#FUN FACT i used to hate him when i first started reading the books and i don’t even remember why

[weirdcreaturealreadyexisted]

kinda speedran this but Tigerstar and Longtail are definitely next lol

Firestar

won’t be posting every thirty minutes but i just finished this too and thought it would be cool ig

(also the scratch in his ear is when he lost a life to scourge :] )

[astronicht]

Okay I'm almost done with Fellowship, here's an incomplete list of shit I noticed and thought was buck fucking wild on my first ever read-thru: medieval edition.

In literally the second line of the book, Tolkien implies that Bilbo Baggins wrote a story which was preserved alongside the in-universe version of the Mabinogion (aka the best-known collection of Welsh myths; I promise this is batshit). This is because The Hobbit has been preserved, in Tolkien's AU version of our world, in a "selection of the Red Book of Westmarch" (Prologue, Concerning Hobbits). If you're a medievalist and you see something called "The Red Book of" or "The Black Book of" etc it's a Thing. In this case, a cheeky reference to the Red Book of Hergest (Llyfr Coch Hergest). There are a few Red Books, but only Hergest has stories).

not a medieval thing but i did not expect one common theory among hobbits for the death of Frodo's parents to be A RUMORED MURDER-SUICIDE.

At the beginning of the book a few hobbits report seeing a moving elm tree up on the moors, heading west (thru or past the Shire). I mentioned this in another post, but another rule: if you see an elm tree, that's a Girl Tree. In Norse creation myth, the first people were carved from driftwood by the gods. Their names were Askr (Ash, as in the tree), the first man, and Embla (debated, but likely elm tree), the first woman. A lot of ppl have I think guessed that that was an ent-wife, but like. Literally that was a GIRL. TREE.

Medieval thing: I used to read the runes on the covers of The Hobbit and LOTR for fun when I worked in a bookshop. There's a mix of Old Norse (viking) and Old English runes in use, but all the ones I've noticed so far are real and readable if you know runes.

Tom Bombadil makes perfect sense if you once spent months of your life researching the early medieval art of galdor, which was the use of poems or songs to do a form of word-magic, often incorporating gibberish. If you think maybe Tolkien did not base the entirety of Fellowship so far around learning and using galdor and thus the power of words and stories, that is fine I cannot force you. He did personally translate "galdor" in Beowulf as "spell" (spell, amusingly, used to mean "story"). And also he named an elf Galdor. Like he very much did name an elf Galdor.

Tom Bombadil in fact does galdor from the moment we meet him. He arrives and fights the evil galdor (song) of the willow tree ("old gray willow-man, he's a mighty singer"), which is singing the hobbits to sleep and possibly eating them, with a galdor (song) of his own. Then he wanders off still singing, incorporating gibberish. I think it was at this point that I started clawing my face.

THEN Tom Bombadil makes perfect sense if you've read the description of the scop's songs in Beowulf (Beowulf again, but hey, Tolkien did famously a. translate it b. write a fanfiction about it called Sellic Spell where he gave Beowulf an arguably homoerotic Best Friend). The scop (pronounched shop) is a poet who sings about deeds on earth, but also by profession must know how to sing the song or tell the story of how the cosmos itself came to be. The wise-singer who knows the deep lore of the early universe is a standard trope in Old English literature, not just Beowulf! Anyway Tom Bombadil takes everyone home and tells them THE ENTIRE STORY OF ALL THE AGES OF THE EARTH BACKWARDS UNTIL JUST BEFORE THE MOMENT OF CREATION, THE BIG BANG ITSELF and then Frodo Baggins falls asleep.

Tom Bombadil knows about plate tectonics

This is sort of a lie, Tom Bombadil describes the oceans of old being in a different place, which works as a standard visual of Old English creation, which being Christian followed vaguely Genesis lines, and vaguely Christian Genesis involves a lot of water. TOLKIEN knew about plate tectonics though.

Actually I just checked whether Tolkien knew about plate tectonics because I know the advent of plate tectonics theory took forever bc people HATED it and Alfred Wegener suffered for like 50 years. So! actually while Tolkien was writing LOTR, the scientific community was literally still not sure plate tectonics existed. Tom Bombadil knew tho.

Remember that next time you (a geologist) are forced to look at the Middle Earth map.

I'm not even done with Tom Bombadil but I'm stopping here tonight. Plate tectonics got me. There's a great early (but almost high!) medieval treatise on cosmology and also volcanoes and i wonder if tolkien read it. oh my god. i'm going to bed.

edit: part II

[mmani-e]

Hello! After all this effort, behold:

DANGANRONPA DEMIX, THH EDITION!

Dr Demix 2

Finally got the talentswap designs I have for the THH characters one and done with! You can click through the read more section for some fun design insights. I'm intending on uploading a doc containing short lore bits about them eventually.

Kyoko Kirigiri - Ultimate Affluent Progeny

So Kyoko's design was both kinda simple, kinda not, wanted to give her a very fine and regal kinda attitude to her but not arrogant as that's very much Byakuya's thing. Her story is that she loves her dad more than the family business and her grandpa so she abandons detective work and just uses her brain to help her dad out.

Makoto Naegi - Ultimate Novelist

Makoto is a wonderful guy, just great all around. He loves writing children's books and happy stories. This is his main coping mechanism so he doesn't have to process any negative emotions he gets, the rest he can't process… well they go into a murderous psychopath alter.

Aoi Asahina - Ultimate Lucky Student

Shoujo protagonist Aoi. Cute, headstrong, affective, competitive, these are all the traits that make her fight for her friends and clash with Kyoko (and more often than not Byakuya) in the killing game, even when all hope seems lost… she pushes through, unafraid to let tears spill from her eyes for all those lost, but pushing all the same.

Byakuya Togami - Ultimate Detective

This one, I wanna go into more lore territory, cause I kinda memed around his last desc I gave him so here goes:

"A disgraced heir of the Togami household, Byakuya lost the competition that would've secured his riches. Disdainful and bitter, he sought out to get to the bottom of why he lost, uncovering a rabbit hole in the process. By the end, he proved his sibling a cheater, but it didn't matter because by the end as he found the sweet satisfaction of uncovering secrets and crushing liars and cheaters under the weight of their hubris far more satisfying than any inheritance."

Sayaka Maizono - Ultimate Spirit Medium

So Sayaka isn't a clairvoyant at all like Yasuhiro, in fact her entire skillset is completely different, first of all she is like an actual psychic, and I based her design off of the japanese Itako, quite loosely. Very interesting group, look it up, also she'll never use these powers in the killing game because I dunno how to even approach these rituals or what they look like or how to write them while remaining respectful, so she won't do it in a killing game for the express reason of her not having the right tools available and not wanting to disrespect her traditions.

Leon Kuwata - Ultimate Swimmer

I really wanna draw him again, all these characters again tbh, and I wanna show off the patterns on his wetsuit. It's a whole coral reef under there, that anemone and clownfish bit is only one part of a whole reef stretching his midline.

Sakura Ogami - Ultimate Programmer

Sakura has installed chips into her body to help optimize her body processes and also cause why not. As for the muscles, she's an Assembly programmer, the programs she's made can run on calculators she loves it.

Chihiro Fujisaki - Ultimate Martial Artist

Chihiro's design here with the two belts is an explicit nod to his preferred martial art - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so unlike Sakura in canon who'd be easy to imagine cracking someone's skull in half with a chop, Chihiro's approach is more crawling onto someone and bringing them down to the floor with grappling like an angry halfling monk. As for the belts themselves, on his head is his final junior belt, while around his waist is his current belt, he's not a black belt yet because he's still too young for it.

Celestia Ludenberg - Ultimate Baseball Star

Celestia actually isn't a legend in this AU, Taeko is. Celestia hates that and wants to start a baseball career going international, whatever the hell that means is up to her own definition, but she wants to be remembered forever as Celestia, not Taeko. Also extra sentence, but this is the SINGLE hardest design I've ever had to deal with here, I think in the future I'll be drawing all her little accessories and I have an alt costume for her I have in mind.

Hifumi Yamada - Ultimate Pop Star

So I changed Hifumi's story as I originally outlined in the OG post with him. He was friends with Aoi all his life, pretty much his only friend at all, and ever since he was little he had an obsession with writing songs, because he was obsessed with stuff like anime openings and was content to just keep the songs to himself. It wasn't till Aoi convinced him to share some of his songs that he started his journey to success, but bc he's not traditionally attractive, his first hits were literally just… his voice being played over other more attractive singers and it wasn't until very very recently that he even performed a song of his for the first time.

Toko Fukawa - Ultimate Fanfic Writer

So while Hifumi was clearly a Doujinshi but due to weird translation, ended up as fanfic creator, Touko is straight up a FF then Wattpad then AO3 girl, who would get obsessed with this really shitty, tripe manga that she didn't even like reading. It did however have super hot dudes in it, so she wrote good stories of those characters when she got frustrated with the actual authorial content - which was always.

Yasuhiro Hagakure - Ultimate Gambler

Quite LITERALLY the never stop gambling meme personified into a guy. He can lose 3 mil on slot machines but always comes out fine because it means if he keeps gambling he'll eventually run into his 1/3 and win giga millions, what he needs to pay off his debts. It isn't just with luck though either because his personality and lack of intelligence or understanding of most the rules of the games he plays means he'll never react the way he should when getting a good hand in poker or a bad draw in blackjack, so he wins those games almost always through just… stupidity.

Mukuro Ikusaba - Ultimate Biker

She's number 16 in her gang, and is easily the most loyal enforcer and taskman of the gang. She does anything she's told, to a grim and disciplined degree not typical for hooligan bike gangers, she doesn't really desire a seat as top dog of the gang though, after all she's got school to worry about, and her sister.

Mondo Owada - Ultimate Warlord

So his relationship and Kiyotaka's is gonna be interesting, because I don't want him to be exactly like Mukuro at all, who was just sort of an all-obsessed Yandere. It's more like he's always chafing under Taka, who is less than friendly with him in this AU, really the main way he even lets Taka boss him around is because he pays incredibly well and helps keep his gang members from devolving back into the unstructured, chaotic criminal life, the same that took his brother years ago.

Oh and yeah, he still looks like Guile, as he should.

Sparkling Justice - Ultimate Killer Killer

Yeah it's a reference to Killer Killer, sue me I love the manga. He has Hajirahara's ahoge, and I thought it'd be cute to also give him a mask just like the other Makoto from a Kodaka game series (Raincode.) Also, while Genocide jack stuffs all her scissors in her skirt, Makoto keeps a truth gun with "truth bullets" as his main weapon, the gun he stores inside the big book in the chibi of just Makoto, and the bullets kept on his person as the red buttons all over his body, which he pulls out when he needs to reload.

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru" - Ultimate Fashionista

Unlike Mukuro and Junko, Mondo absolutely cannot hide the fact that he acts nothing like Kiyotaka, though this is surprisingly fine to everyone else, because unlike Junko who plastered herself onto literally everything, Mondo always obfuscated himself from the public spotlight, at most showing only his suits while he hid his face behind something conveniently placed. Which played primarily to his vision of an ultimate fashionista, who was above everyone and catered to the rich and powerful.

Junko Enoshima - Ultimate Moral Compass

This was a fun one, I decided to let her have her red hair because I believe it to be the "natural" look of her hair, while attaching little clips of dyed hair to her buns as a replacement to keep her shape sorta and keep the strawberry blonde somwehere on her. Understand that while she is the "moral compass" she is still pretty deranged, and the only reason she focuses so much on keeping everyone on their best behavior is because it's endlessly entertaining to her to make her fellow moral committee members upset when she blatantly makes a mockery of the rules while still keeping kids on their best behavior to make a point.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Ultimate Fashionista and Tyrant, the Iron Hand of Despair

Taka's design I wanted to sort of focus on this sort of, holier-than-thou idea, where I wanted to make him look a lot fancier and upper-class than Junko does in his standard highschool fit compared to him. I wanted him to have an upper-crust sort of look

If you're reading this after reading this all, thanks! You're a wonderful person :) Signing off...

Mani

[cranberryjuice-posts]

GIRLIE I LOVED YOUR ATHENA DAUGHTER READER ‼️

also guess who’s back can i ask for a athena!daugter reader where it’s kinda like Annabeth trying to tell the reader that “hey clarisse is bad she tried to fucking kill percy she’s evil” and the reader us kinda tries to convince her that Clarisse really isn’t that bad😔

(i love your work girl and your end memes please do more 🔥‼️)

She’s the only one I got

Pairings - Clarisse La rue x daughter of Athena reader

An- fun-fact clarisse loves Dr Pepper It’s cannon Go read the sea of monsters. She’s literally perfect I can’t

An pt 2 - I Hope this is ok i wasn’t really sure what to write but it’s ok bc I’m just a girl

Pt 1 — Pt 2

Palestine aid link

“Are you serious?!” Annabeth yelled, a few of your other siblings backing her up.

You however were standing infront of the full length mirror inside your cabin fixing your outfit which was a pair of bellebottoms and a camp sweater. “Look Annie i get your our counselor and your the smartest out of us all but your not the smartest when it comes to relationships”

“And now she’s starting to sound like an Aphrodite kid” Malcom your brother rolled his eyes before returning to his book. You shot him a hateful look. “All right fine Your right I don’t get relationships like you but I do know clarisse”

“Really?” You sarcastically spoke just wanting the argument to be over. Grabbing some hoops you were deciding between the two different pairs. “Yeah, Clarisse is a hateful arrogant and rude person. She makes fun of our cabin with her siblings and didn’t she use to make fun of you to”

Deciding on the star shape hoop you put the earring in. “Fine! Fine ok I get it but I promise you clarisse is not like that ok she’s sweet, she loves me Annie why don’t you get that” you sighed facing your sister.

The shorter girl crossed her arms, leaning against a desk inside the studious cabin. “Because she’s a bitch”

“Language!”

“I’m 12 why are you giving me shit for cussing you cuss”

“Because I’m 16 you’ve still got two years before you morally can curse now stop.. damn about to make me get Luke” you sighed shaking your head. Facing back to the mirror you analyzed your look.

Annabeth rolled her eyes looking away for some time before facing you once again. “I still don’t trust you being alone with her..”

After finally having enough you turned towards the wiser girl. “Know what fine you can spy on us during our date today, then you’ll see she’s not such a terrible person and you’ll finally get off my ass… deal” you crossed your arms looking down at annabeth.

Your younger sister looked around for a moment feeling somewhat threatened by you before nodding in defeat. “Great” you sighed stepping back, grabbing a small drawstring bag and a book on the stars, you threw on your shoes before leaving.

——

You were sitting in a clearing in the woods, a blanket set out with some strawberries and a pack of Dr Pepper you bought from the Hermes cabin. Annabeth was positioned behind a tree with her cap of invisibility on.

Eventually clarisse showed up. “Five minutes late” you jokingly chastised her.

“Shut up I’m on time” she scoffed sitting down beside you on the blanket. Pulling you into her some she kissed you softly. Her hands finding themselves on your waist

Bringing yourself back you leaned over grabbing a soda, handing it over to the curly haired girl. “Mmhm so how was running around like a fool for the entire morning?”

Clarisse rolled her eyes taking the drink In a harsh joking manner. “First of all its called training and secondly it was actually alot of fun, how was staying up all night to just watch some stupid dots in the sky”

Scrunching your nose at the girl you gave her a sarcastic look. “Yeah you think your so funny huh”

“Yeah I do”

“Mmhm” you knew clarisse was looking at your lips— she wasn’t subtle about it. Tired of her just imagining it you leaned in kissing her again. The playful banter between you two faded away while clarisse deepened the kiss

As much as you wanted to makeout with your girlfriend you weren’t doing it infront of your sister. Pulling back you placed a hand on clarisses arm while darting your eyes to some trees around you with a smile.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows but made a signal to her head almost mimicking a hat. Nodding you knew clarisse understood annabeth was spying on you two.

“Whatever this is stupid” clarisse gave you a teasing look. “What being on a date with your girlfriend? Yeah it’s so stupid” you responded in the same tone.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not. What I meant” shaking her head you watched as clarisse reached over to her spear grabbing a plastic bag.

Handing it over to you you looked inside. “No way clarisse did you”

“Yeah I did. Your not gonna embarrass me about it if I own up to it” she continued to mess with you. Opening the bag you smiled as your girlfriend made you chocolate chip cookies with the nymphs in the kitchen. “Your the sweetest you know” you becoming flustered while you looked at the treats.

She just rolled her eyes with a smile, laying down clarisse moved around to lay her head in your lap. “Woah careful clarisse you might admit you actually like me a boring Athena kid remember”

“Mmhm Same can be said about you what was that about me being a bitchy ares kid?” She bit back. Flicking her forehead lightly just to get back at her.

You smiled while playing with one of the girls curls. You loved clarisse, wanting to proudly say it but worried you’d scare the girl off so for now you’d settle on just this.. cute dates with her, sneaking into her cabin to spend the night with her and just enjoying the silence with her.

After some time you knew annabeth had left after all she had gotten all the proof she needed. Clarisse knew it to.

“I love you” it finally left your lips. You noticed clarisses body tense making you regret the decision immediately. Clarisse however grabbed your hand kissing your knuckles. “I guess I love you to”

“Shut up”

“Why You Said you loved me”

——

Annabeth - Fine she’s not a bitch

Y/n - ANNABETH!

—

Clarisse - *having a Stare off with annabeth*

Clarisse - do we have a Problem

Y/n - dude..

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

I have sooooo many feeling about Yoo Sangah and Kim Dokja. She started work at the same time as Dokja, and she put pepper in the coffee maker when she saw he was being treated unfairly at work and did various other things instead of using her status as HR. She finds the idea of Dokja living a Dokja life as something inspiring instead of depressing like he does and tries to apply the idea to herself. She knows his contract details and asks him about what he’s reading and offers to help him learn other languages that they could study together. She was the first one to figure out the fact it’s a novel because she knows Dokja and what he’s like and into.

Like. She tried soooo hard to be his friend and support him and she’s clever, not just like smart in a straight A sense but she figures shit out, and reaches out to people, and has a strong sense of justice, and is insecure, literally being described as a woman who hid herself for others

and they could’ve been friends. Even after Dokja lost his job she would’ve wanted to. But he’s too damn busy thinking she’s too cool to talk to him and hating himself for anything to happen. They would’ve killed it at trivia night. They could have a book club together and Dokja picks out the themes and symbolism and she adds historical context for what things mean.

and that’s the danger I think of hating yourself. If you spend too much time putting everyone who isn’t you on a pedestal you don’t actually get to know anything about them or see when they’re repeatedly trying to reach out to you. If someone asks what you’re doing it might be genuine curiosity and they would be invested and not make fun of you for it. I 100% believe that she would’ve listened to him ramble about TWAS and maybe even read it herself if he just allowed himself to open up to her.

anyway. I love her and the whole cool girl who isn’t really thing makes me insane. She’s such a good person and she’s trying so hard

[foreverdolly]

this is a self pitying post and i’ll probably delete it later- but when i’m sad i tend to write it out. i’ve used this blog like a diary of sorts for the last two and a half years. i’ve developed a relationship with a lot of you on here and i appreciate all the love i’ve received so far on my last post. my friends that i have in real life, no matter how long i’ve known them, don’t know too much about my upbringing or my parents. i hate the idea of trauma dumping- it’s uncomfortable for other people: so don’t read this if you don’t want to. i wouldn’t blame you.

my dad died from cirrhosis due to alcoholism. he died miserable and alone. he had no friends. his family was sick of him. i tried to call him as often as i could but sometimes he could be mean if he was drunk. i knew not to call him after 11:00 in the afternoon because he would start to drink. he lived in his youngest brother’s basement and almost never came upstairs because he was embarrassed. i haven’t seen him in three years because he lives fourteen hours from me, but i tried my hardest to call him every week and keep him involved in my life. he never saw any of my homes, never met any of my friends, and never even saw me drive a car (i’ve been licensed since i was eighteen). i cried to him almost every week, begging him to get sober.

he never recovered from my parent’s divorce, and for that i feel so sorry. he called my mother his soulmate and always spoke in past tense- talking about when me and my brother were little. he would tear up when talking about the first time he ever saw me in the hospital after my mother gave birth, and he was vocal about the fact that i was his favorite. we shared a lot of the the same interests and always had fun when talking.

when my mom made a suicide attempt two years ago he was there for me almost everyday, calling me despite the demons he was battling with himself.

the last time i spoke to him was thursday- a week from the day he died. he told me that he almost called a treatment facility but he got tired and took a nap instead. his doctors appointment was today at one and he was going to ask to be admitted and then go to a rehab facility. i told him i’d send him money while he was in there- he hasn’t been able to hold a job since i was still in high school.

my dad was a chef. a damn good cook- classically trained in french cooking. he had the loudest laugh i’ve ever heard, so much so that it used to make me cry when i was a baby. we used to wear matching costumes and he’d sign me out from school on halloween and call me out the day after. he took me to my first concert, but he couldn’t afford both the gas and the tickets (so i paid for the gas with my pocket change at the age of thirteen). he wore adidas strictly- shell toe was his favorite.

when i was little my dad was on night duty while my mom was away: tucking us in, reading us books. he refused to read to me and walked out the door but not before saying “bed bugs and stuff”. i thought it was so funny. it became our saying. every night we spent with each other we said “bed bugs and stuff”. so that was my last send off to him. i hope he’s finally resting well and isn’t depressed, ashamed or lonely anymore where he is.

he died in his sleep. they found a solo cup filled with vodka next to his bed and i can’t stop thinking about the fact that he was going to get help today. he was yellow due to jaundice. what a cruel world.

[elliereject]

ifhy .1

* in which ellie’s obsession relationship with you begins to sour as your romance with your new boyfriend seems to flourish. it seems she’ll stop at nothing to ensure your happiness, (which you’ll find with her, obviously) even if it means hurting you in the process.

* lowkey obsessive ellie, (I LIKE EM’ A LITTLE CRAZY!), angst + comfort (next chapter(s), infidelity, unrequited feelings yet also mutual pining (just read it like, idk idk I forgot how to do these),lmk if I missed anything!

* im back, ok not really this has been rotting in my drafts forever and I was reading it back and I was like damn I lowk cooked with this. It’s unfinished as of RN but this is only 1/3 of the fic im just splitting it up so u don’t have to wait months,,for it..like my other fics..DONT ASK ME ABT THOSE, cuz I don’t got an answer. IN THE MEAN TIME ENJOY THIS! <3

* mdni (but like if u do wtvr, nothing crazy happens in this chapter)

wc ~ 1.6k

pt. 2 here

Ellie Williams fucking hated you.

Surprisingly, she didn’t at first. In fact, she was in love with you, bordering infatuation.

She had seen you for the first time at the local bookstore before the semester started, you were flipping through a book about time and relativity with a concentrated look on your face. She smiled to herself when she saw you push up onto your toes to reach for another book but to no avail. She took this as an opportunity to walk up to you and reach over your head to grab it, making sure to flex her lean, tattooed arm before placing it in your hand.

Her jade eyes locked on yours and your face heated immediately, you mumbled a “Thank you.” Before scurrying past her to the checkout.

Imagine her surprise when on the first day of classes, she walks into her astrophysics course and sees you, doodling in your notebook with that same concentrated look on your face.

Of course, she sits next to you, flashing that charming smile that has sweat gathering at your hands. She tells you her name then asks for yours and learns about your major, favourite course, and how you’re staying in a little apartment just outside the campus before more students and your professor filed in. You didn’t know why but you just felt so comfortable telling her things, She laughed at your corny jokes and made even cornier ones, and she admired the doodles that covered your notebook and the little duck pen you used.

You didn’t want to speak too soon, but it was safe to say you were harbouring a tiny bit of a crush on her.

Ellie on the other hand, was completely ready to admit it. She felt her love for you grow each second she was around you. Your smile quite literally felt like the sun shining upon her, your laugh made her want to drop her studies of space to pick up stand-up comedy just so she could make it her job to make you laugh. In her eyes, everything you did was perfect. Her thoughts were completely consumed by you, you, you.

And for a few months, things were amazing! You had been introduced to Dina and Jesse and even spent Halloween hanging out with the trio watching horror movies and eating each other's weight in candy. When the holidays rolled around you and Ellie, along with the others, cozied up under some blankets and made fun of cheesy Hallmark movies while she tried her hardest not to interlock her hands with yours even after your pinky brushed against hers for the sixth time.

During finals, Ellie and you organized designated study days that usually ended in giggling at stupid memes on each other's phones or late-night food runs. Of course, there were lingering touches and flirtatious glances here and there but you were too shy to act on it and Ellie would rather die than make you uncomfortable so she kept you just at arm's length. Besides, she knew you were too timid to approach anyone else, so in a way she had you all to herself.

Then, you met him. Some motherfucker whose name she didn’t care to remember. However, she did remember the innate feeling of anger that surged through her body when you gushed to her about him and how he was a history major and the way his glasses framed his face perfectly and whatever the fuck else you found interesting about him.

She nodded and laughed and smiled along with you when you would drone on about him but would excuse herself to the bathroom to tend to the crescent-shaped wounds in her palms from digging her fingers into them so hard.

She tried her best to not show these negative emotions to you because she knew how much you didn’t like when she got mad but fuck was it hard. Especially that one night when you were out with him and you hadn’t replied to her texts in over 5 hours. Man did her drywall take some damage that night.

And when you finally did reply you had completely disregarded her message and went on to boast about the time you had and how gentlemanly he was. All she could do was reply with a dry “sounds like fun🙂” before she went back to throwing a tantrum around her room and tormenting that poor wall…she’d have to remember to buy some spackle before the end of the semester.

Then, there was the time she trekked over to your apartment with some pizza for a surprise movie night and saw the bouquet placed in front of your door. She set the box down to pick up the flowers and read who it was from, her body reacted before she could rethink. She tore the flowers from the beautifully wrapped packaging and stomped on them over and over and over until all that was left were broken stems and tattered petals.

Thankfully, you got home just a few minutes later and missed her outburst. You gasped when you saw the smashed flowers and asked her what had happened, she shrugged and lied easily, claiming it was like this when she got there. She let out a breath when you shook your head and sighed, saying it was probably your next-door neighbor who had always been a bit of a grouch.

She had genuinely thought she was doing a pretty good job of hiding her true feelings for both you and him but it was when you gleefully announced that he was officially your boyfriend she knew she was done for. You squealed and pulled her in for a hug but it felt like her heart had shriveled up into a clump of black coal and woosh like magic, her love for you had turned into something twisted, something possessive.

It was when you invited her over to your apartment to eat dinner with him that she had started considering the idea that you knew she had a crush on you and you were just fucking with her emotions for fun.

How could you start dating, let alone seeing some random ass motherfucker when she was right here! She knew she could treat you better than he could even dream of, she knew everything about you and she’d make it known to you how perfect she was for you, one way or another.

That night at dinner she sat uncomfortably as you fluttered around your tiny kitchen, adding last-minute touches to the spaghetti you made and despite the grumble in her tummy it felt like she had no appetite when she watched the hungry way he looked at you, as if you were a juicy steak and he was a starved wolf.

Once you were finished plating the food and placing it on the table you sat down eagerly and tried your best to mediate the obvious tension.

“Soo uh, Ellie, you’ve been really into watercolour recently right?” You beamed.

“Uh-huh.” She said dryly, twirling her spaghetti around her fork.

“Oh that’s cool, you know watercolour as an art form has been around since Egyptian times! It’s funny to think that like—Cleopatra was painting with water and grapes or something!” He spoke and you giggled like it was the funniest joke in the world. She shot you a look that said really? because she knows she could make a joke that was way funnier, and would expel your real laugh.

“That’s cool. You know how to shut the fuck up?” She mumbled into her bite of spaghetti.

“Sorry?” He asked and you gave her a sideways glance.

She smiled tightly and swallowed before answering, “Just said that’s cool!”

Dinner dragged on as he droned about the history of the Renaissance or fucking Christopher Columbus, she didn’t actually know, she tuned him out. After you cleared the plates, you ushered them into your cozy living room for a movie and when you excused yourself to the bathroom she plopped down on the couch next to him, subtly pulling out her switchblade.

“So, Kevin—“

“Actually my name—“

“I don’t give a fuck what your name is, matter fact I don’t give a fuck about you in general. What are your intentions with ★?”

The man tensed up as Ellie expertly spun the blade around in her fingers.

“Uh—I mean, she seems cool and dating her has been pr—“

“Cool?” Ellie scoffed, “She’s fucking perfect, and I hope you know whatever you have going on with her right now? It won’t last. Soon she’s gonna see you for the limp-ass motherfucker you are.”

He was taken aback, “What?—I’m sorry, did I do something to offend you?”

“Your whole existence offends me.” She rasped, inching her blade closer to his neck. “She’s not meant to be with you.”

He furrowed his brows, “You like her, don’t you?”

Ellie rolled her eyes, “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Before he could reply you were back from the bathroom and she slipped her blade back into her pocket and got up with a firm grip on his shoulder.

“What were you two talking about?” You asked as you grabbed a bag of chips from your small coffee table and tore into them.

“Oh you know, girl talk.” She smiled, digging her blunt nails into his shoulder. Translation: don’t say a fucking word.

You rolled your eyes playfully like you even had a clue of what was going on, “He’s not a girl, dumbass.”

She shrugged, stepping away from her previous seat to plop down on the other small sofa.

The rest of the night proceeded relatively smoothly, your boyfriend had been so shaken up by Ellie’s words that even with you sitting next to him he kept his distance with worried glances toward Ellie now and then. Ellie crunched on her popcorn happily and watched the movie with a satisfied smile and a chipper aura.

— ★

🤔 shall I put out the second part? only time (and interactivity! 💝 pls don’t let this flop) will tell!

[thebibliosphere]

Hi! How are you doing? Sorry to bother you, but i dont know many scottish people and idk who to talk to about this book I found on audible. It's called Imogène, by french author Charles Exbrayat. Do you know him /the book? I've started reading it but I had to pause because, while being sold as a "humorous spy story" I find the protagonist, a "very proudly scottish" woman, to be... an offensive caricature? Like she acts like a fool, honestly. This book contains some interesting points about sexism (it was published in 1959), and ridiculous british habits (such as employees forced to give money for princess anna's birthday or being socially scorned). I'm sure the shared dislike / distrust the protagonist and her british colleagues feel are (were?) realistic. But she is so extra, and the story keeps telling how lonely she is, even after working 20 years in london. She has No friends, most acquitances dont talk to her for various motivations, her bosses hates her ... idk I feel this book is actually mocking scottish people? Or scottish women??? I was SO there for a "strong woman protagonist who gives cutting remarks to her boss or peers", but this looks wrong. Idk. I didnt know whom ask for inputs. Maybe i'm reading too much into it. Feel free to ignore this mega rant. Have a good day!

I think cultural and historical context and time of publication-- which was almost 70 years ago --are important factors to take into consideration when we look at fiction through our current expectations.

I can’t speak to the book as I’ve never read it, but speaking as a Scots woman who worked for an English publishing house for a while, being made to feel alienated by my boss and others due to being Scottish was unfortunately still something going on in 2011.

I’d get lots of “Oh but you sound so eloquent” remarks regarding my thinned-out accent (something I did on purpose to avoid being told to “speak properly” which was also something I heard a lot in school if I ever used my native Scots language instead of “Queen’s English.”) and one time my boss referred to me as “their civilized Scot” to an American author, whose Scottish romance book I was supposed to be fixing the dialogue on.

The phrasing was along the lines of, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to understand her. Joy is our civilized Scot.”

The author laughed and made another derogatory comment about how they just loved Scottish accents even if it was unintelligible a lot of the time. I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to lose my first career job.

I kept my mouth shut a lot in that job.

In that regard I could very well empathize with the character being lonely and not engaging with anyone, even after 20 years.

The proud Scottish woman can be a bit of a caricature, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is intended as mocking.

Again, cultural/historical context matters.

I wasn’t alive in 1959, but I know there was a lot of Scottish media about the time that leaned into the stubbornness and pride of Scots women both for humor and to make societal commentary on the fact that women were strong and more independent than they’d ever been following two world two and a lot of men weren’t happy about it and wanted them to go back into their boxes. As a result the mouthy, proud Scots woman became a mockable caricature that turned women into shrill, over proud scolds.

Get back in your box or we’ll make fun of you, basically.

So is this book being mocking, or is it employing popular tropes of the time, knowing that audience will understand what it means and that the female protagonist is being subversive despite what others expect from her?

I can’t say. Again, haven’t read it. It could be utter dogshit and making total fun of my culture. But I do think when looking at older media we need to put our thinking caps on and think, “How would the audience of the time, 1959, have viewed and engaged with this?”

Expecting a “strong female protagonist” as we know it from media today isn’t going to work with media that’s almost 70 years old.

Hell, the “strong woman protagonist” wasn’t even something any piece of media could agree on when I was growing up in the 90s.

Times change. Literary tropes and preferences change. It helps to keep that in mind.

[hanggarae]

MONSTER - I’M CREEPING IN YOUR HEART BABE

↺ content your new ceo getting on your nerves the first day you meet him, part of my ‘promotion’ series, ceo!jeonghan, f!office worker!reader, jeonghan’s an asshole, suggestive, doyoung is ur coworker, jealous jeonghan for like a second, this is honestly hardly a tear jerker so idk if it’s technically angst but ig ?? idk 😞

↺ a/n : 2.5k words (yikes!), npr, another enemies to lovers jeonghan everyone act surprised this is my first time writing anything suggestive do NAWT perceive me rn 😭☝🏼 this is also loosely based on the lyrics of monster by exo saurrrr it might be fun listening to that while reading idk

“That soon?” your group manager sighed a few feet ahead of your desk. He'd been frustrated at whatever conversation he was having over the phone for the last ten minutes now. You tried not to pay it any mind but it was getting harder now that it got him so worked up his voice could be heard through the entire office.

Your coworker Doyoung looked at you and looked like he wanted to cry. You tilted your head a little confused at what happened to him.

“If he’s this mad about something you just know the rest of us are going to get dragged in too?” he groaned before you could ask him what’s up.

“Who is he even talking to?” you asked him while rolling your chair away from your computer.

“The boss” Doyoung sighed. “The boss as in the ceo you idiot” he continued when you still looked confused.

You mouthed a silent ‘oh’ quickly understanding why your boss was so frustrated. You didn't know much about the ceo except for the fact that he only recently took over. His father retired less than a year ago and you all got the announcement that the current ceo took over only three months ago.

The Yoon company was huge and had establishments all over the country, even some internationally. You figured he would eventually visit each office to oversee what everyone was doing (read: stress everyone out for a twenty minute visit).

Before you could groan at the thought of it your manager got off the phone and clapped to get everyone’s attention. “So that was the ceo’s assistant” he said tiredly, “he’s coming this Friday”

It was almost comedic how instantly everybody complained. You couldn’t blame them. That was three days away, was he insane?

“The problem with Mr Yoon is that if you’re not ahead of the work, you’re behind. So even if we’re for the most part caught up with everything, he’ll likely find a way to complain about our branch.” You watched your manager scan through his personal spreadsheet that kept track of everyone’s work and current projects before he turned to you. “y/n I hate to throw this on you but you and Mingyu are the only ones not currently working on any specific project. Do you think the two of you could get started on that project for the Yang family?”

You knew what he was talking about. It was a project that you were supposed to work on in a month. “If we get it started early maybe he’ll cut us some slack on taking our sweet time with that project for Miss Park”

You nodded, agreeing to get started with the presentation for it. You’d essentially be doing this alone because Mingyu was still on a leave for visiting his family and he’d get back after the ceo was done visiting.

The next two days you spent getting less than three hours of sleep. At first Doyoung encouraged you to just half-ass the presentation but you knew that there was still the off chance that the ceo still went through the work thoroughly, if he did you don’t know how you’d be able to explain why the work was done at such a low level.

You managed to scrape together getting most of it done. The entire project was nowhere near done but considering the actual meeting for it was two months away, getting the presentation done already would surely put you and the office in the ceo’s good books.

Sipping your coffee, you trudged to your desk and stifled a yawn as you settled your things down. Looking at the calendar on your computer you confirmed it was Friday, meaning the ceo that made your last few days hell would be coming today.

You arrived here earlier than usual so you could make sure everything was set up correctly and quickly get one of the supervisors to double check the presentation.

“Look alive, his car just pulled up” Doyoung muttered, walking around your desk to get to his own and get his own belongings settled.

You sighed, mentally preparing yourself for the day. You just knew it’d be a long one.

The double doors pushed open, revealing who you assumed was the ceo. You knew he was young but you didn’t think he’d be that handsome, and oddly.. familiar? You didn’t even realize you were staring until Doyoung tapped you and beckoned you to get back to work.

“Everyone, this is Mr Yoon, the new ceo” your manager stepped aside to allow the ceo to take the center.

“It’s nice to meet you all, my name is Jeonghan. I look forward to seeing what everyone in this branch is capable of” he smiled.

‘Jeonghan’ talked to your manager before sauntering over to your desk, a polite business smile on his face. “I understand you are the one working on the Yang family project Miss..” he looked for your name tag. When he saw it you swear something in his face changed when he sneered speaking your name.

He looked back to your face, observing you before the corner of his lip quirked up. “It would seem like you are this branch’s most capable employee, Miss y/n”

“Oh I wouldn’t say that-” you tried to object.

“Come with me. Bring the presentation materials with you” he turned, not willing to hear any objection from your manager.

You hadn’t practiced presenting it, barely rereading any of the actual information on the slides. For the most part, you’d have to wing it.

As expected, the presentation was somewhat of a mess. The lack of sleep got to you so you weren’t as engaging with the presentation as you’d usually be, on top of that whenever you looked over at Jeonghan it felt like you were tripping over your words even more. It almost felt like he was staring and smirking at you on purpose.

By the time you were done with the presentation it was time for your break. You needed to unwind after the morning you had, scrolling through your phone and checking for any food places nearby that were open. You’d forgotten to pack a lunch and usually you’d deal with it, drinking an extra coffee instead but you desperately needed to just eat anything good to get your mind off of your annoying ceo.

Before you called and ordered, you figured you’d ask if anybody else wanted something too. You first asked your manager and were about to ask Doyoung except the ceo decided to strike up a conversation with him. Too hungry to wait you decided to just walk up and ask, it was your break anyway who cared?

“Hey Doyoung, I’m headed out for lunch. You want me to grab you anything to eat?” you asked him, not paying your ceo any mind while you felt him staring at you.

“Sure. I’ll text you, thanks” he smiled.

Before you headed off you decided to ask the ceo too since he seemed like the type to hold a grudge if you didn’t. “I’m alright, thank you for the offer”

“Here’s your food Doyoung” you smiled tiredly while you handed your coworker the bag.

You sat at the table with your own lunch, getting your food out and scrolling through your phone. You got a notification from that dating app you’d been using for a couple months now, answering the texts from the guy you’d been texting back and forth for a while now. His name was Minseok, you were originally supposed to go out with him a few days ago but had to take a raincheck to work on the project.

Just as you were about to text back that you too were excited for the date tonight, you felt your ceo looming over your shoulder.

“y/n. After you’re done with your break, come see me in my office” Jeonghan said plainly before stalking off.

You gulped, trying to shake off the nerves before focusing on your meal.

You weren’t sure if you wanted the break to end quickly or drag on. On one hand you wanted to get whatever Jeonghan was going to say over and done with, but on the other hand you didn’t want to have to actually deal with whatever he was going to say.

When your break did end, you were hesitant to see him, contemplating outside of his door for a few moments before sighing and biting the bullet. You straightened out your attire before walking into his office and walking toward his desk.

“You asked me to see you, Sir?” you smiled curtly.

“Take a seat” he pointed in front of the desk, opposite from him. “I’ve been thinking, I eventually need to stay in one branch and I want that branch to be this one” he tapped his desk while he spoke uninterested in his own words.

“The reason I’m telling all of this to you,” he circled his desk to stand directly at you. Eyes looking up at his, you gulped taking in his appearance. You really did not like him but you couldn’t deny he was good looking, bangs falling neatly over his eyes and looming over you like you were his prey.

“I’m telling you this because I want you to be my assistant” he smiled, despite that you felt like it was a trap.

Your mouth went dry and you forced out your next words, “assistant?”

“Don’t make that confused face, it makes you look stupid,” he laughed, causing your blood to boil. “You have excellent organizational skills, I could really use that in an assistant”

As much as you hated his guts, it was a good opportunity. If you worked up from his assistant you could eventually be a branch manager yourself one day. But the thought of working with him seemed like hell. Still, you bit back the bitter taste in your mouth, “I’d be delighted to, Sir. Thank you for the opportunity”

“Excellent” Jeonghan clapped, “your first task will be planning out my schedule for the new year. Make yourself comfortable and work at that spare desk over there” he dropped his planner and notes from his former assistant onto your lap before heading out of the office.

You stared at the mess for a few seconds, feeling yourself get more annoyed by the second. “Oh and y/n” he popped his head back in the door, “you’re not allowed to clock out until all of that is organized, understand?”

And he left again before you could confirm or oppose his decision. You decided it was useless trying to argue and settled with texting Minseok that you’d have to take another raincheck. Judging by the way he read the message but didn’t reply, it was safe to assume that it might not ever be rescheduled.

Hours passed and you were still only about halfway through planning the ceo’s schedule. You knew everyone was clocking out when you saw Doyoung wave pitifully at you through the glass door.

“You haven’t changed one bit, you know that?” Jeonghan piped up when the entire floor left for the night. In all honesty you’d forgotten he was still here considering he napped at his desk the first chance he got.

“What are you talking about?” you frowned. What did he mean? When did he ever know you prior to this?

“You never speak up, do you? Even back in high school you never did” he laughed mockingly.

High school? Okay, what was wrong with- oh. Now you remember. Yoon Jeonghan, you don’t know how it took so long to put two and two together. You were both in the same honors class in high school and constantly competed for the top spot. You didn’t necessarily resent him much at first but given how he was constantly pushed by his family to be the best, he loathed you for coming in his way of it. Because of this, he eventually made your life a living hell too, so you graduated hoping you’d never see him again.

“Remember now, huh? God I hated you, always being such a nuisance” he sneered down at you. You didn’t process him closer to you until he leaned over your desk and now face to face with you. “How does it feel to know you ended up below me anyway?”

You didn’t want to start an argument with your new boss, especially considering you’d be working with him at all times now. But you remembered his comment from earlier and it annoyed you how he spoke to you like you were inferior to him.

“It doesn’t feel like anything. Because I know that I at least earned my spot here, all you did was happen to be born in a good family” you watched as his smirk turned sour, anger crossing his face before he laughed lowly.

“You’ve got some nerve for talking to your boss like that. I could fire you right now, you want that y/n?”

The taller man laughed at the fear that flashed in your eyes. “Oh you poor thing, ran out of arguments?” he pouted condescendingly. “You were so confident a second ago, is one little threat all it takes to mess you up?”

You didn’t respond to his taunts, biting back your tongue so you couldn’t respond. It was pointless, he wasn’t the type to let you go easily if you argued back and he wasn’t worth losing your job over.

“You’re really boring me now y/n” he chuckled, “come on fight back a little, yeah?”

You turned to look at his face but gasped when you realized he’d gotten even closer, his face mere centimeters away from your own. “Jeonghan” you sighed, eyes fluttering shut to avoid his hard stare.

“Who gave you permission to call me by my name? You’re just my employee y/n. You worked so hard when we were younger just for you to be my lowly employee” he laughed in your face.

His words caused small tears to swell in your eyes and you tried to blink them away before he noticed them.

“Isn’t that just so cute?” Your boss cooed, wiping at your tears, “don’t cry baby”

You let out a small gasp at the pet name, desperately hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“You like that, huh?” Jeonghan observed your face, drinking in your appearance, looking a mess as a result of his harsh words and treatment. “Wonder what else you like” he mumbled, slim fingers moving from your cheeks to slide over your neck, eventually settling on your shoulder.

“Get back to work, yeah?” he left before you could say anything else. You watched as he walked away, taking this as your chance to leave. He could ridicule for it tomorrow but you couldn’t stay here any longer, not when you felt the need to kiss him right there.

Get a grip! You hated him! And he hated you, albeit that realisation did sting a little.

Ugh and you couldn’t even avoid him anymore, you were literally his assistant now there was no avoiding him. Whatever, he’d get bored of trying to get a rise out of you in a month or less so all you had to do was put up with him until then.

[lightfeltmemories]

trouble trio sharing a partner.

characters include: feitan, phinks, shalnark

note: fun fact, this was left as a draft on my main for like over a year and i read over it and thought.... it would be better on here, but anyway, there's a lot of adult trio poly stuff, why not trouble trio? I have plans (just me announcing it, I already know it'll take years for me to actually go through with making said content) on making trouble trio content, fanfics and whatnot. so, here's a headcanon post about how the trouble trio would go with a polygamous relationship with the reader, nsfw themes will have a 🔞 on the side so look out! and when it comes to requesting anything similar to this..... no, i will not do the adult trio.

trigger warnings: yandere tendencies (but there's no actual yandere stuff like obsessiveness and whatever, most of it is just their normal way of showing affection), mentions of kidnapping, possessiveness, reader's eventual death, feitan carves his initials onto you because "you're his."

parts of this contain nsfw material, do not interact if you are a minor.

How It Starts

So, who are you? For them to actually even care about your existence, you would either have to be a part of the troupe or be someone they know way back from Meteor City, I highly doubt they would go heart eyes over some really stunning person they ran into on a mission or so, because looks aren't everything, right? A pretty girl, a handsome boy, or an attractive genderless person isn't gonna phase them in the slightest, unless you're powerful enough to woo them out their boots, other than that, the choices are; being apart of the troupe (which is the most likely case, since they have a chance of them all being with you more often) or you being a friend of theirs in meteor city and their feelings grew overtime.

Who would fall for your first? I'm honestly tied between Phinks and Shalnark, for Feitan it would take like 2 billion years for his crush to kick in since he isn't in tune with his more softer emotions (yet), Shalnark to me is.... odd... he seems like the type to fall for someone oh so easy but dude is like, the personified version of "don't judge a book by its cover," and the only thing Phinks got going for him is..... anger issues, so I'd go with Phinks on this one! of course when people (troupe members) ask him about his affections towards you, he denies them with the most obvious blush on his face, his infatuation isn't exactly that obvious but there are some hints like him wanting to be next to you more or even the two of you hanging out on your off days! next on the list: Shalnark, so how exactly would he fall for you? well, he'd probably get paired up with you more on missions and when he starts to hang out with you more he starts to feel himself grow fond of you more, and it slowly grows into a crush! kind of simple really. And finally after those 2 billion years are up, Feitan is up next! Everyone has this collective idea that if he realizes he has a crush on you, he'd do the opposite of his two counterparts; he'd want to avoid you so that the feelings won't grow stronger as he considers it a distraction, he may even contemplate on killing you, which is something I really hate to say since I feel like the idea is slightly far fetched for his character (i'm guilty of saying this myself but i considering the topic of that specific post i wanted to be dramatic) but I can see why people think this, killing you only goes if you aren't a member of the troupe but since you are, he'd have to deal with you, forcing himself to accept the fact as time goes by that he is in love with you, he's confused with his feelings when it comes to you, he isn't used to crushes, no one to him is that special for him to fall for, love is very sacred to him, it's something he and the others mentioned above haven't really experienced, and as it grows, he starts to form a soft spot for you as he gets to know you well, he starts to find parts of you that made him like you to begin with. (ik Feitan's is kinda longer than the others but I'm biased he's my fav).

How would they act around you? This was really hard to do for some reason but I already stated above that Phinks would hang out with you more and would be near you a lot, at first his affections towards you wouldn't be too different to how he acts towards others, for someone like him he's pretty good at hiding his infatuation, though over time he's starting to loose the "I have a crush on Y/N" allegations, the others would tease him a little for how he acts around you, he shows to have more sympathy and affection for you, like he's more handsy with you than everyone else, and is most definitely protective over you, he really is a girly girl, ain't he? Shalnark is a bit more happier when he's in your presence, he opens up with you way more than everyone else (when you two are alone ofc) and plays video games with you, he'll never give you a break and let you win though, he's just too good! (And competitive) May not be as protective as Phinks but he damn sure isn't gonna let you getting injured slide. Feitan once again is an interesting case, since he's come to terms with him being infatuated with you, the signs will be waaaay more subtle than Phinks', you would lowkey be left confused, like something tells you he likes you but you can't exactly prove he does, you're seen with him more often, he talks to you more, but in the beginning that's about it really, but overtime he gets more handsy with you like Phinks but not as much, he would most definitely tease you when he's in a good mood, giving you nicknames and such, and of course, very protective over you.

Confessing & Relationship

Finding out they all like you! When they start to see one of the other become more affectionate towards you, shit starts to get real, a scenario where Feitan sees you and Shalnark playing a newly released game, the both of you are so happy, laughing and all, and Feitan is hiding somewhere and just stares at the both of you, the worst scenarios are running through his mind, are they dating? do they like him? he wants to do something about it but can't because for one troupe members can't fight and two, he sees how happy you are, how can he ruin that? Another scenario is the old fashioned switcheroo where you and Feitan are getting a little too handsy with one another, he's got his hand on your thigh and your hand on his shoulder, Shalnark is now in Feitan's shoes, bad scenarios running through his brain thinking the two of you have a thing for each other, a part of him wants to step in but he can't. It's kind of subtle at first until everything starts to build up, they can see each other's jealousy seeping through, let's say Phinks was the one to save you from an attacker and Feitan wasn't quick enough, a glare is shot at Phinks' way as he sees the way he's holding you and reassuring you, and he catches it, he's confused, what the hell is going on? Another scenario where the troupe is having fun or whatnot and you and Shalnark are laughing about something a little too hard, he spots both Phinks and Feitan seething in jealousy, he's also confused! Until it all hits the three of them; they all like you!

Them finding out..... So, when they finally sit and conversate about the rising tensions between them to solve it, they come to the conclusion that you are the reason why, how will they go about this? They all have a goal in mind; a monogamous relationship with you, they are all trying their absolute hardest not to start anything between them, they were all on good terms until this very incident, they had no idea what to do about this, their own friends are crushing on the same person they want, and the tensions can only grow from here, and beyond this point things can go either north (good) or south (bad) really quickly. From here on out, they challenge themselves to impress you so that one of them finally gets you, an unspoken rule, until they realize that you like all three of them, and things grow extra confusing, they're happy because "yay they like me!" but also mad because "grrr they like him back!!" So everyone involved is kinda like.............. "omg??"

Poly? So, because everything came out, they all like you and you like all of them back, they're stuck here wondering how this will work, a polygamous relationship isn't even a thought to them because they just want to have you, and it may be one of your biggest fantasies, you eventually let it out that you want all of them at the same time and because of their confusion you would have to explain to them, they argue that it's not going to work well, since for one, they are all territorial when it comes to you, Feitan is most definitely the worst one since he's never exactly felt this feeling before and it's most likely his first crush and potential relationship, and since you're pretty special to him he doesn't want to lose you to someone else, in all honesty he'd probably kidnap you and hide you away from Phinks and Shalnark if you weren't apart of the troupe, so you can be his forever, yayyy, we love yanderes!!!! Phinks is in the middle, while yes he wants you to himself he doesn't want to admit that he would want to at least give it a chance, Shalnark is pretty chill, the idea of him having you to himself is nice also, but a polygamous relationship would probably solve all this conflict between them.

They Agree, so The Relationship Starts Here! So they decided that just for you, they would all agree to date you, of course at first this doesn't sit right with them since they want you to be with one of them, but they're also like... shit, I mean we all technically got what we wanted so we might as well make the best of it!

Small Miscellaneous Things

When they don't receive enough attention. Despite you all agreeing on a polygamous relationship, they all still get jealous whenever one is getting more attention than the other, when Phinks isn't receiving enough attention he gets more agitated, prone to more outbursts and will even straight up pull you away from the other, when Shalnark isn't receiving more attention, he would tap your shoulder or find ways to annoy you like hugging you or getting in your face, when Feitan isn't receiving more attention he finds ways to get yours by breaking something like a glass cup so that you can at least say a few words to him even if they aren't exactly the most kind, or staring at you for an ungodly amount of time to the point where you can physically feel his eyes on you, or like Phinks, will pull you away from the other so that you can be with him more.

🔞 What sex is like! Sex isn't too different from the usual, you can't really have group sex with them often since shit gets competitive real fast, they will go above and beyond to make you cum the hardest and scream the loudest, but when one or two of them so happens to be away, Feitan will make marks on your body to be territorial, so show the other two or to other people outside that he was the one who made that mark there, and it's even worse because he puts them in places that aren't exactly the easiest to cover, either it be a bite mark or a scar that spells out his initials. Shalnark will mark hickeys on your neck or will have photos of you having his cum dripping on your face or you laying beside him just completely slutted out and send them to the other two just for giggles, Phinks won't do anything outrageous (he can't you'll fucking die) but will have you wear his clothes afterwards to let the other two know when they get back who fucked them out ;).

Things start to get better! Overtime they start to realize that the petty fights over who gets to spend more time with you are meaningless, and that they all love you and you all love them, it takes them a while for them to come to these terms, but in the end, it gets better for the future, and everyone loves each other, movie nights aren't filled with who's chest you get to lay on anymore, sex isn't "who gets to make them cum harder" more, you don't feel as if you're some type of prized possession, you're now treated with actual respect and love and consideration, of course there's fights here and there like any other normal couple, but life is good.... for them anyway.

You were murdered! If they ever come into your house to find it ransacked, their first priority is to see if you're alright, they find your body laying in your room, devoid of all life, shit starts to get real, they never rest to look for the one who did this to you, since Shalnark has cameras hidden away around the house, it doesn't take long to find out who did it from hacking and such, and once they find them, it takes so much to not just rip their head to shreds and feed it to wild animals, Feitan wants to give them the worst of all of his tortures, and afterwards they die by their phinks blowing their head clean off their shoulders or shit maybe shalnark will do it.

[coloursflyaway]

hi this is ouija board anon ☺️ so glad to hear that my prompt will get two different interpretations! how fun!! feel free to use this ask to answer with the second fic if you’d like 💘 thanks for sharing!!

Hi and thank you so much for reaching out! I'll use this ask now, just so I can keep the original prompt until the other one is written 😊 And thank you so much for sending it in in the first place, I had a lot of fun with it!

“Charles”, Edwin starts, and there is something in his voice, something in between bewilderment and quiet displeasure, but still fond somehow. It’s one of the things that Charles likes about him most, that no matter how annoyed Edwin might get with him, there’s always an undercurrent of affection when he talks to him.

Charles might have had to question most relationships in his life, but he’s never had to question this one. Edwin likes him, has liked him for over ten years now, and Charles has vowed to himself never to take that for granted.

“Yeah, what’s up?”, he asks, sitting up straighter, just in case whatever is bothering Edwin will need more attention than a quip and a smile. It seldom does, especially when they are between cases, but one never knows.

“Why is there a ouija board in our office?” Edwin demands to know, holding the box up like it has personally offended him. It’s kind of cute, in a very Edwin kind of way.

“Oh!” Charles gets up, suddenly excited, because even if Edwin is the clever one between them, he’s actually proud of this one. “Isn’t that mint? I picked it up in one of the shops around the corner – and yes, I did leave some money behind, don’t worry – because I thought it might come in handy in future cases. You know, we could talk to someone who’s alive with it?”

“Why would you want to talk to someone who is alive?”, Edwin asks, prim in a way that means he hates the words coming out of his mouth, and usually, Charles can read him like an open book, but there is something strange about him now. A bit frantic, maybe, a bit unmoored.

“They might have something interesting to say?”, Charles offers, confused, and gets up so he can walk over to Edwin, pluck the ouija board from his hand. “See, they have this little planchette thing, we could move that around to ask a question-“

“But why would you want to ask a living person anything in the first place?” There is something slightly shrill tinting Edwin’s voice, and Charles wants nothing more than to soothe it, even if he doesn’t know how to.

“To find out if they know something for a case?”, he tries, but it’s obviously not the right thing to say, because Edwin’s thick brows knit together, his lips thin from how tight they are pressed. Charles frantically rifles through explanations in his head, because there has to be one, but he’s coming up short.

“But are we not the Dead Boy Detectives?”, Edwin challenges, and the shrillness is still in his tone, masking something else, something Charles has the feeling might hurt.

“Yeah, sure”, Charles agrees, and looks down at the ouija board for a second. It’s nothing special, just pressed wood and paint, nothing that should upset the most brilliant boy in the world like this. “What’s really going on, Eds? It’s just a toy, and if you hate it so much, it’s not like we have to use it or anything.”

“I’ve told you not to call me that”, Edwin starts, but there is no actual heat behind it, and now that is proper worrying. “It’s just…”

His voice trails off and he deflates; Charles has to force himself not to rush in and gather Edwin up in his arms, hold him close.

“…you have, in the past few weeks, occasionally referred to the fact that you miss aspects of living”, Edwin eventually says, after far too much time, soft and almost defeated, still saying the last word like it has personally offended him. “I was wondering if the acquisition of this… thing is part of that general displeasure with being dead.”

General displeasure with being dead is what he says, but when Edwin looks up at him, that’s not what is written on his face, and suddenly, Charles can read him again, as clearly as if Edwin had spelt his thoughts out to him, letter by letter.

“Edwin”, he answers, as softly, as warmly as he can, and there is so much worry, so much hope in Edwin’s eyes that Charles’ chest aches with it, both with affection and the pain of Edwin having to be hopeful in the first place. “There’s nothing about being dead with you that I would want to change.”

And it takes a moment, but then a smile blossoms on Edwin’s lips, and Charles needs to bite his own to stop himself from thanking every deity that might want to answer for it, for Edwin believing him.

“Truly?”, Edwin asks still, but there is no hope left in his voice, because it is not necessary anymore, just a need for reassurance. There is nothing Charles would rather offer.

“Absolutely”, he responds and the word comes easy as breathing, as easy as a heartbeat would for a living person, a breath.

And Edwin nods, looking brave and calmer and happy, and when the affection Charles feels for him threatens to overwhelm him this time, he just gives into it, pulls Edwin close and against his chest and holds him tight.

And this time, unlike most others, Edwin goes willingly.

[whosralf]

ART BY @robinfollies !!

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ARTHURSTOTLE HEADCANONS :: angst time!!

- After Arthur went missing, Aristotle had to stop sleeping in their old bedroom, because they felt empty every time they set foot in that room.

- When Arthur wasn't okay at all,he used to ask Aristotle to go for a walk at night to observe the stars and talk.Now,Aristotle goes every night in the woods where they usually went, just to observe the stars together with the old memories they have of Arthur.

- After two years after Arthur's disappearance, everyone had lost hope and started to accept the possibility that he was dead, everyone except Aristotle, who always continued to look for him and investigate his disappearance, to the point of worrying the people who care about them, prob for the too much work they were doing for something that,in that moment,was "useless".

- Arthur and Aristotle always used to read together on the sofa or even in the woods, but now that Arthur is no longer here, Aristotle continues to keep the books they were reading with him, with the hope of being able to reopen them together with Arthur, continuing year after year to not lose hope.

- Aristotle has very low expectations of themself and their abilities, but, years ago, Arthur was always there by their side, reassuring them and making Aristotle not just good enough, but much more.Now,Aristotle has not yet managed to have better expectations of themself, but they continues to tell their friends that everything is fine, only to avoid being filled with questions as happened in the first days after Arthur's disappearance.

- As much as Arthur tried to never admit when he was sick, Aristotle somehow always managed to immediately tell if something wasn't right,and Arthur has always hated Aristotle's immediate desire to show themself available towards him, because for him being understood also meant being helped and worrying the people he cared about his health.

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I have decided to post my headcanons thanks to @battersweet posts,go to check zee acc if you want to!

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FUN FACT : its canon that Arthur just went missing,but he is presumably dead.

[queens-of-spirits]

Why the svsss papapa scenes are literary genius actually, Part 1:

So, fun fact, I originally wanted to do a funny little post where I ranked the four papapa scenes in svsss (with special mention to the start of the return to childhood extra and LMY’s writing) but my deranged ass decided to go full quirky English prof and turn this shit into a proper analysis.

So, believe it or not, the svsss papapa scenes are actually really important for understanding a lot of the characters and themes of the story. So yes. I am going to go through them all and explain why. Starting with…

Maigu Ridge (spoilers, obviously):

If this were actually my silly rankings post (which I still may make), Maigu ridge would rank dead last in any category related to actually being an enjoyable smut scene to read. That’s fine, because, to put it bluntly, that wasn’t the point.

It’s a subversion of the pressure and idea of the perfect first time or instinctive sexual skill seen in both power fantasy and romance/bl novels. That subversion and the shock of what happens is meant to take us out of the scene and make us think about the characters, the situation, and the tropes we take for granted. Remember, svsss is genre savvy twice over, both in Danmei/bl and power fantasy fiction. It explores both those worlds and the complicated aspects of both (I.e the obsession with revenge). It’s not trying to be a good smut scene, it’s setting up the characterization of the couple and the character arc seen throughout the rest of the papapa moments in the extras (more on that in future posts, but it’s about SQQ learning to be more open with his desire and pleasure) and exemplifying the main themes of the book (forgiveness and intention)

So without further ado, here is my analysis on this scene.

The notes about SQQ’s character in the Maigu Ridge scene should be obvious and understood by looking at the broad context of the scene. Like the Without a Cure moment, it shows how much he cares for LBH and his willingness to put his own life and body on the line to save him. It is devotion, pure and simple. However, more depth is revealed when examining specific passages (note all quotes are from the English publications because I don’t speak Chinese, so I’m sorry if the translation muddled the meaning).

The most vital part to me for Binghe’s character is this line:

“he’d done this out of consideration for Luo Binghe’s convenience, but unexpectedly he was flipped back around. Luo Binghe jammed himself between Shen Qingqiu’s legs, his entire attention rapt on Shen Qingqiu’s face.”

This refers to how SQQ tries to turn around so that LBH would not see his face during what is about to happen and LBH flipping him over again.

This, I believe is symbolic. SQQ turns around because he thinks that anyone will do and he is the only one willing, but that’s not true LBH wants SQH specifically. He needs to relieve the energy from the sword’s influence, yes, but despite that pain, he is focused solely on SQQ’s face.

The transformation from the stallion protagonist Bingge to our Bingmei is exemplified here better than any scene before it (I would argue it is later topped by the Bingge vs Bingmei extra). Unlike Binghe, Bingmei is not looking for mindless pleasure to escape his lonely life (represented here by the corrupting energy of the sword) he is seeking the one he adores above all, the one who he cares for more than anything. He has found true connection and THAT is what drives him to madness (remember, he’s trying to destroy everything to be the only one in SQQ’s world so he can’t be abandoned). That’s why, even when supposedly in a mad state, he seeks to look at SQQ’s face, because it isn’t about the sex, it’s about them, the two of them together.

The other vital part is the aftermath, before even the jade pendant. Specifically, this exchange:

“Shizun don’t hate me…I didn’t know…I never wanted to hurt you…why didn’t you push me away? Why didn’t you kill me?”

“This master knows. This master was willing”

Again, this was an act not born out of lust, like with Bingge and his wives, but something different. Bingge takes what he wants and feels no guilt because nothing was ever given to him, but Bingmei was given the world by one person and struggles with not feeling like, with not BEING the animal or monster that the rest of the world sees him as’

LBH had no intention to hurt SQQ

Just like how SQQ had no intention to hurt him by avoiding him

It’s symbolic of their relationship as a whole. Unintentional hurt and the forgiveness that follows. THATS why the remaining papapa scenes are so important. It’s about them learning to not hurt each other. Every single papapa scene that follows builds on this idea of them learning the right way to love each other (remember, their story together is just beginning after the last page of the book) and learning how to not hurt each other unintentionally, LBH physically, SQQ emotionally.

Again, clear themes of forgiveness and intention. The reasons behind why people do bad things (hence the focus on SJ and TLJ as complex characters) and the act of forgiveness and learning from mistakes, which I argue are the two main themes of SVSSS

So while Maigu ridge is terrible in terms of being an enjoyable scene to read, that was not it’s purpose. It’s purpose was to utilize the tropes of both Danmei and male fantasy to take us out of those genres (where first times always go well) and get us to THINK about the characters and why they do what they do, their intentions.

[blues824]

Imagen a female sanami in the Remarried Empress(she is a female emporor ) .

💨She was a commener in the corrupt nothern empire where she lead a successful revolt angains the rulers and won the love of the people who made her empress where she took inspiration from navier as a empress and became a loved emporor (she doesn't like the title empress a lot so took the title of emporor ).

💀Navier and her are friends it started with the sanami mc sending letters to navier asking for help how to be a emperor and navier finding the cold war hero empror not so scary after the letters becoming friends with the emporor.

💨Navier of course invited her to the eastern empire new year Ball and when she arrives she gets intedused as the emporor of the northern empire dressed in a suit walking menacingly to navier and bowing to her shocking everyone .

(she never bowed to anyone so it's shocking because of her hated for the previous leaders in her country but she holds the same respect for navier like ubuyashiki she doesn't like it she doesn't even like that she is the emporor but does it for the people. )

💀Imagen rattrash hearing the emporor of the Northern empire is coming and hearing how good the emporor is stopping poverty and bringing a golden age in a few years tinking she will flirt with the emporor (she doesn't know yet that the emporor is a woman ).

💨Sovieshit feels threatened by her from a commener to the most loved emporor in the northern empire she had achieved a lot in a few years what not even he could do so when she is invited by navier he gets nervous his poor fragile masculinity is hurt because of her .

💀Heinley likes her for her power and how from commer to emporor she went saving a empire from coroptune seeing her as inspiration for when her becomes king and fan girs seeing her next to navier and becoming friends with her especially when she helped them escape.

💨Kosiar first did not trust her sending letters with navier after all she wants killed the previous empress with her own hands in a public execution and became emporor but fel in love with the warrior emporor after seeing her take care of the northern empire and he finds te scars beautiful and show what she did to free her empire .

💀Ergi was sent by heinley to spy on her(fun fact I keep forgetting about heinley his older brother ) seeing if she would atack the western kingdom but seeing her only care for her new empire making it grow and falling in love with her she doesn't care about things most females do and seeing her scared and being proud of them makes him fall in love with her more.

(so seeing rattrash compared to her is day and night one went from commoner to respectable emporor and the other from slave to the worst empress in the eastern empire )

💨Kaufman was send to bring peace towards the new emporor being woried about the visit only to be met with a good emporor and her agreeing on peace and trade fro the people of her empire he catches feeling for the emporor especially when she asked him to send books of his country for the people of the northern empire so they can learn their language.

💀Imagen during the diner party the sanami mc makes a remark to sovieshit when she hears rattrash using the you hate me because I'm a commener exuse that she band slavery and helps the people in need and saying to rattrash that she was a commoner so she has no excuse using that saying that instead of playing the victim show she is a strong woman.

💨Imagen later on rattrash crying that the sanami mc baned slavery played the victims of slavery a good amount of money from the slave owners and if they could not pay she gave the now free people the nobles their titels are and thought them how to read write and how to live a normal life wile sovieshit doesn't even pay or her depth.

💀How would everyone react to seeing the sanami mc being covered in scares and being very muscley compared to other women she brought the northern empire to equality women and men are worth the same .

💨Her helping heinley and navier start up there new empire and making a contract with them for peace and trade and that she would be welcome in her empire and will aid them in wars .

Trigger Warning: Mention of pedophilia in Rashta’s scenario.

Sovieshu Vict

It was no secret that you were powerful, and he has met you a few times. You had been invited to multiple different gatherings when discussion was required for the wellbeing of the entire continent of Wol. You were definitely very intimidating, and your scars just added to your very scary aura. When he learned that his wife had invited you to the New Year’s Party after he added a mistress into the household, he was genuinely terrified. 

Your story was well known among all, commoner or not. You actually used to be a commoner before you gathered each village on the outskirts and stormed the emperor’s palace and killed each person inside unless they swore their undying loyalty to you. Once the imperial family was dead (they had no heir yet), you were voted to be the empress. However, you instead took the title of Emperor because of the Northern Empire’s tendency to favor the emperor more. You did not like the position, but you needed to teach someone to inherit your empire and rule it justly, as you were not married and thus could not produce an heir.

When you arrived, everyone was shocked by your appearance. Not only did you have scars, but you wore a suit instead of a gown. Not just that, but you went up to Navier and bowed to her without acknowledging the actual Emperor. For the entirety of the night, you stuck close to Her Imperial Majesty. You remained quiet, opting to give head nods as a greeting. Sovieshu once caught your glare, and you looked unamused, to say the least.

Of course, there is the dinner party that you were invited to. Rashta was crying right before, clinging to Sovieshu and saying that she should be invited and that it was just because she was a commoner that she wasn’t allowed to be there. You walked up and, with your usual pissed-off face, explained that you went from commoner to ruler of a country and the reason she wasn’t invited was because she held no political power or influence over anything.

During the meeting with Duke Kaufman, Navier, Sovieshu, and a few other officials, everyone else noticed that you and the Empress were the only ones who spoke his native language. That’s when you explained the dynamics of your empire: slavery is banned, corrupt nobles had their titles revoked and those titles went to former slaves who helped during the rebellion, women and men had equal opportunity, mages were treated normally and received sponsorships from you to go to the Academy of Magic, and in all schools it was required to study another language. Sovieshu was surprised at how many things you changed about the Northern Empire, because he remembers how horrible the outskirt villages were. He felt inferior, and he did not like that.

Rashta

She heard of your future arrival, and she knew a few things about the Northern Empire post-rebellion. However, she did not know the extent of your actions and how they affected not only the commoners of your empire, but also the commoners in other kingdoms and empires on the continent. You were referred to as the Emperor of the Northern Empire, and typically a man takes on the role of ‘Emperor’. You will have to excuse her for thinking that you were a man.

Because of her status as a slave before getting tangled up in the trap, she was not informed of many political happenings. Most of what she heard came from word-of-mouth, which, as we know, isn’t reliable and is often very opinionated. The Northern Empire was said to be rather barbaric, especially the outskirts. The people there were rumored to resort to cannibalism because they were so poor. But, you changed that by leading a rebellion and killing the imperial family and claiming the throne. Because of you, she was at least given a designated place to sleep under Viscount Lotteshu’s ownership for fear that the slaves and commoners would rise up against and overpower the empire’s forces.

You were, of course, invited to the New Year’s Party, and you definitely stood out. Rashta was shocked and scared of your appearance, not just because of your scars but the fact that you were a woman instead of a man. You see, because of her unique charm and the fact that she looks [and acts] like a child, a lot of men fall for her [it’s giving pedo, but whatever]. Anyways, you were wearing a suit and you had a lot of scars. Your eyes were wide open and you walked over to Navier, further terrifying the mistress… who let out a gasp of pure shock when you bowed to the empress. You stuck close to Her Imperial Majesty, not even sparing Rashta a glance. Her plan was ruined: she was going to try and gain your trust and sympathy, as it would be very beneficial to her if she had the Emperor of the Northern Empire on her side.

A few days (?) later, there was the banquet amongst state and imperial officials. Rashta was begging Sovieshu to let her go, but Navier had refused as she held no political power or any sort of influence. Plus, her guest list was also full because she invited you. Outside of the door, the mistress was crying and clinging to the Emperor, saying that it was because she used to be a commoner that she wasn’t allowed to be in attendance. That’s when you walked up in yet another suit, this time with your katana, and went to open the door, you told her in an annoyed tone that it was because she wasn’t important to anyone besides gossipers who loved to talk shit about the imperial family. You then walked in, feeling yourself tense up in anger when you heard the childish wails.

After the dinner, you heard about everything that happened with Viscount Lotteshu and Rashta. You were surprised to hear that she, too, came from nothing. However, you didn’t think it was right to use it as an excuse for everything. Sure, you hated the concept of slavery, but you used that hate as well as sympathy to take over and create laws and regulations as well as build up your reputation. You did not shed a single tear through it all, not even when your brother turned against you. But, here Rashta was, crying over anything and everything while being nothing but a mistress.

Navier Trovi

When you became the Emperor of the Northern Empire, she was the first one you wrote to. After all, you had no experience with being the ruler of anything, let alone an entire empire. She actually had really good strategies when it came to winning over the hearts of her people, although she is still viewed as an icy-cold empress. Because of this friendship (not an alliance… yet), she invited you to the New Year’s Ball. After all, the Grand Duke Kaufman would also be attending and it could be a good chance to talk about trade across the Continent Wol.

Up to this point, she has met you a few times and has seen what you look like. You both get along fairly well, with the occasional disagreement as two people in power over different empires have. Once you arrived at the party, however, she saw that you had gained even more muscle as well as more scars, and you were wearing a suit. Navier knew you were different from her husband as a ruler, as you trained your military yourself. Anyways, you walked over to her and kneeled in front of her: a sign of respect in the Northern Empire. Your empire has come so far because of your hard work, and while you might not like being in the position, you are doing your best.

You stuck close to her for the majority of the night until she and Heinrey had their little conversation where he asked her to dance. When that happened, you were kind of on your own and you decided to make friends with a few of the nobles from the Eastern Empire. You kept an eye on the Emperor’s mistress, however, as she seemed to be the type who would backstab you when she had the chance. In your endeavor to save the Northern Kingdom and turn it into a peaceful empire, you had met many Rashta’s, but not very many Navier’s, so you tended to stick to the Navier’s as you knew that they could help you and your land.

Now, the Empress knew that one easy way to make an alliance with your empire was to have a noble of high standing marry you and become your consort. She first thought of her brother, as when you both met a few years ago you both got along very well. But, when Grand Duke Kaufman asked you to dance, she couldn’t help but notice the chemistry between the two of you. You let your guard down, and he actually made you smile! It was the first time she had ever been able to see it, but little did she know that Kosair also had managed to make you smile many moons ago. Duke Ergi would manage to make you smile very soon in the days to come, but Navier wouldn’t find out about it until you made your choice between the three men.

At the dinner, you were sat next to the Grand Duke, and to say that you were happy to have another ally was an understatement. However, before you even entered the dining room, you saw that Rashta was crying out about how she wasn’t invited just because she was a commoner. Navier was about to see what the commotion was when you stepped in and said that you were once a slave and then a commoner. You shed no tears in all the work that you did and you even had your brother betray you but you still didn’t cry. You were an emperor, while she was a mere concubine without influence. You basically told her that she had no right to cry until she was in charge of something, and you then turned to bow towards Her Imperial Majesty before entering the room.

Heinrey Lazlo

His brother had sent him to acquire the possibility of an alliance between the Western Kingdom and the Northern Empire, as your military would prove to be as beneficial for them as their wealth would be to you. At the New Year’s Ball, you had the chance to meet Prince Heinrey, as you stuck close to Navier for the entire night. This man was squealing about how his newfound crush (Navier) was hanging around and gained the respect of his newfound hero (yourself). Of course, he didn’t secure the alliance, as you didn’t know if you could trust somebody who 1) was known to be a womanizer and 2) associated himself with the womanizer known as Duke Ergi. He did, however, manage to plant the seed in your mind; the possibility of you marrying Ergi might be slim as of right now, but it could turn into something beneficial for both lands.

Now, he had never had the pleasure of meeting you face-to-face, so he was definitely shocked by your appearance. You had scars covering your face and hands, you had a suit on which was unheard of for a woman, you had a very muscular build as well. From the tales he had heard, you train your military yourself and lead the infantry sanction as you like to fight hand-to-hand and sword-to-sword. When you took over, you stripped the nobles of their titles and gave them to some loyal followers who were slaves before the revolt. You didn’t even want to be the emperor, but you stayed in the position because you didn’t trust anyone else to take over as you thought it would destroy the vision you had in mind. No, you would pass it on once you had a child, and because of that you were an eligible bachelorette.

Your formal introduction was one of surprise, as you bowed to him. You both could sense that the other was special in a unique way. Your blood was unique, and you could tell that he was a bird with your experience with Kasugai Crows. You were a target because of your marechi blood, as it could go for a lot on the black market. Any descendents you may have will also have this trait, which adds to the flocking of men to your palace to try and win your hand in marriage. It isn’t everyday that you could say you were wed to or had children with someone of marechi blood who was also an emperor.

A friendship blossomed between the two of you, as you were able to understand him while he was in Queen form and he could sense who you were based on your blood alone. When birds sent to Navier were shot down, they would instead be delivered to you and your guest chambers where you would hide him in your haori and walk to Her Imperial Majesty’s chambers for a ‘cup of tea’. In order to give them some privacy, you would bow before taking your leave. You were just glad that you were able to make your friends happy, but there was still one thing you had left to do.

When the divorce happened, and Sovieshu ordered that Navier be kept inside, you gathered your best guards that you had brought with you and disguised yourselves as the guards standing outside of the ex-Empress’s tower. Once your cover was blown, you fought with all of your might, none of the other guards standing a chance against your bloodthirsty hands. You did not hold back, and your sword was soaked with the blood of many who will never see their families again until they, too, inevitably, die. That’s why you were feared by all, as you did not hesitate to kill someone who has wronged you… as long as there was justifiable cause.

Kosair Trovi

You didn’t always get along with him, as your anger issues often clashed with each other. Screaming matches would always erupt between the two of you whenever he visited your empire, but you then started training your military and your schedule was too full to pay him any mind. He remembers the time where you once invited him to join the ranks for the day, and he then understood the discipline that was instilled within you and your soldiers. You sparred against one of your greatest generals, and you got a new slash across your arm, starting from the bottom of your hand to the crease in your elbow. Kosair was genuinely worried and rushed to patch you up, and you both were flustered by the close proximity. 

This ‘friendship’ went very far, actually. It was through him that you got into contact with Navier, as you needed assistance with running the Northern Empire. Now, we all know how he gets about his younger sister, so you gave him your solemn vow to respect and honor her as she deserved. When he left the Northern Empire, you both continued to exchange letters… some of them starting to get into flirtatious territory. It had been a while since you both saw each other, so you couldn’t help but feel like a hopelessly in-love protagonist being held back from her lover. Just kidding. Your duties as the emperor were keeping you from traveling too much. That was, until you got the invitation to the New Year’s Party at the Eastern Empire. This is where Kosair hailed from, so you felt yourself get a bit excited about possibly seeing him.

Unfortunately, he was not present at the party, but he did show up later to visit his sister. Since it had been a while since the last time you saw each other, he was surprised by the sheer amount of scars you had on your arms now. He bowed down to you, gently taking your hand in his and placing a kiss on the back of it. The sheer contrast in the textures of your skin was shocking to the both of you. His skin was soft and gentle, while yours had marks that told stories that not even words could portray. You remember that moment from How to Train Your Dragon 2 where Hiccup’s dad says, “you’re as beautiful as the day I lost you”? That’s kind of what he does, as you haven’t seen each other in a while.

Now, unbeknownst to the two of you (moreso him than you), two men saw this happen and they got very jealous. Kosair was not the only man trying to seek out your heart. The Grand Duke Kaufman as well as Duke Ergi witnessed the kiss upon the back of your hand, and they saw how familiar you were with each other, so they realized that they would need to step up their game if they wanted to get your attention. This caused a rivalry between the three men that wouldn’t stop until you made your decision. After all, you needed to choose because you needed an emperor consort and an heir. Any extravagances that you can think of, the men tried on you. 

Because this is Kosair’s scenario, we are going to assume that you chose him. You know him, you trust him, and you eventually married him. This man is a trophy husband and he knows and lives for it. When you got married, he moved to the Northern Empire. It was a day of celebration for not only the empire, but also for Heinrey and Navier. You invited Duke Ergi and Duke Kaufman out of respect, and the latter did attend. The former, however, did not, as he was busy tricking Rashta. If you know, you know. You both did attend Heinrey and Navier’s official wedding in the Western Kingdom, and you were finally able to pay the new Queen back by giving them both advice on how to create the Western Empire.

Grand Duke Kaufman

You both first met at the New Year’s Party… technically. You both have technically met before, when Luiptian officials came to the Northern Empire to discuss trade with you. However, you did not have a formal introduction to him. So, when he asked you to dance with him, you were very hesitant. Dancing with a stranger left you vulnerable, so you had your guard up. You both spoke with one another as the black suit you were wearing blended with his clothing, and you both found your hearts beating faster and in-sync. He was surprised that you knew so much of his native language, and you explained that it was an academic requirement in your empire to know at least one foreign language fluently.

During your stay in the Eastern Empire, you got closer to the Grand Duke. Each time you both passed by each other, he would stop to bow, take your hand in his, and place a kiss on the back of it. He’s even seen you training with the guards that went with you, and you are as harsh as you are diligent. He sprinted over when he saw that one of your guards had slashed your arm. Luckily, there wasn’t even a scar to do his skills in magic. But, he was able to see all of your other scars with the close proximity. He’s surprised to hear that you didn’t want them gone, as they told stories of bravery and conquest and hard work, but he finds it admirable.

When he gave an explanation for the love potion to Empress Navier, you were present in the room. You volunteered to try it to test its potency when Kaufman said it would be better if he tested it out. After all, it would be disastrous if the Emperor of the Northern Empire fell in love with either the Empress or himself (👀). The only problem was that the potion was very potent and very effective… to the point where the antidote did not work. He looked at you first once he drank the liquid, so he was entranced. It was embarrassing to have said that Sovieshu was handsome to get him off of your guys’ back, but in reality he didn’t like that the Emperor stood so close to you. That’s when he realized what the love potion had done to him.

For the next few days, Kaufman found himself wanting to remain close to you. It took everything inside of him just to part with you for a few minutes. You did not mind his company, however, as he offered good advice for your empire. Unfortunately, because of his longing to be next to you at all times, he witnessed Lord Kosair placing a kiss upon the back of your hand. The Grand Duke almost landed a punch to the Master of the Trovi House’s face, shouting that he had no permission to touch you. However, you caught his fist so that no damage was dealt. You took him by the hand and led him to a room where you asked him what the fuck happened. Long story short, the potion took over in this passionate moment and he kissed you. Needless to say, considering this is Kaufman’s scenario, you reciprocated.

Anyway, your relationship progressed quickly. When he had to go back to the Kingdom of Luipt, he asked you to go with him. However, your own ship was docked next to his, and you had to depart to your own empire. You declined his request, as you had no heir and thus could not run away with him. That’s when he came to a very fast revelation. He asked you to marry him. To say you were surprised would be an understatement. After all, you had only really gotten to know each other for just a few weeks. But, as we know Sanemi to be, you were crazy too so you accepted his proposal. Two weeks after getting to the Northern Empire, you received a ring and a note in a bottle via pigeon. The note proved to you that you chose the right man to be your husband, and you immediately started making preparations.

Ergi Claude

You met because you both ran into each other in the palace corridors. The womanizer in him caught you and tried to rizz you up. You weren’t having any of it and grabbed a dagger from your sleeve. You held it to his neck as you demanded him to let you go. It infuriated you how he just gave you a smirk before making sure you were upright… and how fast your heart was beating from the encounter. You were headed to the training grounds, though, so you couldn’t dwell on it too much. Now, what you didn’t know was that Prince Heinrey of the Western Kingdom had ordered him to spy on you to see if you would attack them. So, this chance encounter was just him evaluating how hard it would be to get close to you.

Unfortunately for him, Rashta kept him from observing you or even meeting you again for quite a while. She would get jealous whenever she saw the Duke try to seek you out, so she would get his attention and drag him to her chambers to speak with him. She would make up an encounter she definitely didn’t have with Viscount Lotteshu just to bring Ergi’s attention back to her. However, fortune pulled an Uno Reverse Card on the young mistress and she was caught up with speaking to Sovieshu to be able to see that Ergi had gone in search of you. He did manage to find you… right when Kosair planted a kiss on the back of your hand and Kaufman punched the man. You were, understandably, overwhelmed by the situation and so Ergi stepped in and led you away. That is where you had a formal introduction to each other, no blades drawn. Though, he did see the katana that you kept sheathed at your hip.

Now, he was not invited to the dinner with all the nobility, as he held no power within this Empire nor any significant power in the Western Kingdom. He guessed (correctly) that you would be attending that, so he just went to the other party. However, his mind couldn’t get off of your first *actual* conversation. It was rather civil, but you didn’t respond to his slightly flirtatious words. You were better equipped that time. He learned your name and your story, and it was as clear as day that you were Rashta’s opposite. Rising up as a slave to overturn the entire system, killing the king and queen of the Northern Kingdom, taking the throne, turning the kingdom into an empire, stripping the nobles of their titles and giving them to your most trusted subjects, abolishing slavery, teaching everyone to read and write, training your military yourself, etc., all while thinking without emotion. Yeah… you were definitely different from Sovieshu’s concubine.

After the ruined dinner, you went to the garden to sort your mind out. You had a lot to think about, considering you were here to negotiate trade and alliances and such. Ergi found you there, and you looked radiant underneath the moon’s glow. With confidence, he sat next to you on the bench. He tried not to scare you, but because of your intense training you were able to sense that he was there anyway. You both started a conversation that eventually led to him asking if he had any chance of winning over your heart. You gave it some thought over the next few days, but before you could give your answer you had to depart for your own empire. The Duke accompanied you to the dock, and asked if you had an answer. You said that he would know once you did, and so he kissed the back of your hand before your departure.

Once you returned to your own kingdom, you immediately met with your advisors to ask if this marriage could bring any sense of prosperity to the empire, or if it would be of your own choice anyway. Your empire was doing exceptionally well, but since it would be a noble of another kingdom that you would be marrying, it could possibly mean that there would be an alliance between the Western Kingdom and the Northern Empire. After all, the Western Kingdom is known for the multitude of gems and wealth. The Northern Empire is known for its military strength. So, you immediately wrote to Ergi. The only word you put on the page, however, was yes.

[they-stare-i-ship]

I finished reading the atlas paradox

and now you're subjected to my SPOILERY thoughts.

Parisa Kamali: I love Parisa, I have loved her since the first book. I LIKE HER SO MUCH she's funny she's mean she's cool she's kind. She's incredibly powerful. She's so interesting and I really enjoyed how she slowly became "her royal softness". Whenever we have her pov it's so fun. I love how she's not scared of Atlas and how she challenged him. I can't wait to see what she does in the next book. I'm actually excited to see how Dalton has changed and how she reacts to them in the next book. Her relationship with Nico makes me so feel so nice. I also need her to be kiss Reina sometime in the next book.

Nico de Varona: he's been my annoying lil baby since the first book. I loved how he became more fleshed out in this book. I loved how lonely he got, his relationship with Reina and Tristan really intrigues me. HE'S SUCH A CHILD sometimes and I love him for it. Obviously I have spent the two books insane bc I knew he was in love with Gideon, I just knew it and they're just *chef's kiss* also speaking of his relationship with people, I think him and Libby will be stunning as besties, I truly cannot perceive them as romantic. They act so sibling like or even just asshole bestie like.

Reina Mori: when we started with this series I actually had more hopes from her. I feel like she didn't do much (especially in book 2) and my girl really doesn't understand communication. If she just talked to people sigh. But honestly her God thing, I am down. Go off, I'm excited to see her go off the rails bc people didn't talk to her the way she could have understood. I am low-key in love with how funny the duo of Reina and Callum is, tbh. I also get major ace vibes from her.

Libby Rhodes: honestly she was my second least favourite amount the six when we started. She desperately needed the corruption arc we got in the later half of the book. I think I will like her a lot more now. Her crush on belen was stunning to read. I can't wait for Libby to fuck shit up, literally fuck everyone up. And I genuinely truly deeply want her relationship with Nico to just be friendship. Friendships are equally as important and the fact that the universe made them parallel to eachother is my favourite thing.

Callum Nova: honestly I didn't really like him much during the first book, he was fine but we had more interesting characters. BUT DAMN CALLUM NOVA POST HEARTBREAK?? ~~ exquisite ~~ he's so fucking funny and hopeless and sad and pathetic. he is so desperate for love and so upset that he was denied it. He's my pathetic lil meow meow. Also I would LOVE to see him use his powers more in the future. As we keep learning about it, I keep loving him. Also I need Tristan to beg Callum to take him back.

Tristan Caine: actually I didn't enjoy his povs at all in the first book, I couldn't wait for them to be over. He is still my least favourite among the six but in the second book he was more interesting and fun. I'm a lil anxious of how Atlas is gonna use him and his powers. I don't care much of him but I want him to beg Callum or regret it for the rest of his existence. Also I hate LibbyTristan as a romantic permanent thing, they can fuck around and have fun but pls end at that.

Gideon Drake: I have loved him since day 1. He was the softer kinder balance to Nico's aggressive and abrasiveness. He is so interesting, his origin and his powers. I spent both the book wishing we had more of him. Now that we are out of the library maybe he'll get to play a more active role in the book. I am obsessed with Gideon (bc Nico is obsessed with Gideon) I love the tidbits we learn about Gideon like how Libby always liked him more or how max travelled with him for the rescue of the "prince". I want Gideon to have everything he wants, that's all.

Atlas Blakeley: I have been thinking of Giancarlo Esposito as Atlas the entire time. There's no explanation it's just vibes

Ezra: I'm glad he's dead 💖

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 31

quick note first of all, would anyone be interested in me also doing a liveblog for 'The Unwanted Guest' as well as these remaining chapters?

and after three books we’re back on the Ninth where this all started. Kiriona’s putting on a bit of a show with the ‘Home sweet home’ thing, but it really can’t be pleasant returning to somewhere she spent an absolutely horrible childhood trying to escape, and without Harrow no less

this might genuinely be the first time there has ever been a dog on the Ninth, i don’t really see the cult of goth priests being big on pets

‘then again, i’m not sure of John period’ yeah me neither, quite frankly even after a book which spends half its page time detailing his backstory i’m still unsure about what exactly his plans and powers are

‘a string of fairy lights wouldn’t have gone amiss’ honestly given Harrow’s general penchant for interior bone design, i think she could be persuaded if the fairy lights were made out of actual bone somehow

ohh holy shit there was a good moment while reading that description of Gideon surrounded by corpses with blood on her sword that i fully thought that she’d come back to the Ninth on some weird revenge mission and just straight up murdered Crux

‘My lady, you have come home to us … at last’ why is this making me feel things for Crux of all people. like he has no idea about Nona, or that Harrow’s lost in the River, or anything she’s been through at all. all he knows is that she left for the First, became a Lyctor, and never communicated or came home again

oh great we’re returning to possibly the creepiest part of GtN with the weird ‘devil’ things. between the duel of the Third and Sixth and possession of Colum Asht, the second half of that book is suddenly becoming very relevant again. while Nona’s been living in a combination slice-of-life/war drama, Kiriona’s life seems to have taken a sharp turn into zombie apocalypse novel. fun!

i’m very intrigued about the little pieces of John and Gideon’s relationship that we get here, notably i think (if i remember correctly) that this is the first time she’s mentioned him as ‘Dad’, seemingly completely sincerely, unlike calling him ‘Pops’ at the end of HtN. and apparently he falsely reassured her that the devils were confined to Antioch, but Kiriona seems to have fully believed him and sounds genuinely upset that he apparently lied about it

wow Crux literally cannot stop hating on Gideon even when he’s actively fucking dying. on one level i can admire the commitment but dude, this level of beef with a literal teenager is ridiculous

‘there was a figure there - dark robes with a pale face’ okay i really can’t figure out what is with the weird stalker figure here. is it Nona having a hallucination of Harrow? just a strange description of one of the nuns?

Pyrrha apparently painted a mint green nursery here a long time ago, i assume for Anastasia’s kid, which would explain the weird remark about helping deliver a baby back in chapter 10. also this implies a version of the Ninth which was at one point not quite so dedicated to the doom-and-gloom-bones-and-death aesthetic, which feels inconceivable to me

well hello Aiglamene long time no see, this is a slightly more welcome return than Crux at least. ngl i really wasn’t expecting to see all these characters from the beginning of GtN again, but it’s interesting to catch up and see how little has really changed there despite all the events of the series

ohhh my god. this is not how i expected a reunion between Aiglamene and Gideon to go. Aiglamene seems so genuinely shaken by the fact that she’s dead, and the fact that she’s apparently very angry at Harrow on Gideon’s behalf, like !! she definitely seems to care about Gideon a lot more than she ever actually let on to her

‘Nona was deeply horrified to see actual walk-around skeletons’ i think Harrow would be mortally offended that anyone in her body could find skeletons horrifying

actually yknow what i take back what i said in GtN about Palamedes, Paul should absolutely not be a therapist with this bedside manner

‘You can’t take loved away’ uh, excuse me for a minute i need to sit in a corner and cry my heart out for a moment. this moment really feels like a summary of a lot of themes in the whole series

ok the final nail in the coffin for my emotional wellbeing at the end of this chapter is that Pyrrha did actually get a birthday present, one that she’ll never be able to give her. here i am completely distraught over cheap moustache rides what have you done to me Tamsyn Muir

istg at least some part of Nona needs to live on. like c’mon Gideon died at the end of the first book and she’s still kicking, Nona can do it too. once again it is nearly the end of a Locked Tomb book and i am in severe denial about probably permanent character death