover was an imposing man, he knew that well. Naturally tall and burly with a piercing stare that sent shivers down even the most hardened of knights. What had most men cowering only made (Y/N) swoon. 

"T-Thank you, Lord Cregan." Prince Jacaerys cleared his throat. "It is a pleasure to meet the both of you. I am here, as you must know, on my mother's behalf-"

"Speaking of politics already?" (Y/N)'s head lolled to the side and Prince Jacaerys eyes flickered back to him, his cracked lips parting and closing. Cregan's features morphed, his lips tugging into a grin and eyes crinkling with amusement as he turned to eye (Y/N). "Straight to the point type of lad, aren't you?"

"What Ser (Y/N) means to ask-" Maester Orwen sent him a swift scolding glare. "-is if you require anything, My Prince. We could have a meal or hot bath readied for you, if you'd like to rest after a long... flight." 

Prince Jacaerys lips pressed together, uncertainty written on his face but he looked away when (Y/N) arched a brow at him. "A hot bath sounds lovely, thank you. I, uhm-" He swiped his tongue over his lips and shuffled his feet, his composure rapidly disappearing the moment Maester Orwen stepped away to instruct some servants. "As I was saying, I am here as my mother's envoy to garner support for her cause and claim. Many years ago-" 

"My father, Lord Rickon Stark bent the knee and accepted Rhaenyra Targaryen as the heir to the Iron Throne." Cregan finished for him and spared a glance over his shoulder before he turned to (Y/N), his eyes shimmering with amusement. His hand came to rest along (Y/N)'s midback and (Y/N)'s eyes narrowed. "My love," (Y/N) swore he heard the prince choke quietly on his spit. "Since Prince Jacaerys will be residing in the room next to yours, you should show him the way." 

"There are servants for that, Cregan." (Y/N) squinted at him, the mischief on his face clear as day. "I have squires and wards to train, not to mention-"

"All that can wait for the Prince, can it not?" Bastard.

A brief cheeky grin graced Cregan's handsome features and he leaned in to kiss the area between (Y/N)'s eyebrows, giving his back a pat and nodding to the startled prince before he turned and marched further across the yard to tend to his own duties. (Y/N) watched him go with pursed lips, making a note to himself to get back at him for it later.

"I-"

"Come." (Y/N) ordered sharply, momentarily forgetting the young man before him was royalty and not another clumsy boy he had to shape up. Prince Jacaerys hardly seemed to notice, nearly slipping on the icy stone as his legs quickly moved to follow him into the castle.

(Y/N) led him through the hallways until they returned to the Great Hall, coming to a stop beside Sara and Rickon once more. "Your brother's the worst." He muttered quietly in her ear, earning a soft snort before he turned to the prince. "Prince Jacaerys, this is Sara Snow, Cregan's Stark half-sister. This little lad is Rickon Stark, Cregan's son." 

"Ah," Prince Jacaerys dipped his head in greeting and Sara curtsied as best she could with her nephew in her arms. A wide smile spread across his lips as he took in Rickon, lifting his finger toward the boy and chuckling softly when Rickon wrapped his little fingers around it. "Pleasure to meet you both," Rickon answered in an incoherent babble. 

"I suppose I should show you around since Cregan is..." (Y/N) almost sighed. "Busy."

With Prince Jacaerys proving to be rather obedient and quiet, (Y/N) had little trouble leading him around the castle and showing him the different rooms, halls, and towers connected to it. The prince only piped up to ask questions, mostly regarding the history of Winterfell or about a member of the Stark family until they reached the hall leading to the bedchambers and pushed the door open to Prince Jacaerys temporary room. 

"The bath has already been drawn, Prince, and the belongings you sent ahead have been put away. If you require something and cannot locate anyone else, my bedchambers are to your left and Cregan's bedchambers are across." (Y/N) told him, eyeing the tempting steaming bath before turning to look at the prince. He studied his surroundings curiously. "Is there anything you need as of right now? I have fools to train."

"Are-" Prince Jacaerys cleared his throat once more. "Forgive me if I am overstepping but... are you and Lord Cregan..." He trailed off, the light red color returning to his skin and eyes jumping away from him.

"The Old Gods care not if you lie with someone of the same sex or love them, Prince. I'm sure as a child of the Seven you've been taught differently, but we followers of the Old Gods do not hold the same values." (Y/N) explained simply, watching the prince slowly nod. "Cregan and I are lovers, and if that bothers you, I suggest you deal with it for the duration of your stay." 

"It- It doesn't bother me," Prince Jacaerys assured quickly.

"Good." (Y/N)'s lips dragged into a small smirk. "Welcome to Winterfell, then." 

[moondirti]

sorry, this was born out of a need to indulge myself featuring: gaz, ballerina!reader, stalking, intrusive thoughts, delusion, mentioned SA and kidnapping

Kyle first spots you on the Piccadilly line in London's underground.

He's usually wary of public transport – would really rather walk the hour from Knightsbridge to Hammersmith than risk the inevitable unsavoury interaction bound to happen in an overcrowded tube – but it was late at night, he'd just spent his day sitting in a hotel lobby gathering intel for Price, and the idea of ducking down narrow streets in the blistering cold was the last thing he wanted coming to fruition. That's how he ended up in a (thankfully empty) train car anyway; hoodie up and hands stuffed deep into his pockets, thumb brushing over the handle of a switchblade.

He's focused on the shady character stretched across three seats adjacent to him when you happen to prance in. Perhaps prance isn't that accurate an account either, but it's hard to attribute much else to you when you're dressed like a character from one of his sister's childhood storybooks. Angelina ballerina, or something of the sorts – mismatched leg warmers, knitted bolero sleeving a black camisole, basketball shorts over nude-coloured tights, and dance booties that look like little puffer coats for your feet.

The duffel bag slung over your shoulder concerns him briefly – it's hard to look at carryalls the same after serving the military, he finds – but the tired look on your face pacifies any suspicions he might have of your intentions. Wouldn't be wise to execute an offensive when one of your operatives is weary, especially given they're the only agent in sight. Regardless, he's hit with a distinct trepidation that takes a while to name.

You slide past the figure he'd been observing early, hop over Kyle's boots as well, fingers clasped over your behind as if to protect yourself from any wandering hands. The feeling rippling in his chest worsens, yet it's only as you slot yourself onto a far-away seat is he able to recognise it.

You shouldn't be here this late. This isn't the place for you.

With your hair neatly pulled away from your face, he's given full reign to ogle at your darling features. Round cheeks. Hydrated lips. Pretty thing. His molars grind against each other. There are no doubt men on this train that'd want to take advantage of that. Press your mouth open with a thumb on your tongue, rub themselves raw just to see cum decorate your lashes and drip over your brow. Barrack talk, the type of shit he hears floating between his comrades-in-arms when missions drag a little too long. Perversion brought on by desperation.

The intercom dings, and the lady with the soothing voice announces their arrival to Hammersmith. His stop, yet the thought of getting off and abandoning you is enough to keep him stuck to his seat. His stomach upturns as possibilities occur to him like frames in a technicolor film; none pleasant, all ending with you tied up in the trunk of some random van. Some part of him recognises his paranoia, the ridiculousness in his attachment to a perfect stranger (which chides him in a voice eerily similar to Price's, all gruff vowels and whispered consonants), but it does not change the fact that when the doors open to his station, he does not move.

Yeah. He stays on so long as you do – which fortunately is not an extensive length of time. You collect your stuff one stop later, standing to wait at the door once the lady announces Acton Town. He doesn't get up until you're a few seconds out though, slipping through the closing panels of the entryway to follow a few paces behind your heel. Up the escalator and down the block.

The night air nips at his nose, chilling his knuckles so they creak if he curls them. Are your nipples knotted under your layers? Or would they need the help of his fingers to perk up? His throat stiffens. He shakes the thought from his head.

You make a turn. Kyle stops for a second, breathes in, before veering left behind you. Heading towards the west part of town, now. It's a good place to live, all things considered. Still, he wonders if you deadbolt your doors, if you keep yourself safe online. You seem smart, but there are people who won't rest until they get their way. People like the one's he deals with at work – amoral men with biceps that could crush your head. Rotten, horrible men who are only rotten and horrible to cope with the tasks assigned to them. Depraved enemies, depraved friends. Only difference between the two being which flag they fight for.

You throw a look over your shoulder, shoulders shrinking as you wrap your arms tighter across your chest. He looks around, seeking the threat you seem to be so put off by. Nothing but brick-and-mortar storefronts and flattened cigarette butts.

He's compelled by the urge to shush you, to scratch your back as he tells you that there's no need to worry. He'll walk you all the way home. Make sure you get nice and situated, listen for the tell-tale lock of your deadbolt, watch for the dimming of your light. He'll stay until you fall asleep, then walk back to where he came from, take the returning line to Hammersmith – so when he flops back down into his own bed, he'll be reassured by the knowledge that you're safe a mere 4 miles away.

Might take a shower before then, though. Your arse looks great when you're speed-walking like this, pronounced even behind the loose material of your basketball shorts. He hopes the image remains as vivid when he's attending to the heavy mass between his legs later.

Kyle halts right in his tracks.

What is he doing?

You're nearly running now, shrinking away from him at an exponential rate, and duck another corner when you look back to see that he's no longer in pursuit. Completely out of sight.

His Captain’s voice comes to life once more, echoing in the part of his brain he has yet to compartmentalise.

You draw the line wherever you need it, Sergeant.

[lafemmemacabre]

Goth 101

🦇 tl;dr version for those who prefer that format

Goth is a music-based subculture that started out in the UK in the late 70s/early 80s and spread internationally from there. It spawned from the UK Punk scene, keeping the DIY ethics but turning the music more melancholic, introspective and experimental.

The music genres that the subculture was built around are (dark) Post-Punk, Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Ethereal Wave and a few other smaller subgenres.

While the fashion and other non-musical aesthetics are very prominent and beloved by goths, they're non-essential to the subculture. What defines a goth is the music we listen to.

Our "big 4" bands are The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and the Banshees. However, 3 out of 4 of those bands are Post-Punk acts (Sisters of Mercy being the exception Gothic Rock band), and while very influential to the rest of the goth music scene, they by no means are the end-all, be-all of what goth music sounds like. The genre has evolved through its over 40 years of existence, creating diverse sounds. Anyone darkly inclined can find something to love, even if it takes a bit of research.

The Dark & Gothic playlist on Spotify is a pretty decent way to get started into goth music. In my old blog I had entire tags dedicated to goth music as a whole, and separately to Post-Punk, Gothic Rock, Darkwave and Ethereal Wave too. I had a few playlists based on popular goth aesthetics here.

The longer description of goth music will include playlists for each bigger goth subgenre, but please keep in mind they're made by me in a way that appeals to my personal tastes for each subgenre. I don't know every band that exists and my personal taste is biased towards the 90s.

Now, to a more detailed introduction to the goth subculture...

🦇 Dark alternative vs Goth

What a lot of people need clarified is that the goth subculture doesn't have a monopoly on the dark alternative world, nor are we the home for everyone sad, spooky and weird who doesn't fit in and might listen to any sort of sad, spooky or weird alternative music.

There are SO many dark alternative music scenes that have nothing or very little to do with the goth subculture. We've influenced a lot of them fashion-wise, but just because they copied us we look alike doesn't mean we're interchangeable.

There's no scale that goes from Prep to Goth and measures how Valid™ your inner darkness is, in which if you're anything below goth then you're a poser and lame. It's perfectly fine and cool to be dark alternative without being a goth. Goth isn't a badge of legitimacy or honor, it's just one specific flavor of dark alternative among so many.

Goth is a very small and obscure subculture despite our superficial hypervisbility (our looks and infamy are hypervisible, what we're actually about is extremely buried underground), and most dark alternative people aren't goths.

🦇 What does it take to be a goth?

There's one rule, and one rule only: LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. You wouldn't call yourself a metalhead without being a fan of Metal music, would you? The same principle applies to goth.

There are many types of alternative subcultures; some examples are fashion-based subcultures, another are lifestyle-based subcultures. A third type of subculture that's very prominent (especially in the West) are music-based subcultures.

Goth is a music-based subculture, just like the metalhead, punk, emo, rivethead/Industrial, hip-hop, rave, K-Pop and grunge subcultures are.

This means that, while the music isn't THE ONLY aspect the subculture has, in order to be a goth you have to listen to goth music, and we have a specific set of music genres that our subculture was built around, so not just anything dark and melancholy will do, as we don't have a monopoly on that, but we do have something closer to a monopoly on a specific sound and musical legacy.

You don't have to listen to goth music EXCLUSIVELY to be a goth, that'd be insane. You don't even have to limit yourself to dark alternative music either. You just have to listen to goth music to a relevant degree and be passionate about it and you're in, the rest is up to you.

This means too that the way you dress has no impact on your validity as a goth, whether you don't have the gothic wardrobe of your dreams yet or you just don't want to dress goth at all. I'm TikTok mutuals with a girl who dresses exclusively in pink-white sweet lolita coords, but who's passionate about goth music. She's a goth, no questions about it. On the other hand, a lot of the influencers you'll see online who look like a lost Addams cousin aren't goths at all, and no house decor or outfit will make them gothier if they don't listen to the music.

🦇 What music counts as goth?

From the previous points I made you probably gathered that Industrial and Metal ⁠– both genres that outsiders usually associate with the goth subculture ⁠– aren't actually part of the goth genre. So, what is goth music?

Goth music developed initially in the UK in the late 70s/early 80s off of dark Post-Punk. Post-Punk itself developed from UK 70s Punk Rock, being also influenced by Glam Rock, experimental electronic music, and many other influences more specific to each band that took part in this musical development (Bauhaus were very influenced by Reggae!).

What characterizes the goth sound are elements such as; being bass-driven rather than guitar-driven (in almost every case), guitars playing more of a decorative or atmospheric role instead of being the main focus (which contrasts starkly against genres such as Metal), preference for voices with a lower vocal range (altos, this is your genre to shine in!), optional use of synthesizers, recurrent replacing of human drummers with drum machines, and common use of lots of reverb and delay effects everywhere for an extra sensation that you're listening to music recorded in a catacomb.

Dark Post-Punk was the starting point of the goth subculture, and from it, all other goth music subgenres developed. Depending on who you ask there's a billion goth micro-genres. In my opinion a lot of those subgenres are rather meaningless (a lot of them are just specific flavors of Post-Punk or Darkwave) but the main 4 subgenres of goth music are:

(Dark) Post-Punk

Gothic Rock

Darkwave

Ethereal Wave

POST-PUNK:

Post-Punk took the standard sound of Punk Rock and its DIY ethics and made the sound more melancholic, romantic, experimental, less angry, and more introspective. Dark Post-Punk in particular was influenced by gothic literature and old horror movies (including their soundtracks, the Banshees created their characteristic guitar sound after the violins in the Psycho soundtrack).

Besides the 3 Post-Punk bands I listed as part of the goth "big 4", there's bands such as Skeletal Family, Twin Tribes, Specimen, She Wants Revenge, Sex Gang Children, Xmal Deutschland, Lebanon Hanover, Cruex Lies, The Secret French Postcards and The Birthday Party.

GOTHIC ROCK:

When goth became slightly more established in sound, Gothic Rock is what happened. Less experimental than Post-Punk, a bit more Rock-based, more decidedly dark and miserable than Post-Punk necessarily is, and finally severed from goth's punk roots. Sisters of Mercy is THE most popular and influential Gothic Rock band; they popularized the use of extremely low baritone vocals and drum machines. Despite existing since the 80s, its popularity peak was in the 90s.

Goth as a whole has its "big 4", but the subgenre of Gothic Rock has its own "big 3", which are Sisters of Mercy, The Mission (UK), and Fields of the Nephilim. Other Gothic Rock bands are Rosetta Stone, Corpus Delicti, Inkubus Sukkubus, Mephisto Walz, Angels of Liberty, Two Witches, Nosferatu, Wisborg and Soror Dolorosa.

DARKWAVE:

Goth going electronic! There's basically two types of Darkwave; the one that's more a combination of Post-Punk + Synthpop (very popular in the past decade), and the one that's more a combination of Gothic Rock + electronic music in general (most popular in the 90s). EXTREMELY danceable, but then again goths can dance to literally anything. This genre has existed at the very least since the second half of the 80s and has never stopped being relevant in the goth scene, save maybe during the Deathrock revival phase.

Clan of Xymox might be the single most influential Darkwave band. There's also The Frozen Autumn, The Crüxshadows, Switchblade Symphony, Collide, Dark, Ghosting, London After Midnight, She Past Away, Drab Majesty and Boy Harsher.

ETHEREAL WAVE:

This genre is heavily linked to Dream Pop, Neoclassical Darkwave and Shoegaze. Like with Darkwave there's basically a few styles of Ethereal Wave, I can pinpoint three; the one that's like, regular Goth Rock/Post-Punk but with a lot of extra delay and reverb and other stylistic choices that make it sound, well, Ethereal, dream-like. There's the type that has lots of Folk influences (be it Medieval/Rennaisance-ish type of Folk or "ethnic" type of Folk), and there's one that's synth-based but, unlike Darkwave, sounds like what ketamine must feel like. This genre has existed since the mid 80s but its peak in popularity and relevancy in the scene was in the 90s.

Dead Can Dance is THE most influential Ethereal Wave band, but there's others such as Cocteau Twins (started as Post-Punk, ended up as Dream Pop and Ethereal Wave), Miranda Sex Garden, Faith and the Muse, Lycia, Claire Voyant, Hamsas XIII, Love is Colder than Death, SRSQ, Black Tape for a Blue Girl and Mors Syphilitica.

What about Deathrock, Gothic Metal and Industrial?

Deathrock is goth's American twin, basically. While in the early 80s in the UK morose ex-punks were playing Post-Punk, in the early 80s in the LA Punk scene morbid and brooding punk kids were playing Deathrock; it's closer to Punk Rock in sound than Post-Punk, being more about being spooky and brooding than about being eerie and romantic. Goth is to vampires and witches what Deathrock is to zombies and werewolves.

To summarize the consensus on Deathrock and its place within the goth subculture; it's rare to find a goth who's not also into at least some Deathrock, and even rarer to find a deathrocker who's not into goth. Personally, I think Deathrock is its own separate though very similar thing, but I don't mind Deathrock being lumped in with goth music.

I made a whole TikTok video on why Gothic Metal isn't a goth subgenre, but in summary; Gothic Metal is a Metal subgenre that was somewhat influenced by goth music in its earliest stage of development, but is for the most part a cross between Doom Metal and Death Metal with lyrics inspired by gothic literature. By adhering to a Metal sound it doesn't fit the type of sound goth music has. The goth influences in Gothic Metal were mostly only present in the earliest bands and a majority of the newer acts are completely disconnected from the goth scene.

As for goth's ties to the rivethead subculture (and thus, Industrial music): We've been sibling subcultures since at least the early 90s. Both very, very small and underground scenes that despite being different, had enough similarities in music, idiosyncrasy and aesthetic sensibilities to comfortably band together for the sake of scene viability. That's why you might hear people talking about the "gothic-industrial scene".

Keep in mind too that 80s and 90s Industrial music sounded very different from how it does now (compare your average Grendel or Combichrist song to your average Skinny Puppy or Die Form song). There was a lot less influence of raver music in the rivethead scene back then, and a lot more influence from 80s dark alternative music and New Wave, which are key influences for the goth scene as well.

As told by goth YouTuber Angela Benedict (goth since 1995), every goth back then listened to at least some Industrial, every rivethead listened to at least some goth music, and they all loved 80s New Wave, so DJs at shared club nights had a very easy time entertaining both audiences simultaneously.

🦇 Trivia & other things to know

The term "gothic Rock" was being used in music journalism as early as to describe releases by The Doors and The Velvet Underground, but the word "gothic" there wasn't so much used to point to a specific type of sound at that stage, it was used to imply the mood of the music and that's not where the subculture gets its name.

We don't know for sure why this subculture began to be referred to as "goth", initially the music was called either New Wave (just a darker and more underground variety of it) or Positive Punk. However, one of the potential roots of this name for our subculture is that it comes from an inside joke from members of Southern Death Cult/The Cult about Andi Sexgang (Sex Gang Children) about how he was a creepy little guy obsessed with the macabre and dark romanticism living at the Visigoth Towers, so they called him a "goth goblin" and if he was a goth, then his fans were goths too.

From the comments that the goth bloggers/vloggers I follow get, apparently it's common for baby bats and people interested in the subculture to think that they HAVE to find a goth "type" to lock themselves into, like "trad goth" or "romantic goth" or whatever else, and if they don't, they're a poser. This isn't true at all. Most goths wax and wane between fashion styles and goth music subgenres. These terms are far more useful to describe aesthetics rather than people or music.

If you ever hear people talk about "1st/2nd/3rd wave goth/Gothic Rock"; that's an (in my opinion) outdated and not too functional terminology to differentiate between "eras" of goth music, 1st wave being between 1975-1985, 2nd between 1985-1995, and 3rd between 1995-? That terminology was used widely when I was a baby bat but not so much anymore.

"Baby bat" is what a lot of more established goths call newbies! It's NOT meant as an insult nor to be condescending. It's a loving cutesy term and while of course most baby bats are very young, it's perfectly plausible to be a very grown adult and a baby bat if they just got into goth instead of getting into the subculture as a teen.

Most goth bands are easily found on Spotify except for more underground ones that haven't been active for a while (I have so many beloved bands and songs that just don't exist on Spotify), but the real goth jackpot is at Bandcamp.

Facebook is still useful for one (1) thing and it's for finding goth events; that's where I've found out about gothic fairs, goth nights and gigs; from the largely popular ones in my local scene to the very underground ones.

The song most of the subculture agrees is THE first official goth song is Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus, which was recorded as a singular take. It was the first track the band recorded together, too.

The Batcave is infamous nowadays as a huge goth night club in Soho (London) during the early 80s, owned by the band Specimen, BUT as told by the very people who used to frequent the nightclub, the whole thing has been a little overblown and its current reputation is more legend than fact. YouTuber Gothcast has a great video on the subject that was praised by members of Specimen itself!

Most of the most iconic pioneer goth musicians HATE being referred to as goths or to have their music referred to as such. When the term "goth" was first starting to be used to describe our music and scene it was a pejorative used by outsiders and/or mostly associated with the campier and more "low brow" bands (Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend come to mind). Andrew Eldritch from Sisters of Mercy especially hates it, to the point he refuses to even say the word and refers to it as "the G word". Which is hilarious since he sounded the most stereotypically gothy out of the big 4 and looked like this at the time he started to be a piss baby about it:

Goth isn't really a "youth" subculture anymore if you ask people within the scene. Unlike people from many other subcultures, goths have a tendency to stay goth far into adulthood (even if covertly). When you go to any events, besides teens and people in their early 20s, you're gonna see plenty of goths in their 40s and older, a few of them will bring their kids along if the event is family friendly.

Besides the obvious chance of many goths being professional creatives (musicians, writers, artists, etc), for some reason A LOT of goths work in tech and healthcare!

Metalheads headbang, they and punks also mosh. What do goths do to vibe to our music together? We dance! We don't dance the same as non-goths but we LOVE to dance to our music, together or solo. There's no established dance styles to adhere to; it's just letting your body flow to the music. Some goth dancing is very intricate, some of it is very simple, it depends on the goth in question. Just in case, this is NOT like the dance gifs of cybergoths/rivetheads under that damned bridge. Think less that and more Wednesday Addams dancing to The Cramps, or the girl from the Night of the Demons movie. Here's some videos about how goths dance:

We fucking love 80s New Wave. No, Depeche Mode isn't a goth band; yes, you'll have to dig deep to find a goth who doesn't ADORE them. The only one I've come across who disliked Depeche Mode liked Soft Cell instead.

Goth IS international! Not just in the sense that there's fans of goth music basically everywhere, but that there's local goth scenes with their own local goth bands everywhere. Outside of the US + Europe + Canada, there's huge goth scenes all over Latin América (our Deathrock and Post-Punk are at times even popular among 1st world goths), and there's also smaller but still present goth scenes in Africa, Asia and Oceania. She Past Away is very much one of THE most popular goth bands in recent years and they're from Turkey.

The goth scene has always been in friendly terms with the LGBT community. Not only are many of our biggest icons LGBT themselves (the whole band Specimen, AVC from Sopor Aeternus, both members of Diavol Strâin, the vocalist from Male Tears, Cinnamon Hadley, and many more) but plenty of cishet goths (especially the men) embrace gender non-conformity and/or androgyny. In most local scenes, goth club nights are held at gay bars/nightclubs, as they don't tend to have privately owned venues. And either way, at any goth night there'll be tons of gay and gender non-conforming goths no matter where they're held. To varying degrees depending on the locality of the scene, gay and bi people are completely normalized in the goth subculture, and gender non-conformity and androgyny aren't just encouraged, but praised and coveted.

There's goths of any religion you can think of, but Neo Pagans are somewhat over-represented in our community compared to the rest of larger society (for better or worse). Funnily enough, very few goths are actually Satanists of any sort. I'd say the numbers go more or less similar to our local non-goth peers. In the West and westernized countries I'd say it goes; majority culturally-Christian atheist or agnostic goths (usually not militant about it), a few practicing Christians of whichever denomination (usually whichever is dominant in the country they inhabit), the rare but entirely plausible Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist goth, and a bunch of Neo-Pagans. Probably one (1) or two (2) actual Satanist goths per state/province/etc, tops.

World Goth Day is celebrated every year on May 22nd.

"Mallgoth" isn't a type of goth in either a musical or fashion sense. I made another TikTok about it, but in summary; it was originally hurled as an insult towards a very specific type of poser; the American kids in the late 90s and early 00s who imitated how goths dressed and called themselves goths while only listening to Nu Metal and maybe the most mainstream Industrial Metal. They tended to congregate at malls and behave particularly obnoxious to everyone there, further ruining our already delicate image (especially at that time).

Cybergoths aren't really goths either. Their music scene is centered around EBM, which is basically slightly darker and slightly more aggressive raver music that may or may not have Industrial influences. And to be honest they behaved like a rapacious invasive species in goth club nights to the point that they almost decimated the actual goth scene and it took us a while to recover from that.

Goths are sometimes perceived as too self-serious but honestly? We love making fun of ourselves and we tend to have a very silly or dry sense of humor. We're just tired of the same cheap and inaccurate jokes made by people who don't know anything about us. The best jokes about goths will often come from goths ourselves; you can only properly make fun of something you understand well! The few times outsiders get it right though? (Sad to confirm that the South Park goth kids are hilarious and I wish they were in a better show) You'll see goths sharing the SHIT out of it, such as me being obsessed with the goths from Ridonculous Race, or the clip below:

[legendofmorons]

Hello there! Can I request a work on a gender neutral reader being a parental figure to the chain? Reader is both wise but chaotic, and has little quirks like humming or holding on to the boys clothing to keep them from walking to far from them.

Parental instinct

Hi! I'm so sorry this was late, but I had so much fun with it. I might just do more of it.

Pairing: chain & reader

Rating: G

Summary: A look into life and the chain's parental figure

Warnings: none

Other: If I missed anything, please let me know

You don't actually have a 2024 bingo card, but you know that being sucked into an adventure with nine heroes wouldn't be on it anyway. You should start making yearly bingo cards.

You step into something of a parental role, out of necessity mostly, but you're also probably a caretaker at heart.

So, after a few months, you've gotten the boys to really start listening to you. Which is a feat.

On days like today, you're thankful for the help Warriors, Time, and Twilight present. You need all the help you can get while coralling the heroes through the more modern hyrule.

You say modern, but you're all in the 1980s, with big hair, blur eyeshadow, and a lot of shoulder pads.

"Wind!" You call loudly, grabbing the back of his shirt to stop him from crossing the cross walk.

A car speeds by.

"What?"

"Please don't get run over." You say with that long suffering tome familiar to those responsible for chaotic gremlins.

"Didn't (Y/n) just go over traffic rules?" Legend huffs as if he didn't also have to be stopped by Warriors and the captain'squick reflexes.

"Shut up Legend you're just as bad." Wind sticks his tongue out.

"Boys!" You interject, "We're clear now, let's go."

You follow the chain, bringing up the rear.

Hearding them to a hotel and booking last-minute rooms is an experience that involves keeping Wind near you at all times.

(You promise yourself to find one of those cute animal backpack leashes. Or maybe nine of them, actually. That'd make keeping the boys in line easier.

Maybe Legend needs a monkey one.)

After you've gotten the rooms and divided them, you all settle in your room.

Four and Legend have taken a bed to themselves sitting side by side.

Sky, Wild, and Warriors sit on the couch. The three too tired to cause much trouble.

Time and Hyrule sit beside you on the third bed.

"We should totally try that pe-za." Wind declares as he flops himself over your lap.

"Pizza. But yeah, sure." You say as you toss Wild the remote to the TV.

Wild takes a minute but figures out the remote and starts flipping through channels.

You are ordering several pizzas through an app. You've got several large pizzas, lots of breadsticks, a few orders of salad, a few liters of soda, and a bunch of deserts by the time it's all ordered. Thank Hylia for rewards programs.

Wild has found full house and pit it on. Whether good or bad, nostalgia is probably there.

"(Y/n)!" Legend calls, "Tell Four to get his feet off my side of the bed!"

"Four." You say with a pointed look, "Stop tormenting poor Legend."

"He started it." Four says evenly, as though he isn't currently sticking his cold feet onto Legend.

"Hylia, grant me some patience." You mutter to yourself.

"Not strength?" Sky asks.

"If she gave me strength, I'd shake some sense into all of you."

Wind is laughing then, a little too much like a hyena, but he's happy, so we'll take it.

-------

After dinner and showers, the boys all gone to bed. You find yourself beside Time.

The old man is lying down, trying his hardest to sleep. But something seems to be bothering him.

It's instinct to start humming. The tune is old and familiar as your voice takes it on.

After a while, you look down, finding Time's face serene the way only peaceful sleep grants. Good. He needs it.

You didn't expect to gain nine kids this year, but you wouldn't trade them for the world. Ganon better watch his back, though. You'd kick his ass in a heartbeat for all he's done to your boys.

[6okuto]

Can I ask for headcanons about the LIs from Touchstarved and how they would deal with the MC who is suffering from menstrual cramps? Unfortunately, I'm in those days, I always get very sensitive and I can't eat anything (sometimes I even feel nauseous and vomit).

Sorry about my English

TS CAST WITH AN MC ON THEIR PERIOD

gn!mc | aaaghh i hope u feel better soon/now anon that sounds awful :(

ALL

i want you to know (partially because i don't want the notes to be repetitive) none of them would mind cleaning up any vomit, stains, etc. when they happen. literally none of them!! they've all seen worse, had worse happen, and care about mc. of course they'll take the time to clean up, change sheets, rub their back (and hold back any hair) as they hover over the toilet etc.

the others would ask kuras to check on mc if the symptoms are super serious and it could be some underlying condition. vere. ....mc is important enough to get kuras bro trust me. one of the others might recommend it if not him bdjhgbd

KURAS

! Finally a doctor that won't invalidate your experiences or just send you home! kuras would take their symptoms seriously and prescribe medication, etc as needed (i don't know how advanced they are surgery wise but if it was safe and possible...!)

he offers to let them stay at the clinic with him, but they both know he'd prefer they did assuming it isn't too difficult to set up

...methodical? when it comes to checking on mc, especially when they're suffering the worst of their symptoms! even when it seems like he's super busy and doesn't have time, he makes time.

he's good staying calm at signs of pain, strong emotions, etc., but it's a little different because mc isn't Just a patient. sometimes he can't help his worried expression when mc is in obvious pain, and he wouldn't buy tea for just anybody now would he! or let them pull him to the bedside and chat to distract them, comply when asked to hold his hand over their stomach, etc.

food wise.... he learns mc's favourites quickly, at least what they can stomach. best soup flavours, best drinks, soft foods... plus the nearest places he can run to. mc can be like Kuras It's literally 10 minutes away but he's like.. What kind of doctor would i be if i let my patient leave in this state. Can you lie back down now?

when they're home, kuras is freer to spend time with mc if they'd like! if mc says he has to cuddle because they're in pain, he can slip into bed with them. (he might be a little awkward the first couple of times because, well, cuddling isn't a usual treatment he offers to patients is it? and i don't think he's cuddled a lot in general, but he gets the hang of it!)

LEANDER

the wet wick isn't really where you want to be when you're dealing with cramps, nausea and anything else. so when mc mentions that they'll probably be dealing with their period soon and they tell him how bad it can get, leander makes sure to find a more comfortable place, even if it's just for a while. (or you know. maybe they live together somewhere else already and that'd just be very lovely and convenient !)

if there's any Magic Treatments he can do himself to soothe their pain, do some magic equivalent of a heating pad, etc. leander will absolutely use them! though he might make a joke like, Is the spell as good as me though? and when mc is like you know what? yeah. he's like :( / oh i see how it is...after everything we've been through /joking

i don't care if he doesn't like naps he will nap with mc if they ask. He Will. even if he doesn't stay the whole time, he'll at least rub their back and wait for them to fall asleep.

at their beck and call while he's around!! they need help getting to the washroom? he's there to help. they want a little snack? he's bought some! they ask him to run a hot bath? do they want him to help them wash because he will! their heated towels aren't hot enough anymore? no need to get up, leander's already on his way. they want to cuddle with him? What kind of guy would he be to say no?

if mc is more sensitive and their emotions are kind of all over the place, it probably surprises leander the most LOL. like everyone's caught off guard and worried walking in on them crying, but leander is most visibly like wait shit what happened? what's wrong? are you okay? did someone do something? because he's done everything he can to make sure they're comfortable like woah!!😭

VERE

do you guys know if vere's job is a 9 to 5 deal... well. while he's on the job, trust me when i tell you he's thinking of mc more often than he'd like to admit. he wishes he could check on them himself, but if he can't, he'll ask one of the others to. you'd think ais considering ais is the only one vere likes, but depending on what you need, he'll have to suck it up and ask. leander maybe?

yeah okay he'll rest his tail over your stomach and let you play with it now stop giving him puppy eyes and asking /lighthearted /silly. he'd appreciate it if you didn't squeeze very tight, like please hold onto something else besides his tail. but staying near you and getting that something isn't at all an issue for him!

if they want to cuddle Vere and not just his tail, he pretends he's Relenting and Allowing it, but he does enjoy it! (you can tell by the smile on his face and the way he shifts the pillows and blanket to make sure they're both comfortable for the foreseeable future.) he lets them rest their head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat, and he wraps his tail around just for extra warmth.

tones down his provocations and attitude when he realizes mc's state, and his more serious side comes out. if mc is confused/surprised by this, he rolls his eyes before carrying on to tell them to stay hydrated, and which places have the best teas/warm drinks. (he knows the owner of the one on the corner two streets down, and he's sure they'll lower the price for you.)

stubborn mc who ignores vere telling them they should stay in bed, or trying to help them there. vere who watches patiently as they're obviously in pain, until they give in and look at him. vere who, just once because he's vere, is like oh? what happened to not needing help? before mc tells him to shut up and he wraps an arm around them

AIS

makes sure they're drinking enough water and eating what they can despite his teasing. says shit like "okay, if you drink enough water i'll buy you some sweets" "think of how disappointed princess will be to find out you're pushing yourself" etc etc. of course when he's especially worried about them not eating, he'll take a more serious tone, but it's what he can do to keep their mood up.

even though exercising while you're cramping and bleeding often sounds. Miserable and Impossible. exercising regularly can help when the time comes! ais offers to join them on a couple walks a week :-) if mc thinks that they can do some light exercise, he'll be there to help them and suggest some easier workouts they can do. i don't think he's a huge yoga person, but he's got some stretches for sure!

guy who goes to buy some things and comes with more than mc expected or listed. he shrugs and says it's better to be prepared, and he was there so why not? he even asked some of the clerks for their opinion and was told some nice advice from a stranger who overheard him and who's he to say no.

might be below leander in terms of cuddling enthusiasm, but is still more comfortable than the others! he'll wrap himself around them, keeping a light pressure on their stomach and rubbing circles against their skin. he never complains about quietly staying and watching them, or talking if mc asks him to distract them. (they wonder how many of his stories take place in a bar. Have you never had a fun experience perhaps at a festival or park? he feigns offense before telling a 'nicer' story anyway.)

more modern au than TS but. i don't know if you guys saw that video where they asked their boyfriend to get pads with wings and he bought. pads and chicken wings. i'm crying soo bad like ais would do that as a joke. he'd take the wings out first then show mc he did, in fact, get pads with wings after they stare at him like ???? BEJHSBGJHB

MHIN

the first time it happens? they spot mc obviously in pain and watch them for a while because, well, that isn't their problem is it? they're just watching because they're curious, not because they really care. inevitably, they go up to check on them and bring them somewhere more comfortable because it was "hard to watch"

 it's like... mhin knows what to do, but there's hesitancy because they feel awkward About Offering. do they just hand mc the warm towel? do they ask them to roll over? if they ask what mc wants to drink, will they have the ingredients for it? they leave a bowl by the bed and say "in case you vomit" then hesitate before telling them where the washroom is, but the bowl is just in case. the others are more comfortable asking and taking initiative when it comes to mc y'know. but once they've established a relationship, mhin is quick to know what they like and need without mc even asking! ^^

"mhin" "hm?" "i think i'm dying" "you aren't dying" "i'm going to die" "don't die on my favourite blanket" "what the hell" (/lighthearted) (they do in fact care very much and feel bad. if mc wasn't busy suffering maybe they'd have noticed mhin preparing tea and a hot pack across the room.)

doesn't even try to entertain the thought of mc getting up and doing something strenuous. mhin shoots them a look like ? are you kidding. stay here and i'll take care of it. they won't force mc to stay in bed and assumes they know their limits, but that also means if mc pushes themself too much, mhin is all the more 'annoyed' (concerned!! they're concerned more than Angry, but can you please listen to them for once!)

omfg mhin bringing mc to a place where stray cats like to visit just to cheer them up a little. mhin handing them some food to hold out in their hand. there's a specific cat who really likes to purr and cuddle that they get the attention of just for mc. yeah.

[hwnglx]

enhypen's thoughts on marriage

based on tarot. i do not know these idols personally. energies are always changing. what i say is NOT straight fact. pls take it with a grain of salt!

heeseung

he had so much to say, like wow he's passionate about it. he loves the idea of it, sees it in his life path. he thinks marriage is something he's meant to do. he'll feel unfulfilled emotionally, if he doesn't get to find that one special person in his life who'll make everything brighter, happier and more beautiful. it'll be a very new, but enriching chapter for him. there is though, this huge awareness of “i need to do better.” he doesn't think he has the means to nurture a happy marriage at all, and he's also aware that he hasn't found the person of his dreams yet. he has very high standards, so it might take him a while to actually find his person. he knows it's far away, yet it's definitely something set in his future plans.

jay

so i shuffled for like a second, and the nine of cups flew in my face immediately, lmao. marriage is something jay dreams about, it's something he aspires to accomplish. he literally sees it as an accomplishment, because him getting married would mean he finally turned into the man he wants to be. financially stable, wealthy in many regards, whether that's health-wise, money-wise, mindset-wise, soul-wise. he wants to be the best man he can be for his future spouse. he wants to make their dreams come true, make them feel like they're lucky to be with him. i can also see him wanting to acquire a lot of wisdom, so he can give his children very good advice. (he's thought about this a lot for sure) so, he seems to have this habit of seeing marriage as his “end goal”. he doesn't take it lightly, and knows the sense of responsibility that comes with such a huge commitment.

jake

phew.. so, not much came out for him, but two very powerful cards. i can sense jake feeling like marriage is something he won't be able to avoid in his life, he believes he'll have to get there one day. he is so much more self-aware than some people think, so he knows about his downfalls and inner problems that'd prevent him from entering so heavy of a commitment. he knows how big of a deal marriage is, so he's aware that if he wants to make that powerful of a decision, he won't be able to run away and escape from his problems anymore. he has to face his demons. he literally has to man up, and he's kinda scared of that. he doesn't wanna marry someone and make them become victim of his toxic habits. he just thinks he's way too immature, and wouldn't be able to provide his future spouse what they deserve yet.

sunghoon

sunghoon has such slow energy in his love life. he wants to marry someone no doubt about it, but he wants to make sure he approaches marriage with a very mindful and steady attitude. meaning, he doesn't wanna rush into it at all. he wants to make sure he marries the perfect person, and also is the perfect person for them. he wants to be a mature, dependable, reliable, responsible and financially stable man for his future spouse, and believes he still has a long way to go. he wants to be the leader and the provider of the family.

sunoo

so sunoo, seems a little unsure. he likes the thought of marriage, he enjoys the idea of it, but something about it makes him insecure. i think he fears the burden that'd come with having a spouse, someone he'd be tied to in such a drastic manner. sunoo is more interested in having fun, light and enjoyable relationships rather than heavy and weighty commitments. i wouldn't be surprised if he's like “i'm just not the type for that” however, he seems so spontaneous and very young still, i can see his thoughts on it changing all the time, based on how he sees it. a few months later he could be like “oh actually the thought of having a fiancé/e would be kinda nice right now, i like that 🤭” he's just unpredictable lmao.

jungwon

jungwon is so different when it comes to romantic relationships, and i think he's aware of that. he's much more fast-paced, impulsive and fiery in love, and he feels like that can be his downfall sometimes. he thinks he might turn people off by how straightforward and brash he can be at times. there's this fear i can feel in him, like “what if i mess the marriage up?” he feels bad, because he knows he can have high standards and be much to deal with. i can see him nagging a lot, being kinda negative and having this self possessed attitude in love, he fears they wouldn't be happy with him. he believes he'd need to work on himself and calm down, if he wants to make a commitment such as marriage.

niki

niki has thought about it before, i can see him imagining it, but it's a very far away thought. he's obviously incredibly young so this isn't surprising, i can tell he sees himself only getting married when he's way more mature and grown up. like in his 40's. he thinks it's a very "traditional" decision, a way of life that's expected from people, and he thinks it'll take a good while for him to come to terms with settling down. he still has a lot of things he wants to explore by himself, he's very individualistic. so the idea of tying yourself to a person and sharing everything with them, them being dependent on him to an extent, can make him uncomfortable. he doesn't think his personality suits the life of a husband. but again, this is open to change as it'd surprise me to see him consider marriage at age eighteen.

[ddarker-dreams]

What about yan Scaramouche saying I love you to his darling?👀

WHEW............ Many thoughts about this....................

for any connection to be genuine, there must be a degree of vulnerability between those involved. this revelation would torment scaramouche endlessly. to be vulnerable is to put oneself at risk of rejection. the power he holds over you wouldn't just equalize, no, it'd lean in your favor. ideally, this would serve as a rope that'd bind you together, but he likens it to willingly walking up the scaffold and placing his neck into a noose. you could choose to execute him at any time.

this internal conflict of interests bewilders the achingly lonely puppet. scaramouche wants so desperately to be close to you while also finding the concept terrifying. those initial relationships he formed in his erstwhile days... while he'd never admit it now, he did cherish them. losing those budding friendships hurt more than any otherworldly torment the abyss might subject him to. he considers this, then he considers you. could he even begin to quantify the pain he'd experience if you rejected him? his first love, who he secretly exalts above the divine? he might be able to delude himself at times, but not when it comes to this, he knows for a fact it'd splinter him, possibly beyond repair.

annihilation wrought from your hands would be more welcome than if it came from anyone else, he'd muse at his lowest moments. you can't forget what you've destroyed. it'd lodge him in your psyche too deep to ever pull out.

scaramouche honestly isn't sure what love is. an all-consuming obsession is the closest answer he's arrived at. it's a definition unique to him and he takes pride in the fact. he has to twist it, contort it into an unsightly form before he's willing to acknowledge its existence. only then would he even entertain the idea of saying he loves you.

when he does say those three words, fate itself weeps for you, knowing what future awaits. freedom is not guaranteed when his pulse ceases, for he doesn't have one. paradoxically, you'll find more freedom by sinking further into him than trying to run away. choose wisely.

[legend-as-old-as-time]

Inspired by @muaka-safari's analysis of Vakama's relation to anger.

My hypothesis: Nokama, while stressed too about fulfilling her duty, has a different core issue in relation to it. Rather than the aspect of fulfilling a command by her leader, she constantly thinks of her behavior. For her, her conduct is part of her duty.

She has to act a certain way. She has to be in a certain way, or she is failing.

Which makes sense. She is a teacher, after all. She has to be a role model for her students. But what if it went deeper than that?

Nokama puts a lot of stock in order, reflecting her Metru and the vahki assigned to this metru: The bordakh. These vahki carry staffs of loyalty that instill uncompromising desire for social order.

Official material depicting in-universe information describes Ga-Metru in a very flattering light. It's the city's spiritual center and said to be favored by Mata Nui himself.

None of the Ga-Metru hold any jobs in terms of repair, manifacturing, or engineering. Matoran from other Metru do these jobs for them. Ga-Metru is privileged.

But like with everything in Metru Nui, this is only one side. The side most would think about first, whether as good or bad. The other one of this reputation means that all ga-matoran must be peaceful, right? They are orderly, spiritual, wise, etc. Otherwise Mata Nui wouldn't love their Metru as much.

Ooof. Of course, some would feel arrogant about that. But mostly, that'd be a lot of pressure. If you're the favorite of the city's most important person - your God - then you have to show it that you're showing reasons why you're the favorite? And keep it up all the time?

I doubt all ga-matoran took it that deeply to heart, but some of them likely did. They have to act responsibly. Among them is Nokama.

Remember what I said farther up in the post that she thinks she has to act in and be a certain way? We see it regularly.

Nokama in the movie and in the movie's novelization [[gave the Po-Matoran a sharp look. “Your negativity pollutes this sanctuary, builder.”]]

She snaps at Matau and tells him they have to take their duties as toa seriously.

She scolds herself after she argues with Vakama in the Archives. Never mind that it's a genuinely stressful situation and the others barely ever consider that they themselves need to make an effort to argue less. In my reading it felt like she deemed it more a moral failing of hers rather than a practical concern?

She tries to mentor Vakama and steer him into the direction of being leader. We're never given a concrete in-universe reason. (Out-of-universe, the writers clearly pushed the fire toa into the leader role.) But maybe Nokama saw it as her duty and responsibility to keep teaching in the one way she could, if she wouldn't teach matoran anymore? (Not to mention that's the only connection to her old life that she still has.)

She asserts that she's a toa in the comics when Nidhiki mocks her, Matau, and Vakama to be overgrown matoran.

Feeling rejected by the Great Temple when she enters it as Toa Hordika deals a heavy blow to her. She feels impure, as if she's longer fit as she is to serve the Great Spirit in his regard.

She has a rage breakdown, yelling that "She's still a toa!"

On the other end, Nokama notably has moments as Toa Hordika, while she's trying to calm down and find stability with Gaaki's help, where she doesn't seem to care about her previous high standards anymore. She feels tempted to give into her hordika side and is much more reckless, less thinking about how she acts as a toa.

She also makes an effective and chaotic team with Matau. As @crystaltoa pointed it out, they both are now "hold my beer" types, while they act about each other as "I can't take you anywhere with me!"

As if the transformation into a hordika beast, which looks nothing like a toa's supposed to, has freed Nokama from a great weight.

(@crystaltoa She might still think back on the Great Temple, however, and wonder if the stain on her from being transformed into a Toa Hordika remains.)

[mintymemesandrpshop]

rp preferences meme!

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[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch3 Spectacles And Scales P2

(Warnings for mistreatment of the mers by the sideshow owner and some of the other people, Buying and selling of mers, mentions of mermen sinking ships and hurting people, the mers are in bad shape, etc.

To which Y/n makes a decision that will change her life forever.)

The sun beamed brightly on the world. Bright, big, beautiful, warm, and good enough to chase away the darkness away. Leaving behind a world filled with wonder to be explored and sights to see. The rainbow kaleidescope of colors kissing the light good morning bloomed widely. The rainbow of soft petals were only highlighted by dew drops sparkling bright like a gift from heaven. A sight drawing over many buyers. To hold their beauty. Smell their heavenly fragrance. Present them as gorgeous gifts for loved ones or use to decorate for symbolic occasions. 

Fingertips gently slid under the delicate pink of a primrose, tilting  it's gorgeous head up to a beautiful smiling face before gentle water rained down onto its delicate body but not hard enough to harm its delicate frame. 

"You grew up so pretty. You'll be even prettier once you get to your new home later today, all planted in the soft dirt and being taken cared of by nice people. Such pretty colors too. I envy your simple life."

"You always compliment those buds like real children." F/c eyes looked up and over at kind black ones crinkled up in a smile. 

Her boss was standing up and above a table with a secondary teapot in her hands, water flowed freely from the spout and ran into a number of giant pots filled with soft dirt and blooming rose bushes. Blooming with life and ready to be hauled away to their forever home. A place to belong and live out the rest of their lives in peace and quiet. The elderly woman smiled at them fondly as if they were her own children and treated them with as much care and kindness as a mother should. She admired her for that. Her wise demeanor was just a shell hiding her much kinder demeanor. An old hand reached out to nudge between the small branches to pull off a dead leaf free from the overall plant before just letting it fall into the pot to naturally become fertilizer. 

"Well they say plants like it when you talk to them. I don't know if that's true but it wouldn't hurt, and I don't think they really mind." 

Your smile turned back to the tiny bud that hasn't bloomed yet. Today was the day. After two weeks of caring for the rose bushes, they were going to be delivered to their final forever home. This evening your boss's son would be stopping by to take these potted plants back towards their home on the very far end of town. The horse and cart was already provided for being left outside all ready to go. All the owner needed was for her son to get here, load the six heavy pots into the cart, and then take them to the Henya residence which was on the very edge of town. But you did have a problem with that you hadn't asked yet-

Your boss chuckled. "I suppose so. You'd be surprised by the facts in those rumors."

"Isn't the Henya family gonna be gone for the next month? I thought they were attending a funeral."

The older woman nodded still smiling. "Yes. But Mrs. Henya is staying behind to care for their business in her husband's absence."

That was the second biggest news you've ever heard around here in the past three weeks other than that one day Akira came prancing about through town throwing around fliers advertising the 'grand opening' which now had to be put on hold due to some personal family drama. Being a small town the gossip spread quickly and, according to the rumors, Akira's great grandfather and patriarch of the Henya family passed away a few days ago. So Akira, his parents, and Uncle would all be leaving to travel a few towns over for the funeral and to take care of the family's assets. That'd take a while considering so you were unsure if anyone would be even there to accept the order, but apparently not. 

"Will she even be there when he delivers it?"

"Last I heard she's seeing them off as far as the beach but she'll be there when the delivery's made." She smiled assuringly. "So don't worry."

Well you were unsure about that, but this wasn't your business and you didn't run it. You were only paid to help care for the flowers, not give your opinion on how to run your boss's business. And right now you were just paid to water these beauties before they had to leave the shop. 

So it was your morning was just bliss. Quiet, serene, and happy as you hummed away doing your normal rounds. Uninterrupted other than the occasional humming and comment between the both of you. Another normal day in anyone's opinion. 

"Y/n." You had stopped hours later in the middle of moving one of the pots towards the door in order to make it's journey to the wagon outside easier and shorter for Mrs. Satoshi's son. However your boss had other ideas when she held up a tray of fruit and small tea set. "Come take a break and have lunch with me. You must be tired from lugging around those heavy pots so much."

You were glad for the break after setting the third to last heavy pot near the door and gladly taking the break to eat and take a breather before having to move the last two pots. Thank goodness that the bushes were still relatively small, had they been fully grown then they'd weigh a LOT more. But for now the tired mouth would enjoy her feast of apples and green tea with honey. A nice snack for her efforts. The sweet fruit tasted delicious to your tongue and the tea was just as sweet but a little bitter. Mrs. Satoshi only smiled at you as you ate. 

"It's always good to build up a healthy appetite after a hard day's work. Keeps the body strong," she spoke while pouring a second cup of tea for herself. You hummed in agreement. "Oh. Did you hear what happened to a ship in the Seabound River?"

You blinked confused before swallowing the food in your mouth. "Seabound River? Isn't that the giant river that connects to the ocean a few miles away from here?" You didn't know about that rive but you knew that the small river near your woods connected to the bigger river that lead to the bigger one that connected to the ocean.

She nodded again. "There's been a few ships that's been getting attacked and sunk by a siren."

You paused mid bite staring. "Sirens?"

"Or mermaids. I honestly can't tell the difference." She shrugged holding the warm cup to her face. "I just know there's been reports of two of them running..or I should say swimming ramped along the beach and near the entrance of the Seabound River. Attacks any ship leaving or trying to enter port."

You stared stunned at her blinking. "Really? Why would they do that?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Usually they wouldn't be near humans at all let alone sinking ships. Who knows what strange things those creatures get up to?"

Huh. That WAS strange. Granted you didn't know that much about sirens and mermaids, but it was strange two of them would suddenly start sinking ships. Maybe they were trying to claim new territory for themselves? Maybe the fishermen made them angry? Well it didn't really affect you, so you didn't worry about it too much and you weren't going to be going near any big bodies of water anytime soon so you shouldn't be worried about it. You just needed to concentrate yourself with taking care of your own needs and wants. 

A few more hours passed by leisurely. You finished moving the pots by the door, helped trim away some other plants, and had just finished selling a handful of carnations to a customer who had just walked in last minute as evening approached.

"Thanks for coming! Have a nice day!," you called out to the retreating customer waving, "Come back soon!"

Your boss quietly came out from the back with a small bag of fertilizer. The smell hit you before you saw her crinkling your nose up from the foul smell. "Was that Niko just now?" Her son? You shook your head snorting the smell away. A slightly worried look passed over her face before looking towards the open door. "It's gotten very late in the day. I wonder where he could be?"

"I'm sure he'll be here before the day's over. He's probably just running late tending to someone."

She hummed. "I suppose so. He does run his own farm..Oh I do hope nothing bad happened."

"He's probably just busy tending to his crops and lost track of time. There's nothing to worry about, Mrs. Satoshi."

"I .. suppose you're right. But it's getting late, and I need to start getting home to my husband before dark. You know how he hates the thought of me staying out after dark especially with the recent disappearance of those poor Kocho girls. I also can't just stay all day waiting for Niko."

Ah. That's right. People were still on edge about that happening. You honestly felt bad for the old woman and her husband. They were some of the kindest people in your town. "I'm sure he'll be here before it gets dark. He knows how important this is to you."

"Important is an understatement. I have a lot of money invested into this delivery. I'd hate to lose business with so much involved." She gently plopped the bag over by some empty pots so be used in them later you supposed.

You hummed. "...Why don't I close for you?" She turned to you surprised. "You shouldn't worry your husband like that. I can stay until Niko arrives and close up for you."

"Oh no, Dear. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"It's not a problem. I'd be happy to help." 

"Well if you're sure you don't mind."

"I'm positive! You go on home before you worry someone. I'll be fine."

And that's how you found yourself sweeping the dirt out of the front door a few hours later and looking up at the sky. It looked like sunset had just started making the sky change different colors and people were already starting to head home to lock their doors until morning in fear of the monsters roaming around the dark. However f/c eyes wondered from the sky to just in front of the small shop only to widen seeing a small brown and white horse tied to a post, where it had been staying almost all day hooked up to a cart and ready to be taken out. Except that the man that was supposed to be here loading up all of the pots into the cart and taking them away wasn't here. STILL.

Niko still hasn't arrived yet? But it'd be dark just in an hour or so. Where was he? You took a look back inside at all six pots still sitting there waiting to be taken away. By the time Niko got here, if he even bothered to show up,  it'd be too dark to do anything. The order would be late, and there would be money lost. You felt a pit form in your guts. This was a big order with lots of money. A lost order would mean lost money for your sweet boss but more importantly it'd also mean a lost bonus for you too! You could use the extra money for repairs to your family house. Or to save for your retirement. Or for the future family you eventually wanted. Or literally anything else. It'd be putting a lot in jeapordy if they weren't delivered as promised but yhrtr wasn't anyone else to...

You again looked between the pots and pony. 

..No. This was a bad idea. It was almost dark. Creatures lurked in the dark. You could be the next one to be snatched away never to be seen again! ...but then again this WAS a lot of money. And you'd be in town surrounded by people who could help if you were in danger. If you hurried maybe you'd even get home before the moon was fully out..Your mind heavily weighed the options as you already made for the pots and struggled to lift the first heavy one into your arms and half waddled from the weight out the door and over to the cart, struggling to lift it high enough to place it in the back. The pony briefly looked up at the jostling of the cart but quickly lost interest. One by one all six were placed in the back, and the shop closed. The only movements the pony made was walking where hands pulled it after the reigns were untied from the post. 

"Come on. We're gonna go on a little adventure. Ok? It's only going to be twenty minutes tops."

Your choice had been made. Convincing yourself that this would only be a quick visit. Ordinary and nothing would happen.

Oh how naive you were.

The wheels on the cart squeaked and rattled from the weight of the pots. The hooves of the horse clip clipped noisily echoing down the dark streets- Alright. They weren't that noisy or loud but with the quietness of the practically deserted streets devoid of human life. Every small noise felt like it was as loud as a thunder clap. Maybe it was just the paranoia and fear of the dark that got you thinking this way but you couldn't help it. The sun had completely set within a few minutes of you walking down the dirt roads, pulling the horse along slowly to avoid jostling the pots in the back in case you hit a pothole. Leaving you encased in darkness. Everyone had slowly made their way into the safety of the dark homes hidden away until the next morning. Like you should be doing, and you were starting to regret your choice but it was too late now. 

The shadows danced as moonlight shown down along the dark homes you passed. Dancing with the stars and laughing in glee with the darkness on the ground as the moon and stars above shined down watching their sinister dances as an audience would a beautiful ballet. It was very pretty in a way but your mind only focused on high alert with the possible dangers within the shadows. Every alleyway felt like a hiding place for a monster. Every shadow a trap. And the light not much of a beacon of hope. A shudder ran down your spine with your only companion being a horse that could care less about anything around it. Yeah. What a great way to spend your night. However luck seemed to be on your side. You knew exactly where you had to go. The very last house on the far right side of town. All you had to do was drop them off and then head home. Perfect. Now only if you could hurry up a bit faster. Home after home passed. All completely dark or have one last light on in the window that would soon be out. Looked more friendly in the daylight. The cart and it's cargo walked past silently like the lone figure in the town slowly but surely a small opening  at the end gave way and a house farther away from the rest of the others could be seen. 

You've never been here before but it must've been the right place. A lone house like the others in town was nestled about twenty feet away from the others. A few feet away from the home was a rather large barn and next to that was a large smokehouse. Ah right. Akira's family was made of mostly fishermen. So it made sense to have a smokehouse and a large barn for storage. The home was already very dark as you slowly approached making it look creepy and sent a shudder through your body. You Willed yourself to approach the empty home pulling the horse with you until you stopped just a few yards away from the door. Looking at the home, it was entirely pitch black on the inside and completely silent. Hesitantly you left the cart giving the horse a few pats on its neck.

Slow steps brought your form to the front door where you stared at it for a long moment before with a inhale you reached out to loudly but gently knock on the door. The knocks creepily echoed throughout the dark home but it was surely loud enough for anyone to hear. 

"Hello? Mrs. Henya!," you called out gently wincing at how much louder your voice was in the silence. "Special delivery!"

No one answered. Not surprising since Akira's family was supposed to be out of town for a funeral but wasn't his aunt still supposed to be home? You slowly found yourself drawn to a nearby window where you cupped your eyes to peek in. It might've been wrong but you wanted to see if anyone else was home. In the darkness you saw the typical living room. A giant rug, fireplace, a few paintings on the walls, and a table with a vase in the left corner but no living person. The place was empty, and dark without any lights or fire in the fireplace. Looked deserted. Either no one was home or Mrs. Henya was ignoring you or was a very deep sleeper. Well..Niko was going to just leave the plants here for her anyways right? You'd just leave them somewhere easy to find. But just in case- You went back to Knock just a little louder on the door.

"I'm just going to leave the pots outside! Ok?!"

You of course never got an answer from the most likely empty home, but you figured it was best to let it be known that the delivery was made just in case. F/c eyes scanned around the dark area squinting with the limited light. You supposed you could just leave them right here by the house but they'd be right in the walk way. ...You decided the best place to leave them was a few feet away from the door off to the side to avoid anyone tripping over them. All you had to do was to just place the pots on the ground and leave. Easy. The hard part would only be to take the pots out of said cart. With a sigh, you approached the cart again reaching inside and lifting out the first pot with some difficulty. The pot was heavy on your arms, making you curse Niko for not doing this himself and eventually somehow managing to pull it out, nearly dropping it, and half struggled to get it the few feet over to plop it down with the grass. 

One down. Five more to go.

With a sigh your hands rubbed your sore back before you repeated the process again a second time. In the struggle of removing the third from the back you first heard it. A loud sound that shook you to the core-

"AAAAHHH!!"

It made the horse jostle and move back hitting your chest hard enough with the cart to make you let go of the pot. A loud THUD sound echoed throughout the night from the heavy pot being dropped back into the wagon. The wailing sounds carried along the air dying out as quickly as it came. Leaving behind nothing but a spooked pony and a pair of f/c looking up at the sky.

....What. Was. THAT?!

SNORT!! The horse stepped a little moving the cart backwards until you grabbed it quickly. 

"D-Don't do that! I still have a job to do! B-B-Besides that's just the w-wind. O-Or a bobcat."

It was a failed attempt to assure yourself. Wind. It was just the wind and your paranoia. Third pot was taken out. Just three more. Another wail desperately clawed the wind. Just your imagination. Fourth pot out and placed out. Another wail- JUST THE WIND!! Fifth pot out . Silence. Oooook? Last pot- You struggled to get it out tired from the last five, but somehow managed to get it out and onto the ground with the others. Your body was exhausted. Her body collapsed to the ground back resting again the wheel of the cart panting and catching your breath. There. It was done. You didn't have to worry about anything except how sore you'd be tomorrow.

"S-See? N-Nothing happened," you spoke out to no one in particular.

Of course no one answered back and certainly not the horse. The animal did nothing as the woman pulled herself from the ground like a fly in a glue trap. Rubbing her sore body all over with one hand while reaching out the other to pat it's neck before taking it's reigns. Time to go home and get some rest. You coaxed the pony forward again slowly walking on sore feet back towards the town and passing by the large barn on the way-

"AAAAAAHHHHHH HAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!"

The horse reared up nearly pulling you forward with it, but luckily your dead weight and sudden tight grip on the reigns kept it from running off. You froze solid. Body freezing up like solid ice as a loud wail echoed throughout the air and this time-

And it didn't stop.

Wailing echoed out in the air and was followed by sounds of louder more sorrowful screams. You stared silently not really processing the noise filtering through for a long while. Until slowly, slowly. Your head slowly turned up to the big barn. It's shadow falling over you. That sounded like...

Crying???

Sobs. Loud and heavy. Echoed out from inside the barn. You stood there dumbfounded and numbly processing the realization until another one hit you. That..

That sounded like a woman.

The thought stunned you. Why would there be a woman crying in the Henya's barn? Was someone hurt? Did they need help? Should you go get help? A bad feeling settled in your guts. Something WAS wrong here. And you didn't like it. You should leave it alone. It wasn't your business. This wasn't your problem. You shouldn't involve yourself..But what if someone WAS hurt? They could be in danger. They could die. What if by the time you got help it was too late? 

You should leave

Hands found themselves of the door handles leading into the barn. "H-Hello? Mrs. Henya!?" No one answered. You gently pulled the door only to be surprised when you met resistance. "... It's Locked?" You rattled the door harder and then noticed the giant lock and thick chains wrapped around the handles from their rattling noise.

Why was the barn locked with chains thick enough to hold a grown bull?

You let go of the door and briefly pressed your head to the door. The crying was still present. Was someone locked up in there? That thought startled you. Why would someone be locked up inside the barn? This was only more confusing than scary now. But if someone still needed help then you should at least make sure they were ok. Right? F/c eyes spotted a window just on the other side of the door. Wouldn't hurt to just look would it? Slowly you approached the glass bracing yourself for the worst in case you'd see something awful. You poked your head into the window seeing your reflection in the moonlight, before cupping your face against the glass and straining to look in. There was something that got your brows raising but it wasn't someone hurt or dying on the ground. The dark barn was full of typical things. Hay piked against the far right wall. A couple farming tools lining another wall. A few buckets and other random objects randomly tossed across the floor. Nothing really out of the ordinary for a barn.

Except for the giant curtain dangling from the rafters effectively blocking the back of the barn from sight.

...Why was that there? That didn't make any sense. The 'curtains' looked like a bad mesh of dirty old tarps and fish nets clumped together nailed from the rafters halfhazardly. Now that wasn't typical for a barn. What was it blocking?....F/c eyes traveled down to the edge of the window. It was one of those giant sideways sliding ones. It was big enough for you to climb through if it opened. ...This was a bad idea. You shouldn't do this. But-

Hands slowly grabbed the window and tugged, and to your surprise it slid open without resistance. It opened a little.. Before you slowly slid it all the way open wide enough for you to lift your leg up and push it quietly through the frame before grabbing the side and quietly pulling the rest of the way in. You quietly swung your other leg in to sit on the windowsill before sliding off. Your feet landed on the dirt floor with a soft thud. Not that anyone seemed to notice.

The crying continued.

It was still present. And now that you were in the barn, you could hear it much, much more clearly. Sobbing. Hard sobbing and crying coming from the back of the barn. That... wasn't the wind. Or a bobcat. It sounded like a young woman. Slowly your feet softly approached the curtain.

"I-I..*GGGAAAASSSPPP* I w-want to go h-hooooooome!!! AAAAHHH!!"

You jumped startled at the sudden voice. Now THAT really sounded like a young woman. You almost jumped again as a second voice groaned out admist the crying and ugly sobs.

"Will. You. Give it a dam rest already?!," a second voice shouted out. This one sounded like another woman but it sounded different from the other still sobbing woman. "That's all you've been doing for days on end!! You don't think the rest of us want to get out of this hellhole?!"

"H-Hey. Calm down. Ok?" Another new voice??? This one sounded different than the first two. So..three women?! You blinked confused before slowly approaching. "Fighting... isn't going to make a-any of this better."

"It's easy for you to say!! Maybe you can stand being stuck for days on end on a tiny space with her crying your ears off but I've had it!!! I can't stand it anymore than I can stand this stupid, stupid dam tub!!"

"AAAHH- S-STOP IT!! Y-Y-YOU'RE BEING MEEEAAANNN!!"

"IM BEING MEAN!? OH I'LL SHOW YOU MEAN!!"

Your hands gently grabbed the makeshift curtains and pulled back-

"Makio, stop-!!"

S P L A S H!!!

You weren't sure what happened. One moment you were pushing yourself in- And then a squeal left your throat as at least three barrels worth of water came raining down on you. The weight of the water as well as your surprise made you fall to the ground face first. A cross between a SPLAT sound, a THUD sound, and a massive pile of water being spilt sounded out through the barn as you felt to the ground...And silence resumed.

COUGH COUGH?!?!

You pushed yourself off of the floor coughing and spitting out the vile taste of dirty water from your mouth as you spit and sputtered. Soaked. In just one second your body was ninety none percent soaked through your dress as if you had jumped into a lake. Coughing and spitting out water your hands reached out to push away the long hair over your face. Narrowed eyes glaring at whoever was responsible for this..Only to once again pause. You did see someone. You.

No. A reflection of you.

A reflection of your soggy poor self was barely illuminated in the dark by the limited moonlight in the dark. It was..A block of dirty glass?? Upon further inspection you saw it wasn't dirt ON the glass but dirty water BEHIND the glass. It was a large...Box of dirty water? You blinked staring at it longer before hearing a sniffle sound and snapping your head up.

Three pairs of eyes stared back down at you.

There. Was. Three. Women. Staring at you from the inside of the...glass box full of dirty water?? You could only stare in shock. The faces also stared back at you in shock. Wha-..That.. Wasn't Mrs. Henya. The three faces staring at you were all strikingly beautiful young women around your age. The first one had dark blue eyes and long black hair that went past her shoulders, and judging by redness on her face you guessed she was the one crying. The second one was a bit stranger. She also had black hair but shorter pulled back into a ponytail. But what made her look so strange was the long orange-yellow bangs framing her face and orangish eyes. The third one like the first two also had black hair she wore tied back in a longer ponytail. Only her eyes her a pretty pink color. They stared down at you. You stared up at them. Silence other than the blue eyed ones sniffles filled the space.

....You. Blinked. "...Who are you?!"

"Us?," the orange eyed one scowled now pointing a wet hand out of the strange box accusingly at you. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I asked you first!"

"Well we're not answering until you answer first!"

"I'm a florist!"

The three women blinked at you before staring at one another. "What's a florist?"

"I sell flowers!" You slowly stood up now shaking your hands out annoyed before pushing your hair back. They looked back to you. "How do you not know what a florist is? And what's the big idea soaking me?!"

This was the thanks you get for trying to be a good person?! Last time you ever got nosey. You should've stuck to your first thought and minded your own business!

"Flowers??..Why would a flower seller be here?! Are you lying?! I know she's lying-"

"I was delivering rose bushes!", you shouted at the other scowling woman now annoyed. 

"In the middle of the night? A likely story!"

"I had to make a late delivery because the man who was supposed to deliver them never showed up! And who are you to judge!?"

"Who delivers flowers in the middle of the night?!"

"It literally JUST turned dark! And I'm not the weird one here!" You gestured to the giant..Tank?? Thing?? "I'm not the people deciding to bathe in disgusting water inside a barn! Who the hell does THAT!? That's not normal!"

It was then Ms. Orange Eyes lost her scowl and again all three looked surprised at you. "Wait..so you-" ..Her hand raised looking you up and down. "You're not- ..I mean you're-..You aren't involved in this?"

"Why would I be involved with people who decide to skinnydip in disgusting water?!" You angrily grabbed your dress and wrung it out making water droplets spray to the dirty ground as they again looked at one another.

"Then..what are you doing here?"

"I told you! I'm making a delivery! I heard someone crying and apparently me being a good person means I'm going to be soaked to the bone!" You again scowled at them. "So thanks for that! I was feeling a little dehydrated actually!" You sarcastic spat. Maybe it was a bit mean but you were the one attacked by water here!

Ms. Blue Eyes And Sniffles looked at Ms. Orange Eyes and both looked unsure of what to do. However the third one- "I apologize for that on all of our behalves." She spoke gaining your attention. "We didn't know we'd be having a visitor."

"...Hmph. Clearly. Well since I know no one's dying, I'm gonna leave now and leave you three to.. Whatever it is you're doing."

"WAIT!!" You jumped at the loud wail. Water sloshing off the side of the tank thing. You hadn't even taken half a step away before Ms. Blue Eyes yelled. "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE!!"

"Uh..YES. I can actually. I shouldn't even be in here." You paused. ..You didn't know these three. But they weren't from your town. You knew that. "You three shouldn't be here either. If I were you, I'd leave before the Henyas come back."

"That.. would be preferable," Ms. Pink Eyes spoke but shook her head sadly, "Unfortunately that's not an option for us."

You stared at her, then at the other two, then at the tank thing. "...Do you need clothing? I'm sure I can find some towels or something around here."

"No. Not that. We're not able to get out of this tank."

So it was a tank? Again why would they stay in something so filthy? "What do you mean you can't get out? The tanks just a few feet taller than me. It's not that big a fall, even if you sleep and fall it would hardly be fatal...What are you doing in there anyways? It looks like the water hasn't been changed in weeks! It's GROSS!" You stressed with a grimace of disgust.

Ms. Pink Eyes looked a bit hesitant- "Whelp. That settles it then." The one with orange bangs slumped against the side holding her head in a hand. "She literally has no idea about us. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"A GOOD THING OBVIOUSLY!!," Ms. Blue Eyes shrieked. "THAT MEANS SHE'S NOT WITH THOSE OTHER BAD GUYS!!"

You looked at her. "Bad guys?? What are you talking about now?"

"WE-" 

A smack sound went off as the other covered the loud one's mouth. "Don't tell her you loudmouth!! We don't even know if we can even trust her! How do we know that she's not trucking us? Or even worse than they are?!"

"Do we really have a choice?" Both were stopped by Ms. Pink Eyes again and just stopped.. eventually she looked back to you. "We were brought here three.. maybe four weeks ago. Not by choice either. You can say we're being held prisoner."

"Say? We ARE being held prisoner!"

Prisoner?! They were being held hostage!? Good gods what did you even walk into?! "Hostage?!..Wait." You pointed a suspicious look at them. "If you were really being held hostage, how come you haven't tried escaping yet? The door's locked but the window isn't. You three could've just walked on out that way."

Again the three exchanged looks again. Before silent Ms. Pink Eyes grabbed hold of the edge of the tank and pushed herself up and lifting her body from the water. You saw she was wearing a pink top soaked from the water but you fell silent as something else was lifted up from the water as well. Something large, reddish pink in color, and covered in scales. If anyone saw it, they'd just assume it was part of a giant fish. 

However the top wasn't connected to any fish. IT WAS FREAKING CONNECTED TO THE WAIST OF THE WOMAN!!

You looked on in shock and awe at where pale soft skin transitioned into red scales before it disappeared sinking back into the murky water. Again silence resumed and you stared at the three of them in shock and sudden horror.

"Y-Y-You're not human.." You stepped back on instinct and in horror. "You're not human!!" You shouldn't be here! Danger! Creatures! Unsafe! Get away! "I- ..I c-cant stay here! I'm sorry but I need to leave!"

"WAIT!! COME BACK!!"

You panicked nearly slipping on the wet ground to get away. Tangled curtains and nets rushed and pushed away like arms trying to ensnare your body as you ran away from the inhuman creatures behind you. Footfalls echoing throughout the silent barn. Back towards the open window. Your escape route. Your sanctuary outside! You had just made it to the window throwing up a leg onto the windowsill and grabbing the frame-

T H U D-!!

What sounded like a giant sack of potatoes being dropped into the ground hard had echoed throughout the barn followed by the sounds of sloshing and splashing water! Making you jump and snap your head around back to the curta-

"SUMA!!" "YOU CLUMSY CRAB!! ARE YOU OK?!"

"AAAAAHH HAHAHAAAAAA!!!"

Loud sobs and crying filled the air once again as you just stood there... before proceeding to start climbing again-

"I-I-It's no- not FFFFAAAAIIIRRR!! I D-DONT WANT TO BE SO- SOLD TO A CARNIVAL!! W-WHY CAN'T WE JU-JUST G-GO HOOOOMMMEEE!?"  The ugly crying and wails started up once more. "I D-DONT WANT TO LOSE YOU G-GUUUUYYYS!!! WWAAAAHHH!!!"

You stopped... slowly looking back from your place sitting on the window.

"Suma, calm down. W-We're going to be alright-"

"WILL YOU STOP PRETENDING EVERYTHING'S OK!? For once she's right! Nothing about this is ok! We're going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives unless they decide to kill us for some mounted trophy on the wall! Face it! We're never going to get out of here! It's-.... It's hopeless. We're hopeless."

You looked outside. The pony and cart was still there waiting for you to take it home. Safe. Warm home. Where you never had to worry about trapped mermaids which was truly none of your business....F/c eyes slowly looked back to the cries...

"Dam foul fish smelling beasts!"

Old hands held up a lantern shaking with old age. One hand reached out with a rusted key to insert into the lock turning until it clicked. Noisily a lock thudded to the ground as chains rattled from their place to join it on the soft dirt. The lantern lit up the way as the old grizzled woman grabbed the doorknob before looking behind her with narrowed eyes into the darkness. No one was out this time of night. Good. Quietly. The door creaked open allowing the old woman to hobble quietly inside. 

"Alright you stupid fish smelling water bugs! I got your feeding!"

Silence answered her as she hobbled towards the back of the barn. The fish in her hands was dirty and old but she didn't care. They ate worse in the ocean.

"Silent huh? Hmph. It's about time you shut the hell up! The constant shrieking is driving me mad!"

The curtains were pulled back and the lantern shined upon the still tank. Filthy from weeks of neglect. With a toss, she threw the single fish into the top of the tank. It floated up onto the surface before sinking down into the murky water. A weak kick given to the glass.

"Wake up and eat it! Try not to cry about how hungry you are this time or else you'll go the rest of the week hungry!"

Nothing answered not that the grizzled old woman cared leaving. The old fish uselessly sinking to the bottom of the tank completely empty except for dirty water and a single old fish-

SPLASH!!

You stood still completely soaked and hand on a lever as you watched the giant pool like tub in the center of your family's bathhouse start to fill up from the opening allowing water to quickly rush into the tub until it was partially full. You stopped then and went back to slip out the back door. The night was still silent without anyone lurking around in the dark minus a horse and a cart connecting to it's back hidden in the shadows of your house. You carefully looked around, spotted no one, and then sighed. 

"Alright. Coast is clear."

... Slowly three heads popped up from the back of the cart. Thank goodness for the dark cloaking their bodies. The cart was too small to fully hide their tails. You couldn't believe this was happening! You literally kidnapped already kidnapped mermaids! They were dangerous! You were helping nonhuman creatures and....Sigh. It was only temporary. You'd be rid of them soon enough. But for now, you'd help them. Firstly by taking a bath. They were dirty and spelt of old moldy clothes. They seemed on edge looking around as you approached them.

"This isn't the beach," Orange commented annoyed.

You decided to nickname them by the colors of their eyes in your mind for now. "Because the beach is literally a months travel by foot, and two weeks travel by horse. I need time to think of what to do, and I'm certainly not going to be traveling soaking wet in the middle of the night." 

You held out your arms to Blue. She had thankfully stopped crying after Orange hissed at her that they'd be caught again if she didn't shut up. Orange's words not yours. She seemed to get the drill and reached out to wrap her arms around your shoulders as you quietly pulled her long body out of the cart and shifted her in your arms until you were able to carry her still sniffling form into the back door and gently heaved her into the giant tub. This repeated a second time with pink. And again with Orange, although Orange was a little more reluctant than her friends. It was harder dragging them through the window honestly. Your body was REALLY going to be sore in the morning and there was still evidence you had to get rid of. You would NOT allow anyone to know that you harboured these creatures. 

You eventually semi dropped Orange into the large tub with the other two. "There. It's not as deep as the tank but it is wider. That should give you three more room at least."

Blue was already happily pushing her head underwater and blowing bubbles in the completely clean water as Pink smiled at you. "Thank you. You don't know how much we appreciate it."

"Well...If I was in your situation, I'd want some help too. But I'm going to need you three to do something." Pink and Orange blinked as you walked away to a nearby shelf, and proceeded to grab a few bottles and a scrub brush. Returning to the three mermaids and just plopping them on the side of the pool. "Here. It's soap. No offense but you three reek of mold and old dirt. Wash yourselves and I'll replace the water again when you're done." They were in pretty bad shape from the dirty water, especially their hair. You paused looking at them again. "...Also give me your clothes. They're completely filthy. I can let you borrow some of my dresses until I get them clean. You..do know what soap is right?"

"We can handle it from here," Pink confirmed already grabbing a bottle of shampoo and handing it to Orange who curiously opened it up to smell the sweet flower scent. "I'll call you when we're finished but don't you want to dry off?"

"I have a small bathroom in the guestroom. I'll use that and give you three some privacy. Just..let me know when you're finished. And try not to be loud and wake up anyone. I have to go take care of a few things."

Orange looked up at you. "What things?"

"I have to dry the wagon and then go tie the horse back on its post. Otherwise people will know I used it and get suspicious, and I don't feel like having an angry mob after me on top of getting soaked and sore."

[tezuze]

A hero Hiro and his party

My cringe rambles below the cut- because I can never be short winded!

Hi welcome to the cringe rambles

Okay okay, stupid things I headcannoned:

Hiro

Class: Paladin

Weapon: Gamma sword

Stats: Balanced

Magic: Fire, wind, electric, light, dark (mid level spells)

I want some cool way to incorporate the whole Gammamon thing. Was thinking his sword at least would be cursed and be something only he can control. Maybe the sword can have different modes like the Monado to represent the other evolutions? There's some clever way to incorporate the Gamma gimmick, I just can't fully think of it....

Ruli

Class: Theif/Assassin if that's not too dark

Weapon: Dual daggers

Stats: High attack and speed, low sp. attack and HP

Magic: Wind (low level spells)

The mysterious masked Lirurun!

I know typically the theif class has terrible defense but while I was making these designs I kept going between if she should be a berserker tank like Lamortmon or be a speed type attacker like SymbareAngoramon and Diarbbitmon. Ultimately, I think it'd be cool if she was kind of a blend between the two classes

Kiyoshiro

Class: Cleric

Weapon: Staff (not pictured)

Stats: High sp. attack and HP, low attack and defense

Magic: Healing, electric (high level spells)

Church of Thetis' youngest priest!

Yes this is a fantasy setting, but his wrapped hand still has to hold no significance

His silly little integer overflow/limit break is perfect for an rpg gimmick, but I wouldn't want him to have a special gauge or anything if the others don't. Maybe he can have high healing/low spells initially and then flip to low healing/high spells if his HP is half or less to represent that? Oh that'd be so annoying.... (Also Ruli needs a gimmick)

Digimon-wise, I initially liked the idea of the partners also joining the party for a full team of 6 but I think they'd be too similar to the humans, plus I borrowed too much of the digimon's design for the overall aesthetic of the party not to look boring with digimon included.

My friend came up with the idea that the Digimon could be like spirits, that only certain humans have the ability to perceive, kinda like....

Ghosts.

Ha.

Anyway, if I go with that idea, the digimon could either bless their human with power or they could just be silly little guys that accompany the party.

Wouldn't it be funny if the digimon were the ones that sit back while the humans fight? Okay moving on...

I think Airdramon would be the first form of travel, then Ginryumon to get to other locations. (Then, maybe possibly HoverEspimon for the final form of travel, if I must incorporate them)

Also, clearly Blacktailmon Uver. Acts as a traveling merchant for items and such

And there's gotta be sidequests to add more members of the digimon gang (which means Labramon sidequest!!)

OKAY I'LL ACTUALLY SHUT UP NOW

I'm sorry to put you through that ^^" would love to hear if others have any neat ideas of incorporating stuff from the show into an rpg setting, I am  s u c h a sucker for that kinda thing

[anthonyzoxide]

Rating and Reviewing the Mean Gills team name options

(This is unfinished but it’s been in my drafts for 3 months so I’m just going to impulse-post it now)

-Mean Gills: The best name, naturally, being the one that they went with and all. So much potential for reference humour, rolls off the tongue... If you wanted to analyze it story-wise 'gills' could foreshadow the ocean mutations that both of the gills (Another plus: 'Mean Gills' allowing me to use 'gills' as a replacement for 'girls') start to get throughout the series. And the 'Mean' part could foreshadow all those times they murder people in cold blood on purpose? It does bother me how little they actually reference Mean Girls across Limited Life, if at all, with how much potential there was- But that's a complaint unrelated from the name itself, so I won't count it as effecting the rating. 10/10

-Coral Kids: Sounds cute, and I like (or rather prefer) how it was worked into their area being called the Coral Isles. Though in the lore monologues, this would probably be even harder to take seriously when referenced than 'Mean Gills'. 7/10

-H2-Bros: When pronouncing this name out loud, it either has an awkward pause or is automatically said too quickly to process the joke- And, additionally, in retrospect I quite understand how one of the deciding factors between this and Mean Gills was not perpetuating the same masculine energy of the Bad Boys. Not a fan, but wouldn't have been particularly upset if they went with this. 4/10

-Santa's Little Kelpers: For how summer-coded Limited Life comes across as, this totally feels like the wrong kind of seasonal. In particular, the Mean Gills always felt tropical to me- Would've been a ton of tonal whiplash if they were named this. Also brings to mind a certain song, which I'm not convinced is a positive. Also, introducing Santa's Little Kelpers to the Life Series means adding Santa to the Life Series, and I don't want to know where the pipeline of lore additions would go from there. 2/10

-Sons of Beaches: I feel as though this is either a reference to a band that I haven't heard of, or there for the soundalike to a certain curse word. Assuming that it's the latter, I don't believe that joke would've had much staying power- It's catchy, however. 3/10

-Big Buoys: Had to look up what a buoy was after mispelling it in 3 different ways when making the list of Mean Gills names. I now hold a vendetta against this name. Also sounds quite a lot like the Bad Boys, and I'm not sure I could've taken whatever kind of feud would arise there if the two groups were name-destined rivals. 1/10

-LGB-sea: Not a bad name, but I've got quite extensive nitpicks. The use of an acronym makes you think of BEST and TIES, but neither gill has a name that starts with L, G, or B, so it feels peculiar if you don't recognize the pun at first (Which I did not). Even if you dissasociate it from the prior context of those other acronym team names, it feels as though it would be a trio name so that there can be a person for each letter (and then tying them all together with the shared theme of 'sea'), and out of the Life Series players there aren't any lesbians to be the L, so that'd be tricky to work around. Also, I feel like it should be 'LGB-sea Community' instead of just LGB-sea, but I'm assuming this would be thought of quickly if it was what they went with, so I won't count it as a complaint. With all of that nitpicking out of the way, I do think the pun is quite funny. I dunno. A rather mixed 5/10

-The Shell-dons(?): I'm not even sure I heard this one right despite rewinding it many times. 1/10

-Beauty and the Beach: This name implies that only one of the Mean Gills is 'the beauty', and I do not believe in pitting two beautiful gills against each other in such a manner. I am also definitely not the target audience for Disney references- Though this would have potential as the name of someone's royal AU Mean Gills fanfiction. That'd be pretty cool. Though the writer must specify which one of them is the beauty, to the other's dismay. And where the beach is in relations to their castle or whatever. 2/10

-Damp Dudes: No. No. This is very unpleasant. Reading it feels like stepping in a large puddle and getting water into your sock. I don't wish to dwell on this one. 0/10. Maybe even -1/10 on a bad day.

-Puddle Pals: This, however, is quite cute! The Puddle Pals sound like a group of silly whimsical fellas from a cartoon, and the Mean Gills would work quite well as that kind of dynamic if they were in a series where they did not have to withstand The Horrors (as is the way of the Life Series). While the 'D' illiteration in Damp Dudes made it sound more uncomfortable, the 'P' illiteration makes Puddle Pals sound catchy and rhythmic. I approve. 7/10

-Mean Shells: ...I'm glad, at least, that this got reworked into the final name of Mean Gills. It sounds awkward, and the reference isn't apparent upon reading it.

-Sal-men: I forgot to review the Sal men🙁 Post over. Go home

[rocksibblingsau]

For av au what the dynamic with branch and synth, demo, hickory, dante and holly? if things were to do romantic route how would that go? poly or not?

Synth: Besties immediately when an amnesiac. Synth is his most outgoing and extroverted friend, and even when Amnesiac Branch has trouble keeping up with his energy. Post-memories returning, Synth meets Branch where he is energy wise. If Branch can't keep up, Synth will try to lower his energy and outgoingness to more closely match his. Synth advocates for Branch's comfort always.

Demo: The two bond over loving ALL music. Demo explains the technical things about the different genres and Branch sings it all for Demo, since Demo isn't as good as singing Pop or Techno as he is at recognizing the motifs and signatures of Pop or Techno. Post-memories returning, Demo is part of why Branch is so open to music. Demo explains what there is to love about music and Branch tries to hear it.

Hickory: Before he lost his memory the two were enemies, but once Branch loses his memories he has to start babysitting Branch to keep him from wandering into mortal peril, as Branch has forgotten all his survival knowledge. Branch thinks he's this very nice stranger who keeps helping him.

Dante: He admires Branch's spirit and love of music, taking inspiration from him. Branch likes listening to Dante ramble about things, from plays to his brother (and BOY Branch wishes he had a brother like Forte! That'd be so cool and they'd do everything together-). Post-memories returning Dante is one of the people who encourages Branch to share his feelings and actually FEEL them rather than just push them aside.

Holly: One of his other extrovert friends, she is a bit of his protector. She will glare and guilt-trip anyone who dares upset him and that goes double after he gets his memories back. She's there to cheer him up and force him to take care of himself when he wants to sulk and mope.

I could see any of these going romantic. I wouldn't rule out polyamory. I don't like to cement any ship in my AUs because I'm a multishipper at heart and also I don't like taking away people's creativity by going 'no only this is canon'. There are ships that I think would happen, that'd I'd LIKE to happen and there are ships that I will imply happened but can be ignored for a ship free experience.

[owlrageousjones]

Is Blanche Devereaux a Landlord?

Random thought of the day: Is Blanche Devereaux of the Golden Girls a Landlord? And if she is, does she deserve the guillotine?

Obviously, in the strictest sense, she is a landlord. She owns accomodation, and she derives income from renting that accomodation out. That's a landlord.

But in saying that, Blanche lives in that same house - she rents it out to the other women because she has space and she's a widow with no dependents anymore. She had a large house to raise children and live with her husband, but her children have moved out and her husband's moved on (to the afterlife).

The absolutely moral thing to do would be to either let her roommates stay with her for free (because housing is a human right) OR to downsize.

And it's easy to say that's what she should do, but the absolutely moral thing for most of us to do is to sell most of our belongings and give the proceeds to charity but that's the kind of behaviour you'd expect from a saint, not some random person. I think we generally agree that there's a gradient between the extreme ends here.

And although it's kind of a meme, landlords do provide a service - as someone who has owned their own home with a mortgage, owning a home can be annoying and stressful. Owning your own home makes you feel like you put down an anchor, and when you want to move, you end up asking yourself if it's worth raising that anchor. For some people, it's better to have the freedom and flexibility that renting can provide.

(Also technically you don't have the stress of wondering how you're going to pay for repairs because that's the landlord's responsibility, but you know, that also puts you at the mercy of the landlord.)

In some ways, I think there wouldn't necessarily be anything wrong with having landlords if those landlords weren't private investors whose desire is profit - if the government owned my house, and I just 'rented' it from them by paying taxes, and then I would be able to move at some point if I chose, that'd be a neat solution.

(But then it also raises all sorts of questions such as: should I, a single bachelor with no dependents, be allowed to have a house with more than one bedroom? Under the capitalist system, I could have as big a house as my pockets could afford, even if that is a terrible allocation of space and housing.)

Looping back to Blanche, neither Rose nor Dorothy seem like they might've been in a position to buy a house - Rose sold her previous home, so maybe she would have the funds, but she was also moving from a small town to Miami, so the houses would probably cost a lot more (but she could probably afford a condo or small apartment). There's also the fact that living in a shared accomodation with each other was almost definitely good for them, socially wise.

I know living on my own was kind of sad in some ways, even if it did mean I didn't have to wear clothes in the summer.

So is Blanche bourgeouise? I mean... probably, but if the Revolution came, would she be up against the wall?

[lavenderbexlatte]

day 17: oral fixation

stray kids 1.1k words female reader insert Reader x Kim Seungmin NSFW

🖤 warnings: kink discovery, a nice good-natured roasting during sexytimes, penetrative sex (f receiving), mild d/s dynamics🖤

kinktober masterlist

connect with me! / masterlist

This would undoubtedly be considered a happy accident.

He just wouldn't shut up.

Which, honestly, is par for the course for Seungmin. If there's a snide comment available for the situation at hand, he's gonna say it. That's just in his nature. But sometimes it gets under your skin. Not every action needs running commentary, you know?

An endearing quirk can turn annoying so quickly. Especially in bed, where you're both so vulnerable and things can be taken so personally.

This was one of those times, when every little thing you did was being met with a comment and a raised brow, a challenge. You were annoyed, and you really needed him to get in the zone for a second. So you pressed your hand over his mouth to physically keep him quiet.

That didn't work, though. So, even more annoyed, you shoved your fingers into his mouth.

It was spur of the moment. You might even call it an accident.

But you did it; you shoved two fingers into his mouth so that he couldn't spout any bullshit around them.

And now you're sitting here, your fingers still pressing against his tongue, your wrist cramping awkwardly from being held aloft. Seungmin is similarly frozen. staring at you in relative terror.

The unabashed moan that'd just come out of his mouth is still ringing in your ears.

It was sincere, from deep in the chest, far too real to be him fucking with you. He's embarrassed, too. You can tell from his wide, frantic eyes.

Slowly, so slowly, you pull your fingers back, not even minding the wet grossness. That doesn't matter now.

"Um..." Seungmin tries and fails.

"What was that?" you ask.

He's very sincere. "I...don't know."

"Because it seemed like..."

"Babe, please-"

"It seemed like you were about to nut hardcore just from my hand in-"

"Please," he begs, as if you're not going half as easy on him as he usually goes on you, roast-wise.

"What?" you ask. "If that's something you like, I wanna deliver."

You also aren't gonna give up this golden opportunity to mess with him, but that goes without saying.

"Who said that's something I like?" he challenges shakily.

Well, you're both bare-ass naked. You'd gotten pretty far into this encounter, clothes long forgotten and skin against skin. So there is one above-average-sized hint that this is indeed something he likes. He's still rock-hard.

You don't mention it, though. "Are we gonna pretend that didn't just happen?"

"I would prefer that, yeah!"

If it's what he really wants, then yeah, eventually, you'll let it go. You're not about to really upset him for no reason. But how could you let this slip through the cracks without proper investigation?

"Okay," you say. "Okay. So you're telling me you don't want me to keep putting-"

"That's not pretending it didn't happen!" Seungmin complains.

"I'm sorry," you apologize soullessly.

He glares at you, but he does let you get in nice and close again.

Moment of interesting new sexy discovery or not, you still want him. And you're gonna have him. Comfy on his lap, now, you're just a quick adjustment and a slow, careful slide away from being filled by him.

"Fuck, yes," Seungmin sighs.

You settle against his thighs, grinning as you feel him flex beneath you, trying not to buck up into you too hard, too soon.

"I missed you, you know," you tell him.

Seungmin tilts his head to the side, puppylike, wry. "It's been like three days."

"Three days," you agree. "Terrible."

"Needy."

"That's you."

It's so comfortable with him, though. Comfortable, as you take up a slow, rocking rhythm to ride him. Even comfortable enough to try your luck with some more mischief.

The first time was a happy accident. This time is on purpose.

You're gentle about it, not wanting to upset him by being too aggressive or embarrassing or, like, disrespectful. No, you just trace your hand over his gorgeous face, down the line of his cheekbones, to his pretty jaw. He indulges in the attention, too, always glad to have your eyes on him.

Carefully, you press your fingers against his lips again.

He pouts.

"What?" you ask.

Seungmin doesn't make you move your hand, though, speaking against your fingertips. "Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not," you promise. "I'm really not."

"I get it, it's funny that I mo- reacted, or whatever. Let it go," he says.

You stare at him, imploring.

"If you really, really want me to drop it, I will," you say, "But I really feel like this is something you like. And if it is, then I want to try it."

You can't say for sure why you're being so adamant about this.

Maybe because Seungmin so rarely asks for things like this for himself. He's pretty tame, in bed, very much fine with you making the changes that you want, calling the shots according to your tastes. He'll always tell you what he doesn't like, but it's much less common to hear what he does like.

There's nothing more exciting that the idea of giving him something that he wants.

Seungmin does not disappoint.

He's flushing pink across his cheeks and his neck, and he's so fucking hard inside you, as he parts his lips and lets you press your fingers inside his mouth again.

It's just gentle pressure, the weight of your fingers on his tongue. Simple, for you, barely anything at all.

You're still rolling your hips gently, stimulating yourself to keep things interesting, as you curiously watch his expression change. A little bit distracted. Floaty eyes, something, you'd wager, like that headspace after a good orgasm. You're fascinated.

Oh, this is different. He likes this.

You clench around him, rising up and sitting back down, and he groans, lips moving around your fingers.

You do it again, but this time you press your fingers into his tongue just a little, making the weight of them more noticeable.

This time, he moans.

"Baby, you really like this," you say, breathless.

Seungmin looks you in the eye, his gaze unfocused. He doesn't try to speak around your fingers, but the flush spreads to his ears.

"You just need your mouth full, huh?" you say.

You're not expecting it, but he nods, dazed.

"Oh, honey." You can't help the way you're practically cooing. "Seungmo, baby, did you not know?"

His tongue flexes against the pads of your fingers.

"Before today?" you clarify, "Did you not know that this was something you wanted?"

Sheepish, he shakes his head.

"Have you never gotten fucked with your pretty mouth filled?" you ask.

You can't even be embarrassed about the way you're talking. It's too good, to delicious, to have him like this.

Flustered, lost in the moment. His hips are rocking up into you, his lips wrapped around the intrusion of your fingers.

Incredible.