#which I mean makes sense considering in these I’m trying to stick as close as possible to the original

[quibbs126]

Ai generated Cookie number 5, this is Cabbage Rose Cookie

Again not too sure of the name, since cabbages aren’t really part of the design at all, but it’s just the name of the rose, so eh

I quite enjoyed this one, though I do also kind of wish there were more lighter colors too

I actually have a bit in terms of this character’s whole deal as well. So Cabbage Rose is young (probably no older than 15) and quite small, and has a meek sounding voice that never goes much higher than a whisper. If you were to meet Cabbage Rose normally, he’d seem rather fragile and a bit of a pushover. However, despite his meek demeanor he is incredibly powerful, able to carry his heavy sword and easily cut down large enemies. He’s used to people looking down on him and underestimating his abilities, but at the same time he’s aware enough that he understands why. Also, he’s missing his left arm, as he lost it in a battle. I imagine he comes from a noble house of roses, but as of currently he’s more a wandering warrior

I enjoy him and I hope you do too!

[vodika-vibes]

Hi hi ~🙋‍♀️

May I please have a scenario for female reader x Sev with Ambrosia and Yellow Orchid where she's kind of (obsessed) an admirer of his, sketches him and writes VERY STEAMY romance stories about him in a journal/sketchpad to try and "curb her cravings for him" because she's shy and worried he won't like her back or heaven forbid might think she's a creep, buuut~ he comes across it somehow x'D and yeh, please make it nsfw or at least steamy if you can, but go with wherever your inspiration leads you of course! Please and thank you either way. ;v; P.S. If this is too boring/uninspiring; I'm happy to send in a different one. No worries.🥰

The Journal

Summary: You work IT for the GAR, and through that you met Sev, the actual love of your life. Only, because he doesn't know you exist, you spend your time sketching and writing sippets about him. One night, he sees your journal.

Pairing: Clone Commando Sev x F!Reader

Word Count: 1840

Prompt: Ambrosia - love is reciprocated, Yellow Orchid - New Beginnings

Warnings: Some smut, some spice

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: I hope this is close to what you wanted? I kept starting it and then having to change things to make the plot work.

You bit your lower lip as you read over the sentence you just wrote, considering your word usage critically. It’s always important to make sure that the words flow properly, even though you’re the only person who’s ever going to read it.

What you’re doing is weird.

It is. You know it, but you can’t help yourself.

After all, it’s not like Sev would ever deign to look at you…let alone do anything that you fantasize about with you.

Which means that your own release is by sketching scenes, and then writing the scenes that you sketched.

It’s awful and humiliating. But since it’s just you, and since you’re so very careful about making sure that your sketchbook is always safe, then you don’t mind half as much as you normally would.

You critically eye the words again.

Sev slides his hands down your sides, whispered praises falling from his lips as you sink down his hard length, his pupils flared with arousal-

Ugh. It’s garbage. 

Utter trash.

You erase some of the words, consider for a moment, and then write them again.

It’s still trash, but your brain doesn’t seem to have the right words at the moment. Maybe you need to take a break. You set the protector over the pencil drawing, and snap your sketchbook shut, and you slide it into your work bag absently.

Maybe you’ll have the words after a long night of night shift work.

Probably not, you have to replace and update all of the computers on base tonight.

You quickly check to make sure that your uniform is clean and neat looking, and then you grab your bag and your datapad, and you head out the apartment.

You live close enough to base that you can walk, and, honestly, you couldn’t catch a cab at this time of night anyway. Not to mention, the walk helps clear your mind and prepares you for the night you’re about to have.

As soon as you’re on base, you make your way to the office all of IT has to share, set your bag on your desk, and grab your datapad. Your office mate Holly, the other member of IT who drew the short straw for the overhaul, greets you with a tired smile.

“Are you ready?” She asks as she pulls her long blonde hair into a tail.

“Does it matter if I’m not?” You ask with an amused grin as you stick a pen in your hair.

“Not at all,” Holly replies with a laugh. “Come on, I have the key to where they’re keeping the new computers.”

“I don’t suppose the boss told you what to do with the old computers?” You ask dryly as you trail after her down the hall.

“He said, quote, “you know what to do you stupid girl” end quote.” Holly replies with a roll of her eyes, “So I’m guessing we need to stack the old computers where the new ones are.”

“Makes sense.”

Holly leads you through the winding halls, until she stops at the storage room door, and she checks her datapad. “Um…here, this is the one.” She waves the keycard over the panel and keys in the door code, and you push the door open and peer into the room.

“Hm.”

“What?”

“There are a lot of computers here.” You say with a sigh.

Holly peers over your shoulder, and she sighs as well. “We might as well start loading up carts.”

Three hours later, you’re alone in the IT office, working on disconnecting the computers and hooking up the new ones, when the door opens. “IT is closed for the night,” You say, your voice muffled since you’re under a desk. “Oh, come on, disconnect you stupid piece of-”

“I know,” The deep voice of Sev startles you enough that you pull yourself out from under your desk, “I was just coming to check on you, since Miss Holly nearly fell off her ladder.”

“Oh. Well I’m not doing any of the ladder work, I have a thing.”

“A thing?”

“About heights. And falling.”

He chuckles, “Reasonable,” He looks around the room, “You need any help with anything?”

“...can you put that box on my cart for me?”

Sev chuckles again, “Yeah, I have you mesh’la.” He picks up the box, which has an old computer in it, and moves it to the cart, bumping your desk as he does so.

Just as Sev turns to leave the room, he pauses. “Huh, looks like someone lost their journal.”

“Journal?” You glance at him, and then pale when you see your sketchbook in his hands, “Ah! Wait! That’s mine…and it’s personal-” He flips open the journal and you feel a hot flush of shame.

With him wearing his helmet, you have no way to know what he’s thinking, though you’re not sure you’d be able to tell even if he wasn’t wearing his helmet. 

“I…I can explain-” You offer weakly, but you trail off, because you don’t have an explanation. Not a good one, at least. 

Sev’s shifts slightly, and you have the feeling that he’s staring at you, “Can I hold onto this?”

“I’d…rather you didn’t.”

“What if I promise that I’m the only one who will see it?”

You hesitate, “Are you confiscating it?” You ask anxiously.

“No.” His voice is surprisingly gentle, “I promise you’ll get it back in the same condition as it is now.”

“...okay.” The sketchbook vanishes into one of his many pockets, and then Sev is gone, and you are stuck trying to finish the overhaul while knowing that the man that you’ve been crushing on, and fantasizing over, now has access to all of your fantasies.

Needless to say, you’re a little anxious.

Three days later, you’re still really anxious. 100% because Sev still hasn’t returned your sketchbook to you and while you were worried before, it’s been ramped up. A lot.

So when you get a visitor when you’re working on a commission for someone, your heart drops. 

You check to see who’s there, and when you see Sev, you get even more nervous, your mind running though dozens of different scenarios, all of them worse than the one before it.

But, slowly, you open the door. 

“Um…Hi.”

He’s dressed in casual clothes today, and while normally that would be something for you to enjoy, you’re far too anxious to actually enjoy it.

He gazes at you for a moment, “Can I come in?”

“Ah, yes. Sorry,” You move to the side and he steps into your apartment. You shut the door behind him, and then nervously step around him, “Can I get you something?”

Sev is quiet for a moment, his gaze flickering around your apartment. It’s covered in various pieces of artwork that you’ve done, and then he looks at you and offers you your notebook. “Sorry it took me so long to return it.”

You take the journal back and fold your arms around it, “Um…you’re not…mad?”

“No.”

“Uh…that’s good, but why?”

He folds his arms over his chest, “Why would I be?”

You glance down at the notebook, and then back at him, slightly lost, “Uh…you did see some of the things I sketched, right?”

“I did. I looked at all of it.” Sev replies, and then a slow grin crosses his face, “Like I said, it’s in the same condition you gave it to me in. But, I did add a page, you should take a look.”

You watch him suspiciously, but open the journal, flipping until you find the loose page he’s talking about. It takes you a moment to recognize what you’re looking at, but then your face flames.

It’s you. And him. With him balls deep inside you.

You turn your wide gaze up to Sev, and he smirks, “What, you thought you were the only one with seemingly impossible fantasies?”

You glance back at the picture, “Seemingly impossible?”

“Sure, why would a pretty thing like you be interested in a mere clone?”

Your head snaps up, “I have never thought that! Ever!” 

Sev smirks and takes a step closer to you, before he carefully flips to another page, where a nearly identical picture to the one that he sketched sits on the page, “I know that now. You didn’t get my tattoos, but that’s okay, you’ve never seen me shirtless. Yet.”

“Yet?”

His gaze is very intense, “Yet.” Sev agrees, “Unless you’d rather wait before we make any of these,” He taps the journal, “Come true.”

“I think I missed a whole part of this conversation,” You finally say.

Sev chuckles and takes your journal from your hands, tossing it on the table in the middle of the room, and then he pins you against the wall with his arm folded over your head. 

He lowers his head so that you can feel his breath against your skin, “I’m saying,” Sev murmurs, “That I feel the same way about you as you feel about me.” Your lips part, “And I’m saying that I want to make all of those fantasies come true.”

He lowers his head so that his lips are right over yours, “What do you say, sarad?”

You blink at him, and then lean up to catch his lips with yours.

You feel him grin as he presses against you, and then he nips your lower lip and soothes the spot with his tongue. 

Sev kisses with the same intensity that he does everything, and you’re not really surprised when you feel his hands dipping under your clothes to caress your bare skin. 

He lifts you with ease, and encourages you to wrap your legs around his waist. “Where’s your bedroom, sarad?” Sev asks, his voice a low rumble.

“Down the hall, first door on the left.”

Sev catches your lips with his again as he walks down the hall and pushes your bedroom door open. He lays you down on your bed and follows you down, kneeling between your spread legs, before he breaks the kiss.

He pulls his shirt off, and immediately pulls your hands to his chest, and you take the opportunity to explore him with great enthusiasm. He kisses you again as you explore him with your fingers, realizing that you’re going to need to wait before you can explore him with your eyes.

“Before we go any further,” Sev murmurs against your lips, “I want to know-”

“Yes?”

“Is this going to be a one time thing, or is it going to be a relationship?”

It takes you a moment to process the question, “Why?”

“Because I’m going to fuck my girlfriend a hell of a lot differently than I’m going to fuck a one night stand.” Sev sucks a mark high on your neck, “Take your pick, sarad.”

“I’d like to be your girlfriend,” You say through a quiet moan as he sucks another mark onto your neck.

Sev grins, “A good choice.” He tugs on your shirt, “Strip, sarad. I’m going to make you feel amazing.”

[luneariaa]

ღ || cigarett. { 𝐈 }

✰ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : lars alexandersson x reader.

✰ 𝐰. 𝐜. : 1k+

✰ 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 : due to the last failed mission, you got stressed out and is back to do one of your old habits. but then, lars gets into your view.

✰ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : not much proof-read. gn! reader, but having a female reader in mind. mentions of reader smoking due to stress ( i'm not a smoker myself so i hope i did this right somehow ); reader having a pretty troubled mind. but other than that, nothing much.

✰ 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 : this is supposed to be only a oneshot, but i got carried away, so i'm planning for this to have several more parts to come.

☁︎ : part 2.

. dividers by @/saradika !! 💫

Another failed mission. Just great. You already feel like you’ve messed it up– so much, lately. So often, in a way that causes you to consider leaving the rebel army for good.

Due to all of the mess, one of your bad habits just sticks with you, no matter how hard you try to fix yourself with it. It’s only been a few moments since you practically avoided the others; staying away completely from them as you tried to set your mind at ease, so you could at least manage to receive any proper scolding from the Commander that you knew yourself all too well. You deserve a good smack of words anyway.

But if he were to witness one of your bad habits right now– one that he has tried to nicely advise you back then–  he might get upset.

Fingers finding its way around the newly ignited cigarette, you gradually released the puff of smoke with a sigh.

That’s the thing. You weren’t supposed to smoke. If he were to find you in this state, he probably would be so disappointed, especially when you had made a promise with him that you’ll try to quit smoking.

The option to avoid him at all costs is more desirable the longer you stay out here.

Your head tilts slightly to the side, avoiding the smoke to come in contact with your eyes. Even being highly unaware that a certain, sandy brown-haired male has now set his gaze upon you from afar, mind full of thoughts. Perhaps, you were so busy, distracted within your own little world.

A light pull of your cigarette causes a startled gasp to elicit from you, breaking you out from your current muddled state of mind.

“That’s not healthy for you.. I thought you said you’d quit.”

And instead of an annoyed look whatsoever, his face is covered with gentle concern towards your wellbeing. Which is a tad bit unfair, from your perspective. Huffing under your breath once you regain your composure, you try your best to grab the cigarette back from his hand. “Hey, I almost finished that one..”

“And that’s why I took it away. It doesn’t matter if you’re close to finishing it, it’s still bad for you, regardless.” Lars sighs almost quietly, tossing the remaining used cigarette away somewhere on the ground, before stomping on it. “You should know that by now.”

You eventually just pout with pure disappointment painted upon your features, as he grabs the rest of the box away from you; swiftly avoiding any attempts of you trying to get it back.

“Don’t. I’m going to throw all of this away, for the sake of your whole being.” 

There’s a certain firmness in each of his words, yet there is also, in some way, a tone of care.

He means it well, you’re aware, so you have no choice but to accept his words and actions as it is.

Lars is so worried about you, and it makes you feel like a total ashamed failure yourself, even more when he sees you in this state. So, you mentally prepared yourself for anything that might happened next– 

Only for him to have his strong arms encircling around your form in a delicate, tender manner.

You were stunned for a few more moments, trying to comprehend everything that’s been happening within the span of short seconds. Somehow, he’s able to sense the sudden shift of emotion raging within you, even the way you decided to stay silent.

A soft sigh exhales out from him. “I know that you’re probably stressed over the latest mission, or even something else entirely. But know that you’re not alone, okay?” His hand finds its way to the back of your head, giving it a reassuring type of caress. 

“It’s not your fault, and people make mistakes. Me included.”

“No matter what anyone says, I’ll stay right here with you.”

The male didn’t expect you to give out any replies sometime soon, genuinely just wanted to offer you some comfort that you might have needed. He feels relieved once he feels that gradually, you return the gesture, keeping your face temporarily hidden on his chest.

“It’s kinda hard..” He hears you mumbling from his chest, holding onto him still.

“And that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with experiencing those types of feelings, at least, for once in a while. But I never wanted you to keep it all to yourself if it ever becomes too much.”

“I just.. Don’t want to see you in a state like this.”

Lars tightened the hug ever so slightly, yet still tries to not cause any possible discomfort for you within his reassuring hold. “No matter how hard things may get, know that I’ll always be here for you.”

“You’re really willing to help me through this..?”

When he gradually released you from the hug, his eyes remained still on you– nodding firmly and with certainty. 

“Of course, I’m your friend, right? And it would hurt me whenever I see you like this.”

His fingers found its way to poke your forehead with an amused smirk, before you playfully swatted his hand away with a huff. “You’re lucky that I love you.” You mean it as a friend, cherishing each one of his given efforts and never getting tired of doing so. 

“And I almost forgot–” the Commander digs into his pocket to presumably grab something. “-- here. Chew this whenever you feel the need to smoke again. It should try to satisfy the urge, since the two are quite minty and fresh. Well– cigarettes aren’t that fresh though.”

You lightly chuckled at his words, not bothering to question on why he has the seemingly new and unopened pack of gum. You appreciated him, nonetheless. But it did leave him with an almost unreadable expression when your attention is not on him.

He asks within his mind. Do you ever notice the way your eyes light up whenever you speak with him; every time he tells you, or at least, attempts to joke with you? Do you ever know the way you smile is quite infectious to it, even when you can sometimes be so self-conscious about it? It’s always, and always the small details itself, and he’s proud to call you his work partner. His friend.

“You know..” His hand now gently pushes your head up to face him once more. “Your eyes are so pretty to look at. So, it would be a shame if all that smoking might damage them.”

You take your time with letting his words sink in, and giving him the further opportunity to add more to his words.

“I don’t know, but for me, eyes are one of the most attractive features that one can have. It’s the window to the soul; at least that’s what I kept hearing back then.”

“I never wish to see it being tainted in a way, the same goes to your whole being.”

It made you think for a split second. Out of the blue, you feel the sudden embarrassment beginning to creep in due to all of the eye contact; moving your head away elsewhere, trying your best to hide the smile from forming even further.

“You always have your own way with words.”

He laughs humorously, ruffling your hair with a small, yet apparent smirk. And you couldn’t help yourself, but to reciprocate the gesture as well.

Do you know how much he adores the way you laugh? You may not know or not notice anything, but he knows for sure– always so certain with his way of words to you.

“Lars, thank you, truly I do.”

“I won’t mess up our next mission. I’ll try my best with it, for you.”

But the promises fell short when the mission caused an even bigger mess than intended.

@luneariaa do not repost; reblogs are alright. all rights reserved.

[pomefioredove]

Heyyyy if you are still open to some more matchups can I request a romantic one? You can pick anyone Students, Staff, or RSA/Noble Bell college people, i don't care either way. I really just want to know who you think fits me personality-wise best lol. 

Ok, so I guess I’ll tell you my appearance first, I’m 169cm so like 5’6, I’ve got very very curly reddish brown hair, and blue eyes that look purple to gray depending on the light. I have a lot of tattoos. Started with a stick and poke piece when I was 13 and have kept getting them even years later. I joke that instead of a sleeve I have a pair of pants, both my legs are covered in tattoos, one side black and the other color. People always tell me I'm incredibly easy to spot in a crowd. Pronouns are She/Her and my voice is kind of low and monotone maybe a bit husky.

As for hobbies... I love Boxing and MMA, I’ve been doing it competitively for a few years so I can comfortably say I can kick most people's ass. food is a bit of a love language for me so I cook pretty often and try a lot of different cuisines (current fav is Georgian, you have to try Khachapuri it's soooo good). I used to sing and play the drums though it's been a while so I'm probably not too great anymore. You know how some people listen to music for the lyrics while other people listen for the beat? I definitely listen more for the sound, I don't care what the song is about just how the sounds flow together... which is why I mostly listen to music in foreign languages, don't need to understand to lyrics to enjoy the beat.

My interests are mostly low key I like to study languages but I don't really try to become fluent just conversational i guess. I'm more inclined to learn about the aspects of a language than the grammar and stuff. Reading horror and what I like to call weird fiction. I love finding books that are a little odd the best example of this that I can think of is "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewsk. I really like weird things, normal things that have been a little twisted and made up in new ways if you get what I mean.

As for my personality... ugh I think I'm probably an acquired taste... it sounds bad but like I'm a really difficult person to get close to. I just don't trust easily and I'm not someone who entertains too much small talk without reason. An example is the fact I've known people for five+ years and still don't really consider them friends. Sure we hang out but like they don't know me and I don't know them. I'm just kind of prickly, with a major resting bitch face too. Though to make up for this I'm incredibly loyal. Once we've actually become friends there's nothing I wouldn't do for them. If they need help hiding a body I'm not gonna ask questions just gonna bring a shovel, take out for two, and tickets out of the country.

Oh and a current project of mine is to reverse-engineer a printer so that i can stick it to shitty corporations who think its reasonable to make you pay a subscription to use a printer that I ALREADY PAID FOR!! That last bit was mostly because i need to print out an essay of mine and I had to dust of the printer i haven't used in forever only to be met with a error message saying i had to pay my subscription to use the thing ugghh. So now i need to actually learn how to a soldering gun.

Sorry if my ramblings don't make much sense, I really don't think about myself too much so trying to describe myself was like insanely hard. Thank you!!!!!!!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

I match you with 𝐑𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐡𝐢

The First Impression:

Okay. His honest, true, first thought? You smell good. You smell like spices and warmth, so much so that he forgets what he's doing to turn in your direction.

Why He Fell:

"Prickly" and "hard to get close to" aren't terms in Ruggie's dictionary. He would crawl into a sewer if he thought he'd get something worthwhile out of it, and, hey- to him, you're pretty worthwhile!

He may or may not trail behind you like a lost puppy for a little while, at least until you take pity on him and give the poor thing a good meal. But, like with most stray animals, feeding him only brings him back.

Over time (and a few meals), Ruggie starts to bond with you on a more personal level. He'll ask about each of your tattoos, let you ramble to him about whatever it is you're working on, and take little notes on how sharp and crafty you are in the meantime.

The Relationship:

Ruggie has absolutely no shame. Will gladly eat every single thing you make him without even asking what it is, all while dousing you with compliments about it. If making people food is your love language, then eating food is his.

You're just really nice to have around, right? And hey, your beat-em-up skills definitely don't hurt! He's a scrawny guy, he can appreciate standing behind some muscle. He also finds the way you understand sound, in both music and language, to be fascinating, especially considering how sensitive most beastmen's ears are. He can relate to how you describe it.

He's never one to judge, either, so take your time getting comfortable around him! He'd never admit it, but he's pretty much the same way- it takes a lot to actually get his walls down. You can do it together, huh?

[witchhazelevesque]

I’m considering the next part of my angelon series and looking over the tags on ao3 where I was like: Nico thinks they’re in an epistolary romance and Leo’s fighting for his soul in a cosmic horror-tragedy and that’s really really true but!

I do actually have an old wip where they in fact ARE in an epistolary love story and here’s a preview:

The next one Reyna finds. The jump messed with their positions around Athena, and she comes through the shadows clinging to the goddess’s outstretched hand. When she climbs down, she’s trying to shake some yellow from her palm.

“How strong are these sticky notes, anyway?” she frowns, finally getting it free, only to have it stick to her fingertips. “He must have used some Hephaestus grade glue.”

Nico takes the note, against common sense, to test the stickiness for himself. Reyna doesn’t seem bothered by the chill of his skin as he helps her peel the paper from her hand.

This note makes a little more sense, and also much less sense than the first one. Nico never studied physics in his limited schooling, but he thinks that’s what the diagrams are about. He doesn’t understand what it’s saying, but that’s not what’s confusing him. 

One of the diagrams, something to do with the weight of the ship, he thinks, because Leo’s drawn a rendition of the Argo and one of the few legible words is “weight”. The weird part is that he drew in the rest of the seven standing on the deck of the ship. 

They’re just stick figures, but he can easily make out who is who. Piper has a little cat with a bow on her shirt, which Nico has seen her wear.  Hedge barely clears the deck railing and has a little speech bubble with random punctuation to show cursing. Hazel has her calvary sword drawn, and he can tell it’s that sword because it’s longer than the one Jason holds. There’s a bow and quiver of arrows peeking out from behind Frank’s shoulder and little badges on his shirt. And-

And Annabeth and Percy are holding hands.

Nico shoves the note into his pocket and moves on with his business.

It’s not until later that he thinks about it again. About why Leo would bother with so many useless details on a throw away note. About how he’d had to have written that note between the time he first started to examine the statue and the time Nico left with it. 

A time when neither Percy or Annabeth were on the ship. 

And then he realizes that Leo himself wasn’t in the drawing. And neither was-

He takes the note out again, and looks more closely. It’s then that he notices the eyes peeking out from the top of the crows nest, under a mess of cowlick hair. There’s a hand on the edge of the nest with a skull on one finger.

And-

And Nico doesn’t know what that means. That Leo had always believed that Percy and Annabeth would survive Tartarus? Or that he expected Nico to still be there when they came back aboard?

That thought makes him feel weird. That someone was expecting his presence, even if just for weight calculation on a boat. 

He doesn’t let Coach eat this one either.

[hsslilly-blog]

heres overseer sakura and julian striking the vault boy pose for rad school story. the cropping looks a bit weird on the second drawing but its okay. its fine ❤️ more stuff under the cut as usual!

sakura got to be the overseer after she was chosen by the vault’s mainframe computer. she was the first one to be chosen, so she considers herself the “main” one of the bunch. such thing does not exist, but the fact she thought it did says something about her and means the experiment is working just fine. before being an overseer, though, she was the vault’s loyalty inspector. i went back and forth between this and making her a shift supervisor but i think making her the person who literally inspects if you are being “loyal” and sticking to the rules of the game vault is very sakura-like. also, adds an element to the au/vault atmosphere. no one really likes the censor.

i gave her two traits that might seem counter intuitive (and maybe they cancel out each other in the game? i didn’t check) but for the au i decided to use the traits in a more figurative sense. well at least for the vault dwellers. sakura has a lot of discipline and she has a set of principles she follows very closely, which is both a strength and a weakness. and both the great escape quest (the one this au is based on) and twelve angry classmates (best quest in game) demonstrate this very well. she has a tendency to… take things too far! even when new information that contradicts her is presented to her. whole premise of the au. so both traits work together.

tagged skills for both of these guys were hard because like i said on the other post, i didn’t want to give the vault dwellers any combat skills. i did end up giving sakura unarmed because she does some crazy physical stuff in the original quest and because she is an active person (her parents make her do all of that stuff on her backyard). this means she would have a higher endurance than the other vaulties, which would give her an advantage in a scenario where radiation finds its way into the vault. huh. speech makes sense for her role (in the vault and in the au) and repair = tinkering = cogs = steampunk. really. sorry.

julian was the second overseer to be chosen and as far as sakura is concerned, that makes him the second in command. he used to be the vault’s little league coach because of course he would. i tried making his vault suit resemble a football uniform. also his pip-boy is covered in stickers from the kids he used to coach. i think he would get really into his overseer job and he’d go along with sakura for the most part. i think his reasoning is different, though. while sakura gets stuck on procedure and then on her (stubborn) ways, i think julian truly believes this is the only option they have. he’s… trying. i don’t think he understands the whole radiation thing 100%. either sakura is keeping information from him, or he just didn’t make the connection yet (everyone is going to die because ezra is basically a ticking time bomb).

i chose loose cannon to reflect his anger issues and good natured because julian gets along with mostly everyone. this is why 6 CHA seems wrong for him but i’m trying to stick to a maximum of 40 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points for each character (which is the limit in new vegas). i also liked making everyone extremely unlucky because lol this is NOT a fortunate situation.

julian has survival as a tagged skill because 1. he’s shown to have survival skills in multiple quests in high school story (he likes camping a lot) and 2. every game of football i’ve ever watched looks like a warzone to me. i chose unarmed for the same reason. barter… i think he’s the match to sakura’s speech in the same way wes is the complimentary barter to the mc’s diplomacy. i think it makes for an interesting overseer dynamic. also, julian used to be a bully and he’s past his days of messing with people but i think it’s a… skill. pushing people’s buttons, i mean. so. he also has a higher endurance than the other vault inhabitants.

that’s it for now. next ones will be autumn and (finally) ezra. and then vault 105 will be complete!

[kakiastro]

Astrology of the Super Bowl ‘24

Welp it’s that time of year everyone! For USA folks at least lol

Let’s break down the chart of the event.

Whole sign system

This year, the Super Bowl has a Leo rising with ruler (Sun) in Aquarius 7h.

-expect the unexpected this year lol.

-Sun-opposing Ascendant tells me that there’s going to be a few shocking twist this year. Maybe we’re betting on one team as the winner but it may end up being the other.

-I think this aspect is going to be remembered a lot for its halftime show . I don’t know what usher has up his sleeve but I expect some surprising guest. The reason I say this is because Leo rules entertainers and it’s in aqua which rules over shocking events and unpredictable.

-another thing that makes me think this game is going to surprising or shocking in some way is the 5h. 5h rules over entertainment and big events. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in this country. It has a Sagittarius 5h with ruler (Jupiter) in the 10h Taurus, it’s also not far from Uranus which is conj MC.

-so Sagittarius expands over anything, this is a big no doubt but ppl are going to be tuning in. Whether it’s because of the swift/kelce love craze or you just want to see an exciting game, this is the year!

For the game itself, let’s look at Mars and Mercury. Mars rules over physical activities, athletes and sports overall . Mercury rules over strategy and communication. You need both things to for the game off football.

Mars Capricorn 6h and Mercury Aquarius 7h. Mars is what I’m really paying attention too because look at those aspects👀

-Mars is exalted in Capricorn so this game is going to be strategic and both teams are going to put their all in this game. Capricorn is the hardworking sign. With it being in the 6h, the house of work, it’s really doubles down on the work hard bit.

-Mars has a 29°(Leo degree). Now the 29° is considered a critical degree, it’s the last degree of the zodiac cycle. It’s known as a karmic degree as well which means it’s finishing up something. It also signifies long term fame. It makes sense for the overall energy of the game for both teams. Trying to get that ring to signify their legacy, both teams have been in the Super Bowl recent years. Capricorn rules over legacy and status after all.

-Mars is closely conj Venus this year as well. Venus is the planet of love, beauty, and finances! I wonder how many ppl are betting huge amounts of money this year? I feel like there’s going to be lots of ppl owing ppl money because Saturn is in Pisces 8h. Pisces rules over illusion and the 8h rules over other people money and debts🫠

-another thing that’s sticks out too me is the Mars-Pluto aspect. This also backs up what I’ve been saying about surprising things happening this year. I hoping this will be a non injury game but this can indicate injured players on the field or it can indicate an intense gameplay between players. Pluto rules the 4h of this chart which rules over home country, intense fan bases this year but this also indicate lots of hate between fan bases may be spilled during this game.

So the Moon is in Pisces this year conj Neptune and I’ve already touched on the Saturn Pisces bit. All of these placements are in the 8h

-moon rules over the emotions of the people. Idk this game may feel like a fever dream is what I’m feeling😅 with Saturn being here, there’s going to moments where we snap back to reality lol

-the 22°(Capricorn degree) also known as kill or be killed degree. It also rules over long term legacy.

-regarding Mercury Aquarius, a lot of unexpected play calls or things you didn’t expect to happen.

I swear the energy of this game is about , shocking events, legacy, money and usher😭😅

Let me know what you all see in the chart that stands out to you

[friendfromdsmp]

Is it only my impression, or in Miraculous Chat Noir is allowed to critizice Ladybug, but Ladybug is not allowed to criticize Chat Noir?

I completely agree and I think a big part of that comes down to the way the way the writers view Marinette and Adrien respectively; Marinette is supposed to learn a lesson in every episode and as she’s always been the one actively trying to advance the love square before the writers are ready for that, she has to fail often and make a lot of mistakes that are often played for comedy by the writers and the characters around her (before we’re suddenly told we’re now making fun of her trauma which is bad but I digress) whereas Adrien has always been considered by the writers to be ‘perfect’ and ‘he’s not flawed - the world is’, with even the characters in-universe referring to Adrien as ‘perfection personified’ and such

As a consequence, Marinette is often portrayed as in the wrong, even when the universe bends over backwards to make it so, whereas Adrien can’t be criticised and thus becomes a bit of a stagnant character because perfection doesn’t allow room to grow

I think that the LadyNoir dynamic does allow for playful criticism between the pair, granting us Ladybug banter such as “I’m not interested in your poetry, but I do find your foolishness incredibly powerful!”, “Because [the Ladybug Miraculous] requires a sense of responsibility~?”, “I had it under control *smacks Chat’s head* but thanks”, etc etc

But beyond the obviously playful banter that Chat returns in spades constantly, there’s definitely a theme of Chat Noir consistently mucking about in battle, often leading to either himself or someone else getting incapacitated or some other reckless and/or generally unhelpful issue caused, Ladybug getting annoyed at him and Chat giving some retort to poke fun at or pacify her rather than addressing the issue at hand. I mean, the start of Reflekdoll is a perfect example; Ladybug is calling Chat Noir out on pulling a prank in the middle of battle that almost caused her Lucky Charm to fail, with Chat Noir simply joking around and calling her no fun and a stick in the mud. I get that he’s not gonna be the most responsible and focused constantly, neither of them are, they’re fourteen. But there’s a difference between a quick pun while fighting and a prank on your partner while she’s already running on less than five minutes before she transforms back, trying to focus on a very serious problem and the prank being enough to put their entire mission in jeopardy. Play about and joke around all you want, we don’t care if you screw around on the job, but make sure you don’t actively work against said job while you do it!

And then afterwards the pair have a bit of a personality swap as well now that they swap Miraculous, with Adrien as Mister Bug being forced to step up since he now has the Miraculous that, in the nicest way possible, requires hard work and effort to use, whereas Marinette as Lady Noire is now freed from that burden and can use the comparatively simplistic power of just tapping whatever she wants to destroy and watching it happen, the most effort she has to put in with that is simply getting close enough to the desired object in order to touch it without touching anything else between activating her power and using it. So of course Mister Bug, used to slacking off and playing about, is a little overwhelmed in a situation where he’s the strategist rather than the support while Lady Noire, still a little annoyed by their earlier discussion, was happy to actively reverse the roles, taking time to play about and make quips at Mister Bug’s expense. Even making a joke that wearing the Black Cat suit/being in Chat’s role is “a lot lighter on the shoulders”, aka making a jab at Chat never having a sense of responsibility and thus the ‘weight being lifted off her shoulders’ now that she’s taking over his end of the load

The fan reactions to this episode were very telling; a lot of people were saying that Lady Noire was being rude and unhelpful and cruel to Mister Bug, which is hilarious since they actively, verbally clarified multiple times in the episode that both heroes were starting to act like each other now that the roles were reversed; Lady Noire was now “wearing the clown costume” and no longer a stick in the mud like Chat Noir complained about while Mister Bug “doesn’t have a sense of humour” and is no longer playing around and not taking things seriously mid-battle like Ladybug complained about

If they were simply acting like each other, why was Lady Noire considered rude and unhelpful for joking around mid-battle whereas Chat Noir is praised for being funny and keeping Ladybug from burning herself out by providing a supposed outlet to stress? If you complain about one, you have to complain about the other, especially since Lady Noire was still helping; she kept explaining how the Lucky Charm worked even when Mister Bug ignored her to prove he knew how to do this better than an experienced, specifically-selected wielder, she helped him think through the Lucky Charm by placing herself in Mister Bug’s shoes and attempting to adapt to his own thought process rather than hers, she repeatedly defended him from attacks while he was struggling to work out the mirror and yo-yo, etc. For all her sarcasm and salty quips, there was never a point where she left Mister Bug high and dry to fend for himself or sat by watching and flirting leisurely while he did all the work

I know I’ve focused a lot on Reflekdoll here since this is the most blatant example of the issue (being that Ladybug was in the right to criticise Chat for risking the fight over a prank while Mister Bug and some viewers criticising Lady Noire for being unhelpful was not only uncalled for but incorrect) but there are certainly many other examples I can think of in which MariBug is blamed for AdriChat’s actions or AdriChat criticises MariBug without good reason or MariBug is seen as rude or otherwise in the wrong for criticising AdriChat despite having legitimate grievances or not having all the info on a situation in which said info was impossible for her to know and/or actively kept from her. Season 4 is a goldmine for this but I know I always make incredibly long rambling posts so I’ll cut things short here, if the long ramble is what people are after feel free to ask for one

[eievuimultimuse]

@eyeknowmayhem | CONTINUED.

     NIGHT ALWAYS HAD been when Fintacea was most active. It was simply easier — gave her plenty of shelter, plenty of shadow to hide in. Generally less activity out on the water, save for the occasional group that enjoyed a midnight boat ride. Overall, she felt so much freer to do as she pleased during the night, able to swim near the surface without fear of getting caught by humans.  ( Maybe one day she’ll move past that fear, but that’s certainly not happening tonight. Not anytime soon either, most likely. )  While the city might be known as ‘the city that never sleeps,’ she found the sea to be significantly QUIETER. It meant that she got to enjoy a little bit of peace, outside of the usual bustle of the daylight hours.

     It also meant that any noise that was there could travel very easily and very far. And oh, the SINGING that she heard definitely carried.

     She gravitated in its direction at once. Normally, she would be a little more tentative about this sort of thing, but she knew it’d be fine. She knows who’s singing, and they’re on good terms  ( and, besides, they’re both mutants; that was most of the reason she started speaking with him in the first place ), so it’s all good. The stealth with which she swims is so second nature to her, she never thinks to maybe alert others of her presence rather than sneaking up on them as she does with Ray. She doesn’t even acknowledge the yelp that escapes him when she suddenly pops up out of nowhere  ( makes ya’ wonder if she may just be oblivious to the fact that she has that effect on others… ). She just takes one look at him, and seeing that he looks  ( and also SOUNDS )  incredibly stressed, suggests that he should relax.

     “ I think you kinda do, though, when you say that. Know what I’m talking about, I mean, “ she responds to his denial. Not in a way that’s sarcastic or anything like that; actually, she’s quite earnest. Mostly just— voicing her observations.

     She moves closer to the dock, extending her claws to grip onto the edge before pulling herself up just enough to fold her arms on it. Her legs dangle lazily behind her, her ‘flippers’ barely poking out of the water.  ( Funny how she always opts to stick to the water, in spite of the fact that she’s now perfectly capable of sitting or standing on the dock if she wanted to. )

     “ Oh, don’t worry about it, I literally just showed up. I was actually hanging out way over there— “ She gestures towards the direction, though it might not mean a whole lot considering she’s gesturing to open water. But still, one could kinda get the sense that she was not all that close originally. “ But you sounded like you were having a pretty serious jam session, so I figured I’d pop in. “ That’s a nice way of putting it; frankly, it sounds like the guy’s trying to BLOW UP HIS LUNGS with the level of INTENSITY he’s singing at. But !  She digresses.

“ Seriously though, you sound like you’re going through it. Are you going through it ? “

[roydeezed]

One Piece-Chapter Round-Up(Chapter 1085)

Holy hell, my heart was in my throat the entirety of that chapter. There was such a sinister atmosphere engulfing the first part of this chapter. It really felt like stumbling upon something we shouldn’t have and the fact that we were so close to learning the truth was exhilarating. I don’t want to get into spoilers so I’ll put my more in-depth discussion below the cut. For now check out Franky and the cute turtles! It feels like forever since Franky’s been on one of these cover stories. To be honest I can’t remember the last one with him or Brook. But Franky’s defeated a crab trying to eat the baby turtles and is shepherding them to the sea. I swear that years after it ends people are going to find connections between these Cover Pages and details we haven’t found out. I say that because these baby turtles having to fend for themselves reminds me of how Franky had to fend for himself after being abandoned by his parents. I’m a freak about One Piece so I could go on about how I love Franky’s emotionality and how this reminds me of Tom taking care of a young Cutty Flam but let’s get to what we really should be talking about below the cut!

To save some time and space let’s just say I was very generous with the use of expletives during this entire first part because it was that harrowing. Right away we start off with Imu referring to themselves in the third person while talking in an older style of speech. They talk about how the D clan were their ancient enemy. Coba also says how Imu was the name of one of the 20 Kings. If Imu isn’t Lili, which I still consider a slight possibility, then the fact that Imu cursed her mistakes gives way to a pretty clear narrative. Imu was the one that killed Lili for her mistakes. And if I’m trusting the clues through the dialogue and trusting that cultural differences and translation haven’t obscure anything, then Imu is a child who was given Ope Ope No Mi surgery and has been alive since the Void Century. Imu being alive since the Void Century comes from their formal olden day speech and being young comes from the fact that they refer to themselves in the third person and that it would be along the lines of Oda’s comedy and the parallels we’ve seen so far. Though it could be that Imu thinks of themselves so highly that they refer to themselves in the third person, I’m sticking to Imu being a kid cause it’s hilarious. And finally Imu being given the surgery also suggests one more part of the narrative. That combined with the fact that Imu doesn’t directly condemn Lili, instead wondering at her motives, makes me believe that Lili was the one that sacrificed herself to give Imu eternal life in a show of fealty. At least that’s how I see it playing out. And I can definitely be wrong as last chapter I was speculating that Lili was actually Imu. 

As we see after Imu asks Cobra the question, Cobra admits that he knew he was probably going to die, as he was only holding on to a small sense of hope that was not gonna be the case.  It also seems like Lili was a secret co-conspirator to the D clan as Imu uses this moment to confirm that she indeed was a D. Now getting to the D’s. This gives us a lot of vital clues. But I think the most hope-affirming one is this: It’s not an inherited Name. Bear with me here. What does that mean? I think that the D is a chosen name. And the evidence in this chapter towards it is that there was a seemingly cute but mostly irrelevant flashback to Ace giving Sabo a D in his name. Sure, it was to show that he connected the dots but I think it’s for a deeper purpose. And the other piece of evidence backs that up. And that is that Imu didn’t know that Lili had a D in her name! Despite seeming to be comrades in arms! And the fact that Blackbeard was called a false D. And the stated fact that the D refers to the enemies of the Celestial Dragons. Do you understand? The D isn’t a family name. It’s a name that you take on when you oppose the Celestial Dragons. It’s been there all along! I literally stumbled across this while writing but I believe this wholeheartedly.

And speaking of the D itself. I’ve always been of the mind that it’s been meaning Dawn. Cause think about this. Raftel was actually Laughtale. That clears up any illusion that the D must stand a Japanese word. And then the DON sound effect from the drums of Liberation. Just as how “Laugh” was obscured by being “Raf”, so too, at least in my opinion, is the “Dawn” obscured by “DON”. And obviously Romance Dawn being the title of the first volume and chapter is a huge clue. Alongside that is the idea of passing dreams down being similar to waiting for the dawn to rise. It fits the theme. And not only that. But the sun and moon imagery. The moon, being the lunarians and the kozuki and the minks and many others, who watch over the world and wait as the sun-coded warriors of D, such as the Sun God Nika in Luffy, bring about the dawn. I had previously thought the Dragons and the Gorosei and Imu represented the Moon and the people descended from there, but seeing the hellish and demonic imagery of this chapter makes me believe they represent the darkness and Hell itself. And seeing as we haven’t yet ventured back into a Impel Down like arc, I can see an arc in the future where it utilizes that. 

A few asides before we move on. First of all, the way the Gorosei literally looked like giant demons with their barbed tails, Oni and Akuma like silhouettes makes me think the naming of the Devil Fruits is a misdirect. The dragons have already manipulated history to obscure the true name of the Gomu Gomu No Mi so why couldn’t they do something similar for Devil Fruits? Maybe these powers come from the sacred treasure of Marejois. Some sort of parallel to the apples in the Garden of Eden? Another thing is that thinking of the Lunarians also brought up some ideas. While they are Moon-Coded, their name literally derives from Luna, they also wield the fire of the suns. I wonder if they were the mech pilots of the giant robots that were on Egghead as they required a lot of energy. Or if they were used as energy sources like some Omelas type thing. It would certainly fit with what I think happened to Kuma and his people.

Anyways, I know it seems like this giant figure in the back crawling down the throne in the panel above is Imu but it’s actually one of the Gorosei. As you can see there are two silhouettes on either side, and when the five are shown again, the giant figure become the second one from the left in the panel below. Also we can see the snail capture the photograph that we eventually see in the newspaper.

I wonder if they have something to do with the Giant Shadows at the end of Thriller Bark. Finally, let’s move on to the end. Wapol finds out the truth and saves Vivi, who was captured by CP0. It seems they were carrying out Imu’s orders, who was not only motivated by whatever they saw in the frozen chambers but also their personal goals. 

That brings us to the end. Please let me know what you think of my theory that the D is a taken name because right now, that’s the only thing on my mind. Another thing I want to mention is that it reinforces the idea of inherited will and dreams. And spits in the face of fate and dynasties. Because Luffy chose the will of the D by following Shanks, not because he was Dragons son or Garps Grandson, those two oppose the Dragons their own way. It would also make sense why the Gum Gum Fruit chose him. He chose to oppose the order of the world by being kind. I’m still reeling from this chapter so I’ll end it here but I might reblog in the future if I have anything to add.

[cyranonic]

I wanted to write a little rant about Hapistance for @wild-moss-art and so I’ve been thinking a lot about the Constance/Hapi support from Warriors and how Hapi mentions that without Constance she would be lonely, eventually getting Constance to admit that she feels the same way. It sparked for me that the Ashen Wolves characters are descended from Apostles, a group of people who failed to resurrect the Goddess and then seemed to go into exile as a form of self-imposed penance. Part of what makes the Ashen Wolves’ relationships so sweet to me is that they have the strong misfit found family vibes--people who have had some terrible luck, their bloodlines brought back together by the tides of fate.

It’s really interesting to me that Constance and Hapi in particular have these magical curses that continue on that legacy of loneliness: Hapi can’t get close to people without risking their safety, and Constance can’t get close to people because her sunny persona is so disturbingly good at self-sabotaging her relationships. They are also total weirdos in more mundane ways: Constance’s infamous licorice boot spell, Hapi eating venus fly traps, etc. Both of them are considered social pariahs as well, which makes their friendship so genuinely adorable to me.

I especially love the moment in Three Houses when Constance defends Hapi from a group of nobles, basically declaring that she values their friendship more than any social conventions of the upper class. For a person who has been so desperately trying to regain her lost status and position in elite society, that is such a huge statement of how much she loves Hapi. And for Hapi, who is used to being treated as a liability, imagine how loved she must feel to have a friend who will just tromp around in the woods with her to eat berries.

Hapi and Constance are such an interesting pair between Hapi’s curse forces her to be really unemotional, suppressing everything but a general sense of apathy and cynicism, while Constance’s curse makes her hyper-emotional, oscillating dramatically between extreme states of confidence and despondence. While you might assume that would cause a lot of conflict between them, it really doesn’t. I feel like they have this unspoken kinship and acceptance of each other’s strangeness because they both understand what it means to have these constraints upon their emotional expression.

It adds another dimension too if we read their curses as metaphorical for mental illness caused by trauma. Constance’s sunlight personality is stated to be her suppressed feelings of sadness about the fall of House Nuvelle and Hapi’s sighs are the result of Cornelia’s experiments. I don’t think it’s a big stretch to say that these curses reflect how they are responding emotionally to those events. But despite Constance’s mood swings or Hapi’s numbness, they stick together no matter what.

I’m just really soft for that: these strange outcast girls who find each other, fall for each other, and while they might never be cured, they won’t ever have to be alone again.

[quotemenevervore]

: )

Content warnings: soft, safe, g/t and bigger prey vore.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sapnap began to get curious.

Naturally, he would. As far as he’d been aware, Dream’s been a human. Though with the kind of behavior and such that he’s displayed, both to him alone and in manhunts or hanging out with George, led him to begin to believe otherwise. Which is fair, he thinks, because he’d always thought Karl had been human too and it turned out that he wasn’t. So since he started writing stuff down in a book and quill for his shapeshifting fiancé, he decided to make one for his admin friend as well. So far, the bullet points were pretty bare.

1: Dream has told him several times that he feels cold, and seems to have developed that since the first time he was stored?

2: Dream also had no issue at all with being stored, which normally wouldn’t count as a point but the admin also let himself be stored by other preds, and not just him. Almost like it wasn’t just a friend to friend activity, but an instinct of his own.

3: Like the previous point, normally he wouldn’t consider it a point, but it seemed kinda weird that in almost every manhunt they did he somehow got dolphins to speed him up. It was strange to him, because it was like they specifically targeted his friend.

He hadn’t seen any traits that the other had to indicate that he wasn’t human, but some things just didn’t seem to add up. He tried thinking of any kind of hybrid that wouldn’t show visible traits, but his brain just kept blanking. It was during one of those sessions that he finally caved and asked his fiancés for any ideas. “I honestly think he’s just weird.” Quackity retorted, sticking his fork into his mouth. They’d made an easy meal that night, chicken and rice and salad. “I mean, the stuff you have written down could be traits to a nonhuman nature, but I seriously doubt he’s not a human. You’ve known him for how long? He would have shown other traits by now.” “You didn’t show nesting instincts until I stored you.” He pointed out, the avian looking aside so that he and Karl couldn’t see the pink painting his face at the call out. “I mean, you guys knew me for years, yet neither of you knew I wasn’t human until recently. Maybe it’s just now showing up?”

“I dunno.” Sapnap looked over the three points he had written in the book again, trying to think if he was missing one. “Do you think George may know? No offense, but those two are pretty damn close and he may know things you don’t.” “That’s a fair point. It’s worth a shot.”

When he’d gone to call George, he took the call outside, especially once he heard his taller fiancé start laughing and playfully yelling as the avian attempted to catch him with a splash potion of shrinking. Rolling his eyes at their antics, he pulled up his friend’s contact and pressed the call button. “What’s going on?” He only took two rings to answer, which was better than what he’d been expecting of the notorious sleeper. “You with Dream right now?” “No, why?” “I’m just curious about something, dunno if he’d take well to me asking.” “What are you talking about?” “Have you ever noticed Dream show any kind of nonhuman behavior?”

“Besides wanting to be eaten all the time?” “I mean, that’s part of my point. Like, he does get eaten a lot, and even though I know Sam and Quackity are his friends too, it’s just weird that he asks for it so often. Like it’s not a friend to friend thing.” A soft sigh was the first answer he got, then a somewhat thoughtful hum. “So you think he’s some sort of hybrid? One that likes being in warm and dark spaces?” “I was thinking more of like prey instincts, like hiding away from predators. It’d make sense, since that instinct would be the opposite of those of us who do store people.” Before the brunette could respond, he suddenly added, “But you’re right too. It could be instincts to be in warm and dark spaces. Doesn’t Fundy do something like that?” “Fundy’s traits are obvious though. He’s a fox, of course he wants to be somewhere that resembles a burrow.”

“Some kind of cold-blooded animal, then? Maybe one that doesn’t have obvious traits?” “Most cold blooded animals are either fish or reptiles, and both have scales. Unless that’s why he wears long sleeves and pants all the time, since there aren’t any on his face.” “Guess we’ll have to see if he’d let us look. Well, thanks anyway, George.” “No problem. See you tomorrow?” “Of course.” When he got back inside, he immediately went to the book he’d left on the dining room table, writing down some questions for later on. He was just finishing writing the word ‘cold-blooded’ when he felt arms wrapped behind them, those of which were too small to be Karl’s in either form. “Hey Q.” “Hey yourself.” He was about to ask where their other fiancé was, but paused as he felt something move against his back. He turned so he could face the other, stealing a glance to the other’s slightly larger abdomen. “You actually got him?” “Did you doubt me?” Before the avian could continue his mock offense, he gasped, wrapping his arms around his stomach.

“Stop, please.” “Is he bothering you?” “No, he’s just really squirmy. I’m still not used to this form, he’s bigger.” He knew the blackette well enough to know the slightly sharp tone wasn’t due to annoyance, just confusion and even slight worry. Though, that’s not new for Quackity when he stored people. It was endearing, in a way that people who didn’t partake in the activity wouldn’t really get. It’s not as if Karl didn’t know that fact, either. He knew the other wouldn’t purposely bring harm to himself and he’s definitely been in the avian’s crop enough times to know where to avoid. With that in mind, he took one of Quackity’s hands off his stomach and tugged him towards the bedroom so they could all lay down. “Did George help you any?” “Yes and no. I think we both have the same thought, but all he really did was kind of point me in the right direction. I’m just gonna have to confront him myself.”

When he’d finished changing into night clothes, he found the avian already laying down, arms back around his stomach to squish the other and make him stop. “Just let him tire himself out. You know he will.” “I’m already tired. I don’t want to wait for him, I wanna sleep now.” He all but whined back, pouting as the fireborn slipped in beside him.

Once again, he removed the blackette’s arm from his stomach, replacing it with his own as he curled up beside him, resting his head low enough that his senses could pick up the shapeshifter’s giggles. “Karl, won’t you let your poor fiancé go to bed?” “I can. Go ahead and sleep, Sapnap, I’ll let you.” The offended squawk that erupted from the avian was far too funny for either to not laugh. Face a bright red, he sat up, throwing Sapnap’s arm off of him and turning away. “I’m divorcing you. Both of you.” “No you’re not.” Karl immediately replied, settling back down after being suddenly thrown to the side. When all he got in response was a huff, he had a hard time holding his giggles back. “I’ll stop, Q. I’ll let you sleep.” “Oh now you’ll let me, after I divorce you.” “You’re not divorcing us, Quackity. I won’t let you.” Sapnap wrapped his arms around the other again, burying his face in his shoulder. Quackity chose to ignore the fact that his wings would be aching from being tucked in all night, instead relaxing into the heat of his netherborn fiancé and the fullness his other nonhuman fiancé gave him.

“You know we love you, right?” He pressed a kiss against the other’s neck, and Quackity sighed. “Of course I do. I love you both too, even if you infuriate me to no end.” Karl moved to pat at the walls around him, conveying the same idea. “It’s just too fun, Q. Good night, I love you.” “I love you too, Karl. Goodnight. You too, Sapnap.”

They fell asleep relatively quickly, and the fireborn felt content despite the questions still swirling around his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finding Dream was easy the next morning. Neither had any plans, so they both simply wound up at the same place at the same time and found their way back to the admin’s base. Idle conversation was made, but all Sapnap could think of was the book and quill burning a hole in his inventory. Inevitably, he found himself asking.

“So.. have you ever considered the idea that you’re not human?” “What?” “I mean, me and George have been talking about it, and it would make sense. You’ve got some traits to you that just scream ‘hybrid’ at me, I dunno.” “I mean, I’ve never put much thought into it. I don’t think I am? How about you tell me your ideas and we’ll see.” Sapnap pulled the book from his inventory, more than happy to share. “First thing I have is just the fact that you like being stored. You can’t say it’s not true, because you let at least three if not more hybrids store you.” The blonde didn’t even deny, giving a half shrug. “What else?” “You keep talking about how you’re too cold. I know humans can have problems staying warm but it seems to be a huge problem for you. And it could also tie into the storing thing.” “Well, yea. I’m literally inside someone else’s body, of course it’s warm.” “And every time we do manhunts and you go into the water, you always get a dolphin to help you swim if not more. That’s not a normal thing. It’s like they go for you specifically.” “Okay..?” “So me and George think you’ve gotta be either a water mob hybrid or a cold-blooded animal hybrid.”

“So a lizard or a fish?” “Well-“ “I know for a fact I don’t have scales, Sapnap.” Dream chuckled, faltering slightly when he saw the unamused look he got in return. “I don’t! I don’t have to prove that to you, if I had scales you’d know. I’d have to upkeep them, wouldn’t I?” The fireborn hummed in acknowledgment, scratching any scaled creatures off the list. “Maybe Q was right and you’re just a weird human. I might be looking into this too much.” He sighed, staring at the minimal animals left on the paper. “Unless you think you’re an axolotl.” “What’s the significance of them? Why’re they on the list?” “They swim well since they’re literally a water mob, and I’m pretty sure they get along with dolphins. Wonder who that reminds me of, Mr. Jump in the ocean every manhunt.” Dream snorted. “That can’t be the only reason. What else?” “They hide in small, dark spaces to stay away from predators. They’re cold blooded, so they can’t regulate their own body temperature and require a heat source. Plus, they don’t have scales, more like skin.” As he went down the list of traits he found the small mob to have, he realized that the traits matched up with Dream’s traits almost one for one.

It seemed that Dream was having the same realization, because then he was asking more questions. “Has there ever been a water mob hybrid to not have gills?” “Hybrids, probably. You also have lungs that function like a human’s lungs should, so maybe you did have gills and they just closed up when the body realized they weren’t necessary.” “But don’t axolotls have their gills on their ears? That’s what I’ve heard.” “I think they have two sets. Based on what I read, at least. They don’t chew their food, they don’t have a need to plus they’re also bottom feeders. The second set is kinda necessary for them, but it wouldn’t be for you.” Dream fell quiet after that, taking in the information presented to him. After a short moment of silence, hesitance tainted the admin’s next words. “Is there a way to know for sure?” “I’m sure there’s a way to find out. Wanna go try to find a water mob hybrid?”

~ ~ ~

If there were few avian hybrids in the server, there were fewer water mob hybrids. They’d thought that Niki was one, but apparently they’d been wrong (though not too far off, as she told them she would enjoy being one if she had the opportunity). Tommy wound up tagging along after they’d left Niki, despite Dream’s insistence that he didn’t. Eventually, he caved and told the younger man the situation at hand. They should have seen the laughing coming.

“Sorry, I’m just- the big man himself, Dream, an axolotl hybrid? Even Sapnap’s got a cooler hybrid trait.” “What’s wrong with axolotls?” The older blonde became defensive quickly. “I mean, there’s nothing really wrong with them, I just don’t think it fits you.” “Well it fits the traits I apparently have. Ask Pandas, he has a whole book and quill on it.” “I thought he had instincts. We both think he does, now.” “Huh.” Tommy trailed off, thinking for a moment. “Y’know, they said I had instincts too, thought I was an avian hybrid without wings.” “Really?” Sapnap smiled, though confused as to why he was mentioning it. Probably trying to fit in a little more, and the fireborn was happy to indulge the kid. “Yea, Phil was all over it when I was younger. Wilbur wasn’t as overbearing with it, but he also thought I was one. Techno seemed like the only one who believed me when I said I wasn’t a hybrid. Dunno if I am or not still, but at least he didn’t push it like the other two did.”

“Sounds like a pain.” Dream said. “It was. But Phil might actually be able to help if you can’t find a water mob hybrid to help you. He might be able to point you in the right direction to figuring it out.” “That’s… oddly helpful. Thank you, Tommy.” “No problem. And since you two let me walk with you, you didn’t see me from this point onwards.” With a mischievous grin, the young blonde was gone, and the other two could only guess what he was up to, or had been up to before he found them.

With a fond sigh and a shake of their heads, they decided to humor the kid’s idea and head over to the arctic.

~ ~ ~

“Tommy said you might stop by.” Wilbur stepped back from the doorframe, allowing the fireborn access to the house which he quickly accepted, practically sprinting to the fireplace. “What was he up to earlier?” “Messed around with Niki’s ingredients. Her and Jack are pissed, and now he’s on his way back out there to help them fix it. Phil!” He turned more into the house to call the eldest, heading to the living room where Sapnap was essentially curled up inside the fireplace, with Techno reading a book on the chair close by. “Techno.” Dream gave a nod, which was returned by the piglin. “Dream. Get any closer to figuring it out?” “Tommy told everyone, didn’t he?” “Just us three. And if he gave you shit for thinking you’re an axolotl hybrid let us know and we’ll gladly put some sense in him.” Wilbur cut in, sitting on the couch close by as footsteps began to descend the stairs.

Philza was holding a few books as he came down, peeking over them to see where everyone was standing before maneuvering around the blonde still standing and dropping the books down beside the brunette on the couch. “Right, so I had to do a bit of digging in the library to find anything on water mob hybrids. They’re surprisingly rare, especially in this SMP. You may be the only one, Dream.” “How do we find out for sure?” “Well, there’s no real way to know for sure. It was easy with me and Wilbur because we have wings. It’s easy for the netherborns because they were born in the nether. But I don’t really know much about you, and unless you know your past, we may just have to assume.” “Sally didn’t show many signs of being a water mob hybrid, though she was more of a shifter than a hybrid. Dunno if that really helps.”

“Me and Sapnap are pretty sure about this. He wrote down a whole list of traits he says I have, and a lot of animals that could be related to it. But most of those animals have hybrids who have scales, and I know for a fact I don’t. The axolotl was literally the last one on his list, I think. It’s either that or I’m just a weird human.” “Those won’t be the only traits you’ll see if you two are correct, which is why I brought these down.” He handed Dream the first book from his pile, a book dedicated entirely to axolotls. “That’ll just help you when it comes to traits specific to that animal. This is the one Wilbur used when Sally was still around,” he handed the blonde a book that was about nothing but water mob hybrids. “Speaking of, Sapnap. How’s the avian book helping with Quackity?” “It’s helped a lot. A mix of that and Wilbur stopping by every now and then to tell me and Karl what we’re doing wrong.” “I only do it because Quackity won’t do it himself. Like the preening thing, if his wings become a wreck again like they were before I swear I’ll throttle him.” “It is nice to hear that you're helping them out, though Wil. I know you and Quackity haven’t had the best history.” Phil praised, causing the other avian to ‘look at the time’ and give himself an out to go to his own home.

Dream took the time to flip through the book, reading through it as fast as he could and making mental notes on anything that connected to him. “You don’t have to read all of it right now-“ “I seriously think we’ve got a point, Sapnap. Uh- Sorry, Phil.” The older man just seemed amused. “But yea, I think I might actually be an axolotl hybrid, or at least a water mob hybrid if nothing else. Like obviously I don’t have gills-“ “You also have functioning lungs. They would have closed pretty early in your childhood.” “And it would explain like why Puffy adopted me. Maybe she did find me when I was young and had traits more aligned with axolotls- why didn’t we think to go ask her!?” Sapnap simply shrugged. “I dunno, but I’m still freezing so you’re not dragging me back out into that frozen wasteland yet.” “You don’t retain heat well anymore, do you?” “I’m still part human, Techno. Not everyone gets lucky like you.” “Oh that makes it worse. You’re too hot and you can’t keep yourself that way.” “You don’t have to fucking remind me.”

It was the sound of a communicator ringing that cut their conversation short. “Hello?” “Puffy?” “Dream? What’s going on?” “I just needed to ask something. It’s about when I was a kid, if that’s okay.” A soft chuckle was his first response. “I was wondering when you were gonna ask. I remember that vividly, even though you don’t.” “Yeah, uh.. was I human? Or like a fish or something? Some kind of water mob?” “You were a human form, your body was. But you had fringed gold ears that shot off of your head, and gills on your neck as well. When I pulled you up, thinking you were a human child, your ears shifted suddenly to human ears, and I’m fairly certain they never came back.” “Oh.” Dream was silent for a moment, processing the realization. He was an axolotl hybrid. Sapnap was right!

“So, to answer your question, yes. You were a water mob, though more of a hybrid than the mob itself. But you refused to leave the ship, and I wasn’t about to kick you off to make you fend for yourself. So I do take the blame for you not having the traits that of your hybrid nature. I’m sorry.” “No, no, it’s okay! This is great, actually. I'm showing traits now, they’re just more instinctual than visible. You’ve been a huge help, Puffy, thank you.” “Of course! But you’d better come see me soon, it’s been forever!” “I will. Bye.”

After he hung up, he turned to the fireborn who had the same excitement and relief on his face. “So I wasn’t crazy.” “Never said you were, Sapnap.” “That explains it, then. Your secondary gills went away as your lungs began to function, and eventually your gills just completely vanished as well, being unnecessary.” Phil added. “You can keep the books if they’ll help you learn more about your hybrid traits.” “If you don’t mind me having them.” “Well after learning this, I don’t expect them back. They’ll help you more than they help me sitting in my library, that’s for sure.”

They stayed for supper, as Sapnap adamantly refused to leave the house until Dream physically dragged him out of it, giving both members of the house a wave as the two made their way back to the main SMP.

“Well, that was fun.” “I’m just glad we figured all this out in the same day. Think I would have gone crazy if it got dragged out longer.” Sapnap chuckled. “Next question: who all are we wanting to know about this? I’m sure my fiancés are gonna be intrigued, and I know George will be.” “I don’t really care, I mean, Tommy’s probably gonna tell everyone anyway.” As they made it to the nether portals, they exchanged goodbyes as both headed towards their respective homes.

~ ~ ~

“So.. did you figure it out?” He’d been wrapped up in a hug from the avian since he’d stepped into the kitchen, supper in the oven finishing cooking. “Yeah. He’s an axolotl hybrid.” “A what?” “Axolotl?” Quackity pulled back with a bewildered look. “There’s no way. He doesn’t have any kind of visible traits.” “Puffy confirmed it, his gills just closed because he’d been using his lungs instead.” “What about the ears? And-“ “Puffy said his ears just morphed into human ears when she pulled him aboard her ship. She pretty much just said ‘oh yea you’re a hybrid I just never mentioned it again’.” The Mexican rolled his eyes. “Of course she did.” “What are we talking about?”

“Karlos!” The shapeshifter was in his human form, though with slightly off proportions and golden and pink swirls in his confused eyes. “Hey, Karl.” Sapnap held an arm out as an invitation, the brunette stepping easily into his fiancé’s arms. “We found Dream's hybrid animal.” “Oh? What is it?” “A fucking axolotl of all things.” Quackity butted in. “Aww, I can see it. Kinda fits him.” “Definitely fits him.” “I guess I can see it.” Sapnap gave the avian a light nudge to his ribs with his elbow, pulling away from the hug to look at the oven. “So when’s dinner gonna be ready?” “Didn’t you eat at Phil’s?” “Oh no, now you’re going to Philza’s house without saying anything too?” “Tommy made us, said Phil’s probably our best bet. We kinda forgot about Puffy. But yea I already ate because I was freezing from the walk there and I didn’t wanna walk back.”

With a small laugh from his fiancés, he was ushered over to the dining room table regardless, the other two finishing up dinner and joining him quickly afterwards. Idle chat about the other two’s days were made as they ate, and cleaning up went very quick with all three helping. Their avian took off upstairs while the other two went to the living room to put on a movie, suspecting nothing but the other simply going to sleep. Karl laid down on the sofa, head against the armrest and held his arms open for the other to join him. Sapnap laid back so his head rested against the brunette’s chest, on his back so he could still see the movie.

It wasn’t until a small weight fell onto the fireborn’s chest that he realized Quackity’s real intention. Karl stifled a laugh from beneath him as he pulled the avian up to his face so he could look at him. “What’s this about?” “I’m tired and you two just wanna watch movies!” The smaller crossed his arms at the fireborn, pouting. “You’re free to join us, you know.” Karl pointed out, amusement flooding his voice. “I don’t have the energy to watch a movie, though. I just wanna cuddle with my fiancés.” “Well-“ “Okay, Q. I’ll give you what you want.” Sapnap cut the other off, fighting a smirk as he brought the other up to his mouth and tipped him in without any warning. A string of Spanish words (he guaranteed they were all swears) fell from the Mexican’s mouth as he ungracefully tumbled into his fiancé’s maw, barely able to stop himself from falling right back into his throat. If it hadn’t been for the blackette pinning him to the roof of his mouth with his tongue, he may have.

The pressure relented pretty quickly, though the other didn’t make a move until he felt the heartbeat on his tongue slow to a more reasonable pace. Though, the tips of his ears burned as he moved the shrunken man around to get him ready, as he could feel eyes on the back of his head. It seemed that his other fiancé could feel his temperature rise, because a confused yet amused hum came from behind. “We’ve done this so many times, do you really still get embarrassed doing it in front of other people?” Well, it was rude to talk with his mouth full, so he tried to swallow quietly until the avian went past his windpipe and he could breathe properly again, flopping his head back down on the other’s chest and glaring up at the orange eyes looking back at him. “It’s different when someone’s watching you do it, Karl.” “But it’s not different when I did it the first time?” “I- you know what, this isn’t gonna get anywhere.” The arms wrapped loosely around his waist trailed up to his abdomen instead, one hand pressing where he knew his other fiancé would be residing, getting rubs from the inside at that particular spot in return. “Oh, don’t be like that, Sap. We were having fun.” With a roll of his eyes, the fireborn finally relaxed again, a soft purr building up now that his embarrassment faded.

He would have been content to sleep right there, but Karl made him get up and join him in their actual bed. With his shrunken fiancé completely relaxed within him and his other fiancé looking at him with enamored pink eyes, he simply found himself lucky once more. He could still remember when this all had started, and he always thought about how wrong it could have gone.

He was just thankful his friends and lovers were as ‘weird’ as he was.

[theshadowrealmitself]

Alien Species #1

(I tend to think up background alien species for plot reasons that I end up really liking, but then I always forget to save the info anywhere, because it’s background stuff and I don’t end up even using a majority of the customs and stuff I think up, so I’m gonna start making posts about it)

These aliens have an age where they may be “physically” adults, but they don’t consider a person an adult until they pass a trial of sorts (the trials are monitored by adults that have “high standing”, which a person either gains by being really good a specific skill, or being able to work really well with others)

(It’s not an incredibly difficult or horrifying trial, it’s even changed to take into account a person’s skill set and what they can actually physically accomplish, it’s just one that tests things like: can you work well with others for a limited time like an adult needing to get something done can? can you think critically like an adult? can you be responsible? can you be patient? etc etc etc)

If a person fails this trial, they just take it again at a later date, and keep trying till they can pass it, there’s not really any shame in failing, it just means you aren’t spiritually ready to be an adult yet and there’s resources to help those who failed (like maybe a person failed because they lost their temper at another candidate (these tests are usually done in groups) and they just need some help with managing emotions in situations like that)

For a majority of people tho, it’s that the time limit made them a bit too panicked, and they usually pass it the second time around when they know what to expect

There is times when a person can shamefully fail, but they’d have to be a deeply unpleasant person, and that method usually involves slandering someone else (it’s highly taboo to speak badly about another person, if they’ve done something bad you can speak about it, but you’d have to do it in technical terms, like “they called me this word and it made me unhappy so I don’t speak to them,” instead of “they were rude,” so to speak badly about a person and for it to knowingly be untruthful, that you are just trying to ruin their reputation? hella taboo, you can say goodbye to ever being acknowledged as an adult)

(This all goes back to this society really valuing harmony and being able to work together, and letting other people decide for themselves if they can work with that person instead of that person getting shunned because of a ruined reputation, etc)

Once you become an adult, two things happen: First, you receive a unique earring (accommodations are provided if a person cannot wear an earring), they’re usually elaborate, able to be easily seen, but everyone’s different so some are plain, and Second, you are matched with a Life Partner

Contrary to how that word translates to other species, Life Partners are not spouses, they’re simply the person who balances you out the best so you can be your best self (like somebody who’s really anxious all the time getting paired with a sibling who knows how to calm them down), so it makes sense to stick by them, Life Partners can be best friends, family members, and in some cases, yes, spouses, but they can even be a stranger chosen for you (and oddly enough, even when it’s someone from a different species going through this, the most compatible person is always chosen for them)

If a person loses a Life Partner, it’s customary for them to wear their earring on the opposite side, it’s the only time you’ll see someone wearing two earrings is when they’ve gone through that kind of loss

Sometimes a person won’t be paired up immediately when they’re acknowledged as adults, it just means there currently isn’t someone who’s that compatible with them, and they’ll just have to wait till that person reaches adulthood (v common with close family members with age gaps) there’s no shame in it, there’s only shame in trying to force someone to be paired up with someone they aren’t compatible with

They’ll accept outsiders as adults compared to the outsiders’ customs, unless that outsider wants to join their planet as a citizen, then to be treated as an adult, they must also go through the trial and be paired up

Biggest part of being seen as an adult is mostly getting a say in politics, having the ability to get married (does not matter how close physically you are in age, all involved in wanting to get married must be considered adults, in fact, if you’re dating someone as a considered adult and your romantic partner keeps failing the trial, you may have to end your relationship with them as you would be considering spiritually and mentally much older and it wouldn’t be right of you to keep dating) if you wanna get married, and getting to specialize in what you want to (there’s a big emphasis on children having a rounded education so they just stay learning the basics of everything till they’re adults and can decide what they want to advance in)

(It’s very rare for a person to fail becoming an adult for years, on average, if they fail once they’ll either get it by their second try, or maybe a few tries later, but still in the same year, the trial is more about working harmoniously with others which should get easier the more you attempt it, so that’s why it’s taken so seriously if a partner is taking awhile to pass)

This species is tall, light purple, and humanoid looking, but without any curves at all, to the point where their slitted clothes look normal on them, but on a species like Humans, where each one is naturally curvier than this species, even if they aren’t considered curvy by Human standards, the slitted clothes look more,,, provocative (not to the species, because none of them have curves, they don’t take notice, but any Humans wearing those clothes are Aware™️)

The clothes also include a ton of jewelry and adornments that, much like the earrings, tell everyone else what that person’s place in society is

[gaawachan]

Critical Role Season 3 Spoilers: Ludinus, the Cerberus Assembly, Cults (this is negative)

So, is the Cerberus Assembly, a massive part of the government of the Dwendalian Empire, a country which has been historically the MOST HOSTILE to religions IN GENERAL but hates the evil culty shit in particular and very actively works to stamp said cults and non-approved religions out completely and has a hyperfocus on “empire over all”... is it just a cultist character generator for Critical Role at this point, randomly sticking evil entities to each member?

Briarwood and Vecna

DeRogna and Cognouza

Vence Nuthaleus and the Angel of Iron

Daleth and Ruidis

.

This is incredibly disappointing considering how much Daleth was hyped up, and makes me all the more irritated that that situation with Trent was stuffed so clumsily into the final episode of season 2, because apparently he was the only villain to come out of the Cerberus Assembly that isn’t an eldritch cultist and actually had something to do with the nature of his government, his country, his culture, his class, etc.

The Cerberus Assembly in-lore is the hyper-competent threat that represents the spine of the Empire’s might, so powerful that many suspect it will simply take over the Empire given enough time, but in execution they come off as a total joke that for all their hyped up secret magic child soldier/spy/torturer/murderers that are constantly on the prowl looking to catch and kill , cannot seem to vet ANYONE even remotely close to a position of power, not even assembly annexes.

What’s next?  Is Hass worshiping Asmodeus?  Is Iresor working for Tiamat?  Why hasn’t the Dynasty crushed these losers?

The worst part is that it almost feels like a compliment to say that Matt might just not have wanted to toss out Ludinus as a villain when CR cut short season 2, so he just tossed him in with the primary conflicts in CR3 so he could stick around, because at least then one could just dismiss this as Matt’s desire to keep Ludinus relevant (even though NO ONE in the party of CR3 cares about the Cerberus Assembly or has any meaningful connection to it or Ludinus), and he just didn’t realize that he’s made almost every single Assembly head we’ve seen in the show a freaking cultist... because the alternative is to say that Matt deliberately planned, for years, for over a third of all the Assembly heads to be cultists... of DIFFERENT CULTS.

How can anyone take the Cerberus Assembly, or the Empire, even remotely seriously at this point, in any respect, be it worldbuilding or even just what sort of threat they are supposed to pose?  I’m looking back over this and it reads like some wonky comedy. Maybe Bertrand Dwendal assigns a cult to each assembly head as a reward for reaching that rank? “You get a cult, you get a cult, everyone gets a cult!”

And the Volstrucker, who are trained to specifically sniff out those who don’t follow approved religions, didn’t notice a thing?  This just makes these hyped up terrifying force look completely incompetent... AGAIN.  Or even worse!  They DID know and deliberately participated in covering it up, which would for all intents and purposes make the anti-religious cult-hunting Volstrucker all active supporters of these cults as well!

The M9 should have just let the Dynasty burn Rexxentrum to the ground.  Clearly nothing of value or interest, in-game or out of it, would have been lost.

.

Edit: I mean... good lord, Ludinus originally inserted himself into Empire politics and helped create the Cerberus Assembly because it “suited his own personal agenda/goals,” and I’m over here like... really?  Of all the countries to insert yourself into for your uber evil culty plans, you picked the government most likely to actively hunt out down and torture you to death over it?  No other place was as good as that one?  For someone who it was assumed wanted to recreate the Age of Arcanum and eradicate the Drow, who he hates, it makes perfect sense for Ludinus to slowly try to take over the Empire over the course of multiple centuries.  For a secretive evil cult?  Remember what the Empire did to the Briarwoods?  The mere citizens of the country *BURNED THEIR HOME DOWN* and sent them fleeing for their lives when they learned that they practiced necromancy- not even that they were a cult, but that they cast the *WRONG* magic; THAT was enough to send them running off into the night.

Sure, whatever.  Everyone’s just a massively incompetent idiot in Wildemount, I guess.

[dragons-and-dwarves-are-nice]

To the Shadows that Cry Witch /// Chapter 4

Hi! I'm finally back from holiday which means I have access to my computer again! This one was a bit difficult to write, considering I'm so overly careful I hardly get injured. If you think it needs anything adding to make it more realistic, just let me know in the comment section or via message. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Summary: So uhhhhhh.. magic’s real. Middle earth’s real. Shit goes down. Bon appetite.

Tags: Kíli x oc/reader - Fíli x oc (POV to be written soon) - Thorin's company x ocs/reader (platonic) - fluff - angst - SUPER slow burn - crack - Bagginshield

Word Count: 2230

Warnings: Swearing, Blood, Minor Injuries, Major injuries (i.e. broken bones)

Taglist - comment or message to be added!

PLEASE START FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY OK LOVE U

Want some background music? Check out my Soundtrack Playlist!

Now available on Wattpad and AO3 (please let me know if links aren't working)

<; Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 >

PART 1: Chapter 4 -

Hey ghouls, the girls are here.

Alternate Universe (definition): A hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one’s own.

I felt nothing and everything at the same time.

Each of my senses were heightened as I tried to make out what was happening, though there was nothing to make out. I opened my eyes to pitch black, straining my ears for even a single sound only to receive nothing but an empty void. It was as if I was floating in the middle of a sensory deprivation tank, where time slugged by in slow motion. A dream where you wanted to run, but your limbs were made of lead and only dragged you down further.

Frustrated and frightened beyond belief, I floated there for what felt like a thousand lifetimes, trying to reach for something, until slowly but surely, I could feel myself tilting backwards, or upwards, to be honest I don’t think direction even existed right now. Soon enough I felt myself descend, the sound of air whistling past as I seemed to descend quite rapidly, gaining speed to the point where the air became a deafening roar in my ears. Where I was falling to I had no clue of, but it was better than having a panic attack whilst magically suspended in a void.

A voice. Well, it wasn’t really a voice, more like screaming. I mean, I was screaming too, but I knew I wasn’t hearing things. At this point I wasn’t really worried about who was making the ruckus, I could be falling to my death after all. The only thing I comprehended was that they were falling too.

I had enough. Panic attack No.2 just finished, and I was still falling?? At this point the initial fear was now replaced with boredom and irritation at my predicament. I was even tempted to go to sleep, you know, make up the hours, and hopefully wake up to find I had already landed. But I knew I couldn’t doze off, everyone knows I’m too picky about my sleeping arrangements, and it’s always an hour minimum before I actually fall into any form of slumber. I still closed my eyes in some form of attempt, and relaxed as much as I could. I no longer had any concept of time. It felt like it had been hours when it could’ve easily been mere minutes.

Whether it was good or bad luck, I still felt the relief at the change of atmosphere. The air became significantly fresher, and I could almost see the light trying to pierce through my eyelids. The sound of thunder wasn’t very promising, though, and my relief didn’t stick around for long, packing up its bags and sprinting out the door the second I opened my eyes.

I ignored the fact that my throat was already painfully sore from earlier and began my screaming match again. Only this time wasn’t with the void, but with the dark clouds and the rapidly approaching ground below me. I hastily spotted I was going to hit a tree before coming to a possibly fatal landing on the grass, so I did all I could think of. I reached behind me, moving my rucksack as quickly as I could despite the aerodynamics, from my back to my face, wrapping my arms around the bag and curling my legs into me to prevent injuries as much as possible.

It wasn’t long before I hit something. Hard. And another thing. And another. All the while I was scratched and whipped by twigs all around me. A short moment of falling again passed, until I slammed into the ground with a loud thud. A deafening shriek ripped through my throat, wailing as agony shot through every part of my body. Despite the evidence of magic existing, it seemed no mercy would be given since something, if not several, things felt very broken. I forced my eyes open through the torture, blinking rapidly as rain hammered at my face, light filling my vision for the first time in what felt like forever, even if it was only dim.

Forcing the bag off me, I rolled over in the sodden grass, letting out involuntary cries of anguish as my body trembled from both the excruciating pain and freezing temperatures.

 Managing to roll onto my front, I tried my best through this nightmare to kick in my first aid training, to figure out just what parts of my body had the misfortune of baring the worst of the impact. My head was lucky, the bag only letting it receive a few knocks. My torso, not so much, with my painful breathing telling me a few ribs had definitely cracked.

My left wrist was completely trashed, seeing as I could hardly move it as it already had begun to turn red and swell up. However, as if by some miracle, my legs were intact, albeit a bit sore and with some definite bruising, not to mention the twisted ankle.

Thanking whatever kept me alive, I used my right arm to push myself up, trying not to twist too much to save myself from slipping over in the wet mud and tormenting myself further. I carefully retrieved my bag and shakily cradled my left hand to my chest. Only then was I able to finally take in what was around me.

Blinking through the rain that was collecting on my lashes, I saw it was like I was back in the forest, though it looked like something out of a fairy-tale. Twisting my head around, I observed that I was in some sort of meadow, filled to the brim with flowers of every colour. Perfect for frolicking in if it wasn’t pouring with rain, and also if you haven’t just fallen from the uppermost atmosphere. It was bordered by a darkened forest of oak trees, with possibly the most vibrant, dark green leaves I’ve ever seen. A pond, I guessed was about ten metres across or so in diameter, was tucked in at the edge, between the border of flowers and trees. It was also daytime, albeit still dark and grey, from what I could make through the hammering rain.

Taking shaky breaths, I peeled wet strands of hair from my face whilst trying to ignore the blood mixing with the water on my arm. I took a minute or so to calm down as much as I could, trying my best to focus on my surroundings as I tried to get the dizzying pain and cold turn from sharp jabs into a dull throbbing. Though I wasn’t able to get that far.

Because today decided that what I had endured wasn’t enough and sent me another lovely experience.

The screaming I had heard from the void returned, though I knew it definitely wasn’t me this time, with it now coming from above, and it was gaining on where I was very rapidly. Squinting up through the raindrops hitting my face, I scoured the dark grey sky above me. From out of the corner of my eye, a figure fell past in a blur, and my head twisted in its direction, despite the developing ache in my neck, as the sound of an object hitting water filled my ears. I watched in shock as the once still pond crashed around in violent waves as whatever hit it sent water flying high into the air, soaking a vast area of the meadow.

Dropping my bag, I pushed myself to my feet with a wince and hopped over as fast as I could, coming to a stop on the slippery edge of the pond. I watched as it kept churning and splashing, and I realised the figure was most definitely drowning.

My lifeguard training flashed in my mind and I jumped in. The adrenaline now pumping in my veins blocked me from feeling most of my broken bones as I wrapped my arms around the mass of flailing limbs, quickly dragging them out the water and pulling them up onto the bank.

Eventually said mass of limbs had calmed down and was now leant on their knees and elbows as they retched up pond water. Seeing that they were alive, I collapsed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“I thought you said you weren’t jumping in after me?” heaved a familiar voice from beside me.

I whipped my head around in shock, practically giving myself whiplash, to see Kay hunched over on the bank next to me, looking exactly like she did several hours ago, albeit now soaked from head to toe, her copper hair sticking wherever it could on her face. I shrieked many indiscernible noises, almost refusing to believe that she was here after all that. All I could do was wrap around her in a desperate hug, finally feeling like I was no longer going to hyperventilate for the fiftieth time that day.

Letting go, we took some time to calm down and regain our energy. The burning question still stood firm, however, as we observed our surroundings. We both looked at each other, eager to ask questions, but the inconceivable events from today left us utterly dumbstruck, too stunned to even say a word to each other. We were totally tongue-tied.

Although it didn’t last long.

All that movement had jostled my injuries, and I let out a quite hiss as the adrenaline wore off, my whole body feeling like I had been run over three times and processed through a meat grinder.

Kay’s head moved like flash, setting her scrutinising eyes on my pained grimace, before scanning my soggy appearance. A gasp flew out as she caught sight of the now dried streaks of blood down my right arm. Reaching out she snatched up my wrist and I opened my hand as much as I could, allowing her to survey the gashes across my palm and fingers.

She raised her eyebrow at me, looking for an explanation and I sheepishly admitted to trying to poke a magical veil with a stick. She wasn’t amused.

“Did you wanna take a picture?” I kidded, doing my best to lighten the atmosphere, whilst also trying to focus on anything but my hand.

My attempt seemed to work, though, as it wasn’t a second before her phone was out her bag, zooming in on my open hand, the camera shutter going off several times as I cracked up as much as my ribs would allow me at her priorities.

As she went to return it, I used that hand to drag over my bag, unzipping it to take out my miniature first aid kit. Swivelling back, she furrowed her brows in confusion at me using my bloodied hand. She eyed my other hand, watching as I cradled it to my chest as I attempted to open the kit with one hand.

“What else happened?” she demanded. I looked up at her sheepishly.

“I mayyyy have broken a fewwww….. bones?” I meekly confessed; my voice shaky as the waves of pain crashed over. I withdrew slightly at the sight of her expression hardening. “I didn’t exactly hit the water like you did.”

“Bones.” She deadpanned.

I darted my eyes around, scratching the side of my neck with a finger whilst avoiding eye contact with the storm that was now developing in front of me.

“Like…. A couple ribs and my wrist?” I smiled nervously, slowly dragging the first aid kit towards me with my bleeding hand to see if I could open it again. “It’s not like you can say anything, with your borderline concussion.” I pointed out the large cut on her forehead and the fact she was blinking far too much whilst also swaying slightly.

A hand swatted me away, before snatching up the kit. Within a minute or so my arm was cleared of both fresh and crusted blood, red replaced with white as Kay secured the bandage in its place with medical tape. I tried my best with my ruined hands to stick the large plaster over her cut in return, after she had cleaned it.

After tidying the equipment away, she clambered to her feet. Stretching out her painfully sore back with a groan, she scanned our current location, the both of us now recalling that we were currently god knows where. I tried my best to follow suit, carefully pushing myself up and limping over.

“Where in the actual fresh hell are we?” I asked. Kay shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m just as clueless as you.” She replied. She stared at my swelling wrist before deciding. “We have to find a village or town though, otherwise you’re fucked the most if we stay out here.”

I agreed with her and retrieved my bag. Not seeing that she had spotted my limp.

“Don’t tell me your ankle’s fucked as well!” She cried over the rain. I turned around slowly to see her displeased expression.

“It’s only twisted.” I explained nervously. God she had eyes like a hawk.

With a frustrated sigh, she strode over and reached into one of the front pockets of my bag. Taking out the spare tote bag I had packed, she insisted on lightening my bag’s contents, as to not worsen my injuries.

Slowly but surely, due to my mangled ankle and her aching back, we chose a direction we thought best and began our trek, leaving the meadow behind as we entered the dark forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<; Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 >

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[snarky-art]

heeeeey, I was wondering as to if you have any ideas for trix transformations and power ups like disenchantix for example? as of lately i've been thinking about the possible consequences of modification to their natural magic that might take physical affect. like what if dark sirenix fucks up icy's sense of control, having her ice construct melt or weaken or Darcy and how her disenchantix could over power her senses, maybe blinding her with her own magic? sorry if im over thinking, i've lowkey been overwriting.

Honestly I’m not sure! But that’s mainly because witches operate differently in my thing than it does in canon because I’m not a big fan of putting morality and weighted language that implies said morality on magic (lol @ me because I still use the terms light and dark magic but in my thing it means different stuff than what it does in our world with light magic being called that because it produced a brighter glow vs dark magic when produces a softer one)

For my thing witches have their base form, just called their Manifest, which is also what fairy transformations used to use too because a new term was proposed (witches are sticklers for tradition in my thing too), then Relics, where they choose an item to make a bond with to help boost their abilities and channel them in more ways, and then Enchantress, which could be considered their version of Enchantix.

There a few transformations formally recognized after that too but it’s not as varied as light magic based stuff.

If you wanna play around and stick closer to canon, I don’t see why the names couldn’t be the same as the Winx, just based in witch stuff instead of fairy stuff! Maybe different items are needed more to get the transformations though since the trix seem to get them from whoever the big bad is that they’re working with instead of through their own inner strength like a lot of the Winx transformations are achieved.

I think if you wanna play with the fact that witches don’t normally get them combined with the trix totally being down to fuck around and find out for the sake of power, that could be a great way to explore their magic being twisted and fucked up in a way.

I like to have elemental based transformations and others that have more outside influences (butterflix for example, which since all magic was founded in the 4 main elements found in a lot of western stuff of earth, water, fire, and air with this one being related to earth magic) boosting abilities for whatever magical being has powers most closely related to those bases (Flora and Roxy have powers based in Earth magic so they would get a boost overall for those abilities and spells in general with that as a base would be stronger while air based magic would be weaker overall, rip @ Musa)

I think the same thing could totally be done for witches and since their magic could be more twisted by trying to take the form of a transformation they don’t normally have access to, it could make stuff come out wonky and more volatile and uncontrolled.

So those are my ramblings on the general topic as always I’m not sure how useful it is but hopefully it can help as a jumping off point for worldbuilding or something for the magic system relating to transformations!!