#I just went on a rant about his character and how much thought and detail thag goes into it

[aieevee16]

An (Over) Analysis Of Obscura: Cirrus

This is mostly me ranting about Cirrus' character and my opinions about him.

Spoilers ahead for Cirrus and his route ahead.

Trigger Warning: Implied abuse of power, trafficking, murder, religious themes and Sadism.

First Impressions

Cirrus is one of the main Love Interests of Obscura and he's portrayed as the "Humble Priest", which is stated in the intro of the game, the game's main page on Steam and Itch.io, and the Trailer.

Looking into Cirrus at first glance, he is shown as the "Guiding One" whenever someone comes into the Lunar Church in the Marketplace. He is the priest of the church after all, so it is his duty to provide guidance to the people who seek help or retribution.

Route and Character

[Spoilers for Cirrus' route up ahead.]

In Cirrus route, Cirrus comes off to Vesper, or the Player, as a welcoming being when we first step foot into the Lunar Church. He is seen as benevolent and open to all who comes in. But as soon as we try to engage in small talk, he almost immediately shuts it down, commenting on how mouthy Vesper is. It's safe to say Cirrus doesn't like small talk.

Looking at this interaction alone indicates how he prefers to go straight into business and not wanting to beat around the bushes. He is a busy man, after all; a priest, nonetheless. He'd rather get things over with as quickly as possible so he could move on to his next business that needs to be attended.

Moving forward with Cirrus' route, he can be pushy at times when we refuse him. For example, there is a looping sequence where if you refuse, Cirrus highly recommends to rethink our decision. And if we still refused, he says the same thing over and over again until we comply to his word.

Cirrus does not take 'no' for an answer. He wants obedience and submission and doesn't want any questions to be asked when he tells them to do something. His position in power gives him an edge compared to everyone else, so he's more of an imposing figure and will most likely pressure someone to comply, whether they like it or not.

And as we go forward into Cirrus' route, depending on our choices and interactions, the tension between Vesper and Cirrus becomes more... Intense, to say the least. Cirrus has a way of building up that tension. He comes off to Vesper as a welcoming and Humble Priest, like we see him in the beginning, but slowly demonstrates his dominance and power over others.

And when I say "dominance", I say it as in an intimidation tactic. Cirrus uses his power to influence our choices; quite literally when the choices are:

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No." "Yes."

At some point in the game. In other words, we have no choice but to accept him. And this is seen strongly during our first timed choices. The timed choices gives us pressure to choose and makes us panic. And depending on which option you choose, it can result in multiple bad endings if you're not careful.

But if you manage to get to the path leading to his neutral or good ending, his presence is still intimidating to us as the player. And that dominance seen clearly in his CG art. Comply to whip yourself, he looks down on you and watch with a sadistic smile. Don't comply; he does the whipping himself.

Here, we see him towering above Vesper, making them look small in comparison to his already talk stature. He looks down with a grin. The lighting of the scene makes him look malicious compared to when we first meet him.

Cirrus may be known as the "Humble Priest" when in actually, he is the "Sadistic Priest" once you play his route.

After the initial whipping scene, it can go either way depending on your choices, he could either help you on finding the Lunar Ichor cure or get rid of you as soon as possible.

The Endings and Intimacy Points

I won't do each ending because there's a lot of endings but I will talk about how Cirrus handles the situation in the endings. There are two categories of Cirrus' route endings: Help and Remove.

If I remember correctly, Cirrus has two Help Endings.

The neural and good ending tells us that Cirrus sees us as someone who's worthy of his time and energy to lend a helping hand in finding the Lunar Ichor. The Help Endings tells us that Cirrus will only give us help if we show him he has power and we submit to him. If we are willing to give him power over us, he will provide us with the answers we need. He is a priest, after all. He is there to provide to those who seek help and guidance.

And then we have the Remove Endings. As what it implies, there are many ways for Cirrus to "remove" us from his presence. One of which we remove ourselves from him all together if we have chosen one of the timer options. Going back to Cirrus, he has other ways of removing us from him, which are literal back stabbing (murder on the spot), and selling us off to someone else.

If he sees us as someone who's unworthy of his time and energy, he won't hesitate to get rid of you. It is "out of sight, out of mind" for him. He is a priest, after all. He has other important matters to attend to.

And when it comes down to his Intimacy Points, you just gain a perfect 6/6 when getting his best ending. If not, you're automatically on the neutral and bad endings. The points tells us that Cirrus prefers perfection and has high standards when it comes to devotion. It's either him or not when it comes to his standards on you.

He's the "You're either with me or against me".

Design

When it comes to Cirrus' design, he has subtle hints that he is not all that he seems to be.

If we look carefully into his design, we see a lot of snake imagery on his priest robes. Snakes are often associated with evil or the devil in Christian Mythology. The snake also represents deception, trickery, and manipulation, which is also seen in the story of Adam and Eve, where Eve is tricked by a snake, who is the devil, into eating the forbidden fruit.

Cirrus is a priest; a follower of the Lunar God, nonetheless. The star pattern on his blue scarf and crescent moon brooch indicates his worship of the Lunar God. But he doesn't act like how a priest should be like as we progress into his route. The snakes on his robes may have been a foreshadowing as to who Cirrus really is.

Moving on to Cirrus' himself, in all of his sprites, he stands straight up with his shoulders square and chest out. Here are some examples of his sprites as reference.

He is not seen slouching or hunched over in any of his sprites. He stands straight and tall. It gives him a kind of presence that tells us that he is a very important person, as to which is is. His posture, along with his already tall height, adds to his intimation and dominance over us as Vesper.

A proper posture for someone who must be seen as nothing but perfection. His statues as a priest also comes into play here.

As a follower of the Lunar God, and quite possibly the closest thing to the Lunar God themselves, Cirrus must be seen something similar to a God. He must be perfect in everything. From how he stands, the way his clothes are fitted, the way his hair is styled, even the design of his mask.

He is seen as someone who's other worldly, given the fact he's much paler in comparison to the other Love Interests. His white hair also gives him a somewhat glow to his figure. He is, in other words, ethereal to look at.

And finally, his mask's design. The mask is simple in design, but it's also eye catching enough with it's intricate lines that makes us look at his face more than anything else on him. The mask is eye catching enough for us to pay close attention to him more, which gives him an advantage when conversing with us, and possibly manipulate our decisions.

Conclusion

Cirrus is a complex character that has many layers to him. He is cunning in deceiving the player and manipulate our choices. He is a master with his way of building the tension between him and Vesper as the route progress and how we see him go from the "Humble Priest" to the "Sadistic Priest". I'm sure there's still more about his character I've most likely skimmed over. But this is what I've managed to gather so far about him and his character in his route. And so far, he's terrifying yet fascinating to study on.

[hxney-lemcn]

Prince and the Frog — Housewardens x gn! reader

summary: you find yourself cursed and you go to your prince to lift it.

tw: none that I can think of.

a/n: I saw something about the princess and the frog and got inspo. This is so fun, goofy, and lovely, I hope y'all enjoy <3

wc: 1.9k (~300 each character)

Master List

You weren’t sure what you’ve done to deserve this, but even you felt it wasn’t enough. I mean a frog? Really? And the cure was a true love's kiss? Seriously? Can it get any more cliche? You might as well search for a princess and turn her into a frog as well and then set off into a journey of personal growth…you suppose a prince will have to do. You went to the first person you thought could help, time to see if they really would still love you if you were a worm, err…frog.

❥ Riddle Rosehearts

Okay, so maybe Riddle wasn’t technically a prince, but a queen is a step above that, no? You were a little scared of his reaction, but you couldn’t stay a frog forever. Not to mention that someone else had cursed you, it’s not like you turned yourself into a frog. So when you managed to find him he freaked out, mouth agape as you explained your situation. Thank the sevens you could still talk. Riddle’s face soured, lips twisted into a scowl. At first you thought he was going to find a way to collar you in your current slippery state, but he ended up ranting about the person who cursed you, asking for any details that you could provide. The thought of kissing you to break the curse hadn’t even crossed his mind, instead skipping straight to punishing the fool who’d curse the Queen’s rose and making them reverse it. It was then that you learned just how quickly Riddle could sniff someone out if he wanted to, because the effects had been reversed by the end of the same day. (If that doesn’t show you how much he loves you then I don’t know what can).

❥ Leona Kingscholar

…are you sure about this? I mean…yeah he’s a prince and all but he might just toss you mistaking you for a random frog who dared to encroach on his space. The type to argue he wouldn’t have to love you if you were a worm cause how ridiculous is that? Well…not so ridiculous now, huh? Thankfully, you had found Ruggie first, explaining your situation and asking for him to bring you to Leona. Not so thankfully, Ruggie found the entire thing hilarious and had to take a moment to calm himself down. He kept snickering to himself the entire way to Leona, making you want to die, or just stay a frog and live a happy life in a nice little pond and start a little froggy family. When Ruggie managed to tell Leona what was going on in between laughter Leona just stared at you like you were the stupidest motherfucker. Hey! It wasn’t like you were asking to be cursed! Has an internal conflict on what to do. On one hand he wants to prove he’s your true love, and kissing you seems to be the quickest way to get this over with…on the other you are a literal frog. Shooing Ruggie away, Leona bemoaningly gave you the quickest peck ever, making a face of disgust as he pulled away. The transformation back took a few seconds, but the look of disgust quickly turned to a smug smirk, feeling proud that you were truly his. 

❥ Azul Ashengrotto

Okay, so again, not an actual prince…but he excelled at potions, so it only made sense…except he’ll probably make you sign your life away. So maybe not a good choice once again. I pray for you because one if not both of the Leech twins are gonna find you first and they’re gonna have a field day. ‘My, you’d look perfect in one of my terrariums’ Jade would note. Floyd would probably accidentally kill you because this entire situation is oh so hilarious and he forgot he’s supposed to be holding you gently. After the two have their fun (Jade plays with you and his terrarium like you're a doll in a dollhouse), they finally bring you to Azul, laughing their asses off in their own ways. Azul stares at you blankly as the two eel brothers leave, trying his hardest to not laugh. His face is red from concealing his humor, looking to the side to collect himself. He’ll offer you the cure, but for a price. Kiss you? He has a reputation to upkeep you know. He can’t be seen kissing frogs, imagine what that’ll do to his image! No, no, just sign the contract, and to sweeten the deal he’ll have the twins deal with the pest who thought it was a good idea to curse his angelfish. If you really persist, he’ll give in eventually. To be fair, he is also curious to see if you're his true love, but on the other hand he’s terrified if you're not. He doesn’t want to lose you. And to both your delight, you transform back after he gives you a small kiss on your little froggy head…he’s also running laps in his mind at how happy he is.

❥ Kalim Al-Asim

He’s a prince and won’t think twice! He loves you truly, so it has to work! Too bad Jamil stumbled upon you first. Adamantly tries to hide you from Kalim and he feels his headache growing ten times worse. Why did you stupidly get yourself cursed? He asks like you did it on purpose. You didn’t know why the guy cursed you either! Jamil keeps you tucked in his hoodie until he can find time to bring you to Professor Crewel. You tried to fight him at first as you’d rather stay a frog than get detention for something you had no control over, but Jamil knew how to keep a tight leash on the unruly…it was his job after all. Unfortunately for him, Kalim walked into the kitchens right as you hopped out of his pocket. At first he was confused, and then even more confused, and then ecstatic. You hopped over to him, asking for him to protect you from Jamil (who was giving you a major side eye). Then you explained your predicament, and Jamil butted in about bringing you to Crewel. Innocently, Kalim offered to kiss you. No need to bother Crewel if the cure was so simple! Jamil couldn’t stop him in time, as Kalim kissed you the second he finished the sentence. Even Jamil couldn’t hide his disgust for a second at the action. Thankfully, Kalim was your true love as you had transformed back, and he hugged you gleefully. Unfortunately for Kalim, you refused any of his kisses until he rinsed his mouth (lmao).

❥ Vil Schoenheit

Another queen. Best person to go to. He can whip up any cure just as fast as he can whip up any potion/poison. Rook, saw the whole encounter with the other student, and brought you to Vil without a second thought. He already knew everything about the idiot who cursed you so no need to stick around. Vil’s gaze turned into a disapproving stare as he looked at you. Even though Rook tried to stick up for you, dramatizing the whole event as stating how brave you were to face such a curse head on, Vil only shook his head. He motioned for Rook to follow him, not wanting to pick you up. He loves you, really he does, he just can’t afford to get his clothes dirty or stained. He picks the ingredients effortlessly, starting to brew the cure without a second thought. Both you and Rook seemed to want to get on his nerves as you both prattle on about true love and how he should kiss you. He didn’t expect you to be a cheesy sap (he’s lying), besides, don’t you know how many curses list true love’s kiss as the cure? The meaning is pointless. Besides, he doesn’t need some curse to prove his love for you, hasn’t he shown you how much you mean to him already? Or was he lacking, because he didn’t think you’d doubt him. Either way, you’re drinking the cure, he couldn’t risk that your slimy frog skin might make him break out. But don’t worry, if you really have room to doubt his love, he’ll make sure you can’t within the week.

❥ Idia Shroud

Hahaha. Again, are you sure? He’s always holed up in his room, the only chance you're brought to him is if Ortho finds you (or vice versa). At first Ortho found you adorable, cooing at you as he floated to Idia’s room. He thought this was the perfect opportunity to show both you and Idia just how much you care for the other. How could either of you doubt the other if it's sealed with a true love's kiss? It was a brilliant opportunity! (Orthos a little too into this). He barely let his brother welcome them in before barging in and shoving a frog (you) into Idia’s face. At first Idia screeched, falling out of his gamer chair and scrambling away from the amphibian. Was Ortho pranking him? That’s totally uncool, he wasn’t some normie. But then Ortho happily blabbed about you and the curse and then it clicked…YOU WERE A FROG? Now he’s rolling on the floor laughing at you. You’d smack him if you WEREN’T A FROG. After he’s done laughing it up, he then freezes. Ortho wants him to kiss you? B-but that's gross! Who knows what diseases he’ll get if he kisses you. k. Wait, don't go to someone else! Fine, he’ll do it, but he won’t like it. Inside, he’s absolutely terrified. His mind is running a mile a minute. He doesn’t think you’ll actually turn back, someone like him doesn’t deserve true love…so imagine the face he makes when you do. Face a bright red, his hair a bright pink. Oh no, he feels faint. Give him a peck on the lips to finish him off.

❥ Malleus Draconia

Uh oh. Queue the thunder and lightning. Whoever cursed you is the stupidest motherfucker. Malleus is the one to stumble upon you this time, to the disdain of his family. Lilia on one hand wanted to laugh about the situation, on the other, he knew he’d have to protect the stupid human from being smite for cursing Malleus’ love. Silver and Sebek are sweating as Malleus holds you gently in his hands. If he thought you were gentle as a human, he’s being ten times more careful with you in your froggy state. On the outside, he’s silent and brooding, on the inside he’s lamenting on finding you an enclosure where you can be happiest. What type of tank, soil, plants, water…someone please tell him this is reversible. Lilia chimes in before the rain outside can get worse, mentioning true love's kiss is able to reverse the effects. Malleus’ green slitted eyes never move from your tiny form, he finds you absolutely breathtaking even as a frog (this man is down so bad), but he’s nothing but relieved when he hears the news. Human lifespans are already small as is, he would’ve been completely gut wrenching if that time was cut even shorter. Another one who doesn’t hesitate to kiss you. This man would love you if you were a worm. He strokes your moist skin gently as he leaves a small kiss to your adorable head. His entire being, soul, mind and body all belong to you, and if that isn’t true love then I don’t know what is. His eyes shine brightly as you transform back, holding you gently as he promises to protect you from any miscreant that dares even look at you wrong…yeah so the guy who cursed you is still fucked and now you have a protective dragon at your heel 24/7.

[merlincmgirl]

Dirty Talk - Echo x FReader - NSFW

Summary: Being forced to the sidelines with your riddur for company could be worse, but you were bored! Just the sound of Echo's voice was enough to get your mind wondering. He offers to help make your thoughts a reality.

Characters: Echo

Pairing: Echo x F!Reader

Word Count: 5,213

Warnings: PinV sex, fingering, oral sex (male and female receiving), dirty talk, teasing, use of derogatory language (once), bratty behaviour. If I've missed anything, please let me know.

Authour's Note: Echo deserves better, especially from the writers! My precious boy!

“We should be out there with the rest of the team, you shouldn’t have to be stuck inside babysitting me!” you grumbled, monitoring the communications between the rest of the Bad Batch.

Echo rolled his eyes, he had heard the same complaint for the 56th time already. The only reason he hadn’t said anything was because it was you, his love, ner cyare. But it was wearing a bit thin. “I’m not babysitting, and besides you could be spotted out there. It’s not safe for you to go wondering around markets when the governor has placed a bounty on your head” Echo reminded, glancing at you from the corner of his eye.

“All I did was accidently address his mistress as his wife” you pouted, crossing your arms and resting your feet on the corner of his chair.

“In front of his wife and a news reporter” Echo added, shaking his head at you. That had been a very eventful evening, resulting in your quick get away and as many apologies that Hunter and the GAR could come up with. It still hadn’t saved the governor’s marriage though.

“How was I meant to know he was having an affair? Or that woman was the planet’s primary news reporter” you huffed, glaring at the screen in front of you. Honestly, it wasn’t like you intended to cause trouble, maybe the governor shouldn’t have been cheating on his wife.

Echo pursed his lips and took a deep breath – all precursors to a lecture or rant from him. You settled even more comfortably into the flight chair, knowing you would need to do so to enjoy whatever he was gearing himself up to say.

“Well if you had read the briefing that Tech put together, mesh’la, you would have known what his wife looked like. Or realised that the woman who was standing next to him was not his mistress. She was standing behind them, why would his wife not stand beside him?” Echo lectured, eyes burning into yours as he went on. His low, grumpy voice was always something you enjoyed listening to. And when you two were alone in his bunk, it was more than enough to get you breathless. So when he started gesturing with his hand and scomp to make his point, you began to feel a bit heated.

“This is why it’s important to get all the details. It was wrong of the governor, but that doesn’t mean that we had to be the ones to expose his affair. I’ll give you that you didn’t know about the reporter, you couldn’t have known that, but next time mesh’la, perhaps listening to Tech when he tells us about a planet or government that we’re working for. I know he can go on, but it’s in your best interests, cyare” Echo ranted on, hand coming down occasionally to rub at the bare patch of skin at your ankle.

It was always so beautiful to see him so passionate about something, in this case, your inability to listen to Tech’s debriefs and noticing the little details. You didn’t mind, Echo only wanted to keep you safe and protected, he didn’t mean his words in a harsh way. You knew he would do anything to protect you. It was why you loved him so much, he took care of you in a way nobody else had before. “Are you listening to me, mesh’la?” he sighed, bringing you out of your head and back to the present.

“Of course I am! I know I should have listened more, sweetheart. I’m just glad to be here with you. Even if we are stuck on the Marauder” you smiled, leaning forward to place a kiss on his cheek. Echo returned the smile, his hand cupping your cheek briefly as he pressed a similar kiss to your own cheek before returning back to work.

Looking out the cockpit window, you could see a variety of different buildings from where you were docked. The planet’s architecture was beautiful, buildings in soft sandy colours with rich blues and greens mixed into the stone. It reminded you of the sea almost, the colours shimmering in the sunlight, just like the water reflecting the sun’s rays.

It was beautiful, and it just made you want to explore even more. Turning to your riddur, you forced a pout onto your lips. You knew he saw you, because his shoulders tensed up as he was listening to the comm chatter that was going on between the rest of the team members of the Bad Batch.

“Couldn’t we go out just a little? We wouldn’t even have to go far from the Marauder” you suggested hopefully, reaching out to rest an imploring hand on Echo’s scomp.

“Mesh’la” he huffed warningly, tone already showcasing how much he was not enjoying your behaviour at the moment. “We’re staying on the ship. We have to be prepared in case the others need a pick up” he said firmly, raising an eyebrow at you as if daring you to keep it up.

Which really, Echo should know better, because of course you would. He had set you a challenge, and who would you be to refuse it. Especially when you were bored.

“Fine!” you grumbled, looking back out of the window and ignoring his look. Echo narrowed his eyes at your simple agreement but went back to what he was supposed to be doing.

When you were sure that Echo was busy and engrossed in his work, you began to move the foot that rested in his lap slowly back and forth, underneath the kama that he wore. Occasionally your toes would dip into the small gap between his thigh plate and codpiece. Watching him from the corner of your eye, you could see Echo’s jaw clench but he continued on with his work.

Disappointed to not get a bigger reaction, you shifted around and sighed loudly, hoping to disturb him enough to make him pay attention to you. Again nothing.

Frowning, you began to think of something else to capture his attention away from the system displayed in front of him. Finally you spotted the answer to your problem. On the side next to you was your datapad. Grabbing it, you quickly began typing loudly on the screen, drumming your nails against the casing every so often. Clicking your nails against the datapad wasn’t working and only got you a small huff of air through his nose in annoyance. Still Echo didn’t react how you wanted him to. He wasn’t even touching your feet that you had left in his lap. He never missed the chance to touch you in one way or another.

Well, if he was just going to ignore you while you sat bored in the cockpit, so be it. You would at least try and fill the quiet that had settled in between you. Selecting a video that Omega had sent you, you leaned back in your chair and turned the volume up. It was of a little akk puppy chasing after a holoball, tumbling around and falling over it’s own legs. You couldn’t help but coo at the sight.

“Love, I’m trying to work” Echo bit out through gritted teeth. His shoulders had straightened and there was an obvious twitch along his jaw that made your heart beat a little faster.

“Work then, I’m not stopping you” you shrugged, keeping your eyes focused on the screen in front of you.

Sighing heavily, you felt Echo shift beneath you, hips adjusting in the chair before he seemed to settle. Glancing up through your eyelashes at him, you noticed that his pale cheeks were getting flushed. Either in annoyance or frustration you weren’t sure, but it did make him look even cuter.

Relaxing further into your chair, you waited a few more minutes before edging the volume up every minute or so, waiting for a reaction from him. Unable to help it, you laughed loudly at another video of a tooka cat, unable to muffle the noise as you became lost in the videos.

However a hand landed on your ankle, clasping the fragile bones tightly and tugging it closer to him. You looked up, blinking at him innocently. He looked annoyed now, jaw fluttering in anger as he scowled at you.

“You’re doing this on purpose” he accused you, thumb rubbing against your ankle, the pressure was enough to make you want to close your eyes and press into his hand but you refrained.

“Doing what? It’s not my fault I’m bored and you’re not talking to me” you huffed, crossing your arms to look back at him. He raised an eyebrow and let out a little scoff.

“Oh you want my attention, is that it?” he drawled, turning around to face you with an arch of his expressive eyebrow. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel in front of him before he levelled you with a hard look. “Why are you trying to distract me?” he asked, the rough tones of annoyance filtered through his voice making your stomach churn in desire for him. You loved when his voice got all deep and rough when he was rebuking someone or feeling annoyed.

Sighing heavily, you poked your bare feet into the seam of his hip, teasing him some more. “You’re not even talking to me… I like listening to your voice” you explained, shrugging slightly to help ease the nerves that you felt after admitting this to him.

“Oh” Echo breathed, back straightening at your answer and blinking a couple of times in surprise. He obviously wasn’t expecting that answer off his cyare.

“It makes me feel warm inside, like I’m safe and protected. But also… I don’t know, you make me want to drop to my knees in front of you so that I can be your good girl. Makes me want you to read one of my racy holobooks just to hear what the love interest could sound like in those moments” you admitted, biting your lip and looking away from him. Heat raced across your face, feeling like it was blistering your cheeks at how embarrassed you felt from your words. He would probably just politely say that he was flattered but it wasn’t something he was also interested in doing with you.

“Is that right, cyare? Maybe you’ll have to pick me one of your favourites, I’m sure I could get into them” he murmured, running his thumb against the arch of your foot, pressing slightly to ease the pressure there.

“Don’t tease me!” you pouted, covering your face with your hands at his words.

“I’m not cyare, I just didn’t realise that you liked my voice so much” he soothed, hoping to ease some of your embarrassment and worry. Carefully, he placed your foot on the floor, leaving the cool metal to spread a shiver up your body at the sudden temperature. “But maybe I should have guessed, you’re always get this glazed look in your eyes when I’m talking to you. Reminds me when we’re alone in my bunk, and you’re trying to keep quiet while we have some fun” he stated, leaning closer towards you, elbow on his knees.

“Echo!” you hissed, glancing to the comms in front of him in case the others were hearing your conversation. Thankfully, it was all turned off from your end. You didn’t think your skin could run any hotter until you heard his words, your cheeks colouring even more.

“On your knees, mesh’la. If you’re feeling bored, might as well give you something to entertain yourself with” he ordered, and you felt your panties dampen even further. Getting up from the co-pilot seat, you slid in between the control panel and his chair, settling in between his splayed thighs before you knelt before him. Your mouth watered, eager to listen to more of his demands.

Echo’s breath faltered for a moment, just staring down at you between his legs. You were gorgeous! He had never thought he’d ever get to experience the love and devotion you showed him, especially not after Skako Minor. He didn’t feel deserving of you, not looking like he did, not with half of him being more machine than man. But you didn’t think that. You loved him, every part of him, both metal and flesh. And you always would gently chide and rebuke him whenever he talked badly about himself, instead praising him and kissing him until he forgot all about the fear and hate he carried with him.

“Echo?” you frowned, recognising that his mind had gone elsewhere, and not a good place. Resting your hand on his, fingers twisted together you guided him back to the present moment. “Everything okay?” you asked worriedly.

The ARC trooper smiled softly, squeezing your fingers in his hand and nodded. “Just thinking about how perfect you are, cyare” he assured, scomp brushing a few strands of hair away from your face.

You turned and pressed a chaste kiss to his scomp before smiling up at him. His thighs tensed around you and his eyes fluttered shut for a moment. “I think you promised to entertain me, Corporal” you reminded him, dragging your hands down his thighs under his kama.

“That’s right, I did” he chuckled warmly, hands coming up to deftly unclip the codpiece and dropping it to the side with a small clang. Groaning at the relief of pressure, he deftly unfastened the compression suit underneath and freed his cock. It was already half hard, your words from earlier enough to chub him up. He reached down and gave himself a few pumps as you looked up at him, mouth watering at the thought of having him in your mouth. Of tasting him on your tongue.

“God, look at how eager you are. Bet if I felt you down there, you’d be soaked through” he rumbled, voice deep and rough as arousal thickened his words. Your thighs clench together, proving just how right he was. “Open up, mesh’la” he ordered, running his thumb across your bottom lip before dragging it open even more.

You helped guide him in, hands wrapping around the bottom of his shaft to keep him steady. However instead of pushing in all the way just like you expected him to. He keeps your mouth open, drool beginning to collect in the corners and leak down your chin. His cock was a warm, heavy weight against your tongue, and you couldn’t help but rub it briefly around his crown.

Echo let out a loud groan of your name, eyes sliding shut at the warm, wet feeling of your mouth surrounding him. It was enough to have him force his scomp arm to rest on the arm of the chair, not wanting to hurt you by trying to pull you closer or use too much force on your neck.

“Kriff cyare, you look gorgeous like this. Just keeping my cock in your mouth, those beautiful eyes focused on me. Such a good girl” he moaned, hand coming up to rest on the back of your head. When you tapped the metal plates of his thigh – your signal for him to carry on – he groaned and began sliding his length further into your open mouth, careful to not go too fast. Not yet anyway.

When the tip of his cock reached the back of your throat, you took a deep steadying breath in through your nose, feeling him weighing heavily in your mouth. Running your tongue along the underside of his cock, you tried to take him even further, wanting to gag on him. However, the hand on the back of your neck suddenly reached to tangle into your hair and pulled you away slightly. You whined around his length, looking up into his lust filled eyes with your own.

“Force, your mouth, cyare. So eager to be filled with my cock, is that it? Couldn’t focus on our mission because you were so desperate to get filled by my cock” he groaned, unable to look away as your eyes watered from holding him in your mouth.

You could feel heat pool and slick leak out of your cunt, drenching your panties in your juices at his words and actions. Just the feel of his length against your tongue and his pre-cum dropping onto you had your hips rocking forward, wishing you could reach down and offer yourself some relief. But you knew that if Echo caught you, he wouldn’t be happy. No, he wanted you to remember that you shouldn’t be trying to distract him while you were both supposed to be working.

“Sucking my cock really gets you off, huh? Go on love, I can see how much you need it.”

Blinking in surprise, you felt Echo’s leg move in between your spread thighs, offering his boot up to you. Was he serious? Did he want you to hump his leg while you sucked his cock? The thought did send heat shooting down your spine at the thought, but it would highlight just how much you were needy for him, and for some friction against your tingly clit. Seeing his encouraging nod, you settled yourself against his boot before finally rolling your hip, searching for pleasure.

After the first roll of your hips against the hard, shiny plastoid of his boots, you couldn’t restrain the moan that escaped your mouth, muffled by Echo’s cock. It had you reaching out to his calves, holding them as sparks of your arousal flittered to your core, tightening the knot of arousal even further. Echo, just moaned your name, feeling the vibration echo around his length as he pulled back before sliding back in swiftly.

“I remember my vods being desperate for you to look at them. If they could see you now, drooling on my cock, begging for relief as you hump my boot. They’d be so excited to see what a slut you are, but only for me. Right cyare? Only I can make you feel like this” he murmured, hips rolling against your face. You tried to get out a ‘yes Echo’ but it all came out in a garbled mess around his cock. “Oh, that’s it! My perfect girl” Echo moaned, feeling the vibration around his length.

The sounds he was letting out was almost too much and you ground heavily against his boot, eager for something to relieve the pressure that was building in your cunt. If he continued fucking your face, and you the rolling of your hips against the slight arch of his boot, then it wouldn’t be long before you both cummed from this alone.

The gurgles and spluttering noises as he pushed into your throat had you clenching around nothing, and you reached a hand up to hold his scomp, wanting to be touching him more, even with his cock forcing itself down your throat.

“Fuck! Stop, stop mesh’la!” he cursed, pulling out and holding your head away from him. Your ARC trooper panted heavily, breath coming out in short sharp jabs as he held you away from his sensitive length. You grumbled, wanting to taste more of his salty, unique taste. “I don’t want to cum down your throat” he murmured, shaking his head.

After a few seconds of you both calming yourselves down and taking in a few deep breaths; Echo reached under your arms and pulled you up to your feet. You let out a little squeal in surprise before he was up on his feet too, turning you both around until he was guiding you to sit in the chair he had just been occupying.

“There we go cyare. Need to open you up before I take you” he said, a smirk playing on his lips as you nodded your consent. God you wanted him to curl his long fingers inside of you and prepare you for him.

Echo gripped your hips, tugging you down until your ass was near the edge of the seat. Hooking his fingers into your leggings and panties, he dragged them over your ass and down your thighs, throwing them somewhere behind him. He helped pull your legs up as well, landing a kiss on each knee and grazing his teeth along them before looking at you, love, awe and lust all rolled into his beautiful whiskey coloured eyes.

“Spread your legs, mesh’la. That’s it… wider… wider mesh’la” he breathed, biting his lip as you hooked your legs up on the arm rests. He sunk to his knees on the floor in between then, his warm breath caressing your sensitive mound.

However, he didn’t touch you, much to your building frustration, preferring to look at you and take in your musky, heated scent and the clenching of your entrance as you were spread out for him. Like a beautiful feast he couldn’t wait to enjoy.

“Fuck, Echo please!” you whined, voice coming out more breathlessly than you hoped. Closing your eyes, you clenched your hands around your thighs. Both as to keep them spread for him, and because you needed at least a brief touch to remind yourself that you weren’t going crazy, waiting for him to touch you, to just do something.

“You’re gorgeous. Such a needy, little thing for me, aren’t you? I haven’t touched you yet and you’re already begging for me” Echo groaned, not taking his eyes away from your dripping slit. He wanted to run his fingers through your soaking wet folds, spread your lips and drink your juices straight from the source. The sounds you were letting out was making his hard as durasteel cock even harder, as you tried to encourage him to move.

Noticing the rolling of your hips upwards towards his face, he chuckled, gathered your slick on two of his fingers before pushing them into your quivering entrance.

The sound you let out at finally being filled and not teased was music to Echo’s ears. Your hot, tight walls pulsed around him, eager to pull his fingers even deeper into your core. He could feel just how wet you were, already leaking into the palm of his hand as he withdrew them before thrusting them back in, curling slightly to search for that sweet spot.

When he had it, you reached down to grip onto his pauldron, fingers curled tight around the smooth plastoid as you let out a cry of his name. Although you loved his voice, he was just as good with his hand and he could pull orgasm after orgasm from you with little more than his fingers.

“That’s it, mesh’la, you feel fucking fantastic surrounding my fingers, it feels like you never want to let them go. I’d be a happy man if I could stay here between your legs for the rest of my life” he growled, before nipping and sucking at the inside of your thigh to leave a mark.

Wasting no time, he pressed his scomp against your clit, activating a gentle vibration that had you clenching even tighter around him, hands coming up to the back of his head to push him closer to the apex of your thighs.

“FUCK! ECHO!” you cried out, body tightening as he used his scomp to push you over the edge, still keeping up his delicious thrust of his fingers inside of you.

“That’s it mesh’la, doing so good” he moaned, pressing his lips to your slit and catching your release on his tongue, swirling against your entrance to catch as much as possible. “Taste so good, mesh’la, can’t get enough of you” he grunted, his words pressed right into your folds, the gentle vibration combining with his scomp to keep you riding your high longer than you normally would.

When he pulled away, you practically sagged into the seat, completely boneless after Echo had knocked every thought out of your head apart from his name. He rubbed soothing circles on your thigh, pressing gentle kisses along your smooth and soft skin as he waited for you to catch your breath.

“You okay?” he checked in, noticing the small smile on your face that was aimed at him.

“Yeah… yeah ‘m feeling good” you murmured, trailing your fingers along his handsome face and down his neck. He closed his eyes, shivering slightly at the tender caress.

“Think you can go for more?” he asked, biting his lip.

“Kriff yes! Want to hear how you’re going to fuck me, trooper” you grinned, sending him a wink.

Echo smirked, eyes blazing with heat and want as he pinched your hip, enjoying the little squeal of surprise and happiness that you let out. “It’s Corporal to you! And why tell you when I can show you instead?” he grinned, pulling you up with a firm grip and spinning you around so that your back was pressed against his chest.

You shivered as the coolness of his armour was held to you, the temperature always a bit cooler than normal on the Marauder since your escape from the Empire. After all, you had to save fuel as much as possible, meaning the heating was the first thing to be sacrificed. He rubbed his hand up and down your arm before pressing a number of kisses to the back of your neck, sucking marks along the way as he dragged your shirt up with his scomp.

“Going to bend you over this chair and fuck you, mesh’la. Right where my brothers and I sit. Every time I’ll sit here I’ll remember this. How eager you were for me to fill your needy hole up. Every time I’ll send a comm or answer one, I’ll think about how much you love my voice. How wet it makes you” he murmured, fingers coming to brush against your folds.

You whimpered, his words sinking in as you realised just how open you were in the cockpit. Anybody could look up and see you through the visor at the front of the ship. Hell, Hunter would know exactly what you’ve been doing in here just as soon as he stepped on the ship, maybe before. The thought that this chair, this room would forever be remembered because you couldn’t help but feel turned on by Echo’s voice and the way he lectured you. It had you sinking over the chair, hands on the arm rest as your head hung between your shoulders.

“Oh, do you like that thought, mesh’la? That I won’t ever be able to forget what we’re doing whenever I’m in here. Going to get me hard just as soon as I walk in here” he chuckled, sliding his hand and scomp to your waist to pull your ass closer into his hips. He moaned at the feel of your ass cheeks brushing against his straining erection. “Ready?” he asked, thumb rubbing circles on your hip.

“Please Echo!” you groaned, gritting your teeth and pushing back into him even more.

“Alright, alright” he chuckled, notching the head of his cock at your entrance. With a final nod of consent from you, he slid home into your tight cunt. Your combined visceral moans echoed along the walls of the cockpit as Echo didn’t stop until he was fully inside of you.

You gritted your teeth, the feel of his length inside you was almost too much. It felt like his cock was carving a way into you, moulding your inner walls around him until he fit perfectly into you. Your hands gripped onto the arm rests, eyes fluttering as you became used to the sensation of feeling so filled by him.

“Fuck Echo, you feel so good. Feel amazing baby” you praised, reaching a hand behind you to catch one of his hips, squeezing tightly as you felt his hips quiver at your words and touch.

“How are you this tight? We were together last night” he breathed, shaking his head as he felt you clench and pulse around him. Inside of his head he was reciting the regulation manual of the command structure if there was no Jedi Commander. It wasn’t thrilling but it ensured that he wouldn’t end this sooner than he wanted.

“Come on, please Corporal” you breathed, throwing your hips back.

It had Echo flittering his jaw as he snapped his hips into yours, burying his length into your warmth over and over again until the sounds of both of your soft grunts and moans, and the wet squelching of your cunt was all that could be heard in the cockpit of the Marauder.

He wrapped his metal arm around your waist, pulling you even tighter to him and fucking himself as deep as he could go into you, angling his hips to find that spot that had you seeing stars. When he found it, you growled out, fists clenching and digging into the soft leather of the chair.

“Kriff, you’re so good! Fucking perfect cunt, can feel how much you want me. How much you need this pretty pussy to be filled by me” he growled into your shoulder, eyes closed tight as he focused on fucking you hard and deep into the pilot’s seat.

“Yes, yes, I need you! Please Echo” you cried, throwing your head back and reaching up a hand to cup the back of his neck. The shift in position had his cock pounding into the spongy part of your walls that had ecstasy burning through you. You groaned, tightening around him as much as you could as you felt your release approaching.

“My good girl, my good fucking girl” he grunted, hand sliding from your waist to under your shirt, pinching at your nipple and twisting it. The sharp shooting of pain and pleasure mixed together and you felt yourself gush around him as you was thrown over the edge. Echo gasped out your name, hips stuttering a few more times before he shot his load inside of you, pace faltering as he all but collapsed over you.

“Hmm, Echo, heavy” you complained, feeling the weight of him bearing down on you from your bent position over the chair.

“Sorry, cyare” he breathed, turning you gently both around until he could collapse in his seat, pulling you with him into his lap.

You spent the next few minutes catching your breath and soaking in each other’s affection and tender touches. Both of you didn’t want to move, happy to just be in this moment with your riddur. You ghosted your fingers up and down his arm, smile plastered on your face at how boneless and loved you felt. Echo smiled into your neck from where he was whispering sweet nothings into your ear. Such a contrast to the dirty words he was using with you before.

Echo hummed against your neck, pressing a light kiss to the spot under your ear before pulling away. He caught your chin, guiding your face to meet his own. His eyes danced in amusement and exhaustion as they met yours.

“Well cyare, entertained enough?” he grinned playfully at you.

You snorted in reply, sinking back into him and closing your eyes. “For now” you teased him, feeling a rumble in his chest at your answer.

[iamnmbr3]

I think its… kinda of odd and a little uncomfortable how much JK… HATED Draco. idk if it was from the start or maybe as time went on but the more I hear and look into the writing of Draco, regardless of how interesting his struggles were and how well it slowly developed… JK kept writing the narrative and there fore manipulate the audience to hate him. even when he was redeeming himself or at least TRYING to it just... seems odd for a grown woman to hate her own character that much when they were literally written to be a brainwashed misguided child.

Idk if her excuse was that it was totally Harry's perspective and thats why or if it was her own personal opinions about her own character but it's just so.... weird.

I agree. What particularly bothers me is the condescending and sexist and heteronormative remarks she's made about fans of the character and about the actor who played him. She seems to really struggle to cope with anyone reacting to her work in a way different from what she intended. That post on the wizarding world website (originally pottermore) where she said (I'm paraphrasing here) that Draco's fans were just girls who thought Tom Felton was attractive was so disrespectful.

It should go without saying but it's an incredibly sexist comment to assume that women who like a character are just silly girls whose brains fell out because they saw an attractive man. It implies that all his fans are women (not true), that all women are attracted to men (not true) that all female fans attracted to men are attracted to the character or actor (not true) and that female fans who do find the actor or character attractive are somehow lesser or incapable of thinking and analyzing and acknowledging the things Draco did wrong (not true) and that the only reason people who watched the movies responded to the character was because of Tom Felton's looks not his acting ability (not true). All these things are both untrue and offensive to suggest. For someone who claims to fight against sexism she sure spends a lot of time repeating sexist narratives. Maybe instead of attacking trans people she could work on her own sexism...

And yeah I genuinely don't understand why she seems mystified that people would view Draco differently than they view an unrepentant Death Eater like Bellatrix Lestrange when SHE is the one who wrote him the way she did. She could've made him love being a Death Eater but she didn't. And then she got mad when people reacted to that distinction. I've got something in my drafts somewhere going through the post on Wizarding World (formerly Pottermore) that she wrote about him because she gives even more (actually pretty cool) details about how Draco changed postwar and abandoned his previous beliefs...and then goes on this bizarre self righteous rant about how he didn't get redeemed and fans who likes him are dumb. After literally a paragraph before talking about his redemption arc. It's so strange.

And I agree it's extremely frustrating because to me Draco is one of the most interesting characters in the story with one of the most compelling arcs. Precisely because of his flaws and how he gradually becomes a better person and makes better decisions while still remaining imperfect. He's a great character with a great story but she seems totally unaware of what she wrote and actively hostile to people who enjoyed the character and even towards the character himself which stops him getting to live up to his full potential. Lowkey wonder if after he became so popular post book 6 maybe she reduced his "screentime" in book 7 out of spite or something. I have no proof whatsoever of that but I do wonder.

[pigcowboys]

dating hcs !

summary: how do the atsv characters act w/ their s/o?

genre: headcanons

characters featured: miles morales, gwen stacy, hobie brown & pavitr prabhakar

warning(s): kissing, swearing, mostly none, though!

⋆·˚. . .miles morales

i can imagine miles running late for class on account of some random villain that was attempting to snatch another purse when he ran into you in the hallway.

he's obv like shook because wtf he just knocked someone over?? he's pleasantly surprised to find out you're not mad at him and that you've actually seen him around?

now he's very surprised.

you two clicked from that point on. afterwards, you were always around each other.

he trusted you with his whole heart and you trusted him as well.

miles is genuinely so smitten with you, it's adorable.

everyone who knows him also knows you. whether they'd like to or not.

i imagine him finding out about his feelings most likely happened when he was rambling to you one day about whatever crossed his mind that week. he's ranting and he just looks over at you and actually freezes.

you two are like cuddled up in his bed and your head is like rested on his shoulder as you drfit in and out of sleep.

yeah... he realizes his feelings real quick.

actually so scared by the fact he likes you.

he knows he likes you, a lot. the problem is, do you like him back? and if you don't, what would happen to your friendship?

he brings his troubles to his mother, taking her advice to just be honest with you. so, he does.

he invites you to your favorite spot in new york, offering you you a goodie bag filled with tons of things he knows you likes before then confessing to you.

"so, the reason i invited you out here is actually important."

"I like you, a lot."

heart basically STOPS when you say you like him too, a small smile decorating his face. he's overjoyed!!

after the initial awkwardness in the start of your relationship miles earns his title as the best boyfriend ever.

he's super caring and so sweet!!

calls you every single day just because he loves hearing your voice SO much

his sketchbook is literally littered with drawing of you that are extremely detailed.

he practically doodles you every chance he gets.

died the first time you caught him sketching you. you were chill about but he was super embarrassed regardless.

overall just a super sweet relationship, miles is not very experienced.

⋆·˚. . .gwen stacy

the most awkward one on this list.

gwen has noticed you around the city all the time but never had any confidence to go up and talk to you at all.

literally just stares at you and your friends and hopes you'll notice her and come over to talk.

she accidentally stumbled into you when she went to her favorite coffee shop, turns out you worked there.

shit.

she pretty much visits that shop every other day from that day on and the one instance she does talk to you formerly is only a result of peter dragging her over to you. she stumbles over her words a lot but reluctantly is able to invite you to her band's concert.

so giddy when you agree to show up.

needless to say she spent way too much time practicing on the drums that week, much to her father's avail.

when the night of the concert comes she's trying her best to be better than she normally is, sneaking glances at your facial expressions in the crowd.

it eased her to see you were extremely invested in every part of the song, wonder in your eyes as you stared up at her on the drums.

you two become good friends from there and you even helped her work through her trauma with peter's death.

it takes MONTHS for the two of you to confess and even when it actually happens, gwen isn't the one to do so. you beat her to the punch, confessing that you were starting to really like her.

she was so surprised by the confession she lost her train of thought, causing you to panic slightly from her complete silence.

she's even more embarrassed by the fact she just shut down.

she admits to liking you too and you two started dating!

SUPERR protective of you.

she already lost someone dear to her -- she's not going to let it happen again.

she's also a very sweet girlfriend.

i feel like if you're the artistic type she'd ask you if you could draw her. when you do, she keeps the drawing forever, hanging it up in her room and telling everyone who didn't want to hear about the fact that you her s/o had drawn this for her!!

kind of nervous but all around a very good girlfriend.

⋆·˚. . .hobie brown

this fucking guy.

he originally got introduced to you when he invited to join the spider society.

you stood out to him for some reason. he wasn't even sure why.

all he knew was that he couldn't stop himself from looking everywhere for you whenever he had free time. attempting to learn more about you.

you rejected his advances most of the time, shutting him down with a "maybe later" or "haha, keep dreaming, hobie."

that didn't discourage him, though.

he decided on inviting you out with him one night for a few drinks with his friends and the alcohol really allowed you to loosen up a bit.

he got to know a lot about you and it sadly only made him want you even more.

you two become good friends over the course of a few months.

you poured your heart out to him and he confided in you as well. the two of you were basically dating, despite it not being declared.

when hobie did confess his feelings to you, it was in the most surprising way ever. he was spending the night at your place and you two were cooking together.

well, he couldn't cook. you were teaching him how to.

music was playing in the background as you two chatted and jokes about random things that happened that week. it was nice.

so nice that hobie felt the need to confess to you more than ever.

you were on the couch, watching a movie together when hobie paused the tv and turned to you with a genuine smile. you looked back at him in confusion, an amused look painting your face as you mumbled out a small "what?"

hobie leaned in, planting a kiss on your cheek before saying "i'm crazy about you, you know that?"

yeah..... he's so unpredictable.

you two start going steady after that, finally.

despite already being in a relationship with you, he still feels the need to flirt with you like he was trying to pick you up at a bar.

in fact, he tested your limits every single day. especially due to the fact that he didn't have a single care for any onlookers who were witness to your dynamic.

he's super cheeky but sweet either way.

he has def wrote a song about you at some point. though, he'd never play it for you or even show you the lyrics. that's something only for himself to have.

tries to act chill about the relationship but he's genuinely just so soft for you.

would rebel against any and everything if you so much as made a small comment about not being the biggest fan of it.

vv caring boyfriend!!

he makes you go to every single one of his shows and swears it's because you're his "luck charm"

good god.

⋆·˚. . .pavitr prabhakar

where do i start with this guy.

he was originally assigned to tutor you in math due to your dropping grades. you were embarrassed by the fact you needed a tutor but he reassured you anyways.

you weren't a very talkative person whenever you two did work together which only led him to be more interested in you.

he told himself the only reason you were crossing his mind was because he was gravely concerned about your math final, but, it wasn't true at all.

the truth? he had actually taken a liken to you.

you were smart, witty and extremely kind. how could he not??

at the end of your usual session, he'd chased after you, sputtering out something about a gas station nearby with good slushies as he hoped you just agree to go.

to his surprise, you did!

pavitr made it his mission to make sure you had maximum fun capable with him. he needed you to know how fun he could be, just so you'd at least reconsider hanging out with him again.

thankfully the plan works and the two of you begin to hang out regularly after every study session.

funnily enough, you two only got together because of his spidey duties.

he was watching you intently from a building to make sure you were getting home safely, texting you at the same time when you're approached by a couple of not-so friendly looking men.

they're grappling you and attempting to shake you down for money when pav springs into action, sweeping the floor with them with ease.

he consoles you on the attack, a bit too much. a relieved sigh leaving him when you confirm that you're okay. he just about to leave when you stop him, calling out a small "Spider-man?" that instantly catches his attention.

he turns to you with a confused expression, stiffening when you moved closer to him.

your hand rested against his chest as you angled your head up, inching his mask up.

he rested his hands on yours, mumbling out a "Wait." that fell on deaf ears as you pulled the mask up further, leaving it bunched up just above the start of his nose.

you analyzed his face silently and pav felt nervous under your analytical gaze.

he almost outwardly screamed when you inched closer to his face, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

he literally froze. does he do something? should he touch you somewhere? is appropriate for him to do that??

you broke the kiss, pulling back with a small smile on your face. and while pav was dazed and happy you'd kissed him, the reality that he was spider-man right now sank in.

did you like spider-man but not him?

his thoughts were cut short when you cleared your throat.

"i like you, pavitr." you paused. "and i know it's you under there."

oh shit. you didn't like spider-man, you liked..him?!

his mouth hung open as he processed what you said, his ears growing hot when it finally clicked.

he dejectedly pulled off the rest of the mask, a smile gracing his lips as he confessed you liked you as well.

when you two start dating, pav feels like he's on cloud 9.

HES SUCH A GENTLEMEN.

opens doors for you and holds your hand whenever you two go out together.

he's also super patient with you too.

he's a bit more experienced than miles and gwen but is still nervous around you regardless.

use to say thank you after you kissed him during the first few months of you dating for no reason. you had to ask him to stop doing that because it was ruining the romantic moment.

listens to every single thing you say and actively defends you no matter what. even if you're wrong.

feel like he's def gave you a tour of mumbattan via web slinging.

secretly loves the way your arms are wrapped around him. it makes his heart flutter inside his chest. though, his face would grow hot if he ever had to say it to you.

he loves you so much it's overwhelming.

a/n: woo!!! this is my first atsv fic, i hope you like it :)

masterlist

[wonnieluvr]

bells

pairing -> xander hawthorne x fem!reader

summary -> you buy xander a charm bracelet for your anniversary. now you can’t help the smile on your face when you hear those bells.

warnings -> you may die of cuteness, a little bit of financial um brokeness? mentioned 😭

a/n -> my first xander fic omg i love him so so so much :((( this sort of went off the rails but i think its still cute! (i'm nervous writing xander idk if i got his character right ahhhh)

in your defence, you hadn't realised when you'd bought the bracelet just how loud it was.

xander was a hard person to buy presents for. not because you didn't know him, you knew everything there was to know about him, he was your boyfriend after all, there was no one else you wanted to remember the little details about. it was more so that, well.. he was rich.

he had all that he could possibly ask for- material wise anyways- and it never took long for him to get his hands on anything. admittedly, you knew that it didn't always come from money (something you had heard about stolen car pieces) but it sure helped if anyone ever came looking for their belongings. you hadn't approved of that method but what could you do now? the current problem was something a little different..

you had taken avery shopping, in desperate need of the perfect present for your boyfriend. it was your 1 year anniversary and you had been stressing yourself out. it had to be the best present ever.

but when you had seen the bracelet.. oh god, he had to have it. you had your heart set on it, it was absolutely perfect for him. avery had tried to dissuade you when you had seen the price tag (you hadn't let her even offer to pay despite her recently acquired riches), suggesting you could find something else just as good for xander. but you couldn't tear your eyes away from bracelet. what absolutely sold you, however, was the accompanying charms, ready to be added year after year. your eyes were glued to the one of little robot and one of a heart, already imagining it on his wrist.

"i have to get it, ave" she had frowned, concerned, as you stayed pressed to the glass, staring longingly at the present. you were trying to convince yourself more than her, she knew that, you were fighting against yourself (and your bank account probably), trying to justify the purchase.

"its perfect" avery didn't know about that but she took your word for it, internally debating for herself if it was the best option.

"just get it, y/n/n" she finally sighed, shaking her head as your eyes lit up. "if you think it's worth it, get it"

and so you had, robot charms and all. and how glad you were you did.

he had even teared up when you beamed at him, so wide and looking as happy as you had ever felt. you were so sweet to him, he had sniffled, flushing and looking away as he asked you to put it on for him. he was never one to lose his confidence but you made the words escape him, he couldn't think straight when you stared at him like that, like he was your whole world.

not only had xander loved it- as you knew he would- he wore it everywhere. he never took it off, not that you knew of.

not even when the teasing started.

the teasing, you grinned at the thought. jameson had been the first to notice. every single time your boyfriend entered the room, jameson had smirked, chuckling and loudly exclaiming "y/n! your cat's here!"

you hadn't understood at first, sharing a confused look with xander as his tall form flopped beside you on the couch. it had taken you precisely two more comments to realise. he was ringing. you could hear him from rooms away, his entrance announced before he even made it into sight.

xander was an expressive person, he often used his hand when he talked, something you loved as he was so passionate and happy to share things with you. you had loved his rants before but you loved them even more now.

grayson had been the one to raise an eyebrow this time. you had been coming down to eat dinner when he had asked where xander was. before you could answer, you heard it. the ringing. it was high pitched and cute, sounding exactly like the bells on a cat's collar, alerting you of their presence immediately. seconds later, xander had bounded around the corner, a smile on his face. grayson had offered you an amused look as you both turned to each other, wide eyed.

"what was that?" xander frowned, a cheeky pout that never stuck long around you. "oh! are you conspiring against me? how dare you?!" he finished his dramatic cry with a poke to your ribs, beginning to tickle you. you laughed loudly, surprised and quickly pulling your arms down to cover your stomach from his onslaught.

"stop!" you cried out, grinning. "xander" you whined, stepping away from him and quickly moving to take a seat. he merely smiled after you, following diligently. your attention was caught again by the ringing on his wrist as he pulled out the chair beside you.

you tried to bite down the amused smile on your lips, not wanting him to notice in case he hated it (not that he ever would). xander had eyed you a moment longer, pondering and his gaze intense as he tried to work you out. he had given up when everyone begun eating, quickly becoming more interested in the food in front of him that whatever mischief you may have been up to.

there was always time to interrogate you later. and he had, just not until your own comments started.

you had been waiting for him to realise, it never usually took him long to work out what you were talking about. like jameson had, you begun to call out to him when he rounded the corner. he could no longer surprise you in hallways and scare you around corners, you could hear him coming.

for a few days he had only pouted and claimed you had some sort of sudden superpowered sense. you had laughed, in disbelief that he still hadn't realised. had he really not heard how loud the charms on his wrist were? you found it hard to believe with all of his genius that he couldn't work it out.

"here, kitty kitty" you called, wandering the hallways in search of your boyfriend. he had raised an eyebrow at the nickname at first but quickly got used to it.

he tended to disappear sometimes in the vast house. finding him was all part of the fun. when you did find him, it was in his room. you felt a little silly for not thinking of there first but it wasn't often he was in here when he could be anywhere else.

he froze as you opened the door, already suspicious.

"xander?" you cautiously eyed him, stepping into the room. you both watched each other for a moment, in a stalemate before your eyes drifted to his hands. he was in the middle of hiding a box, looking much like the one you had gifted him a few weeks ago. "what are you doing? is that-?"

he straightened up immediately, slightly embarrassed at being caught, he was usually good at distractions but there was not much he could do now that he had been caught. he held the box behind his back, mouth opening to come up with something to draw away your attention but you knew him.

"don't you dare distract me right now" you held up a finger in warning, eyes narrowing playfully. "why do you have a bracelet box?"

you paused, mind running wild with thoughts, one sticking out painfully. it jabbed at your chest and you lost all teasing in an instant, expression dropping.

"do you.. are you-" you begun, throat tightening.

he caught on almost as quickly as the thought came to you. "no!"

he jumped, closing the distance in quick strides. his hands came up to hold your upper arms, forcing you to look at him. you could feel the box press into your skin, hear the faint jingle of the bracelet. "it's for you" he held it out to you, hesitant.

your gaze was drawn to his wrist where your gift rested, unmoving since you had given it to him. you heart filled with warmth again, shining eyes meeting his.

"for me?" you whispered quietly, hands taking the box from him and gently lifting the lid to find a bracelet, once almost identical to one adorning his skin. he chewed on his lip, a grin threatening to spread across his lips in excitement.

"do you like it?" despite how sure of himself he was, you could always hear the underlying uncertainty, the worry you may not approve. you could feel tears slightly welling up, blinking harshly to hold them back as you took note of the scone charm.

"to remind you of me" he clarified, beginning to ramble the longer you took to say something. he was nervous. "i suppose i could have gotten you a better charm, i should have gotten one to suit you. but you mean as much to me as scones! not to compare you to food, but you know what i mean! i love you more than scones. you're so pretty and sometimes i just don't know what to say-"

"xander" you couldn't help the tears in your eyes this time. you loved him so much. "thank you" you whispered softly, nothing could take away the smile on your face right now.

"i love it. i love you" you held out your hand to let him put it on for you. when he had done the clasp up, you took his hand in yours, shaking them to hear the matching ringing. "two cats" you offhandedly joked, still basking in your glee.

his eyes widened, shaking your intertwined hands again. "cat collars"

"you actually didn't get that?" your own eyes widened, staring at him in shock. you both stared at each for a moment longer before dissolving into giggles.

[yogsandchaos]

I clicked on a video essay about the problems with mcrp by frostbyfreeman, and boy did I regret it, giant rant under the cut

I genuinely think the dream smp as a story and it's failings can only be done by someone who was a fan or at least had some respect for the series. Listening to anyone who doesn't try and talk about it is very...painful, like I'm sorry but the Hamilton homages were really good and fun and helped make sure everyone understood what was going on! I've been listening to the frostbye freeman's video on scripted minecraft videos and i am wincing at the incorrect details and honestly somewhat pompous takes on what counts as a good story.

Wilbur's writing was genuinely good and moving at times, and the smp hadn't hit it's BIG popularity yet when it super was leaning into the hamilton stuff so they still were mostly just goofing around and the scripting was a lot looser. Like he spent the entire opening gassing up the early more obviously scripted stuff as if there wasn't like 30 over a million views yandere simulator knocks via all the yandere highschools, it's the same thing!

By the time the story shifts into Technoblade's allegories the entire genre of the smp has changed from a goofy joke about countries that also tackled things of justice in the background, into a more tense action and espionage story that fits allegories better (which tbf i always thought were a little forced, tommy is not theseus at all really, techno has more in common but thats a whooole other rabbit hole)

Also head writer? Since when was Technoblade a HEAD writer, he wrote the stuff around his own character yes, but everyone else around that was being written by dream quackity and tommy after Wilbur stepped down! It was not or never was his goal to tie all of the dsmp into a cohesive story to my knowledge or according to anything I can find.

While he has some points about people fighting for attention, a lot of the arcs that went nowhere or suddenly pivoted or stopped were for a lot of reasons outside the server's management. While I am sad some things didn't get proper endings, their existences weren't problems or a sign of arrogance, it was people excited to tell their own stories. Some failed, some didn't, that's natural for a collaboration of this size, and while things could have DEFINITELY been organized better 100% its just how its going to go in a project like this that not everything is going to be able to get the attention and streams it needs, people have lives outside the smp and have other things to do or run out of ideas, it happens.

If anything I liked how everyone had their own lore! Everyone had biased versions of events or thoughts and opinions! No one needed to agree on everything because the inherent nature of choosing a streamer is choosing a bias! No one 100% knew the truth, and everyone who saw the same event came out with different interpretations! That's just how things work! Thats not a writing error!

You say none of it made sense but did you actually ask someone who cared about the series about it! People have spent so much time piecing everything together it's actually kind of insulting to flat out state that it makes no sense when so many people could just straight up tell you the entire timeline for their streamer, or of events, or how things led into each other!

God I hate the use of "if everyones the protagonist no one is" like first of all, pretentious as hell. Second of all, the point of the other streamers isn't to just be supporting cast but to ALSO have their own goals and desires, because all characters have goals and desires! While tommy is the quote unquote main character, everyone in the dsmp has clear goals or at least interests that make sense for them to go after! Do you expect badboyhalo and quackity and everyone to just do nothing while tommy's in exile? No! That's stupid and he is ALSO a streamer who needs a story to tell!

It would be completely immersion breaking and so much less real feeling if every single story and every action was just about tommy and if he's not in the area it just stopped until he got back! You can just admit this kind of format isn't for you! Lifesteal isn't "worse" because there isn't one singular main character, that's not how servers work! You pick your favorite and see their pov and how they see events unfold! It's not supposed to be an unbiased telling, it's one person in this world giving their biased and personal accounts! THIS KIND OF CONTENT HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE LIKE 2012 WITH HERMITCRAFT, IT'S NOT NEW!!!

"The dream smp's only lasting legacy besides the amazing countless fanarts is infecting all the wannabe content creators it spawned with a terminal case of main character syndrome." Oh fuck offfff, have you literally talked to anyone in this fandom ever? Songs, animations, cosplay, stories, and CAREERS were launched off the back of the dream smp "and that final folly" say you've never talked to an inniter without saying you've never talked to an inniter.

Genuinely the entire dream smp part of this video is insulting, misinformed, and lazy. Getting key differences wrong and presenting opinion as objective facts. The worst part? You can find every single issue in an old school scripted series. He spends the entire opening talking about the good days when minecraft roleplay was earnest and was well written and had meaning but like?

"its homage" every single yandere highschool series but especially the main og of samgladiator's

"it has too many main characters" mianite

"too many dropped plots" aphmau, just aphmau in general

"the lore is confusing" jurassic craft

in fact, you can sum up ALL OF THAT UNDER THE YOGSCAST

YOU KNOW?

ONE OF THE BIGGEST SOURCES OF THOSE SCRIPTED MINECRAFT EARLY ROLEPLAYS THAT GOT SO HEAVILY PRAISED AT THE START? SHADOW OF ISRAPHEL?

IT HASN'T GOTTEN WORSE AT ALL, EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM LISTED, IS NOT THE DREAM SMPS FAULT, BUT IT HAS BEEN THERE SINCE THE GODDAMN DAWN OF MINECRAFT ROLEPLAY!

Calling all of the dream smp, life steal, all of those smps "crude performance art" is genuinely the most disrespectful thing I've heard I just, how is this video not disliked into oblivion!? You say they've yet to change from genre to it's own medium of art, but that means nothing! That has no meaning! It is the same thing! The medium is just the place the story gets told, it's the lens the story is created with. Writing is a medium! Drawing is a medium! Painting is a medium! Minecraft smp videos are inherently in the medium of the minecraft program!

The utter constant disrespect of the genuine stories and tales people try and tell with minecraft, saying minecrafters have nothing to say, it's cruel! I can find you so many minecraft videos over an hour long that are poignant! I can give you so many stories about minecrafters handling tough themes! To dismiss it ALL as lazy slop is at worst a show of utter pure pretension, and at best a lack of understanding for the genre and a lack of research.

Why are you trying to engage with a minecraft scripted story as a FILM it's NOT A FILM and it is not TRYING TO BE A FILM, it's closer to a tv series! You say people cant be off their cellphones during a film, but you're BINGING something not MEANT to be binged! You are also engaging incorrectly! You would fail to grasp the merit of a podcast because people listen to them while doing other things! Each video he showed of parrot's has MILLIONS of views so clearly, this isnt a universal fact! you just do not like this kind of content! That is okay! It does not mean theres a secret sickness!

Genuinely every word out of this person's mouth makes me want to start biting, he calls the videos entertaining, then DERIDES THEM for not being "actual stories" and that "he needs to sit at the grown up table if he wants to be a story teller" like literally? what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Just because it's not fucking brokeback mountain doesn't make it not a story. A story is just that, a story! You can tell a story in three lines

"Once upon a time there was a dog named spot Spot had a nice nap about chasing squirrels before he woke up Then he went to chase squirrels before taking a nap again"

THAT'S A STORY, that's objectively a story! im being a storyteller! Its not a long story, it's not LITERATURE, but it is in fact. A story. Just because it's not the odyssey doesnt make it not a story! THAT'S HOW STORIES WORK. How can you deride a story taking place in minecraft...for being bound to the rules of minecraft? thats a part of the medium! YOU JUST SAID YOU WANTED IT TO BE IT'S OWN MEDIUM AND YET YOU CONSTANTLY DERIDE EVERYTHING THAT MAKES IT UNIQUE

The lack of self awareness, the lack of care, the lack of understanding why these videos get so many views, it's insidious, it infects every pore of this video. The premise is "i dont like something therefor its bad and im going to ramble about cinema to make me sound smart for saying that" and it's so goddamn blatant that he worked backwards from an inherent bias against a type of medium to condemn it as a whole without taking any real steps to question that bias!

Also the sheer nitpicking against "content creator" vs "storyteller" like i get content creator is an annoying term and everyone hates it, but its literally just shorthand for "makes something for other people to enjoy" like oh my god you don't need to treat it like it's this disgusting plague on the minecraft community. Like you ask why minecraft roleplays have to be scripted smps, and the answer is that some stories want to be told through that lens, while others want to be told through different lenses of what minecraft can be used for. You might as well ask why some people use pens instead of pencil or why people use fantasy instead of sci-fi for all the meaning that question actually has. It's either so benign it has no meaning to ask, or complete apples or oranges!

God, how am I only 30 minutes in. I don't even want to continue. This was only supposed to be me rambling about how the dream smp cannot be understood fully as a story from someone who refuses to engage with it on it's terms, but the sheer audacity of everything this video says is just...disgusting to me and I had to keep commenting on it.

For someone who talks about how important brevity is, this hour long video is full of boring unrelated nonsense that easily could have been cut, false dichotomies being drawn, and far too much time talking about stories you clearly dont want to give even a chance. It's just bad, it's the "why is minecraft boring now" video for minecraft roleplay where it demands it be something its not and never has been, and then throws a fit about it and about people who do like it and holds a nostalgia for something that has the exact same flaws and thus polishes into something Better.

As a story teller myself, as someone who enjoys minecraft roleplays, who has been watching mcrp videos since 2012, it's genuinely disgusting how little respect or care he has for the creators he talks about. As if those creators and all the people who like it are idiots while He is the only one with True Taste that everyone else must go up to meet. It's annoying as hell, and i regret clicking on that video

[unholy-idiot]

What Punch Out characters think about Garfield.

I have to mix my fixations somehow I must, I just must.

goddd this is so stupid 😭

MINOR CIRCUIT

Glass Joe - Quite content with Garfield, probably has a few merch he simply saw on the selves of some store and got for the fun of it (One of his favorite mugs is a Garfield mug not the McDonald’s one.)

His favorite character is probably Arlene though (at least in the 80’s style not current Arlene)

Von Kaiser - Also quite content with Garfield, he actually finds the Garfield comics quite humorous >_> but…he probably has only one Garfield merch and it’s that one that’s just sitting. He has no memory of how he got this

His favorite character is Lyman. (Does he know?)

Disco Kid - ADORESS Garfield, he definitely grew up watching the Garfield and friends shorts constantly. Has a shit ton of Garfield merch in his mansion because of it, even the really stupid ones like The Garfield couch or that telephone.

His favorite is character Garfield. Sleeps with multiple Garfield plushies staring at him at night.

King Hippo - I don’t think the island Hippo is from had any acknowledge to Garfield. Definitely was a bit freaked out seeing this Orange cat everywhere he went when he first came to America

though I think the cat grew on him, it’s his favorite and only character he know.

MAJOR CIRCUIT!

Piston Honda - Garfield wasn’t as big as a hit in Japan compared to a lot of other countries, so Honda probably wasn’t even aware of his existence until he moved to America. He finds him quite adorable and was given a few merch from Great Tiger as gift.

with the little he has heard of Garfield I think his favorite would be Odie. Not for any reason, just because ��‍♀️

Bear Hugger - Didn’t quite get the hype of Garfield. Like, ever. He never understood it but he finds the gazillion merch quite funny.

His favorite character is pooky (you’re not going to believe why)

Great Tiger - Garfield also isn’t popular in India, but when he first saw the merch of him he thought he was some weirdly shaped Tiger that a lot of people just liked for some reason. Until he was told in great detail the garfield lore by a certain Irish. Needless to say, he now loves the cat for no valid reason.

favorite character is Liz.

Don Flamenco - Also doesn’t get the Garfield hype, but couldn’t escape it. Small bits of Garfield comes into his any time he’s in America, in the mall, in the restaurants, in his matches. He’d always see his face, to the point he started growing this humongous biased towards him.

If you ask who favorite character is, he’ll just go on a rant on how dumb for something as simple as Garfield to be so popular. then reluctantly say Jon.

WORLD CIRCUIT👅

Aran Ryan - Garfield was his SHIT as a kid. Ooo lord he loved that dumb cat. Unlike disco though, he didn’t have the money to get merch as kid and his only source of content was the Garfield and Friends show and the comic strips on the newspaper. Knows far too much about Garfield because of this, ask him anything about it he’ll go on a tangent of the whole lore.

His favorite character is odie. Burp

Soda Popinski - Likes the cat, that it. He only knew about him from bootleg toys he finds on the local market until coming to America.

his favorite character is Jon though.

Bald Bull - This is a Turkish man why would he not like a cat character. He doesn’t even know anything about Garfield and didn’t even know it was comic strip and had a show, he just simply thought it was just some marketable design that just…existed. He has a decent collection in his house but isn’t dedicated to it.

Favorite character is Garfield.

Super Macho Man - Doesn’t give a doo doo about Garfield, he has no reason too nor a way to even get into it😭

favorite character is Garfield cause he doesn’t know anyone else in the franchise

Mr Sandman - Loves Garfield a lot, and is quite knowledgeable on it in general. But…he is an AVID collector that man owns Every. Single. Limited edition merch, to ever exist. He basically has a whole separate lifestyle just dedicated to looking for Garfield merch.

favorite character is Garfield. Duh.

OTHERS

Little Mac - Was one of those kids that didn’t necessarily grow up with Garfield, but was a big part of his life in an unintentional way. Like, he will see an old picture of himself from when he was child or something holding a large Garfield plush, or finding old DvD’s of the Garfield shorts he has no memory of watching.

favorite character is Garfield.

Doc Louis - Probably didn’t give much mind to Garfield, similar to Little Mac it would be part of his life in an unintentional way. But more of him getting merch with the intent of actually using it not because it’s Garfield Y’know?

Favorite character is def Jon tho.

[bicheetopuff]

listen i'm someone who thinks endeavor is hot because i am a gay man with eyes that can see and i personally think hating him is as easy as breathing. personally.

and loving katsuki with my entire heart is easier than breathing because he's just a boy who went through so much shit. including, but not limited to, a mother that clearly should not have been a parent, a school that restrained him on LIVE TELEVISION, a group of villains KIDNAPPING HIM, LITERALLY DYING, and so much more.

(i could go on an entire rant about his mother but i will. hold myself back. but i will at least say i think she's responsible for katsuki blaming himself for all might's retirement with the fact she told his teachers, in front of him, that if he hadn't been so weak, he wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, and then during deku vs kacchan 2, he literally repeats what she said to him while CRYING)

like yeah. i like endeavor's bara tits. i think he's hot. but you know what's NOT hot? child abuse. and that is why i hate everything about him except his chest.

LMAO you know what? I respect that.

Like, I’m surprised Endeavor’s able to carry those things around without a forklift. Maybe that’s where he stores all of his good qualities? Cuz you sure as hell don’t see them anywhere else…

Also, you’re right about Mitsuki and should say it. I’ve always had mixed feelings about her but I’ve always leaned more towards not liking her. I’m not sure if the way she hits Katsuki belittles him is meant to be a gag, but it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. It reminds me how a lot of how Katsuki anti’s think Katsuki’s completely at fault for his behavior, but the way Mitsuki treats him proves that that isn’t the case at all.

Like, if Mitsuki hitting him on impulse out of frustration and telling him the reason something bad happened to him was because he wasn’t strong enough to prevent it was a regular thing throughout his childhood, then no fucking wonder he ended up the way he did?

When he fell in that river, his first thought was probably “if I wasn’t so weak and clumsy, maybe I wouldn’t have fallen…” so of course Izuku—the kid the whole neighborhood has deemed as the weakest link—offering to help him, insulted him because of how his mom has trained him to feel. The thought of not being perfect at everything in order to avoid mistakes, is scary to him, so when this kid who isn’t good at anything (in his four year old mind) thinks Katsuki isn’t strong enough to help himself, it scares him. Because that must mean he’s weaker than the weakest link in some capacity.

He probably associated losing with getting scolded and hit upside the head by his mom until he eventually grew up to punish himself mentally the same way his mom did. And that hurts my feelings.

It’s such a subtle detail, but I do think it’s genuinely an important aspect to his character that gets overlooked since it’s painted as a gag. Like, I know people just see him as an asshole, but he was literally taught the behavior from his mother, as well as being abused by her, and his dad never did anything to stop any of it. It’s even mentioned again during his remedial course and it hurts that he legitimately thinks it’s normal to be treated that way…

[lovelyjasmari]

Pomefiore Endnote - Perfectionism, Apathy and the True Tragedy of Book 5

Warning: Long post and pic heavy.

So…this is something of a continuation of my last twst reaction post, where I analyzed the Absolutely Beautiful dance video. I ended the post by saying that the true tragedy was not that NRC Tribe lost but that Vil could be convinced he was an inferior performer compared to Neige. Now I’m going to expand on that…in excruciating detail. XD

In all seriousness, though, I'm not really sure if I'd call this an analysis in the traditional sense. Maybe more like a long-winded rant based on canon observations. But all the same, I’ve been grappling with this for the last year and a half since when Book 6 first dropped in EN. I’ve wanted to share my thoughts for a long time but decided against it because I acknowledge how contentious this topic is in the fandom and I prefer to keep my online space as drama-free as possible. I also didn’t want anyone to get the idea I’m attacking others when at most, I’m just being critical. 

But with the new story update imminent and it looking like it will be Pomefiore-centric, I’ve come to the realization that if I don’t share this soon, I never will. My timing is admittedly ass but I think it would be worse if I share this AFTER the update and you’re about to understand why.

So before we dive in, disclaimer. This is going to cover the end of Book 5 and the first few chapters of Book 6 and my in-depth opinions on both. There will be mentions of trauma/mental illness and some very blunt (but honest) Rook criticism. But please keep in mind, that while I have my own interpretation of the twst characters and their respective arcs, I am not Yana and ultimately, my opinions are just that. Opinions. Everything I say is subjective at best but a lot of what’s coming up is based on a blend of canon observations as well as my own specific, personal experiences as someone with very similar life experiences as Vil and has been dancing for most of her life.  

Still, these are just opinions and I have no intention to offend anyone. But if you don’t like reading negative things about Rook or take issue with this general way of thinking, I HIGHLY advise you to ignore this and respectfully (or quietly) agree that we disagree.

When I wrote the greater bulk of this, it was around when Book 6 dropped in EN. A year has passed since then and I’ve had time to think more about my opinions here and, to a greater extent, how I feel about Book 5. This may sound strange but I feel that Book 5 is both the best and worst part of twst’s main story to date. I really like how it touched upon something that isn’t really isn’t talked about much; how we as a society both admire beauty but also vilify it. Vil’s primary dilemma is how he is wrongfully villainized for his beauty, wealth, and harsh personality, despite subverting expectations of cruelty at every turn. Ironically, when the fandom mischaracterizes him as vain, cruel, classist, racist and the like, they are falling into that same literary trap. Proving the point of his arc.

And as much as I hated the ending from an emotional point of view, I actually love it as well, ironically for reasons that might not have been intentional. What I hated, mostly, was the fandom’s response. There was a great opportunity here for some deep discussion regarding society’s views on beauty, how constant trauma causes us to internalize false perceptions of ourselves, and the rather fascinating/dangerous dynamic Vil has with his vice dorm leader. Instead, any interesting discourse has been lost in all the misinterpretations of Vil. To the point I wonder if we all actually read the same story. I’m disappointed in the fandom, but somehow not surprised either.

But regardless, Rook’s actions were extremely disquieting but not for the reasons you might think. There was nothing wrong with his decision but the way he went about it and how he (and Vil) tried to justify it really left such a nasty taste in my mouth and I gotta talk about it to get it out.

First I just want to commend Vil for his level of maturity and rationality regarding his overblot. Even when it was happening, not once has he tried to justify his actions and in fact it was his own guilt at his potential wrongdoing that ultimately caused it. His fear that in a brief, desperate attempt to be seen as not a monster, he became exactly that. Throughout Book 5, it is implied that Vil already sees himself as a villainous person and internalizes that image of himself almost with pride. But despite this false perception, his actions have always proven the opposite and it’s clear that Vil has always valued being altruistic, determined and just. And his guilt when he failed to meet his own standards was beyond compare.

I feel that this guilt sets Vil apart from the other overblots thus far. Most importantly, he apologized of his own volition and wasn’t forced to. That alone makes him stand out among the overblot characters and, to my mind, makes him the most compelling of them all. If I’m being completely honest, out of all those who have overblotted thus far, Vil has been the LEAST problematic even before his overblot. And the one instance where Vil displayed any “cruelty” beforehand is EXTREMELY subjective. (his treatment of Epel) But the fact that Vil has been the least problematic overblot student so far also makes him the most tragic. And makes what’s about to happen next all the more disturbing.

Interestingly enough, Jamil is correct about this but for the wrong reason and here comes the first point. There was no indication that the audience was anything but enthralled with NRC Tribe. And if Vil or any of the others made significant mistakes, because of Vil’s fame, I’m certain they would have been pointed out by magicam netizens. With the recent release of the Absolutely Beautiful mv over on twst jp, we now also have a visual to go off from. 

I talk about this more in a previous post but basically, yes, NRC Tribe’s performance wasn’t perfect, but based on what I saw, I would have expected A LOT worse considering the circumstances. The fact is all evidence points to the NRC boys giving a wonderful performance made all the more remarkable by the fact they were still able to perform after dealing with Vil’s OB not too long before. And the audience clearly thought so too if they were only one vote away from victory. 

To add to this point, when the other characters comment on the NRC Tribe’s performance, they make no mention of any noticeable errors. And when Crowley laments their defeat later, again, there’s no mention of any errors. Considering that Ambrose was pretty pretentious about RSA winning, I'm sure he’d mention that, too. 

Even further, one thing you learn from being on stage is that your audience rarely notices mistakes unless they are extremely obvious. You, as the performer, might notice, but you quickly learn not to draw attention to your errors and keep it moving. Now of course, the NRC characters could be biased because they want to defeat RSA. But considering the nature of a lot of them, I doubt they would lie so flagrantly. Especially Jack who is pretty no-nonsense even with the people he likes. And Malleus who seems pretty difficult to impress. So if their commentaries are to be believed, this shows that any errors made by the NRC Tribe were not noticeable. 

That Vil would think otherwise speaks to something far deeper and far more insidious. Stick a pin in that; we’ll come back to it soon enough.

Vil then goes on to explain to the boys that Neige and his friends worked just as hard and had their own struggles. That Neige grew up in an improvised environment and had to juggle acting obligations with household chores and helping out the dwarves. Again, it is extremely commendable that Vil is able to acknowledge this about this rival. It shows that his contempt for Neige was never as simple as “boo hoo people think he’s more beautiful than me” and he at least respects Neige’s efforts even if this explanation once again falls flat. 

Firstly, narratively speaking it doesn’t make sense that Vil is just finding out about Neige’s backstory now (likely from Rook) because I feel like he should already be aware. In fact, all through Book 5, I thought that he did know but didn’t care. Honestly, Neige’s backstory shouldn’t matter to Vil anyway and surprisingly, it’s Ace of all people who explains why.

Neige’s struggles might matter to his fans but at the end of the day if Neige cannot perform better than Vil, then that’s his own fault. There are many artists out there who have to deal with similar struggles but come out as phenomenal performers and yet Neige’s “best” basically consists of the twst equivalent of this meme. Precious, but cannot compare to all the sweat and tears Vil and his team were put through. 

There’s actually an interesting analysis floating around this hellsite about how Neige’s childish performance was actually an incredibly manipulative tactic and could have been intentional if he were a different character. I’m not gonna link it cause I don’t want to bring any heat to the op. But I will say that while I don’t think Neige intended to manipulate the audience with his cuteness, in the end, it did indeed work in his favor. And the fact that Vil thought to train Epel to weaponize his cuteness to defeat Neige indicates that he’s already no stranger to seeing such underhanded tactics in the industry he works in. In his beansday vignette, Vil mentions an actor he initially admired destroying one of his stage outfits. If Neige weren’t presented as so naive and twisted from a traditionally “good” character, his choice regarding his performance could be regarded as deliberate. Which is why Vil lamented that he and his team had been “outplayed”.

Back on topic, what I took away from this was that, once again, Vil’s hard work and determination count for nothing because of things he cannot control. Because he was born to wealth, because he didn’t have the same hardships, he doesn’t deserve the same consideration or sympathy as Neige. And his wealth and beauty once again put him in the position of villain to Neige’s hero. It’s a textbook case very common in media, like Sharpay opposing Gabriella in High School Musical. But what’s worse is that from all that we’ve seen of Vil, he could coast on his wealth, beauty and father's fame if he wanted to. 

Instead, he chooses to work hard and have his accomplishments come from his own merit. When anyone else in his situation could easily choose the opposite. And just from a personal standpoint, if I practiced day and night for a dance competition and ended up losing to someone under my level simply because they were cute and disenfranchised, I would feel extremely insulted. At the end of the day, Ace is correct and whatever struggles Neige and his team had, they were still inferior performers. 

And to add to this point, I believe that at some point Vil KNEW this even AFTER his OB. Despite his earlier anguish at never being able to perform innocent cuteness like his rival, once his mind was clearer, he was able to see that NRC Tribe’s performance was still technically better. He was able to see how the audience responded to Neige and still believed in himself as a better performer. I say this based on another scene earlier in book 5. 

Vil was undoubtedly in a very emotionally vulnerable place right after his overblot. He went to great lengths to conceal the aftereffects before going on stage to the point he collapsed as soon as he was alone. After going so long trying to hide them, his darkest, ugliest emotions were laid bare to his teammates and to himself. Manifesting in the worst way possible. And as a professional performer, if any errors were made, he would have been painfully aware of them.

And yet, despite having just dealt with the darkest moment of his life, Vil was still able to stand upon the stage until the very end and give the best performance he could. Against all odds, before a world that has wrongfully perceived him as evil and hideous for most of his life.

And despite knowing that Neige possesses all that he never can, it is strongly implied that Vil still chooses to vote for his own team. Meaning he saw the appeal in Neige’s performance and STILL knew that he did better. And I’d like to believe that even if Vil was aware of Neige’s backstory, he would have still made the same decision. It’s easy to be beautiful when everything is right and perfect in your world. But being able to smile even when you’re struggling and your heart is breaking is even more beautiful still. 

Sadly, Vil isn’t likely to realize this anytime soon and will continue to see his own mental struggles as not as valid or “ugly.” Now back to that original pin of thought, Vil will likely continue to believe that he didn’t deserve to win the VDC despite all evidence to the contrary. He’s likely to continue internalizing the false villainous image of himself as well. And for that we now must get to the crux of this matter.

At first glance, this statement doesn’t seem like much but when you look deeper, and look back at some of Rook’s own actions, this comes off as incredibly hypocritical and cruel. As we have seen from Vil’s backstory, he has dealt with untold hardships as well. But Vil’s anguish is more internalized than Neige’s and it’s very unlikely that he has ever really been open about how dehumanizing and hurtful his treatment has been. 

And from an outsider’s perspective, his problems aren’t as dire anyway. It’s just like Vil said, his life has been quite different from Neige’s. But mental trauma doesn’t know demographics and can affect anyone. The fact is what Vil has gone through is extremely traumatizing and comes from nothing beyond people wrongfully vilifying him for his beauty. Projecting their insecurities onto him from a very young age. It’s clear that what Vil has dealt with has fundamentally altered how he sees himself. 

But at the same time, what do you think would happen if Vil WAS more open about his frustrations? The dehumanizing effect and the bullying? The typecasting and prejudice thrown his way? And the feeling that nothing he does will ever be enough to break free from his villainous mold? What would happen if Vil were to be open about ANY of that? He would be mocked and shamed and perceived as shallow, petty and crying about nothing. Lowkey how many in the fandom already see Vil anyway. We as a society sadly don’t take mental illness as seriously as we should but when celebrities deal with it? It quickly becomes meme fodder and nowhere is this more obvious than on stan twitter. We are all guilty of feeding into it, whether we’re honest about it or not. 

Ironically, Vil’s mental struggles is one of the things that would make him more “relatable.” But the truth is that people would never accept that because society has a long history of trivializing the mental issues of celebrities because they seem so far removed from normal people. And then being surprised pikachu faced when they do something drastic to themselves. So Vil internalizes all of it because he knows he can’t be open about it. 

A person like him simply can’t be open about his hardships but HERE is the kicker: neither can Neige. He also has an image of perfection to uphold so it is likely he is also internalizing mental struggles of his own. Living and caring for seven others can’t be easy in addition to trying to grow his career. And if his deeper origins are anything like his Disney counterpart, how he came to live with the dwarves must have been traumatic as well. 

But here’s the difference: from Rook’s perspective, he is “better” at internalizing those ugly emotions than Vil is. After all, Neige is able to overcome all his struggles and still smile and not give hints to them, but when Vil finally buckled under all of his own trauma, we see what happened. 

There’s also the fact that since Rook and Neige attend different schools, Rook doesn’t have as close a seat to any of Neige’s more personal troubles. So it’s likely easier for Rook to project his own ideas of beauty onto Neige because from his perspective, he is perfect. He is beautiful. He is pure. Like the legendary singing princess Rook so reveres. He isn’t plagued with any of the ugly emotions that caused Vil to overblot. And if Neige DOES have ugly feelings or ugly trauma responses, Rook isn’t privy to them, so they clearly must not exist. 

I genuinely believe that THIS is what Rook meant when he stated Vil’s performance wasn’t as beautiful as Neige’s. I know he mentions another reason at the end of book 5 but in my mind, they are both one and the same. Whatever technical difficulties NRC Tribe had, they were still polished enough to garner enough votes that it was only Rook’s flawed ideology that sealed their fate. And throughout book 5, Rook is hinted at being aware of Vil’s internal struggles and yet still chose to stay silent. He frequently saw that Vil was struggling but tried to justify his silence by saying it wasn’t his place to interfere. 

But that is also untrue because we’ve seen time and again Rook is more than willing to stick his nose in Vil’s businesses. His labwear vignette is the most obvious example but there are plenty of others. In Book 6 Rook admits that his decision to go to the Isle of Woe was fully a selfish one. Leaving Pomefiore without leadership and potentially falling into chaos (the only dorm to have no clear leadership at all during the crisis) simply because he wanted to give Vil skin products that he really didn’t need. A few days without them wouldn’t do that much harm and Rook essentially placed Epel, Yuu and himself in great danger for a reason far more shallow than anything Vil has done in the name of beauty. 

He also admits that he would have been willing to drink the poisoned juice Vil gave to Neige for again, a pretty shallow (and extremely twisted) reason. If he’s willing to do that, he is more than capable of intervening in other matters on Vil’s behalf. And later in book 6, it’s revealed that Rook was originally a Savannaclaw student but made the very unprecedented decision to transfer to Pomefiore in part due to his fascination with Vil and desire to further study beauty under him. So Rook had EVERY opportunity to step in regarding his overblot. Even if Rook couldn’t be his “savior”, the fact that Vil would see that he at least had support could have gone a long way. 

But Rook’s silence is rather in keeping with his character and his own ideas about beauty. I find this quote very ironic based on how he and Vil are frequently misconstrued. The Pomefiore dorm leaders' views on beauty appear to be the opposite of each other. 

Vil can be extremely strict, harsh and can come off as critical at times, but he is never harder on someone than he is himself. He has shown time and again that he sees beautiful potential in anyone. And Vil is more than willing to share the spotlight with his NRC Tribe; build them up from scratch and give each of them the chance to show off their potential. Likely because he knows all too well what it means to be in the shadow of someone else. 

Even further, when we look at the dichotomy of a villain versus a hero, the main difference is how they respond to their personal pain. A villain takes their pain and says “the world hurt me so I’m gonna hurt the world”. While a hero says “the world hurt me and I’m not going to let it hurt others”. Up until his overblot, Vil has been the latter of these examples. He wants the best for those around them and while his methods might be difficult to understand, they always bear results. Vil can honestly see beauty in anything, even if he has to coax it out in his own way. 

Rook’s views on beauty however, all seem to be based upon the superficial and the evidence can be found in his Halloween vignette. There, he explains further how he grew to adore Neige and based on what he said, it sounded more like obsession than actual reverence. There’s also hints to this in his most recent birthday vignette as well. His ideas seem to be very fantastical, far removed from reality and so obsessive to the point that it actually affects his ability to be a good person. Such an obsession can sometimes make people oblivious to the world and in Rook’s case, often cause him to act out in ways that border on problematic. 

In his fixation, he stalks Leona and Jade, says some weirdly otherist shit to Malleus, harasses and assaults Ruggie, and places ridiculously high standards on both Vil AND Neige that rob them of their humanity. Rook saw firsthand how deeply Vil’s insecurities ran. He heard Vil cry and scream out how ugly he felt. He saw Vil’s anguish and despair firsthand and seeing all that, still chose to punish him because Vil’s lack of confidence made him unable to respond to his trauma in a beautiful way. Or at least in a way he could deem as beautiful based on his vapid description of the word. 

Rook will likely never be privy to any ugliness Neige has displayed so for him, the fantasy remains intact. And in chasing that fantasy, he betrays not just Vil, but his other teammates as well. Then has the audacity to try to justify it with bullshit ideology and sadly, because of Vil’s low opinion of himself, Rook succeeds. Vil holds Rook’s opinion so highly that he is able to take advantage of that and compel him (and the others) to see his point of view. And believe it or not, in chasing that fantasy, the NRC Tribe members were not the only ones Rook hurt. 

Neige might have been happy to have won but he was essentially rewarded for an inferior performance and robbed of an important lesson. One far more valuable than any “lesson” Vil had to learn. As mentioned before, even with all of his hardships, if what we saw in book 5 was the best Neige could do, that still means he is not as good a performer as Vil. If cuteness, nostalgia and warm fuzzy feels are the only thing Neige can offer, he could easily find himself struggling to remain in the entertainment industry as he ages. Not unlike many other former child stars in real life. 

Losing the VDC could have been a major wake-up call to Neige that if he wants to continue acting, he has to do better. People might not take him seriously when he’s still doing the cutesy bullshit ten years from now. But because he won, this will likely never cross his mind. Neige will learn nothing. 

Now before anyone begins writing up their comments about how Vil verbally stated that Rook was right, I’d like to bring up one final point: Vil agreeing with Rook was another trauma response. Internalizing Rook’s response because it is so in keeping with all he has been made to believe about himself, about Neige, and how it has all now been “confirmed” by his overblot. From his point of view, Rook has no reason to lie to him. 

But just because Vil states that Rook was correct, does not mean that it’s true. Despite being one of the more positive characters in the game and being twisted from a “good” character, Rook is just as morally grey as everyone else in the twst cast and just as capable of dubiousness. And this would not be the first time something like this has occurred between Vil and Rook. Once again, I bring up Vil’s labwear vignette. Particularly this exchange here:

Okay, so beyond the general tactlessness of telling Vil he’s gaining weight in spite of knowing how such a statement would affect him, what Rook is basically suggesting to him is that he cannot trust anyone but him. Not even his own senses. That for all of his perceptiveness, Vil is incapable of seeing himself accurately. Though he initially does not believe it, Vil eventually does accept  Rook’s statement despite knowing it was bullshit twenty seconds before. 

Later on, Vil mentions to Trey that Rook’s only crime is being too blunt and perceptive. It’s true that having another point of view is important at times, but the level of trust Vil has in Rook’s opinion can also be dangerous if he can convince Vil to doubt himself so easily. Theirs is an interesting dynamic but it also has potential to be extremely toxic and detrimental to Vil. At best, Rook gives him useful insight and pushes him to be the best he can be. But at worst, Rook contributes to Vil’s insecurities, enables his more toxic tendencies and his fawning of Neige feeds into his obsession to be the fairest one of all in the worst way possible. Rook can’t be completely oblivious to this. It would be such an easy thing for him to take advantage of Vil’s doubt in himself and value/dependency on his opinion. 

Which is exactly what Rook does. As much flack Vil gets in this fandom for being critical and harsh to others, he never criticizes someone harder than he will criticize himself. This is a person who has grown up in the spotlight and has had to maintain an image of perfection for most of his life.  A person who gave up one of his favorite condiments because of the damage it caused to his skin. A person who has so deeply internalized the villainous image people have projected on him that he wears it almost as a badge of honor. And because he holds himself to such a high standard and already internalizes a lot of toxic beliefs about himself, it makes perfect sense that Vil would agree with Rook. In his current way of thinking, Vil has no reason to disagree with Rook because from his point of view, Rook has always been honest to him and his overblot already proved he was unworthy of victory anyway. 

Of course Vil must be gaining weight. How could he possibly be objective regarding himself? How vain he must be. And how could Vil possibly be objective regarding his VDC performance and still vote for himself after such an ugly trauma response? He can’t trust his judgment, he can’t even trust his own senses. How arrogant and pathetic Vil must be if he can still vote for himself in good conscience after witnessing the pure wholesomeness of Neige Leblanche. Someone who would never overblot. Thankfully, he has Rook to humble that arrogance and tell him what he needs to know. Even if he’s tactless about it. 

I mean, Vil literally ran looking for a scale immediately after Rook’s comments on his weight. He probably added an extra hour to his daily workout routine the morning after eating the cake Trey gave him. I don’t believe that Rook is completely oblivious of Vil’s darker feelings, just as Vil has stated, he keeps too close an eye on him not to be oblivious. And he was astute enough to keep his infatuation with Neige a secret from Vil for nearly two years. This had to have been intentional. It honestly makes me wonder what Rook thinks of Vil on a more personal level. 

But regardless, the fact is, Rook was always going to vote for Neige and his explanation at the end of Book 5 was always going to be his reasoning. Vil’s overblot just gave him a more “legitimate” reason to do so. For whatever reverence he holds for Vil, it was never going to trump his reverence for Neige. The fact he brought all of his Neige photos with him to the training camp further implies that he was never going to be objective in this situation. And seeing Vil almost poison Neige probably further convinced him that Vil was undeserving of victory. 

That may make Rook seem duplicitous considering how positive and sincere he seems to be, but he’s still human. And truthfully, him voting for his bias is not an inherently bad thing. What makes him inconsiderate in this situation is openly telling Vil he prefers the catalyst for all his insecurities and overblot, while Vil was still grieving and in a very vulnerable place. Then justifying his decision as the correct one based on his own personal preferences, weaponizing that vulnerability to avoid being called out. Knowing that Vil wasn’t likely going to object. 

Even if NRC Tribe did win, it’s very likely Rook would have still brought up his vote to Vil and still convinced him it was undeserved. I would even go so far as to argue that Rook’s remarks about Neige early on in book 5 as well as Vil’s labwear vignette foreshadow the ending of book 5/start of book 6 far more than the fact that the huntsman betrayed the evil queen in the original Snow White. 

That coupled with a perfectionist like Vil looking back at their less-than-perfect performance is what compelled him to agree with Rook. If we take into account the idea that Vil still chose to vote for his own team afterwards, Rook’s actions and words probably further pushed him into believing in the idea of his inherent villainy and inferiority to Neige. After all, surely Neige Leblanche would never be reduced to such a hideous state. His heart is too pure, the fairest one of all and as different from Vil as night and day. 

If left to his own devices without Rook to influence him, Vil might not be so hard on himself in this case and would resent his defeat more. As he has every right to. But instead, Vil agreed with what was easiest and what made most sense based on everything that has happened in his life and all that he has been made to believe about himself. Why should he continue protesting when no one else will? 

Nevermind all the evidence we’ve seen of Vil’s tenacity, excellence and kindness. Why should he believe that he is the most beautiful one of all when Mira frequently tells him the opposite? Why should he believe in his own noble spirit when people openly say it’s not enough and that he’s not relatable enough to be a hero? Why shouldn’t he believe he is hideous when the entire world says it’s so? When even a large majority of this very fucking fandom mischaracterize him as such and agree with Rook anyway? 

Why should Vil question any of this?

And Vil will sadly continue to be second to Neige and will likely never question it. He will continue to internalize the toxic dichotomy between him and Neige and again, why shouldn’t he? After all, Vil is the evil queen to Neige’s Snow White, the Sharpay to his Gabriella, the Odile to his Odette. And Neige is the Madonna to Vil’s whore. Vil is not supposed to be the hero in this story and not even his trusted vice dorm leader has faith in him.

In discourse regarding the end of book 5, I’ve often heard it said that this was a “lesson” Vil had to learn in order to become a better person. I believe there was indeed a lesson to be learned from this, but not the one that many think. Since Vil knew from the beginning that trying to poison Neige was wrong, he didn’t need to learn how to play fair like Leona. 

Despite being a harsh leader, Vil was generally always fair with his teammates and again, as a former dancer, the way Vil instructed the NRC Tribe members seemed tame compared to some of the dance teachers I’ve had in the past. So learning to be less tyrannical wasn’t the lesson to learn either, like with Riddle. And part of what led to his overblot was realizing that NRC Tribe had been “outplayed” by Neige’s cuteness. But he still had enough faith in his ability to vote for his own team, so learning not to be manipulative wasn’t really needed either, like with Azul. 

No, the lesson for Vil here is that hard work is rarely ever rewarded fairly. And that his trauma is not valid because he was blessed in a way that Neige was not. He must always take second place to him because of his blessings while simultaneously ALWAYS being perfect. And because of his blessings, he can never express ugly emotions, he can never express anguish, and he must always, ALWAYS, take his mistreatment in stride. And God forbid if Vil DOES respond to his trauma in an ugly manner, he WILL be punished for it. He will ALWAYS be punished for it and by those closest to him no less. 

If Vil doesn’t like how they’ve treated him in his darkest hour, tough titties. It’s all his fault for not hiding his trauma to begin with. And he doesn’t even have the right to a moment to himself to cry. 

But that is where my analysis ends. Honestly this was kind of painful to write because it has made me fully realize just how much I’ve grown to disdain Rook after adoring him for so long. You all have no idea how hard I was hoping he would have some scrap of redemption in book 6. It’s really upsetting that so many people in this fandom look down on Vil or mischaracterize him but somehow don’t notice the glaring red flags in his dynamic with his vice dorm leader. 

Honestly, when I think about it, the ending of Book 5 is actually kind of brilliant, even if it’s also emotionally sadistic and lacking in other aspects. I'm not sure if that was Yana’s intention, but the fact that so many in the fandom tend to see Rook as the kinder one compared to Vil is very telling. 

Now I’m not saying that Vil is absolutely without flaws, Heaven knows he has many. As does every person in the twst cast. Vil is impulsive, domineering, harsh, difficult to please, overwhelming at times and extremely complex. But he is also helpful, perceptive, intelligent, genuinely kind and wants the best for those around him. Not for his own glory but for their own happiness and well-being. He is also clearly a deeply misunderstood and insecure young man, so I guess because of Vil’s faults, it’s “easier” to mischaracterize him. 

As for me, I find Vil’s character all the more compelling in spite of his harshness because I can see in him a true understanding of beauty that is both profound and attainable by anyone. If we are brave enough to behold it.

[pav-ia]

Can you do Pavia with an autistic s/o who likes collecting plushies of cute animals, and characters they like?

modern ! pavia x reader short fluff

cw :: modern au, bf! pavia, short cuz i didnt save my draft the first time :(

this one kinda sucks lowkey. apologies anon🫡

“and who is this again?” he’d asked you, pointing to one of your plushes you seemed especially fond of.

your expression lit up immediately, as you began rambling about how you adored this character. you explained their backstory, their personality and their relationship with other characters for a long while.

he watched you with a fond smile, sitting crossed legged on your bed. he leaned on one of his thighs, his knee pressed into his jeans and his cheek resting on his palm as you pulled up pictures on the internet of the character in question. when you realize you had gone off on a ramble, you stopped abruptly and looked a little embarrassed.

“i just… really like them. a lot.” you said with a sheepish smile, putting the plush down on your desk. he had a thoughtful look as he pointed to another plush you had.

“and that one is [___], right? your other favorite?”

you smiled and nodded enthusiastically, extremely happy that he remembered. you gave a very brief summary on why you liked them, not wanting to annoy him too much.

“how did that happen?” “how come they did that?” “i see, but im a little confused on this part-“ he kept asking questions that made you talk more about the character, and before long you started rambling again.

he had this sickeningly sweet smile on his features, listening very intently as you spoke. he was internally taking notes — not that you were aware — while watching affectionately as you explained with both your hands and words at the same time.

he asked questions that were specific to the series that you answered in detail, happy that he seemed to enjoy your ranting.

that encounter was a week ago.. imagine your surprise when you come home to a keychain of a separate character you’d mentioned during that ramble. you smile so widely and all of a sudden feel extremely giddy, and go to find him in the house.

he was in your room, sitting on your bed with his legs crossed. he had your animal plushes lined up and he had a hand on his chin as he stared at him. he idly nodded in your direction as you entered and went back to staring at them.

“im memorizing their names.” he said before you could ask him what he was doing. maybe he knew that he was being cute but fuck, that made your heart flutter.

you sit down behind him, resting your chin on his shoulder as you pointed to them individually and listed the names they had. he was visibly paying attention, following along.

he did remember all of their names !! just for you.

“can you name the next one andrea? or peter?” he’d suggest when he’d catching you staring at claw machines or store windows. when you agree, he immediately tries his hardest to win the one you liked, dropping lots of money to make sure you got the plushy you want.

idk how to end this 💔 he would absolutely bling out your character plushes btw hed put chains and rings on them

[onebizarrekai]

I just read DS Ink's backstory and I am curious about how DS acted(and looked) before being snatched up by the military? If he had not been snatched up by the military at a very young age and turned into a human weapon. Would he still be a douchebag or just nicer?

about that. I'm not entirely sure. back when I was working on the story, I never thought much about it. (also the funny thing about ink being called a douchebag back in the day is that it seems super weird to call ink that, haha. he's just very blunt and always says what he's thinking even if it's not kind or thought-through. plus some other odd thought processes of his regarding his work. don't worry about it.)

I think there are some parts of ink's personality that are consistent, like the no-filter thing, since his/her personality is very similar in fatal flaws and there's no military backstory there. in any case, in ds, he was taken when he was little, so his personality wasn't particularly strong at the time. he was probably just a misbehaved kind of kid and would've grown into a misfit teen. one of those kids who gets told "you're talented so why don't you try harder :(" all the time and keeps getting his parents called into the office.

this is a tangent, but to be honest, ink's whole military backstory isn't very fleshed out. it was one of the last things to be added to ds before I stopped working on it and a lot of the ideas relating to it, and the details never really grew on me. a lot of stuff regarding his difficulty with feelings were not very articulate or thoughtful. I think now the whole thing about him being brainwashed by the military, the thing about the electroshocks and the codewords, was pretty contrived (did I ever even explain those?). it was basically just 'look, he's like an edgy winter soldier version of ink sans, he has a big band thing' and now I'm just like. wow, that sure doesn't work. even if I tried to make it a dark comedy thing, it doesn't really fit that well to me.

I think I prefer the idea that he got taken in by his country's military, barely remembers his family who willingly gave him up, and that's about it. and because he was raised that way, he thought there wasn't anything else to his life. and so, he's used to being ordered around, and that's why he went on to work for jr so quickly. there's just no point in his entire will being compromised by a military when all they have to do is tell him from a young age that he's being a hero, even if he stops believing it when he's older.

so, anyway, sorry about turning this into a rant, I've just been thinking about it recently. ink was just a normal kid. who like, apparently had weird inexplicable superpowers. ds's lore sure is a thing. and yeah, the problem is, if you take away his brainwashing, there aren't any other explanations for his amnesia unless he has trauma-induced memory gaps, but uh. I sort of forgot he had amnesia until right now. that's what happens when you make a character out of order.

[cursedvibes]

I went on @epickiya722 blog and ranted all about how I think that the womanizer characterisation of Gojo by the fandom does not make sense. The points I gave to why this man can not even be in one relationship were:

Trust issues. Gojo does not trust a lot of people due to being the target of assassination attempt since his birth.

Self isolation. He does not feel like others truly understand him or can relate to him. So, he does not truly give himself the opportunity to be close to anyone.

I could go in more detail but I already saturated, the previous blogger ask and I do not want to trigger a hypefixation that will make me write a 2000 words essay on " Gojo got no hoes: this man has a negative rizz".

Also, I'm new to the fandom, so my interpretation could be lacking a lot of elements from the manga.

What do you think? (This is a bait for you to write a loooooooooooooooooooong answer)

I forgot to add. I don't think that most Jujutsu Sorcerers are in the mental headspace to be in a relationship with all the things they have to deal with. Maybe if it is for politics, as in getting married to someone because of their abilities and how it can be beneficial for your clan.

Well, I wouldn't really say I'm an expert on Gojo, but he's definitely not a womanizer. The only reason this is even such a popular perception of his character is because of some misinterpretation of a comment Gege made before Hidden Inventory started, where they said Gojo wears sunglasses when meeting girls/a girl (Riko). And I guess fans assume because they think Gojo is hot, he must be swimming in pussy. In canon, most people seemed to be turned off by his personality and status though. Yuuta (guy who still runs around with the replica of the girl who made a pinky swear with him in elementary school) even teases him about how ridiculous him having a significant other is. Gege said that at least when they were teenagers, Geto was the more popular one. Can't say I understand that because the guy seemed like an absolute bore and always looked down on the people he considers weak just like Gojo. Gojo was being straight-forward about it and not pretending he's a nicer person than he actually is, which I can respect much more than Geto's slimy attitude.

I agree that a big problem for Gojo is the self-isolation he puts on himself that comes with being considered The Strongest. People might be intimidated, but fundamentally there is nothing keeping him from forming close relationships with others once he knows them better. He sees himself as entirely removed from others and not even having/being the same existence.

He is the one who put himself up there and who thinks that only someone on a similar pedestal like Sukuna or previously Geto could understand him because he considers them separate from other humans and closer to himself. The label "The Strongest" is a necessity for him to think he could ever form a truly equal relationship with someone. That way he is very similar to Kashimo and Yorozu, also people who tried to teach Sukuna about love and desperately tried to relate to him because they thought he was the only person who could understand them (he doesn't and he isn't) and that way they only managed to close themselves off to people who could've actually helped them.

Vulnerability also plays into it to an extent because it's no coincidence that Gojo has his Limitless on almost constantly. The thing is, to form a real personal bond with others and have a close relationship with them, he needs to make himself vulnerable and also step down from the pedestal he put himself on to meet them at eye-level. You see that very well with how Takaba and Kenjaku's fight ended. Kenjaku also used to separate themselves from others for safety reasons, suspicion and just general habit. They craved friendship, but had trouble forming the truly equal relationship friendship requires for them. In the end, Kenjaku allowed themselves to fully engage with and get involved with Takaba and that vulnerability led to their death, but it also made them happy and as they said, was one of the best moments in their long life because it fulfilled the base wish/desire that was behind all the wild experiments and merging of people and curses and whatnot.

You could say Gojo is similar and had a similar death in that he was made vulnerable, but it wasn't so much that he stepped down from his pedestal to connect with the people who were already trying to reach him and cared about him, instead he made himself vulnerable by antagonizing someone who also stands on a different pedestal. He doesn't lower his guard, he seeks out someone who could overcome it by force. Unfortunately, that person doesn't actually care about him. If he had tried to connect more with the people already next to him, he might've been happier or more emotionally fulfilled, even if that means he would have to give up his strength or lower his defence. Instead of making children into weapons in hopes of some of them also climbing on that pedestal, he could've left his. There is pressure for him to be in that high position, no question, but he is the one who separates his existence and status as a living being from others. He would've needed to unlearn that thinking first.

All in all, the last thing you said in the second ask is most important. Sorcerers, especially the ones at Jujutsu Tech, generally just don't have romantic relationships or close relationships in general. Not the type the "womanizer Gojo" people are thinking about at least. Gege avoids talking about couples, but the only sorcerers who might be in a relationship are Kirara and Hakari and they aren't part of Jujutsu Tech anymore. Yaga is divorced and we don't know anything about the others except that most of them are very lonely and depressed. Some sorcerers, particularly those in the big clans, are married, but they don't seem that happy. Maki's parents don't look like they love each other or have any joy in their life really. So if we go by canon, no sorcerer is in a committed and/or loving relationship as far as we know (like I said even Hakari & Kirara are up in the air), which makes sense because most of them will soon die anyway. Maybe some of them have sex on the side, but probably more as coping mechanism. With how hung-up Gojo is on Geto aka the closest relationship he had in his life, I don't see Gojo being one of them. Not saying he's crying into his pillow 24/7, but getting close enough for sex with others seems difficult. Plus, ideally the other person also has to like him enough to agree to do it with him and finding someone like that isn't easy either.

tldr: I agree "Gojo got no hoes: this man has negative rizz"

[ganondoodle]

fuck it, elden ring DLC rant (spoilers) (long post ... oh dear)

so, to start this- this is a very emotional reaction, so take everything with a ton of salT (i need to get this out of my system bc i need to go and do stuff today, i literally couldnt get much more than 3 hours of sleep bc my mind was racing) i only know two screenshots and what others have told me (thank you) so i might be missing more context and havent seen or read it myself

(more details and spoilers for the DLC below the read more thingy)

also, just to explain a bit, i dont usually get this upset about things i like, i like alot of things, but its RARE as fuck that i care, like actually care care about something, and that just kinda happens, i dont choose it or can decide to not care, i just do, and when something like this happens its like ... a sort of grief? i cant help but care about it but it messes with me emotionally, i have no control over it and cant change anything about it when it gets bad or done dirty, leavign me to just have to watch it be real even when i dont want to accept it-- i wouldnt say so much that i 'expect' somethign specific and cant handle when its not like that (common accusation about disliking totk)- and no i dont have somethign specific in mind, i just dont want it to be bad OR things that seem done and closed off suddendly out of nowhere be revealed to 'actually' have been like this, new stuff that either makes no sense or invalidates alot about what i valued about it, what i thought was the point

(i remember two .. my only two other intersts before- see what i mean RARE- that also went down simiarly like this; transformers (bay movies and mainly prime series, listen i didnt choose it either) with each movie it got more messy and stupid, primes second(?) season had an end i hated and the following movie was the final nail in the coffin- and one piece after that, which i slowly fell out of love with bc every chapter seemed to go more into a direction i didnt like, then the reveal that luffy is a god actually was my final ok i hate that moment)

i knew demise for a long time but wasnt obsessed about him at all, it took me learning about how hylia was depicted in a non canon (?) manga (which made me annoyed me bc i didnt like it and made a design for her to counter demises instead) and then reading his few lines of dialog about her again that it suddendly HIT me, like cupids arrow into my head-- i liked but wasnt that super interested into elden ring until radahn showed up, instantly his design made me go owo and then learning his (base game) lore it HIT me (i love sort of tragic side characters that might have been powerful or heroic at some point but now arent anymore- not saying he is that elden rings lore i messy and no ones good tm- and especially so if that character is widely hated for no good reason, dismissed or forgotten, has little lore etc)

i have things i like but dont care this much about, like okami or bloodborne, i like it alot, theres characters i really like (oki) but im not like, fixated on them?- and to have two at the same time, while not equally strong, i dont think i had before, and then have both be damaged or potentially lose it in a similar way within barely a year hurts so damn much--- anyway, getting into the actual rant now lol

so, to sum things up (that i know), in the elden ring DLC later on

miquella is actually a master manipulator and brainwasher (even to his sister???? which means alot of impactful things about his relationship to people is kinda invalidated or made meaningless, shitty)

he wanted to become a god by marrying radahn (his half? brother, same father) of all people that has never been mentioned before until now somehow?? ) you can argue it was hinted to but i find it completely out of left field

miquella sent malenia after radahn to kill him so he could be put into the realm of shadow so miquella could marry him (there were better candidates for that??)- its unclear (to me) if radahn ever actually accepted when sound of mind or even knew about it at all, but failed and he was isntead inflicted with rot to slowly waste away but not die (like he is in base game)

which also means that, what i found really impactful in base game, the festival of radahn, that i thought was a tragic sort of last wish/effort for of radahn to grant him an honorable death as a respected general after being made into mindless people eating zombie, organized by his soldiers/friends- might have been just yet another attempt to kill him and get him over there to miquella (and even if not, it still makes it way less impactful and now i feel like letting him continue to roam as a zombie is more of a favor than killing him bc hes just gonna a puppet again! which turns the whole tradgedy of the stuff in base game on its head imo)

you need to kill him to get into the DLC (and i was even sus of that but shrugged it off when i heard it ..) bc that way miquella could take whatever was left of his soul and stitch it into mohgs corpse?? (which is why hes so small in that DLC fight) bc his body was rotten by that point, which also allowed miquella to control radahn and make him agree, force him to do whatever miq wanted (which ALSO might mean mohg 'kidnapping' miquella wasnt that actually but mohg too was manipulated so oud kill him and make his remains usable)

radahn in DLC is a voiceless meat puppet essentially ... like a mindless rotting zombie eating friends and fow alike wasnt enough- also means that we never ACTUALLY GET OT KNOW RADAHN HIMSELF bc hes eithe a zombie or a literal puppet (if you are gonna do him dirty at least let us meet actual real him *cries*)

his fight is super hard apparently (though i have been hearing people complain about the entire DLC being too hard, while the -casual player- streamer i watched is beating main bosses so fast they dont even get to start their second phase) when his fight in base game, and him by extentsion, was also hated bc of that ALREADY, which means more people are gonna hate his guts (he doesnt deserve that!!) AND most people probably wont get or care that its not actually HIM him so its like a repeat boss that everyone hates

it feels weirldy forced in for it to be radahn (like miquella was already said to be one of the strongest gods out there .. why hed want radahn so badly when his goal seemed to be rather .. combat less?? if you get what i mean, and radahn also rejected him??? and the tarnished is right there too????) bc theres plenty others it would have worked with that are barely used- it feels like someone jsut wanting him to be tha main guy not matter what (when he worked so much better as a side character!!!!)

a tragic but well rounded off side character (imo) was made into the main guy this is all about actually tm (i generally dont like main guys and this jsut feels so .... it just hurts, it didnt feel foreshadowed at all, and its not even truly HIM that is reveal to be a creepy asshat but hes just manipulated and controlled with the whole time, be it by rot or miquella)

and for miquella its like, no theres no even mildly good people there, hes brainwashed and manipulated everyone actually tm, a giant plan all to force his half brother into marrying him by making him into a corpse puppet bc he rejected miquella- inlcuding potentially manipulating his own twin sister, which goes agaisnt what you learn of what hes done for her in the base game i think?? (not that much into that part but yeah ... it feels unfair to her too)

it also kinda just leaves other lore from the base game in the dust? like the whole haligtree plan, how miquella cared for the rejected (i guess he didnt then??? and it was just more manipulation tm??) that castle with the eclipse stuff

(is the gloom eyes queen, marika, and or st trina even .. important at all to any of this??)

ok from reading tweets from people talkign about it, miquella says radahn agreed apparently but whether thats true remains uncertain and given the circumstances i do not think radahn did- others said that it kinda sounds he agreed to something that he didnt think would involve him marrying miquella

everything feels like its in shambles for every fan of every involved chaarcter

yes i know you can argue that it was all planned from the start and meant to be a twist and everything and that people having a different idea of characters isnt the fault of the creators .... only to some degree bc why then build up make so much lore and story about stuff that turns out to be like saying 'actually it was all a lie' like its not valid to feel betrayed then, you can plan things out all you want but that doesnt mean it cant be bad oder underwhelming

(i wished to be able to meet or know more about radahn but like in a non rot way or like past flashback whatever kind of way and then not like this anyway, like i was interested into his relationship with jerren and just .. more about him i suppose the monkey paw has curled hasnt it -or however you say that-)

and there i was like two days ago going "omg radahn mention!!!" when that one .. feyja? NPC says she fought alongside him at some point ............................................................

leonard isnt there in the DLC to my knowledge, you know it cant be truly radahn if his horse isnt there (the sole reason he learned gravitiy magic for and it stayed with him even after the rot!!! i know people have started to hate it bc people love that but i love that, it made him so endearing to me, like a character i already found cool omg has a confirmed softer spot??? in MY fromsoftware title??)

sorry for the long post of rambling, i am a mess, barely slept 3 hours, yes i am weird to care, autisms or whatever .. i need to go somewhere in an hour and havent prepared as all bc i needed my thoughts out of my head- might have forgotten stuff, idk if i will add it later or just kinda .. stew in it for a while

(and yes a big point why i feel so strongly is both bc its just gonna make more people hate him even more AND feels so invalidating of alot of other stuff- pulls other characters down with it- the entire time i was watching the streams i and trailers i thought i was like, its onw thing, with miquellas littel adventure and more background info on marika mostly on its own from the base game BUT NO I GUESS)

(read all this in the sense of an utteraly disoriented confused and drunken seagull yelling around pls i am not in serious mental distress ..)

[lord-aldhelm]

Why Aldhelm in Season 2 was the GOAT

An essay by Lord-Aldhelm

Y'all... I wasn't going to post this but I guess I will now haahaa! Thanks to that convo with @errruvande @bilbotargaryen that convinced me to post this rant.

I kind of talked about this before in previous posts but I wanted to kind of gather all my thoughts into one place and make a post about this.

These are my thought on the character so you are forewarned. Read below if you really want to.....

So I have seen *a lot* of people say that they didn't like Aldhelm in season 2, but the character grew on them and he went from one they hated to one of their beloved characters. And that is great! He really did experience a hell of a character arc and grew a lot.

But I don't believe Aldhelm was ever a villain. I know in the books he was one, and did some truly horrific things. But Show!Aldhelm is a completely different character, and even though Season 2 was supposed to follow the books pretty closely, he still was changed a lot. I won't go into any details for those of you who haven't read the books, but it will be obvious he is a completely different character.

So, I never clocked Aldhelm as a bad guy, even in Season 2. He never gave me any bad vibes, even on my first watch-through. It is easy for me to say this now since I love him to pieces, but I can honestly say that even when he was new to me, I never thought of him as a bad guy. Sure he *seemed* to be, but him making a bunch of silly faces doesn't make him a villain. He looked like a scheming sycophant, and was overshadowed by Aethelred. I honestly did not think much of his character until Season 3 when he started to blossom in his own right and really started to become someone who I fell in love with. But after rewatching Season 2 so many times, I have really come to appreciate him as an interesting character with his own depth.

1. Aldhelm is actually in charge

In rewatching Season 2, I noticed that Aldhelm was the one who did all of the talking for Aethelred, while Aethelred just stood there silently and let him do it. It was always Aldhelm who addressed King Alfred, it was Aldhelm who spoke to Lord Odda and to Aethelwold when there was a conflict. And when Aethelred was knocked out cold, it was Aldhelm who led the negotiations with the Thurgilson brothers. He really was ruling with Aethelred was making an ass out of himself, being a deviant, and getting everyone into trouble with his stupid decisions. What king would allow his advisor to do all the talking for him while he stands there without a word? It is so weird. But if he didn't, nothing would get done otherwise.

Additionally, Aldhelm had to clean up his mess and do it with grace. He was basically like "OK this is how we get out of this and not look like fools." Which comes across as scheming and manipulative, and perhaps it is. But Aethelred was totally incompetent, and someone had to get shit done. What I think goes over a lot of people's heads about their "relationship" is that Aldhelm was Aethelred's sworn oathman. In those days, and in the Saxon culture (also other Germanic cultures at the time), your word was legally binding. It was taken seriously, and you could not break it. The cost of treason was death, and if Aldhelm had defied Aethelred, he could he executed. Which amazes me just how sassy and outspoken Aldhelm was in Season 2 especially. He was *not afraid* to speak his mind, to Aethelred or anyone else, and clearly was not afraid of consequences. This speaks volumes to how poor of a leader Aethelred was, too.

2. Aldhelm didn't really do anything wrong

This is kind of subjective but hear me out. Aldhelm literally did not do anything wrong in Season 2. There were two events that people like to point out as examples of him being "evil" or whatever, but I see it differently.

2a. Wanting to take over Wessex

Aldhelm to Aethelred, 2.06

Everything Aldhelm did, he did for Mercia. During his lifetime, he had borne witness to the Great Heathen Army invading Mercia, seeing King Burgred expelled by the Danes, the Danes installing their own puppet king with Ceowulf, the eastern half of Mercia ceded into Danelaw, and Mercia losing its sovereignty to King Alfred, who made Mercia a vassal state of Wessex. Mercia was crumbling under weak and ineffective leaders, first being lost to the Danes from the north and the Saxons to the south. He had enough.

It is hardly wrong for him to want Mercia to have its own independent king once more. And it is not wrong for him to want to take over Wessex. He didn't even suggest killing Alfred outright, just waiting for him to pass on his own accord, either from illness or injury, and then using that opportunity to take over while Wessex was weak. It is EXACTLY what King Alfred did to Mercia when King Ceolwulf died. Two countries under one king; at this point it didn't matter if it was the Wessex king or the Mercian one. The only flaw in Aldhelm's plan was that he backed the wrong horse; Aethelred was just as weak and ineffective as the kings who came before him.

It is sad to me that Aldhelm is cast as a villain for literally wanting the same thing that Alfred did.

2b. Dealing with Aethelflaed's Abduction

"My advice to you, Lord, is to rescue her by all means. But not at a price that will cut our throats" Aldhelm to Aethelred, 2.07

Aethelflaed has been abducted by the Thurgilson brothers. They will demand a huge ransom for her release; and in fact even if they get the gold and silver they demand there is not guarantee that they will release her. But even if they do, by giving into their demands, the Mercians and Saxons seal their fate, funding the very warlords that will turn around and destroy them. It is not a smart move.

Lord Odda had suggested to King Alfred that Aethelflaed allow herself to be martyred to save the kingdom from such a fate. What Aldhelm suggests is literally the same thing. "We will try our best to rescue her, but we cannot allow Mercia to be destroyed just to rescue one person." It is sensible advice, in my opinion, even if it comes across as callous.

It was Aethelred's stupidity that caused her to be captured in the first place. Aldhelm even said as much.

One has to wonder if Aldhelm tried to talk him out of bringing Aethelflaed to the campsite and he refused to listen. "It is a choice, lord, between appearing lovesick or foolish." No matter what, Aethelred will look bad in this situation. Aldhelm tried to do some damage control by shifting the blame to Uhtred. The only thing he really did "wrong" here was using a bad situation to try to be in their favor, by hoping that Alfred would blame Uhtred for Aethelflaed's abduction and thus removing his strongest warrior from the picture. Of course that didn't work. And it was a good thing too because it was Uhtred and Odda who ended up saving her without the need to spend all the gold and silver in Saxon England.

[celeluwhenfics]

hihi I don’t know if you’ve ever talked about this before and I missed it but here are a few things for you to rant more on pHORSEsuasion as there cannot be too much of it for us to delight.

How was the story and character of Rowena born? Like, if you could remember and retell, the moment you first realised to yourself that you would be writing her in the fashion of Austen? Was it a very long journey that slowly took shape, or an idea that hit you square on the head?

Is there a set time and location you have to write the fic out? Anything from real life that inspires you and you take inspiration from? I think I remember you loving horses (in a club?) and that sparked the love for Rohan? …or is it an anecdote of one of the many Rohan buddies on tumblr….😭

Is there a playlist, specifically, you’d have for the story?? A pinterest board perhaps? 👀 anything about pHORSEsuasion please

On a scale of 1-5 how much would you say the ideas and thoughts relating to the fic occupy your mind throughout the day?

thank you in advance if you ever get around to answering and talking more about this beautiful fic <333 i also read the short about “the creek game” which is utterly amazing.

don’t you worry overmuch about taking your time to work your best on the chapters! even in these intervals your nice story occupies my mind frequently just to think of Bréda

Hi! Thank you so much for your ask! It makes me happy and giddy that someone is still thinking of pHORSE (and dear Bréda! ❤️) even as chapter 2 is taking a long, long time to come out. I've been hard at work on it. It is coming SOON!

It's exactly as you say: the idea hit me square in the head. I hadn't interacted with LotR in a decade, didn't know AO3 or fandom communities existed. I watched the movies with my partner one weekend, and as I tried to fall asleep that Sunday night, the idea of Éomer as Captain Wentworth sprang all formed in my head. And when that horrible pun found me as well, I knew I was onto something. 😅 The next day I wrote the outline, and in its broad lines it hasn't changed since, it only got more refined and detailed as I reacquainted myself with canon!

I am a horse girl! But I don't ride anymore for various reasons. Not much of the story is related to my real life, although every natural landscape, historical tidbit or little everyday situation can inspire me. (Oh yeah and I almost forgot to mention, but last month I went to Bath to see the original setting of Persuasion for myself...) I mostly write at home on the weekends, but I also have written LOTS of thoughts and ideas on the Notes app on my phone, either on the bus, at work, on runs... I've also been known to stop in my tracks in a grocery aisle or step off my bike to note down an idea or a line of dialogue!

I always write in complete silence (and I don't have pinterest), but in a past life I studied musicology with a speciality in early music, therefore YES, there will be some very specific musical references, which I will share on this blog of course! I've done a post on the two songs mentioned in chapter 1. There won't be any music in chapters 2 and 3, as it's a very bleak time in the story and silence takes a lot of room, so to say. (But I have a Borodred one-shot WIP that I don't know how to wrap up, that is very musical, you might see it one day!)

*nervous laughter* I would say it varies between 2 and 5. It's been months, and every day it's somewhere in my mind. Which is not always convenient, because I have a PhD to do!!! And at some point since my brain wanted to think about it 12 hours a day no matter what, I lost a lot of sleep over it. I had to find a better balance, because sleep is important, and once again, I have a PhD to do, on a subject I'm very passionate about!!! But, yeah, if I could write all day every day and churn out chapter after chapter for my lovely readers, I would!

Thank you SO MUCH for your ask, I'm always super excited to talk about pHORSE! Even if there has been no recent update, the project is very much alive, I'm working tirelessly on it and thinking about it all the time. Don't hesitate if you have more questions! And stay tuned!!! 👀