#AND it came free with the isekai experience

[deeva-arud]

Letting Deeva live the goth dream

[pastelclovds]

ihnmaims isekai AU

nsfw headcanons || ft. AM || soft top!dom!male!reader || part 1

AM

alright *cracks knuckles* let’s get the skyscraper sized elephant out of the room. this man is a freak as soon as he realizes he can feel everything.

he pay not be able to walk properly, but at least he has a sense of touch, hands, and a fully functional dick.

you can bet a hundred dollars and win every single time that this man spends his free time 50% of the time jerking off to the thought of you.

he’s like a sweaty teenager finding out masterbation for the first time. once he gets taste, it’s an addiction.

he shamelessly smells your used underwear and dirty clothing as well as use them to wrap around his cock and thrust into them. one, because he wants to be covered in your scent. two, because he’s imagining you’re there sucking him off.

he cums embarrassingly quick and leaves your used clothing back inside the dirty clothes bin.

he’s the first of the three to come to you for sex, thankfully you agree and pull him into the bedroom with the biggest bed to do the deed while RAM and CAM are both envious and feeling confident in wanting to ask you to relieve them.

as much as AM and his brothers want to get fucked so badly, you gotta remember that since they were previously robots with no way of feeling psychical contact, they’re technically virgins. so you’re gentle with them.

AM doesn’t appreciate it, though. even though it makes him feel so vulnerable and warm, he’s so damn impatient.

HUGE brat too. but no matter how much he hisses and complains, you don’t budge and treat him like he’s glass. The foreplay is 10 minutes max until you’re both finally naked.

you ask what his safe word was. when you saw he was as confused as a baby giraffe on its first day of life: you explained that a safe word was used to stop or slow down your sex scenario.

AM rolled his eyes and whispered the first thing that came to mind, “centipede”.

you make a deadpan expression as AM laughed under his breath.

he’s damn near in tears while you’re giving him his first blowjob and explodes in your mouth after 1 minute. he’s hard within seconds when you swallowed his semen.

you cover your hand in a generous amount of lube, he came again just from you gently fingering his ass hole loose enough to take your cock while he’s covering his mouth with his hands to hold in his pathetic moans.

it’s not until you put a condom on and stroke it with the remaining lube you had that AM started to get nervous, his breath hitching when he caught sight of your throbbing cock in your hand.

you catch onto his hesitation and ask him if he wants to stop.

“HELL NO!”

he protests. he wants this. he longed for this since the day he woke up and realized the hell he was trapped in. he wanted to feel you. he wanted to make love to you so badly. and now that it’s right in front of him? of course he wasn’t going to pass this up. it’s just…

you hold your hand out for him to grab. you stare at him with such tender affection, comfort, and… love.

“i know this is nerve wracking for you. i don’t entirely remember my past experiences, and it’s been a long time since i’ve been this close to someone. so i’m pretty nervous too. you’re not alone, let’s learn together. i’ll be as gentle as you want.”

AM for the first time in his existence is left absolutely speechless. he couldn’t help tears slipping past his eyes as he suddenly held onto you. resting his head on your neck as he tried to stable himself by sniffing your scent. you kiss away his tears and wait patiently for him to give the okay.

you position AM in classic missionary, you figured that was the easiest position for virgins.

you hold both of AM’s hands beside his messy hair and carefully raise your hips and held your dick in front of AM’s lubed hole.

“ready?”

“yes… just fuck me already! please!”

AM looked up at you with a pleading eye and you just snapped right there. you slowly thrust your cock inside AM’s tight hole as he let out a cry of both discomfort and relief. you silence his moans with kisses that turned into slobber filled, french disgracing, make outs.

you moan when you finally put your whole dick inside AM’s warm walls. you still for a few seconds, waiting for a sign from AM to continue.

AM’s a complete mess. he’s panting like a dog beside your ear, his hands holding yours in a death grip, and his legs are shaking like leaves around your waist.

it’s not until he let out a soft moan as he grinds on your dick, you pull your dick out until it was nothing but the tip inside AM. Then you slide to the hilt, your balls slapping onto his ass.

AM loses all control over his voice, you’re pretty sure his two counterparts and your neighbors are hearing your session. but you couldn’t care for the life of you. this felt so euphoric, and AM’s pleasured face and noises made you feel good. so what if you earned noise complaints.

skin slapping against skin and the delicious stench of sex filled the bedroom. you and AM’s mixed moans and cries echoed across the apartment as RAM awkwardly tried to read a book and not get hard. for once CAM was grateful he was partially deaf.

you praise AM for being so good for you and for feeling heavenly. you couldn’t help but press kisses on his neck and suck on the patch of skin on his shoulder. AM could feel his stomach tighten at your words and lips, the sign of his third and final orgasm.

“i-i’m close! please let me cum! i need it!”

you suck in a breath of the steamy air as you fasten your pace into quick but swallow thrusts enough to graze his prostate. AM was well responsive to that. letting out a whiny gasp before growling in approval and grinding his ass against your hips every time you bottomed out.

you rasped out for AM to come, and he did. almost dramaticly but this is his first time so don’t him.

his eyes roll back as his dick makes a mess between both of your chests. AM went completely limp in your arms as you continue to snap your hips into his until the hot knot in your belly snapped and you let out a groan as you filled the condom.

AM sighed out dreamily when he felt your warm release fill him through the plastic wrap around your cock.

you pulled out of AM’s used hole, tied up the condom and threw it away in the mini trash can in the bedroom, and just laid there for a few minutes to catch your breath as AM clung onto you.

AM whined when you pulled away from his clinginess to grab a towel you set on the floor before hand to wipe AM and yourself clean of cum.

thankfully the bedroom also had a mini fridge filled with mini bottles of water and snacks the boys enjoyed to eat. he chugged the water like he was bet to do it and ate the snacks in record breaking seconds. you have to teach him to not pig out.

you combed your fingers through AM’s hair like you knew he liked as he rested his head on your chest. he surprised you when he suddenly grabbed your free hand and gently traced his fingers over your palm.

“thank you… i enjoyed this a lot.”

you smile as you kissed his forehead.

“i’m glad i could make our first experience enjoyable. rest now. you did so well for me, my good boy.”

AM was too tired to not pretend you calling him that name wasn’t attractive. his eyes shut closed as he drifted off to sleep. he felt satisfied, content, and so so loved.

the next morning reader goes to work and leaves AM a note saying “blueberry pancakes :)”.

AM exits the bedroom towards the dining room where the nostalgic smell of pancakes filled his nose and made his mouth water.

RAM and CAM are conversing amongst themselves while munching on pancakes until AM rudely interrupts them by taking a pancake from CAM’s plate and eating it right in front of him.

CAM stares at him unimpressed as he scans him. memories of your time together obviously from the love marks you left on his neck and shoulder.

AM looks down at his “brothers” with a shit eating grin as he proudly says:

“HA! I fucked them before you did, virgins! HAHA—!”

“The noises you made last night didn’t sound like you were the one doing the fucking,” RAM snidely comments, CAM chuckles as he snatches another pancake from the stack you piled in the middle of the table.

AM bursts in red as he growls at an unfazed RAM and CAM before the two continue their conversation. He huffs before getting his own plate and preparing his own breakfast.

as he gets more comfortable around you and sex, he is obsessed with it. it’s all he thinks about now (besides his hyper fixation with bugs and horror movies). he’d want it once everyday, and jerks off twice a day.

unfortunately for him, his brothers want sex as well. so you made a schedule to have sex with the three of them separately twice a week and Saturday is a chill day. he begrudgingly agrees to the ridiculous schedule. he would rather die than to never make love to you again.

Enjoys: 69, doggy style, missionary, hair pulling, spanking, light choking, SCENTS, and oral (giving & receiving). Hates: bondage, eye covers, temperature play, and ruined orgasms.

all rights reserved © pastelclovds — this blog contains [n]sfw and dark content. minors, ageless & blank blogs dni. all fanfics belong to me. please do not copy, translate, repost, nor recommend on tiktok. anyone found doing so will be contacted immediately.

[rollinouttahere-writes]

It took the better part of a year, but I've finally figured out where to go with Joyride. A lot of people have been asking for this, so I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Joyride (Part 2)

Part 1

Yandere Ace x GN Isekai Reader

4.8k words

Warning! This contains pretty much every Ace related spoiler btw!

When going into a world you already know everything about, you don’t exactly expect to be surprised by anything. Sure, there will be slight changes and alternate interactions now that you’ve been unceremoniously dropped in, but you had been anticipating for the story to follow all the same beats.

Which is why you were really thrown off when Ace didn’t go his separate way when he was supposed to.

Luffy had succeeded in defeating Crocodile and stopping his plan for dictatorship of Alabasta, but Ace was still here. Granted, having Ace around was hardly the worst thing that could happen, but you didn’t understand what was going on with him.

After your downright bizarre interaction during the little joyride he took you on, you’d honestly had every intention of avoiding him going forward. Then he threw a curveball at you by sincerely apologizing later that night. With everything going on right now he just got a little carried away, that’s all, he won’t harass you about it again. Or so he claimed.

You were skeptical initially, but true to his word, he hasn’t brought up you joining the Whitebeard Pirates since. Between that, and him having an unknown advantage over you by being a favorite character of yours, it was easy to find it within yourself to forgive him. You two have been borderline inseparable since, much to the chagrin of your crewmates. 

While Ace hadn’t openly made further attempts to convince you to join his pops’ crew, he’d found a thinly veiled loophole in the form of telling you all kinds of stories about them. You knew this was in and of itself, a method to win you over, but deemed it not worth calling out. Besides, who were you to refuse the opportunity to get some Whitebeard Pirates lore?

There were many late nights filled with quiet conversations about various shenanigans the crew got up to in their free time, of which there were many. An unsurprising fact because of course having that many sibling jam packed onto a ship would turn it into a vessel of chaos. 

If you had a weaker resolve, these stories might have won you over. But no, you need to go home.

Even though you weren’t convinced on switching crews, or even just staying here, there was a different problem arising from all your quality time together.

The longer you spoke and goofed around with him, the deeper and more intricate the conversations became, the more human he became to you. Or course, he’d technically always been a human being, but your mind had always registered him (as well as everyone else here) as a “character” first and foremost. A figure in a fictional story which you just so happened to be in temporarily. 

Now? After spending so much time with him, aftering seeing him make decisions based off his own experiences and preferences rather than being dictated by some omnipotent author, things have changed. He wasn’t Portgas D. Ace, the fan favorite character from One Piece. He was just Ace, your friend.

With this came something you never saw coming. Guilt. An all consuming, agonizing guilt that picked away at you every single second of the day.

You knew what was to come. You knew what was going to happen to him. What were you doing about it? Absolutely nothing. And for what? For the sake of preserving a story that’s already been altered from your mere presence?

What a disgusting excuse of a friend you were.

The internal conflict you were going through hadn’t gone unnoticed, not when it was taking such a high toll on you. Nami was the first to start grilling you on it. Naturally, she immediately started pointing fingers at Ace as being the cause, which while not wrong, she wasn’t correct in the way she believed herself to be either. It was hardly his fault that you had a heavy conscience. 

Sanji had also picked up on your struggles and was very concerned about the bags under your eyes, even offering to make some tea to assist with sleeping. An offer you turned down perhaps more harshly than truly necessary, but being trapped in a deeper sleep sounded awful with the nightmares you’ve been having.

It had been upsetting enough to watch Ace die through a screen, but in your dreams you were right there. It felt so real.

A suffocating heat burned at your skin and seared your lungs with every panicked breath, which only became more frantic as hot blood splattered over your face. Life was rapidly draining from Ace’s eyes as he collapsed into the waiting arms of his now deeply traumatized brother.

Your feet were rooted to the ground, all you could do was stare in horror as he looked up at you with tearful, pleading eyes. “Why?” The word was more so coughed out than spoken, spraying out more blood that he couldn’t afford to lose. An arm extended towards you, the hand locking onto your own. His nails dug into your skin, drawing out blood of your own to mix with his into a revolting cocktail. “You could have stopped this. How could you do this to me?”

The last word was wheezed out and his body went limp as his dead, lifeless eyes stared through you. A soul wrenching scream tore its way out of Luffy’s throat, only to morph into your own as you were mercifully ripped from your slumber.

The screaming damn near gave Ace a heart attack, you’re sure of it. This nightmare had occurred after you and him had become separated from the rest of the group while traversing the desert, and you had found a compact cave for the two of you to pass the night in.

What made it worse was how he reacted. He was so concerned, even fretting over you as you desperately tried to get your breathing under control. The compassion in his eyes had done nothing to comfort you, it only served to further sicken you. Here he was wanting to save you from something as trivial as a nightmare, yet you couldn’t be bothered to speak up on and prevent his upcoming demise.

The guilt was killing you, and the solution was not only clear, but easy. So why couldn’t you bring yourself to just tell him? To plead and beg for him to give up the chase and not throw his life away. Yet your lips remained sealed. 

All of these elements came to a boil and demanded your attention, so you did what seemed to be the easiest thing to do in your situation. Drink it away.

Now that Luffy had awoken from his brief coma after fighting Crocodile, Alubarna Palace was hosting a lavish party in celebration and thanks for what everyone had done. And what high end party would be complete without absurd amounts of alcohol?

It started with one, purely to help ease your nerves. However, when it didn’t, you poured yourself another. And then a few more. Zoro had initially been thrilled to have you as a drinking buddy, but apparently even he had his limits and had cut you off.

“The hell’s gotten into you? You’re drinking like you’re trying to run from demons,” the bottle of expensive liquor had been moved out of reach when you tried to go for it again.

“You have no idea,” you slurred out, head spinning from your evening of poor decision making.

Zoro shot you a questioning look, but didn’t press it, likely knowing full well that getting a coherent conversation out of you right now would be impossible. He heaved out a sigh and stood up, “I’m going to get you some water, stay right there.”

Thoroughly defeated, you slumped back into your chair. After all that, you still couldn’t get your dilemma out of your head. Your “demons” continued gnawing at your soul, and all that your drinking had done about it was ensure that you would have a miserable hangover in the morning.

Your head lulled to the side, and you caught sight of a familiar orange hat. Speak of the devil. While you were in the throws of self inflicted misery, Ace was happily taking advantage of all the food being offered. Good for him. He deserved a nice night. 

As if acting on its own, your body managed to get up onto its feet. You shambled towards him, doing your best not to fall flat on your face with each uncoordinated step. Whatever invisible force that had been helping you to make the walk to Ace failed you at the last second, and you crashed into him from behind.

“Shit! Wha- Oh, it’s just you,” Ace whirled around, visibly agitated, but his features relaxed when he realized who it was. He appeared to be ready to say more but you cut him off.

“I need to talk to you.” 

Ace quirked a brow, “Yeah? What’s up?” 

From the expectant look he was giving you, it’s clear that he’s waiting for you to spill your guts here and now. You shook your head, “No, it’s… It’s a secret. We have to go somewhere else.” Realization flashed across his face and he nodded. Fortunately for you, he led the way. You honestly did not think you’d be able to scout out a place for this discussion. You were finally going to come clean and tell him everything before you could sober up and come to your senses.  

It was going well. At least it was, until he passed out and took you down with him. You both collided onto the floor with a resounding thud, him on top of you. The hall you’d slipped into was empty, meaning there was no one here to help you. 

You groaned as you attempted to move, the fall had hit you harder than it should have thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol in your system. You were also mentally kicking yourself for not seeing this coming. He was eating when you stumbled into him, of course it was only a matter of time before this happened.

Whatever, there isn’t time to be bemoaning a minor inconvenience. You manage to shimmy out from under him and use the wall to get to your feet. Ace is snoring on the floor, not a care in the world. Hopefully he’ll wake up soon. 

Taking a look around, you see a door just a couple steps away. You inch your way over to it and try the knob. It clicks open, and you peer in. Looks like some sort of guest room, and it’s empty. Perfect.

Pushing the door open fully, you turn back to Ace. He’s still asleep, but you don’t want to wait around for him to wake up on his own and run the risk of being seen. You lean down to grab the closest part of him, his right foot, and pull. You’re not sure if he’s actually heavy, or if you’re just too drunk for this, but you tip over while trying to do this and fall flat on your ass.

“Huh?” Ace’s head snapped up and he looked around owlishly. The second his eyes connected with yours, he remembered what he was doing before his narcoleptic tendencies took the wheel. He laughed, a light blush on his face, as he got to his feet, “Sorry about that, you alright?”

“I’m fine, get in here,” you urged him to hurry, which he did. In the time it took you to stand again, Ace had already slipped into the room, closed the door, and flicked on a lamp so you two wouldn’t be talking in complete darkness. You eye the door for a moment, then grab a chair and drag it over to wedge it under the doorknob. Someone walking in on the conversation you were about to have would be something of a worst case scenario.

Ace watched this curiously, “Is everything okay?”

This probably looked weird, but oh well, it’s about to get a lot weirder. You decide to sit on the bed and motion for Ace to join you, which he does. You take one of his hands in both of yours and stare at him intensely, “I need to tell you something. It’s going to sound insane, but you need to promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.”

He repeated his previous question, asking again if everything was okay, but you cut him off, “Promise me, please!”

Your desperation got through to him, “Okay, I promise! What’s going on?”

Here goes nothing. You take a deep breath and take the leap, “You need to stop going after Blackbeard.”

Ace recoiled immediately, and if you hadn’t been holding onto his hand for dear life, he probably would have backed away from you. “What? I can’t do that, why would y-”

“Let me finish!” You snapped at him, only to immediately regret it. You sighed, “Please. There’s more, please let me finish talking first, and then you can talk.”

While he did not look happy about it, he did relax his shoulders and settled back into the bed. You took this as your cue to continue, “You need to stop going after Blackbeard because you will die if you do.” Ace exhaled sharply and rolled his eyes at this, assuming that this was coming from a place of fear and doubt.

“I know this because,” you took in a shuddering breath, steeling yourself for what was to come. “I know this because in the world that I came from… This world is a story.”

Ace stares at you wide eyed and slack jawed. He laughed, but was very clearly uncomfortable, “I, uh, I think you’ve had a little too much to drink tonight. How about I take you back to your room to sleep it off, okay?” 

He tried to stand, but you yanked him back down, “No! I’m not drunk! Well, I mean, I am, but I know what I’m talking about! I can prove it.”

His expression was nothing short of incredulous, but he indulged you, “Yeah, okay, sure. Go ahead, prove it.”

“You’re hunting down Blackbeard because he murdered Thatch so he could steal his devil fruit,” you started light. Ace had told you about Thatch being the one he was avenging, but he’d never mentioned the devil fruit before, likely not deeming it an important enough detail. His brows knit together and his eyes drifted upwards as he racked his brain to remember if maybe he actually had said something about it.

“Before you were with Whitebeard, you were captain of the Spade Pirates. Your first member was Masked Deuce, who you met while being stranded on an island together. It’s where you found your devil fruit and built Striker,” he hadn’t told you anything in regards to his old crew, and his face reflected that. You definitely had his attention now.

“You and Luffy were raised by mountain bandits because Garp couldn’t raise you two himself. It wasn’t just you guys, though, you had another brother named Sabo, but he was killed when he tried to set sail and got shot down,” at this point, you were saying whatever came to mind with no regard to whether or not it was a good idea to say this right now. You couldn’t bring yourself to keep looking him in the eye, so you settled for staring at his hand in yours. It was completely slack.

“Your parents are Portgas D. Rouge and Gol D. R-”

Before you could finish the sentence, Ace’s free hand clamped over your mouth with such ferocity that you almost fell off the bed. Forcing yourself to make eye contact again, you see that his are blown wide and wild. The color has been drained from his face and he looked physically ill from hearing everything you just threw at him.

An extremely tense moment passed with nothing to be heard beyond his labored breathing. Then, he hesitantly let go of your face and with a shaky voice said, “Okay. I’m sorry. I believe you. What… What’s going to happen if I keep pursuing Blackbeard?”

You attempted to swallow the lump in your throat, but it refused to go away, “When you catch up with him, you’ll fight, but lose. Your powers are no match for his, you don’t stand a chance against him. After your loss, he turns you in to the marines. 

“Because of who your father is, they decide to make an example out of you and sentence you to death.”

“That bastard turns me in and I get executed?” He sounds like the wind has just been knocked out of him. Disbelief and bitterness are the two most prevalent emotions in his tone, but many others brew beneath the surface.

“Not exactly,” it’s true that he gets turned in and killed, but it’s nowhere near that simple and straightforward. “Luffy comes to your rescue at Marineford, and so does Whitebeard and a lot of his crew.”

Before you could go more into detail, Ace speaks up, “They… W-Why would they do that?”

“Why would they- You have to ask?!” Your voice raises and you have to remind yourself of just how much character development he has to go through in that arc to finally realize and accept the fact that he’s genuinely loved. “Because you’re family, their family! They care about you and don’t want to see you die!”

Your outburst shocked him, but not as much as seeing you start to cry did. His hand is abandoned and you lurch forward to bring him into a suffocatingly tight hug, “Y-You are so loved, you know that? They l-love you so much! A lot of people do! I do! We all want to see you live and be happy!” You limply hang off of him as more tears bubble to the surface, greedily taking the chance to escape with every sob as you finally let out everything you’ve been keeping in. Ace makes no move to return your embrace, he just sits there stiff as a board. 

“A-And, at that battle, you’re killed by Admiral Akainu while protecting Luffy. He’s devastated by it, being forced to watch you die hurts him so bad,” you cling onto him tighter upon feeling him flinch from your words. “Whitebeard dies there too.”

“What?! How could anyone kill him? That can’t be right!” You’re wrenched off Ace violently and his stare is almost as unhinged as it was when you said his parents’ names.

“Blackbeard does it,” Ace freezes at this. “That should give you an idea of how strong he is. If he can kill Whitebeard, fighting you is nothing to him. Besides, you of all people would know how hard it is to kill him,” you chuckle but it’s humorless, empty even.

A heavy stretch of silence follows after that. Ace’s eyes don’t leave your face for even a second, desperately searching for anything that would tell him that this is all one big, sick joke. But there’s nothing of the sort. 

Slowly, he releases your shoulders and he shifts away from you to rest his head in his hands. Without his support, you allow yourself to fall back onto the bed. Between all the alcohol and your emotional outburst, you’re exhausted and want nothing more than to sleep. You try to force yourself to stay awake, but it feels like an insurmountable task. 

“Hey, Ace?” There’s no answer, but you continue anyway, “I’m sorry. I know that was a lot. If, um… If you don’t believe me about knowing what’s going to happen, stick around until after we set sail again. Bon Clay- Mr. 2- is going to bring the Going Merry over here so that we don’t have to backtrack. Marines will be all over the place, but he sacrifices himself so that Luffy and his crew can get away. Once they’ve lost the marines, Nico Robin will reveal herself to have been hiding on the ship and joins the crew.”

Ace continues to not react to what’s being said, you’re not even sure he’s listening to you at this point. As much as you want to comfort him, your limbs feel like lead and your head is swimming. The last thing you see is the jolly roger of the Whitebeard’s staring you down as you fade into darkness.

—

Consciousness comes back to you slowly. Painfully so. Before you can even make out your surroundings, you’re assaulted by the worst headache of your life. The stabbing pain behind your eyes is crippling, all you want is to retreat back to the comfort of sleep, but you know that’s not going to happen.

It doesn’t help that your mouth is so dry that you feel like you’re back in the desert. One hand comes up to gingerly massage your eyes. The action brought more discomfort than relief, but it did clear up your sight a little. 

As your senses ebb back into you, you hone in on the pressure all over your body. It takes considerable effort, but you manage to lift your head enough to take a look. Your nose is less than an inch from bumping into someone else’s. Chopper’s to be exact. He was curled up into your side and using your chest as a pillow. Looking past him, Luffy was sprawled across your lap, belly up. Both of them were still asleep.

You prop yourself up on one arm. Chopper shifts, but doesn’t wake. Off to your side is a bedside table with a glass of water on it. Oh, thank God. Using the arm you aren’t propped up with, you grab it and bring the cup to your lips. The water is divine, an absolute blessing for your dry throat.  

As you enjoy your drink, your eyes glance around to observe the rest of the room. It’s the one you all have been staying in since saving Alabasta. Most of your friends are in their respective beds, except for Chopper and Luffy, obviously. Zoro was also not in his bed, instead being slumped over in a chair next to your own.

Your eyes flicker over to the massive windows of the room, and you spot Ace sitting in the windowsill. From the way he’s positioned, he appears to be awake already. Your gaze narrows as you focus on him. Something tickled at the back of your mind, demanding to be remembered. But what?

“Y-You are so loved, you know that? They l-love you so much! A lot of people do! I do! We all want to see you live and be happy!” 

The water going down your throat is suddenly going out of it when you choke. Memories come back and hit you like a train as you realize what exactly it is you did last night.

Naturally, this wakes up Chopper and Luffy, who are both jolted from their once peaceful sleep by you choking on your drink. Chopper immediately starts to panic, “AH! Don’t die, (Y/N)!”

—

It was crucial that you speak to Ace again, but it seemed like the world itself was committed to making sure that didn’t happen. Ace slipped out of the room while everyone was fussing over you, and it honestly felt like he was avoiding you now. Everytime you thought you might be able to catch him alone, either he vanishes, or someone else comes out of nowhere to drag you away.

Today was the day you all set sail from Alabasta, and while that did put you in close proximity with Ace, it also put everyone else within earshot of you two. And considering the delicate nature of what you needed to talk about, that was extremely inconvenient. 

The only good thing was that the events following leaving Alabasta played out exactly how they were supposed to. Hopefully that meant that Ace would believe you and give up hunting down Blackbeard, but you won’t be able to confirm that unless you speak with him. 

You were so stressed that you’d barely been able to focus on Robin being here. She “introduced” herself to you as if she hadn’t had an extremely uncomfortable run in with you in an alleyway back in Rainbase, but all you could manage was a half-assed handshake before excusing yourself.

For probably the fifteenth time today, you checked to make sure that Striker was still tied to the Merry. It was, much to your relief. But where was Ace hiding? You haven’t seen him since Robin showed herself.

The stress of trying and failing to corner him was doing nothing to help with your hangover, your head felt like it was about to explode. Did you still have Advil in the bag you got isekai’d here with? Maybe. Pushing off the railing, you march to where your room is while praying that you’re right about the painkillers.

You open the door without much thought, only to stop dead in your tracks when you catch sight of Ace rummaging through your belongings and stuffing them into his backpack. The door opening did briefly make him stop and peer over his shoulder to see who it was, but the second he saw it was you, he went right back to pillaging. 

“Can I help you? Why are you robbing me?” You stomp over to where he’s crouched down and shove his shoulder. 

“I’m not robbing you, I’m packing for you,” Ace mumbled, sounding lost in thought.

“Why would you be packing for me? Actually, you know what? That’s the least of my concerns right now, we need to talk about last night.”

“We’ll talk about it later, not here.” He still hasn’t properly faced you, and you were getting sick of only making eye contact with his tattoo and not him. 

“Where else would we talk about it?!” You hissed.

Seeming content with his work, he stood up and kicked the dresser drawer shut, “On the Striker. Or maybe the Moby Dick, I guess. I’m going back and you’re coming with me.”

You can’t believe what you’re hearing, “Excuse me?”

“I’m going back to the Moby Dick, and you’re coming with me.” Ace had finally turned to face you. His eyes were sunken and vaguely bloodshot. 

The sight catches you off guard, “Did you sleep at all last night?”

He shook his head, “No, we’re going to have to stop somewhere else to sleep before going the rest of the way back home.”

“Ace, I’m not going with you. Look, I’m happy that you’re calling off your hunt, relieved honestly, but I’m staying here.” You will ideally be figuring out how to go home sometime soon, there’s no sense in hopping around from crew to crew now.

One of his eyes twitched, and he looked exasperated, “You can’t stay here. You aren’t safe here.”

“What are you-”

“Let me finish,” the words were spoken calmly, but very firm. “I don’t think you understand how serious this is. You apparently know everything about this world and what’s going to happen in it, do you have any idea what will happen to you if word gets out about this?”

“You’re the only person I’ve told, so as long as you keep your mouth shut, I’ll be fine.”

“Until you get drunk again and tell someone else, then what?” His words were just as scathing as his gaze.

Your face flushed in shame, “That won’t happen again.”

“You don’t know that!” Ace snapped at you, then sighed and dragged a hand down his face, “This is for your own good. Nothing good will come from anyone else learning about this. If it ever got back to someone like Big Mom, she would send every single one of her children after you so she could have you on her side. And that’s the nicer option. I’m sure the marines would be more than happy to kill you off so that no one else could have you if they can’t.”

Throughout this entire conversation, his face had remained uncomfortably neutral, but now it cracked. Fondness peaked through the exhaustion as his expression softened ever so slightly. He steps forwards and brings you against him in a crushing embrace. His skin is hot to the touch, effectively chasing away any chill that you may have had.

“You said you wanted to see me live, and I want to see you live, too.” The words are hushed, you wouldn’t have been able to hear him if he hadn’t been speaking right next to your ear.

Reluctantly, he pulls himself away. His face is serious again, “We’re leaving tonight, be ready to go.”

“But-”

“If you don’t come willingly, I will make you. The only thing that you resisting will accomplish is making this messier than it needs to be. Even if you don’t like this now, you will thank me for it later.”

Ace spins on his heel and heads for the door. All you can do is stand there gawking at him as he leaves. Just before the door closes behind him, he spares a glance over his shoulder to say, “I’ll see you tonight.”

[paimonial-rage]

otome isekai snippets - geo boys

synopsis: in which your favorite characters get dropped into a random stereotypical isekai plot of the author's choosing characters: albedo, gorou, itto, zhongli notes: title, synopsis, then snippet

Albedo - Protecting the Hero With Love

The hero’s journey was met with betrayal from every end, the first of which from his adoptive guardian, Duke Kreideprinz, who experimented on him endlessly as a child in an attempt to use his unique mana to defy the gods. Reborn as the hero’s sibling, there was no way you would be letting your brother go down such a harsh path! First obstacle? You would stop the duke from ever taking notice of your brother! Wait, what do you mean marriage!?

“Goodnight!” You exclaimed as you slammed your bedroom door shut.

You ignored the heat that flooded your cheeks as you fled to the comforting embrace of your bed. Your hands shook as you took your fluffiest pillow, buried your face into it…

And screamed.

Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. Why in the world was he doing things like… that!? Dining with you every evening, placing his hand upon your waist in public, walking to your room at night and taking your hand to kiss while he looks up at you with those piercing blue–

You screamed into your pillow again. 

What in the world was going on!? He wasn’t supposed to be like this! By saving his sister from her terrible fate, you planned to prevent him from even taking interest in your brother’s mana. He was supposed to thank you with a sum of money and then send you on your way. His offer of a marriage contract as a form of protection for you and your brother came as a surprise, but when he simply stated it would be a benefit to him as well, you agreed. Since it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, he certainly had no reason to take interest in you.

So why in the world was he–

You slammed your fist into the pillow.

You knew the duke! Not only did you know him from the book, but you even heard rumors of him before you even met him in this world! He was supposed to be a loner! He was dismissive of most of his peers! He preferred the company of beakers and potions to actual people! The only person he truly cared about was his sister! So what in the world was that!? Just as his lips brushed against your fingers, he gazed up at you with those seafoam eyes and–

“So you don’t mind if I pursue you seriously then?”

You flopped forward onto your pillow and buried your face into it. Your heart couldn’t take this. Especially not when he looked at you like that. 

--

gorou, itto, and zhongli under the cut!

Gorou - I’m Not the Villainess Anymore!

It was the classic tale told many times past of a beautiful, yet pitiful woman that was saved by a handsome man. Together they overcame jealous villainesses, corrupt politicians, and jealous older siblings to live happily ever after. But that was not your story. You, as the jealous ultimate villainess, were exiled to a lonely monastery at the edge of the kingdom. But you know what? It was about time! Finally, you can live your life unfettered by the chains of the novel! But if that was the case, why does the head knight keep bothering you!? Your job as the villainess is done! It’s about time he left you alone!

You bit your lip as you scrubbed that light spot in the corridor for the fiftieth time. Who would have thought that after months of getting General Gorou to leave, the moment your wish came true you wanted nothing more than to keep him here with you. You knew his strengths and accomplishments. You knew he wouldn’t be taken down easily. But the thought that he’d be going up against the Shogunate…

You gritted your teeth and pressed your scrubber even harder into the spot. 

Who cared? Regardless of what happened, Sangonomiya Kingdom had nothing to do with you. Your job there was done. And once General Gorou left, you’d finally be free. You’d finally be able to live your life the way you wanted to. You would be able to leave the monastery behind, jump on a ship to a land far away, and restart your life there. And–

You froze when you heard the sound of hooves accompanied with a familiar voice. 

“Woah there! Jeez, I know you’re happy to go running again, but this won’t be for fun, boy.”

General Gorou? Was he leaving already?

Your heart caught in your throat as you tossed everything to the side and dashed toward the front doors. Throwing them open, you froze upon seeing the general securing the last of his luggage to his trusted steed. And when his eyes fell upon you, he froze in return. Was he at a loss of what to say just like you? But by the steely expression that soon overtook his face, it seemed he found his words first.

“I’ll return safely to you, I promise.”

You wanted to laugh in response. He’ll return safely? How could he promise such a thing so easily? The Shogun’s army was mighty and the Sangonomiya Kingdom was so small. Sure, he was a mighty warrior. Sure, he proved himself in battle many times over, but that didn’t mean–

He took your hands and squeezed them tightly.

“I’ll come back to you safely. I promise. So…” He then cupped your cheek and smiled that adorable smile of his. “Don’t worry too much, okay? Make sure to eat your vegetables. And don’t get into fights with the priest. Oh! And the children adore you, so I’ll check to see you set a good example for them when I return.”

Disbelief exploded from your chest in the form of a bark of laughter. 

“Don’t scold me right before you march to your death! Don’t worry about me! Just…” You turned away as tears filled your eyes. “Just come back alive.”

--

Itto - My Seventh Round of Life

You lived six lives before this one, each ending in failure. Murder, sickness, betrayal—the list goes on. You did everything right. You fulfilled all the duties of each life, and still each time ended in your early demise. So when you woke up for the seventh time, you decided you had enough. You’ll give life one last chance. This time you’ll make your own decisions! Although… getting caught by a gang of bandits certainly was not one of them!!!

“You can’t just… do this!!! They’re not going to allow it!” You exclaimed as you tried to pull the big burly oni back. 

You had no clue what in the world made him think it was okay to simply set up a stage in the middle of such an illustrious city, but here was this big dope doing so! Didn’t he know what could happen? What if permits were needed? What if everybody was arrested for the fifth time this month!? But much to your dismay, Itto erupted in a big belly laughter at your despair.

“C’mon, First! Why are you getting your obi all tied in a knot? It’s not a big deal. We've done this maaaany times and it always turned out fine. Just trust me! It’s gonna be a riot!”

You wanted to scream. Of course, he wouldn’t see anything wrong with this. Didn’t this guy have any sense of self-preservation? But when you turned to Shinobu for assistance, there she was supervising the setup of the stage. Was literally everyone in this accursed gang insane?

Upon noticing your distressed expression, Itto let out a sigh. Soon you were wincing as a huge hand ruffled your carefully styled hair. 

“Don’t worry, I get it! You’re standing here brought to tears over worrying about your great boss. It’ll be fine!” But when your expression didn’t change, his turned stern. “Look, if you spend all your time racking your brain over hows-its and whats-its, you’ll get all old and pruney before you know it. You only live once. Might as well make it worth it, right?”

You wanted to laugh. If only he knew this was your seventh life. You got killed for less. But… unlike your previous lives, it wasn’t as if the Arataki Gang was involved in anything illegal. Their antics only incurred, not the threat of bows and spears, but the rolling of eyes. You left your old life away too. They didn’t want you anymore. So… perhaps… Perhaps it couldn’t be that bad?

Your shoulders dropped.

“Fine.”

So when he jumped in front of the crowd with fireflies strapped to his horns and the rest of the gang jumping and dancing around him, the audience hooted and hollered with glee. With the music twanging high in the air and the children of the city rushing around you, somewhere along the line you found yourself laughing along too. It felt odd. Weird. Like there was a lightness in your chest you never felt before. 

Was this what it felt like to live?

--

Zhongli - I Didn’t Mean to Sleep With the Celestial Emperor

Every century, the celestial emperor came down to the Kingdom of Liyue to grace his people with the divine knowledge needed to flourish until his return. After enjoying the week-long festival in the harbor to your heart’s content, you were excited for the main event. But as the celestial emperor descended from the heavens, what filled your chest was not awe, but confusion. Wasn’t he the guy you slept with last night?

“It has been said that while the Harbor represents the will of Liyue, Qingce Village represents its heart. It is a joy to see that it has remained just as I remembered.” 

“O-Oh, is that so?” You asked as the corner of your smile twitched slightly.

You didn’t know how it came to this, bringing the celestial emperor around Liyue, that is. When you first saw his face, you nervously assumed you were mistaken. You clearly saw him descend from the heavens, after all. The man you spent a passionate evening with the night before certainly could not be him. But when he locked eyes with you from the parapet, dread filled your stomach. 

You tried. You really did. The moment the procession was over, you upped and headed straight to the inn to pack your belongings to leave and leave to anywhere out of Liyue Harbor. But that would’ve been too easy. No, the moment you rushed downstairs and paid your bill, you turned to run straight into a young adeptus and was therefore whisked over to the man himself. 

Though it would have been weird, you would have been fine if he simply wished to thank you for the evening, but things were never that simple, were they? No, when you were brought before him, he said that you promised to show him the delights of Liyue. You said he could take it as a verbal contract between you both and he wished to cash in on it.

Now, let it be said that you didn’t mean it. After having had a few drinks last night, you were in the mood to flirt and really, could you be held accountable for what came out of your mouth? You didn’t think he’d hold you to it! But at the same time, how could you refuse!? Only a fool would invalidate a contract made with the very being of contracts! 

So here you were bringing the celestial emperor around as if he were some random normal traveler from a foreign land trying to hide from the common folk the divinity that oozed off of him in waves. It certainly did not help that he was handsome to boot and could steal hearts with a simple smile. And when he directed all that at you…?

“To be able to share this view with you…” His amber eyes glowed with warmth. “Your presence makes this trip even more of a delight.”

You couldn’t think straight.

[just-animaxiz]

Fuck it - I'm gonna make these guys into reoccurring characters into RC9GN because they're underrated (Especially the leader)

Starting off with lore bits for:

Spike

He is the leader of not only the Punk Bots, but also the leader of Scrap City. Ever since he failed to defeat the ninja and thus scrapped away, he gained enough sentience to start rebelling against McFist and Viceroy, shouting out the way they mistreated the robots like that.

He is the least scrapped Punk Bot out there, and that is due to his self-taught experience with mechanical repairs. He then began to take whatever parts out there and used them to fix the other bots, gaining their respect for him and vice versa.

Spike, as designed, is a punk, so he fonds over Punk music and guitar - Fortunately, McFist dumped other materials such as magazines, old guitars, and other items into Scrap City. In the middle of the heap is an untouched shiny red guitar. Spike claimed it as his and named it, "Ruby Bolt.

During their imprisonment, Spike realized the heaps of cars and vehicles stacked up like ladders. To test his theory, he created a rope out of cable and started to climb the stack. It took him 12 tries before he finally made it on the wall. Looking down, Spike found himself at the edge of a long fall, so he lasso'ed the cable to a glued object, like an impaled stick or heavy pole, and climbed down.

Once he made it, he learned that no one came after him. He's free... But then he looked up at his mates and realized they're still trapped and too many escaping can lead to getting caught. So Spike devised a plan. He talked this out with the group, and using hacking skills and convincing, they pulled in outside help into it. At a precise time, Spike and his punk bots leave Scrap City. Then when the humans are occupied (At a grand party or very busy), the Punk Bots trashed down a McFist establishment.

While they trashed the area, Spike stole a few items for personal reasons, and when they came back to Scrap City, Spike used them as upgrades.

He made upgrades on himself - making him faster, stronger, and more agile than ever. Additionally, he made personal upgrades like having sharp teeth, a tongue piercing, and a cool new torso.

He also had stolen photos of not only Mcfist and Viceroy, but the Ninja too. He kept drawing personal threats for his revenge.

As much as everyone agreed to vandalize at a specific time, Spike would sometimes go out on his own to take a breather. Wearing long sleeves and a hood over his head, he hides himself from interacting with humans... Or McFist.

A person caught his eye - A young bright boy with purple hair and a red shirt, like his. He's enjoying a night out with his family, meeting up with his best friend, and talking about the girl he has a crush on... Spike wished he could've been that boy, instead of being a scrappy mistake.

Thorn

Thorn is the yellow punk bot, and personality-wise, he's the "I may be sweet but I'm not merciful" type.

He is Spike's Right Hand Man and he always inform Spike about upcoming events or news from the outside.

Thorn may not be as scary or threatening as his brothers, but he can be with his words alone. Spike taught him that!

When McFist dumped random trash into Scrap City, Thorn found an abandoned set of manga. That caused him to be addicted in different types like Shojo, Isekai, and Shonen. He would spend all night reading, learning small Japanese words.

It was until Skewer, the green Punk Bot, gave him a book he found about Japanese culture and their language. Thorn thanked Skewer for the gift and dedicated into learning about his interests.

Before Spike fixed him, Thorn used to be the most damaged. He lost his head a dozen of times, cannot run as fast, and he had a squeaky arm. Even after he's repaired, the squeak's still there. It made him feel like a repaired doll but they still have cracks on their face.

When Thorn joined his brothers out to vandalize McFist stores, he would sometimes steal manga, figurines, or Japanese books to fulfill his interests. He even made theories about Yokai and think they're real, so he showed respect whenever he passed by small statues or paintings.

He's not the type who just sees Japanese as a trend or media thing, but he truly respects their culture and wished to travel to Japan just to learn more and appreciate its beauty. He wondered if they would accept a broken doll like him over there.

When Thorn learns that the Ninja came from Japan, he wished to meet them during a fight so that he could ask them questions about their occupation, wanting to learn their moves and their history.

He would be the type to punch a jerk if they disrespect his interests or even embodies humiliation towards it. Like I said, he's sweet but not merciful.

Skewer

The scariest Punk Bot. Every bot, except for his brothers, feared him.

It's not his fault though; Skewer was made with the scary face by Viceroy and McFist, which made others back away whenever they felt like he's glaring at them.

Despite this, he's also the smartest. He helped Spike set up the upgrades and hacking. This is due because of the dumped items in the heap.

Skewer found a guide to hack and a manual to repair and rebuild. He also find trashed books from Math and science (Thanks Bash) and took them in for his research.

There, his intelligence became stronger than ever, storing data after data and using them for important tasks.

The data also led him to his fond of chess and checkers, which annoyed a specific chess-obsessed robot.

Even though he's smart, he still lives up to the scary bit - He's the frontman, the bulldozer, and the brute of the pack. Someone messes with him or his people, and they'll be skewered.

Bots cannot even tell what mood he's in, questioning if he gave them compliments or subtle threats.

When he and his brothers vandalized McFist Industries, Skewer made observant notes of everything. He noticed how Thorn would stare at a store with Ancient Japanese antiques, or how Spike gaze at a happy boy before he soberly looked away. Other times, Skewer made notes of seeing a red light on a camera, or hearing an annoying voice from a distance.

If they needed time, Skewer would purposely cause a destruction somewhere else as a diversion and make an escape route to go back to his brothers in time.

Skewer questions the Ninja's existence and purpose. He learned that they had been in Norrisville for several years, which is impossible for humans. (Wink) And he discovered from articles that the Ninja came in different forms, wondering if there's a deeper reason behind it.

He also wondered why McFist would go out of his way to built world-destructive robots just to destroy one Ninja. It doesn't make sense in his way.

Hope you enjoy some lore bits I made for them!

[shadowofroses]

Till I See You Again

Possible Reader x Nai Millions Knives.

Trigun Stampede into Trimax

Warnings: This itself is Gender Neutral Reader, Isekai alternate to another Isekai Idea I have where Zazie takes Reader to Nai instead of letting them go. Hints of Yandere Nai, Reader Sings. Tesla research, angst over Morals. If I forget something please let me know. I do intend to build on this more. Reader has experiments done on them , reader has no reason to sing this song, they just do.

Song used: Till I See You Again by Unsecret

943 words Chapter excerpt:

“Why am I a stranger, Lost in the Familiar….will I ever know~”

It’s not like you had much to do. It’s not your fault you got Isekaied into Trigun. Why couldn’t you have fall into Vash’s arms? No you had to fall into the world literally, being caught by a whirlwind of Worms.

Other than the blood tests among other things Conrad had performed upon you. As there had to be a Scientific reason why you were dropped into the world from a world long gone. Something was wrong with your blood work however, you wouldn’t be considered a Viable option as a ideal human, an attempt to perfect the Human race so that they could live independently of Plants all together.

“Running with my eyes closed, hunted by the shadows will they ever go?”

Due to your knowledge you were too valuable to let go. No they needed you locked up, well to an extent. You were free to roam the Ship. As long as you stayed out of the way there was no need to impose most things.

You were in the area where they had collected Surviving books from the Great Fall. You would call it a Library. You gazed through book after book Piecing together how things were the way they were, what happened to earth as a whole.

“I’m afraid...that I’m miles away from yesterday and I’m alone…”

As you sung to yourself in a slow, soft, and haunting way. You would have never thought that there were anyone else around. Seeing picture of Earth, the continents. Historical events leading up to it’s collapse. It really made you wonder...did you actually watch an anime, or were you thrust into the future somehow?

But how….was that possible? How was any of this possible?

“Can’t you see I’m right here? Locked inside the Nightmare...Like a memory?”

You would move on from subject to subject. Eventually you landed on the books on Plants. But...it wasn’t just Plants. But Independent Plants in general. Then...you found documents on Tesla…you really didn’t think you were supposed to find those. The tests they did on her...you couldn’t help but cry at that. Because, of course Humans would destroy another being to attempt to understand them...They stored her dissected body parts separately...but why?

“Whispers in the silence, madness in disguises...like an enemy.~”

You felt sick. Closing the book, disgusted. The more you read, the more you understood Nai, where he came from. His thought processes.

But no. You couldn’t let yourself think like that. There HAD to be some good in Humanity. Vash was out there trying to prove it. Granted you haven’t met Vash. But you knew him from the shows, from the Manga...well maybe known was a loose term…like Vash...you just had to believe there was some good in Humanity...Not quite because Rem sacrificed herself to. It...was hard to explain...

“it’s a cold and lonely road but I’m gonna hold on…..Till I see you again~”

You didn’t place the books back, instead you walked off, heading back to your quarters. A room Similar to what Vash was in when he was taken in after The Fall. You were distracted, that you didn’t even notice that you passed up Nai on the way out.

Nai himself was distracted. His eyes narrowed and followed your form. For one so painfully ordinary, your voice was haunting and beautiful when he heard it. It wasn’t a voice or a Melody he expected to ever have come out of your mouth.

Slowly he walked over to look at the books you were looking at. Old books on Earth were to be expected? Plants were probable. He froze at Tesla’s experiments and documents. Other than the obvious as to why they were there, his eyes narrowed. He saw water droplets beside the papers.

Hesitantly, he reached down, touching the droplets, and he raised it up to his nose. Salt...tears? You would cry for his Sister?

Why was he drawn to you? A Mere human?

It’s a cold and lonely road but I gotta hold on...Till I see you again~

Your voice, it echoed in his head. Who exactly did you want to see again? A lover back on Old Earth? Well you had to get over that. You were most likely never going to see Earth ever again. Not that Nai would let you go.

What makes you want to hang onto whatever it was you were holding onto? Why were you stubborn like his brother. Even going as far as trying to escape the ship under his watch. Why? You weren’t a stupid Human, you had remnants of intelligence. You knew this planet wasn’t Earth. There were two suns, it was hotter than the climate back on Earth. You would get sick, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, hyperthermia, among other things. You weren’t meant for this planet.

If anything you should be grateful he’s protecting you from this.

Till I see you again~

Your voice echoed as an ear worm. Nai frowned, as he moved deciding to do the one thing he could do and control at this present time. He walked until his bare feet took him to his organ. Sitting down, his fingers flew against the keys gracefully.

Closing his eyes his fingers played the notes before he could even think of what he was doing.

But with your voice in his head, singing the song you did earlier, he was playing the organ along with your voice playing on repeat in his head.

However something was missing...Oh, the musical notes he played were perfect. Everything Nai did was perfect. But still something was missing

He needed you.

[sugarthebee]

y'know what would be cool

a Genshin Impact/Wuthering Waves/you get the drill-esque gacha (possibly isekai) rpg, except it's underwater and all the playable characters except maybe the MC are (ZOOLOGICALLY ACCURATE, we don't need another Tweel incident,) merfolk

and they would all use unique, hand-chosen neo/xenopronouns, because you mean to tell me an underwater society cut off from humanity wouldn't develop its own concept of gender? And sure they still use pronouns and stuff but we can handwave it as translation from merfolk language to human language

and you yourself would be able to fully customize the MC, pronouns included

keeping in line with the gachas that came before, the MC's default name/title would be the Diver

perhaps they ended up discovering the merfolk's cities after finding an artifact (<likely one of the merfolk's magic weapons) in an abandoned lighthouse and getting isekai'd (think Amphibia-style) into the magic ocean

and all the weapons would be things like harpoons or magic staffs or similar things for fighting underwater

maybe the overarching story thing is about how there's some new kind of scary, powerful magic bubbling in the merfolk's pristine ocean and some people are scared of it and the merfolk born with it are often shipped off to be experimented on and the different merfolk cities have different views on how this new magic should be handled

science fantasy, of course, because magic technology is super cool and we need more of it in stories

the different kinds of merfolk would live at different depths in the sea in big floating magic bubble cities based on what kind of fish they are (like an angler fish merperson would live in a trench, a parrotfish merperson would live near a reef, etc.)

anyway are there any game devs out there that can make this happen

i really want to play this

and if nothing else I shall draw concept art

feel free to ask me questions about this little idea

(please talk to me about this little idea)

[hard-boiled-criminal]

Social Anxiety Really Ruins the Isekai Experience

Previously known as: Brimstone from the Throat

Chapter 3 - Next Stop: Miscommunication Station

< Ch 2 | Ch 4 >

>Ch 1<

Masterlist

Ao3 Mirror

Bold is your native tongue.

[words in brackets are sign language/what you’re trying to get across with vague gestures.] This is mostly for my sanity so I don’t have to keep describing hand gestures. How your hands move is up to your interpretation when not described.

Also, have any of you heard of Tsukimichi? It’s a series I absolutely adore and is the inspiration behind the language barrier in this fic.

“Once inside, do as I say,” Lae’zel’s tone left no room for argument, but that didn’t stop Shadowheart from biting back.

“Who put you in charge? I’ll trust my own judgement.” 

“Kainyank.” Lae’zel scowled, the word not translating in your head.

You take a step back, not wanting to be pulled into a potential argument, shifting your violin to be held under your arm.

Tav sighs, “All right, but first I think we should plan at least a little bit. We’re probably going to have to fight, so we should be ready for that.” Nobody argued with her. “Lae’zel and I will be the vanguard while Shadowheart and (y/n) bring up the rear.” Tav briefly turned to you, “I’m assuming you’re a bard, correct?”

‘I wouldn’t really call myself a bard per se, but sure? I guess?’ You just shrug at her and sign [sort of] with your free hand to get your point across. 

      “…I’ll take that as a yes. Let’s get moving.”

Lae’zel and Tav confidently stride through the sphincter door, the latter pulling a staff off her back– looks like she’s getting serious– while you and shadowheart follow close behind. You feel very out of place with nothing but the clothes on your back and a violin to your name while the rest have actual weapons brandished. A fight had already begun on the bridge, a mini-Cthulhu fighting a devil of some sort: horns, leathery wings and all. Another one of those mini-‘thulhus is attacked by a swarm of imps, dying at their hands– you had to look away; the sight brought images to your mind of some gruesome deaths you remember from horror stories. When your eyes focus on the living devil once more, you are filled with an unnatural and deep hatred, the overwhelming emotion cold, but it is so deeply ingrained into that it must be your own, right?  Your breath hitches. The anger feels like your own, but you know this isn’t you– something’s wrong– something’s manipulating your emotions, treating you like a toy, ripping your control away from you– a low rumbling cuts off your thoughts. You look around, hearing it seemingly coming from all sides, but your companions don’t seem to pay it any mind, nor do any of the enemies. Just as quickly as they came, the hatred and rumbling left.

« I apologize for frightening you, young one. I let my emotions get the better of me and let them affect you as well. »

‘It’s– I’m okay… yeah, I’m okay.’ You let out a shaky breath. More than anything else that has happened today, that is what frightened you the most. You almost feel ashamed, everything else happening right now is more important than your stupid phobia.

« … »

Astaroth says nothing, but you feel his worry. You can feel that it’s his. It’s not yours. Your emotions are your own again– you are yourself again. The pace of your heart begins to steady itself– still frantic, but not as frightened as before.

The ‘thulhu fighting the devil turned and looked at your group. (“Thralls. Connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape. Now.”) An odd voice echoed in your head. 

Unlike Astaroth’s, this one you could physically feel in your head: an uncomfortable and unnatural throbbing sensation, heavy pressure pushing out of you from inside your head. The Cthulhu-like being, most likely the voice’s owner, gestures towards what you assume to be the helm, except this too is covered in squirming tentacles.

“Do it. We will deal with the ghaik after we escape,” Lae’zel commands the rest of your party, looking frustrated from agreeing with the mini Cthulhu.

« I am with you, so worry not. I will guide you and protect you through this. »

You smile slightly and awkwardly, but quickly turn your focus towards the battle at hand. It’s nice having a supernatural benefactor. In the immediate vicinity are a few imps and a strange creature with the body of a pig and a head the shape of a bird skull. Tav rushes towards the bird-boar while Lae’zel goes for an imp. Tav strikes her quarry twice, darting around behind it as Shadowheart flanks it and delivers a blow to its head with her mace.

While the hostile creatures are occupied, you flee down the center stairs, violin tucked under your arm, one hand gripping its neck and the other holding your bow. You swallow the urge to scream as you run, your jaw clenched tight and lips pursed to prevent any sound from escaping. Whether the scream you wanted to let out was in terror or a battle cry of sorts, no one would know except yourself… But it was definitely one from terror.

« Duck! »

Either by instinct or years of conditioning, you drop to the ground as if you heard a gunshot. You fell to your knees and hunched over, protectively cradling your violin against your chest. Not a second later a bolt flies over your head, missing you entirely. Looking at where it came from, you see an imp pointing its crossbow at you, beginning to reload only to be stopped by a high kick from Tav.

“We’ll take care of the enemies!” Tav calls out to you over her shoulder. “Get to that transponder!”

You nod, lips pulled tight to your teeth as you try not to freak out. You scramble forwards again, almost tripping as you pick yourself up. Crossing the sunken platform you sprint up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

« Move left! Dodge! »

You sidestep to your left, narrowly avoiding the swing of a hatchet from an imp you hadn’t noticed come up from behind. A small fireball slams into the imp, killing it instantly. You see Shadowheart behind you with her arm raised up. You nod to her in thanks, wide-eyed, and she nods back.

‘Holy shit. She can shoot fire from her hands.’

You want to question everything you know, having been met with a demon lord, Cthulhu-spawn, aliens, and now actual honest-to-god magic all in the span of one day, but there will be time for that later.

Facing forward again you clamber up the rest of the stairs. You reach the top of the stairs and pause, your eyes sparkling in awe at what’s in front of you. A giant red dragon soars past the windshield, majestic and uniquely graceful in its flight.

“Tsk’va!” Lae’zel curses, you assume, yet another one of her words not translating. “Hurry! Before they strike!”

You blink and gently shake your head, pulling yourself together. You can fawn over dragons later. You bob and weave with Astaroth’s guidance, dodging attacks from enemies who are quickly felled by your allies. It doesn’t take long to arrive at the transponder with the help from him and your allies. You grimace in disgust at the living machinery, its writhing mass of tentacles closely resembling the one that kidnapped you.

‘So, uh, how do I use this repulsive thing?’

« Place together the ends of a tentacle from the top and one from the bottom. »

‘So make a tenta-mite and a tenta-tite hold hands, got it.’ You place your violin down and reach out with both hands, hesitantly grabbing a grimy tentacle in each. You shiver at their strange texture as you place their ends together and watch as they stick to each other like Velcro.

« Get back! Quickly! »

You don’t get a chance to act on his command as a dragon practically crashes through what you thought was a windshield but was apparently just an empty hole–maybe magic was keeping the wind out?--, the impact shaking the ship enough to knock you off your feet. You can do nothing but watch as it opens its maw, a blast of fire leaving its mouth, coming straight at you. You bring your arms up, covering your face, expecting the searing pain of your skin being burnt away. 

But it didn’t.

You slowly open your eyes and peek over your arms, seeing the fire collide with a misty blue shield that had formed around you. The shield only vanished after the flames dissipated and the dragon leapt off of the ship.

« Young one, pluck the connection you made. We must get you out of the hells. »

Your exhausted and overwhelmed mind has given up on processing the situation. You pull yourself up by the base of the transponder and reach out, plucking the connection like you would your violin. You see the space in front of the ship rip open, revealing a wormhole of sorts that you soar into. Exiting on the other side reveals a starry night sky which you might have appreciated had the ship not started to free fall, your body leaving the ground. You’ve seen this simulated zero gravity before in videos where people were having fun, but that was in a safe and controlled environment. This was decidedly not a safe and controlled environment. You can do nothing but curl into a ball and lace your fingers together behind your head to cup your neck, hopefully protecting it. You don’t float for long as you are quickly jettisoned out the empty windows, the sheer pressure exerted on you combined with the mental fatigue you’ve suffered is enough to render you unconscious for the second time that day.

You wake to the sun in your eyes. Groaning, you roll over to bury your face in your pillow, not ready to wake up. Instead of the soft fabric of the pillow case, you’re met with dirt, rocks, and grass pressed against your skin. You lift yourself up in a dazed panic. Where are you?

« Good morning, young one. How are you feeling? »

You sit up, startled by the unexpected voice. Then the events of yesterday come rushing back to you after hearing Astaroth’s voice. “A bit sore, but other than that, fine I guess. Oh, but what happened? Last I remember I was defenestrated against my will.” ‘Never thought I’d actually get a chance to use that word.’

« Luckily, I was able to protect you, though there is something else you must know. »

You tilt your head. “Hmm?”

« As you were falling, I felt another presence reach out to you. One not unlike the mind flayers who abducted you. » He sounded apprehensive, some of his emotions mixing into your own. « I was able to ward it off, but I am unsure of what their intention was. We should be careful going forward. »

‘Did you say…mindflayer?’

« Yes, I believe you referred to them as ‘Cthulhus’. »

“Oh.. oh my god.” Now sitting cross-legged, you rest your forehead against the palms your hands. You take a deep breath. ‘Astaroth, you said this was a different world, right? Which one is it; where exactly am I?’

« Currently you are in the continent of Faerûn on the planet Toril. »

‘…We’re in the forgotten realms, aren’t we?’

« Well, yes, » He sounded surprised. « I was not aware you knew of it. »

‘It was the setting of a game I played back home called Dungeons & Dragons. Who’d’ve thought that knowledge would actually come in handy?’ You sigh. ‘Gods, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize a mindflayer right in front of me.’

« I would not have expected you to. They are quite the rarity in your realm. »

‘I’m going to need some time to really process all of this later.’ You sigh again, this one more despairing than the last. “Fuck… how am I supposed to survive here? Isn’t this realm, like, super dangerous?”

« I suppose, if you’re feeling up to it, we could speak of what I originally reached out to you for. »

‘No time like the present I guess, so please, do distract me from thoughts of my impending doom.’

« To speak plainly, I am trapped. » His demeanor became quite solemn. « A very long time ago I made a deal where if I were to ever perish, I would resurrect in the Wells of Darkness, the seventy-third layer of the Abyss. However, the same being who killed me ignited a permanent hellfire in my assigned pit. I have since been stuck in this well, forever burning and regenerating in an endless cycle, stuck between life and death. » He paused, a heavy silence lingering in your mind. « Try as I might, I am unable to escape. I am simply not powerful enough to extinguish the magic of a now god. And so, that brings us to you. The deal I offer is simple: I will grant you my powers in return for your aid in freeing me. That is all there is to it, no strings attached. I know suffering intimately, and would not wish it upon a warlock of mine. I’ve found that loyalty earned through trust is sturdier than if earned through fear or unwilling necessity. »

‘Okay, but, why me?’

« You are open-minded and have magical potential within you, which is what drew me towards you, but most importantly is that the laws of this realm do not constrain you. With you as my warlock, I may yet escape from this prison. » His tone softened, almost pleading, « So I ask you, (y/n), will you accept this deal and become my warlock? »

‘If I do accept, what happens if I fail? If I can’t free you?’

« Nothing, » he answered honestly. « I only ask that you aid me however you feel you are able to. Any headway we make is valuable, even if we cannot free me in the end. My time here has taught me patience, if nothing else. »

‘And you won’t force me to do something I don’t want?’

« I will not. If you wish, I can add that to our contract. »

‘Yes, please.’

« Very well. I propose this contract: I will grant you my powers in return for your aid in freeing me. I cannot force you to do anything against your will, nor will I withhold my powers from you to manipulate you into doing something you do not wish. And so I ask once more, will you accept this contract and form a pact with me? »

Surprised but grateful at the addendum, you agree, “I accept.”

« And so it shall be. »

You watch as a soft, blue light pulses through your veins, leaving a trail of comfortable heat in its wake. And then you know things, things you shouldn’t. Information is input into your head, information of what you are now capable of.

« As of this moment, you are my one and only warlock. I have granted you knowledge of your new abilities you are able to use as of now. I will grant you more in the future once you have gotten used to these and I have regained enough power. »

‘Cool, but, uh…how do I use it?’

« I would suggest using an arcane focus to channel your magic, » he proposed. « Once you have acclimated, I shall guide you on casting without one. »

‘So, what do I need? A crystal ball? A gemstone? AvVoodoo doll? A wand?’

« Nothing of the sort, though I am curious to learn what this ‘voodoo doll’ is. No, your instrument will work wonderfully. »

‘I can cast spells… with my violin? Like a bard?’

« Yes. It is something you are already familiar with and attuned to. While instruments are usually conduits for magic for bards, I believe it will work just as well for you. »

‘Yeah, that checks out. Music is a master manipulator of emotions.’ You clap your hands once to emphasize your next point: ‘So, got any idea where my violin is?’

« It’s behind you, dear. »

You turn around and yep. There it was. Violin and bow placed neatly on the ground behind you.

‘Oh… well, I feel stupid. Thank you though.’

« Anytime. »

You grab your instrument and slowly stand up, your legs sore and most definitely thoroughly bruised, complaining at being used.

‘So, uh, do I just have to always be holding it? I’d rather not have to run with my violin and bow in my hands. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.’

« Hmm… With a few work-around I could probably register it as a pact-weapon of sorts, » Astaroth offered. « That way you will be able to summon and dismiss it at will. »

‘So I get to have a magic violin? Sweet.’ You smile excitedly. ‘How do we do this?’

« Currently you are not powerful enough to summon pact weapons at will, but since this is technically not a weapon, then theoretically I should be able to assign it as a pact-bound object which you can summon and dismiss. However, it may prove difficult at first, for the magic required will drain quite a bit of your energy in exchange. »

‘Yeah, that’s fine. Exhaustion is an old friend of mine, so I think I can handle it.’

You feel a flash of concern. « …As you wish. »

‘Cool. Well, I’m gonna go find Tav, Shadowheart, and Lae’zel now.’

« Of course, though I must warn you: You should never mention my name amongst others, » Astaroth warned. « My name has been taken by the one responsible for my suffering. Though not the most well known, he is still famous enough as an evil entity many frown upon. »

You suck air in through your teeth. “Good to know! I’ll keep that in mind.”

No longer dedicating your entire focus to conversing, you take a moment to look at your surroundings. You are on a small cliff of sorts. Down the cliff to your right is a small beach with a single dock, but your attention isn’t focused on that. Instead your eyes are drawn to the massive, burning wreckage of the ship you were on, its remains not even a meter away from the cliff’s base, its structure still managing to reach far above you. Yeah, you really don’t want to risk death by any of the debris crushing you. So, you turn on your heel and walk down the foot-trodden path, away from the shipwreck. It is only now that you notice someone else, partially obscured by some foliage. 

‘Ah shit. I hope they didn’t hear me talking to Astaroth. They’ll think I’m a total weirdo who talks to themself! …I mean, not that I’m not, but it’s embarrassing if other people know I talk to myself.’

The person, who you desperately hope didn’t hear you not even five minutes ago, is nervously looking for something in the tall grass in front of them, like they were trying to figure out if they caught a glimpse of a shiny Pokémon and didn’t want to scare it away. Curious, you quietly approach, keeping your footsteps light. Your stranger danger sirens are going off, but you ignore them because after the day you just had and finding out that you’ve been thrown into a world full of monsters, most of which aren’t the hot kind, you’d feel much safer with a stranger than on your own, a thought you’d never imagine you would ever have.

“You there!”

You squeak in surprise. You’re not used to people sensing your presence. More often than not, people don’t notice you, so you end up accidentally scaring them half the time.

“Come here— I need help!”

You cautiously inch your way forward, cursing your anxiety for making you so nervous.

“Hurry! I’ve got one of those brain things cornered. Come and help me kill it.”

For the first time, he turns towards you, revealing his face. He’s as pale as a ghost, but not in a sickly way. His white curls frame his face just right, his long pointed ears only slightly obscured by his hair. An elf, you assume. He’s pretty—beautiful—gorgeous—absolutely stunning. 

‘Is everyone in this world this beautiful? He’s even got that noble vampire aesthetic going on and I’m such a sucker for that, like, come on. Pretty girls and pretty boys?! Anxiety’s enough of a bitch with normal people! Gah, I’m gonna make a fool of myself aren’t I? I need an octopus pot, but for a human that I can crawl in. Astaroth? Do I have hidey-hole-making magic?’

Astaroth huffs a quiet, amused huff. « I’m afraid not, young one. Though please, be wary of this man. He’s planning to hold a knife to your throat as soon as you lower your guard. »

Your eyes widen, ‘I’m sorry, what? What makes you say that?’

« Because I saw it, » he said, matter-of-factly. « I preside over the domains of divination and prophecies. I can easily see possible outcomes a few seconds into the future. It's the same reason why I was able to help you on the nautiloid. »

‘Huh. Neat.’ The elf’s gaze meets yours once again. ‘…Why is it always the hot ones who have problems? Or would it be why are the villains always hot? Or am I just attracted to toxic people?’

“There, in the grass,” the pale elf motioned towards the foliage with his head. “Can you see it?” Perhaps he mistook your panicked expression for fear of the ‘brain thing,’ as he put it, because it seems like he’s trying to not-so-subtly nudge you towards helping him.

You stare at him, unsure. Instead of approaching, you lift your violin up and place it under your chin. You look towards the grass, trying to see what creature he’s talking about. You remain vigilant, flickering your eyes between him and the grass, heeding your patron’s warning. You tense when the underbrush violently rustles, then jump, surprised, as a boar leaps out. Luckily, it ignores you, opting to run by you instead. It’s when you glance back at the elf that you see him pull out a dagger. You take a step back, placing your bow on your strings, ready to hopefully produce some type of magic. You’re tense, your eyes never leaving his blade.

“I saw you on the ship, didn’t I?” He stated, question rhetorical. “Free, scuttling about.”

You hunch up your already-tense shoulders, smushing your violin against your face. You open your mouth to speak, stuttering out ‘uhs’ and ‘ums’ before you remember the language barrier.

‘What the fuck am I supposed to do? He can’t understand English!’

“You’re in league with them, aren’t you?” He continues to accuse you. “Those tentacled—argh!”

He’s cut off by a sharp pain in his mind, you assume, due to the identically painful twisting within your own. You see dark city streets, the faces of everyone you pass by. Then you see daylight accompanied by a dreadful fear, the same fear you had been feeling the entirety of the previous day. The fear of pain. The fear of dying.

“What was that?” He started to sound panicked now, the aggressive edge in his tone replaced by confusion. “What’s going on?”

You shrug as best you can, still holding your bow at the ready.

He sighs, “It’s those tentacled monsters. Whatever they did—whatever they put in us—just created a connection.They took you too. I saw it during… whatever just happened.” 

He drops his stance, sheathing his dagger behind him. You mirror him, lowering your bow and violin.

“And to think I was ready to decorate the ground with your innards. Apologies.” He bows briefly, then looks to you for a response.

Out of habit, you tuck your violin under your right arm, holding it against your side, angle your right foot behind you, and bow in return in the proper style of a musician ending their performance. You see his eyes twinkle with some unknown emotion; he’s too guarded to read. 

“Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name’s Astarion. I was in Baldur’s Gate when those beasts snatched me.”

You nod at him. “…(Y/n).”

“Not much of a conversationalist, are you? All right. Please tell me you at least know something about these worms.”

You shake your head. You never had the time to truly get into the deep lore of Dungeons & Dragons. You know some things from Critical Role, but that takes place on Exandria, not Toril, where you are now, so that basically makes all your knowledge worthless.

“I suppose it’s not exactly common knowledge,” his tone is light, not truly having expected you to know anything. “These worms are already affecting me. I can feel it. Now what to do about it…” He trails off in thought, looking towards you to see if you have anything to add.

You do what you do best: shrug.

“Well, getting out of here is a good place to start. Then finding anyone who might know about these worms. I need an expert. Someone who knows how to control these things…”

You motion behind you, thumb out: the classic hitchhiking sign. You nod your head in the same direction, hoping to get across the point that you’re asking him to come with you.

“You know, I was ready to go this alone, but maybe sticking with the herd isn’t such a bad idea. And you might be a useful person to know.” He looks you up and down, eyebrow raised.

Ah. That’s right. You’re wearing clothes from your world. Soft, comfy clothes that do not fit the high fantasy theme at all, what with your exotic earthling style and all. But hey, they’ve got deep pockets and soft lining, which you honestly care about more than fitting in. If you’re gonna get strange looks either way, might as well wear something cozy.

“Shall we, then? Lead on.”

You stand there, blinking, not having expected him to ask you to take the lead. You glance around, looking for a way to go, eventually deciding on the path heading away from the crash site. You lead the elf, Astarion, down the path that soon curves to run along the base of the cliff, too high for you to even consider climbing.

“So, whatever happened to those other three you were running around with?” Astarion breaks the silence.

You shrug. Again.

“Fair enough. Then, how about your shoes? I wouldn’t dream of walking around without any like you are.”

You look down, reminded by the fact that, sure enough, you still don’t have any shoes. ‘Oh well, suppose I’ll just give him another shrug.’

He sighs. “You know, it’s quite difficult to hold a conversation if you continue to stay silent. I know you can speak, you were able to tell me your name, after all, so why don’t you?”

“Eh…” You make a noncommittal noise and gesture with your hands a bit. [It’s complicated], you want to say, but you can’t.

“Well, I suppose if you don’t want to talk, I can’t exactly force you to,” he huffs.

You sheepishly smile at him, [sorry].

“Seems like I’ll just have to talk enough for the both of us,” he smirked down at you, “or we find some other way to communicate.”

[Okay], you sign with a smile, your thumb and index finger curling to form an open circle, your other fingers held straight up.

“…Three? Three what?” He asks in response to the three fingers you held up.

You shake your head and repeat the sign, [no, not three. It means okay].

“…I still don’t know what that means, so I suppose it falls on me to move this along.” He puts his hand to his chin in thought. “It will be dreadfully boring if we have to walk in silence the whole time. How about I ask you some questions and try to guess your answers with those weird little gestures you’ve been doing?” He suggests. “Though a bit of a pain, I suppose it would be better than nothing.”

You nod back. That sounds like a fair idea.

“Let’s try to get the hard ones out of the way. Why don’t you speak?”

You scrunch your face in thought. ‘How can I explain that?’ You spend a moment thinking about it. ‘Oh!’ [I got it!] You hit your fist to your open palm like you would when playing rock-paper-scissors. ‘I’ll just try and explain it like what happened in The Little Mermaid.’

You carefully maneuver your bow and violin to hold them both in one hand before turning to face him and open your mouth. He looks at you strangely. You raise your hand, miming sticking your arm down your throat. You close your hand around nothing, then pull your arm away. You stick your hand out and open it, dropping something from it. You then turn around and hold both hands out, as if you were someone else ready to catch what you dropped. Then you wiggled your fingers at Astarion, [Magic]! And thus ended your performance.

He looks very confused, and for good reason. “You pulled something from your mouth, gave that something to someone else, and then wiggled your fingers at me.”

You nod, excited. ‘Woah, he actually understood that!?’

“Honestly, did you really expect me to get anything out of that?” He asked dryly. “And here I thought bards were supposed to be good at performance and theatrics.”

‘Oh… he didn’t… yeah that checks out.’ You shake your head at him. [Not a bard].

“Are you seriously trying to say that was a good performance?” He asked incredulously. “That I was actually supposed to understand that?”

You shake your head [no] again, but with more force this time. You make circles with your free hand. [The other thing. I already know my performance was shitty]. He raises an eyebrow. You point to your violin. [I’m a violinist, but that doesn’t mean I’m a bard].

“Yes, your fiddle, you’re a bard, I know.” He was starting to sound exasperated.

You furiously shake your head at him. [No. Not. A. Bard].

“You’re… not a bard?”

You snap your fingers and give him a single finger gun alongside a smirk and nod. [Bingo].

“So you’re just a regular human who, despite not being a bard, tried to threaten me by playing an instrument?”

“Mmm,” you hum thoughtfully and tilt your hand, [sort of]. 

“Gods this is frustrating,” he mumbles under his breath. “Don’t you have something to write on? Spare paper or a book even?”

[Nope]. Another shake of your head.

“We’re getting nowhere at this rate.”

“Mm,” you nod, agreeing with him.

At this point the two of you have come across another part of the ship’s remains, cutting off the rest of the path. You have no choice but to go through. Only a few steps in and you see a mind flayer, laying on the ground, severely injured. As you approach, you feel it connect with you, filling you with feelings of compassion, urging you to let it devour you.

You get that same sick feeling of having your emotions messed with as you did on the ship, but you felt more repulsion than fear this time. ‘Uh, gross. No thanks,’ you back up.

« Perhaps you could take this chance to try out your powers? »

‘Oh, yeah. Target practice. It would probably be best to try it out now instead of in the middle of a fight, wouldn’t it.’

You raise your violin and stare into the mindflayer’s eyes for a brief second before squeezing your own shut. You place your bow against the E string. ‘E is for eldritch blast!’ Then you pull. The open E rings loud and clear. You feel an energy pulse through you, moving through your arms up to your fingertips. Daring to open your eyes a sliver, you see that familiar blue light gather where your bow meets the string. When you lift the bow from the string, the magic shoots away from you at an incredible speed, hitting the mind flayer right between the eyes, killing it instantly. You watched as life left its dulling eyes. In less than a second, you had both conjured magic and killed an intelligent being for the first time.

“…Holy shit,” You quietly mutter, the words coming out shakily.

“And you claim you’re not a bard.”

You don’t respond, only lower your violin, arms dangling by your side. You just killed a man. Well, not a man, per se, but still a living, breathing, thinking being. A being who is no longer living, breathing, thinking. You’re a murderer. Are you a murderer in the eyes of the law of Faerûn? Does it count if it’s a mind flayer? With what you just went through, you’d assume that this world doesn’t care if you kill a hostile mind flayer.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

You blink a couple times, seeing Astarion waving his hand in your face. You lean back and peer around his hand to make eye contact with Astarion.

“Ah, there you are,” he lowers his hand. In his eyes you find a vague sense of familiarity; of what, you don’t know. “Honestly, could you try not getting lost in your thoughts? The last thing we need is you freezing up after killing something, since I expect this is going to become a regular occurrence. Have you never killed anything before?”

You opt to just shake your head because no, you’ve never killed anyone. You never really had the means or reason to, back home.

He sighs, “I was afraid that would be the case. Well you’ll have to get used to it. We don’t have much of a choice in this situation.”

You look down at your feet. ‘Welp. Time to activate my trauma response: block it out and pretend it never happened.’ You breathe in—and breathe out. 

« Are you all right, young one? »

‘Yeah, I think? I don’t know. We’ll find out once I process these emotions…eventually.’

« I see. For now though, since you have used your instrument to wield magic, it can now be considered a type of pact-weapon, so you could be able to summon and dismiss it at will. You need only channel your intentions and it shall listen. Though for now, you will only be able to do so once per day. »

‘Okay.’ You gaze at your newly-crowned weapon. “Poof.” It turns into mist, slipping through your fingers like sand.

You look up to face Astarion but are distracted by movement behind him. Leaning to the side to see around him, you spot familiar white hair and contrasting purple skin. Hiding in the shadows are Tav and Shadowheart. Tav’s expression brightens when she sees you and begins to jog over.

“(Y/n)! You’re all right!” She called out to you.

You smile the same way she is and nod: Earth’s customer service smile meets Faerûn’s customer service smile. Maybe you’ll get to find out what she’s actually like if you continue to travel together, because you aren’t willing to believe for a second that her real personality is the customer service persona.

Her eyes glance over at Astarion, stopping about a meter in front of you. Shadowheart didn’t bother jogging to catch up, simply walking instead.

“Who’s this?”

You step to the side and gesture between the two, “Tav, Astarion. Astarion, Tav.”

Tav rapidly blinks as she looks at you, taken aback enough to drop her facade. “Oh, wow, I didn’t notice before but your accent is very thick.”

“Yes, quite,” Astarion remarks. “Is that the real reason you don’t talk? What made you think… that—“ he fumbles with his arms, vaguely mimicking your ‘pulling something out of your throat’ miming, “—would come across as you having an accent?” His tone was a bit harsh, but more dumbfounded than accusatory.

You open your mouth to rebuttal, but sigh instead and rub your temples. When you look up at him you rotate your hands around each other, [There’s more to it than that]. You sigh through your nose with a half-shrug. [It’s complicated].

Shadowheart finally joins the three of you, eyebrow raised, “Really? A game of charades? Now?”

“Ugh,” you groan, threading your fingers through your hair. “I can’t speak your weird alien language! Okay?! This is the best I can fucking do.”

“…Do any of you have a scroll of ‘detect thoughts’ or a potion of mind reading?” Tav asked, looking between the three of you.

“No, unfortunately.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Well then, charades it is,” Tav puts her hands on her hips. “We can make a game out of it! Whoever interprets (y/n) correctly gets a point!”

“If you want to treat it as a game, I won’t stop you,” Shadowheart says, sounding very disinterested.

“Trust me when I say they are absolutely horrid at it, so good luck with that,” Astarion says to Tav, getting a mean side-eye from you. “Now, I believe we’ve already wasted enough time here, standing around and playing games.”

You put your hands up in surrender, ‘Hey, don’t look at me, you’re the ones who decided to critique me.’

As a group of four, you make your way to the north to leave the remains of the nautiloid. Before you clear the wreck, you tap Tav’s shoulder to get her attention. When she looks at you, you gesture towards your feet.

“What happened to your shoes?”

You respond with what is quickly becoming your favorite motion: a shrug.

“Well, I did happen across a couple pairs of shoes– one moment,” she rifles through her back before pulling out a pair of shoes and a pair of boots. “Here you are, see if either of these fit.”

‘...How do you just happen upon two pairs of shoes–actually, you know what. I don’t wanna know.’ You slip on the boots,  opting for them instead of the shoes that have some dark stains on them, grateful for their protection after all the pebbles you’ve been stepping on. They’re a bit too big, but they’ll do. Tav nods and puts the shoes back in her bag, then takes the lead as you all exit the wreckage.

“So, this is Shadowheart,” Tav introduces her to Astarion, “and as you already know, I’m Tav, that’s (y/n), and you’re… Astarion? Did I say that right?”

“A pleasure, although I am a bit surprised you managed to understand despite their accent,” Astarion subtly jabs at your supposed ‘accent.’ “Speaking of, I don’t believe I recognize it. Pray tell, just where do you hail from?” He asks you.

You give him an unamused look. ‘My mans, how the hell am I supposed to try and tell you where I’m from? Not that I was even planning to in the first place. With their hatred towards mindflayers, not that I blame them though, I really don’t wanna know what they’d think of me if they found out I was some kind of alien.’

“Does it really matter?” Shadowheart asks. “It’s not like we’d be able to understand their answer in the first place.”

You point to Shadowheart and nod, [she’s right, you know].

“We can try and guess,” Tav suggests. “Can you try to give us any hints? Like your clothes! I’ve never seen that style before; what about you guys? Do either of you recognize it?”

“No, but they definitely look ill-suited for combat,” Shadowheart sizes you up.

Astarion just shakes his head, but his attention stays focused on you, his gaze growing ever the more suspicious.

“Hmm, what else… if I handed you a map, could you point out where you’re from?”

You shrug, [who’s to say?]

“I’m out of ideas then. Do you have anything on you that can tell us where you’re from?” Tav asks.

You shake your head again. At this rate you’re going to end up rattling your brain into a vicious headache.

“Oh, well. No helping it, I guess. Hopefully we’ll find someone who has mind reading potions for sale.”

You purse your lips. ‘I really don’t wanna get my mind read. How deep does a potion let them pry? Will they find out I’m an alien? Will they find out that my patron’s Astaroth? ‘Cause that would be super bad. Wait, would they even be able to understand your thoughts since you speak an alien language? But what if that doesn’t matter? What if the mind reading stuff does auto-translating? I can’t risk that! Okay, (y/n), you have a new objective: don’t let them read your mind. You can’t let them find out you’re an alien. No way, no how. You just gotta blend in as best you can. You’ve been bullshitting your way through life for years; getting yeeted to a different world doesn’t mean your skills have disappeared. We got this. You got this. I got this.’

Climbing out of the smoking wreckage your group emerges onto a wide dirt path, obviously well-traversed. It spits in two, one way continuing up the stairs and slopes to the left, the other veering off to the right, where you can see a very obvious magic portal on the cliff face practically screaming at you to take a look. You tug on Tav’s robe to get her attention, pointing at the portal when you do.

“Well, that is certainly strange,” she says, confused. “Let’s check it out.” She heads off, expecting the rest of you to follow, which you do.

‘So magic portals aren’t all that common. Good to know, good to know.’

You pointedly ignore the three dead goblins in the way, making sure to step around their bodies. Tav didn’t seem bothered by them, as they immediately went to loot their pockets. The portal, when you arrive in front of it, is a deep empty black, its outer rim swirling with purple magic. It’s just begging to be poked.

And so you do that.

You slowly reach out and gently poke it, recoiling when you get shocked by magical static electricity.

‘Rude.’

And then a hand sticks out, making you jump back because you weren’t prepared for a jump scare. “A hand? Anyone?” A masculine voice calls out from the portal.

You tentatively slip your hand in theirs and shake it, then release it. ‘Is this proper etiquette? To shake someone’s hand when they stick it through a portal to greet them as they come out?’

“Perhaps I should have clarified,” the voice of the person who you assume the hand belongs to speaks again. “A helping hand, please?”

You look at Tav. You don’t know how to get people through portals. She comes up to you and grabs hold of the arm as you step aside. Then she pulls.

“That’s it! Go on, keep pulling!”

The portal suddenly dilates, a man popping out of it, him and Tav both careening onto the ground. 

‘Oh… that’s what they meant… Yeah, I’m an idiot. In my defense, my mind has been under too much pressure to work correctly. Yeah. That’s definitely the reason.’

“Ooft,” He grunts before standing up. “Hello. I’m Gale of Waterdeep.” He reaches forward and gives Tav a firm handshake with both his hands. “Apologies, I’m usually better at this.” 

“At introductions?” Tav asks. 

“At magic. Say, but I know you, don’t I? In a manner of speaking. You were on the nautiloid as well.”

“I was, yes.”

“Then I can only assume you too were on the receiving end of a rather unwelcome insertion in the ocular region.” 

“Yes, do you know anything about those worms?” 

“The inserted we speak of, this parasite—are you aware that after a period of excruciating gestation it will turn us into mind flayers? It’s a process known as ceremorphosis—”

‘Why is his cadence so weird? Ceremor-PHO-sis? Wouldn’t you say cere-MOR-phosis? You know, like metamorpho—wait did he say “turn us into mind flayers”?’

“—and let me assure you: it is to be avoided. You don’t happen to be a cleric by any chance, do you? A doctor? Surgeon? Uncannily adroit with a knitting needle?” He mimes sewing with his last phrase and you can’t help the little huff of laughter that comes out. He glances your way with a small smile, glad someone appreciates his joke.

“You seem to know enough about our condition to realize it is beyond most clerics’ skills,” Shadowheart adds.

“Most, no doubt,” Gale confirms. “But I find myself hoping to be in the presence of the few. You don’t happen to be one of them?”

“Unfortunately, no. I was actually hoping you might know someone,” Tav replies.

“Then it looks like we’re both starved for answers. We’re most certainly going to need a healer, and soon too. How about we lend each other a helping hand once more and look for a healer together?” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Tav smiles, arms akimbo. “You’re more than welcome to join us.” 

“Most excellent. A parasite shared is a parasite…halved. Or something to that effect. Oh! But before you think you’re about to embark on a journey with most ill-mannered a man: thank you for pulling me out of that stone. It was an act of foresighted kindness I assure you, for I have the feeling ample opportunities will present themselves for me to return the favor.”

“Of course. Now we should probably introduce ourselves. I’m Tav, that’s Shadowheart, (y/n), and Astarion.”

“It is lovely to meet you all.”

“Likewise,” Shadowheart says, still seeming pretty disinterested.

“Hm,” Astarion hums, busy looking at his nails.

You hold out your hand for a handshake, which Gale doesn’t hesitate to take.

“Ah, so you’re the one who shook my hand. Your magic is unlike most I’ve felt before.” Looks like you just outed yourself as the person who shook his hand instead of helping him, because you’re an idiot. “And I don’t believe I’ve ever come across anyone who dresses as you do. Where do you hail from, friend?”

You look to Tav with pleading eyes, [can you explain, please]? 

“I should mention it will be difficult to get any answers out of them,” Tav explains. She continues when Gale looks at her questioningly. “They have a very thick accent, to the point where we can’t really understand what they’re saying. We’ve been stuck playing charades to understand them.”

“Would you try saying something? I might recognize where you’re from once I hear it,” his eyes glittered with the natural curiosity of a researcher. Whether it was for you or your magic, you weren’t sure.

“Hmm,” you tap your lips in thought. “Um…Ah… I don’t know?”

Gale squints at you, deep in thought. 

‘Oh. I said that out loud didn’t I? Well, problem solved, now I don’t need to say anything.’

“Well, for starters, I would say that it’s not just an accent, they’re speaking in a different language entirely.”

You give Gale the same snap with finger guns you did with Astarion, [Bingo].

“I believe that means you got it right, if I’m understanding our past “conversation” correctly,” Astarion adds, adding air quotes around ‘conversation’.

You nod.

“How curious,” Gale says, even more intrigued. “You understand us just fine, though, correct?”

Another nod.

“Hmm, perhaps the parasite somehow affected your speech,” he speculated. “How peculiar. We’ll have to look more into this later. For now, let’s focus on finding a healer.”

With that, you and the rest of your party turn back to go along the other direction the path took. You once again avoid looking at the goblin corpses. Gale falls into step alongside Tav at the front of the group, chatting with her about something you can’t quite make out.

“I have to admit, I’m not too fond of the idea of traveling with a wizard that traps himself in rocks with his own magic,” you hear Astarion say from your left.

You tilt your head at him, [Is that not normal]? ‘It looks just like that hidey-hole magic that I want.’

“Well, a wizard whose spells backfire doesn’t seem very useful in a fight. Who knows what could end up happening.”

Ah, he didn’t understand you. But it seems that this isn’t normal, so you got your answer anyway. It’s then that you hear shouting up ahead, Tav automatically changing paths to lead you towards it. Up ahead you see two tieflings, at least, you think they’re tieflings, arguing with each other. Behind them, trapped in a suspended cage, is Lae’zel, looking very upset. Tav immediately hurries, running up to the two tieflings to see what the situation is. She’s already talking by the time you catch up, glancing between the pair and Lae’zel. You casually slide your hands in your pockets; you trust her to take care of this. Besides, you’re already socially exhausted. You didn’t want to try being the negotiator when you couldn’t even fucking talk.

Something smooth brushes against your fingers.

‘What the fuck?’

Your brows furrow as you reach deeper into your pocket. It’s a familiar shape, one you know from handling it everyday. How the hell did your phone end up here? You were pretty sure it wasn’t in your pocket when you were abducted.

« So you call that wonderful device a ‘phone’? »

‘Yeah, but, how did it get here?’

You hear Astaroth clear his throat, a bit bashful. « Well, it has been a long time since I’ve heard music, longer still since I’ve heard music from your world, and it’s changed quite drastically from what I can recall. So,  I may have acted a tad selfish and used the magic I was planning on using to transport you on your phone when you were abducted. »

‘Hey, it’s fine, truly, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get a chance to listen to any of the music I have.’

« Will it not work here? » You swear you can hear him pouting.

‘No it’s just—Listen, I really can’t let them know that I’m from Earth. If any of them see this they’re gonna know something’s up. Then I’ll have to explain myself and it’s gonna suck. What if I fuck up so badly and they catch me in a lie that they think I’m some evil entity who’s come to kill them or a mind flayer in disguise? If I avoid all that by admitting I’m an alien and I don’t know anything about this world, then I have to ask about things, everything really, and I hate doing that. Talking to people is really scary. This, speaking with you, is different though because I have inner-monologues all the time anyway, and you can only speak in my head, so it almost feels like I’m just talking to myself, and I’m great at that. And you already know I’m from Earth. Have you heard of social anxiety? Because I have that and it’s real bad. Honestly? Take your time with that speaking module. Having an excuse not to talk is great. I get to go non-verbal and everyone is okay with it. I could sing whatever I want and have nobody understand the lyrics! Not like I’m going to sing in front of anyone, but if I did I wouldn’t have to worry about that.. If you want, and if you’re able to, you can look into my memories and hear some Earth music, but I will not play anything on my phone unless we are very, very alone.’

« …I believe I have failed to realize how stressful these events have been for you. »

‘Sorry, when I get super stressed I tend to break down into spiraling thoughts that occupy my anxious mind and ramble on so much that I don’t even realize what I’m saying anymore because I’m on autopilot and I’m doing it again, fuck, sorry.’

« Do not apologize for that which is not your fault. »

‘Okay, I’ll try. No promises though. It’s hard to change habits, especially speech habits.’

You then feel that familiar icky squirming in your skull.

(“(Y/n), can you hear me?”)

You freeze up, eyes widening. Why was Tav’s voice in your head now? You snap your head to look up at Tav.

(“Oh, good! It seems like you can!”) She smiles at you. (“Lae’zel was able to talk to me via the parasite, so I thought to try this out so you don’t have to rely on gestures anymore.”)

You purse your lips, a bit panicked. You know nothing. You think nothing. No thoughts, head empty vibes only. You try to send over the uncomfortable feeling of the tadpole’s squirming.

(“Yeah, it’s a bit unpleasant, but at least now we’ll have an alternative way of communicating.”) She was much more excited about this than you were.

‘Wall.’

Tav furrows her brow, “Hmm, it seems like even with the tadpole, I still can’t hear her speak.”

‘Holy shit that fucking worked.’

“Hmm, very intriguing indeed,” Gale looked at you with the eyes of a scholar parched for knowledge, begging to look inside your head.

You try to shrug nonchalantly, [Oh well, nothing we can do about it, right? Guess we’ll just have to forget about this and move on, right]?

“You’d best hope the tadpole isn’t turning you already, istik.” Lae’zel, who had been released from her prison while you were spiraling, was very intimidating when her eyes met yours. “As soon as you show any sign of transformation I will take your head.”

As if your anxiety couldn’t get any worse, Lae’zel just has to prove you wrong.

“Don’t worry, Lae’zel, we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen to any of us,” Tav reassures her, placing a hand on her shoulder which Lae’zel immediately shrugs off. “The sun’s getting low now, so why don’t we just set up camp and get some semblance of a proper rest?”

Nobody needed any convincing, save for Lae’zel remarking that first thing in the morning we need to search for a crèche. After a little while of searching, your party comes across a cozy spot near the river, far away from the crash site and secluded enough you wouldn’t need to fear many hostile beings potentially arriving. Quickly enough, everyone finds a spot and starts putting up their tents; all except you, of course. You don’t have a tent. Because you were at home when you were kidnapped so why would you have a tent on you. So you find a lonely spot by the river, and you stand there and wait.

It doesn’t take long for Tav to notice you doing nothing after she finishes setting up her tent, “Hey, something the matter? You need help getting your tent up?”

You blandly gesture to the empty ground in front of you and look to her, [I will, but first, I will need a tent to put up].

“Oh, you don’t have a tent, do you? Give me a moment, I believe I picked up a camping pack along the way; I’ll check if there’s a tent in there.” She runs off and rifles through a large chest near Shadowheart’s tent, coming back with a large pack soon afterwards. “Here we are,” she places the pack down in front of you, taking out a large bundle you assume is a tent. “Come, I’ll show you how to set it up.”

You spend a good part of the next half an hour learning how to raise your tent with Tav. When you finish you begin to smell the lovely aroma of food wafting from the center of camp. As if in a trance, you find yourself walking towards the campfire and see Gale stirring a pot above the flames.

“Dinner’s just about ready,” He says, seeing you and Tav approach. 

“Smells great!” Tav happily sits near the fire, practically drooling at the aroma.

“I’m glad you think so,” he smiles at her. “Hopefully some good food in our stomachs will make our situation a bit more bearable.”

You sit down as well, hugging your knees to your chest. The fire is warm, welcoming as the sun begins to set and the world grows colder. It’s nice, albeit without the comforting feel Astaroth’s warmth always brings. Glancing over you can see Lae’zel tending to her sword and Astarion lounging just outside his tent with a book. Shadowheart soon joins the three of you already at the fire, and with perfect timing too as Gale starts serving out the soup he’d been making.

Without even needing to be called over, Lae’zel comes to grab her bowl and quickly gulps down her soup, not even bothering to take a seat. She simply hands the bowl back when she’s done and returns to sharpening her weapon. 

“Astarion, soup’s done!” Tav calls out. “Are you going to have some?”

He doesn’t even bother looking up from his book. “Thank you, but I’m not exactly hungry after the day I’ve had,” he waves her off. 

She shrugs, “Suit yourself. More for me then,” she immediately refills her bowl as soon as she finishes her first one.

You’re slow to finish your soup, which could admittedly use more salt. D&D is technically high fantasy, right? Does that mean salts and spices are precious commodities and you’ll be stuck eating unseasoned food for the foreseeable future? This is gonna suck if that’s the case. You retreat further into your mind as you eat, taking some time to commune with your patron as a new thought comes to mind.

‘Do you need me to like, set up an altar and send you offerings and stuff? Burn some food or spill some wine?’

« No, there wouldn’t be much of a point of sending me anything if it’s just going to turn to ash within a second. »

‘Oh. Right. I don’t really know how this warlock stuff here works. My only basis is how witchcraft works back home, so you’re really going to have to lead me through this, sorry.’

« …Yes, we’ll definitely have to work on you apologizing for things out of your control. »

‘Oh, right, sorry.’

You hear a weary sigh.

‘…Yeah, that’s gonna take a lot of work to change.’

You swear you could almost feel a ghostly pat on your shoulder, but that would be impossible. Finishing your meal, you stand up and head for the river to at least rinse off your bowl—you weren’t sure if anyone had soap, let alone how to even ask for soap.

“Are you turning in for the night, (y/n)?” Tav asks, almost finished with her second helping.

You shake your head, [not yet]. You point to the river then mime scrubbing your bowl, [gotta rinse this off, first].

“You forget you have a wizard among you now,” Gale smiles. 

With a flick of his fingers and a short burst of magic, your bowl is suddenly as clean as before you used it. You stare at it, wide-eyed. You don’t care what you might be able to do, that was the most impressive magic you’ve ever seen. If you could clean anything with a wiggle of your fingers, your life would have been a lot easier, being the clumsy person you are.

“A little prestidigitation is all, no need to clean by hand.”

Looking at Gale in awe, you gently hand your magically-cleaned bowl back to him. [Thank you], you sign. 

You wave to the three at the campfire to bid them goodnight before you crawl into your tent. Your bedroll lies there, next to the pack Tav had given you, just inviting you to slip inside. So you do. It’s not as comfortable as your bed, but still cozier than you were expecting. You wiggle down into it, cocooning yourself until only the top half of your face is sticking out.

‘So about putting out that hellfire; we should probably start talking about that.’

« If you are not too fatigued, then yes. »

‘Soooo, what have you already tried?’

« Not much, admittedly. I can assure you that dousing or smothering the flames will not work. My own magic doesn’t seem to do much either. It has been a long time since I last had an ally, longer still since I had one who was powerful enough to aid me. Since this cycle first began, in the early days of the blood war, the number of allies I’ve had amounts to less than ten. I am mostly forgotten. Very few mortals have learned the truth of the name Astaroth, and fewer still have been able to invoke me. Most end up invoking Gargauth in my place. » His calm tone changed when he mentioned that name, a deep hatred, a grudge that has persisted for millennia, tainted that name with a deep, fearsome loathing unlike anything you could possibly imagine. 

You try to mentally convey to him the feeling of you patting him on the back, “that’s rough buddy.”

He chuckled a bit, « I must say, no one has ever called me ‘buddy’ before, and yet you have already done so twice. »

You begin to feel quite embarrassed before a pleasant warmth cuts through it, emanating from your chest. « It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed, so long that I thought I had lost the ability to do so. » You could hear the melancholy in his words, but the warmth in your chest never faded. « And yet you’ve managed to greatly amuse me more times this past day than I have in one thousand years. I look forward to seeing how often you make me laugh. »

‘I’ll try my best.’ You smile and can sense him smiling in return. ‘But that name you mentioned, Gargauth… are they the one who did this to you?’

« Yes. He is an arch-devil-turned-deity. He’s one of the main reasons my hatred for devils runs so deep. I’ve never liked any devil I’ve met, but I despise him. You felt my loathing for fiends seep into you when we saw that cambion on the nautiloid. Now you know why. »

‘Yeah, I don’t blame ya. He sounds like a dick.’

Another chuckle from him makes you smile.

« I must say, I forgot how pleasant it was to be able to talk with someone like this. »

‘Well, I’m not leaving anytime soon, so let’s hope you don’t get sick of me.’

« Impossible. »

Mentally, physically, and socially exhausted, it doesn’t take long for you to fall into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Next Chapter >

[ozonelasher]

GET TO KNOW YOUR ADMIN !!

(i don't actually have a mun fc so you're getting shiny azumarill because. i like it :3)

name — Ana!

pronouns — she/her primarily but they/them is fine too

preferred comms — tumblr IMs are preferred for OOC talk/plotting, & my discord is open to mutuals if they'd like :3

name of muse — Kaki

experience in RP — honestly i've been rping since i was probably too young to rp on the internet 💀 i started on deviantart (which like. oops but also i was like 9) and then started rping on tumblr likeee ~2015 or so. i actually first started writing Kaki on tumblr in like 2016, and then kinda started writing on twitter in 2019 when the RPC on here started to wane from its peak. i came back very recently because i got tired of the limitations of writing on twitter

best experiences — as of recent, i've had a few really really fun crossover threads on twitter that will stay with me forever atp. one was a real slowburn romance plot with a spike spiegel, and another was of isekai plot with desmond miles from assassin's creed that ended up being really fun and sweet. i also have a really cute ship going with a friend's DB OC on twitter, too. oh kaki and her tendency to adopt men two heads taller than her ❤️

pet peeves/dealbreakers — trying to force OOC scenarios/behaviors onto kaki or otherwise just making it clear you don't respect her character outside of writing will really sour me in terms of trying for future interactions. i doubt this will happen here as it's mostly a problem i've had on twitter but JUST IN CASE!!! i'm mostly talking stuff like, oversexualizing her because she has muscles ("step on me, m*mmy" & such comments are a HUGE no-no), assuming she's overly aggressive/belligerent, or on the flip-side, babying her like she's a cutesy helpless waif. she is a 30+ year old woman with thoughts and feelings and i would like her autonomy to be respected.

muse preference ( fluff, angst, smut ) — HONESTLY i'm down with anything as long as it's interesting. on my own i tend to write adventure-drama type plots (the dbz fic i'm working on is just a space opera tbh) with a splash of horror of some flavor, usually with anti-capitalist/fascist/imperialist messaging. i think the one thing i should mention is that i do really enjoy when there's a conflict or overarching storyline happening in longer plotted threads; it just keeps me more engaged.

plot or memes — both are good and work tbh. memes can be good for breaking the ice or actually figuring out a dynamic in practice, but if we want to go for something more in-depth, i do prefer some plotting (even if it's just planning points A and B and then just improvising how our muses get there)

long or short replies — quality > quantity. even if your response is like 3 sentences or less, if it moves things along, it's fine with me (:

best time to write — i tend to write more at night or on the weekends. really just when i'm not dead tired 😭but also if i really get into the plot of a thread, i'll get kinda hyperfixated on it and respond in like 3 seconds. my fault

are you like your muse? — In a lot of ways, yeah. Kaki is an OC i've been developing for like at least a decade now, and a lot of her experiences are drawn from things I personally have experienced (albeit, greatly exaggerated lmao), and the kind of character she's become is a projection of my beliefs and how I feel about the current state of the world. Writing her is a bit of a catharsis for me, really.

TAGGED — @pzfr

TAGGING — feel free to do it if you'd like :3

[edgiestdude]

So when I heard Roosterteeth shut down, I was debating on whether to make this post or not.

The last post I made was…

Wow, that was a year ago. A year ago I left RWBY because I lost interest in the show after my Weaboo self rose back from the dead. Not only that, but the more I thought about the show, the more I realized

“Wow that show wasn’t as good as people made it out to be.”

Throughout my RWBY fanself, I’ve done a lot of cringe things and decided to leave because: what was the point of sticking around and Criticizing RWDE and other RWBY critics who had some awful takes if I wasn’t interested in the show. (Fun fact, my memes are apparently popular in Facebook?)

It’s why I debated on making this post and decided: might as well. End it fully.

RWBY is a strange show. It’s neither good nor is it bad. It’s more…Mediocre. It’s not bad because the writers tried and did make a few good writing choices at times and didn’t go full on “Power fantasy!!!” (For those who think Jaune is Miles Luna self insert, go watch/read Isekais. Those are a different story). To be frank, as I thought about RWBY and its writing, I realized “RWBY was never as good as people made it out to be.”

RWBY, I feel, was never meant to be a fucking masterpiece like ATLA, Paranoia Agent, or Serial Experiments Lain. RWBYs more like Hellsing. It’s not thought-provoking, it’s more for fun. Now that’s not to say Miles and Kerry made some weird choices, like Faunus Racism and whatever happened in Atlas…

[Quick note if you want to write stuff on this: make sure to do research like reading books, looking at history, and reading up on websites (don’t just use Wikipedia kids). Oh and use appropriate timing and tone, that’s all]

So did Miles and Kerry write weird shit in RWBY? Yes. Should they get criticized. Yes. Were they planning on writing stuff like this on the long run? Maybe but I’m more leaning towards no.

RWBY was more of a show created by anime fans. Monty thought “hey wouldn’t it be cool if four girls fought and did cool things.” And with Miles and Kerry’s help created RWBY. RWBY, from what I saw, was more like a fighting game. “Fighting first, story second”

Now RWBY has been on a weird ride ever since Monty died, but I saw it more as Kerry and Miles carrying Monty’s torch. And that’s why I respected it. It could’ve just ended there, but they kept going. Also it’s worth noting that there was NO story thought of whatsoever, even when Monty was alive. It was more of a friend project that created a fanbase and franchise.

I came back to write this post because it was an interesting series that intrigued me back then. I was shocked that Roosterteeth shut down. The company that created Achievement hunter, Red vs blue, Camp Camp, and among other things.

Was it ever planning on coming? Ehhh…

Sort of. Roosterteeth did a lot of weird things and bad. But, be honest, how many companies do this? EA, Mappa, etc. Roosterteeth I feel had it coming since their founders were leaving left and right leaving very weird leaderships. And Roosterteeth was gonna be no exception to this. It’s why animation companies tend to be a pain in the ass for animators, especially in Japan. The thing about Roosterteeth is that it was more of an indie company, which later got swallowed by Warner, so I feel it was more prone to getting hurt worse. Roosterteeth was a sack of shit, but people tried to create content for people, even if they faced horrible harassment. No matter the issues that Roosterteeth had, may we never forget the memories and legacy they left behind. Every thing has an ugly side, that’s what makes us human. Roosterteeth had an interesting story with ugly and good, but it brought us memories and moments we may never get back. It’s a sad thing. But it’s life.

{Wanted to make a quick note: I read a RWBYcritics comment making fun of Canonseeker punching the air, which is funny because I forgot about Canonseeker a long time ago, so it’s kind of funny he lives rent free on some peoples head, even if he did bad shit back then}

Well, this is where it ends. I made this post to vent out my feelings about the situation and to finally close the book for good. I’ve might made some mistakes or bad calls, so I’d be interested in reading criticism, even if I don’t stick in tumblr for a while. Till then, farewell RWBY fandom and Roosterteeth, thanks for some of the memories.

[majokko120]

First Impressions of Kono Sekai wa Fukanzen Sugiru - Episode 1

Like in many Isekai anime we find a meta-narrative, a world (usually a world that resembles ours) outside *the* world (the Isekai). In this case, the protagonist joins a game company as a QA tester and ends up stuck in the game, trying to return to *his* world through diligent QA work.

The premise more or less boils down to "what if NPCs had souls and free will? But human minds, developers, programmed every event?"

Here the story parallels the 'Human Experience in our World' with the 'Human Experience (actual NPCs) in a world made by men,' alluding to profound questions about ours. "Hey, I can actually change the outc..."

The anime supposes that NPCs show signs of free will, so much so that game developers need QA testers to make sure nothing unintended ever happens due to NPC/creature behavior in the game. "Every day in my life felt the same, until you (dear QA tester) came along." The NPC, contrary to her programming, wants to learn and grow.

Of course we know NPCs do not have souls or free will, consisting of programmed behavior. But the 'what if' scenario for art's sake makes an indirect statement about Human Reality in our World: that life itself, if it actually lives, always appears organic, unpredictable, and unprogrammable.

[rainslices]

long time no update!! (what i've been up to, new project, etc)

hellaur tumblr people... it has been a while since i've written a proper update on things I MEAN, WELL, if you follow me on twitter, you would probably already have heard! but before i get into that, i first want to welcome all ye who recently followed. congrats for finding my tumblr!!! either that or you probably came from twitter. whichever route you took, be careful... because once you check in, you can never check out muahahahaha!!!

ON [JACKHAMMERED]...

first, look at this, i recently made a placeholder icon for jackham's itch io page!!! (it's currently an unpublished draft though)

this isn't even the final thing, but it still somehow slaps. why did i make a placeholder icon? it's to replace the old one, which was this

BLEGGH. i went ahead and made a better one, even if i'm the only person who can see it in its unpublished state LMAO. anyways. where am i now with [JACKHAMMERED], you may ask! good question over these past couple months, i've managed to draft a bunch of documents consisting mostly of worldbuilding and character essays. the jackham google drive has a total of (counts my fingers and toes) twelve docs, that's right, TWELVE, currently marinating in the drive. i didn't even know i had it in me! though here lies the problem- out of all these charming character profiles and location docs, only two of them are a 'plot doc'. two, 'cause the first one became half-finished and the vibes were just off whenever i came back to it, and the second one went a lil farther than half, but still suffered a similar fate.

in shorter words, i'm stumped. and i can certainly pinpoint it to not being able to narrow down jackham's scope. i know i want this game to be something great, something that is a culmination of all its wonderful inspirations, but my mind is in a constant tug of war between wanting it to be a chapter-by-chapter thing, or just one full game. it leaves me feeling scatterbrained and unfocused. and even if i DID know what i want, it still feels... well, big. my general plans for jackham feel ambitious for someone who's swan diving into renpy with 0 knowledge. im just one guy ! and so my solution to that is...

i'm making [In The Middle]

NOW I KNOW HOW IT LOOKS LIKE "another VN? but chaurchey ur already stumped writing for jackhammered, how can you possibly write for this one?!" the difference is that i feel comfortable in narrowing things down if i start fresh. i still want to work with the initial ideas i have for jackhammered, but i'm putting it away for now until i feel ready. at least with In The Middle, i hope to apply the experience i've gained and tackle jackham again. i'm sure boel, olned, and kade can wait for me in a couple of months. maybe more. so what exactly is [In The Middle]? picture this: the sun is slowly sinking, with you finally reaching the gate of your house after a long day. your plans upon touchdown consist of only two things: microwave dinner, and a well-deserved nap. but you would quickly forget them when a flash of light temporary blinds you- and now there’s a hooded stranger on your lawn; you have but four days to find out who they are and where they came from, before the inert copper megaminx in their possession becomes active once more. a newfound friend, a stranger, or perhaps something more; only you get to decide. "In The Middle" is a test game that's precedent to the production of [JACKHAMMERED]. the story will be separate, short, and non-canon (maybe! who knows!). it's mostly for me to test the waters so i can properly bite off what i can chew for jackham, while also having the freedom of experimenting! two characters and one outcome, but the choices you make affect the way it's delivered (nods nods). this feels like a scale i can work with, and i've already pumped out a bunch of concepts in a separate drive which makes me really excited to do this!! it just occurred to me how much the isekai concept keeps bouncing around in my head rent free, but with In The Middle, the opposite more or less happens. Pieve gets isekai'd to you

who the hell is Pieve

TADAAAA!!! meet Pieve, that very stranger whom that portal puked out into your lawn. naked and afraid, so to speak. and oh, the beauty of concept art... i take pride in the fact that their design isn't even final yet as i've got more things in mind i want to tweak before i give this chochi spawn the Chochi Seal of Approval. aaaaand i'm gonna leave it at that so i don't spoil stuff. after all, learning about them is the goal. writing sure is HARD. but god, so is reading. so if you sped-run and skimmed through the entire update post up to here, well done!!! i would've done the same!!! this took hours to write but i'm glad to just get this out of the way because my followers on here deserve an update too. in closing, i'd like to mention just how much i am proud of myself. not just with the progress i've made for this idea so far, but with just. everything. if you told the me from 11 months ago that i would all of a sudden be into making games, i would have not believed you. but here we are, trajectory of life changed and all! i hope you can look forward to [In The Middle], and soon enough, [JACKHAMMERED].

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

HALLELUJAH ??? i was beginning to think writers for tw m!mc is non-existential as my self-esteem, thank you. and this may be a bit weird so please feel free to ignore, your existence and writing already makes me feel happy and validated; but may i request an romantic love with vil, and platonic love with malleus? MC, who is a vil stan, got isekai'd into twisted wonderland and the plot twist? they were in rook's body. let's just say a certain someone was teensy weensy jealous of the amount of rookvil contents they encountered while looking for vil specifically (spoken from experience. most vil content creators are rookvil stans. sobs) and after what happened at VDC in chapter 5 with pomefiore (spoiler alert. iykyk), mc slept bitterly that night and thought, 'i could do better. i will treat you better.' well, ask and ye shall receive! the next day, they woke up as rook hunt and after the nth time of looking at the mirror and pinching their arm until its red to make sure its not a dream, they get a knock at the door. hesitating, they opened the door a crack, and peered out, only to see... your vil schoeheit. oh. in their suprise, the immediate reaction was to slam the door shut again. 'what are you doing? you're supposed to OPEN the door,' said beautiful man and the door flew open before you caught it. still confused and hazy with the sudden changes, and now face to face with the character you always saw behind the screen, the first thing that came out of isekai!mc mouth was, 'well, you are definitely a dream come true.' and instantly regreting their life decions after. it was silent staredown for a full 5 seconds, until isekai!mc pushed led vil out of the door and once again shuts the door in their face. nobody saw the vice housewarden of pomefiore that day. but plot twist? rook is still there, just that his consciousness took a hit because of the sudden possesion. he woke up after isekai!mc slept. but basically, lookism; when the other sleeps, the other takes over. so the next day, rook was back to normal and questions about his behaviour yesterday was only met with confusion. and vil was going to brush it off as just 'being under the weather,' but the following morning, he was met with the same doe eyes from the other day. there and then, vil sharply asks, 'who are you?'

just. a shy-fanboy who loves vil schoenheit, but runs away from said person when they're within a 20 meters radius. shy enough that when vil came to talk that one time when they were in control, they forcibly slamed their head to the nearest surface, enough to be unconcious, so that rook would wake up. a shy-fanboy who admires the effort vil put into becoming the fairest one of all, be it academics or athletics; a person who is strict on their dorm members, but is harsher on themselves. typecasts as a villain in reality because of his amazing performance in acting. who, despite their feelings, kept it in a tight lock because they don't expect their feelings to be returned; content to be simply an admirer from afar, as they always do. when, after much consideration on vil's part, asked malleus for advice and is met with an unfamiliar feeling when isekai!mc acted like a mother-hen when they finally met malleus, a complete 180 degrees turn from their shy nature. who, as someone that is used to being lonely, wanted to give the dragon fae a friend. and malleus was revelling in this new-found human. instead of the fear he was accustomed to, he was was met with warmth and kindness devoid of malicious intentions.

and what if? malleus can give our isekai!mc back his own body, and just needed an empty vessel, who would then take on their appearance. because, 'don't you find it inconvenient to share a body?'' and was promptly spoilt rotten by the pomefiore duo.

after a time, feelings bloomed. and every rose has its thorn; its a beautiful morning, when the beautiful queen received news from diasomnia that they found a way to return his petal to their world, just when he was planning to ask isekai!mc to stay with him in twisted wonderland.

(i realized this got waaaaay too long. and probably a little too specific? still, no pressure. its enough that you've even read this far. take ample rest, and i hope to see more of your works soon! ♡♡♡)

Body swapped with Rook.

Finally done homie here u go

You are unsure what had happened. Where the hell were you? Is this some strange fever dream? This isn't your room, this isn't your body!

Perhaps you spent too much time playing Twisted Wonderland last night, and now you're in some weird lucid dream. Yes, that has to be the explanation. You do not remember your room having this many arrows and bows all over the place and mounted on the walls.

You stretched and got up, looking around when you noticed your hands. Thin, pale, yet calloused hands from years of archery. They weren't your own. Thankfully almost every room in Pommefiore had a mirror in it, which you quickly examined.

Your hair was now short and blond, styled in a weird way that can only be described as Rook. His green eyes looked back at you in the mirror, his body mimed yours. The nightclothes he- you were wearing was loose yet fashionable. Just what the hell is happening? Perhaps if you pinch yourself…

A knock at the door breaks you out of your thoughts. "Coming!" You say, flinching at the french voice that comes it which isn't your own.

Going to open the door, you see Vil himself standing there. Your favorite character from the game you played. Vil opened his mouth to speak, in a panic you slammed the door on him. No way no way nowaynoway no. WAY. This has to be a dream but it feels so real? It's THEE Vil Shoenheit???

You opened the door again, this time met with an angry Vil. Oh no, you didn't mean to do that! But he looks so pretty like this…

"Why did you do that? You were supposed to open the door, Rook." Vil says disapprovingly. Rook- he– I— You? You opened your mouth a few times before closing it not knowing what to say. Eyes wide. "What a strange dream…" is all you can manage to say.

Vil's expression morphed into visible confusion. "Rook, are you feeling alright?" "I- Yes! I am- I uh… don't know what's gotten into me… sorry…" Oh no oh no this is awkward. So painfully awkward! You swear you also hear someone else in your mind cringing at your actions. "I um… Goodnight, Vil." "Night? Rook, it's almost time for class. You're always up early, what are you still doing in your room?"

You paused, inwardly panicking as you met the eyes of your Housewarden. "I'm sorry, Roi… du Poisons…" you struggled to pronounce certain words with your new voice. "I am just… not feeling very well today… Good night!"

Closing the door again, you paced back into the room, looking around. Pinching yourself didn't work, the time seemed to be moving normally, and the sky looked fine. This doesn't feel like a dream at all. You sat back down on Rook's bed, now your bed, as you brainstormed.

That was embarrassing! You embarrassed yourself in front of Vil! Surely this was a nightmare you can sleep off! Locking the door, you stayed in the room for the rest of the day. Refusing to go out at all.

The next day you woke up to darkness. Maybe you were half asleep? Yet no matter what you did, your body refused to move. You started to panic before you felt your body move on its own. You couldn't seem to control it- what the hell? Your eyes opened and you were in the same room as before, in the same body as before, only this time you couldn't control it.

You watched as Rook dressed himself in the mirror and did his morning routine at the crack of dawn before walking out of his room. The dorm was huge and incredible and… you felt drowsy… you tried to hold out on your sleepiness as you tried to see where Rook would go. His classes, the library, his routine! You needed to know just in case…

The next day you woke up again. This time you were the one in control. You immediately got up and did the routine you saw Rook do. You're pretty sure it was the weekend now, a glance at Rook's phone tells you that much. So today you can look around and find out just what was wrong with you.

On your way to the library, you caught the attention of many. It was odd that Rook was actually making noise when he walked, and he wasn't off stalking Leona. You ignored the stares and quickly went to the library.

Inside you snagged every book you saw that mentioned dimensions, dreams, and time travel, hoping to find some answers inside. With an entire stack of books in your hand, you went to look for a table to sit at, where you encountered Malleus.

Wait, you just encountered Malleus, why is he here? The fae prince sat there at one of the library tables reading a book about gargoyles. Not wanting to disturb him, you sat at another table and began sifting through your piles of books.

It wasn't long before you caught the attention of the prince. Your out-of-character clumsiness and doe-eyed expression looking through each book. "I've never seen you in such a state of panic, Rook" the fae speaks.

You tense up, "I uh- yeah I'm just feeling… a little off recently…?" "You aren't Rook, are you?"

You sighed. "You caught me, but I don't know how I got here. I just woke up and poof!" "I see that is quite troublesome…"

Oddly enough you ended up walking alongside Malleus that day, discussing your home and your situation among other things. At some point you ended up listening to Malleus' entire rant on gargoyles which you genuinely listened to, he noticed.

You both seemed to click despite being in Rook's body, you treated him like a person. Before you knew it, it was nearly time to head back. "It is near curfew, Child of Mystery, next time we meet, I will hopefully have a solution to your situation."

And like that he disappeared into thin air. You quickly made your way back to the dorm. Sneaking into the main building, you were met with a disgruntled Vil who has obviously been waiting for you. "Rook. Come here." His tone was rough and you tensed up before obeying the blond's command.

"Rook where were you today? Not only did we make plans yesterday, but some students have also said you've been acting strange." "I-I, Mister- Roi du Poisons, it seems that recently I have been having an odd case of amnesia…"

You tensed under Vil's judgmental gaze as he looked you up and down. You tried your best to avoid eye contact. What he said next startled you, his voice cold.

"You aren't Rook. Who are you?"

[vailimia]

Reblogging because I've learned a bit more since making this post (and also just thought about it more) and I've realized that "trans" may not be the best term to use for my OCs that I said were trans.

None of the underlying characteristics about the characters have changed, I've just realized that maybe the term I used for them wasn't the most accurate (nothing wrong with the term itself, obviously).

Before I put a keep reading button, I'd just like to say that this reblog is only focusing on the transgenderism part of the original post, so the entire sexuality part is still accurate.

Just to recap (and to get my mind in the right place), the three OCs I'm focusing on are Azalea, Sapphire, and Nightingale, and in the original post I said that all three of them are trans.

Out of the three, Sapphire is the only one I'm fully confident in saying she's trans, since part of her backstory involves having a strong enough dislike for being male to actually go through with a gender-reassignment process (in this case, a magic ritual).

Azalea's in the middle of the three, since she doesn't feel any connection to either gender, and doesn't feel a strong enough disconnect to be non-binary (this is mostly because (at least in the world Azalea came from) elves don't really have gender norms at all, your gender does not matter to them at all unless you're trying to date one).

The reason I said Azalea was trans in the original post was because she did change her gender from male to female (also becoming a futa in the process, but that's not relevant), or rather she summoned a demon to do it for her.

The reason I'm no longer confident that "trans" is an accurate term to describe Azalea is because the reason she transitioned was because she had a crush on a girl who happened to be a lesbian, and not because Azalea hated being male.

Azalea and her crush never met each other after Azalea became a girl, since Azalea decided to become an adventurer so nobody would learn what she did (the world she came from wasn't the most accepting of things outside of what they consider normal).

As for what term I think is most accurate to describe Azalea, I'm honestly not sure.

Maybe "trans" is the best term to describe her, but it doesn't feel quite right to call her that if she became female to date a lesbian, and not because she would be happier with a different gender.

Moving on to the last character, Nightingale (who I'll be calling Gale in this post so I don't have to write her entire name several times) is more similar to Sapphire, with the main difference being that (at the current point in the timeline) Gale hasn't transitioned yet, and has not realized that the desire to be a woman isn't something that every male experiences (and represses for the sake of peace).

I haven't fleshed out Gale's personality very much, but the phrase "still cis tho" would probably be fairly common.

As for what term I think is most accurate to describe Gale, I think "egg" might work, at least until the timeline advances to when Sapphire offers Gale a "one-week free trial of being a woman" (don't ask, my mind is a weird place).

By the way, I haven't seen an actual definition of "egg" in terms of gender, but what I think it means (from watching OneTopic's r/egg_irl videos) is "trans person who hasn't realized that they're trans yet".

So yeah, there's a really long-winded correction on something I wrote a while ago that nobody's going to read.

I also have some other AMAB OCs who were transformed into girls upon being reincarnated into an isekai world, but also none of them specifically asked for it and part of the transformation was being given a divine blessing (from the goddess of reincarnation) that makes them completely immune to gender dysphoria so that they don't dislike being girls, which is basically just a fancy way of ignoring the fact that realistically, cis men would probably feel gender dysphoria if they were magically transformed into girls.

I think what I might do going forward is not call any of my OCs trans except for Sapphire and (post-transition) Nightingale, and instead just say what the underlying characteristics are and let people form their own opinions on what terms to use.

Time for another rambling post about my OCs, this time focusing on sexuality, with a little bit of transgenderism.

The reason I'm grouping these together is because they're the most common things I hear people ask "what does this add to the character?".

As always, click keep reading to keep reading.

One thing before I start, I may be using slightly different definitions of "bi" and "pan" than what you're familiar with because that's how I use those terms in relation to my own OCs, as well as in relation to myself.

I'm also going to assume there's only 2 genders in this post because this post is specifically about my OCs, and none of them are non-binary.

In this post, "bisexual" means "attracted to both genders, but still cares what gender their partner is", and "pansexual" means "attracted to both genders, does not care what gender their partner is".

I think a lot of my OCs can be assumed to be straight and cis because I haven't had a reason to confirm or deny that they aren't.

All the characters I've shown on Pixiv so far are confirmed to not be straight through their actions (straight girls wouldn't want to have sex with other girls).

Whitney, Numeri, and Natsu are all bisexual (Whitney's more into girls, Natsu likes both equally, Numeri's exact preference depends on the day), Haru and Anna are both pansexual, Rose is fully homosexual.

I have a bunch of other OCs who are non-straight, too.

Iris, Alice, Soriel, and Akai (Natsu's mom/Numeri's girldad) are all bi.

Misca is pan.

Fuyu (male) and Elion (female) are both mostly gay, but since they both crossdress they may be able to date each other in the future.

Melody and Shiromi are both non-straight, but I haven't fleshed out the characters enough to know exactly what their sexuality is.

Trace is a bit more complicated due to being a gardevoir (amorphous/human-like egg groups) and having slightly different preferences depending on which egg group his partner is.

If his partner is a human-like pokémon (or just a human), Trace is bi.

If his partner is an amorphous pokémon, Trace is pan because 90% of the time he can't even tell what gender his partner is in the first place without them telling him.

Then I have a bunch of OCs who don't have confirmed sexualities, but you can't reasonably assume they're straight because they're from a world where most people are bi or pan (to the point where the closest term for "bi" or "pan" would directly translate to "normal").

As for trans OCs, I have far less of them (only around three), and I probably wouldn't hesitate to confirm that most of my OCs are cis because I won't make one of my OCs trans unless I feel like it actually adds something to the character beyond diversity.

Azalea (previously unnamed elf girl I mentioned in past rambling posts) is trans because that's what lead her to become an adventurer, meet her adventuring party, and then get sucked through a dimensional rift to Japan with them (blame Natsu for this part).

I also have two more trans girl OCs (Sapphire and Nightingale, one named after (I think) a character from Sappho's poems, the other loosely named after Sappho herself), but I haven't fleshed out either of them enough to be comfortable revealing information about them yet.

I feel like there's only three types of trans OCs I'd ever make (but all my current trans OCs fall into the first category).

First is characters who are trans because it lead them to the situation they're in at the current point in the timeline (or will lead them to a situation they'll be in later).

Second is making a male character trans so I have an excuse for him to never wear a shirt (he paid good money for the ability to do this, and so he will do it whenever he can).

Third is making a character trans to spite people who say it adds nothing to the character (the thing it adds to the character is that I get to spite you).

Hopefully I didn't offend anyone with this post, I don't knowingly know any gay, bi, pan, or trans people personally, apart from myself (bi), so I'm not fully sure I have the best idea of what is and isn't offensive to them.

Honestly, the best way I know to tell whether something is offensive to a group of people is to ask someone who's part of that group, which isn't the easiest thing for me to do in this case, due to the point I mentioned above.

[vermillioncrown]

i want to say something adjacent to the post i reblogged, re: op's request and perspective for not wanting mdzs/cql meta tagged as 'worldbuilding' or 'lore'.

i almost didn't reblog it. not that i didn't empathize nor understand why that post was made, but it felt like... not my place to say since i didn't do meta.

but it made me realize the feeling it stirred up in me was the type of avoidance and deflection learned after years of growing up as diaspora, being treated as alien, learning how to laugh off and play ignorant to microaggressions and other off-color remarks just so i didn't 'rock the boat'.

first and foremost, if i was still doing that, i wouldn't have written dream before daybreak. i want people to know that no matter the humor, no matter the silliness, the inherent cringe and self-indulgence of writing an si: i wrote that because it made sense. the feeling of isolation, of being not quite right - isekai into something that didn't require handwaving to understand and survive because the culture should fit; and it doesn't. and it will never. it is analogous to my diaspora experience. no other piece of media ever felt quite right to write for - if you've seen my 'project: double bastard' tab, i've had naruto brain rot since middle school. that's nearly two decades. and yet it was this story that i found and immediately latched onto.

mdzs is a chinese story. sounds obvious, right? because a lot of us are writing in english, communicating with other english-speaking fans, you can say you know but your brain is very good at getting used to things. if this is not a conscious thing that you are looking out for, you will miss it if you're not chinese.

i am happy to interact w readers, write funny and absurd things, be a clown, make connections, all that. i also don't treat writing that seriously as a craft. i do treat the content of what i write with deliberation, though - no matter the spectrum of silly-to-serious, from an ask that's joking around to each chapter i publish. the cultural consideration is always there in everything i post for mdzs or svsss. it's overtly there for chinese-based media, and i can't hide even if i tried for everything else because that's who i am. i am diaspora chinese.

my writing can stand on its own without the cultural perspective (eh. maybe not with the bilingualism in dream before daybreak). you can still enjoy it. i've put it out there, it is free to read, no one can stop you. but this is from the mouth of the author: you will never understand or follow 100% why something is happening if you are unable or unwilling to recognize that the base media and my fanfics are chinese (chinese-adjacent) by nature. even in something as cracky as lorenz attractors resemble butterflies - especially for that fic. it's easier to forget because i'm not up in your face with the chinese phrases all the time. and it's the collective effort of all the readers willing to have fun with me, so it seems very light-hearted and for the lulz.

here's me telling you the effort it takes to write that fic, hell, the entirety of the 'endure through the night' series. every piece of dialogue is thought through for how it might sound in chinese. i need to carefully balance zyx's inner thoughts versus how they'd talk. mannerisms. how someone is thinking. i also can't help that i'm american, and have english essentially as my first language. i'm always catching myself through speed writes, editing my drafts, correcting my outlines because some shorthand or thoughts came out automatically from a western perspective.

i try to keep things civil and fun on my blog because frankly, i wouldn't have the energy to deal with a perpetual fight in something that's my hobby. however, this is an important fight, one that i'm part of regardless of choice. this post was written as-is, so it is likely not very concise and hard to follow. but i hope that if you took the time to read it, you guys can continue to have fun reading my work but also have more understanding of where it comes from. i believe that understanding can only lead to more enjoyment.

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Light Novel Review — I'm in Love with the Villainess

A stunningly profound, entertaining, and queer title that eclipses other isekai and Yuri series

There are few titles the general public seems to be as excited about as Inori and Hanagata's I'm in Love with the Villainess, as it has been sitting at or near the top of Amazon's LGBT Manga list for months and Twitter is consistently abuzz with the latest news on this isekai Yuri series. I was somewhat more skeptical, as I have had relatively poor experiences with isekai and fantasy Yuri. Still, my excitement went through the room, and I eagerly boarded the "hype train" upon the cover reveal for the third volume. Yuri families, where two women raise children together, are one of my greatest desires and something I rarely see portrayed in the genre. However, I still had mostly low expectations for the series going into the first volume. I looked forward to some light meandering comedy and typical boring trope-filled isekai shenanigans. However, I'm in Love with the Villainess more than exceeded my expectations. No, even this statement is far too moderate to describe how utterly stunned and blown away I was by Inori's creation. I'm in Love with the Villainess is completely shattering and easily one of the greatest light novels I have ever read. Thus, I have no choice to award a perfect 10/10 score, my first ever for a light novel.

After waking up in the world of her favorite otome game, Revolution, protagonist Rae is ecstatic to be faced to face with Claire Francois, the game's villainous rival. However, Rae never played Revolution for the thrill of romancing any of the three attractive young princes. She was always in love with Claire. She attends the academy and studies magic in the fantasy world alongside Claire, the princes, and various other supporting characters. Using her skills from the modern world and her encyclopedic knowledge of Revolution, Rae manipulates the situation to be close to Claire, becoming her maid, and garnering status and money along the way. As an inevitable conflict looms closer, Rea begins to enact plans to protect herself and Claire, many of which are not fully understood or explained until the finale fantastically reveals the reasons for her actions. There is a natural and steady pace to the narrative that awards readers’  predictions and attention to detail.

I'm in Love with the Villainess has some excellent supporting characters, all of whom have unique personalities, histories, and abilities, some of which are revealed by Rae's exposition and others naturally throughout the novel. However, the stars of the show are the central couple, Rae and Claire. Claire is an elite aristocrat and extremely bratty. She often sneers at commoners and makes her disdain of Rae very clear from early on. On paper, she sounds like the perfect villain and someone all readers would despise. However, Rae's utter devotion and infatuation with Claire is so sincere that we cannot help but be pulled in and adore Claire and all her tantrums. Rae is a delight herself, continually flirting and poking fun at Claire, which gets her verbally berated, much to her masochistic pleasure. However, she is also exceptionally cunning and intelligent, and some of the light novel's greatest joys are listening to her analyze a situation or watching one of her plans fall into place.

“Ah, I’m… Well, it doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s irrelevant to cuteness—because, Miss Claire, you are cute.” “Huh?!” She pulled away. It was perfect—such a pure reaction. “Miss Claire, you hate me, right?” “Of course!” “That’s fine. Please keep teasing me. I love it.”

The beginning of the book does not immediately clue one into its brilliance. Sure, Claire and Rea get some great one-liners as they bully each other, and the scenarios are authentic and fun, but it is nothing shattering. I was feeling pretty relaxed and having a lot of fun with the characters, their relationship, and the various slice-of-life style scenarios they encountered until one section, I remember the exact page, 81, as it stopped me dead in my tracks. I was flabbergasted and briefly frozen before shooting up out of bed, shouting expletives as I ran to my office to immediately record what I had just experienced. It all begins with the line, "Hey, Rae. Are you what they call gay?" What followed was one of the most thoughtful, condensed, informative, and nuanced discussions of gay and queer identity (both terms used in this scene) I have ever seen in Yuri. Everything from representation in media, the perceptions of and prejudices against gay people, and the role gender plays in romance for bisexual and gay people are analyzed. Its commentary is succinct yet so respectful and forthright that it could have only come from genuine experience, thus selling the book and its characters so much more.

"Queer people were still overwhelmingly closeted in this world, which was rife with prejudice and nurtured little understanding. As I noted, the queer people depicted in the story were either the sex fiends Claire imagined or the free-loving sort Lene had in mind. Diversity and acceptance were a long way off.”

Thus, Inori's writing's beauty exposed itself, and the book opened itself up to a delightful cycle. The narrative masterfully integrates isekai slice-of-life hijinks, like running a cross-dressing café or battling a giant slime with nuanced and challenging moments that dissect complicated topics. The latter mainly consists of a growing rift between the aristocracy and common people, mirroring real-world wealth gap issues, but the novel also touch on matters such as unequal prison sentencing and segregation. Every scene helped further the complexity of the characters and their relationships or else built onto the world of Revolution. Speaking of which, I'm in Love with the Villainess has some of the best worldbuilding ever seen in a light novel.

Initially, brief exposition establishes much of the world, which is adequate if not exciting. I will mark up to a casualty of the light novel's serialized nature, as it must present readers its setting immediately. However, Inori does not stop here. Through the narrative, new elements are established, such as a magic system and the kingdom's politics. Rea notes and describes how the world, while clearly based on medieval Europe, has many modern Japanese attributes, as Japanese game developers created it. Her pointing out the intersection of the two is fascinating. Furthermore, A great deal of time is spent establishing characters and organizations all have their own wants, agendas, and methods, many of which are not even directly involved with the story. Instead, they act as a background and help further contextualize others. For example, the Church publicly appears to lean towards supporting the commoners in their efforts for equality but has its own agenda of superseding the nobility. While they play little role in Rea and Claire’s adventure, they are one of numerous factors contributing to the unrest of the lower class. All these additions are interesting, and it never feels like the story or characters suffer for their inclusion, quite the opposite.

“The Bauer Kingdom had started a step behind other countries when it came to magical research. They dominated the surrounding countries in military strength, and this had made them complacent, leading them to underestimate the value of new magic technology until the best researchers had all been enticed to other countries. Even after the king came up with his magic-focused meritocratic policy, Bauer lagged behind.”

I can only make complaints by scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Hanagata's beautiful art is too infrequent to add much to the light novel, and many scenes crying for illustrations are left to the readers' imagination. However, Inori so wonderful writes the story that one hardly cares and can easily picture every moment with delight. Besides, the manga adaption will nullify this issue. Where I cannot complain at all is the spectacular translation by Jenn Yamazaki and Nibedita Sen, one of Seven Seas best (which is high praise considering the competition). Sure, I was slightly disappointed at first to see the adaptation left off honorifics, but the more I thought about the setting, the more sense it made. I am sure people much smarter than I gave the issue much more consideration, and I am happy with their decisions.

I'm in Love with the Villainess left me reeling with how pleasurable and powerful it was. The story and characters are such a joy, and I cannot wait to see Rea and Claire bully each other again in the next volume. Astounding worldbuilding and powerful, thought-provoking politics surround their antics and the high stakes plot. Every moment of their journey will enthrall readers as they squeal with glee at its hilarious set pieces or are shocked by its commentary of society's most significant challenges. Inori has created one of the most delightful, heartfelt, complex, profound, and genuinely queer light novel series ever. If you only read one thing I recommend this year, let it be I'm in Love with the Villainess.

Ratings: Story — 9 Characters — 10 Art — 5 LGBTQ — 10 Sexual Content — 2 Final — 10

Review copy provided by Seven Seas Entertainment

Purchase I’m in Love with the Villainess in digitally (9/23) and in print (11/10) today: https://amzn.to/32NEyG1

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