#which I can see it going either way considering what time and tempering did to emet

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

I feel bad for Starlo. (pt. 9)

Star's the Papyrus (both are idealistic & seen as naive) of this game (Martlet is another possible parallel), even though he's got similarities with Undyne too. No matter how broken Ceroba seemed he asked himself WHY she did what she did and I think that's SUPER important.

Ceroba didn't do this. Her first instinct was to be harsh (after being harsh with him even BEFORE he attacked Clover):

called his personality "damaged" before this scene

... you never asked yourself WHY he did the whole sheriff act.

.... you never asked WHY he didn't want to grow up. If it was a coping mechanism, if he wanted to help his community in a way he couldn't as a farmer? It was never on her mind.

Yes he has baggage but he's dealing with it all while uplifting others, Ceroba has baggage but is well taken care of by Star and at least has him, he has no one but himself and his optimism to pull him out of negative feelings, and still gets insulted.

Yeah Ceroba's been through stuff but apparently it's been some time since Chujin passed and Kanako fell down, she should have at least started to support Star emotionally like he's been supporting her (sure, he did so with distractions, but as he said "aren't distractions what's best for all of that?" He did his best). Problem is she DIDN'T realise he was ever struggling with self worth and only assumed he was goofing off. Either that or she did nothing about it aka was too occupied with her own problems (which are valid but still... she should have tried at least a little) Cer's character flaw is being too stubborn and devoted to Chujin. She trusted him blindly and wholeheartedly. Everything else came in 2nd place. This is clear as day.

It hurts knowing Ceroba could never respect Starlo the way she still does her husband. Not saying she shouldn't admire Chujin, but the way she sees Star as a goofy manchild whose lifelong passion can go "too far," the way she sees all this Wild East stuff as him "just having fun," the way she thinks that only someone whose brain isn't developed would ever consider dating him just... ticks me off, tbh. That's why I think the guy needs someone who will be gentle and patient with him, even if that other person is going through tough times.

She DID call Starlo the best sheriff she's ever known (honestly the only sweet moment between them, but it is very brief, especially in neutral where he just gets cut off; also I hope she was being genuine here) and said how everyone adored him (but hated his persona, which I've already covered: basically they either hated 'North Star' as a whole, which I hope isn't true, or just how excited he was to meet Clover, which makes no sense to me; already covered it as well)

Bonus: Dina didn't know who Star really was or what he looked like, not before the end credits rolled (when he shows up as himself & she's also seen there; makes sense that he finally came clean to her):

So he's literally been playing this role 24/7, ever since she became the bartender; ever since this town started to exist. It's impressive how he could keep up an act AND use this fake accent for so long

Bonus #2: Star was SUPER worried about Clover's safety; that's what REALLY upset him (he cares about that child sm). THAT's what drove him off the edge (unless he naturally has a temper, i don't think this is it tho). Either way, he was way more patient w Ceroba than I think most would have been in that situation. Sure he snapped a few times, but there was a good reason to. He still TRIED to reason with her. Why did he attack? Worried for Martlet & Clover. I honestly think Star's the type to only get super angry if someone he loves is in danger (minus the stuff that happened which led him to cracking)

[impossible-rat-babies]

yes live letter important but also. thinking about pandaemonium!

[bugsbia]

ʚ Campus asshole scara x fem reader

ʚ BEFORE READING: Fem reader, reader is just trying to get 5 minutes away from their annoying roomie. Take note of warnings.

ʚ WARNINGS: Use of drugs, implied laced weed, scara smokes a little, dub-con, shotgunning.

Scaramouche has always been known for his ill temper among the students on campus, always having something mean to say and getting into trouble for doing shit he shouldn’t be doing. Today was no different as he found behind the campus dorms, sitting against the wall as he had a quick smoke despite knowing there was a no smoking on campus policy. When did he ever listen to authority though?

You found yourself behind the dorms as well, just looking for a short escape from your loud and annoying roommate who wouldn’t seem to leave you the hell alone. You grimaced upon seeing Scaramouche there too, but tried to ignore his presence as he simply sat against the wall as far from him as possible.

That wouldn’t stop him though, he made his way over to you, looking down at you as you sat there silently. “Don’t see people coming back here often unless they’re up-to no good, so what’s your deal?” He spoke, his tone coming off like a demand for answers rather than a question.

Waving the smoke from his cigarette out of your face “I’m just trying to get a break from my roommate, promise I won’t bother you or tell anyone I saw you.” You responded, hoping he’d just leave you alone if he knew you wouldn’t go snitching about his smoking.

“Sounds like shit” he said, followed by pause as he considered his words carefully. Kneeling down in front of you he spoke again, his words coming out almost silky smooth. A sign of his manipulative intent which you seemed to miss “can come to my dorm, I don’t have a roommate, and nobody will suspect you’re there.”

With a small sigh you hesitated, considering his offer, but it didn’t take long for you to agree. Staying in his dorm for a few would be way nicer than sitting on the dirty floor behind the dorms, so you nodded eagerly. Following close behind him as he led you to his dorm.

“You shouldn’t smoke in here” you said as you stepped into his dorm, taking off your shoes. You didn’t really care that he smoked exactly, but you also didn’t want to have to smell the smoke the entire time you were in his dorm.

He moved closer to you suddenly, taking the cigarette from his lips as grabbed your face between his index and thumb and forcing your mouth open as he leaned in. Forcing your mouth open while his lips were mere millimetres away from your own, exhaling the smoke into your mouth in a twisted display of attraction.

You breathed it in instinctively before taking a step back, coughing slightly. “Don’t be fucking weird” you exclaimed, watching as he smirked and put his cigarette out finally, taking another step closer to you.

“Calm down, it’s just a little smoke. You should loosen up a little.” that devilish smirk still upon his lips. “Maybe you should try getting high, calm those nerves of yours a little.” He said as he moved over to his bed, pulling out a small bag of pre-rolled joints and holding them up.

Stammering a bit you responded “you can’t have that shit on campus- what if they find out??”

“They won’t find out, unless you tell them. But you wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” His tone was sweet, sickeningly so but it made a swirl of emotions run wild within you. Were you seriously considering getting high with the campus asshole?

You were, you absolutely were. You didn’t know why, maybe it was the fact he was nice to despite being rude to everyone else, maybe it was because you just wanted to relax after having your roomie pester you all day. Either way you found yourself sitting beside him on his bed, passing a joint between the two of you, not seeming to consider the fact that he may have laced it.

As you breathed in the smoke you felt a slight burn in your chest, coughing slightly at the sensation, but also felt a great sense of relaxation wash over you finally for the first time today. “This feels nice” you said quietly, eyes glued to the ceiling as you enjoyed the tranquility. You didn’t seem to notice how he never actually smoked any, he just held the joint for a second before handing it back to you.

“Yeah? I could make things feel better.” He added as he sat up, looking down at you with a sly smirk as he slowly moved his hand to your hip, His fingers gently caressing you over your clothes.

He held your chin between his thumb and index as he leaned in, kissing your lips hungrily, like he just wanted to devour you. You didn’t care to try and fight back or stop him, you were in such a calm state that you couldn’t even care, so you kissed back.

That only emboldened him further as he trailed his hands up your shirt, caressing from your waist down to your hips. He just wanted you so bad, and he had you right in his grasp, so high that he could truly just have his way with you.

Quickly he snaked his fingers beneath the waistband of your pants, tugging them down with ease without breaking the kiss. Next was your panties, which were also no problem for him. He quickly pulled them off and tossed them aside, landing somewhere on the floor in his messy room.

Finally he broke the kiss, moving to sit at the edge of the bed for a short moment as he took his own pants and boxers off. He was already so hard for you, he just couldn’t help but get excited when you were so easy to catch.

He quickly moved back to you, situating himself between your legs as he began rubbing his cock against your pussy. You grew wetter and wetter as he rubbed against you, small whimpers escaping your lips every time he brushed against your clit. He loved the sight, you beneath him, exposed and drugged out.

Pulling back slightly he angled his dick at your entrance and slowly pushed in, groaning at how good you felt, “Fuck” he breathed out “you’re so fucking tight”. After a short moment of letting your body adjust to his size he began moving, thrusting his cock deep into you before pulling out fully, just to slam himself back inside of you.

You couldn't help but moan out beneath him, his cock filling you so well, hitting the deepest parts of you which made you see stars. The drugs in your system only made it all the more better, making you more sensitive to his touch. The sounds of his groans and your moans echoed through the room, accompanied by the erotic sound of skin slapping together as he harshly pounded into you. He knew you could probably be heard through the walls, but that only made him more excited.

Suddenly he pulled out of you and grabbed you by your waist, pulling you to the edge of his bed and pushing your face down into the blankets as he entered your pussy again, fucking you hard and fast from behind.

He tangled his fingers into your hair tightly, pulling harshly as he leaned down and whispered darkly into your ear. "I wanna hear those pretty moans of yours". With that he snaked his hand down your stomach and to your pussy, beginning to rub quick circles around your clit.

You gasped at his touch as it sent waves of pleasure washing through your body, your legs going weak beneath you while you felt your orgasm growing close. He could tell how close you were by the way you moaned so desperately, and that sent him reeling.

His thrusts became faster and sloppy as his fingers moved faster, finally making the knot in your stomach snap as you came on his cock. Gummy walls spasming around his cock while you moaned out his name.

"fuck- yes!" he moaned as he too came, the combination of the way you moaned his name and the way your pussy felt twitching around his cock sent him over the edge. Releasing his warm cum deep inside your pussy as his grasp on your hair grew tighter.

Finally after a moment he pulled out, releasing the grip on your hair and giving you a moment to catch your breath, looking down at your weak form beneath him. Watching as his cum slowly leaked from your abused pussy he scooped it up with two fingers, then leaned over and shoved his fingers into your mouth.

He could spend all night watching you suck and choke on his fingers if he could.

[spdrvyn]

Hello! May I request a Miguel O’Hara x reader (could be a spider person) but could the reader not be so submissive towards him (which is odd to him cuz everyone always listens to him) and instead they are more headstrong. They act like they hate each other and they’ll argue about almost anything. There’s this growing tension between them and neither one of them wants to admit it or back down and after another argument they finally just kiss and make up lol . It would also be pretty funny if everyone else knew they would get together eventually it was just a matter of time and so its not even a shock to them when they do. Also I live for the angst, fluff, build up and romance so you could add that or spin it however you want. Thank you!!! :3

a sense of loathing — MIGUEL O'HARA

SUMMARY: you and miguel are rivals, to some extent. it was an unspoken assumption between the two of you that there was a major mutual dislike. at least, that's what you thought.

THIS FIC CONTAINS: angst. violence. grief. tragedy. minor character death. minor gore. miguel is an asshole. you are also a little bit of an asshole.

NOTES: i really liked this ask, i wanted to write what a rivals to lovers relationship with miguel would be like so here it is! admittedly, i got a little carried away as you can see from the... warnings... and because of that, i'll have to write a second part for this fic. anyway, enjoy!

You considered yourself to be a civil person.

Sure, sometimes the little things ticked you off and your temper was shorter than most people but you learned to tamp it down over the years and not to start meaningless arguments.

Unless it came to criminal scum or whatever ravenous beast that you encountered on your duties as a Spider-Person but you liked to think that they deserved it. They were doing horrible things, so they didn't really deserve any of the niceties.

Whenever you found yourself disliking someone that wasn't either of those two things, you'd try to create as much distance as possible. It would be easier on you and on them.

But when it came to your boss...

Look, it's not like you absolutely despised the guy. You partially understood his motivations and his reasons for going about things but the way he acted upon it and his attitude made him so insufferable that it was hard to keep your head straight.

He was sarcastic, uncharismatic, and somewhat unlikeable.

Whenever you tried reasoning with him during arguments, he always had something to snap back with or a snide remark up his sleeve that leaves you seething.

How you ranted on and on about how he could be so difficult. To which your companions just responded with a shrug of their shoulder saying: "that's just how he is sometimes".

Which only angered you even further, among everyone in this god forsaken Spider Society, nobody has thought to talk back and call him out for his behavior?

Either that or someone did but never lived to tell the tale.

No, that was too ominous. You were aware that Miguel was more violent than most, you wouldn't be surprised if he's killed a guy before but he wasn't too far gone to land a hit on his own recruits.

Land a hit on you? If you pushed him enough then maybe.

Thinking about having a reasonable conversation with Miguel seemed like a long and faraway fantasy. The day that would occur would be the day that Spider-People don't have to go through soul-crushing loss to develop as a person. As a hero.

You couldn't even relate to him on that end, whenever it came to personal discussion, his lips were as sealed as a bank vault. It frustrated you to no end.

You kind of understood where he was coming from, talking about one's past can pass as a difficult subject but you just found it harder and harder to sympathize for him.

It was even harder when actually trying to collaborate with Miguel on missions. He was the boss, you knew but the amount of orders that he gave you caused your brain to throb.

Nevertheless, you persisted.

Perhaps, you persisted a little too hard, as when he asked (more like demanded) that you go on this search with him; you couldn't find it in yourself to decline.

According to and detected by the small gadget thingymajig (you couldn't bother remembering what it's called) planted by one of the other Spider-People, you and Miguel stood outside of the extremely worn down Alchemax. It's shattered windows and tattered architecture uninviting and cold.

"How cozy." You remarked, arms folded over your chest as your eyes darted around the crumbling building. The challenge of seeing how much your anger could boil everytime Miguel responded to you with a scoff or grunt begun.

He went in without a word, disappearing into the foggy debris to which you tail behind him. As you properly enter the building, it looks just as pathetic as the outside.

Abandoned, dark, decrepit. It was a sad display.

On your left, you spot an escalator. A tall statue peeks from your view on the ground floor, you go in that direction in hopes of checking out the area—

Until, there's something that binds your wrist. You look down and see tight, neon red webbing and before you could even say anything, you were tugged back rather harshly. Closer to Miguel.

You nearly stumble back from the whiplash but the webbing disintegrates into thin air once you find balance and are a few inches away from him.

"Stay close. Each time we visit a place like this, it's an entirely new layout and setting. Do you want to get jumped?"

"Right, because you know everything? You can detect an ambush from miles away, with what sense exactly?"

You didn't even need to see him unmasked to feel the eye roll, it's there. He did it, signified by the way the 'eyes' on his mask narrow ever so slightly.

He doesn't bother snapping back, he goes to the right immediately. Before you could lose him in the fog, you stay close by. Tailing right behind him.

You know one thing now, he takes very long strides and is a very fast walker compared to you. Although, his mere size explains all of that. To be fair, it's not like you were a big, strong, man that couldn't be any less than six feet. How was he expecting you to catch up exactly?

Not minding the marathon that Miguel is making you run through, you two trudge through cracked cieling tiles and fallen over vending machines.

For a lab, it seemed to be a little more devoid of actual scientific chemicals or gadgets. Abandoned places like these had some sort of stench to them but you couldn't get a whiff of anything besides cement and dry wall.

Although, perhaps there was a reason for that. Most of the windows were shattered open, you noted the glass that was scattered all around the ground around when you were outside a while ago. You were just getting a better look at it now from the interior.

The glassless windows provided some more light inside the structure, the shimmer and shine of the distant city painting the dirty floors in a tint of yellow.

You found yourself getting lost in the view, that you had almost forgotten your pesky superior who had you on the tips of your toes.

Thankfully, you're able to catch up to Miguel before he completely disappears into the darkness but before you can take even a step closer, he holds his arm out in front of you.

"Can you hear that?"

You shoot him a confused and unamused glare through your mask before it was clear to you. The faint sound of someone...

Crying.

Your gaze shifts to each corner of the room that you were in, in an attempts to pinpoint where exactly it was coming from but the sobs practically bounced off of the walls, making it even harder.

The wailing then gets louder. Increasingly so. As if it was approaching you rapidly.

You lean to the side a bit, trying to look ahead to see if there was anything getting closer and there was. Miguel moves back, with you along with him. Blades emerge from the sleeve of his right arm.

"Wait," You put a hand on his bicep but his gaze seems to be fixated on whatever is going to come out of the cloud of fog ahead of you. The figure is small, a funnel shape, and a very noticeable bow. "It's a kid."

"Disguised as an anomaly."

"Are you being serious right now?" You scoff at him. Patting his arm, but when he doesn't relent - you nudge him on a little. "Let me through, if it's actually trouble then bitch all you want back at HQ."

With a sigh, he puts his arm down and lets you go. You and the child meet in the center of the atrium, somewhat. The kid falls and slips onto her butt, before she continues crying.

She doesn't seem to be above the age of eight, you kneel down in front of her and slowly raise your mask. You can see Miguel jolt forward as if to stop you but appears to have stopped himself.

You get a closer look at her. She has a brown complexion, darker brown hair that's tied back into a ponytail with a little bow hairtie, a slightly frilly dress but the frills at the end are all tattered.

The girl looks up at you through teary eyes, they fell down her cheeks like a continuous stream. You put your hands up in a placating gesture and wore the kindest smile you could muster.

"Hey, hey..." You uttered, volume barely above a whisper. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Where are your parents?"

Even when you tried to the best of your ability to reassure her, the tears continued to drip down like a never ending waterfall. If she was trying to say something, it come out as a choked gasp or a hic.

You sighed, talking to kids wasn't exactly your strong suit and you don't even know how this little one even got here but you tried your best to be as understanding as possible.

"Me and my... friend here were looking around to see if there were any lost people. Are you lost? What's your name?" Your tone was delicate, gentle even. It quelled whatever breakdown the child was going through. Very little but it was progress.

She continued to wipe at her tears but the previous noises that she was making halted to some degree, on occasion she'd try stifle a small sob but it was all sniffles now.

"Yeah, there we go." You reassured her. "We're not bad people, if you can tell us where your parents are, we'll see if we can find them."

You tried to look all nice and friendly for the kid but deep down, you were a teeny bit terrified. An eight year old shouldn't have any business in an abandoned Alchemax.

A 'bring your kid to work' day doesn't even justify this either because the establishment looks years old from the time it was abandoned. The location was also deserted, which means there's a good chance that her parents are far away by now.

You also noticed that Miguel wasn't doing anything, he's been standing in the exact same spot since a while ago. Most likely observing your interaction with this girl.

Still, it confused you. You didn't know or understand much of Miguel's past but you knew bits and pieces, you knew that he had a family. Shouldn't talking to the children be what he's doing right now?

There was no time to question it, you're snapped out of your daze when the girl finally said her name.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Briana. My name is Briana."

"Briana," You parroted. "That's a very nice name. Are you okay now? Do you - do you want a hug? Hugs can make people feel better when they're sad."

She shakes her head, swiping at one stray tear that fell down from her puffy eyes. "No, thank you. My mommy and daddy say that I shouldn't hug strangers."

"Right, of course." You nervously take your hands back and scratch the back of your head. "Your mommy and daddy, do you know where they are?"

Another shake of the head. There was a good chance that yiu and Miguel would have to escort her back to city, to a police station or a hospital and whatnot. Looking for her parents in this forest would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

You're about to stand up, maybe bring Briana over to Miguel and tell him that you need to take her back to the city first but you get that dreadfully familiar tingle on your head.

"Sorry for this!" You exclaim, before suddenly grabbing Briana by the shoulders and pulling her to the side as a tiny explosion lands right where you were just kneeling by.

Emerging from the fog is unfortunately, Green Goblin, although he looks very different from most of the other variants you've seen of him. This Green Goblin looks less green and more of a creamy brown paper color, he lacks color besides the pencil lines.

He looks more like an incomplete sketch if anything and a lot more olden timesy, almost like he was from the Renaissance era or something like that.

"Look out!" You hear Miguel shout as another explosive is chucked at you and Briana, you both go in completely directions. As you were about to try and grab her again, the villain is quicker. Swooping down and sweeping Briana up in his arms with a cruel laughter.

You have to bite back a certain f-word from coming out of your mouth as Green Goblin veers to the left, up the floor you were about to investigate when you had first entered.

Swiftly, you put on your mask as you rushed to run up the escalator to which Miguel followed closely behind.

You've heard remnants of gossip from your colleagues anout Renaissance looking anomalies but you've never thought to encounter one yourself any time soon.

Green Goblin was absolutely going on a rant about god knows what but it was incomprehensible to you, like he was speaking in a different language.

Once you reach the upper floor, Green Goblin perches himself up on the top of this globe looking statue. He had an arm wrapped around Briana's neck, proceeding to yell some nonsense in Italian, before pointing at you and Miguel.

"What is this guy even saying?"

Miguel doesn't bother answering your question, he's silent.

It was more than safe to assume that this guy was using Briana as hostage but considering the language barrier, figuring out what exactly he wanted was tough game.

You know all about how Green Goblins are like. Vindictive, cutthroat, and annoying. From that, you guessed that if he was going to drop the little girl if he didn't receive whatever handsome payment that he was expecting.

It was risky, but if you reacted quick enough then you might be able to catch her. Seemed like Miguel had figured that out also when he leaned into you and whispered:

"I'll find a way to get to him to drop the girl, you catch her. I'll subdue him. You got that?"

"Then what? I can't exactly bring her back to the city by myself but we can't keep her here while we're fending this guy off."

"Open a portal. I'll give you a day pass for her."

The statement shunted you a little. Miguel didn't particularly enjoy bringing back anything or anyone that wasn't an anomaly back to his dimension.

You don't want to push his buttons right now though and it's not like you were going to disagree, he puts a day pass in your hands before shooting a web at the statue to sling himself up.

His sharp talons dig into the surface of the sculpture, he swipes at Green Goblin in an attempt to tail onto his hoverboard but once again, the villain is quicker.

It's a small chase that goes on for a while. You move carefully and circle around the carving just in case that he'll let go of Briana or drop her on accident but the grip he keeps on her is firm.

A web shoots out from Miguel's shooter, sticking directly to Green Goblin's chest. He tugs on it harshly, causing the other to lose balance and fall off of the floating board. Briana along with it.

You jump and hitch the little girl into your arms, murmuring soft reassurances like 'it's okay' or 'we got it handled'. You carefully slip the day pass onto her wrist and it secures onto her tightly.

Good timing, a loud thud rings in your ears as you turn your head. Miguel presses the anomaly into the bare dirt, unfortunately he's still conscious.

You press a couple buttons on your gizmo, squinting a little as you're met with the same dizzying array of colors. You pat Briana gently on the back, ushering for her to go inside.

She seems hesitant but you can't exactly blame her, not everyday that a kid goes into an interdimensional portal. You rub the small of her back encouragingly.

However, just as she's about to enter, just as she's about to retreat to safety -

Your eyes widen in shock as a blade pierces through her body, she coughs and similar to the tears that continued to fall down her cheek now it was a stream of blood oozing out of her mouth.

Miguel seemed stunned too, he looks down to see Green Goblin with a shit-eating smile on his face and a hand out. He threw it. He killed her.

You don't even hesitate to catch her, watching as she bleeds out on your lap. "No, no, no. Briana, Briana?"

Almost immediately, Miguel lands a hard blow against the villain's head. Knocking him straight into unconsciousness, he pulls out another gadget that you couldn't find a name for but it activates some sort of cage around the anomaly.

You called out her name a couple more times, hand shaking above the spot she was stabbed but all she did was cough and cough and cough. Each one a painful reminder that she was nearing her end.

When her chest rose and fell slowly and slowly as the moment passed, when her skin went pale, when her body went limp. You realized exactly what happened.

You swore that the air got colder.

Slowly, you stood up. Letting Briana's corpse rest against the floor of the Alchemax. You could barely look back up at Miguel, who had another much unimportant body in his hands.

You couldn't stand looking at it anymore. Angrily, you snatched Green Goblin's unconscious body from Miguel's grasp and tossed it into the portal.

"We should go."

You grumbled. But your colleague's mind seemed to be elsewhere, he looked down at the lifeless child. Mind seemingly blanking.

"Miguel?"

Not much to your surprise as he simply walks past you, stopping a step away from the portal.

"Let's go."

request rules here, masterlist here

[bradshawsbitch]

“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.” With our boy Rooster!

oof, we love our boy Rooster! but we also know our boy can have a bit of a temper... thanks for requesting it!!

disclaimer: It's funny how I promised myself I'd never write this trope, but here we are lmao.

description: the squad is enjoying a night at the hard deck, and some fucker makes nasty lil dumbass comments that makes rooster pissed.

warnings: bar fight, misogyny, feminist king!Rooster, protective Rooster, mentions of blood

(y'all already knew i had to use this gif)

Bradley was, according to himself, usually a very level-headed man. Except for if you mentioned his father. Or his mother. Or Maverick. Or you, for that matter. But other than that he was cool as a cucumber. He never really figured himself to be a jealous type, either - he usually trusted people to do their thing and he did his.

Which is why, when looking back at the incident that had gotten him into his current predicament (you, holding an icepack to his split lip), he figured maybe he had been wrong.

It had all started off as any old night at the Hard Deck. Coyote and Hangman occupied the darts board, Phoenix and Bob were laughing at something that had happened during their flight earlier that day as they racked up a game of nine-ball, and you were dancing to the jaunty tune of Shania Twain's 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman' whilst Rooster sat by the bar, nursing a beer and a big grin watching his girlfriend dance and laugh with Halo. As Shania sang the line 'let our hair down', you looked at Rooster, flipping your hair and swaying your hips seductively with a little secret smile on your lips, enjoying your time letting loose after a week's hard work flying. He grinned back at you, sending you a quick wink and relishing in the giggle that slipped past your lips before you turned to Halo again.

"This is why I don't think women should be in the navy," a voice scoffed from beside Bradley, who turned to look at the man sat next to him for the first time since he'd sat down. Bradley had hardly noticed him at all until he spoke up. Seeing as Bradley considered himself a level-headed man, he gritted his teeth - surprised at how young the man beside him was.

"C'mon man, the first female aviator in the Navy was 1978. Don't you think it's time to let it go?" Bradley grumbled, having read through the female history of the Navy, just because he thought it was important to know. 1978 was a long time ago, sure - but he figured they'd let women do what they wanted before that. But apparently not. The man raised a brow, and Rooster just knew this was going to be a painful conversation to have. But he would have it, because if he didn't - who would?

"What are your reasons for thinking women shouldn't be able to enlist?" Rooster continued, glaring at the lieutenant sat next to him.

"Well, it's obvious isn't it? They're obviously weaker both physically and mentally. And then there's-- all of this," the man gestured to you and Halo having fun on the dance floor, now doing a silly move where you bumped hips before jumping the other way and bumping the other side. Rooster frowned, looking back at the young man.

"Because they can dance?" Rooster was bewildered, and he could feel his cheeks turning red with anger. That level-headedness of his was being tested thoroughly by this man.

"They're sluts, man! They're just looking to fuck anything that moves, okay? Fucking shaking their asses and hanging off any lieutenant that'll look their way. It distracts the whole team, honestly - it throws the whole order off," the man obviously couldn't think of a reason other than his own damn misogyny.

"Don't fucking talk about them like that. What gives you the right?" Bradley seethed, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Oh, I see - which of the whores are you fucking?" the man stood up, laughing condescendingly at Bradley. This made Bradley get out of his seat, standing at his full height, still keeping his distance before he growled out;

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you, fucker" the man stepped closer to Bradley, and Rooster furrowed his brows as he pushed the man in the chest to make him back down. That was apparently the straw for the other man, who immediately swung at Bradley, his fist making contact with Roosters chin and lip. Bradley was too surprised to be able to brace himself for the impact, and his head snapped to the side at the impact, stumbling for a moment before his eyes grew black with rage. He was shouting now, telling the fucker to get the fuck out of the Hard Deck, easily putting his strong arm around the other mans neck in a headlock, dragging him to the door and giving him a hard shove in the back so that he landed on his back on the ground.

"Don't you fucking ever talk about our girls like that again!" Rooster shouted, pointing his finger at the man before spitting blood right at his face.

The bar had gone eerily quiet as he returned. He saw you making your way towards him, a concerned look etched on your face. He looked around a moment before he barked that everyone should mind their business. Everybody started before returning to hushed conversation.

"Rooster, what happened?" your eyes were filled with worry, your hands finding his face as they gingerly cradled him, and his large hands settled softly on your waist.

"Don't worry about it, darling.." he mumbled as you grabbed his hand and led him to a booth, where you scurried to ask Penny for ice and some medical equipment. You tended to him silently, brows furrowed.

"I was just helping Penny ring the bell," Rooster joked, smiling at your exasperated look. His anger had disappeared the moment you'd laid your hands on him, and now you stood in between his legs, your hands gingerly tending to his split lip. He was looking up at you with so much adoration that you started to feel your cheeks heat up.

"It was kind of hot," you admitted, the sight of Rooster's biceps flexing in his black t-shirt forever ingrained in your brain. Bradley smirked, his hands gliding down to rest at the swell of your ass, bringing you closer to his broad chest, your other hand resting on his shoulder as you looked down at his gorgeous form.

"Yeah?" Rooster smirked, wanting to kiss you senseless for admitting that to him.

[rnelodyy]

I cannot get over how Obsessed Belos is with Caleb. It’s SO wild, and the deeper you dig the sadder and more disturbing it becomes.

Like,,, Caleb was literally all he had growing up. Their parents were gone, they were (presumably) homeless, they were two street rats trying their best to make it on their own. Caleb was the older sibling, so the weight of caring for Philip fell on his shoulders, even though he was just a kid himself.

And considering the motif of coping through stories (Luz finding comfort in Azura after her dad’s death, Hunter finding comfort in Cosmic Frontier while trying to cope with the fact that he’s a clone), I wouldn’t be surprised if Caleb tried to do something similar for Philip. From Belos’s memories, we can see they used to play pretend a LOT. It’s a lot less scary for a young child if they believe they’re going on wild and wacky adventures than to know the truth – that they’re homeless orphans, moving into a community that regularly hangs people for witchcraft, with Caleb having to do hard labor to afford food and housing and sending his brother to school, while having to sacrifice his own education and skip meals so Philip doesn’t need to go hungry.

Caleb used stories to shield Philip from the worst of their life, which blinded Philip to just how bad his brother was suffering. To Philip, life in Gravesfield was good, but it was only good because of how much Caleb was sacrificing for him.

So when Caleb met Evelyn, of course he took the chance to escape his shitty life. It may have even been a situation like Luz, where he only expected to be gone for a short time, and either returned to find Philip gone, or ended up being trapped on the Isles for longer than he’d anticipated.

Philip, meanwhile, is fucking Losing It. Caleb was his whole world, and now he's just gone, spirited away by an evil witch just like those stories they’d been playing out their whole lives. It may even be a situation like King, where Caleb knew he wasn’t being truthful with the witch hunter stories, but Philip genuinely believed them all.

So Philip goes into the Demon Realm, determined to rescue his brother. He’s practiced this, he’s trained for this, he just needs to find Caleb, save him from whatever tortures that witch has been inflicting on him, open up a portal back to Gravesfield, and everything will go back to normal. So he travels, he meets witches, he kills them, he either gets cursed or discovers that eating Palismen gives him funny powers, so he keeps doing that.

And then, after years of searching, he finds Caleb. Not chained up in a dungeon, or turned into a frog, or a shambling husk of his former self, but free. Happier and healthier than Philip has ever seen him. 

Philip tries to grab Caleb and leave with him, but Caleb refuses. The witch who lured him away is his wife now. He’s got a house and a job and a kid on the way. He’s got a Palisman, this stupid fucking red bird that follows him everywhere. Caleb’s good here. He’s not leaving.

And I think Philip just fucking loses it at that point. What do you MEAN you’re not leaving?! We were adventurers! We were gonna be witch hunters together! We were going to do everything together! Did she do something to you? Did you just hate me that much? 

Caleb tries to de-escalate, but eventually loses his temper himself. We weren’t adventurers, we were street rats! I was working so YOU could go to school, I was starving myself so YOU wouldn’t have to, I sacrificed EVERYTHING so you’d have a chance at life! You’re old enough to handle yourself now, it’s time to grow up and let me live my own life!

Phil’s not having it. There’s a fight, someone draws a knife, and… we all know how that one ends.

Fast-forward a bit. Philip, now alone and stranded on the Isles, has latched onto the stories he and Caleb used to play pretend with. He’s going to make them come true. He’s going to kill every witch in one fell swoop, become Witch Hunter General, and he’s going to do all of it with his brother by his side.

So he asks for the Collector’s help, and together, they make a Grimwalker.

Philip decides that this is his chance. He can raise this new Caleb properly, make sure that his brother isn’t swayed by the evils of witchcraft again. The new Caleb doesn’t look exactly the same but it’s fine. Having him back is good enough.

And then the new Caleb betrays him too.

Maybe he befriended some witches, maybe he tried to learn magic, maybe he had some reservations about the whole genocide plan. Either way, this Caleb has gone the same way as the first. 

So Philip kills him, and starts over with a new Grimwalker. This time he’s gonna get it right. This Caleb is gonna be the one.

But he’s not. He betrays Philip again. So Philip starts over again, tightening the leash this time. New-new-new Caleb can’t leave his sight, isn’t allowed to talk to people without Philip there, because it’s dangerous. But strict parents make sneaky children, and Philip catches new-new-new Caleb making out with a secret witch partner behind his back.

Philip realizes he needs to change his approach. Caleb isn’t listening to him? Well, he’ll make him listen. He makes the next one younger, establishes himself as an authority figure (dad feels too personal, so uncle it is), and makes himself the focal point of this new Caleb’s life. Continuing to call him Caleb feels weird, especially since there’s such a significant age difference between them now, so he gives this one a new name.

They’re going to be witch hunters, so he names the new one Hunter. It’s hilarious when you think about it.

And so the cycle continues. Hunter is born, grows up, rebels, and is killed. Over and over and over again. Philip grows numb to it at this point – he’s already killed dozens of them, and he doesn’t see them as individuals anyway. To him, it’s like a game, resetting and starting over from the last checkpoint to really, really get everything right this time.

He adopts his new identity as Belos, and lets Hunter believe it too. He preaches to towns, pulls more and more power towards himself, with Hunter by his side, his Golden Guard, the most perfect version of Caleb he can make.

They keep betraying him though, so with each iteration, the leash gets tighter. The Hunters become more and more isolated, Belos’s power over them greater and greater. Step out of line and be beaten, show disrespect and be verbally abused, betray him (which can be anything from actively trying to stop his plans to making a friend he didn’t approve of) and be killed, replaced with another Grimwalker.

Belos becomes Emperor of the Isles, and his Grimwalkers become his right hand men, answering only to him. Caleb by his side, just like he’d always wanted. Never mind that the Grimwalkers are nothing like Caleb now – they’re submissive, desperate for affection and attention. They’re afraid of Belos, but cling to him all the same, because he’s all they have. He’s made sure of that.

A few years before the Day of Unity, the culmination of his life's work, Hunter betrays him again. Belos got too lenient, allowed him to take on a student, and now he’s got all sorts of weird ideas in his head again. So he starts over, and this time, he makes sure that Hunter will stay pure and obedient until the Day of Unity.

No contact with the other scouts. No scroll, no crystal ball, no leaving the castle unless it’s for a mission. Keep the number of missions to a minimum, make him associate getting missions with good behavior. Monitor his training, monitor what he studies, keep him safe under lock and key. Make him desperate to please, never quite give him what he needs so he keeps clinging to you for more.

And it works. For a while. At least, until literally a week before the Day of Unity, Hunter shows up in Philip’s mind. And I mean, Philip doesn’t necessarily want to ruin this one, but he’s always liked testing loyalty. He can make another Grimwalker after the Day of Unity if this one fails.

And fail Hunter does, except… he doesn’t die. He escapes. Goes on the run.

Philip tries to get him back, sends out search parties and everything, but Hunter doesn’t turn up, and he’s got other priorities now. It’s fine, Hunter’s got a sigil. He’ll die during the Day of Unity anyway.

And then he fucking shows up to stop him! Him, a gaggle of witch kids, and Luz the Human, and they nearly fight Philip to a standstill! They nearly get the better of him! Philip tries to guilt trip Hunter back to his side – surely he doesn’t want to hurt his beloved uncle – but then what does he see? That Fucking Bird. Caleb’s bird. This one’s DEFINITELY gone too far now, murder mode it is.

But then oops, the Collector gets freed, Philip gets splattered against a wall, and the Draining Spell ends. 

However, Phil’s not dead, somehow. He manages to shift his consciousness to one glob of goop that lands on Hunter, and rides along to the human realm, determined to salvage the dumpster fire this whole thing has become.

He gains back strength, spies on the kids, watches as Hunter does boring child stuff that’s absolutely nothing like how Caleb acted, until… Hunter finds a bit of his goop, and like a dumbass, sticks his finger into it. And Philip, who by now has gotten the hang of this whole Venom-stuff, crawls inside a wound, and into Hunter’s bloodstream.

And as he grows in strength, he realizes. This is it. This is the culmination of everything. Hunter isn’t Caleb, but dammit, he’s close enough. Philip can save him now, save him from these witches who have been a terrible influence on him, he can finally, finally complete his great work, with his brother by his side.

So when he gets strong enough, he takes over. Consumes whatever energy Hunter had stored in fat cells and his magic heart and uses it to power himself, growing himself throughout the kid’s whole body. Taking him over. 

He’s finally united with Caleb again, he can finally finish what he started. Never mind that Hunter doesn’t want this. Never mind that Hunter fucking hates him for what he did. Never mind that Hunter isn’t Caleb, never mind that Caleb would never, ever have wanted this, never mind that Philip is now the corrupting force, it does. Not. Matter. 

And then “Caleb” betrays him again. Because of fucking course he does. Philip literally fucking invaded his body like a parasite and made him kill his own Palisman with his bare hands, and he expected Hunter to just fucking lie down and take it? To let him do whatever? He robbed Hunter of his childhood, of his autonomy, of his personhood, and he expected the kid to not just accept it, but be grateful for it?

Well... Yeah. That’s how far gone he is. That’s how far removed from reality Philip has become. “Caleb” isn’t even a person to him anymore, “Caleb” is some kind of personification of his childhood nostalgia that he keeps trying to bring back into the flesh. And it’s not gonna work, because nobody could ever fill that role. Even the original Caleb wouldn’t be able to fill that role – in fact, that’s why Philip stuck a knife in his chest in the first place!

He’s lost EVERYTHING. He’s killed his own brother, he’s reduced himself to a parasitic goop monster that’s no longer living yet unable to die, the plan he’s spent 400 years working on blew up in his face, the realm he spent so long fighting for has moved on without him, and his latest attempt to create a new Caleb to comfort him not only rejected him, but actively despises him now. No fucking wonder he’s gone even more batshit insane.

I don’t know where the story is gonna go from here. Philip is still obviously trying to carry out his genocide, and Hunter is on the fucking war path now, so I have zero doubt that there’s going to be some sort of clash between those two. Hunter now also presumably has access to Flapjack’s memories, so him gaining memories of Caleb is also not out of the question. 

Either way, Philip’s just gonna become Even More Not Normal about his brother, and I for one cannot wait.

[animeyanderelover]

What would inuyasha be like as a yandere?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, clinginess, abduction, death

Yandere Inuyasha Hc’s

🔴My god, the denial is strong with Inuyasha when it comes to his strong feelings he keeps in his heart for his darling. You can't fully blame him though. Shunned by humans and demons alike for his heritage and troubled past, he has about zero social interaction skills and is very wary. Inuyasha doesn't want to trust you for he fears that you'll push him away for his blood just like so many before you did. Why would he need you after all? He tries to play it down and intentionally acts mean to you. Does it work though? No. Instead his heart trembles after he's spit rude words at you and watches you walk away. Do you hate him? Will you leave him? Such intrusive thoughts trouble the half-demon through days and night yet he's also too proud to appear before you and apologize. It results in the possibly worst attempts to stalk you which always embarrass him as he just has to always say something in a loud and aggressive voice when he witnesses you spending time with someone else. He's so jealous!

🔴I'd say his strongest traits would be his very protective instincts, his very childish possessive streak and his jealousy. Inuyasha will always be around, whether in terrible disguises in order to stalk you or by really just trailing visibly behind you, yelling at you that he's free to go wherever he wants to go. He's not following you, you idiot! He's just walking into the same direction! He's acting like a brat most of the time but the moment he does sense something bad, he will fight with his teeth and claws to protect you. He's already lost enough in his life and protecting you becomes eventually a basic instinct. Whilst I see Sesshomaru being possessive in the sense of being downright territorial, Inuyasha shows a more 'harmless' way of being possessive. That is not to say that he can't act more scarily possessive in certain situations but most of the time he's just acting immature with his temper tantrums when you ignore him or don't want to see him in favor of meeting with someone else. Oh, he'll absolutely crash every activities of yours so he can be included.

🔴Inuyasha's jealousy is probably the part that will give you permanently headaches. Because he'd probably get into a brawl with everyone who does as much as looking at you for too long. Just imagine a dog who barks at anyone loudly until they're out of sight and you know what it's like being accompanied by Inuyasha. His childish demands to have you for himself really come through during such moments and if you think that he's been rude to you in the past, just wait until you hear him cussing and disrespecting at whoever irked him. The type to get into a physical fight if someone talks back, although he'd rarely really hurt someone. It's only to scare them away a bit. Literally will drag you away or even carry you away when his not existing patience is at an end. You always feel sharp nails dugging into the skin of your waist or hips before you're either dragged away or lifted up into his arms and he makes a run for it, still yelling at the person that this isn't settled yet.

🔴Inuyasha seems to value life a lot, surprising considering that most demons don't think too much about it. He is certainly someone prone to get into physical fights but most of the time those are evoked by his raging jealousy. That said he throws away all common sense if someone should ever dare to hurt you in which case he goes rather violent which can cause some serious damage to the culprit if he lets his feelings get the better of him. If someone seriously tries to kill you though? He completely loses it and maximum destruction will be achieved if he doesn't have his Tessaigan with him since his sheer wrath alone triggers his demonic blood to take over him. The aftermath is always terrible as he's destroyed in his sheer and suffocating anger the landscape around him and has torn the enemy to shreds, blood covering his hands and coating his mouth. You don't get away unscarred either as you end up getting injured in some way but Inuyasha, even in his full-fledged demon form that only wants to destroy, still makes sure that you're alive. Even in such a savage state, keeping you alive remains his core instinct.

🔴A part of me thinks that he wouldn't be fully willing to kidnap his darling since he probably has some common sense, especially if his darling has the happy family and life he never could have. Thinking about ripping that away from you has him recoiling a bit in disgust as this is a level he doesn't want to sink to. What happens far more often is that Inuyasha sometimes just whisks you away for his own purposes, specifically if he's feeling neglected or has noticed that you've spent very much time with someone else recently. He carries you somewhere away where you won't know the way back home and have to forcefully rely on him and I just know that he'll rub it into your face how you need to have him as your protector now. Considering that Inuyasha has never been someone who could hold back his emotions which oftentimes lead his actions. So it is likely that within the heat of a moment, he might grab you out of overwhelming anger and frustration and bring you somewhere far away from your original home. After he has calmed down a bit, he can't ignore the twinge of guilt but he's too proud to admit it.

🔴He's probably really acting like a dog at times, although he barely notices. Don't you even dare approach him reeking like someone else because it is disgusting. If he could have it his way, he'd burn the clothes right away. Scenting is a thing and whilst he doesn't calculate that humans don't have such enhanced senses as he has, it still satisfies a primal part of him. Your scent is also the one thing he will always detect even amongst a million other aromas. He loves it if you scratch him behind his ears, if you find the right spot his leg is actually stomping. He's instantly embarrassed about it as soon as he snaps out of it though. It's safe to assume that Inuyasha is constantly in a bad mood when other people are around since he sees everyone and everything as a threat that might steal your attention. Those feelings are harmless for the most part though. He usually avoids you during every new moon as he's too ashamed to be seen in his physically weakest state and it is likely that he doesn't even tell you and you have to find out by yourself.

[lynlyndoll]

Taste

genre: -slightly- suggestive (the name of the song should be enough to realize what kind of fic this will be.), angsty (there are things that would provoke anger for reader and the pair!)

pairing(s): lee know x fem! reader, hyunjin x fem! reader, felix x fem! reader

appearances and specifications: ok, so we have each one of the guys here!! nothing bad, just please do NOT read this unless you are 18+ tbh... there may be just kissing, but it's in a suggestive way.

an: ok, God.. I had this idea for like.. around 2-3 weeks?! but didn't have the time to write it lmao (nor the guts). Anyway, since i listened to taste 20 times already (i can actually show proof for that) i said, WHY TF NOT?! so here it is!!

lee know - 0.8k wc

A party shouldn't be a big problem to you. You loved good parties. What you didn't consider about this party was that your ex was there as well. Everyone knew you and him used to be the power couple, the ones to set the barriers to sky limits in college. And everyone also knew how the most popular couple in uni broke up. It happened a few weeks ago, you came into the apartment both of you shared, full of stress. The only thing you wanted was to be next to your boyfriend. But when you came into the room, your boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. What annoyed you the most was that he came back with a wide, drunk smile at 2 am. You were sleeping on the couch, phone attached to your hand in hope that he would at least call. He tried to remain as silent as a drunk man could, but you woke up, staring at him with an annoyed figure on your face.

"Jagi-"

"No, "jagi". Not even a call, Minho? One fucking call?" You yelled at him, letting him look with wide eyes at you. "Where were you, at least...?" You massage your temples.

"At a drink with the guys.." he answered, startled. You weren't surprised. He did this almost every day. You never told him not to go, but sometimes he should consider you. You, his girlfriend, and your needs.

"Minho... I don't... I can't do this." You sighed, murmuring.

"Jagi, what do you mean?" His voice saddened and eyes on the verge of crying. He knew what you meant, but he needed you.

"Minho... you know what I mean." You sighed, getting up. "I can't stay with someone that doesn't consider me as well."

And that's how everything ended between you and him, with tears and misunderstandings. You moved in with your two other friends and everything was fine. At least, that's what you wanted to think. You always thought about Minho, about his scent and about his little jokes. About his cats and his family, which made you feel like you were already in their family. After the break up, everyone thought about both you and Minho, that the relationship was faked, since none of you looked worse then before, but which no one knew was the tears and thoughts both of you had during the night, when everything came back.

Tonight, you see him again. Drunk, with a smile on his face and girls around him, as if nothing wrong happened. You were already at the 4th drink for that night and your judgment was slowly affected. To stop acting like a jealous ex - which you were - you go more into the center of the party to dance.

Tonight he sees you again. Drunk and dancing with a random guy you just met on the dance floor. He tried to take control of his own actions, however, when he saw you and the guy you were dancing with almost kissing, he lost all his temper. He got up, got to you before you kissed the boy and dragged you out of the room, in the dark hallway of the house the party was held in.

"Minho, what the fu-" You yelled at him, interrupted by a kiss. Your eyes widen in shock as he presses your back on the wall. The kiss wasn't soft either, his tongue trying to fight for dominance with yours and you, allowing him. After some seconds that felt like minutes, he broke the kiss slightly, his breath still upon yours.

"Why did you do this, Minho...? We're not-" You try to say, still not looking directly at Minho, the only thing in your sight being his eyes.

"Because I'm addicted to you..." He murmurs in your ear, making your ears red and a crimson shade appearing on your cheeks.

"Minho, you're drunk. Your sober self probably wouldn't even want to do this. Maybe it's just the alcohol in your veins that made you kiss me."

"When I saw you with that guy, Y/N... I want you to just look at me, only me." He says, kissing you, this time softer and slower. You slightly smiled into the kiss.

"Min... I can't kiss someone that I love, without knowing if that someone would really take this seriously." You say after the kiss breaks.

"You either kiss me or hate me, Y/N. I promise to you that I'll never disregard your feelings, but the choice is yours." He says, causing both you and him to feel hundreds of different emotions. Both of you breathed against each other, until you took his head in your palms and smiled at him, locking eyes with his.

"Good. Because I would never want to hate you." You smile and kiss him, pressing him even more on your body.

hyunjin - 0.4k

Between you and hyunjin has always been an attraction. It was never spoken about though, because none of you was supposed to be seen near the other, your families being rivals.

One night, however, after too many shots of soju, he snapped at you, then you snapped at him and everything ended with both of you making out on his couch. In the morning, you were the first to wake up and be concerned of what happened, so you got up and left his apartment as fast as you could. However, with time, this happened more times, eventually wanting more than just sex, so slowly but steadily, Hyunjin and you started dating behind the backs of your families, your friends backing you up whenever it was needed. Tonight, however, you had to stop everything because of your parents.

Your parents found you a match and you had to have an arranged marriage with someone they picked. You knew that if you told the real reason to Hyunjin, he would ask you to leave with him, to forget about this life. You wanted to live and forget with him, but you had duties that had to be fulfilled, and for that purpose your family would never leave you alone. So you told him a lie. A lie that made his heart ache, which made your heart ache. However, he knew you were lying. He knew that your relationship meant everything for each one of you, he knew that arranged marriage happened in the life both you and him lived, so that should've been the motive, but he just didn't understand why you had to live this life.

"Love... " he says, taking your hand in his, his fingers linking with yours. With his other hand, he raises your chin.

"Hyunjin.." You say, your breath on his face, as he locks eyes with you. He leans in, slowly closing his eyes.

One last kiss was all he desired. But after you both narrowed the gap between you and him, he knew that without you, he can't focus on anything else. He knew he's in trouble, your heart full of lies was hurting him, but once you both started, you must be his. He knew he would do anything only to have you by his side. Forever.

felix - 0.5k

It was always the same with Felix, your best friend of 10 years. Stolen kisses in the moonlight, lies that could sweep every girl’s feet and the same sweet, but dangerous tone of voice. You don’t even know how everything happened, how from a perfect friendship, both of you wanted more and that want turned into a need, which slowly turned into a friends with benefits dynamic. No doubt that you wanted him, but you wanted him more than a friend who you fucked for interest, you wanted him as a person who you saw your future with, your partner. Tonight was, as always, the same. You and him, under the sky full of stars, and the silence that always occurred during these times. However, you had enough of his games. He never intended to make a move and if he didn’t, then it was your time to move further and stop this dynamic for good. From tonight, he either would kiss you as a lover, or he would leave you and never come back.

“Felix, I have something to ask you.” You look in his eyes, him already curious.

“Yeah, Y/Nnie?” He says, his sweet deep voice making you shiver again.

“Do I mean anything to you?” You say, your voice slightly shaking.

“Of course, love. You’re my starlight, my best friend, my-”

“Yeah, your best friend.” You look away from him with a frown.

“Y/N, what is it?”

“Oh, nothing, just my mind thinking we could be more than friends.”

“Y/N…” he says, but you cut him off.

“No, Felix. I heard enough and I agree. But I can’t continue with this.” You look at him, eyes focusing on his confused expression.

“Y/N, you don’t understand.” He grabs your wrists, switching his position on top of you. “This is the only thing you don’t get.” He smiles, making you confused.

“What…?”

“Y/N, if you think that I don’t like… No, if I don’t love you, then I’ll make you feel my love, I promise.” He says, leaning in even more, your lips brushing on each other.

“But you said… Now you’re only lying, you’re playing with my feelings.” You say, focusing on his lips, trying to stop your heart beat faster than it ever was.

“I don’t dare lie on this meaningful night, though. It’s my chance to finally make you understand how much I love you.” He says, kissing your lips with an affection and passion that you never felt from anyone, both of your senses shutting down, the only thought being the one of tasting each other as lovers.

taglist!!

@agi-ppangx @lisaaassophhhieee @hyunjin-lover20

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers CHAOS LINEAGE ー Laito [11]

ー The scene starts in Laito’s room at the Violet Manor

*Cling*

Yui: ( I wonder how many days have passed since? )

( Even though he promised he’d consider taking off these chains if I begged him to suck my blood. )

( In the end, he only took it into consideration but chose not to remove them after all... )

( I can’t do anything like this... )

Haah...

Monologue

Since I’m now physically locked in this one room,

I’m spending my days unable to interact with anyone,

aside from Laito-kun.

Apparently Carla-san and the others,

are aware of the fact,

that I have been chained like this.

Seeing as they have not commented on it regardless,

I can only assume,

that they are leaving me completely,

in the hands of Laito-kun. 

The only way for me to know what is happening outside,

is to ask Laito-kun about it. 

Yet, time after time,

he keeps on beating around the bush,

failing to tell me about,

the information which truly matters.

Yui: ( Even though he used to spend a lot of time inside this room at first. )

( Lately it happens more and more often that he just suddenly disappears... )

( He won’t tell me what he’s up to, and while I’m here waiting, Carla-san might just attack Ayato-kun and the others... )

( I didn’t think that not being able to do anything would be so frustrating... )

ー Laito enters the room

Laito: Bitch-chan, I’m sure you’re feeling hungry by now? I got you something to eat.

Yui: Laito-kun? 

Laito: What’s wrong? Why do you seem so sad? Did something happen?

Selection

→ I want to know what’s happening out there (♡)

Yui: I want to know what’s happening out there, it’s been on my mind the whole time.

I can’t help but be worried about Ayato-kun and the others after all...

Laito: That topic again? I’m surprised you haven’t gotten sick of it already.

Yui: Please. If you know something, no matter what, tell me!

→ It’s nothing (🖤)

Yui: No, it’s nothing...

( I’m sure that no matter what I ask, he’ll just dodge the question again. )

Laito: Then why do you seem so depressed when there’s nothing wrong?

Ah, could it be...Were you thinking of something you can’t share with me? Geez, you naughty girl~

Yui: I-I wasn’t having such thoughts! It’s just, I...

You see...I was thinking of Ayato-kun and the others.

Yui: Quite some time has passed since Carla-san first brought up his plan to attack the Orange House so...

When I think that something might have happened to the two of them...

Laito: ...I see. Your heart breaks thinking about them, doesn’t it?

I’ve been staying quiet because I didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily, but I suppose it’d be better to tell you then. 

Yui: Unnecessary worries? Don’t tell me...

Did something happen to them!? Tell me!

Laito: Oh geez, you’re going to make me jealous by showing so much interest in other men.

Yui: Please, don’t beat around the bush. ...Laito-kun.

Laito: ...Haah~ I just can’t help but struggle with this sort of serious atmosphere.

Fine, I’m sure you’ll find out sooner or later either way.

Ayato-kun and the others are currentlyーー in the dungeon of this manor.

Yui: Eh? ...The manor’s dungeon? Do you mean the prison?

Laito: Yup, exactly. Carla attacked the other Houses and conquered them in a few days.

Yui: No way...So everyone’s here at this manor...?

Laito: Not just the people from the Orange House, the whole Scarlet House is down there as well. 

I was entrusted with the task of interrogating each and every prisoner, so I know without doubt that everyone has been captured.

Yui: Is everyone alright!? Since they were attacked, they could be injured, no...!?

Laito: Everyone’s fine. They did sustain a few wounds here and there though. 

Ayato-kun’s so hot-tempered, he still has enough fire left in him to pick a fight with me every time I go check up on him. 

He even tried to steal my sword during today’s interrogation, you see?

Honestly, where does that guy get so much energy even when held captive.

Yui: I see...

( Everyone’s alive. Thank god... )

( But they’ve been imprisoned and are being interrogated...So it’s not exactly a peaceful situation. )

Hey, why has Carla-san decided to put them all in the dungeon? 

Laito: Beats me. Doesn’t seem like he plans on killing any of the prisoners for now at least.

I guess he can’t kill them hastily when one of them might know how to become Supreme Overlord?

Yui: But I can’t believe they’ve been imprisoned...Can’t we help them out somehow?

Laito: I’m afraid that’s impossible, no matter how you look at it.

I picked up on this while doing the interrogations, but despite being captured, it doesn’t seem like they’ve given up on becoming Supreme Overlord either.

What do you think will happen if we set them free?

Yui: ...They’ll come after me?

Laito: Without a doubt. Then chaos will break loose inside the manor, I’m sure. 

Yui: Then we just have to get everyone’s memories back!

If that’s too difficult, we could at least evade any conflict by urging them to agree to a ceasefire! 

Laito: If it was that easy to convince them, I don’t think we’d have people fighting over the title of Supreme Overlord in the first place, no?

Yui: Well...I guess you’re not wrong, but...

Laito: You don’t need to worry about any of this, honestly. It’s not like they’re rotting away in their cell.

I’m pretty sure they’re much safer inside their individual cells, than when they’re fihgting each other outside.

Yui: ( He might have a point. I doubt they’ll start killing each other inside the prison. )

( But...Is Laito-kun truly okay with this? )

Laito: With everyone caught, there aren’t any opponents left to deal with...

I guess Carla’s pretty much set to become Supreme Overlord then. It doesn’t seem like Subaru-kun or the others are interested in the title.

Aah, of course, I couldn’t care less either.

Yui: ( I can’t believe he’s taking it so lightly... )

Laito-kun, are you sure this is what you want?

Laito: How I feel about it doesn’t really matter. If we just let Carla become King like he wants to, everything will end well, no?

I mean, I don’t really know what exactly this whole Supreme Overlord thing entails.

Yui: It won’t fix anything at all. You’re aware that this is all just part of this fake world, right?

There’s no point in fighting over the title of Supreme Overlord. We have to ensure that everyone retrieves their memories and return to where we came from...to Kaminashi City.

That’s our real objective, isn’t it?

Laito: Hmー? Is it?

Yui: ...Eh...?

Laito: Just think about it. We’re the only ones here. It’s like its own enclosed miniature garden.

If we go back, we’d face nothing but problems. Then don’t you think there are many perks to simply staying here in our little garden?

Honestly, I believe I’d be able to live a much more relaxing life here, away from all the stress and trouble.

Yui: No way...You don’t mind giving up your previous life?

Laito: Of course not. I feel much more at ease here, where there is nothing restraining me.

Yui: ...!

( I mean, it’s true that Laito-kun had to carry a lot of burdens throughout his life. )

( So he might actually be happier living here. But... )

Hey, Laito-kun. 

Laito: Yes?

Yui: To become the Supreme Overlord, I...Eve is a necessary piece, right?

What will you do if Carla-san ends up needing Eve?

Laito: Aah, I guess we’ll be pulled apart. Hmー...? What to do about that? I honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead.

Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. We just gotta see how things turn out, no?

Yui: We might end up separated...and you’re fine with that?

Laito: Didn’t I tell you before? I just want to have fun in life.

Yui: ...No way...

( How can he say things so lightly? )

( Even though we might not be able to stay together, why...? )

I just don’t understand you...

Laito: Eh?

Yui: Before you got your memories back, I couldn’t blame you for it. But you remember everything now, don’t you? 

Yet you keep on acting so indifferent towards everything...

‘As long as I have fun’, is that your final answer...!?

Laito: Come on, calm down. You’ll turn into a crying mess?

Yui: Ah...

( When did I...? I didn’t want to cry, but the tears just started flowing... )

*Rustle*

Laito: ...Don’t make such a face. Come on, stop crying?

Yui: ...Uu...

Laito: Don’t rub your eyes so aggressively. They’ll become swollen, remember?

I’ll wipe your tears, okay? ...Nn...Muah...

*Smooch*

Yui: ...

( Even though his kisses are so very gentle... )

We definitely can’t just stay locked up in this place...Who knows when a war will break loose between everyone...

Besides, I don’t want to get together with anyone else, regardless of who becomes Supreme Overlord...

Laito: Bitch-chan...

Yui: While this might cause troubles for you in your current situation. 

Still, you’re the only one I love...

Laito: Right...I know that very well.

I told you to stop crying earlier but...Go ahead, you can cry all you want.

I promise that I’ll catch all of your tears...Nnh...Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: ( Laito-kun... )

Monologue

Despite his gentle acts of consolation,

he’ll easily cast both me and his brothers aside,

as if it doesn’t faze him at all. 

He said that all he cares about is having fun,

I honestly have no idea,

what he’s thinking.

I wonder if he has actually,

had a complete change of mind?

If that is the case,

do I have no other choice but to give up,

both on escaping this place,

as well as getting the others’ memories back?

In the back of my consciousness,

I could feel the faint sensation of Laito-kun’s lipsーー

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Laito: ( Ahーah. I made her cry. )

( That wasn’t my intention though... )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[monstersinthecosmos]

please make longform sheith posts on tumblr 😭😭😭 (if you so wish ofc)

hjaklgd I hung onto this ask because I was waiting for the right time to talk about Sheith and I got such an insightful comment on my fic Tonight the Stars Revolt! that I decided I wanted to talk a little meta about the thought process that goes into this fic and so here you are and it's time to utilize this invitation !!!!!!!!!!!!

The comment from DocYo5 as follows:

It feels like reality, the feelings and thoughts Keith has, fitting for someone who had to grow up without close relationships, with Shiro being closest to a family member before he left for Kerberos. Understandable that he's able to open up to him, because he trusts him and somehow understandable that they can have sex together without hard feelings... At least from Keith's point of view. We can only guess how Shiro feels about this, probably more than he lets out. For me it's surprising to have sex with someone repeatedly without considering to love him, to announce it as weird to like him when I think it's much more weird to fuck someone often without love, only to get release. In this fic I think it's possible that it stays that way. So I am curious what you will make of it. The way you put it it would make sense.

So!!!! This is exactly the dynamic that this fic is ABOUT, okay? And while some of this pertains to my fic specifically and the places their relationship goes behind the scenes of canon, I did build it off of canon, so a lot of this speaks to the way I’m reading them on the show.

Since the fic is Keith’s POV we’re spending more time with his interiority, naturally, but I’m going to get to Shiro in a second lol. But I think Keith is someone who really compartmentalizes his feelings. I think he, more than the others on the show, sort of has an ON and OFF switch in which he’s either a grumpy little shit or he’s simply dealing in facts. It’s SO rare to see him smile; I think he laughs, like, once? Even in the shitshow of S8 he can’t enjoy himself on their day off at the carnival.

Compartmentalizing can be a useful tool, especially given that the characters are at war, but it can be so harmful, as well. And Keith, unlike the others, tends to have sort of violent outburst from time to time and does lose his temper. I know the creators one time ascribed this to his being half Galra, which I think really opens a fucking can of worms when we talk about Keith’s emotional intelligence as well as being neurodivergent; it’s a popular fanon read that Keith is autistic, and there’s a lot of clues!, but I also have to ask like, how much of his Galra half is driving in his brain? And if his brain is only half human, that literally means he’s neurodivergent from a typical human.

I strayed from my point a little but I’m trying to say that Keith perhaps relies on anger a little too much, whether it’s genetic or not, and sometimes I think compartmentalizing looks like him being angry all the time because he won’t interact with any of his other feelings.

THE EXCEPTION TO THIS of course, is with Shiro! There are so many moments of him and Shiro where he’s vulnerable and soft in a way he doesn’t show to other characters! And I think it’s easy to overlook this when we watch with shipping goggles—of course we ARE SEEING IT because we’re shipping it lmao but it’s easy to forget that he doesn’t show this to anybody else.

So anyway I’ve been very intentional in this fic to try to write Keith as obsessively compartmentalizing and trying to keep a hold on all of his emotions and have control over the way other people perceive him. I’ve ranted & raved about this before but I read Keith as a person who makes himself deliberately unpleasant so that he can control when people come & go from his life, rather than ever trusting anyone or relying on them or having his feelings hurt when he inevitably gets abandoned again.

I often struggle in this fic with the line between showing and not telling because I am very aware that a lot of the text IS telling, but this is intentional! Keith obsesses over every feeling, every interaction with Shiro, he questions everything he says and does and worries about it for days! This is part of his anxiety around the whole situation and not knowing if he’s behaving correctly! He doesn’t want to compromise his relationship with Shiro, because it’s the ONLY meaningful relationship in his life AND Shiro is the ONLY person he has the stomach to trust, but on top of that he simply does not understand how he’s supposed to act. So every interaction between them is this huge puzzle for him to figure out and he’s stressed out as fuck!

And this fic is about him trying to compartmentalize all these human emotions and needs, like, his need to have sex, his need for companionship, maybe even his need for love? And he has the drive to want these things. (Does his growing and uncontrollable horniness have anything to do with same non-human half that dictates his temper? We shall see. 😏)  But how does he navigate “I am horny and want to get off” vs “I need the companionship of my best friend” alongside “having sex with someone is actually very intimate” and in the end "sexual intimacy makes me uncomfortable because in some ways this thing with Shiro is everything that I want, but if I admit that and lose it I will be destroyed” ?? How can these things coalesce for him???

The idea for this fic was me trying to subvert some tropes I was seeing all the time in Sheith fic and the main one is like, we have a habit of making them such soulmates and making it so seamless! WHICH IS FINE AND GOOD, I LOVE THOSE FICS TOO LOL, but I wanted to ask like, what if it was messy, what if they were just fucking? And I think part of me wanted to keep the illusion going for longer, when I was first planning the fic, and it wound up like growing a life of its own and taking me to a lot of places I didn’t intend to go. And I say that because, where we are right now in the story, I don’t think either of them are denial about their feelings, or withholding on purpose. I think Keith is compartmentalizing, and I tried to get at this a little bit when he has the conversation with Pidge about what love means. He loves Shiro, he already loved Shiro. He will love Shiro regardless, as a friend. And he’s also fucking Shiro. And he’s keeping these two things separate. And I don’t write it as if he’s pining and WANTS more (just yet) as much as he’s just found himself in a tricky emotional space and doesn’t know where his boundaries are.

The complication of the perhaps-alien-half dictating his libido trying to co-pilot with his very human half that is demisexual is a problem, too. Like he asks Pidge in Chapter 8: . “If you love someone as a friend, but you’re fucking them. When does it become, like. I don’t know. Romantic?”

He doesn’t know! We don’t know! Let’s keep going and see what happens lol.

SHIRO ON THE OTHER HAND.

What makes him such a great character (for me lol) is that like, he could so easily be such a 2D character and just, the fearless leader who is always chill and nice to everybody, and we DO get that to an extent, but they were generous in making him so multifaceted. He has PTSD. He struggles with his disability. He even loses his temper sometimes! When he gets back (as Kuron) he has a lil depression cave sesh in his bedroom in his PJs. Like he’s a very well rounded character and it makes him extremely realistic and human to me!

I don’t think it’s as fair to say that he compartmentalizes the way that Keith does, except what we can glean from his canon timeline. Meaning: He fights for the Kerberos mission despite his disability, he makes it up there only to be abducted, he survives the arena, he escapes to lead Voltron. And ALSO him being canonically queer; I think this starts getting into headcanon territory because I don’t think we get any clues in canon that they’re navigating homophobia in their universe, but we absolutely still see ableism and sexism. (Put a pin in the racism conversation as well when it comes to like, alien species and systems of oppression because there’s a lot to unpack and I’m trying to focus LOL.) So like, we do know that their world isn’t perfect, and Shiro is someone who had to work his ass off and fight for his rank and for his career. He’s someone who can put his feelings aside and focus on the task at hand, and we know this because he’s NOT perfect, he does occasionally lose his temper, and he has PTSD!

Basically, I think we have to assume he compartmentalizes to function, because he comes out of a year of INTENSE trauma to immediately lead a team, and lead them with kindness and patience, and the writing tells us that it’s not a matter of him being Perfect Cartoon Man, because he’s not a perfect person and he’s traumatized as fuck.

Because the fic is Keith’s POV I’ve tried to communicate this by Keith noticing that Shiro wears “masks”, or uses different voices. Sometimes it’s even about his clothes, like as they become more intimate and Keith starts seeing more of Shiro’s scars, and how Shiro is self-conscious about them. But it’s also moments like in Chapter 7 when Shiro is crying.

I feel that Keith and Shiro have some like sort of equal-opposite relationships to trauma and grief that balance each other in the end. Like, Keith lost his dad at a young age and had a horrific childhood, but that’s been his reality for most of his life and he’s learned how to carry it day-to-day.  Even though he’s a messier and more immature person, he’s used to shouldering it and it’s sort of baked into his personality at this point. But Shiro’s trauma is SO new. Shiro’s is a ton of shit ALL AT ONCE, vs. Keith’s 10+ years of grief and disappoint, and it’s so recent!  Even though Shiro is, on paper, a more mature and emotionally intelligent person, this is very new to him!

So Shiro in this fic also has some feelings he’s juggling, like, “I am touch starved and have physical needs” and “my mentee grew up kinda hot” and “I have to be very careful with him and his feelings”. He sees Keith for the mess that he is, and he’s patient, and he can wait for Keith, and take Keith’s lead.

I don’t feel that Shiro is pining necessarily, either—I think he’s a lot more grounded and realistic, and their encounters aren’t causing him the same level of anxiety because he can read Keith so clearly, even when Keith can’t read him back. But I think, he is pining a LITTLE lol. I think because he’s smart enough to know where this is heading, and he’s being patient, but he’d speed it along if it were up to him. They’re both so sensitive in different ways and I think they’re both so vulnerable to hurting each other’s feelings!!!! And Shiro is trying so so hard not to crush Keith like a little egg!!!!!!!!!!!

😊

Anyway !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for coming to my lecture! I don’t say this often about my fics because it makes me squeamish but I LOVE this fic, it really is where I put all my Sheith love, and all the thoughtwork I do about them is FOR THIS FIC lol it’s my lovenote to them, I’m putting my whole Sheithussy into it ahskjgdlasd

[vilf-lover]

what if

darlin and sam (my faves)

g/n darlin

851 words

cw - mentions of traumas (abuse), angst/comfort

darlin comes home to find sam in thought, specifically about his upbringing, trying to come to terms with things he can’t control and going into a ‘what-if’ spiral

wednesdays were darlins least favorite day of the week. sam was either with the clan or drowning in work at home.

to make matters worse, they had to go shopping. the fluorescent lights flickering overhead as they walked the produce aisle.

“that should be all i need. fucking finally.” they sighed, tired of the wailing children and beeps of items scanning and small talk from cashiers

they checked out and drove home…

walking into the house as the bags from their journey to the supermarket weighed down their arms, they noticed sam wasn’t on the couch as they expected

“…sam? did you move to your office?” they set the bags down, not putting anything away properly, and went to look for sam

there he was. sitting in his office chair though he wasn’t doing anything, until he finally spoke

“you’re home. how was the store, darlin?” he asked

it wasn’t in his normal voice. it was quiet, nearly monotone. he was still turned towards his computer, facing the wall, which was also unusual considering he’s usually more than happy to see them.

“is everything alright, sam?” they walked towards him through the door frame

as he turned his chair, they noticed that he looked exhausted.

“yeah, i’ll be alright” he muttered, pulling his chair back in

“sam. what’s going on?” they insisted, with as many times as he had helped them, they knew firsthand that alright meant not alright at all. “can you come to the couch so we can talk?”

sam slowly stood up and followed them to their living room. as they sat down, they noticed that he didn’t sit where he usually would, and he wouldn’t rest his back against the cushions.

after a long pause of silence, they could see that sam was going to say something (which was appreciated because they hated silence)

“y’know, i was 16 when i left home. i had just gotten my license and bought my own busted car for 1500 which was nearly all of my money, when i decided to leave.”

as darlin’ was about to console him, he continued

“when i drove off, my father shot at the car. after years of beatings and arguments and constant berating, it hadn’t even phased me.” sam’s eyes started welling up, “i was a child, darlin’. a 16 year old should not be impartial to being shot at, or abused in any way. but i was, because i had lost the ability to care about their actions.”

darlin’ had never seen him like this. not when talking about alexis, not even after inversion. it’s like they could see the hopeless teenager that he once was.

“they always told me they hated me because i was merely a collection of their worst traits. my mom said i held my fathers temper and my dad said i held my mother’s sensitivity. so i tried to change, i tried to be stronger and calmer, but i couldn’t change around them darlin’. so i left, with nothing but 100 bucks and bullet holes in my fender. still sometimes i think i’m destined to ending up like them.”

darlin’ decided it was finally time to talk, “sam. you are not destined to anything. you made your own future, and that just shows that you are not them. you grew up too fast, and you deserved nothing they gave you. yet, you prevailed, and you’re here.”

it seemed like there was something else he was thinking of, something he was hesitating to say “sometimes i wonder if i had never gone on that six flags trip, and i left to somewhere else that day…if i would be old and wrinkled, maybe quinn wouldn’t have come around as much, you wouldn’t have to deal with passive aggressive vampires, clan meetings wouldn’t be tense, and everything would be better” his voice got weaker and weaker as his head sunk nearly to his chest.

“woah. sam. stop” they rested their hand on his, which snapped him back into reality “look. it’s okay to grieve what could have been, but you need to know how important you are now. i love you, and i would not be anywhere else in the world right now. how many times have you told me that ‘what if’ isn’t productive?”

sam nodded his head lightly as he looked into their eyes- “i am so lucky i have you darlin’, im sorry you had to come home from the store to this” he chuckled moving closer to them as they felt the tension in his body release in their arms as they cradled his head

darlin’ playfully scoffed, “please don’t hesitate to tell me when you’re dealing with things like this, i want to help you sooner. plus, it’s my privilege to come home to this after how many kids were crying at the supermarket. i swear why can’t people just keep their children at home or something”

“i don’t think that would exactly work” sam laughed in darlin’s chest

“oh shit i think i left the milk out, come on” they realized, scrambling to the kitchen

I HOPE YOU ENJOY AND UM YEAH THANK YOU @isthatafuckinggayangel AND ANYONE ELSE THAT READ 💖💖💖

[fanfic-obsessed]

Perchance to Dream

Ok, before we get into what is happening here there are a few facts that I need to have entered into evidence pertaining to this universe.  Please indulge me and take note, every one of these facts will be critical later. 

Fact 1:  In this universe Sheev Palpatine is not a Sith.  

He is what he claims to be in canon, a career politician trying to do his best. He is no saint, he is still a career politician after all, but he is not the ultimate evil. He is still force sensitive, with a sensitivity that is enough that he could have trained as a Jedi if his parents had given him up, but not so high that he is a danger to anyone without training. But he does not keep it a secret from the Jedi, and has essentially been tutored by a few Jedi in the ways of the Force.  He does not let on in the Senate about his sensitivity (Which amounts to a better than average sense of people’s emotions, and a good sense for danger and being able to move very small items with his mind.).   

Fact 2: Yan Dooku is the Sith Master, as of the clone wars, Hugo Demask was his master.

Hugo Demask survives 5 years longer than in canon, he corrupts Dooku, is Maul's Master and is ultimately killed by Dooku.  The background steps needed for the clone wars to happen, that in canon were Palpatine, were performed by Demask or Dooku. 

Fact 3: The Clones are not chipped.

There is no project Knightfall, no Order 66. The clones were not a co-opted project by Sith. Master Sifo Dyas did commission them, but (like with Palpatine), they are not a trap for the Jedi. While Jango Fett still died on Geonosis, he had been there on a bounty, separate from his job to be the progenitor and trainer of the clones.  He trains them because he is paid, rather than for revenge. 

Fact 4: Anakin Skywalker does not slaughter the Tuskens.

Shimi still dies, though it is an accident rather than being captured by the raiders.  Anakin still has grief and horror and loss but it is tempered here because there is no group of beings that can blame, and he is not one to turn that anger inward.  He does see his mother one last time, but there is closure rather than murder.

Fact 5: Jedi can get married. 

It’s not common. Marriage as a legal institution doesn’t actually make sense to most Jedi.  The rights and protections that a marriage grants by and large are not applicable to Jedi. Even as an expression of love, it just tends not to occur to most Jedi to want a wedding. They are more than happy to have the ceremony if their partner or partners want, but won’t seek it out.  

There are only a few Jedi that end up with partners outside the Jedi. There are two reasons for this. The first is that most of the galaxy has some weird ideas about Jedi and Jedi relationships. Most of the time it is not worth the effort to navigate. The second is a bit more convoluted. There is a higher rate of asexuality and aromanticism, or the equivalent, in Jedi than in their native populations (of Jedi whose species has sexuality), by a significant amount (Something like 10%-20% of the Jedi, with a sexual identity, identify as either asexual or aromantic, as opposed to the galactic standard of 1%). Incidentally there is also a higher rate of polyamorous leanings. This combines with the fact that the Jedi truly are a melting pot, different species growing up alongside each other, going through reproductive maturity together. Relationship Norms and Mores for Jedi look nothing like anywhere else in the galaxy.

Fact 6: Anakin Skywalker's marriage is  ‘secret’ and causes much giggling in the Jedi temple.

The secrecy is actually part of Naboo wedding traditions. Nabooians are expected to elope, and the longer the marriage is considered a ‘secret’, the more luck the marriage is said to have. The Jedi are well aware of this tradition and try to adhere to reasonable traditions when possible. So when Anakin effectively broadcasts to every Jedi in the galaxy that he was now Mister Padme Naberrie (the legalities of being married may not matter to Anakin as neither the Jedi nor the slave culture really have any use for it, but the idea of giving someone else their name as a way of giving them belonging was very important in Tatooine slave culture), approximately 45 seconds after their marriage, there is a collective silent agreement by the Jedi to let newlyweds have their ‘secret’.  There is a semi-formal betting pool as to who is going to give in and give away the secret first (Shortest odds are on ‘Anakin, finally doing something that is so obvious that the Jedi can’t ignore it anymore’, ‘Obi Wan, after Captain Rex is forced to lie badly to him again about what Anakin is doing’, or ‘Mace Windu after he catches Anakin and Padme in the Room of a Thousand fountains for a third time that day).     

Ladies, gentleman, and everything in between of the jury, now that we have established these facts in evidence it is time to turn our attention to the reason we are here today.  Without the Sith Master at the head of the Republic the Clone war does take a slightly different trajectory, faster in some ways without their intelligence leaking quite as easily(The Senate still leaked intelligence like a sieve but at least the Separatists weren’t getting it right from the source), slower in other as there was no real overarching goal. No one is actually sure what victory would look like for either side. 

Some members of the Separatist leadership decide that the best way to be victorious is to take out the GAR leadership, the Jedi High Council.  A chemical weapon was created, then tailored to each member of the High Council so it could be released and only affect the targets. It took a year to develop and tailor (so specific that it included the genetic code of each member of the council), then another to maneuver the release mechanisms into place.  This chemical weapon included a powerful hallucinogen and a chemical agent that links the hallucinations of everyone affected (through the Force).  Once deployed it would create a shared hallucination of the worst possible case scenario that could be created by the group. The aim being to hobble the GAR without their high command. 

That shared hallucination is Canon, starting with the Jedi confronting the Sith Lord. 

It is entirely possible that the Separatists greatly underestimated the amount of horror the mind of a Jedi could generate.  And how well they would be able to keep moving when under the hallucination. 

When a Jedi died in the hallucination, they would fall comatose and though none did, the chemical weapon would, for lack of a better way to explain, go a step further and try to convince them to give up(which would kill them in the real world) by continuing to show them this hallucinatory world as ‘part of the Force’.  Until this comatose state they would act in the real world according to the hallucination, including reacting as if injuries within it existed in the real world.  

The High council is spread throughout the galaxy when weapons are deployed. The members of the council that fell to Sidious immediately fall into a coma, while the rest begin to act in varying degrees of strangely (Depending on where they were and how different that place was from where they now thought they were). Mace Windu drops into something that is not quite a coma as his body reacts to having his wrist cut off and falling from a high window, with all the trauma therein.  As Order 66 goes out in the hallucination, more of the council drop until the only ones left moving are Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda, both of whom escape the planets they were on. It is only luck that neither hurt anyone in escaping. 

There is immediate confusion, that is true.  The unexplained coma of 9 members of the Jedi High Council, Mace Windu’s collapse (Physically nothing is wrong but brain scans and the healers say that his brain is acting as if he is in severe pain, as well as severe shock), and the disappearance of Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda. 

The Officers, both clone and nat born, rally quickly and it becomes very obvious, very rapidly that the separatist were responsible for what happened to the Jedi Councilors.  This gives the GAR, particularly the personal battalions of those same Jedi, a new vigor and driving force.  In trying to destabilize the GAR, the separatist actually provided them with a rallying point (Fighting for freedom or protecting the innocent is a great tagline but hard to turn from concept to reality. Fighting because someone fucked with our generals is much easier to put a face to).

It takes eight months to track down the architects of the chemical weapon, who never developed a cure (During this time the war is categorically won by the Republic). Before being captured they managed to destroy about a quarter of the notes regarding the weapon. Using what is left, it takes two years to recreate the missing portion of the notes and another 15 months to synthesize an antidote. 

By this point Mace Windu had to be under constant sedation to alleviate the strain of the injuries he sustained in the hallucination. Because of this it was Plo Koon who woke first. 

Yoda and Obi Wan were still missing.

Plo commented that the Force felt so much lighter. He jolted when he saw Commander Wolffe sitting next to his bed. Thankfully he accepted that he had been in a hallucination easily. And as he described what had gone on within the hallucination (As he had died early, he was cursed with the helpless knowledge of exactly what was going on: the chips, Anakin's fall, The march on the temple, all the evils of the galactic empire) the horror only increased. No one could even blame his slight flinch whenever Anakin spoke, not even Anakin after Plo described the march on the temple in devastating detail and the fight on Mustafar (It only takes a few moments to realize this was a worst case scenario specifically from the Mind of Obi Wan, who could not think about much worse than his beloved brother becoming Falling and becoming Vader).

Eventually Plo is asked if he knows where Obi Wan and Yoda are, even as the other members of the council begin to wake. 

He does, but he recommends that it is not the Clones or Anakin Skywalker that go after either. For a moment Anakin considers being offended, this was his lineage after all, but after hearing what had happened in the hallucination, what Obi Wan and Yoda currently remember him doing, it only makes sense. 

And Cody may be chomping at the bit to go after his general (he was only on Coruscant to see the antidote be administered in hopes that it would give them a clue as to where Obi Wan was, he has spent all of his time since the war ended with the rest of the 212th,searching the galaxy for their general) but he can also see the wisdom of not spooking the general.  

Unfortunately the cure had to be administered intravenously, so there was no gassing the planet. 

Aayla Secura is sent to Dagobah to make contact with Yoda. He is not able to sense her, because she is dead in the hallucination.  He sees her and hears her but believes her to be the hallucination, come to torment him with his failures (Look I imagine that Obi Wan and Yoda have really similar headspaces regarding the genocide of their people and the self isolation that they enacted because of it.).  She is able to administer the cure and get him back to the ship and headed toward Coruscant.

The thing is this hallucination has been active in his mind for 3 years. For the comatose Jedi there was an extra degree of separation from the hallucination (Because they could only watch, the horror was somewhat muted). So while the cure works, breaking Yoda of the hallucination he is utterly changed by three years of horror and isolation and the press of a created darkside. He abjectly refuses to take any seat of power (The entire order has been restructured by necessity since they had no idea when they would cure the high council) and retreats to the creche. It takes years before he stops being hypervigilant when he sees trooper armor in the temple (particularly if that armor is 501st blue). The troopers never begrudge how he stills at the sight of their armor, and it becomes a policy that troopers who want to enter the creche will change into anything but their armor. 

Mace Windu also needs years to recover, having spent three years ‘healing’ from having his hands cut off and being thrown from the Chancellor office.  His mind expects his hands to be gone, which causes all kinds of issues (Kind of the reverse of having a phantom limb). Sheev Palpatine was a friend of Mace’s (It was friendship born of being leaders, doing their best and knowing that their every decision held the weight of a galaxy) and a frequent visitor while they were working on a cure. The first time he enter’s Mace’s room after the cure, Mace lashes out with the Force and throws him through the door in pure panic. This wild panic reaction lasts for three months (with countless attempts by Mace and the mind healers to break it) before Mace growls and decides that it would not happen again.  He then would go to camp out in Palpatine’s apartments for two weeks to train himself out of the reaction. 

It is Quinlan Vos that is chosen to lure Obi Wan out of hiding. Now that they know that the hallucination is affecting Obi Wan’s ability to sense with the Force, the 212th insist that they will provide Vos with hsi transportation to Tatooine, though they do agree not to actually set foot on the planet.  

As far as the residents of Tatooine are concerned, Ben the hermit showed up one day to wander into the Wastes and give himself heatstroke.   He is considered crazy but mostly harmless, and slightly obsessed with the Lars family. In this world Beru and Owen Lars did adopt a baby born right around the time Ben arrived. This little boy, whom they do name Luke, is the son of an escaped slave woman who died in childbirth on their farm. Like many slaves and children of slaves, she took the last name Skywalker. 

Ben thinks he is watching over the son of his brother, and that Owen hates him for failing Anakin. Owen is leery of the strange hermit that watches their farm (particularly Luke) from afar and vanishes into the Jutland Wastes when approached.  Particularly since the few times they have talked to him, he hasn’t actually made much sense.  Every so often other moisture farmers would come to the farm to chat and ask Owen or Beru about Ben. Both are forced to nod and go ‘yep, he’s still out there raving about a galactic empire and apologizing for killing Owen's brother. No, Owen doesn’t have a brother’ (Having only met Anakin once, and though he knows that Shimi had another son, really doesn’t connect Shimi’s son to this brother). 

Vos is eventually able to track Obi Wan/Ben down. It takes some trickery for Vos to administer the cure (Ben tries to kick him off the planet three times, hissing that Vos can’t draw the empire’s attention to Tatooine) but once it does, it knocks him out enough for Vos to carry him back to the spaceport. 

The Lar’s happen to be in town when Vos comes through carrying Ben. Beru asks what Vos is doing with Ben.  Vos responds that he is bringing him home. Owen asks if Vos will be able to get Ben the help he needs. Vos answers yes, and they all go about their day. Ben the hermit will remain a story told on Tatooine for years, particularly after High General Obi Wan comes back a decade later and awkwardly thanks the Lars for the kindness they exhibited.  

Like Yoda and Mace, the time in the hallucination affected Obi Wan deeply.  He keeps a constant ‘watch’ though the Force on his men (within the hallucination their force presence flattened and fell away in the wake of Order 66) and feels deeply protective of all these individual lights that died just as surely as the Jedi did.  He also clings to Anakin’s force presence, but cannot stand to be in a room with Anakin and children. He knows it is irrational but can’t quite help it. At times even stepping foot on Coruscant or at the temple is difficult. 

Obi Wan decides to take a step back from being a knight and Master. He and many of the clones, primarily of the 212th though there are others, plus a few Jedi and others they pick up along the way decide that they will take a survey mission to begin to map some of the wild space beyond the outer rim. He, Cody, and Rex end up entering into a relationship that forms the base for a polycule with the majority of the crew (with the exception of the children they acquire, those all call each member of the polycule some variation of mom/dad/parent).  

They all eventually find happiness, though it does not always look like everything else.

[terraco-07]

I'm gonna start this off by being self aware. Vriscourse in 2024 is so funny and kind of silly in a way so take as little or as much of this as you want. I think I should lead in with Vriska is divisive on purpose. Her entire story is rife with places where you can either hate her, love her, or find shades of grey. I love Vriska as a character, but I want to be perfectly clear. Vriska Serket is NOT a good person, but imo very few people are. Narratively speaking Vriska grows up on a hostile planet where she's forced to kill for her Lusus. She also has the influence of Mindfang's journal to contend with. Vriska never knows who she is, she's always living in someone else's shadow and constantly hating it. Yet at the same time she's trying to live her life by some grand formula. Let's take Tavros for example. By virtue of Karkat and the descriptions we get of Alternia we see the word pity used several times when describing Flushed feelings. Can we take it with a grain of salt and assume that Karkat a known romance over enjoyer is being an unreliable narrator? Sure, we can. That said I think that wording is relevant here. In Vriska's head she feels bad for this guy and thinks that she's the only one who can fix him. On top of that you add in that her hero was flush with a powerful bronzeblood and you've put massive blinders on yourself. She becomes so self absorbed with this idea that she ends up going way too far in her efforts to bring him around and pushes heavily past his consent and boundaries. (Looking at that kiss scene). Even after his death she says maybe 2-3 things about ahh man maybe I shouldn't say bad things about that guy anymore or am I bad for killing (another) friend. She's young but I think the lack of remorse is something that matters here when looking at her in adulthood which is what we're really trying to get to here. As for the previous murder it's barely even touched. There's an air of well Aradia killed me back so we're all good. Even though she ascended to God tier and initially Aradia was just a ghost who had to deal with it while Sollux had to cope with the fact that physically it was his body that killed his matesprit. General other beats are the arrogance, easy to anger, and lack of empathy. Which we actually get to see some development on those from pre retcon Vriska! More on that here in a second.

Holy shit Gil, you're rambling so God Damn much why do we care? I don't know, don't ask me, but here's why all that foundation matters. If we're thinking about the theoretical for any Homestuck character as a whole I feel like we have to consider who they are in adulthood. Tons of discussion and debate all circles around "well they were kids!" Okay, well lets talk about what they could be as adults. So with everything we've already brought up about Vriska, how does she act in her 20s? Personally I think she struggles post game. She has no mental purpose for a while and she's in a place where she doesn't have to fight just to live so that means tons of time to sit around and think. We've seen from pre retcon Vriska that when the stress is off she does actually consider what she's done to a degree. Do I think she thinks about Tavros or Alternian sins all that much? No. I think she doesn't like her younger self (like most people) and does what she can to avoid being like that anymore. That comes with painfully slow growth and still a lot of bridges in need of mending. Those same traits of being self centered and needing attention are there but they're a little more tempered. She can at least listen now and has the emotional intelligence to realize when she's hurt someone and actually care about that. In summary: Vriska is a complicated and flawed character and saying that she did nothing wrong but also saying she did everything wrong are both incorrect. There is nothing defensible about her acts (She fucked up bad) but we can understand why she may have done them without condoning them. As an adult she is still kind of an asshole but she's not to that same level and she gets to grow into a somewhat reasonable adult that is still a dick at times. Also if you got this far then enjoy my shameless Vrisrose propaganda. They get in fights all the time and want to beat the shit out of each other nonstop. Both of them suck and it's so funny.

[margridarnauds]

Despite considering myself to be rather knowleadgeable about Marie Antoinette and her various endeavours and portrayals in media, I have to admit that i never heard of the Musical. Would you enlighten me about it and maybe advise where to watch it? 😁😁😁

Of course!

So, Marie Antoinette das Musical.

Based on a book by Shusaku Endom, premiered in Japan in 2006, as a collaboration between Michael Kunze and Szilvester Levay, known for Elisabeth das Musical, Mozart das Musical, and Rebecca das Musical, and went on to premiere in Germany in 2009. Both productions didn't do particularly well, even though they did have cast albums released. (I...still have to translate the German libretto, if only for the sake of keeping up my German skills.) There were some major structural flaws -- Marie Antoinette was too bitchy (throwing an actual temper tantrum, like a child, so that Louis would dismiss Necker; tossing champagne at a poor woman's head because she interrupted her ball and Marie thought it would be funny), her sympathetic qualities were either downplayed or erased in favor of her love affair with Fersen, which was reduced to "Good Man In Love With Bitchy Woman Who Knows She Isn't Good Enough For Him, But Don't Worry, He Loves Her Anyway", but the justifiable reasons for the Revolution were reduced to "Bitter poor people want Revenge and Go Against God", it had a bloated plot with too many characters, etc. etc. etc. It was, and I'm saying this as someone who ADORES messy musicals, one of the single biggest disasters I've ever forced myself to sit through, in the sense that it wasn't even particularly *entertaining.*

But, in 2014, an international crew got together to do the Korean production, and they essentially rewrote the whole thing. Not a shallow rewrite either, they TOTALLY REWROTE IT FROM THE GROUND UP. Songs were cut and added as needed, sometimes being given to different characters or put in different scenes, superfluous characters were removed, the plot was tightened to focus on the characters involved, Marie was rewritten into a flawed, but understandable character, not a sexist caricature. This was the version of the plot that would premiere in Hungary in 2016 and back to Japan in 2018 and 2021, becoming an international success.

The musical follows two women -- Marie Antoinette and Margrid Arnaud, two women with the same initials who lead very different lives. While Marie lives a life of oblivious privilege, Margrid lives on the streets. She was educated in a convent as a child, as the result of a mysterious benefactor (her mother having committed suicide) but was tossed out on the streets when the money ran out, and she's had to live by her wits since then. The two of them meet when Margrid interrupts a ball being held at Palais Royal to celebrate Marie's return to society. Margrid calls for the aristocrats to pay attention to the plight of the poor, who are starving, but all Marie can do is offer her a glass of champagne, which Margrid, furious at the lack of understanding, tosses in her face, swearing revenge. She joins up with the Duc d'Orléans, who is running a smear campaign in order to convince the public that he should be the rightful king, and things go downhill from there...

Some of the strongest points in the musical's favor:

Strong female characters. A term that's often thrown around casually, but, honestly, I love the musical for how it deals with the rivalry between Margrid and Marie, because neither one is fully wrong or fully right. We understand why both of them make the decisions they do and how it leads them to where they are by the end, and they go through an entire arc together. Margrid in particular is one of my characters of all time for being a woman who is brilliant, an absolute gremlin, strikingly vulnerable, and evasive. She's flawed, she's aggressive, vindictive, and spiteful, but we're also allowed to see WHY she's that way and how thoroughly fucked up she is by what's happened to her in the past. She is someone who truly doesn't believe that she's capable of being loved or of loving someone else -- platonically or romantically, because every experience she's had of love ended in betrayal, even when she desperately wants it. Meanwhile, Marie is both trapped in a life of fame and fortune while also believing, firmly, that that is her god-given right. She never believes that her position is anything other than her right by God, even when it involves spilling French military secrets to the other European powers when the Revolution goes a little crazy. She adores her family, she adores her husband, but she's also in love with Fersen (which...I don't like historical Fersen, but musical!Fersen, I tolerate.) You feel sympathetic for her by the end, but she doesn't demand sympathy.

Great villain. I love the Duc d'Orléans in this musical so much. Louis Philippe Joseph was a complicated man historically, and, depending on the actor, he's a complicated man in the musical. He's been simplified, but you can still SEE at times that he isn't a monster -- he genuinely ENJOYS working with Margrid, he's a good boss, he isn't necessarily WRONG about certain things, even when he's selfish in the way he goes about it (there's a great moment in the 2018 Japanese production where he sees Marie reject a peace offering from Cardinal de Rohan, and you can just SEE him dying inside, like "oh, God, she actually DID that." Margrid's eventual break with him isn't even that he betrayed HER or that HE changed his goals...she did. Which makes for a much more interesting dynamic than "evil man manipulates woman and then betrays her."

There's also a masquerade scene where they go undercover together. And yes, I went batshit over this and have still not recovered. (Please note that they are being used to contrast Fersen/Marie here, to make the ship bait worse.)

They're just. Like this. With one another. In one of the Korean productions, you can clearly hear her call him "Philippe" which murdered me.

I don't have any gifs of this scene without text on it, but the look on both of their faces by the end is...

Anyway, semi-canonical (depending on the production/actors) villainfucking angst, who is doing it like them?

The costumes are great (with the exception of the Hungarian, sorry Hungary.)

(The same dress from the same scene in both Japan and Korea)

It is bizarrely accurate in some ridiculously minute ways, like the Toho production actually DOING A RECREATION OF THE HISTORICAL MARIE'S BED.

Historically accurate pamphlet, shown in a projection while Orléans is singing about his strategy to turn the people against her. I legitimately had to pause the screen the first time I saw it because I couldn't believe my eyes. (Yes, I now pause it on each stream.)

Like, don't get me wrong, it still gets a LOT wrong, or changes details around to make 9 years of someone's life fit into a two hour musical, but both the Korean and the Japanese productions DO care about details in ways that higher budget films and TV series often don't.

And, of course, some killer songs. (Orléans' villain song, Marie's song, Act 1 finale -- all from the Korean, since they are slightly better at putting songs out, with the Japanese trailer.)

The Korean and Japanese bootleg environments tend to be...stricter than Broadway -- there have been proshots released for both at various times (the Toho production is actually available to buy if you have a Japanese proxy who can send it to you), to the point where I can't *say* if I have access to the Korean, but I have bought both DVDs of the two Japanese casts and have been known to stream it. If you're interested, I'm always willing to schedule something, especially since it's been ages since I've done anything like it.

[ninjakk]

Wen Qing noticed something between WWX and LWJ at the Burial Mounds

I've seen a lot of people arguing about whether WQ had picked up on something between WWX and LWJ.

Now it seems like quite a sore point for some. But I have to agree, she DID have her suspicions. I'm not claiming she was extremely close to WWX and therefore knew him well enough. I'm not claiming she is some all seeing, mega sleuth or anything like that. But, she had eyes and a brain!

Looking at chapter 75, WQ immediately noticed the way LWJ acted when WWX was hurt...

Wen Qing had just shoved Wen Yuan into another’s arms. She wanted to check on Wei WuXian’s injuries, but he got there before she could. She paused with surprise. Lan WangJi was almost embracing Wei WuXian as he held his hand and passed spiritual energy to him. Wen Qing hurried, “Let him go first—it’s not necessary! Let me do it! I’m Wen Qing!” Wen Qing of Qishan was one of the top medics. Lan WangJi finally stopped passing Wei WuXian spiritual energy and let Wen Qing examine his condition, although his hand still refused to let go.

Now, WQ is surprised to see LWJ acting this way orginally. This is because she's heard the rumours that they hate each other. But she's noticed how he's holding him, how he's worried about him. She witnesses how well they work together as a team and how LWJ doesn't seem to be fighting him, just concerned and wanting to help him. A little later on, she walks in on LWJ holding his hand to give him spiritual energy again. She also sees his reaction when WWX pretends to faint in his arms moments later.

Later still WQ decides to press WWX a little about his relationship with LWJ:

At the mention of the Cloud Recesses, Wen Qing glanced at Wei WuXian, asking him as though she didn’t care, “I forgot to ask you. You’ve never brought anyone up Burial Mound. What’s the deal today?”

Wei WuXian, “You mean Lan Zhan? I met him on the way.” Wei Qing, “You met him? How did you meet him? You ran into him again?” Wei WuXian, “That’s right.” Wen Qing, “What a coincidence. I remember that you two ran into each other once in Yunmeng as well.” Wei WuXian, “There’s nothing special about it. A lot of cultivators from other sects travel in and out of Yunmeng and Yiling.”

Wen Qing, “I heard you call him directly by his birth name back then. Quite bold, aren’t you?” Wei WuXian, “He calls me directly by my birth name as well, doesn’t he? It’s nothing. Got used to it when we were young. Neither of us care.” Wen Qing, “Really? Don’t you two have a bad relationship? Heard that it’s like you’re ice and fire, fighting every time you see each other.”

Wei WuXian, “Don’t listen to the rumors. Our relationship really was quite bad in the past. During the Sunshot Campaign, we did get into a few fights because of our bad tempers. But afterwards, it wasn’t as bad as the rumors say. We’re so-so.”

Wen Qing didn’t say anything else.

Now, considering what she'd just witnessed earlier, this conversation is clearly her questioning the rumours that everyone hears about WWX and LWJ. She tries to make it out like this is casual conversation, but in actual fact she's digging a little to see if she can find anything out. Knowing that, if you read the above, you can clearly see she's trying to gauge WWX's own feelings for LWJ as well as LWJ's feelings for him. She finds it odd that out of everyone, it's LWJ who he brings back to the Burial Mounds.

WQ then goes on to get a little suspicious as to how and why they keep bumping into one another. She also reveals that WWX must have spoken about LWJ at least once in the past few months, as she knows they met up in Yunmeng where he and the ghost girls threw flowers at him, which happened prior to her seeking WWXs help to find her brother.

She then questions why they use their birth names for each other. Using someone's birth names can either mean they are very close or they are being rude and disrespectful. When they use each others birth names in front of WQ she could see it wasn't with disrespect or anger, so she's curious in my opinion. I think she's trying to understand their true relationship, as it's very contradictory to the rumours people constantly repeat. She didn't get anywhere with the conversation so she stopped pressing WWX for anything further. But I bet you she was sitting thinking about the way LWJ was with him.

I'm not saying she fully understood what their situation was - heck I don't think anyone did at that point bar the reader! But she saw the way LWJ was with WWX and wondered if there was something there. If I'd seen the above, I'd also ask the questions she did, to try and understand everything as well. It's just such a contradiction to what she and others thought WWX and LWJ's relationship was like.

I like to think she was actually a little bit happy and relieved to see that WWX had someone on his side. He was very lonely at this point in his life and a part of me likes to think she wanted WWX to be happy and safe, after all he'd done for the Wen refugees.

[acourtofthought]

It's one thing to ship a ship because you personally like the idea of two characters together (Hermione and Draco, for example).

It's another thing to try twist canon to prove a ship is going to happen.

I think a good portion of the fandom envision the next two books will be (in no particular order) either:

E/riel and Vassien

or........

Gwynriel and Elucien

It's pretty obvious which of the two I believe in but I still find the Vassien ship an odd one and there does seem to be a large number of people who push this ship to make E/riel more of a possibility.

I know why Lucien and Elain haven't had many real conversation but in terms of Vassa and Lucien, there's nothing preventing them from interacting. They live together so one would expect a level of familiarity and chemistry.

When we actually read the conversation between two characters, the chemistry / fire / angst between them and their words is what matters. Not Feyre's interpretation of what she's seeing, not anyone else's. It's the feeling we get when we see their actual interactions up close and personal.

Actual conversations with words shown between Vassa and Lucien. (Them "chatting" when we have no idea what's being said is meaninglessness because there were a couple of times where Feyre left Lucien and Elain to "talk" as well and it's pointless for us to fill in the blanks of what was said just so it suits our personal narrative. That leaves too much space for us to also imagine that their conversation included laughter, a hug, etc. Not to mention, it's another characters interpretation of how something went, not our own).

Lucien asked, “How would she even get here and vanish that quickly? Crossing the sea takes weeks. She’d need to winnow to pull it off.”. “The queens can winnow,” Jurian corrected. “They did so during the war, remember?” But Vassa said, “Only when several of us are together. And it is not winnowing as the Fae do, but a different power. It’s akin to the way all seven High Lords can combine their powers to perform miracles.”

Lucien’s eye clicked. “Who?” “You wonder who is capable of making a unit of Fae soldiers across the sea vanish? Who could give Briallyn the power to winnow—or do it for her? Who could aid Briallyn so she’d be bold enough to do such a thing? Look to Koschei.”

“He’s still at the lake,” Lucien said carefully. “Yes,” Vassa said, relief in her eyes. “But Koschei is as old as the sea—older.”

Also, it's not necessarily an exchange of words but, we are still getting a front row seat for:

"Tamlin wouldn’t notice anyone missing at this point.” Lucien cringed

That's all we get, it's all very business like for two people who supposedly have feelings for one another. Jurian and Vassa share a more personal interaction than she and Lucien (snark is one of SJMs love languages). Sure Lucien looks at her with a pained expression when she's talking about Koschei, sure Feyre notes he's relaxed when chatting with her and he jokes about how she and Feyre would get along because of their foul mouths and tempers (if Feyre shares those characteristics with Vassa and she and Lucien are friends, then common sense says he'd also look at Vassa as a friend. I've never gotten the impression Lucien lusted after Feyre based off her personality) and yes, he speaks of her positively (Lucien is canonically a supporter of females in general) but as a reader, what do you think about the chemistry that exists between Lucien and Vassa when they're actually having a conversation with one another that you can "hear"? In SF, Vassa and Jurian snipe at one another while Lucien chooses to sit next to Jurian rather than stand near Vassa. And it's pretty obvious that Vassa doesn't feel the least bit of remorse for bringing up what is a sensitive subject for Lucien. So considerate of his feelings isn't she? 🤦

Saying Lucien currently has romantic feelings for Vassa is 🤯 especially when you consider he's still looking at Elain with longing at the end of SF.

But back to those moments that Feyre believed she witnessed between Lucien and Vassa and that others like to use to prove their interest in one another.

Let's look at some of Lucien’s interactions with Feyre:

Lucien rose, stalking to me.

Lucien paused half a foot from me. He didn’t so much as object as I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face against his warm, bare chest.

Lucien loosed a heavy sigh and slid an arm around my waist, the other threading through my hair to cradle my head. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

He held me, stroking soothing lines down my back,

I dreamed of the howling, dark night beyond, of all the sounds that Lucien so carefully sorted through while he kept watch. His attention slid to me at one point and lingered. I dreamed that he removed his cloak and added it over my blanket.

“What have you done,” Lucien breathed, and Tamlin’s face was the picture of devastation as Lucien shoved him aside. He let Lucien shove him aside and help me stand.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Lucien said, an arm around my shoulders as he eased me from the room

Oooo weeee, those are quite the interactions! Lucien must have the hots for Feyre! 🤔😂

Lucien is just a really emotional character. What he feels is all over his face and he is expressive and affectionate towards his female friends.

It does no good trying to prove your ship when you don't take the time to really understand the characters personality.

Claiming he did nothing for Elain after making a big fuss out of wanting to find her is choosing to ignore literal text that says otherwise. It's ignoring that her own sisters put Elain under lock and key and prevented Lucien from being able to go to her as often as he wanted though he still spent time in his room thinking of ways to help her. That the second they allowed to him help, he jumped at the chance.

And the ONLY reason he went after Vassa is because he realized Elain was not ready for anything at the moment, that what she needed was space. He did that for his Mate, at the expense of what he wanted. The reader can say with almost 100% certainty that Lucien didn't want to leave Elain but knew it's what was best for her.

THAT is Mate behavior. Not "taking action" but instinctively realizing what your Mate needs and giving it to them. In the same way Rhys took no action with Feyre and was going to allow her to marry Tamlin until the time Feyre no longer wanted that.

Lucien instinctively understood what Elain needed and he gave that to her. Az canonically made no effort with Elain until he witnessed others reaching out to her, at which point he started paying attention to her. Because he views her as a damsel in distress and suddenly it gives him purpose. Everything about Az with Elain is born out of his desire to feel worthy and useful and has nothing to do with him actually liking Elain as a person (as evidenced by the fact that he has not once acknowledged anything special about her personality).

Arguments only work when others can't easily poke a thousand holes in them and claiming Lucien is in love with Vassa is one with a bunch of holes. When you consider that he felt guilt over thinking he's betrayed Jesminda for having a Mate, when it's canon that he thinks Elain is the most beautiful female he’d ever seen, and when it's canon that it's Elain he still looks at with disappointment and longing after living with another female FOR A YEAR, I think it's safe to declare that Lucien is not remotely in love or fixated on Vassa.

And acting like Lucien wasn't trying to do what was best for Elain by giving her space (after he knew she had begun recovering from her depression) to accept this new world she's found herself in is actual crazy talk. It's literally THE BEST THING he could have done for her. To allow her time to process her emotions without the Mating Bond being a constant presence was a GIFT. Rhys gave Feyre space, Cassian left Nesta alone for months, but somehow only "Lucien" is less Mate like than them?

That argument bucket has a million holes in at this point and is losing water fast.