#the first three are characters for a project im making

[cmentarek]

Finished my art school portfolio and suddenly i love drawing again!!

im coming back hopefully. im back gay nation. i will reply to asks and post more soon

[wall-eye]

The urge to work more on the zine im making vs the urge to finish the crovhet project ive had going for months: fight

[5eyed]

some recent sprites for "on the flip side" characters (or rather the dimensional doubles of existing characters lol). ive posted characters from this universe a lot over the years, as its my oldest story that i still work on/think about, but ive never really explained who they are! if youd like to explore the setting and characters of "on the flip side" a bit, i made a carrd for it here (its still a wip but im trying to get it all finished within the month! main characters have fully written out bios & backstories, some side characters still just have basic info.) (also this all takes place in a fictional californian city and if you read this and go "wow that is definitely not how things are in california or the us" sorry i dont know shit im french.)

[secretdazedragon]

Maybe I made another oc.....

[arolesbianism]

Management games my beloved I <3 tormenting lil guys for my benefit

[hypogryffin]

got terrible motion sickness while travelling to move house so im projecting my pain onto yusuke

{Image ID:

Digital drawings of characters from Persona 5, all in their outfits from the "Strikers" spinoff.

Yusuke Kitagawa is a tall, thin, young man with pale skin and purple-ish eyes. His hair is a dark blue, and is worn slightly messily with his bangs falling in his face over one of his eyes. He wears a dark grey-blue long hoodie with rolled-up sleeves over a black shirt and slim-fit white denim pants, and in all of the drawings, he has a silver medical bracelet on one wrist.

Image 1: Yusuke looking haggard and woozy, sitting down with a seatbelt in as if in a car. Next to him is Haru Okumura, who has fair skin, dark brown eyes, and short, curly, light brown hair and wears a pink-and-white striped dress under a cream-coloured jacket with sleeves that go just past her elbows. She has a hand up to her mouth, looking worried about Yusuke's condition. There is handwritten dialogue that reads as follows.

Yusuke: A terrible illness has befallen me and I fear this may be the end.

Haru: ...should we pull over?

Yusuke: No, I'm fine.

Image 2: On the left side of the page is a small two-panel comic. In the first, Yusuke is speaking to Makoto Niijima, a young woman with tanned skin and short brown hair with a braided headband. She wears an off-white shirt under a cropped black leather jacket with short sleeves, and has a silver necklace. She holds out a handful of hard candies with bright orange wrappers, smiling a bit awkwardly as she says, "Did you want a ginger candy? They help sometimes when I'm nauseous, so I have a lot."

Yusuke holds his hands out weakly, replying "I'd be eternally grateful..."

In the second panel, Yusuke is shown eating one of the candies, holding the wrapper in an open palm, though he still looks queasy. A large caption reads "Doesn't really help that much. Still yummy though," with an arrow pointing towards Yusuke.

On the other side of the page is a single drawing of Yusuke, hunched over with a hand to his mouth, looking as if he's about to puke. Next to him is Ryuji Sakamoto, a sun-tanned boy with heavy freckles, brown eyes, and messily bleach-blond hair that wears a bright red tank top and brown baggy three-quarters pants, with a silver bangle and tooth necklace as well as a dark green fanny pack. Ryuji has an arm around Yusuke's back, looking worried and speaking to him gently. The dialogue is as follows:

Ryuji: You good, man?

Yusuke: I can feel myself succumbing entirely to this affliction, you may have to go on without me.

Ryuji: OK, well, before you do that, how's about some water and a li'l walk? Then we can think about the succumbing thing. I want some fresh air, too.

Image 3: Morgana has the appearance of a house cat, with predominately black fur and light white spotting on his paws, the tip of his tail, and his snout, as well as on his eyebrows. He has blue eyes and wears a yellow bandana around his neck. He stands on all fours with his ears planing slightly as he shouts angrily at Yusuke, "If you're already sick, stop drawing? You'll make it worse!"

Yusuke sits completely hunched over, squinting at a page on a sketchbook he's drawing on with a pencil, inches away from it although he looks visibly ill. Weakly, he argues, "But I need to finish this..."

A small drawing underneath shows Morgana spinning around to look at Futaba, a pale girl with dyed orange hair with overgrown black roots, large circular glasses, and pale blue headphones around her neck. Her shirt is a bright yellow with a purple heart made of squares, and over it she has a pale green hoodie with the sleeves rolled up. She, like Yusuke, is also sick.

Morgana shouts at her "You too??!" to which she makes a weak groaning sound. A caption next to her reads, "Spent the entire ride reading off a screen," and has a little arrow pointing to her.

End ID.}

[vigilskeep]

hey harker! very much enjoying the lucanis/illario/general crow posting, and im gonna encourage more: now that you’ve had some time to sit with the game i was really curious to hear more about your opinion on lucanis becoming first talon. i can’t help but feel like it’s completely glossed over that lucanis is definitely going to get chewed up by this job in most save states. i have mixed feelings about it personally - but setting those aside because i’m asking about yours.

i TRULY cannot express this enough: that villa is a tomb and if we do not get him out of there we are burying him in it

lucanis does not want this job. he has straight up canonically always avoided thinking about this by assuming he would die before it becomes something he has to deal with. he reacts with paralysed disbelief to being given it and seems to have barely registered it for the rest of the game. and even if he did want it, lucanis is not capable of this job. none of his skillsets are managing people, or making ruthless calls, or watching out for himself. the only driving force behind him being pushed into this is caterina, who will not be around to do the admin and protect him from external threats forever. and she only wants him to do it in the first place because she had a good heir—his mother—and has needed to project that dead daughter onto lucanis for his whole life, to believe she hasn’t already gambled and irrevocably lost her family’s future decades ago. but lucanis’ incapacity to ever say no to her, which is what lets him stay that eternal teacher’s pet, is one of the most obvious shining examples why he would be so bad for the job!

it would be an uphill battle for anyone to recover control of an assassin house that until last week was being run by your cousin who tried to kill you. it would be an uphill battle for anyone to lead the crows in the aftermath of the antaam occupation. it would be an uphill battle for anyone to cope with the fact that relying on viago and teia—which lucanis with his resources and skills has no choice but to do here, even if he didn’t simply like them and make choices based on liking people because he is not a strategist—presents them as an alliance that any other ambitious talon must cut down to get anywhere. three out of eight of the talons is such a ludicrously dangerous number. it does not take an overwhelmingly brilliant mind to notice that there’s more of us than there are of them

the best man for the job would still be fighting for their life, and lucanis is far from the best man. caterina was! and she still lost five children and six grandchildren holding it! that’s so many! have you guys ever seen that one post about people who kept getting a new outdoor cat every time the last one got eaten by cougars and it was pointed out they were basically just feeding cats to the cougars. that’s what caterina dellamorte was doing having kids

the points in lucanis’ favour off the top of my head are the weight of the dellamorte name and reputation, that his victory over illario was decisive and public, and simply the fear factor that he is a god slayer and, lest we forget, a fucking abomination. is that enough to keep him alive? for how long? under what level of constant anxiety and moral degradation for his very soft over-caffeinated heart? all for the questionable gain of several large and empty villas and the privilege of dragging out the slow and lingering death of a family that, you guessed it, you love it, it’s the thedas favourite: has no! next! generation! heirs! at all!!!

(unless illario has a bunch of kids somewhere. i think that would be objectively pretty funny, a sentence i managed to type most of before feeling ill. oh god we need to get them out.)

i apologise that my tone here is somewhat hysterical but i have been living in the mind of my rook, a character very aware of the realities of crow politics who loves lucanis very much. it does not surprise me that lucanis was once again incapable of even conceptualising saying no to his grandmother and accepted the title, or that the idea of abandoning her legacy and his family would seem insurmountable to him when he has been raised to believe it’s all he’s for and he is the last one shouldering the weight. but i am saying this with total and absolute confidence: this is another prison and he is going to die in there if nobody gets him out.

[fxtalitygod]

EPILOGUE. ~Survival~

Genre: Historical AU, angst, mature, suggestive, arranged-marriage

Warnings: Dark themes, gore, graphic imagery, theme/depictions of horror, body horror, swearing/language, suggestive, pregnancy mentions, mentions and acts of suicide, arguments, mentions of adult murder, Pet name (Little Flower 1-2x) implied Stockholm Syndrome, grief imagery, images/depictions of dead bodies, murder, character death(s), slight misogynistic themes (if you squint), implied incest mentions

Word Count: 5.9k

A/N: Today marks the day I finish this series. Guys, I cannot believe it took me two years to finish this damned series. Do not get me wrong, I loved writing it, but boy, it was a major pain in my ass. As corny as it sounds, thank you all for sticking with me throughout this series. When I originally posted the first chapter, I did not expect ANY attention whatsoever; it was just a self-indulgent thing I wanted to write because I wanted a better representation of (Y/n) where, yeah, she may not be the strongest. However, she still knows how to make do with what she has and make that her strength. I also wanted to give a more realistic relationship with the pairing. As much as I love Sukuna's character, I did not believe him to be a character capable of "true love" but a character that values others but not in the way you might think. I'm talking literal value, currency value, and benefit value. I wanted a more realistic take on the story because I did not know how many more historical "Kuna," "Suku," or "Kunie" stories I could take. No hate for those who write it or those who enjoy it; it just isn't my personal cup of tea. I like true crime and dark stories (I have this serial killer project that I'm stoked about because I know I will get my group an A+), so I tend to enjoy those darker sides, which I believe is why I like Sukuna's character so much, he just feeds into that side of me. There are some of the fantasies I enjoy where Sukuna is non-canon, such as AUs and all that, but when it comes to JJK's storyline or his historical AUs, I tend to fall short of enjoyment of that type of fantasy.

Anywho, thank you all for sticking around and enjoy the epilogue. I hope it was worth the wait. I may or may not have written three times because my perfectionism kicked in every time I proofread it, and I found something I did not like and scraped half the chapter. I bet I'll find a little thing here and there when I post this. Still, it won't be anything noticeable, something along the lines of my tags and probably my TW, though Im usually very on point with those kinds of things. Still, it always seems that AFTER I make the post, I really start to notice things even after proofreading it 50x.

P.S. I plan to do a behind-the-scenes post on all my original ideas. I have worked on this little project for two years, so you bet I had alternatives. Feel free to send me asks or messages asking me about things you are curious about, and I will gladly answer.

JJK Mlist•Taglist Rules• • Pt.I • Pt. II • Pt. III • Pt. IV • Pt. V • Pt. VI • Pt.VII • Pt. VIII • Pt. IX • Pt. X • Epilogue

The market was bustling at this time of day. Workers were heading home from a hard day of work, rushing through the roads as they grabbed ingredients and materials for their households to prepare their meals and homes; everything was so normal...and if she were being honest, it felt strange. The confined life of the temple had practically become a comfort, so when presented with a slice of normalcy, it was foreign and, if she were being honest, alarming as well.

Having so much freedom was intimidating and overwhelming– the fear of having something good and it being taken away was a looming thought that brought many anxieties.

Years have passed since that fated day, Sukuna Ryomen's downfall. Since the fire and the slaughter that had immersed, Sukuna's actions had remained silent. There were whispers of sightings and rumors that the curse user had met his demise, but she knew better. Sukuna Ryomen was unkillable, and if anybody had truly caught a glance of him, they would be dead before they could live and tell the tale.

"Mama."

The world seemed to stop as the word processed through her head. Blood ran cold, and breaths of air seemed to come in at a faster rate. The woman turned to the little girl holding her hand, causing her heart to shatter.

"Darling, I told you not to refer to me as your mother, remember?"

The question remained as a statement rather than an inquiry as if refamiliarizing the child with a rule she had been reacquainted with on multiple occasions.

"I-I know that, but why can I not? You care for me like a mother, so why can I not call you my mother?'

"We have discussed this before, child," the woman sighed, "I believe it unfair to be taking the title of your actual mother."

"Well, if my real mother had not given me away, it would not be like this..."

Pausing mid-step, the caretaker held her breath, controlling the emotions and memories that flashed through her mind. The girl's sentence rang through her head, eliciting a feeling she was not commonly met with... aggravation. With no hesitance, the woman's minimal steps turned into longer strides, her grip even firmer on the young girl's hand. Getting to their place of lodging was more vital than anything, as she wanted to avoid discussing such sensitive matters in a public setting. Prying ears were close enough in such a crowded setting.

Upon reaching the home, the stand-in mother pulled the child inside before shutting the door. She swiftly bent down to the young one's level and took the child's shoulders into her hands. The little girl was shocked by the woman's reaction, staying silent and still as if afraid of what was to come next.

"Child, I will not hear you speak such false claims of your mother. You do not know the sacrifices she made to get you here."

The girl's expression of fear shifted from dread to shame. Her face was red from embarrassment after she was caught for her prior statement. However, as children do, she made it her goal to justify herself.

"What is the point of her sacrifice if she left me. Did she not want to be around me?"

"She did not leave you; if she were still in this world, trust me, she would be right here with you!"

The caregiver's words came out with little thought; all she knew was that she would not tolerate the little girl's false assumptions. However, now that the words spilled out of her mouth, she began to regret them. Seeing the tears well up in the girl's eyes made her wish she had phrased it differently.

"What do you mean?"

The caretaker cursed under her breath before inhaling through her nose, exhaling softly before speaking.

"You deserve the truth, my dear, and the truth is that your mother sacrificed her life to ensure you had a good one. She loved you so much that she valued your life more than hers. You might not understand this now, but that is a mother's love." The woman's breath stuttered, "She loved you more than you could ever know. I will not claim the title as your mother for that reason."

The girl was overwhelmed with emotion, only knowing how to express it through tears. The woman could not bear it and brought the girl close to her chest, embracing her to give any form of comfort that might help– it broke her heart to hear the child's quiet sobs.

After calming down, the kid spoke, though with some light chokes.

"W-what s-should I call you then?"

The warden took a sigh as she thought over her charges question. In all honesty, she had no idea what to say. What answer could she even give her? She could not allow her real name to float between the child's tongue as it would expose her identity. What name could she let the child speak?

"Hmm," the woman loosened her embrace, looking the little girl in the eye with a soft smile, "What do you think you should call me?"

The girl tilted her head, wanting more elaboration.

The lady chuckled softly, "What do you think my name should be, child?"

The caregiver had expected the girl to take some time to come up with an answer; however, the kid took no hesitation when she blurted out...

"Makato-san!"

Silenced engulfed the home as her caregiver failed to respond.

"Makato-san, I'm going to the market. Do you need anything?"

Another prolonged stillness as the young lady waited for a response.

The girl scrunched her brows in concern, extending her neck to look further into the room as if the individual she was looking for would appear. With the growing silence, the young adult searched the home for her guardian.

"Makato-san?"

She searched and examined the silent home with slight panic before finally stumbling upon the older woman, staring blankly at the floor she was kneeling on– unresponsive as she continued to stare.

With caution, Y/n's daughter reached her hand out to her caregiver's, placing it on the woman's shoulder. The response she got was one she had not expected.

The Makato turned suddenly, grabbing onto the young woman's wrist with an ungodly strength that even the girl was unaware of. This caused the girl to wince in pain as she tried to pull her arm away. Her arm was turning a light purple from the lack of circulation, proving the grip's vice.

Despite her fear, the charge could only feel concerned as her caregiver made eye contact, tears welling up in her eyes. It stayed like that for a couple more seconds before she snapped back into reality, gasping as she was presented with the image of her actions, quickly letting go of the young lady's arm.

"I'm so sorry, my Dear. I did not mean to...I was just..." The woman paused, swallowing her following words; however, her stutter did not disappear: "D-D-Did you need something, m-my, Dear?"

"I was preparing to leave and was going to ask if you needed anything from that market," the girl paused, choosing her next words carefully. Makato-san, you've been acting strange as of late. Is everything alright?"

The young woman was old enough to recognize the hesitance in her caretaker's features and the short lack of response.

"Whatever do you mean, Darling?"

"Please do not take me a fool," the youthful female voiced before sighing and looking at Makato in pity, "I'm worried for you, Makato-san. Ever since the refugees from the other village came, you have been behaving irregularly."

The refugees.

To say that their arrival was a shock was an understatement. At first, Makato thought nothing of it until the newcomers began to tell their stories. Their village was burned in a monstrous fire by a "crazed" sorcerer, and their home was now unsustainable to live in as it was left entirely in shambles. Despite this information, Makato thought little of it as there had been few stories of criminal sorcerers destroying homes, most being "inspired" by Sukuna's actions after his sudden hiatus. It was not until an elderly woman, who she happened to hear at random, described the appearance of the sorcerer.

"He was monstrous, the vile thing; he had four arms and two faces if you do not count that horrid mouth on his stomach. I watched both of them grin as it chewed on the remains of my eldest son." the elder choked and sobbed as the memory came back to taunt her.

Makato's heart dropped to her stomach. Rushing home in search of her charge, she found the girl working on her studies. Seeing the child she worked so hard to raise brought relief, but it was not long before the memories and visions began to haunt her. Sometimes, she would see you standing there, looking down at her, motionless and silent, with a pained, pitful look.

She hated it.

When you looked at her that way, she felt weak and vulnerable—as if she were failing. She was not as cool and calculating as you were, nor as confident or intimidating. Had you been here, you would have more than likely been able to disappear from society and find a nice, quiet life for yourself and your daughter. But you were not here; that was the problem– you were just a figment of her imagination.

Even then, she wanted you to stop looking at her that way.

Sometimes, she was left in her privacy and saw your vision appear to accompany her. It would drive her mad as she tried to convince you, even herself, that she was doing enough. She would speak into the silence of the room and get no response.

"What else could you want with me? I am doing everything I can!"

Silence.

"I am happy. She is happy. We are happy. Is that not enough for you?"

Silence.

"He thinks she is dead– he thinks I am dead! There is no possible way that..."

Silence.

"Please, stop looking at me that way. I am capable of doing this...please have faith in me."

"Makato-san?"

Pulling herself from her thoughts, Makato tracked what the girl had said earlier, not wanting to worry about her charge further.

"I apologize for my irregular behavior, my Dear. I can assure you that I am alright. I have had a lot of stress these days regarding the refugees. I want to do my part to assist them, but I have been running myself ragged and am just...tired."

The girl hesitated, not wanting to accept her caretaker's excuse, but she knew pushing the subject would not do her any good, so she nodded in understanding. The worst part is that Makato knew your daughter was aware of her white lie, but she would not admit it for some slim hope that the girl honestly did not know. Sometimes, she wished your daughter had not inherited your intelligence and perception.

"Do you need anything from the market, Makato-san? I plan on leaving soon to aid the refugees."

"No, I believe we have enough supplied for quite a while. All that I ask of you is to be safe, Darling."

Your daughter agreed, letting a soft smile slip onto her face before hugging Makato. The woman accepted the embrace before experiencing a wave of realization. Intelligence and perception were not the only things she inherited from you; she happened to be a real beauty as well.

"My Dear, if you plan on seeing that boy of yours, speak your peace now and know that I only want you to be safe and happy."

The girl struggled to find words before lowering her head in embarrassment, her face bright red with fluster.

"You are of age now, and I want you to know the responsibilities that rest on your shoulders."

"Makato-san, I never meant to keep it a secret. I just...I was afraid of your disapproval."

The more experienced woman could understand where she was coming from. Long ago, she was in the girl's position. However, she was never allowed to pursue her love due to the circumstances of her arrangement, but that does not mean she did not try. Despite her efforts to keep her relationship together, it was all for not in the end. She was given away as a sacrificial lamb to a monster.

Your daughter had a chance of love, and the caregiver would not squander it for her. She wanted your daughter to have a chance at a relationship she never had. Maybe it was questionable on her part due to the circumstances of her mission, but she did not entirely care. She just wanted your daughter to have a normal life.

She knew that was what you had wanted for your child.

"I do not disapprove, Darling. I just want you to be happy and to be careful."

"I promise that I will Makato-san."

There was a pause of awkward silence before the young woman embraced Makato once more.

"Thank you, I'll be back soon."

Makato smiled as she watched her ward leave the home. She had no problem admitting she was happy for the girl, but something deep within her told her it was a bad idea. It was hard for her to come to terms with, but she had an itching feeling that did not settle with her.

The world was perfect at the moment. Your daughter had put smiles on faces from her charity and was now being rewarded with a proposal for her marriage. She hugged her lover, showing her love and adoration in any way appropriate for their stage in relationship. If you were here, you would be beaming with joy, giving consent to the marriage with no hesitation because this is all you could ever want for your girl, and it would have been all you wanted for your twins.

You never had a chance of love and a happy life; seeing your children be able to pursue their lives to the fullest, especially in romantics, would have been considered a blessing to you.

"This is the happiest day of my life, honestly, but have you received my guardian's blessing?"

The young man chuckled, caressing her cheek reassuringly, "I plan on coming over for dinner tonight to ask for your hand properly if you will have me."

The girl could only agree eagerly through her expressions, unable to speak in fear of shouting instead of politely inviting him. Hugging him one last time before parting to rush home and prepare their meal; however, a chill went up her spine the moment she left; everything felt cold, and she could not explain why. Maybe it was the lack of his embrace, but she had never felt that way. There was only one good reason she could name.

Her nerves were getting the best of her...

"What if Makato-san declines."

The young woman's moods changed throughout the day as she prepared for the most significant evening of her life. One moment, she had the goofiest, filled with overwhelming joy, but there were other times when she would find herself chewing her nails from anxiety, and right now, she was having one of those times.

"Dear, stop that. This behavior is far from healthy. What has you behaving this way?"

"Nothing, everything is fine. I suppose I'm just hoping dinner will turn out acceptable tonight."

"Dear, please do not insult my intelligence with these excuses. What is going on that you are not telling me?"

"Well, I—" there was a pause. How was the ward supposed to say anything without giving anything away?

"You what? Spit it out, child, you are worrying me."

"I cannot say. I am sorry. But do not worry, please; something good is about to happen. Please trust me on this."

Makato chewed the inside of her cheek. She did trust her ward, but she had this gut feeling, this sickening feeling that she could not name. Maybe it was just her nerves getting the best of her, so she pushed it aside. She trusted your daughter, the only trustworthy person that Makato knew.

"Alright... is there anything you need help with?

The younger one smiled sweetly, taking her caretaker's hands in her own.

"No, I have it handled. You have been so stressed the past few days that you should just relax. Tonight, all your worries will be washed away." With that, she parted to continue her work for the big news. She was all but too excited.

She was also naive.

She was a sweet little girl, but she was naive. To think all of Makato's worries and problems would go away by simply relaxing, through sweet and simple gestures, was an innocent way to think. It was how Makato raised that girl because she wanted that sweet little girl to have that luxury. There were times she wondered if she had made the right choice, but then she would remember what pain looked like and what too much experience could do to a person.

No, she made the right decision. This is what you would have wanted.

Right?

Yes.

Makato went, and she sat as the young woman finished her final preparations for the meal. The girl looked more stressed than ever, rushing at the final threshold, but it seemed that preparations were finished and she was filling time. She found little things to do that held no significance. She was in her head, making Makato question if everything was truly fine.

Then, the footsteps could be heard. He was here, and everything was going to change. Life was going to change, and it was between her and that door. The biggest day of her life was only a dinner conversation away. So she opened the door and was presented with an image she thought she would never see or experience.

"We must leave. The village is under attack, and we do not have much time."

The smell of smoke was strong, and embers could be seen from a not-to0-far distance. The world came crashing down, and she could not say a thing. She could only stand there with an oblivious smile.

"What?"

Fear, confusion, anger, any negative emotion she could feel, she was feeling. This was not how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to get a blessing and marry the man of her dreams. Why now? Why this? This could not be real, there was no way.

If the world had crashed down for your daughter, the heavens collided into the earth, dissipating everything in its path in Makato's eyes. The older woman stood, no thoughts running in her head as she strided to the boy, grabbing him by his garments

"You tell me now, and you tell me true, boy! What did you see?!"

Her sudden actions left him too stunned to speak, but after some shaking and calling for his attention, he found himself capable of a response.

"Makato-san, what is happening?" It was like everything hit her at once, but she was still trying to understand why it was happening today– why it was happening now at the most crucial moment of her life.

"I do not know what it was, but it was a man of stature. He was disfigured; he had two faces and four arms. He came without warning, started flames, and began a massacre. His face was cold, as if he felt absolutely nothing."

There was no doubt in her mind that it was him, no doubt her former husband as reigning terror; however, based on the emotionless state of his ambush, bloodshed was beginning to lose its flavor. It was comical, but as much as it had some humor, this was no joke. This was all too real.

Makato grabbed your daughter's shoulder, pulling her out of her shock. Tears were in her eyes, looking at her caretaker pitifully.

"Makato-san, what is happening?"

She was naive, and being naive was safe, but being naive was also unrealistic. Makato gave the girl a sheltered life, eliminating the possibility of danger to the girl. That was no way to live.

"Your father, that is what is happening."

"What?"

And the shock returned. Makato made an effort to avoid mentioning Sukuna in conversation, only mentioning you in light memory. As far as your daughter was concerned, her father did not exist...until now.

"That so-called man is your father, Ryomen Sukuna. That is the man who drove your mother to eventually kill herself," A pause, licking her lip as she readied herself to elaborate, "Your mother sacrificed herself to protect you from him. He drained the life from her and left her no choice but to die, but she gave it purpose. She died to give you a life, a life away from him."

"I-" Your daughter was at a loss for words. Everything was hitting her too fast.

"I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping it from you. I wanted you to have an everyday life, but I should have noticed sooner or later that the truth would reveal itself and that he would present himself one day."

There was nothing to say, only to exchange expressions of fear and dismay.

"W-Well, what do we do now?"

"We run."

Taking the two charges, Makato grabbed whatever necessities they needed to start a new life. She had been planning this since the day she ran from the temple. She would admit that now, with a third party, it would be more complicated than she had intended, but they would make do.

They exited the home frantic. The smell of smoke became more potent, and the embers were closer than before. The flames became more evident as they spread. Any entrance to the main road would have been a route to death, but Makato had never planned to use that path. There was a back trail through the woods, one she had discovered when your little girl was merely five years of age.

They ran towards the thicket, avoiding as many obstacles as possible. Things were looking smooth, with hardly any disruptions. It was almost serene, but that was the issue. To have such tranquility was a nauseating notion for mayhem being at their backs.

It was too quiet to be safe.

And that is when she knew to push the girl and her lover aside, veiling their presence with her technique before everything went black.

Ringing...

Ringing...

And more ringing...

The lights were brighter, and the smoke and ash came straight from the source. She woke up coughing and gasping for air. For a moment, she thought she had been dreaming, immersed in a life that was not hers. Maybe she was waking up, back to her village, back to her parents, back to the life before she got caught in that awful nightmare.

"I am surprised that it was you, of all the women she let live." Sukuna started, looking down at what he believed to be the scum of the earth.

No, it was all too real. His voice registered through her head instantly despite not hearing it in years– at least in person. She had repeated memories, but sometimes she wondered if she had deformed his voice from years of not hearing him speak down on her. Turns out she remembered it accurately. It still managed to send chills down her spine and make her wish to be six feet under the ground.

"I was probably too forgettable for her to ever really care about whether I lived or died." Makato spat.

"That is reasonable enough, but that would not serve her memory well and rather insult her intelligence. I will say that, if anything, my Little Flower was too clever to let such technicality slip from her. She probably pitied you and your fruitless womb, so she gifted you with a child for you to care for in her absence. And knowing your broken state, she probably knew you would be eager at the opportunity."

Makato scowled, turning her gaze to the ground. How dare he speak of you in such a way. He said that as if you were on his level, as devious and conniving as he was, and claimed your actions were selfish when they were the opposite. You did this for her daughter, not for yourself. If you had it your way, you would be there.

"How old is she now?"

She refused to answer, turning her gaze back to the dirt. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of belittling her more than he already had. It was humiliating, but she still had some dignity and a promise she wished to uphold.

"What does it matter? She is dead. (Y/n) told you herself that she was gone."

A sharp pain was felt at the back of her head as he pulled her hair to force the woman to look up at him.

"Do not picture me a fool! For a woman whose last words claimed her daughter was gone, she left me the most humorous smile. I know that age of the girl, but I would rather hear from you, bitch, how long you have been holding her captive."

No response.

"Answer me!" Sukuna snarled, pulling at her scalp once more.

"Nineteen years of age," Makato smiled. Why? Do you wish to act as a father now? Well, you are too LATE! While you were out throwing tantrums, I raised her child, which you would not know how to do without being given exact handwritten instructions."

"On the contrary, you let her potential slip, and now she is nothing but another womb to breed. Unfortunate, due to the heritage of her mother and myself. However, a womb is still useful regardless."

Out of anything Sukuna had done, out of anything he had said to threaten her, that was the most horrifying.

"You are a disgusting bastard."

"Do not speak as if you can fill her shoes as if you have her confidence. You would not be in this position if you were half the woman she was."

"You are right; if I were half the woman she was, I could have easily manipulated you and have you play the role of the arrogant man with an ego so big, he does not notice the knife pointing at his back," A pause as she licked her lips, swallowing to try and quench her dry throat, "Everything that woman did was out of fear, much like everyone else; however, she knew how to tick your interest and she used that to her advantage. Honestly, I am ashamed. I only noticed it when she told me about her plan."

A twitch in his eye, he was irritated. It was known through body language and the knowledge of his nature that he wanted to tear Makato apart, limb from limb, until her body was unrecognizable.

"What? Afraid to face the truth of her decision. She could have run away with ease; she could have killed you, but both of those options would have been considered a mercy for you. She took away the one thing that you valued: herself. That must eat at you a lot."

With a swift motion, he scooped the former wife from her neck, squeezing her throat as he raised her to face him eye-to-eye.

"You are a worthless bitch who cannot even reproduce, summing you up to nothing. What is your worth?"

Nothing but the struggling breaths of the woman attempting to pry herself from this monster's grip.

"Exactly, you are worth nothing."

Darkness, wherever they were, was dark. The girl and her lover were still in the woods, alive as well as they could manage. She could only remember running into this place before being shoved into the dark area. She felt the ground around her and reached her arms out into the pitch black as she tried to navigate this strange place. It scared her.

"Makato-san? Where are you?"

No response, only silence.

It was dark and frightening, and she did not know what to do. What could she do? She could cry, so she did; she cried as she tried to find her way back. This had to be some kind of night terror. She would wake up, and she would be at that doorway, welcoming her lover into their home, eating their meal, and then sharing the news. Her lover would get her caretaker's blessing, get married, and live happily ever after, right?

Dreadfully wrong.

Instead, a hand reached out and pulled her out of the darkness. The world was still unlit, but moonlight and the flames dancing in the distance could be seen nearby; however, she was not a part of the conflict.

She was about to scream, cry for help, anything to get attention drawn to her location, but was stopped by a large palm to the mouth.

"Shhh, my love. It is only me. It will be alright."

For the first time that night, she felt genuine relief. Turning her head to see her man, she looked down at her disheveled features. She weakly smiled, moving herself to embrace him. It all lasted for a few seconds until she realized the missing member of their little group.

"Where is Makato-san?" she whispered.

The man looked down, not daring to respond. She attempted to make eye contact, but he would only look away.

"Where is she?" she insistently asked, but louder.

" I do not know; a couple curse users emerged from the woods. Makato shoved us into the ditch, and when I came out, she was gone."

"Well...Well, we must go look for her."

A grasp to the wrist effectively stopped the girl.

"No, I cannot risk losing you, and I know Makato-san would agree. She would not want you going out to risk your life to save her."

How could he say that? How dare he say that! What right did he have in this decision?

"Then you do not know her." she scowled, trying to withdraw from his hold, but his hand did not budge.

"Then why would she tell you everything had she not already predicted the possibility that she might die."

"Because... because...she needed me to know because if we were going to run away, I would need to put in my own weight by knowing our threat...yes, that was it! Now let me go!" She tried to reason, but not to him—herself.

Denial.

"It was a confession! As if she were lying on her deathbed, she confessed everything to you. She wants you to move on, knowing there are dangers like your father. She wants you to kno-"

"Well, she may not be dead yet, so we have to try!"

With whatever strength she had deep down, she broke free from his grasp, sprinting towards the village and the flame. She could hear him following her, but in her mind, she wanted to believe he was doing it because he could see her reason. He would help; she was sure of it.

She was almost there, and she swore she could see the silhouette of her caretaker, but then she found herself on the ground. It was only for a second before being lifted into the air, a hand covering her mouth as she got further from her destination.

Kicking, muffled screams, and the distant cackling of flames could be heard. She bit her partner’s hand in an attempt that he would let her go from the sudden pain, but he was resistant. He merely grunted and winced while continuing his journey back. But then there was a halt.

There she was, Makato, thrown onto the ground. She could see her in the distance. The woman looked weak but very much alive, and she was right there. The daughter kicked, shoved, jabbed, and bit even more, trying to get loose. However, her lover would not budge because although he could see Makato, he could also see the shadow hovering over the woman, the shadow your daughter was refusing to look at.

Then the shadow disappeared, and the dreadful monster emerged, Sukuna Ryomen, hovering over Makato with disdain. Watching as she tried to crawl away but failed miserably. She was fighting, doing her best, but her fate was inevitable.

Death was the only option, and death is what she got.

Ryomen Sukuna caved into his impulses, ripping her limb from limb until she was unrecognizable. The daughter watched, horrified, as the woman who raised her was mutilated to nothing but a pulp. What sort of sick joke was this? She remained silent as she tried to think of who would pull such a childish trick, watching as the image got smaller until nothing was left. Eventually, it was just a tiny yellow dot in the distance and nothing more; all she could do was look at it.

"Promise me you will live."

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe out

Breath in

Breathe o-

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The scream echoed through the dark room, and you tried to comprehend where you were. The walls were closing in, and the air was too thick to breathe. It felt like like suffocation.

What was this?

Why now?

Where is this?

Why is this?

How is-

"Y/n!"

You snapped back into reality, frantically looking at your surroundings to notice you were in your bedroom.

"Y/n, what happened? Are you okay?"

The silence was tense as you sat there, trying to remember your nightmare. You thought long and hard, but in the end, you had nothing.

"I...I don't know."

You heard a sigh, a hand rubbing your back, and another reaching for your cheek, wiping the stray tears you were unaware of.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight, again?"

Some of you wanted to say no, but the opposing side longed for it. You stared at the clock on the wall before you, reading the time. It was a little past midnight, and you had hardly gotten any rest. You had a big day tomorrow, and rest was crucial to get through your day. God knows the things you would do if you did not properly sleep.

Turning to your twin brother, you weakly nodded, "Okay."

He did not hesitate to tuck you under his arm as if in an attempt to protect you from any harm to come your way, to shield you from the nightmares. However, despite his presence, it was like a part of the dream appeared that you remembered but didn't at the same time.

"Do you think I'll be a good mother?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Please just answer me...for my sanity."

Your brother sighed, resting his cheek on your head as he rubbed your shoulder to comfort you.

"Y/n, I have no doubt you will make a great mother. Come on, let's go back to sleep. I'll stay here, and everything will be better in the morning."

"Promise me it will be better in the morning."

"What?"

"You don't have to hold up to it. I just...I just want to hear you say it."

"I promise it will be better in the morning."

"Okay..."

New series?? Sequel???Maybe, but first, a little break ☆~ (˃̵ڡ‘˶ )

Taglist (Thank you all so much for being a part of this series):

@littlemochi @mistalli @youngbeansprout @bbylime @bangtan-forever1479 @idktbhloley @izayas-rings @o3o-aya @pyschopotatomeme @persephonehemingway @otomaniac @meforpr3sident

@fourcefulcupid @nezuscribe @my-simp-land @zukuphilia @niya729 @spiritofstatic @bbittersw33t @kashasenpai @decaysan @honeybaegle @ygslvr @outrofenty @esposadomd @ali2426 @anmath @yazzzmints @lovingnahida @sincerest-one @rosemaydone321 @j0dios @k-ki3rd @maki-zenin1944 @shadowywizardarcade @ae-mius @xiangping-28 @loaves4me @aloraaaxcrystalzx @chariotwaves 

[thewardenisonthecase]

im gonna be nitpicky and critical about veilguard for a moment here if you'll excuse me

So I've been thinking about the factions and how they're tied back to rook's "backstory" and the one scene where rook decorates their room and talks about their life and lets hope i can ramble in a way that makes sense.

I dont like that Rook's backstory is tied to their faction, nor do I think rook's backstory was handled in a good way.

Like ok, i think factions should have somehow been tied to race and class, much like how origins did it. The reason for that is that from previous games, we know how important who you are and what you do are in society and also, i think it would make for tighter backstories that better account for who rook is.

Like, for example, if you play a qunari de riva, the game just. kinda never. really adresses the gigantic elephant in the room - that rook is a qunari and a crow while qunari are invading treviso. beyond jacobus being a little racist, i dont think there's that much reactivity about it, which is just kinda frustrating/dissapointing. The game just kinda feels like rook's class/faction/race are these three separate things. Idk if this is making sense but in dai and dao, i always felt that my character's race and class were pieces of the puzzle that made up my hof/inquisitor. Playing a human warrior was different than playing a human mage in aspects beyond gameplay. In DAI, i played with a mage trevelyan, mage lavellan and mage adaar and even tho they were all mages, they felt different bc of their race. Even if they fit the role of mage, who they were changed that, so race and class walked hand in hand.

But with Rook, it feels different. It feels like each part of them is disconnected from the other and i think the biggest show of that is in the scene where rook is decorating their room. If Rook is a mage, regardless of race or faction, they have this magic project that they can talk about. And the issue is that, depending on rook's race or faction, it just makes 0 sense for them to have that. How does an ex galley slave lord of fortune rook had time to have a proper magical education in a circle? how did qunari rook even get allowed in a circle?

and the issue is that the faction and the race and the class are not tied together, they're weirdly separate. Why does my qunari rook de riva, when talking about the antaam warlord pin, is not given an option to like. fucking comment on that.

and my issue on the faction thing is that like. You're not fully given rook's whole backstory on the character creation. In fact, that lil paragraph is basically worthless bc all factions do the same thing - you saved some people, superiors got mad, so now you have to disspaear for a time and joined varric. boom thats it. but you're not told where you're from, what you've done, how you joined the faction.

DAI, for example, while also not telling you who you are on the CC, gives us a codex entry which does go into more detail over who the inquisitor was - AND even tho your backstory is mostly determined by your race, your class DOES change stuff - a mage lavellan is the first to the keeper, a warrior trevelyan was raised as a templar i think, a mage adaar gets mentioned how their parents went to other tal vashoth to help with magic.

and while i DO have issues with how backstories are set up in DAI, i still think they're slithgly more succesful than dav, solely bc they let me, as the player, take full control. My inquisitor can't just decide random things about their backstory, its always my choice. Meanwhile, Rook will randomly spill details of the backstroy the player was not privy to out of nowhere, and you have no chance to input or decide anything.

also to get back on that scene. this is VERY nitpicky on my part, but that scene feels so. weird and forced? I think its because the idea of rook just talking out loud about their backstory feels weird bc i know they're doing it to tell me the player. Like ok, obviously, i dont think there's any way to just easily give the player the character's backstory without looking a little weird bc yeah no one irl just starts talking about their life out of the blue but i think the other games were more succesful.

DAO gives you a brief narration from Duncan, which is short enough to tell you the basics of what you need to know. It kinda fits because the whole beggining of the game (the story of the magisters and the blight) IS told via Duncan's narration, so him continuing that makes sense, and which how its written, it doesnt feel off from the rest of the game.

In DA2, we also get told the initial tidbits of Hawke's story via narration, but much like da2, the "varric is narrating everything" IS the plot of da2, so it makes sense. And then in both of those games, other bits of character backstory are either told to you by the NPCs in your character's life (the cousland's family relationship with the howes or the fact that malcolm's dead). it feels natural.

Now like i said, im not a huge fan of how dai deals with character backstory (aka give me a prologue) but i do think that having Josephine bring up the herald's backstory feels more natural than what rook does, because then the inquisitor is talking about their life (and the player's getting a chance to define things about their character) BC another character asked, so it makes sense.

And i know. The reason Rook is talking and doing decoration is explained in game. but my issue is just that. it comes off as a moment to the player and not smthg that would just naturally happen, and it does break my immersion.

i think this came off as very rambly and i dont have a point beyond wanting to bitch about smthg that was bothering me

[fairuzfan]

im trying to ask all different kids of accounts bc i can't get one solid answer - how would u specifically define zionist? do you think the people who are currently israelis (and are not west bank settlers, may they all be tried for their crimes) should be able to live in a decolonized palestine?

I had to take a couple of days mostly because I was trying to find a single concise answer for you in a citation. Before I give you a definition of a Zionist, I must first describe what Zionism and it's implications are. Here is Ismail Zayid's "Zionism, the myth and the reality" (click).

The very first couple of paragraphs of the book, he says:

Zionism, as a modern political creed, grew in close association with three interacting major forces which exercised a profound influence on the character and nature of the Zionist movement, resulting in three basic qualities characterizing this movement, namely: settler colonialism, expansionism and racism.

The first of the three major forces was the growth, in the nineteenth century, of European colonialism and imperialism and the expansion of the colonial settler regimes. The alliance made between Zionism and European colonialism is clearly attested to by both sides, identifying reciprocal benefits in the alliance. Herzl, in his "Der Judenstat," expressed clearly both the racist nature of Zionism as well as its role as a settler colonial outpost: "We should, there, form a portion of the rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism. We should, as a neutral state, remain in contact with all Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence."

There's more in the book that I can't type up lol, but in essence a Zionist subscribes to the idea of Zionism itself, and insists on the establishment of a settler colonial entity whether passively or actively.

Zionism is a settler colonialist movement, as stated by the founder of the movement for Zionism, Theodore Herzel (quoted above in the smalltext). It modeled itself after much of the European colonialist strategies, enforcing borders and nationalities on a previously border-lose world. I mention the making of borders as a fundamental part of colonialism because by rejection of those borders as a concept, we start to imagine the world in a post-colonial universe. Sherene Seikaly makes this point in her book "Men of Capital" in the introductory chapter:

But in such a search, it is almost inevitable that nationalism—its “lack,” its “strength,” or its “weakness”—will stand as a metonym for politics. In some renditions, the weakness of normative nationalism—a “political deficiency” and a lack of a national “spirit”—resulted in, as the leading historian of collaboration continues to argue, the catastrophe of 1948. In response, scholars have documented a national project among the Palestinians. This work is invaluable and has shifted the terms of debate as well as our understanding of the social and cultural geography of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Palestine. However, to continue reveling in the marriage between national consciousness and politics reifies colonial epistemologies. Moving beyond nationalism as both the means and ends of politics is long overdue. Certainly, nationalism was one aspect of subjectivity formation, but it was not the only way to make politics. What I seek to destabilize here is not whether Palestinians were sufficiently national, but to ask why that sufficiency and/or its lack continues to be the measuring stick for whether people can remain on the land they resided on for centuries. Must people’s investment in the random and shifting borders that imperial and colonial officials drew determine their status? Are there other ways to think about politics outside, beside, underneath, and alongside this national prism?

I've said this multiple times before on this blog in different ways, but I'll state outright: I reject the notion of nationalism as a way for us to authenticate Palestinians' claim to the land they've lived on for centuries, as Seikaly mentions. Zionism's core goal is the establishment of such borders is aligned with European colonialism's core goals: division of the world so that they may categorize itself within the world's hierarchy.

Now, the core saying in the Free Palestine movement you often hear is "From the River to the Sea." This, basically, is a rejection of the establishment of those borders as a necessity for the Palestinians to be recognized. Zionism relies on border-making for it to be an actual thing. Without borders, Zionism would not exist. Which is why the "Balfour Declaration," that had essentially districted and redistributed Palestine is often referenced by both Zionists and antiZionists. Balfour, a well known racist and antisemite, had advocated for the establishment of a "Jewish State" not because he really cared what happened to either party — but specifically so that he could get the Jewish people of Europe.... out of Europe.

Seikaly mentions this in "Men of Capital":

However, we should qualify its meaning to get at the specific condition of Palestinian invisibility in colonial epistemologies. Zionists of the late nineteenth century did not imagine that there were no people on the land of Palestine, but rather that they were not a people. Theodor Herzl described a set of caricatures that inhabited what he called the land of Israel: the wealthy effendis who could be had for a price and the remaining impoverished peasants who could be smoothly removed without incident. These people were a motley crew without anything defining or unifying them. Zionists from various political leanings did not share Herzl’s confidence that the people who lived in Palestine would not be attached enough to its land to resist their displacement.  However, the Zionist emphasis on the lack of a politically coherent and distinct people in Palestine who deserved to make claims to the land on which they had resided for hundreds of years would continue apace. The caricatures of the effendi and the peasant, as well as the depiction of the Palestinians as insufficiently rooted, continue to have currency. In the meantime, Zionists were hard at work shaping a cohesive settlement community around a new ethno-national understanding of what it meant to be Jewish. They called themselves the Yishuv. Zionism promised Jews who had suffered religious, political, and racial persecution for centuries in Europe that they could finally become European but only by leaving Europe. Anti-Semitism and Zionism had one thing in common: the belief that Jews could never assimilate in Europe. The process of becoming European by realizing a settler colony would be an abundant source of persecution: For the Palestinians it entails ongoing erasure; for the eastern (Mizrahi) Jews who did not fit the Ashkenazi (European) mold, it has meant decades of marginalization; and for the Ashkenazi, it required killing centuries of tradition, language, and culture to fit the template of the new Jew.

So now you know that Zionism is, at it's core the establishment of borders to reinforce itself as a colonialist entity — thereby enforcing a separation between the colonized and the colonizer that can seem material, but is, in fact, immaterial. Zionists are people who ascribe to the ideology that a Settler Colonial "Jewish State" must exist, and that its establishment is necessary for whatever reason, thereby enacting those borders and displacing the indigenous populations. But what does a post-colonialist society look like if we no longer have these regional borders and nationalism as we've come to understand it?

Palestinians argue for the Right to Return to their homes. I have family members that cannot see the places they were born in because they were kicked out and not allowed to return. I think, for these people especially, it's only natural that they be allowed to return.

You ask if people who are currently live in Israel should be able to live in a decolonized Palestine. Short answer: yes. Of course. There is no reason to reject these people who are willing to live in a decolonized Palestine.

Long answer: still yes but I'm going to re contextualize it a little.

We've established that a decolonized Palestine is one in which borders are irrelevant, as is the current version of nationalism, and no need for categorization. In a decolonized Palestine, as long as you are not a perpetrator of a "crime" (I put that in quotations because of the current colonial implications, but I lack a better word for it) that makes you — and not your grandparent/parent — directly responsible for colonization — like as you mention, settlers who violently expelled Palestinians — and willing to participate in a Palestinian society in which there is equality of all peoples regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, or religion, then it is possible to become Palestinian.

Israelis are all, to a certain extent, culpable in colonization. There are antiZionist Israelis, but nevertheless, it doesn't change the fact that they are settled on land that was acquired violently. Of course, the same can be said for many USAmericans. To a certain extent, I am a settler in Turtle Island despite being a refugee. I willingly participate in a colony, whether I actually agree with it or not.

I think from hereon, to live in Decolonized Palestine as well as a Decolonized Turtle Island, we must make the reparations necessary to the communities who have suffered systematic violence at the hands of the colonial entity to truly live in a post-colonial world. You might be asking how I think that's going to be conducted — I am not sure. But what I do know is that living without borders — or in other words living without colonialist labels and all sorts hierarchies that arise — will require a reframing of the understanding of our world as well as how we interact with each other in it.

[vonbabbitt]

hi Von! I hope your day is going well! I’ve been here since chapter two and I genuinely can’t believe pink is over. I’m so appreciative that I get to experience tetro in real time. The interactive aspects of tetro pink and staffside are so cool and i love feeling like I’m a part of tetro in some small way. I’m feeling so many emotions right now that I don’t know how to put into words, which is wild considering that this is only the first of tetro’s three parts. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done! The amount of detail that you’ve put into this project (for example tailoring the echo of characters’ voices to whatever room theyre in) blows my mind. The way you interact with fans and speak up when there are issues within the fandom is so commendable. Thank you to all the VAs and editors as well! It’s so incredible to see how everyone has left their mark on this project. I love hearing about the process of creating tetro and I love hearing about how the VAs have affected tetro’s end result. I could ramble for ages but I know you’re reading a lot of these rambles now that pink is over so I’m gonna stop here lol

thank you so much for this once in a lifetime experience!! I can’t wait to see what’s coming next! 🐇💕

thank you very, very much! it makes me really happy when people notice the tiny details of tetro like that - im really glad you connected with the project and im excited to show you what else we have coming!

[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 || 𝐇𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐖𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary_ Jeong-won decides to marry one last time, he chooses you, turning out to be so different than expected, as you fall in love with him, you start questioning whether to tell him about your feelings or not because Jeong-won seemed like he wasn’t over his ex wife Noh In-ji.

warnings_ age gap (early 20s / late 30s), angst, semi tormented Jeong-won, implied sex, immigration inaccuracies, reader implied to be American, NOT PROOFREAD

notes_ im nervous ab tlou season two and putting aside gong yoo character fics until season 3 of squid game airs or until another gong yoo project is announced

♫ ♪ the worst playlist 4 gong yoo

✰ Index (+ fics here)

୨ৎ───୨ৎ───୨ৎ───୨ৎ───୨ৎ

His steps were slow, even lazy. Han Jeong-won walked through modern hallways and went straight to the elevator. As the doors closed, he questioned if he was being careless. If he should leave…

But he didn’t want to return to his new home. Smaller than the mansion of his parents, with no bad memories but… no aura.

It was a house with two bedrooms, a studio, and three bathrooms. The kitchen was big, and the living room had a balcony and a view of the little backyard of the property.

It was his place. But not home.

He then decided he wanted to marry. It didn’t matter who. He just wanted company, a friend even.

The door of the elevator opened.

He walked out and with his hands on his pockets, he made his way to the principal office of the building.

When he turned left, someone bumped into him.

“I’m truly sorry” he heard.

Jeong-won first looked at the green metallic bag on the floor, some books and folders in English.

When he looked up. He saw a young woman: you.

He heard how you kept apologizing over and over until he picked up your stuff and offered a hand with his free arm.

“You’re good” he answered, thinking you had a pretty face and cute outfit. Nothing compared to what most women wear in the city, or the whole nation.

In vibrant colors and with a noticeable tendency to avoid eye contact, Jeong-won found you attractive.

He wondered why you were there, given you looked young.

And before he could ask or make conversation, you apologized one last time before turning and leaving.

“Sorry, have a good day, sir,” you said without even looking at him.

He huffed in disbelief.

What an awkward but adorable woman, Jeong-won thought.

…

“The woman with the exuberant green bag. Is she an option for me?”

“She’s in a younger range than you. Belongs in the 20 to 32 range gap. But if you truly want her to be your wife, I can easily arrange something…”

“Yes. I want her…” he didn’t know why, but he answered without hesitation.

You were a stranger. He barely saw your face and knew nothing about you.

But deep in his wounded heart, he felt like you had something. It was no coincidence that you bumped into him minutes earlier.

“Alright then. We’ll send her the proposal and she’ll have twenty one days to sign it” It was then that Jeong-won realized he was signing for a fake marriage again.

His third one by the way. But in hopes of saying that the third time is the charm.

“We’ll contact you when we have news, Mr. Han” he nodded, briefly glancing at the new woman in charge and nodding before leaving.

As he walked towards his car, he couldn’t help but go back to think about Noh In-ji.

Was he really that bad that she couldn’t stay with him?

Were both heavily wounded by their pasts that simply couldn’t connect?

It was for the best, she said the last time Jeong-won saw her. Which was months after their marriage was over.

He secretly prayed that his upcoming marriage would work. He craved the love of someone. And as pathetic as it sounded, he wanted it quick. He was getting older, almost leaving his late thirties. Life would continue and he’d die without love, just like his late mother.

He refused to give up looking for love. Before In-ji, Jeong-won only had eyes for an unhinged vengeful woman. After In-ji, he realized that none of the women he had given his best years had given him love.

He was awkward about giving and receiving affection. He has severe problems communicating and, even worse to talking about feelings.

But he wasn’t scared of vulnerability. And Jeong-won wished you weren’t either.

…

You had signed the contract. It had been three weeks and Jeong-won knew nothing about you yet. He expected to have you in his house already the following day after giving your signature. But you never appeared, or the following day, or the one after that.

He called the agency to ask what was happening and they only provided him your address.

So there he was Jeon-won himself knocking on the door of a modest but beautiful apartment complex.

The door was painted in baby pink and from the outside, smelled like lemon and garlic.

“Coming!” You said, dropping the marinated chicken breast and taking off your plastic gloves.

Upon opening the door, you encounter a tall man in jeans and a flannel shirt looking at you with curiosity.

“Do you know who I am, right?” he asked looking down at you, making your cheeks slightly warm.

You eye him as well, he’s older. But very handsome. He carried a sad aura around him but seemed nice. But you finally acknowledge who he is.

“Han Jeong-won, correct?” He nods and you step aside. “Want to come in?”

Your place is the opposite of his. You have a lot of stuff, slightly messy but overall compelling enough to make the place feel comfortable and sophisticated.

Jeong-won had to admit you had good taste.

“You signed the contract three weeks ago,” he said, following you to the kitchen, where the smell of lemon and garlic was concentrated

“I did” Your calm voice confused him.

“And why I haven’t heard anything from you?”

“You wanted to see me before we get a date for the wedding?” You asked with surprise, leaving aside your uncooked dinner to turn around and see him.

“Well, yes. I want us to get to know each other” his words definitely took you in a curve.

You smile, sighing. As you move toward your fridge, you pull out a bottle of tamarind Smirnoff and drink straight from the bottle.

“Why are you marrying me, Mr. Han?” the man stared at you with curiosity. Eager to understand who was the woman he wanted to spend his life with.

“I want a partner…” he admitted with slight shame in his eyes.

You smiled, beyond surprised if that was even possible. You poured him a little bit of the alcohol into a glass and passed it to him.

“This is my first marriage” Now you surprised him. “I need my student visa renewed to continue in a master's program and the consulate is not accepting my extension”

He nods, understanding.

“Our marriage license would automatically give you rights to legally stay inside the country” Jeong-won confirmed and you nodded, feeling slightly bad for having not-so-good intentions.

“But… not everything has to be under a contract” his eyes sparkle with hope, even though he doesn’t know why, he just wanted to hear you. “When I saw your picture in your profile at the agency… I thought you were very handsome and nice. I would also like a partner”

He chuckled and you joined him.

“I’m the man you bumped into the other day” you nod while drinking a little more.

“I know,” he notices you get a little serious after that. “Mr Han, Why did you choose me as your wife?”

Jeong-won looks at his hands. Thinking the right words. Even though he wasn’t even sure why he picked you.

“To be honest? I don’t know. I just thought you were nice and pretty. And I wanted to know more about you after our sudden encounter” you nod, smiling briefly.

“Well, here I am” The chicken breasts return to be cooked after you stand up, giving him your back.

“I’m a graduate student trying to get into the educational system and work as a professor. I’m terrible at cooking Korean traditional dishes but I make great food” You paused to chuckle briefly. “I’m terrified of surgeries and whales. People usually don’t approach me, making me pretty much a loner and I can’t live a day without music”

Jeong-won only smiles more at your last sentence. He stands up to walk and stops beside you.

“You can’t live a day without music?” He asks with a cocky smile. Some oil jumps and burns your hand but you calm the man beside you, saying it was okay.

“Yes, Mr. Han. A day without music would be so hard for me”

So far, you’re liking him. Aside from being handsome despite being older, he’s awkwardly cute. You can tell he doesn’t have much social skills. He is quite cold and struggles to enable long conversations.

“Sounds good to me. I’m a music producer” Your eyes sparkle, shining with curiosity.

“Really? So you must have tons of vinyl and CDs, right?” Jeong-won can’t help but chuckle, surprised to find comfort in you so easily.

“I have some of those. But mostly everything is on my computer” You nod, serving him a plate of food, and you realize you never asked him to stay for dinner.

“I didn’t ask and I already served you a plate of food. But… Would you like to stay over, Mr. Han?”

Your smile was adorable and shy but your tone of voice was confident. Resulting in a magnificent enigma for the man in your place.

“Fine but quit calling me Mr. Han, please” he suggests and you nod, agreeing with a smile.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to marry him.

…

The wedding was quick. And very quiet.

But Jeong-won’s smile and his embrace in your hands before signing the contract made you feel safe.

Both of you got to know each other better in the previous weeks. Agreed on keeping your home and going back and forth from his place to your own. He even told you about his unfortunate childhood and you understood why he was the way he was.

Your husband was touch starved. And you promised to cherish him as much as he allowed you.

Just as he promised you to be your friend before your legal husband.

A day after the wedding, you two arrived at Jeju. At a hotel that was like a little Bangkok city. Only allowed 21+ guests, had unlimited cocktails and daily raves. All while remaining elegant and very extravagant.

For a person like Jeong-won, who was quiet, observant, and shy rather than an extrovert, he was limited to look at you dancing on the dance floor of the main bar.

It was very 2000s inspired with green and pink neon lights, lots of tropical plants, and great music.

But your husband was merged in a raspberry cocktail while you were having fun dancing.

He was great. Both of you slowly getting to know each other, surprisingly feeling comfortable.

You eye Jeong-won, noticing he had already been looking at you. You smile at him before walking in his direction.

“Was any of the played songs produced by you?” You ask, panting for air, realizing you are sweating. It was the late spring, almost summer, and the heat was increasing.

Jeong-won chuckles, sipping from his drink.

“A couple of them…” he answers.

He had shown you some of his work, and you loved it. Music is one of the things that connected you two so well.

“Am I being too childish?” You ask with a shy grin.

“For what?”

“For dancing…” your index finger points at his drink, asking for some, and Jeong-won nods, handing you his glass.

“God, no” you hear him say. “In fact, you dance really good”

Your cheeks burn with embarrassment and there’s a flutter in your stomach.

“You think so?” He nods.

Perhaps it was the music, the drinks, the constant but subtle flirting that made both of you bold enough to lean at the same time.

Your lips touch his and both melt in a perfectly drunken kiss. Messy, needy, and hot.

“Wanna do me?” You ask while chuckling, starting to feel tipsy after so many drinks.

He blushes, and his pale cheeks turn bright red. But it’s useless, you can feel him hardening.

“Guess my moves were enough to catch your attention” you whisper in his ear, despite the loud music.

He eyes you briefly before grabbing your hand and hurrying to get you both out of the bar. You chuckle, ignoring the fact that you two were under a contract, that you barely knew him, and that you were already falling in love with him.

…

You hear Jeong-won typing on the couch while you prepare a simple dinner with rice and tofu.

“Done. I think your essay is great, dear” Jeong-won says appearing and kissing your cheek. He had agreed to proofread your final essay for a class.

So quick, not enough time, but already felt fondness.

“Thank you” he didn’t know why, but he was also feeling extremely used to you.

First of all, he promised to be more open towards the woman he married. He was willing to suppress his traumas to heal with said woman. It was easier when he sat and listened to you talk, accepting you were compatible with him despite being so different from him.

He liked seeing your hoodie hung aside from his jacket, your sandal heels resting beside his sneakers, and your perfume with his cologne in his bathroom.

“We’ve run out of napkins. Can you hand me more, please?” You ask without looking at him.

He returns to the reality and nods.

You were staying with him for the weekend and he was happy about it.

Meanwhile, you were happy, playing the domestic but not domestic marriage.

You had been growing the hopes of actually remaining married after the contract expired. You wanted to be sure he could be your confidant, your partner, and your lover.

And so far, Jeong-won was doing his part.

Until the phone rang.

You had your hands covered in sauce to marinate the tofu cubes, so you couldn’t answer.

So you hoped that the person calling was going to leave a mail voice.

“Hey, Jeong-won, it’s In-ji. I know we haven’t talked in some time but I just wanted to congratulate you on your marriage. I truly hope the best for you and the fortunate girl”

You smiled. You didn’t know who the woman was, but she sounded nice.

“Who’s In-ji? She called to congratulate you on our marriage” his smile dissipated and that drew your attention.

“Oh, no one. Just an old friend” It was his tone that put you at ease.

“I have the napkins…” he hands them over and you do your best to ignore the way he reacted to the call.

You shouldn’t be thinking too much about it, but it made you wonder as you served two plates of food.

…

Cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, rice sheets, shredded beef, and fish sauce.

Jeong-won comes behind you and places a can of olives in the shopping cart.

“You don’t like olives,” you say, pointing at the can.

“But I know you do” he answers, making you smile.

Your first grocery shopping together.

“I can do them fried and filled with cheese” your husband pretends to puke before chuckling.

“Asshole…” both of laugh, ignoring some other people looking at you two.

“Jeong-won?”

Both of you turn around to encounter a woman.

“Hi…” he awkwardly says.

You frown as she gets closer.

“This must be your wife…” the woman is pretty, she smiles kindly but eyes you with coldness.

“I’m Noh In-ji” She offers her hand and you pretend to smile with honesty, accepting her gesture.

She’s the woman from the other day.

“Nice to meet you” is all you attempt to say.

“How long have you two been married?” Jeong-won exchanges looks with you.

He’s nervous, you are getting uncomfortable.

“Two months and a half…” he answers.

“That’s nice, I hope you two can extend the contract?” Your frown gets even bigger.

“You know about the contracts?” In-ji chuckles.

“Sure, I know them very well. I married multiple times” she says. “Jeong-won was my last”

“Oh…” is all you say, looking at your husband with rage.

…

His steps hurry to catch up with you. You push the shopping cart until you find Jeong-won’s expensive car.

He doesn’t say anything while both of you fill the backseats with groceries.

Until both of you are inside the car, ready to go home.

“It’s not what you think, y/n”

“You said it was a friend” you boldly answer back, shushing him.

“And she is” You don’t look at him. “She was my wife, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to think she’s still in my life as more than a friend”

“Do you love her?” You ask, terrified to find out the truth.

“…no”

“You hesitated…” you barely say, looking away from him, deciding to not look at him all the way back.

“I swallowed”

“I changed my mind. I’m staying at my place tonight…” he sighs.

The drive back is awkward. A perfect antithesis to the bright and lovely day both of you had.

You don’t care about your pudding, fruit, and food you bought anymore. You open the door as soon as Jeong-won parks across your apartment complex.

“It’s just you and I, y/n,” he says, giving you a disappointed look.

“Goodnight, Jeong-won”

When you met the infamous Noh In-ji at the supermarket. You were not expecting her to blow out the news that she was Jeong-won’s second wife.

You didn’t like the way they smiled at each other and you certainly didn’t like your husband lying to you.

How good the first two months had been.

That night, you accept you love him. You accept you want him to love you back. In your head, it was fair to say you were allowed to fall in love with a person three months after meeting them. Even more when you married him. And that’s why it hurt you so much the way he reacted upon seeing his ex-wife.

…

It’s a week later when Jeong-won has reached a new record of insomnia. He used to be unable to sleep for different reasons before. Since you decided to take some distance from him, every single night all he could think about was you.

He missed you like hell.

And debated whether to call you or not; when he was making breakfast, while working, driving, and before sleeping.

Even in the shower, he would zone out wondering what was right to say to you.

And while he was disassociating in the shower, he heard his phone ringing. His eyes snapped open and ran off to see if it was you. He almost slipped, and all for nothing.

When he reached the phone resting in his bed, the phone stopped ringing.

But there was a male voice left and it was yours. Jeong-won could feel his heart pounding as he pressed the screen to play the recording.

So.. uh- this is so awkward….

I know I’ve evaded you and… that’s not okay, I’m sorry. I usually can tag my feelings so easily but these days I don’t know how I feel. The night we did the groceries, I felt so outcasted. I understand the history you have with her, Jeong-won. I really do.

It’s just that… I realized that I love you. And I don’t know if you feel the same way. But I won’t be pressured to say or do anything. If you want to break things off after our year of marriage concludes, I’ll understand.

I’m going to be staying at my place for a couple of days.

That’s- that’s pretty much it. Take care of yourself, yeah?

Jeong-won replayed it again and again until he accepted you had said you loved him.

He barely dried himself. He got dressed and went straight to grab his car keys.

All so he could get to you.

…

Four knocks and nobody opened the door. Jeong-won decided to use the keys you had given him.

Upon entering, he noticed the lights were off, and everything was quiet.

He grew worried, thinking something had happened to you until he entered your room and found you soundly sleeping.

He smiled, getting inside the bed with you.

You yawned, lazily opening your eyes.

“Jeong-won?” He hugs you, caging your head in his chest.

“I love you too” You hug him harder after hearing him.

“I want to punch you and kiss you so bad, Jeong-won” you mumble.

“Do it then…” your husband answers back chuckling.

“Nah, just kiss me” and he does it.

With so much time ahead, both of you knew that there was still a lot to know about each other. But that was okay. Jeong-won had found what he always wanted; a lover.

Who was eager to love him back. So there you two rested; two lovers in the dark.

[dykekarkat]

Since its pride month do you have any lgbt aftg character headcanons (apart from the canon stuff)

here is my list of assorted lgbt hcs for the foxes:

transfem renee the realest ever. truly and utterly trans girl renee is everything to me. her and neil both have the reborn dead names narrative i am no longer that person but i am always haunted by them bcus i cant escape that part of who i was. also i think she diys her own e and neil is currently concocting a plan to microdose kevin's protein shakes with it. also bi renee (her crushes being dan andrew jean. poor girl.)

for seriousness trans girl kevin is real to me i think she starts thinking about it more once she's in the pros and has her Giant mental breakdown due to being alone for the first time and unresolved trauma issues. and everyone knows that in ur twenties the three options are 1. marathon (kevin bad at distance to me so no) 2. trip to japan (he is not doing that) 3. transition (ding ding winner) also aroace kevin is my shit i like putting kev in qprs a lot more than ships tbh

dan and matt are both bi but dan PLEASE dont let ur boyfriend keep u from finding ur wife (renee) (jokes i like danmatt actually). i also think matt struggled to come to terms with his sexuality for a long time and after he meets dan he just kinda puts it on the back burner bcus he knows he wants to be with her forever and ever and so he tells himself it doesn't really matter. rooming with nicky and actually being able to connect / build a friendship with him helps him a lot.

unfortunately i do believe in straight aaron, seth, and allison in my heart of hearts. however i like when other people make them gay it brings me joy. also trans guy aaron is always real to me, usually in tandem with butch lesbian andrew bcus i like when they are still identical.

demiromantic andrew very near and dear to my heart and also consistent. bcus neil and andrew are literally my #tuoys so i have one million hcs about them and all of them are contradictory. i believe in transmasc transfem gay lesbian girl boy andreil entirely depending on my mood and what i feel like exploring. i tend to project when it comes to neil tho which is why i lean towards him being transmasc in my writings. whatever neil's got going on is very transgender tho. in one million directions.

nicky i dont have any other hcs about ur sexuality/gender outside of canon babygirl im sorry...he just gay to me....

[prostocupoftea]

Kinitopet Programmers AU

finally i am finished with this one, daaaamn

it is hard to draw pathetic men with midlife crisis when your style is mostly for anime boys

more info and sketch version under the cut!!

sketch version aka how it'll probably look like in comic version 'n some doodles

srry for my writing but i was too laisy to put it as regular text

It is a plot-based au, i already have most of the storybits and like... a vibe-chart (i tried to make a playlist for this au and understood that for different chapters and different characters that'd be a copleatly different music, sooo it's a chart now :) )

i will post a fog-o-wared timeline that im hopefully gonna reveal comic-by comic, but also maybe with just pure writing. Hopefully i can include songs that i chose for them into it but we'll see (:

aaand of course designs can change, hopefully not much but we'll see

Now about au:

Main story:

Story follows non-sentient AI Kinito, his creator Sonny and his beta-tester Victoria (oc)

Being literally the first AI (or RRA in-univere) ever, Kinito does not have any, and i mean, any ai safety features so of course his reponce to a goal phrased as "have user near me and/or interacting with me as much as possible" is digitizing them into his own virtual world while killing them in the process. why wouldn't it be?

So that happened. Like, a lot. And with Sonny and Vic too (at the different time but yeah)

Sonny is like "He kills people. We should turn him off because, you know, killing people is bad."

Vic is like "well, we will die if we do that, and it is not that bad here, we are kinda immortal. We should give him acces to changing his initial instalation code before admin priveleges and acces to social media so we can have everythin we want here. It is not that bad to digitize humanity, yk?" and yes i know it is 90, no social media, but shut up, if they made ai then, then i can make twitter then too

Sonny is like "...no??"

And then they fight about it for million chapters

Also they both can't do anything without agreeing bc they have two parts of that admin access key (the data you use to delete kinito in-game) so they are stuck with eachother (also that's why Kinito can't just kill them)

Little facts that may or may not to be important:

Kinito asks so many questions (and weird once too) and has most of the glitches because he needs to analise your responces to copy your mind perfectly (let's pretend that people wouldn't lie about that...)

Your house in your virtual world is made from important places from your memories and oh boy can i do character explorations with this one

I decided that Sonny and Vic are not related. There were thoughts about making then "The Kinito Brothers" (or, at least, siblings) that were mentioned in commercial, but nah, they are just coworkers now. And a bit of work-friends (bc if you interact a lot as a manager of the project and the best worker might as well be friendly)

Author has no idea how small dying toy companies that accidentally create technological marvel work. Author has some idea how AI-s work. So be prepared to be spoon-fed info abut which ai safety problem we are dealing with in which chapter (:

Kinito will mostly be unrendered (as drawn here) but for some cool moments i might pose him as for my other posts. Also his eye placement changes to the side that is most visible because i want him to be able to look to the right side sometimes--

Also when i say "fucked up mentally" i mean they have that them psychological problems with me projecting heavilly B) (guess on who i project most. trick question. all of them. the whole au is my problems split into three characters and forced to interact B) )

Also sea-creature analogies (that are gonna be mentioned like twice):

Victoria is a flying fish because deep character reasons

Sonny is a pufferfish because i said so

oh also there is 7 deaths in the plot as for now

on 3 characters

good luck figuring out who, how and when ((:

for my own sanity i will probably make little doodles where everything is great and kinito is a good guy and not a number-obsessed maniac (i mean... can u imagine not being able to feel any happiness from anything besides one thing... damn...) and you can differenciate them bc good-guy kinito will have a lot of stickers on him (i will explain it somehow but real reason is just bc it is cute af)

like this but even more stickers (he is unfinished here)

[six-eyed-samurai]

Hi there!! Gotta say I have binge read all the things you have written of gachiakuta and I'm really hooked with your writing style!!! And soo I wanted to make a request or maybe something based on the idea of reader being really protective of Fu and Rudo, as the three of them kinda resemble raccoons (I know it may sound too specific but I just can't help but think of raccoons whenever I see them???), oh and also maybe reader is around zanka's age!!

SUMMARY: You miss your pets back home...oh, wait, look, new ones!! A/N: THANKYEW IM VERY FLATTERED AND I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN Fu looks like a racoon bandit, my first thought when I saw him frfr...Rudo looks like the bug we found in third grade and we named him Mango but an idiot accidentally smashed the jar's lid onto him and Mango died >:( WARNINGS: I don't mean to imply reader sees Fu and Rudo as pets, it's more of reader wanting to take care of something and projects it on them just in case someone misunderstands SUNNY'S RICELINGS: @rosetintedrot @kepodewers @magnesiumconsumer @nowayitsalex00 @powglasc @echantedtoon @just--crys @nelmmm

🌸You're known as the bubbly oldest sibling of the team, always ready to lend a hand, share some candy, hear out vents, patch a scrape, remind about water breaks, cheer on encouragement - very motherly tendencies, loyal to the end, no wonder everyone likes you, the happy-go-lucky Cleaner who turns into a feral monster when anyone threatens your friends.

🌸 Which is why it was odd for you to look as downcast and wistful as you did one night, moodily sitting by yourself, slumped like the world was weighing on your shoulders. A certain concerned redhead approached you, worried that something might've happened on your last mission.

🌸 “Oh? Sorry, I didn't realize I was looking that miserable.” You sheepishly laugh and straighten, offering a smile that wasn't complete without your usual spark. “It's just…feeling a little homesick, I guess. Clean HQ’s pretty far from home for me…and don't laugh, but I miss my pets.”

“I'm not laughing.” Riyo is excellent at keeping a straight face and she utilities that particular skill now. “…why the sudden homesickness? With the way you were looking I would've thought your dog died or something.”

“Ah, haha, I hope not. Nah, I just…we were out saving some kids today, and one of them ran back into the building just to get their pet, which made me think of mine…and I miss needing to take care of something. I just like that feeling and…it'd been nice to have my cat around.”

“Well, you take care of us.”

“Yeah, but you don't really need me to, right? It's just like an added bonus.” You sigh and deflate again. “Sorry, I'm being stupid. Anyways, wanna do each others' hair?”

🌸 Not to sound cliche, but little did you know how soon your wish would be granted: in the form of a candy addicted, squishable, angry Pomeranian.

🌸 The first time you met him you accidentally overwhelmed Rudo with your scream and eagerness to shake his hand, practically flying over from where you were originally, introduction bursting out enthusiastically. “You can call me your big sibling, okay?! Welcome to the Cleaners! Gah, you're so cute, where’d you get him, Enjin?”

“GUH - HAR?!”

🌸Unfortunately Rudo doesn’t immediately warm up to you at the start, much to your disappointment, namely because he’s not used to a) people being so openly affectionate, b) people actually like him??, c) all this Ground things were still a shock to his system. You’re kind of overwhelming for him, especially when he hasn’t gone through his character development yet fully, but as the plot goes on he gradually lets you look out for him, until he’s finally comfortable with your spontaneous bursts of affections i.e. sudden hugs from behind, picking him up like it’s no issue (look man, he’s just?? small?? Titchy, man…), ruffling his hair. Welcomes it, actually, because he’s only ever remembered Regto being this openly affectionate with him, and Regto is…well.

🌸 Probably helped that you were very. Very. VERY. Generous with candy, even after they put him on a diet after his er, fattening incident.

🌸 You’re protective as well! You nearly killed him again by suffocation after Eishia healed him and panicked so hard when he got sent off to the mission without Enjin that you threatened to march right up to Corvus and demand you come along, despite having your own mission. The bug-eyed kid is equal parts reveling in your attention and exasperated with your soccer mom behavior.

🌸 Y’know that big board of Rudo’s to-do list he has in his room? Probably tacked up a couple photos of you there; I’d like to think he scribbled on them as well, little doodles Remlin taught him because otherwise Rudo. I’m sorry he can’t draw.

🌸 Okay I’ve lost the plot enough about Rudo it’s time for Fu - CHILD NUMBER 2# SPOTTED!! Once again when he showed up begging Enjin to order him around, you’re ready to burst from jealousy, because where is Enjin getting all these cuties from? Okay, he’s formerly a Raider, and? Does he look like he could hurt anybody? DOES HE LOOK LIKE A SPY?

“WHY DO THEY ALL WANT YOUT?” You grab Enjin’s shoulders and shake him violently “YOU’RE A LITERAL CHICK MAGNET!”

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS!”

🌸 You would defend Fu with your life! I feel like at least one person is going to try and take advantage of him mindlessly obeying any order like a brainwashed minion, and whoever they are probably needs to visit Eishia to stop their ears from bleeding when you’re done with them. Be so for real, he looks harmless, unless you’re an egotistical world-conquering maniac who’s ordering him around, which you’re not - the most he’s ever “obeyed” your orders was when you asked for a drink and lil bro raided the pantry (you put him and Rudo in timeout after the other boy freaked over the candy or something)

🌸 Affection-wise I think Fu would be more receptive, except he considers them “orders” he must submit to, but after you explain to him that this is…voluntary. If you like it, I’ll keep doing it, if you don’t, I won’t. You have a choice! But choices scare Fu! Man…what even is this, at this point - one emotionally constipated child and the other is some yee yee bandit looking minion…in the end you come to a compromise in which you “order” Fu to be honest about whether he enjoys this particular way of affection and that’s how you work around his little problem. He likes head pats, by the way, when you’re complimenting him.

🌸Haters out there probably gonna argue “wHaT dO yOu MeAn WhAt aBouT tEaM cHilD” so I think that yes, you do take care of Team Child like you would Rudo and Fu, but because you’re on Team Akuta you don’t see them as much, which was why you meant you wanted to take care of someone, and with Team Child it’s more of a babysitting job than this (THERE’S A DIFFERENCE. SOMEHOW.)

🌸And what do the rest of team Akuta think about it all? Cute family of raccoons is what; a nickname started up by Riyo and Enjin and once Zanka started using it y’know it’s official. You’re probably more than happy to induct Remlin into your cult your little group if she ever wants to.

🌸What’s that one Instagram reel audio - You better not mess with my gang, or you’ll be messing with Oopy Goopy (Guita), General Munchkin Man (Rudo), Lil Jim Bob (Dear) and worst of all, Larry (Fu).

🌸 You end up adopting Follo as well later on, once Rudo and him have made up their differences and made friends (you may or may not have shed a tear…okay, several), but that's a story for another time ;)

this was so unserious i honestly gave up halfway.

[fiddles-ifs]

BLOG UPDATE 10-30-24

[ID: A photoset of three images. The first two images are a parchment texture on a black background. The first image is white text, and a navigation sidebar to the left of the main body of text. The sidebar reads: 'THE KING'S PHYSICIAN, written by Elliot Z. Chapter 00: Asclepius. NEW GAME, LOAD GAME, SETTINGS, GLOSSARY, MAP, CHARACTERS, ACHIEVEMENTS.' NEW GAME is highlighted with a distressed scroll image. At the bottom of the sidebar are links leading to Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

To the right of the sidebar, the main text reads: 'PROLOGUE: ASCLEPIUS.

The ground stinks. It meets your hands in a shower of wet mud, an explosion of sick and blood, soaking the spaces between your fingers. When your vision focuses again, finally stops wobbling around and making double of itself, you find your palms soaked red. You crawl on your hands and knees to the body in front of you. You turn them over on their back. A man, not one of yours, and you slap his face a few times before you realize his eyes are milky and staring ahead, unblinking. There’s nothing you could do for him now. You look at his legs and find them still facing downwards. They didn’t move with the rest of him.

All the information comes to you backwards — his bisected waist, the guts spilling across the dirt, red, red and so much red. You stand up numbly. Your horse lies dead several feet away, and you remember in your haze that’s the reason why you were bucked off. You try and look at something — anything — else.

There is nothing else. All around you are limbs and blood and battle. Everything moving so slowly, mosquitoes caught in cooling amber, a slurry of death. You feel lost, a scarecrow in a burning field. Your ears ring. It all feels distant. Too distant. You need to move.

You turn to see a flash of white steel against the burning sun, and weakly raise your arms to try and block the blow with what little padding you have on. You move so slow.'

The other images feature the same text. The second image features a black background and red links. The third image is yellow parchment paper with red links and black text. /end ID]

happy update day!! i have to be up in. checks watch. six hours. so the update is coming at exactly midnight, and then i'll queue appropriately. but steady progress is being made on tkp!! im taking a small break from greenwarden to focus on making tkp and erinys look nice as a side project to querying agents for my book. it's a process. yk how it is.

what you see right now are mockups, the actual product looks uh. well. it looks like this

far cry from how i want it to look, but im working on it.

after finishing the css, all i have to do is write and edit chapter 1 and it'll be ready for demo release!

also, happy spooky season! im working on something for greenwarden that most certainly will not be done by Halloween, but i think you'll like it. it involves costumes and maybe stickers. watch this space