#Death Dwellers MC

[thereadingcafe]

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW:

RUTHLESS (Death Dwellers MC Legacy Generation)by Kathryn C. Kelly at The Reading Cafe:

'another dark, gritty, dramatic and tragic story of several generations lost to the violence that controls their lives'

[from-the-depths-if]

Your whole life, all you've known is life with your pod. Scavenging, hunting, crafting and guarding alongside your family. You'd heard of the surface dwellers, of course, but they were barely more real to you than you were to them.

Until one day that changed.

Ripped away from your pod you find yourself in a world you don't understand, held hostage by a strange man with intentions you couldn't hope to grasp. He wants your magic - but all you know is that he's a threat to your family.

Find your place between both worlds, or risk losing everything.

From the Depths is an 18+ interactive fiction novel created in Twine using Sugarcube. Content warnings will include blood and gore, animal death in a historical context (looking at around chapter 3 - skippable), death and murder (including of those responsible for said animal death) and sexual content (skippable). List will be updated in the future.

Play as a male, female or nonbinary MC - cis or trans. Customise your appearance and personality, and choose how to navigate your new role in the human world.

Choose from two gender-selectable romance options - the determined guardian of your pod, or the idealistic princep. Or don't choose. Neither or both are also options.

Choose from five options to customise your pod - with two unique traits to aid you on your journey.

Learn the human language - or force them to adapt to you.

Learn the truth about why you were taken from your family, and find your way back to them - or build a new life for yourself on the shore.

Llyr - gender-selectable he/him, she/her or xe/xem | RO

Llyr joined your pod a year ago after xir own pod was scattered. Since them, xe has taken xir role as one of your pod's guardians to heart. Maybe at the end of that year you're still indifferent to xem. Maybe you're friends - or maybe there's something deeper. All you know is xe won't take kindly to what happened to you.

Nakia - gender-selectable he/they or she/they | RO

Nakia is the crown princep in the human country you've found yourself in. Idealistic, hopeful and curious about the world, they immediately set out to learn about your strange ways and get past your barriers. You can't tell them the truth about who you are - but maybe, just maybe, you can let yourself trust them. Note: regardless of which gender you choose, Nakia is always transgender.

Other characters to come in the future.

Demo (Prologue - Updated 25/12/24) | Characters (Coming Soon)

Note: This is a side project with my main IF being 'Immortal', purely because I already know exactly where that storyline is going while I'm still fleshing this one out. I will be working on From the Depths alongside it, but it won't be my priority.

Avatar Photo by Ole Kloth on Unsplash

Banner Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side A, Match 7

propaganda under the cut!

Sasuke/Mai:

THE MOST FRIENDS TO LOVERS EVER. Mai is the MC of Ikesen which is a dating sim/otome game. Originally from the 21st century, she's accidentally time travelled to the Sengoku Era where she unknowingly rescues Oda Nobunaga from his historical death thus changing the course of history forever. She reunites with a fellow 21st century dweller Sasuke whom she'd briefly met right before the accidental time travel, who is now a ninja. Though they're on opposing sides, they're friends in all the routes as Sasuke promises to protect her and bring her back to the 21st century safely. Regardless of which route you're playing, Sasuke will always be your friend and he's the same smart yet silly goofy guy, making references to 21st century events and slang and memes which have the other warlords scratching their heads in confusion. Sasuke's route is the ultimate friends-to-lovers + slow burn + mutual pining combination, as they both gradually develop feelings for each other, yet it's also kinda frustrating (in a good way) bc Sasuke is SO clueless to her feelings and his own for a good majority of the route while Mai was down horrendous for him. The pay-off in the end is really sweet (i legit cried when sasuke finally confessed to mai lol) and spicy (ikesen is uhh a bit of a mature game), which makes the achingly slow burn really worth it. Also Sasuke's just a really nice fucking guy, like real boyfriend material, no red flags, the perfect golden retriever boyfriend frfr

Fuyupoly:

Submission 1:

they're from the winter troupe of the mankai company, and unlike the other troupes they're all adults. that said, they all have varying degrees of trauma and emotional stuntedness. it takes them some time to fully open up to each other bc they're all very cautious of each other's boundaries and don't want to cross any lines which initially led to some issues in the group's formation. over time they've learned to bridge the gap while still being mindful of hard boundaries. at one point they have a discussion about what exactly their relationship is (gay) cuz they were talking about how the other troupes have clearly defined dynamics (spring=family, summer=besties, autumn=rivals & teammates) but they don't,, and homare deadass says they're "people bound by a common destiny" which in and of itself sounds very Gay (like why are you as a man bound to other men by a common destiny), but it goes even further because homare starts spouting WEDDING VOWS: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE GAME AND THE MC EVEN REMARKS "i can already hear wedding bells in the distance..." 

gradually they become closer, in individual sub-units based on who's paired up as co-leads for a play, and as a troupe overall. also two of its members are childhood friends who had a messy 'divorce' in their young adulthood and it took the game breaking its genre to introduce a timeloop for them to finally make up if that means anything to you. one of their troupe songs "precious to us ~bokura no kisetsu" has some pretty beautiful and fruity lines: "The many kindnesses born in me here / Never fail to breathe life into my chest / Even all the pain and bitterness / Have now become dear to me (Ah…Stay with me)", "No matter how many times our season passes / Let us keep living together / Holding our hands, without ever letting go / Let us open up the curtain of tomorrow", "There is no need for words, because once our gazes meet / Joy sparks a light in your eyes", "Our journey, may it be a brilliant one / As our breaths overlap as one"

a lot of their plays has a LOT of homoerotic tension between the two leads too. their first play has tsumugi and tasuku play angels, and it's heavily implied that tasuku's character has an unrequited crush on tsumugi's character. their third play has azuma play a vampire and tasuku play Just Some Guy and it's generally agreed in the fandom to be one of the gayest, if not THE gayest, play A3 has ever written. obviously the vampire thing is very fruity, but there's also how the vampire was longing to bite the human but was holding himself back, and when the vampire left the human in the end, the human was absolutely HEARTBROKEN over it and was swearing they would reunite one day. the stage play of this takes it even further by having the vampire embrace the human from behind and BITE his neck. the fourth play is a watered-down adaptation of Phantom of the Opera where they genderbend Christine into Chris among other things and change the relationship between Chris and the Phantom to one of friendship.... ostensibly so, because there's still a lot of homoerotic undertones in their interactions. i could go on but this should be enough of a sampling taste 

Submission 2:

the writers rlly said "let's take 2 normal guys who are childhood friends and have been into theatre since their school days and have them go through a pre-canon messy divorce, an eccentric poet with a potentially controversial haircut, an amnesiac sleepyhead who can only be awoken with marshmallows but is also somehow extremely athletic despite doing nothing but sleeping and eating marshmallows all day, a man who is so beautiful and mysterious he breaks gender, and a supposed android from a fictional south asian country, and throw them into a blender, oh and for good measure let's throw in some theatre and angst and gay and angst and gay" and the end result was marriage. i mean it took them a lot of awkward fumbling around and conflicts to get there but they got there and thats what matters. ok *technically* in-text they're all rlly good friends and kinda found family BUT they are found family via marriage papers i do not make the rules chief

Submission 3:

The reason why they are so friends-to-lovers to me is because their relationship is founded on quiet and unconditional acceptance of each other—regardless of how flawed they may be or how heavy their burdens and trauma may be. When the troupe first formed (sans Guy who was in another country at the time), they didn’t have any major clashing personalities at the very beginning and generally they were mindful of each other’s boundaries, unlike the other troupes that came before them. However, it’s BECAUSE they were too mindful of said boundaries that it was difficult for them to break down their walls and bond as a team—and there were a LOT of walls to break down, as all of them had varying degrees of emotional baggage and trauma.

In fact, it’s only three plays in that they finally truly start opening up to each other, with Azuma getting the ball rolling by opening up about the deep loneliness that haunted him ever since his childhood. It’s during this conversation that they also discuss what their relationship as a troupe is, because the other troupes have defined their relationship as a team (Spring is family, Summer is best friends, Autumn is rivals & teammates), and Homare goes on to declare that they’re “people bound by a common destiny” and goes on to spew wedding vows: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" I mean… it can’t get any more obvious than this, really. They are married.

But anyway, Tsumugi says he wants their relationship to be one where while they respect each other’s need for space, they’ll also be there for each other and share their pains and burdens—or in his words: “supporting each other when our burdens become too heavy to bear on our own”—which I think is really sweet because it carries this idea of quiet, unconditional acceptance; they don’t push each other to share more than they’re comfortable with sharing, but with whatever they ARE comfortable with sharing everyone carries the load and pain because pain is easier to bear when you’re not bearing it alone <3 

A later part of the story focuses on Hisoka, a mysterious amnesiac, being terrified of regaining his memories and facing some “sin” from his past that has led to another character, Chikage, trying to take revenge on him. When he confesses this to the rest of the Winter troupe, Homare asks, “How heavy is this sin you bear?” and Azuma suggests, “Perhaps it’s just heavy enough for the five of us to carry together.” (at this point Guy hasn’t joined yet). The stage play adapts this scene into a song called Key to Memory. The key (pun unintended) part is 1:27 where there’s a back-and-forth between Hisoka and the other Winter troupe members (sans Tasuku because he wasn’t in that particular play)

Hisoka: “I’m scared…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s okay.”

Hisoka: “My unforgivable sin…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “Let’s carry it together.”

Hisoka: “I might not be me anymore.”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s all right. We understand and we accept you, so let’s go together.”

And it ends with Hisoka singing: “I was afraid to open the door of my locked memories. But if everyone is here, I believe I can do it.”  In both the game and stage play, Hisoka fully regains his memories and reconciles with Chikage (long story). He tells Fuyupoly he can’t go into detail about his past with Chikage because it’s dangerous but he’ll tell them when the time is right, and they accept this saying that no matter what his past is, they know and love him as their Hisoka which obviously is a very sweet thing for friends to say, but it’s also very Marriage-coded to me.

Later, Guy is introduced as an android from Zahra (a fictional South Asian country) and joins the Winter troupe as a temporary member—because he’s stuck in Japan for the foreseeable future—until they find a permanent member to replace him. The other Winter members have a conversation among themselves and agree that regardless of whether he’s really an android or a human they’ll accept Guy for who he is and help him improve his acting, which again harkens back to the idea of ‘unconditional acceptance’. Eventually it’s revealed that Guy is in fact a human who has forgotten his memories of the past and his emotions. He recovers his memories all at once which shocks his system and causes him to pass out. When he wakes up in his room, he finds the rest of the Winter Troupe asleep around the room—which I believe is symbolic of their whole theme of “quiet acceptance”: they don’t want to push Guy to share beyond what he’s comfortable with, but they’re always there to listen to him and share his load if that’s what he wants. He opens up about the memories he recovered, and they don’t treat him with pity like he’s a lost child, but still extend gentle empathy and understanding. They also emphasise that it genuinely doesn’t matter to them whether he’s human or android because he’s Guy first and foremost. It’s at this point that Guy truly lets himself become part of the Winter troupe/Fuyupoly and not just as a temporary stand-in member, because he’s found a place where he’s found himself again and people who will accept who this “himself” is, whether that be an android devoid of emotions or a human brimming with vivid beautiful emotions.

[Mod note: There’s a LOT more but we’re afraid of crashing the post. I (Deli) summarised it the best I can since I’m familiar with A3, but if you want to read the full thing you can check it out on this google doc)

[therealimintobooks]

#BlogTour ~ Relentless by Kathryn C. Kelly @katkelwriter @SDBookTours

  The legacy continues…. Relentless Death Dwellers MC Legacy Generation Book 3 by Kathryn C. Kelly Genre: Contemporary MC Romance In the gripping sequel to “Restless,” Christopher “Outlaw” Caldwell’s transformation into a devoted family man is put to the ultimate test. Once feared for his ruthlessness, he finds himself drifting further away from his notorious MC leader persona as he navigates…

[tinadonahue]

Kathryn C. Kelly is here to tell us about Misled, a Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club novel, book 1, contemporary MC romance. She's also hostin...

[chicklitbookcafe]

Misled by Kathryn C. Kelly

Misled, a Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club Novel by Kathryn C. Kelly Outlaw, the new president of an infamous motorcycle club, hides a horrible secret that has haunted him and thrown his club into chaos. Misled into believing her father wants her with him, Meggie flees her home life to search for him. She quickly finds herself in the middle of a dangerous world, with a handsome but tough MC…

[thereadingcafe]

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEWS:

RESTLESS / RELENTLESS The Legacy Rises: Next Generation (Death Dwellers MC 3 & 4) by Kathryn C Kelly at The Reading Cafe:

'a dark, graphic, complex and detailed story and series'

[writingforatwistedworld]

Otome au

I’ve had this in my head ever since your AU came out because :) OK Mc still does the side quest and so does the storyline but they always try to take stuff from the villagers or like the side characters( I do this it doesn’t work most the time)🤣

For example mc : i’m gonna take your bread sir(Mc tried to take it but but they can’t)  give me my bread

Villager: my bakery is closed you can come back another day:)

Mc : let me take your Bread SIR SIR let me take your bread STOP WALKING AWAY FROM ME SIR!!!??

Can you do Vil,epel, azul how would they react mc like that I thought it would be hilarious!!! please thank you love your stuff<3

THE BREAD! HAIL THE BREAD! EAT THE BREAD! RESPECT THE BREAD! And take the bread away from NPC's. (I hear the murder in the voice of that example NPC XD)

Otome-au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, poison, violence, stalking, obsession, possessiveness, murder, death

Azul Ashengrotto/Vil Schoenheit/Epel Felmier-“I’m gonna take your bread sir… let me take your bread SIR SIR STOP WALKING AWAY FROM ME SIR!!!??”

Here he is sitting, watching you through his mirror, looking at how you talk with those land-dwellers (idk about what you think but bread underwater is a bit hard u know...)

And... could it be that you are hungry?

Because all he is seeing is you jumping like a madman in front of random people (you call them NPC's, right?) wanting their bread if they had one

Ok, imagine this with me, he just woke up, was done with his hair so it was... like it usually was and just put the mirror on like some TV

You following me, right? Well he was staring at it with an open mouth watching how you wanted everyones bread for the first two minutes

And once the shock is gone he is going mad

“ARE THEY NOT FEEDING YOU WELL??!”

Then he remembers that this is not your real body and just some shell so you can experience this world

But then... what are you doing? Is this something in another culture? Is he missing something here?

Poor Octopus is so confused.

Why don't you just take some fish if you want food that badly, they are practically swimming into your hand... oh, yeah, right, you not in water

Let us remember that panicked state he was in before, yes? The three people that he could also see with you in the mirror are now cursed, byproduct of his abilities (don't question it)

But you seem to like bread a lot... should he try to create a waterproof one??!

Cue you looking at your screen confused when they achievement “culinary inspiration-the merpeoples best chef” popped up

Guess you just brought bread onto the plate of fish

But no one dares to steal the recipe. Otherwise they might find themselves at the mercy of an angry outcast of the sea, the mersorcerer himself

Yeah, that garden is growing pretty neat

So... you expect this cold-hearted tyrant king to just ignore what is going on?

My dear friend, he has a magic mirror that can see and show more than any other reflecting surface

He was this close from throwing his own most prized reflective surface out of the window (again)

Life of a mirror can be hard you know? If it isn't easy with competition on the mirror market and if that doesn't kick you out of the business then it's your owner shattering you (and I'm sure a fall from a tower also does the job)

Since you know me you also know what comes next, we build the scene

He just sat there, staring at your body in this world and how it didn't move for about half an hour (you probably went to grab a bite)

He almost screamed when you suddenly jumped up and sprinted to the next baker

Oh I also forgot to mention, you were screaming “BRRREEEAAADDDD” (you doing that. Not me. I'm just an author)

That was rather... u elegant but he can pass this...

Until you go to the next person and repeat the whole “gimme your bread” thingy

I told you, that mirror better learn how to fly and that fast

You want bread? YOU WANT BREAD??! Fine, then you shall get bread

Suddenly someone appears out of nowhere, handing you a basket filled with bread, saying “in the name of the king”

Maybe he will even get so annoyed that he will try to poison his brother yet again but this time with bread (imagine, it was not an apple but bread XD)

But if you thought about giving it to one of the suitors I would advise you to forget that

You know, he has a certain special magic and he might have done something to the bread that would affect them but not you... Just might (nah he has definitely done something to it)

So bread is the way into your heart huh?

Forget his apple carving skills! *sobs* He is going to learn how to bake bread!

The kitchen looked like it was a battlefield after the first time... why was there a knife sticking out of the bowl?

But anyway, he is trying his best

But why did he decide to walk the treacherous path of bread baking?

Well... you were screaming like a madman and telling everyone to give you bread

Oh boy was he happy that the people would forget what happened after you would restart the game or loaded an earlier safe file

Lowkey embarrassed but then it struck him!

If you want bread that badly then he shall make it!

He was so motivated that he totally forgot that this body of yours can't even get hungry

Remember that he is also the poison dealer which would hand the king the poison to finally reach his goals in the plot of the game?

That left over bread which isn't 100% perfect doesn't get thrown away, no

Bread can actually soak up a lot of liquids so just a few drops of this and that... there, his next client should be pleased

Also, might use the power of the oh-so-malicious poisoned bread to make sure Neige doesn't come close, he can't have the main plot ending too fast after all (falling off a cliff hurts)

But in the end he can bake bread like a champion

Just don't take the bread from that basket. That other one is for you. Oh why? Well... he made it for that nice person you met yesterday. Had to take extra measures because of an allergy... want to deliver it with you?

[sunatoru]

bottom of the deep blue. (0)

⇒ mermaid!suna x siren!reader

summary : sirens, creatures of unmatched beauty and cunning charm, they lure men in with their voices and grace, taking advantage of all the gullible fishermen and pirates. mermaids, the peacekeepers of the deep blue sea, naive and kind to a fault at times. a fated encounter between the two underwater dwellers leads to a difficult situation and a love that shouldn’t be.

warnings : mean!suna, mentions of blood, mentions of death, torture, lovesick hopeless romantic reader :,)

genre : mermaid au, pirate au, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, betrayal

a/n : here’s the prologue!! i’m planning on posting weekly, not sure on the specific date but i’ll figure it out :D please give me some feedback in the comments or inbox or reblog the fic!! also note, the mc is supposed to be essentially the stereotype of a mermaid (naive and wide eyed to everything) while having the appearance and role of a siren.

w/c : 1.4k

a fog settles over the calm waters, a deafening silence only broken by the sound of the water breaking against the small row boats paddles. two young pirate men trying to desperately flee their crew's ship through the dark ocean's water as the large boat gains on them.

the fog thickens till neither man can see the silhouette of the boat, the waters ease as their paddles slow and they sit in a fearful silence waiting for the large ship to break through the fog.

it never does.

both men relax in their respective spots, trembling hands dragging down their faces in relief as they smile in disbelief at one another. too relieved at their escape to even notice the waters have pushed the boat further out into the dark foggy water.

a hum breaks the silence next. soft and sweet melodie’s fill the air while the water around the boat shifts and pushes into the wood, something dark begins to break through the surface of the blanket of water.

a woman, with long black hair and the most alluring eyes, she smiles sweetly at the two men, who can only look at her in awe. she pushes herself closer to them, continuing to hum as she holds eye contact with the man with the blonde hair. she takes note of his pierced ear, a fleeing tyrant…

the siren pulls a hand out of the water, distracting the blonde headed pirate by cupping his left cheek, looking up at him through her long lashes. a second woman appears on the other side, just as beautiful as the first.

the melodies grow louder.

the song is a beautifully haunting sound, echoing out across the expanse of the ocean. the two men were far too easy to seduce, and much more easier to manoeuvre into the water where all the other sirens were waiting below the surface.

their screams were short, not given much time before they too were dragged under the surface. the only indication of human life within the area was the now abandoned boat and the shredded pieces of clothing tainted by a pink colour.

they stopped thrashing the minute they were dragged below.

—

you wiped a shaky hand against your mouth, biting back the tremble of your lips and fighting the urge to make your discomfort known. you pulled away from the group who continued feasting on the two fools, the sight of their gaping mouths was enough to twist your stomach uncomfortably.

“enjoy… i’ll be in my usual spot.” you gave the girls a tight smile before speeding away, trembling hands clenched into tight fists by your sides. it didn’t take you long to find your small safe haven, an underwater cave filled with luminescent crystals and clams and pearls that you couldn’t help but admire every once in a while.

within the cave was a dry ledge, a pocket of air surrounded by the natural beauty of the sea. you would spend hours resting on that ledge, eyes unfocused with a hand resting on your stomach while the other one lays in the water beside you. it may have seemed boring to your group but for you it was a moment of escape from the pressures forced onto you. you didn’t want to be a killer, feared by all the oceans animals and creatures, you wanted to be able to fall in love and speak to a human and hear about their adventures above the water on the dry lands.

alas, there wasn’t much you could do about your current predicament, so the cave was the only place you could go for a moment of silence and to be alone to fantasise what could’ve been.

your head breaks through the surface of the caves small pool and you brush the droplets of water off of your face, a smile present when you look up at the crystal coloured ceiling. however, as you drag your eyes down to the ledge the smile on your face drops.

why was there a merman laying on your ledge, peering down at you with half lidded eyes and a sly smirk?

“who are you and how did you find this place?” you kept your distance from the merman, eyes flitting over his sharp features, he looked as charming and beautiful as your sisters within your group, but held an innocence within his eyes that did not match that of a tritons dull and anger filled gaze.

“how did you find this place?” the smirk and half lidded look never dropped from his face, you gulped down your saliva, eyes darting to the jewels behind him, you’ve never spoken to a mermaid or merman before but you were sure they were not supposed to be able to make you feel this nervous.

you stayed silent, eyes falling to the chain hanging from his neck, a simple shark tooth hanging from the area. he had golden eyes and soft-looking brown hair that laid flat against his head above the water.

“a-are you a mermaid?”

“merman.” his response was blunt, he switched his position so that he was no longer laying down but instead staring down at you from a seated position, hands on either side of him grasping the ledges edge.

you pouted a bit, swimming a little further backwards to create a distance between the two of you. “aren’t mermen and mermaids supposed to be super nice and naive?”

he hums, smirk returning as he eyes you. “aren’t sirens supposed to be sexy and alluring? how are you supposed to seduce a sailor?”

“i don’t want to seduce anyone! and even if i did, i bet i’d even be able to lure you in.” your tone was raised and defensive, your arms crossed to cover your chest as you glared up at the rude merman who keeps taunting you.

“anyways, like i said who are you and how did you find this place? this was my place first, and i don’t want to share with some jerk merman who can’t even muster up a smile.”

“calm down princess, i was just pulling your fin,” he gave you an insincere smile. “the name’s rintarou, currently in the middle of training to be a royal guard. but life is so boring as a mermaid in the guard, i needed a place to go to find some peace.”

you studied his face, your own pout never slipping as you held his gaze, he raised an eyebrow at you, his hands toying with a nearby jewel. “congratulations i guess, could you please leave now? i’d like to spend some time alone in my cave.”

“i don’t see your name on it.” he looked around, making a point to closely examine the walls of the small shelter.

you bit back a groan, teeth sinking into your bottom lip and your arms crossing as you glared at the merman. his gaze returned to you, in which he sent a coy grin. “what’s the matter, pearl? you seem tense.”

“i-it’s none of your business. if you won’t leave then i’ll just find a new cave myself.” you go to dive back under the water's surface but quickly stop when you notice the strange merman slipping into the small pool with you.

“fine im leaving, you can keep your dumb cave… are all sirens this childish?” he mumbles out the last part.

“yeah well, i’m pretty sure i’ve met piranhas nicer than you, rintarou.”

he snorted, swimming closer to you til you were both chest to chest. your heart rate picked up at the close proximity with the pretty merman with the golden eyes, who only looked back at you with that same half-lidded smirk from before.

“cute. by the way, i don’t think you ever told me your name, don’t you think that’s the least you could give me in return for letting you keep this cave you claim to be yours?”

you purse your lips, shaking your head before swimming around him. “i don’t owe you anything, now leave.” your back stays turned to him but you know he’s still there, his presence is strong and his breathing is even.

“then i guess i’ll get it the next time i see you. until we meet again.” you turn around and he dips below the water before you can reply, your eye twitches and you can’t hold back the scoff now that he’s gone.

“what an invasive creature.” though you couldn’t help the warmth that threatened to grow in your stomach at the thought of meeting a mermaid, or in this case merman, again.

taglist : @lomlsuna @akaashiwife @plixy @on-crows-wings @1-800-s1ya @sabztov

[ovalleba]

Misled #tour #giveaway

Can love survive in a world of violence and betrayal? Misled Death Dwellers MC Book 1 by Kathryn C. Kelly Genre: Contemporary MC Romance Outlaw, the new president of an infamous motorcycle club, hides a horrible secret that has haunted him and thrown his club into chaos. Misled into believing her father wants her with him, Meggie flees her home life to search for him. She quickly finds herself…

[therealimintobooks]

Misled by Kathryn C. Kelly @katkelwriter @SDBookTours

Can love survive in a world of violence and betrayal? Misled Death Dwellers MC Book 1 by Kathryn C. Kelly Genre: Contemporary MC Romance Outlaw, the new president of an infamous motorcycle club, hides a horrible secret that has haunted him and thrown his club into chaos. Misled into believing her father wants her with him, Meggie flees her home life to search for him. She quickly finds herself…

[missnight0wl]

I was looking at the first Vault Trio, and their names are actually pretty interesting when you research them a bit. I can't say if the writers chose these names for their meanings, but it's still worth analyzing.

Olivia Green

Olivia is an English name derived from the Latin 'oliva', which means, well, olive.

Green is an English toponymic surname that means 'dweller at/near the village green, or grassy ground.'

Both names are, obviously, connected to the color 'green', which in the West symbolizes many things: 'safety, nature, springtime, inexperience, envy'.

This doesn't explain much, but the 'safety' meaning does contradict how Nearly Headless Nick described her: a particularly brave and daring student.

The olive is also said to symbolise 'wisdom, fertility, power, and purity'. An olive branch is a symbol of peace, wreaths made of olive branches used to crown victors, and they had a common place in religion, with olive oil being considered sacred.

I also recently noticed how similar her name is to Olive Hornby, the girl who was Mrytle's bully. You know, the murdered angry student ghost of Hogwarts... just like Duncan! Olive was also the first person to find Myrtle's body, and Myrtle is also an English name coming from a plant (a shrub, not a tree).

'Olivia' and 'Olive' are obvious, and Hornby is also an English toponymic surname that means 'horn farm' and it is actually a location in Lancashire, England.

However, while researching Olivia's name, I found out that the name was popularized by William Shakespeare, used first in his play 'Twelfth Night'. I looked into her Wikipedia page, and I was surprised by what I found:

Olivia is a beautiful lady of noble birth who lives in Illyria. Before the play begins, she has recently lost her brother who was her guardian after her father died. This loss has made her grief-stricken and she has refused to see anyone who does not reside in her household and declared that she will be in mourning for seven years.

Why, that sounds a lot like Jacob's Sibling! This is quite a coincidence, if it is actually one!

Duncan Ashe

Duncan is actually a name with a contested origin and meaning, but most common opinion is that it's an Anglicised version of a Irish and Scottish Gaelic name 'Donnchadh', with 'donn', meaning 'dark/brown' and 'chadh' meaning 'chief/noble'. Coincidentally, Donn is also the name of a Gaelic God of the dead.

Ashe is an English surname meaning 'dweller at the ash-tree'.

It is also a surname from Ireland that is the Anglicised version of an Irish surname 'Ághas', which itself is the Gaelicised version of Norman surname 'd'Essecourt'.

Not necessarily related, but this actually makes me think Duncan might have been Irish, which, considering the general anti-Irish sentiment that would have been prominent especially in the 70s and 80s due to The Troubles, can explain a lack of media attention to his death.

His name's meaning as a 'chieftain' sounds a bit ironic since Jacob was the leader of the trio, but also that he and the others all took orders from R, meaning none of them were actually the leader. He does have a pretty dominant personality and he is very firm with MC when it comes to deciding what he wants them to know and not to know. He is pretty much in the control of any conversation they have.

For symbolism of the ash tree, in some European cultures, ash wood smoke would be used as protection against evil spirits, which is ironic since he is an unfriendly ghost, but when looking at his relationship with MC, perhaps he too is trying to protect them from 'evil spirits' (R) in a way?

Jacob

I'm sure his name has been analyzed in the past, and without a surname, there isn't much to say.

Jacob is a Hebrew name that either means 'seizing by the heel' a reference to the Biblical Jacob who held onto his older twin brother, Esau's heel during birth, or 'supplanting', once again a reference to the Biblical Jacob who tricked his brother out of his birthright.

In the Book of Genesis, not only is Jacob described as a 'simple man, dwelling in tents', but his own trickery of his brother was ordered by their mother, Rebecca, who also ordered Jacob to obey her despite his protests.

This ends up with Jacob fleeing to avoid Esau's wrath. In irony, during his stay with his maternal uncle, Jacob was tricked into 14 years of labor in exchange of his cousin, Rachel's, hand (his uncle tricked him with Leah, Rachel's older sister, initially).

It has some basic similarities with HPHM Jacob's story, right? Except Jacob is described as a smart, kind boy by his teachers and MC never fails to gush about him and their good memories when prompted.

Jacob is also the father of the leaders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, so obviously, a morality that would be described as a dark shade of gray by modern standards without cultural and historical context makes the name fit perfectly since HPHM's Jacob is also controversial character, one the fandom still doesn't know what to do with. Stories of him as a student from teachers and peers, from his sibling, and from the current canon all paint different pictures.

That’s some impressive research! Great job! Thank you so much for sharing it! :)

I don’t think I can add anything to it, but I’d like to comment on some parts.

You know, I never really realised the similarity between Olivia Green and Olive Hornby, but it could be pretty interesting. Personally, I believe that the relationship between Olivia and Duncan wasn’t particularly good, and it was mostly Jacob who connected them. I’d love to finally learn more about how it was for real. Perhaps it was sort of a flipped situation, though? Like, Duncan was more negative towards Olivia, considering that he had a rather bold personality? I’ll go back to Duncan’s personality in a moment, too. Oh, and one more thing here! If I recall correctly, Myrtle was haunting Olive Hornby for some time after her death, and I think the authorities had to even intervene there – that’s why Myrtle returned to Hogwarts. Wouldn’t it be neat if it turned out that Duncan similarly found Olivia? Maybe not necessarily to haunt her, but just to learn what happened to her. Or MC could work with Duncan in the future to finally find her!

The part about Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is very curious as well. I agree that it does sound like MC’s situation quite a bit, but I’d take it even further: what if our Olivia Green is indeed similar to MC? What I mean by that is that we still don’t know how R forced Duncan and Olivia to cooperate. Was it only about Jacob for them? Because we know that for Jacob, the stakes were much higher than losing his friends.

So, what if Olivia had a missing brother, and R promised her to find him? Or maybe it was the situation from long before the play and Olivia’s father was terminally ill? So, she agreed to work for R in the hope of saving him?

Now, let’s move to Duncan. I love your proposition about Duncan being Irish. I’d probably never think of anti-Irish sentiment present in the wizarding world, but I guess it does make sense. Even if it wasn’t the main reason for why his death went basically unnoticed, it’s worth consideration as an additional factor.

As for Jacob being the leader of the group – you know, I actually think it’s more than “they all were taking the orders from R, therefore there was no leader”. Because Duncan told us:

Yes, it’s pretty much the same, but what I like about this line in particular is that Duncan sounds a bit defensive about Jacob here. I dunno, maybe it’s just me. But I also think that it shows that Duncan saw himself and Jacob as equal. Like, he was already really angry with Jacob, he could’ve said: “Jacob was always so bossy, but the orders came from R anyway”. But he didn’t do that. That’s why I think he was genuine at this moment, and he actually thought positively about their friendship.

That being said, I agree that Duncan has a rather dominant personality – and I believe it was also the case when he was alive.

At the same, I also agree that he kind of tries to protect MC! I mean, we have to keep in mind that he’s a ghost, which means that he’ll never be entirely over his resentment. That’s why he often feels rough. But on the other hand, we have situations like this:

Sure, it sounds a bit salty and dismissive, but… it’s really not bad advice. Also, while Duncan was having fun with all the pranks, he was trying to help us after all. And when Peeves got a bit too agitated at one point, Duncan got more serious and was trying to call him down. So yeah, I’d say that in his own way, Duncan wants to protect MC.

Finally, yes, that’s totally true that Jacob is a big unknown. From the very beginning, it was always: “He was a troublemaker, but he was also brave, and thoughtful, and smart”. I really wish we could talk with various people about Jacob more – both in the past and currently. I wish MC was smarter, trying to put up a consistent picture out of these pieces of information. I wish we could question more things…

Anyway, thank you once more for sharing all of that! :)

[twstmischief]

Ooo Halloween hcs!!! May I get one where the vice dorm leaders are watching horror movies with mc and mc is really annoyed because of all of the flaws in the death scenes, that they go on a rant after the movie? An example: “they should not have been conscious after losing all that blood” “that blow to the back should have killed him or at least leave him paralyzed” “that hit a major artery they should’ve been dead in minutes”

I’m not a horror movie type person but I’d watch it with them lol

~ Trey finds you getting annoyed at the movie quite funny. He loves when you pout and scoff at how unrealistic the death scenes are.

~ He will try to calm you down by telling you it’s just a movie. You’ll pout again with an “I know but still-“ and he will try his hardest not to laugh at you for getting mad.

~When the movie ends and you’re still angry he’ll give you a kiss on the cheek and thank you for being able to get through it and he’ll try to calm you down by baking something for/with you.

~ Ruggie just laughs and teases you when you get annoyed. He’ll say you’re just scared and trying to calm your nerves by acting annoyed.

~ You just give him a glare and tell him that isn’t the case and he’ll just laugh and tease you again.

~ Yet really he just wants to poke fun at you because he thinks your expressions are cute. Which is why he always continues to tease you.

~ Jade isn’t really familiar with horror movies- or really any type of movie- after all he’s lived in the deep sea his whole life.

~ But when you start yelling and getting irritated he internally smirks and studies your reaction. Is this how all land dwellers act when watching horror movies, or is it just you?

~ He finds it funny when the movie is over and your pouting and grumbling about how unrealistic the movie was. Oh how he wanted to kiss you, but he’ll save that for later.

~ Jamil will chuckle a bit at your reactions and grumbles whenever a death scene came on the screen. He is so used to Kalim being scared, so your reactions are a nice change for him.

~ He’d look at your face from time to time to see your expressions. Which were mainly just rolled eyes, an angered face, or a pout. he thought it was cute.

~ When he let out a laugh at one of your expressions and you looked at him and asked what that was about, he shook his head and said “It’s nothing.” He then opened his arms and allowed you curl up against his chest.

~ Rook finds his Trickster quite amusant (amusing) already, but when it comes to watching horror movies oh he’s in for a real treat.

~ He just wants to poke at you all night. When you say “This is stupid!” At the movie for having a cliche and not well written death scene. Rook with just calm you down by saying something like “I know Dear Trickster, but alas it is only a movie.” And you grumble with the “I know”’s.

~ All in all he loves this side of you enjoys it a bit too much that he’s thinking of what other movies to watch that would show your angered side.

~ Ortho was surprisingly the one who picked the movie, so he feels a bit bad when you start to get annoyed. He’ll even ask if he picked a bad one.

~ You will have to tell him it’s not his fault and that all horror movies are like this. Ortho will say that this one had high ratings.

~ Other than that he’ll get annoyed with you and agree that the death scenes were dumb and very flawed!

~ Lilia has seen his share of horror movies and agrees that some of the death scenes were dumb and quite flawed.

~ However seeing you get angry and pouty at the death scenes in the movie was quite an enjoyment for him. Lilia doesn’t even try to hide his smirk or laughter.

~ When you try and tell Lilia the reason why you’re angry with the movie and explain why the death scenes are so flawed. He’ll just say “Oh I know little one, but you’re so cute when you’re angry~!”

[callmederok]

I finished Dragon Quest XI S

The differences to Dragon Quest XI aren’t that many, so I’ll focus on those:

Tockle’s world: It’s a 2d world...filled with adventures, honestly? I’m disappointed it’s boring as hell and felt like a chore...the only quest I actually liked it’s the Wedding Rehearsal because I didn’t fight monsters and because the party members express their feelings to MC/Luminary when asked to be the bride(even the males, yes and Rab too aka MC’s actual grandfather...yep extremely weird). I would probably like this more if it was in 3d where I can actually use the “run button“ or see something(for me the 2d used here it’s pretty grainy and my eyes were burning almost all the time)

The new introduction to ACT2: Aside from Serena, Veronica and Hendrick(he is not a party member yet), the characters get a dungeon to explore alone: Rab/Lord Robert gets visions of how life would be if the monsters never attacked Dundrasil(which it means we get to see kid MC playing around, or planning Rab’s birthday), with Erik we learn why when we meet him later he doesn’t remember a single thing and with Jade we learn how and why she got brainwashed in Octagonia. This was pretty cool.

They removed some stuff like the crossbow challenges which it’s fine and added some special costumes and other good features like auto-looting when you smash minerals or “hit“ trees so that you can get stuff from them, or the ability to summon the horse and Cetacea from everywhere.

They added a 2d version of the whole game...which feels wrong with this game, so I didn’t play it at all...because I saw Tockle’s world, and I was already done with 2d.

I’m sad that there isn’t a new game+ mechanics...because I would love to goof around in first level areas while having the strongest equipment or seeing the characters in early game cutscenes with end-game costumes(like MC wearing the Cobblestone Finest outfit for the whole game, or Erik with his Pirate King outfit)

and that’s it...i’ve the same complaints about the emotional scenes where MC is so emotionless to drive me insane, but i blame the developers

Remember guys: a Silent Character is different from an Emotionless Character

a silent character can express feelings even with gestures, like hugging someone or patting their head, or making some noises with their mouth. See Link from Legend of Zelda! Hell! I’ll even add the MC from Code Vein who is pretty much silent and emotionless until the end of the game, but he/she shows some bloody emotion the moment that Io(a character) is involved, even more in the “Dweller in the Dark” ending when MC calls her name and the tone of their voice expresses some emotion. Link in BotW has a reason for being silent! Stress and huge expectations and even bigger responsibilities stress the hell out of him to the point of not-speaking.

And don’t tell me “But it’s a tradition that MCs in Dragon Quests are silent! It’s good!“ because no it’s not...ACT3 of this game it’s the proof of it...if MC could speak like literally the entire introduction of ACT3 could be so much faster and easier to deal with(Spoiler alert: MC goes back in time, around the end of ACT1, he remembers everything happened in ACT2, and he can prevent Veronica’s death...but because he doesn’t speak, he can’t warn his friends/party-member, they still manage to save Veronica and King Carnelian, but they still are surprised by Jasper’s ambush)

So yeah like in Dragon Quest XI, most of the emotional scenes would be 80% better if MC either showed some emotion, spoke or he simply hugged another character or IF other characters had hugged MC (Amber and Gemma in ACT2 in Last Bastion cough cough) 

There is some affection when you marry a character(Gemma and Serena mostly)...but for like 6 minutes in a 300 hours long game.