#they have some lore if you want to take their parents' situations into account (but that would be up to you of course)

[pestilentbrood]

does anyone here want these Guys by the way .i've had them sitting around on the AH for a while n haven't had much luck hkhsdg

(these guys are now both gone, yippie!!!)

[a-mint-bear]

Jacob (Subby Yandere) Headcanons

🐶Jacob: Puppy Dog in Puppy Love🐶

bit longer than i thought it'd be, so lore under the cut

● Jacob grew up with crap parents who never paid him any attention. They were a couple of horrible, rich monsters who hated being married almost as much as they hated being parents. He was raised by a series of nannies, they never stayed on longer than a few months, his parents didn't want him getting attached. He always wondered what it would be like to have someone he loved and who would love him and only him.

● On the outside he seems nice enough, if a little awkward. He knows how to talk to people and navigate social situations, but it's all on the surface. He doesn't learn people's names unless it would put him at a disadvantage not to know. He has no friends, he never really felt the need to connect with other people. Most rub him the wrong way. But you just feel... right.

● Before he confesses, you seem to be the only person he can't figure out how to talk to. He doesn't know how to act around you, what the right thing to say is. At first it pisses him off, like why are they so much more difficult to figure out than everyone else? Who do they think they are, making him feel this way? Then he sees someone flirting with you and... oh. That should be him. He should be making you laugh and why won't you smile at him like that?

● He wants all the milestones with you. If you aren't the marriage type, he's more than happy to just be together forever. He wants to move in with you right away, he sees no point in "taking things slow". But he'll hold off on some things if it makes you more comfortable. He'll wait as long as it takes.

● Kids are a toss-up for him. He would absolutely see a baby/kid as competition for your affection and want you all to himself, but if a kid (or kids) would be important to you, being a dad would just be another thing he could do to make you happy. At some point, being a parent wouldn't be a job/role for him (a job he'd be happy to do regardless). The first time the child shows him affection, it's like a switch gets flipped. He breaks down, realizing that they're HIS family too, just like you. He becomes an obnoxiously loving and involved dad. Dad Yandere. Daddere.

● If you have (a) beloved pet(s), again, they're competition for your affection. It would be like a "I don't like you and you don't like me, but we both love [y/n]." relationship where he just acts like a big baby when you're loving on your pet and not him. He would never neglect or mistreat them, but you can bet he gloats to them like "Aww, aren't you cute. But [y/n] thinks I'm cuter, yes they do, you little dummy." while giving them scritches. He was never allowed to have a pet growing up so he doesn't "get" why people get so attached.

● He has a tendency to try and isolate you, he wants you all to himself. But this can be negated using his submissive side. If you're the boss, telling him exactly how things are gonna be, rewarding his good behavior or punishing the bad, he's putty in your hands. He can't say no to you.

● If he ever made you upset with him, he would freeze up, panicking at the thought of hurting you. Or worse, losing you. He might try and egg you on to punish him to make up for it, to "make things right". If he ever made you cry? He's in crisis mode. He's crying too, begging you for forgiveness. He's offering anything and everything to make you not hate him.

● He works as a Software Developer from home and does freelance IT work on the side. He's very tech savvy and definitely didn't use his skills to hack into any of your accounts to find out more about you when he was working up the nerve to ask you out. At least not since he confessed. He's better than all that now, of course.

● His yandere traits come out if he's left to his own devices. He gets nervous that you're unhappy with him and acts out by being a brat and trying to keep you home with him. You can lovingly reassure him that you're happy over and over and it helps for a while. But the only thing that quiets his jealous, paranoid brain is putting him in his place, reminding him he belongs to you and only you, punishing his brattiness and telling him he's your good boy.

● Full yandere mode: You try and break up with him. I say "try" because he would be stuck in the denial phase for a good long time. He thinks you're testing him to see how loyal he is, that even you pushing him away can't get rid of him. He hacks your computer and bugs your house, he breaks in to watch you sleep, leaving gifts for you before you wake up. You start dating/flirting with someone else? They get attacked on the street, no witnesses, with a warning to stay away from you or he'll come back to finish the job. If you tell him you're in love with someone else? It won't be long before you can't get ahold of them.

You can try and get rid of him, but he's your good boy, whether you like it or not.

[fanatical4creation]

‼️⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️‼️

This post contain sensitive topics, such as sexual themes, s/a, abortion and others similar to these. This post is intended to PG-13 audiences such as my account, so you're warned, if you read this post even if you're not the target audience then it's your fault, not mine

INVERTED!Underlust (Fanatically Underlust)

Uuuuuuuuuuh, let's talk about the elefant in the room of my brain. To begin with, i've sorta re-written Underlust as i like, so i call this version of mine "Fanatically UnderLust".

These characters are the main ones btw...

Uuh Grillby and Sans are a canon couple, just like the og UL.

Paps and Mtt are also a canon couple, but they got some drama going on bc Paps is uuh, addicted to drugs and uuh..y'know, so they're in a complicated situation. Also Paps is like a cupid and goes around the multiverse making couples, i guess... it rarely happens tho.

Mtt runs a Quiz show (hooray!) that broadcasts for the whole multiverse, a lot of other people also participate on it, the most current wuest is Paps.

Grillby had christian parents and he has this whole arc of "bro let me live my life sucking dicks", it's awesome. He's like the song Collared by Vane lily

Alphys and Undyne don't got THAT many things going kn, just.. just being happy lesbians, and that stuff of homophobia

Alphys has the main lore of F.U.L, Luster a.k.a Gaster is sort of an asshole and does a lot of s/a, and uuuh she's his main victim, this also complements mtt's lore, he's been created specifically for Luster, for... y'know, Alphys scape... god this is awful lets move on.

Undyne is also like a popstar thing, y'know verosika from helluva boss? That's her, but nicer.

All of the characters has at least an level of hypersexuality

The FUL cast needs to use masks and have all of the preventions against an contagious thingy (like that 2019 virus) when they're in contact with other universes. it'll be explained furthermore...

The dreemurrs, omg, i like them ngl, specially Toriel, she just deserves love, man.

Alright... uh.. Frisk and Rosie (btw just notice i wrote flowey instead of Rosie, i'm so sorryakbdksjakak)... i mean, they exist that's for sure, in FUL Frisk sacrifices himself to free the monsters, i mean.. Asriel isn't here to save the day... but Hopeful ("Dream Sans") saved everyone aren't they the best?

Asgore is an interesting one, he's also addicted to drugs like Paps, but i have to say, this drug monsters from FUL takes are something else, it's the cause of everything. But i'll explain it furthermore.

Also, Asgore is sort of a religious guy, yup! You read me right. The first human brought a bible with him, and oh god he believed it, i mean i can guess he already was a religious guy before the war but now he's THE religious.

^^^(Btw I'm not blaming all christians or believers of another religion, it's just a stereotypical character, i'm using bad believers as character/example not good believers)

Asgore participates from that school i mentioned in the underfell post, i don't remember the name, but yeah.

Btw Frisk, Rosie and Toriel are a happy family! Instead of Frisk wanting to leave he just stayed with Toriel, oh wait i need to let this clear they're like mother and son okay don't get things wrong hold on. Oh yeah Frisk still has no gender but... i mean he just wants to be called as he/him that's all

Frisk is slightly affected by the Lust contagious thing, that's why he has fat thighs and some large upper format.... sorry. I tried to make him have both of genders characteristics.

Attention. Asshole characters ahead

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, i don't like them at all, but they're the main villain and all of that shit so they're important.

Alright.. uuh, y'know Underlust reinmaniged by @/zirkkun Lust Syrup? Now imagine it 10x worst. Yup, that's what this human's soul is composed of, it doesn't have a name so just call it substance.

Basically the substance multiplies itself (it's almost alive) and smelling, entering in contact or digest it could infect you and alterate you completly, and also give you human traits like 5 fingers, yup, i have this headcanon where monsters has 4 fingers and humans has 5, just a way of differentiate the both species more

And Gaster... uuuh, he fell for the human's temptations and he's like..... theirs.... pet, i guess..??? But i mean, i like to think gaster is still not innocent, being too close to the literal font of the Lust would change him to be eventually what he is now

Don't worry they're in prision, forever... i Hope

Underlust by: @/nsfwshamecave-pb

[safety-writes-noms]

ur art n characters are so good!!! ,,,i am greedy, i want even more about callisto and oliver, can we get a lore/story dump for them i need to know more

Aw tysmm!! I’m glad u like them :D. AND OFC I CAN DO A LORE DUMP THISE ARE MY FAVORITE THIGNS TO DO!! I love it when people let me talk at abt my little people! I tried to shrink the text since it was kinda long but if it’s hard to read, just tell me and I’ll try to fix it :D

also DNI nsfw/kink accounts!! It’s fine if you like that vore in a sexual manner but I am a minor and definitely do NOT like it like that!!

Okay so basically Oliver and Cal are really close bc they practically grew up together. Oliver’s parents always used to have Cal over at their house since they’re aware that Cal isn’t entirely normal but love him like a son anyways.

 Plus little Cal showed up on their doorstep one sunny day asking for food and having no home so the obvious next step was to officially adopt him into the household.

Callisto originally showed up with wispy pale hair and an almost colorless complexion that slowly shifted to thick blond hair and tanned skin to mimic Oliver’s parents’ images.

 He has a tendency to copy or adopt the features of the people he loves. Also Oliver’s parents are named Ethel and Kane! Sorry for throwing a bunch of random names at you guys, i know its probably kinda convoluted but bear with me plss. 

Anyways, when Oliver was born Cal’s eyes immediately changed to the same color. Thankfully his original shade was close enough that it didn’t raise questions. Oh, were Cal’s eyes a lighter shade before? Probably not, just the sunlight or something. He’s 18 almost 19, still in the beginning of his senior year in highschool but started school later than normal kids. He’s usually pretty laid back.

Callisto actually doesn’t really care much for finding his real family or finding out his origin. In his eyes he has a perfectly fine family now who loved him unconditionally no matter what. 

He did want to find the family who abandoned him when he was younger but after a long goose chase that ended up fruitless, he became resentful that they left him in the first place. He’s mellowed out by now but that doesn’t mean the angsty “You’re not even my real family!” Line wasn’t dropped somewhere along the way. 

He’s never really told his little brother about his inhumaness since he himself doesn’t know much about what he is specifically. He never really changed his appearance on purpose. It was always something he did unconsciously and he genuinely doesn’t know his limits or what he can do since it’s really hard for him to shift on purpose. Unless he’s under insane stress/panic but he’s never really been under that level of pressure so 😋. Oliver knows that his brother isn’t entirely normal just like Ethel and Kane but he doesn’t know the specifics.

Oliver is 14 and is in his freshman year of highschool, straight out of middle school. I live in cali so the school systems might be a bit dif in other places so if anyone wants some clarification on that just tell me! 

They go to a highschool that’s near a huge thick forest that’s usually barred off from the rest of the school. I’m talking about thick wire fences and a bunch of warning signs and caution tape. The whole spooky shebang. There are a lot of rumors surrounding it but none of the students ever usually even go near there so there’s never been a situation. But there are whispers of grotesque inhuman creatures and monsters, hungry for human flesh :)

Unfortunately Oliver gets mixed up with the wrong people, a bunch of juniors who “take him under their wing” when really theyre just using him. And he’s just getting dragged along since he desperately wants to still be friends with them since he’s afraid of being left behind. 

One thing leads to another and he’s dared to go into the forest by his ‘friends’ alone and even though he really doesn’t want to, he’s afraid that they’ll abandon him if he doesn’t comply. (Which they will, they’d do that if he did or didn’t finish the dare)

They tell him they’ll go in with him but ultimately leave him behind, lost and terrified out of his wits because it’s getting dark, his phone is dying and he can’t call anyone for help. He manages to send one text to Callisto before his service disappears entirely and he’s left stranded. So what does cal do?

Drive straight to the school, probably over the speed limit. He’s received one panicked kinda short text from his little brother begging for his help and a location and immediately hopped into his car. 

He’s equipped with pepper spray, a box knife and some car keys as he tracks down Oliver. He doesn’t know how, doesn’t know why, but he’s almost mindlessly following the exact same path Oliver took trying to get out of the forest. (More cool abilities he doesn’t know exists :D) And when he does find his baby brother, Oliver is in mortal danger, all bruised and banged up, surrounded by these horrifying creatures that look like they’ve been pulled straight out of a horror movie and blacks out.

Next thing he knows he’s waking up seven hours later, knuckles covered in black goop and a disturbing wiggling feeling in the base of his gut. Oh, and he’s also the size of a giant tree. Fun. 

What's not fun is hearing his little brother scream for help — inside of him. Inside. And then that freaks him out so badly that once he has Oliver out of his system (that never would’ve hurt his baby brother in the first place but he doesn’t know that) he spends about a few days talking with olly before fucking off, convinced that he’s a monster and disgusting creature bc what kind of brother resorts to sleep cannibalism in a time of mortal danger?? Meanwhile Oliver is just really confused, kinda scared and most of all just really wants his older brother back, human or not. 

And it’s not like he was hurt or anything inside Callisto despite knowing his brother has a terrifyingly fast metabolism so… everyone draws their own conclusions. Plus even though he just watched his brother grow to inhuman levels in the span of seconds, he’s also seen horrifying monsters and his brother was the one who protected him in the end. Oliver mainly wants explanations and hugs. 

That’s all I’ve got for now :)

[greatqueenanna]

I don't know if you've covered this yet, but could you please talk about Agnarr and Iduna's relationship to the girls and how they handled the separation/maybe your ideas of how they explained it to Anna and kept the secret? BTW, I LOVE your content! As a HUGE Frozie who adores the lore and Canon I feel like we'd be besties!!

Aww, thank you! It's always nice to meet fellow Frozen nerds. If you're interested, let me throw in some posts here from Arendelle Archives that go into Frozen Lore and books -

Annals of Frozen by saiten-gefroren

The Frozenverse by Winter Loves Summer

I've talked a bit about Agnarr and Iduna in the past. I had a two-part series on their choices and reasoning for the separation - Toughest Choices Part 1 and Toughest Choices Part 2. The only thing is that they're a bit old, so there might be some outdated info here and there. I've also written about Agnarr specifically on Fatherly Burdens - it is a bit more critical than my usual content though, but it's not inherently negative - I am still a big supporter of the parents.

Now, let's tackle all of your questions here; Sorry, it's gonna be a bit long haha.

---

Talk about Agnarr and Iduna's relationship to the girls.

From what we've seen in the films alone, in spite of everything, it seems that Anna and Elsa have a positive relationship with their parents. Anna runs and hugs them before they leave and builds a statue in their honor. Elsa never really blames them for what happened in her childhood and wanted to see what happened to them on the ship. Both girls mourn them heavily, and from the little interaction we've seen, they have a very loving relationship.

I know that many fans feel that there wasn't enough accountability held towards the parents, and there was a huge shift of blame toward Elsa rather than acknowledging how the parent's choices affected the girls. This is a flaw I've noticed as well. I do however love how Anna says in F2 "You are not responsible for their choices, Elsa." It gives the impression that the girls do realize that they are not responsible for what their parents chose to do, and even though it is small, it's a nice shout-out.

If you consider them canon, there's a bit of side content that goes into a lot more detail about these topics, particularly Forest of Shadows, Polar Nights, Dangerous Secrets, and True Treasure. These side stories push for more accountability for the parents, have the sisters talk about the separation slightly, and offer more explanations of the thought process of the parents.

---

How they handled the separation.

As I write about in my analyses, my overall view on the separation is that Agnarr and Iduna handled Elsa's magic the best they could. They were faced with an impossible situation with very little knowledge - the only information they had was the trolls vaguely telling them that Elsa could be hurt if she can't control her powers.

Another thing we have to take into consideration is that no matter how we spin it, Elsa's magic is dangerous. Many fans tend to relate Elsa's magic to real-life emotional, physical, mental, and intellectual attributes. I think this is where a lot of the disdain for the parents comes in - they want the narrative to treat the parents as though they are parents of a child who had an attribute that was not accepted by their society so they decided to keep her hidden. However, Elsa's magic is a physical manifestation that can and has hurt people and can't really be compared to real-life attributes. Thus, we can't hold Agnarr and Iduna to this same standard.

So basically, the parents were faced with a double-edged sword. Either place Elsa in a controlled environment so that they can try and figure out how Elsa's magic works - which leads to isolation and self-hatred. Or, let Elsa go on as before like nothing happened and the parents are just more vigilant - but now Elsa has trauma from hurting Anna and is more on edge, leading to another accident because her powers are tied to her emotions, risking her powers being revealed.

Neither option is ideal and leads to problems with Elsa's psyche and safety, but the first option at least gives a bit more freedom for the parents to try and figure out a better solution - and they did figure out a better solution, but they died trying to reach it. Overall, the story of the parents is very difficult and tragic, and no easier solutions are available because of the uniqueness of the situation.

---

Your ideas of how they explained it to Anna and kept the secret?

This is actually interesting.

Anna tends to place a lot of the blame for the separation on Elsa and also pushes Elsa specifically to stop keeping secrets from her. Many of the books also push that Elsa specifically kept her door closed and hid away, and the only thing we see in True Treasure is Iduna pushing for Anna to have faith that she and Elsa will be together again.

So it seems that maybe the parents...didn't really address it directly? I haven't really seen anything (unless I missed it) where the parents sit down and explain to Anna what's going on...which I guess makes sense with Anna's comment about how Elsa shut her out, and she never knew why. In fact, this sort of explains why the narrative tends to focus on Anna blaming Elsa for the separation - if the parents never addressed Elsa's behavior, then yea, Anna would think that Elsa was the issue.

In terms of my own ideas, I would think that they told Anna some kind of excuse like "Elsa's not feeling well." or "Elsa is studying and is really busy." I also wonder a lot about what excuse they had for closing the gates. "Your father works better without distractions." or maybe "We're working on an issue right now and can't have outside people snooping in."

I'm now going to be pondering the logic here for a long time - thank you haha.

[loominggaia]

So polygamy is the norm in Etios. What are these poly relationships and marriages like and the typical Etios family structure? And what are the beauty standards of etios as well for men and women?

Polygamy is common in Etios Nation, mostly among minotaurs due to their traditional culture in that region. Monogamy is still a thing, but the majority of Etiosi minotaurs are polygamists.

Most often you will see a male with a bunch of wives, usually 2-3 for poor men, 4-6 for middle class men, and 6+ for rich men. More rarely you might find a female with a bunch of husbands, or even same-sex arrangements.

Here is how Etiosi law works regarding marriage: when a couple gets married, one of them must be legally registered as the "head of household". This person becomes financially responsible for their spouse and children. If they do not pay their bills or provide adequate support for their spouse/child, the law will get involved and they can be fined, jailed, or their marriage can be nullified.

The head of household is allowed to marry as many spouses as they can reasonably support. They must pay a tax every year for each spouse they have. In return, they get benefits like ownership of property/assets and a bank account, among other things. Meanwhile their spouses cannot legally own property or have bank accounts, so long as they are married to a head of household. To get these things, they must register as a head of household themselves. A head of household cannot marry another one--there can only be one head per household.

Let's say an Etiosi man is designated the head of household and he has 4 wives. If he dies, gets too sick to manage things, or he just doesn't want the responsibility anymore, he can legally transfer his head status to one of his wives. Now all of his property and assets, including his bank account, belong to that wife. She now acts as power of attorney for him and his other wives.

If he dies and none of his wives accept the head status, the whole marriage will be nullified. All 4 wives are now considered single again.

Now let's say one of these wives buys herself a house. She is unmarried, so her status defaults to head of household. But if she gets married again and her husband takes the role as head, then the house she bought now legally belongs to him. This also means he is responsible for paying it off if it isn't paid off already.

Getting married might sound like a raw deal for the spouses of a head, but there are actually many legal benefits to doing so. Married Etiosi citizens are entitled to free childcare, food bank access, retirement benefits, special medical care, and even financial help in some situations. They get preferential treatment over unmarried folks in all federal business.

Being unmarried in this kingdom actually kind of sucks. If you’re single, the government pretty much doesn’t give a fuck about you. Etiosi society expects you to live off your parents' support until you get married, then you live off your spouse's support (or support them, if you are the head of household). It's an extremely family-oriented culture. You're going to have a very bad time in this kingdom if you don't get along with your immediate relatives.

As for beauty standards, I really can't say much on that because it differs wildly depending on region, species, and culture. There are many smaller cultures operating within Etios's borders, and each of them have their own opinions about what is considered beautiful.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[gentrychild]

I'm curious how does the demon society work there (demon transfer au). Mostly because I don't understand what are the characteristics of any type of demon. I don't have a lot of experience with demon lore, and anime always make up what a demon is. Inko is a sloth demon? What does that mean on this au? And the others?

Love your works!

Demon society:

It's a "Law of the strongest" system and it's self-regulating in a strange way. If someone hurt you, there is no police you can go to. However, this can't get too out of control because 1. a demon being stronger than another demon is common but a demon being stronger than another demon's entire family and neighborhood is another story altogether. 2. Even if you're powerful, if you make too much noises, you must always account for the real possibility of a demon lord or (if you're really unlucky) an archdemon being "Really??? Right in front of my salad???" and reminding you about your place on the food chain.

So it's dangerous but technically, demons are more worried about the local fauna and flora than the other demons.

It wasn't always the case. All for One's and First's generation lived in Hell in every sense of the word.

However, there is a couple of rules that will be enforced with extreme prejudice.

Don't mess with kids. Bad things happen to a society that stop protecting its kids. And if a kid messed with your kid, handle it like an adult... by taking it out on the kid' parents.

A demon is not allowed to collect souls unless they have explicit permission to do so. (Think of it as the most informal license in the known universe.)

There are others but this one is both a recent addition (barely two centuries old) and it's absolutely unbreakable. Well, technically, you can break it but be prepared to have the entire population setting out to break every bone in your body if you play cute with that one.

Description:

Every demon have wings, fangs, sharp nails and glowing eyes. Some also have horns and/tail. Other don't look human at all.

Different types of demons:

There are two ways to become a demon: you can be born from at least one demon parent in the demon realm or you can be a human who found their way to the demon realm and was transformed by it. We are in full right of soil situation. A child born from a demon in the human world will not be a demon. They might have wings or other demon characteristics but they need to breathe the air and eat the food of the demon world to be a demon.

Now, unto the real classification. Every demon is aligned with one of the seven deadly sins. It doesn't mean that a demon can't be, let's say, both prideful and greedy (cough... AFO... cough...) but there is this one sin that will kinda shape the way they see the world.

People aligned with pride are proud but also perfectionists who want to be seen as good.

People aligned with wrath tend to be hot-blooded but they also get things done.

People aligned with sloth, like Inko, are indolent but they have a very low tolerance for crap such as manipulation or gaslight. They are level-headed.

A demon is at their strongest when they are attuned to their sin and the more they understand their sin, the stronger they become. (Think "Remember your origins.")

Demons and the human world:

There are three ways for a demon to get stronger and two of them are easier to access in the human world.

Creating strong emotions. (Technically, just being around strong emotions is also a way for a demon to feed but it's not very efficient.) Since it's far easier and more fun to create negative emotions, you can guess why pain and suffering is usually the first pick of any self-respecting demon.

Making contracts. To create a contract, you need something the contractor really desires (you can't make a contract and just buy them a meal or something innocuous like that) and you need a price. Except that what demons never tell you is that pretty much none of them is interested by the price stated in the contract. The Real Price is the incredibly strong emotional energy born from desire and despair that the contractor gives them when the contract is fulfilled.

Those two methods can be used in the demon world but 1. if you create "strong emotions" the usual way, someone will punt you into the hell equivalent of the sun 2. no demon would accept to sign a contract unless they are incredibly desperate.

The other thing is that a demon cannot go to the human world unless they're an adult. It's not a law. It's just that kids aren't sturdy enough to go there on their own.

There is a reason why Izuku was (accidentally) summoned. If he goes back home, he has no way to return to the human realm on his own.

Because of that, it's practically a rite of passage for twenty-year-old demons to go to the human world and to cause mayhem.

Another other thing: demons are nerfed when they go to the human world. The power that stay with them are mainly the ones obtained through contracts.

How demons think:

Demons are not humans with wings and powers. They think differently. I follow the Mairimashita Iruma-kun rule of demons obeying to their desires and them having a lot of trouble motivating themselves for things that aren't fun or interesting in some way. Demons also tend to develop obsessions. There will be moments where despite all common sense, demons will keep doing things detrimental to them (or to the world) because they simply can't help it.

[starlightkun]

snowflake ; ayakashi ❧ doyoung [one]

❧ word count: 10.4k

❧ warnings: some violence, cursing, reader gets followed at night by a wraith disguised as a man so if you’re not comfy reading that kind of situation, take care of yourself!!

❧ extra info: heavily based off yet another otome game, ayakashi: romance reborn ; bc of this, all the lore used in here is inspired by/based on/taken from the lore of the game, not the actual lore of traditional ayakashi/yokai stories ;

there are occasional moments where the reader’s lips change colors due to being too cold and i try to avoid mentioning the specific color when i can, but when i can’t, the phrase ‘(blue/pale)’ will pop up. depending on skintone, your lips will turn different colors in the cold, so you can fill in whichever is more accurate for you at those parts!

❧ DISCLAIMER: some aspects of plot and character traits are directly lifted from the otome game ayakashi: romance reborn and utilized in the character equivalents in this story; the base lore, plot, and characters were heavily inspired by the game, but it has all been transformed into my own story. there are no spoilers for the game by reading this series

⤷ prologue*  ⤷ next

*you need to read the prologue before reading any of the individual routes

A few weeks later found you in your parents’ shop. You weren’t supposed to be working that day, but it was your parents’ anniversary, and you were happy to help out to let them take the day off. Not to mention that you just needed a day of mindless work: shelving, accounting, deliveries, anything to get your mind off your useless visit to the shrine. So your parents left you with Sicheng, helping him out with whatever he needed. He seemed thankful for the help, and the two of you worked in quiet tandem with each other.

The bell at the front door alerted you to someone entering, and you looked up from where you were cataloguing the new arrival of books in the storage room. The door to the room was open, so you had a direct line of sight to the delivery man standing at the front of the shop. Sicheng greeted him, their conversation too far away to be distinguishable, especially as you returned your focus to your task. The bell rang again, signaling his departure.

“More books to catalogue?” You called out across the store.

“No, the first edition Don Quixote that Oni wanted,” Sicheng grumbled. “Mr. Y/L/N finally found it. And now I’ve got to call his assistant and give him a reason to come back here.”

At the clear distaste in his tone, you offered, “I can give it to him, if you really don’t want to.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Let me call his assistant first and see when it’ll be picked up.”

“Alright, just let me know and you can come hide back here and I’ll be up there to face the big bad scary Oni.”

“I’m not afraid of him!”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up and make the phone call, Sicheng.”

Apparently having no comeback to that, he picked up the store’s landline and took the sticky note off the corkboard to dial the number for ‘Kim Doyoung, Head Assistant for VP Qian of Oni Group Holdings.’ Just a few moments later, it was picked up. You could only hear Sicheng’s side of the conversation, however.

“Hello, this is Bibliophile Books. We have the first edition Don Quixote that your boss requested… Why do you want to know that?” Sicheng’s voice suddenly changed from tense to downright angry as he addressed him. You were glad neither of your parents were here to witness him talking to a customer like that. “Then no, she’s not… We’re open until five-thirty… Oh, now? Okay, see you soon then… Yeah.”

After hanging up, Sicheng clenched and unclenched his fist for a moment.

“What was that about? What did he ask?” You questioned with an eyebrow raised at him.

“If you were working,” he spat out as he walked back to the storage room with you and plopped down in his previous spot, picking up his own pencil and paper.

“And you told him I wasn’t?”

“Whatever it takes to keep the Oni away from here,” he sneered at the idea of it. “And it worked, the snow spirit will be here soon instead of his boss.”

“Do you still want me to give him the book?” You asked, opening the back cover of a book from the new shipment and pressing the stamp onto the bottom center of it. ‘Bibliophile Books, 700 Bell Street’ now displayed there in teal ink to match the door. You blew over the ink to make sure it was dry before you closed the book once more.

“If you don’t mind. Even people who willingly associate with Oni leave a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Why?” You asked curiously, grabbing your next book to stamp.

Sicheng paused for a moment before answering tartly, “Oni are not good company to keep.”

“Any specific reason?”

“Ask any of the other guys, they’ll tell you the same thing.”

Okay, now he was definitely avoiding the question. With a frown on your face, you decided to drop it for the moment. He clearly wasn’t going to give you anything useful at that point. And so you returned to your cataloguing and stamping.

Right as you had begun shelving the newly catalogued books, your eyes caught on a movement outside the window. People had been strolling by on the occasion, but you actually recognized this person as they walked around a large black SUV parked in front of the store. Kim Doyoung pushed open the door, ringing the little bell above it. You put the book in your hand down to greet him.

“Hey, Doyoung,” you gave him a smile, walking over to the front desk. “We’ve got the book right here.”

“Hello, Ms. Y/L/N,” he returned the greeting monotonously. “Mr. Qian will be disappointed to hear that I had been mistaken about you being present.”

“You could just not tell him, you know.”

“He would have very much liked to retrieve the book from you personally himself.”

“Wow, you really are a good assistant, flirting for your boss,” you scoffed in response, looking over the note that your father had left with reference to what the price would be. “Total is—”

Doyoung cut you off by holding a black credit card out to you. Getting the idea, you accepted it from him and inserted the chip into the POS.

“I’m not flirting with you, I simply know my employer well and am expressing his wishes.”

“You don’t have to sound so repulsed at the idea of flirting with me, Doyoung.”

He looked unamused at your teasing, and the beeping of the POS interrupted you, letting you know that the payment had gone through. You returned the black credit card to him, letting him tuck it back into his wallet before gingerly handing him the still-wrapped book as well. His fingertips brushed the back of your fingers as he went to take the book from you. Your skin tingled at the alarming temperature difference, and you let out a short gasp.

“Your hands are cold.”

“I’m a snow spirit.”

“Oh, right.”

“Thank you, Ms. Y/L/N,” he referenced the book and he bowed his head gratefully. “This will be a wonderful addition to Mr. Qian’s collection.”

“Of course,” you nodded back. “Anything else I can help you with?”

“No, thank you.”

“Then have a wonderful day, and thank you for choosing Bibliophile Books.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Y/L/N,” Doyoung turned away from you to open the door.

“Bye, Doyoung,” you replied. “And you can just call me Y/N.”

He looked over his shoulder at you for a moment, gaze catching yours, before he continued on his way. The bell tinkled once more, and you watched him climb back into the large black SUV parked out front. You headed back to your shelving duties, and Sicheng’s voice floated through the store from the very back, where he had been while Doyoung was there.

“You were awfully nice to him.”

“Yeah, that’s how you’re supposed to act with customers, Sicheng,” you retorted. “Which is funny, because you’re the one being paid for this, and I’m not.”

“Yeah, your mother gave me instructions to buy you dinner after we close as a thanks,” the Mizuchi dragon replied.

“Oh she’s using her power over you as an employer to force you to take me out on a date. Lovely.”

Sicheng was suddenly silent, and you peered around your shelf at him. He was frozen, hand hovering over the next book on his stack to shelve.

“I was just kidding, Sicheng,” you reassured him. “Sorry.”

He suddenly snapped back to life, picking up the book, “No, it’s fine, I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“I’ve never met a snow spirit before.”

“Well how many kinds of Ayakashi are there?”

“Hundreds at least, maybe thousands. But I’m seventy-eight years old, I’ve met a lot of Ayakashi.”

“I’m sorry you’re—”

“But never a snow spirit.”

“Can we backtrack to the seventy-eight years old part?”

“Maybe Jungwoo has…”

“Sicheng!”

“What?”

It was a couple weeks later that found you at an unfamiliar coffee shop. You were in the high-end business district right next to the high-end shopping district. Jaemin desperately needed a fix, but because his favorite (read: richest) customer was supposed to be coming in that day at an unknown time, he didn’t want to risk leaving the store. So your services had been enlisted, and you now stood in line, Jaemin’s order already in your mind. And after looking at the prices, you were glad that he was going to pay you back for this. Coffee prices this high should be illegal. But looking around at the other clientele there, you figured they could easily pay for it. And after doing a double take at the clientele, you were surprised to see a face that was becoming more and more familiar to you.

After ordering Jaemin’s iced americano with five too many shots of espresso, you joined the group of people waiting for their order, sidling right up beside Kim Doyoung.

“Hi,” you said.

He looked over, displeasure at being bothered turning to mild surprise as he recognized you, “Oh, Ms. Y/L/N.”

“So, did your boss like the book?”

“Yes, Mr. Qian is very happy to have it.”

Another beat of silence. You weren’t sure if it was social awkwardness or something else, but you kept trying to make conversation with him.

“Getting your own coffee or is it for—”

“Both. Mr. Qian is very generous.”

“Uh—”

The barista called out what must have been his order, as he tartly dismissed himself, “Goodbye.”

After shouldering his way through the other patrons, he accepted the two drinks cordially and took off without another word to you. Though he did afford you a sharp side-eye before disappearing into the crowd.

Jaemin’s order was ready just a few minutes later, and you secured the drink before starting down the sidewalks as well.

As soon as you arrived at the doors of Grandeur, you felt sorely underdressed, but entered anyway. You looked around for your best friend but couldn’t see him anywhere. So you instead walked up to the front desk, manned by a rather tall and pretty older woman—Jaemin’s boss, you were pretty sure. Wouldn’t have been your first choice for asking for help in finding Jaemin, but there apparently wasn’t another employee around. She raised an eyebrow at you approaching her.

“Hi, uh, I have a coffee, for Na Jaemin?” Your voice squeaked just a little bit at the end, and you didn’t mean for it to pitch up into a question like that.

She continued looking down at you with disinterest, so you continued, “Could I give it to him? Do you know where he is?”

“He’s with our most valuable customer in the private shopping area,” she replied curtly.

“Okay, great, where—”

“You will most certainly not go back there and disturb Mr. Qian!” Her voice was suddenly stern and affronted as she scolded you, and you were surprised both at that, and at who the ‘valuable customer’ apparently was. Jaemin’s richest customer was Kun?

“Well—” you cut yourself off at the figure who emerged from behind a red velvet curtain at the back of the store. “Oh! Doyoung!”

The snow spirit’s head whipped up from where he had been typing on his phone, and his eyes widened incredulously at you. He walked over, and the woman you had previously been speaking with seemed absolutely stunned that you knew Kun’s personal assistant by first name.

“Are you stalking me, Ms. Y/L/N?” He asked dryly, and it was your turn to be surprised. Did he just… crack a joke?

“No, actually, but it is funny running into you again,” you remarked, glad to be speaking to someone who you were mostly sure didn’t absolutely hate you. “Can you give this to Jaemin for me?”

Doyoung gingerly took the coffee from you, “Of course.”

“Thanks!” You smiled at him in relief. “I won’t hold you up, you looked like you were doing something important. Bye!”

And with that, you took leave of the store, all too happy to be out from under that woman’s gaze.

Jaemin called you later that night as you were reclined on your couch, watching your drama with Taeyong. You put it on pause and put your finger to your lips in a motion for the Nekomata to be quiet while you picked up the call.

“Hey, NaNa!” You greeted him brightly.

“Hey, Y/N, thank you so much for the coffee today!” Your friend gushed out.

“Oh, of course, wish I could’ve given it to you myself though.”

“Yeah, Ms. Kang can be a hardass, but it comes with the territory,” he replied, and you could imagine him shrugging his shoulders at that. “Though I am really surprised that you asked Mr. Qian’s assistant to give it to me. And that he agreed.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s… cold, I guess you could say. I’ve been Mr. Qian’s personal shopper for months now and I’ve never seen that man smile, not once.”

“Yeah, I can see that…” you snickered. “But Doyoung doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Doyoung?” Jaemin repeated the man’s name incredulously. “You’re on a first name basis with him? How well do you know this guy, Y/N?”

“Well, I call him by his first name, he calls me Ms. Y/L/N, so not really a mutual first name basis there. And not too well, we’ve just met a couple times because Kun bought a rare book from my parents’ shop.”

“Kun?” He seemed even more taken aback at you calling the Oni by his first name. “Y/N…”

“He gave me his number, I figured I’m allowed to call him by his first name.”

“He—oh dear Lord I’m going to have a stroke—Mr. Qian gave you his number? Like, flirting with you?”

“Yeah, it was pretty uh… straightforward.”

“You called him, right? Because, Y/N, if you passed up your best chance at a sugar daddy, so help me, I will come over there and smack some sense into you right now.”

“I called him once, for a… favor.”

“You used Mr. Qian as a booty call?”

“Oh god, no!” You shot him down, not realizing that he’d interpret it like that. “I needed a ride somewhere and it was kind of a last resort. And I’m not planning on doing it again, I don’t need or want a sugar daddy.”

“I’m putting my shoes on right now.”

“If you come over here, Na Jaemin, I will ban you from ever seeing Tama again.”

There was a spiteful pause before he relented, “Fine. But you’re being an idiot. I’m sure besides his loads of money, Mr. Qian is a great guy. He treats me with basic human decency, which I can’t say for most of my customers.”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes, “Oh goody, he treats customer service people as people. The bar is really on the fucking ground, Jaemin.”

“As your best friend, I’m telling you, you could do worse than Mr. Qian.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“You’re not going to call him, are you?”

“You know me so well.”

You and Jaemin exchanged a few more words before hanging up, and once you had, you noticed Taeyong looking at you from the other end of the couch, nose wrinkled up with distaste.

“What?” You asked, then remembered your remark about ‘Tama’ to Jaemin. “I won’t let him harass you, I promise.”

“You saw the Oni?” He asked, leaning forward to sniff the air.

“No, I saw his assistant for all of two minutes today,” you replied with an eyebrow raised. “Why?”

“Oni are bad news, Y/N…”

“Sicheng told me the same thing. Why?”

Taeyong shook his head, ears twitching, “Don’t ask me. It’s like Wraiths, they just are.”

You weren’t sure you liked that comparison, but you honestly didn’t know enough about Ayakashi or Oni, so you kept your reservations to yourself for the moment.

Walking up the steps to the building that housed your Human Communications class, you caught sight of a sign in the front entryway:

The Jang College of Business is proud to welcome Vice President Qian Kun of Oni Group Holdings as an Honored Speaker today.

Underneath was a start time—thirty minutes ago—and room number, which you recognized as the large auditorium right next to your class. Looked like it was supposed to be ending around the same time as your class, too. Great, you’d have to fight your way out through a bunch of college students in suits that don’t fit them properly all clambering to throw themselves at the “Honored Speaker.” You briefly wondered if you’d see Doyoung again.

Just as you had continued on your path to your class, you saw somebody leaving the auditorium. You were about to dismiss them as a business major, except his suit actually fit him well. Slowing down, you approached Kim Doyoung, “Well, looks like you’re the one stalking me now, huh?”

Doyoung threw away the empty coffee cup in his hand, and you swore you saw a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he bowed his head, “Appears so, Ms. Y/L/N.”

You could hear Kun’s voice echo through the auditorium, thankfully muffled by the door that had closed behind Doyoung.

“Oh, could you please call me Y/N?”

“Very well, Y/N,” he relented, and your chest felt a little funny when he said your name. You liked how he made it sound, smooth and sweet.

Right as you were about to say something else in a bid to extend your conversation, Doyoung looked at his watch, “Your class starts at eleven, correct?”

“Uh, yes.”

“It’s 10:58, I recommend you go.”

“The class is a joke but fine, you’re clearly trying to get rid of me.”

“I’m not—”

“I’m teasing,” you chuckled. “Thanks, Doyoung. See you.”

“Goodbye, Y/N,” he nodded his head, watching you go back down the hall and open the door to your classroom, disappearing inside.

At the end of your Human Communications class, you let out a groan of relief. There was absolutely no reason for that class to be an entire ninety minutes, other than to maximize the torture inflicted upon the students taking it.

Your class buddy, Sieun, shouldered her bag as she bemoaned, “Oh, that business presentation ends now too, there’s going to be so many losers in the hallways.”

“Maybe wait a few minutes for some of them to clear out?” You suggested, slowly packing up your materials. “Pretend you have questions for Professor Yang?”

“Yeah, I think I will,” she plopped back into her seat. “You going to wait too?”

“No, I’m starving. See you next week, Sieun.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

The hallways were much less crowded than you had expected. There were still a few business majors milling around, presumably to accost Kun with their résumés or pitches or whatever. Your curiosity got the better of you, and you ‘excuse me’-ed your way past a few of them until you could peer into the auditorium. You just wanted to see if Doyoung was still there.

And he was, standing next to Kun as the VP spoke with a man who you were pretty sure was the Dean of the College of Business Administration. Doyoung immediately noticed you, the look on his face translating to something along the lines of ‘you’re back to stalking me now,’ and you couldn’t help but snicker at that. The noise caused Kun and the Dean’s attention to snap over to you as well, and you couldn’t duck out of sight in time.

“Thank you once again, for inviting me, Dean Lee,” Kun bowed to the Dean. The man robotically bowed back, seeming stunned for a moment.

“Of course, Mr. Qian. But what about my offer for you to speak at Spring Commencement?”

“Send the request in through my assistant, I will respond at a later time,” he said over his shoulder dismissively, eyes zeroed in on you.

He stopped several feet short of the entryway, out of sight of the students waiting outside, before beckoning you in. With no foreseeable out, you obliged, eyes drifting over to Doyoung, who had followed his boss over as well. Dean Lee collected himself, clearly trying to hold back his insult at being dismissed in favor of some random student who definitely wasn’t even a business major.

“Y/N,” Kun greeted you, voice as smooth and silky as ever. “I can’t say that I wasn’t hoping to run into you when I accepted the speaking engagement.”

“Oh, well…” You said awkwardly, unable to formulate a proper response. “My class was next door.”

“Are you busy right now? Perhaps you and I could grab lunch together. Doyoung, could you get the car?”

Immediately, you rushed to politely decline the offer, “Oh, I can’t, I have another class to get to, but thank you.”

“Of course,” the Oni was clearly surprised at your denial. “Your education is important.”

“Yeah,” you agreed. Your tense smile morphed into a more genuine one as you turned to Doyoung, “See you around, Doyoung.”

Doyoung nodded with just a hint of a smile on his lips, and you started back towards the door. Right at the threshold, you turned around and said, “There’s a bunch of vultures out here, you might want to use the back exit.”

Kun looked between you and Doyoung—with whom you were actually holding eye contact—curiously before replying, “We will, thank you.”

You flashed one more smile before exiting the room, taking in the dropped jaws of the business majors just outside, who had apparently been listening to your conversation.

After your four run-ins with Kim Doyoung in the span of a week, you found your eyes instinctively looking for him everywhere you went. Every time you saw the back of someone’s head that could’ve been him, your heart rate spiked a little bit, and every black SUV had the slightest possibility of being his.

After two weeks had passed without another glimpse of the snow spirit, you were in Lenticular Café, cheek in hand as you were slumped at a booth, still thinking about him. Why couldn’t you get him out of your mind?

“What are you thinking about, little lady?” Johnny asked as he set a plate of food down in front of you and slid into the seat across the table.

Lenticular had been mostly put back together: the walls could do with some painting over in places, the floor all patched up, some chairs were missing, but it was useable. The café was empty at the moment though, it was just a few minutes to closing, and you originally came with the intention of just getting takeout for you and Taeyong. Apparently, Johnny had other ideas.

“Things,” you retorted, stabbing a piece of food with the fork.

“Care to elaborate?”

“It’s stupid.”

“I live with Renjun, I like stupid.”

You nearly choked on your food, covering your mouth with your hand as you laughed. Johnny’s eyes crinkled as well, and you were disappointed that the Satori wasn’t in the room, he surely would’ve had an amusing and stinging retort to that. After swallowing that bite, you took another, chewing on it as you thought of how to express yourself.

“What do you think about Oni?” You asked him, going with the secondary thing on your mind.

Johnny’s eyebrows raised for a moment, “Why?”

“Why won’t any of you just give me a straight answer? Taeyong says they’re bad news, Sicheng hates them with every fiber of his being. But none of you will tell me why.”

“It’s better that you don’t know, Y/N,” your friend sighed.

You scoffed and rolled your eyes, “Oh yeah? Why?”

“I’m guessing you’re asking around about Oni because of Kun. If you’re interested in him, I’m not going to—”

“Like romantically?” You sputtered out. “No way, Johnny. Seriously, it’s just been on my mind since he picked us up at the café that night.”

“Oh, well, good. Just stay away from him, Y/N.”

You weren’t going to be getting anything out of him either, apparently. Quiet once more, you ate your dinner, thoughts returning to Doyoung. You wondered if you’d ever see him again.

“Still thinking about Oni?”

“No, something else,” you muttered with a sigh.

“Want to talk about it?”

“It’s… it’s stupid, like I said.”

“Oh this is the stupid part, awesome!”

You gave him a frank look before mumbling, “It’s a guy…”

“Exciting.”

“It’s not even like I like him, I barely know him!” You rambled on, inhibitions finally dropping entirely. “We’ve run into each other a few times, and I just kept wanting to talk to him. And I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again, either.”

“You don’t have his number or anything? No way to contact him?”

As you went to shake your head, you suddenly remembered. The business card. Sure, Kun had given it to you with the intention that you call him, but Doyoung’s number was on the front.

“I do, but he didn’t give it to me, I got it accidentally. That’d be weird, right? I don’t want to seem like a creep.”

“Yeah, you’d probably seem like a creep,” Johnny agreed, continuing to watch you eat. “You should make a plan, for if you ever run into him.”

“A plan?”

“What you’re going to say, how to ask for his number, whatever. So that you’re not stuck like this again.”

You opened your mouth to scoff at that, then closed it in a thoughtful frown, “That actually… makes sense. Thanks, Johnny.”

“Like I said, Renjun’s the stupid one,” he smiled broadly at you, then leaned in towards you conspiratorially. “Just don’t tell him I said that.”

“Okay, so, a plan, just in case I run into him again…”

You took a few more bites of your food as you thought, Johnny remaining quiet too.

After a few minutes, you groaned and gave up, “I’m drawing a blank, Johnny. I don’t even know where to start!”

“Well, what’s your goal going to be? Acquiring his number in a normal way, or going straight for the date?”

“Uh, number.”

“So you exchange your greetings, chat if you have time, then get his number.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“That’s because it is.”

You stuck your tongue out at him, “You’ve had a hundred years to practice asking for people’s numbers.”

“Y/N, cell phones haven’t been around for a hundred years,” Johnny deadpanned.

“I genuinely hate you right now.”

“So, you say hello, you chat for a second, then what if he says he has to go?”

“I say something like ‘hey, I’d really like to talk some more, can I have your number before you go?’”

“That was perfect!” You friend cheered you on.

“I still feel like that was lame.”

“Hey, most people like lame.”

“Oh yeah?” You took a sip of your water. “Makes sense how I can stand you.”

Johnny’s jaw dropped in delighted offense before he chuckled, “Okay, okay. I’ll take it. I proudly wear my label of ‘lame’ on my sleeve.”

“I’ll make you a shirt, then.”

Another week passed and you were still on the lookout for Doyoung. On purpose this time. Your talk with Johnny had actually helped a lot. Even just having a plan made you feel better. You had a plan, now you needed an opportunity to execute it.

As you were counting the change in your parents’ register that night, you felt your hopes deflate. You’d been eagerly listening for the sound of the phone or the bell, thinking that maybe Kun would want another rare book, and you’d have an opportunity to see Doyoung again. But as it came time for closing, you found yourself disappointed.

You were closing up by yourself, your parents typically took off early on Fridays anyway, and Sicheng had requested the day off. You didn’t mind, though, you liked helping out, and between the few customers that you got, you had plenty of time to get some schoolwork done.

The bell above the door rang and you nearly broke your neck with how hard you had snapped your head up to look. But your hopes were immediately dashed when you saw that it wasn’t Doyoung.

“Hey, Johnny,” you tried to make your voice as cheery as possible to not betray your disappointment.

“Hey, little lady,” he grinned down at you, and behind him you saw Renjun coming into the store too.

“Oh, hey Renjun!”

The Satori mumbled a greeting back, hands stuffed in his pockets.

The Domeki spoke again, “We’re closing up early to visit Jungwoo, do you want to come with?”

“I’d love to, but I’ve got to finish closing up here, then I have to do some grocery shopping and feed Taeyong.”

“Surely he can open a can of cat food by himself,” Renjun scoffed.

“We’re out of cat food, hence why I have to go grocery shopping.”

“He can’t make his own human food?”

“He lit Chinese takeout on fire in the microwave the other day. Forgot to take the metal handle off the paper takeout container. He’s been banned from doing anything more than pouring himself a cup of Goldfish.”

Johnny, looking alarmed, offered, “Maybe I should give him a few cooking lessons then. And microwave safety lessons.”

“That’d actually be great,” you perked up. “He needs to learn to be more self-sufficient. Get actual life skills. I’ll tell him about it tonight, thanks, Johnny.”

“Of course,” he smiled down at you. “We’ll leave you to close up then. Have a good night, Y/N.”

“You too! And tell Jungwoo I said hi.”

“We will.”

You watched your friends depart, then, with a great sigh, restarted your counting.

Hearing the click! of the door locking, you tucked your keys back into your backpack and started down Bell Street. It took you a little longer than usual than close up—mostly thanks to Johnny and Renjun’s interruption of you counting the register—so the sun was beginning to go down. Taeyong was surely already pacing around your apartment nervously, but there wasn’t much you could do about that. You still had groceries to get. Clicking the power button on your phone to review your grocery list, you groaned when all it did was flash an empty battery symbol to you. Right, it had died a few minutes ago and you didn’t have a power bank on you. Well, you’d have to do this by memory.

You had just turned the corner off of Bell Street and onto Flora Drive when you were suddenly knocked back by something. Thinking you had bumped into someone, you looked up and went to apologize, before realizing that nobody was there. As you got back to your feet, you looked ahead of you to see that the entire street was empty. Turning around with the intention of looking to see if you had maybe tripped over something, you saw a man standing about a foot behind you. The top of his face was concealed by the brim of a baseball cap, and he looked rather normal.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” you mumbled an apology anyway, unsure of what you could be apologizing for. Hitting him possibly? Inconveniencing him by falling over?

“Fine,” he grumbled.

With that interaction over, you took a step forward—away from him—with the intention of continuing on your merry way. The hairs on the back of your neck stood at attention; being alone on a street at night with a man, it was enough to make you wary.

You’d barely taken that step, though, when a hand grabbed your elbow and yanked you back. You didn’t lose your footing this time, instead whipping around and wrenching your arm from the man’s grip, “What the hell?”

When he finally looked up, you saw it. His eyes were a glowing red. Wraith.

You took off down Flora Drive again, this time at a run, his heavy footsteps thudding behind you. If you could just get to a more populated area, you’d be fine. Surely the Wraith couldn’t do anything to you there. Downtown was just a few streets over, people would be out at dinner, and the night market would be just past that. Your best bet was to find a shop that had other people—witnesses—but not too many that you could possibly be taken without being noticed.

As you got closer to a line of shops, you didn’t slow your run. The embarrassment of having everyone’s attention drawn to you was great, but the benefit of it was even greater. Everyone would be looking at the strange girl running, and wonder what she was running from. Surely they’d see the Wraith behind you—an ordinary man to them—and be able to surmise what was happening.

A couple of women had been having dinner at the outdoor seating of a restaurant, looks of curiosity at your actions turning into wide eyes as they presumably saw the man chasing after you. They both stood up, one taking you by the wrist to slow you down, putting the table and herself between you and the Wraith.

“Are you okay?” She asked you quietly. “What’s your name?”

You shook your head, replying just as hushed, “No, I don’t know him, and he just started following me. I got scared. I’m Y/N.”

Her friend sent it a glare before she moved to embrace you, “Hi! You’re late, Kimi and I already had to order our drinks without you!”

“Sorry about that, got hung up at work,” you breathed out, trying to match the pep in her tone.

“That’s what we figured,” the first woman, Kimi, said. “That boss of yours is such a hardass, Y/N. Yingli was about ready to march down there and get you herself.”

Kimi motioned for you to sit in the seat between them, immediately engaging you in conversation as if you were a friend of theirs. Both women glared daggers at the Wraith as it stood around for a minute. When it became clear that you weren’t going to be leaving any time soon, it slinked away into the crowd, but you had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to give up, or be the only one on the prowl tonight.

“Thank you so much,” you breathed out in relief to the women.

“Of course, hon,” Yingli brushed a few stray hairs out of your face. “Do you want us to walk you home? Or do you a have someone that can come pick you up? We’re not letting you out of our sight until you’re safe.”

You desperately wracked your brain. You’d have to call an Ayakashi to come get you, either of your human friends would essentially be useless. But your phone was dead. And the only numbers you had memorized were your parents’ and Jaemin’s. Humans.

But you had the business card.

“Yeah, I do,” you nodded, pulling the card out of the back of your phone case. “Uh, my phone’s dead, could I borrow one of yours?”

“Of course!”

Kimi’s phone was pushed into your hand, already on the keypad. Standing up from the table, you moved just far enough away for privacy, but still in eyesight of the women. They were right, they weren’t letting you out of their sight, and you were grateful for that, still rattled. You typed in the numbers printed on the card, holding your breath as you pressed call.

It rang only twice before it was picked up by a curt voice, “Kim Doyoung.”

“It’s Y/N,” you were once again relieved. “Can you please come get me?”

“Mr. Qian is in a meeting right now.”

“I didn’t call him, I called you.” You lowered your voice to plea, “Please, there’s Wraiths and I-I can’t— please, Doyoung.”

His tone immediately changed, just a bit softer, “Where are you?”

“Uh, hold on.” You walked back over to the women, “What is this place called?”

“Joy’s on 31st.”

Repeating it to Doyoung, you received a noise of confirmation from him.

“I’m coming.”

“Thank you.”

Yingli added, “Oh, tell them they have to come walk up and get you, you’re not getting into any car alone.”

Nodding, you took the phone back to the more secluded area of the dining area, “Did you get that?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, see you.”

You’d just pulled the phone from your ear, intending on hanging up, when you heard him say something else. Bringing it back up, you said, “What was that?”

“Will you stay on the line until I get there?”

Not wanting to monopolize the woman’s phone anymore, you replied, “This isn’t my phone. I’ll be fine until you get here, Doyoung. I’m okay right now, I just can’t leave safely.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ll be at the outdoor seating of Joy’s on 31st with two very kind women who aren’t Wraiths, okay?” You dropped your voice to a whisper at the end.

“Very well. I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you.”

This time you actually hung up.

Back at the table, you held the phone back out to its owner, and took your seat again.

“Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Kimi rubbed a hand up and down your back. “Who’s coming to get you? What do they look like?”

“A friend, Doyoung. He’s kind of tall, black hair, he’s coming from work, so he’ll be wearing a suit.”

They nodded, returning to their menus and small talk with you.

Fifteen minutes later, after their orders had been taken, and you’d been given a water, your eyes that had been constantly scanning the crowd finally landed on the very person they were looking for. Kim Doyoung was striding towards you, in a suit as you had predicted, eyebrows and mouth set in a frown. His eyes were already locked onto you, and you made a wave of acknowledgement.

“That’s him,” you told the women, and they turned towards where you were looking.

“Okay…” Yingli said, regarding him with scrutiny.

“You need anything else from us?” Kimi asked.

You shook your head, standing from your seat, “No, but thank you so much.”

Doyoung met you by the table where Kimi and Yingli had stood along with you. Kimi still had a gentle but reassuring hand on your back, and you could tell that they were wary of him. You couldn’t blame them; he wasn’t doing anything to make himself look non-threatening. What you were pretty sure was a worried frown could be easily interpreted as a rather scary glare.

“Hi, Doyoung,” you greeted him quietly.

“Are you alright?” He asked, voice hard.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” you assured him, moving to stand beside him and face the women. “Thank you two so much. Seriously.”

“Of course, Y/N,” Kimi said sweetly.

“Bye, Y/N, stay safe,” Yingli squeezed your hand supportively.

“I will, thanks.”

At the finality of the conversation, you looked to Doyoung expectantly. He started down the sidewalks, and you matched his pace.

“What happened?”

You told him the story from you closing the shop until you had called him, fear creeping into your voice as you recalled when the Wraith had grabbed your elbow and the subsequent chase. Instinctively, you pressed just a little closer to Doyoung, shoulder brushing his momentarily. He definitely took note of this, looking at you out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” he admitted, then nodded up ahead. “The SUV is around the corner, I couldn’t find anywhere closer to park.”

“Okay. And thanks again, I didn’t really have anyone else to call. Didn’t want to drag any human friends into a situation with Wraiths. Phone dead. Just glad I still had your business card.”

With pursed lips, you realized that he knew you had his number. So much for your plan. Great.

“As am I. Mr. Qian will be pleased to know that you’re alright.”

“You told him?” You groaned, rolling your eyes.

“He’s my employer, I had to explain why I was leaving work early,” Doyoung explained coolly, sounding almost as if he were talking to a child. “And I didn’t interrupt his meeting with this, I left a note on his desk.”

“This,” you repeated the word mockingly. “As if me being chased by a Wraith was an annoyance to you. My bad, next time I’ll let it kill me.”

He let out a short sigh, “I phrased that incorrectly, my apologies. Ensuring your safety isn’t an annoyance to me, Y/N. Mr. Qian has taken an interest in you.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, “Why are you constantly throwing him at me?”

“I’m sorry?” For the first time ever, you had caught him off-guard, his voice betraying such.

“Every time we talk, you’re constantly telling me about how Kun ‘has an interest’ in me. Surely that’s not part of your job description.”

“My job is his personal assistant. Whatever he may need.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t need any help getting dates,” you scoffed. “But it’s every time you should be talking about yourself and what you’re thinking or feeling, you default to telling me about Kun. Have you even considered that I don’t particularly care about his ‘interest’ in me?”

Doyoung seemed genuinely confused at this, brows drawn tightly together and forehead crinkling as he was trying to figure out what you had meant. As if he couldn’t possibly believe that you wouldn’t be interested in Kun.

“Well then why would you…”

“Why would I what?” You prompted him.

“Wait—” he suddenly stopped just before you reached the corner.

“What?”

“Just stay behind me for a second.”

Before you could respond, he moved forward, turning sharply to his right. He threw out his arm, three projectiles launching from his hand. They hit three black smoky forms with great precision, the red orbs being the last thing to disappear as they vanished from your vision.

“Oh.”

Doyoung continued walking, and you saw the SUV up ahead. Your legs moved on their own to follow him as your brain tried to catch up to what just happened.

“Uh thanks,” you rushed to follow social conventions. “So did you kill them?”

“Dissipated them. They’ll come back, just not for a while.”

“And you just have knives in your sleeves?”

“No,” he held up his hand, three more knives forming between his fingers. But they weren’t knives, they weren’t blades made of any kind of typical material. You gingerly touched your finger to the flat part of the rhombus, immediately feeling how cold it was. Ice.

“Cool.”

At his calculating look, you realized your unintentional pun.

“Literally and in the sense of that being pretty uh... rad.”

“Rad,” he repeated the word, as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

You couldn’t think of anything to say, but thankfully you were at the SUV. He opened the passenger door for you, and you climbed in as he walked around to driver’s side. After he had pulled out of the parking spot, you had the want to keep talking to Doyoung, you felt like you were almost getting somewhere in that conversation. But there was something else that had been nagging at you.

“Why are you so loyal to Kun, Doyoung?” You blurted out, and at his raised eyebrow, you explained. “All the Ayakashi I know are at least wary of him for being an Oni, but you’re not. Why? It’s got to be something more than him being your boss.”

Doyoung smoothly turned the wheel as he pondered this for a moment before answering, “My parents passed when I was young, I never had the chance to be raised to be afraid of Oni like other Ayakashi. And even if I was… the Qians found me and took me in, then Kun later gave me purpose by offering me this job. That is why I’m loyal to him. Because he has earned it.”

“I’m sorry, about your parents,” you said quietly. Maybe you should’ve changed the subject, but the possibility of knowing more about Doyoung was just too enticing, “How old were you? If you don’t mind talking about it.”

“Eight.”

“Then Kun sort of raised you?”

“I wouldn’t use that phrasing, he was never a father figure to me… more like a much older brother, to follow along with your logic.”

“So he’s still family to you.”

“Yes, I suppose he is.”

“That’s nice.”

At your momentary beat of silence as you were trying to wrack your brain for another avenue of conversation, Doyoung spoke again.

“I thought you said you didn’t care about Mr. Qian or his vested interest in you.”

“I don’t,” you retorted.

“Well then why—”

And you finally snapped, “Kim Doyoung, has it ever occurred to you that someone might talk to you because they, oh, I don’t know, want to talk to you? Not use you to get to Kun or whatever, but because they have a genuine interest in you as a person. Ever considered that? Ever considered that I asked you that because I’m actually interested in you, and Qian Kun seems to be your entire life, so in order to learn more about you, I had to ask about him?”

The other side of the car was dead silent after your outburst, and you glowered at the road up ahead of you. The streetlights passed by in regular intervals, the lights of storefronts turning into apartment buildings as you got closer to your home.

And finally, after an agonizingly long period of quiet that only served to make you more restless, more irritated, Doyoung stopped in front of your apartment building.

“Thanks,” you repeated your gratitude for the umpteenth time that night, hand already on the door handle to leave.

But before you could, he said your name, as clear and pretty as ever, “Y/N.”

You looked at him for the first time since your outburst, your eyes immediately catching on his. They were black in the darkness of the night, and you could imagine them as endless black holes, sucking you in.

“I hadn’t,” he said thoughtfully. “Thought of that before.”

“Really? You don’t seem to be that stupid, but if the shoe fits.” You were still being pissy.

A scowl came to his face, “I’m not stupid. Though I suppose I have a rather narrow view of interpersonal interactions since, as you said, my entire life is… dedicated to my work.”

“Yeah, you should really get out more, Doyoung.” A lightheartedness returned your tone, you were enjoying your conversation with him again, your hand absentmindedly falling from the door handle as if your body had already made the decision that you were going to be there for a while longer.

“Perhaps I should.”

Your heartrate spiked as you suddenly had a thought. So you couldn’t go through with your original plan, to nonchalantly ask for his number, but maybe you could tweak it. The very idea made you a little nauseous, but the racing of your heart was from both nerves and excitement.

“We could do something together,” you suggested, trying to keep your tone on a very perilous precipice between eagerness and nonchalance. You wanted to come across as genuine, but not pushy.

“Like what?” Doyoung’s brows furrowed. Amusement tugged at the corner of your mouth at the expression that was becoming very well-known to you: him pondering, the gears in his mind turning arduously as he tried his damndest to make sense of what you had just said. You didn’t know anybody else that you had been able to baffle this much.

“Like… a date.”

As soon as the words were out of your mouth, you had the urge to stuff them right back in, to backpedal so hard you went back in time to before you had said that. Because he froze. If you weren’t internally panicking, you might have found irony in a snow spirit freezing. Swallowing thickly, you clenched your jaw in an effort to not take it back. You said those words, and you meant them, you weren’t about to cower away from them, especially considering the sudden burst of confidence that you had said them with.

“Where?”

“Hm?” It was your turn to be confused.

“Where will we go?”

You literally let out an audible groan of relief, practically melting back into the car seat. Throwing a hand up to your face, you rubbed from your forehead to your chin in one long motion, “Jesus, Doyoung, a ‘yes’ first would have been nice.”

“My bad.”

“Yeah, it is,” you retorted, shaking your head to clear your thoughts. “Maybe we should figure out the ‘when’ first. That was your work cell that I called, right?”

“Do people have another?”

“Right, you don’t have a personal life so why would you have a personal cell?” You snipped sarcastically, mostly to yourself. “I’ll text you, alright? Once, you know, my phone charges.”

Doyoung nodded, “Okay.”

At the resolution of this, a giddy smile came to your face. You had really asked Doyoung out on a date, and he had really said yes. You once again reached for the door handle, this time pulling on it just enough to unlock the door, but you didn’t move to open it yet.

“Bye, Doyoung.”

“Have a good rest of your night, Y/N.”

“You too.”

Right after you had slid down from the SUV seat to the pavement, you turned around to add accusatorily, “Don’t immediately call Kun after I close this door to tell him about this.”

“Very well.”

“Just hold off on telling him anything about this for now. Tell him I’m safe and leave it at that.”

“I will.”

“Great. Now, it’s really goodbye, Doyoung.”

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he nodded, watching you close the door behind you.

You didn’t hear the SUV pull out of the spot until you had entered your apartment building, and you turned around to watch it start down the street.

Up in your apartment, you hadn’t even fully opened your door yet when you were knocked into by your Nekomata roommate. The force of Taeyong’s hug pushed you back into the hallway, and you insistently forced your way back in with him still attached to you.

“You’ve really got to stop doing that every time I’m home later than I said I was going to be,” you sighed, hugging him back, nonetheless.

“I get worried.”

When he pulled back, you could see a pout on his lips, and reached up to scratch behind his ears, “I know, Yonggie. I’ll get you a phone or something, so I can text you.”

“Like yours?”

“Sure. That way you and Johnny can schedule your cooking lessons.”

“My what?”

“You lit takeout on fire, Yonggie. And you need to be able to feed yourself without me.”

“Hmph.”

It was then that he took in the lack of grocery bags in your hands, brow furrowing.

“I… got distracted.”

“By?”

“A Wraith trying to kill me.”

“Y/N!” Taeyong immediately yelped. “This is why I get worried!”

“I’m okay, you can see that I’m okay.”

“How’d you get away? You don’t… yeah, you don’t have your powers yet.”

As you thought of how to phrase your answer, you moved further into your apartment, destination being the kitchen. You’d just have to make human food for yourself and Taeyong tonight. You didn’t want to lie to your friend, but you’d definitely have to carefully choose your words as to not even allude to Doyoung’s employer at all.

“The Wraith was in a human form, a man, so when a couple of very nice, heroic ladies saw me being chased by it, they brought me over to their dinner table. But I figured there would be more, so I wanted to call an Ayakashi, but my phone was dead. I had Doyoung’s—the snow spirit’s—uh, number in my phone case. He came and got me, dissipated a few Wraiths, protected me, kept me safe. Brought me back home.”

“Oh,” Taeyong’s face scrunched up for a moment before it relaxed again, and he moved forward to rest his head against your shoulder. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

You smiled serenely, patting his cheek, “Me too.”

The next day was Saturday, and you had a brunch with Jaemin and Jaehyun to attend. Jaehyun had just gotten his paycheck from both his jobs and wanted to treat you two. His “little siblings” as he had said in the invitational text. No way either of you were going to reject free food.

So you were dressed in a nicer outfit, holding onto Jaemin’s arm as you walked through the doors of the rather fancy establishment. You looked over at Jaehyun with wide eyes, wondering just how much his two jobs paid for him to offer to cover the three of you here. Jaehyun didn’t seem fazed, hand on the small of your back as the three of you approached the hostess stand.

After she’d seated you and given you menus, you scanned over the options, humming to yourself.

“And what’s got you in such a good mood, Y/N?” Jaehyun asked, skimming his own menu across the table from you.

“I’m getting brunch with two of my best friends, one of whom is paying for my meal, why wouldn’t I be happy?” You retorted, eyes catching on the lemon curd pancakes.

The table was silent, and you tore your gaze from the menu to see your two friends exchanging a disbelieving look. Jaemin decided to take the lead on it, clicking his tongue, “Nah, it’s got to be something else.”

“You’re never this happy to see us in the quad,” Jaehyun agreed.

You rolled your eyes, “Because it’s eight in the morning, at school. Is anybody happy then?”

Your phone suddenly buzzed from its place face-down on the table beside your elbow, and you rushed to grab it. With disappointment, you realized that it was just a text from your mom thanking you for again for helping out at the bookstore the day before. You quickly texted her back and set your phone down again.

“Who were you hoping it was?”

Looking at Jaemin, the question-asker, you tried to keep your tone light, “Nobody. Just… been conditioned by technology, I guess.”

“Then turn your phone on silent and put it away.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re not eagerly awaiting a message from someone, then you’ll have no problem turning your phone on silent and putting it your pocket.”

You looked at Jaehyun, hoping for some kind of backup, but he smugly shook his head. He was going to be compliant in Jaemin’s torturing of you.

“What if one of my parents gets into an accident and I miss the call from the hospital or something?”

“Morbid, Y/N,” Jaehyun snorted before taking a sip of the water that the waiter had just put down.

Jaemin apparently had a comeback to this, “Then don’t turn it on silent. Just tuck it your pocket.”

With tense fingers, you picked your phone up, shifting in your seat to push your phone into your back pocket, then rigidly sitting back on both buttcheeks, holding eye contact with Jaemin the whole time.

“Happy?”

“Quite.”

As soon as they had picked up their menus once more, your eyes began their habitual scanning of the facility. You’d already decided on the lemon curd pancakes, giving you plenty of time to do this. But when you had actually seen a back of a head that was vaguely familiar to you, you coughed. Grabbing your water, you took a few sips of the cold drink in order to cover up your mild fit.

“Woah, you good, Y/N?” Jaehyun leaned forward with concern.

“Yeah, yeah,” you forced the words out. “Choked on my own throat. Fine.”

When your friends’ eyes returned to the menu, your own returned to the head of black hair across the restaurant from you. It was a table of four people, and if you were assuming correctly, Kim Doyoung and Qian Kun had their backs to you, and two other nicely dressed, older men were across from them. A business brunch, perhaps. On a Saturday, though?

“Holy shit, is that Mr. Qian?” Jaemin’s voice suddenly asked, and you hadn’t even noticed that he had looked up nor that he’d also noticed where you were staring.

Jaehyun peeked over his shoulder, “Who?”

“One of my customers at Grandeur who’s trying to be Y/N’s sugar daddy,” your friend said matter-of-factly. “The one with brown hair with his back to us. I would tell you not to stare, but Y/N was already doing that.”

“Shut up, Jaemin!” You hissed, wrenching your gaze from that direction and back at the menu, though you weren’t actually reading anything on it. “I don’t want any sort of… arrangement with him.”

“Then why were you staring at him?”

“Ever heard of zoning out?”

Jaehyun raised an eyebrow, taking a delicate sip of his water before suggesting, “Maybe she was staring at one of the other dudes.”

“Jung Jaehyun, you’re brilliant!” Jaemin cheered.

“I know.”

The waiter came back to take your orders, saving you for just a minute. He had barely taken a step away from your table when your friends resumed their harassment of you.

“The other guys aren’t really lookers.”

“That’s rude of you, Jaemin.”

“What? It’s not like they can hear me. They’re also like a million years old.”

“Maybe Y/N’s into that.”

“Maybe.”

You let out a groan, dropping your head onto your forearms, hiding your face. There was no way you were going to get them to stop now.

“It’s probably Kim Doyoung then, Mr. Qian’s assistant.”

“Oh?”

“Apparently Mr. Qian got a book from Y/N’s parents’ store, so she’s met him and his assistant a couple times. Was even brave enough to ask Kim Doyoung to give me a coffee she’d brought me at work.”

Turning your head just enough to bring your mouth out, you asked, “Why do you keep saying his full name?”

“I’m afraid to call him anything else.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you scoffed, returning your head to its previous position.

There was a buzzing in your pocket, and you fought the urge to check it. Two buzzes, just a text. A text that you could check later, lest it was actually who you had hoped was going to be texting you and Jaemin possibly saw it over your shoulder.

“Did your phone just buzz, Y/N?” Jaehyun asked.

“Yeah, why?” You didn’t even bother bringing your face out this time. “I didn’t check it, this proves nothing.”

“Other than the fact that Kim Doyoung just typed something on his phone right before your phone buzzed,” Jaemin informed you.

Your heart rate immediately spiked at the thought that it could be Doyoung. Fighting to keep your excitement from your voice, you put on an incredulous tone instead, “I cannot believe that you two are still staring at them in public. Everyone’s going to think I’m here with two fucking weirdos.”

“One, you are, and two, everyone? Or just one specific person?”

“Keep this up and you’ll never see Tama again.”

“Empty threats.”

Sitting up straight again, you stretched out your neck, forcing your eyes not to wander over to Doyoung. You didn’t know why you were trying so desperately to keep this from them. Maybe because you knew that the teasing wouldn’t cease even if you did confirm it. Not only that, but you were hesitant to tell them in case it ended up falling flat, amounting to nothing. On the other hand, they’d probably be the safest of your friends to tell, being the only humans, the only ones who had no problem with his boss’ status as an Oni. Especially because they didn’t know anything about Ayakashi.

As you mused over this with yourself, eyes locked onto your glass of water, you were knocked out of your thoughts by Jaemin exclaiming.

“Oh! The old guys are back from the bathroom. Looks like Mr. Qian covered the tab. They’re standing up and shaking hands— they’re leaving!”

He suddenly ducked his head down, pretending as if the wall beside him was incredibly interesting. Realizing that both Doyoung and Kun would be walking towards you in order to get to the door, you did the same, tucking your chin to your chest to look over at Jaemin, hand coming up to hold your head and block your face from the rest of the restaurant.

“You two are ridiculous,” Jaehyun snickered, the only one sitting normally, entirely unafraid of the approaching entourage. “Why are you hiding, Jaemin?”

“It’s weird seeing clients outside of work!” He whined back quietly. “Tell us when they’re gone.”

A rather long while later, Jaehyun informed you, “They’re gone, losers.”

When you finally peeked up, you saw your TA friend looking at the two of you with crossed arms and a disappointed face. You stuck your tongue out at him, eyes then turning to the size of dinnerplates when you heard a voice say your name. A voice that wasn’t Jaehyun or Jaemin.

Kim Doyoung was standing beside your table, head tilted ever so slightly as he looked down at you. You dragged your eyes up his well-fitted dark suit to meet his gaze, offering a nervous smile to him, “Hi, Doyoung.”

“Back to stalking me, then?” He joked in that same dry tone again.

You laughed weakly, “Guess so.”

“Mr. Qian left his wallet on our table,” he explained his presence plainly, and it was then that you noticed the black leather wallet in his hands.

“Oh.”

“He’s waiting for me in the SUV. You should check your texts, by the way. Goodbye, Y/N.”

“Bye, Doyoung.”

As soon as you were sure that he had actually exited the restaurant, you glowered at Jaehyun, “You did that on purpose.”

“You stalked him?”

“He was joking, Jaemin.”

“I’ve never heard Kim Doyoung crack a joke,” Jaemin breathed out.

“Never mind that,” Jaehyun shook his head, absolutely delighted as he turned a devious smile on you. “He did text you.”

There was no way you were going to be able to worm your way out of this one. Silently, you took your phone out. You did, indeed, have a text from Doyoung.

[doyoung: Mr. Qian confirmed that I will have tonight off. Does 6:30 work for you?]

[you: 6:30 is perfect]

“And what are you two going to be doing at six-thirty?” Jaemin asked.

You had no doubt that he’d be reading it over it your shoulder, though now your suspicions were confirmed.

“You’re so fucking nosy.”

“Alright Jaemin, I think we’ve done enough for now,” Jaehyun surprisingly came to your defense.

“Now you’ve decided to cease your torment of me?”

“Why can’t you write like that in your essays?”

“I hate the both of you.”

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[olimpias]

Hello yes Amadeo has intrigued me please do feel free to share some lore

OKAY OKAY BESTIE WITH PLEASURE-

well. let’s see. he’s the son (im gonna say he and son in this post to avoid confusion bc hes amab and also he literally couldn’t care less about gender stuff).

He was born in 1996 and is the son of the youngest of the four pascuzzi siblings, Gabriella. She ran away from home when she was 13 bc the way her parents made their money disgusted her (they are a bit like the mafia but with art and jewellery) and also bc the little sicilian village where they lived bored her to death. she wanted to go see The World i suppose but bc she was so young and also kinda dumb she landed in Palermo and didn’t get away from there for quite some time. She joined a gang of small time criminals like pickpockets and such bc she had no other choice (they picked her off the street). And bc she was so young and stupid she managed to get pregnant at 14 (it was consensual like the dad only was 15 himself and they just didn’t think of the consequences) and thus Amadeo was born.

About a year later, the police found out about their gang and they had to flee. Amadeo’s dad managed to get back to his home country, Brazil, and Gabriella somehow fled to Monaco where she began working in a casino as a croupière (does this exist? idk). They stayed there several years until she was 19 which was when she married an old man who was sort of lonely and only wanted to give her security with the marriage. He was a really great guy and they were all happy for two years. Afterwards, the old man died and bc his family was the bitchiest family ever, they managed to take all the money he had left Gabriella away from her. So there she was again with nothing oops

They travelled around Europe for one or two years afterwards and this time was not the best, I will say that much. Many not-so-nice things happened during that period but Gabriella was too proud to ask her family for help after she had spent so much time hiding from them. But after a while, they came to Portugal where Gabriella got together with some normal (or pretty normal) nightclub owner who was nice enough and they lived there for three more years until Amadeo was 13 and Gabriella was 27. And yeah. Then she died of alcohol poisoning one night. BUT

Amadeo’s family (the italian part, he has no clue the brazilian part even exists) all showed up to the funeral and it was very frightening and sad and new for him bc his mum had always told him that they were bad people and he couldn’t trust them. Which is true in some way but they’re actually really nice if you look over all the illegal stuff they have going on. And well, he became the oldest brother Felice’s ward and came back to Italy to live with his grandma in that same sicilian village his mother had run way from. It’s actually quite nice there.

When he was 18, he also moved to Palermo, into the old flat his mother and father had occupied back in the day (it’s a super crazy 70s style apartment with curtains made out of glass pearls and a pink velvet sofa and a cardboard Sean Connery and stuff like that). And bc he didn’t have to worry about money (Felice just founded his account every months with LOTS of money bc he is sorry what happened to his mother but also doesn’t know how to show it properly) he just did what he wanted aka partying and drinking a lot and doing drugs and not caring about anything. Not to mention he also has a lot of trauma. Which obviously sucks. His only help during that time was Janice, his cousin (Felice’s daughter. Remember Janice, she’s that other storyless oc of mine i introduced once) bc she is strong and amazing and would always help him in one way or another. But of course this was no situation to be in for very long and it all changed for the better when he met his boyfriend-to-be Celio in a bar.

Which is when he asked Celio for his number but never texted him until Celio was attacked by some assholes one night and Amadeo happened to be there and saved him. Then took him back to his flat, let him sleep in his bed and they became really close. And well. Now they’re in a very healthy, happy relationship. But that is another story maybe for when I draw Celio one day.

okay this was A LOT. I hope it’s not too much but you asked for it sooooo :3

[vivid-wisp]

Friday Night Funkin but I compelled a list of every lore/canon thing confirmed about FNF, specifically story elements said by the devs themselves

DISCLAIMER: YOU CAN TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT IF YOU WANT. Despite the devs confirming things, remember they can obviously change their mind. This list includes minor/semi-important bits, so lore you probably don’t know. “Major” lore most people know won’t be on this. Long post. This includes most if not all canon details the devs have stated on their social medias like Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, etc. These are not personal ideas or headcanons. REBLOGS GREATLY APPREICATED.

Boyfriend

- Hair is naturally cyan, not dyed. He is 19 years old. Boyfriend is a college dropout. He likes just speaking in "beeps and boops" sounds, it's not a language. He has ADHD. He's afraid of lightning.

- Both his parents work in accounting, they also own a dog BF has but can't take care of himself. Not known what dog breed it is.

- He and Hatsune Miku are siblings, and because of this BF is most likely asian specifically Japanese. Miku will be aged up to be the older sibling if she ever gets into the actual game.

- He loves pepperoni pizza from Dominos. Loves donuts the most out all FNF characters.

- Him and Pico are exes. This makes BF apart of the LGBTQ+ community.

- BF is very dumb just like GF. This also means he’s very confident, essentially fearless.

- Boyfriend sucks at FromSoftware games. However he's a really good scout player in Team Fortress 2. He's also likely to say "pog."

- Boyfriend is very good at finger board tricks, it’s one of the reasons he won Girlfriend’s heart.

Girlfriend

- She is 19 years old and afraid of lightning. She’s a demon and is a lot more chilled back than BF, she’s very fearless. She’s taller than BF by a good bit.

- Her favorite soda is Cherry Dr. Pepper and Cheerwine. Her favorite pizza topping is olive.

- GF likes to play video games, her favorite being Tetris.

- GF is extremely dumb just like BF and puts a lot of faith into BF to handle things. She does have emotions, she’s just very chill, aloof, or too dumb to realize. Or all of the above.

- The rest of GF's family aren't famous rapper/singers, just Dad and Mom.

- BF is the “top” but GF lets him be. (Phantom Arcade said this directly)

Daddy Dearest

- Because DD is retired, he gets his income from DMCAing people on Youtube for using his songs and music.

-  At some point DD pretends to “accept” BF, which really makes it harder for BF and does more crazy tricks on him. It’s a case of “keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.”

- GF’s dad may have known BF’s dad before.

Skid and Pump

- They get afraid sometimes but not at the right things, like monsters they aren’t afraid but are of natural things like heights. Somewhat similar to BF and GF.

- Skid and Pump were tricked by the Monster to get GF as a “treat” which is why they rap battle BF. When they fail the Monster comes out in the scrapped song for Week 2.

Pico

- He is 20 years old. Pico's School is canon to the Friday Night Funkin' universe. He's depicted having a tooth gap as a kid.

- Pico is a mercenary who was hired by Daddy Dearest to kill BF, he was only given a location and not a picture or name. Turns out BF is actually someone Pico used to know, implied by Phantom as not seeing BF for a long time, possibly years.

- Pico has schizophrenia, likely caused by trauma from Pico’s School, it’s likely the reason he always carries his gun with him as he’s very paranoid of people. He may have more than just schizophrenia.

- Him and BF are exes. He's been described by Tankman/Captain as "sexually ambiguous friend."

- Likes to drink McDonald's Sprite. And just like BF, he's likely to say "pog."

Mommy Mearest/Mommy Must Murder

- Unlike the Dad who is a ex-rockstar, MM is still working her job as a popstar.

- Likes to drink White Claw.

- The Henchmen that appear in the back are actually 5 days old, because they were grown/bottles in jars. They are clones.

Monster/Lemon Monster

- Hijacked Week 5 at the mall after the battle duet with the Dad and Mom, everyone at the mall scattering after Monster’s appearance.

- Tricked the Spooky Kids to get the GF as a “treat” so that it can eat GF and BF.

- The head of Monster is not actually a lemon, it’s just how it’s head is shaped.

- Is able to twist perception, presumably why after the hijack by Monster everything looked gorey and twisted. 

Senpai/Spirit

- Senpai is just an AI in the game while Spirit is a completely separate entity from Senpai, who is self aware and is related to the real world.

- Senpai is used to being loved and admired, so when he’s not loved and doesn’t get his way he becomes a jerk. Senpai is a pathetic sore loser, that’s why he got angry after he lost to BF.

- GF used to play the Hating Simulator game all the time when she was younger like 8 years old and liked Senpai, but after being sucked into the game with BF and seeing how Senpai acted she doesn’t like Senpai and dislikes him.

- Spirit was trapped inside the character Senpai, Senpai is not being controlled by the Spirit. Senpai still acts as himself.

- The Spirit was trapped inside the game by the Dad, meaning there’s history of the GF’s dad having past relationships with other people.

- Senpai was originally a teacher and designed as one, but was later changed.

Ritz

- Ritz and BF are canonically brothers, in the sense of a "Stuart Little" situation. So adopted in a way.

- Ritz skateboards to travel sometimes.

Tankman/Captain

- The war area that Tankman and his men are on is a military base that BF and GF trespassed on, unlike the apocalyptic setting in the original Tankmen series.

- The Captain doesn’t actually know Pico, BF, or GF which make the assumptions he says “don’t you have a school to shoot up” and “no prom for you this year” false. He just says them because he’s an jerk.

Miscellaneous

- Every "week" takes place on a Friday.

- Week 2 happens after Week 4. And Week 6 happens after Week 5 or Week 2. This may be changed in the future.

- The characters' birthdays are on November 1st since that's when the game came out, not specified if it's just 1 or multiple characters' birthdays.

- Everyone's favorite fast food is Arby's. (Ninjamuffin however says he's only saying this since he wants to be promoted by them on Twitter)

- Yes Boyfriend and Girlfriend are their canon names, not Keith.

- Week 5 happens because BF takes GF on a date to visit Santa for Christmas, but the parents show up to ruin everything. Mall Santa is dead if you “game over” in Week 5.

- Week 7 happens because GF’s parents sent BF and GF on a “vacation” which was to crash a plane to kill BF, knowing GF would be fine. They land/crash near military zone which GF’s parents didn’t know or intended. Pico shows up because he was sent to “fetch the corpse” of BF, he didn’t kill BF obviously and is now in deep shit from GF’s parents after messing up his job twice.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Rambling about Fundy Reincarnation again because THE IMPLICATIONS

Ok so with the recent update on what Wilbur counted up as the tally of canon lives everyone has (and since Dream and Sapnap and everyone have mentioned it on stream as well, I think it’s safe to say that they all agree with it?), I wanna quickly talk about the Fundy Reincarnation lore because oh man it’s such an interesting piece of lore and I’ve seen pretty much nobody talking about it!

This is just a bunch of mindless ramble and speculation and random thoughts I’ve plastered together because I like taking this one random, very strange idea and thinking about what it could possibly imply.

I do think it’s worth thinking about!

Because yeah, it could just be a one-off jokey ramble or something, but you know what else was a joke at first?

Sally the mother-fucking (father-fucking?) salmon.

And I’ve made a whole post already just about the fact that Fundy has an elephant’s memory when it comes to his own lore and he doesn’t forget those one-off “Sally’s an accountant” type lines

Plus, Fundy brought it up in response to a dono literally asking him to clarify pieces of the lore, and he was very VERY insistent on the fact that he’s canonically older than Tommy due to the reincarnation. Maybe the details about being born from fire and fireworks are exaggerated, but the reincarnation thing certainly doesn’t seem to be.

So with that in mind, here are some things I’ve been thinking about:

Philza. Phil is, in the lore, Fundy’s grandfather. And despite only being on the server for two weeks and having seemingly no canonical deaths (and very few plain Minecraft deaths as well), he only has one life. He’s known for Hardcore, so if that’s the reason why he only has one, this would be an interesting way to bring the Hardcore World into the Dream SMP logic.

The implications that Fundy, while he has two remaining canon lives for his current Wilbur-Salmon-born incarnation, can never TRULY die, means that Fundy is a contrasting force to Phil.

Phil’s playing on Hardcore, Fundy’s playing on Easy.

Fundy can “canonically respawn” beyond both his grandfather AND his father’s capabilities.

How did Fundy lose three lives originally?

Yes, it’s kind of an impossible task to truly impose a very recent rule onto old plotlines so obviously we’ll never get a true answer, but in this case I just find it more funny than frustrating to speculate, ‘cause he basically “died” for the last time somewhere in between the flaming hot dog being placed on top of the Camarvan and Eret’s walls being built. Usually the debate about which deaths were canon just doesn’t sound fun to me, but I am coming to terms with the plot device more and more and this is just such an amusing idea.

What killed him? Was it the pure karma for him pranking Wilbur with fish? Did he get crushed by the hot dog? Run over by the van? Did Eret lay his foundations over Fundy by accident and drop a wagon of bricks on top of him? Did he drown in the L’manburg river?

I love every single possibility.

What is Fundy, exactly?

Ok, so obviously Fundy looks like a fox. Wilbur has said that he’s not literally a fox, just a furry, but Fundy’s also previously refused to kill foxes at all costs and it’s pretty commonly accepted that, yeah, he isn’t human.

So he was born to a salmon and a human, right? That makes his species a salmon-human hybrid?

Nope, but there’s no real explanation given for why not.

BUT, maybe this reincarnation lore, which sounds batshit crazy at first, actually helps clear up the confusion a bit.

Fundy’s magical somehow. Some sort of magic since he gets reincarnated, yeah? And he was a fox long before he even met Wilbur.

Yes, Wilbur made love to a salmon, but Fundy’s appearance remains the same before and after rebirth regardless of what new people/animals he was born to. That’s basically it. His species doesn’t depend on who his new parents are. His species is just a constant thing.

Yeah, he’s 1/4 Samsung fridge right now. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a fox, ‘cause he’s just always been a fox and he always will be a fox.

The different possibilities for what parentage he could have next

This part haunts me, and I’ve made posts about how much it haunts me, but I also think this has some interesting potential as well.

Eret wants to adopt Fundy right now. And Wilbur basically adopted SMP Fundy in a meta way when he first claimed Fundy as his son. So theoretically, when Fundy loses his lives, another person could claim Fundy as their son and then he would be their new child biologically. He’d have new parents and the implications for his lineage and family trees would be catastrophic and pure chaos.

Is anyone else in the SMP like Fundy? Is Dream like Fundy?

Maybe even, some people in the SMP can be reincarnated and they don’t realize it because they’ve never died three times before.

Dream’s “???” life count is puzzling everyone right now, but his situation could be similar to Fundy’s. Fundy definitely isn’t a god, but he’s still got a mysterious life count quirk as well.

PLUS

Dream has done his “levitate into the sky and /kill” act a couple times now for comedy’s sake, for the Dreamon plot and for the founding of Church Prime.

And notably, during his Church Prime bit he literally shouted “I AM RESURRECTED” as he ran back to everyone.

How cool would it be for that first Church Prime stream to have actual implications for the lore? And the Dreamon plot with Fundy??

Also...You guys love angst. This is angst potential right here. Every time you’ve got a character who’s canonically immortal you can RUN with that idea, dammit!

Fundy was so affected by Wilbur’s death. How many parents has he lost in past incarnations? How many more people around him will die, and he just gets stuck being reborn? Is that why he sought out Dream’s company? Dream, the only one with some mysterious “higher power” association? Dream, whose life count is a complete mystery?

Join me in the chaotic ramblings!

Yes I am absolutely reading way too much into this. This whole post is 100% reading wayyyyy too much into this.

Why?

Because it’s fun

[bunni-hopper]

Here's the thing about copying.

I'm gonna hit ya'll with a hard truth. As brutal or mean as this sounds, it's something that every creator has to accept.

No idea you ever have will be original. No idea, nor concept. Nothing.

Of course, this sounds like something someone would say to excuse copycats, right? I mean, it'd sound that way to me.

Except it's not.

See, there are...a LOT of people on this planet. Millions and millions of them. It's no wonder that there will a good number of people that have the same idea.

Say person A made a concept based around the life of a fairy. Person B also makes a concept around the life of a fairy. There are certain things in both stories that line up with the other.

One would think it's a clear cut case of B copying A right? However...

B has never even heard of A, and the concept B and A had were both inspired by real life fae lore that are really popularized and well known.

That's not copying, and it never will be. It's just a coincidence that two people had similar ideas.

A very good example of this would be Dennis the Menace. There's the old newspaper comic, and there was also someone else who made a story called Dennis the Menace. Despite that, both creators had NO idea whatsoever that the other existed at the time.

Now, another point I want to make...

There is a massive difference between copying and taking inspiration.

You can be aware of a creation that exists while making your own. Person C saw a comic revolving around an alien that can control emotions. They're a fan of it, and they get ideas for their own work. C uses those ideas from that comic to make their own creation, a little girl who has psychic powers and can control emotions.

Copying would be if C basically reused every little detail that comic had with barely any changes to it and passed it as their own original idea.

This isn't to say that copying doesn't exist. Far from it. Copying someone's idea is a very malicious act that hurts the original creator.

But there's another point I want you all to keep in mind. There is ONE thing that someone has that makes a piece truly original (and even then, this can still follow the rule of two people having the same idea. Again, LOTS of people on this earth)...

...an idea isn't original, but the execution is.

It always ALWAYS comes down to the execution. You can have the same kind of cast, main characters, side characters, setting, time period...

...and then there's the execution of it all.

Here's two examples you all might be more familiar with for those who've followed me for a bit.

This is Joe. He belongs to @atomi-cat and is one of her titular characters. As you can see, he's a mug, tall, has a big nose, is purple, is based around coffee, looks tired all the time, and dresses pretty formal, and is really strong. He's also the oldest of his siblings, having to look after them and take care of them after something happened to their parents. He loves his family and will protect them with his life.

Other examples of Joe with his siblings, showing how he is with them.

This is Cafe de Olla, he is owned by @bichcarito and is the main character of her comic, Rooibos City Life. He's a mug, big nose, purple, tall, really strong, dresses formal, looks tired, centered around coffee, is the oldest of his siblings after what happened with their parents and took care of them from then on, being very protective of them.

Another example of Cafe and his family

Sounds pretty similar right?

Well, yes, because they are.

But.

Their execution and stories differ very much from each other. The two dress formal, but Joe is an accountant while Cafe is a cop. Joe is less expressive and monotone while Cafe is aggressive and loud. Cafe shows favoritism with his siblings while Joe doesn't. Joe's parents disappeared one day when he was a child and never came back, while Cafe is still in contact with his father and escaped his mother from an abusive situation when he was in his 20s.

Story wise, it's more episodic so there's not much of a linear story with Joe, but he lives his day to day life with his siblings with some adventure and trouble here and there, while Cafe's story focuses on his life as a cop in Rooibos City, where corruption is on the rise and having to deal with his past, as well as his love life with Latte.

A perfect example of coming up with an idea, while similar, but still managing to keep them entirely separate and their own individual thing.

So to wrap this up, these accusations being thrown around of copying and stealing these days is tiring, and it needs to stop. Even then, if you believe this is what's happening, you need to go to either creator and let them know so they themselves can handle this PRIVATELY. Starting a witchhunt and white knighting helps NO ONE. All it does is cause unneeded drama and having it become public ruins people and prevents others from creating in fear of being accused of the same.

(Images shown were all used with permission from their creators)

[dingoes8myrp]

An Examination of Joss Whedon

On February 11th, Charisma Carpenter made a post on her Instagram account detailing mistreatment she experienced on the sets of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Carpenter worked on both shows from 1996 to 2004 and attributes this mistreatment to show creator Joss Whedon.

On the same day, I made a post on my Tumblr and my WordPress accounts regarding my stance on this topic. I felt it was important for me to post something quickly due to the large number of Buffyverse followers and mutuals on my Tumblr.

I was overwhelmed by the likes, reblogs, and comments this post received in less than twenty-four hours. I’m so glad so many people support Charisma Carpenter and others who are speaking out about their experiences.

Workplace mistreatment is insidious, and too often the systems in place to mediate these situations are designed to protect the employer rather than the person experiencing mistreatment. This happens everywhere in every industry. When people in the public eye draw attention to these issues it helps bring awareness to everyone and encourages societal change.

In today’s climate, social media moves faster than legal or internal HR systems. This means, more often than not, accusations spread, opinions form, and action is taken long before any investigation can occur. Because of this, it’s important for people to seek out the facts themselves in order to stay informed or make decisions about who in fandom they choose to support or not.

I’m going to go through various tid-bits I’ve seen over the past twenty-five years regarding Joss Whedon’s behavior, which prompted my quick response to Charisma Carpenter’s post. I feel it’s important to share this with those who may be new to the fandom, or those who doubt Charisma Carpenter’s claims and those of others.

The Bronze

Before there was Twitter, there was The Bronze.

The Bronze was the official online gathering place of Buffyverse fans. Joss Whedon and others involved with the shows occasionally popped in and posted, interacting with the fans. There was speculation about the trajectory of the show, discussion about lore, fan theories, and behind the scenes rumors.

I didn’t learn about these forums until I was in high school (from 2002 to 2006) and I never posted. I just read up on the fun factoids I could find. I wasn’t a heavy Internet user back then. We had one computer in my house and it was shared with my parents. I was only allowed on for so much time per day, yada yada.

I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the first shows – if not the first – to utilize this kind of creator/fan interaction. It wasn’t a regular thing back then.

The vibe of these forums was very laidback. When someone directly involved with Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel posted (known as a V.I.P.) it was with a very casual, unmoderated tone. There was no screenshotting every word to be saved for later. Someone from the media couldn’t grab a comment made and spread it across the Internet in real time. There were mailing lists – collections of email addresses for people who wanted updates on show spoilers or particular non-show activities of various actors. Fan letters were still a thing – actual snail mail letters you could send to actors and writers of the shows. Things moved slowly, and there wasn’t as much transparency as there is on the Internet today with sites like Instagram and Twitter.

In a series of posts made on November 6th, 2001, Joss Whedon reacted to the airing of the musical episode, “Once More with Feeling.” He called it “the biggest undertaking of my life,” but expressed his appreciation toward the UPN network, the cast, and crew – particularly Anthony Head, Amber Benson, and James Marsters. He calls Anthony Head “the golden throat” and writes of James Marsters, “And James, who always tells me to do everything I dream of, then brings that intense voice and those cheekbones along for the ride.”

All he writes about Amber Benson is, “Amber… just, you know… Amber….”

Alarmingly absent from his praise is star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who “went back and forth” over whether or not to sing in the episode. “I’m not a singer,” she told EW. She didn’t feel prepared enough and “didn’t feel confident.” As someone who broke out of her comfort zone and pulled off a wonderful leading performance, Gellar was certainly deserving of some acknowledgment.

Seemingly realizing he neglected to mention Marti Noxon, Whedon tacked on, “Do you know anyone that hot who can run a show? Do you? I don’t think so. What a voice.” At the time, alongside comments about James Marsters’ cheekbones and being “a little gay” for Anthony Head, this seemed to be an attempt at an edgy complement (though a little cringey). Marti Noxon was a new showrunner for Buffy, taking over for Joss. Referring to her as hot rather than praising her work is a little demeaning, in my opinion, particularly when it was up to him to make sure she was respected and taken seriously in filling his shoes.

On May 22nd, 2002, Whedon posted about “the gay thing” – probably not for the first time. Regarding some fan reactions to the death of Tara Maclay, Joss wrote, “I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I COULDN’T kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I DID kill her because she was gay. Willow’s story was not about being gay. It was about weakness, addiction, loss… the way life hits you in the gut right when you think you’re back on your feet.”

Keep in mind, at the time, Willow was one of the first gay main characters – if not THE first – on a major primetime show in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Having a gay couple on a major show like this was not a regular thing, which made the shocking death of Tara and the dark turn of Willow particularly hard-hitting. While Whedon isn’t saying anything particularly inflammatory here, it does show a sort of crass attitude toward the removal of this representation from the show, which had become so important to so many fans – and still is now.

There’s not a lot of meaty information to be found that I could dig up, but I wanted to give people an idea of this landscape back in the day. I picked out those particular Joss Whedon posts because they show a very casual disregard for the women involved in the shows – an insidious and subtle thing, but it’s there.

Fighting with Buffy

Jeff Pruitt was a stunt coordinator on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 2000. He also happened to be romantically involved with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stunt double, Sophia Crawford. Both would exit the show by its fifth season. According to Pruitt, it was not an amicable exit.

Pruitt claims he and Crawford were treated badly on the set, that Crawford was “one never ending injury” and she had “reached the end of her rope.” He said that they were threatened and blackballed when they made attempts to leave before the 100th episode. They got an opportunity to work on Dark Angel, but the people at Dark Angel supposedly received a phone call from “someone high up at their studio” and were told not to hire Pruitt and Crawford. He suspects this was to keep Sophia Crawford from leaving Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Their firing was unceremonious, according to Pruitt. “Sophia was told point blank that she was being fired because she knew too much about things,” he claimed. He said Joss Whedon and Jane Espenson threatened Crawford, saying if she spoke about what happened on set she’d “never work in this town again.”

Jeff Pruitt spoke about “sneaky politics” behind the scenes, saying “there was something weird going on” in the months leading up to his and Crawford’s exit. Pruitt claims Sarah Michelle Gellar was a “spoiled starlett” and that she was “out to get” him and Crawford. He attributes statements he made in private emails that were later read by Joss Whedon to his firing.

It’s worth noting that many people have stated that Sarah Michelle Gellar is undeserving of a “diva” label. When asked in 2004 what it was like working with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Julie Benz said, “She’s extremely talented and generous. Her reputation is just completely untrue. Unfortunately in Hollywood if you’re young and female and you have an opinion you get labeled a diva or something…else. Sarah’s an amazing talent, but she got labeled.”

In a 2013 interview on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Alyson Hannigan answered a series of rapid-fire questions about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When asked who was the most “annoyed” by the end of the show, she said, “Sarah,” referring to Sarah Michelle Gellar. When the audience booed, Hannigan clarified, “Well, she had a big career going, and it was a lot of work.” When asked when Gellar started to “hate” the show, Hannigan quickly said season three. In a later interview for Huffpost Live, Hannigan clarified her comments further. “[Sarah Michelle Gellar] worked her butt off,” she stated. “She worked eighteen-hour days for years.” Hannigan said she wouldn’t have classified Gellar as “annoyed,” saying, “she was super professional.”

Honestly, I’m Team Sarah on this one. I couldn’t find corroborating sources for Jeff Pruitt’s claims of her “diva” behavior, but I found several sources stating otherwise. Gellar did confirm during a cast reunion that she may have oversold her stunt experience, which ultimately would have meant more work for her stunt double and the stunt coordinator. It seems to me like this set everything on a bad foot with that team. But, the reasons Jeff Pruitt and Sophia Crawford gave for their exit had little-to-nothing to do with Gellar.

Vincent Kartheiser

Vincent Kartheiser played Connor on Angel, and he did a number of interviews talking about his experience on the show. I picked his interviews because I’ve always found him to be very candid and he doesn’t seem to shy away from uncomfortable answers to questions. A few of his answers provide a little insight into the mood on the set at times, and Charisma Carpenter’s attitude.

When Charisma Carpenter was pregnant on the show, she had a storyline that heavily involved Connor, so the two spent a lot of time working together on set. He was asked about her pregnancy and how it affected filming. In a 2003 interview for BBC Cult, Kartheiser said of Carpenter, “she was a great sport and would suck up the pain even though you could see that she was in it.”

In another interview for Angel Magazine from the same year, he said Carpenter had “an abundance of energy for a working, pregnant lady who, right in the heart of her pregnancy, they put her in so much.”

It’s worth noting Vincent Kartheiser had his own issues with the show. “What really made me interested in Angel was the idea that as a show, it changed so much and all the characters could change so much,” he told Angel Magazine. “It wasn’t that clichéd kind of ‘show up, do your thing, go home’ all the time.” Unfortunately, the potential that interested him never came to fruition for his character. “As the season went on, we never really got to deal with the relationship problems between me and David,” Kartheiser said, referring to David Boreanaz as Angel. “I never really got the opportunity to bond with any other characters.” He expressed a feeling that there was nowhere for his character to go and that Connor’s motivations seemed to change from week to week. “There were parts of the season I didn’t have the opportunity to stretch,” he explained, “that it felt like I was doing the same scene over and over.”

Vincent Kartheiser did a later interview with Giantmag.com where he reiterated some of these frustrations. For him, the character of Connor started to get stale early on. “Every week I’d show up and have a scene with Cordelia,” he said, “then Angel would show up and I’d have some sort of conflict with him. There’d be a couple of fight scenes where I’d fight with them even though I didn’t want to and then I would sulk and leave. That to me was every episode.” He felt the writers had written Connor “into a corner” and that fans responded poorly to him.

When comparing his experience on Angel to his experience playing Pete Campbell on Mad Men, Kartheiser expressed a lackluster feeling on the set of Angel. “There was a real sense on Angel that people were just doing a job,” Kartheiser said of the set. “The grips, the DP, even the directors would kind of just show up, do their job and go home.” This atmosphere is a direct contrast to what had attracted Vincent Kartheiser to the show in the first place. “On Mad Men we also have Matthew Weiner on set all the time whereas Joss [Whedon] was hardly ever on Angel,” Kartheiser explained. “I think Joss was doing Firefly at that point and was in love with his next project. I had a friend who filmed a few episodes in the first season of Angel and said everyone was invested and there was crazy energy, so maybe I just came into it late.”

Kartheiser also delved deeper into his frustrations over the direction (or lack thereof) of his character. “I let them know right off the bat that some of the choices they were making [about Conner] were wrong,” he said. “I showed up to play that character and I had a lot of ideas. And they didn’t like any of those ideas.” As a result, Kartheiser said he got “jaded” and “angry” at the show. “I felt like it wasn’t a collaboration, that the people I was working with didn’t care to take risks.”

In hindsight, he went on to say, “I was never a fan of Buffy, I’ll say it straight out. I was never a fan of Angel. I always found it hard to say Joss’ words.”

From all these comments, both from the beginning of Vincent Kartheiser’s journey as Connor, and from a few years after the show ended, it seems like he was excited for the opportunity, but ultimately disappointed with the overall experience. He also revealed how uncomfortable Charisma Carpenter had to be during filming while she was pregnant, but noted her energy and attitude were never a problem.

Farewell Cordelia

Prior to Charisma Carpenter’s official exit from Angel, her character arc had taken a very strange turn and Cordelia had been ominously left in a coma. Concern grew when Charisma Carpenter was not included in the cast of season 5. In a 2003 interview with TV Guide Online, Joss Whedon stated, “The Angel/Cordelia [love story] had gone pretty much as far as we wanted to take it” and that it wasn’t popular with the fans. “It just seemed like a good time for certain people to move on,” he continued. “Not completely, obviously. I’m hoping that we’ll get Charisma to do some episodes as Cordelia sometime during the year.”

TV Guide asked, “Isn’t that a disservice to fans who invested all those years in the character and her redemption? It seems an odd thing to do to the show’s leading lady.” Whedon responded, “That’s a fluctuating concept, the leading lady thing. And it is a little odd. Some choices are ultimately kind of controversial about who stays and who goes and who we focus on. But obviously, we had to have her out of a bunch of episodes toward the end of the year because she was having a baby… so what we had [leading] up to it wasn’t a dynamic I wanted to play out that much.” When asked if things were left on good terms with Charisma Carpenter, Joss Whedon stated he wouldn’t discuss that in an interview.

From Charisma Carpenter’s perspective, she was uncomfortable with Cordelia’s storyline prior to her coma and her death. “It was creepy,” she said of Cordelia’s relationship with Connor. “Connor was Angel’s son and half my age.” Carpenter stated it was important for her to return to wrap up the character’s storyline. “We didn’t want to just leave Cordelia in a coma,” she stated. “Whatever happens after this, I’m open. But it’s just best this story be [resolved] now. Otherwise, it’s a disservice to the fans of our show.” When pressed regarding whether or not she’d return to the show, Carpenter replied, “I don’t think it’ll be necessary. You never say never. However, at this point in time, I don’t see a future for her.” She continued with, “I feel like Joss feels – the Cordelia stories have been told. There were no other directions to go with her.”

Carpenter’s final appearance as Cordelia was an emotional experience. “We’ve been crying for the last two days,” she said in a behind-the-scenes interview. “I’m so physically drained.” She wasn’t the only one affected, either. “The director was crying, the crew was crying, we were crying,” she said. She called it a sad goodbye personally, professionally, and story-wise.

Working with Joss Whedon

Over the years, Joss Whedon gained a reputation for being unconventional to work with. Many actors from the Buffyverse have said they were unhappy with their characters’ creative paths. Sarah Michelle Gellar felt season six “betrayed” who Buffy was, saying she had to be “talked off a ledge” a number of times during filming.

Nicholas Brendon felt the character of Xander was “underrated,” particularly during season seven. “Joss did have a talk with Sarah and I because he was kind of contemplating the idea of Xander and Buffy ending up together at the end of season seven,” Brendon told AV Club. “We were both for it, but then that never came to fruition and I lost my eye.”

On an episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, James Marsters said he was “terrified” of Joss Whedon. “I wasn’t designed to be a romantic character,” he explained. “The audience reacted that way to it. And I remember [Joss Whedon] backed me up against a wall one day, and he was just like, ‘I don’t care how popular you are, kid. You’re dead! You hear me? You’re dead! Dead!” Rosenbaum asked, “Was he kidding around?” and Marsters replied, “No. Hell, no.” Marsters also said he had “open wounds” on his scalp from over-using bleach on his roots every eight days to keep the roots from growing out.

Multiple actors from Angel have talked about Whedon’s habit of making actors squirm. David Boreanaz spoke about how he learned about the Angel spinoff during a twentieth anniversary cast reunion. “I got a phone call that Joss wanted to talk to me,” Boreanaz recalled. “The only thing he said was, ‘I want you to come into my office tomorrow,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m fired.’” He described having a night of “angst” and spent the following day working on some flashback scenes. When he finally met with Whedon at lunch it took some time for Whedon to tell him his character was getting a spin-off. Alexis Denisof expressed a similar knee-jerk feeling of “uh-oh,” but had an idea the spin-off was filming. However, Amy Acker had a similar story to what Boreanaz experienced when she was told about her character Fred’s transformation into Illyria. “It seems to be an echo of, like, ‘Hey, can you meet me for coffee tomorrow?’ and I’m like, ‘Ohh, they’re firing me!’ And we sat down to coffee and he said, ‘I just wanted you to know I’m killing Fred.’ And he waited, like, really a long time.” Charisma Carpenter chimed in, “He likes to do that!” Acker was then informed she would still be on the show as Illyria.

Charisma Carpenter and Marti Noxon have shared their own stories about Joss’s “You’re fired, just kidding” stories. Seth Green quipped “He did that to me too, but it took.”

Whedon’s View of Women

While Joss Whedon considers his writing to be feminist, his portrayal of women as well as other statements he’s made contradict this. In 2013, he gave a speech for Equality Now about his dislike of the word “feminist.” While this speech earned him some acclaim, it also earned him some backlash from the feminist community. This was mainly because he claimed it’s natural for people to be equal, and to add “-ist” to the end of the word “feminist” implies that people’s natural state is to be unequal. This stance was seen as disrespectful to Feminism as a movement, for some.

Joss Whedon received wide criticism for his portrayal of women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One critic, Scott Mendelson, talked about Whedon’s portrayal of Scarlet Witch and Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron. “Scarlet Witch eventually has to be coaxed into bravery by one of the male heroes,” Mendelson writes of Elizabeth’s Olson’s character. Mendelson was even less thrilled with Scarlet Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. “Maybe I shouldn’t be annoyed that the only major female character’s primary arc is a theoretically unrequited pining for a nice guy with major anger issues,” he writes, “or that said character briefly gets captured by the villain in the second act and tossed in a cage for no reason other than to be rescued by her male compatriots.” Backlash over this film caused Whedon to quit Twitter. In an article for Gizmodo, writers Meredith Woerner and Katharine Trendacosta point out that Joss Whedon teased a “killer” backstory for Natasha Romanoff. “Instead of an assassin constantly struggling with finding moral lines she didn’t know existed, we got a woman who feels incomplete because she cannot have babies,” Woerner and Trendacosta concluded.

In 2017, Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole wrote a blog for The Wrap stating, “he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist.”

Cole alleges Whedon wrote her a letter in which he said, “When I was running ‘Buffy,’ I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women… As a guilty man I knew the only way to hide was to act as though I were righteous… In many ways I was the HEIGHT of normal, in this culture. We’re taught to be providers and companions and at the same time, to conquer and acquire — specifically sexually — and I was pulling off both!” At the end of her essay, Cole wrote, “I want the people who worship him to know he is human, and the organizations giving him awards for his feminist work, to think twice in the future about honoring a man who does not practice what he preaches.”

In response to Kai Cole’s letter, Laura M. Browning wrote in an AV Club article, “I was sad, but not shocked—maybe a little embarrassed I hadn’t looked more closely at some very clear problems in his work… His work has plenty of male gaze and women in refrigerators and some narratively pointless rape scenes—it’s all right there, in hundreds of hours of television and film—but boy, it sure is a lot more comfortable to listen to a guy tell you he’s a feminist than listen to a lot of women telling you he’s not.”

Whedon’s veneer of feminism has been cracking for several years.

Recent Allegations

Actor Ray Fisher claimed Joss Whedon behaved inappropriately on the set of Justice League, tweeting, “Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” Fisher also accused Geoff Johns and Jon Berg of enabling Whedon’s behavior. An investigation was done by Warner Brothers and co-stars Jason Mamoa and Kiersey Clemons publicly supported Fisher. Ultimately, the investigation concluded and “remedial action” was taken. The action taken has not been specified.

Shortly after, Joss Whedon exited the HBO series The Nevers, which Fisher attributes to his own claims.

Team Charisma

Those who have shown support to Charisma Carpenter include: Sarah Michelle Gellar Ray Fisher J. August Richards Michelle Trachtenberg Amber Benson Eliza Dushku Jose Molina Marti Noxon Emma Caulfield James Marsters Anthony Head Clare Kramer James C. Leary Sophia Crawford David Boreanaz Amy Acker Julie Benz Danny Strong Adam Busch Tom Lenk Nicholas Brendon Jeff Mariotte

Others who have written about Joss Whedon or come out to support those coming forward:

Courtney Enlow Nell Scovell Glen Mazzara

My Conclusion

As I stated in my previous post on this topic, I stand with Team Charisma. It is not okay for a person in a position of power over others in the workplace to misuse that power in an inappropriate or abusive manner. No matter how talented that person may be and how beloved the work may be.

[shifuaang]

Just wanted to say it’s nice to see someone agree Aangs parenting in LOK is grossly out of character. I keep seeing people contort the situation into pretzels to make it work. It comes close to ruining the franchise for me

I almost have to divorce LOK from ATLA in order to enjoy it, which is really kind of sad considering how it's so integrally connected to its source material and yet seems to mishandle said source material at every opportunity.

LOK recycles the same familial conflicts as ATLA. Both Aang and Toph are painted as bad parental figures, which seems like a complete character assassination of the two of them as well as of Katara who was married to Aang and seemingly allowed him to mistreat Kya and Bumi. I wrote a much more in-depth meta on this narrative choice and how it contradicts the character strengths and flaws that were given to Aang in ATLA here if you’re interested. 

Basically, I think it’s very unlike Aang to show favoritism to his airbending son when he sees firsthand how badly favoritism affects both Zuko and Azula. Aang is shown to be extremely excited about sharing his culture with Katara and Sokka and is more inclusive than anyone else in the Gaang. I love Aang because he is human and has many flaws, but to make him a bad father taints his legacy, is lazy writing, and almost ruins the series for me as well. Forgive me for going on a rant, but I’ve wanted to talk about my grievances with LOK for a while, and your ask inspired me to make a list soooo away we go:

I hate that the rules of bloodbending are retconned to create the conflict in season one - it diminishes the Avatar's ability to energybend and take away bending as a means of justice (specifically Aang who had to defy all of his friends and the rules of the world in order to defeat Ozai without compromising his culture and morals). Why can Noatak and Tarrlok bloodbend when it's not a full moon? Just because they will themselves into doing so? If this is true, surely Hama would have figured out how to utilize this technique as she was also abused and had just as much motivation as the two brothers to be a survivalist and hone her powers.

The Harmonic Convergence allows airbending to come back too quickly. It all feels too neat and tidy. While I absolutely adore the restoration of air nomad culture and watching that come to life, it's not enough of a slow burn for me. I feel that it lessened the extraordinary pain that Aang experienced being the last of his people. If they're going to go the route of the lion turtle being the one to bestow bending (which I don't like, but we'll get there), why not include a plot where the Air Acolytes go on a quest (led by the Avatar who is the bridge between the spirit and physical world) to find him and have him grant them airbending? That would have been far more interesting to me than the spirit world conveniently opening up and restoring balance.

The whole concept of the lion turtle being the bestower of all bending leans far too much into the Western-centric idea of some kind of monotheistic creator. I was happy to accept the existence of benders, non-benders, and the Avatar without there being any sort of long-winded explanation for why they came to be. Sometimes when shows try too hard to give mystical elements backstory and lore, it takes away from the intrigue and magic behind everything. LOK in general is far more Western-centric than ATLA. The spirits of Raava and Vaatu aren't necessarily a bad addition, but they are written as completely black and white. The dichotomy of good vs. evil doesn't exist in ATLA - even Ozai's life is given intrinsic value and careful consideration despite the fact that he is, by all accounts, an irredeemable dictator. Tui and La, push and pull, lend themselves to a far more complex and morally grey narrative. 

With LOK moving in a more Western direction comes a blatant lack of respect for Asian cultures, particularly Buddhist culture. Nothing is as well-researched or planned as ATLA's plot and cultural references. From fartbending to straying from Eastern themes and spirituality, it all just feels very juvenile, which is ironic considering LOK was meant to appeal to an older audience. 

While I almost loathe to say this because Zaheer is such a well-written character and intriguing in ways that even ATLA's villains aren't, his achieving enlightenment and learning to fly is a slap in the face to true morality, concentration, and wisdom, which are the main pillars of Buddhist thought and training. You're meaning to tell me that Aang had to struggle with opening seven chakras, letting go of earthly attachments, and literally dying and being resurrected in order to go into the Avatar State, but all Zaheer had to do to achieve what only one other airbender has achieved is watch P'li die? He got to unlock a previously insurmountable airbending technique after breaking every moral airbending code, including taking life with his bending? I'm not buying it. 

On a similar note, the way cultural appropriation is glossed over in LOK is also incredibly inappropriate. LOK has a real opportunity to explore racism, blackface/brownface, and the sexualization of ‘exotic’ characters in Old Hollywood when Bolin is cast as Nuktuk, but his role in the films just becomes a running gag. It shouldn't sit right with anyone that someone who is half Fire Nation is playing a waterbending hero only about 50 years after the hundred year war in which the Fire Nation almost eradicated waterbenders.

The relationships are not very well-written. Love triangles are a terrible plot device, and Bolin's abusive relationship with Eska is played for laughs. I don't like Korra being cut off from her past lives in what feels like some desperate sort of ploy to get the fans to break ties from the old characters and only care about the new ones. The copaganda is gross, and Toph becoming a cop makes very little sense to me. The plot can be messy and contrived, and the pacing isn't great.

So you're probably wondering, why do you even watch LOK? It sounds like you hate it. I truly don't. The animation is beautiful, the fight sequences are amazingly choreographed, and I really enjoy some of the new characters like Asami, Tenzin, and Jinora. I think LOK is a good, solid show on its own, but it's impossible to hold a candle to its near flawless predecessor. 

[konohagakureship]

Hidan and Kakuzu d&d au! Two more members of the Akatsuki Fellowship!! They are travelling around Khorvaire, in the world of Eberron!

au! Akatsuki D&D

Headcanons:

All the info related to places and clans is from the canonic lore of Eberron, or from interpretations that I’ve found here and there, and also a bit of my own homebrew lore. I’m gathering all the info and sources in my WorldAnvil page so you can check it out if you want :)

And this is the map with notes so you can pin all the locations.

This time I chose to put only the info relevant to the characters to make the post shorter. But still, this will be a LONG post so be prepared xD

Founding of the Akatsuki Fellowship

All the members of the party met in Sharn, the biggest city of the continent of Khorvaire. They were there for different reasons but ended up travelling together across the world.

Hidan the bloody warlock

Hidan was born in the warrior nation of Karrnath in the city of Atur, where the living and dead coexist in a daily basis.

His parents were members of the Blood of Vol cult, and actively participated in the life of the Crimson Monastery, the largest worship site dedicated to Vol in the entire continent. 

From a young age, his parents instructed him in the faith of the Divinity Within and encouraged him to follow their path and become a Seeker of the Blood of Vol.

The Blood of Vol is a religion centered on the belief of Divinity Within, which means that they do not revere any deity but the blood that courses through their own veins. The followers of the Blood of Vol are called Seekers, and many of them are necromancers employed by the government of Karrnath to control their undead soldiers. 

Seekers believe that death is a curse prevent mortals from achieving divinity, so by breaking the curse of mortality, humanity will be able to live a plenty existence. Necromancy is an attempt to fight the curse of mortality and prevent the loss of the knowledge and skills obtained by past generations. 

Contrary to the popular belief, Seekers cherish life and do not want to become undead. Those who become undead are considered to be martyrs who have given up their own chance at divinity to help others, since they will become tools for the living.

The Blood of Vol cult is ruled from Atur by The Crimson Covenant.

At the age of twelve, Hidan showed signs of possessing magical abilities, which catched the interest of the Cult and welcomed him into the Crimson Monastery to train his powers in favor of their religion and ulterior plans.

Hidan had always been an avid follower of his faith, but soon after joining the Monastery he started to interpret it in his own terms.

His warlock status made him believe that his blood carried the divine will, and that his mission was to actively fight for the Divinity Within by converting all the misguided mortals to The Blood of Vol, or sending them to their deceiving gods to see for themselves how misguided they were. 

The years passed and Hidan only grew more powerful and reckless, learning and crafting unique invocations to unleash his magic at its fullest potential.

His ever growing power mixed with his free interpretation of the beliefs of The Blood of Vol, marked him as an individual too independent and powerful to escalate in the ranks of the Cult.

In an attempt to channel his energy and give him a purpose, The Covenant prompted him to join the Order of the Emerald Claw, the paramilitary arm of the Blood of Vol, and sent him to Rekkenmark.

The Order of the Emerald Claw is an outlawed organization of Karrn patriots and Blood of Vol worshippers spread throughout Khorvaire. They continue to operate in a semi-terrorist fashion to this day, proclaiming their desire to see Karrnath once again rise to power.

Their connection to the Cult is only known by highest ranking members of the Order.

Hidan was sent to Rekkenmark, in the border with Thrane. His cell had the undercover mission to hunt down any paladin of the Church of the Silver Flame that entered Karrnath with the intention of killing Vol’s vampires and undeads.

The Blood of Vol is a forbidden religion in some regions of the continent due to the evil connotations associated with their practices, and many groups such as the Church of the Silver Flame actively works to destroy them.

His days as an Emerald Claw Knight were short, though.

At the beginning, Hidan thought that the Order was his rightful place, that surrounded by powerful patriots he will be able to bring the divine will to all the mortals and spread his faith to the edge of the world.

However, he soon started to feel disenchanted with how the Order handled their business and how little they cared about his divine will. He realised that like in the Monastery, the Order also lacked of determination, and so he began to make their creed his and reform it by his own standards.

The time passed and Hidan grew more reckless and discarded his superior’s orders more frequently, which caused friction within his cell. 

By recommendation of The Covenant, when the situation became unsustainable, The Emerald Claw “prompted” him to take his own path and fight for the Order by himself in his own terms, far away from Rekkenmark.

Instead of going back to Atur, Hidan decided to travel the world, free from any restraints, finding misguided mortals to convert to the Blood of Vol and killing all those who didn’t want to achieve immortality.

Unsurprisingly for everyone but himself, his homicidal activities granted him the status of “kill in sight” in many cities, and soon the bounty for his head was high enough to buy a villa in the upper levels of Sharn.

So Hidan, a powerful warlock and Seeker, spent the following years running away from the law and inquisitors of every city he stepped on. He never bothered to hide his presence anyway...

After a near death experience with a Flame paladin in Sigilstar, he traveled to Sharn, where he knew he could hide from prying eyes and find refuge in one of the Order’s liars. 

However, The Emerald Claw rejected to host him as he attracted too much attention, forcing him to hide in the lowest levels of the city, where he was told that there was a unofficially Vol-friendly tavern run by elves.

Little did he know, that in the Callestan district lived one of the most renowned bounty hunters of Sharn, who was currently drinking a pint in the same tavern he choose to spend the night in.

Kakuzu the bounty hunter

Kakuzu was born in the port city of Zarash’ak, in The Shaodw Marshes.

His father was a human from House Vadalis (beast tamers), while his mother was a human with a quarter of orc blood from House Tharashk with the Mark of Finding (bounty hunters).

He was raised within the Tharashk House and learned how to bounty hunt from a young age. Even though his training was focused on the ways of his mother’s House, he enjoyed spending time with his father and help him train and sell his imported beasts from the Eldeen Reaches.

Kakuzu spent his childhood proudly working for House Tharashk, dreaming of becoming a renowned bounty hunter and awakening a powerful Mark of Finding. However, his dreams would sunk when at the age of seventeen he finally manifested his dragonmark. 

It was an aberrant dragonmark.

The dragonmarks are passed through bloodlines and when two members of different dragonmarked families reproduce it often results in aberrant dragonmarks. Originally aberrant marked were seen as outcasts and outsiders, often shunned by the houses and eked out a pitiful existence. Now they unite under their own House, House Tarkanan.

Kakuzu tried to hide his new mark, constantly covering his body as much as he could and not getting intimately close to anyone for fear of being discovered and casted aside. His mood soured in a couple of months, and he ostracised himself from his closest friends and family.

But after a couple of years it had grown up so much that it almost took his entire back, and inevitably the House found out about his condition and expelled him from the clan.

Abandoned by his people, he traveled to Sharn in an attempt to join the Aberrant Dragonmarked House Tarkanan.

House Tarkanan is a house only formed by aberrant markeds, from any race and clan. They are usually bounty hunters, mercenaries and accountants.

When House Tarkanan first established itself in Sharn, the halfling Boromar Clan attempted to assimilate them, but the offer was turned down. This resulted in the Boromars attempting to destroy the House. When this proved too difficult a deal was struck. Since the Boromar clan doesn't traffic in assassinations, it was agreed that so long as House Tarkanan doesn't take contracts against the Boromars, they would be permitted to stay in Sharn without paying a fee.

Despite being shunned away by his family and now working as a bounty hunter for a bunch of criminals, Kakuzu found his place in Sharn. He also worked as an accountant for the clan from time to time, a nice changes of winds from his usual, dirtier, business.

He made himself a name in Sharn, and over the years was granted the title of Baron, as a senior assassin of the Clan. Kakuzu was well known in the city, especially in the districts of Lower Dura. 

He established his residence in the lawless district of Callestan mainly because the rent was cheaper, but also because his best informants also maraud those streets, inns and ateliers.

Kakuzu is a baron of House Tarkanan, and his main income comes from the clan’s dealings. However, he takes freelance work if the pay is good enough, and he usually doubles his fees if the contract is from his former House.

House Tharashk, despite expelling Kakuzu many years ago, is often interested in hiring his services in the big city, since bounty hunters that are not from House Tarkanan or the Boromar Clan are not allowed to make business freely even after paying a bountiful fee.

House Tharashk has deals and a close relationship with House Thuranni. The elven house team with them whenever they need to find artifacts or people, in exchange for influences and intel. They are currently working together with the Emerald Claw in Stormreach (Xen’dirk), seeking ancient artifacts for Lady Vol. 

House Thuranni is involved in many dubious affairs and unofficially allied with many organisations, such as the Blood of Vol and the Emerald Claw. The Thuranni fought alongside Karrnath during the War, and they have an important presence in Atur with their True Shapers academy.

These unofficial affairs turn every Thuranni establishment into a safehouse for those allies who need refuge or a meeting point.

So Kakuzu visits The Shadowkeeper tavern whenever the Tharashk need something from him, to catch up with his informants, or just to drink a large pint.

...though cashing in a good bounty for a dumb Seeker, is also interesting.

-------------

We have 6 out of 8 members of the party!! yeyyy!!! now i need to finish the other two ;)

[tricksterpale]

#10 for caspian?

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?

I'm so glad you chose this one honestly because it's something I've been musing about Caspian on and off over the past few months.

I should preface this by saying that Caspian himself was orphaned when his mom died (his father was never in the picture for him). A family friend who happened to be a pirate, second mate aboard the Adder's Fang, pleaded a case to the captain at the time for Caspian to be taken on as a cabin boy. The captain conceded and that's how Cas became a pirate at the ripe age of 7.

However, as you can imagine, life aboard a pirate vessel, a ship of the line charged to stay the advances of Zhaitan by sea, was not an easy one. Punishments were often harsh and brutal (the captain himself was not a pleasant fellow unfortunately and would see to those punishments himself...), they frequently engaged in battles with bone ships, raided merchant vessels with no quarter, etc etc...

However, as he always does now, boy Caspian put on a brave face and accepted those blemishes on an otherwise adventurous and storied life, embracing it all for the sake of found family and freedom.

How he came to captain the Adder's Fang and rename it the Magpie's Fortune is whole other story, but as soon as Caspian took the helm, he took on some cabin-lings of his own (cabin-lings being a gender neutral derivation of the classic “cabin boys”). Also orphans who otherwise had nowhere else to go (Caspian's own history and subsequent empathy for orphans as a result plays hard into that choice). He made the troubles they'd face plainly clear if they went onto account, but for the kids who took that chance? He defends them vehemently.

With the situation he grew up in... some of how he raises those kids is how he wishes things had been handled when he was a kid himself. He empathizes with a lot of the issues they have intrinsically but he also understands some of the nonsense they inevitably pull (because all kids do in their own ways) because of that same understanding, and is able to circumvent some issues because of that.

It helps that he's also sort of a big kid himself in a lot of ways. He never grew out of his love for imagination and adventure and fun. He just also learned how to handle the practical aspects of life alongside the pure joyful things. And that's what he tries to instill in the kids: earn your keep. Take responsibility. And grow your legend.

BONUS LORE:

When Caspian is still commander in season one, he visits Divinity's Reach with his team for Wintersday. And he winds up getting the orphans in the city a bunch of toys and gadgets. And when the kids ask him to play, he does so happily, allowing them to beat him up with the wooden swords he'd gifted them, collapsing dramatically into the snow where the kids proceed to tackle him. It's a memory that he and his team, Hope's Legacy, treasures.