#which is not necessarily a revelation i love but

[nyebevans]

a bit sad because i interviewed for a job today, and it just really did not feel like it would be a good fit for me, so even if they were to offer it to me, i think i'll have to turn it down

[fideidefenswhore]

I see the anti Annes are concern trolling at how "sexist" bsr is and how they fear for "future generations" if this is their gateway drug. It's a danger to society people! Win for Boleyn.

It's arguably so in certain scenes, the two writers of the series, one being a woman, the other nonbinary, doesn't preclude it from sexism.

But I would also consider it concern-trolling, and hypocritical, since many of them seem to find Anne’s death hilarious...I do almost think they mock Anne’s fans just for being earnest, compassion is not in currency. 

However, it does seem like, not all the historians, in the final edit, were in favor of, for example, the depiction of Mary Boleyn.

And it's surely infantile to cuss out one of the commentators for something they never said because you're upset that, in this series they contributed to, about their rival, the portrayal of your fave did not adequately kiss their ass to your exacting specifications. 

[arolesbianism]

Y'know there already is such a nonexistent market for oni art in general so the fact that I wanna draw more au art is killing me. Like I draw for fun and don't need notes to be happy with a piece but also I need ppl to view my art and be curious and ask questions because while I may not desperately need approval I do desperately need excuses to gush abt the things I like

[deception-united]

Let's talk about killing off characters.

Killing off characters is a dramatic device often used to advance the plot, create tension, or evoke emotional responses from readers or viewers. We love doing it. The initial shock, the mourning after. The effects of it on the other characters. It's fun.

Nevertheless, you can still achieve the desired impact on your plot and characters without necessarily resorting to fictional murder.

Here are some alternatives to drive the plot forward:

Character Transformation: Instead of killing off a character, you can have them undergo significant personal growth or change. This could involve overcoming challenges, facing moral dilemmas, or undergoing a shift in beliefs or values. Their transformation can still drive the plot forward and impact other characters. (I especially love it when the transformation is negative—like when a traumatic experience of some sort completely strips a character of their soul. But that's a sentiment for another day.)

Betrayal or Conflict: Introduce betrayal or conflict between characters that challenges relationships and creates tension. This can lead to significant plot developments and character arcs without resorting to death. And it can be cause for quite a lot of angst.

Separation or Estrangement: Have characters physically or emotionally separated from each other, causing tension and driving the plot forward as they strive to reconnect or deal with the consequences of their estrangement.

Sacrifice without Death: Characters can make significant sacrifices that don't necessarily involve their death. This could be sacrificing personal goals, relationships, or values for the greater good or to achieve a specific objective.

Injury or Disability: Instead of killing off a character, you can incapacitate them through injury or disability. This will create challenges for the character and those around them, leading to character development and plot progression as they're forced to adapt to their new circumstances.

Redemption Arcs: Characters who have committed wrongdoings can undergo redemption arcs where they seek forgiveness, make amends, or strive to become better individuals. This can drive the plot forward while also adding depth to the character. Keep in mind that this may not be a suitable alternative to death for some characters—for instance, the protagonist forgiving their abusive parent despite all they were forced to go through may evoke a sense of indignation rather than admiration for their supposed selflessness.

Revelations or Secrets: Introduce revelations or uncover secrets that have significant impacts on characters and their relationships. This can lead to conflict, tension, and plot twists without the need for death.

Forced Alliances or Unexpected Partnerships: Characters can be forced into alliances or partnerships with unlikely allies, leading to interesting dynamics and plot developments as they navigate these new relationships.

Loss of Power or Status: Characters can experience a loss of power, status, or reputation, which can drive the plot forward as they strive to regain what they've lost, seek revenge on those responsible, or adapt to their new circumstances.

Time Constraints or Pressure: Introduce time constraints or pressure situations that force characters to act quickly and make difficult, split-second decisions that may end up being quite regrettable later on. This can raise conflicts of who's to blame, or what should have been done.

I feel like I strayed off a little, but there you have it. Hope this was helpful! ❤

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[freyito]

ɢᴏᴛᴛᴀ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴʏᴛɪᴍᴇ

✭ pairing(s): calcharo x gn reader

✩ inspo: I'd Have You Anytime by George Harrison

★ summary: You decide your boyfriend is being too moody.

✧ a/n: I WANNA SAY THANK YOU ALL FOR SUCH THE KIND WORDS AUGHHH I'VE BEEN KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TwT... i've got some little event cookin up for 700 followers, don't you worry...

BUT ANYWAYS i've been chipping away at wuthering waves... it's pretty fun !! kuro games also just make banger. games. so... the character designs are sooo yummmyyyy and of course i had to write a little fic for my (second) favorite... sephir-- i mean calcharo.

🗒 cw: gn reader, short n sweet, just fluff, not proofread

✎ wc: 781

Calcharo’s not necessarily the most affectionate boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. You are the stars that pepper the sky, the calm and wholeness of a stream running within a foggy forest, the night that beckons him into comforting arms. You are his everything. And he is, unfortunately, not the best at expressing that. But he is loyal.

He tends to hide within himself, too spun up in his own thoughts to pay more attention to the world. Not that he isn’t hyper-aware of his surroundings, he has to stay alert, after all. But he tends to stress himself out quite a bit like this, worried about the Ghost Hounds, those he had sworn to protect, and so forth. It seems the only time those worries fade away is when he’s in your arms. You’ve started to notice a slight slump in his shoulders, how his face relaxes into more of a neutral expression rather than a frown, and even how his voice sounds a tad… lighter.

Today, he is rather moody, choosing to brood and pace around the house, worrying about menial things. The pacing is a little annoying, but every time he lets out a sigh or a frustrated grumble, you can’t help but feel your heart twist. There isn’t much you can do, you know that, and the man will always have his worries. It is human nature to worry, and perhaps Calcharo is more human than he likes to think.

He opens his mouth to protest again, perhaps question you as to why you’re so determined, but you shut him up real quick, cupping his cheek and pressing a quite tender kiss to his lips. That shuts his mind up quick, you can tell by the way his stern demeanor melts away, returning the kiss after a couple seconds.

When you break apart, his eyes have softened, and his body relaxes once more. He lets out a soft sigh as if this is what he had been waiting for all along. You aren’t quite satisfied with your work, though. It’s been too long since you’ve had time with Calcharo in general, so why not revel in it?

You press a kiss to his nose bridge first, lips lingering for a second longer before pressing another to his cheek, then his forehead, then wherever you can kiss him. He doesn’t move or complain or push you away, simply closes his eyes and lets a soft blush dust his cheeks and the tips of his ears. It’s such a rare sight to see this man blush, and the fact that he isn’t doing whatever he can to hide it from you is impressive.

You continue your torrent of kisses, leaving no span of skin unkissed, untouched. He lets out a low rumbling sound and a scoff, which is close enough to a laugh you can get it, and you don’t mind. Not one bit. He has no idea what to do with his hands for the next minute or so, placing them on your hips at first but then ghosts over your ribs. For once he feels… awkward. He’s barely used to you making advances, not that he necessarily leaves room for them. Given his reserved nature, he had done most of the leading in the relationship. You thought it would’ve been best to go at his pace, after all. But he had never felt awkward during these years with you.

You finally stop kissing him, pulling away to look down at him. He’s still blushing, hair just a little more disheveled than usual, and the possibility of a smile tugging at his lips. A rare sight indeed, you oughta pat yourself on the back for doing that to him.

“Too much?” You ask, your voice cracking with mirth as your hands settle on his shoulders.

“... Not enough.” Calcharo responds bluntly, despite the slight wavering tone in his voice.

The man finally understands what to do with his hands, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you down on top of him. You are practically nose-to-nose with him, and can’t help but giggle, which he responds in kind with a soft huff.

© freyito, 2024 | masterlist | queue | kofi | star header by roseschoices DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[coriphallus]

The Dark Urge thoughts (and prayers)

anyone whos been following me knows im absolutely not normal about durge and i wanna share some tidbits that are implied, but not necessarily canonised, from their story;

I already made a post about it but it seems like bhaal has a degree of control over whether they live or die. he can deny them death, if they fail the duel with orin.

bhaal can command the slayer. he forces orin to transform if you talk to her about sarevok and the scene makes it clear that its against her will.

bhaal manipulates his kin in a subtler way. in the colony you can find a letter from old durge thats apologising to his father for 'liking' gortash. you can interpret their relationship as something deeper but even if it wasnt, this reads to me as terrified and desperate.

the reason being, if you have a LI in act 2 you get the famous bondage scene. coupled up with the letter above makes me think this is a pattern. bhaal can use their feelings against them. he did it with sarevok and orin's mother, orin's mother and orin, etc... it's not as straightforward as 'if you disobey ill kill the one you love'. you will. durge will.

bhaal is testing them in act 2, he revels in chaos, sure, but in the grand scheme of things he doesn't care about isobel. even if you tell scel that you'll kill her you're told that youre too late, you ignored your urges. from durge, bhaal doesn't expect calm calculated murder, he expects blind obedience. failing to receive that his first punishment is to take away something they cherish. there are no half measures, theres no bargaining with a god.

we get so many snippets of information that this has happened before, their foster family being their first victims. theyre made to kill their support system with their own hands, with no one to blame but themselves. they are actually apologising to their father for being fond of gortash because (in my humble opinion) theyre genuinely afraid.

how many times could this have happened, how many nights durge couldve woken up covered in the blood of someone they love until they gave in, became daddys obedient puppet?

durge is groomed for murder. scel says 'you always failed to conduct yourself without me' and given who he is i dont think hes talking about table manners when he says 'conduct'. durge needs 24/7 oversight to set themselves right lest they get tempted by softer things. lest they dare to step away from bhaals grand plan.

durge do have a choice. just as shadowheart had a choice, just as wyll or astarion had a choice. its a choice only in name.

theres no ending besides refusing bhaal that their friends and LI wont die by their hands. the entire lore of bhaalspawn is that theyre meant to conquer the world in his name and slit their own throat a top the mountain of corpses. as cazador aptly put, 'theyre made to be consumed.'

you can pray to bhaal and the narrator says he won't accept [any offering] but the entire world.

durge (and bhaalspawn) do get some sort of euphoria from murder. they crave it like an addict, but bhaalspawn (on prev games) don't constantly have to grapple with these urges as durge does.

now durge is a slightly special case but not in a good way. its implied that theyre not like a regular bhaalspawn, that theyre made by bhaal directly -so to speak-. which is to say, if youre playing a drow, they are bhaals closest approximation of a drow rather than a drow flesh and blood.

thats why theyre fighting tooth and nail against these urges every step of the way, they are literally bhaal himself(in essence). the personality they develop, the person who calls themselves 'tainted' and 'wretched', the character thats making choices throughout the game, theyre the tumour.

theirs is the story of cycle of abuse cranked up to 1000 and it is in parallel to all other origin companions.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

In response to the Mile High Job post, I hate that Parker implies that poor flight attendant slept her way to a promotion/better shift. Her day is super weird but her cat is fine and her life is saved. That rumor, however, might stick and that didn't really feel like Leverage to me.

Agreed!

The thing with Leverage is that it's a show from the late 2000s; it feels contemporary, but actually it is a bit dated. And, like all shows, it had some problematic elements, which get a bit more Obviously Problematic as time goes by (I am just waiting for someone to write a lengthy call-out post in 5 years' time and for the Discourse to start.) For example, Tumblr loves to declare that Leverage has a "canon" throuple, but if anyone read that and then watched the show they would be profoundly disappointed - while it's a fantastic ship with a great many shippy instances, Elliot has a lot of onscreen No Homo moments, and frequently is shown sleeping with random women (I personally read him as aromantic). Similarly, there are two big relationships in that show: Nate/Sophie, and Parker/Hardison. And we all wax lyrical about the brilliance of Parker/Hardison and how healthy it is, and for good reason; but we gloss over how unbearably "I hate my wife/father I cannot click the book" Boomer humour Nate/Sophie is.

(He literally calls her a shrew in one episode. She throws a tantrum and sulks if he doesn't remember the exact details of how/where they met. She's stereotypically 'romantic' and he's stereotypically 'cynical' and she has to Save Him From Himself, and he self-deprecatingly says he should just know when to stop arguing because she's always right. Like... it is a grubby and uncomfortable dynamic; but, it's also aimed at a different segment of the audience that is older than me, and that's okay, actually. It just means I don't much care for the ship myself.)

Anyway, this is one other such instance. Clearly someone in the writers' room thought that was a funny joke, and not enough people disagreed, and so in it went. What's nice is that Sandi McCree, who plays the other flight attendant that stays on the plane, actually kind of saves that joke for me with her performance. When Parker first boards and declares that her co-worker is not coming in, McCree looks disgruntled at the sudden change to her staff list when she wasn't informed; she's annoyed at management. Then Parker makes the sleeping-with-pilots comment, and McCree looks disgusted and furious -

An expression she then pulls at Parker every time she sees her for the rest of the episode, even when Parker is technically not doing anything particularly weird. It's not necessarily intentional on McCree's part (Parker IS very weird in this episode, so it very much can be a response to that), but to me it means you can read it as "This woman is absolutely furious at the lateral sexism of this white girl because We Love And Support Each Other On This Plane." So, for me, between that and the aforementioned revelations of the day (the plane was brought down by the domestic terrorists of a Fortune 500 company, but saved by... a few unexplained Official People who snuck aboard??? And the other flight attendant was made to miss the plane after all under mysterious circumstances and was not promoted??? What???), I don't think Sandi McCree's character wouldn't put those pieces together.

[tragedybunny]

A Little More Than a Nibble - Astarion x F!Reader

Astarion wakes you up at camp looking for a late night snack. You both end up with something a little more. (Fluff, Angst)

Yes I'm on the Astarion train. How can you not love him?

This short is set before Astarion's act 2 confession

Something called to you from the dark, stirring you out of sleep. Fragments of the waking world brushed against your consciousness; a dying fire, a far off owl calling, a presence hovering over you. The cold influx of terror lasts only a moment as you realize the presence is not only familiar but expected at this point. “Are you awake darling?” Astarion’s voice exudes the beguiling charm that’s become so familiar to you, familiar enough you’ve started to catch the hint of artifice that lays behind it.

Sleep-heavy eyes drift open to find him kneeling down next to you, red eyes fixed on you. The deep slumber is hard to shake off and your answer is no more than a drowsy whisper. “I am now.”

“Oh apologies my sweet but I was just wondering if…” He lets the words hang for a moment, waiting for your mind to catch up, to finish the implication. Really though it could only be about one of two things since you’re the one in camp that’s been both fucking and feeding him. And with the ungodly hour, you can easily conclude which it is.

“No luck hunting?” He deserves at least a little teasing for waking you like this.

“Actually I was thinking about you and couldn’t get the taste of you off my tongue. Would you mind terribly if I had just a little taste, just a slight nibble?” Perhaps you’ve been too indulgent with him and he’s grown used to getting his way with you, a habit you really should put to an end. If only the mere suggestion of those teeth at your neck didn’t make you quiver with excitement.

Still, it won’t do to placidly let him have his way every time. “You say slight nibble, and I wake up woozy the next morning. I fail to see what I get out of this little arrangement.”

For a moment, you think you see the slightest hint of hurt at your refusal, before he swiftly resumes his flirtatious persona. “Why, you get my gratitude and affection. Both of which are undying, I might remind you.”

It’s not the honeyed words that convince you, it’s the ghost of an emotion, the possibility of vulnerability, that there’s something beneath the mask he shows everyone, even you. Not that you would really refuse, you’re too far gone for that. Life as the daughter of a noble house of Baldur’s Gate primed you for this, to fall for a man so wrong, and dangerous, and not at all anything you should want. Rebellion after years of complicity, years of forced perfection and crafted smiles, of doing everything expected of you. The Illithid ship had given you a terrible burden, but it had also been more freedom than you’d ever known in your life. Freedom that didn’t necessarily come with inbuilt wisdom. Silently, you throw back the covers, beckoning him into the bed roll beside you. With a satisfied smile, he gracefully slides in, body pressed against yours.

The first time you’d let him do this it had been awkward, sloppy almost, a fact explained by the later revelation you were his first. Now familiarity has led to comfort, intimacy of its own sort. Different than just sex, but no less thrilling. An arm around your waist, he buries his head into the crook of your neck, lips brushing up against it in a gentle kiss first that makes you shiver before the bite.

The sharp ice of those teeth piece your skin and drive into the blood flowing in your veins. Then you feel it, the echo of your blood flowing into his veins. It had frightened you the first time but now it sends a wave of bliss through you. An involuntary sigh escapes you and you know if his mouth wasn’t full, he’d be tormenting you for how much you enjoy it. Arms loop around his shoulders, pulling him tighter against you, as though you are begging for more. You are though aren’t you? You can’t get enough of this, of him.

Drifting away, you lose yourself in him, a sweet surrender to an inexorable pull. As promised though, he’s only taken a taste when he lets up, pulling away, and licking any drops from your skin. The control he’s starting to show is impressive, even if it leaves you yearning for the strange connection of his feeding. Knowing that he never lingers after any encounter between the two of you, you unwrap your arms which feel so much heavier now, letting him go. Unexpectedly, he remains, head now resting on your chest, forehead pressed to your cheek. “Not going to eat and run?”

“In such a hurry to be rid of me?” He murmurs, his face hidden so you don’t even have a chance of reading his expression.

You’re not naive, despite what the others might believe. There’s nothing more you expect beyond what already passes between the two of you. Even if you believe you could care for him, he’s not open to you that way. Still, even if the tone is nonchalant, you feel there’s a loneliness behind it he's not quite hiding all the way. “I didn’t say that.” He doesn’t ask directly to stay and you know he won’t, so you pull the covers over the two of you and put your arms back around him and without saying another word.

With a subtle shift, you feel him get near your throat once again before stopping himself. “Perhaps I should go.”

“You don’t have to, I trust you.” Tentatively, you reach a hand up and softly stroke it through his silver hair. First he tenses, and you wait for a reproach for being too tender with him, but none comes. A moment later and you feel the tension release and he relaxes again. Your eyes are heavy, your body desperately craving sleep, but you're afraid there will never be another moment like this, with him so close, and not pushing you away. So you fight to stay conscious, and keep your fingers moving gently as long as he allows it. Sleep comes to claim you again though, and just as the world fades around you, lips brush your collarbone and the arm around your waist holds a little tighter.

The dawn comes, and the camp stirs. When you find the empty space in your bed roll, you tell yourself your heart doesn’t break a little and get ready to get on with your day.

[loserlvrss]

꒰ 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ꒱ 명재현

summary : jaehyun somehow convinced you to take him to the supermarket with you, and it made you realize something

genre : fluff, slight angst (?), myungjae x afab!reader, drabble, established relationship tws : pet names, food, mentions of anxiety, kissing author notes : suchhh a whore for domestic fluff word count : 1.5k

you should've known it was a mistake to take your puppy-like boyfriend to the crowded supermarket with you. you knew he'd be bouncing all over the place, asking if you two could get this and that, but you couldn't say no to him; he had puppy-dog eyes after all.

you don’t even know how he convinced you to let him ride along with you, hands clutched the entire time as the bus bumped and jumped. you vaguely remember between fast pecks in the doorway, him spewing out being an extra pair of hands, but you knew it was just because he couldn’t spend a moment of his free-days without you.

contrary to prior belief, jaehyun stood behind you, mostly because he didn’t like people having the opportunity to get too close, as you eyed the various fruits. you swiveled your head, asking if he wanted anything in particular for tonight—reveling in his calmness and security.

he grinned. “strawberries.”

you nodded absentmindedly, picking up a package of pink berries and placing them in the basket your boyfriend had offered (demanded) to carry for you. he pretended as if he was a spy, protecting you from the enemies, as he called them; aka the other people just trying to grocery shop. and you pretended as if you didn’t notice, falling a little more in love each time he’d grip your side, or hand, or shoulder protectively.

“jae, baby,” he hummed, coming to his senses. “do you want anything else while we’re right here? i don’t feel like coming back once you’ve realized you want apples or something.”

he pouted. “i know you would, though.” and he wasn’t wrong, the moment he looked at you with sweet eyes (evidently) you give in.

still you fronted the opposite. “no,” you turned your nose up playfully. “i’d make you go get them by yourself.”

he made an offended sound, hand coming to rest on his chest to emphasize his actions. soon, however, they morphed into a giggle, a cute smile plastering his face, which wasn’t even that far away from yours in that exact moment.

you thought it must’ve been gross, the pda, displayed for all the passerby’s to see. but as you looked at jaehyun, who had nothing but hearts in his eyes for you, you felt inclined to stay like that for at least a little while—you didn’t though, backing away slightly to return to what you needed to be doing instead.

“and, do we need more rice? i can’t remember.”

he tisked. “should’ve made a list, y/n. i would’ve made a list.” you knew well that he was only joking, because your boyfriend of all people would never make a list unless told to do so. you rolled your eyes, letting him continue. “but if we don’t, you can just store it right? it’s not too hard, is it?”

you looked to the various things in your basket already: green onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, lettuce and strawberries. you remembered vaguely what you came here for, and you knew that if jaehyun wasn’t gracing your presence you’d probably be done by now (walking fast due to the anxiety). but despite that, you honestly wouldn’t have today play out any other way.

“i guess you’re right. i usually do that anyways.” he picked up a package of individually portioned rice. “just get those for now, i’ll buy bulk later when i remember.”

jaehyun could tell, like you were a picture book, that you were feeling a little uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people. you usually went to the store closer to closing, or on days when nobody would necessarily be around due to work conflicts. you usually bought in bulk so that it was only a once a month kind of thing, but when he saw you were running low on food he encouraged you (because you need to eat) to go grocery shopping, and that’s how you ended up in the grains isle.

you adjusted the empty basket on your arm, opposite of jaehyun’s, and took his hand. he gladly accepted the way you maneuvered you both from the isle and over by the drinks, which was relatively empty—for now.

he set his own basket on the floor, taking yours gently from your elbow and putting it next to the other. his face had a slight pout, and when his hands placed against your waist, yours mirrored the expression.

“coke zero?” you whispered out. “or sprite? or…”

he kept his gaze on you, before pulling you into a tight hug. the moment your chests hit, you inhaled his bright scent. you never could pinpoint exactly what it was, but every time you smelled something remotely close you were reminded of your boyfriend—who, obviously, cares so deeply for you.

you patted his should, in a way of telling him to let go, because you were a little embarrassed that anyone could see such as intimate moment if they turned down the isle. you loved him, you did, but he was a little impulsive when it came to you and yours needs; or what he thought those were.

before he completely pulled away, he snuck a peck against your lips, causing you to giggle in surprise. you continued laughing as he went to pick up the baskets, as if nothing happened.

“what was that for?”

“what was what for?” he asked, an innocent look meeting your eyes. you always found him puppy-like—everyone did—but right now especially. “how about coke zero, babe?”

you scoffed. “sure, myung, whatever you want.”

he stopped his actions, only halfway done taking the soda off the shelf. he turned back to you, approaching his a stupid-little grin on his lips. your eyes narrowed, but you knew you couldn’t back away. “well, in that case,” his palms touched your cheeks gently, before his lips once again pressed to yours (less urgently this time). you started laughing again, trying to push him off, still embarrassed of your boyfriends shameless actions. you thought this had to be public indecency, that he’d been watching too many dramas—picking up useless real-word tips and tricks—but you had to admit, you were feeling that anxious anymore.

you knew jaehyun always had a way to make you feel better; wether that be embarrassing himself to make you laugh, or holding you close. you knew he’d do just about anything to see you smile. and that he did, pulling away and watching your lips crease up. he thought you looked most beautiful smiling, practically shooting hearts from his eyes.

“jaehyun,” you swatted at him. “stop, this is a public establishment. don’t just kiss me in front of people like that… i-it’s embarrassing.”

he pretended to be offended, although knowing exactly what you meant. “you’re embarrassed? of me?” you rolled your eyes, knowing this was only the calm before the storm. jaehyun didn’t care about embarrassing himself, taking you as collateral. “you’re seriously embarrassed of kissing me? my girlfriend, embarrassed… oh my god.” he was once again pouting. “i don’t know how you’re going to make this up to me, y/n, I’m so hurt right now.”

you took the coke off the shelf, putting it in your empty basket. “let’s hurry up and i’ll give you a kiss at home, okay?”

he turned his nose up, blocking you. “just one? that’s not going to be enough to forgive you. you rejected me, hurt my pride, my ego—my girlfriend does—“

“as many as you want, jae,” you looked to your side, sensing the few people who had stumbled upon you and your (fake) sulking boyfriend. “people are staring, let’s go, please.”

and that’s was his cue. he’d never do anything to make you uncomfortable. he knew that nobody was in the isle when he kissed you, being attentively aware, but now that there was, he couldn’t take it any further.

he cheered up, causing you to laugh in disbelief once again. you watched jaehyun pluck the sprite off the shelf too, adding it to the heavier basket—which he took—and then your hand.

you picked up the other basket, catching a glimpse of the older couple at the end of the isle; they didn’t look disgusted by your actions, not even offended. it was more like a look of adoration, an expression of awe at your young love. maybe, you thought, nobody really minded when your boyfriend expressed his feelings for you. hell, when you saw other couples do it, you didn’t even mind. and it’s not like you were making out in front of the soda. he was just trying to cheer you up.

“c’mon, y/n.” he tugged your arm gently, gaining your attention. “we have to watch the last episode of my demon!”

maybe you were too much in your head, instead of focused on what was going on in the present time. in reality, no one truly cared what the two of you did. and, even through the embarrassment, you still liked when jaehyun was impulsive for you. he was your hyperactive boyfriend after all.

“okay…” you sighed out a deep breath. “and i owe you an apology for rejecting your kisses.”

he corrected. “lots of apologies!” before dragging you to check out.

you kissed his cheek standing in line, and felt something shift within yourself: maybe you were become more comfortable, or maybe you finally realized that expressing your admiration and love for someone wasn’t embarrassing.

emotions were only human after all.

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— perm tag list .ᐟ send an ask to be added c:

[utilitycaster]

The thing that gets me abt the framework of downfall and the way Ludinus(and some ppl in the tags who seemingly are trying really hard to roleplay Ludinus) read it is that they're like "look at how the gods meddled and laid low to destroy this bastion of human achievement, they had no right and should have let themselves be systematically exterminated/have the world burn instead" when. Setting aside the revelation that the gods who struck down Aeor made themselves mortal to do it-- as in, they were on the exact playing fields of humans when they made their move and it wasn't some huge peacocking of power against upstart humans to strike them out of the sky-- the Divergence is going to happen. We KNOW the Divergence is going to happen. The gods are going to create the divine gate and remove any chance that they can ever do something like this again. "Blaugh, look at them meddle and plot-" and? Whatever they do, we know that the sun will shine once more. Melora, as brutal as she is as the starved Asha, will plant a tree of hope in the most destroyed wastes of Wildemount. And they will ensure that the suffering they wrought in the calamity, in Aeor, can never ever repeat the same way they had done it. Which is a HELL of a lot more than can be said for Ludinus who is actively reviving every cycle he can

first off "some ppl in the tags who seemingly are trying really hard to roleplay Ludinus" took me OUT so thank you for that.

I just reblogged a post with a quote from Cooldown that I think is really relevant in understanding the whole story of the gods and how we got to this point but like, just to summarize (and debunk a few things, hopefully) from the beginning of the episode to the end re: the life of the gods:

Gods (possibly aspects of the Luxon?) crash-landed on Exandria BECAUSE of what is all but outright said to be Predathos.

As far as I can tell, no deals were made between the gods and the Titans. The only person who has said this from what I can tell is Asmodeus, who I would not consider a reliable source of truth. Or rather: one might have been made but there's no corroboration that I know of.

They created the people of Exandria and sealed away Predathos both prior to the Schism

The Schism occurred when the Titans decided to attack the people (which to be clear - the people had been there for long enough to build that weird ruin on Ruidus with a portal, like, I would love to know what prompted the fight of the Schism since it had pretty clearly been millennia of coexistence).

The Betrayers decided the move was to leave and start over, and the Primes felt that was a dereliction of duty to the people. That's what the quote is about - it's about the fact that Erathis's motivation for being a Prime Deity isn't "mortals are my blorbos!" it's "we have an obligation to our creations" and more generally that the Prime Deities are invested in their domains for the overall good of Exandria but not necessarily the specific good of Aeor. (Taliesin follows it up with (as Melora) "You'd have to tear me from this fucking planet" w/r/t the idea that you cannot, in fact, destroy your bad first draft simply because it would be more convenient to you.)

Betrayers get sealed, unsealed, events of EXU Calamity occur (notably: the titans are all dead. you can fight about whether this was just or right later but they're gone and killing other people won't bring them back; the titans are largely used as a pearl-clutching prop by people with no arguments that are perhaps actually relevant to the current situation), and perhaps 50 or 60 years into the conflict the gods call a truce re: Aeor's Obtenebrator and commit to decades of living as mortals (and therefore limiting themselves considerably)

And so here we are

And I think this really gets to the point. Because ultimately, the argument in favor of leaving Aeor be is "when someone points a gun at you, lay down and die" and the argument in favor of the Betrayers is "when someone tells you to abandon your (living) obligations for them, do so." The former is despairing and nihilistic and the latter selfish and, well, a betrayal.

There is something profoundly nihilistic about Ludinus, for all he talks about freeing people and a better world. He's destroyed a city of innocents. He's indoctrinated hundreds if not thousands of people and many of them have died in his service; he's the architect of an empire and many wars in its name and is actively working with a second one. He's been killing fey and he's even physically given himself over to the cause. There is no crime or sin people attribute to the gods that he has not done himself in measures beyond nearly every other mortal. Like, I really think he's at a point where he just is unwilling to "lose" even though he has a friendless life and a legacy of violence and has destabilized the entire world and the weave of magic itself. I think he has to believe there's something on this Occultus Thalamus for him because if there isn't, he, like the Prime Deities, probably can't just pick up and start over. All he has left is to give in to just letting the world burn in the hopes that at least he gets the satisfaction of what he hates burning with him.

Basically, sounds like a rough time to try to roleplay him in the tags.

Something else you (and others) bring up is that amid all the "history is written by the victors" the story of Aeor and of the gods has actually painted them as far harsher. The story doesn't say that they were first chased to Exandria unwillingly and did not come in conquest; the story, as this post notes, evokes vast divine might striking down a city from the heavens and not like, living in fragile mortal forms during one of the most dangerous times in history and arguing amongst each other over how they can save both themselves and Aeor and if that's even possible. Like, even if you see the gods as the victors of this story rather than simply the survivors, the "unedited" version of the story makes them far more sympathetic.

You also mention the Divine Gate and that's a really interesting thing to me because the existing status quo of Exandria is actually remarkably nascent if you think about it. The Founding had gods, titans, and mortals. Post Schism had the Prime deities and mortals (and it is worth noting this is when the people of Exandria became the most technologically advanced; you want to talk about the Titans and Betrayers, you need to cover that the price of the wonders of the Age of Arcanum was that they were not present). Calamity had all the gods and mortals again, and the current era is the first where the gods are behind the gate. It's kind of a compromise between all the things that have tried to destroy one another - Betrayers and Primes are separated but all are free within their realms and can indirectly contact mortals; technically, so can Predathos. None can directly be on Exandria. Is it ideal? No. It's a compromise, and the sealed can become unsealed (which, consistently, goes very badly) but it's the option that doesn't involve the total annihilation of anyone. Ludinus seeks, by setting off this horrible cycle again, to undo that fragile imperfect compromise with a goal of wholesale slaughter. He provides no option for the gods other than "die by my hand" when even some of the gods were desperately trying to find other options for Aeor as of a day prior to its destruction. He's simply wallowed in his trauma for centuries, becoming colder and more unfeeling and less empathetic and more arrogant than the gods he accuses of the same flaws.

[ot3]

What Is ORV?

The number one question I get asked on this blog, now answered better than ever. Today I am going to formally introduce you to Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

To start off this recommendation: ORV might very well be my favorite thing I've read. Ever. If I could only reread one thing for the rest of my life it'd be this webnovel.

My elevator pitch is this: something with the cosmic-scale goofy video game nonsense and intricate setting comparable to Homestuck in its prime, paired with the deft emotional poignancy and emotionally-driven fights of Mob Psycho 100, topped off with the sort of compassionate and heartwrenching metanarrative of Undertale.

ORV is a love letter to it's own readers. ORV revels in the joy of losing yourself in fiction, even when it's the kind of fiction that tends to be considered lowbrow or worthless. It's something that dances the delicate line between recognizing the difficult nature of using media as escapism without condemning it. I've rarely seen anything else that accomplishes everything it sets out to do in its narrative with such remarkable precision. Frankly if you're reading a tumblr media recommendation post in 2023, I can almost guarantee ORV has the kind of meat you're looking for in a narrative, whatever that may be.

The story follow the antics of protagonist Kim Dokja, a 28 year old office worker on an expiring contract, whose only real joy in life is reading his favorite massively long and massively boring webnovel. One day, the novel’s events - worldwide deathmatches aired for the entertainment of mysterious higher beings called ‘constellations’ - begin playing out in reality in a sort of reverse-isekai. Kim Dokja, the only longterm reader of this webnovel, finds himself uniquely poised to succeed based on the advantages given to him by his knowledge of future events, but the webnovel’s actual protagonist, Yoo Jonghyuk, is a violent monster who will stop at absolutely nothing to complete his goals, no matter the cost to anyone else. Kim Dokja finds himself in a delicate dance of guiding the events of the story to play out more favorably than the version he read while trying to avoid being massacred in the fallout, all while trying to see it through to the story’s end. 

Below the cut I'll go into a more in-depth (but non-spoilery) explanation of what exactly makes ORV so unique and worthwhile, and what you're in for if you choose to read it.

Clocking in at 550 chapters, and over 1.3 million words in English, ORV may seem incredibly daunting to dip your toes into, but I assure you it's worth every moment. I would read 1.3 million more words if they had them for me. Here are some things about ORV I consider to be selling points, not necessarily in any particular order:

The tone. Its funny, for starters. It is extremely funny, which is very high up on my media priority list. In ORV, there will be incredibly grim things that make you laugh, and incredibly cringe and silly anime bullshit that will hurt you as heavily as any other media you’ve seen. I always love this kind of tonal whiplash when it's well executed, and ORV probably executes it better than anything else I've seen to date.

It’s got fun and fascinating worldbuilding mechanics. the core concept being ‘reality now operates on the rules of a shitty novel’ means that the worldbuilding doesn’t have to function logically, it functions thematically. It’s explicitly stated in ORV canon that some of the internal rules governing this new reality are objectively really stupid and illogical, but they just have to roll with it because that’s what was in the book, and i think it’s a really enjoyable way to do it. This may at first sound like a copout to excuse bad worldbuilding, but I promise it isn’t. The worldbuilding is actually incredibly deeply thought out, but it doesn’t exist for the sake of rational function, it exists for the sake of furthering orv’s thematic arcs. The rules by which this universe operate do a magnificent job of strengthening the core concepts the authors are exploring.

It plays with the trappings of isekai/litrpg in a really thoughtful way. These are genres I'm not super familiar with, so I can't comment on this point too heavily, but with my limited knowledge ORV feels a lot less of a deconstruction of it's genre and more of a celebration/interrogation of it. Despite that, it's still accessible to readers such as myself who are not super familiar with these genre conventions.

It deals with morality in a really wonderful and nuanced way. there are almost no characters in ORV’s extremely large cast who are just explicitly morally condemnable, and almost every conflict allows you to understand exactly why the antagonists believe they’re in the right by opposing the actions of our protagonists. The central conflicts are never pure right and pure wrong; they’re always about contrasting goals, conflicting worldviews, and different priorities between ends and means. this makes the conflicts all feel so much more dynamic and engaging than those where the only stakes are physical harm.

The characters interpersonal relationships are some of the most interesting I've ever seen. ORV is very slow burn and it takes a long time for a lot of these to come out of the woodwork, by design, but by god once they do they fucking hit. Similar to the plot conflicts, the interpersonal conflicts also almost never occur where there’s one side clearly in the wrong. The characters are almost all genuinely attempting to do their best by each other, and the tension comes from the ways in which human communication is fundamentally imperfect and part of our feelings and intentions get lost in translation. it’s very heartwrenching and heartwarming to see unfold, in equal measure.

Following from that, it’s a narrative that really meaningfully prioritizes non-romantic relationships over romantic ones as the central focus. Orv is about love, but not about romance. Obviously there’s shipbait and the ot3 is real and good and my friend but if you’re looking for deep complex platonic, (found or otherwise) familial, and antagonistic relationships that never get ruined with forced romantic arcs, we got em baby!

The pacing is unlike anything i’ve ever seen before. from a purely technical standpoint, it is genuinely a fascinating case study in how to execute a narrative that is almost constantly escalating without exception. there is very little downtime or breathing room in orv, which is insane for something that clocks in at over a million words, and somehow, it still works. i’ve never felt more like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water than i did when i was reading orv and i can’t believe they pulled it off. it’s so interesting to read something like that.

It is a tragedy without resorting to cynicism and a very adult narrative that’s really steeped in childlike wonder. I’m a big fan of cartoons made for children. Cartoons made for children are some of my favorite things to watch, but of course children’s media will always be simplified and not very relatable to an adult audience. ORV is very much a serious and heavy adult narrative, and a deeply tragic one at that, but it never delves into torture porn. It’s a very compassionate piece of media overall, that holds a lot of reverence and sympathy for the ‘naive’ optimism of children that gets stripped down over time. if you, like me, feel more like a grown up child than an adult some days, I think it’ll hit for you.

It is extremely cathartic and meaningful. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that reading it gave me the closest thing I have ever felt to any sort of spiritual breakthrough. It helped unfuck my head a ton during some very grim times and i think the perspective it offers on the value of human life and our relationship to storytelling is a really really good one.

And if my word isn't enough, here's some reviews from satisfied customers. With that, I'll leave the rest to you, and hope you one day reach the end of the story.

[heartbreakprincewille]

Erik is a metaphor for the Monarchy

This season has given me so much to think about Erik and Wilhelm's idolization of Erik, and how it plays a dual role in Wilhelm's arc as a character.

I think Erik represents Wilhelm's motivation to carry forward the legacy of an institution which is slowly crumbling in its relevance (in the fictional Sweden atleast, I have no idea about the geopolitical scenario of the real-life monarchy in Sweden). Yes, Wilhelm does come from a lineage of a family relevant in history, but not only he is too young to understand that burden but he is also someone who does not feel a personal connection with that burden, unlike August(which ironically also stems from his love for his father). But he does feel that personal connection to Erik, not only because they are brothers but also Erik seems to be the only one Wilhelm can fully be vocal about his thoughts until he meets Simon. Erik is what separates Wilhelm from that burden of legacy and responsibilities.

But then Erik dies. Erik's death not necessarily represents the death of the monarchy, but it's still the death of the stability that the system thrives on. Royals want everything in control, and we can see that a lack of control runs everything berserk in that system. Erik's death is the beginning of the legacy weighing down on Wilhelm in full force, how the monarchy is just a system that thrives in perpetual succession and does not care if a spare fills the shoes of an heir unwillingly. He is expected to mould himself in the image of Erik, and the personal connection Wilhelm lacked with the Monarchy takes the shape of Erik in his mind- he believes that he is doing good to Erik's memories if he steps up as a suitable Crown Prince, but in the end, he's just catering to the system, not Erik. Even if the system is full of lies and secrets and he is forced to part ways from his authentic self.

But then he realizes that he does not want to part ways with himself, and how he stands apart as an individual when he is with Simon. Trying to get Simon back was also an attempt to reclaim his individuality, and the more he tried to gain everything back by the easiest way possible, the more he lost Simon and got pushed to the deep end. The Monarchy still loomed on the horizon, he still wanted to uphold Erik's memory by complying with the mould his mother and the Royal Court has been preparing for him. But when he gets Simon's love back, he also gets back his individuality, and how it leads to an epiphany only his free self could have made in his speech.

The illusion reigns supreme even in his relationship with Simon, because Wilhelm thought that he can be a Crown Prince and Simon's boyfriend at the same time, but the more they progressed with the burden together, it became clear that what Wilhelm wants to be is at clear odds with the system he is being prepared for.

Then the illusion shatters with August's confession. It's utterly heartbreaking that Erik and his homophobic actions put deep cracks in Wilhelm's illusion because in the end, he was still his brother. But he will forever remain scarred by the possibility that maybe Erik could have not accepted his individuality and his love for Simon. His first safe haven he found as a child, and which continued to be one when Wilhelm's grief became too painful, all shattered by a revelation he had no answers to. And suddenly all the comparisons with his older brother became a suffocating chain around his head, and he explodes in a rage of fury to his parents.

Erik was not only a literal figurehead of the institution, but he was also a phantom manifestation of the Monarchy for Wilhelm's character. The ever-present apparition of a system he does not thrive in.

[ddejavvu]

I think anakin loves head and like I know that men in general love head but like he takes it to another level. This man would want to be sucked 24/7. and honestly no problem for me cuz I would give that man the sloppiest head in existence 😩

send me anakin thoughts/requests !!

this post is 18+, minors dni.

so the thing is that he just wants his dick sucked 24/7, you're so right. and it's not that he expects it from you, he knows it's not like you owe him or anything, it's just that.. if the urge hits.. he's gonna ask. he's got zero shame. he's not gonna try to take a cold shower (unless he has other, more important things to do, which is rare), he's not gonna try to muscle it down, he's just gonna be upfront and ask if you'll suck him off. 'cause like.. you do it so well. and why would he put himself through mediocrity, or even disappointment altogether when you're on the couch and you might say yes to helping him? you don't look tooooo busy, he'll just ask :)

once he gets into this routine of asking every time, you'll probably tell him he doesn't even have to ask. it's not necessarily a structured free use contract, you're just hearing 'angel can I please have your mouth' 86 times a day so you shrug the 87th time and say 'you don't have to ask, ani. i'll do it whenever you want.'

boy does he take that and run with it!!! you're relaxing on the couch sipping tea and reading and he comes rushing in from his workshop already undoing his buckle. you hear it and it's like you're pavlov's fucking dog, your mouth practically waters and you scramble to bookmark your place before it gets jostled. sometimes he straddles your thighs on his knees on the couch for easy access, sometimes you just slouch a little bit on the cushions and he holds your head to the side to stick his dick in your mouth. it's abrupt sometimes, you don't always get much warning, but you don't care, it's worth it. you'd suffer a thousand lost places in a novel or even another shattered holopad (he'd gotten a little too eager to fuck your face and had jostled the couch cushions so much that it had fallen face-down onto the floor) if it means you get anakin's dick stuffed into your mouth.

is he a little rough sometimes? yeah! do you walk away with a little bit of a sore neck? yeah! are you gonna decline his request next time? no! cause if you complain to him all whiny that he fucked a crick into your neck he'll lay you out flat on the bed on your stomach and massage it for you, which means he has his hands all over your skin, which means he's gonna offer to give you a full back massage too, which means his hands are gonna be really close to your ass, and.. well..

sometimes (a lot) it happens in the shower, 'cause he sees you naked and well.. not much he can do to stop that. he's a little enamored by you. which means you're kneeling on the slick shower floor with his hand tangled in your wet hair and water streaming into your eyes and sometimes blocking out your airway through your nose while you suck and choke and gag on his dick. You always come out of it a little out of breath, but you'd rather suffocate down there than stop.

god there's something so ridiculously sexy about the thought of just. existing. just chilling. and all of a sudden anakin's hand is on your face, hand cupping your jaw as he turns your head to the side. he's already got his dick out, it's in the hand that isn't holding your face, and he just feeds it right into your mouth. fuck whatever you were doing before that, it's not important.

if he's kneeling over you on the couch he'll fuck into your mouth with a hand on the back of your head, grunting and groaning and moaning and hissing while you gag a little on how far his cock is being repeatedly shoved down your throat. he revels in the way your face scrunches, the way your eyes well up with tears as he hits the back of your throat. if you manage to look up at him his breath will stutter in his chest at the sight of your red-rimmed, teary eyes staring up at him, and he'll heave out a 'kriff, angel.' or grunt, 'shit'

some other grunts and groans you might hear from him are things like 'oh- so good, so good, so-good-so-good-so-good!' 'babe. baby, i'm gonna- mmf! I'm gonna cum, now, baby, I'm gonna cum!' and 'good. kriff that was- so good. thanks for letting me have your mouth, angel.'

[anghraine]

Random thought before back to defense prep:

Something I find interesting and enjoyable about P&P is the way that Austen both foreshadows various revelations about Darcy and complicates them before they ever happen. This is typically done through subtle asides or quick interchanges that don't necessarily register as that significant at the time, but still gives the readers a chance to pick up on what's really going to happen.

Just a few examples:

1- Elizabeth and Charlotte briefly discuss how difficult it would be for an outsider, and perhaps Bingley himself, to detect Jane's true feelings:

It was generally evident, whenever they [Jane and Bingley] met, that he did admire her; and to her [Elizabeth] it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love; but she [Elizabeth] considered with pleasure that it was not likely to be discovered by the world in general, since Jane united with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and an uniform cheerfulness of manner, which would guard her from the suspicions of the impertinent. She mentioned this to her friend, Miss Lucas. “It may, perhaps, be pleasant,” replied Charlotte, “to be able to impose on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded.”

2- Darcy tries to warn Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball:

“I can readily believe,” answered he, gravely, “that reports may vary greatly with respect to me; and I could wish, Miss Bennet, that you were not to sketch my character at the present moment, as there is reason to fear that the performance would reflect no credit on either.”

3- Charlotte tries to "read" Darcy at Rosings:

He [Darcy] seldom appeared really animated. Mrs Collins knew not what to make of him. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s occasionally laughing at his stupidity proved that he was generally different, which her own knowledge of him could not have told her; and as she would have liked to believe this change the effect of love, and the object of that love her friend Eliza, she set herself seriously to work to find it out: she watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success.

4- literally the next chapter, one of the funnier miscommunications between Elizabeth and Darcy in Kent:

More than once did Elizabeth, in her ramble within the park, unexpectedly meet Mr Darcy. She felt all the perverseness of the mischance that should bring him where no one else was brought; and, to prevent its ever happening again, took care to inform him, at first, that it was a favourite haunt of hers. How it could occur a second time, therefore, was very odd! Yet it did, and even the third. It seemed like wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance; for on these occasions it was not merely a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away, but he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her. He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking or of listening much; but it struck her in the course of their third rencontre that he was asking some odd unconnected questions—about her pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her opinion of Mr and Mrs Collins’s happiness; and that in speaking of Rosings, and her not perfectly understanding the house, he seemed to expect that whenever she came into Kent again she would be staying there too. His words seemed to imply it.

Very mysterious!!!! Definitely none of their communications here could justifiably be misread!!

[abyssruler]

I REALLY LOVE THAT XIAO FANFIC OF YOURSS(flowers and unplanned proposal) could you perhaps make a part 2 of it? About xiao & reader's 'married' life? :D

(from this fic) hm not necessarily a part 2 cuz i’m too lazy to do one, but here’s a few hcs!

your wedding ceremony’s a small affair consisting of you and xiao, lumine, hu tao, zhongli, paimon, your close friends (xingqiu, chongyun, xiangling, etc.), aaaand a few (re: a lot) of adepti who got curious when they heard that the conqueror of demons was getting married to a mortal.

your wedding’s probably one of the most blessed ones out there simply because of the sheer amount of adepti that attended, which means they had to give a compulsory wedding gift. they all gave various things which all ultimately served as a trinket to ward off evil and bring prosperity.

also, apparently lumine’s got a few scores to settle with some of them because she unwittingly trespassed and stole from their domains, whoops. it’s only thanks to the kind funeral consultant that everything was resolved peacefully. the wedding’s a shitshow and a half, but the important thing is that you and xiao were lawfully wedded by the end of it. the only problem you really had was if zhongli the consultant was qualified to officiate the wedding. xiao assured you multiple times that he is, trust me, there is no one more fit for it than rex—i mean, zhongli.

nothing much really changes except for the fact xiao is a little embarrassed at the revelation that your relationship was basically one sided until hu tao of all people spilled the beans to you. you do let him sleep in your bed without needing permission anymore, which you had to explain to him multiple times that since you’re married now, what’s yours is his, which means he doesn’t need to wake you up at midnight just to ask if he can lay down beside you.

lumine is, as always, the one who keeps pushing you two together and keeps taking credit for being your so called matchmaker. as a self proclaimed love guru, she’s your go-to when you need advice regarding married life, but after hearing various suggestions like pretending to drown so he can save you and falling off cliffs to experience that ‘damsel in distress and white knight feeling’, you’ve decided that lumine should be banned from making romantic advices.

it’s not too bad—being married, that is. it’s pretty much the same as when you thought xiao was just a roommate. you still do the chores together, he still cooks dinner for you, the two of you still argue on who gets to have the last piece of chocolate on a packet (he always lets you win).

except, if your home was full of flowers back then, now it’s fit to burst with the amount xiao showers you with. he’ll come home from doing whatever adepti stuff he does with arms full of different kinds of flowers. it once got to the point where a random person entered your house, thinking it was a flower shop only to be met with a very grumpy adeptus asking what business they have on his home.

suffice to say, you told him to limit the flower giving to once a week. if only so you won’t have to resort to using your bathtub as a vase for them.

[uselesssomebody]

Oooooo wondering if I request a miguel o'hara x platonic(maybe) shy reader who’s a popular superhero spider person who bonded with venom and has an infant son who’s a mommy boy with her boyfriend Miguel of her dimension. Miguel sees the reader reminded of his dead wife reader of his dimension. Pretty cute her infant son and Mayday Parker having play dates, she’s the godmother of Mayday and Peter is the godfather 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

'𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕜𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜' 𝕕𝕒𝕪 - dad!miguel o'hara x mom!reader

(or astv's spider society x platonic!reader)

complete masterlist | miguel o'hara masterlist

words || 𝟛𝕜

summary || in which the reader and peter b. have a 'bring your kid to work' day at the spider society

a/n || i have been frothing at the mouth to write dad!miguel so here

➵ anon i'm actually kneeling at your feet for this request; it's so *chef's kiss* unfortunately, i know 0 things about venom, and i forgot about the 'shy' aspect of reader, but otherwise, i tried to nail this request. if you want a shy reader x miguel specifically, just send me another req, and i will have it done.

➵ lemme talk about the spanish real quick: a lot of it in this one thanks to the lovely @spookyanamurdock. quite a bit of spanglish as well, translations are next to the spanish bits

➵ also miguel (both of him) is the only one to speak any spanish. reader is not coded as being able to speak spanish or necessarily being from a spanish-speaking country, but she can understand what miguel is saying.

➵ send me requests if you have ‘em. enjoy!

warnings || fluff

it'd been nine months since she'd had a full night's rest.

guess how old her infant was.

she was jolted awake to the sound of wails and cries and she quickly rubs her hands over her face as she sits up. she looks behind her to see her husband roll in his sleep at the sound, and she smiles, getting up more quickly so that she can handle their child before he wakes up.

she steps into the next room, where their son is rocking in his cradle, evidently upset. she pouts a little at the sight of his chubby cheeks pinched into a scowl, and his gummy mouth open and ignorant to how loud he was being.

"what's woken you up, baby?" she mumbles, quiet and rhetoric, as she immediately takes him in her arms, rocking him softly on one side while using her free arm to gently pat for where he was feeling discomfort. noticing none, and recognizing his cry wasn't that of hunger, she lifts him up gently, looking in his adorable, curious eyes.

she notices his cries have simmered, a more satisfied and sleepy expression on his features, and she smiles, "did you just want mama to hold you for a bit?" she muses, as she lovingly tucks his head back into her shoulder, quietly pacing the room with him. in another couple moments, he's out like a light once more, and she chuckles to herself as she lays him back down in his cradle, momentarily forgetting her annoyance at losing sleep as she traces a soft finger over his features, beaming at his adorableness, "goodnight, gabe." she murmurs softly, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead, before she slips back out of the room, and into her bedroom. the clock by her bed reads 3:07, and she sighs, her exhaustion overtaking her once more. she smiles at the sight of her husband, still knocked out in the same position. she lays back down next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, as she revels in his large stature and radiating heat, falling asleep next to him almost immediately.

she was a little shocked when she'd gotten a call in for work the next morning. well 'work' is a better way of putting it, as you can't exactly put 'multiverse-hopping for the spider society' on a resume.

she'd worked with the gajillion other spiders in nueva york for a little over 3 years before she'd had to take maternity leave for the little baby she was currently heating up a bottle of milk for. on the other side of the kitchen, her husband was allowing gabe to sit on his shoulders and play with his hair as he tried to clean dishes, and she suppresses a laugh at the sight, plucking gabe off his shoulders. "enough of that, baby." she muses, "you'll mess up daddy's hair," she sets him into his high chair, gently sticking the bottle in his mouth, as her husband comes and sits next to her. she gently runs her hand through his hair, straightening it out where gabe messed it up.

"miguel?" she starts, and he nods, his eyes looking up at hers, "i've gotta go in today." he furrows his brow a little, before realizing what she was talking about.

"¿cuándo regresarías?” (when’ll you be back?) he mumbles, still a little sleepy from the hectic morning. she shakes her head.

"no clue yet. think we can get a sitter for him?" she cocks her head to gabe, who was happily enjoying his bottle himself. miguel sighs, rubbing his eyes a little.

"no creo, cariño" (i don't think so, sweetheart.) he looked stressed, and she looked at him sympathetically, so she shakes her head.

"that's okay, hun." she rubs his knuckles a little, "i'll just take him with me." miguel's eyes widen in worry, and she chuckles.

"it's just a consultation, don't worry." she smiles, "we'll not move an inch from the headquarters." his shoulders relax a little, and a smile finally falls over his tired face.

"uhm, claro. si, suena bien, sure." (right. yeah, that sounds good, sure.) he pauses for a moment, "uh, will the big guy be okay with it?" she looks at him confused, before she bursts out in laughter, making gabe jump a little, dropping his bottle. she winces a little, picking it up for him and mumbling a quick 'sorry' 

"are you talking about other-miguel?" she teases, and he groans with a smile.

other-miguel was her boss, the person in charge of the spider society. it'd been an... experience when she'd first met him.

originally, her recruitment was overseen by spiderwoman - jessica, her lovely friend who she was now coaching through her own pregnancy. because jessica brought her in, she'd not actually met other-miguel until nearly 2 months in.

the first time she'd seen him had been when jessica was at home - or her home universe - and she'd instead had to discuss her next mission with him. she'd gone up to his office, ready with a quip about how he had the same name as her long-term boyfriend - but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her boyfriend's back in front of her. her eyes widen, and her greeting catches in her throat. other-miguel looks back at her, and he's got a similarly surprised look in his eyes.

"¿cariño?" (sweetheart?) he asks in his familiar, gruff voice. it was tinged in slightly more exhaustion.

"hon - honey?" she stutters out, finally able to clear her throat enough to talk, "what are you doing here?" he blinks in shock, before he sighs deeply, realizing what had happened.

"no - no, no soy…" (i'm not) he inhales, "you're seeing a miguel o'hara?" she blinks.

"honey, what are you-"

"no-" he cuts her off, "i'm not your miguel." her eyes narrow, before it dawns on her.

in the entirety of the spider society, there were countless versions of 'peter parker', a handful of 'miles morales's, and more than a few 'gwen stacy's and plenty of 'm.j.'s. it would be, in fact, more shocking that there wasn't more than one miguel o'hara in the multiverse.

"oh." she mumbles, "oh." a beat passes, "do you - you know someone like me too?"

his face is downcast. it's a touchy subject.

"si. así es." (yeah. that’s right.) there's a silence that passes over them, before his face becomes stern again, and he begins explaining the mission.

it took 3 more missions for other-miguel to open up about the woman she reminded him off, and she, in turn, would point out the differences between him and her boyfriend. they had a strange bond, something that was difficult to properly explain to anyone else, but they felt no obligation to.

she knows miguel found it hard to be around her at first. every time he'd look at her, his face would flash in a pain that she only came to know about later, and one she hoped to never understand. similarly, it made her feel weird to be seeing and hearing her boyfriend, yet having to adamantly remember that it wasn't him. it became better after a while, as it was easier to notice the differences between her miguel and other-miguel.

now, she was good friends with him - at least, as friendly as anyone could be with him.

"yeah, he won't mind," she continues, talking to her boyfriend, "besides, peter brings his little one in constantly. it'll be fine." she smiles, and her husband seems to calm a little.

"perfecto." he rises slowly, pressing a kiss to gabe's forehead, and then her lips, "¿te vere ésta noche?" (i'll see you tonight?) she nods with a small smile.

"yeah, honey." she waves him off as he heads to work, before she picks up gabe, "you ready for some misadventure, baby?" she teases, pressing a kiss to his nose. he coos in response, and she takes it as a yes, pulling out her watch.

after a couple minutes, a multicolored portal opens in her kitchen, and jessica walks in, waddling a little with the large weight in her stomach. she grins wide at the sight of the mother and son, cooing at the adorable child.

"i haven't seen you in ages!" jessica drawls, taking her into a hug, before plucking gabe up, and playing with his little baby hands, "have you grown, gabe? you're so big now!" he giggles in response, as though he's taken the compliment, and jessica laughs, handing him back to his mother.

"how've you been, jess? how's the tummy?" she asks, rocking gabe slowly. jess rubs her stomach, pouting a little.

"they're kickin' and screamin' to get out." they both laugh at the comment, before jessica pulls out a small, baby-sized watch, a visitor pass for baby gabe, "here." she slips it over his small wrist, "don't want you glitching out, do we?" jessica steps back, before looking back at her, "ready?"

she nods, clutching gabe a bit tighter.

"baby's first." jessica jokes, leading her forward. she adjusts gabe on her hip and the watch on my wrist, stepping in. gabe coos in interest at the colors of the portal, and he has to blink a few times when he realizes that the actual h.q. is significantly *less* interesting. he fidgets a little, brows furrowing in confusion, which causes her to soothe him with a hand running along his back.

"it's okay, baby." she whispers in his ear, glancing around at the familiar building and familiar spider-people milling about. a couple of them nod or wave in recognition, and she greets a few, before jessica pulls her along.

"c'mon, miguel and peter b. need us." she nods at jess's statement, tucking gabe's head in her shoulder and following the woman up to miguel's office.

as soon as they walk in, she see miguel and peter, stood on his suspended platform, look back at them, and 4 youngins on the floor look back too. they're a diverse group, teenagers and just older, and of course, she knew hobie and pav. immediately, the two of them come up to greet her, excited to see her after so long.

"you're back?" pav says excitably, and she laughs.

"no - no, not yet, sorry, guys." she clarifies, and gabe's head pops up at the noise. pav and hobie's eyes widen.

"you've go' a kid now?" hobie's accent, strong as ever, shines through. she rolls her eyes playfully.

"why'd you think i left? for fun?" peter's come down to join them at this point, and he engulfs her in a side hug, before taking gabe off her.

"and how is my little godson doing?" he coos, playing with the baby. she smiles at the interaction, before looking around him.

"where's my goddaughter, pete?" she asks curiously, wondering where may's head of vibrant red is. peter cocks his head in miguel's direction, making her look back up to see the infant crawling around on his giant, familiar shoulders. she laughs, and miguel finally comes down to join them. she sees the other two teenagers' faces scrunch in confusion, and it's suddenly evident to her that they're newbies, and they don't yet know that miguel's slow descent is nothing but a fear tactic and, more often than not, he'd use the faster setting to get to the floor in seconds. he comes up to her, a gruff expression on his face, and the teenagers' seem concerned. until, he dons the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. he nods his head in greeting, and she salutes him, and small grin on her face, as may practically slides down from his arm and into her chest, making her catch the baby with an exaggerated stumble and 'oomph!', "aw, you've grown, haven't you, may-be?" she smiles, having given her goddaughter an adjacent nickname to her own child, "what trouble have you been getting into?"

meanwhile, pav and hobie - uncharacteristically - were cooing over gabe in pete's arms. i turn to the teenagers, and jessica introduces me.

"gwen, and miles - visitor." jess clarifies, pointing at both respectively.

"nice to meet you guys." she nods back, looking between them and may, trying to crawl on her shoulders.

after a couple more moments of catch-up, miguel and pete pulled her up to the panel, along with may and gabe, and jessica pulls the other 4 out. miguel begins explaining the reasoning for the call-in.

"so, these 4 are being assigned to an anomaly. the girl's only been here a month - this is her first real mission - and the guy's here to prove himself." she quirks a brow.

"so he's been here less than a month and he's already on a mission?" it's not common - even she'd had to dredge through a month and a half of training sessions and simulations before going on her first mission - and even that was with jessica. miguel shrugs in response to her question, and peter interrupts.

"i vouch for him. he's a - he's a good kid. mentored him myself. we stopped a multiversal collapse together before." he says casually, so casually that she can't help but giggle. it'd been a year since she'd heard about things like 'multiversal collapses', and she still wasn't used to it.

"okay, where do i come in?" she asks, pulling gabe off of a monitor he wanted to play with.

"you can sit right here and just guide them. peter también va a estar aquí, solo, guialos ¿está bien?" (peter's gonna be here too. just... coach them, you know?) miguel explains, and she nods.

"right... sure. yeah, that works." peter smiles, and miguel points to a monitor.

"your station, m'lady." peter jokes, making her laugh. she sits down, gabe on her lap, slipping an earpiece in her ear and beginning to read the data file on the anomaly the 4 were looking to contain. after a couple minutes, she hears the crackle of a girl's voice - gwen - through the ear piece.

"hey! we've just arrived in the universe." she nods at the confirmation.

"perfect. you guys ready?"

the mission was relatively quick to finish, and she had celebrated with peter once hobie's voice had crackled through, saying the anomaly was captured. he stayed behind to monitor it while the three teens headed back, and she sighed in relief, finally picking gabe up from his place crawling on the floor with may.

while her and peter were tensely trying to ensure the kids were safe and everything went to plan, the two infants had been having the time of their life playing with each other. gabe would find it tremendously entertaining whenever may would begin climbing on walls, and he had tried a few times too, only getting as far as a meter up before his mother pulled him off out of her worry. nonetheless, he absolutely was determined to climb onto a monitor, which resulted in a slight hassle when peter lost audio for a moment.

by the time the mission was over and gabe was back in his mother's arms, he was out like a light, exhausted by his long day in the spider society.

after miles, pav and gwen had made it back, peter was sure celebrations would be in order, something that miguel seemed to be staunchly against, and something she had to reluctantly decline.

"sorry, guys, i should get back home. the little guy's already sleepy, and miguel should be back home by now." the sentence confused gwen and miles, as they looked between her and the intimidating boss of the spider society. she smiles at their confusion, but opts to let jessica explain, as she says her goodbyes and heads out. may, distraught at the thought of not being able to play with gabe anymore, makes a daring attempt to escape with him and his mom, only foiled at the last moment because of an attentive miguel. she smiles at the sight, petting her hair and letting may wave one final time at gabe's sleeping form - moving his hand to mimic a wave back - before heading to the portals.

when she tries to hand back gabe's visitor's pass to jessica, it's fruitless, as the other woman insists she keeps it, a certain knowing look in her eyes. she tries to ignore it, smiling in thanks, as the two head back.

correct to her belief, miguel - her miguel - was changing out of his work attire when they arrived and, upon hearing his greeting to her, gabe's eyes shoot open, excited at the thought of seeing his dad after the long day apart. it makes her laugh, and she sets the infant down on the couch to take off his wristband.

"¿qué tal todo?" (how was it?) comes miguel's - maybe perpetually - sleepy voice from behind her as she fiddles with the closing mechanism of the band.

"good. gabe tried climbing on a few walls, met his godsister - if that's a thing - met other-miguel and his godfather. got to meet the kids too." she lists off quickly, taking off the band and placing it to the side, not realizing that miguel is right behind her now.

he wraps his large arms around her, warmth encircling her body as she squeak in slight shock, making gabe laugh.

"and how was it for you, mi amor?" (my love) he asks, pressing a kiss to her cheek, making her smile.

"well, we saved the day. so it was very good." miguel nods, not letting her go.

"muy bien, muy bien," (good, good.) he whispers, seemingly now less interested in the answer to his question and more interested in the fact that he could hold her after his grueling day.

as soon as the hug lasts a little too long, though, they hear an indignant whine of disapproval, making them both laugh after a moment of shock. miguel detaches from her, and she reaches down to sit with gabe, before pulling him into her lap. his face immediately breaks into a smile, and miguel settles next to them.

"¿qué pasa, bebé? (what is this, baby?) you won't let me hug your mom anymore?" he says in playful upset. gabe frowns at his words, settling farther in his mom's arms.

"i think he's a little jealous." she teases, running her hands through gabe's thin head of hair.

"¡increible! (unbelievable!) i knew her first, amigo." the joking annoyance makes her laugh, as she places a big kiss to gabe's cheek and then to miguel.

"boys, boys. there's enough love for me to share." as if hearing her, gabe whines in annoyance again, making her and miguel look at each other with wide eyes.

"o - okay, it's all for you, gabe." she reassures, letting him rest his head on my shoulder. she looks up at miguel. "please don't start whining, now." she teases. he laughs quietly.

"no te prometo nada." (no promises.)