#(by 'certain character' I of course mean river)

[arcane-ish]

I always headcanon that Jinx's relationship with Silco is that she loves him, but thinks that he's fucking stupid (about some things).

That she at some point in her life had a growing up moment where she began to see that you don't have to take everything he says at face value and at same time she had the emotional intelligence to see the vulnerability behind it.

I always feel that puts me at odds with both the people who are more "they had the perfect relationship, she should have carried on his legacy" and people who are more "omg he manipulated and brainwashed her".

Don't get me wrong, just because I think that she thinks that she's smarter than him and doing him a favor doesn't mean that influence or even manipulation didn't affect her choices or the way she sees the world (maybe even in ways that she doesn't even understand).

And I don't think that this is even in the way of a darker read on their relationship, I'm sure there are full on abusive relationship where the abused person stays because they think abusive partner needs them and they have to stay to protect them.

But yeah, basically, I think at some point Jinx came to see Silco's rants about Vander and betrayal as an expression of pain, not something to actually believe in. I think at some point she came to think his insistance that their life stories are that similar is just flat wrong (but imo doesn't tell him that much because she knows it's pointless, he's just gonna rant more). We see this in her eagerness to reunite with Vi, her story about she felt Vi was always with her, so she clearly doesn't think Vi is like Vander or how Silco sees Vander, she never gave up hope to be with Vi (even if she was afraid Vi would judge her).

I read her stealing of the crystal and killing of the enforcers against Silco's wishes as another "she thinks Silco's methods are stupid and not working". Yeah, there's an underlying "she is upset about the Firelight job" to motivate it. But imo it has elements of straining against Silco's "let's just wait and see and keep plotting and accumulating power". So I never thought her calling Silco's revolution stupid in season 2 out of character.

Another big example to me is the river scene. At the beginning, she's pretty snarky "rolling my eyes teenager" about it. But right before, her expression is kind of hopeful. She wants it to work, she wants to give it a chance.

But imo the promise of Silco's little stunt was that it would "fix her", fix her demons. And for a short while, she's elated, works on the weapon. But eventually she comes down, she's still hearing voices, she still feels insecure about herself, and she still loves Vi.

So I think she had a moment of downness/disillusionment after that. It doesn't work, of course it didn't work, Silco is stupid and his promises are wrong, we are not alike as he insists we are.

But she doesn't confront him about it. She doesn't run into his office and yell that he broke his promises, that it didn't work she still feels just like before, that he's stupid. So I think there are elements there that Jinx doesn't tell him certain things, as mixtures between not wanting to hurt his feelings (a very "parentified" kind of move) and thinking it's pointless he just wouldn't listen.

Like, she clearly wasn't open to him about loving Vi and still feeling a connection with her, likely because she had zero faith that he would be understanding and genuinely comforting about it (because he is incapable of not projecting his Vander issues into the situation).

So in that way, it feels very fitting to me that Jinx finds the Vander letter. I think she had a lot of empathy for Silco about the Vander&Silco situation and at the same time, I think Silco's inability to be normal/gain any distance about the Vander situation really stood between Jinx and Silco and them having a fully open and caring relationship where he truly sees her how she really is.

Jinx is a silly goose sometimes

[musical-chick-13]

ITS PUTTING YOUR TRUE CONTROVERSIAL WHO OPINIONS IN MEL’S ASK TIME.

Anyway. My ACTUAL (I think, please correct me) controversial Who opinion is I think Peter Capaldi was the best doctor of nuWho AND should have gotten EVERY POSSIBLE AWARD for his role. Fucking criminal. (Goes to watch his zygon monologue and sob over it for the zillionith time)

MY OTHER ONE. Ten is my least favorite doctor and I will NEVER be over his treatment of Martha. The only redeemable qualities of his run are 1.Martha and 2. Catherine Tate as Donna

I WILL DIE ON THESE HILLS.

(Putting this in your ask so you can decide to publish it rather than me risking starting a war on your post. 🖤)

AS ALWAYS YOU ARE CORRECT AND GALAXY-BRAINED AND I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR YOU 💜💜

(Granted, I can't claim to know everything about how the general DW fandom operates, but I feel like the most common opinions of Twelve I see are one of three: "Capaldi is a good actor, but his story material was terrible," "Well there's nothing wrong with him, necessarily, but everything about the Moffat Era is horrible, so I gave up watching before his run finished," or "eh/he was boring." So yeah I'd say, "Twelve was my favorite part of nuwho" is still a pretty *Controversial* opinion. Tbh anything beyond Ten was the Best nuwho is a pretty *Controversial* opinion, but I've already talked about. That.)

JUSTICE FOR MARTHA 2KFOREVER. This is one of the few things that is genuinely non-negotiable for me. GOD she deserved so much better, I love her so much. 😭😭😭

MARTHA "I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED, BUT I STILL WON'T LET THIS LADY ENDANGER THE WELL-BEING OF HER DEVELOPING BABY BECAUSE THAT IS AN INNOCENT PERSON" JONES. MARTHA "I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF A POTENTIALLY HOSTILE ALIEN COLONY, BUT I WILL STILL OFFER MY MEDICAL EXPERTISE TO AN INJURED LIFE FORM BECAUSE I WANT TO HELP" JONES. MARTHA "THIS SITUATION IS BAD FOR ME, I AM LEAVING FOR MY OWN GOOD BECAUSE I WANT TO BE AROUND PEOPLE WHO AREN'T AFRAID TO APPRECIATE ME" JONES. MARTHA "I WALKED ALL OVER THE EARTH AND AVOIDED DEATH ALL BY MY FUCKING SELF AND SUCCESSFULLY PULLED ONE OVER ON THE MASTER" JONES. THE LOVE OF MY FUCKING LIFE.

[willowsallen]

native 101: how to write a native muse

this guide is for non-native roleplayers who want to write native characters respectfully and responsibly. if you’re not indigenous, you’re stepping into representation that’s not yours. this post isn’t comprehensive, but it’s a place to start.

i'm not the sole native voice in the rpc. if you'd like more clarification, please ask others in the community! if another native has a different idea than what i've listed below, that's fine! this is just to help those that don't know where to start try to understand things better.

naming your native muse

do not make up a "native-sounding" name for your character. names like "red thunder," "greyeyes," "whitefeather," etc. are often used by non-natives trying to signal indigeneity in the rpc, but they come from a very specific historical context.

these weren’t just aesthetic choices. many native people were forced to continue these names during colonization, often by government officials or missionaries, when forced to register for census, land allotments, boarding schools, etc. these names were often translations, misunderstandings, or simplifications of actual indigenous names or meanings. they were not chosen in the way settlers chose surnames. they became permanent family names through colonization, not by cultural tradition.

so when non-natives try to replicate that style, without knowing what the names mean, why they were given, or what community they come from, it’s shallow at best and disrespectful at worst.

what you should do instead: most often, native people today have common surnames just like anyone else (smith, johnson, etc.), or inherited names from the colonization period. best rule of thumb: pick a european name. of course, some natives have traditional names used within the community. if you're not native, don't try to replicate traditional names. it's not your place. for example, i have a kiowa gordon named joseph anderson. doesn't make him any less native to have a "european" name.

*also, try to stay away from "native sounding" words for names. i know non-natives can be named these things, but i always give a little side-eye to natives who are: sage, willow, river, storm, wolf, bear, echo, etc.

how much background should you include?

it’s important to say where your muse is from, what tribe or nation they belong to, what area they live in or grew up in, but you need to know your limits. don't info-dump cultural details unless you fully understand them, which, if you’re non-native, you probably don’t.

saying someone is diné (navajo), from arizona, and maybe was raised around certain customs or ceremonies? that’s fine. pretending you can describe those ceremonies or the “spiritual meaning” behind them? not fine. mentioning things to understand your character more is welcomed! we just don't want non-natives to write about the ceremony of a powwow in depth.

your native muse is more than trauma

one of the most harmful patterns non-native writers could fall into is making their indigenous character's entire identity revolve around suffering, pain, trauma, hurt, etc.

yes, native communities live with ongoing impacts of colonization; boarding schools, land loss, mmiw, racism, addiction, environmental harm, the foster system, and more. these are real, lived traumas. but reducing your muse to only these things strips them of their full humanity.

your muse should be more than what’s been done to them. they should laugh. they should have hobbies, bad habits, complicated family dynamics, love interests, favorite foods, weird dreams, inside jokes, petty opinions, and goals for the future. joy, humor, and resilience are central to indigenous life.

don’t write a tragedy with a face. write a person who exists, who happens to be native, whose life is shaped by history, but not defined only by it. again, having these things in a muses backstory / mentioning them does not necessarily mean it's a "bad" thing (i, for one, love fucked up tragic pasts) but give them more substance outside of that, too.

"native american" is not a culture

this should be obvious, but it’s often overlooked: there is no single native culture. there are 500+ federally recognized tribes in the u.s. alone, each with their own language, traditions, government, and worldview. if you're writing a native muse and just labeling them as “native american” without choosing a specific nation, you’re already off track.

"native american" is a broad political term. it’s not cultural shorthand. it doesn’t tell you where someone’s from, how they were raised, what language their family spoke, or what their values are. saying someone is "native" and stopping there is like saying someone is "european" and expecting people to know if they're french or romanian or english.

what to do instead: pick a specific tribe or nation, and do real research. if you’re not sure where to start, choose a region and look up federally recognized tribes in that area. don’t blend cultures. don’t invent one. specificity shows respect.

your muse is not a magical being

please don’t write your native muse as if they have innate spiritual powers, a mysterious connection to the earth, visions, or vague "ancestral wisdom" just because they’re indigenous. this is a colonial trope, built out of the "noble savage" stereotype, and it’s incredibly dehumanizing.

you might not think you’re doing it. but if your muse is always the one to deliver cryptic advice, commune with animals, feel the spirits in the air, or silently guide others with intuition, take a step back. are you writing a person, or are you writing an aesthetic?

native people have spiritual practices, yes. but those are specific, tribal, and usually not open to outsiders. spirituality isn’t a personality trait. it’s not something you can generalize or sprinkle in to make a character seem deep. if you wouldn’t do it with a character of another background, don’t do it here.

don’t box your muse into stereotypes

not every native muse has to be quiet, wise, brooding, or angry. let them be awkward. let them be funny. let them be annoying, overly ambitious, soft-hearted, selfish, bubbly, arrogant, flirtatious, whatever fits.

when all your ideas of indigeneity are rooted in solemnity or pain, you miss the huge spectrum of native personalities. native people are just people. some are loud. some are shy. some are deeply cultural, some are disconnected and trying to reconnect. some are traditional. some are queer. some are both.

don’t flatten your character into a type. don’t let their "nativeness" be their only character trait. and definitely don’t limit how they act because you’re afraid of getting it wrong. get curious. do the work. and write a full human being.

if you’re non-native, you’re writing from the outside. that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do with care, but it does mean you have to move slower, be willing to be corrected, and know when to back off.

respect begins with humility. you’re borrowing from someone else’s reality. treat it with the weight it deserves.

[stuckinmymind22]

zoro x gn! reader

wc: 663

this is the first part of a series "you're in love with me" where you realize that they are in love with you can call them out on it

thanks for voting on this one, i had fun with it, sorry it took so long, i got busy with the holidays, but it’s here now 💕

ace's is done and will be up probably tomorrow and i'm gonna start on sanjis, but lmk if you are interested in any other characters

mildly proof read lol

this goes one of two ways, in both you're being called stupid, both included

it's a chose your own adventure babe!

zoro has been acting strange recently- he was almost too quick to come to your aid, even if it was something you both knew you could handle alone. he’s also been making sure that you eat. recently he brought up a plate for you when you were on duty in the crow’s nest. sure, the tips of his ears and the apples of his cheeks were tinted pink, but that was easy to write off as a consequence of the alcohol that was surely in his veins. but he didn’t leave right away like you thought he would, he stood on the ladder without moving until he saw you take your first bite. on the last island there had been a miscalculation in your provisions and the ship was running dangerously low on alcohol. there was no doubt that the crew was going to run dry shy of meeting their next destination, which was a bigger deal to some of the straw hats than others. it all brings you to the moment he offers you a sip of the last bottle of sake. you’re speechless. you always thought that hell sure would freeze over before he shared his booze and here he is willingly offering you some. you’re trying to figure out what was going on in his head, why he has been acting so strange, then it hits you.  “you’re in love with me.”

denial is a river in egypt

“did you hit your head or sum?” he asks, trying to remain as impartial as possible, but you didn’t miss how he nearly choked at your words. “no, zo, this makes sense,” you say connecting the dots, "you've been acting real weird about me recently, this explains it." you aren’t about to back down from this, not after you wanted this for so long, not until he admits it to himself. “you’re being an idiot,” he rolls his eyes, “do you want some or not?” with a smile you grab the bottle out of his hand and take a swig, sitting down next to him. “i don’t mind you know,” you say taking another sip, “that you love me that is” zoro is confused why he is so drawn to the dangerous smile that plays on your lips. he shakes himself out of it snatching back the bottle and taking a long gulp. you get pulled away by luffy wanting something, but he still feels your presence.  little do you know how those words haunt him for the rest of the night. fuck, you might be right

he's down bad and he knows it

“n-no I’m not,” zoro sputters, his face alight, “are you stupid or something?” “no, no, this is why you’ve been acting strange,” you say, the weight of your revelation still sinking in. “that’s why you haven’t let me out of your sight for the past week, right?” you don’t give him time to respond (not that he would be able to formulate a coherent response anyway). you continue listing all of his abnormal behaviors and fail to notice how his face grows redder with your every word. poor zoro is sinking into his seat hoping to disappear he’s so uncomfortable. he’s certain that he messed everything up and has no idea what to do now. he knows that you’re right of course, it’s kept him up at night, kept him from his precious naps. it took him a while to realize why you never left his mind, and the determining factor came from the fucking cook spewing some bullshit to a pretty woman on the last island. just when he is certain that he ruined whatever relationship you could ever have you turn to him with a big smile.  “it’s a good thing you are though, or else this would be awkward,” you tell him, before he can even think to question what you mean your lips are on his and his brain malfunctions.  maybe it’ll be alright.

masterlist

[katakaluptastrophy]

Can we talk about Magnus in Harrow the Ninth? Because there's a tendency to paint him as this constantly cheerful figure and he's not - he's just very Fifth.

He's the only person who seems even slightly upset about the whole gun-toting horror thing:

“Did the Sleeper get them?”

“Only by assumption,” said Harrowhark, while Abigail’s dolt of a husband said, “I bloody hope so.”

“Magnus,” Abigail said, a touch disapprovingly.

“Well, if the Sleeper didn’t, that’s two maniacs with an ancient weapon and a love of blowing off faces, dear,” said Magnus.

And he's got a very low opinion of Silas:

"She won’t tell me what he said to her, just that he ‘was horrid.’”

“Cheeky little so-and-so,” said Magnus. “If he were my son, I’d give him something to think about. I’m not surprised he’s gone to ground.”

“I would hope your son might be of different character,” said his wife, half-smiling.

“Protesilaus should have biffed him.”

“It’s strange,” said Abigail, ignoring her husband’s exhortations to biffing.

Behind the jolly Jeeves and Wooster-esque talk of biffing people, let's remember that this is Magnus - who from Gideon's POV never saw a teenager he didn't want to adopt - earnestly wishing that a grown man had hit a 16 year old kid.

And when Harrow explains that she thinks she saw him jump to his death, Magnus isn't particularly sympathetic:

“We should have made him a greater priority,” said Lady Pent.

Magnus said, “I’m not certain.”

and

“We didn’t need him,” he said bracingly.

Abigail said, “We need everyone.”

“I never thought he was quite the thing.”

This "never quite the thing" line is the same one Abigail uses when she says Ianthe shouldn't have become a Lyctor and you get the sense it has a quite specific meaning on the Fifth. You get the distinct feeling Magnus is saying "good riddance" in response to a teenager's apparent suicide.

And then of course there's Magnus' conversation with Harrow as the River bubble collapses, as Harrow debates whether she should leave her body to Gideon:

She said: “If I go back, it will finally destroy her soul.”

It was Magnus who stepped forward and looked at Harrow face-to-face. And perhaps she felt that more keenly: that he was the man who had, in Gideon’s own words a lifetime ago, been nice to her cavalier. His mouth was hard now, but his eyes were as kind as they had ever been. And kindness was a knife.

He doesn't pull any punches in laying out his understanding of the situation to Harrow:

“This whole thing happened because you wouldn’t face up to Gideon dying,” he said, which was a stab as precise as any Nonius had managed. “I don’t blame you. But where would you be, right now, if you’d said: She is dead? You’re keeping her things like a lover keeping old notes, but with her death, the stuff that made her Gideon was destroyed. That’s how Lyctorhood works, isn’t it? She died. She can’t come back, even if you keep her stuffed away in a drawer you can’t look at. You’re not waiting for her resurrection; you’ve made yourself her mausoleum.”

His wife looked at Harrow’s face and murmured, “Magnus, you’ve made your point,” but he uncharacteristically ignored her.

He's trying to get through to her in a very fraught situation, but he's certainly not pulling his punches:

“You’re a smart girl, Harrowhark. You might turn some of that brain to the toughest lesson: that of grief.”

Abigail is also trying to talk her out of things, but she's much more discursive and apologetic. Magnus is kind, but it's kindness as a knife, not a cushion.

Magnus is so often written off as just a silly, goofy character, when he's more complicated than that. He's allowed to have a very real frustration with the River bubble and with Harrow, however much he does also care for her and want to help her.

And you know what, he's a CFO stuck in a horrorscape with his delighted ghost nerd wife and a bunch of soldiers. He runs with it - he cracks one of his House ordinal jokes while physically tackling a gun-toting ghost and makes a decent go at it before getting shot. But he's very much out of his comfort zone, angry, and no longer entirely held back by propriety.

[kwanisms]

Kinktober 「10:03」 — b.chris, l.felix

» stray kids menu | bang chan menu | felix menu | kinktober masterlist «

�� bunyip!Chris × fem!reader × bunyip!Felix wc: 6.6k summary: Y/N is convinced her map is wrong when she finds herself utterly lost on what was supposed to be a short hike from her camp. When she comes upon a small river and stops to fill her canteen, she finds more than water waiting for her. genres/themes/au: angst/fluff/smut; supernatural, horror, thriller; non idol au, monster idol au warnings: adult dialogue, female reader, supernatural and horror themes, mild existential dread of being lost in the middle of nowhere, mentions of: camping, getting lost, Australian Outback; sexual content (18+ mdni), see smut warnings under the cut! taglist has been moved to reblogs join my taglists! taglist for kinktober is CLOSED. Strikethrough means I cannot tag you. MINORS WILL BE BLACKLISTED & BLOCKED. AGELESS BLOGS WILL ALSO BE BLOCKED.

a/n: this was a LOT of fun to write! I would have like to added more but time crunches are real lol this also serves as Chris' birthday post! so hbd to Chris! bunyips are an interesting mythology because reports of what they look like vary but about 60% of sightings claim they look very seal-like so that's the direction i went in. i also slightly changed the prompt to include "him" cause Y/N is sandwiched between them lol anyways, thanks for reading! the next part is oni!Jeonghan so stay tuned as always, this is a work of fiction and all characters are not reflective of their respective irl counterparts. for entertainment purposes only.

smut warnings: teratophilia (aka monsterfucking), threesome, water sex, unprotected sex (do not do), oral (f receiving), fingering (f receiving), dom!Chris, switch!Felix, sub!Reader, use of pet names (hers: babe, baby, sweetheart, angel, honey; Chris: sir; Felix: babe), and that should be all of it but let me know if I missed some. kinks: Threesome + pool/water sexdialogue prompt: ❛❛ Make Me. ❜❜ + ❛❛ God, you’re so beautiful when you’re fucked out under me/us/him. ❜❜

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

When you first told your family and friends about your plans to brave the wilderness of Central Australia during a solo backpacking trip, they were quick to insist you didn't partake in such a daring feat. They called you insane, pleaded with you to reconsider but you had been determined to prove you could do it, taking months of survival and wilderness courses in preparation.

After several months of courses, collecting the appropriate gear, you were certain you were ready for your trip through the Tjoritja / West MacDonnell National Park. The flight from Brisbane to Alice Springs took just over 3 hours where you took a bus to the telegraph station where the Larapinta Trail Head was located. You had everything you needed; water, camping gear, food, and a satellite phone with a solar charger.

Everything had been carefully planned out, permits obtained, and you were ready to start your trip.

Or so you thought.

The first section of the trail took you from the telegraph station to the first campground at Simpsons Gap. The trail was just under twenty five kilometers and took roughly nine hours to complete. The trail had been mostly deserted despite being quite popular in the area. The next day, you visited the gap, snapping a few pictures before packing up and heading to the next spot.

This stretch was longer, at just over 26 kilometers, and it actually took less time at eight and a half hours. You stayed in the campground at Jay Creek with another camper which was an older couple who shared their dinner with you. That night you slept better than the first and when you awoke in the morning, you were the first to head out.

The next few days went by without incident and you were finally about to start the last section of the first half of the trail. The next section would take you from Hugh Gorge to Ellery Creek. At a distance of nearly twenty-nine kilometers, it would take between ten and eleven hours to complete. After spending the night near Hugh Gorge and replenishing your stores, you headed on your way. 

Your first stop was Hugh View before continuing on. Your plan was to stop at the next campground, Rocky Gully, where you would camp for the night. The hike from Hugh Gorge campsite to Rocky Gully only took a few hours which left you some time to explore the surrounding area.

You set up your camp at the abandoned campsite, taking a small bag to go on your small trip to explore the nearby area, following the trails around the campsite and following them east and south. You snapped pictures, hiking through the brush and taking in the sights.

After following the paths you came to a horrific realization.

You were lost.

You dug through your back but couldn’t find a compass and immediately started cursing yourself. You tried backtracking but somehow got even more lost. As you scanned the area, you started to look around for any potential water sources. Each step took you further and further away from camp.

Your water container had started to run empty and the sun was almost at its highest point in the sky. You needed water and you needed it soon. 

As you walked further, you climbed over the crest of a small hill and felt relief flood your body as you spotted a glimmer in the near distance. It was a small natural channel with water at the base. Upon moving closer, you could tell the water was a decent depth, maybe about to your waist.

The water was dark but when you dipped your hand under the surface, you could see it was surprisingly clear. To be safe, you would use a purification tablet. Opening the top of your canteen, you dipped it just under the surface, allowing water to flow in and showing you that there was a slow moving current as you filled your receptacle.

“Thank God,” you whispered as you stood up straight and pulled your bag forward to dig out one of the purification tablets and drop it into the canteen. As you started to turn away, you heard a soft splash and turned to look behind you. Scanning the water, you saw nothing. “Probably my imagination,” you murmured, bringing the lid of your canteen up to screw it on.

As you moved to step forward there was another, much larger, splash and you felt a presence arise from the water behind you. A loud roar startled you and you were too shocked to move. Your flight or fight response didn’t kick in, instead you froze.

“Wh-what the hell?!” you yelled as you felt something grab your ankle, pulling back and forcing you to fall to the ground. It had a firm grip on you and pulled again, dragging you back towards the water and away from your pack. You clawed at the red dirt, desperately trying to find something to grab onto but came up empty.

Your canteen lay forgotten, water spilling out of it and soaking the ground under it as you were pulled down into the ditch. You screamed, kicking at whatever had a hold of you, fearing the worst. Water enveloped your lower half and had you not been fighting for your life, it might have felt nice in the hot Australian sun.

Finally you managed to turn yourself over and your eyes widened in shock. A massive creature, the size of water buffalo but it was not a water buffalo. It had an almost panther-like appearance but something about it was vaguely seal-like. It had sleek black fur, black eyes with bright green irises.

It opened its mouth, displaying its teeth, all of them looked like they could tear you to shreds. You let out a scream, bringing your arms up to shield your head. Though, with an animal this large, there was no way it couldn’t just bite you in half. You chanced a glance through your arms at the creature. 

It hovered over you, its hot breath fanning over you with each pant as it stared you down. You let out whimper, shielding your face once more as you silently begged for it to not kill you. You heard the creature shift away, the heat of its breath disappearing. You waited for a few moments, only uncovering your head when you heard a splash in the water.

The creature was gone.

You sat up and looked around, expecting to see it lying in wait to ambush you but saw nothing. Looking down you saw that you were half submerged in the water and sighed in frustration as you attempted to stand up but you felt a hand close around your ankle again, yanking you back down into a sitting position. You let out a yelp, water splashing around you.

Seconds later, a head appeared, emerging from the water. Topped with short bluish green hair with waves and curls and a pair of striking green eyes that looked back at you. Your heart hammered wildly in your chest as you watched the head rise further, revealing the face of a handsome man. As he lifted his head from the water, he tilted it to one side, almost as if he was curious by the sight of you.

His shoulders followed, the water stopping about midway down his chest. His bare chest. You tried not to stare but it was evident that he was not wearing clothes but you didn’t want to think about that. “What the…” you trailed off as you looked at him. A smile graced his face. You half expected to see pointed teeth but instead were met with surprisingly human teeth.

“What are you?” you asked softly. The man tilted his head in the opposite direction. Paired with the smile it was slightly unsettling but he dropped the smile, a look of confusion passing over his features. He seemed to be mimicking your expression as your brows rose, so did his. “Wh-what are you?” you asked again, a little louder. He straightened up, moving through the water towards you, climbing up the slope. As more of his skin was exposed, it seemed that the silky black fur melted away to expose his golden skin tone as he crawled over you.

Soon he had you pinned, unable to get away as he looked down at you. He wasn’t answering your questions and you decided to change tactics. “Do you er… have a name?” A look of excitement came over his face and he opened his mouth. 

Whatever you were expecting to come out of him was not what you got. In a voice you weren’t expecting from what you could only assume was a creature you’d just seen, he answered. “Yeah, I’m Chris,” he said, a slight accent you recognized. It wasn’t too different from yours.

“Ch-Chris?” you asked, feeling slightly relieved when he nodded eagerly. “And he’s Felix,” he added, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the left. You turned your head, almost letting out another scream when you saw another pair of bright green eyes staring at you from just above the surface of the water. The head raised and you were surprised that this one looked so different from the first.

‘Is this some sort of mimicry technique?’ you wondered to yourself as you looked between the two.

The second one, Felix, was equally as handsome and looked like some kind of model. He had freckles littering his nose and cheeks, looking like stars dotting the sky. His hair was longer than Chris’, blond and swept back, a few strands framing his face. He had a much slender build.

“F-Felix?” you asked, looking at Chris. The one named Felix nodded, moving closer, his body gliding through the water with ease. “What’s your name?” he asked, his voice, which was much deeper, took you by surprise. “Y/N,” you answered as he neared you, also crawling up the slope of the embankment until the water hit just above his navel. Or where you assumed a navel would be.

You felt a hand on your knee under the water and your attention snapped back to Chris. “What’re you doing?” you asked, trying to squirm away but a firm hand held you down. “You can’t leave,” Chris said sternly. You looked from him to Felix and back. “Wh-why?”

“Because,” Chris started. “You took something from our stream,” Felix interjected, resting his head in his hand as he stared up at you. “You’re really pretty,” he added with a smile. “Th-thanks — wait, timeout,” you said, holding up your hands. “What exactly did I take?” you asked, looking up at Chris.

He nodded at the top of the embankment. You followed your gaze to find he was looking at your canteen which was occasionally dripping water onto the dirt. You turned back to Chris. “Water?” you asked. “The water I spilled when that.. that thing — grabbed my ankle?”

Chris looked mildly offended at your words. “I’m not a thing,” he retorted. “I’m a bunyip.” Your eyes widened as you stared at him. ‘A bunyip? The legendary maneater from Aboriginal mythology?’ You turned your gaze towards Felix who raised his brows, giving you a flash of a smile before you turned back to Chris. “You’re that creature?” you asked softly. Chris nodded.

“We both are,” Felix added. “Well, not the one you saw,” he clarified. “That was all Chris,” he explained. “Grabbing your ankle and yanking you down. I was over there.” Felix pointed down the way to where a log was sticking out of the water.

You nodded slowly. “But you’re still the same… creature?” you asked. Felix nodded. “Bunyip,” he corrected. You turned back to Chris. “I only took some water because I’m lost,” you explained. “I went for a hike and now I can’t find my way back to my camp.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Felix said, still resting his head in his hand as he stared at you. “Very unfortunate,” Chris chimed in. “But you still took without giving and now that water has been wasted. Not very nice of you in a place like this,” he continued. You glared up at him. 

“I only spilled that water because you grabbed me by the ankle and dragged me backwards. I wouldn’t have dropped the canteen if you hadn’t done that!” Chris turned his head to lock eyes with Felix before his gaze returned to you. 

“Regardless,” he started. “You still took from us and we demand a toll.” You stared incredulously at him, “A toll? For water? In the outback?” you asked. “Are you fucking kidding me!?” You looked between the two who merely stared at you. Clearly this wasn’t some joke or prank. “You’ve got to be kidding! We’re in the middle of the fucking desert!” you snapped. Chris leaned forward, making you lean away, your back pressing against the dirt embankment. 

“Do I look like I’m kidding, sweetheart?” he asked, tilting his head. His close proximity rendered you speechless as you stared up at him. “Wh-what do you want?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper. Chris glanced at Felix who had moved, shifting closer to where the two of you were.

“Just a toll,” Chris finally answered. “Payment for the water you took and then spilled.” A frown formed on your face. You were about to respond but Felix spoke instead. “I think the spilling was your fault. You can’t fault the poor thing from her reaction when you grabbed her by the ankle and knocked her down. You don’t even have ankles,” Felix countered. Chris glared at him before sighing. “Fine,” he said.

“Just for taking the water then,” he said. “I don’t have money on me,” you said softly. Chris chuckled. “That’s alright, sweetheart,” he said, reaching a hand up to caress your cheek. “We don’t want your money,” Felix added. He was now right next to you. “That’s not the kind of toll we want.”

‘If they didn’t want money, what could they possibly want?’

“Then what do you—” you started, your words failing when Chris leaned in closer.

“We want you,” he interrupted. You stared up at him, eyes wide, like you were prey, caught in the eyes of a predator. “M-me?!” you asked, your voice cracking. You felt fingers brush your arm and turned to look at Felix. “Yes,” he said softly, giving you an angelic smile. “We want you, honey.”

You looked between them again. “Like… to eat?” you asked. Chris and Felix exchanged looks before they both burst into laughter. “You think we want to eat you?” Chris asked, his laughter subsiding. If they didn’t want to eat you, what could they possibly want?

“Okay,” you said softly. “Now I’m confused.”

“That’s alright, baby,” Chris said softly, resting his weight on top of you. “Would you like me to explain or would you rather we just show you?” he asked, his lips ghosting over yours. A shiver ran up your spine as the realization settled in. They didn’t want to eat you.

They wanted to fuck you.

The idea should have been preposterous. Not one, but two massive legendary creatures known for killing and eating people wanted to fuck you. You should have been sent screaming for the hills but instead you were intrigued. The forms they took on were much better to look at than the massive seal-like creature you’d initially seen but would they stay that way? Or was it a ploy to get you to agree and then actually eat you?

A million questions were swirling inside your brain but you only managed to ask a few.

“Will you stay like that?” you asked, gesturing to him. A smile crossed Chris’ face as he realized you were actually considering his and Felix's proposition. “Of course,” he answered. “Wouldn’t want to scare you off,” he added with a wink. “And you promise you aren’t going to eat me?” you asked.

Chris snorted, laughing in a low tone. “We aren’t going to eat you,” he replied. “Speak for yourself,” Felix said, giving you a very smirk as his eyes roamed over your body. “I’ll eat something,” he added. 

Chris rolled his eyes. “Down, boy,” he said before returning his attention to you. “Any other questions?” he asked, cocking his head to the left. “Are we doing this right here? Out in the open?” you asked, looking around the ditch. Chris scoffed, sounding almost indignant when he spoke.

“You think we would do that? Have you out in the open where anyone could just walk right up and watch?” he asked. You shrugged wordlessly. You didn’t know what was going on in their heads. It wasn’t like you did this often. You’d never been in a position like this before.

Chris shook his head. “No,” he said softly. “We’ll take you back to our lair,” he continued. More private, and out of the sun,” he added, looking towards the sky. “And much cooler,” Felix chimed in. “How does that sound?” he asked, caressing your arm. “A nice and cool spot where we can have you all to ourselves?” You swallowed the lump that had formed in your throat before nodding slowly.

“It’s settled,” Chris said, sitting back up and holding out his hand. You stared at it for a moment before taking it and allowing him to pull you up. “Where are we going exactly?” you asked as Felix moved, shifting to the middle of the stream. “Our home,” he said, dipping down until just his head was visible. “Is it far?” you asked as Chris pulled you deeper into the water.

“It’s not far,” he answered. “It’s a nice series of caverns,” he added as he moved behind you, wrapping one of his strong arms around your midsection. “You might get a little wet,” he continued, whispering in your ear, his breath making your hair stand on end and tickling your neck. “Oh,” he added as you started to float along the slow moving stream, his arm tightening around your stomach.

“And you might want to hold your breath.”

The route to their den was so hidden that you would have never spotted it from above and unless you were in the water, you still would have never seen it. There was a massive hole in the ditch which both Felix and Chris dived through. You had taken a deep breath before being submerged.

The tunnel led from the ditch to a large underwater cavern. Here, Chris resurfaced in a small air pocket to let you catch your breath before continuing on, taking one of the many tunnels that branched off from the main cavern. The tunnel wasn’t long but it was dark and impossible to see. You were left to the mercy of the man — creature? — holding you tightly against his chest as he swam.

There was a power he had, swimming along with what you could only assume was a tail. You never actually saw the lower half of his body so you could neither confirm nor deny if he even had legs. Though you did vaguely remember Felix saying Chris didn’t have ankles so perhaps that meant they didn’t have legs.

You didn’t have time to dwell on it as your lungs started to burn with the lack of oxygen. You started to panic, wondering if you might drown down here and you felt extremely embarrassed at the thought of the potential circumstances surrounding your disappearance from the human world.

‘All for some dick, too.’

As you started to struggle in Chris’ hold, he tightened his grip and sped up, kicking harder until the tunnel opened up. It was still dark but not like the tunnels had been. There seemed to be a little bit of light coming from above. Chris pulled you to the surface and you gasped, coughing as air filled your lungs. He kept a firm hold on you while you struggled to breathe.

“Take your time,” he said softly, keeping you afloat. You focused on breathing, inhaling deeply and slowly. Felix was nowhere to be seen as you looked around the air pocket. You cast your gaze up and noticed that there was a small round hole at the top of the cavern, letting a little bit of light into the cavern. 

“Are we underground?” you asked. Chris nodded. “We are,” he answered. “Pretty far actually,” he added. You looked around but saw nothing other than the rock. “You ready to keep going?” he asked. You nodded, taking another deep breath. “We’re almost there.”

The rest of the journey to the den went by without incident and soon Chris was pushing you up onto a small smooth incline made of stone. Felix was already lounging nearby, the lower half of his body submerged in the water. You looked around, noticing a small sandy area further back.

Looking up, you noticed that there were several holes in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to filter in, bouncing off the rocky surface of the walls. The entire cavern was about 12 meters in diameter. From the water’s surface, the rocky walls ran up before starting to curve up towards the flat top. Deep grooves decorated the walls, almost like massive claws had dug into the rock, leaving behind marks.

The sandy pit area was small with a partial rock wall separating it from another area that was hidden from view. You felt weight on top of your legs and turned back to find Chris crawling over you slowly. “Looking for an escape route?” he asked with a sly grin. You shook your head. “No,” you answered softly. “Just taking in the scenery. I didn’t even know there was a cave system down here,” you added as you looked up at the holes in the ceiling.

“Are we under a mountain or something? It seems so large.”

Chris chuckled, his laugh drowned out by a splashing sound. You turned your head to find the place where Felix had been lounging was now empty and the blond was nowhere in sight. “You’d be surprised by a lot of things here in the Outback,” he said softly, hand skimming up the outside of your thigh to your wet shorts.

“Oh right,” you said, looking up as he got closer. “We sort of had a deal.” Chris chuckled as he drew level with you. “Indeed we did, honey,” he said, stopping so his lips were almost grazing yours. “I won’t do anything without your permission,” he added. “So you have to say it, out loud, that you’re okay with this.” You nodded. “I am,” you replied. “I’m okay with this.” Chris’ eyes flashed, the green seeming to illuminate in the low light of the cave. “Good,” he simply said before crashing his lips against yours. 

You felt his hand cup the back of your neck as he guided you down onto the rocky surface, your press pressing into the wet fabric of your shirt. Chris’ lips left yours, making a path down your neck to the top of your shirt. He pulled back just enough to untuck your shirt from your shorts and tug it upwards. You let him pull it off you, his lips reconnecting with yours as his hands moved skillfully over your skin.

It made you wonder if he’d done this before.

Your thoughts were short lived as he undid the front clasp of your bra, quickly and easily sliding the straps down your arms and tossing the garment somewhere you couldn’t see, hoping it had been towards the sand pit and not into the water. That was your favorite bra.

Goosebumps erupted over your skin as Chris’ hands cupped your chest, gently squeezing and kneading the flesh as he parted your lips with his own, tongue slipping into your mouth to find yours in a mix of heavy breathing and saliva.

You whimpered as his fingers gently pinched and rolled your nipples. He pulled back, lowering his head and taking one into his mouth, tongue swirling around the bud. As your eyes fluttered shut, you heard light sloshing of water in the background.

Lifting your head, you caught sight of another pair of bright green eyes watching you from just above the surface of the water, wet blond hair swept back. Felix was swimming back and forth behind Chris, just observing as the blue-haired man’s lips moved lower and lower, reaching your navel.

He pulled back, his deft fingers making quick work of your belt before quickly undoing the tack button and zipper of your shorts. “Lift your hips for me, pretty,” Chris breathed. You did as he asked, allowing him to tug the wet material of your shorts down your thighs and discard them on the rocks beside you.

Once he had you completely naked, he shifted down, shrugging your legs over his shoulder before bringing his face level with your sex. He didn’t even spare a second glance before diving right in, parting your lips and dragging his tongue slowly over your clit. Your fingers tangled in his hair, hips rolling as he ravaged the nub with his tongue.

You heard another splash and lifted your head to find Felix was even closer now, eyes instead on where Chris’ head was between your thighs. He had an intense look of hunger on his face but judging by how he still kept his distance, you figured there was some kind of hierarchical order at play here. Chris must have been the more dominant of two but you weren’t about to let Chris have his way with you without giving Felix some attention.

After all, they had both said they wanted you. It seemed only fair.

Letting go of Chris’ hair you raised one hand up to beckon Felix over to you. His eyes shifted from Chris to you and back, clearly hesitating until he got permission from the larger of the two. “Chris,” you said, choking back a moan. “Don’t you – ah – don’t you think Felix deserves a reward for being so patient?”

Felix turned his gaze back towards you as Chris merely grunted in response. Taking his response as the go ahead, you once again beckoned Felix over to you with a finger. Chris’ grip on your hips tightened as Felix approached slowly. You heard a growl rumble from deep within Chris but light tugged his hair.

“You don’t have to stop,” you gasped as he dug his tongue into your hole. It was inhuman how his tongue seemed to fill your cunt, lapping at your walls and finding that soft spongy spot that had your back arching. Felix had crawled part of the way up the rocky incline, keeping his eyes on Chris, ready to bolt in the event that the large male lashed out.

There was another deep growl but Chris merely tugged you down, further into the water as he continued to fuck you with his tongue. Once he was level with your body, you reached out, taking Felix’s chin in your hand and turned his gaze towards you. “Eyes on me,” you said softly. Felix nodded silently, lips parting slightly.

“C’mere,” you said, pulling him into a kiss. The moment his lips touched yours, Chris pulled his tongue from your cunt, instead dragging it back up to your clit before sucking on the nub. You moaned into Felix’s mouth. The smaller male shifted, hovering over the top half of your body. One of his hands moved to gently grab and squeeze your chest. Another growl emanated from Chris but he allowed the contact to happen. 

Your entire body felt like it was on fire from the touches of both men — creatures? At this point you weren’t even sure what they were. The top half of them, the part out of the water, was human. But from the waist down you couldn’t even tell. You really didn’t even care at this point.

Not when they were both making you feel so good.

You moaned against Felix’s lips as you felt Chris push two fingers into your cunt, your walls squeezing around them immediately. Chris slowly pumped his fingers in and out of you, resting his head against your inner thigh as he watched your makeout session with Felix. “I have an idea,” he said suddenly. Felix pulled back, turning his head to look at the older male.

“Take her spot,” Chris said, pulling his finger from your wetness and dragging you further into the water. Felix moved into the spot you had been. “On your back,” Chris instructed, turning you around in the water to face Felix. “Look at him,” Chris whispered in your ear. You did as he said, eyes widening now that you could get a good look at Felix.

The top portion of his body was just as you already knew — human.

But where his hips began, the human toned skin blended into the dark, smooth seal-like fur. He didn’t have legs like a human. Instead it was almost like he was half man, half seal. The end of his tail was in the water so you couldn’t see the tip but could surmise it was also probably like a seal’s. Your eyes wandered over his body and you noticed the lack of a certain appendage.

Before you could ask, Chris pushed you through the water towards Felix.Your knees met the edge of the rocky incline and Chris made you climb up over Felix until you were face to face with him. “I think he needs some more attention,” Chris said as he backed away a short distance.

You looked over your shoulder at him. Felix grabbed your chin and turned you back towards him. “Eyes on me, angel,” he said in a soft but commanding tone. Without Chris nearby, he let his more dominant side come out. You nodded as his hand moved down to your throat, fingers flexing lightly around your neck before he slid his hand around to the back and pulled you into a messy kiss.

You allowed him to take the lead, one hand resting on the back of your neck as the other moved to pull you over him as he laid back against the rock. You let out a moan as your core came into contact with the smooth skin of where a groin would be on a human. There was a rather large bulge you were pressing against at the base of his torso.

Both his hands moved to your hips, guiding you to grind against him. The friction felt amazing since Chris hadn’t quite gotten you over the edge. “That’s it,” Felix whispered, breath hot against your lips. “Keep going.” Your body started to shudder as you chased your high. As you got closer, you felt something warm against your cunt.

“What’s that?” you asked breathlessly. “What do you think it is, baby?” Chris’ voice asked from right behind you. While your attention was focused on Felix, he’d managed to sneak up behind you. Your mind was sent reeling with the possibility of what you were feeling between your legs. It was warm, slick, and pulsating. “Use your brain, sweetheart,” Chris added, brushing his lips along your shoulder.

Using what crude knowledge you had of their anatomy, you figured it was potentially some sort of reproductive organ. “Is it…” your words failed you, heat rising to your cheeks. Would calling it a cock be appropriate? Was it even a penis? You couldn’t see it, only feel. “Is it what?” Felix asked, amusement in his voice as he tried to coax an answer out of you.

“Is it… a… dick?”

Chris chuckled, his hot breath fanning over your shoulder. “What else would it be?” Your cheeks burned even more as you realized you were caught between their bodies. “Well, I don’t know,” you whined. “I can’t see it.” 

You let out a squeak as Chris hauled you off Felix, pulling you back towards the water just far enough that you got an eyeful of Felix’s body. Your eyes widened as you took in what you were seeing. The bulge you had been rutting against had split open at a vertical slit in the middle revealing a long deep bluish-purple appendage. 

The base of it was slightly thicker, tapering up to a slightly flared and angled head. The color wasn’t uniform throughout, being more blue at the base and more purplish at the tip. It was long, maybe twenty centimeters from base to tip. If you had to guess the circumference, you’d say it was fifteen to seventeen centimeters.

“Are you just going to stare at it?” Chris whispered into your ear. “Or are you going to do something?”

His breath made a shiver run up your spine as you stared at Felix’s cock, walls clenching around nothing as it twitched. Without speaking, you pushed away from Chris, climbing back over Felix and crashing your lips against his, pushing him back against the rock.

Felix’s hands moved to your waist, groaning as you grinded against him. He guided your hips, grinding your clit against the underside of his cock. You whimpered into the kiss, rolling your hips faster. You pulled away, pressing kisses to the underside of his jaw as you heard water sloshing behind you.

“Settle down,” Chris said calmly. You lifted your head, looking back at him. “Make me,” you retorted. The moment the words left your lips, you regretted it as his hand darted between your thighs, two fingers pushing into your sex and making you moan. He held them there, feeling your walls contract tightly. “Oh, I think she’s ready,” Chris said, addressing Felix. “You’ll get your turn,” he explained as he moved behind you, grabbing your hips and holding you in place.

“What’re you —” you murmured, lifting your head only for Felix to grab your face and make you face him. “Eyes on me, angel,” he whispered, green eyes staring into your own. You stared back, admiring the freckles that dotted his cheeks and nose.

You let out a groan, eyes fluttering shut as you felt the head of Chris’ cock press against you. Having seen Felix’s, you hadn’t expected Chris’ to be much different but you momentarily forgot that Chris was the larger of the two. Chris pushed into you, the head breaching your entrance and making you gasp out in pain. Felix’s arms wrapped around you, holding your body against his.

“Relax,” he whispered into your ear as you buried your face in his neck, body shuddering and tensing violently. Chris made no attempt to move or remove himself, instead keeping perfectly still as your walls slowly adjusted. “It’s okay,” Felix cooed. “Just relax, baby.”

You took several deep breaths as you let your body slowly calm down, the tension in your muscles lessening as the stinging pain of Chris’ cock stretching your walls ebbed away. When he felt your body was lax enough, Chris pushed further into you, his thick cock sliding inside slowly.

Felix guided you through it, whispering words of encouragement into your ear and peppering light kisses on your cheek and shoulder. The pressure of his hard cock throbbing against your clit as Chris filled your cunt made you whimper. You felt the head of Chris’ cock kiss your cervix and he finally stopped.

“Hold onto her,” Chris said softly to the blond as he moved his hands to support his weight, palms flat against the rock. Felix’s arms around you tightened and before you could ask what was going on, you felt Chris start to pull from you, making you whine but as quickly as he retracted, his hips snapped forward, thrusting into you with a strength you didn’t expect.

You cried out both in shock and in pleasure, the wind being knocked from your lungs with the first powerful thrust. He set a steady, but bruising pace, pounding into you from behind. Each thrust made your hips rock forward, grinding your clit against Felix, making both of you moan.

You buried your face in Felix’s neck, muffling your cries of pleasure. The lewd squelching sound of Chris’ cock ramming into you repeatedly echoed around the cavern along with his grunts and Felix’s moans. You felt impossibly full of his cock, having never taken anything this big before and somehow he managed to fit all of it inside you.

“God,” you heard Chris groan. “You’re so beautiful when you’re fucked out under him,” Felix added, moving a hand to cup your cheek, chuckling breathlessly when you leaned into his warm palm.

Your walls spasmed around Chris’ cock as the orgasm that had been building since he had you on your back finally crashed over you, waves of bliss spreading throughout your body as if shuddered, your clit still grinding against the underside of Felix’s slick cock. His hips started to buck, grinding hard against you as he chased his own high.

“F-uck,” he groaned. “Gonna cum!”

His warning came just in time as you felt a warmth gush between your bodies as his release spilled out of him, painting his stomach and spilling onto the rock under him. His hold on you pulled you closer, this cum sticking to your body as well as Chris thrust harder into you, each movement erratic but still powerful as he neared the edge.

“Hold her still,” he growled, which Felix complied instantly, holding you in place as another orgasm washed over you, your cunt convulsing around Chris’ cock, taking him over the edge with you with a loud moan. Chris’ teeth sank into your shoulder as he came, muffling his growl as he released into you, his hot, thick cum coating your walls and spilling out of you.

He continued to move, thrusting and fucking his cum back into you until he stopped, burying his cock deep inside, the tip resting against your cervix as another surge of cum spilled into you. You could feel a small pressure build in the pit of your stomach, moaning as his cum spilled into your womb. It was unlike anything you’d ever felt before.

“She’s passing out,” you heard Felix murmur as he tilted your head, your eyes fluttering shut and their voices starting to fall to the background of your consciousness. “Clean her off,” you barely heard Chris say before everything went black.

When you came to, you were lying on your back, cool air hitting your skin. Your eyes opened abruptly and you sat up, looking around to find you were on the outskirts of your camp. The sun had long since set and the sky was littered with stars. You got up, looking down to find you were dressed in semi dry clothes. Your bag sat next to where you’d been lying.

You brushed yourself off and grabbed your bag, finding your canteen full of water. You stumbled back into camp, thighs sore as you looked around. You found your tent and walked over, unzipping it and peering inside. You slunk into it, turning to zip it shut and started to mull over what just happened.

Had you passed out from exhaustion and imagined the whole thing?

The ache between your thighs said otherwise. You opened your bag to check your things, grabbing your flashlight to inspect the contents. Nothing seemed to be missing as you pulled everything out until you saw a small note inside one of the small pockets. Placing the flashlight between your shoulder and jaw, you used both hands to hold the bag and pull out the paper, unfolding it before grabbing the flashlight and reading the note.

©️ kwanisms 2024 | all works on this blog are protected under copyright. Do not repost, continue, or translate my works. All graphics made by me.

[fallingdownhell]

Hello !! I wish u a happy Valentine's Day >< love it writing ;)

Can I request Best Friends with feelings Sumero boys(+wanderer) reacting to gn!reader being gifted here and there all day bc it's Valentine's day?

Thank u! U can ignore this if I don't want to write :)

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Hope everyone had a nice day celebrating with their loved ones, be it romantically or platonically<3 Characters Included: Tighnari; Cyno; Alhaitham; Kaveh; Wanderer Content: gender neutral reader; no established relationship; the boys are getting jealous; fluff; love confessions..?; not proofread yet Word count: 2,6k words Enjoy<3

Tighnari

he loves the fact that one of his closest friends actually works with him, which means that you can see each other on a regular basis

not like Cyno or Kaveh, who he sometimes doesn't see in days or weeks, depending on their workload

Tighnari enjoys working with you, but not just because he's friends with you. You complement each other, his strenghts negate your weaknesses, and vice versa. When he's stuck in his research on some specific topic, you offer him some insight from a different perspective that he otherwise would probably have never even considered

Plus, you're very easy to talk to, and just an overall fun person to be around. It's no wonder he'd want to be your friends.

So it's also no wonder that one day, he realizes that his feelings for you go much deeper than just friendship

Is he gonna do anything about it, though?

No. At least, not right away

He's let it sit and sink for a while, come to terms with the fact that he actually likes you in that way, and that it's not just some fleeting crush. He'd plan to tell you eventually, but much to his dismay, he forgot what time it was while he was pondering about his feelings for you

Valentine's Day was here, and of course, he's heard plenty of talk among his fellow forest rangers. He knows that many of them plan to ask you out, thinking that it'd be the right time

He realized what day it was when the first one came up to you and handed you a self crafted bracelet that you gladly accepted. Tighnari watched the interaction take place intently, yet swallowed down his feelings

But then another one came up to you... and another.. with every person that came to you, handing you gifts and trying to flirt with you, his anger at them rose, and he couldn't take it any longer

With an annoyed tone, he pushed all his responsibilities aside for today, went over to you and grabbed your hand, almost demanding of you to accompany him to the city, since he claimed he had some important errands to run and needed your help with them. In truth, he just wanted you as far away from all of the attention from other people as quickly as possible

His lie became obvious pretty fast when he made no attempts to actually go to Sumeru City with you, but you'd already realised why he did what he did, yet decided not to comment on it

the two of you took a stroll along a close by river, and after some time, sitting down and just watching the nature around you

Not many words are spoken, but it's also not neccassary

he has a feeling that you're aware of his feelings for you now, as well. But he won't say anything to you just yet. He needs some more time, but you can be sure that you won't have to wait too long..

Cyno

I see him as one of those people who are not to keen about Valentine's day. To him, it's just a day like anyone else. He's also one of those people that would voluntarily work that day

He's never understood the appeal of it. Why celebrate one special day with your partner, when you can show your love and affection for them any given day? Why safe it for one day in the whole year?

Not that he has a partner to begin with, but it's the whole concept about it that just irks him

however, there is a certain someone that Cyno has had feelings for, for quite some time now. A certain someone that was a desert dweller just like him. Who came with him to the City at a young age and who he stayed friends with all those years

You and Cyno go way back, having been friends with him since you were kids. When he was leaving the desert, he couldn't stand the thought of leaving behind the only person he ever knew and trusted, so he convinced you to go with him. Not like anything was holding you in the desert to begin with, so you agreed

Cyno has come to terms with his feelings for you a long time ago, but has yet to make any move on you. Sure, he's dropped some hints here and there, and made some - very poor - attempts at flirting with you, but you never picked up on any of it

and now, he kinda regretted never telling you more specifically. As every other Valentine's day before, Cyno was working this one, too

he was currently on his way to track some hints he'd gotten, leaving the Academiya, when he catched a glimpse of you, standing on the platform before the Academiya building, surrounded by people

he froze in his steps, deciding to stick around and see what was going on. And it didn't take long until he figured it out..

from the people surrounding you, many were offering you gifts, holding them in front of you and begging you to accept them, while you smile shyly and try to appease as many of them as possible

quickly, jealousy was rising within him, but also his protective side started to show. He knew you disliked crowds, never having the courage to deny people of anything, so he knew you had a hard time right now

without another thought, he rushed to your side, putting an arm around you protectively, while he scared away the crowd under some made up excuse

as soon as they were gone and you had your space again, you let out a relieved breath, thanking him for getting you out of this

Cyno stares at you for a second before looking away again, then claiming that he'd walk with you until you were home safe. Just to make sure that no one else would bother you

on the way there, he's thinking hard. This incident showed him, that he'd have to step up and confess his feelings to you, soon. Or someone else might get ahead of him and snatch you away. And he couldn't let that happen..

Alhaitham

another one who I think wouldn't be too big on Valentine's day, but he'd be much more indifferent about it

much like Cyno, he sees no sense in picking out one "special" day in the year to celebrate love when you can just do it whenenver

however, he does begin to see at least some appeal to the thing when he develops feelings for you, one of his best friends

he loves that he can just spend time with you in silence. That you don't always have the need to converse with him, and instead just enjoy the presence of each other while each of you might be doing their own thing still

however, it still takes Alhaitham some time to accept that he's having these types of feelings for you, so you can't expect a confession from him anytime soon, either

he tries to approach his feelings with logic first, but he comes to realize that logic does not help him in the slightest with this particular "problem"

so instead, he decideds to throw logic out the window for this one and instead settles on the plan to use the upcoming valentine's day this year to actually confess how he feels to you

after talking to a bunch of people about different ideas for gifts, he decides to go with what seems to be the "standard", some flowers and chocolates

he plans on gifting them to you after your shift for the day is done and you're heading home, since he comes by and walks you home from time to time, so it wouldn't be weird for Alhaitham to show up

however, as he arrives, he becomes witness to a scene, similar to what he had planned to do. A man in front of you, asking you to accept his flowers as he asks you out on a date

Alhaitham's heart immediately drops, and he finds himself frozen in place, unable to do anything about it. The only thing he can do, is watch as you laugh awkwardly at the guy and then kindly decline him

seeing you reject him gives him some hope again, and he watches the guy leave first before he approaches you, his gifts for you hidden under his cloak. Even if you rejected him, he was now hesitating wether it was a good idea to actually follow through with his plan

the same exact thing then happened four more times while he was walking you home. Some random person would approach you on the street and hand you some form of a Valentine's present. And every time, you'd kindly turn them down with an uncomfortable smile

seeing the interactions both gave him relief - as you were always rejecting them - but also made him feel more anxious

in the end, when the two of you arrived at your home, he had half a mind to just not say anything at all and just let it go. But then, another thought entered his head that he couldn't ignore away. What if, if he was to forego his chance now, someone else would show up who you'd ultimately agree to go out with?

he couldn't let this happen, not without shooting his own shot, at least

so, before you close the door on him, he stops you, and very awkwardly pulls the flower and chocolates out from under his cloak, handing them to you

he sees the surprise morph into your expression, as he's anxiously waiting for your answer...

Kaveh

I personally think that Kaveh would be very obvious if he has a crush on someone. Wether that be a close friend or someone he doesn't personally know, he's easy to figure out

he wears his heart on the tongue and is very expressive, so one simple question is often enough to figure out what he thinks about certain people

so, it was obvious to you, and everyone around him, that Kaveh has been having feelings for his best friend, You

has he done anything about that or plans on doing anything?

No.

as much as he's aware of his feelings, he also has no idea how to go about it. How would he ask you out in the first place? And why, for all Archon's sake, would you even say yes to him in the first place?

He has to come to terms with that question and many similar ones first, before he feels like he's ready to ask you out

unluckily for him, you're quite an impatient person, and waiting around for him to do something, when you've already dropped so many hints that you liked him, too, was just too damn exhausting

however, luckily for you, Valentine's day was just around the corner, and maybe, you could use that to your advantage..

that day, you'd ask Kaveh to accompany you on a stroll through the city, to get him out of his little office that he's been cramped up in recently to finish a project of his

he gladly took the offer, figuring that he could really use the fresh air. He always loved to spend time with you, talking and laughing with you about anything and everything that came to your minds

however, he noticed that on this particular day, people seemed to approach you every so often, with roses in their hands, engaging in conversations with you that Kaveh stepped away from, not wanting to eavesdrop on private matters

still, he inwardly scoffs to himself. What are these people even trying to achieve? Don't they know that roses aren't even your favourite flowers?

But the more he looks around the city, he slowly comes to realize what kind of day it is today

Now the roses also made sense... and now he could also figure why they were all approaching you, probably to ask you out

And, why wouldn't they? You were a catch, no matter which angle one were to look from. Anyone would be lucky to be able to call you their partner, but.. Kaveh wanted it to be himself, not some random person who doesn't even know you as much as he does

the more people talk to you, the more jealous Kaveh grows as the day goes on, yet he never says anything about it or to you. He just intently watches everyone that dares come closer to you, narrowing his eyes on them, like they just personally offeneded him

once the day is over, Kaveh then locks himself into his office, trying to come up with the most elaborate plan to ask you out. He wanted it to be something grande, something that would be better than anything anyone had ever done for you, that would outdo all the gifts and presents you'd gotten today... and once the plan is set, he'll be making it happen as soon as possible..

Wanderer

not fond about this holiday. At all

he hates how stuck up people can get with their feelings. Why did they have to make a celebration out of it and shove it down everyone's throat?

scoffs loudly whenever he sees a couple act all cutesy and stuff on Valentine's day. It doesn't really bother him all that much on any other day, but that specific day? He hates it

he also hates you. You may be his best - and only - friend, but he hates the way you make him feel sometimes

he tries to deny it for a very long time, chalking it up to some malefunction of his body, but there comes a point in his life where he can no longer deny the feelings he has for you

much to his dismay, the day he'd make that realization just had to be Valentine's day... the fucking irony. Celestia really must hate him

He didn't think anything of it when he invited you to join him for some leisure stroll outside Sumeru City that day. He's waiting for you before Lambad's tavern, impatiently tapping his fingers against his crossed arms

finally, he notices you, but just as he was about to call out to you, he notices someone else approach you and engaging in a conversation with you

the Wanderer had half a mind to walk over there and pull you away, because how dare you make him wait even longer? But then, that person hands you a flower, gifting it to you, and he froze seeing you accept it

soon enough, you'd part ways with that person and finally join the Wanderer, but by that time, his mood has already turned sour

he still goes on that stroll with you, but the entire time, he basically ignores you as he tries to figure out why he feels so frustrated by this interaction. Why would you accept flowers from a lowlife like that? Wasn't he enough for you?

As soon as that thought entered his mind, his eyes widened and he knew he was screwed, that he'd somehow caught feelings for you. But realizing it, and admiting to it, are two completely different things

when you two return to Sumeru City, he witnesses two other people approach and do the same thing, gifting you a flower each that you accept with a kind smile

and with every interaction he sees, his anger and resentment towards them grows and grows

he can't deal with it any longer, so he leaves the scene without any further explanation

he'd have a lot of thinking to do, as well as coming to terms with some things. You wouldn't see him for a while, even if you were to seek him out. He just needed to do this on his own, because the next time he sees you, he plans on making you his, no matter what it would take..

[izumiphoenix]

Do Vampires Sleep?

This question has been bothering me for a while – both for the sake of my headcanons and the stories I imagine for my OC Roanael and Astarion.

On Tumblr, I’ve seen people mention both reverie and sleep when talking about Astarion. And honestly, I think both are fair since we can see in the game that Astarion’s long rest animation shows reverie. At the same time, we know he has dreams – a least one dream in his Origin story, about Cazador, and the ones with the Dream Visitor. But of course, it could be a temporary exception due to the tadpole influence.

What do we know about reverie?

Definition: Reverie, or trance, is the elven state of meditation, which had certain sleep-like effects.

Realm of Adventure Wiki states that:

When elves enter this state, they vividly relive past memories, those both pleasant and painful.

According to Forgotten Realms Wiki, most elves prefer reverie, but they can also choose to sleep.

I’ve also seen a theory that Astarion could prefer sleep to reverie, since it would provide him an escape while the state of trance would only make him relive all the painful and terrifying memories once again. That makes so much sense to me.

But let’s not forget: Astarion is not quite an elf anymore – he’s a vampire spawn.

So what does that mean, in terms of rest?

The first thought that comes to mind is that he is undead, so logically, he shouldn’t need any sleep.

Indeed, vampires and vampire spawns do have a trait called Undead Nature. However, while for most other undead creatures it states they “do not need to eat, drink, or breathe,” for vampires and their spawns it is only “do not need air.”

Undead Nature. Neither a vampire nor a vampire spawn requires air.

(according to the information I found on 5e tools bestiary)

So I think it’s safe to say that the answer is – yes, vampires (and vampire spawns) do sleep.

Then why is Astarion shown trancing in the game?

Well, if you look at his character sheet, it still lists his race as High Elf, even after his true nature is revealed.

I believe from a development standpoint, it was probably easier to keep him categorized that way – otherwise, they'd have to build a whole custom Vampire Spawn race with new animations, just for Astarion. So it could just be a race-based animation quirk.

From the story perspective, it also would make sense for him at least to pretend he enters reverie at night in the beginning of their journey, when Tav/Durge and other companions still don’t know about his vampirism.

Another possibility is that, due to his unusual condition, being protected from some of the vampiric traits, it became possible for him to experience reverie again.

It also aligns with another aspect of vampiric sleep lore that I want to mention:

Chained to the Grave. Every vampire remains bound to its coffin, crypt, or grave site, where it must rest by day. If a vampire didn't receive a formal burial, it must lie beneath a foot of earth at the place of its transition to undeath. A vampire can move its place of burial by transporting its coffin or a significant amount of grave dirt to another location. Some vampires set up multiple resting places this way.

(5e tools bestiary again)

Yes, it mentions “vampires,” but it is written on the page dedicated to vampire spawns. Besides, it wouldn’t make sense that true vampires would be confined like that while their spawns would be able to sleep wherever they wanted.

It means that normally, Astarion would need to sleep in a special resting place. Thanks to the illithid protection, he doesn’t have to do that during their journey.

But if he chooses to reject the ascension ritual, after defeating Netherbrain, he is back to all the vampiric limitations. Not only is he unable to walk under the sun again, cross a river or come into a house uninvited, but he also needs to come up with a way to sleep during his travels as an adventurer (assuming he doesn't stay in Baldur's Gate).

It also makes me wonder about those 7006 vampire spawns that were freed and moved to the Underdark. If my memory doesn't fail me, I think we could see some of Astarion's siblings' coffins when exploring the castle. I don't remember seeing any in the dungeons, but I don't think Cazador would be bothered by this fact – they were already greatly mistreated by him. As I understand the lore, a vampire doesn't die if they don't rest, but it places certain penalties on them.

Did they also have to take care of this when escaping to the Underdark? We can only wonder.

But while it all doesn't make Astarion's undead life easy, that doesn’t mean he’s doomed or miserable. Let us not be too sad about his restrictions, or use this as an argument that his rejecting the ascension ritual was a wrong choice.

I believe that our beloved vampire spawn, radiant with newfound hope, can handle it all just fine. Especially in a magical and chaotic world like Forgotten Realms, where surely there are many creative tricks and curious artifacts that can make a difference.

[herefortheships]

Does the ring BJ wears have any special meaning?

I hadn't answered this one yet because I was considering how to do it in a more thoughtful way than just saying something simple like it's just another character-defining accessory, like the striped suit, for example. I did talk to my sister about the ring the other day, when I noticed he wears it since the first film, and then at night when I checked my Tumblr inbox I saw this question and I was excited to answer, but then I decided to think about it more to give a better answer.

To say that it's just an aspect of his character design would be acceptable if the story had ended with one Beetlejuice movie. Considering there are some character design elements that were prominent in the first film which didn't make it into the second film (I mean, for example the watches; he might have been wearing them in the sequel, but it wasn't as noticeable, at least to me), dismissing the ring as a simple accessory might be too simplistic, when we consider the consistent theme of weddings/marriage running through both films. The sequel reinforced marriage as a strong theme in the Beetlejuice series, having not one, but three instances in which weddings were a part of the story (four, if we count Rory proposing to Lydia).

Weddings and marriages are pretty much akin to, if not the backbone of the Beetlejuice story.

This is all speculative, because, of course it might just be a simple accessory, but consider this: what if the ring is a symbol of the burden that binds Betelgeuse in the afterlife? Assuming his soul truly is bound to the ritual of marriage.

Rings are connected to the ritual of marriage, and Betelgeuse, as unreliable as he might be a narrator, has stated that in order to "get out" of the afterlife he needs to be married. He did say "come to think of it, I don't have any rules", which might prompt you to think he's just making it up, maybe as an excuse to marry Lydia (assuming his feelings for her were romantic from the beginning, which upon some thought I think he might have been at least interested). But I don't think he was just making it up. I think Betelgeuse truly is bound to the ritual of marriage (as I wrote in this post which I keep referring back to since it's just my favorite headcanon about Betelgeuse's curse).

Putting aside whatever keeps him tied to the model at the old Maitland's house in Winter River, there must have been something more keeping Betelgeuse's soul from moving on to the great beyond.

(I've always thought Juno's the one who bound him to the model and gave him the curse about his name, but I might be misremembering something. I've watched Beetlejuice at least three or four times a year since I was a teenager, but until now I've been a casual fan, so I didn't think to analyze anything too much or look into it too deeply lol).

We now know Betelgeuse didn't "unalive" himself, and yet he was once Juno's assistant, so, assuming he wasn't mistakenly put there as a public worker, like we presume happened to Astrid's dad, something was keeping him from moving on.

I personally think that what happened on his wedding night is what is keeping Betelgeuse bound. It's what's kept him around for over 600 years now. He was cruelly murdered on his wedding night, and he also committed murder himself. Not to mention the wedding itself was dark and cultish, so there's a lot there that might have tainted and bound his soul, and prevented him to move on and find peace.

It could be that the ring is the symbol of his attachment. You know how often ghost hunters believe that ghosts get attached to certain objects, and those objects need to be blessed or exorcised to free their soul? It might be that his ring represents something similar. If the writers wanted to go with the route of Lydia exorcising Betelgeuse to free herself of him, they could have her find his ring in the living world and perform an exorcism on it to finally free Betelgeuse's soul. I don't think he'd hop on the train and leave to the great beyond without her, if she does that (he would still definitely stick around and wait for her), but he'd finally be able to get on that train whereas before, he could not. That's something the writers could come up with (which I totally doubt).

I think what will actually free him is finally completing that wedding with the person he's in love with. Only then his soul will find peace and be free to move on.

It's never been fully revealed what will happen if Betelgeuse marries Lydia. Will he simply become a regular living man? Will he gain access to the living world and be able to cause all sorts of madness as a super powered poltergeist/demon? Or will his soul simply be freed of the afterlife in the sense that he can finally choose to pass on to the great beyond? The writers could go with any of these, as the story stands right now.

As I wrote in my Betelgeuse and Marriage theory, I just prefer the fantasy of his soul being freed once he marries someone he truly loves, who truly loves him back. For me Betelgeuse and Lydia being able to move on to the great beyond together in the end would be the ideal ending. Of course, it's all speculation, and the ring might just be an accessory Betelgeuse just likes to use, but it's interesting to think about and speculate about these things.

In the first film Betelgeuse appeared to be tired with the afterlife, and he just wanted to be done with it (arguably to become alive again). It always made me feel bad for him because he seemed desperate to be free of the state he was in. He didn't want to be like that, and he'd do anything to get out. In the second film at least he seemed to be doing better, in the sense that he now had a job and was a lot more mellow (less desperate to be out of the afterlife), so his motivations appeared to have changed from "I want out of here" to "I just want to be with Lydia".

I just want to see Betelgeuse free, and for Lydia to be free of her own burdens in the end; I want for them both to have a happy ending.

[moonselune]

Hello! I know your requests are closed at the moment so please put this at the back of your que for next time if possible! I fell in love with the way you write for halsin and had to ask for a request with him and a short, anxious, red dragonborn tav (dragonborn with a tail plz). I just don't see enough of these anywhere with dragonborns and I think it'd be cute to see with Halsin since dragonborn aren't common. Perhaps tav is also worried that he won't want to date them because they're well. . . a dragonborn and most people don't have great reactions to the species. I think Halsin would be captivated with how light catches their scales, or the crown of horns on their head; perhaps even their eyes that resemble a flaming fire.

Idk I'm sorry if this is a lot or boring 😅 I just need more characters x dragonborn tav's, they don't get enough love.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Halsin x Dragonborn!reader | Please ignore the tail

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

The sun was setting over the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow across the camp. You sat on a log near the fire, your ruby scales shimmering in the fading light. The camp was quiet, with the others off preparing for the evening meal or tending to their own tasks. Halsin approached you with his usual calm and serene demeanor.

You had always felt a certain anxiety around others due to your appearance. As a red Dragonborn, your fiery eyes, crown of horns, and imposing scales often elicited fear or discomfort from those around you. Your tail, a prominent and expressive part of your body, often betrayed your emotions, wagging when you were excited or anxious. Tonight, you felt particularly self-conscious, worried that even Halsin, with his deep connection to nature and acceptance of all creatures, might see you as too different.

"Mind if I join you?" Halsin's deep voice broke through your thoughts, and you looked up to see him smiling down at you.

"Of course not," you replied, trying to sound more confident than you felt. "Please, sit."

Halsin settled down beside you, his presence comforting and reassuring. For a moment, you sat in silence, watching the fire dance and flicker. The druid seemed content to simply be in your company, a quality you admired about him.

"You know," Halsin began, his voice thoughtful, "I've always found Dragonborn to be fascinating. Your kind embodies the power and majesty of dragons, yet you possess a kindness and depth that is uniquely your own."

Your tail, despite your best efforts to keep it still, began to wag slightly. Embarrassment flushed through you, and you turned your gaze to the fire to avoid meeting Halsin's eyes.

"I've… never felt that way," you admitted quietly. "Most people seem to see me as intimidating or strange. It's hard not to feel self-conscious."

Halsin reached out and gently placed a hand on your arm, his touch warm and comforting. "I see something entirely different," he said softly. "The way the light catches your scales, it's like watching the sun reflect off a river. And your eyes… they remind me of the embers of a fire, filled with warmth and life."

His words were so sincere, so full of genuine admiration, that you couldn't help but look at him. The intensity of his gaze made your heart race, and your tail wagged more vigorously, betraying your emotions once again.

"I didn't think someone like you would see me that way," you said, your voice barely above a whisper.

Halsin's smile widened, and he chuckled softly. "Why wouldn't I? You are a remarkable being, full of strength and beauty. And that tail of yours," he added with a playful glint in his eye, "is quite endearing."

You felt your face grow hot with embarrassment, but there was also a bubbling happiness inside you that you couldn't contain. "I… I didn't mean for it to wag so much," you mumbled, feeling flustered.

Halsin's laughter was warm and rich, and he gently cupped your cheek with his hand. "Don't be embarrassed. It's a part of who you are, and I find it charming."

For a moment, the world seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of you by the fire. Halsin's touch was gentle, his eyes filled with a tenderness that made your heart swell. You felt a deep sense of acceptance and belonging, something you had always longed for.

"Thank you, Halsin," you said, your voice filled with gratitude. "You don't know how much that means to me."

He leaned in, his forehead gently touching yours, a gesture of closeness and affection. "You are more than you know," he murmured. "And I am honored to be here with you."

As the fire crackled and the night enveloped the camp, you sat together, feeling a newfound connection and understanding. Halsin's words and presence had dispelled your fears, leaving you with a sense of peace and joy you had never thought possible. And as your tail continued to wag, you couldn't help but smile, knowing that you were cherished just as you were.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Hope you enjoyed it - Seluney xox

[dairisrls]

7, 10 and 23 for the patho asks!

7. Headcanons you forget aren't canon?

oh, man. a lot. but the headcanons i'm most fond of that can't be canon are my headcanons about block and daniil. i have extensive headcanons linked to daniil having a military father who tried to force him into the military too (canon) and the fact that he seems pretty awestruck by block (again, canon). where my headcanons divulge from canon is that block is supposed to be 30. in my heart, he's older, and he served under daniil's father. daniil met block as a young child at a social event and block actually cared enough to take an interest in this young, autistic, science-focused child who wasn't comfortable in these social settings. block came away from that encounter absolutely certain that the son of general dankovsky was not meant to hold a gun. which made it all the more tragic when he had to scoop daniil out of the abattoir half dead with blood on his coat and a gun at his hip. like. it's not canon. given block's age it can't be canon. but i routinely forget that not everyone has this elaborate crazy bullshit going on in their head. god, i need to finish the two-shot fic about this.

10. What do you think the Changeling's story was really about?

GODDDDDD where do i start. uh. i will say, shoutout to my friendship with @fennelwasp for anything i say here. i didn't know changeling route well until we became friends. so much of my concepts of changeling route come from our discussions. i guess... if i had to distill it, the changeling's story is about the pressure of being a teenage girl and being defined by how you're perceived. clara is constantly torn between how people see her and what her internalisation of that perception means. some people treat her as a pure saint who has to save them all. some people treat her as a horrible scourge that should be wiped out. she herself doesn't know who she is or what she is supposed to do. and she constantly makes mistakes. she doesn't always know what her power will do. she's not allowed to simply exist in the world; she's always defined by others and treated accordingly. and i think, to some extent, that's why she represents teenage girlhood in general. anyone who grew up perceived as a teenage girl has felt some level of this. you are constantly told what you have to be or should be. and if you stray from that, you're punished. same with clara.

and there's so much more to it than that, of course, for the changeling route. there's LOADS more i could talk about in terms of divinity and duty and duality. and there's the extra layer of her knowing much more fully than the others about the nature of the world and the fact that she's part of a game. clara is just so fascinating to me. the hugest shoutout to nettle for opening my eyes to how deep the changeling route is.

23. Character you love in Pathologic that you wouldn't stand in another story/real life?

ANDREY. GOD DAMN. STAMATIN. within pathologic, i find him absolutely fascinating. i could write essays upon essays about the depth of his character and the symbolism and themes. if i met him in real life? dear god, i would kick him in the balls so hard his ancestors would feel it and then i'd chuck him the river. he's the sort of man who is absolutely repulsive to me. as a character? fascinating, i need to crack his brain open like a walnut and study it. as a real human? do not let him anywhere near my postcode.

[i-rate-horse-games]

rating bella sara for ds and pc (2008)

the DS and PC versions are similar enough that it would be odd to rate them separately, but different enough that it matters which one you play.

Bella Sara is a game in which you ride horses through three different scenic locations to collect bella sara cards and horseshoes. collecting certain cards can unlock other horses from the franchise to ride, and horseshoes can be spent in the shop. after riding for a while, your horse will be tired, and you have to spend some time taking care of them before you can go out again. there's a noticeboard with activities for you to do, which usually involve riding around the 3 locations (meadow, beach, and forest) collecting things as fast as possible.

both games have an impressively diverse character selector for 2008!

on the pc version, you can even adjust the skin tone lighter or darker for each character, with this being as dark as you can go.

in the DS version, it asks you for your birthday, and on that day you get one item from the shop for free! (no, it's not my birthday, i lied) the shop also sells bella sara cards, as well as clothes and tack and a sponge for washing your horse. it had one of those roman soldier hats with the feather plume in 3 colors, so that's the one i wore out. seemed like there's tons of options@

in the PC version, the shop just sells English, Western, Fairy, and Princess matching rider and tack sets, plus treats.

the DS version also has a whole show jumping arena, where you can win at least one trophy. this straight up does not exist on the PC version, because there you win your trophies by running jumping courses that are in the three areas instead.

in the DS version, your horse goes back to its stall in the stable when it's tired, and you can do chores like mucking out the stall and picking rocks out of the hooves. you're also payed a few horseshoes for doing your chores. in the PC version, your horse goes out to the paddock, and you don't get any money for taking care of your horse because that's just what a Responsible Rider does. there's no hoof pick.

here's where the biggest difference is.

in the DS version, you get a minimap, and the area is a network of rigid trails with the Fog of War surrounding you. the music for this place i personally found kinda creepy, but people on youtube said it was super nostalgic to them. there's a few jumps in there. it shows you where the cards are and you get to sprint after them before they vanish. it's a test of finding the quickest route to different areas. the lower half gets unlocked as you progress through the game.

in the PC version, you don't get a minimap, and you can go off road to your heart's content. however, the only direction to where you're trying to go is a floating 3D arrow that points directly towards something, ignoring the locations of bridges and impassible rivers and ledges that are deemed too steep to ride down. there are also tons of invisible walls unexpectedly far away from trees, and if you run into something, your horse needs to take a few seconds to reverse. this means that if you're doing a timed mission, the first try will just be figuring out the route. the worlds are also covered with magical gates that can each only be unlocked by a specific horse, but once they're unlocked, they're unlocked. so sometimes you ride in on ya girl Fiona the Fire Horse but then you find out your quest is behind a gate for Thunder the Lightning Horse. there's still cards and horseshoes everywhere to grab. you can even get from area to area through gates, without having to back out to the main menu, which is when your horse says it's tired and goes to rest. the PC music is more normal bella sara instrumental magical music with occasional vocals.

the DS version also gives you codes to use on their website lol rest in peace

the most exciting part of both games is collecting cards! whenever you come back from an adventure, you get to see what cards you found on screen, and there's so many to collect! you can go through your collection, and on DS you can trade your extras to someone else with the game. you already own the game so they don't make it hard to get the cards, it's just fun! the foil cards are animated! it looks better in the game but i made a gif :)

there's enough things to do that it doesn't feel like you can run out, and combined with card collecting and the horsecare chores and unlockable areas and horses, there's definitely enough Game here for someone to spend a lot of time playing it and having a great time.

i'm rating these games 3.5 stars out of 5!

★★★✬☆

now i know you guys are probably dying to know how to play these in 2024 and it's actually pretty easy! for the DS game, download a DS game emulator. the one i found is DeSmuME and it worked perfect & was really easy to use. then you go to a reputable game archive for the game's rom and open that file up with the emulator. EZ peasy takes less than 5 minutes. for the PC game, look here & read the comments to figure out how to get it to work. i got it to work by clicking the setup.exe thing in the game, then following the comment's directions on copying and pasting the game.exe thing into your pc's newly created codemasters folder & running it from there instead of ur virtually mounted cd-rom disk. sounds scary but it worked for me so i vouch for it. happy gaming!

[theamityelf]

How would the battle between Makoto and Flowey look like in a neutral ending? If Frisk falls after Makoto has spent several days (weeks?) in the Underground, will they leave together in that ending? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Oh boy, fun question.

So, the buildup to this is, Makoto has been living in the house next to Napstablook (Mettaton's old house) and just generally being a social entity in the Underground for some length of time. Like, I'm thinking from-Hope's-Peak-age-to-SDR2-age. (Though neither Hope's Peak nor SDR2 is canon in this AU, of course.) Or maybe just the length of the time gap between THH and SDR2. Basically, I'm imagining at least a year has passed, because Makoto doesn't think it's fair to have to kill a monster to leave, so he's trying to find another way.

And he's been keeping a pot of well-fertilized soil in his house, for Flowey to visit.

Flowey, who has been bored with the Underground for a while now, has been getting a lot of enrichment from the changes Makoto brings. Past humans all eventually reached the point of getting killed by Asgore (except Nagito, who died some other way). Makoto is the first human to really move in and spend this much time living among the monsters without deciding to take their chances with Asgore and the Barrier, and he's given Flowey new stuff to do and new interactions to have. He's not satisfying Flowey, but he's something.

When Frisk arrives, the Ruins portion of their walk is the same as in Undertale canon (Pacifist Route), except Napstablook vanishes when they approach (like in certain No Mercy Routes) without doing the initial Napstablook fight, because he sees another human in the Underground and pretty much immediately goes to tell his next door neighbor, Makoto.

(This is way more than you asked, but I promise at least some of it is going to be relevant.)

Flowey is stalking Frisk like he does in Undertale canon, but he also takes the time to "chat" with Makoto.

"Sooo," he says from his flower pot, while Makoto is getting ready to leave the house. "Looks like someone already told you the news. Your nasty habit of dodging bullets continues."

"Have you met the new human?" Makoto asks.

"Met them? Yeah, you could say that."

Ghost Nagito observes, "That's a new tone."

"What's that mean?" Makoto asks.

"Listen up, Old Human, because this is your only warning: Don't interfere. This world is-"

"Kill or be killed?" Makoto guesses. "You know I don't agree with that."

"Buddy, I don't care what you agree with. If you value your SOUL, don't interfere. I'm playing with the New Human, and there's no need for you in our games." He sinks into the flowerpot and vanishes.

"Rude," Nagito says.

Makoto goes to help Frisk. With the River Person's help, he's able to meet them in Snowdin Forest. (I imagine Flowey tries to keep them from meeting by subtly sabotaging things, similar to how he deactivates puzzles in canon if Frisk kills everyone, but Makoto's luck stymies his efforts, and he is able to meet up with Frisk.)

General story and character stuff happens, but the main point is, Makoto tells Frisk pretty much right away that the only way to pass through the barrier is to kill a monster, and he tells Frisk that he and Alphys have been working on a way around that problem. Mostly Alphys, he readily admits, but he's been learning and helping where he can! Honestly, he undersells his role in things.

(Alphys still hasn't showed him the True Lab, because she's still too ashamed, especially now that he's friends with everyone, but he's convinced her to at least study what she can about him and his SOUL.)

Those who believe that Alphys can still have a breakthrough pretty much agree to leave Frisk alone, but those who are too demoralized to hope for that continue to see Frisk as a disposable human compared to Everyone's Friend Makoto. Those guys are pretty much plotting to take Frisk to Asgore or kill Frisk themselves as soon as Makoto leaves them alone.

(Sans is actually an interesting factor there, hope-wise, but for the purposes of this post, the only thing that matters is that he doesn't interfere with the journey and also doesn't meaningfully help, in either direction, when people are conspiring against Frisk.)

Makoto helps Frisk to settle down, sharing his house with them. Basically being a big brother to them. They like him. For a while– maybe a week, maybe a month –it seems like Frisk will be willing to wait for Makoto and Alphys to figure out a different way to break the Barrier.

But one day, Frisk goes to Asgore's palace on their own. Seems like they really want to go home, even knowing it will cost their life or Asgore's.

The Asgore fight happens while Makoto is rushing to the palace trying to stop Frisk, and he arrives at the palace just as Flowey steals the SOULs. Both Makoto and Frisk black out from the sheer eruption of power.

Makoto wakes up completely wrapped in Photoshop Flowey's vines. He's being held aloft, his feet far off the ground, his whole body in Flowey's hold.

Blearily, he sees Frisk standing opposite the unearthly creature Flowey has become, staring up at the flower's face with determination.

"Wait!" Makoto croaks out. "Guys, don't fight! Where is everybody?"

"Pipe down," Flowey says, his voice reverberating in the space. "This is between me and Chara. I would have taken your SOUL, too, if I weren't so full already."

"No you wouldn't have," Makoto says. And he adds, "Frisk, are you oka-?" But he's interrupted by a vine that gags his mouth.

"Oh, just shut up already, idiot!" Flowey exclaims. "Always in the way!" (He didn't want to hear Frisk's actual name. Because this is between him and Chara.)

From there, Flowey tries to have a normal Photoshop Flowey fight with Frisk, and means for Makoto to watch helplessly (like, it's a dual-purpose "sibling fight" with Frisk and an attempt to prove to Makoto that ultimately the world is kill or be killed).

In actuality, the fight ends up half as long, at most, because while Frisk is doing their normal part of the fight, Makoto is struggling and biting and doing what he can from his limited vantage point. He isn't given freedom of movement, like Frisk, which is fitting since his SOUL is a different color from theirs.

The mechanics for Makoto's side of things are a combination of purple SOUL mechanics (perseverance; the same mechanics as the Muffet battle, where the SOUL jumps between different strands instead of moving freely) and green SOUL mechanics (kindness; the same mechanics as the Undyne battle, where the SOUL must shield itself from attacks).

The reason the fight is half as long is, Makoto is also getting help from the SOULs Flowey stole. So, Makoto has a fight phase where, on a literal level, he's getting enough of the vines off himself that he can call for help, and then once he calls for help, he frees one of the six human SOULs. Presumably he gets three and Frisk gets three; it could be four and two if one of them is working faster, but the specifics there don't matter. Whatever the case, it means more than one SOUL is being taken from Flowey's influence at a time.

When all of the SOULs are free from Flowey, Makoto gets free of the vines and goes to fight beside Frisk. Makoto still has his green soul shield mechanics, and he uses them to protect Frisk from Flowey's attacks, where he can.

And he's trying to talk to Flowey, but everything is so fast and loud and also Flowey periodically goes a thing where he strikes the ground and causes a shockwave that throws Makoto back several feet. He tries to tangle Makoto in his vines again, but it doesn't work when Makoto is awake to stop him.

Eventually, they get Flowey down to his minimum level of HP, at which point he does that little dramatic "You...! You...!" and then brings himself to full health, like, "You idiots."

He kills them both over and over again. I'm tempted to let Makoto's luck interfere, there, but let's say it doesn't. Flowey does that thing where he kills them and brings them back, just to show that he can, then he surrounds them with bullets.

"You really though you could get out of this that easy?" Flowey says, and though he's been focusing on Frisk this whole time, now he seems focused on Makoto.

(Makoto's slightly injured and maybe has a nosebleed.)

"You still think you can cooperate your way out of the Underground?" Flowey laughs cruelly. "No. Your little friend wanted to leave, and they were ready to kill to do it. So how about this: one of you gets to live and move on to the Surface, while one of you stays right here and dies to me as many times as I want. And your old pal Flowey will even let you choose which one's which. Whoever asks first. Whoever can be the first one to ask me to let them leave, they're free to go. Free to let the other one ROT!"

Makoto and Frisk meet each other's eyes. They're still panting from the fight (and the multiple rapid-fire deaths they've both endured), and despite all the time they spent together, there exists a discomfort on the air. A slight tension, as if on some level they're still meeting each other for the first time. It's not distrust, but it's a lot of other things. Frisk's shame, their fear that Makoto thinks they'll do it, their worry that they might deserve to be betrayed. And Makoto's concern, his apprehension, his acute awareness of the unfairness of the situation.

The SOULs are all free at this point. They could turn on Flowey, could end this. But Makoto can sense that they're waiting, watching. They want to know if Flowey is right. They want to see what will happen.

[ghost18sworld]

My design of my alternate version of the Journey to the West

Tang sazang: His personality is the same as in the original work, but that doesn't stop this version from having more attitude in its choices, especially when it comes to reciting the words of Wukong's tiara. Not only does he call Buddha, but he also uses his staff to ward off evil, as if he were a priest. He can even defend himself when he fights. According to my AU, he even has a certain development in the matter of becoming a little more mature and less naive, but he doesn't stop being a good monk. Of course he'll have charisma, of course he won't be a useless person in my alternative version either, and of course sometimes he won't be very afraid either. He's still as kind and gentle as ever, as in the original work, but of course, I won't let him lose his essence in my alternative version.

Sha Wujing: He is as sensible and kind as always, so as not to be a character who is there just to carry out tasks, he has a lot of development in my alternative version, besides being sensible and patient, he is also attentive and shy, he takes good care of the people in the group, he worries about them too, and besides carrying things, he is also someone who supports and accompanies you in difficult times, he is good at combat and the water domination technique, which is something that is actually pretty cool in my alternative version, as always, he has attitudes and also consents. Besides being just a character who helps the monkey king and the rest of the group, he also has attitudes and choices too, this in my alternative version of the journey to the west, I will not leave the essence of the character aside.

Zhu bajie: He being the second strongest of the group, in this version according to the development, he also begins to mature during the journey, as he is less flirtatious and greedy, but he continues with his playful and also charismatic essence that everyone knows, even though he is a very flirtatious character and does not change at all in the end, besides irritating Wukong or also being lazy, well here in my version he is like the original, but I changed a little in the matter of laziness, gluttony and pleasure, during the journey, he starts to help, hunting and also helping with making food being less lazy and focused, having the skills of Bajie from Black Myth Wukong and a little of the personality of Pigzs from Lego Monkey Kid, not wanting to copy, I just got inspired, be it in the way and temperament, but he does not lose the essence of the story and the original character, knowing that it is my alternative version of the journey to the west.

Bai long ma: Well, I'm sorry for not drawing him yet, I'm still thinking about a creative design, so wait, but his personality, well besides him not being a very developed character in the work or in the adaptations because he's just a mount, for me he also has development and also a lot of potential, since I was inspired by him being a brother of the Dragon King of the East. In Lego Monkey Kid, his personality is like the personality of the 1986 TV series, but that doesn't mean I can highlight this character, he has charisma, besides transforming into a dragon and flying to take the group to cross the rivers, he's also a very charming character, but he has his touch of charisma and seriousness, he's good at fighting, he can control the elements like wind and water, he's someone who can change shape like Bajie does in his disguises, he's also very useful in creating distractions and also keeping an eye on things.

Íris amarílis: she, my OC of this alternative version of Journey to the West, mainly in the matter of her being a female character in the group, and someone who knows how to fight, and also charismatic and a little lost in dangerous situations, knowing that she being an active character and also kind and very gentle is even naive as a monk, she also has a sharp mind in combat, has sensory senses. how to hear footsteps at a certain distance, also perceive people's aura, identifying which is good and which is bad for someone, she is also the doctor or a potter of the group, always helping with injuries or also teaching Bajie how to improve his healing powers, she is sensible with Wujing, she is also at the same level as him in terms of combat, but she is still more agile with her spear, she can hunt and gather and identify very well the poisonous fruits or not, she understands very well about medicine, since she is almost 138 years old, so she is skilled with medicine, and because she is immortal like her mother, she is also a very good person, always worrying about the group, always cheerful and willing, shy too and also serious in certain aspects, she is a priestess like a monk, being the only character that I created to learn how to purify and make protective amulets, she is the only character from South America to be created in this alternative version of the journey to the west, the only Brazilian from Pará to be created and also participate in this alternative version that I created.

Warning!, that the characters are an alternative version of the journey to the west, and as an alternative universe of the original work created.

To your surprise here, I am Brazilian!!, mainly from the northern state of Brazil, you should learn a little more about what the states and capitals of Brazil are, without wanting to insult

I just don't want comments that make me confused about this, or disrespectful either, since I'm the only Brazilian to create an alternative version of the journey to the west.

[iwriteasfotini]

Where do we draw the villain line?

Something which is so intriguing to me about the Harry Potter fandom is how flexible *most/some/a few* (honestly IDK how many) people are in giving the villains of the story their own story. Personally I LOVE THIS. Because the best villains are the ones who aren't simply macho bad guys (or gals) who are bad because the author said so. The best villains are the ones you are almost rooting for. The ones you begin to think... wait maybe that person isn't so bad. Or the ones who earn some empathy. And then go and be total arse holes anyways. Because a good story needs a villain, it's simply a fact.

If there was ever a time to remember humans are each living our own story, it is now. It doesn't excuse ANYTHING. It is infuriating and sad. But it is reality. Someone's villain is someone else's hero. And vice versa. But let's not get off on a tangent.

Now the curious thing is while certain HP characters are given some grace where their evil deeds are concerned, others are not. Like at all. Have any of you read Crimson Rivers? Of course you have! If you want to shift your mindset on how you view most of the Death Eaters, read that fic. But in it, I do not remember Mulciber or Avery being mentioned in any sort of good light. Walburga... her terrible parenting is quite undisputed. Umbridge! Barty Crouch Senior! I think Vernon Dursley falls into this category. There are still characters who are seen as simply evil for the sake of evil.

So how did Tom, Bella, Barty, Draco (but I mean, Draco is really a terrible villain to begin with) and a few others end up with backstory, humanity, and quite a few people invested in them. I don't have the answer, but it is an interesting phenomena. Because I am quite new to the fandom and it took all of three tumblr posts to get me fully on board with Rosekiller. Bella, I don't like her, but she is a fascinating character to write for. And she has redeemable qualities. Tom is a cold hearted killer who might have turned out completely different if he didn't have the childhood trauma he did. I imagine Tom's orphanage life was about as void of love and affection as it is possible to be. Sure his basic survival needs were taken care of, but he wasn't loved. And that was his life from birth.

Perhaps it is the fact there is just enough humanity given to these characters in canon that in fandom we take that nugget of humanity and turn it into a full fledged backstory. Barty is a great example. He is screaming at his father during his trial and his father flat up ignores him, all while his mother is weeping in the background. His mother sacrifices herself for him, then DIES two days later (clearly she wasn't in good health to begin with... hmmmmm...). Does Barty even have a Dark Mark? WE DON'T KNOW. Does Barty feel like he has a personal connection with Voldemort, yes, their fathers were both pieces of shite. How did Barty learn this about Tom? It means Tom went out of his way to connect with Barty on a PERSONAL level at some point. Why would he bother, he so rarely give away personal information? Also I feel Barty has a relationship with Winky which is reminiscent of Regulus and Kreacher. Basically there is mutual love and respect on some level (while some wizards see house-elves as servants only).

The fact we can ask all these questions about someone who essentially guided Harry to his should have been death and then was kissed by a dementor (which Dumbledore was LIVID about BTW) makes him such great fodder for the fandom to sculpt a intriguing if not rich back story. It's why I was able to get on board with the Barty isn't a pure villain idea so fast. And I think it really enhances the fandom.

On a side note, Peter's an interesting one as I feel like he is often either forgotten about or lumped into the evil for evil's sake category. Peter made appalling choices, but I think he has a backstory, just like everyone, which can at least account for some of why he did what he did. And it does not have to do with him being bullied, pushed around, or constantly berated by his supposed friends. The Marauders loved each other, and Peter was included in that love.

That being said, there are plenty of people who disagree. Who like to see the Death Eaters as evil. Who cannot fathom how anyone in their right mind can ship Jegulus or be invested in a villain. But to those people I say, Regulus committed suicide as part of taking down Voldemort, Remus put peoples lives at risk every time he left the shack while he was at Hogwarts, Sirius has made some very questionable choices, Harry uses Sectumsempra on Draco, Severus was a Death Eater who changed allegiance, Ron deserts his friends/Harry when they need him, even Fred and George test products on first years and give Hermione a black eye. The lines between good and bad (which are at least somewhat defined in canon) become far less clear in fandom. As Sirius says, the world isn't split between good people and Death Eaters.

If you have read this far into my rant, kuddos to you. If you enjoy thinking and talking about backstory of HP villains, maybe we can connect in some capacity and exchange HC's and thoughts. I also hope you will check out my very epic series which has started posting on Ao3 because I am striving to tell a lot of people's stories in a fast paced, entertaining way.

Thank you for your time and attention. This concludes my rant.

[culpeppercheckers721]

Turn OC Week 2025– Day 3: Theme Song/Playlist

AH here I am, late in the evening, once again! 🤣

There’s a variety of songs that give me the Aileen O’Connor vibes for whatever arbitrary reasons, and I’d love to do a longer playlist for her someday soon, but here’s a random handful!

…

Galway Girl— Right off the bat, yes some of these songs are DEFINITELY even more modern than others, and obviously not all lyrics apply (ie; in no scenario would Aileen & Ben, or anyone in the era for that matter, be eating Doritos). 😂 But, I’ve always had a love of this song, and considering the name O’Connor can be historically linked with Galway, I couldn’t help but smile thinking about Ben & Aileen with this “suddenly I’m in love with an Irish woman”-core song LMAO.

Holding Back The River— It would feel wrong not to have some Irish people on a playlist for this particular Irish American lol, and the more I thought about it, the more weirdly fitting I found it for Aileen (brown eyes and red hair, you say Luka? 🤠) and her eventual relationship with Ben! Another mandatory disclaimer about not all lyrics being relevant, since none of this story takes place in Dublin of course, but something about “two hearts” having their own personal liberties, beating their own way, and yet still connecting with each other? That part felt appropriate. ;))

Wild One— Wow more Irish Americans lmao, but this one really captures Aileen’s personality, I’d say, since her lack of restraint and impulsive tendencies are definitely things that have stood out about her since she was a child, meaning she probably was told to be less of a “wild one”!

She’s A Rebel— Alright alright feel free to boo for how generic this one is, but I love Green Day and couldn’t help myself, this is just too much Aileen’s vibe lol. Yes she is a rebel, yes she will not take your shit, so on and so forth. ;)

Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl— Somehow it got even MORE modern, but, despite how some lyrics are not thematically relevant, that moment where Olivia Rodrigo screams “oh god, what did I say?” came to me early on when developing Aileen’s character, because despite how much she speaks without thinking, her anxieties DO occasionally keep her up at night as she reflects on that question, especially as she involves herself with spies— “why did I say that???” And much as I love her character and as fun as it’ll be to write her into SituationsTM, I too am “shocked [she’s] still alive” at certain points of her story!

…

And even more bonus randomness before we go, because honorable mention: After I finally named her character, it hit me that (despite their different spellings) I will never be able to say her name without thinking of “Come On Eileen”. 😂

Thanks once again for reading my giant posts! ;D