#wonder where he got that ign from

[risingsunresistance]

i havent rlly kept up with techno's dad but i saw his ign and just had to check

someone gave him youtube rank fkjhsdgk

[luveline]

hey baby! happy christmas eve <3 i was wondering if we could get more shy!reader x spence, i know the people love bombshell (and i love her too!) but shy reader has such a special place in my heart :)

ty for requesting!! ♡ fem

The universe puts Spencer Reid so close to you and so often as a punishment for something. You thought you were getting a great gig, selected for the BAU younger than most, surrounded by the top agents in the field, top agents willing to forgive your inexperience just as long as you don't impede the flow. 

Well, you're impeding things. Badly. 

“What are you doing?” Emily asks. “You're not listening to a word I'm saying. I need your help on this.”

Her tone is kinder than her unimpressed stare. “Right. Right, sorry, I'm distracted.” 

“You think?” She frowns. “What's with you?” 

Spencer crouches just outside of your eyeline by the door. The police precinct the BAU dominates today is small and underfunded, leaving Spencer to map his geographical profile on the floor. This is fine, but the precinct is in Texas, where the weather is sweltering, and the way to survive is to strip. He wears a simple blue-white button up without a tie, his sleeves bunched above his elbows, and his hair clings to the damp back of his neck. 

“Nothing. Sorry.” 

Emily hums unhappily. You can't blame her for not believing you. 

You throw yourself back into your work, bouncing theories and details off of each other with Spencer's ear skewed your way. It's harder to talk while he's listening. Worse when Morgan arrives with lunch and insists that Spencer sit beside you so he can hog the vent above. 

“Did they have your diet coke?” Spencer asks. 

You gesture to your cup clumsily. Spencer opens the bag on the table to pull out your polystyrene boxes. He knows without asking what food you've ordered and places it neatly in front of you, passing you a plastic knife and fork before he so much as glances at his own meal. He's sickeningly thoughtful. 

“You okay?” he asks. “You're being really quiet today. Quieter than usual.” 

“I'm fine.” 

“Yeah? You sure?” 

You nod with a tight smile. You're worried if he keeps looking at you that you might burst into flames. 

Spencer puts his hand on your arm and squeezes. The warmth of his palm pressed to the flank of your arm, the gentle pressure, the pat before he pulls back. Your brain melts in your skull and the rest of the team arrive just in time to watch. 

“You look like you've seen a ghost,” JJ says, dropping her jacket on the table. Hotch gives you a concerned squint. 

“I'm fine.” 

“She keeps saying she's fine,” Spencer says, hand on your shoulder now, the lightest of touches. 

“But you're not really fine,” Rossi says, sitting across from you with a knowing look. He always looks like he knows everything. "What's wrong, bella?"

“I'm fine, I'm–” Spencer's touch becomes more insistent on yout shoulder, heat rushes to your face and chest, and suddenly you've lost sight of what you're doing, where your hands are, and you've knocked your soda over in a rush of ice. 

Spencer grabs it before it can tip entirely. Emily throws napkins at the mess. Your hands come up to your face suddenly, embarrassed, but the team laugh and hum their sympathies. 

“I got it,” Emily says. 

“Maybe you should try drinking some of that,” Morgan teases. 

“I'm really sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me today.” 

“Well, don't get stressed about it. Just take a minute,” Hotch says. “Is that mine?” 

Spencer closes in, hand flat on your shoulder, inching down to the small of your back. He stops somewhere on your spine, his every touch like a bruise. He can't not know how nerve wracking it is to be near him, but of course he doesn't. He wouldn't put you through this if he did. 

“Your food's gonna get cold,” he says. 

You rub your eyes and promptly put your hands in your lap. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I just had a hot flush, I think.” 

“Loverboy's not getting to you, is he? Just ignore him,” Morgan says. 

“I'd prefer if you didn't ignore me,” Spencer says quietly, charmingly. 

“Reid, eat.” Hotch meets your eyes. In a room of profilers, he's the best. He's the shark. He probably knew how Reid made you feel before you did, and he's the boss, so he redirects his attention. “Y/N, you're alright?” You nod. “Then let's eat and talk about what we know so far.” 

You give up half way through your meal when Spencer's knee rests against yours and you can physically feel your heart at the contiguity. 

“Are you sure you're okay?” he asks you softly. 

His deodorant smells like mint. “I promise, I'm fine. I think it's just too hot.” 

He makes you a fan with a menu from the takeout and fans you with it. It works at first, but his smile prolongs your agony and it eventually prompts an adverse effect. 

Hotch has to send Spencer out to canvas with Rossi to get you to function again. 

[slvtforfiction]

here to request again because I thought about something !! Alright hear me out a Johnnie Guilbert smut where we dress all pink like skirts and cute shit ifyk what I mean. I think an enemies to lovers trope would be perfect !!

Fuck you (literally).

☆ OMG.

☆ @icecubesaredelicous love u sm for this request,Ty love. ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

☆ HDKWJDJSKSKDJ

☆ Anyways,

☆ Johnnie Guilbert X Reader ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

☆ Enemies to lovers ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

☆ SMUT

☆ Masterlist

☆ Hey guys! Before anything else I would ask you to request anything you want because I've lost a lot of motivation and it would really help! :D

☆ Creds to @cafekitsune for dividers :)

You:

Fuck you.

Johnnie had decided to message me just to tell me how bad my outfit was as per usual.

I couldn’t be assed to deal with him anymore,I thought as I hit the big red block button on my screen.

I was wearing a pink mini skirt with a crop top,black with a pink logo,posting it because I look cute but ofcourse he had to be the one to ruin it.

It was the same thing I was wearing to the party and I was slightly annoyed and embarrassed that he had to be rude.

He was beyond annoying (not to mention rude) and I didn’t want to deal with him. Not today at least,I had a party to go to at Colby’s apartment.

I walked into Colbys apartment,my outfit as pretty as ever,no matter what other people (Johnnie) said.

The apartment was crowded with familiar faces and one that caught my eye,Johnnie mother fucking Guilbert.

I sighed as I grabbed myself a drink,this is going to be a long night.

I will only be here an hour I told myself trying to calm myself down but in reality I knew it was a lie.

After 2 hours of shots,drinks and snacks to sober up a little,I was ready to leave. I bid my farewells and good nights to the people I had been speaking to and left Colbys apartment.

I walked into my apartment,kicking off my uncomfortable heels and stumbling to the kitchen for a glass of water to sober myself up further.

It wasn’t long after I had put on my sweatpants and a hoodie that I opened the door to find Johnnie staring back at me.

“What do you want?” I sighed,rolling my eyes back into my head. “Awh sweetheart at least act happy to see me!” He said,stumbling into my apartment.

“No,tell me what you want or get out.” I told him, “Can I crash here?” He asked almost pleading and I felt bad.

“Are you going to mock me in any way?” I asked him sternly and he shook his head “Fine but only because I don’t want you dead,it decreases the value of my apartment.” I told him as I grabbed a glass,filling it with water and placing it infront of him.

“Drink.” I told him as he laid on my sofa,sitting up to take a sip every once in a while.

I looked at him,realising how pretty he actually was before quickly snapping out of it. He had been my enemy for god knows how long,a hate relationship and never a love hate relationship. He was horrible and rude and I was horrible and rude back,Thats the way the balance of our relationship worked.

Although deep down I did wonder why he knocked on my door,out of everyone he knew in this apartment block,I mean for godsakes Jake was only below me.

I ignored my thoughts,belittling it down to the fact that my apartment was across from Colbys and therefore easier for a drunk to walk to.

“Im going to bed.” I told him and threw a blanket over his almost lifeless body. And with that I walked upstairs to my bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up the following morning and got dressed before walking downstairs to make myself some pancakes.

I was surprised to see Johnnie still asleep on my sofa,as the sun rays hit his eyelids.

I smiled at him before beginning to make my pancakes. I stood over the stove as I flipped the golden brown,fluffy pancakes.

I smiled to myself looking at my plate of perfection. I sat down at my island in the kitchen as I ate.

“Good morning,pinky pie.” He said smiling whilst he stretched “Oh fuck you.” I said as I put my plate in the sink.

My rage seeped in,threatening to ruin my day and he always seemed to be the cause of it.

“Gladly.” He said smiling as he walked up behind me,holding his hands at my waist.

“Bold of you to assume I would go anywhere near you.” I told him before he pulled me into a kiss.

I resisted it until I gave into the kiss,smashing my lips back into his. He picked me up by the waist as he lied me down on the sofa.

“Do you have any idea what these outfits do to me?” He said pulling up my skirt whilst simultaneously pulling down my panties.

I whined out as his fingers circled my clit,settling his head in between my legs. He wrapped his arms around my thigh,keeping me close as his tongue hit my entrance,sliding inside.

“Johnnie!” I moaned out,whining as my eyes rolled back.

I had known Johnnie for ages,never a girlfriend in sight,but god was he good with his tongue.

His tongue hit my g-spot and my eyes rolled further,my head lulling to the side and my hands shaking in his hair.

“Please! M’ close!” I almost screamed whilst he ventured deeper through my walls.

“Come f’me love.” He said and with that I came undone on his tongue. Though he didn’t stop,he continued through my high and then pulled me closer to continue his movements.

“Johnnie please! Too-too much!” I muttering as tears streamed down my face from overstimulation,my hands unable to grip anything as my thighs along with the rest of my body shook uncontrollably.

I came undone on his tongue another time,but this time he stopped and pulled my body,that shook almost violently,into his.

I cuddled into his chest and soon fell asleep.

I woke up to find myself in bed,Johnnie no where to be found across the apartment. I gave up liking and decided he had left me,going back to bed,I pulled the covers over me and looked at my phone.

Johnnie:

Gone to get us some food I’ll be back in 10 okay love? X

[cordsycords]

been thinking more about the info about the backgrounds that we've seen, regarding Rook's past, and I really hope we get some reactivity with our companions, especially ones that are in the same faction as us:

shadow dragons - okay, from the single line we get in the prologue from Neve, it doesn't seem like she's specifically heard of/worked with Rook before. This kind of makes me wonder if the Shadow Dragons are a much more decentralized faction than something like the Wardens or the Crows, with multiple cells that are all working together towards the same goal, but keep minimal communication with one another due to secrecy. Might be cool if we have a mission that's like "find the leader of the Shadow Dragons" because no one knows who it is*. The background info from the CC kind of supports this idea, Rook is specifically said to have been "brought to the attentions of the Venatori" and put in time out because of that.

As for reactivity, I guess it would be nice if you could mention that specific mission, and Neve could "oh right I heard of that. You did the right/wrong thing." and just give her opinion on it. I can actually imagine Neve not being really keen on it, as a private investigator she needs a certain amount of discretion to be able to do her job properly, and might not appreciate Rook's brashness if it endangers the wider goal of the shadow dragons.

mournwatch - the mournwatch background is still driving me a little Insane, because what do you mean Rook was found as a baby in the Grand Necropolis. Anyways I kind of assume the Mournwatch is a much smaller faction, because they have a very specific focus, and they only operate in a specific part of Thedas. Since the info specifically says Rook was "raised by necromancers" it would be super cool to see if Rook and Emmrich had a Mentor/Student relationship at one point. Would also be interesting if Emmrich specifically was the one to tell Rook to travel after the incident with the War of the Banners. It would be great to see his response to Rook coming back and suddenly being in charge of this little rebellion, they just can't stop themselves from getting into trouble.

Also Mournwatch!Rook taught Manfred to play rock-paper-scissors. That's my headcanon and you can't take it away from me.

antivan crows - So it seems like Rook is a relatively new antivan crow, and from the little I've gleaned about Lucanis' recruitment mission, it looks like he might have been thought to be dead for the last year or so? Would be cool if Rook has heard a bunch of stories about Lucanis and has some hero worship going on. Would also be funny if we told him all that we had heard, only for him to shoot all the more fantastical elements of those tales down.

grey wardens - This one is also a little up in the air regarding whether Davrin and Rook knew each other before the events of Veilguard. Rook's faction backstory mentions them being in a group along with other Grey Wardens, so it would be nice if Davrin was also on the mission. I would also be really interested to see how Davrin got Assan, and maybe Rook played a hand in that somehow as well. Did Davrin literally find Assan in the middle of nowhere, and maybe Rook was there? Or were the eggs all found and then distributed among the Grey Wardens that were in high favour? Was Rook passed over for a griffon? I do remember one of Davrin's missions from an IGN previwe being specifically about saving the griffons, so it's probably the case that Assan is the only one actively around right now.

Either way, it would be cute to see an encounter where Rook remarks on how much Assan has grown/changed since they've seen them last, if they even know about Assan at all pre-Veilguard

lords of fortune - I think the relationship between taash and a LoF!Rook would be a good case for a slightly more antagonistic relationship. As an organisation of treasure hunters, probably focused more on profit and glory than anything else, it would be cool if Rook got in the way of taash's scores or jobs. Maybe Taash has moved up in the faction since Rook was forced to peace out, and wants to lord her achievements over Rook in an attempt to make them jealous. It could be pretty fun.

veil jumpers - I imagine Bellara and a jumper!Rook would probably be pretty aligned with one another. Reading the background info on Rook in the Veil Jumpers, i can imagine Bellara would probably approve of what Rook had done, while also being just a tiny bit disappointed that the map was lost. It would be cool to see a scene where they traded notes with one another, recounting all the weird things that they've seen in Arlathan, and then maybe trying to figure out why certain anomalies occur, or how they work. Just a bunch of co-nerding out with one another

anyways, I am definitely thinking way too much about this, but there's still 6 weeks to go, so it's not like there's much else for me to do :shrugs:

* it would be equally cool if that leader is a previous char from inquisition. I'm kind of banking on Dorian, or the inquisitor themselves considering the clothing we see them wear in that single shot of them in the CC is shadow dragons casual wear (i believe)

[brabblesblog]

Ch 12: If ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

Astarion has ascended, and she has stayed with him. Life in the Crimson Palace isn’t as idyllic as it seems. Is there a chance for their relationship to go back to how it was? Or is it too late for the Ascendant and his consort?

This series is about Ban, my Tav, and the Vampire Ascendant. Will be angst and smut, with sprinkles of fluff.

This fic is a softer take on Ascendant!Astarion and of the changes he undergoes after the rite. Can Ban handle the change, and if a chance came, would she choose to run? And can the Ascendant win her back in time? Inspired by the concept of vampire wives and that IGN interview with Larian that discussed the ascension.

Professionally edited by @editing-by-night

Astarion and Ban's happiness isn't as long lived as they had hoped.

Read on AO3.

Masterlist.

BONUS: I've been listening to this song for this fic. Enjoy!

Astarion awakened at dawn’s first light, and first expected his hand to fall upon thin air. Instead he grasped Ban’s side and she shifted, unwillingly stirring at his touch.

“It’s too early,” she grumbled, trying to swat his hand off. Instead he pulled her tight against him, and for a few minutes they struggled with each other playfully, ending with the Ascendant pinned beneath his beloved.

“What was the point of all these powers,” he lamented, “If you can just hold me down like this?”

“Let’s see,” she mused, leaning down to leave a trail of kisses from his temple to his jaw. “Walking in the sun, turning into a bat, or mist… summoning ghoulish minions… what’s not to like?”

“Touché.” He took a moment to try to flip her; she merely raised an eyebrow and tightened her hips around his midsection, holding him down more securely.

He growled, without heat, and gave up. Laughing at his predicament, Ban pinned him down a little longer to pepper more kisses along his throat, and then climbed off.

“I need to go to the Elfsong to get my things,” she said, rising from the bed and tugging a pair of trousers on.

Astarion watched from the bed, utterly unperturbed. “Of course, love. Shall I meet you for lunch somewhere?”

He’d been dining with her of late to allow her to enjoy the taste of human food.

“Sure.” She pulled her shirt over her head. “Blushing Mermaid?”

He snorted derisively at her choice of location, but nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

He watched as she left on foot; she hadn’t been taking the carriage recently. He’d wondered about it, had considered asking her why, but even he could feel that there was still much left unsaid when it came to Ban - and with how tentative their relationship felt, he didn't dare push.

Astarion tilted his cup, sipping his morning tea on the balcony as Ban’s figure receded in the distance. There was still a slight worry whenever she left, a niggling feeling he resented himself for harboring. As she disappeared from sight he turned to head inside, ready for today’s tasks.

Ban entered her room in the Elfsong, stopping dead in her tracks the moment she got a look inside. There was something… off about the way everything looked. She looked down at the book she was reading. It was sitting just where she’d left it, but upon closer inspection she noticed that it was opened to the wrong page.

The wind could have blown it to another page, she rationalized to herself, but when she looked up to check, the windows were closed. They had been ever since she’d started renting this room. She frowned, then took another cursory glance.

I didn’t leave my pack open, did I? She approached and opened it, then turned it over, spilling its contents out onto the bed. Ban took inventory; there was a dawning sense of unease as she concluded that seemingly nothing had been taken.

Someone had been in her room, had rummaged through her things, but had taken nothing. She immediately looked for her greatsword, and to her relief it was right where she’d left it, leaning against the wall.

A sigh of relief escaped her. A precious relic in and of itself, she valued that sword all the more for the memories it had borne witness to, for all the times it had saved their lives. Odd, that it hadn’t been taken.

She crossed the room in two strides and picked up the heavy blade. It seemed fine; she checked the grip and crossguard for any untoward substances that could indicate sabotage or poison. Nothing, yet again.

Curious.

There were always threats, of course. Being the hero of Baldur’s Gate brought accolades and honors, but it also ensured that everyone knew who you were, or at least had a passing idea of your deeds. Few however know her face, or that she was now undead, or that she had been living in the Elfsong for some time.

Few, but not none. She felt all the more glad she was leaving.

Ban gathered her possessions, trying to get everything to fit into her pack. It was a struggle, with all the clothes and random trinkets she had been bringing back from her visits to the palace requiring more space than she had been expecting.

“Fucking hells,” she groaned to herself, slinging the bulging pack over one shoulder and her sheathed greatsword over the other. She regretted not asking for the carriage, but there was no point thinking about that now.

Not taking the carriage had been a deliberate choice. She had felt rather trapped by it, by the idea of one of Astarion’s servants sitting there, waiting for her to run whatever errands she had that day. It made her feel like he was still keeping her on a leash - a leash with more slack, granted, but a leash nevertheless.

Still, Ban found herself grateful for the fact that he never argued against it. He had even stopped offering the carriage’s services, and although she could see the burning question in his eyes, Astarion had so far kept his mouth shut.

She knew his eyes always followed her as she walked out of the palace each day, that he stood at the balcony with his cup of tea, watching her as she departed. It gratified her, knowing just how much she occupied his thoughts, but there was also a sense of foreboding, the knowledge of just how easily such affection from the Ascendant could morph into possessiveness.

Ban slowly made her way out of the room after one final visual sweep, taking the stairs down and dreading the trudge to the Blushing Mermaid.

Ban loved him; she knew that without a doubt. She’d been smitten the moment she’d laid eyes on him, and loved him the moment he’d asked her to join him in the clearing. The moment he’d walked out from behind the tree and she had backed him against it, his body an easy, comfortable weight in her arms, she had been his - to manipulate, to seduce. To come to love, eventually.

With loving Astarion came understanding and forgiveness for everything he had inflicted on her. However, even she couldn’t deny the wounds would take time to heal - and that doing so would require her to actually communicate with the Ascendant about her feelings. A daunting prospect, but something she knew had to be done if they were to last.

Ban was distracted on her path by a beggar reaching into her pack and nicking the first thing his hands could reach, a pouch of coin. She turned and tried to give chase, swift despite the overfilled pack and greatsword on her back. The man turned a corner and she followed, intending to grab his wrist and demand her coin back. A silly thing to be doing, considering the wealth Astarion and she now enjoyed, but in the moment indignation won out.

She rounded the corner into a dim, covered alley, belatedly realizing she and the thief weren’t alone.

Immediately she tried to reach for her blade. She was, however, out of practice, and her reflexes had become far too slow.

Hands grabbed her - cold, strong fingers digging into her arms and shoulders. She tried to shove them off, but with a dawning sense of horror she realized that the hands holding her were just as cold as she. Vampires, she thought, but the knowledge wasn't much help at all. Not when there were six of them here, in a dark alley that only led to darker alleys. The only escape would be to try to fight them off and run to the sunlight, but the fact that they were all clothed in heavy, hooded cloaks made it unlikely to be successful.

She had been a little wary of Vel Stedez and his coven, and thus had kept her guard up at nights, staying mostly within the areas near the Elfsong. But the daytime attack took her completely by surprise.

They had obviously been to her room, or had at least hired someone to snoop for them. They had probably been watching her for days. Somewhere in the back of Ban’s agitated mind, she wondered why they’d taken her today, but then it occurred to her - they had seen her come out with her bags. They couldn’t reach her if she moved back into the palace. Realizing that their window of opportunity was closing, they had struck.

She froze as she felt something pressed against her chest, between her breasts. She looked down and saw the beggar aiming a stake at her heart.

“If you don’t want to have an unpleasant time, bride,” one of the vampires muttered, “Come quietly.”

Ban struggled. The stake pressed harder, drawing a tiny bit of blood. Growling, she dug her heels in, preparing for a fight-

She heard one of her captors utter an incantation and the others’ grips on her tightened. Belatedly, she realized which spell was being cast. Eyebite. Shit. The effect was instantaneous - she gasped, thrashing in her captors’ grasp, terror flooding her system.

In her blind panic, she failed to reach out to Astarion’s mind. Her mind focused entirely on her surroundings and the vampires holding her in place and the stake burning into her flesh, mere inches away from ending her. The panic was all-consuming, unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

There had been little cause to consider that she might ever be in any real danger, especially these past few weeks, with her and Astarion reveling in each other’s company and their renewed affection for one another. They had been too swept up in their relationship and hadn’t really considered taking the time to maintain their defensive skills. They had forever, after all.

This, Ban realized, may cost her her unlife.

Do I try to fight them off? Or do I let them take me?

The fighter in her rejected the idea of surrendering, pushing her terror to the side in her fury. She growled and bared her fangs, tensing her whole body.

“He’s not coming for me, you know. We aren’t together anymore.”

Buy it. Please. Fucking buy it!

The same vampire, probably the leader of this little group, laughed.

“Sure, princess. Sure.”

The stake dug in harder, pressing deeper.

Ban’s panic rushed back to the forefront and she froze once more.

One of her captors grabbed her pack and the sword from her back, handing them to one of the other vampires with a smirk.

“You won’t need that where we’re going,” he sneered.

They began marching her, the beggar still making sure the stake was never lifted from her chest.

They approached a carriage, black and otherwise unadorned. She braced herself, thinking this might be her final chance to break free, twisting against the grip they had on her. The panic had yet to subside, but she knew that it would be harder to escape once inside the carriage. She managed to shove off one of the two, but before she could do more, they hit her with the spell again. Sleep, this time.

Ban crumpled, and was unceremoniously shoved inside.

Astarion sat in the carriage as it made its way through the city, rearranging his waistcoat absently. Like Ban, he had been contemplating their relationship in light of last night’s events.

He had known she’d bought into his lies. She had been the easiest - tavern drunks aside - mark he’d ever had, melting into his hands like putty at the simplest of touches, at coquetry so obvious that any fool would have seen through it. She had even offered him her blood nightly, an act so hilariously saccharine and yet so idiotic that he had no words for it. In the mornings he’d replenished her with the amulet they’d found at the grove, all the while thinking just how well his plan had worked.

He had thought her simple. Just another person smitten with his beauty, enthralled by it. It had been nothing new. She was attractive enough, certainly, with the kind of figure he had not often seen or encountered in his long years of servitude. A boon, as it had made sleeping with her easier to tolerate - even slightly enjoy, if he had been, begrudgingly, honest with himself.

What he hadn’t expected was how she would ask him things. Admittedly they had been simple questions at first, due to his own reluctance to open up - how he was, or how his hunt had gone, or if his crossbows needed cleaning, because she was cleaning her own equipment. Really, just throw them in, she’d offer with a smile. But the asking meant seeing. And no one had seen him. Not for two centuries.

Then there was the way she’d acted during skirmishes.

Brave and unheeding of any danger to herself, charging into the fray, greatsword in hand. But it hadn’t been the courage itself that had so moved him; no. It was the way she would watch where he went, and make sure nothing so much as approached him. And when something inevitably had approached? She would stand back to back with him, his daggers and her sword flowing together in a furious dance, their bodies moving so synchronously that in those moments they’d seemed to be one.

She had made him feel safe. A ridiculous notion, he’d initially tried to tell himself. But that cynicism had rapidly dissolved in the face of her actions. She’d become the one he would run to at the first sign of danger. Hers was the approval he’d slowly begun to seek. Slowly, irrevocably, his heart had been bequeathed to her without his knowledge. At least, not until it had been far too late.

She’d never pushed, willing to take what little scraps of affection he’d been willing to dole out. She had told him that she loved him for him, whatever that meant, and he’d been more than happy to just continue being him, not wanting to look into exactly what she saw. Because he’d thought himself weak. Pathetic. A mere monster with nothing to offer but burdens, who had somehow enraptured someone so deliciously naive it had almost been unfair.

He’d always felt like he’d been taking advantage of her, and that the day she figured that out, she would leave. He’d longed to be better for her, to measure up to whatever vision of him she had. To be worthy of her.

When the rite had fallen into his lap, then, that fact - that need - had galvanized him, spurring his decision to ascend. How could he have refused something that not only would ensure his freedom and spite his former master, but also allow him to give her everything she deserved? A lover of equal power and prowess, one who could stand in the sun with her, who could give her life eternal?

Who would refuse that?

Only she could have talked him down. And she had voiced no real dissent.

And so his love had changed to that hideous, misshapen thing - a shadow of its former self, twisted beyond recognition. It had become obsession, a need to own and to possess. To keep her in a gilded cage, safe and treasured, but also isolated and alone.

The more he’d taken, the more she had distanced herself. And then obsession had become resentment, and their love had died.

But now the embers had caught aflame once more, and here was his chance at redemption.

Would that the gods be so kind that he could finally pull it off.

Astarion cut a path through the sweaty, drunken crowd as he made his way inside the Blushing Mermaid. His well-dressed, rather imposing bearing caused people to instinctively move out of the way, and he quickly found a relatively clean table and pulled out a chair, sitting down.

He didn’t even know why Ban liked this place. He placed both hands on his chin, sighed, and waited.

The seconds turned into minutes, the minutes to an hour. He shifted now and then, watching the doors, his patience slowly giving way to the worry bubbling up in his gut. She didn’t arrive.

Astarion closed his eyes, searching for her mind, then paused. She might find it intrusive, however well-intentioned it would be. Trust her, he reminded himself.

He forced himself to take several deep, calming breaths, fingers steepled together. It didn’t quite work.

He watched in silence as the daylight shifted with the slow waning of the sun.

Three hours. Astarion had been frozen, still as a statue for the past hour, motionless save for the rapid rise and fall of his chest. He finally broke, his worry erupting into a crescendo of fear.

He reached for her mind in desperation, and was met with an awful, devastating wall of silence.

His first and only thought was that she’d closed her mind off to him. Abandoned him again.

His hands, clasped together, dig into each other, the nails drawing blood.

No. It can’t be. She agreed to move back!

He stood abruptly, heading for the exit. He’d get in his carriage and then - then what?

Part of him, the Ascendant, wanted to hunt her down; to tear the city apart brick by godsdamned brick until she had nowhere to hide. The much larger and more powerful part of him, however, just wanted to go home. That part knew she wouldn’t leave like that - and if she had, if this was for her happiness - he wouldn’t interfere. He’d let his own heart break for her sake.

Calming himself, Astarion finally entered his carriage. He stared blankly at the seat opposite him - her seat - and silently began to weep.

Ban awoke, feeling foggy and disoriented. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. They’d apparently made their way through the city; it must have been hours, going by the angle of the sunlight outside the carriage. With every jostle and shudder of the carriage Ban fought to shake off the grogginess, using each disturbance to get a better grip on her body and mind.

They eventually arrived at an abandoned warehouse, where rough hands grabbed her again, dragging her out. She tried to pull, but felt the stake aimed at her chest once more. She realized she was being brought to another carriage, this one far larger, more lavish, an obscenely bright purple with silver filigree. Fear filled her at the realization that this abduction had been well planned. She was unceremoniously shoved inside the garish carriage.

As the carriage began to move, Ban assessed her situation. The effects of the spell were slowly wearing off. She was aware enough to realize they were likely to be leaving the city, judging from the change in carriages. She could make a run for it, jump out, and hopefully get away. She was hoping the sun would slow them down some, even with their cloaks.

She waited until the vampires seemed distracted, eyes moving away from her, obviously believing she was too groggy to make a break for it. Unfortunately, the mortal sitting beside her still had the stake aimed at her chest.

There was nothing for it. She couldn’t let them take her out of the city. Ban shifted her focus, hoping to at least shove one vampire off, creating an opening to dive out of the vehicle.

She looked each of them over, selecting the one she thought would be the weakest - a male drow, the one who took her things. Who knows? I might even be able to grab my sword.

She braced herself.

Please, let it work. Please let me go home.

Please let me see him again.

She shoved against the mortal with all her strength, hoping she would be quick enough.

But the vampires were prepared, they’d known the hero of Baldur’s Gate wouldn’t go quietly, and they moved as one, holding her down.

The stake slid home.

Astarion gasped. The dull, all-too-familiar pain of heartache suddenly transformed into an agonizingly sharp, shooting pain through his heart. He placed a hand against his chest, his eyes widening in realization. Ban.

If a vampire’s spouse was in enough pain, the other would feel it as their own.

She was hurt. Badly. Badly enough for her creator to feel it.

There was a wild, wretched joy that hit him first - she hadn’t left him. But a split second later, it was replaced by ice-cold fear.

What had happened to her?

When the carriage came to a stop, Astarion alighted and ran out with inhuman speed. He didn’t know why he felt the urge to search every room of the palace - she most certainly wasn’t there - but he pushed the urge aside. The palace would serve as a base of operations where he could think and plan.

He arrived at the doors, breathless, and a servant approached him.

“My lord, someone left this for you.”

The item on her upturned palm made his heart stop.

A ring. Three garnet stones, with pairs of seed pearls in between. Ban’s favorite ring. She hadn’t been wearing it yesterday when she came over.

So they had been to her room in the Elfsong. Had presumably taken her. The ring was a message.

He knew where to go.

Like a bat out of the hells, Astarion rushed inside the Crimson Palace, his mind whirring with a million ideas, his heart filled with longing, his body trembling in rage.

His soul numbed with fear.

He must save her.

[drizzileiscool]

BIG GIANT POST ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE PLAYING TWEWY!!!!!!

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

NO I HAVE NOT PLAYED NEO YET!!!! I AM POOR!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SPOIL ME ON IT!!!!!! I've played some of the demo though!!!!!

I first decided to get into twewy last month. I saw that there was a switch version available, but I was unable to play that version. I did, however, have a ds emulator, but after talking to some people I realized I probably would've gotten arthritis playing it on emulator.

When I was just about ready to give up, I decided to watch the first episode of the anime. I enjoyed it a bit.

I was then told to not watch the anime.

So you may be wondering.. "How did you play twewy?"

I played the mobile version. Solo mix. Yeah that one. The one not available for current gen phones.

I found a link to a modded version on an old reddit thread that was updated for current gen android phones, and one of my friends helped me get it set up, and I was finally ready to play.

During my first few hours, I didn't actually like neku all that much. Honestly, he was a dick. i remember what you said about plushies, neku. i will not forgive this as a plushie enthusiast.

While playing the game, I was under the assumption that I would get to change partners whenever once I unlocked it. Rhyme seemed cool, so I was hoping to get to partner with her.

And then the game killed her off.

Despite not knowing anything about rhyme, she was still my favorite character. Besides beat of course, but that's later during week 3.

I remember that I was crying when I first saw her death. I was all like "why did they make such a cool character design, just to kill her off?? that doesn't make sense."

earlier today I saw a tweet on twitter that said "cute cosplay idea for couples!" and it was a rhyme cosplay and a shark costume and I nearly lost my shit laughing, so I guess I'm over it.

When week 1 was ending, I remember feeling like "wait, that's it?" of course, I was wrong.

anyways week 2 now uhh uhhhhhh-

when I first met joshua and learned that I could scan him I was all like "huh???". also excellent foreshadowing there, square enix!

also JOSHUA IS A FRUIT YOU CANNOT TELL ME THIS PERSON ISN'T GAY JUST LOOK AT HIM

at this point, I didn't really know what to expect anymore. the game broke one of its already established rules, "players can't scan other players" so I had no idea what was coming next anymore.

SHO MINAMIMOTO IS HOT!!!!

uhhg. don't got anything else to say about this week except I genuinely thought hanekoma was the composer.

I was extremely shocked to learn that joshua killed neku during this week, and was even more shocked to learn that it was a misfire (and then I learned it wasn't a misfire but that's in week 3 and we haven't gotten to that yet!)

WEEK THREE!!! BEAT TIME!!!

alright, before I started week 3, I actually didn't like beat all that much. that changed a LOT during week 3. he is now one of my favorite characters.

later that week, I had finally learned joshua was the composer and was actually extremely shocked lol.

oh uh I also got spoiled on how beat and rhyme got hit by a car from ign so uhhhh oops

SHO SOMEHOW GOT HOTTER!!!!

I beat the game. I loved the credits theme (and will rewatch the credits later) and really liked how neku threw off his headphones to symbolize how he won't shut himself off from the world anymore.

10/10 game, really enjoyed playing it!

also there was a scene early on where neku went up to a reaper and said I know what you are and I didn't get to screenshot it :(

so.. yeah! my experience with twewy! good game! one of my favorites now! getting neo soon!

[astraeus-moon]

@melchinafan Sorry for the late ish response I feel kinda sick so it took me a while longer to organize my thoughts. Also here we fucking go apologies for no read more sins I am on mobile

And no I haven't seen those ign articles! More canon info to add to my hordes! And Jacob :( sad baby girl. I'll probably post those (The screenshots of the new info)  later for easy access for others

Your point on all 4 of heros being effected makes me wonder if Grave lock girls magic has sort of an area of effect or if the alpha vampires magic is a double edged sword in positively affecting the heros

And ooooo I didn't know there were other blood remnants that came in dif forms makes me wonder if they are somewhat similar to the alpha vamp remnants bc I think i remember it being mentioned somewhere the vial also had psychic residue?? Could not be I'm just losing it but eh. And the psychic residue perhaps being in the blood/body? And that's why it alters you?

And yeah I agree! I think that we don't carry them into the fight just to crack open the door and sort of wave a red flag at a bull sort of way

And then when the alpha vampire dies we get the remnant imbued with a bit of that vamps specific magic

And yeah perhaps using the skulls almost a psychic lockpick if those chosen had been imbued with some of the alphas powers (referring to the trickle down effect you noticed, Vampire mlm is a concept that will be lodged in my brain now)

The biggest one for Bellwether not giving a shit I believe was a piece of dialog that said like "once we get out of here do you think they'll drop a nuke on this place" which made me laugh bc I audibly went just like resident evil grqt2h3 which despite some of the negative reviews comparisons to other games the lack of resident evil with vampires is making me laugh (I mean it in a positive way I'm very attached to RE)

Plus I don't think a privately funded not so small military/mercanary group is gonna lose sleep over a "few" civilian casualties (especially not when you can write em off as vampire deaths when it comes down to it)

Yeah I agree! One of my main grievances was I wish that side quest/mini bosses got more diversity and watchers idk if those are miniboss types as I think they go down p easy (but like I said can't/haven't played the game so I could be wrong) they seem closer to the mutated cultists than "true" vampires

And totally get you on lore one of my other favorite games is destiny 2 and holy shit the amount of environmental storytelling/lore is so strong they have a fan run website to compile it all so I totally get you.

And ooo I'm always looking for new games to watch/obsess over so I'll have to check it out

And yeah unfortunately the people I watched wernt too into grave lock collecting and the only 100 locations video I've found doesn't play em in full

And yeah with Addison I won't spoil it but holy shit he was the worst one too me I wrote out/expanded on the house of Echos mission so I was rewatching and it ended up being 4k words but also it was woof. I almost wish they swapped the order of the map start out in the second way with the other 2 then work into the 1st area for the hollow man

Yeah my sort of interpretation (both in how I'm writing and general fun) is that his Ravens outlines + his guns lock on are from that eye but a fun thing I had was giving them all like the way things are highlighted blue for you to grab some of the psychic residue as most of the psychic energy we see (barring layla) tend to be a pale blue - teal(?) Ish color and it was just funny to me that the highlights for important objects were similar

I agree with vampires probably having night vision as they are supposed to be a sort of apex predator so night vision fits with the whole can't go in the sun.  It does make me wonder if Jacob would run into issues in direct sunlight with that eye time to invest in sunglasses my guy

And yeah I hadn't considered the psychic spaces as like stronger spaces where the trance is louder, bc in my thoughts I think the trance is a seperate but adjacent magic thing to what turned them into vampires

It definitely seems like the magic sort of got them all or bolstered abilities in some way and come on we both know that devs def smart enough to crack teleportation lmaooo necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I do think that magic and science go hand in hand (destiny 2 is so great for that reason aswell because so much of what looks like magic can be kinda turned into science)

I think Remis ult is pure video game but healing it would make sense if it gave out a sort of opposite end of the spectrum vampire healing and helped you regenerate by like tapping into that magic that's settled in you or the vials/remnants

yeah we don't know how the healing actually works as you don't regen health unless you find medpacks which leads me to believe you do have to needle and thread it up instead of magic video game heal as explained in dishonored or prey

And yeah I'm assuming vamp regen at best at worst, you should uhhhh probably got get that looked at bud and yeah blood as fuel is a good idea even if it was connected or disconnected

And yeah the tissues, I'd imagine a wash cloth would be slightly more useful than tissues but eh and yeah sort of a gunk goop dripping thing (ie Eris Morn from destiny with her hive eyes)

And yeah! I think to be a bloodbag/sin eater it also I think is slightly voluntary(?) As the sin eaters are like that. And the blood bags seem pretty eager so maybe the most devoted cultists get turned into em

And yeah I'm uncertain bc I remember for one of the missions Jacob has a line like "but slitting the throat of your neighbor to get in." Or smth like that it's been awhile

And yeah vampire mlm, and yeah definitely maybe the more sacrifices brought in = higher chance of getting turned

I think it's a bit of both as we see with the alphas they were all real shitty people beforehand and yknow being willing to kill others to further your own gain definitely fits under "bloodsucker" (derogatory) in my mind lmao

And I think that's why Jason got away was bc hes not a bad person and was rather selfless hence but still also perhaps shaped by the intent of the person giving you magic (jacobs raven, laylas telekinesis which is something other higher up vampires can do as weve seen with the sea) But also made to shape you're own natural abilities remis healing, devs gadgets :) especially in those latter two cases where they wernt forced really to have the powers

The slow boil is soooo intresting to me bc like where were they? Like in the nests psychic spaces and just coming out to feed plus with the size of the alphas I think that'd kick up a fuss

I think probably a but of both, as drug trials/medical research like aevum was doing was bound to test on mice at least and upon observing the effects may have worked there way up to humans but huge fucking claw marks are probably vampires especially from what we've seen they are extraordinarily wasteful with animals perhaps both as food and ensuring surviving humans can't get it

And birds + animals disappearing evokes a similar feeling of when animals tend to dip before natural disasters because there senses and instincts are so much stronger than ours but also vampires killing them because they couldn't go after people yet

also lmao yeah like idk where tf they were going with that like was the plan to eventually move out of redfall or use it like a home base or smth bc you kill the animals and the people you're gonna have to start eating each other

And yeah I have to imagine at least one cultist was wincing and didn't voice it but was very much like aw come on guys

And yeah! Idk if it's ever explained if vampires exclusively have to eat blood/meat or can eat other things aswell

And oh my God don't get me started on the impacts of introducing a fuck ton of apex predators into your ecosystem and food chain not to mention if other animals mutated and are breeding. Like just removing Wolves from Yellowstone was enough to fuck over the ecosystem I can imagine something on this scale plus the probably intense growth from the decomp rates of bodies.. anyone in an environmental science field would be tearing their hair out (specifically my own redfall oc whose a park ranger is not having a great time with that)

You would have to build ground up essentially as trying a top down approach would fuck up the few remaining secondary and primary consumers (obligatory environmental science rant over)

They all def do the trance def is giving hive mind vibes aswell as a removal of emotional/rational thinking makes me wonder if the blood trance heightens base instincts/hunting drive or aggression like with animals being aggressive and shit being fucked

And oh def, bc each of the bosses has there own space but the nests aswell which makes me wonder if vampires have their own allegiances or a nest is like a pack

And yeah hindsights 20/20 and yeah fears a hell of a motivator and cults pray on scared lonely people with no other options and yeah in too deep

I haven't! Unfortunately I haven't watched a dev playthrough and there's not too many multiplaythroughs on YouTube but I'll inform you if I come across any! And as for rough speculation on mothman physique(?) I think leathery makes sense from someone as logical as dev since it glides so it being similar to a bat or moth it almost makes me think of point pleasants.. intresting... statue of the mothman to say the least...

And yeah woof the scientists sure as hell are doing some malpractice although I'd admire arkanes commitment to fuck the rich with them being consistent enemies.  And yeah sorry this got Hella long

[keisukibaji]

A Letter from Keisuke Baji <3

˚๑꒰﹕Hey everyone! I'm back and with the fourth post in 'A letter from….' series! The reader is gender neutral and all the letters are platonic! I hope you like it!!

HELLO READER PERSON,

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?

Ok Chifuyu did tell me I was supposed to start with dear in a letter but it sounds so sappy and fucking cringe so no way am I doing that….

I am using a dictionary to check my spellings though so if u can’t understand something I do apologize! Me and spellings don’t mix haha.

Well I doubt you’ll get to read this after all….

If you are wondering where I disappeared off to and why I haven’t been in touch for a while, it’s because I’m no longer in Toman! I joined this new gang, Valhalla! There is this pest that needs removing so…

I can’t let anyone else get hurt ever again….

ANYWAYS! Today Chifuyu called me out so I went to meet him and this weird kid I punched a while ago at the meeting to chose the Toman third division captain. Takemichi his name is….

He had the guts to punch the new third division captain in front of the everyone including the president!

A fucking dumbass….

But I like him…..

BUT STILL A DUMBASS!

Hence yours truly served a punch!

For some reason….

He told me I was gonna die soon…..

Before you panic like you always do, I DON’T THINK I’LL DIE! I AM PRETTY STRONG! 

One of the strongest of Toman and Valhalla in fact!

But for some reason…. I have this feeling….

If this is the last time…..

What if I never get to say goodbye…..

HENCE THIS LETTER!

U MOST LIKELY WON'T READ THIS CAUSE I'LL BE FINE I'M STRONG but if this does reach ur hands it means....i...well....

I wish I could talk to you in person though!

And Chifuyu too!

Chifuyu…..

You know something Reader? Peke J doesn’t stop by any more…..

Ever since that day…..

Ever since the day I fucked up everything and ruined my friendship with Chifuyu….

I do keep looking at the window though…

I do keep thinking, Peke J! This food is getting stale here you know! It’s time for your play date!

But he never showed up…..

I wish I could tell Chifuyu that I’m sorry but somehow…..

I feel like I’ve fucked things up for good…..

I wish he would abandon me already……

If I do end up dying tomorrow…..

I hope… I hope he could forgive me for what I had done….

AH FUCK! I GOT THE PAPER WET! IF U DO GET THIS, THIS WAS BECAUSE I SPILT WATER ON THE PAPER OK????

I TOTALLY WASN’T CRYING AT ALL! SO DON’T U DARE THINK THAT!

Somehow just the thought of my life ending soon brings back a flash of memories….

You know reader? SINCE YOU ARE TOTALLY NEVER GOING TO GET THIS, I’m gonna let you in on a secret….

I don’t think anyone knows this in fact…..

BUT LIKE,

Whenever a day feels a little too much…..

Whenever burning cars doesn’t feel enough…..

Whenever past memories come to haunt me in the form of nightmares….

You know what I would love?

A nice, warm comforting hug!

YES I KNOW! I DON’T SEEM LIKE A HUGGING KINDA PERSON!

AND DON’T U DARE TELL ANYONE ESPECIALLY KAZUTORA! He won’t let me live this down….

That day…

That day when Shinichiro died….

I felt like dizzy, the spell of blood hitting me, making me realize that the guy I looked up to as an older brother was now dead and lying sprawled out in front of me….

I felt like the world was ending as my heart shattered into a million pieces….

Somehow in that moment, it felt like it was the end….

Like I couldn’t go on….

I mean how could I? I was the reason Shinichiro kun died…..

But in that moment, I saw Kazutora….

Seeing him more broken than I was….

Knowing all that he had been through….

Knowing that he planned this all so that Mikey could be happy…..

I couldn’t stand seeing Kazutora cry…..

Before I knew it, I swallowed my fear, my withering pain and hugged him close, promising I would never let him go…

Whatever we did and whatever we will do….

We are in this together….

I’ll give up everything just to be in hell with you…..

As long as you are happy….

As long as everyone is happy…..

That’s all that matters….

But somehow that day…..

Even though I tried to ignore it....

As selfish as it was….

Some part of my heart wanted someone to hug me tight just like I hugged Kazutora that day…

Telling me that it was all gonna be ok! 

That it was ok for me to feel sad or cry whenever I wanted to!

That day….

When they took me and Kazutora in for police questioning…..

I saw my mom….

And somehow…..

Everything around me faded away……

I remember screaming on the top of my voice as the sobs chocked my throat… I ran straight headfirst and held on to her tight.

And I cried and cried and cried…..

For some reason…. I thought she would yell at me….

Even hate me for what I did….

Instead she put her arms around me….

And she didn’t let go……

In that moment,

Even though I always felt very strong…..

That was the safest I felt in a long time….

I wish I could feel that way again…..

ANYWAYS NOW THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY! LIKE I SAID DON’T TELL ANYONE!

EVEN IF I DO END UP DYING, MY GHOST WILL HAUNT YOU FOR LIFE IF U DO!

If I do end up dying…..

Somehow just the thought of it makes everything trivial and insignificant fade away…..

Me grumbling over not being able to watch the next episode of Kayo Suspense Gekijyo….

Me not able to get the latest copy of the action manga I wanted….

Me not being able to see Peke J for a bit….

Me wanting to open a pet shop in the future…..

All that is no longer important to me anymore…..

All I want is….

All I want is for…..

Toman to be happy…..

Draken, Mitsuya, Pah, Mikey, Kazutora, Chifuyu….

You…..

I want all of you to be safe and happy…..

I love you guys so much…..

ARGH THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING AND CRINGE WHAT AM I WRITING-

ANYWAYS….

I visited Shinichiro’s grave today….

Perhaps if I’m fortunate enough to see him again….

I wish I could say sorry….

For robbing him of the years he could have spent with Mikey and Emma chan…..

It’s something that burns me, eats me away on the inside, just like the cars I set fire to against the early morning dawn.

I was thinking as I walked back home….

If I do die….

Who is gonna look after u guys?

Who is gonna make sure you all are doing ok?

It was getting dark and a strong gust of wind blew across my face.

Forcing me to look up at the night sky.

It was dark, very dark.

The blackness stretching for miles and miles with no end to it….

That’s when I saw it…

A single lone star….

Shining brightly against the darkness….

That’s when it struck me!

If I’m…no longer here….

I want to be that star up there….

So that whenever u guys look up, u can see me there…. 

Whenever u guys feel sad or lonely….

Or feel like nothing is going your way.

JUST LOOK UP AND I’LL BE THERE!

It will be my way of saying

HEY! I’M HERE YOU KNOW!

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK!

There is nothing you guys can’t handle as long as I’m here!

As for me well,

I’ll get to see you guys grow older….

Achieve your wildest dreams….

Who knows what you all will end up doing in the future!

I SHUDDER TO THINK!

ANYWAYS NO ONE CAN SHINE BRIGHTER THAN ME CAUSE IM A FUCKING STAR GET IT?

Oh well if not a star, I can always be Peke j’s distant cousin or something….

OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THE TIME! I’VE BEEN WRITING FOR SO LONG! 

Just a couple of final things…

If you do end up finding this, just letting you know that I wrote something for Chifuyu as well! It should be along with this one… Please make sure it reaches him ok?

And please tell him that I’m sorry…..

I really wish I could eat Peyoung Yakisoba with him again….

Even if it were just one last time….

Please look after my mom too ok? She doesn’t stop talking about you so I can tell she really likes you and though she always puts a strong face, she can get really sad sometimes she would really love it if u stopped by time and again just to say hello! I wish I didn’t make her cry back then….

And as for u guys,

PLEASE KICK OUT KISAKI FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME! HE IS A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT AND HE IS UP TO NO GOOD I TELL U!

Well that is if I don’t end up killing him tomorrow myself…

Apart from that….

Please be happy ok?

I would die for you guys in a heart beat…..

And in any life I'll always choose you guys.... Over and over again...

Please live on my behalf to the fullest!

Well then….

WISH ME BEST OF LUCK! IF THE FIGHT GOES WELL THEN I CAN GET TO STICK AROUND LONGER SOMEHOW! 

I really hope I can…. For just a little while longer….

From

Keisuke Baji 

[i-love-you-all]

Whumptober 2022 Day 27

When the body gives up before the mind does.

~800 Words. Mentions death.

To say he was tired would be an understatement. And yet, if he was asked, Sova would still say he was ok. Fine.

But that was an odd answer. He’s seen people emerge from the worst scenarios, hell on earth scenarios, and when asked the same thing, they also answered the same. Fine. He watched his mentor attend three funerals all in the same week, then go back to work the next day. Sova asked if he should be at work at all. Surely one day off to grieve would help? Something to actively process what he had just gone through instead of pushing it away into some unopened can of worms only to have that explode the next time he had one drink too many or ended up in a scenario that just felt a twinge too similar. But no. He looked Sova in the eyes, and he saw the years of pain and scarring this man had gone through. He pushed past Sova and just said that word. Fine. He was fine.

He saw Brimstone stare down a near empty bottle of something. Alcohol, to be sure, and Sova was in no mood to join in. It was a failed mission. He may not have been part of it, but he remembered the cold fear that settled in his heart when he saw Breach limp his way to the medbay. In his mind, he was ready to raise all his complaints to Brimstone. This was a mission he and Breach should’ve been on together, not because of their relationship status, but because of everyone’s abilities, Sova’s could go the furthest. He could’ve gotten the information and prevented Breach from pushing onto the death trap that did end up destroying KAY/O. He saw the pieces get brought back, and he hadn’t seen the little engineer around the common areas in quite some time. But this scene took all the anger out from him. He asked his commander what had happened. He didn’t bring up any of his complaints. And at the end, Brimstone looked at him and apologized. He was sorry for the damage he did with the one call and his lack of faith in Sova’s dedication, but he himself was fine, and Sova should go spend some time with his boyfriend. Time that Sova nearly didn’t get. But Brimstone was just fine. Definitely.

And now?

His wounds had stopped bleeding. That was the only positive in this entire situation. A trap, but this time, it ended in death for a person. For Cypher. They had been sent on a scouting mission, to scope out the tech that had been stealing their radianite. He and Cypher thought that he had covered their flanks, but something went wrong. Skye got behind them and her dog caused more than just a scratch on Cypher. He still remembered the grip on his arm as Cypher realized that this was it for him. He had no love for the man, but he had sympathy. It looked painful, and there was no guarantee he’d come back.

If they could’ve made it back to their evac, Cypher would’ve been likely saved, but Sova watched as the invaders brought out anti-aircraft weapons. That was a first. The Vulture was sent back to where it launched from, effectively leaving Sova alone with a dead body to carry around.

What made this worse was the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere. A fucking forest with no way out and no landmarks. Hiking through this place with all his equipment for this long would’ve been exhausting, but carrying a body and his equipment as well? More than once, he thought about leaving Cypher’s body behind. He would die permanently if that happened, but if Sova continued on this foolish path, he would die as well. And then that would be two dead agents. But duty was a metal chain that kept him bound to this man right now, so if they would die, then so be it.

He stumbled, not realizing that his foot had gotten caught amongst the roots of this large tree, and he fell. And just lying down for that split second made him wonder if he really needed to keep going.

No. He was fine. Fine. Shit, why didn’t it work for him?

He was fine. He would get up and walk over to where Cypher’s body had rolled off to. He would ignore the stench of death and he would pick up the information broker, and together, they would walk towards a spot in this place where a Vulture could land. He would be the hero of the mission, both the person who took down a hostile agent and retrieved the information on the Mirror Protocol and the one who rescued Cypher after he went down in the fight.

But god, why was it so hard for him? His arms nearly gave out when he used them to prop himself up as he sat up. His legs stumbled again on the uneven ground as he walked towards the white coat and the dead body.

He was fine, he told himself as he picked the man up again. Sova hefted him over his shoulder and continued to walk. Yeah. He was fine. They would both be fine.

[plutonicmirror]

Zero Hour (1994) #0 [and Zero Hour in general]

Let’s continue my Zero Hour first reading. After skipping some filler tie-in issues, I reached the finale. Again, funny numbering gimmick with a 0 issue. I think Marvel also had something similar with their -1 issues back then. Oh, the 90s!

Hal Jordan Parallax reveals his master plan: “I’m gonna erase the universe so hard, I’m gonna create a new one where everything is right and everyone is happy™”. Classic case of a hero reacting to tragedy the readers are supposed to know about the Emerald Twilight story arc, but I’m LARPing as a snot-eating 10yo in 1994 who just started reading comics and doesn’t have enough attention span to know the lore with absurd amounts of cope and a plan that sounds extremely good on paper, but that other heroes must oppose because morality yadda yadda yadda. Looking at you, Injusticeverse.

Shout-out to my man Danger, a D-lister that was brought to the final fight fOr a ReAsOn. I’m gonna be honest, I skipped his tie-in because I couldn’t give a fuck about who he was. I usually like me some B/C/D/Z listers, but I also don’t give a fuck about DC’s Titans and his book was apparently tied to that whole mess so I was like “meh, next”. I mean, this young dude is a nobody right....?

*one trip to a comics wiki later*

Oh...

Ahem, moving on. The Spectre shows up looking for REVENGE after all of the JSA folks get ultra aged up or straight up deleted from existence, even though they had previously asked him for help and he was like “nah that’s human bullshit, I ain’t movin’ any finger”. Good job, asshole.

So yeah, remember our D-lister? Turns out his power (which is absorbing energy and making explosions) is specifically needed to counter Parallax’s new Big Bang. So our heroes’ plan is...to recreate the universe exactly as it was. So basically Parallax’s plan but done by them because fuck you Parallax, you don’t get to play God. Except...it doesn’t come out exactly as it was, because there’s “““subtle changes”““. In a meta way, this event was supposed to be a soft reboot to fix some of the fuckery that Crisis on Infinite Earths (a big event I haven’t read yet out of fear) caused. Was it accomplished? According to Comic Pop’s Back Issues video on this event... it kind of wasn’t. Sidenote, I highly recommend that channel’s Back Issues series, after reading an event it’s fun to watch a recap that adds background bits for the uncultured (like me) even if I sometimes feel the critique of the host is too harsh.

A not-Killing-Joke’d Batgirl from another timeline who temporarily sided with Parallax because she was doing her best “I want to be a real boy” Pinocchio impersonation got killed in the heat of the moment, so the other normal-powered hero in the room (Green Arrow) gets pissed at his former bestie. After this whole event he ragequits btw and apparently a common joke is that many readers think that should be the standard reaction to the whole thing.

Parallax is seemingly killed but it’s comics so he’ll be fine, trust the process. If I recall correctly, Hal gets to be the new Spectre for a while [*Vietnam flashbacks of Identity Crisis*]. I forgot to mention that the current Green Lantern of the time Kyle Rayner and Wally West were also “killed off”. Again, they’ll be fine. I just didn’t care enough to read a wiki and find out how they come back. But that bit brings us to this “oh yeah, that happened” moment:

Power Girl was pregnant and gave birth to a baby with the help of Wonder Woman who conveniently decided to play midwife instead of stepping up to the threath. Bue hey, guess who also was sort of born in the aftermath of this event? That’s right, I was! So surely that means that baby is a very important char-

Whoops, nevermind.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE WHOLE EVENT:

“7/10 it was alright” - IGN.

The contrarian in me doesn’t hate it like most nerds out there do, but it’s certainly not the greatest event ever written. Granted I went in without knowledge of a lot of stuff, like how was I supposed to make sense of what was happening in the Hawkman tie-in issue aka the whole “let’s try to solve the problem of having multiple origins for this character by literally merging them all into one” thing? How could I know what CoIE fuckery needed to be fixed if I don’t know the big impact of CoIE besides Supergirl being killed off (this fact is cultural osmosis at this point)? Did it matter to me in the long run? Not really, because it’s not like I feel compelled to keep reading DC continuity and make sense of it for the time being. The art was good, the colors were pretty, the Parallax suit was rad, the pose Ollie made at the end was Jojo-esque and dramatic, Batman fucking off from the final fight via being killed was good.

Now, the tie-ins. Some of them were fun, some of them were a drag to read because I had no idea of background info for most of them. Almost all of the Superman tie-ins were fun to read with the exception of Steel because I was tired of wiki-hunting when I reached his issue, shout out to the alternate Jor-El and Lara, the Alpha Centurion and the “Superman tries to save the Kents during the chronal rift” stories (Superman vol. 2 #93, Adventures of Superman #516, Action Comics #703 respectively). The Legion of Superheroes and adjacent issues were extremely confusing to me as a casual but oddly engaging. I had no idea what was happening but it was sort of fun. It revived my itch to read LoSH comics even if I’m still feeling overwhelmed at the mere thought of going further with that task. Oh yeah, the silent Green Arrow issue was a lot of fun! (Green Arrow vol. 2 #90).

The characters introduced were a mixed bag. On one hand we have Bart Allen aka Impulse, who was created in the prequel to this event and was sort of interesting. But then the chronal rift time erasure bullshit happens and since he’s from the 30th century he basically does nothing of importance... Alpha Centurion, as I mentioned, was a fun read in his Adventures issue but in the core event he was... a convenient minion. Thriumph? Thriump was an annoying character, one of those “oh yeah he was totally there in the beggining of the big team but the big name characters just don’t remember tee hee!”. Don’t worry though, he would later die of a cold. Or something like that. Extant felt edgy throughout most of the core issues and the tie-ins, he really had that Madara Uchiha endgame villain energy...until he was revealed to be just a pawn that was just rebelling. And then he fucks off. Shout-out to this specific goofy panel:

Tie-in issues skipped: Anima #7, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31, Damage #6, Robin vol. 2 #10, Showcase ‘94 #10, Steel #8, Team Titans #24 (yeah, this team got erased from existence and I just couldn’t care), The Darkstars #24. Also skipped: all of the Zero Month aftermath gimmick #0/soft reboot issues.

New Year’s resolution when it comes to DC? I’ll get around reading the 70s Green Arrow and Green Lantern book. Ever since I found some academic paper on it that mentioned the words environmentalism and malthusian I was like “ok wtf I have to read this”.

Tytyty for reading my blog.

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxvi

Congrats on 13 years on T Clive, pop off king.

hrreeklwnnfdddddcchhhhh so many names. ok ok so iron and dhalmek are fighting. and woeld(??) got asked to help dhalmek and they said lol no. and empire?? (which empire???) sent assasins after iron's shiva. i'm having to pause every 10 seconds. shiva's ice and cape and stuff could have been more translucent.

I do think its interesting how the entire backdrop of this game is resource scarcity driven political conflict. like rosaria is invading iron for resources because it itself is in threat of collapse. also nice to see that the "good" king isn't all that good.

wait wait the crusaders and empire are different factions?? ugggg im so confused. i heard crusaders and holy kingdom and put those together but the crusaders are from iron kingdom? wait if iron hates dominants how'd they get shiva.

did rosaria invade and annex jill's kingdom too?

wow they family dinners these people must have. brother's love and admire each other and are also a little jealous of each other. mom hates clive and dotes on joshua but is also trying to appeal to dad. dad is tired.

sanbrequois? they're french??? ah so this is the empire

oh shit. clive is ifrit? so the one he wants revenge on is himself??? thats juicy. so those indestructible ancient ruins can be destroyed by eikons. hmm i cant tell there was definitely something up with clive and the hooded figure and ifrit but then we got a 3rd person pov of ifrit killing pheonix.

yikes

i was wondering how he ended up an imperial slave. given he was the archduke's son he could have been a political prisoner and he's important enough for his name and face to be known, but nah anabella sent him to the frontlines.

one tattoo is for the magic people, what the other for? clive still has his pheonix abilities even though joshua is dead is he actually a bearer or did people just think he was because of the pheonix abilities.

kill those soldiers or we'll kill these children. sounds like a terrible deal

for supposidly being his dog we don't see enough of clive interacting with togul. its always jill carrying him around or that old woman petting him.

this si starting to remind me of smt neutral/genocide route where you kill everyone from every faction. factions are still confusing me are royalists sabrque or waleod

i lost the plot. we're searching for some dominant in a village in imperial territory and getting attacked by... waleod? iron? thank you ign so royalist are waloed

ooooh i was getting branded and bearer confused which is easy to do

why's cid after the dominant? recruitment? counter to clive's revenge. stir up a bit of trouble for the bigger nations? well benedrikta has been harassing this one village and kidnapping the bearers

cid's going to die isn't he. he's too good. and he has mysterious japanese coughing blood disease aka fantasy tuberculosis

ok the titan dude. the woe.. woelda?? king dude. cid. damn girl keep them wanting. this game is just benedrikta and every man she's had sex with. i never even watched game of thrones and im starting to get why everyone is comparing this game to it. gotta milk that M rating.

i have ... reservations about benedrikta's character writing. also cid's right why do you have to go and fight garuda clive. leave her be. you start hearing voices and your instinct it to listen to them. bruh.

the environments are really pretty I'd totally mod out combat and have a nice walking simulator

ok damn clive did you have to kill her for the crime of being in your way

ok yeah i was starting to wonder if the hooded flame man clive was seeing and the one benedrikta captured were different people

the devs didn't hold back huh sex scenes. clive bare ass naked in a dungeon. why is he naked you found him with clothes on.

cids into men. thats 2 comments now one from a villager who thought clive was warming cid's bed and now cid calling clive pretty but not his type.

on one hand before ifrit killed pheonix i was thinking oh maybe the brothers reunite after 13 years. and then ifirit stuck his hand through phoenix and beat him to a bloody pulp and i was like yup dead. it would make some narrative sense if joshua was the hooded man but eh i dont know if i like it but i also dont know if i like having joshua just die like that.

it is joshua. joshua main character moment. evil cursed brother with the potential to destroy the world. well phoenix did revive his entire health bar once during the battle.

either testing for bearers at birth is an imperial tradition. or clive wasn't a bearer when he was born. both interesting implications. 3rd option is anabella decided to make clive's life even more miserable.

martha reminded me does clive look hella like his dad. people in ros...e...lin? might actually recognize him.

cid how old are you that you're calling clive lad and boy or was clive originally scripted to be younger?

squeenix... its ok for a woman to look middle aged. she's still beautiful.

wait wait wait. normal people cast cast magic in the deadlands but i thought the whole thing with bearers was that their powers weren't tied to the mothercrystals. also ... jill and clive are both dominants. are all those powers dependent on the land's aether?

xiv pulls a kingdom hearts. this i wasn't quite sure but now im pretty sure. clive seems to think the hooded man he's seeing is the same as the one everyone else is seeing (joshua) but theres really two of them. the one he saw 13 years ago speaking a strange language is not joshua.

the writers make jill's entire character motivation for 13 years protecting the women taken from rosaria by the ironmen but then drop that on the ground the moment she meets clive?? Those Women didn't stop being captive just because they stopped being on screen.

cid took credit for benedrikta's death? ooh politics!

joshua phoenix fire, jill shiva ice, benedika garuda wind, forgot that guys name titan earth, cid ramuh lightning, prince dude bahamut light, eastern king guy odin dark. who is the 8th? no water leviathan?

[mliter]

I wanna go over the entire release cycle of this game, because it's as eventful and fun as the game itself.

December 9th, 2021.

Revealed at the Game awards 2021, Sonic Frontiers was initially known as a new project that had the hedgehog involved with cyberspace, a mysterious ghost girl and a new power. The trailer also involved multiple shots of what seemed to be an open world. An open world sonic game?! After the travesty that was forces, many people were cautiously optimistic. But it was interesting. This is true 3D Sonic. Everyone's minds were racing at the possibilities.

As time went on, we learned more things about the game through rouge leakers, and official announcements. The most exciting one at the time was that Ian Flynn, the writer of the Sonic the Hedgehog comics for years was going to be involved in the writing for this project.

He's definitely a name is the Sonic space. A big one imo. He's known for penning some of Sonic's best stories throughout the years. I think he got his start by just shooting his shot after making amateur stuff for a while. This is another case of dedicated sonic fan going on to work on the blue blur's stuff. there's so much of it now. I love it. My first time reading his work was when i got a comic that came with a Silver figure i got for my 11th birthday. Anyways, he's always been doing comics and the sort, but never a game. This was HUGE! A writer like him working on games was on the wishlist of many fans, cause he's that damn good. This was something i was anticipating the most when looking forwards to this game.

June 1st, 2022.

Through a deal with SEGA, IGN was the first to reveal gameplay of the game. It was a premire too, thousands of Sonic fans like me woke up that morning ready to watch this.

...shit. The game looked interesting, but it also looked boring and empty, horrific pop in, confusing object placement, the general concencus was that this was a lackluster unreal engine product with sonic slapped in. A lot of Sonic fans were interested, but accepted that this was going to be another 5/10. Another joke. More years of ridicule. The world saw this, and had a field day. A lot of the memes shitting on this game were made that week, all from that video. Many of my friends both online and offline poked fun at me for thinking this was going to be it. Even i believed. it was over.

We later learn that it was SEGA who sent in that gameplay for IGN to simply put on their platform. What?

June 7th, 2022.

A Sonic Central took place. Like many companies, they've recognized how effective and exciting live video presentations are (especially in this post pandemic era) and released one. A teaser trailer for a prolouge animation for Sonic Frontiers featuring Knuckles is teased. And when i say teased, i mean it. We got to see 2 seconds of that shit. There was a bit of frustration over that.

June 10th, 2022.

E3's absent this year, but don't worry, Geoff's got us covered. He introduced SGF Play Days, where the newest and hottest games were there for influences and creators to play and talk about. It was an invite only event, so regular people like you and me couldn't get access to the place.

All of the newest games were there. Cuphead's long awaited DLC, Street Fighter 6, tons of footage and impressions were coming from hundreds of influencers and creators at once. Sonic fans were left wondering, where's Frontiers? Oh.

In a baffling move by SEGA, nobody was allowed to record footage of the game. They even had security posted up by the stations to ensure nobody would get clean footage of this game.

Clean footage. They can't stop all of the cameras, and since influencers take them with them everywhere, the screens that had the game were captured in the background of them.

From this point on, the mission was clear. Find influencers who were at the event, watch entire recordings of their time there, and find any footage of frontiers in the background and stabilize it through any means necessary. Quality was no longer a concern here, the bar was on the floor. It didn't matter. Many gaming fans were laughing at Sonic fans doing what was essentially eating the crumbs under the dinner table. It was funny as it was sad. People played guessing games to figure out what was going on in the game. We learned that Sky Sanctuary and Chemical plant were stages in the game through this hilarious time period. Liveleak videos had better quality than what was coming out of the Sonic fandom that day.

Interestingly, we also saw very positive reception from the people that got to play the game. Someone even called it their favorite game this year. Huh?

September 22nd, 2022.

Lots of time has passed. We got renders, a little bit of insight of the story, and some comments from developers. Some of the game's music is released, revealing a little bit of the tone behind Frontiers. This is the 2000s ass AMV fuel music that sonic games has been missing. This only caused excitement to rise.

More gaming events happened. EGX was also taking place, and frontiers was there! Alongside more security. We learned a bit more about the game through low quality footage. Tokyo Game Show 2022 also happened, with SEGA being present. Masahiro Sakurai showed up, making note that he liked the game and will buy it on release. Which is huge alone. We later learn that the lines for the game were massive. It was as if SEGA dropped a chicken sandwich. SEGA ended off the event with taking home the award for Japan's most anticipated game of 2022 through Frontiers.

...Huh? This usually doesn't happen.

More importantly, on this day, we were blessed with TailsTube 3, a short video series that utilized the official vtuber models SEGA created for the main sonic cast. It seems to set up what happens in the game.

This short series also mysteriously cleared up some inconsistencies in the mainline Sonic universe, explaining that humans and mobians live together, and revealing key locations that used to be never spoken of. Why would they do this, lots of people asked.

October 3rd - 14th, 2022.

SEGA releases this as a surprise. The iconic SOAP shoes from Sonic Adventure 2 returns! These shoes are legendary in the sonic space, and it was absolute insanity to see them return, and playable in this form. The Sonic fandom exploded. This is the point where i regained my hope in the game. If they're busting out the SOAP shoes for this, it has to be good.

The collective feeling around the fandom was hard to describe. This is probably what it felt like to see Jesus walk out of that tomb.

Also, a short comic series illustrated by Evan Stanley was revealed to the public. They would release within the next few days. This isn't really new. Something similar was done for Forces. it was good to see this again.

At this point, hype was at the roof.

November 1st. 2022

Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence is released.

The words that i have for this animation belong on another post. This was headed by Tyson Hesse and Powerhouse animation, a fan that also went on to work on official media. (Notice the theme here?)

This is starting to be regarded as one of the best Sonic animated media out there. Up there with CD's intro. This is the type of stuff that whole artstyles are formed around.

At this point, hype is in orbit. We went from despair to being on top of the world. This is really it. ( Also at this point, SONIC CHANNEL beings to release countdown art)

November 3rd, 2022.

The Showdown trailer is released. An action packed trailer going over the story of the game and what motivates you to reach the end. This is the last thing that the NA marketing team posted before the game's release and it was glorious.

Sonic Frontiers is considered to be one of the greatest comeback stories of 2022. It was awesome. to be on the ride for every twist and turn. Seeing people who usually write sonic off as rubbish being shocked and excited while enjoying the memes, discourse, art and videos from all over is something to be remembered. As we speak, Sonic's general perception is shifting. And it's shifting in a good direction. This game marks some change. I think we're in a new era.

[surveillance-0011]

Thinking about + bullshitting alien anatomy. esp with nipulon something about him is. bringing out da brainstorm

looking at his lil concept art page (posted to IGN) he is inspired by ants,, he is certainly ant esque,, in my mind he's something like a naked mole rat-ant-thing. Not one to one, probably more omnivorous than a mole rat... not a rodent either per se? maybe more of a bat thing that lost. every thing that made em bats? something like that. either way eusocial animal,,but he said IM NOTHING LIKE YALL and left the hive to do his own thing. which probably wasn't good for his hive-mind-built brain but hey. what ever.

His mechanical half is kind of strange. He's basically. In armor + has prosthetic legs but I wonder if it's. Meant to read as armor or more along the lines of a cyborg situation??? And I'm assuming that the nipples showing through is. That's probably some sort of alien socialization thing. As a whole there's a handful of shirtless mammalian aliens but this is a stranger case of only nipples. I'm guessing that's some standard from home.

im also a little curious abt how the. mechanisms of the trip-fight. i guess he's high too? to some extent at least? some sort weaponized folie a deus. i wonder if hes got some sort of ability to tune into that stuff well. low grade psychic or just in tune with?? psychonaut shtuff??? le shrug le shrug. He's also trying to be psycho mantis and he only really manages the achievement if that's even in his control sooo :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: maybe he's a low-grade psychic that would be wild if you knew someone who was genuinely psychic and only used it to give people achievements and control the way their trips go. Imagine that.

Krubis is pretty heavily based on Mondo Gecko but toads r also an inspo,, some sort of reptile-amphibian leaning more towards reptile. space gecko yaaay he's a more straightforward case. Assuming he's native to swampy or rainforest climate? Anyway i choose to believe his eyes are pink. The aliens deserve weird eye colors. Hm. And uh herbivores or omnivores meant to eat more tubers and stalks n stuff than meat. And uh. Meant to have a tail but his was docked+ cauterized early on in life. That and I hc he was born w/o his arm rather than him losing it later in life. Maybe he was just born without a tail too.

Skrendel biology is weird but they are. Mammals. Live birth + hair + nipples. They do have scales but I feel like this is more adjacent to. Armadillos and Pangolins. Though who knows they could be something in between. It's space. But still much more mammal ish. Kind of like. Weird dog-chimps behavior wise? With extra alien fuckery. I assume there's a sea cucumber situation where the uh. exit is the entrance. Everything goes in and out of that mouth..eugh.. guess whatever they can't digest is just regurgitated. I do not know how reproduction works and I am afraid to ask. I don't know how any of their non-digestive systems work and I am afraid to ask. If I even am on the right track with how they consume their food. god.

They cooperate well. I assume that's natural. As for their stacking up into Bro-Tron? May or may not be unique to them but I'm sure there's similar things out there in their species. Probably some sort of extremophile/generally hearty, must have some sort of hyper specific niche bc I do not know what would. Cause this pathway of evolution. Mimicry maybe? Or some sort of genetic modification? A lot of irony in that latter idea.

Douglas. Blood should have been blue. Purple maybe. Pink even. I reject the same red blood being used for everything. God bless. I assume unlike earth cephalopods he has some semblance of a skeletal structure in his face. Some sorta cuttlebone that makes sure his face doesn't cave in? Then again it could be the same sort of thing Earth octopuses have going on where there's no skeleton but some level of structure keeping things in place. Beak evolved to a more toothlike structure and unlike with actual cephalopods his mouth is within his mantle rather than in the center of his tentacles. Probably not capable of camouflage? Feel like it would've been utilized otherwise? But he's got ink.

Douglas and Gibs both rely on their suits to really function- in Giblets's case he can't even live without it. Needs it to breathe + probably has a different pressure an whatnot. In general we see a lot of cybernetic augmentation here. It's just a lot more commonplace.

Speaking of. Giblets. Hm. Scavenger. #1 Carrion fan yummy whale fall yummy roadkill. I'm thinking uh maybe from a pretty low-gravity low-pressure sort of environment where he can kind of wriggle around and better manage science stuff as a worm.

Uhh Garm. Idk. terrorvision reference. Nice. Assuming that smoking people has some sort of benefit to his species probably initially for extra nutrition and figuring out that they could get high from some of the things they drained life from developed into a social cornerstone. Weird toad slug thing. Might have some sort of bare-bones skeletal system? Similar dilemma with Douglas here but they could very well be total invertebrates. Mostly fat and muscle either way. I don't have too much else to say atm I gotta think shit over. But hm. Blunt tadpole.

Gurgula. hm. Nocturnal/crepuscular. Not sure if the extra metal arms are implanted in or if he can take them off. Omnivorous probably sort of scavengers meant to eat fruit and bugs and whatever else they can get their hands on. The dark eye patches are for seeing at night aaaand I'm describing a raccoon. This is a raccoon. I guess. Some sort of proto mammal. synapsid? Extra arms presumably formed to help with mobility + holding onto prey.. Might have evolved from arthropods? Might be bugs? raccoon protomammal bug thing?? Possibly arboreal or meant to live in a more woodsy/forest adjacent habitat

We don't know a lot abt Smithon Wesson yet but I'm sticking by my guess that he's the same species as Gurgula and the differences are mainly due to 1) genetic variation (Smithon has less of a dark patch around his eyes + a squarer, broader face) 2) age (Gurgula is noticeably old) and 3) Smithon is Yet Another Example of cybernetic augmentation + prosthetics considering he's also got a whole mech or replacement metal body. Has the same sort of look to it as Gurgala's extra arms... that and with Gurgs owning an actual luger + Wesson being named after a gun manufacturing company that there's some connection there so... probably same species or genus or whatever. Just a hashtag game theory.

Gene's limbs appear to be regrowing, not sure if his eye is healing up or not. Something like a weird legged slugthing to me. shrug. Many aliens are slug like in this universe. That and amphibians. Some reptiles too Slug salamander skink thing. sure. I have to think a bit more about this guy.

God not to mention the gatliens. We kind of get an idea of em but. Hm. Alien gun. I want to know more about em hopefully the comics show us a bit more abt life on gatlus god please.

They’re strange. Probably amphibious? They have a lot of features like frogs and salamanders but they’re also kind of slugs. I do like the idea of little tadpole gats… aw little water guns… tee hee… it seems like they don’t have to eat a lot but they all do just ask for water in that one preview comic page so I’m assuming they need hydration :3c

In general i like to think aliens will straight up eat things that could kill a human ten times over. But likewise I'm sure vice versa is also true. Scare your alien homies by eating chocolate in front of them. And then they'll get you back by chugging drain cleaner.

God and Mux. God there’s just a lot to offer. I gotta think this shit over.

[brunchable]

Garden of Eden CH 4: Stairwell || Surgeon!Stephen x F!Reader

Words: 4K Genre: Hospital Romance, Love Triangle/Square, Sexual Tension. Warnings: SMUT 18+ ONLY. Public, fingering, handjob, unprotected p & v sex, creampie. Pairings: Stephen Strange x Reader A/N: Asdfghjkl somebody call 911, CHEEZUZ CHRIST. I cannot with this chapter. I know its been 84 years, but i just honestly got writer's block for this series. Also. . . bruh.... Benedict look so fucking hot in that photo UGHHHH FML.

Previous || Next

“So what’s it going to be?” Stephen asked with a raised brow, your eyes finding his lips no matter how hard you try to stare into his soul.

“You want me to keep your affair with the CEO’s daughter a secret and in exchange you’ll finally become a decent man? I don’t think you have that in you.” You challenged Stephen, confidently smirking that he won’t be able to uphold his part, “What will you do if you don’t keep your side of the bargain?”

“You don’t let anything slide do you?” Stephen chuckled, licking his bottom lip, “If I don't then I’ll expose myself to the Chairman.”

Hm, not bad. You thought and nodded, “Alright, sounds risky enough. Deal.”

“Uh-uh, not so fast. What will you do if you don’t keep your side?” 

You elicit a sigh, “If I don’t keep my word, hm, I don’t know, I don’t really have anything to lose.”

“How about you stay away from Chris and you have to do everything I want.” Stephen suggested, which made you huff through your nose. Is he mad? Why do I get two punishments?

“That’s two.”

“Then choose one. You have to do everything I want, no objections—or stay away from Chris.” 

“Fine, I will choose to do everything you want.” 

Stephen chuckled, “So, you do have a thing for Chris.”

“Your words, not mine.” You tried your best not to tense your jaw.

“Don’t worry, I can change that.” Stephen loved your choice, it was in the way the corners of his mouth curled until it creased his cheeks. You honestly now want to know where he harvests all his confidence from. 

“Don’t look so happy, Strange. I’m very good at keeping secrets. However, you? You’re going to have a hard time.” You pushed yourself off the wall and walked back to join your friend group.

Stephen felt himself wanting more after you so impulsively kissed him in front of these people. You walked away from him slowly, hips swaying as if you were a runway model. The look you gave him lingered on his face as long as it possibly could have. You seemed wickedly pleased with yourself for the manner in which you had just tripped him up.

After a couple of teasing from the friends that were surrounding the both of you, Stephen smiled at you. Secretly, he wondered if there had ever been any real attraction there. You sucked cutely on your straw while watching his eyes until it crackled and hissed with the sound of completion.

"Ah, fuck," you said, glancing down at the glass with a pout. "I’m just going to get another glass, be right back.” You got up from your seat, still feeling Stephen’s burning gaze as you approached the bar to order another glass. 

You leaned over the counter in a suggestive manner, sticking out your rear end slightly while tapping on the glossy black counter. Stephen could tell that you knew you were the ultimate tease and you loved doing it. 

Tonight, you liked the attention you got through it and the fun that came with it. You knew that when you walked into the room tonight people would turn and look at you. It gave you a deep thrill inside of you knowing that people would look, especially Stephen—that he would be lusting over you. 

Just as you sat down on one of the high chairs, Stephen approached you again, this time to strike up a casual conversation, “So what drink did you get?” he asked, standing close to you to make you jump a little.

“Just champagne,” You answered plainly, “Why are you here?”

“Came here to grab a drink as well and avoid the teasing from the situation you caused.” 

You chuckled softly, he wasn’t going to let that go. You shifted in your chair causing you to accidentally show more of your legs. Stephen noticed, and glanced down a little longer at your legs. You moved one of your legs a little more that it just so briefly showed a bit of your lace stocking top.

Stephen took a deep breath in, unsure whether you were trying to turn him on, on purpose or you just couldn’t be bothered fixing your skirt, “So. . . how long have you been single?”

You grabbed the glass of champagne, “I don’t know a year? What about you?”

“Not too long.” He answered vaguely, desperately not trying to look at either your legs or cleavage, “You want to have a go at playing pool?”

You glanced at the pool table where only a few people were around, “Yeah sure, why not?” You took your glass with you and followed Stephen who friendly asked the people there whether both of you could join.

“Do you know how to play?” Stephen asked you while grabbing a pool cue and rubbing it with the blue chalk. One of the guys had fixed the billiard ball to a reset now that you and Stephen joined in. 

“Not really, I used to play a casual game with friends back when I was in university.” 

“It’s pretty easy, you break the set and whichever you shoot into the holes first will be your colour,” Stephen explained, “Why don’t you give it a try for beginner’s luck?” He passed the cue to you.

You reluctantly took it and positioned yourself in a way you remembered how to play. Stephen examined that your posture was wrong and without thinking, he came up to you, leaning over you, his crotch pressed into your ass, placed his hand over yours on the cue. Your firm, little ass and the smell of your hair made him harder. You didn't move, at first and tried to think nothing of it—but you felt his raging boner against your ass as he leaned over you. You realised you were  wet and pushed your ass back into him, discreetly biting your lower lip.

Stephen assisted you in thrusting the cue and broke the rack. You stood up straight quickly and faced away from him for a second, not knowing what to say or how to stand, at this point. Finally, you turned and leaned against the brick wall and tried to appear casual as if Stephen's impressive cock hadn't been firmly planted against your ass.

“You alright?” Stephen asked, he’d wished you’d say no so that he could take you away from this party. That first feeling of you wasn't enough, he wanted to touch every inch of you, investigate your every crevice and taste every part of you.

“I’m good,” You flashed a smile, “Keep playing.”

You pulled your phone out and tried to pretend to be very interested in something on the screen but, instead, imagined Stephen was holding you down, with his huge, bulging arms and having his way with you. You had to distract yourself before it gets a little obvious for him.

It was the longest nine minutes ever. To be quite honest, Stephen looked very hot when he’s focused, not to mention his smile every time he scores. You were dying to know how far Stephen would take his obvious attraction for you, how far you'd let him go and what his cock would feel like without the barrier of clothing between you.

You approached Stephen, placing your hand on his shoulder, “I’m going to step out for a bit.” You informed him and walked off without giving him the chance to reply. You needed to get away from him, your frustrations were heightened because of all the alcohol you drank—all the wild thoughts about him.

But of course, he follows you like a puppy, calling out behind you in the hallway just in time to see you enter a stairwell, “Hey, you okay?” 

You jumped, “Yeah, I-I think I just drank too much alcohol.” Lies. 

Stephen took a step closer to you, placing his hand on either side of your arms, caressing them—soothing you, "You sure?"

You were struggling to get your thoughts in order. You’re grappling with making this move and taking the proverbial bull by the horns and throwing caution to the wind. What will happen on Monday when you both return to work? What will your friends say as they still sit in the booth you were just occupying?

You look up to meet his eyes, his eyes filled with trepidation and longing. You stare into him and you’ve never wished you could physically hear someone's thoughts more. Jesus why am I so nervous? Your heart is thundering against the cage of your ribs and you can't hear anything apart from the roar of your blood rushing past your ears and the deep breaths he was taking as he stared back into you with dopey eyes.

Before you can contemplate your inner dilemma any further Stephen grabbed and spun you so your back hits the wall that's now behind you with a hard thud. Your head connects with the concrete as he crashes his mouth over yours. 

Your lungs are robbed of oxygen as his tongue plunges past your lips. His teeth catch against yours as he grabs your jaw and holds it, forcing it to open up to him further as he tilts your head up forcing your lips fully against his.

You try to whimper but it's muffled against the heat that's suddenly overtaking you and against the hand he has placed around where your neck and jaw meet. You can feel your lungs vibrate with the need for air and it feels like you’re suffocating. Your nerves are searing underneath your skin and all hesitation from earlier is obliterated. The only thing you’re struggling with is how you’re going to keep quiet as you let Stephen fuck you up against this wall in this building you’ll probably never set foot in again.

Stephen leaned into you further, almost crushing you, sandwiched between two solid surfaces and you’d feel claustrophobic if the sudden sensation of his hard cock against your belly didn't flood into your mind. You can feel the heat coming off him and you’re desperate to find out which one of you is burning hotter right now. The onslaught of Stephen’s body against you feels like you’re being ripped apart by each swipe of his tongue into yours and each rock of his hips against you.

You want to escape from the almost painful pleasure that's growing between your thighs but Stephen forced his way to stand in-between your legs, one now propped up against his side. He still has one hand tight around your throat. The fingers of his other fist around the flesh of your leg and you wonder if you’ll have bruises there. Your skirt rises to pool high against the seam of your thong as he runs his hand forward until Stephen is using your ass to cradle you against him.

Your hips seek out relief from his instinctively and you break apart from your kiss as you moan and his thick grunt reverberates low in your pelvis. You’re aching for him to fill you and your thoughts lay in fragments. Your mind is trying to decide if you body wants his fingers, his mouth or his cock to annihilate the lust he’s creating within you. Fuck I need all three.

Stephen rocks into you before pulling back enough to slip his hand against you. You feel his fingers drench in the slickness there and you’re struggling not to cum just from this. His hand around your throat tightens as the corner of his lips lifts. His eyes drink you in as he smirks down at you.

"Ready for me like such a good girl," he praises you huskily, "ready for me to fuck you right here in this stairwell."

Your muscles clench harshly at the brashness of his words and at the fact that you’re more than ready for him to take you there. The way the gravel of his voice caresses each word he speaks has you dripping further onto his fingers inside you. Your nipples pebble and you try to rub them against the solid expanse of his chest. You need friction somewhere on your body. At this point all you can think is fuck anyone who happens to stumble across us in this seemingly deserted back area of the rooftop, they can watch the free show you put on for all you care.

"Unghhh Fuck," your hoarse voice moans past your parted lips as his thumb circles your clit in firm circles.

Stephen withdrew his fingers halfway only to plunge them forwards again. He sets a rhythm that makes you want to writhe where his body has you caged against the wall. You’re prone and at his mercy. All you can do is accept the pleasure he’s igniting within you. The snap of his hand in rapid succession has your nails digging into the flesh of his arms, leaving crescents marking his skin.

You feel yourself tightening already and this is going to be the quickest orgasm you’ve ever had. Your lungs are burning as you’re chasing to catch your breath and the coil in the muscles of your stomach is almost painful. Stephen intently watches the tension that begins to wash over your face as you wait for the pleasure to crest. You can feel yourself hurdling towards it and as you’re about to crash into it he withdraws his hand from you completely.

You stared at Stephen with what you’re sure reads as malice and your brain and your body are both in agreement you should kill him right here in this secluded stare well. You were fuming. Pissed would be an understatement and the stubborn part of you wants to stomp away from him petulantly. You don't know if he was edging you or fully denying you as part of your continued game from earlier but if you’re not cumming he won’t be either.

You’re two seconds from regretting your decision to allow this whole thing to even happen and moving yourself to walk away from him. This was so out of character for you but you only live once right. Your attention is drawn back to him as he curtly chuckles before he trails his lips along your jaw to the shell of your ear. Your defensiveness is short-lived as the words he grate out next replace it with humour-laced irritation.

"I thought you were planning on cumming not going."

You fight the impulse to roll your eyes. Even in the light of this moment as he tries to settle your nerves you can see the danger that still lurks behind his eyes. You've worked together long enough to have shown you both sides of his coin and yet you’ve not yet learned not to underestimate the power he holds. You know better than to assume you’re not the prey in this situation as he brushes his thumb back and forth slowly over your bottom lip and you know he’s sizing you up. He was wondering just how much bark is going to back up your bite and he’s calling you bluff. You feel the air shift in the room again.

This is you submitting to him. This is you submitting to this. Him and you have danced around this for days. It's been in the way you've interacted. It's been in the teasing remarks and too long glances. It's been in the tension that radiates between you as you work side by side. Both of you knew at some point this could become a reality.

Stephen moves to kiss you again and this time it's slow. He takes his time discovering your mouth with his tongue and you start to feel the pulse from earlier return. It's weighted and stifling as he simply savours the taste of you. You feel his moan vibrate against your lips and it sends a jolt directly to your clit.

Your breasts feel full and heavy and you’re not sure if you’ve voiced the ache that's there aloud because his free hand moves to cup your left and squeeze it. You buck in response and he angles his hips so the expanse of his cock swipes agonising over your clit. You suck in a sharp breath and you know you’re about to be fucked literally and metaphorically. How can it feel this good already and he hasn't even entered you yet.

Your heartbeat matches the pulsing of his hips as he grinds into you in strong strokes and the friction he’s creating is threatening your sanity. There's no way whatever is happening between you can culminate with you cumming against each other while dry humping against this wall. You feel the last of your inhibitions shatter as you weave your hands between you to reach for the button of his jeans.

Without hesitation you slip your hand beneath the barrier at his hips and take him into your hand. Stephen felt like stone against your palm and your mouth waters at the thought of feeling his hard cock glide over your tongue. You stroke upwards from base to tip with a firm grasp. You grind your hips forward, trapping your hand between you momentarily. His pulsing and his hot skin is smooth like velvet.

You feel his open mouth at your jaw, his teeth resting there, as he hums his approval. The sound ignites your need to hear you make it again, so you continue to stroke him. Knowing that for a moment the tables are turned and he’s at your mercy does something cruel to your insides and you wish you were tangled up in your bed instead of here. What you’d give to feel him pinning you to the mattress as he fuck into you with abandon.

Your moment of control is fleeting as he raises your hip higher onto his waist. Stephen pulls your panties to the side before guiding the head of his cock to your entrance. You feel the viscous slide of it as he rubs it up to your clit and back down again spreading your juices further. Your lust for him is leaking out of you and dampening your thighs. You watch his face while he pauses to study his hand guiding his cock against you.

Stephen looks up to meet your eyes again and without preamble he thrusts himself into you. You shoot your head back as far as you can in your position and the air slams from your chest. The burn and stretch of his rough entrance is delicious. Barely remembering where you are, it takes everything in you not to scream out.

Stephen tightens the hand he has around your throat and buries his face into the crook of your neck, as he delivers deep hard strokes. You’re whimpering around him and you’re barely hanging on. Your arms wrap around his wide shoulders, one hand gripping his t-shirt, the other braced against the back of his head. You pant against his ear with every upward movement before biting your lip.

"Let me hear you moan for me baby, " Stephen instructed against the skin of your neck.

"Have to be quiet," You manage to reply with a stubborn shake of your head no.

Apparently it's not the answer he wanted to hear. Before you can catch your bearings you’re flipped and the side of your face and your chest are pressed into the wall. His hand holds your neck in place and his body fits flush against you as he enters you once again. Your head is spinning at the sudden change in position but Stephen taking you like this and knowing where you are makes another flood of arousal seep from you.

"I said let me hear you," Stephen repeats as he sticks his face against the side of yours, grunting into you.

"We. Can't." your voice chastises as firmly as you can manage.

You’re internally berating him because you’re torn between making everyone aware of exactly what you're doing back here or trying to hold out against him and stay silent. You could blame your tryst on the alcohol coursing through your system but the reality is you’re far from drunk. Stephen decides for you as he pistons into your soaked cunt. You voice betrays your reluctance as he repeatedly scrapes against your g-spot. A moan slams against the wall in front of you. Your voice sounds foreign as it bounces back to assault your ears.

"That's it baby," Stephen praised you through gritted teeth, "Such a good girl taking my cock like this. What do you say to me?"

A strangled, "harder Doctor," leaves your lips.

You can feel the coil in your belly tighten as he repeatedly crush you between the wall and his hips. You can feel sweat at the nape of your hair now. The points of your nipples sting satisfyingly. Stephen ran his tongue over your neck in one hot flick before he ate the shell of your ear again.

"Keep taking this cock like a good girl until you cum all over me," Stephen says, losing his restraint, "keep taking this cock and I'll fill you up like I know you want it."

Before you even have the chance to hold out like Stephen instructed the mixture of his words, this position, our location, hurdle you over the edge and your scream gets lodged in your throat as you clamp like a vice around his cock. Your muscles are so tight it causes your body to shake uncontrollably and your eyes screw shut. The palms of your hands slide against the wall as your nails try to dig into the concrete before you. You’re being wrung out and the feeling is overwhelming.

With a few more harsh slaps against you,  Stephen was cumming too. You feel his hot cum shoot into you and coat your insides. You can feel yourself flutter against him as aftershocks rock through you. Your body feels strained and overextended and your mind goes blank.

Stephen fall against you breathing heavily. You’re exhausted and there's no way you can hide what you’ve been doing once you make it back to the table out front. By your current state this whole damn party is going to know. You’re honestly surprised someone hasn't come in search of you by now. Maybe they had anticipated this outcome tonight long before you did.

Stephen places a kiss on the spot before your ear as a playful smile graces his face. You have a death grip on his arms as you cover them with yours. Your eyes are closed and you need a shower and sleep. Your stomach, full of alcohol, reminds you it's void of food. You don't know if you can find the strength to move from this wall.

"C'mon baby," Stephen teases, "Let's get out of here. I've got a couple more ideas I wanna try out over the rest of the weekend before Monday."

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ 

Stephen carefully slides out of your bed after another session with you, collecting his clothes that were thrown all over the floor.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Stephen chuckled, “(Y/N), listen, I never stay overnight—”

“Whoa Stephen, wait—There are two types of women in the world; women you shag and leave and the ones you shag and snuggle. Regrettably, I am in the shag and snuggle kind.” You paused as you stared at him while he thought about it, “So you have three seconds to get back in this bed or you can march out of my apartment and we will never repeat what happened tonight.” 

Stephen remained astonished as he stood by the side of your bed, utterly awestruck by the assurance with which you issued that warning.

“One…two…” You counted and before you got to three, Stephen jumped back into bed with you, planting two, three, four kisses against your cheek as he snuggled under the blanket, pulling your back against his body while he got comfortable beside you.

“Wise choice, Doctor.” You chuckled and closed your eyes, feeling Stephen’s breath against the curve of your shoulders.

TAGS: @goldencherriess @severuined @praetorrara @emotionsareforuglypeople @bxsotted @siredlust @sherlux @tis-vereon @greatburger @lykaonimagines @strangeions @dragonqueen89 @kylosbitch @lovecleastrange @patbrdac @brookymsa @downtownshabby @lucimorningst4r @diabaroxa @reader6898 @mando-is-the-way @faithinhome @bobateadaydreams @strangeobsessed @mochuchi @mischiefmanaged71 @marcelin3-blog @thewinterpoet2 @evelynrosestuff @lokislov3 @diabaroxa @singhfae @frostandflamesfanfic @withalittlehoney @keistange

[within-the-abyss]

Hi is it ok to request cassian feeling unworthy of his mate and she comforts him? Something with him being bastard born and her being high fae

I’m sorry if this isn’t what you were looking for, I’ve had a lot of stuff for school this week and kind of hit a wall with this fic.

「Cassian x reader」

「Cassian feels unworthy of his mate」

2 days- that’s how long it’s been since she’d seen Cassian. He hadn’t been sleeping in the bed with her, he hadn’t been at meals, and any time she tried to talk to him he brushed her off. Y/n was beginning to feel hurt, wondering if she had angered him in some way.

She told herself to give him space- maybe he had something on his mind, but 2 days was long enough. She was done wondering why he’s neglecting her.

She walked out of her and Cassian’s shared room and headed towards the main room downstairs. She saw Rhys and Azriel sitting in the room having a conversation. Just the 2 she wanted to see- if anyone knew what was wrong with Cassian, it was them.

“Hey guys,” she greeted as she walked in.

“Hello y/n,” Rhys said, Az offered her a small smile.

“I was wondering if you guys had seen Cass?” y/n asked them, hoping they would know.

“I haven’t seen him lately, he said he had some work to do. Why? Is something wrong.” Rhys questioned, a concerned look on his face.

“Well that’s the thing, I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean by that?” Azriel finally spoke.

“The 2 of us haven’t talked in the past 2 days. He’s not coming to bed anymore, he’s not at meals, and when I try to talk to him he just brushes me off. I’m not sure if I did something or what- I gave him space, but I want my mate back and I’m tired of waiting.” Y/n let out a breath, looking to the 2 brothers for any answers, their faces looked shocked. Great, they don’t know either.

“That doesn’t sound like him,” Az spoke. He looked to Rhys, a silent question of whether he knew what was going on with their brother. Rhys just shrugged.

“So neither of you know?” Y/n was starting to get angry now, but also worried. Not only was Cassian ignoring her, but also his brothers.

Rhys looked up at her, “I’m not sure what’s wrong with him, but when I saw him last night he did mention morning training in the ring. It wouldn’t hurt to check there.” Well it’s better than nothing.

“I’ll go check. Thanks you two.” Rhys sent her smile as Az nodded.

- - -

She headed out towards the training area. She could hear someone hitting a punching bag, she could only pray it was Cassian.

As she opened the doors she was meant with the sight of training rings and weapons on the wall, but that wasn’t what she was paying attention to. Her eyes were on the large Illyrian in the corner letting out his anger on the punching bag.

She had finally found Cassian- but now she had to make him talk to her.

She took a deep breath and walked over in his direction. Thankfully his back was to her, and the sound of his punches kept him from hearing her footsteps. As soon as she was in earshot, she called his name.

“Cass!” He just kept hitting the punching bag. “Casssian!” That got his attention. The male’s movements halted as he turned around to face her. His eyes met hers as he waited for her to speak.

She took in a sharp breath at the sight of him. Shirtless and sweaty. His long hair tied up, but some strands had fallen out and stuck to his face. He looked like a god. Focus y/n.

“You’ve been ignoring me,” she finally said after a long moment.

He just looked at her, some sort of emotion on his face that she couldn’t figure out.

“I’ve had a lot to do… that’s all,” he turned away from her and walked over to get a drink of water.

“Bullshit Cassian, I know you haven’t been busy.” She goes to grab his hand hoping to get his attention but he pulls away from her.

Y/n was shocked by that- he’s never pulled away from her. “Do you not want me? You ignore me and now I can’t touch you.” She could feel the tears starting to prick her eyes and turned to walk away when Cassian finally spoke up.

“Of course I want you?”

“Then why? Why the hell ign-”

“Because I’m scared-” he took a long pause, “I’m scared you’ll leave me.”

“Why would I leave you?” Y/n asked, facing Cassian, giving him her full attention.

“Because I’m just some bastard born Illyrian and you’re high fae. We’re not the same status. I’m nothing more than dirt to most,” he looked down at the floor, not able to meet her eyes.

“Cassian…”

“I’m scared you’ll see me as the bastard I see myself as.” Y/n reached out and put her hands on either side of his face, making him look at her.

“Oh Cass… I’ll never leave you because of that. I love you- you’re my mate for gods’ sake. Bastard or not I love you.”

“You really don’t care?” Cassian finally met her eyes and the sadness and hope within them broke her heart.

“Of course not Cass, I’m all yours. I’m here to stay.” She gives him a smile and watches as his face lights up and he pulls her into a hug, burying his face in her neck.

“I’m sorry,” Cassian says, his voice muffled and he buries his face deeper into her.

Y/n pulls back, too soon for Cassian’s liking, “It’s alright. Next time please talk to me. I’m here for you.”

He looked down at her with love in his eyes, he really did get an amazing mate.

“Okay,” he nodded his head at her. He goes to pull her back into a hug, but she pushes him away, a frown appearing on his face.

“As much as I would love to hug you more, you smell horrible. You really need a shower.” Cassian smirked at her as an idea popped into his head.

He suddenly picked y/n up and threw her over his shoulder, “If you want me to shower so bad, I guess you won’t mind joining me.” The glare she threw at his back was enough to scare a whole army.

“Yeah but you didn’t have to throw me over your shoulder! You could’ve just asked.”

“Where’s the fun in that y/n? Besides I like the view,” He said as he smacked y/n’s ass, a small squeal leaving her lips.

Cassian carried y/n all the way to the bedroom, and set her down on the sink, turning the water on, getting the shower ready.

Y/n hopped down off the sink and went to wrap her arms around Cassian. “How about I show you just how much I really love you,” she said as she drug her hand down his wing, loving the feeling of him shuddering under her touch.

Cassian turned to meet her gaze, leaning in close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips. “I think that’s a great idea, love.”

She spent the rest of the night showing him just how much she loved him- in the shower, on the desk, on the window sill, on the floor, and on the bed.

They laid in bed where to 2 had finally settled down, Cassian on his back with y/n leaning on his chest listening to his heartbeat.

“I love you Cass, don’t ever forget that,” y/n spoke in a tired voice.

“I love you too y/n,” Cassian said as the 2 drifted off to sleep in one another's arms, finally back where they belonged.

[incorrectnessduskwood]

I know I'm just posting incorrect quotes but I wrote this on Sunday after more than six months without writing anything and I liked it, so I thought someone out there may like it too. Enjoy! :D

Pairing: Jake x Charlie (my MC)

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: angst with a happy ending, spoilers for ep 8

Charlie walked up the steps slowly, her backpack weighing down her shoulders, the take-out bags of Chinese clenched tightly in her left hand. She checked her phone the hundredth time since leaving her house, making sure she had gotten the right address. The restaurant in front of the motel was a pretty compelling evidence that yes, she was in the right place, but she couldn’t help but wonder if she had gotten something wrong; if she did, this was going to be a tad awkward for whoever was on the other side of the door.

Reaching the number 543, Charlie finally put the phone in her pocket, letting out a shaky breath out through her mouth. Pushing her hair out of her face, she closed her eyes and counted to five.

You’re fine. You’re in the right place. He’ll be happy to see you, you know that. Pissed maybe, but certainly happy too. Just knock on the door and everything will be okay

Finally, she knocked twice on the door, quiet enough so others wouldn’t hear but loud enough for him to hear; she only hoped he wouldn’t think she was one of the people that were after him. Time seemed to pass slowly and Charlie started to get restless. She tapped her foot on the floor, her breathing getting shakier with each passing second that she didn’t hear anything on the other side of the door. The bags in her hand were hot enough to warm her hand and she changed them to the her right hand, rasing her left one to knock again when there was finally shuffling in the room. Quietly, she waited for something to happen: for him to ask who it was, for him to start packing all of his things in a rush or for the door to open, she wasn’t sure which one.

Not bearing the silence and the lack of reaction, she finally talked, “You know, it’s kind of rude to leave a friend waiting outside in this weather. Specially when she has brought food.”

That, at last, got a reaction from him. Charlie heard footsteps, a loud noise followed by a curse, and the sound of the lock of the door. It didn’t open but she knew it wouldn’t take long anymore. He may not have known what her voice sounded like but he would know what to ask of her to know he’s safe; and she knew exactly what to answer.

“It’s also rude to just stop by the door when we both know you want to ask something so I’ll prove who I am.” No answer. With a sigh, she continued, “What was the first thing I asked about you when we started talking?”

Silence followed by some shuffling. Then, “You asked what kind of hack programs I use and I listed four of them to you.” Charlie smiled. I knew it was him. “What did you tell was your imagination about meeting me?”

“I imagined you were wearing your black hoodie, like you probably are now. I imagined your eyes looked so familiar because you are so familiar to me already. I imagined you would hold me in your arms and tell me everything would be okay because we were together.”

It took five seconds for the lock to turn and the door to open. Charlie stared at him with a soft expression, looking for his eyes to see the familiarity she knew she would find and learning what he really looked like; Jake was tall—a lot more taller than her—his long hair was as black as a moonless sky, his eyes a clear grey, dark bags from sleepless nights under them, his skin thin and pale from being closed off for so long. He was indeed using a hoodie, but this one was a dark blue instead of black, a Metallica T-shirt badly hidden under it.

Charlie knew he was staring at her just intently, memorizing her face, and she let him. She watched his eyes wander through her face, the lines around them softening and making him look a lot younger than he actually was. Amazement was etched in his face, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and Charlie thought she had never seen someone as beautiful as Jake; she wasn’t sure if it was because she was finally seeing him in front of her, or if it was because of the way he was looking at her, or if it was just the fact that she was so goddam happy for having found him. Whatever it was, Charlie was certain Jake was the most amazing human being she had ever seen.

After a few minutes, Jake finally let out a shaky breath and tentatively raised his hand towards Charlie, hovering it over her left shoulder. She gave one tiny step towards him, placing her own hand on his shoulder and softly pulling him towards her; it was the action Jake needed to pull her hard to his chest and bury his face on her hair, his arms closing tightly around her shoulders. Charlie moved her free hand to Jake’s hair, threading her fingers through it, and pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heart beat as fast as her own.

She lost count of how long they stood there but, eventually, her bag started to weigh a lot more than it already did and she gently pushed Jake back enough to look at his eyes. “This is all good and great but we should probably get inside. It’s freezing, my bag’s heavy and the food is just getting cold.”

Jake chuckled, his cheeks blushing as he scratched the back of his neck and gave a step back. “Of course, I’m sorry. I guess my surprise overpowered me. Come on in,” he waved his arm towards the room, waiting for Charlie to enter before closing the door and locking it once again.

Placing her bag on the floor, Charlie looked around the room; the curtains were drawn shut, the bed was a mess of pillows and blankets, there were two duffles by the foot of the bed and an array of laptops and wires on the table. Nothing unlike what she had expected from Jake. She turned to him with a smile and offered him the take-out bags. “It won’t be exactly like you wanted but we do get to eat Chinese food.”

“I think the least of our problems are not being at the restaurant.” Jake took the bags from Charlie before placing them on an empty space at the table. He kept his back to her, seeming to be clearing some more space on the table. Charlie frowned, watching as Jake avoided her eyes when he closed the laptops and put them together on the bed.

“Jake? Are you okay?”

Jake’s shoulders tensed before turning back to her, his eyes shielded by a strand of her. “What are you doing here, Charlie? How did you find me?”

Charlie sighed, raising a hand to her shoulder to press on a tense muscle. “It wasn’t easy, I’m gonna give you that. But I knew what to look for and how to do it.”

“How? I mean, I didn’t know you could hack someone if you wanted to.”

“Well,” Charlie smiled, walking to one of the chairs. “I do have a few aces up my sleeve too. And after everything that happened, Richy, Thomas and Jessy finding the kidnapper and being so close they could’ve gotten caught, that last call from the kidnapper, I just…” Charlie sighed, burying her head in her hands. “I just needed not to be alone. And seeming as I promised you I wouldn’t go to Duskwood, I’m here. I’m sorry.”

She heard the other chair scrape the floor before she felt Jake’s hands on hers. He held them on her knees, his eyes staring at her. There were a few streaks of blue in them. “You don’t have to be sorry. I—I know it’s hard to be alone, believe me. And you’ll always be welcome by my side but Charlie… You’re putting yourself in risk by coming here.”

Charlie laughed humourleslly, pulling her hands from Jake’s and standing up. “Putting myself at risk? More than I already am? Have you seen everything that has happened since I joined the group? Richy being marked and then stabbed, Jessy getting attacked, Phil going to prison. Even you, Jake! I mean, they only found you because you were helping me, otherwise, Lilly wouldn’t even know about you and you wouldn’t have been included in the video. Did you listen to that last call the kidnapper made to me? Did you hear him saying he’s going to kill all of them and then me? How much more at risk can I be in after that?”

Jake didn’t say anything but Charlie could feel his eyes on her as she started to pace around the room. She avoided looking at him, breathing deeply to keep her emotions in check; the last thing she needed was to break down now. They still had a lot of work to do and she hadn’t heard anything from the others for hours and it was all starting to get too much. What if Jessy and Thomas were caught in the end? Did the Man Without a Face know where they live? Would he go after them like he said he would? What if the only thing she would find out would be the police calling to tell her all of them were dead? What she would do them? It would all be her fault, she would have let them all get killed and—

“Hey! Charlie! Look at me.” Jake’s hands were on her face, forcing Charlie to look into his eyes. “Breathe with me, okay? Come on. I don’t want you to pass out.”

Charlie took a deep breath, following Jake’s movements, looking into his eyes and trying to count all the different colours in them.When she finally calmed down, Jake helped her sit back on the chair, squeezing her shoulder caringly. Charlie watched as he opened the take-out bags, getting a little of each container on a plate before placing it on her hands. He then did the same with another plate and sat in front of her again, their knees touching as he stared into her eyes.

“I always find it easy to do things if I’m not hungry or even if I’m eating just because. I know it can also help with anxiety if you’re the type of person that eats when anxious, which, and I’m making an educated guess here, you are.”

She chuckled softly, looking down at the plate. “You do know how to make educated guesses. I’m guessing you like to eat while you hack into things?”

Jake shrugged, taking a bite of his food before replying, “I do. Clears my head and makes me less anxious.” Charlie nodded, trying some of the fried rice while ignoring Jake’s gaze. “Charlie, you know you can trust me, right? I know I’ve some mistakes along the way but it was never my intention to put you or any of them in danger. Whatever it is you’re feeling, I want you to know I’m here for you. You can tell me anything.”

“I know, Jake.” Charlie gave him a small smile and shrugged. “It’s just… I have never felt so powerless before, you know? I’m not the kind of person that likes to be controlled, that’s why I know how to fight, why I try to learn a little of everything to have at least some kind of knowledge if I meet someone that wants to talk or do something I’m not familiar with. But now?” Sighing, she looked back down to her food, pushing it around with her fork. “When Jessy was attacked, I couldn’t do anything but watch. The same thing with all the threatening calls and the in-site search and then with Richy—” Charlie’s voice broke and she swallowed back a sob. She felt Jake put a hand on one of her knees, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I had to hear him struggle without being able to do anything. Then I had to watch him choke on his own blood as he tried to tell me something I have no idea what it is. After he dropped the phone, I stared at it for so long, just looking at the sky, waiting, wishing for him to take the phone back, to say it was a joke.” Charlie’s eyes filled with tears and she put the plate on the table. “God, I wish this was all just a bad joke. A really, really bad joke.”

Arms closed around her shoulders and Charlie buried her face on Jake’s stomach, finally feeling the dam break. Jake only rubbed at her back, not saying anything.

“How many of them am I going to have to watch get attacked, Jake? Or killed? Jessy and Thomas barely escaped without any scratches from that house. Dan almost got killed in that accident. Even Cleo’s mom was threatened because of me. How much guilt do you think I can still take it? How much suffering can I put people through because I’m the one who’s a threat to the kidnapper?”

Jake let out a heavy sigh, hugging her tighter before letting go and kneeling in front of her. He took her face in his hands and raised her head so he could look straight into her eyes. “Charlie, I can’t answer that. Not so long ago, you asked me if I thought we had gone too far and I answered how far was too far when it came to someone’s life. You told me it was as soon as someone else was in danger and I see now that you were right. I’ve been so preoccupied with Hannah because she’s my sister and she and Lilly are my only family that I didn’t stop to think that everyone in the group mean something to you; they’re your friends, too.” Charlie nodded, feeling Jake clean a tear form her cheek. “And I should’ve seen that. I know I’m not the best at… understanding other people but I should’ve realized that everything that has happened had to have taken a toll on you just as it did when I saw Hannah getting kidnapped. Even worse because you had to experience things no one ever should have. And I’m so sorry, Charlie, I truly am.”

Charlie smiled sadly, placing a hand on Jake’s cheek. “You remember when I said I thought your eyes would look familiar to me?” He nodded, his expression changing to confusion. “This is what I meant. Even with everything that has happened, I can see everything you’ve shown me through the texts in your eyes. I can see your empathy, I can see how much you care about Hannah and finding her, and I can see your guilt too. Because you also feel it, don’t you? You feel like it’s your fault Hannah was kidnapped; because you weren’t fast enough to call to her.”

“You know,” Jake smiled, turning his head so he could kiss her palm. “You never cease to amaze me. You sometimes understand stuff in a way I can only dream of. Sometimes you know things I’d rather not have anyone know to not let them get too close but I can’t hide anything from you.”

“Well, you actually can hide things from me, for a while. I’ll just end up finding out anyway.”

“That is true. Just like you found out where I was. I’m still amazed by it, to be honest.”

“Okay, it actually wasn’t that hard either.” Jake raised an eyebrow at her and Charlie laughed, gently pushing him away so she could stand up. “I shouldn’t explain just to leave you curious about it and see what it’s like when you keep things from me. But I’m not that mean.”

Jake smiled, following her towards the kitchen. “That you really aren’t. Sarcastic, yes. Stubborn? Don’t even need to answer that. But mean? No, not really. So, how did you do it?”

“Well,” Charlie toyed with the glass in her hands. “Nym-0s is already connected to my phone, that’s why he was able to warm me of the attacks, right?” Jake hummed. “Which means it’s easier for me to actually get into your phone. And considering you weren’t expecting me to hack it, it means there are fewer protections against me. I only needed your location, which is fast to find, and here I am.”

“Who would’ve thought? Tricked by my own program.”

Charlie chuckled, placing the glass back on the sink and stepping towards Jake. “I’m happy you did or I wouldn’t have found you. And I really needed to find you.”

Jake’s expression softened and he opened his arms. Charlie didn’t hesitate before stepping into his embrace. “I think I needed you to find me too. You have no idea how many times I thought about asking where you were or for you to come to me, just so we could meet. Going through all of this alone is incredibly hard.”

She scoffed, shaking her head against his chest. “You can say that again. It’s also, like… I could’ve gone to Duskwood. I know I promised you I wouldn’t, but you wouldn’t be very surprised if I did.” Jake chuckled and hummed. “But I don’t know… I know everyone there is suffering too and would help and comfort me as much as they could, but none of them are you.”

“I know how you feel. I could’ve gone too. I mean, my two half-sisters are there and Lilly is probably suffering a lot more than I am, but it wouldn’t be the same as if I was with you. I felt a lot better talking to you by text than I would’ve if I had gone there. But now that you’re here,” Jake raised her head and Charlie could feel the ghost of his lips on hers. “I feel like I can take on the whole world and win.”

“You do know I don’t make you invincible, right?”

“Certainly feels like it.”

Charlie chuckled, shaking her head. “I feel invincible by your side too. Anyone comes our way, I’ll kick their asses.”

“I know you will.”

They stared at each other, their lips so close it was unnerving, and Charlie wasn’t sure what to do; she wanted nothing more than to just close the damn distance already, but she wasn’t sure if she could. How would Jake react if she did? Did he want it as much as her or would he panic and run away? She sure wouldn’t be able to take it if he did.

In the end, she didn’t have to do anything: Jake bent down and pressed their lips together, so softly Charlie sighed and melted against him, putting one arm around his waist and the other in his hair. Jake’s arms sneaked around her waist, pulling her even closer to him, and Charlie was sure they’d soon become, though she would never complain.

When they let go of each other, Charlie stared up at him with a smile, giddiness bubbling in her chest. Jake mirrored her smile, which only made her heart beat faster. Things weren’t okay yet and they still had a lot to do, but, like she said, as long as they were together, they were invincible and they would find a way to fix everything.