#I am however considering writing Another one where magic isn’t a thing

[jaxyscreams]

am I writing a sort of band au Rookanis fic? yes

Is it also a murder mystery?

Also yes

[astarioffsimpmain]

A Darling Evening (Tali & Astarion)

[Screenshots by @snowfolly]

Astarion x Taliesin Straeth (Snowy's OC)

Warnings: None; fluff!

Synopsis: Astarion finds a way to turn a rainy evening into something romantic.

Author's Note: This is my gift to @snowfolly for the Astarion Brainrot Valentine's Day Gift Exchange! Their OC Tali was a lot of fun to write, and I'm happy to post this here for them! <3

She huffed, a frown creasing her features as the rain pattered against the windowpane. "I was going to test our new find today. But no birds are going to be out in this weather." 

"And what exactly is that little trinket supposed to do again, Tali darling?" Astarion asked, deep in concentration as he stitched a design into one of her hats. 

"This little trinket," she produced a whistle the size of a pen from her pocket and slipped it through several of her fingers, admiring it. "Is supposed to make birds fly backwards for as long as they hear the song." 

"And when the little feathered twits end up crashing against a tree-?"

"They don't! That's the beauty of it. It's as though they don't even know they're flying backwards. They can see just as well as if they're flying forwards. The birds will never know the difference. But we will. We get a free show." She chuckled, tooting a note from the flute with a wiggle of her head before letting her hand fall back to her side as she sent a sidelong glance at the rain outside; staring deprecatingly at it as though it would cease just to lift her mood. 

"Well, my love, I am afraid the birds must wait." Astarion replied absent-mindedly, his brow creasing as he doubled back on a stitch that was not cooperating. 

"Well, what in the hells am I supposed to do now? And before you suggest it, I am not reading another one of the books Gale sent over right now. I'm not sure I can stomach more jargon on dissecting the magical properties of the Orevine plant." You rolled your eyes and your lover chuckled from where he sat. She leaned against the windowsill and stared at him, softening as she observed the wrinkles on his forehead and the laugh lines on the outsides of his eyes - things he would perpetually deny having as an eternally young creature of the night, but things she loved nonetheless. His eyes scanned his work tirelessly, obsessed with getting everything just right. He was a perfectionist through and through with his creations, which was surprising, considering the amount of chaos he wrought in most other areas of his undead life. But he plopped his work down suddenly and met her fuschia gaze with his discerning crimson one. 

"Well, darling, if all you plan to do for the rest of the afternoon is stare at me, then I suppose I must find something for us to do, hm? However much I enjoy seeing you observe my beauty." She scoffed and rolled her eyes at the tease, but a smile threatened to cross her lips nonetheless. She quirked a brow at him, curious to see what he had in mind. In the perfect image of beauty and grace, he rose from the chair he was perched in and swept through the small kitchen of the cabin the two of them had been staying in for around a week now and down the stairs of the adjacent door. The owners were… probably, on vacation somewhere, and had left a stocked-enough cellar for Tali to live on until she and Astarion decided to move on, or the owners decided to return. She padded down the steps after him and found him rummaging around a worn iron storage container before pulling out a bottle of mead, a block of cheese, and a small box of strawberries. “It isn’t a strawberry tart, darling, but it’ll have to do.” he mused, turning the box this way and that to see how the fruit was faring. 

He seemed to decide it was worthy of his lover after several seconds of looking it over and nodded curtly to himself, turning around and traipsing back up the steps with Tali on his heels. “Take these out in the rain and wash them off, won’t you, love?” Astarion smiled sweetly, a hint of flattery glimmering in his red-wine eyes. 

Tali merely laughed, taking the box of strawberries from him and stepping out onto the porch. There was a generous overhang, so she remained mostly dry as she held each strawberry out into the pouring rain and brushed off any possible dust or other unseen remnants with the pads of her fingers before gathering them back into the box and bringing it back in to where her lover was waiting, an apron acquired from gods know where, fastened around his slim waist and a knife in hand. “Oh, is my darling lover going to bake something for me?” Tali nudged playfully and Astarion scoffed. 

“Don’t get carried away, love.” he prodded her with his elbow as she came up beside him. “You know my specialty is to cut up, not put together.” he grinned over his shoulder at her, showing his fangs, before beginning the process of slicing their snacks. Tali chuckled and sidled up behind him, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his back, humming as his laughter rumbled through her. She melted into him, allowing her eyes to fall closed as she recognized yet again how lucky they were to have found each other, especially after all they had suffered. Love was never supposed to be in the cards for her again, not after Margot. A small pang clenched her chest at the memory of her first love, but it was different now than it had been in the past. While she still held regrets, and knew she always would, there was a new sense of peace that had found her, and she knew her vampire was to thank for it. 

“If I am to make a new life after all of the pain I caused,” he would often say to her, “then you can as well.” He loved to use her words against her, but to bring her peace instead of suffering, and while it was all the more irritating that the advice was her own, she was thankful for the reminders. She smiled and nuzzled her nose in between his shoulder blades, taking in a slow breath of his bergamot, rosemary and brandy scent. There was an edge to the scent, one she knew to be his natural decayed skin, and she smiled. One of the first comments she had made once they made their relationship official was how much she liked that extra tang of his natural scent mixed with his cologne. She had nearly laughed her head off when he had looked at her with so much shock and affront that he resembled a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “You’re mad.” he had settled on as a response, grinning and shaking his head in disbelief. 

Tali giggled softly against Astarion’s back at the memory and he offered her a glance over his shoulder. “What are you giggling about like a madwoman back there, my darling? It is quite distracting.” His tone was chiding, but she knew there was a smile on his face and wriggled against him. 

“Just remembering when I told you I liked your natural scent.” 

“Oh gods, yes. I knew you were just mad enough for me when you proudly proclaimed being aroused by the scent of rot. It was all over for me at that very moment, pup.”

A cackle burst forth from her lips then and she let go of her lover to clutch her stomach. “I- hahaha! I think the f-fact that… ahahahah! That I liked you covered in gore hahaha! Would have been a sign! Ah hahaha!”

Astarion smiled down at the strawberries he resumed cutting in triumph, pleased with himself for lightening his dear Tali’s previously soured mood. He would never say the words out loud, but he couldn’t bear it when she was upset. She was his light, his sunbeam in his world otherwise plunged in darkness, and when she was down, a painfully tight coil squeezed around his undead heart. 

They chatted for awhile longer while Astarion finished with the snacks and uncorked the mead. "Well, my love, it seems as though they don't have very fine glasses for their liquor, which is a true shame, but I've found something that will do for now." He tutted as he pulled several well-worn glasses from the cupboard and wiped them out with a cloth. He had placed the cubes of cheese and slices of strawberry onto a plate and gestured for Tali to grab it and the glasses. Once her hands were full, he took the bottle of mead in hand and made for the front door. Dusk was fast approaching, but where a sunny day would have made it impossible for the vampire to be out at this hour, the rain had provided enough cloud cover that he was able to step out with ease. 

"Alright, those go here." He pointed to the short table that sat a few feet from the door and Tali relieved her hands of her haul. Astarion set the mead down between the two glasses, then turned to look at her expectantly. 

"Okay… what now?" Tali crossed her arms and chuckled at her lover's antics. 

"What do you mean, "what now?" Come now, love, you do remember how camping works, don't you? Pillows, blankets, anything to keep the ground from feeling like what it is. Off with you!" He shooed her towards the door with wild gesticulations and a laugh burst from her mouth. 

"Well why can't you get them, my big strong vampire?" She teased, referring to his boost in strength post-tadpole. 

"I had the idea, and I handled the food, darling, now it's your turn. You knew you were the manual labor in this relationship the moment you agreed to it, don't deny it." He tsked, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Alright, alright." Tali chuckled, getting to work. 

Soon, all the pillows and blankets in the house had been pooled onto the front porch where Tali and Astarion were now curled up. "The candles were a nice touch, my love." Tali murmured, glancing over to the single candelabras that held the family's bedside table candles, each one lit and waving gently in the cool night breeze. 

"Mmm I am known to be quite the connoisseur of romance, you know." He crooned from where his head lay in her lap. 

"Oh yeah?" Tali giggled, her fingers continuing a tender path through his soft curls. 

"Mhmm" Astarion hummed, his eyes closing as he pressed into his lover's gentle touch. 

"Well, I must say I agree, Mr. Ancunin. You have won me over, although at times quite begrudgingly." A smile quirked his lips, his only response to her ribbing. It wasn’t satisfactory enough for Tali though, who leaned down to press a long, amorous kiss to his beautiful plump lips; one he responded to immediately, threading his long fingers through her hair to cup the back of her head and neck. 

"I love you, Astarion." She muttered against his mouth and he chuckled softly, his breath hitting her lips. 

"I know, my darling… and you've won me over as well." He replied, pulling her lips to his once more. 

fin

[fights4users]

The quorra problem | Programs, isos and the real world

Disclaimer: This has nothing to do with Quorra as a character! It’s more of a story element critique if anything, please read and don’t jump on me for the title. Quorra is adorable and I enjoy legacy- even if it doesn’t look like it from how I keep tearing it apart.

It’s a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation. On one hand you can’t leave her inside the grid when Flynn decides to literally go nuclear but you can’t leave her in the real world either. They have to because they wanted Flynn’s self sacrificing ending or wrote themselves into a corner (this isn’t about reintegration but I will still complain) and this was there way out. But they didn’t consider the implications of it at all.

Cosmic horror-

I’ve made several posts about it and still want to write something with this idea but to a program— the real world wouldn’t be so miraculous like how we see theirs. The minute you’re outside you’re Imediately bombarded with sensory overload and just too much information to process. The grid, which is much more human in its design than the ENCOM system, is still infinitely more minimalist than our world. One of the best scenes is Clu and his team raiding the hideout and not knowing what a single thing is and freaking out, she seems too well adjusted for someone who’s spent a few hours max here— look I know it’s the end of a movie and they can’t do that whole arc, but I digress.

Also don’t get me started on the rumored Ares plot and how they totally forgot quorra is already a program(technically iso) in our world- also it’s not really a “tron” movie plot— where’s the allegory?! The metaphor?! The symbolism?!

Another thing is that…Sam can’t tell anyone about her. Maybe Alan but her mere existence in our world is brain shattering. Trying to explain a advanced humanoid being that’s not here to harm us and is totally cool guys almost never goes well. It also leaves people a LOT to grapple with…like everything we know being forever altered.

This whole situation should be terrifying from both perspectives, however I love the theory that the only reason she was able to get out into the real world at all was because of Flynn’s data stored in the beam. That’s a great thought that almost makes me like her being in the real world just from how much impact that is.

Infectious-

What happens now? She can’t be revealed to the world (yet) and to put her back in the remains of the grid would be cruel. Putting her in another system would be wildly irresponsible because- do we even know what ISOs do? Across all media its “they’re special” but absolutely squat on their actual function or what they’re capable of. We see they have some kind of digital dna that’s literally a miraculous occurrence but that’s about it. Did Flynn even know? Are they just there- existing but not effecting/having a real world computer impact? Or worse - what if clu was right and they did contribute to the crumbling state of the grid? (I think it was a combination of his own fear and scapegoating—I’m just tossing the idea out there).

Sam transferring her over to another system without knowing what she does or how she could effect it would be disastrous. Am I saying she’s dangerous or would have any intent to harm? No not at all that’s now who she is, but it’s sort of a “releasing a domestic cat into the woods a state over” you don’t do that.

Does she get a regular job now, does Sam hire her at ENCOM? She’d likely be some sort of computer smart…in that she come from one. Or does he like —- set her up at a McDonald’s? How’s she get energy does she get plugged in- being in the real world isn’t going to magically give her a stomach. Sam just takes her to a power grid and she causes SoCal to blackout lmao.

Open portal-

I’m aware most of this post is just me overthinking the implications of everything they didn’t intend us to think to hard about. It’s supposed to be “yippee they’re safe” and I’m worried about digital ecosystems and what the human brain can handle. I think my problem mainly strives from this trope where the character brings home their friend from the other world/ is the reverse situation and no one bats an eye at all. It’s because they want the characters to still be friends no matter how many rules it breaks or sense it makes. It happens most commonly in cartoons. (There’s at least 3 in recent memory)

I’m not saying I want quorra to have been caught in the blast but that there’s a way they could’ve kept communication without world breaking. Open portal situation where he goes back to visit, he chats with her on the screen, both stay in their own worlds its sad but logical etc (I’m not writing a new ending but you get the point).

I guess it annoys me so much because it’s left so open ended, ride off into the sunrise while ignoring the implications™️. “I guess, We’re going to change the world” ok how 🧍‍♂️. The movie did not nearly give me enough information about ISO’s to see what changes they exactly do besides taking over ENCOM. “They[Iso’s] changed everything” ok how🧍‍♂️. Yeah it’s immaculate conception but what do they do I am shaking your shoulders Disney what do they do!

It’s not quorra I’m mad about or even the concept of ISO’s but it’s how the writing just falls short in these HUGE areas that require a lot of lore and information to be given that they just do not. And consistently don’t In the other media forms like betrayal (I haven’t seen uprising maybe they explain something). If you’re going to have beings that shatter your ideas of reality you sort of have to explain that!

[masha-nikita]

How strong is his Mars?- George Patton

I am back to my series- “How strong is his Mars?” YAY. These little commentaries are my efforts to test a theory in Astrology community- you’ve got to have a strong Mars to be competent in the military. Out of the blue, I’d like to write a bit on our old Allied general George.

Anyway, is that theory true? Let’s find out with George Patton.

To me, what immediately jumps out about him is his Mars square Pluto.

A Mars-Pluto square makes the native stubborn in his violence; a constant subtext in Patton’s mind would be “I’ve got to kill something”. If unfortunately the native is unable to find things to kill, like an opportune cockroach, he would find enemies in his poor colleagues for one reason or another.

He would turn every single little cooperation into a competition, and he has to win, or he’s going to lose it. Those who are able to maintain a cordial relationship with him are probably strong people who are OK with workplace competitions, or even those who enjoy it. His Scorpio Sun may accentuate this Plutonian trait, since Pluto rules Scorpio. Maybe Eisenhower could maintain a friendly enemy dynamic with him for the friendship to work.

However, there are two facets of Patton’s Mars that bestow a kind of calm subtlety to it- 1, it is a Virgo Mars, and Virgo Mars natives are detail oriented, slow moving problem solvers. 2, the Pluto that squares the Mars is in 12th house; there will be certain points when his subconscious mind goes through deepest transformations.

A 12th house Pluto has so much hidden past-life turmoil that could render Patton powerless, and the powerlessness could lash out via Mars by violence, pure violence, and nothing else. Some astrologers consider 12th Pluto psychic, but I think it depends on where the subconscious transformations takes him- there’s good chance that this placement eventually endows him with very innovative concepts.

12th Pluto type psychic ability, in my opinion, is more akin to a warlock’s magic attacks rather than far-seeing clairvoyance. For example, even if Patton’s battlefield fortune-telling doesn’t seem much, if you get kicked by him once, your physical ass may be OK after a couple of hospital visits, but your astral ass may forever bear a bruise for all spirit world to see. So don’t get kicked by Patton, you're going to look embarrassing in front of the fairies.

What’s interesting, Model, Rommel and Von Manstein all have Mars in a harmonious aspect with Neptune (trine or sextile), plus other beneficial aspect to Neptune- this symbolizes true artistry and clairvoyance when they conduct any action- almost like they’re psychic on some level in order to make magic happen.

But Mars’ confrontational aspects with Neptune (opposition or square) entail deception and confusion in terms of action or where to direct the active energy. With Mars square Neptune, Patton sees enemy where there isn’t one, and a battlefield where currently nobody is fighting. It would make him high-strung and very defensive of his opinion. Animal fighting instinct may get the better of him. From time to time his soldiers could see his rational thinking simply exits the chat.

Throw good old George a machine gun and some unfortunate soldiers, run as fast as you can towards the opposite direction, take cover, don’t die, and wait for the explosions to blow over. You’d realize we have an 8 out of 10 good Mars, but a pretty problematic man nonetheless.

I give General Patton this song Check my Brain to represent his 12th house Pluto opposite Mercury; a dedication to his intense and compelling thoughts on how to dispatch anything and everything enemy to him into nothingness.

[lyranova]

I don't think I've made a request for your autumn event? So here goes! Can I get a platonic interaction for Zera & Josele with the prompt "do you ever wonder what our lives will be like in ten years?" Maybe Zera is pregnant with Alistar and the ladies muse about future kids. Or maybe they're just talking about the future... Hope that makes sense. 💖

Hiya Erika!! Of course you may, and no worries this made complete sense 😁! I had a lot of fun writing this, and I apologize that it took so long, but I hope you enjoy! And thank you so much for allowing me to write Josele 🥺💕!

Word Count: 1,581

Warnings: Pregnancy

————

“ Do you ever wonder what our lives will be like in ten years?”

“ Hm? What brought this question on all of a sudden?” Josele asked as she turned towards her friend, Zera, with a small frown on her face.

The question seemed random, but at the same time, it didn’t really seem random at all considering Zera was currently 8 months pregnant and Josele and Nacht had just adopted a five year old girl.

“ I dunno…maybe our conversation at the baby shower?” She hummed in reply as she leaned back in her chair.

“ Which one? If I remember right we talked about a lot of things that day.” Josele pointed out as she also leaned back in her chair.

“ The last one, where I said I hoped that our children could all become friends when they got older.” She replied as she smiled fondly at the memory.

A smile mimicking Zera’s worked its way onto Josele’s face as well; her baby shower had been full of happy and sad emotions, but also hopeful ones too.

And right now, if anyone could use a little bit of hope, it was Zera.

“ Don’t tell me you’re already planning various play dates between all of our kids?” Josele asked with a playful grin.

“ Of course not!” Zera tried to say, but when she watched her friend raise a skeptical brow she sighed.

“ Okay, maybe I am; but so what? It’s fun to think about the future!”

Josele hummed and her gaze shifted away as she got lost in thought…

When she was young, she used to think about the future all the time; she wanted to travel, continue her Magic Knight duties, spend time with Yami, Nacht, and William, marry Morgen, and even have a family with him.

But then, Morgen died; and everything she had planned and wanted for the future, their future, died with him.

And for over ten years, she didn’t really think about the future again; having resigned herself to living in the shadows as a shadow until she joined Morgen again in the afterlife.

However, that all changed when she reunited with Nacht…

When she met Nacht again, and he helped to break her curse, she suddenly began to think about the future again; she began to think of a future where she didn’t stay in the shadows and live as one of them, instead, she began to imagine a future where she stood in the light with her shadow prince at her side, and her shining sun looking down on her with a gentle smile on his face.

It was a different future, but a bright one nonetheless.

“ Hello~, earth to Josele!” She blinked when she suddenly heard Zera calling her name.

“ Huh? Oh, sorry!” She quickly apologized, but Zera shook her head.

“ It’s okay, you’ve been through a lot the last few years, and you’ve been through even more just in the last year or two,” She said as she reached out and took Josele’s hand.

“ Says the one who met their husband, nearly went to jail, then got married, and then had their husband kidnapped all in the span of six months.” Josele pointed out as she gave her friend's hand a small squeeze.

“ That’s just another day in the life of a Captain’s wife, isn’t it?” She said with a shrug and grin, making Josele laugh in response.

She had a point.

“ Anyway, since you’re still thinking about your answer, is it okay for me to tell you mine?” Zera asked as she leaned forward, grabbed her tea cup, and took a sip.

Josele nodded as she watched her friend set her tea cup down onto the coffee table before leaning back in her chair again.

“ In ten years I see myself in the common realm with a big plot of land, a decent sized house, a beautiful garden, and at least five kids!” Zera said as she held up her hand.

“ Five kids? I’m surprised you don’t want more.” Josele teased before taking a sip of her own tea.

“ Oh I certainly want more kids,” Zera said with a smirk. “ but I think William can only handle the thought of us having five or less at the moment.”

Josele chuckled and shook her head.

“ You said you see yourself living in the common realm; does that mean you’re wanting, or hoping, that William will retire?” She asked curiously as she set her tea cup down.

Zera sighed and gave a half-shrug.

“ Well, I would love it if he retired someday, especially if we have multiple kids under the age of ten by that time. But, I don’t know if he actually will or not, considering he still wants to atone for what he did during the elf invasion…” Zera told her friend softly.

Josele nodded in understanding; after everything William had done before and during the elf invasion, he promised he would spend the rest of his life serving the Clover Kingdom as a way to atone for his crimes.

“ Aren’t there other ways for him to atone for his crimes and serve the kingdom? He doesn’t have to be a Magic Knight.” She pointed out, which made the plant mage sigh.

“ There are, but he said being a Magic Knight is his life,” She said with a shake of her head.

Josele nodded in understanding; that was a sentiment all Magic Knights, or most, shared about their job. Being a Magic Knight was their life, it was something they poured all their blood, sweat, and tears into, it was something they lived and breathed.

Being a Magic Knight was more than just a job to some, which made it that much harder to give it up.

“ So, how can I argue with that?” Zera continued with a small laugh.

“ You tell him that things change, that life changes, and he needs to change with it so that he doesn’t get left behind.” Josele suggested as she picked up her tea cup and took a sip.

“ Sounds like you have a lot of personal experience with that,” Zera said with a knowing smile as she also raised her tea cup to her lips before taking a sip.

Josele blushed a bit before nodding slightly; it was not a secret to her friends just how much her life changed over the years, and how she had to adapt to it all.

Though, some of her methods of adapting were…somewhat questionable.

“ But I’ll remember what you said, and I’ll be sure to make that argument to William when we argue about him retiring.” Zera said with a grin that made Josele chuckle.

The women jumped as the clock on the wall chimed, signaling the hour, and when Josele looked at the time she gasped.

“ It’s that late already? I have to go, the Bulls are throwing a small party tonight.” Josele said as she set her tea cup down onto the coffee table.

Zera nodded in understanding as she set her tea cup down as well.

“ Don’t worry, we can have another little tea party later,” She told her friend with a wave of her hand as she saw the apologetic look on Josele’s face.

“ Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Josele asked in concern as she helped her pregnant friend to stand up.

Zera nodded as she placed her hands on her hips.

“ I’ll be fine! Sheesh, you, the girls, and William worry too much!” She said as she waved her friend's concern away.

But Josele still wasn’t convinced; for the past few months of her pregnancy, Zera had been slowly growing weaker and more sickly, and even right now she looked a little more tired than she had when Josele first arrived.

“ Oh, that’s right, I have something for you!” Zera exclaimed with a clap of her hands before quickly turning around and walking out of the room.

She quickly returned and giggled at the confused look on Josele’s face.

“ Here, it’s your birthday today right? Happy Birthday, Josele!” She exclaimed cheerfully as she handed her a small, yet beautifully decorated, box.

She blinked in surprise as she hesitantly took the gift from her friend.

“ You remembered? Even with everything going on?” She asked softly as she looked up from the box to her friend's smiling face.

“ Of course I did! It actually gave me something else to focus on besides…you know, being on bedrest and stuff.” Zera said with a sheepish laugh as she rubbed the back of her head.

Josele looked back down at the box and smiled softly. She…didn’t know what to say…for her friend to remember her birthday even with all of the stressful things going on in her life and with her pregnancy…

She walked up to Zera and gave her a tight, but gentle, hug.

“ Thank you, Zera, thank you so much.”

Zera nodded before wrapping her arms around her friend and hugging her tightly back.

“ Of course, what are friends for?”

When Josele returned to the Black Bulls hideout and opened Zera’s gift she felt her eyes well with tears and her heart filled with warmth.

Inside the box was an empty scrapbook with a little note from Zera on the front page.

“ For all the beautiful and precious memories that I know you, Nacht, and all of your future children will make together when the time comes!

Thank you for being my friend, and I give you and your growing family all of my love.

Zera.”

————

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you have a good day~!

[midnightsunnyday]

When With His Father, Diavolo Is A Lot More Stern, The Demon King, On The Other Hand...Part Seven (Final)

A/N: it’s the final conclusion for this series! Thank you all for sticking through it. This has been a fun headcanon to write. I wanted to write the Demon King in my own way, yet would love to see him one day in canon. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this series. Until the next one, stay safe everyone!

-----------------

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

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8:10 PM

Diavolo: before we leave, I suppose we should check up on the...oh.

*Mammon, head occupying the inside of a wall*

*Satan, buried under a bookshelf*

*Belphegor, sprawled out near a broken window*

*Solomon and Asmodeus, outside the window, knocked out and covered in glass*

*Leviathan, tangled on the chandelier*

*Beelzebub, torso jammed between a wooden chair*

Barbatos: Young Master, there you are.

Diavolo: let me guess, father threw yet another one of his tantrums after losing to Lucifer?

Barbatos: indeed.

Diavolo, looking around: though if anything, I'd say this party was an absolute success. This isn't half as bad as the damage he did last time.

Barbatos: Young Master, it is my deepest regret for not tending to you sooner. You were in pain, and I completely disregarded it for my majesty's sake. Had I only been more proactive, I could have prevented such a disaster. I am not worthy of being your butler. I will resign immediately.

Diavolo: well, I wouldn't say I was in pain, yet still, absolutely not! I will not allow you to resign!

Barbatos: but--

Diavolo: --you're my family, Barbatos. I couldn't possibly imagine you leaving my side, not now or ever. Without you I'm not sure what I'd do. So please, don't ever speak those words again.

Barbatos, blushing: Young Master I...thank you.

MC: aww.

Diavolo: now then, what to do about all this?

Barbatos: should we tend to everyone?

Diavolo: well, that depends. Father, are you still cognizant?

The Demon King, slumped over the couch: the fuck is a cognizant?

Diavolo: good. What say you, Lucifer?

Lucifer, flat on his back: where’s my MC? MC. MCCCCCC.

MC, sighing: what?

Lucifer: guess what IIIIII won?

MC: ....Me?

Lucifer, stretching out his arms: yaaaay. Now come...come give me a hug.

MC: no.

Lucifer, pouting: but I want one.

Diavolo: and what about the rest of you? Still holding on?

Everyone: *groans in pain*

Diavolo: well, I believe that settles it. Everyone's fine.

Leviathan: heeeelp.

Diavolo: just fine.

Barbatos: but Young Master--

Diavolo: --Barb, please. The last thing I need after an extensive therapeutic session is to be burdened with unneeded physical and emotional stress.

Barbatos: I beg your pardon?

MC: *clears throat* hi there, "certified" demonic counselor speaking. For the past 72 hours, Lord Diavolo has suffered through extensive psychological stress. Therefore, it is of my "professional opinion" that he, as we humans tend to say, "Fuck it."

Barbatos: I see. Though I am not certain of your qualifications, I do agree that the Young Master has been under a great deal more stress than usual. Though I must admit, this behavior is completely unlike him. Should I be concerned?

Diavolo: of course not. However, I've done nothing but run myself ragged trying to chase after my father. I think being a bit selfish for once won't harm anything. Besides, I'm sure they'll live, considering they're immortal, after all.

Barbatos: if that is what you wish, then I will oblige.

Diavolo: besides, I could really use something to eat.

MC: we still have some food in the kitchen, though it needs to be cooked.

Barbatos: then I will start immediately.

Diavolo: Barbatos, you truly are one of a kind.

Barbatos: and truly, I am humbled by your words.

MC, smiling: good grief.

-----------------

*a few days later*

Barbatos: and?

The Demon King: and that such actions are unbecoming of a king and…oh, come now, do I really need to say all this?

Barbatos: I believe you should, yes.

The Demon King: *rolls eyes* and that it is within my birthright to not only set the standard of what is expected of royalty but maintain it at all times. So in other words…sorry.

Barbatos: very good, Your Majesty.

MC: it’s cool. Also, I don’t mind visiting you at the castle. Just don’t put me in a collar, please.

The Demon King, blushing: very well, little human. I’ll try to compose myself from now on. The same goes for you, sorcerer. I hope the gifts my son provided you are to your liking.

Solomon: very much so, Your Highness. Pegasus blood is especially rare to come by and will do absolute wonders for my spell casting.

Diavolo: let's just hope we haven't sealed our fates with such a gift.

Solomon: rest assured you have nothing to worry about *whispers to MC* when my empire is built, you shall be the first spared.

MC: I call dibs on evil ruler.

Solomon: oh MC, that's the only fun kind of ruler there is.

Diavolo: I heard that.

Barbatos: is there anything you would like to add, Lucifer?

Lucifer, folding his arms: not in the slightest.

MC: please?

Lucifer: …I’m sorry for beating Your Highness at a drinking contest.

MC: and?

Lucifer: and for teasing Di—Diavolo…even if it was hilarious.

MC: that’s as good as it’s gonna get, huh?

Lucifer: I’m the Avatar of Pride. Not the Avatar of Apologizing.

Diavolo, sighing: good enough.

-----------------

*at the House of Lamentation*

Mammon: never again. Not for a million Grimm.

Leviathan: oh, so now you finally have standards.

Satan: crushed under the written word. An ironic fate indeed.

Belphegor: you doing alright there, Beel?

Beelzebub: so many splinters *shivers* I…don’t wanna talk about it.

Asmodeus: I can't believe I was knocked out a window. Thank goodness my perfect skin wasn't scratched or scarred. Poor Solomon, though. A fall like that would've broken every bone in his body...and it did! Good thing he knows magic.

Belphegor: though, isn’t this all technically MC’s fault?

Leviathan: hey, yeah! I can’t believe they just went off with Lord Diavolo and Barbatos and left us like that!

Mammon: I say we torture em’!

Asmodeus: ooh, how about we tie them up in pretty pink ribbons!

Mammon: and make em’ wear a cute, frilly outfit.

Asmodeus: with a tail!

Mammon: and those fluffy cat ears!

Satan: go on.

Belphegor: wait, what do any of those things have to do with torture?

Asmodeus and Mammon: torture what now?

Beelzebub, shaking his head: can we please just get some food and never speak of this moment ever again?

Mammon: and may we also never, ever, ever attend or throw another party for the Demon King.

Belphegor: agreed.

*text notification goes off*

Asmodeus: oh, Lucifer sent a message to the chat. It says, "All of you please make your way towards the castle. The king would like to...throw us an apology party."

Everyone: *groans*

Mammon: welp, spoke too soon. Yet think about it this way, at least we're immortal, right?

Leviathan: Mammon, shut up.

[thefanficmonster]

Let Them Talk

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female) ft. Sykkuno

Warnings: Swearing, Jealousy

Genre: Fluff, a bit of Angst

Summary: We can all agree Among Us is a fun game on its own but what makes it ten times better is playing it with the right company. Y/N could agree 100% Being a streamer herself, she loves playing with the streamer gang that includes her boyfriend and best friend. But, what happens when her boyfriend starts doubting her feelings for him due to her close relationship with her best friend.

Requested by @cheetoscat . Thank you so much for your request! Sorry it took so long to write, I hope the final product is worth the wait. Enjoy! Love, Vy ❤

Y/AU/N - Your Among Us Name

I settle in my gaming chair, adjusting my webcam one last time before joining the Among Us lobby with my friends. 

“Hi everyone!“ I say into the mic, a smile plastering itself on my face. Discord is a magical thing, man. It’s so easy to forget that the people you are talking to aren’t around you or within arm’s reach. You could be separated by miles and miles of land or - in our case - oceans as well. Distance becomes negligible when you hear your friends’ voices, their laughter; when you have a good time together despite being each behind a screen, often times alone.

Well, I’m one of those lucky ones that isn’t alone. No one knows that, though. Everyone thinks I’m a single, self-employed girl that’s straight out of college. And they are 90% right. Only thing is - I’m not single. That would be a shocker in and of itself, but revealing who’s changed my relationship status would be a bomb with a whole new intensity.

Speaking of my significant other who shall remain unnamed - just kidding, it’s Corpse - his form materializes in the doorway of my recording room. I give him a hand signal the camera isn’t able to capture, alerting him of the fact that my mic is on. He replies by blowing me a kiss and walking off down the hall to his recording room where he’ll be stationed for the next three or so hours.

I owe this relationship to my best friend Sykkuno. I’m a pretty new and not very well known on the platform, however, thanks to him I haven’t only obtained a boyfriend, but a following of a little over million subscribers as well. 

It all started with an invitation to fill a spot in the Among Us lobby him and his friends had created. It took him quite a bit to convince me to join, but I eventually caved and agreed. Suddenly, there I was. In a Discord call, in an Among Us lobby with some of the most well-known names on this platform. I’m talking YouTube legends. I was that puppy playing with the big dogs. The newbie tagging along with the big leagues. Or at least that’s how I felt until we all started vibing - talking and teasing each other as though we’ve known each other for years and not minutes.

When I joined the call, Corpse wasn’t present. After everyone else introduced themselves, Sykkuno informed me that we were waiting for Corpse to return. The name sounded really cool to me and I was genuinely very excited to meet this Corpse guy.

And then, out of the blue - no prep, no warning...

“Did you get someone to fill the spot? Oh- Hello, Y/AU/N.“ 

…he started talking and he had me star-struck. Apparently, he also had me a blabbering mess cause I remember blurting out: “Whoa, who’s this guy speaking in bold and underlined at the same time?”

The entire lobby, including Corpse, laughed. Sean, or Jack like they called him most often, answered my question, “That is the voice of God, Y/N. Its source is named Corpse, though.”

Heat spread from the bottom of my neck to the tips of my ears. I was mortified by my own stupidity. I was well aware they couldn’t see me and I was incredibly thankful for that, but I simply could not get myself to open my eyes. “I’m so sorry.” I said through nervous laughter.

“No, no, I like that description. Bold and underlined at the same time, huh?“ His voice sounded even more pleasant when it had that teasing, mischievous note to it. That thought popping up in my head only made things worse for my self-esteem and only made me more embarrassed, causing me to hide my face in my hands. “You sure it’s not in Italics as well?“ 

His question got a weak laugh out of me. “Nope, definitely not. Nothing Italic about it.“

Yes, I don’t even know how some terrible jokes about MS Word fonts got me as far as a romantic relationship, but they did! We’ve been living together for quite some time now, dating for even longer - hiding it just as long. It’s not that we have been actively trying to hide it or something, we just wanted to see how long it would take someone to become sus of us. When we realized no one would notice, we decided that if any rumors about us started, or even fans shipping us, we’d come clean. That hasn’t happened either, so we haven’t had the proper chance to address our relationship and neither of us minds.

At this point, I’m honestly afraid of revealing it to the gaming squad. Sykkuno especially. He’s my best friend, after all. I can see him being hurt by the fact that I kept a secret so big even from him. The last thing I wanna do is hurt my best friend but it’s already too late for that, it’s inevitable.

“Y/N have you looked at Twitter today?“ Rae, another streamer I’ve become close with over the months, says urgently.

Overlooking the tension in her words, I answer: “Nope, haven’t had the time. Why? What’s up?“

Before Rae can say anything else, Sykkuno joins the conversation, his voice somehow even more urgent than Rae’s. “It’s nothing, Y/N. If you see it, just don’t let it bother you, ok?”

Hearing such a tone from Rae isn’t unusual, but hearing it from Sykkuno is completely different and a lot more worrisome. “Well if it has the potential of bothering me it can’t be nothing. What’s going on?”

Just then, my phone dings with two notifications. I check to see they are messages from Rae.

“I sent you screenshots. Sorry, Sykkuno. She has to know in order to address it and defuse it as well. I know better than anyone how fast these rumors can spread, especially if no one reacts to them.“ She says, her tone barely apologetic at all.

I open the screenshots she has sent me and I find myself frozen in shock. Some old pictures of Sykkuno and I have been posted on Twitter by some random user. These pictures have started an entire thread of suspicions surrounding our relationship.

The pictures in question are from a New Year’s Eve party a mutual friend of ours held two years ago. Sure, in the pictures we are a lot closer than what would be considered a platonic proximity. And yes one of the pictures is of me kissing his cheek. Yes we were both a bit tipsy. I acknowledge all those things and yet none of them are concrete reasons for these rumors to have started piling. 

“This is silly.“ I finally say after maybe five minutes of silence on my end. ”This is absolutely ridiculous! And why are people so serious about it as well? Actual, important matters get discussed more nonchalantly than the potential relationship between two online personalities! What is this world we live in?“ I know I shouldn’t let these rumors get to me like this, especially not on camera. Still, I can’t help it. I feel it’s so unfair to Corpse. He has to put up with this as well and it’s by no means easy for him. I’ve been shipped with people from our group in the past and he always took those rumors to heart despite acting like he didn’t care. Neither of us should get worked up, but him getting upset about them creates a domino effect with my emotions - causing me to be hit just as hard as him, in some cases harder.

Rumors of the past aside, this one is the worst by far. Mostly cause even Corpse himself suspected something between Sykkuno and I at the very beginning, when we were still acquaintances, barely crossing into the realm of friends.

I pull up Twitter to look for the whole thread, barely sparing my stream chat a glance in the process. It seems pretty split - those who agree with me and those who think Sykkuno and I make ‘such an adorable couple’. The thread is ridiculously long, and if we take into account that it was only started approximately five hours ago, you can either view it as impressive, amusing or sad. Why sad? Because someone has dedicated so much time and effort into fueling the fire of a weakly supported theory.

I love Sykkuno with all my heart. Everyone knows that - fandom, streamer squad, Corpse and Sykkuno included. I love too much and too platonically to ever even dream of having a romantic connection with him. I thought that was more than obvious, but people are either blind here, or just grasping at straws. One thing’s for certain - they’re stepping on a nerve.

“Hey where’s Corpse? Did he disconnect?” Felix asks, gaining my full attention. My eyes dart to the monitor, searching through the little avatars in a desperate search for the one of my boyfriend. It’s nowhere to be found.

“He just messaged me saying his connection is unstable but he might join us later.“ Rae says, “You guys can invite someone to fill...“

“Bathroom break.“ I interrupt, not waiting for a response before shutting my mic off, putting the ‘BRB‘ graphic on my stream and yanking the headset off. I basically run down the hall to Corpse’s recording room, my heart pounding like a bass drum.

“Corpse?!“ I call out to him, one hand already on the doorknob. When five seconds pass by without a response, I barge in. 

Inside, I find his usual spot on the gaming chair empty and his slumped figure seated on his bed.

“Corpse?“ I try again, watching for even the tiniest change of body language. He remains still as a statue, not bothering to look up at me either. 

His hands are gripping the edge of the mattress, his head hanging low. His eyes are covered by the short curtain of his dark messy curls. I can’t gauge much. Is he angry? Is he sad? Both? How should I approach the situation?

Before I find the answer to any of those questions, I am kneeling in front of him, our height difference eliminated. I gently pry his hands off the mattress and take them in mine, holding them firmly but tenderly. With one hand I reach up to tilt his head so his eyes can meet mine. He complies, his tear-filled brown orbs meeting mine. Those tears have the same effect on me as fifty sharp knives stabbing into my chest. These tears focus their attack straight on my heart, tearing it to pieces.

“Baby....“

He cuts me off, “Why is it always someone else, huh? Do they deem me not worthy of being with you? Do they think you deserve better?” His voice wavers, “Well, they might be right. They are correct and there’s little I can do to prove them wrong. They mean you well, Y/N - pairing you with guys better than me. Those are some loyal fans you’ve got. They only want what’s best for you. And so do I. If ‘best’ is being with someone else then...”

It’s my turn to cut him off. I put an end to his nonsense ramble that’s slowly killing me by pressing my finger against his lips. The sternness of my gaze is beyond me as I get up and walk over to his computer setup. I put on his headset and hop into the call as well as the lobby with his avatar.

“Hey Corpse’s back!” Toast says, “Good to have you back buddy.”

“No, not Corpse.” I say in a casual, nonchalant voice.

“Wait, wha-“ Sean’s voice shows just how confused he is, representing the confusion of the entire lobby actually.

“I know all of you are streaming so this message will be heard by several different audiences so I’m gonna make myself perfectly clear.“ I take a deep breath, “Sykkuno and I aren’t dating. He’s a lovely guy and he deserves to find a girl who will treat him right. That girl isn’t and won’t be me though. I am already treating someone right. Someone who treats me more than right as well. An amazing person. A man-child with a heart of gold. You know him, to a certain extent. He goes by the name of Corpse Husband, but I prefer to call him ‘Love of my life’. Thank you for your time and attention, goodbye.“

I exit the call and turn around to find a stunned Copse looking at me.

“That was meant for you just as much.“ I say with a fake strict attitude, one hand on my hip the other rested on his desk behind me, “Were you listening?“

Within milliseconds, he’s on his feet standing directly in front of me, his lips inches away from mine. “I heard and memorized every word. But...” he pauses for a moment, “I think you have no idea how big of a chaos you just created.”

I smile mischievously, “We’ll worry about that later. For now...” I close the gap between us, connecting our lips in a sweet and passionate kiss. 

@susceptible-but-siriusexual  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @hacker-ghost  @itsminniekat  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  @chrysanthykios  @maehemscorpyus  @loraleiix  @letsloveimagines  @annshit  @i-cant-choose-a-username-help  @enigmaticmaze  @divine-artemis  @waterlilypat  @idontknowwhatthisisfam  @evi-ka  @classyandfabulous00  @redperson58  @lilysdaydreams  @the-fuck-up-of-today  @slashersdream  @chiefwombathoagiepizza  @solowheein @mythicalamphitrite  @axen-gers  @luckygirl144  @nj01

[weasleylangs]

opposites attract - f.w.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Hufflepuff Fem!Reader Summary: The quiet, Hufflepuff bookworm has captured the heart of the mischievous Gryffindor.  Warnings: none! Word Count: 2k

A/N: For the anon that asked for Fred with a Hufflepuff reader who he’s uncharacteristically sweet for! I’m sorry it took so long, I hope you (and everyone else who reads it) enjoys it!! 

P.S let me know if you’d like to be added to a tag list!

---------------------

Y/N sits in charms, completely zoned out. Charms was always her best subject and she was luckily one of those ‘never study, always pass’ students. The same could not be said about her boyfriend, however, who was sitting across the room trying to tickle his best friend with his quill and distract him.

Y/N and Fred were an unusual couple, and no one understood how the shy Hufflepuff girl managed to catch the mischievous Gryffindor’s attention. Fred’s idea of a good time was turning the corridor into a swamp or roughhousing during quidditch practise whilst Y/N’s was curled up in front of a fire, a nice book in her hand. But no one questioned it, because somehow they made it work.

Fred caught her eye and winked. They’ve been dating for six months now and he never gets tired from the shy look on her face when he looks at her. She shakes her head, hiding behind her hair and turning her attention back to Flitwick as he drones on about their assignment. 

When the bell rings, signalling next period, Fred’s across the room in no time. Y/N has her head down, grabbing her notebook and quill when Fred snatched them out of her hand whilst simultaneously grabbing her bag from the floor. “I’ll carry them for you, love,” he said, smiling.

This wasn’t unusual behaviour. Before the couple got together, everyone always thought Fred was a flirt and was hooking up with different people every weekend, and whilst they were right at the time, Fred is absolutely whipped for his badger girlfriend and hasn’t even looked at another girl since their first date. He’s always wanting to carry her books or he’s slinging an arm around her shoulder.

She has him wrapped around her finger and he couldn’t care less.

“You don’t have to do that, Freddie. You know my bag is heavy,” she says trying to grab the bag from him. Fred only takes three classes, considering the three O.W.L’s he received in their fifth year, meaning sometimes he only has one class a day. However, Y/N managed to receive ten, only failing History of Magic (‘Who fucking cares?’ was everyone’s response), resulting in her having multiple classes a day and therefore a very heavy bag. 

Fred, of course, shrugs it off, “I’m a beater, darling. Nice and strong. I can barely tell that you have five textbooks in here,” he says as he winks and causes Y/N’s face to heat up as she swats him on the chest. “I’m just saying you don’t have too, I can carry my own bag,” she pouts. While she knows Fred is more than happy to lug her bag around, she hates the idea that he’s only doing it out of obligation to be a ‘good boyfriend’. 

These insecurities aren’t new. She hears what people say about them and it doesn’t bother her for the most part. Just there’s only so many times she can handle people she’s not even friends with talking about how ‘Y/N isn’t right for Fred’. 

“You have potions now, yes?” Fred asks, pulling Y/N out of her worries as she follows Fred through the corridors. That’s another thing she never expected, Fred learnt her timetable when they started dating so he could always walk her to class. “I do, Freddie. You have a free right, are you spending it with George and Lee?” 

Fred nods, “I sure am, we’re meeting in the One-Eyed Witch passage to pop down to Honeydukes too, you need anything?” Y/N frowns at this. “Freddie, that passage is on the third floor on the other side of the school. You don’t have to walk me to potions,” she tries to grab her bag from him again and he shakes his head.

“Darling, what part of ‘I want to do this’ do you not understand?” While his tone is sharp, he’s not angry. Y/N doesn’t think she’s ever seen Fred this serious, a glint of cheekiness is always present in his eyes but right now, he looks about as serious as Snape when talking about proper cauldron care. 

“I just don’t want to keep you from the boys,” she whispers, tugging at the sleeves of her robes. They stop walking, and Fred drags her body into a hug. “The boys are fine waiting, now do you want anything from Honeydukes.” 

She falters for a second, just enjoying being in his presence. Despite the short amount of time they’ve been dating, Y/N knows what she feels for him is love and she can only hope the tall ginger boy feels the same way in return. His embrace can only be described as comfort, all Y/N’s worries rushing away as his familiar scent of firewood and cinnamon fills her senses.

“Some sugar quills, please,” she mumbles into his robes. “Anything for you,” he replies, pulling away and grabbing her hand. “C’mon, you’re going to be late for potions.” 

-

It’s after dinner by the time Y/N catches Fred again. She’s walking out of the Great Hall when she feels her robes get tugged on and she almost falls over. 

“Hi,” Fred says, “some sugar quills for my sugar quill.” 

Y/N cringes at the cheesy nickname as she thanks him, popping the sweets into her robe pockets, “What are your plans for tonight?” Fred shrugs, more quiet than usual as he plays with Y/N’s fingers. “Nothing, I was… I was wondering if I can come and hang in the Hufflepuff common room with you?” 

He’s shy and Y/N almost coos at it. Fred ‘no filter when he speaks’ Weasley is blushing as he asks his girlfriend to spend some time with her in her house common room, this is a once in a lifetime happening. 

“Of course, Freddie. Any reason why?” It’s not that she doesn’t want him spending time with her. But Fred’s never expressed an interest in spending the night in, rather opting to terrorise Filch or another teacher after dinner.

“You like spending your evenings reading in front of the fire. I feel like I’ve barely seen you today,” he whispers. At this, she decides not to torture the poor boy any further and grabs his hand. “C’mon,” 

They arrive at the common room in no time, no one batting an eye at the Gryffindor waltzing into the common room where he doesn’t belong. In fact, he gets quite a few “Hi Fred’s!” from people in their year. He’s always been popular and well known, so of course, the house of kindness is happy to have him.

“I’m going to run up to my dorm and change, are you sure you’re okay?” Fred nods, sitting himself down on the soft yellow chair in front of the fire. It’s Y/N’s favourite chair to read in and Fred knows it. “Sure am, hurry back before I freeze to death.”

Y/N speed changes, switching out her uniform for some sweatpants, one of Fred’s old jumpers and her favourite fuzzy sock. While she’s up there, she grabs a spare sweater she’s stolen from Fred for him to change into and her copy of ‘Frankenstein’ from her nightstand and rushes back downstairs and straight into Fred’s lap. “Hi,” she whispers, kissing him on the cheek. 

Fred hums a hello as he settles into the soft pillows of the couch. Y/N perches herself next to him, slinging her legs across his lap with her back against the arm rest. “What’s it about?” Fred asks, gesturing to the book she’s just opened. He knows Y/N’s love for muggle books and he loves hearing her talk about them, even though he never understands. “A scientist who creates a ‘monster’ through experiments… It’s one of my favourites.” 

She waves the book in Fred’s face and sure enough, the sticky notes and the plastic tabs are sticking out, referencing all her favourite parts. “It sounds cool, can I read it after you?” 

Y/N is shy about this. Books are very important to her and she feels her sticky notes and writing in the margins are her deepest thoughts, a peep into her soul. But the boy in front of her owns her heart, every single part of it, and she decided then and there, she wants to share every part of herself with him. “Sure, but you have to promise to not judge my notes.” 

He could never, the Hufflepuff girl in his lap turns his heart to mush no matter how much he tries to hide it and he can’t even imagine hurting her. He holds his pinky out, “I promise,” he says as she hooks her own with his and he presses a kiss to her forehead. 

They sit in silence for a while. Fred starts conversing with members of the Hufflepuff quidditch team (“We’re going to crush you next week, Kirke” she hears Fred say at one point and she has to nudge him with her knee to not start a brawl in the common room) while Y/N reads. At one point, her hand ends up in Fred’s hair, playing with the short strands at the nape of his neck. 

When she does this, Fred leans into her touch and his eyes flicker shut for only a second. She thinks she’s finally found a way to quiet him down and she makes a mental note to play with his hair next time she wants to get some reading done. 

The time starts to near 10pm as Y/N starts yawning, and as much as Fred would love to stay, he knows he’ll have enough trouble getting back to Gryffindor tower without George, Lee and their trusty Mauraders Map. “I should probably get going, darling,” Fred mutters after a while and when he looks at his girlfriend, she’s pouting.

“I wish you could stay,” she says and when Fred cocks his eyebrow she laughs, “not like that, you git!” 

She quickly stands, pulling Fred’s gangly body up from the couch and into her arms. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, we have double Defence,” Fred says laughing and she feels his chest rumble with laughter. “Too long,” she mumbles in reply. When Y/N gets tired, she gets clingy which was one of the earliest things Fred ever learnt about her. It’s always one of the cutest things about her.

He walks to the portrait hole, his small girlfriend clinging to his body and he presses a soft kiss to her hairline before detaching her. “Darling, I have to go.”

He feels terrible. He knows she isn’t being clingy to make him feel bad, she genuinely just wants to spend time with him. She yawns again, eyes scrunched closed as she stretches her arms that somehow end up wrapped back around his waist. 

“Okay, you can go,” she gives him one final squeeze before letting him go and looking up at him and before Fred can stop himself the words are slipping out.

“I love you.” 

This wakes her up immediately and her eyes are wide as she looks at him, “R-really?” 

Fred was going to pretend he never said it, worried it was both too early and that she didn’t feel the same way. But the way she’s looking at him, glints of happiness in her eyes and the biggest smile he’s ever seen on her face he knows now is the right time.

“I do, I love you.” 

She jumps on him again, pressing her lips to his. Her lips are soft against his, they always are and the kiss is filled with love and adoration. Neither of them is aware of how long they stand there, embraced in each other’s arms until they’re barely kissing anymore, their smiles too wide. 

“I love you too, Freddie. I love you more,” she says, full seriousness in her face. “Oh love, you won’t win this argument.” He presses a kiss to her lips again before slinking out of the portrait hole, leaving Y/N standing with her fingers pressed to her lips smiling. 

[iamvoid0]

How this Magical Girl JRPG Handles Trauma - Blue Reflection

I wasn’t originally going to do a piece on Blue Reflection. However, after playing the Blue Reflection: Second Light demo, I thought, “damn, this shit dread”. Upon learning that Second Light was the second game in the franchise, I got the first game for the PC. Second Light’s demo was a great introduction to the game’s real-time strategy mechanics. Second Light was clearly leading from the first game, and I wanted to also enjoy the story.

Blue Reflection is a fantastic slice of life RPG which centres itself on teenage girls and the issues they face being teenagers. Going from a mundane plot line about a girl wearing makeup because she likes the art it can produce all the way up to sexual assault and trauma. Blue Reflection takes a nuanced look at emotions and how it interacts with the characters, crafting a unique identity for itself in a sea of over-the-top RPG clones.

In this essay, I’ll look at how the game handles itself, its severe and traumatic topics, and how it uses the plot to inform game mechanics. While this will not be a review, I will call out specific issues with the game and praise what many should be taking notes of.

Chapter One — Is this Slice of Life?

Once I got into the game and played for an hour or so. Something quickly hit me. This is a magical girl, slice-of-life JRPG. At that moment, I couldn’t recall the last time I saw a game like this. It was a breath of fresh air in a genre that defines itself on over-the-top dramatics, punishing gameplay, and a complex lore system that spans genres.

I have to be fair to Blue Reflection, and it carries profound lore that expands itself much like the JRPGs and RPGs that came before it. The gameplay systems are decently complex, but with an air of accessibility to them, where I didn’t actually feel frustrated learning or playing the game.

The game can be considered a casual RPG, though I believe this classification to be a bit limiting. The game is very relaxed. It makes it easy to pick up and just play. However, a lot is going on here, from manually levelling up your characters to keeping track of the multiple NPC characters and their relationships with one another.

Overall, the game is a fun experience that shines once you don’t let the little things bother you. The game isn’t perfect, but it is worth your time.

Chapter Two — Magical Mechanics

I am writing this piece primarily to look at the game’s stories. However, I want to take a moment to talk about the game’s RPG mechanics.

The game starts you off as Hinako Shirai, a ballet dancer who injured her knee the previous year and has been unable to follow through with her dream of being a dancer. You eventually encounter another student consumed by their emotions, and they begin acting out. You then meet Yuzuki and Lime Shijou, who grants you the power to become a “Reflector” by giving you a ring. Though their decision seems simple at first, later, it is revealed that there is much more to this decision.

You jump into the Common, where everyone’s emotions are shared. In “The Common”, there are monsters who respond and feed off different kinds of emotions. The common also has these crystals, which house the deep-held emotions of the person whose emotional state you are in. Once you break enough crystals and beat the main antagonist, you leave the common and go back out in the real world, where you help the person, gain friends, and gain their fragments which help you in battle. The game incentivises you to do as many quests as possible, make new friends and earn their fragments which can help change the way you battle and power up your moves and character. It really leans into that whole, “Oh, you’re a God? I’m sorry, but you don’t have the power of friendship.” This also serves as a good allegory for friends supporting each other in emotional distress.

The game has a mostly grounded, real-life, slice-of-life aesthetic. Then the bosses show up at the school, and they are literally these massive, biblical-style angels, titan-like monsters. The designs are genuinely intriguing.

Weaknesses are displayed to the user using symbols. And it doesn’t tell you when it changes. And it only tells you after you’ve attacked. When I pick a circle attack, there is no visual indicator to determine if this is a weakness or strength. I simply must remember it. It’s all grey. This is a real-time battle, and it is hard to remember square, circle, and triangle in the heat of the fight. It���s easier to remember when games use colour to help you differentiate between weaknesses and strengths. Then sometimes, some monster just chooses other battle weaknesses in the middle of the battle.

You can take up to four friends into battle. And they offer bonus stats, such as health, attack up, healing, etc. The game wants you to complete as many side quests as possible to unlock friends to use in battle. When you invoke one of your friends during your turn, they make quite a spectacle.

Another point is that other games use emotions as a part of gameplay mechanics, such as the ill-fated Princess Peach game. (let me know if you want me to do a write-up on that)

Another thing to note is that the entire cast of this game is girls aged 15–18. And all of their stories are just normal but real stories. Their stories are also, at times, tedious and petty. In one account, we have a girl named Ako, whose subplot involves her being like, “oh my god, my father would never approve of my career choice”. And you have to then save Ako because she was too stupid/stupid to understand that journalism isn’t that bad. And her father, who is an in-universe rockstar, would be proud of her. I didn’t care for this plot point, but it shows what Blue Reflection does well.

If you’re looking for female-focused, hyper-feminist, lead games, you’re not going to find them here. The game has many fan service moments undermining what Blue Reflection wanted to stand for.

Chapter Three — There shouldn’t be any fan service

It really becomes unbecoming by the mid-game. You’d get a low-angle shot at the start of the game, looking up, and I’m there thinking,” oh, okay, fine, it’s a little weird but okay”. But then it keeps happening. Every few cutscenes would be this weird angle camera, and you’d stand there going, “What is this?”. Especially given the content of the game and who it is meant for.

I think the game needs to reduce or altogether remove the fan service especially given the target audience.

Chapter Four — A breath of fresh air

I grew up with Hamtaro, Card Capture Sakura, and Totally Spies. Cartoons and anime that are female-focused and whose storylines are tailored towards girls. I watched several popular ones, and I enjoyed them as well. There is a demand for this kind of writing style and slice-of-life. I have not seen this kind of slice of life and female-focused writing in a JRPG. Others may have been produced in Japan but haven’t seen a translated release. I’ve played many dating sims and visual novels, though I only play the critically acclaimed ones.

Some people will criticise the game for leaning so heavily on emotions. I understand the history and its implications of it. However, at the same time, I think the game did a good job showing the player just how emotions can become monstrous when left unattended. It can be violent, and it can feel like a battle for some people. There were some issues. Some emotions were represented well, and others not. The game has potential.

Every girl in the game is just their problem. Their characters are only as deep as the problems they face. Despite this, you do get to help them along with their problems. You get to see them resolve issues through direct or indirect actions. There are times when, even though you ‘solve’ the character’s issue, the character themselves need to be willing to accept the help or do the work required to move on. So every quest may end, but ultimately it isn’t up to the protagonist whether or not the characters are better in the end.

Blue Reflection is an excellent female-focused story you don’t really get to hear or see that often in games.

Chapter Five — Not All That Glitters

The characters may not be very unique visually, but the issues they face vary greatly. There are more minor issues, such as some girls being jealous of an exceptionally gifted girl because of her makeup.

One girl loves makeup and wanted to share the joy of makeup with her friends. She thinks that’s all she’s worth, and it’s the only way for her to make friends. She goes and helps them put on makeup and wants all of them to love makeup. When she goes and helps these other girls put on their makeup and puts on hers, The fellas tend to like her. For one girl, in particular, it made her angry at the makeup girl. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong when nothing was wrong with her. And the individual was projecting their insecurity onto the makeup girl, which made the makeup girl insecure. She bonded with people over their love of makeup.

There were issues where the main protagonist is constantly battling her accident which stopped her from dancing, and her friend, who knew about it, used it against her. There were issues where the characters were intentionally lying about other characters so the others would isolate and bully them. The game’s storylines can be charming and easy-going, but when it takes a turn, it is a sharp turn.

One of the girls finds a camera in the changing room, and I was like, holy shit, that’s a real fucking plot line. I was getting ready for a teacher doing this, and we would have to do some real shit here.

A girl and her friend discovered the camera and realized someone was spying on them in the changing rooms.

One girl is furious and wants to desperately find the person, and the other is like meh, whatever, let me play on the phone. It may seem weird to some, but those are accurate responses if you’ve interacted with or seen people deal with and process trauma. Some people might fight hard to make sure this never happens again / reclaim power for either themselves or others. Some people might just recluse themselves into whatever they can to prevent from processing it. It could be tv, movies, music, books, going out, clubbing, and anything else. This was really good to see these actual responses. It was entirely out of nowhere. You get Saturday morning cartoons, then boom.

I was fully prepared for a conclusion where it was an adult, a principal, a teacher, or something along those lines. I was fully ready to see how far the story would go with these issues, maybe evening speaking on society as a whole.

And then we find out it’s a girl.

Not just any girl, it’s the Captain of the girls’ team. She placed the camera there. And I was like fuck, I genuinely didn’t expect them to say it was a girl.

But then it was never addressed.

The girl who wants to know more and bring justice gets angry, and she gets angrier when the other girl who reclused doesn’t want to address the issue. As they both get angrier, they go rampant, and you must go into the common to fix it. And you find their crystals and break them, and you feel what they feel. Then you come out in the real world, and then Lime says you can try to help someone knowing fully what they have been through, but it may not always work.

I think it was an excellent plot point to have the characters acknowledge that this is all they can do at this point.

It was good that they provided a nuanced look at something as serious as this. Certain things can mess up people in various directions that we don’t simply understand or know how to deal with.

In another game, it might have been a switch. You know you break the crystal, and everything is fixed. Especially if it was a side character, you see the quest would have been done, and you probably wouldn’t think about it again. The game deserves credit for adding the nuance when I didn’t expect it.

You focused on the people and how they were affected. We don’t know the real repercussions and what the actual punishment was. It was okay to just leave and connect the dots for some others. This quest affected the entire school.

That was the last plot point I went through, and maybe it was addressed further down the line. So ultimately, I don’t know if the character in question was punished or if the victims ever got any relief or dealt with it.

I think they addressed some of it was really good. It was a great nuanced quest and arc. The game set itself up to have an honest discussion about the issues.

Chapter Six — All together now

Blue Reflection offers a diverse set of characters, stories, and personalities for every kind of person to get attached to. Each character comes with their own problems and nuances and adds a great deal to the story. It’s a fun take on an overdone RPG style.

There are problems with the battle system, but the moves are well designed, and a lot of visual candy is associated with it. No action really feels tedious. However, coming down to the end of the game, you’ll find the moves that do the most damage and just use those to complete the game. You’ll spam AoE and knockback moves mostly. When that fails, there is Lime. Who, for some reason, is an absolute unit. She has some kind of hidden damage modifier that makes her hit enemies like a break wall. She is, without a doubt, op.

I think she was placed there to ensure casual players can power through the game. It is an excellent way to keep the player moving, especially if they might not have been competent or advanced in RPG mechanics.

Some topics here you don’t find in other games. There are many cutscenes, and hopefully, they’ll reduce it going forward. Fanservice is still a big problem that can affect playability. Don’t rush through the game; otherwise, it becomes frustrating.

Overall I’d love to see more depth and nuance in the characters. I feel like this game really has a lot to offer.

Even though it exists within its niche medium, I think the game can go beyond its niche and help craft a new RPG style that appeals to gamers who would like to see a story with a more modern touch and more profound stories.

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The Void Calls, Will You Answer?

[hansolmates]

one more time (m)

pairing; (former) popular!jk x (former) normie!reader summary; it’s been two years since you’ve seen your former tryst jeon jungkook. you didn’t expect him to be applying for the internship you’re currently running, along with the rate your heart is running at the sight of him in a black suit. genre/warnings; self-deprecating language, your typical (future) co-workers!au, jungkook is a piner and so is oc, a lil bit of sneaking around, adulting, a mutual understanding of feelings (finally!!) smut in the form of—soft n’ dirty baybee, unprotected, cockwarming, overstimulation, minor praise and possession kink, cumplay, &you know that they gon have heart eyes the entire time w.c; 7.3k a/n; darn why am i so... emotional over this??? it started out as a meaningless drabble series but with all my lovely readers and moots it’s grown into such a fun, introspective series. thank u for loving this and joining me on this journey. for those of u who are new to this series feel free to read popular-ish first or as a standalone! [popular-ish masterlist]

if you’ve enjoyed this (whether as a standalone or as a series) please consider giving it a like and a share✨✨✨✨✨

“A mess, I’m a mess,” you sing-song to yourself, organizing the manuals on the clear glass by subject and size. The applications of all your new interns are alphabetized, not a form out of place. Everything’s perfect. “Alright Jessica, all twenty of the interns are accounted for.” 

“Actually, there’s twenty-three,” Jessica quips, and you let your shoulders slump. Being part of the recruiting team of your company has been simultaneously exciting and stressful. Stressful because of the constant travel, but otherwise exciting because you loved your internship at your current company. You remember how nervous you were two years ago, and how much support and help you got from your recruiters. Applying to this team was a natural turn of events. 

“A-are you sure, Jess?” you look through all the applications, count the amount of nametags, triple check the chairs. You’re sweating through your blazer, wondering where you went wrong. 

The head of your recruiting team glues one hand to her hip, while the other hand is holding her iPad, scrolling with her thumb. You swallow, intimidated by Jessica’s golden wavy locks and her black-trimmed white Chanel pantsuit. 

“Yep, but don’t be too hard on yourself. I just added three more recruits last night. I’ll get the chairs and the apps are being printed. No worries,” Jessica assures, gesturing for you to hurry up and get outside, “Call the babies in!” your team leader waves her finger around like a magic wand, commanding you to the front lines. 

Krystal puts a hand on her shoulder, as always looking impeccable. She has virtually nothing to worry about. She’s a woman who has connections, courtesy of her team leader. “Let’s go, newbie,” she teases, pulling you through the door. 

The recruits in the lobby are wide-eyed and vibrant, and you feel a little nostalgic as you watch them line up in front of you and Krystal as you sign them in. You would dwell on the feeling more if it wasn’t for your exhaustion, so you decide you’ll get a chance to take a road down memory lane when you get to the hotel. 

“Name?” 

“Xu Minghao.” 

“Congrats Minghao, here’s your nametag and I’ll see you inside,” with a firm handshake, one recruiter is free to go. 

“Name?” 

“Chou Tzuyu.” 

“Congrats Tzuyu, here’s your name tag and I’ll see you inside,” she doesn’t go in straight away, and moves to the side of the door. “Actually,” you pause mid-handshake with another recruit, staring at the woman in curiosity, “my boyfriend just got a call last night that he was accepted in this year’s batch. Do you have his name?” 

“Yes, three more recruits were added,” you chirp, as if you totally did not hear that bit of information five minutes ago, “What’s his name—Jungkook?” 

The both of you blink at each other. One hand on Tzuyu’s shoulder, eyes wide and mirroring yours. Your heart falls straight to your stomach, wanting to be eaten by acids and bacteria so you can stop any possibility of feeling any lingering affection for the boy you fooled around with in undergrad. Everything about him screams professional. He’s clean cut, a pinstripe black suit you never thought he’d own, and his hair is neatly trimmed and pulled behind his ears. His shoulders look tall and broad under the slight padding, his biceps comfortably stretching against the dark fabric. The golden complexion remains the same however, from the honest brown eyes to the coral pink lips that would always smile at you. 

“Oh, so you do have his name!” Tzuyu clasps her hands together, delighted. He has a girlfriend, too. It’s then you realize you’ll be stuck with not just him, but her for the week. “You guys are so efficient. C’mon Kookie, let’s find some seats!” 

“I still gotta get my nametag,” he replies goodnaturedly, gesturing to you, “save us some seats in the front?” 

Tzuyu thinks nothing of it, squeezing his bicep before skipping off to the front row. Your eyes linger on her form, and it’s only then you realize how tall and intimidatingly pretty she looks in that plaid teddy bear brown skirt suit. You did not look that good when you were a budding undergrad. 

By this time, Krystal has taken all your other recruits from your line, regarding you with a raised brow. She’s fast with her attendance, so you know you don’t have much time. 

“I applied last minute,” Jungkook says, scratching his head, “was running out of options before graduation. I didn’t know you’d be one of my recruiters, though. Lucky me.” 

Jungkook and you never ended up keeping in contact, at least as of recent. A check-in message a few months in, a happy birthday or holiday greeting late at night. But two years later and those messages are automatic, with no feeling or personality. You never thought you’d see him again, no less in the city. 

“You just graduated with your masters, congrats,” you smile at Jungkook, although you’re sure the feigned emotion fails to reach your eyes, “IT Management, right?” 

“You remembered,” Jungkook brightens, reaching over to squeeze your shoulder, “you look good.” 

“Oh please—”  you laugh to yourself, shaking your head, “I just got off a flight and I ran over in a two-day old suit, I don’t even have makeup on,” you didn’t feel this way in the morning, you just rushed to do the bare minimum to be enough and ran over to the convention hall. But now in the presence of Jungkook who looks so handsome and clean-cut, you can’t help but feel a little slighted at the sudden reunion. 

“You’re always beautiful,” Jungkook exhales, and you clutch your clipboard closer to your chest. 

You cough, an excuse for him to stop touching your shoulder, “You should go inside, it’s gonna start soon. We can catch up later.”

“Wait—” you make a scrunched up face that Jungkook can’t catch, but right in Krystal’s view. You can tell she’s laughing at you internally with her devious grin. “I just wanted to say, Tzuyu isn’t my girlfriend. We’re just…” 

“Fooling around?” you didn’t mean for it to sound so sharp, but you wanted this conversation over. You have a job to do and Jungkook is your emotional barrier. 

You and Jungkook used to fool around. 

Jungkook winces, looking younger in his monkey suit. “I mean if you give me a chance to explain later—”  

“Nametag, let’s go newbie.” Krystal slaps on the sticker herself, a little too hard if she asked. She doesn’t even bother to write his full name, just a bright green Jeon JK, IT Management tacked on his breast pocket, clashing with the gold pocket square. 

“Sorry,” Jungkook tucks his tail in for now, bowing at you and Krystal as he scurries inside. 

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. Krystal doesn’t bother to comfort you or ask what’s up—not that you want her to, even though you do want a breather before you have to go up on that stage and explain the itinerary for a week. The only thing you can do is smooth out your skirt, brush away the flyaways on your hairstyle and plaster a company-paid smile on your face.

The autopilot switch is on throughout the rest of the morning. Not just because Jungkook’s around, but the new position has got you on livewire. You’re glad that you’re not wearing base makeup because you are absolutely melting with all the high beam lights all up in your face as you talk through the week’s activities. 

You could swear Jungkook clapped a little harder than most once you stopped talking, but maybe it’s because you’re not used to seeing Jungkook in the very front of a lecture. In fact, he was a very hard middle person, preferring not to show off his intelligence and let other people lead the discussion. Then again, it’s been two years, you don’t know how much he’s changed. 

Jessica caps off the seminar with a great kick-off, the happy hour. The recruitment team picks a four star restaurant under their hotel so the recruits can enjoy themselves before going off to the training facility for a week. 

And by training facility, you also mean yet another four-star hotel. You knew you made the right decision by joining this company because the benefits are impeccable, and value personal enjoyment just as much as they value work ethic. In the morning you and the recruits will be driving uptown to a private resort where there would be classes in the morning, and recoup in the evening. You’re very much looking forward to the infinity pool on the roof. 

The recruits are ushered out as soon as you’re done, and that’s when you step out of the shadows to clean up the chairs and the brochures left behind. Thankfully Jungkook is probably following the norm and going back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner. Once the room is completely empty, you rip off your blazer and let yourself relax. 

It’s going to be a long week. 

Jeon: where u @?

You: hotel room

Jeon: why? Thought we were all gonna have dinner together

You: nahhh, this night is for the recruits! You’ll be tired of our faces by the end of the week, enjoy it while you can 😉  have a good night

You sigh in contentment, relaxing further into the silk sheets. You just finished your skincare routine, letting some mindless drama play as the essences and serums sink into your skin. All you want is one Jungkook-free night. Tomorrow you’ll be stuck training him and Tzuyu for the week and you want to take tonight to emotionally prepare yourself. 

Your phone rings once more. 

Big Baddie Jessica Jung: krystal and i ordered takeout in the restaurant downstairs. Can u bring it to our  room? Plsssssss 

Little Baddie Krystal Jung: it’ll be faster if you do it, we even got u a lil somethin🍰🍰🍰

Taking in your outfit, you grimace. You’re dressed for bed, a large nightie with your hair pulled back and a little pink bunny tie headband on top. Can’t they get room service to send it up? You admire your boss but you don’t understand why she needs to display her power over and over, she already knows you’ll follow her to the ends of the earth. 

Quickly slipping into a pair of sneakers you run down the expanse of the hotel. It’s easy to spot where the recruits are, livin’ it up in the large restaurant that takes up half the space of the ground floor. Most of them are pretty drunk, hoping to sleep off the hangover on the four-hour bus ride. You have absolutely no judgement, two years ago you were in the same position. 

Thankfully you don’t have to go far into the restaurant, as the hostess immediately knows Jessica’s order. While you wait for her to go into the kitchen and get it you drum your fingers against the counter, hoping no one notices you. It’s akin to when you’re a teacher in a mall, hoping none of your students gawk at you in the middle of Victoria’s Secret. 

“Ah, well Jungkook and I aren’t official yet—but very soon.” 

Your ears perk up at the sweet voice. Tzuyu is leaning across the open bar next to the counter, sipping on a mango mojito. She’s dumped the blazer for the night, showing off her soft skin and slender arms with a sleeveless cream blouse. 

“Then where is he?” another recruiter asks, gesturing to the expanse of the lobby. 

“He’s not much of a party person,” Tzuyu shrugs, tipping back her drink. 

You scoff, plastering on a smile to the hostess as you grab your bags and walk as fast as you can out of the lobby. You’ve never felt more like an old hag until now. Sure, most of the recruits are younger than you, but seeing Tzuyu talk so freely about her relationship with Jungkook has you in a bit of a spiral. The day of graduation, you told Jungkook not to wait for you. Heck, you’re only interested in the idea of what you could’ve had with Jungkook. 

These thoughts only cloud you further as you jab the elevator buttons all the way up to the suites where you and the Jungs reside. You relax a little when you see a strawberry cheesecake sitting prettily on the top of their order, your name written on the label with a little heart. Hanging their bag on the door handle of their room, you make your way back to your suite. 

You freeze when you see a floppy-haired Jungkook roaming the hallway, looking like a clueless child hobbling around in slippers and wide eyes at any sparkly item that decorates the area. It doesn’t even look like he tried attending the happy hour tonight, dressed in an impossibly big heather grey sweatsuit that swallows his form. 

“Are you lost?” you ask tentatively, as if you’re talking to a toddler lost at the mall. 

Jungkook relaxes considerably at the sound of your voice, and he replies, “Was tryna find your room since you didn’t reply to my texts.”

“So… you decided to check all the rooms?” 

“Yep,” he pops the p with a smack of his lips, “I figured the recruiters would be far away from the party so I started at the top. Thankfully I got to Jessica’s room first. Didn’t have to knock on too many doors. Only one old man got annoyed at me.” 

“You’re crazy,” you chuckle, slipping in your keycard to let Jungkook in. 

“Fuck, this room all to yourself?” 

Jungkook doesn’t hesitate to kick his slides to a corner of the wall, flopping atop your bed and clutching your baby blue koala plush in his arms. The king sized bed is enough for his legs to stretch comfortably without falling off the edge, and he eagerly pads his feet against the soft fabric. 

It warms you to think that Jungkook is comfy enough to lay on your bed and hug your stuffed animals, a semblance of friends that you’ve missed for such a long time. Last year the team you worked for was great, you loved the people and even now you consider some of them friends. This year the team is a little smaller, and since your two other co-workers are sisters, it’s a little harder to nudge yourself in the direction of friendship. 

As soon as you sit down against the headboard, Jungkook’s eyes soften. Everything feels so different and the same. The threadbare pajamas that either of you haven’t had the heart to throw away since they’re so damn comfy, yet  your bodies are a little more worn and your eyes a little more droopier than usual. 

“So,” Jungkook bites his lip, not in the sexy way, but the nervous way, “about Tzuyu—”

“Jungkook, you don’t have to explain yourself,” you slump on your corner of the bed, regarding Jungkook with guilty eyes. “I really shouldn’t be feeling the way I’m feeling. It isn’t fair and I don’t want to jeopardize your internship.”

“And… what are you feeling?” 

“Dumb things.” 

“Your feelings aren’t dumb.”

“This time they are.”

“I’ve always shared my feelings, it’s unfair that you never want to share yours,” Jungkook sits up, criss-cross applesauce, pensive. “Maybe it’s my fault for not making you feel comfortable enough to share, but I feel like the reason why we never worked out was because we never tried hard enough to have a proper conversation.” 

How could you have missed all the indicators, all the good words, all the kindness Jungkook has given you that last semester? “You’re absolutely right,” you let your insecurities, your apprehensiveness, get in the way. You think in two years you’d do better to eradicate this kind of behavior, but lately you haven’t had many friends to express your feelings to. “Tell you what, I’ll work harder to express how I feel. No exchanges, no nothings. I owe you this.” 

“You owe me nothing,” Jungkook smiles, “I just think it would be nice to y’know, talk. As friends.” 

“Right, friends.”

“So, will you hear me out about Tzuyu?” 

“Let me open my cake,” you pull out your bag with the cheesecake, which thankfully has two spoons, “it seems like we’ll be having that kind of conversation.” 

Everyone is more amicable because of food. According to Jungkook, Tzuyu has a hardcore, ten-year plan for her twenties. After a couple of dates with Jungkook, Tzuyu whips him into the plan. Mentions that she’s well-bred and has a family reputation to uphold. Says IT Management is something completely desirable in a partner, that he’s sensible and wonderful and would like to be committed full-time. 

“And she talked to her parents about me and said that I’m a good prospect for marriage. Like I’m another pillar in her plan!” Jungkook cries, taking a monstrously sized bite of your cheesecake, wallowing away.

This is akin to sleepovers you’ve always wanted to have in high school, down to the food gorging. You can’t help but be fascinated, “So are you wrapped up in an engagement? Is this a scary rendition of Crazy Rich Asians?” 

“You just can’t turn a one-eighty like that on a fifth date,” Jungkook shakes his head, reeling at the emotional whiplash, “she’s really nice. Really organized, really perfect. It really intimidates me.”

“Is she what you reaaaally want?” you can’t help but ask, rolling your eyes at the excessive use of the word, and tamp down the pain in your stomach by eating a forkful of creamy cheesecake. 

“I don’t know!” Jungkook replies exasperatedly, “Obviously I’m worried since she wants to put a ring on it. I told her she needs to back off. Right after the seminar I said she had no right telling other people we’re boyfriend and girlfriend. She didn’t say much, just frowned and walked away.” 

You roll your eyes, scraping the leftover graham cracker crust from the edge of the plastic plate. “According to her, I heard you two are planning to make it official very soon.” 

His eyes widen, “I really bring girl trouble wherever I go, don’t I?” 

“Since I’ve known you,” you half-joke, putting away the plastic cutlery on the nightstand. 

You two sit in silence for a few moments, letting the television fill the room with mindless static about some sappy Hallmark movie. Tentatively, you land a hand on Jungkook’s knee. He looks down at your tiny fingers, giving his skin an experimental squeeze of comfort. 

“I don’t want her,” he finally says. 

“Okay,” you reply, “you won’t even have to talk to her if you don’t want to. I can arrange the groups this week so you don’t have to be around—”

“Give me one week,” his eyes flash to yours, dark and sharp.

“Jungkook. You have your determined face on,” it makes you sweat.  

“Because I’m determined to win you over, once and for all,” you eyes widen, and Jungkook visibly freezes, “was that too much? I’m kind of on an emotional high today. I didn’t expect to see you today and it kind of threw me into a loop. I thought I might be running into you once I started my internship but I didn’t think you’d be my recruiter. And then you went on that stage all bad-ass talking about work and you looked so gorgeous in your suit and I was so proud knowing you made it and IrealizedhowmuchImissedyou—” 

“Jungkook, slower,” you’re feeling a little woozy as well, equally overwhelmed. “You’re just saying this because you didn’t expect to see me—” 

“You’re deflecting, again.” 

“I’m scared, okay?” you blurt, throwing your hands in the air. “You’re right, this is all so sudden. So can’t we just start being friends and see if it takes us somewhere? You don’t have to win me over, just support me like I’ll support you.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jungkook moves up the bed, so he’s leaning against the headboard as well. His long legs stretch farther than yours, and it feels oddly domestic as you talk it out and stare at the television screen. “I’m just, worried I’m running out of time.” 

“I'm not going anywhere this time.” 

“I know,” Jungkook shakes his head, ridding himself of his torrid thoughts. Conceding, he gestures to the television, pulling out the remote under your pillow, “wanna watch television, or catch up?” 

You last about an hour until you knock out. However, Jungkook keeps you entertained up until that moment, as you exchange your lives and stresses. Everything meshes together, you’re not sure if it’s the charm that comes with late night talks, but you feel like you can talk to Jungkook about anything if given the time. You melt when he strokes your hair till the last minute, wishing you a goodnight and a promise of more. 

“Okay, I’ve gone over most of the work ethics in the manual,” you smile nervously when you see your glazed over recruits, nearly falling off their chairs. Even Krystal is bored out of her mind, discreetly playing with her phone in the back under her manual. Of course you’d get stuck with teaching the boring classes. “Any last minute questions before we head off for dinner?” 

Tzuyu shoots her hand up, “Are romantic relationships allowed in the workplace?” 

Jungkook promptly chokes on his water bottle. He looks up at you, panicked. Ignoring his terror, you paint on a thin smile towards the young woman, “Like I mentioned earlier, romantic relationships between employees are not frowned upon, so long as you’re not working under or over someone in the same department.” 

“Right, just wanted to make sure,” Tzuyu is all chipper smiles as she thanks you.  

If you were still twenty-one, you’d gag at the pointed look she sends Jungkook. They’re sitting diagonal from each other, and Jungkook makes a point to pretend to be interested in your lecture until the very end. 

You’re halfway done with recruitment week, and while you’re not shocked at how fast the week has gone by, you’re fairly disappointed that Jungkook and you haven’t had time to meet up in private. So far it’s been easy enough to keep your friendship (and past sexual relationship) a secret, but something dark and eager tells you how much you want more. The recruiters are eager to leave, all twenty-three of them grouping off and talking about what they want to eat for dinner. Everyone except a certain dark-haired fellow, who’s hair is currently bouncing off it’s styled coiff, wanting to return to it’s normal non-gelled self. 

“Kookie,” you raise a brow at the interaction, Tzuyu leaning over her chair to Jungkook’s, “wanna get dinner tonight?” 

Jungkook’s taking an excruciatingly long time to pack his things, raising a brow at her, “I’ve told you already, I don’t want to be involved in whatever plans you have.” 

“Oh-kay,” Tzuyu rocks back and forth on her oxford heels, pursing her magenta pink lips, “then why don’t we at least walk back to the hotel together? I really want to talk about some things that might change your mind.”

“Nothing will change my mind,” Jungkook’s determined face has been staying strong for the week, from the way he makes sure he’s first in your class to the simple “good morning” and “good night” texts you exchange. “Besides, I have a date tonight. And I really want to talk to the recruiters about a personal work matter, so can you please leave?”  

You try not to snort at how blatant Jungkook was being. You pretend to organize your folders, throwing whatever random notes you have in your bag for later. 

“A date,” she twitches,  “with who?” 

“Someone that doesn’t treat me like a stepping stone in her career path,” Jungkook deadpans, and that’s all it takes for Tzuyu to huff and walk away from the hall. 

You think Tzuyu is like a bug, relatively harmless, but someone who gets on your nerves. 

“A date, huh?” Krystal quotes, finally looking up from her phone. Her sharp, cat-eyes linger at the door, wondering if Tzuyu is going to pop out and try to drag Jungkook by the reins. Finally, she plants her stare between you and Jungkook. “So, you two fucking?” 

“Former fucking,” Jungkook supplies helpfully, and you jump off your podium to elbow him in the ribs, “ow—what?” 

“You just don’t tell Krystal we’re fucking!” 

“Former fucking,” he chastises, but the eyes he sends you are a little sultry, and you wonder if he’s thinking of fucking in the future. You reel yourself back, focusing on the third party.

But you anticipate that Krystal couldn’t care less, and you’re grateful for that. While a smaller work team means a smaller possibility of close work relationships, you do like the drama-free environment. “Like you said,” Krystal shrugs, slinging her briefcase over her shoulder, “romantic relationships in the workplace are not frowned upon.” 

You wring your hands between your bag when Krystal finally makes her getaway, and you look up at Jungkook. “So,” you smile wryly, “you have a date tonight, huh?” 

“With a pretty working woman,” he sighs dramatically, putting a hand over his chest, “that is, if she’ll have me.” 

“Consider yourself taken.”  

Jungkook and you sneak away to your suite once again. To your surprise, the suite is decorated in rose petals and a bottle of champagne sits in an ice bath on your bedside. A large pizza pie sits beautifully on your coffee table, and the television is playing lo-fi hip-hop. 

You feed Jungkook champagne-dipped strawberries as you gorge on the joy that is baked bread and cheese. 

And when he kisses you, it’s slow and sweet, like you have all the time in the world. 

It’s the last day of recruitment week, and all classes ended at noon so the interns can use all the resort’s amenities to the fullest. Many of the interns, including yourself, Jessica and Krystal, are on the rooftop celebrating a successful workweek. Staff and interns alike are buzzing around, eager to top off their weekend with some relaxation and sun. 

Jungkook is with his new team, conversing with other IT employees. You try not to stare too hard at your reignited flame, tipping back a cutely decorated glass of fruit. His arms ripple as he tips back the liquid. He’s wearing a tank top and you could swear his biceps have gotten meatier. Unfortunately you hold yourself back, after all the internship isn’t quite over and you still are a professional. 

At the end of the weekend you really have nothing to worry about, you know that. 

But Tzuyu? She irritating. 

“I just don’t understand,” Tzuyu suspects nothing of your budding relationship with Jungkook. You’re thankful for that because towards the end of the week, it was getting harder and harder to be subtle when you two send each other heart eyes from three meters away. 

Tzuyu sounds like she’s talking to herself, the way she stares into the infinity pool, despite the fact that her friends are surrounding her with rapt attention. You’re a cabana away from her, sipping languidly at your drink while Jessica and Krystal nap next to you. Even though you can’t see Tzuyu, you can practically feel her pout emanating through the fabric that separates you two. Despite the fact that she’s been offered a great intern position given her degree and experience, she’s still upset. For her, is that not the most important part of this whole week? 

“Jungkook’s really not that great if he’s going to turn me down like that,” Tzuyu seethes. You should write up her nonsense in a book and publish it, really. “Why waste time when he has the whole package right in front of him?” 

It’s then you realize why you’ve been so torn, so strung up and wound tight all these years. Just like college, all shy and hesitant to take a step forward while Jungkook was ten steps ahead, you were worried. You let other people’s thoughts stop you from making the leap, girls like Tzuyu that never meant to intimidate you, but you let their presence get up in your head and control the nonexistent hierarchy. 

But two years later, and that doesn’t matter. It never mattered. Jungkook is no longer the all-star lacrosse player, but what remains is his heart, full and willing. 

Everything Tzuyu just said was… wrong. Irrevocably, inexplicably messed up. But the idea of “wasting time” does strike a chord within you. Are you wasting time? At this point, your feelings of each other are pretty clear. What are you two waiting for, again? 

You thought Krystal was sleeping, considering her sunhat sitting atop her face, but once she hears you packing away your bag she whistles, “Go get ‘em, tiger.” 

Sending a quick text to Jungkook, you make a beeline for your destination. You don’t even bother looking for him in the crowd. 

You: meet me by the elevator at the very end of the lobby. 

Not a minute passes by when Jungkook joins you at said elevator. He has two glasses of champagne in his hands, and offers one to you, “tired of the party?” he asks.  

You clink drinks, easily tipping yours back. “It’s not our thing,” you declare with a small smile. Jungkook's eyes soften, glancing back and forth between your face and the soft pleats of your marigold sundress. His hair is pushed back, sticky from sweat and chlorine, dark bangs hanging over the shaved sides of his head. You turn your head slightly as you wait for the elevator, biting your lip as you're sorely reminded of how sexy Jungkook looked at the dive pool half an hour ago. 

The elevator dings, and it’s wide enough for you to slip in at the same time. You put your champagne glass in the corner of the elevator for now, hoping you don’t accidentally step on it. In closed quarters, you can smell the slight tang of chlorine coming from Jungkook, combined with his own brand of musk. 

Jungkook looks younger tonight, happier. Having just finished graduate school and working towards a full-time gig, another chapter in his life has started. His hair is no longer in that tight-whipped coiff he struggled all week to maintain, loosened in its natural wave due to the pool water and heat. His cheeks are a little ruddied and plump, a sign he’s been enjoying the food this week. 

The door barely closes when you get it out, pulling at his hand to face you.

“Jungkook, I like you,” you blurt, and his eyes bug out considerably. Out of reflex, his hand sharply squeezes yours. “You don’t have to say anything, because you’ve been saying everything for the majority of our relationship. I really like you, I really liked you back then too. You’re still so sweet, and loving, and smart and I’ve just been too dumb and insecure to—” 

Jungkook seals your confession away with a desperate kiss, and you turn into a pile of mush at the contact. Relief seeps into your bones, sings into your system. When he pulls away, he looks serious. He doesn’t let you get far, and clutches your face between his two hands so you can’t turn your head. Your soft cheeks fill between his fingers, warm and cradled. 

“Never call yourself that,” Jungkook exhales, regarding you with firm eyes, “you’re beautiful, and intelligent, and the person I want.” 

“I don’t wanna take it slow anymore,” you mumble against his lips, leaning in so that you can barely nip at the pink skin. “Want you now, need you now.” 

“You have me now,” Jungkook agrees, and as soon as the elevator dings open to your floor, he scoops you up into his arms. 

By all means it’s not graceful, he’s clutching you like a baby with his hands over your butt as he jiggles you all the way to your front door. Clinging onto him like a koala, you press kisses to his cheeks as he leads you to your room. You laugh and giggle like teenagers, as he fumbles between your breast to grab the card key that’s nestled between your bra. It’s warm in his hand as he swipes it through the reader, pushing you inside. 

“Is it bad that I’m kinda turned on by the fact you got my key out of my boob?” you joke, although the contact of his rough fingers against your breast is a feeling well missed. 

“Is it bad that I’m always turned on when you lecture in seminars?” Jungkook retorts, kicking the door closed with his slipper-clad foot as he walks you to the bed. “Fuck, I can hear you talk about insurance benefits all day.” 

“Didn’t know my sex appeal extended that way—oh fuck—” 

Your vibrant marigold sundresses provides easy access to Jungkook as he throws you onto the mattress, your skirt billowing over your waist as he makes quick work to expose more of your skin. 

“No more talking, more loving,” he’s crazed, doesn’t hesitate to move your bikini bottoms to the side as he rubs lovingly at your long-lost bud, “need to fuck you, now. It’s been so fucking long.” 

“Kook,” his breath is warm against your already sopping cunt, and you lift your hand to run through the strands of his messy hair. It only takes one firm tug and you’re able to pull him up by the root of his hair, cranberry juice tinted lips with a faint sheen because he couldn’t help himself to have a little taste of you. “Baby, let me touch you. Let me show you how much I want you," you coo with a pout, hands trailing over the drawstrings of his trunks.

You can see how much Jungkook wants to say yes. His eyes glow with the possibility, bright and wanting in the afternoon sunlight. The image of him shoving his cock deep into your throat, so far that you can taste it in every crevice of your mouth. Your nails gripping into his ass as you go deeper, tears pricking your eyes as cum seeps out of your pretty lips. 

But he firmly shakes his head, fingers doing the devil’s work as he eases a digit in you. A little noise of protest bubbles in your throat, but it soon dies out as soon as he finds the right spot to reduce you to mush. 

“Next time,” he exhales against the juncture between your thigh and pelvis, picking up the pace and adding another finger, “if you touch me, I’ll cum right then n’there. This is enough for me, you’re enough.” 

So you let him have what he wants. You’ll make it up to him in the morning, and the day after, and the day after. You shed your clothes, the sundress extra forgiving as it slides off your body, revealing a swimsuit that hasn’t even touched the pool. You feel a little self-conscious as he drinks you in after so long, but he quickly shucks off his clothes to match your state of nakedness. 

You remember how you tiptoed around your first night with Jungkook, taking great care to make sure it was fleeting, how dark the room was as you let your pleasure take over your senses. Two years later and the sun is setting, gold bleeding through your sheets and illuminating the room. There's no need to hide.

“I must say, we’ve both kept it tight,” Jungkook teases with a wink, squeezing your hips so he can change positions. 

You silently agree, your fingers slipping across the washboard of his waist. 

“Mm, and still so fuckin’ cute,” Jungkook marvels as he pulls you up on his lap. Your whole body is flushed with want, one hand squeezing your breasts while the other plays with the curls of hair that lead to your sopping wetness. You glide your core over Jungkook’s stomach, sighing as you take note of the abs that clench under your heat and his hot member that rubs between your ass. 

It’s a tight fit when you finally sink down on him, but the burn only fuels your desire as he stretches you wide. His grip is helpful as he guides you through the motions. It’s been awhile since you’ve been this physical with someone, and it’s almost comical when you both sigh in contentment at the contact. 

“I’ve missed this,” you mumble, biting into his shoulder as he thrusts up. 

“Mm, it feels different, right?” Jungkook hums, keeping a slow pace. The drag is wonderful, and you know that he’s trying to prolong the moment. He reaches for your head, presses his forehead to yours as he speaks, “you’re mine now, right? For real.” 

“I’m all yours, Jungkook,” you press kisses everywhere. No need to hide anymore. You bleed love into every kiss, to his jawline, the little freckles across his chin, his lips. “This is romantic and all, but I really want you to dick me down. Which is why you need to go a little faster, you sap.” 

Jungkook scoffs, “A pillow princess is what you are.” 

He stops moving, and you two sink further into the mattress without its springs bringing you back up. The both of you are acutely aware of how wet you both are, your combined arousals seeping between your seams and dripping onto Jungkook’s thighs. But the young man simply relaxes against the headboard, baiting you. 

“Kook,” you whine, clenching against his member. Your hot walls have a mind of their own, unable to stifle their desire. Sweat lines Jungkook’s brow as he tries his hardest not to move, just simply be. 

“Tell me how much you want me, princess,” the pet name has you clenching harder, and you pout. 

“Baby,” you whine, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. There’s no one in the room, and you’re sure no one is on this floor because everyone’s on the rooftop, but the words you’re about to say are for Jungkook and Jungkook only, “please, I want you to pound me into this mattress until I can’t walk anymore. I want to cry out your name so everyone can hear I’m yours. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” you nip at his lobe, and let your thumb nick at the simple silver rings that adorn his ear. You hear a click of his teeth, indicating the clench of his jaw as his muscles flex around your body, "I want you to fill me with your cum until I’m eating it, and—and—oh Kook!” 

Your words aren’t enough to distract you from his large dick sitting prettily between your folds, and you’re suddenly cumming, all by the mere thought of what’s to happen. You’re shuddering in his arms, and Jungkook soothes you by running his fingers over the spine of your back, distracting you from the utter mess you’re making on the sheets. 

“Such a good girl,” Jungkook coddles you, stroking your hair, “can my good girl take it?” 

“Y-yes, Kook,” you nod eagerly, fighting the overstimulation as he nudges you off his lap. You’re pliable, as Jungkook sets up the pillows for you to rest comfortably as you get on your elbows and knees, “your good girl.” 

You shudder as your bare pussy starts to feel cold, immediately missing the warmth Jungkook can provide. You can practically feel his hot gaze burning in your back, his large palm squeezing your ass as he marvels at how ready and eager you are for him. 

“It’s so easy to slip inside,” Jungkook rubs your nectar across the head of his cock, swirling around your engorged skin as he slips right inside. You both moan at the stretch, “Finally, my adorable baby, you like this? You like getting pounded like the dirty girl you really are?” 

“Mm, yes!” you squeal, clutching onto the feather down pillows for dear life as Jungkook displays his strength, one hand gripping your hips as the other weaves itself into your hair. It’s a delicious mix of pleasure and pain, and the lewd sounds of each other’s juices and his balls against your ass echoing in the room. 

“Y-yeah,” despite his power, his thrusts are sloppy, and you know he’s almost at the edge, “and I like you, so so much. I want to make you cum everyday, make you happy and—mph—” he gives up on talking, focusing entirely on his destination. 

“Cum, baby,” you urge, melting when his one hand comes to thread with your own, “fill me up with you.” 

He flips you on your back, and you finally see how desperate Jungkook is to cum. His eyes are glassy, filled with emotion as he strokes himself to completion. Your hand reaches up to cup his damp face, and that’s when you feel him loosen. Hot, pearly strings cling to your pussy, decorating your skin in his essence. Your fingers immediately reach down to swirl the cum between your folds, and Jungkook groans at the picture, immediately throwing your hands to the side to kiss you senseless. 

There’s so much pouring between the two of you, affection, the feeling of being cherished, so much that you can feel the whole world reducing to the two of you. 

“All mine,” he whispers to himself, as if he still can’t believe it. And then, he puts up a poker face as he leans into you, resting his head gently on your breasts, “I knew I only needed a week.”

You narrow your eyes, flicking lightly at his forehead. You’re sticky, sweaty, and covered in cum and while you’re exhausted, the built in jacuzzi in your washroom looks very enticing right now. “Jungkook, this happened naturally. I said we would try as friends first and we did. We just so happened to escalate pretty fast.” 

“I don’t think it was that fast,” Jungkook nuzzles his face into your skin, “it’s been two years since college. Being popular did do a number on our relationship, but we caught up." 

“You were popular-ish,” you roll your eyes, teasing him. His face falls, and you can’t help yourself. Your hands reach over to cup his cheeks, and you happily squish the supple, pouty flesh. He’s adorable. “Kim Taehyung though? Park Jimin? Absolute heartthrobs I couldn’t stand to be near them—ah!” 

Jungkook seems to read your mind, lifting you bridal style to drag you over to the bathroom where the marble jacuzzi sits tauntingly. The stone is ice cold as he brings you both inside, immediately turning on the nozzles to fill it with steaming hot water. You find the tiny bottle of lavender suds, spilling the soap in an arc. His legs slip over yours, cradling you so that your back is pressed against Jungkook’s chest. 

“Being popular never mattered,” Jungkook shakes his head, pressing a kiss to your jaw, “I realized the only person who I really needed to notice me was you.” 

bonus. 

You wake Jungkook up the next morning with your lips wrapped around his cock, fresh cherry balm rubbing down the thick veins until he's cumming down your throat. 

"Wow," Jungkook whistles, licking his lips at the sight of you sucking the arousal from your thumb. He huffs against the pillow, eyes darting to the open organza window, letting in the early morning light. The rooftop of a multi-star hotel, white Egyptian cotton seats, a full time job on the way and waking up in the most blissful way possible. 

"I have a proposal," you crawl on top of him like a koala, hooking your thighs between his blanket clad body. 

"I do," he replies instantly, looking straight at you with droopy puppy eyes.

"Not that kind," you slap his chest, "where are you living once orientation is over?" 

"Mm, there's a boarding house near a local translation. It's probably an hour commute? Not too bad." 

"So, I just leased a townhouse last month," you bite your lip, tucking your head between his neck to hide your embarrassment, "I was gonna rent out the spare room and put an advert in the paper but…"

"I do."

"I said it isn't a marriage proposal."

"Asking you to live with me is basically a marriage proposal."

"There will be no benefits," you sit up, wagging a finger in his face, "you'll be paying rent and half the utilities. And you will be doing all the laundry." 

"Sure," Jungkook replies loftily, squeezing your ass, "you're benefit enough." 

[maverick-werewolf]

Werewolf Worldbuilding Sheet

Instead of a werewolf fact this week, have something I’ve been working on for a little while now. I was sent an ask about a good werewolf worldbuilding sheet. Me being me, willing to settle for no one else’s werewolf things, I thought - hey, why not make my own? I love worldbuilding werewolves and I’ve tried to make sure to think of literally everything to do with mine, so I thought I’d put together a relatively simple werewolf worldbuilding sheet! (and maybe a vampire one in the future!)

I will first extrapolate on each section of the sheet and provide some thoughts/examples (and relevant werewolf facts to turn to for ideas!)...

What is lycanthropy and where did it come from? This is always something to consider. Note, of course, that where it came from may be a mystery, and that’s fine too. You don’t have to always do the “it came from a demon or a witch” thing like literally everyone else in the universe. Folklore provides us with some interesting material to help think on this - here are some helpful werewolf facts: What IS a werewolf? --- Curse, not Disease --- On Werewolf Biology --- When Werewolves Went Feral Part 1 --- and Part 2

How does one become a werewolf? Pretty simple question, but always complicated to answer! Well, potentially. How does someone become a werewolf in your story? Definitely a helpful werewolf fact for ideas - but also refer to several from the first question: Becoming a werewolf

Are there different terms for werewolves? Something else to think about! Are your werewolves even called “werewolves?” They don’t have to be, of course, but you know, it’d be cooler if they were. And most monsters, especially in older times, didn’t have just one name - not to mention other languages in your universe that would have their own terms for a werewolf. Useful werewolf fact: Etymology

Are there different kinds of werewolves or similar shapeshifters? This is kind of a weird one, I know, but hey, it’s something to think about. I for one don’t go into the “werewolves are just one kind of shapeshifter that happen to all be pretty much exactly like werewolves but different animals” (looking at you, D&D and WoD), but lots of people do, so that’s up to you! Helpful/potentially relevant werewolf facts: What is and isn’t a werewolf --- Where were the werewolf hybrids --- On shaping other shapeshifters --- Berserkers --- Vrykolakas --- Loup garous and rougarous --- Magic skins

What do the werewolves look like? A big one to decide! I’ll try not to influence you, but, you know, werewolves are called werewolves, just try to remember that. Useful werewolf facts: Physical Appearance --- Werewolves have tails --- Wolves are big, werewolves are bigger --- Hands and claws --- Fur colors --- Eye colors --- How to identify a werewolf --- Werewolves walking upright

Do werewolves have packs? Werewolf packs saturate our current generation of pop culture, but they are indeed very popular. Consider, however, that werewolves’ characterization is severely degraded if they are basically unable to exist without a pack and/or devote themselves entirely to seeking a pack instead of being a person at all; not that werewolf packs are bad, but something to consider. Useful werewolf facts: Is alpha, beta, omega really a thing? --- Communities and families --- Inheritance/offspring

What are a werewolf's powers and abilities? There might be more than you think! Have fun with it! Just remember, werewolves should totally be OP. Like, way OP. No, I’m not kidding. They’re awesome. We love werewolves on this blog, remember? Useful werewolf facts: Powers and abilities --- Eye/vision powers --- Spirit projection --- Werewolves can outrun you --- Werewolves can swim --- Werewolves can climb trees --- Gluttony/swallowing things whole

Do they have any weaknesses, and why? Another big question! Do your werewolves have weaknesses? Or do they not? If so, of course - what are they? Useful werewolf facts: How to kill a werewolf (weaknesses) --- Silver --- Belladonna and wolfsbane --- Werewolf and monster hunters

What triggers a werewolf transformation? The BIG one! Well, one of the big ones. Super, super important. Is it more than one thing? What are they? Details! Useful werewolf facts: Transformation triggers --- Transformation sequence --- On werewolf biology (again) --- Full moon --- The Arcadians

What triggers a werewolf to return to human form again? What it says on the tin. This can vary a lot! It’ll definitely be influenced by the first question, but it’s something to maybe think about separately.

Can a werewolf be “cured”? This can depend, of course, on what exactly your werewolves are/how they work, but it’s always useful to know the answer as to whether or not there’s any hope of someone being totally human again. Plese see previous questions for other useful facts, like if your lycanthropy is a curse in the first place! Useful werewolf facts: How to cure lycanthropy

Can the werewolves control themselves, or ever learn how to do so? Are your werewolves even uncontrollable in the first place? Is there any hope for a sad werewolf to ever gain control, if so? Useful werewolf facts: When Werewolves Went Feral Part 1 --- and Part 2 --- Personality changes

How do werewolves act in their werewolf form and why? Are your werewolves full of rage? Are the hungry? Do they eat people? Why? Would they hunt specifically people, or what? Useful werewolf facts:  When Werewolves Went Feral Part 1 --- and Part 2 (yes, again) --- Werewolves vs Evil --- Personality changes (again) --- Werewolves don’t bark --- Werewolf diet --- Werewolves vs vampires (my most controversial post lol) --- Werewolves as noble knights --- The trial of Peter Stubbe -- Werewolf Intelligence (and speech)

Are werewolves immortal, or anything approaching it? How about that immortality? Useful werewolf facts: Immortality and aging --- Powers and abilities (again)

How are werewolves treated/seen by others? Are they outcasts? Kill on sight? Hunted from the very moment someone finds out what they are? Do they have to hide the fact that they are a werewolf? How does it work? Useful werewolf facts: Hiding being a werewolf

Do werewolves remember anything about their transformations? What it says on the tin! Do they, or do they not? Is it hazy? Do they have no memory of it at all and might not even realize they are a werewolf? Or do they remember everything? Useful werewolf facts: Memory

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Please note of course that my werewolf facts are here to give you ideas, not be instructions. Werewolves of your creation are of your creation, and thus you should create them the way you want and like them! I don’t want to dictate to anyone the way werewolves “should” be, although I absolutely have my personal preferences. The werewolf facts are meant to give you ideas and, hopefully, be a good jumping off point.

Folklore isn’t always the coolest portrayal of werewolves - it’s just better, IMO, to use folklore as a basis or at least as an idea basin instead of ignoring it entirely. The folklore for werewolves is awesome, just like all folklore. But pop culture has given us some cool things, too.

And remember, if you have any other questions or want to throw ideas at me or ask me my thoughts on anything, I am more than happy to talk werewolf ideas with you! Please, share your werewolves with me! I promise they don’t have to be ultra-folkloric for me to love them (mine actually aren’t, in many respects), since I’m a big fan of several very Hollywood things as well. I’m also always here to give writing advice.

Enjoy!

Other posts you may find useful:

What to Do and what to Avoid when writing werecreatures

Werewolf tropes I like and dislike (and why)

More on werewolf tropes

Reframing “werewolf angst” into “werewolf anxiety” (very important!)

On pop culture werewolf designs and Underworld’s influence

Werewolves are not British

The Beast of Gevaudan and what isn’t a werewolf legend

Wargs/worgs

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BLANK VERSION OF THE SHEET:

What is lycanthropy and where did it come from?

How does one become a werewolf?

Are there different terms for werewolves?

Are there different kinds of werewolves or similar shapeshifters?

What do the werewolves look like?

Do werewolves have packs?

What are a werewolf's powers and abilities?

Do they have any weaknesses, and why?

What triggers a werewolf transformation?

What triggers a werewolf to return to human form again?

Can a werewolf be “cured”?

Can the werewolves control themselves, or ever learn how to do so?

How do werewolves act in their werewolf form and why?

Are werewolves immortal, or anything approaching it?

How are werewolves treated/seen by others?

Do werewolves remember anything about their transformations?

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And of course, don’t forget to check the werewolf fact masterlist for even more info on folkloric werewolves (and my sundry opinions on pop culture werewolves)!

Be sure to give me a follow for lots more werewolf facts, vampire facts, answering all your asks, and a whole lot more folklore and writing, as well as writing advice!

(If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to check out my other stuff! And please consider supporting me on Patreon - every little bit helps keep this blog running!

Patreon --- Wulfgard --- Werewolf Fact Masterlist --- Twitter)

[thekingofthenameless]

Au where Merlin shows up earlier/gets more development for the potential au ask game?

YES!!!!!

I can’t believe I got both of my blorbos!

I’m so happy right now.

Anyways:

I’m not really doing the former, but I might write a fic in the future. For now, here’s a post about it that I think is gold.

For the latter part, he’s definitely getting more screentime in Emerald Embers considering he’s. The y’know, protagonist.

But besides his redesign, he gets a lot more development as a character and backstory 👀, so here’s five facts about that!

1. DR!Merlin’s personality is similar and different to Canon!Merlin’s.

What he is compared to Canon!Merlin: He’s abrasive, brutally honest, sarcastic, etc. His appearance, however, makes him seem a lot rougher in comparison to canon!Merljn, where he seems like just a grumpy old man.

He also is smart and perceptive as hell. No one, in-universe or out talks about it, but he was able to tell that Angor Rot was a slave within a few seconds of just seeing him. “Leave them alone, Morgana.”

What he isn’t: he’s not impulsive.

A millennia year old warrior should have patience, and he does. He absolutely refuses to fight children.

He’s more openly soft, especially with children.

He is tired.

He will keep fighting. He will keep fighting if he has to scream, claw, and bite his way to victory. He is hope, who spits out blood and gets up for another round. Again and again and again.

He will not let others go through the same pain he has. He won’t. He can’t.

2. HE GETS TO BE BADASS LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!

I’ll go on a rant about this in the future, but to say the least, canon did not do him justice.

How am I going to fix this, you ask?

Well, some changes include:

He's actually badass like canon described him before he showed up.

illustrated with some memes I made because look at him!!! He actually looks cool!!! He looks intimidating!!!

him being able to shift his staff into different weapons like he does in the concept art.

3. He’s a cambion like he is in the Arthurian Legends.

powers like

He actually has visions, foresight, precognition, whatever you want to to call it, instead of only the time map (or in the comics, the Omniscienstone) like canon.

He still has the time map; he mainly uses it when he needs to quickly see the future.

4. He’s a bit of a rebel when it comes to authority.

5. He tends to gravitate towards his magical side.

With humans, he has to barely use his magic so he won’t frighten them. With humans, he has to hide his love of magic, and his excitement of learning new things about it.

With magical creatures,

But they believe him.

They don’t care about that. They aren’t racist towards him because he’s magic and they believe him about being aroace.

Because they’re different! They’re nice!

Thanks for the ask!

[chimcess]

With All My Love {J.J.K.}

Jungkook x Reader Genre: Angst Warnings: Cheating (sort of), Open relationship, and the angst is piled on thick with this one Summary: Y/N always knew what she was getting into with Jungkook, another girl would come with the package, but it was a price she was willing to pay to have him. However after finding out that he’d slept with Mina behind her back at a party without telling her, she realizes that she needs a clean break, but isn’t willing to face Jungkook, so she decides to leave him a letter instead. A/N: This one really hurt to write

Jungkook,

I hope you’re well. I’m not, but still, I can’t help myself but want you to be happy- even when I’m miserable. You know, it’s crazy how life plays out sometimes. When I first met you, I never thought we’d be where we are now, but here we are, and though I love it… I can’t help but hate it at the same time. When I imagined us, this wasn’t exactly what I had pictured. I was expecting dates, kissing in your Ford, sharing holidays, and growing old being two peas in a pod. Jungkook and Y/N versus the Patriarchy one hip surgery at a time. Now, though, I can see I was wrong. While I could still have that, I have also come to realize that this will always and forever be Jungkook, Y/N, and whoever else Jungkook decides versus you and I growing old and kicking ass.

Last night, when I was upset about you sleeping with Mina behind my back, at that moment I was so angry at her, and I just wanted nothing more than to curse her out and kick her to the curb. However, after some thinking- as I do tend to do at two in the morning after my boyfriend falls asleep on me- I realize that I was angry at you. 

I was so mad at you. I was livid. I was so unbelievably hurt. I don’t think I could ever describe the pain that caused me, however Emily Bronte has a wonderful quote from Jane Eyre that does it some bit of justice, “Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agnised as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.”

Does that help you understand better where I’m coming from? I hope it does. Books tend to understand me more than anyone. Even you, it seems. Kookie, I want you to realize something very important. I hate Mina. Not because I think she’s a bad person or anything, but the fact that she has you in a way that I never will. How in the world does she make you so blind to the fact that it tears me apart that you want her, too? I don’t care if it’s purely sexual, I just want you to want to have sex with just me. That’s why I never flat out say, “Don’t see her again.” I want you to just want me. I want you to see that I’m enough. I want you to want only me and nothing more. I want you to put an end to things because you love me. That’s all I want. In me writing you this, it’s my way of saying that I can’t do this anymore. We’ve hardly been together and you’ve already broken a huge portion of my trust. 

I mean honestly, do you think I like being able to see that she’s slept with you? Do you think I like looking at the face I want to see for the rest of my life and there’s bruises another woman left there mocking me? Do you really think I want you to touch me after she’s had her hands all over you? Like I’m sloppy seconds? Like I’m an afterthought? Like you have no respect for me at all?

Even you know I don’t like it. You knew it before last night, and still you continued to see her. The day after we started dating you slept with her. Instead of us going to see your parents together, you wanted to bring me there to keep them company for the night alone while you snuck off to be with her? Do you really think I would ever in my life be comfortable with this arrangement you made for me?

I know I have my faults. I should’ve put my foot down. I should’ve communicated more. I should’ve told you exactly how I felt. I should’ve made it abundantly clear that I want it to only be us. However, I felt like you would hate me if I did that. I still do. I feel like you would resent me for making that choice. I feel like you would never be happy with me if I just said no. If I never considered it. Yes, I’ve said certain things, but it was only to make you happy. I know she makes you happy, you enjoy her company, and she gets you off. She is a car girl, you guys go out together, and she’s really fun. However, where is this effort for us? You don’t take me out or show me off. You don’t ask me on dates. You don’t buy me little presents because you see them and think I’d like them. Why? Because I am not more than enough. 

Now we’ve come full circle to the point I wanted to make. When you love someone, truly love someone, there are things you do to show them that. Someone can say they love you a thousand times, but if they come home drunk and beat you that doesn’t sound much like love, right? Love is sacrifice. Love isn’t making boundaries about who we can openly sleep with outside of our relationship- especially when we both know one of us isn’t too keen on the idea. Love isn’t sleeping with people behind one another's back and just expecting them to magically know about it. Love isn’t, “Well I like being top and bottom, so I’ll have my cake and eat it too.” That’s not love. Love is accepting that person for all that they are. Love is wanting them, and only them, because no one else can compare. Love is blindly going into a relationship with the most beautiful man knowing full damn well you’ll get hurt over and over again just because you’d do anything to make it you two versus the world kissing in a truck, sharing holidays, and growing old being two peas in a pod. The two of you versus the Patriarchy one hip surgery at a time.

That’s why I say I don’t believe you when you say you love me. I sacrificed a lot for this relationship. I put aside my values, my dignity, and my self respect because you’re so worth it to me. You are more than enough for me. However, I don’t see that same thing in return. So, this is me telling you… You need to figure things out. Figure out what you want, because it’s not me. I’m not cut out for this amazing for a minute shit. I’m not cut out for standing by watching you choose someone else over me again. I’m not cut out for feeling left out in my own relationship. I’m not cut out for feeling like I’m not good enough for you. I’m not cut out. 

I would like to apologize in advance for leaving things like this, with nothing more than a note telling you goodbye, but for my heart’s sake I have to. I know myself too well, and the moment I saw your face I’d run to you without second guessing myself. I cannot allow myself to do that just like I can’t allow myself to die a slow, painful death anymore. I hope you’re happy, and I hope Mina picks up the pieces of you that I’m leaving behind. Please, stay well. I left you dinner in the fridge, make sure to eat that. I’ll be at Hoseok and Yoongi’s for a while, so don’t worry too much. I love you.

With all my love,

Y/N

[caffeinatedseri]

Murakami and Ranpo

Some minor spoilers ahead for the third BSD LN, The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency." If you aren't concerned with spoilers, I did my best with summarizing the plot for anyone who hasn't read the novel.

In the third BSD LN, Fukuzawa and Ranpo are tasked with finding the culprit of an ominous death threat at a theatrical play. The threat is written as follows:

“An angel shall bring death, in the truest sense of the word, to the performer. —V.”

This threat fits perfectly with the play, which is a mystery play where each character gets killed by an "angel" who murders. However, the characters don't know if they're being killed by an angel or a regular person, because there's nothing supernatural about their causes of death (getting stabbed by a knife, poison, strangulation, etc.).

Each character was a former angel who had been banished from the celestial world, because they admired humans so much that God turned them into humans. Therefore, the characters in the play believed that an angel was sent after them to punish them for their sins.

This sets up two mysteries for us to follow:

1. The mystery of the real death threat, sent by "V" — who is the culprit behind it, who will they kill, and why?

2. The mystery within the play — is it an angel or real person killing each character, and why?

Paradoxes (and Things That Don't Make Sense)

The play is called, "The Living World is a Dream, the Nocturnal Dream is Reality," which is a quote from the real Edogawa Ranpo's work, but I couldn't find the exact source. The title proposes a paradox: reality is a dream, and dreams are reality.

Several other paradoxes present themselves in the story, but they appear most prominently in Ranpo's big speech where he solves the mystery of the play, and the murder simultaneously:

“The murder and the play’s story are connected on a deep level. This play reversed the tide of the narrative. A group of fallen angels tried to return to the heavens, but the angel of judgment tried to stop them. Meanwhile, the angel’s judgment was but a show, and the supposed victim, a human, faked it. The angel’s and humans’ roles were reversed, switching the judge and the judged. That’s the kind of play this was. "

"...the narrative is in reverse. Our structures have been swapped along with the victim and killer as well. In other words—he isn’t the killer, but a victim."

This reveal subverts the original expectation that the plot would follow two separate mysteries. Instead, the lines are blurred between reality and fiction, killer and killed, and dreams and reality because now the two mysteries are intertwined.

I think this part of the story is deliberately written to be confusing (or at least not very clearly explained) as to fit in with the themes found in Murakami's writing.

Who is Murakami?

Haruki Murakami is a famous Japanese author, and you may have read some of his famous works, "Norwegian Wood" and "Kafka on the Shore."

Since this is Bungou (Literary) Stray Dogs, Murakami makes an appearance in this light novel as the main actor of the play.

Before I go on to explain Murakami's role in the novel, I'll give a brief background on his real counterpart and explain how the theatrical play in the novel reflects the real Murakami's work.

Murakami writes in the genre of "magical realism", where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred as magical elements are seamlessly incorporated into the story. I'll be using "Kafka on the Shore" as the main example for this point, since it's a great example of Murakami's expertise in magical realism.

In "Kafka on the Shore," there are 2 interrelated plot lines, alternating with each chapter, similar to the 2 supposed mysteries outlined at the beginning of the novel.

Like its moniker, "Kafka on the Shore" resembles a "Kafkaesque" style of writing due to its surreal elements that are bizarre and illogical in the rules of reality.

In an interview about this novel, Murakami said:

"Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write."

The Outcome of the Play

In theme with Murakami's bizarre, magical-realism writings, several illogical events take place within the span of the LN:

1. Before the play even starts, Murakami (the character) and the rest of the cast completely disregard the death threat. Even though the logical and safe solution would be to reschedule the play, it is a very literal representation of "the play must go on" mindset.

2. Murakami gets stabbed mid-sentence, on stage by a white blade that magically disappears.

3. Murakami bleeds real blood and has no pulse, which would signify his death, but he doesn't actually die.

Despite all this, Ranpo is extremely good at observing various elements of a situation and putting them together to form a solution, much like how the interactions of "Kafka on the Shore"'s riddles form their own solution.

Ranpo appears on stage and makes an Oscar-worthy performance out of his announcement that reveals Murakami to be the culprit behind his own death. It doesn't make much logical sense that Murakami would fake his own death for a performance, but rather it's an action motivated by pure passion.

“I…,” muttered Murakami in almost a whisper. He raised his voice and continued, “I am an actor! I become someone I am not and live a life that doesn’t exist! My job is to expose what it means to be human! It doesn’t matter if I play the lead part or a minor part. It doesn’t matter if I am a villain or hero. I become them with every part of my body! There is no other job for me! This is the only way I can live!”

And here, Murakami reveals the final paradox of the play:

"But there is one thing that cannot be avoided while acting on the stage of life, and that is death! Death is not the opposite of life; it is life’s symbol and banner. However, it also provides a great paradox! Nobody alive has ever experienced it! That’s why to me, the greatest job of all would be performing the death of a person. Not death as a device or a mere convention, but real death that I could convey to the audience. That was the pinnacle of theatrical performance to me. And this is the outcome of my toil."

Murakami eventually gets arrested for the fake death threat and deceiving the police, among other things. The most notable moment after this comes in Ranpo's dialogue to Murakami:

“I thought you were amazing,” Ranpo suddenly said from behind as Murakami was being taken away. “I didn’t quite understand all of it myself, but I don’t think it’s something that just anyone could do. By the way, take a look at the audience. Look at their faces.”

1. Ranpo sees Murakami's act as something admirable, most likely because Ranpo appreciates a good mystery and had fun solving it.

2. Ranpo tells Murakami to look at the audience, to which he turns around and sees the faces of a broken audience who came to watch a play and instead witnessed a real not-so-real murder.

“You said your job was entertainment, right? But could you really call it that…when you look at their expressions?” For the first time, Murakami’s eyes showed a sign of weakness. “…I see.” A small voice, unlike what one would expect from a stage actor with a powerful voice, fell from the stage. “I was…only performing for myself.”

Murakami realizes that he traumatized his entire audience on his quest to reach the "pinnacle of theatrical performance." In his small world that consisted of just the stage, he failed to see the outside world and forgot to consider how his actions would impact others. It's also important to mention that it was Ranpo specifically who pointed it out to him.

The focus on the audience mirrors Fukuzawa's thoughts when Ranpo was giving his big speech before Murakami appeared on the stage:

Fukuzawa was at his wits’ end. From the playgoers’ point of view, the fact that people knew there was going to be a murder beforehand completely changed their view of the situation. Was it really okay to tell them that? But Ranpo showed no concern for the audience’s worries.

Ranpo, throughout the entire novel, is portrayed as this extraordinarily ordinary kid who means well but simply doesn't understand what others are thinking. He was taught that he wasn't special, but this only isolated him into his own tiny world, because the outside world was filled with things he didn't understand.

This leads to him upsetting a bunch of people by blatantly calling out things about them that shouldn't be called out, like the theater's owner Ms. Egawa, and even Fukuzawa at one point.

However, this moment when he calls out Murakami is pivotal because it shows how he's grown from this event. He's learned to be considerate of others. He's seen how he can upset other people with the things he says, and he's learned from that enough to show another person who's trapped in their own individual world.

Although Ranpo is depicted to be somewhat self-centered throughout this novel and even after it, Fukuzawa taught him that he isn't alone in this world. Because Fukuzawa showed compassion to Ranpo, a special fifteen-year-old kid who didn't know better in a world of monsters, Ranpo learned how to exist in a world where he was different from everyone else, and that was okay.

Thank you for reading! If you haven't read this LN yet, I would still highly recommend it because I didn't cover the entirety of the mystery, and it's a wonderful read to understand more about Ranpo and Fukuzawa's backstory.

[faeriejukyung]

True Beauty’s Gaping Mother Wound

*disclaimer*: I understand that all the listed traits are things which are often very common in Asian households, and it may seem that rather than being concerning, these are just a part of Asian culture. That is why, I feel that it’s necessary for me to make it clear that I am, in fact, Asian (Indian to be specific), and parental abuse is something that is extremely normalized here. As someone who has experienced it firsthand, I want to say that just because something is common/normal, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is correct. If you or anyone you know is in a situation like that, it’s very very important to speak out. And it’s not your fault, i know it’s easier to believe that way but it’s really not. We deserve to be in a loving environment, regardless of what culture we are born in.

Throughout the drama, Jukyung’s mother shows many traits of an abusive mother. I have been able to outline 4 of them. I don’t mean to write her off as an evil character,, because overall she is well intentioned, and just like any other mom, she does love Jukyung. This is shown in episode 8 too, where she shows remorse for her actions. That however, doesn’t justify her abusive behavioral patterns in any way. Because we can see how badly it affects Jukyung, her self esteem and her overall view of herself.

-

Act 1: “I’m going to kill you today and go to jail” -- Physical Violence.

Throughout the series, we see Jukyung's mother being very violent. But one scene which particularly stood out to me was the scene where she finds out about Jukyung's dad getting scammed. (in episode 1). While it is true that her dad caused a huge financial loss to the family, and anyone would feel angry in a situation like that, it is also true that there is never a good reason to physically abuse someone.

After hearing the news, Jukyung's mom is overcome by anger. It's completely okay to feel frustrated, but the way she violently jumped at her husband, clearly intentioned to hurt him, and the way she needed to be held back by juyoung and heekyung highlights her abusive nature. And this isn't a one time thing where she momentarily lost control of herself. She constantly shows similar behavioural traits throughout the drama.

In the scene where we see Jukyung's mom and dad together properly for the first time, their relationship dynamic is established. He's meekly massaging her shoulders while she orders him around. Their is an obvious power imbalance in the relationship, and the way Jukyung's dad cowers in fear around Jukyung's mom is a proof of that.

-

Act 2: "Why would you kill my precious son?" -- Conditional Love.

We see examples of Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love in the kdrama AND in the webtoon. Conditional love is when a parent or a parental figure makes their child compete for love. They withhold their affection until the kid acts in ways that are desirable to them, and if the kid fails to do so, the parent often punishers them through different methods. This is their way of maintaining control over their children.

Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love manifests itself in the form of favoritism towards her eldest daughter Heekyung, who’s not only conventionally beautiful but also very smart and has a high paying job, and towards her youngest child and only son, Juyoung, who is also written to be very attractive. Both Juyoung and Heekyung have gifts that Jukyung does not posses -- beauty and brains. The conditions that are established in order to attain their mother’s affection are getting good grades at school, and being conventionally attractive, which is why Jukyung often gets the shorter end of the stick

In the scene where we are first meet Heekyung is the drama, their mom’s affection towards her is very evident.

This is shown in the webtoon too.

She displays this favoritism towards Juyoung too, and even more so. In episode 1 where Jukyung tries makeup for the first time, and gets ridiculed by him for doing a bad job at it, she naturally feels angry and yells at him, “do you want to die?!”, but instead of telling Juyoung to stop, their mother yells at Jukyung for yelling at Juyoung (”why would you kill my precious son? why?”). It’s already very evident that Juyoung has picked up the habit of constantly taunting Jukyung for her face from his mom. In the webtoon, when Jukyung decides that she wants to pursue makeup arts and asks for her mom’s support and fees for academy, her mom flat-out refuses, saying that they don’t have enough money. However as we find out later, money wasn’t the problem, because she had enough money to send Juyoung to a cram school for acting.

I find it hard to believe that any good parent would constantly compare their children and pit them against each other like this. In the webtoon and the kdrama, it is made clear that Juyoung doesn’t have particularly good grades either, but he doesn’t have to face his mother’s wrath by the virtue of being good looking. Jukyung on the other hand, does not have any redeeming qualities.

-

Act 3: “I’m going to throw all your makeup away” --Excessive Anger.

Another sign of parental abuse is display of excessive anger. It’s usually used as an intimidation tactic to keep the child in line. Sometimes, it can simply happen because they lose control of themselves. Either way, parents who get angry more often than what is supposed to be normal, and hurt their children (physically or verbally) in the midst of their anger, repeatedly, are abusive. I feel like I don’t even need to elaborate on this one. Jukyung’s Mom is angry during half of her scenes. And the way she acts upon that anger crosses the limit too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to express your the way you feel, but the way Jukyung’s Mom does it, is extremely unhealthy and hurtful to others around her. Whether she’s jumping on Jukyung’s dad or talking down on Im Jukyung, she’s very inconsiderate of how her anger affects others. She almost always expresses herself in an extremely volatile way.

Jukyung described makeup as a hopeful light opening up a new life for her. There’s even a whole music segment of her discovering the powers of makeup, characterized by pastel and bubblegum tones, and the segment has a magical feel to it. Suffice to say that makeup brought an almost magical kind of hope and optimism to her life. In episode 6, Jukyung's Mom goes to her school to get her report card. When she sees her low grades, she gets so angry that she threatens to throw away her makeup, without once considering why Jukyung is so attached to it. In my eyes, she's actually very similar to Soojin's dad who also uses intimidation and physical violence to keep his daughter in line. If we put the same background music for the scenes where we see Jukyung's Mom threatening her, as the ones where Soojin's dad abuses her, they'd practically be identical. The only difference is that the show often plays Jukyung's Mom's behavior as a joke.

In episode 7, after seeing that Jukyung didn't improve as much as she wanted her to, she actually threw away all her makeup. Even though Jukyung did try, and did improve, it still wasn't enough for her mom. Jukyung's restlessness after not seeing her makeup on her table was palpable through the screen. Finding out that her mother threw all her makeup away sort became her breaking point. We see her yell at her mother and express her feelings for the first time.

I think it's important to note that Jukyung, who's already finds it very tough to reach out to her courageous side, was inspired by this incident to stand up to her mom, to express her outrage. Saying that makeup meant a lot to her is an understatement.

-

Act 4: "What's the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on if you're ugly underneath?" -- Verbal Abuse.

We all get into arguments with our parents from time to time, and I’m sure we’ve all been yelled at by them at some point. Verbal abuse however, is not something that is normal, and the two shouldn’t be confused. A parent who constantly humiliates their child, yells and screams at them, talks down on them is in simple terms, an abuser. 

In episode 1, when Jukyung tries makeup on for the first time and goes to school, she gets ridiculed by her bullies and her classmates. Crestfallen, she returns back home after school and goes to her mother for reassurance. Instead of providing that, her mother ridicules her even more and calls her makeup “Ghost Makeup”. This is something abusers often do. Under the guise of teasing the victim, they often attack the victim’s self esteem, appearance etc, to make them feel insecure and to maintain their position of power over them. Jukyung’s mother isn’t very different from those bullies who told Jukyung that she was ugly and made her feel like she could never amount to anything. 

Another example that irks me a lot is from episode 3, when Jukyung’s Mom is chewing her out for being late, and suddenly the conversation turns to cosmetics and makeup. This is also one of the traits of verbal abuse. Instead of arguments surrounding the basic issue, they branch out and turn into character assassination. Her mom accuses Jukyung of wasting all her time on makeup instead of studying, even when Jukyung clarifies that she got late because she missed her bus, not because she was out buying cosmetics. But her mom doesn't listen and says to her, “What’s the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on when you’re still ugly underneath?” 

Jukyung’s face after hearing her own mother say that was heartbreaking. Unfortunately, this type of mother-daughter relationship dynamic isn’t something  that is rare. Mothers frequently project their own insecurities on their daughters and put them down. Jukyung’s Mother’s behavior explains her self esteem issues, it gives an insight about where her insecurities really stem from. Sometimes our abuser’s thoughts and image of us start maligning our own self image. Frequently hearing them tell us that we are worthless, and that no one will ever marry us or love us, makes us believe that we are in fact, worthless and incapable of being loved unless we change something about ourselves. We frequently get an insight into how Jukyung thinks of herself throughout the drama. 

“It’s not my fault that I was born dumb” (In episode 7, after finding out that her mother threw away her makeup.)

“You know that I’m messed up” (In episode 2, referring to her face, while asking Lee Suho to keep her bare face a secret)

The drama is yet to end so I don’t want to completely write Jukyung’s Mother off as an abuser. I hope she becomes a better mom in the show, I really do. Because Jukyung deserves a loving mother. And Jukyung's mom does in fact have a few redeeming qualities, however, simply love and caring isn’t enough, you need mutual respect, reassurance and effort in each every relationship. We know that Jukyung’s mother is also often labelled as an ugly woman, and she believes that she could only get by through studying well. (“It’s going to be okay as long as you study well” - episode 1). In a world where a woman either has to a exceptionally beautiful to be considered worthy, or be exceptionally intelligent and professional lest she isn’t blessed by beauty, it’s very easy to internalize self hatred and direct it on to other individuals (especially if those individuals are your children). That is why i genuinely find myself rooting for Jukyung’s mother and hoping for a character development arc -- because i understand where she comes from, and because i can empathize with her. 

-

Fin.

[symptoms-syndrome]

Alters and Race in White-Bodied Systems

I said I was going to write something up, so I’m going to try. I will try to make this as easily understandable as possible, so please let me know if parts are unclear. This will be a little long because it’s a complex topic, but I hope you try to read it if you can. I’ve broken things up into chunks and made the text large for each header so that it is more ADHD-friendly, and tried to use layman’s terms whenever possible.

Things I’m going to be talking about in this post will be:

What is race?

What are the types of racial oppression?

How do people in DID communities/spaces perpetuate racism?

How can I check myself and avoid perpetuating racism?

Final notes

When I can, I will link to sources. For transparency, I am a nonblack/indigenous, Korean-American mixed race person with diagnosed DID. When I use the term “DID” in this post I am referring to both DID and OSDD.

#1: What is Race?

Race is a social construct, created by white people. It is not based in any science, as science has disproven there are significant genetic markers that differ between different races. “Whiteness,“ especially, has been an idea that has changed wildly over time. (A good book to read about this is called How The Irish Became White.)

Socially, people are divided along lines of race, which are blurry at best. Things like “the one drop rule“ make it so that no person of color (POC, a noun not an adjective) can fully claim whiteness. Whiteness is primarily defined by “not being a POC.”

‘Whiteness,’  like ‘colour' and ‘Blackness,' are essentially social constructs  applied to human beings rather than veritable truths that have universal  validity. The power of Whiteness, however, is manifested by the ways in  which racialized Whiteness becomes transformed into social, political,  economic, and cultural behaviour. White culture, norms, and values in  all these areas become normative natural. They become the standard  against which all other cultures, groups, and individuals are measured  and usually found to be inferior (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 46-47).

(In layman’s terms: Whiteness is created by society, and is now defined as “normal” and “default,” while actively oppressing people of color. People of color, by not being white, are seen as inferior. It’s a catch 22 of not being enough, and when you ARE enough, you’re not considered a person of color anymore, which is exactly what happened to the Irish.)

#2: What is Racial Oppression?

“Oppression” is a word a lot of folks throw around these days, and is commonly defined by what are called the “four Is of oppression.” These four Is are:

Internalized: This is oppression instilled in POC. Thoughts like “if I am more like my white peers, I will be more respected,” “I’m not like those people of color,” and pitting different POC against each other are all examples of internalized racism.

Interpersonal: This is oppression that is between individuals, and the most recognized form of racism. Interpersonal racism can look like calling people slurs, expecting POC to conform to stereotypes, etc.

Institutional: This is oppression built into the society and systems we live in. It can look like schools with higher percentages of POC getting less funding, differing descriptions for the same behavior (hyperactive white children being described as “outgoing” while a child of color is described as “disruptive”,) income inequality, and police brutality.

Ideological: Probably the hardest for people to recognize, ideological racism exists within our very thought processes. White people are told, directly and indirectly, that they are harder working, more deserving, more capable, more advanced, and so on. The inverse is applied to POC. A good example of this is the idea of “welfare queens,” or the idea that someone only got to where they are “by playing the race card.”

All of these interact with each other. Ideological racism is the basis of institutional racism, institutional racism is enforced by interpersonal racism, and progress towards liberation is inhibited by internalized racism, which is instilled in us by all of the above. Oftentimes, these are perpetuated in ways white folks don’t even notice or intend. Offhand comments and other microaggressions (more about those here, in a 2 minute video) can reinforce racism in ways that seem small or insignificant.

Now, onto the part folks are most likely here for:

#3: How Does This Relate to DID?

In DID, alters form for all sorts of reasons, and can look like anything. From demons to angels, fictional characters to animals or objects, the ways parts form can tell someone a lot about that parts beliefs, particularly when they differ from the body. In The Haunted Self, an example is given of a part that believes they are Superman because they cannot be hurt.

When race is involved with this, ideological biases come into play. Though you may not consciously make the decision to have an alter appear a certain way, ultimately, an alter is created by your brain and your brain alone (apart from, of course, the society that your brain/body exist in.) When you are a white person, and your brain creates an alter that appears to be of color, there is a reason. Even “positive” reasons can carry racism, such as splitting an Asian-appearing alter to help with schoolwork. Oftentimes, even without knowing, that reason is due to biases regarding race.

When an alter is created, it does not magically gain the experiences of someone who would actually live in that body. An alter that appears to be a POC has no idea what it’s actually like to be a POC, has no experience with racism, and does not experience any racism. Any racial experiences they may seem to carry with them are a white person’s perception of them, it’s a lot like claiming you know a show because you watched it through a neighbor’s window.

#4: How Can I Check Myself?

So, how do you never do anything racist ever again?

I’m sorry to say, but it just isn’t possible to be 100% non-racist. Even POC cannot be 100% non-racist or anti-racist, because we unfortunately live in a society that is constantly upholding white supremacy and white supremacist beliefs.

However, the next best step is being an anti-racist! Checking yourself for biases you’re upholding or racism you’re perpetuating is an important first step. This is an often uncomfortable and confronting process, and one that never has an end, but an important one. There are a LOT of ways you can do this, but I’ll just list a few that are relevant to DID.

Familiarize yourself with common stereotypes.

The easiest way to find where your internalized biases are with alters that appear to be a different race is familiarizing yourself with common stereotypes and ideas that our society has about POC. These are often tied to things like violence, hypersexualization, drug use, and other negative attributes, but can also be things that on the surface appear to be positive, such as being studious, people-pleasing, or frugal. Regardless of whether the stereotype seems positive or negative, either way it’s still perpetuating racism.

Ask yourself: Is my POC-appearing alter more sexual than others? Are they aggressive? Is my POC-appearing alter a monster (such as a demon or a zombie,) or otherwise less human, like an animal?

Keep an eye on your language

Obviously, if you follow my blog, I don’t support talking negatively about my parts. But in addition to this, when race is involved, it’s even more important. Words like “feral,” “aggressive,“ “sassy,” “soft,” and others can have a more racist impact when used on POC than when used on white folks. Additionally, your POC-appearing alter is not an actual person of color, so avoiding language like “my Asian alter”  and replacing it with (when race is relevant,) “my alter that appears Asian” can be also a helpful change. Lastly, and I would hope this goes without saying, but language like AAVE, slurs, and “broken” English are not yours to use if you have a white body. If you wouldn’t let a white person say it, you should not let an alter in a white body say it.

Ask yourself: Would I use this word if this alter appeared white? If I saw another white person talking like this, would I be okay with that?

Avoid cultural appropriation, be aware of culture

A lot of this may seem obvious, such as not wearing native regalia if you are not native, but other aspects of cultural appropriation may not be as obvious. Asian names, for example, are both incredibly personal, important, and significant in Asian culture, and stigmatized against in white society. I don’t know of any Asian folks who do not have a white name they used in school because teachers literally refuse to try and learn our real names. The issue of cultural appropriation is, at its core, that white people are treated differently for doing the same things that POC do, even when it’s originally something that POC created.

Ask yourself: Would someone of x race be treated differently from me doing this? Is this something that POC have been told they cannot do, even though I can?

#5: Final Notes

As I say whenever I do equity workshops, learning does not end here. I encourage you, if possible, to do more research on your own about racial equity! Clicking the links I’ve included throughout my writing would be a good start, and those links may lead you to others. Getting involved with local activism groups, meeting diverse groups of people with varying ideas, and reading would also be excellent ways to further your learning at your own pace.

Reading this may have made you uncomfortable. You might’ve read something and cringed, thinking to yourself “oh no, I do/did that!” in which case, forgive yourself. Learning is always a process, and no one is ever perfect. As long as you keep in mind what you’ve learned going forward, you are not a bad person for having done something racist in the past. We live in a society that at best doesn’t punish, and at worst rewards upholding the racist beliefs we all live with. Discomfort is a part of learning, and if you were uncomfortable and kept reading, I commend you. That’s hard.

This is all written by one person, with one experience and one life story. You may at some point in time talk to someone with an entirely different experience who may say totally different things than me. Use your best judgement.

If you read all the way through and found something useful, and you can spare any change, my cashapp is $beepollen98. Money would be used to prepare for my upcoming gender surgery! Obviously no pressure, I hope you learned something and feel a little more educated, and maybe even enjoyed reading!

As always, my DMs and asks are open if you found anything confusing, and/or have suggestions/questions.