#the predator's contract partner

[any-mouse]

I have found another drama novel! (Many of them actually.) It’s not, quite a dogsblood? Definitely smut though. A real yellow novel.

But if the ML does give her a divorce, he will promptly be murdered by his own subordinates and quite possibly his family’s totemic spirit beast.

[ellecdc]

Poly moonwater or marauders (up to you! I can see both being cute, though marauders would be interesting since theyre all gryffindors) x a partner who thinks snakes are the cutest, and has a really big python of her own? And she often takes it on “walks” (walking outside while the snake is lounging on her arms to get some sun) or chills in her room with the snake just resting on or beneath her robes (calmer snakes in my experience love to slither up sleeves and wrap around abdomens and collars)? My snake loves doing that, and sometimes it gives people a fright haha. My snake is quite large, but just the cutest and most curious thing, she’s helped many of my friends get over a minor phobia before. She also contracts her muscles (not enough to hurt) when wrapped around a hand, which feels like a little hug. LOL sorry for rambling, I love my sweet baby (5 foot long apex predator) so much. Bonus points if reader is very sweet and smiley, just the last person you’d expect to have a big “scary” snake.

this was such a cute and funny request. and, funnily enough, almost immediately after I received it I started seeing this creator with her snake on TikTok and was like "this is perfect!!!"

poly!marauders x whimsical!reader who apparently has a pet snake that her boyfriends didn't know about

CW: fem!reader, reader has hair she can put up in a bun, best friend Barty being a fucking menace, snakes?

Remus let out a breath of relief when he finally made out your form sitting contently under a tree on the castle grounds with your face shoved in a book.

He couldn’t help but worry about you a little bit; he worried about James and Sirius too, mind you, but something about you struck him as a little too pure, a little too lovely to be navigating this scary world on your own.

He knew you could, he just didn’t think you should have to.

It appeared Sirius and James were just as grateful at locating you when Sirius took off in a run to join your little makeshift picnic.

Remus almost felt bad for the interruption of what was likely a very peaceful sanctuary you had built for yourself. But knowing you, you’d be just as happy to have them join you.

Your smile at Sirius’ form as he made it to your blanket let Remus know he was quite right in his prediction.

“Hi Siri!” You greeted tranquilly, causing James to let out a small breath of awe as he all but dragged Remus the rest of the way over to you. 

“Hey Angel!” James called to you as Remus offered you an apologetic smile turned grimace. 

“Do you mind if we join you?” Remus had the grace to ask.

“Of course not; I’d love it if you did.” You responded quickly, shifting over to make room for them all on your blanket.

“Of course you’d be so gracious; our sweet girl.” Sirius cooed at you, but as he went to pull you towards him by your shoulders, he let out an embarrassing shriek as he launched himself away from you. 

“Godric’s saggy balls, Pads; what is the problem?” James asked bemusedly as he took over Sirius’ now vacated spot beside you.

“She’s got a sodding snake in her hair!” Sirius screeched as he pointed at you.

James’ head whipped back towards you to see that, sure enough, there was a medium sized snake seemingly almost curled up in your messy bun.

“Don’t move, Angel.” James said seriously as he stood carefully and brandished his wand. “I’ll get it off of you.”

“Oh, there’s no need, James. She’s very docile.” You said simply as if you hadn’t just scared the living daylights out of your boyfriends.

“Docile!?” Sirius bellowed at the same time as James questioned “she?” 

Remus smirked at his boyfriends’ theatrics, though felt momentarily ashamed he hadn’t realised you owned a snake, or…had a snake friend.

“Is she your pet, dove?” He asked finally, fighting the urge to grimace as the snake curled further around your bun and moved its head to sit at your temple. 

“Yes; her name is Tinkerbell.”

“Tinkerbell?!” James and Sirius chorused.

Remus chuckled at the boys letting their Pureblood show. “Like the fairy from Peter Pan?”

He was rewarded with a pleased smile as you moved your eyes back towards him. “Exactly.”

“How long have you been living with a snake?” Sirius asked severely, causing Remus to nudge him with his knee warningly.

“Barty got her for me for my birthday.” You responded simply.

“You’ve had that thing for months?” James asked, finally earning a swat from Remus.

“She’s not a thing, Jamie.” You gently chided, offering the snake your finger who wrapped her head around it reminding Remus of a cat rubbing up against their owner's leg. “I’m surprised you haven’t seen her before; she’s almost always with me.”

Sirius just let out another horrified squawk as Remus fought the urge to let out a full body shiver.

“You carry… Tinkerbell around with you often?” He queried carefully.

You hummed in acknowledgement as your hand fell back to your book. “She usually wraps around my elbow under my robes, but lately she’s enjoyed nesting in my hair. I think maybe now that it’s getting warmer, she likes to sit in the sun.”

“We really need to talk to Junior about gifting our Angel with dangerous animals.” James muttered quietly to Remus and Sirius as your attention turned towards the devil your best friend himself.

“Hi Treasure! Hi Tink!” Barty called you you; his voice raising an octave when greeting your reptilian friend.

Remus winced when he noticed a slightly larger snake hung casually over Juniors shoulders that seemed to be considering the group as they approached.

“Introducing your sweet girl to the boys?” He asked as he sat beside you on the blanket; speaking about your three boyfriends as if they weren’t there.

“Yes. I don’t think it’s gone particularly well, admittedly.” You responded serenely, reaching out to gently boop Barty’s snake’s nose with your finger. 

“It’s going fine.” Sirius argued; never willing to show signs of weakness in front of a Slytherin. 

Unfortunately for Sirius, Barty seemed to call his bluff. “You’re not afraid of a little old snake, are you Black?”

Sirius scoffed derisively. “I go to school with enough of them, don’t I?”

“Okay, why don’t you pet Mr. Smee here then?” Barty taunted, holding out his large reptilian friend to Sirius. “He won’t bite.” He promised with a Cheshire cat smile.

Sirius looked at Barty sceptically before his eyes nervously darted towards you. 

“Mr. Smee is very friendly, Siri.” You encouraged.

Sirius tried to smile at you before he returned his stormy eyes to Barty. “I don’t make it a habit of petting slimy animals, Junior.”

Barty scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “He’s not slimy, Black; he’s scaley.”

Seemingly pacified, Sirius reached out a cautious hand towards Mr. Smee.

Sirius made a garbled heaving sound as he slowly pulled his hand away from the snake's body where strings of slime connected his fingers to the reptile.

“He is slimy!”

“That’s because I soaked him in slime!” Barty cackled. “You’re so easy, Black. Gods, I should spend more time with the lot of you; this was fun.”

And with that, Barty stood from the blanket, kissed Tinkerbell on the head and then pressed one to your head as well before he skipped off.

“He’s a real menace.” James grumbled as Sirius transfigured a piece of paper into a paper towel and wiped at the slime on his fingers.

“I thought that was very brave of you, Sirius.” You praised him, and almost all of the contempt colouring Sirius’ face faded away as he looked at you lovingly.

“Thanks dolly.”

Thankfully, Tinkerbell remained content in your hair, and the boys remained content pretending there wasn’t a snake on their girlfriend’s head for the rest of the afternoon.

[ozzgin]

Hello, i’m back 😁.

I’m finaly going to ask you the 3 part of Yautja female reader raised on earth.

So reader had her first heat and she spend it with her yautja male. And suprise !!!! She’s pregnant !

Her mate want to take her to their home planet but reader becomes agressive when he tried and they all know the rule : you don’t fuck with pregnant yautja. No seriously, never do that.

And so the male see the way her family is really happy about this news and they help reader with her pregnancy and they fully support her. Which is suprising for our male yautja because usualy pregnant females yautja go on their pregnancy alone. And if you feel up for it, could you write about active labour : reader is having contractions for hours, she wants support and her mate ( males aren’t suppose to ne here for the labor ) and then the baby is here and everyone love this little buttle of joy.

Hope you have time for this resquest and thanks for reading this, bye.

Welcome back! The third part of the Predator saga has been requested by @avaleigh16 as well, so I’m tagging you as promised! :) Each Predator is written under the assumption that you’ve picked them as a partner with perhaps a little bit of reaction from the other suitors. Sorry for the delay!

Various Predators x Predator! Reader Headcanons: Mating

Featuring the four Predator types and their independent story if you’ve accepted them as your mate. Dealing with pregnancy and birth.

Part 1: Meeting

Part 2: Courting

Part 3: Mating

After a long and exhausting courting process from all these unexpected suitors, you’ve made your decision and chose your mate. Not only that, but consuming the new relationship has left you visibly pregnant. And the father is none other than…

Feral Predator

What a bizarre choice in the eyes of the other suitors. You’ve picked the foreigner of unknown origins, from the deserted plains of the opposing hemisphere. Two different Yautja species meeting and mating. What would the outcome be? Neither the Feral Predator nor you care much about genetics. He is much more interested in planning his new family unit, except you’re not as enthusiastic about leaving your caregivers behind. Surely you can’t expect to raise your children with these frail humans. They have no skill nor value to pass on to your offspring and there are no biological ties holding you back. He notices your increased aggression and would rather not press the matters further and compromise your health, at least for now. And while he is baffled by the strange customs of assisting you throughout your pregnancy, he can’t deny the enjoyment of being included. To your surprise, in your moments of required bed rest, you spot Feral Predator continuing your household tasks for the humans. He doesn’t agree with your choices, but he will respect them nevertheless. If the humans are this important to you, he can make the effort to tolerate them.

Elite Predator

Being on this pathetic planet hasn’t eroded your common sense it seems. You’ve made the right choice. All that’s left is returning to Yautja Prime, preferably before you have to carry a needy newborn around. His patience is running thin upon hearing your obstinate refusals. What could it be this time? Pregnancy hormones? Alas, he’d rather not fight you in this feral state. It’s not optimal, but right now there’s little room for protest. If you so desire, you can have your final stay with the little creatures. Although he’s not happy at all to witness them flocking to your aid whenever something is required. You can spot the Elite Predator sulking from a distance, following his part in the tradition and giving you space. His frown, however, only lasts until the first contractions. The small earthly creatures demand his presence. It is not commonly done, but then again, can he really miss the opportunity of attending the birth of his own offspring? It’s a comical sight, his tall frame towering over the gathered family, and you can’t help but chuckle between the labored breaths. You’ll deal with his moods later.

Fugitive Bad Blood

The Fugitive knew that despite all the disapproving eyes, you’d still pick him as your partner. You have the blood of your parents running through your veins. For how long were you planning on avoiding your nature, your very fate? Thankfully you’ve come to your senses, though he might need to shake the remaining doubt off of you with his own hands. Your attachment to these life forms is frankly annoying and he doesn’t mind making the choices for you. In fact, there’s no decision to make if you only have one option. He has already proven to you that anyone else besides him is a superfluous existence. He is your guarantee to survival and anything else your heart might desire. You have managed to keep him away from your family with distant promises of compliance once the suckling is here. As you approach the moment of birth, you can sense his excitement and anticipation. The tension is the air is thick, almost suffocating. You don’t doubt his loyalty to you. If only you could use it for the safety of your earthly parents instead.

Berserker

You choosing him as your partner was the best for everyone, really. He would’ve had no trouble hunting down his competition. You soon find out just how possessive and territorial the Berserker is when not even your family can approach you. Perhaps the pregnancy has caused him to be extra careful. Not only are you his mate, but the mother of his future sucklings, so he’s not taking any risks of a foreign presence outside his own. After all, why would you need anyone else but him? You can feel anger knotting inside your stomach, but fighting against the Berserker is not the wisest move. Even though he wouldn’t recklessly jeopardize his lineage. Most likely. Probably. You will have to do something soon, because he has expressed his intentions to leave this planet as soon as the birth happens. Naturally you’ll join him. There’s a long life ahead and he’s determined to keep you with him. Just what have you gotten yourself into?

[coochiequeens]

I don't like conservative "news" media like fox and this site but no one else is talking about how surrogacy gives pedos access to kids.

The fertility industry is handing designer babies over to men with zero vetting or scrutiny of their mental fitness or criminal history.

By KATY FAUST

Surrogacy is risky for children. Not just the risk of a primal wound via intentional birth mother separation. Not just the risk of identity struggles if their genetic mother is purchased from a catalog. Not just the risk of mother-hunger if they are raised in a home absent maternal love. 

Surrogacy puts children at risk for the worst kinds of abuse. 

That became glaringly obvious last month when YouTubers Shane Dawson and partner Ryan Adams announced the birth of twin boys. Dawson’s long history of sexualizing children is well-known and well-documented. Evie magazine detailed concerning incidents including Dawson pretending to masturbate while watching 11-year-old Willow Smith’s music video, referring to a 6-year-old fan as “kind of sexy,” justifying pedophilia as a mere “fetish,” typing “naked baby” in a child pornography search and remarking that the returns were “sexy,” and proclaiming, “I would rape all of you” when viewing a series of photos featuring young girls wearing his merchandise.

In one show, he instructed a 12-year-old to eat a “cocktail weenie” with the recognition that child molesters comprise a significant portion of his audience. Dawson and Adam have another 10 embryos in frozen storage should they decide they want a few more children around the house.

We hope no harm comes to the boys to whom Dawson and Adams have been granted (via surrogacy contract) parental rights. But other surrogate-born children were not so fortunate.

Contrary to what you may think, surrogacy isn’t just about helping infertile couples have babies. When we look at how surrogacy is actually practiced and promoted, we see surrogacy isn’t about babies, it’s about on-demand, designer babies shipped worldwide. And sometimes, those babies are shipped directly to child abusers.

We don’t know the raw numbers because, unlike organ donation, the medical wing of #BigFertility requires no tracking or follow-up of those who avail themselves of their services. (Apparently, there’s more concern about the survival of a kidney than a child.) And unlike adoption, which heavily vets and screens prospective parents and monitors the child post-placement, surrogate-born children are not known to social workers and often disappear across international borders.

Even when safeguards are in place, predators often go to great lengths to acquire children to abuse. In 2022, the country was horrified by the story of a suburban pedophile ring set up by two married men who raped and pimped out their adopted sons. 

That children created by a fertility industry with no mechanism (and no desire) to scrutinize intended parents for things like mental fitness, criminal records, or predatory history end up in the homes of dangerous adults should surprise no one.

Absent any kind of record-keeping or follow-up on these children, those of us who reject surrogacy on the grounds that it violates the rights of children, must piece together the risks when stories of child victimization emerge. 

These 5 Pedophiles Mail-Ordered Babies

Psychiatrist Jo Erik Brøyn held a high position in Norwegian social services responsible for child protection and was involved in several high-profile cases of child removal. He also acquired two boys through an Indian surrogate. In 2018, police discovered 20 years’ worth of child pornography in his possession — more than 20,000 images and 4,000 hours of videos — depicting child sexual abuse including “boys masturbating each other, fixed/sexualized violence against children, anal sex by men with boys or oral sex of children (including toddlers) on grown men.” He was sentenced to less than two years in prison. Some sources report that the boys have been returned to his care.

An unnamed German pedophile hired a Russian surrogate for €60,000 who birthed the baby in Greece. He then flew the child back to Germany. In 2020, a regional court found him guilty of child abuse and producing and possessing child pornography. His child was a subject of 16 of those cases between the ages of 2 and 3, and the defendant was in possession of 175,000 images of child pornography. He was sentenced to five years in prison. The child was removed from his custody. 

In 2013, Mark Newton and Peter Truong were convicted of subjecting their surrogate-born son to “the worst [pedophile] rings … if not the worst ring I’ve ever heard of,” according to one investigator. After paying a Russian surrogate $8,000 to carry the child, the pair began to violate the boy as a newborn.

“The abuse began just days after his birth and over six years the couple traveled the world, offering him up for sex with at least eight men, recording the abuse and uploading the footage to an international syndicate known as the Boy Lovers Network.” Police believe the pair created the boy through surrogacy “for the sole purpose of exploitation.” The child was removed from their custody, and the men are serving decades-long sentences.

During the height of the Indian surrogacy boom, it was revealed that an Israeli sex offender had procured a little girl via surrogacy. Had #BigFertility had any kind of vetting in place or required fingerprinting or simply character references, it would likely have been discovered that the man had spent 18 months in jail for sexually abusing young children under his supervision. The discovery shocked authorities in both India and Israel, but because they couldn’t prove that abuse had yet taken place, there was no ground to remove the girl from his custody. It did however validate India’s decision to ban single men and gay couples, who composed 30-50 percent of intended parents, from the Indian surrogacy market.

In 2014, intended parents Wendy and David Farnell commissioned twin surrogate children in Thailand, then a global hotspot for surrogacy. The little girl, Pipah, was healthy, but the little boy, Gammy, had serious medical issues as well as Down Syndrome. A scandal erupted when the couple took the little girl back to Australia but abandoned Gammy to be raised by the Thai surrogate.

It was then discovered that David had been jailed in the late 1990s for sexually molesting two girls under the age of 10, and was charged, convicted, and sentenced again in 1998 on six counts of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 13. When his criminal record was revealed and investigated, a judge determined there was “a low risk of harm if Pipah stays in that home,” and she remained in the care of Wendy and David until his death in 2020. The “Baby Gammy” case was one of several scandals that prompted the Thai government to ban commercial surrogacy altogether. 

Many of the above cases are older, the results of contracts that were drawn up when surrogacy was less common. Since then, the surrogacy industry has grown exponentially with a projected 1,000 percent increase by 2032. In addition, there are entire organizations devoted to delivering custom-ordered babies to men, none of which will have to submit to background checks or fingerprinting. So expect more cases of surrogate-born child exploitation in the coming years. 

Whether or not the child ends up abused, whether it’s paid or altruistic, whether it’s traditional or gestational, and regardless of the intended parent’s household composition, surrogacy always violates the rights of the child. It is not a problem that can be solved through regulation. The only way to protect children is to ban surrogacy worldwide.

[falling-heights]

Ascended Astarion/Tiefling!Tav Pt. 3

Summary: You confront Astarion, and he reveals his plans

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Warnings: Astarion is a manipulative little shit, demeaning words and actions, power dynamics, gaslighting, abusive behavior. Not a happy chapter.

He did not respond at first, eyes lowering as he pondered something. After a few moments however, his smile returned, devilish enough to be mistaken for one, if not for the lack of horns. He mused to himself as he looked down at you, admiring the ensemble you had put on for him, seemingly pleased with it. He released his hold, beckoning you to follow him as he made his way back to the mahogany desk.

"Come sit, a poor thing like you must be exhausted from all that trifling chatter," His tone was patronizing, belittling. You hesitated to comply, causing his head to tilt once more. His smile faltered for a moment, becoming annoyed before the flash of his teeth returned. "My dearest, I'm afraid I haven't got the time for idle gossip. Unless, of course, you're too desperately lonely tonight to stand being unattended. I can fetch one of the spawn to indulge in-"

"I'm not..." You cut him off, laughing in disbelief, appalled at the thought. You remained where you stood, much to Astarion's displeasure. You were somewhat angry now, much of your hesitancy gone, allowing the words to slip out without much thought. "Speak honestly, am I so easy to brush off to you? That you would rather hand me off to one of your servants than treat me as your own?"

"Don't be stupid, my pet," His voice lowered dangerously, like a warning that you should tread carefully. His words sounded poisonous, laced with false sweetness. "You should be more grateful for what I've given you. We are so close to taking this city for our own, and yet you stand here to demand more of me? Tell me, then, what more can I give you? What more shall you demand until you are satisfied?"

You didn't respond, knowing it would further waste your time. You inhaled sharply, keeping your head held high. Red eyes watching your every move, narrowed and irate. You were dealing with a predator instead of your dear partner.

There was something about submission that seemed to give him purpose, as though he sought to exhort it in everyone he ever met. A part of you knew it would be easily to simply surrender yourself to him, but you would not bend so easily to him. If you could deny yourself your inheritance, reject the very blood that conceived you, you could just as well resist a vampire ascendent's temptation.

Denying Bhaal, denying your Urge, killing Orin, all of it allowed you to begin a new life, free from any sort of expectation. A life you had once hoped could have been shared with the one you chose to love. However, you would not allow yourself to repeat the cycle of control. If your lover sought to dominate you rather than play an equal part in your life, then you would simply continue it without him.

His eyes wondered for a moment, reading your face before again scrutinizing your figure. Finally, he sighed, lips twisting into a knowing grin.

"Darling, you taunt me so cruelly," His attention turned away from you to his desk. Various papers and documents were scattered in a messy, yet organized manner. Trade deals, guilds contracts, events within the city. He was networking, garnering trust amongst the most influential parties, securing his seat amongst them. There were very few times he actually allowed you to look through the various annals, though that did not stop you from allowing yourself access every now and again. Manners were kept to a degree, if nothing more than to respect his privacy, but his need to keep his ordeals a secret made you question his intent.

"You might find this particular arrangement interesting," Astarion sifted through the stacks of sheets, leafing through them looking for something specific. He hummed as he found what he was looking for, raising a singular slip of paper, holding it out to you, though demanding that you approach to take it. You obliged, approaching him quietly to take it from his hand. You gave him a cautious look before grasping the paper. Confusion washed through you as you read the scrawled words.

"What is this?" Various names of well-known patrons were written on the page, along with every asset they owned. Brothels, bank vaults, ship ports, temples, every shop and trade that they sponsored; all neatly arranged and documented, with the value of each labeled. You looked up at him for an explanation, but he looked expectantly, waiting for you to continue reading. One particular location stood out to you above everything else: the House of Grief. The Sharran temple had remained barren since it was decimated by your companions.

"This, little gem, is the final motion," He gently took the paper from your hands before you were allowed to look at it any further. His hand lifted to play with your hair, seemingly engrossed in its silkiness. "I've been tracking the ventures of our dear friends in the upper city. Every coin they bleed from this city, every person they commission, every inch of property they've acquired. I can place each and every name by its worth into a single number."

He positioned himself behind you, pulling your waist against his, and wrapping his arms around your torso in a tight embrace. Proximity to him felt alien compared to anyone else. He was never warm, physically. Sometimes it felt like being pressed against a stone wall.

"I told you we were close…" He brought a hand up to caress your neck so delicately. "Tell me, my dear, who do you think has the most influence over this city?"

"Whoever controls the most resources," A ripple of goosebumps erupted from his frigid touch as you spoke quietly. "And whoever has the most connections."

"Good girl," He leaned down to kiss your neck lightly. He pulled away after a singular peck, placed knowingly against a spot he once loved to suckle. His voice was low. "You've always been a clever little soul."

He released you then, suddenly, as though nothing had happened to begin with. It left you frazzled, nervous. He was teasing you, it was more than obvious, but it was working all the same. How bitter it felt to still crave the touch from something that left you feeling scorned. As though his fingers bled into you like daggers, and you wished for it all the same.

"Not far from now, I shall invite each name on this list to celebrate a newfound partnership, or sorts," He held up the paper once more, an uncouth look in his eyes. More hungry and eager than you had seen in a long while. "I will gift them what every slimy little pig with coin dreams of, and we shall reap upon their fortunes together, my love."

"You're going to turn them?" The response to his plan sounded more condemning than you intended, but it didn't match the confoundment you felt. "You're going to turn the most egomaniacal, power-hungry people in this city into spawn? Are you mad?"

"Oh come now, this is quite tactful," He laid out more documents, revealing contract after contract that would essentially give him dictatorship over each and every resource within the city. From agriculture, black markets, commerce of industrial goods, even to the guilds. All of it would be under his control. He wasn't just going to stop there, you realized. Guilds had little influence aside from corruption and intimidation. It would take him years to make enough spawn if he wanted to overthrow the any sort of established order. But if he hired Nine-Fingers to provide him arms, then he wouldn't have to wait at all. "You couldn't possibly have expected me to enter this game fairly, did you? Did you want me to wait another hundred years so I could slowly do what I can do now in a single night?"

"What about the Flaming Fist?" You asked earnestly. "You can't seriously expect Duke Ravengard to give you sovereignty?"

"You have far more faith in the stability of the Duke and his infantry. He is simply another wrinkle that needs ironing out if this is to go smoothly," Astarion seemed indifferent to it all, musing to himself as though he were excited to see its downfall. "The Duke has been replaced before, I'm sure you remember it well. You helped in it after all, even if you can't remember."

Your nose wrinkled at his remark. He should know better than to bring up that time, as though your past actions didn't haunt you any less then than they did now.

"I do not plan to fail where Gortash did, however. He had the support of the public, but nothing with structure. I, on the other hand, will have every significant figure at my disposal," He discarded everything back onto the table, leaning over it calmly. "I think it will all be rather easy, in the end."

"You're going to overthrow the entire system? The Duke?"

"Well, I would like to try and persuade him first," He mused, relishing at the thought. "But, I suppose that's a simpler way of phrasing it."

"You're not being serious," You looked at him with wide eyes, almost wanting to laugh at the mere idea. "Do you understand how much dissension that would cause? You intend to unseat not only the Duke of the city, but Wyll's father? What is he meant to do?"

"Dear Wyll has poor taste in companions. He always has, I'm afraid," Astarion examined his nails, cleaning what little dirt may be beneath them. "His own folly will not stop me from claiming what is owed. In fact, I just had a thought-- he would make for a most delicious steward, don't you think-"

You were quick to descend your rage upon him, raising your hand to lay a singular unbending strike across his virtuous face. Your head shook with fury, nose scrunched further in disgust. His head twisted upon the impact, surprise riddled all over his gorgeous face.

"He was your friend. They all were, how can you talk about any of them like that?" You hissed, craning your neck up at him. When his head finally returned to meet yours, a furious hatred gleamed within his eyes, hotter than the hells. His teeth glistened upon the grimace that twisted his features. You sighed, finding that your distress was not waning. "I don't know what I expected from you when you promised me the city. I was too naïve to take you that seriously, too blinded to see what would happen to you in that pursuit."

"I don't need to take take this from the likes of you," He stood straight, gaining advantage over you in height alone, and towering over you. His shadow obscured every inch of your figure, and in his shade, you were consumed. However, you ignored him, continuing to prattle your convictions like a saint.

"We've both changed so much since we came back to this city," You started, shaking your head, looking at him indignantly. You should have known better, it would have been much easier to have just left without a word. To have never started a scene, but you wanted closure. You wanted to ensure there was no chance that you would willingly return to the man before you. "You're cold, distant. You regard me with the same affection your spawn. You promise me everything except yourself. I hardly recognize you anymore. Not since Cazador--"

"Do not speak that creature's name." When he moved, you did not know, but it was quick and silent. One hand immediately latched onto your jaw, bruisingly tight, the other around your horn, much like a handle, holding your head in place. You tried to pull away instinctually, but his fingers curled around one of your horns, painfully straining your neck and pulling you back into place. The duress in his words sent goosebumps along your spine, and your voice caught in your throat. "That worthless memory should die like everything else that's in the past. You know better than that to test me, my heart."

"What is this even worth to you now?" Your voice was hushed, but angry. You held firm onto your resolve, if only dwarfed by his unnatural strength. "You said this wouldn't change you. It wouldn't change anything between us. You made a promise."

"I promised to give you everything, and nothing less. And just as I'm close to manifesting that, you have doubts?" Astarion's pull on your horns tightened, and he ignored the cry you produced in response. "You're fate is mine to decide. You made your choices, rejected your heritage, left all of it behind. What else do you have left but me?"

You lashed at him with your nails, trying to free yourself from his grip like a cornered animal. He ignored your cries of anger, only tightening his grip the more you struggled.

"No one cares about you like I do, love." Your whimpers melded into shallow sobs as his words bit into your heart. There were many emotions melding into your whole being. Hatred, fear, and in some sick masochistic manner, the love that still lingered. He hushed you quietly, pulling you into his arms once you stopped resisting his hold. His hand cradled your head as you clung onto his sleeves desperately. "You're lucky I chose you to be my consort. Who else would put up with your antics?"

In a moment of clarity, your sobs ceased, and you gazed up at him, finding his eyes to be all too passive.

"I think it would have been better to have killed you than to witness what you have evolved into," His hold stiffened, put off by the detached tone in your voice. "And yet I cannot let go, and your hubris is my undoing. Why do you think I put up with this torment?"

Your lips trembled, emotions finally catching up to your words as all of it welled up in your eyes. Your tongue clicked as a hurt gasp escaped your lungs, knowing this was the end of it all.

"I can't believe how stupid I was, thinking you would do anything but lie your way through everything," You shoved him away, gathering yourself once more, looking upon the disconcerted vampire with a passive sort of anguish. As though once again visiting the grave of someone once important. "This is nothing more than a sick perversion. I won't allow myself to be subjugated by you any longer."

You turned, leaving him in silence, keeping your resolve until you were far enough to be away from his eyes. They burned into you like hot coals with each step as you exited the study. Though you did not glance back. You would not give him the pleasure of seeing you cry again. However, you did not stop the tears from falling once you were safely distant from his presence. Disappointment mingled with the torture of it all. A small, pathetic little part of you still hoped that he would chase after you, apologize, and promise to make it all better. But no footsteps followed you down the halls. Nothing gripped you by the shoulders to turn you around as you made it all the way into the palace's kitchen. Where Moira stood solemnly, bag laid by her feet, quarterstaff in one hand, and cloak in the other.

You paused for a moment to look at her, thinking of all the lonely moments she had replaced with her company. She was not a friend, but something else. If nothing more, she was a reminder that you deserved more than what you were given, and for that you were grateful. You would have liked to thank her properly one day, but you doubted that you would ever see her again. She did not regard you with words, rather, she simply bowed her head as you wrapped yourself in the warmth of the cloak, knowing the truth as much as you. Instead, a moment of communal silence was shared, of respect for one another.

You stooped down to grasp the handles of the bag, hoisting it onto your shoulders, and exiting the palace through the servant's entrance. This forsaken place was behind you as soon as the air hit your face, now nothing more than a bad memory in hindsight.

Letting out a sniffle, you made your way into the dark streets of the city.

Now, your only concern was finding a warm place to sleep.

[kingschclar]

KINKTOBER DAY EIGHT — sensory deprivation with jack howl

contains :: gn!reader, dom!reader, sub!jack, aged up characters, reader and jack implied to be in a long distance relationship + implied to be lifelong partners, blindfolding, a hint of predator/prey, dry humping, nipple play

a/n !! — i’m sorry if it sounds kinda weird tumblr did not save my first drafts and i had to redo the whole thing while almost crying. this is also shorter than the first prompt because i was about to break down

kinktober mlist !!

Jack’s ears twitched as he listened to the soft ruffling of the sheets beneath him. You were waiting patiently — for what, he didn’t know — and it reminded him of a predator stalking its prey. The thought made him shiver in anticipation.

It has been a while since your graduation from Night Raven College, which was the last time he saw you. He tried not to miss you too much. It wasn’t too bad, considering you both had each others numbers and would text throughout the day, but it still doesn’t beat seeing you in person.

As soon as his eyes met yours, he pulled you into his arms, kissing you softly as he basked in your presence. He just so happened to get hard as you were cuddling on the couch, and you just so happened to have the idea to blindfold him.

The situation unfolded the way it did, leading to this moment.

Jack snapped back into the present as he felt your feather-light touch on his abdomen, muscles contracting for a second as he let out a breath. You were finally touching him. He wouldn’t ever admit it, but he was getting a little desperate to finally feel your skin against his.

You moved your fingertips higher and higher, letting Jack wait for a moment before starting to rub at his nipples, already hardened due to the cold. He sighed softly as he leaned his head back further, ears twitching once again as he tried to listen for your movements. You moved as quietly as you could, although you were almost certain that he’d picked up on the ruffling of the sheets. Straddling his waist, you continued your ministrations. You leaned in, making sure he could feel the warmth of your skin getting closer but not touching, just to tease a little. He knew better than to move toward you.

Deciding that he’d been good, you finally latched your lips around his other nipple, running your tongue over the bud as Jack let out a sharp gasp, fingers twitching before finding purchase on one of the pillows beside him. Due to his lack of sight, everything you did was a surprise to him. It also heightened all of his other senses, making him more sensitive than he’d normally be.

After some time, Jack thrusted up into you softly, letting out a sound almost akin to a whine as he threw you a little off balance. He felt your hands come to rest on his shoulders and shuddered, gulping.

“Sorry..” he muttered, relaxing a little when he heard you chuckle.

“Missed me that much, hm?” You teased, leaning in to press your forehead against his. Jack huffed, almost indignantly.

“Of course, that shouldn’t even be a question.” You finally close the gap between your lips, kissing him much deeper and harder than before. Jack gasped, hands slowly moving up to your waist. Seeing as you didn’t say anything to it, he let himself grip onto your hips, pulling you in closer as he thrusted up into you again.

You moaned against him, hands now tangled in his hair as you ground down on him, the both of you quickly settling into a rhythm as your sounds filled the room.

“L-Love,” he rasped out. “Can you take off the blindfold? Please?” He added, not missing a beat. You grinned. Even after a few months of not seeing each other, he was still such a good boy for you. “I… want to see you when I c-cum,” he sounded desperate, ears folding backwards as the hands on your hips shook. Oh, he was so very close. You struggled to untie the knot as you moved on top of him, but the moment you did, his eyes widened. You saw his pupils dilate as he fought to keep his eyes open, trembling almost harshly as he came, the pleasurable sensation pulsing through him. You felt the knot in your lower body snap right after, clinging onto him tightly as you both rode out your orgasms. Jack wrapped his arms around your waist, making you more safe and secure than ever.

“Hey, Jack,” you called out, and he hummed. “Did you cum from seeing me?” You waited for a response but got none. Well, his almost-nervous gaze and slightly wagging tail told you enough either way. “No need to be shy about it, big guy,” you teased, snickering as he grumbled.

“I mean,” he mumbled into your skin. “It’s the face I’m gonna see for the rest of my life… It’d only be natural…” You laughed at how shy he was acting for someone claiming that it was natural.

“We can wash up first, then continue what we were doing before if you’d like?” You asked, and he nodded.

“Missed you so much.”

[xenoblademisadventures]

Xenoblade X poll answers

Elma is a xeno, a BLADE, and a Xenoblade (Monado)

This is incorrect. Elma is a xeno and a BLADE, but she is not canonically related to the Monado. That said, I really would not be surprised if that was an intended plot twist considering that she shares the same color pallet as the damn thing. Furthermore, interesting how Elma somehow knew the earth would be blown up in a skirmish 30 years in advance. There’s other stuff I could say in evidence to this theory, but this isn’t a post about my crack Elma theories, so we’ll leave it at that.

Some other fun information around this idea. In an early trailer for X, BLADE was referred to as “Beyond the Logos Artificial Destiny Emancipator,” though in the final version the acronym is “Builders of a Legacy After the Destruction of Earth.” Elma also has concept art featuring a Core Crystal. 

This doesn’t support any theory because it’s concept art, but it’s an interesting piece of trivia. 

there is an enemy type that reproduces by firing its sperm into orbit

it’s these guys. what a meme of an enemy. dudes just stand there and then turn into a palm tree abomination that one-shots you. I think the guy in Cauldros is the funnies of men. Like, imagine you’re just minding your business and then you get sniped from orbit by a palm tree of death. 

Every enemy type in the game has, like, a multi-paragraph essay, here’s what the Filiavent’s reads.

“The largest of all Miran mollusks, filiavents stay anchored to the ground, feeding on other creatures that come too close. To do so, they contract their lengthy bodies and then swallow their victims whole—along with everything else in the vicinity. All matter then enters the digestive tract, where it is liquefied by powerful acids.

Reproduction also takes place while anchored to the ground. On the night of a full moon, filiavents release a myriad of sperm and eggs into the atmosphere. While most are eaten by other creatures, one in a few thousand survives to be fertilized. Because infants have many predators due to their small size, few of them survive into adulthood—despite the presence of a defensive electrical discharge."

So, yeah, I’m not even exaggerating, these things do canonically reproduce by firing their sperm into orbit.

Samaarians were human, but not the humans you play as; they're functionally gods; this information was revealed during a random sidequest

I wanted to make this one a single option, but character limit. But yeah, Xenoblade X has a weird amount of major plot twists hidden behind random sidequests. This was just the largest one. The sidequest in question was a post-game quest called The Old Gods, where the God of the Zaruboggan is revealed to look like this.

The lore around the Samaarians is that they appeared when the universe was created and started creating a bunch of life, but they’re not benevolent. There are multiple canon slave races created by the Samaarians for that purpose and the humans we play as are implied to be close relatives to the Samaarians. Perhaps made in their image?

But yeah, that’s about the amount X actually reveals about the Samaarians. I imagine that the story was meant to tie into the Klaus arc, but there’s no way of knowing whether the original plans for X’s story contradict what the writers instead made for 2 and 3. 

Also, some of the other major plot twists given by random sidequests include: 

the protagonist is heavily implied to secretly not be a human, the term used is J-Body, but we’re never given insight on what that actually means. The party member Yelv is also a J-Body. This is revealed during Yelv’s Partner.

The White Whale was communicating with some other ships during its 2 year voyage. These ships cannot have been human ships because no one is aware of the existence of fellow surviving humans. This is revealed during White Lifehold. 

Once something gets stuck on Mira, it is impossible to leave. This is revealed by Professor B during his sidequest chain and it is also alluded to by Goetia during Chapter 6.

There was a species of Giants that existed in Cauldros but they were wiped out, most likely, by Yggralith Zero and the Ganglion built their fortress over the ruins of that civilization. All information pertaining to the giants is told through item descriptions in the collectopedia.

There’s also this entire sidequest chain around the Definians, which are a race of shape-shifters controlled by a robot that have controlled species since the dawn of the universe where you overthrow their leader. You kind of just kill a god off-screen in a sidequest, very. 

one of the alien races is from Bionis, this species is not the Nopon

True. The Orpheans are reliant on this virus called the Ovah, which guides their decision making and is connected to their reproduction. In the sidequest A Fateful Choice, it’s revealed that the Ovah came from a world predating the Orpheans. That world was shared with the Telethia where “the Ovah existed as a single entity floating in the ocean of another world.” So, while the name “Bionis” is never given, it’s heavily implied. Furthermore the Telethia is referred to as “the Ruler of Fates” and “the Endbringer,” which are both noteworthy. In the sidequest, the Telethia is compared to a God and is feared by the Ovah. 

The sidequest also involves someone getting eaten by the Telethia and receiving a vision of the past.

The Nopon in X are given zero ties to the Xenoblade universe. The closest we get is a sidequest where two Nopon look for the Sword of Legendaryness, which looks like this.

This is pretty obviously meant to be a goofy reference rather than a serious piece of lore. The item description reads “A legendary sword left behind by ancient Nopon. When the mysterious lettering on the hilt lights up, it gives one the feeling of being able to use special powers.” But I figured it was noteworthy.

the second strongest enemy is known for destroying worlds; unrelated to Earth

True. This would be Pharsis the Everqueen, which is level 98. The strongest enemy is Telethia the Endbringer, which is level 99. This is the Yggralith enemy index entry.

"Hailing from the depths of outer space, these creatures can strip away the ether from entire regions before storing it in their dorsal spines to facilitate interstellar travel. Any unlucky inhabitants of planets they encounter are also devoured down to the very last organism. When this destructive rampage is finished, they set off in search of the next planet.

Though rare, Yggralith do at times come in contact with one another. The ensuing battles spell doom for any planet unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity."

So, yeah, these guys do destroy worlds. There are three yggraliths in the game. They are no relationship to the Ghosts or Ganglion, which were responsible for blowing up the earth. Pharsis is just vibing. I’m pretty sure it’s an infant.

the Ganglion got stuck on Mira before the humans did

In Chapter 6, we learn from Goetia that the Ganglion were transported to Mira by some light, they are trapped on Mira, and that Luxaar believes the Samaarian homeland could be related to Mira. The protagonists assume the Ganglion followed humans, but they are never corrected. Also, it’s important to note that the aliens responsible for crashing the White Whale onto Mira were the Ghosts, which were the faction that the Ganglion were fighting against.

the Bionis and Mechonis make an appearance in the collectopedia

True. The item in question is called the Privative Colossus Statue. It’s found in Noctilum near the Divine Roost (where the Telethia live). 

There they are. Beating the shit out of each other. The item description reads:

“A pair of gigantic stone idols locked in combat. No one is sure who sculpted them or gave them their name, but their primal beauty often leaves a deep impression on those who stand before them.”

Also, related to this, there’s a collectible that’s literally just an ether furnace called the Lost Memory Synthesizer.

“A machine to fuse crystals that conceal some sort of energy. The problem is, said crystals don't seem to exist. Upon realizing its uselessness, the Harrier Sara-Ariel named it in disappointment.”

But yeah, the Bionis and Mechonis do make a cameo.

humans are not classified as humanoids in the enemy index

instead, they’re classified as Mechanoids because everyone’s in a robot body. 

there is a sidequest where you can kill an NPC by telling them to take a shower

true. for some reason all the sidequests around the water plant are fucked up. But yeah, the sidequest is called Lakeside Getaway. An NPC is mad that her coworkers have stopped contacting her and then you learn that they all died because of an enemy that did an Alien. You can kill an NPC by telling them to take a shower because the monsters hatch from water-related things. So, if you let the NPC shower, this happens.

Fantastic.

[doing-something-unholy]

I hate having to bleed once a month :(

Im gonna think abt Monsignor Pruitt being a freak(affectionate) abt it to make myself feel better 🥴

This turned into a fic oops

Cw blood, period sex, mild dubcon/cnc?

———

Like if I happened to be working nearby, in the church or the rectory, he could probably smell the blood, it'd drive him crazy not knowing where it was coming from. Until I take a break, settled on the couch with a mug of tea and he is just staring from his desk, his head whipped up the instant the smell hit him.

He's a little concerned that I've apparently been bleeding all day until the penny drops. But God help him that scent has been driving him wild, and he's hungry. The exact source of the blood doesn't really matter to him, and if I'm bleeding anyway, it'd be a waste not to...

Father Pruitt gets up from his desk very slowly, moving towards me with the silent grace of a predator locked on it's prey. I jump when his hands land on my shoulders, luckily my tea is almost empty at this point. He takes the mug gently out of my hands and puts it aside, and before I can complain he's on his knees in front of me. The sight makes my protest die in my throat.

His eyes are shining, golden pupils blown wide as his hands part my knees. He's staring at me so intently, watching the blush rise in my cheeks as he hooks his fingers in my waistband and pulls down.

Father Pruitt only says one thing. He can smell it. He leaves the implications there as he bares my lower half and leans in, taking a deep breath. He'd normally like to draw this out, treat his partner gently, with a little romance, but he's starving. He dives his tongue in and moans at the combination of blood and arousal. He's already enthusiastic about eating out, but making it literal like this makes him downright feral. It certainly takes my mind off the soreness and cramps, just holding on to the arm of the couch and his hair for dear life, trying to stifle the noises I'm making.

He's holding my thighs open, so much stronger than he looks since being brought back, leaving brusies shaped like his fingertips. He's so relentless and I can't squirm away from the fierce attention, it's not long before I'm cumming in his mouth. Father Pruitt is delighted to realise the muscle contractions push more blood out, so his new goal is getting me to cum over and over so he can drink as much as possible from me.

The overstimulation is almost too much to handle, I'm damn near crying from how it's so good it hurts, but Father Pruitt won't let go or stop until he's done with me, determined to get every drop.

It's not until I give in and go limp under his brusing grip and relentless mouth, submitting to the pleasure, that he shows mercy. Though it might have more to do with him simply running out of blood and needing to breathe. He pulls back panting and entirely too smug. He wipes his face clean and leans up to kiss me, whispering praises and telling me how good I was for him, so obedient, so generous to sacrifice my comfort for his nourishment. Gently holding me until I can stop shaking from the too-many-orgasms, and making sure I'm okay, helping me get dressed again and letting me rest curled in his arms until he has to go to mass. ❤️

...that got long haha whoops. Do i dare tag the main fandom tags? I think i do 😏

[moregraceful]

NASHVILLE PREDATORS SIGNED MY BOY JASPER WEATHERBY!!!! 2 WAY CONTRACT!!!!!!

preds fans do you want a vibe check….frankly he’s probably going to spend most if not all of the season in the AHL, but he’s one of my all time favorite fringe ahl locker room guys that has ever graced the Barracuda organization in my time here in hell dot ca dot gov (…2 years) so i GOTTA hype my guy

1. his parents are progressive hippies. his grandparents are civil rights lawyers — his grandma marched in Selma and his grandpa worked for the ACLU (his grandpa is Jewish and his family left Britain during WWII and moved to the states and this left such a huge impact on the family’s politics over all.) in the NCAA in North Dakota, he knelt for the anthem!! He has a black brother who was adopted from Costa Rica. He gets it. He did not kneel for the anthem in AHL or NHL but when you’re a fringe player at best and your call-ups are basically determined by how many franchise players have covid at any given moment, you can’t really risk the kind of attention kneeling would bring 😩 he’s like pedigree hockey moron who was raised in a progressive-leftist family who has been challenged again and again from birth to look more critically race in the US. we love to see it!!

2. Also a gay ally….he was on the Sharks’ beat lone podcast last year during June and the interviewer ended the interview with like, hey do you have anything you’d like to say or any people you’d like to shout out and he was like well, “a big thing on my mind is that it’s Pride Month” (direct quote) and he talked about how he’s glad to see NHL and junior clubs celebrating pride. Jasper Weatherby loves the gays really for real

3. Huge locker room guy. HUGE locker room guy. I have seen the Barracuda on double-digit loss streaks and like that was BAD but like…I mean we had an 8 game losing streak last winter, I have still never seen the team as depressed as they were when Jasper got traded (for my beloved Crisco, noted bisexual/bisexual ally, who, being a vibes guy himself, immediately went on a hatty watch to cheer them up). apparently some of the guys were BONKERS upset but none more than our number one prospect William Eklund, for whom Weatherby was the golden retriever to his cheetah threatening to go crazy in his enclosure, and who, first game post-Jasper trade, I watched play with increasing concern for his mental stability

4. I am not making this a great hits of the William Eklund/Jasper Weatherby story or this post will devolve into chaos, however, I will note that the young guys on the Cuda seemed to have an attitude of like that’s WEATHER we LOVE him and generally seemed to treat him as their emotional support dog. The one thing I will say about William Eklund (Swedish first rounder) is that the kid showed up at prospect camp right out of the gate and Jasper apparently ID’d him as…idk kid who needed a touch of home, so he. took Eklund to ikea. Hello small Swedish teenager, you look nervous would you like to go to Ikea?? And William was in love with him from that moment on. So hopefully that kind of maternal touch carries on in Nashville or Milwaukee, where he just tries hard to make the young guys feel comfortable and at home. (The guys also loved his dog, whose name is Larry.)

5. Generally just kind of goofy and protective. Usually has a big smile. On ice, one time I was eavesdropping on the season ticket holders sitting behind me while he was on the power play and one of them mused “there’s Jasper in front of the net…he’s such a distraction” and his partner said “he really is.” Big boy is 6’3 and generally just. huge. Despite his size, usually you don’t have to worry about him doing particularly stupid shit but in one of the most iconic days in San Jose Barracuda history last year, he started a line brawl PRE-WHISTLE and eight players got game misconducts before the game even started and our head coach got fined like $25k. the best part is NO ONE outside of the team knows what happened, the team closed ranks and coaching staff refused to comment on it to media. Jasper, notably one of the calmest guys on the team, just went apeshit one day. And us the fanbase just went well, if Jasper was mad he probably had a good reason.

I think he probably destined to be career AHLer and you likely won’t see him in Nashville for his whole career unless some kind of disaster befalls Nashville’s NHL locker room and/or front office this year, however I am really excited that he landed somewhere because I was worried!! And I’m glad he landed in Nashville because the vibes are on the move!! if he ends up in a locker room with Luke Prokop, it’s going to be a gays-only event. (Also going to very funny. Prokop is taller than Jasper and can certainly take care of himself, but big brother Jasper Weatherby will be READY to HELP if Luke needs a grocery store buddy.) If he ends up in a locker room with Luke Prokop and Tyson Barrie and Roman Josi….first of all catch me cryin in the club if he makes it to the NHL again, second of all, it will be the most aggressively queer and queer-allied locker room. I love him. I miss him so much. I hope he goes full protective big brother on Luke in Milwaukee, because it will be inCREDIBLY funny to watch a 6’3 dude be the emotional support golden retriever for a 6’5 dude.

[thecatfight2023]

mini-bracket 4, match 6

Meowstic (Pokémon): "The eye-like organs hidden under the fold of Meowstic's ears emit psychic energy powerful enough to obliterate a 10-ton truck or tanker into dust. It usually keeps its ears folded at all times in order to keep this power in check, but it will unleash this power if threatened. Male Meowstic have a strong defensive instinct as they are willing to use their full power to protect themselves or their partners. Female Meowstic are known to be more selfish and aversive than their male counterparts. Should the female Meowstic not get what it wants, it will torment anyone with its psychic abilities. Part of a female Meowstic's charm is its unfriendly nature."

Shinx (Pokémon): "Electricity is produced by the extension and contraction of muscles in Shinx's forelegs, which causes this Pokémon's fur to glow. If it senses danger, its fur can gleam brightly to blind predators so it can flee. Excited trembling is a sign that Shinx is generating tremendous amounts of electricity. It can send signals to other Shinx by shining the tip of its tail and shaking it. It has an aggressive nature; thus, taming a Shinx is said to take great patience."

[stackslip]

its actually good that the anime has been making me rethink himeno bc theres been more discourse around her (including some genuine poor taste ones about her and makima doing a "groom-off") and i genuinely didnt feel strogky enugh about her to really care. but with the recent ep + a quick reread of her chapters she reads as neither an angel nor as a toxic predator but rather as v similar to misato nge to me. as in like, shes someone who is very clearly deeply traumatized, who has a poor sense of boundaries in general in part bc of that trauma, and who was handed this teenage boy as a partner to eventually lose but instead he lived. it's very clear to me that while shes not what id call actively predatory, she does have some massive issuss in how she treats aki and then denji–i dont think shes been grooming aki, as grooming is a process and one that requires actual thought and planning, while himeno is like...... her romantic interest in aki is creepy but he is in his early ywenties by the time shes seriously considering courting him. and with denji its not a process either, rather a series of pisspoor decisions coupled with spcietal expectations that it isnt bad for an older woman to act inappropriately with a teenage boy.

tbc this isnt defending her or saying shes just a poor soul nlah blah quite the contrary, theres a reason i compare her to misato. your mileage can vary on what to call her or what words to use to describe her actions, but they are at the very very least deeply inappropriate and creepy. and like, its important to think of why shes like this and what her actions mean in the larger context of chainsaw man's exploration of abuse and power dynamics. she is, again, deeply traumatized and alone, and when aki shows all signs that hes going to live she puts a SHITTON on him and develops a really unhealthy relationship to him; even as a teen he seems more aware of appropriate boundaries than she is and has to learn to navigate their relationship in a far stricter manner than she does.

but its worth asking why they became partners in the first place–to question the environment of public safety. its not jsut that rookies die so easily, its that anybody can join as long as they have the will to 1) give up on their lives entirely to go adter the gun devil 2) make contracts that will cost them immensely. aki is a teen when he joins, hes lost his entire family and he's what public safety seeks–new blood, someone who'll disregard their safety for work, someone with no attachments. the buddy system is presented as being for safety reasons, but ngl i think its also to purposefully foster codependency and an active desire for vengeance when one buddy inevitably dies. public safety has tight regulations and a union and paid holidays and they are very okay with roping in vulnerable teenagers to their deaths or worse! how old was himeno when she joined? did she do it for the money for her fathers medicine? did anybody notice this backstory is revealed at the same time we learn kobeni was forced by her family to join public safety? at the same time its made clear that power and denji have absolutely no agency in this situation?

i think...... himeno is, at best, deeply irresponsible and lax on boundaries and has a real peoblem with using teenage boys as emotional crutches. at worse she assumes none of her behaviour could ever be genuinely bad because shes an older woman and theyre all colleagues, haha hoohoo, and yeah that makes her a predatory creep. shes also incredibly tragic, and its ok to admit both these things coexist in her. she's another pawn that works at public safety, a resource to be consumed, the deaths around her and her trauma the fuel to her workplace motivation. and like, it says a lot that everyone is perfectly ok with her behaviour towards denji–theres obviously the societal perceptiom of that kind of dynamic (even as himeno herself is like oh shit thats illegal aint it), but also like.... relationships there are deeply skewed on purpose because death and suffering and fucked up hookups and the exploitation of vulnerable people–including teenagers–is so normalized. like what, you gonna call your adult colleague *predatory* for flirting with the their own teenage colleague who'll probably die a gruesome death any day bc thats just part of the job? you gonna talk about how its weird for your workplace acquaintance to be so intimate with their underage buddy when you're currently working with a 15 year old who is consumed by vengeance for their family and will either die within the year or stay as a fucked up husk of a person selling their every body part to save your life?

[reiketsunomizunomegami]

Alien vs Predator “Yautja reacting on my oc Jana Diamond”

Warning: Implied oc, some Fluff, Competition between the characters, Mention of blood and violence

Feat: Feral Predator, Wolf, Celtic, Scar, Chopper, Fugitive Predator, and Assassin Predator

Feral Predator

-At First he may think that Jana Diamond was same as the other human being he met

-But he's totally wrong. Feral will let out a terrifying roar at Her and to his shock Jana doesn't even move a muscle but instead laugh at him

-Feral will be amused and started to adore Jana from that time but if Course he will never admit that

-He may even fall in love with her and will start to court her in his ways. And about her power? Ohh man Feral will be more and more impressed and Amuse to her

-Because Jana can turn from a soft creature to a badass and cruel one if she had to do that, Even though she can Protect herself from anything Feral will still protect her from anything

Wolf

-He doesn't liked her at all

-Wolf first sees her when he hunts the hybrid Xenomorph one nigh and it happens that he came across Jana

-Even though Jana doesn't see him a Threat to him Then Wolf sees her as one and he will try to attack Jana only for him to fail

-but after a while Wolf will eventually get used to her and even tries to help her during her missions

-He doesn't liked when other guys approaches you because Wolf has his eyes on you already and he will slaughter every single creature will glance at you so good luck Jana

-Wolf doesn't like Hisoka when he gets all touchy with her

Celtic

-A Little bit of Competition from this two

-Jana and Celtic is like a very perfect combination of beverages and cake, they had a very common personality and when it comes on fighting Celtic was in awe as he Watches Jana moving Swiftly to end those peoples lives

-Celtic will liked her but he was very shy to tells her because he's afraid that Jana will only gave him a cold shoulder

-so Jana takes the first move and ask this big guy on a date and yes she will dare anyone to let out a bad comments about Celtic and if they did then they will experience the true meaning of Cruelty

-Celtic will really amaze that Jana was really famous and was being feared by everyone, but when he finally learned about he Dark past Celtic will be so sad about her and he'll be like so angry about her parents for not taking her of her better

-When Jana finally accepts him as her life-Partner Then Celtic will take her with him if she wants and live at the mothership together. Celtic were so loyal at her and as the sign of her loyalty Jana Gave her Contract to Celtic after they wed and before they shared a very First intimate moments together

Scar

-He loves Jana so Much

-Scar will start to doubt himself if he truly deserves someone like her in his life

-he will always be so amazed when he watches Jana transforming or doing some training

-Like Celtic, Scar will be so Angry about her past and how her toxic parents treated her like she's a toy that they can easily abandoned when they feel tired

Chopper

-at the First meeting Chopper think that she's super cool for a young Woman

-Like his brothers he will adore her from head to toe

-Chopper will boldly ask her if she wanted to be mated with him and of course Jana Nonchalantly decline his offer because she doesn't know him for a very long time

-And when they do My oc might be a little Impressed at Chopper's Hard works to get her attention at all cost

Fugitive Predator

-He'll be in the middle when he first met Jana

-Fugitive doesn't like her too much but he was very impressed about Jana's Ability and how she can end someone's lives in any second

-will also gladly to accompany her on her next mission and like Wolf Eh doesn't liked Hisoka when he's being all touchy with her

-He's very Jealous when it comes to other creatures around her

Assassin Predator

-Now Here's the Real problem

-He doesn't liked Jana and Jana doesn't liked him at all

-AP was a very dominant Yautja and he doesn't like that idea that Jana can take over his dominance

-He will try to Intimidate her but instantly fail because Jana doesn't even scared or feel Intimidated to him

-and if AP manages to fall with my Cold Girl he will try his best to shake it off because was so darn Stubborn about his own feelings

[moralitybog]

Freddie de Boer , who i often like, had a bad take about EA but it's too late for me to comment in a way anyone will read so I'm putting it here

(This comes off as more spicy about DEI and social justicethan maybe i endorse; i want DEI trainings i just take issue with them being the be all end all of politics and morality)

Bad take here: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/effective-altruism-has-a-novelty

“EA is politics, don’t get it twisted”

So I think this actually illustrates why exactly this piece misses the mark. My, perhaps limited, understanding of politics is that in politics you are working with, and for, people who you are choosing to ally yourself with in amending a shared social contract, with all the duties and benefits that that entails for all parties. EA is precisely “how do we think about ethics when the beings involved cannot do politics with us?”

Global health and poverty stuff–which is where my donation money generally goes!--is right on the border, because there are pretty compelling leftist reasons why you would want to distribute resources to the developing world outside of Peter Singer-style utility maximization. But even so, it is considered vaguely distasteful to give to third world charities in most political circles these days, and anyway, people dying of malaria aren’t running the DEI circles at our workplaces so we’re not “accountable” to them as a marginalized group. 

The long term future is even further from ordinary politics, we can’t invite unborn generations to the summit to discuss global warming or AI with us. If anyone is going to hold us accountable, it’s going to be people concerned about outcomes for their own children or grandchildren, which doesn’t seem great. And yet, if future generations matter at all morally–which I think they do!--then figuring out how to not fuck them over or stop them from existing is actually a huge deal. Animals–even further from being able to participate in politics, and of course even if they could build political structures a council of gazelles would likely not be in agreement with a council of lions. And yet again, if animals matter at all in and of themselves, if they are moral patients, then how we approach changes to our environment and to our agricultural system matters tremendously. I eat a vegan diet and am hoping to work in the emerging wild animal welfare field someday, so uh, you can guess how I feel about that.Saying we shouldn’t interfere in ecosystems is all well and good, but the reality is that we are already massively interfering in ecosystems all the time, completely remaking them in our image, and in discussions of re-introducing predators, or how to approach new research in pest management, or what to do about agricultural subsidies, if animals matter morally, then taking that seriously will mean doing a lot of analysis that is not currently happening. 

Beyond those considerations, I want to particularly drill on the animal issue because this is far from unique to EA–J. Baird Callicott published “A Triangular Affair” on the tension between animal rights and environmentalism in 1980, and this was already at the time a contentious topic in environmental ethics. But what learning about this tension teaches you is that there is indeed ideology, not just science, behind how we approach environmental conservation, discussions of biodiversity, etc, and we shouldn’t necessarily take the way these things have been approached already as being the obvious “scientific” choice. If EAs are unique, it’s just in that they are actually trying to figure out the questions that academic animal ethics has already gestured at for decades.

As a final note, I am not at all sure that most people are really trying to do the most good. Most people I know who give to charity give to organizations that are vaguely personally relevant–my in-laws give to the Catholic school their sons went to, and to the charity that my partner and I once worked with, with basically no research into anything else. People give to cancer charities because a relative died of cancer.  When I ride the train  in my EA sweatshirt, people sometimes approach me to ask what it is, and when I give my elevator pitch, often they say “but what if I just feel better about myself if I give to arts charities?” This all makes sense if charity is about building up your own community or act out of loyalty–i.e., it’s political–but again, EA as many approach it is the attempt to look outside of those considerations.

[a-wanderin-whirlybird]

This is gonna be purely self indulgent and that's that!

Invader Zim/Warframe crossover

(Please note I do not want any Warframe Spoilers! I've seen a few but I'm starting The Sacrifice quest soon as my Mirage Frame is back to max. Beware! If you are around Chains of Harrow or before there may be spoilers below!)

The Void is a weird thing right? You can get Void Fissures in the Void! This leads me to believe that the Void itself is a place between not just the worlds in the warframe universe, but other realities and dimensions, even other versions of the Void itself!

So what if during a mission during the Old War, a Couple Tenno ended up on irk? They land to the south in a tropical land near a much smaller Hive. Let's say, Volt, Mirage, and Octavia are the frames that land along with their tenno piloting them. (If it made sense I would have included Nidus too but the Infestation is not something I'm gonna touch on till later. Nidus was my first Prime!)

The hive: Simply called Home by the small community to reside there, they have a sickly Tallest

1. The Hive is heavily isolated in the center of a massive and highly dangerous jungle. If the predators don't get you, the plants or weather will. Many drones joke they only survived due to their green Thumbs.

2. The Hive's most common genetic mutations and appearances are muddy brown and green patterned skin and dull flower colored eyes. Their antenna are barely longer than a few inches in length, and long antena are seen as exotic. Bright leaf green skin with white vine and root like markings is very uncommon, but seen as incredibly beautiful.

3. Their Tallest at the time, during the early years of the second Era, was very sickly. Tallest Pop had contracted an immune system degenerative disease from an insect bite as a child. Many were surprised he survived to his current age. Pop is technology focused and desperately wishes to leave his hive with something positive to remember him by.

The Tenno: None of the tenno, when they first arrive, have the Post War Within Abilities as they arrive and get stranded during the midst of the Old War.

Volt: Volt's tenno is a mother Hen of a young man. He is always nagging his partners to take better care of themselves but never listens to his own advice. Tye often overworks himself and, to the surprise of the Orokin, has run his frame into a low power state. Tye loves his Kubrow Icarus or Icky for short. His name is Tye and he specializes in offensive guerrilla tactics. Tye is Wren's twin.

Mirage: Mira is Mirage's Tenno, She is blind outside her frame, and severely near sighted in Mirage. Mira often jokes about her eyesight and her frame ever has a device simular to glasses. She is the joking type and often jolly and positive in any situation. Loves plushies. Mira specializes in Stealth missions and Crowd control.

Octavia: Wren, Octavia's Tenno, is impulsive and reckless. They adore music and make a new song on their Mandachord every chance they get. A Punk rocker at heart, Wren does not like being ordered to do things, but listens to Tye more often than anyone else. Wren is Tye's twin and specializes in defense and distractions.

The full idea:

Sometime in the middle of Pop's reign in this tiny Hive Pop began a personal project with his favorite drones. All friends from his smeethood, the group of 4 sought to find away to safely and reliably through the jungle to initiate trade.

Their experiments discovered a strange space between space. Curious and thrilled they could possibly move untouched through this Void, Pop and his friends dove into research and testing.

Before long they believed they had a path for their carts to traverse. But before the first drones could go the systems they were using to hold the portal steady instead glitches.

Someone, the Man in the Wall, had seen them and decided to send 3 tenno who were currently working in the Void to the Irkens. To see what happened. It threw Tye, Mira, and Wren through the portal, armed to the teeth, then shut the way behind them.

Wren, being the Defense expert, quickly realizes they are not under attack, and that these people are as confused and scared as them.

Once informed of this Tye and Mira disarm with Wren and Tye initiates contact

It takes time to get over the language barrier but they manage to do so

Pop explains what his goal had been

In turn Tye, Mira and Wren explain a little about the Void.

"Look, it sounds nice to use the Void to travel but... ah. Personal experience states otherwise. Don't." Is all Tye has to say in regards to Void travel.

Pop doesn't want to give up though, and the Void has been the only option the tiny Hive has had to travel for a Loooong time.

I want to be clear they do not know the Tenno are not their Warframes, the Hive assumes the tenno are a race of Biomechanical individuals with strange powers

Through a series of events I haven't fully figured out the Hive gets drones, suits and animal companions simular to what the Tenno had

The Hive finally makes a track through their jungle of terror, reaching the outside world and establishes a trade route and relations with others

Many Hives are astounded by Hive Tenno (When asked the name of their Hive a Warrior panicked and called themselves Hive Tenno) their tech was beyond any other Hive at the time

Collapsible weapons, Power armor suits with built in illusions, pet monsters no other would even try to tame!

Many Hives near the jungle fought to either ally with Hive Tenno, or steal their tech, they all failed to muscle their ways in

And to top it off, Tallests of all genders vied for Pop's hand to merge armies. Pop refused them all, dedicated solely to building his Hive to a level of comfort they didn't have before

All the while the Tenno remained hidden

The three remained with Hive Tenno (Wren thought the name was hilarious) but they never joined any battlefield nor any talks. All tech gained from their help was kept under tight guard

And the existence of the Tenno themselves kept themselves a secret from all but Hive members.

Pop lived an unexpectedly long life for how sickly he was. Before he died the last law he set, one that no tallest of the Hive would over turn, was for the Tenno to have Veto rights and be included in all major Hive decisions. But more so, that they were Citizens of the Hive, to be treated not as outsiders or weapons, but fellow Irkens

Becoming citizens the Tennongot to pick up careers and hobbies while maintaining their duties to the Hive

Tye chose to work with smeets and the Animals the Hive had tamed. Teaching the youngest and ensuring they lived healthy, happy lives, and ensuring all who wanted one had a loyal animal companion like his Kubrow. It was a job made for Tye.

Wren took to the kitchens, cooking and creating in a way they hadn't ever been able to. While they adored their music, it was all they were allowed to do for so long, they took to cooking and baking like fish to water.

Mira bounced about between jobs and hobbies often. A jack of all trades, Master of None, she happily filled what ever job she was needed for.

The Hive flourished and expanded throughout the second Era. But as the Final world War came Hive Tenno feared

By then the three were beloved members of their community, but with impending destruction on the horizon, the three tenno were reluctantly and without anyone asking, preparing to wage war against the world for their new home.

The Hive closed their borders, helping pull the jungle back into a wall of carnivorous plants and furious predators they hand raised. But it wasn't enough

The war still came, and while their tech was still ahead of the crowd's own, they had to fight hard to remain and the Tenno were going to show themselves as the weapons the Orokin had told then they were. The Hive mourned their friends and family as they prepared

Then a scientist had an idea

The Hive took to the stars. Separating the jungle and the entirety of their subterranean Hive from the ground of Irk, Hive Tenno flew off in a bubble to find a new home far far away from irk

Centuries down the line the long hidden Hive would be found, settled neatly in a mountain valley on a distant planet by the Resisty.

Hive Tenno changed in the time between their departure from Irk and Modern time

The Vine and root patterns once uncommon was now a constant, each one glowed a blinding white. The antenna were far more varied, some resembling Jester hats, Others Horns, and others still had multiple antenna sprouting from the same base.

The tech of modern Hive Tenno is still ahead of the rest of their race. The Suits they first built were more intense, much closer to the Warframes The Tenno inhabited

The animals they raised were so loyal now, many left their smeets in the care of their family unit's pet.

And the Tenno themselves had gotten some upgrades.

The Hive found a way for the Tenno to use their transference to inhabit special tube born Irken bodies. Empty bodies with a small special Pak for the Tenno. They could, eat, live, breath and leave the Second Dream at will. Wren was in their Irken body the most, with Mira preferring her warframe mostly.

Hey! Sorry it's long! If yall like it I'll expand more in another post!

[argyrocratie]

I define a strong tie as a tie that 1. cannot be dissolved by a unilateral decision of one of the parties, 2. endures until death and beyond, 3. is enforced by an external agency, not the parties themselves.

In this sense love or friendship are weak, citizenship or loyalty to a nation are strong. We tend to be fooled by the habit of disguising weak ties under the appearance of strong ties (“love beyond death”, “friends forever”, etc.), but they are not the same. A quick look at the obvious personal experience of everyman confirms this view easily. Weak and strong ties pass for each other in the rhetoric of noble sentiments (marriage as a life‐long contract or love for one’s “motherland”).

It appears that strong ties of a personal nature were predominantly displayed at a certain historical stage, under the form of collective killings of followers, what Testart has analyzed and brilliantly theorized under the name of “les morts d’accompagnement” (Testart 2004). Archaeological evidence of mass graves predating the birth of great empires, such as Rome or China, tells the story of a particular practice observed around the world: slaves, servants, followers, dependants, consorts and familiars (including horses) were put to death after the demise of a prominent person or man of high status. If we follow Testart (id.) these deaths are a clear sign that personal links of loyalty and fidelity (“fidélité personnelle”) were institutionalized, leading to the killing or self‐sacrifice of dependents and followers.

Loyalty to a person until death and beyond became in many places around the world an institution. It is only this kind of personal loyalty, together with the widespread development of slavery and debt‐bondage in primitive and pre‐state societies that led to the formation of early states. These were nothing but transference of strong ties between persons, to strong ties between subjects and rulers and, later on, between citizens and nation. Strong ties once internalized make tyranny acceptable as La Boétie told us five hundred years ago in his aptly entitled essay “De la Servitude Volontaire”.

Anarchic and open‐aggregated communities observed by ethnographers do not put any premium on such ties. They display loyalty and trust to a high degree but very rarely to the point of self‐sacrifice and death outside the domestic family. Instead they rely on weak ties, like those of friendship and partnership. Weak ties are, and probably were in a majority of pre‐Neolithic communities, the material with which communities were built. These ties entail a continual negotiation between partners and consociates, leading to frequent and repeated fission and fusion of groups, bands, local settlements and other temporary forms of association (Dentan 1992). Weak ties bind people together but do not weld them together. They permit solidarity and cooperation, occasionally create intense feelings, but are not forever, and at any moment anyone can and may shake them loose. They imply no long‐term commitment. They must match certain requirements and obey what I have called “conditions of felicity” (Macdonald 2008 b, 2009, in press c).

-Charles J­H Macdonald, “Can anarchism be a critical point in the new anthropological imagination? Contributions of anarchy and anarchism to social theory.” (2010)

[shockingheart]

Having a wedding during these conditions. The priority here seemed a touch out of place.

Not that it mattered. 

The whole event, after all, was just formality. A union in the name of business deals; sealing a contract with another family in the most binding of laws. And he another piece in the game of chess his father was currently playing. Jade didn’t mind being a token on the board, yet at the same time-- it was getting dull. He already knew the outcome, he already knew what to expect. The endgame was painfully clear. 

Not to say that Jade hadn’t slipped an unaccounted move now and again. Turning out to have more of the mindset for the family business than his more physically adept brother had been the first wrench. Absolving his position as bookkeeper in favor of joining Azul in his ventures had been another. The trouble this brought, along with a breath of fresh air, had been worth the disappointed expression that crossed his father’s face. Yet in the grand scale of it all, none of it mattered when weighed against everything that built up to this pivotal moment. 

How he wished he could rake his fingers through his hair at how annoying the whole affair was. And had it not been for the meticulous way his hair had been pushed out of his face, he would have. Instead, he settled for pressing his hand against his throat, checking again to make sure his tie was in place. Never before had the invisible iron around his neck felt heavier than it did now. Though the melodramatics it seemed, came just as easy for him. Deciding he’d stalled for enough time, he rose from his seat, shooting a wry smile at Floyd, who was sprawled more liberally across a recliner. 

The mother of his proposed partner had already made her way down the procession, if the noise from the hall was any indication, which meant that he was next to walk himself down the aisle. Truly troublesome. The thought must have made itself clear on his face from the way Floyd’s brow rose, but Jade busied himself by picking up the dark teal suit jacket where it lay against the armrest before neatly throwing it on, buttons finding themselves put into order by his hand. 

Turning to his mirror reflection and placing his hand against his chin-- in part through habit, in part for thought, Jade sighed.

“You wouldn’t consider trading spots with me now, would you Floyd?” 

He asked in jest and in blind hope for a lifeline. Too much to ask for, apparently. Instead, he was met with a tongue playfully poked between his twin’s lips, telling him to suck it up. And Floyd was right. It truly was his burden to bear.

Breathing out, he pat his pocket to check for the vows he’d written and read over and over again, reminding himself to play the part of devoted fiancé, loving groom, enamored lover. All that and more. Enter scene. 

To say he tuned out his peripheral was an understatement. If asked later on what he thought of the chapel, he in all honesty would have to answer that he was too focused on making it down the aisle to notice. The swell of music guided his feet closer to the beginning of the end-- and on that train of thought, he told himself to pause the theatrics and focus on smiling. 

Somehow, he made it to the altar, hands politely clasped together while the rest of the procession filed in. None of them registered, though he did notice Floyd and Azul drift through. It wasn’t particularly noteworthy, and in fact, the most interesting advent he’d encountered as of late had been, himself. 

The arrival of a version of himself ten years younger was the most fascinating turn of events. A wilder version that seemed to do as he pleased while playing at operating under a veil of obedience. Sharp teeth, a sharper tongue, and the same aversion to the spotlight he shared yet infinitely more insatiable. Was it being a natural-born predator that made that younger self covet danger and dance with it so eagerly? Or was he just a tamed version of what full potential could be, with filed teeth and a tendency to accept not just a position in the shadows but also be satisfied with being the second chair. 

Much to think about, but perhaps all too late. A deep thump signaled grand doors opening for a final time, and it was impossible to ignore the person walking towards his, their, union. By all accounts, it was sweet. The dry sensation of apathy, however, dominated the space in Jade’s chest. But he still remembered to smile. 

The mellow voice of the officiant filled the room, a room full of faces he did not recognize nor cared for. At that moment, he wondered just how useful the business card Riddle had slipped him would prove to be in the future. The whole farce though proved to be impressive. They were truly committed to the bit as Floyd would have said, and he too had to play his role. 

So he did, vows flowing like an easy tide, the push and pull of coy wordplay dotting a speech he’d memorized to the period, but could not hear tumbling out of his mouth. The reception seemed to drink it in all the same, witty bits rewarded with murmurs of laughter, heartwarming admissions pulling glittering tears down cheeks. 

It was comical how easy it was. 

This next part though-- was not as simple. Well, in theory, it was, yes. He simply had to take a metal band from a miniature velvet tuffet and slip a band around his betrothed finger. Yet another metal band, but this time solid. 

Body moving like fluid mechanics, Jade picked the ring from its place, gently taking an unfamiliar hand in his, every intention of slipping it against a finger whose veins ran from hand to heart. That is until everything went dark. 

Blinking, he instinctively glanced up to check the lights, only to see the sun itself blotted out like an eclipse. But instead of the detached apathy he’d been carrying all this time, a spark flittered through instead. Smile widening across his face, Jade pulled his fingers through his hair as he’d wished to in what felt like a lifetime ago, bangs falling free at last. 

“Finally.” 

Chuckling while dashing the ring aside and ignoring the pitiful clink it made against concrete, Jade sighed in relief, rolling his shoulder to toss off the weight he’d been carrying. Being conscripted to fight in another world in exchange for possibly missing his own wedding truly was the greatest deal he’d ever entered. Maybe Azul did have a point that contracts and such were more exhilarating than they seemed. 

Trading a light metal ring for a heavier metal weapon somehow made his heart feel all the less burdened. And not more than a pace away he spotted that younger self he’d just been reminiscing, an absolutely maniacal expression crossing over the usually pristinely kept face.

What a delight it is to see such an honest expression.