#〈 ooc ; is this a non-relevant conversation 〉

[m1ckeyb3rry]

── PEREGRINE // ONE

Series Synopsis: The ways that you and Seishiro Nagi fall together and fall apart over the years.

Chapter Synopsis: You wrap up your affairs before flying over to your hometown, where your best friend will soon have his wedding.

Series Masterlist

Pairing(s): Nagi x Reader, Kira x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 5.2k

Content Warnings: unhealthy relationships, cheating, non-linear narrative, probably ooc, angst, nagi is endgame, kira sucks, alternate universe, original characters

A/N: you know it’s a m1ckeyb3rry fic when the main love interest doesn’t even show up for the first few chapters…also please note this is NOT THE FIRST CHAPTER of the story there is a prologue before it!! which gives a lot of necessary background so you’re not (as) confused by the plot

divider credits: @/benkeibear

“Sora,” you cooed at your cat, your torso jammed beneath the bed as you tried to pull her out. “Dearest Sora, please don’t make this so difficult.”

“I told you you should’ve gotten rid of her when you had the chance,” Ryosuke said from where he was folding clothes to put in his suitcase. “Honestly, I don’t get why you insist on keeping her around. All she does is shit in the house and make problems.”

“She uses her litter box like a good girl, and she doesn’t cause trouble on purpose,” you said. “She’s an animal, not a person. She’s not capable of malicious intent.”

“Whatever. All I’m saying is that things would be a lot easier if you had just left her at the shelter when you moved in with me,” he said.

“I’ve had her for years,” you said, finally getting a grasp on her body and yanking her out in one swift move. “She’s a part of my family. I don’t know why you’re so determined to hate her.”

“She hates me, too!” he said. True to form, Sora hissed at him as you walked past, her ears flattening to show the disdain she had always held for him. “And you always take her side. It’s like you like her more than me!”

You rolled your eyes. “She’s a cat. You’re jealous of a cat.”

And you’re the one who’s cheating, anyways. You left this second part unsaid, because it wasn’t really relevant to the conversation, and besides, you had done such a good job at maintaining the facade of normalcy in your relationship that it would be a waste to break it just because he was annoying you.

That didn’t stop you from scowling at him when his back was turned, pressing a kiss atop Sora’s head and smiling when she purred at the show of affection — or was it because you were in the kitchen and near to her container of treats on the counter that she was so pleased?

“I’m not sure what to do with you,” you admitted, scratching under her chin with one hand and opening the jar with the other, offering her half of a treat as a consolation for having ripped her so uncaringly from her hiding place. She accepted it daintily, which meant that all was forgiven, and you stroked her in appreciation.

She was an enormous, fluffy white cat, closer in size to a small dog than anything. Her eyes were a wide, endless blue, hence why you had named her Sora, and her fur felt like cotton when you ran your hands through it. You had had her for almost as long as you had been in America, and you thought that there was almost no one in the entire vapid country who you loved more.

Normally, if you and Ryosuke had to go somewhere, you’d drop Sora off at Chigiri’s. She liked him well enough, and he was typically glad for the company, so it was a mutually beneficial deal. But of course, this time, Chigiri would also be away, as he was attending the same wedding that you and Ryosuke were, which meant that you were somewhat out of luck.

Sora dangled limply in your arms like a heap of rags as you paced about the kitchen, trying and failing to come up with someone who could take care of her while you were gone. Finally giving up when you realized that Chigiri had been right, you really did need more friends, you picked up your phone and called the man in question.

“Yo,” he said, answering almost immediately, though you could hear the shower running in the background, which meant he was either about to get into the bath or had gotten out for the express purpose of answering you. Either way, you decided not to hold him up with useless pleasantries.

“Hey, Chigiri,” you said. “I heard you’re going to Reo and May’s wedding?”

“Yeah, I’m between jobs again, so it’s not like I need to take off work or anything,” he said.

“Again?” you said, your resolve to have a quick conversation shattering almost immediately. The sound of water stopped, which meant that he, too, sensed the call was probably not going to be a short one.

“Tell me about it. I can only land short-term gigs at the moment,” he said.

“Maybe you should just move away from trying to coach entirely,” you suggested. “You were a marketing major, right? You could probably go corporate.”

“I know, but I don’t think I’m that desperate yet. I’m sure something or another will come along. The issue is that no high-level team wants a coach who hasn’t played in years, but those high-level gigs are the ones that are much steadier in terms of pay and schedule,” he said.

“I’d want you as a coach,” you said loyally. “If I was a soccer player.”

“You’d be a shitty soccer player. I don’t even think my coaching could change that fact,” he said.

“You’re so mean to me,” you said.

“Someone has to do it,” he said.

“And there I was, trying to support you,” you said. “On a more serious note, though, any team that doesn’t hire you just because of what happened back then is stupid.”

“Oh, I agree completely, but try telling them that. It’s all ‘sorry, but we want a coach that has a little more experience.’ I have experience! The only reason our school ever won games was because of me, even after I stopped being able to play myself. It’s not like that dumbass coach ever did anything for us beyond praising your peacock bastard fiancé,” he said

“Exactly,” you said, though you had no idea how true this was, as according to Ryosuke, he had been the one to carry the team to victory. The roles Chigiri might’ve had to play in their victories, if any, had always been omitted.

“Ugh, it’s fine. Like I said, I’m sure there’s some youth league that’ll take me on next season, so it’s okay. I’ll work it out, like I always do,”he said.

“Let me know if you need help at any point,” you said.

“Always,” he said.

“In the meantime, uh, I actually need your help,” you said.

“Right, I was wondering why you had called,” he said.

“The thing is that I don’t have anyone else I can leave Sora with, so I was going to pay one of my company’s interns to watch her while we’re gone,” you said.

“Aw, make sure you pick someone gentle. She’s very particular,” he said.

“You know, she is my cat,” you said.

“Just reminding you!” he said.

“I think I know who I’m going to ask already, so as long as he agrees to it, it’ll be fine,” you said.

“Okay, so what’s my place in all of this?” he said.

“Ryosuke and I have to go over a little earlier, since I’m the maid of honor, so I was wondering if you’d be alright with watching her until you have to leave?” you said.

“Why, because you don’t have to pay me?” he said.

“I can, if you want,” you said. “It’s just so she can be somewhere she’s comfortable, since she’s never met this kid before.”

“I was just joking, don’t worry about it. Drop her off whenever,” he said.

“You’re the best,” you said.

“Yup,” he agreed. “Now, I was kind of in the middle of something, so…”

“Oops, right, go enjoy your shower,” you said.

“Wait, how’d you know I was showering?”

Although there were several interns working for your company at any given time, you generally paid little attention to most of them. You were too busy with your own work and life to care about their struggles, so beyond giving them advice when they asked and helping them out when you didn’t have to go out of your way to, you didn’t interact with them much.

There was one boy, though, who had caught your eye. Something about his aloof personality and quiet demeanor reminded you of a person you had known back in high school, and you had unofficially adopted him, though you weren’t sure if he was exactly aware of this fact.

Actually, he was definitely unaware, considering the way he all but jumped out of his skin when you sat across from him in the lunchroom.

“Hey, Niko,” you said brightly. His dark hair covered his eyes, so you couldn’t read his reaction, but if you had to guess, it was probably panic. If you were in his place, that was what you’d be feeling, considering it wasn’t exactly typical of the regular employees to hang out with the students.

“Um, hello, Miss L/N,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice level. “Am I in trouble or something?”

“No,” you said. “I just need you to do me a favor.”

He got out of his seat immediately, pulling out his phone from his pocket and opening the notes app. You furrowed your brow as he tapped his foot expectantly.

“Well? What’s your coffee order? And which shop do you want me to get it from? I accidentally went to Starbucks the other day to get a latte for the director and he freaked out about it,” he said.

“Oh! He thinks Starbucks makes their coffee too sweet, that’s probably why,” you said.

“I learned that the hard way,” he said.

“Yikes, I’m sure that was not a fun conversation,” you said. “But that’s unimportant. I don’t need coffee, and you don’t have to say yes to this or anything. I guess you can consider it to be more of a request from a friend — although I promise I will pay you!”

“Okay,” Niko said hesitantly.

“I’ll just lay it on you,” you said.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“I’m going abroad for a wedding soon, and I need someone to watch my cat,” you said. “She’s very well-behaved and friendly! Honestly, she’ll just sit with you on the couch the whole time, I’m sure. I’ll give you her food and everything, and like I said, I’ll pay you, so how about it?”

For the first time, he looked up at you, his hair falling out of his face and revealing bright, shimmering eyes. He clasped his hands together, a smile threatening to dawn upon his face, and then it was your turn to grow bewildered by the sudden switch in his personality.

“Yes!” he said. “I’d even do it for free, Miss L/N.”

“Woah, are you a cat enthusiast or something? And none of that; of course I’m going to pay, or else it’d just feel like I’m taking advantage of some poor intern,” you said.

“I really like them,” he said. “I’ve had one my whole life, but my house is a three hour drive from campus, so I haven’t gotten to see her much since graduating high school. I really miss hanging out with her, though, so it’ll be nice to have a cat around, even if it’s only for a little while.”

“Perfect!” you said, cheering internally at how well things had worked out. “She’ll be staying with a friend of mine, so if you’ll give me your number, I’ll send it to him so you can coordinate picking her up at some point.”

“Sure,” he said, giving you his phone so you could type his number into your own. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“Hyoma Chigiri,” you said. Niko’s jaw dropped.

“Hyoma Chigiri?” he whispered. “You’re friends with him?”

“Do you know him or something?” you said, handing him his phone back. Niko shook his head.

“Not personally, but I remember reading about what happened to him,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons my parents convinced me to stop playing soccer.”

“Ah, maybe don’t mention it around him,” you said. “He’s doing fine now, but he still doesn’t like talking about it.”

“That’s understandable,” Niko said. “My lips are sealed. I just can’t believe I’m going to have Hyoma Chigiri’s number in my phone!”

“Feel free to act like a fan all you want,” you said, after the initial strangeness of meeting someone still so obsessed with Chigiri had passed. “He really appreciates it when people praise him. Though, you probably shouldn’t spam him or anything.”

“I’ll be just as responsible with his phone number as I will with your cat. Thank you for entrusting me with this, Miss L/N! I promise I won’t let you down,” he said.

“I know you won’t,” you said. “And, to be fair, it’s not really a difficult task. Just sit at home and watch TV a lot and be kind with her; if you can do that, then Sora will be perfectly content.”

“That’s what I’d do anyways,” he said.

“Great,” you said. “Now I can feel even less like I’m taking advantage of some poor intern.”

“Thank you again for your faith in me!” he said when you reached your office, bowing at you as if you were some kind of sage master that had offered him a great opportunity for personal growth.

At least he was taking it seriously. You thanked whatever deity had intervened on your behalf that you had found the one person within a ten-mile radius who would care for Sora as well as you or Chigiri would.

Unlike Ryosuke, you barely packed anything but the most basic of items. This was because you knew full well that the minute you stepped foot on Japanese soil, you would be dragged into Reo’s arms, whereupon he would force you into his car and take you shopping at the closest luxury mall — on his card, of course. He was prone to such acts when it came to you, mostly because you were one of the first true friends he had ever had, and so he tended to spoil you as if you were his baby sister or something.

“How can you be sure that Reo’s going to get you everything you need?” Ryosuke said, eyeing the suitcase you lifted into the trunk of the car. “It’s been a pretty long time since you saw him last. He’s probably matured a ton since then — I mean, he’s getting married! What kind of wife would be okay with her husband doting on some random girl?”

“For one, I’m not some random girl; I’ve known May longer than Reo has, and I’m also the one who introduced them to one another. She knows there’s nothing between us, so there would be no reason for her to not be okay with it. Secondly, I’ve been friends with Reo for so long that he’s more like a weird cousin of mine than anything. The Mikages look after their own, and it just so happens that I am, by proxy, one of them. So I can be reasonably confident that it’ll work out in that way,” you said.

“Don’t you feel bad, then?” he said. “You’re using your best friend for his money.”

“You’re so determined to find fault with our relationship,” you said. “It’s not like that. Everyone has different ways to show affection for the people they care about. It just so happens that Reo’s so wealthy that that kind of thing is his own personal manner.”

Ryosuke scoffed, pressing the button to turn on the ignition and starting the car without another word, prompting a worried mewl from Sora, whose carrier was currently on your lap. You tapped the side to remind her that you were still there with her, and she quieted at that.

“Don’t forget that we have to go to Chigiri’s first,” you said.

“Yes, yes, we’ll stop by your lover’s house,” Ryosuke said. At your surprised expression, he laughed. “What? You’re always with him or at his place. Any normal person would suspect it.”

There were a million things you could say in response, but the least-inflammatory was a repetition of the same thing you had been telling him since the day the two of you got together.

“You know I’ve never been with anyone but you,” you said.

“Of course,” he said. “I guess that’s true. No matter how many people you sleep with now, you can never change the fact that I was the first.”

“Hm,” you said, staring out of the window and speaking to his reflection instead of facing him properly. “Don’t be crude.”

“Come on, it’s just us two. When else can we make these kinds of jokes?” he said.

“You didn’t seem like you were joking,” you noted.

“Y/N, I’m hurt. You thought I was being serious? I mean, did you really think that I believed for a second that anyone preferred that washed up princess’s company to mine?” he said, stalling the car in the driveway and grinning. “Tell him I said hi.”

“You and I both know that’ll accomplish nothing,” you said, slinging the bag of Sora’s things over your shoulder and gripping the handle of her carrier so tightly that your knuckles whitened. “I’ll be back soon. No point in missing our flight.”

“I’ll be here,” Ryosuke said, waving at you as he began to fiddle with the knobs on the car’s dashboard, evidently trying to decide whether he wanted the radio to play classical music or the latest episode of some talk show.

You rang the doorbell and then stepped back, knowing it might take Chigiri a second to get to the door depending on where in the house he was located. Luckily, he had been expecting your arrival, so by the time your arm began to grow numb from holding Sora’s carrier, he was opening the door and inviting you in.

“Thank you again for doing this,” you said, setting the carrier down with a thump and massaging your shoulder. Chigiri crouched gingerly, unzipping the opening to the carrier and allowing Sora to peek her head out. When she realized where she was, she bounded out, rubbing her head against Chigiri’s legs as he breathed out a laugh and rubbed her face with his hands.

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “It’s nice having someone else in the house. Less lonely.”

Your face softened, and if it weren’t for Ryosuke’s presence looming in the driveway, you’d have leaned over and hugged him. But as it was, your fiancé was waiting, and if you lingered for much longer, you risked missing your flight.

“You have Niko’s number?” you said.

“Yeah. He’s kind of a weird kid,” Chigiri said.

“What do you mean?” you said.

“He keeps telling me that he thinks I’m cool and that he can’t believe he’s texting me,” Chigiri said, a faint pink dusting his cheeks. “So strange.”

At this, you smiled, vowing to text Niko and thank him later. His admiration was exactly the boost Chigiri needed when he was so down on his luck, and though he was pretending like he found it odd, it was obvious he was pleased by the attention.

“As long as he can take care of Sora,” you said. Chigiri nodded in determination.

“I’m sure he can. He obviously has good taste in other things, so it stands to reason that he’d be the kind of person who could really look out for her in the way she’s used to,” he said.

“You would be the first to die in a horror movie,” you said. “Did you know that?”

“What? Why would you say such a thing?” he said.

“Never mind,” you said. “I should go. Ryosuke’s in the car, and our flight is soon.”

Chigiri wrinkled his nose, his whole delicate face crumpling at the mention of your fiancé.

“I thought something felt off about the property,” he said.

“You are so dramatic,” you said. “He says hi.”

“Tell him I said fuck off,” Chigiri said.

“I don’t think — actually, sure,” you said. “I’ll do that. See you at the wedding. And Sora, please be a good girl for Chigiri and Niko alike.”

“She will be,” Chigiri said affectionately. Sora had wriggled her way into his arms, and he stood while hugging her to his chest, ready to shut the door behind you. “See you, Y/N.”

You were reluctant to leave, because it would be so easy to stay and talk with Chigiri while playing with Sora, but you knew you had to. Even that knowledge, though, was hardly enough — it was simply the thought of seeing Reo and May again that made you take the next step, and the next, all of the way until you were back in the passenger seat of the car and Ryosuke was reversing the car down the driveway.

“So, how is my beloved teammate?” Ryosuke said. “Did he leave you with a message for me?”

“Yes,” you said. “He told me to tell you to fuck off.”

Ryosuke chuckled. “Sounds about right. He’s always been a petty son of a—”

“Ryosuke,” you sighed. “Do you really get any gain out of insulting the only friend I have left in this country?”

“It’s the same gain he gets out of insulting your fiancé!” he said.

“Which I always reprimand him for,” you said. “And also, he at least has something resembling a reason to resent you. When you do it, it just feels excessive.”

“You defend me to him?” he said.

“Obviously?” you said. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“I suddenly feel very cheerful and optimistic,” he observed.

“What are you talking about?” you said. He waved you off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It was a personal musing. Think of it like an interjection from the narrator, except that in this case, the narrator and the protagonist are the same.”

“Okay,” you said. “Sure. If that’s what makes sense to you.”

The two of you spent the rest of the drive to the airport in relative silence. Ryosuke hummed along to whatever pop song came on the radio, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove, and you texted your friends — mostly Reo and May, who had been anxiously waiting for your arrival since you had agreed to come at all.

When you had first started dating, you used to go on aimless drives for hours, talking about whatever crossed your mind. Not a second would go by without one of you speaking, but that kind of constant conversation wasn’t sustainable. Eventually, you both ran out of things to say, and so you began to spend more and more of your time together in silence. That was around the time that Ryosuke began to seek outside assistance in quelling the fire which was constantly blazing within him; whether it was a coincidence or a cause, you could not tell, but it remained that everything had happened at once and led to your relationship now being like this.

You always forgot how long the flight back to Japan was. It was the second reason you never visited, beyond the fact that there was hardly anything worth visiting in the first place — it was a day-long ordeal composed of arguing with the TSA agents, waiting in security lines, and of course the flight itself, which was only marginally bearable because Reo insisted on buying you first-class tickets.

You spent most of it dozing, the armrest between you and Ryosuke pushed up so you could lean your head against his chest as he watched a movie. In the haze of your sleep, you could feel his arm wrapping around your shoulders, his fingers idly stroking your cheek as if that were the natural outcome, as if there was no other place that they could come to rest. It was the easiest that things had ever been between you in some time, and subconsciously, you relished in it, in the soft scent of his cologne, in the warmth of pretending like you were loved by someone again.

Reo had told you, in no uncertain terms, to not even attempt going to the baggage claim. He had contacts in the airport who would take care of it, because of course he did, and so the only thing you and Ryosuke had to do was meet him and May at the gate. You stopped in the bathroom, mostly at your insistence, so that you could freshen yourself after the long flight, which had sapped you of most of your energy despite how much of it you had spent sleeping.

“Are you nervous?” Ryosuke said as you reached the door. He held both of your carry-on bags in his hands, an amused grin on his face as you all but vibrated with every step you took.

“Of course,” you said. “I haven’t seen them in so long, and I haven’t been back home in that same amount of time. I don’t know how it’s all changed. And what if it hasn’t? What if the only one who’s changed is me?”

“Only one way to find out,” he said, nudging you in the side. “Look who it is.”

Standing awkwardly by the metal barrier separating the airport from the street in front of it, surrounded by security guards that kept the rest of the crowds at bay, was Reo Mikage. He wore a pair of khaki shorts and a polo, sunglasses perched on his head as he checked the time on the — likely expensive — watch which he wore on his left wrist.

A grin split your face, your spirit rejuvenated as surely as if you had never been exhausted in the first place. Cupping your hands around your mouth to amplify your voice, you shouted out his name with glee.

“Reo!”

The boredom dropped from his expression immediately as his head snapped up, trying to determine the source of the noise. When he locked eyes with you, he beamed so brightly that you were all but blinded by it, and then you were both racing towards the opening in the barricade where you could finally meet.

You tossed your arms around his neck as soon as you could reach him, clinging onto him tightly, suddenly and unreasonably weepy at the fact that the two of you had finally been reunited. He did the same, squeezing you to the point that you thought you might burst from the pressure.

“I can’t believe you’re finally back,” he said, letting you go and holding you at an arm’s length so that he could look you over with a critical eye. “How have you been?”

“Good,” you said. “Where’s May?”

“She had to go to the bathroom,” he said. “She should be back in a couple of seconds, and she’ll probably be furious, too, considering she was really hoping she’d spot you first. I convinced her that it would be fine for her to take a moment to herself, and that it’d probably still be a bit of time before you arrived, but, uh, I guess it ended up being kind of an unfortunate coincidence in that sense.”

“What’s up, man? Congrats on the wedding,” Ryosuke said, finally catching up to you and offering Reo his hand. Reo glanced at it, and anyone who didn’t know him as well as you did wouldn’t have even noticed the way he hesitated before taking it and shaking it with the firm conviction of a businessman.

“Thanks, Kira,” he said. “You’ve been taking care of my best friend?”

“’Course I have been,” Ryosuke said, ruffling your hair. You did your best to force a laugh, not wanting Reo to have to concern himself with your wellbeing when he was about to be married. “You’ll be the one coming back to America for our wedding soon.”

“That so?” Reo said, raising an eyebrow at you. “I expect to be the first one invited to the wedding, then.”

“Was I the first one invited to yours?” you shot back.

“Er, I mean, not exactly…” Reo said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had to tell Nagi first, since I wanted him to be my best man and had to give him adequate time to prepare for the hassle of the role.”

“Then I’ll invite May first, since she’ll naturally be my maid of honor,” you said, your stomach twisting at the mention of Nagi. “But you can be second, Reo.”

“That’s right!” a new voice said. “He had better be second, considering he sent me to the bathroom so that he could win our bet!”

And then there she was in front of you: Reo’s soon-to-be wife and your former roommate, May Ducat. Her thick brown hair was loose and wavy around her shoulders, and her peacock-feather eyes gleamed as she embraced you tightly.

“May,” you said. “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you!” she said. “I miss you every day. Mostly because you were a much better roommate than this one. He snores.”

“Hey!” Reo said, gasping in offense. “I do not.”

You dug around in your pocket before solemnly presenting her with a box of breathe-right strips.

“I know,” you said. May clapped in delight, accepting them and then turning to hand them to Reo, who took them even as he protested that he definitely didn’t need them and how would Y/N even know if I snore, anyways?

“Congratulations, May,” Ryosuke said, offering her his hand as well. May glanced at but did not accept it, opting to smile frigidly instead.

“Thank you for coming,” she said. After a discomfiting pause, Ryosuke lowered his hand, brushing it off against his pants and clearing his throat.

“I couldn’t let Y/N come alone,” he said.

“Of course not,” she said.

“It’ll be my first time meeting her parents,” he said. At this, May gave you a sad look. Though you had never told her much, she had always harbored her suspicions, always been less fond of Ryosuke than she really ought to be, considering he was typically polite to her.

“I hope it goes well,” she said. Ever the diplomat, Reo was the first to break the ensuing silence, clearing his throat.

“Alright, then! I’ll have one of my drivers take you two to your hotel room, where your things will be waiting, and then tonight, we can show you around. Y/N, they just built a new mall where that park used to be, so we can go shopping there,” he said.

“They built a mall over the park?” you said, your eyes widening at the prospect. Reo nodded.

“Isn’t it great? It’s so much more convenient than the one we used to go to,” he said. You disguised your frown with a yawn.

“Right,” you said.

“Try not to sleep,” May advised. “It’ll help you break your jet lag if you just stay up for as long as you can.”

“We’ll do our best,” Ryosuke said. May gave him a measured look before nodding slightly, turning away to continue her conversation with Reo instead of risking further discussion with your fiancé.

The hotel you were staying in was only a few streets down from your childhood home, and as with all things Reo, it was excessively opulent. The shower itself was large enough to fit at least ten people, and you spent far longer in it than was really necessary, rinsing the grime of your journey off of yourself.

“Going to sleep already?” Ryosuke said when you crawled under the covers of the bed beside him. “May recommended we wait.”

“I know,” you said with a yawn. “I’m just going to lie down and close my eyes. I’m not actually going to sleep or anything.”

“Whatever you say,” he said, patting you on the head. “I’ll do the same, then.”

Before long, the both of you had passed out.

[dawnstorms]

ON THE THALASSIAN 'PRIESTHOOD'

(NAMELY: THOSE MAGISTERS WHICH HUMANS ASSUME TO BE PRIESTS, BUT WHICH ARE GENERALLY NOT)

Priests are most commonly utilized within Quel'thalas for their skills with mind-affecting magics. The city guardsmen often call upon them to soothe agitated crowds, disperse riots and other such violent gatherings peacefully rather than to permit harm done to any of our own kind or even our allies, and to sense the minds and intentions of those who would do Quel'thalas or its people harm, even if the intruding bodies are hidden from the watchful eyes of the guardians. (Source: [1] [2] Additionally, as another fun OOC note before we get started, Blood Elf priests are the only ones that start with a dagger in the entire game, not counting Allied Races that are obviously related to them such as Nightborne or Ren'dorei, who I admit I haven't checked on.)

Necessitating special delineation and discussion more than any other is perhaps the "priesthood" of the Sunfury Spire, as it was so named by the heavily theocratic Humans of Stormwind after their introduction to Silvermoon City some few years past and is even still so called abroad. To be brief, in the interests of education: though some magi study schools of magic and spellwork which may resemble--or even be genuinely originating from and/or identical to--the "holy" magics of other, foreign religions, these magi are not necessarily priests of those religions. The converse is also true. Most religious Sin'dorei are found among these ranks, and are in fact welcomed despite the generally secular nature of both Sin'dorei society and the Sunfury Spire, as their perspectives on and knowledge of these magics provide what would otherwise be missing or inaccurate information to the Spire and its archives. 

Some mages study what humans and other magic-users think of as divine or divine-adjacent magic. A significant minority of these mages are also genuine practitioners of one religion or another, ie. being literal 'priests' in the wider Azerothian sense. The remaining majority are magi or Magisters, not priests, and simply specialize in the relevant magical field of study. 

With that thusly established, in the Thalassian language as well as in terms of the organization of the Spire, those mages who do choose to specialize in these 'holy' schools of magic--particularly those who are explicitly not pursuing the rank of Magister/Magistrix but who instead study, labor, and otherwise contribute to the Spire without this total and explicit denial of the self in service of their country--are often given the title 'Priest' once they complete their education and join the ranks of their peers in labor. This title is nearly exclusively for male practitioners, with only few exceptions; female mages who pursue these arts are often given the title 'Matron'. Priests and Matrons are the relative equivalent of Magisters and Magistrixes, but with respect paid to their unique needs both in terms of education and potential personal beliefs, which might conflict with the oaths taken by Magi and thus explains their nearly complete non-existence within those ranks. Notable is the fact that the Matrons have historically always been at the head of the order, while priests tend to be mid- and high-level aides and state actors.

Priests and Matrons are also utilized more heavily by the Spire within Quel'thalas than their relative equals among the Magi, who are much more commonly either deployed without our great nation or else are sequestered in research facilities in its service. As priests' skillsets and magical knowledge were comparatively quite rare among the populace of Quel'thalas even before the Razing, and as they obviously so remain now in light of their added indispensability in both restraining the Naaru--and with great deference paid from this humble author to the Priests and Matrons whose knowledge and research was the only reason that His Most Radiant Highness, Prince Kael'thas, was able to make his own breakthrough in terms of the nature, control, and containment of these powerful creatures--their small but crucial order of mages forms the backbone of both Silvermoon's peacekeeping force. They are also healers alongside our more conventional military units, researchers aiding the Magi as well as even Horde druids and alchemists in everything from plagues and warfare to healing the Dead Scar, and can even be clandestine operatives abroad. 

Not to be understated is the priests' philosophical, literary, and even spiritual contribution to our great society: far be it from even the Sun-King to judge what an individual believes or finds comfort in, so long as it does not lead them to act against the homeland that had loved them so unquestioningly and supported them so generously, and so some religious priests do indeed lead sermons for even the most niche of spiritualities within the Spire. Many of our greatest philosophers throughout history have been spiritual leaders, from ancient Sun-worshippers to the liberal-minded few who took up the Human worship of the Light. Affecting our society and vaunted by our learned even today is the aggregate collection of philosophical, moral, and societal literature written by the Elune-worshipping Highborne magi and poets of old, who had themselves the intentions of guiding their own people just as the Magisters do for us today.

It is also through the efforts of the priesthood that the Sin'dorei have found common ground with, and achieved diplomatic successes among, not only those traitorous thieves we once forged with our own Alliance--which they have now stolen from us, having judged that our secrets and knowledge and compassion and land were all not enough, in true human fashion--but perhaps even moreso among our new allies within the Horde.

Darkspear diplomats even begin disclose to us now the nature of their barbarian but fascinating and previously undocumented beliefs, and in turn arm us well against the Amani through our mutually shared disdain for those cannibalistic invaders whose society is apparently even beneath the Darkspears' own slightly more advanced one. All of this would never have been discovered had we not reached out the hand of friendship through spirituality. Forsaken cultists of Shadow and Sin'dorei students of its power find great community between one another, and the Lightslayers of the Undercity have found great boons in both our knowledge of holy magic, doctrine, and particularly Stormwind beliefs as well as our ability to wield the magic now denied to even they who had been most devout in life.

The Tauren find agreeable our botanists and Sun priests, and begin to consort with our botanists in hopes of teaching them their own fascinating belief system surrounding druidism. The Spire hopes strongly that in time we will master their artform so as to improve upon it as our own and thus might even heal our torn lands; this goal the Tauren diplomats have already expressed interest in sharing, again as a consequence of our priesthoods' willingness to embrace the foreign, strange, and even the nonsensically barbaric. Even the Orcish shamans find our harmony with our land and its spirits to be worthy of study and perhaps can even be led to emulation.

The Horde's cultures may be undeveloped by some reckonings, and though this author humbly recuses himself from further such commentary by virtue of having failed his freshman anthropology courses twice, one may find it more suitable to conclude with the reckoning of the priesthood itself: 

"In undergoing this [generally speaking 'pre-societal' period of cultural development], the Horde at large is ripe for mutual education, societal cultivation and guidance as we might our own gardens, and in time may even be capable of establishing the long-term bonds and alliances which our people--Sin'dorei being generous, open to both teaching and learning, and generally communal by our basemost natures--so crave: ties of true friendship and even that of family, in that siblings are each vastly different but beloved by each other for it. 

These ties, if properly built and maintained in the way of our forefathers rather than those of mortal hands, can not be so easily broken as was the shallow bond that had been forged and destroyed with equal haste by the fecklessly impatient thrashing of other mortals that had thought themselves the masters of their planet. This time, we will not quietly await their realization of their hubris, but instead shall... correct them."

- Matron Ael'thissa

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

the reason i tagged it under the leon smut tag was because it's RELEVANT to the tag. listen i don't have a problem with people enjoying reading these fics, not do i care or harass them for writing what they write.

all i'm saying is that some people have a different interpretation of what leon is like and that's not like what he's being portrayed on majority of the fics on this tag.

i do write for leon, not on this blog but on ao3 based on what i interpret him to be like, but i'm just disappointed that 4 in 5 fics on this blog is something related to weird age gap/ddlg/stepcest fics which doesn't sit right with me.

obviously I don't read them, but it's just frustrating to find nothing that you personally like (something that's not the vast majority of fics on here) and i was merely expressing my opinion on the matter.

i wasn't exactly expecting attention either, but i believe that this was the right tag to post it on, since it's relevant to whatever is being talked about on this blog.

seeral other blogs have brought it up too, and unless you've been reblogging their posts too, i'd like to know why you interacted with mine, considering you've said that i dont have to interact with blogs that i dont like.

hi, i appreciate your polite explanation here (sorry that i was a bit more inflammatory towards you. while i don't agree with you, i wish you no ill will)

i apologize for assuming that you don't write for leon. it's genuinely cool that you do, and i'm glad that if you're engaging in this discourse (which i do wish was over) that you do actually care about the fandom.

that being said, the reason that i was upset was because your post was very similar to quite a few other posts in the past - most if not all of which were from people who were primarily in other fandoms/blogs created entirely for the purpose of engaging in this argument - and this discourse in the past has caused harm to dark content writers in the past (they've received death threats, racial slurs, etc.) and even if you had no intention of creating a hate campaign, these kinds of posts attract people who do harass others and will start this shit back up the moment they see an opportunity.

within this discourse, people on both sides have been asking people to stop clogging the tags with discourse like this so that's why i was pissed off that you put your post in the tags. i only tag my smut fics with the smut tag. when i'm talking about smut in a meta way, i won't clog the tags with it.

i agree that not finding what you want to read is super frustrating - despite having written certain dark topics, it's not what i seek out as a reader (i really like angst personally, and i don't think there's enough in the fandom, but that's why i'm writing a long angst right now!)

if you'd posted something like: "i wish there were fics with 'x' topic in leon x reader fics" and had just kept the convo on what you do wanna see, i wouldn't have been upset, and in fact, maybe i would've agreed with you. maybe then we could have all given each other recommendation of non dead dove smut or non smut fics!

but you posted that you're 'tired of being bombarded' by these fics and 'it's sickening', which reads to me like "i don't want these fics to exist/be posted to this website" rather than "i don't mind if people enjoy them, i just prefer something else". see what i mean?

people definitely have differing opinions of who leon 'is' as a character, but i don't think it's a crime to write him ooc. i don't think he's a sweet cinnamon roll man, but i also doubt he'd commit sex crimes. having the characterization conversation amidst the discourse about dead dove content can only cause drama especially when i think there's a lot more nuance to leon's character. most people who bring up the "he would never do that" argument, want to have these fics taken down.

i would also like to point out that i see a lot of people conflating different topics - stepcest is morally and legally wrong, so is incest and noncon. ddlg, because, by definition, it is a dynamic between two consenting adults, is not a crime, nor is it an issue - i don't personally engage in it irl and don't plan to, but if someone else wants to, that's none of my business. age gap is a completely different thing because (presuming we're talking about legal age gap, bc underage is morally and legally wrong irl) an age gap isn't something reserved to smut, some people just date people that are older or younger than them. who cares?

i have actually interacted with other people who have posted about this and given them the same attitude, so no, you're not the only (again, i don't dislike you as a person). i am, quite frankly, over it, so i'm more likely to try to shut this shit down before it goes any further whereas i used to ignore it more. and ik that might just cause people to want to argue more but i'd rather be the target of the hate campaign than other people - i'm tired of watching my friends get harassed over shit like this.

my question for you is: did you make this blog to argue about this? you said you post on ao3, but do you have a separate tumblr or did you just make one to argue? (you can see why it might seem like someone is seeking attention when their only post is rehashing the old argument that has garnered attention in the past)

[duckselshop]

Welcome to my Shop (Ask Blog)

Hi, I'm Ducksel. To access my shop, just make an ask!

Have you been told what this shop holds?

Feel free to send M!As.

I will only accept SFW (safe for work) asks. Feel free to shop, yell at me and leave, etc.

Money will be tracked using universal unit$, or just unit$. I will add a conversion table to this post if you dm me a currency. The money is made up, and only applies to add price, or if your rp blog/character tracks how much money they have.

We currently have TWO locations! The hidden Tumblr location, and one placed within the multiniko ( @society-of-non-cats). They both are rp'd through this blog, tho.

% Indicates OOC (out of character)

#duckshopping will be used for asks that want to shop. #duckshop ad will be used for ads for the shop. #duckshop info will be used for info posts, which are usually OOC. #cheetodustannon will be used for the relevant posts.

Useless notes:

I'm roleplaying?? A version of my online presence (Ducksel) and there's a bit of lore there, but not much.

Cheeto dust (aka CDA) is the justice-for-annons thing that I do here. (it's like a superhero... kinda.)

My main blog is @helloiamduck.

I also run @steamos-official, @society-of-non-cats, and [Currently Redacted...].

And Finally, CDA's annon safety advice:

================================================

ARE YOU AN ANNON?

If so, please try to be nice to the people of the internet. If you don't want to, remember that people (esp on this site) do not like being annoyed. Some (a few, but some) people will even try to kill you if you are too annoying. Be aware next time you send an ask.

================================================

[alex-unjust-vibing]

Viling

(I got this question on IS as well, I'll copy the ooc answers here and add new ic answers.)

("My favorite thing about them": The way she sows doubt into Unjust in every single conversation is amazing and I love her for it. Ultimate bully :) also answering this one as Unjust too:) Though our disagreements and differences may be significant at this current moment, I must admit that I quite admire her vilainous tenacity and competency! Second only to mine. Her willingness to give me advice to propel myself even further on my vilainous power arc is also quite of the appreciation. Perchance. ("My least favorite thing about them": I like pretty much everything about her, so in-character it is:) Look, I-I don't need to say it, do I? I-I am certain this one goes, goes without saying... ("My favorite canon relationship": Whatever the hell her and Unjust have going on. Certainly not love, maybe a one-sided friendship? That mess.) ("My favorite non-canon relationship": Her and Bossman have yet to meet and I'm extremely curious at how they're gonna interact once they do.) (skipping sexuality the question's not relevant to clones) ("What I’d do if I could spend the day with them": RUN!)

("Random fact about them I like": I know it's a little cheating to include my own work in a question about someone else's character, but I really love the fact that she managed to trick Unjust into wearing the maid outfit that has since come to haunt him. Funniest shit ever)

[alex-is-vibing]

Viling

(Hmm, I'm realizing I have two indistinguishable "send me a character" ask games rn. oops. Hopefully you mean the non-HCs one, send another if not. (some questions might be in character, most will be ooc).) ("My favorite thing about them": The way she sows doubt into Unjust in every single conversation is amazing and I love her for it. Ultimate bully :) also answering this one in character too) ME LIKE THAT SHE ALWAYS HAS EXPLANATION. SHE IS NOT RANDOM. THOUGH SHE SAYS SHE IS RANDOM. ("My least favorite thing about them": I like pretty much everything about her, so in-character it is) ME IS NOT LIKE HER VIBES IS BADBAD. SHE ALSO IS SOMETIMES MEAN. ("My favorite canon relationship": Whatever the hell her and Unjust have going on. Certainly not love, maybe a one-sided friendship? That mess.) ("My favorite non-canon relationship": Her and Bossman have yet to meet and I'm extremely curious at how they're gonna interact once they do.) (skipping sexuality the question's not relevant to clones) ("What I’d do if I could spend the day with them": RUN!)

("Random fact about them I like": I know it's a little cheating to include my own work in a question about someone else's character, but I really love the fact that she managed to trick Unjust into wearing the maid outfit that has since come to haunt him. Funniest shit ever)

[cahaaya]

E.cho as M.oira throwing out a discord orb at dying teammates: :)

[pharahsgf]

i:m sad lwj gets such a bad rep from jc fans and non wangxian fans in general. he's so good... i struggle to put into words why i like him but he's such a good character. he deserves to not be made ooc in fandom stuff :,|

g-d fr. anyway here's my incomplete list of things i like about lan wangji in no particular order

his resting bitch face and intimidating icy exterior hide a soft and romantic heart but also he is genuinely a bitch and intimidating and would stab someone for disrespecting his husband

the fact that he would stab someone for disrespecting his husband

very strong 'would get rained on to hold his umbrella over a tiny stray cat' energy

when jin zixun tries to peer pressure him into drinking only for lan wangji to 1. not care 2. make the gayest most openly homosexual expression humanly possible when wei wuxian swoops in to save him, no shame whatsoever

every time a social event occurs you see lan wangji sitting somewhere by himself just staring peacefully into the middle distance and thinking lwj thoughts and i always get the distinct impression that lan xichen went to him beforehand like "wangji i know you don't like to socialise but you should really try talking to some people today, it'll be good for you and you might make some new friends" and lan wangji was like hm and proceeded to not do any of that

it's such a stupid cute detail that lan wangji buried a'yuan in a pile of bunnies. like what the hell. i am on the verge of tears

conversation: *gets personal* lwj: *leaves*

his little smirk when he calls wwx boring in ep8 like you can almost see the photoshopped sunglasses and hear denzel curry's ultimate

he's considered an unequaled prodigy when it comes to guqin abilities and inquiry specifically like he can communicate with ghosts by playing music and they're not even physically able to lie to him how is that not the coolest shit ever

HE SAID BYE TO THE BUNNIESSSS

wwx doesn't even expect to be doted on and treated like a princess after coming back lan wangji did that entirely on his own volition. wei wuxian just exists in peace and lan wangji will start picking him up and throwing money at him and composing soaring love ballads dedicated to his beauty

the fact that despite all this he will hesitate for exactly zero seconds to make fun of wwx when he's acting stupid

very strong emotional inertia causing his character to be in a near-constant state of mourning as represented visually by his white clothing and the frost/snow motif that accompanies the respective apotheoses of said mourning. which, in addition to being genuinely heart-wrenching, FUCKS as an aesthetic

associated with rabbits and dragons, easily two of the coolest animals

episode 43 drives me insane. lan wangji with his hair down dressed down domestic as fuck bringing wwx emperor's smile and setting out tea and playing their song, laying no expectations on wwx but making it clear that he's welcome and wanted and offering his love and warmth for wwx when he's ready... augh romance, tenderness, throwing bouquets and roses

"you are not qualified to speak to me"

he's canonically good at math which isn't relevant to anything but i do feel like it adds a new dimension to his character

he wrote a gentle, soul-baring, beautiful song that silently confesses his love for a person who remembered the melody even decades after first hearing it and then made its title a portmanteau of their names

kneel.

*spends 3 years in seclusion to learn from & reflect on his grave sin of defending and siding with wwx the evil demonic cultivator* *returns to immediately add wwx the evil demonic cultivator's inventions to the core curriculum*

was a cute baby so you know he's blessed

he's one of the best if not Thee best cultivator of his generation yet refuses to indulge in the narcissistic posturing his peers engage in and instead uses his privilege and access to exclusive resources to serve lower class people completely for free.. yes lord

*grips sword handle to communicate emotional issues*

very polite and well spoken and clearly well-versed in all kinds of etiquette but if he hates you he has no qualms about being as rude and disrespectful as he reasonably can (pov you are jiang cheng)

he is very fundamentally misunderstood by almost everyone he's ever met and when wwx starts figuring him out and realising what makes him tick he's entirely resistant and hostile to his intrusions despite deeply craving that intimacy and acknowledgement.... mortifying ordeal of being known in its purest form truly. i want to study him in a lab

how he slowly goes from being distant and frosty and rejecting all of wwx's offers of friendship to being so warm and attentive towards him and you look at those gifsets of early lwj vs later lwj and it's like the first rays of sun after a long winter like he's radiant

ally to bi women (nice to mianmian)

when he was punished alongside wwx jc & nhs the first blow landed and he didn't even FLINCH, he sat there back straight and chin up with the dignity of a king and wwx was so impressed he caught himself mid-overreaction to follow lan wangji's example. absolutely iconic

188cm

the fact that he spends the entire gusu lectures arc in an ongoing emotional crisis bc wei wuxian is too attractive and he doesn't know how to deal w it

there have been zero small animals who didn't immediately trust lan wangji with their life so again. blessed

[autisticandroids]

anyway SPEAKING! of wildly ooc shit from the carver era. i need to talk about goodbye stranger for a minute. anyway the thing about goodbye stranger is that it's kind of a tragedy of miscommunication that's no one's fault. we the audience see cas brainwashed and forced to murder hundreds of copies of dean, and how traumatic that was for him, and the devotion to dean it implies. because of that we understand that dean matters to him deeply, and when he says "i don't know" in response to dean's "what broke the connection?" he's lying to hide how much he cares from dean, because when dean said "i need you," cas interpreted that as being about usefulness, not affection. on the other hand, dean was just beaten for no reason by his best friend, and bared his soul to him on his knees in that crypt, and then that friend gives a rushed explanation about some kind of brainwashing dean had no idea was even possible, a few incomplete, avoidant answers, and leaves, while dean, though physically healed, is still feeling totally emotionally raw from both the violence and the vulnerability.

basically, it's a situation that's designed to cause maximum hurt feelings which is maximally no one's fault.

now, obviously, people who are bad at watching television find ways to make cas into a villain here anyway. one of the most common bitter deangirl refrains that i see, even from the more reasonable ones, is that cas sucks for leaving after goodbye stranger. to which i say, can't a man take a moment to think after receiving hundreds of lobotomies? can't be be forgiven if he does not immediately swallow his own issues and work on fixing dean's, especially since he has no way of knowing what dean's are?

but also like, that makes sense, because the lobotomy plot is one of the most dean-centric cas plots in the show. like, it's not really about cas' trauma, that's secondary. we never see cas process or reflect on it after the fact. it's not really relevant to cas' character. the main thread of the lobotomy plot is actually dean being hurt and confused that cas isn't there or it acting strange. it's about dean's feelings. even if you look at torn and frayed, which is about the most cas-centric episoode of the lobotomy arc, the beat the episode ends on is the winchesters being kinda like "hey what's up with that guy? he's acting weird. is he a potential threat?" rather than concern for his well-being or anything. like the main takeaway from the episode isn't supposed to be "oh no, cas is suffering!" it's supposed to be "oh no, cas is brainwashed and might be dangerous/Not Himself!" and this is highlighted even more because the angel we see cas kill is samandriel, an angel we care about not because of his relationship with cas - we never see them interact under non-brainwashed circumstances - but because of his relationship (or at least, previous conversation) with dean. it makes sense to just ignore the effect it might have on cas.

plus, if you're thinking about the original draft of goodbye stranger and the i love you, and a lot of people are and do, then cas comes off looking a lot worse. like, in the canon version of goodbye stranger, cas' "i don't know" is logical emotional self-protection. he's refusing to show dean the vulnerability of caring, which makes sense, given that cas has just been, you know, lobotomized hundreds of times for caring about dean, and he has no idea how dean will react (dean seems pretty mad!). but in the "i love you" version, dean has just shown cas extreme vulnerability in a way even cas can't misunderstand, and cas' refusal to show his own in return is somewhere between clueless and callous. that version of cas is fleeing from his own vulnerability, either lying to himself about it or trying to. and that's still fundamentally sympathetic and doesn't make cas some kind of villain. once again i must say, can't a man take a moment to think after receiving hundreds of lobotomies? but it's still way more on cas than the canon version. it's also not that believable, since cas is uh. pretty aware that dean is his weakness and vulnerability at the very least starting in season six.

okay so this has been kind of a long ramble because it's about eight posts rolled into one, but i needed that stuff as groundwork for my point, which is: it doesn't actually make a lot of sense that cas leaves at the end of goodbye stranger.

like, i was talking to @housewife-castiel about bitter deangirls who are soooooo mad about goodbye stranger and she was like "cas was justified in leaving with the tablet because dean hates angels and would have used it for ill" which is like. that's true. that's definitely true. however, i think it's out of character for cas, because one of cas' greatest and most tragic flaws is failing to recognize that dean is a danger to his other loved ones. he sees the best in dean, often to his detriment and the detriment of those he cares about.

and there's not really another good reason why you could see him leaving with the tablet. certainly there isn't one presented. like, when i first watched season eight, i assumed it meant that he had been like, brainwashed by the tablet into serving its own purposes, which isn't really a stretch given that the tablet seems integral to breaking naomi's brainwashing, but is also never brought up so like. i don't think that's what happened.

the only other reason i can think of for cas to leave with the tablet is because he needs some space due to he just got a bunch of lobotomies and was traumatically forced to nearly beat dean to death and now dean is standing in front of him. this, by the way, jives way better with the "i love you" version - if cas is running from his feelings, it makes sense for him to run. but even then, i don't think it's believable, because like... cas is not a skillful spontaneous liar. he does lie sometimes, but it's rehearsed, and he seems so suddenly certain about the tablet that it really scans as genuine.

the real reason cas leaves with the tablet, obviously, is that they don't want to pay misha collins for like the next four episodes, so they have to find some way to write him out. i'm sure that they were planning to justify it later and then never got around to it. but in-universe it just... doesn't make a ton of sense.

[thatsadorbsyo]

LFRP: Brennan Cosgrove

About:

Age: 20 Race: Midlander Hyur Gender: Male Sexuality: Bisexual Heritage: Dravanian Current Residence: Itinerant Relationships: Single Patrons: Oschon and Halone Vocation: Hunter-Acolyte Hobbies: Wrestling, Marksmanship, Woodworking

Appearance: Auburn hair, dark green eyes, some freckles on his face and shoulders. 5′11″, roughly 170 ponze. Lean muscular build. Has a scar over his left eye. Hair is clean but disheveled. Wears a lot of leather and fur, carries a lance and a bow. Youthful and ebullient.

Personality: RP with me and find out. :)

Hooks I can offer:

Tailfeather: Brennan was born and raised in the small hunting and trapping village of Tailfeather in the Dravanian Forelands. If your character is local to the area or has ever had reason to pass through (for their own hunting, to buy a chocobo, for research or adventure, or anything else), they might have been assisted by Brennan in the past. If they’re looking to go there now, Brennan is willing to offer expert advice, though he has no plans to return in the immediate future.

Oschon: Brennan worships a homebrew aspect of Oschon, in his role as the Ranger, an interpretation of this god that is mostly specific to the people who live in Dravania. He’s a hunter-acolyte of Oschon, and while he isn’t inclined to proselytizing, Brennan is happy to talk about his faith with fellow followers or anyone who might find the conversation stimulating.

Clan Centurio: Brennan is a member of Clan Centurio and will happily assist other members of the clan with hunting marks or other more mundane aspects of preparation for a hunt. He extends the same courtesy to hunters with Alliance marks as well as unaffiliated hunters who may wish for an extra pair of hands and eyes for a difficult job.

Buscarron’s Druthers: When Brennan wants to put down his lance, pick up a mug, and socialize a little bit, Buscarron’s Druthers is his primary hangout. Catch a drink with him, swap stories, or go out back and wrestle a bit or shoot some arrows. I love destination roleplay, so let’s make some spontaneous public RP happen at this non-hub locale.

Hooks I’m seeking:

Hunter-Acolyte for Hire: Brennan is on a pilgrimage in Eorzea as a test of his faith. His mission is to seek out and hunt down “notorious beasts” (loosely defined) in the southern nations, eventually bringing back trophies of his kills to Tailfeather so that he can share with his mentor what he learned from the ordeal. If your character knows of any such marks, or has any helpful tips on where to look, Brennan would love to talk to them. This is a recurring hook; as long as your character has leads to give, Brennan will keep returning to them for business. Your character is welcome and encouraged to join him on the hunt if they desire to, but it isn’t required.

[Please note that Brennan is a hunter of beasts and will not accept jobs that require hunting men, beastmen, powerful voidsent, ascians, sin eaters, etc. Concessions might be made for less powerful voidsent, constructs (e.g., machines or golems), and spirits, depending on the relevance of the hook. His primary interest remains with powerful or pernicious beasts and monsters. Please also note that Brennan does not ICly have access to Othard, nor is he interested in hunting there at this time.]

Pathfinders: While Brennan is an experienced hunter, he's not from around here, and he’s inexperienced with the region’s specific landscape and hazards. While some few tales about Eorzea did make it far enough north to reach his ears, he mostly relies on the help of experienced adventurers. Sit him down and tell him what to bring in his pack when venturing into the ruins of Sil’dih, or explain why it’s customary to dance for Sylphs.

OOC:

Contact me through Tumblr DM at @shay-ooc​ or in-game on Brennan Cosgrove@Balmung. If you have my Discord, you’re welcome to contact me there.

Players and characters must be 18+, no exceptions.

I’m open to relationships and adult situations that arise spontaneously and organically through in-character chemistry, but if you express an interest in ERP or shipping with my character before yours has even met him, I’d really rather not.

I don’t love one-on-one scenes, and when necessary, I prefer that they be brief and to the point. Let’s meet somewhere public! Or you can bring a friend, or I will.

I’ve done some solo writing for this character. You can find it here.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

── PEREGRINE // THREE

Series Synopsis: The ways that you and Seishiro Nagi fall together and fall apart over the years.

Chapter Synopsis: You spend the night at May and Reo’s, and then you go to visit your parents.

Series Masterlist

Pairing(s): Nagi x Reader, Kira x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 5.0k

Content Warnings: unhealthy relationships, cheating, non-linear narrative, probably ooc, angst, nagi is endgame, kira sucks, alternate universe, original characters

A/N: literally twitching every time i have to write a chapter and nagi is just not in it LMAOAOA also l/n family slander is always acceptable here #iykyk

divider credits: @/benkeibear

“When do you plan on going to see your parents?” Reo said. You, May, and him were hanging out in their enormous kitchen as rain poured down outside, hammering against the windows and roof. The storm made you feel nostalgic, and you sighed wistfully as you watched the deluge.

“Probably tomorrow,” you said. “I just want to get it over with. Even without having the conversation, I know how it’s going to go. It’ll be the same as the usual, so there’s no point in delaying the inevitable.”

That probably didn’t mean much to either of the two, considering you had never divulged much to them. You had never been able to tell anyone about the details of your relationship with your parents — it was something secret and rotten that you held close to your chest, a hatred which festered in your stomach and cowered from the light, and you could not bear for anyone to see you like that.

“Do you want us to come?” May said. Although Reo had known you longer, May had always been the more perceptive between the two of them, had always been more in-tune with emotions — both her own and others’ — than anyone you had ever met.

“No, it’s okay,” you said. The last thing you needed was for your parents to see Reo, especially with his own fiancée. It would be the worst outcome, and when the situation was already bound to be so fraught, there was no sense in adding fuel to the fire.

“We’ll drop you off whenever, though,” Reo said. “That’s a promise.”

“No way,” you said. “You guys should be relaxing. The whole reason I came over early was to make things easier for you two during your wedding! I’m not about to cause extra problems. We’ll take the taxi, and then afterwards, I’ll look for wedding dress boutiques so we can book an appointment. We should probably get that over with soon, just in case it takes them time to get the fit altered.”

“If you mention my name, it’ll be finished in seconds,” Reo said dismissively. “Don’t worry about dumb stuff like that.”

“No need to brag,” you said, elbowing him in the side teasingly. “We should give them enough time to make sure the work is of the highest quality. Besides, we have to begin planning somewhere, don’t we? Might as well start with this.”

“But that’s another thing I can’t do with you guys,” he said. You could not help yourself from chuckling at the way he pouted, his eyes swimming with melodramatic tears.

“You’re seriously clingy,” you said.

“Once we’ve picked my dress, you can come help us choose the rest of the wedding party’s clothes,” May offered. “I don’t think there’s any superstition around that, is there?”

“No, it’s just that the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride’s dress until the wedding,” you said. “Everything else is alright. We can probably get the dresses and suits from the same shop, too, so we can kill two birds with one stone. Great idea, May!”

“Thanks,” May said.

“Just tell me when, and I’ll make sure Nagi is free — don’t look at me like that! You knew he was going to be the best man before accepting the maid of honor position. I warned you!” Reo said.

“I know, but I just…I mean, do you think he’s going to offer any valuable insight? Beyond saying something like ‘oh, this suit is less of a pain than that one,’” you said, pitching your voice deeper to mimic Nagi’s low, mild voice.

“He’s going to have to wear it, so his opinion is kind of relevant,” Reo said.

“What happened between you guys while we were gone, anyways?” May said. “It was pretty normal when we left, besides Kira making things kind of awkward, but after we got back from dropping him off, there was a really weird atmosphere. Did you guys talk about something?”

“Nothing in particular,” you said.

“That still means you talked,” Reo said. “May’s right. I thought you said you weren’t going to let the past impact the present, so what was that tense vibe all about?”

“I wasn’t going to,” you said. “He’s the one that brought it up!”

“Brought what up?” May said keenly. You gulped, suddenly feeling like you had walked into some kind of trap, though judging by Reo’s clueless expression, it was one that he, too, was unaware of.

“Um, just, our old animosity,” you said.

“He never disliked you, though,” Reo said. “I don’t know why he’d bring it up when he didn’t even have a problem in the first place.”

May laughed. “You hated someone who didn’t hate you back? So out of character, Y/N. What was the reason?”

“It doesn’t matter,” you said. “If you must know, things were weird because neither of us knew what to discuss without you there, Reo. We don’t have that much in common. The only things are being friends with you and going to the same high school.”

“That does make sense,” Reo said. “If I swear I won’t leave you two alone again, will you be less annoyed about him coming along?”

“If that’s the best deal I’m getting, then yes, I suppose so,” you said, even though a part of you wanted to be alone with Nagi for as long as possible. You knew, though, that it was better if you weren’t. Just the thought of Ryosuke’s face was enough to convince you that this was the only path forward, or, if nothing else, the simplest.

“Consider it done,” Reo said. “Are you sleeping in the guest room tonight?”

“If you don’t mind,” you said, directing the question to both him and May alike.

“It doesn’t bother us,” he said.

“We wouldn’t have let you come over if it was an issue,” May agreed with a yawn. Even though you weren’t that tired, you knew it was late, and unlike you, they had not slept half of the day away. You wanted to keep them up, to talk to them until your throat was dry, but it would be unkind, so you pretended to yawn as well.

“We should probably get to bed, then,” you said.

“Are you sure?” Reo said. “We can stay up a little longer if you’d like.”

“Yup, we can,” May said. You smiled but shook your head.

“No, I’m really tired. I’m just going to call Chigiri so I can see how Sora is doing, and then I’ll probably sleep myself,” you said.

“Okay, if that’s how you feel,” Reo said, beckoning you after him. “I’ll show you where everything is, and you can do what you need to. But be up for breakfast, alright? I’m calling one of my chefs to cook something for us, and if you miss it, I’ll be really angry.”

“You don’t have to do that,” you said.

“I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I do them anyways. Do you know why? It’s because I can,” he said. “So I will.”

“Honestly,” you said, shaking your head. “You’re such a show-off.”

“I have to look impressive for you,” he said.

“Aren’t we past that point now?” you said, thinking back to his ridiculous antics from high school. “I agreed to be your friend a while back.”

“Old habits die hard,” he said, shrugging and sticking his tongue out at you cheekily. You did the same back.

“Yeah, yeah,” you said. “Whatever, rich boy. I’ll be up.”

“Good,” he said, patting you on the head. “Sleep well, Y/N.”

“The same to you, Reo,” you said. “Tell May, too.”

“She’ll probably be over to wish you herself,” he said.

“I’ll stay up until she does, then,” you said.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “See you in the morning.”

“See you.”

The familiar motions of getting ready for the night were the same no matter where you went, serving as a backdrop for your thoughts, which even now had not settled.

It had been worse than you had expected. Seeing Nagi again, being so close to him after all of this time…you thought you could handle it, but you couldn’t. You thought that by finding him again, you could reaffirm your decisions, but the only thing he had done was throw everything into a muddle. As always. Why had you expected anything different?

The rain had not abated by the time you crawled under your sheets and scrolled through your list of contacts, searching for the one you wanted. You wished it would stop. The rain meant something different to you, and for that reason, you wanted it to go away, but the weather was ignorant to your desires, and so it continued to pour.

“Hey, Y/N. Calling already?” The screen only showed the top half of Chigiri’s face; most of it was dominated by the white of his ceiling and the whirring blades of his fan. He blinked his pretty eyes at you, obviously curious about what you needed. “Is everything okay?”

“Is Sora doing alright?” you said. The camera switched to show Chigiri’s lap, which was dominated by your large white cat, who was purring to herself as he pet her.

“We’re watching TV together,” he said. “I think she likes this show.”

“Sora,” you said, your voice shaking. “Are you being perfect for Chigiri?”

“Yes, I am,” Chigiri said, doing an admittedly excellent impression of a little girl. “That was Sora, by the way. Not me.”

You sniffed. “That’s good.”

“Seriously, is something up? You’re acting a little bit freaky,” he said, the camera flipping back to its original position, though he now held it at an angle where you could see his entire face.

You hugged a pillow to your chest, resting your chin atop it when you spoke. “I don’t know.”

“Do you wanna talk about it, or is this one of those moments where I’m supposed to distract you by talking about dumb bullshit?” he said.

“The second option,” you said. You didn’t want to talk to Chigiri about it. You didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, because no one could ever know, and besides, talking about it would make it real. It would mean that you had acknowledged it, and by breathing life into something so nebulous, you ran the risk of it taking on a tangible form that would jam down your throat and wrap around your joints, halting you from moving forward as you ought to.

“Okay. Um, I went for a walk today,” he said. “It was really nice out. I wanted to run, but I decided it was probably better that I didn’t. My neighbor’s garden is flourishing — you know, he doesn’t really seem like the type to be into flower-growing, but it looks nice. Lots of roses, which is surprising, considering the whole muscle-head aesthetic he has going on. Maybe I should try to be nicer to him.”

You giggled despite yourself. “Is this the one with the orange hair who helped me carry your groceries in when you were sick? He seemed like a good person. You should be nicer to him.”

“Yes, that one. It’s not like I’m mean or anything! I just prefer minding my own business,” he said.

“If you say so,” you said. “I am surprised he’s into growing roses and flowers and whatnot, though. I would’ve thought he was exclusively into making protein powder shakes.”

”That’s what I’m saying!” he said. “I suppose everyone has many sides to them.”

“Hm,” you said. “Say, Chigiri. Can I ask you a bit of a random question?”

“If I say no, you’re going to ask anyways, aren’t you?” he said dryly.

“Yeah,” you said.

“Then what was the point of checking first?” he said.

“I knew you’d say yes,” you said. He flushed at the way you had read him so well.

“Okay, okay. What is it?” he said.

“Do you know much about Japanese soccer?” you said.

“Obviously?” he said. “Why’d you even ask that? It’s kind of a given, you know.”

“It was just a prelude. There’s a player — former player — that I was wondering if you had any thoughts on,” you said.

“Which one? If you say Kira, I’m killing you,” he said.

“No, not him. Um, Seishiro Nagi?” you said.

Chigiri raised his eyebrows. “That’s unexpected.”

“What is?” you said.

“You being interested in a player like that,” he said. “He’s Reo’s best man, isn’t he? Why don’t you ask him yourself? You guys must’ve gone to high school together.”

“I want to hear what you think,” you said. “That’s why I’m going to you. Idiot.”

“I’m flattered. Well, keep in mind that this isn’t a professional evaluation or anything; I’ve never even met him, and anyways, I’m just a failed player myself, so I’m hardly qualified to give my opinion on anything,” he said.

“That’s not true, Chigiri,” you protested.

“It is. It’s okay; there’s no need to fight about it. That’s not what we’re talking about. My thoughts on Seishiro Nagi…he was talented, and that’s a fact. If I remember correctly, they used to call him the falcon of the field, right?” he said.

“Yes, I think that’s what it was,” you said.

“He was almost unbeatable. Sure, he had a few losses, especially earlier on in his career, but for the most part, facing off against him was like a death sentence for any team that had that misfortune. A combination of unorthodox thinking and unbelievable physicality made him a genuine threat,” he said.

“I see,” you said. “I knew all of that already, though.”

“Jeez, never satisfied, huh? It’s not like I know him personally, and I was already in college by the time he started really getting big. That’s about the extent of it,” he said. “If I remember, one of my high school friends had a sister who was a fan of his for a bit, but she got over it pretty quickly, since he never went on social media or anything. Guess it’s difficult to have a parasocial relationship with someone so private.”

“Even in high school, he was that kind of guy,” you said, unable to stop yourself from grinning affectionately, though you pushed it back before Chigiri could notice. “No one knew the first thing about him. He was such a mystery.”

“Some people are into that lifestyle, I suppose,” he said. You hummed.

“Guess so,” you said.

“I don’t really know much else, Y/N, I’m sorry. You’re going to have to talk to him if you want more,” he said. Scoffing, you shook your head resolutely.

“It was just a typical curiosity,” you said. “I don’t need more than that. Thanks, Chigiri.”

“Anything for you,” he said.

“You’re making me blush,” you deadpanned.

“It’s only because your cat’s so cute,” he said. “Mind if I keep her?”

“In your dreams,” you said. “Speaking of which, I should get to bed. Talk to you later.”

“Later.”

Only a few moments elapsed between Chigiri hanging up and May knocking on your door. You knew it was her because she was light and hesitant instead of firm and sharp, the way Reo would’ve been, and also because she announced herself shortly after.

“Come in!” you said, pulling your blanket up around your shoulders.

“Are you still talking with Chigiri?” she said, flopping down on the foot of the bed.

“Obviously not,” you said, nodding towards the blank screen of your phone. “I wouldn’t have told you you could come in if I was.”

“That’s true,” she said.

“What did you need to ask?” you said. There were never any secrets between you and May. It was impossible to lie to her when you had lived together with her for years, and conversely, she could never hide her true intentions from you.

“Nothing in particular,” she said. “Just…are you sure you’re going to be okay with this whole maid of honor thing? It seems like there’s way more to your history with Nagi than I realized. If you’re uncomfortable with it, then we can figure something else out.”

“No!” you said, too quickly for it to have been a natural reaction. “No, it’s okay. We’re okay. It was just really sudden today, that’s all. I wasn’t prepared to see him again. Please, I told this to Reo and I’ll say it to you too: don’t worry about me. Your wedding is the only thing you should be thinking about, and even that shouldn’t be a cause of anxiety. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Okay, but you’re my friend, and I don’t want you to be more stressed in my place or anything,” she said slowly. “If it’s a problem, you have to tell me immediately. Reo can pay someone else to be his best man, so it’s not a huge issue.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to him,” you said. “He’s been friends with Nagi for almost as long as he’s known me. I don’t want my own issues to ruin his wedding. Really, May, thank you for the concern, but there’s not a problem at all, and even if there is, I’ll handle it.”

You mimed hitting the air, and she snorted, shaking her head condescendingly.

“What, you gonna fistfight Nagi if he bothers you too much or something?” she said.

“Yeah. You don’t think I can win?” you said.

“I mean, considering he was a professional athlete until a few years ago and you’re…you,” she said. “No.”

“You should have more faith in me,” you said. “I can totally take him on. Bam! He won’t know what hit him.”

You punched your pillow for emphasis, which drew a giggle out of her. Taking the pillow from you, she fluffed it up again before handing it back so you could lay against it.

“I’ll bet on you, then, so you had better win, or else Reo won’t let me hear the end of it for a week or more,” she said. You flexed your biceps.

“You can count on me,” you said.

“On a more serious note, though, and now that Reo’s not around, will you tell me the truth about what Nagi brought up? I know you were lying earlier, but I figured you just didn’t want to make Reo feel bad. I’m sure it must be strange for him, having his two best friends dislike each other,” she said.

You had no interest in lying to her, but you also could not tell her the entire truth, so you decided to go with a version of it all.

“The past,” you said. “I don’t know if Reo’s mentioned it, but we had a very complicated relationship back then.”

“He never elaborated, though, to be fair, I don’t think he really understood it well enough in the first place. He just said that you seemed to really hate Nagi when you all went to school together, but you never told him why,” she said.

“I was embarrassed,” you said with a shrug. “It was an embarrassing reason, and not one that a person like Reo could ever understand, so I kept it to myself. Nagi never really had any friends, bar Reo of course, so no one ever thought any less of me for it.”

“Embarrassing?” she said, and then an idea dawned her, her expression morphing into one of pure horror. “If that overgrown q-tip of a man hurt you at some point, then I don’t care about Reo’s feelings. He’s out of the wedding!”

“Overgrown — what? What are you talking about?” you said.

“You said that it was an embarrassing reason that Reo could never understand,” she said. “What would be more embarrassing than you getting rejected by Nagi of all people? And I doubt Reo’s ever been rejected in his life, unfortunately, so he definitely wouldn’t comprehend that sort of feeling. If it’s the case, then just let me know and I’ll sort things out! Reo has other friends now, so he can just have one of them be his best man. Or there’s always the paid route, like I mentioned earlier.”

“It wasn’t like that,” you said. “Also, there’s no way Reo has other friends, so please don’t lie for my sake.”

“No, he does. If you don’t believe me, just wait for the wedding — you’ll meet them there. At the least, he can always get Chigiri to do it,” she said.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. “Anyways, though, it’s fine. You missed the mark this time, I’m afraid.”

“Oh. Then what was it?” she said. You smiled ruefully and shook your head.

“You wouldn’t understand, either, you know? So it’s okay. Enough of this; he knows better than to bring it up again, and I know better than to end up alone with him again,” you said.

She really was the loyal sort. It was evident in the way she hesitated before nodding, standing up with a furrow to her brow and a pensive twist to her mouth as she headed to the door.

“Y/N,” she said. “Like I said, the instant he pulls something, you tell me, alright? Before you get in a fistfight or anything ridiculous like that, come to me.”

“Got it,” you said. “I’ll remember that. Goodnight, May.”

“Goodnight.”

You wondered when it had come to be that you felt more uncomfortable with your own fiancé than anyone else. Yet it remained that being shoved in a taxi with him on the way to your childhood home was the oddest sensation you had experienced in so long that you found yourself once again longing for the days when it had been simpler, when you and him had gotten along in an easy way.

“Did you have a nice time at May and Reo’s?” Ryosuke said.

“I did,” you said. “Reo made one of his chefs come to serve us breakfast, so it was delicious.”

“It’s a good thing he’s about to be married, or I’d be jealous,” Ryosuke said. “How can a normal guy like me compete with that?”

“Stop,” you said. “He loves May. There’s no competition, and don’t say anything like that in front of my parents.”

“What?” he said in alarm. “Are there rules to this meeting? I was just planning on winging it!”

You held back the urge to groan. He could not be blamed; like Reo and May, he didn’t know what it meant for you to see your parents again, not fully. Why would he expect anything other than a normal meal at their place? But your parents weren’t that type, and if he just waltzed in and expected them to love him based on nothing but your fondness for him, then he was mistaken.

The home you had grown up in had not changed a bit in your absence. The same flowers still bloomed alongside the concrete path leading to the front door, and the bushes were still the exact emerald shade they had been on the day you had left. Foreboding crept in you as you ascended the stairs and pressed on the button for the doorbell, and you reached behind you to grab Ryosuke’s hand as footsteps approached the foyer.

“Mother,” you said when the door swung open, revealing a pair who, too, had not changed from the images of them which you held in your memories. “Father. It’s been a while.”

Your mother’s lips pressed into a thin line, and your father clenched his jaw as he regarded you and Ryosuke. For a brief moment, you thought that he would turn the two of you away, but he only glared at you for a second longer before motioning for you both to come in.

“Y/N,” your mother said. “We weren’t expecting you.”

“Did you think I’d miss the wedding?” you said.

“Wedding?” your father said.

“No need to play innocent,” you said, marveling at the nooks and crannies you had once known so intimately. “You know whose wedding I speak of.”

“It should’ve been yours,” your mother said.

“If things had gone the way you wanted, it would’ve been mine,” you agreed. “But they didn’t, and it’s not. It’s Reo and May’s.”

“There’s still time,” your father said. “They aren’t married yet. You could still—”

“When will you give up?” you said, cutting him off, squeezing Ryosuke’s hand — as much for his reassurance as your own. “I flew halfway across the world to escape you and your demands, and the first thing you do upon my return is make more? It’s shameless, father.”

“Why are you back here?” your mother said, presenting a tray filled with tea and biscuits to the two of you. You wavered before allowing yourself to pick up one of the cups, dipping a biscuit in it and chewing on it. The flavor reminded you of your childhood, immediately transporting you to the days when you had not despised your life so thoroughly and extremely. “You made your feelings quite clear when you left, so what brings you back?”

“He wanted to meet you,” you said. “Ryosuke Kira. My fiancé.”

“Hello, sir, madam,” Ryosuke said, bowing his head politely. You had to give him that — he was good at acting, and in this situation, it was a helpful attribute. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“You seriously chose him over Reo Mikage?” your father said bluntly. “That’s a decision no one in their right mind would make.”

“Enough about Reo,” you hissed between your teeth before smiling tightly, your nails digging into the back of Ryosuke’s hand. “We aren’t here to go over that same argument. Aren’t you going to congratulate me? Your only daughter is getting married.”

“Does he have a house of his own?” your mother said.

“Yes,” you said.

“A job with a good income?” your father said.

“Well above average,” you said. “It’s secure, too.”

“Then it’s good enough,” your mother said, stiffly, insincerely. “He’s no corporate heir, but he’s a serviceable consolation prize. Congratulations, Y/N. You’ve done better for yourself than we expected.”

They didn’t ask if you loved him, or if he loved you in return, but why would they? It was unimportant. When it came to relationships and marriages, such fickle concepts as love could not be relied upon. It was the ideal that they had pounded into you from a young age: stability. Safety. It was easier to learn to love someone than it was to live a life without certainty. It was easier for you to pretend to be unaware of Ryosuke’s dalliances than it was for you to let go and live the rest of your life alone.

“I don’t think your parents liked me,” Ryosuke confessed upon entering the taxi you had called to take you back.

“Don’t take it personally,” you said. “They’re just upset that things didn’t go according to their carefully laid plans. It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting them to be happy, anyways. That went better than I anticipated, all things considered.”

“What plans?” Ryosuke said as the driver took off towards your hotel. Ryosuke would get down there, and you would continue on to the dress fitting appointment that Reo had somehow already managed to book before you had even woken up.

You weighed the merits of telling him, but came to the conclusion that it would only make things more difficult for you.

“Plans that never had a chance of success in the first place,” you said. “That’s the long and short of it. Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure,” he said. “What style of dress is May thinking of getting for the wedding party?”

“She mentioned wanting me to have a different dress than the rest of the bridesmaids, since I’m the maid of honor,” you said. “I think she wants it to be my choice.”

“How considerate of her,” Ryosuke said. “She really is such a sweet girl. And so pretty, too! She’ll make a beautiful bride.”

You thought back to what Nagi had said at dinner, your face souring as his cool, snarky tone rang in your mind. It looked like he wanted that waitress, too. And that hostess. And May. But I don’t think he’d go after her, because, y’know, Reo would be pretty mad, and he can definitely afford a better lawyer than Kira can if it comes down to it…

“Reo is lucky,” you said, though all you wanted to do was grab his face and demand he look at you. Aren’t I beautiful, too? Aren’t I sweet, too? You wanted to scream these things at him, but you feared that the answers were not ones you’d prefer, so you remained silent.

“I bet you’ll look great, too,” he said. “Make sure you pick something flattering. I want everyone to see just how amazing my fiancée is.”

“I would’ve done that regardless,” you said.

“Maybe you should FaceTime Chigiri and ask for his advice! We all know how well he can pull off a dress,” he said, snickering.

“That happened once, and you need to stop bringing it up. It wasn’t even his choice,” you said, though you could not suppress a laugh at the memory of the time that you and May had forced Chigiri into a dress so that you could sneak him into a Halloween party with you.

“As you wish,” he said. “Looks like this is my stop. Text me when you’re on the way back!”

“Okay,” you said. “Wait. Ryosuke.”

“What’s up?” he said.

“Can I, uh, send you pictures? Of my options? So you can help me choose?” you said, hating how uncertain your voice sounded, the cracking hinting at your true meaning — tell me. Tell me what I will look worthy of you in. Tell me what it is you want from me.

“Can’t you just pick on your own?” he said. “I was planning on taking a nap and then going to eat. I won’t really have time. Ask May or Reo if you’re stuck.”

It had been a foolish idea to begin with, and as the taxi you were in accelerated away from him, you cursed yourself for even trying. After all, if a simple dress would’ve been enough for your fiancé’s eyes to remain on you, then they never would’ve strayed in the first place.

taglist (comment/send an ask to be added): @mariyumemi @naatggeo @prettyarsxnist @noble-17 @rinitoshisgirl @stuckindreamland06

[deus-ex-mona]

genuinely wondering - why do you think the narumi scenes in ep 6 were ooc? (the sena scene in particular was pretty short, I didn't think there was much to say about it)

oh man, do i have ✨opinions✨ about this👀

gonna slip in a cut here because of spoilers for the hiyoko anime and some fairly unpopular (and weirdly articulated) hot takes lol—

aightt so—

my main issue with the narumi scenes in ep 6 is that it’s blatant viewer fanservice (especially for prior fans of the cec series who already know who sena and mona are). in my opinion, the scenes pretty much contributed ✨absolutely nothing✨ to the plot, aside from damaging hiyoko’s self-esteem (with regards to her “i can’t be cute :(” complex) in 4k hd.

the sena scene by itself was fairly okay, though pointless plot-wise, as she was literally just made to be there in order to be her usual cute self in front of hiyoko. would taking the scene out have changed anything in the plot? probably not, as sena could’ve just made a cute cameo in the magazines that hiyoko read later on in the episode (like yumeru did). and that’s really my only issue with the sena scene, especially since hiyoko didn’t join the dots between the sisters when mona introduced herself by her full name. hiyoko doesn’t even think “damn, i just saw a girl who looks like her, with the same last name as her, a short while back👀”, which is pretty dense, but okay—

now, mona.

maybe i’ve just been too spoiled by other non-anime mona content (e.g. the watashi, idol sengen manga + honeypre event stories + mona’s pvs) that mona’s personality in that scene seemed really off to me. her interaction with hiyoko during that crepe date seemed really awkward to me?

to be fair, hiyoko was also rather weird in that scene. she looked at mona, all but went “damn, you cute, no wonder why guys hit on you”, and talked about her cuteness complex in true tmi fashion. their entire interaction just screamed “i am totally a human and i can totally socialise with this fellow human” to me, at least.

like, i can sorta understand mona responding to hiyoko’s self-deprecating rant with a “yeah, i understand how you feel. big mood, can relate. let’s be heroines together!”, but the scene just felt rather weird after that, especially with the mutually exchanged “i like you”s. i can’t really describe this weird feeling i got from it. it’s as though the creators were trying to make a (somewhat pointless) scene cute just for the sake of being cute. sure, the scene was objectively cute, but it pretty much left me going #notmymona—

though all of that would have been well and good if it any of it was actually relevant to the plot, like if maybe some flashbacks to the scene played out/if spontaneous references to it happened (like if hiyoko went “hey my new friend also said that i can be a heroine! i’m glad i have your support too!” when aiyuu were giving her that heroine peptalk, or if hiyoko just-so-happened to recall mona’s words of “i think you can become a heroine” when nagisa told her that she was always his heroine and goes “damn, that girl was right”), but the scenes are never ever mentioned again? there’s still time for that to change in the next 3 episodes though, but i still have my doubts, especially since…

…nagisa himself is never mentioned again after episode 7??? like suddenly all of that “👀👀damn where your bf at👀👀” teasing rapport that aiyuu and hiyoko had built up over those 2 nagisa episodes completely evaporated? like yoooooo hiyoko anime what are you doing? he’s never even mentioned in casual conversation across episodes 8 and 9 (episode 10 pls change this trend i’m begging), even though aiyuu just spent the entirety of episode 7 teasing hiyoko relentlessly about nagisa? like damn, do they only make fun of hiyoko about nagisa when he’s in tokyo? even though they always make fun of her for other things all the time? how flaky.

what was i supposed to be talking about again… oh right, the narumi sisters in the hiyoko anime.

in any case, to me, the plot of the anime seems to be different separate chunks of scenes haphazardly spliced together. like, there seems to be some kind of disjointment between the scenes, even within the same episode, as though there’s barely any flow to it?

episode 6 is pretty much my best example of that. [it opens with the repaint photoshoot + that “yaaa no, i have no interest in you dawgs” thing in the shower, which is never brought up again.] [then the nagisa call, which, coolio, it makes for a decent linking scene.] [then there are random timeskips/scene jumps to juri, and then hina, which… okay.] [then the sena scene, which is never mentioned again.] [and then the mona scene, which is also never mentioned again.] [and then more nagisa references happen as heroine ikusei keikaku takes place as the last section of scenes for the episode.] like… i think that the fact that all of the scenes can even be separated like this is a little… weird?

i dunno man, i feel like i’ll detract even further from the point of the original ask into a whole bunch of “??? moments” about the hiyoko anime if i carry on…

this turned out to be a very incoherent rant i’m so sorry!!!!!!

[the-auris]

RULES

GENERAL RULES

✧ This is an 18+ server. We will not tolerate minors trying to sneak in. If we find out you are underage you will be permanently banned – this also goes for members who were underage when they joined but turned 18 when we found out. No exceptions.

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RP RULES

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Last updated: 01.02.2023

[bigskydreaming]

Also its important to remember that canon has context too, and like....I refer back to canon as often as I do because IT is the context for fics and fanon.....but in the case of canon itself, the context is often the knowledge and perspective and even biases of the writer writing a piece of canon.

And that example from Batman and the Outsiders that @nightwingmyboi included for Dick’s conversation with Cass about his behavior towards her is a significant example of this because like......it has an extremely narrow context, with no sign in the narration there of any context OUTSIDE of what the writer is referencing.

What I mean by that is.....Dick actually was originally quite welcoming of Cass. He got along great with her, taught her all sorts of things, did his best to help her adjust.

The time when he wasn’t welcoming specifically, and seemed to take her adoption badly, is like.....directly about the time when Cass’ adoption first came up at all....in a story called Redemption Road.

Make no mistake, Dick very much acted like an ass to Cass there. Oh, even then not without reason, like, his behavior was characterized as him being suspicious due to the fact that Cass had recently been brainwashed into working for Deathstroke and killed again due to his control, and nowhere did Dick express that his issues were with Cass herself but rather that he was worried about taking it for granted that the brainwashing was gone and dealt with. With this particularly juxtaposed against the fact that Good Dad Bruce Wayne was very much on display throughout this story and Bruce was consistently characterized as being fully in Cass’ corner and showing none of his usual paranoia or concerns about something like whether they could trust someone who was recently brainwashed. Thus Dick kinda stepped into that role in the absence of Bruce assuming it as he normally would.

Now, personally, as much as I don’t LIKE how Dick acted towards Cass in that story, I’ve never considered it OOC....as I’ve always headcanoned it as being a bit of a prodigal son situation. In my mind, Dick was either consciously or unconsciously paralleling these circumstances with things like the time when he was brainwashed by the Church of Blood for a year....and he very much did NOT get a free pass on anything he did during that time (despite people promising they did understand it), with ‘decisions he’d made’ during that time frequently being brought up and thrown in his face afterward. 

So my read of that story was always in light of that, and the fact that Bruce was very much removed from Dick’s life at that specific time and was a non-entity in helping Dick recover from all of that......and so I headcanoned that Dick’s attitude towards Cass was at least a little bit influenced by him being resentful of seeing her get the unconditional support and understanding from Bruce that Dick got none of in an EXTREMELY similar situation, and very much could have used at the time. 

(Especially of relevance here IMO is the fact that Dick was very much in Limbo when it came to Bruce at that time, with the Church of Blood storyline happening when he was nineteen and thus no longer Bruce’s ward or legally bound to him in any way, estranged from him in every other way, and it would be years more until he was actually adopted....whereas in Redemption Road, Bruce’s actions were consistently geared towards getting Cass to accept that he didn’t blame her for what she’d done while brainwashed, that he did still very much want her to be part of his family, and here was his offer of adoption if she wanted it, as a result. Like....it was beat for beat EXACTLY what I imagined Dick wanted to happen in his own parallel circumstances back then, dreamed of happening, but very much DIDN’T happen...and here he was watching it happen with no acknowledgment whatsoever of when he experienced no similar drive from Bruce to show that he was understood, forgiven and wanted, at a time when he desperately wanted and needed all of that).

And thus Dick was acting and behaving towards Cass here in much the same manner as everyone had treated him when it was him in that position....with this not being hypocritical so much as him internalizing the idea that SOMEONE had to express this skepticism/judgment towards Cass here, in order for Dick to not raise long-dead and buried resentments of how all his friends and loved ones expressed that very same attitude towards him when it was him in this place. In order to be okay with that, he had to kinda internalize the idea that their behavior was valid and necessary and earned....which in turn made him internalize that it was valid and necessary and earned that someone express that behavior here and now.

BUT its not remotely in Dick’s nature to make excuses for his own behavior, or to cut himself slack....so its perfectly in character in my opinion for him to express the sentiments he’s expressing to Cass in that example. To focus SOLELY on his poor behavior and make the time when he wasn’t welcoming to her stand as if it was the entirety of their history together...when it wasn’t. At all. It was one small slice of their history, with a very specific context, that Dick certainly wasn’t about to bring up.....and that no one else brought up either, and thus it might as well not have existed.

So if I were writing that story, personally, I wouldn’t necessarily have done anything differently in characterizing Dick. I might have even had him say those exact same things to her about how he hadn’t been welcoming to her and had an issue with her adoption at that specific time.

BUT.....I would have contextualized this as being unreliable narration on his part, and used OTHERS, or even just him having other conversations elsewhere, to provide the context that I felt was necessary to explain WHY he’d acted the way he had, even without Dick himself offering that mindset up as an excuse.

Like, and there’s so many ways to contextualize that scene. You could have Cass herself push back against the idea that he was just wholly unwelcoming to her, and express that he had been really great at first and she’d really appreciated that, or even frame it as her expressing confusion as to WHY he’d acted that way towards her later, when he’d been so much more open with her before.

Or you could have Dick have conversations about that with others in his life, even in the form of making further self-recriminations against his behavior, like, getting down on himself for being such an ass to her there.....BUT using friends who knew him well to push back against the idea that this is just who he is rather than it being born of specific circumstances and his own issues....like maybe him talking about this with Roy or Kori and them raising the possibility “hey, I know this is a sore spot, but do you think that maybe the reason you reacted so badly to Cass there was because it brought up a lot of old stuff about that time you were brainwashed for a year?” Dick wouldn’t even have to agree with their assessment in the end, but it being raised as a possibility at ALL would at least allow readers to enter that context into their own interpretation of his actions and behavior and decide for themselves whether it played a role.

Or you could have Dick have a conversation with Bruce about it, with maybe even Bruce being the one to say, I’m a little surprised how harsh you were with Cass, as it doesn’t seem like you....and with this opening the door to Dick finally airing some long pent-up grievances in the form of him maybe only then just realizing himself that y’know what, it ISN’T like me, and now that I think about it its because it had nothing to do with Cass really, and it was more about me reacting off of how you were acting with her....and dealing/not dealing with the reality that it was exactly what I’d always wanted to see and hear from you back then, but you were nowhere to be found, and you certainly weren’t stepping in to protect me from people giving me crap for my brainwashed actions or expressing doubt about my trustworthiness/capabilities the way you were stepping into protect Cass from me expressing doubt about her trustworthiness, etc.

See what I mean? SO many possibilities there, all of which provide so much more meat and context to that particular story than Dick just being a douche to Cass because generic daddy issues or whatever.

But you gotta actually DRAW those connections in a story you’re writing, to go alongside the unreliable narration you’re having color Dick’s view of his own actions or behavior.....or else, those connections just flat out aren’t going to exist for most readers to be aware of or factor in to provide CONTEXT to Dick’s unreliable narration.

[rolanberry-rebel]

LFRP/Bio: Lissa

I figured I’d do an updated version of this, add a little more info and pizazz.~

Name: Anylissa Sebastis Nicknames: Lissa, Liss; Anny only if you want to get on her bad side. Race: Hyur (midlander) Age: 22 Gender: Cis female Orientation: pansexual Relationship status: Single Profession: Singer, dancer, spoiled dilettante

Height: 5′3″ Weight: 118lbs. Eyes: Dark blue Hair: Black with (artificial) purple-red highlights Skin: Fair, softly sunkissed Build: Petite, more bottom than top Scars/marks/tattoos: small beauty mark near her left eye, and a teensy pair of berries tattooed on her left hip. (Don't tell her parents.) Fashion/accessories: Fun, cute and ostentatious, with lots of gold, lots of jewels, lots of silly accessories and lots of her favorite colors, vivid violets and rolanberry reds. Prefers light fabrics with plenty of skin, in contrast to the stuffy gowns and expensive dresses she has to wear to family functions. Has a whole closet full of shoes and a cupboard full of jewelry and eyeglasses, which she doesn’t actually have to wear for eyesight, but likes to as a fashion accessory.

Birthplace: La Noscea Residence: Her family’s estate, near Wineport Alignment: Chaotic good Hobbies: Singing, dancing, modeling, partying, going to clubs and dive bars, hanging around with the wrong crowd, petty crime, making friends, frivolous spending on pretty clothes, jewelry and accessories, reading fun adventure and romance books Likes: Fun, money, physical activity, art, exciting new experiences, jokes and good-humored people, getting into trouble, free spirits, creative minds, beauty and beautiful things Dislikes: Her family (except for her brothers Riverton and Octavius), ponderous bores, philosophical or stuffy academic conversation, social expectations and high society, religion, emotional ugliness, dishonesty and scheming Personality: Flighty, flirty, loud; silly, chatty, loves to laugh; fast-paced and deeply unserious. Sweet with a side of playful and bratty. Always looking for fun; life of the party, loves to be the center of attention. Kind but immature; air-headed but not naive. Doesn't like applying herself, prefers to have fun. The kind of girl who takes a grumpy and unfashionable friend to the markets to play dress-up and takes lots of selfies along the way, and no matter how annoying she is, you can't help but crack a smile. Virtues: Quick to make friends; she’ll be your friend even if you don’t want her to be, and she’ll come through even if you’re stubborn about it. Always kind. Creatively talented, has a natural skill for music and rhythm especially. A faint affinity for magic, though raw and uncultivated. The Sebastis family blood gives her a streetwise cunning and intuition; you’ll have a hard time getting away with lying to her. Extremely generous; she’s always the one to cover the tab. Deeply loyal and kind-hearted. Bad habits: Laziness; gives up easily. A spendthrift who doesn’t know the value of a gilpiece. Has problems with commitment and responsibilities.Defiant, rebellious and insolent. Smokes, drinks to excess occasionally. Can be counted on to never finish what she starts. Often childish and sometimes needy. Short attention span. Terrible at any kind of fighting unless she gets to cheat.

Significant Other: As an heiress, Lissa’s family have had a spouse planned for her since she was a little girl, as a means of business negotiation. Lissa has no interest in the man and in fact has found him repellent in the few interactions she’s had with him. She has no plans to go marry him and is for all intents and purposes single. Children: None Family: A lot. I’ll have to write a more detailed profile for them eventually. Most relevant to her personally are:

Grandparents: Lissa’s only living grandparent is domineering family matriarch Eugenia Sebastis (nee Marshe), grandmother on her father’s side.

Parents: Cumberland and Marie-Arelle (nee Brattlebrough) Sebastis.

Brothers: Matthias, Riverton, Spaulding, and Octavius, and her brother-in-law Brunas Tiernach, married to her sister Allure.

Sisters: Allure Tiernach (nee Sebastis) and sister-in-law Brietha Sebastis (nee Verias).

Aunts, Uncles: She has many, but most important are her great-aunt Lucia Windholme, her father’s sisters Louisette and Bedelinda, her father’s brother Arvram, and her mother’s brother Tanner.

Cousins: Again, a lot, but notably her elder first cousin Chauncer (great-aunt Lucia’s son), whose Costa del Sol bungalow Lissa holes up in a lot, and her second-cousins Barnabath and Ava Donncaster, who she visits in Kugane fairly frequently.

Friends: A lot! I’ll write stories about a lot of the non-PC ones eventually, but she always loves having more. Always up for writing pre-existing friendships, too, if you wanna be one of them!

High society: If you're a part of, or well-acquainted with, the aristocratic side of Eorzean society, you've most likely heard of the Sebastis family. You may have even heard about the pretty and troublesome young scion of theirs, always bringing shame on the family name. High finance: Any character with a background in business or tradecraft or who has a good amount of wealth themselves has probably done some sort of business with Lissa's family or its proxies. Family business: Lissa has tons of family, all of them involved in various legit and shady business schemes across all of Hydaelyn. You may have encountered one of them - as friends, rivals, employees - and you might eventually parlay that into some sort of exchange with Cumberland Sebastis’s bratty younger daughter. il Mercenario: As it turns out, when you run a big family business, sometimes things get rough, and more often than not, it pays to have a few sturdy sellswords at your side. If you operate as a mercenary, particularly working inside La Noscea, you may find yourself hired to shadow or protect some billionaire berry-farmer's bratty daughter. Alternatively, you may have been hired by a shady business rival to, well, 'take care' of her. Drinks and dives: Sometimes you just want some peace, quiet, and a mug of the good stuff to yourself, right? There's no better place for that sort of local color than the scummiest holes-in-the-wall. But for some reason, some irritating girl keeps showing up at all your favorite watering holes, insistent on making herself life of the party... Low lives: You run a small gang, crime syndicate, or have a background in raising a firm little bit of hell. You're known and you might even be a tad feared by the underground. So why in the world is this loud-mouthed rich girl weaseling her way into your escapades? Who knows. Maybe she'll come in handy as a distraction or something. Fashionista: Talent can be so hard to come by, and even when you find it, in the fashion world you're bound to run into an unending stream of selfish divas. But hey, you need someone to show off your new spring threads, right? There just happens to be an heiress from Wineport with a knack for pretty clothes, pretty poses and a powerful strut. She might even be willing to give you some fashion advice of her own, too!

Hi! I’ve been RPing forever and I’m lookin for new friends!

Adult female OOCly who’s RPed in every game you can probably think of and happy RPing lots of themes/scene types so long as we talk about it beforehand.

Available at random times, usually late evenings EST. Will always try to respond to private messages here no matter when you send them though!

Discord: I’m not on there very much, but I know it’s become a big way for a lotta people to do most of their OOC communication/RP threads so I’m willing to get on there if you wanna talk!

In-game: Anylissa Sebastis (Balmung) or Kjalla Nisemi (Mateus)

I have another character, too, so if Lissa doesn’t seem like a great fit we can talk about stories/threads with my violent bunny mercenary Kjalla!

[chronicparagon]

🔥 🔥 🔥 // regards role-play.

@s-talking

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. x 3

I’m not sure if these would be unpopular. I started to rp on Tumblr in 2013 and my experience has been positive for the most part. There were a couple of situations that were rough, but that’s a rarity. But based on some experiences I’ve seen, I have a few things about rp in general. It’s below since it’s a bit long. 

1. Everyone has the right to post what they want on their blog. I’m not against it and people have rights to share what’s on their mind. The thing is that if all you post is ooc stuff, especially that being negative all the time, then I get a bit uncomfortable with that. I don’t mean a few here or there, and using tags and read mores are okay. What I mean is that’s all someone posts on a rp blog. 

Sometimes, I worry if I do the same like making a post rambling about cultural things that’s not relevant to Harmony, or whether I posted too many memes.I may say something about a couple things in my personal life, but I try to keep it to a minimum because I want to have my rp blog focus on Harmony. Sometimes, I get excited about something and want to share but I try to be careful with that and not make it the main focus on this blog.  I had thoughts of reviving my personal blog so I can talk about culture, stories about my travels and work, and pictures of places I went.  

This isn’t to say no one is allowed to post what they want. It’s just with a rp blog, it can’t be like 95% of the content. Personal blogs can help mitigate that. So can using read mores and tags, or even reaching out to friends privately instead. 

Because of this, I have an open door policy to offer a safe place for people to vent or talk without having to post it. If being there for someone and listening or reading why they say helps, then I’m happy to do that. 

2. I know this might be a bit touchy for some people, but it is something that I think needs to be said. It’s tricky to write as a muse who is of a different race or ethnicity. This is especially true with Indigenous muses and non-Indigenous muns. People can get upset and say that’s racism.

Indigenous people don’t have a lot of representation in media, and when they are in media, they are seen as blatant stereotypes. So, it’s understandable to be wary about things like that. However, some people go overboard. People get discouraged and called racists for writing a muse that is not the mun’s race, or drawing art of characters too. That can be damaging to people who have no intention to be racist. It’s not fair to police everyone who work hard on their muses and do their best to represent them appropriately. 

The difference between when it’s okay and when it’s not okay is whether the person is willing to learn about their muse’s background. This includes reading about our history and cultures, and asking Indigenous People questions about their lives. 

As an Indigenous woman, I will say this: Most of us are more than happy to share who we are to the world. We want to share our histories, our traditions, our beliefs, and our lives with people who want to listen. We want to help in giving accurate depictions of Indigenous characters in media and it that means learning about who we are, then we’re all for it.  We are always open to offering information of who we are and just as curious to learn about who you are as well.  Never be afraid to ask questions if it will help improve the Indigenous muse. I think the same can be said for other ethnicities and races too. 

 So, even if someone is not Indigenous or the same race as their muse, as long as the mun is careful, respectful, and willing to learn about the muse and their culture, then that’s perfectly fine and no one should bash them for it. All that’s needed is presenting that muse with care, love, and respect. 

The only time when it’s not okay is if the person doesn’t want to learn and prefers to use stereotypes, or present that muse or character out of spite or just to be disrespectful.

3.  This one is a bit tough because I’m not sure what else to say that may be unpopular. This one might be more accepting in the rpc but I want to bring it up anyway since it’s something everyone should be aware of. 

RP is for fun, but it requires communication. Like, if there’s an issue or a problem about interactions or what’s going on in a thread, then that should be discussed. It’s also important to speak up if something makes you uncomfortable and see what can be done to solve the problem. There is no need to vague blog or attack people with Anon. It only stirs more anxiety and cause rifts. It’s better to reach out and start a conversation on how to resolve the issue.