#I recognize a few of these that you like to use :3c

[gatorbites-imagines]

Now imagine this...

What if... Reader were miles spouse right? (Male/gn)

And Prowler miles spouse (reader) died right.and when reader and miles met prowler miles, Would they. A. fight over reader. B. prowler would force reader to be with him and C. they share. (WHICH i highly doubt.)

And prowler is a bit of a yandere (if thtas alright)

What do you think? Can you make either a fanfic/headcanon/scenario? If you don't mind of course :))

-🥚anon

Miles Morales and Miles G x Black Cat Male Reader

Headcanons

Both Miles are aged up in this scenario, giving miles more time to be Spiderman. I hope I got the yandere part right hehe.

I just love Black Cat, so i had too. Let me know if you guys wanna hear about my Kraven Reader or Venom reader ideas ;3c i have so many ideas about the reader being based on spiderman villains.

You were earth 1610s Black Cat. You had grown up side by side with Miles, and as you grew up your body developed the meta-gene, causing you to gain the ability to affect probability fields to others. Aka, you are able to give people bad luck.

You didn’t quite like using your powers too much, and one of the few people who knew about it was Miles. You couldn’t help but use it on bad people though, like bullies or abusers.

You hadn’t always been Black Cat, but after your parents had a horrible divorce and you were abandoned with your mother with your father leaving with all the family’s money, you turned towards the world of crime.

The Morales family had of course offered to help your mother as she struggled, but she was too proud to accept it. Rio and Jeff ended up helping in ways she wouldn’t be able to turn down, like bringing you guys meals, or giving you Miles’s old clothes.

The new Spiderman hadn’t been around long before you became the Black Cat, and you two developed a relationship similar to Peter and Felecia. Lotsa flirting and chasing each other around the city with games and puzzles.

Of course, neither of you told each other your secret identities, wanting to keep the other safe.

Then one night when you were out stealing an expensive artifact, spiderman hung upside down from his webs and tsked at you, telling you to put the artifact back. Of course, with your relationship being so flirty, you tell him you’ll do it for a kiss.

And to both your surprise and miles’, he actually does it. he pulls his mask up enough to reveal his lips, and you two have a spiderman kiss right then and there.

Its only after you pulls away that you realize you recognize those lips, since you’ve always carried a flame for your best friend. One thing leads to another, and you put back the artifact and have spiderman chase you onto the roof where you take your mask off.

You both end up taking your masks off and revealing your identities to one another. It leads to a very long conversation why you both do what you do, and how it doesn’t change your relationship from what it was before.

That is until Miles ends up confessing that has always liked you a whole lot, both as Miles and Spiderman. When you shyly tell him you feel the same, he doesn’t believe it at first, until you kiss him again.

After that you two start dating, much to your parents joy, as they’ve always known you two had a thing for one another. Of course, Black Cat still steals, and Spiderman still tries to stop him, but if Black Cat starts only stealing from the corrupt, who’s gonna connect the dots?

Then everything with the multiverse happens, except you follow Miles through the portal, thanks to a gadget you’ve created that helps you become invisible and untrackable. You also have a grappling gun you use similar to webbing, so you can swing from the spider alliance.

When you reveal yourself to help Miles escape, a lot of the spider people are shocked, because they have their own Black Cat, that they have a relationship with of some sort. This allows you and Miles a headstart.

During the chase you use your meta powers on the people chasing you as well, making a lot of them trip or fumble, or be affected in other ways by bad luck.

When you end up on earth 42 neither of you realize it, too focused on saving Jeff to notice until its too late. You have a bad vibe, and stay hidden when Aaron arrives, following the two up onto the roof.

Miles G is able to see you even though you are invisible, thanks to the prowler gadgets, so both you and Miles are knocked out, and brought back to Aaron’s apartment since you’re both too distracted looking at the mural, which features both Jeff and you.

You were wearing your mask when you and Miles got caught, so when Miles G unmasks you back in Aaron’s apartment be drops it onto the floor almost immediately.

Miles G doesn’t know how to react to seeing your face again, Aaron has to get his attention because he’s just staring at you, maybe caressing your cheek so carefully with the clawed prowler gauntlets.

Miles G knows you aren’t his version of you, as you never had the chance to become Black Cat in this universe, having died too early to use your powers to start stealing. Your parents still divorced in this universe, but they used your death as the main reason.

Miles G grows a little obsessed with keeping you, as he doesn’t want to lose you again. Aaron just shakes his head as he watches his nephew dress you out of your Black Cat gear and into some of the clothes Miles G owns, because the you of earth 42 always wore his clothes.

Hed place you on the couch in the room, not wanting to lose sight of you, but also to maybe convince you that his doppelganger isn’t good enough, and you’ll want to stay with Miles G.

Miles would wake up first thanks to his accelerated healing, and the scene happens like in the movie where he tries to convince Aaron to free him, and he meets Miles G. That’s when Miles realizes you aren’t there and starts to panic, until Miles G turns the punching bag so Miles can see you unconscious on the couch.

It would lead to anger and fear in Miles, him cursing at Miles G and demanding him to let you go and asking what the hell he did to you. When he learns Miles G undressed you when you were unconscious Miles gets enraged.

You would have woken up by then, but played unconscious, trying to figure out what to do in this situation since all your gear was taken from you. But before you can really cook up a plan, Miles breaks free and the two start to fight.

When Aaron tries to step in, you jump up and kick him unconscious. Thanks to all the running and parkour you do, you have a very strong kick, which knocks the guy out cold immediately.

Using Aarons gun you shoot it at Miles G, since he’s the obvious threat in your eyes, and Miles G looks completely betrayed at you turning on him. He’s convinced himself you’re his and would choose him, so seeing you choose Miles breaks his heart and enrages him.

The fighting would continue, and at some point, Miles G would have you in his arms held against his chest, claws wrapped around your throat and ready to tear it out if Miles tries anything.

Everything is frozen as Miles G kisses at your neck and nibbles at your ear, muttering almost obsessively about you and how he’s missed you so much, how much he loves you, how empty he’s felt since you died.

You can’t help but pity him, because he seems so broken and sad without his version of you around. That doesn’t make you wanna stay though, as you guys need to go save Jeff and go back to your own dimension.

And though it makes your heart hurt to do, you use this to your advantage. Miles Gs guard crumbles when you turn and kiss him, his hands coming up to cradle your face almost desperately, like you’ll disappear if he doesn’t hold on for dear life.

You can feel the claws dig into your face and draw blood, but the distraction works perfectly, and Miles is able to knock him unconscious. Miles might hit him a little too hard, but he would excuse it on adrenaline later.

After you guys tie the two up and you get your Black Cat gear back on, Miles would push you up against the wall and kiss the breath right out of your lungs. Everything that’s happened has him feeling possessive and like he needs to overwrite the kiss you had with Miles G earlier.

Before you guys leave you fold up the clothes Miles G made you wear, and because you heart aches for him since he’s a version of Miles, you kiss the top of his head and maybe even leave a video message on his phone.

Miles isn’t too happy about it, but he also feels a litter flustered because you love him so much you feel for any version of him, even the crazy ones.

After that you two leave the apartment to try and find a way back to your own earth. You wonder if the video message will have any future consequences, but you are too set on saving Jeff that you don’t really think about it.

[freckliedan]

omgomg What hornyposting have they done - same anon :3c

check out my fuck energy tag for receipts on varying levels of overtly horny moments to things that ping for me but possibly not universally. but also, an in depth but not exhaustive list:

they have a bondage bar on their bed which dan has flippantly replied to a tweet about

sister daniel video

the april fools nude

dan probably agrees that phil is naturally ginger despite his hair color being an auburny brown at best due to pube color. sorry that i said it out loud rather than keeping it implied.

interactive introverts shock buzzers shown im witl were bought from an online sex store, dan told us on twitter

halloween pumpkin carving video has "so horny they're stupid" energy, dan's in a mesh shirt

this ii era liveshow in australia; the next video on the gaming channel was of the dumber ways to die mobile app.

ii era "getting that d vitamin" shirtless dan selfie ft clothes in the bushes behind him. photo taken on a brief break from touring when dnp + martyn and cornelia were spending a few days on vacation. "lapping up the d vitamin" comments about phil as well in a liveshow afterwards

phil's ii era side to side by ariana grande insta story

phil's mysterious white stain on his costume shirt insta story from the lead up to ii

"please be gentle with the handcuffs, i have sensitive skin" from witl/ii—sensitive skin is usually about like.. being sensitive to scented soaps and stuff. this is not an intuitive connection to make. it leads me to believe that's knowledge they have from experience

when the ii dvd was released, the bbc rated it whatever it rated it (can't remember) because of a couple engaging in erotic roleplay (amongst other reasons) which dan acknowledged on twitter and did not disagree with at all

dan's horny attitude about dentist visits

handcuffs and videogames sims moment

dan's kinky tumblr reblogs from the era when it was normal to rb softcore porn on here, including a fair amount of horny qbout blood posts

in that light: dan wrote and published the urge

phil bringing up mpreg as often as he does pings as horny for me; the hand falls into this category in a deeply bizzare manner imo

phil recognizing a delivery guy from gay emo porn

dan hogtied in christmas garland on their breakfast bar in manchester

dan's 2009 nakedbooths—nudes posted largely to flirt with phil. particularly the nakedbooth dan posted of himself in phil's bedroom where phil's holding lion in frame to censor dan's dick

phil's "milk" dailybooth

dan's "i WANT you to tie me up" dailybooth comment on phil holding up a belt

dan on formspring answering whether he swallows or spits

dan replying to someone in the comments of a phil vid pointing out hickies he had after dan visited him in 2009

uma thurman tweet

formspring answers about cherry & piña colada lube + cherry reference in the vday vid + sleuths online spotting specific lube in one of their suitcases at one point

phil used to post constant thirst traps before dan came into the picture have you SEEN ry @dnphobe's emo boy edit?? have you seen phil's check yes juliet and toxic vids????

thank you for coming to my ted talk, i know i'm missing loads.

[crystalflygeo]

Last of her kind Emperor!Alpha!Zhongli + Omega!Dragoness!Reader

cw/tags: This chapter has no smut but still contains highly suggestive themes and sexual implications. Mentions of slavery and past sexual abuse on fem!reader, A/B/O dynamics and heat mentions. fem!reader suffers with self-worth and bad memories, including past insults and abuse.

notes: After so long finally part 2!! EEEEEEEE I am so excited but also so nervous pls ;w; like if you want the first part can be read as a standalone and have a "happy ending" but now I am committed to the emotional roller coaster, A/B/O dynamics and LONG BURN PINING so yep >:3c hope this does justice to everyone's expectation tho. And hope you like it and accompany me on this tale hehe

As a lil sidenote brackets [] now indicate past actions/words and bad memories, regular italics for emphasis, inner thoughts or the little pinyin I sprinkled here (which btw is taken straight from genshin wiki so...).

<- Part 1 Part 3 ->

Being precious all of the sudden was… different.

Your hand subconsciously kept touching your bonding mark, as if to make sure it was still there, to soothe you.

After a quick meal just between Zhongli and you, consisting of some soft rice buns and delicious minced meat packaged inside a crispy pastry shell, you were then offered some new clothes. It was much more elaborate and certainly more layered than anything you’d worn before: a long skirt and flowy sleeves in a silky soft fabric, beautifully embroidered and hastily modified to make a hole for your tail to slip out. A sash keeping everything in place while accentuating your figure. You immediately loved it although it felt a little heavy and restricting.

Now, you quietly follow Zhongli as he leads you around the palace. He’s back to his former fully-human appearance, wearing an elegant attire, and everywhere you go, people bow at him and cast curious silent glances at you. It was rather unnerving.

It’s fine, you are used to being stared at, judged. You hold your tail up close for comfort.

The place is huge and you quickly get lost trying to map it out in your head, simply following along until you reach a large room with a few simple beds scattered around. Bookcases and cabinets stacked the walls, filled with all sorts of books, papers, jars and things. A pungent smell present in the air.

A green-haired man leans over a desk, glasses perched on his nose as he frantically scribbles some notes. What seems like powders and plants litter the space around him, along with a few more glass containers, incense, and a tea set with a steaming fresh cup.

“Baizhu.” Zhongli’s voice calls and you stiffen a little, hearing it again after a while of silence. It is still warm and deep but with a more reserved and regal tone like when he first met you.

The green-haired man (a Beta, you recognize) looks up and blinks in surprise, then smiles brightly and says some words you do not understand, you shuffle in place.

“Yes, this is her.” Zhongli replies. “I will ask you to speak in in common tongue so she can understand as well, I don’t want to unnecessarily unnerve her.”

Well, that is… very considerate. It eases you a little.

“Of course, your majesty.” He turns to you, his eyes were a bright amber, also with slitted pupils. Was it common in liyuens? “My name is Baizhu, the royal doctor and apothecary, pleased to meet you, empress.”

Empress?!

“E-Empress?!” You can’t help but blurt out.

“Why of courssse.” A high-pitched voice hisses and you almost jump when a white snake peaks her head from her coils at the desk, staring up at you. “You’re mated to hisss majesssty the emperor, sssso, it would be underssstood you’re now the empresssss.” Her split tongue flickers.

Baizhu chuckles. “Changsheng, be nice.”

You don’t know what to answer, mostly because you’re still reeling from the fact that you’re apparently now an empress, and because there’s a talking snake.

Liyue is weird…

“I decided to bring her here exactly because of that.” Zhongli turns to you and suddenly holds one of your hands, softly, staring at you with such affection it makes you melt. “Darling, would you let him check your bonding mark for a moment?”

You’re a little nervous, but it is not like you can refuse… right? You nod quietly.

Baizhu approaches and examines your neck and you fight the urge not to flinch or growl. No Omega likes it when a stranger is so close to such a sensitive spot. He hums and tilts his head but doesn’t touch you. “It seems it’s already healed due to her illuminated beast blood but the scar is present. I’d say the bond has been properly established, congratulations your majesty.” He smiles warmly.

A grateful bubbly feeling creeps up your chest. Properly established. So, it’s true.

You feel Zhongli’s hand squeeze yours lightly and look down at it, then back up at him. “Thank you, Baizhu. I will not keep you any longer. We still have a lot to do and I’m sure you do as well.”

Baizhu bows at him (at both of you, you realize) and then you’re on your way. Not before hearing the snake’s hissy whispers again

“A fine yin, hm…?”

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

This is… your new home.

Zhongli shows you around some of the areas in what he called the “inner court” of the palace complex. Everything is so… large and open and lavish it has your head spinning, your eyes darting in every direction trying to take in all at once, walking fast on your new clothes. He guides you along the dining hall, a small temple, crosses through an enormous main hall where he explains audiences are held, and then a gorgeous outer garden that completely takes your breath away.

The wooden gilded architecture in golds and reds, the fresh wind and gentle sun. All sorts of new sounds and smells. The painted walls and high ceilings. The new plants and flowers. The chatters in a different language… everything is so distinct from the desert.

You soak in the new environment. Inhaling deeply.

It is both terrifying and exhilarating.

Finally, he guides you to another room, it looks similar to the nest room where you’d first been at, but larger. It is sparsely decorated with a large and comfy looking-bed, a desk, mirror and a small table with a couple chairs and a tea set. It smells nice enough.

You peek up at Zhongli.

“This will be your room.” He explains.

…What?

“We kept it simple for now but you are, of course, free to furnish and decorate it however you’d like. It’s close to my own room and anything you might need.”

Wait what?

Your ears lower down and you seem to deflate a little, disappointed. “H-Huh? But… I-I won’t be sleeping with you?” You ask softly.

Mated pairs sleep together, don’t they? They share living chambers and mix their scents together to symbolize their union. That’s what you’ve always been told. You are to always be near your Alpha, at his beck and call, warm up his bed and be ready to please.

Maybe things are different in Liyue? Or maybe it’s because he’s an emperor. Master didn’t tell you anything, so maybe you are just making a fool of yourself right now on your-

Zhongli clears his throat and looks at you a little surprised “I simply thought you’d be more comfortable having your own space, we… don’t really know each other very well yet, and I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Impose? As in order? But he’s your Alpha! “B-But I want to! Please! I-I mean… I thought that since we’re b-bonded…” You mumble shyly.

His cheeks turn a little pink, you like when that happens, he looks a lot less serious. He cups your cheek and you inhale looking up at those gorgeous golden eyes. “My dear dragoness. I don’t want you to feel forced to do anything you don’t want to. I know you were raised… differently, I cannot claim to understand your experiences, but listen to me: you are safe here.” He says the last part slowly, enunciating each word. “No one will scold you or punish you, least of all me. I want you to be free to speak and choose what you want.” He sighs. “Though I know it’ll be difficult...”

Furnish, impose, free… you don’t know any of those words.

But no punishment, to choose what you want, to be safe… it sounds surreal even.

What do you want?

His eyes soften at your nervous silence. “Let’s try this… do you really want to share my room, or would you like to stay here? I won’t be upset if you do.”

“I…” Your tail curls around you. “I want to stay with you. Sleep together. Like mates.” You mumble.

“Then it would be my honor, however, this room will stay ready if you change your mind, alright?” You glance around at the room again, and nod. “Now that that is settled, I have one last thing to do. I need to introduce you to a few very special people before I leave to-”

“Leave?!”

You didn’t mean to yelp like that.

“J-just to do my duties, I am not leaving you, I promise.” He corrects, a little taken aback. “I am sorry my dear, but as much as I’d like to spend every moment by your side right now, I have a few pressing matters to tend to. I know you’re nervous, everything is new and scary and overwhelming but I promise I’ll leave you in good hands and be back as soon as I can.”

You nod, now feeling a little embarrassed at the whole ordeal. You’d been feeling so at ease with his presence, showing you around, listening to his voice name and explain everything you saw that you’d almost forgotten. “You’re the emperor, I’m sure you’re very busy. No need to worry about me, I’ll behave, my lord.”

He frowns a little at that but says nothing, and you choose to say nothing else either.

Going back to the main hall, you immediately spot three people lined up looking at you with a mix of the already expected curiosity and excitement. One of them in particular immediately catches your attention, he’s an Alpha and you can’t help but feel a little nervous…

“Allow me to introduce you, these three are my most loyal and closest council members: Ping, Ganyu and Xiao.” Zhongli gestures at them and all three bow lightly. “Like you and I they all have the blood of xiānshòu, and you can ask them for anything should you need help or have questions. I hope you learn to trust them and feel at ease.”

You nod quietly, still a bit fixated on the other Alpha.

“Xiao, or general Alatus, is one of Liyue’s strongest, most resilient and skilled warriors. He usually keeps guard at the palace to ensure my wellbeing and now yours as well, if you ever feel danger call out his name and he’ll come.”

Ah, did they notice you were staring…?

With a gesture of his hand Xiao manifests a gorgeous Jade spear, crystalline green shards reflecting light as he taps it by his side, standing firm, you flinch in surprise. “My spear shall now serve you too, empress.” His eyes too are golden and sharp, filled with a certain rigidness and determination you can’t quite put your finger on.

“Thank you, Xiao, dismissed.”

Xiao hums quietly and promptly disappears in a burst of black and green smoke, you stand there a little startled, your hand clings to the brown fabric of Zhongli’s sleeve.

“He might be an Alpha as well, but I promise you he’ll cause you no harm.” Your alpha murmurs softly towards you.

“O-okay…” You squeak, a bit embarrassed.

“Ganyu here is one of the most reliable people in the palace, perhaps the entirety of Liyue. Everything of importance reaches her ears and passes through her eyes. She’s able to organize meetings, events, report, compile information and assist every negotiation and decision of this palace with stunning efficiency. She too will help you with anything you need and might be in charge of a little logistics regarding you settling in for the next few days.” Zhongli smiles.

The young woman with long blue hair and… horns? chuckles and blushes a little. “Your majesty, you're too kind, I merely love doing my job.” She puts her hands together and beams at you, sunset eyes bright. “I’m so honored to meet you, rest assured I’ll take care of anything you need. I hope you feel comfortable and welcome at the palace!”

That sounded like a lot. You weren’t used to people coddling you like this. You didn’t want to give anyone trouble or work. “T-that’s alright, thank you.”

“Now, Ping is probably going to spend the most time with you, she’s very knowledgeable in culture, history and the inner workings of the palace amongst other things. She has graciously offered to teach you liyuen and anything else you’d be interested in.”

Unlike the other two Ping has a certain calm aura to her, contrasting Xiao’s seriousness and Ganyu’s excited energy. You can tell she’s a gentle old soul as she approaches you with a soft wrinkled smile and graying hair.

“Don’t worry young empress, while Lord Morax here is regrettably busy with a work-packed schedule,” She gives him a playful side stare “You and I will have some fun. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.” She takes your hand and pats it comfortingly. It’s kind of an awkward gesture for you, but you still welcome the warmth and good intentions.

Zhongli chuckles quietly. “In that case, I’ll leave you in her care and see you at night for dinner, alright?” He seems to hesitate for a moment but then cups your face in his hands and places a soft kiss at your forehead. The unexpected gesture has you blushing scarlet and your heart speeding up like crazy. His thumb brushes at the scales under your eyes, so affectionate in the smallest ways… “I know it’s not ideal, but it’ll be fine, yes?”

You stare at his golden eyes, the red lines, his handsome face framed with dark hair, his serene smile.

You don’t like this. You don’t want him to leave. The idea makes you uncomfortable.

But it’s not like you can say no.

You nod.

“Thank you, Ping.” Both of them exchange a glance and then he turns to the blue-haired woman still in the room. “Ganyu, if you will.”    

“Right away your majesty!” She scurries after him, talking quickly in foreign tongue while both walk away.

You stare after him for a moment longer.

“It’s a little difficult, isn’t it?”

You quickly turn back to Ping and then look down, ears folding back.

She laughs softly. “No need to be ashamed dear, it is understandable that you are unsure with all this, it’s a lot of changes for such a short time and you bond is still fresh, but let’s take it easy.”

Your hand brushes at Zhongli’s bonding mark again. “O-Okay…”

“Are you hungry? Tired? Perhaps you want to rest a little?”

You want to scurry away to your mate’s room and curl up there, that’s what you want, but…

“Um, aren’t you… going to train me?”

Ping blinks a little taken aback “Train? Oh! Teach?”

Same thing.

“Well, yes. I did offer, but only if you’re feeling up to it young empress. You can take your time, we don’t have to start right away. And like I said, take it easy, it's only your second day here.” She explains. “You won’t be absorbing any information if you are uncomfortable and jittery like this.”

“S-sorry-”

“No need to apologize at all. Now tell me, is there anything you’ve seen or heard today that you’re curious about, anything you want to do?”

What you want…

You think back a few hours earlier. The infirmary, the small temple, the grand hall, and…

“The garden.” You speak. “Can we go outside and see?”

Ping smiles brightly. “Of course! I’m sure there are a lot of things there that will catch your interest and cheer you up.”

Your tail sways a little after you as you follow the old lady along the corridors.

------------------------         

The garden is breathtaking.

More than a garden it feels like a whole different world. Bright and exciting and colorful, full of life. It reminds you of an Oasis, but just… more!

A grand pond with multicolored fishes and a couple of turtles sunbathing. Walk paths made of stone, plants everywhere you see: in trees with vibrant yellows, oranges and all shades of greens, in flowers with soft colors and small petals, in thick bushes. The light filters through the leaves and there’s the soft tweets of small birds.

“It’s… so pretty!” You exclaim happily.

“I’m glad you think so. Gardens like this are carefully cared for and preserved to impress, but they also represent beauty, abundance a sense of harmony.” Ping explains as she is now the one following after you, skipping along the path. “These trees you see are sandbearers, and that one is a ginkgo tree, you can tell the difference by the shapes of their leaves.” She points at each one and you follow with your gaze, picking a small leaf from the floor, golden and fan-shaped.

“Ooh…”

“See those smaller fishes? They’re goldfishes. The bigger ones are kois.” She gestures at the animals freely swimming around. Some of them are huge!

“What do they eat?” You blurt out.

“Well, usually algae and wheat. We can get some another day and you can feed them.”

“Really?!”

“Of course.”

“Oh! Is that a koi too? It’s so… long and pretty.”

“Ah, that one is a golden koi. Lord Morax has a few of them here. They are also called Jīnchì Jiǎlóng or ‘false dragons’ you know? For the small horns and long bodies. They do resemble your tail a little, don’t they?”

You move your tail forward and stare at it, then stare at the serpentine fish.     

“Yes, sort of… Jin chi… jia long.” You mumble.

“Here, I think you’ll like these ones. Come with me.” You eagerly follow after Ping as she rounds the pond and guides you towards a few red bushes. They’re dotted with pink round flowers. “These are silk flowers, Nícháng-huā, usually harvested to make clothes, but there are many special ornamental variants and between us both, your dear mate has a weak spot for these so he has quite the collection.” She chuckles.

“Orna…metal?”

“Ornamental, it means mostly for decoration.”

“Oh!” Suddenly you feel dumb, you’d thought for a second that was a liyuen word too. “I’m sorry… I don’t even know common tongue very well.” How could you even expect to learn liyuen?

“No worries, dear, learning a new language is a daunting task, it takes a bit of work every day. If you keep learning, using and practicing words, you’ll get there.”

You smiled softly. Ping was so… patient and supportive.

So much different from…

[You have to try harder.]

[Tch that is not good enough.]

[Are you stupid?!]

[Useless omega.]

You looked at the budding silk flowers and blinked. Once. Twice. Why was your vision blurry now? What was this feeling?

“Oh, oh young empress please don’t cry. It’s alright” Ping’s alarmed remark helps you understand. She fusses over you. “Are you ok?”

You wipe at your tears and smile, a genuine bright smile.

“I’m fine.”

And this time, you truly mean it.

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

After a rather fancy bath (the kind of like you used to take before being presented to Alphas, with bubbles and scented oils...) and a good dinner Zhongli and you headed over for his chambers for the night. You couldn’t help but be a little… nervous.

This is stupid. He’s your Alpha.

He’s been nothing but kind to you.

What if he wants to… d-do things?

Then you’ll do it. He’s your mate. It’s your obligation.

You were the one who chose this anyway.

Your heartbeat was loud in your ears, anxiety creeping up your chest. Were your fingers trembling? Was the room suddenly cold?

As expected, the bedroom was quite matching his style. Golds, browns and a bit of red and black here and there. Dragon imagery adorning some of the walls, a tea cabinet with a small table and shelves filled with all sorts of trinkets from precious stones and books to a beautiful fan and a tea set.

And then there was the bed.

A large canopy bed, enough to probably have your body and tail fully stretched across and still fit in the mattress, beautifully decorated and filled with fabrics and pillows.

The scent of Zhongli’s Alpha pheromones was definitely strong.

He yawns and runs a hand along his forehead, combing along his hair before pulling out the clip on it, letting his long dark locks spill free. He takes off his robe revealing his naked torso and you jolt.

It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine.           

You undress as well into your light sleeping clothes and gingerly slip into his bed, curling up around his pillows, surrounded by his scent.

His.

You are his.

It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine-

“Darling, is everything alright? Are you uncomfortable?” He asks concerned, climbing on the bed as well and reaching out to touch your arm. You squeak. “You’re… terrified, what’s wrong?” Then Zhongli’s eyes widen a little. “Oh. The scent… I completely overlooked that, my apologies. Is it too strong? Are you ok? Should have given you some things earlier for you to scent and include them here. This is no good…” He rambles a bit to himself as he sits up and crosses his arms thoughtfully.

You stare at him, anxiety still surging through your veins but now mixed in with confusion.

“Would you like to sleep in the other room we prepared for you instead?” He sighs.

“I… t-this is… you… would just let me leave?”

Zhongli tilts his head slightly, now he looks confused.

“I promised you that the room would be available-”

“So, you don’t want to mate?”

Silence.

He stares at you for a moment as you grip at the bedsheets, still tense.

His eyes widen as realization settles in.

Ah. The pink dusting in his cheeks is back.

“Y-You thought that… no! My dear, no, no, no…” He coughs into his fist awkwardly. “I apologize if I gave you the wrong idea. A-As I said before I want you to be comfortable and feel safe. No Alpha will force you to do anything you don’t want. Not even me. And you don’t have to feel forced to do things you don’t want to, either.”

You look down. Although you feel slightly more relieved.

“I want to stay here. A-and if you want to, I’ll service you, my lord. I was just… nervous, sorry.”

“I assure you there is no need for any of that.” He says softly. “Here.”

He pulls the covers and slips them over you both, lying down facing you but still keeping a little distance. You do the same, curled up face to face with him.

He’s so effortlessly handsome.

And kind.

And you like him.

But he’s still an Alpha.

“Is this alright? We’re just going to sleep, I promise.” He brushes some hair away from your face.

You nod.

“Is there… anything you want to talk about or ask me?”

You... don’t know.

You shake your head.

“Hmmm. Want to share about your day? What were you up to with Ping?” He gives you a playful smile. Suddenly he feels less like an imposing strict emperor, or like a scary Alpha. He’s just your Zhongli.

“She… showed me the garden. I wanted to see.”

“Ah, the royal garden has many fascinating sights and it’s a beautiful landscape to retreat to and ease one’s mind. I had the feeling you’d be interested.”

“There were so many beautiful things. She taught me about the silk flowers, nícháng-huā. And all the trees and fishes and birds.”

“Oh? Are these your first words in liyuen, my dear?”

You giggle. “I… suppose they are. She also showed me your turtles Jiàn and Fù and told me what their names mean, they are so cute. Oh! And we saw the liúlí bah… bai… bǎihé! I sang to them and they bloomed! It was... amazing.”

“I see. Not everyone can achieve that, I’ll admit I’m quite hopeless at singing.” He chuckles “What more did you learn?”

Feeling much more content and at ease you continue retelling all the new things you had experienced and the vocabulary you had learned including how to introduce yourself and some greetings and basic words. Talking for what felt like hours until weariness and sleep claimed you both.

Zhongli simply listened and stared at you, captivated. He seemed content as well.

It made you happy.

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

For the next couple of months, you established a sort of routine.

You’d wake up early alongside Zhongli, even though you didn’t need to, you simply enjoyed having some morning tea and breakfast with him. Afterwards he’d go tend to some of his official duties and you’d stay with Ping Lǎolao, learning more and more each day. By now you could even follow some basic conversation (provided the other person didn’t speak too fast) although reading and writing was still extremely difficult.

You’d expressed interest in some gardening and even headed to the kitchens to prepare some food by yourself. The maids claimed there was no need for the empress to do such ‘menial tasks’ but as an Omega you pride yourself in certain things, and cooking for your Alpha was something you’d yearned to do.

You were overjoyed when Zhongli praised your Jade parcels.

You’d always have lunch with him and some days he’d accompany you for a stroll or you’d stay at his study for some leisure time, or even at some meetings. It had been a little unnerving at first but you also knew it was important to know others and be known in the council, as well as understand Liyue outside of the palace walls. After all, you are an empress now.

At night, you slept close to him. The initial awkwardness of sleeping at opposite sides of the bed soon traded for a much cuddlier approach, often with you curled up to Zhongli’s chest or him spooning you, tails often intertwined together. The bed and the entire room now have a mix of your combined scents, like true mates.

And so, life was good…

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

You’re slowly pulled out of your sleep as Zhongli stirs in the bed. You grumble a little and yawn, already missing his warmth. It was so pleasant…

“Good morning, my dear dragoness.”

“Morning…” You mumble, not opening your eyes and instead blindly reaching for his pillow to hug and cling to. “Can we stay for longer?” You whine.

“You definitely can, but I have to go.” He kisses your forehead “Rest, my dear.”

You pout but say nothing. Squeezing at the pillow and burying your face in it.

It smells so good…

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

“Hmm… is it warmer today?” You wonder aloud as the maids help you up with the layers of your hanfu. The clothes still hot and heavy in contrast to what you used to wear at the desert, but today seemingly more so… the sash feels more constricting than usual. “I-I think I’d like to wear something a little lighter… if possible.”

“Of course, your majesty, no problem.”

You smile at them, grateful.

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

Sitting at Zhongli’s study room you practice some basic liyuen calligraphy while he seemingly goes over some important documents. The silence is comfortable and a warm cup of Qixing tea steams at both desks. Yet, something keeps bothering you.

You huff lightly, scratching and picking at the scales of your tail, irritated with the uncomfortable feeling. Why is it so itchy? A couple of them fall off, revealing new glossy ones underneath.

“Ah…” So that means…

You stop for a moment. The feverish feeling, scents being stronger on your nose, the urge to nest and cling to your mate.

Hmm… part of you is a little excited. And yet, there is fear.

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

“You have quite the appetite today, dear. Eat slowly, the food won’t go anywhere.” Ping chuckles as you practically pick a little of every dish while still trying to keep some modicum of elegance. Chopsticks weren’t that easy after all.

“Yes… I think… I think it’s my pre-heat hormones.” You sigh before munching on a shrimp ball.

Your heat…

Your first heat with Zhongli. With any Alpha to be honest. You’d always had to endure them on your own (Master couldn’t have you get pregnant) and they were excruciating and debilitating, crying out for days with your skin burning and itching, trying to sate yourself with your fingers and humping pillows. But now… you’re happily bonded.

Would it… feel good again?

Like, that first time you two mated…

You feel your cheeks heat up.

“Excuse me?”

“Hm?”

You’re brought back to reality to see Ping staring at you seemingly a little alarmed.

“Pre-heat? Young empress, are you going into heat soon?”

“Y-yeah? Probably um, tonight…? Or tomorrow.” The onsets are always so quick, and your cycle has always been more or less stable.

The elder places her chopsticks down. “Have you told Lord Morax?”

“Um. N-No, not yet. But… m-maybe he already caught on...” You tilt your head.

…Right?

Then again even you took a couple of days to identify the signs, and now for sure you were at the brink of it. Maybe he’ll mate you tonight…

Hm… how will Zhongli react to your heat scent?

You have to do your best!

[Be a good omega.]

Ping stands up, her expression still gentle but with a sort of urgency to it, your instincts catch the feeling she’s worried about something.

“I have to inform about this, please stay here dear.”

Now you’re nervous. You nod slowly.

Why does it feel like you did something wrong…?

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

After that, things get… chaotic.

It’s only a while later that you find yourself at the infirmary. Ganyu and Zhongli are also there and everyone’s anxious pheromones in the air do not sit well with you (subtle as they are, your nose is hyperaware right now).

“I’m sorry the symptoms are already settled in. At this point it is simply not feasible to give her suppressants, she has to go through this heat.” Baizhu says, looking troubled.

Feasible? Suppressants? More unknown words but…

Is there something wrong with your heat?

Ganyu scurries off and Ping starts talking with Baizhu on the other side of the room. You cling to Zhongli’s robe, trying to soothe yourself with his presence but his scent is… agitated.

You whine to call out to him. You’re scared.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Zhongli pulls you close, cupping your face again, staring straight at you. “No… no my dear dragoness, of course you didn’t, it’s just…” He steels himself searching for the right words, it doesn’t ease you in the slightest. “We didn’t expect your heat so soon. I should have known, noticed… I’m sorry.”

Why is your alpha apologizing to you? That is ridiculous.

“Is it a bad thing?”

“It’s… not the right time.”

You’re so confused.

Don’t Alphas like it when Omegas are in heat? Soft, pliant, warm, needy and ready to breed.

“I just don’t want you to feel obligated to do this…” He says. “And… you could trigger my rut, you could end up pregnant. I don’t want to… scare you, or hurt you. It’s much too soon for us to share your heat. I thought we’d have more time for you to get acclimated to Liyue or…” He shakes his head. “Nevermind. For the next few days you’ll be in a separate room, yes? No one will disturb you during your heat, I promise.”

“B-But then… I… what…?”

Alone?

“Usually omegas take suppressants, like a type of medicine, to stave off their heats so they don’t have to face these risks or suffer them alone, and then when they’re ready, when they want, they choose to share heats with their partners.” He explains.

“But I want to! I… I’ll be good!”

Zhongli sighs. “Darling you are good, you are precious to me. You don’t need to prove anything or do things because they are ‘expected’ of you.”

He’s not listening!

He asks you what you want. He says you can choose. But now that you tell him, ask him, beg him even… he denies you?

How come you’re always making the wrong choice?

Was it all a lie then?

“But I- T-then- Why-… YOU’RE CONFUSING ME!!” You yell, tears stinging in your eyes.

There are a few gasps and you see not only Baizhu and Ping, but Ganyu and some of the maids staring at you in shock. You cover your mouth, eyes wide at the sudden burst of fierceness and emotion.

You yelled at him.

You talked back.

You should be punished.

He stares at you, frozen like a statue for a few moments. You stare at him, pitiful, your eyes begging. A whimper leaves you and Zhongli lets out a shuddering breath.

Oh, your Alpha wants you, you know it.

"Please..." You mumble, voice so small.

"I'm sorry my dear, it's better this way." His hand moves towards you, to cup your face again or brush at your hair you're not sure, but he stops himself before you can find out. He sighs, averting his gaze and looking conflicted, and then turns around.

This is your punishment.

"It'll be just a few days, you'll be well-cared for. This is for the best." He says sternly, voice pinched.

And then he leaves.

Your heart shatters.

Everything is a blur after that. You’re gently guided along towards an empty nest room, the same one you'd first met him at, there are some things with both your scents on it but they feel sterile, washed anew.

Your hands start trembling. Your eyes start to water. Your lips quiver. Your throat feels tight, choked and dry. Your body feels feverish, hot and restless.

Zhongli rejected you.

“Your majesty please calm down."

[Useless.]

[Moron.]

[Whore.]

You could no longer breathe, hear nor see. You feel like you're drowning, unable to process what just happened. Your mate…your precious mate…he…he…

He abandoned you.

“Your majesty…?"

You scream.

[mydetheturk]

96. "Is that… is that my bra?” stryfewood :3c

Meryl walks in on Wolfwood surrounded by their laundry. It's hanging on every available surface, except for the chair Wolfwood is sitting in and the wash basin Wolfwood is forearm deep in. His shirtsleeves are rolled up past his elbows, held in place by his sleeve garters so they get less wet.

She has to stare for a moment because while yes this is a fairly common sight, this is a lot more laundry than she’s used to seeing him do in one shot.

“Nick?” Meryl says. “Is everything alright?” She’s got no idea, really.

“Yep.” He carefully rolls a bar of soap against something along the washboard and dunks the fabric back down in the water. “Needed doing.”

“Alright…” Wolfwood’s clearly deep in thought, mentally clocked out and going more through the motions than actually thinking about what he’s doing. This is either a good day or a bad day and Meryl is no longer sure which.

Meryl squints, recognizing the fabric Wolfwood pulls out of the water.

“Wait a goddamn second, is that my bra?”

Wolfwood pauses, only now actually looking at what he’s holding. “Looks like, yeah,” he says. He grins, holding Meryl’s bra up like it’s nothing. “It’s cute. I like the polka dots.”

It’s one of her more practical bras, one that Wolfwood’s pulled off of her on several memorable occasions. Meryl unfortunately agrees with Wolfwood in that it’s cute – the bra itself is white with little pink heart shaped polka dots. A girlfriend back in college had gotten it for her as a gag gift one year without Meryl even realizing she’d managed to get Meryl’s measurements – and without a measuring tape. It’d been impressive then, and it’s still a little impressive now, a few years after the fact.

Meryl doesn’t wear it too often, not wanting to wear it out. It usually lives in her spare clothes box in the back of the jeep. Why Wolfwood was digging through there is anyone’s guess, really.

“So. Laundry day?” Meryl asks.

“Yep.” Wolfwood dunks the bra in the rinse bucket beside him and carefully wrings it out. “Realized a lot of stuff had stains. So I got started. Almost done, really.”

It sure looks like he’s almost done. Meryl’s pretty sure the only things he hasn’t washed are the clothes they’re currently wearing.

Wolfwood hangs the bra on the wire that’s strung between the bed frame and the table.

“Alright, pretty boy,” Meryl says. “Strip.”

Wolfwood jumps a little, blinking his grey-brown eyes in confusion.

Meryl strips off her shirt and tosses it in his face. “C’mon, what’s left? What we’re wearing?”

Wolfwood pulls Meryl’s shirt off his face and grins. “Oh I’ll get you,” he teases. He drops Meryl’s shirt in the laundry bucket and grabs her with his other hand, reeling her in.

Meryl goes easily, laughing bright and loud.

[sankttealeaf]

masterpieces

part one: artistic endeavours

pairing ; arthur morgan x gender neutral!reader

summary ; the time has arrived for your work to be on display at Galerie Laurent, and you can’t help but keep an eye out for a certain cowboy…

other info ; part two to artistic endeavours! thank u for all the love on this, it has been a blast and i am itching to write more silly little moments like this !!! keep an eye out for them :3c my requests are also open, too!

word count ; 5.3k (whoops!)

The evening of the exhibition had arrived, and your nerves had increased as the day went on. You spent hours switching between outfits, wanting to make a good impression on the other artists and possible buyers, but not wanting to look too over or underdressed. Your room was a mess, clothes scattered across your bed and floor and you still weren't sure if you looked okay. Part of you wished you had spent some extra money to purchase something new, but you knew that would've only made your choice worse. Time was ticking and you needed to leave if you wanted to be there on time. You were thinking too much about this, and decided there was no point in overthinking - you had decided on your current outfit.

You made a quick attempt to clean up the discarded outfits, shoving everything onto your bed. It would be cleaned up when you got back, if you weren’t too tired. You left your apartment, making the short walk down to the gallery, pushing down any anxieties that were threatening to rise.

Galerie Laurent looked busy as you approached the building, seeing a small crowd standing outside, talking and smoking. You didn't recognize anyone as you passed, muttering small apologies as you pushed past to walk up the stairs to the gallery hall. 

The hall was even busier with other like minded individuals, and the sudden increase of people around you made you feel overwhelmed. Grabbing a flute of champagne off of a tray and downing it for good luck, you began to weave between people, heading for the area where your paintings were on display. Front and centre was the big piece of the theatre at night, which was getting a lot of attention. On smaller canvases hung around it were other locations in Saint Denis you frequented a lot - the bakery near your place, the small park area and the docks. It looked perfect. 

You listened in to a conversation a few people were having, complimenting the brush strokes and the use of colour, and you couldn't help but smile. This had all been worth it. They gave you a smile as they saw you looking in their direction before moving on, discussing the work of the next artist by you.

The evening passed by smoothly, moving between conversations with people about your work to potential buyers asking how much you were selling them for. You had a few buyers lined up for your smaller pieces, and a couple of people who were interested in the big theatre piece. The idea that anyone wanted to buy these paintings was something you had yet to fully come to terms with, but you knew it would hit you later on tonight.

Your eyes scanned the crowd, looking at those in attendance. Part of you had hoped to have seen Arthur by now, especially after he was the one to help you break out of the creative block you were facing. But you couldn't see him anywhere. He didn't have to come, and it wasn't like you were friends or anything, so you told yourself it didn't matter. You were just two strangers passing by each other. Your disappointment fell away when you struck up a conversation with someone who began to ask you about your pieces, and what other things you offer. He was in the market for a new piece of artwork to go in his study, and was considering something that was in line with your style. You handed him a business card and told him to get in contact, and parted ways. 

As you watched the man leave, from the corner of your eye you spotted someone entering the room, looking a little out of place. You stood a little straighter to see above the heads of the crowd, and couldn’t help but smile at the familiar face.

"Arthur!" You called out with a wave, trying to catch his eye. He turned in your direction, and gave you a wave back. Seeing someone you recognized here was a relief, even though you hardly knew the guy. It was nice to have some support, no matter who it was from. He approached you, and you couldn’t help but notice how nice he looked cleaned up. His outfit was different from the one you first met him in, though it was definitely nowhere near close to the dress code everyone else had followed. An effort had been made, you noted.

"You made it!" You said as he walked closer, eyes already on your paintings.

"I said I would," he said with a smile, his hands moving to rest on his belt as he gestured to the canvases. "You did these?"

"Mhm. The bigger one was the one I was having issues with when we met," you explained, looking at him to try and work out his thoughts about it. He took in the painting, and you watched as his expression changed from genuine interest to shock, and he held back a smile. He raised his hand, pointing to a section near the bottom right. There, hitched up to a post, was a familiar looking horse.

"That ain't my horse now, is it?" He asked. You couldn't help but smile in response.

"What can I say? She's a pretty horse," you replied, as he let out a laugh, catching the attention of a few people nearby.

"I don't believe it. There she is… on a painting! On display!"

"The moment I saw her I knew she would fit right in."

"She sure does!"

The look of joy on Arthur's face was something you wished you could capture. The way he was beaming to himself over a simple thing like this warmed your heart. You had been nervous to add his horse in, going back and forth in your mind to figure out if it would be weird to do so, but you did it anyway, and it had paid off.

"Whenever we cross paths," he began, leaning in a little closer to prevent others from hearing, "drinks are on me."

You raised an eyebrow. "All drinks?"

"Sure. As many as you want. As repayment. I can't put a painting of you or, uh, your horse in a gallery, but I can do drinks,” he said, looking at you with a nod. “Just don’t go too crazy.”

“I can’t make any promises there.”

Quiet fell over you both, as Arthur took the time to properly look at your work. You wondered what he was thinking about as he moved from piece to piece, eyebrows pulled together in focus. There was a gentle touch on your arm that pulled you from looking at him, and you turned to find yourself in conversation with someone who was interested in buying the main piece. The man went into great detail about how he was a consumer of the arts, and how having the piece of the theatre in his house would be a perfect home for it. He offered you one hundred dollars in cash for the piece.  You heard someone clear their throat from behind you.

“Sorry, fella, but the startin’ price for this was five hundred. Right?” Arthur said, looking at you. Was he trying to upsell? You were happy to settle with one hundred, but the man didn't look convinced. 

“Who exactly are you?” He asked, and you could feel him start to slip away.

You spoke up quickly. “He’s a… very influential appraiser.” 

Arthur gave a nod in approval. “And I say this piece is to sell for no less than five hundred.”

The man looked past you both at the painting, and eventually sighed. “Did you have any other buyers interested?” He asked you, and for a moment you felt as if he was going to tell you to consider them. You shook your head, watching as he took out a money clip filled with cash - more cash in one place than you had ever seen. He continued speaking. “If I put down two-fifty for a deposit, and then come back and pay the rest, will that do?” He held out the money. You looked up at Arthur, unsure on how to process this.

“If you want it, sir,” Arthur started, noticing how unsure you looked, “then you can add an extra hundred to the price. Six hundred all together, and it’s yours.”

“Deal.” The man smiled, as you slowly took the money clip from him. He grabbed your hand in his, giving it a hearty shake. “I'll let the relevant people know to expect a check from me for the rest.” He left quickly, leaving you standing there with the money. 

You heard Arthur let out a little laugh beside you. "Some rich bastard is going to have a painting with my horse on it hanging from his wall."

You had yet to move, still taking in the fact that you had sold your piece for a lot more than what you thought it was to be sold at. The money felt heavy in your hands, and you couldn’t even let yourself laugh at Arthur’s silly comment, afraid that if you moved you would wake up from this dream, broke and alone.

“You alright there?” He asked, waving a hand in front of your face to bring you back to the moment. You blinked, and found yourself laughing.

“Six hundred dollars…” You looked up at Arthur in disbelief, thanking whatever was out there that you had crossed paths with him. “Thank you.”

He gave you a confused look. “I ain’t the one payin’ you.”

“You’re the one who got him to pay that much, though.” You began to quickly count the bills, double checking that it was the right amount. It was. “Six hundred… and here I was ready to walk away with just one hundred.” You counted out seventy-five dollars, and handed it to him. “Here.”

“Oh, no, I can’t.” Arthur put his hands up, taking a small step back.

You closed the gap, gesturing the money in his direction. “Take it.”

“Look, I-” “I’ll make it a hundred if you don’t take it.”

He stared you down for a moment, but when you didn't back down, he sighed, taking the money from you. “I didn't do anythin’ to deserve this, y’know.”

“You did a lot, actually,” you said, pocketing the rest of the money. “You had your horse, you let me draw her, you came to the showing and you up-sold my art to that guy.”

He considered your words, before shrugging. “I s’pose. Ain’t worth seventy-five dollars, though.”

You thought he was worth more.

The evening was drawing to a close, and you were beginning to ache from standing for so long in one spot. You stretched out your arms, and quickly counted how many people were still left here. Only a handful, not including you and Arthur - the latter had decided to check out the other pieces of art on display now that the main bulk of the crowd had gone. You gave one last look at your corner, pleased at how this night had gone, and went to join Arthur. 

He was looking up at a large painting of the city in the morning light, a soft fog covering the streets. His arms were folded over his chest, and from what you could tell, he didn't seem to be enjoying this piece.

“Ain’t as good as yours,” he said quietly, shaking his head slightly at the painting. “This is missin’ my horse.”

You let out a chuckle, ignoring the feeling of your cheeks warming up at the compliment. “That’s what makes a good painting? If your horse is in it?”

“She deserves to be in all paintings.”

His love for his horse was something you haven't really seen in anyone else before, and you wondered what it was he did for a living. Arthur looked intimidating from a distance, and you remembered how cautious you were around him during your first encounter. But seeing him here, studying all these pieces of artwork, standing out against the crowd of the higher end of Saint Denis society, it truly felt like something out of a painting. You tried to pinpoint what kind of business he could be in from just looking at him, but nothing pleasant came from it. Gunslinger? Bounty hunter? Maybe just a guy who happened to look too tough and leaned into that style? You had no idea. He tilted his head to the side, gaze still focused on the art in front of him.

“I think you’re supposed t’ look at the art, not the people,” he said, catching your gaze on him. You were quick to look away, face turning bright red as you tried to find anywhere to look at that wasn’t him. “No, I didn't - I wasn’t looking at you, I mean, I was, but not like that! Never, no, not at all.” You had to stop yourself from talking, the last thing you needed was to embarrass yourself even further. He just smiled at you, seeming to find some enjoyment out of seeing you like this. Or maybe you were reading into it too much. Probably that.

“I’m going to take this as a sign that I should be gettin’ back home,” you said, clearing your throat. “It is getting late…”

“Can I walk you back?” Arthur asked. You were taken aback at the question, and gave him a curious look. “Not like… y’know… the streets can be troublesome at night. Just for safety. No, uh nothin’ weird about wanting to make sure someone gets home safe,” he was quick to explain, though you couldn’t help but spot the faintest tinge of red appear on his own face, as he averted his eyes.

The offer was endearing, and you couldn’t help but smile widely at him. “I’d be honoured to have you walk me back home.”

The air outside was much cooler than in the gallery, and you welcomed the change. The streets were still lively with action, the night only just beginning. In typical Saint Denis fashion, you were certain that they weren’t going to quieten down for a long while. Clouds covered the night sky, blocking out any sign of the moon or stars, which made you wonder if it was going to rain sometime soon.

Arthur offered you his arm, which you took after a moment of overthinking the meaning of it, and the two of you set off for your home. You made little conversation as you walked, talking about the art on display to the patrons there and how ridiculous some of them looked. It then moved onto you, and Arthur was curious to know how long you had been painting for, and what got you into it. You told him the story, though it wasn’t as exciting and grand as others may be. Drawing was calming, and something you found that you were pretty good at - why not try and profit from it, right? You then changed the conversation onto him.

“What is it that you do?” You asked, looking up at him in curiosity.

“Nothing much. Nothing good, either,” he replied, but that really didn't tell you anything.

“Nothing good?” You let out a soft laugh at that. “You helped to upsell my artwork to a random man. That’s pretty good of you, if I’m being honest.”

He waved the comment off. “Nah, that was nothing.”

“Tell that to the six hundred dollars in my pocket. That’s enough money to… oh, I don’t know, travel the world? See the sights? Paint everything I come across?” The thought of travelling freely to see more of the world placed itself in the front of your mind, and it was closer to becoming a reality now.

“You really want to travel, huh?” Arthur asked.

You nodded in response. “There is so much out there I’ve yet to see. I think it would be nice to escape the city for a bit. Get some fresh air.”

“Y’know, I ain’t sure how long I’m going to be around here for, but,” he paused for a moment, checking over his shoulder. You copied him, worried that someone was following you both. When you saw no one behind him, you looked up at him, trying to work out if something was wrong. He continued. “There’s a few places I can think of outside the city that are good spots for drawin’. If you’re interested, I wouldn't mind showing them to you.”

You felt a blush creep up your cheeks at the offer. “That would be really nice.” 

In all of your daydreams about seeing the world, you had travelled alone. But now you were looking at Arthur, and the thoughts of travelling and drawing together began to flood your mind.

"My place is just up here," you said, changing the conversation in hopes that it would push those thoughts to the back of your mind. The last thing you needed was to get your hopes up over nothing. 

Your apartment building was off the main road, hidden away between alleys and other buildings, but it was cheap and you had yet to have any problems with it. 

“I think I’ve been down this part before,” he mumbled, which caused you to laugh.

“I thought you said you hated the city?”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t walk around it.”

You had to let go of his arm when you got closer to your door, rummaging through your pocket to find your keys. Arthur stayed a few steps back, giving you space. As you unlocked your door, ready to climb upstairs to your floor, you noticed a few drops of rain had started to fall. Then, all at once, the sky opened up, rain pouring down heavily. You turned to face Arthur, who was looking up at the sky, adjusting his hat to try and prevent his head from getting too wet. It would be rude to let him walk back in the rain…

“You’re welcome to come inside and wait out the rain?” You suggested, gesturing inside. Arthur considered it for a moment, looking up at the sky. The clouds seemed dark, and the sudden downfall didn't look like it would ease up any time soon. You gave him a nod to confirm that it was okay, and he stepped inside.

The main room in your apartment was also your art studio, which was fine when you were alone, but having company over meant that you were acutely aware of how messy it was. Your organisational system was chaotic, but worked for the most part. Canvases were stacked up against the walls, various sketches and other notes were stuck to the walls, mainly so you wouldn't forget about things.

"Sorry for the mess," you said, quickly grabbing a few things to clean some room up. "I, uh, had planned to clean, but… life got in the way, I suppose."

"It could be worse,” Arthur said, gently pulling a stack of canvases away from the wall to see what was painted on them. He put them back quickly when he saw you watching him, holding his hands up away from the canvases.

“You can look at them, I don’t mind,” you told him, putting away a stack of paper. With your approval, he went back to looking through the artwork you currently had out. Most of them were works in progress, ranging from personal art to a few portraits that people had requested from you. Even with photography growing in popularity, people still enjoyed a good painting.

You had cleaned up the small dining table, pushing aside any notebooks or old brushes that had yet to be put away and started to light up the room. It looked a little better, and there was enough room to sit down if needed now. You glanced over at Arthur, who was still examining everything around him like he was back in the gallery. It was slightly intimidating watching him look over your work, especially in a less formal setting. You had no idea what he was thinking, his back facing you, which only heightened your anxieties.

“You’ve got a lot of stuff here,” he said, turning his focus from your artwork to a small box full of various pencils that sat atop a drawer full of art supplies. You watched him pick one up, turning it over in his hands a few times.

“Most of my supplies are years old, I try to make them last,” you told him with a small smile. “Paint can go a long way if you look after it, especially oils.”

He raised the charcoal pencil up. “I’m more of a pencil man myself.”

“You are?” You made your way over to him, pulling out one of the drawers and searching through it. You remembered being gifted a nice set of charcoal pencils one year for your birthday, but they remained unopened in the depths of your drawers because you had so many already. It was underneath a few scrap sheets of paper and you pulled out a rather ornate looking tin, holding it out for Arthur. He raised an eyebrow curiously, gently taking a hold of it. “You can have these if you want. They’re brand new, I’ve never used them. Never really needed to, if I’m honest.”

He took off the lid, and revealed six pencils, each with a different density to them. “Are you sure?” He asked, as you nodded quickly. “You’re too kind…”

“Think of it as a thank you. For tonight.” You gave him a smile as he looked from the pencils to you, a similar smile spreading across his face.

“I guess there’s only one way to test them out, huh?” He placed the pencils on the side, before opening up the leather satchel that hung at his side. You watched, as he pulled out a small journal, holding it up. “Have you ever been drawn before?”

You let out a nervous laugh, having more practice being the one behind the pencil rather than the object of its drawings. When he didn't seem to laugh with you to confirm that it was a joke, you cleared your throat, ignoring the warmth in your cheeks. “I haven’t… Have you ever been painted?” It was your turn to notice the redness in his cheeks now, as he shook his head. “I have some new brushes I need to break in…”

“Best you go and get them then…” He responded softly.

You stayed still for a moment, just looking up at him, before grinning and rushing off to find the new paint brushes you bought recently. It was too late to properly set up a canvas, so you settled with the same sketchbook you used to draw his horse a few weeks back.

You gathered your supplies, and returned to find Arthur had settled himself on one of the chairs at the table. He had taken his hat off, setting it aside. It felt a little weird seeing him hat-less, like you had walked in on him half naked. A few loose strands fell over his face, and you wanted to gently push them back into place. You quickly shook that thought away and took the seat opposite him, laying out your supplies. Arthur reached over to pick up a brush, and you playfully tapped his hand away.

The two of you began to draw, the room filled with sounds of charcoal scratching against paper and rain tapping against the window. Arthur had his journal in one hand, holding it in a way that prevented you from seeing what he was drawing. Anytime you peered over, he would pull it closer to himself. 

Now that you had an excuse to look at Arthur up close, you began to take in his features, putting them down onto paper quickly. He had a really pretty eye colour, and in this lighting his hair looked like a honey colour. You caught yourself looking at him for longer than necessary a few times and were quick to avert your eyes back down to the page, blushing darkly.

Once you had a base sketch of him done, it was time to add colour. Usually you would take your time with this, but you weren’t sure how long you had with him and you wanted it to be close to finished before he left. You began to put down the darker tones, building up to lighter tones as you progressed. The new brushes were pretty good, and you were glad you had the chance to try them out on something smaller before using them properly.

Time ticked on without you knowing, and you soon had a pretty decent portrait of Arthur in your sketchbook. You looked up from your work once you were settled on it, and caught Arthur looking at you. He gave you a smile, and 

“I wasn’t keeping you, was I?” You asked, noticing the lack of pencil in his hand.

“Not at all. If you need more time-”

“No! No, I think I’m done,” you said quickly, not wanting to think about how long he was watching you paint and you hadn’t noticed. You cleared your throat, regaining your composure. “So…”

“So…?” Arthur frowned, as you gently placed your paint brushes to the side.

“Can I see your drawing?” 

He broke eye contact, looking back down at his journal. There was a moment where you thought he was going to say no, but instead he turned the book upside down, and held it out for you to see. On both pages were drawings of you. The one on the left was a close up of you. You looked to be concentrating, some of your hair fell in front of your face as you painted. He had captured the way the light fell on your face through the shadows, and it looked incredible. The drawing on the right was a little more detailed and captured more of you and your surroundings. You were deep in thought while painting, a brush behind your ear and one in your hand. He included parts of the backgrounds through quick lines and smudges of the charcoal to indicate that there was something there. Underneath that drawing was your name in capital letters.

“Arthur… these are beautiful,” you said, leaning closer to get a better look, trying to piece together in your mind his process. You looked at him, smiling as he had kept his gaze somewhere else, not wanting to look at you to see your reaction. There was a notable blush on his cheeks which had spread to his ears, and since he was hatless you could see it clearly. It was now you assumed he wasn’t one to take compliments.

“I’m sure it ain’t anything compared to yours,” he replied, only looking at you when he heard you sit back as you held out your piece.

“Careful, the paint is still wet,” you warned, as he took hold of your book. Your heart was beating quickly as he looked over your painting, and you now understood why Arthur was looking away - watching someone look over your work like this was daunting. You took to busying yourself with organising your paint brushes, only looking back at him when you heard him say your name softly.

“This is incredible,” he said, placing your book down on the table. “It’s like a photograph… I ain’t seen anything like this before.” Now it was your turn to blush, and you mumbled out a very small thanks in response. 

He pushed your book back towards you, and you handed his back. Your hands touched for a moment as he took it from you, which didn't help the warmth in your cheeks. The room felt oddly quiet, and it was then you realised the rain had passed. 

Arthur seemed to notice it too, as he cleared his throat and closed his journal quickly. "I should probably get goin' now."

"Oh, yes, of course," you replied, standing up at the same time as him. The both of you ended up bumping into each other by doing this, causing you to laugh nervously as he held your arm to steady you. His hand lingered on your arm, and you looked up at him. You could feel your heart pounding, and were almost certain Arthur could hear it with how close he was standing. 

Your hand moved to push back the strand of hair that fell across his face, and his hair was as soft as you thought it would be. The movement took Arthur by surprise, and you quickly broke his gaze.

"Don't forget your hat," you said quietly, moving your hand away from his hair and stepping away, your mind rushing with thoughts of what could happen if you lingered too long on him.

Arthur grabbed his hat, and you began to head towards the door, telling yourself to calm down and not do something you would regret. But life was here to do stupid things, right? It wouldn't hurt…

You held the door open for him as he followed you, stepping outside into the cool night air. The air was a welcome change from how hot and flustered you felt inside.

"Thank you… for coming tonight. It's been really nice," you said softly, watching as he tipped his hat towards you.

"The offer still stands if you ever want t' see what life is like outside the city." He smiled, and you nodded in response.

"You know where to find me now!"

The both of you stood there, neither walking away. Cheers and loud laughter could be heard from down the street from people, most likely drunk. Arthur turned in the direction of the noise, and you took this moment to take a step forward. Maybe it was because you were tired, or maybe it was because you were painting in a badly ventilated place again, but part of you felt disheartened that he had to leave.

"Arthur?" You spoke, catching his attention. He turned back to you, a look of concern on his face. You took a deep breath, and leaned towards him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. Again. I really appreciate what you've done," you whispered, staying close to him. 

The kiss came as a shock to him, and he stood still, looking down at you with a blush. He gently pushed some of your hair behind your ear, his hand lingering by your cheek before speaking. "It's nothin', really."

You stood there for what felt like an eternity, though you knew it was only a few moments. Arthur's hand was against your cheek, and you couldn't help but lean into it. You placed your hand atop of his, and smiled.

"You're welcome to stay for a while longer if you want," you offered, though your intention wasn't anything lewd. You liked being in his company, and wanted to keep this going for as long as you could. 

"I've been away long enough. People might start to get worried," he replied with a soft chuckle at your invitation, and you nodded with a smile. You let go of his hand as he moved away, and both took an awkward step back from each other.

"Drop by if you're ever in the city again, won't you?" You asked, keeping your hopes up that he would do so.

"Of course. You'll be the first to know I'm here." He gave you a nod, and took another step back. It felt like he was in the same boat as you, knowing he should leave but something was stopping him. You gave him a little wave, and watched as he waved back, finally turning around to walk away. He looked back at you before he turned off to the main street, and you couldn't hold back the smile as he did so.

You wondered if he would ever come back and visit. There was still so much you didn't know about him, but maybe that was a part of the charm? The strange artist with a mysterious story and the interesting horse he loves so dearly… Maybe there was a painting to be made from this?

[gubbles-owo]

okay fuckit, gather 'round: it's gubbles' storytime. girl's band cry hyperfixation be damned, it's bringing up so many Things in my heart. i say i've never performed live onstage, but that's not entirely true. while a far shot from actually taking part in a band and playing a show, allow me to tell you the tale of the closest I ever got to that: a random session at jamspace, pax east, 2016.

.......... senior year of college, i was brought onboard with another group of students who had not only completed a game demo for a class project, but wanted to take it further. a lil VR game, simple in concept and clean in execution, i was invited to do music and audio for it. (i was, of course, the sole game audio/music-focused student on campus, as my school's gamedev program didn't really have a dedicated audio designer track). ultimately it fizzled out and not much came of it, but for a good chunk of time it was everything. our future ambitions, something to carry us forth from graduation on into the industry, to cement our own little foothold in the vast world of game development. we took the train to boston so many times, showed off our game at SO MANY local events, hell i had never known how to navigate a complex subway system, and here we were sifting through every few weeks or so. it was a wild fucking time, and honestly? i wish i could experience it again. something about the weaving of fantastical future prospects with the tangible, corporeal experience of it all. once foreign subway systems, sprawling in a subterranean web of concrete and metal, the sidewalks of city streets lit by the glow of the city, now strangely familiar in such a short span of time... *ahem* right, where was i... right, pax east. our school provided a limited number of booths for teams to show off their projects at pax east, and being one of the big promising projects stirring up on campus, we were granted a spot. (actually i had TWO spots because two separate projects/teams i took part in got accepted, so i had to pull double duty for a lot of it LMFAO). i've been to pax before, but as a fan and attendee, not as a developer. so this was an entirely new experience... ...and that experience was having the booth you sit at all day right next to the massive league of legends (ew) stage!! they blasted music constantly! half of it was just percussion loops from Heavyocity's Damage, and i know because I RECOGNIZED THOSE PERCUSSION SOUNDS and even USED SOME OF THEM IN THE PROJECT I WAS WORKING ON. see, the convention floor is loud. like. incredibly fucking loud. it's one thing if you're walking around as a fan, you've got other talks in siderooms to go to, and you can always step out and get some fresh air if you're feeling overwhelmed. but ya can't do that when you're on shift to demo your game to con attendees for the next several hours, can ya? :3c so yeah, long story short, i got sick. real fuckin sick. i had to YELL over the din of the convention the entire time, and after just one day, i had already lost my voice. and i mean COMPLETELY LOST MY VOICE. i could not speak, only painfully croak. i had to resort to crude hand gestures and typing shit on my phone to communicate. it was rooouughhh. and after bringing this up with my teammates, they agreed to cover my shifts, and let me rest. because the con was so fucking loud, and i was still stuck there sick all day, i informed my team that i would be headed to the jamspace room to pick up earplugs. and by "earplugs" i mean. haha well. lets justr say. a bass guitar. (srry for screenshot but tumblr hated this paragraph for some reason and kept blocking the post):

i was sick as fuck, and for sake of my health, should probably not have pushed myself. HOWEVER. i would NOT i repeat *NOT* let this sole opportunity to slip me by... i've always wanted to perform with other musicians, so fuck it, i am doing this. so the next twelve minutes i shuffled my sickly ass alll the way around to the room at the very end of the hall. i had taken note of the open-stage timeslots the day prior. i had one hour to do this shit. one hour to make the dream come true. i cannot describe the nervousness i felt going into that whole thing. i lied to my teammates. i couldn't speak. a dark room with a little clipboard to fill out a timeslot and instrument, and an empty, brightly lit stage on the other side of it. but i shuffled stage right, strapped on this bass, and asked for a pick (because im a fake bassist). and. holy shit.

i had no voice, but with that bass strapped to me? i could make the entire room *shake*. and words cannot describe how utterly fucking powerful that felt.

a few other randos took up the other instruments. i don't remember much about them, only that they intimidated the HELL out of me. i had done like concert band in high school, i've jammed on instruments in my room, but this? this is something entirely different. we played through a couple tracks... they kept suggesting "hey how about x song from y band?" but my stupid-ass doesn't have a degree in classic rock like everyone else apparently does, so i shrugged and said i didn't know how to play it. we finally settled on the one song suggested that i was, at least passingly, familiar with... metallica's enter sandman lmfaO the "passingly" there is very important, because while i know the general flow and structure, i wasn't sure about the specifics. when we got to the first pre-chorus, i notice something had shifted, and i was no longer playing the right notes. i must've either sounded terrible or look visibly confused, because the guitarist to my left turned toward me, angled his fretboard to be clearly in view, and taught me how to play the riff while performing it onstage. and i did it!! i picked it up, just like that!! it was just the earlier bit but transposed up a few steps or smth, but god, just. that little moment right there? that quick moment of guidance mid-performance? holy fuck that is magical. the other awesome moment was somewhere in the bridge, like. okay. i could barely hear myself, as the guitars and vocals and cymbals right behind me were all incredibly loud (they didn't have earplugs btw lol). but i wasn't sure i was like, contributing much to the song? and while i admittedly improvised this bit, for the build up into the final chorus, i stopped playing. i let the guitar and the drums have their space. and slowly, quietly, high up on the fretboard, built back up until WHAM, i come back in full force with the chorus. IT WAS SO COOL. LIKE. the mix sounded so weak and thin without me, and the contrast of making the entire fucking room violently vibrate with the flick of my wrist on the downbeat? holy FUCK. IT'S MAGICAL. MAGIC IS REAL Y'ALL AND IT IS ONSTAGE. anyway yeah, played that song, some members swapped out but no one else was signed up for bass, so i stuck on for a lil longer. another guitarist taught me how to play one of the splatoon themes, and while it was fun, the drummer kept us both going on that one riff for a looot longer than we wanted to lmfao fun fact! none of my team knew i did this!! they probably would've been PISSED had they found out!! actually they stole my con pass on the third morning, which made sense cause they had someone else fill in for me at the booth, but none of it was communicated to me and i was piiiiised. wound up navigating the subway and trains back home, all by myself, for the first time. but YEAH it was AMAZING. it wasn't an established band playing a local show, it was just a bunch of randos fucking around. and god. i... i really want to be part of a band someday. i want to feel this again.

even if just for one show, for one song, for one moment... i need to feel the weight of the room underneath my fingertips.

[boiledbirdy]

Duke Thomas Headcannons

⭐️He is either insanely talkative quoting memes sarcasm dripping out of his ass or completely silent

⭐️Duke is the type of person and leader that doesn’t need words to have an impact on people, but does use words primarily

⭐️He’s a people watcher, the type of guy to order one blue berry scone and a vanilla cream coffee and sit there for hours, barley noticeable scone half eaten and sits in seeming focus while watching the ins and outs of the coffee shop

⭐️Is the type of person to have everything but the one specific common thing EX Duke has a mini magnet chessboard, tissues, hair ties, flashcards, a few extra snacks for his friends, pens every color of the rainbow (except for black) like hoW?

⭐️Has doctor hand writing (very ineligible)

⭐️Relating to the one above takes most of his school notes in doodles that just make sense to him

⭐️Is the kid who can do really cool pen tricks when no one notices, if you ask him to do it consciously he cannot

⭐️Detective wise he cannot use the professional terminology that Bruce has tried drilling into him for hours upon hour, case notes are various ways of typing thing or thingy that Duke has to translate before entering into the database cause his brain just can’t compute

⭐️Low-budget Sci-Fi movies are his shit, its on a sketchy ass website or youtube 50/50 on whether you can recognize the costumes from JC Penny

⭐️He is as scared of villains as he is of his own powers

Sticks his tongue into his cheek when he’s thinks really hard

⭐️Authority figures have failed him to many times that he just does not trust them.

⭐️after yr 1 with the Waynes he knows that they aren’t family in his eyes but more the closest friends which makes him scared of what happens when his parents get back conscious. - will he ever be the stereotypical family that’s been driving him for all these years. - will he actually be a child or just be a caretaker to his own parents????

⭐️Love and Family aren’t words he likes much but trusts more through actions

⭐️I think he may have 3c or 4a hair???

⭐️Knows seemingly everyone in Gotham??? Like oh thats Richard he’s a plumber yeah he has two little girls and he’s a single dad (gives a whole flashback for this middle aged man)

⭐️His room decor is really obscure band and movie posters and the live laugh love like signs that he found in hobby lobby, thrift shops, or tjmax

⭐️In spars and in real combat will bite people if he needs to or feels trapped

⭐️that being said Duke motherfuckin’ Thomas is feral like the type of feral where you get a shiver up your spine before he comes in a room

⭐️Chronically listens to Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chillipeppers, Joy Division, 2Pac, and Drake (theres more but thats short hand)

⭐️He has tumblr and has announced to the world through twitter that he sees all of the Wayne posts on there and supports those accounts especially the more bizarre ones

⭐️Favorite color is that deep deep lucid blue that seems to just be the paint of clear night sky (#030640) is the hex color code

⭐️he texts like a psychopath with the correct grammer everywhere but spell check is off and the short hand acronyms are constant

⭐️favorite soda is probably mtn dew which I disapprove but it’s the fact of my brain

[incognito-lionbeast]

So remember how I said that this was a mundane Cumplane AU? well, I lied. But I said that in the notes, already~

My hand slipped! I wrote a scene from much, much later in the AU. No context, we die like men. Figure it out :3c

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

Shen Mei took one look at the two men standing at the door and blinked, stunned. Tall, handsome beyond compare, imperial… and in full cosplay. Their attention to detail was astounding—better than most of the dramas she watched, to be honest. She recognized the pair immediately, somehow finding it within herself to giggle at them. Oh, holy shit. Well, they had to be here for the two nerds locked up in one of the family’s guest rooms, right? So, she drew a hand up to her mouth to stifle that fleeting amusement, completely missing Luo Binghe’s attempt at a polite, gentlemanly greeting. Instead, Shen Mei composed herself shortly after and waved him off. 

“Hold on, one sec.”

Shen Mei drew a breath; turning away away from her guests, she yelled:

“San-ge! Your boyfriend is here!!” 

Said “boyfriend” was one-part offended—he was a husband, thank you—and two-parts bewildered by the smug aura emanating from the minuscule teenaged… sister?… standing between them and entry into the Shen household. Though, the latter statement didn’t last for long; immeasurably pleased by her declaration, Shen Mei listened for the sound of the guest room door opening and then quickly ushered the two demons inside to wait for her precious elder brother to arrive. If he took too long, she’d simply have to yell again. Don’t think she wouldn’t!

“Sorry, he and um… Feiji have been really busy.” Shen Mei explained. Yes, she still called him Airplane despite everything. And perhaps because she’d never asked for a real name. “You must be friends of theirs, right? Um, well if you aren’t, then this is super awkward, but—”

Pretty sure. Why else would they have Proud Immortal Demon Way cosplayers at their door, if not to hang out with the Author and his favourite hater? She just wished her dearest brother would have said something sooner! She could have roasted him better! Damn it, she could have prepared! Totally unfair. Then again, if this was for more than just hanging out… well, she’d just have to roast him for that, too! (She couldn’t believe that her brother would use their parent’s money for such extravagant, niche entertainment, though. He truly had changed, huh?)

As it was, Shen Yuan, with Airplane in tow, made his appearance before Luo Binghe had time to properly respond to the question. They both looked startlingly perplexed, vexed even—and that was even before sighting Luo Binghe and Mobei-Jun!—lingering at the edge of the room as if there was an arrow pointing to Airplane with the moniker ‘Shen Yuan’s boyfriend’ written clear as day upon it. His boyfriend was already–? 

Wait. Hold on.

They noticed.

“Shizun!” Luo Binghe yelped, recognising the face staring at him from the days of Shen Qingqiu’s Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom body. Yet, this recognition did nothing to assuage Shen Yuan’s confusion—nor his embarrassment, recollecting the way in which he’d been summoned from his work. Um. Hello? 

“Binghe…?” As in, Luo Binghe? As in— What.

Meanwhile, Mobei-Jun settled on staring intently at the unfamiliar face next to Shen Yuan, discerning. Trying to. Was it or was it not..? His brow furrowed, scrutinizing the physique of the poor, chubby—albeit not unattractive, suppose—shut-in of an author. Airplane wilted bashfully under his cold gaze, but could not pry his own away; unconsciously, he even hovered a few steps closer. He’d seen Mobei-Jun cosplayers before—even went out of his way to look for pictures—but this was… extraordinary. Luo Binghe, too, but he was far less interesting at the moment. 

Airplane, as always, had priorities.

“Did— Please don’t tell me my sister invited you here.” Shen Yuan tried to smooth out his expression, casting a glance her way. Brushing through his bangs, a hint of flustered exasperation tinted his body language regardless.

“Me? I thought they were your friends,” Shen Mei defended, adding inaudibly: Or escorts…

“Shizun,” Binghe tried again, a flash of worry marring his formerly composed nature. It could only get worse from there. So, he whined, striding forward to close the gap between them. Surely, it would help if Shen Yuan got a better look at him, right? He insisted, verging on pleading. “You don’t.. remember me? I’m your husband.”

This caught Airplane’s attention, snapping from his daze to genially mock his boyfriend. “Wow, Shen-bro, when were you going to tell me about this? I didn’t know you were already married! I’m hurt!”

“I’m not!” Shen Yuan retorted, thrusting yet another icy dagger into Luo Binghe’s chest. Upon seeing such a pained expression, he immediately recanted, instinct guiding his hand to rest upon Binghe’s head (a difficult task considering their new and improved height-difference, but his alleged husband leaned down to accommodate). There, there. Please don’t look at him like that! Please don’t— get any closer! Help. “I don’t think I am? You’re not—”

What was he saying?? Luo Binghe wasn’t even real! Yet, the giant of a man gazed at him with such sorrowful conviction that those words dried up immediately, never to be spoken. He swallowed, “You’re not mistaking me for someone else, are you…?”

“This disciple would recognize Shizun anywhere.” That fact was provenly false. But romantic. Shen Yuan flushed, startling backward a full step as Luo Binghe softly pressed a palm against his cheek. Yet, he would not allow Shen Yuan a second step, even as he reverted from petting to pushing Luo Binghe away. Never mind their audience, the demon lord gripped his husband with a free hand, holding him roughly in place as if that would somehow facilitate recalling lost memories. Then, simply, he claimed Shen Yuan’s soft lips with his own.

After all, Luo Binghe was used to Shen Qingqiu’s many false denials, thinking little of Shen Yuan’s. He had to remember. He had to. Though, even so, Luo Binghe dared not go further than a single stolen kiss for now. Shizun would be angry… 

Airplane’s feelings toggled between jealousy and amusement at the sight of it. Hey, that’s mine… his inner voice called out. Not that he had any chance if Shen Yuan and— Luo Binghe? A cosplayer? Really were a couple. Somehow. To distract himself, Airplane returned his attention to the duo of Mobei-Jun and Shen Mei. He asked, “Um, forgive me for asking, but Mei-Mei really didn’t pay you guys to do this, right?”

“She did not.” Mobei-Jun answered, to the accompaniment of ‘See, I told you!’ somewhere off to his left. Well, alright then. So, if this wasn’t Shen Yuan’s idea—which, judging by the less-than-consensual kissing and fussing going on, probably not—and it wasn’t HIS idea, then it had to be their idea. Yet, that didn’t make much sense, either. Supposing that the pair were simple cosplayers, how and why were they even here?? He was but an author, and Shen Yuan was…

“And you are?” Airplane tried again.

“Mobei-Jun.”

“Oh.” He should have seen that one coming. “I– yes, I see that. My king, what are you doing here?”

Mobei-Jun’s expression brightened almost imperceptibly at those two little words, so reverently applied even for lack of memory. Imploring. Though there had been doubt before, who else could it be? Who else gazed at him so? Thus, having finally reached a verdict, he stated with such affectionate satisfaction (though perhaps he was the only one who could really tell). “Qinghua.”

“Huh?” Airplane blinked. “Well, I guess you can call me that. I can’t stop you. I don’t think I really look like Shang Qinghua, though — and isn’t, didn’t you?”

I should know, I wrote the damn thing. 

There’s no way Mobei-Jun should be happy to see Shang Qinghua, right?

“My king, I don’t understand,” he said, continuing to play along. Why not! Well, fuck he knew why not. Yet, his boyfriend was too busy being menaced by Luo Binghe. So, he might as well humour this one, too. Maybe this was a horrible idea, maybe they weren’t really cosplayers or whatever at all! They could be in serious danger. The more Airplane thought about it, the more he couldn’t help feeling that they might be, eyes darting over to Shen Mei. Get out of here! They’re ignoring you!! And if these two don’t kill him, then Shen-bro definitely will if you get hurt!

If only she could hear him. Alas.

“You do not remember, either.” Mobei-Jun sighed. He considered briefly following Luo Binghe’s lead and kissing the man before him; yet Binghe didn’t seem to be getting results, either. So, Mobei-Jun was flummoxed. He could try beating him instead? Yet, a little voice whined from the back of his mind that Shang Qinghua didn’t even enjoy the beatings…

“Afraid not. Are you– are you real?” Airplane grasped at straws. That was the silliest conclusion yet, but suppose he had to set a baseline somewhere. Cosplayers or dangerous? Or maybe this was just an elaborate prank, who knows! He’d like to, though.

Mobei-Jun was puzzled. He’d never been asked that before.

“Er, well, of course you’re real. You’re here. Stupid question. I meant, uh… you’re really dedicated to being in-character, huh.” Airplane continued digging his hole even deeper, rapidly increasing Mobei-Jun’s confusion. This was a new game; though it in part felt a little familiar to him, somehow. Like there was some grand epiphany awaiting Mobei-Jun on the other side of this harrowing bemusement. He reached forward, a frown lightly creasing his lips when Airplane shrank from the touch, but Mobei-Jun was determined. His hand met a head of messy, brown hair, petting him just as Shen Yuan had Binghe.

“My king?” Airplane asked in a tiny voice. The hand did not move. It was cold, unusually so. Impossibly so. 

Airplane cautiously placed his own hand over it and brought it down for inspection, feeling the chill of something that couldn’t be accounted for by poor circulation alone. It was like holding a block of ice! Yet, there was a pulse and life flowing through it, too. Was he real..? Was that actually possible?

“I am real,” Mobei-Jun affirmed, allowing the manhandling without question. “You are Shang Qinghua – or, perhaps, he is you.”

“Um, well actually…” Airplane started to correct, but promptly shut himself up. Hole, no deeper. If this was Mobei-Jun and that was Luo Binghe— er, Luo Binghe did not need to know about being a self-insert. If that was the honest truth, and that was a very exaggerated If. He laughed awkwardly, turning over Mobei-Jun’s hand this way and that. “If you say so, my king. I really don’t know. Though, if that guy over there is Luo Binghe’s husband, then what am–”

“My fiance.” Mobei-Jun supplied.

(Shen Mei, who had only recently retired to a chair some ways away, stifled another cackle. Of them all, she found herself believing them the most… as absurd as that was, sure. Yet, with that said–! What the hell, though?! How come she wasn’t greeted with a beautiful, busty wife or something. Incredibly unfair. Still, there was some frivolous joy to be gained from this. After all, no matter how her brother struggled, he had a dirty little secret just dying for Real-Life Luo Binghe to find out about. So, she schemed.)

“Actually, wait– alright, so I’m Qinghua. Your fiance. We’ve established that, right?” (Mobei-Jun nodded.) “Then… fuck, Binghe called Shen-bro ‘Shizun’, so who the hell is he?!”

Mobei-Jun rather thought Qinghua answered his own question. After all, he was surnamed Shen. Shen-bro. Shen-shizun. Shen Qingqiu. All of this made proper sense to Mobei-Jun and Luo Binghe, who’d finally allowed his dear shizun some space (but only with the promise that Shen Yuan would not try to run). On the other hand, none of it made any damned sense to the two normal, non-demon men in the room. But that was only the men in the room. There was yet a woman – one who was having the epiphany of a lifetime!

“Oh my god.” Shen Mei muttered gleefully from her seat. She nearly bolted back onto her feet, brought forth from her scheming with renewed mirth. “Shen Jiu — no, Shen Qingqiu! That’s it, right?”

Shen Yuan balked.

[vacantgodling]

climbs into your askbox

hi i'm responding a little late to your request for wip questions but that's okay

anyway. head empty rn, but i'd love to hear a bit more about a wip of yours i've been curious about!!! vampires don't take road trips. i would like to learn more. i realize that's not a specific question so: looking at the main cast, what's something each of them would hate to be *seen* as and why? (i.e. if someone would hate to be seen as stupid, or would hate to be seen as unreliable, something like that)

or alternatively. silly question. rate the main cast in order from "will show up exactly on time on the dot to the function" to "will like clockwork show up at least an hour later than they were told to." feel free to elaborate on your rankings if you want!

this took me forever to answer im so sorry 💀💀💀

eee you are always welcome in my inbox :3c

i did make a powerpoint intro for this wip too so i link just so you can stare at it later lmaoo -> here

but these are both EXCELLENT questions, and for once i may have answers bc ive had these ocs for like a decade 💀

so, ig if we stick to the main main cast (which ngl is hard to determine for me but i suppose that’d be darren, dave, liz, olice, and veronica… at least for the first half of the book lmaooo) — for the easy question of who’s showing up on time versus who is showing up late in that order:

dave, veronica, olice, darren, liz

as for why:

dave is a lawyer and a generally punctual person and is somewhat anxious. he prefers to be 5 minutes early.

veronica is a wannabe socialite and so her image is contingent on if she shows up on time and so she’ll be there on the dot.

olice is used to her mothers antics and she feels like it’s rude to be ridiculously late so she tries to be there between on time or 5-10 minutes late at the most.

darren is more lax and tends to get distracted so if he shows up like 30 minutes late to the function it’s chill. the only time he’s on time is when dave is with him LOL

liz is an Actual socialite but she doesn’t care about that or social events in general so she tends to be “fashionably late” and people “forgive” her bc of her status 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

for the harder question:

DARREN: the way this is actually a hard question for my actually emotionally intelligent son LMAOOO. i think in general he hates being seen as dramatic, or someone who makes a big deal out of things. he’s a chill guy, and for his own sanity he prefers to stay chill if and when possible. the times that he’s had outbursts or had people accuse him of being overly dramatic are the few things that haunt him in life. i think the reason as to why… it’s a bit hard to say. but i think it comes down to the fact that in not wanting to be bothered with things himself, he tries not to bother other people. he’s more likely to assume that he’s getting on someone’s nerves or pissing them off and would just ghost them to avoid drama instead of fully confronting the situation. he Will if he needs to, but he’d just rather not because … idk? he just doesn’t think it’s worth the trouble. he’d rather keep his peace and be wrong than rock the boat and be right. it’s definitely something he’s kinda picked up from his dad, but darren manages to be waaaay more chill that even dave is because he just keeps people at arms length unless it’s his dad or olice. he learns how to do that less but the idea of letting people in enough to ruffle his inner peace is also. hm. not something he’s fond of. so basically, he’s not conflict avoidant he’s more conflict neutral and likes to take the path of least resistance if any of that makes sense.

DAVE: he hates being seen as weak. he recognizes that this is very irrational but it’s a fear and discomfort that developed from his own father, who was extremely harsh on him growing up, and even harsher if dave got upset or cried or wasn’t “manly.” so for him, being “weak” comes with a host of trauma around it that he’s still working through many years later. it doesn’t trigger him as bad as it used to, but it definitely still can.

LIZ: liz is a bit weird because she doesn’t really care how other people perceive her—she just doesn’t like being responsible for those assumptions people have of her character? so i wouldn’t say she hates being seen as competent but she hates being seen as something she’s “not” or something that she doesn’t take credit for. she’s not responsible for your preception of her yknow. if i had to say why it’s because she’s fiercely independent. she’s going to do what she wants to do and what she thinks is best no matter what and she’s usually not interested in hearing other people’s opinions; she’s quite stubborn. bending to other people’s whims is a bruise to her ego and she has done it before and hates herself for falling to that sort of weakness instead of doing what she wanted to do. so in a manner of speaking she hates being seen as controllable and hates being seen as weak in a somewhat similar way to dave, but more because of her personal pride than trauma. she’s an extremely proud woman lol.

OLICE: ngl, she hates being seen as her mother’s daughter. veronica hasn’t been the Best mother to olice. after she decided to return to the us and break up with her father in india (without even saying a word mind you so olice has never met the man. and before anyone says “maybe he was abusive” as the author i’m telling you, he wasn’t. veronica just got in over her head and then bailed, only thinking of herself but then didn’t take the proper steps to make sure her daughter felt loved or to be a good single parent 🤷🏽‍♂️), olice has only been treated by her mom and her mom’s extended family as a doll or an extension of her mother. better to be seen, not heard; the only interests that were fostered in a meaningful way were the ones that she shared with her mother. veronica often speaks over her and isn’t cognizant of her needs, more content to chase her aspirations than care about her daughter unless her daughter can be sort of “used” for something. she hates being reminded that they’re related. she refuses to go by the american (and technically legal) name that her mother gave her which is clara. her mother did at least tell her the name that her father wanted to name her/the name she and him agreed on in india which was olichudar and that’s why she goes by that. clara and olichudar have similar meanings which is how her mother came around to the name (clara meaning bright/famous, and olichudar meaning brilliant) but olice doesn’t think it suits her and she hates being called it. she also has her mothers sister’s name as an “honor name” so her cousins and extended family call her “cc” a lot and she hates it to Death. she became grateful when her mom started dating dave because it was through him that olice started getting some of the freedom to express herself and to try and reconnect with her indian heritage; with dave keeping veronica distracted or off her back about it. even though many say that her mother loves her in her own way (even dave sometimes and that’s the only thing she and he disagree on), olice has never felt real, unconditional love from her mother. especially when she compares it to dave and darren’s relationship. they’re close, dave takes an active interest in the things darren likes, he’s supportive and cares about darren’s comfortability and cares about loving him more than anything else, even veronica. and olice can look back on her life before dave and darren and think how she was content with crumbs from her mother; veronica only wanted olice around when she could brag about her or show her off, then toss her to the side when she didn’t want to deal with her. no interest in olice outside of how she looked being a “strong woman raising a kid on her own” when as far as olice knows from her mother’s own words, her bio dad wanted to be there for her. meeting dave and seeing his relationship with darren has made olice much more bitter and resentful of her mother but the only reason she hasn’t tried to push her and dave breaking up is because she doesn’t want to lose what she considers her real family and father figure. olice is sure that one day she’s either gonna have to cut contact with her mother, or her mother’s going to abandon her. and i won’t tell you which one, but this roadtrip proves one of those theories right. :)

also to be said, veronica isn’t a traditionally abusive person towards olice—not physically or even verbally. what olice goes through is more akin to my own relationship with my mother growing up, where it’s more neglectful and about not being seen or not being emotionally valued versus being physically taken care of. i don’t call it “abuse” in the book specifically just because i have a hard time thinking of what i went through as abuse myself but it definitely Hurts and is unhealthy and that’s what i want to get at irregardless. all of this to say, as an aside, this is something i always knew but never talked about but veronica and olice’s relationship vs darren and dave’s has always been olice is who i am and veronica is who my mother was (in an exaggerated, less religious way) and darren is who i wished i was and dave was who i wished my mother was 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

VERONICA: this is sort of a roundabout, 2-part answer, but she hates being seen as both “the other woman” and as “poor” — and basically both of those answers circle around into an inferority complex. with the first, it stems off of her insecurities when it comes to being with dave, and as much as i love dave to death and am somewhat uncharitable to veronica (because of darren really 🤷🏽‍♂️) i do *understand* where she’s coming from. you should never be made to feel “not good enough” in a relationship; and it’s hard to tell where the divide is for dave Specifically makes her feel that way (though not necessarily intentionally; hurt people hurt people etc etc) or if this is a particular Complex that she projects onto him. but the fact of the matter is, all of the things about their relationship, she has pretty much had to pursue herself. she met dave at an event, and she took a liking to him. she approached him, flirted, got his number, text incessantly until he agreed to a date, then two, and constantly made their plans, and was even the one to ask him to be exclusive. dave was very very passive in a lot of this, and when she was under the assumption that his former partner/baby mama (liz) was dead, it became easy for her to justify her actions. dave was grieving and clearly had been for too long, and she just wanted to get him out of his shell—he was too handsome and too kind to be alone for the rest of his life, in her opinion (not that it’s really her call to make, but i digress). she was only giving him permission to be himself again! and in some ways she is correct, wallowing over liz for the rest of his life certainly isn’t healthy, and dave on some level is aware of that, which is why he sort of… went along with everything regarding veronica. and they had a healthy relationship Before she found out that liz was actually still alive, and dave was just still in love with her. now, ngl, im not 100% sure how she finds this out; bc dave certainly doesn’t talk about liz that often if he can avoid it, not even with his own son, so like hell is he going to talk about it to the new woman he’s seeing (he’s just that kind of guy). all i Do know is that it was several years into their relationship, and around the time that she and her daughter olice moved in with darren and dave. and when she found this out, she was fucking livid honestly. what does this woman who Left You when you needed her most have that EYE, a present, loving, caring partner, don’t? so anytime she and dave had a spat, anytime she clashed with darren or anything went wrong, she became more and more bitter. convinced that she would always be a second fiddle to this woman she’d never met. and the worst part is, she is Partially proven right when liz finally does enter the picture and suddenly dave and liz have more sparks and chemistry than she (in her mind) feels like she and dave have. and this could potentially be because liz is darren’s mother and veronica has never taken an interest in dave’s son the way that he has wholly embraced being a father to olice, but in her micro-defense, darren has never wanted a mom in general, let alone a new one 🤷🏽‍♂️ ANYWAY though, all of this sort of stems from her childhood (as many traumas do) especially in comparing herself unfairly to her sister, cynthia—unfortunate because cynthia adores her and they’re thick as thieves but to veronica cynthia was always the sister who got what she wanted. she was beautiful, the belle of their hometown, grauated with honors, went to college and found a man who was head over heels for her and who spoils her like crazy, has a big happy family, is Rich…. and what does veronica have to show for her life? she got pregnant on a missions trip and abandoned the father, she never finished college, failed relationship after failed relationship where on more than one occasion she’s been “the other woman” … it’s too much! and no matter how much dave assures her that he has no plans of getting back with liz, the man can’t look at her and say he loves her even after ten years together. SO!!!!

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

A Date Night HC with Black Mask and F!S/O 🖤

S/O loves to be spoiled and pampered by him. She teases him wearing a dress he likes on their extravagant date night to a high-end restaurant ... There will be a few surprises from him too :3c S/O is his enabler and lets him get away with a lot of his behaviour, and up to mischief herself.

"It's a good thing we pay so much to eat here, or they might actually kick us out-" Black Mask x F!S/O (Valentine's Event 2024)

Oh god don't enable him, he's already impossible. This ask is for the ongoing Valentine's Day Event!

TW: Suggestive, NSFW, fingering

Valentine's Day. The perfect excuse for an obnoxiously extra date night to show off to everyone else. No matter how far Roman got away from his roots, some things never changed. He was better than everyone else, as were you. Certainly one of the best parts for having a girlfriend like you was his ability to show that in public.

It was an unspoken agreement between the two of you that you could have almost anything you wanted. When you didn't ask for much, he made it a mission to spoil you. Spa days, special treats here and there- You deserve it, you put up with his shit, after all. Seeing how much you enjoyed it just eggs him on.

So tonight he let you know exactly where he was taking you. Some high end place he's put a lot of money into for under the table deals. Tells you that you can pick whatever dress you want, but the panties? He's got those set out. Black and lacy, with stockings he pictures rolling up your thighs. Why wouldn't you take the opportunity to fuck with him back? A slinky number you knew got him hot when he saw it. Just a little too short and accentuated your body in all the right places.

You could hear the sharp, huffing inhale through his mask when he first saw you come out. You could feel how firmly he had his hand on your inner thigh while riding in the car, then how it moved to the small of your back as you entered the restaurant. He'd been quiet other than small talk. Telling the waiter to take you to "his" table.

He then forced his way to sit next to you, hand back on your thigh and creeping up, "You think you're fuckin' cute, huh?"

"Adorable, thank you for asking." The calm facade on your face flickered only for a second as his pinky moved up and down the front of the lingerie between your legs.

His gaze was intense, even when the waiter came back to ask for your order. It was then he ordered for you. Expensive. Something you definitely wanted but might not order on your own due to the price or the fuss of it. And a bottle of something old and fancy. His hand never left it's place until you moved it.

"Since you seem to like these so much..." You found yourself hiking up the dress almost to your hips. Another patron happened to look over... and quickly look away when they found Black Mask glaring back at them. And there in your hands was your now removed panties, which he snatched away to tuck in his pocket.

The wine was brought to the table, then... along with a box. He made a motion with his hand to you, "Happy Valentine's Day, doll."

Then, as you opened it- It was a bright red teddy bear... with a bracelet. The bracelet itself wasn't anything crazy. Yet you recognized it as one you'd been admiring a month ago. You hadn't asked for it. Yet he remembered the way you'd looked at it and decided you needed to have it.

"Allow me." He was already taking it off the bear and putting it on your wrist, "Yeah. Suits you just right."

"I... Thank you-"

"Don't say anything about making it up. You're gonna make it up right now." He's leaning to your ear before his hand tucks between your thighs, "Open up."

Before you could really respond beyond giving more space for his hand, he was plunging a finger inside. Praising you for being wet. Drinking his wine in his other hand as if he wasn't making you writhe. His palm pressed against your clit, making one smooth movement of penetration and stimulation. When someone walked by, he'd add another finger or push harder to get you to moan.

By the time the food came out, he had you on the edge. Yet he pulled away. The plates hit the table and he was licking his fingers. Looking at you knowingly. A little appetizer for himself.

Then he was cutting into his steak as if nothing happened, "We'll continue this later."

It was delicious, there was no question. Both you and your partner were taking small bites. Enough to assuage the hunger- You'd both be taking leftovers and finishing after certain events that night. He almost laughed when the waiter asked if you wanted dessert.

"Nah, fuck off. Give us the check."

It would have seemed the two of you were on the same page. Until, at least, you were leaving the building. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw something black fall from Roman's pocket and hit the ground. He was already pushing you forward before you could turn around. Your mouth agape as you realized just what your partner intentionally dropped on the floor of the fucking public restaurant.

"Sir, you dropped your-" a waiter paled as he found himself picking up your recently worn underwear.

"Yeah, thanks kid." Roman sneered behind the mask, "She was just telling me she was feeling cold." He held them up to you, knowing you were going to snatch them from his grip.

It was in the moment you didn't know if you wanted to fuck him or kill him. To be determined.

[nyaagolor]

Henlo, back at it again! While thinking about some stuff, here's what i imagined for this AU for the Area Zero Squad:

- Nemona: Were-Lycanroc, a rather big monster with Nemona's battle love cranked up to 11. Once aggressive to everyone and everything with an impressive will to fight, gets "tamed" after the protag defeats her and gets recognized. Now less bloodthirsty and a big puppy (at least to her friends), although still wants to challenge everyone... Nemona doesn't know she exists.

Arven: Were-Skwovet, calmer than Nemona's Alter Ego, and usually won't attack... unless you have bad intentions or you look at Mabosstif funny. He's *really* protective of him. Can be found around Paldea stealing Berries and other food, although no-one knows what for...Arven knows of his existence, due to somehow remembering his transformations.

Penny: Were-Glaceon, an incredibly reclusive and shy monster, she only attacks if her personal spaces are invaded. Becomes a bit more outgoing after Penny's storyline, although only with her friends. Her Vees see her as a sort-of kin, for obvious reasons (and they aren't in danger). Penny knows of her existence, not because she remembers her transformations, but for other clues around her room (I mean, if i woke up with ruined clothes, a slight coat of ice on the walls and pawprints around the floor, I would have a few doubts)

The protagonist can be what you want, there's no specific mon for him/her!

Oh, and they're a pack, because it fits.

(Note: i still think that Arven's Mon is not the right one... any ideas?)

Drew the designs for Nemona and Penny!! Decided Nemona would be a dusk form Lycanroc bc Orange. Love all the stuff u wrote, I especially dig how some are aware they’re werewolves (awarewolves?) and others just have no idea. Makes for some really fun stories :3c. Didn’t draw Arven bc I can’t decide what he would be either. I’ll keep brainstorming!!!

Anyway some assorted headcanons:

- How animalistic u look is determined by how much tera energy ur normally in contact with. For people like Nemona who are constantly using a tera orb, their transformation is more dramatic. For someone like Penny, who rarely uses a tera orb and isn’t a paldean native (less access to environmental tera energy) the transformation is relatively mild. The professor? When they transform, it’s impossible to tell they were human at all

- Nemona hears about the terrifyingly strong beast in the forest and keeps going out to fight it, only to wake up on the ground all scratched up in the forest at sunrise. She starts to think the beast knows Hypnosis for its uncanny ability to put her to sleep. Somehow, despite the obvious connections, she never realizes she’s the beast in question

- Being a werewolf doesn’t change your personality or what you want, just your inhibitions and manners. Nemona always wanted to battle her heart out, but never could bc of various social conventions, so during her transformation all that pent up energy is released and she just goes bonkers. Penny transforms and no one knows bc she still never leaves her room

- Penny sets up a camera after the first transformation because she’s shocked a Glaceon so large could wreck her room without waking her up. When it happens a second time after the next full moon, she now has video evidence— only to realize it’s HER. She initially panics, then realizes all she does is eat leftover pizza right out of the box and hide under the bed the whole time which is what she would do anyway if sleep deprived enough. She elects to just lock all her doors and windows and never tell anyone, since she’s unaware that werewolves are a Thing in paldea

- Whatever Arven is, Mabosstiff keeps him in check. Also now that I think about it, maybe Arven is an artificial werewolf? His parent tried to get him to be a werewolf on purpose so he could better adapt to “paradise”, so maybe he’s a Cyclizar? With the professors being the ‘raidons? in that case maybe Arven has different transformation rules and stuff. I’ll think abt it more

- No one except the protagonist and possibly a few trainers (Geeta, some of the professors?) know the beast attacking people in the forest is a werewolf. Nemona is fast and her transformation is pretty beastly looking anyway, so in the thick of battle everyone thinks she’s just a really big pokemon. It’s only people who manage to defeat her / tire her out that can slow her down enough to see that she has a humanoid shape and might be more than just a Very Large Dog

- I’m lame and love emotion based transformations, so I think the adults can control their shifting to various extents but the kids can’t. The more emotionally well adjusted you are, the easier time you have controlling yourself, to the point where some adults even have control over their shifting during full moon nights

[akira-ichigo]

Can you tell us more about Hellebore (and their relationship with Adale if you dont mind)?:3c

Ooh sure !! Thank you a lot it's the first time someone show interest in my oc ha ha.

Be warned that the ocs I create can be...cliché ? Or not very good ha ha xD and Hellebore have some inconsistencies in her story

At the very beginning Hellebore is the daughter between Harebourg (alternative AU were he doesn't end up as an ice cream and forgot by Tot at the end of season 3) and another oc of mine Nasel sometimes before the Great Wave (she was very very young before the Great Wave).

Hellebore in normal outfit Hellebore in her Xelor outfit

She's a Xelor who loves sciences and technologies and prefer to read book and create than sociabilizing and doing friend.

At her 27 she decides to try travel, curious about the technologies on other island.

She lands on Brakmar first during a big meeting between the High Autorities of other island (Frigost beeing isolated a lot of people had forget them or doesnt count them as a nation).

She met Adale who was under the fake name Elada one night near a tavern and they end up talking about sciences , Adale being proud of Sufokia and Hellebore very curious. Hellebore wasn't dress in her "Xelor outift" this time.

First Meeting

Hellebore isn't familiar with courting (and I imagine Adale likes to flirt / tease because he's fabulous & handsome and he knows it) so she ends up easily red or fluster but as soon as the conversation is about sciences / technologies she becomes more confident and comfortable.

They continue to meet and talk everynight, "Elada" flirting sometimes with her as tease. Hellebore starts to develops an interest in him (first time she spend so much time with someone who share her interest and who's not her father) and starts considering him as a good friend, maybe more (consider that she's really new / kind of pure to bonding to people so she can mix "interest" / "friendship" / "love").

At the end of the week, on the last night of the big meeting event, they had a good time together and take their way the morning after.

They will meet by chance at Astrub a few weeks later, but this time Hellebore wore her Xelor outift when she crosses "Elada" s path.

He doesn't recognize her and was in public as the "King of Sufokia", letting out his narcissism / selfishness etc...his true self (he toned it down when he was with Hellebore at Brakmar and she doesn't notice at first).

It immediately breaks Hellebore's hear as if a filter was disable on "Elada" for her xD

Feeling betrayed and stupid for falling for him, she ends up changing to become a little bit harsh or annoyed everytime they interact.

But a part of her finds some hint of the man she knews at Brakmar (passion, proud of his nation, loyal to Sufokia, loves sciences and technologies, love his people etc...) making that she can't totally hate him (and she's aware that she was very naïve).

For their relatshionship I don't know if I'll be able to describe it correctly xD

I'll say that Hellebore hides who she is to Adale (she called herselft Hellen).

Adale on his side is mixed between "Damned this woman goet on my nerves !!" but as nobody really stand agains him (because he's the king, or people likes him or just avoid / ignore him) he's kind of curious ? Or make a king of challenge / deny like "this woman will fall / is interest in me but doesn't show it !"

Adale : If you ask me nicely, I can change my shift and free some of my Ô precious time to go with you

Hellebore : Peuh ! No thanks, I'd like to be alone !

Adale : Insolent !!

They are able to have some nice talk.

I'm aware that the age gape between them can be huge if we follow Adale's canon age , but it was something I didn't think about when creating Hellebore ^^"" In my mind they are close in age (3+ years old for Adale)

She was made first following my Waven character.

Hope it wasn't too cringe ha ha, i'm not used to share my oc's stories (and I'm aware that they might be not well build)

Thank you for your question :)

[angrelysimpping]

Okay so….this one is fucked. Like, you got all the other mush, this one is fucked. Enjoy! ;3c

M!OC x friend’s M!OC uwu

Warnings: stuckage; noncon; noncon turned dubcon; pseudoincest with implied past incest; use of the word “rape” used once

Aksel and Joaquim belong to 💜@inkyquince💜

Words: ~2.3k

(Good End Variant: Here)

For the first time in months, Danny’s tempted to tap into the entity’s power. Even when he’d been trapped under Aksel’s thumb, when Aksel had tried to break him, had fucked Danny dumb in an attempt to make him desperate enough to use the entity’s abilities, he’d held strong. Danny knew there was a chance of slipping, of losing control, of the entity forcing him down, down, down, until he could only witness the destruction the entity wrought while using his body as a vessel. Trapped, only able to watch how it would reward Aksel for freeing it, how it would hurt Joaquim for sticking with Danny. No, he never tried to wield the thing’s powers unless it was an absolute emergency.

But this was Danny’s breaking point. 

It was fucking humiliating. A little painful, too, but, really, it was more humiliating than anything. How does shit like this even happen? How did he get stuck under the bed? 

Well, apparently getting railed every night wasn’t the best for the bed’s support or whatever, but still! There was no way something like this could happen! Crawling under the bed to hunt down a missing ear stud, knocking his head on a support, and that being the last straw for the bed’s structural integrity? Collapse on Danny, keeping him trapped? Really? What were the odds?! Like something out of a bad porno.

Danny huffs a small laugh, mumbling “What are you doing step bro?”

God, those were such stupid videos. Still, Danny had jerked it to more than one of them. Apparently, one too many, his cock twitching in interest as a few scenes flit through his mind. The classic ‘stuck in a washing machine’ girl. Two brothers fooling around after one was only able to free the other from between half-closed elevator doors by fucking him out. 

A man caught in a wall, his boyfriend teasing him, licking over his rim, jerking him off. Sinking his fat cock into his trapped partner’s cute, twitching hole.

“Fuck.”

Stuck and also uncomfortably hard, now. Double humiliating. Maybe he really should try tapping into the entity. Surely he’d be able to control it, right? It wasn’t like when Aksel was trying to break him down. His emotions weren’t running…that high. So, it should be fine, right?

No, no, no. He should wait for Joaquim. He’d only gone out for a quick trip to the shop around the corner. He’d be back soon.

And as if right on cue, the door opened.

Face burning, Danny’s right about to call out before it hits him: he doesn’t recognize those footsteps. That’s not the sound of his lover slowly making their way across the small room.

“Oh, little vessel, what a sticky situation you seem to have gotten yourself into! Aren’t you lucky I found you again?”

Danny grows cold at the sound of Aksel’s voice, heart dropping through the floor as his efforts to free himself redouble. 

It doesn’t work. Of course not. But that doesn’t stop him from twisting and thrashing, refusing to give up. He’s so bent upon his efforts that he barely hears Aksel’s harsh laugh, doesn’t even hear him kneeling down behind him. It’s not until cool hands grip his hips and Danny freezes that he realizes how close Aksel is.

“Don’t touch me,” he growls, lashing out with his feet, attempting to kick the older man away. “Don’t fucking touch me you goddamn monster.”

It’s with delight that he feels his foot make contact, a soft oof from the cultist letting Danny know he’d at least hurt the fucker. His victory is short-lived, a hand snaking under him and grabbing his dick, hard.

White lights skitter across his vision, a wave of nausea sweeping over him. Worse still, he can feel the entity deep in the recesses of his soul, stirring, pricking its ears up as the call of Danny’s distress sings out to it. 

“Do that again whore, and I’ll give that pretty cock of yours a new piercing, got it?” Aksel punctuates his sentence with another harsh squeeze. Danny isn’t aware of the broken sound he makes, too busy struggling to breathe, blood pounding in his ears as he tries to keep himself together. 

When Danny remains still, doesn’t try to kick out or squirm away, Aksel’s grip softens. “There we go, princess. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Danny bites down on his bottom lip with the too-sharp teeth the entity gave him, easily piercing through the thin skin and filling his mouth with metallic, tangy blood. Still, it was that rather than provoke Aksel further. 

Those cool hands are back on his hips, thumbs digging into the small of his back as Aksel sighs, almost dreamily, behind him. “Been waiting to find you two again. Imagining it, finally getting you to break. Getting rewarded by that entity you keep pressed down.” In one quick, rough action, Aksel yanks down Danny’s jeans. There’s a beat of silence before Aksel’s cruel laughter fills the room again. “Lacy panties? Were these for my little brother? Shame he won’t ever get to see them, eh?”

“Shut up.”

Aksel’s laughter dies just as suddenly as it started, plunging the room into an icy silence.

“What did you say, whore?”

Danny doesn’t think, snapping back, “I said shut the fuck up you fucking-!”

The sound of ripping lace cuts him off, ruined tatters of the panties hanging limply from his hips as something hot and blunt pressing at his hole. The cavity of Danny’s chest fills with ice, the entity slithering out of the depths of his soul as his panic grows. All his willpower goes to shut the thing down, keeping it locked away, his body frozen in place and unable to move. Makes it all the easier for Aksel, pressing against the tight ring of muscle before it gives, head popping past the rim and allowing him to slowly sink into Danny’s ass.

Danny’s brain blanks as he’s forced open, trying to keep the entity under control as it thrums under his skin. He wouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t give in, wouldn’t let the entity take over, wouldn’t let Aksel get what he wants.

But,  that meant he couldn’t even swear as Aksel starts to fuck into him, hips slamming against his at a brutal pace. He can hear Aksel rambling, cruel words and vile filth spewing past his lips. It goes right over Danny’s head, words sliding off him like water rolling off his back. He can’t think, can’t move. He can only use everything in him to keep himself from letting the entity take over.

That is, until Aksel grabs his cock again.

“You’re still hard, whore. Knew my baby brother would find me a pretty, masochistic bitch.”

Joaquim. Danny’s concentration shatters. Joaquim was supposed to be back by now, but here Danny was, trapped under a collapsed bed and getting split open by Aksel. Was he okay? Had Aksel gotten to Joaquim first? Was he hurt? If Aksel was involved, then nothing good could come from it. 

The horns sprout before Danny can stop them, poking out of his hair and catching against the underside of the bed. The tail comes next, unfurling from the base of his spine, skin itching and burning as he tries to suppress it even as it springs forth. 

“That’s it,” Aksel growls, starting to pump Danny’s aching cock in time with his savage thrusts, “give in. Give me what I want.”

Danny sobs, the mark up the side of his body carved into him by the entity burning as he fights for control. He could use it, he knows he could. He could use his new tail to lash out, wrap it around Aksel’s throat and pull him off. But could he stop after that? Could he keep himself from killing Aksel? Danny had killed before but it was different then, on his terms. This? This wasn’t the same at all. This was a desperate struggle, one that he knew, deep in his bones, would leave him open for the entity to take over fully. 

“Aw, don’t wanna?” Aksel coos, stilling with his hips pressed flush to Danny’s ass. Idly, almost as if he were bored, he starts to grind against Danny, pressing deep inside him, making him squirm, tail thrashing uncontrollably. “Don’t wanna go under so I can play with the entity? Wanna play with your big brother longer?” 

Danny nearly stops breathing, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, cock twitching pathetically in Aksel’s hand, dribbling thick precum over his knuckles. 

“You always love cumming on big brother’s cock, don’t ya? Dirty whore of a baby brother. And so greedy, never wanting to share with our other brother. Aren’t brothers supposed to share everything?”

Delusional. Danny thinks, vision going hazy as Aksel’s cock keeps grinding away at his insides. Aksel is delusional. Still, that doesn’t stop the heat pooling in his gut as Aksel keeps babbling, the entity’s control becoming a fraction of an amount weaker as the disgust, rage, and desperation inside him mixes with something else. Something Danny would never name. 

“And then you go and keep our brother all to yourself too. Bouncing on his cock every night. But we can share, you know. You know how to share, right? Papa would be so happy to see all his boys again, and you could keep my cock warm every night and Joa could suck it clean every morning. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

The tail wilts, fizzling away. It’s almost as bad as if he’d cum, as if he’d pressed back into Aksel and fucked himself on the monster. Because he’s close. Danny’s getting close, hurtling towards an end he’d rather bite off his tongue than admit to.

Aksel, lost in his own fantasy, doesn’t seem to mind that his actions are starting to push the entity away, rather than bringing it to the surface. No, he just keeps going, fisting Danny’s cock, thumbing the dusky pink head and making more of a mess out of the trapped man. “You’d look so pretty in my bed together, my two pretty baby brothers humping each other's brains out and begging me to come fuck them proper. To ruin their tight holes or ride their pretty cocks until their balls are nice and empty. Cute lil mouths ready for me to cum down the back of.”

“D-don’t-”

“Don’t what, princess? Don’t wanna share your big brother? Still just a greedy lil whore after all?”

“Y-yeah,” Danny nearly chokes on the word, tears dripping softly to the floor. “Don’t…don’t bring Joa, in-into it. Don’t wanna…share.” Shame burns his face as he speaks, brain sluggish trying to find the right words to steer Aksel away from talking about Joaquim. His Joaquim. His Kimi. His always. His to hold and love and worship and adore. Not someone for Aksel to use. Even as the heat in him grew, a familiar tingling in his balls sparking to life, he couldn’t stand Aksel’s fantasies of hurting Joaquim. 

“Want your big brother’s cock all to yourself?” Aksel’s lazy pace starts to pick up again, the grip on Danny’s pierced cock following suit. “Want your big brother to rape you day and night? Wreck you for anyone else? Shape your insides so only your big brother’s cock can fill you right?”

Danny tries to speak, tries to do anything that would make the shame that lights up his whole body dim, but he can’t. Everything is too much, too good. The hand on his cock, the thick dick carving him out. It would be heaven, if only it wasn’t Aksel doing this to him. If it wasn’t Aksel the one making his body respond like this, the horns from the entity subsiding and electricity tingling up his spine as he’s pushed ever closer to the edge.

“Gonna cum on your big brother’s cock, aren’t you? Gonna let me fill up your slutty ass and then keep begging for more? Such a brat, keeping your beloved big brother all to yourself but that’s okay, princess. You’ll learn to share eventually. But until then you’ll get big brother all to yourself, okay?”

Aksel punctuates his ramblings with a particularly harsh jerk to Danny’s cock, and it spells his end. Danny cum’s with a cry, spilling over Aksel’s hand and painting the ground under him. He nearly blacks out, knees giving way under him as Aksel’s thrusts become even rougher. If it wasn't for Aksel’s grip on his hips, he’d be fucked into the floor, Aksel chasing his own pleasure with no regard for the limp body under him.

The ringing in his ears keeps Danny from hearing most of Aksel’s continued ravings, weakly willing for the man to just cum already and let him rest. When Aksel’s stills, cock still buried deep as he cums, Danny almost sighs in relief.

Of course, that feeling is short-lived. Danny’s brain is still fuzzy, body loose and weak, as Aksel pulls him out from where he was pinned under the bad. He’s dizzy, exhausted, on the verge of passing out, but he’s still conscious as the shorter man crouches down next to where he lays. Danny could count each freckle across his face with how close he is, bright red eyes boring into Danny’s. Idly, he wonders if his own eyes are still brown, or if the tussle with the entity had left them purple for the rest of the day. It doesn’t matter, not when he’s too tired to even flinch as Aksel reaches out, stroking a strand of sweaty dark hair from his cheek. 

“Don’t worry,” Aksel murmurs, tucking the stray lock back, behind Danny’s ear. Then, almost tenderly, he traces the shell of his ear, over the piercings, and down along his jaw. “I’ll take you home now. Joaquim will be so happy to see you.” 

That’s the last thing Danny hears before succumbing to unconsciousness.

[canyon-tale]

I'm back!! I was gone for a few days but now I have new questions!

• Are there any canonicak shipkids innthe dragon au? IIRC you said Cross and Dream had a kid

• What caused Cross to lose his carnage claim? (I think you said once he loses it)

• Are there clothes designed for dragons? Or armor? Considering Cross was around humans, maybe he's been dressed up before?

• What happened for Nightmare to become void corrupted?

• Does each dragon have a distinct smell? Or is it just dragon instinct to recognize one another?

• What do the dragons eat? Are they omnivores? Carnivores? Does it vary with the species?

• Do dragon nurses sometimes groom eachother's furs as a way to bond? (Warrior cat sharing tongues style)

Hello! I've been awaiting your return >:3c

Tried not to make the answer too long but still put a read more just in case! Hope there aren't many spelling mistakes, I was in DnD sessions when I was reading through it, but here you go <3!

• Are there any canon shipkids in the dragon au? IIRC you said Cross and Dream had a kid

Oh yes, I have a few planned! The oldest will be Indigo (he/him) a HorrorNight kid who was quite the surprise for everyone since both Night and Horror didn’t think they could have kids due to past trauma (void corruption in Night’s case, and an extended period with little to no magic for Horror). 

Then we have the KillMare triplets Antares (they/them), Regulus (he/they), and Nembus (she/her), who hatched around the same time as little Marrow (he/him) who’s a HorrorDust kid.

Later there’s also Lyra (she/her) who’s the Cream baby, and Perseus (he/him) who’s an OuterKiller baby~

• What caused Cross to lose his carnage claim? (I think you said once he loses it)

Sub carnage claims are almost always temporary and last as long as the Maid of Bones think it will benefit the claimed one. Cross was full of a lot of rage and vengeance when he was claimed by the Maid but as time went on his bloodlust lessened. When he started to question his place and role in the war between Nightmare and Dream the Maid sensed that his future would grow more peaceful, no longer surrounded by death and decay, making her rewoke her claim.

• Are there clothes designed for dragons? Or armor? Considering Cross was around humans, maybe he's been dressed up before?

There are some, yes! The tricky thing with clothing for dragons are their wings, since a lot of designs disregard them and simply go right through their wing membrane. A lot of clothing might also realistically make it difficult for them to fly. Because of this I usually limit accessories to jewelry! Earrings, horn rings, collars, bracelets and anklets are my favorite way to dress up dragons, and I usually avoid putting heavy accessories on their wings and tails since this would hamper their flight maneuverability. 

Punz from my other dragon AU is a good example for simple jewelry, and I plan to dress him up in more since gold is his thing, and his mates loves to cover their rough mercenary boy in riches that shows off his beauty~  

For more actual clothes like apparel, ponchos are used by some dragons, especially scholars who easily grow cold without scales or fur. They usually have slits to accommodate flight and wing movements, but can be long enough to tuck the wings under the fabric to keep them warm! My girl Sorel is a good example for this, but she mostly wears one to hide her wing stumps.

Armor on the other hand isn’t actually supper common. Guardians are the most likely class to find themselves in battle and since they naturally have armor like scales they don’t need the extra protection. Scouts have smaller scales, but still quite durable, and might wear light armor like helmets or wraps around their legs. Nurses and scholars are the most likely to need armor but it’s rare for them to find themselves fighting, but out of the two classes scholars are actually the ones most likely to be sent into the battlefield due to their heightened magic abilities.

As for Cross he might have had some light armor, less for protection and more as a formal uniform! It’s actually not something I thought about, but I might doodle over his ref to figure out something to fit since it does make sense for the X gang to wear something matching!

• What happened for Nightmare to become void corrupted?

The Stalker of Void was able to find Nightmare when Night started using and experimenting with his mind magic. Untrained mind elementals have a habit of broadcasting their minds openly until they learn to control it, this isn’t really dangerous but it does make it very easy for other mind elementals to tap into their consciousness. Since Void is able to mimic all elements this is an ability the Stalker has.

They would talk to Nightmare a lot before the corruption, and while Nightmare was smart enough to not trust them they still developed a kind of “friendship” since Night didn’t really have anyone else to talk to. I’ve mentioned before that Nightmare was forced into fighting in a war and it was when this war finally reached the village where Nightmare and Dream grew up that Night cracked. Seeing Dream in danger the Stalker offered Nightmare his claim, which would give him enough power to save and keep his brother safe. Seeing no other option in the short time he had to save Dream, Nightmare took the offer and became corrupt.

I’m currently working on illustrating the backstory for the twins, which will explain a lot of their childhood and how they grew up!

• Does each dragon have a distinct smell? Or is it just dragon instinct to recognize one another?

I’m a sucker for scent stuff so yes! All the dragons have a distinct smell of their elemental magic, fire smelling smoky, lightning like ozone, water like the ocean, etc. But on top of that they have individual scents too!

Both Dream and Nightmare have very floral and apple like scents, like a mixed apple orchard of both flowering and fruiting trees. Cross scent is a bit woody, like sun warmed bark and sweet swap, something that makes you think of summer. Killer scent is cool and kind of spicy but also has a softer scent of old books and journals, reminiscent of staying up reading or studying with a cup of chai tea. Horror smells like petrichor, damp sand and mud, what you smell sitting next to a quiet lake in the evening after a rainstorm. Dust smells like frost and pine, the cold winter but with a hidden warmth of a fresh Christmas tree.

Blue smells strongly of ozone, of electricity and plastic, like a childhood game room full of energy and fun. Error smells like decaying leaves, with a slight hint of overripe fruit and chocolate. Ink smells different everyday, but almost always has an underlying scent of ink mixed with different dried flowers and tea leaves. Epic smells like a bakery, of fresh bread and sweet cookies.

• What do the dragons eat? Are they omnivores? Carnivores? Does it vary with the species?

Most of them are omnivores, yes! The most important thing for their diet is that they consume things that have the same, or similar, elemental magic as their own (water being similar to ice, fire being similar to light, etc.). Most animals and plants will have elemental magic, some less and others more, and as long as dragons have a source of elemental magic and a good variety of vitamins and minerals they should be healthy! 

On the other hand, if a dragon is only eating magic that’s opposite of theirs (fire and water, shadow and light, etc.) they’ll usually grow weak and sickly. If they just eat these magics now and again though it should be fine, just taste a bit bad.

Some species do specialize more! My oc Kiwi for example is a breed that are strictly herbivores (and all classes of this breed also have fur to differing degrees!), but it’s pretty rare. 

• Do dragon nurses sometimes groom eachother's furs as a way to bond? (Warrior cat sharing tongues style)

Absolutely! Grooming is a great flight bonding activity and even if different classes don’t have the right tongues to groom each other, they will use tools to help out anyways. Flightmates will help clean between guardian scales, polish scouts scales, brush their nurses, and help scholars oil their skin with ointments and such.

[kratt-au-void]

Hello ^.^

I would like to see more of the Paradise au. What exactly is going on? I want some details :)

I would also like to see more WonderlanD au posts. These two I feel like have had more posts combining them with your other aus than on their own, and I don't know what the aus are really about.

Also, I would like to know more about what's going on in the Bloody Bouquet au. All I know there is that there are flowers coming out of Martin's mouth. Is there a reason for that?

You are right that those aus don't have a lot of content on their own and thats because they need a little rewrite. Theyre made for me and im a little ashamed of them not gonna lie 😅

BUT, yeah i can tell you more :D

-Paradise! Its just Chris and Martin having silly adventures! You know like exploring the jungle or the sea, or living life in college, or having a peaceful life in the suburbs, or even flying in space or playing inside their favorite games! Nothing to worry about! Yeah maybe their memory is not great, they swear they already visited this jungle before, or that they already graduated why are they still in school? But that's just a weird thing of them hehe.

Now, what is exactly going on? Its all Zach's fault. You know how he has devices capable of controlling animals to do his bidding? Well he focused more on that and managed to create a device that could trap the human mind. Its not perfect, it needs maintenance from time to time, but it works.

Getting Chris first and using him to lure Martin next, he managed to take them out of the way,

trapping them in separated paradises, managing to create one for his own.

-WonderlanD! For as long as people have traveled the seas, a mysterious island has been the center of many tales, full of colourful plants and unique animals never seen in another place. Few are the ones who had found it and made it back alive, for the island of Wonders is not what it seems. The island moves. It never appears in the same place twice. Because of this, many shipwrecks paint its shore.

The Kratts receive an anonymous message. "There's an island in this coordinates. It's full of new species, you will like it." None of them knew about the myths and stories around it. Naively, they went.

At the arrival they could already see all these new beings flocking around them. Friendly, fluffy, delicious fruits to eat and cute little animals begging to be pet. Truly a Wonder.

They decide to stay and explore. The plants growing taller the further they entered the island, barely letting the sun pass through. The bros called the rest of the crew to go deeper with them, as they found something to eat before sleeping. They only left the shore for a short time but when they got back, somehow, their entire ship fell from the island into the sea.

They had noway to leave. No comunication. Nothing but what the island could give. And so they use it. They eat its fruit, they drank its ponds. Days and days of this. Soon, their bodies started to feel weird...

aaaand thats all i have for now, still need to fix some details. But dont worry, they'll be fine :3c

and last, Bloody Bouquet! Yes there is a reason for the flowers, its called hanahaki disease :D! Flowers grow inside you when you have unrequited or one-sided love. In this case, Martin has fallen in love with Zach but he's oh so scared of confessing :( so he hides his feelings and the flowers until he can't anymore. After finding out (and getting over the shock), Chris decides to help him confess, hopping Martin gets rid of the flowers and they can go back to their normal lives.

There's a little detail both of them don't know. In this AU, the flowers hold meanings. They can recognize the dark red carnations and its meaning loud and clear: Love and affection.

But there's another one they can't seem to find, the purple petals arent enough and so they don't give it much importance. If only they knew, (blood warning)

if only they knew the race against time to cure Martin was long lost

when he started choking on those cute poisonous aconites

[trevisos]

12 and 23 for Xarrai

8 16 and 24 for Ieriyn

for that Tav meme?

tysm!!!

(questions are here)

xarrai:

12. What opinion does your Tav have about the Gods?

the short answer is: not a fan.

the long answer is xarrai sees all the gods as tyrants - look at shar, who demands her followers give up their memories; or mystra, who takes chosen after chosen and keeps them like pets; or vlaakith, who. well. vlaakith. they're cruel rulers who demand obedience and worship from their followers, even those who claim benevolence. as far as xar is concerned, bane is just the only one being honest about who he is and what he wants. they don't really give a shit about what gods others choose to worship but they are silently (or um. not so silently) judging anyone who is particularly devout. every time shadowheart talks about shar early game xarrai is just nodding along like yep. mmhmm. yeah sure. and aggressively rolling their eyes when they walk away lmao. there's an element of bitterness to it too, though. here they are on this adventure surrounded by people who desperately want the favor of their gods but all xarrai wants is to be well and truly forsaken by bane. (at the same time, though, they recognize the only reason they're still alive is because he hasn't forsaken them - bane doesn't suffer fools or failures, after all - so it's a bit of a double edged sword.)

23. What are 2-3 songs that your Tav would relate to?

this is actually the hardest question u could have asked bc i have an almost 40 song (and growing lol) playlist for xarrai LMAO. these are a few i've been really vibing with the last few days, but i don't know that they're the ones xar would relate to the Most by any means.

burn your village - kiki rockwell

metaphor - the crane wives

kill all your friends - mcr

and honorable mention for grey veins by ls dunes. i had this song on repeat for like two days while i was starting to build their character because i picked this game up like right after i saw lsd in concert and it ended up coloring a lot of how i viewed xarrai initially lol

(mutuals feel free to lmk if you want the link to the whole playlist (or my astarion and/or xarrastarion ones) - i'm a dirty apple music user and the playlist has my government name on it so i don't wanna post it publicly but i am down to share)

ieriyn

8. Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single?

yes! he had a couple of boyfriends when he was still in school. nothing super serious, honestly - just your typical teenage relationships and all the drama that entails. in the last few years he hasn't really had many partners - a fling here or there, but again nothing serious. i will say though he has a thing for older men with big brown eyes :3c (gale never had a chance is what i'm saying. it was over for him before it even began. this twink is going to ruin his life.)

16. How does your Tav feel about killing?

not good! as of where i am in the game right now (about to defend the grove from being raided following some #mistakes ieriyn made when talking to minthara) he hasn't killed another thinking creature ever. he really really doesn't want to and has spent half the battles the party has been in so far more or less cowering in a corner for fear of killing someone accidentally if he uses his magic. he's honestly kind of dead weight. but defending the grove is going to change things - he can't sit there and do nothing when this is his fault and he knows he has to pull his weight or the party is going to end up dumping him on the side of the road, assuming any of them survive this. (lae'zel and astarion in particular hate his fucking guts for being so useless and yet trying to take the credit for shit anyway lol) i don't think he's ever going to feel good or even necessarily okay about killing, but i do think he's going to learn to deal with it anyway.

24. What first impression does your Tav give off to strangers?

i think initally ieriyn comes off as a spoiled brat tbqh. he's deeply out of touch with the way "normal" people live and has really never been outside his bubble of wealth and comfort, which makes him difficult to talk to i think. he's also heinously arrogant - sometimes because he genuinely believes it ("i'm a special gifted magic kid and soooo powerful and strong") and sometimes because he's trying to cover up for what he doesn't know or what he's afraid of. this is smth i imagine is going to be extremely different by the end of the game, but as of rn he gives a pretty shitty first impression LOL