#// theres going to be so many interesting subjects broached here between them

[catncore]

being so close to the 'source' put him in a unique position to see the 'dolls' up close. they were distortions of her own making- manifestations of akemi homura herself, he guesses based on their make up but he doesn't know for certain. they are new abjurations to him and worth studying with time. he wonders if they only exist so close to the newly stated in goddess, or if they are spread out across the universe to do her will.

he does his best ( for the time ) to ignore the doll that has wandered near him clumsily with it's apple; but it's movements were erratic and he finds himself staring as it drops the item. the closer to him it gets, like a cat, the hair on his arms and neck stands on end with unease. he does his best to not let this betray his expression. if he showed discomfort then there was no telling where this conversation would go. he was glad his wings were not visible currently. he'd keep them pressed down as far as he could unless necessary.

he wasn't scared of homura. it was much worse. he was scared for her. there was so much uncertainty in the world now and there was no dictating the path forward. even with all this power, she was still a teenage girl. she was still growing up even if she had the power of the universe and it's chaos at her finger tips.

❝  s' right. jus'a conversation. ❞ he says, turning his attention back to the goddess; lifting his stubbled chin up slightly as he put his hands into his pockets to keep from fidgeting. ❝  do i have yer permission t' speak freely? ❞ he doesn't quite understand why he needs to ask this. the words left his mouth before he could even think about them. every other time they'd spoken he'd felt comfortable to speak his mind but there was new circumstances in front of them both.

was her authority so great now that it was over the higher planes now? higher than the almighty that ruled the angels? that.... changed things. the realization of it made him avoid looking at her outright, instead focusing his eyes to her right, against his own will.

he opens his mouth to attempt to say something else but no sound leaves him; uncertain if he is allowed to speak or not. instead he puts focus into what exactly he wants to ask her. the conversation that at heart needed to be had.

he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his slacks pocket and pulled one of the tobacco sticks out to light with his flick lighter; cupping the flame while he got the end started with a slow drag. he'd given up smoking for awhile but with everything changing, the angel figured he should put less stress on himself. he uses this time to focus on just what he wanted to say when he got her blessing to continue.

when he looked at the readily avalible information as to what reordered the universe; rewriting it to the standard it currently was, hanekoma was horrified to find himself sympathetic to her. if he had been in her position with his chosen people so close to his fingertips; he just might (would) have done the same thing. he'd break space if it meant protecting what was his.

for shibuya.... for his composer, he'd do anything. akemi homura created a situation where that was possible for her under her unprecedented conditions under incubator supervision as their little test subject. hanekoma almost found it laughable something hadn't happened before then. that she hadn't done worse.

he wasn't surprised when he saw everything laid out with the data. humans in grief do extreme things. the same could be said for people in love. that was something they had in common, he supposes. he might have done worse if he had been where she stood.

Homura thought her dolls weren't present, but she should have been more careful. Manuke came forward with a little skip in her step. She's smiling, ready to offer an apple to the barista. Homura did not ask her to bring an apple, but it looks like Manuke wanted to come here all by herself. She always spoke of that radiant goddess to the other dolls, but they never cared about the foolish stories that Stupidity wanted to share. Homura assumed that Manuke wished to happily greet the man with a gift. Almost as if offering something nice and shiny is some kind of flawless method to make friends.

Manuke clumsily trips over herself before she could reach the man. Homura makes no move to help the doll back to her feet, but she does not even acknowledge the doll's presence. The apple lands, rolling a little bit away from the fallen doll. Manuke's smile remains on her face as she does not realize that the apple received a small bruise from the fall. Manuke's simple plan unravels itself once she rose back to her feet. Forgetting about her plan, the brunette lightly kicks the apple as if the fruit was actually a ball. She fades into the distance, giggling to herself.

She is true to her name, but it looks like she's still having fun.

❝  I... I suppose you're correct.  ❞         She did not mean to throw such a question like that at him. But her mind spirals downward at the mere thought of having to grant his wish. She knew she would need to get used to granting wishes, but she couldn't help herself for being nervous. She never thought she would come as far as she has done. Worrying about wishes is brand new territory for her.

All she knew how to do was fight.

Part of Homura wants to apologize for the fake child's mere presence, but she holds her tongue. She is glad that it was only Manuke that chose to pop up. Having multiple of her dolls in one area always leads to some kind of headache. They obey her orders, but they were just as hyperactive as regular children when they do not have any orders to keep them preoccupied. The lizard-shaped ear cuff attached to her left ear will quietly alert her of any reports from her servants, including the dolls. She always prepares herself to hear the lizard's whispered words.

The lizard delivered to her the vague message from a soaring bird. The deformed raven, Liese, cawed that a visitor will be arriving soon. What made her worry is that the former duty of each and every Liese minion was to deliver bad news. Did her familiars still carry out their original purposes? Dwelling too long on such topics always proved to form a lump in her throat. Thinking of familiars harkened her back to when she was trapped within her own labyrinth.

Her labyrinth looked like a dream. Being trapped within a happy dream didn't sound... bad. They did not have to worry about the unpredictable horrors of Witches or the hungry Wraiths. Their enemies were not as awful. Their enemies were the Nightmares. Each Nightmare was originally a dreamer's unpleasant dreams coming to life as their threat.

Defeating the Nightmares helped to bring ease to the sleeping dreamer until their bad dreams turned to pleasant. The city repaired itself of its damages after each battle was over, but none of them cared to dwell. They were too busy basking in the beauty of another shared victory while morning light shimmered over their shining soul gems. Everything in her labyrinth felt so right and perfect. But then everything came crumbling down once she began to investigate. Kyubey began to speak to her after she discovered who the witch really turned out to be.

Then he showed her the way his kind pierced her soul gem with these... sharp-looking devices. He said that she was an experiment that they planned to study for as long as they want. The sight of her mutilated soul gem remains forever scorched into her mind. Seeing all of those emotionless eyes monitor her shell of a body is creepy, but seeing what they did to her soul left her feeling sick to her stomach. It was already a difficult pill for her to swallow when she saw how dark her soul looked while it was within Kyubey's grasp... But to see all of those sharp nails mutilate her already murky soul gem made her taste bile on her tongue.

All of those Incubators wanted to do is study her after keeping her very soul suspended in so much despair and pain. A soul gem was not supposed to be poked with sharp objects, but they made it possible. The rest of the girls defeated her witch, but Homura refused to be spirited away by the Law of Cycles. She is the witness of Kyubey's true plans. So, Homura took control of the situation with her own hands. But now? She is drifting through her days with tired eyes and a heavy heart.

She has tried to craft the universe as carefully as she could without disturbing anyone. After all, she did truly long for the warm dream that she once lived within when she was inside her labyrinth. But she is only one person at the end of the day. Cosmic power to rewrite the universe proved to be massive upon her tired shoulders. But she tells herself she must keep moving forward. Even thinking about her familiars brought back unpleasant memories of what she witnessed when her slumbering body and corrupted soul were within the clutches of Kyubey's race.

❝  All you want to do is talk?  ❞         Relief should have came to her side then, but her dread remains. Part of her is glad that Hanekoma did not confess his wish. To hear that all he wanted to do was talk, however, did not erase her uneasiness. She didn't know what to expect from him. The last time that she had a conversation with someone who knew what she has done ended as poorly as she predicted.

Sayaka Miki believed her when she claimed that she might end up destroying the world one day. The girl, draped in her justice, found a new villain to aim her sword at. Sayaka did not understand her point of view. Part of her wants Sayaka to lap up every word that she said because she must hold everyone at a distance. But another part of her wished that Sayaka actually understood why she committed her horrendous-looking deed. Sayaka did not witness what she witnessed, though.

❝  Of course... We can talk then, if that's what you really want to do.  ❞         Perhaps she is worried over what he must want to say to her. Did he come here to condemn her decisions? Insist that she step down and return what she stole? Not knowing his next move makes her dig her fingernails deep into the palms of her skin.

Old habits are hard to quit.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

Do you have any thoughts on Astarion and Halsin going from like, metamours who aren’t especially close to lovers because I think there is a lot of potential for something really sweet there lol idk

I read, and am just realizing did the worst thing by closing the tab before kudos and commenting, and INCREDIBLE smutty, smutty fanfic about the very moment this begins happening for Astarion and Halsin.Its by @vixstarria and Vix, please do feel free to link it here, Iv'e lost it heh. It has a named Drow fem Tav in the middle of a very delightful and explicit Halsin/Astarion sandwich.

That being said, here are my thoughts!

Astarion states that he is okay with Halsin because the druid is special. How so? Well, Wood Elves are polyamorous by nature and Astarion seems well aware of how they function, and knows that Halsin has 350 years of experience with consent and communication. So they start off on a very... almost professionally amiable standing with one another. Its very obvious that they havent gotten to know each other well or bonded at all by the time that Tav begins the Hinge dynamic, but they they very soon begin to be in each others space simply via both wanting to be near/with Tav.

Halsin is intuitive, smart, careful, considerate, compassionate. At first, Astarion is going to find this annoying to an eye rolling degree. However, he would be surprised that all of his teasing is met with eye-twinkling humor from Halsin

Any harsh remarks roll off the druid like water on a ducks back, and Astarion finds himself effectively de-fanged (at least verbally) in fairly short order. He also fails at any attempt to remove /himself/ in sassy ways, as Halsin pre-empts any outburst and bows out of situations in favor of letting Astarion in.

With nothing to rail against, Astarion is given the space to simply adjust. In canon, he states that he enjoys watching the PC and Halsin kiss, referring to it as a show. Eventually, I believe Halsin would ask /Tav/ about broaching the subject of including Astarion in their bedroom dynamics.

Said bedroom dynamics would begin completely separate. When tav is with Halsin, Astarion makes himself scarce. Same vice versa. This cannot go on forever, nor does Tav want it to. It is Tav, most likely, that shows some distress or discomfort about Halsin and Astarions dynamic, probably wanting to bed share, cuddle puddle, etc.

Halsin is the one to bridge the gap. He uses animal form to do so, removing any sexual undertones from the situation by wild shaping and placing himself respectfully on one side of Tav. It may be many weeks of this, but Astarion, Tav, and Halsin would begin to bed share in this manner.

during the day, Tav begins to share more overt physical affection with Halsin and Astarion while they are in each others company, and tries to leave Halsin and Astarion alone together more often as well. Halsin would make himself very physically available- oppen posture, standing close, warm eyes. He had always said "and some day, his participation", which mans he was always interested in including Astarion should the vampire wish it.

He would offer his blood to Astarion well before they share any sort of intimacy together. I believe Astarion would dance around the topic for a little while, but not long. The intimacy of being in Halsins lap would give them both the opportunity to figure out if theres a spark of compatibility between them, but it wouldnt become sexual.

One day, Tav initiates kisses/sensual touching with Astarion while Halsin is wild-shaped and in bed with them. Astarion would comment on it, Halsin would likely make an overt display of calm detachment. Hes going to be there unless asked to leave, but Tav wants him to stay, and Astarion allows it.

Halsin is internally screaming and very horny about it, but manages to stay still because he knows this is a tenuous situation.

Astarion ALWAYS acts like its not a big deal. Its Tav and Halsin that are more careful

I firmly believe their first kiss would be Halsin very "embarassingly" (in astarions opinion) asking directly for one. "May I kiss you?" this would be /after/ Astarion has boned Tav in front of him, or at least been fairly intimate. Astarion would also probably directly ask to watch Halsin and Tav together before this as well

Honestly... I think they would be alone when Halsin asks. I think he would express direct interest in turning it into a triangle and not a hinge, I think he would be very clear and soft and careful and Astarion would roll his eyes but the kiss would be... chaste. slow, soft. No wandering hands on Halsins part. Astarion breaks the intimacy by grabbing two fist fulls of his ass and squeezing.

I think it would take a lot longer than people may assume, it would be very gentle and sweet and require a lot of pre-navigation, but I do believe that should the Halsin/Tav/Astarion hinge continue post game, they would become a triad.