#I really love this concept of them being Royalty out of their element

[immortalmuses]

ㅤㅤㅤ“Yeah���” Teddy shrugs again, this time his shoulders curling inward, as if to make the conscious effort to appears smaller, “… If the kind of fairy-tale you're talking about is like Romeo and Juliet, I guess.”

ㅤㅤㅤThat is to say… a tragic tale. But not without purpose... not if Teddy has anything to say about it, anyway. He won't let the dream his parents kindled between them (the hope of unity between Kree and Skrull-kind that manifested in Theodore's unlikely birth) die with them.

ㅤㅤㅤ“…I mean, I never really knew my birth parents, but ever since I learned the truth of who they were — who I am —“ Teddy blows out a breath, the exhalation pushing his blonde fringe from his eyes, “I really believe they wanted to change things for the better. And I think… it might be up to me to ensure they still can.”

ㅤㅤㅤPerhaps that's too earnest to say to someone Hulkling's only known for a brief time. Especially when he can tell Luna meant her words as a gentle jest. But Teddy's not really one for doing things by halves, and he suspects that Luna isn't either.

ㅤㅤㅤ“… As for Xavier,” The Half-Kree crosses his arms over his chest, head tipping back in consideration, “I thought he never left the Mansion because he had that giant telepath brain-boosting machine in his basement? The one that lets him basically find any mutant on the planet?” Or even on other planets, if the rumors than ran rampant among the Young Avengers were to be believed. Teddy only knows this stuff because he thought himself a Mutant for a long time before learning the truth of his lineage.

ㅤㅤㅤHe hums quietly in thought, “…I dunno, I still think being able to look at someone and just know their intentions is a pretty practical ability to have. Not every field op needs to be about beating someone up.”

"Right. Teddy." She was used to the certain level of propriety expected of a princess of Attilan, and the most striking was the way people insisted on names. To be fair, her family had full names and then titles, which were routinely used in place of their names. Luna's name was short enough that most didn't bother trying to give her odd little monikers like that. Much to un-learn.

She nodded. "Mother is the second-in-line behind my aunt, Medusalith, through her husband, Blackagar. I would be first behind her, were it not for my cousin Ahura." Now it was her nose that wrinkled, along with her upper lip. She didn't like her cousin, and the feeling was pretty well mutual.

Listening to him, though, brought a smile back onto her face. She could see the way he felt, in the shifting colors of his aura -- the deep sadness, a pinpoint of darkest black that was snuffed like a candle flame as soon as it tried to assert itself. Happy memories and sad, the dancing colors picking up speed before slowing again, blowing away the harder feelings so what remained was a softer, gentler light. It fascinated her how different his colors were, yet how similar they could be to everybody else's. He was smiling at her, and she could see the comfort in finding something of a kindred spirit --

a royal out of their element.

"Aunt Wanda told me some of your past, once. What she knew and felt comfortable sharing." She propped her chin on her fist. "Though it sounds very much like a fairy-tale. The knight and the beautiful princess, and the prince who was lost." Blue eyes sparkled a little, showing the amusement of the hyperbole -- she was teasing him, just a little.

Then, a much more amused giggle. "Professor Xavier never leaves his mansion. I have to see a person to read them -- though I am able to do it through holo-feed, as we've discovered. But it does not have a very practical field application, as Ahura is so thrilled to remind me."

[riddle-rosethorns]

Name: Ismund Kolbeck Pronouns: he/him Orientation: Gay Based on: Elsa (Frozen) Dorm: Pomefiore

Introducing Ismund! I think he's the first OC I've posted here (and also my 1000th post to this blog! Yippee!) and honestly I'm really proud of how his ref sheet looks. Feel free to ask me questions about him, I really love infodumping to anyone who'll listen lol. I'm still working out a concrete character arc for him in my brain, but I can gladly share my concept for it once it's finished baking.

More info under the cut!

Grade/Class: Sophomore/Class E (No. 12) Birthday: December 22 (Capricorn) Age: 17 Height: 180 cm Dominant Hand: Left Homeland: Shaftlands Club: Mountain Lover Club Best Subject: Practical Magic Hobbies: Skiing Pet Peeves: Being treated differently due to his status Favorite Food: Chocolate Least Favorite Food: Anything spicy Talent: Singing

Ismund was born on the winter solstice to the king and queen of a small kingdom in the frozen north of the Shaftlands. The two were not mages but Ismund was blessed by an ice fae at birth, granting him powerful elemental magic. His parents' unfamiliarity with the practice of magic meant that Ismund was not given proper training as a child and his powers quickly grew out of control. This resulted in an incident during which his younger brother, Aksel, was seriously injured.

Following this incident, Ismund was forbidden from practicing magic and forced to conceal his powers from the kingdom's subjects. Aksel still knows about his brother's magic, but was too young to remember the specifics of the incident. All he knows is that it gave him the white streak in his hair and magic of his own, though his is closer to that of a standard mage in terms of power. Ismund still blames himself for hurting Aksel, however, and distances himself from his brother as much as possible to keep it from happening again.

Once he was of age, Ismund was summoned to Night Raven College to learn to better control his magic. Even still, he never leaves his dorm room without gloves on- something that has been instilled in him by his father ever since the incident. Most other students only know him by his cold demeanor and icy stare, as he keeps his distance from his peers to avoid hurting them the way he did Aksel. Ismund is also very secretive about his identity as a prince and soon-to-be king, not wanting his classmates to treat him differently due to his status as royalty.

[mithrilhearts]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Look at me getting to this 500 years later (I'm so sorry!!) Anyway.

Thank you both so much, @cilil & @laurfilijames for sending me this ask game thingy!! I figured I'd just do it in one post, so I hope that's okay, but here we go!

I think picking my "favorite fics" of mine is like, asking a parent to pick their favorite child - not easy, in most cases I guess lol...but I will do my best and explain why! These are all based off of fics I've COMPLETED, and by no means reflects on my love and affection for the other stories I've written. I love them all for their own reasons, otherwise I wouldn't have written them.

In no particular order...

May Your Forge Burn Bright - This is THE original longfic from me. I started this back when I was creeping my way out of RP and into fanfiction, and was nothing more than an independent baby writer. (Been writing a long time, just never like this), and the story means so much to me, as well as the commentary from readers along the way. It's still my longest fic to date, and I love a good "alternate first meeting" fic. It's the OG, and you can't replace that.

Dragonhearted - The Hobbit & Beauty and The Beast are my two FAVORITE stories, and mashing them together like this was perfect for me. Dragon!Thorin is such a fun concept for me, and badass Bilbo is another. This setting just WORKS. (Also, did you know @i-did-not-mean-to had a BLANKET made for this fic???)

Kurdu 'abadaz - That's right, I finished this one just recently, and it has easily stolen my heart to being a favorite. The Fix-it fic that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to write, that went under a LOT of rehashing and had a huge overhaul in the story early on when planning. It turned out so much better than anticipated, and the love for this fic from readers/friends has been overwhelming.

Fuck Thy Neighbor - A VERY FUN ROM-COM STYLE MODERN AU!!! This really had me cackling the entire way through, and like a few other fics of mine, it spawned from a writer's ask game/tag game thing that I can't quite remember. Accidental marriage & neighbors? I love it. It's so funny, and I enjoy rereading it frequently for the laughs.

When Darkness Shines Brightest - Did you know that anything can be made into a Bagginshield Fic? Did you know that this fic spawned from a joke/conversation between @starthecozy and I and then erupted into this really original Hades/Persephone, Nightmare Before Xmas, blended style fic?? Various worlds and environments, powers over elements, and saving homes from a dragon?? The Onion Fic sprouted, and blossomed into one of my favorite stories, and I got to collaborate with Star the entire way through it, and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! Go give it a read, it's really neat!!

Honorable Mentions:

(Take Me Back To) The Night We Met - My entry for THAUC22 (partnered with the amazing @consultingpacha), and one of my FAVORITE concepts. Yet again, another "alternate meeting" style fic, featuring small kids Fili and Kili, rather than adults. What it sets up to at the end of the fic blends into the OG Hobbit story, but with a few small changes that I kind of want to explore one day in a sequel. 👀

Between Vices and Virtues - My entry for TRSB22 (partnered with @mysandwichranaway!!) First of all, I love working with Sandy, it's truly one of my favorite things on this good planet, and I can't wait to do it again - hopefully soon. Secondly, this was my take at a modern royalty AU, and learning about how to connect with the people around you. I have two sequels planned for this universe (even if this fic kind of felt like a let-down in terms of reception? but idc about that lmao) it was so fun for me. A light dusting of magic superstition in a modern au setting? Sign me up!

[dulldoll-0]

As in TikTok by TONY or Ray:

1.It mentiond that Wally doesn't remember Ophelia.what happened to make him forget?(it confuses me, sorry😅)

2.Does Isabella see weather as her daughter or a thing thats just a responsibility for her?

ALSO!

3.How would ALL the itsys help someone who is overwhelmed/ overstimulated by anxiety, noise and people?

(Also thank you for answering my questions!love your videos and the stories you make!❤️)

Ans:

1. I got the inspiration from BlueRaven’s version of Bad Ending Walden who took the concepts from Dodozoi’s (former owner of WH RF AU ) old story concept of the Bad Ending Timeline, where Walden injects himself with some red substances making him regenerate his arm to a skeletal prosthetic, forgetting about the people he loved, and make him go crazy; killing anything that crosses his path for more colors.

-In BlueRaven’s story, Walden earns regenerates his arm due to the red substance he had injected himself along with its other affects caused thanks to Harold/Home & IT. Killing people made Walden earn the title as the neighbourhood’s “Midnight Maniac.”

-In my BRBB comic, it all still has the same elements of how he lost his memories even in Timeskip. He’s still crazy but more calmer and humane, civil??? Maybe???, on some cases at least, — He’s just not as berserk as the Midnight Maniac thanks to Isabella.

I’ll also be holding on to the concept of Harold/Home & IT being involved, as it has shown in Dodozoi’s old illustrations that Harold seems to deeply and genuinely care about Walden and his well-being, even being there for him for comfort when he needed it. — I also like to think Harold agreed to letting him forget as to that’s what Walden wanted, to forget everything, and to stop hurting, — but also a few of IT’s ideas being pitched in.

2. Both. Her daughter is her responsibility. ( You can do your own deep-analysis on their relationship if you want to, I think it’d be pretty awesome knowing how other people see their relationship as to why or how it is that way, along with Isabella & Walden, and Walden & Weather ).

3.

-💜Itsy—would offer physical contact, even letting them lay down on her big tail for comfort. She’d listen if they needed or wanted to vent, but won’t give any wise advise, not really. Just a few comments here and there.

-💛Opposite Itsy/ Beetsy— doesn’t know how to comfort, she’s pretty hesitant when doing it, not knowing what to do or say especially when not knowing what the person specifically wants or needs. The best she can do is give a few hugs, back rubs, hand holding, and just being a listening ear, and a few “I’m sorrys” here and there.

She’d also probably offer you something to make you feel better, like a flower, but mostly food or small snacks, even going out of her way to find or buy anything that can stimulate you.

-🩶Rainbow Factory Itsy/ Isabella— would simply initiate physical contact, just holding her hand and a few pats and hugs is all she can offer.

-🩷Euphoria Bugs Itsy/ Molly— would not know what to do with her brain and memory almost like a gold fish. If she saw you with a frown on your face, she would offer you a big hug while still not knowing what’s going on completely. She’d probably find other different ways to make you feel better and will not stop until she succeeds.

-❤️Evil Itsy/ Missy— would offer tea. . . . and or give you a smack behind the head for some reason. 💀

-💙Hunter Itsy/ Itty— would give small hugs, as that’s all she can do. ( She does this to Hunter Wally sometimes when he feels tired or sad. )

-♠️Royalty Itsy/ Isakarra— would use her graceful side to appear to be more gentle or comforting, offering tea and pats, and would put on her armor for you to punch or blow off steam. She’s also the type to ask “Who should I slay for you?”

-♥️Butcher Itsy/ Teethy — Offers food.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

hello! really new fan (by really new I mean just finished books 1 and 2 new) that decided to hop on here for some lore and I am so endlessly confused :sob:

however, what I am most curious about is all of the different aus involving the legacyverse. stuff like the silent one jesse and whatnot. just curious if you could give a biref rundown on all of the main aus that you have for them, if possible.

Hello!! Welcome to the madness~

For 100% strictly lore that adheres to the Main Story itself, the Elemental Compendium tag is your best bet! Unfortunately the 'Info Tag' has since become my tag for ALL (or most) asks as opposed to directly relevant information itself, but that's the second place I would direct you to regardless.

But! If it's all the different AU's you're after, I can totally help you there!

Cracked!Legacyverse: The very first one, which is essentially an AU with @k1ngtok's OC Jamie + things with Olivia/Harumi not being quite as extreme as they are in the main story. Has a BUNCH of sidestories by myself, King, and others I can direct you to if you're interested in a slightly fluffier take on some S2/S3 events!

Royal!Legacy AU: The 'main' au with actual story to go along with it is what it says on the tin: royalty au! There's a lot of bigger worldbuild-y aspects to it with all the supporting characters to parallel the main story, but otherwise it's just a big fancy love story between Jesse and Cole for people who (like me) want to see them with a relationship without waiting for my agonizing main story slowburn jljhgfdghf

Mer!AU: Started with me spitballing some vibes I had at the time, turned into a WIP (with art!) that I still have yet to finish, but I keep on chipping away at (I WILL finish it. One Day). It's another Aftershock story though (I have one braincell)

Shark!Nya AU: Started as one of many What If asks from long ago that branched into its own thing -> but it's an AU where Nya as the Samurai joins the Shark Army with Olivia during Book 2 instead of trying to be a third party, and the subsequent falling out that would result all the way into S3. Also doubles as an AU where Plasmashipping (Jay/Kai) ends up canon, but that's neither here or there

Quiet!Jesse: An AU where Jesse goes to help Harumi right away at the end of Book 2 instead of prioritizing Miranda, leading to the death of his sister instead and him being the one injured in the elevator + him being the one to blame Lloyd for it and concocting revenge. (He also dies at the end, rip)

Into the Ninjaverse: Kind of a 'for fun' AU where selves from the Show, the Movie, and Legacyverse (potentially with other variants as well) meet each other and interact with shenanigans. Also doubles as an AU where Stormlightshipping (Jay/Sunni) winds up canon

Volleyball!Harumi: Not actually an 'AU' as I do plan to do something with the concept, but literally everything is the same except Harumi actually joins a non-evil volleyball team lmao. This also kind of goes hand-in-hand with another concept of Harumi writing Ninja/Shark Army fanfiction lmao

DR!Jesse/Dragons Rising-related Stuff: Not actuallyyyyyyy an AU, but it's technically notttttt canon to the mainverse eitherrr, so. Basically this encompasses how certain aspects of Legacyverse would (THEORHETICALLY) work within DR, alongside a (THEORHETICAL) story following how Jesse would deal with all these newfound changes to his life, on top of raising his kid as a single parent. Be mindful if you dive into that tag tho; there do be some spoilers (but those are tagged as well)!!

Next-Gen Jamboree + Alter!Verse: Essentially an AU of the prior AU when everyone's got (at least one) kid prior to The Merge, and the angst that comes with that falling out...except for Lloyd, who only gets a kid thanks to alternate universe shenanigans that rain upon him during his five years alone Post-Merge. It's different from simply "DR!Jesse", as there Jesse's kid is the only one present for DR!events (and thus that's a more """""canon""""" take on things), so anything with the other children is just for fun/speculation and to clear out the brain rot (though I am surprised it got as much traction as it did :d)

Andddd there's probably a bunch of other little-r ones I'm forgetting, but these have been the hot topics in my recent memory hgfhgfd

[piviani]

enhypen comeback reading

( disclaimer: please do remember to take my readings with a grain of salt. i am in no way a professional tarot reader and all of this are alleged and is for entertainment purposes only. )

comeback sucess domestically

three of cups rx - the hanged man rx - queen of wands

wow i didnt really expect this to be honest haha but nevermind. this comeback might have give mixed feelings to their home country. (this is random but i think they should be beware with scandals or like issues in general..?) as youll see after, ive mentioned below about their theme being something new again; a type of song new to kpop (bighit loves experimenting sm lol), so this could give up a mixed feeling to koreans as theyre not used to this type of song, i think? maybe? they’re really gonne be indecisive with what they’ll feel about this. however with the queen of wands — which is a positive card, we’ll definitely see an improvement with their success domestically! not that big though which is unfortunate, however we could definitely see a difference between the last comeback and now on.

though there will have both feelings regarding their comeback i could definitely see the positive outcome exceeding more. most will feel positive about this which will lead to sucess. they could get music show wins? im not really seeing it as a comeback that’ll do really big domestically but itll earn sucess. not as much as they’ll be internationally but like yall get it.

comeback sucess internationally

PoP.. YEAH theyll get that bag lol this comeback could really make them gain new opportunities and establish a name inside kpop where its only specifically for them. definitely not just gain money but more fans as well. im just wary of the devil because this card usually leads to no good. there might have tendencies they’ll get to sabotage themselves in the long run or for this upcoming season of their comeback (issues incoming) so they should be careful and not be careless just because they already established a name. its best to be cautious.

and it seems like its likely that enhypen are really expecting more and higher sucess too with this upcoming comeback and will just become disappointed with the outcome in the end because they expected more… however this is all honestly in ther head :) it’ll really bring more sucess and opportunities to them! they just expect high outcome most of the time which is not technically a bad thing but 😁 (they’re really driven people and craves for sucess.)

comeback theme/concept

seven of swords rx - ace of swords - three of wands rx

for their theme, first thing that really came to my mind as i pulled the cards was out of the three cards i pulled — 2 of them suits was the sword, which is connected to the air element which usually associates with masculinity, which is actually an obvious fact now that their comeback correlates with masculinity lol however with the 7oSr and AoS, their theme for this comeback could be seen from the fans pov as something fresh? new? (another experiment song maybe?) song or like its instrumental could be something that isn’t really heard inside kpop honestly. Now focusing on AoS and 3oWr, for AoS — royalty? mountains? ocean? i can see a crown included? and of course a sword! :) which was already shown in the concept trailer.

(im not good with knowing keywords so please bear with me 😭 not an english speaker too so this is a bit hard lmao back to the reading) for 3oWr, chaos.. rebelions.. im seeing past? something like that and tbh im seeing overseas too which was already shown as they filmed scenes outside korea. and maybe the theme is even something traditional?

keywords: recklessness. rebelliousness? (their concept have always been something about being rebel like) nature. royalty. i can see a crown. swords. fighting. battle between mind and what you truly desire type of concept. conflicts. something about emotions that is usually associated with fire. (madness, insanity, destruction) tradition. sorrowness. castles. nature. mountains. lakes. reminiscing. beginning. leaves? branches?

note: this is really rushed as i still have tons of tasks to do so please bear with me if there are grammatical errors or things u might have not understand in general.

[reading was done at May 2, 2023.]

[foxett]

Hey guys did you know im clinically insane and have multiple OMORI AUs not just swingset? Yapping below! (Spoilers for canon game sometimes i guess)

Swingset AU / SSAU / TRTT (two ropes tied together)(fic name abbreviation) wasn't even the first au I've made.

The first one i really created was ODS (Omori didn't succumb) but the original concept of that whole au is completely different to what it ended up. Originally it was Sunny surviving the bad ending but I changed it to him just remaining as a ghost that can sorta turn physical at will. No I will not make a fic of this.

The next au i can remember making (after swingset) was Kanpekikel (which i completely forgot existed until a few days ago) which is just your average hikikel au with a side of horrible parenting and lots of Kel angst. No, again, I will not write anything of this. I'm pretty sure Kanpekikel was a really early version of Daburumori without the whole double isolation for the kiddos thing.

Like a few days after i got the general idea of Wasurerumori which basically. Everyone forgets Mari and Sunny ever existed and Sunny has to navigate his new reality of "whoops guess nothing ever happened then! My friends don't know me" - again nothing planned to be written

I don't know when but i had a conversation with my friend which led to RWmori being created. Rain world/Omori au where everyone is a slugcat (but anthro. Clothes and stuff!) and deals with the Omori plot with bonus spice (Sunny is Hunter from rain world, a character that literally is terminally ill. Whoops. Sorry Sunter (the name)). I don't plan to write a fic of this one BUT I did start an animatic of it. Might finish it. We'll see.

Daburumori is my second most fleshed out au. I have some (outdated) reference sheets for the main gang (+headspace vers for Kel and Sunny) just check out the tag i guess. I will probably not write anything of it as the plot isn't really cohesive. Might make little comics though!

The next au(?) is basically more of a fic idea. I called it Fire And Ice and i might write it alongside swingset but without the usual once per week updates. It's basically just suntan with some royalty, magic and transgendering. You know me, i love suntan!

I promise not all of these aus are suntan. I PROMISE. (I might be in denial) (Sorry i love suntan sorry sorry AugghhHHHHH)

The last au i have is sporemori which is a big mess of media i like. Infections, mushrooms that really like growing in your bodies, elements from the ghibli movie 'Nausicaa and the valley of the wind' (I don't remember the name please don't attack me) and a whole lot of body horror! I've actually drawn sunny for this au but since i haven't finished anyone else's designs i won't post it unless i randomly get possessed and finish them all. I MIGHT write something for it. No promises. I tried to write something but it got a bit too messy 2k words in (and it was just like. Before the plot?)

Edit! I somehow forgot the existence of headspaced au. It's not that big of an au and it'd work more as a mod. But i cannot mod. Which is why i refuse to associate myself with this au because it's hell on earth to try to explain the lore. /Hj

Fox out ! Yay seeya

[eneiryu]

hi! just wanted to say i love your fics a lot and i read a while back that you’ll sometimes take prompts if they speak to you and i know you don’t do aus but we sent a cameo request to dylan and this is what he gave us: https://www.cameo.com/recipient/65538f40d9da33f2eef38bff

and while we were trying to make sense of it, this is what we came up with. neither would cheat on the other since it just doesn’t make sense for either of them to (and i think in dylan’s explanation it seemed more like liam was the king who cheated which makes even less sense) BUT then we thought about it more and he says king and queen so it made sense that liam (who in the show is kind of like supernatural royalty through scott) is the king and the queen is someone he’s married to through a delicate political balance with another royal family for the security of the kingdom or something and theo is actually the MAID since theo would never make sense to be royalty. so king liam has an affair with maid theo and when it get revealed it tears apart the royal family and the delicate political ties and topples (or almost topples) the kingdom. and so theo because he was the maid gets sentenced and executed and liam is unable to do anything to stop it cause of reasons and so that love and betrayal and heartbreak and animosity then carry’s over to this life and is the cause of their dynamic in this life (since according to dylan it wasn’t theo almost killing all of liam’s friends but rather a cheating scandal in a past life that is the cause of their animosity).

but that also explains why they seem to be drawn to each other and have bitterness at the same time (a lot of their s6 interactions seem like bitter exes who still have feelings for each other which makes some sense with dylan’s headkahn) and liam’s explanation for bringing theo back and then protecting him and both of them protecting and sniping at each other at the same time. so their past life is the reason they’re both drawn to each other and hate each other in this life.

like in their past life they loved each other enough to sacrifice everything for each other but it wasn’t enough to save them so that pull between them still exists but betrayal will still always be a part of their story (except it’s the other way around in this life hence s5 theo)

anyway that’s what we were sort of able to come up with. i know i think you’ve said before that you don’t typically write au aus but was his cameo (and our semi explanation) something you could make sense of and/or maybe write a fic about someday 😭?

Thank you and I’m so glad you enjoy my fics!

Hmmm. So that’s certainly an interesting headcanon/take on Theo’s and Liam’s relationship throughout the series, and I’m impressed as hell with the amount of thought that clearly went into it. A couple of things would probably make a challenge for me to write, the biggest hurdle being that I’ve never developed a huge taste for “destined” relationships or soulmates or the like. It always seems to take away that critical element of choice—I want, and I want the people I write about to have, the ability to choose to love someone, rather than it being something that was decided by fate or whatever. But! One of the most memorable fics I’ve ever read had a really interesting take on this (if anyone is interested, it’s a Clarke/Lexa fic for the 100, and I will dig it up if anyone wants it), where the idea was that certain souls are “tied” together, rather than destined? It’s hard to explain out of context, but I remember liking that story a lot, and the author made the concept work. Winding back to the point, the second challenge I’d have is that I’m not a big regency person (for the past relationship element).

Buuuuut…I’ve actually brought in elements of this in other fics. Telegraph wires and the quiet earth still sleeping both deal pretty heavily with Theo trying to shield the McCall pack (including Liam) from suffering the political consequences of being associated with him, given his past. So I could see myself doing something a little more focused on that, possibly.

Meandering thought process aside, I’m really sorry that this probably isn’t going to be something that I’m going to be able to bring to life for you. But maybe someone else can, I would highly encourage anyone interested to take a shot at it!

[tewwor-moving]

🎰 for the vibes!!!! if u want a category i'd love the marked :)

muse sampling & plots (accepting) ! please specify a at least 1 category listed on my muse roster ( the marked, harborview, hanuel's inn, supernatural, crime, mythology, misc. / testing, fantasy ) — not restricted to just romantic connections.

pulling a small aside here since they're all from the same org. any variation of supernatural themes is pretty straight forward. just stay off the 'bad creature' radar and the marked won't tack jesper on their 'to kill' list. and depending on the circumstances / character, they might even seek his aid.

soothsayer — promise this was actually pulled by random and not because you said her concept was kickass ( my fingers are maybe crossed ). also, i'll go by verses that i could see any of these characters can fit into. modern, if there's ever a chance he's anywhere near a court, she'll probably be there. or she could also have her hand in some similar criminal connections that might know of her precognitive capabilities ( though, i think it'd be fun to front it as just really deep superstition ). any variation of fantasy / royalty to really lean into her powers, especially if hierarchy's involved. will be upfront and say if there's any want for a mother figure connection, she's your gal. but in a very stern asian mother sort of way with backhanded advice and too much peeled fruit and the most random presents because they were a great deal.

ari — hiiiiii klepto bestie who loves a good bet. not too sure where luck lands on their side, but they love to neg people on. fun fact about their power, ari's able to summon anything and anyone. so the instance of being pulled into another universe is always an option! and so is.... being chased by the 2 creatures that are bound to them. which, they don't have complete control over so.. they're sorry in advance. can also be jammed into modern and fantasy verses.

seojun — who wants a crime funcle? think he's more fitting for a modern setting with or without outright supernatural elements. does have the penchant to adopt pseudo nieces and nephew and anything in between. is typically encouraging! but would not... encourage the gambling ( he's had to pry himself away from mahjong one too many times with super deep holes in his pockets.... )

litho — ah. the bitch. look, he's so versatile in the way that he has two things he's good at. foraging papers and doing cool stuff with ink. could've crossed paths fighting off some ugly dugly monster. could've pissed him off really easily, but i keep shoving him back into random interactions. could've done a tattoo or two — even remove some! i can fit him into any verse tbh.

ricochet — oh. the actual terror of the marked that everyone's ok with dying. i don't.... have much for him? besides being a menace to everyone unintentionally. he gets triggered into aggression easily. doesn't say much. purposely gets himself beat so he can return the favor twofold. heavy on the retrograde amnesia. can also.... probably work something out in most verses.

saul, as a bonus — pretty much going to regurgitate the same connections as above, but with the sick addition of having a personal guardian :o) that.. may or may not rob their host's consciousness just to get the job done when it comes to external dangers :o)) literally any verse works since they've existed for so, so long. extremely sour personality. can come in fun lil' critter forms and terrifying eldritch ones!

[cameraal]

Hello! If you are seeing this then WELCOMEEEEEE to my DAILY WORLDBUILDING OF WORLDS! (Name is a work in progress lmao)

Basically, Every day for this summer (and potentially longer if I enjoy this) Im going to post a story idea, maybe even some art concepts to go with it. I will

-Flesh out at least 2-3 Characters

-Flesh out the world/section of the world

-Flesh out the worlds mechanics (ex: if time travel is real how does it work?)

-Flesh out character relationships, Backstories

-All of this is made in real time, therefore the names, places, people, are not well thought out. Feel free to speculate or even change any element you do not like (but be nice about it:))

All of these stories are free for anyone to use for entertainment. As long as you aren’t making a considerable amount of money off of my ideas I really don’t care if you use them, just credit me as inspiration :) (however if you end up making millions I wouldn’t mind a quick paycheck lmao)

ANYWAYS

Day 1: Hierarchical Eyes.

This world is a world ravaged by war. It has technology from the 1700’s. This is a mystical world where your social ranking is determined by your Eye Color. The ranks are as follows

Blue: Kings/Queens, Royalty

Purple: Royalty, can be Kings however it is rare, very close to Blues. This eye color portrays magical abilities

Yellow: The upper class, These are rare, but any offspring with this eye color are very wealthy. Has the lowest population

Red: Military Leaders, known for their brutality. These are the guards of the palace and are the generals behind the wars.

Orange: Lesser Military troops, much are in the police force and deal with the crime. This color is also known for being farmers, if the offspring is discharged or not accepted into the police force

Greens: The scholars, close friends with the purples despite their hierarchical difference. Well respected however they hold no power.

Browns/Grey hues: The peasants. They can fill the spot of any higher role (except for Blues and Purples) however it is extremely rare and in most cases are immediately denied a chance. They range from dirt poor to middle class. This is the biggest group.

This story takes place in one kingdom, the Spiral Kingdom. This kingdom is located at the east of the continent they reside on, there are 4 other kingdoms on this continent, all at war with one another. However this kingdom in particular is special, as it was the old capital of the kingdom that once ruled the world. This kingdom, which i will keep unnamed, had immense power long ago, their technology was advanced, how far advanced? No one knows. However all that is known is that the capital long ago was overrun by an external force known for its greed and hunger for power. The kingdom was soon able to defeat and seal away the external force, however with its forces low and desperation high, the civilization collapsed trying to rebuild itself. From the rubble came along a great Blue eyed king, with his purple eyed mage and his red eyed warrior, and they created the glorious Eye hierarchy we know and *love* today. All in an act of keeping the peace with the invaders. And as for the invaders? They were sealed away in this amulet worn around the King’s neck at all times. Who knows what would happen if the amulet were to be broken.

Now what I had just told you was the fairytale, here is what actually happened. This ancient civilization was power hungry, they treated their citizens well and were thriving. With this immense power they treated themselves like gods, and with that comes ambition. This civilization went to war with these mystical beings, beings who had been perceived as mortal gods of the world. The beings retaliated, bringing the civilization to the brink of collapse before being captured by the amulet. With the powers of literal gods before them, a Blue, Purple, and Red eyed trio set forth to rebuild their fallen civilization as they see fit, putting themselves at the top. Blue was given the title of king, for they were in control of the amulet. Purple were given a fraction of the god’s powers from the amulet for the compensation of not being king. Reds were given control of the army, much to the liking of the friend in the trio who ruled with an iron fist.

MORE WORLDBUILDING:

-Heterochromia children are against the law, and are executed.

-A relationship beyond acquaintances for different colored eyes are unacceptable (exceptions being Blue/Purple, Purple/Green, and Red/Orange)

-Contacts are banned, if you are found with contacts you will be charged. Contacts are however sold on the black market for high $$

-The mystical beings are a race who look over god’s creations, make sure everything is peaceful, however do not interfere unless provoked. These beings are mortal however.

THE CHARACTERS: (Potential Character ideas)

Brown Eyes:

2 Brothers, Living in the streets. Steals to make a living, Are apart of a group that is against the throne, befriends a blue eyed kid

Green Eyes:

An older fellow, Loves to read stories to younger children and works with the purples to keep their little book shop in buisness

Orange Eyes:

A well respected officer, gets discharged under suspicion of corruption. Is forced to live as a farmer and learn to enjoy life

Purple + Blue Eyes

Siblings, one is purple and one is blue. The Blue is the heir to the throne and doesn’t really understand the duties of being King, however his older sibling is constantly trying to teach him the history of their people and the duties of king. He doesn’t listen and befriends 2 brown eyes.

Mystical Being

The last of their kind, trapped in the amulet their whole life, they’ve never experienced the outside world, and once they are let out, they are quickly destructive and don’t understand the severity of their situation

ROUGH STORY:

As the 2 browns befriend the Blue eyed prince, the prince’s inauguration day is fast approaching. With his dad’s sudden death it leaves him to take the throne. However he is inexperienced and therefore will need to be guided by his older sibling, who had been taught to be king (however taught to be only a last resort had the king be unable to produce a blue eyed heir) Due to the blue eyes’ inexperience with being king, and some bad timing, the amulet is quickly losing its power, draining the life force behind all the Purples and quickly throwing the kingdom into ruin. In desperation (and to the dismay of both his sibling and brown eyed friends) the prince tears open the Amulet, releasing the being into the world.

That’s all im going to do, honestly don’t expect this much in my future days, as today’s was just extra long since this has been a story i’ve been revitalizing for a few years now, so there is a lot to say. If you read this far, please feel free to poke holes into this story! (Nicely lol) i’d love feedback and your own edits to the story.

[ggukkiereads]

hi ggukie!

has anyone written a fan fiction one shot/series with one of the bts members and y/n being stuck in a k drama world??? if the idea has been done i won’t do it but then please send the name and @ of the author :’) would love to read it!

🌷 Ooh this is a fantastic idea! Kind of like isekai? But yours is more focused on getting stuck in a k-drama world (like W? That Korean drama/tv series where they get stuck in a webnovel?)

I don’t think a Korean drama has been done yet but I remember a few where they get transported into a known AU (usually book/novel or video game):

ISEKAI AUs (focused on novels/video games)

Isn’t it Romcomic by @bangtanstanst ​ - Seokjin x Reader | E2L, Lawyer AU, alternate romcom world

↬  this is inspired by the movie Isn’t it Romantic where OC, who loves romcoms, ended up in this alternate romcom lucid dream?illusion? and realized the person she dislikes is in this world as well (I love E2L and this scenario is such a fun imagine)

↬ this is a screenshot from a fic rec list for Multiverse/Lucid Dreams type of fics. Not all of the fics in the list fit the category you’re looking for but this is the closest. It’s also not k-drama world they are stuck in, but all the AUs that OC has written in her life. It’s just an amazing fic and I remember getting so exhausted with all the universe-hopping because I was that immersed lol.

A Fairy Tale’s End by @bangtanlalaland - OT7 x Reader | fantasy, going into a fairy tale book OC had a copy of

↬ it’s an ongoing series (we stopped at chapter 3) so you can add this to your watchlist? I love that it all has the elements I love: fantasy, wizards, vampire, e2l etc.

The Return of an Empress @you-are-my-joy - OT7 x Reader | isekai, royalty au, fantasy, transported to a novel

↬ seems exciting to be transported to a novel you like as the Empress, right? Well, knowing the character gets k-word in few months? I don’t think so 🤭. It’s thrilling to see OC find ways to survive plus to see the members with different roles/positions (advisor, assassin, knight, etc) add to the drama and mystery. Still ongoing (but it’s currently at 200K+ word count so it’s good to start reading and get updated before writer updates 🥰). I read this more on ao3 too! (easier to read long fics beyond 200k word count)

Moirai by @jimlingss - ???? x reader | I guess fantasy, isekai, video game world

↬ I love how OC ended up the villain of the video game lol. Definitely unique and fun to read/discover how the story unfolds. When this came out, the member was a mystery so I won’t reveal who the member is and you can discover along the way 🥰.

Faerie Realm @ddaengyoonmin - OT7 x Reader | virtual reality, survival game, video game

↬ If you’re familiar with Sword Art Online, the series has similar themes about being trapped in a game. This is also ongoing series and initially it was more of Jungkook and Reader pairing (but the author tagged it as ot7 x reader fic so it’ll eventually go that route). I haven’t really watched or read this anime/manga but I find the concept exciting.

The other isekai fics I know are not necessarily connected to a known/existing novel or movie. However, if you are interested in the other isekai fics,  I can add them to this list. 🥰

Also, I’ve seen some of your fics! Actually read one here on tumblr (the roommate jungkook) and subscribed to New Girl on ao3 😊 (because I love that series!) . If you want to write an isekai fic where they get transported to a k-drama au in particular, that’ll be new too so I am cheering you on! I think there are a lot of us who watch Korean Dramas too! Please enjoy writing and looking forward to that day you get to share this wonderful fic idea =)

.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Raven why your alternative scenarios make me go damn I wish this actually happened 😭

[Referencing this post!]

You get a ghost slap, and you get a ghost slap, and YOU get a ghost slap! Ghost slaps for everyone— 😌

I wanted to make the scenarios flow well in the natural course of Ghost Marriage’s story! I think the most interesting part for me to write was the ending, because not only does it finish on a strong note that leads into Ace’s big speech, but it gives Malleus a moment to stand out without relying so much on his “loneliness” or being generally overpowered. Instead, his scene expands upon the canon reason why he cannot propose to begin with: he has a duty to his own country and its people. I incorporated elements of Maleficent’s entrance from Sleeping Beauty, as well as the concept of “blessing” a child; I thought these would be good callbacks!

I think that Malleus would be able to relate to Eliza, but in a very… ominous way. Eliza appears to have died young, so she doesn’t yet have a grasp of her responsibilities as royalty. She still holds very naive expectations about love and about the world. Meanwhile, Malleus has lived long enough to see past all of that, and he has the grace to put others before his personal feelings, even if that brings him a sense of loneliness from being “at the top”. But at least his people are alive and well because of his sacrifices. Looking at Eliza, Malleus sees another path he could have taken. If he were to be selfish, would his people suffer the same fate as hers have? It’s a quiet, unspoken fear that tempers his rage and makes it icy cold when he takes the slap--because Malleus knows he’s right. Eliza also knows he’s right, but she won’t admit it, because the truth makes her uncomfortable... and her happy ending is SO close. That was my thought process behind the lecture he gives her.

It would have been easy to let Malleus save the day, but I avoided that and allowed him to baton pass his opportunity to Ace. After all, Ace is the event SSR, not Malleus--and I think it works on a character level too. Since when has Malleus (or most of the NRC boys, really) cared enough about his classmates to save them out of the goodness of his heart? He’s mainly there seeking to be amused. It also fits Malleus’s “final boss” vibes, letting others do his dirty work for him while he sits back and watches.

I don’t think Malleus would have been able to talk some sense into Eliza as well as Ace can, either. Malleus can lecture Eliza all day about how irresponsible she is, but in the end, it’s the common man, Ace, who shatters her beliefs about the “perfect prince” and “true love”. 

Not gonna lie, I, too, wish this had happened 🤣 Not that there was anything wrong with the original Ghost Bride due to the omission of Malleus and the other characters, but I feel like Malleus really needs more moments that show him actually acting like a leader instead of being TOLD that he is.

[syndxlla]

Part eleven of the More To Love series

Summary: You get a chance to reflect on who you are, where you are with your relationships, and what you really want in life with the help of your mother, the Queen of Corellia. You meet some new seemingly friends, who quickly prove you otherwise.

Word Count: 7.1k, NO USE OF ‘y/n’

Warnings: Non-consensual kiss, swearing, alcohol

Author’s note: i am LIVID. why tumblr only lets you have a certain amount of paragraphs in a post IDK! it’s dumb haha and the only reason i went over is because there is so much dialogue in this. BASICALLY. I am making the decision to go easy on myself. I know earlier today I said part 11 would be split into two, but i am going to just make the second half be part 12. SO. i made a new moodboard for this chapter! i hope you like it :).

i wanna say a big THANK YOU to @stinky-child for helping me edit this chapter and getting it out on time!

PART 12 WILL BE RELEASED THURSDAY, MAY 27TH AT 6pm PST, 9pm EST.

part ten

Koska escorted you back to your quarters, the castle corridors were finally starting to calm down a little bit, however, more and more special guests who would be staying in the palace over the weekend walked in and out of doors, most of them not paying any attention to you because of your drab attire. You hoped the knight made it to his meeting on time and dry. There was no way to know until tomorrow morning, however. Koska was silent as she walked behind you, her footsteps much lighter than the knight’s. Your hair was thick and frizzy from the effects of the elements, and you kept your face down out of a foreign sense of shame.

Keeping your face down can’t hide that sense of shame from everyone, however, and before you can make it to your room, you’re hearing a joyful gasp and footsteps pattering in your direction. You look up from your walk of shame to see someone very important to you, it’s not your Knight, it’s not even Soniee, no. It’s your mother, the Queen of Corellia. She’s accompanied by three Corellian guards and she’s wearing the most beautiful yellow gown you had ever seen. It was clearly a gift from Bo-Katan. You smiled brightly, relieved to see someone you love. It had only been a few weeks but it felt like an eternity. You had completely forgotten she would be coming to your engagement ball. You’ve been so preoccupied with the plans and teaching the Knight how to dance that it completely slipped your mind. Your mother had a wide smile on her face, too, and wore the traditional Corellian crown. You ran to her and embraced her fighting around the waist, something that was not appropriate for royalty in public like this but you couldn’t care less. You had been so emotionally confused over the last few weeks that there was nothing you needed more than a fulfilling hug from your parent. She hums with joy when you come into her arms, and she runs her slender fingers through your beautiful hair. You sigh of relief in her embrace.

“I had forgotten you were coming.” You admit, holding back tears of relief. She chuckles in response.

“You look a mess.” She replies and you’re the one to chuckle this time.

“I’ve had quite the day.” You smile, blushing as you remember who you spent it with. “Come, I have so much to tell you.” You pull away, holding her hands in yours and then leading her to the closest sitting room. You were finally starting to understand the layout of the Mandalorian palace, it only took two weeks. This room was the same blue as the royal color, you guide her to sit by you on the sofa, and Koska awkwardly follows. You look over to the handmaiden before standing and walking in her direction. “Lady Reeves, you are dismissed.” You nod while speaking in a regal tone, but after stating it, your voice hushes and you whisper to her, “Is he going to be alright?” You ask in reference to the Knight.

She nods once, “Even if he was late, he’s bound to duty by the Queen, he’ll be okay.” Your stomach twists.

“What does that even mean?” You ask, there is much he is not telling you.

Koska sighs, she seemed to regret saying that. “I’ll worry about him, you enjoy your time with your mother.” She nods to the Queen who was patiently awaiting your return. You smile a “thank you” and walk back to the Corellian Queen. When Koska closes the door finally, you slouch into the couch, feeling pure relief as you were alone with your kin.

“You look absolutely exhausted.” Your mother says.

“I am, life here is exhausting. There are so many rules, much more than back at home.” You awkwardly shrug.

“We miss you.”

“I miss you too, more than you know.” You were so homesick these days. “I had to spend four days learning all the rules and customs and I still take private lessons from the literal queen so I don’t embarrass her anymore.” You roll your eyes, knowing that you couldn’t express this arrogance to anyone else in the palace and taking advantage of the chance now.

“Oh, I'm sorry love, I worried that there might be a bit of a culture shock.” She takes your hand with hers, stroking the stop of it with her own cold hands.

“Is father here?” You ask, your eyes hopeful. That glimmer immediately fades when she sighs, her eyes leaving yours. “What? What’s wrong?”

“He’s not coming…”

“What? Why?”

“He’s… sick, I didn’t want to tell you but it’s your right to know. You would have eventually found out anyway.” She somberly explains.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, we think so. But traveling and socializing in his condition was not realistic. We understand that rumors will start, but his health is necessary before an impending war.” She frowns, and you try not to let it upset you too much. “Enough of that, tell me about this place.” Her tone immediately flips.

You smile, “It’s so hot, much hotter than Corellia. I mean the heat is exhausting and the dresses are heavy and the tea parties are always outside and I always feel overheated.” You complain.

“Do you at least like the prince?” She asks. “Is he cute?”

Now you must choose if you’re going to lie, like you have for the last fortnight, or be truthful with the only person you feel that you can be. You sigh, and just look at her, defeated, hoping that would be enough to tell her.

She hums empathetically. “Oh dear.”

“Yeah…” You sigh, happy she understood and you didn’t have to make the decision of communication.

“Well, keep your head up, I didn’t really like your father all that much until we had you.” She chuckles.

“What?” You ask, your eyes showing surprise. “I had no idea…” You weren’t sure how much you liked that thought, your parents had always been an example of a couple you’d like to experience for yourself. “Why had you never told me?”

“There was no reason for you to know before now. The older you get, the more you’ll learn what you need to hear.” She explains. You supposed she was right. “And remember, it’s supposed to be a partnership—marriage that is— it’s not so bad if you work at it.”

“Well, he certainly likes being solo.” You humph. “He’s very kind, and it’s clear he cares for his kingdom but-“ You knew you weren’t being completely truthful with her.

“But what?”

You debated your next words. You wanted to tell her, more than anything you wanted your mother to know what was really going on, but you knew you couldn’t. You knew she wouldn’t understand. This marriage is a diplomatic solution to an oncoming war of her home kingdom. She wouldn’t understand the strife. “Nothing.” You feel untruthful to yourself, but you can’t do anything about it. “I just feel like I will be unhappy in our marriage.”

“Marriage isn’t supposed to make you happy.”

You hated that, it wasn’t the first time she had said it to you, either. When an arranged marriage was first brought up, she said it then for the first time. The other time she said it to you was about three weeks ago, just before you were going to leave Corellia and come to this ornate prison. It was your last attempt to try and get out of it, but she uttered those words and you had to live with it.

This time, you pulled your hand away from hers. “But what about love? I thought you loved my father!?”

“I do love him, but that didn’t happen for a long time, like I said, not until you were born.”

“So then what’s the reason for all this? For sending me here for a big ball and a fancy wedding if I am not supposed to love the man I’m sharing these parties with? How am I to enjoy marriage before children then?” You stand up on these words out of frustration. You hated feeling like your only purpose in this world is to bear children, to produce an heir.

“Love between royals is not a natural thing, it can’t just happen between any two people. There must be that connection there and it often isn’t developed for a while.” She chuckles. “What? Did you think you were going to live inside one of those fairytales your wet nurse used to tell you before you went to sleep?” She asks, looking up at you, surprised.

“What do you mean ‘between royals’?”

“We must do what’s best for our people, it’s selfish to marry for love when you are royalty.”

You feel defeated.

“No… No, there's so much more to love. Love is not selfish, in fact, I believe that loving someone with our hesitation and unconditionally is the most selfless act one could ever do.” Your voice raises just a bit. You meant every word you said.

“If you feel this way about love, then surely you must love the Prince. What’s the problem then? We’ve been preparing you for this reality for years, it’s not a new concept that you would not love immediately, I can only imagine you would feel so emotionally because you have those feelings for someone.”

Did you?

You consider what she was saying, your eyes trailing to the side as you thought. You supposed she was right, there would be no reason for you to feel so passionately about it if you hadn’t experienced it for yourself.

But you weren’t having that experience with Korkie, the hell you weren’t.

Did you love the Knight? You don’t know his name, you don’t know his face, you don’t know anything about him and yet you are starting to think that infatuation has grown into adoration. Your legs feel weak, and you have to slowly lower yourself onto the couch again, feeling woozy from the realization. How did you let it get so far? Your confused face turns to look at your mother’s, eyebrows furrowed and mouth slightly open.

“I sense you realized something you didn’t already know.”

You slowly nod your head. Unsure of how to react, you fiddle with your fingers, trying to gain your bearings again. You expect your mother to speak up but she never does.

Before the conversation continues, however, the door is pulled open and three Knights are walking in, a Butler steps in, “Her Majesty, The Queen.” He says before nodding and stepping away. Bo-Katan glides into the room, regal as ever. You and your mother stand up from where you sat, curtsying for your hostess.

“Your Majesty.” She takes your mother’s hand, both of them smiling and kissing one another on either cheek. “I trust your travels were comfortable?”

“Yes, your coachmen were very hospitable.” Your mother nods.

Korkie then enters the rooms with another young Prince who you hadn't met before. He was blonde, and skinny as a twig. He wore a white and gold ceremonial cloak that covered his right shoulder. You smile at Korkie out of Obligation, and he and the other prince bow to the women in the room.

“Princess!” Korkie cheers, “This is my cousin, Prince Hugo of Bespin.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.” He takes your hand and kisses the top of it, his smile charming and blue eyes bright. You were flattered by the gesture, humming.

“The pleasure is mine.” You follow royal protocol. Then, another woman enters the room. She’s tall, an intricate headpiece adorns long, black hair and she has hypnotic, black eyes hidden by deep set, hooded eyes. She’s beautiful, with toned skin and red dots drawn under her lips making her stand out from everyone in the room.

“Ah, Her Majesty Queen Clarya of Naboo.” Bo-Katan introduces. The Elven Queen Ahsoka then enters the room, and everyone, even the Queens bow out of respect before the door is closed. The parlor is suddenly very full, and your intimate moment with your mother is lost entirely. You are suddenly very aware of your disheveled look, and try to run your fingers through your hair a few times.

“It’s lovely to finally meet you.” Clarya says, smiling. “I’ve heard so much about you.” Taking your hand and giving you a friendly squeeze.

“Oh… I’m afraid I haven’t heard much about you.” You apologize.

“No troubles, You are all the gossip among the other Kingdoms.” The eastern queen explains.

“Yes, It appears you are.” Korkie says, moving to stand by your side. “How wonderful that my beautiful wife-to-be is regarded so highly across the world.” He tries to take your hand but you pull it away, not necessarily meaning to, but it was a reflex that you failed to suppress after realizing you were in love with an entirely different man. He clears his throat, and the aura in the room is awkward, you aren’t sure what to do, so you just say the first thing to come out of your mouth.

“Have any of you gone to the beach? It’s lovely!” You awkwardly smile before walking over to the drink cart underneath a portrait of a Manda’lor of a past generation. You try to ignore all the people, feeling a little embarrassed that they were all seeing you dressed like this. You didn’t even think of what suspicion could be born out of that phrase.

“Oh yes, our sandy beaches are widely loved by all.” Bo-Katan takes a seat on the sofa in the place you had sat at just moments before, crossing her ankles under her gown. You shakily pour amber liquid into a crystal glass, your hand shaking as you bring it to your lips, taking a sip of the alcohol.

“Nothing like the Corellian beaches, I assume?” Your mother asks. “Our beaches are rocky and often frozen over.”

“Ah yes, but the Corellian ship fjords are lovely, what a wonderful exposure to culture you raised your daughter with!” Ahsoka sings.

“She turned out alright.” Your mother teases and everyone chuckles warmly. You turn around after drinking, and sheepishly smile. Gods you hope she meant that.

“Well, we are all very excited for the ball tomorrow.” Clarya says, “My assistant worked on a mask for hours the night before we left. It will be an extravagant sight to see everyone dressed so festively.”

“Of course, but we all know none of us can compare to the fashion and extravagance of the Naboolians.” Korkie hums. Everyone chuckles again. You nervously looked out to all of them, you had just made possibly the biggest mistake of your life and none of them paid any attention to you despite it. You had just shown Korkie your first and only sign of true disinterest the night before your engagement ball and you desperately wished you could go back in time and take his hand instead of denying the act of affection, even if you didn’t feel good about it.

“I think you will all be pleased to hear that it was the Princess who came up with the Masquerade idea.” Bo gestures to you. You smile with your teeth, trying to act normal and not like you were secretly dying inside. There is general amusement when that is said, and you can’t help but fidget with the crystal alcohol glass, wanting to leave the room and return to the comfortable embrace of the Knight on the beach.

“Beautiful and smart!” Korkie’s cousin laughs, putting emphasis on the ‘and’. “It’s not every day you find a woman like that!” Everyone laughs again, and this time you force out a faux chuckle to seem more involved in the eyes of the others. “You better hang onto her, Kork!” Korkie smiled at his cousin's words, looking over to you. You feel weak, not liking all the attention. If this much attention was making you feel this way, what would the ball with hundreds of guests tomorrow night be like?

“Yes but, I can’t seem to remember going to the beach with you?” Korkie asks, his diplomatic voice cutting through the laughter. You nervously laugh. He knew something was up. How could you be so careless?

“What? Did I say something about the beach?” You try to play it off cluelessly.

“Oh come on, we all know you aren’t that ditzy.” His cousin groans

“Your fiance asked you a question, dear.” Your mother prods.

“Yes, did you go to the beach sometime during your time here?” Bo-Katan is the one to ask this time, and your legs are starting to feel unsteady.

“It’s not a bad thing, we just want to know.” Korkie takes a step in your direction, making you feel closed in. “We all love the beach here and we are happy you have gotten the chance to enjoy it.” You sensed there was an undertone with his true meaning.

You weren’t sure if you believed him when he said this, “Is it hot in here?” You chuckle, “I think I’ll have another drink, would you like one, Korkie? You ask before turning around and pouring another glass of brandy. He can see how shaky your hand is as you try to fill the cup. He stands behind you, wrapping his arm around you and cupping your hand with his in an attempt to make the pouring more steady. The action startles you, and you flinch as a reaction, dropping the crystal glass in your hand. It was already partially full, and it falls down to the floor in slow motion, golden drink splashing out of it as glass shatters on impact, making a loud, crashing sound that sends shards out across the floor and leaves a puddle of alcohol to soak into the bottom hem of Koska’s sister’s dress. The women of the room gasp from shock, and Hugo walks quickly over to see the mess. You look down at the glass in shock of what you just did, your heart sinking and stomach churning. Lady Tano is the next one to walk over to you, taking you by the shoulders and guiding you to one of the arm chairs, helping you sit down. The room was deathly silent now, you could hear your pulse ringing through your ears. Ahsoka crouches before you, ruling your hand with hers and trying to comfort you from the unexpected shock. Korkies hands are balled into fists. Was he angry with you?

“No worries.” Hugo laughs, trying to be an entertainer, “Butler!” The Butler opens the door.

“Is everything alright?” He asks after bowing.

“Yes, we just made a little mess, would you be so kind as to clean it up?” Hugo walks Korkie, who seems to be just as shocked and embarrassed as you, over to another armchair. The butler snaps and then whistles and three young maids come in, each one getting on their hands and knees to pick up the pieces of glass.

“Princess?” Your mother says, “Do you have something you would like to say to the Manda’lor?” She awkwardly asks, clearly trying to make good from the situation, side-eying Bo.

Your pale face turns to look at Bo, who had that same disappointed frown that you always see on her.

“My deepest apologies, your Majesty.” You clear your throat before painfully looking over to where Korkie sat, his hand resting in his palm and expression down turned.

“Well!” Hugo takes the center of the room. “No use in sitting here in silence, mistakes happen! Right Auntie?” He says to Bo.

“Of course.” She smiles, physically accepting your apology with a reassuring nod.

“Lovely, would anyone like some music?” He asks.

“That would be lovely, Hugo.” Lady Tano says in her ethereal voice. He smiles and walks over to the baby grand piano in the corner of the room, the same baby grand that you played at for your Knight a few weeks ago.

“The Princess plays!” Your mother says, trying to alleviate any tension.

“She does?” Hugo makes direct eye contact with you. “Would you like to play a duet with me?”

“Hugo, she just-“ Ahsoka begins but is interrupted by your mother.

“Oh won’t you play for us Dear?” She asks, smiling.

“Please! I have wanted to hear you play since I was told you could.” Bo-Katan asks. It would be rude to decline a request from the Queen and the Host of the night.

You nod and stand up, that could be just the thing you need to feel better. You walk over to the piano, stopping just before Hugo.

“Bass or Soprano?” He asks, muttering so quietly that only you can hear it.

“Soprano.” You say. He pulls the bench out and sits first since he would be playing the lower part. You then sit next to him, your hands still slightly shaking.

“Do you know the ‘Dathomirian Waltz’?” He asks. You nod. “Lovely, key of D minor then, I’ll follow you.” He pulls his hands up to the keys, and you follow, taking two deep breaths, the first to calm your shaking hands, the second to conduct both of you in at the same time. Together you play a set of intricate chords, Hugo emphasizing on the bass notes, playing a complex scale that brought his left hand over his right several times. You carry the melody, playing just slightly louder than him and allowing yourself to fall into the trance of performing. Your hands finally quit shaking after a few phrases of the music, allowing it to soothe your nerves. Music has always done that for you. All of the nobles in the room smile, the Naboolian Queen sighing at the beauty of the complicated piece. You can’t keep the smile from pulling on your lips. Korkie’s cousin was very talented, much better than you. His hand brushed against yours several times and you couldn’t help yourself from thinking about the Knight when Hugo touches you.

This was something you would never get with him. You would never get to share a memorable moment with others, never get to rub hands against each other in front of three Queens, never get to look one another in the eye without shame or secrecy. The thoughts start to overcome your consciousness, causing you to play a sour note. No one seemed to notice, but you were more aware of it than you should have been.

A beautiful piece, carefully composed and rehearsed, performed with the intent to dazzle, the intent to impress. However there will always be the sour note, an incorrect chord that the audience might not hear but those giving the show will dwell on undoubtedly.

Like the Kingdom of Mandalore.

——————————————

“Rise and Shine your Highness!” A sing-songy voice calls out to you before pulling the long, draping curtains apart and letting the warm Mandalorian sun pour into the room. You groan and flip over onto your side, your body is still exhausted from yesterday evening and you would like to sleep in a little longer.

“Oh, don’t give us that.” A more brash voice groans and you recognize it as Koska’s. You can hear a number of other bodies file into the suite, maybe three or four. The handmaid's pull in the elven dress and a light breakfast. You can still smell the salt water on your forearm as you swing your hand over your eyes. You were not a morning person. Koska walks up to your bed before sitting on the edge of it, placing her tan hand on your shoulder. “We’ve let you sleep in long enough, we have to get you dressed and ready for tea with the Queens.”

“Queens?” You mumble, slurring the ‘s’ out.

“Yup, both Bo-Katan and your mother as well as the Queen of Naboo and Duchess of the Felucian mountain Kingdom are all eager to spend brunch with you in the Garden.” More guests arrived this morning while you were still sleeping, but it wasn’t until Koska explained to you about the women waiting for you that you remembered what day it was. You opened your eyes wide, flopping your arm onto the mattress beside you and looking up at her drowsily.

“The masquerade is today.” You say out of realization. She smirks and slowly nods her head. Soniee budges into your conversation, sitting on the opposite side of the bed.

“We have two dresses for you to wear today! This one,” She pulls forward a gown that isn’t quite as full and round as the dress for the ball, but is still a lovely dress with a pretty skirt and pearls embroidered into the bodice. “And of course the elf dress.” She nods to the pink and gold gown that sat on a sewing-bust, shimmering in the light. “We won’t get you into the ball gown until later tonight.” She hums.

“Now, we have to get you cleaned up, your hair is a mess.” Koska stands up and pulls the heavy down comforter from off of you. The loss of warmth elicits another sleepy groan from your lips and you stare up at the ladies in waiting frustratedly. “Up!” Koska’s serious voice commands and you’re scared enough of her that you jump up out of bed, pulling the nightgown sleeve up that has been slowly slipping down your shoulder and showing more and more skin. “That’s better.” Koska hums, “Let’s get you a bath, yeah?” She walks towards the bath room, opening the golden gilded doors and into the naturally-light room. You will always admire the beauty and effort put into the Mandalorian palace despite the internal battle with living here. You follow her into the room, still sleepy and walking slowly but eventually making it to the tub in the center of the room. The bath has already been drawn, which they must have done in your sleep (they’ve never done that before). You strip out of the cream-colored nightie and dip into the warm water. It smelled of lavender and honey and you allowed your muscles to relax into the bubbles. It was perfect, exactly what you needed to clear your racing and stressful mind. Your muscles were sore from yesterday and the warm water and flowery oils soaked them blissfully. You sigh at the sensation but before you can enjoy it anymore, Koska is dumping the warm water over your head, wetting it completely. It’s unexpected and you gasp from shock, your eyes glued shut to keep the water out of them. Damp hands come up from out of the water to wipe your eyes but then another dump of water is pouring over your head and you’re back at square one. Koska was a much harsher bather than Sonnie was.

All is forgiven however when she starts massaging your scalp, cleaning your hair. You relax back into the tub and enjoy the seawater and wind getting rinsed out. The other ladies come in, one on either side of the tub who files your nails, and Sonnie brings in a towel and silk robe. The other handmaiden works at your calloused feet with a pumice stone and you try not to let it tickle too much. It was true pampering and you loved every second of it. Usually there’s only one maiden to bathe you but five was divine. You assumed this was the treatment the Queen always received.

After you are properly cleaned, your Corellian tea is brought in and you’re left alone for as long as you like. You slowly sip on the purple shaded drink, waking up from it’s comforting properties. You sigh deeply, allowing the fragrant air to fill your lungs while you look out of the tall, narrow window in the center of the outside wall. You could not see the ocean from here, but instead the distant roofs of Keldabe. It was a beautiful summer day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and you could hear the birds who have nested in the nooks and crannies of the towers chirping. You knew you had a long day ahead of you, and you wanted to try and enjoy it as much as you could. You never really enjoyed the social aspect of royalty, and that’s all today will be, but you’re ready to brave it head on.

An hour passes before you are finally dressed in the first gown of the day. Your hair is braided back so that it will have a desirable wave for the ball tonight. You are snuggly tied into the pearled bodice of the dress, and you run your hands up and down the beading, allowing it to tickle your soft palms.

Koska pulls open the door, and you’re expecting to see the Knight standing there stoically as always, but he isn’t. The hallway is completely empty, in fact, and you can’t ignore the dreadful feeling that overcomes your body. Where was he?

You clear your throat, and look back at Koska, who was adjusting the skirt of your gown as you walked.

“Where is he?” You ask, your voice hushed almost to a whisper but not quite. There were a million possibilities behind his absence and not a single one of them was ideal. Koska lifts up from her crouched position, smoothing the front pleats of her dress.

“What?” She asks and you sigh out of frustration, there was absolutely no way she didn’t know what you were talking about but you had to be vague because of all the ladies in waiting listening in.

“Who will be accompanying me to the garden?” You say with a forceful tone, trying to prod at a deeper meaning to the question.

Luckily, Lady Reeves picks up on it, and she looks behind you. You felt like she was avoiding eye-contact and it only made you more stressed and confused. “I’ll be escorting you, Highness.” She nodded, moving a step forward and then taking the lead down the corridor. You follow hesitantly, and wait until you are far enough down the hall from the other ladies back in your suite to speak again.

“Don’t horseshit me.” You mutter behind her. She keeps her chin up high as usual. “He’s in trouble, isn’t he.”

Koska doesn’t answer.

“Koska, you promised me he would be okay.” You try not to let the emotion show through your tone but that was a challenge. You felt guilty for some reason. If he was in trouble, it would be entirely your fault. The words shake in your throat and maybe it’s the tight corset and the fact that you are descending the stairs but you’re out of breath and it’s hot, so hot.

“He’s fine, I swear to the stars.” She whispers, saying it straight forward instead of turning back at you in an attempt to stay calm and unsuspecting to watchful eyes.

“Well then why didn’t you tell me that?” You ask, twiddling your thumbs.

“I couldn’t… there’s more to it but-“

“But what? What could be so secretive that you have to keep it from your future queen?” You say through gritted teeth and immediately after, Koska is spinning around on the staircase and looking up at you with a furrowed brow. You felt like you were being scolded by an impatient tutor despite the fact that you out-ranked her.

“You don’t even want to be the Queen.” She says in a whisper-shout, starting to sound as angry and emotional as you were just moments before.

“You’re right, I don’t-“ You bite back.

“So why are you here, then?”

You aren’t sure how to answer, the obvious answer is for Corellia. You were promised something in return for your ability to produce an heir and look like a porcelain figurine on a high shelf. But you also knew it would make your family happy, and your Kingdom. You would be making them proud by marrying so rich. You made a promise.

But now you think you’re starting to stay for an entirely different and unethical reason. Something that is inherently a trap and you know it, and yet here you are, fussing over it at every change you have.

Koska rolls her eyes and scoffs before continuing down the stairs.

“Who spit in your porridge this morning?” You reply.

“You did.” She groans in response.

“I’m sorry, but what did I ever do to you?” You ask when you complete the steps down and start down another corridor, one section of the massive palace closer to your destination.

Koska is the one not to answer this time.

It infuriates you that everyone is keeping secrets from you, your entire experience in Mandalore feels built on deception and being left-out. And now, the two people who finally seemed to be on your side aren’t with you in one way or another on such a big day. Koska is angry with you for no reason and you have no idea where your knight is.

The rest of the walk to the Gardens is silent, and before you know it, you are plopped down on an uncomfortable wicker chair in the hot sun, sipping on lukewarm lemon tea and wondering how much longer you have to suffer. Your mother and Bo were giggling about something, the rest of the court buzzing with conversation and ignoring you as always. Was it possible that you were the problem? You ask yourself this after another sip of the tea, a lemon slice bumping up against your upper lip a few times. As you think, you hold the dainty cup against your mouth, losing yourself in thought without realization. Your pretty eyes stare down at the green grass of the Garden. The grass never gets green back home.

You start subconsciously bouncing your leg as you thought to yourself. Everyone seemed to ignore expect for Korkie and your Knight— who both want to fuck you. Maybe that was the only desirable thing about you. This wasn’t the first time you felt insecure about the relationship you have developed with the Knight. He’s so quiet, so different from you. Were you falling for a trick?

Was he?

Tea must have gone by fast because just before the pearls of your dress start to burn against your arms from the heat exposure, you’re excusing yourself and wandering back inside.

“Strange girl.” One of the noble ladies says to Bo when you walk away. You don’t hear it, you can’t hear anything except for your deafening thoughts.

“Are you sure she’s the one for your nephew?” Another asks. If you had known your mother was silent for all of this in fear of losing her reputation or even the deal between Corellia and Mandalore, you would have been furious.

“Well his father was an outcast, too.” One chuckles. “I guess you Kyrze’s attract the wallflowers.” A few hummed in amused response.

“Well his father wasn’t just an outcast, he was a downright scandal-“

“My sister loved him, and that is all that matters.” Bo interrupts. The laughter quickly dies out.

“Don’t tell me you believe in love, too.” One laughs.

“You aren’t married, what could you know of love?” The same one bo interrupted says.

“I do believe in love, which is why I am not married.” The Queen reiterates. “And I don’t think she’s the right fit for my Nephew, she’s too… outspoken. He needs someone who won’t outshine him.” They chuckle again, all do but your mother, who is still meekly silent.

“Well with the engagement Ball tonight, it is far too late to back out now.” One teases, and the laughter only grows.

Bo-Katan stares in the direction you left.

You huff down the hall, your arms folded and neck sweaty from the heat. You are looking back and forth, studying the layout of the hall in search of something. You’re looking for the smallest idea of where the knight could be but you aren’t very successful.

While all the fully armored guards of the Mandalorian palace are dressed identically, you are almost certain you would be able to spot your boy in a crowd of a thousand of them. You aren’t sure why, but there is something different about him, something that sticks out from the rest. Somehow you two were connected, and it made it so he was always plaguing your mind, even when you are with your literal fiance. Even when you are far away from him and have no clue where he is for the first time in two weeks.

Separation Anxiety.

You aren’t watching where you’re going, which makes you run into a tall, lanky boy. You yelp out in apologetic surprise, looking up at the person blocking your stressed search. A blonde boy flips around to look at you and you’re half expecting to see Korkie but it isn’t.

His Cousin, Hugo, looks down at you with his same charming smirk as always.

“Princess!” He bows.

“My apologies, Hugo!” You exclaim.

“Oh please, you are perfectly fine. You looked distressed? I hope It was not something I did?”

“Of course not!” You reassure, awkwardly smiling. “Uh- may i ask what you were doing in the center of the corridor?”

He chuckles, “Admiring this art.” He nods to an expansive, framed oil painting on the wall. It was of a tall man with a long face and alarming smirk. What stuck out to you, however, was that he held in both hands the same black sword from the royal portraits upstairs by the war room.

“The art is beautiful here.” You smile.

“Yes, my Aunt Satine worked hard to make it culturally rich.”

“Did you know her?”

“Yes, I am a bit older than Korkie, and I knew her for several years before she passed.”

“Are you… second in line?”

“I am.” He says with a classic amused smirk.

“So maybe you can answer a question for me, then.” You ask as you look up at the art. “What in the world is that?” You ask in reference to the blade.

“That, my foreign Princess, is the Dark Sword of Mandalore.”

“The what?” You cluelessly ask.

“A sacred weapon that the rightful ruler possesses, it’s rather powerful.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it before.” You look up at it in awe.

“Hah, yes. It is made of pure obsidian. The white is enchanted quartz veins. It is practically invincible, an elven Mand’alor forged it when he was just a boy.”

“What? There were Mandalorians who were part elf?” You ask, your eyes peeling off of the art and onto your companion.

He looks at you almost confused, “There is much you do not know about my Kingdom?”

“No… I’m afraid not.” You shamefully admit.

“Most don’t,” He shrugs and returns to the conversation unbothered, “It’s history is rather complicated.”

The two of you were quiet for a long time. Your eyes were glued to the stern face of the man in the portrait. You wondered who he was. Hugo is the first to speak up.

“You played beautifully last night.” You doubted he didn’t notice the incorrect notes and mistakes you made several times, maybe he was just being polite by ignoring them. You turn to look at him and smile kindly.

“As did you.” You return the compliment. He looks at you, and you must have been distracted by something other than him because you weren’t aware that his eyes were darting between your eyes and your lips.

Hugo forces a kiss on you.

Just like how Korkie did a few weeks ago in the library. It’s fast because you angrily pull away just as fast as he placed it on you.

“What?” You say like an idiot, looking up at him in shock.

“Oh come on, don’t tell me you don’t feel it?” He gets defensive immediately. The worst part is that it wasn’t even that bad of a kiss, much softer than Korkies, but nowhere as tender as the kisses the Knight would lay on you in the water or behind a closed door. Your entire body seemed to seize up, and you couldn’t get any words out. Not any words that you wanted to say. You just looked up at him, vulnerable and confused. He leans down to do it again but you’re able to turn your head to the side, keeping his lips off of you.

“I am… in love with another man.” You say, clearing your throat.

“You and I both know that isn’t my cousin.”

No use denying it at this point, “yes, but I am still engaged to him. I cannot just be disloyal to the future Mand’alor.” You mutter, embarrassed but trying to keep your cool. You knew you were lying, because you weren’t staying loyal to Korkie. No, you were outright cheating on him and you were falling in love with the boy you were cheating with. You were falling in love. You were very exposed, after all. Anyone could turn the corner or look through the windows and see you. It was different this time, however. Usually hiding your kisses are exciting, but that was only with the Knight. “Please,” You voice betrays you, and the emotional shake is heard through your clenched jaw, “Excuse me.” You push passed him frustratedly, making sure to shove him over a little with your shoulder. You angrily walk back to your room, finally getting there without help for the first time.

When you turned down the Corridor to your suite, you were hoping to see the beskar-clad boy who held you last night, but he still wasn’t there. You hold back emotional tears, but not seeing the one who brings the most comfort to you makes you break. Two crystal tears roll down your cheeks.

You have been taken advantage of too many times in this forsaken castle.

You pull open the door, the golden afternoon light reflecting warmly off of the gold-leafed furniture and decorations is a stark contrast from the bleak hallway. Your bed has been made, and things have been tidied up since you were in here last. You flop onto the mattress, your arms stretched out from your sides, looking up at the sheer canopy above where you lay.

Two hours pass. You think you fell asleep but you cannot remember. If you did, no dreams were had.

Soniee opens your door with trepidation after two soft knocks, “Princess, It is time to prepare for the ball.” Her voice is so timid. You twist your head to look at her, the other ladies from this morning were behind her. Koska was not with them.

You sit up from the bed, rubbing a crook in your neck from how you were laying...

—

authors note (again): i know this isn’t the best chapter ending but ya know... IT WASNT SUPPOSED TO BE

Anyways..... see you tomorrow? i guess? haha

Taglist: @remmysbounty @snow30285 @what-iwish-you-knew @softly-sad @carbonated-beverage @frogllady @baileys-corner @song-of-sea-and-sky @leaiorganas @weirdowithnobeardo @ginger-swag-rapunzel @bewitchedbodyandsol l @mograh @justavolcano @theokatz @lowkeytesss @hallway5 @dat-girl-in-corner @news4bees @istealyof00d @songofcosplay @waffles4lif3 @mcueveryday @310ra @thatonedindjarinfan @songofseraphine @callmekane @theelilbritt @bbwithaknife @firstofficerwiggles @jedi-jesi @ironbabey @minttchipp @bel-ppa @honey-hi @cp11 @venomous-ko @bbwithaknife @lunatic-sunsets @1800-fight-me @foundtheavacados @elphabaforpresidentofgallifrey @florenceivy @theanothersherlockian @spideysimpossiblegirl @mandomistress @floraandfrost @paradoxpictures @stinky-child

“if you are included in the taglist, you are expected to interact with the post you are tagged in (ex. reblogs, comments and notes), if I notice that you are not interacting with the applicable post, you will be removed from the taglist”

—

part twelve

[97-liners]

i literally have not been able to stop thinking about your latest wonwoo fic since i read it this morning like it hasn't left my mind once!!

i already said this in my reblog but the writing was so beautiful im so in awe like !?!!! the concept alone was amazing but you really pulled me in with the way you wrote it

im so obsessed with the way you chose to describe things from the setting of a scene to the way things play out it was so cool to read ill literally never get over it omg

also i NEED to know if you chose to write this in a specific way because of the setting but it reminded me so much of old xianxia movies. at first i assumed that was the intent because of the magic but it was so strongly weaved into every scene, even the ones where it was just two characters talking (especially those ones honestly), that i had to ask

reading this genuinely felt exactly the same as watching an old xianxia movie like everything was new but familiar and homey and im sorry this is so long but i loved every bit of this fic ill literally never forget it ever 😭

hi!!! sorry i let this ask sit in my inbox for a few days, but i genuinely felt like i was gonna explode from happiness when i read this. thank you so so so sooooo much for the feedback and the review, it really means so much!!!

fic talk below the cut:

ngl when i made the very first text post, it was still in a totally ambiguous setting. like, it could have been modern royalty, it could have been 18th century korea, it could have been european fantasy setting, it could have honestly been anything. but,,,,,, i did hone in on an east asian fantasy setting by the time i added my second addition and subsequent additions.

i like to include a lot of east asian influences in my fantasy settings or vaguely historical settings, because i'm asian and my gripe with historical aus involving asian characters in western settings is that it's a very white pov to be able to just.... suspend disbelief and pretend that imperialism and racism haven't been the driving power structure between european history for the last couple hundred years. like, white people just think of themselves as the default and don't even think of the fact that having wonwoo in a historical european setting would require a huge suspension of disbelief.

also. most people who write fantasy settings end up making things just.... transparently european, probably because they're westerners who are used to their culture being the default. stone single-complex castles with towers, balls and ballrooms, knights, all of these are european concepts. even down to the social structure, standards of formal interaction, etc.... people write them as european without realizing or without pointing it out. so yeah, it's part of why i like to make my fantasy settings vaguely east asian, because everybody else's is vaguely western european lmfao

i think also part of the reason the voice turned out the way it did was because i decided to relisten to the mdzs audiodrama around the time i was planning this fic LMAOOO so that's probably a big part..... originally there wasn't going to be elements of magic included, but that changed after i went on a run and listened to like the first four episodes of mdzs audiodrama.... so yeah the xianxia influence was intentional. i'm a casual costume drama enjoyer too!!

[raeynbowboi]

Building an Embodiment of the Fairytale Princess (2.0)

This is nothing new. I’ve done this build before, which I’ll link right [here]. The post did really well, and people seemed to love the concept. However, since then, Mythic Odysseys of Theros and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything have both come out, bringing with them not only new subclasses, but new features, spells, mechanics, and elements that I couldn’t take into consideration the first time around. So, I decided that rather than just adding a tag on post like I did before, I’d just remake the build with the new features being taken into consideration. Like before, the focus of the build is to create an embodiment of the generic fairytale princess and not any one particular character. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Like before, we’ll be choosing Variant Human for our race of choice. We’ll channel Sleeping Beauty to be gifted by the fey with blessings of Beauty, Grace, and Song for +1 CHA, +1 DEX, and Performance proficiency. We also get a bonus feat, and thanks to Tasha’s, we can now take Fey Blessed for +1 CHA. However, if she doesn’t cast with Charisma, then substitute those CHA bonuses with Wisdom instead.

The generic fairytale princess is a maid of purest heart, so we’re Lawful Good. But for your more rebellious princesses, Neutral Good or Chaotic Good are also valid.

Background is obviously Noble for proficiency with History and Persuasion.

CLASSES & SUBCLASSES

BARD

This one seems pretty obvious. Bards love to sing and dance, like your stereotypical princess. Because Charisma is their top stat, and they have expertise, it can make them great negotiators, and allow them to excel in dialogue interactions.

GLAMOUR

This college is very fitting for a fairytale princess, as it is focused on making oneself as beautiful and charming as the Fairest of Them All.

LORE 

Lore bards share information, whether they tell stories, recite plays, share philosophy, or spread juicy gossip, the Lore Bard gets more magical secrets, and added expertise to make your princess an even bigger Mary Sue. In actual medieval history, princesses often learned to play instruments and sing, recite prayers or poems, or tell stories to visiting guests, and it was considered a part of her education and duty to do so.

CLERIC

While not every princess is a devout religious girl, their stories tend to be set in the medieval period when a good princess would have been expected to be chaste and pious. So on that front, worshiping a good deity would be befitting of such a character.

LIFE

The fairytale princess raises up those they care about, and nothing is more supportive and helpful than keeping your friends on their feet. The Life Cleric turns your princess into a kind soul who weeps for her friends and patches them up after the battle, turning your princess into a useful ally against the wicked witches and dangerous dragons.

LIGHT

Not all Fairytale Princesses are passive or support players. Those who lean toward Light are the princesses who stand as the Big Good of their story and battle the forces of Darkness with the power of the Light. Of the three Cleric options that fit the archetype, this is the best option for being a powerhouse in combat.

PEACE

Don’t get me wrong, I still hate this domain for wearing the skin of the Love Domain we were supposed to get, and you can absolutely still play it that way. How this domain went from Love to Togetherness to Pacifism is beyond me, but it’s a fairly strong subclass. The classic princess archetype is supposed to be gentle and kind, fitting for one who worships a god of mercy and forgiveness. It’s a value often toted as the strongest characterization of the early Disney princesses.

DRUID

My first time building the fairytale princess, I ignored Druid as an option because the wildshaping didn’t really make sense for a fairytale princess, but a lot of the Bardic Magical Secrets were used to steal Druid spells. However, thanks to the optional rules from Tasha’s, Druids can now use their Wildshape to summon fey that take on the shapes of animals instead of turning into the animals themselves, which makes Druid far more viable, as summoning animals is very in-character for a fairytale princess.

DREAMS 

The Circle of Dreams has heavy Fey associations with references to the Summer Court ruled by Titania. It also is strongly focused on healing, and has a very Fairy Tale flavor to it. It’s an especially great option if you want to invoke Sleeping Beauty, as you can cloak your party while you sleep and send messages to people through your dreams.

SHEPHERD

The fairytale princess is strongly associated with animal buddies, and nothing makes better use of that than the Shepherd Druid, which focuses on amassing an army of critters. What’s more, the Unicorn Totem is very fitting, not only because Unicorns only approach maidens with pure hearts, but Shepherds of the Unicorn Totem get empowered healing.

SORCERER

The sorcerer is born with a spark of something special in them, and a lot of fantasy royalty have magical powers that other people in their world lack.

DIVINE SOUL

The princess doesn’t literally have to be the descendant of the gods, as the original name for the subclass was more about being favored by the gods. Still, if you want to lean into the idea of the princess as the Big Good against the Big Bad, then having her be born with the spark of the gods inside her makes for a neat characterization.

WILD MAGIC 

With the new Sorcerer Shards as I’ve come to call them, we were introduced to the Feywild Shard, which was heavily geared toward Wild Magic Sorcerers, which seems to be WoTC’s way of saying that Wild Magic Sorcerers are the fey-linked sorcerous origin, so I’m including it because of our fey connection. 

WARLOCK

This is the only class where there’s exactly one good option, but it’s one that works surprisingly well.

ARCHFEY 

As a Warlock with a Pact of the Chain, your fairytale princess can choose to Find Familiar any cute little animal companion, or a Sprite to be your Fairy Godmother. Or rather, you can sign a pact with your Fairy Godmother, and use your Chain Pact to summon one of her emissaries to help you. The Archfey patron themselves can act as your Fairygodther, granting you and your party boons and aid where they need it.

WARLOCK INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast Armor of Shadows Beast Speech Eldritch Mind Eldritch Sight Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Shroud of Shadow Voice of the Chain Master

CHARISMA vs WISDOM

The big split in how you build your princess falls down the line between these two camps. The wise princess works better as a Druid/Cleric, while a charming princess is more of a Bardlock. For me personally, as much as the Cleruid fits the fairytale princess, the stereotype of the princess is usually that she is gullible, naïve, and overly trusting. Insight is a wisdom check, and something the classic princess archetype is usually bad at. Granted, Animal Handling is also Wisdom, but the Bard’s expertise can overrule a low Wisdom score. Think of it like a clash between Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda vs Princess Peach from Mario. Princess Zelda is wise and is much more focused on leadership and protecting her kingdom. Peach is more about the pretty dresses and having servants help her. They’re two very different camps on the princess archetype. Ultimately, which one you choose will depend on the type of princess you wish to invoke. The Classic Damsel or the Wise Matriarch.

SIDEKICKS

A new feature added in Tasha’s, sidekicks are secondary characters that can help the party and are basically simplified character builds with fewer bells and whistles. There are three main camps:

Expert. Experts are clever and knowledgeable, be they minstrels, librarians, pickpockets, merchants, or assassins. They can pick proficiency with DEX, INT, or CHA saving throws, and can be proficient or an expert with any five skills of your choice, and humanoids also gain proficiency with light armor, simple weapons, and two tools of your choice.

Spellcaster. Trained in the secrets of the Arcane, be they a priest, a fortuneteller, or a magical creature. They can choose proficiency with INT, WIS, or CHA checks, and can be proficient in Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Performance, Persuasion, or Religion. They choose a roll to determine their spell list: Mage (Wizard), Healer (Cleric, Druid) or Prodigy (Bard, Warlock). The sidekick has access to the spell list of the classes their role aligns with, as well as casting with that stat.

Warrior. trained fighters, be they a soldier, a city guard, a trained animal, or a hired sword. They can pick proficiency with STR, DEX, or CON saving throws, and their skill options are Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival. Warriors can pick a fighting style: either Offensive to add +2 to attack and damage rolls, or Defender to impose disadvantage on hitting creatures other than them while within 5 feet of the princess.

Generic Princess Sidekicks

Humanoid Guard Warrior (bodyguard) Humanoid Commoner Expert (handmaiden, governess, etc.) Humanoid Magewright Spellcaster (court mage, or advisor) Any Beast-type Warrior (animal companion)

Fairytale Inspired Sidekicks

Seven Dwarves - Dwarf Warrior Fairy Godmother - Sprite or Pixie Spellcaster Prince Charming - Humanoid Noble Warrior Wicked Witch - Barovian Witch Spellcaster Beast - Gnoll, Jackalwere, Orc, or Troglodyte Warrior Puss in Boots - Awakened Cat or Tabaxi Warrior The Frog Prince - Awakened Frog or Grung Warrior Three Little Pigs - Awakened Pig Expert, Spellcaster, & Warrior Big Bad Wolf - Wolf Warrior or Awakened Wolf Expert Robin Hood - Redbrand Ruffian or Bandit Expert Djinn of the Lamp - Dust, Ice, or Magma Mephit Spellcaster Pinocchio - Giant Stone Statue Warrior White Rabbit - Awakened Rabbit Expert Cheshire Cat - Awakened Cat Expert or Spellcaster

There is no actual limit to the number of sidekicks your character can have, so in theory, your fairytale princess could have an entire posse of talking animals hanging out and helping her.

Skills, Spells, and Features

As a Variant Human, we got Performance proficiency alongside our Fey Touched feat, and as a Noble, we have proficiency with Persuasion and History. For everything else, we’re just looking to be a standard Fairytale Princess. So we should look to be proficient with: Animal Handling, Arcana, Religion, Nature, or Medicine.

BASIC FAIRIES

Dancing Lights Faerie Fire Healing Spirits Spirit Guardians Summon Fey Conjure Woodland Beings Conjure Fey

BASIC PRINCESS THINGS

Animal Friendship Command Heroism Speak With Animals Animal Messenger Calm Emotions Find Steed Warding Bond Zone of Truth Conjure Animals Mord’s Magnificent Mansion

SNOW WHITE

Armor of Agathys Mirror Image Beacon of Hope Aura of Purity Heroes’ Feast

CINDERELLA

Fabricate Creation True Polymorph Wish

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Sleep Phantasmal Killer Dream Wall of Thorns Dream of the Blue Veil

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Charm Person Shatter Suggestion Tidal Wave Compulsion Control Water Dominate Person Maelstrom Control Weather Tsunami Storm of Vengeance

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Charm Monster Unseen Servant Tiny Servant Animate Objects Awaken Hold Monster Summon Fiend

Last time I built the fairytale princess, I gave her exactly 1 build. 18 levels of glamour bard and 2 levels of Archfey Warlock. But recently I’ve begun to instead put more stock in leaving builds open, showing instead the options that a player has to choose from. So, for this update, I’m not pushing for a specific build. I’ve laid out the appropriate spells, and the types of princesses that a player can strive to emulate with their spell lists. Consider this more of a guide to help you decide how you want to play your fairytale princess.

[sanstropfremir]

by request, the first post-kingdom stage roundup! this one is a best to worst by group!

some introductory notes:

i’m not going to be ranking the 100sec stages in here because they are too different of a scale. but i will be talking about them as a part of the process. i’m not going to be including the team stages here either, since i talked about them in my episode seven and eight reviews and i do think they stand separately from the individual group stages, because we don’t know who the creative teams were behind them. this is not meant to be an overall best of all the performances, i’m intending this more to be a look each of the groups’ stages overall; seeing how they adapted and improved and how effective the trajectory of their journey as a whole was. also, a very important definition to make right at the start so i don't have to explain it every time: by ‘worst’ i do not mean the stage was actually bad. by ‘worst’ i literally mean ‘not the best.’ if i break it down, i’m ranking these by ‘most amount of successful components’ to ‘least amount of successful components.’ there were no stages that were actually bad or unwatchable; they were all successful in one way or another, but some of them more so. i’m ordering these in my own personal ranking of reverse who did the best overall, which obviously is not how the actual show rankings went down, but we all know my thoughts on the official rankings.

in case you want to catch up and read my more in depth thoughts, here’s all of my episode reviews: one, two (with added tbz costume breakdown), three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten! oh and also here’s my very first review of the dance solo performance film, since i’m also going to be referencing this a bit.

tbz

monster - the least involved with their overarching story concept and it’s stylistically the most interesting because it’s a departure from the glittery royalty concept we have primarily seen them in. it also helps that it’s a great song that they did a relatively good cover of.

kingdom come - the solidity of the choreo is the thing that puts this stage up here, because it’s some of their best. and it’s not as explicitly reliant on the game of thrones theme as their other stages.

o sole mio - this has real potential as a good small concept vaudeville themed stage; it starts off really strong and then they blow it by shoehorning in the unnecessary lore.

no air - they tried to start off with a big conceptual bang in the first round with a semi-explicit narrative, but it relies entirely too much on the viewers knowing the references for it to make any sense.

to be honest, i’m not that surprised about how tbz constructed their stages and how they turned out. i know a lot of people have been disappointed with how lackluster their stages have felt in comparison to their rtk ones, and i think that’s fair because i agree, i don’t think they ever captured the same energy they did for danger or for shangri-la. if you’ve been following along (or have just read all my reviews now) than you know most of my complaints about how tbz have been working with their lore and concepts, so i won’t rehash them here. but i do think it’s warranted to point out that theoretically, being first in rtk would logistically put you at the bottom of the initial ranking for kingdom. i know they’re not technically the youngest group, but in the execution of their stages in comparison, it does make sense to me that they come out looking as the most inexperienced group. even though they were intending to have a similar overarching story like they did on rtk, it was not at all very fleshed out and there wasn’t a strong enough connection between that story, the themes of their stages, and the narrative shapes of those stages. which is a shame because they are not unskilled performers, and they have the most members of all of the groups on the show, so they had a lot of opportunity to be doing interesting choreo and blocking work that never seemed to materialize. i also think they never truly got used to the size of the stage in comparison to the rtk stage, and they were always struggling to fill it in an intentional way. they tried valiantly to recoup their ground and bring everything together in a full circle for their last stage, and even though they somehow came in second, i think by the finale they had been worn down and lost a lot of their steam. it also doesn’t help that they lost a member to injury right near the end, which can be very demotivating, especially for a young group.

skz

god’s ddu du ddu du - the most stylistically different and interesting of the bunch, with a lot of interesting elements and well designed movement, even if the overall arc was half baked and lackluster

i’ll be your man - this was an actual attempt at a departure from their normal bluster and even though it never makes it all the way there and they don’t do that great of a cover, it’s different enough.

wolfgang - although watchable for hilarity and/or cringe value, nothing about this stage demonstrates a significant amount of growth from the first one. it fact it just feels like they injected a load more money and time into the premise of their 100sec stage, without any of the reflection that this kind of circular final stage concept should have. it’s exactly the stage of a group that’s been propelled to first in every round through an artificially inflated system.

god’s menu/side effects - the most scattered of all their stages. there’s not quite enough material to tie everything together and it feels underformed.

we all knew what the outcome of the show was going to be the moment that very first round of fan voting came in. now i don’t actually care about final outcome of the show, because the most valuable experience of a show like this is learning from what your competitors around you are doing and how to improve your work for further rounds. if the ranking system had been solely expert + judges based, all of the weekly rankings would have looked a lot different and skz would have actually had a chance to grow from this experience. but because they have the biggest and most aggressive fandom, their stages constantly ended up in first place and they never actually had the opportunity to sit back and reflect on their performances to figure out how they can do better. because the truth of the matter is that they did not have the best performances on the show. they consistently made stylistically stagnant stages and never managed to correct any of the issues that have been plaguing them since the 100sec round. the closest they got was god’s ddu du ddu du, which was aesthetically the most different and had the most interesting subversions of the stage format, even if it ultimately fell flat because they still missed the mark on managing the shape of the narrative. if you watch all their stages back to back you’ll see that there’s an overreliance on the same types of stylistic decisions and thematic elements, including in the sound and feel of the work. this is a bit hard to explain, but even though the stages all look different, they don’t convey any nuanced emotion or intention other than ‘stray kids world domination.’ now nuanced intention is not necessary for a kpop song performance, but skz took it upon themselves to try and tackle some fairly complex thematic ideas, which is commendable, but they fall flat because the members themselves don’t know how to act. and acting is supremely important when you are doing themed stages. i talked about this same principle in this response about orange caramel and wjsn chocome, but most newer idols don’t approach performing as a character, they approach performing as themselves, and skz are big victims of this. that’s why even i’ll be your man, where they do actually attempt to be a bit more nuanced in their delivery, still comes off like all their other stages. they don’t ever push themselves beyond their performance boundaries (physically yes, obviously. i mean mentally) and so every stage has a little checklist of skz-specific personality traits that round out in the bigger picture to the same general feel. this kind of strategy works great for music shows and for general promotion because it’s super marketable, but in this particular setting, where we spend an extended amount of time with all the groups, it doesn’t facilitate the same amount of growth that letting those of personas go would.

ikon

at ease - really clear cumulation of their performance, group colour, and design elements over the entire show.

classy savage - well designed and decorated with an interesting concept, but has a few flaws that keep it from being their best work.

inception - again, very well designed; the set is so inventive and features a lot of carefully blocked movement, plus the colour palette is tight and used effectively, it just doesn’t reach the same scale as the latter two stages.

love scenario/killing me - it’s the first stage and it clearly suffers from a bit of underd evelopment as they were getting used to the format of the show. it’s still an interesting and well performed stage with the start of elements that we can see them develop further in the next rounds.

ikon had the most lackadaisical attitude toward the whole show, which i think was the best way to approach it, but also they didn’t really push much beyond their boundaries as performers. i’m not faulting them for not wanting to, they’re a very well established group and honestly don’t really need improve on anything. they did however, do a really great job of improving on their design quality and intergration after the first round, which is the one thing that this program definitely facilitates for. they’re also the only group where their finale stage was demonstrably their best stage, so they really did nail that slow improvement progression. they got what they wanted out of the show, which was new friends and a chance to make some fun stages that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to. like i think i’ve said in every other review, there’s not that much to say about them as a whole because they just put their noses to the grindstone and did the work while maintaining a chill and fun demeanour, and those efforts paid off even if they didn’t end up ranking very high.

sf9

the stealer - great integration of theme into narrative and design, small scale concept with big impact.

believer - smart use of camera work and choreography in conjunction with the design elements. although not very narrative focused, it’s a clear and thoughtful elaboration on their intro stage that’s very well executed.

move - a risky choice that pays off fairly well for them, even if it doesn’t capture all the depth that it could have.

jealous - it’s their first stage of the competition and the first time they had worked on something of this scale before, so it only makes sense that it’s the weakest of their run. despite that, it shows a strong understanding of an unusual concept and it still holds up.

sf9 were the clear underdogs of everyone and the rankings pretty clearly reflected that. but as a group they really put in the work to improve their skills and i think they showed the most dramatic improvement of everyone, especially between the first and second rounds. they repeatedly made comments about how they were focused on creating good stages and it paid off. their stages were all conceptually and visually interesting without relying on much external lore or overly dense themes, even if some of them were more effective than others. they had a lot of strong emphasis on costume in particular and they were very well styled. their finale stage was a very clear synthesis of all of the experience and knowledge they gained over the course of the show and it wraps a neat aesthetic and thematic bow on their journey. they absolutely did not deserve last place; they were the ones hardest hit by the fan voting system and i hope that the group doesn’t internalize the official outcome too much, because they did a lot of good work that they should be proud of and deserves a higher due than it was given.

ateez

rhythm ta - simple concept with a clear narrative that uses a lot of visual referencing as exposition without being cluttered and too reliant on the source material. impeccable use of limited design elements to create atmosphere and it’s a strong reinvention of the song.

wonderland - an absolute banger of a first stage that does all the same things as rhythm ta just to a slightly less polished scale.

ode to joy - both stylistically and tonally a departure, this stage relies a lot on group lore but also has a very clear message that was surprising for its maturity and temerity.

the real - purposefully pulled back in scale and ambition as a pointed critique of the competition as a whole. looser in design aesthetic synthesis but has more freedom for the members to show more dynamism in the group’s abilities and colour.

the youngest of the six groups, i don’t think anyone was expecting ateez to come out swinging in the way that they did. oh, we were all expecting them to put up a fight, but i know that i wasn’t expecting much beyond the capabilities of what we’d seen from skz and tbz, since they all share the dubious honour of being similar aesthetic performance based fourth gen groups. but oh baby did they prove us all wrong. the fact that they have incredible performance abilities and stage presence is what carried them half of the way, but they also proved to have a top notch creative team working behind them that knew how to visually craft a great performance. wonderland and rhythm ta are two of the smartest designed stages, and i’d put rhythm ta as the best designed stage, because it does so much in such a small amount of time. this ranking was tough because all of their stages intentionally prove a point and i dont think there are any that are demonstrably weaker. wonderland and rhythm ta served to prove that they had the capacity to keep up with their seniors, and that they were ambitious and hungry and had a solid team foundation. both stages ranked them first in non-fan judging and once they saw how the fan judging skews the final results, they smartly and ambitiously made a choice in the round BEFORE the finale to make a stage that rebuffs the laurels of the competition show they were at the pinnacle of, specifically for their fans. there is so much care and thought put into the ode to joy stage that it feels wrong to rank it as their third best, especially when it also contains one of the greatest 40 seconds of acting i’ve ever seen on a kpop stage. just the dichotomy of the stage’s melancholy feel with the choice of song is so compelling, and in its context as a part of the whole now the show is over.... i’m out of words. the brain on the person who came up with this, i would LOVE to talk to them. and having the real as a followup stage? where they have the freedom to have fun and be stylistically themselves while thumbing their noses at the show? a perfect follow up and rounding out of the expression of their abilities.

btob

back door - perfect. simple concept and simple narrative extremely well executed. excellent attention to detail and atmosphere.

show and prove - perfect reflection of their journey on the show as a whole.

blue moon - same as back door, just with a slightly larger scale.

missing you - only last because it doesn’t have the same strength of narrative and design concept as the other three stages. it’s still a better stage than 80% of the stages on the show.

we all know this, but btob are the real kings. all of their stages were phenomenal and they all hit my personal top ten, so this ranking is more of a ‘which stage was the best of the best.’ they did an incredible job of playing to their strengths and they knew exactly what they needed to do in order to craft the best performance. this was actually very difficult for me to decide because they never fucking missed. watching missing you for the first time in like two months smacked me right upside the head because that stage is beautiful. the intro in the forest with changsub and eunkwang is fucking gorgeous; the lighting and atmospherics are so effective and the trees do an incredible job of obscuring the stage architecture. and their costumes. this stage screams elegance in a way that no other stage managed to capture and this was the first round. and i’m putting last on this list, which should be telling about the quality of their work. and honestly it only goes up from here. they took that one maybe valid expert critique that they got of utilizing more narrative and they RAN with it. i put back door as first because it juuuuust inches out blue moon and show and prove for smart camera work, but honestly all three of these stages could take top spot, they’re of equal rank.

btob came into this show at a pretty distinct disadvantage: they’re old, and there’s only four of them. and as we know, thanks to rtk and the fourth gen groups, this show has a reputation for big acrobatic blowout spectacles, which is just not something they can do. but they also had a distinct advantage: they’re old and there’s only four of them. they very smartly foresaw that they wouldn’t be able to compete with the fourth gen groups in athletic ability, so they specifically chose to highlight the areas they were the strongest in, which you can see right from the start. their intro stage specifically highlights their vocals, and even in minhyuk’s dance solo the design is music show themed, as a gentle reminder that they know how to work a stage. and as the show progressed they started to solidify that assumption. they used narrative extremely well to give their stages an element of emotional investment that kept the audience engaged without banking on individual idols’ popularity to keep them afloat, and spent their time on the show being gracious and generous competitors, intent on being as watchable offstage as they were on. and it worked. by the time the finale rolled around, we knew who these men were and we had seen them be individuals, so they were able to cast off the need to play to narrative and to character and instead they were able to loop back around to that very first stage; simple, clean, emphasis on vocals, with a very important addition of uniformity. the current trend in kpop costuming is to have group members dressed similarly, but not exactly the same, partially in order to be able to everyone apart, but also because the ‘sameness’ of the boy band model has fallen by the wayside. btob took all their previous stages where they had clearly been individuals and as the culmination of their journey they chose to look exactly the same, to clearly send a message that they are a singular unit and they are proud of that. and they absolutely stuck the landing. this was a perfect run for btob, they should be really fucking proud of the work they did.